text:
Last week, the showbiz world discovered Junie Hoang, née Huong Hoang, an actress who launched a suit against the Internet Movie Database and its parent company, Amazon, for more than a million dollars. Hoang says the company revealed her age (40) without her permission on its "IMDbPro" subscription service.
The suit is an amended version of an early suit from last October, which Hoang tried to do anonymously, fearing backlash from the entertainment industry. The defendants' lawyers called her case "selfish, contrary to the public interest and a frivolous abuse of this court's resources." IMDb offered no apologies for getting her age from credit-card data when she paid for a subscription.
The story of the anonymous actress and her lawsuit sounded like a terrific publicity stunt. Sites like Gawker.com turned the attempts to guess her identity into an online game, working with these tidbits of information – an Asian-American woman, from Texas, aged 40, using an Americanized version of her name. But nobody got it.
When a judge threatened to throw her case out unless she used her real name, Hoang finally stepped into the spotlight. According to IMDbPro, she was born in Saigon in 1971, though her resumé lists her age range as between 26 and 33. Along with a lot of minor TV work and modeling in the last two decades, she's been in some silly-sounding movies such as the recent Gingerdead Man III: Saturday Night Cleaver. What can't be laughed off so easily is how much her charge has resonated with actors' groups.
Two heavyweight unions, the 200,000-member Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the 80,000-member American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) came to the then-unnamed actress's defence in October, denouncing IMDb's policy: "An actor's actual age is irrelevant to casting. What matters is the age range that an actor can portray. For the entire history of professional acting, this has been true, but that reality has been upended by the development of IMDb as an industry standard used in casting offices across America."
Last Friday, SAG issued another statement praising Hoang for her courage in "standing up to fight the unfair and abusive practice of publishing actors' private information online without their consent." The organization says thousands of actors have been hurt by IMDb's unauthorized publication of their ages, particularly women. According to the union, women over 40 make up 24.3 per cent of the U.S. population, but actresses over 40 get just 12.5 per cent of movie and television roles, while men are proportionally represented. Using legal remedies against age discrimination has become increasingly popular in the United States. Two years ago, a class action by writers over 40 ended in a $70-million settlement paid out by 17 networks and production studios, putting an end to a practice of hiring young writers for television to capture young viewers.
Even if Hoang's suit fails, she's both drawn attention to the issue and done wonders for her profile. The Hollywood Reporter said that Today, Good Morning America, E! and other TV outlets, as well as Peoplemagazine have all been clamouring for interviews. Hoang has declined, insisting she's not in this for publicity. Still, some sharpie at HBO or Showtime must be drafting the script for her story already. We start way back in 1971, during the wind-down of the Vietnam War, also the year Ms. Magazine first appeared as an insert in New York magazine. Huang can easily play herself as a struggling actress through her 20s and 30s, but then there's that perceived age-range problem: Judging by her IMDb photograph, she looks far too young to play 40.
A Separation Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi's celebrated drama begins as a domestic disagreement in which a wife wants to leave Iran for her daughter's betterment and her husband wants to stay to take care of his aged father. A series of choices, and consequences, leads to criminal charges.
Coriolanus Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in Shakespeare's drama about a Roman general who despises politics to his detriment. Updated with television news shows, media scrums and intense gun battles through rubbled cities, the drama also stars Vanessa Redgrave as the general's ambitious mother and Jessica Chastain as his wife.
Haywire Mixed martial-arts athlete Gina Carano stars in Steven Soderbergh's foray into the action genre as a black-ops assassin who is on the run and out for revenge. Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum and Bill Paxton play the many men in her life.
In the Land of Blood and Honey Angelina Jolie's directing debut is a drama set during the nineties war in Bosnia, in which a Muslim artist (Zana Marjanovic) falls under the precarious protection of a Serbian soldier (Goran Kostic).
Red Tails Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard star in this George Lucas-produced movie based on the Tuskegee Airmen, who were African-American pilots during the Second World War.
Underworld: Awakening In this fourth film from the other vampire/werewolf series, vampire warrior princess Selene (Kate Beckinsale) awakens out of cryogenic suspension and, in her form-fitting black leather outfit, tries to stop humans from eradicating vampires and lycans.


text:
All quotes by Rich Bond
(11 quotes found)
"I think he's wisely seizing an opportunity to speak to two audiences. The first is his constituents in Massachusetts that are his primary responsibility as governor of Massachusetts, but the second is the greater world of Republican primary voters."
"Cheney has had a tight, effective team, and they have been an incredible support system for the presidency. To the degree that support system is weakened, it's a bad day at the office. But no person is indispensable."
"If anybody honestly and truly believes that because some corporation throws a member a party that the member is in their pocket, they go to the Oliver Stone school of politics."
"There's a certain message that resonates with the Republican base, and most of it centers around spending, taxes and values."
"Bush is doing what every front-runner always does, which is to put off engaging his rivals for as long as possible."
"I don't think anyone is hitting the panic button. But there is an acute recognition of the grim environment that both parties are operating in."
"Gingrich has been and always will be used as a poster child for bad stuff by Democrats. On the other hand, Newt's motto has always been if you're not out on the edge, you're taking up too much room."
"If the Democrats had any leadership or any message, they could be poised for a good year. But in the absence of that, they have not been able to capitalize on Republican woes. Because of the size of the GOP majority, Democrats have to run the board, and I don't see that happening."
"We are in a pitched battle for survival in this mid-term election. We have virtually lost the saliency of the cutting-government-spending issue as one of the core issues for the Republican Party. We need to make this issue go back and work for us again."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|14 May 2010
Please HELp me to create a website
Hi please can someone help me to create my own website????
|My System Specs
|14 May 2010
W7 Ult. x64 | OS X
If you have no experience working with websites, I highly suggest that you start with something that is user friendly and allows you to build a website without forcing you to meddle with code. Wordpress blogs are a great example of this. They can be modified to the point of insanity and if you're experienced you can fiddle with the coding until you pass out, but they can also be used by inexperienced users with little or no html/php experience.
You can get a free wordpress blog by registering at WordPress.com — Get a Free Blog Here
Not only do they have many different themes which can be installed easily, but they also have add ons and other features to use. I'm sure you'll find it easy to use and it should allow you to accomplish your goals.
|My System Specs
|14 May 2010
can't some one make me one please????
|My System Specs
|14 May 2010
Win 10 Pro x64
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text:
Note: will continue to update throughout the night.
Opening statement
Neil Olshey: Thanks everyone for joining us. I appreciate your interest. We're very happy to start off the first piece of business in what's going to be a very busy offseason for us and check one of the major issues we had off our list so we can move on to the upcoming draft, free agency and rebuilding the roster. I'm happy to have Vinny back for another year, and I'll let him speak further on that.
Vinny Del Negro: Thanks Neil. I'm excited about the opportunity to continue the plan we set in place. I think it's very important for the organization to have continuity and stability moving forward. Obviously there was a lot done with the team last year, and a lot has to be done with the team this year, but I feel Neil, myself, the coaches and the players, obviously, Andy Roeser and Mr. Sterling feel that things are headed in the right direction. We know we have a lot of work to do still, but I'm pleased with the direction we're going and look forward to the opportunity to continually improve the team and make us a better product for everyone out there and our loyal fans that were great to us this year. Hopefully, we can continue to do a great job and make them proud of what we're putting on the court.
It's been about eight days since the exit interviews. What's the process been like to wait for this decision to come down?
VDN: There's so many things you need to do after the season. Neil and myself sat down with Andy, we met with a lot of the players and then Neil and Andy and myself had meetings individually and with the assistant coaches. I just wanted to take a few days; they wanted to take a few days. We had a holiday weekends. I had a great conversation with Mr. Sterling last week. But really, there was no real urgency on anyone's part because everyone felt good about the direction we were headed. Are there things we have to do a better job of? Of course, like every team out there. Neil and myself speak basically every day, and we're just trying to do what's best, we feel, in the interest of the team and organization. There really hasn't been anything other than spending time with my wife here in Phoenix and just relaxing a little bit and let Neil go to work on things and move forward. To be honest with you, I wasn't concerned as much. I know Neil was working hard on things, and I appreciate at that. But really, we're working together on it, and this was just one step in the process.
Neil, can you give us a feel for the decision making process on retaining Vinny?
NO: We had a very successful season. We talked about it earlier in the year. Vinny's job got easier and harder at the same time the day we made the Chris Paul trade and constructed the roster. I think you saw evidence of that throughout the year. There were ebbs and flows. At the end of the day, we think we have the most talented roster in franchise history, and Vinny turned that into the best record in franchise history. Clearly, there was never an issue whether or not Vinny was going to come back. As he said, the first order of business was player exit interviews and coaching exit interviews. We had a draft workout on Wednesday, and Vinny went back home to Phoenix for a little bit and we had a holiday weekend. Mr. Sterling, Andy and I kind of knew this was a fait accompli right after the season. It was just a matter of we had other housekeeping things to deal with. We dealt with those, and now, we're ready to move on to our offseason. Our first order of business was to exercise Vinny's option and make sure our coach and staff was in place as we moved towards the draft and pending free agency.
Vinny, was there ever any concern on your part that this might not happen when it didn't happen immediately after the season like some people speculated?
VDN: The key word there is speculation. There's always a lot of speculation, but like I said, Neil and myself speak everyday. Obviously, there are things that we need to improve on. Those are always discussions, and everything has to be looked at. I had to make sure I was comfortable, that Neil was comfortable, that Andy was comfortable and ultimately, Mr. Sterling. There are some things we have to improve on, but it's a process. To be honest, no. I just felt like the results speak for themselves in terms of the direction the organization has gone. I know how hard Neil worked to put the roster together last year. We all work together, but I know Neil put it together as quick as possible. And it was a difficult season for everybody. Like Neil said, there were a lot of ebbs and flows. But I felt like things happen and you work. There are areas we have to do a better job in, and that's part of everyone's job, not just mine, but the organization's job. And I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Neil…can you give us a feel for where you are? There have been some reports, possibly Portland, that you've been discussing with other teams. Just curious about your status.
NO…I don't have any comment on my situation or anyone's in the front office, right now. We're here to talk about Vinny and the coaching staff. We have a chronological order of things that need to take place in this organization to assure that we're playing at this time next year. The first one was to make sure we solidified our coaching situations and made sure we had stability there in that regard. We took care of that piece of business today, and the rest of that will work itself out as we forwards this summer.
Neil, you said that every decision was going to be made to try and make you guys consistently one of the top four teams contending in the league. What was it about Vinny that convinced you that having him as the head coach was a step in that direction?
NO: He already had us in the top eight. That's about as close as you can get to the top four. Look, Vinny's been a great partner in all of this. Every decision we've made, he and I have consulted with one another. He helped recruit Chris Paul. He helped recruit Caron Butler. He's deep in any negotiations we have as far as a confidante and advisor for me. I think that any team that finishes its season winning thirteen of fifteen and wins a game seven on the road with a roster that's the walking wounded certainly has the organization pointed in the right direction. With a training camp, with an offseason and an entire summer for his staff to get in the gym and work with our younger players and a couple of roster additions, we're going to take another step forward in our quest for a championship. So, clearly, Vinny had one of the most successful seasons as a coach in Clippers' history. Vinny and I talked, and we're not going to judge ourselves by Clipper history, but we're going to judge ourselves by NBA history. And I think we're on the right path. Vinny does all the right things, and there's no greater compliment for a coach than to see how hard his players are playing at the end of the year. And that wasn't always the case in this organization. Even though we lost games three and four here at home against San Antonio, those players still completed right down to the final whistle in both those games no matter what they were up against. It's a testament to Vinny as a communicator and as a motivator as a guy who has his team mentally and emotionally ready to play. I think we're on the right course. I think we're going to make some roster additions and upgrades. And I'm fully confident with those additions to the existing core, Vinny's going to have the support of the roster and they're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that we're playing at this time next year.
VDN: I would just like to add to that. I appreciate Neil's comments, but a lot of this goes to the players. I mean, come on. Chris Paul's a bulldog. Blake Griffin, DeAndre (Jordan), Caron's been playing with a broken hand. Eric Bledsoe's been injured for the first half of the season, and he came on and did a great job for us in the playoffs. Mo Williams and Randy (Foye). Reggie (Evans) and Kenyon (Martin) stepped up big for us in the playoffs. I give the players a lot of credit for playing hard and believing in what we were trying to do. I appreciate their effort. I appreciate my staff's effort. That's what it comes down to, getting guys to believe in the opportunity they have and to make them play at a level to be successful. From my standpoint, I appreciate that, but I also appreciate the players stepping up and being pros and competing at a level that gave us an opportunity to be successful.
Has there been any talk about an extension?
VDN: Not right now. That was not on the radar right now. The first thing is that we have a lot of things to talk about with the roster and some other things that have to get done. Like Neil said, this was just the first thing. My opportunity has been tremendous here in terms of coaching for the Clippers. It's where I want to be. We'll get to that stuff, but there's a lot more pressing issues for me in terms of the summer, the schedule, Neil, just all the things that need to be deal with before we even get into that stuff. I'm just happy for the opportunity to be back and the opportunity to continue the plan we put in place. Now we have to execute that p0lan as well as possible and have a very productive summer in a lot of areas.
Vinny, as a young coach in the league, are you still evaluating yourself as a coach and looking at where you can improve and get better as an individual coach?
VDN: Oh yes. Absolutely. I've been very fortunate to play a long time, but more importantly, I've had great coaches and a lot of hall of fame guys have coached me and I talk to. This summer will be no different with the different clinics and the mini things we do as coaches to pick some of the veteran coaches' brains and to throw things against the wall a little bit. There's no question. The league has changed a lot. The older coaches now talk to us about the differences, but they say sometimes it takes 10 years to get really comfortable, a lot of the older guys who have been through it. I have to get better at my craft. There's no question about it. That's what I love. I love the competition. I love the opportunity to improve and challenge myself to improve to make our group better, to make the organization and the team better. Absolutely.
Chris Paul has had nothing but great things to say about Vinny so far. Neil, I was just curious if it's safe to say that his opinion was taken into consideration on this decision?
NO: I think all you guys that have been around me for the last couple of years know I work collaboratively. I speak to anyone who could have a valued opinion in any decision that I'm going to make, anything to do with this organization. Sufficed to say, all the appropriate parties that people are concerned with were all on board with this decision and supported and embraced Vinny's return to coach the team for another year.
Can you take me back to the moment where you lost three games on the road? What did that do? In those tough times, I would imagine that coach could get closer to the players or lose the players. How did that help you grow with the team?
VDN: When you have a new group, there's going to be adversity during the season. You're going to have your ups and downs. There are injuries, the scheduling and this year was different in the standpoint that there were so many games with no practicing and a new roster. Like I said, the players stepped up together. You just try and put them in areas to be successful. We had our bumps, there's no question. But we had a very difficult schedule in March. That wasn't easy. We lost some games I thought we should have won; we maybe snuck out a couple of games that we didn't play particularly well, but we were able to find a way to win in the fourth quarter. The three games we're talking about, it's kind of funny. We lost at Indiana, and everyone saw how good they are. We lost at Oklahoma City, and they're a pretty good team as well. And then we lost at New Orleans being up at the half three games in a row with Chris coming back for the first time, and we didn't have a good second half. They're losses. You can't make excuses. No matter how you look at it, you're going to go through your tough spots. That was one of them for us. We stuck together. We made it work and got on a little bit of a roll. I thought we handled it as well as possible, but those are never easy times because no one enjoys losing. But there was an opportunity. We knew if we just weathered the storm a little bit and handled it the right way, we could turn it a round. And that's what we did.
What does the roster need?
VDN: Neil can touch upon that as well as anybody. There are guys obviously on one-year deals. We have some spots to fill. Obviously Chauncey Billups was a huge loss for us, and he's feeling better. We'll be active in free agency. There are some decisions that we have to get together now and talk about. We'd like to get some more shooting in the frontcourt. And there are a lot of things this summer we have to do with the current guys under contract in terms of making sure they're improving their game. Me and Neil will get together in the next few days or week or whatever, and we'll start ironing things out. We've talked enough, and we know. But there's a process involved that we want to go through, and Neil will spearhead that. We'll check things off as we see needed.
When that stuff came out about Vinny being on the hot seat, did you guys address that?
NO: It's a fair question. There was a lot of speculation, and I think it comes with heightened expectations. There were times that the Clippers losing five or six games in a row or eight out of eleven wouldn't even register as a losing streak. Suddenly, we slipped from fourth in the West to fifth in the West, and suddenly, the sky was falling. Vinny and I, our offices are next door to one another. We talked about it constantly. We had conversations internally with ownership to make sure we were staying on the right path and that we were going to be able to right the ship. Vinny's confidence never wavered. He was implacable during that entire time where people kind of thought things were going the wrong way. Vinny was never put in the situation where he was being second-guessed internally, or looking over his shoulder to what myself or Andy Roeser or Mr. Sterling were thinking. He knew every step of the way that he was our coach. Things weren't going to change. We just decided as an organization that we weren't going to succumb to media speculation until it reached a point were it was becoming a distraction to our team. …The schedule broke back in our favor. We weren't playing twenty games in thirty-one days or eight games in eleven days. We got healthy. We got right. We got some more practice time, and the results of that practice time were winning thirteen out of fifteen and jumping into the fifth spot. Sometimes, a little bit of adversity isn't the worst thing in a season to get you out of the malaise you get into when you're playing as many games in a row like we were.
VDN: You're going to go through the ebbs and flows during the season. But I don't have time, especially in this season, to worry about that. What I do worry about is the direction of the team and organization. Like Neil said, we talk everyday. My job is to try to win as many games as possible, and Neil's job is to support the coach and put me in an area to shed his feelings about what we need to do to improve the roster, things that he sees that we talk about all the time, areas where we can get better. It's a collaborative thing, and I couldn't focus in on that. In those times, you really just have to regroup and stay the course. Bunker down and find out who's with you and what direction you're going. The direction never changed; the results did. The message and how we were going about things didn't change very much. We made some adjustments on some things I thought Neil and I spoke about in private. We worked through some things, and that's part of a difficult season in general. It's not always going to be smooth sailing. You're going to have some bumps and some turbulence together, but you have to weather the storm.
Will the staff be intact next season in terms of the coaching staff and training staff or has that not been decided?
NO: We're going to constantly evaluate. Vinny and I are going to dig in here. This season was a whirlwind and there are a lot of outliers this season when you evaluate everything that's going on internally because of the condensed schedule and the cumulative nature of the schedule. There are definitely areas where we're going to improve. We'll evaluate that. From a chronological standpoint, this was the first order of business. We're going to take these things one at a time. We're going to be judicious in our decisions as we move forward here. The Chicago pre-draft camp is a week a way. We have draft workouts scheduled the week after that. We're looking at the draft, and two days after that, we're jumping in to free agency. We don't have a lot of time, thankfully. Normally, we're sitting around preparing for a lottery. Thankfully, we're preparing to become a destination for free agents and use some of the tools at our disposal to get active in the trade department. Those are the next steps for us. In order to do that, we needed a clear vision. We needed to make sure Vinny was in place because he and I do work collaboratively on these things. When Vin gets back, he's going to take a little break, we're going to sit down and we'll evaluate every other area of the organization with myself, Vinny and Andy Roeser. I've said in order to be a great team, you have to do things in the right order in a timely manner, but you have to make sure you do your due diligence in all areas of your basketball operations to make sure you have people operating at an "A" level every day when they come to the office. We'll continue to evaluate that.
How are you looking forward to a more normal offseason?
VDN: We talk about it all the time, and everyone went through it. But we have some time, and time is incredibly value. In saying that, you can't waste it either. You're not able to get it back. There are things we need to do on a daily basis to continually move the needle in the right direction. Having summer league and getting our young players opportunities to play and having a mini camp and seeing some more draft workouts. Having more time with free agency. The time is most valuable in not having to rush everything like last year, although it worked out incredibly well with what we were able to accomplish. There are things me and Neil have to talk about, and like Neil said, we'll knock 'em off one at a time and go from there.
What is it about your coaching style that gives you such a great connection with your players?
VDN: There's no grey area with me. There are areas I know as a coach that I have to improve in. I just got finished with my fourth season, and I will. I tell players what they need to do and how they need to do it. I try to put them in areas where they can feel comfortable and demand certain things and keep guys accountable. Those are areas I need to get better at as well. It's never a finished a product, but this season and seasons in the past, I've been fortunate to have some really good players and some young kids, some veteran guys and a good mix of that. This team right here, we just found a way with Chris and Blake leading the way, with Caron's leadership, DeAndre trying to find his place and Eric Bledsoe and our younger guys. We have to continually build that. I just try to tell them how to do it. We set up a program and a system that we feel best fits our personnel, and then playing hard and playing together with effort can overcome some other things. Like I've said, the players have to buy into it, and you have to sell them on the vision. I've been lucky to have some really good guys and very good players.
Neil, when you guys talked about bringing Vinny back, what was the process like with Donald Sterling? Was that an easy conversation, a difficult conversation or was he on board from the beginning?
NO: It starts with me, and Vinny, I and Andy Roeser had a great discussion. I went to Andy and gave him my recommendation that we bring Vinny back and pick up the option. He agreed, and Mr. Sterling is the type of owner who wants a consensus on all decisions – a player, a trade or a draft pick. We went to him and said this is what we think is best for the organization and he agreed. We had feedback for Vinny as did Mr. Sterling in some of areas of concern in where we need to improve. Vinny was well aware of them. He's self-aware enough to know the areas where we need to improve in the organization. He's always looking to improve. So am I. Like I've said before, Vinny's a work in progress. So am I. We're both blessed to have this opportunity. We're lucky to have a great roster right now, a great facility and an owner who is willing to spend unlimited resources to try and bring a championship to our organization. He expects the best out of all of us. He had some feedback, but none of the feedback was ever 'Are we really sure we want to do this?' We were all in unison from day one that Vinny as going to come back for his third year. But we did want to communicate to him some areas where we need to shore up some weaknesses. Vinny had already anticipated those and was prepared for it. We'll address those in the coming weeks as we get ready for offseason workouts, summer league and getting ready for vet camp.
Vinny where do you need to improve as a coach? How important was continuity going to be for this organization?
VDN: I always think that stability and continuity is a big advantage. If you look around the league at the teams that have continued success, they keep the nucleus together, keep staffs together and make changes here or there, support each other and go through the hard times, the good and bad, together and weather the storms. Then, they add little pieces here or there. As far as coaching, it's a non-stop process with the things I need to get better at – time management during practice, different things to push guys' buttons a little bit, in-game decisions on some things, whether it be offensively or defensively. But all of those things can be questioned. It's easier to Monday morning quarterback. I'd rather be out there being challenged, trying to do it and improve on it like all young coaches are trying to do. There's never a perfect scenario. If it works, you look smart some times. If it doesn't work, you have to answer a bunch of questions. That's the position you put yourself in. If you're not willing to do it, don't take the position. That's how I come down to it. There's no in between. You're either right or wrong, and you have to go with your gut sometimes and try to put your players in areas where they feel empowered. Like Neil said, with Chris and Blake and Caron and DJ, I feel like we have a really good nucleus and some really good guys on and off the court. That's very important to me too. We're always trying to improve, myself and the whole organization.
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text:
Ramblings of a badly aged Baby Boomer who went from Rebel Without a Cause to Bozo Without a Clue in, seemingly, the same afternoon.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Somewhere a Sofa in Mom's Basement Weeps for Joy
And then it was my turn to look blank as he shared with me, unbidden, that he'd been at Comic-Con 2009 in classy San Diego (thanks to 'Glory Hole Productions' because this could have been so much worse if you hadn't helped? Does the video war crimes tribunal have your address?). There have been forty of these annual get togethers (ka-ching!)-he may have mentioned that as he went on about a lot of stuff I can remember feeling odd about, since I thought all this time he was a grown-up. A little strange as a grown-up, but a big person in a big person's body, if you know what I mean. I didn't realize I actually knew one of these parodies of a person, with the dark and greasy hair, the small, nervous eyes and the sweaty palms who lives on a couch in his Mom's basement because to my knowledge, none of that is true in his case and yet.....
I dug around a bit on line, of course, and learned distressingly I think, per google, after typing in "comic con 2009", there were 40,900,000 entries located in 0.08 seconds while there 61,700,000 entrees for President Obama's health care plan located in 0.20 seconds. Two thirds as many entries, at three times the speed of thought for so many. The President doesn't have a cape, but we do live in a universe with a yellow sun. Jor-el would be so proud, I guess, though he really is the generation BEFORE mine and two before the President.
I enjoyed comics, when I was a kid. I am far more often childish now than childlike but sifting through the websites trying to understand the difference between graphic novels and comics and the thousands of shades of meaning between them, I was overwhelmed with the sound of commerce, as in big business, I was tempted to lie down. That was when I realized that was the purpose for the couch in the basement.
Thanks, Mom, for gathering up the Archie and Jughead comic books all those years ago and getting rid of them. Was Archie hooking up with BOTH Betty and Veronica? What was the deal with Reggie? And what the heck was that thing on Jughead's noggin? Here at Life's Rich Pageant, it's always worthwhile to pack an extra napkin and use it for the spot next to your mouth. On trash day, I'll drag the couch down to the curb and help load it onto the truck. Should be a hoot.
-bill kenny
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Whose Ox Is Being Gored or Bored
On the national stage, the current health care debate (which seems to be more of a shouting match than a debate, or is that just me?) is driven in no small part by how much health insurance each of us has, or doesn't have. The impetus for 'reform' isn't motivated, necessarily, by a desire to make health care more affordable and/or accessible for people who already have it, but for people who do not.
If you are one of the (about) forty-seven million with no coverage, your interest and desires are in all likelihood very different from someone who has health insurance who, in turn, may feel very differently both from you and from someone who is unhappy at the cost or coverage he/she currently has.
Another example, this time at the state level. In Connecticut, the Governor (a Republican) and the State Legislature (Democratic super-majority in both houses) are still poles apart on a budget for a fiscal year that began a month ago. Each side has reached the inevitable conclusion that the other side is awful, uncaring and quite possibly eats bugs. Eventually they will come to a meeting of the minds somewhere between the Governor's 'principled' position and the 'citizen-driven concerns' of the Democrats. This happens all the time--doesn't make it a lot of fun just because it's routine, and there is something about familiarity that does breed contempt, I guess.
At the inter-personal relationship level, the song remains the same. If your significant other, business partner, golf buddy or employer were only as reasonable as you and I, they would do what we want, because when we say 'be reasonable' we mean 'do it my way.' In theory the purpose of language is to better define differences and distinctions but everyday and every way we get better and better at using language to obscure and diffuse. Sometimes less words can equal more meaning, ask Alice.
-bill kenny
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
G(l)ory Days
And then, YIPES!, there he was on the cover of the AARP Magazine, BRUCE!!!! Talk about Glory Days. I'm still not comfortable with having an AARP card in my wallet, and keep it under my auto club card, like maybe the tow truck operator would quibble about a senior discount (I should live so long). AARP is more than just a very organized lobbying group for the over-fifty is nifty set, based on the membership roles (almost sixty million people) it's a middle sized country unto itself.
Springsteen turns sixty in September-I do not recall growing old and I started to see him perform when he'd show up at the Rutgers College commuter Lounge, The Ledge, in my sophomore year, so that would make it 1971, so we're talking....a really long time. I feel it every day but I can't hear it in a single note he sings or the E-Street band plays and as I read the article in the magazine (and, yes, I entered the sweepstakes for tickets to his October show in East Rutherford and you needn't bother because I already used your email address, too) the emotions chased one another, competing with a lot of memories.
As much of the soundtrack of my growing-up years as the Beatles and Every One After made, and make up, the exclamation mark is Springsteen. Even now as an apprentice doddering buffoon, I can never imagine myself hanging with (Sir) Paul McCartney but can see cruising down Route 34 outside of Toms River's Richard's Cafe casing The Promised Land with a guy I once thought of as 'a Newark' (a greaser).
Strange Times in Germany story (and I have the poster from his first tour hanging up in my office). Sigrid and I went to see him in the Frankfurt Festhalle. I think we had third or sixth row seats-but more importantly the Be-Bop Ghost Dancer, BBGD, had a seat directly behind us-technically, directly behind Sigrid. I think I was standing up from the moment I got dressed to go to the show that morning, but BBGD only started dancing as the show began.
He was transported by the music, head nodding, feet shuffling, arms and hands doing a little boogaloo down Broadway weave. Good energy, lousy luck. He semi-smacked Sigrid on the top of the head, grazing her, and she turned around and looked up at him and made her displeasure quite clear. BBGD seemed to get her point and danced alone for a while but then, the music overcame him again and he popped her, again. Sigrid, whose appreciation of The Boss approaches her enthusiasm for a root canal, slowly stood up and made sure the sleeves on her blouse were pushed towards her elbows as she spoke slow and low to BBGD who was, by this point in his own world.
Like lightning, the love of my love thrust her arms straight-forward at a velocity I cannot describe and struck BBGD's shoulder blades with the heels of her hands with such force she knocked him heels over head, backwards, into the row BEHIND where he had been standing. He landed on his feet, on the beat, still dancing. From the look of rapture on his face, I suspect he still thinks Bruce had something to do with his levitation.
And maybe he did. He's been moving me for close to four decades and to underscore how we are twin sons of different mothers, the same week he made the cover of Time and Newsweek, I bought BOTH magazines. Coincidence? Didja hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie for telling fortunes better than they do? Just summer gossip, don't believe a word of it.
-bill kenny
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Perhaps there's valet parking in Harvard Yard
If the planners have their way, a cross section of the 'process owners' (bigspeak for people in charge of stuff) will sit with (to be hoped) an equal or greater number of shareholders (folks upon whom change is often inflicted) and try to sort out a consensus path of progress on the 'downtown business' challenges which many have over-simplified into 'Houston, we have a parking problem.'
I confess to not having a dog in that hunt or even being able to catch the scent. If I had a nickel for every time in the nearly eighteen years I've lived here that I had a problem finding a place to park, I wouldn't have enough to buy one of those gob-stoppers from a bubble gum machine. But from everything I've heard for years, parking in Norwich is like the weather, except people more often than not use even more colorful language to describe it.
In recent days, the amount of interest in talking about solutions has increased though whether that translates to fixing the problem depends on a lot of people putting aside personal and petty agenda to create a larger, more global means of incorporating seemingly small stuff like 'where should delivery trucks for downtown merchants be allowed to park when loading and unloading' into perspectives that may require addressing issues such as why are there one-way signs every which way all across Chelsea, to whom should a business go when they have a question on customer parking and where should everyone not named Kenny be able to park when they go to a restaurant, a pub or one of the other shops in downtown?
The forum is the result of a lot of folks, but a great deal of the heavy lifting was done by Bob Zarnetske, an alderman and a member of the Public Parking Commission who is also one of (at least) four people seeking to be elected Mayor this November. He has some curious beliefs on holistic (=systemic) solutions-and by 'curious' I mean beliefs not shared by others wishing to become the mayor. Head-shaking, hand-wringing and finger-pointing are the staples in the catalog of responses that many who've lived here for a long time use for issues that perplex others who aren't native to here.
I think it's funny that the one candidate, Mr. NFH (not from here), who gets tarred with the "He's an outsider" brush is the best hope for all the insiders to heal a self-inflicted wound with a long history. Of course, the danger then becomes that people prefer problems that are familiar to solutions that are not. Come early and see if some of us can help the rest of us. I'm told there'll be plenty of free parking-proving the Lord does have a sense of humor, though His timing may need a little work.
-bill kenny
Monday, July 27, 2009
A Quiet Week for Norwich Government
The Redevelopment Agency meets this afternoon at five in Room 210 of City Hall. Of its nine members, five have expired appointments which is an oversight the City Council would correct in seconds if any of the RDA members attempted to drive through Mohegan Park, I suspect. The Redevelopment Agency is very hard-working, dedicated and remarkably honest with one another and the rest of us. And no, I don't say that about everyone, ;-).
Check out page two of their June meeting minutes and tell me the last time you heard/read of a Norwich citizen volunteer panel wondering as to what their function is supposed to be and how they can do their jobs better. If we had at least one elected body in Norwich with this degree of selflessness, we'd be a darn sight better off. And their plate is pretty full for tonight's meeting as well when you look at the agenda.
I'd hope to see one or more of their members Tuesday evening at 6:30 in the Wauregan Ballroom for the Downtown Parking and Business Forum organized by Mayoral candidate Bob Zarnetske. Sort of an outgrowth from a Public Parking Commission meeting, I think in a perfect world, all the folks who insist they have a speaking part in the economic redevelopment of downtown (and all of Norwich for that matter) should be in the same room at the same time so the merchants and businesses who have invested their own money and sweat in working downtown can explain what they feel is going well and what is in need of improvement.
I, for one, suspect the latter is a target-rich environment and wonder why the Public Parking Commission just doesn't tell the shop owners how much they love Norwich and how they hope things will get better. That should take care of everything, right? Except, as we all know, hope is NOT a plan. Only a plan is a plan and without the will to implement a plan, it's a wish you make with your heart.
Also Tuesday, starting at six, in their conference room on Golden Street is the July meeting of the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners/Sewer Authority. Norwich Public Utilities, as I'm sure you know, is municipally-owned and potentially the most potent single force for economic growth in Norwich. I say that in deference to Bob Dylan's observation that 'money doesn't talk, it swears', as they generate millions in revenues, whereas to my knowledge, none of the three or four dozen other development boards create any wealth at all.
As I said, a quiet week for meetings and perhaps if we get some nice weather, this would be the week to get out and about. Maybe take up swimming, or rafting, or boat-building, especially if the current trend of overcast skies followed by torrential downpours continues. If it stays wet like this the plague of locusts will have nothing to eat when they get here, making the bugs easy targets for the rain of frogs.
-bill kenny
Sunday, July 26, 2009
I Guess He Could Be Your Co-Pilot and Best Friend
It's not really the road less taken, though the volume of traffic pales in comparison to 395 which is just as well as it connects Norwich and Montville and New London as you travel around the not-so glamorous back entrance to the Mohegan Sun casino.
The only tricky part is just as you're hitting Quaker Hill, because 32 blends with an exit of 395 and I know from experience on both sides of the merge, it's not a day at the beach. For a driver on 32, the merge involves a reasonably extreme over-your-right shoulder scan of your sector, so to speak, as cars entering far faster than your speed are (in theory) trying to slow down as they merge and before they hit the traffic signal (or you).
If you're coming off 395 at this exit, all the turtle drivers are to your left and to make it interesting for both of you, at that traffic signal I just mentioned, there's always a lot of people making the right at the light which means they need to get into that lane, and if they cross in front of you, well, stuff can happen.
Which it did yesterday, but funny stuff. It was a guy in dark Saab, the sedan model (I think that means four doors, right? Anyway, that's what I mean) and he's looking to go straight and get into the left lane on 32 coming off from 395. There wasn't a lot traffic and it was a pretty easy maneuver.
So much so that I had more than enough opportunity to eyeball his shotgun partner, his dog, a big brown one, window rolled down, head out the window (I'd love to know what they are thinking about aside from 'here, kitty, c'mon Kitty') wearing wraparound sunglasses, just like his owner. For a moment, I was watching the SPCA version of the Blues Brothers movie. The part of a trimmer, and far more hirsute, Jake, played by the dog. My turn was approaching and as I put on my blinker, I murmured a short prayer, "Our Lady of Acceleration don't fail us now."
-bill kenny
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Art Imitates Life
The memorial services for Walter Cronkite had just concluded when the next reminder that we're not in
As a child I have memories of David Frost with something called "That Was the Week That Was" (listening to the musical salute to the state of
It wasn't coincidental that one of the first things Hitler and the Nazis did after seizing power was eliminate Fasching or Karneval observances from everyday German life. If there was one thing the gang who couldn't shoot straight knew it was that they didn't need or want anyone poking fun at them.
But in a country that televises poker tournaments and spelling bees on an All-Sports Network, and covered the death of Michael Jackson like it was the passing of Mary and Joseph's other Son, naming Stewart the most trusted newscaster in
"Don't believe I'm taken in by stories I have heard. I just read the Daily News and swear by every word. I'm not one to look behind, I know that times must change, but over there in Barrytown, they do things very strange."-bill kenny
Friday, July 24, 2009
Idiot Wind
Nobody we know invented Bernie Madoff-I can't even conceive of a hustle like that, my brain is too small to do it. Do you know anyone who was working a McJob and who bought a house with a 400K mortgage through a bank? Nope, me neither. For the longest time, all the reporting on the 'economic tsunami' could have been from Pago-Pago.
When the banks started going out of business, we began to take this seriously and got very solemn and sort of grim. We spoke about putting our shoulders to the wheel, reminded each other 'we've been through this before' (well, no, we haven't; our parents and their parents have been through this before) talked a LOT about shared sacrifice and vowed to 'pull together.'
So, in light of all the bickering and dickering, posturing, pouting and politicking in the last three weeks, from the Grand Coulee Dame to the Capitol, the 'debates' that all sound like "I know you are, but what am I?"and the return to finger-pointing as part of the problem-solving matrix, I guess we're done.
Welcome to the New Prosperity, please insert forty cents for the next three minutes. You probably don't get that. At one time in America we had phones in glass booths on every street corner because we had no phones in our pockets. We could put coins in those phones, starting with a dime, and call people, Mrs Avery (I had honestly NEVER heard that version before)). We can't afford a return to the Good Old Days, so this will have to do. Especially since this is all there is.
This time last year, as a nation, we were falling in love with love. As is the case so often in personal relationships, there's a phase of the courtship where everything is endearing and precious and then as life grinds on, we find ourselves waiting for the shine to come off. The same habits that were so cute become irritations and annoyances and, if unchecked and uncorrected, grounds for growing apart and divorce.
We hold elections for office-seekers as if they magicians. Open the curtain and let the wizards' duel begin! Voila! Health care or poof! a balanced budget or Ka-zaam! an exit strategy. All with no money down and no easy, monthly payments. But when the house lights come up, it's always no more than two guys in bathrobes and pointy hats left on stage.
And a lot of unpaid bills. They wanted to be what we wanted them to be and we sure as heck wanted it as well. And none of it happened because none of it was real. "It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves."
-bill kenny
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The (other) Bikers
I'm talking about bicycles and as kids there was Schwinn and there was Royce Union, and not much else. These were big, clunky solid yoke metal frame bikes, with balloon tires and white sidewalls. You had a mousetrap in the back, and that's where you kept your glove, baseball inside of it, so that the pocket formed just right. Maybe your dad, or somebody else's dad would remember to get the little can of neet's foot oil at the hardware store and you'd work that stuff into the glove before putting it into the mousetrap.
Twenty-six inch tires on those bikes and maybe, if you had a fancy one, it had front and rear handbrakes, but ours mostly didn't-you just stood on the pedals hard and the rear wheel broke away and wound up sliding to one side or the other. You stopped all right. We all knew somebody whose folks had gotten them a bike with three gears, think of it!, but we didn't have bikes like that. Going up hill, you pedaled hard-if it got steeper, you pedaled harder. Screw up, you fell off and walked up hill holding the bike by the handlebars, feeling (and looking) like a dork.
I was thinking about all of that yesterday as the bikers, not Marlon Brando and The Wild One, raced across parts of France whose towns can only correctly be pronounced by having your adenoids removed. And again this year, one or more people have died along the route at the various stages, and I keep thinking 'nobody ever got hurt when we rode to Resko's house' and that was over an hour back in the day (it'd be like three days in 'now' time).
It wasn't until the LA Olympics in '84, sitting in Germany and watching the highlights of the games the Warsaw Pact boycotted, that I first saw Americans go ga-ga for the most European of sports, in my opinion (unless they make sulking an event). The oval track with the impossible angles of banking, the skinny tires that seemed to be made of solid rubber, the 'Disco in Frisco' skin tight speedo outfits and most especially those 'revenge of the Alien' head shaped helmets, all of it so aerodynamic I thought these guys could fly. Reading about the Tour de France, I learned flight wasn't the half of it.
I was aware of a Frankfurt am Main based Tour de France cyclist, Didi Thoreau, I think his name was (I have no idea as it turns out) and I couldn't understand how you could make a living as a professional bike rider. I had a movie in my head, where Didi is in Munich, perhaps visiting his fan-club (I'm sure he had one) and checks into the Munich Hilton which is right at the Munchen-Reims airport and as he checks in, what exactly does he put under "occupation"? 'Professional Bicycle Rider' And if the concierge snickers across the desk while reading it, upside down, in the ledger, does he offer to prove it with a bike strapped to his back?
Then in the late Eighties, Greg Lemond, an American from I have no idea where, not only became successful on the European Bicycle race circuit (that's hard to believe, isn't it; a circuit for bike racers? 'See you in Naples?' 'No, I'm training for the Bern Butt Buster, see you there.') he won the Tour de France (and why, by the way, is THAT the big race, or at least the one we all think we've heard of). Actually he won it three times, twice AFTER accidentally shooting himself. He recovered, but after those two victories his career seemed to go away (I always wondered where he'd been shot since we're talking a LOT of hours on a bike seat if you follow my drift. Where's that AFLAC duck when you really need him?)
How many times did Lance Armstrong win the Tour de France before most of it even realized it. And then all the great back story: the battle against cancer, the birth of the little boy, more bicycle races, more yellow tricots, Sheryl Crow, no more Sheryl Crow, the retirement and then the unretirement and now after four years, he's back on the bike in the thick of the competition, even though the battalion of announcers (and cameras-I love the mini-cam guys riding backwards on the motorcycles thisclose to the charging riders) covering the event are more often now noting with keener and deeper regret he will, in all probability, NOT win the race. And what does the winner get anyway? A permanent press yellow jersey? The opportunity to write 'winner of the Tour de France' on the hotel check-in form? Do you think Duna could do that?
-bill kenny
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
One-Trick or Not
The man asks the other little girl if she, too, would like a pony and she responds in the affirmative, at which point he makes a 'chck-chck' sound and out from behind this large doll house ambles a real pony, bridle and saddle. The child is delighted.
The first child not so much and we get some close-ups of her face as we hear the squeals of delight from other little girl. Eventually she screws up the courage to tell the grown-up very non-judgmentally for a child who just got double-crossed 'you didn't say I could have a real pony.' To which he quickly rejoins, 'you didn't ask.'
The announcer proceeds to read advertising copy about sneaky is as sneaky does, trust whatever the bank is to do whatever banks are about, grown-ups eat bugs or some such palaver. What I always come back to is the abject hatred on the first girl's face for all things adult. She isn't close to tears or a tantrum-she's close to homicide.
Either she is an incredibly gifted actress at such a young age, or the producers of the commercial didn't let her in on the joke and what we are seeing in the commercial is her actual animus, spontaneous and unrehearsed.
Sometimes when I follow the news even casually, I expect to see the streets of America littered with plastic pony replicas. We are, I think, as a people the most relentlessly optimistic nation on earth, perhaps unrealistically optimistic. I grew up in a USA that liked Ike, grudgingly extended equal rights to everyone, went in one generation from a chicken in every pot to two cars in every garage and which now finds itself, for lack of a more elegant term, flat-out broke.
The part that doesn't have me worried is that we can't fix what doesn't work, because two hundred and thirty plus years of our history tells me we can. What bothers me is will we choose to repair ourselves? We've conspicuously consumed just about everything this planet has to offer and its riches haven't come close to filling that hole in our hearts. And now the one in our wallet is even larger than that one.
We've conditioned ourselves to find solutions in fifteen, thirty and sixty second increments and ideas like universal health care, green-house gases, economic reinvestment, don't lend themselves to discussions or explanations that can be jammed in between the blue mountains of a beer can commercial and the soft porn of a shaving cream advertisement. It's not even fair to say we lose interest-we never had any.
Our whole lives guys in suits with briefcases fixed everything. We never asked, because we never wanted to know. We built armies, we went to the moon, we sold each other real estate everyone at the closing knew wasn't worth the money being paid for it, but no one got upset or concerned because the Suits were there and they were fabulous. We, too, were fabulous. Heck, everything was fabulous, unless it was brilliant.
And now the suits are shiny with wear, and in some cases, there's holes at the elbows and the sleeves are ragged. And the property we used to build the grand list to elevate the bond rating for the twenty-year municipal debentures we sold to finance the construction of the new transportation hub of the city that would increase all of our property values, well, bad news on that front as the sub-prime mortgage lenders who shouldn't have advanced us the money they didn't have in the first place are all flopping and twitching on the beach as the tide of prosperity continues to rush out and no one warned us about the undertow.
Except of course, we were warned, but we thought they were asking if we wanted a pony.
-bill kenny
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
It's NOT Progress when NOTHING Changes
Tomorrow and Thursday are the equivalent of the Super Bowl weekends for local politics here in The Rose City. Except it's kind of a Super Bowl where the East Squeegum Mugwamps take on the
The Republicans, who seem to be in shorter numbers on this side of the
There are currently two Republicans on the City Council. One, who returned via special election in April, will be (by all accounts) his party's nominee for Mayor-unlike four years ago when the Republicans endorsed the same person the Democrats had selected. The other incumbent Republican alderman is seeking a second term. And that, unless Divine Providence intervenes, will be it for the Grand Old Party and the Norwich City Council. That could be awkward.
In the case of the GOP, it may really be 'if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten' (Be careful, some consider that a definition of insanity). Because of the minority representation provisions within CT's elections laws, the next seven-person City Council may have no more than five from one party, so the Republicans have left themselves no room for error or loss. In light of their previous history and voter turnout, that's a very brave thing to do.
There are, as I mentioned, nine seats on the Board of Education (it's hard for me to think of local school board philosophy or policy as 'that's Republican' or 'this is Democratic') and the same minority representation requirements in this case allocate three seats to the Republicans who, may have, I've read found a (fourth) candidate (and a great person as well).
I registered as a Democrat after years as an unaffiliated voter mainly for the free pudding on campfire nights. Sadly, because of a tree shortage, campfire nights were discontinued almost immediately afterwards, but the damage is done and no amount of pudding will persuade me from remaining a registered Democrat, though neither I, nor the Democratic Party (large or small) seem to derive any benefit from our mutual association.
The Democratic Town Committee will have a candidate's forum at Thursday evening in Council chambers at City Hall between the two current aldermen who seek the party's Mayoral endorsement. It's hard for me to understand how the
We, the registered Democrats in Norwich, can finally start being in the 21st Century, albeit late, by making a choice in selecting as our voice someone who is NOT politics as usual and who would like us to consider, contrary to how we've functioned around here for decades it seems, that sometimes ideas are what drive public dialogue and not the public personalities espousing them.
I've lived here almost eighteen years and have long tired of explanations for toxic stasis that include expressions like 'we need community input' or 'we should build consensus at the grass-roots', as all of those are code for 'here's how we roll in
Back in the
The same politics that failed
If you care about
-bill kenny
Monday, July 20, 2009
Norwich Meetings 20-24 July
This is a little awkward. This week's preview will contain ZERO meetings we might see one another at and none of that is your fault. I spent a reasonable amount this past sunny Saturday afternoon in the Emergency Room and Convenient Care areas of
The good news, when my three hour staycation was over, is I don't have H1N1. The bad news is I do have pneumonia. In the interests of public health and safety I'll be staying home and away from others, immediate family excepted (making it even more of a lousy deal to be related to me). Should you have a few extra dollars and a list of people whom you dislike, I will consider a few public appearances to kiss them full on the lips and see if they get sick. No guarantees, mind you, and ten bucks is ten bucks per person.
As it is, this a very active and (hopefully) robust week in The Rose City. What, exactly comes of all that activity remains to be seen, as is so often the case.
This afternoon, at four, meeting at
At seven is a regular meeting of the City Council, with a sparse agenda, though you might disagree with that characterization if you have any positive or negative feelings about another five million dollar bond issue for road pavement.
Tuesday at 5:15 at the Buckingham Memorial, 307 Main Street, up the street from the Otis Library as you walk towards the YMCA (wait for it!) is a meeting of the Public Parking Commission and judging from the minutes of their May meeting- I suspect we'll see and hear a LOT more about the Intermodal Transportation Center that everyone is so keen to build for reasons though no one seems to know why. Later, at in Room 210 of City Hall is a meeting of the Friends of the YMCA who are unflagging in their determination to reopen the facility. The impression I had when it closed in April wasn't a lack of enthusiasm, but of money, six and seven figures deep. In the best of times, a hard row to hoe but in these times, even harder.
Tuesday at 5:15 at the Buckingham Memorial, 307 Main Street, up the street from the Otis Library as you walk towards the YMCA (wait for it!) is a meeting of the Public Parking Commission and judging from the minutes of their May meeting- I suspect we'll see and hear a LOT more about the Intermodal Transportation Center that everyone is so keen to build for reasons though no one seems to know why. Later, at in Room 210 of City Hall is a meeting of the Friends of the YMCA who are unflagging in their determination to reopen the facility. The impression I had when it closed in April wasn't a lack of enthusiasm, but of money, six and seven figures deep. In the best of times, a hard row to hoe but in these times, even harder.
At seven, meeting a short walk from one another which is only fair since in many ways they complement one another, is a regular meeting of the Commission on the City Plan at 23 Union Street (the application to operate a "Homeless Veterans Supportive Living facility" is on the agenda) and in the community meeting room (upstairs) at the Otis Library, it's a regular meeting the Downtown Neighborhood Revitalization Zone Committee whose name just isn't long enough in my opinion. (But who still do not comply with state law on publicly accessible meeting minutes a year after the public law went into effect.)
Wednesday afternoon at in their offices at 10
In the middle of all of this is the Republican Town Committee Caucus at 6:30 in Room 335 of City Hall where they will solicit and endorse their nominees for Mayor and the six seats for this year's City Council elections but will, as is always the case, have nowhere near enough candidates to field a full slate. Because of CT's 'minority representation' provisions in the State Constitution, there must be at least two members of the Republican party on the seven-person City Council. And if their past is an indicator of their future, it'll be Peter Nystrom for Mayor (maybe specifics show up after the nomination) and Bill Nash for Alderman, and no one else (though I'd love to be surprised).
At seven, in their facility on New London Turnpike, is a regular meeting of the Norwich Golf Course Authority whose June minutes and July agenda are both unavailable.
Speaking of less than available, Thursday morning at eight in their offices at 75 Main Street, it's a regular meeting (I assume) of the Norwich Community Development Corporation, though I've no sign of an agenda or meeting minutes posted on the City's website and most certainly not on their own. It's just no fun anymore to tease about their lack of a web presence, especially in light of their charge as the city's redevelopment engine and agency and more especially since our taxes are directly and indirectly paying for all of this. Not sure how successful you can be at doing those tasks needed to foster economic development in
At six, up in their office at the Recreation Office in
Starting at six in City Hall, in Council Chambers, it's the Democratic Town Committee Candidate Forum and Talent Show. You don't think Alderman
My feelings are well-known and I see no point in not talking about it now. If you live here, and your candidate for the next Mayor of Norwich doesn't have at least this much specifically outlined, you need to find someone else or you need to move. It's as true today as it will be next Friday morning, no matter who receives the nomination at the actual caucus starting at seven in Room 335 of City Hall.
I'm gonna spend a reasonable amount of time this week working on getting and staying healthy, which seems to take up more and more of my time everyday. Our city, and your town, works only as well as we who live there make it, and help it, to do. Roll up a sleeve and lend a hand, we all need all the help we can get.
-bill kenny
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Forty years is but a Moment
Going to the moon wasn't the only thing we were doing as a country, as a tribe, a nation state on Earth. We had almost 450,000 men under arms halfway around the world in forests and fields of Southeast Asia in a war that was to be as divisive as any in the history of our nation and whose outcome left us saddened and sullen for a decade.
Nearly the same number of young men and women were heading to Upstate New York during this summer, actually in August, for what was advertised as four days of Peace, Love and Music and almost all anyone can remember, whether they were or not, is all the mud and the incredible performances by so many musicians, especially those whose flame flickered brightly from that stage and were then forever extinguished because of self-indulgence or profound bad luck.
Back at the moon walk, we on Earth watched around the world, with some of our younger brothers and sisters going outside to stand on the porch at Harvey's Lake (Pa) and look up at the moon to see if you could see the astronauts (if wishing could have made it so) as the astronauts seemed to skip and dance across the most desolate place we could imagine.
As a nation we were faced with challenges all around us-but we found the time, actually we MADE the time, to watch these extraordinary people do this extraordinary thing that NO ONE in our history had ever done before. And just as no man enters the same river twice because both he and the river have changed, there is no way we can ever be those people who watched by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming. We did it then, and we can do it now--not because it's easy, because it's not, but because it's hard and because if we do not repair and restore our country, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when in another forty years we cannot remember anything to be proud of since the Moon Walk.
Don't Interrupt the Sorrow,
Damn right.
He says we walked on the moon.
You be polite.
-bill kenny
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Next time READ the Memo
I never voted for him, despite the pomposity of the first guy, Mr. Animal Excitement as I like to think of him, who was his opponent in 2000 and the stealth charisma of the junior Senator from Massachusetts, I always remember him as The Senator Who Could Swim, in 2004. Maybe if the other guys had nominated a can of succotash I'd have considered pulling the lever for him, but, no, I just couldn't do it.
But here's the thing--whether you voted for him or not, threatened to leave the country and never return (yes, Alec Baldwin, I am talking about you and it hurts, a lot; sort of like watching you act, that you're still here), George W. Bush is NOT the President anymore. Get over it, you won. Heck, WE all won. Nothing to see here, move along. As much as I detest poor losers, I abhor poor winners even more.
Unless the bumper sticker is holding the Volvo bio-diesel station wagon together as your Birkenstock-shod gas pedal foot makes sure you never break the speed limit, get that election year artifact off the car. It's like having a Vote McKinley campaign button on your straw boater as you dance the black bottom. That 70's Show was the nineteen seventies, after all, and they had the decency to stop once they were no longer funny (eventually).
Didn't you get the memo on this stuff? More on point, didn't you read it? Do we actually need Department of Transportation and Highway Safety rules banning trite and no longer necessary or relevant adhesive messages? Does that mean if your child has children of her/his own, it's time for the "My Child Is an Honor Student at Ridgemont Elementary School" to come off the car? What do you think? And no, State of Washington drivers, you can't leave the "Fifty Four Forty or Fight" stickers on your back windows. But nice try.
-bill kenny
Friday, July 17, 2009
Glad I Packed a Lunch. Wished I'd Packed a Book.
I'd mentioned Monday there was a reasonably important, admittedly inside-baseball, meeting tonight in Norwich's City Hall. It was a Campaign Finance-Training Seminar, held by the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC), and you've already noticed the past tense of the verb (a literary device known as foreshadowing. Fiveshadowing is something posers use) so I'll bet you've guessed what happened next (sure wish you'd been here with all this good guessing, it would have saved me some time).
The SEEC sent an advisory on the training out across the state months ago to the two traditional political parties and their town committees, as well as to city clerks in the various municipalities, to encourage treasurers and other campaign officials to register for a training session at one of the four regional locations so that the presenters would have some idea of how many people they could expect in, for example, Waterbury, or perhaps later in the same week, in Norwich.
The incentive for attending the finance training is a rather severe fine and a stiff jail sentence if you goober up your candidate's campaign finance reports. This is the Land of Steady Habits, after all, and while we deplore cruelty and criminal mischief, our blood boils when we speak of crimes against property or involving money.
The word, such as it was, trickled rather than flowed in and through The Rose City (and elsewhere). Meanwhile back at the fort (Hartford), the SEEC, based on the spectacular lack of interest they thought was coming from this corner of New London County, among other places, canceled the seminar. Actually, not just here, but in ALL four of the planned-for locations across the Nutmeg State.
And they did as good a job of getting the cancellation word out, as the local municipal authorities had in spreading the word in the first place. As a matter of fact, the remaining session (no plural, but thanks for the thought) which will now be kind of snug since it's the only session, isn't until next month, in Middletown, which for those who like to ride or drive for distance is made to order, as it's equidistant (more or less) from all four of the towns originally slated to host the seminars.
Yeah, it will, with any luck, be a lot more moist and warm on August 10th, when the seminar, possibly, kicks off in Middletown, so dress lightly and use baby powder and dry not to step on anyone's toes or sit on someone else's lap, because quarters may get close. And complain only softly about how inconvenient this training has become. Make it a point to find a mirror somewhere in the municipal building so you can have a quick word with the person directly responsible for yet another yawn in the great sleepwalking exercise we too often call American democracy.
-bill kenny
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sometimes the Things We Do Speak so Loudly, You Can't Hear What We're Saying
I grabbed ten minutes of some most excellent outdoors weather yesterday at mid-morning and walked around the block of the building in which I work. Back in the days when I smoked (and boy did I, about three and half packs a day. I stopped, suddenly, on 30 September 1996 and never took it up again), it was customary to have a break for a cigarette in mid-morning and then again in the middle of the afternoon.
In a way, becoming a non-smoker, I screwed myself out of those pauses, though whenever I try to organize a pity-party about that I have to remember 'by quitting cigarettes, I lowered my chances of ever having lung cancer, emphysema or any other respiratory illness by a huge percentage.' Unless, of course, I get hit by a cigarette truck, in which case the whole thing's a wash, I guess. I'm lucky in that the people I work for will allow me to walk away from the desk (and regroup) though sometimes it looks more like disappointment than relief when I come back.
Anyway, out yesterday morning I noticed on the corner a pick-up truck in a no-parking zone, the engine running, blocking a fire hydrant. On the door, the lettering indicated the truck was part of the fire department's fleet. There was no one in the truck and there were no emergency lights flashing or sirens howling (or even a small fire burning; I always have marshmallows and a stick. Just in case.). I half-smile at the deliciousness of this kind of stuff, be it thoughtlessness or hypocrisy or just simple absence of concern for others, because I know if that were my vehicle, the windscreen would be covered with tickets for a variety of violations, all deserved.
Continuing down the street, maybe four additional car-lengths and at the curb in a real parking space, was one of those police ticket patrol cars (you know the kind; they're electric and look like they're on loan from the Lego-land Police Department) that resemble a moon buggy. I think in theory, they're a great idea in an urban environment for a city-in much the same way as I like the concept of a Segway for patrols. In real life, the cars look silly and police on Segways crack me up, and when they have the helmets on, as well they should, I almost pee myself laughing (I never claimed to be a nice person).
I'm always surprised when the ticket person, or meter reader as I call them, is a full-sized human being, though I'm not sure what they should be, and my surprise discomfits me. I couldn't resist-I mentioned the illegally parked fire pick-up truck to Officer Krupke. Perhaps, he offered, without bothering to make eye contact with me, the guy went inside the building a minute ago and will be right back.
Yeah. Welcome to Benefit of the Doubt, population: you, Officer. I told the police person there wasn't any part of that I was buying and, truth to tell, neither was he. And it was now two minutes since 'the guy' went into 'the building' perhaps like the bear, to see what he could see. Speaking of which, I offered, why not mosey on down to the truck and the fire hydrant and time just how long 'the guy' is absent?
That suggestion got me eye contact and a heaping side order of a 'what are you, a wise guy?' look that I took to mean now was a good time to tuck and roll in the dismount and disengage portion of today's lesson on Inter-Personal Communications with Public Safety Officials. As Bob Dylan once offered, 'wait only for my boot heels to be wanderin', but don't wait too long. And I figured it really wasn't warm enough for my tambourine to spontaneously combust so I called myself the breeze and desired 'back to the office' was as fine a destination as I could think of on too-short a notice.
-bill kenny
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
There, that Didn't Hurt, Did It?
I'm not suggesting we should sponsor contests to see if we can peel the paint from the walls in Council chambers, in terms of the coarseness of the language, though that idea is tempting and oddly comforting. I'm just not sure we can organize the logistics of Council meetings so there's an even distribution on all surfaces as we move the citizens from side to side, and not just along the back wall near where I sit.
Of course, true confession time, I do think of some (perhaps) technicolor participles and anatomically difficult aerobic exercises, but I strive to NOT speak them aloud while processing those thoughts-at least not too loudly. Like many of us, I have had instances in the past where my evil twin, Skippy, (what my Imp of the Perverse tends to answer to) has confused inside and outside voice and my ears have heard my mouth say things that I had truly hoped would remain secret.
Now, if I can just work hypoalgesia into a sentence, ideally a limerick, it'll be a banner day.
-bill kenny


text:
It's the first week of September, and classes are in full swing! Sometimes at the beginning of the year, it can be tough to get your students to engage. One thing that we've found that works to get their attention is fun crafts! We decided to check out one of our favorite sources for fun classrooms, Pinterest, and see what we could come up with!
We highly suggest checking Pinterest regularly, if you don't already. There are countless free resources for teachers. While we were looking for fun crafts for classrooms, we stumbled on a wonderful project for younger classrooms. These Dr. Seuss projects are a great choice for younger classrooms because they are very easy to do and don't require too many supplies (and who doesn't love Dr. Seuss?!)
– First, you just need to get a few supplies. You will need some safety scissors, glue sticks, markers, and construction paper. Alternatively, if you want different textures, you can go with felt. These are all the supplies you need for this fun project!
– Second, we suggest making one ahead of time, so your students can see a finished product before they start. Starting with either the felt or construction paper, have your children trace 4 different traces of their hands on the different colors. These will become the fish. After they are traced, work with them and help them cut out their traced hands. Next, help them glue their paper or felt hands to a sheet of construction paper. After that's done, have them label the respective fish as "one fish", "two fish", "red fish", and "blue fish".
– Lastly, have them decorate the fish however they would like!
Projects like this one are both very fun for the class, and they help them get into the mindset of wanting to be in class. When you can get them to focus their mind on being in class, they will have way more fun and become more teachable!
US Toy Team
Latest posts by US Toy Team (see all)
- Read Across America - February 18, 2016
- Friendship and Cooperative Skills - February 8, 2016
- Music Helps Build Communication - January 25, 2016


text:
ELON � When Elon pitcher Joe McGillicuddy was selected for NCAA random drug testing last fall, he had no idea how it would affect his life.
Or perhaps save it.
The tests revealed an unusual testosterone level that required explanation. McGullicuddy said he knew it wasn�t drug-related. Soon, there was the grim reality.
He had cancer.
�I was picked for the random NCAA test. I was kind of expecting it because I was new. When I took the urine test, I wasn�t really worried,� said McGillicuddy, who joined the baseball program as a transfer last summer. �Then it was kind of out of the blue. When they said I tested positive for drugs, I thought, �This wasn�t possible.� �
Elon coach Mike Kennedy said: �His numbers were kind of crazy, and we knew it wasn�t drugs. We had to find out what�s up.�
By the time McGillicuddy, 21, was sent home to Fairfax, Va., to meet with a family physician, he knew from his research that there was bound to be more bad news ahead. Additional blood work had shown that hormone levels had risen.
�I became pretty worried. That threw up some red flags,� he said. �At that point, I knew I had some form of cancer.�
By mid-November, testicular cancer had been discovered.
�I knew I wasn�t going to be there in the spring to play,� he said.
Through this fact-finding process, he kept information quiet from his new teammates. He also didn�t tell his twin brother, John McGillicuddy, who�s the ace pitcher for High Point.
�Everything was all cool, and I didn�t suspect anything,� John said. �Joe is so quiet, so nonchalant. I can�t believe (how he has handled this).�
The youngest of six siblings, they still share a room at home because they�re so tight. Even on a weekend visit among brothers in High Point, when Joe realized that something was out of kilter as he waited for results from additional testing, the details were spared. Joe said he wanted to wait until all the tests were complete before alarming anyone.
�I was worried, and I didn�t know how John would handle it,� Joe said. �I know he�s my twin and I should tell him everything.�
John said it�s Joe�s nature to be more reserved. John is the more emotional of the two.
�We decided to go separate ways as a maturing process,� John said. �I was happy for him because he loves Elon.�
Tonight at Elon�s Latham Park, High Point visits Elon. After the game, the teams will hold a joint head-shaving to raise funds for cancer life-saving efforts and research as part of the Vs. Cancer Foundation.
WITH JOE�S form of cancer, there often aren�t symptoms in the first couple of stages. Because of the NCAA testing, his condition was caught in a relatively early stage.
Joe said he didn�t tell roommates Lucas Bakker and Jake Stalzer, also Elon pitchers, because he didn�t know how to best break the news. Finally at a meeting in the locker room, McGillicuddy, Kennedy and trainer Jodi McConnell shared the information with the rest of the team.
�It�s very fortunate for him that it happened,� Kennedy said of the selection for the testing and early diagnosis. �He didn�t have any other signs.�
Joe stayed home late in the semester, returning to Elon to take final exams in December � something he deemed as important to do. He majors in finance, and he said he logged about a 3.9 grade point average.
This winter amid treatments, he had a Washington, D.C., internship with the office of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of the state of Washington � sometimes he was asked whether he had a military connection because of his lack of hair, he said.
He finished chemotherapy in late February. He avoided surgery, though he�ll visit an oncologist at least twice a year for check-ups.
This month, he began an internship with an engineering infrastructure company in northern Virginia.
Joe said he plans to resume taking classes at Elon in the fall.
Meanwhile, John went through extensive testing as a precaution.
�In the back of my mind, I thought I should get checked in winter break,� he said.
John was clear of any signs of cancer. He has become the top starting pitcher for the High Point team.
That was a role that Joe sought with Elon. He was contending for a spot in the coveted weekend rotation with the Phoenix.
That could still happen in 2015. Joe said he plans to put on that No. 25 jersey and head to the mound.
He said he lost about 15 pounds � down to 196 � during treatments, but he has regained his strength. A couple of weeks ago, he began throwing with his former high school team.
�He�s a great arm,� Kennedy said. �There�s a chance he might pitch here. That�s what we�re hoping.�
JOE�S RECOVERY took another step last week. A feature on his Xbox One allows for log-in based on facial recognition.
With the loss of hair and eyebrows, that component didn�t matter much to Joe for a couple of months.
That changed when he looked into the camera recently.
�About a week ago, it finally recognized me,� he said.
Joe intends to attend tonight�s game. As for the head-shaving, Kennedy surmised that Joe might be just an onlooker.
�I don�t think he�s going to want to cut his,� the coach said.
Indeed, that was the pitcher�s outlook, knowing he�s still quite a ways from having his hair back in full.
�I�m going to have to pass on that one,� he said.
As for brother John, there�s a request that he stay away from the shears, too.
�Joe loved having the long hair,� John said. �He said, �Don�t shave your head. I don�t want to look like you.� �
A cause to fight cancer
Twins Joe McGillicuddy and John McGullicuddy, a pair of right-handed pitchers from Fairfax, Va., graduated from W.T. Woodson High School and went to Marshall. After a season there, they transferred to Louisburg College, which is a junior college.
Then, there was separation. Joe joined the Elon baseball team. John went to High Point.
The Elon pitcher was diagnosed with cancer in the fall. After going through a chemotherapy program, he said this week that tests show he�s cancer-free.
When High Point visits Elon for tonight�s game at Latham Park, the teams will jointly participate in Vs. Cancer Foundation activity that includes postgame head-shavings as a fundraiser to fight cancer. It�s the third year in a row that the Elon team has been involved in this type of fundraiser.
Duke and North Carolina State teams are holding a similar event Sunday after their game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.


text:
Rick Swrote a review of SmartWool Cuffed Beanie on January 25, 2011
Another win for Smartwool
Awesome little hat. I wear it under my ski helmet on those particularly cold Montana mornings. Surprisingly warm, considering the light weight, and doesn't stink when things start to heat up. All around great product.


text:
OK i am lost...I watched the Josh/Amanda/Chelsia screamer on youtube earlier today. Am I the only one who has gone from loving Josh to HATING him after that spectacle?? Did he think he was Evil Dick?? Did he think Amanda was Jenius?? I couldn't stand Jen and felt she deserved alot of what Dick threw at her. But wth did Amanda do to deserve Josh shrieking and cursing in her face?? Over some bs "he said/she said" crap??
Now I am reading he and Amanda are talking???? And he plans to pick a fight with her before POV to "rattle her"??? Another Dick wannabe ploy??
I cannot think of one player I want to see win this thing. I liked Ali til she and Josh cackled and congratulated each other over Josh's diatribe at Amanda. That made me think she's a real b*tch. I dunno...maybe Sharon or Sheila? Honestly, I can't stand any of em.
Can anyone give me someone to root for with GOOD reasons??? lololol


text: In my code, I'm doing this quite a lot: x <- someIO case x of Opt1 -> ... Having a line for extracting the value from the IO (or STM) and then acting on the value seems unnatural. Is there a more concise way to do this? This code: case someIO of Opt1 -> ... Doesn't work, but is there something like that, that is valid?


text:
Twenty years ago today, our son was born. Ten hours later, he died.
He was our fifth child and our third son. My pregnancy was very easy, I did not gain much weight. I remember having energy to take care of our children, as well as homeschooling two of them.
I am not going to give details here … that is not the purpose of writing today.
I am writing because I want other moms (and dads) to realize that life does go on. If you are dealing with a child who is dying, a miscarriage, or your child has already died – I promise you … You will always remember your child. No one can take that away from you. You will not always hurt. One day, you will realize that you made it through the day, and you did not cry (and then you will probably feel guilty). But, life does go on.
I remember with such clarity the peace of heart and mind that my Heavenly Father was so real … Troy & I were able to make decisions because we had so many people praying for us and with us throughout the entire weekend. I wish that I could put these memories to paper … maybe one day they will come out of my head clearly!
One thing I do remember more than anything else during that time, is that I remember singing hymns in my head over and over. Sometimes, I would find myself humming them or singing them out loud without realizing it. One of the hymns that was so helpful was "It Is Well with My Soul" by Horatio Spafford.
In closing, know that I am here, if you need to talk or someone to pray with!