The Graduate
Originally uploaded by olivander.
O: What’s the gold ribbon for?
A: Oh, something cum laude. It has to do with my grade point.
AND she already has a job lined up. This kid is a parent’s dream.
Booked Up
Originally uploaded by olivander.
We visited Booked Up in Archer City, TX–probably for the last time, as they are set to close indefinitely Dec 31. Made several excellent finds, among them Bernard Heuvelman’s “On the Track of Unknown Animals”, “Willie Ley’s Exotic Zoology”, a first English Edition of Lowell’s “Democracy and Other Essays”, and a first edition “Treatise on the Gods,” by H.L. Mencken.
There are only a handful of these speed demons in existence, and there’s one at the dealership in Lawton, OK. 550hp. Base price: $139,000.
Pass the Goo
Originally uploaded by olivander.
A cow-orker of mine brought this back from a trip to China. They’re really crackers, like Goldfish, but shrimp-shaped and -flavored.
A blank concrete wall behind the new Arts Center has become a popular
canvas for graffiti. Rather hypocritically, the Arts Center people
have been power-spraying the designs away. So much for encouraging
art. From the work I’ve seen, many spray-paint taggers are much more
talented than many “real” artists. One group puts their artwork
indoors, the other puts theirs outdoors. I think it’s time to tear
down the walls and integrate art with our environments. I thank the
taggers for adding a splash of colors to my morning walk. If not for
them, it’d be just another dreary grey wall contributing to the
color-neutralization of our cities.
Anyway, I saw this new piece of graffiti on the wall this morning.
Roughly, it says, “It is prohibited to contaminate the mind with
publicity.”
Our occasional Washington correspondent Jean phones in with this report:
Now houses are exploding in Maryland.Gas Leaks Identified in Pr. George’s
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 23, 2005; Page B01Washington Gas has found about 1,400 active leaks in underground service lines within a 100-square-mile area of Prince George’s County, according to a report the utility sent late yesterday to the Maryland Public Service Commission.
The leaks are not considered hazardous because the vapor remains underground and has not migrated into homes or buildings, Washington Gas spokesman Tim Sargeant said after releasing the 33-page report. The company plans to repair all leaks within six months, the report said.
Washington Gas has been under scrutiny since a District Heights house exploded in March after its residents complained of a gas odor. Since then, company officials have acknowledged that they had noticed an increase in the number of leaks in the county a year and a half ago.
Good luck selling your houses over the next six months, folks! Note that the leaks are not considered hazardous because they’re confined to underground–slowly accumulating and building up in concentration. (rubs chin) Hmmm, what else do we know of that operates on the same principal?
I must confess that I haven’t done a very good job of observing TV Turnoff Week, but what can I say? I has to have my Daily Show fix. However if you have given up television for lent–or are just too frightened by images of the scary new pope to turn it on–and if you happen to live in the Philadelphia area, why not stop by The Jaunt and partake in some of their festivities? An old cellmate of mine is participating, and you can gaze in wonderment at the fact that my tiny hometown turned out such a high percentage of weirdos.
“Call me paranoid, but given all the manipulative tricks the Republicans have gotten up to recently, I am prepared to believe that this has less to do with Homeland security and more to do with keeping the American public ignorant and free of foreign influence and inspiration. An ill-informed, isolated, ignorant populace is a populace easily manipulated. Fed a diet of reality shows coupled with faith-based reasoning (an oxymoron if ever there was one) and you have a perfect recipe for a country in which the government that can do more or less whatever it wants. Democracy becomes a farce without access to information.”
We’re in Bed, Bath & Beyond today (DON’T say anything!). I’m looking at their wall clocks because in my advancing years I’ve discovered that the pale blue LEDs of the VCR don’t quite cut it anymore. Along come two college-age girls. I don’t really pay much attention to what they’re saying until I hear, “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m ready for a clock.” The utterance slithered into my ear, surrounded by brain, and began choking the life out of it.
At
what
POINT
in anyone’s life are they not “ready” for a clock? Time is one of the basic elements of our universe. Buying a clock isn’t one of those major, life-altering decisions, folks. It’s a double-A battery, a flake of quartz, some cheap plastic gears, and two sticks of differing lengths encased in a flimsy plastic housing. You’re ready for that. Maybe not a Rolex. Maybe not a GOOD clock that’s accurate and won’t have to be reset every week. Maybe not anything made primarily of non-synthetic materials. But you’re ready for the crap they sell at B,B & B.
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