Monday, January 05, 2009
Noctus 15, 31.
A lot of good stories from the last two-odd weeks; too many to write in this post. I'll cover it later this week. Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday!
- NEWS OF THE WEEK -
/film: Bollywood is Remaking Back to the Future.
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
What finlm would you most like to see Bollywood remake?
3 comments.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Concept: Noctus 31.
Can anyone guess to what each picture corresponds this month?
The links behind the doorways may offer a clue or two; anyway, I hope you check them out. Some of the most enjoyable stories I've experienced...
0 comments.
Concept: A Break, and January.
I will post tomorrow, but I'm going to be visiting family off-and-on for the next two weeks, and don't expect much of a chance to post.
I will start posting regularly again as of Monday, January 5th, but January is a very busy month at work, so things will still be a little sparce here through the beginning of February.
I don't expect any delays in QOTDs, however.
1 comments.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Event: Andy Heller discusses the loan.
The Flint Journal: President Bush saves the auto industry, and Michigan lives to see another day.
Labels: auto industry, economics, EVENT
0 comments.
EVENT: Thank You, President Bush.
Four words I'm not accustomed to saying.
New York Times: Bush Approves $17.4 Billion Auto Bailout.
Labels: auto industry, economics, EVENT
2 comments.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Event: Where Does $70/Hour Come From?
Save Auto Jobs: 'Mathematically and intellectually dishonest'.
Anecdotal Conclusions:
Obviously my family didn't enjoy this sort of income growing up; we were always comfortable and the fair income did provide me with some opportunities that nonunion employees wouldn't have had, such as music and theater lessons and the opportunity to attend a prestigious (and expensive) private college.
1) $30-40/hour (benefits and pension included) is a very decent wage, but it isn't the $70/hour legacy burden that is so often shoved off on autoworkers.
2) An observation that is (finally) being made is that legacy costs are more than a drop in the bucket, but are an incidental concern when the Big Three aren't making vehicles that people want to buy.
3) New workers aren't making these wages; their wages are in line with foreign competitors. This is, in fact, more of a liability for the UAW than it may sound on the surface, since pay tiers by date-of-hire impose a wage wedge that can push unions apart. Many corporations have exploited situations like this to sow discord in unions.
4) God Forbid blue-collar workers would earn as much as their betied brethren!
Labels: auto industry, economics, EVENT
0 comments.
Concept: Making Your Day a Sad Day.
Let it be acknowledged that the popular holiday song Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland is about a pair of erstwhile adolescents acting out a reckless plot to elope from under the oppressive eyes of their unaccepting families and despite the malicious cruelty of their peers.
It's all in the lyrics.
It requires no explanation.
Labels: Christmas, CONCEPT, Music
1 comments.
Necrus 28, 31.
- LINK OF THE WEEK -
It's a Wonderful Life: The alternate ending.
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
Answer honestly. Where would you rather be on a Saturday night: Bedford Falls or Potterville?
4 comments.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Diary: December 1998.
This is almost recent history, so I'm somewhat surprised that I don't remember the details of this month better than I do.
This was my second year of college. I remember in '97 it was my first time home and my family and friends made a big deal about my return. By '98, though, it was old hat. Also, this was an odd year when the U of C took two weeks off instead of three.
I do remember that I reconnected with Sarah Crawford via Josh Aldred; I'd met her the summer before, but lost track of her when she went to summer camp. The three of us spent a lot of time driving around Flint, getting into various degrees of trouble that I won't detail here.
I remember a couple odd absences; for example, this was the first time in ages that the DeVoes didn't throw a Christmas party. So instead, we invited them over for pizza. Unless I'm remembering wrong, and we went over there instead.
For Christmas, my parents got me a Romanian-English dictionary, because I was talking about spending a summer abroad; but these plans didn't come to fruition until later. On New Years Eve I went to a collossal party at the Crawfords... the first of three I'd attend, and this was where I met Marcy, who I wooed off-and-on for the next year. And this was when Demetrius taught me a dance he'd invented to Madonna's Ray of Light. I bought the album and it was my favorite for the next two months.
In the last days of the year, a massive blizzard descended on the midwest, hitting the western side of Michigan particularly hard and burying Chicago in more snow that it had seen in 35 years. So to flirt with 2009, a little, I remember my dad creeping along at 40 mph along I-94 all the way around the lake. The trip probably took us six or seven hours, but he kept us out of the ditches on the side of the expressway. Many cars and trucks had spun out, and we could see them when the snow let up from time to time.
Where were you in December 1998?
2 comments.
Necrus 27, 31.
- PICTURE OF THE WEEK -
Where is this?
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
What's the last song that "gets you right here"?
3 comments.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Concept: Link to Friends of the Congo.
I am proud to link today to Friends of the Congo. With the economic discomfort we're feeling here in the U.S., it might be tempting to think that the distress stops at our borders... to be come reclusive and inward looking. In fact, the opposite is true. Whatever tension the United States is experiencing, it is still in a very advantageous position compared to most of the world. Our economic oversights and shortcomings, our failed economic policies have dragged the developing world along with us. This would be a terrible time to close our minds and borders.
It should not be lost, then, that Africa is in the midst of its own "world war," a conflict over money and economic resource that is often disguised or simply interpreted as a wave of "ethnic cleansing." This conflict is rooted in the same issues that prompted the Rwandan genocide over a decade ago, and has involved a number of states (the actual number is in dispute). Over five million have been killed, making this the deadliest conflict since World War II. The Friends of the Congo are committed to sharing this information and working towards a favorable resolution.
Please find this link added to the sidebar under the "cool people" section.
What's with all of the Africa links?
While this link in particular represents an immediate and pressing concern, I've been reading about Africa recently as part of the research I'm doing for my novel Urbantasm. I'm am researching the roots of all characters; since the setting of the novel is like Flint, many characters are of African extraction. I have the added benefit of learning about a part of the world I know little about; the history courses I've taken so far have treated Africa only briefly and tangentially. Zambia, Mozambique, Congo-Kinshasa... in many ways this is my first exposure.
Labels: Africa, CONCEPT, foreign policy, links
0 comments.
Necrus 26, 31.
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK -
"For them are the catacombs of Ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries. They climb to the moonlit towers of ruined Rhine castles, and falter down black cobwebbed steps beneath the scattered stones of forgotten cities in Asia. The haunted wood and the desolate mountain are their shrines, and they linger around the sinister monoliths on uninhabited islands. But the true epicure in the terrible, to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteems most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England; for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness and ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous."
Who said this?
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
Which musician would you most trust as a religious leader?
3 comments.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Necrus 25, 31.
Last week as a good week, overall. Barring larger political and global things over which I have no real control. I'm partly thinking of the Congo, there, though I haven't written about this here yet. During the week and outside of work, most of my energy goes into submitting Hungry Rats and reading for Urbantasm. For the latter, I'm rereading Les Misèrables and remembering why it's my favorite book ever. I've done a lot of reading at Kopi Cafe, and remembering why it's proximally my favorite cafe ever. I went through unnecessary pain, reminding myself that U.S. History at Borders Books really means Biographies of U.S. Presidents, and so it's a terrible place to learn about, say, labor or industrial history. I will order from Women and Children First this week, which is what I should've done in the first place. And I went to church for the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
On Friday night I went to the third-to-last production of the House and Bird show. On Saturday there was D&D, and then night I went to Gothic Funk Party #16. More on that soon. Sunday was comparatively relaxed. But the wife and I watched It's a Wonderful Life and then the Dana Carvey alternate ending.
A good week; very busy.
- NEWS OF THE WEEK -
Detroit Free Press: Bush signals that auto deal is not far away.
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
How cold are you today?
3 comments.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Event: Opinion - Senate Seats and Subsidies.
Detroit Free Press: Senate Seat for Sale.
Some quotes:
“They’ve been throwing taxpayer dollars at Toyota for years in Alabama and no one raises a stink about that” Hayes said. In fact, as Olbermann noted, Alabama alone has given more in tax subsides per job to foreign automakers than Detroit was asking for in the bailout plan to save jobs at American companies.
The Big Three haven’t been competing against Toyota and Honda and Nissan; they’ve been competing against Japan. Unlike America, that nation actually has an industrial policy. While our government talked about the virtues of free trade, the Japanese government worked hand in glove with their automakers to help make them the world leaders.
Japan is aggressively trying to do with autos what they did with consumer electronics – undercut American manufacturers, drive them out of business and capture the American market. Japan heavily subsidizes their automakers, they fund their research, they manipulate their currency, and they erect trade barriers that make it virtually impossible for American automakers to export to their country. Think the fact that Pacific Rim nations buy up 80-percent of our government debt has something to do with keeping our government from enacting policies to level the playing field? The bank that holds your mortgage doesn't dance to your tune, you dance to the tune of the bank that holds your mortgage.
I don’t care what you’re manufacturing or if your CEO is Albert Einstein, if you are competing against a country that actually has universal health care, while you’re forced to add $1,200 to $1,500 to the cost to every unit you manufacture to cover your employees’ health care, you’re not going to be competitive. If your country doesn’t rebate the value added tax when you export your product while your competitor’s country does, not only will you be priced out of their market, your foreign competitor’s government subsidy will put them at a tremendous price advantage on your home turf.
Of course, now I've quoted almost the entire column.
Labels: auto industry, economics, EVENT
0 comments.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Event: Two More Opinions.
My dad sent me this, from 17 years ago.
Car Talk, April 1992.
When I push (hard) for a loan to the Big Three, I'm not favoring a blank check; I've no desire to repeat the Wall Street bailout. Hopefully the White House attaches strict requirements to any aid it gives.
And this is from Hallie.
New York Times: When the Cars Go Away.
The interesting thing is, deindustrialization effectively shielded cities like Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw from the investment excitement of the eighties and the prosperity of the nineties. I had a stable family life, a healthy material life, and a good education, which was why I could bear witness to all this and then write about it today. Because I do feel that people from my part of the country have been treated to a rare sneak peek of what the rest of the country (or even the First World?) may be experiencing soon:
FLINT, MICHIGAN
COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU
Labels: auto industry, economics, EVENT, Republican Party
0 comments.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Event: Another Good Article.
Salon.com: Senate GOP to the UAW: Drop Dead.
Labels: auto industry, economics, EVENT, Republican Party
0 comments.
Body: "Seems I keep getting this story twisted."
?
?
"Somewhere, someone must know the ending?"
Labels: auto industry, BODY, economics, Tori Amos, unionization
0 comments.
Necrus 22, 31.
- PLACE OF THE WEEK -
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
Do you anticipate or dread the holidays (generally) and Christmas (specifically)?
3 comments.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Necrus 21, 31.
Don't forget to checkout the writeup of Gothic Funk Party #15.
- LINK OF THE WEEK -
Christmas Tree Exhibition.
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
What's your favorite kind of nut?
4 comments.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Concept: Writeup of Gothic Funk Party #15: EYE OF ARGON
This document consists of:
1. Invitation to Gothic Funk Party #15
2. Addendum to the Invitation
3. Account of the Party
4. Photos of the party
1. The invitation to Gothic Funk Party #7:
Flier:
Invitation written by Connor.
SUBJECT: Gothic Funk Party #15: EYE OF ARGON
BODY: Flier attached.
Text version follows:
The Gothic Funk Nation Presents...
EYE of ARGON
Gothic Funk Party #15
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Friday, December 5th
Eight o'clock in the evening.
Limited space; RSVP necessary.
No cover.
Beer $1.
Snacks $1.
Calling all bards and barbarians for a special reading of one of the worst stories ever written.
ThE wEAthEr BEAtEN trAil
wOuNd AhEAd iNto thE duSt
rAckEd cliMES of thE BArEN lANd
which doMiNAtES lArgE portiONS
of the NOrgoliAN EMpirE.
2. Addendum to the Invitation
3. Account of the Party
Instability is endemic to the Gothic Funk Nation! For the last half-year both of our reading series have been picking up steam, and the lineup for the first issue of our journal is very promising. And yet, the parties, which are this Nation's raison d'etre, have been sorely missing. The last official party was during Labor Day weekend. At the same time several brilliant ideas for parties had been floated: Reinhardt proposed a reading of the EYE OF ARGON, Sam proposed a stempunk interpretation of Hackers, and Barb proposed a movie viewing of Henson's Storyteller series. All of these would make for intimate, small-scale parties and we should do all of them. But Reinhardt and I decided that we could bring his plan to fruitition in about a week and so Reinhardt assembled the stories and I sent out the invite.
On the night of the party about nine people showed up: myself, Sam, Sky, Emma, her friend Christine, Amber, Reinhardt, and Wes. It was a testosterone heavy night, generally speaking. We kicked off the festivities with a round of snarfing on the back porch. The way I was taught to snarf (though there were several variations on this that night), one shakes a can of cheap beer and punctures the side with a ball-point pen while opening the lid and chugging. The suction functions much like a beer bong, albeit a lot messier. We did this on the back porch (in single-digit degrees) to avoid spilling all over the place, and we generally succeeded.
The main event was the short story The Eye of Argon published in 1970 in OSFAN, the journal of the Ozark Science Fiction Society. And, oh, it is awful. Witness the selection below:
"From where do you come barbarian, and by what are you called?" Gasped the complying wench, as Grignr smothered her lips with the blazing touch of his flaming mouth.
The engrossed titan ignored the queries of the inquisitive female, pulling her towards him and crushing her sagging nipples to his yearning chest. Without struggle she gave in, winding her soft arms around the harshly bronzedhide of Grignr corded shoulder blades, as his calloused hands caressed her firm protruding busts.
It would require too much space to do full justice to the accidental atrocity of this piece, but the game went as follows. We sat in a circle and read, the goal being to complete a page without laughing. We weren't allowed to slow to gain composure, and we had to pronounce all typos and errors (of which there were many). The story took three hours to read and, as with staged-readings of Hamlet, it was our determination in large part that saw us through. Still, it was a great night, a great event, and this was a new combination of people I would like to see again.
After the reading was finished, Sam treated us to a lecture he had prepared on weapons of mass destruction, from the MOAB and the Little Boy bombs to the Soviet Tsar bomb. We followed up with weird YouTubes and Gnarkill. It was a weird momeny of gender stereotypes winning out, as the boys clustered around the computer for about an hour, while the girls all dropped off on the futon.
The party ended at about one, and the bards and barbarians headed off into the swirling snow off that harroweing night and their grinding lungs were so cold to them until they stopped.
4. Photos of the Party.
All photos by Connor Coyne.
The engrossed titan ignored the queries of the inquisitive female, pulling her towards him and crushing her sagging nipples to his yearning chest. Without struggle she gave in, winding her soft arms around the harshly bronzedhide of Grignr corded shoulder blades, as his calloused hands caressed her firm protruding busts.
Labels: CONCEPT, Gothic Funk Nation, party, science-fiction
1 comments.
Event: I Have Discovered My Secret Super Power.
Within a short time of my moving to any given state, that state's governor will fall into disgrace.
So where should I move next?
Labels: EVENT, Illinois, New York, politics
3 comments.
Necrus 20, 31.
- PICTURE OF THE WEEK -
Where is this?
- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
What song do you know that you would like to heard performed entirely with bells?
5 comments.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Concept: Link to Zambian Economist.
Today I link to the blog Zambian Economist in the sidebar "cool people" section. Maintained by "Cho" as "a non-political platform for exchanging ideas" the Zambian Economist nevertheless promotes a pragmatic argument to ease Zambian material and economic distress through common-sense reforms and responsible governance. I was particularly taken by the Memo to President Banda, but this blog discusses everything from food distribution to copper mining, and I'm going to have to visit many times before I've absorbed what it really has to offer.
You should drop by!
Labels: Africa, CONCEPT, economics, internet, links
0 comments.
In December 1983.
I was five, and I believe this was about a month before I officially became obsessed with dinosaurs. This far back, I remember events (like Christmas) and otherwise unfixable moments... I won't know for sure exactly what month or even what year I'm remembering.
That said, for as long as I can remember (certainly as far back as the mid-eighties) there is a moment that I associate with the early winter in 1983. I went to Valley School at this time, which is a private school that has spent most of its history leapfrogging from one facility to the next. When I attended, the school was based out of a one-story brick building in the middle of a great field surrounded by suburban subdivisions. This was Grand Blanc Township. One of the sides of the school faces a low slope, and on the first day that is snowed, sleds were dispensed. By sleds, what I really mean was that they had rolled red and blue sheets of plastic with grommet holes at the end to attach a yellow cord. When we unrolled these and layed on our stomachs or sat with our feet the length of the sheet, we could use them for sleds. I think that they were designed with this in mind. One of nostalgia-inducing toys that would probably never be allowed anymore.
Where were you in December 1983?
2 comments.
