Happy 4th

One of the fun things about an oxygen-bearing atmosphere is that things can burn rather prettily. I'm going outside to see if I can blow off an appendage with burning, exploding things.

Happy 4th of July! I'm grateful and happy that hundreds of years ago, some people were willing to risk their lives to achieve something better than what they had. Their bravery, and the bravery of millions like them, helped make America a wonderful nation.

The etymology of ethnic slurs

I've always found ethnic slurs to be an interesting glimpse into the past, when ethnic groups from disparate places and cultures were thrown together and forced to adapt to each other, as in New York City in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Wikipedia has some interesting anecdotes. For example, "wop" (an Italian person) is derived frome "guappo," which is Italian for "dude." "Spic" refers to an Hispanic person. "Wetback" refers to an illegal immigrant who has swum across the Rio Grande from Mexico. I've studied the World Wars extensively, when terms like "kraut," "Jerry," "Hun" and "Limey" were commonly used.

I recently spent a bit of time with a person of Polish descent. I was appalled at his behavior, specifically at his ignorance about things I thought were common knowledge (like "only floss the teeth you wish to keep"), and his outrageously sexist and racist opinions. According to him, the Polish people have achieved all things of importance. Other races and cultures, particularly the Hispanic people, are to be despised. Listening to him was like listening to Ensign Chekov in the original "Star Trek" series, when someone would mention that something was created or invented long ago, and Chekov would pipe up and say something like, "of course, a Russian did it first."

It occurred to me, as I listened to this person, that the phrase "dumb Polack" was not simply made up. I'm sure the phrase's creators were personally acquainted with him.

I just feel badly for the rest of the Polish people, who don't deserve to be tainted by this particular person's behavior.

A hundred thoughts, ten seconds to write

Vacation was nice. We spent a lot of time traveling and saw some truly hideous road accidents (none of which I caused, for a change). We saw people we knew, and places we'd both been.

In "Grosse Point Blank," John Cusack goes home to Michigan, to discover that his childhood home has been turned into a mini-mart. An assassin follows him there, they shoot it out in the mini-mart, and wind up destroying it. He calls his therapist and says, "You were right - you can't go home again. But you can shop there."

John's right. There was nothing there for me, when I went back. It was interesting to see how it had changed. But it didn't matter. There's nothing there, no one there. Empty, soulless. But it was interesting to see.

Now I'm home, working on renovation projects. We've done so much in so little time. I have another week of vacation. We'll see what I get done by then!

A rare vacation

Today I leave to visit some family, and some places I've been before. We're taking the slow route in Einsteinian space, since using hyperdrive inside a solar system can be dangerous. It will take a week or so, there and back.

It's been four years since our last vacation. Hopefully it will be nice. If it's not, at least it's basically free. One of the perks of the kind of work I do.

After I get back, I will work on the house some more, for another few weeks of vacation. Perhaps we can finish some of our projects. We've saved all of our indoor projects for the heat of summer, so we have an excuse to work indoors.

Later.

Weezer, "Beverly Hills"

This tune is stuck in my head, for some reason. Weezer is a fun little band. Not a world-changing band like Devo or Rush or The Smashing Pumpkins, but fun.

I read an article recently that said that Hugh Hefner (the founder of Playboy Magazine) can't tell his two newest lovers apart (they are twin sisters, 19 years old). I've seen "The Girls Next Door" once, when I was forced to watch by the people who had the TV remote. I can't tell ANY of Hefner's girls apart. They all look the same to me. Tall, blonde, toothy, with large mammaries. Fine, if you like that sort of thing. I don't, particularly. I like shapely frontal lobes, myself. The number of tentacles doesn't really matter.

The last time I was in Beverly Hills a few years ago, I drove down Rodeo Drive, where all the swanky shops are are selling useless baubles for more than what most people earn in a year. Luxury cars parked everywhere, rich people tottering around on expensive shoes. Only when I was there, both sides of the street were dug up with huge mounds of earth occupying the parking spaces in front of the stores, and they were replacing all the sewer pipes. It was hilarious. I will always remember Rodeo Drive looking like that. And now, so will you.

Anyway. Weezer. Embedding disabled by request, the bastards.

How to lose 20 pounds FAST!!!

My friend told me the secret to losing 20 pounds FAST!!! Want to know what it is?

Spend a week in the hospital with a urinary tract infection!

It obviously worked for him - he lost at least 20 pounds, though he looks like death warmed over. And now he has full-blown diabetes, which he treats with pills instead of injections. He takes 19 pills a day now.

I worry about my friend, but his health has been bad for years. He has been living on borrowed time for awhile.

His urinary tract infection was associated with an increasing sense of despair and depression. After his week in the hospital, both conditions are gone. I am glad.

I hope he's around for awhile yet.

The first scandal in weeks!

I hear vague mumblings in the legacy media about Barack and Michelle Obama's recent dismissal of the Inspector General for AmeriCorps, Gerald Walpin. The Obamas say that Walpin is confused, disoriented, and basically crazy.

But only after Walpin uncovered evidence of millions of dollars' worth of fraud at AmeriCorps, which Michelle Obama has a hand in controlling.

(AmeriCorps is a government-run, taxpayer-funded "community service" organization which was established in 1993, during the Clinton era. The Inspector General's office is specifically tasked to be a watchdog over AmeriCorps, to find and stop the inevitable fraud and waste that occurs with such agencies.)

This scandal smells like both Clinton's Travelgate and Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, all delightfully rolled into one steaming pile.

It will get more interesting from here, I think.

Grass-eating men - a natural adaptation

Here's an interesting article about "grass-eating men" in Japan - young men who are less interested in materialism, lifelong careers, and macho, sexist behavior than their predecessors.

I think that's a good thing. I think America could benefit from such a demographic trend. In Japan, it's a natural adaptation to the economic pressures of job insecurity and declining wages, and to the societal and legal pressures of anti-harassment policies in the workplace.

But I think the economic and social pressures in the United States will have to get stronger, and stay that way for awhile, to have the same effect.

The Attack of the Chuck-will's-Widow

We are blessed with an abundance of bird life, here in the jungle. Last year we had a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) who would visit us every night at 3:00 AM, and who would hoot continuously for fifteen minutes before he flapped silently away on muffled wings.

This year we have a Chuck-will's-Widow (Caprimulgus carolinensis) who sits on a stump on our vacant lot, and who chirps all night. Literally. It's a piercing call, very unique.

Thankfully, it is summer, our air-conditioning is on, and the windows are closed. We can still hear him, though.

He just won't shut the hell up.

The Iranian Revolution

Way back in 1979, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the Islamic militants who overthrew the Shah, invaded the American Embassy in Tehran, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Six of the hostages specifically remember Ahmadinejad supervising their interrogations. Ahmadinejad denies this, of course, but one would expect that. After all, UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim of Austria always denied his Wehrmacht army involvement in Germany's WWII concentration camps and extermination of Jews, even though he was right in the middle of it. It wouldn't have helped Waldheim to admit his involvement in Nazi activities, and it wouldn't help Ahmadinejad to admit his involvement in Iran's revolution.

Now Ahmadinejad is the President of Iran. Apparently he and his supporters rigged the presidential elections last Friday in Iran, and now a significant number of Iranians are justifiably enraged and are rioting in the streets. Iran is even jamming the BBC's satellite broadcasts to try to prevent news reporting of Iran's civil unrest from inciting even more unrest.

Will this unrest become the Iranian version of Ukraine's Orange Revolution of 2004? In the Ukraine, the elections were annulled and held again, and then the challenger was declared the victor. It was a happy ending for Ukraine, at least at the time.

Somehow I doubt that will happen in Iran. Ahmadinejad and his peers came to power through blood. They will not relinquish power without a lot more blood.