Okay. Squawkbox has been successfully implemented.
A few ground rules:
1) Keep it clean. Let's keep some of the choicer profanity off the comments box. Unless it's really funny. Then you may drop whichever bomb you like.
2) I take no responsibility for anything anybody else says.
3) Make sure to identify yourself.
4) All responses in the form of haiku will receive generous praise.
5) Jamie may use this forum. Please ignore all which she says. She's on a lot of medication, but she still has occasional "episodes". Just ignore whatever she says.
6) Freedom of speech goes both ways. If you post something with a little political vitriol, be prepared for someone else to step up to slap you back. I provide the Squawkbox, but I do not monitor, edit or censor the opinions and blatherings of anyone. Freedom of speech and all that.
7) Lefties and Righties... everybody play nice. "Because you're an imbecile" is not a good debating point. Try to write in that nice 5-paragraph persuasive paper style they taught you in high school. At least make sure you have a point and evidence to back yourself up.
8) Type-o's are fine.
9) "Hoo-AHHHH!" is a legitimate response.
10) Everybody try to have fun. The League is a journal, sure... but it's also intended to be fun most of the time. I haven't posted a squawkbox up to this point as I have been deathly afraid of this site ever turning into some sort of place where people get all crabby with each other.
11) letters are STILL my preferred mode of communication for lengthy discussion, but that may change if you Loyal Leaguers use the comments section well.
Monday, June 07, 2004
Today marked the 60th anniversary of my Grandfather's participation in the Allied invasion of occupied Normandy. My grandfather (Marvin J. Ross) was part of the 82nd Airborne, and was a paratrooper, jumping into France on that infamous day.
It appears that a grandson from my Grandfather's first marriage, Sgt 1st.Class William Marcus Tucker of the 101st Airborne, participated in the reenactment today.
A big thank you to them both for their courage and dedication.
It appears that a grandson from my Grandfather's first marriage, Sgt 1st.Class William Marcus Tucker of the 101st Airborne, participated in the reenactment today.
A big thank you to them both for their courage and dedication.
We were supposed to be going to Austin this weekend, but it didn't pan out. Lots of things came up, and Jamie's been not feeling great on and off for a few weeks, so it just wasn't a good time to go. We had some other family business which I am still wrestling with, and I still haven't resolved it all.
The biggest problem with big issues is that, very often, you don't see them coming. Or you ignore the warning signs until it's too late. I'm desperately guilty of ignoring the warning signs in both my professional and personal life, and so things tend to smack upside the head a lot harder than they should.
Which is why I need a pair of minute Japanese fairies.
The Godzilla films from Toho feature a pair of parakeet sized magical girls referred to, as best I can tell or remember, as "The Cosmos". It helps to understand that Godzilla is not, in the Japanese films, a stupid animal. Godzilla is sort of a living angry god who only stomps Japan when it's time for the arrogant humans to learn an important lesson about, say, recycling. Godzilla's not exactly benign, but he wouldn't show up if the humans didn't keep screwing up. After all, Godzilla also protects Japan from a series of invaders (like FRANKENSTEIN! and SPACEGODZILLA!). Of course, some monsters are even MORE nice than Godzilla, such as Mothra.
Anyway, the Cosmos show up just before things go sour, to forewarn of Godzilla's impending rampage. These cute little elves can also sing to soothe Godzilla and keep him from using his atomic breath to level the Starbucks.
And given their usefulness (and the likelihood I would listen to the tiny little munchkins more closely than an evil corporate tycoon), I conclude that I need the Cosmos to help me avert personal and professional disaster. Anyone spotting two minute Japanese women dressing alike and showing a penchant for singing, please forward them to The League. (Molly, your help here is greatly appreciated).
The biggest problem with big issues is that, very often, you don't see them coming. Or you ignore the warning signs until it's too late. I'm desperately guilty of ignoring the warning signs in both my professional and personal life, and so things tend to smack upside the head a lot harder than they should.
Which is why I need a pair of minute Japanese fairies.
The Godzilla films from Toho feature a pair of parakeet sized magical girls referred to, as best I can tell or remember, as "The Cosmos". It helps to understand that Godzilla is not, in the Japanese films, a stupid animal. Godzilla is sort of a living angry god who only stomps Japan when it's time for the arrogant humans to learn an important lesson about, say, recycling. Godzilla's not exactly benign, but he wouldn't show up if the humans didn't keep screwing up. After all, Godzilla also protects Japan from a series of invaders (like FRANKENSTEIN! and SPACEGODZILLA!). Of course, some monsters are even MORE nice than Godzilla, such as Mothra.
Anyway, the Cosmos show up just before things go sour, to forewarn of Godzilla's impending rampage. These cute little elves can also sing to soothe Godzilla and keep him from using his atomic breath to level the Starbucks.
And given their usefulness (and the likelihood I would listen to the tiny little munchkins more closely than an evil corporate tycoon), I conclude that I need the Cosmos to help me avert personal and professional disaster. Anyone spotting two minute Japanese women dressing alike and showing a penchant for singing, please forward them to The League. (Molly, your help here is greatly appreciated).
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
For some reason if you Google for "Melbotis" today, this site comes up...
What, exactly, are they insinuating that The League needs?
I suspect the linkage is due to my earlier posts about the host of an Alzare infomercial.
What, exactly, are they insinuating that The League needs?
I suspect the linkage is due to my earlier posts about the host of an Alzare infomercial.
Yesterday my brother e-mailed me to snap me back from my reverie and remind me that, even now, Austin is hitting the high-90's and 80% humidity. Even this did not dissuade me from my illusions. After all, it is supposed to be 111 degrees here in Chandler by Friday. When we cross the 110 threshold for two days in a row, I am often heard to declare loudly that I wish I were dead.
Before I ever blog in the morning, I try to make it a practice to see what my little blogging loop of Dedman, Randy and Molly are up to. I was surprised my posting pinged off anyone at all, let alone would it cause others to blog in response.
Dedman blogged on it here (drawing Garrison Keillor comparisons that I can only take as a compliment, I guess). And also twice here, where he brings up a hilarious quote concerning nostalgia, and points over to where Molly shares my sentiment regarding Austin summers.
1) I'm not sure about the actual chronology of O'Henry's stay in Austin vis a vis the introduction of the Moon Towers, but at one point Austin was illuminated by a series of "Moon Towers", meant to keep the streets lit in an era after the gas lamp. These towers (seen most famously in Dazed and Confused) gave off a blue/ purple glow. Which might account for the Violet Crown. Or he might have just been drunk. At any rate, several of the towers remain standing and unused. You can still spot them around town.
2) I did not just spend 4 years of college in Austin. I moved to Austin when I was in 4th grade, and moved the summer after 9th. I returned in 1993 for college, spent 5 glorious years getting kicked around UT. I then lived and worked there until May 31st, 2002. In the end, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-15 years I lived in Austin, which is far longer than I've lived anywhere else. I graduated, got educated and got my first real job in Austin. I even got married down on Live Oak (just South of Mary). My brother and many of my friends still live and work there. So, kids, to me, Austin is homebase.
Was it a time of limited responsibility and all that while I was waiting for life to begin? Tough to say. I never really had any plans for moving on past that stage. After all, it was pretty pleasant.
3) How can you not miss those disgusting rats of the sky, the grackles? They're unbearably loud, they poo everywhere and, for some reason, they're considered endangered. Which means UT employs someone to go around with a shotgun filled with blanks so they can scare off the birds in the evening hours (which, as we all know from the condition of the pavement around UT, must have made the groundskeeper responsible feel a bit like Sisyphus). Grackels are as omnipresent as musicians and sound engineers in Austin, and baffle the mind with their shameless aggressiveness... I had a grackle try to share my fries once at Mad Dogs and Beans.
But here's the deal: As I no longer live in Austin and have moved to the desert, I have noticed that NOTHING GOOD LIVES IN THE DESERT. All of those squirrels and birds you see everyday when you look out your window? I've got none of that. Occasionally birds perch on the fence or in a tree, but you're never going to see an opossum hanging from your tree here. You're never going to see a squirrel jumping from your fence to your garage. You will see a lizard or spider occasionally skitter by, but that's about it. Disney didn't fib in their old nature films when they discussed how the desert is abundant with life, you just need to look for it... but a lot of the life is poisonous or creepy. So I try not to turn over rocks out here unless I have to.
I'll be curious to follow the talkback threads over on www.jdedman.com and on Osakatomebaby. The former Austinites are coming out of the woodwork.
Before I ever blog in the morning, I try to make it a practice to see what my little blogging loop of Dedman, Randy and Molly are up to. I was surprised my posting pinged off anyone at all, let alone would it cause others to blog in response.
Dedman blogged on it here (drawing Garrison Keillor comparisons that I can only take as a compliment, I guess). And also twice here, where he brings up a hilarious quote concerning nostalgia, and points over to where Molly shares my sentiment regarding Austin summers.
1) I'm not sure about the actual chronology of O'Henry's stay in Austin vis a vis the introduction of the Moon Towers, but at one point Austin was illuminated by a series of "Moon Towers", meant to keep the streets lit in an era after the gas lamp. These towers (seen most famously in Dazed and Confused) gave off a blue/ purple glow. Which might account for the Violet Crown. Or he might have just been drunk. At any rate, several of the towers remain standing and unused. You can still spot them around town.
2) I did not just spend 4 years of college in Austin. I moved to Austin when I was in 4th grade, and moved the summer after 9th. I returned in 1993 for college, spent 5 glorious years getting kicked around UT. I then lived and worked there until May 31st, 2002. In the end, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-15 years I lived in Austin, which is far longer than I've lived anywhere else. I graduated, got educated and got my first real job in Austin. I even got married down on Live Oak (just South of Mary). My brother and many of my friends still live and work there. So, kids, to me, Austin is homebase.
Was it a time of limited responsibility and all that while I was waiting for life to begin? Tough to say. I never really had any plans for moving on past that stage. After all, it was pretty pleasant.
3) How can you not miss those disgusting rats of the sky, the grackles? They're unbearably loud, they poo everywhere and, for some reason, they're considered endangered. Which means UT employs someone to go around with a shotgun filled with blanks so they can scare off the birds in the evening hours (which, as we all know from the condition of the pavement around UT, must have made the groundskeeper responsible feel a bit like Sisyphus). Grackels are as omnipresent as musicians and sound engineers in Austin, and baffle the mind with their shameless aggressiveness... I had a grackle try to share my fries once at Mad Dogs and Beans.
But here's the deal: As I no longer live in Austin and have moved to the desert, I have noticed that NOTHING GOOD LIVES IN THE DESERT. All of those squirrels and birds you see everyday when you look out your window? I've got none of that. Occasionally birds perch on the fence or in a tree, but you're never going to see an opossum hanging from your tree here. You're never going to see a squirrel jumping from your fence to your garage. You will see a lizard or spider occasionally skitter by, but that's about it. Disney didn't fib in their old nature films when they discussed how the desert is abundant with life, you just need to look for it... but a lot of the life is poisonous or creepy. So I try not to turn over rocks out here unless I have to.
I'll be curious to follow the talkback threads over on www.jdedman.com and on Osakatomebaby. The former Austinites are coming out of the woodwork.
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