You’ve GOT to be $%@*#$@ kidding me …: ‘Today: Occasional snow. Steady temperature around 36. Breezy, with a north northwest wind between 22 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. ‘Tonight: Occasional snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 30....

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The Imperial House of Corporate Representatives passed a bill permitting drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge yesterday. « Let’s just see what this little bill does », shall we? 1. Provides $8.1 billion in tax breaks over 10 years, most of it going to promote coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas energy industries. 2. Makes it easier to build liquefied natural...

Quote of the Day: ‘I’m a radical. I’m a real extremist. I don’t want to impeach judges. I want to impale them.’ —Michael Schwartz, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn’s chief of staff, as reported on MSNBC.com

It’s Frank’s final week of Grad School Hell. Four more days, folks, four more days, then it’s ‘free at last, free at last …’ But I should let him speak for himself. Er, maybe next week. Me? I’ve been in a hell of my own … Hell, AKA Oklahoma. Good lord, there’s a lotta porn palaces and Jesus bilboards in...

Yes, dear friends, I’m still alive and haven’t dropped off the end of the earth. But you could see the end from where I was: Oklahoma. Okiehoma. Oh my. Parent’s 50th anniversary was the occasion and I drove the Jeep because I still had books and sundry items in Duncan to pick up. Oh the things you see on the...

Well, the weather’s been fabulous (if a bit chilly) the past few days. I think we’ve seen the last of the snow. I could be proven wrong, but I doubt it. It’s very pleasant here in the spring — in the Bay Area, the only birds you see much of are pigeons and seagulls, so it’s great to have the...

We went through the first instance of the term-end ritual of professor evaluations this morning in my Preserving Information class, filling in circles on Scantron forms with stubby pencils to register our feelings about the course. That is the real signal that the finish line is fast approaching. Up till now it had all been rumor and speculation and calendar-watching....

More unpredictable Michigan weather, though I have the impression that this is about the end of it for a few months. Yesterday it got up to 77 degrees and was warm and even muggy. Today it was overcast, chilly, and not much over 60. Of course I overdressed yesterday and underdressed today. But it’s supposed to be clear and sunny...

There’s a blog called «Overheard in New York ». If Ann Arbor had a similar blog, it would be somewhat more boring. Or maybe somewhat more pedantic. Intellectual Lecturer Type: “Maurizio’s introduction to Marx Beyond Marx is the only thing I’ve read that tries to bring together all of those threads.” [Cafe Ambrosia]

I discovered the « Scissor Sisters » last night. Got their album via iTunes today and burned it onto a CD for my road trip next week. Ooooo that Jake Shears!!!! Oooooo lala! I’m feeling tres gay. [Except, of course, that real-er and hip-er gay boys discovered them way a year ago and have now moved on. But I never claimed to...

Then: ‘Corporate Legal Times, September, 2004; LETTERS TO THE EDITOR; Pg. 10 ‘Boy Scout Pride ‘Dear Editor: ‘Bruce Collins is mistaken when he calls Boy Scouts a “fundamentally different” organization from the one he joined 40 years ago. [“An Eagle Scout Takes Issue With Group’s Politics” July, p. 7]. Boy Scouts is the same organization with the same values and...

I ventured over to Fourth this morning and tried the fare at Eastern Accents. Not bad. They have really good buns. But their tea is expensive. You get a teensy little espresso-type glass and a French press pot, which is a nice touch, but I’d rather have the pint glass and refills (you have to pay a whopping $2.10 for...

Yes, it’s spring, all right. The temperature hit 69 degrees this morning — I felt overdressed all day in a coat that I’d stupidly brought along — and the predicted thundershowers that were supposed to take place this afternoon never came close to materializing. They’re still predicting a 40% chance of snow for Friday night. I’ll believe that when I...

I was thinking of writing a diatribe to the Daily about yesterday’s article on commencement speakers (a bunch of whiny, childish undergrads boo-hooed about the lack of big name speakers for their ceremony) but someone (an undergrad) beat me to it in today’s edition: The truth is I would be proud if anyone agreed to speak when I graduate next...

Well, it looks like there may be rain and even some snow (!) later in the week, but today was undeniably spring. After a chilly, drab Easter Sunday, today dawned sunny and the sun stayed out all day long — the first all-sunshine day we’ve had here in, what, an eternity? Probably my favorite thing about Ann Arbor is that...

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AirBeagle is the ‘net pseudonym of Steve Pollock, who lives in Ann Arbor, MI. He is 40 years old (gasp) and was born in Roswell, NM, (yes, THAT Roswell, NM – and no, he’s not an alien). He’s also lived in Clovis, NM; Duncan, OK; Plano and Dallas, TX; Pleasant Hill, CA; Highlands Ranch, CO; San Francisco, CA; and Ann...

This week saw (along with the unionized graduate student instructors going on a one-day walkout) undergrads tossing Frisbees out on the grass, warblers chirping in the trees, Canadian geese making their whooping noises … it must be spring again, or what’ll pass for spring in southeast Michigan until the thaw really hits. Whatever it is, I have a feeling we...

Somebody is getting nostalgic for Ann Arbor’s ‘way cool skate and music scene’ in the ‘80s as embodied in a ‘zine called « Local Chaos » [via « MetaFilter ».] Has anyone alerted « AAIO » yet?

Now, let’s see. The murderer of 100,000+ Iraqis and 1,600+ American troops and 140+ Texas inmates wants to save this brain-damaged vegetable lady … no, that can’t be right. Ummmm, how ‘bout: the man who signed a Texas law giving hospitals the okay to kill terminally ill patients who can’t afford their services wants to promote a ‘Culture of Life’...

« Brilliant », as always.

Funny how deafening the silence is from Fascist Party politicians about « the majority ruling and politicians being out of touch with mainstream ‘Murricans » where Terry Schiavo is concerned: ’• 70% of Americans say it is inappropriate for Congress to involve itself in the Schiavo case. • 67% of Americans “think the elected officials trying to keep Schiavo alive are doing...

My calendar says that today is the Vernal Equinox. Or, put another way, frickin’ Spring is finally here. Of course, there’s still dirty white stuff on the ground and it’s so gray outside that I must invoke the infamous quote about Ann Arbor: ‘A sunless horror, devoid of joy and hope.’ And there’s a chance of snow later in the...

I’m two days late in noting it, but Happy Birthday, AirBeagle! AirBeagle the website was born on 17-Mar-99 in San Francisco. Six years later, I still don’t know what I’m doing or why. But we’re havin’ fun!

A big, hearty « Screw You, Michigan! », and especially Mike Cox … Love, Steve, future ex-Michigan resident: ‘Michigan’s attorney general issued an opinion Wednesday saying cities and other government entities won’t be able to provide benefits for same-sex partners of employees in future contracts because that would violate Proposal 2 – the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Attorney General Mike Cox...

There’s been a change in URL around here, so prepare to update your bookmarks and RSS feed. Asquared will now (for reasons I won’t totally bore you with) be located at just http://airbeagle.net/ If you continue to try asquared.airbeagle.net, you’ll get automatically forwarded to airbeagle.net, so no worries there. As always, thanks for stopping by and we appreciate your support.

My dream early this morning was about a device called an Orgasmotron. It was a real dream; I am not making this up. I was still in San Francisco and, inexplicably, went to someone’s house to get a demonstration of the Orgasmotron. It was a wand-like vibrator (like you see in Brookstone or Sharper Image) and it had a smaller...

We just took the long processional around the complex. It’s sunny and beautiful, but still quite chilly. NOAA says it’s 42. The high was supposed to be ‘near 39,’ so I guess I’ll take it. Beagles needed lots of pooping, pottying and sniffing stops. He seems very perky and happy on the walk. As I’ve said many times over the...

From yesterday’s Ann Arbor News: Ann Arbor has received 70.3 inches of snow so far this winter, compared with 36.8 by this time last year and 40 inches in an average season. The record is 75 inches in the 1981-82 winter season. The exclamation above is what some undergrad was screeching into her cellphone when I was walking across campus...

2005-03-07 14:39:00 « Boy George doesn’t have kind words for Kabbalah faddist Madonna Louise Ciccone »: ‘Gay pop star Boy George has slammed Madonna for embracing the Kabbalah, the mystical offshoot of Judaism which preaches homosexuality is a disease. … “I have a problem with Madonna’s devotion to Kabbalah, because I watched a documentary that said that Kabbalah believes that gay people...

Scandalous times at Boeing continue; this time, the company « fired its CEO over a sex affair with an executive »: ‘Boeing Co. on Monday said its board forced out president and chief executive officer Harry Stonecipher because of a relationship the married, 68-year-old Stonecipher had with a female executive at the company. The unexpected ouster makes Stonecipher, who spent just 15...

Apparently, sending your sixth-grade, 11-year-old daughter to school wearing low, hip-hugging jeans with the Playboy logo on the ass is acceptable practice in Ann Arbor. Or was that too Puritan of me?

There was a vote last week in my home state’s legislature that « gives a glimmer of hope for civility, sanity and intelligence »: ‘The state House on Monday voted to abolish the death penalty in New Mexico and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without parole. The repeal bill passed on a vote of 38-31 and went to...

Phillip Carter and Paul Glastris, writing in the Washingotn Monthly, « make a compelling case for an Imperial draft of sorts » summed up by the following passage: ‘In short, America’s all-volunteer military simply cannot deploy and sustain enough troops to succeed in places like Iraq while still deterring threats elsewhere in the world. Simply adding more soldiers to the active duty...

Ruh-roh … « a Fascist nerd-twit on the Federal Elections Commission just made a shot across bloggers’ collective bows » in what is probably a typically nasty campaign by the Fascists to destroy McCain-Feingold: ‘Bradley Smith says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over. In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk...

Folks are a bit up in arms because « British Airways flew a 747 on two long trips with just three operating engines » [gasp]: ‘A British Airways jet that continued on an 11-hour flight from Los Angeles to London after one of its four engines lost power also flew on three engines on a later flight from Singapore to London, the...

Now, here’s yet another reason to consider Canadian citizenship: « somebody above the 49th has a spine and knows how to stand up to the Fascists »: ‘Dear Condi, ‘I’m glad you’ve decided to get over your fit of pique and venture north to visit your closest neighbour. It’s a chance to learn a thing or two. Maybe more. I know it...

« Further proof that Lincoln was gay », by Paul Rudnick: ‘The first draft of the Gettysburg Address began, “Four score and seven years ago-ish …” … ‘Lincoln urged Congress to bind the nation’s wounds “with malice toward none, with charity for all,” although under his breath he murmured, “except for a certain red-headed lieutenant, and he knows why.” … ‘Another friend,...

Shhhhhh. Don’t let the Fascists know it, but one of the Empire’s favorite uber-patriotic songs is actually all about [gasp] faggotry! Ahhhhhh! « The horror »: ‘A macaroni, was a fop or dandy with an extravagant hairstyle and affected mannerisms. More literally, a macaroni was a small tricorn hat placed on top of a high wig. Hence, when Yankee Doodle ‘stuck a...

Yes, I suppose we have been blogging less lately. I confess to a lot of blogging fatigue, brought on mostly by a heavy final term at SI. Still a hell of a lot to work to do before it’s all over, seven weeks and change until my final final, graduation a week later, then ….. No more school. Strange to...

We do, perhaps, have a bit of blogging fatigue around these parts. For myself, spring is just a mere, what, 17 days away. Oh yeah. Can’t wait. Get this ugly, dirty snow outta here. Frank will be going into mourning then, pining away for the melted snow. I shouldn’t speak for him, but I think there’s less than two months...

An acerbic columnist at The Guardian has a brilliant op-ed up which asserts that « death is no big deal »: ‘I lost a friend last week. These things happen — I’m bad at people, after all — but I can’t say I’m not pissed off. Last week I also talked to a nice lady who was great at describing loss, the...

The news report provides murky details, but apparently a « vicious homophobic beating in Santa Fe has sent a gay man to intensive care and his attackers to jail »; ‘A man remained hospitalized in intensive care Tuesday morning after he and another man were beaten in what Santa Fe police said was a hate crime sparked because the men are gay....

Thanks to quite a few problems, some internal and some external, the folks over at « TextDrive », which is where all the AirBeagle sites reside, have had some problems the last couple of weeks. So if you’ve been getting a series of errors while trying to access any part of AirBeagle, you can blame, mostly, the evil, dirty, smelly, rat bastard...