GWB State of the Union

Environment, Opinion 1 Response »
Jan 312006

Tonight, George Bush is going to give a state of the Union address in which he will reportedly say, “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. … The best way to break this addiction is through technology.”

What complete bullshit. The only way to break the addiction is to stop the consumption in its tracks. Technology can do much, but people can do much more. But they won’t until a major leader steps up and tells them they must.

Bollocks upon Bush for leading the charade.



Small World

Music, People No Responses »
Jan 302006

Zach Parrish is an up and coming blues guy you probably have never heard of. He’s from Salt Lake City, now living in Austin, Texas. He’s a former fingerstyle guitar student of mine with a great voice, some tasty licks, and a rich stage presence. I lost track of him over the last 8 or 9 years, and just reconnected with him through Mike Henderson, another Salt Lake musician and recent transplant to the Bitterroot valley in Montana. Mike’s day gig is graphics design, and Zach is currently finishing up his degree studies. He wants to be a teacher when he grows up. Hell, I think he ought to be a full-time bluesman!

Both of these guys are really good musicians with a lot of music on their web sites. Check em out when you have time!

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The Bathtub Test

Opinion No Responses »
Jan 262006

(Sent by Mack Harper)

It doesn’t hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started. During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

“Well,” said the Director, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.”

“Oh, I understand,” said the visitor. “A normal person would use the bucket because it’s bigger than the spoon or the teacup.

“No.” said the Director, “A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?”

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Satellite Internet Blows

Opinion, Tech No Responses »
Jan 232006

UPDATE:

Starband has eased off on the throttle and I’m basically happy with their service once again. But it took some whining to git her done!

ORIGINAL POST:

“StarBand prefers to advise customers of inappropriate behavior if the Service is used in a way that StarBand, in its sole discretion, believes violates the Acceptable Use Policy, before taking remedial action. However, StarBand may take any responsive actions as it deems appropriate.”

Never get satellite Internet if you can avoid it. Starband’s service really is beginning to piss me off. Their AUP (acceptable use policy) says I am exceeding my allotted bandwidth, so they are throttling my connection.

Of course, I didn’t discover this until I got frustrated waiting on pages to load, and having many unfulfilled page requests, and so I called their technical support line. I then waited 42 minutes on hold to find out that if I download a single full-length movie that I will exceed my quota for the week. And that’s without downloading anything else!

If you have any other options to have high-speed Internet, exhaust them completely before you try satellite, especially from these guys. I have no other option besides dialup and I’m not going back.

Why We're Doomed: Apology to a Certain Few

Environment, Opinion, People No Responses »
Jan 212006

Okay, so I bit too hard on the fruit of bitter words in the prior post. I’m sorry and this is an apology (Exception to Disclaimer #1). This time I’ll try to avoid insulting anyone I know. In fact, I do know people are making changes in their lives that are big-time friendly to the environment.

My sister Christina dumped her car in 2001 and usually rides a bike to work. What was essentially a financial decision also had enormous personal and environmental impact, all of it positive. She’s lost over 100 pounds and transformed her life. But that’s her story, and one that I hope she’ll tell someday.

A friend named Kevin Wadsworth, to the best of my knowledge, has never driven a car, much less owned one.

I haven’t driven my car since November. So I guess I should apologize to myself as well. I’m less of a hypocrite today than I was yesterday.

How about you?

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Why (I Think) We're Doomed

Environment, Opinion, People 7 Responses »
Jan 192006

Take a hard look around. What do you see, really? A world consumed with itself, billions of people whose only principle motivation is to feed their faces and buy stuff to feather their nests. Damn the environmental and political torpedoes, it’s full speed ahead. Business as usual. The corporate makeover of our beautiful world continues apace and you are a pawn in the game. Responsible for the outcome even. And the outcome doesn’t look too good.

If you don’t believe me, take a hard look around.

I’ve been writing this blog and beating this drum now for over 4 years. In that time, not a single reader has weighed in with a rebuttal or “right on” acknowledgement that this assertion “we’re doomed” may very well be true. And if not one reader can even bring themself to endorse the notion that things may be worse than we realize, it is a sure bet that they aren’t doing anything to ameliorate the problem, like walking to work, recycling, nocycling, bicycling, or being a vegetarian at least one day a week.

Funny thing is, most people who read this blog are my friends and family. What does this mean, other than nobody, not even one’s mother, loves a gloom and doomer? It means most people, like you, can’t handle the truth, much less do anything to shape the outcome. Just like Jack Nicholson said to Tom Cruise.

At this point, I’ve learned not to care what people such as you think. I have learned that it doesn’t matter what others do or don’t do. It matters what I do. I can control that. Which means I can control what flies out of my fingers as I write this diatribe. And adjust accordingly.

What about you? Is your head buried in the superifical sand, or burrowed deeply up the eliminative canal where the sun doesn’t shine?

I thought so. Have a nice day being a wallflower AND an enviro-schmuck.

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Dumb People Playing Smart

Opinion, People 3 Responses »
Jan 162006

I’ve reconsidered the whole idea of smart people playing dumb. I think it may actually be largely the reverse. (Thanks for your comment, sharpweasel.) Nothing else explains the dark, circumspect and divided world as it stands today—or the utter wasteland of electronic interaction and communication beyond “work.”

Obviously dumb people have their hands full playing smart. So I am surely not going to goad you into doing anything. Especially something as benign as posting a comment to my blog. But if you really are so smart, why are you still reading this tripe?

Let me say it again: Dumb people like you are playing smart.

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Review: Hot Club of San Francisco

Music, Opinion, Unbelievable No Responses »
Jan 152006

Hamilton Performing Arts Center, January 14, 2006

The Hot Club of San Francisco quintet performs a lively style of acoustic stringed instrument music known as Gypsy Jazz, popularized in the 1930s by Django Reinhardt. I found the quintet’s performance to be at times a little too understated, yet always elegant and charming, with lots of gorgeous notes and arpeggios…coming mainly from the lead guitarist and the violinist. The two ‘rhythm guitar’ players were the pack mules of the show, laying down the trademark ‘chop-chop-chop’ rhythms to support the two soloists.

The group opened with a couple of tunes by Django and then accompanied several short black and white films from the early 1900s, many of which featured innovative animation techniques that have since become common in the film industry. A contemporary of Charlie Chaplin, Charles Powell was the writer/director/actor in several of the short films.

Good stuff, and kudos to HPAC for bringing HCSF to town. Peter Ostroushko is coming up, and I highly recommend taking in his show. Peter is the former musical director of A Prarie Home Companion, a great violinist and mandolinist, and a lively stage presence. He’ll be appearing with Arkady Yushin, classical guitarist, Friday, April 7th.

For more information about the Hot Club of San Francisco, visit their web site.

Smart People Playing Dumb

Opinion, People 4 Responses »
Jan 142006

Last night after a long dinnertime conversation with a few friends about the Internet and computers, it hit me: most “browsers” in the industrialized world are incredibly intelligent and doing their best to avoid using it for anything more than making a living and getting through the day. Too bad! The world needs shared intelligence and altruistic endeavors more than it needs you and me buying more stuff. Internet and computers can make one’s intelligence all the more valuable by focusing it into something actionable, meaningful—shared.

People all over the world read this blog. Yet, rarely does anyone leave a comment. (Unless I go on a tirade about something they happen to have a stake in, like a CEO who acts like Machiavelli.) What does that imply? I’m a piss-poor writer? Perhaps. That I have an axe to grind? Sure, lots! But it also implies that most people who visit are mere spectators. Watchers, not actors. Visitors don’t realize they are on stage too, and basically just chewing their cuds, grazing the fresh green grass of my little pasture of cyberreality. Hey, web statistics don’t lie.

Do I need to goad you into a reaction to draw something meaningful out of you in the way of dialogue, comments, suggestions, or your own take on things? Hmm, looks like it. Otherwise I won’t have any fun doing what I think I do best. And you’ll go right on chewing your cud.

So let me say it again. Smart people like you are playing dumb.

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Montana Snowbirds

Miscellany 2 Responses »
Jan 142006

Some people don’t spend their winters in the Bitterroot. They go to warmer climes so they don’t have to wear heavy winter clothes, put chains on their tires, or stoke their woodstoves. I personally know of Bitterrooters who winter in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Hawaii, and Florida. For example, the Kampa family, West Fork residents, recently sent some pictures from their Florida “getaway” vacation. Tell Jimmy Buffett hello from the Bitterroot Life!

Big Box Committee

Miscellany 1 Response »
Jan 132006

This is a forwarded email worth helping out on:

Greetings! It’s the New Year, and one of my resolutions is to get on with the fight to keep Ravalli County free of the Big Box plague. We can’t do anything about the Bird Flu, but this is a scourge we can fight! You are invited to a meeting at Chapter One Book Store on Monday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m., to form a group or coalition to get ordinances or regulations passed countywide, and in our incorporated cities. We’ll need plenty of >help, but we have many good models for action.Bring a friend, and think of groups with which we can partner to get this done. RUSS LAWRENCE

A Snowy Day for Bears to Sleep and Our Souls to Keep

Environment, Opinion 2 Responses »
Jan 102006

This morning I awoke to a story book Montana snow storm. 6″ on the deck, and more coming down. Pretty much a blizzard now and looking like it will continue snowing and raining throughout the day.

I came across this troubling article about hunting grizzlies. The article concludes with a quote from one guy who just can’t wait to get a permit: “I’d love to shoot one,” said Dick Hadlock, an Idaho hunter.

And yet, another article talks about how many grizzlies die each year due to poaching, nuisance reports that led to euthanasia, and getting hit by trains and cars. At least 25 grizzlies were killed last year in the Continental Divide Ecosystem.

There are no more than 600-750 grizzlies in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. But anticipating that these states will soon allow hunting griz by permit, thousands of people have already applied for grizzly hunting permits. Thousands! Who are these people? I happen to know a few of them: one’s a contractor/builder, another is a newspaper publisher. Except for their fixation with gunning down beautiful, powerful and rare animals, they could pass for normal. And that’s the scariest part.

Ralph Maughan does a great job of keeping up with what seems to be a constant stream of bad grizzly bear news.

A Snowy Day for Bears to Sleep and Our Souls to Keep

Environment, Opinion No Responses »
Jan 102006

This morning I awoke to a story book Montana snow storm. 6″ on the deck, and more coming down. Pretty much a blizzard now and looking like it will continue through the day.

So browsing this morning I came across another article about hunting grizzlies. The article concludes with a quote from one guy who just can’t wait to get a permit: “I’d love to shoot one,” said Dick Hadlock, an Idaho hunter.

(Well, Dick, at least some folks reading this would love to see a grizzly take you and all of your ilk clean slap out with one paw swipe. Right folks????)

And yet, another article talks about how many grizzlies die each year due to poaching, nuisance reports that led to euthanasia, and getting hit by trains and cars. At least 25 grizzlies were killed last year in the Continental Divide Ecosystem.

There are no more than 600-750 grizzlies in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. But anticipating that these states will soon allow hunting griz by permit, thousands of people have already applied for grizzly hunting permits. Thousands! Who are these people? I happen to know a few of them: one’s a contractor/builder, another is a newspaper publisher. Except for their fixation with gunning down beautiful, powerful and rare animals, they could pass for normal. And that’s the scariest part.

Ralph Maughan does a great job of keeping up with what seems to be a constant stream of bad grizzly bear news.

The New Adventure Travel

Environment, Opinion, People, Travels No Responses »
Jan 072006

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

- Marcel Proust

Why do some people climb metaphysical 8000 meter peaks? Because they’re there.

There’s much to be said for, and against, any type of travel courtesy of petroleum products. Travel for leisure and recreation helps people understand the larger world, different cultures, languages, and so forth. Travel for business helps people develop trust relationships that lead to new customers and more profits.

But that’s not the point of this post. What about traveling as a pure mental construct? There’s a lot of unexplored terrain and uncharted waters right inside that hardened skull of yours. And while there are plenty of roadside attractions in metaphysics, there’s not much of a roadmap to exploring and understanding one’s internal universe. Go ahead, admit it. You (we) don’t know ______.

Neither do I. That’s what makes the very idea of internal ‘travel’ as a metaphysical, cerebral, emotional jaunt so daunting. It’s like Mt. Everest before Tenzing Norgay, a Tibetan sherpa, led Edmund Hillary and his expedition to the top. Think about terra incognita. Cold. lonely. Blasted by wind, snow, ice, expansion, contraction, avalanches, rockslides, intense glaciation, seracs, crevasses. Now think about all of these natural forces within the folds of your own brain. They’re in there, except that they manifest as emotive elements: love, hate, bitterness, guilt, denial, repression, depression.

It’s no wonder we don’t have a travel and tourism industry that focuses on internal voyages. Nobody wants to go there, unless they have to. At least, until the outer world becomes tiresome or a physical limitation puts an end to seeing the world via one’s credit card.

There are enough big mountains to scale in one’s own world. You probably have a fair number of 8000 meter peaks in your life, heart and mind that have yet to be summitted. In fact you probably have walked in their shadows all your life and never known it. It could be the peaks have been blanketed by clouds, not letting you see them. So you assume that they are unreachable. Or at least I have. And I’m not going to wait until I’m really old and have the time to roam. I want to do it now while I’m agile enough mentally to summit my destinations.

So what happens when the sun shines and the peaks shed their cloaks, enticing you to consider what now looks to be a slam dunk journey to the top? Now that you can see the peak, is it any closer? No. The reality of internal navigation is just as illusory. Just because you can see where you want to go doesn’t make the journey easier.

Gearing up for internal travel. Hmm, what to pack. How about nothing. Everything you’ll need is provided, hardwired in fact. Your metaphysical sherpa is all loaded up and ready to depart from base camp any time you are. All you have to do is believe in the sherpa and follow in the steps he’s punching up the slope. Just keep your hand on the guide rope and trudge.

The air gets thinner with every meter of elevation. The heart works harder, lungs are working overtime to deliver oxygen to the bloodstream. Feels a lot like work. 99 out 100 people would keel over dead from the exertion or hypoxia or hypothermia after a few hours. Remember this is rarified air, even if it is figurative.

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Big fires are one thing, but big water is another...

Environment, Opinion, Travels, Unbelievable No Responses »
Jan 062006

One could easily assume this to be a picture of the devastating tsunami in Asia in late 2004. It’s actually the coast of Mississippi Louisiana, at the very height of Hurricane Katrina storm surge around 1 p.m., August 29, 2005. (Poster’s note: I was 1/2 mile from the beach in Gulfport for this frightful storm and glad I couldn’t see the waves coming ashore.)

Thanks to Susan Rayborn of Sumrall, Mississippi for providing this great shot! According to Susan the picture was reportedly taken by a nun from the grounds of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis. The image is one of a series captured by Don McClosky, manager of Entergy’s Michoud power plant in New Orleans. Mr. McClosky rode out the storm at the power plant, from which he snapped pictures of the storm surge.

More info here and here.

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Moolynaut's Magic

People 1 Response »
Jan 062006

Just a little correction to Jay’s December 30th Blog. I write nonfiction, not novels, and take pride in NOT stretching the truth into the never-never land of “creative nonfiction” aka “lying.” My newest book, “Moolynaut’s Magic” is on my agent’s desk. He likes it and it’s soon to go out to publishers. It’s a long process folks, but in this book Jon Turk steps back from the physical adventure and slips into the spiritual. Stay tuned and check out my website: www.jonturk.net.

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Kent M. Keith's Paradoxical Commandments

Opinion No Responses »
Jan 062006

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

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10 Ways To Be More Technology Savvy

Opinion, Tech No Responses »
Jan 052006

1. Become your own first line of technical support. Be your own teacher/instructor and use Google to answer even your silliest questions. (They’ve all been asked before!)

2. Learn how to build a personal or family web page, get it hosted and maintain it. (This can be as simple as setting up a simple blog page in 3 mouse clicks!)

3. Teach someone else how to build a similar page and maintain it.

4. Always, always, always promptly reply to electronic communication from others, and take the time to make sure you’ve answered any questions as best you can. You wouldn’t ignore someone in real life, right?

5. Find at least one way to use the Web to reduce traveling to and from your work.

6. Join the global electronic community: read and interact with the blogs and pages of your friends and family, good causes, good writers, etc. Don’t just be a Net consumer, give something back to the dialogue!

7. Learn keyboard shortcuts, such as “Alt-Tab” (Windows) to help you select between open applications.

8. Get a faster connection. If you are still on dialup, you aren’t exposed to the real worth of the Internet because you can’t access most of it! Take all the time you spend waiting for pages to load and give yourself an economic reason to upgrade. What is your time worth?

9. Don’t worry about what you don’t know! Nobody could possibly know it all when it comes to all the various facets of Internet-era computing, so don’t fret. Just focus on doing what you want to do and get the job done. (See question 1…)

10. Become more tech savvy by practicing and doing, not by delaying and avoiding learning processes and making lame excuses. (Almost every excuse is lame…unless you are a vegetable. And you aren’t a vegetable because you can read this.)

Hamilton Performing Arts Center Presents

Music No Responses »
Jan 042006

The Hamilton Performing Arts Center, located in Hamilton High School, is bringing some top performance talent to the Bitterroot again this year. The next concert, featuring the Hot Club of San Francisco, is Saturday, January 14th, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. For those of us who have yet to experience it, Hot Club music is gypsy-jazz all string innovative arrangements celebrating the music of Django Reinhart and Stephan Grappelli. The Hot Club of San Francisco website is www.hcsf.com.

Upcoming artists are Patrick Street on March 4th and Peter Ostroushko on April 7th.
If you would like to support performance art right here in the ‘root you can reach the Hamilton Performing Arts Center office at 375-6074.

Thanks to Charlie Mabbott for submitting this great info.

©1997-2011 Jay Toups :-)