I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Monday, June 21, 2010

Four Things Make a Post

First of all, let's give some link love to Todd Wheeler and his 4th (or is it 5th) Summer Reading Program. Todd's prize packages are always excellent. And I know most of you are avid readers. Plus, money to The Children's Literacy Foundation (CLiF). What more could you want? Heck, on a 10 minute walk over lunch I discovered a nice picnic bench where I might be able to get some reading done during lunch times.

Only a few more days to get your applications in for Viable Paradise. VP XIII feels so long ago, it's difficult to reconcile that feeling with the knowledge that it's been less than a year. I wish I could remember more. Yeah, I was that tired (see earlier comment about how work conspires against me) that it all seems a dream

There are things you can stand for, and things you can't. A blog post on typography and e-readers (specifically Apple's). Yeah, what he said. I'd really hate to pay so much for such a device only to heave it against a wall for such effrontery against good typography practices.

Hmm, here's a little article on the tea party. An interesting take on whose being duped and by whom. I think this goes back to an early comment I made about the tea party when they had their organizations first Washington protest. They had brought a truck full of tea bags that supporters we're going to dip into the reflecting pool on the Mall. Seems nobody had actually gotten a permit for either the protest and the truck. There was hemming and hawing and eventually it all broke up into chaos. Silly. If this is an actual protest, screw the permits. Can't get people to move the tea bags to the reflecting pool? Back the damn truck up to the pool (turfing the lawn) and shovel the bags out the back. Instead we hear about how "polite" they are. Lookie, 1/10th of the crowd as the inauguration and they didn't make a mess. If you're going to protest what you feel is an injustice, then protest. Yes, you'll go to jail more than likely. Isn't what you believe in worth it? Instead, it's like the title of that article goes, "tea parties are for little girls." I think it gives voice to something I've harbored inside and part of why I have contempt for the movement (yes, the individuals are different, I know many of them honestly believe in what they're doing and feel very strongly about it, and everybody has their own "pain level", not everybody can be a martyr for the cause, but at least some can be). Also, this is different than committing violence against people, and different than the "racial slurs" controversy during the voting on HCR. This is more like, if you felt it was so terrible, block the damn entrances to congress and have the Capital Police haul you away. Don't need to shout, don't need to hit anybody, just a human chain across the entrances. Easy peasy. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

3 comments:

Todd Wheeler said...

Thanks for the props! It is the fourth year. Time does fly.

sheila said...

Thank you for the link to the article about the Tea Party, it's one of the most lucid accounts of the "movement" that I've read.

Considering how people don't want to admit that they're poor -- or even in the bottom 80% of the population -- it makes me wonder if people will ever wake up and recognize the situation in the USA for what it really is and fight for change. Guess I'd better not hold my breath....

Steve Buchheit said...

Todd, no worries. Glad to help out. Hopefully soon I'll be able to read and book and even enter. :)

Sheila, I'm trying to remember the exact quote (I think from the West Wing) about how the greatest obstacle to tax reform isn't so much how to reduce taxes, but that everybody thinks they'll be rich someday and wants to protect their future earnings (even though they have less chance of making it than they do of winning the lottery).

I've also had to have the discussion with some people that no, you are not middle class when you make more than say, $200,000 a year. Even in California I'm pretty sure that makes you rich.