Sweet Home Alabama

I am headed home with an infection, ears filled by a Rabbi who told me that science and medicine has not done anything for America since 1950, three bottles of bourbon, and a sticker to support mountaintop removal.

Yes, Kentucky was all that and a bag of chips!

Photos to follow later tonight after the mother and child reunion.

More photos tomorrow. I am wearing a kitten right now who refuses to move largely because she's tired from crying to her Bubie tonight over the phone. The verdict from Zaidie is that I am a bad pet owner for leaving her. Bubie and Zaidie are coming to visit next month. I love how the pets and babies rule Bubie and Zaidie and I am in the doghouse with them AND the grandparents whenever a little one cries in response to something their Ema has done.

Win, Lose, or Draw

I am trying to visit the Maker's Mark distillery tomorrow as I head toward Nashville to speak later this week. If I am able to make it there, I will be purchasing two bottles of Kentucky bourbon whisky and hand dipping them myself. One bottle is mine because after all, AG gets her drink on from time to time and it's good for luring PhDs with southern accents into my world. The other bottle can be won by those 21 years of age and older and all the other legal risks that come with accepting and consuming alcoholic beverages. (Brandeis continues to reduce my chances of y'all taking my land in a court case!)

Here's the contest deal: I have been asked to play a critical role in the bioethics debate currently ongoing in Washington and across this great nation. I will be writing about the reproductive debate in and how it has been shaped politically, what this means for women, and what the true results are now and in the future. I will need a blog title and slogan. The best title and slogan will win the Maker's Mark. Get witty, get crazy, and take no prisoners!


The rules:

1. You may enter as many times as possible through 15 October 2009.
2. A winner will be determined by Brandeis and one of his Facebook friends, selected by him and approved by AG. (That means KPP is out.)
3. If you win, you must be 21 years of age or older, drink responsibility, and accept the gift of your own free will and legal responsibility once it has been placed in your hot little hands.
4. You must be willing to arrange for delivery of your gift. In other words, Fish should not enter unless he's willing to meet Chuckles or some other DC area blogger. AG will spare Mrs. Dr. Fish the divorce if he met AG. (Fish, still enter!)(AG is not as AG in person so do not be scared. I've been told of this by many and those who would say otherwise are RLAs who aren't worth the DNA excised for them.)
5. I don't want to hear about who hit who, who cheated by sleeping with the Rude Pundit for ideas (That's AG's employment for the month), or whatever crying games you dream up about who wins and who loses. Kindergarten rules will apply.
6. Internet traditions except for those noted in 5 apply liberally.
7. The submission must be your own original work.
8. Extra points will be granted to single, Jewish, doctors or doctorate contestants that are schtup worthy.
9. Extra points will be granted if #8's parents are deceased. (With all due respect given to those who have lost their parents, I have suffered enough with the in-law game over the course of this lifetime.) Goyim will be consider if they are easy on the eyes and witty. AG is looking at MdH!
10. Why are you still reading? Get your creative juices flowing.
11. Maker's Mark is not sponsoring this contest. They are welcome to do so, however. more...

I Want Her!

Belated Caturday

I'm going with Momma! more...

Fables of The Reconstruction

Alternate Friday Random, taken from my New Music playlist (songs added in the last ten weeks)

It should be added that Emusic has a deal where you can add a toolbar to your browser, and get a free song every day. You get to pick your musical genre too. It's kind of a no-brainer.

Also, and maybe I'll make this a Weekly George:

The caterpillar does all the work, and the butterfly gets all the credit.
-George Carlin

1. Arrival Pad #19. East River Pipe. Low fi genius work, hooked up by SOTD. The songwriter is a guy from New York, who has had mental problems and been homeless. Out of pain comes Art. Downtempo enough for MenD.

2. Tick of Time, The Kooks. Embarassing Confession: I picked this disc because of teh "shine on, shine on" music that plays on some damn commercial. It says something about how ineffective the commercial is that I can remember the song, and the visuals, but I can't remember what the damn commercial was for. And before anybody bothers to remind me, let me state clearly: I don't care what the commercial was for.

The music, however, is damn fine, and recorded at teh Kinks studio to boot.

3. Fables, The Dodos. An eMusic find. The last album was more organic, almost like a bluegrass band that had been fed WAY too much XTC and Tom Waits. This is more straightforwardly Alt, but not a bad thing. The songwriting is a bit more focused, and this song rollicks right along.

4. Monumental Freaks, East River Pipe. More from ERP, off Garbageheads On Endless Stun. Just added this recently, so haven't had a chance to listen to it too much.

5. Chop The Tree (live) The Icicle Works. Loved this band, back when I had them on vinyl. Finally tracked down some digital releases, a singles album and a live recording. They shared an anthemic sound like the Alarm crossed with Simple Minds.

6. All Over Town, The Kooks. Lots of double down on this Random, but who cares? Who really cares?

Bonus track, for whatever that means anymore. Acoustic bit. The british accents on their voices really come out on the quiet songs. I imagine some people might not care for that, but I wonder about those people.

7. No More, Dirty Projectors. I was hoping one of these would come up.

I haven't been able to decide about this album yet. It is a complete cover of Black Flag's "Rise Above" album so, you know, several million points for street cred; but the songs are minimalist,, kind of techno, with warbly vocals and pulsing drum n bass so minus some number of points for too-weirdness. Not the kind of thing I normally care for. will keep you advised.

8. Postcard, Uncle Tupelo. From the early stuff, which showed up on Emusic so it was time to fill in some back catalog. Much more aggressive than later stuff, and I've always been more partial to Jay Farrar's voice than Jeff Tweedy's.

Like Brando mentioned, although I am partial to the solo work by both guys, I like the group work a bit better. Problem solved by lumping all of it into a playlist called Son Wilco Tupelo.

9. Hopeless, Sister Hazel. Was won over by seeing part of their gig at Summerfest this year. Good, solid, mid tempo altish rock. Kind of like aural comfort food.

10. Strangers, Van She. Free song from somewhere.

11. Better To Know, The Indelicates. Debut from a british duo. Starts with a simple riff, piano kicks in, adds drums. Traditional approach, really. But pretty good stuff. Came up as an eMusic recommendation. it worked.

12. Draggin, ' The Von Bondies. Garage rock from Detroit. They played the North Avenue free festival a few weeks back, and rocked pretty hard.

13. You Can Close Your Eyes, Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet. The second in a series of covers albums by these two. Quite a guilty pleasure, even if most of the songs are done pretty faithfully.

Hey! Look! The sun came out!.

I Do The Rock...

...in a random fashion. Too Long Gone.

Last week Brando played with the Genius mixes to come up with new ways to mix up the music. Like Brando, I mostly listen to music during the work day. Heck, all day; my Giger-pod is my inseparable companion. Usually everything is just on full shuffle, because hey I just advance over the stuff that doesn't hit the sweet spot. "If you don't love what's playing, it isn't worth it." I wish I could remember who said that....

Anyway, unlike Brando, I haven't felt unduly hampered by the iTunes playback options. but I have many many playlists also.


35,797 songs, 152 gigs and change. 96 days of noise. iTunes seems to have picked up a sub-theme this week, see if you can spot what it is.... or maybe I'm just seeing something, reading it into the music. Or the music is allowing me to connect a couple of disparate thoughts....

1. Perfect Day, Lou Reed. From The Raven. Vocal by Antony Hegarty. I loved this album (the long version, with spoken word pieces). Critics hated it. But hey, it's no Metal Machine Music.

I like Lou, but for every New York, there is a Mistrial. It seems like there's a bit of lack of focus. Is it the drugs? Who knows? But I AM grateful this wasn't Sex With Your Parents or Like A Possum.

2. The Bar's on Fire, Bottle Rockets. From that to alt-swamp-rock. A bit disconcerting, but that's how Friday goes.

3. Drugstore, Stabbing Westward. Shortlived NIN knockoff, but since I like NIN, they sound pretty bracing on a cloudy early morning with rain on the way.

4. Non-Photo Blue, Pinback. Nice angular modern rock. Sounds like half of the bands I listened to in the 90s.

5. Nearly Home, Broken Records. Disappeared Friend Zelmo hooked me up with this.

For while, One of the problems with having 30,000 songs or so, is that new music gets swallowed up before I have a chance to listen to it and internalize it. You know how when something is new, you need to listen to it several times? Hard to do when you forget you have it on your hard drive.

Solved that problem by creating an automatic playlist that has anything added in the last 7 weeks or so. Unfortunately, the Broken Record got lost in the time before.

Zelmo? You out there?

6. They Got Lost, They Might Be Giants. Hilariously mis-introduced in a live version as "They Must Be Giants". Have seen John and John a couple of times now, and they are surprisingly tight in a live setting. We are going to see them in Madtown at teh Barrymore next month.

7. Home To Houston, Steve Earle. From the superb The Revolution Starts Now, a story of a trucking contractor yearning to come home from our War Zones.

The stories of the contractors are a largely unknown part of the Bush Wars. How many are being killed and injured? Nobody tells, the mercenaries are not obligated to report like the military is.

But for all the publicized nastiness perpetrated by the contractors, rape and violence and naked parties, I feel confident that many of these guys are just working stiffs, trying to do a job, pay the bills, and get home in one piece.

The reliance of our government on these entities to fill the gap created by a desire for full scale war but now political will to enact the draft in order to do so, is another of the appalling stories created by Georgy and Dick's MidEastern MisAdventure.

8. Big Shot In The Dark, Timbuk 3. After hitting it huge with the Future's So Bright, they continued writing intelligent, darkly comic songs and fleshing out their sound. Of course, the record company was waiting for another frat-rock hit; since the first was a fluke, it wasn't going to happen.

But as musicians and artists will, they kept on doing what they do, because they have to. eventually the label lost interest, dropped them; they split up the band and their marriage. Pat McDonald still floats around here from time to time. They were originally from Madison, did I mention that? He had a power pop band for a while called Pat McDonald and The Essentials. Eventually they formed Timbuk 3 and moved to Austin.

9. We're An American Band, The New Duncan Imperials. Chicago drunken punk band doing a cover of the Guess Who. Heh. From an EP consisting of cover songs about being in a band called We're In A Band. Surprisingly straightlaced cover. Nice lead in, however, to....

10. Going Down To Mexico, ZZ Top. I saw them on the Deguello tour when I was in High school. Remember Cheap Sunglasses? That one. They were amazing.

They were lucky to find a gimmick of sorts that timed with the rise of teh Music Video as the only way to sell records, and were massively huge for a while. eventually MTV turned into the Jackass Station, and music videos became mostly acknowledged as the overpriced ads they are. And through all that, ZZ Top just kept on doing what they do.

My friend Ror and I saw them at the Pabst last year, and they were just the same. Maybe not nearly so loud.

11. Alone At Midnight, The Smithereens. Another band I've seen at Summerfest and someplace else, I forget where. Another band that has been together forever, and although I thought they had broken up and Pat DiNizio was going solo, Wiki tells me that a new disc is coming out in January.

Hopping Down the Bourbon Trail

Success! AG not only made it down the Bourbon Trail, she dipped three bottles. You can imagine how much Brandeis loved it when the Sarah Palin look alike yells, "Adorable Girlfriend, your bottle is ready!" AG hauled ass to that table quicker than Pup H. to an unsupervised cupcake. Brandeis smirks and with that she goes again but in louder and slower motion, "AAAAADORRRRRABBBBLE Girlfrieeeeeeeennnnnnnd, Adorable Girlfriennnnnnd, your bottle is ready." AG wanted to die as the cast of strangers all stared and laughed.

Photos to follow after my scientific presentations this weekend and Yom Kippur. (I left the cord for the computer in another state.) There is also a video! Just you wait.

I am working on a runner-up prize. It may have to be something tacky from Nashville unless we can talk Brandeis into going to Jack Daniels. Anyone with ideas for how we can make his too kewl for blogs tuckus stop doing whatever it is that he does for cash and accolades at his firm and get us some booze?

Keep the entries coming!

Silent No More

This is a photo of the Cumberland Mountains I shot over the weekend. (Imagine how challenging the high holidays have been in Appalachia. It's worth it though given the work that is to be done for the people of the region during the next year.) The brown spots represent coal mines. There is a massive tan spot in the bowl to the right of this photo. It's a Vulcan mine that spans more than 15,000 acres across three counties.


Coal is our future. Or so some would like me to believe. I was understandably upset the first time I saw the t-shirt moniker on a city employee as she dined at the cafe near the courthouse. My level of outrage knew no boundaries when I saw this yesterday.

KY has data to support my outrage, but I would like to illimuniate recent data from a nearby state because said state is more affected statewide from the mining industry than KY. It is reported that West Virginia has approximately 20,000 coal miners, down from a high of 130,000 miners in 1940, while the number of tons of coal mined has increased. Certainly technology has taken more men and women out of the mines, but the health effects remains. Michael Hendryx and colleagues of the University of West Virgina found that as coal production increases, the incidence of chronic illness increases as well. Coal-processing chemicals, equipment powered by diesel engines, explosives, toxic impurities in coals, and even dust from uncovered coal trucks can cause environmental pollution that could have a negative affect on public health.

According to Hendryx, data suggest that people in coal mining communities

* have a 70 percent increased risk for developing kidney disease.
* have a 64 percent increased risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema.
* are 30 percent more likely to report high blood pressure (hypertension).

Hospitalization rates in these communities also were studied. Data suggest the risk of hospitalization stays for

* COPD increases 1 percent for every 1,462 tons of coal.
* hypertension increases 1 percent for every 1,873 tons of coal.

“Total mortality rates are higher in coal-mining areas compared to other areas of Appalachia and the nation,” Hendryx said. “The incidence of mortality has been consistently higher in coal-mining areas for as long as Centers for Disease Control rates are available, back to 1979.”

The cost of mining to the American people and health resources reports that according to another study is approximately $8 billion to the economies of Appalachian states while the costs of reduced life-spans associated with coal mining were $17 billion to $84.5 billion.

I suspect the slogan should read: Coal is the limit to our Future.

Coal miners of today deserve more than a house like below that ironically cannot afford to keep the lights on:



-Photo from Hale Gap, VA

Understanding America

more...

Friday Fuzzbucket

Hypnotic, aren't they? more...

Leena

5770

L'Shannah Tovah!

I am headed out of town for the Jewish High Holidays. While I am observing shabbos, I have a few more gems for you. Since I believe Kiwi asked about it:



For Fish and Snag because Fish likes AG; aka hot things:



Because I can:



"I stuck, Momma!"

What Snag Did on His Summer Vacation

He went to camp. And possibly had a Thermos of bourbon that the Missus Snag packed for him.

Then he made some crafts:





Visted Leena:



Had some food:






Did some reading:



Probably made some moose stew and read comic books. Went home and thanked his family for the fun trip.

I heart Facebook

Favorite comment to AG today:

Sorry, I am all out of penis trading cards.

It wasn't Chuckles!

Le sigh. Not Fish either.

Enjoy your weekends. There will be no kitty baby caturday because AG is out of town. Though, I might be giving away a kitty baby after I just rescued her from the dryer where she got caught. Ugh.

New Car

AG is in the market for a new automobile. The journey to a new set of wheels has been enjoyable. Especially when armed with the Blue Book value, ads for other cars that have less mileage for the same price, an amazing poker face, and no need for a car loan.

It's fun entering inside the world of male dominated car dealerships and owning the salesperson.

Numbers

If I had my wish, I would have been born today:

09/09/09 at 9:09

I cannot wait for 10/10/10!

The Brethren

Whatever happened to hearing a case before deciding, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy?

They call Obama a Commie, but these cats are called Justices. Where is the justice in that?

*The photo is for Fish. Maybe he'll add it to his blog and EotS will finally get cred at his house of pain.

Monday Comment Mania

While reading about Annie Leibovitz's situation, I found a unique array of what happens in a comment section on the internet. It never ceases to amaze me the mass array of mental illness, conservative values, and lack of education available via a $29.95 a month dowry and a few prongs in the wall.

Thom said...

Photographers are a squirmy, fussy, anal retentive lot. Truly disgusting. it takes NO talent to snap a damn picture.

Lizard said...

Isn't she the child pornographer, who took half-naked pics of Miley Cyrus?

Terri said...

Were that true so many millions of family photos would not have the heads cut off. Photography is art. It's timing, placement, and an intellegent, compassionate, intuitive third eye. You're probably just really that ugly.

rudewaitress said...

Pay up Lebo. You still owe me that $60 tip you "promised you'd drop off over the weekend".

Dean said...

Just an objective opinion but you would think that with that much money she could at least buy a hairbrush and little make-up!
The big question is why does she need 3 brownstones in the first place?And owns property in NY!Do people really think that if she doesn't pay her debt will just go away.This is what raises interest rates for everyone else.Sounds like she wants to stay a rich deadbeat.Only the little people repay thier debts.

paul said...

What the hell did she need 24 million dollars for?

angi said...

I'm with you....what would she need $24m for? And if her 3 estates are worth $40m, why would they need all 3 to repay the debt? And why would they then want her photos worth $50m if the estates cover repayment? Something doesn't sound right.

And I feel SO sorry (boo hoo) for her having to "possibly" lose her Village brownstones, because we all need 3 places to live!

Dean said...

P.S. If she is suppossed to be so renowned how come no ones ever heard of her until she got sued for theft?

LEBO-who .. she sounds like a dead beat thief and banks are in no mood for her type of FRAUD these days.

Roz J. said...

All that money and not even a half ounce of pretty in sight.

Dorothy said...

She may be financially irresponsible, but at least she isn't an Anne Geddes. Just hate all those damn babies with cabbages and flowers on their heads. It's creepy -- like the pod people from outerspace or something (they're everywhere!).

Ellie said...

Is it possible that she borrowed the $24 million to invest in a scam scheme with Madoff? Then when he was caught, she lost her arse? If she was tangled up with that crook, she deserves to lose everything.


pacrowderholyoke said...

Why doesn't she just sell the brownstones and pay off her debt like the rest of us would have to do?

Since They Started It

By now you've heard of a select segment of society who have waged war against President Obama speaking to school children in America this week. The White House has reported the speech – to be shown on C-SPAN and educational stations – will focus upon "the importance of education, the importance of staying in school, how we want to improve our education system and why it's so important for the country." Fundamentalist conservative parents in America have taken to a separate belief of the expected language and purpose of the conversation.

If nutter parents want to react like ostriches with their heads in the sand about the importance of education and communal living, far be it for me to impede on their irresponsible parenting. I would however like to talk to them about what former President George W. Bush, along with David Vitter (R-La.), did with the No Child Left Behind Act . The Act has a myriad of faults but the most illustrious for me is the attachment of an aggressive military recruitment tool. The Act requires high schools to provide United States military recruiters with the names and contact information of all juniors and seniors enrolled in United States public schools. Schools that fail to comply risk losing their NCLB funding. While students are granted the option of opting out via a form, not all school districts know about the option and/or have the form available.

When comparing documented historical recounts of Hilter and socialism, I would suggest that giving away youth's contact information in an effort to indoctrinate them into the world of civil unrest and the notion that there is such a thing as a winnable war is far more heinous than the individual who came from modest beginnings and is concerned about the wages of a high school graduate or less falling more than 30% over the last forty years and said wages are not enough to live above the poverty line, let alone compete with foreign market employees. As he has learned, attention to education is a strong indicator of social class and future success. I suspect high school civics classes would support me on this one.

*The photo is from the camp in Terezin in the Czech Republic. It was once a military camp that the Nazis took over during World War II. I toured the camp during a recent trip to Europe.

Surgical Caturday

The 3.9lbs kitty had surgery this week. Hence, why I am actually home right now. I'll pick her up in a few hours and we'll spend the day together. I'll check her for dents in case I have to take apart the Vet and she'll spend the day doing her usual: playing with her new BFF, Bert.

In honor of Caturday, a few photos that you should NOT try at home:












At birth. First photo:



No, AG did not deliver her. Her Human Momma I (also a blogger) found her that Sunday morning with her brothers and sisters in the kitty condo. I did not pick her out until a month and a half later when Momma I told me she was perfect for me: A kitty AG monkey who shit disturbed, ruled the roost, and covered her face when she yawned. And ever since, we've been two peas in a pod, as my colleagues have taken to saying. more...

More Science and Religion

After the FB flame war earlier this week, I was delighted to finally understand the root cause behind global warming. more...

I Regret To Be The One to Inform You

Apparently, Jesus does not save all.

Going for Bankrupt

The nutters have finally hit rock bottom.

Taste Buds Burn

As if my day did not already start cloudy and ominous with a chance of rain, it has continued with the pick up of gusty winds after the consumption of a stale donut left in the lunch room. The physical donut itself per se may not be the culprit of the winter of my discontent. It appears to be the after taste of smoked hickory, lime, and sugary donut that has sent my taste buds on strike. Some of you foodies will read this and utter out loud yum. Believe me when I say this, you could not be more wrong.

Epic fail.