Did I read that sign right?

Allegedly, these signs are all true. If not, they smack of truthiness.


In an office: TOILET OUT OF ORDER…… PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW

In a Laundromat: AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT

In a London department store: BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

In an office: WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN

In an office: AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD

Notice in health food shop window: CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS

Spotted in a safari park: ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

Seen during a conference: FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN’T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR

Notice in a farmer’s field: THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES.

On a repair shop door: WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR – THE BELL DOESN’T WORK).

TW3, or how Johnny Depp wrecked my Friday

I was watching two 2nd graders, Lydia and her friend Leah.

There was this TV show in the 1960s called That Was The Week That Was. It was on NBC TV, in 1964 and 1965, based on a 1963 British show of the same name, which satirically summarized political events. Sometimes, life feels particularly out of kilter, maybe like a Tim Burton movie.

Saturday: I spent shopping with my father-in-law. I must say that I almost never shop in malls – they make me verklempt – but went to two of them that day. One, the evil Crossgates, I had been to only once in the past decade or more, and that to a free movie. It’s, unfortunately, the only place around here with an Apple store, which did fix my father-in-law’s computer problem. Then we went to Colonie Center. Both of these places were amazingly crowded, especially in the parking lots, which makes me think the financial crisis must be over.

Then to K-Mart, which looked run down, and had relatively few patrons, which made me feel as though it were March of 2009. We had a little party for the Daughter afterward.

Sunday: Church and housecleaning.

Monday: Took off to take care of some chores. I always overestimate how much I’ll get done on a day off. My bicycle has not been operating well. The rear tire was not “true”, and on every rotation, it was as though I had applied the brakes. The tire couldn’t be “trued”, so needed to be replaced. I had to leave the bike there, which was just as well, since the temperature dropped like a stone, and the wind picked up, during the day. Then planning for and attending the Friends of the Library meeting; I’m on the board, and in charge of the annual meeting. Since it was the Daughter’s actual natal day – though she doesn’t consider it to be so until 10:27 p.m. – we has some presents.

Tuesday: Work – the secretary was out, and I was answering phones, so I got very little reference done, especially in the morning.

Wednesday: Actually a productive workday, even though we had a library staff meeting. The Daughter went to bed around 8:30, but was up a couple of hours later with – let’s say, stomach distress. Both her parents were up with her until midnight.

Thursday: Home with the not all that sick child. The Wife leaves work early so she can get me to work on time for the March birthday party honoring me and one colleague. Still managed to get a couple reference questions done. Surprisingly get to the bike shop before it closed to retrieve the vehicle, grabbed a sandwich, and later had choir rehearsal.

Friday: The Albany schools were closed for some reason, and I was watching two 2nd graders, Lydia and her friend Leah. On the last half-day off from school during a workweek, Leah’s parents watched Lydia, and now it was my time to reciprocate. We played Uno, hide and seek, kickball, Chinese checkers; I was so exhausted and achy after that day, I could have gone to bed before supper. We also watched that Alice in Wonderland film with Johnny Depp, which was just fine. Afterward, though, the picture tube on the TV seemed to have died; I’m not saying it’s causal, but this week, I wouldn’t doubt it.

So today, there’s a surprise party, with all that entails. I dasn’t say more.

March Rambling: Accidental Racism, Verb Tenses and Marvel Movie Boycott

The first Atelier Mends iPad app, uJigsawArt©, is here

The Kind Of Intellectual

(From The Bad Chemicals; used by permission)

God is a second-rate fiction writer. “There are true stories, short stories, fabrications, misrepresentations, novels, insurance reports, family sagas, testimonials, memorials, fairy tales, myths and arguments, the point of all being some kind of narrative persuasion. It’s a kind of stubborn, human-nature way of insisting things be seen from my point of view because that particular point of view is more entertaining, or more valid, or funnier or more beneficial.”

“When the news broke that ‘This American Life’ was retracting the episode ‘Mr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory,’ Ira Glass made an effort to be clear that the show has verification standards, but that they fell short in this instance.”

The sequence of verb tenses: “You get to decide which verb forms to use based on your intentions and your understand of the language from reading, speaking, and hearing it.”

Dangerous Konymania, and that was before the story got really weird
On the other hand, Carl Weathers is not your enemy, plus more fun examples of accidental racism.

The Nazis’ rules for jazz performers.

The Othello rap (via HERE).

From Robert Reich: “America’s problem isn’t a breakdown in private morality. It’s a breakdown in public morality. What Americans do in their bedrooms is their own business. What corporate executives and Wall Street financiers do in boardrooms and executive suites affects all of us.”

Interesting piece on body image.

Albert Wood and the secrets of the funeral reveal

Advance review of the new John Grisham novel about baseball, Calico Joe.

Jim Shooter explains The Cory Doctorow Doctrine and Other Techno-Tectonic Upheavals HERE and HERE and HERE.

The Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon series (1966). And re: those superheroes, Steve Bissette on boycotting Marvel/Disney movies such as The Avengers because of the treatment of Jack Kirby HERE and HERE.

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

Military STD Posters, 1918-1945.

Do you want to know a secret? Secrecy News: a favorite source

The first Atelier Mends iPad app, uJigsawArt©, is here and available on the Apple Store for free!

A maker in Scotland has created an elaborate, steampunk-style, hand-cranked corkscrew. Rube Goldberg would be pleased.

Plane 101, verified by Snopes, no less.

Whatever that guy said? Do the other thing! Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation gets the short end of EVERY conversation.

Here is a video of a person in a Darth Vader mask and cape, and a Utilikilt, riding a unicycle, playing Star Wars music on a bagpipe, in Portland, OR, which took you longer to read than the video runs. Plus, Seussical Siths.

In honor of Robert Sherman, who died this month, one of his and his brother Richard’s most famous compositions, It’s a Small World (via HERE). Oh, and some more Sherman Brothers songs.

Eddie discusses how he sells stuff on Craigslist, much of which could be used selling on eBay, e.g.

GOOGLE ALERTS

From Australia: ROGER Green may be a modest man, but for Vicki Doherty and many others in the Clarence Valley, the well-known Grafton musician is a living treasure.

Unemployment numbers down for sixth straight month: “Roger Green is also looking for something more. ‘I’m an ex-felon, it’s been pretty hard for me personally,’ Green said. He has a part-time gig now but wants to find something full-time. This morning, he’s feeling inspired.”

 

Requiem of the Week: Verdi

I have never had the chance to perform the Requiem by my cousin Joe Green, I mean by 19th-century composer Giuseppe Verdi, but I listen to it each year. The piece has an interesting history, with one segment initially written in honor of Rossini’s death, but the project was abandoned. Verdi then wrote the whole requiem in honor of another late colleague.

One can hear the whole piece HERE and I’m sure elsewhere. Probably the most famous segment is the beginning of the Dies Irae which has been used in films and on TV, as this extensive list of Verdi on soundtracks will attest.

Scott’s questions about Romney’s Veep, baseball and travel

I got to think Romney’s VP pick won’t be a white non-Hispanic guy.

Scott of the Scooter Chronicles, who is BACK blogging after an understandable hiatus – asks these questions:

1. (The Usual) Who do you think ends up in the World Series this year?

Interestingly, it feels more like parity to me this year. It’s not that ANYONE could win the Series – it won’t be the Royals or the Mets, e.g. The AL East will be very competitive unless the BoSox don’t recover from their epic collapse. Will the Rangers represent the AL for the third year in a row? Not feeling it; the Angels, with Pujols, should win the West. And the AL Central remains a mystery to me.

Washington will be better, Philadelphia will be worse. The Braves are supposed to have some great young arms, after THEIR epic collapse. The Giants will improve, iff Buster Posey’s healthy. I think Cincinnati wins the NL Central.

For no good reason, I’ll go with two Florida teams, the Tampa Bay Rays and the FloridaMiami Marlins. Unless Andy Petitte’s return to the Yankees is way more successful than I expect.

4. (May have been asked this before) If money was no object, what is your dream vacation?

Not just money, but time: I want to go to every Major League Baseball park in the same year. Fly to Seattle, take the train to the 5 California teams, then to Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Georgia, followed by the Midwest, starting with Missouri and ending, via Toronto, with Pittsburgh, then finishing with the I-95 corridor from DC to Boston.

3. Any travel plans for the warmer months?

It’s ALREADY the “warmer months”! If it’s 75 in Albany in the fourth week in March, with mosquitoes in the yard, what will July look like? That said, we’ll probably make it to Newport, RI.

5. Did you ever visit an area, not expecting much, but were surprised at what it had to offer?

Last summer, we went to this cabin in the Adirondack Mountains. Let’s say that it wasn’t my thing. But we went into town to North Creek, where I got to use the library. It had some nice restaurants, and it was quite scenic.

2. Who do you think Romney will pick as a running mate?

Let’s start with names he said he’d consider earlier this year: several governors- Chris Christie (NJ) – too much of a blowhard; Mitch Daniels (IN) – his family will veto this; Bobby Jindal (LA); Susana Martinez (NM) – pictured; Bob McDonell (VA) – fatally tainted by the ultrasound thing; Brian Sandoval (NV); Nikki Haley (SC) – having problems in her own state. Former governors Tim Pawlenty (MN) – got out of the Presidential race too early, so his fire in the belly will be questioned, plus he’s dull; Mike Huckabee (AR) – seriously?; Haley Barbour (MS) – his prisoner release just before the end of his term will not serve him well; U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), a Cuban Hispanic with issues, who won’t necessarily bring the Mexican-American vote; CIA director David Petraeus – the name associated with an increasingly unpopular war. Here are some more names being bandied about.

I got to think it won’t be a white non-Hispanic guy. Rubio was my initial pick, or maybe Haley, but now I’m leaning towards Martinez, head of a swing state, or Jindal .

BTW, the reason the Etch-A-Sketch comment by a Romney associate resonated so much is that most people find him disingenuous.

Ramblin' with Roger
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