sisu

Keeping the home fires burning

Give a woman a dress, and she is clothed for a day. Give her a sewing machine, and she can clothe and feed her family for a lifetime. Spirit of America is helping Iraqi women help themselves through "Sewing Machines for Women in Ramadi." As the women sew, so goes the nation. (Photomontage based upon USAID photo)

Ready, on your mark, get set, SEW!  Spirit of America's Friends of Iraq Blogger Challenge officially begins tomorrow, December 1, and runs through that magic day -- our birthday! -- December 15 (midnight Pacific time). As you may know if you're a regular visitor, we're putting our treddle foot behind SOA's project to raise money for sewing machines for the women of Ramadi, and we've already raised $360.

Click here -- early and often -- to donate in our name.

Jim Hake, the brains behind SOA, reports that overachievers who jumped the gun have helped raise a total of $30,295 already donated to various projects. We love what blogpal Frank LoPinto of The Cool Blue Blog had to say about it all:

"Many of us pajama folk who inhabit the blogosphere have taken up various causes, but none unites us as much as Spirit of America and its efforts to raise money to 'assist those advancing freedom and peace abroad,'" writes Frank, reminding his readers of our birthright as Americans to help the needy help themselves, especially during this blessed gift-giving season of a thousand points of light in the gathering winter darkness. "Americans are a generous people.  In the course of this year alone, Americans have donated over $240 billion dollars to various charities, with over 85% of households supporting non-profit organizations."

We encourage our readers to give to the charities of your choice.  Besides Spirit of America, we're naturally giving generous sums to our local Animal Rescue League of Boston and Angell Memorial MSPCA.  Ever since 9/11, we've had a soft spot for our fellow citizens who tirelessly serve our communities as firemen, police officers and Salvation Army soldiers. So many worthy causes -- our dauntless and patriotic troops most of all -- so little time.  If we all pitch in, it will make a difference.

The right to be left alone

The red dot on the chart shows where we fit on the political map.

Just for fun, take "The World's Smallest Political Quiz" -- only ten quick questions --  to find out where you fit on the political spectrum (as if you didn't know).  Here's our profile:

Libertarians support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters.  They advocate a much smaller government, one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence.  Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyes, support the free market and defend civil liberties.

That sounds about right. Interestingly, while the Dutch proprietor of Zach Ei -- where we found this quiz -- falls in the upper left of the centrist square, "being a centrist by American standards puts me pretty much in the right-wing spectrum from a Dutch perspective." It's what scholar George Weigel calls a "European Problem" that goes back to the 19th century "to the drama of atheistic humanism and the related triumph of secularization in western Europe." We're working on a blog post about that and related topics.  As Drudge says, stay tuned.

Off with their bubbleheads!

"[Brokaw] chose wisely to move out while atop the heap, knowing the Golden Age of network news has drawn to an end," writes fledgling blogger Tony Snow, who enters the blogosphere with flair, sharing an insider's take on the decline and fall of the Pajamasphere's nemesis, the vaunted MSM [via Powerline]:

But then there’s Rather. Having survived in the piranha-like conditions of the network newsroom for nearly a quarter century, Rather finally fell prey to a combination of personal foibles and inspired back-biting. When the already-grim ratings picture suddenly began to look hopeless, CBS execs shoved Rather off the ship, describing his “transition” as an amicable decision, agreed upon mutually. That’s a lawyerly way of saying he cried uncle, panting and screaming, but only after they subjected him to a brisk, sustained session with the bastinado.

As a result of his leaving and Brokaw’s opportunistic escape, the news business has entered a Wild West phase – a time of riotous experimentation and no-holds-barred competition. This is a good thing, because journalists have lived too long in a bubble of their own connivance and design . . .

Broadcasters and scribes tend to look at the American public with finicky disdain -- as if a journey into a suburb were akin to peering over the edge of a smoldering trash dump, searching for a debris-munching rodent. They not only have lost contact with Mainstream America; they have taken an active dislike toward it.

The 60 Minutes II imbroglio did Rather in not because it seemed a departure from the norm, but because it seemed too perfectly to capture the arrogance and determined ignorance of the Has-Been Media.

Tony's sparkling prose is a marvel to behold, reminding us of why Bush 41 chose him way back when as his director of speechwriting:

The world in which they acquired wealth and celebrity has crumbled with startling speed. A new order has arisen. Journalism, no longer a redoubt of the illuminati, has become a vessel of grubby democracy. Anybody -- literally, anybody -- can play these days. They can insert their views in a weblog. They can call talk radio. Eccentric plutocrats, such as George Soros, get to spend bundles on advertisements in any and all media.

Now the fun comes to people like you and me -- for it is our opportunity and obligation to make the press smarter, humbler, and fairer than ever before.

You are too self-effacing, sir, but we know what you mean.  Welcome, dearest Tony, to the blogosphere.  We applaud Mr. Snow for adopting the cause of Swift Boat Vet Steve Gardner -- first called to the blogosphere's attention by (who else?) Powerline and blogged here. Tony interviewed Gardner on his radio show the other day and urged listeners "to practice compassionate conservatism by writing checks to the embattled Swift Boat Vet." We "second the emotion."  The Big Trunk at Powerline has the details if you're so inclined:

Here's the info I have from Steve. He has a paypal account through his email; there's also a snail-mail address: P.O. Box 908; Clover, SC 29710.

'Tis the season.

Motion sickness

Ecosystem History Statistics of one of two (should be only one -- see previous post) listings of sisu. Click on image for larger version

It feels like we're on a rollercoaster ride. Statistics for one of two listings of this blog at the TTLB Ecosystem show a fairly gradual improvement in status (green line) from 722 to 140 in the last month and then a precipitous fall down to 657 a couple of days ago.  Is the Ecosystem really that erratic, or is something funny going on?

Update: Thanks, everyone, for your empathetic comments.  Misery loves company. It looks like there really IS a bug lose in the TTLB Ecosystem.  New Zealand Bear reports:

As many of you may have noticed, the Ecosystem is having some issues over the past few days. I'm working to resolve them, but for now, please have patience. And if you know anything about debugging strange issues with MySQL indicies, please read this thread at the MySQL forums and let me know what you think . . .

The Bear is on the case.

Looking for a knight in shining armor

Is there somebody wicked smart out there who can help get sisu back where she belongs in the blogosphere?  A couple of weeks back -- it seemed to coincide with New Zealand Bear's doing some sort of upgrading to the TTLB Ecosystem -- this blog disappeared or went to the bottom of those dynamic blogrolls where every time you post, your blog rises to the top and gets an asterisk or other such indication that you are active.  In the case of fellow bloggers who show only the ten most recent posters in their blogrolls, sisu never appears at all anymore.  In those like Blogs for Bush that do show everyone on their blogroll, sisu languishes way near the bottom of a list of hundreds, far below bloggers who publish much less frequently than we do. More details here, where we blogged about this sad state of affairs a week or so ago.

It just ain't right.  We don't know enough about these things to fix it. Frustrating. We do know our blog service Typepad has us listed as http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu within http://sisu.typepad.com, and the Ecosystem lists both URL's, splitting up our ranking. Typepad says it doesn't make any difference, as both URL's work the same, and New Zealand Bear promised to take a look, but to date, nothing.  Don't ask us.  Just tell us what to do to get this thing fixed, and we will be eternally grateful.

The spin starts here

"We cannot allow yet another Vietnam veteran to get screwed for serving his country.," writes Captain Ed re the tenth member of John Kerry's "Band of Brothers," the one who refused to be bought off:

Today's Chicago Sun-Times chronicles the aftermath of the election for the most notable of Kerry's Band of Brothers -- the one who openly campaigned against him. Mary Laney reports that Stephen Gardner now finds himself broke and unemployed as a result of speaking out against a man he finds "dangerous."

Bill O'Reilly should be talking about how exercising his freedom of political speech allowed the Kerry campaign to ruin Stephen Gardner instead of issuing blanket smears in defending Dan Rather. We need to find a way to give Stephen Gardner some support, either by finding him a job or helping him sue his former employer for damages, or both.

We're with Captain Ed.  O'Reilly's Rather defense is a pathetic and obvious projection of his own swell-headed worries about being found out for his own less than savory behavior. We really don't care a whit about O'Reilly's behavior but find his defense of Rather -- not to mention his cheap shots at the Swift Boat Vets -- lame and deeply insulting to our intelligence. We rarely watch "The Factor," as it is unwatchable, but every so often we do surf in, and his pompous claim to be looking out for the little guy smacks of the elitist's inside-the-bubble belief that he knows better than we what's best for us.

Update:  A link from Captain Ed (scroll down) of Captain's Quarters produces a QuarterLanche over the starboard bow.  Thanks, Captain, Sir.  The helmsman also points to Winsfield Myers of Democracy Project's explication of a newly identified mental disorder, the O'Reilly Fracture.

"Cats do what they do"

Baby -- paw collection in full display mode -- as he settled into a day-long cat nap yesterday morning after his mysterious adventures of the day before.

"I have composed a short verse in Baby's honor, about these mysterious adventures that cats obviously enjoy. I suspect they serve a higher cat purpose," writes our reader, Jeffrey Hull, who delights and honors us with a gift of poetry:

Wayward Cats

So where do cats go, when they just go away,
By darkest of night or by bright light of day?
Attending their business with no "by-your-leave,"
Condemning their "owners" to worry and grieve—
They saunter back home with not even a hint
Of what they have done save a mischievous glint,
Perhaps with some scratches, but home with the dawn,
Protecting the secret of where they have gone.
We'd like to forget, but cats do what they do
And patiently teach us what yet remains true:
For all of their wanderings demonstrate that
The simple truth is that no man owns a cat.

Jeffrey Hull, Copyright 2004
By permission

Prrrrr. And speaking of homages to cats (we always do), be sure to visit the litterful of homages to their cats by ailurophilic bloggers at the 36th Carnival of the Cats, hosted this week by Watermark.

You're too low, you're too low!

Jetliner framed by Ailanthus and telephone wire looking west from the front porch this afternoon under soggy skies with the wind coming from the southeast

One of the biggest travel days of the year, with folks heading home or back to school or whatever after giving thanks and stuffing their faces together with family and friends. Since there's a rainstorm with 25 to 35 mph southeast winds raging out there, Logan International Airport is routing landing planes west-to-east directly over our house (in good weather they usually come in from the south).  Pretty dramatic.  Every couple of minutes another jet roars overhead, shaking the rafters.

Just about as hard as catching a pussycat flying in through the window to catch one of these carriers flying overhead in the camera's eye.  It took about 20 exposures to get just these few. 'Love that Snoopy-dog face of the airliner in silhouette above right.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Supercat!

Back in our lives without missing a beat -- even as his 14-hour missing-in-action episode yesterday threw the rest of our lives into disarray* -- Baby almost literally flies in through the window at Goomp's.  A difficult moment to catch on "film." The flying cat is quicker than the eye, let alone the digital camera's flash mechanism.  In fact, we've been trying for months to capture such a moment. Both Tiny and Baby are partial to this method of entering the house, as the window is right beside Goomp's computer and therefore a better than average way for them to catch our eye.

Note rear right paw (center in detail photo) making contact with the window sill at the same moment front left paw is making contact (right in full-puddy photo above). It's a Muybridge moment -- as blogged here -- summarizing the pioneering photographer's fast-motion studies where serial photography revealed that the traditional artists' portrayal of running horses with legs extended front and back and all hooves off the ground at once was incorrect. As Muybridge discovered, opposite hooves -- as well as paws (he also did motion studies of a running cat) -- work together.  Same thing with hands and feet.  When we walk or run, our swinging arm and moving leg of opposite sides work together.  It's a Darwinian thing

*Thank you, dear family and friends, for gathering close to comfort us when we were so worried about Baby's whereabouts yesterday, and thank you for sharing our joy when the little rascal suddenly appeared at the door last night as if nothing had happened.  All he wanted to know was "Where's my supper?" Also, re the 14 hours, it was actually more like 24+ hours, as he had gone out the night before just after supper -- probably around 5 or 6 -- and was never seen again till 8 p.m. the following night. Long time no see, pussycat.  So glad you're back in our lovin' arms.

Saddest day?

Happiness reigns!  The little fellow finally showed up at the back door around 8 p.m., bright eyed and bushy tailed and wondering what all the fuss was about, anyway. REALLY ready for supper.  Looks like he may have been shut up inside one of the neighbors' garages or some such (their lights just came on, probably returning from their Thanksgiving holiday). Disregard all that follows. :)

Up here at Goomp's where the cats can stay out all night if they want, Baby never came home this morning. It's 7:37 now.  He normally shows up by 4:45 a.m. or so for breakfast. Foul play?  There are foxes -- wolves? -- cars on the gravel roads, who knows what else.  If we're lucky, one of the neighbors took him in for the night and he will prance back into our lives sometime soon.  Otherwise, it's the saddest day in a long, long time.

Update 8:31 a.m. Not looking good.  Tuck and I walked all the fields and then walked the roads and checked with both adjoining neighbors, neither of whom had see a gray cat in the last period of time. Best boy ever was and the light of our lives.  We may never see him again. Always worried every time we go up here to Goomp's and let the cats stay outside at night -- it was their nature and what they wanted to do -- but we never expected this wintry weekend to be the time we never would see our boy again.

Update II.  Far too late for hope now.  It's 11:02, and we've checked with all the neighbors. Something very bad is afoot.

Update III. Our hearts are breaking. No sign of Babe at 12:38 p.m. Tiny is going outside now to check things out.

2:28: The Babe never came home.