Month: October 2004

From the crowd that brought us ‘shrink the government to a size where it can be drowned in a bathtub’ comes « a truly brilliant idea »: ‘The Bush administration is threatening to shut an airfield at Midway Atoll in the mid-Pacific that has been available as an emergency landing site for decades. The airlines…

Speaking of Ohio, « Johnny Reb Asscroft is up to his usual tricks »: ‘Bush administration lawyers argued in three closely contested states last week that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights set out in the Help America Vote Act, which was passed in the aftermath…

       « Our Life in Michigan – Strolling Around Northside Elementary School »

Wow … fog in Ann Arbor. Who knew? Reminds me of San Francisco.

Another summery (sort of) day today, though it was windier and a little chillier. It’s supposed to start storming again tonight, though, so we’ll see how long the rain lasts. Last night there was an amazing lunar eclipse, the last that will be visible in Michigan till March 2007 (seems a long time away, though…

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There was a big article on the front page of the Michigan Daily this morning about a student who got hit by a car yesterday evening as she was crossing Bonisteel and Murfin on North Campus. A Department of Public safety representative said that speeding is more rampant on North Campus because there are fewer…

It was almost muggy tonight when I walked home from campus at around 7.30. The temps were in the low 60s, but the humidity was up in the 70-80% range. It’s almost the end of October, and it’s like the middle of summer. The only way you can tell it’s autumn riught now is that…

The ASquared database was hosed last night; thank god for Google caching. If you made a comment yesterday, it’s probably lost, however. We apologize for the inconvenience. Our web host, Textdrive, is very dissatisfied with the server farm in Texas and is moving to a new provider. They’re ironing things out and it should get…

It was a busy week, one of the busier I’ve had at SI. I had a poster presentation on Wednesday afternoon based on some of the work in my summer directed field experience with the IPL (as did about 60 or 70 other SI students, based on their various DFEs), and I had a screening…

It’s official: Snow due anyday now, since Dairy Queen is now closed for the season.        « Our Life in Michigan – Rainy Saturday Afternoon | Fall Peak Colors »

       « Our Life in Michigan – Fall Campus Colors »

Fascinating (and welcome) ghost-town feel to Ann Arbor today (the grim Scandinavian weather added to that feel). The center of town was completely deserted. Liberty Street was like a graveyard. Ambrosia, which has more and more become almost impossible to find an empty seat in, was blessedly empty except for a couple of students and…

When I see the kind of ominous, implacable steel-gray overcast skies I saw today, I start wondering if maybe Dixie Franklin wasn’t right when she called post-summer Michigan a “sunless horror, devoid of joy and hope,” except that with a year’s experience, I realize that the weather here can change on a dime. It’s supposed…

It’s cold, my hands hurt. The fall colors are gorgeous and I wish I were a better photographer who could capture some of the magic. I love October best of all, but it’s also sad, because one of my least favorite months, November, is howling like a wolf at the door. In November, my skin…

Meanwhile, « badly mismanaged Delta Air Lines reports that it is running out of cash »: ‘Delta Air Lines, which is struggling to avoid a bankruptcy filing, said yesterday that it expected to lose as much as $675 million for the third quarter and that it was using cash at a steep rate. The news…

I was feeling sorry for myself on the way home last night (the usual grad student complaints and kvetches, not worth going into detail about) until a trio of first-year biz school students got on the bus and started exchanging grim graveyard jokes with one another about how they were failing all of their classes…

Yesterday was the beginning of the term “study break” (what a joke) and also of (true) autumn: rain most of the day (not heavy, but not sporadic, either), windy conditions, and cold that that was deep enough to make me actually rue not having brought my gloves and a heavy jacket. I waited for the…

It’s currently 39 on its way down to 35 degrees overnight. It’s the 16th of October. I’d say I want to move back south to New Mexico, but I’m told Santa Fe got a huge snow dump the other day. I’m not going to be warm again until May, am I?

Banned from the bike though I am, I did manage to sneak a ride tonight. I had a meeting with a client on the UM campus. So I loaded the Bobcat into the Jeep and drove to a parking spot as close as I could get, then got out the bike and rode the six…

Little-noticed news today includes news that Gulf War Syndrome-suffering veterans are probably suffering from exposure to toxic chemicals, something the Pentagon has been lying about for over a decade; a revealing report in the Times that shows that private freight railroads have been engaged in a decades-long pattern of death- and injury-causing neglect and have…

A couple of law students were on the bus this morning. East Coasters, from the sound of it: “We had a big fight this morning.” “What about?” “She started shouting at me. ‘I can’t believe you made me move to this sh*t place!’” “Dude, that sounds rough.” “Yeah. Well. I told her, ‘At least we…

“I’m doing really well. It’s really brutal, and I’m really stressed out, but I’m doing well.” A first-year grad stuent, apparently, on her cell phone.

The crowd in the Diag on Friday was relatively small (only about 100, if you believe the Daily), but everybody there was passionate and in a defiant mood, even though the overriding mood of the times is one of fear and (sometimes) despair. Ralph Williams, who has been in the English Department here since 1969,…

The Michigan Daily carried a headline in yesterday’s edition: “Coming Out rally highlights empowerment.” That has got to be one of the dullest, innocuous, sleep-deprived headlines ever. (I know because I wrote a lot of the other dullest headlines ever when I was a page editor in college.) Anyway, the other unsuccessful aspect of this…

It was kind of chilly yesterday, but today it was back to sun and nearly 70-degree temps. I see the National Weather Service is predicting “showers likely” for the rest of the week; I’ll believe it when I see it. Today I walked around campus in a bulky zippered sweatshirt because I thought it would…

Very sad news in the paper this morning: ’ The Yankee Air Museum, a popular air history attraction at the Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, burned to the ground Saturday evening when a fast-moving fire swept through the building, destroying priceless aviation artifacts and two airplanes. ‘Three of the museum’s most prized aircraft—a C-47, B-25D…

Yet another gorgeous, mild, cloudless October morning in Ann Arbor … what is this, California? Yesterday we took a drive during the big game between UM and Minnesota and the trees had exploded with color seemingly overnight, with a riot of reds and yellows and oranges everywhere you looked. Absolutely stupendous. If there’s no other…

[What, no questions about us faggots and our families and how evil we are?] Kerry: 1. Won’t cede sovereignty over US, but our country is strongest when we lead alliances.2. I have plan to hunt down and kill terrorists and get things better in Iraq. 3. We have a crisis here in the middle class…

Three instances of your mistakes and how you corrected it: Emperor says … he has made decisions. Beat. Says he’ll take responsibility for tactical problems in war. On big decisions in Iraq and Afghanistan weren’t mistakes. Trying to trap me into saying it was wrong. Again gets hyper defensive on Iraq. Goes way off on…

Kerry on abortion: I respect the belief about life and when it begins. Raised a Catholic. Helped lead me yesterday and today. I can’t take an article of faith and legislate it for someone who doesn’t share it. I can’t do that. I can council people. I can talk about responsibility and abstinence. I have…

Emperor: ‘I’m NOT TELLING!’ That’s supposed to be funny? Strict interpretation. Personal opinion. Here’s who I wouldn’t pick. Invokes Pledge case. Dred Scott case (??!!). What appalling ignorance of American history. No litmus test except for interpretation. Kerry’s response goes to Bush’s words four years ago … we need conservative judges. His two favorites are…

Embryonic stem cells (here we go). Kerry says he respects the question and feeling, invokes Nancy Reagan and Michael J. Fox and Christopher Reeve. We can do it ethically. Embryos from fertility clinics not from abortions are available. It is respecting life to reach for that cure. Bush has chosen a policy that makes that…

Defend the Orwell Act, Boy Emperor … Bush says your rights aren’t being watered down. Every action being taken against terrorists requires court order and scrutiny. (?) Justification, oversimplication, lie, idiotic statement, blah blah blah. TERRA!!!! It doesn’t abridge your rights. Kerry reponds. Republicans want the act changed. Many folks are concerned about it. Inspector…

Manufacturing competitiveness: Kerry talks about ways to be competitive, cites examples of administration failure … incentives to move offshore. Tax benefits for companies that stay. Manufacturing and new jobs credit. Cost of healthcare is hurting business more than anything. Boo-YEAH! Education is important … especially science and technology … energy independence … great entrepreneurial spirit…

Emperor on the environment: Off road diesel engines … increase wetlands … refurbish inner city sore spots … Clear Skies Orwellian Initiative … conservation reserve program … Healthy Forests Orwellian Initiative … hydrogen auto technology … unClean Coal Orwellian … I’m a good steward of the land … LOUD GUFFAW!!! Kerry: Emperor isn’t living in…

Explain your spending and lack of vetoes. Emperor: We have a deficit because of Clinton recession. It ain’t my fault. We’re at war. TRIFECTA!!! Money, ammunitions and pay! Security! We have an obligation to spend that money. Everybody got tax relief. Trickle down!!! Voodoo economics! Haven’t vetoed anything because we’re working together (?). I won’t…

What about Trial Lawyer Edwards? Kerry says he and John are for tort reform, look it up. Is it a problem? Yes. Do we need to fix it? Yes. But it’s less than 1% of the total cost of healthcare. $3,500 up in Missouri, 64%. 5,000,000 have lost healthcare under Bush. I have specific plans….

Why did you block importation of Canadian drugs to save 40-60%? Bush: I want you to be safe and protected and all huggly-wuggly and safety-wafety. Slams the third world. Pisses off his Big Pharma buddies by weakly touting generic drugs. Shillls for drug card scam. Blathers on and on. Kerry: Notes that the Emperor four…

Why no more terrorist attacks and what will you do about our safety? Kerry notes that Emperor has told us it’s not a question of if but of when. These people wait and plot and plan. I agree we have to go after them. I can do it far more effectively. We need the best…

The Emperor on the draft: Rumors on the internet: We’re not going to have a draft period. Volunteer army is best to fight 21st century wars. We don’t need as much manpower on Korean peninsula. I can’t follow him any longer. He’s off the rails, making no sense. But promises no draft while he’s the…

Asks Kerry about Iran. Iran is a huge threat and you can’t just rely on sanctions, notes that threat has grown while Bush was preoccupied in Iraq. Talks about North Korea’s capabilities and notes Emperor’s failure to engage. We were safer before he came to office. We have to join with the Brits and French…

A woman’s family travelled overseas and noted intensity of hatred to US … Emperor says, ‘We’ve got a great country and I recognize I’ve made some decisions …’ Invokes Reagan and the Cold War. He made decisions because it was best for our security. Slaps Arafat. Slaps Europe. It was unpopular but the right thing…

To Kerry: Proceeding with same plan in Iraq? Kerry responds of course not … trots out Republicans who oppose the way things are being handled in Iraq. Attacks vociferously the current way things are going in Iraq. Talks about training troops faster and getting allies back in the game. Bush says ‘From tyranny to elections!…

To the Emperor: ‘What about the whole WMDs in Iraq thing … is this a reasonable justification?’ Each situation is different … you have to use diplomacy first. [Lying sack of …] From there on, he’s just repeating, ‘9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11!…

First question to Kerry: Do you have a reply to the Fascists calling you a flip-flopper? Answer: Bush is running a campaign of mass deception. No duh. His answer encompasses a whole lot of ground. The Emperor just repeats his campaign stuff. ‘He’s wishy-washy because he is.’ Pathetic.

Listening to the Town Hall debate on CSPAN Radio on XM … and thanking Good God Almighty that I don’t have television in my home.

I’m on way in a couple of hours to get an MRI done of my hands and wrists. Yes, in a couple of hours. My MRI is scheduled for 00:20 … that’s 20 minutes after MIDNIGHT. Weirdest time for a medical test I’ve ever heard of. It’s been scheduled for over a month and I…