Did you know that there are a number of actually progressive blogs in the reddest state in the country, although Utah might claim the honor?
Here's a list of them:
Alternative Tulsa
Blue Oklahoma
The Brennan Society of Oklahoma
Democrats of Oklahoma Community Forum
Grindstone Journal
JMBzine
Life and Deatherage
Okie Funk
Oklahoma Citizen
Oklahoma Observer
OK Policy Blog
OKWATCHDOG.ORG
Peace Arena
I have not clicked on all these to see if they're up and running. I just lifted the list from Blue Oklahoma, which is a fine example of the genre. There may be more of them.
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Why It's Jokelahoma, Reason #3,256
The headline of the story is quite enough to stop you in your tracks: "Oklahoma cities and towns are banned from raising the local minimum wage under a new state law."
Your mind goes "what??" Then you read it again. That's right, boys and girls, the state legislature of this benighted backwater of a place has forbidden any city or town within its borders from raising the pitifully inadequate minimum wage to any other (and probably still likely pitifully inadequate) level. At the same time, "the new law also bars localities from requiring that employees receive a certain number of sick or vacation days, either paid or unpaid."
Say what? I don't care what they call this--our bubble-brained governor says the law is being passed to save Oklahoma jobs so they won't move elsewhere if places in the state require inching employers towards treating their workers with humanity--this is nothing short of small-minded cruelty. And it's typical of the kind of thinking that dominates here.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Ah! The Sooner State
Actually these two stories could have happened anywhere. (I never fail to recall H. Wayne Morgan's wonderful observation that we should never forget that the U.S. is "one red neck from sea to shining sea." Let's just say, I'm not surprised they happened here in our fair state. I read about both these incidents in Raw Story just a little while ago.
The first concerns the awesome power of prayer. In this case, the awesomeness was just too much. A guy prayed too hard and unleashed flooding that ended up killing 22 people and washing thousands out of their homes.
God's really something, isn't he? Just isn't able to judge when it's too much of a good thing for people.
And the second tale goes this way: A family pet, a two-year old pit bull named Cali, got out of the fence in Ardmore, OK, and was loose. She had on a collar, but no tags. Neighbors called the cops and of course animal control people got involved, but they had trouble catching the dog. Now here come the cops.
The first concerns the awesome power of prayer. In this case, the awesomeness was just too much. A guy prayed too hard and unleashed flooding that ended up killing 22 people and washing thousands out of their homes.
An Oklahoma pastor this week said that his attempt to remove demons from the United States had worked a little too well, causing a severe drought to turn into massive flooding.
In an appearance on the Christian Internet broadcast Generals International, Church on the Rock Pastor John Benefiel recalled how he had used a “divorce decree” to severe Baal’s hold on drought-stricken states like Texas and Oklahoma.This happened during the early part of 2007 when months of drought were washed away by the heaviest rainfall ever recorded for Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas between February and June.
God's really something, isn't he? Just isn't able to judge when it's too much of a good thing for people.
And the second tale goes this way: A family pet, a two-year old pit bull named Cali, got out of the fence in Ardmore, OK, and was loose. She had on a collar, but no tags. Neighbors called the cops and of course animal control people got involved, but they had trouble catching the dog. Now here come the cops.
Officer Brice Woolly wrote in his report that the dog acted aggressively toward animal control officers and several residents near a public park.
Woolly said he used his assigned shotgun to shoot the dog once in the neck, wounding it, and he asked an animal control officer to fire a second shot from a .22-caliber firearm to kill the dog.Protecting the public, right? That's what the police chief said about his guy. But wait . . .
A neighbor told Brown (Cali's owner) that she did not see police shoot Cali, but she heard the shot and saw the officers’ reaction.Here's the way I see it: another yahoo with a gun, a badge, and and a sense of entitlement to cruelty.
“Did you see the way its collar flew up into the air when I blew its head off?” Woolly told the animal control officer, according to the neighbor. “It was awesome!”
The neighbor said Woolly also bragged about shooting another dog with his handgun a few days earlier.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Bus Tour
Susan I just got back yesterday from a trip, vacation trip, to Oregon. If you could describe that state in one word it would be "green". It's green, and it's beautiful. I could live in Portland, no doubt about it. We spent three days there and got a pretty good feel for the city. We also saw most of the other things to see when you're in Oregon: Crater Lake, Astoria in the Columbia River bar – there is a great maritime museum there too – the rocky coast where we did some whale watching, and a little further down the road gigantic sand dunes that we rode all over in a buggy that held about 30 people. The wine is fine, but the most common wine you find is from California. Reason being it is cheaper, but not necessarily better. There are some awful fine brews in the state also. We saw lots and lots of beautiful forest, beautiful landscapes, beautiful mountains. Food was good, nothing outstanding to report there. Loved being with Susan and having her to myself for a whole week.
The only problem was we spent far too much time riding on a bus. Both Susan and I have resolved that this will be our last bus tour. The group we went with was called the Oklahoma Retired Persons Travel Club. Groan. Obviously, I couldn't discuss politics with anybody, although we did find one lady of progressive views "except on crime" whom we could talk to about something other than the scenery. A lot of these people made me feel downright spry and almost young, and I'm pushing 70. One lady had a stroke – or at least we think it was a stroke – on the tour. Another couple had to leave because her stepmother died. And there was more than one Okie on that trip who was pokey, real slow getting around. Oh, they were all nice enough, but they weren't my kind of people.
I correspond regularly with the three friends from graduate school, two of whom are excellent writers of trip reports. Such things are not my forte, so I'm sorry to have to leave you with this brief and unsatisfactory report for a weeklong vacation. I meant to post some pictures to the web later on, and I'll point you to them. In the meantime, I'm back. Minus the iPad and iPhone 5 charger cords I left in the hotel on the last night. (I actually got a call from the hotel though that they had found the phone cord. It's in the mail on the way back. No idea what happened to the other cord. Of course, I've replaced both already.)
The only problem was we spent far too much time riding on a bus. Both Susan and I have resolved that this will be our last bus tour. The group we went with was called the Oklahoma Retired Persons Travel Club. Groan. Obviously, I couldn't discuss politics with anybody, although we did find one lady of progressive views "except on crime" whom we could talk to about something other than the scenery. A lot of these people made me feel downright spry and almost young, and I'm pushing 70. One lady had a stroke – or at least we think it was a stroke – on the tour. Another couple had to leave because her stepmother died. And there was more than one Okie on that trip who was pokey, real slow getting around. Oh, they were all nice enough, but they weren't my kind of people.
I correspond regularly with the three friends from graduate school, two of whom are excellent writers of trip reports. Such things are not my forte, so I'm sorry to have to leave you with this brief and unsatisfactory report for a weeklong vacation. I meant to post some pictures to the web later on, and I'll point you to them. In the meantime, I'm back. Minus the iPad and iPhone 5 charger cords I left in the hotel on the last night. (I actually got a call from the hotel though that they had found the phone cord. It's in the mail on the way back. No idea what happened to the other cord. Of course, I've replaced both already.)
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The Big Blow
Susan and I watched the whole thing on television. This part of the country is so inured to terrible weather, mostly in the spring months, that whenever these terrific storms kick up the likely spawn tornadoes all the local TV stations are on it. With maps and radar and pointers and smart whether people to explain what's going on – endlessly. So when that monster killer tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, yesterday, we already knew down here in Norman that it presented no danger to us. But we could tell that it was a huge storm. And it stayed on the ground for a real long time, like 21 miles in 40 minutes. And although we could not see what it was doing at the time, the commentators, the storm chasers and the guys in the helicopters who are tracking this thing closely were awestruck.
And when the cameras finally did get on the ground and we got a look at the destruction, it was terrible beyond belief. At this point they don't know how many people have been killed, and a lot more have been hurt. The swathe of destruction through a neighborhood in Moore that we know well is simply beyond past the ability of language to describe. The old biblical description of not a stone being left upon a stone is apt. There is nothing more destructive than a tornado, and this one was a killer. Of great size, power, and duration. We will know more in the coming days, but this storm will rival the one that blew through the same area just about in 1999. That storm packed winds of over 300 miles an hour. It doesn't seem that this one was that strong, but it will be just as destructive, if not more so.
And when the cameras finally did get on the ground and we got a look at the destruction, it was terrible beyond belief. At this point they don't know how many people have been killed, and a lot more have been hurt. The swathe of destruction through a neighborhood in Moore that we know well is simply beyond past the ability of language to describe. The old biblical description of not a stone being left upon a stone is apt. There is nothing more destructive than a tornado, and this one was a killer. Of great size, power, and duration. We will know more in the coming days, but this storm will rival the one that blew through the same area just about in 1999. That storm packed winds of over 300 miles an hour. It doesn't seem that this one was that strong, but it will be just as destructive, if not more so.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Down the Road
Susan and I drove down to Lawton, OK, today. It's just down the road from us about 90 minutes to the southwest. I must say Lawton is one of the true hell holes of this state. How can it not be when it's in the broiling southwest and is the site of Fort Sill, a huge army base that's home for the the headquarters of Army artillery school? They teach guys how to shoot the big guns there. OK, so you know army bases are real good for crime, pawn shops, strip joints, and cheap bars, right? And when the base is huge, you get a lot of these things. Plus you have a large retired population that kinda just stays around the last place they were stationed. Only in some kind of alternate universe would I consider such a locale to be desirable, but in the alternate universe we already inhabit, this is considered a great thing to have one of these horrors located in your town. Why? Well, jobs and money! What other unalloyed goods do we have in this world?
We went to visit an old friend, Fr. Joe Ross, who is pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church in Lawton right there at Gore Ave and N 7th Street. Poor Joe has got Parkinson's Disease, and he looked like hell to me. He's my age, 69, and he says he's just hanging on taking ideas about retirement "one year at a time." He likes what he does, pastoring, but it's getting harder for him to keep up with. Joe and I and Susan spent a lot time together during our first stay in Oklahoma, and he was always funny, well informed, generous, and vital. He's all of these still, except he labors under the burden of the huge handicap this disease gives you. It really made me sad to see. You always promise when you part after such visits that you will do it again, but you always wonder if maybe that's the last time you're going to see somebody. I don't expect this will the case here, but one of things they don't tell you about getting old is you have to bear the burden of watching people you love age too.
We went to visit an old friend, Fr. Joe Ross, who is pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church in Lawton right there at Gore Ave and N 7th Street. Poor Joe has got Parkinson's Disease, and he looked like hell to me. He's my age, 69, and he says he's just hanging on taking ideas about retirement "one year at a time." He likes what he does, pastoring, but it's getting harder for him to keep up with. Joe and I and Susan spent a lot time together during our first stay in Oklahoma, and he was always funny, well informed, generous, and vital. He's all of these still, except he labors under the burden of the huge handicap this disease gives you. It really made me sad to see. You always promise when you part after such visits that you will do it again, but you always wonder if maybe that's the last time you're going to see somebody. I don't expect this will the case here, but one of things they don't tell you about getting old is you have to bear the burden of watching people you love age too.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Habits
Susan and I get the USA Today newspaper. It's not a great paper, and we almost did not renew this year, but then it occurred to me that without that paper I won't be able to keep up during the fantasy baseball season. That I cannot abide since I'm determined to win at least one of the two leagues I'll be in this year. I've had enough break-in period now. It's time to get serious.
But back the paper . . . I'm in the habit when I sit down to read it in the mornings of handling the "state-by-state" page this way. I read the entries for all the states I've lived in. (Can't devour the whole thing. Takes too long. Besides it's mostly "Like, who cares?") Anyway, this give me a bird's eye view every day of the run-of-the-mill going on in the country, just the everyday stuff, which, I would submit is not a very uplifting exercise usually. But today was kinda bland.
But back the paper . . . I'm in the habit when I sit down to read it in the mornings of handling the "state-by-state" page this way. I read the entries for all the states I've lived in. (Can't devour the whole thing. Takes too long. Besides it's mostly "Like, who cares?") Anyway, this give me a bird's eye view every day of the run-of-the-mill going on in the country, just the everyday stuff, which, I would submit is not a very uplifting exercise usually. But today was kinda bland.
- Alabama -- the state's at war with electronic bingo. They just shut a casino down and are suing three more. What the hell is wrong with electronic bingo? If you're going to have gambling casinos, doesn't make sense to me.
- Florida -- Dufuss Tea Party Governor Rick Scott has decided he's gonna take the federal Medicaid dollars under the Affordable Health Care Act despite his histrionic announcement some time ago that Florida was not going to. What kind of dummy is going to turn down 3 years of 100 percent funding of Medicaid from the fed? This move covers an additional 900,000 people in the state.
- Louisiana -- A judge has stopped the town of Homer from abolishing its police force. Apparently the meeting of mayor and board of selectmen that decided to do it took place in violation of an open-meetings law in the state. There's more to it than this, you can bet.
- Maine -- The governor signed a bill keeping data on the state's concealed weapons permit holders secret. It was a hurry-up measure to head off a request by a newspaper, which later withdrew the request.
- Mississippi -- The first lady is going to visit an elementary school in Clinton later in the month puffing nutritional improvements in school lunches.
- Missouri -- State lawmakers in Jefferson City endorsed bills honoring Stan Musial and Andy Gammon by naming the new Mississippi River bridge after the former and a stretch of I-70 after the latter. (Gammon died working on the bridge.)
- Oklahoma -- In one of the extremely rare instances of good sense, the state legislature passed a law making it illegal to text while driving.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
They're Under the Bed
You know all this talk about socialism lately--you know, that socialist in the White House for another four years is really dangerous (Don't know about you. I'm terrified.). Little segue: we were in the waiting room of the surgery center where I got my cataract surgery done the other day and overhead a guy talking about the election. Quote: "He's reelected. It's all over." Seriously. Remember, this is Oklahoma. What's all over, one wonders. What does this guy think is going to happen?
I'm sobered by the realization that there are literally millions of people who share his fear. What can possibly be wrong with these people? They've already seen over the past four years that the president is not a bogey man. Where does this kind of thinking come from? I have my suspicions which I'll talk about tomorrow.
In the meantime, here's a sample of a brilliant send-up of past paranoia by Bob Dylan. For those of you too young to remember the pervasive fear struck into the hearts of Americans by the threat of the "worldwide communist conspiracy," you're lucky. It was the overarching theme of the 20th century. (The fascists were just a momentary menace.) It twisted us as a people in ways we haven't even discovered yet.
Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
Well, I was feelin' sad and kind of blue
I didn't know what I was gonna do
The Communists were comin' around
They was in the air, they were on the ground
They were all over
So I ran down most hurriedly
And joined the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
Went back to my backyard
And started looking on the sidewalk
'Neath the rose bush
Well, I was lookin' everywhere for them gold darned Reds
I got up in the mornin' and looked under my bed
Looked behind the kitchen, behind the door
Even tore loose the kitchen floor, couldn't find any
I looked beneath the sofa, beneath the chair
Looking for them Reds everywhere
I looked way up my chimney hole
Even looked deep inside my toilet bowl
They got away
I heard some footsteps by the front porch door
So I grabbed my shotgun from the floor
I snuck around the house with a huff and hiss
and "Hands up, you Communist" it was a mail man
He punched me out
Well, I quit my job so I could work alone
I got a magnifying glass like Sherlock Holmes
Followed some clues from my detective bag
And discovered they was red stripes on the American flag
Did you know about Betsy Ross
Well, I was sittin' home alone and I started to sweat
I figured they was in my television set
I peeked behind the picture frame
And got a shock from my feet that hit my brain
Them Reds did it, no one's on the hootin' nanny
Well, I finally started thinkin' straight
When I run outta things to investigate
I couldn't imagine doin' anything else
So now I'm at home investigatin' myself
Hope, I don't find out too much, good God
[source]
I'm sobered by the realization that there are literally millions of people who share his fear. What can possibly be wrong with these people? They've already seen over the past four years that the president is not a bogey man. Where does this kind of thinking come from? I have my suspicions which I'll talk about tomorrow.
In the meantime, here's a sample of a brilliant send-up of past paranoia by Bob Dylan. For those of you too young to remember the pervasive fear struck into the hearts of Americans by the threat of the "worldwide communist conspiracy," you're lucky. It was the overarching theme of the 20th century. (The fascists were just a momentary menace.) It twisted us as a people in ways we haven't even discovered yet.
Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
Well, I was feelin' sad and kind of blue
I didn't know what I was gonna do
The Communists were comin' around
They was in the air, they were on the ground
They were all over
So I ran down most hurriedly
And joined the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
Went back to my backyard
And started looking on the sidewalk
'Neath the rose bush
Well, I was lookin' everywhere for them gold darned Reds
I got up in the mornin' and looked under my bed
Looked behind the kitchen, behind the door
Even tore loose the kitchen floor, couldn't find any
I looked beneath the sofa, beneath the chair
Looking for them Reds everywhere
I looked way up my chimney hole
Even looked deep inside my toilet bowl
They got away
I heard some footsteps by the front porch door
So I grabbed my shotgun from the floor
I snuck around the house with a huff and hiss
and "Hands up, you Communist" it was a mail man
He punched me out
Well, I quit my job so I could work alone
I got a magnifying glass like Sherlock Holmes
Followed some clues from my detective bag
And discovered they was red stripes on the American flag
Did you know about Betsy Ross
Well, I was sittin' home alone and I started to sweat
I figured they was in my television set
I peeked behind the picture frame
And got a shock from my feet that hit my brain
Them Reds did it, no one's on the hootin' nanny
Well, I finally started thinkin' straight
When I run outta things to investigate
I couldn't imagine doin' anything else
So now I'm at home investigatin' myself
Hope, I don't find out too much, good God
[source]
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Some Thoughts about the Election
Just some random mental ramblings about the election just completed. No pretense of any kind of organization or import. Just mind droppings.
- It did not turn out to be that close after all, did it? Obama won this election handily and going away.
- Indiana going red was no surprise at all. Indiana electing a Democratic senator was no surprise either given the idiot Mourdock that the Republicans ran.
- North Carolina was other other blue state in 2008 that went red this time. No surprise there either.
- Obama has got every reason in the world to dig in his heels now and crack the whip with the Republicans. But he's going to be conciliatory. I think a lot of the left would rather he not be.
- What were they called? . . . Battleground states? Well, it turns out that Obama captured all but one: North Carolina. All the rest: New Hampshire, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Florida went for the president. Might be forgetting one.
- Three states in the Union were entirely red, without a single county going for Obama. They would be Utah, West Virginia, and this mecca of bubbas I live in, Oklahoma.
- These were balanced, actually surpassed, by four states that went entirely blue, every county for Obama: Rhode Island, Vermont, Masachusetts, and way, way west, Hawaii
- Hooray for forces of sanity in Washington and Colorado that approved the legalization of marijuana. Here's hoping that opens the gates on the question . . .
- Democrats were supposed to shed seats in Senate; they gained a couple.
- Elizabeth Warren, a good old Oklahoma girl, is going to be a great friend of regular people in the U.S. Senate. The best endorsement possible for her is that the banks hate her guts.
- Florida still ain't officially called yet. Still counting votes. Some people there didn't vote until after midnight on Tuesday . . . when Mittens had already conceded. Obama has a solid lead there.
- New Mexico has become a reliably blue state because of Hispanics. It won't be too many more cycles before Texas is the same way.
- Women, blacks, Hispanics, young people: all for Obama by large margins. The Republicans appeal to old white guys, white guys generally, rich people, and religious nuts. Who would you bet on as the future of the country?
Thursday, November 1, 2012
I Live in an Idiot State
Which is not to say I'm in a state of idiocy, although one could easily be driven to that condition living among such a high quotient of bubba dingbats, in a state that is redder than a boiled crawfish, run by a legislature that . . . . Well, I put the question to you. What does it say about your state when a solid majority, not a razor thin one, votes to allow people to walk around openly armed?
For today is the day -- TA DA! -- that Bubbas in the state of Oklahoma get to carry their guns around in plain sight on their persons in either a holster or a sling. Here's the New York Times story about it. I will let you know the first time I encounter this phenomenon.
There is a large list of places you will not be allowed to openly carry your weapon, but all these people will have gun licenses for concealed carry as well, so the rest of us will still be surrounded by gun-totin' ninnies. Here's the list of places you cannot openly carry a handgun in Oklahoma. And here is the source. There's a lot of other information about the law there, so if you're really interested, you can check it out. Me? I'm not interested at all.
• Any business that displays any type of sign prohibiting firearms.
• All City, State, and Federal buildings.
• All elementary and secondary school properties.
• On a school bus.
• Any establishment where beer and alcohol is consumed if the sale of beer or alcohol constitutes the establishment's primary source of income.
• Any place where pari-mutual wagering is authorized.
• A sports arena during any professional sporting event.
• A meeting of almost any governmental entity or legislative member.
• Any jail, prison, or detention facility.
• Any structure, building, or office space owned or leased by a city, state or
federal government for the purpose of conducting business with the public.
• In a courthouse.
• Any other place specifically prohibited by law.
Now just think of all the places that aren't on this list . . . I don't see churches, do you? Or movies? Or non-governmental office buildings? Or restaurants? Or shops and stores? Or public parks? Etc., etc., etc.
I feel safer already.
For today is the day -- TA DA! -- that Bubbas in the state of Oklahoma get to carry their guns around in plain sight on their persons in either a holster or a sling. Here's the New York Times story about it. I will let you know the first time I encounter this phenomenon.
There is a large list of places you will not be allowed to openly carry your weapon, but all these people will have gun licenses for concealed carry as well, so the rest of us will still be surrounded by gun-totin' ninnies. Here's the list of places you cannot openly carry a handgun in Oklahoma. And here is the source. There's a lot of other information about the law there, so if you're really interested, you can check it out. Me? I'm not interested at all.
• Any business that displays any type of sign prohibiting firearms.
• All City, State, and Federal buildings.
• All elementary and secondary school properties.
• On a school bus.
• Any establishment where beer and alcohol is consumed if the sale of beer or alcohol constitutes the establishment's primary source of income.
• Any place where pari-mutual wagering is authorized.
• A sports arena during any professional sporting event.
• A meeting of almost any governmental entity or legislative member.
• Any jail, prison, or detention facility.
• Any structure, building, or office space owned or leased by a city, state or
federal government for the purpose of conducting business with the public.
• In a courthouse.
• Any other place specifically prohibited by law.
Now just think of all the places that aren't on this list . . . I don't see churches, do you? Or movies? Or non-governmental office buildings? Or restaurants? Or shops and stores? Or public parks? Etc., etc., etc.
I feel safer already.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
A Good Halloween Post
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| One burning question: how in the world is Texas not green in this graphic. Oklahoma will be tomorrow. |
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
And Have to Share These
Yesterday I shared with you five websites only two of which do I actually "use" myself. Today I'm going to share a few more, the difference being that I use these websites myself all the time. Like yesterday, this is a going to be pretty eclectic stuff.
1. Coursera
A place for you to sign up to take honest-to-goodness college classes from some of the best universities in the world, such as Princeton, Duke, Stanford, University of London, Caltec, University of Melbourne, and many more. Right now its is heavily math and science skewed in available courses, but there is a goodly selection of humanities and social science courses available. This is the wave of the future in higher ed.
I'm taking a course in Modern Poetry from the University of Pennsylvania which my sister is taking with me simultaneously. I think she would agree it is challenging.
2. The Khan Academy
An entirely different kind of learning place, but just as valuable as Coursera in its way. I thoroughly enjoy their art history lessons. Check this one out on Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze.
Here's a blurb from their site with links: "With a library of over 3,400 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and hundreds of skills to practice, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace." And an explanatory video below. This is a great place.
3. CEO Express
For sheer volume of links, this site has to be seen to be believed. I cannot imagine anyone using it for a home page, but apparently that's its purpose. Claims access to news and stuff for executives, but us ordinary peons can find all kinds of useful links there too.
4. RefDesk
Even more links than CEO Express, this is a long-revered home page site. You can't see the whole thing without scrolling down, and there are a hundred places to snag you and drag you into surfing. I think my son Ben might be using RefDesk for his home page. This striking picture is the National Geographic photo of the day.
5. Musicovery
I couldn't possibly let you go without sharing one of my favorite music sites. Well, maybe that's an overstatement. But I do listen to a lot of streaming radio. That's what Musicovery is. You get to choose a mood, like "dark" or "energetic", and the radio will play that mood from any of about twenty musical genres. You can limit those, and you can also set up stations of your favorite artists. Check it out.
1. Coursera
A place for you to sign up to take honest-to-goodness college classes from some of the best universities in the world, such as Princeton, Duke, Stanford, University of London, Caltec, University of Melbourne, and many more. Right now its is heavily math and science skewed in available courses, but there is a goodly selection of humanities and social science courses available. This is the wave of the future in higher ed.
I'm taking a course in Modern Poetry from the University of Pennsylvania which my sister is taking with me simultaneously. I think she would agree it is challenging.
2. The Khan Academy
An entirely different kind of learning place, but just as valuable as Coursera in its way. I thoroughly enjoy their art history lessons. Check this one out on Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze.
Here's a blurb from their site with links: "With a library of over 3,400 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and hundreds of skills to practice, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace." And an explanatory video below. This is a great place.
3. CEO Express
For sheer volume of links, this site has to be seen to be believed. I cannot imagine anyone using it for a home page, but apparently that's its purpose. Claims access to news and stuff for executives, but us ordinary peons can find all kinds of useful links there too.
4. RefDesk
Even more links than CEO Express, this is a long-revered home page site. You can't see the whole thing without scrolling down, and there are a hundred places to snag you and drag you into surfing. I think my son Ben might be using RefDesk for his home page. This striking picture is the National Geographic photo of the day.
 |
| Storm near Guymon, Oklahoma |
I couldn't possibly let you go without sharing one of my favorite music sites. Well, maybe that's an overstatement. But I do listen to a lot of streaming radio. That's what Musicovery is. You get to choose a mood, like "dark" or "energetic", and the radio will play that mood from any of about twenty musical genres. You can limit those, and you can also set up stations of your favorite artists. Check it out.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Not Surprising
How can anybody in the United States be surprised by this news? "July boasted the hottest average temperature recorded in 118 years of
modern record keeping, eclipsing the previous record-holder, July 1936,
when the country was in the midst of the Dust Bowl." (source)
Here in Oklahoma, the hottest state in the Union last summer, it's actually been worse. And all that stuff you hear about this condition or that condition being worse for the very young and the elderly . . . well, I actually hear it when they make these announcements. Didn't used to.
I have to say, though, that today we're getting a break. It's 91 right now, on its way to 67 tonight. This is great, but it's not going to last.
Here in Oklahoma, the hottest state in the Union last summer, it's actually been worse. And all that stuff you hear about this condition or that condition being worse for the very young and the elderly . . . well, I actually hear it when they make these announcements. Didn't used to.
I have to say, though, that today we're getting a break. It's 91 right now, on its way to 67 tonight. This is great, but it's not going to last.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
A Big Pile of Dirt
Here's a little poem I wrote a few days ago. About Oklahoma . . . and other things.
A Big Pile of Dirt
It used to sit right next
to I-35
just north of Norman,
a big pile of orange-red
dirt
all grown over with grass
except for a big chunk of
it
that looked like some guy
as big as Paul Bunyan had
just kicked
the hell out of it.
Actually, it was a guy with
a bomb.
Old Okies knew and new ones
found out
the pile was a remnant of
WWII, part of
a target range for hotshot
Navy pilots
flying cool Corsairs and Hellcats,
practicing for shooting up
the Pacific.
It took years for that pile
of dirt
to disappear, for that
reminder
of old hatreds and threats
to the American
way to give way to sturdier
brick and mortar monuments
to the blessings of
American liberty:
a Target Super Store
with a big pile of
flattened cardboard
shipping containers out
back.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A Great Fourth
Susan and I and Prozac the Boston terrier had a great 4th of July. We all went over to some old, dear friends' house, drank some beer and/or wine, had dinner, floated around in their pool, and sat in the driveway after we ate and watched the city of Moore, Oklahoma's Fourth of July fireworks show. Then we came home, and stopped on the way to get some ice cream.
No parades. No military marching bands. No having to endure oratory about freedom and how the U.S. is the greatest country on the planet. No profusion of flags. Perfect.
No parades. No military marching bands. No having to endure oratory about freedom and how the U.S. is the greatest country on the planet. No profusion of flags. Perfect.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Our Lovely, Insane Country
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| Bumper Sticker Sentiments Captured Recently in Norman, OK |
- Let me get this straight . . . this guy is saying that all those wars (and all those wonderful soldiers thereof) are keeping us from being taken over by Arabs? Muslims? Mexicans? Immigrants of any description--who don't speak English, of course? Or is he referring to the soldiers of the British Empire in the 17th century who kept us from having Algonquin or Huron as our national language? You can thank a surfeit of idiocy for bumper stickers like this. If I were the teacher who taught this jackass how to read, I would not own up to it.
- (Which kinda leads logically from the first question . . .) Just what kind of ninny puts this on his car for the whole world to see?
Monday, January 16, 2012
Allah Akbar
A few days ago, a federal appeals court--not always the voice of sanity, but in this case definitely so--to the surprise of no one who knows anything about the US Constitution, declared unconstitutional Oklahoma's recently approved proposed constitutional amendment that barred judges in the state from considering Sharia or international law in formulating their decisions. (See here.) The Bubba electorate of this state thought that was such a fine idea they voted for it en masse, by a 7 to 3 majority, when it was offered as a state question in 2010. A couple of Republican dingbat representatives, naturally, had proposed the measure. It was nothing but hysteria-driven nonsense, but that the electorate of this state was heartily in favor of blatant discrimination against a religion other than Christianity just shows to what pass we've come in this country. Since 9/11, it seems the whole country has taken leave of its senses.
The federal judges pointed this very fact out: the proposed amendment openly discriminates by name against a specific religion, it said. Moreover, the supporters of the law could not point to any specific problem the proposed amendment addressed. "Indeed," they wrote, "they admitted at the preliminary injunction hearing that they did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law or used the legal precepts of other nations or cultures, let alone that such applications or uses had resulted in concrete problems in Oklahoma."
The federal judges pointed this very fact out: the proposed amendment openly discriminates by name against a specific religion, it said. Moreover, the supporters of the law could not point to any specific problem the proposed amendment addressed. "Indeed," they wrote, "they admitted at the preliminary injunction hearing that they did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law or used the legal precepts of other nations or cultures, let alone that such applications or uses had resulted in concrete problems in Oklahoma."
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Here They Come
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| In Norman, this sort of thing is positively oppressive. Especially if you live about 3 blocks from the place. |
And so here's a whole new tribe of 'em, coming to OU to get a college education--whatever that means anymore. With the economy the way it is, I've been reading more and more articles questioning the value of the investment in college. (But that's another post.) So, ready or not, here they come. With their better-cars-than-I've-got, their iPhones, their youth, and Daddy and Mommy's money. Ah, those wonderful don't-know-shit-and-don't-know-it years. Beer soaked, hormone drenched, friend-stoked. The last taste of real leisure and idleness until retirement, which for these kids may not ever happen. But they don't worry about it . . . those things are a million years away. And of this tribe probably 75 percent of them will be borrowing huge sums of money. Daddy and Mommy may be kicking in a lot, but they can't afford to pay the little dear's whole way anymore. It's all beyond the reach of the middle class to afford what it costs for a kid to go to college. Even at state schools.
And are these kids ready for the world when they get out? Well, you tell me. I don't think anybody's ready for the world at 22 or 23, but maybe there are some exceptions. But are they educated? Nope. Not the way I define it, but then I'm a veritable cave man in these matters. People don't understand the concept the way I do. Nope, these people won't be educated . . . moreover, thousands upon thousands of dollars later, a substantial percentage of them will still be unread, unable to think critically. Easy prey for corporate bullshit and perfect for perpetuating Oklahoma's deadly ignorant politics. Go, Sooners!
Friday, February 25, 2011
A Large and Dangerous Union
From an Oklahoma source, believe it or not.
 |
| This would be even more amusing if it were not literally true. |
Thursday, February 3, 2011
But We Knew That
According to census figures just released, New Orleans, my hometown, has lost a third of its population during the past decade. But actually, it's not over the past decade that the city has taken such a hit. It's since Hurricane Katrina, which occurred on August 29, 2005. Before the storm, the city was about 455,000 people. Now, after it, we're talking 344,000. That missing third of the populace has been scattered to the four winds. Shortly after Susan and I moved back here we met a lady driven out of New Orleans all the way up here to Oklahoma City; she said she's not going back. Baton Rouge LA has added about 40,000 people to its population since the storm. Places all over south Louisiana have experienced similar jumps in population. But overall the state has shed enough population to lose one congressional representative as a result of the storm. One has to wonder what New Orleans would have looked like and what its population would have been had the national government reacted to the disaster the way we have a right to expect a merely competent national government would have. Damn George Bush, I say . . . the evils this man visited upon this country we're still living with and will be for a long time. Our kids will live with them, too, long after we're gone.
Update I: Actually, the state of Louisiana gained 1.4 percent in population from 2000-2010. See interactive map here. But compared to the rate of growth of other states, this was not enough to allow it to keep its present congressional delegation at the same size. Next-door Mississippi, for example, gained 4.3 percent population during the same period. Of the six Gulf Coast counties ravaged by Katrina, five gained in population during the decade.
Update I: Actually, the state of Louisiana gained 1.4 percent in population from 2000-2010. See interactive map here. But compared to the rate of growth of other states, this was not enough to allow it to keep its present congressional delegation at the same size. Next-door Mississippi, for example, gained 4.3 percent population during the same period. Of the six Gulf Coast counties ravaged by Katrina, five gained in population during the decade.
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