The American

Submitted by cvining on

Saw it this afternoon.

Not exactly, I suppose, a 'feel good' movie.  Even a bit dark.  But actually quite well done.  Bits of foreshadowing, some very nice cinematography with those italian villages.

I love the scene in the bar with that Sergio Leone film "Once Upon A Time In The West" playing in the background.  The bartender just nods at the TV with pride: "Italiano."  

"Once Upon A Time" is a great film in it's own right.  In the opening scene, Jack Elam (Snaky), a character actor in a bit role, is waiting for a train at a remote railroad station.  Out of boredom, he traps a fly in the barrel of his gun.  It's an exquisite scene, setting up the contrast of long periods of mindless waiting punctuated from time to time by rapid, decisive action.  By the end of the opening scene, Charles Bronson (Harmonica) has killed Snaky.

Commentary
Reviews
3. FREE SPEECH: COMMITMENT TO THE FIRST AMENDMENT

This just in:

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 17 Sep 2010   Washington, DC
(Portions snipped.  see Park's website for the entire Newsletter)


3. FREE SPEECH: COMMITMENT TO THE FIRST AMENDMENT.
Last week I defended the right of a barely coherent Baptist preacher to
burn the Koran, or for that matter the Holy Bible or any other religious
text. "Why shouldn't he as long as he pays for the books and doesn't
violate any municipal burning ordinance?"  Some thought that line was
irresponsible.  I have never burned a Koran or a Holy Bible, but I defend
anyone's right to do so.  Thousands of Americans have died and are still
dying  to defend the Constitution. I stand with them.  Meanwhile, in
Damascus, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the US government of orchestrating
desecrations of the Koran with about 1000 protesters chanting death to
America. There were also riots over the non-burning in Kashmir, but there
are always Muslim riots in Kashmir.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org

My response:

cvining
Commentary
Religion

James Forestall

Submitted by cvining on

James Forestall.  The first US Secretary of Defense.  Died from a fall from the 16th story window of a psych hospital.  Some (many) say it was suicide.  He was being treated for depression after being fired as Secretary of Defense by Truman.

Commentary
Politics
Michael Moore Loves Capitalism

Michael Moore has a new movie coming out Friday called "Capitalism: A Love Story."  NPR's Neal Conan interviews Moore on "Talk of the Nation."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113308531

Moore has a definite point of view and usually makes some points that catch my attention.  I'll pull two quotes from this interview.

First, Moore suggests things in the US started getting difficult "around the time of Ronald Reagan."  Here's one piece of supporting evidence.  A 2005 UCLA study titled "Income and Wealth Concentration in Switzerland over the 20th Century" includes this figure illustrating that around the time of Ronald Reagan the share of income of the top 0.1% income earners in the US more than tripled. The very rich suddenly got very richer:

France, US, Switzerland

cvining
Commentary
Economics

Hamburger Junction

Submitted by cvining on

Drawn by Kirby Vining for TM Vining for his 72 birthday in 1986, Hamburger Junction was in Carney, MD

This watercolor  by Kirby Vining was one of six childhood memories presented to Theron M. Vining on the occasion of Theron's 72 birthday in 1986.

The scene is a now defunct burger joint, Hamburger Junction, then in Carney, MD.  Four years younger than Kirby, my own memories of Hamburger Junction in the very early 1960's are less vivid than my brother's.  But I do recall the wonder of a burger delivered to your table by electric train.

This may partly explain my affection for a good burger to this day.

 


Commentary
Humor
Family Planning 5x more effective at reducing CO2

WHAT’S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 11 Sep 09 Washington, DC

[snip]

4. CONTRACEPTION: THE CHEAPEST WAY TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS.
While the United States is focusing on reduction of greenhouse emissions by
technological means, the Optimum Population Trust in the UK issued a press
release this week comparing the cost of reducing CO2 emissions by
technological means to the cost of an equivalent CO2 reduction by investing
in family planning. It concluded that family planning is five times more
effective.

[snip]

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org

cvining
Commentary
Climate
English, Please

A friend in Saskatchewan recently bought a computer and called me for help. "How do I change the language of this thing to English?  Everything's in French on this new machine!"

Helpful as any tech support guy I reply without hesitation: "haven't a clue."

"Then why did I call you?"

After a bit of googling and some back and forth we determine several things.

First, it's easy enough to change the keyboard to another language.  This way you can type umlauts (ü) or accent marks (à) too your hearts delight.  But the menus and help messages are still in French.  Not what we want.

Finally we learn that with his operating system, Vista Home Premium, comes in a wide variety of languages, but only one at a time.  And you can't change it once installed.   There is a caveat here: hackware seems to exist that will allow you to void your warrentee, but it looked like a pain to boot (sic).

My friend opted to return his computer.

The most helpful fellow at the store explained "third time this month" and exchanged the thing.

Here comes the good part, if you've read this far.  It seems the fisrt time you boot up the machine, the operating system isn't even installed yet.  You are asked to choose from one of maybe 50 languages.

"English" is my friends choice.  Well enough.

Next screen: choose operating system.  He's presented a drop-down menu with two choices, something like this:

  • Windows Vista Home Premium - E
  • Windows Vista Home Premium - F

Mind you, no manual.  No other instructions.  You figure you've already chosen the language, so this must be different versions of Vista.  Right?

My friend is a mighty bright fellow.  He figures, well, versions A, B, C and D aren't there.  Must not be supporting those old versions.  He'd like the latest version, so he picks "F".

cvining
Commentary
Internet

It's All In The Mind

Submitted by cvining on

True story.

In college I had a crush on a very beautiful woman who, at that time,
was having difficulty with her marriage. A mutual friend told this
joke to her to illustrate that sex is all in the mind.

Q: What's a four letter word for intercourse, ending in "k"?

My beautiful friend, petite and fair, instantly turned a very becoming
shade of crimson, but said nothing.

"Why are you blushing?" says our mutual friend. "The answer is
'talk', obviously!"

My beautiful friend was delighted and said she must try the joke on
her husband. Next day she tells this sad story.