Happy Birthday Douglas

Brother number 3 is 41 years old today. That's him at the reins about 36 years ago. Even then he thought he was cool. As I remember that pony was the meanest thing on the farm.

Doobie Machines

Prescription vending machines are (PVM's) are like any other vending machine except they are within and maintained by the establishment responsible for selling the prescriptions.

Now the city of Los Angeles California has medical centers that offer marijuana in these vending machines. The intent is to make the pain inhibitor available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The police plan to pay close attention to the legality as pertains to the suppliers and the patrons.

An employee of a city medical center, named for the expansive philosopher-psychologist Timothy Leary said...

It helps a lot of patients who are in a lot of pain and don't want to wait around to get help, it's been working out great.

Leave it to California to further blur the line of drug control. The state's approach to drug policy has been a thinly veiled attack aimed at overall decriminalization. The Timothy Leary Medical Dispensary may be legitimate, but on its face that is doubtful, Leary was an advocate for the use of psychedelic drugs, and coined the phrase..

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

That marijuana is needed by patients I do not doubt, the infirmed should be able to obtain this but only with due diligence. Making marijuana available in vending machines is a method designed to help the dishonest from having to show their embarrassed lying faces to a doctor or pharmacist. Shame on legislatures of California for letting this happen.

Faat Baastid Endorses Obama

The election season is running full blast now.
I am not the biggest fan of Kevin Siers' art, but the Kennedy thing is too funny not to share.

Stranger Than Fiction

The envelope sat on the counter for almost a week. Then my wife and I decided to go ahead and watch the movie Stranger Than Fiction. We sailed through the first 24 scenes of the 28 scene movie and then because of damage to the disc, could go no further. A complaint at the website and viola two days later the bride and I get to see the last 4 scenes.
This is story Mr. Harold Crick, an IRS auditor with a life run by the precision and comfortable predictability of numbers. The story is being narrated by the author of the story, of whom Mr. Crick unbelievably becomes aware. In short time the narrator lets slip into the story, the agent's impending death. Hearing his life's narration in his mind is pretty upsetting to Harold.
The characters are:

• Harold Crick, the main character is played by Will Ferrell, he of Saturday Night Live fame and considerable physical comedic ability. Ferrell plays the part with a control that fits the character, who is pretty much a dullard that blooms.
• Karen Eiffel, the author is played by Emma Thompson, a woman that is struggling with her creative sanity. Thompson is good both in your ear and in person.
• Ana Pascal, this is a baker that Crick is auditing, she is a Harvard Law dropout and mother earth type woman. Harold falls in love with this character plaed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
• Professor Jules Hilbert is played Dustin Hoffman, a literature teacher at a local college. Hilbert become Crick's guide to finding the voice in his head, the narrator.
• Dr. Cayly, is with us briefly but I note here because he is played by one of my favorite actors, Tom Hulce. Dominick and Eugene which he did with Ray Liotta is the brother's movie of all time.
• Penny Escher is played by Queen Latifa, a kindhearted author's assistant, assigned to help Eiffel finish her book.

By learning his fate, Crick finds the author and pleads his case for life. They learn that actions only occur to Harold as they are being typed. Eiffel gives the rest of the story with the outline for the ending written. Harold reads the story learning that he dies saving a little boy from being hit by a bus. After deep consideration Harold accepts that this is his destiny and moves to complete his journey. Eiffel, having met her character, has painful misgivings about killing him. Harold does, as written, steps in front of the bus and saves the boy. Eiffel changes her mind, and Harold wakes up in the hospital, tended by his new love.

Score 32 of 50 A very sweet underlying thread about the goodness in people. I recommend watching.

Character Development 7 out of 10. The main character evolves from a robotic tax man to a man willing to give his live for a child, to serve what is right.

Acting 7 out of 10. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are both good. Will Ferrell is surprisingly controlled.

Photography, cinematography 5 of 10. Intentionally stark, there are some oddities with feet, if you pay attention. I suspect that the intention is to make clear that all of the story is in the personalities not the surroundings.

Writing, script 5 out of 10. Entertaining, and not at all what I expected. The writing in the beginning did not make clear if the movie was going to develop as an all out comedy or as something more intelligent.

Concept 8 out of 10. Farcical yes but true to the original premise.

I think the writer has some obsession with mathematics, when writing this I noticed that many of the character's names had coincidences in mathematical history:

• Blaise Pascal was a 17th century French philosopher, mathematician who created a geometric arrangement of the binomial coefficients in a triangle. It is for him that the metric unit of pressure equal to one newton per square meter was named.
• Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth was a Swiss scientist, civil engineer and politician and M.C. Escher was the artist that created those interesting pictures of misaligned stairwells.
• David Hilbert was a mathematician that developed the Hilbert Transform, which oddly enough is some that I use professionally in vibration analysis.
• Gustave Eiffel was the structural engineer that designed the Eiffel Tower.
• Gösta Mittag-Leffler was a famous Swedish mathematician.
• Arthur Cayley was a 19th century British mathematician. He proved that every square matrix is a root of its own characteristic polynomial, this is called the Cayley-Hamilton Theorem. This is close, I think the writer made a spelling mistake.

Valentine's Day Suggestion

Received this email today, pitching a pink iPod as a Valentines Day gift for my significant other.

Yes, nothing says love like a present that requires batteries and has to be put in to be enjoyed.

I do not buy anything electric for my wife unless she specifically asks and points at it. Even then its a risk.

When it comes to Apple products, I have to admit that last Christmas I received a Shuffle and have enjoyed it immensely. But, something about the company and Steve Jobs just makes me want to scream. When the Mcintosh came out it was a good product, ahead of its time really, but because it had a private operating system, there wasn't any decent software to to run on it in business. As an engineer, Apple products were a complete waste of money. Now I have to watch those godamned smug ass Apple commercials on television, with the guy from the last Die Hard movie, posing as intelligent and cool, while the PC fella is some kind of duffous. Well in real life, Steve Jobs you fucking asshole, the PC people were earning money for their businesses. All while the artistic Apple people were making pretty pictures and writing poems for their blue state villagers.

Boy that went left on me.

Dad is Home

Her mom waited until Dad got home so they could open the rest of Natalie's gifts.

I am glad this was saved for Ricky to share.

Dino Paul Crocetti

A tenth grade dropout who began his professional career as a boxer named "Kid Crocett" (playfully pronounced Kro-Shey). He started his entertainment career as a singer working for the Ernie McKay Orchestra, where he crooned in a style similar to Bing Crosby.
After serving domestically in the Army during WWII, Dino met Jerry Lewis while they were both performing at New York City's Glass Hat Club.
Yes, Dino Paul Crocetti was also known as Dean Martin.
The partnership between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis started in 1946 and lasted ten years.
In 1957 Martin moved into his solo career as an actor, starting with "The Young Lions" which included Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Tony Randle. Many other memorable roles were in "The Sons of Katie Elder", and "Rio Bravo" both with John Wayne and in "Ocean's Eleven" with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Perter Lawford.
Martin's singing career continued throughout, this a sample of some of his best known work:

• Return To Me (Ritorna a Me)


• Everybody Loves Somebody


• Gentle On My


• Release Me


• In Napoli


• Standin On The Corner


• That's Amore

I have to admit, the work of this man is some of my favorite. The music is includes plenty of work that you would hear in any restaurant of Little Italy. This was the music of my parents and grandparents, it made a positive subconscious impression. Anyhow, my wife and I love it, it was made for Umberto's. The movies he did were best when he had the opportunity to play relaxed, if not devilish personalities, it fit the man.

Got Libertarian?

Go to this site if you would like get an appraisal

Let's Hope They Don't Succeed

Monday's Atlanta Urinal Constipation had this story title in the business section.

State officials travel to China to sell Georgia

My wife says.....

Our Georgia?

Of course this is just a poor choice of words. The state officials were attempting to Georgia products and skills. But the officials didn't help, Kenneth Stewart, commissioner of the state's Department of Economic Development, said:

Our goal is to sell Georgia

If they do succeed, let's hope the folks from Beijing put us near some fresh water.

Here Is My Card

Found this at the Jewish World Review.

Michael Ramirez won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994.

I like his work, first because of its artistic flair and second because his cartoons usually cut both ways. In this case, it could be looked at as the ACLU making a secretive proposition in a morally deficient situation, or with the absence of a person in the picture saying we, the ACLU, are here prepared to protect your privacy.

Years ago I sent a donation to the ACLU because their official goals are honorable. In 1999, I received requests for donations needed to promote the defeat of George W. Bush in his first race for President. Before Bush was elected, this was a clear indicator that the ACLU was aligned with the Democratic Party. Considering that their purported goal is to protect the civil rights of citizens, how could this organization take a position on a man that had not performed a single act as President. The ACLU was projecting its primary member's politics without regard for anything resembling civil rights. I am embarrassed that I ever gave money to these dishonest, deconstructionists. Now, every December, I send the the ACLU a Christmas card.

ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY
10004

The cards have not come back so the address must be correct.