Posted inMiscellany

Software that makes me smile

Most computer software that I use is blandly functional, like Word and Outlook. Some of it is curse-worthy crap that I get rid of as soon as I can. And then there’s the sweet stuff: software that brings a smile. Because it’s so beautifully designed. Because it does what it’s supposed to. Because it fixes a vexing problem caused by less praise-worthy software. Here's what I’m currently in love with on my laptop. Google. Lots to like here. I just downloaded Google Desktop after a lengthy absence. I had it on my old computer and decided to give it another…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Lars Larson spouts conservative talk radio hypocrisy

My wife can’t understand why I listen to right-wing blowhards like Lars Larson, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Victoria Taft, John Gibson, and Bill O’Reilly. I tell her that driving along with Lars on the radio gives me the cardiovascular equivalent of a two-mile jog, my heart rate and blood pressure rise so much. More seriously, I love it when I catch one of these pontificators in an especially blatant conservative hypocrisy. Which is common. That’s one reason why the Republicans did so poorly in the mid-term elections: voters were fed up with all the say one thing and do another…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

A shocker!

This news has shaken my world. I never saw it coming. Are we nearing the end times? Can the center hold? Is there anything that can be counted on anymore? Will the world stop spinning on its axis?
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Saudi Arabia sex slave story brings Borat to real life

A Saudi Arabia man living in Colorado has been sentenced 28 years to life in prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an Indonesian housekeeper and using her as a virtual sex slave. A news video shows him saying, “The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors.” Indeed, the Colorado attorney general had to fly to Saudi Arabia to explain to authorities there why the man, Homaidan Al-Turki, committed a crime. David Harsanyi, Denver Post columnist, writes: In Saudi Arabia - a moderate Muslim nation, correct? - women are forbidden to drive and must be covered head to toe…
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Posted inHome life

Unplug the Christmas machine

There’s nothing wrong with Christmas except almost everything. Frantically buying presents. Obsessively decorating the house. Feverishly socializing. Leave all of that stuff out and you’re left with something good. It just isn’t Christmas as we in the United States know it. But it’s surely a lot closer to what the man we’re supposedly honoring, Jesus, would have wanted. I found this image at Buy Nothing Christmas ’06, along with other posters that inspired my increasingly minimalist Christmas soul. Last night Laurel said, “Let’s not get each other any presents this year.” “Sounds good to me,” I told her. I’ve already…
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Posted inHome life

Now & Zen Unturkey has flown the coop

What a Thanksgiving bummer! It looks like this beautiful creature is going extinct. Yes, this could be the last time a much beloved Now & Zen Unturkey graces our vegetarian table. I had no problem buying this ungobbler a few days ago at LifeSource Natural Foods. But this disturbing page greeted me when I tried to access the Now & Zen web site. And the buzz over at Veggie Boards isn’t encouraging: Now & Zen is no more. Same message here. Nor is there any cyberspace sign of Green Options, the company that reportedly bought the makers of the Unturkey.…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Support for Oregon’s Measure 37 is sinking

It's clear. Support for Measure 37, the attempt to trash Oregon’s pioneering land use laws, has crested. Now, after having experienced two years of nightmarish Measure 37 claims, Oregonians are awakening to a better way of dealing with property rights inequities. A poll found that Oregonians would now reject Measure 37 by a wide margin. This goes a long way toward explaining Gov. Kulongoski’s new-found enthusiasm for introducing legislation in the 2007 session that would fix problems with this ill-conceived measure. (In 2005 I wrote, “Kulongoski caves in on Measure 37.” May that be the last time). It also helps…
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Posted inSalem

Why Salem is better than Portland

Bet you think this will be the world’s shortest blog post, given that title. Hah! Dream on, overly proud Portlanders. This Salem resident is about to show you what you’re missing if you don’t live in Oregon’s capital. [Blog fact check: our address has “Salem” in it, but my wife and I live five miles outside the city limits. Nonetheless, we’re Salemites through and through, as evidenced by our bland dispositions.] What you're missing is: plenty of vacant free downtown parking spaces. Now, admittedly this photo was taken around noon today, a rainy Sunday, but this is a typical Salem…
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Posted inSalem

Slow down, you’re trying to move too fast

Downtown Salem was gridlocked last Wednesday evening. Not exactly like New York City, but it was a pretty good imitation of gridlock for generally sleepy Salem. I’d parked on the right side of Court Street at 4:30 to go to my Tai Chi class. When I went outside at 6:15 I saw that traffic was barely moving. I went into Starbucks for my traditional post Tai Chi grande nonfat vanilla latte. The barista told me she’d heard there was an accident on Front Street. Plus, the windstorm had reportedly disabled some traffic lights. I told her, “Fortunately I’m heading south…
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Posted inTango/Dance

Tango, where men lead and women follow

Before our Tango era, Laurel and I briefly took some West Coast Swing classes. Almost invariably, the female instructor would start off by saying, “Men, this is your chance. In dance you get to lead the woman. Make the most of it. The rest of the week you’ll be back to following her.” How true. Especially if you’re married. I speak from thirty-four years of experience. In our egalitarian American culture, where overt sexism is becoming as déclassé as overt racism, sex roles are becoming increasingly blurred. This is mostly for the good. But the current dance craze—witness the popularity…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon House Democrats forgo revenge

“Values” voters, take notice: the Democrats are displaying a lot more charity toward their vanquished foes than the Republicans exhibited during their days in power. So if you value Christian compassion (or Buddhist, Jewish, whatever) and adherence to the Golden Rule—do to others what you would have them do to you—the Dems deserve your support. Today the Salem Statesman Journal had a front page story about State Rep. Jeff Merkley of Portland. He’s slated to be the next speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, blessedly replacing the Evil Queen, Karen Minnis. When the Republicans had the majority in the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Searching for meaning in “The Big Lebowski”

Right in Hollywood Video it was clear that “The Big Lebowski” must have some special message for me. I’d gone in looking for the movie yesterday, having heard that it was a cult favorite. Filled with profound meaning of some sort. I headed for the Drama area. Found the “Bs.” Saw a Big this and a Big that. But there was an empty spot on the shelf where a Big Lebowski would fit alphabetically. I stared at the void for a few seconds. Then heard an employee say, “Can I help you find something?” “Yeah,” I said. “I don’t know…
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Posted inHome life

Would Thoreau have used a leaf blower?

I love my Stihl backpack leaf blower. I also love Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Can my loves co-exist? Would Thoreau, who wrote "If the soul attends for a moment its own infinity, then and there is silence," approve of pushing leaves around by means of a noisy engine? Yes, I believe he would. There is beauty, profundity, and philosophical wisdom in the practice (dare I say “art”?) of leaf blowing, notwithstanding the snooty attitude of this blogger, who considers leaf blowers a din of ubiquity. Cute. And often true. But our house sits on ten acres, not a small city…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Hoping for a Tai Chi election night

Yesterday my Tai Chi instructor, Warren, was talking about the importance of keeping your center. I’m looking forward to the Democrats doing just that tonight—getting this country centered again after too many years of right-ward tilting. So far, it’s looking good. Eight House and three Senate seats picked up. If the trend continues, we’ll wake up to a much more balanced United States. The Dems have learned from past leftist excesses. A lot more Democrats are running as moderates (or even semi-conservatives) this year. Nothing wrong with that. Bill Clinton understood the importance of holding onto the middle. That’s where…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

Could I become the anti-Measure 37 Dorothy English?

Sorry, Dorothy. You’re going down. Back in 2004 you were the face of pro-Measure 37 ads, a sweet 92 year-old who, as I’ve noted before, supposedly just wanted the right to develop her land so she could give some property to her children and fund her retirement. Oregonians now reject Measure 37, which trashed our state’s land use laws and created a privileged class of property owners. So it’s time for an anti-Measure 37 icon to pop up. I nominate me. My qualifications recently were burnished by a quote of yours truly that appeared in a Salem Statesman-Journal story by…
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Posted inEntertainment

I like! Laurel is carded buying tickets for “Borat”

Life imitating Borat, even before we saw the movie this afternoon. We dash up to the ticket booth, late for the 5:10 pm showing. “Two, please,” I tell the girl behind the glass. She looks at me. Sees a grizzled mostly gray guy. She looks at Laurel. Sees a long-haired blonde. “ID, please.” “What?” Laurel is incredulous. “ID. I need to see your ID. This is an R-rated movie.” I started laughing. “Oh, man, thank you. This’ll make my wife’s day. Maybe even the month. She’s over 18, believe me.” “Okay, but I still need to see an ID.” She…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Home life

DR Power Equipment should run for office

I’m a big fan of both the DR field and brush mowers, of which I’ve owned three, and the Vermont-friendly folks who work at DR Power Equipment. Today I enjoyed another pleasant customer service experience. Coming as it did on the heels of John Kerry’s ghastly “I vow I’ll never apologize for what I said unless I change my mind” (it took just a day) political gaffe, I realized how great it’d be if straightforward down-home people like those who work at DR Power Equipment were the only ones allowed to run for public office in this country. Kerry sort…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Dems should have locked John Kerry away

John, oh John. What was going through your unthinking mind? One week before the election. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut and not get in the way of the rising Democratic tide. But, no. You can't resist attempting a lame joke about how if college students aren’t smart and don’t study hard, they’ll end up stuck in Iraq. Understood: you were trying to say that Bush is a fool who did just that. A Kerry aide told CNN that the prepared statement, which had been designed to criticize President Bush, "was mangled in delivery." Kerry was…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Home life

I copy Laurel’s ballot. Are we lawbreakers?

Aren’t you envious, rest of the country? We voters here in Oregon, every last one of us, get to fill out our ballots in the comfort of our homes. Then we stick them in the mail, civic duty having been completed almost effortlessly. I make it even easier on myself by copying my wife’s ballot. Last night she sat at the kitchen table, thick voter’s pamphlet in hand, reading the qualifications of every obscure candidate and the pros and cons of ballot measures that we were undecided about. This morning, per our tradition, I picked up her not-yet-sealed ballot, laid…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

German polizei make Portland-area police look like sissies

How is it that German police can disarm a man wielding a samurai sword without hurting him, by using a broomstick, while Washington county police shoot and kill a teenager holding a three-inch fishing knife, and an unarmed mentally ill man dies after three Portland policemen rough him up? According to a news report, in Hamburg, Germany a man swung a samurai sword violently at police as they tried to disarm him. If this happened in Oregon almost certainly he would have been filled with bullets. But the polizei used a broomstick to subdue him. Check out the videotape. It…
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