Pottery

These pictures are inspired by shots of 'Sea Pottery' on the ning http://seaglass.ning.com/

The green-and-white shards with the tulip border are (have I said this already?) from the china used at the Rockaway, a hotel that was once on Rocky Neck. These pics are from about a month ago, but as I recall no shard is repeated, picture to picture.

Homework

September is going to be a low month, posts-wise. I'm trying to get back in the swing of doing homework every week.

The good news is, the professor for my first class is interesting and engaging (important, when you're sitting there for four hours).

Armageddon

Iran's idiocy is staggering. Could it not have known that it's next on the U.S. hit list, and probably the British and Western European hit lists, at a minimum? My response would have been to reassure all that I'm a nice guy. Way to ensure that you'll be crushed, Ahmadinejad.

Deaf

"They have many voices, but they don't have many ears." Could this explain Lindsey Graham's inability to notice words that were only just spoken, on today's Meet the Press?

Listening is not merely being mute while the other side is speaking.

These lines were spoken by the editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus, on Bill Moyers this week.

Mischaracterization

People have lied about health care reform. (Yes, again, it's about health care reform.) Lindsey Graham (R-SC*) is on Meet the Press, claiming that during the Joint Session of Congress Obama was combative in saying that people had lied about reform. Graham also said that, during the start of the program (when Obama was interviewed), the president struck a new and more conciliatory tone.

Not true. The president said again, during today's interview, that people have mischaracterized the reform efforts. And, oh-my-goodness, they sure have. Was Graham listening? Not just to Obama today, but to all the bullsh*t that has erupted in the past two months?

The Baucus bill, ugh. It is still better than the Republican version: it is projected by the CBO to reduce the deficit by 11–12 years out, NOT be "deficit-neutral," the rallying cry of the Republicans. (Could folks really be confused about the advantage of reductions? Think of it as rain: would you rather that it rained all the time at a good clip, or that we found a way to reduce rainfall?) But if the Baucus bill succeeds, with its de-emphasis on employer coverage and absence of any public option, a part of me will die.

*South Carolina sure has been in the news a lot lately. Have you been watching The Daily Show-Colbert Report?

Glasses

So I finally acknowledged a little of the inevitable myself. I bought a pair of reading glasses: my 47th-birthday present to myself.

I don't typically need them, even for reading. But, trying to see what the name of the color was on the base of a tube of lipstick on Friday, it was clear that the fine print now eludes me.

I have been told at eye exams that I have "better than" 20-20 vision. It seems that I will need to schedule another eye exam.

Surrender

In today's Globe Magazine, there's a great, brief article called "Surrender the Sand?" It proposes that our approach, in attempts to preserve beaches, is blind to the inevitable: We are at some point going to have to give up.

I'm not saying (neither is the article) that we cannot continue to enjoy our beaches, whether that entails lawn chairs or surf boards. What has to stop is building and maintaining 'permanent' structures on the sand, or on the soil just beyond the sand/dune line. Adding jetties, 'nourishment projects,' sand bags, and the like is futile and damaging.

On our many trips to the Outer Banks, we have stayed in homes that defy prudence, history, and logic. No doubt our dollars have helped sustain this very denial.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/09/20/surrender_the_sand/