Archive for February 2008

There are few things so loathsome to me as the idea of this “holiday.” Here’s a perspective adjustment. What was it, about 230 years ago that we kicked out the King? And we’ve been doing our level best to bring him back ever since. Kinda reminds me of the “being born from a vagina” joke (where we men spend the rest of our lives trying to get back in one).

Well, perhaps. Though it’s not apparent here, in downtown San Jose, California. These are the three high-rise condos currently under construction, all about a 10-15 minute walk from where I sit. The 88 Axis San Jose 360 Residences And City Heights was recently completed and units are for sale. Don’t know how well that’s going, but it’s clear the building is becoming occupied. As for location, The 88 is prime, being as it is right on the corner of 2nd and San Fernando. You’ve got a couple of dozen good places to eat, shop, and entertain within no more than five minutes walk in several directions. For coolness factor, it’s got to go to Axis. That is one cool looking building.

Billy comes up with another video of that pig creep.

Whew! Close one. She would love to sell bacon-wrapped hot dogs — trust her — but a trip last year to the women’s county jail, a trip she says officials orchestrated to “make an example” of her, finally pushed her to give up the bacon and illegal grilling device she used for so long. Instead, she prepares dogs the only way the county Environmental Health Department currently allows, by boiling or steaming. Not grilling. And grilling is the only way to make a classic L.A. bacon-wrapped hot dog. “Honestly, I can tell you, I’ve been a working person all my life, I’ve worked since I was 9 years old,” Palacios says. “I don’t like being bothered, I don’t like being arrested. Never in my life had I been to jail, and they threw me in jail for violating the laws of the health department.” She’s not the only one. Ask any Fashion District hot-dog vendor and he or she is sure to have at least one story of being cited, arrested or even jailed for grilling bacon-wrapped hot dogs on the sidewalk. (Balko)

Yep. Exactly. McCain is loathsome because Bush is loathsome. You people drawing silly distinctions are just silly and foolish.

You’re an absolute fool to ever willingly cooperate with police, even in the investigation of a crime you know you had no involvement in. Even if lawyering up invites heightened suspicion, I say it’s worth the risk. And make sure it’s a lawyer versed in criminal prosecutions. DNA evidence frees a man who had done ten years in prison for a murder police say he committed when he was 15. They pursued him for 12 years, won a conviction, then kept in prison for a decade until the DNA evidence pointed to someone else. The evidence against him seems to be that (1) the victim was found in a park near his home, and (2) police found a series of violent drawings in his home. It looks like his mistake was cooperating with the police on the assumption that if he was innocent, he had nothing to worry about by answering their questions. And another one. Note that in this case, Scott was convicted largely because of a taped recording of him admitting to participating in the crime. False confessions are much more common than you might think. They happen for a variety of reasons (police brutality, the desire to…

No, really. “Dumpster Directory,” even. Well, whatever floats their boat, I suppose, but at least it’s a pretty funny read. And now I know what to call the bums around here who dig through trash and sleep in the parks. It somehow escapes their notice, apparently, that theirs is a deep irony: in order to protest the “conventional economy,” as they call it, in part for being so wasteful, they subside off its waste. It’s really just a more stark and obvious (honest) form of the same irony that underlies all fundamental opposition to capitalism, free markets and private property.

Now this oughtn’t be taken as good reason to load up on fast food several times a week, but reality is reality. Chris at Conditioning Research does a good job of exposing the dishonesty that pervades journalism. Here and here.

Here’s your reference. The other day, Apple released its new software for their Apple TV and so I went and purchased the 40 gig model. Setup was a cinch. Plug into the wall, plug into your TV, and turn it on. Then you tell it which WiFi to connect to and that’s essentially it. It did need to download and install its new OS, but it did that all on its own. You can choose to let it run in just streaming mode, or choose one of your computers to have it stay synced with all your content on iTunes, in addition to all your photos in iPhoto. It can also access any content on any other computers on the network you tell it to. The point is that this all happens automatically, and then it operates automatically. Even if you don’t do anything it will begin running all your photos on the TV in interesting arrays and graphics. Want to listen to music? It’ll show you the album artwork and then it”’ start going through all your photos as music plays. I suppose you could have it not do all this, but I can’t think of a reason to…

Wherein Officer Salvatore Rivieri of the Baltimore Police Department finds himself with half a million views on YouTube. Now, of course, the only pertinent matter in all of this — other than Rivieri’s appalling behavior — is that those kids weren’t harming anyone and didn’t appear as though they were posing an imminent threat of doing so. He demanded, and then commanded, respect. What he was certainly able to do was intimidate, assault, and ultimately commit battery on one of the boys, then take his property; but he couldn’t force that respect he believed himself entitled to, could he? And doesn’t that respect continue to allude Officer Rivieri? So, Officer Rivieri? How’s that working out for you? You know what? Any real man should find it the easiest, most wholesome, and rewarding experience in the world to earn the respect of teenage boys like that. Sure, there are exceptions, but I know I could have done it. It could be as simple as asking them to explain the relative merits of their transportation equipment and what makes it so special to them. You might have asked them how they go about ensuring they don’t run into and harm anyone. I’m…

Back last April I blogged about my marine (salt water) aquarium which I’d just recently set up. It included a video. Well, here it is today. It’s simply five minutes of stationary video. Make sure an notice the crabs crawling around, and also the Sea Hare who makes his appearance about halfway in. If you watched the video from the previous entry and compared with this one, you’ll see how much pink and purple calcium has grown on the rock surfaces. Here’s the YouTube of the same thing.

To be frank, I’d really rather not put this up. On the other hand, the nearly 800 visitors to this blog yesterday, mostly via Google and other searches for Darren Mack and Charla Mack, signals that maybe I ought to write something, then leave it at that — forevermore. Here was my June 14 post of 2006 about my cousin Darren, whom I knew quite well growing up. Once he was apprehended in Mexico a couple of weeks later I never followed anything much of the case. My mom did, and I got a sad update every now and then from her. She was and remains heartbroken for her own cousin, Darren’s mom. I haven’t seen Joan Mack since the events, but other family members tell me and it’s just damn sad all around. It’s “funny;” I just stopped and realized I never saw Joan with anything but a smile in my whole life. Even at times I may not have considered it the sincerest of smiles, she was always outwardly happy, jovial, welcoming. A very positive person. Daren, having taken a plea deal once the prosecution rested its case at trial, then attempting to back out of it and…

A mutual business acquaintance/partner of both my brother and I, who owns a big construction company here in the Bay Area, rented some rich person’s house on one of the Pebble Beach greens for an ungodly sum for the week. It’s all catered, and we’re been invited to spend the day. 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. I’ll snap some photos, maybe some video clips.

I think that’s about right. Mostly I just think that as human beings, we don’t change things personally and we don’t do it collectively until something really motivates us to change it. It’s not about freedom, or anything like that. If people perceive they’re doin’ alright, they simply aren’t going to change anything. What we do is pretend as though we’re changing things — enthusiasm for Obama’s campaign with its vacuous and nebulous calls for “change” as exhibit one. One might entertain the notion of a Hillary! as president if only to see what America is really made of. My guess: not a whole lot. Not anymore.