2007 Year in Review

Today, had a good lightsaber workout with Matthew. The force is strong with him, but, as you can see, he knows the power of the dark side:



As this year comes to a close, we can finally consider the tremendous change it has brought.That we got through it at all is a testament to the tremendous support of family and friends, our own organizational skills (mostly donna's), and a whole lotta luck.

We started 2007 with our Phil and Lois, and our friends in Walpole (MA), playing parlor games and enjoying their teriffic company. Tony came and stayed a weekend in late January, with Matthew, and we watched the Patriots lose (the Pats lose?) to the Colts. Ouch. Sorry bout that, Matthew, but it has gotten a little better for the Pats since. Changes in my professional life are, by tradition, connected to visits with my brother, so I began my new job search in February. In March, I had my interview at Bentley, and got the job offer and the housing offer that same weekend - could hardly believe it.

We made a return trip in April to tie up some loose ends and check out the (new) house, and then we got ready to put our old house on the market. We had our open house on May 6th, and sold the house the next day - could hardly believe that, too (thanks Dottie!).

Donna finished her certificate program on June 5th. We had our Big Good Bye Blow Out on June 9th; we were so happy to see so many people before leaving! I finished up at Rivers the next week. The moving truck came on June 22nd. Then we moved out, closed on the house, and flew west on June 25h. We spent July 4th unpacking; and a few weeks later, my Mom and Dad came to stay a while in Berkeley, and we experienced our first California earthquake. That didn't take long, either.

August was about settling into our new place, setting up the new Computer Lab, and starting my new job. By September, we were old hands, and October brought a Red Sox World Series Championship. Looking back it hardly seems possible that all these things lined up, happened, and/or got done. I hope we don't have to move again too soon.

And so the sun sets on 2007 - for us, it has truly been an amazing year. Thank you and Happy New Year, everybody.

California Xmas No 1

click here to play

School has been on December Holiday now for about a week; I've been out playing golf and walking the Berkeley Hills. While the eastern half of the country has seen some early weather, we've been in the mid-50s. Folks here complain abut how cold the mornings are out on the fairways, and I remind them that they are playing golf a week before Christmas.

Went to Tony and Kris' in Hillsborough for an early Xmas gathering. Matthew is at that age where the excitement of the holiday is really peaking, and it's just fun to watch the kids enjoy the gifts and the general spirit of the occasion. This year, Matthew discovered Star Wars, as evidenced by the Darth Vader helmet and the lightsabers. Sophia immediately fell in love with her wooden blocks and wagon set. She climbed right up on the table to inspect her new toy. And several times during the evening, Matthew mentioned that he was "shaking", he was so excited.

The lightsabers were a particularly memorable gift. These are made by Master Replicas, and are amazing in their details and function. There is some kind of gyroscope inside that can tell if the blade is being swung or struck, and respnds with the appropriate sound effect: red (Darth Maul), green (Yoda), and blue (Luke Skywalker) - beautiful holidays lights. Nothing says Merry Chrsitmas like the power of the Force.

Back at home, I got a little potted Monterey Pine, and installed some twinkle lights in the frieze that runs at the edge of the ceiling, around the living room, dining room, and kitchen. You can see the lights of Berkeley and San Francisco in the windows beyond. Happy holidays everyone!

Breaking News - Situation Normal

I got into the habit of checking the MSM websites because when I worked for a big company (SSRM/MetLife), the "higher-ups" got their tech news from these sites. So I was in CYA mode. Plus, new computers tend to come with MSM links preloaded, and I am a bit lazy on the housekeeping. In any case, I opened up CNN this morn to see the headline above: "Innocent people going about their daily lives" and thought I had mistakenly clicked the link for The Onion. Obviously, when I checked the story, I understood the headline, but I was still in this kind of fake news, truthiness place.

Last night, on Nightline, the big story was a profile of the mall shooter in Omaha - these incessant cries of "why did he do that" echoing the (media-generated) fear in all those cries of "why do the terrorist hate us" from six years ago. People gotta get a grip: in Baghdad, a day when only eight people get shot is a sign that our War Against Extreme Fundamentalism is "succeeding" [end airquotes]. Which side of the MSM's mouthes do we want to listen to? Do we really need an explanation for the shooting or the terror act? Was there ever a time we cold have prevented the death of innocents? Is it important that we measure someone's the guilt or innocence?

Or do we need some unbelievable and intensely immediate news item to help sell ED drugs?

Though the headline above might suggest otherwise, it sure seems like we should have passed the tipping point where these acts become the norm, or maybe the expected, and we are just living, if not in Baghdad, in The Onion World.

Or maybe we just want so much that the world not be the way we've made it, that the expected becomes the news.

How Long for the PS3 Version?

This is not a an image from a new video game, or the next sci-fi movie prop, this is the headgear being designed by the Royal Air Force to work with the new Joint Strike Fighter jet ...



from the "Switched" blog:

" New Pilot Helmet Allows Terminator Like X-Ray Vision

The British military is testing a new helmet that allows fighter pilots to see through their planes.

The system is actually very elegant in its simplicity. A series of camera are placed on the outside of the plane. The images from the cameras are fed back to the cockpit where they are projected inside the specially designed helmet, allowing the pilot to see 360 degrees around him/her. It will look to the pilot as if there is no plane at all... which, now that we think about it, sounds kinda creepy.

The cameras will even have infrared sensors, allowing pilots to look down, through the cockpit floor, in the dead of night, and identify targets."

Particularly interesting is that this visioning technology is being used on a jet with stealth technology to allow pilots to be able to see "as if the plane was not there". In other words, the plane is invisible to both the folks on the ground and the pilot!

One wonders at what point we'll even need to have pilots in the plane, and this really does become a video game.

Jessie

This is the saddest news: our friend Jessie Doktor passed away today. She was nine. For some years now she has fought leukemia. This summer she had a new kind of cord-blood, stem-cell, marrow transplant. About a week ago she got an bad infection.


I love this picture of her not just cause of she's wearing a Red Sox cap in New York, or that she's in front of the Apple Store. She was such a fighter with an intense, competitive will. But I love her smile, that sneaky grin.

Video Tribute: Jessica Rose Doktor
If you want to know her better, here's Jessie in her own words.
And here's a Boston Globe article by Erica Tochin

Her mother writes: "And if you would…please fold some paper cranes. As many as you can. We will post how and where to deliver them…and we’re not yet sure how we’ll use them…but we would like to have at least 1000 paper cranes in Jessie’s honor."

Guess I'll start folding.

An Outpost of Red Sox Nation

"If I fail, it's going to be with my pants." - Manny Ramirez, post-game interview, Oct 6, 2007

Before I left the Boston area, my co-workers gave me the pre-requsite going-away novelties. Among the books and trinkets were quite a few Red Sox souvenirs - the kind of things you'd never buy for yourself. From the other side, my brother tried to welcome me to the East Bay with a fitted, wool A's cap, one of the black ones (actually, quite sharp and probably a little pricey for a cap!). Everything is carefully scattered around my new place, as any superstitious Boston fan should have it, to maximize baseball karma - pictured above, a Manny Ramirez 24 wrist band on a model of Fenway Park sits on my desk 

Meanwhile, I watched the end of the season on MLB-TV, and have tried to tolerate TBS Hot Corner during the playoffs. Worst. Baseball. Chat. Ever. Worse even than enduring a Tim McCarver broadcast. Imagine two fixed camera video feeds (pitcher-cam and dugout-cam), the most basic graphic display in one corner, and the TBS commentary crew in the other - four "hot corners". The discussion between the commentators is so simplisctic that, to my ears, it doesn't sound like they are really talkng about baseball; maybe they're watching a game of cricket. Setting MLB Gameday over the Hot Corner ads, so that the video feeds are still visible, makes it a little less incoherent.

But the distance, the sub-standard video, and the plain awful commentary aside, it's been all good for the Red Sox so far. Yesterday was particularly exhiliarating, of course, but also infuriating for all the above reasons. Phenomenal cosmic baseball; itty bitty media experience.

I loved the "bug-out" at the Jake that cast a kind of "Romo and the Cowboys" shadow on Joba and the Yankees. At that moment, TBS had commentary from former catchers John Marzano (Red Sox) and Jim Leyritz (Yankees). They could not stop talking about the bugs, the studio furniture, or A-Rod long enough to tell us what was going on with the game. Fortunately, in that sequence, there was all this activity I *could* see on pitcher-cam (bugs, walk, wild pitch, bunt, bugs, wild pitch, play at plate, tying run scores).

At the end of the Indians game, in extra innings, the "hostess" (Heather Catlin) was dumb-founded by Torre's choice to walk Sizemore with the winning run on third to setup a force at home and a right-righty match-up. I was now yelling at the TV: shut-up you're ruining this for me! I hit the "mute" button. After Cabrera popped out (semi-validating Torre's decision), Hafner delivers. That was an awesome end to an awsome game, but I don't think Catlin or her chatters delivered the drama of the moment at all - so, what is the point of their commentary?

All this would have made perfect sense, I think, to any RS fan, but was completely lost on these the TBS staffers. If Cabrera had grounded into a double-play, would Caitlin have understood the significance of the IBB? I honestly doubt it.

Worse was the anti-Bartman moment at Fenway with the TBS chat crew who could not understand that 17 year-old Danny Vinik's catch was absolutely *not* fan interference. I couldn't see the play, so I had to take their word on it that it *was* interference. When I saw the replay, I was floored because it was so clearly legal, and described as such by the broadcasters. And at first I thought I saw Pedroia cross the plate on pitcher-cam (it might have been a bat boy?), so I thought he was tagging. Imagine that pop foul; a little further down the line, and if not for Lowell's sac fly, that fan-catch might have cost the Red Sox a run. Then how does Vinik feel?

So I spent the night cheering with joy at the action (the parts that I could make out) and screaming furiously at the commentators; it was a strange case of baseball schizophrenia that perhaps only a Red Sox fan who had lived for a while in Cleveland Heights and now found himself in Berkeley might understand.

OTOH, pitcher-cam was perfect for Manny's walk-off dinger. He stood there for quite a while with his arms strait up in the air, and I knew. And like the rest of the Fenway crowd, my arms were strait up, too. The commentary was simply, "Ooooo." The replay showed the ball flying *over* the Coke bottles - that ball was c-r-u-s-h-e-d. Perfect coverage. 

Anyway, I'm off for the long weekend (thank you Christopher Columbus!) to see my folks in Oregon. 

And they have a dish.

UPDATE: After typing the above on my Treo during the plane ride from Oakland, I arrived at the parents house to find that the digital satellite service has been termintated. My father's new passion is DVD karaoke. D-oh. I wonder if they have "Tessie" on that thing.

Another Neighborhood Walk (with Stairs)

First a little baseball gloating ...

Last night Donna and I hooked the MacBook to the big TV, and watched on the internet as Dice-K pitched a gem. After the Red Sox won their game, we switched MLB-TV "channels" over to the Orioles and Yankees game, doing our best to duplicate the experience of the fans in Boston. We cheered like crazy when the O's tied it up against Rivera, and then could hardly believe it when Mora laid down the bunt. The unlikeliness of that series of events (plus the Red Sox and Yankees role reversal) seemed to make clinching the Division extra special; what a celebration. I loved all the comments on SoSH and YF-vs-SF. We celebrated the Red Sox' AL East Division title by watching a bunch of internet videos late into the night. It was great to hear Bob Lobel and Dan Roche bring the celebration to us from Fenway. It's weird being so disant -- and then not distant.

But this morning the fog broke, and we got one of those glorious California mornings. We went for a little walk and we're finding more and more of these public walkways and stairs hidden in the hills. It's an amazing area. Here's a little slide show for you:

My Parents as Goth-Rock Fans

Trying to put last night's ridiculous Red Sox loss to the Yankees out of my mind, and while running errands this morning, I stumbled on this odd article re-printed from the LA Times in today's Oakland Tribune (click for story):



The article is about Chthonic, a Taiwanese death metal rock band. Imagine, if you will or can, KISS with strait black hair and a real serious attitude (click to go to their myspace page). They are currently touring in the US with Ozzfest, and their fans often include middle-aged (and older) Taiwanese-Americans. Evidently, one their songs, "UNlimited Taiwan", has become an anthems of sorts for the independence movement, which is hoping that the UN will recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. Here is the song played along with a montage of the independence movement -- the myspace video description reads, "This is a short film by Director, Cheng Wen-tang. It's not a Music Video" (click to play):

UNlimited TAIWAN Short Film (Not Music Video)

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Even though it's not a "music video", the video piece actually fits well with the song, and focuses attention on Taiwan's exclusion from the World Health Organization (WHO), something my parents have been working hard to do something about. Definitely a great way to focus a new audience, and connect what would normally be divergent audiences with common goals -- but I have a hard time picturing my folks moshing at the foot of the stage, waving little flags.

But, whatever it takes. Rock on you guys.

The Spiders are in Charge

Tho it's not as bad as the "giant spider web in Texas" (why is everything big in Texas?), but the spiders here are just all over the place. True from the day we moved in, we've been running into, and cleaning spider webs all the time. Odd, as I don't think there are many bugs around at all, except maybe a few moths. I went out this AM to try to take pictures of the Bay Bridge closing (too foggy), and got covered with a web! And here's the busy little guy rebuilding:

It's such a strange day, and I really feel like the whole summer phase-shift thing is done now. I've started my job and started teaching my class; the Lab is pretty much done by now and the wave of tech issues resulting from the return of the faculty is behind me. The Bay Bridge is closed on Labor Day Weekend for this crazy construction thing, and the first Cal football game of the year is on. Tunnel Road is a mess. I had no idea we were so close to the Stadium that people would be *upstream* from us on Tunnel Road scamming tickets ("Anyone need tickets?"). It's like popping out of the T Station at Kenmore on Red Sox game day, only these guys are are barking at the traffic jam. And the traffic jam is a block or two from my front door. That's really strange.

So here we are, in our own happy little web. Our back to the Hills and Tunnel Road in front of us. We are caught here, but I am fine with that for now.

A Walk Around the Neighborhood

Went for a walk after dinner and snapped a few pics.

We moved to an area of fires and earthquakes, but it is a really beautiful neighborhood. It was wiped clean about fifteen years ago by a big wildfire. All the homes are new and crazy big, and they scamper up the hills in the most amazing ways; it's hard to show in pictures. And stylistically, the homes stretch the American vernacular - from pseudo-colonial, to California Mission, to "real new".

A guy from Berkeley Public Works told me that our house and the one across the street were really the only two buildings to come through the fires intact. It's strange that it should all feel like an established area and a new development at the same time.

Reunion Pictures

Irene's father just moved to the neighbohood, and stopped by for a chat.

David, Aenoch, and some meat. 

Lapoe, Aenoch, and some meat; Kris and Sophia are all smiles.

Sophia.

Penny and David get a piano lesson from Matthew.

David at the helm of the shark.

Shark vs. Sea Monster!

Earthquake

From CNN: " A 4.2-magnitude earthquake shook the San Francisco area Friday at 4:42 a.m. PT (7:42 a.m. ET), the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake was centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland, at a depth of 3.6 miles, the USGS said. Oakland is just east of San Francisco, across San Francisco Bay. " The other thing centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland is our new home. What an introduction to be shaken from sleep -- espcially while my parents were visting (they've lived in SF before and did not seem too alarmed). And then the local news folks launch into fear-generation mode, telling us that the Hayward Fault is due for a "big one" relatively soon. Good gracious. I just moved on top of this (from Wikipedia): "Of all the region's large faults, the Hayward (and) Rodgers Creek fault system is considered most likely to create the next major destructive earthquake in the region." Yikes. But nothing really was damaged; actually, nothing much moved at all. The quake was incredibly short and sudden. Donna said it was like being on a train. Maybe we should install straps and handles, like they have in the subways.

Californians

Well, hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I heard it was kinda wet and cool in New England. It was hot here -- about 80 degrees. I guess 80 is the new hot. This weather is going to take some getting used to. We finally got the TV going and were able to listen to the local forecast. Boy, the meteorologists here have to deal with 60's at the coast and 100's inland.

But the night cooled off nice. Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy (smoggy?), so we could not really see the big fireworks off Fisherman's Wharf very well; we could not really get the spray of color and the full size of the bursts. But we could see fireworks that were (I think) at the Berkeley Marina better, but that display was smaller.

Slowly unpacking. My car is here; that's a relief. Today, I wired my bookshelves to the wood ceiling (they are in front of a mirror, so I could not secure it to the wall). I hear they got a thing out here: earthquakes.

Arrival in Berkeley

Well, Earthlink messed me up and I could not get online at home. Sorry it took a while to post this -- we did not fall off the face of the planet. Here is last night's sunset:

 Also note that the phone number we had been giving out previous (with the 295 prefix) was never in service. Again, Earthlink.

The past few days have been filled with cleaning and shopping for cleaning supplies. It's kind of a strange thing to wait in an empty house for your stuff to get to you, you feel passive and helpless. So we pass the time by cleaning. This morning I checked the moving van's status, and it's in Gallup, NM. Soon.

It's been sunny and about 70 degrees for the past few days. The streets here are wide and well marked; both the pedestrians and the drivers are much more patient than in Boston. Still, there are letters in the Berkeley Daily Planet about citizen concerns regarding the lack of respect shown on the streets. Hmmm.

Every Friday there is a group that displays an "impeachment" banner. We missed the show this morning, but may have to join them at some point. Then we'll have arrived in Berkeley. For sure.

Leaving MA

This is my last night as a resident of Massachusetts. On Thursday afternoon, a bunch of people came to the house and jammed all our stuff into boxes. Friday morning this really big truck showed up and three guys took all the boxes:

Tomorrow we close the sale and get a big check; the buyers get a mortgage and some keys. Then it's off to the airport and our flight bound for Oakland. 

The last few days have been amazing. Saying goodbyes and thinking about how it's been living here in and near Boston for over twenty years. To all who came to see us off at our big (and very crowded!) party a couple of Saturdays ago, to the one guy who showed up when no one was here (Steve!), and especially to those who took old furniture and made the move super smooth (Kim & Dan, Michelle, Rose, Anthony & Heather, Norma, Matt, Robert & Jeanine, Justin, and Mary & Greely) -- thank you! Extra thanks to Peter and Pam for staying over and dealing with the old computer stuff (more on the way!).

To our long-time neighbors: Joe & Martha, Annette & David, Peg & Gary, and Glen & Joanne: thaks for always being there with a snow plow or a soldering torch. You guys are the best. 

We love you all. We're moving the party to the west coast, so come see us.

MADRacing Shift Paddles

I've been looking and asking around for shift paddles for the DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) in the Audi TT for a while. Others have replaced the standard plastic paddles with the slightly larger aluminum paddles from the VW R32, but I was holding out for something that really changed the shape and usefulness of the paddles. I finally found what I was looking for from MADRacing of Portland, OR.

Before:

After:

These paddle are significantly taller than even the R32 paddles -- much, much easier to hit from a regular 10-n-2 drving position on the steering wheel. The design and execution are tremendous; on par with OEM fittings. They look and feel like they should have been there all along.

Moving from Boston to Berkeley

Well, we are down to our last month in the Boston area. All our preparations seem to be moving ahead as smoothly as we could possible hope [knock wood]. Google Earth says this is going to be our new view of the world:

Looks pretty good -- boy, the Sutro Tower looks really tall in Google Earth (black vertical thing on the horizon).

My new job will provide me plenty of welcome challenges, I think -- I'll get to work with technology in a classroom setting. Plus it's starting to get real toasty in Boston. Every time I've been out there, and every time I've cheked weather.com, it seems to be sunny and mid-70s in Berkeley.

But I just finished 8th grade portfolio reviews at Rivers, and the melancholy is starting to set in, too. Listening to the kids talk about the changes in their lives has made me consider my own. This may be a rather lonley summer, as my new co-workers will not be at my new school again til fall, and we don't really kow anyone else in the neighborhood. Tho we'll be settling in and setting up the new house, I think I'll miss Boston, and Rivers a lot during those weeks.

And the Red Sox are winning and I leave town -- an interesting (a)symmetry given that we moved to Boston in the summer of 1986. I made one last trip to Fenway: Braves at Red Sox, May 19th. Imagine the nastiest, cold-drizzly night game (the second of a double-header). The Red Sox got killed, 14-0, and it never really stopped raining, but in the bottom of the 9th inning, the crowd was still strong and loud, and very wet (Mr. Chang, this is for you):

Go Red Sox.

Kites and Sand

It never fails that when I travel to the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston gets pounded by some bad weather. Mid-March, I came west to interview, and Boston got a coating of snow. Last weekend we travelled west to check out our new house in Berkeley, and Boston got a crazy Nor-easter. Not one to pass-up a chance to enjoy the good weather, we went kite flying with Matthew and Tony:

We told Matthew about our friend Jessie Doktor and her family back in Boston, waiting out the storm in Children's Hospital while she under-went chemo. We visited Jessie before leaving for San Fran, and were told about the Doktor Family's "sand from around the world" collection. So here is Matthew collecting some sand for Jessie:

This is sand from Fort Funston on the Pacific Coast. The dunes over-looking the shore were blanketed in flowering ground-cover of cacti or succulents -- squishy! It was a very windy day, as we were to find out later when we lost a kite (thankfully recovered). We had a great time, and were glad we might be able to share it with the Doktor Familty, too!

Boundaries, Narcissism, and the Deep Economy

I am on a flight to Chicago and considering an article in the Globe about a recent narcissistic tendency among our (American) youth. I suppose it's easy to condemn the current generation's non-chalance about our consumerism, but this article drove home some specific points about expectations of happiness versus misery generated by this narcissism.

The article highlights a study conducted by a team lead by Jean Twenge at San Diego State University: "The researchers describe their study as the largest ever of its type and say students' inventory scores have risen steadily since the test was introduced in 1982. By 2006, they said, two-thirds of the students had above-average scores, 30 percent more than in 1982."

I am also in the middle of Bill McKibben's new book on the Deep Economy, which also tries to weigh materialism and happiness. McKibben talks about consumption models that allows the following equation: "the most economically productive citizen is a cancer patient who totals his car on the way to meet with his divorce lawyer". Though I gotta think there's a cheaper way to remove oneself as an economic burden than destroying a car and holding up traffic, I take his point: our society values things on their economic merits.

And, of course, our nation's materialism is built on the labor of others; others who are paid a pittance of the money we actually spend. Another example referenced by McKibben (from "Not on the Label" by Felicity Lawrence) describes a Ugandan coffee worker who was told the cost of Starbuck's coffee: his eyes welled with tears when he realized people willingly paid the equivalent of 5,000 Ugandan shillings per cup, and he made about 200 shillings -- per kilo!

I think these two memes intersect at some dark point where the set of items that define our 'self' is so large, that we loose ourselves in that crowd. For example, McKibben compares a young Chinese factory worker's intense reaction to receiving one plush toy, to his own daughter's bland satisfaction in having another to add to her pile.

The implication of the Globe article is that the constant reinforcement of "specialness" creates a kind of needy, compulsive behavior that I think of as an addiction. And I've been pondering solutions, assuming 'cold turkey' is not a viable option.

Unexpectedly, I flash to the reaction of our students to our school's dress code -- at every opportunity they stretch it, do a lawyer-act on it, loophole it, and otherwise ignore it. There are two topics we cannot escape at Admin Team meetings: parking and dress code. The kids really hate being told what to wear (and where to park their increasingly large vehicles).

But I'm starting to see this as an addict's dysfunction. An addict's behavior, our psychologist friends tell us, is marked by an inability to establish boundaries. I understand the concept as: if you can't deny yourself some random thing or behavior (fill in the blank), you can't break your dependance.

So it really bothers me when I have to explain or justify the dress code, because the reason to enforce it is basically existential. If I can't trust the kids to follow a simple, clear dress code, how far can I trust them?

In fact, the general experience of air travel provides example after example of people not paying attention to simple requests. People don't wait for their seating number to be called, they crowd the jetway door. People don't turn off their cell phones when asked, they squeeze in one more minute. I've been watching them all day. It's astounding.

Where does all this mental wandering get us? For me, this is about a generational justice: that we have squandered the earth's bounty, imperiled the earth's future, and taught our kids how to fiddle while the planet burns for the next 100 years. Yeah, that's about as dark as it could possibly get.

Well, but if we get this right, we will have basically stared down and solved the most incredibly large and daunting world problem, ever. What kind of world would be on the other side of "done"? Imagine a world all fixed up, sustainable, with power and food and water -- and justice. What else is there? I think we start building the Starship Enterprise and looking for Vulcans at that point.

The first step to recovery is recognition. And, of course, I'm not immune to the addiction. I'm flying over the New York farms described in McKibben's book, adding to the CO2, thumb-typing this blog post into my Palm Treo.

Hi, my name is Winston, and I love my car.

Having a Frank Grimes Moment

Litebob Squarefinger. Boston was sent over the edge this week by the sudden, scattered appearance of strange electronic devices with these obscene little emoticons:


click for Globe article

In this, the "Week of the Super Bowl" and it's advertizing "blitz", what could be appropriate than a terror attack from the Cartoon Network? The reaction of the blogosphere, and of many of my friends and assoicates, has sent me into Frank Grimes-like spasms of disbelief: Ahg! Aiwt! Emg! Ufpk!


Recall: Frank Grimes was a character from a Simpsons episode that went nuts cause everyone around him actually was nuts. Exposed to the insanity of Homer's careless and lazy behavior at the nuclear power plant, and compounded by the acceptance of this behavior by all others at the plant, he snaps. So follow me thru this, and see if I snap -- the blogosphere seems to think this whole thing hilariously funny. It seems to think that the folks in Boston over-reacted, sending in the Bomb Squad to explode some cartoon ad made of Lite Brites.

Boston got punkd. Boston got pwned. Boston got its panties all twisted. Boston is clueless. Laugh at Boston:
"And, uh, the real fake bombs?" on Blue Mass Group
"Attack of the Killer Cartoons ..." on Democratic Underground

Let's put this in context. If you work for some branch of emergency services, your Wednesday morning included a fake pipe bomb at a big hospital in central Boston and mysterious packages found on two busy bridges over the Charles; concurrent with a series of puzzling reports of electronic devices attached to bridge abutments and under highway overpasses. Connect these with other reports of security alerts in other cities (in Britain and Washington DC), and there is no way anyone should think that the reposnse professionals in Boston over-reacted. They responded just as they should.

By contrast consider that the two "performance artsits" were told by their advertising employers that they should keep quiet while chaos reigned around them. After their court appearance, they launched into a non-sequitor about 70s hair styles while claiming their seriousness and sincerity. Tell me you don't feel the pangs of Frank Grimes. Aiwt! Ufpk!

But almost worse than all this is the sense that a huge number of the "informed public" (Olbermann!) has gotten this completely wrong. In fact, they seem to be encouraging the perpetrators to not only continue dumping on Boston, but ot rub Boston's collective nose in it. That there is some "reason filter" that is not set quite right, or some "logic mechanism" is just not switching on.

There are other examples in recent headlines: the lady who wanted to win a Nintendo and drank so much water she died. The mental giants running the radio show explained to callers warning of the danger, "They signed releases so we're not responsible, okay?". So even after these mooks were told of the danger, they did not tell the contestants, or even consider having some medical consultant available for them. And still the comments to the news posts include many responses that basically blamed the dead woman for drinking the water. She was punkd. She was pwned. She was clueless.

Yes, and rape victims wear short skirts. I guess in a world where people eat bugs on TV to win money, this seem like acceptable behavior. If you're a rube, you deserve it.

Similarly, our national conscience is fixed to "American Idol" not just for the winners, but for the losers: we love those early episodes and the delusional wailers who think they have a shot. We even take some of the"best losers" and push them into the spot light, like William Hung. We've taken schadenfreude to a whole other level.

Further consider how lucky, really, the folks in Boston were that there was not some other "big thing": a big apartment building on fire, or even some ambulance headed to MGH stuck at Charles Circle with a life-threatening situation. What are the consequences of installing home-made, enigmatic, electronic ads in a City famous for its congestion? And for what? Ads? Contests? It's funny, huh? Ahg! Emg!

Finally, folks pay for billboards for a reason: you can't just paint big ads on the sides of skyscrapers. It's not your property. There are places for ads. "Artists" who spray paint graffitti on trains and buildings know they are committing a crime; defacing property is a crime. Over the summer, other city administrators in Philly were all upset over a Sony PSP ad campaign that paid graffitti artists to deface buildings with prescribed images -- but Sony actually paid for the wall spaces.

Or if ad tag lines are your language, let's use the one from Apple: Think Different. It seems that folks no longer have the ability to distinguish between "different" thinking and no thinking at all.

There are good places for ads and there are bad places; responsible behavior and irresponsible. There are art installations and there are crimes. When (when!?) did it become "okay" to attach a homemade electronic device to a column holding up a highway? I don't care what reason you have for doing it -- advertising, mooniniting, 70s hair styling, whatever -- when did that become a acceptable thing to do?

This accepance would reduce our basic economic relationships down to a giant network of confidence games: tricksters and marks. Anything goes as long as you're "in the know", and if you're not, it's your own fault for being a dope. The answers were right there on the internet, just search Google for "zebbler", d-uh. You were the idiot for not looking. Sucker.

Oxymorons: jumbo shrimp, reality-TV, marketing-genius.

Here's the litmus test -- ask yourself: what if the "artists" had not been hired by Turner? What if they had come up with a conceptual piece unrelated to cartoons, involving Lite Brites in public places? Would it be funny? Would they be prosecuted?

My inner Frank Grimes is especially appalled by those comments congratulating Turner and the advertisers on a "brilliant" move and for psyching the City into giving them a ton of free exposure. If we expect our style of democracy to work, then the market-place of ideas should not fail in this manner. It kinda makes me wonder if everyone shouldn't have to pass a test to vote. My trust is broken.

At least I still have the Simpsons.

Hottest Weather Ever

The NOAA has released it's summer report for weather in the US in 2006. It's conclusion? A very warm December pushed 2006 past 1998 as the hottest calendar year ever recorded. Check out this map -- no one near normal. In 112 years, almost every state is showing a triple-digit (one of the 13 hottest years). Hot.


"The 2006 average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was the warmest on record and nearly identical to the record set in 1998. Based on preliminary data, the 2006 annual average temperature was 55°F, 2.2°F (1.2°C) above the 20th Century mean and 0.07°F (0.04°C) warmer than 1998."

And for the first time ever the US Historical Climatology Network calulation for average annual temperature broke the 55-degree (F) barrier. If the mean is just below 53-degrees, aren't we now officially two degrees into "global warming"?