Lemme reiterate that a narcissistic film about the foundation of a billion-dollar social network celebrating narcissism DOESN'T INTEREST ME!

A man got to have a code

My hero, David Simon, wins a MacArthur Genius Grant.

Fuckin' A!

h/t to Ghost in the Machine.

Memo to those having long/loud conversations about "God's Plan" for themselves--would you be equally tolerant of "Allah's Plan" public talk? No, I thought not.

Mark of OCD good day: arriving early enough to get preferred coffeehouse corner. 12 years ago, it was preferred IU library corner; same-same.

Inglourious Basterds: one more confirmation that Quinton Tarentino is as soulless as only a Hollywood weasel can be.

Yow! New Breughel! http://ping.fm/s5nik

Crescent City royalty

'Fess and the Mighty Meters



h/t to Richard Blaustein

Insight: Fox News audience aging out: Colbert/Stewart monopolizing young viewers Fox can't draw: http://ping.fm/KGNdS

Khyber Pass geography favors local insurgents, generals say

Retired US Army colonel says:

I have been saying for years that supply line interdiction is the greatest danger to our forces deployed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan in the midst of potentially hostile populations.

Newsflash: Darius, Alexander, Mughals, Auckland, Elphinstone, McNaghten, Chamberlain, Roberts, Kipling, Brezhnev, agree.

We never fuckin' learn, do we? Not in 2,000 years.

War mongers and dirty fucking hippies

And, at the time, they called us dirty disloyal fucking hippies for even daring to think this might be true.

Newly Declassified Documents Show Bush Administration Looked For Excuse To Start War In Iraq In Nov. 2001

via Think Progress on 9/23/10

My toasted "personal work" morning: SIX recommendation letters. Thank the Universe for online submissions!

Fox News is populated by and targeted toward frightened ignorant white people.

Jesus. There are times when I've just HAD IT

Weather prophecy:

Chance of rain <=> desire to go to pub session. Cloudier skies = more desire to play. You can take the boy out of Ireland, but you can't...

Giants on the earth

They were giants on the earth in those days. Paul Gonsalves on tenor, the mighty Sam Woodyard on drums, Harry Carney on baritone kicking the rhythm section's ass, Basie's great drummer Jo Jones standing offstage screaming encouragement, and Elaine Anderson dancing ecstatically in the aisles in a little black dress: Newport, '56, playing the blues, bringing the Ellington band all the way back from the deserts of the post-WWII depression.

Nice video tribute here:



Giants.

Line from Downey "Sherlock Holmes": we know you don't believe in magic. You're right: I believe in human effort and human capacity.

Thanks again, you Tea-Baggers

[bootlegged from a comments thread on friend's FB page--which same location I try to avoid, as threads can get hijacked]

Re/ O'Donnell's Pyrrhic victory in Delaware (yes, Tea-Baggers, I know you've never heard the word "Pyrrhic": that's why I use it):

@Alice: I agree. There's a (loud) lunatic fringe of frightened elderly middle-class or angry disenfranchised working-class folks who find people like Sharia Palin and Xtian O'Donnell "empowering," but I suspect that the Tea-Baggers spell the end of the Republican part as a viable competitor--because the corporatist Republican mainstream will NEVER be sufficiently ideologically pure--hence, they're going to continue to get dumped.

Bring it, you mothers. You sold your souls to loud lunatics, and your party is toast as a result. Have a nice day!

Yes, I am in fact one evil sumabitch

Amusing exchanges with supervisees:

One of the more enjoyable parts of my job is the level of shared respect and hard-won comity between me and my supervisees especially when they're out there in the trenches as teachers. It's a hard job, not much respected, and poorly recompensed compared to, I dunno, Halliburton monster or NCLB bureaucrat...but we have a lot of laughs and some funny exchanges:

Herewith one such:

DrConga:

BTW, I’m teaching a Friday morning class 8-11AM. Since the first class 2 out of 14 students have shown up on time. In fact, the students are so late that they show up by 8:30. I will be implementing my right to drop students for the first time ever. I don’t even know how to do it, but I’m going to do it. This is ridiculous.

DrCoyote:

Yeah. That is a bear. Suggestion? Give them 15 minutes; give the 2 who are on time extra credit, leave a note on the door saying "all those who were tardy for this class are being marked with a zero", and LEAVE. Keep doing that until they show up on time.

DrConga:

Good suggestion. Unfortunately, I have to be there for what I’m getting paid for. You seem to think I’m an actual educator. They expect me to be there for the time I’m paid. So, I’m thinking I will implement either 1. actually withdraw students from my class (a pain in the ass for me) or 2. give the “extra credit” quizzes you so mention and drop grades for absences. I’ve never had to deal with this before, it sucks that I even have to think about this. I’m currently leaning for option 1 because that means I don’t have to deal with them any more. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth the effort. At any rate, I’m not making these decisions because I feel I want to get at somebody. I’m doing this because it’s detrimental to the very few students that are doing the right thing and it keeps me from actually teaching. I can’t believe how much time has been wasted in the past few weeks because of this. It blows my mind.

Dr Coyote:

I understand. Well, you could have a graduated set of penalties:

1) next meeting, give a 1-question "pop quiz" to the ones who are there promptly. Give them extra credit. Tell the tardy ones there will be pop quizzes each class, at 8am, from now on.
2) If they continue to be tardy, mark the late ones absent.
3) If they still continue, use my original suggestion, and leave a sign on the door that says "now 8:20am. You are receiving no credit, due to your tardiness. I am available to discuss this, NOW, at [office][coffeeshop][student lounge]" etc.
4) drop 'em. I assume the college would prefer this to be last-ditch option, also.

You could also just tell the prompt ones, at 8am straight up "next class meeting is a [x alternate site]." Don't mention again. When the tardy ones complain that they "didn't know where class was meeting," tell them "the announcement was made; class met; you were marked absent."

DrConga:

You’re one evil sumabich. I like it. ;)

DrCoyote:

As I tell the young'uns in the freshman class: "Don't even think about cheating. I'm a worse criminal than you can ever imagine."

The genius that is Tim Toles

I grew up on the cold rocky coasts of the North Atlantic. I knew those guys from Southie and Dorchester who, even if they weren't very well educated, knew damned well when somebody was taking advantage of them, or talking down to them. I worked on the fishing boats alongside the descendants of those foul-mouthed fishermen and rope-wainers who boarded the Dartmouth and threw that shit overboard.

Yo, Tea-Baggers? You ain't the descendants of those guys in the feathers and paint: you're the descendants of all those timid middle-class citizens who didn't give a shit who got ripped off as long as it "wasn't your affair," and then screamed bloody murder when it was your turn. And you dickhead Republican congress-critters who are used frightened old white people and braindead rednecks to do your bidding? Your time is coming too.

I got your Tea Party right here, morons. And so does Tim Toles:

Bazaar of the Bizarre*

Crazy-busy at Study Abroad fair. This is good!

*(reference is to the great Fritz Leiber and his characters Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser--the greatest sword-and-sorcery stories ever)