May 2008 Archives
Sculptor Lei Yixin with a model of his MLK statue destined for The Mall in DC
All Things Considered did a segment on the National MLK Memorial, which will be built on the Mall, between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The inspiration for the statue that will dominate the memorial is from King's "I Have A Dream" speech:
In the original design for the MLK memorial, a bust of King emerges almost organically out of the side of the Stone of Hope. To get to the stone, a visitor would walk through two rocks symbolizing the Mountain of Despair. That design won the competition set up by the U.S. Fine Arts Commission, the federal agency that approves anything that gets built on the National Mall. But in the new model for the statue, King is much bigger. His arms are crossed defiantly and he has a solemn look on his face
The commission overseeing the project thinks MLK is too harsh, severe, in his expression. I'm good with that. MLK shouldn't be turned into Uncle Fluffy. I'd like to put up a copy of that statue outside Vitty-cent's office door, and another one outside Scalise's office-when he gets to DC to remind those pigs that the world is watching them.
What Barclays is doing is just bound to piss people off:
Barclays will suffer in the long run on this, because most large companies aren't smart enough to return rates to their higher levels when there is an ecoonomic upturn. People will remember this and will bail for other jobs as soon as they can. What Barclays will be left with are those unmotivated to find something better, and that's going to hurt their overall productivity in the long run.
Barclays Capital is forcing its IT contractors to choose between a 10 per cent pay cut or a quick exit from the company.I've gone through this with some of the companies for which I've done training over the years. Still, it's different to pull this stunt to code monkeys slaving in cubicles all day. Better to cut the number of jobs and keep wages the same.
The decision, presumably an alternative to cutting jobs as the bank negotiates the current financial crisis, has sparked outrage amongst contract staff, who have to signal their "acceptance" of the wage cut this month.
Barclays will suffer in the long run on this, because most large companies aren't smart enough to return rates to their higher levels when there is an ecoonomic upturn. People will remember this and will bail for other jobs as soon as they can. What Barclays will be left with are those unmotivated to find something better, and that's going to hurt their overall productivity in the long run.
how would you like this to be left on your answering machine:
talk about a parent's nightmare!
Sandie Petee came home from running an errand to find a message her son had accidentally left on her answering machine. She hit play and heard the sound of Stephen in the middle of a battle with insurgents in Afghanistan. Petee talks with Andrea Seabrook about the scare.
talk about a parent's nightmare!
NOLA-disu's post on the behavior of the criminal organization known as Tulane's chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha brought me back to memories of being in a fraternity at University of New Orleans.
I'm a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, initiated in December of 1976 at UNO. We were (and still are) the only fraternity to own a house. Since it was off-campus, we didn't have any sort of obligations to the university or monitoring from them. It was up to us to maintain standards of proper behavior at social functions and in daily life around the house. Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we failed. Still, we never crossed the line to criminal. Of course, most of us were local boys, not out of town kids with no ties/roots in the city.
The pikes are one of the reasons we rarely went to uptown bars back in the day. We'd go to Bruno's on Thursday nights because one of our fraternity brothers had a gig spinning oldies there, but that was about it. I never set foot in "The Boot" until I was something like 26 years old, mainly because it would be like going into a pub near White Hart Lane in London with an Arsenal shirt on. What scares me is that the current crop of pikes aren't just guilty of "high spirits" as they call it in English public schools, they appear to be pathologically violent:
In terms of the current hazing incidents, we see a clear example of why stupid white boys from the Middle Colonies shouldn't be allowed near Creole cuisine:
Crab boil? These boys are idiots. That stuff is so concentrated that it stings when it comes into contact with the skin. And it got in the eyes and on the genitals of those pledges? Incredible.
Still, I'm guilty of the one thing that the rest of the fraternities and sororities bemoan when incidents like this happen, focusing on the negative. I like this quote from a guy in ZBT:
So true. I enjoyed my fraternity experience and am proud to be a Lambda Chi. My first born (a sophomore at the Georgia Institute of Technology) isn't a fraternity kid, but that's OK. The oldest kiddo of one of my best friends is a Theta Xi at UL and is loving it. We have to chalk up the pikes in the "shit happens" category. Hopefully Tulane will flush this shit down the toilet and pipe it back to New Jersey.
I'm a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, initiated in December of 1976 at UNO. We were (and still are) the only fraternity to own a house. Since it was off-campus, we didn't have any sort of obligations to the university or monitoring from them. It was up to us to maintain standards of proper behavior at social functions and in daily life around the house. Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we failed. Still, we never crossed the line to criminal. Of course, most of us were local boys, not out of town kids with no ties/roots in the city.
The pikes are one of the reasons we rarely went to uptown bars back in the day. We'd go to Bruno's on Thursday nights because one of our fraternity brothers had a gig spinning oldies there, but that was about it. I never set foot in "The Boot" until I was something like 26 years old, mainly because it would be like going into a pub near White Hart Lane in London with an Arsenal shirt on. What scares me is that the current crop of pikes aren't just guilty of "high spirits" as they call it in English public schools, they appear to be pathologically violent:
One of the alleged assailants in the hazing incident, Kevin Dunn, has a previous battery conviction. Dunn and another man were booked on charges of second-degree battery and negligent injuring in March 2006 after kicking and punching another student after they got into an argument, according to court records.
In terms of the current hazing incidents, we see a clear example of why stupid white boys from the Middle Colonies shouldn't be allowed near Creole cuisine:
The fraternity, commonly called PIKE, now faces allegations that members poured boiling water on the bodies of pledges and caked them with flour, crab boil, vinegar, cayenne peppers and wasabi sauce. The victims were treated at a local hospital with second- and third-degree burns, according to New Orleans police.
Crab boil? These boys are idiots. That stuff is so concentrated that it stings when it comes into contact with the skin. And it got in the eyes and on the genitals of those pledges? Incredible.
Still, I'm guilty of the one thing that the rest of the fraternities and sororities bemoan when incidents like this happen, focusing on the negative. I like this quote from a guy in ZBT:
Gibson, sitting on his fraternity house's stoop Wednesday afternoon, likened fraternity life to an airport. "Planes land and take off all the time, but only the crashes get magnified," he said.
So true. I enjoyed my fraternity experience and am proud to be a Lambda Chi. My first born (a sophomore at the Georgia Institute of Technology) isn't a fraternity kid, but that's OK. The oldest kiddo of one of my best friends is a Theta Xi at UL and is loving it. We have to chalk up the pikes in the "shit happens" category. Hopefully Tulane will flush this shit down the toilet and pipe it back to New Jersey.
From the N to the O to the L to the A, Renard Poche's CD, "4U 4ME" is simply incredible. I was humming "Same Old Thing" by the Meters the other day when LisaPal told everyone on Twitter to check out the website and give the tunes a listen.
Old-school funk is where I well and truly reveal that I'm a musical mutant. i went to Brother Martin in the early-mid 1970s. One of my debate team partners introduced me to War, in between us listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. The Meters actually played a BMHS homecoming dance, a big gig for them (over 1,000 people). Hanging around the basketball team (I was a sports statistician) turned me on to the Brothers Johnson, Parliament, and the Ohio Players. Then I'd go home and listen to Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Total schizo. 30+ years later, however, I'm more likely to queue up a bunch of those old-school funk tunes. My son's a big part of why that happens. My 13-year old bone player's band does a lot of old school music. In fact, he told me today the BMHS band will be playing "Apache" by Sugar Hill Gang next football season. This on top of the Gap Band, Funkadelic, EWF, and DAZZ band stuff they already play.
But I digress as I listen to "Tumba." It's one thing to re-live the music of one's youth; it's another altogether to discover that someone has run with that music, updating it, kept it fresh, recharged the funk. The mixture of old school, a little of rap, classic jazz rhythms, and oh so much love and soul blend together as only a New Orleanian can make them.
The "intro" surprised me, because usually a commercial CD puts its best musical foot forward on the first track. I grabbed "4U 4ME" as a digital release, and the approach there is different. The intro is the teaser to get you to buy the other tunes. It worked on me, you can just hear the promise of good tracks in the background.
And Renard delivers, first with "Funk 4U," bringing me back to riding the basketball team bus, voice box and all. "I Thought" and its smooth sax combined with a bit of rap goes good with a Hubig's pie. The groove is definitely in full session by "Flavr," and ready to march down the street in "We R"
If "4U 4ME" was a dining experience, it would be a platonic meal.
Support NOLA musicians. Buy these tunes.
Kimber (aka FabGirl on twitter) was laughing about my students I teach in these computer classes. Usually they're all male, but occasionally i get female students. Occasionally those females are total hotties.
One time, back when I was teaching Tru64 UNIX classes, I walked into the office of a company I used to do a lot of work for in suburban Boston. The office manager greeted me in the office and said I was in classroom #1 (of three) that week. I go drop my stuff down in that classroom, and there's this stunning, 5'2" or so blonde in short shorts. No way, thinks I, is this gal here for UNIX class. I figured the office manager got it backwards, and one of the web statistics classes was in #1 and I was further down the hall.
No, office manager says, that's indeed your class. I said, so, should I tell the blonde to move to the other room? No, I'm told, blonde is a UNIX system administrator.
That morning most definitely restored my belief in a benevolent Supreme Being. :-)
One time, back when I was teaching Tru64 UNIX classes, I walked into the office of a company I used to do a lot of work for in suburban Boston. The office manager greeted me in the office and said I was in classroom #1 (of three) that week. I go drop my stuff down in that classroom, and there's this stunning, 5'2" or so blonde in short shorts. No way, thinks I, is this gal here for UNIX class. I figured the office manager got it backwards, and one of the web statistics classes was in #1 and I was further down the hall.
No, office manager says, that's indeed your class. I said, so, should I tell the blonde to move to the other room? No, I'm told, blonde is a UNIX system administrator.
That morning most definitely restored my belief in a benevolent Supreme Being. :-)
I was a dad who was very active in raising my children. I took the night shift feedings, did diaper runs to Toys R Us and/or WallyWorld, and then changed said diapers when necessary. I washed bottles, did those crappy disposable-bag bottles, you name it.
I'll admit that wife did more shifts in the NICU with our daughter, but the particular trauma of a very early preemie is the exception to the rule. I held down the fort with older brother who was three at that point.
I know you self-styled mommy bloggers encounter your share of males who don't do much to help the cause of child-rearing, but your poor attempts at sarcastic beat-downs on males don't impress me. In spite of whatever personal experiences you may have to the contrary, there are a lot of two-parent families where "kid" duties are shared. Maybe not equally, but often fairly.
Sell the sarcasm someplace else.
Love,
YatPundit
I'll admit that wife did more shifts in the NICU with our daughter, but the particular trauma of a very early preemie is the exception to the rule. I held down the fort with older brother who was three at that point.
I know you self-styled mommy bloggers encounter your share of males who don't do much to help the cause of child-rearing, but your poor attempts at sarcastic beat-downs on males don't impress me. In spite of whatever personal experiences you may have to the contrary, there are a lot of two-parent families where "kid" duties are shared. Maybe not equally, but often fairly.
Sell the sarcasm someplace else.
Love,
YatPundit
When going to JazzFest, I always park in the 100-200 block of Canal Blvd., right next to Greenwood Cemetery. No meters, usually not parked up at all. From there, cross into the neutral ground and catch the Esplanade bus line. Get off near the Mystery Street entrance to the Fair Grounds.
Reverse this on the way out.
Happy Festing!
Reverse this on the way out.
Happy Festing!
Dear Mr. Morial.
Shut up.
Please. You're embarassing yourself when you try to act as an elder statesman and spokesman for your family.
Your credibility in this town is so poor that, yes, the Convention Center wants to downplay the Morial name because the first thing people associate with that name isn't your father's legacy.
It's YOUR reputation they think of when they hear "Morial," and that plays into the whole New Orleans-is-corrupt meme.
Your associates have been convicted of federal crimes, are cooperating with federal investigations that still may lead to your indictment, and some are already in federal prison. Corrupt activities on the part of your closest advisers have even brought down one of the city's best leaders and most promising politicians.
Your activities and those of your associates have resulted in your own brother becoming a federal felon.
In the wake of the storm, you've abandoned the city to live in New York City. When your name comes up, it's usually in either that context or within the context of criminal activity.
You're an embarassment to us, sir. Please just stop talking.
Sincerely,
YatPundit
Shut up.
Please. You're embarassing yourself when you try to act as an elder statesman and spokesman for your family.
Your credibility in this town is so poor that, yes, the Convention Center wants to downplay the Morial name because the first thing people associate with that name isn't your father's legacy.
It's YOUR reputation they think of when they hear "Morial," and that plays into the whole New Orleans-is-corrupt meme.
Your associates have been convicted of federal crimes, are cooperating with federal investigations that still may lead to your indictment, and some are already in federal prison. Corrupt activities on the part of your closest advisers have even brought down one of the city's best leaders and most promising politicians.
Your activities and those of your associates have resulted in your own brother becoming a federal felon.
In the wake of the storm, you've abandoned the city to live in New York City. When your name comes up, it's usually in either that context or within the context of criminal activity.
You're an embarassment to us, sir. Please just stop talking.
Sincerely,
YatPundit
