The top story on CNN.com tonight is that Cincinnati-area soldier Matt Maupin has been confirmed dead four years after he was last heard from.
My condolences to Sgt. Maupin's family. I have expressed before, and will repeat, my amazement at–and gratitude for–the courage of people who lay down their lives for others and for their country. I don't believe you have to either support or oppose the war to be humbled by that level of sacrifice.
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Posted in Musings, Vox Archive
Tagged cincinnati, iraq, news, news & politics, politics, war
This morning I visited the popular Internet domain registrar GoDaddy.com. There I was informed of the fast-disappearing opportunity to purchase the domain name retard-monkey-fish-squirrel.info. At a whopping $15, they were charging a large premium (percentage-wise) over their usual registration fee. Clearly there is a massive scramble for this one. Ahem.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be viewing those revealing SI photos of Danica Patrick.
Time for panic in The Queen City! Sometimes even Cincinnati gets a "real" snow. We're expecting up to a foot by the time it's over. Nothing exceptional to folks up north, of course, but not exactly piddly. Looks like we'll hafta break out the snowblower, maw! (Seriously. It hasn't even been out this season.)
[Updated Friday 4:45 PM EST: Woo-hoo! The NWS says it's a blizzard. Ten to fifteen inches expected by Saturday afternoon. Winds up to 40 MPH. Sounds like a recipe for one great big honking mess.]
[Updated Saturday 4:02 PM EST: We have sun...I guess that was pretty much it. Mr. Guilt finds 11 inches outside; I'm declining to step out with a yardstick. (I suppose if I want more, I should respond to this spam that promises "this pill can add 3-inches for you.") Anyway, that's our idea of A Pretty Big Snow around here.]
On NPR this morning, Clinton adviser Harold Ickes told a reporter, "We think that Hillary has been vetted for the last 15 years, there is not another shoe in her closet to drop…."
This curious statement works for me in no less than four (4) ways.
I'm not anti-Hillary. It just made me laugh.
Posted in Musings, Vox Archive
Tagged adobe, antioch, caricature, family, mobile, ross, ross jeynes, veritas
What is a "charmed life"?
Oh, come on…you know where this is going, right?
A post, now, in memory of my brother Ross, who died suddenly at the age of 35 on March 4, 2001.
Ross was a programmer, a musician, a biker, and a great brother. He would have been a terrific uncle.
I regret not having a song of my own to put here, but I haven't had much in the way of songs since then. So I offer instead a beautiful piece of 70s fusion, a long-time favorite of mine that I nonetheless haven't heard this millenium. (Sometimes you put something down and are afraid to pick it up again.) The music is perfect; I didn't pick it out just because of the title. Fair warning: this is a long one.
[I'm sad to report that Shadowfax drummer Stuart Nevitt died just days after I originally posted this in 2008. Winds player Chuck Greenberg died in 1995. –Ed.]
This year I've reinstated Ross's web site, which has been mostly absent since the day that March when I turned off the Linux box it ran on. I like the list of cars. Also the sounds. Especially that one sound. (Eww!) That was my brother for you.
My shiny black Centro arrived today! Sweeet. I just wanted to get the Obligatory Mobile Post™ in. A nice little Vox applet is part of the bonus software; that's where I'm posting from. Enjoy the blurry MySpace-style photo, too. (It's late. I'm not standing around all night trying to get a great picture.)
If you've been severely depressed about your lack of direction in life, you might want to skip this one. Or at least not dwell on the lyrics.
Dating back to pre-Practical-Man days, this Mark-penned song debuted on our cassette The Book of 1,000 Songs under the band name Mohammed Chang.* What you have here is the full-band re-recorded version from our 1998 full-length CD Chaos Town.
"Nobody else gives a damn if you make it or not before you're gone."** You can take that to the bank.***
(Song credits and more at The Practical Man’s download page.)
*There's an old joke that, since Mohammed is the world's most common given name and Chang is the most common family name, Mohammed Chang must be the most common full name.
**There should probably be a line-break slash in there somewhere. I don't care. Nyah.
***Actually, the bank metaphor is totally inappropriate, seeing as this is indie music and all the bank-related flow was outward, not toward.
Posted in My Music, Vox Archive
Tagged aac, band, chaos town, download, indie, itunes, mp3, music, slaw wagon, the practical man
The headline of an article at Cincinnati's wcpo.com proclaims "Candidates Fit In Weekend Stomping In Ohio."
Um…stomping whom, exactly?*
Wait. Maybe they left out a hyphen. Maybe it's supposed to be "weekend-stomping." And maybe "fit" is an adjective. That would translate to "Candidates are physically fit during their stomping of a weekend in Ohio."
I'm just so confused.
*Does anyone actually use the word "whom" anymore?
