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10:36 PM - The end of an era Oh Baby! closed up shop today, much to my consternation. Oddly enough, I find myself wishing for more stability on the domestic front. (
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July 26, 2004
08:00 AM - Backblog I’ve over a week of old entries to catch up on today, or my else my birthday vows will be forfeit, and I will invoke the wrath of all the gods as an oath breaker. (
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July 25, 2004
12:00 AM - Ceremonial deism and judicial pragmatism Went to church this morning to sit in on a forum discussion of the most recent batch of supreme court cases. Of particular interest was the Newdow case, in which Justice O’Connor declared that various Congressional affirmations of classical monotheism constitute permissible expressions of “ceremonial deism” rather than a religious credo which would be subject to the first Amendment’s non-establishment clause. So much for the oft-repeated claim of the Religious Right that court is packed with liberal activists who hope to eliminate religious expression from the public square. I found O’Connor’s decision rather surprising, since the circuit court had based its decision upon a fairly straightforward reading of her reasoning in previous cases. Her decision in this case was narrowly tailored in order to allow for generic expressions of (male-gendered) monotheism while disallowing any expressions which might be somehow distinguishable from the Judeo-Christian faith tradition (e.g. reverence of Allah, Vishnu, or any other gods or goddesses) which is fairly counterintuitive considering her earlier insistence in Lynch v. Donnelly that “[t]he Establishment Clause prohibits…government endorsement or disapproval of religion,” because of the fact that “[e]ndorsement sends a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.” Perhaps I have missed something here, but if the Congressional endorsement of the notion that we are subservient to the Judeo-Christian deity within the context of our most common patriotic exercise does not send a message to nonadherents (i.e. those who worship other gods or none) that they are outsiders and hence not full members of the political community, then I cannot imagine what possibly does. (
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July 24, 2004
12:00 AM - Fit to bursting On the premise that we would do nothing of consequence tomorrow, Laura and I did pretty much everything today. Went out to lunch with the Huxleyite “know nothing” crowd, and once again the company was almost as delightful as the food. Our favorite two Harvard grads were in attendance, the one a former mathematician who is now a member of the state bar and the other a struggling artist who grudgingly practices neurology to pay the bills. Add to this mix a witty activist and comsymp who shops at Wal*Mart (presumably to bolster the economic standing of Communist China) and knows all too well that “Green is the new Red” and it makes for some interesting lunchtime conversation, in between mouthfuls of the very best cuisine that Oklahoma City has to offer. After a late and leisurely lunch, we gave ourselves only a few hours to walk it off before trotting off to dinner and a movie with Laura’s best friend and her spouse. We dined at the Hideaway Pizza (easily the best pizza joint in the entire state) and then went on to watch De-Lovely and The Bourne Supremacy at the AMC 24. I may as well leave it to the reader to guess which same-gendered pair watched which flick, but I can say right out that both movies met with our expectations. The one about the amnesiac former assassin was a suspenseful action-packed thriller and the one about the bisexual crooner was more or less exactly the opposite. (
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July 23, 2004
11:23 PM - Gallivanting abroad A good friend took leave of us today in order to explore foreign lands and their peoples. While the Geneva conventions explicitly ban the taking of war trophies, the Cold War is now officially over and was never really a war to being with, and so I wish him the very best in his travels. Speaking of insatiable appetites which may only be fulfilled by traveling to strange and exotic lands, I discovered today that I will once again be attending the biannual cost conference in Columbus. This is good news since I have been experiencing a deep-seated craving for White Castle hamburgers (490 miles from home) along with a persistent desire to patronize Pizzeria Uno (210 miles from home) for some time now, and Columbus is one of the few towns in America which may rightly boast of both. Now, if I can only get down to 166⅔ lbs. before this trip, then I shall gorge myself with a clean conscience. (
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July 22, 2004
10:22 PM - Best Worst Movie Ever Watched the first half of a movie entitled Truth or Consequences, N.M. this evening before returning the disc to Randy’s M&M’s. I’ll have to watch the second half another time if ever I hope to delete it from my hard drive. (
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July 21, 2004
09:21 PM - Workaday Wednesday As much as I am loathe to write about my work, it is an undeniable fact the highlight of my day today was finally fixing the woefully misguided algorithm which quarterly recalculated the weightings in the ranking tool being used in my office to rack-and-stack reliability and maintainability drivers. Thank the gods we finally got that over with but for the write-up, which should occupy me throughout the remainder of the week. (
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July 20, 2004
08:20 PM - Deli on the Labyrinth For the first time in my recollection, I dined with friends inside the deli rather than outside in view of the labyrinth. This was due to the fact that the heat index was pushing three digits Fahrenheit and the fact that my wife and child had opted to stay at home. Our meetup was enjoyable as always. It seems that we gradually circulate through new faces over time without ever actually increasing or decreasing group size. I wonder if the local pastors face a similar turnover problem. (
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July 19, 2004
07:19 PM - Flag detail About one week after being brushed off by Don Nickels for insisting that acts of flag desecration (and all other forms of peaceful political protest) are an essential aspect of American liberty for which American soldiers have bled and died, I was given the opportunity to raise the flag at the largest military installation in Oklahoma. Ironic, is it not? No, it is not. Those who truly love the flag love it not because of what it is (pieces of flammable cloth) but because of that which it stands for, e.g. the bill of rights. Would that our elected representatives would spend more time fulfilling their oath to support and defend the constitution and less time attempting to circumscribe the freedoms protected thereby. (
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July 18, 2004
06:18 PM - Scrabbling & Swimming I discovered today that both "Savoy" and "Melba" are proper nouns and are therefore useless in the game of Scrabble. I also discovered that my friend Amy is more apt to challenge the use of proper nouns when someone other than her husband is making use of them. (
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July 17, 2004
05:17 PM - Kill Bill (v.1) Watched the first installment in a two-volume motion picture entitled Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino. Despite being an epic so far as tales of vengeance are concerned, this movie is not to be taken too seriously. More like anime than serious cinema, nearly every scene is packed with over-the-top characters performing over-the-top action sequences the likes of which make the Batman series seem realistic (though rather pale) by comparison. My favorite scene featured an hyperbolic action sequence which I considered downright hysterical, though I doubt it was intended as such. Lucy Liu's character, upon consolidating her power over the Tokyo crime families, beheads one of her top crime bosses for questioning her parentage. After the beheading, nothing happens for a moment, until suddenly a torrent of uniform bloodspray like that of an oversized shower head comes gushing forth from the neck stump, providing a more literal twist on the phrase "blood bath," one which will no doubt be used time and again to encapsulate the nature of this flick. The audacious unrealism of this scene was downright pythonesque, and had me rolling on the floor laughing my ass off. By this point in the film, one should realize that this is not so much a movie as it is a live action comic. If you enjoy a movie which allows you to readily suspend your disbelief and follow the characters with interest and sympathy, this one is not for you. If, however, you enjoy watching a skilled and lovely actress wreak a spectacular trail of revenge across bizarre and fantastic cinematic landscapes drawn from the fevered mind of the reigning archduke of sadistic chic, well, this one is for you. (
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July 16, 2004
04:16 PM - Moore v. Smith Obtained a copy of Moore's earliest work today, a relatively unknown documentary entitled Roger & Me in which Moore chases the head of General Motors around the nation demanding to know why they moved their factories from north of Detroit to south of the Rio Grande. Evidently, Moore is upset that GM streamlined operations in the face of strident overseas competition, thereby providing jobs and improving the lives of those that needed it far more than those in Michigan. As to the folks in Flint, I have little doubt that the skilled folks found work elsewhere. As to the unskilled, I have to wonder why they would expect to get paid any more than the minimum wage. Hell, Moore's film noted that former GM workers were unable to cope with the demands of the fast food workplace. With workers like that, it is entirely unsurprising that the corporation sought to recruit from a different labor pool. This movie is intended to tug at the heartstrings (and poke at the viscera) by depicting the economically depressed areas of Flint, Michigan and contrasting them with the lavish parties attended by the city's wealthier residents. I suppose this is an effective way to influence those who have not already reflected upon the fact that a society cannot be simultaneously libertarian and egalitarian. Pat Boone practically said as much, but somehow I doubt the point was well taken. (
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July 15, 2004
03:15 PM - WARNING! While returning to work from a luncheon at Hooters, I drove past a massive pickup truck sporting a bumper sticker very like the following: IN CASE OF RAPTURE, THIS It occurred to me (not for the first time) that it at least as unethical to drive in expectation of imminent bodily disappearance as it would be to drive falling-down drunk. Drunk drivers sometimes manage to make it home safely, but no one who has been caught up to meet Jesus in the air can possibly drive worth a lick. We can fairly assume that such vehicles will inevitably careen about the roads unguided, killing and maiming hapless unsaved victims in the immediate vicinity. Those countries blessed with a lack of vehicular traffic and/or born-again Christians will get off relatively lightly, but here in the United States we have the highest proportions of both. Vanishing Christians across the nation will leave trails of chaos in their wake, as their gas-guzzling SUV’s plow left and right into the smaller, more Earth-friendly vehicles driven by their unsaved liberal neighbors. One might suppose that the driver of the pickup truck in question has not thought overmuch about the potentially horrific consequences of driving "saved" but it seems hard to imagine that someone who takes the time and effort to boast about their salvation and pre-tribulation eschatology is probably quite aware of the various attempt to portray the chaos that will ensue on American highways and byways when the church vanishes in the blink of an eye, such as those depicted in movies such as Left Behind, Apocalypse, The Moment After, etc. All told, I do not see how a Bible-believing born-again Christian can hope to morally justify the act of driving saved. Probably, they should establish a "designated heathen" ministry designed to pair up saved people with unsaved drivers in order to prevent the immediate and catastrophic death (and subsequent damnation) of millions of unsaved people across America. (
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July 14, 2004
08:20 PM - Divx rules! Probably the highlight of the day was the discovery that I could encode decrypted DVD files into nicely compressed (divx) files for use on my Pentium III at home. Probably, this will benefit my child more than anyone else. Already I've managed to convert my Nemo DVD into a format usable on my PC's, none of which are capable of playing DVD's. This frees up the television for the adults, which is a pleasant change of pace around here. (
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July 13, 2004
04:16 PM - Southside slummin' Today we witnessed the completion of a most thorough refurbishment of the cubicle community immediately to the north of our own. It appears that we southside folk will continue to dwell in our dilapidated and unimproved quarters while the north end folks look down upon us from their fancy new digs. Oddly enough, this arrangement seems perfectly intuitive to me, as I grew up in Chicago. (
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July 12, 2004
12:12 PM - Artifical (military) intelligence? Got the change to listen to a pitch from some contractors claiming that they can use artificial neural networks and natural language processing techniques to help make sense of a massive accumulation of free-form maintenance narratives dating back for decades. I have some difficultly believing that this may be practically done, and I’ve yet to see any commercial equivalent. Somehow, I doubt that the USAF Mx folks are going to lead the world in this matter, but I suppose I will allow for the possibility. (
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July 11, 2004
08:20 PM - In-laws and out-laws Spent the better part of the day at my wife’s brother’s wife’s house, watching our children frolic about in a kiddy pool overflowing with chlorine and algaecide. I sincerely hope that my child suffers no long-term effects on his health as a result of this day’s play. Michelle is nice enough if you deal with her one-on-one, but I fear that she does not understand where I am coming from, especially with respect to our mutual in-laws. For example, it has been said that my wife and her mother seem to consider my little brother-in-law’s current girlfriend to be a potential seductress, if not an outright slattern. For once, I sought to defend my in-laws’ behavior, noting that it is perfectly legitimate to fear that a pair of teenagers may slip into an irresponsible pattern of sexual behavior without attributing any malice aforethought or intention of seduction to either party. Later, she characterized this defense as my own worries that they would let their hormones get the best of them. Now, that might well be a tidy paraphrase, but it is not my concern. (
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July 10, 2004
11:59 PM - Chillin' w/ '05 Partied with my wife’s classmates this evening. I did not really get to know anyone terribly well; however, the general impression that I came away with was that of many remarkable medical minds improbably coupled with the personalities of sorority alumnae and the bodies of cheerleaders – excellent spousal fodder if you can get it. Their husbands/fiancées/boyfriends were almost uniformly a handsome, boisterous and humorous lot, which I suppose is to be expected when dealing with such high quality women. One might think that with so many in-laws mucking about in the metro area we might well be able to palm our boy off on a close relative while we enjoy an evening of semi-drunken revelry, but my wife is none too keen on separating herself from her offspring for any significant amount of time, and so we brought him along, as we almost always do. As usual, he greatly enjoyed being the center of attention throughout most of the evening, as he was lavished with affection from a bevy of women who had put off childbearing in favor of their careers. He is invariably spoiled by women on account of his looks, and I can only hope for his sake that he can keep that up as long as possible. (
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July 09, 2004
09:09 AM - Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man Amazon's one-click technology has enabled my impulse buying like never before. I purchased the book Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man today. Remarkably, it is far more fair and balanced and somewhat less vitriolic than any of Moore's work that I've seen or read. I'll post up my review shortly. (
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July 08, 2004
04:16 PM - Fahrenheit 9/11 Downloaded and watched this consummate work of propaganda today, and I am truly thankful that I did not send any of my money to Michael Moore, the ever narcissistic and paranoid spinster of modern mythology who somehow passes himself off as a documentarian and defender of truth. Even a modicum of critical thought and/or a passing familiarity with the facts at hand inoculates the viewer against the major themes found in this remarkable piece of modern agitprop, including the claim Bush stole the Florida election, the implication that he is in cahoots with the Saudis and the Taliban (and soft on terrorism as a result), and various conspiratorial musings to the effect that the current administration’s actions in response to the 9/11 murders were somehow motivated by a malevolent hidden agenda. I’ll leave the actual debunking to the folks at spinsanity.org but for now it suffices to say that I am appalled and enraged that such a blatant piece of propaganda has garnered so much popularity and credulity in our society. (
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July 07, 2004
05:17 PM - Joined the ACLU today Been putting it off forever but a nastily curt response from Senator Nickles today on a first amendment issue set me off. Congrats Senator, you have helped recruit one more card-carrying member of the ACLU. Also, I desecrated a flag today in your honor. (
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July 06, 2004
04:16 PM - Happy anniversary! My wife and I celebrate eight years of married life today. Eight years - whoa. According to a recent U.S. Census report, “First marriages which end in divorce last 7 to 8 years, on average” and so it would seem we are already marginally ahead of the game. All the more so in that we are every bit as crazy about each other as ever we were before we were married, at least that is how it seems to me from where I am sitting. I should have sent a poet if I was hoping to blog about my feelings for my wife, and so I will desist now before I break into slant verse. (
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July 05, 2004
03:15 PM - Happy b-day, Mom! By my calculations, my mother is 43 years old as of today. Would that I could age so well as she has. Alas, I am already at least as bald as Greg Graffin, though I am his junior by at least a decade or so. (
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July 04, 2004
11:23 PM - Happy b-day, USA! Today we celebrate the birth of our nation in the midst of a massive protest against oligarchic abuses of political power and heavy-handed taxation, the likes of which seem fairly benign by today’s standards. How horribly (and unamusingly) ironic. I could not help but think about incoming mortar rounds and the refrain "bombs bursting in air" as we watched the fireworks at UCO Sunday night. For once, though, I kept my mouth shut since I did not want to spoil the moment for Mom and Laura. Vague patriotic feelings about liberty are one thing, focusing one's attention on the dangerous and difficult task of liberating a people reared in a culture of repression is another thing altogether. (
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July 03, 2004
07:11 PM - Life of Brian The Pythons were kind enough to re-release the Life of Brian this summer in the wake of the overwhelming success of The Passion of the Christ . Oddly enough, it was impossible to find a theater in which one could view both flicks back to back. (
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July 02, 2004
07:19 PM - Saved! This film has generated plenty of controversy in Focus on the Family circles, which is unsurprising since it is a dead-on parody of the bizarre fundamentalist subculture which they so avidly champion. (
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July 01, 2004
10:22 PM - Rites of passage My little brother-in-law turned 18 today, much to my consternation. Not that I was keen on the only alternative to his growing older, but it does make me feel fairly antiquated to know that he is now legally an adult. At the beginning of last month, I mentioned that a college classmate of mine is now a field-grader (read: military muckety-muck) and now Chas is an adult. Between then and now, I turned 30, and now the hippies do not trust me any more. Enough about me getting older, this is about Chas growing up. Ever wonder why our society lacks the well-defined rites of passage common to most human cultures ever to flourish on the face of planet Earth. I sure do. Why do we not make him climb a tree of something to demonstrate his passage into adulthood and our acceptance of his status as such? I suppose it might have something to do with our culture being defined by the laws of state rather than the customs of society. In any event, we opted to mark his birthday in the very most pedestrian and suburban manner possible, that is, by dining out at a chain restaurant. The name of the establishment is immaterial, but I might mention that I had to fight the temptation to purchase chipotle blue cheese bacon burger. I suppose one might argue that we were far from pedestrian, in that my wife and I became caught up in an argument over the merits of Michael Moore's movies with my wife's sister and her current lover, both of which were drawing disapproving stares from the pro-federal marriage amendment crowd all too common in Edmond, Oklahoma. Again, I drift from the point, which is that Chas is an adult now, and that I could think of nothing whatsoever to commemorate the fact. |
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