Plum Crazy

Get Well Soon Bobby Murcer

I didn't know until yesterday that Bobby Murcer had brain surgery. A colleague told me that it was for an aneurysm, but I learned this morning that it was for a brain tumor. There's no report yet on whether it was benign or malignant or on his prognosis. I wish the same for Bobby Murcer that I would wish for anyone who's just had a brain tumor removed. That he recover completely, that the tumor is benign, and that the tumor doesn't grow back. Yet this one hits a little closer to home since it's someone who while I don't know personally do know in a way. I watched him as a player growing up, remember his heroics in the Yankees first game after the death of Thurman Munson, and have known him all these years as an announcer. I don't think much of him as an announcer; still, he comes across as a gentleman and a genuinely nice man. Of course, I would still root for his recovery if he weren't a good person. But the fact that he is makes me root and care a little bit more. Best wishes for a full and complete recovery Bobby.

Cross posted on THTRB.

Friday Cat Blogging

Oh, why not! Below the jump.

First up, Emma.

And now, Portia, who will be 3 years old in January.

Madame Defarge

As I'm sure you've all read by now, Saddam Hussein is likely to be hung tomorrow. Let me go on record as saying that I am against the death penalty, and that I do not believe that Saddam should be executed (Note that this did not stop me from putting him on my 2006 Dead Pool roster, however. Hey, you've got to play the odds on something like that.). However, this post is more about the possible broadcast of his execution. The Iraqi government will be videotaping everything. It's not clear if they're going to actually broadcast the tape, but some believe that a video of the execution will be released.

This leaves the US broadcast media with a decision on how to handle this. "Tastefully," mind you. To broadcast or not to broadcast, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the media to suffer the slings and arrows of lowered ratings. ABC and CBS say they will not air the full execution. I suppose that means they'll air parts of it, but not the actual hanging itself. CNN and Fox are undecided. Regardless, I think it's fair to say that if a video is released anywhere in the world, it will wind up on the Internet pretty quickly, likely bringing down someone's server due to heavy viewing.

A commenter over at Balloon Juice says "When this hits YouTube, I think a whole lot of people are going to be looking at the death penalty differently." I admire that person's optimism. I just think it's sadly misguided. It's not that long ago that executions were public events. Family events, replete with picnic baskets and knitting needles. While I think that some people might be swayed by its barbarism, I don't think many people will be. But Zifnab, whoever you may be, I hope you're right.

Via Shakespeare's Sister, who kindly asked me to cross-post the entry directly below to her blog! Woot!

The Horror!

The UK is considering passing a law that would stipulate that a woman who had a certain level of alcohol in her blood would be deemed too drunk to consent. Since this actually puts the onus for preventing rape where it belongs - on men, rather than on women - you can imagine the outcry. The comments section is chockful of people bemoaning this "horrible" development.

The comments generally fall along two lines. One is the ever-present fear of false accusation! Yes, you know, because someone might falsely accuse someone of a crime, we shouldn't legislate against that crime. Oh wait, no. Apparently that only applies to rape. I have yet to see anyone argue that we shouldn't have a law against burglary since someone might falsely accuse someone else of robbing their house. And never mind that it actually has to be proven that the woman was too drunk to consent.

The other is that somehow men are going to be held responsible for their actions, but women are not. Oh heavens, where's Teh Equality? I think the action women are supposed to be held responsible for in these comments is drinking. A lot of the comments suggest that women shouldn't be getting drunk if they don't want to risk "involuntary sex or rape" (an actual phrase from one of the comments). This implies that an appropriate consequence of women drinking is having men rape us. Whereas for men, the appropriate consequence of drinking is having a hangover or vomiting. If some guy got so drunk he couldn't figure out what was happening to him, and another man raped him, who would think to question what he was doing getting that drunk in the first place? I mean, maybe he consented. He just doesn't remember, right? Why isn't someone holding him responsible for his actions! /snark. That is exactly what would not happen. Here's an entire article about a rapist who strikes men where not one word is said about how dangerous it is for men to be walking alone at night or any of the usual cautionary warnings given in articles about rapists who prey on women.

This also implies that somehow deciding to have some drinks is on the same level of badness as deciding to "have sex" with someone who isn't in any frame of mind to comprehend what is happening around them. I know, it's a terrible thing to imagine that men might have to be more aware of their sex partners. That those who don't might have to actually give a damn about their partner's desires and mental state. Clearly it's much more important that drunk men have sex whenever they want to than it is to protect women.

In ending, I'm going to quote this case as why these kinds of laws are necessary (emphasis mine):

Case study: Ryairi Dougal was cleared of rape in a landmark case last year because his alleged victim was too drunk to recall events.

The security guard had sex with the student while she was lying drunk and unconscious in a corridor outside her flat in Aberystwyth University.

The case hinged on whether the 21-year-old he was accused of assaulting had consented to sex.

Swansea Crown Court was told by the woman there was "no way" she would have agreed, but when questioned by the defence, she acknowledged she could not remember anything and therefore could not definitively say if she had consented or not.

Even though 20-year-old Mr Dougal was a stranger to the woman, the judge told the jury to bring in a not guilty verdict because she could not remember whether she had given consent.

She was unconscious. How many unconscious people can remember anything? How many unconscious people are capable of consenting to anything? She was lying drunk and unconscious in a corridor when a man she didn't know raped her. Yet, because she couldn't remember anything, he gets off. This is the kind of situation we're supposed to allow to continue in order to protect a few men against false accusations. No secret where our priorities are.

Often the Best Way To Get Around

Mass transit. Stuck in traffic on a bus, members of the British soccer team Coventry City opted for the Underground when they realized they would be late for the game. They took some grief from opposing fans along the way, but they made it to the game 40 minutes early. To boot (pun intended), they won the game 1-0.

Courtesy of the 12/4 issue of Sports Illustrated.

The Belated Award for Good Sportswomanship. . .

. . . goes to Rutgers basketball. They were scheduled to play the title game of the women's U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam in late November against Arizona State. Sadly, the brother of an Arizona State player, there to watch the game, died suddenly. Rather than force Arizona State to show up or forfeit if they didn't show up, Rutgers agreed to cancel the game.

Courtesy of the 12/4 issue of Sports Illustrated.

Hail to the (Former) Chief

I was 10 years old when Gerald Ford took over the office of President of the United States. My first national memory is of Watergate. I was as happy as a 10-year-old could be about matters political when Nixon resigned. Therefore, I was happy when Gerald Ford became President.

I always liked him. He seemed, to my 10-year-old mind, to be a nice man. I've had no occasion to revisit my first assessment of him. I didn't understand, at the time, why people hated him so much for pardoning Nixon. I thought it was quite sensible and the right thing to do. How horrible would it have been for the country for the former President to go to jail? As I got older, I understood more why people were so angry, even though I also have never changed my first assessment that Ford was right. Perhaps it would have been better to let Nixon stand trial, be convicted, and then commute the sentence. I'm not sure even of that, though, given the shape the country was in at that point. There were just other issues that needed to be dealt with. A trial would have been a circus, distracting the government from dealing with the potential financial collapse of our cities, the energy crisis, and a number of other items of national importance.

When I was in college, I went to a conference in Georgia. Appearing at that conference were Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, who were good friends and were working closely together, as they continued to do. Watching the two of them up on the dais, it struck me again that Ford was a nice man who really wanted to help people. One might disagree with how he went about helping people, but you would be hard pressed to argue that he didn't want to help. It would really just be untrue. (Ditto for Carter.)

So here's to you, Gerald Ford. Rest in peace.

Really?

This from an expert on rape talking about the serial rapist preying on men in Texas: "A serial rapist is more likely to have a conscience. Otherwise they'd take the life and silence the victim."

Let's see, someone who forces other men to have sex against their well, stigmatize them, and mark them for life has a conscience. Someone who attacks other people in one of the most heinous and degrading ways has a conscience. Maybe they're not as bad as murderers, but let's not go as far to say that they have a conscience. Because if they did they wouldn't be committing rape in the first place.

6 Things I Think I Think About the NFL

1. Amazing. Despite their awful play in the second half of the season, the Giants are currently the second wild card team in the NFC. Fancy if they made the playoffs and get hot and roll to the Super Bowl. Ain't gonna happen.

2. I don't really want to see the Giants in the playoffs. They don't deserve it.

3. I do want to the see the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs so that Brett Favre can get hot for four games and go out on top.

4. Do you think the Houston Texans rue the day they passed up on hometown hero Vince Young? All he's done the last 6 weeks is lead the Titans to 6 straight wins and position them for the playoffs after they started 2-7.

5. The Eagles were surely done when Donovan McNabb went down for the season. Now, they're at the top of the NFC East and can clinch the division on the last weekend with a win. My friend Eve is happy.

6. Looking more and more like the Giants made a mistake when they mortgaged the farm for Eli Manning. I didn't like the trade when they made it and like it even less now. Like the Texans, they might have made a move that will haunt them for 10 years.

The Nets Are Up The Creek

I'm probably the only one on this blog who cares about it, but the Nets just lost Nenad Kristic, their talented young center, for the season. They were already weak in the middle. Now, barring a trade, they have no inside presence. Up the creek indeed.

Dear Alan

Don't worry about paying for the legal advice. I told you there was no charge. But thanks for taking my advice and giving up the ghost. Better for all parties concerned.

Sincerely,

Jon

I Am Cranky!

I've spent the day alternately decluttering the apartment and dealing with deliberately obtuse commenters in the comments section to this post at Feministe. While decluttering is good in the long-run (or even tomorrow), my back hurts now!

As for the commenters -- Aargh! We were discussing rape laws which state that an intoxicated person is unable to consent to sex. Now, please note that these laws only apply when a person presses charges. Not under any other circumstances. Needless to say, some commenters (I believe all of them are men, although I'm unsure about one of them) started stringing together fake scenarios. "OMG, you're saying that all sex while drunk is rape!" "How can you be comfortable passing a law that makes it illegal for you to have sex while drunk!" "The cops will start rounding up anyone whose had sex while drunk!" Dealing with that kind of idiocy makes me cranky, dammit! Sure, these kinds of laws already exist. Sure, no state has started rounding up people who had sex while drunk. Sure, none of them state that it's illegal to have sex while drunk. Sure, no one ever said that all drunken sex was rape. Sadly, none of that impinges on the consciousness of those raising these fake scenarios.

I'm cranky, I tell you!

Dear Alan

Allow me to offer you some free legal advice. Cop a plea and resign your position. Better to have done it six weeks ago, but better late than never.

Sincerely,

Jon

You Keep Using That Word...

The word in question is "oppressed," and I do not think it means what Dr. Helen* thinks it means.

It seems like those with views other than liberal must wear the Scarlet R. Well, I will not hide any longer. If people want to call me a Republican, I will wear the label with pride with the R proudly displayed on my forehead whether it really fits or not, just to show my solidarity with those who are oppressed by such labels. Maybe you should too.

I'm not really sure how holding the executive branch and close to 50% of the legislative branch qualifies Republicans as being oppressed by the label Republican. Especially if they are, in fact, Republican. How are you oppressed by being called what you are? If you've registered for the Republican party, you're a Republican by your own volition.

As for those individuals who Dr. Helen assures us feel the need to apologize for having right-leaning views, well, actually, who are these people? I live in the bastion of "latte-swilling liberalism" known as Manhattan (why is everyone always hating on the latte anyway), and I have actually never heard anyone say "Oh, no, I am not really a Republican, I have other views etc." except when they're not, you know, Republicans and wish to clarify the matter. Much like Dr. Helen herself says that she isn't a Republican, but a right-leaning libertarian. She clearly wasn't apologizing by saying that. She was, I assume, stating her party affiliation or lack thereof. When people mistakenly refer to me as a Democrat, I will often clarify with a "Oh, no, I'm not a Democrat." This would not be me apologizing for being possibly one of the most socially liberal people I know, so much as my stating the verifiable fact that I am not registered as a Democrat. I have very purposely refused to register a party affiliation as a personal (admittedly minor) form of protest. [The day the Democrats want to pay more than lip service to women and POC is the day I might actually register as a Democrat.]

As for the concept that you're being oppressed by having to explain that you are not what someone has mistaken you for, really. Ludicrous. As a Jew in this country, I am not being oppressed. No, not even when someone mistakes me for Christian (a common occurrence). Is it annoying that many people just assume I'm Christian? Yes. Am I being oppressed? No. If being Jewish were limiting my access to education, housing, or jobs, then I would be oppressed. That is not happening, however. It sure as hell is not happening to actual or imagined Republicans either. Republicans and those with right-leaning views are not being oppressed.

Words have meaning. We're not in Looking Glass World.

*I see a fair number of progressive blogs refer to her as Dr. Mrs. Instapundit or Dr. Instawife or Dr. Mrs. Ole Perfesser or something like that. I really wish they'd stop. Agree with her politics or not, she is a separate individual from her husband. Nobody calls him Professor Dr. Helen. I'm sure it's possible to insult her by not diminishing her status as an actual, full-fledged human being in her own right.

It All Adds Up To Another Deflating Loss

Two goal-to-go possessions. A total of six points.

A 16-14 lead followed immediately by an Eagles touchdown.

A 22-21 lead followed by another Eagles touchdown.

2 interceptions, one returned for a touchdown on the first play of an attempted comeback deep in the 4th quarter.

2 fumbles.

Add it up, and what do you have? A 7-7 team that's not worthy of the playoffs.

Sigh

The Giants suck

The Knicks suck, and they're a bunch of goons.

Most importantly, the world sucks.

.

Chocolate Nutella Truffles

Mmm. I made these today, and they were way, way good. I didn't feel like skinning, toasting, and chopping hazelnuts, so I dusted them with Ghirardelli's Chocolate Hazelnut cocoa powder instead. The recipe isn't difficult, but it is time-consuming. Make them when you're willing to spend about 2 1/2 hours doing little else. The only breaks you'll get are when the truffles are in the refrigerator, and you only have to stir them every 15 minutes.

Really, though, worth the time.

What's That Part of the Constitution About No Religious Tests, Roy?

Shorter Roy Moore: "The best way to uphold the Constitution is to do something unconstitutional."

I think we need to question Roy Moore's willingness to uphold the Constitution. It appears far more suspect.

Via Shakespeare's Sister.

No Killing in the Name of God - Just Killing

Right. OK. This is just a video game, and I'm not really going to get all worked up about it. However, this is possibly the stupidest statement I've read all day (the day is young, though!).

"The reality is that our game perpetuates prayer and worship and that there is no killing in the name of God.

"There is killing of course, it is a video game. But the basis of the game is spiritual welfare," said Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games Inc.

Hmm. Let's go to the gamemaker's website, and see what they have to say about the game.

Game description

Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces - a real-time strategy game based upon the best-selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances!

• Lead the Tribulation Force from the book series , including Rayford, Chloe, Buck and Bruce against Nicolae Carpathia - the AntiChrist.

• Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.

• Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.

• Command your forces through intense battles across a breathtaking, authentic depiction of New York City .

• Control more than 30 units types - from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!

• Enjoy a robust single player experience across dozens of New York City maps in Story Mode - fighting in China Town , SoHo , Uptown and more!

• Play multiplayer games as Tribulation Force or the AntiChrist's Global Community Peacekeepers with up to eight players via LAN or over the internet!

Wow, that second bullet must be a typo, right? Instead of saying "physical and spiritual warfare", it should say "physical and spiritual welfare". Surely, Mr. Lyndon, that must be so, if the basis of the game is spiritual welfare.

BS. You don't "wage a war of apocalyptic proportions" when you're simply trying to teach kids about spiritual welfare. You're "using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat", even (emphasis mine). It's clearly a game about war. War in the name of Christianity. You'd have been way better off saying what the manufacturers of games like "Vice City" have to say about their games - "It's not real." The fact that you're promoting this game as an alternative to games like "Vice City" concerns me far more than the content of the game. You're pretending that this game isn't exactly what it is. That raises the question, "Why?" Who are you trying to fool? Parents into thinking this game is better than other warfare games, or the rest of us into thinking it's not really about warfare in the name of Christianity?

As for the idiotic "There is killing of course, it is a video game," not all video games have violence and killing. Take, for example, this new game - The Shiva. It's a game about a rabbi who solves a murder. It's a puzzle game. There are puzzle games out there. They just don't tend to do as well as the violent games (except for things like Myst, but games of that caliber are few and far between). So, fine. You want a successful video game that will sell to teenagers. Stop packaging it as "spiritual welfare".

Quick Show of Hands

Who's eating at a Taco Hell (or any fast food joint) in the near or distant future? No one? Thought not.

Portions for Foxes

I admit that I don't get or particularly care for the video, but the song and lead singer are hot.

Check it out:

Portions for Foxes

UPDATE: Embedded video removed to prevent it from screwing up Mac browsers and auto-playing in Windows browsers. Link to video is above.

Hall No?

Joel Sherman opines today that Mark McGwire doesn't deserve to in the Hall of Fame because steroids made him into the "great" ballplayer he turned out to be:

For the first 990 games of his career, a period from 1986-94, McGwire was an injury-prone first baseman who produced an offensive performance roughly equivalent to that of [Jay] Buhner. . . Then, suddenly, McGwire's career swerved toward greatness. His body broadened and his success soared.

Sherman has a compelling point. From 1996-1999, McGwire's batting average spiked to .289 and his median number of homeruns was 62. Contrast that to the pre-1995 McGwire. Tossing out 1993-1995, in which he missed considerable time, leaves us with dramatically different numbers for McGwire earlier in his career. His batting average was .248 and median number of homeruns was 36 between 1987 and 1992.

Granted, neither Sherman nor I have proof that McGwire started injecting steroids after 1994, but the circumstantial evidence is hard to ignore. Based on these numbers, I'd have to agree with Sherman that McGwire does not belong in the Hall of Fame.

Cross posted on THTRB.

Psyched!

Andy Pettitte is back.

This Might Explain My Fascination with Darth Vader

Your Birthdate: February 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech. In other words, you're a total (brilliant) geek. It's difficult for you to find people worth spending time with. Which is probably why you'll take over the world with your evil robots! Your strength: Your unfailing logic Your weakness: Loving machines more than people Your power color: Tan Your power symbol: Pi Your power month: July

Via Feministe

Hat Tip to Lesley

She doesn't call it Taco Hell for no reason.

Name That Tune 31

Can't help but give a hint of my own on this one. The actor who played Jonathan Kent in Superman starred in the movie that launched the song into the stratosphere.

Lyrics please:

Put your glad rags on and join me, hon

That's all you get. Anything more would give it away in a tick of the clock.

Remember, don't blurt, be subtle, leave a clue.

p.s. Bonus points if you can name the 1955 movie the song was used in. Leave a clue here, too.

And The Answer Is. . . 30

Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg. Judy listens to 106.7, Lite FM, and we've heard the song a few times on the radio. I'm not a particular fan of his, but I do like the bittersweet melancholy of this song.

When I heard these lyrics - She said she saw me in the record stores/And that I must be doing well - something clicked, perhaps not for the first time, that the song is probably autobiographical. It is. In Fogelberg's own words:

In 1975 or 76 I was home in Peoria, Illinois visiting my family for Christmas. I went to a convenience store to pick up some whipping cream to make Irish coffees with, and quite unexpectedly ran into an old high school girlfriend. The rest of the song tells the story.

For more on Fogelberg, for the interested, go here. Just turn the volume down on your computer first.

What I've Been Up To

This week starts my first full week of "between jobness". I left my previous position voluntarily on Nov. 30 and will be taking the month of December off before plunging into the whirlwind of job searches in January. I've been spending time working on digital art. Tomorrow my new supplies come (full versions of Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter, as well as a graphics tablet). In the meantime, I've been working on some effects in Photoshop Elements. So if you get a chance and would like to let me know what you think (constructively), please do!