A strange day....

I spent four hours having drinks with my ex-wife today...and my best friend....and my ex-wife's boyfirend. It was the first time in more than two years that we were all together and not part of a larger crowd. Once again, as previous times with my ex-wife, I enjoyed myself more than I think I should. I don't know why I should enjoy time spent with a women who left me. It is her boyfriend I don't wish to speak to. It's not that I don't enjoy seeing him, nor that I don't enjoy knowing what he's up to and that he's doing well. It's simply that I have nothing to say to him, and nothing I wish to share with him. I have noted this before, but I am still unable to explain it.


And it's two years to the week since she left me. This anniversary went unmentioned.

Give me a moment to think of the right joke...

Mergers proposed for schools for blind and deaf

Why not go for the trifecta and add speechless people for a school of the blind, deaf, and dumb? (That is not the right joke.)

It reminds me that my elementary school had a special program for deaf, hearing-impaired and partially sighted students. I can still tell by a person's voice whether they are hearing-impaired though I was never able to absorb any of the sign laguage lessons they gave us.

I get confused....

I don't understand, and it is a constant irritant, why people seem to think that experiences that are in most instances quotidian and unexceptional are actually unique and surprising, in need of special explanation.

For instance, the heat we've been having lately must be due to global warming because I can't recall anything like it. These rain storms are so fearsome, what possibly can explain them? The world must be coming to an end judging by the extreme novelty of the events in the middle east.

But of course, none of these statements are necessarily true. I should admit that I seem to recall occassions very similar to what has been happening lately. There have been hotter summers, more fearsome storms, and violence and military aggression in the Arab world prior to this, I claim to remember. But even if I didn't claim any memory personally, my inclination is to believe such things have happened before. Other people's inclination seems to be that such things haven't happened before, why is that?

Is it that we all feel a need to proclaim our own experiences special? But what then of our prior experiences. Do those experiences consigned to memory get disregarded or honestly so indistinctly recalled that they become disenfranchised? How is that possible? I find pleasure in watching the return of events similar to those in the past. Heat waves seem to remind me pleasurably of hot summers of my youth (despite my current discomfiture.) Thunderstorms, the more violent the more exciting, bring me back to numerous moments of my past. To claim any experience as new and unique would rob me of this pleasure; yet other people seem eager to claim such a disconnection from their past.

Often this seems merely an excuse to find an object to worry over. But the newness of a situation doesn't provide me any special opportunity to worry; aren't there enough things to worry about? Why should I make the mental stretch to be concerned about today's weather?

I only go on about this at length because it has been hot lately, and rainy; and the weather has been a preoccupation of my coworkers to the extent that I have become very annoyed by their prating. Why do people enjoy discussing their unfavorable reactions to the weather? Beyond being simple social currency (there are plenty of other topics which serve the same purpose), is it that weather is so far beyond our control as to be a constant flea in our ear? Is my confusion simply my habit of being contrary to prevailing opinion and action?

I can't know, but it makes me want to slap everyone I meet.

~A

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Why do I find space so funny?

I honestly have no idea:

Spacewalkers lose spatula

Five days left in their mission and pancakes are off the menu. In possibly related news, a flaming kitchen utensil carved a mile long trough in a Kansas cornfield today. NASA refused comment.

Screwed once again...

Depression tied to risky teen sex

Now, see, I was depressed as a teenager, and didn't have any sex, risky or otherwise, and now I feel Gypped! (I know that term is now considered politically incorrect, but it's usage is deeply ingrained in me.) Who knew that there were benefits to be accrued from depression? Maybe if someone had told me...

Life imitating art....

'As the World Turns' Actor Commits Suicide

Give it two years, and then he or his evil twin will return, I just know it.....

Mattress King, Luis Barragan Dead at 34

Now that he's really sleeping, perhaps they should rename the business 1-800-Coffin

Home-alone boy survives 11-story fall
And he didn't hit anything soft either, as he hit a metal awning before slapping the concrete pavement. The best irony is "the boy ended up in the same pediatric intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center where his mother works as a receptionist."

In the news...

Half-ton moose causing fatal crashes

I wonder what he's doing; did he learn how to shoot a gun? Maybe he's standing up and dancing the rumba? Did he put up a fake detour sign like Bugs Bunny used to do?

In the news:

Putin kissed boy 'like a kitten'

and just a bit down the page:

Kitten survives churn through wood chipper

I can imagine someone saying "Kissing him was like kissing a wood chipper." In fact, I may have dated someone who kissed like that. I wish I could start referring to Putin as "The Wood Chipper," but noone would know what I was talking about.

If I were playing trivia tonight

My team name would be "As I Kenneth Lay Dying"

The rockets' red glare

It must be my state of mind....

But numerous events of the past day begin to blur together.

The fireworks exploding over the east river, some with parachutes like flaming paratroopers cascading out of doomed planes.

The North Korean missile launches falling into the Sea of Japan.

The space shuttle lifting into space.

Kenneth Lay dying from a coronary.

The cloudburst of rain this morning that has left me absolutely drenched and shivering.

Like the world is cracking open in volcanic cataclysm and something new is aborning amidst the roar and fume.

Things I wonder about

Introduction to Probability textbook is free

The question is: Is it really free? Or just very likely free? Like the textbook on Schroedinger that may or may not be available at your local bookshop.

More news....

Crack found on shuttle's fuel tank

In a serious setback for the NASA administration and for America's future in space, the discovery of illegal narcotics on the fuel tank cast doubt on the shuttle's ability to fly unimpaired and on NASA's drug enforcement policy. Public Affairs Officer George Diller stated yesterday that "NASA has a zero tolerance policy for alcohol and narcotics among all it's staff, scientists, pilots and orbital vehicles. Any violation is treated with the utmost seriousness and will take all apropriate measures after our investigation is complete." The fuel tank, unavailable for comment, is reported to have left the launchpad before dawn and is said to have checked in to a local medical clinic for rehabilitation. This is not the first drug scandal to rock NASA. Reader's may recall the discovery of rampant heroin use among the Gemini astronauts, apparently fuelling their "space cowboy" exploits. Chronic alcoholism is also rumored to be the cause of Spacelab's deteriorating orbit and eventual crash.


Elsewhere in space,

Large asteroid makes pass at Earth

Our home planet apparently gave the planetoid interloper the cold shoulder but the incident is raising the question of whether "Mother" Earth is back on the dating market after billions of years of singledom. None of the orbs involved could be reached (or necessarily even make a) comment. Astronomers at Lawrence Livermore labarotory commented "As we all know, space is a cold, lonely place. It's not surprising that a planet might seek a little something to warm up their dark side." "We all know that the moon is a cold dusty place with no atmosphere to speak of anyhow, why shouldn't Earth look farther afield." There are reports also that a profile for an individual resembling Earth was found on MySpace.com, but at the time of this writing the page had been removed. A spokesman for the website said the page was taken down for receiving too many hits from trolling comets, meteors, and other space depris.

My thing for motorcycles

Friends will know that I have a keen interest in motorcycles, despite never seriously considering owning one. Here is my new favorite, a boutique handcrafted machine:

It's from the Confederate Motorcycle Company, the F131 Hellcat. Their new design, the Wraith, is more adventuresome, but I have a real problem with the front forks:


I often think that many motorcycle designs would be vastly improved by remodieling the seats like the above, that is, by chopping them off directly behind the seat ratehr than having them stretch out for a pillion or whatever. think the more the rear wheel is exposed the nicer the bike looks. But the front fork on that think really gets in the way.

If anyone finds other examples of motorcycle design, don't hesitate to send thm along.

~A

This is just wrong...

Car Plows Into Crowd at Boat Race; 11 Hurt

Next we're going to see boats in the stands at NASCAR.


And in other news:

Swim lessons for children, infants focus on safety

Which is funny, because you would think swim lessons would focus on swimming. But really, the safest way to avoid drowning is not to go near the water. Maybe driving lessons should be rename "Cars, and How to Avoid Them."


World Cup Brings Little Pleasure to German Brothels
But it's not about the pleasure, right? It's just a job. Besides, they were all rooting for Ghana. Or maybe it was all the noise from people yelling Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal! in the bedrooms, or the insistence the customers had of not taking of their shinguards.

~A