I'm Going to Miss This Comic

There are a lot of great webcomics out there and I read and enjoy a lot of them. Traditional comics, like newspapers themselves seem to be a dying breed. When referenced at all by Gen-xers, it's usually as an ironic punch-line. I get it, I really do.

I grew up in a different time, reading my local newspaper and it's comics that included, Peanuts, The Lock Horns, Hagar, The Phantom and Ziggy. In 1981, for whatever reason, I discovered For Better of For Worse. Launched in 1979, FBorFW had simple stories about a young Canadian family known as the Patterson's. Set in and around the fictional town of Milborough, a suburb of Toronto, each strip featured simply, but elegantly drawn facets of suburban life. Around the time I started reading it as a teen, a baby was born into the family, Elizabeth.

Well today, the Strips' creator, Lynn Johnson is saying goodbye to the Pattersons. There will be more. Starting Monday, she's beginning the first retcon of a comic strip ever. Comic books have been doing it for Forty-years, but Lynn feels she wants to go back to the beginning and recreate the family as it was. She believes it became too complicated, convoluted and grounded in reality. Stories became complex and controversial and could sometimes span weeks or even months. The cast of regulars expanded to dozens. This all probably came from her decision early on that the family would age. The kids grew up right in front of our eyes and like all children, they developed their own lives, friends and loves. In the retcon FBorFW, the family won't age.

So here I am, in my early 40s now and the baby I saw born in 1981 just got married and all the Patterson's will live and have children and thrive, just beyond our perception. It was one of the all-time great strips and like her friend and mentor, Charles M. Schultz, she knew that if you create characters people love and care about, the rest, as they say is history. So long and thanks for the memories.

Sometimes on here, I'm much more serious than I am in RL. So to throw a little of my two favorite things at ya. Zombies and satire, here's The ending of FBorFW in the Mirror Universe, courtesy medium-large.com.

Photos That Changed The World

These are just some of the photos you'll find at Photos that Changed the World. Go there and be inspired, outraged, awed and humbled. It seems that most of the comments on the site have been invaded by Trolls leaving nothing but hate and invective in their wake. Please do not feed the Trolls, it only makes them stronger and happy.

 

 

 

 

 

Is McCain Four More Years of Bush?

McCain = 4 more years of Bush! That’s the Democrats line and frankly it bothers me. I think that there are much better ways for Obama to attack McCain. For me, it's simply that this is the time for Obama. Like Pres. Clinton said last night: "... on the two great questions of this election, how to rebuild the American Dream and how to restore America’s leadership in the world, he (McCain) still embraces the extreme philosophy which has defined his party for more than 25 years.” John Kerry gave a great speech last night, full of four years worth of pent-up anger. Swiftboated and painted as a flip-flopper, Kerry was all too happy to call out his old friend, John McCain on his own political flips. A little too happy. I mean, McCain and Kerry are (were) long-time friends. Kerry came within a whisker of picking McCain as his running-mate in 2004, does no one remember this? Ah, Politics!

So, my question is this, is it true? If you judge by the current political rhetoric McCain is spouting, close, but still not quite. But if you go by the three decade long voting record of Sen. McCain, coldly and mathematically plotted on graphs, then no it's not. The other day Volokh linked to some very interesting data from political scientist Keith Poole mapping the ideological leanings of Bush, McCain, Obama, and Hillary Clinton, based on their congressional votes and, in the case of Bush, the Presidential Support roll calls.

Based on the data, Clinton and Obama are essentially ideologically identical, just left of the center in their party. In contrast, there's a major gap between Bush and McCain: McCain is on the left wing of his party, while Bush is out on the right, within spitting distance of the lunatic fringe.

Id feel much more comfortable with this argument. But that's just me, I guess.

OK! Enough! I'm Running!

Not really, but pretty cool huh? Try yours here.

Web 2.0 and Social Media, Crashing Politics and the Political Conventions

If you know a little something about online social network sites -- Facebook, MySpace, Fark, Digg, Twitter*, Flickr, etc. -- you'll want to jump to this article from the LATimes about how social media have invaded the political campaigns and the DNC and RNC.

The folks over at The Huffington Post have put together a Twitter account updating live from the Democratic National Convention. You can visit their site or follow them on Twitter. It's funny and revealing, such as:

"The Rolling Stone party sucked worse than a vacuum cleaner. I swear I'm not just saying that because police escorted me out of it! -AlGi "

and:

"according to kathy lash, clooney to make appearance at GQ party -alisavino"

Also be sure to follow the #rnc08 and #dnc08 hashtag for everyone's tweets.

There's been a lot of debate over politicians using social media lately. How they should do it, rules for how they should do it, great uses of it, abuses of it, and complete misunderstandings of it.

I wish politicians would try to use social media more, even if they fail, they've tried. If they do use it, I hope they find it a fun, habit forming, interactive and useful tool to keep their fingers directly on the pulse of their bosses.

*For those unfamiliar, Twitter is a free micro-blogging and social networking site that enables users to upload “tweets,” or small messages under 140 characters about a variety of topics. Here's a great Twtter tools resource list.

Russia, Georgia and Medea - O - Mai!

It’s certainly hard to condone the continuing Russian stance and refusal to remove it's troops from Georgia. But I cant understand how quickly pundits have forgotten that it was Mr Saakashvili who struck the first formal blow. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he is solely culpable (there's such a thing as provocation), but the instant ‘whiting out’ of the Georgian first strike doesn't seem much different from the old ‘Turkish invasion of Cyprus’ story. OK, again the rights and wrongs are tricky, but it’s perverse to forget that the prompt to that invasion was a Greek-backed attempted coup.

In Georgia’s case a lot more gets swept under the carpet. For a start, it is a pretty disappointing beacon of democracy for the West to support: no independent judiciary, some recent strategic closing of non-government media, and – so far as I can tell – a good number of opposition leaders in prison.

And there is a good deal of saber rattling from the Right. Not just Cheney. McCain’s foreign policy adviser was until recently a paid lobbyist for Georgia. US officials of all levels urged Saakashvili not to respond to what he (and they) saw as clear Russian efforts to provoke him. But the officials (and their intel analysts) simply didn't comprehend how Saakashvili viewed the choices he faced. Which were: act now or face the irrevocable loss of those two Georgian provinces. OK, worth a gamble. I also think he underestimated Russia's reaction (even though they clearly were baiting him) and severally over-estimated the support that would come from the West and NATO.

The vast majority of us are ignorant about the Caucasus. I don’t know any Russian beyond the alphabet and I know no Georgian whatsoever, never mind Ossetian. For the most part, like almost all of us, I'm dependent on very filtered news.

In any case Georgia signals one thing above all.

That is the famous Golden Fleece and the dysfunctional family of the ruling house of Colchis, a city-state situated somewhere in what is now western Georgia. Colchis was also the land where the mythological Prometheus was punished by being chained to a mountain while an eagle ate at his liver for revealing to humanity the secret of fire. Amazons also were said to be of Scythian origin from Colchis.

This is the complicated story of the mythical Greek hero Jason, who was sent by one of those malevolent relatives, so common in Greek myth, to bring back the fleece of the golden ram – the marvelous animal which had carried the boy Phrixus away from his wicked step-mother to safety in Colchis.

There is no happy ending. For Jason, with his crew of Argonauts, managed to capture the prize, and closely guarded, fleece – but only with the help of the king’s daughter – Medea, the witch of Colchis, who had fallen in love with him (she's pictured at the top). She notoriously slowed up her father who came in pursuit, as she and Jason escaped with the fleece, by killing her own brother and scattering his limbs in the sea – for her father to pick up.

The sequel is no less horrid. Medea had children by Jason, but when he was threatening to leave her for another woman , she sent a poisoned dress to the new bride and so killed her -- and, just to complete the punishment of her faithless lover, she killed the children too.

The distant mythological past of Georgia casts a nasty shadow over its later history.

My Daughter is Seven Today!

Happy Birthday Little One! 7 today! The best of your Mom and me. Watching the World through your curious and mischievous brown eyes is an amazing adventure.

Unfortunate Headline of the Day

Yikes! Where were the Copywriters?!? LOL

The Denver Post: Not Masters of the Double Entendre

(TOH Evie Stone)

A Flickr Mosaic Meme

I'd been meaning to do this for a while, but never got around to it. I really liked the concept, so here it is.

To play:
a.) Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b.) Using only the first page, pick an image.
c.) Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's Mosaic Maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

1. David Hobby & Chase Jarvis, 2. Pizza Porn, 3. Waldron High School Gym, 4. When I'm sleeping, I slow down my breathing...Living in dreams, dreams that come true...thinking of the color blue... ZZZzzzzzz..., 5. Rachel Weisz hace gala de su belleza, 6. Honey Brown, 7. Scottish Castle, 8. Raspberry - Swirl Cheesecake, 9. The Algonquin, 10. Autumn walk, 11. e, 12. Me
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

The Sandy Allen Scholarship Fund

As you are probably aware, the worlds tallest woman, Sandy Allen died last week. She'd been having several health problems the last few years and was living in the assisted care portion of a Shelbyville, Indiana nursing home.

I grew up in Shelby County, just 9 miles from Shelbyville. My Granddad Brown volunteered in that nursing home for 15 years. My Mom currently volunteers there. My parent's knew Sandy because my Dad worked with her father years ago. I met Sandy when I was 10 and then a few more times over the years. She was a wonderfully sweet woman who loved life, talking with children and her time working for former Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut. Her spirit will be missed.

The other day, Ruth Holliday blogged about a scholarship fund being established in Sandy's name. Here's the post in it's entirety.

A scholarship fund in the name of world's tallest woman Sandy Allen, has been established by Rita Rose and Art and Nancy Baxter of Hawthorne Publishing.

Allen died Aug. 13. Rose, Allen's longtime friend and a former arts/entertainment reporter for the Indianapolis Star, has written a novel about Allen's life: "World's Tallest Woman: The Giantess of Shelbyville High,"

The Baxters are publishing Rose's book. They also published "Star in the Hoosier Sky" by Lawrence "Bo" Connor, and "Indiana Legends: Famous Hoosiers from Johnny Appleseed to David Letterman" by Nelson Price. Connor and Price are former newspapermen.

Donations to the scholarship fund, which benefits students at Shelbyville High School, Allen's alma mater, can be made by going to http://blueriverfoundation.com/index.asp

Click on "online giving" then "honorary gifts," then fill in Sandy Allen Scholarship Fund in the appropriate box. Or, you can mail a tax-deductible donation to: Blue River?Foundation, 54 W. Broadway
St., Suite 1, Shelbyville, IN 46176.

Rose's book will be out in November. Book signings will be Nov. 1 at 3 Sisters Books in Shelbyville and Nov. 8 at Borders Merchants Pointe in Carmel.

Obama's Rural Economic Development, Energy Independence and Farm Policy

Rural Americans are struggling – whether it's farmers and ranchers working to make ends meet, rural communities being left behind, or families being squeezed because of today's economy.

The Obama Campaign launched The Rural Americans with a Rural RV Tour across America’s heartland. The Obama RV is making its way through small towns, highlighting ways in which rural Americans can bring change to their own communities. The RV is currently in Missouri, where 36 Obama campaign offices have just opened up.

The Associated Press reports that “Obama has opened up more offices in rural areas than any other Democratic presidential candidate in years.” This means 43 offices in Ohio, including in small towns like Middletown and Troy. They opened ten offices so far in rural Iowa. Here in Indiana, Obama has 17 offices.

The campaign in Iowa is holding a series of roundtable discussions across the state, discussing rural economic development, energy independence and farm policy. Local officials and Iowa leaders including Senator Harkin, Senator Nelson, Lt. Governor Patty Judge and Obama policy advisor Mike Dunn will hold discussions with Iowans about Senator Obama’s plan for rural America.

“Most Washington politicians think rural America is a place you fly over on your way from New York to California,” said Gary Lamb, a farmer from Chelsea, Iowa, at a recent roundtable. “Senator Obama understands the challenges facing families in rural Iowa because he is from the Heartland and has held more than 100 town hall meetings across the state. Senator Obama is the only candidate who will truly fight to strengthen our family farms and rural communities, and bring real change to Washington.”

Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin said recently, “To me [Obama] could be a really good friend of ours in the White House to those of us who farm or live in rural communities.” Harkin said Obama has been supporting Midwestern agriculture since his election to the U.S. Senate, as well as during his career in the Illinois State Senate.

Senator Obama will be visiting voters across rural America, from Virginia to Indiana to Ohio to listen to the concerns of voters and explain his policies – such as the 2008 Farm Bill – support rural Americans. Obama recently unveiled a new rural plan, read more about it here.

This Just In ...

Almost forgot.

I'm in the works to create an Indiana Centered History Podcast.

It's going to be about the Northwest Territory, Indiana Territory and Indiana as a State.

The podcast will be 15 min. to 30 min. long. I'll probably be able (unless things change) to do one every other week.

I'm currently doing podcasting research and tutorials with two wonderful full time podcasters I met on Twitter. I'm also outlining my limits. :) Don't expect well polished at first (or ever) [did I say that out loud?].

Subjects that I'm nearly 90% sure will make the cut include: Wm. Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, Little Turtle, Gen. James Wilkinson, Jonny Alppleseed, Irvington, New Harmony and Ma Kettle. I'm going to include a full page of primary and secondary resources and a few paragraphs of information, Internet links and pictures. So, as you can see, it'll be pretty time intensive. Maybe one every-other week is being optimistic?

I don't know what to call it, if you guys have any ideas, let me know. I don't have any prizes for you other than that sense of extreme hubris you'll get seeing YOUR choice on the masthead every time you log on! :)

Ideas? E-mail me through here (see profile) through MySpace or indyguy6540 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Peace One Day

2006 | 80 min

PEACE ONE DAY is the story of one man’s attempts to persuade the global community via the United Nations to officially sanction a global ceasefire day; a day of non-violence; a day of Peace.  This documentary charts the remarkable 5-year journey of the filmmaker as he meets heads of state, Nobel Peace Laureates, aid agencies, freedom fighters, media moguls, the innocent victims of war and, eventually, everyone who was anyone at the UN. An individual genuinely can make a difference: The UN International Day of Peace is now fixed in the calendar on 21st September annually. The real challenge has now begun - to get the world to unite on a day fast approaching.

Click watch below and you'll go to my new favorite site. SnagFilms is sota the documentary version of Hulu.com. It hosts hundreds of documentaries such as Super Size Me, Baghdad Bound: Devil Dog Diaries and Asteroids: Deadly Impact. Go to this wonderful new time-suck and watch this and many other documentaries.

A Message to Twitter

RE: Twitter Tweeps. I did high school, lets see ... 24 years ago. I taught Elementary age kids for several years and at work, I supervise people who are mostly in their Twenties. I don't need to re-live cliques on Twitter.

Yes, they exist. No, I'm not jealous and no, I'm not talking about the 'celebrity' Twiterati. Just the (mostly) Genxers who seem to talk a big game about how well they understand new media. "It's in our DNA," said a young intern of mine. Ok, great. I mean that. But so is the need to associate with like people. That's in your DNA as well. I love that there are things you can teach me, show me and ideas that can change or even challenge my preconceptions. I just hope you realize that I and others in our 30's, 40's and up can do the same for you.

Aren't we on here to learn and improve ourselves? Broaden our horizons and our social-circles? I love Twitter, I follow less than 200 and have about 100 followers. I just try to be myself and sometimes engage in conversation (which is the hardest part for me, since I'm fairly shy.) I'm not trying to be popular or a Twitter celebrity. I have my own real-life accomplishments that I'm very proud of, thank you very much. I'm the first to admit, I don't do small talk well, but I do like sharing bits of my life, bizarre thoughts and inane observations. I've met some really wonderful, smart and engaging people on Twitter and have discovered some great sites, blogs, videos, memes and books.

It's not my age, I've always hated cliques. No, I wasn't unpopular in High school and now seeking revenge. I went to a very small rural school. There were 75 people in my class. Class-mates that didn't vary much from first grade. I was liked by the stoners, the FFA, the nerds, the geeks, the athletes and the teachers. I fought cliques from the inside then and I'll do it now. They just don't make sense to me. Why exclude the opinion of someone? For what reason exclude them?

What's the point of using a social network that potentially reaches across and bursts apart our pre-conceived boundaries of age, race, class, economy and geography only to use it to talk to people who look, think and believe just like you and make fun of, exclude, or talk about people who don't. If so, IMHO yer doin' it wrong.

I leave you, dear reader, with a challenge. Go make a new contact with someone you wouldn't normally. If your an atheist, say hi to that openly Christian or Muslim or Jew that you follow. A bit homophobic? Find something in common with that sarcastically funny lesbian or the English tranny you follow. Look at the avatars of those you follow? Are they all white? Fix that. Is there someone you follow who doesn't have a lot of money? Say hi and find something in common. I doubt that they'll hit you up for money. Invite those older, younger, shorter, taller or less funny to the next Tweet-up. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something.

I have a choke, throw me a seal

I have officially reached that age where songs from my childhood are more frequently heard as advertising jingles than as actual music. *sigh* If you think so too, check out my Last.fm profile.

Oh, the strange title? It was the lyric I once misheard from Billy Joel's Allentown. The real lyric of course, Iron and coke, chromium steel. I still like mine better.

Hey! This Happened Today. Who Knew?

As Hitler's armies and air force tumbled European Countries like dominoes for the Third Reich to plunder; one tiny island Country stood against 3 months of constant bombardment. Known as The Battle Of Britain, Allied and Axis planes met in aerial combat in the skies over the South Coast. Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the British Royal Air Force and Canadian and US Volunteer Airmen on this day, August 20, 1940, with this incredible speech:

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Benjamin Harrison's 175th Birthday: It's Free And Your Invited!

Date: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tour Times: 12:00pm to 6:00pm (last tour begins at 5:00pm)
Tour Costs: FREE
President Benjamin Harrison Home
1230 North Delaware Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Phone: (317) 631-1888
Fax: (317) 632-5488
E-mail: harrison@presidentbenjaminharrison.org

Happy 175th Birthday, Mr. President! Celebrate with a FREE tour of his Victorian, brick Italianate-style home and complimentary birthday cake. Visitors with the last name of Harrison will receive a special keepsake.

Photo: President Benjamin Harrison Home

Quote Of The Month

"It's easy to be envious of youth, but if you've got a certain degree of wisdom and your body hasn't fallen apart yet, you may be at the best time of your life."

- Tom McBride, an English professor at Beloit who helps compile annual Beloit College Mindset List.

Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation - A Review

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
recommended for: NPR fans, casual history buffs, Robert Todd Lincoln Haters, Presidential Necrophiliacs

I have a huge crush on Sarah Vowell, just sayin'. She's funny, she's eloquent, she's fascinating, etc. Oh and she played Violet in The Incredibles as well as doing amazing radio essays for This American Life.

I'm a fan of her PRI essays but not so much of her books, I was very happily surprised to find I liked Assassination Vacation much more than her others. It's an investigation of the tourism around the sites of presidential assassinations and odd facts and trivia surrounding them and their assassins. She intersperses the book with anecdotes of her adventures she had on her self-proclaimed pilgrimage of presidential assassination. Quick tip: If you find a way to time-travel to the late 19th or early 20th Centuries, never let Robert Todd Lincoln attend your party... dude ... seriously, never!!

I have a few nits to pick with some of her information, especially with Pres. Garfield, but she mostly gets the history right, so that's cool. It's hard not to grin at her infectious and obvious love of history as well as her idiosyncratic asides such as wishing she could go back in time and kill her relative who rode with Quantrails' Raiders; or how cute she finds John Wilkes Booth; or how the Maryland State song (adopted in 1939) contains references critical of Lincoln, The Union and favorable to the Confederacy.

I also found she shares a passion of mine, historical plaques and signs. If I see one, even on a bridge, I have to stop read and take a picture. As you'll find out if you read Assassination Vacation, they are impossibly and improbably compelling. Really!

This is not great literature or great history but it is fun and interesting. I enjoyed her dry-humored, pop-informational tour of our more necrotic presidents and the assassins who hated them. If your a Sarah Vowell or history fan, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

PS: Get the Audio book if you can, it features the voices of - Conan O’Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert, David Cross, Paul Begala, Michael Chabon, Norman Lear, and music by They Might Be Giants. Conan is hilarious as the voice of Sad-sack son of Lincoln, Robert Todd.

published
January 31st 2006 by Simon & Schuster

binding
Paperback

isbn - 074326004X (isbn13: 9780743260046)

ebook
Read a preview on Google Books

pages - 272

Week-End Wasters

Going to try to start Week-end Wasters, a weekly list of links sure to keep you from doing something more productive. Suggestions for links and a better name are welcome.

• Lifehacker has posted their top-ten list of how-to videos; everything you ever wanted to know how to do, I’m sure.
  
• Here’s help on how to tell someone they sound racist.
  
• This should help clear things up. Tim LaHaye has argued that Obama isn’t the Anti-Christ (really, some fundamentalist pastors are claiming he is); leaving such positions as the “seven-headed beast” and “Cthulu, demon Elder-god" open.
  
• The annual GenCon Gaming convention is here in Indy, pumping millions of dollars and 90,000 visitors to our fair city. Take a gander at what goes on there.
  
• One week into the Olympics, 27 different nations have won gold medals. In their honor, here's the national anthem of each of them.
  
• Ernest Borgnine Reveals His Secret For Everlasting Youth or "I'm 91 and I'll say whatever I darn well want to!!"

In honor of The Verve getting back together and releasing their new album this Tuesday, here's my favorite, now 10 years old. Enjoy.

Shining A Light On Poverty In The US

Reuter's published an editorial this week about the distribution of wealth and income  in the United States.  The article compared the distribution inequality to that in the developing world.

Today, the United States has the largest gap between rich and poor of any Western industrialized country. In terms of equitable distribution of income and wealth, the U.S. is closer to Iran, Argentina or Mexico than to Canada or Germany.

With the elections less than 100 days away, this should be a huge issue for the presidential candidates and local elections.  But, when was the last time you heard either presidential candidate talk about the growing gap between the rich and the poor in our nation? Food stamps are going out at record levels this year.  This is a wake up call.

The article continues:

Poverty and inequality are not usually subject of wide debate in the United States but this is an election year which might mark the beginning of a change. A poll this month by TIME magazine and the Rockefeller Foundation showed that 85 percent of Americans are unhappy with the economy and think their country is on the wrong track. TIME termed the percentage unprecedented.

The poll also showed a striking shift of sentiment towards the role of government in solving the country's problems. More than 80 percent favored public works projects to create jobs and 70 percent advocated government programs to help those struggling to survive in a sinking economy marked by falling home prices, foreclosures, and sharply higher prices for fuel and food.

Photo: Stitch, CC License

Things To Share From The Indianapolis Star

A few articles from the Indy Star this week caught my eye and thought I'd share.

Dan McFeely wrote a funny account of attempting to use a Crosscut saw at the Indiana State Fair this week.

Controversial Star Sports columnist, Bob Kravitz filed this blog entry from the Beijing Olympics on the hypocrisy of the International Olympic Committee when Iranian Athletes refuse to compete against Israeli competitors.

While I haven't been very impressed with the Star's new attempt at a Geek Blog, Channing King is blogging GenCon Indy '08 which is pretty cool. I prefer my own, alas, little known geek blog. <-- Shameless plug!! ;)

Check out the amazing photographs from the rescue of the three workers downtown Tursday by the under-rated and under-appreciated Star photographers.

Read them and enjoy, they may be gone by Monday!

Yup, I'm Republican!

Well, actually, no... no I'm not! It's just that I'm planning to vote, support and if they'll allow, volunteer for Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional District, Gabrielle Campo.

I'm honestly not sure if the State Republican party sees her as a true candidate or just the latest sacrificial lamb going up against the venerable and powerful grass roots Carson Machine. She enters the race without a lot of fanfare. At 27, she's young, politically inexperienced and is socially left of moderate for a typical Hoosier Republican politician. In an August 11, 2008 Indianapolis Star profile about Ms. Campo, political science professor at IUPUI Brian Vargus has this to say about her campaign:

"This would be a big long shot," he said. "This county has voted Democratic in the last two presidential elections and congressional elections. It's been solidly Democratic in the 7th District . . . (Campo winning) would be a major upset."

The local political blogs have been more than dismissive of Ms. Campo and believe she has made the proverbial pact with the devil for some future reward. After reading as much about her as I can (there really isn't much) I get the impression that she's not the type of person who would allow herself to be used that way. I hope she believes herself to be a real candidate, running a real and substantive race.

I must sate, as should be fairly obvious by this blog, I'm an Obama supporter. I don't usually vote the party line, some elections I have, but only when I have thoroughly vetted each candidate. I vote for the best person for the job, even if they don't always neatly fit into my political comfort zone.

I must also state that I knew and loved Julia Carson. I knew her many years ago when I was a young intern working at Indiana Common Cause and she was a legislator. Common Cause worked closely with Mrs. Carson and others on both sides of the aisle interested in enacting Sunshine Laws. Miss Julia would chat with and listen to me when she was around and had a few minutes. I came to a crossroads in my life and she gave me the extra bit of guidance to confirm what I knew to be true in my heart. I'll never forget her kindness and I remained loyal to her even when I knew in my heart she had stayed too long at the party. I have no such loyalty to her 'seed' Andre Carson. I don't really dislike him, I don't know him. I'm certainly not against him because of his religion, I kinda think it's amazingly progressive of good ole Indiana. I just believe he has no business being there. I don't believe he is serving my interests nor the interests of the 7th District or the State I love so dearly.

With that said, I'm planning to cast my vote for Ms. Campo in this election, though I'm not sure if they'll even let me lick an envelope with my open support for Obama.

I'm currently learning her stance on the issues. Campo seems socially committed, has experience out of state and out of this country, is committed to human rights issues, education and is from Irvington, a community I lived in for 6 years, so her deep family roots in that community is a plus in my book. I'm very interested in what she thinks about: Mass Transportation improvement in Indianapolis, homelessness, the budget deficit, the War in Iraq, Russia's aggressive stance towards the West, alternative energy plans, charter schools, No Child Left Behind with it's focus on rote instead of creativity or imagination, Global Warming, Drill here and Drill Now and the use of the Internet to drive issues and contact directly with constituents.

She does have a Twitter account, though only a few in-personal posts so far. I would direct her to Rep. John Culberson, R - Texas who is using Twitter and other Web 2.0 apps with great effectiveness reporting to his constituents. He even holds weekly Q & A's on Qik.

Speaking of Irvington, one of my favorite local blogs, The Irvingtonian (welcome back!!) just blogged about Ms. Campo. Here's a quote from The Irvingtonian, admittedly a bit biased, but clearly believing Ms. Campo should be in the race.

As a social worker, Campo has dedicated her career to servant leadership and direct service. Campo coordinated youth programs helping children in low-income families, managed post-adoption cases, worked on publications dealing with issues facing Hoosier families, and served on many local committees, including the Indiana Disproportionality Committee, the Indiana Coalition to Improve Adolescent Health, and the Marion County Underage Binge Drinking Task Force. Campo is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the International Society of Child Indicators.

So to quote from Mr. Magorium, "That was oddly strange and strangely odd!" I just feel strongly that Mr. Carson, whether he's Democrat, Independent or Republican; man or woman; child of dynasty or lone wolf; has all the wrong interests and motivations for being in Congress and I wish to do my best to ensure that the best person gets the job. In this case, I believe that person to be Gabrielle Campo.

*UPDATE And a Rant*

Here's a link to an interview she did with WIBC and another she did with Hoosier Access Radio. Listening to these interviews, I still think she is the right candidate to support. She equated herself well with two fairly offensive interviewers and Greg Garrison (UGH!!) I would have loved to see Mr. Garrison's face when Ms. Campo said she sees beyond race and that it will play itself out and most of the African American community now sees beyond race. He's of that certain Southern Indiana Hoosier generation (as are my parent's) and they can only seem to see race and danger simultaneously.

By 2040, when my daughter is 37 and my son is 45, the 'minority' will be the majority. My children, still young and my grandchildren, in school. How do 'we' want to be treated by the majority? I also like what she said about no child left behind and being an activist legislator. If you get yourself elected to Congress, no matter how it happens, take it seriously, have convictions and accept all your constituents.

As a Quaker, of course I'm against the War and I can argue quite effectively that there is no 'War on Terror' other than in the Bush Administrations collective heads. Is there a terror threat? YES! Many, from various areas of the Globe. How do we deal with and address that threat? What other ways can we, as a people, we as a democracy, present ourselves to the World to help ease the anger, bitterness and hatred? We need people in Congress who can try to answer that question. We need people in Congress who can, ask those questions. This quote from that August 11th Indianapolis Star profile speaks to that point:

Bill Stanczykiewicz, Indiana Youth Institute president and chief executive officer, said he wasn't surprised when Campo decided to run for office.

"Gabrielle is known as someone who's always willing to ask the bigger questions," he said. "I could definitely see that this is something she would want to do."

As someone who was adopted, I'm against abortion. I still think it needs to be kept legal, for a while. The image of sanctimonious politicians celebrating while hundreds and thousands of women and babies die or are mutilated in back-alley abortions scares the Hell out of me and needs to be factored in.

I've lived long enough to learn, there rarely are things so neat as black and white, right and wrong in the issues that plague a modern, open and free, democracy. It's part of the price we pay. Vladimir Putin is offering Russians moderate prosperity and better freedoms than under the Soviet Union in exchange for simple black and white issues. The tumultuous 90's nearly tore the fabric of Russia apart and they now seek the simple reassurances the State and Putin offer to have some money, some freedom with fewer problems with the mafia, drugs, gangs, homelessness, terror and war. This is where I and many others stare into our collective magic eight balls and see the United States in a few years if we want to win that War on Terror. Safe, at what price? Culturally stagnant? At what price? Big stuff. Hard stuff. Controversial stuff. In my opinion, we need to stop demanding that our politicians walk their left or right lines without wavering. We need a broader spectrum of accepted political positions. We need someone in Congress that understands this, may not agree with all of this, but understands this and can think independently when need be and see beyond the issues and take her responsibilities very seriously. My gut tells me it's Ms. Campo.

Photo: Indianapolis Star

The Ghost Road - Review

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the 10th anniversary of first reading this amazing book. The Ghost Road is Pat Barker's final book in her WWI Regeneration trilogy.

The first book, set in an institution where soldiers are sent for shell-shock. A pacifist is sent there too, to prevent him from speaking out about the war. The second book addresses the government's war time fear of traitors and those who are different: gays and socialists are targeted. The third continues the story of some of the characters, who are returning to the front. All three books together raise many issues while questioning why nations go to war and how individuals survive it.

I read these books all the way through during a Summer Vacation. I really want to read these again this year. I actually would love to read them every 10 years and see how my thoughts and opinions change. If you get a chance, read this trilogy. They would definitively be on my 1,000 Books to Read before you die list.

published
November 1st 1996 by Plume

binding
Paperback

isbn - 0452276721   (isbn13: 9780452276727)

pages
288

literary awards - Booker Prize Winner 1995

A Quaker Conversation on YouTube

Quaker info on the Internet is sorely lacking. There are videos of gatherings, picnics, beautiful slideshows of meeting houses and many videos of English conservative unprogrammed Quakers and within the last month, an odd stream of consciousness, buffet description of Quakerism by an obviously well-intentioned, but ill-informed woman who admits she hasn't ever been to Meeting! For a denomination that tends to attract the well educated and plugged in as members, there really are no good outreach video to explain what it means to be Quaker in the 21st Century. To explain the various divisions, jargon and even regions where Quakerism still flourishes (Indiana being one of those).

Yesterday, The Quaker Ranter, Martin Kelley, and Gather in Light's, C. Wes Daniels, skyped about some of the difficulties with insider Quaker lingo and the problems that presents for “outsiders.” Martin Kelley posted the conversation on his YouTube channel. They also discussed using YouTube as a way to get the word out, and how to go about doing it. The conversation is the first (trial) run of a series Martin Kelly plans to conduct. It's a good start.

If I may chime in. I'm a convinced Quaker coming to it through Southern Baptism as a child, Methodism, then for the last ten years, the Disciples of Christ. My Meeting is the only Meeting I've spent any good amount of time in and going on-line to find information about Quakers, I find few that match my Meeting. Some blogs have been very helpful and informative, but most, IMHO are just a lot of "Inside Baseball" blogs and websites. How can we attract new and curious seekers into Quakerism if we make it seem so difficult and dense, at least online? One really has to work and dig to find answers to the jargon and the differences a seeker is exposed to online. How a movement, based in part on simplicity became so complicated and divided, I haven't a clue. If the Internet is any example, it seems to have dissolved into feuding tribes between Models, Trends or Movements. It's frustrating and discouraging to read blogs and get the feeling that if your not a certain type of East Coast or West Coast Quaker, your not sitting at the Cool Quaker Table (or in some Friend's opinions, apparently not a Quaker at all). Each Internet search I do, each new blog I find often leads to the unspoken wish to have remained ignorant among my fellow Indianapolis Friends. I don't have many theological conversations with my minister. The few I've had, plus reading his books have helped. Personally I and most of my fellow Church Friends extend a hand of felowship to any Quaker/Friend, church/Meeting. Whether it's Christ centered, agnostic, zen or old school-one chromosome away from menonite. We are all in this together.

I'm not a poorly-educated man. I hold two degrees (five years apart) from Indiana University; History and Graphic Design. I minored in International Relations and Comparative Religions. Though I admit, even my most recent was long ago now. I'm a voracious reader of both fiction and non-fiction and try my best to keep up with fields and trends I'm interested in. Why then does the jargon and inconsistencies in the very definition of the word Quaker seem to escape me?

My Indianapolis Friends Church Meeting is: quite small; our members are mostly late 30's and up, well-educated, articulate, socially conscious and curious; minister guided (Programmed); Christ centered - sometimes stressing His non-conformist aspects (very similar to the Liberal Protestantism of The Disciples); politically and theologically liberal with a strong Peace and Local Activism Outreach; most in our Meeting believe in Christian Universalism. We have announcements of those we should Hold in the Light, a hymn with no accompanist, tithe collection, a short message of guidance by our Minister, James Mulholland then twenty to thirty minutes of silent worship. If so moved by the Light, a vocal ministry by a member Friend.

So what 'type' of Quaker does that make me/us? What movement, Trend or Model am I/we? If I slip and use a word that's common in Indiana but not commonly used, will I be looked down upon online? I don't, as a rule, use jargon, I learned a long time ago that it tends to put up a wall between my clients and myself and made me sound as if I'm putting on airs or as my grand-dad Brown would have said, "high-falutin''. We Hoosiers generally try not to do that, especially we Hoosier Quakers. I'm sincerely curious. I'm inviting other Quaker bloggers, activists, leaders, etc. to let me know by email (see my profile page) or via comment. Peace.

What I've Been Watching

When I get a spare hour, I try to take some time to watch one of these: Physics for Future Presidents from UC Berkeley Professor Richard A. Muller. The most interesting and important topics in physics today, stressing conceptual understanding rather than math, with applications to current events. Fascinating stuff!

I'm 99% Male

...and 1% female, which is a bit more definitive than I'd expected. I went here, clicked on the button, a script ran, which analyzes (but claims it doesn't save) the history of sites I've visited and worked out whether I was male or female. Clearly, when I've got a browser in front of me, I'm not in touch with my feminine side. (Despite my trips to lolcats.)

HOPE

 

The following was written by E.B. White; March 30, 1973

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society -- things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time, waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man's curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.

      Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

The Devil in the White City - A Review

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've been going through my Goodreads.com account today, updating my books and adding reviews and sharing a couple here. I read this book in 2005 as a library book after I saw it won the Edgar Award for best Best Fact Crime the year before. I own a copy, I re-read it last year.

My fascination with the World's Colombian Exhibition (1893 Chicago World's Fair) began when I went to work for the President Benjamin Harrison Home. As President, Harrison commissioned the Expo. A formality really. The Fair began as a 400th Anniversary Celebration of Columbus landing in the Americas. It soon grew beyond that. Harrison attended it after leaving office and apparently enjoyed himself. At least until his cousin and popular Chicago Mayor, Carter Harrison, Sr. was assassinated two days before the fair's closing.

Lighted by millions of incandescent lights (all powered by AC) the Expo introduced the World to such new items as Cracker Jack, Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum, Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Mix and Shredded Wheat. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show entertained with several shows a day. Pabst beer won that famous blue ribbon there! Edison debuted his version of the motion picture camera and the electric chair was presented and used for the first time. There are many great sites online where you can look at photos and find information about the Fair. I'd encourage you to put 'World's Colombian Exposition' and or '1893 Chicago World's Fair' in your search engines and be amazed by The White City.

Larson's book tells the true story of two men: Daniel Burnham, the visionary architect who designed the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and inadvertently created the perfect conditions for one of America's first serial killers, Herman Webster Mudgett aka Dr. H. H. Holmes to murder with impunity. Mudgett used the fair to lure young women to his hotel where they meet their bloody ends down in it's secret vaults. It's estimated that Mudgett murdered somewhere between 25 to 200 women in his World’s Fair Hotel.

Larson does a masterful job of weaving their stories together. In his hands, Burnham's fight to build his fair is just as gripping as Mudgett's murders, and somehow these two very different tales become one. It's well researched, fast-paced and filled with nail-biting suspense. Triumph and tragedy, a vanished time and a lost kingdom, a terrific but sometimes creepy read.

published
February 10th 2004 by Vintage

first published
2003

binding
Paperback

isbn - 0375725601 (isbn13: 9780375725609)

pages
447

literary awards
Edgar Award, 2004 - Best Fact Crime

similar and recommended
Karen Abbott's Sin in the Second City.

View all my reviews.

The CERN Rap

I'm such a science geek. Katherine McAlpine, aka Alpinekat (a scientific editor at Atlas), posted on Youtube and vimo, a rap about the LHC! And it is very cool!

CERN Rap from Will Barras on Vimeo.

Watch the August 1, 2008 Total Solar Eclipse From China

On August 1, 2008, a total solar eclipse occurred as the new moon moved directly between the sun and the earth. The moon’s umbral shadow fell on parts of Canada, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, Russia, Mongolia, and China. The Exploratorium’s eclipse expedition team Webcasted the eclipse with a fascinating live remote from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China near the Mongolian border. Watch and learn here!

FYI, if you don't want to learn all the science stuff but just watch the eclipse, go to the 33 min. mark in the video. Don't worry about the clouds. ;-)

Presidential Or Pompous? Jon Stewart knows

Water on Mars? I Know! Twitter Told Me

Via: Venturebeat.com

"In yet another powerful showcase of Twitter’s potential power as a disseminator of information, today several people received the first information via the micro messaging service that NASA confirmed its Phoenix Mars Lander has in fact found water on Mars. It’s still not on CNN.com, not on MSNBC.com, not Fox.com. But a Twitter Search query reveals it’s all over Twitter.

As a result of the news spreading quickly through Twitter, it’s also now all over FriendFeed where some discussions are taking place on the subject. This is the kind of stuff these services are built for.

The water was found in ice-rich soil. Tests confirmed the ice was water-based. Reuters India is now on the story. From its brief piece:

“We have water,” scientist William Boynton of the University of Arizona said in a NASA statement.

“We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted.”

MarsPhoenix, the Twitter account actually run out of the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif. (sadly, not from Mars), was the first to tweet the news."

Jonathan Barnes' First Novel 'The Somnambulist' Thrills and Disappoints

I decided right away that Jonathan Barnes' debut would land on my "must read" list. It was compared to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Neverwhere, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and The Prestige, some of my favorites in the Victorian Fantasy / Steampunk / Mystery genres.

It was probably a mistake going into it with such high expectations, although it was an excellent first book, I felt let down and a bit disappointed after I turned the last page.

The book is clever and witty, setting up the reader with a caveat on the first page saying, "Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. Needless to say, I doubt you'll believe a word of it." This sets the tone for the tale to come.

The story is everything the narrator promises. You’ve got Edward Moon, a past-his-prime stage magician who doubles as a notoriously famous Holmes-style private investigator (in fact, Arthur Conan Doyle exists in The Somnambulist's London too, and is considered an untalented hack by Moon). The Somnambulist, a giant who never speaks and holds many secrets, such as why doesn't he bleed when stabbed and what's up with the milk obsession? There are warm-hearted housekeepers, sybaritic layabouts, spiritualists, gung-ho police inspectors, and freakish prostitutes. There are also grizzly murders, treks through London's Underground, mysterious disappearances, secret societies, shadowy government organizations, the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the long shadow of past mistakes.

The writing is some times awkward and stilted, and the plot's as dense as the Victorian London Fog. It seems at times that he's writing scenes with no other purpose but to say to some LA or London Producer, "Hey! See how good this book would look as a movie." That gets distracting and took me out of the book a few times. It's a good first novel; an interesting, sometimes page-turning but ultimately disappointing read.

I'd be interested to to see if Barnes goes back to answer some questions, especially about Moon's apparently disastrous previous case and the potentially deep mine that is The Somnambulist.

Published
February 1, 2008 by William Morrow

First published
2007

Binding
Hardcover

isbn - 0061375381 (isbn13: 9780061375385)

Pages
353