Pan's Garden

Thursday, March 27, 2008

James Benjamin Altemus 1928–2004

In honor of my father, Jim, who died four years ago today. I miss you, dad.

Express Yourself

Gross out alert! Don't read if eating.

Another great thing about today: As I mentioned in the previous post, Akiva, Bella, and I went on a hike earlier. While on the trail Bella kept squatting like she needed to poop but nothing came out. I was a little concerned, but Akiva mentioned that dogs will do that sometimes if they need to evacuate their anal sacs.

Well.

Anyway, I mentioned this to Annie when we got home from dinner and she suggested doing some online research. Half a minute later, and not only had I found more info about it than I'd ever want, but one of the first links listed was a how-to video explaining how to "express" (not expel, not evacuate—express) your dog's anal glands.

It was so absurd I laughed for what felt like five minutes. A video on how to squeeze reluctant discharge out of your dog's ass—done with a clinical deadpan. And there it was in all it's scatological glory just a few clicks away.

I suppose if we can bring ourselves to do it, we can save on the vet bill.…

I can't bring myself to embed the video, but if you're curious, here's the link. Because you never know when your dog may need you to help express herself.

This Is The Life

So, I'm sitting here in my living room enjoying some chill electronica and a raging fire, while getting ready to work on some AnnieMac poster designs, when I thought back on what a sweet little day today was.

It started badly—I still felt sick and got up too late to meet the guys for breakfast. But after a nice hot shower, it got better fast. I spent a couple of hours with a double cappucino blogging and working on a new ad for the Soul Reminders. Then in late afternoon, I went for a long hike with my good friend, Akiva, and Bella. Early evening I grabbed dinner with Annie, then we came home for a relaxing evening. She lit a fire and took a shower and is now in her office working on lyrics, while I hang out in the living room working.

Anyway, at one point, I looked up and saw Bella, Finn, and Henry napping around the fire—a perfect little scene. And I think, wow, how lucky am I?

Pangea Day

Is May 10 of this year.

What is Pangea Day?

Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future.

In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that - to help people see themselves in others - through the power of film.

On May 10, 2008 - Pangea Day - sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music.

The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones.

Of course, movies alone can't change the world. But the people who watch them can. So following May 10, 2008, Pangea Day organizers will facilitate community-building activities around the world by connecting inspired viewers with numerous organizations which are already doing groundbreaking work.

Go to the website for more info.

My Stroke Of Insight

This video has been sent to me three times within the past week, so I figured it was time to share it. It's a talk given by a brain scientist who's had a stroke and subsequently studies the experience and shares her insights. It's an incredible story. Do yourself a favor and watch it.

Also, I recommend checking out the website the video comes from: TED (Technology. Entertainment. Design). It's a great site whose mission is to give "millions of knowledge-seekers around the globe direct access to the world's greatest thinkers and teachers" via video clips of their talks.

h/t: Rick McKinney & Don Dammann

Strindber + helium

These little animated vid clips are as brilliant as they are bizarre.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Tuzla-Gate VII

Here's an excerpt from an account Clinton gave of her Tuzla trip back in 1999:

"You know, I went to Bosnia shortly after the peace accords were signed, when it was safe enough to go to our base in Tuzla, but not very safe to go anywhere else. I couldn't get into Sarajevo. But I was able to fly out of Tuzla into two base camps -- Camp Alicia and Camp Bedrock -- to visit with the men and women who were there on the front lines of Americas peace-keeping efforts."

Tuzla-Gate VI

Aren't you supposed to quit digging when you're in a hole?

Tetrific!

Human Tetris!

Tuzla-Gate V

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I'm beginning to think this story could be a mortal wound to Clinton's candidacy. Here's an exclusive interview with the pilot of the plane:

Col2
by krs601

Tuzla-Gate IV

The gift that keeps on giving.

When There's Trust There'll Be Treats

"Overcome"—Tricky

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hillary And The VRWC

Last post aside, it looks like Clinton's doing her dead-level best to alienate what few blogospheric defenders remain. Just today, after days of demuring and saying she'd not discuss it, she took a pot shot at Obama in re: his pastor Rev. Wright. Well, anything to deflect from the truly damaging Tuzla-Gate story, I guess. Thing is, her using Wright to hit Obama isn't the surprising or alienating thing, one would expect that of her at this point. No, the surprise was the venue in which she chose to do so: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

This is the rag that's owned by none other than reclusive conservative crank Richard Mellon-Scaife. You'll remember Scaife as the shadowy financier of the so-called VRWC (Vast Right Wing Conspiracy). During the nineties, he gave scads of cash (several millions) to right wing magazines and smear merchants to find dirt on or create the impression of dirt around the Clintons. Dirt like calling Vince Foster's suicide into question, claiming that as governor Clinton was a drug kingpin, claiming they were murderers, etc., etc.

Anyway, I'd been hearing reports of some sort of weird détente between him and the Clintons, and today's interview lends credence to them. Chalk it up to politics and bedfellows and all that, but it's still weird since there appeared to be so much genuine animosity between them.

Whatev, here she is with old Dick himself:

Setting The Record Straight

In a previous post I commented on Hillary's apparent arrogance when she made this statement:

Occasionally, I am a human being like everybody else...

Well, it seems the transcript left out an important indication of a stammer. Later this afternoon, I heard audiotape of the statement, and I think that this is one of those cases where she did misspeak. There was clearly a pause in between "occasionally" and "I", as though she were going to say one thing (like "Occasionally, I fuck up," but then took a different course and said "I am a human being like everyone else. This happens to me all of the time and under far less stressful situations, so fair's fair, I thought I should correct the record.

God knows, she says enough that deserves legitimate criticism. I'm not going to pile on when it's not deserved.

Cursive Is Necessary

Turns out that handwriting, while a dying art, is not passé or something that we should cavalierly discard.

The Writing On The Wall
Good penmanship is more than just a quaint skill. A new study shows that it's a key part of learning.

Handwriting is important because research shows that when children are taught how to do it, they are also being taught how to learn and how to express themselves. A new study to be released this month by Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham finds that a majority of primary-school teachers believe that students with fluent handwriting produced written assignments that were superior in quantity and quality and resulted in higher grades—aside from being easier to read.
[…]
All this matters, educators say, because evidence is growing that handwriting fluency is a fundamental building block of learning. Emily Knapton, director of program development at Handwriting Without Tears, believes that "when kids struggle with handwriting, it filters into all their academics. Spelling becomes a problem; math becomes a problem because they reverse their numbers. All of these subjects would be much easier for these kids to learn if handwriting was an automatic process."

Tuzla-Gate? III

Hillary's explanation for her inexplicable Tuzla exaggeration:

I was sleep-deprived. Occasionally, I am a human being like everybody else... For the first time in 12 or so years I misspoke.

But just, you know, occasionally. Talk about your Freudian slip. Yeesh. Oh, and about that sleep-deprived misspeaking? Must be a chronic problem. Here she is on Feb. 29, 2008 in Waco, TX:

Here's Sully's take:

Occasionally, I am a human being like everybody else. This is close to clinical delusions of grandeur. Does she really think that most of the time she is above being human? Do you know any human being who hasn't mispoken in the last twelve years once? Or would ever claim such a thing? I sure couldn't. And this from a candidate whose most famous campaign ad rests on her ability to make national security judgments at 3 am!

Bill Safire was right: she is and has for a long time been a congenital liar. I don't mean by that that she deliberately and pre-meditatedly decides to deceive people. I mean she has long since forgotten the difference between truth and untruth (enabling addicts can do that to people). I mean that by seeking power and self-advancement for so many years, at the expense of any other human values, she has lost all sense of what the difference between truth and falsehood is, who she is, what really matters or any fundamental sense of perspective.

Once, I believe, she was motivated by good intentions and even now, I don't think she believes she is advancing anything but the common good. But she can never believe that her interests and the common good could ever be in conflict, which is to say, she has lost a moral compass beyond narcissism. That is sad in a human being and we are all prey to it. But in a potential president, it is very dangerous.

And she has so long excused all her moral transgressions by the fact that her foes must always be worse (yes, for Wolfson, who has long internalized the socipathy of the Clintons, even Obama is Ken Starr to her), she has long lost the ability to ask herself, deep down, who she really is any more. She is a lost and dangerous soul, as her husband still is. She is, in my view, unfit to be president. Truly, deeply unfit. And at some point, someone in the Democratic party has to take her aside and tell her the damage she is doing to herself, her party and her country is enough.