Arizona Trip

(Left) West Sacramento, CA. Interstate-80 crosses the Sacramento River just right of center, meets Highway 50, then heads west across the Yolo Bypass over the Yolo Causeway (upper right). The curve of the Sacramento Ship Canal is visible just under the wing of the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737.

Departed Saturday evening, April 8th and returned Tuesday night, April 11th. Nice memorial service for Aunt Helen, and a family reunion on my mother's side.

Sunset behind Mt. San Antonio, San Gabriel Mountains, north of Ontario, CA. The mist-filled Cajon Canyon is in the foreground. Pretty views just outside the window!



New Car Rental Terminal Building, located near Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, AZ. I was surprised to see this facility, where all the local car rental agencies are now headquartered. The terminal opened three months ago and it's just as large, or larger, than an airport terminal. Apparently this is the largest such terminal in the U.S., and the cutting edge nationwide for such terminals. Soon, car rental agencies across the country will no longer be located in cheesy lots behind the airport, surrounded by chain-link fences and barking guard dogs, but in nice, gleaming, centralized facilities.

They give you good directions to leave the facility, but not how to return, so I had a frantic, guess-filled hour on Tuesday evening, trying to determine: if I were a gigantic car rental terminal, just where I would be located?

Flowering Palo Verde trees, Ahwatukee, South Phoenix, AZ. There are three species of this tree, which may be the state tree (if the wrongly-categorized saguaro cactus doesn't already fill that space). I was surprised that the single, large rainfall they had recently was big enough to allow flowering to proceed after the huge battering they got from the drought. But then, these particular trees may get watered, so who knows?

What I like is the single night a year, when zillions of harmless, roach-sized palo verde beetles come out to mate. One time, I saw an Arby's Restaurant, on Speedway Blvd. in Tucson, just plastered with palo verde beetles. Yum!

Small Hiatus

Off to Phoenix for a few days for Aunt Helen's memorial service. Will return Wednesday!

Varsity Theater Reopens

Mishka's independent film cinema just had its Grand Opening in Davis:

Culture vultures can now watch first-run independent movies in Davis, as the city-owned Varsity Theatre was reopened Thursday night as an elegant venue for "indie" films.

... "It will satisfy a major craving in Davis," said Sinisa Novakovic, who with business partner Jon Fenske launched the venture in the historic theater at 616 Second St. in Davis' downtown.

... "Downtown Davis has been transformed over the last two years, and this is our crown jewel," said Mayor Pro Tem Sue Greenwald, referring to the city's many new restaurants and other businesses.

... Before the main movie Thursday, moviegoers watched a brief documentary on the Varsity's history by a young British filmmaker who lives in Davis.

"It's an iconic building in Davis," said filmmaker Liam Creighton. "Nothing in town looks like this."

... In 1990, the first of two multiplex theaters was opened in Davis. It was owned by Signature Theatres, which also owned the Varsity by that time. The company moved to close the smaller Varsity. The city eventually purchased the Varsity and operated it as a venue for live performances, lectures and other events. But it still struggled financially.

When the Davis Musical Theatre Company - one of the primary tenants at the Varsity - opened its own theater, the city entertained proposals for other ventures that could operate from the venerable theater. Novakovic and Fenske won out with their idea to open an indie film venue.

Novakovic runs a popular café called Mishka's a block from the Varsity. Fenske is an engineer. Novakovic said he hopes to move Mishka's adjacent to the theater and to open a gelato store called Icekrimski on the other side.

The two men are leasing the building from the city and spent about $120,000 for improvements. The city also contributed about $85,000 in renovations.

Improvements include plush seats, surround sound stereo, a concessions stand, carpet and a movie screen on a movable platform. The venue will be available for lease to community groups.

I have mixed feelings about all this. I'm happy for the new tenants, and hope they do well. I'm wistful and bitter about the way Davis Musical Theatre Company was muscled out of the place. And I'm worried, because, gauging from the thin crowds at the Crest and Tower Theaters in Sacramento, an indie film venture won't be that profitable either, so it's only a matter of time before the City of Davis tires of the new tenants and muscles them out too.

Perhaps by coupling the two food-service stores together with their weaker cinematic sister, they can all make a game effort at profitability. Or sink altogether - only time will tell.

What is different, this time, is that I understand the City finally went ahead and purchased the building outright, and finally got out from under the insane lease requirements that made the place particularly unprofitable for the City. They should have done that in the early 90's! Perhaps DMTC wouldn't have been so badly menaced had that process been started 15 years ago.

In any event, the best of luck and good fortune to Novakovic and Fenske!

Levees Endangered

Waters rising on the San Joaquin River.

But all the obsessive-compulsive, forget-nothing, forgive-nothing Republicans in Congress can talk about is building the oft-rejected (and soon to be rejected again) Auburn Dam.

I wonder if levee-maintenance funds are so hard to come by because they are deliberately-sabotaging Sacramento River levees in order to get approval for their Dam?

Were-Rabbit of Mouldshaugh Lane

Cloudy denies all:

Martial law has been declared on a Northumberland allotment after a series of devastating nocturnal raids by a freakishly large and hungry rabbit.

...The predator, which has been nicknamed the were-rabbit because of its similarity to the hungry bunny in the recent Wallace and Gromit film, is described as being black and brown and much bigger than either a hare or a rabbit. One of its ears is also said to be noticeably large than the other.

Which, of course, reminds me:

Tim: There he is!
King Arthur: Where?
Tim: There!
King Arthur: What? Behind the rabbit?
Tim: It *is* the rabbit!
King Arthur: You silly sod!
Tim: What?
King Arthur: You got us all worked up!
Tim: Well, that's no ordinary rabbit.
King Arthur: Ohh.
Tim: That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!
Sir Robin: You tit! I soiled my armor I was so scared!
Tim: Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer!
Sir Galahad: Get stuffed!
Tim: He'll do you up a treat, mate.
Sir Galahad: Oh, yeah?
Sir Robin: You mangy Scots git!
Tim: I'm warning you!
Sir Robin: What's he do? Nibble your bum?
Tim: He's got huge, sharp... er... He can leap about. Look at the bones!
King Arthur: Go on, Bors. Chop his head off!
Sir Bors: Right! Silly little bleeder. One rabbit stew comin' right up!

[after Bors is killed by the killer rabbit]
Tim: I *warned* you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you *knew*, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little *bunny*, isn't it?

"None Dare Call It Treason" - So I Will

The revelation that President Bush directly ordered the revelation of Valerie Plame's identity to the press is the logical end-point of the Plame scandal. There was always the mark of a hit job behind her exposure as an undercover agent. The argument that the President can reveal classified information on his own whim is absurd - the right of Kings, not servants of the People. The President takes an Oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. Revealing the identity of secret agents of the U.S. government violates that Oath, can cost the agents their lives, and hence is a crime.

The President committed Treason. No escape from that conclusion. He must resign, or be impeached.

Glancing Blow

I was driving my car, the HMS Titanic, to work this morning. I was in the left lane, heading north on one-way 21st Street.

Ahead, two slightly-confused high school students from Roseville, driving their vehicle, the North Atlantic Iceberg, decided to turn left onto K Street from the middle lane of 21st Street, directly across my path.

All women and children were safely evacuated from my vehicle, but aside from some scratched paint, it looks like little harm resulted.

Helen Rebecca Buzzell

October 6, 1906 - April 6, 2006. Rest in Peace. Made it as far as ninety-nine and a half years! We will miss her wry wit, independent spirit, and globetrotting passion!




Detail of a memory box hanging on her wall. Aunt Helen (left) and my mother Marjorie look over the railing of a ferry, many years ago.

Dream Coat Productions

Here is a worthy DMTC-affiliated group to follow:

Dream Coat Productions Presents:

“Welcome To My World”

A group of 12 actors ages 13-17 perform scenes and monologues directed by Jessica Greenstreet. The teens tackle subjects such as bullying, peer pressure, teen suicide, and fitting in. Their fearless honesty reveals the complexity of their lives and shines light and understanding on their difficulties. Parental discussion is advised. Show times are Friday, April 7, 2006 at 7:30pm and Saturday, April 8, 2006 at 7:30pm at the Hoblit Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $4.00 and can be purchased at the door.

I sure Jessica and the rest of the group will do just fine. They are a talented bunch!

Aspartame A-OK

At least for now, which is good, because I'm basically pickled in aspartame:

No increased risk was seen even among people who gulped down many artificially sweetened drinks a day, said researchers who studied the diets of more than half a million older Americans.

I wonder if aspartame prevents cancer? Now that would be cool!

Unexpected Pyramid

But then, the entire Valley of Mexico is one big archaeological gold mine:

Archeologists said Wednesday they have discovered a massive 6th-century Indian pyramid beneath the site of a centuries-old re-enactment of the crucifixion of Christ.

... "Both the pre-Hispanic structure and the Holy Week rituals are part of our cultural legacy, so we have to look for a way to protect both cultural values," said Sanchez, who, along with archaeologist Miriam Advincula, has been exploring the site since 2004.

Mexico abounds with cases in which Spanish conquerors literally built their Catholic faith atop the remains of older religions.

... But the case of Iztapalapa hillside, known as the Hill of the Star, appears to be mere geographical coincidence, Sanchez said.

... The archaeological site is not safe from the sprawl of the modern megalopolis and its 19 million inhabitants. Archeologists found that part of the temple had been destroyed by unauthorized home building on the hillside just 15 years ago.

"All of the hillsides in the Valley of Mexico have archaeological remains, and all of them urgently need to be protected," Sanchez said.

Even Parody Religions Don't Quite Suit

Just when things seem happy and light, The Flying Spaghetti Monster decides something or other needs to get sacrificed, or incense needs lighting, or a gauntlet needs to be run, or - something!

Watch What You Sing

Some songs just seem suspicious:

British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said Wednesday.

...The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash's 1979 anthem "London Calling," which features the lyrics "Now war is declared -- and battle come down" while other lines warn of a "meltdown expected."

So, just what are these words?

london calling to the far away towns
now war is declared and battle come down
london calling to the under world
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
London calling, now don't look at us
Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing

[Chorus]
The ice age is coming, the sun zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
'Cause London is drowning-and I live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, you can go it alone
London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out-and draw another breath
London calling-and I don't wanna shout
But while we were talking-I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain't got no highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

[Chorus x2]

the ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
engins are stoppin the wheat is growing thin
nuclear error but i have no fear
london is drowing and i live by the river

Now get this
London calling, yes, I was there, too
An' you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won't you give me a smile?

I never felt so much a' like

So, Who's Responsible?

So, how much responsibility should Forrest C. Mims III take for the death threats now hounding Eric Pianka for his population control opinions? That has always been the problem when thugs take control over political debate. How much blame should the instigator take, even if the instigator wasn't directly involved at all? There have also been reports that random, mostly-uninvolved scientists in the Texas Academy of Sciences are getting harrassing phone calls and even that the Department of Homeland Security was contacted regarding the 'threat' Pianka poses.

Orwell always believed that the instigators of harrassment often know far more than they let on regarding what other people do in their name. Mims has some explaining to do. If not, all's fair, and there's no reason he can't suffer in return.

Ribbitt

They say that you should eat a toad the first thing in the morning, because the rest of the day will be downhill from there. Here's a guy who pretty much did exactly that.

Changes

(Left to right) Rangel, Kashi, me, Justin, and Persia, at Ernesto's.

Kashi just got picked for a ranger-type position at Malakoff Diggins State Park. And Persia, of course, bears Little Eva.



Kashi brandishes Persia and Justin's gift - a knife. Now when confronting a mountain lion high on the North San Juan Ridge, Kashi can say:

Who am I? I am... I am the Invincible Sword Goddess, armed with the incredible Green Destiny. Be you Li or Southern Crane, lower your head and ask for mercy. I am the desert dragon. I leave no trace. Today I fly over Eu-Mei. Tomorrow... I'll kick over Wudan Mountain!

Dancing Is Not A Constitutional Right?

Say what? Since WHEN?:

The judge disagreed. He said dancing is not constitutionally protected expression and the city has the right to regulate circumstances under which eating and drinking places can let patrons dance.

Overdiligent Nudist

Thought he was doing a public service:

The 56-year-old Sydney man tried to kill what he thought was a funnel web spider by pouring petrol down the spider's burrow and igniting it with a match, the NRMA CareFlight service said.

Highway Closures

Highway 1 is closed due to slides: Highway 50 and some of the other Sierra Nevada roads may be the same.

So Hard To Concentrate Today...

Exploding transformers, flickering lights, and now, the Fire Department, just down the alley!

Numerical Harmonic Convergence - The Apocalypse Cometh

Noel is getting excited:

Sometime in the middle of the night tonight, there will be a unique (very unique!) sequence of numbers.

We will have 01:02:03 04/05/06

At 1:02 am (and 3 seconds), the universe (on Pacific Time) will either fall into a state of grace or become a fiery pit of hell (South Park's version, that is).

Then again, maybe nothing will happen since most of us will be asleep.

MikeMac is getting excited:

Hmmm... interesting. The last time this happened was 4/5/1906. Two days after that convergence, as you call it, Mount Vesuvius erupted and killed over 100 people and ejected the most recorded amount of lava in it's history.

Also, almost a fortnight later, in the wee hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was devastated by the infamous San Francisco Earthquake.

Disaster Approaches! Repent Now!

Chris isn't that excited yet:

Well two issues:

1) The Europeans won't get the disaster just about a month, because for them April 5, 2006 is just 5/4/6. They will have it on May 4, or 4/5/06.

2) Really it will be 04/05/2006, which isn't as interesting. I'll be more interested when 01:02:03 4/5/6789 happens. And if I'm still alive by then I'll be ready for the apocalypse.

MikeMac says getting excited is the American way:

Your points are appreciated, Chris, although as everyone knows, the "American way", is "the ONLY goddamned way to do things, and you'd better appreciate it or we'll pour napalm down your collective, ungrateful throats".

Marc:

There's another American approach too. That's to take the warnings literally.

When the planets were going to line up in 1982, I had friends who moved to the hills, to Mountainair, N.M., as early as 1978, in order to avoid the massive tidal wave that would come up the Rio Grande Valley. Nice place, out there on the juniper-studded steppe. Plus, my friend had gone AWOL from Special Forces, so the hills seemed inviting as a place to lie low.

Only one problem with the hills. No jobs. Soon, they were hunting deer out-of-season, in order to keep themselves, and their bitty babies, alive. And then 1982 came - and went - and life went on. I don't know when they returned to the city - I think it was when the military caught up with my friend.

Anyway, it's nice to know the Apocalypse will strike the Americas first, giving the Europeans time to head to the Alps and shoot deer out-of-season.

Chris notes the Earth's rotation:

Well it will also strike by timezone, so use west coasters will have about a 3 hour warning to try and evacuate. I think I'll head to Florence.

MikeMac wonders about exactly what to expect:

Wouldn't it technically run across the surface of the Earth, like the Genesis Effect in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? Or would it actually go by timezone and suddenly gallumph onto a wide swath of the nation, like so many millions of huge elephants?

Noel looks forward to convivial times:

I'm a bit confused. Is this Apocalypse happening tonight during the harmonic convergence, or sometime in the future? And if it results in death and hell, and we'll probably all be together (well, I guess I should just speak for myself), what, me worry?

Marc:

I suspect we'll have a little bit of warning. We'll hear a sound like cracking wood in the sky, and then it'll be just like 'To The Lifeboats', with even more people crowding onto the stage from the wings.

Literal-Mindedness

Sometimes my fellow scientists exasperate me with their literal-minded, boneheaded approach to just about everything:

Rare conditions could have conspired to create hard-to-see ice on the Sea of Galilee that a person could have walked on back when Jesus is said to have walked on water, a scientist said today.

The study, which examines a combination of favorable water and environmental conditions, proposes that Jesus could have walked on an isolated patch of floating ice on what is now known as Lake Kinneret in northern Israel.

Looking at temperature records of the Mediterranean Sea surface and using analytical ice and statistical models, scientists considered a small section of the cold freshwater surface of the lake. The area studied, about 10,000 square feet, was near salty springs that empty into it.

OK, lets be literal-minded too. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep your footing on a small, nearly-invisible block of floating ice? Not only must this Jesus dude have been something of a cold-weather fan, he must have been one great surfer too!

Beware The Power Of Wind!

It's stronger than you think! :

A 32-year-old San Diego man died after he stood up in a T-top sports car to cool off and was blown out of it on a Poway freeway, officials said Saturday.

So, Where's The Annual Report?

The Adminsistration is required, by Federal law, issue the annual Social Security actuarial report by April 1st. Not only is the report late, there is apparently no plan to issue a report at all. So - why?

Lashing Out

Success has a million parents: failure dies an orphan:

Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.

"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."

I haven't seen this movie, and I don't really want to, but I suspect it's a 'been there-done that' mentality. After all, what would it be about, that wasn't already done in the first version?

Strangely enough, in these 'American Idol' days, a reprise of "Showgirls," perhaps done from a different perspective, or with a varied story line, might do pretty well. I never understood what doomed the first version - the overacting didn't help, of course, and the trite story line, but it was done in such an overwrought manner that it couldn't help but find favor with someone. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Barkley's career was nearly destroyed by her starring role, just when it should have taken off. People sure are strange and fickle!

90% Of You Should Die

Forrest C. Mims III has got his knickers twisted in a knot, because a University of Texas professor Eric Pianka is indulging every environmentalist's favorite fantasy: if 90% of everyone died, a lot of our environmental problems would greatly ease. Apparently this professor is being unusually vocal, and Mims is worried he might have unusual sway over impressionable young minds.

Of course, the death of 9 out of 10 people is bound to be unpopular in society, in general, so I doubt the professor will have too much of a following. That is, unless you figure on being the 1 out of 10 who don't die. Young people, in particular, have trouble absorbing the concept of not being among the 1 out of 10.

I remember one soldier's reminisces of a pep talk given by his commander while crossing the Channel for the D-Day invasion in 1944. The commander dramatically explained that most of the people in the boat would likely die soon after landing. The soldier looked around at his fellow soldiers and thought 'you poor bastards' and never, really, absorbed the idea that the commander was talking about HIM. So, who knows, maybe Mims has a point. The young, in particular, sometimes feel nearly immortal.

Mims is an unusual fellow. He's a hands-on experimental scientist and model rocket enthusiast. I used to read his Model Rocketry column as a teenager (here is Mims' account of getting the bureaucrats out of the business of regulating Model Rocketry to death). Mims was also disinvited to be Scientific American's Amateur Scientist columnist because of his Creationist beliefs: an understandable, yet unfortunate episode of the scientific thought police in action. In general, he might be described, very loosely, as Red America's most talented tinkerer, and it's always interesting to read what he thinks (he now has a Web Site).

Meanwhile, I'll miss all of you once you all go........

Dolly Parton Quote

I don't know, I just liked it!:

You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!

Jon Zellhoefer, Candidate

Here's an entirely too-modest Jon Zellhoefer (candidate, 2003 California Recall Election) regarding his run for Assembly Seat, District 34. According to former candidate, Daniel Watts, the district leans Republican, so Jon might do better than many expect:

So why run?

"I really expected that (Maze) was not going to run," Zellhoefer said.

Like many, Zellhoefer expected Maze to run for state Sen. Roy Ashburn's seat when it looked as though Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, would run to replace retiring Rep. Bill Thomas in Congress.

But just before the election filing deadline, Ashburn said he wasn't going to enter the race for the House seat, opening the Republican field for Assembly Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

By that time, Zellhoefer had declared his candidacy for the Assembly seat and paid the $1,109 filing fee.

NAFTA and Illegal Immigration

A good argument can be put together that the great swell in illegal immigration we've seen lately is entirely a predictable response to trying to please business interests with NAFTA:

But the most striking aspect of the assault on undocumented immigrants is that it has no theory of causality. Over 40 percent of the Mexicans who have come, legally and illegally, to the United States have done so in the past 15 years. The boom in undocumenteds is even more concentrated than that: There were just 2.5 million such immigrants in the United States in 1995; fully 8 million have arrived since then.

Why? It's not because we've let down our guard at the border; to the contrary, the border is more militarized now than it's ever been. The answer is actually simpler than that. In large part, it's NAFTA.

... But NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, could not have been more precisely crafted to increase immigration -- chiefly because of its devastating effect on Mexican agriculture. As liberal economist Jeff Faux points out in "The Global Class War," his just-published indictment of the actual workings of the new economy, Mexico had been home to a poor agrarian sector for generations, which the government helped sustain through price supports on corn and beans. NAFTA, though, put those farmers in direct competition with incomparably more efficient U.S. agribusinesses. It proved to be no contest: From 1993 through 2002, at least 2 million Mexican farmers were driven off their land.

...So if Sensenbrenner wants to identify a responsible party for the immigration he so deplores, he might take a peek in the mirror. In the winter of '93, he voted for NAFTA. He helped establish a system that increased investment opportunities for major corporations and diminished the rights, power and, in many instances, living standards of workers on both sides of the border. Now he and his Republican colleagues are stirring the resentments of the same American workers they placed in jeopardy by supporting the corporate trade agenda.

Missile Fraud

In his book, "Weapons and Hope," Freeman Dyson maintained: first, that strategic missile defense was impossible to achieve, and second, that high-level fraud would be the inevitable result of trying to achieve the impossible. The pressures to lie would be too great for anyone to resist.

Here is an interesting story:

A senior Congressional investigator has accused his agency of covering up a scientific fraud among builders of a $26 billion system meant to shield the nation from nuclear attack. The disputed weapon is the centerpiece of the Bush administration's antimissile plan, which is expected to cost more than $250 billion over the next two decades.

The investigator, Subrata Ghoshroy of the Government Accountability Office, led technical analyses of a prototype warhead for the antimissile weapon in an 18-month study.... Mr. Ghoshroy now says his agency ignored evidence that the two main contractors had doctored data, skewed test results and made false statements in a 2002 report that credited the contractors with revealing the warhead's failings to the government.

The agency strongly denied his accusations, insisting that its antimissile report was impartial and that it was right to exonerate the contractors of a coverup.

The dispute is unusual. Rarely in the 85-year history of the G.A.O., an investigative arm of Congress with a reputation for nonpartisan accuracy, has a dissenter emerged publicly from its ranks.

And Mr. Ghoshroy's assertions raise new questions about the Boeing Company's military arm, the main contractor for the troubled $26 billion system of interceptor rockets now being installed in Alaska and California. The system's "kill vehicles" are to zoom into space and destroy enemy warheads by force of impact.

But years of test failures have thrown the program into disarray, and the military has recently begun to look for a kill vehicle of greater reliability.

...The dispute over its reliability began a decade ago. Nira Schwartz, a senior engineer in 1995 and 1996 at the military contractor TRW, told her superiors that the company had falsified research findings meant to help kill vehicles differentiate incoming warheads from clouds of decoys.

...Finally, the team learned of a meeting in late August 1997 at which contractor personnel had reportedly made complete oral disclosures. But no contractor or federal official could recall anything specific about this meeting — no date, place, agenda or list of attendees.

Mr. Ghoshroy came to believe that the meeting had never happened, he said. Even so, the G.A.O. report incorporated its claims. The report also noted the explanations that the contractors gave for excluding some experimental data.

...Today, the military calls the dispute irrelevant to national defense because the Boeing kill vehicle was rejected in favor of one made by Raytheon. The Raytheon model now tips the nation's antimissile interceptors.

But Mr. Ghoshroy says the issue matters greatly. Boeing may have lost the kill vehicle competition, but it won a bigger contest as the Pentagon in 1998 named it lead contractor for the whole antimissile project. Charges of corporate dishonesty, he said, threaten to undermine the program's overall credibility.

...For his part, Mr. Ghoshroy said he found it "totally amazing" that the G.A.O. refused to admit that its report misinformed Congress and the public. "I'm concerned," he said, "that there's no one out there to oversee the overseer."

Jobs No One Wants

"The Onion" body-slams illegal immigration:

In response to criticism over World Wrestling Entertainment hiring policies, World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon defended the league's reliance on Mexican wrestlers as "the only way fans can witness the grueling, bone-crunching maneuvers that American wrestlers want nothing to do with."

... "These masked luchadores are hard-working, energetic, and always willing to learn new skills that Americans consider beneath them—such as being power-bombed from the top turnbuckle or chokeslammed through the announcer's booth," said McMahon on this week's WWE Raw.

"The idea that these Mexicans are somehow stealing jobs from American wrestlers is ridiculous,"McMahon said. "After all, someone's got to take these folding chairs to the face." ...

It is not known exactly how many Mexican wrestlers are on the WWE payroll, since many lack Social Security numbers, or even clear and verifiable identities, as McMahon himself admitted Monday. "I know as much about these masked wrestlers as the fans do," McMahon said. "What's certain is, they often seem marvelous and mysterious, saintly, and even rude."

Dancing Through The Decades

(Left) Foxtrots and swings Saturday night at the Hoblit Performing Arts Center. My primary interest was seeing who turned out Saturday night, and why. Turnout was fairly low (as I expected it might be) for this first-ever experiment with utilizing the Theater's downtime for best advantage: money-wise, facility-wise, community-wise, otherwise. Despite the turnout, I nevertheless met several new people, including Jackie, Tev's mom. It's interesting how different activities bring out a different crowd!

Advantage tonight seemed to belong to several Lindy Hop swing dancers who came out to dance. As DJ, Arthur did a good job of approximating the Top 40 of the 1940's (which reminded me just how many novelty songs and marches they used to have), but since the Lindy Hoppers have idiosyncratic tastes in dance music, in the future, if we aim to please, we might have to tailor the musical program to suit. The floor was a bit sticky - the dancers suggested talcum powder.

Of all the possible dance genres out there (ballroom, hip hop, folk, country, Lindy Hop, rancheros, Scottish, salsa), it seems to me that ballroom and Lindy Hop are most compatible with DMTC's mission to preserve and present Musical Theater. Indeed, with its syncopated rhythm, and devotion to the style of the 40's, the Lindy Hoppers are probably best suited of all.

In comparison, ballroom dance, as fun as it is, and as much as I like it, is somewhat denatured - the rhythms and style of swing and tango, among other dances, are altered to (not always the best) taste. For example, as far as I'm aware, the founder of the Nightclub Two-Step, Buddy Schwimmer, is still alive. Schwimmer put that dance together in 1976, to take advantage of the surfeit of weird, disco-derived schlock (e.g., Lionel Ritchie, among others) that made dance floors of the 70's so tedious (and I'm a huge fan of disco - I remember having to wait through all the rest of the musical program to get to the good stuff!)

We will be hosting another dance in early June, with a Fifties theme, and who knows who will turn out then, but tonight's turnout suggests to me that we aim at Lindy Hop dancers, who already patronize several nights at several venues in the Sacramento area. I don't know what people do these days in the Davis area, but several years ago, I know they used to patronize "The Grad" on Sunday evenings for swing dancing: perhaps they still do. If our venue was a predictable refuge for swing dancers, with scheduled, regular nights, we might build a good following of dancers quite compatible with the Theater's main aim of fostering musical theater.

In a way, we may be attempting to kill too many birds with one stone with the 'Dancing Through The Decades' fundraiser. Ideally, we want a fundraiser that:

1.) utilizes the facility;
2.) brings in lots of money; yet is,
3.) relatively trouble-free to manage.

In many ways, the Aioli Fundraiser was ideal for bringing in money, aimed as it was at those with disposable income (mostly the older folks), but it wasn't held at the facility. A dance uses the facility, but it's mostly an activity for the young, who have less money. People have different interests and different aims. So, we should accomodate the audience. We should worry less about fundraising in regards to the dances and worry more about making the dance night scheduling consistent, in order to build a loyal following.

Kid's Tile Wall going up at DMTC.

Here is a long-term project beginning to come to fruition: the Kid's Tile Wall! Many thanks to Jeni Price for her hard work on this project!

Sacramento Ballet's "Scherherazade"

Sacramento Bee preview caption (left): Jack Hansen and Kirsten Bloom will dance in the Sacramento Ballet performance of "Scheherazade," choreographed by Kathryn Posin.
Sacramento Bee/ Jay Mather



Taking questions after Friday night's performance, March 31, 2006. Left to right; Stefan Calka (Sinbad), Nicole Haskins (Sea Spirit, Attendant of the Moon), Tarah Finley (Harem Girl), Joo Hwan Cho (Genie), Kermit Allen (King Badur), J. Benjamin Schreivogel (Vizier), Ilana Goldman (Rukh Bird), Ron Cunningham (Co-Artistic Director).

How long did it take to practice for this show? Benjamin Schreivogel answered "about a month": they started a bit earlier for "D-Construction," in order to 'get it out of the way' but the rest - about a month. One question directed toward Ilana Goldman was 'what was your inspiration in order to play a bird?' Ilana answered that there are birds in several ballets, and what she did was to assemble all the bird experiences she had ever had into one big "conglomeration of bird." I asked about the sudden drops they needed to take, and how that required a lot of trust - seemingly much more than a month's worth. Tarah Finley answered that she enjoys the high lifts and that the right approach was to "trust your partner right from the beginning." Ron Cunningham added that ballet's cardinal rule is "don't drop your partner!"


It was a busy night, Friday night, in downtown Sacramento. 'Tony, Toni, Tone,' 'Blackstreet,' 'Guy,' and 'After Seven' were performing at the Memorial Auditorium, and the line snaked around the block. But my destination was the Sacramento Community Center, to see Sacramento Ballet's "Scherherazade!"

To my surprise, I ended up sitting next to Katherine van Hoof at the show. Katherine was not only a noted modern dancer with Ruth Rosenberg in the 90's, but she also owned my home before I lived there - my home on Second Avenue. Katherine was with her mother. I explained that Adam Taylor and myself are about to address the slumping floor on the south side of the house, and they both reminisced about chairs that would roll themselves across the living room floor (and those of us who were in "Titanic" know what THAT means!)

Wonderful show! Really wonderful! Kirsten Bloom, and everyone, were just amazing! The colorful costumes were striking. Indeed, according to my "Concise History of Ballet" by F. Reyna, when Michel Fokine's "Scherherazade" premiered in 1909, the costumes triggered another one of those Asian-inspired sartorial fads that had intermittently rocked Paris since the 1870's.

Several of the stories of the Arabian Nights are told during the ballet (synopsis here):

Sinbad, danced by Stefan Calka, is a sailor whose ship encounters a storm and capsizes. He persuades a dangerous Rukh Bird (Ilana Goldman, looking more beautiful than treacherous) to allow him to tie himself to the bird's leg and be lifted to safety. He is reunited with his lost crew and returns home to Baghdad in a happy ending that is indicative of most of these tales.

The beautiful blue costumes of the corps de ballet (designed by Judanna Lynn for the premiere of this work at the Milwaukee Ballet in 2003) suggested the sea, and a large sheet of blue fabric rippled and surged and submerged the sailors in a brilliant bit of choreography.

As Aladdin, Colby Damon danced well, but the scene belonged to the Genie, Joo Hwan Cho, who brought humor and some magic tricks to his role in the story of a poor boy who uses the three wishes granted him by the resident of a magic lamp to get food, clothes, riches - and true love.

Perhaps the most interesting tale is that of the Flying Horse. In it, a sad young prince (Jared Nelson) pines for a beautiful princess (Amanda Peet), whose face he sees in the moon. He steals a magic toy - the flying horse - and flies off to be with his love. Their happiness is threatened by the toymaker whose horse the prince stole, until Scheherazade herself steps in to alter the course of the tale.

This was the most technically difficult scene of the ballet, with slides, a projected image of a flying horse that had to align with the suspended moon, and other elements, and it came together well.

The final scene, "Massacre in the Harem," is a dark one in which the evil Vizier (Benjamin Schreivogel), who has caused trouble since he revealed the first wife's unfaithfulness, seeks revenge against Scheherazade. There's a lot of mayhem - with everyone lying down, apparently dead - until Scheherazade rises like an avenging angel and shows the Sheikh that through love, life can be restored.

Jim Carnes in the Sacramento Bee interviewed Kathryn Posin, the choreographer of this staging of "Scherherazade." In Fokine's original, the character of Scherherazade isn't even present (!!!) The 'Golden Slave' tells the story, not Scherherazade. Rather, the name 'Scherherazade' is used almost as a brand, to signify the stories of the 1001 Arabian Nights.

"I told ABT (American Ballet Theater) that I was retelling Fokine's story from the woman's point of view, but everybody I've told that to has rolled their eyes," she said.

In Fokine's version, which was danced by Vaslaw Nijinksy, "Scheherazade isn't even in it!" Posin said. "Fokine only picked the frame story: The king's wife cheated on him, so he killed a virgin a night until one woman came forth. ...

"My biggest point as a woman choreographer of the 21st century is that the stories are like puzzles and riddles that teach the king to give up his rage, and to love," Posin said. "And to forgive the person it's hardest to forgive - himself.

"It's inherent in the stories and in the Islamic sensibility," she said, where "forgiveness and mercy are the highest attributes. The stories are endlessly fascinating."

In contrast to Fokine, Posin preferred to describe her reintroduction of Scherherazade into the story as almost a feminist form of empowerment, but, in fact, Posin's choice is conservative in nature: trying to stay faithful to the original stories of the Arabian Nights. It was Fokine who was the real radical, and his distortions of the stories had to be reversed. All for the better, I think!

Despite the nausea induced by looking down the tubes, I sometimes used the field glasses they rent at the Community Center to study Kirsten Bloom's face and feet during the show. If it had been me, I would have been gasping for air and melting into incoherence: in contrast, Bloom never lost her radiant expression and cool composure, and her feet looked just awesome!

Also on the program was Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco," a delightfully serene exploration of classical symmetry and grace. The dancers often moved in twos and fours, but nevertheless with surprising variations in rhythm and pattern. I was reminded of a kaleidoscope. Bobby Briscoe was amazing: so many, repeated lifts!

In contrast Septime Webre's "D-Construction" explored the power of breaking symmetry: ones and threes. Very vigorous dancing!

Overall, a wonderful show! We are so lucky to be graced by having Sacramento Ballet in our community!

DMTC Dance

Regarding things to do this weekend, I almost forgot the dance DMTC is hosting:

DMTC's Now there are 2 ways to "Cut a Rug" with DMTC

You've heard about dancing through the fabulous 40s this Saturday night, with music from the times of big band swing at the DMTC USO! Tickets for the fun are still available on the DMTC website or by calling the box office. Purchase
Dancing Through The Decades Tickets Online

But now it's time to literally cut a rug for our new theatre! Your $20 donation to the carpet fund means another square yard installed of our "ShowStopper" carpet - see the sample in the lobby to envision how this beautiful blue flooring will put an elegant finishing touch throughout!

You can drop your check with a note "carpet fund" in the Donations Box in the lobby, personally deliver to the box office, make a donation through the website with the note that it's for the carpet, or mail it on in the old-fashioned way. Please help us cut a rug for the new theatre today! Make your Cut a Rug donation here

DMTC's USO Show-Dancing Though the Decades (Where you dance the night away to the music of the 1940's) starts at 7:00pm. “Dancing through the Decades” evening includes music, dancing, snacks and dessert – fun the whole family can enjoy. Come “dressed to impress” in “period clothes” or come as you are and enjoy the best music of the decade and our sprung stage – specially designed for dancing!

Tickets for each “Dancing through the Decades” evening are $20 per person, and are available online.

All proceeds benefit DMTC’s mission to present and preserve the Classic American Musical art form.

Giant Tricycle

Crazed German fan assembles a huge tricycle featuring lots of soccer balls. Plus a feline circus, and other strange stuff.

Doofus Kaloogian

Apologizes, but then blames the military for his error:

Howard Kaloogian, the former GOP assemblyman running for the seat vacated by disgraced 50th Congressional District Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, said using the photo was "a stupid mistake'' and acknowledged in an interview Wednesday that it was brought to his attention recently by bloggers and activists on the left.

"It was wrong. We're sorry,'' Kaloogian said of the peaceful street scene from Istanbul labeled as depicting downtown Baghdad. He said his staff mistakenly put the photo on the site.

... Kaloogian and his campaign strategist, Sal Russo, confirmed Wednesday what the bloggers alleged -- that the photo was taken in Turkey -- though they insisted it was an honest mistake.

The candidate said he hadn't recognized the error because "the military asked us to use our discretion and put things on the Internet that were nondescriptive ... (because) if we posted something that was easily identifiable, it could be a target."

Harrison Ford ....

... Hates the Internet. And with reason - apparently the Internet hates him too.

Gotta spread love! Love is the answer for all this hate! (and no, Gabe, this doesn't mean I'm a Boomer...)

That Annoying Man Speaks Again

George Will takes time from baseball ruminations to opine about illegal immigration. I wish he'd go back to baseball. He starts out with a hypothetical proposition:

America, the only developed nation that shares a long -- 2,000-mile -- border with a Third World nation, could seal that border. East Germany showed how: walls, barbed wire, machine gun-toting border guards in towers, mine fields, large, irritable dogs. And we have modern technologies that East Germany never had: sophisticated sensors, unmanned surveillance drones, etc.

Anyone who's ever stood on the mountain peaks in Coronado National Monument, near Sierra Vista, AZ, and seen the grand sweep of the border, and understands just how little of it they are seeing, KNOWS, in a way no Potomac-bound pundit ever could, that no such wall is feasible. The only people who have ever tried such a thing, the Chinese, after squandering vast sums, failed completely in their efforts to keep the Mongols out. Even as a hypothetical idea, it falls flat on its face.

Regarding draconian measures, Will continues:

It is a melancholy fact that many of these may have to be employed along the U.S.-Mexican border. The alternatives are dangerous and disagreeable conditions for Americans residing near the border, and vigilantism. It is, however, important that Americans feel melancholy about taking such measures to frustrate immigration that usually is an entrepreneurial act: taking risks to get to America to do work most Americans spurn.

How "white" of you, George, to feel this noble melancholy! But then, here's George's bullet-point agenda:

But control belongs at the top of the agenda, for four reasons. First, control of borders is an essential attribute of sovereignty. Second, conditions along the border mock the rule of law. Third, large rallies by immigrants, many of them here illegally, protesting more stringent control of immigration reveal that many immigrants have, alas, assimilated: They have acquired the entitlement mentality created by America's welfare state, asserting an entitlement to exemption from the laws of the society they invited themselves into. Fourth, giving Americans a sense that borders are controlled is a prerequisite for calm consideration of what policy that control should serve.

Regarding point three, people are under the misapprehension that these rallies are being organized by illegal aliens. Some illegal aliens are protesting, to be sure, but most of the rally participants are legal citizens exercising their rights as citizens, as guaranteed under the Constitution, to assemble peacefully. This is not an entitlement mentality, unless the exercise of rights by all citizens who don't live in cloistered gated communities is an entitlement. And point four sounds like a veiled threat: leave us in peace, or else who knows what we'll do?!

Even Will recognizes there are limits to what is possible to solve illegal immigration problems. He embraces guest-worker programs, despite the risk of creating a second-tier of citizenship, much as Europe has experienced, to its chagrin:

Facts, a conservative (John Adams) said, are stubborn things, and regarding immigration, true conservatives take their bearings from facts such as those in the preceding paragraph. Conservatives should want, as the president proposes, a guest worker program to supply what the U.S. economy demands -- immigrant labor for entry-level jobs. Conservatives should favor a policy of encouraging unlimited immigration by educated people with math, engineering, technology or science skills that America's education system is not sufficiently supplying.

Why just these skills? After all, the H1-B program was first initiated to help with the entry of foreign fashion models into the U.S. for extended work contracts. Only later, was it expanded for techical workers.

Will does recognize some of the dangers regarding illegal immigration:

And conservatives should favor reducing illegality by putting illegal immigrants on a path out of society's crevices and into citizenship by paying fines and back taxes and learning English. Faux conservatives absurdly call this price tag on legal status "amnesty." Actually, it would prevent the emergence of a sullen, simmering subculture of the permanently marginalized, akin to the Arab ghettos in France. The House-passed bill, making it a felony to be in the country illegally, would make 11 million people permanently ineligible for legal status. To what end?

But then, Will gets all teary about George Bush's wretched Social Security scheme:

The president, who has not hoarded his political capital, spent some trying to get the nation to face facts about the bleak future of an unreformed Social Security system. Concerning which: In 1940 there were 42 workers for every retiree; today there are 3.1. By 2030, when all 77 million baby boomers will have left the work force, there will be only 2.2.

Earth to Will: in 1940, Social Security was barely five years old. Very few workers had paid into the system and were collecting benefits. If looking for a proper comparison to the good old days, why not use 1960 figures, after the system had had time to mature? Then, it would become clear that today's system, rather than having a bleak future, has instead quite a cheery future, at least in comparison to the Dickensian nightmare conservatives had all planned out for us.

Just go back to baseball, you exasperating pundit!

Winter Wonderland

A remarkable March for Lake Tahoe:

An unending series of March snowstorms pasted the Sierra in white, with one Lake Tahoe ski resort reporting more snowfall than during any other month over the last 35 years.

At Alpine Meadows, the resort received more than 16 feet of snow at its base lodge since March 1. Midway up the mountain, more than 22 feet fell, resort representatives said Wednesday.

That's a record. It surpasses the previous high of 15.6 feet that fell at Alpine during the "Miracle March" of 1991.

... Alpine Meadows received the most snowfall for a single month since resort operators started keeping records in 1970.

Other areas have seen much the same thing. At Tahoe City, nearly 6.8 feet of snow has fallen since March 1, making the month the fourth snowiest March since 1931. And there are still two days of the month left, with more snow likely Friday.

"There's been a huge increase. It's dramatically improved the snowpack," said Gary Barbato, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

The change was particularly remarkable in some lower elevations of the Sierra, Barbato said. At Fallen Leaf Lake near South Lake Tahoe, for example, the snowpack went from 39 percent of average on March 1 to 166 percent on Wednesday, Barbato said.

Glenda's Biggest Punch

Lands first, on the Pilbara coast:

Residents in the Western Australian coastal town of Onslow are feeling the full brunt of cyclone Glenda as it crosses the state's Pilbara coast.

Theater Now

Interesting article this morning in the Sacramento Bee regarding Christian Brother's High School's production of "Fiddler on the Roof" at the renovated Guild Theater.

Also, don't forget, Ryan Warren (among others) is starring in "Crazy For You" at RCTC, opening this weekend.

And Sacramento Ballet is doing "Scheherazade."

And Sacramento Light Opera is doing "Pirates of Penzance" at the 24th Street Theater.

And if you haven't seen it, "Man of La Mancha" is a must-see at the Woodland Opera House.

And as Laura points out, Natomas Charter School is doing "Anything Goes."

Just so much to see and do!

Tango At Aioli's

Here's another Aioli's event, but this time a tango show:

Enjoy "Una Noche de Buenos Aires" at the newly-opened Aioli restaurant in Davis (808 2nd street) on Sunday, April 9th at 8:30 pm.

Come and join us for a celebration of authentic Spanish cuisine and a spectacular tango show with Gato Valdez and Andrea Monti, a professional tango couple from Argentina, and Paul Wheeler and Rita Yanson, invited instructors from the Sacramento tango studio "Tango by the River." There is no charge for the show! There are limited seats available, so make your reservations now by calling 530 757-2766.

Tango cheers!

--Donna
Donna Tielsch
Tango by the River
128 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916 443-7008

Rooster Amok!

Roosters can be pretty damned violent. One once attacked my sister, when she was about four year's old, when she was visiting the fundamentalists next door. They rip and slash! Pretty scary, even if you're an adult!:

Her uncle, Ben Angel, told smh.com.au that Grace and her two sisters were "feeding the chooks" when the rooster went "berko".

"It's gone off its tits. I don't know what it was doing. You hear of cranky roosters but I've never heard of one actually attacking anyone like that," Mr Angel said.

"It's just a dumb bloody white rooster. I didn't think roosters were that violent actually."

Must Be Arthur's Nephew

Cute!:

When the 3-year-old Austin, Minn., boy crawled through the discharge chute of a Toy Chest claw machine at a Godfather's Pizza in his hometown, he ended up on the other side of the glass surrounded by stuffed animals.

Advancing The Pagan Cause, One Soul At A Time

The family who lived next door to us when I was a kid in New Mexico were fundamentalist Christians. That didn't matter too much as a kid - I remember attending Vacation Bible School with them, and learning, not the Bible, but rather how to make fake grape clusters, using Elmer's Glue, and lots of purple marbles.

In the 90's, 'Eddy' and I got back in touch. I'd send him a Christmas card once a year. Eddy would send me letters, sometimes one a day. Since he apparently ran a Bible book store in Silver City, NM, he would also send me books, pamphlets, and T-Shirts. He apparently wanted to save my soul, even if he'd have to drag my sorry, leaden ass every damned step up the Stairway to Heaven.

I never read his letters, or opened his parcels. Instead, I put everything in a box, and put the box in the basement.

These days, I'm spending a lot of time in the basement, as I shred Katherine's old law files. Eddy's box has been sitting there, quietly mocking me. So, two nights ago, I finally opened up the box, and unwrapped one of the parcels. In 1998, Eddy had sent a book named "The Bible Code." Presumably it's about hidden messages in the Bible. According to the book cover blurbs, the Bible apparently forecast the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and the election of Bill Clinton. Who knew the Bible was SO into the 90's?

This wasn't up my alley at all, but I knew Keith at Subway would like it, since he's been translating Sanskrit, and scrambling Nostramus' quatrains, and otherwise looking for hidden meanings in sacred texts. Sure enough, when I gave it to him last night, he seemed happy: he had heard of the book, and apparently put out a silent psychic call into the ether, kind of like a dog whistle, to attract the book to him, and the call had been answered!

So, bond with your fellow pagan - that's what Jesus would do!


(Bush Antichrist - credit: Keith Wise)

[UPDATE: Keith Wise, who created the Bush Antichrist image I posted two years ago, now has a Web Site, where he offers talismans, tarot readings, and other items on the occult side of life.]
You may remember Keith, he created this last year, and more and more people have been accessing it, via search engines like Google.

(P.S.: I apparently also have a pretty, sparkly T-Shirt that says "Grace" across the front, plus probably several other related items, courtesy of Eddy, if anyone's interested.)

Alternative Futures

Gabe warns me that religious tradionalists are outbreeding secular humanists, like myself, and soon we'll be outvoted:

Tomorrow's children, therefore, unlike members of the postwar baby boom generation, will be for the most part descendants of a comparatively narrow and culturally conservative segment of society. To be sure, some members of the rising generation may reject their parents' values, as often happens. But when they look for fellow secularists with whom to make common cause, they will find that most of their would-be fellow travelers were quite literally never born.

I don't take the bait so easily: "Oh, it's already happened - that's old news! I routinely get outvoted on almost everything. C'est la vie!"

Gabe then tries a different approach: "But that memorial to George McGovern would have been a great addition to the town square, really!"

Only then did I become wistful: "I always wanted to make John Lennon's 'Imagine' the national anthem." Just another great, secular-humanist kind of idea that'll never happen!

Some Good Witch YOU Are, Glenda!

The latest forecasts show that Cyclone Glenda will first clobber the NW Australia coast as a hurricane, then rake the ENTIRE western coast as a tropical storm or tropical disturbance, THEN become an extra-tropical low in the Great Australian Bight, and THEN plaster New South Wales AND Tasmania. ONE storm will terrorize HALF of the entire coast of the entire continent of Australia, in one way or another, at varying strength, over the next week! Damn! Such mileage!

Wonderment Over Kaloogian

Nell makes an excellent comment regarding Tristero's post over at Digby's regarding Kaloogian's geography (comment reproduced here):

Here's what puzzles me: Kaloogian's background is Armenian. A ton of Californians, presumably many voters in his district, are of Armenian heritage. There's enormous, justifiable sensitivity in those households and communities to all things Turkish.

And yet someone on his staff put up a picture from suburban Istanbul, with Turkish signs clearly visible, and thought no one in the district would notice it's not from Baghdad? I can't believe someone from Kaloogian's office didn't spot it.

Very good point, Nell!

Makes me think his campaign crew just doesn't have their act together. Given the high-quality of Photoshopped material these days, we are fortunate that this was such a botched, amateurish job.

Mark Of The Beast

A warning from the sky:

The most memorable moment of Terica Washington's 30th birthday Monday was looking into the sky and seeing an airplane towing a black banner with words written in white: "6/6/06 You have been warned".

She was alarmed enough to call the FBI.

Still Showing!

The Crest Theater has extended the run of "Ballets Russes" yet again, through Thursday, April 6th! They are moving the times around to accomodate newer films, however, and presumably matching the hours of cinema buffs who otherwise have trouble making it, so check the Crest Web Site, or the newspaper, before you do down there!

Howard Kaloogian, Faker

That's funny! Howard Kaloogian, noted Republican hatchet type (particularly in the 2003 California Recall campaign), and current candidate for Congress from San Diego, has been misrepresenting photos of Istanbul as Baghdad, trying to show what a normal place that Mesopotamian hell is these days. Exactly the kind of Congressional Representative scandal-burned San Diego needs these days!

El Tricolor

The Mexican flag has been a potent symbol in the latest protests:

That image -- protesters waving and wearing Mexican flags -- has angered anti-illegal immigration activists.

"This isn't Mexico," said Joseph Turner, founder of Save Our State. "This is America. . . . What (annoys me) most is the arrogance that they are going to fly a foreign flag on my soil."

The Mexican flag has long been a hot-button issue in the immigration debate. For some, the flag represents cultural pride and unity among Mexicans and Mexican Americans fighting for their rights here. For others, it symbolizes an invasion by Mexicans into the United States.

... University of California, Irvine, Professor Frank Bean said the flag doesn't signify loyalty to Mexico, but rather loyalty to each other.

"They are saying, `We are together in fighting against these people who are trying to make felons out of us,' " said Bean, co-director of UC Irvine's Center for Research on Immigration, Population and Public Policy.

... Jose Covarrubias, 16, a junior at Garden Grove High School in Orange County, carried both flags Monday. He doesn't think anyone should read too much into protesters' use of the Mexican flag.

"St. Patrick's Day just passed," Covarrubias said. "Just because they wave an Irish flag doesn't mean that they care about Ireland more than they do the U.S."

My suspicion is that the Mexican flag is as much about nostalgia as it is about unity - the remembered, nuturing mother land. But in the context of a demonstration, many protestors also understand that American nationalists will be annoyed by the tricolor's presence, and that is exactly why they'll make certain the Mexican flag is just as ubiquitous as it is possible to make. It's all about ordinary people taking a stand against their detractors!

Sweet Voices, And The Radio Isn't Even On

Apparently I'm not alone - Kylie tells me when the traffic light is about to change:

One of the most notorious drunk drivers in the Ottawa area has been found not criminally responsible on his latest impaired driving charges because of a mental disorder that makes him believe female celebrities are controlling his actions.

Matt Brownlee was arrested last October after police spotted a pickup truck speeding along a busy street in downtown Ottawa. ... The 33-year-old man told psychiatrists that he knew the legal repercussions of his actions, but believed singer Shania Twain was helping him drive.

... On Monday, the judge drew on several psychiatric assessments in ruling that Brownlee was not criminally responsible for his actions because he suffers from delusions that celebrities such as Twain are communicating with him telepathically.

Aqueduct For German Cargo

Food for your inner civil engineer! Today, Gabe highlights this interesting water bridge over the River Elbe. Even (unreliable) Snopes says it's for real!

Deer In The Headlights in Iraq

I remember once finding my cat, Ashley, and another strange cat, yowling at each other at close range. Both cats were in an extreme state of agitation. I thought to put an end to the confrontation, so I stomped directly between them. The chance of retribution removed by the presence of an intervening leg, both cats immediately attacked, and savaged my leg from both sides.

Something like that might be happening in Iraq. By and large, and with notable exceptions (Muqtada al-Sadr), we've been supporting the Shiite communities there as they flex their political powers, but we've also been trying to mollify the Sunni communities as well. Since we don't understand the neighborhood very well, we've been having trouble calibrating our efforts, and we've been making tons of terrible mistakes. Thus, we are in an unenviable place, with the possibility, maybe even likelihood, that both communities will unite to attack Americans. All that's required is a temporary truce between the warring communities, and it's open season on the Yanks!:

Some Shiites, according to al-Hayat, are saying that the US is deliberately attempting to provoke a civil war in Iraq. Among their concerns was the US military's announcement that the attack on the Mustafa Husayniyah in Ur was the work of an Iraqi military unit. Which unit? Where? To whom does it report? Is it little more than a death squad? Is it commanded by the Americans? Why didn't the Prime Minister know about this attack, which spilled over on Dawa Party offices? PM Jaafari is a member of the Dawa Party.

The Badr Organization, a political party that represents the paramilitary Badr Corps, the Shiite militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, demanded Monday that Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, be expelled from that country.

Tropical Storm Season in Australia

Threats on all sides!:

Australia was bracing for its second top-category superstorm in a week as tropical cyclone Glenda headed toward the western coast. The storm was becoming more powerful and was likely to reach category five status as it hits the Pilbara mining area in the next few days, said Noel Puzey from the bureau of meteorology.

Emergency workers in the sparsely-populated region urged residents to batten down in order to avoid a repeat of the devastation tropical cyclone Larry wrought on the other side of Australia last week.

... yet another tropical cyclone, Wati, have provided an unwanted headache for lifesavers along Australia's entire east coast. Wati has whipped up massive surf along the coast, with swells of four metres (13 foot) on tourist beaches such as Sydney's Bondi.

Authorities have warned people to stay out of the water but have been forced to recue dozens of surfers determined to test their big wave riding skills in the rare conditions.

SOS

If "Carpathia" had been piloted by the Germans.

Pittsburgh Freak-Out

Much ado about nothing:

Heavily armed shock troops took to the streets of Downtown, police officers barked at pedestrians to take cover and Pittsburgh's mayor donned a bulletproof vest yesterday afternoon as reports of a sniper in the heart of the business district triggered a massive police response and paralyzed both commerce and traffic.

... There was no sniper after all, only a maintenance man at the Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal plant shooting at pigeons inside the 10-story facility with a pellet rifle.

Police declined to identify the man. But PACT president Robert Fazio said he was Richard Wills, an "excellent" longtime employee who has worked single-handedly for several years to eradicate the plant's pigeon problem after poison and plastic owls proved unsuccessful. PACT provides steam heat for buildings throughout Downtown.

When police discovered that tidbit of information, they also learned another. Despite the rapid response and overwhelming police presence, the worker, a Fayette County resident, had quietly left, possibly oblivious to the uproar he had caused.

... Chief Dominic J. Costa, who was Downtown along with Mayor Bob O'Connor and other top local officials, said merely carrying a pellet rifle Downtown might not be against the law. However, he added, it flew in the face of common sense.

"Look at the alarm he caused. Look at all the inconvenience he caused," Chief Costa said.

... "It was confusing and more than a little aggravating," manager Debbie Doucette said. "Now that it turns out to be a pellet gun, I'm really aggravated. We were all held up for two hours for pigeons and pellet guns."

Pundits

Compared to Sharon Stone, Madonna sounds like Edward R. Murrow. First, Sharon Stone:

I THINK Hillary Clinton is fantastic. But I think it is too soon for her to run. This may sound odd, but a woman should be past her sexuality when she runs. Hillary still has sexual power and I don't think people will accept that. It's too threatening."

Next, Madonna:

"Hillary should go for it. I don't think now is necessarily her time, or the Democrats' time, but she should certainly go for it. You've got to start somewhere, in terms of a woman leading the U.S. In Europe and Asia and elsewhere, women have ruled over millions, it's not an abstract concept. But in America, men are still afraid. And I don't think women are too comfortable with the idea of a female in charge. I find that really amazing."

Lingerie

So, what's Kylie up to?

Australia's sweetheart made headlines in her adopted UK home again yesterday, with reports Minogue has already created a fragrance and is now negotiating names and packaging with a cosmetics company.

Additionally, the singer is set to launch a new range of designs for her "Love Kylie" lingerie line.

It's a good idea to expand that lingerie line. It seems aimed for young, svelte women - nothing for the middle-aged man (well, actually everything for the middle-aged man, just nothing to wear).

Last time I tried wearing something skimpy (a Speedo swim suit), I was 24-years-old, and already embarrassingly unsuited for it. I've gained fifty pounds since then.

Expand that "Love Kylie" range of designs - expand it A LOT!

Stayin' Alive In Las Vegas

Two articles that explore why so many have so much trouble stayin' alive in that blasted desert fantasy metropolis, the one with a burnt, coal-black cinder where a heart should be. When I go there, I see angry, preoccupied people walking around on the fringes of life - in the endless trailer parks, at bus stops, at the mini-marts, behind the glittering facades:

Why is the suicide rate so high in Nevada?:

As far back as 1929, the first year Nevada registered vital statistics with the federal government, the suicide rate here was more than twice the national average.

... Newly compiled data by state Suicide Prevention Coordinator Misty V. Allen shows that 480 people took their lives in 2004, up 9.7 percent from the previous year. That's more than the 398 individuals who died in traffic accidents in Nevada that year.

From 1990 to 2000 Nevada led the nation in the number of suicides per capita. In 2004 the rate dropped slightly, to 18.5 suicides for each 100,000 population.

The national average in 2003, the last year for which comparison figures are available, was 10 suicides per 100,000 people. That year Nevada's rate was 19 per 100,000, which placed the state fourth nationwide.

... "Suicide victims seem to have a much higher rate of alcohol and substance abuse," Thienhaus said. "The vast majority of victims also have a mental illness that should have served as a warning."

... "Long term care doesn't just mean hospitalization," Thienhaus said. "It must also include supervised housing, sheltered workshops, access to outpatient care, all of the things necessary to avoid a recurrence of the factors that precipitated the initial suicide attempt."

... It is a common assumption, for example, that gambling is a major factor in Nevada's high suicide rate. But other so-called frontier states that do not have legalized gaming also rank high on the list.

In addition, New Jersey, which also allows gaming, consistently ranks near the bottom of the list.

The fact that so many frontier states top the list suggests there may be something about living there that contributes to suicide attempts.

Looking at street life:

Norman Bangs had finally had enough of the streets. He'd had enough of the cold and dusty back lots, the police harassment, and the mocking teenagers. He'd had enough of the newspaper beds, the relentless sun and the lack of running water. He'd had enough of the drinking and the drugs.

He just wanted a little help. What he got was the cold shoulder and a one-way ticket back to the streets, where he died earlier this month.

"He seemed like a fine fellow to me, but he had two vices: alcohol and drugs," said Greg Malm, who occasionally ran into Bangs at the Fremont Street Experience and Circle Park. "That's the trouble with this town. There's so many doors that are being closed in your face. It really shouldn't be like that."

... Sacco drove Bangs to WestCare, which serves the valley's homeless who abuse alcohol and drugs. After being ignored, said Sacco, she asked if any beds were available. A receptionist said no. When Sacco asked if there was anywhere else she could take Bangs, the receptionist explained that WestCare was the only free detox center in the valley.

Discouraged, Bangs asked Sacco to drop him off at the Salvation Army homeless shelter. She did, not knowing whether he entered the building. About a month later, she heard that Bangs died of a drug overdose behind an abandoned building near Maryland Parkway and Charleston Boulevard.

... "It's always painful to hear stories of somebody who wanted to get help, and it just wasn't to be," said Lera-Randle El, adding that about 17 people have died on the streets of Las Vegas this year. "There's a lot of would've, could've and should've. Also, in order to deal with the grief, I hope that Norman Bangs' death will shed more light on the issue. I've had homeless people who've died over the years for various reasons. Their cases brought light to the issue. They're still helping from beyond the grave. They're still reaching out to show what's actually going on out there."

Love Bunny

B3ta is posting this exasperating game again.

Flash: Pro-Immigration Blob Devours The Nation

And everyone thought Americans wanted to 'go medieval' on illegal immigrants! As you might expect, it's just clueless people talking to each other, and not bothering to talk to anyone else. Half a million protestors! Perhaps the largest protest in American history!:

Thousands of immigration advocates marched through downtown Los Angeles in one of the largest demonstrations for any cause in recent U.S. history.

More than 500,000 protesters - demanding that Congress abandon attempts to make illegal immigration a felony and to build more walls along the border - surprised police who estimated the crowd size using aerial photographs and other techniques, police Cmdr. Louis Gray Jr. said.

Vladimir Putin

Thief:

Mr Putin was labelled a plagiarist at the weekend after a pair of researchers at the Brookings Institution, a Washington DC think tank, established that the President's academic credentials were based on a dissertation he had lifted in part verbatim from the Russian translation of a management study written by two professors at the University of Pittsburgh in 1978.

Right Outta 'Nam

I always wondered about the black helicopters:

Former Reagan-era Pentagon official Kathleen "KT" McFarland stunned a crowd of Suffolk County Republicans on Thursday by saying:

"Hillary Clinton is really worried about me, and is so worried, in fact, that she had helicopters flying over my house in Southampton today taking pictures," according to a prominent GOP activist who was at the event.

...Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson denied any spying was going on.

"We at the Hillary campaign wish Ms. McFarland the best and hope she gets the rest she needs," he said.

"NOBODY Expects The Spanish Inquisition!"

(Left) Fine food and fine company at Ludy's!


In honor of the Dannette's birthday, and since this was a 'dark' weekend, with no DMTC shows open, the DMTC crowd decided to travel and see Woodland Opera House's production of "Man of La Mancha," starring Rodger McDonald as Don Quixote and Michelle Drever as Dulcinea.

DMTC has done "Man of La Mancha" three times, the two previous times quite recently: in 2000, with Rodger McDonald as Don Quixote and Beth Nilsen as Dulcinea, and in 2005, with Byron Westlund as Don Quixote and Lauren Miller as Dulcinea. Given the fondness of the company for the show - almost a proprietary sense - and given the certainty that Woodland would do things differently than Davis would, I steeled myself for a night of complaint, intrigue, nay, even an auto-da-fe, which reminds me of, strangely enough, of Monty Python! :

Chapman: *I* don't know - Mr Wentworth just told me to come in here and say that there was trouble at the mill, that's all - I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.

(JARRING CHORD)
(The door flies open and Cardinal Ximinez of Spain (Palin) enters, flanked by two junior cardinals. Cardinal Biggles (Jones) has goggles pushed over his forehead. Cardinal Fang (Gilliam) is just Cardinal Fang)

Ximinez: NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise ... surprise and fear ... fear and surprise .... Our two weapons are fear and surprise ... and ruthless efficiency .... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency ... and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope .... Our *four* ... no ... *Amongst* our weapons .... Amongst our weaponry ... are such elements as fear, surprise .... I'll come in again. (Exit and exeunt)

Chapman: I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.

(JARRING CHORD)
(The cardinals burst in)
Ximinez: NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and nice red uniforms - Oh damn! (To Cardinal Biggles) I can't say it - you'll have to say it.

Biggles: What?

Ximinez: You'll have to say the bit about 'Our chief weapons are ...'

Biggles: (rather horrified): I couldn't do that...

(Ximinez bundles the cardinals outside again)

Chapman: I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.

(JARRING CHORD)
(The cardinals enter)

Biggles: Er.... Nobody...um....

Ximinez: Expects...

Biggles: Expects... Nobody expects the...um...the Spanish...um...

Ximinez: Inquisition.

Biggles: I know, I know! Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. In fact, those who do expect -

Ximinez: Our chief weapons are...

Biggles: Our chief weapons are...um...er...

Ximinez: Surprise...

Biggles: Surprise and --

Ximinez: Okay, stop. Stop. Stop there - stop there. Stop. Phew! Ah!...our chief weapons are surprise...blah blah blah. Cardinal, read the charges.

Fang: You are hereby charged that you did on diverse dates commit heresy against the Holy Church. 'My old man said follow the--'

Biggles: That's enough. (To Cleveland) Now, how do you plead?

Cleveland: We're innocent.

Ximinez: Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

So, beginning the evening, I was somewhat apprehensive about how the evening was going to go.

We began with a nice dinner at Ludy's, next door to the Woodland Opera House. Celtic music by Day Griffin (left) floated through the restaurant. The DMTC crowd looked forward to seeing the show, particularly since an E-Mail message from a cast member had been received earlier in the the week. The message extolled the superb quality of the cast and the orchestra, and created a favorable anticipatory buzz.


(Left) Just before curtain. Here, Steve Isaacson coverses with woodwinds wizard Paul Wurschmidt. A strange haze filled the theater. We thought a fog machine had been used recently, but none was used in the show, so the source of the haze remained a mystery. [Update: Steve says Jeff Kean at WOH has a haze machine. Maybe so. But then, why was haze necessary for this show?]

The show was quite nice. Rodger was just as I remembered in 2000: strong and vigorous. Michelle was fiery as Aldonza, and had a beautiful, gorgeous voice.

I liked the opportunity to see the 'gypsy' portions of the show (those parts had been cut from the DMTC shows). I especially liked that the show started with the gypsies. Great start! In the gypsy segment Kevin Little and Monika Neal had a fine dance. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Monika is focusing on dance. She has been attending Natomas Charter School of late, and clearly picking up useful knowledge. I particularly liked the whimsical little parade in 'Golden Helmet of Mambrino.'

My major complaint regarded the use of recorded music at selected places where an atmosphere of dread was required. The music just wasn't ominous enough, and seemed jarring and unnecessary, given the presence of a fine orchestra. Why use a recording?

Afterwards, we regrouped at Arthur and Dannette's. Steve, Lauren, and Andy came up and began tormenting me by croaking in unison, "M-A-R-C!" (it's a long story), so I pulled my coat over my head and gritted my teeth against the grating sound. Driven to madness by the endless sound, and imitating Rodger, I finally blurted (to general laughter) "My name is Alonso Quijana!" (Humor: the ultimate weapon!)

DMTC criticism regarded two general points. DMTC took seriously, raising to the point of principle even, the prison setting. That meant people and objects shouldn't enter or leave the stage, unless absolutely necessary. The lack of freedom of movement helps create the oppressive prison atmosphere.

Most DMTC people felt the prisoners and various objects were leaving and entering the stage unnecessarily. From where, and to where, could they possibly be going in a prison? Plus, stronger emphasis on Cervantes' trunk as the source of props should have been made.

But there are other ways to create an oppressive atmosphere. Woodland emphasized set design and lighting to do just that. The tall, imposing set accentuated the already tall, imposing proscenium arch of the Woodland Opera House. By allowing objects to fly in, they were able to use a confessional as a set piece - really, to me, a magical effect - but unavailable to the DMTC productions, given the stricter interpretation of what sort of movements were allowable. And (to belabor the obvious) the stage is not a prison. Can the director be faulted for taking advantage of a stage's possibilities?

The other general point regarded show direction. Certain relationships, such as that between Dr. Carrasco and Antonia, could have been developed better, given different direction. Some interconnectedness was lost at the beginning, such as when Cervantes first invites the prisoners into his imagination. Director Bob Cooner had the prisoners keep their distance from Cervantes, but a closer approach seemed called for.

But, in general, the DMTC crowd had a good time, liked the show, found much to admire about the actors, and was hardly in the mood to punish heresy. The cardinals had a soft touch for good theater, well done.

"Antonia" (Andrea St. Clair) heads home after a fine show!

Yet Again!

The Crest Theater has extended the run of "Ballets Russes" yet again, through Thursday, March 30th! Don't delay - see it while it's here! Sally saw the film today, and was shocked to see her old teacher, Alan Howard, in the movie. Go down there and get shocked too!