From the Champlain Basin

Secrecy In The Cloud | Talking Points Memo

2010-12-03T22:14:00.001-05:00

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/12/secrecy_in_the_cloud.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Talking-Points-Memo+%28Talking+Points+Memo%3A+by+Joshua+Micah+Marshall%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

asian slaw

2010-09-04T09:50:00.000-04:00

very similar to below, but with cabbage. this would be a good candidate for some chiles (dried or fresh).

head napa cabbage, finely minced/shredded
1 large shallot (you could probably use 2 if you're up for it)
2 lemon cucumbers, diced
1 bunch cilantro

dressing:
1/2 c fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 c fish sauce
palm sugar (or regular sugar) to taste (try about 1 tbsp)

I always try to mince the cabbage up ahead of time and salt it to get some excess water out. Otherwise, it gets a bit watery.

thai cucumber salad

2010-09-04T09:46:00.001-04:00

Ingredients:

Salad:
2 large cucumbers, quartered, seeded and sliced (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 cup of shallots, minced
1/4 cup of coconut flakes (optional)

Dressing:
about 1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
about 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
about 1 tablespoon of palm sugar (white sugar is OK, reduce to 1/2 tablespoon)

She Also Goes to Brasseries, Looking for Lingerie.

2010-02-25T23:25:00.002-05:00

Customer, after studying menu: Do you have turkey sandwiches?

Cashier: We're a Turkish restaurant, not turkey restaurant. We have lamb. (pointing towards large spinning leg on spit)
Customer: That's not turkey. (walks away)

--Bereket Turkish Restaurant

more food

2010-01-03T17:13:00.000-05:00

Salt-Encrusted Potatoes

Ingredients
• 1 pound fingerling potatoes, washed
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup Kosher salt
• 2 garlic cloves, skins on
• 1 cup Italian parsley, washed, leaves only
• 1 cup cilantro, washed, leaves only
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Method
1. Put the potatoes, water, and Kosher salt into a pot and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. With a wooden skewer, test to see if they are tender. Pour off most of the water, reserving as much salt as possible.

2. Lower the heat and keep a watchful eye on the potatoes. The goal is to let the water evaporate so the potatoes are coated in salt. Be careful not to burn the salt or the potatoes. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes, then remove the potatoes and let cool.

3. Use a kitchen towel to wipe the excess salt off each potato, leaving only a light dusting of salt on each. Clean the potatoes one by one so the skins don't break.

4. To make the dipping sauce, start by putting the garlic cloves on a skewer. Char them on an open flame. Brush off the blackened skins and roughly chop. Place the parsley and cilantro leaves, the roasted garlic, black pepper, and olive oil into a mini-blender and puree to a smooth consistency.

5. Pour the sauce into a small bowl. Serve the potatoes and sauce at room temperature.

via

Tonight's Dinner

2010-01-01T16:18:00.002-05:00

Here's a recipe I found for moose stew that I edited for personal preference. Thanks for the meat, Ernie!

First, shoot a moose ( or caribou, or deer, or cow).

Sift together 1/4 cup flour with 3/4 tsp salt, a few grains cayenne, dash of thyme, nutmeg, cloves. Put flour mixture in a large bowl or bag and add about 1 pound of moose round steak cut into one-inch cubes. Cover meat with flour mix.

Cook a mess of chopped bacon in a dutch oven to render its fat and sear meat all over. Add three thinly sliced onions. When meat and onions are well-browned, add 1 tblsp Worcestershire, 0.5 cups red burgundy [they say the cheaper the better, and that better be true. I have some royally shitty wine to use up], 5 clove garlic [the original said 1. hahahaha], tomato paste, chopped parsley or celery tops. From what I took from the Cook's Illustrated on goulash, make sure some tops of the meat are sticking above the liquid level in order to get some browning on the meat.

Cover pot and set in a 350 degree oven until tender. Add salt and pepper to taste, and mushrooms [no mushrooms this time, unfortunately]. Best if made a full day before and reheated. Serve over egg noodles.

Important: Obama sells out country to big pharma

2009-08-06T12:27:00.001-04:00

From Ezra Klein:

There's been a lot of skepticism about the White House's strategy of cutting deals in which industry players voluntarily promise to save money over the next 10 years. The skepticism is simple enough: If the pharmaceutical companies are willing to save $80 billion as a favor to Barack Obama, that suggests there's a lot more than $80 billion that could, and probably should, be saved. As Nancy Pelosi told me, "The minute the drug companies settled for $80 billion, we knew it was $160 billion. Right? If they're giving away $80 billion?" A few minutes later, she suggested that maybe those agreements weren't inviolable. "The president made the agreements he made," she said. "And maybe we'll be limited by that. But maybe not!"

A front-page story in today's New York Times suggests that her optimism was misplaced. Billy Tauzin, head lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry, hasn't liked some of the cost-saving measures moving through the House. In particular, he's worried about provisions that would allow doctors to negotiate prices with Medicare. So he sat down with a reporter and gave up the game. The deal that the pharmaceutical companies made with the White House wasn't simply to offer up $80 billion in savings. It was to offer up $80 billion in savings so long as the White House promised to protect them from anything that would extract more than $80 billion in savings.

Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.

Drug industry lobbyists reacted with alarm this week to a House health care overhaul measure that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices and demand additional rebates from drug manufacturers.

In response, the industry successfully demanded that the White House explicitly acknowledge for the first time that it had committed to protect drug makers from bearing further costs in the overhaul. The Obama administration had never spelled out the details of the agreement.

"We were assured: 'We need somebody to come in first. If you come in first, you will have a rock-solid deal,' " Billy Tauzin, the former Republican House member ...

Too Big A Taboo?

2009-07-23T22:20:00.001-04:00

The most important takeaway from the whole Gates thing...

Sent to you via Google Reader

Too Big A Taboo?

You might remember that bizarre story of the Democratic fundraiser out in the San Diego suburbs where an out of control Sheriff's Deputy ended up pepper spraying and throwing to the ground a group of harmless middle aged Dems and taking a couple of them into custody. This Gates story, while it adds the potent addition of race, in many ways gets at a similar issue. Police officers don't get fancy wages. But they put themselves in harm's way for us everyday. And they deserve our respect and our appreciation. But they also work for us. And you do have these cases where people get arrested or knocked around for basically nothing, or at worst mouthing off a bit or not being deferential enough.

Along those lines, TPM Reader NL has this to say ...

I was taken a little aback when Obama used the word "stupidly" last night to describe the actions of the Cambridge Police. Even if his statement could have been worded more carefully, I think the whole controversy brings up an issue that needs to be discussed and is very rarely discussed in a public policy sense. I am not referring to racism. I am referring to the power of the police. With good reason, we praise our police officers on a local, state, and national level. They put their lives on the line for us everyday. No one can doubt the nobility and honor of the profession. It is seldom publicly acknowledged or debated that the police wield great power in the lives of everyday citizens. A decade ago, I worked as an attorney in a fairly large Public Defender's Office. My clients were indigent and many of them were people of color. So, I know a little about police power as well as how persons of low income and color are treated in our criminal justice system. For me, though, the issue is not about race only. It is about the power the police have to arrest someone whether or not a crime took place. Sure, mistakes will happen, and most officers will try not to make an arrest if it is unnecessary. We all know (maybe not Prof. Gates) not to anger a police officer. I had so many cases in which someone cursed at an officer or made a gesture to an officer and ended up spending the night in jail. Prof. Gates spent four hours in jail. Even though his charge was dropped, I'm sure that time in jail for a law-abiding citizen was utterly horrendous. There simply is no reason to arrest someone for hurting your feelings or making an ugly gesture at you. It is not against the law in most contexts. In addition, I can assure you that most people who walk into a court room in a case in which it is the officer's word against him or her (a law-abiding citizen) is at a superior disadvantage. An overwhelming majority of judges simply will not believe the law-abiding citizen over the police off...

Washington Post offers access for cash

2009-07-06T23:04:00.000-04:00

From Talking Points Memo:

Don't Look Good

We're just digging into this story the Politico broke this morning about the Post offering lobbyists access for cash payments. But I'd say the Post has a real problem on its hands.

Here's the lede ...

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and -- at first -- even the paper's own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its "health care reporting and editorial staff."

And Dave Weigel has an email Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli just sent out to the editorial staff saying reporters now will not participate.

It's worth noting the obvious competitive backstory behind the story. Politico is lead on the editorial side by a team of ex-Posties and it has targeted a big part of the paper's business. But facts are facts. And Politico seems to have gotten some that the Post really needs to explain.

Video Time

2009-05-31T18:43:00.000-04:00

Sex With Ducks.

Cocktail Science

2009-05-30T14:36:00.002-04:00

Let's get real anal when it comes to cocktails: let's debate what kind of ice is right for your Old-Fashioned:

The difference was startling. From the first sip, the drink with cheater ice was like a debased “cocktail lite,” with thin flavors and watery insipidness. The chunk ice yielded a richer taste, and had a denser, almost velvety texture to it. After five minutes, the cheater cocktail was deadly flat (“quite foul, actually,” decreed Rubel after a taste), while the drink with chunk ice seemed to be opening up and blossoming. Only after about 20 minutes had the second drink begun to soften around the edges.

I'm intrigued.

Tobacco Sampling List

2009-05-18T21:23:00.003-04:00

If you want to start smoking a pipe, here are some good blends to try:

Full Virgina Flake (pure sweet red virgina goodness)

Penzance (a rich english blend)

Old Gowrie (good rich brown virginia)

With Pipe and Book (Adirondack blend! another english)

Pipe Lust

2009-05-18T21:22:00.002-04:00

Required reading

2009-05-17T09:16:00.001-04:00

On why newspapers are teh suck:

http://www.cjr.org/essay/newspaper_narcissism_1.php?page=all

Camarillo-area greenhouses produce 21st century crops - Los Angeles Times

2009-05-17T09:15:00.002-04:00

fooNeat article on the future of greenhouses. Don't know if they would be
applicable up here, but in sunny climates, good design.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-greenhouse14-2009may14,0,4784175.story

The scene

2009-03-25T18:54:00.001-04:00

First impressions of Denver:

Comimg from the airport, I see rill erosion on roadbanks,then some
nice erosion control blanket and hay bales. Hard to take the engineer
out of me, I guess. Cemented rip rap spillways for their storm ponds,
a twister of dust.

Denver's skyscrapers Pop out of the ground in front of the Rockies
like monoliths.

Walked from downtown (market square) to east 17th street in search of
coffee. A bit over a mile, enough to get winded in the mile high air.
Coffeeshop in an old house, mixed commercial/residential neighborhood.
Great feel, mediocre coffee. Got good tips for live jaZz this week.

From Denver

2009-03-25T14:29:00.001-04:00

In Denver for a week to see my old high school friend. Got here fast,
both planes were ahead of schedule. Some guy took advantage of my good
nature and got $20 from me for an advocacy group (green energy). One
thing I didn't consider is that i'm in country music land now. Shit.
Off to see the Denver lunch scene.

What he said...

2009-02-25T12:38:00.000-05:00

From a Talking Points Memo reader, responding to Gov. Jindal's rebuttal to Obama's address last night:

The problem isn't government, it's Republican government - and everyone knows it.

25 Random Things

2009-02-03T19:42:00.005-05:00

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I want to downsize my life. Ideally, this consists of selling the house, most of the stuff in it, and move back into a 1-bedroom apartment in Burlington.

2. Eventually, I want to build a small house in the middle of nowhere.

3. Regardless, I am a big gear head/tech geek. I fight the urge to buy new music equipment weekly.

3. I haven't had cable for about 5 years now. Don't miss it much. I do watch some TV using my bunny ears. I can get PBS, snow, or french-language Canadian channels.

4. I have studied kung fu for nearly 7 years. I am fairly proficient with a broadsword and a staff. Also know how to use a flute as a weapon.

5. I do not downhill ski very often anymore. It was all I wanted to do in high school, but a bad pair of boots has pushed me over to the cross-country side of things.

6. I keep a rather small circle of friends. The best time of year for friendship is when my high school friends come up to my family's camp.

7. I follow the professional starcraft gaming scene. It is the modern-day version of chess.

8. I am an unabashed food lover. I can also cook. Well. Really well. Sauces are my specialty.

9. I love to drink. Beer, wine, liquor, whatever. I don't discriminate. From Utica Club to Laphroaig 30 year old scotch, I love a good drink.

10. I have only purchased volkswagens for vehicles. Probably won't change, either. I love my Turbo Diesel Golf. My dream car is an 83 GTI.

11. I am about 25% of my way to being an Adirondack 46er. Been that way for a couple years now.

12. Music is a constant in my life. I need musical input througout the day. I go to shows about once every other month, I download a new album or live show a couple times a week, and am constantly bookmarking new artists on last.fm.

13. On a related note, I want to punch anyone who claims "music today sucks." Music today is better than it has ever been, thanks to the intertubes distributing music far and wide for free. Most of the people who say music today sucks only listen to commerical radio and have no idea what's going on in the real world of music.

14. Um, yeah. #13 demonstrated the next thing: I love a good rant. I read political blogs incessantly, and I pen a rant or two every few months on my own blog. I would love to go to DC to shout down the idiots that run the 3-ring circus that is our goverment.

15. I am an afficianado of Achewood, the web comic. I was Lyle for Haloween last year, but no one knew who I was.

16. I am a grammar nazi. I became the default letter checker at my last two employers. I am amused to think that ppl r rly saving time w their txt msgs by eliminating 25% of the letters they type. It's probably mostly laziness. I also chuckle at how many instances I see of people using apostrophes for plurals. "Riccelli Trucking - Trucking at it's best" was emblazoned on about 100 trucks in the Syracuse area.

17. I am also a nazi when it comes to engineering drawings. I was educated by an old-school drafter (started with pencils and graduated to AutoCAD 1.0 through v. 2009), and taught me what goes into a good set of drawings. Since I left that office, no one that I've worked for has produced as good of a set of drawings as I used to.

18. I am not that much of a handyman. Karen and I bought an old house thinking we'd be able to spruce it up, but I find that I get frustrated quickly. It doesn't help that those who owned the place before us botched their work worse than I do...

19. I've only been west of the Mississippi once, for a college design contest. I'm planning to make that twice when I go to see Eric.

20. I came pretty close to flunking out of college, with 2 C's, a D and 2 F's in the spring of sophomore year. Following a re-thinking of priorities, I ended college on the Dean's list.

21. I love winter. Part of the reason I moved to Vermont was to get more intense cold, and more intense snowfalls. The capitol district just wasn't cutting it. I don't want to see soggy, brown ground in early March.

22. I have a pretty good sense of direction. Take to a place once, and I will likely be able to get there again without too much difficulty.

23. I have gone on an annual camping trip with my dad every year since the 7th grade. There have been a few years when it was a chore, but now I look forward to it. We've explored a lot of the canoeable areas of the northeast.

24. I have a tendency to lose stuff. Part of the reason I don't wear a watch is because of my horrid track record losing watches (I still miss that calculator watch I lost in high school). "Where are my keys?" is a common morning question Karen gets asked. Boy is she patient.

25. I have turned into a cat person thanks to my college roommate's cat Kino. Kino rocks, except for that time he sprayed onto my shoes.

I will not force anyone to do this on account of me tagging them. So there.

New Jacob Fred Album Released

2009-01-29T22:25:00.003-05:00

The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, a great, great jazz trio, has released a new album. They're doing it In Rainbows style, with a download from their website. Send your email address to them and you'll get the download link .

Only did a once-thru of it, but I noted that it has a couple of tunes from their last album, "Lil' Tae Rides Again" (also highly recommended, especially for fans of electronic music. An excellent melding of the jazz sensibility and electronic manipulation). This is definitely a less processed album, but more instrumentation (banjos, different types of pianos, guitars) than the bass/drums/electric piano I've come to expect from them. Other songs are ones that have been played on the second sets of their summer tour.

Did Obama just do something crafty?

2009-01-29T22:15:00.002-05:00

So everyone that I read on the intertubes is getting impatient/angry with Obama, not seeing him move fast enough, hit the Republicans hard enough, and designing a bailout bill with GOP-requested tax cuts.

I've tried to be patient. Maybe he's doing this just to deliver on a promise he made in the campaign. If the country sees that zero GOP house members voted for the stimulus bill after all the glad-handling he did, hopefully most will clue into the idea that it isn't the Democrats that are being unreasonable.

Regardless, I read this a bit earlier and chuckled:

The Obama administration has been floating the idea of naming Republican Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) to be Commerce Secretary, several Senate sources said Thursday.

In case you forgot, the original nominee, NM Gov Bill Richardson, had to withdraw his name after a criminal probe in California released his name. So, this spot's still open. Also, keep in mind that NH's governor is a democrat, and will pick Gregg's successor if he takes the post. That would equal 60 votes (once Frankin is certified).

Funny timing, don't you think? Oh yes, and the senate is just starting to take up the stimulus bill.

Video Time: Must-See Starcraft

2009-01-09T23:27:00.003-05:00

Key moments:

9:00 - 9:35

13:00 - 15:00 (commentary on tactics followed by epic fail. with bonus "hero" drone at 14:00)

Economist: Forget the Recession, This Is a Depression

2009-01-09T22:00:00.001-05:00

Sent to you via Google Reader

Economist: Forget the Recession, This Is a Depression

With this morning's news that employers laid off 524,000 workers in December, at least one prominent economist has some news of his own: "The economy is the jaws of a depression," Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland, wrote to reporters this morning.

What's the criterion? Morici claims it's this: Recessions correct themselves, while depressions do not.

Recessions are like stock market corrections—after a time, equity prices rebound without government intervention. Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and stimulus tax rebates and spending have shortened the lives and eased the impact of post-World War II recessions, but those policies did not end them. The economy self corrected.

By contrast, Morici writes, the troubles soon to be inherited by President-elect Barack Obama are more structural, stemming from "bad management practices at the large money center banks and the huge foreign trade deficit. These problems are not self-correcting."

Trouble is, Morici adds, an enormous spending package alone won't fix the problem.

The economy will not recover without fundamental changes in banking and trade policy. A large stimulus package, though necessary, will only give the economy a temporary lift but then unemployment will rise again and continue at unacceptable levels indefinitely without successively larger stimulus packages and huge federal budget deficits. The economy is a depression, not a recession.

The forecast lends truth to that great Onion headline that followed the election: "Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job."

John Brennan Is Set to Be Really Powerful

2009-01-09T21:59:00.001-05:00

Sent to you via Google Reader

John Brennan Is Set to Be Really Powerful

Everyone in the blogosphere — Glenn, I'm looking in your direction — who may have thought that John Brennan was kneecapped just because he didn't become CIA director should check out what President-elect Barack Obama had to say about Brennan during the Blair/Panetta rollout:

I'm pleased to announce that John Brennan – a close advisor, CIA veteran and former leader of the National Counter-Terrorism Center – will be my Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism, serving with the rank of Assistant to the President. John has the experience, vision and integrity to advance America's security.

The point isn't just that Obama hugged Brennan. ("A close advisor… experience, vision and integrity.") Assistant to the President" is the highest rank that any White House staffer can hold. Anyone with that rank has the right to walk into the Oval Office and get a sit-down with the president. At the beginning of the Bush administration, Dick Cheney fought to ensure that Scooter Libby held that rank.

Now, what'll that mean? At a minimum, it'll mean that when Obama is unsure of something he's hearing from CIA, or from Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence, he'll turn to Brennan for a second or third opinion. It's way too early to know — but that won't stop me from wondering — if Brennan at the White House and Deputy CIA Director Steve Kappes might be the actual centers of power for the intelligence community.

Free Day at the Catamount Center

2009-01-09T07:02:00.002-05:00

The Catamount Center is opening this weekend, and according to this, it looks like everything (trail access, rentals) is free on Saturday. Karen and I will definitely be there, you should too.

Making Musical Progress

2009-01-03T22:07:00.002-05:00

It is entirely possible that some musical ideas could be posted in the near future. Finally have a tool that will allow K and I to do more than just noodle around.

New Theme Idea for Schroon Lake '09

2008-12-17T22:36:00.004-05:00

About 350 men, seated shoulder to shoulder at long tables, were devouring slices of beef tenderloin and washing them down with pitchers of beer. As waiters brought trays of meat, the guests reached over and harvested the pink slices with their bare hands, popping them down the hatch.
Each slice was perched on a round of Italian bread, but most of the men ate only the meat and stacked the bread slices in front of them, tallying their gluttony like poker players amassing chips. Laughter and uproarious conversation were in abundance; subtlety was not.

This is taken from an older New York Times article on beefsteaks; which refer to the event, not the cut of meat. Originally used as a political fundraiser in the late 19th century (who wouldn't vote for a guy who buys you all-you-can-eat steak dinners?), the tradition lives on in northern New Jersey.

I know, guys, I know. But don't let that distract you. Think about this:

He grilled tenderloins (the muscle used for filet mignon) over charcoal, sliced them, dipped the slices in melted butter, served them on slices of white sandwich bread, added French fries on the side...

Meat, butter, fries. Does it get any better than that? I'm thinking of taking it old school. Kids these days, wanting to make a good thing bad by making it all healthy:

The Nightingales have made only a few changes since the early days: They now dip the meat slices in margarine instead of butter. The sandwich bread has been replaced by Italian bread (it holds up better to the drippings, although some attendees complain that it’s harder to stack). Relish trays have been replaced with bowls of tossed salad, and the French fries, which were once cooked in rendered fat trimmings from the tenderloins, are now fried in vegetable oil.

So, the main ingredients very closely match the original Schroon meals: meat, pickles are both the same. I like the fries fried in meat fat, it's probably tastier, wastes less, and will kill off the weak faster.

the shocking truth...

2008-11-08T18:12:00.000-05:00

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

this is the reason i'm so happy about last night...

2008-11-05T17:44:00.002-05:00

Sometime around 11:30 Tuesday night, the cheers could be heard reverberating across downtown Ann Arbor, steadily growing louder and louder.

An impromptu parade that started on the University of Michigan Central Campus wound along downtown streets as hundreds of students - joined by passersby and others who spilled out of bars - joyously celebrated the election of America's first black president.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, who was at an election party at Arbor Brewing Co. on Washington Street, celebrating his own victory for a fifth 2-year term. "You could hear them coming and then half the bar went outside and followed along."

That's unbelievable. It's quite heartening to see that we are still one nation. I read quite a few of these stories about random folks high fiving each other, free hugs, all that. The night's intensity matched that of 9/11; and I think may have helped us get over that event and the preceeding 6 years.

for those out in wisconsin...

2008-10-22T20:58:00.003-04:00

Keep your eye on this future brewpub in Madison. Joe spent some time here last year, and I learned a lot about brewing and its potential for experimentation. Craft brewing has been successful, but it seems like the next generation of brewpubs are going to start pushing beyond the standard Pilsner-IPA-Brown-Red-Stout selection you see at many places. Mint porter? Rasperry Belgianwine? Sour red?

It's a good time to be a beer drinker in this country...

the piss-hot curtis

2008-10-22T20:55:00.001-04:00

red bull
worster sauce
bourbon
salt.

and they say "the left" is angry...

2008-10-18T13:00:00.000-04:00

Some video at a Palin Rally:

@ the hubagoo

2008-10-17T17:36:00.000-04:00

nat sherman mcd's...mmmm

weekend's here

on the voter fraud charges

2008-10-17T17:09:00.003-04:00

we're starting to see a real uptick in the charges of voter fraud around the country (warning: extreme rightward slant). This has started to manifest itself with assaults on the offices of voter registration groups. What you're actually seeing is a reprise of the 2006 elections and the raison d'etre of the Attorney Firing Scandal (which cost ol' Alberto "Abu" Gonzales his job, and is still looking for one).

The reason folks like David Iglesias was fired was because he would not press charges against groups like ACORN for voter fraud. Iglesias, a Republican appointee, studied the matter and found that there was no actual instances of voter fraud (people voting under an assumed name, so that you can vote twice). Rules were bent in following the Justice Department rules for raising charges during an election season (typically frowned upon).

What we are seeing is registration fraud. Meaning, if I was to fill out one of these forms ACORN would hand me and spell my name "Sean Mullins" (fuck that name, seriously), I was committing registration fraud. Thankfully, it doesn't even matter that I did that, because if I wanted Sean and myself to vote, I would have to come up with a piece of ID that has "Sean Mullins" on it (license, utility bills, etc.) I would say "oops, that was a typo" and correct the form and that is that.

It is painfully obvious that Republicans are against it because poor and minority people are being registered. Instead of trying to make sure that as many Americans as possible have a voice, they accuse them of a felonious crime and do everything they can to prevent them from reaching the polls.

My source of optimism is that a President Obama takes a top-to-bottom review of every single Bush Administration hire in their agencies (EPA, NASA, Dept. of Interior, Justice Dept., the whole lot) and ensure they were not hired to advance a political agenda. Also, the Supreme Court just delivered a decision on registrations that is encouraging. I hope it is just the last gasp of a dying ideology/political party.

At the kaki king show

2008-10-09T19:21:00.001-04:00

Higher ground is nice enough to provide wifi at their venue, so I can
pass this note. Here to see what people are calling the best new
guitarist around. She brought her band along for the ride as well.
Let's rock.

Gonna donate some time...

2008-10-04T22:35:00.002-04:00

Going to do a little volunteer action with Rural Vermont, a small-farm advocacy organization. We're setting up a booth for them and handing out literature at a farm in Fairfield on raw milk. I'm not usually one for the whole non-profit advocacy group thing (bad experience with one during college, boring story), but the bills they support sound like good ones. I'm looking forward to sampling some raw milk, and taste what I'm missing when I buy it from the store.

Can you say desperate?

2008-10-04T22:29:00.002-04:00

Wow, this has to be some sort of new low:

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday of "palling around with terrorists,"

...

Our opponent though is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin said of Obama, also calling him an embarrassment.

Surprising that the #2 on the ticket is leveling these accusations; they must be doing really, really bad in the polls. In 2004, Bush didn't have to call Kerry a terrorist loving commie himself, he had lapdogs by the score ready to do it for him (Fox news, right wing radio and blogs, etc.) I'm less offended by this stuff (which is absolute filth and is indicative on the sorry state of the GOP and politics in general) than heartened to see the other side completely desperate. Neither Palin or McCain will finish this race with any sort of dignity left.

The Senate Thinks You're Stupid

2008-10-01T19:42:00.003-04:00

While Bernie Sanders' amendment taxing millionaires to pay for the bailout will be allowed up for a vote tonight, it will ONLY be allowed up for an anonymous voice vote - that is, the unanimous consent agreement allowing the amendment to be voted on requires it to be voted on in a way that allows senators to not take a public position on it. Because of this, the outcome of the "vote" is already decided - it won't pass.

From Open Left. Full text of the Sanders Amendment (the only one being considered in the Senate) here. Ezra Klein responds:

But according to a quick conversation with Sanders' office, that doesn't mean there's no way to tally the vote. The anonymous refers to the congressional record. But the vote is public, and broadcast on C-SPAN. Hypothetically, if anyone wanted to watch it, they could draw up a list of who voted on it, and what their judgment was. I'm sure Sanders office would happily tell those hypothetical good samaritans the exact time when the bill is being considered. And finally, I'm sure that lots of hypothetical bloggers would happily post that hypothetical final list just to bring some slight measure of accountability to the process. You know. Hypothetically.

I love my Senator...

Sarah Mania! Sarah Palin's Greatest Hits

2008-10-01T18:09:00.002-04:00

Polyphonic Ramblings 5

2008-09-29T16:43:00.002-04:00

Another mix from the realm of ambient/drone:

1. Running to the Ghost - James Blackshaw

2. All That Makes Us Human Continues - BT

3. Skindiving- James

4. Gwely Mernans -Alarm Will Sound

5. Low Clouds (1) James

6.Final -Deuter

7. Cliffs - Alarm Will Sound

8 Even (Out) + - Stars of the Lid

9. Mars Rain - James Bernard

10. Low Clouds (2) - James

11. Bottom Of The Well - James

12. Spirits Drifting - Brian Eno

So the game of chicken didn't work

2008-09-29T16:30:00.002-04:00

...and now we're at square 1. Next time, can we think about this for more than a few days and hash all this out in public?

h/t jesse

Fwd: Fall is Here: Lost Meadow Cider Mill Opens September 13, 2008

2008-09-26T20:16:00.002-04:00

Here's what I'm doing tomorrow, getting some delicious cider stock (see below) and attending a harvest fest. Fall in Vermont: does is get any more bucolic?

Lost Meadow Cider Mill will be open weekends this fall starting
September 13 and going until October 26. The mill is located off County
Rd in Calais, VT, two miles south of Maple Corner.

Fresh juice will be available for pickup Saturday or Sunday 12:00-6:00
PM or until it's gone. Call or email for directions. Sorry, the mill is
not open to the public during operation. If you need juice and can't
catch us on weekends or want us to reserve some, call and we'll work
something out [(802) 229-2004].

Sweet cider is available in our 1-gallon containers only for $5. Special
hard cider blends will be available by appointment for $7 per gallon this
year. We will also have our own vinegar for sale at the mill as well as the
odd bag of apples that we just didn't have the heart to put through the
grinder.

Lost Meadow Cider Mill is located on Wheeler Road in Calais, VT; just off
County Road a couple miles south of Maple Corner or about seven miles from
the Main St rotary in Montpelier.

Lost Meadow Orchard and Cider Mill are run by Terry Bradshaw and his
family. Terry has been in the orchard business for fourteen years and
has made cider every one of them. His fermented ciders have won national
awards in American Homebrew Association-sanctioned events and have
developed a local following. These hard ciders are never for sale, but
he is always glad to show you how to make your own.

http://www.lostmeadowvt.com
terryb@lostmeadowvt.com

Some guy from the internet: his take on the bailout negotiations

2008-09-26T18:23:00.003-04:00

Ouch.

I am not going to strive for eloquence or poetry. I am not going to back up my assertions, conjectures, paraphrased quotes or invective with links or citations. I am not going to spell-check beyond what I can catch as I sweep through and lay down words. I will fuck up homynyms.

The name is: I now hate John McCain.

I have not gotten much sleep this week. I am very tired.

I have watched approximately 100 hours of C-SPAN coverage this week collectively, concurrently watching the Senate and House on two televisions.

And yet, compared to many people, my job is extremely easy. I don't dig ditches, for instance.

I also am not a staffer for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. Today, they went to bed at around 5:30 in the morning because they had meetings in an attempt to cobble together a solution to the fucked up financial system of this country until 5 a.m.. This sleep, a sweet respite from a week of similarly late nights, was brief however. The meetings resumed at 8 a.m..

although numerous parties - particularly the Presidential campaigns - bloviated about the principles that they demanded be in the bill, the working copies of what was actually being negotiated included limits to compensation and 'golden parachutes', a bipartisan oversight board, equity in firms assisted by the plan and the possibility of lowering the scope of the bailout so that only a portion of the $700 billion would be advanced. The outraged statements about the bailout, the anger and panic they whipped up and the press-conference proposals were all directed at a version of the bill that had been immediately discarded.

It was all a coincidence of course that this agreement was announced before John McCain, whom I earnestly hate, could meet with the President, Barack Obama and other interested parties.

I hate John McCain. He is a contemptible person. I want to see him in pain.

John McCain had a remarkably bad day yesterday. It began with a desperate conference call in which his pollster tried to bluster away an ABC/W Post poll that showed him dropping 9 points back of Obama. It ended with David Letterman juggling his ripped off balls on the air while offering a squirming Keith Olbermann a bite. In between saw him delay responding to a effort by Obama to set up a joint statement because he was meeting with a baroness, an act of extreme personal cowardice to try and shirk the debate and tired negotiators telling him not to come to Washington because it would just fuck things up.

John McCain came to Washington.

John McCain fucked things up.

The one group of interested parties who have not fully been involved in the negotiations have been House Republicans. This is largely because they are a death cult who should be put to the flame by rational men. The proposal that the Republican Study Group, a conservative caucus that makes up slightly more than half of the full House Republican delegation, issued early in the week suggested that the key was to have a capital gains tax holiday for two years and to drill in ANWR. Clearly the financial crisis would be solved if banks and fund managers stopped paying taxes. The poor dears were holding toxic securities from all the worry that they'd have to contribute a cent to the upkeep of their nation. John Campbell, a contender for the chairmanship of the RSC in the next Congress, has probably completely killed off his chances by supporting the general idea of a bailout.

We do know that McCain (HOW FUCKING DARE HE) has single-handedly invalidated and trod over the incredibly difficult work of hundreds of people. People who are trying, in a totally thankless and anonymous way, to help save a part of their country.

I didn't hate him. Honestly, it was more about the Ds and the left-wing shit that is my heritage.

But I want to punch his fucking kids right about now. I want to scream at him until I pass out.

What a fucking dick.

Palin Overload

2008-09-26T18:14:00.002-04:00

A bad week for Sara Palin. This post seemed to sum up my evolving feelings on the GOP VP nominee:

The mood over Sarah Palin is changing. Her political naysayers used to delight in her floundering her way through interviews (okay, that one interview with Charlie Gibson). They enjoyed pointing out her lack of credentials. But her interview with Katie Couric over the past two nights has elicited a different response — like cringing. No longer is there joy in Palin's struggles. Watching her has become like watching one of those hopeless singers trying out for American Idol: First you laugh. Then you laugh some more. Maybe after that you laugh a little bit more. And as the talentless contestant soldiers on, despite the judges' derision, it hits you that this person, despite their best efforts, doesn't even realize that they don't have what it takes. And that makes you kind of sad.

And hello facebook folks! I've finally learned how to migrate this blog over to that area.

Today was a good day

2008-08-23T20:33:00.001-04:00

Started to tackle our rotting roof, got a weedwhacker, donated blood,
drank a chilled yerba matte, planned the beer olympics, and harvested
our garden (need some green beans?)

Also, didn't have to use my AK...

Iraq's future

2008-08-23T20:30:00.001-04:00

A prediction:

Listening to the news (o'hanlon commentating, the douchebag...) and
had a thought. Things are supposedly going really well, and the bush
administration is actually talking about withdrawral. However,
consider this:

Violence is down because we are paying hundreds of millions of dollars
to suuni ex-insurgents to kill al-Qaeda (search for the sons of Iraq).
The Shiite prime minister is negotiating long term deals with the
u.s., making his own power play.

Is the bush admin setting up a powder keg for a future president Obama
to preside over?

fingers

2008-08-22T18:48:00.003-04:00

Just started playing the guitar again, after a longer break than I originally realized. That's because my left hand calluses are gone, sending me back to form them again. Ow.

The 'back-to-practice' thing is thanks to my new project: a fretless guitar. Took a $30 mini-classical (nylon string) guitar and pulled the frets off of it. Now it can make some dope glisses, very indian-sounding now.

Let's hope that my facebook blog thingie recognizes the returns in this post (ya, right)

Polyphonic Ramblings: A New Beginning

2008-06-24T17:40:00.002-04:00

So I have this mix that I made up. No one to make it for except for myself. So it's heavy on ambient, drone-based tones. Do not operate heavy machinery while listening to Track 4.

1. Moonchild/The Dream/The Illusion - King Crimson

From their first album; this track would be a prime example for those who argue prog rock is meaningless over-long pieces of music bordering on noise (no structure, etc.) I object to the first two points strenuously.

2. Treefingers - Radiohead

IMO, the same thing as Track 1, re-interpreted 30 years later

3. Sour Times - Portishead

Fitting of the dark mood that has been set.

4. Sonar Blow Job - Portishead & Kraftwerk

Don't quote me on the title or artist; it was taken from Acqusition

5. The Heavenly Music Corporation - Robert Fripp & Brian Eno

Eno coined the term "ambient" for a musical style. Fripp picked up a tape loop machine and created a whole new way of playing the guitar. This is what happened when they met up.

6. The Rip - Portishead

Two things I like in this piece: the (deliberately?) rough guitar fingerstyle picking in the beginning, and the comforting full, round tones of an analogue synth at the end.

There is no doubt, now...

2008-06-24T17:37:00.002-04:00

So if you ever had the suspicion that the Bush White House used political orientation as a basis for employment, you can finally point to something that is official:

As the chart indicates, the Screening Committee deselected 80 (80 percent) of the 100 applicants with liberal affiliations, 4 (9 percent) of the 46 applicants with conservative affiliations, and 223 (29 percent) of the 765 candidates with neutral affiliations.

[snip]

The data indicates that the candidates with liberal affiliations were deselected at a much higher rate (15 out of 18) than candidates with conservative affiliations (0 out of 5) or candidates with neutral affiliations (11 out of 48), even though all candidates met the same criteria.

[snip]

We found that all 7 applicants who indicated that they were American Constitution Society members were deselected by the Screening Committee for interviews, while 2 of the 29 applicants who indicated that they were members of the Federalist Society were deselected.

Thanks to emptywheel for posting on this. Check out her site for the best coverage of government scandal this side of Sy Hersch.

Waiting in style

2008-04-30T19:43:00.001-04:00

Chilling before the slingshot Dakota show, snagging some wifi in a
business park, life's pretty good about now.

Guitar playing is getting to the point where I can form some
interesting chords/progressions down. Song-ideas starting to form.

Sent from my iPod

Video Time

2008-04-23T17:10:00.001-04:00

testing

2008-01-23T22:55:00.001-05:00

supposedly, this email I'm writing will turn into a blog post. Let's
see if it's true. Then my fancy new iPod can be a blogging tool as
well. It's been pretty nice to me so far, I've watched plenty of
Starcraft proleague games on it, kept up with reading my blogroll, and
got back into listening to podcasts. Thanks, apple!

Cowardly Neocons

2006-11-06T08:29:00.000-05:00

First, they claim that Bush fucked up the war on his own, they had no input on it:

According to Perle, who left the Defense Policy Board in 2004, this unfolding catastrophe has a central cause: devastating dysfunction within the administration of President George W. Bush. Perle says, "The decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn't get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly.… At the end of the day, you have to hold the president responsible.… I don't think he realized the extent of the opposition within his own administration, and the disloyalty."

"Huge mistakes were made, and I want to be very clear on this: They were not made by neoconservatives, who had almost no voice in what happened, and certainly almost no voice in what happened after the downfall of the regime in Baghdad. I'm getting damn tired of being described as an architect of the war. I was in favor of bringing down Saddam. Nobody said, 'Go design the campaign to do that.' I had no responsibility for that."

That's Richard Perle, who, in the wake of 9/11, called for an Iraqi invasion:

In a speech on November 14, 2001, as the Taliban were being routed in Afghanistan, Richard Perle, a Pentagon consultant with long-standing ties to Wolfowitz, Feith, and Chalabi, articulated what would become the Bush Administration’s most compelling argument for going to war with Iraq: the possibility that, with enough time, Saddam Hussein would be capable of attacking the United States with a nuclear weapon. Perle cited testimony from Dr. Khidhir Hamza, an Iraqi defector, who declared that Saddam Hussein, in response to the 1981 Israeli bombing of the Osiraq nuclear reactor, near Baghdad, had ordered future nuclear facilities to be dispersed at four hundred sites across the nation. “Every day,” Perle said, these sites “turn out a little bit of nuclear materials.” He told his audience, “Do we wait for Saddam and hope for the best, do we wait and hope he doesn’t do what we know he is capable of . . . or do we take some preemptive action?”

Then, after all this was leaked prior to tomorrow's election, Perle whines to the National Review on how they've been punk'd:

Vanity Fair has rushed to publish a few sound bites from a lengthy discussion with David Rose. Concerned that anything I might say could be used to influence the public debate on Iraq just prior to Tuesday’s election, I had been promised that my remarks would not be published before the election.

I should have known better than to trust the editors at Vanity Fair who lied to me and to others who spoke with Mr. Rose. Moreover, in condensing and characterizing my views for their own partisan political purposes, they have distorted my opinion about the situation in Iraq and what I believe to be in the best interest of our country.

It must have been easy for David Rose to dupe those neocons into revealing the truth before the time was "right". After all, they were also duped by the scumbag criminal (and potential Iranian spy) Ahmed Chalabi.

polyphonic ramblings 3

2006-10-26T21:25:00.000-04:00

New month, new mix. It was a great month of live music. Here's a rundown of the stuff I've been listening to lately:

1. Umphrey's McGee - Eat: From moe.down 7, Umphrey's rocked the house. They were the highlight of the show for me. Here's their opening number, an ode to King Crimson.

2. Steve Kimock Band - Ice Cream: A peppy upbeat number from the master of tone. Off of his new studio album. His last touring band featured members from two other guys on this mix tape...

3. Robert Walter's 20th Congress - Cory's Snail and Slug Death: Robert Walter plays his hammond b3 with Steve Kimock. Here's a good piece of new orleans jazz.

4. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - Slow Breath, Silent Mind: Reed Mathis, the bassist for this trio, also toured with Kimock. In JFJO, Reed can go from the classic foundation of a trio, or he kicks on his octave pedal and wails above the keyboardist. Here's a more traditional number.

5. U-Melt - Schizophrenia: OK, now buckle in for the next 30 minutes or so. The next two bands take their time and stretch tunes beyond 15 minutes. This groove from u-melt is one that stuck in my head at moe.down, and then when we saw them at higher ground last week.

6. Particle - Windjammer: A precursor to u-melt. The drumming is rock solid, laying down a beat to which a driving groove is established.

7. STS9 - GloGLI: A more techno-than-band group, live in Tokyo.

8. JFJO - ??: Here's the wilder side of Jacob Fred. Frippertronics, octave pedal bass, sweet.

9. toubab krewe - djarabi: jam band meets west africa. a pleasant surprise at moe.down

Video Time

2006-10-18T17:24:00.000-04:00

Caution: Please put on protective equipment before viewing this campaign ad from Rebulican Vernon Robinson running against incumbent Democrat Mel Watt:

OK, now you can go to the decontamination station to your right.

I posted this for a reason, if you ask why: It's the straight dope from the right wing, unsullied by those who polish its language in the professional media (think of your "sensible conservatives" like those at the National Review and Weekly Standard). This is the root of what the right uses to exploit the fears of the poorer classes. This is what we fight against. Please folks, I hope you get to the polls. There is no higher calling right now than to change the tide of Congress. If the party in power approves this kind of ad, they to have their asses booted.

Link to info on all congressional and senatorial races

Link Dump

2006-10-03T14:34:00.000-04:00

A lot of things are flying fast and furious in the news lately. From the revelations that Condi Rice had another pre-9/11 warning to Florida congremen having cybersex with underage boys while in session to yet another school shooting, it's all-out mayhem in our country right now. Some links I found today:

Billmon (who was supposed to go on hiatus) has a flashback and news items are starting to develop trails.
It's statistically proven that the NSA warrantless wiretapping program is useless for catching terrorists. This means that there has to be another reason for it, then, doesn't it?
A handy list of the recent list of Republican/conservative "family values" violators.
VT congressional candidate Martha Rainville (R) got caught plagarizing off of the web sites of Democrats.
And finally, The Poor Man reveals the IM logs he had with above-mentioned cybersexer Mark Foley (R-FL). It's all taken out of context, really. Check out this innocent excerpt:

Editorz (7:46:11 PM): yes I have to go do some hand modeling
Editorz (7:46:18 PM): because I am trying to break into the hand modeklling game
Editorz (7:46:22 PM): but it’s hard
Editorz (7:46:27 PM): I have to go audition for the girls who give out the hand model jobs
Maf54 (7:46:33 PM): did any girl give you a haand job this weekend
Editorz (7:46:42 PM): Noo because I was bitten by a radioactive reindeer the other day
Editorz (7:46:55 PM): and so im turning into a deer
Maf54 (7:47:11 PM): are you
Editorz (7:47:11 PM): yes its awkward
Editorz (7:47:11 PM): and my hands are starting to look like hoofs
Editorz (7:47:11 PM): and that’s a disadvantage in the hand modeling biz
Maf54 (7:47:11 PM): good so your getting horny
Editorz (7:47:23 PM): no antlers
Editorz (7:47:24 PM): people think antlers are the same as horns
Editorz (7:47:24 PM): but their totally different

Video Time

2006-09-26T21:30:00.000-04:00

A Keith Olberman Special. The man appears to be reaching for the mantle of Edward R. Murrow. So far, he's not doing a bad job of it. Here's Keith flaying the conservatives on the Clinton interview/sneak attack:

And here's Keith's commentary on 9/11:

I look forward to hearing more from him.

Local Paper Covers Local Justice

2006-09-26T17:12:00.000-04:00

Following up on my previous post on unqualified Village Justices issuing illegal decisions, the Saranac Lake based Adirondack Daily Enterprise has an example of a judge who doesn't know how the court system works:

After sentencing a Saranac Lake man to jail time over a traffic infraction, a prosecutor and public defender have accused a village justice of overstepping his authority in village court.

...

Herrmann reportedly said he’d start collecting maximum fines in cases such as these as way to defray costs for the village.

Bringing village finances as a consideration in criminal justice cases violates important principles, public defender Virginia Morrow said.

“He wanted to raise money for the village police department,” Morrow said in an interview. “But we have a separation of powers. We don’t have village justices raising money just as we don’t have village trustees writing tickets.”

Also, the judge decided that decorum isn't necessary for the courtroom, and had a temper tantrum:

Ken Pickreign, Amell’s grandfather, who appeared with him several times in village court, corroborated Delehanty and Morrow’s account of Herrmann losing his temper and yelling at attorneys.

“He was out of control by his screaming and hollering and throwing paperwork around and slamming it on the desk,” Pickreign said of Herrmann. “The judge was doing all of the hollering. The lawyers conducted themselves in an orderly way.”

My day-after take on the local justices has softened somewhat. You can't be justifiably angry at the ignorant. But coverage of all breaches of the judicial process should be reported. After all, you don't want a bunch of "activist judges" subverting the law of the land, right? Judges apply the law, they don't make it.

Unqualified Yokels Subvert Judicial Process

2006-09-25T09:28:00.000-04:00

Flipping through the NY Times this morning, I saw upstate NY was not-well represented with its front page article "In Tiny Courts of New York, Abuses of Law and Power" (link on the post title). In what appears to be a long-researched report, the Times found some shocking breaches of what we define as common judicial proceedings. Courts closed to the public, courts without transcripts of proceedings, courts whose training is a true-false test easier than the one for being a manicurist. My girlfriend's hometown of Malone has a place in the (presumably unwanted) spotlight:

A woman in Malone, N.Y., was not amused. A mother of four, she went to court in that North Country village seeking an order of protection against her husband, who the police said had choked her, kicked her in the stomach and threatened to kill her. The justice, Donald R. Roberts, a former state trooper with a high school diploma, not only refused, according to state officials, but later told the court clerk, “Every woman needs a good pounding every now and then.”

You think racism is just for George "Macacca" Allen and the rest of the south? Think again:

A black soldier charged in a bar fight near Fort Drum became alarmed when his accuser described him in court as “that colored man.” But the village justice, Charles A. Pennington, a boat hauler and a high school graduate, denied his objections and later convicted him. “You know,” the justice said, “I could understand if he would have called you a Negro, or he had called you a nigger.”

It's not just about breaches of basic human rights (because at this point in our history, we're just about ready to legalize torture anyway, so who cares?) It's also about millions of dollars that aren't accounted for:

The courts also handle money — more than $200 million a year in fines and fees. But the state comptroller’s office, which once conducted scores of justice-court audits every year, now does only a handful. When it looked most recently, auditing a dozen courts in May, it reported serious financial-management problems and estimated that millions of dollars a year might be missing from the justice courts statewide.

Let's hope that this article starts a conversation about revising New York's judicial system.

Polyphonic Ramblings #2

2006-09-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

Month 2 of the mix tape project. This time I put together a mix tape with some live music on it, and finished it off with a back-and-forth between classic jazz and loungey-style electronic music. Here we go:

1 - 3. Tea Leaf Green - Garden (I, II and III): A California-based quartet, these guys play a more structured set than other jam bands, but aren't unwilling to let things go and rock out for awhile. The Garden suite starts with a poppy head in part 1, stretches out for a jam in part 2, and comes together to conclude in part 3.

4. moe. - Jazz Wank: From an old 1996 show, my only moe. before Karen and I went to moe.down on Labor Day weekend. moe. will definitely stick with a tune and explore it for 10, 20, 40 minutes at a time. This Jazz Wank is a bit more concise, clocking in at just over 5 minutes.

5. Steve Kimock - Improv #1: Steve is a stellar guitar player with his band. This is from a solo acoustic show, just him exploring. Some nice Zep-esque chords get pounded on in the middle of this piece.

6. Tim Reynolds - Jemez Rolling Waves: Following up on the acoustic guitar thing, here's a solo piece from the guy better known as the side man to Dave Matthews when Dave plays without his band. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of Reynolds than Matthews. But Dave certainly has good taste in friends.

7. Porcupine Tree - Sound of Muzak: Found these folks while reading reviews on amazon. Well structured songwriting.

8. Buckethead - Ghost: The softer side of the KFC bucket, kabuki-mask wearing artist known as Buckethead. His harder stuff is 80's metal style, very articulate, distorted, rocking.

9. Spacetime Continuum - Vertigo: Straying away from guitar-based rock, moving into electronica.

10. Miles Davis - So What: The classic track from the best-selling jazz album of all time. Staying on the mellow mood.

11. Sneaker Pimps - Velvet Divorce: Trying to seamlessly transition from jazz to electronica.

12. Vince Guraldi Trio - Greensleeves: OK, OK, so the track is really titled "What Child is This", off of the Charlie Brown Christmas album. But I prefer to think of this along the lines of Coltrane's interpretation of Greensleeves. Guraldi is amazing.

13. Theivery Corporation - Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes: Going out on a mellow lounge note.

I am Musically Pretentious

2006-09-21T13:08:00.000-04:00

As shown through this little feature from the Onion AV Club. Here are some of my favorite rock instruments featured:

2. The Chapman Stick

Art rock—especially '80s-00s King Crimson—wouldn't be complete without the Chapman Stick, a combination guitar and bass that looks like a 2x4 and is played by tapping the strings with both hands. (Or with little drumsticks tied to your fingers, if you're Tony Levin.) Though its clean lines look best next to the stylishly bald and mustached Levin, it's forever connected to serious, ponytailed men like Trey Gunn, who look like they treat "picking" and "strumming" with a sniff of contempt. The Chapman Stick is also worn across the chest with the top resting on the player's shoulder, giving the impression that it's so precious, it needs to be cradled.

5. Bagpipe

Who hasn't had a bad experience with a bagpipe? It's the loudest, most boorish acoustic instrument there is, whether it's outside, ruining a perfectly fine public park, or on a concert stage, where—as one example—the Battlefield Band wheels out its bagpiper with almost circus-like fanfare, like the audience is about to watch someone take a cannonball to the chest. The only safe place to use them is at funerals: That's the only time they don't think they're the guests of honor.

Here's another instrument I never heard of, but think sounds pretty damn cool:

1. The Eaton-Moog Multiple-Touch-Sensitive Keyboard

For years, prog rockers tainted Bob Moog's name by playing his keyboards while wearing in shiny silver capes, or standing in the orchestra pit at Rick Wakeman's King Arthur On Ice tour. But the late, legendary synth-maker wasn't immune to delusions of grandeur: In 1992, Moog and University of Chicago music prof John Eaton debuted a revolutionary new instrument: the Eaton-Moog Multiple-Touch-Sensitive Keyboard, sometimes called "The World's Most Sensitive Musical Instrument." Its 49 keys respond to five kinds of movement—from touch pressure to the way players roll their fingertips and slide them up and down the keys—to adjust the volume, vibrato, and pitch. Reportedly, the prototype sits in Eaton's attic, but the instrument never made it into production. Has anyone pitched it to Keith Emerson?

They frequently mention Bob Moog, creator of the greatest synthesizer ever, the Mini Moog. Perhaps it's my preference for prog rock, as opposed to minimalist indie rock (definitely a staple of the writers of the AV Club).

Anyway, long live the Chapman Stick!

What's in a Name?

2006-09-13T18:03:00.000-04:00

On the way back home from work (where I've apparently going to become a non-peon, and start to be able to crack heads), I was listening to the VPR news, in which they said that the Ethan Allen Homestead is going to close.

That's quite a shame. It was the home of uber-Vermonter Ethan Allen, who took Ft. Ticonderoga from the Brits. He retired to Burlington (where else) and lived in the Intervale. At first, I thought of him on this side of the pond, and enjoying his raid on "the other side of the pond" (which is how all Vermonters think of the Adirondacks). My self-identified Adirondackerness chafed at the thought.

Thinking more, though, the inhabitants of the Champlain Basin are much alike, as Bill McKibben noted in his short little book Wandering Home? Is there a common culture in the Basin? I'd say so. St. Albans is nothing more than an extension of the dreary North Country towns of northern NY (drive across Rt. 11 and see what I mean), albeit with a little Vermont flair and a tiny downtown (makes me think of Potsdam, if anywhere in the NC). The accent is the same.

I keep the name of my blog as such to take note of that, and I hope we can get together. That whole Adirondack seccesionist movement was a pretty radical idea, I bet Allen would approve...

Week in Review: moe.down 7

2006-09-10T14:10:00.000-04:00

Writing this from textedit since I'm supposed to be net-free for this week of vacation I took. It's been refreshing to not be refreshing my RSS reader every half hour for new blog posts on the sorry state of world affairs.

At any rate, the beginning of the vacation was taken in Turin, NY - the site of moe.down, a three day music festival at the Snow Ridge ski area. The weather was wet enough to get some of that good festival mud generated, but not too much as to ruin the overall event. Our neighbors were a bus full of amateur musicians who set up a pretty extensive camp with stage and kitchen. On a rainy, cool Sunday morning, they started a fire on the front lawn, which was eventually nixed by an eager security dude cruising in on a golf cart.

Here's a pic of a sculpture made with the remnants of the fire:

Our camp was a much simpler affair, but still quite functional:

As for the music, it was a good time to catch onto some new bands, moe. has a good ear for new talent. Cool acts on the second stage were Toubab Krewe, U Melt, and Moonshine Still. On the main stage, pieces of Phish were present; Paige McConnell and Fishman had their own band, and Mike Gordon played with a honky tonk band that has a regular gig at the Radio Bean, a tiny Burlington coffeeshop. The best show, in my opinion was the Umphrey's McGee set on Saturday night. Exercising their musical background, they played Zep's "Fool in the Rain" to pay tribute to the showers that happened throughout the set (with great timing with the music).

moe. themselves played a Friday, 2 Saturday and a Sunday set. I haven't listened much to them since I saw them last, a SUNY Potsdam spring concert event some time ago, where I was probably not in a condition to objectively evaluate them. I tried to do a little crash course in moe. tunes by listening to the one live show I had of theirs. Surprisingly, they hit tunes I knew at least once a set, which always helps a show. They brought out other guests frequently, including Paige, Gordon Stone, Jake Cinniger, and some dumb trumpet player who spent more time jumping up and down like that Bosstone.

Getting out was pretty easy, thanks to the power of my Golf's diesel engine. We booked it on Sunday night, beat the crowd, and had a great night drive through the North Country back to Malone, where we regrouped and headed back out into the rain for a few days of camping in the St. Regis Canoe Area. More on that later. Now, it's time to head out to the Burlington South End Art Hop.

Video Time

2006-08-29T22:52:00.000-04:00

I thought this was new, but apparently not. Anyway, the guitar work is masterful, it appears effortless.

Polyphonic Ramblings #1

2006-08-20T18:56:00.000-04:00

So a my friend's wife's friend's cousin's ex-roomate's roomate (or something like that) has arranged for a mix tape swap. Excellent idea, as making new mix tapes is something I really enjoy. So, I'm putting up the playlist I made for the first lucky random recipient of my tunes. Here's my thoughts on it.

#1 - 5 Star Mix

Made of a selected bunch of my 5-star rated songs on my laptop (home)

1. Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin

Zep's one and only (I think) foray into the world of prog rock. Epic storyline, long guitar solos, killer drumming by rock's best drummer (or in the top 3, I suppose), John Bonham.

2. Peaches en Regalia - Frank Zappa

An instrumental classic. Zappa is a great composer, it sad that he isn't around, writing music that would do modern classical composers proud. At least this one is a bit more melodic. My version of a pop song.

3. "Outside Kick Ass Violin Solo" - Aphex Twin

Caveat Emptor on this one, as far as identification is concerned. Dredged up off the internets, nice groove.

4. Hurricane Camille - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

Nice peppy jazz number off of Bela's first album.

5. Koko - Charlie Parker

The penultimate bebop tune by the best damn alto player evar, Bird. The tempo is blinding fast, but the 32nd notes are even faster.

6. Rush - Cowboy Bebop OST

Classic jazz from the Japanese, via the quirky space-cowboy anime series Cowboy Bebop.

7. Welcome Red - Benevento Russo Duo

The next generation of jazz is from folks like this, who wield the drum kit and keys like the old masters, but adding electronica elements.

8. Dogs - Yonder Mountain String Band

Covering the Pink Floyd tune on Animals, bluegrass almost seems more appropriate for this song. Tells the story of the vicious, solitary and sad cutthroat modern capitalist, who thinks he's on his own, but just a pawn in the greater game.

9. Inhale to the Chief - Keller Williams

A quirky guitarist who likes to play loops and layer them on top of one another to make a one-man band (live!), this piece is just him wailing away on his guitar with some great tonalities.

10. Cadence and Cascade - King Crimson

Off of their second album, this mellow acoustic piece riffs off of the opening lines of the prelude movement of Bach's cello suites.

11. Dave's Energy Guide - Phish

A song abandoned by Phish by the 1990's, this piece is reminicent of King Crimson's Discipline. Played at Nectar's, the club that made each other famous.

12. I am Hydrogen - Phish

My favorite ballad by Phish, this tune is usually played as a segway between Mike's Song and Weekapaug Groove. From the same show.

13. Atoms for Peace - Thom Yorke

The lead singer of Radiohead makes his solo debut with "The Eraser" (previously reviewed by myself). This song is a peaceful way to round out the mix.

Hope you enjoy the music.

A Journey on the Raquette River

2006-08-20T18:18:00.000-04:00

Just got back from my 3-day weekend with my father. Apart from sore shoulders and a little incident of forgetting keys in a car, it was a great trip. It was hot and sunny the first day, and clouded over for the second. Then it rained for the third. I actually like to paddle in the rain (as long as there's a warm, dry place for me to hole up afterwards). The river gets very quiet, and the sound of mist/rain is all there is. Here are some shots from the trip (the remaining are at my flickr page):

Reflections

The Raquette River, in the rain.

Eating Stuff in the Woods

2006-08-02T12:04:00.000-04:00

A new site I've been reading is York Staters, a blog dedicated to upstate NY. A neat article is there on what you can eat in the woods. There are some ones I've eaten, like fiddleheads (baby ferns you pick in the spring when they're still small). Others I've heard of, like sassafrass roots (the base for root beer). Others, though are quite different. Like Wild Carrots, or the roots of Queen Anne's Lace:

Another edible root is the Wild Carrot, also called Queens Anne Lace [2], which is a close cousin to the domesticated carrot; however, it is only for the over-curious or starving as it is like chewing leather. I suggest pulling them before the flowers bloom, cutting them up and boiling them.

OK, so that doesn't sound too tasty. But spruce tree bark and wild leeks do sound pretty good. The comment section is fun for the references to the various hallucinogenic plants found in the area. I'd be a little wary, considering how nausea often accompanies wild hallucinogens, but you can do what you want, I suppose.

Slashie, Slashie!

2006-07-30T20:53:00.000-04:00

Click on the above title for a slideshow of how I spent my weekend.

Kung fu camp is always a good time, everyone is having a good time, the workout is intense, the setting is pristine. This year was no exception. This year added a couple little twists.

The form I learned this year was Continuous Broadsword. My first sword form, I was psyched to start swashbuckling my way across the field. The broadsword is tough. Lots of wrist strength and flexibility is needed, especially to flower. Allow Dan, a younger red sash (soon to be black sash) student, demonstrate:

Practicing that was fun. Here I am attempting to do what Dan does:

OK, yeah, I'm working on it. Anyway, after a late dinner, a few of us "ne'er do wells" decide to knock back a few cold ones. After getting pushed around by people wanting to sleep, we set up in the Tai Chi Field, used for the next morning (5:30 to be precise) practice. Sitting there, having a good time, but where are the stars? They were there a minute ago, right? What's that? A raindrop? Ah, let it pass. WOOSH! The skies open upon us and drench everything. Still cognesant that we have to keep the field free of bottles for the morning, we pack up and bolt for the safety of our tents. Except mine had no sleeping bag. Luckily, the buzz I had gave me about 4 - 5 hours of sleep.

So, the next day I'm going over the form, trying to do a toe kick/sword slash combo and I end up being my own target. In bare feet. Great. A little tape and I'm up on my feet, but the rest of the day was spent gingerly balancing on one foot.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb

2006-07-26T10:10:00.000-04:00

The Conservation Law Foundation, best known in this area for three separate lawsuits over the construction of a Lowe's in South Burlington, is back in the litigation saddle. This time, their aim is to sue two companies for failure to get a permit that hasn't been issued yet:

Conservation Law Foundation said the companies had never gotten the necessary federal permits to allow their Vermont sites to release storm runoff into the environment.

Jim Pratt, senior vice president for operations at Agri-Mark's Cabot Creamery subsidiary, acknowledged that his company does not have the federal permit. He said that was because the state DEC, which is supposed to administer the federal permit system, hadn't set up a program to do that yet.

"Right now we have a valid state stormwater permit, have had for years," Pratt said. "We're fully cooperating with the state as they develop this (program for implementing the federal) regulation, so we fully comply."

There are multiple types of stormwater permits, so Pratt's claim is a bit of a red herring, but still. They are doing what everyone else in the state is doing. Let's listen to the DEC:

"I find it a little frustrating quite frankly -- more than a little -- that as we get close finally to bringing this program to life in Vermont ... that CLF would litigate again," [Jeff] Wennberg [commissioner of the DEC] said. "Every problem is an opportunity for a lawsuit. That's the way they operate."

Ya think? I'm all for enforcement of the rules, and lawsuits if the existing laws are insufficient. However, these should be directed at the State, not the private sector. The DEC has sat on its ass for 15 years not doing its job. They should pay the price, not the schmoes who want to be in compliance.

The CLF has been a hinderance in improving water quality in the state. Lawsuit after lawsuit means that there is no permit progam, no process for cleanup to actually occur. If they really wanted to clean up the waters, stop the "fun" they have in the courtroom and get out there in the field and do something about it!

Pics From the Vault

2006-07-24T21:06:00.000-04:00

P5170029_1
Originally uploaded by murdock68.

On the Square Bay beach.

Flickr

2006-07-24T21:05:00.000-04:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Goodbye, Iraq

2006-07-24T16:27:00.000-04:00

Wow.

"Iraq as a political project is finished," a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: "The parties have moved to plan B." He said that the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties were now looking at ways to divide Iraq between them and to decide the future of Baghdad, where there is a mixed population. "There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into [Shia] east and [Sunni] west," he said.

...

But he painted a picture of a deeply divided administration in which senior Sunni members praised anti-government insurgents as "the heroic resistance".

In the past two weeks, at a time when Lebanon has dominated the international news, the sectarian civil war in central Iraq has taken a decisive turn for the worse. There have been regular tit-for-tat massacres and the death toll for July is likely to far exceed the 3,149 civilians killed in June.

This has been a horrific month for stability, let alone peace in the middle east.

The Mideast Crisis Explained

2006-07-22T11:09:00.000-04:00

The Mideast Crisis Explained

by Sadly, No!

I Made it Into the Freep!

2006-07-18T10:29:00.000-04:00

Click while you can.

So my main job these days is to propose stormwater treatment systems for existing development (mostly condo complexes). It's aggrivating work, considering I have no formal education in stormwater remediation, have no one else in the office to ask questions about it (I'm the "expert"), and have no idea on how to answer Question Number 1: How Much Will This Cost Us? Well, it looks like I have an answer to three of my projects:

Residential developments with expired permits, but with residents' associations able to address the problem. The 21 condominium and single-family developments include Cardinal Woods, the Pinnacle at Spear and Stonehedge. Total estimated cleanup cost: $1.5 million.

I hope not. That's a large chunk of change for each neighborhood, when they have 100-200 houses to spread the cost over.

More Thoughts on the Lebanon-Israeli Conflict

2006-07-18T08:29:00.000-04:00

Go ahead and just read Billmon's Whiskey Bar from top to bottom. Start off with his flame-retardent statement:

I'm not passing moral judgments here. I’ve never been able to turn a blind eye to the war crimes of one side or the other – rationalizing the suicide bomb that blows a bus full of Israeli civilians to bloody bits while crying tears of outrage over the destruction of a power plant that provides clean water to tens of thousands of Palestinian mothers and infants, or vice versa. To me, the conflict has long since come to resemble a war between lunatics, and one doesn’t pass moral judgments on the behavior of the insane, not even the criminally insane.

And then go on to analysis of the prelude:

If I had to pin it down, I would say the big difference between this crisis and similar past episodes is how completely off balance the Israelis seem to be – lurching from reaction to reaction without any clear plan or strategy. The Gaza incursion was thrown together, more or less on the fly, which led to some embarrassing public squabbling within the Israeli cabinet. The attempt to decapitate Hamas’s civilian leadership by arresting the entire Palestinian cabinet smacked of improvisation, and largely failed. Hezbollah’s intervention clearly took Jerusalem by surprise, which is probably why the response has been so disproportionate: the Israelis are rather desperately trying to regain the initiative.

What’s strange about this is that the Israelis started with the initiative, at least tactically. I’m told an incursion into Gaza was actually in the works before the Palestinian attack on the frontier post – although the original plan has been for a smaller search-and-destroy operation aimed at suppressing, or at least harassing, the Hamas rocketeers. Whether the Palestinians knew this and managed to get a jump, or were just lucky with the timing of their cross-border raid, the result is that the Israelis were left scrambling to come up with a response, and it showed.

Move on to the main course:

Three days in, and it looks like Israel is losing the war.

Not militarily, of course -- The IDF could turn Lebanon into a parking lot if it wanted to, and if it's willing to take enough casualties it can probably push Hezbollah away from the Israeli border and suppress the rocket attacks (or at least most of them.)

No, Israel is losing this war the same way it "lost" the October 1973 War -- by not crushing its enemies swiftly and completely, and then rubbing their faces in their own impotence and humilation.

Just the opposite: Today it was Israel that suffered the humilation of nearly losing one of its missile frigates to a warhead-carrying Hezbollah drone -- a threat the IDF apparently didn't even know existed.

The Greater Middle Eastern War

2006-07-14T09:06:00.000-04:00

The Greater Middle Eastern War

Scary thoughts from emptywheel over at The Next Hurrah. It could be passed off as baseless speculation, but considering what we've been through the past 6 years, baseless speculation can be pretty rational these days.

Basically, it's her take on the recent Israeli/Hamas (and now Israeli/Hizbullah) conflict that we're not doing our part to cool this thing off in order to advance the neoconservative agenda (those who brought you the Iraq War). The neocon agenda these days means war with Iran. Think I'm crazy? Look at what Matt Drudge, the source for early, unconfirmed (read: misleading) reports:

Israel has information that Lebanese guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Spokesman Mark Regev did not disclose the source of his information.

Now, being Drudge, there is no backup for this info, and I'd bet you a bottle of Laphroaig 30-year that it's false, but that's not the point. If this story gets into the mainstream (first on Fox News, then over to the rest of the cable networks, and then off it goes), there's our justification for a war with Iran.

I was so naive to think that the way we went to war in Iraq was underhanded...

Ted Stevens Explains teh Internets

2006-07-13T20:23:00.000-04:00

Explained as only Jon Stewart can do:

I think that speech would do well followed up with Grandpa Simpson's "onion belt" story:

"We can’t bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don’t go anywhere -- like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. 'Give me five bees for a quarter,' you’d say.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah -- the important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..."

Video Time

2006-07-12T22:22:00.000-04:00

King Crimson - Larks Tongue in Aspic, Part 1

Square Bay Cream Ale

2006-07-12T20:47:00.000-04:00

To be consumed for the next Schroon Excursion:

Grain Bill:

1 lb. N. American 2-row
0.5 lb Munchender
0.5 lb Wheat

Extract:
6 lbs. Munton's extra-light dry malt extract (DME)

Hopping Schedule:
0.5 oz Cluster @ 60 min (bittering)
0.5 oz Cluster @ 30 min (flavor)
1.0 oz Cascade @ 5 min (aroma)

Mash grains for 45 min @ 170 deg. F

Use Wyeast American Ale liquid yeast (#1056)

O.G. = 1.040 (75 deg. F)

holy mackerel

2006-07-12T20:08:00.000-04:00

Just picked up Thom Yorke's new solo effort "The Eraser". It's got the sound that kid A has, which to me was the next step in the fusion of traditional rock/pop arrangements and the use of synthesizers. Folks need to check it out if they are radiohead fans.

testes, testes...

2006-07-12T20:07:00.000-04:00

one, two...

...three?