Yikes, Four Dead Celebs In One Week...

Ed, Farrah, Michael, and now Billy Mays. Wowzers.

Too bad most folks have already forgotten about Neda.

UPDATE: five now. Bye bye, Karl Malden.

Yippee, I'm Rich; Thank You, Uncle Luciano! (Or, The Scammers Get Even More Stupid II)

From:lucianopavarotti@Sify.com

Subject: !!! NOTIFICATION OF BEQUEST!!!

Date: June 25, 2009 7:00:23 AM CDT

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Reply-To:lucianopavarotti@Sify.com

Notification of Bequest

On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the Estate of Late Mr. Luciano Pavarotti, I hereby attempt to reach you again. I wish to notify you that Late Mr Luciano Pavarotti made you a beneficiary to His WILL. He left the sum of Ten Million five Hundred Thousand US Dollars.($10,500,000.00) to you in the codicil land last testament to his WILL. This may sound strange and Unbelievable to you, but it is real and true. Luciano Pavarotti was known for his humanitarian work.

Yippee, I'm Rich!!!

Unintended Consequences, Part II

Ozone Solution Poses a Growing Climate Threat : "A group of chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons, long hailed as a substitute for gases that can destroy the ozone layer, are now seen as a growing greenhouse threat given their outsize ability to warm the atmosphere." Really, someone ought to do a better job of predicting outcomes...

On Iran's Elections -UPDATED REPOST

UPDATE: links added; also see Cyberwar Guide To Helping The Iranian Protesters. There are now reports that the army is moving against the protesters in many cities. You can follow breaking news on Twitter here, with the caveat that not everything you read may be gospel-truth.

Five days of protests and still no signs of abating. (Full-time coverage of the highest rate found here). I visited my Farsi Friend the other day. He fled the Khomeini Revolution and has been living in the U.S. ever since, quite successfully. He has a very different take on a lot of accepted history about the Revolution. Some of it is things I have heard elsewhere (Khomeini imported Palestinian Arabs to do his dirty work --a pattern which seems to be repeating itself ). Some of it is downright scary (the American oil companies put Khomeini in charge because he would be far tougher on the Communists than the Shah --which proved to be correct in the end).

He said it was funny that I called him just at that moment, since he had just gotten off of an online chat with his nieces living in Teheran. They were all kinds of upset about just how badly the elections were rigged. My Friend consoled them by saying that they ought to have known that the elections were going to be rigged, and besides, how much of a moderate is Mousavi really, anyway? (All candidates are vetted by the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guards, it should be noted.) But what really got me was his response to my question, "Well, are these protests going to do anything?"

He said:

"No, because Iranian people don't have guns, Mojo. They don't have a Second Amendment, never did. Only the government had guns. When the students go into the streets, Basij militia beat them and Revolutionary Guards shoot them. They don't have a chance. That's why I get nervous every time the government here in U.S. talks about limiting guns. They thought in Iran, too, that nothing bad could ever happen."

Help the Iranian Protesters

The Jawa Report: Sandcralwer PSA: Cyberwar Guide To Helping The Iranian Protesters (sticky): read and execute.

A 'time bomb' for world wheat crop

A 'time bomb' for world wheat crop - Los Angeles Times: I have been keeping up with reports like this over the last 18 months or so. It had been confined to Central Asia, but now, I'm starting to get nervous. Between this and increasing amounts of corn acreage being converted to ethanol production, you might actually see food shortages in the United States. We haven't had anything resembling a true famine in our recorded history; this is no time for a first.

On Iran's Elections

While seeing reports like this coming out of Iran the last few days --and full-time coverage of the highest rate found here -- I thought it was a good time to talk to my Farsi Friend. He fled the Khomeini Revolution and has been living in the U.S. ever since, quite successfully. He has a very different take on a lot of accepted history about the Revolution. Some of it is things I have heard elsewhere (Khomeini imported Palestinian Arabs to do his dirty work --a pattern which seems to be repeating itself [links down; will provide later]. Some of it is downright scary (the American oil companies put Khomeini in charge because he would be far tougher on the Communists than the Shah --which proved to be correct in the end).

He said it was funny that I called him just at that moment, since he had just gotten off of an online chat with his nieces living in Teheran. They were all kinds of upset about just how badly the elections were rigged. My Friend consoled them by saying that they ought to have known that the elections were going to be rigged, and besides, how much of a moderate is Mousavi really, anyway? (All candidates are vetted by the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guards, it should be noted.) But what really got me was his response to my question, "Well, are these protests going to do anything?"

He said:

"No, because Iranian people don't have guns, Mojo. They don't have a Second Amendment, never did. Only the government had guns. When the students go into the streets, Basij militia beat them and Revolutionary Guards shoot them. They don't have a chance. That's why I get nervous every time the government here in U.S. talks about limiting guns. They thought in Iran, too, that nothing bad could ever happen."

Tomato Season Winds Down

It is painfully obvious that our tomato growing season 'round here is ending. Temperatures in the mid-upper 90s by day and nighttime lows close to 80 mean the end of any further production. Those fruits that remain on the vine are struggling to break the 5 oz barrier while under assault from dry conditions, blazing temps and the Unholy Stink Bug Army.

I am disappointed somewhat by this year's results. I had out twenty-two transplants, plus two volunteers, and I was expecting to have enough left over to do some serious canning, even after generous giveaways to relatives and sundry. I think it just got too hot too quickly for good production. Perhaps I should've started my seeds a bit earlier so that they could've had a longer fruit-setting window. The plants themselves look good --I've got two that are 8' tall and still growing. But I estimate that I'm about one-third to one-half below what I ought to have picked. I've barely enough to make a few more jars of sauce.

I'm already thinking of the fall crop and if I can get away with putting out plants in mid-late July. Every plant that comes out now is replaced by an okra seedling, so I've got to keep at least a little room at some point. i won't be able to plant my longer varieties that did so well for this past spring, like Cherokee Purple and Black Krim; looks like I'll be putting out shorter ones like Early Girl.

Rough Recipe: Mojo's 'Mater Sauce

Juice about a dozen or so tomatoes using a citrus juicer (eliminates having to skin them by hand; seed removal prior to juicing optional); reserve some of the juice and drink the rest. Throw pulp into stew pot, add some decent red wine to increase volume by 33% or so, then add sliced onions, garlic, red pepper, black pepper, oregano, salt and sugar to taste. Simmer slowly but copiously, adding tomato juice if volume gets too low. Ready to eat in two hours, sooner if you like a more raw sauce.

Two Years Already?!?

Today is The Wee One's Second Birthday. All hail Daddy's Little Minion!

Unintended Consequences Part I

House plan seeks to pull car sales out of doldrums: "With auto sales in the doldrums, the House was considering a plan Tuesday to provide vouchers of up to $4,500 for consumers who turn in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for more fuel-efficient vehicles." I see the cost of new vehicles "inexplicably" rising by about $4500 or so in the next 18 months, no doubt to cover the cost of proposed efficiency improvements... (On the other hand, this is far more than the estimated $1000 my old Explorer is probably worth on the open market.)

Welcome To My World II

Two pieces for your consideration today. Please read each one entirely, they will make up 50% of your next exam.

1) Pedagogy of the Oppressor by Sol Stern, City Journal Spring 2009, discussing the Marxist (Maoist) roots of some aspects of student-centered learning. I'm not dissing the need to engage students, but I have seen the extremes and the extremes are rapidly becoming the norm, especially in public schools and education departments. Even Mrs. Mojo had to read this sort of stuff before she could teach at a private school. Stern makes a huge point near the end, where he talks about the irony of places like China and Cuba (I'd add Soviet-era Russia as well) not using this approach:

There’s no evidence that Freirian pedagogy has had much success anywhere in the Third World. Nor have Freire’s favorite revolutionary regimes, like China and Cuba, reformed their own “banking” approaches to education, in which the brightest students are controlled, disciplined, and stuffed with content knowledge for the sake of national goals—and the production of more industrial managers, engineers, and scientists. How perverse is it, then, that only in America’s inner cities have Freirian educators been empowered to “liberate” poor children from an entirely imagined “oppression” and recruit them for a revolution that will never come?

2) "Texans Are Stupid" and Other Lessons from the Public Schools. NAS, May 28, 2009 by Elena Callas. No, that's not the main point of the article (and I'd refute it THUS!). Students can be very bright and self-motivated ("actuated" is the current jargon, IIRC), but the majority are almost entirely rewards-motivated and hyper-rational to a fault when it comes down to behavior. Any behavior that might upset that person holding The Red Grading Pen of Doom is naturally avoided, and adopting more pleasing postures becomes the norm.

I will leave it to the actuated among you to appreciate today's juxtapositioning of selections.

Memorial Day Thoughts

Memorial Day is May 31 in the original, but I feel that date has too much hoopla already, so I am reasonably OK with the "let's make a long weekend of it" crowd. However, we must never forget the intent of the commemoration. And to that end I find myself borrowing from Lincoln, and ironically from Vonnegut, and even from myself:

We can neither dedicate, nor consecrate, nor hallow this day. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled in places like the Ardennes, Bastogne, Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sahn, Fallujah --they have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. We may vehemently disagree as to the justice of their causes, but we cannot question the devotion of those souls who gave their all because they believed. Pro patria may be among the saddest words, and we are right to pause whenever we consider sending our loved ones into harm's way and even into the long night. But we know the dark depths of despair and loss only through contrast with the joys those who have gone on would bid us have, because they DID give all.

Professor Mojo's REAL Spring Break

--or Late Spring Break, as the case may be. It's the down-time between spring and summer terms, and I have about three weeks of Time To Get Things Done. Naturally, Mrs. decreed that Mondays and Tuesdays would be Daddy/Daughter Time so that we could save two days of child care, which leaves me three days a week to Get Things Done.

I'm not averse to hard work; it is long been known that I can work like a man possessed when the inclination befalls. It helps that I made a long list of Chores, Rat Killings and Honey-Do's for myself, so that I give the appearance of being productive while actually goofing off. Of course, my definition of "goofing off" frequently involves doing chores that I feel need doing but may in reality be quite far down the priorities list. Example: picking vegetables in the garden is an activity that I disguise as a "chore" because in reality I spend a lot of time hiding from work in the garden.

Sometimes chores have to get done in spite of other chores. I had to build a log crib this week and get the firewood off the patio, but I was on Daddy Duty early in the week. Thus, Wee One got her morning walk in by running (supervised) from one end of The Orange Temple of Doom to the other and back while Daddy figured out what lumber and braces he needed. The amazing part was that I got the truck unloaded, the rack drilled and bolted together and moved to its spot, and the whole cord of wood transported from the patio to the crib --all in the space of Nap Time.

Some of my "chores", however, cannot be disguised as anything other than Me Time. Prime case in point: getting the boat started. I forgot (never again!) to put fuel stabilizer in the tank back in November, and so it took me forty-five minutes of cranking, resting and recranking to get the engine to turn over and stay running. I keep reminding myself that the best solution is to take the boat out once a month, no matter the weather, but that isn't always possible. Even so, all that goes by the wayside the second I get the engine to stay turned over and give it the gas and let out that first almighty bwrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRAAARRRRRRRPPPPPPP-B-B-B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-putt-putt-putt-putt of the year. The smell of two-cycle oil in the engine smoke: God's way of letting me know he wants me to go fishing, and that Right Soon.

FIRE - The Danger of Speech Codes

FIRE - The Danger of Speech Codes:

Yesterday, we received an e-mail from a Vanderbilt University student criticizing our rating of Vanderbilt because she does not feel that her right to free speech at Vanderbilt is limited, in spite of a sexual harassment policy that prohibits "Remarks or jokes that denigrate because of gender" and "[i]nappropriate or offensive behavior that is not necessarily threatening, but usually produces feelings of discomfort in the person toward whom it is directed." More generally—and I will touch on this only briefly here, as this important issue will be the subject of its own blog—this e-mail reveals how a lifetime of censorship and misinformation about free speech has affected the student population. This student further writes:

Many of my male friends make gender-related comments and jokes all the time. I don't see that as sexual harassment. Neither would Vanderbilt because I am not complaining about it. However, if I did feel uncomfortable, I am glad to know that I can take advantage of my rights by telling someone, and I know that the offender will face consequences. This person should face consequences, according to the Bill of Rights, because my right to the pursuit of happiness would be hindered. Thus, the Student Handbook is merely trying to protect our rights by making sure others do not abuse their right of free speech. [Emphasis added.]

Oh. Dear. Sweet. Lord. If this is what passes for undergraduate education at Vandy, I'm crossing it off the list of Acceptable Colleges East Of The Mississippi For The Wee One. I'll give that student $100 if she can specifically cite where in the Bill of Rights it spells out "pursuit of happiness." And, channeling Katt Williams, "Go on, I'll wait...!"

If education is about making sure no one gets offended, then God save those dunderheads when real enemies show up. You know, like the thugs who show up at Iranian student protests who beat unarmed students in the name of defending ...whatever version of their religion they claim to represent. They're offended, too, ya know...

Threat Received Over...Opera????

Threat Received Over Opera:

The organizers of the second annual Opera Vista Festival suspected one of their featured operas would draw controversy. But when an anonymous letter threatening the founders of the Nova Arts Project arrived at founding director Amy Hopper's doorstep, she realized the show had potential to ignite a firestorm.

"We received this letter that was all about ignorance and hate, and that's the whole point of this opera -- to confront ignorance and hate. It makes it even more important to tell the story," Hopper said.

The opera is "Edalat Square," one of two works that won Opera Vista's inaugural festival competition in 2007 (think "American Idol" for opera composers). Written by Atlanta-based composer R. Timothy Brady, the opera recounts the true story of Mahmoud Asgari, 17, and Ayaz Marhoni, 16, who were hanged in Iran in 2005 for the crime of lavaat, or sex between two men. Brady was inspired by the story to craft a poetic work that offers an unblinking look at bigotry, but is also prayerful and mystical, said Viswa Subbaraman, artistic director and co-founder of Opera Vista.

I'm on good terms with one of the directors of Opera Vista, so this sort of hits home. I may not be a huge fan of modern opera, but I'm from the "organize a boycott" school of protest, not the "let's stone them for blasphemy" school. Once you allow a heckler's veto, the slippery slope gets steeper.