watch this space!

we’ll get together then, folks, you know we’ll have a good time then.

Dammit. What song is that from? It’s gonna bug me all night.

It looks like Adam beat me to this month’s ear worm. Man!!! And I had a good one, too - “Itzy Bitzy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” by Brian Hyland, circa 1960. Even as an eleven year old, I tired of that song after hearing it about 3 times and yet it grew and grew and grew in popularity for weeks - up to #1 on the Billboard charts. Oy!!!!

And now………It’s Back! So, choose your poison - “Cat’s” or “Itzy”. No, no, don’t thank me. I’m all about the good old days.

Zee Man (and gang),

There have been some stories lately (PBS, CBS) about Andrew Jackson…and every time “The Battle of New Orleans” (also circa 1960) gets stuck right between my ears.

Talk about the good old days….

Jon Carrol of the SF Chronicle just wrote about The Game yesterday. So I guess I need to read up on it so I’m not hopelessly out of touch.

Sigh.

The Game! I’ve been following that for years. I know someone who participated a few years back, and the stories were wacky.

Dad, can I borrow the car keys? - Baz

A little refresher course in history, supplied to us by the Canadians, of all people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN64Hopu0Eg

WHAT A SIGHT!

35 miles line of sight from where I am standing, parking lot, clear view. Listening to Gator basketball game with the Toledo Rockets, Gators winning. At 2 minutes to launch, radio station goes over to countdown. “We have liftoff,” and a brilliant orange glow, then the shuttle rising out of its manmade sunrise, a huge fiery tail chasing it into the night sky across a full moon.

It never gets old. I have been watching launches of these megabirds since high school teaching days in the late 60s. This was the most dramatic, most beautiful, most exhilirating launch I have ever watched, and for anyone who remembers, the last launch had me pretty enthralled.

Vaya con dios, shuttle crew, and may St. Christopher see you safely home (even if I am a non-theist).

I think the extra measure of sheer joy must come from the fact that November 4th gave me emotional repatriation. Thank you, Lobster, for a very slight smattering of haze to give this performance art even more texture.

PJ!!

David, I’m jealous! Someday I’m going to time this right and there will be a nighttime launch when I’m down at Topsail Island. I’ve been told you can see the glow from the southern tip of the island.

And that’s appropriate, since Topsail was the site of Operation Bumblebee, a US Navy missile testing program during WWII, which eventually led to the development of the rockets that got us into space. At one point Topsail Island was considered as the site for the space launches, but it was deemed to be too vulnerable to hurricanes. And,as we know, those never occur in Florida.

dee, I don’t think being passed over as the future and permanent space facility turned out to be a net loss for Topsail Island. If Topsail had been selected, you would have never had the pleasure of life on that lovely island. And, since Claude Pepper was one of the senators from Florida during that time period, there was never any question which state would get the space facility. Thanks for the history lesson, though. I had no idea.

Also, you need to be closer than Topsail to truly appreciate a Shuttle launch. There’s nothing like having your ear drums buffeted and assaulted from an observation point 20 miles away from the Cape to let you know that’s really about as close as you need to be. It’s a memorable experience, so do it soon - there is only a limited number of Shuttle flights available.

your pal, cooper

Wow, David. How beautiful. I grew up listening to them return–their unmistakable sonic boom–over Southern California, and it was always cool knowing that that was the space shuttle, but it sure don’t compare with what you’re talkin’.

David, dee, cooper - here’s a nice photo for you shuttle buffs.

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/rpSlideshows?articleId=USRTXANX9# a=5

Yo, Nigel. Speak English, man.

Came back from our cabin today and had a pleasant surprise in the mail. My first ever royalty check. I guess that makes me queen for a day.

siobhan. Congrats! I’m envious. That should have been my royalty check. This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife!

siobhan — congratulations!! And this is as good an occasion as any to tell you how much I enjoy your birding diaries at Kos.

Boy, I finally got it. The Soc ialism thing (special spelling for a special roborat) is actually a real fear on the part of our faux-oligarchy(tm). For the longest time, I just thought it was some sort of desperate distract-o-spew(tm) pulled from the dilapidated GOP/Dixiecrat bag of tricks, with pink being the new red, er… blue, er… black. Damn, colors used to mean something.

Anyway, I’ve come to believe these guys are really scared. The Herr Murdochs of the world clearly see how badly the great gears of capitalism are currently meshing and are aware that someone with half a heart for the common folk might actually rewrite the rules a bit here and there to see that people get fed. Heaven forbid we might end up with something like the Great Society again.

The ranting I hear on Fox from the puppets of the faux-oligarchy suggests that the only tenable way forward is to roll back many of the progressive “hindrances” of the last hundred and thirty years to make us more competitive with third world labor. I find that truly ironic, since the only road to true Soc ialism in this country is to create the terrible living conditions that would demand revolution. Perhaps Brother Murdoch is hoping for Democracy to destroy itself.

Don’t you just love people who see the upside and the shining possibilities in every momentous and historic event. Yeah, you’re right. I hate ‘em, too.

http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2008/11/18/tomo/

11-18-08

Dear Diary,

Several of Vice President Cheney’s goons and rabid wharf rats came by the office this morning and administered the new loyalty oath to all mid-to-upper echelon employees at Interior. This pledge involved a blood oath on our first born to keep the goddamn pie hole shut re any extralegal activities ordered up by the Bush Administration over the past eight years. I signed the pledge, so I had to give back Time-Life’s $300,000 advance for my tell-all memoir of my life in DC. Jesus, that’s a lot of money, but like I’ve mentioned before, I’m financially set for life (thanks, Gung!!) AND since I signed the oath, I won’t have to be worrying about some black operative with Cheney’s shadow government serving me anthrax with my fries at the McDonalds in Boise 18 months from now. At least, I’ll try not to worry too much about that.

Dirk

Oddly, Zee Man, the article you linked to with the headline, “Clinton Lawyers vetting her Secretary of State,” does not make this claim at all. In the body of the article, the only actual mention of the attorneys in the vetting process is:

A team of attorneys is representing the Clintons in negotiations with Obama officials, in talks which have taken place this week at a law firm in Washington.

My guess is the headline writer is being oddly sensational, or doesn’t know the meaning of “vetting.” Sadly, this is what happens when teachers and journalists are underpaid.

Now, Zee, I am never right, but pretty much always just to the left of center.

Aunt Sam, you remind me of my college days. When I was at school in U.C. Berkeley, I was a moderate centrist. On weekends when I drove 45 minutes home to Napa, California, somewhere on the drive I morphed into a raging Commie pinko, without changing a single opinion. It is indeed all relative.

OK, it’s been 2 weeks. Can I stop watching now?