mahna mahna .net
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Are there any of you out there? Folks who crave a challenging, somewhat traumatic, and ultimately immeasurably-rewarding reading experience? Let me recommend something on the highest possible terms: Infinite Summer is your chance to spend the summer reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest with online guidance and support sponsored by The Morning News and An Event Apart.

After Wallace's death last fall, I pulled my copy of the Jest off the shelf. more...
posted to /art/books at 12:14 :: 0 responses
Friday, 01 May 2009
Cheat Sheet
1A - NO
1B - YES
1C - NO
1D - NO
1E - NO
1F - NO
Oohwee! Look, folks! It's a Special Election! Meaning, in this case, the people of California have a special, bonus chance to inflict grievous harm upon their beloved state via the initiative process. Is this your first time with Mad Props? Then just know that as a native Californian and lifelong student of politics, I've come to view statewide ballot measures as something of a menace. In several elections, I've voted NO on every single proposition; any given measure has a very steep uphill climb to convince me it's worth a YES. more...
posted to /politics at 16:38 :: 0 responses
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
We all remember George W.'s dog, Barney, and most of us remember the senior Bushes' scribal pooch, Millie. The Clintons of course had Chelsea's cat, Socks, and Buddy, the chocolate Lab that Bill got himself after everything went all wrong and he needed a friend. But can you name any of Reagan's six dogs? (Only a Republican could name a Golden Retriever "Victory." That poor, poor creature.) Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy had a cat called Misty Malarky Ying Yang, which is a bit of a hoot, but as always, deeper history is far more entertaining. So: more...
posted to /news at 08:17 :: 0 responses
Thursday, 19 March 2009
  • ITEM: What does one trillion dollars look like?
  • ITEM: I cannot visit New York right now, but reading a first-hand account of a subway adventure helps dull that pain. (Once again, yay for blogs.)
  • ITEM: Obama's gift to Prime Minister Brown ruined by DVD region encoding.
  • ITEM: "Brain decline" begins at age 27, sez a University of Virginia study.
  • ITEM: Ray Ratto reminds us the present owner of the Oakland Athletics is a scoundrel.
  • ITEM: If you are a "content person" or a "Web 2.0 person" you have already read it; now everybody who loves newspapers needs to read it, too: Clay Shirky's "Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable"
  • ITEM: The wise man was wise indeed: Frankincense relieves anxiety and depression.
  • ITEM: Children with older fathers have lower IQs (and some health risks too). (And then again, IQ tests are shite.)
posted to /misc/items at 18:19 :: 1 response
Monday, 09 March 2009
Firefox 3.1 beta 3 is expected to arrive this week. If you're running the current version of Ubuntu Linux, this new Firefox edition (codenamed 'Shiretoko') is already easily installable via an unofficial package repository.

However, due to an oddity in Ubuntu's default font settings, the fonts in Firefox 3.1 look spindly and kinda bizarre (though in no way unreadable) on Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10) machines. (The same apparently happens in the nascent Jaunty (9.04) version of Ubuntu; it's being treated as a bug.) This issue has been noticed over at Ubuntu Forums but no simple solution was forthcoming. Until now. more...
posted to /tech at 00:09 :: 1 response
Monday, 02 March 2009
I learned many-many things from "The Unfinished," a piece by D.T. Max about the late David Foster Wallace in this week's New Yorker, but I want to focus on one. I learned that Wallace in fact knew something about true happiness. He was writing about it. It was the subject of his incomplete novel. Quoting:
A typed note that Wallace left in his papers laid out the novel's idea: "Bliss — a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious — lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you've never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it's like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom."
more...
posted to /wisdom at 02:02 :: 3 responses
Monday, 13 October 2008
It's election season, which means the people of California once again have the chance to inflict grievous harm upon their beloved state via the initiative process. As I explained in the first edition of Mad Props, as a native Californian and lifelong student of politics, I've come to view statewide ballot measures as something of a menace. In several elections, I've voted NO on every single proposition; any given measure has a very steep uphill climb to convince me it's worth a YES. more...
posted to /politics at 14:13 :: 8 responses
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
the Burning Man The Burning Man 2008 gallery is now open in the museyroom: Visit the index or begin with the first shot.
posted to /site at 13:10 :: 2 responses
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Esquire's list of The 75 Skills Every Man Should Master is surprisingly good. (Also surprising: They present it all on one Web page.)

It seems I score a 53, or 70%. A few data points:

Things I am proud to be able to do: score a baseball game, recite a poem from memory, build a campfire, iron a shirt, give advice that matters in one sentence, cook meat somewhere other than the grill, dress a wound, caress a woman's neck, and know my poison, without standing there, pondering like a dope.

Things I have not mastered (or have not tried) and am ambivalent about: play gin with an old guy, deliver a eulogy, throw a punch, and understand quantum physics well enough to accept that a quarter might, at some point, pass straight through the table when dropped.

Things I wish I could do: tell a woman's dress size, hit a jump shot in pool, and make one drink, in large batches, very well.
posted to /misc at 11:13 :: 0 responses
Monday, 05 May 2008
Kauai, the Garden Isle Pictures from my recent Hawaiian getaway are now up in the museyroom: Visit the index or begin with the first shot.
posted to /site at 15:05 :: 1 response
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Yesterday: Laid off by my employer.

Tomorrow: My first-ever trip to Hawaii.

In between: Completely reacquainted myself with the unstoppable combined powers of the dharma, meditation, and the deep and abiding love of many wonderful people who care for me so much it's beyond humbling.

New chapters await. An overdue reshuffling of priorities. Already, this soon, excitement is overtaking fear …

(Ka is a wheel!)
posted to /life at 23:15 :: 7 responses
Thursday, 13 March 2008
silly old bearIt seems that in Macedonia, you can sue an animal. So when a bear ransacked a beekeeper's hives, said beekeeper took the bear to court, suing for damages. And won. You may ask: Uh, who will pay? Don't you worry, Macedonian courts think of everything:
A court in the city of Bitola found the bear guilty, and since it had no owner and belonged to a protected species, ordered the state to pay the 140,000 denars (1,726 pounds) [roughly US$3500] damage it caused to the hives.
[more Bears In the News]
posted to /news at 16:13 :: 1 response
Monday, 04 February 2008
There is a 'politics' category on this blog for a simple reason: I am a lifelong student of the subject. This is partly due to circumstance. My father is a professor of political science — meaning, for instance, that back in the 80s, when I was wee, come a Friday night, the household's singular television would spend half an hour tuned to PBS's Washington Week in Review before we could move on to the "good stuff" (like Night Flight). But over time, dammit, political and current-events programming became the "good stuff" as far as I was concerned, and so it was, when I got to college, that studying literature wasn't enough; I had to study literature and political science — thus leading to the unforgettable moment on the phone when dear old dad laughed and noted that I had chosen "not one, but two completely useless majors." Ahem. more...
posted to /politics at 00:04 :: 7 responses
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
The "Can a plane on a treadmill take off?" debate returned to BoingBoing yesterday. More than a hundred comments so far. Everybody thinks they're right; some of them are certainly wrong. Luckily, we get to find out who's wrong Wednesday night on MythBusters, a show I've never seen on some cable network I never watch — but I will, because I want to see happen what I know will happen: The plane will take off. Why? Because Cecil Adams says so.
posted to /misc at 01:29 :: 0 responses
Thursday, 17 January 2008

Dale Cooper"Harry, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just … let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or … two cups of good, hot, black coffee."

— FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper

posted to /wisdom at 14:17 :: 0 responses
Friday, 11 January 2008
  • ITEM: James Joyce gets namechecked in this lovely report of snow falling in Baghdad for the first time in living memory.
  • ITEM: How to Read The New Yorker in 10 Easy Steps
  • ITEM: Best Blogs of 2007 That You (Maybe) Aren't Reading (this list introduced me to the wonderful bookforum)
  • ITEM: I wish this Ask MetaFilter thread on cooking for one were longer, but it's got some nice ideas.
  • ITEM: Answers to the questions Cecil Adams refuses to answer. (Not bad!)
  • ITEM: For the geeks: Richard Stallman gets flamed. From the comments: "On the whole, RMS comes off as the most reasonable participant in the discussion. For all his reputation of extremist dogmatism, he's not the one slinging ad hominems and resorting to hyperbolic fallacies. Indeed, his patience in the face of such is almost eerie." I would say "zen-like."
  • ITEM: For the geeks #2: Mark Pilgrim switches his parents to Linux. (My parents are scheduled for a similar conversion this year…)
posted to /misc/items at 10:11 :: 1 response
Wednesday, 09 January 2008
me @ 33Last year, I took my birthday off from work. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made. If you can, you should take your birthday off. Period. And do what you want to do. Which, today, I did. And it was wonderful.

Among a great many other things, I returned, for the first time in years, to a place that fills me with great wonder and great emotion, a place that is, in many ways, my own personal Dark Tower. I stood at the gate today and I commanded it to open to me. It opened. And the end of the story is one that I keep to myself, but I tell you this: As with any really good ending, it was really more of a beginning.

"Ka is a wheel."

— Roland Deschain, of Gilead

To all who showered me with gifts and great, great love today, I say thankya.

[In late 2007, I read Stephen King's The Dark Tower, all seven volumes, in very quick succession. It continues to resonate in my consciousness. It is a stunning work of art. More on this to come. There will be posts. Aye, there will be posts again soon. Happy New Year to all!]
posted to /life at 23:09 :: 4 responses
Friday, 14 December 2007
  • ITEM: News so happy, I'm verklempt: New York's 2nd Avenue Deli finally reopens next week (just off 2nd Ave). Time to book a flight!
  • ITEM: Jon Carroll's yearly pitch: This holiday season, won't you volunteer for the Untied Way?
  • ITEM: Fan reviews of Tuesday night's Tool concert at the Civic Auditorium. It was, of course, an absolutely transcendent experience. We should be erecting statues of Maynard James Keenan in all the major cities. :)
  • ITEM: You know how there's that stretch of road in our beloved East Bay that is both I-80 East and I-580 West, while the other side of the road is both I-80 West and I-580 East (all this despite the fact that the road runs mostly north-south)? Turns out there's a cracktastic term for this.
  • ITEM: I worked a fifteen hour shift yesterday to help launch this … the new Macworld.com!
posted to /misc/items at 15:14 :: 0 responses
Friday, 30 November 2007
  • ITEM: I ordered an XO laptop and cannot wait for it to arrive. Are you a geek? Perhaps one with a child in your life? Here's why you should follow suit (the Give 1 Get 1 program has been extended till 12/31).
  • ITEM: John Carroll wrote two amazing columns this week. First up, his take on the rich fucktards in Seadrift who think they own the beach. (Are you a transplant to California? Then listen the fuck up: In this state, the people own the beach.)
  • ITEM: John Carroll #2: At his funniest, on what can happen come a Tuesday.
  • ITEM: Just another lie: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never said "Israel must be wiped off the map."
  • ITEM: Stanfurd 13-point favorites for tomorrow's Big Game. "I have a bad feeling about this." GO BEARS!
posted to /misc/items at 14:30 :: 0 responses
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
It doesn't get much better than when one of your favorite musicians gives you a sudden and unexpected dose of the spiritual truths you hold dear:

autumn leaves And she spoke unto me, saying:
'Fear not the movement of the heavens above
Or the earth below
For change is what we are, my child!
Righteous are those who look up and sway with the wind,
Who look down and dance with the shifting of the soil,
Who swim with the movement of the tides,
Who seek the truth around them and discover,
We are and have always been in paradise —
The reflections of heaven on earth! Amen!'


more...
posted to /wisdom at 15:14 :: 1 response
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Spotted brunching together at the table next to me this morning at La Note in Berkeley: Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon. They shared a Sunday New York Times as they waited for Berkeley's best breakfast to arrive. Reese is a tiny little thing, and even mousier in person than on the screen. (I've never understood why some guys find her dreamy.) Jake is a hunk who apparently has to do battle with acne, just like a real person.
posted to /life at 12:11 :: 3 responses
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Let's just forget about what's happening in Division I football (sez this Cal fan) — direct your attention, please, to Division III! Trinity beats Millsaps 28-24 on the final play of the game. Fifteen laterals. Fifteen. Linkage: story · video (includes announcer calling the play beautifully and then losing his mind)

Money quote from the Chronicle story — the team's coach, when asked if they had practiced such a play:
"Are you kidding?" he said. "We couldn't do that against air."
posted to /news at 23:28 :: 1 response
Friday, 26 October 2007
  • ITEM: Blade Runner: The Final Cut, now showing in LA and NYC, arrives in San Francisco November 30.
  • ITEM: Douglass Rushkoff on 9/11 "Truthers." I have just about had it with these people. (Seems Bill Clinton feels similarly.)
  • ITEM: Mark Morford on the danger of progressive extremists. (He's absolutely right, and, happily, this piece is less shrill than most Morford screeds.)
  • ITEM: Elementary school science: Nearly extinct. This is so depressing. By the time I have a school-aged child, will there be any public schools left worth sending him or her to?
  • ITEM: New Orleans, two years after Katrina, in pictures. Heartbreaking.
posted to /misc/items at 15:26 :: 0 responses
Monday, 22 October 2007
I last blogged about fires in my hometown of San Diego four years ago. Seems half the area is aflame once again tonight. I've got cousins who are under evacuation orders; everyone's safe and sound.

Digression: As far back as I can remember, there's been this dude (yep, a proper dude like you only get down south) named Larry Himmel on San Diego's CBS affiliate, channel 8. He's always been the guy who does feel-good pieces about the city, its people, its institutions, et cetera. If you're the news director and you need ninety seconds on the diner out in Crest where some of the regulars have been regulars since the fifties, Larry's your man. You need a heartwarming broadcast-closer about kids picking pumpkins up at Bates Nut Farm, you put Larry on it. Larry's stuff has never been "news" or even "important," but he's very, very good at what he does: His reports have always been well-written, down-to-earth, and not the sort of saccharine drivel this material would become in the hands of some hack with an agenda. With a Larry Himmel report, you know you're going to get an honest slice of life, a breath of fresh air, and he delivers every time. more...
posted to /news at 22:22 :: 2 responses
Tuesday, 09 October 2007
rainbowIt's a rainy fall night here in Oakland, but it's morning in the U.K., where Radiohead's e-mail bot has sprung into action and delivered to me a link to the new album, In Rainbows, which is causing music executives around the world to cut themselves with knives.

For about a year, I've been enjoying recordings from the band's summer 2006 tour (including the Berkeley show I attended), across which most of the material on this new album is performed several times. There's this lovely collection of songs I only know by their live versions, because that's all there's been, and now, I get the studio takes. Luscious, I just betcha.

I'll know soon enough. But right now, I'm hating my pokey DSL line. more...
posted to /art/music at 23:09 :: 0 responses
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