November 2, 2012 archive

Cyndi Lauper & Homelessness

Back in the day…back, back, back when I was living on the streets of San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury neighborhood…back in 1968 when I was 20 years old, there was a presidential election going on as well.  Republican Richard M. Nixon defeated Hubert H. Humphrey that cycle.  Nixon was one scary dude.

What’s right for Richard M. Nixon is right for the country.  And what is right for the country is right for the world.

But it wasn’t as scary as wondering where our next meal was coming from…or where we would sleep at night…or how cold and wet we would be come morning.

In 1968 twenty-year olds were not allowed to vote, so even had we been fiercely involved in the election, we would have had a very limited impact.

Here we are 44 years later and there are still homeless young people.  And after the election which we hope we will be able to celebrate, they will still be homeless.

Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

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Cartnoon

Another classic.  First posted here July 27, 2011.

High Diving Hare

Underwater Squirrels Again

I’ve had it pointed out to me repeatedly over the last few days (because it’s been cold and dark and there’s been nothing much else to do) that this reference doesn’t make much sense unless you are intimately familiar with Something’s Fishy! (Episode 28, Season 5 of The Fairly Odd Parents) where King Greg of Atlantis states that their staple diet consists of starfish, sponges, and the occasional underwater squirrel.

I hope this clears that point up for you.

Since Stars Hollow is as fundamentally fictional as Bikini Bottom and Dimmsdale (and as opposed to Atlantis which is completely true) we seldom have cause to complain about the weather except on those days the floor is a little wet and we are without mats.

Or coffee.

Snow is nothing but annoying icy frozen water stuff that falls out of the sky at inconvenient times. It’s Mother Nature’s icy “Screw you, Lorelai Gilmore”. It’s just stupid stuff you have to shovel out of the way so customers can get into the Inn. It’s the stuff that melts and leaks through your roof! It’s the stuff that stalls your car, it’s the stuff that buries your car.

Well said.

This particular stupid stuff was not quite as icy as last year’s edition but has been equally as effective in disrupting Halloween, taking out power, cell phone, and internet.  I suppose in it’s own way that’s a benefit since I haven’t had to deal with the silliness and have instead been able to perfect my recipe for storm somemores.

Things you will need to have on hand (you can’t shop, obviously)-

  • Miniature Marshmallows
  • M&Ms or whatever scroungable chocolate you can find
  • Animal Crackers

For preparation-

  • A Candle
  • A Lighter or Match
  • Toothpicks

Directions: Light your Candle and place it in the center of your desk in front of your blank black monitor like a shrine to the power company.  Arrange 2 Animal Crackers with a single M&M between sandwich-style.  Take off the lid cracker.  Spear your Marshmallow with a Toothpick and toast it golden brown over your Candle.  Place your hot yummy Marshmallow on top of the M&M and cover with the lid.  Squeeze gently and remove the Toothpick.  Eat.  Repeat.

Now there are those who say that you should only use Flat Toothpicks to keep the Marshmallow from sliding around, I found them a mite flimsy and prone to burn.  Richard opined that the mass of the mini-Marshmallow is insufficient to melt the chocolate.  I’ve never had much luck with that anyway.

Finally some people (Michel) objected that the Candle flame made the Marshmallow taste waxy and sooty.  To them I say you have not suffered enough!  Try it again in 24 hours and see what you think then.

For a beverage I suggest alcoholic, sewage treatment runs on electricity, and for reading material Josiah Gilbert Holland’s The Life of Abraham Lincoln.

On This Day In History November 2

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 59 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1777, the USS Ranger, with a crew of 140 men under the command of John Paul Jones, leaves Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for the naval port at Brest, France, where it will stop before heading toward the Irish Sea to begin raids on British warships. This was the first mission of its kind during the Revolutionary War.

After departing Brest, Jones successfully executed raids on two forts in England’s Whitehaven Harbor, despite a disgruntled crew more interested in “gain than honor.” Jones then continued to his home territory of Kirkcudbright Bay, Scotland, where he intended to abduct the earl of Selkirk and then exchange him for American sailors held captive by Britain. Although he did not find the earl at home, Jones’ crew was able to steal all his silver, including his wife’s teapot, still containing her breakfast tea. From Scotland, Jones sailed across the Irish Sea to Carrickfergus, where the Ranger captured the HMS Drake after delivering fatal wounds to the British ship’s captain and lieutenant.

In September 1779, Jones fought one of the fiercest battles in naval history when he led the USS Bonhomme Richard frigate, named for Benjamin Franklin, in an engagement with the 50-gun British warship HMS Serapis. After the Bonhomme Richard was struck, it began taking on water and caught fire. When the British captain of the Serapis ordered Jones to surrender, he famously replied, “I have not yet begun to fight!” A few hours later, the captain and crew of the Serapis admitted defeat and Jones took command of the British ship.

John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was the United States’ first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America’s political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day.

Captain Jones’s is interred at the US Naval Academy in a marble and bronze sarcophagus.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning


Basket 1

Staten Island, NYC’s Forgotten Borough

Cross posted fromThe Stars Hollow Gazette

This is where I live and work. I have spent most of my life training for, and dealing with, disasters around the world. Little did I ever expect to be in the middle of one in my own backyard. I am here for my family, my neighbors, my community and my first home city. I am here to try to make order out of chaos, to heal, comfort and console, starting with one life at a time.

As most of New York City inches toward normality, it’s becoming clear the scale of devastation is particularly bad in one part of the city: Staten Island.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has confirmed that least 37 New Yorkers died as a result of Hurricane Sandy-19 on Staten Island alone. Days after the superstorm slammed through the region-leaving a trail of destruction, power outages and flooding its wake-residents of Staten Island accused government agencies of responding much slower to their plight than to that of wealthier parts of the city. Many Staten Islanders are currently without electricity.

Despite being bigger than some of America’s biggest cities, like Boston and San Francisco, Staten Island is often overshadowed by its sister boroughs Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell shined a light on this quieter part of New York City in Thursday’s Rewrite segment on The Last Word:

   To see Staten Island-all of it-would be to rewrite your understanding of New York City. It is the place in New York City where wild deer run across roadways. It is not the New York you know. It is a place apart from New York City, five miles over the water on the ferry from Manhattan-and, in many ways, it might as well be a world away. Staten Island has almost everything that the rest of New York City has except skyscrapers. But it has much more.

   Wherever you live in America, Staten Island has a street that looks like a street in your town. Rich-looking, suburban streets with mansions, small town streets with handsome, humble homes that families hold onto for generations. If you got lost in the middle of the island, you could be in a spot that you might mistake for Vermont or West Virginia. It is America’s biggest small town.

I have sporadic internet connection and I’m connecting now through an satellite connection, as I was in Haiti and Gaza. I have taken to using Skype to connect with my family, friends and colleagues because cell service has been anywhere from nonexistent to barely useable it all depends on if you’re in an area where you have power and cell sites.

I’ve had a few flashbacks but I have a lot of good support in this boat. Just don’t anyone stand up and rock it, we would be hard pressed to deal with a capsize.

Thanks to Lawrence O’Donnell for telling the nation about our “little” island in the heart of New York City.

Late Night Karaoke