When simple restraint just isn't enough...

Have a hard to buy for thug on your Christmas list? Problem solved! Next generation handcuff restraints that bind, deliver electric shocks, administer medicine or maybe even a lethal dose? Perfect for controlling an angry mob or a pissed off proletariat. Or re-educating subversives who just aren't thinking right. These babies will surely keep them all in line. A few zaps from Patent Bolt™ and watch how fast they change their tune! Perfect for any occasion or insurrection, from the neighborhood pokey to a latin american dictator's torture chamber.

Controlling the Levels of Electric Shock

The patent states that in various embodiments, safety mechanisms may be included in the control system of the restraining device and/or controller to prevent a detainee from receiving greater than a predetermined nonlethal amount of electric shock in a predetermined period of time.

In another embodiment, the detainee interface receives electrical impulses from the detainee's heart, and returns them via EKG/EGG sensors to the sensor components for analysis by the control system. If the detainee's measured EKG is not measured to be in a safe range for administration of a shock (for instance, if fibrillation or arrhythmia is detected), the shock from the electric shock component will be suppressed. In an alternate embodiment, if the measured EKG signal from the detainee interface indicates a health issue, the control system may send a message to an external entity through the communication interface, indicating that the particular detainee is experiencing a health issue. In this manner, an external entity may avoid or suppress sending an activation signal to the restraining device, and/or summon medical care for the detainee.

In some embodiments, the restraining device may be configured to inject the substance through a movable needle or gas injection system. Administration of such substances may be in addition to or in place of any electric shocks delivered by the restraining device, and substances may be delivered to achieve any desired goal such as providing a needed medication to a patient; preventing occurrence of uncontrollable psychotic episodes or seizures, suppression of undesirable behavior, chemical restraint when electrical restraint is insufficient (such as in the case if an energy storage device in the restraining device has insufficient charge state) or any other desired reason.

Tomas

I was startled to see an obituary for an old friend Tomas Villalobos in the paper the other day.  He died from a very rare form of eye cancer. Tomas and I both practiced martial arts together for many years at Hidden Valley Kung Fu under the tutelage of Sifu John Vihilidal and Sihing David Willey. I sparred with both Tomas and his wife Marianne often and they were both top notch practitioners and exemplary human beings.

Tomas was my senior in the martial arts by several years and had extraordinarily good technique in Hung Gar Kung Fu, a southern, five animals style. He excelled at leopard, my animal was crane. Even though he was a more accomplished martial artist than I was he never hesitated to share with me and help me with my own progress. Eventually my knees gave out and his back gave out and we both had to back away from the training and discipline.

He was a teacher, a mason, a potter, humble, caring, a gentle soul who I respected very much. My condolences and love goes out to his family.

Aces full of twos

I had quite the dream the other night. No, nothing like Martin Luther King, or even the somnolent nocturnal excursions of Mary Shelley. This was a big dream, an apocryphal dream. Forgive me for not remembering it more clearly. To be honest, I was very much asleep.

Now, two days later, it is fragmenting into little, fractured, still photographs. At the time it had great power and portent. I will try to describe some of the pictures, perhaps you can make some sense of it.

The dream started with me playing poker at an Indian casino. Most of you know that poker is not my game, I am actually  a black jack player, but I was seated at a table of five card draw. I looked at the first two cards, both deuces. Hmm, a pair. The next three cards were aces, A set, full boat. Not the best full house but it beats kings over aces. I remember plotting my strategy, do I soft pedal the hand, hoping to rake in my table mates money or do I let pride take over and go all in? Aces over twos, I decided to hold back and wait.

There is a blank space - I was transported to a mountain range in the southwest. Slickrock with a large dose of magic thrown in. I was transported to a place where the blue face paint was mined. Stalagmites and stalactites hung from verdant landscape cliffs. I was in a place of magic and power. It was called Tesuke but it was not the same Tesuke as the place north of Santa Fe. Little pools of water where power was mined.

It was a different place, that maybe exists outside of time and our present reality. If I had to describe the landscape I would say think Roger Dean mixed with a bit of Carl Barks. There was another name on the map I was using to check my coordinates and I remember distinctly seeing the words Tuitte Range. Beats me. I must have passed some sort of test because I wasn't left on the side of the road for dead. Somehow I earned a stripe or a feather.

I only get a dream like this about once a decade. An empowering dream where I can don my aspect and soar with the eagles and gods, however temporarily. The flying ones come even less frequently now. You come off of one of these babies and you walk on air for a few days.

The next thing I knew I was in a hotel. A rustic lodge to be more exact. I had left my winnings on the desk and passed out on my feet, standing. Hours had passed but no one had touched anything. Native Americans surrounded me. We had an understanding. It was time to depart.

I wish I remembered more as the vision was very vivid but it becomes fuzzier with each passing hour. When my wife awoke I tried to tell her where I had been but couldn't quite convey the enormity of the experience. This one felt big, heroic even.

*
I am sometimes hesitant to share my dreams with people because they can be so otherworldly. I must have quite the imagination. Unless of course, the place I ventured to existed somehow, in some other paradigm. But that couldn't really happen now, could it?

Coco Montoya

Both You tube versions by the late Albert Collins blow this one away but hey, who can play like Albert Collins? In any case, it has its own rustic charm.

The Great Aggregator

Nasa Gravity map of moon

Stupid bank robber. Coulter disses hispanics. She does a have prominent adam's apple. Ping Pong king passes. Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council back Uganda dictator's right to kill gay people. Anonymous steals credit cards. Dana Perino thinks that women who have been physically abused have themselves to blame. They just aren't making good decisions. Stage Deli closes after 75 years. GOP could get a boost backing weed? Humanity destroying itself? - Spiegel. New Klan fortress in Idaho. Spy linguist detained unfairly? Burmese python hunting in the everglades. World's biggest trees dying. University of Texas cooks up fracking study. Time to get tough on Obama? Fox News Op Ed says that women need to submit to their men, it's in their nature to be dominated. How the government gets your data - Pro Publica. American shrinks are nuts - Pravda. Wireless car charging. Raising the rent on Obama voters. Fracked up in North Dakota. Climate change is a theory in Nebraska, America is awesome. Sore losers now want to rig electoral college. What a long, strange shabbat it's been. Human Rights Watch refuses to call a spade a spade. Nice neighbor. Happy Winter Solstice. Domestic drone tracking. Ann Patchett's bookstore. Is Charlie Brown sleeping around?

The Crew Cuts

12.6.12

I am pretty consistently pro - Israel but Netanyahu is really pissing me off lately. The punitive timing of announcing his new settlement policy the day after the Palestinian statehood deal at the United Nations smacked of the worst kind of retribution.

The Palestinians could wait for an eternity if Bibi has his way. What does he expect? Negotiation doesn't mean that you can set every term and condition for your opponent. Might even help to put yourself in their place. Think about what you yourself would be able to live with.

It is misguided for Netanyahu and contrary to Israel's own best interests to kill the Palestinian dream by gamesmanship and attrition. These are not chess pieces you are dealing with. They are human beings. Continue to marginalize the most moderate elements and watch the lid blow off the pressure cooker. Bad strategy, bad for the whole neighborhood, including Israel. Seeking peace, means seeking peace, a peace that everyone can live with long term.

In addition. the Prime Minister's steps to do what he thinks is in Israel's best strategic interest is a poke in the eye of his benefactor, the United States and smacks of exceedingly poor form for an ally. What an asshole.

*
Of course many see the real war in the middle east as actually being the conflict between Shia and Sunni. The unspoken war that rages between the Saudi and Iranian polestars, now erupting in a series of conflagrations from Syria to Pakistan and beyond.

Such an interesting culture and religion of peace, Islam, now we witness total internecine warfare, the bombing of Hezara funerals, weddings, shia pilgrims, alawites, sunnis, salafists, wahabis, every conceivable sect in a constant battle to claim theological primacy and kill and waste the other side. Say what you want about Christianity and Judaism, the baptists ain't in no shooting war with the Southern Methodists and the conservatives aren't laying c-4 charges at the reform temples.

*
Now that the vaunted arab springs leaves have fallen and we move into the arab winter, how's that whole democracy deal working out anyway? I'll take the sharia and dictatorship bet and give you points.

*
Governor Bobby Jindal says that every young student in Louisiana has a right to a private education. Since when?

*
South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint resigned today. We will really miss him. He had the total of one law enacted, that was the naming of the Carroll A. Campbell federal courthouse in his hometown of Greenville, S.C.. Wow. Talk about a cush job. He did manage to piss pretty much everybody off, even the people in his own party. Highest cloture rate in the senate, a no vote 93% of the time. Going to now join the Heritage Foundation. Bring you the new and improved Republican Party.

I can't wait.

Homeless Child

Shipping News

I don't know how many of you followed the clerical workers strike that recently shut down the Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports. The two sides are now in mediation. It was the craziest thing. I am normally pro labor but this thing is just ridiculous.

The Clerical Workers Union that operates at the ports are the highest paid clerical workers in the country. With benefits these people average $160,000.00 per year. They rejected an offer of $190,000.00 per year. CLERICAL WORKERS!

The standoff was between the Office Clerical Unit of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 and a group of shippers represented by the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association.  The clerical workers have been working without a contract for nearly 30 months and allege that jobs have been shipped out of state and overseas.

The clerical workers say its not about the money they are making, it is about protecting jobs. The shippers say it is about modernization and that the union wants to protect jobs that are no longer necessary. The strike is affecting the movement of cargo estimated at the rate of about $1,000,000,000 per day.

“The real purpose behind this claim is to promote ‘featherbedding’ — requiring employers to call in temporary employees and hire new permanent employees even when there is no work to perform,” the employers said in their statement.

I believe that the shippers released this statement regarding the situation:

 The OCU [clerical workers' union] enjoy extremely generous paid time off benefits (with average absenteeism from vacation, sick leave, holidays, and other leaves totaling over 29%, or three and one-half months, of the year). In the face of this absenteeism, the OCU demand that when employees are absent, for whatever reason, the employers must call in a temporary employee to fill the vacancy on the first day and for the duration of the vacancy.
• The OCU also insist that the employers hire a new employee every time an employee retires or quits, even if there is no work for the new employee to perform.
• The OCU’s last written proposal before the strike includes an unlawful demand that employers convert some managers to union-represented clerks as a reward for giving the OCU misleading and/or false information that the OCU sought to use against the employers during contract negotiations.
…The OCU are already the highest paid clerical workers in America. The employers’ latest proposals would increase OCU annual compensation packages to over $190,000 in wages and benefits by 2016, including:
• Average annual wages up to approximately $90,000;
• Pensions of up to $75,000 per year;
• Maintenance of all benefits in the OCU’s extremely generous health plan, for which the OCU pay nothing (benefits include, e.g., $0 co-pay for generic drugs; $0 for x-rays, diagnostics, and lab tests; $5 office visit co-pays; 90% coverage for infertility; and more);
• Maintenance of all other employment benefits (an average of 12 weeks of paid time off every year; meal and transportation allowances; early retirement with full benefits; education reimbursement; etc.).

Little difficult to feel sorry for these office workers. They have had it really nice. If they are no longer needed, I say sayonara. Don't let the IBM selectric hit your fanny on the way out. Unionism at its worst. I hate make work.

Ma Bell Blues

I believe that I am getting royally hosed by ATT. I just checked out my bill for the shop phone. Twenty five bucks in charges for long distance calls, in North County! For 26 minutes. It's a buck a minute to Oceanside and Encinitas now. Ridiculous.

I got a rep on the phone and asked her to explain. "Those are long distance calls, sir. That's why you dial a 1 first." "Uh madam," I replied. "I didn't dial a 1. They are in my area code, the next hill over."

"Well, blame your local government," she tells me. "They set the rates."

Is it any wonder that people are fleeing their land lines in droves? I couldn't find anybody that could talk straight about the issue.

People are just going to have to call me on the cell phone from now on. I can't afford to answer the shop phone.

Merle Travis

11.21.1965 Acoustic Set at the Ash Grove - 1st set

Rolling Stone

Disunion Tribune

My brother Buzz in Toronto alerted me to this one. Must read Media Matters story today; The Fall Of The San Diego Union-Tribune - How A Major GOP Donor Turned A Respected Paper Into A Corporate Shill.

New Union Tribune owner Doug Manchester and his capo John Lynch have reportedly thrown journalistic integrity to the wind and turned their new toy into a one sided rag that merely promotes their own political and economic interests. A few tidbits from the article:

"...The paper has drawn scrutiny and shock from many employees for its aggressive promotion of business interests. "Saying you are going to be a cheerleader for business... goes against everything we have been taught and trained as journalists," said one current U-T San Diego staffer who requested anonymity. "A lot of people have rolled their eyes at the front page editorials that have run...The quality of the paper is less because there's more fluff in the paper, an emphasis on running more society photos and celebrity photos, that space could be better used on actual news and information."

...The editorial also drew criticism because it falsely suggested that Manchester did not have a financial stake in their proposal because he no longer owned hotels adjacent to the property that could benefit from the development.

...U-T CEO Lynch had pushed the idea of a publicly-funded new football stadium for years before the editorial's proposal. One long-time opponent of such plans, U-T sports columnist Tim Sullivan, says he was fired from the paper earlier this year for refusing to accept its vision as his own.

Sullivan, who lost his job in June after ten years at the paper, had used his column to criticize publicly-funded stadiums for years. In March, after the Manchester takeover and the U-T editorial board's declaration that a new stadium for the Chargers was at the heart of the paper's plan for the city's future, Sullivan wrote that the team was no threat to leave town without one.
Soon after his firing, Sullivan wrote that while he "can't read Lynch's mind," he believes that his "failure to endorse a new stadium without wondering whether that's good public policy, a justifiable offense or a good deal" was part of the reason for his firing.

"My position, I was not anti-stadium, I was anti-stupidity," he told Media Matters in a recent interview, later adding, "My tact had been, publicly and internally, that it was important that the paper be an advocate for responsibility to the taxpayer, if we have to speak truth, that we pick sides with the public over big business. I had great concerns with where things were headed."

Blue Rondo a la Turk

Elbereth Gilthonial

Speak friend and enter

A crappy, whiny day. I managed to get everything done, well practically anyway, but never quite found my way. So I shall put pen to paper, or digit to keyboard anyway, and try to right my ship.

I have killed politics on these pages of late, just a terrible subject, everybody is sick of it. The generation that failed, that couldn't get along, selfish, obese, over sexualized, under read, polluting, self absorbed, hunched over, texting, spice smoking, bible thumping, genuflecting, hooked up, turned on, broke, unemployed, filthy rich, dressed down, knocked up, add'd, CBS'd, shook up, shook down, been down so long it looks like up to me generation that is presiding over our current state of affairs.

So no politics.

*

Let's talk about the Hobbit.

I believe I was 11 when I first read the Hobbit. I spent Easter of my twelfth year reading the Lord of the Rings, never once coming up for air. Tolkein cast a mystical net in the sixties. My hippie sister Liz read them first. Frodo lives, as the graffiti was written in New York.

When I tell you that I read the Lord of the Rings, what I really mean is that I devoured it. I read it not tens, not hundreds, literally thousands of time. I still wager that I can put a sentence together in quenta, dwarf speak, or what have you. Memorized every line of dialogue in the book. Sick.

I would find fellow Tolkeinites and try to engage them in the most arcane points of Tolkeinology, for instance, who was older, Bombadil, or Treebeard? I could make a case for each, Treebeard being called Eldest and Bombadil having said that he was here before the trees. Iarwain ben adar. First and fatherless.

Putting all that away, for now, I loved the whole genre. I was reading a lot of similar stuff during this period, Lord Dunsany, William Morris, the English literary gods who created the mystical lands of faerie.

I have read everything that J.R.R. Tolkein has ever written, or so I believe, and the Hobbit is a curious book. It has a different meter and vantage than any other of his works. A sing songy lilt, a softness, a child's perspective rather than the complex grown up etymology of his epics, Silmarillion, LOTR, Unfinished tales and the like.

I am worried about the Hobbit coming to film. The Lord of the Rings was such a disaster.

How so, you might ask? Great battle scenes. When you have run characters from epic books through your mind's eye a thousand or so times, they develop their own look. The characters in LOTR couldn't compare to the grand figures in my imagination.

They also took substantial liberties with a perfect score. Bombadil is excised, Saruman' scene massacred, I could go on and on. Hated the Elrond, Galadrial, Aragorn casting, amongst others. Syrupy, cloying hobbits. Dreadful for me, but it might just be a personal problem.

The Hobbit breaks the mold in some ways and doesn't exactly seamlessly relate to some of Tolkein's other literary progeny that live in middle earth. Raven's talk, well you get a little of that in LOTR but not a lot. It is much more of a childhood fantasy.

The strangest character in the whole cosmology might be the shape changer, Beorn. A man who could turn into a bear and throw orcs around like kindling. What the hell happened to these guys in the LOTR? They could have raised some serious ruckus. Nice to have at your back in a bar fight. But the Beornings get discarded for some reason, relegated to history like the entwives.

Tolkein was a member of Oxford's Inklings, with amongst others, Narnia's C.S. Lewis. They liked to hoist a pint at the local pub, the Eagle and Child. I know I would have loved the guy.

But did you ever notice that all of the heroic, good people are fair of skin? All of the bad people have dark skin. Where does that come from, in Tolkein's slightly germanic, northern european worldview?

You ever notice that he never let on about his creations procreative function in his books. Did they procreate through immaculate conception, cell division or the old fashioned way? Enquiring minds want to know. A lot of things are never explained.

Or "Wait up Legolas, I got to take a piss." "This lembas gives me the wind." "I don't care if Galadrial is a thousand years old and hung out with Gil Gilad, the bitch is hot."

They ate chicken and an occasional rabbit, any beef? Le Cheval? Perhaps the Stoors had french ancestry. A curious people these Middle Earthers, quite noble.

I hope that the movie isn't a disaster. Because as long as people are entertained, it is obviously okay for some people to destroy a perfectly good story.

Glen Campbell

Zero

Making Latkes

This is juvenile and profane. Probably not the normal blast reader's cup of tea. But hey, you might find it mildly amusing? If you are easily offended or not in the mood to waste two minutes and eight seconds of your life, then I say pass.

Move along here, nothing to see...

I merely chronicle...

A guy gets pushed onto the subway. A photographer squeezes off a couple great shots but makes no attempt to save him.

Interesting discussion going on in New York.

"New York Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbas, who was on the platform at the time, didn’t try to assist Han, but he did have time to squeeze off at least two 49 shots. He says he tried to warn the train operator by firing his flash."  

At least he nailed the exposure...Seriously, what a douchebag. Or at least a powerless eunuch who is completely divorced from normal human impulse and empathy.

Thin Line

Making Nice

Most Americans, or at least the ones who have been paying attention, are aware that the wheels of government have not been working so optimally of late. Bipartisan consensus is a thing of the past. While much of the problem can be attributed to both parties moving to the fringe and leaving a vacant center, there may also be some structural problems involved as well.

I was listening to NPR the other day and heard some quotes from Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, that made me pause and take note.

Ornstein lays part of the blame for our paralysis on the Hastert Rule. The Hastert Rule, first conceived and implemented by then Republican House Speaker Denny Hastert, laid out the de facto rule that a Republican dominated House would not bring up a bill for consideration unless it had a backing by a majority of the GOP majority.

Longtime Congress-watcher Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute said the majority of the majority rule is a major reason why bills passed on a bipartisan basis in the Senate don't come up in the House.
"We've got the Republicans now as a parliamentary-style minority. In a parliamentary system, it is just a matter of course that the parties unite together in opposition to the other side," he said. "But you can't function that way with divided government." 

Because of this rule and the Republican insistence on party line loyalty from its members, there is no chance for Boll Weevil or Blue Dog type factions reaching out to the opposition. If leadership doesn't like a bill, it simply never reaches the floor.

“You’re not going to come up here and be able to put together a deal with 170 Democrats and 40 Republicans—that’s just not in the cards.” Republican Rep. Tom Cole

Because the Republican House lost 8 seats in the most recent election, all it would really take now is 18 republicans to break the logjam. Too bad it can't happen. Today the House GOP showed what happens to members that brook the leadership, stripping three committee posts from renegades who dared vote against the Paul Ryan budget.

*
Trent Lott, who spent part of his long political career in both major parties, wrote an article last week in the WaPo decrying the lost art of the deal titled Washington lost its love for the deal.

From where I sit, President Obama really does not like the messy work of legislating, which is the key to unlocking a divided government. The give and take of “the deal” has never appealed to him nor, quite frankly, to many in Congress of both parties. Yet now reelected, the president needs to find a way to embrace this particular leadership skill.First, he must stop running the government by executive order....The House and Senate also need to return to regular order, beginning with subcommittees and committees doing their work as a matter of routine. Have hearings and oversight meetings. Mark up the bills. Have votes on amendments and then move bills to the floor for consideration. Have robust debate and votes on amendments by members of both parties, in the best traditions of the Senate. Defeat bills or pass them, but take final action, and go to conference with conferees from both bodies. Vote on final passage and send it to the president to sign or veto.Can this be done in the current atmosphere? We have no choice. I can assure you, it was not easy when Bill Clinton was president, Newt Gingrich was speaker of the House and I was the Senate majority leader. We had issues to deal with—welfare reform, tax cuts, spending controls, safe drinking water, portability of insurance, improved pay for our military men and women. Congressional leaders had some pretty animated discussions with the administration, and President Clinton was directly involved. We shared the goal of a better future for our country, and knew both sides had to give some in order to get to a deal that could pass.In order to achieve that, Republicans had to make some concessions to President Clinton (and vice versa), but we were jointly successful. It began then, as it should today, with honest dialogue between our leaders and an eagerness to dive into the sty that is negotiation. The attitude shared by all of us was simple: We had a lot of work to get done. And the leadership attribute we all shared was we loved even the messy work of doing it.

George Mitchell wrote a similarly thoughtful piece, How to work with Republicans.

The president should emphatically reject the notion that collaboration requires either side to capitulate and abandon its fundamental principles. It was a hard-fought, substantive election, and the president has an obligation to pursue the core ideas on which he campaigned and was elected. In my experience, hard-fought progress is usually achieved when leaders stand firm on principle but, recognizing that the national interest comes first, are flexible enough to find the common ground to move forward. 

Americans are tired of the endless finger pointing. Both sides are confident that they have the best intentions for America at heart, but they have radically different philosophies in terms of how to get there. Everybody, including the President and each member of Congress, needs to get off their ideological high horses and start fixing a system that is quickly heading over the falls.

Chip Taylor

Chip wrote this beautiful song. The incredible Kendel Carson on vocal and violin. So lovely.

Dip in the culture pool

Since the goddess of fortune deigned to cast her light and blessings on your humble scribe this weekend I thought I would  have a little fun today. I took the day off.

The accountant needed some figures for the bank so I headed over to Encinitas and then took off south for a day of happiness and museums in one of my favorite places, Balboa Park.

In late September I was invited by the San Diego History Center in view their plans for the upcoming Charles Reiffel painting exhibit.

Reiffel, for those of you who do not know, was one of San Diego's big four painters of the last century, in some circles given the title, San Diego's Van Gogh.

I have a Reiffel in the gallery, once owned by San Diego Mayor John Forward, titled Prince Iknownot that many of you are fond of.

In any case, the SDHC was gracious, bought lunch at the Prado for a bunch of my painting aficionado cohorts and I and then gave us a tour of their new depression era painting exhibit. It was a fantastic day and the people could not have been any nicer or more forthcoming.

We toured the Balboa Park Conservatory and saw some works undergoing restoration and really got the cooks tour of the place. An excellent visit back in September was had by all.

Today I drove down to see the exhibit which is a collaboration between the San Diego Museum of Art and the History Center. Many Reiffel collectors shared works from their private collections for the world to see.

In the San Felipe Valley, Charles Reiffel

I especially liked the dramatic snow paintings, Reiffel having started his career in Silvermine, Connecticut. Reiffel was a bit of a maverick and his modern tendencies rubbed some of his contemporaries, like Joe Duncan Gleason, the wrong way. I believe that Gleason started the Artists of the Southwest group as a counterpoint to Reiffel's Contemporary Artist's Group.

The show, as expected, at both locations, was a pleasure. The show runs through February 10th, 2013. Try to see it.

Edward Steichen - Portrait on grey and black, 1902

After viewing this exhibit I toured some of the other exhibits and landed in front of this dramatic Edward Steichen canvas from 1902. Interesting to see paintings from a photographic hero of mine.

There is a wonderful painting of Frieda Kahlo holding a sugar skull and various other amazing works. The Benton of the corn is my favorite but I didn't see it today.

I wandered through the botanical garden, snapped a few shots of palms, a giant bismarckia, some mammoth brahea armatas. Nice gloomy light, photographers light but I wasn't quite in the mood. The pond is still roped off, healing and bruised after its ignoble adventure.

I decided to wander down to the Photo archive and look at photographs of 19th century San Diego but it was closed for some strange reason as was the photographic museum. I ended up driving down to Kettner to shop and found myself driving right past the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, which I had so recently discussed, perhaps less than charitably. Perhaps if I walked around the pile of rocks  it would all come to me and I would have to take back all that nasty stuff I said about contemporary art.

Doug Wheeler - DW68

I wandered into a room lit by a neon light which was kind of cool. A room of cut out paper dolls and ambient music that seemed a bit silly. To each his own.

Margaret Noble - 44th and...

 I talked to the hip young cat at the desk of the very lonely place. "I've come to see the rocks man." It turned out that they were in a building across the street. These folks have some very attractive real estate. Thank you David Copley. Here is the rockpile, all photos taken with my android phone.

Richard Long c. 1989

Still find it incredibly stupid, thin and intellectually masturbatory but who the hell ever asked me?

I popped over to Nelson's to check on some photo gear and then to Cafe Zucchero for a sfogliatella. About the time I was really feeling my groove  the client called who I had forgotten I was supposed to meet at two to tell me that they were in front of my shop and where was I? I jammed back fast as I could, about an hour, met them and actually popped another small painting. All is right with my world.

Kohls and new levis will have to wait another day.

Rubber Biscuits

All of this talk of cookies is making me hungry. One last dip into the cold glass of milk and we can put this issue to bed.

I received a few more emails from people who are experiencing no problems at all loading the site. I live in a remote narrow canyon and use a slow Verizon Mifi device and rarely get more than one signal bar and I load in about 20 seconds.

Every device and setup is different and I think that R's issue is an anomaly. Be that as it may he brings up a very good point. Websites get bogged down with cookie bloat and it does affect performance and download time. In the case of the blast I think the inherent slowness might be because I save my jpegs pretty big and there are usually a lot of photographs on the site. But since I got rid of feedjit and the global hit map it is definitely zipping along faster. But not much you can do about google or youtube cookies when they give you a free platform. Don't think you can escape them.

I would also like to point out something else. R is a very smart engineer who is a computer expert and site designer and knows what he is talking about 100% of the time. So I appreciate his heads up very much.

He sent me this letter and photo today after a few shared missives regarding stale cookies.

R, your cookies seem stale. Might want to try the new ziplock storage bags...

Robert


Indeed they are.  

I have attached a screen capture of the relationships that are established from one visit to your blog. (after you dropped most of the tracking stuff)  

Pretty amazing is it not?

R

R shows us the insidious nature of the cookie beast. This is after I cleared out a bunch of the pesky little tribbles. I assure you that I am not alone. Anybody that uses a website platform, especially a free one like blogger, is going to have to pay something to play. And the price you pay is to be tracked by somebody out there.

I don't think that there is a lot I can do about the problem either. I am already pining for some sort of counter that shows me ( and you) when that dude in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia is having insomnia attacks and decides to pay us a visit. Over 19,000 page views this month, a little higher than average, I like to see who is connecting with what and many of you do as well. Hello Tracy!

I will find something soon to replace what I just tossed overboard. Maybe the pro version will be better.

In any case I am glad that the problem seems to be only experienced by R at the moment. I will endeavor to keep the weight off the blast for all of your viewing comfort.

Love, Robert

cookied out

I got the following letter today from a blast reader and correspondent. I am not sure what to do but it is troubling. I just killed the global map at the bottom of the page which is responsible for whosamongus. I will try to get out from the google + stuff as well as any other ballast I can jettison that might be weighting this puppy down. Since I am not a technical sort, any help you can give me is appreciated. I am not sure where all the cookies are coming from.

Thanks for the update, H.

Robert,

Your blog has become a real pain in the ass to try to read.  Today I went there three times. (your email invitation is so inviting I just could not resist.)

It took 4 minutes to load the first time and did an automatic refresh.

The second time it took 3 minutes then did another automatic refresh and then took another 2 minutes to finally load.

The third time I paid attention to all the junk being loaded. Here is a partial list:

Feedjit.com;,
1.bp.blogspot.com;,
blogspot.com;,
google plus one;,
themes.googleusercontent.com;
whos.among.us;,
plusone.google;
s.ytime.com;,
1q.ytime.com;,
themes.google.com;,
apis.google.com;,
maps.amungus.com;,
maps.google.com;,
www.google.com;,
widgets.amung.us;,
ajax.google.com;,

and last but not least:

www.blueheronblast.com

and then another reload so I get watch all this bullshit get loaded again.

6 minutes total load time.

I have a very quick connection.  No excuse there.

I typed 70% of this while it was loading the last time. Matter of fact it is still sitting on www.blueheronblast.com as I type right now. Meaning the browser will not scroll until it is done, making reading difficult at best.

Every one of the above wrote a cookie to my computer and then reported back to the source all related cookies on my system.  (This is fairly normal these days and is part of the great web moneytization stampede.

So if you are going to give all these other folks the data ask for a piece of the action at least.

If you would prefer to remain above the commercial fray, I would recommend that you try to do without all of the bells and whistles unless all of your readers have the patience of Job or they just love your writing so very much that they would sit through multiple reruns of The Jerry Springer Show if need be.

Have a great rest of Sunday.

H

Stoned again

I was reading  my local paper, the Union Tribune, this morning when I came upon Ann Jarmusch's article on the new installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Richard Long's Baja California Circle, 1989.

‘BAJA CALIFORNIA CIRCLE’

Richard Long’s work comes from ‘walking in landscapes’

By Ann Jarmusch Special to THE U-T
Originally published December 2, 2012 at 12:01 a.m., updated November 30, 2012 at 3:31 p.m.
Internationally acclaimed artist Richard Long created “Baja California Circle” after crossing the border during his two-week residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
The granite stones from Mexico that he arranged in a large circle on a gallery floor are emblematic of “his real medium, which is walking,” explained Jill Dawsey, the museum’s associate curator.
Because the work is temporary and improvisational and involves the body moving through space, “it’s a very different idea of a ‘masterpiece.’ ”
Born in England, Long travels the world on a Zen-like path, quietly gathering objects or leaving harmless evidence of his nature walks. His work is “about moving through a landscape,” and creating “an index, or trace, of the walk,” Dawsey said.
“Art made by walking in landscapes” is how the artist puts it.
“Then, when you encounter the simple circle (of stones) in the gallery, it is very powerful,” Dawsey said.
The viewer may take a contemplative walk around the circle and be subtly reminded of ancient stone works, such as Stonehenge or Roman roads. This relationship between inside and outside, timeless and modern, constitutes “a new idea of a landscape,” Dawsey said, one that transcends not only time, walls and actions, but also borders.

 Ann Jarmusch, formerly U-T San Diego’s architecture critic, writes about art, architecture and historic preservation.

I believe that this installation and the subsequent fawning by the esteemed critic perfectly encapsulates everything that is wrong in contemporary art today. A huckster, or is it a zen master, drops a pile of rocks in a circle on the slick floor of a fatuous box crammed up against a truly lovely old architectural remnant of my hometown city's past, the Santa Fe Railroad Station. A multi dimensional artist, Long is not confined to granite, he is also known to have worked in both sticks and pebbles.

Rich patrons, whose lack of aesthetic discrimination is only trumped by their amplified and delicious sense of irony, can stand next to the igneous assemblagé and drink their gin while circumnavigating this conceptual monstrosity and then titter about the problem the tendinitis is giving their tennis forehand while failing to recognize that the emperor is in fact quite naked and that the in house gardener has just carted off half the project to fill the ravine out back that has narrowly washed away in the most welcome recent rain.

I must confess that I have not personally traversed this conceptual rockpile but would wager that I would be reminded of neither Stonehenge or the Acropolis. I think that the more pressing profundity would be the satori like  realization that just because a person has attained material comfort does not mean that they possess any sense of taste or style whatsoever, that a fool and his money are soon parted (sorry Elizabeth W. Russell Foundation Fund) and that the selling of art, at least in some circles, is much like the game at the local carney where you get to throw softballs at the punks and win any prize you want on the second shelf. Rigged and dependent on a steady stream of rubes.

You pay enough money and some newspaper critic or museum curator will surely blow enough smoke up your ass to convince you that you have an absolutely precious sense of style, befitting a person of your class and station, not to mention a surfeit of brilliance and wit. My lack of understanding as to the enormity not to mention intrinsic meaning of this pebbly undertaking obviously shows more evidence of my own sad lack of breeding. What's with the pile of rocks, daddy?

Richard Long, I salute you!

Bachmann Turner Overdrive

Blue Collar. Tasty chording from Randy Bachmann and Fred Turner's first album.

Cold sunday morning riff

It is a dreary december day, a writer's favorite weather.

*
My pal Kent invited me to see our hometown San Diego State Aztecs basketball team rip on my longtime favorite UCLA Bruins last night. Hoist the silver championship trophy at the John Wooden Classic.

Both of my parents were Bruins, I got my Construction Project Management credential at State so my loyalties are slightly divided but as a native San Diegan I was definitely rooting for the red and black.

The game was held at supposedly neutral ground, the Honda Center at Anaheim. The reality was that it was a sea of Aztec fans with hardly a powder blue jersey in sight. Bruins didn't know what hit them. They had never seen the show, having successfully ducked the Aztecs since 1991.

To say that our seats were high would be an understatement. Let's just say that we were led to the third highest row of the center by a Sherpa serving yak tea, who suggested that we might want to utilize a spare tank of oxygen in the thin Orange County air. One sneeze or false move would have sent us tumbling down the aisles ass over teakettle to land at the bottom of the crevasse hundreds of feet below.

Steve Fisher's Aztecs won the game, a great game, well played by both teams, by 9 points, 78 to 69, on the strength of their phenomenal guard and Naismith candidate Jamaal Franklin's 28 points and 7 rebounds. This was their first win against the Bruins since the year before Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1940 to be exact.

It is also the 26th straight win against California schools and twelfth in a row against the vaunted Pac -12. The papers said that it was about a 70/30 fan split but it seemed more like 90/10. The Bruins were booed from warmups and the Aztecs crowd made it their house. Louder than hell, maybe the best game I have ever witnessed for crowd energy. The basketball team was better, the fans were better, the Aztec band was better, our cheerleaders were cuter. Total domination. I believe.

I don't know how far the 5 and 1 Aztecs can go in the NCAA's this year with a lineup lacking a true post but they are incredibly athletic and played tight defense last night. With Shrigley next year things might get epic. The Bruins are a team of blueblood recruits, #1 recruiting class in the nation but last night they were outclassed by San Diego's fierce determination. Great team, they just don't play all that well on aircraft carriers. Should move up to about 18 in the polls this week, I think.

Had a brat and a beer at the game. Beer was great, couple of orange slices on top. Brat was less successful, boiled instead of grilled, but the sauerkraut adequately covered up any real or imagined deficiencies. Thanks Kent, for the ticket and great time.

*
Good day yesterday. Aztecs won and I sold one of my best paintings. Would like to thank my clients for making ita good month and season for me. Smoked my wife at gin rummy. Got to miss the Christmas parade. I arrived at my shop this morning and my Mr. Ed style front door was covered with cups and trash as is the entire sidewalk. Come downtown and then throw all your trash around for somebody else to pick up. Seems like you have a good take on the real meaning of Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, is there anything more tired and stupid as the Bill O'Reilly annual railing about people that say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. His attempt at dressing down Governor Lincoln Chaffee the other night was simply ludicrous. We have to fight inclusivity, because it tears against our native tradition. And christianity is not a religion, its a philosophy. Absolute bullshit.

REPORTER: Do you understand how some people feel like you have somehow negated their traditions?
CHAFEE: Yes. You're absolutely right, either its gay marriage or accepting immigrants. You're absolutely right. They don't want to believe this is -- time are changing.
*
O'REILLY: Times are changing are they? The Governor told you the truth. He is tying the Christmas situation into secular progressive politics. Mr. Chafee wants to ignore traditions of America and build a more inconclusive nation where Judeo-Christian philosophy is tamped down. That's the big picture here. That's the big picture it's what it's all about. The secular progressives want a new America and traditional Christmas isn't a part of it.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "We still say Merry Christmas" and I thought, so fucking what? Be my guest, say whatever the hell you want to say, celebrate what you want to, no skin off my xmas balls, anybody should worship the belief system of their choice, however ridiculous, as long as it doesn't involve torture or cannibalism.  

Have you noticed how blurry the nexus between conservatism and christianity has become. Merely browse the daily pages of Townhall and you will see how linked they are at the hip, particularly regarding any conversation about abortion. Here columnist Doug Giles pontificates on the real reason atheists hate Christmas. (Hint, it's the sin baby.)

God forbid some people don't follow the dominant meme. If you were more secure in your beliefs, alternate beliefs would not pose such an obvious threat to you. We've had all sorts of traditions in this country, slavery and lynching was big for a while too. Sometimes they are better left discarded. Happy Holidays! (Ow, doesn't that hurt?) 

*

Kit Bacon Gressitt sent out a questionnaire asking people what they felt thankful for last week.  Amongst platitudes for Obama's re-election, world peace and the lion laying down with the lamb in the barnyard I offered the succinct "a good crap" which may have set a new low water mark for discourse on her blog. But I was being honest. If all else fails, never neglect the literary scatological card.

*

Saw Colleen, owner of the resurrected Le Bistro with Husband Steve yesterday. Restaurant has been open for a few days and everything sounds like it is going very well. All reports have been fairly glowing and they are just getting their act together. Wish them all the success in the world.

She said reviews had been positive except for one young lady who shall remain nameless. Well, young if you aren't counting the four facelifts, she said. Around these parts if you want to guess a person's age, you have to count the lifts like tree rings.

*

My new campaign to be a nicer person and not so much of an asshole unfortunately ended a bit prematurely, as my brother Buzz predicted it would, in about two days. My father's birthday Thursday and I had a little reality check with my siblings. I was accused of being overly negative and I reacted in a less than decorous manner.

My brother calls it Robert's annual bloodletting. I know that I feel better.

*
Looks like we are heading over the cliff. Republicans would rather coddle the apex predators than make a deal. You know, upper earner tax rate was 39% under Clinton and the celestial bodies still moved freely in their orbits. Even gave us a surplus. Cutting revenue while increasing spending has never proved very effective. Do we really have to go there again?  Bush started this current spending spree, you can't elect them and then disown them.

We can either make a deal or we can spend now until the end of time pointing fingers at Fannie, Freddie, Glass Steagle, Phil Gramm, whoever had the goddawful idea that minorities should be allowed to buy real estate in the first place. Surely there is enough blame to spread around. 

Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)