whitebread

D may have gone off the reservation but things like this

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    <action name="Execute"><execute>aumix -v -5</execute></action>
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will keep me using openbox for the foreseeable future.

I’m not so naive as to think he’ll accomplish all he says, or that he’s everything I want in a president. But I believe in the things he says, and I’ll tell you this:

I never once rode for George Bush.

Take three weeks off, put 30psi more in the tires, then return to the bike. Your legs will feel like diesel pistons.

“One hand clutching a sword raised to the sky”

They (MSNBC) covered what the Obama girls were having for lunch. They covered it, and covered it, and covered it. And then they end with “For those of you asking at home, ‘Is what they’re having for lunch really news?’, consider what’s in your commissary for lunch”.

In fact it’s not news, and that it is being presented as such is disgraceful.

To the extent that we’re now judging journalism by the same standards that we apply to entertainment — in other words, give the public what it wants, not necessarily what it ought to hear, what it ought to see, what it needs, but what it wants — that may prove to be one of the greatest tragedies in the history of American journalism.

Ted Koppel, being interviewed for Frontline.

Recently the D had a close encounter of the pissed off puppy kind, so I thought it would be worthwhile to restate things mentioned earlier.
Note: if you were unaware, the D is fine.

If you are cycling, and a dog approaches you barking:

1. Do not assume the dog is friendly.
2. Slow down as quickly as is possible safely. (Read about how to do this correctly.)
3. Get (and keep) the bike between you and the dog. Use the bike as a weapon as necessary.
4. If you get bit, call 911.
5. After 911, don’t hesitate to call me for extraction.

Regarding 911: Don’t think about it, don’t try to decide if you should, just call the number and try your best to stay calm.
There are a number of reasons for getting an officer on the scene. There needs to be a report filed if the dog needs to be taken off the streets, and it’s much, much safer for you to have an officer taking the address of the dog owner.

Regarding step 2:
It seems counter-intuitive, and will be counter-instinctual –barking dogs generally engage the “flight” response– but I really think this is the best course of action.
If the dog gets caught in your spokes, gets it’s mouth on your leg/foot, or just gets in front of you, you’re in a lot of trouble. Dogs aren’t that smart, and bikes aren’t that
heavy, so you can generally keep maneuvering the bike as a shield once you’re off it.

There’s poetry in sickness
Life is beautiful and cruel
That’s just the way it is

And I can sleep but I can’t rest
They say that “your songs are the best”
And I am still a young man

Here’s to the new year. May she be a damn sight better than the last one, and may we all be home before she’s through.

Happy New Year everyone.
Stay safe, and keep in touch.

“God damnit.” I thought to myself as the elevator started to sink. “People in this country need to get some exercise if they’re unwilling to climb a single flight of stairs.” The elevator, you see, has a very short temper and will not wait long for an authorization to ride to the fourth floor. Instead, it will go pick up the jerks from the basement, before proceeding to where YOU want to go. “What jerks.” But there was nothing I could do, so I just fumed as I rode it down. When the doors opened…

two guys in wheelchairs got on.

Yeah.

Along with the ugliness, this election has produced a tremendous number of grace notes: the recent report of employees at an Indiana call center walking out rather than read anti-Obama talking points; the McCain supporters who confronted and shunned an Islamophobe outside a rally (captured on YouTube); and the story (reported on Politico) of how a McCain backer in line to vote early in Hamilton County, Ohio, lent his NASCAR jacket to three elderly Jewish women after overhearing that they would not be allowed to enter the polling place wearing their Obama gear. While chatting with the women, who spoke of the alliance of Jews and blacks during the civil rights struggle, the man was seized with the desire to be on the right side of history; when it was time for him to cast his ballot, he voted for Obama as well.

This last story gets at something profound about why we go to the trouble of voting. We vote in order to change the country, to exercise our rights, to make our voices heard and a hundred other clichés as shopworn as they are true. But we also vote because it places us in direct fellowship with other citizens; we vote because it is a secular sacrament, an act of civic solidarity. Because it is the ultimate declaration that we are, indeed, all in this together.

– From The Nation

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our country.”

From Abraham Lincoln’s annual message to congress, December 1, 1862

“Taken literally, you might assume this is just some dude who doesn’t want to get his bike wet. And that’s fine. But you could also look at it another way; as an eye-opening symbol, an environmental statement, and/or a helpful reminder that while one is only one, it’s still one. Ride your bike. Save the world. Or die trying. ”