Fog

Nikon D100, 50mm

(repost)

What the hell

have I been listening to? I'm sure you all want to know.

• Spoon - Gimme Fiction. As with all the other Spoon records, this has taken a long time to grow on me. Now, though, I see the true Spoon goodness in it's soul.
  
• Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine (the official one). The songs are basically the same as the bootleg version that went around earlier this year. But it's a little more polished and tweaked around the edges. Hard to say if I like it better or not, so I won't say. It's still good, either way.
  
• Robyn Hitchcock - Obliteration Pie. This is a Japanese import that collects a bunch of outtakes and various odds and ends. It has some fantastic bits (a live "Chinese Bones", for example) and some ridiculous bits ("Funky Town"). The good stuff makes up for the bad.
  
• Rush - Moving Pictures. Actually, I only listened to it once. I first bought my first copy of this when I was in 6th grade (on vinyl, '81 or '82). Then, it was the first CD I bought ('88). I sold the CD when Rush became un-cool ('9\1), but held onto the vinyl totally by accident (because all my LPs were hiding in my dad's storage space while I was at college). Fifteen years later, Friday night, I broke down in a moment of pure impulse and bought a copy of it from iTunes. I played it once to make sure I remembered it all. I did. It truly is a pinnacle of prog-rock. YYZ kicks the ass.
  
• Rolling Stones - Some Girls. Yeah man.
  
• Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire - The Swimming Hour. This is all over the place, musically, in a good way. The lyrics are clever and often dark. The whole thing is good, but the standout is "How Indiscreet", a raging 60's-ish soul rocker that I first thought must have been some criminally-overlooked Ray Charles tune.

OK, back to work (you, not me).

Start Your iPods

Start the work week with:

1. Howlin Wolf - Poor Boy
   
2. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Vanessa From Queens
   
3. Buena Vista Social Club - La Bayamesa
   
4. The Cure - The Holy Hour
   
5. John Pizzarelli - You're Lookin at Me
   
6. Robyn Hitchcock - Flavor Of Night
   
7. The Pretenders - The Wait
   
8. Elliot Smith - Independence Day
   
9. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
   
10. Robyn Hitchcock - The Leopard
    

I've started taking Robyn Hitchcock albums off the iPod, because I really don't need to hear him every 5th song. But the iPod doesn't care.

Hate my job.

Monday Cat Blogging

Nikon D100, 50mm

Sulu: I'm gay

CNN reports that the actor who played Mr Sulu, George Takei is gay. And this is the picture they used...



He's gay, not Vulcan.

Purple

Nikon N80, 105mm macro, Fuji Sensia 100

(repost)

Do you enjoy being stupid?

If not, you need to check out the Time Cube!

Here's a sample:

Humans are evil to worship
singularity of 1day education,
ignoring Nature's Harmonic
Cubic Antipodal Creation.

Academic singularity is
as
evil as God
singularity evil.
You have not the mentality
to comprehend the simple math of Cubic

antipode creation, for at about age 6,
your
parents gave your 2
opposite antipode brains
to
Big Brother academic hirelings, to clone
thought to serve evil singularity brotherhood
-
destroying Cubic families,
villages and tribes.
Creation is by opposites, opposite hemispheres
and opposite sexes - not queer
singularity.
You've been
educated stupid
by "Big
Brother" singularity.
Singularity God is evil belief.

Ya don't say

Firstly, Gravity Waves Existence with the Existence of the Universe...

All peoples should be exceedingly surprised to learn that Einsteins’ concept of TIME, which he assigned as the 4th Dimension, and the speed of light are one and the same. It means by altering either one then the other one must remain unchanged; be declared a constant. Einstein could have made TIME the constant and the speed of light alterable. I will demonstrate this by using a high speeding spacecraft in which the speed of light within the spacecraft has halved to 150,000 k.p.sec. then the TIME, it is relative to, has to be made Stationary Time the constant and the speed of light alterable. We could use our, not so quite, stationary TIME on Earth. Now I will do it the other way by making TIME in the spacecraft as the variable and halving it, but the speed of light MUST become the constant and be related as 300,000 k.p.sec., which is the common everyday way it is stated, explained, understood and taught. What I have now done is to prove and explain more easily that I had and have proven the Speed of light is ALTERABLE. It is under my non-exclusive copyright.

A decade or more ago I stated Black Holes should be stationary. I also stated the speed of light within Black Holes has slowed and the previous paragraphs’ data proves I had and have proven my statement was true and correct. With Black Holes being stationary then the speed of light within them is relative to Stationary Time making the speed of light slower due to the Black Holes massive mass and the resulting massive gravity. The speeding spacecrafts' mass increases with its' speed increasing. So an increased mass causes an increase in gravity and a slower TIME or rather a slower speed of light.

A major problem has been that the World Science Establishments, Educational and Political Systems and the colluding Media Establishments wrongly believing that the speed of light is unalterable. All this would be of great surprise to the World Science Establishments and an enormous surprise for the public to know of their surprise due to Science, Scientists and Physicists Internationally not understanding Relativity. They all have not understood Einsteins' Relativity since it's release in 1905. Maybe Spacetime's 4th Dimension being defective and deficient can take some of the blame, but only part of the blame for it is their weak minds and poor reasoning powers and arrogance that is at fault. I again have demonstrated and proven my Intellectual and Scientific superiority and again I am being denied credit, recognition, and public awareness so depriving me of financial remuneration which hinders and stops me from getting my major Fusion and Space projects underway in Australia with International involvement. The Media deceives and confuses the Public of the credibility of my achievements with its’ silence.

Very nice. Now compare that with String Theory Basics:

Technically speaking, M theory is is the unknown eleven-dimensional theory whose low energy limit is the supergravity theory in eleven dimensions discussed above. However, many people have taken to also using M theory to label the unknown theory believed to be the fundamental theory from which the known superstring theories emerge as special limits.
We still don't know the fundamental M theory, but a lot has been learned about the eleven-dimensional M theory and how it relates to superstrings in ten spacetime dimensions.
In M theory, there are also extended objects, but they are called M branes rather than D branes. One class of the M branes in this theory has two space dimensions, and this is called an M2 brane.
Now consider M theory with the tenth space dimension compactified into a circle of radius R. If one of the two space dimensions that make up the M2 brane is wound around that circle, then we can equate the resulting object with the fundamental string (one-brane) of type IIA superstring theory. The type IIA theory appears to be a ten dimensional theory in the normal perturbative limit, but reveals an extra space dimension, and an equivalence to M theory, in the limit of very strong coupling.

My brain hurts. I can say nothing.

WriAShorStorWe

defective yeti (Friend To Canada) announces

Yes kids, October 31-November 4 is the blogosphere's first annual Write A Short Story Week!

I wish I could participate, but I learned long ago that my writing runs out of steam after not much more than a couple of sentences. Maybe I could try a one paragraph story...

Venus and Lensflare

Nikon D100, 75-240mm

Start your iPods

1. Lucinda Williams - Broken Butterflies. B
   
2. Fleetwood Mac - What Makes You Think You're The One? C
   
3. Bob Dylan - I Want You. D
   
4. Nirvana - Beeswax. C
   
5. Nick Drake - Fruit Tree. B
   
6. The Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang. A
   
7. The Soft Boys - Sudden Town. C
   
8. Neutral Milk Hotel - The Fool. C
   
9. Fiona Apple - A Mistake. A
   
10. Robyn Hitchcock - The Devil's Coachman (live). C
    

Not a strong start this week. I think this means I hate my job.

Monday Cat Blogging

Nikon D100, 50mm

(Tricksey recommends Nasonex for all cat owners who are allergic to their cats)

Skin Scam

Yahoo (via BoingBoing) reports that the tattoo business in New Orleans is booming, as people rush to get some kind of Katrina reminder injected into their skin. This reminds me... When Mrs Cleek and I went to the tattoo place last weekend (in Raleigh, NC), the guy who was doing her tattoo said that he'd had two different people from New Orleans come in to get tattoos in the past week, and each had paid with their FEMA money cards.

Oh well...

Fall

Nikon N80, Fuji Sensia 100, 105mm macro

Donuthead

I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts drive-thru today to get some donuts for the office. The guy asks for my order, and I say "I want to get a dozen donuts."

He says "Seven?".

"No," I say as slowly, loudly and clearly as I can, "I want a dozen."

He says "Seven ? You know, twelve is really a better value."

I sigh and reply, "OK".

Ooohhh statistics

This looks like fun: iTunes collection statistics (guaranteed to be of interest to nobody but me!).

Songs: 6,513
Artists: 641
Albums: 696
(Wow, need to rip some more of my CDs)

First Album: 'Round About Midnight
Last Album: Zydeco Dynamite

First Artist: 'Til Tuesday
Last Artist: ZZ Top

Songs purchased from iTunes: 656
Songs with no track number: 441
Songs with no album listed: 293
Single album with most songs (no multi-discs) : Guitarrorists (26)

Most Songs By Artist:
Robyn Hitchcock: 204 (plus Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians: 46, for a tiebreak with The Cure)
The Cure: 204 (plus The Cure with Earl Slick: 1)
Pavement: 125
Yo La Tengo: 119
Sonic Youth: 99
Smaller Animals: 96
REM: 95
Cowboy Junkies: 82
Beatles: 77
White Stripes: 75
(yipes. early 90's alternative much?)

Most songs by 'cuss' word:
Fuck: 10
Shit: 5
Piss: 5
Bitch: 4
Ass: 4

Most songs by city:
Chicago: 6
Memphis: 6
New York City : 4
Manhattan: 3
Stockholm: 2
LA: 2
London: 2
St. Louis: 2
Box Elder: 2
Queens: 2
Birmingham, Hoboken,Brooklyn,Clarksville,Kansas City,Las Vegas,Nashville,Paris,Dallas,Atlanta,San Francisco,Seattle,Boston,Statesboro,Ventura,Mobile,Woodstock,Milwaukee,Moscow, Baton Rouge, Minneapolis: 1

By Color:
Red: 64
Blue: 51
Black: 39
Green: 29
White: 14
Pink: 9
Gray/Grey: 6
Orange: 5
Purple: 5
Yellow: 3
Violet: 1

Songs with the word:
Blues: 90
Love: 163
Hate: 10
Day: 137
Night: 88
Life: 54
Death: 13
Heart: 51
Rock: 29
Roll: 18
Soul: 14
Money: 8
Heaven: 20
Hell: 21
Hard: 17
Soft: 3

Well, it was fun for me.

Yetis, Squirrelys, ASD and Horseradish

Go read this great post by Defective Yeti about his son.

Start Your iPods

1. Yo La Tengo - Blue Line Swinger. Nine minutes long...
   
2. fieldfresh - JB in as asshole. A song about a college guidance counselor
   
3. Grateful Dead - Johnny B Goode. go go.
   
4. Doc Watson - Doc's Guitar
   
5. Sleater-Kinney - Male Model
   
6. Doc Watson - Windy and Warm
   
7. Led Zeppelin - Living Loving Maid
   
8. The Shins - Sphagnum Esplanade. great name.
   
9. Spoon - Everything hits at once. This album will always remind me of driving to the beach. Seems wrong to hear it anywhere else.
   
10. Nirvana - Big Long Now
    

Incoherent. I think it means I hate my job. (boss standing in back of me while I type this - ah irony)

Monday Cat Blogging

Nikon D100, 50mm

Frog

Nikon D100, 105mm macro

Tattoo You

As our ninth anniversary presents, Mrs Cleek and I gave each other tattoos - well, we went to get tattoos together - I didn't draw on her, nor she me.

It was my first and her ... 5th (?)

For those who've never had one done, I thought I'd share what it feels like. Take a sterile needle, stick yourself with it, deep enough to hurt, but not so deep that it draws blood. Or, give yourself a really hard and really small pinch (use your fingernails, or tweezers, or needle-nose pliers). Make it hurt, don't be shy - if you wince, you're on the right track. Now, repeat that, in a small area, for half an hour (or 90 minutes, if you want to see what Mrs Cleek endured). If it bleeds, wipe it off. But don't stop.

It's not the worst pain in the world, and after the first five minutes I was able to pretty much put it out of my mind by thinking really hard about the paint on the walls. But it still hurt enough (and still does) that I have a new respect for anyone who can get tattoos on places where the skin is more sensitive than it is on an upper arm. Like, for example, Mrs Cleek's new one on her upper back.

I am surprisingly drawn to the idea of getting more...

Oh those clever headliner writers

Mini-headline at CNN.com:

Iraq progress on constitution; 30 killed

The Julie/Julia Project

Thanks to Salon, I now know about the Julie/Julia Project: a blog on which a woman attempts to cook all of the 536 recipies from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", in a year, describing her results as she goes. She's hillarious:

On her attempt at Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons

So the fish. The Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons, I should say. I screwed this one up, I'll go ahead and admit it. Which is not to say it wasn't good. The fucker has a cup of butter, half a cup of cheese and very nearly a stick of butter in it, so how bad could it be? But the fact of the matter is, I over-poached my poisson. She said explicitly to poach the fish -- flounder, it is -- in its vermouth and clam juice -- I love recipes that use clam juice, it's so retro or something -- for '8 to 12 minutes depending on the thickness of the filets.... Do not,' says Julia, 'overcook; the fish should not be dry and flaky.' Well, I cook that fish for 8 minutes, and how you do think it turned out? Yup. This flounder would give my college acting teacher a run for his money.

And, the next day:

An aside on food insanity. I just read the article in this week's New York Times Magazine on Raw Foodism, and so this is no amazing observation, but Jesus Christ!! Two things strike me about this unfathomably ignorant trend. The first is, how male it is somehow, how Fast and Furious. "You're a vegan. Big fucking deal -- I don't heat my food. Take that!" And wow, the power of self-righteousness. The guy says he's never felt so good -- well, yeah, because nothing feels better than being better than everybody else. And the third thing is -- yeah, I decided I had three points -- My God, how sad. There is precious little comfort in this world. Why take food, one of the very few simple comforts, and turn it into an obstacle? Why rob yourself of one of the few honest pleasures you'll ever know?

If you read more, you'll see that she doesn't drop the F-bomb in every paragraph , but she's still pretty funny - especially when things get difficult, like when she and her husband attempt to get marrow out of a veal bone:

Then I go after it with a knife, and manage to worm my way into the interior. The pink stuff begins to drip out. This is somehow not how I imagined beef marrow. It's like guts, kind of. I stick my smallest paring knife into the center of the bone past this hilt, and scrape the stuff out. "Once we get our place in New Mexico," murmurs my husband as he looks on, mesmerized, "We're going to have to get ourselves a rescue cow. And treat it really nice."

Fun, for foodies.

It's time for your close-up, Miss Lily

Nikon D100, 105mm macro

Why You're a Big Poopyhead

The misleadingly-named Tech Central Station is running an awful article entitled Why Intelligent Design Is Going to Win.

Here are the bullet points the author structures his article around:

1. ID will win because it's a religion-friendly, conservative-friendly, red-state kind of theory, and no one will lose money betting on the success of red-state theories in the next fifty to one hundred years.
   
   Note that he has nothing to say about the merits of ID. But he's convinced that the popular will of people who breed quicker should be enough to make sure ID "wins" ("... families that reproduce people tend to reproduce ideas, as well" he says later). Well, popularity is pretty lousy way to measure the scientific merit of an idea. But, ID is a pretty lousy idea, so maybe that's its best bet. At least he's not hiding the fact that this is primarily a political issue for the IDers.



2. ID will win because the pro-Darwin crowd is acting like a bunch of losers.
   
   No, really. He wrote that.
   
   
3. ID will win because it can be reconciled with any advance that takes place in biology, whereas Darwinism cannot yield even an inch of ground to ID.
   
   What on earth can he mean by this? Let's read on:
   
   
   So you've discovered the missing link? Proven that viruses distribute super-complex DNA proteins? Shown that fractals can produce evolution-friendly three-dimensional shapes? It doesn't matter. To the ID mind, you're just pushing the question further down the road. How was the missing link designed? What is the origin of the viruses? Who designed the fractals? ID has already made its peace with natural selection and the irrefutable aspects of Darwinism. ...It must dogmatically insist that it will resolve all of its ambiguities and shortcomings...
   
   
   Or : science will never stop looking for answers; but no matter what the question, ID already has the answer (hint: it's the bearded guy in the sky). Grrrrrreat.
   
   I wonder, though; since ID already has the answers, can we assume it has had the answers all along? That is, should we throw out all the advances in biology that have occurred in the past 150 years thanks to Darwin's insights ? They can't have any value, if ID's "God Did It" is the real answer. Or should we just stop now and keep what we have so far ? How much do you suppose he values, oh I dunno, vaccinations and antibiotics ?
   
   
4. ID will win because it can piggyback on the growth of information theory, which will attract the best minds in the world over the next fifty years.
   
   And the best minds in the world will be satisfied with "God Did It"? That kind of thinking went out of fashion about 700 years ago.
   


5. ID will win because ID assumes that man will find design in life -- and, as the mind of man is hard-wired to detect design, man will likely find what he seeks.


Yeah, he really wrote that. This, too:
Hammers tend to find nails, screwdrivers tend to find screws, and the human mind tends to find design.


Bafflingly stupid, he continues:
Of course, the propensity to see designs doesn't mean that the designs aren't actually there. But the quintessential human perception is one of design -- and, to the extent that perceptions define reality, a theory built on the perception of design has a huge advantage over its competitors.


The human mind also prefers to group people into Us and Them, giving Us the attributes of angels and Them the tendencies of devils - call it tribes, teams, clubs, nations, religions, races, etc.; and the mind is perfectly happy explaining things it doesn't easily understand with nonsense superstitions. Now if I could take those two things and use them for political advantage... why, maybe I could write for Tech Central Station!

What the...

In a contest there shall be 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the chess timer. As soon as the time runs out the game is over. A round of boxing takes 2 minutes. Between rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear.

It's... Chess Boxing !

(via Making Light

Oh Lily

Nikon D100, 105m macro

Monday iPod Blogging

The iPod starts this work week with:

1. Stereolab - Orgiastic
   
2. Smaller Animals - Pornography
   
3. Robyn Hitchcock - Glass Hotel (live)
   
4. Mudhoney - Come To Mind
   
5. Derek & The Dominos - Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
   
6. Led Zeppelin - Trampled Under Foot
   
7. The Rolling Stones - Live With Me
   
8. Liz Phair - Explain It To Me
   
9. Buddy & Julie Miller - Rachel
   
10. Dinosaur Jr. - Poledo
    

Well... that's a strange mix. I think it means I hate my job.

Monday Cat Blogging

Sony P7

Antiques Roadshow

Went to the show last night, saw all the famous personalities. The antiques were lavishly presented and the crowd ooooh'd and ahh'd in appreciation. Most of the featured items were in good shape, only missing a couple of details or a little filligree here and there. On some pieces, worn spots were noticable, but didn't detract much from overall value; given the huge market for the material, slight imperfections are tolerated and even enhance the value, to some dedicated collectors. Most items presented were made during the height of their manufacturer's powers and when the style was at it's peak, and so nearly all were appraised highly; the owners were sure to make a fortune. Two or three were of more recent production; and while they showed many hallmarks of the older preferred style, the market for these newer objects is only a fraction of the market for the older examples; the appraisers received these items politely and the owners were gracious and understanding of the situation.

There was a showing of lesser-known material from a lesser-known, manufacturer before the main show, but due to a schedule conflict (a wedding), we couldn't be there in time. But the main show, at least, was great. And I recommend that all who get a chance to see it do so, before they cancel it forever (for real, this time). If you can't be close to the main action, bring binoculars. And if you don't want to spend a lot on concessions, bring a flask.

Here's my ticket stub:

Rush to exit

A snippet of conversation you don't want to hear coming from the next cube over:

...it's that stomach thing, ya know. It's pretty contagious.

Beeeeef!

Beef Burgundy

This is my version of a recipe I got from my stepmother who got it from Good Housekeeping (or something like that). It's pretty easy. Takes about an hour and a half.

1.5 lbs beef sirloin cubes
8 slices of bacon
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
one bottle dry red wine
extra bottle of red wine (optional, for drinking)
1/2 cup water
1 beef bouillon cube
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 to 1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp butter
flour

egg noodles (optional)
good crusty bread (optional)


Cook the bacon over medium heat in a dutch oven, or large frying pan. Don't burn it! Roll beef cubes in flour. When cooked, remove bacon to paper towels. Pour off most of the fat, but not all. Add beef to bacon fat and brown beef - don't let the flour burn on the bottom of the pan!

When beef is brown (not cooked through, just when most pieces are brown on the outside), add 2 cups wine, water, bouillon cube, thyme, pepper. Stir it up. Let that simmer on low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Eat two slices of bacon. Drink rest of wine while watching TV.

Crumble the rest of the bacon.

In a large sautee pan, melt the butter, add onions garlic and mushrooms. Sautee over medium-low heat until onions and mushrooms are soft. Add onion mixture and bacon to beef. Let that simmer for another ten minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In that time, boil up some egg noodles, or cut up some bread. Serve beef over noodles or with bread.

Drink extra bottle of wine. Watch Alias, holding back screams of incredulity.

Start your iPods

The iPod starts this work week with:

1. Interpol - Narc
   
2. The Beatles - Oh! Darling
   
3. Throwing Muses - Civil Disobedience
   
4. Archers of Loaf - Hate Paste
   
5. Cowboy Junkies - Dragging Hooks (live)
   
6. The Postal Service - Brand New Colony
   
7. Sleater-Kinney - Memorize Your Lines
   
8. Adrian Belew - Crying
   
9. Sonic Youth - Brave Men Run
   
10. Miles Davis - Dig
    

Very nice little set. I think it means I hate my job.

Monday Cat Blogging

Nikon D100, 50mm

Lake George

We were at the beach all last week, (Emerald Isle, NC, specifically) doing all the things people do at the beach: drink, play cards, drink, play Yahtzee, drink, play bocci, drink, swim, drink, lay out and read, drink, drink, eat, drink, etc.. One day, between drinks, a few of the guys hooked up with the father of one of the women (who is also the father-in-law-to-be of one of the guys) and went fishing on his boat. We cruised up the sound, past Morehead City and Beaufort, and out Bouge Inlet to the ocean, where we bounced around on 5 five foot seas for a few hours, trolling for whatever we could catch; entire haul: one tattered plastic bag, and a sighting of the bouy put out above the wreck of Blackbeard's boat. Though overall a fun time, the wave action and exhaust fumes got to me after a while, and I was pretty green until we pulled into the calm water on the sound side of Shackleford island for lunch - which I just nibbled at while my belly did flips. Eventually, we got back to fishing, but things settled down internally when I remembered that it helps to watch where the boat is going and anticipate the waves, rather than to just get tossed around passively - fuck the fishing poles, let the other guys watch them. Shoulda thought of that sooner.

And, on the way back to the marina I was thinking about Lake George, NY, where I spent many summer days working, when I was in high school. It's a big, deep, cold, historic lake surrounded by mountains; and since it's about halfway between NYC and Montreal, it's always mobbed by tourists in the summer. I used to fish there a lot, mostly from the shore, but sometimes in boats, and I remember the only times I'd see any big waves was when the big tour boats went by. At the time, there were three of them: the Minne-ha-ha, the Mohican and the Ticonderoga (I went to a prom on the Ticonderoga). They did tours up and down the lake all day long; and when they went by, you could watch the wake slowly make its way across the lake, till it ended up as few two or three foot waves - and then it was back to lazy ripples.

Sadly, a tour boat full of elderly people on Lake George turned over today, killing 21 of them. The CNN story I read suggested it flipped in the wake of the Mohican. But the local paper's website says something else:

The sheriff said initial reports were that the wake from the Mohican, a bigger tour boat, may have been what caused the smaller boat to tip. But later Sunday night he said it was unclear which tour boat might have caused the wave.

"There are witnesses (from the boat) who said they (passengers) were looking at another tour boat," the sheriff said.

Apparently, a number of the passengers moved to the side of the boat that was tipping to look at something, possibly the other tour boat, which caused it to completely flip over.

Sigh.

Frog

Nikon D100, 105mm macro