Friday, October 20, 2006

Poetry: Samurai Song by Robert Pinsky

Samurai Song by Robert Pinsky, from Jersey Rain. © Farrar, Straus and Giroux

When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.

When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.

(via The Writer's Almanac)

Press: Science takes the fiction out of the invisibility cloak - LAT

(Los Angeles Times) "Taking a page from movies and comic books, researchers at Duke University have developed what they call an "invisibility cloak," a rudimentary device that hides objects by bending electromagnetic waves so that they flow around the object like water around a rock.

Because none of the waves are reflected back at the observer, the object seems invisible."

Politics: Rev. Mercieca, what the f---?

I'm sorry but there is no other way to describe Father Anthony Mercieca, yesterday implicated as the Catholic priest who sexually abused former Rep. Mark Foley as a boy, except as a self-deluded fuckup. Press reports of his account show he is in denial and still clueless about several key rules about being a good and holy human being:

Never sexually touch or abuse a child, ever.
Never get naked with and sexually abuse or touch a child, ever.
Especially if you are an ordained minister of God, never get naked with and sexually abuse or touch a child, ever.
Especially if you are an ordained minister of God and claim to be on friendly terms with a child's family, never get naked with and sexually abuse or touch a child, ever.
Never claim that the child so abused must have taken your actions "the wrong way."
Never be surprised or puzzled that the child so abused grows up to be a lifelong homosexual, an alcoholic, or a child abuser himself.

It is bad enough that Rev. Mercieca was a fatally flawed and self-destructive human being. It was even worse that he visited his flaws, and greater sins, upon one or more impressionable youths, so ruining additional lives and those of their loved ones, like so many dominoes.

Rev. Mercieca should be locked away for the rest of his life -- a verdict that in fact should have been rendered some 45 years ago.

Trivia: Who's your Happy Bunny?

Trivia: Happy Bunny

I just found out about Happy Bunny, purveyor of snarky comments such as:

I'm not mean, you're just a sissy.
Look how cute my parents used to be!
You're dumb. I like that.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Email: Hotmail Support

My Hotmail trash says you delete its contents "every (1) days." However, I now have 200 emails in it going back to Oct 1 and beyond. What gives?

Musings: Home of homophobia

When I think back, the only time I have ever feared, felt threatened by, or been propositioned by gay men was while I attended a Catholic high school or college. Why is that, I wonder?

Proverbs: Writing is a way to wake up others to the wonders of life.

Neologisms: digilent

Digitally vigilant, monitoring the digital information stream for urgent breaking developments.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Quotes: "To love is to wake up" (Natalie Goldberg)

"To love is to wake up. . . . We need to wake up when we buy groceries, push the cart down the aisle, see labels, count out change, feel our step on the floor tile. Every moment is enormous, and it is all we have." -- Natalie Goldberg

Books: Applebee's America - Douglas Sosnick and Matthew Dowd

An excerpt via NPR: "Lloyd Hill helped build Applebee's International into the world's largest casual dining chain despite his lack of experience in the restaurant business, middling reviews of the chain's food, and the challenges of running a 'neighborhood grill and bar' in 1,700 neighborhoods.

Rick Warren preached to 21,000 worshipers each week, inspired countless megachurch copycats, and wrote the best-selling hardcover in U.S. history just two decades after starting his southern California ministry with no money, no church, no members, and no home.

Each case makes you wonder: How did that happen? The answers are in this book, which goes behind the scenes of political campaigns, corporate boardrooms, and church services to reveal how these and other leaders succeed in an era of intense transition. Whether your product is a candidate, a hamburger, or the word of God, the challenge is the same: How do you connect with a fast-changing public and get them to buy what you're selling?

But this book is not just about America's successful leaders. It's also about the people they lead. Anxious witnesses to terrorism, technological revolutions, and globalization, Americans are making seismic changes in the ways they live, work, and play -- and those choices ultimately determine how they vote, what they buy, and how they spend their Sunday mornings. People are adjusting their lifestyles for many reasons, chief among them their insatiable hunger for community, connection, and a higher purpose in life. Presidents Bush and Clinton, and Hill and Warren, figured that out, one of the many things they have in common."

Weblogs: Beautiful steampunk laptop


(via Boing Boing)

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: John Paul II: The Friend of All Humanity

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Get Smart, Seasons 1-5 [TV]

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Email: Faith or fear [AS]

You have a vivid description for the post-divorce tumult. I like vivid, clear descriptions. (I think many people do, though the more pedestrian do not.)

I think you are right that it's people's attitude or response to the challenge facing them that matters. Being afraid means one considers oneself smaller than those events; walking forward (with reasonable trepidation if not fearlessness) means one considers oneself up to or equal to the task, whatever it may bring. Perhaps faith and hope make the difference.

Words: maritorious [OED]

RootsWeb: ABOUT-WORDS-L maritorious, mariturient and moggie: "I found out a rare word yesterday. MARITORIOUS, meaning a woman who is excessively fond of her husband. This is just the opposite of uxorious. But, the word is so rare that it is not listed in many dictionaries. I found an entry in the OED, which describes it as a nonce word, used humorously for the first time in 1607, by Chapman.

'DAMES MARITORIOUS NE'RE WERE MERITORIOUS.'

The OED also lists MARITALITY as having the same meaning."