American Idol

I have Sirius radio and one of the "benefits" of that is the ability to listen to Howard Stern. I tuned in last fall while driving to Durham and that has been the last time. I listened to him a few times when he was with the network L.A. radio station and, although not to my taste, I could appreciate his attraction to many. I still understand the attraction he has on cable. The term "arrested development" comes to mind. The show is audio porn and not particularly good at that.

Recently Mr. Stern (I say with my best librarian tone) thought how it would be "funny as hell" for the worst contestant, Sanjaya Malakar, to win the contest. Stern urged his fans to respond by voting for Sanjaya. Their vote may be making a difference because Sanjaya has been able to remain in contention to the shock and dismay of the judges and many of the viewers.

Or, his staying power might be partly attributed to his support from other Indian-Americans or even from India. But there have been other minorities in past shows that undoubtedly got votes based on ethnicity but not sufficiently large to truly sway the outcome. Perhaps he has something of an Michael Jackson aura for many young fans that defies the need for talent.

In the past we have seen other contestants briefly prevail despite lack of talent, on this show and others such as Dancing With The Stars (remember Master P). To persevere for more then a two or three episodes in the face of such poor performance becomes a travesty.

Possibly American Idol may have seen its last season if Sanjaya wins. I like Sanjaya as a person but he is clearly out of his league and seriously short of real talent. Simon Cowell has threatened to quit the show if Sanjaya wins. Viewers may become disenchanted. Even if Sanjaya eventually goes, American Idol may need to revamp its voting system if he continues much longer.

There is no question in my mind that Howard Stern has a large fan base capable of responding to his juvenile behavior. Never mind that it crushes the hopes of other more genuinely talented people and ruins the viewing entertainment of the audience. Sure, American Idol has its problems, Simon Cowel for example, sometimes displays that "honesty" I've heard people use as an excuse for insensitive bashing of others - "I'm just being honest."

And Howard Stern? He is like those that impose wanton destruction on others - unprovoked gratuitous maliciousness. Regardless how it develops with Sanjaya, I have a vote. Sirius wants me to renew my subscription. I vote not to. True, I'll miss out on Martha Stewart's program but in life you must make tough choices, sorry Martha.

Shoot, Ready, Aim - Politics As Usual

Its disheartening (but predictable) to see the debate on global warming become so politicized. If you're republican, global warming, and especially man made global warming, is a myth. If you're a democrat its real and imminent. Simplistic perhaps but too real.

It would be refreshing to see politicians simply assume a bipartisan, objective approach given the potential threat. However, as I think about it, I have no idea how they would do that. We have seen the results of the 9/11 commission. What other methods could be used that wouldn't dissolve into self-interested aggrandizement?

I believe we had better take global warming seriously but legislating against light bulbs is not going to solve much of anything. A coherent, comprehensive and scientifically based methodology that incorporates socio-economic deliberation would be too sane.

Isn't it amazing how politicians can be so ignorant while professing to have all the answers? What is even more ignorant is that we look to them for leadership. MMMMM, maybe Hillary can dig us out of this mess.

Authorized Residents?

Five deer were sighted wandering through our backyard the other night. I had conjectured they were using our yard as a trail when I was recently driving on a nearby street, saw them crossing in front of me and figured from their path that they were going by our house.

This concerns me because we live in a gated community and I saw no resident stickers on their antlers. We don't live in the backwoods like a fellow we know. For him raccoons and other varmints are common.

How are we going to grow tomatoes if any type of wildlife riff raff can wander through!?

There are only 45 States

You've got ten minutes to name all 50 states (correctly spelled. I got 45 and drew blanks with 3 minutes to go - and at times I knew there had to be one in the geographic hole in my head but thats the trouble with holes in the head. Be ready to start as soon as you click on the link.

Caringbridge

A resident in St. James wrote this in our local newsletter:

"CaringBridge is a wonderfully non-invasive way of maintaining contact and support during times of illness, injury, hospitalization, or any other form of crisis. "It is a non-profit organization which offers free, easy-to-create web sites that help connect family and friends when they need it most."

I learned about it very recently when a friend from Vermont was hospitalized in Boston for a very serious surgery and lengthy hospital stay. Rather than each of his friends and family calling daily, CaringBridge set up a web site in which his wife can report his daily progress to anyone who goes to the web site. Additionally, family and friends can write messages of caring and support back for her to read at the hospital in down moments. It is a much easier way for her to keep all friends and family informed daily without having to email or call each of them individually, and it is wonderfully supportive for her to read, in her own time, daily messages from people who care but do not want to disturb her. Perhaps equally important is the fact that it is a much more direct and reliable source of information than word of mouth from friend to friend.

Our next door neighbor recently died of cancer and I recall how we and our neighbors wrestled over how to stay in touch with his family but did not want to be intrusive through frequent visits and phone calls. A site like Caringbridge would have helped. I think it is a great idea and suggest all make a note of it for future reference.

Drambuie Returns Home

Saturday, Jason and me brought Drambuie back to St. James. The trip was uneventful and at times rather monotonous but the pass through Wilmington is kind of fun since we pass the battleship USS North Carolina (now a local tourist attraction).



The battleship is sited directly across the Cape Fear river from downtown Wilmington. This picture shows the city waterfront viewed from beneath the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.



The Wilmington Port is located a mile or two further downriver. I recall just a few years ago the excitement in the California Bay Area when some new container cranes (also known as portainers) were shipped into the bay from Japan. There was some suspense involved as to whether they would fit under the Golden Gate Bridge. They did.

Last month there was a good deal of interest here in the Wilmington area when four new container cranes arrived from China - they may have not had to go under the Golden Gate but there was drama involved in their arrival. The ship carrying the cranes was manunvering too offload the cranes when it came too close to a dredge anchored on the opposite shore. All four of the cranes struck the bardge. I've heard that damges were several million dollars but question that since they are scheudled to be in service by April 1st.

The four blue cranes in the foreground are the new arrivals. This link provides information on the cranes and a photo of the cranes being shipped up the river.

New Orleans #1

Next month I plan to go to New Orleans with a group from our church, St. Phillips Episcopal. I'm going to blog my experience of the journey. Therefore, I'll start with the meeting I attended last week.

I had heard and already planned to go on this trip before the intro meeting last week. St. Phillips has done this in prior years so I'll be going with some experienced people. Volunteers going to New Orleans are primarily engaged in demolition at this stage. As I understand, they are still trying to sort out what the requirements will be for rebuilding, e.g. elevation, code standards, etc.

We will go as a group of twelve, renting a van and taking two days there and two days back. We will be in New Orleans for five days. I'll have to shoulder some cost such as a motel room for one day (I'll share with another and he will pay the other day) and, although meals will be prepared where we stay, we plan to eat out 2-3 times to give ourselves a break and to support the local economy.

To prepare for the trip I went to the county health department and got a tetanus shot to be sure I was recent and a Hepatitis A vaccine. The Hep A is required 4 weeks prior to need and really consist of two shots, the first one which I got yesterday and a second (permanent) shot in six months.

There will be one more meeting at the end of the month to firm up on some of the details and hopefully meet everyone going. The volunteer work is being coordinated the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and their website details information and forms needed to participate. We will be staying at Chapel House which you can see has luxuriant cots to sleep on.

The Impossible Quiz Deluxe

Its a very big file and takes a long while to download I(suggest you go wash your dogs while waiting - or your neighbor's dogs if you don't have any) but this quiz is CHALLENGING with, as the author says, some insane, hard questions. Many are amusing and at times logic will prevail, other times, just guess. I've already spent way too much of my retirement on this thing so decided to inflict it on others.

Drambuie Hauled Away

Last Thursday Jason and I took Drambuie to Bennett Brothers Boatyard to have her hauled. Although the temperature was around 60 degrees it was still chilly with a NE wind blowing 15-20 knots off the water (water temp was 55 deg.). The trip was uneventful but long since we fought the current the entire trip plus wind against us two-thirds of the way. Last year the trip took four hours, this time, six.

The most fun was getting the Isabel Holmes Bridge to open during rush hour. The bridge is one of two which cross the Cape Fear from Wilmington to points south including Myrtle Beach. The first picture shows Drambuie waiting to be hauled with the bridge in the background. Okay, I have to admit, even with rush hour traffic I doubt we stopped more then 20-30 vehicles.


The boat wasn't actually hauled until Monday due to backlog at the boatyard. The local currents forced the haul outs to be tightly scheduled to the tide and sometimes have a narrow window. I drove the boat to the lift and other then playing a little ping-pong off the pilings it went smoothly. Since they wanted to haul two boats during slack they had me move up before the current fully stopped so that plus a quartering wind made it a little challenging. It wasn't graceful but my litany has become "no one hurt, nothing broken = good docking."


Shortly after haul out she was pressure washed and I was surprised and pleased to see that the bottom paint was still in very good condition. The only area encrusted was the propeller and shaft.


If all goes according to plan, she'll get a paint job on her bottom and be put back in the water on Thursday. If done early Thursday we will bring here back home that same day.

Conservative, Liberal or Transgender?

If you've wondered where you fall on the political spectrum, especially compared to some famous politicos, check out this website Answer the 25 questions to find out where you fall on the political spectrum.

I've long considered myself a centrist and that is exactly what I scored, Colon Powell and I have something in common. What I found interesting is the difficulty in answering some questions which showed how I'd like to have my cake and eat it too - lower taxes but don't cut programs. All the politicians like to promise that but you know its really impossible, after all, they'd have to reduce government to do that.

The quiz doesn't tell you if you're transgender, I just threw that in to catch your interest.