Posted inHome life Sustainability

Auto-wise, we can’t get much Greener

Saturday a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV came into our lives, joining its 2004 Prius sibling. We are so green, the Kyoto protocol oozes through our pores. I’ve been feeling superior to just about every car on the road during the Highlander Hybrid (HiHy) driving experiences I’ve had so far. HiHy is bigger, tougher, and faster—7.3 seconds 0 to 60—than every other hybrid on the road today (it ties with the Lexus hybrid that, basically, is an identical twin). As a HybridCars.com review of HiHy said: A Prius looks and feels like a hybrid. When you drive one, you scream,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Entertainment

George Bush is no Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer rules! I’m a huge fan of “24,” Fox’s gripping television series about the bold efforts of Jack and his Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) comrades to save America from sundry nefarious enemies. But how is it that my progressive psyche can love Jack while hating George, when the two seemingly are so similar? Jack Bauer, former head of field operations for CTU’s Los Angeles Domestic Unit, habitually bends the rules (when he isn’t outright breaking them). I came to “24” late, becoming a regular watcher only last season. However, it didn’t take me long to realize that Jack doesn’t…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

New slogan for Oregon: “Live Free and Die”

Now that the Supreme Court has upheld Oregon’s assisted suicide statute, let’s raise a glass of hemlock to a new slogan for our proudly independent state: “Live Free and Die.” This is, of course, a mildly edited version of the New Hampshire state slogan. It is traced to Gen. John Stark, New Hampshire’s most famous Revolutionary War soldier, who in 1809 couldn’t attend an anniversary reunion of those who fought at the Battle of Bennington. So he sent a toast: “Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils.” No, dying under the thumb of an imperious federal…
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Posted inHumor

“Brian Hines’ of the world,” by Brian Hines

In the self-referential realm of the Internet, where I frequently use Google to search for wisdom on a subject and find something I’ve written myself, it makes perfect sense for me, Brian Hines, to blog about the other Brian Hines’ of the world. Who, of course, I’ve learned about through Google. I skipped through the first eight entries that popped up on my “Brian Hines” search. For even though they pointed to some fascinating information about a brilliant namesake, that person clearly was me, and my quest was for not-me’s. Which brings us to Denny Laine, who created the Moody…
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Posted inSustainability

Oregon cougar plan based on fictions, not facts

If anybody should be afraid of cougars, you’d think it would be me. It’s pretty certain that a cougar killed two fawns near our house recently, and my dog-walking routine takes me right through this area near dusk (or even after dark). But I don’t worry about being attacked by a cougar because the risk is infinitesimal. I’m at about thirty times greater risk of being struck by lightning. So what is the problem that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s much-debated plan to proactively kill cougars is trying to solve? Short answer: there isn’t one. The Oregon Cougar…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Dead deer could be cougar kills

Warning: this post contains explicit photos. Of dead deer possibly killed by a cougar. I’ll tell the story and share the evidence. Maybe someone who knows more about predator behavior than we do can shed more light on these kills via a comment or email. Near dusk yesterday I went for my usual walk with our dog, Serena, around Spring Lake, which is about half a mile from our rural south Salem home. When I got to the dock area I saw a small dead deer on the grass. That’s not too unusual. A few years ago another deer was…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Rain, Alito, and progressive depression

It’s been raining here in western Oregon for twenty-four days straight, I think. The bridge over our creek is in danger of being washed away. And so is my usually optimistic progressive mood. Guess I need a latte. A triple. I watched quite a bit of the Alito hearings yesterday. Less today. The outcome, in my opinion, is evident: he’ll be confirmed. He’s too smart and well-coached to make a major blunder. Plus, too many of the Democratic senators are playing into his hands. Biden and Kennedy in particular make long-winded speeches while a split screen shows Alito patiently waiting…
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Posted inMiscellany

Darters, machine hogs, and other workout offenders

Today’s Statesman-Journal has an article about what gripes people at exercise clubs. “Smelly, grunting, nude people are top workout offenders,” says the headline. I agree that they are offenders, but not the top. I have my own additional idiosyncratic gripes, based on many years of twice or thrice weekly visits to the aerobic and weight machine rooms of Salem’s Courthouse Athletic Club, River Road branch. Darters, the bane of circuit training harmony. I tread on delicate ground here, because my wife herself is a darter—a weight machine user who ignores the careful scientific positioning of the equipment (legs first, then…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Home life Philosophy

On not knowing what we don’t know

It’s not often that I think along the same lines as Donald Rumsfeld. But after a mildly embarrassing experience I’ve been pondering the words of our Secretary of Defense that won him the 2003 Foot in Mouth Award: Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't…
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Posted inHumor

War on men

(click to enlarge) Now that the War on Christmas has died a seasonal death, why doesn't Fox News start talking about the War on Men? This photo my sister sent me from the Caribbean shows that it's an international affront against (half of) humanity.
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Posted inMiscellany

I intercept an Al Qaeda email

It’s been quite a day for me on the fighting terrorism front. Two major accomplishments to report. (1) I discovered Al Qaeda’s headquarters in the United States. It’s in Indianapolis, Indiana. Got their email address too but haven’t had time to follow up on it. I’ve been too busy analyzing what certainly appears to be an Al Qaeda email message that somehow found its way into my Outlook inbox. Don’t know how it got there. Several pieces of evidence suggest that Al Qaeda isn’t using super-duper secret 2006 lock-the-door-and-toss-away-the-key email communication techniques. So the message I intercepted likely is authentic.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Home life

Progressives own guns too

It had been quite a while since I’d walked into a gun shop. Salem’s Guncrafters had moved since my last visit, but the atmosphere was the same as I remembered: macho, quiet, organized, and, yes, deadly. It’s hard not to think of death when you’re surrounded with handguns, rifles, and shotguns of every description. Plus bullets, cleaning kits, and all sorts of gunnish accessories. I like the feel of a gun shop. I own several guns. And I’m a progressive. There, I’ve admitted it. To the gun shop owner, the “it” I should be embarrassed about is my progressive leaning,…
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Posted inMiscellany

Another reason to use Firefox

As of today the recently-discovered serious “zero-day vulnerability” in Windows is still unpatched. I just checked Windows Update and was told “no high priority updates for your computer are available.” What gives, Microsoft? Are all of your programmers still on Christmas break? On December 28 the f-secure weblog said “We expect Microsoft to issue a patch on this as soon as they can.” A day later Microsoft issues a work-around until the patch is released (see the Dec. 29 posting on the link above). That’s great for people willing and able to mess around with the Windows registry, but for…
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Posted inHome life

If you weren’t invited to our party…

I was thrilled that our New Year’s Eve party was mentioned in today’s Salem Statesman-Journal story, “Residents ring in new year—quietly.” But Laurel got anxious, because the story didn’t mention that this traditional gathering is for members of my meditation group, a fact that I mentioned several times to the S-J reporter who wrote: A desire for a more intimate experience with friends is what motivated Salem's Brian Hines to host a party. "It's just a nice time for fellowship," he said. "Oregonians are a quieter breed. We'd rather have a quiet conversation with people we know than go out,…
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Posted inMiscellany

I’m cleaning out the link closet

With less than 12 hours remaining in 2005, it’s time for me to clean out this year's link closet where I store funny and bizarre sites that strike me as possessing some sort of je ne sais quoi special élan. Thanks in general to my fellow ORblogs posters who led me to most of these links, yet now must remain specifically unthanked as I’ve lost track of the cyberspace bread crumb trail that led me to these gems. Our journey into the funny and bizarre begins, of course, with cats… --Whenever my feline mental illness starts to kick up and…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

If the West Coast was Kurdistan

I’d love to be able to secede from the United States. It’d be great to form an independent progressive nation out of California, Oregon, and Washington. I’m thinking like a Kurd, for the Iraqi provinces of Kurdistan are making preparations to secure their own borders. Even though I’m an American who has lived in a united country for all of my life, it’s easy for me to get enthused about establishing a separate nation that is truly in tune with my values. If California doesn’t want to come along, I’m equally up with the Republic of Cascadia plan that drops…
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Posted inSustainability

Wolves and fear of the wild

“I like my Canadian wolf fried.” What kind of person would put that bumper sticker on his or her car? I think, a fearful person. Someone who is afraid of the wild that wolves represent. Thoreau famously said, “In Wildness is the preservation of the world.” I’m familiar with that quote. But until today I hadn’t bothered to read what came before and after those words in his essay on “Walking.” The West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild; and what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of…
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Posted inHome life

My “Oh, no!” of Christmas Eve

After telling Laurel that I'd finished wrapping her presents, this wasn’t the question that I wanted to hear on Christmas Eve: “You probably forgot to get me the only present that I asked for, didn’t you?” My calm audible response was, “Ah, um…of course I didn’t forget.” But inside my head a voice was screaming “Oh, no!” And the worst thing was, at first I couldn’t remember what the requested present was that I had forgotten. Which made sense, of course, yet still was disturbing. Because I couldn’t ask Laurel what it was I’d forgotten without making my horrendous lapse…
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Posted inHome life

On my knees with Indian-accented tech support

Given the accents of the two people I talked with during my Linksys technical support call, I doubt that they were in Omaha. Which doesn’t bother me. Outsource all you want, Linksys, so long as you can get my WRT54G Wireless Router back up and running. I became desperate as soon as I turned on my laptop yesterday and saw that no wireless connection was available. “What the hell!” my mind screamed in its least joyous holiday spirit. After only a month I’d become addicted to our WildBlue satellite broadband internet that had rescued us from the tortures of 24kbps…
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Posted inHome life

2005 Christmas letter headline: “We’re getting old!”

Once again I’m pleased to share the Hines’ annual Christmas/Holiday Letter. Every year I strive mightily to come up with a theme that encapsulates what the past 12 months have meant to us. For 2005, it is our sense that we are well on the way to being très anciens (rough translation: old farts). However, sharing this realization with the world — or, at least, the miniscule fraction of such that visits HinesSight — hopefully will have some therapeutic effects. For if it is indeed true that “you are as old as you feel,” then perhaps our open admission that…
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