walked over to atlantic station today and back through home park---there's a lot more to look at when you're on foot--
saw the new al-farooq masjid, which i can see from my bedroom
and this wonderful wood-framed barn just off tenth street---it must be a hundred years old and apparently had been converted into a residence at some point, but had clearly been abandoned for decades---
and a fine 1956 cadillac on state street in home park
i always forget birthdays ---yesterday was the bicentennial of the births of the confederacy's greatest hero, gen. robert e. lee, and of the twisted edgar allen poe---for the 58th straight year, some one left Martel cognac and three red roses on Poe's grave in Baltimore---sure beats a vase of plastic carnations.
he liked fart jokes, but knew five languages---today is Benjamin Franklin's 300th birthday.
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,”amen
ML was born today of course, but did you know this:As we do every January 15, today we solemnly commemorate the completion of the world’s most awful structure, The Pentagon. . . . the very first demonic office building.
it's also the feast day of the virgin st. ita, who died 15 january 570---to the irish, she is second only to st. bridgett.
now listen to this---one of the truly great events of our time----
i harvested my first lemon from the balcony last night, sliced it up, and had it with some cocktails---robert agreed that it was an outstanding addition to the drinks, adding a subtle flavor of oranges that is entirely agreeable---it probably contains heavy concentrations of lead and other heavy metals from having been grown on the balcony, but since bush is in charge of the epa, it's guaranteed not to hurt you---
"commanded to rule" is the title of the cover story in today's ajc editorial section---and a great interview with chris hedges and his new book american fascists---he calls it a "theology of despair," which is what always gives rise to fascism---we all need to pay attention to this---falwell and robertson and their ilk are not just harmless buffoons---
i thought he looked awful the other night----and did anybody else notice that, for once, he did not close by saying "god bless amurica"?Adding to the evidence that George W. Bush was recently replaced by a hologram, the White House didn’t allow still photographers in the room where Bush read his surge speech Wednesday.
now all of the mid-twentieth-century stuff is being torn down for high-rise office and condos, a trend begun at colony square in 1969---here's a little update on the new stuff, except for onyx, which is really not out of the ground yet---
midtown developed as a residential neighborhood in the early 1900s along with a commercial district that began developing at peachtree and 10th in the 1890s---in the 1940s and 1950s, the houses were gradually replaced by office and small commercial buildings, like the ones that are now condos on pea
chtree at eighth and at fifth---on west peachtree, a few of the buildings from the early post-war era are still there, although not for long---the exception is the academy of medicine at seventh street and its champion cottonwood tree---it's been designated a city landmark and, at least theoretically, cannot be torn down---across the street at 866 is a small neo-classical building (c. 1950) that's about to be knocked down for another condo/hotel project---north of tenth street is a great commercial building (also c. 1950)---th
ey just tore down a much bigger buildng in a similar design over on spring street---another nice oak tree opposite twelfth and west peachtree---
i feel a little disoriented, or hung-over, i can't remember which
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
yeats, 1921so they hanged saddam last night and good riddance i guess----but there's something so totally barbaric about executing somebody like that, nevermind what he did to the kurds or anybody else---but it's just like the rest of this "war," where we have allowed bush and the rest of his wretched cohorts to drag us down to their level---meanwhile we are far along with the ruination of our planet, the latest signs being the collapsing polar ice caps and even the bush administration admitting that the polar bear is an endangered specie---
so i picked up j.c. and iris at 11 this morning, i drove them to my place, stopping at the chik fil a on the way to get chik fil a for our lunch----got them up to the 13th floor, where we ate and fed the dog----then i drove them around atlantic station and buckhead and lenox then back down through west end to see where his daddy had a produce business which wasnt there anymore and down lee st. and out campbellton rd to show them wells drive and then back through east point and college park and eventually back to their house where i took the plastic christmas tree to the basement and hemmed and hawed, said goodbye and got back home about 4----that is a total of 7 hours, i think, that i have been with them in the last five days----a record
i finally got to see andrew yesterday---purty worthless, like most babies, but will probably amount to something one day---looks like a tadpole version of daniel, which i guess he is---iris likes him---
a friend sent me this image of the "great tree" on rich's "crystal bridge," c. 1960---looks real christmasy, don't it---
in today's ajc: sam-i-am, a golden retriever that got lost during one of the Tampa hurricanes in 2004, showed up in illinois the other day, none the worse for wear and tear---he'd been microchipped, so his owners got him back---"When they were reunited, Sam stepped on her feet and then sat on them, just like always, and still answered to Sam."
meanwhile, hershey enjoys wallowing around in bed till 10 o'clock in the morning
iris has been talking about getting her slides from the 1950s digitized, so i have started on that myself, since wolf charges like $1.25 per slide and she's got hundreds and hundreds---some are pretty good, others not so much---
they don't call it world-nut daily for nothing:
Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products.
some people believe that squirrels look both ways before they cross the street, but a recent study showed that, if they did, they weren't looking for cars----fully 80% of radio-tagged squirrels in an urban area were flattened by cars and trucks.
holy shit---mary cheney is pregnant! the christianists' heads are currently exploding---
as it has for years, the euphorbia turicalli makes a great christmas tree, although it's probly un-amurican to use anything but a douglas fir or scotch pine or, if desperate, a crappy old cedar----
jon's orchid is blooming, too, which is pretty nice---
this was the old first national bank's branch building (c. 1930) on the northeast corner of ptree and north---about 1960 it was replaced by the highrise building that they just tore down---
equality formally arrived in south africa today----In breaking with our past ... we need to fight and resist all forms of discrimination and prejudice, including homophobia,” Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told members of Paliarment earlier this month, when the bill was passed by the National Assembly.
god---some people are such idiots----all this brou-ha-ha about whether the new muslim congressman has to swear his oath on a bible---this idiot dennis prager on cnn going on about it and how he ought to swear on a bible so as to "affirm [it] as our central text" and then he argues that it's not a religious test----and he actually talks about "the american bible"---god
so i'm a great uncle----alexis had her baby this afternoon about 5:15----big baby boy, so far nameless---she called me to tell me barely an hour after she had him---mother and baby all doing fine---
somehow i think i have avoided most substance addiction, which might not really be all that surprising, given the myths about drug addiction---alcohol and a doobie are great, together or seperately, but i don't have to have them to function and i can and sometimes do go for days without either one, especially when i'm traveling---even then i don't get a headache like i get if i go a day without caffeine---oh, but nicotine---i have not had any for going on three years, but last night at a party i came so-o-o close to lighting up---the host had laid out a box, conveniently filled with parliaments, for the guests, most of whom were young 20- or 30-somethings smoking like there was no tomorrow---nothing else has that pull---
only maybe 10-15% of people that use alcohol become addicted, and about the same percentage of pot smokers become "heaviliy dependent," although few claim it is actually addictive---and, believe it or not, way less than half of those that try heroin or cocaine become addicted---but nicotine? some claim near 90% can't put it down---i believe that---
so brian took this excellent pic of the red-tailed hawk that has been chowing down on the five-points pigeons---there are probably too many pigeons i guess but i just wish he wouldn't eat sitting on the window sill outside our office---he doesn't eat pigeon feet by the way----
the first lemon from my balcony----not ripe but it was a lot smaller than the other two and 
i thought it wasn't going to ripen---but it was juicy and right tasty in a vodka tonic---
hershey is feeling ok but the vet told me friday i would have weeks, not months, left with him----
this is happening in north carolina---what a pathetic group of people---While we fully recognize that other sins assail our members, there is no other sin that has a national advocacy group where people march and try to change laws and cultural mores to gain approval for itself. This particular sin is creeping its way into acceptability by virtue of this group's advocacy, and it is time for us to take a stand."
-- Baptist State Convention spokesman Norman Jameson, as the body moves to vote to further demonize its LGBT members of its flock by expelling tolerant churches
me and the dog spent some time in the park today----a gorgeous day with leaf color as intense as i've ever seen----the "active oval," which was the driving club's race track in the 1880s, is open again after a thorough remodeling---
harper's ferry has got to be one of the most spectacular places in the east---located at the confluence of the Shenandoah and the Potomac rivers where they break through the blue ridge mountains---a ferry and subsequently a town were established there in 1761, but it's most famous as the site of john 
