Where am I now?
May 29, 2008If you’re seeing this, you’re seeing the blog in its new home. Which is still ron.ozrock.net/blog, of course.
So did it move, or didn’t it? It’s like, a philosophical question, or something.
Liberty and security in NYC
May 27, 2008We took Oz to NYC over the long weekend, stayed in midtown, and did tourist things with him — went to the Museum of Modern Art, Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, 
and even the Statue of Liberty. Theresa and I have both of course been there for both business and recreation plenty of times (hey, the Albany area is really just NYC’s most northern ‘burb), but this was the first true tourist trip to show Oz.
He actually liked MoMA the best, interestingly. As I’ve noted (see High Cultcha), we went through a little period of being interested in artists and their works, and so (given the slightly prodigious memory) his recollection and recognition of art works and artist from the modern period is probably at least as good as mine. (For example: He’s probably slightly better than I am at judging who the artist is when presented with a previously-unseen-by-him work by an artist he knows.)
But the most bizarre part of the trip for me was going to see the Statue of Liberty (which I had never done before). Not interesting so much because of the statue, but because of the crazy amount of security screening we needed to go through. So, after a very long wait in a very long line waiting to get on the Liberty Island ferry, we went through airplane-level security — pockets emptied, bags searched, belts, off, and the whole thing. Seemed a bit excessive, but I guess we’re all just were a little numb from doing it for air travel these days. So, onto the ferry, over to Liberty Island.
We have passes to get into the pedestal (no tourists up into the actual statue body any more), and sure enough, 
another long line, ending in another airport-level security check, but notched up a bit more — the walk-through scanners have the air blasts that blow all over your clothes to expose hidden things, you can’t bring any drinks along (even bottled water), and at this stage, my over-the shoulder sling pack is deemed too big, and so I’m sent to the lockers to stow it before we get in.
When I get to the lockers, it’s not some old-fashioned key or combination lock thing, but the new high-tech gadget where you go to a screen and have them scan your fingerprint for ID to get your stuff out of the locker when you leave. No kidding. So I’m totally not happy with this. I have, to the best of my knowledge, managed to keep my fingerprints “out of the system” for this long — no arrests or high-security jobs that would require fingerprinting — and although I’m not actually entering my name along with it, I’m still pretty displeased with this. So, I intentionally smudge and change fingers in the middle of the process, and sure enough, after two full misfires, I’m given the option to manually enter a PIN code instead of using the biometrics.* I happily do this, and we’re finally on our way in, only, oh, two hours delayed by the whole thing.
I feel so much safer now.
* If you are an agent of the Department of Homeland Security, let me say: “I am just kidding about this. I would never do anything to in any way circumvent or undermine the systems that have put in place to protect our nation and its landmarks against terrorist activities.”
Password
May 22, 2008We played the Password home game from 1963 with friends the other night.
In the cartoon on the box, George is definitely drunk.
I don’t think you can do that anymore.
Put it on the box, I mean.
2 down, 48 to go — with an ugly chaser
May 17, 2008OK, you’ve heard that the California Supremes have ruled that you can’t ban gay marriage under the CA state constitution, making California the second state to have real, no second-tier “civil union” marriage for gay people. And the Governator, no big supporter of gay marriage, has said he won’t be opposing the ruling, but fully backing it as the law of the land. So good for California, and good for Arnold.
Of course, the down side is that this Ruling May Revive Gay Marriage as Issue in a presidential campaign already destined to be full of bigotry and half spoken fears and resentments; one where ‘Publican operatives will go out spreading vicious racial hatred that faux-maverick McCain can publicly condemn while simultaneously benefiting from it. It’s gonna be ugly no matter what; and the amplification of the gay marriage issue is only going to turn the hatred knob up to 11.
I’m still in favor of the ruling. But I am dreading where the fall campaign is likely to go.
Buridan’s ass’ mom
May 16, 2008Background: We’re often on Oz about not drinking enough. He doesn’t like a big variety of drinks, and now that it’s getting warmer again, we have to work a bit against his getting dehydrated (or as he says, in that joke by an 8-year-old way, “de-hyphenated”).
So: Recently, I was having a little moment with Oz where I was telling him about Buridan’s ass (because, you know, he’s a kid, and sometimes just can’t decide, and as his dad, I’m supposed to use the wisdom of the ages to help him flourish, or whatever). Turns out, he knew about it from somewhere (maybe me, I’m old and forgetful now), in the version where the ass is between water on the one side and food on the other. So he says, “Too bad the donkey’s mom wasn’t there!” I asked why that was, and he said “because she would tell him: drink, drink, drink!”
The moral of Buridan’s ass then is apparently not “sometimes you just have to pick, even if there’s no good reason to prefer one over the other”, but “always bring your mom, because she’ll know what to do”.
(Yeah, it’s been forever. Tough end-of-Spring period. But the end is here.)
Yo
March 30, 2008I was at a social gathering last night where it seems I was they only one who’d caught a whiff of the “Is ‘yo’ the the gender-neutral pronoun?” talk that’s swirling around in popular linguistics, so I point to the issue at Language Log here: Yo. (Oh, come on; it was a room of literate and geeky people — somebody else might have heard about it.)
As I’ve noted before (in the “Ron’s Recently Viewed and Commented News and Links” list to the right), I think we already have a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun in American English: it’s “they”. We always use it in actual speech when we don’t know the gender of the person already: “Somebody drove my car, and they left the mirrors all screwed up.”
Too old to rock ‘n roll, too young to die
March 30, 2008I’ve been hearing a bit lately from some old band-mates from the mid-late 20th century, which has been pretty cool. In honor of that, I share this video, which captures some small sliver of the joy of playing in a band.
You know the old chestnut: What do you call a somebody who hangs out with musicians? A drummer.
NPR or The Onion?
March 22, 2008I subscribe to podcasts and listen in the car or in bed at night. Two that I get regularly are “The Onion Radio News” (from the awesome people at The Onion) and “NPR: Story of the Day”. What’s scary is that there are way too many times when I can’t tell from the title which is which. Case in point: A recent story with the title “Alabama Beer Drinkers Fight for Stronger Brews”. Onion or NPR?
NPR.
There’s a party game in there somewhere.
That’s a good dog
March 20, 2008Totally awesome video of a big walking “dog” robot with some serious balance and recovery abilities; the Boston Dynamics “Big Dog”.
UPDATE: Here’s the Big Dog home page.
Apparitions of Jesus
March 13, 2008
Just for fun, my favorite apparition of Jesus story/image ever: Jesus image appears on dog anus.
Want more? How about Jesus appears in Romanian wardrobe, Woman feels blessed that image of Jesus appears in her tree, Jesus Appears in Dental X-Ray, Jesus Appears On CarWindscreen, Jesus appears in water stain on shower wall, Jesus appears in Samsung Flash memory chip, Jesus Appears On Pancake, Jesus appears in plant root, Jesus Appears on Kitchen Cabinet.
He’s everywhere.