What a gasbag.
What an opportunist.
What a piece of shit.
April 2009 Archives
Bea Arthur was one of my favorites. It's terribly sad news that she has passed away.
I first encountered her in the 1966 Original Cast recording of Mame, where she played Vera Charles opposite Angela Lansbury's Auntie Mame.
A year later a bunch of us trekked up to New York City to visit a former classmate and attend a performance of Mame, where both Lansbury and Arthur were still in the cast.
Here's a clip of the two of them about thirty years later performing "Bosom Buddies" from that show.
In 1994 Bea Arthur, along with many other luminaries such as Jack Klugman and Celeste Holm, appeared at an AIDS benefit here in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music. Shortly before that performance a Gallop Poll had proclaimed Philadelphia as America's most hostile city.
When Bea Arthur stepped out on the stage (to a thundering ovation), she said, "I can't tell you how happy I am to be here in Philadelphia...because as you know, I am basically hostile."
Bye-bye, Bea. Miss you.
Norm Stamper, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition has some thoughts on our marijuana policy:
Hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths occur annually. There has never been a single recorded marijuana OD fatality.
[...]
There have been no documented cases of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker, nor has pot been scientifically linked to any type of cancer. (Don't trust an advocate's take on this? Try the fair and balanced coverage over at Fox.) Alcohol abuse contributes to a multitude of long-term negative health consequences, notably cirrhosis of the liver and a variety of cancers.
While a small quantity, taken daily, is being touted for its salutary health effects, alcohol is one of the worst drugs one can take for pain management, marijuana one of the best.
[...]
Alcohol contributes to acts of violence; marijuana reduces aggression. In approximately three million cases of reported violent crimes last year, the offender had been drinking. This is particularly true in cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, and date rape. Marijuana use, in and of itself, is absent from both crime reports and the scientific literature. There is simply no link to be made.
Over the past four years I've asked police officers throughout the U.S. (and in Canada) two questions. When's the last time you had to fight someone under the influence of marijuana? (I'm talking marijuana only, not pot plus a six-pack or a fifth of tequila.) My colleagues pause, they reflect. Their eyes widen as they realize that in their five or fifteen or thirty years on the job they have never had to fight a marijuana user. I then ask: When's the last time you had to fight a drunk? They look at their watches.
[...]
Anybody out there want to launch a campaign for the re-prohibition of alcohol? Didn't think so. The answer, of course, is responsible drinking. Marijuana smokers, for their part, have already shown (apart from that little matter known as the law) greater responsibility in their choice of drugs than those of us who choose alcohol.
There are several pairs of Canadian Geese down by the creek, but the ones that I've taken under my wing, so to speak, are the couple that live close-by.
I call them George and Martha.
A few weeks ago I noticed some curious behavior; when I offered them some pieces of bread, George hung back and let Martha have her fill before he would accept any.
On another occasion, George was by himself, and after accepting a couple scraps of bread he began vigorously honking. From across the creek I could hear another goose answering his call, and in no time Martha flew down the bank, and swam across the creek to join us.
Of course, I realized, Martha is hatching her eggs.
A little while ago I went searching for her nest. As it happened, she wasn't there at the time, but as I approached it, she saw me from some little distance away, and began furiously honking. She swam to the bank, quickly flew to her nest, and kept flapping and honking at me until I stepped back.
Here's a picture of Martha sitting in her nest. It was snapped from across the creek, so as not to excite her.
Went to the Reading Terminal Market this morning and was pleased to find soft shelled crabs.
Of course, I bought some and hurried home to make my favorite soft shell dish.
Spring really is here!
I have always hated pirates.
I don't understand why some people romanticize them.
They are terrorists with different goals. They want money.
I'm so glad that Richard Phillips has been rescued.
I hate pirates.
The other day Glenzilla mentioned a political thriller on his blog, so I decided to try it.
I'm happy to report that Fault Line by Barry Eisler is both a gripping page-turner and a thought-provoking novel.
The story revolves around patent attorney Alex Treven and his older brother Ben, a highly trained military assassin. The brothers have been estranged for years, but now Alex thinks he may be the target of a professional hit man because of his association with a new computer encryption program, Obsidian. Reluctantly, Alex turns to his brother Ben for help.
On one level this is a standard espionage yarn and Obsidian is its MacGuffin; on another it's a tale of two brothers confronting their past as they try to navigate the fault line of their relationship, complicated by the presence of Sarah, the young associate who may or may not be mixed up in the tangled plot.
Not only is Ben forced to deal with the family tragedies that he thought he had left behind, but as Sarah keeps pressing him, he begins to question the very nature of his chosen line of work.
One of the many joys of this book is that the author names many of his characters after some liberal blogs and bloggers (cf., Obsidian). Along the way he also mentions a number of real web sites, like www.nononsenseselfdefense.com
Highly recommended!
