Posted inCurrent affairs

Not proud to be an American

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Old anti-war chants keep going through my head, as true for Iraq as they were for Vietnam. “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many children are you going to kill today?” Answer, for Bush, nine. How much more United States wrought terror are we willing to condone?
No Comments
Posted inHome life

Gordon

A few hours ago I went into the Courthouse Athletic Club’s karate room, where for nine years I used to train with some great guys and gals—and where I still like to work out several times a week, enjoying the wood floor and the memories. When I started to take my shoes off, and put my sweat towel down, I saw a sheet of paper on the counter with Gordon Waite’s photograph, and a caption “In Memoriam.” Gordon was a good karate buddy. He died unexpectedly Thanksgiving morning, at the age of 72. That is just so wrong. And yet,…
No Comments
Posted inEntertainment

“Bad Santa” strangely compelling

We got ourselves into the Christmas spirit, Laurel and Brian style, by going to see “Bad Santa” last night. Since the reviews of this movie had emphasized that no one should see it who expects to be uplifted or inspired, naturally it was tops on our Must-See Holiday Flick list. Our sense of humor tilts decidedly in the direction of wry dry cynicism, so a movie that stars Billie Bob Thornton as a drunken, womanizing, thieving Santa is right up our alley. We also love HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Comedy Central’s “Reno 911”—when we’re not watching PBS or listening…
No Comments
Posted inNeighborhood

‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving

Yes, it was the night before Thanksgiving, and where else would Laurel and Brian be until 7:30 pm but at a hearing on the proposed Nielsen lot partition that has occupied so much of our time (mainly Laurel’s, for she is the Groundwater Protection Activist of the Year, without question, in Spring Lake Estates at least). Wednesday was the long-awaited remand hearing, remanded, that is, from the state Land Use Board of Appeals and the Marion County Board of Commissioners. Right off the bat we observed something strange: the Nielsen’s hydrologist, Nick Coffey, was nowhere in sight. And he never…
No Comments
Posted inWriting/Weblogs

I’m a publisher!!!

Oh, man, I’m so excited. I’m a publisher! No, wait, I misspoke, and left off two exclamation marks: I’m a publisher!!! I can prove it. I have my not-really-framable piece of paper from the corporation commissioner that says I’m doing business under an assumed business name: Adrasteia Publishing. If I’d wanted to pay $10 more I could have gotten a rather cheesy only-slightly-more-suitable-for-framing certificate featuring a background photo of the Oregon state capital, but I decided thriftiness was going to be one of the hallmarks of Adrasteia Publishing—along with, hopefully, publishing (my own books, of course). After much exploring in…
No Comments
Posted inHome life

Prius update

I want to reassure those readers who have been anxious about the status of our Prius’ warning light, perhaps suffering through sleepless nights, or engaging in constant prayers to the Higher Hybrid Power on our behalf, that Priey has been returned to health, and we are enjoying the car a lot. As the post below posited, Marcus Aurelius’ advice was well taken, because it turned out that Toyota wasn’t out to drive us crazy by having a “check engine” warning light come on one hour after we bought the car. No, seemingly Toyota is trying to drive many 2004 Prius…
No Comments
Posted inPhilosophy

Marcus Aurelius and Microsoft

Recently I started reading The Inner Citadel by Pierre Hadot, which is a fairly scholarly commentary on Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations—retranslated by Hadot and Michael Chase. Marcus, you may recall, was the Roman Emperor featured in the movie “Gladiator.” He was shown writing (the Meditations, undoubtedly) in his tent during the campaign against the Germanic huns at the beginning of the movie. I had read Marcus (might as well call an emperor by his first name, since he isn’t around to throw me to the lions for impertinence) directly before, but Hadot provides a lot of meaty background information about the…
No Comments
Posted inHome life

One way you can help save the Earth

Here’s one way you can help save the Earth: buy our 1997 Honda CRV that will soon (tomorrow) be listed for sale in the Salem Stateman-Journal classifieds. By buying our wonderful SUV, with only 44,000 miles, you will be doing a lot to help us pay for the 2004 Toyota Prius that has arrived in the Port of Portland, and shortly will be delivered to the local Toyota dealer. When this happens, we’ve been told that we have 48 hours to cough up the money to pay for the car, or else it goes to the next person in line…
No Comments
Posted inDogs

Lust and longing at the dog park

Last weekend Laurel and I took the family pet, Serena, to the dog park at Minto-Brown Island. A “dog park,” for those not educated in canine arcana, is a place where dogs are allowed to run free, leashless, though still theoretically under the owner’s voice or psychic control. This was the third time, I think, that one of us had taken Serena to the dog park for some socializing. But this was the first time that I fully realized that the dog park has much social appeal for humans also. When we let Serena out of the car, she ran…
5
Posted inScience

Still time to be part of the Elegant Universe

If you didn’t catch the first two hours of PBS’ “The Elegant Universe” with string theorist Brian Greene, the final third hour is coming up from 8-9 pm on Tuesday, November 4. We haven’t finishing watching the initial episode, but what we’ve seen has been great. I’ve read most of Greene’s book by the same name, and am passingly familiar with string theory. Still, there’s no substitute for special effects, and having complex physics/cosmology explained by an expert with a gift for communicating. Greene can write; he can talk; he’s likable and expressive; and he’s also a top-notch scientist—a rare…
No Comments
Posted inMiscellany

We interrupt this weblog…

We interrupt this weblog for some commercial messages. Well, quasi-commercial, since HinesSight is not supported by any dependable source of income, in the traditional writer’s spirit. I’ve just built up a small stack of items that are calling out to be publicized, and want to shut up those annoying little voices from the pieces of paper on the rug beside my desk. Plus, I want to stop rolling over them every time I push my chair away to get another snack, or take a nap, after laboring at my literary projects for the usual half hour or so at a…
No Comments
Posted inWriting/Weblogs

I’m dreaming of killing someone

Actually, several someones. My fantasy starts with the Fulton County (Georgia) school system, which recently expelled a high school freshman for writing a fictional tale in her private journal about a student who dreams she kills a teacher. I saw this girl, Rachel Boim, interviewed on CNN today. You couldn’t ask for a more intelligent, articulate, and mature 14-year old than Rachel—who undoubtedly surpasses the Fulton County school administrators in all of these qualities. When asked if she would write the tale again, given what has just happened, she wisely said, “Of course I would. It was just a story,…
1
Posted inPhilosophy

God, save us from “God”

If you read Meister Eckhart, and I certainly recommend that you do, you’ll find numerous references to freeing ourselves of “God”—the false thing— so we can truly get in touch with God—the real thing (there are lots of translations of Eckhart, this Penguin Classics book is my favorite). Here’s an example, where Eckhart praises genuine spiritual poverty: I said before that a poor person is someone who does not even will to perform God’s will, but who lives in such a way that he or she is as free both of their own will and of God’s will as they…
No Comments
Posted inDogs Recreation

Dining tip/Triathlon win

First, a dining tip. We heartily recommend, whether you are a vegetarian or not, the “Garden Plate” dinner selection at the Black Butte restaurant—where we just celebrated my second birthday dinner, ten days after the first celebration with my sister and brother-in-law. One difference this time: I had to buy my own dinner. Another difference: as good as DaVinci’s restaurant in Salem is, this Garden Plate dish was really spectacular. Since we want Black Butte to keep offering the Garden Plate, and our waiter said it took some serious lobbying from the waiters/waitresses to get the chef to make a…
No Comments
Posted inRecreation

Central Oregon excitement!

Wow, it’s been a pretty exciting day here in Central Oregon! We just got back from a trip to Bend and Sunriver in which we visited a Costco store! Yes, it isn’t politically correct to admit this, since Costco is one those giant “big box” stores that squeezes out local competition, but we love Costco. It’s so full of surprises. We went in with the single-minded intention to buy some supplies for the Camp Sherman cabin, and as soon as we passed through the door we were sidetracked by the giant display of men’s and women’s winter jackets. A men’s…
No Comments
Posted inRecreation

Camp Sherman catch-up

I always feel guilty when a week or more goes by between HinesSight postings. So it is time for Camp Sherman catch-up, now that we’re ensconced in a quiet cabin in Central Oregon for a few days with no TV to watch. I emphasize those words to demonstrate our Thoreauian commitment to natural simplicity—though actually it is less a commitment than necessity, since television signals can’t make it through the trees and Black Butte to the cabin, and neither cable TV nor cellular service has found its way to Camp Sherman yet (for which we’re grateful, really, except on Saturday…
No Comments
Posted inDogs

Why dogs don’t invent computer chips

Recently Laurel excitedly pointed out to me a news item about dogs sharing 75% of human DNA, or something along those lines. I wasn’t impressed, since I knew that chimpanzees and people are 98% genetically similar, which makes our dog a much more distant relative. And the more I play “buddy ball” with Serena, the more I am convinced that even that 75% may be a decided overestimate. For those unfamiliar with dog play paraphernalia, “buddy ball” is the brand name of Serena’s light-up-in-the-dark ball, the light-up feature being a necessity given her underdeveloped retriever skills, as it allows me…
No Comments
Posted inEntertainment Philosophy

Joan of Arcadia: God Appears on Prime Time

We just experienced a miracle—the premier of a prime time network series that we actually enjoyed. "Joan of Arcadia"(CBS, Friday, 8:00 pm) is about a sixteen year old girl who starts to encounter God in all sorts of guises. First, just a voice. Then a shadowy figure who seems to be an old man. Then a hunky teenage boy. And finally a black woman, for the requisite non-sexist political correctness. Personally, I was rooting for God to always appear to Joan in the guise of a male, since this seems to me to be the most appropriate and natural form…
No Comments
Posted inNeighborhood

Land use twists and turns

Ah, the wonder of all the twists and turns in our appeal of the neighborhood (Spring Lake Estates) proposed lot partitioning. First we win the appeal. We’re up! Then that decision is appealed. And we lose the second remand decision. We’re down! Then we ask the County Commissioners to reconsider the remand approval, and they decline, thereby sustaining the atrocious decision. We’re even further down! Then, after consulting the level of our psychic energy and bank balance, we decide to take another step and appeal to LUBA—the Land Use Board of Appeals, a $375 step. Though it is customary to…
No Comments
Posted inEntertainment

Swimming Pool

As a rule of thumb, whenever a movie review contains the words, “Rated R (for strong sexual content, nudity, language, some violence and drug use),” I’m pretty sure I’m going to like the film. And indeed I did like "Swimming Pool," our latest art flick entertainment at Salem Cinema. On the face of it, it’s one of those “repressed old maid writer unleashes her unexpressed wild side” movies, which wouldn’t make it too special. But the gorgeous Ludivine Sagnier, complete with alluring French accent and even more alluring frequent topless scenes, makes Swimming Pool special, as does the ending, about…
No Comments