In the "To Read" file...

  • A history of lawn jockies (Short version: They may not be racist. In fact they may represent racial freedom.)

    But others, including some historians and collectors of African American memorabilia, say the lawn jockey has been misunderstood. They say his origins can be traced to a legend of faithful duty during the American Revolution. They say he guided slaves to freedom on the underground railroad. His appearance has evolved over time, reflecting changes in the stature of blacks in U.S. society.

  • A crazy person who is a real thorn in the side of the Chruch of Scientology

    In Lonsdale, the Church of Scientology has encountered a confusing and difficult nemesis. Unlike most ardent Scientology critics, Lonsdale was never a member. And unlike other critics, Lonsdale has proved difficult to squash.

    The key: He has very little to lose.

    Be sure not to miss his site.

Vacación

As was mentioned previously, tomorrow I hop in the trusty Honda with The Wife for a road trip to Los Angeles to see her brother, Chris. We'll be stopping in Sin City for a visit with Auntie Kate and some shut eye at the Imperial Palace. (Heather and I don't "do" Vegas, so we just go for cheap & convenient. Quiet, you!)

Saturday, we'll arrive in Los Feliz to hang out with The Boy.

Obviously, posting should be light, but keep an eye on the Flickr for the occasional shot. Don't expect celebs, though. I've only spotted one famous person in my handful of trips to LA, and that was only because Chris pointed out Zach del la Rocha as he went by (in his BMW 7-Series -- where's the RAGE in that?!).

Islanders == Crazy!

The NY Islanders have signed goalie Rick DiPietro to a 15-year, $67.5 million contract. One NHL GM calls the deal "Crazy. Just (expletive deleted) crazy." I have to agree. Rick (for whom I actually have a bit of fondness, since he played at BU) has yet to really prove himself in the NHL, and the protection a contract like this offers the team (against the growing salary of a star player) isn't worth the risk of the player being a flop.

Just (expletive deleted) silly.

Good/Bad

Good News: I'm on vacation for two weeks starting today. The Wife and I will be doing our annual road trip to LA to see her brother Chris. On the way, we will hook up with his S.O., Kate, who is in Vegas working on Ocean's 13. We'll be hanging out in Los Feliz for a week with no specific plans - just maxin' and relaxin'.

Bad News: It seems like work always has some kind of upheaval when I go on vacation. Last time we were acquired by a major corporation and the deal was finalized and announced just as I was leaving. This time we (just our office, not the major corporation) had a "10% workforce reduction" yesterday. It's a major hit to the psyche of the remaining workforce, I'll tell you that much. On a personal (and professional) level, I'm super bummed they decided to eliminate Matt's position in particular. I'm not worried about Brozo - he'll land on his feet without a doubt, but I'm gonna miss having him around day to day for sure.

Two Words:

Holy crap! (The Waxy article is SFW, but the links thereafter are not.) Don't be an idiot on the intarweb, kids. That's good advice for both the people who respond to "casual encounters" ads (never use real names, work emails, etc. dummies) and for those who would bait them -- This Jason Fortuny guy's just begging for a beating (at least).

Hey, I read a book!

It only took me 5 months to get to it (and through it) after Ed recommended that I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. (I had a couple books higher in the queue, and I read terribly slowly these days.) It's really a great book and really a great relief to me that, all-joking aside, I definitely have very little in common with the Autistic. ;)

Seriously, though, read the book. More diligent readers than myself can easily plow through it in a day or so.

Catch-22 for Immigrants

Is it better to struggle to make a living in a major metropolitan area with a lot of previously established ethnic diversity, or to try to make a homestead in more easily affordable small communities where the population is more homogenous and potentially ignorant? It's a quandary illustrated by the case of a white guy in Maine rolling a frozen pig's head through a Somali mosque.

While they admit the act was the work of one man, it has heightened simmering tensions in this overwhelmingly white, working-class city of 35,000, where Somali refugees started flocking about five years ago, after first settling in more urban areas of the United States. Many said they came here because housing was inexpensive and Lewiston seemed a safe place to raise their families.

OK, so this incident was just a dumbass who is racist by default because he doesn't know any better playing a "joke" on the dark-skinned people that just happened to turn out to have the worst possible consequences for all concerned. Can we say the same for the open letter the then-Mayor of the town wrote in 2002?

Hussein Ahmed, 31, said the mosque incident came as Somalis here felt that they had finally started to move on from a 2002 open letter written by Laurier Raymond, then the mayor, which asked them to stop other Somalis from coming to the city. Mr. Raymond contended in his letter that the city was “maxed-out financially, physically and emotionally.�

Overall, though, it seems like the people of Lewiston, ME are good and accepting people. It's good to see.

Monkey Mirror

Proved: Monkey see, monkey do

Monkeys “imitate with a purpose�, matching their behaviour to others’ as a form of social learning, researchers report.

Such mimicry has previously been seen only in great apes – including humans and chimps – but now Italian researchers have recorded wonderful footage of the phenomenon in newborn rhesus macaques.

Oh sure, they "imitate with a purpose" alright: To take us down a notch and move on up the evolutionary scale, I'd say!

Stupid learning monkeys...

Derby Girl Press

There's a great feaure on our Rocky Mountain Rollergirls in the Coloradoan: Rollergirls ready to make their own thunder in the Rockies

Practice also includes learning to get up quickly using just the legs. Hands just get squished under a passing skate if they hit the rink, explained Fifi, an accountant who's been with the league for only a month or so but said she has already learned this very important lesson, wiggling five of her digits.

That's right - Fifi's an accountant. Underneath the tattoos, piercings and fishnets are court clerks and business owners. Not exactly what you'd expect of a "derby chick."

Icy U Hurtin' is a Loveland trauma nurse and mother of four. Lucky 7 is a business development specialist with Turner Media Group. And Gwen A. Flattenya' is an attorney.

There's some weird overlap with a different story at the end, I think... Nevertheless, it's good stuff. I think this is at least the second story I've seen in which the Rollergirls have basically adopted a female reporter, resulting in a glowing review. It's totally infectious, I guess. ;)

Canon Rock

Have you seen the YouTube video of the kid ripping up Pachelbel’s Canon on an electric guitar? It's worth the five minutes if you haven't. The NY Times figure it was worth a bit more than that and actually tracked down the guy that did it.

Guitar fanatics are perplexed: “How the hell does he gets his harmonics to sound like that?� Some praise specific components of the performance, including the distortion, the power chords or the “sweet outro.� Overall a consensus emerges: This guy iz great.

“I’m shocked at how much you rock,� one fan said. “Funtwo just pure ownz the world,� said another. “Somebody just beat JerryC at his own song,� tinFold44 said. Carrie34 gushed, “funtwo’s version makes me want to hold up my lighter and *hug* my inner child! :)�

Nice.