WmWms

What I wish we could hear from Lindsay Lohan

Bo — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:23:02 +0000

I am a fan of what Lindsay Lohan once was. In both movies and music, I believe her talent is copious and genuine.

I read of yet another potential self-inflicted “setback” today, and thought of this:

To my friends, family, and fans:

I am writing to apologize.

I am not writing to say I’m sorry, only to continue living the way I have lived. I am writing because I sincerely seek your mercy, and intend to demonstrate my ongoing commitment to behaving as a responsible adult.

I understand that I jettisoned any credibility my words once held long ago, and I’m not asking you to believe me today. I’m simply asking you to watch: day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year. Please do me that one more small favor.

I have been blessed with a lot of talent—talent that is both artistically fulfilling and extremely lucrative. What an incredible gift! Sadly, I have allowed the lifestyle that gift has enabled to overwhelm my decency and integrity. That is inexcusable.

I would like to work consistently again. Given my chronic poor behavior, I understand very well why that has been difficult. Even more importantly, I would like to earn back the trust of my friends and family. I have lived incredibly immaturely, and I believe I finally understand how deeply I have hurt you. From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry.

I am frightened. But I am also committed to finally growing up. I hope that one day I will have amply embodied that, and you can forgive me.

Thank you for reading, and God bless you all,

Lindsay Lohan

I would be blown away. Wouldn’t you? I think such a missive, sincerely delivered and acted upon, would be good not only for her, but for society at large. “Wow, if Lindsay Lohan can turn it around…” Following me? If she talked the talk and then walked the walk, it might make individual responsibility cool again.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Thursday miscellanea #102

Bo — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:10:50 +0000

Tonight’s the night! “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”
Tailgate party at work today. Did this again to celebrate.
Earlier this week Dad sent me a link to a really marvelous collection of color photographs of the United States from 1939 to 1943. Click here.
Nathan saved his allowance for a beginner’s magic kit. It arrived last night. He’s having such a great time. I’ve enjoyed watching him—not just when he shows me a trick, but when he’s going through it on his own, reading and analyzing.
Hey, Mazda drivers? “Zoom zoom” is an advertising slogan, not a mantra. Your vehicle is a capable grocery-getter and people-mover, not a race car. (Mazdaspeed 3, RX-7, and RX-8 drivers, yeah yeah, but still…)
Just got a $331 electric bill. That’s a new record for us. You know, it’s all about stretching and seeing what you can accomplish.
More stuff I can’t believe anyone likes: Drambuie, The Rolling Stones’ “Angie,” on-screen keyboards, winters north of Nashville that aren’t mitigated by proximity to an ocean, and ridiculously large fake breasts.

Radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee shot and killed by police

Bo — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:46:36 +0000

Radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee was shot and killed by police today, a few hours after he took hostages at 1 Discovery Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee was well known to Discovery Channel employees because of his history of protesting the network’s environmental programming. A manifesto advocating human sterilization and infertility has been linked to radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee. It is further reported that radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee was inspired by Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, as well as Ishmael, a novel by Daniel Quinn.

In February 2008, radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee was arrested outside the same building and charged with disorderly conduct. A month or so later, radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee was again arrested outside the building and charged with littering.

Radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee’s brother-in-law Thomas Leonard said that radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee had been “darker” lately, and also said he believed that radical left-wing eco-terrorist James Lee was capable of killing.

Mixed-handed

Bo — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:59:34 +0000

I write and eat right-handed. I throw left-handed. I kick left-footed. This is known as mixed-handedness, or cross-dominance.

Now please note that ambidexterity—considerable fine motor skill with either side—is a rare form of cross-dominance, but it’s not what I’m talking about. I mean I write with my right and can’t with my left. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to someone “I write and eat right-handed, but I throw left-handed” and the person has replied “Oh, you’re ambidextrous!” Uh, no.

(Before we leave ambidexterity, speaking of it—and tremendous mental capacity, I’m sure—did you know that President Garfield could write Latin with one hand and ancient Greek with the other simultaneously?)

Okay, then. I discovered today that I have a colleague who is also mixed-handed (exactly opposite from me, though). That I can recall, she’s the only other person I’ve ever known who is mixed-handed.

So then that got me to wondering how rare it is. Turns out it’s uncommon, but not particularly hard to encounter. There are millions of us. Know who else was mixed-handed, though? Check out this list:

Ludwig van Beethoven
Michelangelo
Leonardo da Vinci
Albert Einstein
Benjamin Franklin

The B-list, still quite impressive, includes Nikola Tesla, Jimi Hendrix, Oscar Wilde, and Richard Feynman.

I suddenly believe that I have, to date, massively underachieved.

Restoring Honor rally attendees and their litter

Bo — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:26:11 +0000

The Restoring Honor rally, headlined by Glenn Beck, was held at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday. The most pessimistic, and ridiculed, attendance estimate comes from CBS, who said 87,000. Most other estimates are considerably higher.

In any case, a bunch of folks, dig?

Now there is much to be said about the rally’s content, and it will surprise no regular reader of this blog that I find a lot of agreement with this crowd. I have never been more concerned for my country, and I’m thoroughly confident Mr. Beck, Mrs. Palin, and their supporters have a lot more of the answers that will genuinely restore America’s greatness than do Mr. Obama and his supporters.

So there’s a post in that, for sure. However, I’m not going to write it. Tens of thousands of bloggers already have, and as I mentioned above, there is no shortage on WmWms of what I think about the current state of things.

Many have also posted about the level of trash left by the Restoring Honor attendees, and I am going to join that chorus, because it ties in with something I discussed previously. Have a look at the Mall, post-rally:

Wow, what a bunch of careless swine! Can you believe that enormous mess they left? But what else would you expect from that slack-jawed drooling bunch of hicks who pray to invisible men in the sky and hate black people, right?

I really enjoyed this little data point, because it reminded me of when I posted about how surprised “everyone” seemed at how well-behaved the Obama inauguration crowd was. Didn’t surprise me at all. By and large, the folks who would cause a scene with base or boorish behavior were happy. It’s no more complicated than that. As then, so now.

Now I’m certainly not saying to my liberal friends that, solely by virtue of their politics, they’re disruptive slobs. I am, however, asserting that a disruptive slob in such an environment is likely to be liberal.

Oh, and I’ll throw a link back to this post in for good measure, in case there’s any nonsense about “poisonous rhetoric” or similar.

How long until November 2? Here we come. Boo!

“…they cling to…antipathy toward people who aren’t like them…”

Bo — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:08:48 +0000

Everyone remembers Barack Obama railing against the “bitter” who “cling to guns or religion.” But the “antipathy toward people who aren’t like them” was also part of that gem, and in my view it’s shaping up to be a presidency-defining quote. Charles Krauthammer wrote a great column on that forgotten part of it yesterday.

His thrust is that whenever this administration loses an issue in the court of public opinion—you know, like just about anything it ever supports?—it inevitably shrieks bigotry.

You see, the Tea Party movement can’t possibly be genuinely concerned about the administration’s economic policies. No, they don’t like that Obama is black. Supporters of the Arizona immigration law are not concerned about national security; they’re xenophobic. Prop 8 supporters? Raging homophobes, every one. The Ground Zero mosque cannot be opposed on a basis of anything other than religious persecution.

Following?

If you’re throwing from left to right, you might as well toss a charge of bigotry at your opponent. There’s rarely any significant penalty for it, and if the perception sticks, then you don’t have to argue substance anymore. Well, hell, he’s a racist. Who you gonna believe, me or a racist?

I’m really angry. I thought I’d been politically angry before, but it’s shaken out kind of like the first time I thought I had my heart broken. I described that as a sad time, and then I really got my heart broken a few years later. Put the faux “first time” in perspective. Turned out I’d just had my feelings hurt a little bit.

As with that, so with this. Oh, my goodness, what I wouldn’t give to merely be “angry” at Bill Clinton’s boorishness again!

But no, turns out I really get angry when it becomes conventional wisdom (or all too close to it) that the articulation of a political position I hold, whether I or someone else does it, is really just code for the bigotry polluting my foul soul. Doesn’t matter how often I say that Barack Obama could be white, red, or purple, and I’d feel exactly the same way about him. See, now that’s exactly what a racist would say, isn’t it?

The Democrats are going to get beaten badly in November. Not just because the economy is ailing. And not just because Obama overread his mandate in governing too far left. But because a comeuppance is due the arrogant elites whose undisguised contempt for the great unwashed prevents them from conceding a modicum of serious thought to those who dare oppose them. – Charles Krauthammer

Amen.

“Got To Choose,” Donnington Park, 2008

Bo — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 02:29:38 +0000

Thanks to my always-thoughtful brother-in-law Russ, my sister Jenny and her friend Sarah are enjoying Kiss in Virginia Beach as I type. I’ve been getting from-the-show text updates on ridiculous stage banter, effects, and what-not.

In their honor, here’s a recent pass at my favorite Kiss song. The handheld video is a bit shaky, but the audio sounds like it’s from the board:

I hope you have a good weekend.

Thursday miscellanea #101

Bo — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:10:32 +0000

I believe my elder son has brought me a back-to-school cold.
Next month we’ll celebrate ten years in our house. This is a strong second for longest I’ve ever spent in one place.
Today I started trying to figure out how much money I need to replace my deceased desktop computer. I’ve been on my alternate desktop (that still has a real serial port) and my laptop for months now. (Oh, what horrid conditions!) It looks as if I can solve the problem for under $500, which pleases me.
BioShock Infinite! Gears of War 3! I love killer franchises. Num num num.
IndyCar goes to Chicagoland this Saturday night. I’ve tried hard this season to be a more nuanced observer, and consequently I’ve warmed to the road/street courses a bit. (I’m sure attending one didn’t hurt.) But I still prefer ovals. Danica, “they” are trashing you, sweetheart. A podium finish, very soon, is highly recommended.
Damned if I didn’t almost let the clock run out on the Star Wars exhibit at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Thanks, BamaDan, for the prompt. Looking forward to it. I’m not telling the boys until we’re on the way. (Being in charge of instant gratification surprises is one of my favorite things about being a dad.)
It has depressed me how vigorously and disingenuously many (most?) supporters of the Ground Zero mosque have tried to paint its opponents as ignorant, hateful, and/or un-American. I understand that your position is rationally defensible. Please understand that mine is too.
I’m kicking around the idea of indefinitely taking Sunday off from posting. My Sunday traffic tends to be for shit anyway, and I have a feeling I’ll take more care with Saturday and Monday posts if I do that.

The timelessness of Lego

Bo — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:11:52 +0000

The boys are heavily into Lego, just as I was.

They’re into building spaceships and cars, just as I was.

I was most of 30 years old before I really put Lego down. I can still remember my dad having a little fun with me for asking for, receiving, building, and enjoying the 8824 Hovercraft the Christmas I was 23 years old. (‘Course, then I busted him driving it around the coffee table after dinner.)

These days, one of my favorite idle occupations is to take whatever Lego pile one boy or the other has left on the couch cushion, the ottoman, or wherever, and build what I can with it. Generally it earns their approval. I built a scout/attack craft two weeks ago that is still intact. (He said, proudly.)

They recently learned that Dad’s Lego collection survives. It occupies all of the top shelf in his closet, complete with all of the instructions for the Whirl ‘n’ Wheel Super Truck, the Super Car, the Whirlwind Rescue, the Rally Van, the Technic Fire Engine, the Off-Roader, and many, many others. There are over 100,000 pieces up there, all meticulously organized into trays and compartmentalized boxes.

(Some of the kits are worth several hundred dollars on the collectors’ market now, but I’d never try to turn a profit on them. Legos are some of the greatest toys ever invented, and great toys are to be played with.)

Occasionally the boys remember they’re up there and get after me to get them down, and I will soon, but I think I’m going to wait until a cold night and/or weekend. There seems something proper about that.

Argiope aurantia in the front bed

Bo — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:28:00 +0000

So Lea emailed me this afternoon to ask if I’d seen the spider by the Japanese maple when I was home for lunch. I hadn’t, but her description (and the less-than-optimal look at her photo on my phone) made me think it was probably our old friend Argiope aurantia (aka the yellow and black garden spider and the writing spider).

And so it was. She’s a real beauty. Her body’s an inch and a quarter long—quite large even for the species: