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Sunday, April 13, 2003

a new dimension   God Commands Bush To Conquer Syria   “We believe there are chemical weapons in Syria.”   (fadeout: The Twilight Zone theme) 10:27:08 PM    comment []

5:36:06 PM    comment []

Here I spent an afternoon, drinking free Merlot and appreciating the sculpture and paintings of Wayne Trapp. I’ve known him since the 60s, but he is more inclined than I to admit that. A gentleman looked at one of his paintings and told him it looked like he enjoyed painting. He said, “Yes, I’m a lucky man.”   I got his permission to photograph his work, but the gatekeepers of the gallery were a little perturbed, in a gentle way, so I quit. Wayne wanted a cigarette, so I went with him to a corridor where he smoked and I chewed a piece of Nicorette™. We flashed back to Viet Nam, the last time it got so crazy in America. He, like I, is eyeing Canada as the Shrubsters eye Syria.   Back inside, we met John Rosenthal, occasional NPR commentator and excellent photographer who also had a piece at Tyndall Galleries. An afternoon well spent.   Wayne got busted by the mall police for illegal ignition of tobacco products in their jurisdiction. When that happened, we moved to a cranny behind the gallery, where he lit another cigarette. He said he’s not a war artist, but is tremendously upset by the direction the country is heading. I suggested that he do a piece about Silence, since that is the ultimate tool of repression. Later on, back at the opening, I noticed that one of his paintings was entitled Shadows of Silence. “There it is,” I told him, “that’s your war piece.”   4:56:35 PM    comment []

Baghdad Cam 4:10am EDT (from CBS News) Why are almost all the cars white? Where are these people going? 4:16:47 AM    comment []

Officials break self-imposed 3-week silence and begin "saying" again. The battle lines that characterized the administration's internal debate on Iraq before the war -- often between the Pentagon and State Department -- are reemerging, officials said. I have some trouble with "reemerging". The prefix "re-" has an unholy valence which causes it to bond into unexpected mispronunciations, such as "reemer-ging". I'm accustomed to the rules of syntax and grammar, but my inner ear always forces me to pause on words where "re" is fused without a hyphen condom. This is a losing battle, I'll tolerate the pauses. 3:48:31 AM    comment []

Jake Rosenfeld suggests that Bill Clinton, not Jay Garner, is the best choice for the US-subsidized position of Iraqi Viceroy. 3:43:12 AM    comment []

In the Jungle The Mighty Jungle 3:05:49 AM    comment []

There's something missing here, maybe The Raven can show you what it is. By the way, when you try to save pictures from other sites and only have the choice to save it as "untitled" and as a bitmap, do not despair. Your temp file directory is clogged. Here's your Roto-Rooter: click on "Tools", "Internet Options", and look at the second button under "Temporary Internet Files", the one labeled "Delete Files". Click it and wait for the hourglass to go away, can be as long as 10 minutes if you don't do this regularly. Close Inrenet Explorer and re-open. Now you can save pictures in their original format with the original title. And don't forget to floss. 2:13:22 AM    comment []

Not much cooking this weekend. Lowes Foods has London Broil for $1.79 a pound and it would be a perfect time to make jerky or biltong, but I have spring fever. Liz and I went table shopping today. She got a table for her porch, which she plans to use for doing the NYT crossword puzzle. I want one for my porch too, so I can do 802.11b surfing and photograph birds at the feeders, but I held off today because only one table and set of chairs would fit into my 98 black Civic hatchback. Every Saturday shopping spree must include an excuse to stop for a couple of beers, but we had to stop to unload the table before we earned the right this time. That was fairly easy. The tough part was fitting it and the chairs into my car at all. It was like assembling a heavy jigsaw puzzle. Though we had checked out Pier 1, the best deal came from Lowes, the home store, not the grocery. There was a Sabrett hot dog cart outside and I was really tempted, but by the time the table and chairs were in the car I just wanted a beer. So we unloaded the table and headed up 15-501 to Lowes the food store, not the home store. We both picked up a pound of what Lowes calls "market bacon", a cut above the watery packaged stuff. I picked up a couple catfish filets and noticed they had fresh shad roe, Carolina cavair - but didn't get any. Got some green beans too and cremini mushrooms. And lots and lots of cat food for the girls. Then, at last, it was time for a beer. Temperatures in the mid-70s after a dismal week, the air-conditioning at Michael's was welcome. I ordered an extra and watched the Masters on TV while Liz slipped out to True Value for an umbrella for her table. She also got a watering can for her porch plants, which will soon include 3 plumerias she ordered from QVC the other night. Plied by a third beer, she confessed that she had also ordered 3 plumerias for me. So I ended up cooking nothing today. 1:25:42 AM    comment []