Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Thursday, May 31, 2007

20070531 Liquid Sky Trailer


Liquid Sky Trailer

For artists who understand what she meant by “How boring”….

Trailer for the cult classic 1980's film 'Liquid Sky'

####

"Five Easy Pieces"

20070531 Liquid Sky Trailer

20070531 Quote of the Day – A Good Day

Quote of the Day – A Good Day

May 31st, 2007

“Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them.”

Robert Updegraff

Thanks TC

20070601 Westminster Fire Department Bingo Announcement


Bingo at the Westminster Fire Department

When: June 1st, 2007

Where: Westminster Fire Hall

John Street Quarters

28 John Street

Time: 7:00 PM (Doors open at 5:30 PM)

Kitchen will open at 6:00 PM.

Jackpot: $ 500.00

Website: www.westminstervfd.org

Phone: 410-848-1800

Refreshments Available

20070530 KDDC Betty Blue

Betty Blue

Posted May 30th, 2007

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." (Philip K. Dick)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xJrrHTos6P8

In the last several days I have run across several references to a evocative movie, “37°2 le matin,” or as it is known in the United States: “Betty Blue.”

The movie, released November 7th, 1986, was based on a novel, also by the title of “37°2 le matin,” by Philippe Djian. The movie version of the novel is directed Jean-Jacques Beineix, who also directed another one of my “all time favorite movies, “Diva.”

The music for the movie is by Gabriel Yared. The recurring musical theme is as haunting as the movie; a piano progression, which will remain in your head for the longest time…

In many of my old movie notes from many years ago – this movie is consistently listed in my all time top-ten movies

According to several published accounts, “The film received both a BAFTA and Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986, as well as winning a César Award for Best Poster. In 1992 it was awarded the Golden space Needle of the Seattle International Film Festival.”

For those not aware of the movie, it is not a movie for the weak of heart. It is about a writer who gets involved with a woman who is psychologically disheveled but nevertheless somewhat socially acceptable at the beginning of the movie. The movie documents her precipitous quixotic psychological deterioration... The excellent use of a narrator was effective and affective...

Here is clip from the last scene in the movie:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BIaU1us81Ts

The Internet Movie Database has the following plot summary for “37°2 le matin:”

“Zorg is a handyman working at in France, maintaining and looking after the bungalows. He lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time.

One day Betty walks into his life, a young woman who is as beautiful as she is wild and unpredictable. After a dispute with Zorg's boss they leave and Betty manages to get a job at a restaurant.

She persuades Zorg to try and get one of his books published but it is rejected which makes Betty fly into a rage. Suddenly Betty's wild manners starts to get out of control. Zorg sees the woman he loves slowly going insane.”

Wikipedia says:

“Betty (Dalle) and Zorg (Anglade) are passionate lovers who live in a shack on the beach. He works as a handyman who does odd jobs to pay the bills. As the film begins, they have only been going out for a week and are in a very passionate stage of their relationship. Zorg narrates the story of their relationship via voiceover. He describes Betty, “like a flower with translucent antennae and a mauve plastic heart.” She yearns for a better life and quit her last job as a waitress because she was being sexually harassed by her boss.

Zorg’s boss asks him to paint the 500 shacks that populate the beach — a fact that he keeps from Betty who thinks they only have to do one. She attacks the project with enthusiasm that quickly turns to anger once she learns the actual number. In response, Betty covers the boss’ car with pink paint.

During a nasty fight, Betty accidentally discovers a series of notebooks that contain a novel Zorg wrote years ago. She reads it and falls in love with him even more. She then makes it her mission in life to type every hand-written page and get it published. Betty's freespiritedness and devotion to Zorg develop into alarming obsession, aggression and destructiveness, and the film alternates between comic and tragic modes.

Roger Ebert lists it on his top-ten “most hated films.”

Oh well. Mr. Ebert likes Michael Moore…

A reason Mr. Ebert may not like the movie is that he is frequently hyper-critical of movies that have “hypocritical agendas” such as “a confrontational film that is passed off as art, but is merely lurid and sensational; Ebert has levelled this charge against such films as The Night Porter and Blue Velvet.” [Cited by Wikipedia (although I have seen this in other published accounts.)]

Oh! – I finally found Mr. Ebert’s review. Read it here.

Oh my – he really did not like the movie…

[…]

“Now comes ‘Betty Blue,’ which opens with a shot of two people sideways on a bed, making love beneath a portrait of the Mona Lisa, while the narrator says: ‘I had known Betty for a week. We made love every night. The forecast was the storms.’…

[…]

She finds a manuscript he has written, determines that he is a genius, and types it up, tens of thousands of words. (Typists will enjoy the typing scenes, in which she makes typing errors, causing her to throw away countless copies of Page 1, and then has the whole manuscript typed in no time. This is the way typing is thought about by people who always use yellow legal pads themselves.)

What is Bieneix trying to say in "Betty Blue"? I am not sure. The behavior of the characters is senseless and boring. We lose interest in Zorg because anyone who could tolerate Betty Blue would scarcely have the discrimination to write a good book. One scene follows another senselessly, like in a soap opera, until Betty goes mad and we can go home.

And yet the movie has made millions in France, where it will not have escaped anyone's attention that Betty is played by an attractive young woman named Beatrice Dalle, who is naked as often as not.

[…]

Reviews have been written debating the movie's view of madness, of feminism, of the travail of the artist. They all miss the point. "Betty Blue" is a movie about Beatrice Dalle's boobs and behind, and everything else is just what happens in between the scenes where she displays them.

[…]

My word… Read his entire review here.

I saw the movie twenty years ago… Who knows, with my current sensibilities, perhaps I would see the movie again and not like it either… I do not remember the gratuitous nudity for which Mr. Ebert objects, although I have no doubt that there is a great deal of that in the movie…

The trailer is rated “R.” Although, curiously enough, the “R” rating for the trailer is because of the nudity of the male protagonist.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ueFTOS8FDfQ

I remember being fascinated by the portrayal of the artist–writer and his interaction with the madness of his companion. Sorta like a “Five Easy Pieces” on acid. (“Five Easy Pieces” is another all time favorite of mine. I will always remember that it opened on my birthday, September 11th, - in 1970.

Video de la canción Numb de Linkin Park.


Perhaps, just perhaps, both movies portray the reality of relationships of which many artists may identify… Just as I like the video of the Linkin Park song, “Numb.”


After all, as Philip K. Dick once said:

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."

####

Interesting post script:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SJo-V1wip6g

casting de beatrice dalle betty

je sais pas si a l'epoque c'est dominique besnehard qui s'en ai occupe

Et bonus video: Scène de danse entre Beatrice Dalle et Romain Duris, tirée du film dix-sept fois Cecile Cassard

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8nTryJX7cn4

Beatrice Dalle in "Pretty Killer"

20070531 Feeding time for the baby Robins



Feeding time for the baby Robins…

May 31st, 2007

Several weeks ago we became the landlords to new tenants at our wildlife reserve here in the Westminster City Limits – a family of Robins decided to build a nest right outside our back door.

Today, I tried (once again) to get some pictures of Mr. (or Mrs.) Robin feeding their chicks…

I know very little about Robins. Although I have observed, what I have hypothecated to be, Mr. and Mrs. Robin trading places in tending to the eggs and the hatched chicks…

As an aside, I’ve always liked my digital camera – although I at first, reluctantly let go of my old professional grade Konica camera equipment.

Rarely have I missed the old Konica equipment – until moments like this… With my old Konica film camera I could zero in on Mr. and Mrs. Robin as if you were standing inches away from them.

Not so, with the current grade of point-and-shoot digital equipment that I have – “Nikon Coolpix 5200,”

So I guess now that I have truly discovered the drawbacks of the current grade of equipment – I either need to go out and purchase an upgrade – or what I may very well do; and that is - - go upstairs in the attic and dig out my old equipment…

Anyway – enjoy the pictures.

####

Animals Birds

20070531 More on the death of Andy Bacevich Jr. in Iraq

More on the death of Andy Bacevich Jr. in Iraq

May 31st, 2007

A hearty hat tip goes out to “Charles County Café.”

Thanks – I was going to leave a comment on their post – but the other day, try as I might - I was not bright enough to negotiate their comment sign-in protocol…

Losing Children To War

(May 29th, 2007) Posted by richardgwhite in War.

http://www.charlescountycafe.com/?p=960

I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty.

OpEd, Andrew J. Bacevich | Washington Post

Parents who lose children, whether through accident or illness, inevitably wonder what they could have done to prevent their loss. When my son was killed in Iraq earlier this month at age 27, I found myself pondering my responsibility for his death.

Among the hundreds of messages that my wife and I have received, two bore directly on this question. Both held me personally culpable, insisting that my public opposition to the war had provided aid and comfort to the enemy. Each said that my son's death came as a direct result of my antiwar writings.

This may seem a vile accusation to lay against a grieving father. But in fact, it has become a staple of American political discourse, repeated endlessly by those keen to allow President Bush a free hand in waging his war. MORE

For more background on this go to:

20070516 War Critic's Son Dies In Iraq

or

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/05/20070516-war-critics-son-dies-in-iraq.html

And for more work from the “Charles County Café” go here: http://www.charlescountycafe.com/

####

20070531 More on the death of Andy Bacevich Jr. in Iraq

More on the death of Andy Bacevich Jr. in Iraq

May 31st, 2007

A hearty hat tip goes out to “Charles County Café.”

Thanks – I was going to leave a comment on their post – but the other day, try as I might - I was not bright enough to negotiate their comment sign-in protocol…

Losing Children To War

(May 29th, 2007) Posted by richardgwhite in War.

http://www.charlescountycafe.com/?p=960

I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty.

OpEd, Andrew J. Bacevich | Washington Post

Parents who lose children, whether through accident or illness, inevitably wonder what they could have done to prevent their loss. When my son was killed in Iraq earlier this month at age 27, I found myself pondering my responsibility for his death.

Among the hundreds of messages that my wife and I have received, two bore directly on this question. Both held me personally culpable, insisting that my public opposition to the war had provided aid and comfort to the enemy. Each said that my son's death came as a direct result of my antiwar writings.

This may seem a vile accusation to lay against a grieving father. But in fact, it has become a staple of American political discourse, repeated endlessly by those keen to allow President Bush a free hand in waging his war. MORE

For more background on this go to:

20070516 War Critic's Son Dies In Iraq

or

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/05/20070516-war-critics-son-dies-in-iraq.html

And for more work from the “Charles County Café” go here: http://www.charlescountycafe.com/

####

20070531 Carroll County opens 'cooling centers'

Carroll County opens 'cooling centers'
-----Original Message-----

Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 12:18 PM

Subject: EAGLE ALERT: County opens "cooling centers"

May 31st, 2007

These stories and other updates are posted on The Eagle Web sites, www.theeldersburgeagle.com and www.thewestminstereagle.com.

Carroll County opens 'cooling centers'

May 31, 2007 - Carroll County officials announced today (Thursday, May 31), that due of anticipated high temperatures, the Department of Citizen Services is operating six cooling centers around the county. Residents who are vulnerable to extreme heat and who do not have air-conditioning in their homes are invited to cool off in any of the following locations until the close of business at 5 p.m.:

* Citizen Services office building, 10 Distillery Drive, Westminster

* Mount Airy Senior and Community Center, 703 Ridge Ave., Mount Airy

* North Carroll Senior and Community Center, 2328 Hanover Pike, Greenmount

* South Carroll Senior and Community Center, 5745 Bartholow Road, Eldersburg

* Taneytown Senior and Community Center, 220 Roberts Mill Road, Taneytown

* Westminster Senior and Community Center, 125 Stoner Ave., Westminster

Officials said water will be available for those who need it at any of the cooling centers.

The Carroll County Emergency Management Division is also encouraging people to follow safety tips when temperatures and humidity are high:

* Slow down. Strenuous activities should be reduced or rescheduled to the coolest time of the day.

* Wear loose, lightweight, and light-colored.·

* Eat fewer proteins and drink plenty of water.

* Stay in air-conditioning.

For more safety tips, refer to the Citizen's Guide to Emergency Preparedness, available online at http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubsafe/emer-prep.pdf, or by contacting the Emergency Management Division at 410-386-2877.

For information about Carroll's senior and community centers, call the Bureau of Aging at 410-386-3800.

####

20070531 Carroll County Government Press Release Recap

Carroll County Government Press Release Recap

May 31st, 2007

Press Releases

Cooling centers open
posted: 5/31/2007

New sewer, water rates approved
posted: 5/31/2007

Alzheimers Support Group June 2007
posted: 5/30/2007

Bureau of Aging to hold area plan community meetings
posted: 5/30/2007

Kayaking Classes Offered at Piney Run Park
posted: 5/25/2007

Draft of Westminster Comprehensive Plan Available for Review
posted: 5/23/2007

Notice of solid waste tipping fee adjustment
posted: 5/21/2007

Public hearing slated for airport master plan: Draft now available online
posted: 5/21/2007

Preschool Wetland Discovery Week
posted: 5/21/2007

Employee Recognition Program slated for June 6
posted: 5/17/2007

Legal Aid Services
posted: 5/17/2007

Spring Muster and Antique Fire Equipment Show
posted: 5/14/2007

Learning Lunch Talk for June: The Barbara Fritchie Legend
posted: 5/14/2007

2007 Fiddlers' Convention
posted: 5/14/2007

Economic Development Releases Broadband Study Results
posted: 5/11/2007

Space Available for Third Seniors on the Go Expo
posted: 5/9/2007

23rd Annual “Governor’s Youth Fishing Derby”
posted: 5/7/2007

Traditional Arts Classes at the Carroll County Farm Museum
posted: 5/7/2007

First Time Home Buyer Program - On Behalf Of Housing Program
posted: 5/4/2007

Boating Safety Courses Offered at Piney Run Park
posted: 4/27/2007

Piney Run Park Sponsors Upcoming Trips
posted: 4/26/2007

Maryland's Most Beautiful People Volunteer Awards Program
posted: 4/19/2007

Piney Run Nature Camp
posted: 4/18/2007

Kayak Lessons Offered at Piney Run Park
posted: 4/18/2007

Second Bus Added for King Tut Trip - July 14
posted: 3/23/2007

Therapeutic Recreation Summer Camp Seeking Staff
posted: 3/15/2007

Maryland Housing Rehab Program - Accessible Homes for Seniors Pilot Program
posted: 11/30/2006

Free Arthritis Foundation Exercise Programs
posted: 11/3/2006

####

20070530 Betty Blue

Betty Blue

Posted May 30th, 2007

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." (Philip K. Dick)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xJrrHTos6P8

In the last several days I have run across several references to a evocative movie, “37°2 le matin,” or as it is known in the United States: “Betty Blue.”

The movie, released November 7th, 1986, was based on a novel, also by the title of 37°2 le matin,” by Philippe Djian. The movie version of the novel is directed Jean-Jacques Beineix, who also directed another one of my “all time favorite movies, “Diva.”

The music for the movie is by Gabriel Yared. The recurring musical theme is as haunting as the movie; a piano progression, which will remain in your head for the longest time…

In many of my old movie notes from many years ago – this movie is consistently listed in my all time top-ten movies

According to several published accounts, The film received both a BAFTA and Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986, as well as winning a César Award for Best Poster. In 1992 it was awarded the Golden space Needle of the Seattle International Film Festival.”

For those not aware of the movie, it is not a movie for the weak of heart. It is about a writer who gets involved with a woman who is psychologically disheveled but nevertheless somewhat socially acceptable at the beginning of the movie. The movie documents her precipitous quixotic psychological deterioration... The excellent use of a narrator was effective and affective...

Here is clip from the last scene in the movie:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BIaU1us81Ts

The Internet Movie Database has the following plot summary for 37°2 le matin:”

“Zorg is a handyman working at in France, maintaining and looking after the bungalows. He lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time.

One day Betty walks into his life, a young woman who is as beautiful as she is wild and unpredictable. After a dispute with Zorg's boss they leave and Betty manages to get a job at a restaurant.

She persuades Zorg to try and get one of his books published but it is rejected which makes Betty fly into a rage. Suddenly Betty's wild manners starts to get out of control. Zorg sees the woman he loves slowly going insane.”

Wikipedia says:

“Betty (Dalle) and Zorg (Anglade) are passionate lovers who live in a shack on the beach. He works as a handyman who does odd jobs to pay the bills. As the film begins, they have only been going out for a week and are in a very passionate stage of their relationship. Zorg narrates the story of their relationship via voiceover. He describes Betty, “like a flower with translucent antennae and a mauve plastic heart.” She yearns for a better life and quit her last job as a waitress because she was being sexually harassed by her boss.

Zorg’s boss asks him to paint the 500 shacks that populate the beach — a fact that he keeps from Betty who thinks they only have to do one. She attacks the project with enthusiasm that quickly turns to anger once she learns the actual number. In response, Betty covers the boss’ car with pink paint.

During a nasty fight, Betty accidentally discovers a series of notebooks that contain a novel Zorg wrote years ago. She reads it and falls in love with him even more. She then makes it her mission in life to type every hand-written page and get it published. Betty's freespiritedness and devotion to Zorg develop into alarming obsession, aggression and destructiveness, and the film alternates between comic and tragic modes.

Roger Ebert lists it on his top-ten “most hated films.”

Oh well. Mr. Ebert likes Michael Moore…

A reason Mr. Ebert may not like the movie is that he is frequently hyper-critical of movies that have “hypocritical agendas” such as “a confrontational film that is passed off as art, but is merely lurid and sensational; Ebert has levelled this charge against such films as The Night Porter and Blue Velvet.” [Cited by Wikipedia (although I have seen this in other published accounts.)]

Oh! – I finally found Mr. Ebert’s review. Read it here.

Oh my – he really did not like the movie…

[…]

“Now comes ‘Betty Blue,’ which opens with a shot of two people sideways on a bed, making love beneath a portrait of the Mona Lisa, while the narrator says: ‘I had known Betty for a week. We made love every night. The forecast was the storms.’…

[…]

She finds a manuscript he has written, determines that he is a genius, and types it up, tens of thousands of words. (Typists will enjoy the typing scenes, in which she makes typing errors, causing her to throw away countless copies of Page 1, and then has the whole manuscript typed in no time. This is the way typing is thought about by people who always use yellow legal pads themselves.)

What is Bieneix trying to say in "Betty Blue"? I am not sure. The behavior of the characters is senseless and boring. We lose interest in Zorg because anyone who could tolerate Betty Blue would scarcely have the discrimination to write a good book. One scene follows another senselessly, like in a soap opera, until Betty goes mad and we can go home.

And yet the movie has made millions in France, where it will not have escaped anyone's attention that Betty is played by an attractive young woman named Beatrice Dalle, who is naked as often as not.

[…]

Reviews have been written debating the movie's view of madness, of feminism, of the travail of the artist. They all miss the point. "Betty Blue" is a movie about Beatrice Dalle's boobs and behind, and everything else is just what happens in between the scenes where she displays them.

[…]

My word… Read his entire review here.

I saw the movie twenty years ago… Who knows, with my current sensibilities, perhaps I would see the movie again and not like it either… I do not remember the gratuitous nudity for which Mr. Ebert objects, although I have no doubt that there is a great deal of that in the movie… The trailer is rated “R” or I would embed it in this post. Although, curiously enough, the “R” rating for the trailer is because of the nudity of the male protagonist.

I remember being fascinated by the portrayal of the artist–writer and his interaction with the madness of his companion. Sorta like a “Five Easy Pieces” on acid. (“Five Easy Pieces” is another all time favorite of mine. I will always remember that it opened on my birthday, September 11th, - in 1970.

Perhaps, just perhaps, both movies portray the reality of relationships of which many artists may identify… Just as I like the video of the Linkin Park song, “Numb.”

After all, as Philip K. Dick once said:

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."

####

Interesting post script:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SJo-V1wip6g

casting de beatrice dalle betty

je sais pas si a l'epoque c'est dominique besnehard qui s'en ai occupe

Et bonus video: Scène de danse entre Beatrice Dalle et Romain Duris, tirée du film dix-sept fois Cecile Cassard

"Five Easy Pieces"

20070530 Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day – Sooner or later…

May 30th, 2007

“Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit, and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) Reformer

Thanks TC

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

20070530 This week in The Tentacle

This week in The Tentacle

May 30th, 2007

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A Pain in the Gas

Kevin E. Dayhoff

With the Memorial Day weekend behind us, so begins the summer driving season. Increasingly a critical part of the summer getaway calculus is congested roadways and the cost of gasoline.

The Elephant (or Donkey) in the room

Katie Nash

The move for charter government won't be stifled by bomb-throwers. Like every grassroots movement, there will be those who attempt to kill it before it reaches the public and for purely selfish reasons.


Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Not Just Another Memorial Day

Roy Meachum

Several years ago, while driving around England, I dropped in on the Winchester Cathedral. The stone knights rested peacefully under the vaulting ceiling. It was summer and in that part of the world the sun threatens never to set; the light lingers, giving the stained glass windows a peculiar hue.


Monday, May 28, 2007

The Silence of Joseph W. Blickenstaff

Kevin E. Dayhoff

For many people, Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. But hopefully you will take time out today to remember the greater meaning of Memorial Day - especially at a time when our great nation has more than 253,000 men and women in uniform deployed away from their families and loved ones - in nearly 80 countries oversees.

Failure to Communicate

Richard B. Weldon Jr.

The warden in Cool Hand Luke summed it up nicely when he said: "What we have here is - failure to communicate".


Friday, May 25, 2007

There They Go Again!

Roy Meachum

Somebody must have treated and turned on those pesky Winchester Hall fountains again. I have long suspected that John "Lennie" Thompson had his own water supply. But now the other commissioners display strong symptoms.

A National Energy Policy Void

George Wenschhof

Recently, Gov. Martin O'Malley joined the governors of 21 other states who sent a letter to the congressional leadership asking for an investigation of the rise in gasoline prices.


Thursday, May 24, 2007

All Aboard the Hypocrisy Express

John W. Ashbury

Back in the fall of 2004, then Alderman David Lenhart wanted to reduce the increase in property assessment on which City of Frederick taxes would be based by 50 percent. You'd have thought the world was coming to an end.

A Campaign for Tax Addiction

Chris Cavey

Citizens of Maryland beware; drugs are not the only evil working to breakdown the fiber of our society. There is another addictive force at work, with its roots in Annapolis - taxes.


Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Gates Encourages Public Service

Kevin E. Dayhoff

In his keynote graduation address Sunday, U. S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates challenged the 2007 graduates of the College of William and Mary to serve the greater good of the nation by voting, volunteering, and participating in public service.


Tuesday, May 22, 2007

State GOP "Sulking"

Roy Meachum

One-time U.S. Senate candidate and former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele used the S-word. It happened Saturday night in Annapolis. Before about 200 of the Republican faithful, the Washington Post reported; he declared:

Send More Cash or Trim The Fat?

Farrell Keough

In April, I wrote an article on the state's budget and slots, (Robbing Peter to Pay Paul). I recently referenced that article on a forum where the discussion of slots came up. I was rightly asked, "Well smarty-pants, we know what you don't like. What would you suggest to fill this $1.5 billion dollar shortfall?"


Monday, May 21, 2007

Old Soldiers Don't Fade Away

Richard B. Weldon Jr.

George W. Owings, III, was relieved of his duties as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs by Gov. Martin O'Malley on May 7. Secretary Owings was not dismissed for any reason other than he had been appointed by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

20070529 Famous Writers reveal what font they compose in and why (Slate)

Famous Writers reveal what font they compose in and why (Slate)

May 29th, 2007

Famous Writers on Fonts (Slate)

Hat Tip: The Morning Newsfeed: 05.29.07

A number of prominent writers reveal what font they compose in and why. Courier was the clear favorite among our unscientific sample, but Times New Roman, Palatino, and something called Hoefler Text had their champions as well. It seems to come down to whether a writer's formative experience came on an Olivetti or an Apple.

Slate: The cult of Helvetica.

_____

I found this fascinating… Especially the previous post… 20070525 The Helvetica Hegemony and Click here to read a slide-show essay about Helvetica and the art of the font.

I’m just a regular kinda writer who just likes to write… My favorite font is Bookman Old Style. After that I like Georgia, Baskerville Old Face or Century Schoolbook.

Although I am not aware as to why I like Bookman Old Style…

What is your favorite font?

####

20070525 The Helvetica Hegemony


Art: The big picture.

The Helvetica Hegemony

How an unassuming font took over the world.

By Mia Fineman

Friday, May 25, 2007

Click here to read a slide-show essay about Helvetica and the art of the font.

.Mia Fineman is a writer and curator in New York.

####

20070529 Memorial Day: President Bush at Arlington Cemetery

Bush: Fallen troops' sacrifice helps build better world

May 28, 2007

Story Highlights

Bush pays tribute to "new generation of heroes" killed in Iraq, Afghanistan

Battalion in Iraq honors its slain and missing soldiers

Top general asks for patience to give new Iraq strategy time to work

ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) -- President Bush marked Memorial Day with a call for Americans to stand firm in their efforts against U.S. enemies around the world and with a tribute to fallen troops.

"From their deaths must come a world where the cruel dreams of tyrants and terrorists are frustrated and foiled, where our nation is more secure from attack and where the gift of liberty is secured for millions who have never known it," he said. "This is our country's calling. It's our country's destiny."

Bush spoke after a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, Virginia, addressing a crowd that included relatives of the dead, veterans, military officials and members of Congress and the public.

[…]

Bush noted that Arlington National Cemetery holds the bodies of seven generations of Americans, including 360,000 from the Civil War, 500,000 from World Wars I and II, and 90,000 from the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

[…]

"Our enemies long for our retreat," he said. "They question our moral purpose. They doubt our strength of will. Yet, even after five years of war, our finest citizens continue to answer our enemies with courage and confidence."

The conflict will end some day "because all wars do," he said, adding, "Our duty is to ensure that its outcome justifies the sacrifices made by those who fought and died in it."

[…]

Read the entire article here: Bush: Fallen troops' sacrifice helps build better world

20070528 Wall Street Journal: Raise gas prices commit a felony

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Pains at the Pump

Raise gas prices, commit a felony.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010132

Monday, May 28, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

It's Memorial Day weekend and the start of the summer driving season, so naturally it's time for Congress to grandstand against $3-a-gallon gasoline. And right on cue, the House passed legislation last week to criminalize gasoline "price gouging," whatever that is. Perhaps this is all designed to distract the public from Congress's own role in raising gas prices.

Under the anti-gouging law, service station owners could face up to 10 years in prison if they dare to raise their prices too much when supplies are low. Representative Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who sponsored this scheme, said the vote would determine whether Members "side with Big Oil" or "side with consumers who are being ripped off at the gas pump." Who elects these guys?

The inconvenient fact is that there's no evidence of price rigging by Big Oil or the tens of thousands of independent service station owners across America. The causes of higher gas prices include $65-a-barrel oil caused by rising global demand and geopolitical tensions, a record high U.S. gasoline consumption of 380 million gallons a day, and refined gasoline shortages caused by Congressional rules and mandates. Far from withholding production to raise prices, U.S. gasoline production of 8.8 million barrels a day is higher than any time in history and refineries are getting more gas per barrel of oil than ever before.

Read the entire editorial here: Raise gas prices and go to jail

For more information go here: 20070523 Congressman Roscoe Bartlett Votes No on “Feel Good, But Counterproductive” Price Gouging Bill

Or Energy Independence or Energy Gasoline

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20070527 World's Oldest Camera Fetches $800,000 at Auction

World's Oldest Camera Fetches $800,00 at Auction

Sunday, May 27, 2007

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275722,00.html

VIENNA, Austria — (AP)

The world's oldest commercially produced camera — built in 1839 in the early days of photography — was auctioned off this weekend for nearly $800,000, an auction house said.

The camera, a Daguerreotype by Susse Freres of France

Read the entire article here:

World's Oldest Camera Fetches $800,00 at Auction

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Pictured above - - one of the earliest known daguerreotype images:

L’Atelier de l'artiste : un daguerréotype de 1837, réalisé par l’inventeur de ce procédé photographique, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787-1851). Source: [Société française de photographie]. Date: 1837 Auteur: Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787-1851)

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