(no subject)
* "Utah school district apologizes after taking lunches from students who owed money on accounts:" http://www.startribune.com/nation/242751201.html
* Re: The Christie Abuse of Power Scandal. At this point I don't really want to hear anymore about the Bridge portion until the indictments start getting issued. I hit saturation on it weeks ago. The part I do want to hear about right now is the Sandy Relief misappropriation. More and more evidence keeps surfacing of them claiming not to have money for those rendered homeless by the storm, especially if they are poor and/or PoC, but there is so much extra money that they are using it for development in towns that were barely hit, all those "Stronger than the Storm" Christie campaign ads, and now thy are talking about wasting even more on those ads. Shouldn't we house everyone who was rendered homeless first before using it on these other things? And now the refusal to put legally required oversight in place and the lack of transparency about what exactly all this money was spent on instead of helping actual Sandy survivors. I know we have no proof of graft, but this born and raised in Rizzo/Goode's notoriously corrupt Philly child of a New Jerseyite who was heavily involved in local politics hears "They are refusing to account for the money" and assumes massive graft and/or embezzlement is involved. I don't KNOW that graft and/or embezzlement is is involved, but I can't see any reason they wouldn't simply release the accounts if they weren't hiding massive malfeasance. At this point, I'm mostly wanting to know how much they misappropriated vs. how much they outright stole. I'm pretty sure we are just looking at the tip of the iceberg and would be genuinely shocked if what we've seen as of today is all there is. Again, I'm speculating, but it's based on a knowledge of East Coast real politics and how things work particularly in the tri-state area, politically. (Those of you who know me personally have likely heard my organized vs. disorganized crime rant. The short version is, if you are living in an extremely corrupt system, it is better for someone to be in charge of the corruption, imposing limits and delivering services. Disorganized corruption often means way higher percentages of graft, corruption, etc., but without the services. Yes, little or no corruption is better, but that's usually not the choice in places like Philly. Or Chicago, or New Jersey, or Baltimore, or New York, or.... you get the idea. A city, or state, or country can function with a 10-15% corruption rate as long as the services keep working. A 40-50% rate can pretty much break the system.) I am curious to see what real scrutiny to the whole system will turn up not just with the sandy money, but just generally as far as corruption, graft, abuse of power, etc.. It's like turning on the light and watching the cockroaches scatter.
* NWS: "4,000-year-old erotica depicts a strikingly racy ancient sexuality:" http://www.timesofisrael.com/4000-year-old-erotica-depicts-a-strikingly-racy-ancient-sexuality/
* Greenwick found. Utah Man proposes a law to bar children from using restrooms at their schools: http://kwgn.com/2014/02/01/ut-bill-would-ban-transgender-use-of-school-restrooms/
* I know most of the discussion of Philip Seymour Hoffman's body of work focuses on his eerie impersonation of Capote, and understandably so, but for me, it is his performance in Doubt, that will forever haunt me. I keep trying to figure out how to explain to someone who isn't all that clear on what was so special about his acting, and all I can think of to do is point them at that film. He did some incredibly difficult things, so subtlety that you never saw him working at it and he was so good at throwing himself into what he was doing so entirely, with no vanity or reservations. It's... *gestures helplessly at the film* I am still struggling to express it, and these words are clearly not the right ones. This is why I had so little to say about it yesterday.
As often in these cases, I'm am uncomfortable with the dwelling on the details of his last day on earth. I know that's how some people process, but it seems ghoulish and pointless in the face of addiction and all the little losses that so often lead up to the big one. I do not see how, what he had for his last meal really matters at this point. I think of all the struggles I've watched up close: the lover coming to throw himself at my feet and confessed he'd lapsed again. The boy from Arkansas talking a mile a minute on the phone at 3:00 AM because he'd lapsed again and the speedball wouldn't let him stop. All the friends on again off again alcohol and/or drugs, desperate to stop but seemingly helpless to go longer than a few weeks or months at a time. The ruined throat of a man who was once a boy my friends and I kept an eye on in Eugene. The partner of a college roommate who drowned because he was drunk after more than a decade of alcoholism. The whiff of a stranger today at the library, clearly several days into a bender and drunk at the library at 5PM on a Monday, their sweat telling me the same sad terrible story even though I never turned fast enough to see a face. It's such a terrible thing to happen to anyone, whether it's someone I know or not. I suppose it's so big, that people would rather think about what sort of latte he liked to drink than the helplessness the people around him likely felt over the course of the past year or so, or what it means for his children, who will have to carry this image of their father the rest of their lives.
* Today was bad. Really bad. I don't really want to talk about it, but it involved hours of crying calling around about cat euthanasia for later in the week. (It is looking like I am taking her Wednesday. I know this sounds terrible, but I am hoping she'll die in her sleep between now and then, because she's clearly done and I think it is nicer for her to doe in her own bed than to make a long drive to a strange place in a carrier, but it's crueler to make her literally starve to death).
* Re: The Super Bowl. Look, I'd rather watch paint dry than watch a football or a baseball game, but I grew up in Philly, where the home teams are practically a religion. One absorbs a whole lot of team sports talk whether one wants to or not. People decorated their bumpers or in one case in my neighborhood their whole basement with memorabilia from various college and pro teams from various sports. This means that while I'm never watched a whole football game, I've watched bits (against my will) and heard a lot of talk over the years.
After the whole forced to watch about half a game while people talked endlessly about their fantasy football leagues at Thanksgiving 2012, I formulated a theory which I floated to Greenwick at Welcome to night Vale: Sports fans are geeks. No really, hear me out on this one. They memorize a massive amount of stats and use them to play a game (fantasy football) that takes place on spreadsheets using those stats. The element of chance is in the actual games instead of dice, but really, these guys are role playing being team owners, aren't they? They will also go on at endless length about their teams, players, and various leagues at a length that reminds me of being trapped at the Con with a guy who won't shut up about his high level character no matter how bored the listeners are. Greenwick has since pointed out that a large number of fans routinely cosplay as their favorite players. Seriously, Geeks!
Anyway, over the years of living in sports obsessed Philly, I've heard of a lot of football teams, but I had never even heard of the Sea Hawks as far as I remember until I moved up here for my second Graduate degree. Bellingham is not a hugely demonstrative team sports town. People here are mostly more focused on things like biking, hiking, and snow sports. I live close to Campus, and the local super market does do a special delay when there's a big game and the students do where sport team branded gear above average for the general population. I couldn't miss the difference in enthusiasm in my neighborhood and the higher percentage of people outside of my neighborhood wearing sports gear. I certainly couldn't miss having to make football small talk at most transactions in the last couple of weeks. I admit, as someone with as little interest in football that I have and no plans to watch the Superb Owl ever, I still got kind of excited for Seattle. Here is a team I'd never heard about until I moved here doing really well. I have heard that they have been a really good team the last couple years and it sounds like they deserve it, but for me they feel like under dogs because I've heard so little about them; because it makes people in my region surprisingly happy; because I did not like the creepy racism around the young man who was so enthusiastic in his post game interview. It's not my sport, but I love Seattle as a city, and I love how cheerful Bellingham has been the last few weeks. We're in the grey and changeable part of early Spring here, but it was nice to see so many smiles and so much irrational exuberance.
I don't have to like football or approve of NFL labor practices, particularly around health insurance to be happy for the players and the fans.
* "Sunday Sweets: Groundhog Day:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/2/2/sunday-sweets-groundhog-day.html
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/399670.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
* Re: The Christie Abuse of Power Scandal. At this point I don't really want to hear anymore about the Bridge portion until the indictments start getting issued. I hit saturation on it weeks ago. The part I do want to hear about right now is the Sandy Relief misappropriation. More and more evidence keeps surfacing of them claiming not to have money for those rendered homeless by the storm, especially if they are poor and/or PoC, but there is so much extra money that they are using it for development in towns that were barely hit, all those "Stronger than the Storm" Christie campaign ads, and now thy are talking about wasting even more on those ads. Shouldn't we house everyone who was rendered homeless first before using it on these other things? And now the refusal to put legally required oversight in place and the lack of transparency about what exactly all this money was spent on instead of helping actual Sandy survivors. I know we have no proof of graft, but this born and raised in Rizzo/Goode's notoriously corrupt Philly child of a New Jerseyite who was heavily involved in local politics hears "They are refusing to account for the money" and assumes massive graft and/or embezzlement is involved. I don't KNOW that graft and/or embezzlement is is involved, but I can't see any reason they wouldn't simply release the accounts if they weren't hiding massive malfeasance. At this point, I'm mostly wanting to know how much they misappropriated vs. how much they outright stole. I'm pretty sure we are just looking at the tip of the iceberg and would be genuinely shocked if what we've seen as of today is all there is. Again, I'm speculating, but it's based on a knowledge of East Coast real politics and how things work particularly in the tri-state area, politically. (Those of you who know me personally have likely heard my organized vs. disorganized crime rant. The short version is, if you are living in an extremely corrupt system, it is better for someone to be in charge of the corruption, imposing limits and delivering services. Disorganized corruption often means way higher percentages of graft, corruption, etc., but without the services. Yes, little or no corruption is better, but that's usually not the choice in places like Philly. Or Chicago, or New Jersey, or Baltimore, or New York, or.... you get the idea. A city, or state, or country can function with a 10-15% corruption rate as long as the services keep working. A 40-50% rate can pretty much break the system.) I am curious to see what real scrutiny to the whole system will turn up not just with the sandy money, but just generally as far as corruption, graft, abuse of power, etc.. It's like turning on the light and watching the cockroaches scatter.
* NWS: "4,000-year-old erotica depicts a strikingly racy ancient sexuality:" http://www.timesofisrael.com/4000-year-old-erotica-depicts-a-strikingly-racy-ancient-sexuality/
* Greenwick found. Utah Man proposes a law to bar children from using restrooms at their schools: http://kwgn.com/2014/02/01/ut-bill-would-ban-transgender-use-of-school-restrooms/
* I know most of the discussion of Philip Seymour Hoffman's body of work focuses on his eerie impersonation of Capote, and understandably so, but for me, it is his performance in Doubt, that will forever haunt me. I keep trying to figure out how to explain to someone who isn't all that clear on what was so special about his acting, and all I can think of to do is point them at that film. He did some incredibly difficult things, so subtlety that you never saw him working at it and he was so good at throwing himself into what he was doing so entirely, with no vanity or reservations. It's... *gestures helplessly at the film* I am still struggling to express it, and these words are clearly not the right ones. This is why I had so little to say about it yesterday.
As often in these cases, I'm am uncomfortable with the dwelling on the details of his last day on earth. I know that's how some people process, but it seems ghoulish and pointless in the face of addiction and all the little losses that so often lead up to the big one. I do not see how, what he had for his last meal really matters at this point. I think of all the struggles I've watched up close: the lover coming to throw himself at my feet and confessed he'd lapsed again. The boy from Arkansas talking a mile a minute on the phone at 3:00 AM because he'd lapsed again and the speedball wouldn't let him stop. All the friends on again off again alcohol and/or drugs, desperate to stop but seemingly helpless to go longer than a few weeks or months at a time. The ruined throat of a man who was once a boy my friends and I kept an eye on in Eugene. The partner of a college roommate who drowned because he was drunk after more than a decade of alcoholism. The whiff of a stranger today at the library, clearly several days into a bender and drunk at the library at 5PM on a Monday, their sweat telling me the same sad terrible story even though I never turned fast enough to see a face. It's such a terrible thing to happen to anyone, whether it's someone I know or not. I suppose it's so big, that people would rather think about what sort of latte he liked to drink than the helplessness the people around him likely felt over the course of the past year or so, or what it means for his children, who will have to carry this image of their father the rest of their lives.
* Today was bad. Really bad. I don't really want to talk about it, but it involved hours of crying calling around about cat euthanasia for later in the week. (It is looking like I am taking her Wednesday. I know this sounds terrible, but I am hoping she'll die in her sleep between now and then, because she's clearly done and I think it is nicer for her to doe in her own bed than to make a long drive to a strange place in a carrier, but it's crueler to make her literally starve to death).
* Re: The Super Bowl. Look, I'd rather watch paint dry than watch a football or a baseball game, but I grew up in Philly, where the home teams are practically a religion. One absorbs a whole lot of team sports talk whether one wants to or not. People decorated their bumpers or in one case in my neighborhood their whole basement with memorabilia from various college and pro teams from various sports. This means that while I'm never watched a whole football game, I've watched bits (against my will) and heard a lot of talk over the years.
After the whole forced to watch about half a game while people talked endlessly about their fantasy football leagues at Thanksgiving 2012, I formulated a theory which I floated to Greenwick at Welcome to night Vale: Sports fans are geeks. No really, hear me out on this one. They memorize a massive amount of stats and use them to play a game (fantasy football) that takes place on spreadsheets using those stats. The element of chance is in the actual games instead of dice, but really, these guys are role playing being team owners, aren't they? They will also go on at endless length about their teams, players, and various leagues at a length that reminds me of being trapped at the Con with a guy who won't shut up about his high level character no matter how bored the listeners are. Greenwick has since pointed out that a large number of fans routinely cosplay as their favorite players. Seriously, Geeks!
Anyway, over the years of living in sports obsessed Philly, I've heard of a lot of football teams, but I had never even heard of the Sea Hawks as far as I remember until I moved up here for my second Graduate degree. Bellingham is not a hugely demonstrative team sports town. People here are mostly more focused on things like biking, hiking, and snow sports. I live close to Campus, and the local super market does do a special delay when there's a big game and the students do where sport team branded gear above average for the general population. I couldn't miss the difference in enthusiasm in my neighborhood and the higher percentage of people outside of my neighborhood wearing sports gear. I certainly couldn't miss having to make football small talk at most transactions in the last couple of weeks. I admit, as someone with as little interest in football that I have and no plans to watch the Superb Owl ever, I still got kind of excited for Seattle. Here is a team I'd never heard about until I moved here doing really well. I have heard that they have been a really good team the last couple years and it sounds like they deserve it, but for me they feel like under dogs because I've heard so little about them; because it makes people in my region surprisingly happy; because I did not like the creepy racism around the young man who was so enthusiastic in his post game interview. It's not my sport, but I love Seattle as a city, and I love how cheerful Bellingham has been the last few weeks. We're in the grey and changeable part of early Spring here, but it was nice to see so many smiles and so much irrational exuberance.
I don't have to like football or approve of NFL labor practices, particularly around health insurance to be happy for the players and the fans.
* "Sunday Sweets: Groundhog Day:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/2/2/sunday-sweets-groundhog-day.html
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/399670.html. Please comment there using OpenID.