PSoTD

At the end of next week I'm going to transfer this domain to Cup 'O Joe so he can use it to increase his blog's visibility with the links to this domain. I'm not receiving any remuneration for this transfer, it's just the final deed of PSoTD.com in promoting another blogger's efforts.

This blog's archives will still be online, just not under the domain. However, if you go to psotd.powerblogs.com, you'll see it as is, if, for whatever reason, you felt you wanted to do so.

Thanks!

It's hard to believe that I've been blogging in some manner or another since February of 2003. If I bother to go through the archives - and there's a lot there so it would become a bother very shortly - I suspect it would become clear to me that I have blogged a bell curve, somewhat in quantity but definitely in quality. It was probably in 2006 and early 2007 that I did what I consider my best blogging, at least for current interest and amount of time spent considering a post, and it's been a slow but constant retreat from that point for me since.

Blogs are creations, and everyone gets tired of their creation at some point, and wishes to begin anew in creativity. Sign me up for that, but not with a blog. On to something else. Wish me luck, and perhaps you'll see something I do someday, although I have no idea of how or where, and only a belief in what. But I have faith in randomness, and find hope in chance, which gives rise to a lifelong general philosophy: You just never know! ;)

Some blogs end with a bang, some end with a whisper. This blog is the latter. Thanks for anytime you stopped by - and enjoy your days and nights!

I don't know if this is the end-all and say-all of the complete history of luminarias as a holiday tradition, but at least it's SOME history...

For three centuries, the Spanish villages along the Rio Grande have been displaying their unique Christmas Lanterns or ‘Luminarias’. This unique custom, which originated in the Rio Grande Valley, now appears in many parts of the world. The custom was introduced in the Novato area in 1962 by an Air Force family which had been stationed in the Rio Grande area. Since 1968, luminarias have become an annual event in the San Marin area and throughout Novato.

When the little lights that burn at Christmas are placed along roads, walks, and rooftops, the sight is beautiful. The idea was to symbolically light the way for Joseph, Mary, and the Christ Child. In the Rio Grande Valley, luminarias are also set out for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, December 12, or for a great family fiesta. In the cities and suburban areas, luminarias are sometimes used to designate the home where a grand party is given.

The first luminarias were bonfires of crisscrossed pinyon boughs built in three-foot-high squares. When colored wrapping paper was brought from the Orient, the first small paper lantern was made. The idea of burning a light or lantern was borrowed from Spain and Old Mexico, where these were used on festive occasions. Instead of hanging the fragile new lanterns from trees or on wires, they were placed on the ground, patio, walls, rooftops, and along pathways as shown in the photograph above.

In the 1820’s, Yankee traders brought brown paper sacks down the Santa Fe Trail. This made the candle-sack luminarias accessible to all, and this manner of making luminarias has never been improved. The glow of the candles through the brown paper sacks on a dark night in Novato, multiplied by the thousands, is an awesome sight. Traditionally, these are lit at sundown on Christmas Eve after most other lights in and around the home have been extinguished. The warm glow on one of the darkest and longest nights of the year continues until the candles burn out, having done their job of putting extra holiday season joy in your heart.

Human stampedes always are.

New York's Daily News published the grim details this morning of a worked at a Wal-Mart store on Long Island who was stampeded by the crowd rushing in just before dawn. Also, a trampled woman miscarried.

From the paper's Web site:

"Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life. 'They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. 'People were still coming through.'

Only a few stopped. 'They're savages,' said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. 'It's sad. It's terrible.'"

Interesting.

Gotta like a guy who can apologize.

President-elect Barack Obama called Nancy Reagan on Friday to apologize for a remark about seances he made during his first news conference earlier in the day.

President-elect Barack Obama's spokeswoman says he apologized to Nancy Reagan for "offhanded remark."

When a reporter asked Obama if he had spoken with any ex-presidents since his election on Tuesday, he responded that he had spoken to all former presidents "that are living."

"I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances," he said.

Nancy Reagan, wife of 40th President Ronald Reagan, was derided in 1988 when his former chief of staff Donald Regan revealed in a book that the first lady had consulted an astrologer to determine the president's schedule.

Obama apologized to Reagan "for the careless and offhanded remark," Obama transition team spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. Video Watch Obama make the seance remark »

"The president-elect expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share and they had a warm conversation," Cutter said.

With Love

I know it's all in jest, but I can't help it, I must be an old fogie now. I just can't get on board with any request that ends with ", bitches!". It's a big turnoff to me.

I guess nothing else is working for them.

McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said Saturday that an Obama presidency combined with Democratic control of Congress would lead to bigger government.

“Now they do this in other countries where the people are not free -- government as part of the family, taking care of us, making decisions for us,” she said during a rally in Sioux City, Iowa. “I don’t know what to think of having in my family Uncle Barney Frank or others to make decisions for me.”

Philadelphia Flyers still winless since Mooselina dropped the puck for their opening game.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Several lineup changes couldn't help the Flyers find their way in San Jose last night.

The Flyers, despite two goals from Danny Briere, blew a 3-1 lead and dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to the San Jose Sharks before a sellout crowd of 17,496 at the HP Pavilion.

In the overtime, Dan Boyle scored from in close with 1:25 gone as the Sharks improved to 5-1.

The Flyers remain winless (0-3-2). They played with more vigor than during Thursday's 5-2 loss against Colorado. But they were also outshot, 45-17, by the Sharks, who played the night before in Anaheim.

First Dude Todd Palin and Republican senator Norm Coleman at a rally in Minnesota.

Memo to the Right Wing Wacko Concern Trolls for Joe the Plumber!

Halsey Frost has owned his own company "Frostworks",since this marriage announcement in the NY Times in 1992 so he chooses to not give himself insurance. He also employed his wife as "bookkeeper and operations management" prior to her recent 2007 hire at the "medical publishing firm". As her employer, he apparently denied her health insurance as well.

His company, Frostworks, is located at 3701 E BALTIMORE ST. A building that was purchased for $160,000 in 1999. The buildings owner is listed as DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIAL DESIGN CENTER, LLC whose mailing address is listed as 104 S Collington Ave which is the Frost's home. The commercial property he owns is also listed as the business address for another company called Reillys Designs which leads to the question of whether rental income is included in the above mentioned salary total

The current market value of their improved 3,040 SF home at 104 S Collington Ave is unknown but 113 S COLLINGTON AVE, also an end unit, sold for $485,000 this past March and it was only 2,060 SF. A photo taken in the family's kitchen shows what appears to be a recent remodeling job with granite counter tops and glass front cabinets

I sure gotta admire your respect for a citizen's privacy.

And now it's time for another episode of the right wing wackos favorite gameshow .... The Guilt By Association Game!

Today's password is "David Ifshin".

Ifshin, you see, had been a vehement anti-Vietnam radical. He had even gone to Hanoi at the height at the war and given a speech denouncing the American pilots dropping bombs on North Vietnamese civilians as “war criminals.” The speech was broadcast repeatedly in the Hanoi Hilton, where McCain was being held captive. More than a few people thought Ifshin was guilty of treason.

Ooohh ... scary bad evil America hater commie!! Kill him!! Kill him!!!

Well actually, he's already dead. But wonder whose close friend he was?

Banished from Right Wing Crazy World!

So, I have been effectively fatwahed (is that how you spell it?) by the conservative movement, and the magazine that my father founded must now distance itself from me. But then, conservatives have always had a bit of trouble with the concept of diversity. The GOP likes to say it’s a big-tent. Looks more like a yurt to me.

While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of “conservative” government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.

So, to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me.

Either I didn't know or didn't remember...

Those who like to honor Columbus would have us believe that bringing up the darker side of the explorer is an attempt to blow the man's memory off course.

But these facts of genocide and land theft are not part of a revisionist, false history. In his own words spelled, out in his personal diary, Columbus acknowledged his scheme to subjugate the Taino Indians: "I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men, and govern them as I pleased."

Columbus' men rounded up 1,500 people and selected 500 as slaves to be shipped off to Spain. Two hundred died en route. This did not deter Columbus, who, according to historian Howard Zinn, later wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."

Some defenders of Columbus fall back on the rationale that he was just a man of his time, with the prejudices that prevailed. But one of Columbus' own contemporaries, Bartoleme de las Casas, a Spanish colonist turned priest, spent his last years trying to wash the indigenous blood from his hands by calling for an end to the slave trade.

John McCain is going to find out this country is better than he thinks it is. I hope.

Here's a game that you can spend quite a bit of time trying to master.

And then, sometimes, never get around to it. Here's a bit of catchup:

Anyone out there use MailList King? I've had this saved for over a year for a client that was curious but eventually decided not to run their email list through their own servers. I'm still curious.

Quantcast has an interesting review based on traffic of the top visited sites on the Web.

One more web-based question - anyone have any experience using Blue Archer?

I have three or four "newspapers of the world" web sites bookmarked, but haven't settled on one yet as a favorite. Maybe onlinenewspapers.com.

Sometimes Google Trends tells you more than you want to know about the depth of the online public. Spanx underwear?

At some point I was planning to write about The Livermore Earthquake of 1980, since I experienced it and it was quite a sensory experience, but I haven't gotten around to it and not sure I will, other than to say that it scared the hell out of my Grandma.

I dunno, could it be The Naked Clown Calendar?

My wife and I enjoyed this new series last year until its momentum was stopped by the writer's strike. Tonight is the season premier, hopefully the writing and the story lines are as compelling as last year and we look forward to the interesting acting approach Damian Lewis gives to cop Charlie Crews.

Oh, and of course, Sarah Shahi!

Head Like A Kite

Time to Jumble!

New Metallica. I can't say that I understand this video but it sounds pretty cool!

My first exposure to Metallica was their infamous City Island concert (which I think ended concerts on City Island). The Cult opened for them promoting their Sonic Temple CD (which was their best CD ever).

Metallica had just released "And Justice For All". There was a giant model of "Lady Justice" with her scales and a couple of very large naked boobs on the stage. They'd played just about everything off Justice, and more importantly off Master of Puppets. It was a rainy twilight and thousands of black T-Shirts pumped their fists in the air. Surreal. I was hooked.

Fkkk the Black Album. Give me Master of Puppets! The new CD is a welcome throwback.

Not my favorite song off this record but not bad.

In case you need to know what time it is in, for example, Kiritimati.

I don't plan to take any such photos.

Beyond belief, it's starting to become fashionable to visit places for the enjoyment of watching the local menfolk brandish deadly weapons. In Italy, soldiers in body armor were recently deployed to stand vigil around potential terrorist sites. The Financial Times reports that in Rome, where a thousand of them appeared this summer, patrolmen quickly became tourist fodder in their own right.

Bristol Palin's baby daddy is headed to the big party in Minneapolis!

What happened to leave the kids out of the national politics and respect their privacy? I guess they are there as role models for teenagers trying to ruin their lives.

Okay, we apologize. But we're not marrying her.

The harbour city of ancient Rome seems like a cool stop while we're in Rome, but timing is everything - not sure we'll be able to do it.

This Wikipedia entry of my old high school doesn't contain any information about freshman initiation. Back in the old days, I watched a few of my peers have to ride down Boot Hill on a Big Wheel, which usually lead to a crash and considerable rolling over at the steepest part. I think they used to put kids in garbage cans and roll them down the hill as well, at least that was the legend. Freshman initiation was usually imposed by senior class boys on freshman boys.

Hopefully this means that "freshman initiation" is no longer part of the high school culture. Seemed kinda stupid at the time, seems really stupid 30 years plus out.

A couple cards were passed around my office this afternoon for everyone to sign. One was for a baby on the way and one guy is tying the knot. Interestingly, I was able to write the same line on both of them.

"Better you than me!"

Like everyone else, there are people in my past that I've completely lost track of, and I'm at a point in my life where I'm curious as to where they are. I also recognize that people do google-searches of their own name, and of people they know, and so I'm kind of hoping that by posting the names of a few people that I'm curious about, I might find out more about them from the googlesearch. If this post does draw you in by the name, and you want to contact me, just use the email on the side. If this actually works, I might end up doing it again.

Michael Korposh, of Harrisburg
Lisa Ricks, of Livermore
Craig Kingscott, of Livermore
Terry Bantz, of Muncie

"I looked at that and I thought, 'Oh my that looks like Jesus on the cross.' It was just like wow," she says.

Family and friends agree with her. Her daughter says, "I thought it was pretty cool." But Kelly Ramey's friend, Sue Edelman, sees something different. "I looked again and I thought a horse head."

Kelly says her husband has a special name for it. "He calls him Cheesus."

I had been feeling uninspired about blogging recently until Cheeto Jesus directed me to spread his Gospel of Cheesy Orange Goodness!

If you're looking for the closest place to your barbecue to get your propane tank filled for your barbecue, check this search engine out.