Thursday, December 18, 2003

Weather: Freezing cold -- very few clouds overnight. Very slick roads this morning.

Wildlife: The goose is nesting in the reeds, and under the feeder. I hope it's eating!

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Media Watch: "Beetlegeuse" on the Sci-Fi Network -- Tim Burton was really good and original once!
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel showed that poor attempt at flight with the reconstructed Wright flyer on his late night show -- I noticed that the re-enactor was on a too-short track, at a too-steep pitch, in sodden weather, and didn't have two men holding up the wing tips, unlike the Wrights -- it was a recipe for mud-diving, which he did.

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Down-loaded the "Spiderman" Template -- let's see where THAT leads!
No pictures, just links to the movie site -- Heck wit' yah, Spidey!
Changing back!

Wright Stuff: 100 Years of Flight! They didn't get that reconstructed flyer into the air today at Kill Devil Hill -- I'm sure the Wrights would have stayed inside in that weather.
The main thing about the Wright Brothers was that they were the ONLY aeronauts at the time who even saw the necessity of STEERING their motorized gliders and landing them safely.
Other investigators were losing their lives in crashes just after they became airbourne, and continued to launch themselves into the blue for short hops and constant crashes 'ala Evel Kenieval, until Wilbur Wright demonstrated the wisdom of he and his brother's approach near Paris.
Weather: Warmish -- about 4 mm of snow fell last night.

Wildlife: Momma Deer and her twins -- leave some for the goose!

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Media Watch: All-Saddam News TV dominates the cable -- looks like Baghdad Television in the 80's! "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" had a self-congratulatory holiday party -- the original participants got to sit-in on the cattiness too. One thing about the show -- lots of (video) shots of alcoholic beverages makes it look like a drunk-fest, which may or may not be true. There were also related appearences of the "Fab Five" on Oprah, and a puzzling "making the video" half-hour program -- WHAT video? Oh well, Jai, the "culture guy," came across as a more intelligent person than he often appears to be in the show.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Weather: A moment of sunlight, but it's getting darker -- snow joke!?

Wildlife: Momma Deer and her two fawns are sticking near the house since we've been feeding the goose. Don't get me in trouble with Fish & Wildlife, deerey!

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

Media Watch: Cable news stations -- All Saddam, All the Time! World Wide Web -- Almost the same damn thang!
Monday Night Football -- Philadelphia and Miami "duked it out." Philly finally pushed ahead to stay in the last 3 minutes. That's nine wins in a row for the team led by Donovan McNabb, the athlete who "Big Fat Idiot" Limbaugh insisted "wasn't that good," and whose success he ascribed to "the media."
Well, EAT POOP Rush Limbaugh, and ESPN too -- for wasting air time with your hateful, racist sewage.

Monday, December 15, 2003

It's MONDAY -- that means I gotta fill-in what happened over the weekend!

Weather: A long, soft snow fell over Friday and Saturday. It let up by Sunday, but we're all still digging out today.
I had to shovel the walks and stairs at the Hockaday Museum of Art on Saturday,
Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana. but I wonder if it was worth it -- the de-icer will tell the tale tomorrow.

Wildlife: That snow covered up all the food I put out for the wayward goose -- I'm sure the deer are helping themselves to some of it too. I caught Momma Deer and her two fawns crunching away the other night. The suet feeder is drawing Flickers, Magpies, Woodpeckers, and the Pheasants are congregating below the feeders.
Yesterday, a Bald Eagle made it's rounds near the aereator pond -- the Ducks, and Goose got right in the water!

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Media Watch: On the news programs, it's SADDAM 24/7 -- Michael Jackson must be jealous. Kid Rock's Christmas was a welcome, if vulgar, respite. Football -- speaking of vulgar, Bush's unnecessary prattle pre-empted Mad TV and Jillian Barbarie on Fox's pre-game show -- I really wanted something to laugh about instead. Later that afternoon, I saw a home team force a game into overtime, and then win against a tiring visiting defense.
My wife and I somehow found ourselves watching Miss America Pagents from 1958 and 1983 -- the comparisons were interesting, especially since the outlines of both events were so similar -- overly-decorated formal gowns, swim suits with almost unwalkable high heels, and talent competitions that made most of the contestants look pretty dorky. Both shows had former Miss America winners on parade too.
Let's see -- Mary Ann Mobley won the 1958 pagent with her quick wits, Anita Bryant was a runner up. Mobley made some movies later, and seemed to get along with fellow Mississippi native Elvis Presley. Bryant, whose subsequent fame was built on pitching Florida orange juice, was eventually used as a poster-child for some anti-gay bigotry, with her consent, in the years before the '83 pagent -- bad career move -- her B-minus voice couldn't carry her through that controversey.
Miss America 1984 (Uh oh, watch out for THAT year!) was the extraordinarily talented Vanessa Williams, later to become a movie and recording star, and perhaps a millionaire by now. A "scandal" ensued late in her "reign," when the sleazy Bob Guccione found, doctored, and published some nude photo sessions she'd done earlier as a student. The M.A. Pagent dropped Ms. Williams like a hot rock -- my friend George Clinton gave her a job singing in the P-Funk All-Stars almost immediately, and her talent took her above all the B.S. in a few years.
Miss America of the next year was a somewhat prissy Miss Utah. To the lady's credit, although she was neither the most talented nor the best looking contestant, she was NOT the first to be selected for political reasons.
Utah doesn't deserve any recognition as a beacon of morality -- the so-called "religious" patriarchs that run the place have much more in common with Bob Guccione than with Martin Luther.