Hurricane Donation Guidelines

If you'd like to make a financial contribution to one of the many wonderful organizations who are mobilizing aid to the Gulf Coast, here's something to consider. Take whatever you contributed to the Asian tsunami relief efforts...and double it.

I'm not implying that our fellow Americans are twice as valuable as those in other countries, but it does seem to me that family takes care of family, and we ought to be at least twice as generous in that respect. Anyway, that's what we intend to do.

(And, actually, it will be triple the amount, since MLB's employer, Occidental Petroleum, announced today that not only will it contribute $1MM to the Red Cross, but it will also match all employee contributions dollar-for-dollar. Good on them, and the many other corporations who are doing similar things.)

Hurricane blogging predicament

A couple of recent events have reminded me that while bloggers have a role to play in relaying information in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there's also an implicit responsibility to do some self-editing and, perhaps, refrain completely from reporting certain things.

For example, my post last night about the Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog was intended to direct folks to a potentially valuable source of information about their families and property in that town. Within minutes after that post went up, the Gazette was getting scores of hits via Technorati from people searching for "Slidell" or "Katrina Slidell" or some variation. Then, people started leaving comments on the post asking for information about their families. Obviously, I don't have access to that information, and I finally had to update the post to ask people not to leave such comments, but instead to visit the Slidell blog.

This made me wonder if I'd even done the right thing in posting that information, because I don't know if the Slidell blog is really proving to be effective. I hope it is, but I just don't know. And I hate to think that I might have raised false hopes in people who are desperate for any news whatsoever.

Then there's this. Deb Thompson over at Write Lightning emailed me this morning that a New Orleans TV station is broadcasting via streaming video. The picture quality is not great, but the audio is fine. This is probably the best source for up-to-date information by folks on the ground because they're not just recycling the same shots and stories like the networks seem to be doing.

However, as I was about to publish this post, the video feed suddenly stopped and it occurred to me that, again, I might not be doing anyone any favors by publishing the URL for the feed. If a bunch of gawkers (like me) end up bringing the station's server to its knees so that the folks who really have a vested interest in the information can't get it, then I've done more harm than good. Given that scenario, I've elected to exclude the identity of the TV station and the URL. (If you have family in New Orleans and want the information, leave a comment along with your email address and I'll send it to you.) It's not as though you can't find that feed yourself, but you might want to ask yourself if your need to know is as great as that of a few hundred thousand others.

Maybe I'm overthinking this issue, but I'd rather be on the safe side of things. In fact, unless I've run across something that really adds to the dialog and reporting related to the hurricane (which won't be much, I'm sure), I'm going to discontinue the related Technorati tags. I don't need the hits that badly.

Consumer Warnings Gone Wild!

I saw a TV commercial yesterday for Lunesta, a prescription sleep medication, and amid the long list of potential side effects was this admonition: "Lunesta may cause drowsiness." Gee, you think? I'm glad they warned me; I'd hate to get a prescription for a sleeping pill that made me sleepy.

I guess that's the one of the prices we pay for living in a litigious society where anyone can be sued for anything, up to and including doing what you were supposed to be doing. But, really, are we that dumb?

Perhaps. Look in any catalog selling consumer goods and you'll see evidence that someone was apparently instruction-challenged at some point. The photo at right illustrates this, carrying a warning that the $6.99 purchase of a "portable keyless security kit" for your notebook computer doesn't include a notebook computer.

Fair enough. I can see how someone might be confused. But the annoying thing is the lack of consistency in providing these warnings and disclaimers. Wouldn't you think that an ad like the one shown below, for a monitor cover/cleaning cloth, should be accompanied by the disclaimer that "Disembodied hand not included"?

Or is it just me?

Could your timing be any worse?

I'm sure that the food section of the newspaper is the last place one might think would need some editorial discretion, and yet that seems to be precisely what is lacking in this morning's edition of the MRT

The five-column main story in our local newspaper is an AP story headlined "Diners line up to get into 100-year-old New Orleans bistro." It goes into great detail about Galatoire's restaurant, a Bourbon Street culinary landmark. I looked for context that would somehow make this story appropriate in light of Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, but found none. This was a simple case of poor timing.

In fact, I hope that the story was simply overlooked in the press of other things. I hope no one looked at it and made a conscious decision that, well, "New Orleans is in the news everywhere else, so this is a logical tie-in."

And, of course, I hope that Galatoire's will once again -- and soon -- be the legitimate subject of a story praising its cuisine and spotlighting the crowds that line up to partake of it.

US to tap SPR

CBS MarketWatch is reporting that the administration has decided to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the wake of continued oil and gas production curtailment due to Hurricane Katrina. Details will be announced in a press conference later today.

Technorati tags: SPR | Hurricane Katrina

Learning from Katrina

The rescue and recovery efforts are still being mobilized in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but it's not too early to consider how this disaster should shape future decisions about preparing for the next round. WorldChanging has a provocative post with the premise that foresight means more than imagining the worst and preparing for it.

WorldChanging takes a matter-of-fact approach to the subject of climate change. There's not a lot of hackneyed political finger-pointing and arm-waving about global warming. Instead, they offer a matter-of-fact argument that the evidence for climate change -- regardless of origin -- is compelling and the implications are significant enough that we (being the human race) really ought to start figuring out how to deal with it in practical terms.

Katrina was (yet another) wake-up call about the reality that "good enough" often isn't when it comes to a showdown with Mother Nature. And reliance on past actuarial tables for predicting how long we can slide by before another Katrina shows up may just be a sucker's bet that leaves us as broken as the casinos now lining the Gulf Coast.

Note: I'm in no way suggesting that the damage from Katrina could have been or should have been anticipated and prepared for. This is a matter of looking forward, plain and simple.

Technorati tags: Katrina | Climate Change | Climate Foresight

The Blogosphere at work: Katrina Reports

Another note: I'm closing comments on this post, so that well-meaning but desperate folks won't waste their time leaving requests for information here. The blog linked just below is the BEST place for those requests.

Note: If you are seeking information about family, friends or property in Slidell, please visit the blog linked below. I do not have access to any such information. I've brought the Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog to your attention in the hope that it will provide you with some answers, or at least a good place to leave questions.

The Slidell (LA) Hurricane Damage Blog is a great example of the value of the blogosphere. It's been created by Brian Oberkirch to help disseminate information about the status of that town following a pretty direct hit by Katrina. Since many residents evacuated ahead of the storm, and not everyone can easily get back in, this blog is one way those folks can quickly get specific reports about their specific neighborhoods.

I'm sure there are many such blogs now in operation, but I picked this one because Slidell is where Daniel Morris calls home, and he and his family are on my mind.

Technorati tags: Slidell, LA | Katrina

For the Women in the Audience

I just realized that I have no category that's appropriate for posts such as this, dealing with, well, girly things. So don't read anything into the fact that I've put it into the category of "Kitchen Sink." That's not intended to be a commentary on girly things in any manner whatsoever.

What you really need to focus on is this post by Jen over at Prepare to Meet Your Bakerina, wherein the fetching young damsel describes in 18 steps how men are different than women.

I want to laugh, but I'm waiting for permission from a female-type person before doing so.

Top Ten Christian Persecuters

Since 1955, Open Doors International has been providing assistance and advocacy for Christians around the world who are being persecuted, discriminated against and harrassed because of their faith. There's no such thing as a closed border or society to Open Doors; in its own words, "We go where others do not go, and do what others do not do."

The organization publishes the semi-annual "World Watch List," which ranks countries according to the level of persecution Christians face for actively pursuing their faith. In the latest list, North Korea has supplanted Saudi Arabia at the top of the list for the first time.

Laos comes in at number three. The rest of the top ten are Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia. Five of the top ten countries are governed by Islamic regimes. Bhutan is predominately Buddhist, and four -- North Korea, Laos, Vietnam and Turkmenistan -- are communist-ruled.

Don't be surprised to see Saudi Arabia assert its lead once again in the future, however. According to AsiaNews, persecution of all non-Muslim religions is growing worse since the death of King Fahd.

Technorati tags: Persecuted Church | World Watch List | Christianity

Looking for "undervalued" housing? Try Odessa, TX

According to a recent study, Odessa, Texas is home to the fourth most undervalued housing market in the nation. Housing in Odessa is judged to be undervalued by 14%. College Station, Texas (-19%) leads the undervalued category, followed by El Paso (-17%). Killeen (-13%) gives Texas four out of the five most undervalued housing markets in the nation.

Midland (-6%) is tied for 12th with a number of other mostly-midwestern cities. Dallas was the largest metro area (population >5 million) to be undervalued (-11%). However, the study apparently excluded Metroplex suburbs like Frisco and Plano where, one suspects, the pricing might be skewed to the overvalued end of things.

The study, the results of which appear at CNN.com, was conducted by the National City Corporation:

On the flip side, four of the most overvalued markets are in California (big shock, huh?). Santa Barbara leads the pack (+69%, with a median home price of $564K) with Salinas (+67%; median price - $516K) following closely.

And where would you live if you wanted housing that, according to this study, was priced just right? Well, you have a choice among such exciting destinations as Lafayette, LA, Lincoln, NE and Oshkosh, WI.

As one might expect, given the current overheated nature of the US real estate market, overvalued areas outnumber undervalued ones by more than 2-to-1.

Technorati tags: Real Estate | Housing Prices

Hurricane Katrina's Impact on the Oil and Gas Industry

Here's the latest on how Katrina has impacted the US Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas producers and refiners (all statistics via John S. Herold, Inc.):

• Eight refineries with about 2 million barrels of day of capacity were shut in prior to the storm. This represents 12% of the nation's total refining capacity.


• The refinery shutdowns took about 1 million barrels per day (42 million gallons) of gasoline out of the market.


• It's estimated that just under 1.4 million barrels per day of crude oil production was shut-in in the Gulf of Mexico, out of a total of 1.5 million BPD.


• It's estimated that 8.3 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas production was shut-in in the Gulf of Mexico, out of a total of 10 billion CFPD.


• The closing of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) takes 11% of the country's daily import of foreign crude oil off the market.

Herold goes on to note that while there are options for replacing any shortfalls in crude oil (increased imports; release from the SPR), the replacement of lost natural gas production is much more worrisome. Also, it's too early to assess the possible damage to shallow gas pipelines. If there's significant damage to those lines, resumption of natural gas production could be delayed even if the production platforms came back online quickly.

Herold does report that the Sabine Pipeline which serves the crucial Henry Hub (which is the centralized point for natural gas futures trading in the U. S.) and was shut down in advance of the storm, apparently had no significant damage.

Technorati tags: Katrina | Oil & Gas Industry | Energy Prices

Kat's Impact Hits Home

I went out this afternoon to run a few errands. As I pulled onto Midkiff to head to the post office, I contemplated whether I should top off the Durango in light of reports that Hurricane Katrina's disruption of GOM production and Gulf Coast refining would drive gasoline prices higher. I had just about decided that it wasn't worth the time to save a potential few cents per gallon when I glanced over at the Kent Quik Texaco station and saw "$2.67" on the sign, then looked at the Chevron station right across the street which still read "$2.47." Since I was already in the right lane, I whipped in and put $30 in the tank; twenty cents a gallon is nothing to sneeze at.

A soccer mom was filling up her Suburban at the pump next to me and I said something about getting while the getting was good. She said that when she took the kids to school this morning the Texaco station was still at $2.47. When she noticed the higher price, and the lower price at the Chevron station, she too decided to fill up. Unlike me, however, she put an even <cough> $100 in that gas tank!

This is starting to get ugly.

Hurricane showcases audio technology

One very trivial, peripheral observation from the ongoing TV coverage of Hurricane Katrina: the current generation of microphone windscreens is amazingly competent.

I just watched one of the clichéd reporter-leaning-into-the-wind reports on Fox News and while the guy was clocking wind gusts of around 50 mph (he was in Florida, well to the east of the hurricane) and was standing in the knee deep white-capping storm surge, his voice was coming through with almost studio quality.

The apparent simplicity of a microphone windscreen obscures the complexity of providing an acoustically pure input of the desired frequencies (primarily the reporter's voice) while blocking the wall of noise generated by high winds and waves. I have no idea how it's done, but I'm impressed.

Kat Watch

The nonstop coverage of Hurricane Katrina is mesmerizing in the same awful way that the scene of a multi-car accident in the other lane of the interstate draws your eye as you travel past it. It doesn't affect you directly, but you wonder if anyone you know was involved, and you hope that it wasn't really as bad as it looks.

In this case, Katrina has already affected a friend, albeit one I know only via his blog. Daniel Morris over at From Behind the Wall of Sleep has packed up and headed for high ground, but his final post is both sad and encouraging, even in its brevity:

Expect to lose the house. That makes it real, doesn't it?

You probably also know someone who's life and/or property is in harm's way. This is as good a time as any to take a minute or two and pray for them, if you haven't already done so.

HarvestFest in FS

This weekend is the annual buckaroo bacchanalia in Fort Stockton known as "HarvestFest." We'll be doing the 52 mile round trip bike tour out to the winery (I keep trying to type "refinery"; I guess it is, in a way). We're told they're having a grape stomp this year, and we'll try to conjure up the spirit of Lucy Ricardo.

I may have some photos to bore you with, but don't look for much else in these parts over the weekend.

Besides, you need to be out playing in the lawn sprinklers while the weather's still nice. And close the door behind you; you're letting out the A/C!

Patio Makeover

We just finished another step in our ongoing project to jack up our old house and run a new one in under it. This one involved resurfacing our back patio.

For years, the patio had been decorated with paint over bare concrete, in a faux tile pattern. But the paint didn't hold up well to periodic soakings from the sprinkler system, overflowing flower pots or rain that blew in during storms. It was bubbling and cracking in many places, and the concrete itself had a few cracks.

Enter a product called "PermaCrete," a polymer-cement mixture that the manufacturer claims to be fire-proof (protection against barbecues gone bad), water-proof and, well, bullet-proof (the possibility of scamper-by shootings by our backyard squirrels have been a nagging concern ever since we found that dead mockingbird on our back porch).

PermaCrete is applied to the bare concrete and forms an impenetrable layer. It can be colored in any hue, and when applied in multiple layers it can replicate the look of tile, flagstone or just about any other floor covering you can imagine.

I won't go into much detail about how our particular project unfolded. Suffice it to say that it took a month and two days to complete the 298 square foot application, and at one point there were three people painstakingly hand-painting individual tile patterns due to a learning curve error by the contractor. Apparently, we are doomed to a lifetime of "redesign projects from heck" (it would have been worse, but we weren't paying by the hour).

In the end, it turned out pretty well...not as good as we'd hoped, but not as bad as we feared. It's a big improvement over what we had before. It's somewhat unfortunate that we apparently were the first intricate project for the contractor; I think that with a few more similar jobs under his belt, the results will be even better.

This is a before-and-after comparison. The base layer in the "before" shot is actually a layer of PermaCrete applied to the bare concrete (in which all the cracks were first filled and sanded). The base layer then becomes the "grout" in the final tile pattern. The layers can be applied in any desired thickness. The cost of this project worked out to be just under $5/square foot, not counting stripping the concrete.

Technorati tag: PermaCrete

Aloha to Free Market: Hawaii caps gasoline prices

It was a stupid idea 35 years ago, and it's still a stupid idea. But that hasn't stopped Hawaii's legislature from placing a cap on the wholesale price of gasoline, effective September 1.

Industry and analyst reaction was swift and predictable:

In a wonderful example of economic naivety, one state senator responded to those criticisms thusly:

It might not be a bad idea to file those quotes -- especially the senator's concluding sentence -- into the "famous last words" category.

Any bets as to when we'll hear the first [Northeastern] [Democratic] congressman call for reinstatement of the Windfall Profits Tax?

Technorati tags: Price Controls | Legislative Hubris | Energy Prices

The College Ranking You Probably Haven't Seen

The recently released ranking of the nation's "Top Party Schools" has gotten a lot of media attention (as it does every year), but here's another kind of ranking that I haven't seen much about: The Washington Monthly College Ranking that purports to show the relative contribution made by universities to America.

Here's the criteria, based on the answers to the question, what does America need from its universities?:

Only two Texas universities made the list. A&M (whoop!) came in at #7 and UT squeaked in at #23.

You can argue all you want about the validity, reliability or even logic behind these rankings, but I hope there's no disputing the fact that as important as it may be for our youth to learn to binge-drink, there's probably even more value in developing an "ethic of service" or "advancing knowledge and driving economic growth."

OTOH, UT Austin did make both lists, so maybe you can have your keg and drink it, too!

Tip o'the biter to Dave over at Target Centermass, who wishes A&M's football team could achieve a similar ranking.

Technorati tags: Texas A&M

Contrarian Grammarian

I take some pride in my mastery of grammar and spelling. Whenever you read things here that seem to violate the strict rules, it's generally because I've made a conscious decision to write them in that manner. But, as with most things in which I take pride, I now find that I'm not as good as I thought.

I was thumbing through a newly acquired book entitled "Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English," by Patricia T. O'Conner. I ran across this rather disturbing revelation:

Ouch. I once adhered to this convention, many years ago, but stopped it for some forgotten reason, deciding that the apostrophe was excess baggage. I now religiously write of "the 70s" and "CPAs" and "making As and Bs" and so on. How could I have been so wrong?

Thinking that perhaps Ms. O'Connor had spent too much time at The New York Times and thus lost touch with reality, I turned to the Bible of Such Things, Strunk & White's (or is it "Strunk's and White's"?) The Elements of Style. Amazingly, if those guys addressed the issue, I couldn't find it.

Fortunately, if one tries hard enough, one can always find support for one's bad habits. In my case, I've been rescued by Atlantic Monthly columnist and editor Barbara Wallraff in her entertaining "Word Count." Here's her take on the matter; pay special attention to the penultimate phrase:

There you go. If it's good enough for Atlantic Monthly, it's good enough for me...especially if it runs counter to what The New York Times considers correct. I mean, look how many times it's been wrong in the past.

I'm still trying to understand what's wrong with "Woe is me," however. I think I'll try to find something else to take pride in. (Was that one of those dangling whatchamacallits? Or not?)

Technorati tags: Word Count | Woe Is I | English Grammar

"Dearest Pat..."

Pat Robertson doesn't speak for me, but Jim over at Serotoninrain does a pretty good job of it.

Technorati tag: IWMA ("Idiots With Media Access")

Islam in Mexico?

This is a follow-up to last night's post, which was our first to address the issue of illegal immigration. In that post, I linked to this essay written by an American who has been in Mexico for several years, working as an English teacher.

He makes a number of rather candid and occasionally disturbing observations about Mexican culture and the challenges it presents in dealing with the immigration issues. Then he makes this statement:

In the previous Gazette post, my friend Cowtown Pattie left the following comment:

I have a hard time giving much credence to Mark's implication that Mexican Muslims pose a terrorist threat to the US. I would tend to put those converts into two categories.

One category is the "convert of convenience." These are the folks Pattie is referring to with her observation about hunger and poverty and despair. If they perceive that Islam somehow provides them with a community that better meets basic survival needs, then they'll cast their vote in that direction...for now. It's doubtful that these nominal Muslims give a plugged peso for jihad, if they even understand that term. And their commitment to Islam will last only as long as they perceive they're getting "a better deal" (whatever that means) than they did as Catholics (or whatever their previous religion happened to be).

The other category are the true believers, those who find in Islam whatever they wanted and failed to get from Catholicism in a spiritual -- and, possibly, political -- sense. If jihadists are to arise, it will be from this group, but I believe that this group as a whole will be an insignificant minority to begin with, and the radicals (read "terrorists-to-be") will be an even smaller number.

But, even if for argument's sake we assume that many true believers also embrace jihadism, why does it naturally follow that they'll choose the US as their target? After all, they've got plenty of targets right there in Mexico, both physically and philosophically. Those who are perceptive enough to understand jihadism will also be perceptive enough to recognize the shortcomings of their own government and oppressive culture. The infidels are in their own backyard; they don't need to travel to the US to find them.

No, I think the threat from Mexican Islamoterrorists is slight...but that's not to say that the terrorist threat from south of the border isn't real. It just won't be poor Mexican converts that pose the significant danger.

Technorati tag: Illegal Immigration

A List Apart, v. 4.0

If you build websites, you know about A List Apart because, after all, it's for people who make websites. It's also newly redesigned and newly updated, after a three-month hiatus. Slick? Certainly. Informative? Indubitably. New URL? Uh, yeah. What's up with that?

Even if you don't make websites, this article about making PDFs accessible might still be worth your time.

Tip o'the hat to Joshua Porter at Bokardo, who beat me to the link (I just checked last night). [Joshua, the "interesting effect" on wrapped titles also occurs in Firefox.]

Fixing Mexico

I've steered clear of the illegal immigration issue, primarily because it's a problem so huge and complicated that I'd rather hide in the closet than deal with it. It's probably permissible for me to react that way; the scary thing is that those who have the responsibility and authority to deal with it seem to be doing the same thing.

It seems, however, that none of us can afford the "hide-and-watch" strategy any longer. It's not out of the realm of possibility that illegal immigration could be the greatest threat to our nation's survival since the Civil War. The issues certainly have the potential to be just as divisive and volatile as those that sparked that terrible war.

With that as an introduction, I simply want to point you to someone else's take on the issue...an American who is now living and working in Mexico. He's written a lengthy post about his perspective of the problems in Mexico that give increasing impetus to the illegal immigration from that country, and he even outlines a plan to deal with it. It's a plan so audacious and aggressive that no one will take it seriously. To some, it might even be considered immoral. I'll let you decide for yourself. But, as you read it ask yourself this simple question: "How would my perspective change if the survival of the USA was at stake?"

I also want to point to a couple of posts from my friend Deb Thompson over at Write Lightning, who pointed me to the article linked above. Deb lives in California and thus is directly affected by this issue. But then, we all are to some extent. Deb probes the issues in her usual level-headed and compassionate manner.

Technorati tag: Illegal Immigration

"It's a Totzilla...and I baked my butt off!"

This is the 150th anniversary of the Utah State Fair and the slogan for this year's event is "All Your Wildest Dreams Will Come True." And in an ad campaign that's sheer genius, they've recruited none other than Napoleon and Pedro as spokesmen. They appear in three TV and five radio ads and the result is, well, freakin' awesome.

The 30-second videos are in RealPlayer format; you can download them here, here and here. Make sure you don't have a mouth full of delicious bass or something while you watch them or you'll have a monitor cleaning job on your hands.

Watching these videos, there's no doubt in my mind that someone needs to get a sequel to the big screen, and muy pronto!

Update: I just listened to the radio ads (they're linked on the Fair's home page) and they're even funnier than the videos...especially #5. "The Utah State Fair is really sweet...the cows will soon turn into meat."

Tip o'the hat to AdFreak, who's finding all the sweet stuff nowadays.

Technorati tags: Utah State Fair | Napoleon Dynamite | Totzilla

Lileks Don't Got the Blues

Well. James Lileks doesn't like the blues. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he's not listening to the right guy.

Technorati tag: Delbert McClinton

Don't give 'em any ideas...

Check out this TV ad for "our big September 11th sale!"

Stick with it until the end, though. It's not what you think.

Tip o'the hat to AdFreak.

Technorati tags: NYC Remembers | One Day's Pay

Will the Governor's Executive Order spell the end of the LHS band program?

Texas Governor Rick Perry today issued an executive order requiring all state school districts to alter their budgets so that at least 65% of their funds are spent on "direct classroom education."

Here's how the Texas Insider characterized Perry's justification of this order:

It will be interesting to see how this plays out locally. In an article in yesterday's MRT, Midland Lee High School band director Randy Storie was reported as saying that the move would be disastrous for the band program:

That seems a little dramatic. Steve Buck, LHS tennis coach and president of the Midland Federation of Teachers has a more measured take:

[The foundation idea is an interesting concept, by the way. On the plus side, it provides a way for those who want to have more control over how their money is spent to better direct their investments. On the negative side, it has the potential to widen the gap between "haves" and "have nots."]

It's hard to argue that classroom efforts wouldn't benefit from more money, although money in and of itself isn't the panacea some will claim. But it's also a mite difficult to swallow yet more micromanaging from the state, particularly when the micromanagers have yet to provide any worthwhile assistance in helping to fund these kinds of mandates.

A seeming benefit of Perry's order is a provision requiring more transparency by school districts in reporting how they're spending their money. Again, from the Texas Insider:

I guess we'll find out how sophisticated MISD's accounting system is. This kind of reporting should be a simple as aggregating accounts in a different fashion, but I suspect it will end up being more work than that. The real issue comes with the phrase "closely monitored." What will that entail and who will do it?

I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more about this, and soon.

Book Review: "The Hummingbird's Daughter"

It's been a couple of weeks since I finished "The Hummingbird's Daughter," by Luis Alberto Urrea. I've intentionally delayed a review of the book, hoping to find some inspiration to describe this inordinately beautiful novel set in Mexico near the turn of the 20th century.

When Miriam Parker, Time Warner Book Group's Manager of Online Marketing, recommended the book to me, she described it as "like nothing I've ever read before." I'd have to say that while that's not a particularly helpful description, it succinctly sums up my reaction, as well. This is a book that defies categorization: it's a historical novel; it's a religious fantasy; it's a bawdy comedy; it's a primer on Mexican folklore and the cuarandera's (healer's) art.

Above all, it's a gripping account of nothing less than the beginning of a sea-change in Mexican history, as we see how the life of a peasant girl sets in motion ripples that affect the course of an entire nation.

Urrea paints a picture of what can be described only as feudalism in Mexico. The gap between the rich and the poor is so wide as to stagger the senses. The brutality of conflict between the original inhabitants of Mexico and the Spanish-bred "ruling party" is likewise staggering. But even in the midst of the gritty reality, beauty and poetry is found, more often and more amusingly than you might expect.

I won't get into the storyline itself...I don't want to spoil the plot, and it's too complicated for a short review anyway. It's enough to say that this book satisfies on several levels and I recommend it highly. My only quibble is with the ending, which leaves some important questions unanswered...sort of like life in general.

One minor footnote: don't read this book on an empty stomach, particularly if you're an afficionado of Mexican food. The author's descriptions of the dining pleasures of the characters are literally mouth-watering!

[For another blogger's take on the book, read Cowtown Pattie's excellent review over at Texas Trifles, but beware of spoilers. I waited until after I finished the book to read her take, and she nails it, in my opinion.]

Technorati tags: The Hummingbird's Daughter | Luis Alberto Urrea

A "fun church"?

Our church sponsored a car show last Saturday. It was open to the public...free admission, free registration for exhibitors, free food and drinks for everyone, free music. The show attracted more than 100 vehicles (not the 40 that the newspaper reported) and it was estimated that several thousand people wandered through the five-hour event. It was the first time we've tried something like that, and it proved to be such a big success that we'll probably do it again next year.

One of MLB's co-workers told her this morning that she and her family attended the show. They were very impressed and are planning to visit our church because it looked like we "knew how to have a good time." They currently, albeit infrequently, attend another church which, presumably, isn't as much fun.

That made me think. Is that how our church should be viewed...as one that "knows how to have fun"? Would God be pleased by that reputation? Should we feel good about being perceived like that?

Well...yeah!

If a church -- and I'm really referring to the members, just so we're all on the same page -- is really a family of believers, the ability to enjoy each other's company would seem to be a pretty important and natural thing to strive for. And people who have fun together seem to draw others to them. I don't believe Jesus ever intended that the congregating of His followers should be a cause for depressing solemnity and tedium.

So, yeah, I think that "fun" is an adjective our church would welcome. Of course, it helps that we've centered ourselves on a few other foundational imperatives such as Scriptural inerrancy, the importance solid Bible study for every attender, a devout appreciation for the absolute holiness of God and our call to be holy as well, and a dedication to carrying out the five fundamental missions of the Church: worship, ministry, discipleship, evangelism and fellowship. But nowhere in the practice of these things is there any Divine prohibition against mixing in a little fun.

I guess you could say that we're serious about our fun!

The Social Life of Cartoon Characters

With sincerest apologies to my pal Chris Muir, and with desperate reliance on the hope that his attorney has a sense of humor, I present the following...

Some things just can't be helped.

Technorati tags: Day By Day | Chris Muir | Blondie | Innocent Parodies!

Wikimedia Fundraiser

The nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation is trying to raise $200,000 to meet its ongoing operating needs and to fund the acquisition of new hardware to help ensure that its services are reliable and accessible.

Wikimedia is the driving force behind Wikipedia, the free, collaborative effort to capture nothing less than "the sum of all human knowledge" and place it online. It's a grand goal, and quite unattainable, of course, but the triumph is in the trying.

If you'd like to make a donation, you can do so online via PayPal; the link is on this page. You can also send them a check, or you can buy merchandise via their Cafe Press Store; $5.00 of each purchase goes to the Foundation. I've got to admit that the Wikipedia globe-puzzle is one of the best-conceived logos around.

Technorati tags: Wikimedia Foundation | Wikipedia

Ride of the Week

The rundown is impressive: 520 horsepower and 425 ft lb of torque from a 6.0 liter V-12. Top speed in excess of 200 mph; 0-60 mph in under five seconds and 0-100 in under ten. 1,200 watt, 13-speaker audio system by Linn. And last, but certainly not least, a "boot-mounted umbrella" to ensure that you and your suitcases stay dry while loading and unloading, and optional coloured brake calipers for that special touch of personalisation (notice the classy UK spelling?).

Have you guessed? It's the Aston-Martin V12 Vanquish S, and it can be yours for only $255,000 (MSRP).

The Vanquish also comes with personalized sill plates, upon which one can have engraved one's name (and, presumably, title) along with a message. "Don't hate me because I'm rich" might be a logical choice. However, at 11 mpg (city) and a requirement of 95 RON unleaded (equivalent to a US rating of 90-91), a better message might be "Money to burn."

This post inaugurates a new Gazette category called "Rides" in which we'll periodically spotlight some cool ways to get from Point A to Point B...most of which your truly will never be able to afford. But that doesn't prevent one from fantasizing, does it?

Technorati tag: Aston-Martin Vanquish V12

Damned with Faint Headlines

I'm sure my pal Jeff will readily attest to the fact that running a small-town newspaper is beset with challenges of many kinds. You're underpaid and overworked, and short on staff in every area...if, indeed, you even have a staff. There's no backup when deadlines loom, and those deadlines just keep. on. coming.

So, I present the following in the spirit of "laughing with them, not at them," which will be of little comfort to the new publisher of the Fort Stockton Pioneer, who surely had a smothering spell when the latest edition arrived and the page one headline seemed to be, well, lacking...

If there's a silver lining to this scenario, it's that if you're going to accidentally omit a word in describing a verdict, it's better to leave off the word they picked than the one immediately preceding it.

Technorati tag: FS Pioneer

Better than the lottery...

Give a jury in South Texas a personal injury case and your odds of failing to get a mind-boggling judgment are slightly lower than the chances that the Rangers will win the World Series this year.

A jury in Angleton, Texas, just awarded a woman $229 million in her lawsuit against Merck in which she alleged that Vioxx led to her husband's fatal heart attack. According to the Wall Street Journal...

Well, duh.

I assume that the soon-to-be-wealthy plaintiff's lawyer is busy turning cartwheels in anticipation of his cut. Hope he doesn't hurt himself; the good citizens of Angleton could be in for quite a shock if he has to sue them for providing adequate safeguards against excessive exuberance.

As for Merck, well, it has a long road ahead. This is just the first of more than 4,000 similar lawsuits. Its stock dropped about 6% on the news.

Technorati tags: Merck | Vioxx

India and China to Team Up for Oil & Gas Bidding

I'm not sure how I missed this, but the governments of India and China have announced that their state-run oil and gas companies are entering into an agreement whereby they'll be able to jointly bid on oil and gas assets.

Both countries are, of course, net importers of crude oil and natural gas and their growing demand for same is pointed to by many as one of the reasons for the high energy prices worldwide.

Some believe that this alliance will give the countries the financial wherewithal to compete on the global stage, and, indeed, it will eliminate one competitor from the picture.

But, as CNOOC found out when it set it sights on Unocal, there's more to being a player at that level than simple access to cash. It's a bit naive to think that by bringing India into the picture, China's politics will somehow be glossed over or appear irrelevant to governmental authorities having jurisdiction or influence over such transactions.

As for India, I trust they're simply adhering to the time-proven strategy of keeping their friends close, and their enemies even closer. But, there's another adage that might apply...something about lying down with dogs...

Technorati tag: India/China Partnership

Usability Hall of Shame #2: SBC (Again!)

What is it about the world of telecommunications that seems to attract corporations who are, frankly, lousy at communicating? When last we visited the Gazette's Usability Hall of Shame, the initial inductees were CellularOne and SBC Communications, the former gaining recognition for its website blunders and the latter for obfuscatory achievement in allowing people to opt out of its policy of sharing its customers' account information.

In this latest round, we find that we're irresistably drawn to SBC, this time for the way its online account management website seems to be at war with itself.

I've tried several times to use SBC's website to add caller ID to my second phone line, a line that shows up every month on our bill. However, I keep running into a couple of barriers to success.

First is the annoying-but-tolerable situation that occurs when, after logging into my account, I click on the link that reads "Shop for Services." Right off the bat, even though I'm already logged in, the website asks for my area code. Well, that seems unnecessary, since I'm already logged in...but, what the heck? I enter my area code (432) and click the go button. And here's the response:

Never mind that the 432 area code is even part of my account number (the account to which I'm currently logged on). Never mind that 432 has been the area code for this part of the country for more than a year. SBC's database refuses to recognize it. I finally have to resort to using the old area code (915) in order to access options for my account (which, again, begins with 432).

This is where things get really interesting. Now I'm in the shopping section, and it helpfully tells me that I'm shopping for my primary number, which we'll call 432-699-aaaa. There's a link that reads "Shop for another number" so I click it, in order to shop for new services for our second line, which we'll call 432-699-bbbb. Here's the message the SBC website provides:

Oh-kaaay...I wonder why I'm billed each month for that number if it's not associated with my account?

The end result is that I cannot find a way, via the website, to order the additional service for the second number.

Eventually, I'll guess I'll have to resort to speaking with an actual person to get this transaction completed. I doubt that I'll ever get an answer to why the website works (or doesn't work) the way it does. So, for now, I'll have to be content with knowing that SBC Communications is the first multiple inductee into the Usability Hall of Shame.

Technorati tags: Website Usability | Website Design

Book Review: "What the Dog Did"

A few weeks ago, I awoke at around 1:00 a.m. to the odd sensation of the bed shaking, and the equally odd sound of ineffectively-stifled chortling emanating from the general direction of where MLB normally reclines. In my dazed state, I thought she was perhaps experiencing convulsions, and, in a sense, she was...convulsions of laughter, brought on by an inability to put down Emily Yoffe's book entitled "What the Dog Did: Tales from a formerly reluctant dog owner." As annoyed as I was at losing sleep over such a frivolous cause (really, the least she could have done is have a mild convulsion to make it all worthwhile), I was also intrigued by the prospect of a book that could evoke that reaction.

Well, as they say, turn about is fair play. So while MLB was studying for an exam last weekend, I was reading the book and interrupting her studies with my own laughter.

This book is for dog lovers, or people who think they might want to be dog lovers. For the latter, reading it will convince you...one way or the other. For the former, you'll want to finish it quickly so you can find another dog lover to whom to pass it along.

Yoffe, who is a journalist and regular contributor to Slate and NPR's "Day to Day," has a writing style that mixes Anne Lamott with Dave Barry, and she chronicles in hysterically funny fashion her pilgrimage from cat owner to hopeless dog lover. How hopeless? She takes in foster dogs, most of whom are beagles! (If you're a dog lover yourself, you've just learned much about the depth of the madness into which Ms. Yoffe has descended.)

Did I mention she's very funny? Here's the conclusion she draws after a discussion about the developing use of the exquisitely tuned canine sense of smell to detect cancerous tumors in humans: "We probably aren't far from the day when medically trained dogs form a group practice, then refuse to accept their owners' insurance."

If you have a dog with behavioral problems, this book will encourage you...not by giving you any hope that things will improve (they won't) but by assuring you that, indeed, you are not alone. Not by a long shot. (Beagle owners know this already.) If, on the other hand, you are in that so-ridiculously-small-as-to-suggest-you're-lying minority with well-behaved, well-adjusted, Lassie-good-dog dogs, you'll come away with an even more annoying sense of superiority having read about the myriad basket cases...and the dogs they own.

After reading this book, MLB and I have decided that we fall into that latter category; Abbye is heart-achingly perfect, compared to the dogs in Ms. Yoffe's life. But, she still manages to make every last one of them appear to be exactly what we've always known them to be: man's best friend.

Seriously, if you like dogs, read this book. Just try to do it in another room if your spouse is sleeping.

Technorati tag: Emily Yoffee

Unsolicited Credit Card/Insurance Offers: Just Say No

Placing our phone number in the federal government's National "Do Not Call" Registry was one of the smartest moves we ever made. I'm now thinking that my just-completed visit to the Opt-Out Prescreen Website is going to run a close second in terms of annoyance avoidance.

We seem to get a half dozen or more unsolicited mailings each week notifying us that we've been preapproved for credit cards or insurance, neither of which we want. Just recently, I've noticed a paragraph in some of those solicitations giving a phone number to call in order to opt out from receiving future mailings. I finally called the number this afternoon.

It contained, of course, an automated process for removing one's name. However, the most interesting thing was the mention that this could also be accomplished via a website. As soon as the address was offered, I hung up and went to the URL linked above. It's a very easy-to-use site that offers three choices: to opt in (I guess that's for people who miss getting the solicitations after foolishly opting out), to opt out for five years, and to opt out permanently. I elected the latter option.

Some interesting things to note about the process. First, you're given ten minutes to complete the process. I suppose that's to keep people from camping on the site and slowing it down, although I guess it could also be a security feature. Second, while the first page says its important to provide all information, including Social Security Number, the form itself does not require the inclusion of SSN. I suppose that your SSN is helpful in ensuring your identity, but if you're queasy about submitting it via a website -- even one that touts its security -- then just leave it blank. That's what I did. The site also requires you to enter a passcode, provided in the form of those aggravating squiggly graphics that are supposedly non-machine-readable. This is designed to foil computerized abuse of the opt-out process, but it may also foil legitimate clients.

It's important to note that the opt-out process affects only those solicitations which are based on information provided by four credit reporting entities: Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion. These are biggies, but not all credit card and insurance solicitations are generated using their data. I don't expect it will be quite as effective as the Do Not Call registry...but it's a start.

Technorati tag: Opt-Out Prescreen

Current Events: The Ant Bites Back

At the risk of jeopardizing our Content Free™ status, permit me a few observations concerning recent news items and other miscellany. To wit...

• Can anyone explain to me why certain members of the MSM think it's in the public's best interest to hear or read detailed transcripts from interviews with that piece of human garbage otherwise known as the "BTK Killer"? I suspect we all understand the presence of evil in the world, without needing confirmation from one of its aberrant poster children. And speaking of evil...


• I confess to being an abject failure when it comes to understanding how the eviction of Jewish families from the Gaza Strip will help end Palestinian terrorism. The last time I checked, it wasn't Jewish addresses that the Palestinians wanted to end; it was Jewish existence. And speaking of Jews...


• Did you catch David Asman's interview with Kinky Friedman on Fox News yesterday around noon? Asman was ostensibly trying to get Friedman's take on the mom who is setting up shop outside of Dubya's Crawford ranch to protest the war. However, the whole conversation turned into a Groucho Marx-style serve-and-volley, with Friedman being more content to drop names of his druggie buds *cough*Willie Nelson*cough* and deliver one-liners to show how hip he is, than taking the opportunity to come across as a thoughtful leader-type. He's rapidly making himself into a self-fulfilling parody as a politician. Perhaps that's been his aim all along. But the last thing Texas needs right now is another joker in Austin lighting up a big stogie (the closing shot of the interview) and posturing about how hard it is to improve things when surrounded by idiots. And speaking of Texas politicians...


• Who's willing to help me write up a sales pitch so we can put the whole dang Texas legislature (and governor) up for sale on eBay? The only minimum we'd insist on is that the buyer has to be out-of-state, and will take delivery in the same fashion. And speaking of doing nothing positive...


• I see that LULAC is coming out strongly against the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps' plans to set up shop in west Texas. I'd feel so much better about LULAC's concerns -- some of which are admittedly legitimate -- if they ever decided to accompany them with proposed solutions. The organization could be such an effective voice for addressing an illegal immigration problem that threatens all of us, not just Anglos, if it would lose some of its defensiveness and figure out that we're in this together.

We return you now to your regularly scheduled fluff. Stay tuned for baby squirrels!

Technorati tags: BTK Killer | Kinky Friedman | Minutemen | Gaza Strip

Good Clients Overwhelm Bad Ones

I have to say that I have the best clients in the world, as a group. The bad ones are so rare that their appearance just underscores how fortunate I am.

Case in point. I've been working for months with a client who is trying to start up a new professional business. As a start-up, he's been consumed with all the details and distractions that entails, and the website project often took a backseat to other things, as well as expanding in scope.

We finally went live with the website yesterday, and the client called to tell me how happy he was with the end result. He also said something that just blew me away. "When you make out your invoice, instead of making it for [the agreed-upon price], make it for [20% more]." He then mentioned that he had two more websites in mind and wanted to retain my services for them.

That's a first for me. I'm used to absorbing overruns of project scope without mentioning it, unless they become so significant that they overwhelm both me and the client. The last thing I want to do is get a reputation for quoting one price and then charging another; people tend remember only the amounts and not the reasons.

Being a freelance consultant has its share of challenges and disappointments, but things like this also make me feel very blessed to be able to do this kind of work.

Grading the Post Office

Did you get a survey in the mail, asking you to rate the US Postal Service on how well it's doing its job? I did, and I filled it out and returned it (resisting the urge to send it via UPS).

I happen to be a fan of the USPS. My experiences with it have been, on the whole, positive. I think the agency is doing a good job in trying to implement new technology to help its customers (its self-serve parcel mailing kiosk is a winner, in my book), and I've found its employees to be uniformly friendly and helpful. Whether that's enough to ensure the agency's survival in an email-and-FedEx world remains to be seen, although the last packages I shipped went by USPS.

In fact, I rated the service as less-than-excellent on only on point: consistency in the time of day that our home mail delivery occurs. Our mail shows up anywhere from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m., and that gets a little annoying, especially when you work from home. I attribute most of the delays to frequent substitute carriers (our regular guy seems to get about sixteen weeks of vacation each year!) and, possibly, to mechanical problems with their little trucks.

I also had a suggestion, which I expect to go nowhere, but it was satisfying to be given the opportunity to make it. I'd like to see the letter carriers reverse their routes at regular, but not frequent, intervals...say, every quarter or six months. It would be nice if those of us on the end of the route had a chance to get our mail first for a change (it's sort of like having "Zephyr" for a surname in grade school where everything happens alphabetically). I realize that it's a big deal to ask them to reverse their routine, which I'm sure has been designed to optimize efficiency and accuracy, but it would really make me happy.

But, if that's the biggest complaint I can come up with, I'd say the USPS is doing a pretty good job.

Technorati tag: USPS

Redesign: Slow progress

Regular Gazette visitor Larry S. notified me earlier today that the monthly archive links weren't working. I was sure that I hadn't done anything during the redesign process to affect them, but being sure isn't the same as being right. I had, indeed, inadvertently hosed the links by writing over the template with the wrong code.

I figured it would be an easy matter to correct. Wrong again. I'm finding that my new "easy to maintain" layout still has some kinks to work out. In fact, I was just about to post something to the effect that, until further notice, the monthly archives would be unavailable when they started working. Go figure.

I'm still not sure why anyone wants to go back and read stale drivel, when there's usually an abundant fresh supply, but, whatever...it's available.

Now...about that sidebar layout...where's my chainsaw?

Voice of the Martyrs Blog

I just learned that Voice of the Martyrs has a relatively new (since May) blog spotlighting news related to the persecution of Christians around the world.

One of today's posts reveals how a video of a church desecration and the murder of a Serbian soldier is being used as a Muslim Jihad fund-raiser. Another focuses on the growing systematic persecution of Christians in Kosovo, despite feeble attempts by the international community to intervene.

Voice of the Martyrs has long done important and hard work on behalf of Christians around the world who are persecuted simply because of their faith. It's a worthwhile ministry and I applaud their use of technology in order to raise global awareness of these situations.

Tip of the hat to Paul Chaney for making me aware of this resource. I'm adding it to my blogroll.

Technorati tags: Voice of the Martyrs | Persecuted Church | Christianity

BBEdit ready for Intel

According to MacWorld, Bare Bones Software has released a new version of its ubër-text editor, BBEdit 8.2.3, complete with the "Universal Binary" code support necessary for it to run Mac OS X on an Intel chip, as well as on the current PowerPC chip.

Aside from being able to say that they've done it, I'm not sure what advantage having this version gives Bare Bones, or its customers, for that matter. OTOH, it's nice to know that software companies are already jumping on the new Mac/Intel bandwagon, and that conversion of key apps is apparently not an insurmountable problem.

One of the commenters on the Macworld story notes that the new release is "only" 7mb larger than the previous PowerPC-only version. I guess that's pretty good for a dual-platform program, but I can remember when entire applications were less than 7 meg (but that's another old codger story altogether, which I notice is being told through another comment thread on the article!).

Technorati tags: Universal Binary | BBEdit | Apple

Cool Tool

My Tool Meme from a couple of months ago didn't generate a huge amount of response, but I did notice that a few people put a box cutter in their list of indispensible gadgets.

The main problem with most box cutters (which are now generally referred to as "utility knives" after 9/11, for obvious reasons) is that they are difficult to carry safely, or if the bladed is safely shielded, the tool is too bulky. Sears has solved both problems with this little gem:

It's a folding, lock-back blade design and measures only 3.5" when closed. It comes with canvas carrying pouch with belt loop, and it also has an attached belt clip. If you frequently use a box cutter either on the job or around the house, check this one out. (Note: I could not find this tool on the Sears Craftsman website. You may have to visit a store to buy it.)

#*^#%@ Rain!

(We desert dwellers can be exceedingly mercurial when it comes to our weather tolerances.)

We've had another inch of rain since dawn...or what passed for dawn in our cloud-laden skies. Despite the post title, I'm not complaining, but Abbye is. Her ombrophobia has been well-documented on these pages so I'll not reprise those eccentricities. Suffice it to say that thus far this morning I've (a) carried her two blocks back home under an umbrella after an aborted attempt to make it to the park during a lull in the rain and (b) driven her to the park during another short-lived lull.

To her credit, during (b) and even while the rain began to fall again, she attended to business -- and quickly, I might add -- and raced back to the truck.

We all feel much better now.

New Design: IE Bug Squashed

I think I've fixed the CSS rollover problem with the sidebar links that cause them to disappear in Internet Explorer.

It appears that the browser was choking on the negative margin settings I used to get a border-to-border fill in background color on the a:hover attribute. Once I set the margins to zero, the weird behavior stopped.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the fix causes new problems, but in this case they're more bearable. The links are spaced more widely than I want, but that's just a cosmetics issue and I think I know a solution. Real work and life calls, however, so that will have to wait. Thanks for your patience...

New Design and Apology to IE Users

The new design is a work-in-progress; that should go without saying, since every website should continue to evolve.

Anyway, while the content hasn't changed any, and even the basic layout is the same, what you see represents a lot of tinkering under the hood, primarily to get all the templates onto the same style sheet, with consistent tags across the board. The previous design was a coding hodge-podge which made it really difficult to make any changes.

The new layout is also table-free. I have mixed feelings about that. I don't see anything wrong with using tables for layout purposes, despite the protestations of the CSS nazis. The previous layout was built around a three-celled table...hardly a browser-choker by any stretch of the imagination. It was also 100% compatible with every browser on the planet (AFAIK). The new layout isn't. It also reminds me of how much IE reeks. But, working with this kind of design is good experience and it is, after all, just a blog.

The one thing I'm really unhappy about is the way the blogrolls appear (or, rather, don't appear) in IE for Windows. In competent browsers, you should see a nice rollover effect on the blogroll. In IE 6 (Win), the links appear and disappear as if they're faulty neon lights. That may be an interesting effect, but it's not what I was going for. If anyone has a clue about what the problem might be, I'd like to hear it. I've used this rollover effect on literally hundreds of pages in the past and haven't seen this problem. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that the links are actually being delivered by Blogrolling.com and my assumptions about how the <div> tags are being applied are bad.

If you spot anything else funky, let me know and I'll try to fix it.

Rain!

The Weather Channel gave us a 60% change of "isolated thunderstorms." Boy, was it ever wrong, and are we happy!

The showers started sometime early this morning. I awoke to the sound of drops on the skylight at 4:00 a.m. and somehow had the presence of mind to go into the garage and shut off the sprinkler system, which was scheduled to run this morning. It's now almost 2:30 p.m. and it's been raining on and off -- and mostly on -- ever since. Our gauge now holds a bit over 2" but another line of thunderstorms is moving in and the precip is getting heavier.

This was the view from our front porch after we returned from church, followed by lunch at On The Border.

The water is running curb-to-curb and then some.

If you don't live in the desert, you probably don't understand the big deal about this kind of rainfall. For those of us in west Texas, it's a priceless blessing.

Telepathic Failures

Abbye was inexplicably restless last night. As MLB and I sat in the living room -- she with notebook (binder) in lap, studying, and I with notebook (computer) in lap, coding -- Abbye did her best to get our attention.

She sat in front of each of us and stared. She walked over to her Big Pillow and laid down for a few seconds, generally facing me, glaring with upcast, accusing eyes. She moved into the game room, next to my computer desk, and sat. She went in and out of the kitchen, drinking copious amounts of water. She lay on the rug next to the bookcase, facing away from us. She sat in the doorway leading to the bedroom and laundry room. In short, she was a nervous wreck, for no discernible reason.

We did our best to interpret her signals. Did she want to go outside? No. Did she want more food? No. Did she want to jump up next to us and get scratches and act like a real dog? Emphatically, no. Had Timmy fallen into the well (again) and needed rescuing? Probably, but that wasn't relevant at this point.

Finally, MLB got up to get something from the bedroom and discovered the reason for the strange behavior. The bedroom door had swung shut! It stood between Abbye and her crate!! It was past her bedtime!!! The world as she knew it would soon end!!!!

MLB opened the door and Abbye was through it faster than Michael Moore on a 6" meatball sub. We didn't see her the rest of the night. I'm sure she was casting evil thoughts our direction from the safety of her crate, but, of course, we missed them.

Have you ever known a dog so non-assertive as to be unwilling to push a door with its nose or scratch at it, even when faced with a life-and-death situation?

Pardon the Pixeldust

If you notice funky things going on with the Gazette's layout, just ignore them. I'm creating a new design (finally!) and some facets need to be tested in real time, especially the blogroll layout.

I hope to have the new skin up and running within the next day or so. I wish I could tell you that you'll be astounded by the new look -- well, suppose I can tell you that, regardless -- but I don't think I'm breaking any new ground. Still, it will be different from the current old-and-busted look, and that's got to be an improvement, right?

Plus, you might be amazed by what they're doing nowadays with the blink tag! (That one's for you, Patti dearest.)

Boys of Summer

Of all the world's religions, the one I sometimes think has the best chance of unifying us and saving our psyches, if not our souls, is baseball. I'm reminded of this daily when I and MLB take Abbye out for her evening constitutional and we stroll past the neverending pickup game at our neighborhood park.

There are usually eight-to-twelve boys playing ball. They range in apparent age from around ten or eleven up to, say, fifteen. They come in every size and ethnicity. My wife often remarks on how well the older kids play with the younger ones. We never see or hear any squabbling or any taunting, and when the older guys are pitching, they move in a bit and slow things down a bit for the younger kids.

It's a self-policing game, with no umpires. Batters call strikes on themselves. Disputes over close plays at the bases might generate a couple of outraged squeals, but they're quickly resolved and the game moves on.

One of best things about the games is that when parents appear on the scene, they hang back, standing by their cars, visiting among themselves while keeping one eye on the game...but never interfering. But, more often than not, there aren't any adults around, until the game breaks up at dusk. Some boys walk home, some ride bikes and some get rides when their parents show up. But they'll be back the next evening around 6:00 p.m., practicing their skills and doing what kids that age really ought to be doing during the waning days of summer: having fun.

Oh, and did I mention that they're really good? Even without steroids. There may be hope for us, after all.

Can't Wait for 2008?

I can't believe that people are actually wasting time speculating on the 2008 presidential election. I mean, don't they have anything better to do?

I, for one, refuse to get involved in this silly game. I'll not be making any predictions, nor will I even speculate as to who's going to do what. And even if others choose a different path, and post stuff about it, I refuse to link to any of it. Like this, for example.

Tip o'the Uncle Sam tophat to my anonymous pal, who also won't link to stuff like this!

iPods, Bluetooth & the Meaning of Life

As I've mentioned before, my morning bike rides provide a pleasant break from the daily fingers-to-the-keyboard grind. It's a time when I let my mind run free, and while my mind usually chooses to dwell upon unpronounceable words or erroneous conjugations of Spjavascript:editPlacements()anish verbs, every now and then it seizes upon a gem.

This morning was one of those rare occasions. I was pedaling down the 191 service road, just entering Steeple Row, when the most amazing thing sprang fully formed into my mind: an allegorical metaphor, incredibly multi-faceted and yet so simple that a child could comprehend it, even though it presented itself in the obscure alliterative onomatopoeiac form so favored by the early Phoenicians, and -- most wonderful of all -- pointing clearly to the key to the very meaning of life! My heart skipped a beat -- not a pleasant experience on a bike at 20 mph -- as I contemplated the implications of the gift I'd been bequeathed, and I turned it over and over in my mind, beholding its delicate beauty in awe, as one might examine a flawless jewel or, rarer still, a logical comment from Al Franken.

Unfortunately, I caught a glimpse of a mountain lion* and by the time I reached my turnaround point at the underpass, I'd completely lost every detail of the thought.

That's a darn shame, given how many people are making bad movies about the meaning of life. And thus, I make this appeal to Apple: give us a Bluetooth-capable iPod, and quickly. And then, to Dr. Bott or Kensington or Belkin: give us a wireless voice-activated headset microphone and receiver combination to mount on that iPod.

I don't think it's unjustified hyperbole to say that what's at stake is nothing less than the very meaning of life.

*OK, it wasn't really a mountain lion. But it was a baby squirrel**, and you know how attention-diverting they can be.

**OK...there was no baby squirrel, either. I just didn't think it was seemly to admit that I was distracted by my shorts riding up on me.

Gazoogle? Fireoogle? Antoogle?

You tell me.

Tip o'the hat to TulipGirl, who's beginning to dominate these pages! ;-)

Jedi Bites

Homeschool to Public: An Emotional Transition

For the first time in sixteen years, TulipGirl will not be involved in homeschooling, and she's got strongly mixed emotions about the prospect.

If you've ever made this transition with your own kids, you might pop over and give her some encouragement (she's already getting plenty, but every bit helps).

For my own part, I'd just remind her (not that she doesn't already know this...better than me) that the important teaching will still occur in her home. In addition, the other children in those "structured classrooms" will now have a new advocate as TulipGirl becomes involved in her kids' new environment, like every parent should be.

Blogathon Results

I know you're getting tired of these 'Thon posts, but some of them are for archival purposes...for the Historical Record, IYKWIM. Trust me, we're just about at the end of the line for '05.

Anyhoo, here's an interview-style wrap-up of the Gazette's campaign via the MRT's new blog-friendly web-only content.

I think it's a good article, although it's a little short on cartoon material. Well, other than my Klutz Encounter of the Nerd Kind.

I greatly appreciate the newspaper's coverage of this event in both the print and web editions. I attribute almost 30% of the pledge total directly to that coverage.

One thing leads to another

Update (8/15/05): I've removed the mysterious design element alluded to below. It clashed with the new template, and was tackier than absolutely necessary.

First, let me confess how nice it is to sit and just follow links without glancing at the clock to see if it's time to post something whether I'm ready or not. Ahhh...

Patti has reskinned White Pebble (she should work for the IRS badda-boom) and she's now so minimalist that she's in danger of not being there. Which, I presume, is the whole point. Anyway, I was this close to using that exact same layout, so I guess I'm back to the drawing board. I'm not above stealing someone else's design, but I prefer to wait a few days before doing it.

Actually, the template she's using comes from Fernando of Fernando_Graphicos, whom you know is cooler than you and me combined because of the little underscore thingie connecting the words. FG employs the rarely seen design strategy of suggesting that you download and install a free font from its site so you can view it in the manner to which it's become accustomed to being seen. I've done this, but I don't want to close the twelve tabs I have open in Firefox in order to restart it so that I can use the new font. Maybe later.

Anyway, one of the links on Fernando_Graphicos led me to another site which provided me with the tools to make a simple design change to this page. Have you noticed it? It only works if you're on the Gazette home page, by the way. I'm not that committed to it.

Now, I don't usually go out of my way to belittle the software choices that other people make, but when I make an exception it's always for Internet Explorer. Still, I understand that some of you don't have a choice, for whatever reason, and thus I'm not dogmatic about it.

However, if you have a blog and you do enjoy belittling IE on a continuing basis, pop over to this page and grab your choice of banner. Heck, they even provide the CSS and HTML to fire it up. And here's the guy who started it all.

Technorati tag: "IE is bad...veddy, veddy bad"

Gazette Blogathon Contest Winners

OK, the entries have been forged, the judges bribed, the results hacked and the excuses wordsmithed, and we're ready to announce the list of winners of Fabulous Prizes™ arising from the seemingly endless and endlessly lame Fire Ant Gazette Blogathon 2005 contests (otherwise referred to as "don't you people have anything better to do?").

• Music Quiz #1 - Cindy wins a Fabulous Coaster™ for uncovering the identity of "The Game" by Queen


• Music Quiz #2 - Jen (a fellow Blogathoner and proprietess of Lintefiniel Musing) also wins a Fabulous Coaster™ for identifying Beethoven's "Symphony #6"


• Music Quiz #3 - Cowtown Pattie (head buckaroo over at Texas Trifles) wins yet another Fabulous Coaster™ for recognizing ZZ Tops "Tres Hombres" (barely edging out Denise, who might have lost the battle but won the war)


• Music Quiz #4 - Julie (sitting behind the wheel of The Yellow Bug News) wins -- all together now -- a Fabulous Coaster™ for identifying The Butterfield Blues Band's rendition of "Love March"


• Album Cover Quiz - Jimmy (Windex wielder at Sticky Doorknobs) scores a $10 iTunes Music Store gift certificate for his high school band geek-derived ability to identify the cover of Jean-Luc Ponty's "Imaginary Voyage" LP


• Header Graphic Contest (Level 1) - Jim (who alters moods over at Serotoninrain) wins the last Fabulous Coaster™


• Header Graphic Contest (Level 2) - SSG. Will (who proudly serves his country in southern Iraq) wins an Ultra-Fabulous Large Gazette Coffee Mug. He also gets the award for the most geographically remote winner!


• Header Graphic Contest (Level 3) & Grand Prize winner - Denise (who is constantly scanning Blue Sky in Texas, and who came this close to winning Music Quiz #3 (she'll never again forget "Tres Hombres," I suspect)) finds redemption and widespread adulation as the Gazette's Blogathon Grand Prize winner. Denise has chosen as her prize...well, actually, I'm still waiting to hear from Denise. I hope she didn't swoon from emotion upon hearing of her great fortune.

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