Ramblin' with Roger

I was on the bus this morning, and the young person sitting next to me was talking to the person in the seat behind.
Person in back: I thought you went to (suburban school district) High
Person next to me: I did, but then I got busted, so now I’m going to Albany High.
Wha?

The headline in today’s (Albany) Times Union newspaper is “Albany leads in tiny realm” – I’m thinking that there are a bunch of Lilliputians in the city, until I read the subtitle: “University’s nanotech resources win it a primary role in new $435 million research alliance that will push science frontiers” (I really DID know what the story was really about, but would others?)

Friends and relatives from out of town are always worried about the Albany weather when they hear about it on the Weather Channel. Well, it’s pretty variable as this story notes.
Additionally, the topography is quite varied with mountains and valleys so that, for instance, one might get a couple inches in Albany and 10 inches in Voorheesville in Albany County, which is exactly what happened this morning.

Fred: Did you know that there’s ALREADY a DVD of the new King Kong movie? Well, not exactly, but King Kong – Peter Jackson’s Production Diaries (2005), which has all the extras, everything EXCEPT the movie, is already out!
Listening to that Sinatra album you made me. I’ll mail the book tomorrow.

Chris: Mailing music tomorrow.

Highly recommended reading: Shhh!!: Keeping Current on Government Secrecy by Laura Gordon-Murnane in the January 2006 Searcher magazine.

The top 10 blogs by links according to technorati.com
Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things
PostSecret
Engadget
Daily Kos: Political analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation
The Huffington Post
Gizmodo: The Gadget Blog
Instapundit
Michelle Malkin
Dooce
Crooks and Liars

And speaking of crooks and liars, the Prsident’s outrage at the leaks of the secret NSA activity would be more palatable if the administration had shown one-tenth of the outrage when a CIA agent was outed.

A bill allowing Tanith Belben to become an American citizen was passed Wednesday and signed Friday. Saturday, Tanith became an American citizen and can compete in the Olympics.

Under the category “I need to know”: What kind of bird was the predator in the movie “The March of the Penguins”? An albatross? A petral?

Now, the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, especially the dance mix. Somehow appropriate to celebrate eight elephantine months of blogging. Played at FantaCo in the days that Fred Hembeck used to hang out there.

King Crimson
Discipline
Originally released: 1981

Elephant Talk

Talk, it’s only talk
Arguments, agreements, advice, answers,
Articulate announcements
It’s only talk

Talk, it’s only talk
Babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker
Brouhaha, balderdash, ballyhoo
It’s only talk
Back talk

Talk talk talk, it’s only talk
Comments, cliches, commentary, controversy
Chatter, chit-chat, chit-chat, chit-chat,
Conversation, contradiction, criticism
It’s only talk
Cheap talk

Talk, talk, it’s only talk
Debates, discussions
These are words with a D this time
Dialog, duologue, diatribe,
Dissention, declamation
Double talk, double talk

Talk, talk, it’s all talk
Too much talk
Small talk
Talk that trash
Expressions, editorials, explanations, exclamations, exaggerations
It’s all talk
Elephant talk, elephant talk, elephant talk

From the Census Bureau: Counter Clicks Every 14 Seconds

Nation’s Population Approaches 298 Million on New Year’s Day

The U.S. Census Bureau today projected the Jan. 1, 2006, population will be 297,821,175  up 2,713,518 or 0.9 percent from New Year’s Day 2005.
In January, the United States is expected to register one birth every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds.
Meanwhile, net international migration is expected to add one person every 31 seconds. The result is an increase in the total population of one person every 14 seconds.

For 2006, it appears that the New food labeling requirements will be significant. The new postage rates take effect on January 8 (just after after Three Kings Day – how kind), with the first ounce going from 37 to 39 cents; the next ounce is going from 23 to 24 cents, as the price of a postcard.

But the fact that the oldest “baby boomers” are turning sixty is news? Yeah, the current President and his immediate predecessor are in the group, but it’s an arithmetic function that the folks born in 1946 would be 60 years older this year Oh, it’s the “boomers”, a group so large that the eldest of the group could be the parents of the youngest. Yawn.

Maybe we need some Happy News. And there is a website dedicated to just that.

Of course, what makes you happy may vary. *I* was quite happy to hear this underreported story of religious leaders arrested in front of the Cannon House Office Building while kneeling in prayer to protest the immoral budget and tax agenda which slashes spending on the poor to finance tax breaks for the rich.

The Torino/Turin Olympic Games are in February, which matter in my house because of my wife’s affection for the figure skating competition.

This is the 250th birthday of Mozart; expect a lot of Amadeus concerts. It’s also the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake in April; the 50th anniversary of the Interstate highway system in June; and also the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising against the Soviet Union. Most of these will be covered as “news”. Now the 53rd birthday of Fred Hembeck later this month, not to mention the third anniversary of his website today – or yesterday: now THAT’S news.

What was great about 2005:

1. Lydia seems to be thriving in her new daycare. And they don’t seem so fussy to find out that Carol and I are both off from work (as we will be on Monday) and that we’re still dropping her off, so we can do things in the house and maybe see a movie.

2. I got reconnected through friend Rocco to Fred Hembeck, which led me to blogging, which led me to get to know a number of interesting people, electronically only some of which are linked within this post.

3. Singing in church choir. I need to do this.

On the other hand:

1. I need to find more time to exercise. Dropping off Lydia at day care has cut into racquetball time.

2. I need to get back to updating a web page I was working on.

Next year, I plan to:

1. Take off at least one day per month from work on a day that Carol is at work and Lydia is in day care to reclaim some Roger time.

2. Catch up on my periodicals or toss ’em.

3. Finally, probably in the summer, get to work on thast project that somebody asked me to work on months ago.

Feel free to make your observations in the appropriate location, if you feel so inclined.

Last week, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, I was greeting a person at church after service, and she replied. “Oh, I don’t celebrate Christmas.” I hope I can wish all of you a happy and safe New Year’s Eve without fear of offending someone’s sensibilities. (Yes, I know it’s only New Year’s Eve on some calendars…)

To that end, the person I want the Democrats to pick is, in fact, the person I wanted John Kerry to pick instead of John Edwards. Since no one really runs for Vice-President (except maybe Dick Cheney), I don’t even know if he wants the job.

I want Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

One of the things I feared that Bush/Cheney would do in 2004, and they did, was to point to John Edwards’ lack of experience in international dealings. (That and the John/John remarks.) Bill Richardson has been U.S. Ambassador to the UN and Energy Secretary, as sell as New Mexico governor.

It would be disingenuous to ignore the fact that he is Hispanic. Regardless of that, he is well-qualified for the job, and would be an asset to the ticket.

Now, I don’t know if Russ Feingold even likes Bill Richardson. Moreover, I’ve learned that Richardson has Presidential aspirations himself.