Rex checks in !

Rex, my sheepdog-in-Wyoming persona, sent in this photo. He claims this is him, chasing down some straying sheep. I think he doctored the image.

Synaesthesia

Incredibly, none of my 2 dozen or so multiple personalities has this syndrome.

Congratulations Rae Waters !! (a)

On a night when Democrats underperformed in Arizona (unlike everywhere else), Rae Waters won a state representative seat in a district where Republican registered voters heavily outnumber Democrats, and where no Democratic candidate had held this post for the past 18 years. . On election night, Rae held a 300+ vote lead, but there were a slew of mail-in, early, and questioned ballots to be counted. As those gradually got processed, Rae kept inching ahead. . She credited her upset win to lots of knocking on doors, a long history of service on the local school board, and appealing to independent voters by her moderate political stance.

Congratulations Rae Waters !! (b)

This troika of photos were actually taken at a Democratic rally a short time before the election. In this photo, the man immediately to Rae's left is Ted Maish, who was running for state senate in District 20. And next to him is US Congressman Harry Mitchell, to whom I am eternally grateful for knocking goofball and uber-dittohead J.D. Hayworth out of his congressional seat in 2006.

Congratulations Rae Waters !! (c)

We'll close with this pic of Rae and her dynamic campaign manager, Jason Ludwig, as they discuss the subtleties of running a successful "Blue" campaign in a "Red" district. . What these two accomplished should not be understated. Their political futures are bright and congratulations are in order to both of them!

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Coming soon : Election Night photos !!

Dali Simpsons

Just cuz I haven't had a Dali fix in quite some time. I'm not sure what the middle image is a take-off of.

RIP - "Gus" (1999-2008)

Gus, a one-eyed, three-legged Chinese crested dog and winner of the 2008 Ugliest Pooch contest, passed away last week. He was 9 years old. . He lost an eye in a cat fight, and a leg due to a skin tumor. His owner rescued him after learning that someone was keeping him in a crate in a garage. . I'm a dog-lover anyway, but the story struck a special chord with me since one of our dogs also has only one eye. Farewell, Gus. You were dealt some rough circumstances by life, but you got lots of love from your final owner, and you're in a better place now.

Guess the author...

"For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible."

Want a hint?

Adieu, Undecided Voters !

You'll have to find some other annoying habit until 2011. Maybe telemarketing, or something like that.

The times, they are a-changin'

An interesting map, courtesy of the New York Times. The red areas are voting districts where the percentage of people voting Republican (for McCain) went up in this last presidential election. The blue areas are districts where the percentage of people voting Democratic (for Obama) went up. . The deeper the color, the greater the increase in the percentage. I like the trend. :-)

RIP - Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba

b. : 04 March 1932

d. : 09 November 2008

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Born in South Africa, Miriam Makeba was both a singer and a staunch anti-apartheid activist. Her stand for the rights of blacks in South Africa cost her dearly. For speaking publicly against the injustice, her passport was revoked in 1960, making her unable to attend her mother's funeral. She continued to speak out, and in 1963, South Africa revoked her citizenship. . She was later married to Stokely Carmichael, a name that probably means nothing to anyone under 50. Carmichael suffered persecution from American officials, as did Harry Belafonte, with whom Makeba often sang in concerts. I'm proud to say I have an LP titled An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba, which is quite good. . Perhaps by God's grace she was allowed to live long enough to see a black man elected president of the USA. And for those of us who continue the struggle for equal rights for all humans (including gays, Guantanamo POW's, illegal immigrants, and Palestinian refugees), she serves as a reminder that there is a price to pay when you go up against oppressive regimes and hateful institutions. . Good-bye, Miriam Makeba. The torch is now passed to other hands, but you will continue to be an inspiration to us. . You can read more about Ms. Makeba here.

Apocalyptica Concert !

We saw these guys at the Marquee Theater last weekend. $15/ticket, and no warm-up band. Which on a Sunday night is a plus, actually. The doors opened at 6:30; we got there around 7:00, and we still had to stand around an hour before they played. That is uncool on a Sunday night. Nevertheless, by 9:30, we were on our way home. . Apocalyptica is a metal band, who love to do Metallica covers, and who substitute cellos for guitars. One guy sits the whole time to play, but the other three lug those big cellos around all over the stage. They also had a drummer, who was way too loud, and a guest singer on 4-5 songs, who was nothing to write home about. . Overall, it was well worth the $15, and we got to see our very first mosh pit. Some people drink way too much energy drinks. The obligatory encore song was Hall Of The Mountain King, which happens to be my favorite Apocalyptica song. This was the last stop on their 2008 North American tour, and I imagine they were going to be very happy to be heading back to Finland. . Oh, one last thing. When the theater parking lot attendant tells you to turn around and go back across the street to the parking garage there, LISTEN TO HIM! Do not drive out the opposite exit onto what appears to be a two-lane highway. That actually is half of a four-lane divided highway, and when you turn left on it (to head towards that parking garage), you will instead find yourself driving into two lanes of oncoming traffic, and without anywhere to turn off!

Are you man enough for Rachmaninoff?

Title : Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff

Recorded : 1929-1941

Overall Rating : ***** **½ (out of 10*)

. I'll admit, Classical Piano is not one of my favorite genres. Although under the tutelage of a colleague from work, I am developing a taste for it. By and large, one pianist sounds like the next to me, so my preferences tend to be measured by who the composer was, not who's tickling the ivories. . Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) is one of my favorite composers. Here he plays his own four concertos, along with a gazillion variations on a theme by Paganini. . IMHO, Concerto #2 is better than #3, which is better than #4, which is better than #1. Who cares what the experts think?

Heineken Art

Good grief. Now I'm thirsty.

Collect 'em all

Tony Hillerman (mystery writer)

b. : 05/27/25

d. : 10/26/08

William Wharton (author of 'Birdy')

b. : 11/07/25

d. : 10/29/08

Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park; Andromeda Strain, et. al.)

b. : 10/23/42

d. : 11/04/08 .

WTF?? Is God trying to collect the whole set??

Yes We Did

One More Day !

The polls are saying this one could be anything from a solid win for Obama to a landslide. But don't count the Repugnicans out just yet. The fact that a lot of states have no physical way to double-check the computer-generated vote-counting is an invitation to dittohead hackers.

OTOH, they'd have to pull this stunt in a slew of precincts in a slew of states, and hope to get away with it 100% of the time. Very, very risky.

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So for those of you who didn't vote early and/or by mail-in ballots, please-oh-please get out and vote tomorrow. Then grab some chips-&-dip and a diet soda or two, and settle in to watch what should be a very satisfying election night.

Strange but true...

Something quick, as we're heading to a Metal concert tonight. Details to follow, albeit probably after election-night.

The missing phrase

I guess the family values card is just too ludicrous for the GOP-heads to even try to play this election. Not that they EVER took it seriously.

Happy Nos Galan Gaeaf !!

Well, that's what it's called in Welsh, which is the nationality of my Druid persona, so we'll humor him. . I told our HR Department that today's festivities were an affront my Wiccan heritage, but they laughed it off. Pumpkin-carving. Cubicle-decorating. Costumes. All were offensive and insensitive. Except for the catered-in lunch. I was cool with that.

Felicitations !!

The Phabulous Phils, the only professional team to have more than 10,000 losses to their name, are WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS !! . Next year, it's the Texas Rangers' turn.

Indexed

From www.thisisindexed.com, another cool website that has a new post daily and shows that some of the boring high school math class actually sank in.

Penn State 13 - Ohio State 6

Sweetness !!!!

And we won't even talk about my other alma mater, Arizona State, ranked 15th in the nation in preseason, who now is 2-5, and mired in a 5-game losing streak. :-(

Sunday Silliness

Not all taggers are ignorant.

Cuff 'em, Dan-o !!

A 58-year-old woman from the group Code Pink tried to make a citizen's arrest of Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove on Wednesday. You can read about it here. She attempted to cuff him, but of course Security got her, and as seen above, Rove wasn't overly frightened. Still, we can only hope that Code Pink's vision (below) comes true once the elections are over and the filth that is the Republican party is washed out of Washington by the Obama tsunami.

The ultimate dream is below. BTW, Code Pink's website is at http://www.codepink4peace.org/

The Scarlet Letter (by Ashley Todd)

We've already introduced you to Frizz-Ball and Sleaze-Ball here. Now meet Goof-Ball. This is Ashley Todd, a volunteer for the Republican party in Pennsylvania who decided to concoct a phony assault - robbery - mutilation story and blame it all on a made-up six-foot-four, black Obama supporter. You can read MSNBC's report about it here.

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The dittoheads were having a field day with it, until it turned out to be a hoax. Alas for Miss Ashley, making a false report to police is a crime. So her reward for this bit of goofiness (besides the ridicuously-backward "B" she scratched into her own face) was a pair of handcuffs.

and now a word from our sponsor...

Something witty, cute, and apolitical. BION, there are advertisements out there that are a joy to behold. This is one of them.

Undecided Voters

A quote from David Sedaris, one of the wittiest present-day writers, concerning the undecided voters in 2008... "I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? . "To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?' she asks. 'Or would you prefer the platter of sh*t with bits of broken glass in it? . "To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked." (courtesy of www.dailykos.com) .

** UPDATE **

The complete David Sedaris article is available here. Many thanks to UndecidedMan (see the comments) for the link!

The Truth Fairy visits John McCain

There are so many excellent political cartoons about McSame and Saracuda; and only two weeks until they are relegated to political limbo.

Trivia Question For The Day

The 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature was announced last week - going to Jean-Marie Gustave LeClezio of France. Since 1901, 10 American authors have won this award. The TQftD : when did an American last win it, and who was the author? Hint : That's her picture above. (No fair looking this one up).

Colin Powell Endorses Obama!

Dear Colin. Thank you very much for the endorsement. It's a little late, and a little weak, but it's an endorsement all the same. Colin, the trouble is - you sold your soul to the devil when you gave that speech at the UN about Saddam and his WMD's, biological weapons, and "yellowcake". All the time knowing the allegations were totally bogus, and you were pushing us into a war under false pretenses. . I suspect you're hoping for some redemption here. Are you dreaming of what it would be like to be Secretary of State in an ethical administration? Remember, the blood of more than 4,000 American soldiers killed-in-Ieaq stains your hands. To say nothing of the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. You have a long way to go to reclaim your soul.

It sucks to be in Journalism

Our local newspaper, the Mesa Tribune, announced recently that as of the new year, they will stop putting out a daily newspaper. Instead, it will come out four times a week, and in "long-tabloid format", whatever that is. . In fairness, it has to be said that they will also become a free publication. That's nice, but I get the newspaper primarily for the sports section and the comics. For the news, I rely on Msnbc.com. So the Trib is really going to become irrelevant to me.

For me, it's a philosophical issue. I will probably subscribe to the Arizona Republic. Frankly, their sports and comics are already better than the Trib's anyway.

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But if you happen to have a career in Journalism, life sucks right now, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. And if you happen to work for the Trib, it's going to be an especially depressing Holiday season.

Chess Under The Influence

I can't recall ever playing chess while inebriated. But in my 20's, I played lots of rated games while "under the influence".

I'm not saying all dittoheads are idiots...

...oh, who am I kidding?! Yes, they are. All of them. From the hate-mongering frizzball (above) that McCain had to quickly yank the microphone away from when she started ranting about Obama being an Arab... . ...to the hate-mongering sleazeball (below) that proudly showed off his single-digit IQ this past week in Ohio. Folks, I work with a dittohead who honestly believes Obama is an al-Qaeda operative. And is sure I'll eventually come around to his way of thinking if he just forwards me enough of his hate e-mails.

BTW, the lower photo is used by permission (Really! I asked first.) and was taken by one Brett Marty, who has quite the shutterbug eye. You can see a whole bunch of his campaign-trail photos at www.brettmarty.com/index.html?Ohio.

A word on piracy...

Pirated (naturally) from http://www.xkcd.com/.

Hobnobbing with the Gov'

That would be our most-excellent governor, Janet Napolitano (wearing her spiffy "Tim Nelson for County Attorney" sticker), rubbing elbows with the hottest Democratic campaign manager in Arizona right now (looking dashing in his "Elect Rae Waters" t-shirt), Jason Ludwig.

I had a dream...

Oh, what could've happened in 1972 if the right-wing death squads hadn't assassinated Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy four years earlier.

Guess which one.

Proposition 102 is the anti-gay marriage initiative this year in Arizona. It seeks to amend our state constitution to define marriage as being between "one man and one woman". It is a blatant attempt to prevent same-sex marriages here. The pic above is of my next-door neighbors yard. The pic below is of my backyard neighbor's yard. The pro-102 signs appeared on their lawns the same day. Which is also the same day these signs popped up on a whole bunch of other neighborhood lawns. . My next-door and backyard neighbors both go to the same church. Wanna take a guess which one it is? Hint : their grand poobah gave a televised speech the day before all these signs cropped up.

Personally, I believe any religious denomination that gets involved in politics should lose its tax-exempt status. And BTW, this same gay-hating initiative was on the ballot last time, and Arizona voted it down by something like 56%-44%.

An Affinity for Divinity

If you yearn to return to the days of Odin, Hera, and Astarte (and Hamilcar does), you'll be happy to know that we have a bona fide goddess living among us. Indeed, Taleju (the deity) just jumped into a new body last week, a three-year-old girl from the Shakya caste in Nepal. You can read Msnbc's article on it here. . The article implies Hindus and Buddhists alike worship little Miss Divinity, but that's misleading. Actually, it's just a cult that attracts a hodgepodge of whackos of various religious persuasions, mostly in Nepal. Thankfully, the Tibetian Buddhists, with whom I was involved with briefly in my 20's, have nothing to do with this silliness. Interestingly though, the cult is also encouraged by the Nepalese monarchists and Maoists. . The whole thing is rife with goofiness. The 3-year-old girl (who first had to pass a series of bizarre tests) is taken from her parents to live in a monastery. She's treated like a ...well... goddess until she reaches puberty, at which point Taleju dumps her like damaged goods and takes possession of another body. She gets sent back to her village with a small stipend (from the government), and a gold coin, and a piece of cloth from her royal robe (from the monks). Oh, she also gets a curse - the man who marries her is prophecied to die within six months from coughing up blood. It's not nice to take up with someone spurned by the gods. . The Wikipedia article is here. And you can order a book written by one of these former goddess-girls from Amazon here. It's titled "From Goddess to Mortal", and you can purchase this 152-page book for the low, low price of $58.26. If you read it, you can write the first review at Amazon.

(Sigh). Well, it's nice to know religious ignorance and superstition are not something that Western religions have a monopoly on. BTW, the pics here are not of the present 3-year-old Kumari.