Monday, September 21, 2015

bad character walks off the stage

 
 during this weekend there was a chalk festival at Cleveland Art Museum

We have another update, within the hour, the official announcement is to be made. [click] Walker, one of the two most odious of candidates [Cruz being the other] is out. What he did to Wisconsin, he will not do to the entire country.

☐ John (Jeb) Bush
☐ Ben Carson
☐ Chris Christie
☐ Rafael (Ted) Cruz
☐ Carly Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed)

☐ Jim Gilmore
☐ Lindsey Graham
☐ Mike Huckabee
☐ Piyush (Bobby) Jindal
☐ John Kasich

☐ George Pataki
☐ Rand(al) Paul
☑ Rick Perry  September 11, 2015 oops
☐ Marco Rubio
☐ Rick Santorum

☐ Donald Trump
Scott Walker September 21, 2015
========================

☐ Lincoln Chafee
☐ Hillary Clinton
☐ Lawrence Lessig
☐ Martin O'Malley
☐ Bernie Sanders
☐ Jim Webb

Monday, September 14, 2015

i is for insect

It rained Friday and Saturday, the winds of the Canadian north brought swarms of monarch butterflies over Lake Erie, and some of them rested on a cropping of trees on Whiskey Island, on the west side of the Cuyahoga. Saturday evening there were thousands, Sunday afternoon still hundreds. They seemed to fancy sumac. They are migrating from Canada to Mexico. In the last few years, the eastern population has dropped 90%.

[ monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)]


not dragonfly of the week [♀ green darner (Anax junius)]

Sunday, September 13, 2015

St. Robert Euclid goes away

The demolition of the church of St. Robert Bellarmine in Euclid began on the 8th of September. The campus is 7.6 acres and was sold to the city of Euclid June 2010 for $674,000. The last Masses were held at the very end of December 2009. It was the church of one of the El Salvador Martyrs, Sr. Dorothy Kazel.
1952, is that old?




The mural of St. Robert Bellarmine is going down with the building.

Friday, September 11, 2015

the first one bites the dust

We have the first loser announced [click list].  The Texican who wanted secession, has seceded from the race, Rick Perry [click].  Here is the first check that is ticked off:


☐ John (Jeb) Bush
☐ Ben Carson
☐ Chris Christie
☐ Rafael (Ted) Cruz
☐ Carly Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed)

☐ Jim Gilmore
☐ Lindsey Graham
☐ Mike Huckabee
☐ Piyush (Bobby) Jindal
☐ John Kasich

☐ George Pataki
☐ Rand(al) Paul
☑ Rick Perry  September 11, 2015 oops
☐ Marco Rubio
☐ Rick Santorum

☐ Donald Trump
☐ Scott Walker
========================

☐ Lincoln Chafee (Democrat since 2013)
☐ Hillary Clinton
☐ Lawrence Lessig (announced two days ago)
☐ Martin O'Malley
☐ Bernie Sanders
☐ Jim Webb (Democrat since 2006?)

sunflowers

A seven year old girl, Maria McNamara, died of brain cancer in 2007.  While she was in hospital she prayed for others. Last year, next to the freeway, her parents and friends planted a swath of sunflowers in Avon Ohio.  This year more flowers were planted, but the first seeding was drenched and did not show. A second seeding is coming into full flower now. Sunflowers are beautiful, and give an air of beauty and cheerfulness. People are free to see and walk through them.




Friday, September 4, 2015

update on clown ignorance of American democracy

We all know that Republicans care more for the success of their party, than for the United States of America. And they can do without democratic processes.

On September 3rd, Donald Trump signed a loyalty oath to the Republican Party under Reince Priebus (the name of the party chairman). For a presidential nomination, this may be a first. Under the red scare, all sorts of people had to sign one. Many businesses make their employees sign one. At this level (in this country) it is an insult to freedom of conscience, and free politics; but again this party is not a democratic one.
“I [name] affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for president of the United States I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is. I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party.”
 Another sort of anti-democratic speech was made by John Kasich on August 19th:
I’ll tell you what the unions do, unfortunately too much of the time. There’s a constant negative comment, ‘They’re going to take your benefits, they’re going to take your pay. So if I were, not president, but if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers' lounges.
Kasich attacked the unions immediately upon gaining office, and he had to retreat (see). If he had not had such a poor opponent in his second gubernatorial election, he may very well have lost.If I were king in America is not a democratic, or patriotic statement. This country was born in a dispute to remove itself under the authority of a king. History is not a subject which Republicans do well in. Teachers shall be treated as slaves without any First Amendment rights.

Remington's Apache


Wednesday, September 2, 2015

We're what you call experts

Recently i have watched episodes of Mythbusters, many episodes. One of the first was the one on the supposed moon landing hoax. Great, every one of the objections they disproved. They set up scale models, and followed scientific method, thereby removing all wind from the sails of one group of conspiracy nuts.

They have a number of quoted lines viewers recognise, and some terms that ought to be. Most of the cast members had worked on film sets creating things to be filmed. This while presenting a semi-scripted, reality, science show intersects. 'Hollywood physics' or 'movie physics' they rightly contrast to actual physics. Some great stunts are filmed for entertainment, but are they possible naturally? Well, sometimes. 'Hollywood physics' wants to look good, not to be repeatable, or to duplicate reality. One example is the fireball of some explosions presented in film. Actual explosions rarely have a dramatic fireball, so film makers add gasoline.

Jamie Hyneman is the lead presenter, and Adam Savage his partner. Jamie is taciturn and grumpy, Adam is kinetic and loquacious. Then there has usually been a junior team of mythbusters. Adam has made himself the voice, and Jamie the image. Jamie has become 'the Walrus', and the 'wild Hyneman' often while Adam uses the voice of David Attenborough. Jamie's humour is very understated, and very matter of fact, and with a bit of mean spirit.

Watching the episodes, it becomes easy to like all the cast. There are instances where they fail you. And i wonder how much of that was the cause of Peter Rees, the show's creator and boss for the early years. He wanted to create drama by pissing in the ears of Jamie and Adam with deceitful talk engineered to antagonise each.

The worst thing was tricking Adam to see him react to a very strong electrical shock in the Baghdad battery/Ark of the Covenant episode. [an aside--I used to work in situations where one could get a surprise electrical shock--a most unpleasant experience whenever it occurred. Anyone  setting someone up for it is an evil shit of a person.] Savage has talked about this, and he put the complete onus on the producer [Rees presumably]. Soon thereafter, Scottie Chapman of the junior team left the programme.
Now this gets dodgy. Savage asks whether the replica of the ark is electrified. He is lied to. After the shock Kari Byron asks him, "Do you feel God?".  Some people found this funny, others sacrilegious, and some really bitchy. Was that line scripted? Both do not believe in God. Savage advocates for scepticism and reason to other audiences. Yeah, snarky question.

That was episode 29, in episode 26 Scottie and Kari are building a masonry wall. Adam comes to tell them they are not working fast enough. The camera catches them working, and doing a good job. Now, such a situation happens in real work all the time. Bosses/foremen/owners do this when checking up on workers in order to find them guilty of being goof-offs, and when they cannot, then complain of the pace. The two look at Adam dumbfounded and dispirited, exactly like reality. Now, was this before or after the electrocution? Was Adam scripted, or being a jerk? Their reaction sure looked genuine, and Adam in the series is not filmed like this. A very good show can have some horrid moments.