the view just now

holiday at cedar point

Cousin P's description: "Top-Thrill Dragster. 0-120mph in 3.8 seconds and then sends you up 420 feet at a 90 degree angle. you corkscrew back down. thrilling."

 i haven't had a chance to ask him if his pants were dry at the end

the queen in canada

awkward

picturing the cosmos

Earlier this month, over Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, a . . . photographer with an eye for the sky took eight images and composed [this] intriguing picture.

public works

public funding to address the falcons "need" for a new stadium to replace the present one, which is apparently totally outmoded after only 18 years --- that is, let's see, about half as old as marta --- and who gets the millions from added hotel/motel taxes? marta will cut routes and schedules beginning this fall; the falcons will get a new stadium --- is this a great state or what?

eastaboga, alabama

a friend of mine is really a pervert for old houses (actually i have more than one friend that way) --- this house (c. 1840)  he found in alabama is especially sad --- someone clearly has way too much property if they are letting this go (thnx andrew)

no comment

from joe

the supremes do it again

in that 5-4 decision mode in which we are presently stuck --- let the bullets fly! i'm with roger ebert's assessment: "Supreme Court sides with squirrel hunters and drug gangs against cops and innocent bystanders.” --- between the surveillance cameras and the guns and the armed groundhogs (thnx wonkette), is anybody else feeling just a little uneasy about being out in public places anymore?

another boring sunset

stonewall

The day that the fags, dykes, and queens of New York City finally said "Enough!" For some historical perspective, [here is] the story that the New York Daily News ran about the Stonewall Riots. Note how the story drips with condescension and ridicule. We've come a long, long way in 41 years and we've still got some distance to cover, but today we should all offer up a shout, a snap, and a moment of thanks to the people who started us down this road.

failed visit

today was the last day for the high's "the allure of the automobile" exhibit --- you would think, it being a 10 minute walk away, that i wouldn't miss it --- you would be wrong, although we did have a nice stroll up and down peachtree

losing their religion

Srikanda Stpathy was both a Brahman priest and an idol maker: the twenty-third of a long hereditary line going back to the Chola bronze casters who had created some of the greatest masterpieces of Indian art at the beginning of the Middle Ages. His workshop was in Swamimalai, near Tanjore, from where the Chola dynasty once ruled the southern half of the subcontinent. There he and his two elder brothers plied their trade, making gods and goddesses in exactly the same manner as their ancestors: “The gods created man,” he explained, “but here we are so blessed that we—simple men as we are—help create the gods."

it's not that they're all quitting hinduism, which is apparently an artificial construct of the west anyway

employment opportunities

"rent a white guy" they call it:

Not long ago I was offered work as a quality-control expert with an American company in China I’d never heard of. No experience necessary—which was good, because I had none. I’d be paid $1,000 for a week, put up in a fancy hotel, and wined and dined in Dongying, an industrial city in Shandong province I’d also never heard of. The only requirements were a fair complexion and a suit.

pride and all that

most gay pride parades are in june, because the so-called stonewall riots started on 28 july 1969 --- san francisco is having their 40th this weekend --- atlanner's used to be in june, too, till everybody decided that pretty green grass in piedmont park is more important than anything else in the universe ---

frankenfish

another reason not to eat atlantic salmon if this is approved

emmylou at abg

she can still sing --- thanx for the pix, cousin p

water feature par excellence

the world's coolest fountain or is it just a giant ink-jet printer?

t.d. 1

wimbledon

yesterday ---- i'm so glad england has a queen

after 60+ years together

coloring the light

check out this series of stained-glass domes, ceilings, and skylights ---

minority rule

Tomorrow, more than a million people who've been out of work for six months or more will lose unemployment benefits, because Senate Republicans and theoretical Democrat Ben Nelson joined together to block an already too-small package of half-measures designed to provide some modicum of help for the nation's millions of jobless people.... "It's unpleasant to think about, and I really hope it's not true, but it may be time for a discussion about whether GOP lawmakers are trying to deliberately sabotage the economy to help their midterm election strategy."

the vote to extend benefits was actually 57 in favor, 41 against ---

ya think?

there are a great many people who do not have good sense ---

The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that a police officer acted correctly when he seized 15 cats from a woman who was driving with the animals running free inside her car. In a 3-2 decision Thursday, the justices ruled that the felines were a distraction and interfered with driver Patricia Edwards' ability to see where she was going.

book review

lords of finance: the bankers who broke the world --- its author, liaquat ahamed, won the pulitzer history prize this year for showing how four bankers in europe and america helped bring down the world economy in the late 1920s --- the title might overstate the case a bit, but between this book and michael lewis' the big short and his earlier liar's poker (both of which i read this spring and were about the recent past), one's faith in our entire financial system, should one have had any in the first place, is severely tested

from the wilds of henry county

last call for beaufort

the view this week

penn center on st. helena island near beaufort, south carolina, was the point of this trip --- founded in 1862 by a bunch of do-gooding liberal-type yankees to help the freed slaves --- the sea islands of georgia and carolina were very quickly occupied by the union, here after the battle of port royal in november 1861 --- all the white peoples fled and many of the antebellum mansions in beaufort were acquired by freed slaves --- the center continues to operate --- in the 1960s, mlk often stayed there ---- when he was assassinated in april 1968, this house, the retreat, was under construction especially for his use --- as was pointed out on more than one occasion, "he never got to use it" --- great site, right on the marsh --- i may have to rent it for a few days this winter, just so i can sit for hours on end, staring stupidly at the marsh ---

soiling the gulf, cont'd.

this is almost worse than the marshes --- redneck riviera had some mighty fine beaches, with sand like sugar ---

what does bp owe us for that?

damn

queerness

Gay men can recall familiar faces faster and more accurately than their heterosexual counterparts because, like women, they use both sides of their brains, according to a new study by York University researchers.

it's a shame the same isn't true for name recall

beaufort, south carolina

one of the more special views that i've had from a hotel room window --- usually my view is fast-food outlets and what not

solstice sunset

am i a bad person?

i'm glad we don't have these kinda people here, aren't you?

summer's here

duh

what's wrong with this picture?

it's not just the column caps, although that is certainly what evokes a great big WTF!!!! oh, and it just had to be in alabama i guess

thnx (i think), andrew

the sun king

it's getting active

ponce

 we were sitting at the light at ponce and piedmont and i saw this guy heading into the vestibule of the church --- "don't you pee in there," not thinking he would hear me, but he did and sheepishly came back out like that wasn't what he was about to do === purty funny

proposed good eats

my contribution to the family feed: cold three-bean salad, hot fresh-cherry cobbler, and a fresh loaf --- will they eat it or will they be afraid there's a dog hair in there somewhere

the joys of public transportation

but only if you really really really have to go somewhere --- can you imagine what the inside is like? yikes!

catching up on sunsets

tonight

last night



it's purty much always different

class warfare

ACORN's Bertha Lewis said the findings of the Government Accountability Office proves the withering criticism against ACORN  that all but shuttered the group was an orchestrated right wing attack against the poor.“This was a McCarthy-era style war against the poor and minorities, nothing more."

and they got away with doing it, too ---

crazy young people

don't you just love it? as andrewsullivan points out:

Finally, a way to respond to holy rollers, tea-partiers, Larouchies, Code Pink, Mormon missionaries, Farrakhanites, HRC fundraisers, at al:

oxford, mississippi

one of the best small downtowns that i've ever seen --- all burned up in 1864, but a great bunch of commercial buildings after that --- restaurants, book store, department stores, other real businesses, too, and not just antiques or something --- the university isn't as big and bloated as uga

the king

founded near the site of the chickasaw capital, ackia, tupelo was at the junction of two major railroads --- big furniture industry, hdqtrs of natchez trace parkway --- a toyota plant in the works (or not) --- and elvis --- the city owns and operates his purported birthplace and has just passed a $3mil bond issue for improvements to the surrounding park --- the poor house is duded up beyond all recognition --- it's provenance has been blasphemously questioned by some

along main street is a series of metal guitars, marking locations significant in his life (where he went to grammar school, bought his first guitar, etc.) --- they're purty cool
 

buena vista

i miss it when i'm away

guinness and the night train

every time the short truck, which the firemens call "the night train," from the tenth st. fire station goes by, guinness greets it with a howl --- he doesn't howl at ambulances or any other fire trucks --- just this one

having a great time --- wish you were here

who are all these people?

interesting graphic on where new atlanner residents are from ---

redecorating the krog street underpass

yellow

every now and then, d.o.t. creates something kinda nice --- the hemerocallis at freedom parkway and the connector are great --- as good as the banks of forsythia at mlk and the connector in the spring

grrrrrrr

somebody has tagged the tower of the old sears building --- god, i hate people with spray paint

a bad time

soledad o'brien's interviews with wayne williams were seriously creepy, especially when they asked all the viewers to vote on his guilt or innocence --- "we report: you decide" ==== gawd

they've taken over!

in gwinnett county, white people are now in the minority --- only it's asians and the browns out there instead of the blacks we've grown to know and love here in fulton county

thinking big

Douglas Brinkley talked to Anderson Cooper about what the Obama administration is going to do to attempt to restore the Gulf coast after years and years of neglect. Even "Be the daddy" James Carville sounded impressed.

he said there would be a massive project to change the flow of the mississippi to restore the wetlands --- the project could compare with some of the major new deal initiatives ---

equality for all

The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between "man and man, woman and woman," in addition to unions between men and women.

there must not be any baptists in iceland

mo' tea?

According to studies published in the Journal of American Medical Association, tea lowers your risk of death from all forms of cardiovascular diseases. And, there is growing evidence that tea potentially has cancer-fighting properties, plays a role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, wards off diabetes, and helps protect your brain from free-radical damage. Also, the amino acid L-theanine, found almost exclusively in the tea plant, actively alters the attention networks of the brain, stimulating the production of alpha waves in the brain and producing feelings of well-being. Because it crosses the blood/brain barrier, it can increase levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which benefits mood while improving learning and concentration.

i have a couple of cups of coffee in the morning and then drink nothing but green tea all day long --- i can swear to its positive placebo effects if nothing else

the gospel of fear and hatred

It seems to me that that’s an image we ought to be using with those who go to Uganda, for instance, and in the name of the Gospel preach this kind of message. And then when violence occurs, or this legislation, like the Bahati bill occurs, you know when we confront them here in this country about that, they say, “Oh my goodness! That was never our intention!” Well, when you set off that kind of sparks you should not be surprised when it turns into a wildfire . . . and burns down half of los angeles.

i wish there really were a hell for such "christians"

we ain't going nowhere

p'tree-pine apparently has some good lawyers and a sympathetic judge --- the city, cap, and everybody that's always bitchn about the place ought to be devoting their energies to doing something about the basic problem: people with no place to go and nothing to do, many/most of them half-crazy or full-on nuts

not payless

a 5,500 year old shoe ---

tuesday view

wasting the past

portman's model for the hyatt

As Atlanta celebrates the career of its hometown architect John Portman, one of his earliest and most influential works is about to be demolished. The Antoine Graves Senior Housing High Rise today is a boarded-up eight-story building across from MARTA’s King Memorial Station at Decatur and Hilliard streets.