Smile like you mean it, Tommy Boy


Tom Delay's mug shot, from thesmokinggun.com, kind of speaks for itself. I'm not quite sure he understands what's happening to him.

You know, I think this may be the beginning of the end for these guys. It is getting harder for Bush to ignore the
"background noise" of the Plame investigation, the Miers controversy, and, oh yeah, Iraq. GOP Is Caught Between Alliances, says the L.A. Times. The approval rating for Congress hit 29%, the lowest since 1994...do I smell revenge here? 2006 is not that far away. Maybe ( - maybe - ) the Dems can get it together and take Congress back.

I hope this fall we can harvest some of this ripe scandal. If these jerks don't get their just desserts, it'll be like having the bases loaded with one out and then hitting into a double play. Unfortunately, if any of this had happened during the Clinton administration, he'd be getting a lot more heat.

One down, three to go!

My Art History midterm is finished! I studied a lot for that and it paid off - I think I did pretty well. I at least got all the IDs right; we'll see if my commentary was insightful enough. Thank the Goddess (shown above in mural from Tepantitla, Teotihuacan, AD 250-700).

I have decided to take elementary Spanish for two hours a day next term even though I could probably learn what I don't already know of it it on my own. It's just good to have grounding. And it fits in my schedule, miraculously - it must be destiny.

Salon has posted a review of Steven Colbert's new show, which apparently is quite good. "Somewhere out there, Bill O'Reilly is fidgeting and twitching like the villain whose voodoo doll just took a thumb tack to the forehead." Yale just gave us full cable service, but this year I don't have a TV! If I'd had access to the Daily Show in my room last year...ah well.

Roses and Thorns
A rose to my run today! It was so amazing! I love sunny, breezy fall days. East Rock colors are turning!

A thorn to the Angels letting the White Sox sweep them.

A rose to hybrid cars

A thorn to midterms.

A rose to really good grilled chicken and cranberry bread.

A thorn to possible rain tomorrow.

A rose to Halloween spirit.

A thorn to Halloween being on a Monday.

A rose to new socks.

A thorn to Governor Schwarzenegger's "special election" of bypassing the legislature.

Four thorns to laundry.

Give my regards to Mordor...
In the entertainment world, there are a lot of good ideas that turn out to be not such great ideas after all (eg, Star Wars prequels: yes, I still love ROTS. But honestly, George, why mess with perfection?). Then there are seemingly bad ideas that turn out to be brilliant. The best example is - quick! guess what I'm going to say! - Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings adaptation. It's hard, from the perspective of 17 academy awards and 3 billion dollars, to remember that before the first film's 2001 debut, many were calling New Line Cinema's project an incredible gamble ("unfilmable book, very expensive, shooting all three films at once, who are these actors anyway, magic and midgets...yada yada yada"). I admit, even I was nervous when I heard this was being attempted ("Are they going to ruin my book?"). Against all odds, this gamble turned out to be a frickin' amazing film feat that you don't have to be an incredible geek like me to love.

And yet...there are other kinds of ideas. Just because something looks like a bad idea does not mean it is actually a good idea! I'll just cut to the chase: someone has decided to make an LOTR musical.

The show will open in March and run exclusively in Toronto through the summer of 2007. The NYT reports that the Ontario government has signed on as investors in this production, which at $23 million is more costly than any Broadway show.

"It has the gravitas of Tolkien," says the producer. It's a MUSICAL, says me.

True, the book is loaded with songs -- hobbit walking songs, elven songs both joyful and sad, the hey-dols of Tom Bombadil -- 95% of which were missing from the films. These might translate into stage numbers. Then again, they might not.

True, the producers have made it clear they are adapting the book, not the film, and are doing everything differently from the film. Fine. But they also cite the success of the film as motivation for their show. Now, pretty much everyone liked the movies. Lots of people loved the movies. So people have probably watched them a lot. And gone out to read (or re-read) the book. And bought toys and games and stationary and costumes and popcorn tins until they were blue in the face. Am I suggesting that the public might be a little OD'd on LOTR? Well, maybe. For fanatics, even the skeptical ones, a musical holds interest even after the (beautiful) deluge of middle earth mania that would have had Tolkien rolling in his grave has finally passed. For normal people, it might feel like a cheesier, more expensive round of been there done that.

I hope this goes well. What I don't want is for LOTR to suffer the kind of backlash Titanic suffered even in its own theatrical run. If this musical flops it will damage the reputation of a great story that was lucky to have fallen into the right hands for film adaptation (can you imagine if Lucas or even Spielberg had tried it?). Again: don't mess with perfection.

Pakal the Great, King of Palenque, 603-683

Victory at last...


From: "Richard Levin, Andrew Hamilton, John Pepper"
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:21:05 -0400
To: "Yale Community"
Subject: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy


In his recent book, Red Sky at Morning, Gus Speth, Dean of Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, states that in the face of disturbing polar ice loss and the startling consequences of global warning “addressing CO2 emissions from fossil fuels must be the bedrock of [a successful climate strategy].” This concern has been strongly reinforced by the Advisory Committee on Environmental Management, under the leadership of Professor Thomas Graedel, and by a number of student groups around the university. Yale recognizes the need to respond to and prepare for the unprecedented circumstances that we face with respect to energy production, consumption, and related carbon emissions. As an institution, Yale is committed to becoming a model university that prepares its students for facing the pressing environmental conditions and taking a leadership role amongst higher education institutions to respond to the energy challenge.

In the fall of 2004 the Yale Energy Task Force, a university-wide committee with staff, faculty and student representation, was convened to respond to the challenge of increasing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The task force [link tohttp://www.yale.edu/sustainability] was charged with making recommendationson Yale’s approach to energy - production (from conventional to renewable), procurement, demand, greenhouse gas emission reduction and conservation.

Following a thorough review and analysis, the Officers have adopted the key recommendation from the report presented by the Energy Task Force. We are pleased to announce the following campus wide goal which will become effective immediately:

Yale is committed to a level of investment in energy conservation and alternate energy sources that will lead, based on current projections, to a reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by10% below our 1990 levels by the year 2020.This is consistent with a similar commitment by the Connecticut State Legislature and the New England Governor’s and Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Action Plan.

By adopting this goal Yale is one of the first universities in the country to commit to a fifteen-year strategic energy plan. We intend to reach our goal through a combination of a strong energy conservation program, investing in alternative energy sources, purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates, and implementing on-site renewable and clean energy demonstration projects.

Every one of us on campus has a role to play in helping achieve this goal, by conserving energy and by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that flow from its use. Effective conservation programs can further free up funds within the University budget that will in turn be invested in renewable and non-CO2 emitting forms of energy.Specifically, we are setting out to achieve the following conservation targets:

• 15% reduction at residential colleges over a three-year period.
• 10% reduction at all other facilities

Two student groups, New Haven Action and the Student Task Force for Environmental Partnership, will take the lead in engaging and educating students on how to participate in advancing our goals for energy conservation. For every 5% of reduction at residential colleges the University will allocate renewable energy certificates to offset 1/3rd of the electrical energy used by residential colleges.

There will be a great deal of learning to be gained, both here at Yale and outside the campus community, on how to best meet our energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction goals. We will share this learning internally and externally as it is gained in the months and years ahead.

To learn more about Yale’s fifteen-year Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Renewable Energy strategic plan go to http://www.yale.edu/sustainability.

Sincerely,

Richard C. Levin, President
Andrew D. Hamilton, Provost
John E. Pepper, Vice President for Finance and Administration

Posted by Trailhobbit at 6:40 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 6:41 PM EDT

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Cool Archaeology Picture Time

When I'm too tired to think of anything to say, I'll just put up cool archaeology pictures. This is R.E.W. Adams in a Classic Maya tomb at Rio Azul, Guatemala. That's writing on the walls. Cool, huh?

Humbling Katrina
It looks like nature was just warming up when she decided to blast the United States with hurricanes. Both Central America and South Asia have suffered horrifying disasters this week. Although the Asian quake is much more terrible, my personal affinity for the Mesoamerican world I'm studying in Art History makes the pain of Guatemala and the surrounding region much more real.

"Panabaj will no longer exist," said Mayor Diego Esquina, referring to the Mayan lakeside hamlet in Guatemala covered by a half-mile-wide mudflow as much as 15 to 20 feet deep. "We are asking that it be declared a cemetery. We are tired. We no longer know where to dig."

Kind of makes the week of oily New Haven rain look like picnic weather.

Woman of the Hour
I'm afraid I don't understand the grumblings in the conservative community about Bush's choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. After all, this NYT feature describes her turn to the Dark Si -- er, Evangelical Christianity.


At least she's a woman. In fact, probably the ideal woman to some right-wingers. According to the office manager of her church, "She put herself in servant roles, making coffee every Sunday morning and putting doughnuts out." Just as a woman should.

Seems backward enough. So why the conservative unease? Are they afraid that, since she hasn't worn her views on her sleeve and was once a Democrat, she will let them down on critical social issues? Say, abortion? Check out this exchange with her fellow churchgoer Justice Hect:

"Yes, she goes to a pro-life church," Justice Hecht said, adding, "I know Harriet is, too." The two attended "two or three" anti-abortion fund-raising dinners in the early 1990's, he said, but added that she had not otherwise been active in the anti-abortion movement. "You can be just as pro-life as the day is long and can decide the Constitution requires Roe" to be upheld, he said.

So that's it: they're afraid Miers will choose what is Constitutional over what is Christian. In other words, they're worried she will be fair. Pardon my naivete, but shouldn't someone whose title is "Justice" embody fairness, regardless of political creed?

I'm not looking forward to seeing Miers installed on the court. In fact, I find her quite revolting. But as long as she's not, say Pat Robertson himself, we could be worse off.

It's sad that "we could be worse off" constitutes a positive attitude. 2008, where are you?

From the Too-Wierd-To-Make-Up Files...
Say, is that Anthrax on your tie?

Believe it or not, with"Infectious Awareables" your neckware can sport E. Coli, syphilis, and breast cancer among other miscrocopic horrors. See the full collection at their online store.

::shudder::

I mean, I like dark humor and all, but there's somthing about using giardia as a paisley motif that, well, turns my stomach.