a great american

i dunno about this past week --- more databases and trying to make sense of the garbled mess that is a lot of project descriptions --- i may be doing a little good, but otherwise . . . . a morning with that and then i spend the afternoon reading and walking the dog

giving books to a bibliophile is always fraught, especially if it's a very thick book, like blight's biography of frederick douglass (1818-1895) which i finished today, but robt did it anyway, and it was a very worthwhile read even if it could've been cut by a third and still been purty great --- he was definitely a great american, which i knew, but now i know why he was that --- thanx robt

atl utd and the stupid new stadium

first atl united match and first time inside the new stadium ---- ms kidd had more fun that i did maybe, and that was a lot --- 

the display of football helmets creeped me out a little, reminding me of the racks of skulls the aztecs liked to display

short and sweet

"The Mueller report lays out facts showing that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help. Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack." eliz. warren

 "The simple takeaway from the Mueller Report is the President betrayed his country and spent two years lying and breaking the law to try to hide that fact. He should resign and be tried for his crimes." josh marshall

now, on to impeachment ----

"the world just became a little less wonderful today"

a friend of mine posted that thought today, and it's too terribly true --- losing a great building is not unlike the loss of a good friend --- but notre dame? one of the world's greatest buildings

i only went inside once, but i'll never forget the real awe i felt looking up at this window and just being in that wonderful light of the interior --- it was the soul of paris --- it'll get rebuilt, i'm betting, but the 800 year old cathedral is mostly gone

right now, i am sick

UPDATE: clearly all was not lost --- even the rose windows did not suffer catastrophic damage

what's blooming on the thirteenth floor

body maintenance

these people are awesome and dr soulimiotis is the best dentist i've ever had ---

i spent hundreds of dollars, but i didn't have to have a crown or a root canal, so i feel good about the outcome

you just never can tell, can you?

thas a lab-grown crystal that i got in texas --- it was probably grown from nuclear waste, but it's kinda purty anyway

i've ben a news junkie for a long time and think i understand the long arc of history --- but events of the last decade or so make me wonder exactly where we are on that arc --- even before the advent of trumpistan, i noticed the "illiberal state," as he calls it, that viktor orbán has created in hungary over the last ten or so years, by attacking hungary's free press, judiciary, and central bank --- all of it perfectly legal --- and i have imagined how easily it could all happen here ---

also too recep tayyip erdoğan, as he has begun to undo the genius of ataturk's secular democracy in turkey over the same period --- appealing to the ignorant religionists

and rodrigo duterte, who has killed thousands in his crusade against "drugs" and in general put a very thuggish face on the face of the phillipines --- and yet has an enthusiastic following who have somehow rationalized the immorality of it all

and i'm convinced that because of trump, brazil has jair bolsonaro, who has essentially declared war on the amazon and its indigenous people, and israel has netanyahu, who doesn't give one big shit about palestinians or israeli democracy

all of them love trump, and he loves them ---

omg, and nevermind how badly the UK is fkn itself

and don't get me started on the end-times evangelicals, who are not a lunatic fringe (well, they are actually) but are all over this administration, in more ways than one, doing their best to bring on their stupid "end times" ---

poor us --- i've read shirer's "rise and fall of the third reich," and am seeing firsthand how fascism comes to power --- "it can't happen here" was the title of sinclair lewis's book in 1935 --- sure it can --- and it is happening now --- all we need is a reichstag fire, and we are shit out of luck ---

i've read too much history to be comfortable with the present situation, and don't know what i can do about it at the present time other than deal with it

timely reading update

the stupid radio-controlled clock (thanks, john!) finally reset itself for daylight time this morning ---

in between NPS databases and what not, i've managed some reading, most notably a bio of philip johnson (4.5 stars at least), a history of hispanic america (4 stars), and a history of this country since 1974 (meh)

affluently handicapped, semi-closeted and semi-whorish, and a serious fascist --- that aspect of him is really shocking --- also too, dickish on occasion --- a good read, all in all

better than this, which gives a decent synopsis of those years but not a lot else, although i don't know what i might have expected

trump's border wall and all of the other immigration nonsense looks a lot different if you know this history

streets alive peachtree!

we did all of the route except the blocks below five points yesterday --- got in some steps

and watched a large number of people milling around


see robt for additional images

an hour-long conference call and another half hour on the phone otherwise this morning ---- eek --- i'm reminded of why i didn't like working for a living --- at least i washed the blinds in front of my desk yesterday, so i didn't have to look at the coffee stains

flowers, dogs, and casserole

i waste a lot of film take pictures of flowers and dogs, but they are my favorite items in the universe

and rocks

this is the third season for this geranium --- 

the thirteenth season for this animal

and robt made  me a delicious broccoli casserole --- there will be nothing left by the time i crash

omg, 70?

i was born at old crawford long hospital on linden ave, which, miraculously, remains intact, and at least from the outside, with few changes --- designed by eugene wachendorff (1880 - 1957), built in 1911, with a six-story addition on the west side added ten years later

dexter and i felt the same way about waking up this morning, but we coped

as i'm coping with another round birthday --- 70? for realz?

 perfect weather, perfect time of year for the river

and i had a very cordial call from my brother this afternoon, no yelling or anything