Still Got Food

If you lose your job tomorrow, you've still got food.

-- Lloyd Romriell, of Annis, Idaho, who has begun raising chickens, New York Times, 4 August 2009

Elegance

Two tires held in place by ribbons in the middle, thimbles on the edge.
Rubber with no tread, little weight.
Folded in a pocket with room left over.
A half inch touching earth when not.

One frame of angles connected by braze or fiber.
Smooth and shimmering paint attract the eye.
Like a beautiful woman,
or perfect sunset.

Bar with swooping curls at the ends.
Curls that drop from a straight top
and resting place for levers.
All wrapped in tape to caress the hand.

Cranks and cogs transmit force to a whirring chain.
A chain that runs to a tangle of springs and levers.
telling the machine how fast to go,
how good the beast astride.

A thin piece of leather atop a fragile post.
Material slides over the smooth surface a hundred
beats per minute driving the machine on.
Creating a vision of elegance.

All topped by an amalgam of muscle and bone.
Covered with colors of slick and stretchy fabric,
grasping the bars, sitting on the saddle,
cranking the rings that drive the chain and turn the wheels.

The whole is elegant as it slips through the wind,
along tracks, up hills and down.
Elegant, too, when still.
Waiting to be let loose upon the world.

This piece of elegant artistry that is a bicycle.

-- David Kannas, "Elegance", West Seattle Herald, 30 March 2009

Unaware

A ton of people pass me literally unaware of their surroundings.

-- Matthew Downing, Oklahoma City police sergeant, on erratic behavior by drivers talking on their phones or texting, New York Times, 19 July 2009

Sacrifices

It is a trick among the dishonest to offer sacrifices that are not needed, or not possible, to avoid making those that are required.

-- Ivan Goncharov (1812-1891), novelist

Experience

Most people do not accumulate a body of experience. Most people go through life undergoing a series of happenings, which pass through their systems undigested. Happenings become experiences when they are digested, when they are reflected on, related to general patterns, and synthesized.

-- Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals (p. 68)

Mobile Phone

I'm going to kick his arse. The millions that have been spent on this search, the man hours and woman hours that have gone into it ... all because he goes out on a walk without his mobile phone. The only teenager in the world who goes on a 10-mile hike and leaves his mobile phone behind.

-- Richard Cass, father of British teenager Jamie Neale, 19, who was lost for 12 days while hiking in Australia's Blue Mountains, 15 July 2009

Read The Bills

If every member pledged to not vote for it (the health care bill) if they hadn't read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes.

-- Senator Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, July 2009

RIP Walter Cronkite

This is my last broadcast as the anchorman of The CBS Evening News; for me, it's a moment for which I long have planned, but which, nevertheless, comes with some sadness. For almost 2 decades, after all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings, and I'll miss that. But those who have made anything of this departure, I'm afraid have made too much. This is but a transition, a passing of the baton .... Furthermore, I'm not even going away! I'll be back from time to time with special news reports and documentaries, and, beginning in June, every week, with our science program, Universe. Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away; they just keep coming back for more. And that's the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981.

-- Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (4 November 1916 - 17 July 2009), American broadcast journalist, anchorman for The CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962 - 1981)

Tranquility Base

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

-- Astronaut Neil Armstrong, from the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Module Eagle after landing on the moon. It is estimated that there was 11 seconds' worth of fuel left at touchdown, 20 July 1969

Imagine

It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.

-- G. K. Chesterton

1000-Day Dream

Coming to Cowboy Monkey & The Highdive, October 2nd & 3rd, 2009

Don't Think About It
How Come
Any Day Now
Johnny Avante
Hang On To Your Man
Psychedelia
Big Yellow Bus
Left In The Dark
Diamonds In The Rough
Jackie's Gone
Teen Seen
Robbery
Put Your Toys Away
Some Like It Hot
Turn On Your Face
Try Again
Every Once In Awhile
Up Till Then
Mystery of Love
Oklahoma
Honey Bee
This Before

Meltdown

Unless you have a complete meltdown, you're going to get confirmed.

-- Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, as hearings began on her Supreme Court nomination, New York Times, 14 July, 2009

Cartoon Thought Bubbles

You'll have half the participants BlackBerrying each other as a submeeting, with a running commentary on the primary meeting. BlackBerrys have become like cartoon thought bubbles.

-- Philippe Reines, senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Times, 22 June 2009

Single Mold

Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.

-- U.G. Krishnamurti (9 July 1918 - 22 March 2007), speaker and philosopher, Mind is a Myth (1987)

Inquiry

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.

-- William James Durant (1885-1981), American historian, teacher, philosopher

Looking Stupid

[W]e need to be careful that politicians do not get talked into putting legislation in place that, in the end, ends up looking stupid.

-- Charles Dunstone, head of UK ISP TalkTalk, on legislation aimed at limiting file sharing, quoted on Slashdot, 7 June 2009

Wait, What?

Wait, was Michael Jackson black?

-- 10-year old Alyssa, looking at the cover to Michael Jackson's 1982 LP "Thriller"

Senator Al Franken (D-MN)

For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. 31 Stat. Section 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.

-- Conclusion from the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that Al Franken won election to the US Senate last November, 30 June 2009

Knife's Edge

Right now we are balanced on a knife's edge. We do not like the Americans, but we also thank God when we see them with the Iraqi Army, because we know we can trust them more than the government forces.

-- Hamid Majeed, a Sunni Muslim in Baghdad, New York Times, 30 June 2009, as US troops withdraw from Iraqi cities

No Cure

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.

-- George Santayana (1863-1952), philosopher, essayist, and poet, Soliloquies in England, 1922, "War Shrines"

Getting Wrinkles

When you're 50 you start thinking about things you haven't thought about before. I used to think getting old was about vanity -- but actually it's about losing people you love. Getting wrinkles is trivial.

-- Joyce Carol Oates (16 June 1938-), American author and creative writing professor, interview in The Guardian (London, 18 August 1989)

A Quiet Voice And A Business Suit

There are men -- now in power in this country -- who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression as long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit.

-- John V. Lindsay (1921-2000), US politician, Congressman, Mayor of New York City

And Lets Fly

History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club.

-- John W. Campbell (1910-1971), American science fiction editor and writer, Analog Science Fiction/Fact magazine (1965)

Retirement

Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.

-- Gene Perret, Emmy award-winning comedy writer, author

Palestinian State

We will be ready in a future peace agreement to reach a solution where a demilitarized Palestinian state exists alongside the Jewish state.

-- Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, speaking the words "Palestinian State", New York Times, 15 June 2009

Votes

These people are not seeking a revolution. We don't want this regime to fall. We want our votes to be counted, because we want reforms, we want kindness, we want friendship with the world.

-- Ali Reza, a young actor who watched a long river of protesters march silently in Tehran, New York Times, 16 June 2009

Tobacco

This is a historic step, changing the nature of tobacco in society forever.

-- Clifford E. Douglas, director of the University of Michigan Tobacco Research Network, on legislation allowing the government to regulate cigarettes, New York Times, 12 June 2009

A Single Body

Mankind is a single body and each nation a part of that body. We must never say "What does it matter to me if some part of the world is ailing?" If there is such an illness, we must concern ourselves with it as though we were having that illness.

-- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938), founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey

Respect His Theory

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.

-- H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), writer, editor, and critic, Minority Report : H.L. Mencken's Notebooks (1956)

World Peace

If the militaries of all nations standardize on Windows, then eventually they will all be immobilized by malware -- thus bringing about world peace.

-- Comment by jhansonxi on the Linux Insider Blog, June 2009

Obama Does Cairo

It's easier to start wars than to end them. It's easier to blame others than to look inward. It's easier to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There's one rule that lies at the heart of every religion -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples -- a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.

We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written. The Holy Koran tells us: "O mankind! We have created you male and female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another." The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace." The Holy Bible tells us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.

-- Remarks by US President Barack Obama on a new beginning, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, 4 June 2009

A Habit That Grows

Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love--it is always easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt. But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they're conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict.

-- Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member, speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Debates, 4 October 1956


If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it.

-- Same guy, Now-Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, evoking the ghost of Deng Xiaoping whilst endorsing the Tiananmen Square massacre, Straits Times, 17 August 2004

(September 16, 1923-), Singapore politician, Singapore Prime Minister 1959-1990

Guns And Money

When a government controls both the economic power of individuals and the coercive power of the state ... this violates a fundamental rule of happy living: Never let the people with all the money and the people with all the guns be the same people.

-- P. J. O'Rourke (1947-), American political satirist, journalist, and writer

Political Leader

A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they aren't still there, he's no longer a political leader.

-- Bernard Baruch (1870-1965), American financier, stock-market speculator, statesman, and political consultant, as quoted in his obituary, New York Times, 21 June 1965

Justice

If they cannot be convicted, then you release them. That's what it means to have a justice system.

-- Jameel Jaffer, ACLU lawyer, on President Obama's plan to hold terrorism suspects without trial, New York Times, 23 May 2009

Chuckles

And, and God knows number one, I, I wanna help Rod. Number two, I also wanna, you know hope I get a consideration to get that appointment.

-- Illinois Senator Roland Burris in the FBI transcript of a phone call discussing his potential senate appointment with former-Governor Rod Blagojevich's brother Rob, 13 November 2008

Dumbest

Right now, to me he's, like, the dumbest person I ever came in contact with in my life.

-- Wanda Walker, on her brother, James Cromitie, who was charged in a plot to blow up two Bronx synagogues, New York Times, 22 May 2009

Same Age

[S]ince the entire culture is defiantly refusing to grow up, parents and children are all now approximately the same age. We've got the same music on our iPods.

-- Karen von Hahn; I Like to Hang Out With My Teenager; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); 1 September 2007

Eighteen Times

I don't trust a man who uses the word evil eighteen times in ten minutes. If you're half evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil.

-- Norman Mailer (31 January 1923 - 10 November 2007), American novelist, journalist, poet, and playwright, BBC Newsnight, 2 April 2002

Reputation For Generosity

We'd all like a reputation for generosity, and we'd all like to buy it cheap.

-- Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983), American journalist and author

Only Goodness

Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.

-- Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986), journalist and author, "What's Wrong with Being Proud?" in Pieces of Eight (1982)

AppleTrotts

Saturday evening through early Sunday morning, the AppleTrotts team raised $308.51 selling chili dogs, chips, and drinks at Piatt County Relay For Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. That's 5 members of the Appleman family plus 5 members of the Trott family. Not too bad for a first effort, earned almost entirely on-site the night of the event.

No Difference

If the press is not free, if speech is not independent and untrammeled, if the mind is shackled or made impotent through fear, it makes no difference under what form of government you live; you are a subject and not a citizen.

-- William E. Borah (1865-1940), Republican US Senator from Idaho

Banking Should Not Be Exciting

Banking should not be exciting. If banking is exciting there is something wrong with it.

-- Clay Ewing, president of German American Bancorp., a community bank in Jasper, IN, New York Times, 12 May 2009

Respect That

Our villages are not where the terrorists are. And that's what we keep telling the US administration, that the war on terrorism is not in the Afghan villages, not in the Afghan homes. Respect that. Civilian casualties are undermining support in the Afghan people for the war on terrorism and for the relations with America. How can you expect a people who keep losing their children to remain friendly?

-- Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on Meet the Press, 10 May 2009

Education

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.

-- Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 - 17 June 1719), English politician and writer, The Spectator magazine, No. 215, 6 November 1711

Furlough

All of my Thursdays are Fridays.

Birthday Redux

Coincidentally, all of the kids in my family (my siblings and I) were born on Wednesdays ... sort of. John was born Wednesday 14 May 1952, Jim on Wednesday 26 August 1953, David on Wednesday 1 January 1958, and I was born on Wednesday 6 May 1959 ... sort of.

From the Illinois Dept. of Public Health web site's FAQ on vital records --

Note: Prior to July 1, 1959, births and deaths were to be recorded on standard time, even though the community in which the birth or death took place was observing daylight savings time. On July 1, 1959, a new law became effective legalizing daylight savings time as being state standard time between the last Sunday in April at 2 a.m. and the last Sunday in October at 2 a.m. Since July 1, 1959, all births and deaths are recorded using the current time.

So prior to 1 July 1959, roughly 4% (1/24th) of births during DST in Illinois were recorded in standard time the day before. Everyone born between midnight and 1am DST had their birth time recorded as between 11pm and midnight the night before, in standard time. This places me among the last to experience this effect, as I was born at 12:23am on Wednesday 6 May 1959 (by the clock on the wall), which was officially recorded as 11:23pm on Tuesday 5 May.

How Old Would You Be?

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

-- Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (7 July 1906? - 8 June 1982), American Negro Leagues and Major League baseball pitcher

Unfortunate

It is unfortunate that trees had to die for this story.

-- Dean Baker (13 July 1958-), American macroeconomist, co-founder and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, on an article on the economy in the New York Times, "Beat the Press" blog, 1 May 2009