Sacramento Ballet's "The Great Gatsby"

Lobby at the Sacramento Community Center.  I said 'hi!' to Ron Cunningham as he strode to make his pre-show 'Great Gatsby' speech in his natty tux.  He replied 'hi!'

Ron Cunningham gives his pre-show talk regarding Balanchine's "Who Cares?" and his own world premiere of "The Great Gatsby."

Connor Mickeiwicz narrated the show itself.

Show principals:Jay Gatsby (Stefan Calka), Daisy Buchana (Alexandra Cunningham), Tom Buchana (Christopher Nachtrab), Jordan Baker (Isha Lloyd), Nick Carraway (Oliver-Paul Adams), Myrtle Wilson (Amanda Peet), George Wilson (Michael Separovich).

Standing ovation.

The Gatsby mansion parties were beyond awesome!

What made this show very special was use of live musicians (Billy Novick's Blue Syncopators) and vocalists (Frances Wheeler, particularly her rendition of Clara Smith's "It's Tight Like That".)

I hope we'll see the show performed again!  And again!

DMTC's Third Cake Auction

Tessa's "Dark Side of the Moon" Cake (in 2 parts).

Tardis cake.

Christina Rae's Petite cake.

Heart Cake.

One of Mary Young's cakes.

I believe this Coconut Cake went for the highest amount ($40).

Heidi Johnson's 'Crazy Good Chocolate Sauce'.

Noel's Strawberry Princess Cake.

Becca Chin's Chocolate Cake (which I bid on, and ultimately got!)

Cookie.

Adam Sartain's Dump Cake.

Optical Illusion Cake.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.

Kitty Litter Cake.

Steve says the event raised $900.  More than I expected!

Speculation Starts On Why The Pope Is Resigning

Where there's smoke:

Adele Stan addresses what virtually everyone is thinking but nobody will admit (at least on TV, particularly MSNBC where "pope news" is right up there with a terrorist attack for the amount of attention it garners.)

Citing age and infirmity as his reason for leaving the papacy, Benedict's action comes just weeks after he opened his celebrated Twitter account -- and less than a month after the decades-old child abuse scandal drew nearer to the pope's door, with revelations published in the Los Angeles Times earlier this month that Cardinal Roger Mahony, then Archbishop of Los Angeles, sought to evade the law in cases involving the sexual abuse of children by the priests in his charge by sending them to treatment facilities in states that did not require health professionals to report the crimes to authorities.

...They haven't even begun to scratch the surface of these document. Mahoney and Ratzinger worked closely together and Mahoney was previously thought to be one of the rare exceptions to the Cardinal cover-up, at least to the degree he's recently been revealed to have been involved. So, most likely, was Ratzinger. Stay tuned.

The Weather Channel Decided To Name Just About Everything

Yeah, it's all pretty stupid:

The Weather Channel announced last fall that it had decided to begin naming noteworthy winter storm systems, and the current blizzard is providing its most high-profile chance to do so. As a result, those who visit weather.com are greeted with headlines dominated by "Winter Storm Nemo." Meanwhile, those who opt for weather.gov are warned of a regular old "major winter storm." The reason: Federal forecasters are refusing to play along with what is widely seen as the cable channel's PR power play. The Media Decoder explains:

[T]he National Weather Service ... has advised its forecasters not to follow the channel’s lead. ... [W]eather experts continue to roll their eyes at the channel’s storm-naming, just as they did when it was announced last November. It’s widely viewed as a marketing ploy, even though some skeptics admit that the names help raise awareness about storms. On Thursday, a National Weather Service spokesman reiterated, "We never have, nor do we have any plans to consider naming winter storms."

Tim Reckert's "Head Over Heels"

Linda Walker at Tucson Regional Ballet has a message to her far-flung students, and their friends:

Hi, all.

The Reckart family is proud to announce that their son, Tim, has been nominated for an Academy Award. The Reckart family has been with the Academy of Ballet since 1989. Their third daughter, Elizabeth is now a member of the Tucson Regional Ballet Co and she too is most proud. Tim’s Oscar-nominated film, "Head Over Heels", is now available to watch on the internet. The film is ten minutes long. If you are on Facebook, you can watch it at

http://www.facebook.com/HeadOverHeelsFilm

and to help Tim with pre-Oscar buzz, please “LIKE” the film.

If you aren’t on Facebook, you can watch it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHs3Pe32b8Q

Please pass this on – the more people who see it, the better. Thank you!

Miss Linda

Homey D. Clown

Birds And Bread

Not all birds eat bread, but there are other uses....

The GOP Always Increases The Deficit - Always!

Every time the GOP is in charge, through their ill-considered arms buildups and tax-reduction policies, they they make certain the deficit explodes. When Democrats get in charge, they attempt to fix things. Why anyone would trust the utterly-untrustworthy GOP on these matters is a mystery:

The reality is that we had low debt and no fiscal problem before Reagan; then an unprecedented surge in peacetime, non-depression deficits under Reagan/Bush; then a major improvement under Clinton; then a squandering of the Clinton surplus via tax cuts and unfunded wars of choice under Bush. And yes, a surge in debt once the Great Recession hit, but that’s exactly when you should be running deficits.

The point about the fake history that expunges the Clinton years is that it turns the budget into a story in which nobody is at fault because everyone is at fault, and the problem is a generic issue of runaway spending. No, it isn’t; we would have come into this crisis with very little debt if the GOP hadn’t always insisted on tax cuts.

"Urinetown" Rehearsals This Week At DMTC

The last two weeks have been pretty arduous, and the next weeks look like they'll be equally-arduous.

Newspapers Acting In Complicity With The Government

Since Gutenberg came along, complicity between reporters and governmental agents has been the oldest story in the world. In all nations, times, and circumstances, complicity is normal. We tend to think of an adversarial press, especially as it pertains to democracies, but that's an exceptional condition. Respect for press independence is mostly empty flattery directed at craven reporters, many of whom are perfectly-ready to toe the government's line, anytime, anyplace, and especially so if money or camera-time are at stake.

But what about our principled, liberal press? Well, they aren't principled and they aren't liberal. Those who believe otherwise haven't been paying attention, especially since 1994, or so.

But liberals hate drones, don't they? Well, not really! Drones can be very useful tools! Better than bombs alone!

Of course, people with other priorities - like terrorists - can use drones too. But, for now, liberals are content to see what uses prove suitable for our new toys.

Like they say, when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything else begins to look like a nail:

In the last 24 hours, events in Congress have shown how leaders of both political parties have worked together to create a new extra-constitutional precedent — one allowing the occupant of the White House to execute American citizens without judicial oversight or even concrete incriminating evidence.

...This is exactly the kind of thing that rightly sows suspicion that for all the politicians yelling at each other, and for all the media hand-wringing about polarization, in many cases both parties collude to guarantee certain outcomes — especially on national security issues. Yet, as evidenced by an equally troubling revelation, that collusion is not limited to elected officials. It also extends to the media that is supposed to provide a check on those officials.

...In a stunning interview with the paper’s ombudsman, managing editor Dean Baquet admitted that the Times decided not to censor the story because it would pose any kind of imminent danger to Americans, but because it might result in the drone program being curtailed.

...It is not overstatement to call this a genuine watershed moment for American journalism.

Here you have one of the most powerful news organizations in the world publicly admitting that it refused to report a story not because it was concerned about the safety of Americans (aka “national security) but because it believed that doing so might result in people finding out about what’s going on and consequently forcing a change in government policy.

...Can you imagine the reaction if, for instance, a major news outlet openly said it refused to publish a story about a secret tax policy specifically because doing so might result in public outrage and therefore a change in said policy? It doesn’t matter whether the tax policy was ultra-conservative or super-liberal — the notion of any news organization, much less some of the most powerful in the world, publicly saying it suppressed a story to prevent a change in that tax policy is anathema to the most basic understanding of the press’s role in society. It would almost certainly generate a huge amount of outrage — and rightly so.

...That such a decision was nonetheless made quite obviously undermines the entire notion that the Times editors (or any editors at the other papers that made the same decision) have any serious regard for objectivity.

...But perhaps even more problematic than the bias is the government-media collusion that is never supposed to occur in a democratic society.

One of the reasons a free press is so necessary to a functioning democracy is so that it can shed light on the actions of the people’s government — even if that light reveals taboo facts. Clearly, though, the opposite is happening — major news organizations made the decision to turn that light off precisely because it would reveal such politically inconvenient truths.

The other label for that is “state-run propaganda.” That’s a term Americans may not be comfortable with — but unfortunately it’s a term that accurately describes more and more of what we see, read and hear when it comes to national security.

Florida's Brilliant New Business Slogan Campaign

Checking in on Facebook this morning, I noted Brennan said this:

Heard this on the radio, had to share:

So apparently Florida has a new slogan to encourage business in their state, it says "Florida: The Perfect Climate for Business" except the I in Florida is a tie instead of an I. Of course, this being America, someone found offense with it. Saying it is "sexist", because obviously only men wear ties ever.

A columnist for the Tampa Times suggested "draping the "F" in Florida in pearls or anchoring the "A" in fashionable heels".

I can't even believe people like this exist... It hurts my brain... If this tie offends you, your stupidity offends me. So you better cut it out! Or I'm going to complain about it loudly and accomplish nothing!

Hmmm..... It is mildly offensive to women, but only mildly. These days, the crowd that Rush Limbaugh loves to call "feminazis" are in danger of suffering combat burnout. Every other day, some powerful legislature somewhere tries to implement mind-bendingly stupid laws regarding lady parts. Feminist outrage is pegged at such a high level right now, for sound, legitimate reasons, that getting all worked up about some dumb slogan would simply slip below their overtaxed radar.

But then my BS detector began to buzz. I began to wonder, and replied:

If anything's stupid it's that some ad agency got paid big bucks for this slogan. Maybe there is no controversy, and faux anger is the campaign rollout. If so, it's brilliant!

I started looking deeper. At the Tampa Bay Times:

This week Gov. Rick Scott and business leaders unveiled plans for a blitz to attract business to our state with this slogan: FLORIDA The Perfect Climate for Business.

Clever. That's climate as in business climate, but also our lack of sudden ice storms. Notably, the "i" in Florida is in the shape of a man's power tie.

This next thought may seem as ancient to younger women as whalebone corsets. But to some of us who grew up with tales of important downtown clubs where businessmen dined and women were unwelcome, of big deals cut on golf courses without pesky women in attendance, the message is not so subtle: Businessmen Welcome Here. The rest of you? Eh.

I consulted prominent local business types who also happen to be female:

"How you completely dismiss that entire segment of your business community and use a visual that is so associated with men — this is something out of the Mad Men era," says Beth Leytham, owner of the Leytham Group public relations firm.

"Not everyone wears a tie," said former Tampa mayor Pam Iorio, now a leadership speaker. "The business community is both men and women. I think I would have chosen something 21st century."

So, who is Beth Leytham?:

"Perhaps they should add a tag line: 'Florida is the perfect climate for business if you're a man,'" wrote Beth Leytham, a Tampa-based public relations executive, in an email to the Tampa Tribune.

"I thought immediately that it set us back, all the work that we've done. It's not that they have to make it pink or 'girlie,' but maybe put a briefcase or something like an iPhone or smartphone in there to represent business," Pamela Rogan, the President of the Central Florida Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, told MyFoxOrlando.

I smell fish! The businesswoman at the center, Beth Leytham, is in advertising. And what are the odds that there are connections between Enterprise Florida and Central Florida Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners? There's a second controversy about funding going out of state, where the real scandal (if any) might be.

I bet Leytham is getting paid under the table. I bet Rogan is in collusion. My head explodes at the possibilities. It is brilliant!

As Brennan later remarked:

Mark, that would be pretty brilliant and whoever thought of it deserves a raise or promotion.

Yes, we are certainly talking about this slogan (that's mildly-offensive, but not truly so)! Generate a bit of heat, and Voila!

This faux-anger kind of campaign has infinite possibilities these divided days. Here the focus is on the right wing, with talk-radio as the messenger, but it could work equally-well on the left, through blogs and appropriate venues. INFINITE POSSIBILITIES!

I look forward to much manipulative sturm und drang in the coming years, courtesy of the Mad Men who really run our nation.

I Always Wanted A Manifesto - This Cop Has A Manifesto

Christopher Dorner is mad as hell:

I know most of you who personally know me are in disbelief to hear from media reports that I am suspected of committing such horrendous murders and have taken drastic and shocking actions in the last couple of days. ... Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name. The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days. It has gotten worse.

...I have exhausted all available means at obtaining my name back. I have attempted all legal court efforts within appeals at the Superior Courts and California Appellate courts. This is my last resort. The LAPD has suppressed the truth and it has now lead to deadly consequences.

...I’m not an aspiring rapper, I’m not a gang member, I’m not a dope dealer, I don’t have multiple babies momma’s. ... I didn’t need the US Navy to instill Honor, Courage, and Commitment in me but I thank them for re-enforcing it. It’s in my DNA.

...Luckily I don’t have to live everyday like most of you. Concerned if the misconduct you were apart of is going to be discovered. Looking over your shoulder, scurrying at every phone call from internal affairs or from the Captains office wondering if that is the day PSB comes after you for the suspects you struck when they were cuffed months/years ago or that $500 you pocketed from the narcotics dealer, or when the other guys on your watch beat a transient nearly to death and you never reported the UOF to the supervisor. No, I don’t have that concern, I stood up for what was right but unfortunately have dealt with the reprocussions of doing the right thing and now losing my name and everything I ever stood for.

...Self Preservation is no longer important to me. I do not fear death as I died long ago on 1/2/09. I was told by my mother that sometimes bad things happen to good people. I refuse to accept that.

From 2/05 to 1/09 I saw some of the most vile things humans can inflict on others as a police officer in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the streets of LA. It was in the confounds of LAPD police stations and shops (cruisers). The enemy combatants in LA are not the citizens and suspects, it’s the police officers.

This department has not changed from the Daryl Gates and Mark Fuhrman days. Those officers are still employed and have all promoted to Command staff and supervisory positions. I will correct this error.

...I am here to change and make policy. The culture of LAPD versus the community and honest/good officers needs to and will change. I am here to correct and calibrate your morale compasses to true north.

...Citizens/non-combatants, do not render medical aid to downed officers/enemy combatants. They would not do the same for you. They will let you bleed out just so they can brag to other officers that they had a 187 caper the other day and can’t wait to accrue the overtime in future court subpoenas. As they always say, “that’s the paramedics job…not mine”. Let the balance of loss of life take place. Sometimes a reset needs to occur.

Fly

Look... I feel like I'm running out of ways to explain this to you but once more, I shall try. This fly is a major problem for us. It will ruin our batch. And we need to destroy it and every trace of it, so we can cook. Failing that, we're dead. There's no more room for error. Not with these people.

Perchlorate Brine On Mars?

It's funny, I had thought the properties of inorganic salts had long been known, but maybe it's not true. Certainly space exploration allows one to formulate questions that might not seem obvious at first, but are more and more plausible:

“They do seem to depress the freezing temperature to the point where you could have stable liquid on the surface,” said Selby Cull of Bryn Mawr College.

What is more, salts such as perchlorates provide a way for Martian soils to take up water from the atmosphere. When the Martian atmosphere becomes more humid during its daily cycle, perchlorates can undergo a process called deliquescence, pulling water from the air and essentially transforming from a crystal to a droplet. As the humidity decreases again, the salts effloresce, releasing the water vapor back into the atmosphere. Intriguingly, the process is asymmetrical—preliminary laboratory data presented at the conference demonstrated that perchlorate salts deliquesce and effloresce at very different humidity levels. Once a perchlorate has taken in water via deliquescence, which occurs as moderate humidities, it will retain that water until the humidity drops to very low levels. “The salt really likes to maintain its aqueous state,” said Raina Gough of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The ready uptake of water by perchlorate salts points the way to the regular emergence of pockets of liquid under typical Martian conditions. “We’ve expanded the region where you can have an aqueous phase to lower temperatures and lower humidities,” Gough said.

...All the same, McEwen and his colleagues have recently found what appears to be the best evidence for present-day flowing liquid on Mars. In 2011 the researchers used the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera to identify several sites where warm slopes are periodically darkened by linear streaks. Flowing briny water was, and still is, the best explanation for the seasonal appearance of the so-called recurring slope lineae—although McEwen noted that non-perchlorate salts, with less extreme properties, could be in play.

"Urinetown" - Act One Finale

Probably the hardest part of learning "Urinetown" so far is this segment between 5:05 and 5:39, where the song moves very fast. I can barely do it, sitting down, but I'll have to be moving around while singing it, and I haven't done that successfully yet.

California's Money Sewer, And Where It Goes

We need improved infrastructure:

A group that backs privatizing public infrastructure engineering work gave $400,000 to an opaque, out-of-state organization that injected millions of dollars – and plenty of controversy – into California's initiative campaigns last year.

New state campaign filings show that the American Council of Engineering Companies California made a $150,000 donation to a Virginia-based nonprofit in July and another $250,000 in September.

That nonprofit, Americans for Job Security, in turn, gave money to another nonprofit organization based in Arizona, which then contributed $11 million to a California committee that opposed Gov. Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 tax hike and supported Proposition 32, which sought to end payroll- deducted political contributions.

The engineering business group's donation surfaced Friday because California law requires political action committees to show their spending, including money that goes to issue-advocacy groups.

"We completely believed and understood – and still believe and understand – that we were donating to an issue-advocacy effort," said Paul Meyer, executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies California. "And so that's why we appropriately, timely and fully reported to the secretary of state. We fully complied with the law."

Asked what issue the council gave $400,000 to advocate, Meyer said, "The issue was really sort of money in politics. Our members really don't like the whole money-in-politics thing."

The president of the state engineers union, which has fought privatization for many years, issued a statement blasting the council's donations.

"They sought to deny our schools desperately needed funding, silence middle class families, and evade California's campaign finance laws," said Steve Lee, president of Professional Engineers in California Government. "They should be ashamed."

And they're right down the street too:

American Council of Engineering Companies
1303 J Street, Suite 450
Sacramento, CA 95814

GOT IT!

32nd Anniversary Of Moving Into Dr. Tom's Place

On this day in 1981, I moved from my office at the University of Arizona (the cramped quarter where I had been living for an uncomfortable month) into the relative tranquility of the hacienda-style house of Dr. Tom Edwards. I lived there until late 1986.

Strange place, Dr. Tom's. He was always trying to improve on the property, but the harder he worked, the more the place fell apart. Interesting memories:

• Across the street from the house where John Dillinger was captured;
• Intelligent cat that ate all the koi;
• The three-legged dog whom I could never outrun;
• the tarot reader and her optimistic forecast;
• the parrot that hated women, bearded men, and mailmen;
• the unfortunate canaries whom the parrot would systematically strip of claws and beaks;
• what happens when the water evaporates when hard-boiling eggs;
• the amazing library in the cabin on Mt. Lemmon;
• the mosquito-infested room;
• cockroach tales;
• the fellow who stared at the sun;
• puncturing holes in the sides of the Mercedes-Benz;
• unintended blackface;
• recovering the wounded in the motorcycle crash;
• the book project that never seemed to be completed;
• the flasher in the alley;
• the disorganized 22-year-old;
• the carsick Great Dane;
• how Inca Doves sound like cheerleaders;

And too many other tales!

Order Up "Breaking Bad" Lingo When You Please

Via Tim at UBFFT:

Heisenberg Ipsum, a Lorem Ipsum generator for Breaking Bad fans.

If you want a good laugh, view source on the code. CSS bitch!

First Up, Steve's Left Eye

Steve is enjoying the fruits of today's cataract surgery.

Next up, the right eye.

Derecho Assessment

Left:  Progress of the June 29, 2012 as it decimated the landscape. (It was something like a science fiction movie disaster come to life!)

Jerry notes an interesting and important document, just released by the National Weather Service, assessing their performance regarding the June 29, 2012 derecho. As the report notes:

A historic derecho impacted the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic states on June 29, 2012. The event originated in northeast Illinois as a small cluster of thunderstorms. The derecho became organized over northeast Indiana during the afternoon and raced southeastward across Ohio and West Virginia at 60 mph. The derecho remained intact crossing the Appalachians, a climatological rarity, and caused widespread damage in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area during the late evening. The derecho moved offshore shortly after midnight on June 30, 2012. In its wake, 13 people were killed and several million customers were left without power, many for several days. Tony Cavalier, Chief Meteorologist from WSAZ-TV Huntington-Charleston, WV, was quoted as saying, “The derecho was one of the top two impacting events in my 25 year career.”

This derecho was not forecast until the day of the event. Summertime derechos are often difficult to forecast because they respond to smaller-scale forcing mechanisms.

That HRRR model looks like it is useful. It’s interesting how the derecho tries to stay north and hew to the frontal boundary, even the higher values of CAPE might be further south. I guess it’s the rain-induced cooling that is so important!

Oooh, Mr. Trump Can't Take A Joke

And this is supposed to make Bill Maher look bad?:

The real estate mogul yesterday filed a $5 million lawsuit against Bill Maher, after the television host failed to fulfill his end of a deal asking Trump to prove he is not a “spawn of an orangutan.”

Maher made the bet on Jay Leno’s show, very obviously mocking Donald Trump’s non-announcement announcement in October, in which the birther promised to donate $5 million to a charity of Obama’s choice upon the release of the president’s college transcripts. Maher mocked Trump and ”the syphilitic monkey that runs his Twitter tweet,” saying, “We did a new rule one week, that suppose that Donald Trump had been the spawn of on orangutan having sex with his mother.” He clarified to Leno, “I’m not saying it’s true — I hope it’s not true. But unless he comes up with proof, I’m willing to offer $5 million to Donald Trump that he can donate to a charity of his choice.”

Everyone was in on the joke except for Trump, who amazingly became the joke of the joke (of the joke). He offered up his birth certificate to prove that he was not, in fact, the son of an orangutan: “Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump’s birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan.”

And after Maher didn’t pay up, Trump sued. ”I don’t think he was joking,” Trump said regarding the bet on Fox News yesterday. “He said it with venom. That was venom. That wasn’t a joke. In fact, he was nervous when he said it. It was a pathetic delivery.”

Neanderthals And Modern Humans May Not Have Had Much Interaction

Getting the dates right is hard:

Theories about when the last Neanderthals walked the Earth may have to be revised, according to a study that suggests they became extinct in their last refuge in Spain much earlier than previously thought.

Previous dating of bone fossils found at Neanderthal sites in the region put the youngest at about 35,000 years.

But researchers from Australia and Europe re-examined the bones using an improved method to filter out contamination and concluded that the remains are about 50,000 years old.

If true, the study, casts doubt on the idea that modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed – and possibly even interbred – for millennia, because humans aren't believed to have settled in the region until 42,000 years ago.

"The results of our study suggest that there are major problems with the dating of the last Neanderthals in modern-day Spain," said Thomas Higham, deputy director of the Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit at Oxford University in England. "It is unlikely that Neanderthals survived any later in this area than they did elsewhere in mainland Europe."

FOX News Just Makes Up S**t On The Spot

So, this is what it takes to be a modern journalist these days! No self-respecting middle school student would say such a thing about climate change! But when you are on FOX News, anything goes! A complete, direct lie:

"For every one scientist that says there is, I'll give you 10 scientists that said it's not manmade"

Conspiracy Theories And The Tea Party

I was looking for one thing, and stumbled across this. It's starting point was the blackouts that happened in January, 2011, in Texas, and elsewhere. Then it proceeds to the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations, and on and on.

In typical Tea Party style, I'm sympathetic to about half of what's in the video. It's not entirely wrong, but it's not entirely right, either. You'd think that an objective presentation would mention the trouble in Texas was a direct consequence of the astonishing cold snap in the Southwest. It hadn't been that cold in the Southwest in forty years. No matter what kind of system we had, there might have been trouble. But he doesn't even mention it.

Anyway, I don't want a free market in coal combustion. We tried that in the 19th Century, and it wasn't pretty. Look at China! They got a free market in coal over there, and right now people are dying.

The Tea Party was started as an astroturf project by the GOP. Now, the GOP is trying to shut it down:

According to The New York Times, the “Conservative Victory Project” is “intended to counter other organizations that have helped defeat establishment Republican candidates over the last two election cycles. It is the most robust attempt yet by Republicans to impose a new sense of discipline on the party, particularly in primary races.”

The Karl Rove-backed American Crossroads is behind the effort, which will support more traditional Republican candidates in Senate and congressional races. The project already has a target, the Times reports: Representative Steve King, a right-wing, six-term Iowa congressman, who has his eyes on the state’s open Senate seat.

I prefer my own Conspiracy Theory, about the GOP/Los Zetas guns alliance (Patent Pending, despite the mockery I'm getting). I don't try to make it an overarching conspiracy theory, and I can change it, or abandon it, if it seems awkward or begins getting absurd. My pride isn't that involved. Big conspiracy theories, however, are just too complicated.

Alexis Salgado - I Need You

I Know You Are, But What Am I?

OK, time for recess:

Real estate mogul Donald Trump ripped into GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.) Monday over his suggestion that Republicans needed to "stop being the stupid party" if they hoped to rebound in the next election cycle.

"He was stupid for using that term," Trump told "Fox and Friends." "Because that term is so obnoxious, and so good for the other side, he should not have used that term. That term is going to be living now for a long time, and they're going to have his face on television using it."

Southwest Airlines Facebook Phish

Groundhog Day:

For the second time this month, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is warning people about a scheme claiming to offer two free tickets.

The scheme is still making rounds on Facebook. When people click on the link for the purported free ticket offer, it allows the schemers to essentially hijack their Facebook account. Their account then posts the offer, appearing in their friends' Facebook feeds.

In addition, following the instructions to get the free tickets also provides the schemers with their personal information, Southwest said.

Any and all legitimate offers shared on Facebook by Southwest Airlines will feature the Southwest logo in the section that shows who the post is from, an airline representative told NBC 5.

The scheme isn't new. Southwest warned customers about it earlier this month. It also popped up on social media in late 2011.

Southwest Airlines said people who have already clicked on a link for two free tickets should change the password on their Facebook account.

Bridge Rope Swing

Cool!

"War Of The Worlds" (2005)

All weekend long, I've had a cold, so, when Saturday night came along, I resisted temptation to go out, and instead stayed in, and finished surgery on AR Drone 2.0 (#1) and watched Tom Cruise in "War of the Worlds" (2005).

The story is a perfect Rorschach test of society's anxieties:

The War of the Worlds (1898), a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, is the first-person narrative of an unnamed protagonist's (and his brother's) adventures in London and the countryside around London as Earth is invaded by Martians. Written in 1895–97, it is one of the earliest stories that details a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race.

...The plot has been related to invasion literature of the time. The novel has been variously interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and generally Victorian superstitions, fears and prejudices.

When I recently saw the 1953 film version again, what struck me most was the resigned attitude of the military to their failure to stop the Martians after nuking a portion of southern California. That resignation is so much different than today's panicked over-reaction to imagined "terrorists", and was a direct reflection of having passed through a harrowing recent test: World War II battles, barely eight years prior, where American soldiers routinely died by the tens of thousands. This version seemed to be a commentary on bad and careless parenting. It didn't have quite the same gravitas as the 1953 version, but it was OK. Nevertheless, I liked how they tried to blend H.G. Well's Martian tripods with the scarier parts of the 1953 movie, in respectful honor of both, without stinting on the possibilities of modern film magic. I was most impressed how they used the millisecond beading of lightning (a real, and very interesting phenomenon observed in natural lightning) in service of the story. Real science! Imagine!

NOGAPS Completely Missed Today's Little Storm Moving Across the Southwest!

Absolutely, positively missed it entirely! That model is just too damned pessimistic!

There Was Some Kind Of Game Today

M.: Oh, red vs. white! Are we red?

S.: *SMACK*

M.: Ow!

S.: Don't you even recognize the San Francisco colors?

M.: Who is the other team?

S.: Baltimore.

M.: Oh, the Colts!

S.: *SMACK*

M.: Ow!

S.: I've never been able to figure out what 'downs' are.

M.: Oh, I know that!

S.: Look, there are the coaches!

M.: They look so similar. Like they could be brothers, or something.

S.: *SMACK*

M.: Ow!

The Dangers Of Lead

E.: MMMMMMAAAAAAAAARRRRCCCC! What are you doing?

M.: Well, I ate only half the can of chili, so I'm sealing the top of the can with a plastic bag and a rubber band, and putting it back in the refrigerator, for later.

E.: No, you are supposed to put the chili in a bowl and seal the bowl with plastic wrap. What you are doing is too dangerous!

M.: It is? How?

E.: When you open a can of food, the can releases lead into the air in the refrigerator. You don't want that in your food, do you?

M.: Well, no, but they haven't use lead in canning for an awful long .....

E.: Don't give me any of your nonsense! You don't even wash fruits and vegetables. You eat food off the floor. What do you know about food safety?

M.: Well, it's not that dangerous - three-second rule! - but there's no lead .....

E.: No! You have to start watching yourself and be more careful!

Phillip Phillips - Home

People will ask in the future: "What song from 2012 was America's favorite?" This is the song they'll favor most.

"Cop Song", From 'Urinetown'

The pressure is on, to learn a variety of music for DMTC's "Urinetown"!

I've almost got this song. It's a fairly-short, rhythmic patter song, and thus maybe easier to learn than some of the others. I've just just got to know the song blindfolded, so I can defeat my brain's infinitely-elastic capability to mess it up, by substituting incorrect lyrics.

I've been a cop in a number of DMTC musicals, but I've never sung about the cop experience before....

Kennedy Addresses The Nation On The Cuban Missile Crisis

This is the first Presidential address I remember. I was six, at the time, but it was clear the way everyone was freaking out that it was a pretty big deal.

Ryan Adame Stars In Ad For CBS 13 News

This is great!

The Filming of Godspell (1973) (Part 2/3)

Part of a really interesting documentary.

"Godspell" - Woodland Opera House

Left: Erik Catalan.

A reasonably-large of musical theater fans were at WOH Friday night to see 'Godspell'.

When I was in high school, I believe we saw the movie more than fifteen times in the theater (we really liked the movie.  Maybe too much!)

This is the first time I've seen the Babel prologue to this show. It was well-done by the WOH cast - well-performed - but as an academic type I have to say I don't think I like its underlying message. I think it means that I'm not a Christian, at some deep level.

Left: Hannah Wallace.

The cast members that impressed me most with their energy and vitality were Alex Cesena, Quentin Carbajal, and Hannah Wallace.

Left: Eimi Taormina, and well-wishers.

New Mexico Weather Forecast Looking Abruptly Less Optimistic

It's tough in the desert.

Beyoncé Is The Best Pop Singer Ever, And Don't Forget It!

In the second video she discusses the Inaugural kerfuffle, and all that.

Black History Month This Morning On "Good Day Sacramento"

Here in this morning's Good Day Sacramento piece on Black History Month, Tyehimba Kokayi, his son Osayande and a third person (Lion's Den Entertainment) play in the background as Good Day Sacramento's Courtney Dempsey tours the art exhibit at 40 Acres Art Gallery, near Sacramento's Guild Theater.

Lately, Tyehimba has been working (with others) on skits suitable for (if I'm not mistaken) elementary and middle school classes that want to have a segment on African-American history. Let me know if you have a need for such a show. I believe their rehearsals are nearly-complete, and they are ready to tour.

Trouble In UBFFT Land

I don't fully understand - I didn't quite feel the diss. But the Internet is a big place, and if an alternate concept can prosper elsewhere, we all benefit. Still, like Rodney King said, "Can't we all just get along?":

hello dear awesome Baddies: We here at UBBFT always have and always will since our beginning over three years ago have made this a open group where you are free to post anything and everything here regarding the show. We like to think that this group isnt like other groups where you are relegated to a small portion of our Facebook page to the right and only the Crew get to post anything of relevance on the main timeline. Thats just not us. ... Unfortunately some past members didnt think so and continually dissed our tours. Thats fine, thats their opinion but to us if you wanna diss what we do, then get up from behind that computer and do what we have done and if you think you can do better than please do it. ... But again and like we always say if this group isnt for you we wont be upset if you leave and find another joint to go to. But please you dont have to be caustic about it if you do decide to leave.

Things Girls Lie About

Treating Guns And Computers As Weapons

There was a thought-provoking article recently regarding similarities between treating guns and computers as weapons:

And then you have a situation very much like the current gun control debate. On one side you will have mostly corporate and government interests who would love to see the neckbeards controlled better. There could be some popular support too, it depends on how directly black-hat hackers impact everyday life. For example, if an Anonymous-like group caused a major blackout, or knocked out the credit card processing infrastructure for a couple of days, lots of people would sit up and take notice. On the other side you will have computer people who will be in absolute despair that their freedom to tinker and invent is being taken away. And that won’t be any more comprehensible to the general public than the despair of gun owners, (once any new regulations pass), is to me.

NRA's Flip-Flop

The NRA used to be all about background checks, but since the millennium its policy changed. So, what's different now? My theory is that there is now just too much money to be made in drugs-for-arms sales. There is a tide of guns from unregulated Texas gun shows to Mexican drug cartels: the infamous Los Zetas cartel, in particular. The reason the GOP got all upset about Fast and Furious isn't because the U.S. carelessly sent guns to Mexican drug gangs, but because the guns went to the Sinaloa Cartel, the deadly arch-enemy of Los Zetas. This de facto alliance between the GOP and the crazed decapitator squads of northeast Mexico is just too lucrative.

From the Huffington Post, in June of that same year, the NRA also took out an ad supporting background checks at gun shows:

The message of the NRA’s 1999 campaign was “Be Reasonable,” and the organization bought ads in top newspapers, including USA Today, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, to make its case.
“We believe it’s reasonable to provide for instant background checks at gun shows, just like gun stores and pawn shops,” the USA Today ad reads.

“We’ve always supported instant background checks,” LaPierre sat at a Friends of NRA event in May 1999, HuffPo reports.

Martin Solveig ft Dragonette - Big In Japan

I like their playful videos!

Weather Forecast Looking Brighter For New Mexico

Thank God for the ITCZ! What would we do without it? The source of the best desert Southwest water!

It looks like we're going to have a repeat of the recent storm system, with the only difference that instead of crossing Arizona it's forecast to pass through southern New Mexico, starting Tuesday evening, February 5th (at least, for now, that's what the forecast says - things can always change, of course).

If this forecast holds, New Mexico will get more precipitation than last time. Last time, precipitation falls were quite irregular. Some places got almost nothing, but it snowed for nearly 48 hours straight in the Jemez' Valles Caldera. This time, precipitation may be greater, and more widespread.

(The ITCZ is the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, a strip of rising, humid equatorial air located just north of the Equator. It's very far away from New Mexico, but the state really, really needs it to prosper.)

Gertrude Zachary Passes On

Famous Albuquerque jewelry merchant Gertrude Zachary has passed on:

Zachary, 75, one of Albuquerque’s most colorful and dynamic business leaders, was known for her jewelry and her quirky antique store.

In 1976 she opened a jewelry manufacturing operation on Second Street, and later three large stores that sold her jewelry. The company employs 38. Zachary’s daughter, Erica Hatchell, will continue in her role as COO, which she has held for 21 years, Griffin said.

Here is an interesting article about her "Castle":

Ms. Zachary's home, across from a shuttered restaurant and abutting the parking lot of a raucous bar, is the only apparent residence in the desolate neighborhood. Lush blue-green velvet curtains and centuries-old door and window frames overlook parking lots, an overpass and a billboard advertising Ms. Zachary's antique and jewelry business. Ms. Zachary's daughter, Erica Hatchell, who lives in a more affluent area, said her mother couldn't be dissuaded from building here. "Nobody else would have made that decision," she said.

"I like downtown," said Ms. Zachary, 73, noting that cities such as Paris and New York have homes in industrial areas. Married and divorced three times, she lives in her estate with her Shih Tzu named Zipper.

I went to high school with a girl named Cindy Zachary. In my imagination, I always linked the two, but I have no idea if they were related, or not.

Time To Phase Cats Out

They are just too dangerous:

And this morning, Nature Communications published a large analysis estimating how many animals are killed by cats annually in the US: 1.4-3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals each year.

Let me repeat: every year BILLIONS of birds and mammals are killed by free-ranging domestic house cats, Felis catus. And millions of reptiles and amphibians on top of that.
This is not a cue for you to pat Fluffy on the head and congratulate her for being such a “natural little killer.” These data are no joke. Domestic cats are on the IUCN’s list of the top 100 World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species for their ability to decimate prey populations. Those razor-sharp claws strike the hardest on islands, where animal populations are relatively confined. A 2011 review found that, on islands, cats are the primary cause for at least 14% of bird, mammal, and reptile extinctions and the principal threat to almost 8% of critically endangered animals.

Interesting Exchange On Guns

Wasted Advice

They will never get it:

From the Hispanic Leadership Network, a conservative group offering advice to Republicans on how to use "tonally sensitive" language when talking about immigration reform:

Don't use phrases like 'send them all back,' 'electric fence,' 'build a wall along the entire border'....Don't use the word 'illegals' or 'aliens.' Don't use the term 'anchor baby'....Don't characterize all Hispanics as undocumented and all undocumented as Hispanics.

Earliest Income Tax Filing Ever, Today

Gotta get that refund. It looks like it's going to be an unpleasant, turbulent year, in some respects. Litigation is not my forte, but there is no choice. As soon as I can go public, I will, and lay waste to the terrain.

It's A Start

FOX News suffers:

In January, Fox News had its worst primetime ratings since 2001 in the all-important age demographic of 25-54, according to new Nielsen data. Furthermore, its total day ratings for the age group fell to their lowest levels since 2008. The grim news for the conservative cable network was gleefully publicized by liberal rival MSNBC, which boasted a 20 percent boost in the 25-54 demographic from the previous year, and an 11 percent climb in primetime.

What happened? While some liberal commentators would like to see Fox's decline as evidence of a leftward shift in public opinion, coinciding with President Obama enjoying his highest favorability ratings in three years, the truth is probably simpler. Conservative viewers in January — participating in a collective version of see no evil, hear no evil — likely passed on watching President Obama's inauguration, a ratings bonanza for MSNBC. Fox has suffered similar ratings declines during other big Democratic events.

It's also important to keep the latest development in context. As Katherine Fung and Jack Mirkinson at The Huffington Post note, "Fox News still had nine out of the top 10 programs. It has spent 11 consecutive years as the top-rated news channel. Its 6 a.m. show drew almost double the ratings of CNN's top-ranking primetime show."

Hope Things Went Well Yesterday

They had to virtually shut down a portion of Albuquerque's downtown for the recent filming.

"Follies" Closes - DMTC

What Hip Hop Taught Me

Part 2 is fun too.

RIP, Joanna Johnson

Pam brings word that Joanna Johnson passed away a couple of weeks ago. She did only one show at DMTC: "Sweet Charity" in January, 1998, but she danced in other musical theater productions around Sacramento.

I remember Joanna told an amusing story about a stint playing the sexy assistant in a Reno magic act. She pulled it off every night with aplomb, but just couldn't turn on the sexy, one night, when she knew her father was in the audience. She just couldn't!

Joanna was a real sweetheart, and will be missed.

Buick Celebrates Albuquerque

Kind of gauzy and ridiculous, but Buick celebrates Albuquerque.

Andrew Drives His Little Red Car Off A Cliff

Andrew writes:

I drove my car off a cliff at Diamond Harbour a week ago!!! Yikes!! It was TERRIFYING and I am lucky to be alive. Saved by a small tree at the rear and a low metal fence at the front.

I will miss that little red car. He lent it to me in 2008, and I drove from Christchurch to Greymouth, and to Paparoa Nat'l Park, and back.



I always felt slightly-guilty that instead of immediately shooing this Arthur's Pass kea away from the car as it started dismembering the upholstery, I took a photo instead. Now, guilt absolved! Like all material things eventually become, the punctured upholstery is now just a memory!

John Gray Passes On

Steve calls with news that John Gray passed away. From the DMTC Master Cast List, here is his record of DMTC contributions:

California has lost one of the best Landscape Designers. John (Jay) Gray passed away Jan. 18, 2013, at Modesto Memorial Hospital after a month’s battle with infectious diseases and kidney failure.

John was born in Oakland on Feb. 19, 1947, to John and Maryann Gray of Sonora. Raised in Sonora, he graduated from Sonora High School in 1964, and went on to graduate from UC Davis in 1969 with a degree in plant science.

His father’s ancestry was Scottish and John spent summers in the ’80s getting to know the people of Scotland and their gardens. He conducted garden tours there and in Ireland, and also managed to get in an occasional round of golf and dip a fly line in one of the many famous streams. He often said that “Going back to Scotland every summer was like going home, a déjà vu of sorts. Everything became more alive and recent and I enjoyed every moment.” He will be missed by his friends here and across the pond.

He leaves two sons, Jedidiah of Washington, D.C., and Zachary of Manteca, and a daughter Isabel of Manteca; sister Janice Moon of San Andreas; and cousin Lynn Bahten of Jamestown. Also living are his three former wives; Sue Gray of Davis, Anne Lincoln of Davis and Rebecca Gray of Ceres.

So, Now Gorbachev Blames The Collapse Of The Soviet Union On Chernobyl

True, Chernobyl was a big blow:

That might sound like an audacious proposal, but it’s been advanced by none other than the man who oversaw the dismantling of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. He states flatly that the Chernobyl explosion was “perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.” According to Gorbachev, the Chernobyl explosion was a “turning point” that “opened the possibility of much greater freedom of expression, to the point that the system as we knew it could no longer continue.” Gorbachev introduced his policy of glasnost, or “openness” of ideas and expression, not long before the Chernobyl explosion. It was his remedy for widespread censorship and government secrecy. To Gorbachev, Chernobyl proved the wisdom and necessity of glasnost. The explosion and attendant tumult, he claims, “made absolutely clear how important it was to continue the policy of glasnost.”

Nevertheless, there was a lot more going on than Chernobyl (the U.S. arms buildup was just a blip, but it diverted some resources). Nevertheless, a collapse of the system was probably inevitable. The True Prophet, of course, was Andrei Amalrik, who wrote "Will The Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?" in 1969!:

I have undertaken this study for three compelling reasons.

The first is simply my interest in Russian history. Almost ten years ago, I wrote a work on Kievan Rus. Due to circumstances beyond my control, however, I was forced to interrupt my researches on the origin of the Imperial Russian State; now, as a historian, I hope to be compensated for that loss by being a witness to the end of that state.

Second, I have been able to observe closely the efforts to create an independent social movement in the Soviet Union a development that in itself is very interesting and deserves at least a preliminary assessment.

And third, I have been hearing and reading a great deal about the so-called "liberalization" of Soviet society. This idea may be formulated as follows: The situation is better now than it was ten years ago; therefore ten years from now it will be better still. I will attempt to show here why I disagree with this notion. I must emphasize that my essay is based not on scholarly research but only on observation. From an academic point of view, it may appear to be only empty chatter. But for Western students of the Soviet Union, at any rate, this discussion should have the same interest that a fish would have for an ichthyologist if it suddenly began to talk.

Amalrik was wrong about some details - how could one be entirely right about something so complicated? - but he saw it all coming, and should be honored for his insights:

Amalrik was incorrect in some of his predictions, such as a coming military collision with China, and the collapse of the Soviet Union occurred in 1991, not 1984. He also failed to predict that he himself would not survive 1980. Correct was his argument that:

If...one views the present "liberalization" as the growing decrepitude of the regime rather than its regeneration, then the logical result will be its death, which will be followed by anarchy."

Amalrik predicted that when the breakup of the Soviet empire came, it would take one of two forms. Either power would pass to extremist elements and the country would "disintegrate into anarchy, violence, and intense national hatred," or the end would come peacefully and lead to a federation like the British Commonwealth or the European Common Market.  As 1984 drew nearer, Amalrik revised the timetable but still predicted that the Soviet Union would eventually collapse.

Predictions of the Soviet Union's impending demise were discounted by many, if not most, Western academic specialists, and had little impact on mainstream Sovietology.  Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky described that "in 1984 KGB officials, on coming to me in prison " when Amalrik's essay was mentioned, "laughed at this prediction. 'Amalrik is long dead', they said, 'but we are still very much present.' "Of those few who foresaw the fall of the Soviet Union, including Andrei Amalrik, author Walter Laqueur argued in 1995 that they were largely accidental prophets, possessors of both brilliant insight into the regime's weaknesses and even more brilliant luck.

I, for one, don't believe in brilliant luck. Amalrik saw, and understood, when almost no one else did. A true giant!

Southwestern Water Muscle

Times are getting desperate:

This month, Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its complaint that New Mexico has been diverting water it is obligated to send downstream under the 75-year-old Rio Grande Compact.

By allowing its residents to sink nearby wells and pump water from the river, "New Mexico has changed the conditions that existed in 1938 when the compact was executed," the Texas complaint charges.

The dispute centers on the Rio Grande Project, a system of dams and canals that impounds water at the Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs in New Mexico and delivers it to farmers in southern New Mexico and West Texas. The compact among Colorado, New Mexico and Texas settled years of litigation by establishing a formula for allocating the river's water to various users.

"All we're trying to do is protect the project and its users," says Pat Gordon, Texas' representative on the Rio Grande Compact Commission. "There's been a lot of tension for a lot of years. It seems that it's gotten progressively worse."

For one thing, he says, more than 2,500 wells have been drilled below Elephant Butte since the compact was signed. The wells cause water to flow from the river into the adjoining underground aquifer, he says, reducing the amount of water available for the irrigation network.

...Sarah Bond, an assistant New Mexico attorney general, denied that her state had changed its interpretation of the accounting and delivery of water under the compact.

"We are in compact compliance," Bond said in emailed comments. Referring to Texas' request pending before the high court, she added, "We would not speculate on any 'true motives' for the Supreme Court action. It would appear they want more water delivered to them than their compact entitlement."

...Charles DuMars, a prominent water law specialist and former University of New Mexico law professor, says the dispute "has been brewing for a long time." For years, New Mexico did not regulate groundwater pumping below Elephant Butte and only stopped issuing new well permits in 1980, he says.

...Water issues are taking on added urgency as hotter, drier conditions afflict Western states with their burgeoning urban populations. The Supreme Court agreed this month to hear another lawsuit from Texas over water — by a water district against Oklahoma. At issue is whether the Tarrant Regional Water District in northeastern Texas can use water supplies in Oklahoma.

In New Mexico, years of drought have left Elephant Butte water levels perilously low, and the mountains in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado are seeing lower-than-normal snowpack. Flow in the Rio Grande near Santa Fe this spring is projected to be just 47% of the 1981-2010 average.

Australian Tide Of Wind-Whipped Sea Foam

Just one of many amazing videos!

'I'm Different' - A Night At Blush

Blush Night Club

On Saturday night, I thought it might be fun to check out the nightclub scene on the K Street Mall. Last time, I went to K Street at night, in mid-July, I was intrigued by the scene at K-Bar.

Nevertheless, I arrived too late to easily get into the majority of the five or six clubs on K Street. Instead, intrigued by the Nicki Minaj tune bleeding out of the doors, and by the much smaller line, I ended up at Blush Ultralounge.

An Ultralounge differs from other lounges by being smaller, and a bit more pretentious. What made this Ultralounge special was that it appeals primarily to a black crowd. Well, what's the point of all that hip-hop-oriented dance-type exercise at Pepper Von's if not for moments like this?

I tried to figure out the scene. The crowd was only about 10% white. I was clearly the eccentric here. When I presented my ID to the security guards at the door and got the obligatory pat down, they smiled.

The dance floor was bumpin' with 2 Chainz' "I'm Different", which struck me as a suitable theme song for me this night. I exchanged pleasantries with two ladies who fit the classification found in every club: Friends of the DJ. I watched another young woman whom I thought might fit another stereotype - Insecure White Girl - but soon realized she was Insecure White Girl Who Wasn't Really All That Insecure. Fellow with nice grill beamed at my dancing. Talked with a few. Danced with a few. Had fun, but there was always a wariness.

It was a 2 Chainz night. The dance floor also rocked with "Birthday Song" (All I Want For My Birthday Is A Big Booty Ho).

Interestingly, I don't think they played 2 Chainz' latest "Fuckin' Problems", which strikes me as the better song. And despite the language, popular too, if I'm not mistaken (which I probably am, since 'I'm Different').

1984, And The Wall Street Journal

Unfortunately, this was inevitable once Murdoch bought WSJ:

One of the most discouraging recent developments, then, is what James Fallows calls WSJ harmonization:

that the WSJ's news coverage, which for decades has seemed independent from the Journal's editorial pages, is increasingly conforming with the editorial line. My China-beat buddies will recognize the term "harmonization" for this reining-in of unauthorized views.

When I first started reading the WSJ in 1980, I was startled to discover that the reporting was first-rate, objective, and not infrequently compatible with liberal interpretations, even while the editorial pages were slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. There was obviously a firewall in place to let reporters work without fear or favor from editorial, and the result was really solid, reliable reporting -- presumably because that's what the hard-headed businesspeople readers wanted.
Fallows is now documenting changes suggesting:

•Hypothesis: Under the ownership of Rupert Murdoch and the editorship of Robert Thomson, the Journal is deliberately bringing its news operations into closer alignment with its editorial views.
•Sub-hypothesis: You don't see this shift in the line-by-line content of the stories themselves but rather in the headlines, subheads, and placement of the stories in the paper. That is, we're looking at editors' work rather than reporters'.

This is very worrying, because it suggests that not even Murdoch, Ailes, et al., are alive to the political realities. As Paul Krugman said about Mitt Romney's 47% speech, this is what happens when the Inner Party believes the prolefeed. As the WSJ is "harmonized" with Fox News, it will become harder for the business community to chart a course away from Republican Party orthodoxy, and to realize that maybe it's time to have always had a different approach to Eastasia.

Meanwhile, New Mexico Continues To Suffer

That very promising southern storm dropped 0.11 inches of precipitation in Albuquerque. Sigh. 0.17 inches in Santa Fe.

Things were better in Arizona. 1.21 inches in Phoenix!

Meanwhile, there will be another shot in regards to a similar southern storm, in eight to ten days.

Tropical Cyclone Oswald Rakes Australia's East Coast

Trying to wrap my mind around this disaster. (I haven't been paying attention, and look what happens!)

Rainfall at Mt. Glorious over last 24 hours: 406 mm - 16 inches. UNBELIEVABLE! I can't even picture that! Indescribably wet, on steep slopes!

Not surprisingly, everything from Bundaberg on south is either swamped, or about to get swamped. It's even flooding in Warwick! The Condamine River is in flood, yet again (when I saw it in 2006, it had nearly dried up). The poor, battered Lockyer Valley is getting rebattered!

Alerts everywhere:

•Sydney rainfall totals could hit 150 millimetres
•Wind speeds in Sydney could reach 100km/h
•Brisbane braces for flooding
•Flights cancelled at Sydney Airport
•Drivers urged to avoid travel

...More than 500 Lismore households are preparing to evacuate as heavy rain from ex-tropical Oswald cyclone brings potentially severe flooding to the region.

...Areas surrounding Mullumbimby, in far northern NSW, were drenched in more than 400 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to 9am, while Bellingen recorded almost 300 millimetres and Coffs Harbour about 200 millimetres in the same time.

...The same weather system is causing an extraordinary flood crisis in Queensland, as cities and towns across the state go under water.

Dramatic rescues were under way in Bundaberg, where the city’s worst flood on record left dozens of people trapped on rooftops. At least 2000 Bundaberg properties are flooded.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for people in north Bundaberg, and some other low-lying parts of the city.

The communities of Gympie and Maryborough are also flooding, while a major flood crisis is developing in the Lockyer Valley, where 19 lives were lost in the state's 2011 floods.

Brisbane and Ipswich are bracing for flooding expected on Monday night, with further flood peaks expected on Tuesday and Wednesday.

So far, three flood deaths have been confirmed in Queensland.

Mr Sharpe said one place in the Gold Coast hinterland had recorded an incredible 500 millimetres of rain in less than a day.