All This Is That is experiencing problems creating new posts. We are working to resolve this. In the meantime, browse the archives. /jack
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Saturday, May 21, 2005
Continuing Technical Difficulties
All This Is That is experiencing problems creating new posts. We are working to resolve this. In the meantime, browse the archives. /jack
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Go Metric <-----> No Metric
Britain's leading supermarket chain, Tesco, last year announced that they would return to imperial weights and measures (pounds, pints, inches, ounces and feet). The reaction from the British public and press was overwhelmingly positive. A survey of Tesco customers revealed that about nine out of 10 people still used the old-fashioned measurements in their heads.
Tesco's decision follows numerous small grocery store owners who have become heroes by standing up to the European "food police" by defying the latest rules from Brussels, capital of the European Union. The metric system has been unpopular with the Brits for generations, but it has now become a symbol of the European Union's hegemony and what the Brits perceive as an effort to extinguish British culture. The anti-metric movement has some similarities to the anti-WTO movement.
The official name for the metric system is Systeme International d'Unites. The rabidly anti-French British don't much cotton to that name.
The metric system was originally concocted by French revolutionaries who wanted to impose "order." Napoleon's troops often imposed that order at bayonet-point.
The base-10 system, the metric system was allegedly more rational and therefore easier and more scientific. For instance the kilometer was defined -- by Napoleon's decree -- as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole on a line running through--natch!--Paris. Of course that measure is faulty too, because the frogs didn't realize the earth was slightly egg-shaped. Other metric measures are just as faulty, or just as arbitrary as our imperial system.
The meter is now defined as the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458-th of a second. That comes in handy when you're buying a length of rope!
Is that somehow less rational than our inch, which was defined in 1150 by King David I of Scotland as the width of a man's thumb at the base of the thumbnail? Edward I of England redefined the inch in the 13th century to equal three grains of dry and round barley laid end to end. A foot. . .we know where that came from. The mile comes from the Latin for a thousand steps, or, a thousand steps by feet now much smaller than feet are today...
We were supposed to “go metric” in the 1970s, but it never happened. As a schoolkid in the sixties, it was certainly drilled into our heads. They were preparing us for the Big Changeover that never happened. I can think metric pretty well, but I've always had trouble with metric temperatures (weather and oven). Certainly if you buy wine or distilled spirits in this country, you are familiar with the basics of fluid measurement. And even most other liquids are cross-labeled. But isn't wine just about the only area where we actually have gone metric? It looks like this may take another couple hundred years.
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Tesco's decision follows numerous small grocery store owners who have become heroes by standing up to the European "food police" by defying the latest rules from Brussels, capital of the European Union. The metric system has been unpopular with the Brits for generations, but it has now become a symbol of the European Union's hegemony and what the Brits perceive as an effort to extinguish British culture. The anti-metric movement has some similarities to the anti-WTO movement.
The official name for the metric system is Systeme International d'Unites. The rabidly anti-French British don't much cotton to that name.
The metric system was originally concocted by French revolutionaries who wanted to impose "order." Napoleon's troops often imposed that order at bayonet-point.
The base-10 system, the metric system was allegedly more rational and therefore easier and more scientific. For instance the kilometer was defined -- by Napoleon's decree -- as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole on a line running through--natch!--Paris. Of course that measure is faulty too, because the frogs didn't realize the earth was slightly egg-shaped. Other metric measures are just as faulty, or just as arbitrary as our imperial system.
The meter is now defined as the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458-th of a second. That comes in handy when you're buying a length of rope!
Is that somehow less rational than our inch, which was defined in 1150 by King David I of Scotland as the width of a man's thumb at the base of the thumbnail? Edward I of England redefined the inch in the 13th century to equal three grains of dry and round barley laid end to end. A foot. . .we know where that came from. The mile comes from the Latin for a thousand steps, or, a thousand steps by feet now much smaller than feet are today...
We were supposed to “go metric” in the 1970s, but it never happened. As a schoolkid in the sixties, it was certainly drilled into our heads. They were preparing us for the Big Changeover that never happened. I can think metric pretty well, but I've always had trouble with metric temperatures (weather and oven). Certainly if you buy wine or distilled spirits in this country, you are familiar with the basics of fluid measurement. And even most other liquids are cross-labeled. But isn't wine just about the only area where we actually have gone metric? It looks like this may take another couple hundred years.
---o0o---
Friday, May 20, 2005
Please Stand By...All This Is That Continues To Experience "Technical Difficulties"
All This Is That continues to experience technical difficulties. . .most articles and postings are not being accepted by Blogger. I am trying to work this out with the folks at Blogger. Until this is resolved, things may remain a little spotty here.
Poem: The Gideon Bible In My Nightstand
"The Gideons! Just who in the f**k are The Gideons?!" - Bill Hicks
With great expectations
The Bible was placed,
Courtesy of The Gideon Society,
In this scarred nightstand
Fifteen years ago.
It tells you where to turn
If you're lonely, hungry, desperate, alone
Or if you want to walk to the window
And keep on walking.
It gives instruction to the infidel and the murderous,
But they never tell you what to do if things are copacetic,
Or if you think a bad day is far better than no day at all.
Frayed, tear-stained, underlined, and mostly forgotten,
But used beyond The Society's wildest dreams.
I did, it says in I Samuel, but taste a little honey,
And, lo, I must die.
It was left for me to get through a night like this,
And get through the night I did, in style, with the likes of
Jezebel, Mary Magdalene, Jonah in the belly of the beast,
Saul, Lazarus, Sodom and Gomorrah, Begetting, Smiting,
The Good Samaritan, Cain and Abel, The Prodigal Son,
The Cock Crowing Three Times, Judas, The Burning Bush,
The Fishes and the Loaves, The Burning Bush,
The Parting of the Waters, Jesus Walking on Water,
Noah and his menagerie, foot washing, Gethsemane,
King Herod, Caesar, King David and Goliath, and Samson,
With a dark and angry Yaweh smouldering in the background
And salvation as the overarching theme.
---o0o--
With great expectations
The Bible was placed,
Courtesy of The Gideon Society,
In this scarred nightstand
Fifteen years ago.
It tells you where to turn
If you're lonely, hungry, desperate, alone
Or if you want to walk to the window
And keep on walking.
It gives instruction to the infidel and the murderous,
But they never tell you what to do if things are copacetic,
Or if you think a bad day is far better than no day at all.
Frayed, tear-stained, underlined, and mostly forgotten,
But used beyond The Society's wildest dreams.
I did, it says in I Samuel, but taste a little honey,
And, lo, I must die.
It was left for me to get through a night like this,
And get through the night I did, in style, with the likes of
Jezebel, Mary Magdalene, Jonah in the belly of the beast,
Saul, Lazarus, Sodom and Gomorrah, Begetting, Smiting,
The Good Samaritan, Cain and Abel, The Prodigal Son,
The Cock Crowing Three Times, Judas, The Burning Bush,
The Fishes and the Loaves, The Burning Bush,
The Parting of the Waters, Jesus Walking on Water,
Noah and his menagerie, foot washing, Gethsemane,
King Herod, Caesar, King David and Goliath, and Samson,
With a dark and angry Yaweh smouldering in the background
And salvation as the overarching theme.
---o0o--
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Seven Year Art Project, No.12 (the final example)
click to enlarge
ok. Enough. I won't publish images of the other 138 canvases I did in this art project.
It's on to more poems and more stories. I am going to continue the My Worst Jobs series shortly, with Working At The Fish, and My Year As An Orderly In The Dementia Ward.
have also been kicking around a new series of digital art--it have been thinking about famous murderers, Woman Who Changes The World, and maybe one on artists.
I am in Los Angeles at E3 right now. . .I just escaped. . .we are staying at a hotel in West Hollywood and going with my company tonight to see the final Star Wars movie. The show today was the usual assault on the senses.
More later...I find it difficult to use Keelin's laptop. . .mainly the built in mouse...I've never been able to master those.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Painting: Invasion
click to enlarge
This is Value Village oil painting I made over. I kept the trees and added some trees. I retained the mountain and the bubbling brook. I painted out the clouds. The Greys, Nordics, and Zeta Reticulons come from various sources. The grey head I have been working on for years, and it is finally just about where I want it. The various saucers and conveyances are collaged in from MUFON and other web sites. This is probably my favorite makeover painting next to the one of Elizabeth Taylor (to appear in the future).
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
Newsweek Apologizes For The Fictional Koran Flushing Incident
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article.
Newsweek's editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.
Reaction from The White House: "It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. " Take that with a grain of salt, friends, coming from a White House that still refuses to retract the Weapons Of Mass Destruction story they cooked up to invade Iraq.
The Newsweek report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. The Koran flushing has also been condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.
I realize The Koran is sacrosanct, but, hey, that seems like pretty small potatoes compared to some of the other stuff that happened in Guantanamo or that prison in Iraq. I guess I'd flush The Koran (or the American Flag, or the Bible, or Talmud, or the Upanishads) down the toilet if I thought it would save some lives. But this didn't seem to work out so well.
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Newsweek's editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.
Reaction from The White House: "It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. " Take that with a grain of salt, friends, coming from a White House that still refuses to retract the Weapons Of Mass Destruction story they cooked up to invade Iraq.
The Newsweek report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. The Koran flushing has also been condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.
I realize The Koran is sacrosanct, but, hey, that seems like pretty small potatoes compared to some of the other stuff that happened in Guantanamo or that prison in Iraq. I guess I'd flush The Koran (or the American Flag, or the Bible, or Talmud, or the Upanishads) down the toilet if I thought it would save some lives. But this didn't seem to work out so well.
---o0o---
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Will Republicans Change The Cloture Rule And Implement Their Scorched Earth Policy?
I haven't been inclined lately to actually write about politics per se, because I find the Republican plans to change the rules of cloture overwhelmingly depressing.
Cloture is the only way the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill (thereby ending a filibuster). Under the cloture rule, the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, if they have 60 votes to do it.
60 votes for cloture has always been intended to uphold the rights of the minority and as a check and balance against extremism. The minority, which the Democrats are
(just barely), is not completely frozen out and may influence legislation by forcing compromise through a filibuster threat.
Ending the supermajority requirement will leave the Democrats in the deep freeze. We will be a party of desperate and obsequious bootlickers. Or, worse, a party of the ignored.
We had the chance to the same thing to the Republicans. We didn't. President Clinton even went so far as to nominate moderate candidates to the court, in the spirit of cooperation. I didn't like it, but I understood that you have to work with the opposition. But the Republicans, in what I hope is their last term in the White House for many years, have decided to kill the filibuster, and strongarm through their two or three dubious Supreme Court choices, and hundreds of reprobate district court, and appellate judges.
They may well succeed in nominating and confirming judges of the pathetic caliber of Justice Thomas, or another smart extremist like Scalia, not to mention the hordes of knuckledraggers they will place in the lower courts.
They may succeed. . .but it is absolutely a scorched earth option, because they may very well be the minority three years from now. There is no putting this genie back in the bottle.
The only good that may come of this is the destruction of the Republican Party. Bring back the Whigs.
---o0o---
Cloture is the only way the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill (thereby ending a filibuster). Under the cloture rule, the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, if they have 60 votes to do it.
60 votes for cloture has always been intended to uphold the rights of the minority and as a check and balance against extremism. The minority, which the Democrats are
(just barely), is not completely frozen out and may influence legislation by forcing compromise through a filibuster threat.
Ending the supermajority requirement will leave the Democrats in the deep freeze. We will be a party of desperate and obsequious bootlickers. Or, worse, a party of the ignored.
We had the chance to the same thing to the Republicans. We didn't. President Clinton even went so far as to nominate moderate candidates to the court, in the spirit of cooperation. I didn't like it, but I understood that you have to work with the opposition. But the Republicans, in what I hope is their last term in the White House for many years, have decided to kill the filibuster, and strongarm through their two or three dubious Supreme Court choices, and hundreds of reprobate district court, and appellate judges.
They may well succeed in nominating and confirming judges of the pathetic caliber of Justice Thomas, or another smart extremist like Scalia, not to mention the hordes of knuckledraggers they will place in the lower courts.
They may succeed. . .but it is absolutely a scorched earth option, because they may very well be the minority three years from now. There is no putting this genie back in the bottle.
The only good that may come of this is the destruction of the Republican Party. Bring back the Whigs.
---o0o---
Seven Year Art Project, Part 8
Click to enlarge
This one of the earliest canvases, probably done in '98 or '99.
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