I'm at my dad's house this week; today is his 90th birthday. I answered the doorbell a few minutes ago; a neighbor's daughter had come with a little birthday cake for him. Later, when I told my dad who'd brought the cake, he said "she's an unusual person" and explained that after he'd given her a graduation present, she wrote a letter to thank him. "Most people wouldn't do that," he said.
As I like to say: writing is good for you.
My Dad's a good guy. He's in great shape at 90, people guess he's about 75 or so. He's an honest man--I respect that a lot. And just today, he gave someone a water buffalo.
Saturday 11.29.03
When I was a teenager, I thought that being able to recognize the difference between good writing and so-so writing would translate into the ability to write well. I've since learned otherwise.
I like it when things have inventive and entertaining names. I know what names I like when I see 'em, but sometimes I can't make up a decent name to save my life. By custom among rock climbers, the first person to climb a route gets to name it. I have several first ascents in my neighborhood, and I'm still at a loss for what to call a few of them.
I mentioned (see Nov. 19, below) a newspaper columnist's contest to name the Iraq conflict. I saw this as an opportunity to come up with something entertaining, but I didn't much rise to the occasion. The best name I came up with ("Operation Desert Pork") paled by comparison to a few of the winners: "Mess in Potamia" and "Blood, Baath, and Beyond".
While we're on the subject of amusing phrases: Bush was in Las Vegas recently; protestors who weren't keen on his support of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada had signs saying (among other things) "hell no, we won't glow". (Note: I live about 150 miles from the Yucca Mountain site.)
This afternoon, I saw the great James Rosenquist retrospective that's in New York through January 25. I'd mentioned this exhibition on October 17; the NY Times had said it was "too big". By that, I figured they meant it included too much stuff of lesser importance or interest. I can't say I agree. A lot of his work was on display, but I have never been to a museum and liked as high a percentage of what I saw as I did today. Size does matter, but this show was not too big. It was cool to see (among many others) works that I'd seen before in other cities, all collected under one (in this case, round) roof.
James Rosenquist is a skilled artist who'd painted billboards for a living before setting off on his own. He's said he learned more from colleagues in billboard work than he did in art school. I've had great appreciation for the technique in hand-painted billboards: the scale of the canvases, the punchy, readily-assimilable images, the understanding of (the viewer's) psychology that skilled advertisers develop. Imagine that kind of mastery at the direction of a playful mind with a keen sense for collage, and you'll have an idea what Rosenquist's fine art is like. Many of his paintings are economical (expressive despite having few elements), thought provoking, intense as hell (often through deft use of color), and are just plain fun: all qualities I really go for in art. Thank you, Mr. Rosenquist: good work.
Monday 11.24.03
This memo is (evidently) not a hoax:
Subject: IDENTIFICATION OF EQUIPMENT SOLD TO LA COUNTY
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 14:21:16 -0800
From: "Los Angeles County"
The County of Los Angeles actively promotes and is committed to ensure a work environment that is free from any discriminatory influence be it actual or perceived. As such, it is the County's expectation that our manufacturers, suppliers and contractors make a concentrated effort to ensure that any equipment, supplies or services that are provided to County departments do not possess or portray an image that may be construed as offensive or defamatory in nature.
One such recent example included the manufacturer's labeling of equipment where the words "Master/Slave" appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.
We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment or components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County department.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance.
Joe Sandoval, Division Manager
Purchasing and Contract Services
Internal Services Department
County of Los Angeles
This memo is like a Rorschach test; when you read it and roll your eyes, which critical comment are you inclined to make:
- political correctness is out o' control
- there's no limit to stupidity in government offices
- all the wackos are in California
- America is sexually repressed (S/M is still taboo)
- some people have too much time on their hands
- "we would request" is a dopey phrase
- (other)
For those who don't have any truck with the innards of personal computers: master and slave are extremely common terms, what with the prevalence of IDE/ATAPI drives in PCs. And...! It's especially cool that this happened in Los Angeles, where cars are sacred. (Master and slave are common terms for hydraulic cylinders used in automobile brakes and clutches.)
Anyhow. All this reminds me of a (true) story: my brother and I both learned
the basics of electricity at an early age. At one point, he was puzzled by
why plugs were termed male and sockets female. He asked my Dad why this
was; that's when he learned about the birds and the bees.
Wednesday 11.19.03
What a time we live in, when the POTUS inspires this kind of remark from the mayor of London:
I actually think that Bush is the greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen.(as reported in Nicholas Kristof's column in today's NY Times). Kristof also says "We need a name for this war" and invites readers to send in suggestions. I wrote to him, saying that to celebrate how profitable the war has been for defense contractors, Halliburton, and others, I propose naming it Operation Desert Pork. But really, no catchy little name can do justice to the rich mess our President has gotten us into.
An investigator called me a few nights ago and asked me some questions about a neighbor of mine who's in jail. We got to talking about a number of topics, and he made reference to a number of sex offense cases he'd been aware of in my town (although my neighbor is in trouble for nothing of the sort). The investigator attributed the problems in part to kids having nothing to do here (small, remote town) and mentioned that we have no movie theatre. I thought to myself, people lived for thousands of years without movie theatres.
Happy nineteenth.
Sunday 11.09.03
Yesterday, while driving on [a desert road without much traffic], I see a car closing on me from behind. I can't tell if it's a cop or not; I keep to the speed limit (65). The car passes; it's not a cop, it's a youngish dude driving with a chick in the passenger seat. From how he passes me, and from what kind of car he's driving, I get the idea he wants me to race him. I don't want to race; I'm happy to have him in front of me. I speed up a little to goad him, then I back off.
About 10 miles down the road, I pass him. He's stopped on the shoulder with a Highway Patrol car behind him. The moon is in eclipse at that point, if that matters.
If I were any good at writing fiction, I'd want to write about some situation where two people interact, each of them thinking they're the one playing the other like a cheap fiddle.
Wednesday 11.05.03
I mentioned a few days ago here that I was burnt out from chaos at work and from a neighbor/friend in trouble with the law. Now, a week or so later, work is still chaotic and my neighbor is still in jail, but I got some encouraging news about both situations today.
It looks like there's a new project to be started at work; the good part is the (somewhat) clean slate and the chance to work with people I like working with; the potentially sucky part is sharp time pressure.
My neighbor called (from jail) and seemed a bit more under control, less frantic, less likely to do something ill-considered. That alone is a relief. It's still stressful to watch him in the situation he's in (long, long story) but at least I had a reasonable conversation with him today, which is progress.
Sunday 11.02.03
Sex, more than any other element in human life, is still viewed by many, perhaps by most, in an irrational way. Homicide, pestilence, insanity, gold and precious stones--all the things, in fact, that are the objects of passionate hopes or fears--have been seen, in the past, through a mist of magic or mythology; but the sun of reason has now dispelled the mist, except here and there. The densest cloud that remains is in the territory of sex, as is perhaps natural since sex is concerned in the most passionate part of most people's lives. - Bertrand Russell, 1936
| Interviewer : | I've often wondered why there are more slang words for death and genitals than any other words. |
| Chomsky : | Death and genitals are things that frighten people, and when people are frightened, they develop means of concealment and aggression. It is common sense. |
Saturday 11.01.03
I buy candy every Halloween, usually chocolate because I end up eating it myself. This year--like the past n years, where n is about 5--there was zero trick-or-treat action at my front door.
A storm came through, bringing the first snow of the season. Snow level near Lone Pine was about 8500' on the Sierra Nevada and about 10,000' on the Inyo Mountains. Tioga (120), Sonora (108), and Monitor (89) passes are all closed as I write this.
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