February 11, 2011

Tomorrow is Lincoln's Birthday, this picture captures the young man on the rise.

April 6, 1859: Letter to Henry L. Pierce
This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.



Still plowing through Chernow's Washington: A Life. I guess I had known it before but it was astonishing to see the number of Slaves (over 300) owned by Washington and his family. Chernow in an interview states:"I really felt that it was not a trivial fact of this man's life that he owned 300 human beings."



Egypt will put the Middle East on the right path , the alternative is unthinkable. Mubarak is no longer "Cling Tut." My recent readings involving Lawrence of Arabia schooled me in the development of the Modern Middle East by France and Great Britain with the Balfour Declaration. T.E. Lawrence preferred that the Arab states map their own destiny. The State of Israel also figures in the balance. The next couple of years will be interesting. The new era begins. Good luck world !



I'm a spy in the house of love
I know the dream, that you're dreamin' of
I know the word that you long to hear
I know your deepest, secret fear
I know your deepest, secret fear
I know your deepest, secret fear
I'm a spy, I can see
What you do
And I know



Time to kick back and take a little time off, like a four day weekend. Can't believe I was granted a Snow Day for dragging myself to work on January 27th. Will make use of it on Valentine's Day.



Rose sculptures on Park Avenue , a new public arts project by Will Ryman. Nice touch of color for the Winter.



Beer for the weekend is the Newcastle Brown Ale DraughtKeg. Smooth and tasty, not heavy at all.



With Egypt the biggest story in a decade, Time goes with Singularity as the cover. Computers will think like humans do by the end of the 2020s. Singularity — at which the progress of machines will supersede that of humans, put at 2045.

December 22, 2010

Lotte Lenya doing the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill creation.



Where I first heard it, The Doors.

August 31, 2010

"Torture of survivors was the norm, as it was all across the plains."

Brutal savage warfare is outlined. Both sides guilty of unimaginable atrocities. Incredible, fascinating book.



The lines were great. New stuff like "Big Feet and Thumbsuckers" and old stuff like Panjandrums. I had to go to William Safire to figure out Thumbsuckers. Also, PUMA - Party Unity My Ass, a coalition of Hillary backers.

Describing Hillary's campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle: "..(k)ept Hillaryland's sense of Omerta" and had "crawl-across-broken-glass fealty." Describing Dick Harpootlian:"... volatile, unpredictable, messy - a human IED."



Yes, Summer's almost gone.



Don't buy many CDs, will get this one.

May 8, 2010

Rainy morning at the Greenmarket.



Still pretty crowded.



Rhubarb was everywhere.



Live Blue Crabs $1 each. Hmmm, maybe next time, a little Crab Soup. Seatuck Fish Company. Their regular fish prices are higher than P.E. and D.D. Seafood, which had Bluefish for $6.50 a pound, and here it was $7.99 a pound, a big difference.



Brother Jimmy's BBQ now at 16th street between Irving Place and Park Avenue South. I know it's a chain, but if you order right, you can do well. A fun place.



The new Doors Documentary When You're Strange will be on PBS this coming week on American Masters. Check your local listings. The movie was just released.



Dr. Evil: You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here! What do we have?
Number Two: Sea Bass.
Dr. Evil: [pause] Right.
Number Two: They're mutated sea bass.
Dr. Evil: Are they ill tempered?
Number Two: Absolutely.
Dr. Evil: Oh well, that's a start.



Silly stuff, but it is funny.



Last line in book as provocative as the first line:
"Like the young Aztec men and women selected for sacrifice, who lived in delightful ease and luxury until the appointed day when their hearts were to be carved from their chests, journalistic subjects know all too well what awaits them when the days of wine and roses--the days of the interviews--are over. And still they say yes when a journalist calls, and still they are astonished when they see the flash of the knife."