The Red Brick Times

This is an excellent day to cast outside the cult of Christianity to other cultural milieus. One of my long-time favorites has always been Rapa Nui or Easter Island in the South Pacific far off the coast of Chile. There will be a solar eclipse in 2010 where totality will last for 5 minutes on Easter Island. I want to go.

If you cannot wait, the next solar eclipse will be June 10, 2002 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It will be an annular eclipse (the moon's shadow smaller than the diameter of the sun). Go to Puerto Vallarte. Get a tan. See the sun vanish.
Posted 11:59 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Broadcast radio has become so banal and advertisement ridden that I don't listen to anything but NPR anymore, and that rarely. Even NPR seems like half advertising lately. Thank god for web radio, the greatest thing since sliced bread. I haven't posted about it before because it's sometimes not so great over a dial-up connection and not all of us have sound capability anyway, but if you have broadband connectivity and PC speakers web radio is definitely the way to go. My favorite: RadioParadise. Excellent playlist and no ads. I'm listening to it right now, but maybe not for long. The big boys are trying to kill it.
Posted 1:07 PM by whatley 0 comments

So, you want to know how to respond to terrorists? So do I. If there were justice in this world, would there be terrorists? If there were freedom in this world would there be terrorists?? If there was equity, tolerance, opportunity, and education in this world would there be terrorists??? Does extreme violence stem from extreme injustice???? Is it the product of EVIL or perception????? Would people that were well fed and treated humanely resort to such measures??????
President Bush has just linked foreign aid to the war on terrorism. For the first time, I may want to congratulate him.

Posted 9:54 PM by Ray Stewart 0 comments

Rabbit want cursor.
Posted 3:39 PM by whatley 0 comments

Great jumpin' horny toads, a museum devoted to what? Ya just gotta love the web sometimes.
Posted 9:41 AM by whatley 0 comments

Russ, or Shan, or Shan and Russ, emailed around a stunning picture of the WTC light memorial (52Kb). If you want to use it as your desktop wallpaper email me with your desired screensize and I'll photoshop it for you. It looks good at 800x600 and pretty good at 1024.
Posted 8:32 AM by whatley 0 comments

Posted 8:04 AM by whatley 0 comments

A man in Perth, Australia, decided to write a book about
churches around the world.
He begins by flying to Brisbane, and begins
working his way from there.

He went to a very huge catherdral and began taking
photographs and talking to people.

He noticed a golden telephone on a wall near the altar and is
intrigued with the sign which reads "$10,000 per minute."
Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone and the sign.
The pastor answered that this golden phone is, in fact,
a direct line to Heaven and for the price noted, one can talk
directly to God.

He thanked the pastor in wonder and continued on is journey.

As he continued to visit churches and temples in Africa, Canada,
France, England, and around the United States, he found more
phones, with the same sign, and the same answer from each pastor.

Finally, he arrived in Scotland. Upon entering a church in Stirling,
Scotland, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time,
the sign says, "Calls: 10 p."

Amazed, he sought out the minister. "Reverend Sir, I have
been in cities all across the world and in each church I have
found a golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to
Heaven and that I could talk to God. But, in the other churches, the
cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 10 pence. Why?"

The minister replies, "Well lad, you're in Scotland now.
Its a local call."
Posted 7:26 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Make room on your bookshelves and in your bedrooms for a new, improved--and politically correct--'Kama Sutra'
Posted 11:26 AM by whatley 0 comments

AVOT is here. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Posted 8:16 AM by whatley 0 comments

3/11…

It is six months since the two towers collapsed. We have all tried to follow the instructions and move on with our lives. But today, especially, we cannot help but remember what has happened to us all. Something is missing now. Something more than buildings. Something more than lives.

When we realize that some people are capable of such evil that they will throw away their lives to kill innocents and destroy the symbols of a system they hate, we must also remember that there are others who will give their lives to save people they don’t even know — people of every sex and race and religion. And if some of us are capable of such relentless devotion to life, perhaps all of us are capable of such good.

It is six months since the two towers collapsed. It is inconceivable that anyone could try to do this to us. Our immediate, visceral reaction – and understandably so – is for revenge. We are all so wounded, all so tender, still, from those wounds, that it is hard to see what we must do.

But if we are to live up to our beliefs, we must take the long view and see that the future is what we make it. If some are willing to martyr themselves for such a cause, it is up to us to make this cause irrelevant. It is the right thing to do. It is the human thing to do. It is the only thing to do.

It is six months since the two towers collapsed. Fear is still with us. But we must be unafraid to tell our story. So that those who follow us cannot forget. So that those who follow us realize the cost. So that those who follow us remember not the great evil, but the greater good — for that is the only way that our wounds may heal.







Posted 7:54 PM by Russ Stevens 0 comments

The first RBT road trip was a resounding success, so much so that what the hell, lets do it again (because as we all know, if it's worth doing it's worth overdoing). Some suggestions (ie. things I would find big fun but never do because they're not so much fun without company):

The Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin is the third ranked college art facility in the country behind Harvard and Yale. Their current feature exhibition is "Woven Treasures: Tribal Textiles from Western and Central Asia". Cool. (Hey Peggy, you out there?)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (or as we affectionately refer to it, the RandRHofFandM) and The Great Lakes Science Center are right next to each other for gods sake. A possible two-fer.

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

A weekday dinner (avoid the crowds) at the new Moss' Prime Rib House.

With the proper pharmaceuticals we could do all this in one day but maybe we should spread it out a little. Any other suggestions?


Posted 9:30 AM by whatley 0 comments

Equinox means Balanced Light, Not Balanced Eggs. Here is the exact minute when spring will be sprung.
Posted 9:21 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Standing an egg on end on the Vernal Equinox? An example of Bad Astronomy.
Posted 9:12 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Where there is Spring, there are Ardea herodias, especially in the wetlands along Lake Erie (Magee Marsh, Crane Creek). The Great Blue Heron is here for the season.
Posted 9:04 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Here are some Spring Rituals for your diversity catalogue.
Posted 9:01 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Daffodils and Narcissus are the same thing, botanically. It is easy to fall into introspection when lost in warm temperatures, sunshine, fragrant earth and vivid flowers. See The New York Botanical Garden Daffodil Collection or tips on Daffodil planting and care from the same source.
Posted 8:56 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

William Wordsworth. 1770–1850

Daffodils

I wander'd lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

I have been watching the daffodils near my front door creeping out of the ground since the warm spell we had in January. First there were little green points. Then it got colder and they stopped. Then warm and they crept up another inch. Then cold and they stopped. By last week, they were 6 to 8 inches up, and when we got 9 degree temperatures a couple of nights ago I thought that it was all over. But now they are showing healthy buds. We are only two weeks away from the first day of spring. The other daffodils farther away from the house are less advanced, but well on their way to full fruition also.

This is my favorite time of the year.
Posted 8:45 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Thufferin' Thuccotash! Sally had a birthday yesterday! I bet she'd love a belated e-card right about now.

In other news The Washington Post reports: Here's a vignette we're dying to see on the ABC broadcast of Sunday's Ford's Theatre Presidential Gala: When Stevie Wonder sat down at the keyboard center stage, President Bush in the front row got very excited. He smiled and started waving at Wonder, who understandably did not respond. After a moment Bush realized his mistake and slowly dropped the errant hand back to his lap. "I know I shouldn't have," a witness told us yesterday, "but I started laughing."

Posted 12:17 PM by whatley 0 comments

From spywareinfo.com: There is a despicable trend in recent months where the browser settings of web surfers are being hijacked. Browser hijacking is where malicious code of some sort, whether it be javascript, ActiveX, or some other sort of scripting, modifies your browser settings. It can also mean that your default start page has been reset from your choice to something else. Sometimes javascripts will add ready-made internet shortcuts to your favorites folder without asking you.

And that's just the tip of the ol' iceberg. Sometimes they make it almost impossible for you to change your own browser back to where it was. This site has some solutions.

P.S. The road trip is a go and you're invited! (See my post from yesterday. And remember, as The Books of Bokonon say: "Strange travel suggestions are sometimes a dancing lesson from God.")

Posted 12:23 PM by whatley 0 comments