29 January 2009

winter at hyde farm

i escaped from the office today

28 January 2009

grrrr

i have sorta backed off the total engagement with the news cycle, but it’s aggravating that all the republicans’ bitching has defined what should and should not be part of the “stimulus package” ----if it doesn’t involve a shovel and isn’t “shovel- ready,” it ain’t real work and doesn’t deserve any attention----they negate all of the time, energy, and resources that go into research, development, planning, and all, and along with it the employment of architects, engineers, draftspersons, and a gazillion other professions----and of course, as they always do, they negate the humanities and the arts by implying that money there would not stimulate anything----all us worthless artists and humanists spend money, too, you stupid twits---and god forbid that any part of the "stimulus package" relate to sex cause then nobody would be able to talk about it with a straight face---any kind of family planning out the window---no jobs there, move along----the republicans are nothing but a bunch of penny-pinching, sex-obsessed philistines, oblivious to what is by far the biggest problem we’ve got right now, which is how to get some economic activity going on---

26 January 2009

atlantic station

bb&t at atlantic station is finishing up, with only one crane left, while the atlantic is within a very few floors of being finished---

i like our little canyon on ninth street

25 January 2009

happy birthday, robert burns

Tae A Fart

Oh what a sleekit horrible beastie
Lurks in yer belly efter the feastie
As ye sit doon amongst yer kin
There sterts tae stir an enormous win'

The neeps an' tatties an' mushy peas
Stert workin' like a gentle breeze
But soon the puddin' wi' the sonsie face
Will have ye blawin' a' ower the place.

Nae matter whit the hell ye dae
A'body's gonnae hae tae pay
Even if ye try tae stifle
It's like a bullet oot o' a rifle

Haud yer bum tight tae the chair
Tae try an' stop the leakin' air
Shift yersel fae cheek tae cheek
Pray tae God it disnae reek.

But aw yer efforts gan asunder
Oot it comes like a clap o' thunder
Ricochets aroon' the room
Michty me! A sonic boom

God Almichty, it fairly reeks!
Hope I huvnae s**t ma breeks!
Tae the bog ah'd better scurry,
Ach, whit the hell, it's no ma worry.

A'body roon aboot me chokin'
Yin or twa were nearly boakin'
I'll feel better for a while
Cannae help but raise a smile.

Wis him! I shout with accusin' glower,
Alas! Too late! He's just keeled ower
Ye dirty bugger, they shout and stare
A didnae feel welcome ony mair

Where e'r ye be let yer wind gan free
Sounds like just the job for me
Whit a fuss at Rabbie's party
Ower the sake o' one wee farty.

quiet sunday

change is on the way

obama is a one-man affirmative-action program, and the only kind we really need at this point---the cult of the urban "nigga" with his pants around his knees, flipping off the world, is on its way out

This small study hasn't been replicated but it blew my mind. The resilient gap between black and white test scores is one of the most intractable and debilitating social facts of our age. If any part of it can be erased by a psychological shift in the hearts and minds of African-American students, it's cause for rejoicing.

A small anecdote. I know a neighbor in my hood from walking my beagles. She teaches in a local school and is even more aware than the rest of us in this city how challenging it is to teach and rear a self-confident generation of minority kids. She's African-American and has long bemoaned the ubiquitous use of the n-word by young black teens. But she pointed out to me months ago that there was one man they never used the n-word to describe. It was Obama. If he can help lift eyes to a larger horizon for more generations of minority children, then surely liberals and conservatives and everyone in between can be glad.

24 January 2009

turner classic movies

i've been sitting here cleaning up some drawings, which is a fairly mindless activity, and watching the far horizons, a 1955 production that is, quite possibly, among the ten most dreadful movies of all time----it's the story of the lewis and clark expedition---with fred mcmurray as meriwether lewis, charlton heston as william clark, and donna reed as . . . sacajawea----it's all a little bizarre

lessons in bipartisan politics

You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package. When Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) complained about the spending plan, Obama shot back, “I won,” adding, “I will trump you on that.”
poor republicans

23 January 2009

skylines

that's 12th and peachtree on the left, which is soon to be the last of the cranes in midtown for awhile

happy days are here again

in addition to renouncing torture, promising greater transparency, etc., he's now eliminated the ban on federally funded stem-cell research and the gag rule in third world countries that prohibited any discussion whatsoever of abortion by any of the private family-planning groups if they accept federal funds---and dept. of interior (i.e., national park service) is doing a "study" (probably the standard public process required of most federal actions by the national historic preservation act and the national environmental policy act) with a goal of re-opening the crown of the statue of liberty, which bush had closed after 9/11 in order to "protect america"---obama is ending bush's "war on terror," clearly headed toward the diplomacy and police action they should've followed in the first place---

random fact: tourists could climb to the torch until they closed it during world war 1

22 January 2009

changing of the guard

hillary got a rousing welcome at state this morning----woo woo

and salazar, sans cowboy hat, met with the staff at interior in d.c. this morning, which was telecast to the regional offices and parks----he got a rousing welcome, too----and big applause when he promised that respect for science is back---he's a westerner, his family having moved to what is now new mexico 400 years ago, but every sec. of int. for the last 100 years has been from west of the mississippi---he probably likes drilling for this and that too much, but a damn sight better than whichever republican i can think of----he won't be another coloradan, james "i-know-watt's-wrong" watt, who led one of the earlier assaults on the department----i guarantee that the great majority of federal employees are ecstatic at this changing of the guard

but the greatest thing has to be obama's statements about the u.s. setting a "moral example" and explicitly renouncing torture, closing guantanamo----america is back

21 January 2009

change we can believe in

president obama was all about ethics today---talked about the freedom of information act, which bush and virtually every federal agency abused---now "something can't be with-held just because i say so"---

aretha

cousin carol calls it "the crowning moment," and it was----long live the queen

20 January 2009

barack hussein obama

that he is our first half-breed muslin president is the best part i think---he did, in fact, use his entire given name, even the terrorist part----

whitehouse.gov has a new face

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."

17 January 2009

snow in midtown

the cutest little flurries you ever saw

inaugural festivities

obama is having open house at the white house on wednesday, something all presidents used to do, although now they can't just let anybody in who shows up---they don't want to risk a repeat of andrew jackson's inauguration when "disorder was considerable" and rowdy guests almost wrecked the east room---

13 January 2009

president-elect obamamania

check out "change.gov, the office of the president-elect"----i guess we can all be cynical about it, but you know how it is with ol' hopie---

they have a "citizen's briefing book," where people submit their ideas and they get voted up or down, just like on the teevee!!!

anyway there are some good ideas, most of which have already been discussed

We should pony up a few tens-of-billions -- or mare -- toward the development of new energy sources. This could include the effort to create successful nuclear fusion; the development of cheap, environmentally friendly fuel cells; research into more efficient photovoltaic cells; significant subsidies for homeowners who want to get off "the grid" by using geothermal, wind and solar power; investment into new, non-grain-based renewables such as switchgrass and industrial hemp; replacing diesel buses with LNG buses (short term), and, ultimately, light rails (longer term).
and, with almost as many votes:
Every city has countless pockets of real estate activity: a seperate area for residential space, another for commercial. You drive past miles and miles of stores before you see anywhere to live. Or past subdivision after subdivision before you see any retail. And far too many cities have 4, 6, or 8 lane highways with no way for pedestrians or people on bikes to cross without treat of death.

It's time to charge higher taxes for any developments that don't include mixed use spaces: let's stop encouraging developers to build spaces that are only good for one thing, and require us to drive miles for anything else. There are countless cities in Europe where people don't even need a car, because they can walk or take a train or bus. Americans deserve the same.


then we can take away their cars and their guns and make them live in ecologically friendly public housing and serve the state, don't you know---

queer news

from americablog:

John Berry has been chosen to head the Office of Personnel Management. I'm pretty sure he's the most senior gay person ever appointed to a position in any administration (closeted cabinet appointees don't count). He is to be the head of a large agency, and that's a good thing. I'd still like to see us advance from here and in the future get an openly gay person heading an agency that handles substantive policy outside of the administration.

12 January 2009

10 January 2009

anubis

rising amid the ruins of 13th and p'tree

traffic control

they haven't quite got all the pavement down, but the re-do of the fifteenth and p'tree intersection is almost done----still don't like the regularization of the intersection

winter flowers

a great bank of winter jasmine in the park, and mahonia on fifteenth street

new hotel

the hotel palomar is having its name applied to the building

promoting green

republicans never would have done this:

Remember that big $700 billion bailout package that Congress passed? There were all sorts goodies tucked inside, including one for bicyclists. Yes, bicyclists. It's called the Bicycle Commuter Act and goes into effect January 1. While employers can already dole out tax-free funds to employees for parking and public transportation, this Act permits companies to provide $20 a month tax free to employees who bike to work, allowing the money to be used for bicycle purchases and bike upkeep. Spearheading the campaign for a bike commuter bill was Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. "We have legislation that is designed to promote cycling and to provide a little equity for the people who burn calories instead of fossil fuel," he says.

plus congress has a list of $2 billion in bike lane projects just waiting to be funded

07 January 2009

clearing

the rain was good, putting the lake up two feet i think, but it's nice to see the sun again

04 January 2009

abg

with the fog still impacting the view, i descended to street level and walked over to the botanical gdn. this morning----i almost had the place to myself----

03 January 2009

02 January 2009

the view

the fog has severely impacted the view tonight













so i made a pie

republicans

the party of ignorance, intolerance, jingoism, and general retardedness is finally fading, but krugman is right: a lot of people haven't figured that out yet---hell, a lot of republicans would deny everything he says

The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.