Archives: May 2006
Wed May 31, 2006
Santa Cruz Boardwalk Originals
There's a postcard on auction right now of the first rollor-coaster at the Santa Cruz Beach. More...
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Fri May 26, 2006
Off the Grid
Last weekend I took a vacation to Pinnacles National Monument. I needed to separate from techhnical life as much as I could, so I didn't even bring a camera. More...
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Word Salad with Too Few Ingredients
This month's Harper's brings us an excerpt from a book called "Eunoia" where each of the five chapters uses a single vowel. The editors of Harper's wrote the tag headline "Tour de force." I find the publishing of "writing" like this an obscene waste. More...
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Hundred-Year-Old Relics of Santa Cruz Tourism
Recently relics of Santa Cruz history recently showed up on eBay. More...
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Alpaca Ranches in My Neighborhood
Last week at the Neighbors of Lower Ocean meeting, l learned that one of the rich people's houses up on Ocean View Avenue had been turned in to an Alpaca Ranch. But due to the good work of City Code Compliance Officer, the livestock is gone. More...
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What the Fuss Is Really About
My sister, Karen, who recently graduated from law school, wrote a brilliant paper explaining the opposition to gay marriage in California. I have to admit that I had ceased to pay attention to the entire mess because it is just so wrong that religion is in any way mixed up with our status as citizens. But this paper explains it all. More...
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Sun May 14, 2006
Music of the Good People
Last night I went to a performance of "Turlough O'Carolan's Farewell to Music" by Patrick Ball. He would have blown us away with just by playing his harp, but he did far more. More...
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The Perfect Sized Brain
I finally got out to see the lecture by Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams called "View from the Center of the Universe." Their talk included amazing videos that model the universe as we have been able to measure it, not just imagine it. The lecture is based on their book. More...
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Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery, and Madness
I'm reading an odd book. In the tone of a woman scorned, Katherine Beck wrote a biography of the beloved and mysterious Opal Whitely . The author clearly believes that her subject is fraud and anyone who believes otherwise is a fool. But the most likely audience for this book are the people who are snidely addressed on nearly every page as "Opalites." No wonder I found it on the remainder table at Logos. More...
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Wordless Rage
While I was at the water store yesterday, I heard a man address me and say "I love to see a woman working." I froze. Violent retorts rose up in my throat, too ugly to even write down now. I said nothing, pretending I did not hear him. I was afraid of what would happen if I defended myself, and my sisters, and our work, and our place in the world. More...
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Wed May 10, 2006
Parkinson's Law by C. Northcote Parkinson
I've had the rare good fortune to work with a funny and competent business consultant at my job. Last week he loaned me a book that I've long wanted to read. I thought that Parkinson's Lawby C. Nortcoate Parkinson was a serious, number-filled MBA academic book. It is, rather, a thin book of hilarious essays that use statistics and formulae that only appear to verify the theories which are accurate prima fascia, no math required. More...
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Mon May 01, 2006
A Brave and Dangerous Man
I can't stand to watch Stephen Colbert's TV show. I guess I just don't get it because I don't watch FOX or anything else he references. But this speech at the Washington Correspondents' Dinner. oh my. Colbert spoke the truth in brilliant irony directly to the President sitting just a few feet away from his podium. It is the sort of insult that is so clever that its target must laugh it off, or flee in shame. The best cuts in the video are of the "President" tight lipped and utterly unable to fake a laugh. It's easy to find commentary on it. Salon's Michael Scherer's is pretty good, and Salon also has the complete "audition tape" featuring Helen Thomas. This is the sort of political commentary that in other nations and times got people like Colbert killed.
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