Aubernica

This is a new version of Picasso's 'Guernica" - to portray the Pacers/Pistons brawl. Art imitating life???

Turkeys Strike Back!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And to honor this fine tradition, we bring you a story of turkeys gone wild....

They're in Melrose...
"Now we've got two more sets of them in town. They've been well-behaved, but they can also be dangerous. They're not at all afraid of people. You beep your horn at them, and they stand there like, 'What are you going to do now?' "

And Boston...

The turkeys' distinctive red forms have recently been spotted strolling through the tony Boston neighborhood of Back Bay and strutting in the vicinity of Fenway Park. Two summers ago, an academically inclined turkey took up residence in Cambridge's Kendall Square, home to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

And even Westwood!

In Westwood, southwest of Boston, town officials considered passing a bylaw banning residents from feeding turkeys after reports that one neighborhood, where someone left food for the birds, had been overrun by 50 or more.
"In the end, we just went to the person and said they had to stop feeding them or else they would never go away," said Nancy Hyde, a town official. "So far, it seems to have worked. Maybe they won't come back."

Nancy Hyde is the town selectman(woman?) and I teach two of her great kids. You go Nancy!

You go Turkeys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Got Speech?

Okay, this might possibly be my solution for getting through the next four years. All his speeches sound the same anyways, so why not condense them all and just hit play now and then?

Remember - speech writing is "hard work"!

Sherpa? No - Sherbert!

Words That Could Conceivably Be Used to Describe Both Sherpas and Sherbet.
BY MICHAEL WARD

Cold Sweet Small Mellow Smooth Bold Acerbic Expensive Outstanding


Amusing. I love McSweeney's. My kind of humor.

Books!

I love books. And of late, I have been making the time to read more. Just finished Middlesex, for example. Outstanding!

I have now found what heaven must be like, right here on this earth. The New England Mobile Book Exchange is bursting with books, at various discounts, arranged primarily by publisher, of all things! I had never looked at books this way, or given much thought to how books I love are often written by different people, but published by the same presses.

When I moved back to Massachusetts, I resolved to continue to explore, to seek out new experiences, to enjoy New England. Today was just one more stop on the pathway. Nice to find so many books awaiting me there.

Mittens

Where have I been for the past few weeks? Perhaps reading aboyut wonderfully creative projects, like this. I can only imagine where all those mittens came from. I bet a few are mine.

I have been knitting as of late. Not mittens, a scarf for now. It is about half done, nice and warm and fluffy. Mittens might be a little risky, but I'd love to try a sock!

Books By Color

AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS COBBON GLUE-STICK STATUARY, SPEAKING TO MASHED POTATOES, AND REARRANGING 20,000 BOOKS BY COLOR.

Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco's Mission District, and all of its contents, will be transformed. It will take a crew of 20 people pulling an all-nighter fueled by caffeine and pizza and following a master organizational plan—but come Saturday morning it will be like a place that would only exist in a dream.

This is ultra-cool. I often try to browse in new sections of bookstores. I tend to always find myself in the Biography section, or Education, etc - until somthing catches my eye, and I'm in "new age" or "cooking"... I wonder if I would find a need to buy a book that was "pink" or "persimmon"?

Oh Boy.

Never put yourself in a position where your party wins only if your country fails. Tom Friedman, good point.

There are many people in this country who believe that Bush has a right to be President, and that he will do a good job. They have spoken. I was at first dismayed that Republicans now control so much (not just the presidential seat) but it has been pointed out that now Bush's policies will be even easier to put into place without opposition. Now we will see how his policies will help our country. How we will be viewed by the world. How our environment will support and protect us. How our growing energy crisis "should" be solved... Mr. Bush, the "hard work" has not even begun!

VOTE!

'nuf said. I am headed to the polls... more later.

parade fact?

Strangest parade fact of the day:

While the Red Sox "duck boat brigade" paddled down the Charles by MIT, a group of musicians played "The Emperor's Theme" from Star Wars on BAGPIPES. How cool is that? Perhhaps they are the bagpipin' version of Brenda Band?

Nice to see it all on TV. what a great bunch of Bostonians. Go Sox! =)

korekt speling iz best

"The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she said. "In their mind, the words register correctly."

What kinda NUT is this? I am under the impression that Blake could spell. Perhaps not? I suspect this makes me irritated from a school teacher's perspective. I drill correct spelling and grammar all day long.

An interesting point though. Is "beauty in the eye of the beholder"? Can you just behold it all correctly spelled? When do we start calling wrong notes and words "art"? Do we already?

Come to think of it, The Museum of Bad Art is one of my favorite places. I suspect they have little concern for spelling, in light of the greater issues of good and art!

Team America

Okay, we succumbed to the hype and ran out and saw Team America. Well, not bad overall. Kim Jong Ill's moments and song were quite funny. A few characatures of celebrities were too, but overall not great.

Salem - Boo!

Okay, we're back in the land of the living, after plenty of time off for rest after the big wedding. Just in time for things to heat up around home, apparently. We went for breakfast today at Red's - couldn't get in, too crowded. Many people in line from all over, asking us how early we left home to get to Salem. "Not too early," we replied, as we headed to Brother's for a less-crowded breakfast.

So much to see - the street fairs have begun, and people in costume are roaming the town. Entertaining signs for the Festival of The Dead are everywhere. And this is two weeks to go! Umass' homecoming weekend is the same as Halloween. We may escape to Western MA for a day of hot cider and pumpkins at Atkins farm.

I'm back!

Okay, okay, marriage takes a lot out of you... but a fun time was had by all, and I am settling back into a "normal" life. Watching all those debates has been taking much time too - more to follow on all that mess!

Thanks to all the well-wishers. How nice to reflect so often on what a great bunch of friends and family David and I have!

But What About The Ebay???

Apparently the economy is doing even better than expected. Just don't forget to count our ebay sales.

"That's a source that didn't even exist 10 years ago," Cheney told an audience in Cincinnati on Thursday. "Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay."

I have indeed, made a purchase on Ebay once. It was a player piano roll, music of Greig played by Percy Grainger. I have made my contribution!

Rebuttal:

"If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking," Edwards said in a statement.

Hmmm......

Reversin' the Cursin'

Coen and John Redding, a fellow brewmeister, received what they interpret as an irrefutable sign yesterday, just before the Red Sox took on the Texas Rangers: a 1918 penny stuck to the counter of their Heineken and Miller beer stand.

Okay, the signs are all here. this is the year that 1918's curse is no more!

(don't we do this EVERY year?)

Matrimonial Harmony

Watching Meet The Press (my favorite show) today. Matilin and Carville were speaking today (the dynamic duo of politics). I always wonder about their relationship, perhaps simply because they are such strong and formidable opponents politically. How can they ever get along? Do they have rules against speaking of politics at home, in front of the children?

Anyways, crazy-man Zell Miller came up. Carville basically said it was sad he felt he need to leave the democratic party, and has been paraded in front of the media as a crazy man, merely because he has been grossly underprepared, for interviews, speeches, etc and their resulting media attacks. No direct attacks against his character.

Matalin defended Miller's character, calling him a generous thoughtful man "who officiated at our wedding". And there's their secret: Zell Miller's nuptial blessing!

Win win win!

Okay, we're going to win. This is the year! Reverse the curse! Just wanted to jump on the band wagon before it left for good...

Finshed yet?

Okay, here's the quote in question:

September 1, 2004
Imus: "We are talking with the 41st President of the United States George Bush... you also dispel the notion that the President went to war in Iraq to finish the Gulf War and you said essentially that it was nonsense. You told Paula Zahn that the President feels the Gulf War was unfinished and yet the President told the Washington Times that he did not intend on sending mixed signals to the Iraqi people and cut and run like they did in 1991."

Pres. George H.W. Bush: "Yea, I didn't like that much."

Imus: "It doesn't sound to me like he thought that it was finished, does he?"

Pres. George H.W. Bush: "Well he hasn't said it again, has he? (laughter)

Imus: "No sir, he has not."

Proof! Proof! Proof! Well, maybe not. I find it hard to believe that any comment is the only one, in isolation. So did we "cut and run" before? Has he changed his opinion, or is #43 just keeping his mouth shut?

Today on Imus (among others) Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich, together again.

Saudis rush Ikea

This takes the cake. Why were they rushing? Will we see this as an ad later for consumerism at its worst - or finest?

I am just now getting back to the news. I have spent a few days on "new teacher orientation" detail - a great experience, good, smart people and what will turn out to be a rather nice work schedule.

I have managed to keep up with the RNC, however. And Don Imus' show is a HOOT. Yesterday #41 himself was on, and sure enough, everything remotely controversial that he said ended up on Hardball last night. Where Andrea Mitchell was almost allowed to speak a full sentence before Mathews turned the conversation in his direction. Almost...