Ummagumma

"May you live in interesting times" is a well-known English phrase of undetermined origin . Probably every lifetime is filled with interesting times. At any rate, 2011 is certainly no exception. Here are a few loose ends of things I continue to follow (in no particular order, for the most part)... Cyber Monday was indicative of the good holiday season for retailers , possibly indicating a stronger US economic recovery even as Europe teeters toward recession . It was not a positive season, however, for the former retail giant Sears, which plans to close over 100 stores next year . The Chinese, with typical Maoist zeal, see the "excess" of the US to be its inevitable downfall . Whether that is true or not, 2011 was one crazy year economically. Just look at these numbers . As the "lost decades" begin to stack up, ever-growing pressure is placed on the viability of democracy itself . Nevertheless, initial jobless claims are at a 44-month low . That certainly

The view today of my parent's yard, the rubble of my dad's barn, various sheds and outbuildings, and what's left of my grandparent's house. Taken by me from on top of my parent's house as I assisted in getting some tarps down over their exposed roof. A little after 5pm yesterday afternoon we were hit by a large red cell in a line of storms moving through the southeast. The wind blew very hard for about 15 minutes and then it was all suddenly over. The wind, the rain, everything. But, during that brief period our power went out. Jennifer and I sat around the house, enjoy some beers and in a fairly relaxed holiday spirit. The power didn't come back on so after awhile Jennifer decided to call my parents to see if they had power. They live about 5 miles away to the north of our land. All I could hear was my mother screaming into the phone and Jennifer saying "Oh no! Oh my gosh!" Without knowing anything, I was already scrambling for some proper clothes to

Recently, a high school football coach from my area won a state championship game. The first words out of his mouth after he won the game were: “I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him we would not have won today.” Seems his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (LSJC) didn’t care much for the efforts and aspirations of the losing team. A few days ago, there was a very lengthy article in the Wall Street Journal on the Tim Tebow phenomenon entitled “ God’s Quarterback ”. It was an in-depth analysis not just of the ever-lucky, talented Tebow but of the entire scope of Christianity versus Secularism in sports, as well as the history of religious motivation in sporting activities. For the record, it makes clear that even though Tebow publicly offers prayer to LSJC on the sidelines, God’s quarterback admits God doesn’t play favorites in football games. Apparently, what motivates Tebow to pray like that is not to seek cosmic favoritism but, rather, to grant him as an in

A delicious, slightly erotic moment whilst gambling with cards in one of the now-famous candlelight scenes from this Kubrick masterpiece. Watching these scenes seems particularly appropriate for this holiday time of year. Click for larger images. These screenshots are not, of course, of Blu-ray quality and don't do justice to the actual experience of viewing the film. Stanley Kubrick is my favorite all-time director, as I have mentioned before . Though he only made a dozen commercial films, many of these are cinematic masterpieces. It is true that his films are more rationally constructed than emotional. But, the overall effect he achieves with each success is fundamentally emotional for me. I have no idea why this is so. After his string of critically acclaimed, controversial, and (to varying degrees) commercially profitable films, Paths to Glory (1957), Spartacus (1960), Lolita (1962), Dr. Stangelove (1964), 2001 (1968), and A Clockwork Orange (1971), Kubrick had by 197

My 1991 Subaru Loyale. This was the first new car I ever purchased. It has an old-fashioned family stationwagon design. I bought my Subaru Loyale in 1991. That makes it an antique this year. I have a little over 177,000 miles on that car. Not that many miles really for a car I’ve owned for 20 years. It was originally Jennifer’s primary car in the early 90’s until we bought the Lumina we still own in 1995. Then it became a hand-me-down / camping vacation mobile. The Subaru has been an outstanding car. It still gets 33 MPH on the highway and about 29 around town. I usually can drive around for two weeks on one tank of gas. It handles great and has a very smooth ride. It rattles a lot and is a noisy car but, hey, it’s an antique. My Subaru leaks a little oil and has a small brake fluid leak no one can seem to locate. I add about a half quart of oil to it every two months and some small amount of brake fluid in that time as well. The radio hasn’t worked in it for years. I drive silent whe

When I was in my early and mid-teens, my dad and I spent most every Saturday during the winter months cutting trees on our farm and clearing land for more pasture. We hauled most of what we cut off one truck load at a time, selling it for pulp wood. During the infrequent rest periods when dad had to re-sharpen his chain saws or we took a water break, he let me turn on the fiddly radio in the truck and I got to listen to the Georgia Bulldogs play football. It was my first contact with the legendary Larry Munson . At that time, Munson had already been announcing Georgia football for about ten years. His distinctive style of delivery , his sense of excitement and attention to detail , his willingness to get inside the Georgia fan’s head and seem to express exactly what everyone was thinking at a given point in a given game, made him incomparable to me. Whenever I got a chance to watch a Georgia game on TV, I always turned the sound down (as did most other Georgia football fans) and liste

The Egyptian military attacked protesters in Tahir Square today . Some 1100 civilians have been injured through weeks of violence all over Egypt as thousands of people attempt to protest the way the Egyptian military wants to handle the new Egyptian constitution. This crisis has been going on for months and has perhaps reached the boiling point. The military has promised elections within a week but their original deadline has already past . The military wants its budget and operations to be autonomous of the new government. Many Egyptians fear a state-within-a-state would exist . So they protest. Al Jazeera has excellent coverage . Unlike the birth of the Arab Spring , however, the poetry of protest is gone. This is about the interim military government ceasing power long enough to protect its infrastructure and capabilities. This conflicts with the democratic ideals and the situation seems to be escalating . In Egypt today it seems democracy itself might be up for grabs . Prote

The War to End All Wars , also known as the Great War , also known as World War One ended 93 years ago today. The document ending the war went into effect famously (at the time) at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month . Until 1954 this was referred to in the US as Armistice Day . But, as time passed by, that phrasing began to mean less and less to anyone. All things pass. So, now this is Veterans Day ; certainly a worthy holiday to honor those who have served our country in all wars. But, today I am not thinking of all veterans. I am thinking of those who once walked this Earth that experienced the great battles of the Somme and Verdun and Gallipoli . These were battles of almost unimaginable magnitude during that war. The military art of war adapted very slowly to the technological achievements of that time. Supreme among innovations here was the use of massed, large-caliber artillery pieces and the widespread use of mounted machine guns. As World War One settled into a