No, I do not speak of the Porsche/Volkswagen 914 which in and of itself would be something to experience and fully anticipated to regular readers of this nonsense. The Museum of Printing History in Houston, which I did not imagine or realize existed, has the Model T Ford of my business on display … it is a non-functioning example … as well as an assortment of machines and devices relating to the mechanics of printing from Aldus Manutius to, well, the 1970 Haloid-Xerox 914.
For fans of small press publishing, demand publishing or vanity presses as we know them. The 914 is genesis.
I think I have to go. Who’s up for a trip to Houston? A place which is clearly more culturally significant than Austin.
God. I miss architecture. But that’s a whole other thing.
As I type we are less than an hour away from the announcement that Michael Jackson, the songwriter and performer and not the radio host, has died. First of all, I never quite got it. I was in the midst of my teenage years when Thriller hit like Thor’s hammer. The relatively clever album dominated pop culture for two years after languishing on record-store shelves through the previous year.
I know the video clips had something to do with it, but that cannot be the whole story.
We get story after story about show-business parents letting their progeny associate with him and later attempting to bring charges for improper behavior. I maintain, this is all so much crapola. Jackson was opposed to adulthood and every other aspect of his life reflected this. He was in a financial position to get away with such things.
Soon, we will know. Not by direct evidence, but by stories and the nature of what shall be found in his homes now that it may unravel. As far as the least pleasant accusations are concerned, he shall be vindicated. Jackson was a chronically disturbed individual, who wanted to remain a child and wanted to associate in a child’s world for reasons which may never be understood. Sexuality is not part of a stereotypical child’s world. It was an easy explanation for his peculiar behavior and manner, but reality is seldom so simple.
Cat Walking Jacket
The leash and cat jacket from Pet Sage, the hippy-dippy pet store who are the people you want to deal with in metro-DC, arrived Saturday. I spent from 3:30-4:45 today making the round trip to the Post Office. Remind me not to order anything parcel post. It has more to do with the ridiculously poor location of the post office for my zip code, and that I went out at the beginning of rush hour, and that I have a schedule which prevents me from doing people things on weekends when the entire metropolitan area is flooded with humanity in from the suburbs even though we now have the same Home Depots and TGI Fridays they do …
Sorry. read more…
Several foreign journalists are noting the presence of men with umbrellas or parasols conspicuously blocking, often while giggling, all cameras in the vicinity of Tienanmen Square today. This is expected to continue for some time. No one is admitting anything.
It was the BBC version that shook me a little. For one thing, a fellow who I presume was a mere uniformed Beijing police officer, as opposed to someone more highly placed, spoke American-sitcom English. These tactics seem silly and crude, yet tempered with laughter. At least the “Chicoms” and the Westerners can laugh together at how ridiculous the situation is. I am left to wonder if the younger officers, who presumably are the ones with the parasols while the more experienced officers are off fighting the white menace, are aware of the object of the exercise?
Also, the speed limit along the road on which Tienanmen Square has found itself is 70 kph (about 45 mph). That is a bit of information I neither expected nor intended to ever know.
I am reminded by comments on those pinko blogs I read that a similar situation in “The West” would not be handled as graciously, or with laughter by the persons holding the parasols. Very likely parasols would not be involved at all. Perhaps China is changing. Perhaps this should be considered, begrudgingly, genuine progress toward humanitarianism. They have given Westerners something to think about.
It just occured to me that with the last couple of entries, angrystan.com may be subjected to the “Great Firewall of China”. That seems something of an honor. I wonder if they’d let me in if I were to show up?
To be honest, Bob might be too energetic for me. I know things about him which would have frightened me away, and I am therefore pleased I did not know these things. read more…
I won’t bore you with what I have to say about it, but we are nearing the twenty-year commemorations.
An interesting historic account from the international radio community begins this week’s World of Radio presented by Glenn Hauser.
WOR 1462 is available as of 0410 UT Wednesday:
(real stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1462.ram
(real download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1462.rm
(mp3 stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1462.m3u
(mp3 download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1462.mp3
or via http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html
Bob is finally sleeping. This is something else I am thinking about, although I do not know the point. I actually like the Shuron Freeway clones, or the birth-control glasses.
