requiem for a tree

the elm on 11th street is a goner --- it adapted, sort of, to nearly everything in the vicinity getting paved over, mainly because it never had much that wasn't paved over or built on in the first place (that's an aerial view of midtown in 1949 down there) --- but it was too much when they dug up all the pavement and graded as they realigned 11th street

dee-catur

here's a preliminary look at the city's just-completed historic resources survey

testing the 14th

two straight lawyers, one of whom defended bush in bush vs. gore in 2000, are going for broke in the contest for gay civil rights ---

The stakes are high. If Perry v. Schwarzenegger reaches the Supreme Court and Boies and Olson are successful, gays and lesbians nationwide would not only have the right to marry, they stand to gain many of the legal rights they have sought for decades. Don't Ask, Don't Tell would be invalidated, as would employment discrimination against gays and lesbians. In the eyes of the law, gay people would be equal to straight people, and any legislation that discriminated against them could be challenged and easily struck down against this precedent. However, defeat could legitimize such discrimination against LGBT Americans, making it far more difficult to sue for parental or housing rights. The door to any federal litigation on marriage equality would be shut for decades. . . . This is risky because Boies and Olson are entering a legal no-man's land. . . . Despite Martin Luther King Jr.'s assurance, the arc of history does not bend in any direction -- much less toward justice -- on its own.

what's really skeery?

everybody has gotten all wigged out about nuttin, if you get to thinking about it --- 'cause as usual they got us looking the wrong way

the great eggo famine of 2009

one of the major producers of eggo is here in atlanner, out off fulton industrial blvd --- they got flooded out in september and the company is also in the process of "equipment enhancements and repairs in our largest waffle bakery" (in tennessee), and now there is a great want for eggo waffles throughout the land --- don't expect full production until the middle of 2010

it's like a third-world country, i guess, when you can't keep eggos on the table

moratus milans

only 4 mm long

and the black dude

the white lady

interpreting mrs. dull

apples and cranberries:
1 pint cranberries
1 cup sugar
4 or 5 apples
¾ pint water






potato salad:
4 cups cold diced potatoes
2 cups chopped tender cabbage
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup chili sauce
⅛ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons grated onion
salt, pepper and more lemon juice if needed

build it and they may not come

sprawled across the mojave desert are miles and miles of empty streets, part of california city, which is not evidence of this century's boom and bust in real estate --- but evidence of another overly optimistic real estate developer from fifty years ago!

only a fraction of it was ever built out but northwest of that little core is a surreal landscape of cul de sacs

thanksgiving blessing

a palinoid primer

Olbermann missed the point. There are no lies in Sarah's book; nor in her life, nor in her heart. Utterances that seem untrue are not lies, because Sarah believes them true. If she says one thing, then later forgets what she said and says the opposite, Sarah Palin is neither lying nor mistaken, nor forgetful, because at each moment, she believes what she has said. And a minute later, she will believe something else, if she says it. Whatever she says, if she says it, will be true. But if it's not, so what? It's words, only words.

Sooner or later, words fail everyone. This goes double for Sarah and her faithful. Sarah Palin is the voice - and the embodiment - of the inarticulate.

When Sarah Palin says something that doesn't seem to make sense to most of us, her people - the tongue-tied and frustrated - understand perfectly, because that's exactly what they would have said, if only they could.

scary stuff

what is wrong with these people?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

bioplastics

seriously:

Sinskey can’t do much about the plastic that’s already polluting the Earth’s oceans, but he is trying to help keep the problem from getting worse. Next month, a company he founded with his former postdoc, Oliver Peoples, will open a new factory that uses MIT-patented technology to build plastic from corn. The plant aims to produce annually 110 million pounds of the new bioplastic, which biodegrades in soil or the ocean.

that would be better than sliced bread, one would think --- the supply of plastic crap could then be, theoretically, endless

(speaking of which, my doggie-excrement management system includes biodegradable plastic bags that i think come from corn)

coming down

the tower crane at 12th and midtown, that is --- they're repairing the parking garage that fell down over on spring street, but otherwise, midtown is built

end of an era

both the southern voice and the washington blade closed today after the parent company filed for bankruptcy --- sovo had been publishing since 1988; the blade since 1969 --- we don't need them like we used to, but it's still too bad ---

building

the bad economy hasn't ended the tear-downs --- this was a perfectly good (and large) 1920s house on taft, a block off the park --- the roof, floor joists, and some of the wall framing is there, but not much else

















meanwhile the driving club's gazillion dollar addition already has issues --- aside from the crappy stucco, the whole south end is settling, so much so that the granite foundation has started to crack (near center of this image) --- methinks the lawyers are involved at this point

let's hear it for the bugs

Mayflies may seal the fate of mountaintop mining in the Appalachian hills of the eastern U.S.
bloomberg, of course, refers to them as "hills," not "mountains"

sleepwalking

theocrats

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

i never would have thought that we as a country would regress so far from the ideal jfk put before the baptist ministers in houston in 1960:

putting up xmas at the fox

it needs to get cold before we see too much more of this sort of thing

u.s. deports lou dobbs

"No one here knew anything about Mr. Dobbs' past, and to be honest, we never asked," said a source within CNN, who asked not to be identified. "All we knew was that he was willing to take the job most American newscasters didn't want—namely, speaking out hysterically against immigration at every turn to help us gain ratings points against Fox News."....

mayoral politics

roy barnes and jim martin have endorsed kasim --- buckhead coalition endorsed wan for the sixth district council seat ---

a victory for the kitty cats

berkeley is the sixth california town to ban declawing of cats --- i've never done that to one of mine and aarf made me sign an agreement not to do it to dexter --- although if i had done it, i might still have a fine leather sofa

corporate-sponsored theft

The Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London stands as one of the worst in recent years, handing local governments carte blanche to seize private property in the name of economic development. Now, four years after that decision gave Susette Kelo's land to private developers for a project including a hotel and offices intended to enhance Pfizer Inc.'s nearby corporate facility, the pharmaceutical giant has announced it will close its research and development headquarters in New London, Connecticut.

don't that just chap your ass? those people are out of their homes and new london is out $78 million, although you almost want to say that the city deserved that----

sunset

i'm not sure i've ever seen a sunset quite like this one, glowing red as it fell through this murky slit on the horizon

big weather

from the ajc:

Rainfall totals through 7 a.m. included 4.56 inches at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, 5.25 inches in Dunwoody and 4.67 inches in Peachtree City. Atlanta's official rainfall total for Tuesday of 4.05 inches set a new record for the date, eclipsing the old record of 2.57 inches set in 1966.

endorsements

nan orrock, kathy ashe, and jim martin all endorse kasim --- intown democrats are lining up

white oak plantation

this is one of the finest collections of 19th and early 20th century farm buildings in the west georgia piedmont --- now it's empty and the neglect is starting to show

missing and presumed lost

one of my favorite houses is gone --- built by some of my ancestors near lone oak in meriwether county before the civil war --- plantation-plain style, log joists, but beautiful hand-planed moldings, mantles, and doors --- my grandma grew up there after her father died when she was three years old --- i hadn't seen the house in ten years and when i went to look today, there was a big-ass horse barn on the site ---- boo hoo

click the pic if you wanna see what it was

the night they drove old dixie down

for the last two hundred years, nearly all of my ancestors have lived and died in the south, most of them in georgia --- but i still don't quite understand why the south remains so retarded in so many ways:

despite the oceans of ink spent analyzing the electoral shift in 2006 and 2008, i continue to think this transformation has been under-appreciated. the old south has punched above its weight in american politics ever since 1787, and during the few times their influence has temporarily waned (reconstruction, the 60s) it drove them crazy with fear and persecution mongering. so it's not really surprising that it's happening again.

the westin

a year and a half after the tornado, they have finally begun reglazing the peachtree plaza, starting at the top --- i had heard it would be a bronze glass, but it doesn't look that way --- more like just a darker, less reflective glass --- it'll kinda ruin the disco-ball look, but it can still be mocked for its erectilinearity

meanwhile the equitable building, the owners of which went bankrupt earlier this year, remains surrounded by scaffold, and the missing metal from the cornices on the flatiron and the carnegie building have never been repaired

and as it does from time to time, the cattlyea is blooming --- the color is the best, rivaled only perhaps by that intense delphinium blue

a semi-progressive night

weird goings on last night, not the least of which was watching atlanner get a step closer to having its first caucasoidian mayor in 35 years -- and that house seat in upstate new york that went democratic for the first time since the civil war! plus two red governors ---although it has been pointed out that the virginia governorship always goes to the party opposite that of the president.

and of course the campaign for civil rights for all took a big hit in maine, but not in washington state, where domestic partnership is still intact---and is a lesbyterian really in a run-off for houston's mayor?

awright

i voted, but i didn't vote for the white lady --- not that it matters

now keeping the fingers crossed that the homophobes don't win their battles in washington state and in maine --- gotta drag some people along kicking and screaming on civil rights, doncha know

diversity in the klan

the obligatory pride pics

it was a beautiful day for a parade, but just the wrong time of year --- it needs to be in june

"decatur votes to reign in lawless newspaper racks"

that headline is funny, but what they're proposing is just plain dumb --- the whole shopping-mall mentality has now taken over management of our cities

The primary differences between the current and proposed ordinance include identification of specific areas of the city where the publication vending devices will be allowed as shown on the map titled “Publication Vending Device Area”, limiting the permit to one year instead of a permit that never expires, and requiring vendors to purchase standardized devices from a list of acceptable vendors.

does anybody else think this is an affront to the first amendment?

atlanner

now here's a fun set of facts:

Estimated number of metro Atlanta office jobs lost in the last three years: 50,000

Number of square feet of vacant commercial office space in metro Atlanta: 24 million

Number of years real-estate experts estimate it might take to fill the region’s empty office space: 12

Estimated cost of two full-page Wall Street Journal ads purchased by the Buckhead Coalition to market vacant condos and commercial spaces: $554,000

Number of years since Atlanta’s annual population growth was as small as it was over the past year: 19

Number of single-family building permits issued in 2009 in Atlanta, as of September: 114

Number of single-family building permits issued in Atlanta in October 2006 alone: 178

Number of years real-estate experts estimate it could take to fill vacant condos in such intown areas as Midtown and Atlantic Station: 4

Number of floors proposed for a new Midtown office tower that law firm Alston & Bird may build: 30

Sources: Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution