Perpetual Off Night

The blog is dead. Long live the blog.

2006-07-18T23:48:00.000-05:00

Effective immediately, I'll no longer be using this site anymore.

But before you toss that confetti in the air, I am now conducting my bloggy business at a new address: http://daddydemocrat.com/. Please update your bookmarks and feed subscriptions forthwith. See you around.

(The content will remain live on this site so as to make sure that permalinks don't break for others. I'm too lazy to test all the possible scenarious with referrals. Most of the content here, however, has also been imported into the new blog home, and with enhancements.)

Lentz Lunch

2006-05-23T22:08:00.000-05:00

One of the nice things about working on a college campus is that you never know who you'll get to talk to or what you'll get to talk about before the day is over. Today I went to the grill for a quick sandwich and found Bryan Lentz there talking to a colleague. Bryan is our top-notch candidate for State Rep. in the PA-161, and I enjoyed the chance to sit with him and hear about how the campaign is going.

Bryan always impresses me whenever I run into him. He's a natural for politics, and I mean that in all the best possible ways. He first got my attention in November, when he contacted our Township Dems a few weeks before the local-only election. With nothing asked in return, he mobilized his volunteers to help us staff the polls. They didn't wear Lentz swag. They just showed up and worked their tails off for our candidates. "Right now, the most important thing we have to do is get Democrats elected," he told me. Bingo. Candidates need to ask for help, and I'm more willing than most to work for them. But you have to be impressed with a candidate who, in the big-money era of politics, scratches your back first.

Lentz has a lot of the good-guy charisma that reminds me of Ed Rendell, but without all the bluster. He's campaigning hard, wearing out shoes as he goes door-to-door across the district. While he's shown fund-raising prowess, the organization is running on the fuel of people power. I'm a grass-roots guy at heart.

It's a great moment to be an uppity blue in this area. Not only are things naturally trending in our favor with the slow dismantling of the famous Delco machine, but the candidates we're attracting are amazing. Having both Lentz and Joe Sestak, who is running for Congress in PA-07 against wacko Curt Weldon, makes our full slate into a dream team. Almost an embarrassment of riches. I've never been so excited about the ticket as I'm going to be this November.

If you're a Dem and you live in Southeastern PA, your time is now. There are great candidates practically growing on trees—men and women who you can be proud to be associated with. If you have a shred of hope that government can be better than the mess that the the so-called Republican revolution has created, get yourself to a candidate's web site or local headquarters and get to work. Do not sit this one on the sidelines.

Technorati tags: PA POLITICS DEMOCRATS BRYAN LENTZ PA-161 PA-07

The son and the heir

2006-05-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Mom: You know, I'll still be your mom when you're 10, and when you're 15. I'll still be your mom when you're 40 years old and have your own family and your own house.
Lad: Will you live with me then?
Mom: Sure. I can live with you if you want.
Lad: Okay! But I'm going to need your furniture. And your hall light fixture.

A.B.C. Always be closing.

I hate to ask—for fear that I don't want to hear the answer—where I am in this plan?

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

A new generation of Beats

2006-04-30T12:38:00.000-05:00

When we leave the room, we often are often able to listen in on free-form poetry performances by our son. Check out this, transcribed (in secret) from yesterday's orations:

the good fairy came
& she didn't like
the holy water spirit
of the United States of America

holy liberty sauce
with cheese
& God made it
& he came back one more time
& he want to heaven.
Freeze!

& peace for all
& a police officer for all
& Jesus for all

& liberty
& liberty for all
& liberty for all
& liberty for all
but not justice
just liberty

I promise, he's never heard a beat poem in his life!

Technorati tags: POETRY CHILDREN

Somebody wanna confess to teaching this to him?

2006-04-29T19:33:00.000-05:00

Me: I'm trying to get you to relax and calm down a little bit.
Lad: I don't want to relax. I need to wock and woll.

What next?

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

Gotta Make the Donuts

2006-04-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

Early in the morning tomorrow, a troop of groggy web-heads are going to show up on the campus. Normally, the members of the team I'm heading up call this sort of function "making the donuts," referring to the old Dunkin' Donuts ads.

Except this time it's no ordinary batch. We're showing up early to perform the cutover of the College's brand new web site. (If it's April 26th, you can visit www.swarthmore.edu to see it.)

The launch day is the culmination of two years of work. Two years of committee meetings, sketches on whiteboards, wireframe drawings, contract negotiations, software demonstrations, load tests, usability tests, story drafts, war rooms, and massive quantities of pixel-pushing. We designed. We redesigned. We refined the redesign. We redesigned the refined redesign.

Five consulting firms. Thousands of emails. On the eve of the launch, I can say that the project has been exhausting/heady/crazy/thrilling/cool. Possibly insane. Fun.

The resulting site is a labor of abiding love. And for those who don't quite love the project, it is a labor of great pride. Although I have had the honor and responsibility of leading the project across the finish line, I've never worked on a project that coordinated the good efforts of so many good people. It's astonishing what it takes to make a modern college web site.

It takes a village.

I could try to name everyone who helped. It would be pages long, and still manage to miss an important contribution. Sometimes, you just have to credit the village.

Tomorrow is just the first step in a comprehensive plan to make the site better from top to bottom. We call that Phase II. Phase II awaits. But first, the donuts.

That reminds me: I'd better pick up donuts for everybody on my way into work tomorrow.

Technorati tags: WEB TECHNOLOGY

The thought that counts

2006-04-22T17:18:00.000-05:00

At this very moment, the lad is shouting "God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food, with liberty and justice for all... And many more!"

(Can you tell he was at both a birthday party and a church service today?)

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

Stupid Moments in Advertising

2006-04-17T22:24:00.000-05:00

The copy for a current Mercedes-Benz magazine advertisement reads "YOU'RE NOT BUYING A CAR. YOU'RE BUYING A BELIEF." (Yes, they used all caps.)

I know that marketers love to ponder the sophisticated courtship between brands and customers' identities. Still, I'm convinced that with a MSRP over $85,000, a Benz customer will probably want his new belief to come with a car. A very nice car.

Technorati tags: ADVERTISING HUMOR

The Quote Machine

2006-04-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

After watching a performance by a singer on a certain popular talent competition...

Lad: That singer was kinda bad, kinda good.
Mom: What was the bad part?
Lad: The judges said...the judges said she was broadway.
Mom: Oh, and what was good about her?
Lad: I like the way she en-vib-er-ated.

Later, when asked to shoosh for a minute...

Lad: I can't stop my motormouth. I need my motormouth to keep going.

Then, as left him in his room at bedtime, in response to a request:

Dad: Hmm...I don't know.
Lad: Well, you think about it.

Technorati tags: CHILDREN

All work and no play makes daddy a bad blogger

2006-03-26T23:42:00.000-05:00

With the full press at work to get the Super Big Project out the door, I don't expect to be taking much time for posting this week.

While I'm off summoning the web demons to do my bidding, I'll mention that our son, who knows his letters but cannot yet read, has already come to the conclusion that the Internet is where you go to investigate information. He's always coming up to me and asking if I can help him find things on the Internet. Pictures and information of animals are always high on the list.

The lesson is clear for librarians and publishers alike. If kids who don't even read already know that the web is where you look for information, it's not just the matter of convenience that has caused the search engines, wikipedia, etc. to dominate own the mindshare. At that point, the Internet is information, a deeply-embedded part of culture.

This weekend, our new research interest was bats. We visited my parents 19th-century farmhouse this weekend. Bats live there. Lots of them. I grew up with bats around me, so apparently I was taking them for granted. Every night at dusk, bats came swarming out of the eaves. And as a teenager, I guided tours in a local cavern, where early morning tours usually meant a few bats would fly into you as you. Sure, I knew about echo-location and some other basic facts. I had no idea, though that bats are so cool. Don't believe me? Seriously.

When you know your child is gonna grow up just fine.

2006-03-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

Normally my parenting posts and political posts don't converge, but today they are joined.

Son-of-ours wanted to know what his daddy was reading on the computer this morning. I explained it was news about an election.

Me: People are talking about who should be our next president. Who do you think we should pick to be the president?
Lad: We should pick a lady. [Parents beam.]
Me: I think so too. That would be a really good thing.
Lad: We should pick a lady who won't lose.

I also told him that there was going to be an election between Santorum and Casey. I explained that Santorum was our current senator, but that a lot of people were tired of him, and that mommy and daddy were going to vote for somebody else.

He offered only a two word response, "Santorum out!" and pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

Kid, you are just too cool for words.

Technorati tags: CHILDREN POLITICS

The inevitable phase of boyhood

2006-03-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

Me: I'm hungry. We should get some dinner.
Lad: I'm hungry too.
Me: I'm hungry like a bear.
Lad: I'm hungry like a meat-eater!
Me: A meat-eater?
Lad: T. Rex. I'm a T. Rex. Grarh!

Technorati tags: CHILDREN

Welcome surface warfare officers!

2006-03-10T20:45:00.000-05:00

The day's traffic report says that there's been a burst of traffic originating from a private web site for Naval SWO's. One presumes that this connection is a couple posts on this site about Ret. Vice-Admiral Sestak, who is running for Congress here in PA-07.

I was a little surprised at the traffic. Any lurkers want to let the rest of the us in on the scoop?

Technorati tags: PA Politics Democrats PA-07 Joe Sestak

The waters of March

2006-03-10T19:03:00.000-05:00

Spring really arrived in Pennsylvania today. A light breeze with the temperature in the 70's. Blooms are just around the corner. Everyone I know had a little touch of spring fever. Some had a pretty big touch. (You know who you are!)

Even though I have a lot on my mind now, I'm taking the day to just feel the warmth, and have a little gratitude. I was listening to music at work, when one of the most beautiful, graceful songs ever recorded popped up on my iTunes rotation, Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March" ("Águas de Março").

And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March.
It's the end of all strain.
It's the joy in your heart.

Technorati tags: HAPPINESS MUSIC

We're all dopes in the ports show

2006-03-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Fearful of a mid-term election that could "go national," "spell realignment," or "trigger armageddon," how thrilled are Congressional Republicans right now? RoveBushCo handed them the big fat present in the ports fiasco: an issue that they can showcase back home in tight races to distance themselves from an unpopular administration. In fact, I'm sure there were some that were looking forward to a veto, just so they could override it.

Surely the President wanted the the deal to go through, but I doubt that the politcal arm of the administration was afraid to sacrifice it. A corporate sale left incomplete is not the kind fiasco that could tarnish a legacy, and it sure takes our attention off of the whole corruption meme that would otherwise be dominating the news cycles for the last few weeks.

Xenophobia sells. Truly, a master stroke. Watch congressional approval numbers get an uptick in next week's polls.

Technorati tags: POLITICS

Busy man

2006-03-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

Mom: Who wants to go see pop-ball's basketball team play this weekend?
Dad, age 35: I will!
Mom, age perfect: I will!
Boy, age 4: I won't, because I have a lot of projects to do.

Later, while explaining why he likes to gobble up ice cream quickly: "I eat ice cream fast so my gums and my teeth will be unaffected."

Do you get the sense that this child has an explanation for EVERYTHING? How are we going to manage this when he'll able to thoroughly outsmart his clever parents by the age of seven?

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

Globetrotter Wannabe

2006-03-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

Parenthood put the brakes on some ambitions earlier in married life to see the world. This is just a reminder to myself that I'm fascinated by the world, and I've only seen a small fraction. College education for the offspring, be damned!

Create your own visited countries map.
(Via Big Monkey, Helpy Chalk.)

Technorati tags: TRAVEL

Plea to science fiction scriptwriters

2006-03-06T21:29:00.000-05:00

We're not really big science fiction fans in our household, but we've been cowed by critics and friends into finally watching the DVD's of the Battlestar Gallactica remake. Indeed, they are as good as advertised. My favorite part is that the scripts spare no one. Being innocent or helpless does not protect a character. Cute kids are kinda the red shirts of this universe.

The constant threats of complete annihilation raise the table stakes.

Just one small kvetch, since both Gallactica and The Matrix used the premise that the machines wanted access to the human mainframes. Dear writers: the word is mainframe is soooooo 1982. I know how hard it is to write about fictional technology without sounding bogus. But your core audience for this stuff is very tech-savvy, and it just makes you sound like posers when you use dead slang that the cool geeks would never use.

Ok. You may resume scary, scary Cylon assault.

Technorati tags: TV

Geography Whiz

2006-03-05T23:33:00.000-05:00

How proud we were of our clever little boy when he saw a drawing of London appear in a cartoon for a few seconds and exclaimed: "Look, mom! It's Mary Poppins Land."

Either we're letting him watch too many DVD's, or we're developing his visual literacy excellently well. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Technorati tags: CHILDREN

The Second Banana (and other recent experiences of parenting a four year old)

2006-03-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

My schedule this AM allowed me to be the one to drop Booch at school. After we put his bag and coat on the hook, he turned to his schoolmates and said: "Sorry, everyone. I didn't bring my mommy with me to school today. I just brought my daddy. Sorry." One thing I learned long ago was to never let your self-esteem be governed by a preschooler.

After dinner, we sang some songs. (Current favorite: Louis Jordan's "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens.") When he was done, he leaned back on me, looked up and wistfully said: "I really like to watch TV. I think I haven't watched enough TV today." Oops.

Our good sleeper is developing some bad habits. A few nights ago, he came crying into our room. We got him calmed down, but he reported that he was having bad dreams about "mean bad guys." (Hey, it was bound to happen eventually.) He's been in to wake us up every night since. We're not having any of it, but he's on the verge of getting in trouble now. Two nights in a row, the complaint was that his nose was stuffed up. Ok, valid enough. But then last night, without a good excuse to go with he came in at 2:00 AM with "I can't find my astronaut toy."

And, oh, with the chatterbox. He had a pretty significant speech delay. At two years, six months, we were practically dancing when he treated us to a few words. We would dream of the day when we could have a two-way conversation with our son. He's so charming and sweet, but now HE WILL NOT SHUT UP! I knew it was getting bad when I recently resorted to giving him little sugarless mints to suck on, just to give myself two minutes without the running monologue.

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

Real numbers

2006-02-22T21:03:00.000-05:00

Before I took him off to preschool this morning, I received this little explanation from the lad:

In my calendar it's the 21st. In Mommy's calendar, it's the 22nd. It has every number that might exist. And here [holding up a piece of paper] it shows that it's a long time until Easter.

He's also working very hard on his Easter list. He wants two things: chocolate candy and strawberry candy.

Technorati tags: CHILDREN

Chicks

2006-02-21T22:57:00.000-05:00

I don't normally think of myself as naive. But I recently found out something that's making me reconsider.

Do you remember back to when you were very young, and your teacher introduced your class to an incubator with a couple eggs in it? Remember how the eggs hatched, and for two weeks you and your classmates diligently cared for the babies? You gave them cute names and took turns feeding them? Then when two weeks passed, the growing chicks were sent away to live out the rest of their chicken lives on an area farm?

Lies! It turns out that those little chicks were likely sent off to a zoo, where they were euthanized and fed to animals that like to eat wee tender chickens. Snakes, for instance, think they're delicious.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not squeamish about the food chain. I'm certainly down with the program of misleading small children. (Santa Claus, anybody?) Really, who wants a sobbing preschooler on their hands? Heck, our guy just saw "Curious George" at the movie theater with his grandparents and reported back to us that it was very scary.

I'm mostly shocked and outraged because I've been duped! Why did I never suspect what the teachers were up to? I'm normally so very suspicious.

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

Knight night

2006-02-20T23:55:00.000-05:00

Sir Booch was visiting with his various grandparents for a few days. We're glad to have him back home. The house misses his energy when he's not here. He climbed all over me when I got home from work. Then we had a massive game of hide-n-seek, which is a hoot with a kid who insists on barking like a dog whenever he's hiding.

As usual, we continue enjoy playing at knighthood. Swords, castles, armor, dragons. Favorite quote of the night: "I dub thee Sir Mom."

Technorati tags: CHILDREN

Rally the Dems

2006-02-19T18:47:00.000-05:00

Deena Beard and I drove over to Bryn Mawr to attend the petition-signing rally for our major Democratic candidates this afternoon. (I understand that Geeky Mom and Atrios were both there. I didn't see Her Geekiness, despite looking for her. And I wouldn't know Atrios if I tripped over him.) I also got to see some of our friends with the Lentz campaign. (Lentz staffers helped us with poll-staffing in the recent municipal elections. While I'm sorry that he wasn't given a shot with the *&!$ county establishment, having him run for the PA-161 State House seat means that we can all commit to busting our humps for him.)

Young State Reps. Michael Gerber and Josh Shapiro definitely appear to be party up-and-comers. I expect to see them running for higher office someday. Joe Sestak is clearly refining his four-point security platform that he tried out on the Swarthmore College Dems a couple weeks ago. Lois Murphy looks to be a great shot at a pick-up in the PA-06. Notably absent was Bob Casey, although his petitions were there. (I don't know if he wasn't there because of other commitments, or because this wasn't expected to be his kind of crowd.)

Rendell was vintage Rendell...Capable of visiting the well for whatever pixie dust he uses to work himself up into a spirited enthusiasm for the business of politics. The section that got the crowd cheering was on the importance of the Party reclaiming the morality frame. If you've been paying attention to the remarks of prominent Democrats for the last year, you know that it's one of the major themes that Democrats are trying to hit on. When he closed the section saying "We're golden rule Democrats," you could see that it plainly resonated as a catch-phrase in the room. I did a search on the term "Golden Rule Democrat" in some search engines, and it's clear to me that this is actually a slogan that's working its way around the DNC, DCCC, etc. You'll find that several other Democratic candidates are using the phrase. If it works, go with it, say I. I'm not terribly fond of sloganeering and talking points, but if we're going to reduce the message of the Party to a single phrase, it had better be a powerful, simple, resonant core value like the Golden Rule.

Technorati tags: PA Politics Democrats Ed Rendell PA-07 PA-06 Joe Sestak Lois Murphy Bryan Lentz Election-2006

Everybody's doing it

2006-02-18T23:04:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I have a Johari Window too.

Verizon...hear me now

2006-02-18T21:13:00.000-05:00

Back in August, Verizon gave me the worst customer experience of my life. (If you really care, you can relive the horror here, here and here.) As of this moment, they're officially getting none of our money. Frankly, our new VOIP solution is saving us about $45 a month, the quality is fine, and I have the satisfaction of not having to deal with that obnoxious, crappy customer "service" operation again.

Technorati tags: CONSUMERISM RANT

Chat with Namaste Mama

2006-02-17T21:25:00.000-05:00

You can create your own Cartoon-ified IM chat at http://chatfu.com.

Technorati tags: HUMOR

Attend the tale...again (A half-assed review of Sweeney Todd, Broadway, Feb. 11, 2006)

2006-02-14T23:41:00.000-05:00

As good as it is, I've seen Sweeney Todd too many times. But my obscenely perfect wife desperately wanted to go, so her dutiful husband scored her front row-center tickets for Saturday afternoon's performance. Normally, the front row would be just too close, but when a rabid fan is involved, being close enough to be in the splatter field for blood and spit is apparently an unparalleled treat. Also, there's the matter of sitting below the incomparable Ms. Patti LuPone as she tromped around in trashy short skirts. I did my best to be a gentleman about the situation.

In brief: I loved the new staging. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I wouldn't choose to see the traditional, period staging of Sweeney again. (Because my reviews are half-assed, read fellow-Swarthmore-alum Ben Brantley's NYT review if you want to know what's so different with this staging.) The rather spare, symbolic set worked very well, although both of us thought that it didn't work as well in the second act, where some sacrifices were made to accomodate the sparse set and limited assortment of props.

The music, rescored for the ten on-stage actor/musicians, was electric. It's addition by subtraction. And the actors playing the instruments was well-incorporated into the acting tasks...somehow it made perfect sense that actors were carrying around musical instruments in and out of scenes.

Patti LuPone managed to redeem herself from her bizarre Mrs. Lovett portrayal from the concert performance with George Hearn a few years back. She had a depraved, trashy take on Mrs. Lovett that worked excellently well. Michael Cerveris' Sweeney was more complex than his famous predecessors' versions.

Lauren Molina, who played Johanna, deserves very special credit. Her freaked-out portrayal of Sweeney's long lost daughter work very well dramatically. Even more importantly, I was finally able to hear her songs without immediately having the urge to jam my playbill into my ears. (Anyone else ever secretly wish for Sweeney to off that character at the end?)

This one is good enough for the theater snobs, and interesting enough to satisfy theater-goers who don't really care for musicals.

Technorati tags: THEATER REVIEWS

George Bush Political Security Advisory System

2006-02-12T16:15:00.000-05:00

PSoTD had this on Friday. As satire was almost too true to be funny, but it pretty much nails it on the head. Favorite bit was the description of the lowest political threat level: "Scott McClellan can actually handle this situation."

Technorati tags: POLITICS

Overheard in the kitchen

2006-02-12T15:16:00.000-05:00

While negotiating with his Pop-beard in the kitched over what foods he would eat for lunch, Young Master Booch was heard to say, "I can eat some of this or this or this. Mom doesn't really care as long as I get some Vitamin C, Vitamin O or Vitamin S."

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

Love/Hate at the Olympics

2006-02-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

I love peace. I hate Yoko Ono.
Peter Gabriel's okay, though.

Technorati tags: Entertainment

The primary is over. The race begins.

2006-02-10T21:34:00.000-05:00

I guess I won't have to fret over choosing between Lentz and Sestak. Ed Rendell stepped in and orchestrated a deal for Lentz to end his challenge for the U.S. House in favor of running for the State House seat (PA-161) currently occupied by Tom Gannon. A part of me is disappointed, because I actually think party star chambers shouldn't choose candidates. (Least of all Delco Dems Chair Cliff Wilson.) But I'm going to get over it quickly. For starters, I've met both men and have very positive impressions of both, as I've posted before. Secondly, 2006 is a rare opportunity to make some serious headway on a number of fronts. It is probably the appropriate use of all resources (including top-notch candidates) to make sure that every possible race is credibly challenged.

I'll be happy to work actively for both candidates.

You can read more at delcotimes.com, Daily Kos, or Garnet Donkey (Swarthmore College's Young Democrats).

Technorati Tags: PA Politics Democrats PA-07 Joe Sestak Bryan Lentz Election-2006

He renders his opinion

2006-02-09T18:38:00.000-05:00

Sweetums taught young Booch all about the word "opinion" today. I'm certain this was a miscalculation, for he seemed to grasp the concept all too well. "I'll tell you my opinion, mom. Just let kids do whatever they want."

Oh, crud. We're doomed.

Technorati tags: CHILDREN PARENTING

Joe Sestak makes his case for the race.

2006-02-09T00:14:00.000-05:00

I'm grateful that my obscenely perfect wife tolerated that I went out to hear Joe Sestak speak after she'd spent a long day with our sick son. (Poor guy!)(Beloved spouse!)

Sestak spoke reasonably well for a freshly minted candidate. He's at his best when he connects issues to his experience in command in the Navy, where you can hear his passion, commitment and pride show through. He's highly conversant on foreign policy. He seems capable of taking a principled stance on domestic fiscal issues, such as pork spending and ethics reform. He's clearly less comfortable with fielding questions on social issues, but I'm satisfied with where he stands.

There's no doubt that he's a good guy. One of the things I like about him is that he sees enormous potential in people that society often expects very little from. He doesn't speak in platitudes.

He's a little bit wonkish. Don't get me wrong: I love wonks. But sometimes he drifts off trying to recall a study he once read or a figure that's in the back of his memory. He also needs to speak with firmer conviction about issues that aren't part of his core platform. For instance, he stumbled when confronted with a pretty open-ended environmental question. The environment isn't going to be a major issue in the election, but he needs to learn how to connect those issues back to something that actually might matter to residents of the district.

He'll have to build up those muscles of retail politics that allow his to speak with authority. I presume that events like this one are useful for working out some of the kinks.

Oh, and he's gonna need money. A whole lot of spending money.

I'm still on the fence. I like Sestak's primary opponent Bryan Lentz, too. There really isn't much of anything that either of their supporters in the ongoing proxy war could say that would lead me to believe that either is an inappropriate candidate. Really, that's a good position to be in. Often voters have no choice or only a choice between the lesser of two evils. Here's hoping for a clean campaign that makes the eventual candidate better prepared to take a whack at Curt Weldon this November.

Technorati Tags: PA Politics Democrats PA-07 Joe Sestak Election-2006

Who's in the House?

2006-02-07T21:33:00.000-05:00

I'll try anything.

According to The American National Election Studies, only 28% of the electorate correctly indentified the Republicans as controlling the House of Representatives in 2002. Even in more typical years, around half of the electorate doesn't answer the question correctly.

Chris at MyDD is pitching the idea of making this THE talking point of the election messaging, ad nauseum. "Do you disapprove of the way the congress is doing its job? Republicans control congress."

I'd certainly prefer to win the contest of ideas. but first we have to clear the hurdle of basic identification. In a period where we control neither the executive or legislative branch, we ought not to get between voters and the full and ample expression of their displeasure.

Technorati tags: Democrats election politics

End Games

2006-02-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

I'm almost caught up on the back issues of Harper's that came with my (gift) subscription. Noticed this little remark in a fascinating article about the Army's off-the-charts war game simulations at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk:

When the formal briefing concluded, [public affairs officer] Jim Beinkemper come out from his desk and took a chair next to mine. We talked plainly about how things are going overseas. JRTC's lavish mission-rehearsal exercises notwithstanding, the public affairs officer didn't seem to feel our present course was gong to do much to hasten the war's end. What it would probably take to get the credits rolling, he told me, was the unleashing of an atom bomb. "I know we're a kinder, gentler country these days and all that," he said. "But how did we end World War II." ("Under the God Gun: Battling a fake insurgency in the Army's imitation Iraq," Wells Tower, Harper's Magazine, Jan. 2006)

Looking past the kill-em-all-let-god-sort-em-out attitude of the statement, which I'll not be so crass as to infer as anything more than one man's bullshit idea (and a pretty bad interpretation of the lessons of World War II)...Who the hell is responsible for assigning this guy to the public affairs detail?

Technorati tags: war

Renewable friendship

2006-02-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Sometimes as kids are putting together how the world works, they mix things together. And the creativity is simultaneously beautiful and creepy. Booch walked by me this morning with his stuffed cat, Noodle, under his arm. Noodle is a constant companion; he sleeps with Noodle every night and plays with him all day long.

Lad: I took Noodle's dreams away.
Dad: You took them away? Why?
Lad: Because he was bad. Then I tried to put them back. But it didn't work, because he was broken, so I'm going to throw him away and get a new one.
Dad: Poor Noodle. You don't want to throw away your old friend, do you?
Lad: Sure. We'll chop him up into pieces and throw him into an oven and melt him down. And then the trash truck will crunch munch him and make him into five new ones. And then we'll get a new one.

Or I'll put him out in the trash, and Santa will bring a new one.

A few minutes later, to himself...

He's my favorite friend in the whole world. He's just melted up.

Technorati tags: children parenting

Lobster night

2006-02-02T22:19:00.000-05:00

It's not as yummy as it sounds, but it was pretty entertaining. Our story begins with "Rock Lobster" playing while the lad and I were hanging out in the kitchen. He did not know what a 'wawbster' was. So I drew him a picture, which prompted him to say, as he picked up his crayon:

I'm not going to draw a rock lobster. Mine is going to be a brick lobster. I saw that in Ocean City. I took a picture of it...to show you. It had an orange belly, and yellow eyes, and big pinchies on its head.

So that, of course, brought us to the computer to find pictures of lobsters. "Where is its mouth?" Thanks to the Lobster Conservancy, we found the answers to that question and more. "I'll find lobsters on the Internet for you," he informed me.

But what learning activity would be complete for a boy of four without first passing it through the superhero filter? And that brings us to Lobsterman! As he posed for these pictures in the costume he assembled, his mom noted that he had a consistent pose. To which he replied matter-of-factly, "I have a consistent pose, because that's the way I look, Mom."

Technorati tags: children parenting

Goodnight kisses

2006-02-01T22:29:00.000-05:00

The lad is making a big deal these days about any pucker schmuckers being planted on his face. He usually makes a show of wiping them off. Already? What chance do parents have when we already have kiss-cooties by preschool?

As he was marching up to bed tonight, he called down to his mom, "Mom. I can't have any kisses, because I'm inflexible."

So, as I'm tucking him in, I ask, "Am I allowed to give you one teensie-tiny kiss? On the cheek?"

"Sure, dad. I won't wipe it off."

Aww...that's (sniff) my boy (sniff sniff).

Technorati tags: children parenting

As if the PA-07 congressional primary wasn't confusing enough

2006-02-01T20:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, engaged Democrats in the 7th Legislative District were looking at a contested primary between Paul Scoles (favored by the County party establishment) and Bryan Lentz, an outsider-challenger who is a veteran of the conflicts in Bosnia and Iraq.

Today, there's still (we presume) a contested primary, but one of the players has been switched. Scoles has dropped out and been replaced by Joe Sestak, Jr.

I'd never heard of Joe Sestak before today, but if you want to judge a candidate by resumé alone, he sure comes across as being formidable. To wit:

Springfield native (striking right in the heart of the Republican core of Delco.)
Cardinal O'Hara High School grad
B.S. from U.S. Naval Academy
Ph.D. from Harvard University in Political Economy & Government (A gentleman and a scholar?)
Director of Defense Policy under Bill Clinton (Ah, we love just typing the words "Bill Clinton.")
Vice-Admiral in Command of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier group in the War in Afghanistan.

And, we are told, he's pro-choice, in favor of universal access to health care, and was opposed to the war in Iraq.

Well, of course I need to hear and see more before I come to any conclusions, but this is obviously a person with a long and distinguished history of service to his country. He has my attention. I'm always appreciative of good candidates with useful experience who are willing to take up the effort for the Democratic cause, so no matter how this plays out, I want to just take a moment to express my sincere appreciation of Paul Scoles, Bryan Lentz, and Joe Sestak, Jr.

Technorati Tags: PA Politics Democrats PA-07 Bryan Lentz Paul Scoles Joe Sestak Election-2006

Kaput!

2006-01-31T18:03:00.000-05:00

Today is the official end of the line for Internet Explorer on the Mac. I recommend burning a copy of it onto a CD, dropping it a hole, and pouring a 40 oz. malt liquor on it. (Olde English is my pick.)

As a person who has to waste brain cells on dumb things like browser compatibility, I close with this solemn benediction:

Ding! Dong! The witch is dead! The mean old witch, The Microwitch!

Technorati Tags: computing technology

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. (Please!)

2006-01-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

It's been a strangely warm and sunny winter here in Pennsylvania, and we're almost out of January. That's all well and good. I'm not looking for a repeat of the Blizzard of '96 (30 inches) or the following winter, also known as the permanent ice skating rink on I-95.

But my little boy got a new sled and snow shovel from Santa for Christmas, and we deserve at least one day for snowball fights and sliding down a nearby hill.

Jack frost, where are you?

Swords and Axes

2006-01-30T00:20:00.000-05:00

The lad and I were playing castle tonight. Noodle, his favorite stuffed animal, was the dragon who was was looting the kingdom. The young knight poked the dragon a few times with his sword (aka, a mop) before coming up with a less violent solution. He put the dragon into a cave, where he would have to stay until he'd stop attacking the kingdom. In other words, the dragon was given a timeout.

A little later, he started to play rougher, and I had to stop him when he (accidentally) whacked me with a toy axe. I said that we needed to stop playing fighting games.

Lad: Okay...umm...let's play...swords and axes!
Me: Swords and axes?! That sounds like a fighting game
Lad: No, daddy. It's about dancing.

Naturally.

Technorati tags: children parenting

Terror, terror, terror. And bees.

2006-01-28T23:31:00.000-05:00

Through the election season(s), Fafblog sustained me as if it were a very...sustaining...food. Like cheese. Yes. It was a Stilton, I think. But funnier.

Lately, this country has gotten so out of whack, I was losing my ability to laugh at satire. Thank the mighty heavens that Fafnir posted this one this week:

A. Well if you want, the president can stop the illegal wiretapping just for you.
Q. Really? Well thanks, that'd be great!
A. And then the terrorists can come and eat you.
Q. Wait! What?
A. Cause without the wiretaps there's nothin to stop the terrorists from eatin you, yknow. The terrorists and their army of bees.
Q. Oh no! I'm allergic to terrorists AND bees!
A. Oh that's too bad, cause now the president hasta stop the illegal wiretaps and let alllll those terrorist bees eat you.
Q. Quick! Put the wiretaps back, put the wiretaps back!

The throne

2006-01-28T00:05:00.000-05:00

Who writes this crap? And why did I read it, let alone blog it?

The dependability and beauty of your Kohler toilet will surpass your highest expectations.

And...

Your Kohler toilet combines outstanding function, comfort, and performance with remarkable style and class.

Our toilet tank was broken. We replaced it. (Actually, a helpful visiting friend insisted on running out to Home Depot to pick up a replacement tank for us. And then he installed it.)

But really, it's beautiful. And VERY classy.

It shouldn't be this easy.

2006-01-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

At dinner, the lad was presented with a bowl containing kung pao chicken.

[Lad stares at bowl and becomes nervous, agitated]

Lad: I don't want this mommy. I don't know what this is.
Mom: It's yummy pasta.

Pasta is a fave. we call a lot of things pasta. It's marketing. Or a bait-n-switch scam.

Lad: Have I had this before?
Mom: Sure did.

A total lie.

Lad: Are you sure?
Mom: Yes, honey.
Lad: [Barely containing a cry] Did I like it?
Mom: You loved it!

Ok, now the lie is getting thick! We're out on a potential Limb of Betrayal. But he took a bite, anyway.

Lad: Mmm...this is good, mom.

I think perhaps we've learned the wrong lesson from this experience.

Technorati tags: children parenting

Blogging for Choice

2006-01-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

I've been a pro-choice man as long as I have been political enough to take a stand on the issue.

I'm willing to accept that the issue of abortion is an important moral issue. Yet I hardly consider it the most important moral issue. Life belongs to the living, and I'm far more concerned with the matters pertaining to humans, including the other five or six billion people with whom I share the planet. I care about not just the mere fact of our existence, but in the quality of our lives: our health, our safety, our freedom. With keeping the planet habitable for all of us.

I have yet to hear of an argument for the pro-life position that isn't ultimately a religious argument. Literally 100% of the pro-life people I have ever met based their best arguments on their religious beliefs. And if the sudden and arbitrary appropriation of another person's body to enforce the perceived law of a deity isn't the imposition of religion by the state, I don't know what is. Not all of us have a conception of life that is granted to us by a maker, nor believe in an immortal soul. So you'll have to pardon me while I insist that the termination of an embryo is NOT provably an immoral act.

So step off with your self-righteous moralizing, religious right-wingers. Until you show equal or greater zeal for opposing war and genocide, ending poverty (or hunger), and protecting people from all forms of tyranny, you're just throwing stones in your glass houses. Heck, wanna start with just providing a basic level of health care for all the people who live within our own nation's borders?

blog for choice

Administrative notice: rss feed

2006-01-22T23:16:00.000-05:00

The feed for this here blog thing has been changed to:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/PerpetualOffNight.

Please update the URL in your favorite reader/aggregator. No promises from me about how long the one you're using is going to work properly.

Lost Oasis

2006-01-22T23:04:00.000-05:00

Noooo!

I just heard about a minute ago that West Wing was cancelled by NBC. It's one of the few shows that I watch regularly, and it has been an essential fantasy world to keep me sane while living through the the worst presidency since... Herbert Hoover?

It was already going to be a challenge to last out the next 1093 days. But now I don't even have a fake administration to pretend-run the imaginary business of the country.

What ever will I do?Don't you dare even suggest that Geena Davis show! The writing on that show is so ham-handed.

Happy Birthday, Sir Booch

2006-01-21T15:52:00.000-05:00

It's our boy's birthday today. Happy birthday, little guy!

We had a party with a bunch of his young friends this morning. The theme was knights and castles. We had a large band of merry knights here to defend a (cardboard) castle from a dreadful dragon (pinata). Calm has since been restored to the kingdom.

Phew!

Give the little fella a break!

2006-01-20T14:29:00.000-05:00

My son, just a day short of his fourth birthday, started to have a mini meltdown last night around his bedtime. Wimpering, he collapsed into my arms and said:

Daddy, my brain is so exhausted! And my heart is telling me I need to sleep, Daddy!

He had that adorable twitchy, curled lower lip of the barely-contained cry. I could just eat him up, I love him so!

My next campaign (Phillies) (That's baseball, kids.)

2006-01-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

Tom G. and I have knocked heads over Phillies issues before. But he's got the right idea on his new campaign, so I'm throwing in my support for the Madson '06 campaign.

Frankly, I only care a little bit that Madson wants to start. Most pitchers want to start. What I care about is that Madson probably could start and be reasonably effective. 200 innings of above average pitching is worth *at least* twice as much as 100 innings of above average pitching. This one's a no-brainer. Which is to say, it's something that the knucle-heads who are career "baseball men" are likely to botch.

"I know there's a hole in the bullpen, but there's also a hole in the starting rotation...I don't think it should be held against me because I was used in the bullpen when I came up. If it was up to me, I'd start. But they'll make the decision." ~ Ryan Madson

[click here to get this code for your site]

I'm a feminist at heart...

2006-01-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

...But apparently my ears are total chauvinists.

AudioScrobbler has given me the ability to track my listening over time. I was surprised to see the results after over 5600 tracks played.

1 The Beatles
2 Frank Black
3 Ben Folds
4 Jack Johnson
5 The White Stripes
6 Fiona Apple
7 They Might Be Giants
8 Beck
9 Otis Redding
10 Bo Diddley

All worthy artists, but Fiona Apple the only woman on the list. And it gets worse!

In the rest of the top 50 artists—I almost can't say it—there were (sheepish) (chagrined)devastateded) no other women artists or bands with frontwomen.

We're going to have to do some serious reprogramming work. (Unless we can pin this on the recording industry.) You know, we might have something there. I just checked the top artists list for Geeky Mom. And the first woman artist on the list was in at #17, the Cranberries (Dolores O'Riordan fronts).

Clearly, something must be done. It's time to rip the rest of the CD collection. I might have to initiate an Uppity Blues Women festival-for-oneAndNd PJ Harvey, Dionne Warwick, Norah Jones, Astrud Gilberto, Joan Armatrading...I'm listening.

Celine Dion...I am still not listening.

Specter, you kumquat

2006-01-16T23:04:00.000-05:00

Remember how Arlen Specter is all up in our faces every six years with his "Ich bin ein pro-choicer" routine? And dya remember when Arlen Specter warned the President not to send pro-life SCOTUS nominees? And then remember how the President did anyway? And how there were even documents written by Alito expressing those views?

Arlen Specter. Originally uploaded by eshm.

Specter says that he intends to vote to confirm Alito. He made the announcement because, he claims, he doesn't want to be coy with the press.

Hey, Arlen, instead of worrying about the press, why not worry about how coy you've been with your constituents? Many of your voters are moderate, pro-choice Dems who split their tickets for you...and without whom you would probably have failed to last so long given the attacks you always took from your right flank.

There actually is very little that a U.S. Senator can do to flex their muscles on the issue of abortion. You get your chance, and roll over.

Martin Luther King

2006-01-16T10:45:00.000-05:00

The first day of classes here always coincides with the MLK holiday. Although staff are invited to use a flexible holiday to observe the day, it is not the best time for a lot of people to be off. Friends Historical Library Curator Chris Densmore sent around these quotes from Dr. King today. Wishing to observe the day, especially at a time when I think we need to revisit our national moral compass more than ever (war, New Orleans, etc.), I'm just going to copy-n-paste the quotes here.

[On Nonviolence]
That is another thing about the nonviolent resistance. The nonviolent resister not only avoids external physical violence, but he avoids internal violence of spirit. He not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he refuses to hate him. The oppressed people of the world must not succumb top the temptation of becoming bitter or engaging in hate campaigns. We must somehow come to see that this leads us only deeper and deeper into the mire; to return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of hate and evil in the universe. So somehow people in this university must have sense enough and morality enough to return hate for love.

[On Maladjustment]
All of us are desirous of living the well-adjusted life. I know I am, and we must be concerned about living a well-adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But I say to you... that there are certain things without our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted, and I call upon you to be maladjusted to all of these things. I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to the viciousness of mob rule. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions which take necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism and the self-defeating effects of physical violence.

[On the Future]
I close by quoting the words of an old Negro slave preacher who didn't have his grammar quite right. But he uttered words with profound meaning. The words were in the form of a prayer: "Lord, we ain't what we want to be, we ain't what we ought to be, we ain't what we gonna' be, but thank God, we ain't what we was." And so tonight I say, "We ain't what we ought to be, but thank God we ain't what we was." And let us continue, my friends, going on and on toward that great city where all men will live together as brothers in respected dignity and worth of all human personality. This will be a great day, a day, figuratively speaking, when the "morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy."

-- Friends Journal, July 26, 1958, 442-4. From Martin Luther King's address, "Nonviolence and Racial Justice" presented at Friends General Conference in 1958. The records of FGC including the tape of Dr. King's address are at Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.

Bible Stories

2006-01-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

Just witnessed my son at the fridge holding this conversation between the figures in his nativity scene magnet set:

Donkey: Hee-haw. Hee-haw.
Wiseman #1: I gave a present to baby Jesus.
Wiseman #2: We have to protect baby Jesus. From the Heat Miser. Don't let him come in here.
[Drummer Boy approaches]
Wisemen: Hey, Drummer Boy!
Drummer Boy: I will help.
Wisemen: Gotcha! You're going to prison.
Drummer Boy: Oh no. Oh no.
Wiseman: You did a bad thing. You hit Joseph.

Further evidence that the whole world is nothing but a gigantic superhero drama.

A better recommendation system for Amazon shoppers

2006-01-11T22:17:00.000-05:00

We love Amazon. But Amazon's system for giving recommendations can be plum weird. If I order an iPod, for some reason they think that this means I might be interested in knowing about other iPods. If I buy an ink cartridge for a printer, do they really think I want to know about more ink cartridges? And not every purchase should be weighted as heavily as every other purchase.

But these are flukes that come from recommendations based on purchase history. I don't even bother with Amazon's recommendations anymore.

Kate and my brother, André, decided to take matters into their own hands. Their answer: Favorite 5. The site invites members to identify their true favorites among books, movies and music. In this way, over time, they may be able to help you build up a great network of recommenders whose tastes are compatible with your own.

Help 'em grow, kids. The system is up-n-running in public beta while they build up the database. The interfaces is pretty impressive, and getting better every day. See ya there.

Taking brands personally

2006-01-11T08:30:00.000-05:00

I was reading an Economist book note a few weeks ago about a new branding book from Kellogg. Is a brand, as John Sherry suggests in it, “a mental shortcut that discourages rational thought, an infusing with the spirit of the maker?”

I think the answer is only sometimes. No doubt, some brands are excessively fetishized. But there's more to it than that, I think. I think brands help to simplify the process of being a consumer, and are therefore a very rational strategy in reducing the complexity of choice-making. (Thinking here of Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice, Also reviewed on this here site.)

My previous review on Married to the Brand (see previous post) made me think about the brands with which I'm heavily "engaged." As I thought through the list, it's clear that when it comes to consumer goods and retail, I respond to attention to design and quality: Apple trumps Dell & Microsoft. Target beats Walmart. Sony beats the field for cameras, camcorders, and TV's. Nintendo beats Sony and Microsoft on game systems. Eddie Bauer khakis always fit me better and last longer than Dockers do. In each case, attention to details of performance-related design and my experience of use lead me to put a finger on the scale for each of these companies when faced with a choice about where to shop or what to buy. I'm somewhat price sensitive, but I will pay a modest premium for items or services where the provider/maker has paid attention to details that will improve my experience.

I'm much less brand-attached in the grocery store. I suppose I'll pay a premium for Heinz ketchup. I'm much more attached to a particular grocery store: Trader Joe's. They have an interesting, high-quality selection of food at incredible prices. The stores are smaller, limiting the amount of time I have to spend shopping. And the staff is so happy to help it ought to be illegal. Shopping there saves me money, time, and stress. I'm locked in.

Then there's a class of brands that interact with my sense of identity. In addition to the very real ways that Swarthmore College affected and continues to affect my life, the notion of Swarthmore is deeply tied up with my sense of identity. I'm a Hershey boy, and so I'm a Hershey products buyer. I get my coffee from the same coffee bar every morning. Not because the coffee is cheaper or better there, but because Katy and Michelle call me "E." ("Norm!") and make me feel like I belong there.

Whaddya think? What are your brands? Think your attachment is rational or not?

Branded for life (A half-assed review of Jim McEwan'sMarried to the Brand)

2006-01-09T23:18:00.000-05:00

Married to the Brand: Why Consumers Bond with Some Brands for Life was delivered to my office by the book faerie. Barely reaching 130 pages (if you generously count both appendices), this is more like a long essay than a book. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. The list price is $24.95, or about 20¢ per page. If I'd been reading the 880-page Middlemarch, widely regarded as one of the greatest Victorian novels, it would have cost me less than a penny a page in paperback. I have never read Middlemarch, but I have read Married to the Brand. At free, the price was beyond fair, and I'm frankly glad that it wasn't 880 pages.

While this "book" is worth taking the time to read, I do suggest that this is a perfect time for you to dust off that local library card of yours.

Married concerns itself with the things an organization can do to build positive, long-lasting relationships with its consumers. Here's the argument in a nutshell:

Passionate customers contribute most to an organization's profitability. (They spend more, visit more often, and are anxious to recommend a product or service to others.)
The first step to leading customers to passion is to make a "brand promise," which is not just a promise, but one that differentiates you from the field. Then you have to keep the promise and provide an excellent experience at every point of contact. (Especially in cases where problems are encountered.) The key is constantly showing respect for the customer.
The experience of the brand is often determined by people in the rank and file of the organization. The people who answer the phone, ring up the purchase, and stock the shelves are in control of the destiny of customer relationships. This is not where businesses focus their attention, though.
Organizations that regularly deliver excellent service and fulfillment of their brand promises are the ones that will eventually cause customers to cross-over into the realm of "full engagement."

Even though I've nutshelled the book for you, I do think it's worth reading. I think it's an excellent tool for meditating on your business. Or your not-for-profit organization. Or even about how your "market" yourself. If you can get a few people on your team to read it with you, it could be a great starting point to thinking about how to improve your relationships with the people who fill your checkbook.

My main complaint with Married to the Brand is one that I have with a lot of the popular business and social science literature that's being generated for the mass market these days: slim evidence. I'm sure that McEwan and his employer, Gallup, have the copious evidence claimed in the book. But I like to see evidence. In the text, though, there's only a minimal amount provided, and it lacks sufficient clarity to be useful in answering "when compared to what?" questions. I'm not asking to be buried in charts, but there's clearly more room for the display of quantitative information, even in works intended for a very general audience.

End of Season

2006-01-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

Other people I know seem anxious to pack all the Christmas trappings away. (Read: Mrs. Pokey Petunia.) Marking the end of the season is always hard for me.

The Christmas holiday happens in a blur. The relatives come, and then go. (No matter what they think, I'm sorry to see them go.) Friends who haven't surfaced for months retreat back to their daily grinds until who knows when we'll be together again. And surely, there's a kind of hunkering down to survive the coldest stretch of winter. Maybe it's just the anticipation of the seasonal affective disorder. Or the cabin fever. Plus I'm a sentimental fool.

Looks like my son is a chip off the old sappy block. He helped me during the (warm!) daylight hours to take down the outdoor decorations. Then after a brief interlude, I fired up the Herb Alpert for the last hurrah. As we he was helping me take the lights off the tree, he was consoling the tree:

We'll miss you, Christmas tree. We'll miss you. But don't worry. We're going to put you outside and some nice guys will come and take you away in a nice big truck. A nice big garbage truck. [Imitating the tree] I don't want to go in the garbage truck. [Back to himself] It'll be okay. You can come back next year.

Umm...Yes...See you next year, tree. (So sorry about that whole mulching thing.)

Sour grapes & a rotten apple (Local politics)

2006-01-05T08:20:00.000-05:00

Went to see my friend Deena Beard sworn into office Tuesday night as first ward commissioner for Nether Providence Township. (Go, Deena! So proud of you.) But the pleasure was short-lived. The embattled minority decided to make the night into a fiasco, and you could tell it was a coordinated attack. First they made a show of how they intended to work in a bipartisan spirit. They made the motion putting Democrat Lin Floyd's name into nomination for the Presidency. That was the last time we'll see bipartisanship, I'm afraid. Would that it had been sincere. I think its was a setup.

This was the reorganization meeting, and with a party switch, one of the tasks that must be completed is the appointing people to the posts like Solicitor and Vacancy Board. Make no bones about it: these are political appointees. Always have been, and it is an incoming majority's prerogative to fill them.

They immediately launched the assault. "You campaigned on open government, but you didn't consult me on who you were going to appoint to the post." Questions, insinuations, challenges, backhanded remarks. Guys, do try to remember that there is a difference between people who ARE the government, and the people who are PLANNING a transition. And do at least try to avoid the really blatant hypocrisies.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Robert O'Conner, 6th ward, (who usually only stares vacantly at the back wall during meetings until he can use a little mic time to promote a pet issue,) flipped his wig. He lost his gourd. He blew a gasket. Some combination of all of the above.

Incensed when President Floyd asked that his remarks be kept brief after he took the microphone to echo a series of long grandstands by Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Firkser, he shoved his microphone, threw his water bottle off the table, slammed his chair and stormed off the dais with a "This is bullsh*t" and a flurry of "crap's." He didn't actually leave the room, though. He stood in the back, huffing and pacing while the meeting was conducted.

Ms. Floyd astutely made sure that as the subsequent votes were tallied, she noted that there were "four votes in favor, two votes against. Mr. O'Connor has chosen not to vote."

During public comment, he took the microphone and launched an attack. Swore he wouldn't sit at the table next to her. More gratuitous use of the word "crap." (He really likes that word!)

It's funny. Two weeks ago when members of the South Media Fire Company came in to admonish him for remarks of his that they found upsetting, he was so contrite. But one tiny challenge from a fellow commissioner, and he unleashes an unholy ~~shi--~~ crapstorm!

It's too bad. The residents of the Township don't want to see these antics. When one or two elected officials act in an infantile manner, it has the tendency to cause their constituents to lose faith in everybody involved, even the process of government itself.

I'll be interested to see whether Mr. O'Connor can manage to make a gracious apology at tonight's work meeting. Don't hold your breath.

The nine singles you should have bought in 2005. (Skip the albums. You'll live!)

2006-01-05T00:19:00.000-05:00

A theme quickly emerged as I was working on the companion to yesterday's album list. I think it's a sign of the particular generation that is driving the recording industry now, but the 80's and early 90's are being revisited in subtle and not-so-subtle ways in the songs that we're hearing. If you grew up on a steady diet of new wave and punk, it makes sense that it would influence your musical aesthetics.

So, here's my list of songs I'm truly glad I didn't miss. Unlike yesterday, where the sum was often greater than its parts, I see today's entries as solitaire gems.

Keane • Somewhere Only We Know
Feeling sad and self-indulgent? Crank it up and cry it out as loud as you can. Remember when you used to stand in front of the mirror and belt out "True" by Spandau Ballet? And you felt it in your heart. You really, really felt it. Oh crap, I just revealed too much.

Herbie Hancock (w/ John Mayer) • Stitched Up
I swear that this one is the long lost track from Sting's Ten Summoners Tales. That's a huge compliment.

Fort Minor • Petrified
Frothy hip hop. Beck meets Beastie. Whoops. I guess there is a white-guys-rapping cliché.

Kanye West • Gold Digger
I loved College Dropout, but I'm not sold on the Late Registration track list. But you know you have to have Gold Digger. It's the "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" of its time. Wanna have some fun? Ask the DJ to play this at your friend's wedding. (Mwa-ha-ha!)

Franz Ferdinand • Do You Want To
There's something about this band that reminds me of the 1980s. Some of the 1980's were cool. Sometimes I listen, and I'm happily taken back to the age of The Fixx, Wall of Voodoo, and The Knack. I know the album made it onto a lot of critics' lists, but I just can't imagine that you're missing much if you just cherry pick this one.

The Small Stars • Small Stars Theme
The perfect punky jazz anthem for common man. "Small stars. We're merely small stars./We still need to shine." Full of bitterness, irony, and hope. If you're over 32 and remember the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, raise your hand. You, the guy over there in the corner who has had too much to drink. You'll especially like this.

Kaiser Chiefs • I Predict a Riot
I'm having flashbacks of The Clash & The New York Dolls. A perfect, punky, pop hit.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club • Shuffle Your Feet
A nice little rocker for foot-tapping or doing that little I'm-groovin' head bob. Liked the Replacements in 1988?

Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers • Funny Little Feeling
I'd like to reintroduce you to something you may have forgotten about. It's called rock 'n' roll, and it sounds exactly like this. You loved it then, and you'll love it again. It so belongs on your iPod that they used it an iPod ad.

The ten popular music albums you should have bought in 2005

2006-01-04T00:50:00.000-05:00

I really didn’t set out to make a top-ten list. It just turned out that I had ten albums that I’d give my unqualified seal of approval. Honest, if I'd only had seven, that's what I would have said.

(Listed by artist, in reverse alphabetical order.)

The White Stripes • Get Behind Me Satan
Even though Elephant is still my favorite Stripes set, this is their most listenable album top-to-bottom. Does that mean they’ve gone and sold out? Not at all. Jack White loves to play the blues. He can’t contain his love. It’s infectious and charismatic, and I’ll just keep stepping up to the counter with my cash money as long as he can keep up anything close to this level.

Spoon • Gimme Fiction
Spoon has building up momentum for the last couple years. This is where you can see that they’re really ready for the big time. Pop hooks that are smart as hell.

Louis XIV • The Best Little Secrets Are Kept
Dirty. Filthy Dirty. Fun. Filthy Sexy Dirty. Still Fun. This is good album to put on to test if your girlfriend has a sense of humor. Just be prepared in case she doesn’t. Just to be sure, strut around making Mick Jagger lips while you sing along just to make it very clear.

LCD Soundsystem • LCD Soundsystem
I normally can’t listen to anything inspired by electronica, let alone listen to electronica itself. This one showed me the possibilities. I swear, I’ll be a 50 year-old goofball in 15 years, and I’ll still be dancing around the house to “Disco Infiltrator” and “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House.” (It’s unclear if I’ll remember who Daft Punk were.) (Or how to dance.)

Jack Johnson • In Between Dreams
Am I embarrassed to admit that I love Jack Johnson? Hmmm....I think I am, but I think I do. I’ve never been a big follower of the singer/songwriter genre, but as Burt Bacharach once argued, you should never be ashamed of a good melody. That’s what Johnson brings, and this is a consistently great album, even if it lacks the single song that I can point to as my favorite. He writes good songs, and records them well to get the most out very simple vocals. This is your Sunday morning, wake-up-late and stay-in-your-pajamas music.

Gogol Bordello • Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike
I’ve been a fan of these guys for a while, and if you’re going to cherry pick for tracks, I’d recommend other things from their past as well. But this album is just top-to-bottom solid, proving once and for all that the Bordello can just bring the ethnic acoustic punk anytime.

Blackalicious • The Craft
I’ve already reviewed this. These guys seem single-handedly committed to saving hip hop from itself this year.

Andrew Bird • The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Now for something completely different. Mysterious, lyrical, lovely. Andrew Bird was a random lucky find this year. Eggs is the concept album that defies all classification. Suffice it to say that Bird gets my votes for best songwriting, and most original album of the year. Maybe not for everybody, but the music connoisseur wouldn’t miss it.

Beck • Guero
It’s Beck, yo. He’s, like, a pop genius, in case you haven’t heard.

Fiona Apple • Extraordinary Machine
Fiona Apple did not need to be rescued. Still, thank goodness she finally released this gem. As a personality, Apple is capable of driving me crazy with her self-absorption. As a musician, she can do things with a voice and a piano that literally tickle my senses. I don’t know how the sales figures will turn out in the end. This doesn’t fall neatly into any pop classification. But I don’t care. I think she kicks ass.

"You know, for kids!" (Religion and Games)

2006-01-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

Hey kids, let's play a game. Why play ordinary Hangman like the heathen children down the street, when you can play Bible Hangman?

From the game description provided by developer Ken Winograd: "Hangman Bible is a religious-themed, fun, non-violent, word-guessing game featuring colorful graphics, digitized sounds and ease-of-use. Hangman Bible is an educational family game, and suitable for use in Sunday Schools."

"Now kids, if you can't spell 'Deuteronomy,' I'm afraid this little fella is going to have to die!"

Now do you effete northern liberals finally understand why the good Christians in the Bible belt are so fond of the death penalty? After all, a righteous hangin' is both fun and non-violent! Stay tuned for version 2.o, which will feature new screens for Bible Rackman (Inquisition-style) and Bible Witchburning.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mactopia

2006-01-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

I've gotten really snarky, lately, haven't I?
What? I've always been really snarky? Sorry.

Tripped on over to Mactopia because Geeky reminded me about the death knell for IE Mac. Which I laud.

Had to laugh. One final demonstration of the Microsoft way. They published an announcement that said this:

In accordance with published support lifecycle policies, Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005, and will provide no further security or performance updates. Additionally, as of January 31st, 2006, Internet Explorer for the Mac will no longer be available for download from Mactopia. It is recommended that Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari.

Right next to this announcement was an advertisement which said, "Download Internet Explorer 5 for Mac now!"

You know it's bad when... (web sites in distress)

2005-12-30T20:54:00.000-05:00

Tried to log into AudioScrobbler minutes ago... got this message:

We are in fact the least lucky web site on the internet. We've suffered some database issues; please bear with us while we try to piece everything back together. Again.

Man, you might as well be waving a white flag as a brand when you say something that sounds so defeated. Even in jest. I sure hope they can get their act together.

**UPDATE**- The site is back up, but still carrying the message: "Submissions are currently down. Oh and happy new year!" I'm sure somebody on the staff thinks that sounds disarmingly humorous.

"XM...No static at all" (A half-assed review of XM Satellite Radio/Delphi Roady2 receiver)

2005-12-30T15:15:00.000-05:00

Santa brought papa a new Delphi Roady2 (XM satellite) radio for Christmas. Thanks, Santa! The Philly area radio stations have pretty much devolved into nothing but a series of classic rock stations. I like classic rock just fine 'n' all, but my noggin, it demands more variety. Let's just say that I was primed for the satellite alternative.

Now that there's a real grab for market share between XM and Sirius, the equipment prices are coming down rapidly. I'm guessing that there are a lot of dads out there who found a satellite radio receiver under the tree this year.

So far I like it very much. The little things add up to truly enhance the listening experience beyond conventional radio. Most of the 150 channels are commercial free. The radio unit displays the artist and song/program title. (In fact, if I encounter a tune I want to remember for later, hitting the memory button records the track info for me to retrieve later.) The sound quality is pretty good. Chances are high that if you want to listen to a radio, you'll always be able to find something you'll enjoy listening to. In fact, XM throws in a free XM online account if you subscribe a unit, so you can tune into much of the programming wherever you're near to a computer with an internet connection. It's a nice bonus for the traveler with access to wireless.

XM nearly fumbled the ball on setup and activation. First, you cannot do online activation from ANY Mac browser. That's right...none of them. Shameful of them to make that impression, as I wager that current and potential satellite radio customers are probably also Mac users in numbers that exceed the general population. Even on Windows, certain (Firefox) browsers (Firefox) are not supported (Firefox). Even after I had activated the account from our home PC, the radio didn't properly synch up the channels. I had to make a five minute phone call to an exhausted and slightly-curt customer service person to get my activation reset. After that, though, things have been working well.

Until the inevitable merger three years from now, the way to choose between XM and Sirius is the exclusive programming. For me, the deciding feature was the sports programming. XM has the deal to carry every Major League Baseball game. (Nascar, and a lot of NCAA conferences too, if you're into those things.) Sirius has the deal with the NFL and NBA. Howard Stern's exclusive deal with Sirius is selling a lot of radios for Sirius. In the end, it's the same old story: pick your software, then choose the hardware to run it. I'm a baseball nut, so that's why I chose XM.

The Roady2 is a nice little unit, and if you shop around, you can probably find one online for under $10, which will contain all you'll need to get up and running with XM in your car. (There's a home kit that costs $35-40, which helps if you want to hook it up to hour home stereo system.)

The only thing that's something of a pain with satellite radio is setting up the antennas. They're sufficiently cumbersome that you won't be breezing around with your XM gear and just tuning in wherever you go. If you want to move a single unit between your two cars, your home and your office, you'll probably end up investing in a bunch of antennas and power converters to have a set pre-installed at each of your main listening locations. This obviously drives up the cost. But if you're just looking for better radio to entertain you on your daily commute and long car trips, a $10 Roady2 plus your monthly subscription fee is all you'll need to get started.

Our Boy's Brain

2005-12-29T15:12:00.000-05:00

This is our estimation of how our son's conscious thoughts are directed. These values are based on careful scientific observation...which we threw out, and replaced with the things we hear all the freakin' time!

A quick music recommendation: Blackalicious, The Craft

2005-12-19T00:48:00.000-05:00

I've long been a Blackalicious fan. I've had their most recent recording floating around in my collection for a few months, but I just had the chance to really give it a proper listen. It's an excellent piece of work.

If you're a hip hop fan, you know these guys, and know that they're at the top of the heap. If you're the person who likes some hip hop, but don't really follow it enough to know what's good, this (along with earlier releases Nia & Blazing Arrow) should definitely be on your list to check out. Now, if you're the fool who claims that all rap sounds the sameÃ—shame on you. Break off a little piece of this.

There's still time to amend your Christmas wish list!

The Lion Doesn't Sleep Tonight (Politics in the Christmas Season)

2005-12-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

I hate waking up every day, especially at this time of the year, wondering what previous freedom we're supposed to have to defend today. Honestly, I'd love to be able to a little bipartisan at this time of the year. Would love to lay down the arms and be charitable in spirit. I'd like to have something I could say about my President that "At least he does a good job with ______."

But now the administration isn't just talking about stretching it's executive power, it's making up new powers out of thin air. For the party of less government, I'm perpetually astonished by how much more power they want government to have.

Remember back when we used to hear the "gridlock" meme? Ah, wasn't gridlock nice?

Sing with me:

God rest ye, fellow citizen, let nothing you dismay
You know that in less than a year you'll see election day
So brace yourself 'gainst sins and lies from Bush and Tom Delay
O, Tidings of hol-iday joy, holiday joy. O tidings of hol-iday joy.

The best Christmas gift

2005-12-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Last year I lamented that the Herb Alpert Christmas album had been out-of-print since the 1980's. Most people could care less, but I'm not the only Caliarchi fan who longed for a fresh, remastered copy of this 35-year old chestnut of holiday pleasure.

Miracle of miracles, the wait is over. The entire Herb Alpert catalog has been released, including the beloved Christmas album. Buy it, put it on, and pour yourself a glass-o-nog. Herb's smooth trumpet and the chorus of ooo-ooo-oooo'ers will set you right for enduring a marathon present-wrapping session.

In Defense of Voice Response Systems

2005-12-15T19:50:00.000-05:00

Paul English's popular Cheat Sheet will provide you with the quickest routes to bypass voice response systems to speak to a human.

Funny thing is...I have no interest. Certainly, I have been caught in badly designed menu systems. But most of the time, I'm relieved not to have to talk to a person. For every excellent customer service person you talk to on the phone, there's another one who was born to drive you crazy. That's to say nothing of the hold queues. For things that follow a predicatable routine, such as checking a balance or refilling a prescription, I am comforted NOT to end up talking to somebody.

Surely, I'm in the minority on this, but I know I can't be alone. Can I get an "Amen?"

Qualified (Condi Rice splits hairs)

2005-12-05T21:52:00.000-05:00

From Secretary Rice's speech today:

The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture. [The stated purpose of a rendition is largely an issue of rhetoric, much as the stated purpose of invading Iraq is largely a matter of rhetoric.]

The United States does not use the airspace or the airports of any country for the purpose of transporting a detainee to a country where he or she will be tortured. [Again, we're relying on intent as justification, which is easily spoofed and impossible to verify.]

The United States has not transported anyone, and will not transport anyone, to a country when we believe he will be tortured. Where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured. [Trust us. Not like you have a choice.]

We have found a way for our Secretary of State--without lying--to deflect all potential criticism while refusing to allow any independent verification. So long as we didn't "intend" or "expect" abuse to happen (trust us!), actual outcomes don't so much matter. So long as we had assurances, our civilian leadership is free from all true accountability for anything that actually happens. (Wink, wink.)

All I can say is that I admire the fancy lawyering.

Silver linings (Black iPods)

2005-11-28T22:22:00.000-05:00

On the downside, the hard drive on the old iPod went belly up. (This, a tragedy that was compounded by the subsequent discovery that our son had destroyed the cones in our stereo speakers.) This is not a family that does well without its music.

In the positive column: new iPod! Just got the sleek, new black 30GB iPod today. And boy is it sleek. And new! I ordered it in the early hours last Wednesday. Within a few hours the iPod had been engraved (free) and shipped (also free) from Shanghai. From there to Anchorage, Alaska by Thanksgiving morning. On Black Friday, henceforth known as Black iPod Friday, the Fed Ex delivery truck was at our door.

I never cease to be amazed by this sort of thing. Mein Frau loves to tease my total admiration for the US Postal Service. For less than forty cents, I can have somebody pick up an envelope at my front door and have it delivered to any other front door in the United States. You can't even get a waiter to spit in your food for thirty-seven cents.

That's my boy!

2005-11-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to remember the happy occasion of watching my son successfully catching a ball in his baseball glove while playing catch with me. He's been catching very well with his bare hands for a few months, and boy can he hurl. But the fancy glovework is new!

Yay, team! (Democratic victory party)

2005-11-21T03:05:00.000-05:00

We had a celebration for all of of our candidates and volunteers to mark our big success on election day 2005.

Pictured (L->R) Deena Beard, Lin Floyd, Sallie Anderson, Pat Tillson, Jon Auritt, and Carol Carr.

Deena, Lin, and Sallie are our commissioners-elect. Pat ran a great campaign in the 6th ward. Jon won re-election to the school board, where he will be is now joined by Carol.

My personal story with this election is chronicled a few posts ago. Larger version of the photo on my flickr site here.

The Reason

2005-11-17T20:00:00.000-05:00

A funny potty training story here--hopefully my last. If you're not into that sort of thing, feel free to move along.

This story involves a recent accident...except that it wasn't an accident. Almost all of the time, our son is doing a good job with getting to the potty. Every once in a while, though, he just seems to decide not to bother. When this happens, he goes somewhere where he thinks he can't be seen for a little privacy. Of course, he hasn't grasped that (a) we can also hear him (b) smell him, and (c) see him minutes later. I'm pretty sure he isn't that stressed about our reaction. It mostly seems that he doesn't want to bother with the hassle that comes from telling us that he needs to go.

You know where this is going. I heard him grunting the tell-tale grunt behind the couch. I inquired:

Me: Did you just go in your pants?
Boy: [Matter of fact] Yes.
Me: Didn't I just remind you to go potty a few minutes ago?
Boy: I couldn't do it, Daddy. The reason is...The reason is, I am tired. No that's not the reason, Daddy. [Sees refrigerator] I was hungry. I need something to eat. No, that's not the reason. [Sees cup on the table] I was thirsty. No, that's not the reason I did it. Umm, the reason is...umm...umm...umm...
Daddy: Is it that you didn't want to tell me?
Boy: Yes. That's it! I was em-bah-wassed. I didn't want to tell you.

Arguments without evidence (Filed under "Pointless")

2005-11-17T19:24:00.000-05:00

Scott Adams decided to take on the anti-ID crowd to stoke up some controversy, incurring the wrath of PZ. (Getting the feeling that we pro-evolution types are getting really sick of having to explain this crap over and over again?)

One of my most annoying habits is qouting myself...here I go again. My comment on Laura's blog, repeated with only nominal edits here because I'm too lazy to write more:

Scott Adams is an entertainer. He has a financial interest in garnering attention by stoking up arguments that he will later mock. Using his own argument and my own irony detectors, I claim that he has no credibility in assessing the credibility of others.

Really, if he wants his blog essay to convince me, he needs to site his sources. He says he's done a lot of research on what both sides have to say, so he should be willing to provide us retroactive endnotes for some of the examples that he reports to have read from ID'ers and Evolutionists. An argument that lacks evidence is little more than an intellectual parlor trick.

Until I see his citations, he's just another crackpot with a blog, like the rest of us. (Except that he has a cartoon strip with with a readership of millions.)

Dear Santa

2005-11-15T00:37:00.000-05:00

Sharing our son's letter to Santa as he eagerly anticipates his fourth Christmas:

Dear Santa,
I would like a tent. I love construction workers. I'd love some guys and a computer. I love you.

When underdogs have their day (Election Day 2005 - Local Elections)

2005-11-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

What a day.

When I was out walking the ward with my friend Deena Beard last weekend, I was picking up a good vibe. We knew she had a good base of support in both of her precincts, but we were getting a very positive response at the doorsteps of our neighbors. Especially reassuring were signs of support from a number of Republican households. I've always felt that Deena was a great candidate--poised and hard-working. I was behind her on the issues. But it was always great to watch her interact with neighbors at the front door. She knows when to listen and when to speak. I learned something every day.

I knew things were going well when a voter called Deena and asked us to replace their yard sign for her opponent with one of ours.

We worked election day like crazy. (Actually, a whole bunch of people worked like crazy well before election day.) I wouldn't exactly say we were organized to an extreme measure, but we had a big team of grass roots supporters; Team Deena was not going to lose for a lack of hustle....

It was tense sitting in as a watcher while we waited for the judge of elections to report the results. At the first machine, Deena was ahead by six votes. The absentee ballots split 4-3. Then the second machine was called. She'd taken her own precinct by almost 50 votes. Obviously, this was good, but the second precinct awaited, and it was twice as large. We drove down the road to the other site. There it was on the door: Lever A-13 had an advantage over lever B-13 of nearly 60 votes.

Final tally: Beard (D) 399; Hackett (R) 290.

I had thought we might win in the final days, but we thought it would be a squeaker. (Mind you, there is about a 5:2 ration of registered Republicans to Democrats in this ward.) A 16-point spread was outside the realm of my comprehension. I had to read the poster a couple times. We both flew home quickly to share the moment with our families. It was only when we arrived at the Democratic gathering afterwards that we found out something that I'm not sure we'd ever even thought about...

Board majority.

When the evening started, the Nether Providence Board had a 5-2 Republican majority. When it ended, it was a 4-3 advantage for the Democrats. Sallie Anderson had successfully defended Sara Petrosky's vacant 2nd Ward seat, as expected. But Lin Floyd had also taken the 4th Ward seat against the incumbent.

I'm so proud of my friends, and honored to have been able to help. But it's not just about the victory. Victories are milestones, but once you pass the milestone, the road is still in front of you. I'd been really concerned about the attitudes and directions the board has been taking the last few years...I'd never paid much attention to local politics, but now that I'm a property owner and parent, I'm paying more attention. That's why I chose to get active on the local level. (That, and my sense of responsibility after getting on my high horse with a really snarky letter to the local party chairman--sorry David!) I intend to live here a long time, and I want to make sure that my community is as good as it can be.

What I like most about this gang is that I believe they plan to work hard for the residents of Nether Providence. There is no county machine to curry favor with. This isn't much of a stepping stone to bigger things. They're a thoughtful and capable group. I expect them to serve their constituents well, just because that's what they signed up to do. They've got a lot of work ahead, and I wish them all well.

There's another part of this story that has to do with Bryan Lentz, who is running for Congress in the PA-7 next year against Weldon. More on that later.

Off to the Polls

2005-11-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

This is a topic with a very small radius of interest, but in eight hours the polls will open in our neighborhood in a local-only election. Strangely enough, it has been the campaign season in which I've been the most involved. I've been working for months as campaign manager for Deena Beard. She is running for Township Commissioner as a Democrat in a ward where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 2.5 to 1. She's run a good race, and I'm proud of the association.

The attention tomorrow will be on reading the national tea leaves from governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey. But in less glamorous places, some of us will be working to ensure competent, independent-minded representatives to be good stewards for our home communities. Here's a salute to everybody who will be out tomorrow working for a good candidate for a school board or local council-- especially the ones who are putting up a good fight for accountable government in places where political machines churn along to prop up the interests of insiders.

I'll have 13 hours on the pavement tomorrow, plus some time inside as a watcher. Wish us luck.

Uncle Mark is off the mark (2006 Holiday Shopping Guide)

2005-10-29T20:15:00.000-05:00

Uncle Mark (Hurst) performs a service for his friends and relatives. His shopping guide is a generally handy service for non-techies, providing a trusted source to weed the many choices and make a straightforward buying recommendation.

But there is a point at which you can oversimplify advice, and this year I think he's done that. While none of his picks are totally misguided, there were two that I thought were far from optimal.

Digital Cameras
I looked long and hard at ultra-compact digital cameras this year. The Canon Digital Elph SD20, while a fine camera and a decent value, is trumped by the Sony DSCP200 for most point-n-shoot photographers. While both take excellent pictures--good lenses and chips--without a lot of work, the Sony wins on what really makes a camera worth having in a pocket cam. Set aside for a moment that the Sony is a 7 megapixel camera for a second--most of us rarely need the kind of resolution. Both cameras are tiny and live inside your pocket all day long.

The Sony battery technology just blows Canon's batteries out of the water. I knew the Sony batteries were good from past experience with video cameras. But even I was surprised by the life of the P200's battery pack. I was used to having to carry my spare Canon batteries with me everywhere I went. I use my P200 every day, with the 2 inch LCD running. (If you're willing to use the viewfinder, you can greatly lengthen battery life, but I'm not a squinter.) I have to charge the battery every four to six weeks. If you buy this camera, you probably don't need a spare battery. I can't honestly say the same thing for the Canons.
The Sony P200 has ultra-fast boot-up times (the time from when you press the power button to when you're ready to shoot.) I often press the power button as I'm pulling the camera out of my pants pocket. By the time I can raise the camera to shooting level, it's ready to fire. My experience with the Elphs is that they take longer.
The P200 is one of the better cameras in the class at reducing between-shot lags. You digital camera owners out there--including you Canon Elph owners--you know what I'm talking about.

My belief is that there are a number of ultra-compacts that all take excellent pictures, so that's not the determining factor. Pocket camera owners do a lot of quick snapshots, and for that one wants a camera that is small, light, and always ready to take a picture. It's on this last point that the Sony rises to the top of the heap.

Personal Computer
Hey, I'm a Mac guy too. My general advice is to buy a computer when you need one, and to buy on the relatively low end of the product line. (My rule of thumb: buy cheap, buy often.) The difference between cheap and expensive computers today will tend to be much smaller than the difference between any computer today and even the cheapest computers in two or three years.

Now is NOT the ideal time to purchase a new Mac, and especially not the time to buy a Mac laptop. The Mac Laptop line has languished on the old G4 processor for years. Now, Apple is poised to make a colossal shift in the next year to Intel chips. While the change should be relatively smooth migration forward for existing Mac users, potential switchers would be wise to take a wait-and-see posture until NEXT holiday season if they can afford to do so. From what we've initially seen 'back at the lab,' there's a good chance that Macs will soon be sold that are dual-boot capable. (They'd run OS X and Windows. Linux, anyone?) Being able to keep one's existing software could be a very important reason to hold off before buying.

Bottom line: Mac users, do whatcha gotta do. Switchers, go ahead now if you're ready for a full cutover; but if you would benefit from straddling both worlds, wait-n-see.

As a secondary note, I'm very cautious about recommending the 12" iBooks to anybody until I'm sure that they hold portability at a premium. That's very limited screen real estate; it's fine for somebody who will literally be carrying their laptops everywhere, but limiting for people who like to manage multiple windows, play games, work on graphics/web stuff, or digital movie making. The 12" screen is hardly a one-size-hits-all solution, and one would be wise to think seriously about the recipient's lifestyle and interests before buying one as a gift. If you just aren't sure, the default should be a 14" or 15" screen. If the recipient is an on-the-go techie who can't be away from their instant messaging window, then the smaller product is the way to go.

The rest of the recommendations look fine to me. He's right about the 20Q electronic game. It's a fun toy for almost any age at less than $10. My wife and I both had fun trying to stump it, and even my preschool-aged son got in on the act answering the questions. (For very young kids, it's actually educational, allowing them to explore the classification of objects.) Good to have in the bag o' tricks on long car rides.

Who replaced my son with this neocon?

2005-10-24T23:13:00.000-05:00

The conversation below happened while carving the Halloween pumpkin. (It will help to know ahead of time that the reference to "Swiper" relates to a sneaky cartoon character from the children's show "Dora, the Explorer.")

Lad: Oh no, Swiper is stealing our pumpkin!
Dad: Oh no, we should stop him!
Lad: Swiper, no swiping! You say it too, Dad!
Dad: Swiper, no swiping!
Lad: That stopped him.
[Beat.]
Oh no, he's trying to steal again.
[More scolding of Swiper. Moment passes.]
Lad: Dad, I pushed Swiper down the stairs.
Dad: WHAT? Why would you do that?
Lad: He wouldn't stop swiping.
Dad: Well, we don't hurt people. It's okay to stop people from doing bad things, but we don't hurt them.
[He steps out of the room, then pops his head back in.]
Lad: You're wrong dad. If people are doing something bad, you have to hurt them.
[Fretful overreaction from father ensues.]

How the hell does this get in the mind of a three year old? It's not so much that I worry about his values. I think that what's going on is actually a kind of testing out of different ideas. Still, it's terribly jarring to hear this normally kind child make a statement like this with such clarity.

Political showdowns

2005-10-19T19:11:00.000-05:00

I'm about a week late to the party, but I was just catching up on some reading at The Decembrist. I think he's managed to describe, almost on the button, the sort of political engagement that the hard-edged right has been trying has been craving, and the pitfalls thereof. Yes, you're seeing it now over Miers, but you could also feel the palpable disappointment a few months ago when seven Republican senators did the senatorial thing and compromised with seven Democrats to avoid yet another ultimate showdown (a.k.a. the nuclear option).

I only have a few humble thoughts to add to about this fanciful "ultimate showdown" rhetoric:

This presidency and a lot of the energy behind it has been about the consolidation of power, and not so much about conservatism, neo- or otherwise. I would tend to say that conservatism has been the tool, but power (for its own sake) is the project.
Rove & DeLay's much-noted political machinations have basically been an attempt to establish a virtual national political machine, to sit at the top of our more typical regional political machines. Machines tend not so much to be about a particular ideology, but more about establishing the pecking order for controlling access to power and its resulting spoils.
Almost every person with political power the world over claims to be (little-d) democratic....Remember the German Democratic Republic? To follow my previous metaphor, elections are a tool of democracy, but the project is the continuous, stable transfer of power. The U.S. remains a real democracy, even if it limps along in an injured state from time to time. The act of hubris that undermines almost every power-drunk politician is the failure to recognize that political realignments can and will eventually happen. When things get rough, some of your former supporters will bolt. Some people just want to be with a winner.

Barring a willingness to trigger a holocaust, the final showdown is never final.

My fear index defined

2005-10-16T17:17:00.000-05:00

It is with an enormous amount of relish that I enjoy the continued sinking of the Santorum ship. And yet, despite my glee, there is still a sense of unease.

Sen. Santorum has a split 43 - 41 percent job approval, his lowest ever and down from a 51 - 35 percent approval rating July 13. Pennsylvania voters split 41 - 42 percent on whether he deserves to be reelected. Santorum's politics are "about right," 40 percent say, while 29 percent say he is "too conservative," and 9 percent say he is "too liberal." [Ed. emphasis mine]. (Source: 10/6/2005 Quinnipiac University Polling Results).

Now I know: 40% of Pennsylvanians frustrate me. But it's only 9% +/- who really scare the bejesus out of me.

Is that glass half-full or half-empty?

Does not compute

2005-10-15T23:04:00.000-05:00

No matter how long I live, I will never be able to make sense of the politics of catching a home run ball. In Chicago, if the home run is hit by the opposing team, you're supposed to throw it back on the field. Phooey! If you catch a home run ball (or even a foul ball), you're supposed to give it to some helpless looking kid sitting near you. Humbug! And heaven forefend that you actually catch a historic home run ball. The players will posture like you owe it to them to give them "their" memento back, or that you shouldn't try to profit on your bounty.

Consider the case of Shaun Dean, the lucky fan who caught BOTH the critical Lance Berkman grand slam ball AND the game-winning Chris Burke home run in the 18th-friggin-inning of a playoff game that was the stuff of legends. We can't really say what the balls are worth, but let's just assume as a pair they're worth at least a new car. If the Astros go on to win the world series, who knows... Six figures to a crazy Texan with money to blow?

So what does this fellow do? Why he donates the balls to the Hall of Fame museum, of course. That's a really smart thing for a father of a three-year-old son to do. After all...

Dean never considered selling the balls. He had planned to display them on a shelf in his 3-year-old son's room decorated with sports memorabilia, including a signed picture of Don Larsen and Yogi Berra.
"They would have just gone to his collection," Dean said.

The players are congratulating him on what a cool thing it is that he did this. What I wouldn't pay to hear a ballplayer act just a tiny bit in-touch with the real world by telling him "Please, feel encouraged to sell the balls. They're your nest egg, or they can pay for your son's college education." I guess that's why you shouldn't really take financial advice from millionaires who make their livings playing a game in tight pants.

If I catch a home run ball, it's mine, home team or no. I will not harm others in pursuit of a collectible, but I'm not taking mercy on your waif just because he's cute. I have a son of my own; if anybody's going to receive a souvenir from me, it will be he. The end.

Indeed, private scatology preferred

2005-10-11T23:32:00.000-05:00

From the AP story, as seen on cnn.com:

Bush wrote back to wish Miers a happy 52nd birthday, telling her that he appreciated her friendship and to "never hold back your sage advice." He ended with a postscript: "No more public scatology."

So...many...jokes...coming...to...mind!

It's part of the public record. Can we please, please, please make her explain the inside joke as part of her confirmation hearings? We haven't had someting so amusingly degrading happen to the high court since we had a nationally televised hearing about pubic hair on a coke can.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Glove

2005-10-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

In our continuing collection of cool conversations with my preschool-age son, we have this little bedtime exchange that made this daddy's heart go pitter pat.

Me: I hope the Angels win the game tonight. I hope they beat the Yankees.
He: Do you like the Yankees?
Me: I don't like the Yankees.
He: I do not like the Yankees also. Why do we not like the Yankees?
Me: Those Yankees have won too many times. I like other teams to get a chance to win.
He: Like the Phillies!
Me: (excitedly) Yes! You're right! I really want the Phillies to win. But they can't win this year. They're all done playing for this year. But maybe next year the Phillies can win.
He: (whispers in a conspiritorial tone, and points at me) Yes, maybe next year the Phillies can win.

Cheers, my little one. Tonight, the baseball gods have shone down on your little head. The Yankees (boooo!) have been vanquished by the Angels (yaaaaay!). The Astros (yaaaay!) have dispatched those infernal Braves (hissssss!)

And Ed Wade's terrifying reign of incompitence has finally been brought to an end in our town.

Epitaph

2005-10-11T00:26:00.000-05:00

Phillies fans: when Larry Bowa was fired a year ago, I wrote a couple entries on this here blog about how scapegoating the skipper would have no effect on the Phillies; I remain convinced that almost everybody over-attributes baseball success and failure to managerial performance.

I also believed that blaming Bowa would only allow the organization to leave its flaws unmended for another year. Never mind that our $15M fat slugger was already showing signs of decline in 2004; or that our catcher was a drain in both halves of the inning; or that we failed to effectively arbitrage your infield surplus; or that we were overspending on bullpen mediocrity and failing to making sufficient headway in improving the rotation through trades or organizational development. Lord how I prayed all off-season that he would trade David Bell and keep Polanco, knowing full well that Polanco was bound to be the odd man out.

I propose that my assessment of Ed Wade last year should now be his epitaph:
Perfectly consistent. Staggeringly uncreative.

Doing It to Death

2005-10-10T22:58:00.000-05:00

For no reason in particular, I recently recalled an event from nearly 15 years ago when I thought I might be losing my mind. The culprit was, as we once so cutely called it in the days when "cyber" was the prefix-du-jour, cybersickness. Those of you from the right generation might also understand me when I refer to the Tetris Effect.

I'm sure most gamers have a story about physiological or psychological effects they've felt after a long gaming binge. When I've been doing too much of the same activity--not just garden variety too much, but a lotta lotta too much--my brain will just keep on processing the activity even after I've stopped.

Back in that fateful week in College, I'd been playing a lot of Tetris, just like everybody else (everywhere). I wasn't the only one who reported that when I closed my eyes I would see after-images of the rotating blocks on the inside of my eyelids. This little problem could be a little annoying when laying down to sleep. I should have taken it as a warning, but when we're young, we don't know our limitations.

That's when things went haywire. While talking to a friend, Tetris blocks started their persistent descent, right through my waking field of vision. For a few minutes it was weird and curious. Then it got annoying when I wanted it to stop. But it didn't stop. For about 24 hours, I "saw" Tetris blocks floating in front of my face. And after a few hours, it was terrifying and maddening. I can remember crumpling in the bed, holding a pillow over my head, just wishing like crazy for it to stop.

I never again played or even watched somebody playing Tetris. Now, on the rare occasions that I get absorbed into any kind of computer game, I stick to low-motion, turn-oriented strategy games. I have a strong philosophical belief that games should be fun, and not cause you enormous emotional distress. But that's just me.

The experience has also made me question why anybody could recreationally induce hallucinations.

We could be heroes

2005-09-16T23:42:00.000-05:00

This is no longer my blog. Now that my son is talking up a storm, he's pretty much the brains behind our serial comedy.

In tonight's episode...

Son: Do you know what The Incredible Hulk's last name is?
Dad: Isn't it Banner? Bruce Banner?
Son: Noooooo. It's Behrens, just like yours.
Mom: What's his first name?
Son: TheIncredibleHulk.

One way to stand out in the crowd

2005-09-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

This little story goes out on the lines for all those parents who have endured the tribulations of potty training.

The scene: It is "circle time" at the end of the first day of classes. 11 three-year-olds and their parents are listening to the teacher's review of the first day's activities.

Our hero stands up, walks to the center of the room, interrupting the discussion and makes an announcement:

"I made some poopy in my pants!"

And the weirdest part was...he hadn't.

I am the Bobby-Man. (Choo-choo-kachoo)

2005-09-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

Last night I attended the Phillies game against the Marlins. The Phillies lost the game 7-6 (took themselves out of it with some sloppy plays.) The game would not have been worth noting, except for my own conduct.

Bobby Abreu has long been my favorite player. Without garnering much attention, he's been the one consistently excellent thing the Phillies have had going for them since he first joined the team. (Note the answer to the trivia question/critique: What has Ed Wade ever done right? Kevin Stocker for Bobby Abreu.)

I am a stoic man. Restrained, dignified. Ok, you have to give me restrained. But when I go to a Phillies game, I like to get in the spirit and do a little hooting. I'm not a major boo-bird. (My policy is that you can boo conduct and stupidity. But you can't boo mere unsuccessful performance. My policy is not shared with the other 99.3% of Phillies game attendees.)

When Bobby comes to the plate, I try to show him the gratitude he has earned. And that gratitude sounds a little bit like this. (I've got lungs. Think LOUD. )

COME ON, BAHHHHBEEEEEEEE! COME ON BOBBY-NOW! HEYA, BAAAAAHHHHHBEEE!

After a few of those, we're ready for a torrential, rapid-fire tongue-twister, Latin American soccer announcer-style:

COMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBY-
COMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBYCOMEBOBBY!
COOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM OOOOOOOOOONNNNN BAHHHHHHHHHBEEEEEEEEE!

Usually, this little stunt amuses the residents of the local sections of the ballpark (while simultaneously humiliating my ballpark companion. Poor wifey!) Last night was pretty funny, though. I seemed to have a few fans who would cheer after I'd do the little finale. By the end of the game, you could hear a smattering of pale immitators in the upper deck as Bobby would stroll to the plate. In fact, as he came up for his fifth plate appearance, I actually got heckled by a somebody behind me because I had not yet started up. ("What, you're going to give up now at the end of the game?")

The last two Phillies games I've attended, Bobby Abreu was not retired once. While I'm not so narcissistic as to think that I had any hand in his success, clearly it hasn't hurt! Assuming that I haven't actually done permanent hearing damage to anybody, it sure is good, clean fun.

As people filed out, somebody behind me said, "Good night, Bobby-man." I like that. I certainly am a Bobby-man, and I'd be honored to be the Bobby-man.

Bobby-man can be hired for your Phillies outing for the low cost of a ticket and a cold beverage to wet the pipes. (No refunds if Bobby doesn't play. Bobby-man cannot be held liable for damages related to loss of hearing, business, or personal dignity.)

Ladies & Gentlemen: We Have Attitude

2005-09-01T23:08:00.000-05:00

Let's face it, nobody wants to hear what I say. If you're reading this blog at all, you're hoping I'll just shut up and tell you a funny story about what my young son is doing these days. (It's ok, I'm really not offended.)

Because you have to give the people what they want, here's the story of last night's bedtime conversation. In this scene, our intrepid lad is finally in bed, tucked into his covers. His father is kneeling beside the bed, and leans in to give his lad's forehead a kiss. The following dialogue really did pour out of the mouth of a boy of three:

Boy: Ok, now can you just go?
Dad: I thought I'd just stay here for a moment with you before you go to sleep.
Boy: What are you people doing to me? WHAT are you people doing to me? (Sits up with a jolt?) WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING TO ME?
Dad: Gee, I thought I was just giving my little boy some love.
Boy: I don't want any love. Stop giving me this love. I don't want to be loved. Now can you just go?
Dad: Uh, ok.

Quite a flair for the dramatic.

Of birds, bees, and bills.

2005-09-01T22:44:00.000-05:00

From a wire story about proposed legislation in California to grant gay couples equal marriage rights:

Sen. Tom McClintock, a Republican, agreed that gay couples should be entitled to certain rights but not the right to marry.

"Can't you see that marriage is a fundamentally different institution?" he said. "Marriage is the institution by which we propagate our species and inculcate our young." (Source: AP)

Although I'm quite fond of my marriage, Senator, it isn't technically my marriage by which I propagate the species. As a species, I think it's actually quite important that we get this straight.

Pun intended.

Milestones in Abstract Thought

2005-08-27T14:55:00.000-05:00

Our son's first known simile was observed a month or two ago. It's raining today, and he said it again. Although it's not exactly pleasant, it seems like it's something we should record:
He: "Rain is like poopie coming out of the sky."
We: "How is it like poopie coming out of the sky?"
He: "It just kinda is. It's just kinda like that."

We have dial tone; but we're battle-scarred

2005-08-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

We finally got our home phone service restored yesterday. We're not impressed, and we're looking to conduct our business with a different provider very shortly.

Free EB! Free EB!

2005-08-24T23:20:00.000-05:00

broken phone2 by eatsdirt. (CC)

People, I need some help!

I can't believe I'm making a third post on this, but the saga of the vast suckitude that is Verizon continues at our domicile. To recap, 'twas a full week ago today that we reported our complete and utter lack of dial tone throughout our residence. (Indeed, we verified that dial tone is not available to the terminal on the outside of the house.)

To further recap:

Last Friday was the first appointment we were offered. Verizon was a no-show and a no-call.
When we called on Friday evening, they said they would be out on Saturday. On Saturday, Verizon was a no-show and a no-call.
On Saturday, we experienced just how badly we could expect to be treated by Verizon customer service.
On Sunday, nothing.
Monday? No-show, no-call.

On Tuesday, it gets cute again! After our nth call, we're informed that Verizon has been out to our site, and fixed the problem. The ticket has been closed. Of course, there's no dial tone in the house or at the exterior access panel.

On Wednesday, we're told that the earliest anybody can get out to the house is... Friday!

I know what you're thinking: it's de ja vu all over again! Or maybe they're caught in a loop of the time space continuum, like in that cool episode of Star Trek TNG where they figure out they've all exploded to bits several times in a row, so Data has to send a coded message to himself through time using tachyon particles!

I know I won't be sending a message to myself through time using my telephone. O, if only I could, my message to myself would be: "Find another phone company."

If you have a blog, and you have any love for your fellow man, please link to this post. It won't actually get our phone service restored, but at least we'll have the comforting reassurance that our linked messages will linger in google-space for many years, reaching out to future generations to tell them that once there was here a family who lived in a house; and that family was safe and happy until the evil, bad phone company called Verizon stripped them of their ability to communicate with the outside world. (See, it's just like that episode of TNG, where....)

Earthlings, beware!

Obligatory Pat Robertson Statement

2005-08-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Pat Robertson = Extremist ~~Muslim~~ Christian Cleric

Land Lines Lost

2005-08-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

In a few hours, it will be Tuesday. And we still do not have telephone service to our residence.

$#@*%! to you, Verizon. Can you hear me now?