olpuebloboy - a beehive hairdo of syntax

The Other Big Leak

olpuebloboy — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:12:34 GMT

I had not heard of Julian Assange or WikiLeaks until I read the quite lengthy article in the June 7th issue of The New Yorker. I was fascinated by one man's ability to create a system, supposedly un-hackable, that gives the world such an amazing information clearinghouse.

Today, not two months later, everyone (who reads and/or watches the news) knows WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. Leak a few thousand classified documents on the intrawebs and, jeez, people perk up.

I'm not a fan of our presence in Afghanistan. I wish no harm to those serving there but we really to need to come home. 1000 years and foolish tears have clouded our brains and we know there's something in there that's driving us insane when you think of all the foolish things your mother said were lies and you just don't feel like keepin' house for her until she dies well it's true what can you do...thanks to Lane Tiegten for those cogent words.

Want more? Read the Q&A in Time Magazine from this week.

And the Winner Is...

olpuebloboy — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:35:38 GMT

I've amassed a fairly large collection of bric-a-brac and such over the years to feed my desire to re-arrange it all in some sort of aesthetic order. Yet, with all the crap I have, I manage to move freely and gingerly around my somewhat obsessively ordered world-o-stuff.

These folks, however, have a different sort of problem. Normally I would burn with longing to view most "hoarder" households, to marvel at the peculiar collections certain people have felt compelled to compile.

But this one takes it to a whole new level...sorry 'bout the commercial at the beginning.

A Tight Rope Indeed

olpuebloboy — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:25:37 GMT

My wife told me about this video...Janelle Mon�e rocks!

John Dougherty

olpuebloboy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:02:17 GMT

As many of you know, Arizona is chock full of crazy public officials with the top contenders being McCain, Kyl and everyone's favorite whacked out sheriff Joe Arpaio. Jeez, I didn't even mention our illustrious guv'nor Jan Brewer. I could go on.

If you live here in the dry lands, there are few candidates that warrant a better, and more visible, look than John Dougherty. John's been an investigative journalist for over two decades. You can read his bio here. Just imagine (insert moody dream sequence music) electing a candidate in Arizona who doesn't even register on the smarmy meter. I know, I'm a dreamer. So sue me. Now, getcher grass roots asses out there and spread the word about this guy.

Burtynsky

olpuebloboy — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:12:12 GMT

We watched an amazing documentary called Manufactured Landscapes a few nights ago that features the photography of Edward Burtynsky. I'll go out on a limb to venture that this man is one of the greatest living artists on the planet. He is one of the few artists I know that has managed to make beautiful the horrific and yet enrages every fiber of your being portraying the havoc that humankind has and is currently wreaking across the globe. And yet, we may come to realize that we are all implicit as what we are being shown is something none of us really wants to see; the underbelly of the creation and the remains of modern consumer culture on a worldwide scale.

Jennifer Baichwal filmed Burtynsky at work in southern Asia where he shot in factories, quarries, recycling dumps and a beach front of abandoned oil tankers. He also was on hand during the building of the infamous Three Gorges Dam, one of the worlds largest man-made structures. He goes further by taking us to the ruins of several cities that had to be dismantled brick by brick to be rebuilt on higher ground due to the impending flooding.

Check out the trailer below. You can buy the DVD from the Zeitgeist web site.

So Dreamy

olpuebloboy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:02:38 GMT

My neighbor turned me on to Lynda Kay recently...dig this video.

Drugs, War and State of Mind

olpuebloboy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:54:47 GMT

With the initiative to legalize marijuana on California's November ballot, there's many an opinion slinging across ye ol' internet. Even if passed, the possession and sale of said substance would still remain a federal crime. But, it's a start...

...so, let's jump in and say we legalize both pot and cocaine now. I'm not a fan of what cocaine can do to a person if abused but it's obvious that millions of people here are going to use it, legal or not, and drug use is now at an all time high. The Federal Government's Household Survey on Drug Abuse sites that about 12.7 million people have used some form of illegal drug in the last month and of them about 10 million are presumed to be casual drug users with about 2.7 million being addicts. And most likely another few million lied to these pollsters!

The obvious economic selling points are that we would pump massive revenue into our own economy, it would almost negate the drug violence on our southern border as well as in inner cities, the amount of money pumped into *The War on Drugs* would cease and crime would drop significantly. According to the Department of Justice, 59.6% of federal prisoners are incarcerated for drug related offenses. 59.6%!!! That alone should be enough to get this done.

Will more people use drugs if legalized? I don't think so. The forbidden is always a draw, especially for the young. If drugs are more commonly available it will take some of the mystery and most of the thrill out of the equation. And, if you do want to try either, you don't have to risk jail or your safety to do so. Adults in this country are treated like children. All you tea-party idiots...you want FREEDOM? Well, vote for this! The freedom to sit on your front porch and light up a doob. Much less harmful than your three whisky sours.

In terms of drug dependency, Dr. Jack E. Henningfield of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Dr. Neal L. Benowitz of the University of California at San Francisco ranked six psychoactive substances. Highest to lowest: nicotine, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, caffeine, marijuana. Number one is already LEGAL! And pot is lower than coffee, fer crissake.

Time to get real, America.

Mount Saint Lemmon

olpuebloboy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:32:00 GMT

Despite the broken toe, I managed to make it to the mountain for the 4th of July Mt Lemmon Parade, featuring the Mt Lemmon Marching Mandolin Band. This year was a tribute to the very fine gentleman who started this tradition a decade ago...Spencer Block. Spencer succumbed to a three year battle with pancreatic cancer this last year so we considered this march a tribute to him.

I was able to join in for a short period, mostly where the road leveled out. Pictured here is the band after the march. They've been kind enough to let me play my accordion over the years and part of the fun is to see if anyone notices, as the squeezebox does not sound like a mandolin at all. (Insert your favorite accordion joke here...)

And, I was fortunate to be asked to sit in with Kevin Pakulis and his fabulous band who were playing a concert for Bonnie Vining's Music on the Mountain Summer Series. Other band members are Larry Lee Lerma on bass, Ralph Gilmore on drums (not pictured) and Duncan Stitt on keys (also not pictured). That's Bonnie off to the side of the stage...

Up Oak Creek

olpuebloboy — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:22:13 GMT

Could have been a worse place to break your toe. It was on the last night of our trip to northern Arizona's Oak Creek Canyon. I didn't even know it was broken until the next morning when it was obvious it was more than a jam.

The next day home, following an x-ray, found it to be a slight fracture in the large right toe joint. The day after that found me down with a horrible reaction to hydrocodone...it only lasted about ten hours. Sweet!

Today, a week later, it is healing quite rapidly. I leave this entry with a pic of our cabin from our walk in the water.

BTW, I noticed that I had over 200 hits here yesterday which I believe is a record for this blog. Whomever you are, thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment when so moved...

Vuvuzela Hits the Big Time

olpuebloboy — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:33:31 GMT

Here's your laugh for the day.