Here’s how AirBeagle works:

There are six domains in the AirBeagle family, AB.US, AB.org, AB.com, AB.biz, AB.net and AntiFascist.US, but only two are really used — .US and .biz. AntiFascist.US automatically forwards to AB.US, as does AB.net and AB.org. AB.com automatically forwards to AB.biz.

« AirBeagle.US » contains the following ‘blogs:

« Ask »: Here’s where you find out all you want to know about AirBeagle.
« Bike »: A chronicle of my efforts to ride a bike and get some regular exercise.
« Contact »: How to reach out and touch us.
« Drive »: I just leased a new Jeep, my fourth. This is where we do a Car and Driver bit, keeping a record of expenses and other things that happen over the course of the lease.
« Fly »: In which I indulge a major passion: airliners. I love ‘em. I write about the industry and post some pictures.
« The AntiFascist ». While similar in tone to AB.US, except it only contains links to news articles which highlight current affairs in five areas, News, Politics, Culture, Fundamentalism and Corporatism, both Imperially and Internationally. Read ‘em and weep.
« Live »: This is the joint blog which I and my partner Frank write … it’s all about our grad school experiences while attending UM in Ann Arbor. This is where all the good stuff is, with lots of variety.
« Print »: Life with literature, also a passion. Not as frequently updated, but mainly where I keep a list of books I’ve read or am reading.
« Read »: Totally random, personal stuff which doesn’t fit anywhere else. It’s the most personally revealing section.
« Remember »: Another major passion: history. Primarily, you’ll find me writing about the history of Europe between 1815 and 1945, but there are other bits and pieces here too.
« Screen »: All about film. Movies I’m watching or have just seen, stuff I’ve rented from the library and an up-to-date listing of my 500-disc DVD library.
« Slaughter » contains a list honoring all the men and women who have lost their lives since the Boy Emperor George II seized the throne of the ‘Murrican Empire in 2001. I update as often as I can, but the deaths are getting too numerous and it’s getting hard to keep up.
« Snork »: The Dayley Bayley is where you’ll find a recent picture of my dog, Bayley, the Beagle in AirBeagle, updated every day. Or as often as I get a chance.
« Think »: All about my adventures in teaching and in grad school at UM’s School of Education, where I’ll be getting my master’s degree. I keep it fairly generic; don’t need to get dooced.
« View »: All photos, all the time. Here’s the repository of all our photos that we take over time. They cover some five years, but I hope to add more soon.
« Watch »: Here’s where you can watch the beagle live. It’s the place to get voyeuristic and spy on us via our webcam. If you see a graphic that says we’re offline, it means the camera is off and we’re looking for some privacy.
« Write »: The final AB.US section is where I keep longer writings and essays that don’t fit on the main blogs.

The main page of « AirBeagle.US » is the oldest section of AirBeagle and where I blow off the most steam. Here’s where I fight the good fight, mostly against the self-righteous, hypocritical and evil Fascists and Fascist FunDumbMentalists that would turn the American Republic into the Fascist Theocracy of ‘Murrica. I don’t pull punches here. If you don’t like in-your-face progressive politics and activism, and/or you think George W. is akin to God, then you won’t like what you see here.

Then there is « AirBeagle.biz » which is used to deliver information about my education communications consulting and my personal resume.

A better site map will be coming when I get a chance.

Welcome.

There’’s been a very curious transaction this week; « a Canadian company bought three Boeing plants in Kansas and Oklahoma »

‘Toronto-based conglomerate Onex Corp. is heading for the potentially turbulent skies of the aviation industry with a $1.2 billion (U.S.) purchase of three Boeing Co. commercial aircraft plants in Kansas and Oklahoma. “We have come together around a vision, to build a stand-alone competitive business with customers from around the world,” Nigel Wright, an Onex managing director, said in a conference call to announce the deal for the three plants yesterday. The deal includes $900 million in cash and assumption of about $300 million in existing debt, according to Onex managing director Seth Mersky. It’’s worth about $1.47 billion (Canadian). “Onex is awfully happy to begin this process. We share a common goal to build a strong, stable, world-class aerospace supplier,” Mersky said. The plants provide Boeing with fuselage and other components for 737, 747, 767 and 777 planes and is a supplier for the 787 Dreamliner.’‘

— Toronto Star

What’’s curious is that Onex has no aerospace experience at all. Boeing says the transaction is intended to increase competition. Says Onex’’s chief: ‘’This could have been very advantageous for an aerospace buyer because they could have eliminated cost from administration or engineering functions, but Boeing decided to take a different tack … They decided that the opportunity to build a stand-alone business, and having more suppliers in the market would be better in the long run.

Sounds to me more like an identity crisis in the face of slipping market share thanks to Airbus, but that’’s just my opinion. Boeing Commercial appears to be shrinking and becoming strictly just a designer of airplanes. You have to wonder if it’’s a viable strategy over the long run, but then I’‘m far from being an expert on big bidness.

Naturally, the employees, as usual, may get the shaft. Onex claims that they will be hiring, but two passages in the article stand out. Onex, however, avoided commenting on whether the new company, to be formed to run the plants, will have jobs for all the plants’’ employees.

’”The 9,000 employees of the old plants will have to apply to the new company for jobs. Onex says it intends to hold meetings with employees over the next several days.’

Which is to say here’s an opportunity to weed out ‘undesirables’ and take advantage of Oklahoma and Kansas laws which are hostile to unions.

Regardless of the true intent, forcing an employee to ‘re-apply’ for the job he or she currently holds is insulting and demeaning. Way to get off on the right foot, Onex.

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Snail Mail
Steve Pollock
1443 Wisteria Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4643

Phone
734 / 846-6498

AirBeagle is best viewed in Mozilla’s Firefox or Apple’s Safari or even Omniweb. It works in Opera and Netscape, just not as well. You’re on your own there.

And for you Internet Explorer users: Break the shackles of Microsoft and get a REAL browser! AirBeagle works in I.E., but not that well … because I.E. is a bloated piece of crap, the engineers of which should be flogged repeatedly with copies of Jeffrey Zeldman’s Designing With Web Standards.

1. I was born in Roswell, NM, almost 20 years to the day after John Denver. Yes, THAT Roswell. No alien jokes necessary – I’ve heard ‘em all.

2. I am a Sagitarrius, but think it’s all mostly a buncha harmless hooey.

3. I was baptized in the Church of the Nazarene.

4. I spent several years in a church loosely affiliated with the Assemblies of God.

5. Which explains why I am now very much against organized religion.

6. My number one pet peeve is hypocrisy.

7. The cities I have lived in are Roswell; Clovis, NM; Duncan, OK; Plano, TX; Dallas, TX; Pleasant Hill, CA; Highlands Ranch, CO; San Francisco, CA; and Ann Arbor, MI

8. I moved 14 times between 1994-98, mostly to different apartments around the north Dallas area.

9. My favorite cities in the world are Berlin, Germany, and Venice, Italy.

10. My least favorite city in the world is London, England.

11. I have much trouble understanding my native language as it is spoken in its native land.

12. I love the countryside between Cracow and Oswiecim, Poland.

13. I love to travel, especially by plane or on long road trips.

14. I have visited 31 of the 50 United States.

15. I have flown over 8 of the remaining 19.

16. I can’t wait to visit Vermont and hope to live there someday.

17. I have been to six foreign countries: England, France, Germany, Poland, Austria and Italy.

18. I was once yelled at by a London cabbie.

19. I threw an angry ugly American fit at Charles deGaulle airport outside Paris when I didn’t get the seat assignment I was promised.

20. I am deeply ashamed of number 19.

21. I was also deeply ashamed of patronizing Planet Hollywoods, Hard Rock Cafes and Virgin Records stores in Paris, London and Berlin.

22. I wish I could live in Salzburg, Austria.

23. My ancestors on my mother’s side came from Siegen, near Cologne, Germany. Other relatives came from County Coleraine, Ireland, and from England.

24. I am related to both Belle Starr and Black Jack Ketchum. Although my great-great-grandfather was named John W. Booth, I am not apparently actually related to John Wilkes Booth.

25. I used to cry every single day when I was forced to go to school.

26. I became very near-sighted in second grade; my eyes got steadily worse until the deterioration suddenly stopped in 12th grade; I have had the same contact prescription for over 20 years.

27. I rode a helicopter when I was eight and screamed from the time we left the ground ‘til the time we landed.

28. I am afraid of heights, but only in buildings or roller coasters. I love being on top of very high mountains or cliffs.

29. I locked myself out of the house one night wearing nothing at all when I was nine years old.

30. I pretended to be Evel Knievel when I was in elementary school in the early ‘70s and built lots of ramps to jump my bike over.

31. I played the cornet in junior high and high school band. I played it badly.

32. I graduated high school with honors, but college with only a 2.79 gpa. College bored me.

33. My favorite subjects are history and English.

34. My least favorite subjects are math and science.

35. I have a major book fetish, especially European history.

36. My kindergarten class had the privilege to tour the first Boeing 747s ever built before they entered airline service with Pan Am; Boeing engineers gave me a Lifesavers during the tour.

37. I was never in a fight in school and have never hit anyone in anger.

38. I collect commercial airline memorabilia from the golden age, 1930s-1960s.

39. I miss the days of Braniff International’s Easter egg colored airplanes and ‘air-stripping hostesses.’

40. I collect Playmates interactive Simpsons toys.

41. I love ‘South Park,’ but suspect it is full of fascist Republican propaganda.

42. My favorite TV show of all time is ‘Northern Exposure.’

43. I detest reality TV, but am currently completely hooked on BBC’s ‘Changing Rooms.’

44. My favorite guilty pleasure, movie-wise, is ‘Steel Magnolias.’

45. My favorite movie of all time is ‘The Best Years Of Their Lives.’ A close second is ‘An American In Paris.’

46. I am a major Hitchcock fan.

47. I love pretty much any movie made before about 1965.

48. My favorite actresses are Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell.

49. My favorite actors are Cary Grant, James Stewart, Gene Kelly and Farley Granger.

50. No other actor or actress (especially those working today) are fit to lick the shoes of Joan, Katherine, Rosalind, Cary, Gene, James or Farley.

51. I once saw Redd Foxx at the Oklahoma City airport. He got angry when we pretended not to know who he was.

52. I once saw Doug McClure at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. My aunt got his autograph.

53. I saw the cast and crew of ‘Party of Five’ film an episode at my office building in San Francisco.

54. I stood in line at different times to get the autographs of Patricia Nell Warren, author of ‘The Front Runner,’ Armistead Maupin, author of ‘Tales of the City,’ and Jan Karon, author of the ‘Mitford’ series.

55. I am a major fan of Doris Day’s movies and albums; ‘Mr. Tap Toes’ is one of my earliest musical memories.

56. I don’t think Rock Hudson or Montgomery Clift were particularly good looking.

57. But I would have jumped into bed in a heartbeat with Farley Granger or Guy Madison (or both!)

58. I’m attracted to Ben Affleck, but think he’s a bad actor.

59. I would be attracted to Matt Damon, but he reminds me too much of a 12-year-old and that makes me nervous.

60. I enjoy being totally alone much of the time.

61. I have over 425 movies on DVD.

62. I can be a movie Nazi.

63. I know very little about music – just what I like.

64. Britney Spears is my worst nightmare – on so many levels.

65. I cry when reading sentimental books like R.F. Delderfield’s ‘A Horseman Riding By,’ ‘The Green Gauntlet,’ and ‘To Serve Them All My Days.’ This causes great conflict inside me, because I’m an English major and these books aren’t particularly good literature.

66. One of my favorite books is Elleston Trevor’s ‘Bury Him Among Kings.’

67. The worst job I ever had was mopping the floor of the diner in a Woolworth store.

68. The best job I ever had was small town newspaper reporter.

69. I scream at TV news reporters and anchors when the evening news is on.

70. I believe we live in a corporate Fascist police state.

71. I believe the official explanations about 9/11 are … incomplete.

72. I have a potty mouth sometimes, which is ironic because, when I was a kid, cussing made me very angry.

73. I cut my own hair. Sometimes the results leave a little to be desired.

74. My beagle has me wrapped around his paw and is lord and master of the manse.

75. Happiness is a warm beagle.

76. I hate seafood.

77. I barely tolerate oriental food.

78. I love Tex-Mex and Italian.

79. I eat toast every morning for breakfast.

80. Chocolate-coated breakfast cereals are gross, yet I drink chocolate milk every morning.

81. Minor earthquakes are fun.

82. Chasing tornadoes is even more fun.

83. I miss thunderstorms. There aren’t any in San Francisco.

84. The best thing about living in San Francisco is the fog.

85. The worst thing about living in San Francisco is … it’s crowded. We’re wedged in here like rabbits in cages, for god’s sake!

86. I take home the soaps/shampoos from every hotel I visit.

87. Sunshine and deep blue skies depress me.

88. Rainy days make me very, very happy.

89. I hate it when my teeth aren’t brushed.

90. The toilet seat must be down.

91. The toilet paper goes over the roll, not under.

92. I take a shower every morning and a bath every night.

93. 250-threadcount sheets, changed at least three times a week, are the only way to go.

94. I am a night owl and prefer to stay up until at least 3 a.m.

95. However, I also love being up and seeing the dawn.

96. My oldest and dearest friends have been around for over 26 years and are as close as family.

97. Upon my death, I want to be cremated.

98. I doubt the existence of a hereafter.

99. I have never stolen anything from anyone in my life.

100. I can be an accomplished liar, when need arises.

News from California: « An experiment with RFID badges for attendance purposes fails for a community school »:

‘It started with a girl who went home from junior high saying she felt like an orange. Lauren Tatro, 13, told her parents the plain facts. Every student at Brittan Elementary School had to wear a badge the size of an index card with their name, grade, photo — and a tiny radio identification tag. The purpose was to test a new high-tech attendance system. To the eighth-grader, it seemed students had been turned into grocery items on the shelf, slabs of sirloin at the meat counter, fruit in the produce section. So began a difficult stretch for this town of 2,885. Outraged parents claimed the school was trampling their children’s privacy and civil liberties, maybe even threatening their health. School board meetings overflowed. Folks talked of George Orwell, Big Brother and the Bible. The American Civil Liberties Union joined the fray. Parents picketed. TV news crews from as far away as Germany descended on the 600-student school.’

— LA Times

After much ado and hoo-haw and won’t somebody please think of the children, the company that started the whole thing cancelled the whole experiment, took their toys and went home.

But don’t cry too hard for them; as always, controversy is the best publicity you can get. You can’t buy the publicity that occurs when adults start yelling at each other over kids (or other things for that matter).

Savvy people know this. Madonna, for instance, wouldn’t have a career if it weren’t for controversy; that Sex book was a complete joke, more stupid than sexy and her singing has never been particularly noteworthy. She owes her career and her millions to her ability to market herself through controversy. The more she was denounced from pulpits and had parental warning stickers stuck on her albums, the more money she made, ensuring that she made more albums and more controversy. That’s been her cycle for over twenty years, and it’s worked like a charm.

Just like it’s worked charmingly for InCom:

‘Ever since InCom’s name began appearing on TV and in newspaper stories around the country, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Many are callers from school districts wanting to adopt the technology. Ahlers said he won’t be surprised if some states eventually require the technology in schools. “This has been a very, very good experience,” he said. “They spelled our name right and spread it across the country.”’

Bingo. The bottom line. They lost the battle in Sutter, but may have just won the entire war for the rest of the country. Growth and profits will ensue and, just like the man said, some state legislators (southern and Republican, I predict) will embrace the whole thing and start requiring school children to be branded like cattle. The rest of society won’t be far behind; teachers will be tagged like students; Wal-Mart, the leviathan who may have done more than any other entity to bring RFID to maturity and popularity, will start tagging employees, and so on. And it will all be done in the name of efficiency, technology and, above all, safety.

Which always makes me remember the much-used-lately Benjamin Franklin quote:

‘They who would give up liberty to gain a little security deserve neither.’

We’ve pissed away our liberty because we’re such wimps. And put on the throne the Chief of All Wimps, a scared, swaggering bully of an Emperor.

Ain’t the Twenty-First Century gonna be grand?

Of course, it’s all Bill Clinton’s fault. If he hadn’t built that damn Bridge to the Twenty-First Century in the first place, we might not be in this mess.