The Red Brick Times

In Linda's words - "Adam would like to host Solstice this year." Saturday, December 21, toast at 6:00. Linda says if she tires, just put her to bed and let her listen to the music. Please pass along the word.
Posted 2:54 PM by Sally D. 0 comments

Posted 8:32 AM by whatley 0 comments

Still in Sunny Florida - doing odds and ends and grokking the weather. I hear you have snow? He he he! Be back early next week before Thanksgiving. Alex sends regards and is enjoying hearing about everyone. So everyone sound up
Posted 10:27 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

You're gonna love this. Gapingvoid.com, by hugh macleod. "Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards."
Posted 3:54 PM by whatley 0 comments

I am off within the next few minutes to Florida. Taking a driving trip to celebrate the onset of cold and snow flurries in Ohio to the Tampa area where temps are in the mid-70's and the sun sets over the Gulf of Mexico, lah dee doo dah. Back in a week. Anybody want some sand?

Sorry to miss Prime Rib, Russ, will get together before T-Day. My prayers (those of a lapsed Congregationalist born-again agnostic) are with Linda. The energy that is in us all together is the common thread. Winter Solstice this year will be a real family event for all of us to share on many levels of joy and sadness and strength and helplessness. I am feeling more human than I ever have before.
Posted 12:20 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

SE (where I work) has made some major capitol investments in digital equipment and related applications over the last 2 months (the new website is part of that) so I've really been hoppin'. Somehow I've managed to get the next two days off for a breather and, if the weather is at all decent, might take my boat out one more time tomorrow morning then Moss' tomorrow evening for some good old fashioned power eating. I'd love some dinner company, so if you suddenly find yourself salivating at the mere thought of prime rib give me a call and join in!
Posted 12:39 PM by whatley 0 comments

I guess it's time to post the latest information on Linda Tarry, and her current battles with metastatic breast cancer.

Linda will be in the Cleveland Clinic (M71-11) for about three weeks. She's been suffering with pain in her hip, to the point that she's been unable to work. Those of you who have seen her have noticed her pronounced limp and "favoring" of her left hip. Initial scans and Xrays revealed no injury, just indications of bone mets. Finally Monday an xray showed something- a fracture in her hip. She'll be on complete bed rest for her hospital stay, and Adam will be arranging the downstairs of 133 for her return home, where she'll continue to rest the hip during recovery.

Linda's bouts with nausea apparently are caused by reactions to the pain medications, but also because she has cancer in her liver now, too. We had a frank talk about her plans. She's working to "get her affairs in order" and even suggested she might plan her own funeral. Her humor is intact, and although she admits she's scared, she wants to try to "make this as easy as possible" on Adam and everyone. Even though she realizes any treatment at this point is palliative, her spirits are amazingly good. She even talked about when she goes back to work...

I was delighted when she called me Saturday and indicated she felt good enough to go out and hear the Houligans. She enjoyed herself tremendously (me too!) and was delighted in the fact that she and I now wear the same size jeans. We've managed to meet in the middle somewhere on the scale.

I won't be able to get to Cleveland to see her this weekend, but perhaps one of you might. I'm sorry to bring this depressing news to the board, but I felt it was time to share. Please add Linda to your prayer list.

Sally
Posted 6:37 PM by Sally D. 0 comments

Oops, I found one more issue. Working on it.
Posted 8:39 AM by whatley 0 comments

All (for the moment at least) fixed. Whew. It came to me over coffee this morning what the problem was. Once I realized what was going on it wasn't too hard to fix. So much has been happening at work lately, all of it directly involving me, that I just haven't had time to devote to the ol' RBT. Sorry. One more thing; please look at my post from last Friday to see what the "PayPal" button is all about.
Posted 8:16 AM by whatley 0 comments

Yeah, I know, more RBT problems. I think I know what's causing this but need verification from the new hosting company, something I've been trying to get for over 24 hours now. I'll keep working on it. - Russ
Posted 9:35 AM by whatley 0 comments

Oliver Cromwell is still one of the worst murdering shitheads in the history of Western Civilization or, at least, that's what I would say if I had an opinion. Although, "Kill a Catholic for Christ" does have a certain alliterative appeal.

Actually I just logged on to say that tRBT won't open. The banner come up then just stalls there. How, you ask, can I be aware of Andy's posting AND file this report if I can't read the page? I have a link in my bookmarks directly to Blogger because I'm too lazy to figure out how to get there from main page everytime I want to post. The problem is that I can't post my little synaptic lapses in the comments and will end putting them here. So, Russ, what's with the new sever, sorry can't help thinking about old King Chuck, I meant server?
Posted 8:59 AM by A. O. Gutierrez 0 comments

I was researching the English movement in the mid-1600s known as The Diggers, an egalitarian land-reform effort, and came across this paragraph about the English Civil War between 1642 and 1651 led by The Army of Parliment under Oliver Cromwell that led to Charles' I beheading in 1649 and the defeat of a heretofore sacred royal right of rule. It dovetails with current US Constitutional evolutionary questions by highlighting the development of the poplular voice in England that led to the basic precepts of our own government.

"The conflict itself, its causes, and its outcome have been variously interpreted. As a revolution in government, it was defined by common lawyers, energized by Puritan enthusiasm, and motivated by widespread hatred of Stuart autocracy. As a religious and cultural struggle, it has been described as the War of Three Kingdoms, comprising the resistance of Scots Presbyterians and Irish Catholics to the centralizing control of the English church and government. But whatever its historical character, the Civil War marked England's transition to a society in which the absolute rule of a monarch was no longer a possibility. The people themselves had acquired a political voice. To some extent, this was a religious voice: Puritans who professed a belief in congregational church government were generally proponents of republican rule. Their dedication to the ideal of a society of equals under the law was shared by men and women of other sects: the Levellers, led by John Lilburne, who argued for a written constitution, universal manhood suffrage, and religious toleration; the Diggers, led by Gerrard Winstanley, who proposed to institute a communistic society in the wastelands they were ploughing and cultivating; the Quakers, led by George Fox, who rejected all forms of church order in deference to the inner light of an individual conscience and, insisting on social equality, refused to take off their hats before gentry or nobility; and the Ranters, who denied the authority of Scripture and saw God everywhere in nature. Without widespread acceptance of the egalitarian concept that had initiated the Protestant reformation—all believers are members of a real though invisible priesthood—it is hard to see how the move from a monarchy to a representative and republican government could have taken place."

The complete text is © 1999 by Addison Wesley Longman, A division of Pearson Education and is found at History and Epic in a student resources site presented by Pearson Education (Pearson Education group includes Prentice Hall, Longman, Scott Foresman, Addison Wesley, NCS Pearson, Skylight Professional Development and other publishers).


Posted 4:24 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Here is a right-wing review by Robert Bork of a left-wing book Courting Disaster: The Supreme Court and the Unmaking of American Law (author - Martin Garbus). It provides an interesting look into the "conservative right's" perception of the "liberal left's" positions and precepts. The review was published in the magazine The New Criterion (Vol. 21, No. 3, November 2002 - ©2002 The New Criterion).
Posted 3:45 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Q. Gee Willikers! What's that new little blue button on the left menu bar all about?
A. Due to the flood of emails I'm always getting that say "I too would like to support tRBT. Just tell me how!", I went out of my way to make it easy for ya. That's me, always thinking of others. Seriously though, when our old provider was acquired the price of hosting went up to $120/year (this doesn't include name registration fees, another $25/two years). If you feel like kicking something in to help support the site that would be great. Paypal only deducts about 55 cents on ten dollars (hint hint) for credit card transactions and nothing on direct transfers which is the cheapest around. If you want to help out but don't like online money stuff you can a) mail a check or, b) buy me beers.
Posted 12:04 PM by whatley 0 comments