Rookie mistake

I was very happy that Heath Slocum sank his twenty-five foot putt yesterday to win the Barclays Championship. He and co-leader Steve Stricker had hacked their way to the eighteenth green, each with a par-putt to shut out the group of players trailing by one stroke. Namely: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington.

Why would an avid televised-golf enthusiast rejoice at the abortion of an epic playoff-to-be? Well, I neglected to record the program that followed the alloted PGA coverage time. Rookie mistake. So there I was, watching at around 11:00 last night, praying that one of these guys would make par so I could live with myself, not having missed a legendary sudden-death melee. The recording cut off a few seconds after Slocum's ball went in the cup. Whew.

Hoo-wop-sha-bop

Ahh, shuffle on the old iPod. Caught this one en route to work this morning. That mountain-grown aroma, always coming through.....

"Unassisted"

Evidently I'm not the only one who cringes at superfluous quotation marks. This site is purportedly by a Calvin graduate, click above to view. The "money" sign is comical, but a bit unsettling in the context of Federal Reserve shennanigans.

FIGHTIN'S

Phillies v. Mets, 23 Aug 2009 (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Sunday, utility player Eric Bruntlett adds the final touch to a game-ending unassisted triple-play (the second in MLB history).

Grass roots

Discontent is the engine of progress.

I'm not happy with lawns. Mandatory high-maintenance monoculture zones. From Public Garden, Vol. 24, No 2:

Lawn is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in most gardens due to the amount of energy involved in using mowers and other power tools, pumping water for irrigation, and manufacturing the fertilizers and pesticides commonly applied to turf.

Speaking of engines, gas-powered lawnmowers are particularly nasty polluters. A 2001 study by Roger Westerholm, Stockholm University, stated,

Air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile automobile ride.

The EPA estimates 17 million gallons of oil and gasoline are spilled each year in the process of fueling mowers.

Yes, green lawns are inextricably bound to suburban culture. Yes, there's a ton of industry developed around lawn maintenance. Yes, your riding lawnmower is bigger and better than your neighbor's. No, these are not good reasons for idle contentment with the grassy status quo.

Pull up your lawn and plant a garden, for victory over stagnant, deleterious institutions.

Feats don't fail me now

Don't the sunrise look so pretty?
Never such a sight,
Like rolling into New York City
with the skyline in the morning light.

Fire fire fire

Still discovering gems on my iPod from sister's music collection. The latest:



FIGHTIN'S
Pedro Martinez pitched a pretty good game last night, his first for the Phillies. And the offense was in top form against the Cubs starter, scoring 12 ERA-bruising runs in the first four innings. Pleasant aroma of postseason brewing.

Sincerity & Sarcasm

One day I will have two labradors, black and yellow.

Their names will be Sincerity and Sarcasm.

Sarcasm (Sarc for short), despite being more visible, will be killed by a car at dusk. Sincerity will be lonely, at first.

appropriation apologies to coco and cookie

Helvetica

I'm no longer getting great value from my Netflix subscription. After initially burning through about fifty films, the DVD train has lost some steam. I have, however, been utilizing the streaming content they offer on the web. I'm currently in the third season of The Office (golden days for the now-hackneyed American series).

A few nights ago I had the pleasure of watching Helvetica, a film about the font.



Ostensibly a collection of interviews regarding this prevalent typeface, Helvetica contains keen allegorical insight to the aspirations and failures of modernism. This documentary is well conceived and executed, and the broader subtext will appeal to folks outside the realm of graphic design. Highly recommended, especially for Netflix users - watch it on your computer!

White

transportent storm
vapor veiled in light
whispers and wrath

Wrapped up

photo: nate v.

Recession proof

Delaware will soon offer exception from criminal prosecution for therapeutic use of cannabis (still xenophobically referred to as marijuana in U.S. legislation) by seriously-ill patients. Initiatives to allow medical use of cannabis serve to broaden public dialogue and awareness about draconian drug policies, but pose little immediate threat to the institutional beneficiaries of these policies, including the prison-for-profit industry.

• Since mandatory minimum sentencing first began for drug offenders, the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ budget has increased by more than 2,100%, from $220 million in 1986 to about $4.4 billion in 2004.


• Incarcerating a drug offender costs $22,000 annually. Because of mandatory minimum sentences, the number of drug offenders in federal prison grew from 25% of the total inmate population in 1981 to 60% in 2001.


• The United States currently incarcerates more than 2.2 million inmates, at a rate of one in every 143 people (contrasted with approximately one in 1000 in England, Italy, France, and Germany).

The scale of prohibition's economy inhibits forthright recession of costly governing drug doctrine. Bullet points from MandatoryMadness.org.

Standing room only

J.A. Happ pitched a full-game shutout last night, enjoyed all the more from the rail at the back of section 108. The standing-room-only ticket highlighted what a great ball park Philadelphia has. It's easy to keep an eye on the action while wandering around, and there's plenty of space to hang out at the counters behind the first level of seats.


Italian sausage fresh from the Johnsonville stand in Ashburn Alley.

The 45,000+ crowd was energized by plenty of Philly runs and Happ's excellent performance on the mound. A roar went up when he came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning, followed by another roar when he sent a shot to the warning track for his first major league double. Happ wrapped up the Rockies in the top of the ninth to polish off a sweet win.

The wall, part three

The first installment of dry-stacked retaining wall is nearing completion. Gaps between the stones will host small plants, a row of scrubby herbs will cap the top edge. The garden bed will be populated with vegetables in the summer, surrounded by perennials and shrubs. I am very satisfied with the results, like a big staple stitching the front and back yards together.

Smashed a camera

Dat kamera broke, it's not ok. Tomorrow ((maeby)) The wall, part three.

September 29 - The camera was fixed by repair service obtained via eBay: $39.

Conceptual continuity

The following are lyrics from the conclusion of a Frank Zappa song about the medical condition bromidrosis (Stink-Foot) involving Fido the talking dog:

...And you know what he said?

"Once upon a time, somebody say to me..."
[This is the dog talkin' now]
"...'What is your conceptual continuity?'
Well I told 'em right then," Fido said,
"It should be easy to see,
The crux of the biscuit
is the apostrophe."

Well you know, the man that was talking to the dog
looked at the dog, and he said,
sort of staring in disbelief,

"You can't say that!"

First, the narratorial insertion reminding the listener who is speaking: hilarious. Second, the man's reaction seems to be more averse to what the dog says than to the fact it speaks at all. They proceed to argue; No-No-No, Yes-Yes-Yes. Ain't this boogie a mess?