This is a bit worrisome.

Blogging's free on Blogger. Ann (to say the least) is a power user though, and as such (I'd assume), would be generating a fair bit of traffic (donc revenue) for them. Far more than my little site that had all its posts/drafts restored fairly quickly.

What gives?

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She's back; good. This is at least the second time that this sort of thing's happened. Might be time to consider a better host.

Better Dead Than Red In the Head? (Hopefully Not.)



After a scare back in the dust days (not willing to post pictures), I was totally converted to the "check yourself" for the skin. So far, so good, despite the wrinkles that eventually show up with age. Please, folks, take care of yourselves!

Well, it looks like two of the three ballot questions we got to vote on were rejected.

1.) Proposed getting rid of the 6.25% sales tax charged in addition to the excise tax we pay on alcoholic beverages. This just squeaked through.

2.) Proposed abolishing a holdover from the days of rent control - that is, fast-tracking the permit process for housing developers who promised to include a proportion of 'affordable housing' in their plans. I'm actually not surprised that was rejected, as it was kind of confusing (took several read-throughs and discussions to come to a conclusion as to how to vote on this). I wonder, too, if more than a few folks thought they were voting against the law itself, rather than against its appeal. (You never know.)*

3.) Proposed rolling back the sales tax from 6.25% to 3%. Honestly didn't think it would pass. If they'd just have proposed rolling it back to the good old 5% of a year ago, it might have had more of a chance.

***

* Listened in on the most awesome conversation between two kids regarding this.

"Umm, so, how did you vote on question two? Sorry to change the subject."

"Well, I wasn't sure when I went in. I knew a couple of guys do the opposite of what they meant because they got mixed up. Didn't want to do that."

"I think most Somerville-ites will vote against it. You know, it's affordable housing."

"Yeah, I was thinking I was against it, but it's all about affordable housing, and it's all about making the world a better place."

"Yeah. Yeah."

I'm not even sure where I could begin on the Anchoress's piece on the tension between those she calls the Credentialed Gentry and the "Unwashed." Speaks volumes to my experiences here where I'm currently resting.

My Dad's a big fan of hers and he's a pretty sensible person. Don't know why I don't read her work more regularly.

Was kind of waiting around to see what the aftermath of the original story's publication would be. Surprised me, given defamation/libel law out there and the involved parties' normal speed at invoking it, that a suit wasn't immediately filed. Guess this is why not.

Interesting and Not Unexpected.

In fact, it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint.

I'm kind of curious about something, too, given that the last major delay I experienced was due to hasty implementation of poorly defined security regulations. Are airlines (and ultimately the passengers/their clients) to be penalized if the delay is directly related to government policy?

Interesting that the diacritical sometimes used over the n in Habanero (and which is almost always pronounced) - ñ - is actually a hyperforeignism. I did not know that. Is nice to learn something new every now and again.

Pavel and I are I guess what you'd call cheap coffee connoisseurs; more to the point, even if we both were employed full time, I don't think you'd find us paying $20-$30/lb for coffee when there's perfectly good stuff out there for considerably less than that.* Generally, except for the emergency runs to the bodega across the street for the least expensive Latin stuff (always good, though always ground), we get whole bean, so I guess we're not completely lost.

Anyway, our two favorites in this area are Trader Joe's and Eight O'Clock (with 8:00 winning out for a while when they had their frequent buyer program). Had been drinking a lot of the TJ's French Roast lately, as they sell that in a huge tub. It's nice, though a bit messy in the grinder due to its oiliness. Only just ran out of it a couple days ago, so Pavel went out and picked up a big, two pound bag of Eight O'Clock.

As I'm the first to get up in the morning, I'm the one who preps the first pot. Always use the same amount of coffee, so found it interesting when Pavel mentioned that stuff was tasting too weak. Myself, I noted that I was getting the jitters and actual head spins. Slow on the uptake that I can be sometimes, finally noted that we had the regular blend (which I can only assume is a city roast - meaning, the least cooked coffee out there - this imparts a mild flavor and burns off the least amount of caffeine. Kind of like Dunkin Donuts stuff as opposed to your normal cup of Starbucks). Since we have so much of it, I'm actually thinking of playing at roasting a bit of it as I'm not nuts about the caffeine and the housemate's not too thrilled with the flavor. We'll see what happens.

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*One thing we do make a point of doing is avoiding anything "fair trade," as there doesn't appear to be much "fairness" about it if one takes Webster's definition. I know that there are other definitions at play, though. In any event, Bad Catholic that I am, I just see it as lefty indulgence-selling.

Had a rough night sleeping last night, followed by a couple panic attacks in the morning. As the chest is killing me and I'm feeling pretty tired and unhappy, I'm thinking that this has to be hormonal. Got all of it written down on the calendar and am going to chart it from here on in, as it seems to be happening fairly regularly.

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?

(Not a mineral, which really narrows things down a bit, doesn't it.)

Read about this last night in the Yahoo headlines* and thought, oh how ironic. Here's a guy caught lying about his copyright violation who has a history of suing other people for the same thing himself.** Guess the chickens are coming home to roost.

As I'd mentioned earlier, I find some of his work amusing and interesting, but think that he's a somewhat unsavory character. As for the AP, well, they have their own problems, too, with creative depiction of current events. Don't find either of them to be particularly sympathetic, so guess will just sit back and enjoy the spectacle of one purveyor of sketchy media eating its young.

***

*To be read to be believed - funny how they were tying themselves in knots rhetorically to make both Fairey sound like a sort of Robin Hood, but also to make the AP a "legitimate" victim (to those who scan Yahoo news articles) by referring at least three times to the AP as 'the not-for-profit' news agency. Wish I'd have saved it in fact, but it was like 3:00 am and I was not thinking clearly

**Yes, it's Wikipedia, but it's sourced (Take a look at notes 37-40).

A Bit of Perspective.

A rough equivalent would be Wall Street being gerrymandered into a separate political entity and our president pushing the candidature of one of his daughters to head it.

(They've not finished college either. Furthermore, and please correct me if I'm wrong: under the French educational system, I don't believe a baccalaureate or high school diploma is even necessary to matriculate into law, which is an undergraduate university degree.)

There are at least a couple of this guy's works around my neighborhood - this one around the corner from me and another nearer to Union Square. Am not much into this sort of stuff; it's a bit too hip (sanitized skate punk and situation-ism) and the artist seems like somewhat of an unsympathetic character.

First time I saw the masked 'freedom fighter,' was a fair bit put off. Took a good long look today and decided that this is actually pretty interesting. I like the aesthetic relating of the Muslim with a Marxist; she'd look really good on a tee shirt. Then there's the label "peace." Now, who am I going to believe here - whoever labeled this as such or my lying eyes? The not so subliminal message in the background feeds me the answer.

Pavel says that I'm overthinking this. Maybe I am, who knows? I do have to hand it to Fairey, though, for his making Marxism as palatable as Coca Cola for a great deal more than the usual campus true-believers here. For that, he's a marketing genius and probably deserves to be laughing all the way to the bank.

Hubs.

Sallied forth from the home port for a little serendipitous adventure this afternoon. Picked a route at random and ended up at the geographic center of the state. After dinner, while stargazing, found Sagittarius and from there, Milky Way's center.

Small World.

Received a message from someone over at Ravelry asking about my experiences at St. Jean-le-Thomas. Apparently her family hails from that neck of the woods. Further conversation revealed that we'd both grown up in roughly the same area in the States, though we're no where near one another right now.

She mentioned that the next time I visit St. Jean, I should mention to some friends who own a restaurant there that she sends her best wishes. Asked her if she meant the one in town attached to the hotel or the guinguette on the beach. Couldn't have been the guinguette, as that would be too weird.





Le Petit Nice; St. Jean-le-Thomas. August, 2009.

One evening under the big tent, the waitress asked me where I was from. I did my usual shrugging of the shoulders and answered that I came from les Etat-Unis. Instead of smiling and changing the subject as a lot of folks are wont to do, she asked me where exactly I was from. Answered that I was from the Boston Area. She grinned and told me that that was quite a coincidence as, she'd been there a number of times before. Had a friend in Cambridge who was originally from Granville (a couple towns over) and who, in fact, was due to arrive the next day. Wow, quel coincidence, was all I could think to reply. She went on to mention that he owned a restaurant, perhaps I'd heard of it?

My jaw dropped, as did the Frenchie's. Regained ourselves enough to start laughing like crazy. Calmed down, then explained to her that two of our best friends had worked for her friend: he as bookkeeper, she as chef.

Underpass.









Took another wander around the Mystic yesterday; saw all manner of interesting things, both man-made and natural. (More pictures here, if you're interested.)

Happy Fourth!

A really good (albeit long - 15 min) interview with PJ O'Rourke on the Auto Industry, Regulation, Politicans in General. Enjoy!

Minutes from the Congres de Versailles.

Funny what the Niqab thing got sandwiched between.

22/06 14:55 - Nicolas Sarkozy began speaking before the assembled parliament at the Congress of Versailles; the first since 1875*.

22/06 15:02 - Nicholas Sarkozy declared before the Congress that "the economic crisis is not finished," adding that "nothing [will be] as it was before." "Acting as though everything must start over again as before with the same criteria, the same methods would be a fatal error," He added that "we do not know when [the crisis] will end."

15:16 - "Secularism is not the rejection of religious sentiment," affirmed the president. It is a principle of neutrality, of respect." he specified, adding that "we should not be ashamed of our values."

15:20 - Nicolas Sarkozy highlighted that wearing the Burkha (full body veil) is "a problem for liberty, for women's dignity." "The Burkha is not a religious issue, it is a sign of submission, of the lowering of women," he insisted, stating specifically that "it is not welcome in the territory of the Republic."

15:23 - Nicolas Sarkozy stated that, regarding Hadopi, he wanted to go "as far as possible" against illegal downloading.

15:26 - Nicolas Sarkozy rejected the principal of a "politic of rigor**" "I will not participate in a politic of rigor, as this has always failed," specifying that "I will not increase taxes."

15:30 - The President affirmed that the government will have "a date with reform." He insisted that "We will pursue reform on the federal level and on the administrative level. We will not shrink from cutting (by attrition) one out of every two administrative positions in the public sector. We will go further in getting a handle on medical expenses and we will go as far as possible in regional reforms."

15:38 - Nicolas Sarkozy announced a "rearrangement***" of the government for Wednesday.

15:40 - The Chief of State announced the creation of a national loan (pool) which will be devoted exclusively to financing strategic priorities and which would be raised either on the financial markets or via the on the French people. The amount and the procedures surrounding this loan would be adopted only when the priorities were decided upon.

15:42 - "Europe must change," warned the president, adding that "it cannot function after the crisis as it did beforehand." He also added that, "change in Europe must move in tandem with change in France."

15:46 - Sarkozy made a declaration that the decision-making time for pension reform would take place "mid 2010," further stating that "everything would be on the table," including raising the retirement age.

15:53 - The President expressed his desire for a solution to the problem of adolescents leaving the educational system at 16 with nothing and 'falling through the cracks.' "This is an investment for French Society that cannot be circumvented," the chief of State explained. M. Sarkozy declared his support for a state-run "Internships for Excellence" program geared specifically towards "Children of Modest Means."

16:19 - Nicolas Sarkozy announced to the assembled parliament his proposition that "all who were laid-off for fiscal reasons would continue to receive their (full?) salary as well as training for a year." "I confirm that all tho lost their jobs due to economic reasons - I repeat - all who lost their jobs for economic reasons - must continue to receive their salaries and training for a full year."

16:25 - The President confirmed before the Congress his determination in advancing the carbon tax in order to fight pollution and to lighten the (tax) burden on work (employers?): "I hope to go as far as possible on the Carbon Tax. The more we tax pollution, the more we can lighten the burden for Work." (No timeframe was specified.)

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*First since 1875. That's saying a lot.

** Don't really know what "politique de la rigeur" is - politics of force? Interesting statement, given that one could argue that his actions to date have been very evocative of that absolutism/nationalism mix born under Louis XIV and perfected by Napoleon.

*** "rearrangement" - remaniement - hmm. Wonder if there's going to be a ministerial shakeup on Wednesday.

Compare and Contrast?

Hmm, the closest analogy I can come up with is maybe:

CBS correspondent in DC : Student Protester in Iran :: Nanterre in 68 : Prague Spring?

I know it's not quite apt, so if anyone can come up with something better, please let me know.


***

Actually, it occurred to me - as frivolous and immature as I do see a lot of 68ers as being, there *were* actual causes for grievance or protest in Mai 68. When compared to their Czech counterparts, though, the French students come across as incredibly immature.

So, need to come up with a better analogue. Maybe

CBS correspondent in DC : Student Protester in Iran :: Nero Fiddling : Rome Burning would be better.

Rhythm Section.

The mockingbird came back a couple days ago and has been serenading the neighborhood in the early morning. Today, noticed a woodpecker joining in.