Happy Memorial Day

I'm in the throes of wrapping up my first quarter of classes, but take some time off of your Memorial Day to flip through some of these photos taken during World War I of soldiers of the British Empire as they prepare for one of the longest and bloodiest battles in recorded history.

Which isn't to say that they're particularly sad or harrowing, but they are worth taking a look at, especially considering that they've been sitting in a French barn for the past 90 years and that next to nothing is known about them.

For me, I can only look at them and see these people, most of whom were probably younger than I am now when these were taken and many of whom were probably dead 6 months later, these people trying to retain something of themselves in what could only have been miserable conditions. They pose proudly, sometimes smiling, sometimes with local children, putting on a brave face to send back home to their parents or sweethearts or friends.

WWI both fascinates and terrifies me. It conjures the images placed there by people like Owen and Remarque, these horrific images of panic and weariness and death. this is a war in which modern warfare was born, and largely without the sister development of modern medicine that is supposed to accompany it. Never a good combination.

I've never been stupid enough to think I could hack it in a war. But if there is indeed a war that scares me above all others, this is it. War has never been sensible. But as hard to believe, I think it has only gotten more sensible.

Stop and remember that people are dead today. You don't have to agree with their cause or their government. you don't have to pick someone from your country. You don't have to pick the winners or the losers. But just think for a second that millions and millions of people have died for causes that are forgotten by most today. You don't have to remember them. But at least stop and think of them for a minute. It's the least they've earned.

This is a picture, not a painting, of the Forth railway bridge in Scotland. It's apparently the "one internationally recognized Scottish landmark", which is news to me, but looking at this picture, I can certainly see why.

warning: other views are not as glamorous.

Mailbox. Monday afternoon.

1. Tom
2. "Let's Move to the Country" - Smog
3. "Section House" - The End of the World
4. "Je N'Aime Que Toi" - Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garel, Clothilde Hesme
5. "Don't Be a Rude Boy" - The Rulers
6. "Chances Are" - The Breeders
7. "Silver Threads Among the Gold" - Cheyenne Mize and Bonnie "Prince" Billy
8. "What time is it?"
9. "Pinch Me (Baby Convince Me)" - Chestnut Station
10. "The Boys Are Leaving Town" - Japandroids
11. "And the Hazy Sea" - Cymbals Eat Guitars
12. "The Man Who Played God" (feat. Nina Persson) - Danger Mouse & Sparklerhorse
13. "When Will You Come Home" (Jouhn Peel version) - Galaxie 500
14. "It Just Dawned on Me" - John Doe and the Sadies
15. "What Time it is?"
16. "You Might as Well" - Sera Cahoone
17. "Freeway" - Kurt Vile
18. "Soldiers Take Over" - The Rio Grandes
19. "Loving Cajun Style" - Freddy Fender
20. "But I'm Different Now" - The Jam
21. "If You See What I Mean" - P.P. Arnold

download here.

This is mix I've been playing with for some time now, and I just now slapped some final pieces in and conjured up some artwork. I had to cut a few songs because they were too long, but it's kinda sad because I know I'll forget about them the next time I sit down to this. The new computer either makes it much harder or much easier to make mixes on, I haven't decided which, though.
the picture is of the old Luna Park in the North Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. There were Luna Parks built all over the country, and this one seems only to have operated between 1905-1909, which is surprsing, considering how nice it looks and how much money was in that city at the time. About 85 years after that picture was taken, I lived there, any trace of it had disappeared. There's still a bar named after the place there, one I have only slurry memories of, but recall it as having the drunkest bartenders and most sexually ambiguous bouncer in town. Within 8 minutes of moving to the neighborhood, I locked my keys in the car right in front of the place and had the distinct pleasure of helping a talking to the cop with a beer in my hand as he slim-jimmed my door open (permanently damaging said passenger-side door inthe process). Once, while on a pseudo-date there, I man tried to sell me shopping bag full of pornography.
Good times....

Three separate friends, none of whom know each other, each had children in the past three days. This has to be some weird strike of stork lightning, right? RIGHT?

In any case, my congratulations go out to all of you that might read this. I'm truly amazed by your individual and collective efforts. May your children be strong and beautiful and carry the wonderful qualities that I see in their parents.

As a requirement for one of my classes, I've been working what amounts to an online reference desk at the Internet Public Library. So far, it's been a pretty pleasant experience, and I enjoy it because I get to choose what questions I answer, which means it's usually something that I'm at least mildly curious about. Anything from Philadelphia's role in the Civil War to copyright laws, I've managed to pick up some interesting stuff.
A question I answered today was "Is Hello Kitty from Japan or England". It seemed like a pretty easy one to me, but as always that's a little deceiving (answer: both). Anyway, in my research, I stumbled across news records of the Hello Kitty murder, a case that shocked Hong Kong towards the end of the year 2000. Basically what happened is that a young woman was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered before her decapitated head was stuffed inside of a Hello Kitty doll. Terrifying, right? What's even crazier is that a 13 year-old girl had apparently been dreaming about it before the police there figured out what happened. Yikes. Anyway, I'm sorry if I'm ruining it for you, but I thought it was morbidly interesting.

Hopefully I'll have something a little more positive to report on for my next question...

Not to mention that there seems to be a number of Hello Kitty guns on the market... which I'm not even gonna get into.

The Sword of Victory, Russian

I know I've been scarce lately, thank midterms. I'm too tired to think, and I've been listening to a startling amount of musical theater while I've been studying lately. I think it goes back to the (terrible) study habits I picked up when I once shared a study space with one of my brothers and one of my sisters and in an effort to fool my parents into thinking this setup was effective (it wasn't, but my siblings could smoke cigarettes in the house undetected), they would play Les Miserables while we sifted through notebooks.

In any case, I'll post something later, but in the meantime I need to get back to homework and then seriously try to limp my way over to the gym so I can claim I at least walked that far out of the house.

For now, though, I feel like this little guy.

Captain Chaos R.I.P.

Great, now I got the Golden Girls and Cannonball Run to slough through.

Thru You: Imagine slapping together songs a la Garageband, only with Youtube videos. The result is this hodgepodge of guys pretending to film instructional videos, jagoffs videotaping themselves shredding in their bedroom, distraught girls singing to themselves, etc... The list goes on. It sort of gels, and sort of looks like a bunch of people whose videos were chopped up and arranged into songs on more YouTube videos.

Anyway, it's worth checking out. It's real evidence that with enough pot and editing software, you can truly put something together. I recommend tracks 1,3,4, and 7.

edit: and pets. There seem to be a lot of pets around these people.

One of the more entertaining aspects of David Souter's retirement: I've heard the term "Bork" four times since Friday.

Sure, it's probably more of a name than a term, but it's still pretty awesome.

This is going to be a long, dumb war between ideologies coming up, but I can't imagine it's going to end up all that different that it is now.

hey, That should be a motto for our political system.

Saw this the other day and I can honestly say that it's a pretty decent approximation of the inside of my head.

Brecht Vandenbrouke on Flickr.

Arlen Specter: Democrat?

So, he went and did it. 

Facing what appeared to be defeat in the polls from his new Democratic Challenger, Arlen Specter has decided to run in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. 

It's still plenty of time off, and Specter's ictory is by no means guaranteed, but at the same time this is going to shift the politics. What I liked the most about Specter is that while I didn't always agree with him, I could usually count on him to make a decision he believed in. I have no reason to think that would change now, but what I do fear is that his sear will open up to someone much further on the right to slide in there. This is Pennsylvania, after all. So while it's unlikely, we could have a Santorum II issue bubbling here. Of course I'd rather have Specter as a Senator than not have him, but if it means opening up that seat in the slightest so someone of that caliber, I'm going to get anxious. 

Most of the press right now is being made about the fact that this, along with a Franken confirmation, will make a filibuster-proof majority, and how the GOP are scrambling to hold up the Franken issue at all costs, or how Kay Bailey Hutchison would be freed up to run for Governor (King? Emperor?) of Texas now since her vote wouldn't be as crucial to the GOP. 

These are all good points and worth considering, but to assume that all of the Democratic senators will toe the party line is just foolish. One of the biggest problems with the Democratic Party is that the beliefs are scattered across such a wide area that it's much harder to get everyone to vote the same. Whether that indicates a narrower mindset on the GOP side of the aisle or just greater discipline in the party leadership I'm not qualified to say, but it's definitely a factor, and to think that Specter (along with Evan Bayh, Mark Begich, Bill Nelson, and the rest of the Bue Dog senate) will just dive headfirst into all of Obama's agendas is lunacy, just as it's lunacy to expect any more of the wandering GOP members to occasionally buck their party. This is going to shore up both sides and make things uglier for the time being. Especially between now and November, when Specter is going to have to consider his votes carefully and Al Franken is going to go through the Salem witch trials for his confirmation. 

So as a whole, this makes m happy. Knowing that Specter has a much better chance of keeping his seat is good news, though I still think I'd rather have him moderating the right than the left. My home state will probably have two very moderate Democratic Senators. There are worse things, to be sure, but I wouldn't complain to see Bob Casey, Jr. replaced with someone just a tad more progressive. 

Joe Sestak, your destiny is calling....

So, apparently, April is grilled cheese month. I don't know who thinks this needs to be a thing, especially in this house, where the grilled cheese is enjoyed all-year round.

Me, I go for a cooper sharp cooked in light butter, a thin slice of tomato, and a shitload of little red pepper flakes. Then, I cut diagonally and dunk in some Cholula.

But if that's not your thing, Women's Day magazine (yes, I am a lifelong reader) has compiled a list of wack-ass recipes for you to check out. Actually, the Gruyère with Caramelized Onions and the Caprese one look great. The rest I reserve suspicion for.

Clouded Leopard Cubs!

Clouded Leopard cubs were born at the National Zoo recently. And they're fucking* adorable!

(it's not a picture of Fergus, right?)

*This is my first f-bomb in what feels like ages. It was totally worth it.

It isn't often that I ask something of you, the HDF reader. This is partially because I feel guilty enough for not updating this site enough, and largely because I get squeamish in asking anything else of anyone reading this (other than that West Wing idea!) other than to keep checking this site every once in awhile. Sure, it doesn't really offer anything other than linked news stories and the occasional story about my cat, but then seriously, you're probably at work and bored, so I can only hope to help fill that void. I don't send forwards, and I'm not on Facebook, so really this is my only web presence, and I'm happy with that. I don't feel bad about whingeing on about my own lefty idealistic dogeared beliefs, because, because hey, you came here. But I -hey, where are you going? Please come back, I didn't mean that. Stick around for a minute, I'm getting to the point, I was just trying to talk about something here.

Okay.

Anyway, I'm always impressed with m friends, who are in fact the best people in the world (now that Paul Newman is dead). My friends are industrious and creative and fun and, well, people I'm proud to be friends with. There isn't a one who doesn't impress me semi regularly, and I mean that with the utmost sincerity. Y'all make me look like a coma victim.

And then there's Neil, who's putting together another documentary, this one about United States bombing campaigns from the people who make the decisions to drop them to the people they hit (intentional or not) and the way it affects our national conscious as a whole. It's solemn work, and it deserves our attention whether we want to think about it or not. Just because last month we made it illegal to sell cluster bombs doesn't mean that we made it illegal to use them or (shudder) just give them to Israel. and not even counting those godawful things, think of these weapons, these awesome (not in the good way) munitions, which we drop from several tens of thousands of feet up in the air into very much populated areas. I can't spit 4 stories in a closed stairwell* and hit the ground, and there's not even wind in there. Sure, my spit isn't laser-guided, but then how laser-guided was that bomb that blew up a wedding in Afghanistan (oh wait which one?) or the thousands of other accidents we've had? You can chalk it up to being the costs of war, but it's a bullshit war and it's a bullshit write off. If our taxpayer dollars are responsible for killing this many people by accident, we should damn sure be thinking about it.
But I'm getting off track, and I'm talking about things I don't know about, and the only way I'm gonna get my shit straight is by watching the movie when it comes out. and that's where Neil comes in.
The thing about Neil, though he'd probably deny this, is that he's one of the most decent people I know. Seriously, he resides in the uppermost strata of decent (heretofore referred to as the Carmody/Halloran barrier) of all the people I know, which is remarkable. At which I have to stop and wonder "why do these people even know a bastard like me?". I could never imagine working on a project like this and coming out the other end with my humanity intact. I just don't have that in me, and I'm certain if I could utilize my ape mind to slap together a film, it would not only be terrible and more than likely feature of accidentally inserted scene of me drunk and crying a la Martin Sheen in Hearts of Darkness, but it would also have no point. and that's one of the myriad of reasons why I can't make films. But I get the feeling that in addition to Neil's spirit remaining, and in addition to him continuing to be Neil, I'm pretty sure that after watching this film I will say to myself "Holy shit, there's something I can do", which is pretty rare if you know me at all. And I'm looking forward to having that feeling, but in the meantime, what I can do is tell you about it.

So please do me a favor. Go check out OurBombs.com. Watch the trailer. Look at the Air Strike Tracker. If you know someone you think might be interested in it, tell them about it. I promise I won't ask anything else of you until the movie comes out (you know I mean it!), but in the meantime, it's not going to take up too much of your time, and you're going to learn something, and you're going to help out my friend Neil. Tell you what, you go check this out and I won't post any more pictures of my cat**. That's win-win! Anyway, thanks for listening.


*this writer performed these tests in a controlled environment with no person in any danger of being hit. No humans or animals were harmed or humiliated in the tests. I messed some plants up pretty bad, though.
**This is not a guarantee.

Think we're out of the woods as far as the economy is concerned? The Economist says to pull your head out of your ass.

only, you know, much nicer than that.

I'm not getting into the whole torture thing, largely because I think that this is all stuff we've known or at least suspected to have known for a long time. Whether you're a proponent of torture or not, and I'm not going to pretend like there aren't people that don't advocate torture, nor am I going to say that they're wrong for doing so. It's a valid opinion, just not one that I happen to share. Anyway, I can handle that just fine, what I just can't tolerate is the renaming of it and pretending it's something that it isn't. I can understand why someone might think torture works (though I refuse to accept 24 as a reference point here), but they should at least have the stones to admit they're in favor of torture and not enhanced interrogation techniques.

Anyway, I'm not going to get into that (see what I just did there!!??). But I just read a story that provides some pretty compelling testimony that we can also add kidnapping children to the list of things I can be ashamed of our government doing and that pit in my stomach just grew a little bit. I mean, I guess we've been kidnapping children for awhile now (how old were some of those kids in Gitmo? 15? 16?), but these are kids. like, 7 and 9.

Anyway, I don't really have all that much to say about it, I just figured that it's worth pointing out.