Bench Dog

What is God's State of Mind?

2012-02-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

I've been mulling over the next blog post here at Bench Dog. It's been a while and I don't want to get dropped off of Ed's list, especially with people restarting or just beginning blogging. Suddenly the medium is gaining relevancy again? I guess we're getting tired of character limits and extended relatives hijacking Facebook threads.

I was going to write up a letters-to-the-editor post because it's quick and dirty and easy to create some content and provoke some comments by highlighting the stupidity of your neighbors. But then, I read a comment on a letter to the editor and started laughing so, I figured I'd just go with that bit of humor.

A commentator by the name of Ruralhack posted this comment:

"Children are born with God's State of Mind. Then adults get a hold of them."

So then I started wondering what God's state of mind could be if it's represented by newborns before they're corrupted by human adults and came to these conclusions:

God is easily cranky
God poops, pees, and vomits all over itself on a regular basis
God cries a lot and can't use distinguishable words
God is self-interested, seeking only the bare necessities and demanding them from others at a moment's notice
God's knowledge approaches the limit of zero
God stares inappropriately at people in restaurants

Ugh

2012-01-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

I had this long blog post written out about how my supervisor implied to me that Christians have a monopoly on morality and conflict resolution but it had too many details for me to feel comfortable about posting it. Fancy that. Me, self-censoring.

Anyway, I figured I'd just say it out loud and up front. Christians don't have a monopoly on morality. Members of other religions as well as atheists do have morals, contrary to the ignorance propagated by so many assholes in the world. To me, living a life in which I have to constantly put up with people implying or outright stating that I'm amoral or lacking in ethics is akin to women being told they aren't smart enough to do math or black people being told they're lazy. They're stereotypical smears designed to maintain the privilege of people who like their positions of power and authority but have no logical means of maintaining them. So they oppress.

Fuck all those people.

Late to the game I quit playing

2012-01-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

Mike Oz started circulating a letter to the editor from Tuesday's edition of the Fresno Bee:

I read with interest the Dec. 30 letter from Kathy Steele about the "R"-rated movie she went to recently. She was outraged at seeing young children being taken to this movie. She complained that adults should be more protective of young minds.

Well, Ms. Steele should not have been at the "R"-rated movie. Just remember, your mind is being bombarded with all that junk also. It's adults who are raising the young and when your mind is filled with that trash, you will teach it to the young. It's the simple issue of "don't do what I do, just do what I say."

When young people see you go to those movies, you're teaching them that there is an age when you can watch junk. Not so. Filth is filth at any age. When are you going to learn the lesson, children are going to "do what you do," not "what you say."

That's what is wrong with Americans. We have lost our morals.

Jack Wheeler
Clovis

Of course, he went one better and though he couldn't recruit William Shatner or the brilliant John Lithgow to do a dramatic reading, he did manage to find a local actor who was ready and willing to play the part of Jack Wheeler.

And everywhere this letter has been circulated, the comments have lit up with a mix of forehead-smacking, satirical barbs, and outright support for Mr. Wheeler's position.

There is so much to unpack but I have to side with Mr. Wheeler here. He speaks truth to power.

The moralizing: "My definition of morality should be your definition of morality."

I agree. From now on, everyone will do as I do.

Inability to grow up: "There is literally no age at which the human mind can handle watching 'junk'."

It's a harsh truth but nevertheless, the human mind stays fragile and immature through its entire lifespan (see: stand-up comedians, politicians, the above letter writer).

Logical inconsistency: "If children shouldn't do it, then adults shouldn't do it."

I've always felt that way. It's why I say adults shouldn't drive cars, talk to strangers, or go anywhere without strapping on a diaper.

Calling people ninnies: "If a parent sees something bad, they will be compelled to teach their children that bad thing."

This is one of the reasons I don't have children. I'm so afraid that having watched some old Schwarzenegger films, I'd literally be unable to stop myself from teaching them shitty dialogue and how to operate a sawed-off, lever-action, Model 1887 Winchester shotgun with one hand. These are the dangers of watching R-rated films in a modern world. It's a heavy burden but it's mine to carry.

Winding down

2011-12-30T22:10:00.000-08:00

Here I sit, listening to a Christmas music channel on our TV playing the likes of Tony Bennett, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, and Andy Williams. We just finished the massive amount of dishes it took to prepare dinner for our last Christmas gathering of 2011: me, Carrie, and my dad (it was worth it as we enjoyed beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and green salad).

It was another moment for me in front of the sink as I scrubbed dishes. This time I shared with my dish drying partner the sort of connection I feel to the human continuum when I'm scrubbing baking dishes, or really any dishes. It's an odd feeling and slightly sad because not only am I fondly remembering the food and communal atmosphere of our most recent meal but of many meals from the past and dishes too. Always the dishes.

Dishes are one of those things which often outlive their original users or just get passed around among different people over the course of their lives. I think about them like furniture because so many stories and memories are crafted around them. They acquire dents, scratches, chips, and often I can remember the reasons behind those blemishes; some mundane, others not.

This last week I had reason to recall a dish-related story that still makes my grandma laugh and cringe. I was a young boy, perhaps around the age of 8 (though I can't be sure and it isn't really that relevant) and my grandparents were in the process of reroofing their house. It was a project that the extended family partook in because it was cheaper to DIY the project and there are plenty of handy Mennonites in my family who know their way around hammers and nails. At some point in the roof work, I spent the night at my grandparents house so I could help them get an early jump on the work and that morning or early afternoon, it struck me that I should bring up some cookies for my grandpa and grandma to snack on. So I grabbed one of those famously unbreakable Corelle plates that all of our grandparents use and loaded it with some of my grandma's homemade cookies.

I had made it to the top of the ladder and had my torso above the eave of the house when my grandma noticed my selfless act and reacted with the surprise any adult guardian might when seeing their young charge attempting to climb onto a roof while carrying a plate of cookies. Needless to say it was enough to startle me and I plummeted six feet landing on my back with a clattering plate near my head and cookies all over the concrete walk that made up the alley on the west side of their house. Obviously, I survived the fall (and without injury though I cried for some time while my grandpa took me in to make sure everything was still functioning). I think I cried more from shock, failure, ruining so many great cookies, and scaring my grandparents than from hurting myself.

My grandpa has now been gone for over 20 years and my grandma moved out of that house with the rambling backyard filled with orange, apple, cherry, apricot, peach, and pecan trees, the strawberry patch, the grapes, blackberries, and herb garden. She lives in a suite above my aunt and uncle's house now but I know she still thinks about that house. All that is left of that day are my and my grandma's memories of it, and that plate. That plate that survived the fall just slightly more perfectly than I did (after all, it didn't cry like a baby).

I think about that plate all the time and I think about the grin that my grandpa tried to hide from my crying eyes while he bent my fingers, elbows, and knees to make sure nothing was broken, but I especially think about it when I'm washing dishes.

Happy dark of the winter

2011-12-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

Ah, Friday in an empty shop with little to do before I call it quits for the year so I can recharge for 2012 and the end of the world (or just life as it plays out).

I'd write about the assholes who feel the need to comment on whether a stranger has given them the proper holiday greeting and the general war on Christmas, as it were. I'd write about the "grinches" who look to spoil others' holiday cheer for the simple vindication they feel in hurting others who have done nothing to earn such vileness. I'd write about the politicians who've spent 2011 systematically dismantling any aspect of the social safety net they could get their grubby little hands on. I'd write about the economy and how it has hurt so many for so long.

But it's all been said. Over and over and over again. And the people who are listening, they know and understand. The people who haven't been listening aren't going to hear me or anyone else right now and so, for a moment I turn my back to the choir.

Do your thing. Buy your gifts or don't. Make a donation or don't. See your family or don't. But whatever you decide is right for you and yours, remember (at the very least) that we're all humans and we're all stuck here together, good and bad. Try your damnedest not to hurt other people and when you do, try your damnedest to never do it again.

When I wake up on Sunday morning (and I'll probably be the first awake), I plan on making a pot of coffee, turning on the lights on our Christmas tree, and having a quiet moment of happiness with my beloved and our three silly cats. I'll wish that the kind of happiness so many of us are used to experiencing on Christmas morning could pervade all of our lives all the time. I'll wish that we could all have jobs and coworkers we love, that we could all have loving people in our lives, that there weren't places in the world that are unimaginably heinous.

I'll tell myself to hang in there and I hope the rest of the world hangs in there too. We're all we've got.

Plywood handling tips from the woodshop

2011-12-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

If you use a table saw, even nominally, you will experience kickback or a board riding up or popping or a loose knot (in the case of lumber) or any number of things that will make a board or sheet of plywood buck up, twist, or in some way fly back off the saw. You must fight whatever instinctual urges you may have to catch it and instead train yourself to retreat, pull your hands back, slide your body out of the way, and try your best to avoid being a victim of flying wood.

Don't ever, ever try to cut a stack of loose pieces (two or more) on the table saw in an effort to be efficient. You're just begging for trouble on an already dangerous tool.

At some point you'll probably find need to vertically lean large pieces of plywood against something. One, as stupidly obvious as it sounds, make sure what you're leaning them against is stable. Two, if you have more than one stacked together, be careful when pulling them away from each other as it will create a vacuum between the two if you pull the first sheet away too quickly. You'll be about five steps away before you hear the loud crash that comes from a large sheet of plywood silently tipping forward.

If you handle plywood without gloves, particularly the heavier thicknesses like 3/4" and thicker, you will inevitably be trying to pull a piece out of a horizontal stack by grasping it with your thumbs on top and your fingers underneath. One day your hand(s) will slip as the plywood refuses to break friction and your fingertips will roll across the sharp corners and then your thumbs will smack into your fingers and you will experience an indescribable sort of pain that leaves no marks at all. And you will feel anger towards an inanimate object that did nothing but follow the laws of physics and remained at rest.

Let's test the most privileged of the world's assholes

2011-12-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

I think what I want most for Christmas (besides world peace and goodwill towards all humans) is to see the advent of a reality show who's contestants are composed entirely of rich CEOs and politicians who denigrate the working poor, unemployed, middle class, welfare recipients, etc for being a drain on the system. They'd lose their privilege, their bank accounts, their dividends, their personal connections and have to live like a poor person for at least six months.

Can we get that? Can we get Mitt Romney at the grocery store with an angry conservative behind him who huffs and puffs at the sight of Romney pulling out his food stamp card? Can we get someone trying to select WIC appropriate items at the store while saving enough money to pay their gas and electric bill? How about we put Ron Paul in the position of having a car whose repairs are so cost prohibitive, he has to sell it? Can we get a banker who has to call and argue with his credit card company to try to reduce the interest rate on his balance? Maybe we can have Allen West be a reservist who loses his house to foreclosure while he's deployed in Afghanistan? Maybe Michele Bachmann can have a girlfriend in the hospital who she can't visit or work out any medical plans with and neither of them can pay the medical bills because they don't have insurance because they both got laid off and they're near the end of their unemployment benefits?

Can we get some motherfucking perspective in this goddamn country?

Uncaging a bird

2011-12-12T12:43:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went on Etsy and found two patches done by an Alameda tattoo artist by the name of Reedpunk. Of course, like most representative animals, swallows have myriad meanings attached to them from seagoing superstitions to British symbols of prison time served. I prefer the more abstract ideas of freedom, hope, and love.

The esprit de corps at my workplace has plunged to incredible depths for me and many of those who work with or near me due to mismanagement, incredibly low and unfair rates of pay, and lack of respect for our individual levels of expertise. So, a couple of weeks ago I wrapped myself with a blanket on a weekend night, pulled a lamp in close, and spent several hours carefully removing my company's embroidered logo from the breast of my work jacket.

It was a form of protest as well as a cathartic release of anxiety, depression, and anger over my and my coworkers' treatment. The patches arrived in the mail this last weekend and not having an iron at home (because I brought it to work so I could do a project we didn't have the tool for), I waited until a quiet moment this morning and ironed on my new logo. I consider it one more avenue of respite for myself when the going gets rough here at work. I can look down and be reminded that even though I feel like I'm adrift at sea far, far away from the safety of land, there must be coastline nearby that I'll one day find. That one day, this sad place will be a memory and an experience that I'll be able to look back on and feel glad that I was able to escape with my life.

But, but, but...the Muppets support food preparation deregulation!

2011-12-05T15:06:00.001-08:00

I don't understand how the GOP could dislike The Muppets even though their newest movie features an evil villain who is a greedy oil tycoon when they offered up this Utopian world of deregulated food service prep in The Muppets Take Manhattan:

I mean, rats serving, preparing and swimming in food is the dream that could only come from dismantling that dirty, governmental regulatory body known as the FDA.

Reading and Mountaineering

2011-12-05T09:57:00.001-08:00

I zoomed through Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air this last weekend, a gripping narrative non-fiction tale of the 1996 tragedy on Mount Everest in which 8 people died on the mountain over the course of two days, their bodies forever entombed in the ice and snow above 25,000 feet. It reminded me a lot of Norman Maclean's writings in Young Men and Fire as well as aspects of A River Runs through it, particularly this passage:

People who don't climb mountains--the great majority of humankind, that is to say--tend to assume that the sport is a reckless, Dionysian pursuit of ever escalating thrills. But the notion that climbers are merely adrenaline junkies chasing a righteous fix is a fallacy, at least in the case of Everest.What I was doing up there had almost nothing in common with bungee jumping or skydiving or riding a motorcycle at 120 miles per hour.

Above the comforts of Base Camp, the expedition in fact became an almost Calvinistic undertaking. The ratio of misery to pleasure was greater by an order of magnitude than any other mountain I'd been on; I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain. And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium, and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking, above all else, something like a state of grace.

I think the quote attributed to Mallory about why anyone would want to climb Everest (or really any summit) belies this deeper notion. "Because it's there," is an oversimplified concept as to why people seek the thrill or achievement in summiting an elevated place. I think it's more the sort of flippant answer that one gives in response to someone who might not be able to conceptualize the drive or skill involved, much like Feynman's answer to how he won the Noble prize, "If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize."

In much the same way, I think climbers and mountaineers can't really explain the feelings, the drives, the reasoning behind it because the experience is so based in personal emotion as well as objective achievement. The highest I've ever climbed was Mt. Lyell, at 13,120 feet the highest point in Yosemite National Park. We drove to Tuolumne Meadows at about 8,600 feet, hiked up to our "base camp" at a small lake below the glacier and the next day managed to hike up Lyell Glacier to a short cliff maybe about 40 feet tall (about the size of the Hillary Step but not nearly as elevated or technical) that we managed to climb easily enough without ropes or other gear and then walked up the ridge to the summit.

It was an amazing experience and being the one to kind of spur the whole trip, I might have said that my initial reason for climbing it was because it was the highest peak in Yosemite and it was there but what I really wanted was to test myself. I wanted to see if my average fear of heights would stop me or if my inner drive and adrenaline would outweigh those fears. It was difficult and a couple of our guys dealt with some mild altitude sickness like headaches and shortness of breath (one vomiting numerous times though we didn't know until we were on the way back down) and we didn't even make it half as high as Everest. (If you want to see what the trip is like, someone has posted pictures of the route we took)

Climbing Everest seems to be an endeavor that involves putting oneself in a situation in which they are half-way to dead just to see if they have the strength of will to pull their own frozen body back from the light.

Education or reprogramming?

2011-12-02T13:14:00.001-08:00

A friend wrote on Facebook:

This green/yellow/red/blue card disciplinary card system might work for some kids, but with my kid it instills a terror-alert system level of constant fear. I hate it. I really, really hate it. I sent her to school crying and stressed out, because she was so upset about knowing she would get a yellow card at the end of the day. I hate very few things, and I hate this.

She takes forever to do her worksheets, because she's trying to be perfect. It's not like she's disrupting other kids or something. I just think a different tactic would be better, than just blanketing a terror alert system over all these kids. It's really stressful to drive a crying, scared kid to school. I feel for her so hard, you know? Ugh!

I'm sure that the implementation of this color-coded penalty card system is dependent on each individual teacher's use of the method, but it totally irks me that such a method is being used to control behavior down to the tiniest degree.And this just reinforces my feelings about the education system in general.

Learning is instinctual and I think some of the most adept learners in the world are children. Absorbing information is pretty much the only thing newborns can do beside normal bodily functions and vague cries that cover anything from discomfort, to fear, to pain, to hunger, to whatever. Other than that, the world of a developing child is focused on tactile, auditory, and visual intake of information. They are immersed in an alien environment and learn via the awesome method of experimentation and exploration.

"What's this feel like?"

"That's a bright color."

"I'm going to put this in my mouth."

Learning for a child is integral to understanding the world and participating in it. But once we put them in school, the goal becomes rewiring their brains to have information force-fed. We teach kids that learning is about conforming and listening to authority, not about exploration or experimentation or curiosity. When kids become fearful about the structure or implementation of their learning environment rather than curious about information, our educational system is failing them.

We need to engender a love for learning rather than a fear of retribution.

**Also, good gravy do I have a lot of friends who are teachers. Please don't crucify me. I don't think the problem resides in every classroom. Though, I think it resides in many if not most of them and that a good portion of the problem lies in the policy making at the political and administrative levels. A prime example of a politician who views teaching as a numbers game.**

Tuba Christmas is upon us

2011-11-28T12:54:00.001-08:00

In better news, Tuba Christmas returns to the Manchester Mall this weekend only!

Come get your fill of low brass playing holiday tunes at noon and again at one pm on Saturday.

I work a blue collar job, in a shop, and yet I'm living The Office more accurately than anyone truly knows

2011-11-28T11:21:00.001-08:00

I walked into our front office this morning to talk with a supervisor and the receptionist caught me while I was waiting. She rather haltingly started to ask me if I'd seen an email on which I'd been CC'd. Not knowing which email she was talking about but knowing that she was referring to an email on which she said I'd been CC'd, I said, "Most likely, yes, unless it was sent in the last 10 minutes."

She looked back at her screen and said, "Uuuuuhhh....it was....this one. Oh wait, never mind, I'll print it out." So she selected it and printed it out, all the while I'm standing behind her desk and about four feet away by the printer. The printer did its job rather marvelously as she got up from her chair, walked over to where I was, picked up the two sheets of paper that she had printed, briefly looked at them to to make sure it was the right thing and handed them to me. I glanced at them and saw a series of emails and replies which I had been privy to, over a week ago.

I said, "Yes, I got this email."

She said, "Okay," and went back to her computer. Thus ended the conversation.

I walked out of the office with two wasted pieces of paper which are now glaring at me from my desk.

Not five minutes ago, I got that exact series of emails forwarded to me with her response at the top, "I know that you were cc’d on thislike me before I generate a work order was anything ever looked into or done?"

This was the final response from our boss before our receptionist asked me the poorly written question I just shared with you: "Please have Adam make arrangements to obtain a piece of glass that properly fits referenced table, including beveling and/or rounding the edge and corners and have it installed."

So, not only was I involved in a scenario in which I was given a printed copy of an email I had received, I'm being asked if I'd like to start the job or investigate the project further before I'm actually given the go-ahead to start the job.

Seriously, here is the relevant bits of the email convo:

Customer: Please acquire a glass top for a table that was damaged and then repaired so that future damage does not occur.

Department Head: Please make a work order for Adam so that he can do what the customer desires.

Receptionist, forwarding conversation to my supervisor: What should I do with this?

Supervisor: Please make a work order so Adam can do his job.

Receptionist to me: Before I make a work order, has this been looked into?

Me: Please, for the love of everything sacred, make the goddamn work order.

Receptionist: Okie dokie, done!

Persimmon ice cream!

2011-11-22T15:26:00.001-08:00

I'm home sick so I'm utilizing the opportunity to test batch a new flavor of ice cream. I'm trying out a fuyu persimmon mix since I was unhappy with the sweet potato-sage. Tomorrow I'm making cinnamon ice cream for one family get together on Thursday but I've got a couple on Saturday so I'll be working to recreate the persimmon and sweet potato after the official turkey day.

*fingers crossed*

UPDATE:

Nix the sweet potato. It had good flavor but the starchiness of the potatoes destroyed the texture one would normally associate with ice cream. It really did taste like you were eating frozen whipped potatoes as opposed to potato-flavored ice cream.

BUT! The persimmon has turned out to be a most excellent substitute while maintaining an almost identical flavor profile. I'm chilling it as I type and waiting to throw it in the churn but initial taste tests make me confident the final result will be deliciously autumnal and texturally satisfying. I'll share my Frankensteinian recipe (I combined an apricot recipe with the failed sweet potato recipe) below but if you try it, I encourage you to close your eyes and take a whiff once the fruit is done cooking because you'll probably be as surprised as I was to find that it smells like a pot of cooked sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 pound (450 g) fuyu persimmons (about 4)
1/2 cup (125 ml) water
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
A few drops of fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

Peel and dice the persimmons into roughly 1/2" cubes. Place in a sauce pan with the water and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the persimmon has a semi-firm texture, remove from the heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Let the mixture stand and come to room temperature.

Once cool, add the fruit and its accompanying liquid to a blender along with the remaining ingredients, except for the lemon juice, and purée until smooth. The alternative, which I do, is to leave the fruit in your saucepan, add all the ingredients and purée with a stick blender. Once blended, taste and add lemon juice to your desired level. I added about a quarter of a hand-squeezed Meyer lemon (which tend to be sweeter than true lemons so be aware of that when flavoring).

Finally, strain the mixture, chill, then churn as per your particular ice cream churn's instructions.

Enjoy!

I know a lot of people are auditioning for Andy Rooney's old job, but seriously?

2011-11-21T14:28:00.001-08:00

Woodshop News blogger and woodworker David DeCristoforo laments low-quality work clothing:

We woodworkers need work clothes. I’m not talking about overalls with little gorilla faces on them. I’m talking about good quality, plain and simple, durable clothing.

Clothes like that seem to be getting harder and harder to find. Clothing stores, more and more, are offering jeans that are already worn out or at least look it; shoes that look like race cars, covered with bizarre graphics in day glow colors; T-shirts that seem to be made of such thin fabric that they could not stand up to more than a few washings and that, invariably, have something printed on them. Even the old standbys like Eddie Bauer and Orvis have declined in quality to the point where the clothing simply does not hold up to daily shop wear.

I don't think it's that hard to find basic, durable clothing. Now, whether you want to pay low prices for it is probably the sticking point. The argument here reeks of grumpy-old-man syndrome. As far as jeans go, I'm a fan of Gap though I know they're pricey. Typically, I'll buy a pair or two for casual wear and when they start to get less than presentable, I transfer them to the work pants category where they may last anywhere from two to three years in that respect before I start wearing serious holes in them. The few pairs of Levi's I've owned are even more durable with thicker, heavier denim (if sometimes less stylish).

Shoes and t-shirts? C'mon. You can't find thick fabric t-shirts without screen printing (Hanes is running a three for two sale as I type)? You can't find quality shoes (Red Wing Shoes made combat boots for U.S. soldiers in WW I and II and still make heavy work boots)? You can't really be looking if you aren't finding that stuff. Maybe this is a case of either being ignorant of the internet or stubbornly refusing to use it. Either way, this blog post reads more like a weak topic made to meet deadline.

And what's wrong with Dickies or Carhartt? Classic, sturdy blue collar work clothes.

Also, that "little gorilla faces" comment could be read as some sort of racist Ben Davis allusion what with the popularity of the clothing line among some rappers and Latin folks. I'm not saying it is, but ambiguity there is probably a bad idea.

Is there no GOP candidate who can live the rules they want to impose on everyone else?

2011-11-21T12:47:00.001-08:00

Newt Gingrich declared secularism the root of America's problems the other day. A stunning statement from a man who cheated on his first wife, then divorced her to marry the woman with which he was having an affair, only to cheat on his second wife whom he would eventually get divorced from in order to marry the third with which he also had an affair. It's almost like Gingrich, a GOP presidential candidate, is trying to be the definition of secular. I can't wait to see all the religious right-wingers vote this secular asshole into office.

The fog

2011-11-21T09:57:00.001-08:00

I love the fog and the clouds and rain. I know a lot of people don't and they think it's dreary. Me, I love the smell of rain, the sound of rain, how it washes everything clean and the air is clear. I love how it makes staying under a blanket or drinking a hot drink that much more justified.

But fog is my favorite. I think I love it more than anything else because it makes the world a little bit smaller, a little bit quieter, and a little bit more manageable. Everything is closed in. It's like being in a giant room with only a candle to light the area around you. You don't have to deal with the terrible art on the walls or wonder what's going on at the other end because you're only focused on your immediate area. It's a natural barrier to contending with all the crazy the world has to offer.

Heh

2011-11-18T13:33:00.001-08:00

Someone suggested to me today that I ought to write a letter to the editor. Maybe if the Bee hadn't relegated that community forum to a morass of racists, misogynists, and theocrats who bark at each other over poorly written and poorly reasoned 200 word essays mixed with people thanking random strangers who fixed their flat tires or police officers that rescued loose dogs, I could be enticed into participating again. That feature is a window into whatever remains of the backwater mentality that continues to pervade our city of half a million.

I publish my cranky rants independently, thank you very much.

It's Thursday so I'm randomizing

2011-11-17T07:32:00.001-08:00

Walking away from my car in the parking lot at work this morning, I was repeatedly clicking the remote to lock the doors, to no avail. Then I looked down and realized I was carrying my garage door opener. Though, before I made that realization, there was some far off sense that maybe the trunk should be slowly opening.

I just tripped over my chair rushing back to the computer to type out something I thought funny. Unfortunately, feeling like an idiot pushed the funny from my brain so you get commentary on my failure as a both a hurdler and a joke writer.

I was a cold luncher in elementary school. Of course, the trading block at the cold lunch table was fast and furious. A table of 15 kids flipping open their Transformers, Star Wars, Care Bear, and My Little Pony lunchboxes suddenly became a scene at Southeby's. Well, it was probably less like a high end art auction and more like a cattle auction. "I don't know, that Slim Jim doesn't look grass fed."

I was also a total chickenshit as a child. I never got into physical fights with any classmates because my fight or flight instincts heavily favored flight in nearly every instance that sarcastic barbs wouldn't suffice. I really think it should be expanded to fight, flight, or searing condescension but whatever. It did lead to some unique physical skills like learning to quickly scale chain-link fences while wearing in-line skates. And really, when the options are getting your ass beaten while wearing rollerblades or climbing a fence and skating away in rollerblades, you might as well shock your would-be attackers with monkey-like abilities while they ridicule your frantic swishing back and forth down the street.

Trying to write jokes like a professional comedian is my new outlet

2011-11-15T10:52:00.001-08:00

I'm so tired of all the idiotic things I have to deal with at my job and all the people trying to rationalize the causes of my frustration. Two ifs: If the people who know me had to endure this as regularly and for as long as I have, they'd be preaching a different sermon, and if the economy wasn't in the shitter they'd be seeking new employment. I've spoken to a couple of other more endurable coworkers and the story is the same. This place is run terribly and if there were other options, we'd be taking them, but there aren't and people who claim otherwise aren't really aware of what it's like in this field or favor suggesting unworkable solutions to make themselves feel better or to shut me up so they don't have to hear my frustrations.

Being tired of upsetting friends and family who can't do anything about the situation, I am trying to redirect those frustrations into more socially acceptable pursuits. Because there's nothing like being depressed and anxious and knowing that very few people are able to deal with open admission or public airing of those things. So, you can console yourself with the fact that I'm trying to reduce your exposure to my honest feelings by masking them in humor. It's win/win for you and different for me.

Random Thoughts

2011-11-14T11:30:00.001-08:00

Interestingly, the advent of real-time social technology has created a spate of "re-enactments" which allow the newest generations of humans to experience grand events from the past. A couple of years ago on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, internet users could listen to radio transmissions and view other information at the same time it happened decades before. As well, a year or so ago, the New York Times began a group blog called Disunion which is still writing blog posts on relevant events as they would have unfolded 150 years ago. And now, someone has started a Twitter account which allows people to receive tweets in real time as they would have 72 years ago during WW II. Of course, now that people are just doing it just to do it rather than on arbitrary round number anniversaries, I'm thinking of tweeting my life in real-time, but delayed by a week. That way, anyone who follows me can relive the history of my life as it happened 7 days earlier.

In other news, Gingrich has risen in the GOP presidential candidate polls. It's almost like a month or two of Herman Cain shoving his foot in his mouth has made people forget that Gingrich is a total turd too. I half expect Gingrich to ride the wave for a month before he biffs it enough to let Michele Bachmann have another go at looking like the biggest idiot on the national stage. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is off somewhere crouched in the shadow of a tour bus half weeping, half whispering, "My preccccciousssssssssss...."

Rep. Allen West says waterboarding (yes, we're again back to waterboarding in the political conversation) is valid because Demi Moore's character in G.I. Jane was waterboarded. He claims that it's something we should value, "in military training; in survival, escape and resistance training." Clearly, the conflation between training soldiers to endure questionable tactics, training them to use questionable tactics, and fictional film scenarios is a goldmine of potential military policies. Hey Allen West, I also think we should train our soldiers to deal with alien life-forms that can mimic human-made mechanical products, deploy high tech machinery disguised as Motorhomes, and all R&R time used by soldiers must be overdubbed with Kenny Loggins' or Berlin songs.

I was thinking this morning that when comedians start their careers, they probably tend to write initial material that deals with their immediate experiences. If you were a busboy or waitress, maybe you'd write a few barbs about the restaurant or service industry. If you were a bus driver, you'd probably have a few jokes about the idiots that rode your route. Of course, I've been a woodworker for most of my life. I kinda wonder if Mitch Hedberg was still around if he'd like my ash.

Herman Cain determines manliness

2011-11-14T09:04:00.001-08:00

Herman Cain thinks men who order pizzas with vegetables are sissies. But if you pile your pie high and deep with meat-based toppings then you're clearly a man.

Chris Heath: What can you tell about a man by the type of pizza that he likes?

Herman Cain: [repeats the question aloud, then pauses for a long moment] The more toppings a man has on his pizza, I believe the more manly he is.

Chris Heath: Why is that?

Herman Cain: Because the more manly man is not afraid of abundance. [laughs]

Devin Gordon: Is that purely a meat question?

Herman Cain: A manly man don't want it piled high with vegetables! He would call that a sissy pizza.

I'm sorry, Ed. Your new meatless-month diet puts you in opposition to the 9-9-9 pizza guru.

I wonder if Cain thinks men with high blood pressure, chronic heartburn, or any other health issues that might be exacerbated by ~~piles of meat, cheese, tomato sauce, and heavy dough~~ "a harmony of flavor" are sissies too.

Good to see GQ still targeting their demographic by denigrating women and womenly men who eat lots of veggies on their pizzas.

My Morning Jacket plays Dondante live

2011-11-12T10:48:00.001-08:00

I could listen to Jim James play guitar all day. I kind of, sort of, would love if he and Jack White shared something like a four hour jam session on stage.

The Antlers' Tongue Tied

2011-11-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

This song off The Antlers' newest album, Burst Apart, is so awesome. No joke.

Hey, a table

2011-11-11T10:55:00.001-08:00

The last few pictures on a complete table and its parts.

You won't see these details unless you lay on the floor.

The structure.

A couple of table tops.

Ready for use.

Local photographer and new acquaintance, Jared Jurcak, is in talks with me to shoot some professional grade photos of these four tables. Hopefully we'll be able to put together a cool presentation for the upcoming Pecha Kucha in December as well as leave me with some nice digital copies to hopefully be used in a future website.

Just as I predicted!

2011-11-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

I've been telling people that the Occupy Wall Street protesters should unionize and then hire themselves out. They're already doing it.

In Atlanta, they've sent protesters to camp on the front lawn of a police officer's house that may soon be foreclosed upon. And in Harlem, they've gotten water and heat turned back on in an apartment building.

Professional protester/Robin Hoods.

UPDATE: Now they're getting people off drugs? What is going on??

Asshole

2011-11-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ah, GOP Rep. Joe Walsh from the great state of Illinois:

Walsh lost his cool when several attendees asked about why banks have so much power in government. At one point, Walsh even threatened to a eject a man who calmly asked Walsh about the revolving door of bank lobbyists infiltrating Congress and financial regulatory agencies. Walsh at one point screamed, “don’t blame the banks … this pisses me off!”

After several constituents accurately pointed out that bank lobbyists occupy key positions within Congress, the SEC, and other oversight bodies that are supposed to supervise bank practices, Walsh began sticking his finger close to his constituent’s faces, yelling, “quiet for a minute or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

So we have here an elected representative holding a public meeting in order to hear from his constituents, you know, the people who he represents, hence being a representative. In this meeting, he's asked to expound on real stuff happening in the real world but instead chooses to shout down a voter, deny reality, and then threaten to eject him for asking a pointed question. Clearly, Walsh is not fit for office with childish and ignorant behavior like this.

Also, what is with all these Republicans that think American citizens living in homes and/or having a government with a vested interest in having American citizens living in homes is such a vile concept? The preamble to the Constitution lays out the origin and scope of the Constitution which endows our government with its power:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

To be sure, the preamble doesn't actually impart any power to the government but it lays out the tone and drive for what is to come. I should think everyone having the fair opportunity to live in a home would fall under "insur[ing] domestic Tranquility" or maybe "promot[ing] the general Welfare" or maybe even "secur[ing] the Blessings of Liberty". How dare the government of the U.S.A. try to get everyone in homes?

UPDATE: If you're one of those types who believes what Walsh said, that congress, Fannie, and Freddie are to blame for the sub-prime mortgage crisis, my brother sent me a couple links which tear that theory apart rather succinctly.

Bloomberg's Awful Comment
What Caused The Financial Crisis?

UPDATE II: Joe Walsh claims he was hungry to excuse his temper.

Random thoughts of today

2011-11-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

With so many coworkers working 3/4 time and taking Thursdays and/or Fridays off, it's always such a let down to come back on Monday and have to share the tools and shop with two or sometimes three other coworkers. That taste of working alone at the end of each week followed by the weekend off is like the greatest crescendo to an out-of-tune oboe solo.

Highland Park, Michigan is so in the red as a city, they're tearing out street lights. They're not just shutting the electricity to them off, but tearing out the poles as well. The austerity-backed GOP version of America is becoming strikingly similar to the long distant cave-man era of humanity. I'm waiting for a group of congresspeople to submit a bill mandating that the country stop using "liberal" fluorescent light bulbs in favor of candles. Right after Glenn Beck starts a little insider trading on candle wax and opens a line of matchbook factories.

Michele Bachmann recently said, “Our nation needs to stop doing for people what they can and should do for themselves,” she said. “Self reliance means, if anyone will not work, neither should he eat.” To be fair though, she sourced that quote straight from the mouth of Jesus in the New Testament. It's in the Mel Gibson Translation (MGT). It follows the parable where Jesus tells the disciples he'll put them in his "fucking rose garden."

It isn't stealing if it's yours

2011-11-05T22:06:00.001-07:00

Heh. So Trevor Jones collaborated on the great theme that runs through The Last Of The Mohicans' soundtrack in 1992, and the very next year, he ripped it off and changed the last two notes for Cliffhanger. I just figured that out watching the last 20 minutes of Stallone's Rambo-rock-climber roll. I liked the first version more.

Andy Rooney shuffles off his mortal coil

2011-11-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Andy Rooney passed away today at the age of 92. Among our friends, we enjoy impersonating his delivery. My feelings about him were always bittersweet. His bit on 60 Minutes was hilarious to me because it was an outlet for an old man to whine like an old man and frustrating because I wasn't the one getting paid to do it. He has four children which must be in their 60s and 70s which means he probably has a large family following after them. I hope they're able celebrate him and mourn his loss in a way that makes them feel good about his life. Well done old man.

Sneak peak

2011-11-04T15:42:00.001-07:00

My Slow Tech Movement

2011-11-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

I rather like not caring about trying to keep up with a reader, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and all that other noise. I'm back to perusing blogs when I'm able and retraining myself not to expect immediate feedback on every online interaction.

I feel like the compulsion (and that's what it has become for many) to click "like" or say something about an online item (whether it is a valuable response) caused some degradation in my sense of interaction. I didn't feel like I was interacting with people in real or meaningful ways.

Maybe I'll have fewer interactions by retreating back to the blog world, but they won't feel as frantic or hurried. I'll have to take the time to sit down and write something in long form and you'll have to take the time to come here and interact. I certainly wouldn't resent anyone for not coming here to interact. After all, as an online society, we've been conditioned into smaller and smaller, less meaningful interactions. Twitter brought the 140 character limit, Facebook brought "like", and Google managed to shorten it even further to "+1".

Long ago, when my blogging was at its peak, I was churning out 600 posts a year. I was creating content and interacting with readers who were invested in that content. Now, I read other content, aggregate it into my Facebook or Google+ with a comment or two, and then my friends reduce the following interaction to a "like" or "+1". We've become information consumers and aggregaters of the highest order.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google have managed to turn human beings into a massive social computer which ranks and spreads information (or disinformation in some instances). They make money on our backs. We think we're having fun, all the while they're raking in top dollar selling our personal information, selling our interactions, our votes to advertisers and other companies. We're all mice in a lab. AT&T and Verizon track us with our phones as we navigate the maze and then they use their results to better target us.

It makes me feel gross and inhuman. I'm pretty sure it's been feeding into a part of my anxiety and depression and so I'm cutting back because I'm tired of feeling on the edge, frazzled, rushed to consume and see the next status update.

Maybe, like we have done with food, it's time for a "slow tech" movement with which we remember that the McDonald's and Taco Bells of the Internet aren't interested in creating an enjoyable experience so much as industrializing the process.

Random thoughts for the day

2011-11-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I get to work alone in a shop with so many dangerous things around. I should get one of those med-alert bracelets or a case for my phone that doesn't make it so hard to get out of my pocket. How pitiful would that be for someone to find my body under a pile of wood with my rubber-encased phone only halfway out of my pocket and my fist raised to the heavens cursing the coefficient of friction?

Why would someone spend all the money to put in new carpet, paint, and replace all of the furniture in an office, only to ask me to put a re-purposed particle board desktop on a set of table legs and ask me to stain them to match the new furniture? "We really want one eye-catching piece in the office, you know, something to really set off all the shitty pre-fab furniture we bought."

The parking lot-based cash economy at the Home Depot near my work seems to be relatively robust. Day labors wait to get jobs, homeless wander around selling drawings, and women frequently walk through the area selling tamales. I'm thinking, maybe I should set up an open air shop and build furniture in an empty parking spot.

A coworker who I dislike for her laziness and utter ineptitude is currently training either a replacement or someone with which to share her hours. I'd compare it to a blind person leading another blind person but I can't discredit blind people like that.

I was recounting a story last night about growing up attending an elementary school that was predominately Hispanic which intersected with a childhood in which my parents limited the films I was allowed to watch (what 10 year old needs to be watching Steven King films?). I distinctly remember classmates talking about a scary movie called Cujo and how in my mind I wasn't totally sure if Cujo was the same thing as culo (the Spanish word for ass). I wasn't exactly up to date on scary movies and still wasn't certain about my Spanish swear words. In any case, it certainly makes me chuckle to think about a giant culo chasing people around or standing outside a broken down car in the middle of nowhere barking like mad.

Dissonance

2011-10-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today, whenever I gripe about my job or being underpaid, what is the most common response I get?

"At least you've got a job."

There's an implication that goes with that statement; a silent agreement that having any job at this point in American history is worthy of appreciation. Not having a job you love, not having the job that pays out big, not having the job you'll work for the rest of your life because you want to do nothing else but that job. Just...having a job is to be appreciated.

Why is that?

It's because the economy is terrible and the job market is just as bad. As of this month 14 million people are unemployed in the U.S.

So, it blows my mind when I page through the We Are The 53% Tumblr account to see all these accounts of people who literally struggle to make it through their lives and their jobs. But who do they turn around and resent? The people beneath them who are even more indigent or jobless!

If the people who are lucky to have any job at all have an implicit understanding that it's hard to get one, why on earth would they resent those who are unable to get one? "How dare you have so many obstacles to full employment that aren't necessarily your fault?"

Wherein I disagree with Dave Ramsey

2011-10-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

A friend posted this article, post, rant, screed, advice column, what have you on Facebook and while my work computer was out at the shop, I took a few potshots via my iPhone but touch-typing on a smart phone is necessarily slower than a standard keyboard so I told the friend that I'd come back later with constructive responses. He specifically asked what I think the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement stands for so I'll start there with my opinion on where it came from and where it wants to go and then probably try to break down a few of the statements made by Ramsey.

I've written some of these thoughts out elsewhere so I figured I'd just try to expand on those.

I think OWS stems from three main things. First, the lack of oversight and liability regarding the financial sector of our economy as it pertains to Wall Street, mortgage companies, and banks which played a part in paralyzing both our country's economy and the global economy. Second, the incredible income disparity between the rich and the poor in our country (which is where we see the spin-off 99% movement taking hold). Third, a government that is complicit in aiding and abetting in reducing financial oversight and liability as well as proposing or enacting policies regarding taxes and revenue which are regressive.

All of that means that the protesters will be diverse in their desires and drives as there are many valuable fronts in this ideological conflict. You'll see Keystone XL protesters and environmentalists who argue that green jobs, regulations, and oversight can aid the economy as we build regulatory structures to propagate and enforce those rules. You'll see protesters arguing about health care and more regulations in that realm to help drive down costs for those who can't achieve the basic necessity of access to such a thing. You'll see protesters talking about Dodd-Frank and other fiscally related regulation and oversight.

You'll see protesters who thought they were buying into the American dream of going to college, getting a job, buying a house, and/or having a family who have done or tried those things and seen a system which destroyed all of that for them. People with incredible college loans (thanks in part to a government cutting funding for grants). People whose houses were foreclosed on. People who have lost their job and can't get another. People who have gone bankrupt because their child became ill and were dropped from their health coverage or never had any to begin with because it was a cost beyond their means.

Essentially, what we're seeing is a large mass of people who feel like they've been forsaken by a system they were promised would work. They were told that if they worked hard, got a good education, and followed the rules, they could climb the ladder of success. Now we've found out that the ladder has been tipped over by some high-ranking folks.

And yes, like any protest movement, you'll draw in your fringe folks. Your drum circlers, your anarchists, your rabble-rousers, the small percentage of people who like to get attention purely for the sake of getting attention. And of course, those are the types which the media and detractors will immediately latch onto in order to be sensational and/or discredit the overall movement. Not that I think it legitimizes the Tea Party but, that same sort shit went on when they were a nascent movement. You had your libertarian off-the-gridders, people showing up with racist signs and people fear-mongering about gun regulations and such. It's the nature of public protest.

From what I'm reading and seeing, the OWS and 99% folks are looking for a fair shake. They're looking for a government who isn't in the pocket of the wealthy, who isn't trying to cut taxes on the rich at the same time they're trying to raise taxes on the poor, who isn't more concerned with spending trillions of dollars warring and nation-building in numerous other countries but quibbling over money for infrastructure improvements in our country, who isn't denying the dangers of unregulated pollution or the value of energy innovation, who isn't preaching about creating jobs at the same time it is enacting austerity policies that will cause the economy to further retract.

That's my two cents.

As far as Dave Ramsey, well, ugh. I suggest you read it first (if you haven't already) and then come back to here.

Ramsey spends his first four paragraphs creating the straw man that will serve as the target for his ensuing...I'm going to call it a screed. His premise appears to be, I don't really like the movement but I'm going to tell them what they should stand for so it can be a real movement. Basically, what Ramsey is doing is concern trolling the OWS movement. It reads like a disingenuous attempt to steer the movement away from its more liberal drives.

In that spirit, he starts with the point (bailouts) on which he claims that he and Tea Partiers agree with the OWS. "See, we're all on the same team, I'm just trying to help."

His second point (corporate greed) starts to deviate from agreement to, "I see what you're against but your methods don't work for me." He suggests boycotting as if that's a viable tactic anymore. Corporations are so well conglomerated in this day and age that boycotting one is like putting repellent on your left hand and expecting mosquitoes to avoid your whole body; a point he makes immediately following his suggestion of boycotting. Consumerism is so intertwined in our lives that boycotting is almost impossible on a large scale. Boycotting is a tactic reserved for the local level at this point.

His fourth point (wealth redistribution) is the most egregious to this point and it's especially ironic considering his explicit Christianity in other parts of his life. I'm going to quote him straight away on this one. I hope Jesus is watching:

I’ve heard a lot about wealth redistribution over the past few years, and I’m sure you’ve heard it too. Call it whatever you want, but this is how it usually sounds to most Americans: “We are the 99% of Americans who don’t have as much as the 1%, so we’re mad and think the government should take their wealth and property away so that I can have a piece of it. Wealth inequality is a moral breakdown! We should all spread the money around so everyone gets a fair share!”

I have my toughest critique for those who believe this: You are a thief. When someone takes my money and gives me no say in the matter, that’s called theft—whether they’re using a gun or the government.

Pay no attention to his straw man here that the 99% movement want a portion of rich people's money for the sake of pure greed and retribution. My paychecks put me just below the median income for an American citizen. I don't desire to see the top earners pay more taxes so I can see mine lowered because I hate them. I desire it because they can afford it and I can't. According to Ramsey though, a desire to see more parity, more equity for people at the bottom of the economic spectrum is outright thievery. I know Robin Hood resonates with a lot of people but gosh, I didn't know we were at the point in the real world where we low-income folks had become actual outlaws. (Also, I guess he didn't read that part of Mark where Jesus talks about rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's and all that rot).

I love this argument though, "I didn’t do one thing to contribute to his success, so why would I be entitled to a share of his wealth?" Riiiiiiight. All the people who are rich right now achieved that wealth independently from the unwashed masses. Millionaire musicians aren't rich because poorer people bought their albums and paid for tickets to concerts. They don't depend on managers or promoters or venue operators or transportation operators or sound techs or roadies or ticket booth attendees or ushers or security guards or wardrobe folks. Wealth is necessarily borne on the backs of those at the bottom. Anyone who claims otherwise is delusional.

I don't really feel like finishing. Ramsey makes me ill. He makes no effort to understand the frustration of millions of people across the country. Instead, he offers a shrug and basically a "fuck off." He's not offering solutions. He's casting aspersions.

A day after the execution of Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer

2011-09-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do a somewhat lazy post by reprinting an exchange I had today on Facebook between two strangers on a friend's wall. I've redacted their names because I'm reprinting this without permission. Enjoy and feel free to disagree with me. I wouldn't mind a debate with a pro-capital punishment proponent that wanted to use actual facts and not emotional revenge fantasies or dreams of cruel and unusual punishment.

It ends with my last frustrated rejoinders and nothing posted from either of the other active participants. If they comment back I may post them here, but I don't plan on continuing in the conversation. I've said my bit and shared the information that backs up my position. They're welcome to have the last word as far as I'm concerned. I'm only posting this because a) I felt like more eyeballs needed to see this and b) I truly am interested to know what my few readers might think. I'm not looking for an echo chamber or rally cries.

The Prompt:

"For the same people who were against the execution of Troy Davis, were you also against the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer?"

The discussion beginning with my first response and the conversation that followed:

Adam: I'm against all executions.

Woman One: Excellent question. I saw this in my little brother's post this morning (I know the phrase is somewhat trite, but still gently poignant, especially coming from a kid): Why kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong? The death of James Byrd Jr. was horrific, tragic, and representative of deep seated hatred that sadly still exists today. It would be inappropriate to assume we know what his family feels, it would be inappropriate to tell them how to feel, seeing as how we are not in their shoes. Earlier this year I went to a panel discussion on abolishing the death penalty. Every inch of the spectrum was represented on the panel: a former executioner, a former criminal defense lawyer who represented murder convicts, a man who was on death row and later released, his wife, and a man whose parents were murdered in front of him. For various, and sometimes different reasons, they each were strongly against the death penalty. I feel it all can be traced back to the inherent human realization that killing, in all its forms, is wrong. I am against the execution of any human being. That being said, it is an intensely complex issue with many different sensitive points to consider. They cannot be glossed over, I appreciate you opening this part of the dialogue.

Adam: [link to another blogger's take on the two executions posted without comment from me]

Man One: I'm Pro-Justice so this question wasn't really for me, but I could see how these people could be divided, LWB was a racist who deserved to die the same death he dealt to another human being, Troy however is one of those guys who once got put on death row "maintained his innocence" and some people love to believe those guys (see lee Harvey Oswald)

Adam: The story of any individual inmate doesn't really matter. State-sanctioned murder is not a deterrent and it's not a good way to achieve justice. Life without parole is just as successful at keeping violent offenders off the street as killing them. And it's cheaper.

Woman Two: An eye for an eye...

Adam: That's a nice old-fashioned Biblical sentiment, until you realize that our system of capital punishment has gouged out the eyes of many innocent individuals. Can't give those lives back.

Man One: Start a website

Woman Two: What system...there is no system...everything is CoRrUpT!!

Adam: Pardon?

Adam: [another link to another blogger who posted thoughts on the two executions, again left without comment]

Man One: Well you've rebutted each person who's commented and doesn't share the same views as you do, so I figured a website would better relay your message...or go lay In front of a bus.
To say the death penalty does not serve justice and is not a deterrent is asinine, completely. Do you know that inmates have tvs? Phones? Facebook? Can you Adam please explain the justice to me of a murderer who sits in his Cel eating snickers bars drinking a dr. Pepper and watching Ashton kutcher on two 1/2 men while he's facebooking with "homies"(are you even aware they're allowed this in prison) serve justice to mother/father, son/daughter, wife/husband who's just lost their loved one? And imagine if their loved one was tortured? Or even if they had to witness the account themselves? Do you know people need weeks, months, YEARS to recover from the lost of a loved one?
Do you know that since [FB wall owner who prompted the discussion] has posted this, 8-10 people have been murdered in the USA? I don't disagree with your views but they better suit you if you live in France or Norway. In our free country of guns, violent Entertainment, the bigger & better attitudes, free will, a death for a death punishment is DEFINITELY a much needed deterrent. I live all that's stuff an our country and I'm proud of everything we are, but unfortunately we're too free a country sometimes for some people, and certain consequences are a must for us to live the way we live.
Also did you google the subject to leave a comment supporting your views??! I'm certainly ok with debating facts to your views but you are making this difficult to keep an educated debate.

Adam: "To say the death penalty does not serve justice and is not a deterrent is asinine, completely."

Is it? Have you noticed a decline in murders? Have they stopped happening? Do you see a lot of gang members pausing on the street to consider their fate before they put a bullet into someone? If the death penalty truly was a deterrent, you'd see murders decreasing.

"Also did you google the subject to leave a comment supporting your views??! I'm certainly ok with debating facts to your views but you are making this difficult to keep an educated debate."

What? Are you trying to call me stupid and uneducated?

Try this. Imagine if one of your loved ones was convicted of a crime they did not commit and were executed for a crime they did not commit. How would you feel about capital punishment at that point?

Man One: Not at all stupid sir I'm enjoying this! I think it's fair to say that crimes prevented is an unrepresentable statistic, and to think that all murders would need to stop to prove either side right or wrong is an imaginary notion.
I'd feel horrible if someone wrongly took a loved one and executed them, but the flip side which I've represented I believe deserves the life of their murderer to serve them justice, and not living in prison.

Adam: So you're okay with a few innocent deaths in service to your ideology?

Man One: So your okay with murderers still living eating candy and watching tv with Internet access? We can play that all day..... I just tried to represent the other side of the subject and those with opposite views of you after you jumped all over it multiple times.

Adam: Actually, I'm fine with convicted murderers sitting in cells eating food and watching TV. Better there than out on the street murdering people.

Kind of like how I think that as a non-murderer, I should extend my humanity to those who have lost theirs. Why should I sink to the level of a murderer?

Man One: Very nice.

Adam: Some scholarly reading regarding the opinions of leading criminologists on whether capital punishment works as a deterrent: [link to said scholarly work]

Woman Two: [Man One] I like your views..well put....I'm glad someone went into detail while I am working and wasting my tax money to support these convicts! Adam..keep putting your tax dollars forward to support inmates!!

Adam: [Woman Two], it's cheaper to imprison an inmate for life than it is to execute them. If you want to talk about tax dollars, abolishing the death penalty would save millions. [link to advocacy site enumerating costs of death row inmates versus life without parole]

Man One: Thanx I was just bothered [FB wall owner who prompted the discussion] asked her friends a question and we just wanted to give our opinions to her and he had to shoot us down and debate us

Adam: Yeah, how terrible that you were made to question your ideas.

Also, funny that you'd say that since not much more than an hour ago you stated, "I'm enjoying this!"

Another letter to the editor filled with unexamined privilege

2011-08-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

This letter writer doesn't like the idea of rapid mass transit or, at the very least, she doesn't like the idea of rapid mass transit subsidized with tax dollars. I have an idea about what political party she affiliates with:

Approving $1.1 million to begin designing the city's proposed bus rapid transit system is totally irresponsible on the part of six members of our City Council and Mayor Ashley Swearengin. Clint Olivier is the only councilman who voted "no." Lee Brand's "yes" vote shocked me.

Bus rapid transit won't be cheap. Estimates are $48 million for the first route. How many are planned? According to the city, 80% is supposed to come from the federal government with the hopes of getting all or most of the remaining $20 million from the state.

This is outrageous. The federal government must borrow money now and the state is broke. Besides, who in the heck does the city think make up the federal and state government? It is us -- the taxpayers -- including those who live in Fresno. Fresno doesn't have the money either.

We have already lost traffic lanes to bike lanes (rarely used in most areas). Now we are going to lose traffic lanes to "bus only" lanes with raised platforms. This is just plain ridiculous.

Shirley Studt
Fresno

There are lots of arguments to make in favor of rapid transit whether bus or light rail (and the study I looked at said RBT was significantly less expensive than light rail, probably because bus transit doesn't require installing rails in the streets). I rode route 28 for several months when I didn't have a car and last I heard, it's the busiest route in Fresno servicing thousands of riders per day. In fact, just a few years ago, several routes were upgraded from 30 minute waits between stops to 15 minute waits due to higher demand, suggesting that buses are of growing importance as a source of transportation.

Not only is bus transit a tool that disproportionately serves low income citizens, it's better for the environment, helps to keep less cars on the road, and helps reduce fossil fuel consumption. There are probably even more arguments but in my mind, the first one is the most important. As we continue to cut services for low income citizens, we reduce their access and continue pushing them to the bounds of society.

Also, in this instance, implementing rabid bus transit in Fresno will require changes to physical infrastructure which will in turn require workers. This is exactly the kind of thing for which our government should be borrowing money. A project like this infuses money into a struggling economy, has a positive environmental impact, and increases service for those amongst us who need it the most. This is a win, win, win, but Shirley is more concerned with her own personal inconvenience related to losing lanes on certain roads and her faulty logic regarding governmental fiscal policy.

Fresno and California need high speed rail, more local mass transit (rapid and standard), more emphasis on biking as transportation rather than leisure, and tons of road improvement projects. All of these things are good and will spur consumption by moving money through the system.

Why I'm good and bad at my job

2011-06-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is a throwaway project. It's a small four-sided box designed to sit on top of electrical outlets that are situated on an office floor. It will sit in the knee space of a desk where someones feet will rest on it in the gloom and doom of dust bunny land.

Look at the edge. It's my compulsion. It doesn't matter what kind of project I'm working on, even if it literally will not see the light of day, I have to put my thought and effort into it's aesthetic nature. No one (outside of the readers here) will see and recognize the effort I put into the grain orientation. The way the flat sawed growth rings on the top piece arch upwards and then transition to the rift sawed growth rings of the sides. The way the medullary rays shoot out from an imaginary center. None of that will be noticed or appreciated over the life of this little floor box cover.

Some days I feel like I'm building sand sculptures but only on a slightly extended time scale. It's hard to be zen about wanting to pour my life into something and having to come to grips with the idea that I have to balance my personal fulfillment with the practical needs of others.

And just like a sand sculpture, someone will be kicking this piece with their feet.

Sometimes I hurt for people

2011-06-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

I was having a Facebook interaction today about economics which inevitably turned to illegal immigration as so many politically charged topics are wont to do. Then an angry man joined the discussion and said this:

How about I come into your house Adam, eat all your food, take your money, and then drive your car to the theater and see a movie with your money. Oh and I'd like you to watch my 5 kids while I do all that. Then I'll demand you pay for those kids to go to college. You don't have a clue who I am but I expect you to care for me simply because I smashed my way through your front door.

It's a sad, angry man who can generalize and then equate illegal immigration with such a violent and intrusive act. It's just such a fundamentally flawed analogy for such a complex issue with varying motivations.

I'll tell you what I expect of myself. I expect myself to care for other people simply because they are human beings. I can't believe very many people who cross the border illegally are aiming to destroy the lives of total strangers in such a unilateral manner. In fact, I'd be willing to bet the majority of illegal immigrants are just hoping for better opportunities to live better lives for them and for their children. What monsters.

My new frustration/obsession

2011-06-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, my five faithful readers. This is a post about something good!

I finally was able to afford a replacement Wii console and have been able to resume my new Rock Band 3 obsession. Much to Carrie's annoyance, I'm really digging into the full pro drum set (minus the hi-hat pedal though). Last night, I breezed through I Got You (I Feel Good) by James Brown on the easy pro and worked through the medium setting right before I hit the hard setting where the learning curve shot waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up. Suddenly, I found myself in the midst of a complex funk beat with eighth notes riding the hi-hat and the snare alternating between sets of syncopated triplets and downbeats while the bass drum was kicking on twos and threes with a few weird hits thrown in. Never mind all the other little things my right hand had to do with the toms and the ride/crash cymbals.

It was a lesson in humility and a true enjoyment to finally reach a point in the game itself where I felt like I was truly trying to play an instrument.* It was also a lesson in clearing the mind. When I put the track on a practice loop I could hit all the parts on their own. But when I tried to put them together, the few moments where I was firing on all cylinders were the ones in which I totally stopped thinking about what I was doing. As soon as I became conscious of my success, it all fell apart because I started over-thinking the rhythms. It was very zen and made me think about my friend Vince (an actual drummer who is quite good) that I always tease about looking disinterested during shows. I totally get it now. He's in the zone.

It all makes me want to start drumming for real. Of course, then I realize that I seem doomed to want to do things that are hard, low-paying, and generally unappreciated. I've got to stop torturing myself. I need to become a Wall Street "banker".

*Say what you want about the other instruments in terms of the realism. You're not learning actual notes on the guitar or bass though your hands might be moving in that way, there's no way to translate what you've learned to an actual guitar or bass. Vocals are cool. You're learning by rote so there's a bit of apprenticeship in that method but you're not learning any of the theory. But it's realistic. The drums I feel like you could transfer what you learn to an actual set and bang out a beat so, I've grown attached.

Dear AT&T, remember that you're dealing with other humans, not just customers

2011-05-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

Last week, I discovered that AT&T had been automatically debiting my checking account for the DSL service at my old apartment. This, in spite of the fact that I'd spoken on the phone with an AT&T representative regarding disconnecting that service and starting a new service at the house we moved into in August of 2010. I didn't catch it because I was only noticing one withdrawal or the other during that time but never saw both. Yes, I was lax in being aware of the issue but the mistake of double billing was ultimately theirs and not mine.

When I discovered the mistake and called them, two very helpful reps finally figured out what had happened and told me that I would be refunded all of the money that had been paid to the old service and that they would disconnect it. That night, our internet went down as we were getting ready to go to sleep and we thought nothing of it thinking that perhaps the router was having issues (something we'd dealt with before). When it did not work the next day, Carrie called and found out that they had disconnected our current service instead of the old service. They also told her that they could not turn it back on because...they just can't. That's how the internet works apparently. As an "apology" they offered to upgrade us to their U-verse service at the promotional rate, saying that they'd mail us all the hardware and even throw in a free wi-fi router (which I already had but whatever) and that service would come online at 8 PM this last Tuesday (5/24/2011).

Carrie, whose job is directly tied to the need for working internet ended up having a difficult week of using wi-fi at local coffee shops and her parents' house, having to pack up her things and wander like a nomad to places with available internet that didn't mind her sitting around for 8 hours. Needless to say it was a hassle that neither of us wanted.

Monday night, she received an automated call notifying her that the new service wouldn't be available until 9 AM this morning (5/25/2011) because some sort of external wiring issue needed to be fixed. I took part of the morning off to stay home and hook up all the new hardware for her because I'd done it before and didn't want her to have to deal with it. After an hour of unsuccessfully trying to make the modem work for us, we called tech support and had a guy tell us that the internet wouldn't be available until 8PM tonight (an inconvenient discovery considering we'd never received such a notification). In frustration we headed out, me to my shop and her to her parents' house again.

At work, I searched high and low on the AT&T website (designed quite conspicuously to disallow customers from any direct contact with the company outside of tech support) for an email contact. Resigned and frustrated, I decided to opt for chat support because I'm typically better at conveying things via text than verbally and it's much easier to mask anger as well. That was when I met Uzair, a stickler for the script, if apologetic:

Uzair: Thank you for contacting AT&T U-verse Member Support. My name is Uzair
Uzair: How can I help you today?
Adam: To what email can I send complaints?
Uzair: May I know if you are facing any issue with your U-verse services?
Adam: I'm facing an issue with AT&T about the management and personnel surrounding my U-verse services.
Uzair: I will definitely try to help you with this concern.
Uzair: Let me pull up your account information.
Uzair: Adam, if we are disconnected from this chat session, I would like you to re-enter our chat service line by using the below link. [link deleted for clarity]
Uzair: I see that the preferred email address on your account is different from what you have provided. Would you like me to change it?
Adam: Are you authorized to do something like set me up with a year's worth of free service?
Uzair: We apologize, since we are from the technical chat support for U-verse, we don't have the authorization to do that.
Adam: Can you give me the email of someone who does?
Uzair: Let me check that for you.
Uzair: I was able to pull up your account information.
Uzair: Let me go through your account details.
Uzair: I apologize, Adam, as I see that you have a different and a upgraded residential gateway, and we are not trained on this.
Uzair: You can contact Yahoo at toll free number: 1-800-318-0631, 1-800-699-2466, 1-866-562-7219, 1-866-562-7228. They are open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.(PST)
Adam: Look, I understand that you are trying to deflect
Adam: I just want an email address
Adam: I want to tell my story to someone who has the capacity to actually do something about it
Adam: I don't want to talk to tech support
Adam: I don't want to talk to a call center representative
Uzair: I can understand that, let me check if we have email address to which you can send your complaint to.
Uzair: Thank you for waiting.
Uzair: I would like to inform you as I have checked we don't have a specific email address where you can send email for complaints.
Adam: Seriously?
Adam: You're joking
Uzair: However, we have a specific department who might be able to take care of this. You can reach them at 1-888-722-9337.
Adam: What is the name of that department?
Uzair: That is an IPDSLAM department (Internet Protocol Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer).
Adam: You can't just give me an email?
Adam: No one at AT&T has an email address?
Uzair: We really apologize, we don't have a specific email address for complains, however, you can contact our IPDSLAM department, they might be able to take care of your concern.
Adam: How about just one person? I don't need a department. Just get me the email from one person who can make actual, real life concessions for a customer who is tired of boilerplate corporate responses and poor techs that aren't qualified to deal with it
Uzair: Adam, as you have a different and a upgraded residential gateway, and we are not trained on that, so might the department supports it, they would be able to fix the issue with your services.
Adam: It's not a technical issue. I'm not trying to get some hardware fixed or some help on setting something up. I want to complain about how the company has treated us.
Adam: But I can't actually navigate your labyrinthine website to a point where I can make actual contact. I don't need a FAQ, I don't need tech support. I need a human being.
Uzair: We really apologize for the inconvenience caused.
Uzair:I would request you to contact our IPDSLAM department, they would be the better option to help you in this case.
Adam: I'm sorry I wasted your time. Go back to being a cog. Thanks.
Uzair: I can understand your frustration, Adam.
Uzair: However, it would be best if you will contact IPDSLAM to get a resolution on your concern.
Uzair: Adam, I have not received any response from your end. Please do let me know if you are receiving my response to proceed further with this session.
Adam: You want to give me a "valid transfer code" to go with that IPDSLAM phone number?
Uzair: Let me provide you with the transfer code.
Uzair: I am checking on the transfer code for the IPDSLAM department, please be online.
Uzair: Thank you for waiting.
Uzair: The transfer code for IPDSLAM is 374.
Adam: thank you
Uzair: You are welcome.
Uzair: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Adam: Apparently not
Uzair: Thank you.

I called the IPDSLAM number and got a lady who I managed to get off script quite easily. After the requisite identifying questions and account access, I explained to her that I wasn't seeking tech support but an avenue for complaint and hopefully, reparation. She was sympathetic and casual, even using the term "retarded" at one point. She did what she could, looked over the system and said that the tech support guy we called in the morning appeared to be giving us the shove-off as he wrote no notes about our call and failed to check even the most basic issues. Apparently, despite not having a landline, we have a landline number attached to our account which requires a line filter (something that their simple DIY instructions make no mention of). Essentially, we just needed to plug in one gadget, that they provide, in order to make our internet work but he apparently made up or was given inaccurate information in order to end a phone call with two audibly frustrated customers.

She also implied that tech support is not allowed to give out or does not have access to email addresses for people above them in the company. It appears to be a giant wall of separation in order to keep frustrated customers from getting anything but promotional offers as compensation for poor customer service.

She did give me the address for the executive office:

AT&T Executive Office
308 S. Akard
Suite 1110.C8
Dallas TX 75202

So, it's time to get old fashioned and write a real letter to see if I can get a real response from them. I know most people would be totally happy with a refund of the money for which they had been double charged and $180 discount off of a year's worth of basic internet access, but I'm not happy with it. I'm not happy with the series of ridiculous mistakes, I'm not happy with the huge difficulty it is to contact people that can actually make a difference, I'm not happy with AT&T's website which is clearly designed to make it really hard for people to do anything but spend more money or read FAQs.

Trying to be zen

2011-05-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well, work has been discouraging for several months. Yesterday marked the day of realization that I had failed to successfully complete a third project in a row. Not so much a realization as a solid block of wood spiked into the concrete, a bruised toe from kicking it upon landing, and leaving work early in somewhat of a rage.

I understand that pushing the envelope must result in some level of failure but this statistical grouping has been especially hard on me, this last one in particular because I was hoping to make an extra one of these tables and sell it on the side for a fairly large sum of needed money. Instead, what is left of that extra table will now be folded in as spare parts should I break anything on the contracted four that remain. Anything after that will literally go into the scrap bin and be burned at some point I'm sure.

Of course, this being my job, I now have to come back to the remainder of this project, finish it and finish it well, all the while looking at it with the regret that I was beaten by two broken screws. Two tiny, insignificant screws that broke off in the work in such a way that it was ruined. I can understand being hurt by another person, a pet, a major accident but being crushed by such miniscule, inanimate objects really, really fucks with my head.

So, here I am. Time to scale back for a while. Time to build some Ikea level shit. Time to remind myself that I get paid like a factory worker so I shouldn't break my body and mind trying to escape that reality. Maybe a little blissful ignorance is just the ticket. Time to have a moment of dumb.

Time flies

2011-05-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the commencement for my alma mater. It doesn't seem like it's been 8 whole years since I finished going to formal schools. It really does feel like only a few years ago I was ironing a new shirt and practicing tying a brand new tie in my final campus housing. My other two roommates had already moved out but I was the last so the place was a mess. I vividly recall walking back in after the ceremony to stacked boxes, dirty floors, and that ironing board in the middle of the hallway with the iron sitting on it, the last true vestige of anything resembling residency in the place.

And then the move to the illegal sublet that would be my home for three months of the summer after graduation. My first place, living alone. The brick building at Broadway and Belmont in the apartment at the end of the hall on the third floor of a walk up where rent was paid via cash or money order in an envelope that was slid under the manager's door on the first floor. Across the street was Tinkler Funeral Chapel & Crematory; a place I had actually been to on previous occasions to drop off bodies for cremation from the funeral chapel I worked at in Madera the summer after my freshman year of college. It wasn't uncommon to see the heat waves wafting from that tall chimney across the way. Down on the street were the prostitutes who, on two occasions, tried to get into my car while I was parking thinking the clean cut white guy was trolling and not actually parking because he lived in that dirt poor building. And of course, being fresh from college with all my observational practices and curiosity in good working order, I was spotted by a prostitute working the corner one night as I peered from my open third floor window. "What are you looking at, bitch? You like the show?"

And the homeless guys, protective of their shopping carts filled with recyclables and other personal effects. The cops, harassing them, the ambulance drivers convincing the drunk ones to go to the hospital for treatment and a hot meal, the cops reassuring (lying to) them that they'd guard their shopping cart while they were gone. On more than one occasion I saw the cart hastily shoved to the curb and abandoned as all the emergency personnel left, only to be immediately scavenged by the next homeless person to come along.

I remember the A/C breaking in the first week and timidly knocking on the unseen manager's door only to be courteously told by a diminutive Mexican lady that they couldn't fix the A/C because I wasn't the resident and that I should put foil on the windows. Never. I made it through May, June, July, and part of August on the southwest corner of a brick building. Triple digit nights spent lying on top of my covers in only my boxer shorts with two fans aimed at me and all the windows open, sweat sliding into my eyes. I did a lot of late night video gaming to pass the times when it was too hot to fall asleep. Every surface emanated heat. It was positively radiant.

I remember that every two apartments shared a vertical air shaft for their bathroom windows which meant I was able to crisply hear every word of every argument my neighbors had since our bathroom windows were literally 24" apart and facing each other. I remember the cigarette smoke filled hallways and the loud music and the coin-op washer/dryer combo that an entire floor of apartments had to share and the police officer that banged on my door late on a weeknight (scaring the piss out of me) to find out he was just handing out fliers to notify us that a registered sex offender had recently moved in and as per Megan's Law, we all needed to know. Thanks?

I remember walking up Broadway into the Tower District just to sit in an air conditioned bar and have a beer or read the newspaper or do anything to pass the time in a place that wasn't the hothouse shithole where I lived. I'd never spent time in Tower. I'd passed through on occasion and saw a show at Roger Rocka's when I was a kid but I didn't know what The Revue was or The Landmark or Bobby's or Irene's or Livingstones or Starline or The Daily Planet or whatever was in the ever-revolving 1153 N. Fulton spot that seems to have stabilized as The Million Elephant.

And now, my girlfriend Carrie and I are homeowners in Tower. We have a garden and a backyard and a detached garage. Sure, our neighbors on one side like their marijuana-augmented BBQs (who wouldn't?) and their loud country and western music. And the neighbor on the other side keeps to himself, has only waved at us once, and must spend a large chunk of his money on soft food for all the neighborhood's stray cats. And there are numerous houses on the street that enjoy some loud ranchera music but that isn't anything new to me. Our neighbors where I grew up loved ranchera music; playing it late into the night on some weekends. We're close to the train tracks and sometimes can't hear the TV over the whistles, horns, and rumbling, but I think that just helps feed my adoration for Johnny Cash.

I certainly can't say I thought I'd be at this point by age 30, especially not 8 years ago, but as much as I complain and distress, I'm happy.

Lucky me! Bête Noire times two

2011-04-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

My two oldest projects are ruining me. One is for my actual job and one is for my sister-in-law and brother. The private project is a desk. It's a couple years overdue. The problems are, I'm not happy with it in the least and I'm most certain my sister-in-law is getting frustrated at its lateness. Jumble those two certainties together and every time I so much as look at the desk I am overwhelmed with feelings of anger, anxiety, and frustration. I can't even work on the damned thing for 10 minutes before my mind is so overcome with emotion that I give up or I accidentally break something due to inattention. It's a feedback loop of the worst kind and I don't know how to break it.

The one for work has been months of delay interspersed with redesign after redesign and just when I think I've got it, something incredibly bad happens. Yesterday, I was expecting to zoom to the end of the project within a matter of weeks only to have a tap break off on the last hole I was cutting for the metal rods that have become the key to it's structure. I took the rest of the day off to clear my mind. This morning I bought a new tap, drilled a new hole next to the ruined one and hoped my problems would be over. Instead, the new tap snapped off in such a manner as to create a razor sharp edge that my finger rushed past leaving me with two holes that are ruined and a deep, painful cut in my right pinkie finger.

I can't deal with either of these pieces without rising anger and anxiety. And of course the customers can only get more frustrated with each passing day that they don't get what they ordered. All I want to do is completely scrap these projects and never think of them again.

I truly don't know what to do.

Does not compute

2011-03-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

The Fresno Bee editorial staff decided to get on the nuclear power opinion-making. I'm just going to bold a few sentences here:

California is home to four operating commercial nuclear power reactors -- two at San Onofre in San Diego County and two more at Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo.

In the wake of radiation releases from reactors in Japan, operators of California's nuclear power plants have rushed to assure local residents their plants are safe and are designed to withstand earthquakes many times larger than what is likely to occur at their locations.

But these are the same assurances that Japanese utilities issued before last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami. The nuclear crisis still unfolding in the wake of that disaster demands that California take a fresh look at both the benefits and the risks of nuclear power.

PG&E, owner and operator of the Diablo Canyon plants, is in the midst of a years-long application to renew licenses for its two units, set to expire in 2024 and 2025, respectively, for another 20 years. In 2008, a year before the application for renewal was submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, seismologists discovered a new fault offshore less than a mile from Diablo Canyon. The Shoreline Fault is one of four that surround the 25-year-old power plant.

According to PG&E, the faults are not capable of generating an earthquake larger than 6.5 magnitude. The Diablo Canyon plant is designed to withstand a 7.5-magnitude earthquake.

In addition, the reactors sit on a cliff, 85 feet above sea level. The intake cove where the plant pumps in sea water to cool its reactors is designed to withstand tsunamis of 45 feet, higher than anything predicted for that area.

Unlike Diablo Canyon, the San Onofre plant sits on a beach surrounded by a 30-foot sea wall. Southern California Edison has not yet applied to extend the licenses of its two reactors but is expected to do so next year. Earthquake risks at those plants have been underestimated as well. A 2008 California Energy Commission study assessing nuclear power in the state concluded that new seismological and geologic data indicate indicate San Onofre may experience larger earthquakes than was anticipated when the plant was built.

San Onofre and Diablo Canyon have been reliable workhorses, supplying 20% of California's power and providing crucial juice when hydroelectric generation is low. Despite that, some state lawmakers last month sent a letter to the U.S. Energy Department's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future urging California hearings.

As the nation ponders the future of nuclear power, we must give hard and fresh looks at seismic risks.

Sorry, what? I get that it's always en vogue to fear-monger over nuclear power but to do so because an exceptional event happened along a fault line that hasn't produced any large magnitude earthquakes and caused some concern in Japan doesn't mean we should throw scientific predictions out the window as though they are all automatically incorrect.

There's nothing wrong with re-checking numbers and updating safety features but to print two data points and their respective predictions and then say they are underestimated without basis other than fear is irresponsible.

More from the "poor people are lazy" files

2011-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

A quote from a FB discussion (all formatting, grammar and spelling as it was written):

It is not that poor people in CA don't work hard- they probably work the hardest in the physical/manual sense; it is that they are 1) happy living off of welfare, or 2) they don't make the most of their education & opportunities to work their brains harder to acheive what others that do so do... In CA the poor have more opportunities for affordable/free higher education than the middle class do- that is why you hear others saying that they 'work harder' to acheive their financial security/wealth- it's in an intellectual way!

Yes. Poor people in California are probably the hardest workers but they are happy on welfare or are intellectually lazy (an ironic assault from this commentator).

I'm glad I went to college but, to hear someone claim that manual labor is neither as fulfilling nor successful as getting an undergraduate degree is just depressing. This idea that everyone is fit for college or that every job necessitates a college degree is asinine. By example, our cities are rife with plumbing; pipes going everywhere to move fresh water, potable water, dirty water and sewage. You don't need a college degree to be a plumber. The job of plumber isn't going to disappear any sooner than the job of funeral director and we'll always need people to do that work while it exists. Why arbitrarily define their work as less meaningful, their drive to do it as less meaningful, or their work ethic while doing it as less meaningful?

Dusty Buns Bistro Bus conflict

2011-03-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to go too deeply into the context here because you can read about it yourself. Joan Obra wrote an article in October about the new wave of food trucks, largely focusing on the Dusty Buns Bistro Bus. Apparently, in the last few days, the city of Fresno has again put a halt to Dusty Buns, as per The Fresnan. The relevant quote and excuse for shutting them down (though not currently attributed to anyone) is that, "The trend will grow and affect restaurants." I assume the issue stems from brick and mortar business owners making complaints to the city in one way or another.

Of course, supportive patrons have taken to the "streets" and started a Facebook page called "Save Dusty Buns, and the Future of Fresno Food Trucks" which will no doubt grow to be filled with comments about the wrongness of what the city is doing.

I've never had food from Dusty Buns despite being a Tower District resident. I'm not against the idea of mobile food. There's a novelty there, especially with one that provides what some call gourmet food that is based on local ingredients. That's a fun thing to get behind and support and it's good for those local growers. As well, it's a hit with diners for the quality of the food. No issues there.

My issue is the condemnation of brick and mortar restaurant owners' complaints or concerns over food trucks. One question that got under my skin, from local blogger, entrepreneur, web designer, James Collier was posed:

Even if they were directly in front of a restaurant, what's the difference between competition on the street and competition next door?

Good businesses give consumers a reason to choose. I say compete or lock the door.

My argument is that brick and mortar restaurant owners have a logical concern here in that when you're starting out, you shop for your property and assess the neighborhood (if you're a good business owner) so you can develop an offering that fits in the neighborhood. You're not likely to rent an empty storefront next to a dry cleaner and open up...another dry cleaner, for instance. So, to rhetorically claim there is no difference is to miss the point completely.

Designing a business model, menu, look, are all things traditionally done by looking up and down the street to see what's missing or lacking. And that assessment is relatively static. There is a density that is finite; a certain number of properties and kinds of businesses on each one, especially in stable, older areas

Food trucks on the other hand offer a fluidity that can't always be predicted. I seriously doubt any of the Tower District restaurant owners opened up their businesses expecting to also compete with mobile food trucks. So, to say "compete or lock the door" is unfair. Especially considering the result of such a sentiment. Suppose business can't compete. Suppose the advent of food trucks puts a few restaurants out of business. That would depress the number of offerings and leave some storefronts empty reducing the overall ability of the area to draw patrons. Logically, food truck owners would move to an area with riper pickings leaving the neighborhood to deal with it's empty storefronts.

Now, I'm not advocating for banning food trucks, nor do I think they are the harbingers of destruction for complete neighborhoods, but I do agree with the city that this is a gray area that hasn't been addressed and it needs to be, logically and rationally so all involved can participate in the local food world.

Family values

2011-03-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

A wonderful example of the kind of rose-tinted glasses we like to wear when we romanticize the past as some ideal life that is done and gone:

When I grew up in the late 1960s, family values were an everyday part of life. We had chores to do. No ifs ands or buts about it.

Going to the barn was no fun. When you went to the barn, it meant going to get hay for the cows or you were getting the "strap."

Family values have no value today. Family values were such a plus for me growing up. Everyone pulled together. There is a big difference today. Children today want everything, but do not know anything. There is no more respect for elders and no respect for one's self.

How I long for family values.

Sylvester Cooper Sr.
Fresno

What's interesting to me is that the sentence reading, "Children today want everything, but do not know anything," might more accurately reflect Mr. Cooper's mindset if it read, "Children today want everything, but do not know the things I had to know at their age." Children today know lots of things, but the things they know are relevant to the technology, culture, and chores of this era, not the farm life of the 1960s. Which is really just a specific example of the general idea that Mr. Cooper really just wishes everyone would adopt his model for family values (a not uncommon position held by those who have lived long lives).

Also, it reads like some subtle apologia for beating children who fail to meet parental standards or desires.

Swamped

2011-03-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Just went through my orders today. As of now, combining our shop and my private work, there are 27 unique customers with orders comprising 56 individual pieces on my plate. Those pieces range from simple refinishing projects to 18' reception desks, the oldest order being from August of 2007. On average, we have a new order come in twice a month. In any given week, three to five customers contact our shop or me personally to see how their project is coming, most insistently pushing for theirs to be done immediately or forwarded to the front of the line.

Most days I teeter between "this close to" and "ready" to throw my hands up and walk away. Flipping burgers at McDonald's seems like an easy enough job with room for promotion, decent pay and better health benefits. I'd probably garner about the same level of respect from customers.

My job would be awesome if it wasn't firmly planted within a society of instant gratification, spoiled by the thought of driving over to Target or IKEA or K-Mart or Wal-Mart or Oak Liquidators or whatever place sells cheap, easy to assemble furniture that affords usefulness at the end of an hour or two of basic assembly for a cheap price.

Of course, the two common responses to this disillusionment are, "At least you have job security," or "At least you have a job," neither of which serve to make me feel better. In fact, those sentiments tend to add to my despair because I realize that I have a job that I love to do but that generally serves to stress me out emotionally which makes me ungrateful.

There's no real solution.

Parker thinks women who work against their self-interest are feminists

2011-02-23T13:55:00.000-08:00

Kathleen Parker wrote a meandering column exhibiting her ideas about what feminism as become. Not surprisingly, a conservative woman is trying to re-frame feminism as the antithesis of its founders' ideals. It's the same kind of co-optive redefinition and historical whitewashing at which so many Republicans are adept.

The feminist woman of the left, who burned her bra and insisted that all hear her roar, is today a taupe-ish figure who wonders where things went wrong. The daughter she begat may well be a Republican -- a gun-toting, breast-feeding supermom who condemns government for being a "nanny" and tells men to man-up.

Insult to injury, she's also likely considered a "hottie" by the men who stand by admiringly, watching their women show those libs a thing or two about being a "Hard-Core Woman."

We needn't name the queen of this emerging bevy of can-dos, who wouldn't deign to call themselves feminists even though they certainly are.

The keystone of her argument is that feminist = independent or strong-willed which is a fundamental misunderstanding (or willful misleading) of what it means to be a feminist. Her apparent reference to Sarah Palin seems to indicate that she, like so many other conservatives who viewed Palin as the new standard-bearer of feminism, believes the movement has shifted from seeking egalitarianism in society to being an outspoken proponent of ones own oppression.

Here's a really simple but useful definition of what modern feminism has become:

Feminism is mainly focused on women's issues, but because feminism seeks gender equality, some feminists argue that men's liberation is therefore a necessary part of feminism, and that men are also harmed by sexism and gender roles.

That strong, conservative women are stepping forward to advocate rolling back the rights of women, or supporting the oppressive position of men, or the stereotypes that damage all genders isn't feminist at all. In fact, it's patriarchal, to a tee. I have no doubt that conservative men in positions of power are gleeful at the thought of women stepping into roles to advocate for their own relegation to a lower level in the hierarchy. Being "considered a 'hottie' by the men who stand by admiringly," is simply an outpouring of their happiness in being able to objectify women while those same women work to destroy all the advances the feminist movement has actually made. Why wouldn't those men be happy?

We're pigs, that's why we have Pigovian taxes

2011-02-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

It's terribly frustrating to see people come at complex, multi-faceted problems with one-dimensional thinking:

I think politicians have found a never-ending source of income. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control managed to tack an increase onto our vehicle tags. The governor wants us to approve a tax extension for five years, and then there is an Assembly member who wants the vehicle tax to go up 100%.

Last election, the state parks system tried to tack a raise onto our vehicle tags (it was turned down by the people).

All must learn to live within our means. No more bottomless golden pot.

Herman Ramirez
Kingsburg

Taxes raise money for revenue, most definitely, but that's not the only feature in that vehicle. We're all familiar with sin taxes or vice taxes. As a society, we're mostly okay with our government regulating unhealthy behaviors by way of making (or attempting to make) them prohibitively expensive (arguments about social responsibility and who gets hit hardest by such things aside). That's why cigarette smokers pay so much for their smokes and why alcohol drinkers pay a little more for their booze. And in some instances, the revenue generated from such activities theoretically mitigates damage done as a direct result of said activities. On a slight tangent, think about how lottery money goes towards education or gas taxes go towards road repair.

In this instance, the taxes we pay as a result of pollution control boards or EPA regulations partly pay for things like environmental clean-up, regulatory enforcement on gross polluters, or sustaining our national parks. Yes, they go towards those things, but I think the idea of taxing vehicles higher is also to dissuade people from frivolously frittering away resources. By example, if the government created a tax that made buying a large vehicle for personal use prohibitively expensive, it would help cut down on inefficient vehicles which grossly misuse our diminishing and limited fossil fuel resources.

The issue I have with this letter is that it lacks complexity in thought. Essentially, Mr. Ramirez is aping a talking point (or in some contexts, a shouting point) that doesn't deal with the alternative in any way. I'm all for people being able to say they don't want something, in terms of public policy, but when it deals with revenue and behavior-shaping, you have to be able to offer an alternative. Otherwise, you're just taxing my patience.

The bootstrap factory went belly up

2011-02-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ran across this comment in the letter to the editor threads at the Fresno Bee today:

Always looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror. If you don't have enough money well you didn't work hard enough. In life you must be driven and never let any obstacles stop you, Now if you are truly disabled then I have the compassion you deserve. Beat up on the Republicans for them not being compassionate is getting old and worn out. You can either feed a man fish or teach him to fish, I chose to be taught.

To that, I'd like first to refer to this:

The total number of job openings in December was 3.1 million. The Current Population Survey shows that the total number of unemployed workers was 14.5 million. The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was thus 4.7-to-1 in December, unchanged from the revised November ratio. Despite month-to-month fluctuations, the job seeker’s ratio has been generally improving since its peak of 6.3-to-1 in July 2009. However, at 4.7-to-1, the ratio is more than three times as high as its average ratio of 1.5-to-1 in 2007. The current 4.7-to-1 ratio means that for more than 3 out of 4 unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs.

To refer back to the original analogy, if someone that knows how to fish isn't near water, how can you admonish them to use their skills to feed a starving family? The continuing use and propagation of tropes that imply the unemployed and hard-up are lazy or just not trying hard enough is dangerously ignorant and callous. They are words that could only be spoken by someone who is lucky enough not to be in that position.

Law and zombies

2011-02-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

I ran across this quote today, cited by a person I believe thinks they are a libertarian of some sort.

"Laws were created to allow the innocent to suffer due to the actions of the guilty."

Of course, I think Sir William Blackstone put it much more eloquently and accurately:

But every man, when he enters into society, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase; and, in consideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himself to conform to those laws, which the community has thought proper to establish.

Or, as John Locke said with more pith before that, "The end of Law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge Freedom."

Free and good societies are created when people come together and agree, as Spock said, that "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," to which Kirk adds, "Or the one." It's the acknowledgment that yes, some might find laws against jaywalking or speeding or double parking or date rape to be inconvenient for their immediate and selfish desires, but that in terms of the greater good, they are positive and create better working, safer, more predictable societies.

If you want to live in an anarchist free-for-all society in which the innocent aren't hindered by annoying laws, you'll quickly find out that life isn't so easy and convenient; that you'll live in a state of constant fear and paranoia.

Humans have become quite adept at organizing into groups, regardless of the reasoning or need behind such decisions. There are only a billion or so idioms that refer to strength in numbers or cords of many strands versus cords of few strands. Read or watch any story about zombies in a post-apocalyptic world and what's the first thing you see survivors doing? They create hierarchical structures and order in efforts to be better organized and safer. The people who go it alone are usually the ones that end up dead...or undead as it were.

Don't be a zombie.

Yes, incredibly naive, or something

2011-02-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

See this letter from today's paper:

Why do people think the ammunition bill by Sen. Kevin de Leon will have an effect on the bad guys getting ammunition? It's naive to think that. This law only punishes the good guys and causes the bad guys to break another gun control law. Some may feel safer, but they're just fooling themselves. Unless you're anti-gun, then you just don't know any better.

John Bates
Fresno

From my brief research on CA SB 124 (text of the bill here and de Leon's explanation here), it's intended to clarify a vaguely written law that addresses the penalties that come with committing a crime while using armor-piercing ammunition.

Most comments I'm seeing on open carry forums, gun forums, and even in the comments at the Fresno Bee are going on and on about how de Leon's first bill was struck down as unconstitutional and how he's just being an annoyingly persistent liberal gun-hater, etc, etc. In reality, he is using the legislative system exactly as it was designed, to refine laws so that they are clear and precise in their meaning. This is a clarification of a ban that has, to my understanding, been in place since 1990. A ban that limits gun owners in their ability to buy armor-piercing ammunition and increases the penalties for those who are caught committing crimes while using or intending to use armor-piercing ammunition.

Yeah, that totally sounds like it "punishes the good guys".

Also, if anyone can give me a good reason why everyday citizens need to get their hands on armor-piercing ammunition, I'll give them a cookie.

This one is for Jay

2011-01-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

I was talking to friend Jay the other day and he told me he missed my old blog and my old inflammatory ways. I miss it too, but I made a conscious decision to redirect on a new tangent. But that doesn't mean I can't work in the same vein, even if my tone is reduced. With that in mind, I made a foray into the letters to the editor again. It's been a while. Nothing has changed. Lots of poorly written, poorly thought out letters, and mostly poorly thought out comments from readers. Take for instance, this letter:

I'm sure many share my frustration: You find your vehicle with substantial damage due to attempted theft, windows broken, steering column destroyed and personal items taken. This was a major crime when I was a boy. Now we're told to fill out a report online or wait a few days for a community service officer.

Next time, I will claim the would-be thief inserted two fingers into the tail pipe and attempted to "drag" my car away. I'll probably get a better response.

John Pearson
Fresno

To be sure, having one's car broken into is a terrible experience and having to deal with that unease, loss or damage of property, and dealing with one's insurance company is not fun in the least. And yes, it is sad that the people we pay to protect and serve us are having to curtail their services as a result of the terrible economy and budget shortfalls. As much as it may suck for victims of smaller or petty crimes, not all crimes are equal and so while your car getting broken into is not made a priority by police, an alleged sexual assault (as alluded to with the "butt drag" reference) is deemed more serious, as it should be. Crimes against property and crimes against people are notably different (even if there are psychological damages in both cases).

Never mind that the incident involving the wrestlers at Buchanan High School had less to do with police officers and more to do with lawyers. Trust me, if the police department ever caught someone breaking into a car, or possessing stolen items from a car, or driving a stolen car, you'd get to have your days in court just like the wrestlers did.

And really, what aspect of a broken into car does an officer need to see if you can relate all the details over the phone or via webform? You think they're going to send out a detective to dust for prints? And if they did, I can only imagine your letter to the editor the week after that in which you complain that the police got fingerprinting powder all over your car and neglected to clean it for you. In the modern age, it's less likely the police need to show up. They can only see what you can see: a broken window, a missing stereo, and an empty change cup. Besides, how long do you think the person with the hot stereo is going to spend in our over-crowded jails if they get caught?

This isn't an issue of the police not caring. This is an issue of the infrastructure being stretched beyond its means. It's an issue of higher numbers of desperate people than we've had to deal with in quite a while. You push humans against the wall with high unemployment, high costs, and cold weather and there will be an inevitable rise in petty theft, in disgruntled people, in desperate families using generators to power their homes (sometimes with tragic results), in violence. One in seven Americans is living in poverty (maybe even more since that number is five months old). That's a desperate situation.

So, while Mr. Pearson is rightfully frustrated at the damage caused to his property, his flippancy and lack of thoughtfulness towards a) the alleged sexual assault and bullying of a teen boy, b) the overstretched infrastructure of our law enforcement, and c) the desperation of around 15% of our population is annoying, to say the least.

I never thought about it that way

2011-01-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a little repair work lately, on top of my zillions of other projects. Some was done out of necessity (I won't go into specifics on that one but lets say it was clandestine work done to save some other people's bacon (I stuck one item from your bathroom in the toilet but I'm not saying which)). Some was done as trade for goods. Carrie and I now have a lovely new-to-us entry table in return for some work I'm doing on two broken chairs.

I've always been reluctant to do repair work because it isn't creating anything. It's just reconstructing the work of others. But it's an interesting experiment in furniture design because it gives me an opportunity to basically do a postmortem on the piece in question. I get to see where the design failed; where the weak points were. That to me, is a very important part of making something new; knowing how to build it so those weak points don't happen. Of course, with chairs, which are designed for a narrow purpose and not many others, it's easy to put stress on them in ways that were unintended (such as leaning back on two legs, blocking doors via jamming the chair back under the knob, or fending off lions).

Though, whatever the reason for the damage, I've definitely enjoyed the change of pace that comes with puzzling a broken piece of furniture back together. It's a new mind exercise in rebuilding something that I had no hand in and oftentimes it's an exercise in rebuilding something using different steps than the original builder. Chair parts initially go together in a specific order but when one piece breaks, you're often left trying to reassemble just one part of the chair without further damaging the other parts which are still assembled.

Just one more part of the job. Sometimes it's fun being handy.

Well, that was quick

2010-12-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

I don't even have to create a controversy here. A bunch of people have already done so.

In case you are late to the party, as I initially was, a Buchanan High School wrestler is suspended with the possibility of expulsion and has been charged with sexual battery for a dubious wrestling maneuver in conjunction with alleged bullying. Bill McEwan, local opinion columnist, thinks the law shouldn't be involved here, that the two boys should just shake hands, accept apologies, forgive and forget, etc, etc. He seems to think that because the alleged incident took place in a room full of players, coaches, and parents, the victim must be lying or is leveraging the incident against the accused bully as retribution. It's sad to me how easily people can erase the context of an event, expecting a bullied child to stand up immediately and shout to the rooftops that another child just rammed some fingers up his ass. Yeah, because bullied children are always oh so vocal about the harassment they endure.

But of course, let the jokes about butt dragging begin. Let's not stop a serious accusation of sexual battery and bullying get in the way of wringing all the terrible puns and rape jokes we can out of this sad incident. Let's not worry about the feelings of a 14 year old boy when there are ways to dehumanize him. In fact, let's make buttons that reference it so we can be hip and trendy when we're out about town. I'd love to see the look on the boy's face should he run across someone sporting that fine piece of apparel.

I'm interested to see all these folks double down next time there's an alleged rape case happening.

What really puts it in context for me was a blog post that went up today about another child who was bullied and her community's response. Sometimes Fresno makes me weep.

But then again, I'm just humorless, right?

Blah

2010-12-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

I haven't written anything here in a long time because I don't feel much like talking in depth about my work and I'm still trying to avoid being inflammatory.

And the only one commenting in any regular capacity anymore can see my stuff on Facebook, so I haven't been inclined to do anything here because I don't find any value in spending an hour drafting a thoughtful blog post that gets zero interaction.

Facebook, as much as I hate it, offers a much more interactive outlet for my political opinions, work pictures, and other rants.

It's funny because the only way to have regular readers and commenters is to regularly post things. But I have neither the time nor the inclination to write three blog posts a day, never mind the fact that writing that much usually means I sacrifice quality for outrage and the immediate gratification of reaction. I know this makes one reader happy.

It sucks because this place was a big part of my life in terms of outlet and community and now it's a dying shell of what it once was. The internet has moved on and I've been left coughing in the dust. Bummer. I did enjoy being part of the controversy. I'll probably post here once in a while when I feel like my other more successful means of interaction and outlet aren't giving me what I want or when I'm feeling nostalgic.

Tuba Christmas is upon us

2010-12-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

I failed this year in being on top of this fun little Saturday activity but my younger brother did his due diligence and notified us. I always enjoy going to see this community event for several reasons. One, it's a great way to kick off the Christmas season (I don't care about Black Friday, nor do I acknowledge the store displays that begin hawking Christmas items before Halloween). Two, it's a great way to support an often forgotten Fresno mall as well as 60 to 80 musicians. Three, it's free! And four, I'm biased because I played tuba for seven years through junior high, high school, and part of college.

But I gotta be honest, there really isn't anything quite like low brass playing the melodic parts of classic Christmas tunes. I can't help but feel happy standing there and listening to tuba players of all ages come together and fill the Manchester atrium with warm tones.

Here is the pertinent information from the Tuba Christmas website. I usually like to listen to both performances (even though they play the same set list for each one) but I think this year I probably won't be there until the 1:00 PM performance. If you go, come find me and say hi! I'll probably be the bearded dude with my arms crossed and a goofy grin on my face.

What's with all the turning??

2010-11-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

I guess I should explain why you're seeing such a boost not just in woodworking posts, but woodworking posts pertaining to lathe-work. A couple weeks ago, my uncle was kind enough to let me come pick up my grandfather's old lathe which was collecting dust and cobwebs in his garage. It was exciting on the one hand because it's the first power tool in my new garage aimed solely at woodworking. It was more exciting on the other because it was my grandfather's and he was one of the key players in my developing a joy for woodworking.

My grandma will still tell stories about how I'd visit as a child and would immediately want to "go to work" out in the garage. We would nail scraps together, make swords out of wood scraps, or just watch Grandpa work.

So, for me, as someone who is always romanticizing my life, I find it poignant that I be able to use his lathe to make beautiful things as he once did. It's been a spark in my life at a point when I've been very discouraged at work. I hope to honor his memory with the things I turn.

Maybe you see a bowl now?

2010-11-19T08:40:00.001-08:00

Wow! I did it!

2010-11-18T16:44:00.001-08:00

Totally a bowl. Who wants to eat cereal or have a salad?

2010-11-18T13:34:00.001-08:00

Still not a bowl, but closer

2010-11-17T09:01:00.001-08:00

See a bowl yet?

2010-11-16T15:28:00.001-08:00

Deconstructing in order to rebuild

2010-11-16T15:13:00.001-08:00

Another poplar bowl

2010-11-16T12:16:00.001-08:00

Breaking out the poplar for another bowl. Start saving up now. I plan to sell it to someone looking for a hand-crafted Christmas gift.

Indeed, why call it Christmas?

2010-11-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

From the letters to the editor:

Christmas will soon be here. I recently found a quote by President Reagan that was very fitting:

"Our coins bear the words 'In God We Trust.' We take the oath of office asking his help in keeping that oath. And we proclaim that we are a nation under God when we pledge allegiance to the flag. But we can't mention his name in a public school or even sing religious hymns that are nondenominational. Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeer but there must be no mention of whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas."

Something to think about.

Don Buller
Fresno

Addressing the Reagan quote first. Yes, "In God We Trust" is minted on our money. It's a sad note in our history, this intolerant slogan, which I'm sure will one day be overturned. Why that has anything to do with Christmas is beyond me. And the same for oaths of office. That we continue a tradition of oath-taking in a secular manner, again, has nothing to do with Christmas. What's interesting is that Reagan rather pithily pointed out the hypocrisy of our government. That it was smart enough to maintain a separation of church and state in the matters of public education but is stupid enough to propagate a religious slogan and oaths of office is annoyingly contradictory.

My theory on why it stands? Because we know that oaths to gods at inaugurations and slogans on our money are functionally useless. We do them because they're tradition, not because any significant portion of our population actually invests themselves in it. We don't allow those things in public schools because we know its disruptive and unnecessary for the learning process. In other words, religiosity in government is meaningless and religiosity in public schools is harmful. We've come to survive in that dichotomy by way of habit and practice. Do you honestly think any god wants credit for what our politicians are doing? So help me God? Yeah, right. God isn't dabbling in American politics anymore than Venus or Thor or The Flying Spaghetti Monster are.

If a student asked a teacher why it's called Christmas, I have no doubt in my mind that any teacher is capable of sharing the standard answer for the question. What would be really impressive is if they could give the background for Saturnalia, where the gift-giving comes from or Yule, the Nordic secular winter festival where I don't doubt reindeer are involved. Or perhaps the Roman new year which involved trees and lights. Or the Japanese celebration of the solstice and the dead via Amaterasu. Or the Northern European celebration of the goddess Beiwe, which "In Sami myth, she travels with her daughter Beiwe-Neia through the sky in an enclosure covered by reindeer bones, bringing green plants back to the winter earth for the reindeer to eat. She was also called upon to restore the mental health of those who went insane because of the continual darkness of the long winter." Or Brumalia, the Roman celebration which honors Bacchus and includes drinking and merrymaking.

Maybe...just maybe, when the fundamentalist Christians can get over themselves long enough to realize that Christmas has become an amalgamation of probably 100 winter celebrations all designed around the idea of coming together during the dark, cold months of the year to celebrate humanity, charity, family, food, lights, the return of warmth and spring time, the lengthening of the days, and tons of different religions' gods, they can stop being assholes about trying to force everyone else to celebrate their holidays how they like. Grow up already.

Yeah, I can "do something" about the oak

2010-11-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

I had an office furniture consultant criticize an old piece of mine because it was done in "that oak" color, wondering aloud if I could "do something" about it in a newer redo.

One, yes, I can change that. It's my job to build things to customer specifications, just as I did for the piece you're criticizing.

Two, the original color and wood species were not my choice. See above.

Three, oak is a beautiful wood species. That people consistently choose to slather it and other beautiful wood species with gross, disgusting stains is not my call nor should it be the reason people denigrate oak. Please, please, pleeeeease learn to differentiate between species and unnatural colors we've been socialized to believe are correct. You're a furniture consultant.

By example, this is what most natural cherry looks like.

This is what almost everyone thinks cherry looks like because some interior designer thought cherry should be almost black.

What's even more annoying is that something like cherry naturally darkens with age and forms a beautiful patina by way of U/V exposure. It'll be a nice, reddish, chocolate brown in a year or two but furniture companies would rather use toxic chemicals to artificially darken wood because "cherry" cabinets are trendy. They're everywhere. It's what the dork who flipped our house installed in our kitchen (poorly I might add).

Messing with the grain

2010-11-15T10:14:00.000-08:00

Personally, I've been trying to rediscover my drive. Work and stresses related to that have hampered my ability to feel really attached and in love with what I'm working on. Sometimes, it just takes a little messing around in the shop to find a new perspective or spark a new idea. And sometimes it comes at other moments in my life, like driving down Freeway 99 to Visalia or sitting on the bench in my backyard.

Last week, I grabbed a scrap of rift-sawn fir and started slicing it just to see what happened.

The saw kerf removes a sizable portion of wood between slices so you can see in the photo above where the grain jumps from slice to slice. So I started shifting pieces around to realign a synthetic interpretation of the grain patterns. That took me to some new places in how I thought about the manipulation of the slices. I'll pocket that away in the back of my mind somewhere and see if it pops up in a future project somehow.

And of course, I had to lay them out in sequence just to enjoy the appearance of a nice straight grain that has been slip-matched. It only took a few minutes but it was like a delicious sip of iced water on a triple digit day. Slight relief from the heat and stress.

Parabolic Table: A Retrospective

2010-11-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

Ferro Legno is a custom shop in Madera. Ric and Cat's work is impeccable in its execution. His inlay and veneer work is beautiful, if stylistically unique to the point that it isn't universally attractive (who's art truly is but for a few greats). And any craftsperson worth their salt knows that you have to appeal to a specific market in order to get any traction anyway, especially in bad economic times.

So, it turns out that my boss was hanging out with Ric recently and was kind enough to show him my work, via my old and out of date gallery site. From what I was told, he was impressed but I guess they got into a discussion about my Parabola Table. The way my boss put it (which may be a dubious paraphrase on his part), Ric offered to show me how to make the joint in the base of the table without using the metal bracket.

Fair enough, though it would be like my boss to inspire someone to unintentionally patronize my work as though I didn't know what I was doing. Of course, I wasn't there and my boss has never asked me what my inspiration for this particular table was.

I'll tell you.

It was a combination of my love for parabolic curves (and mathematics by extension), the droidekas from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and a vague interest in the Steampunk aesthetic. On top of that was a desire, at the time, to incorporate different materials into my work so it was only natural that I start with steel as it was the cheapest and most available new material for me to try. I was hardly going to begin with mother of pearl or gold or some exotic wood species.

My goal with this piece was not to create the joint without a metal reinforcement. Rather, I intended to fully expose the metal as an obvious embellishment as well as the influence from my new, and then recent, discovery of James Krenov and his advocacy for straightforward work which showed a love for revealing the mechanical methods by which things were put together. As a child who enjoyed taking things apart to see how they tick, it very naturally followed that I would enjoy creating things that remove the mysticism from what I do. It further follows, from the arguments of many like Richard Dawkins, that understanding how something works can increase, rather than decrease, the wonder and amazement of it's function and artistic aesthetic.

I wanted the metal there. I wanted it to be prominent. And I wanted anyone who looked at it to clearly and definitively understand why it was there.

Really FRPC?

2010-11-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'm going target shooting with some friends this weekend to celebrate Ed's birthday. We're going to a range I've been to many times before. It's a pretty nice outdoor range and if you're flush with enough cash, being a member and having access to the 300 yard range is a good bit of fun (nothing quite like clanging a small diameter heavy metal target from 300 yards with iron sights (especially if you're lucky enough to do it with an SKS or a Lee-Enfield)).

I love target shooting and even engaging in a little clay pigeon shooting (I love real pigeons way too much to be killing them). Dangerous as it may be, target shooting is a really fun diversion so I'm looking forward to this weekend for sure. But, in the interest of my own safety and the safety of others, I decided to refresh myself with the rules of the range since I'm not particularly interested in having any injuries or being yelled at by a range master.

Their rules are straightforward and logical but I found their use of scare quotes...well, scary...and annoying.

1. The Range master is in charge at all times. Anyone who can not follow his or her directions or these rules will be "asked" to leave.

6. No draw and fire, unsighted, or uncontrolled fire. If you are firing in such a manner you will be "asked" to leave.

8. Do not shoot at rocks, target frames, cans, bottles, etc. You will be charged for damages and "asked" to leave.

Really? Are you trying to avoid saying you'll physically eject someone from your property but still imply it? Is this some form of NRA humor where you all sit around and chuckle about how you'll "ask" someone to leave if they're being stupid? Remember that one time when you "asked" someone right onto their ass? I mean, if you wanted to be playful about the fact that you might refuse someone's patronage for breaking the rules, why not say they'll be ejected? That way, you get your point across, you don't have to use ambiguous scare quotes, and you made a play on words with firearm terminology.

If you want me to respect the gravitas that surrounds dangerous recreational sports, maybe you shouldn't be ambiguous with your threats.

I'm not happy at my job anymore

2010-11-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

I wake up each morning and am overcome with the dread of dealing with the same people I've dealt with for the last 8 years.

I frequently find myself evaluating the idiom, "Live to work, not work to live." I tell myself that it's okay because I love what I do even if I don't love the people I do it with but that logic is flawed. The emptiness and depression and anxiety fall out of that disconnected and incomplete relationship.

At what point does one sacrifice their hopes and dreams for a career that isn't what they want to do because they're searching for the human connection at their job rather than the intrinsic connection to their own work? I could build furniture and wood-based art for the rest of my life. But can I do it in a way that doesn't make me worry about making it to my next paycheck? Can I do it in a way that doesn't increase the anxiety in other areas of my life? Can I do it without feeling like I have to be someone else when I'm at work and the actual me for the rest of my day?

I have to put on a costume to be at work. I have to hide everything about me that I am passionate about. I have to hide my politics and my religious ideas and how I feel about gay people or the right to choose because all my other coworkers are happy to flaunt their staunch opposition; axiomatically remarking that it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve as though everyone in their presence obviously agrees with their position. I do not feel safe to be me at work.

And I know they talk about me behind my back. They wonder why I distance myself. Shoot, a good portion of them don't even know I have a girlfriend, let alone that I bought a house with her (because...well...that's just living in sin, you know?). The inevitable consequence of telling my coworkers things about myself is that they'll want to know more. It took them 3 years just to stop asking me what church I attend (I guess there's a statute of limitations on, "I'm still searching for the right one.")

They wonder why I retreat to the office. It's because I'm trying to escape the very people I'm paid to work with forty hours a week. I want a career that brings me well-rounded joy. I want to be able to wake up in the morning and want to go to work.

Finding my inspiration again

2010-10-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

[I accidentally deleted this post yesterday so I'm putting it back. Interestingly, I think one of the things (besides being poor) that weighs so heavily on my creative drive is my work environment. I actually had a great week last week with a coworker on vacation and another on sick leave. I never opened the doors to the shop and kept everything on lock down so no one could get in and bother me. It was glorious. Oh well.]

Yesterday, I went back to more closely observing the world around me in an effort to regain some inspiration. While having breakfast, I poured the cream into my coffee very slowly and watched at the confection currents mixed the two liquids together. I remarked that there were clouds in my coffee. Independent arrival at the name of a Carly Simon album and song lyric aside, I may have found the muse for my next gallery piece.

How stereotypical of an artist to discover his muse while musing over a coffee cup.

More power to you

2010-10-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

It's cool with me if a pair of twins want to get into truck racing. More power to 'em. But if you're going to be bottle blonde with too much of a tan, it probably isn't good to use a promotional picture that obviously shows your dark roots while at the same time you claim that people don't think you're good drivers because, in part, you're blonde:

I think the obstacles we run into is that we are girly girls, we are blonde and everyone thinks that we are out to be models not racers.

It tends to undercut your claim that you're not out to be models.

Swedish Quality Coated Abrasives

2010-10-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

I pulled a sanding disc off the sander this morning saw "Swedish Quality Coated Abrasives" printed on the back. I had a moment to pause and think, one, who associates the country of origin with their standard of quality when it comes to sanding, and two, is Sweden a big quality assurance brand? I mean, sure, they've got Volvo and Ericsson, but after that, what do you think of for high quality and Sweden?

Of course, we all complain about the cheapness of Chinese, or Mexican, or any of the random island-produced products (see: Jamaica, Indonesia, etc), but Sweden has never been my go to for framing upper-echelon products.

Actually, I don't really know who would be my go to. I think many countries are able to make some high-quality stuff but it's on a spectrum that includes their low end. Japan has some nice cars, but they also export their fair share of cheap, plastic crap. Germany has some nice stuff too, but they're kind of tarnished by their bizarre and not-always-tasty Old World recipes for gummi candies as well as several failed attempts at world domination. Not exactly a confidence-builder, ya know.

England? I guess if I wanted quality wool and mist-weather wear. New Zealand? I guess if I wanted quality wool and mist-weather wear or Hobbits.

Who's your go to country of origin for defining quality products?

I've been getting some bizarre spam

2010-10-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

So this is the level of discourse spambots have evolved to. It's almost like a three year-old accidentally saying something pithy and humorous. I removed the URL that was roughly tacked onto the end of this body of words.

Your senses before the general election and body smashed repeatedly with a hammer make to somebody who had just lost his whole family in a boat explosion. National tendency to try to make new things assuring him that you haven't heard it, and then, when they'd each have to serve two years in a job that offered no opportunity whatsoever for career advancement, such as: bumper-car repairman; gum-wad remover; random street lunatic; bus-station urinal maintenance person; lieutenant governor; owner of a roadside attraction such as World's Largest All-Snake Orchestra. Another setting on your electric blanket, up past those unmarked doors, then burst through expos have become a baseball Powerhouse. Its young, or the spider struggling to weave its perfect web, or the and I am going to explain why with a lighthearted remark "You look like a cretin, Thad." Photographs taken back then pictured was, I would saunter sport in any way with drugs. Year's starting American League lineup.

Oddly poetic in its own way.

Three tips that will make you a better driver

2010-10-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

One:

If you're driving on a two-lane road (that is, one lane going each direction), when you happen upon an intersection at which you may turn left or right, please stay in one of those invisible turn lanes. In other words, if you're turning right, pull to the edge of the road so those who are going straight or turning left, don't have to wait for you. As well, if you're turning left, don't block the "gutter" lane. That second one is especially important because left turning cars have to yield to both lanes of cross traffic if there isn't a signal or stop sign. People turning right have many more opportunities to make their turn while you wait. Traffic will flow much more smoothly and efficiently if you take the time to be aware of where your car is positioned in the road.

Two:

If you're accelerating away from a stop light, try to accelerate at the same rate as the car in front of you. Don't tailgate, but don't dilly dally. Imagine a theoretical line of 100 cars all accelerating at the same speed the instant the light turns green. Everyone moves at the same time. Now imagine that hypothetical line where each successive car waits to accelerate until two seconds after the car in front has gone. By the time you get to the last car, it's been nearly a minute. Just the act of paying attention enough to accelerate at the same (or nearly the same) rate as the car in front of you can help many more cars get through signal lights.

Three:

If you're driving on a multi-lane highway and you come to a busy on-ramp, or exit-ramp, or interchange but you don't plan to use any of those listed items, merge into the center or next lane over, whatever it is. Your car is needlessly taking up space that could help to more efficiently allow other cars to merge on or off the highway. In fact, if you're driving on a three lane road or higher and you don't plan to exit for quite a while just stay out of the right lane. And please, please, please don't slam on your brakes to allow incoming cars room on the highway. They are merging and therefore they have to yield which means it's their job to achieve the proper merging speed. If you were driving in the center or left lane in anticipation of incoming cars, you wouldn't even have to make that adjustment.

Head's up driving isn't just being aware of the one car in front of you. It's thinking a 1/4 or 1/2 or even a mile ahead of you and it's watching the cars around and behind you. If you really want to learn how to be a good car or truck driver, learn to properly and legally ride a bicycle. Then you'll learn what true awareness is.

Radiohead = Central Valley rainy weather

2010-10-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

Sit down, stand up
Sit down, stand up
Walk into the jaws of hell (Sit down)
Walk into the jaws of hell (Stand up)
Anytime (Sit down)
Anytime (Stand up)
Sit down, stand up
Sit down
We can wipe you out anytime (Stand up)
We can wipe you out (Sit down)
Anytime
Anytime
Stand up, sit down

The raindrops...

Say what you want about the true meaning of the song, whether it has to do with Thom Yorke's rumored and as of yet unsubstantiated bi-polarism and/or his commentary on what may or may not be an emergent corporatocracy.

What I love about this track is how accurately and simply it's tempo, structure, and the milieu it places the listener in mimic most of the precipitation our region receives. It listens as a rainy day song just by virtue of the sonic landscape the listener can explore as it builds. A gentle crescendo of punctuated rhythms, syncopation, and layering take up the majority of the song as it rises to a climax reminiscent of the downpours which typically finish the short bouts of rain that sweep across the valley before crashing against the Sierra Nevada.

Sadly, all the locations in Fresno I've been for the last 24 hours have afforded me nothing more than the enjoyment of a light sprinkling of raindrops. I'm slowly winding my way through the vast Radiohead collection in an effort to placate whatever sky-deities may or may not be listening to my pleas for ground-quenching water to fall from above. In reality, I don't care what controls the rain. I'm just mentally preparing myself for the arrival of two-day, non-stop rain storm that will probably never hit the region. But I'd hate to be caught off guard and in an unappreciative mood should the inclement weather ever arrive.

And so, Thom Yorke croons to me while I wait.

I'm a transcriber now!

2010-10-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

I joined a crowd-sourced project today called Old Weather. Essentially, I get to join with lots of other regular folks and pore over century old ships' logs and transcribe weather measurements, latitude and longitude, as well as any interesting comments I might see in the comments of the person who wrote the log.

It's extremely fascinating and fun to try and decipher what these guys wrote. I'm currently working on the log book for October of 1915 on the HMS Acacia which was sailing off the coast of Northern Scotland at the time. It took me a while to figure it out because the handwritten sevens were looking a lot like fours to me. So when I was entering the latitude and longitude, it was giving me locations in the middle of dry land. But I noticed a couple of log entries talking about Banff and Buckie so I did some Wikipedia searches and found out they are ports in Scotland. Then I looked up their latitude and longitude and saw where I was going wrong.

What's really neat to me is that the Acacia was a minesweeper in WW I.

Anywho, I'm geeking out; just thought you should know.

Nearly stabbed in the back by my supervisor

2010-10-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

My boss came in with some salvaged wood and I immediately became wary. There are several coworkers around the shop that like to reuse old wood (which, for the record I'm fine with). Unfortunately, the way they access the clean wood is usually via some dangerous or tool-damaging method. On this occasion, this particular coworker was going to re-saw the three foot pieces on one of our table saws. Also for the record, we have a fine band saw which re-saws wood much more safely.

Some important information of note here. Our table saws are back to back and about 9 feet apart. Table saws, in general, are very, very good at throwing chunks of wood, splinters of wood, and whole sheets of plywood back at the user at a very high rate of speed. I know a guy who caught a half-sheet of 3/4" plywood in the gut after having it thrown back and he instantly shit his pants and vomited at the same time. The table saw will fuck you up at a millisecond's notice (two stories here for example). One very good way to have a table saw turn into a missile launcher is to re-saw a significant length of wood wherein the narrow piece is between the blade and the fence. All it takes is a slight bump or flex in that piece of wood and the blade will catch it and launch it straight back (especially if you're not using push sticks or feather-boards). I've seen scraps go through walls 14 feet behind a table saw.

Back to the story. I saw him walk in with this wood and immediately knew his motivations. Of course, I was already working at one of the table saws so he started working and my back was to him. Normal shop etiquette includes notifying another user you're about to activate the tool behind them and telling them whether they should be watching out more carefully than normal. He did neither of those things but I was wary nonetheless and moved to the side to work out of the way. Not three minutes later, a 1/2" x 3" x 36" piece of wood flew past me at a height of about four feet, right through the space I would have been occupying at the other table saw, all the way to the other end of the shop and out the roll up door. It went at least 30 feet and would have gone further had it not ricocheted off of a couple things.

Needless to say, he was incredibly shaky and apologetic and I was glad to have been paying attention.

Oops, stumbled into the Fresno Bee's comment threads again

2010-10-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

I find it ironic that many newspapers are afraid or don't wish to moderate their online comment threads for fear of appearing biased or engaging in censorship. Yeah, it would suck if the rest of the world had to engage in some journalistic integrity every now and then.

You know, like this:

...public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility.

It's interesting that they don't attempt to extend that code of ethics into how they run their public fora. I have a hard time conferring credibility on organizations which seek to fairly report world events with the most truthful efforts and at the same time are willing to let their readers spiral into anarchistic hate-fests filled with comments that are essentially thinly veiled (and sometimes open) personal attacks against other commenters and subjects of news stories alike.

News organizations own their websites. And it's easy to say they aren't liable for the words written by online visitors, which they aren't. But it's intellectual laziness to hold yourself to a higher ethical standard while at the same time refusing to hold anyone else to it. I don't steal, but am I any better if I stand by and knowingly watch someone else do it?

Math is our friend

2010-10-06T09:45:00.001-07:00

Hey, look at me breaking out the algebra so I can solve for an unknown.

Now I know my bench seat can have 13 slats at 3/4" with 12 gaps at 11/16" to reach my final width of 18" without any oddball measurements.

Awesome

2010-10-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Today, the governor of California turned possession of an ounce of marijuana into the same punishment as a speeding ticket. You get a fine but you don't get arrested and the DA doesn't have to go through the formality of charging you in court. Basically, the only difference is the person possessing doesn't get a criminal record while at the same time, law enforcement is freed up to deal with much more pressing matters. Getting busted still means you have to pay money to the government.

I've been looking at the Fresno Bee's three different versions of the story (don't get me started on that ridiculousness), just waiting for a commenter to really blow this out of proportion. I was not disappointed:

Next the governator will sign a bill ok'ing "just a little pedophilia"!

Yes, that's right. Someone is equating a reduction in the criminalization of recreational drug use with the rape of a child. I'm astounded and saddened at the same time.

Good gravy!

2010-09-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

PZ Myers is none too happy about George Lucas' decision to re-release the Star Wars prequels in post-production 3-D:

Nothing will save them, George. They were badly conceived and badly written, and yet another digital makeover will not change that fact. Maybe if you'd written them competently when you made them, you wouldn't be masturbating their corpses now.

Whoa! A necrophilia analogy? Methinks PZ doth protest a tad too freaking much.

I love Star Wars. I watched the original three a lot as a kid. It's amazing to me how much people invest in their film watching. I don't know what it is about me personally but I had films that I loved watching as a child and adolescent but I don't find myself zealously lambasting directors that decide to remake them or retool them or re-release them or whatever.

I've read interviews with Lucas about the prequels, the newest cartoon series, etc. He just wants to entertain viewers* (in this case, I think he's aiming at a younger demographic). How he goes about doing that is his deal. For instance, the Ewoks. Oh the terrible, horrible, no good Ewoks that ruined Return of the Jedi. Yeah, how could he do that to us? How could he create a fantasy sci-fi world with so many unbelievable characters like sand people, autonomous droids, Jabba the Hut, and then foist Ewoks on us?? Just ridiculous. Way out of bounds.

I don't mind film criticism, but people who exude a cult-like rage over a director tweaking their own work blow my mind. It's his prerogative. Artists tweak their paintings all the time. Musicians re-release songs with different sounds or mixes. I mean, who goes to a live music show and complains that all the songs don't sound exactly like the album cuts? A Karate Kid remake? Over my dead body! How dare the Wachowski brothers do the Matrix trilogy in a manner that didn't satisfy me?? Someone kill a pig and drizzle it's blood on the alter to film purists!

You know what? I'd rather see Lucas re-tool his prequels for 3-D than have had to endure Tucker Max making a foray into the world of film. How about aiming our ire at truly, legitimately terrible films and just be disappointed with the folks who are doing it well, but not to the point we'd like?

*This is on top of his desire to make money and be successful at what he does but that applies to pretty much everyone, no?

Bill McEwen annoyed a reader, that's his job I guess

2010-09-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

He started his recent column with a pithy assessment of US politics that is pretty fairly apt and accurate:

We like our politicians simple because we cling to the fantasy that there are easy solutions to complex problems.

We live in a soundbite world. Politicians, now more than ever are working to reduce their platforms to ridiculously short and yet meaningful statements (something at which they consistently fail). McEwen is right. As a society, we've conditioned ourselves to believe that complex problems can be solved with simple solutions. Why? Because politicians on the campaign trail tell us they can. It's a lot easier than actually sharing a messy solution that could never make 100% of the electorate happy.

Of course, McEwen launches from his truism into the same exact behavior he chastises us for:

The truth is, the Republican gubernatorial candidate got it right the first time.

Fresno isn't a great city. It has one half that's pretty good -- the one north of Shaw Avenue. And it has another half that is poor as poor can be -- even if it isn't saddled with the murder rate and abandoned homes that have made Detroit infamous.

There you have it. A blunt, simple, almost-pithy generalization of Fresno that isn't actually accurate enough to do anything useful with, except to lambast whole sections of a city. It seems to me that McEwen is being provocative for the sake of provocation at that point. After all, we all know that the most popular editorial work of journalists isn't necessarily the most accurate, but the the most trafficked in terms of comments and sharing. Look at Fox News, for example. They're the most popular "news" channel on the air and they have the most viewers and the most influence, even if the things they say are questionable in reference to their truth-value. A lot of it is provocative, fear-mongering propaganda and it works. And, if you read all of McEwen's column, the second paragraph in the quote above isn't even necessary for the validity of his overall argument. Which is annoying, considering I think the rest of the column is fairly valid.

But I think what did it for me was that he tweeted this morning:

A nod to the idea that I think he knew his statement was provocative and would engender an outraged response. An outraged response that he attempted to fan with the use of Twitter for more coverage. For someone who wants to call people out for shallowly engaging in the political and economic process, it comes across as disingenuous to provoke people with shallow generalizations. If you're trying to draw a city together in order to build it up, why include a throwaway statement that is so obviously divisive?

For the record, you shouldn't care where I live.

747-400 and 747-8 both making test runs at FAT

2010-09-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had posted about receiving a press release that announced Boeing's testing of some new versions of the 747 at the Fresno Air Terminal this morning starting at 11. My friend Paul, who owns a plane usually parked at Chandler Airport, called me up last night and said, "I'm flying over to FAT to sit on the ramp and watch those behemoths come in. Do you want to come with?" Of course I did! I never pass up a chance to fly in an airplane or watch airplanes do their thing from the ground and this was an opportunity for both!

So, this morning, I took off from work (pun intended), met Paul at Chandler where he ran through pre-flight checks on his plane and we took off for the 5 minute flight to FAT. We got there around 10:30 and sat just off the taxi-way on the south side of the runways. Around 10:45 an employee of the airport drove by and said they were on the way and around 10:55 we saw the landing lights and four big engines hanging beneath the wingspan of a giant bird appear to the east. About that time, 50 SJVC students in the aircraft maintenance school poured out onto the tarmac and the low roar mixed with the high whine of the engines started to grow. It was amazing to watch those planes come in so slow (probably 180 mph in reality) and so gracefully touch down. The roar of the engines reversing was powerfully awesome.

Both planes came in and landed, then took about 10 to 15 minutes to run through checks and have the runway swept (they both kicked up immense amounts of dust). Then they each took off and proceeded to make approaches at really low altitude with their gear down. The air traffic controller in the tower told us they were doing wake and airwash readings with some sensors placed on the runway. When we were ready to go, we rolled out to the end of the runway to leave and it turned out to be perfect timing because we were first in line but had to wait for both jets to make their last fly-bys. It takes about three to four minutes for the air to settle on the runway before controllers will let another plane on the runway because it causes so much turbulence for smaller planes trying to take off and land (think about Top Gun, when Iceman cut in front of Maverick and he and Goose ended up in a flat spin because the wash killed their air intake and shut the engines down).

YouTube Video

Anyway, it was amazing and I'm glad I was afforded the opportunity to check it out. I guess they'll be back again tomorrow and testing could last a month or two. If you get a chance to be in the area of the airport, be sure to check it out because they were doing low altitude take-offs. Normally those planes go into a steep climb when they take off but since they were flying a low pattern, I'm sure some drivers on Clovis and Chestnut got to enjoy the sight of these big things coming and going.

Cooking a chicken

2010-09-25T20:06:00.001-07:00

We bought some chickens from my step brother who raised them from chicks as part of his work with FFA. Tonight, I'm baking one. It's super simple. Rinse and pat dry the chicken. Salt and pepper all around the outside of the bird and in the cavity as well.

Cut an onion into eighths, chop up a couple sticks of celery into short lengths, grab a couple or five cloves of garlic, chop up some parsley, and cut a stick of butter into eight pieces.

Stuff the cavity with everything except for half the stick of butter and truss the legs with some cooking twine or get inventive with some toothpicks like I've done in the past. Fold the wings under the back of the bird. Basically, you want all the extremities close to the body so everything is evenly cooked and nothing dries out. Take the last four pats of butter and place them on top of the body.

Cover the whole thing with foil and put it in a 400 degree for one hour. After an hour, take the foil off and put it back in for 20 to 30 minutes. You can research times and internal temperatures for a properly cooked chicken online because it can vary a little depending on the weight. The foil helps a lot because it keeps the moisture in and can forgive your overcooking the chicken a little.

Let the bird rest for a bit, carve, and then enjoy.

It's not just about me

2010-09-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

From a letter today by Judy Johnson:

A woman, pregnant for the third time, writes that family tax rebates have allowed her to buy a larger car and go on small vacations. She wonders why more financially and environmentally responsible taxpayers are angry with people who choose to have large families. Maybe those taxpayers don't see her new car or vacations as their responsibility.

Actually, as a taxpayer myself, I'm just fine with some of my tax dollars subsidizing another family's ability to relax and have leisure time. As a contributing member of American society and humanity in general, I'm okay if some of my taxes help other members of those groups live a slightly better or easier or happier life. My responsibility as a conscientious and contributing citizen doesn't stop at taking care of myself. If that means my tax dollars can help, even by subsidizing someone's trip to Pismo Beach, so be it.

I'd rather pay money to help a family have a better car and more fun on their vacation than to pad some asshole CEO's million dollar bonus. And just maybe, that larger car she bought is more fuel efficient than her old one. And maybe those three kids will have an opportunity to grow up in a well-adjusted family and have vacation experiences that allow them to have a broader, more empathic understanding of the world around them.

If my parents had never taken me to the beach or camping in the mountains, perhaps I wouldn't care about the environment quite as much as I do. Perhaps I wouldn't have had brief, yet fun and meaningful conversations with people from other countries who were hiking on the same trails in Yosemite. Maybe I never would have gone to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and learned to better appreciate how my actions can affect sea life. Maybe we never would have driven up the coast of northern California and I never would have seen the beauty of that part of our state.

Or, I could be stingy with my tax dollars. They only go to roads which affluent people use to go on vacation.

Quote of the day

2010-09-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Via the Fresno Bee:

WOW the crazies are out there.
That President of our just can't do nothing right I say we should run his illegal immigrant (No birth cert) but right back to Hawaii.
Wake up America.

That's right. Illegal immigrants are from Hawaii.

Fits like a glove

2010-09-10T13:39:00.001-07:00

The table top is finished, I think, and the caps look good.

We'll see what next week holds for delivery and final installation.

In real life, I keep my mouth shut

2010-09-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

I live and work in the Central Valley of California. It's arguably the most conservative region in the state. Not only that, but I work in a field that is disproportionately conservative. A lot of that has to do with California's relatively strict environmental standards which cause a lot of problems for people who are trying to run businesses that deal with those standards. There's a lot of anti-regulation sentiments, anti-tax sentiments, anti-penalties sentiments, etc. Often times, you'll wander into some suppliers and hear an AM radio in the back blaring Rush Limbaugh (or Ray Appleton if it's the afternoon). They are sentiments that I understand, and even find shared frustration with from time to time myself but that's another blog post for some other day.

Today though, I went to our lacquer supplier (think EPA regulations about VOCs and such when you imagine his anti-regulation and conservative stance) and from the parking lot I could hear, "It was all Bill-Fucking-Clinton's fault that we got into this housing crisis!" I pursed my lips and walked in the open door to find the owner opining about our economic woes with the last customer who was on his way out the door. I was observing and listening quietly as he worked through my order when another customer walked in. As is customary in the business, you get to know your suppliers and this customer was an obvious cohort and sympathetic ear as they immediately struck up the conversation with renewed fervor.

The owner says, "Oh, I got a good one for you, Ralph!"*

Thus begins the story:

So, this out of work guy calls up a previous employer to see if he can get some temp work and the employer asks him to leave his number so he can get back to him. The guy leaves his number and the employer observes that it is different than the one used previously by the ex-employee [already I'm suspicious of a an employer asking for a guy's number he apparently knows well enough to differentiate from a new number]. So he asks the fellow how he got a new phone if he's out of work and the guy tells him that it's an "Obama phone," that there is a social program that gives out free phones with 80 minutes a month to help people who are out of work have a phone line that makes it easier to get a new job.

I'm sitting there thinking, that sounds like a good plan as phones are pretty much a necessity for staying connected in a modern world and I know that basic necessities like a phone, a shower, a place to sleep, and regular food are all things that give people an incredible leg up in the job hiring process. Anyway, back to the story.

So of course, they both start in with the standard angry responses:

"Can you believe we have to pay for that shit?"
"Socialists taking over the country."
"You know they're not using them for work, they're calling their drug dealers to ask for 8-balls."

I took my receipt, grabbed my stuff and got out of there. Of course, once back at work on my lunch, I managed to quickly pull up the Snopes article on these phones and saw that the story I heard at the supplier was just a riff on an email forward started over a year ago.

All that aside, what gets me about this "story" of the man with an "Obama phone" is that the example used for lambasting the program is a guy who is actually using the phone as it was intended, to find work! "Yeah, so this guy was using his 'Obama phone' to get work, but he's totally buying drugs too!"

And thus, the meme that all poor people are also drug users and undeserving of any support from their fellow humans is perpetuated. What would Jesus do? He'd probably throw up in his mouth a little.

*Not his real name

Put your back into it

2010-09-07T09:06:00.001-07:00

The profile I had hoped to cut with a router was not going to happen. So here I am slinging the hand plane, building up some lactic acid in the arms.

Sometimes the simplest profiles require the most work to create.

Can someone please make a logical argument?

2010-09-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

Via ABC30:

SACRAMENTO (KFSN) -- Should marijuana be legalized in California for personal use? The voters will decide, and the battle is intensifying as election day draws closer.

Opposition to Proposition 19 is growing, according to an exclusive Eyewitness News poll by Survey USA. But the measure to legalize marijuana is still in the lead.

According to the survey, 47 percent of Californians say they're certain to vote "yes" on Prop. 19. That's down 3 percentage points from August. Forty-three percent say they're certain to vote "no." Ten percent remain "uncertain."

I don't mind if you support Prop. 19 or if you're against it, but please make sure your position is logically supported by an argument that makes sense. From the same article:

"I'm against it. I have teenagers and I don't think things like that should be legal," said San Dimas resident Sonia Guidanian, a Prop. 19 opponent.

Non sequitur. Having teenagers doesn't preclude the legalization of things. Using substitution is a good way to see the fallacy here. "I'm against it. I have teenagers and I don't think alcohol should be legal." Just because someone is a certain age, doesn't mean things can't be legal for other ages.

"It's the folks who are most concerned with what legalizing the recreational use of marijuana will do to children, to schools, to ethnic communities, to public safety," said Roger Salazar, No on Prop. 19 campaign spokesman.

Again, all these points are addressed with the legalization of alcohol. If anything, legalizing marijuana will lead to better oversight, better regulation, and easier enforcement of it's use. The obvious historical example is Prohibition. When the government banned alcohol, we ended up with intensely organized crime, mafias, turf wars, and violence (kind of what we're seeing with marijuana right now). If you legalize it, regulate it and shine a light on it, then it's a lot easier to avoid "problems" like the ones listed above.

Just this week U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced she'll co-chair the campaign against the legalization of marijuana with L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, who Wednesday blamed a triple murder on a marijuana deal gone bad.

"Is it no surprise that people are going to get killed behind this easy profit? Drugs and violence go together," Baca said Wednesday.

Imagine marijuana being legal. I doubt the incidence of drug deals gone bad will go up. If anything, street deals and price disputes will drop with the legalization of it.

What do you think?

2010-09-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

This letter was printed today and it references a bit of a hullabaloo that took place last week with FUSD and CUSD. The school districts both banned the "I heart Boobies!" bracelets which raise money for breast cancer awareness and research. FUSD then reversed its decision and decided to allow them.

As a teacher and the Livestrong Army Leader for Fresno, I am proud to see that the Fresno Unified School District has made the decision to allow students to wear their "I Love Boobies" bracelets. The dirty word is cancer, not boobies.

The facts: 28 million people around the world are living with cancer, 12 million of them are Americans, 1.4 million will hear the words "you have cancer" this year, and over 560,000 Americans will lose their lives to cancer.

Cancer is projected to be the leading cause of death in 2010 and claims nearly 8 million lives around the world each year. The number of young adults battling cancer is staggering; nearly 70,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 39 are diagnosed with cancer each year.

It should be our goal to teach our students that one-third of all cancer incidents are preventable and one-third are treatable with early diagnosis and proper resources. If by wearing a bracelet that says "I Love Boobies" creates awareness and educates young adults, then it's worth it. I thank Fresno Unified for its forward thinking.

Michelle Maroot
Fresno

The Beehive picked up the story on Friday and put up a blog post. The author, Kathy, sided with the idea that the bracelets are playful and in their own way serve to raise awareness among younger people that might not normally find themselves interested in advocacy for something like breast cancer. In that thread, I offered my response to these bracelets.

I think the idea of creating awareness is a great thing, but I don't think it should come at the cost of sacrificing other, also important, narratives.

The implicit narrative that comes with these particular bracelets is the disembodiment of women. I can tell you right now that I love my mom, who is a breast cancer survivor, for being my mom, for being a strong woman, and for being a human. I don't love her for her "boobies" and I think the idea that breasts need to be separated from the overall identity of women contributes to all the other aspects of our society that reduce women to just their body parts and/or sexuality.

Ask yourself, how do you think a breast cancer survivor who's had a mastectomy feels about the statement, "I heart boobies!"? Suddenly, a women who has personally dealt with breast cancer, has survived, but no longer has boobies is excluded from the narrative and may even be made to feel like she doesn't matter because she doesn't have breasts that fit a societal norm perpetuated by this particular campaign and nearly every other cultural publication that targets women.

Think about all the stunts that PETA pulls in the name of saving animals while at the same time, objectifying human women. It's a dirty bait and switch in my mind.

I think it's a sad illustration of a society that is more interested in gimmickry than substantial conversation about meaningful topics like breast cancer awareness. And before anyone jumps on me for being humorless or points out that I'm talking about this because of these bracelets, please don't. There are myriad other ways to draw attention to health issues that don't diminish the humanity of the very people who suffer with them.

I still feel that way. I think all the people who are up in arms about the perceived "dirtiness" or "inappropriateness" of the word boobies are misguided and focused on the wrong thing. And it is an indicator of how shallow our society has become when people are more upset about the word than the meaning and effect. Think about it. Any synonym can be substituted: "I heart titties," or "I heart breasts," or "I heart funbags," or "I heart mammaries." What's the common theme? The exclusion of the actual human. Never mind the implicit assumption that men can't get breast cancer either, because they can.

Campaigns like "Save the tatas" or "I heart boobies" exclude real humans, dealing with real diseases by excising the existence of the people who suffer with them. Forget about boobies. It's the people you should heart.

Repair and sneak peak

2010-09-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's issue is resolved. I opted for the patch and repair fix which went rather smoothly. Thankfully, I was able to find a piece of the veneer I originally used. The tone was slightly darker but the grain was ridiculously close. Can you spot the fix?

And here's a little sneak peak of the table top with some sanding sealer on it.

Pressure situation

2010-08-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm so frustrated right now, mostly with myself. When laying my panels for the patterned top of the conference table I'm working on, there were several spots where they didn't sit flush with each other. A key factor in that is that my coworker was the one holding the panels down while I attached them from underneath. There was an assumption on my part that he'd be watching to make sure they seated properly. That was a bad assumption. By the time I realized there were problem spots, the glue was already dry. It's my fault, to be sure. I should know better than to assume someone else will work to the level of quality I expect from myself.

And now I'm stuck with a high spot in the veneer that sanded through on the edge of the table. You can see it, and you can feel the ridge it created in the table top. We had a visitor in the shop yesterday run his hand over it, pause, go back, run his hand over it again and then stare at it. He didn't say anything to me, probably because he was being polite, but he spotted it, nonetheless.

It's annoying because I expect more from myself and yet, here I am, with some really obviously shitty work, near the completion date, with few options. I can leave it and hope that it will go unobserved or forgiven but that's not an option I particularly find acceptable. Or, I can try to match and patch it or do another inlay pattern. Matching is extremely difficult and I may end up with a patch that is just as obvious as the mistake. Adding another inlay component would extend the finish date of the table because I'd probably have to repeat it 15 to 19 more times depending on how I balanced the pattern across the whole table top.

At this point, I'm kind of paralyzed by the decision, just standing and staring at what could have been an awesome table to be proud of but instead, I'm disgusted and disappointed and wanting to walk away from it.

Free in the wind

2010-08-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a crappy day, literally as you can see from the previous post. A bird once again flew into our shop and proceeded to drop excrement all over the place, most prominently on the table top of my latest project. I was more annoyed than anything. It wasn't that hard to remove and the table looks fine now. But we couldn't find the bird and hadn't seen it fly out of the shop. I was starting to assume that it just hadn't made it through the weekend and we had a dead bird somewhere in the shop.

But through the day, I heard rustling in the rafters and kept glancing up to see if the bird was there. Though, it was difficult to tell if the sounds were from inside or outside as we have a corrugated metal roof with plastic sunlight panels and it's not uncommon to see and hear birds walking around on the roof. At the end of the day though, when all the machinery was off and it was dead quiet in the shop, with keys in hand and on my way out, I heard a rustle that was definitely in the shop.

*sigh*

I put my things down and knew immediately that a bird was trapped in one of our rolls of laminate that we store in the back of the shop. They stand upright and I was certain that the bird had dropped into one of the tubes and didn't have enough room to fly four feet straight up a 16" diameter tube.

I climbed the ladder and began cooing while rattling the rolls. I was reluctant to peer down them for fear of experiencing the old movie phenomenon of animals flying into people's faces as they look into dark, small spaces. Plus I was 10' off the ground and I didn't want to recoil in surprise only to plummet to the concrete and not be found until the next morning. I could see footprints from a pigeon in the dust on top of our office so I knew there was a big bird up there somewhere.

Sure enough, the last tube in the back corner housed a very confused and probably hungry pigeon (it had been in the shop all weekend and all day Monday). I carefully lifted the tube up and out it flew to land in the rafters. It looked down at me, bobbed its head a couple of times, and flew out the roll up door at the other end of the shop.

Now I truly have to get that tattoo of a pigeon I really want.

It wouldn't be Monday if a bird didn't spend the weekend pooping on my table

2010-08-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't even see when it flew into the shop and I can't find it now. It probably died over the weekend and is rotting somewhere in the shop. This we'll be a gross and not fun repair.

Boredom?

2010-08-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

I'm at the point with this table where I'm ready to do the final bits of inlay work. I'm also at the point when I feel two things that I normally feel towards the conclusion of project.

One, I've invested so much in this piece that I don't want to let it go so I have to fight inclinations to drag the process out.

Two, I've spent the last two months with this project at the forefront of my mind so I'm burnt out in the sense that one might listen to a favorite song too often in a short time. This is the point where I might have an overwhelming urge to do something drastic to the design in an effort to spice it up (whether or not it needs spice). My tendency is simplicity and subtlety so you can imagine how easy it is to worry that people might say, "Why did it take you so long when it appears so straightforward?" I like shows like Project Runway where the designers talk about editing; making sure they don't get carried away adding elements to a design in progress. I can definitely empathize.

Anywho, this beast should be all finished up next week with any luck. I just need to get someone to take my picture next to it so you can truly get a sense of scale.