Month: February 2008

responsibility

I look at the two most recent incidents where he injured or killed someone, once when he crossed the center line and hit a cyclist on the other side of the road, and more recently when he killed Tatsuo Nakata but was unaware he had struck someone until he got out of his car.

…His record of irresponsible driving extends back to before his time here in Seattle, but his record here is bad enough that if the state cannot lift his license, I ask you as leaders in his faith community to help him before someone else gets hurt.

An open letter to Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz’s community

[From Communications From Elsewhere > Blog Archive > An open letter to Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz’s community]

I’m sending one of my own, draft of which appears below:

Rabbi Richard Toban, Rebbitzen Sharon Toban, Rabbi Yehoshua Pinkus, Rabbi Yitzchak Goldman, Rebbitzen Sara Pesha Goldman, Rabbi Shragie Gestetner, Rebbitzen Rivka Gestetner, Rabbi Binyomin Edelstone, Rabbi Avrohom David, Rebbitzen Rooksie David

The Seattle Kollel
5305 52nd Ave. South
Seattle, WA 98118

My friends,

I write in response to the recent deferred sentence of your colleague and friend Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz. I ask you to look at the Rabbi’s history of automobile accidents and I beg you to please find a way to help him meet his rabbinical and family obligations without driving himself.

I look at the two most recent incidents where he injured or killed someone, once when he crossed the center line and hit a cyclist on the other side of the road, and more recently when he killed Tatsuo Nakata but was unaware he had struck someone until he got out of his car.

These are not the habits of a careful, responsible driver. Whatever Rabbi Schwartz’s gifts may be, attentive driving isn’t one of them. I find it hard to accept that his faith community can continue to enable this behavior. What are we to think when we learn that some of his congregants have gone so far as to buy him a car [http://tinyurl.com/3cxvts]. Does no one see a problem with this? How will you or the good people who contributed to this feel if someone else is injured or worse? Why take that chance?

His record of irresponsible driving extends back to before his time here in Seattle, but his record here is bad enough that if the state cannot lift his license, I ask you as leaders in his faith community to help him before someone else gets hurt.

You may not think it fair but as we would look to a family to help a troubled family member and would be disappointed if they refused, so we look to you to help Rabbi Schwartz.

Thanks for your time.

2008 SXSW sampler is available

Took me about 27 hours to get it.

…1001 Nights Orchestra-Neda Voda Nali Vala Neda has gone to get water.mp3 127-Khosrow-e-khubanThe king of the good.mp3 17 Hippies-Wann war das.mp3 43 Songs About 43 Presidencies-Andrew Jackson w Califone.mp3 A.A.

Took me about 27 hours to get it. Playlist is below the fold.

Continue reading “2008 SXSW sampler is available”

selling their birthright

It really comes down to that: there’s nothing Vested Interests won’t do to keep a grip on their power, and fools that would let them do it — would accept money in exchange for weakening their position — don’t have a clue.

…Company critics say the freelance attendees were there to crowd them out; Comcast says they were merely saving seats for employees.

It really comes down to that: there’s nothing Vested Interests won’t do to keep a grip on their power, and fools that would let them do it — would accept money in exchange for weakening their position — don’t have a clue.

Bob Fernandez, reporting for The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Comcast Corp. admitted yesterday that it paid people to attend a government hearing. Company critics say the freelance attendees were there to crowd them out; Comcast says they were merely saving seats for employees.

Rat bastards.

★ [From Comcast Paid People Off the Street to Attend FCC Hearing]

why bashing wingnuts makes sense

David Vitter steps to the Senate floor fresh from banging a hooker to tell me that marriage is the most important institution EVAR…. And this clown handles religious affairs for a moral scold who’s responsible for hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.

It’s the hypocrisy, stupid.

And the point is that “conservatives” and religious nutjobs far more satisfying targets. David Vitter steps to the Senate floor fresh from banging a hooker to tell me that marriage is the most important institution EVAR. Ted Haggard says gays are bad then runs off to schtup (sp?) a male escort. And this clown handles religious affairs for a moral scold who’s responsible for hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. Pardon my delight in their destruction.

[From nancynall.com » Blog Archive » Copycat.]

quote of the day

They grasped the central political fact that little can be achieved in Washington unless or until the public is energized and mobilized to push for it; the status quo is simply too powerful…. For purposes of practical electoral strategy as well as high-minded moral aspiration, they never tired of reminding the nation of its founding principles — most fundamentally, that all men are created equal.

Neither John F. Kennedy nor his brother Robert were idealists. They were realists who understood the importance of idealism in the service of realism. They grasped the central political fact that little can be achieved in Washington unless or until the public is energized and mobilized to push for it; the status quo is simply too powerful. The ideals they enunciated helped mobilized the nation politically. That mobilization contributed to the subsequent passage of civil rights and voting rights laws, Medicare, and environmental protection. For purposes of practical electoral strategy as well as high-minded moral aspiration, they never tired of reminding the nation of its founding principles — most fundamentally, that all men are created equal. [From 2008 and 1968]

poles apart

But when you say things like “friends can disagree” you have to take into account who you are calling a friend…. As George Washington had it, “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.”

Two different takes on one event. One is from a distance — its author didn’t know the man. The other counted him a friend.

William F. Buckley, dead

Rick Perlstein

It’s consider mature and intellectual to engage one’s ideological opponents. But when you say things like “friends can disagree” you have to take into account who you are calling a friend. There are some things mature and intellectual people should not tolerate.

As George Washington had it, “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.”

inventory

I’m not sure I can use all of it, as I had never heard of the E4 process, which the Ektachrome IR film wants (will it yield anything in Diafine?)

…I have never had them with film in them: I have a bag of empty one someone gave me, but this is a first.


inventory
Originally uploaded by your mistakes are your style.

A bit of a windfall today. Not sure what I can expect from all this, some of it is over 30 years old. And I hadn’t heard of some of these either. I’m not sure I can use all of it, as I had never heard of the E4 process, which the Ektachrome IR film wants (will it yield anything in Diafine?) The Panatomic-X is tempting, but rated at 32 means I need to find the right situations for it. There was even a bog-standard roll of TMax 100 in there. The B&W IR films will get tested, at least.

And the little cans are very cool. I have never had them with film in them: I have a bag of empty one someone gave me, but this is a first. And now to see if I can find out what’s in that big rusty tin.


The contents of the tin is some kind of rollfilm, wider than 120. There’s quite a bit of it. I snipped off a bit (it was still in the factory packaging but it looks like, you know, film. It’s 2.75 inches or 70cm mm wide, and really really long. I would guess 100 feet as it seems the right size for a daylight loader.

harbingers

We’re not competing with telecom providers, but the volume of data we need to move around the world has grown to the point where in some cases we’ve exceeded the ability traditional players can offer.

…A handful of companies — Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, Google, KDDI Corporation, Pacnet and SingTel — (well, more accurately, their customers) have saturated the network bandwidth provided by companies whose sole purpose is to provide network bandwidth.

Google, with some other players, is laying a transoceanic cable for data.

We’re not competing with telecom providers, but the volume of data we need to move around the world has grown to the point where in some cases we’ve exceeded the ability traditional players can offer. [From About the Unity bandwidth consortium]

Consider that a moment. A handful of companies — Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, Google, KDDI Corporation, Pacnet and SingTel — (well, more accurately, their customers) have saturated the network bandwidth provided by companies whose sole purpose is to provide network bandwidth.