A Spurs win today will only tie the series against the Hornets - but it's what I want. ...

Without 1066, Doomsday And All That

I'm spending a sunday morning getting inspired by journalism again, noting that blame the medium and the journalist isn't all that's wrong with the decline of the print newspaper. And noting the simple fact that such a decline does not twin with a decline in journalism, though "newspaper journalism" is not as much of a redundancy phrase as it has been.

Many of the people who present themselves as online purveyors and surveyors of the rise and fall of newspapers, vacillate only between the two extremes of I'm right, your wrong, and are never as helpful as they think they are. The most successful seem to be preaching to their online audience, their self-selected online audience, who have already mentally checked out.

I generalize for emphasis and brevity, of course and would be happy to be delivered examples of the contrary.

Tim McGuire, in my own fair - as in fairly hot for Spring - state of Arizona had a speech he gave recently. I was not there to listen. Many of the journalism convention keynote speeches have conentions of their own. Usually it is to talk on a grand scale about the big newspapers and to pretty much ignore the smaller newspapers, except in passing. almost always, employees from the small newspapers represent about 90 percent of the audience and therefore the keynote speaker fails in recognizing and addressing their audience.

And it's not a large leap to then no longer wonder why newspapers decline. But that is too simple.

The second convention of a newspaper convention keynote is to pretend that employees, particularly journalists and photographers have the ear of their management and are actively being encouraged to speak up. Ideally, yes, of course, and there are always breakthrough moments of epiphany that can make your month satisfying, if not your quarterly report.

Being ignored is the usual case as "being busy" takes precedence over "being useful" or "being excellent" to each other and "communicating." The joke about communication breakdown within newspapers among people in the communication business exists for a reason.

McGuire's speech, in text here, delivered just a few days ago, struck the right balance between cajole and a-hole. It wasn't clueless and didn't pretend. It gave energy not just hope and not just a pronouncement for change - Yes we can - without filling in some details.

I offered a few paragraphs in response, reprinted, er republished, below:

"Excellent words. We need better owners, as well but until that time comes work hard in journalism and develop an out when you hit the brick wall of non-change.

If Jarvis thinks he's saying the same things, then he should recognize a maxim - it's about the presentation. I was more inspired and driven to do better by READING this than anything I've ever read on Buzzmachine - though admittedly haven't read anything there in at least a year. McGuire's characterization is about the most accurate for the vibe emanating from Jarvis - Die! Die! Die! Here's a gun. Die! Die! Die!

I have to mention Jeff Jarvis because his site and the way he presents his thoughts are horrible, plain and simple. His is merely the longest wind up to "I told you so" in history.

There are many different ways to do things. I have for at least the last few years before I transitioned out of reporting, said that I could see the PRINT newspaper dying, that bloggers are not de facto "doing" journalism if their stock in trade is mere opinion or swilling rumor. (And with that I am not by including those who do much more than that) By the same token people paid as journalists doing the same thing aren't earning their paycheck.

I'd work for and be happy to work for an online news site. There has to be a set of ethics and standards and with that journalism will survive in whatever medium. However, one of those standards is reasonableness. There can't be 400 bloggers complaining that official X or artist Y didn't get back to them, when the very purpose of "mass media" was and is to gather thoughts and make it easier to communicate for everyone than to shout with a megaphone and hope everyone can hear.

Last, back to owners. Wait, but first about distractions. There are 100s of different ways to get information and news - and to avoid information and news. Working within that structure can help but being the Twitter of investigative journalism is to be nothing. And I love Twitter, but not for the marketing and feed of links to everything on a site. I love Twitter for the insights into people's lives.

That insight is different than being investigative, then digging deep. There are needs for both and they are different animals.

Back to owners. There seems to be no end of multi-billionaires buying sports teams. It may be more fun, a sports team sure does connect with a community. If they, however can't see the value of information beyond marketing, then isn't something wrong with the greater society that goes much deeper beyond devaluing news? Surely there are people who are willing to lose money for a greater cause as they develop an informed community?

It's not a reliance on these people, just an acknowledgment that they are are part of this equation.

As to the individual, it's just flat out true that companies and owners have much greater power than ever. If it is incumbent on the employees to fight - or rather persuade - back, then they need the full-throated support of all their colleagues everywhere. And everyone needs a back-up plan.

With that, and not intending to write an essay or my complete and whole thoughts of the matter in response, I will end - for now.

Temple"

I wasn't 100 percent sure where my mother was at the moment. I thought she was in Tennessee, but when i called she was actually in Canada (East, didn't ask exactly where) sitting at brunch after a round of Bucks Fizz (orange juice and champagne not the Eurovision Song Contest winners). Mom said she had forgotten it was Mother's Day.

"Oh mother, the sun, we who are your children are but two sunflowers, naturally transfixed at your wonder, your nurture and your love." -Temple

What a sweetie!!!!!

The Buck Owens Studio in Bakersfield, Calif., has closed and NL Belardes @ ABC23 filmed a half hour about it. I've become lightly acquainted with Nick through MySpace, now Twitter and mutual online friend Howard Owens.

Anyway, he put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it and I wanted to remind myself to watch it when I have a moment and I have a good Johnny Cash soundtrack lined up around me

These eggs are from a pigeon's, er posterior general region. They sit within a wok riser in a box that's out on my patio. They really are small, bigger than quail's eggs - about 1.3 inches in the height vector. I wanted to get moma pigeon on top but she flew away. She flew up about 8 feet away and eyed what I was doing, and flew back when I left.

The first below is an image taken and processed from the full photo farther below

Well I had a damn awesome day, so the Spurs are going to win because that's the way my awesome days end - with something good.

More analytically, Popovich and team know how to adjust and they will frustrate the Hornets. Expect an ejection of some kind as well, probably from Chris Paul.

If you want me to step it up a bit on the updates let me know, otherwise I'm taking it easy. I liveblog mostly jut to get rid of nervous energy because I absolutely have to do something while I watch - and people have actually been finding me and tuning in and commenting which helps A LOT.

(MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP)

All done!

What a Life

So I've been ignoring saying pretty much anything at this site that wasn't basketball related. It's been hard to feel like anything interesting is going on or want to share photos or anything. No one reads this site except potential employers when they look up my name in Google. (Hi there friends!)

I've wasted a lot of time just reading blogs and trying to get the enthusiasm back up for writing about politics @ PolState.com even though I'm pretty sure it's gone for good now. I am a Hillary supporter and have become horriblyh disgusted with the "NetRoots" and blogs in general as they're level of asinine punditry has become an echo of the national media punditry. Yet, they still set themselves up as "new" and "different" and "better." One of three IS bad, damnit. ;-)

***
I've spent a great deal of time in what has now been almost three months looking for a job. I haven't wanted to get back into reporting jobs because I just no longer enjoy the work as much. I have focused on graphics design, followed by copyediting / proofreading. In other words, almost exclusively graphics design.

What I have found - as I found before - is that a lot of companies advertise for jobs but waste a lot of time interviewing people and then months later are still advertising for the same position. They never planned to hire anyone and it's as if they're justifying the search to someone, somewhere.

A lot of time has been spent writing cover letters, which is somewhat hard when looking at the job descriptions and what people say they want and what they ask you in pre-interview or interview stages. I've had a handful of interviews, and as I said seen jobs I've applied for never disappear off the listings and then suddenly after they expire, they're back up to the top of the pile.

There are a lot of companies that know what they want, as well, of course.

***
I have been enjoying the quick hit twitter conversation and blurbs and spent time there.

***
I have not been enjoying actually being on unemployment for the first time in my life; being paid not to work in essence is extremely strange. I hope with two interviews next week and freelance design work about to pick up that that will end ASAP.

***
I have 41,000 spam comments to get rid of at this Web site and I have 14,500 e-mails to winnow down to the few hundred I may want to actually keep. Both long processes but both are slowing things down - e-mail program and Web site.

***
I've been sleeping on the couch as I now have an ex-girlfriend and we're still living in the same townhouse, comfortably. But we're swapping use of the bed in blocks of a few weeks at a time. The short summary is the good Carmen got tired of waiting for me to ask me to marry her, and I pretty much wasn't asking ONLY because I want to have kids and she cannot have them and does not want more kids around the house. She is 13 years older than me and has three grown kids. I am about 7 years older than her oldest.

My mom doesn't know yet because I'm waiting until I have "I've got a job" good news. But she doesn't read this blog very much. If she does, this time, well there's the story Madame Sun (and your two sons are sunflowers)

So I am, officially, single but before I start looking at all seriously, I need to 1), find a job (duh!) and 2) Get to swimming and biking to get back into shape. My Coke diet of diet COke, naturally) does seriously help as well. The pool hasn't opened yet here - why not, I don't know, but it's always a summer thing here so no one has to pay to heat the pool.

***
A pigeon has set up nest and two eggs in a moving box I've got out on the patio. I need a photo.

***
I was about to move around some blogs and give them the locations of the old ones. For example I wanted to upgrade this site to WordPress but I became deathly afraid of losing it all, even though I've backed it up. I also have this need to customize the new site to the max, but in the meantime the software blog here, suffers as do readers who have a shit of a time leaving comments. At my political site, if i move over, I wonder if Google News will still recognize the site. As I ready myself to "Beg" for people to write for the site, because I need a lot of someone's to write things I may not agree with to make the whole enterprise seem worthwhile. But very few people want to write at a site other than where everyone already agrees with them. Which is sad and the weakness of blogs Part II ;-)

***
Tomorrow, I am getting a haircut in preparation for Monday's interviews and someone is lending me Seasons 2 and 3 of Arrested Development.

***
I changed my blurb at this blog to remove "Arizona Reporter" and all the places I've lived. I also reintroduced the NBA results Widget even though I know it slows the loading of my site down some.

***
If you want to leave a comment do e-mail me (link top left of blog) rather than struggle through the commenting mechanism here.

***
Lastly, for the last four days I've been ending every day with a neck ache.

- Temple

I discounted the New Orleans Hornets, thinking them a flash in the pan or at least not ready for primetime. Sure they have Chris Paul but it took LeBron James more than his rookie season to get his previously horrible team into the playoffs. And then, well they didn't have Coach of the Year Byron Scott either.

I'll likely write more here tomorrow, as a game preview but I've got a busy day so am putting this placeholder here in case I don't.

Well, I'm ready for the game. More than ready for the game. The only thing more anticpated thanthe Tony Parker / Chris Paul in the playoffs was the, well the Suns-Spurs series just ended,

But Spurs fans by the end of the series, perhaps by the end of game 1, are going to hate hearing the name, Peja Stojakovic. As anyone knows who pays attention to him for more than five seconds, he's deadly from the three-point arc. Like a Reggie Miller but really not quite as much of a go-to-guy. He's accurate but what makes him deadly is the timing of his threes. When his teams have been down, be it the Kings or the Hornets, that's his time to flush in a morale booster and thrust a dagger into the opposition.

The 30-year-old was injured for most of last season so people around the league forgot about what he could do.

David West is a part of the Hornets' dynamic duo, a relatively experienced player who brings it all to the floor. West was part of the Hornets very brief playiff run in 2004 when the team was part of the Eastern Conference. The Hornets finished top of the Western Conference this year, destroying the conventional wisdom about Eastern Conference teams being poor compared to the West. The Celtics also have helped destroy that perception, and it would all but have disappeared except for the 1 through 8 seeds in the West all being seperated by only a handful of games.

West and Ginobili should go at it and Manu should likely have the upper hand, if just with his ability to draw fouls and confuse a lot of the people who man up on defense against him.

Duncan might have his way in this series. The only thing that would stop him is if the Hornets don't show up to play, and he plays down to their level. That seems unlikely, however but on paper the Hornets would seem to have no answer for the big man.

The 7-1 Tyson Chandler obviously has the best chance but at this point it would seem Duncan has the game smarts that Chandler hasn't quite cultivated, as yet.

Kurt Thomas might give up a lot of rebounds underneath the basket and be reduced to being the 3-point answer to Stojakovic. Expect Thomas' role to be lessened in his series.

By the way, the Hornets have already achieved the impossible. They've got a team song, "Fan Up New Orleans" by the Soul Rebels Brass Band, which actually sounds good. That's just unheard of in the history of professional sports, with the possible exception of the Icky Shuffle. (The only downside is you can't turn it off as you navigate the Hornets NBA site.

Go Spurs.

Well, if the Suns win this one, all bets are off for the series. The most perfect metaphor and cliché for Game 4's ass-whooping by the Suns is that it was diametrically opposed reflection of Game 3's beat-down by the Spurs.

It seems unfathomable that the Spurs could actually lose the series, much less tonight's game. But it also seemed unfathomable that the Suns could perform like the did against the Spurs Sunday. The Spurs are not worse than last year, they are older but not slower as is always brought up in hope that one day it might be true (and one day it will).

So, tonight's game should see the Spurs deliver a close but tough win. Tim Duncan will come to the floor with renewed energy and from top to bottom the players should get this done at home.

If I was speaking as a Suns fan, I'd just have to say that the Suns have to repeat what they did last game. I would not have much faith that they could but I'd be hopeful because last game stopped the last tendrils of hope from being snipped.

There's still something to hang on to, so .... hang on!!!!

LIVE GAME BLOGGING WILL BEGIN HERE AT 6:15 PDT.

Well, I just saw Amare Stoudemire interviewed on ABC and he pretty much said, "we're gonna try." Not, we're "going to win."

Frankly, and obviously, the Suns have nothing to lose with brave predictions and they have talent (despite what the last two games have shown).

For my thoughts on Game 3, check my Game 3 liveblog. In short, no one expected that ease of victory on Phoenix's homecourt. There were no lead changes and the Spurs for every second after about 4 minutes into the game led. They flat out embarrassed the Suns when the Suns, the fans and anyone paying attention knew they needed to win.

Here's some keys to success for the Suns:

111 - They have to get themselves fired up - except, well I can't think of any player on the Suns who really ever gets fired up. Nash is on full burn all the time. He's going to have to have a great game, and it's only in Game 1 where he's qualified. But D'Antoni has said they need to do some soul-searching, when in reality Game 1 obviously sucked their souls out a lot more than they thought.

222 - Foul HARD and D'Antoni needs to get ejected from the game in the 2nd quarter, on some manufactured pretext. They have to foul and play a little dirty. As actors can summon tears, so should they summon their frustrations and the blood and bruising that happened to them last year (the blood accidental but still, it, arguably lost them game 1 as Nash's streaming bloody nose disrupted his and the team's concentration. (Collision video)

333 - Play more players early so your starters are rested and low on fouls in the fourth quarter.

444 - Actually change their mindset and don't worry about offense. Play defense first basketball and play one-on-one defense, not zone. The Spurs think defense first and the offense is almost coming naturally for them.

555 - The fans are there today just because they've already paid their money. Put EVERYTHING into a killer 1st quarter to get the crowd into it, to spread a little hope in the arena. Otherwise the crowd will turn against them on their home court. They started to last game and with good reason.

LIVEBLOGGING WILL BEGIN RIGHT AROUND 12:30

The many voices awake in this column about Suns Coach Mike D'Antoni are devastating in their simplicity.

Like George Karl, D'Antoni doesn't believe in playing solid minutes for young, rookie players to help them and help the team. Unlike George Karl, D'Antoni has, apparently no idea how to coach defense or no idea how to enforce that mindset on his players.

Check out the comments following a column by local radio sports guy and columnist when he - in the minds of the commentators - finally sees the light about D'Antoni weaknesses and shortsightedness as a coach.

This one has been a saved Firefox tab for about a week now. I need to blog about it, if only because it involves three, nay four of my favorite people, places and things. That would be, in order, Playing Cards, Seattle, Jimi Hendrix and Leavenworth, Wash.

David Alvarez of the Bavarian, Christmas-year-round, microbrew, mountain theme town of Leavenworth built a tall mosaic of Jimi Hendrix out of playing cards. He took the photo from the cover of Crash Landing, he planned out where the red and black suits would be used and he used Photoshop to plot out the placement of 8,500 red Bicycle cards. That's 163 full decks and 24 more cards. Or 157 decks and 22 extra cards if Jokers were included. Alvarez said he used 168 decks of cards. ...

OK, there's another connection. the dude wants to go to Central Washington University - my alma mater - to get a degree to teach art.

See the process in photos @ CNN.

As the 76ers and Piston game tips off here, I'm gearing up for what has been a series that has so far lived up to the hype. The Phoenix Suns have made it a trend to lose to the Spurs in the playoffs. Which means boith teams have been good neough to get there.

Last year cranked up the tension and the dislike - especially the Suns towards the Spurs - after Robert Horry hard-checked Steve Nash off the floor in a game the suns already had in the bag. It resulted in Raja Bell and Amare Stoudemire getting suspended - and the Spurs took it from there. They, arguably - of course, arguably - would have won anyway as they were headed back to the home court to San Antonio.

This year, today, that's where the Suns are now.

They have a good home record, but it's not dominating and they've lost plenty of home games in the playoffs. Nash and the crew are down 2-0 after a double-OT "instant classic in game one (See TS.com's article here) and a surprisingly easy victory for the Spurs in Tuesday's game 2.

This is Friday night under the lights. If the Suns lose, the wailing in Phoenix will be loud and prolonged because they'll have to win 4 in a row against the Spurs to win, after losing 3 in a row, and after losing, i think, four out of the last five years against San Antonio.

Liveblogging the game will start at 7 p.m. I did a test live blog April 19 of the Mavericks / Hornets game. This one won't be test as I've figured what CoverItLive could do. ..

***

ABC News, for reasons unknown probably even to themselves is highlighting a segment in tonight's Nightline titled "Pawn Shop Renaissance." Which seems too nice a phrase for, we get to make family misery a little less painful at cents on the dollar.

Perhaps "Dream Collectors" was taken? The blurb, title misspelling and
all, is:

Pawn Shop Rennaisance

With gasoline prices hitting a historic high today and the U.S. economy in or near a recession, many families are struggling to weather the hard financial times. That's good news for the pawn shop industry. People who are strapped for cash are trading in their gold necklaces and garden tools for quick cash at pawn shops around the country. ABC's Vicki Mabrey reports from the Cash America Pawn Shop in Arlington, Texas.

Pawn shops have always seemed like incredibly depressing places, a salon of last resorts where people hand over things they've often cherished for years and years just to survive another couple of days or to have enough in the tank to drive to that next job interview.

I had to sell - but did it via eBay - a 2000 Mint set gold coin collection when I could no longer justify keeping $1,200 worth of coins in the bank vault.

But pawn shops exist for a reason and their presence does help, even if the pennies-on-the-dollar thing makes people gag. More importantly, for me, I could never go in and buy anything because pawn shops are considered as stopping off points, as places where, when people get their money back, they come in and repurchase their items.

I would hate to be the one to get in the way of someone's happiness at A) Having money again and B) Getting what they love back.

But maybe I'm romanticizing it all. Don't know, never been. Maybe I should watch and see.

There's a first time for everything.

But what a time and what a thing.

Against a tense rival, in an already highly anticipated game and series between the Suns and the Spurs, Tim Duncan scored his first three pointer of the entire basketball season to take the game to a second overtime.

Breath-taking.

I along with everyone else watching had one reaction when they saw Duncan line up for the tying three - a big wince. After the game, he and Coach Popovich joked about it being the final option.

It's painful enough watching Timmeh mentally and physically contort himself at the free throw line, so to see that same pigeon-toed stance way back there seemed like a valiant end to a tough game and a time to look ahead to game 2.

But that's not what happened.

Out of a whirling wheel of players, the top of the key suddenly cleared. At the top of the key, just to the right, Duncan stunningly stood tall - and more importantly alone. He secured a backward pass from a stretching Manu Ginobili. Then, it all seemed to take forever as Duncan lifted his arms and launched the ball, pure to the hoop.

As unlikely as it was, the shot was and is amazing. It was The Big Fundamental with the three points to tie.

No matter how bad things look, Duncan often comes up golden, with the Spurs on his back. For Brent Barry or Mike Finley or any other long-bombing sharp-shooter it's just another three. For Duncan it powered a rare emotional outburst and new life for the San Antonio Spurs.

Seconds later, the camera showed Suns Coach Mike D'Antoni's lip-flapping bray of disbelief, which was a perfect response.

At that point, if they game had ended in a Spurs loss, that moment was enough to make it to the Favorites of any basketball fan's YouTube account.

Now, every time it's replayed, I have to laugh.

Still, there was five more minutes to play and it all stayed agonizingly close. This time throughout the second extra stretch, the Spurs scored first and it was the Suns who were always trying to catch up. And they did, again and again.

The Suns can actually, though rarely do, look incredibly scary and smothering on defense at times, and tonight was one of those extended times. The Spurs know they were lucky but the Spurs played the crucial moments even better on defense. For the last retaliating shots of the 4th quarter and overtime they kept the ball away from the Suns' key players. After Finley launched a three after a set play from almost the same spot Duncan would perform magic minutes later, there was 15 seconds left.

In that 15 seconds, after an overtime, all the Suns could get was a difficult rising attempt from Barbosa. He missed. At the end of the 1st overtime, after Duncan scored there was 3 seconds left. It was Boris Diaw who bounced his shot of the rim. Sure, they got shots off, but they were clearly in the wrong hands. And they were in the wrong hands because the Spurs made it so.

Both teams shot at 50 percent and both had 17 turnovers and they were only apart by 1 on rebounds, (43-SAS, 42-PS). The Suns were ahead on free throws on the Spurs' home court, undoubtedly because the Spurs were better in the paint. An understatement. They outscored the Suns there, 72 to 46.

The Suns' largest lead was 16 the Spurs, just 3. There were only three lead changes, and 12 tied scores.

All this without Robert "checka" Horry.

Tim Duncan finished with 40 points and 15 rebounds, the first time in the playoffs where Duncan had scored at least 40 (done four times) and the Spurs won.

There's a reason that this game was the only first round, first game named an instant classic by the NBA:

STATS - Boxscore
Suns 24 24 23 22 11 11 - 115
Spurs 20 20 25 28 11 13 - 117

I'm on a Facebook group, "The Top Five"

most often I just don't have enough knowledge or don't care enough to answer. Or in the case of the selection, Top Five Johnny Cash songs, it was just too difficult to answer.

But the question, Your Top Five Favorite Actors, mad eme think of three immediately so I went for it.

I figured since I could name three right off the bat I'd give this one a go. Movies are NOT my thing and I can't answer shit about cineshit usually.

I pick 'em based on the emotions, various, they can cause in me, almost regardless of how bad or good the films they're in.
(in no particular order)

CLINT EASTWOOD - The man has a body of work, with a lull or two, that puts him above many. He has shown more intelligence in recent outings and just has a lot of power.

ANTHONY HOPKINS - He knows what he's doing. He can hit the full range of emotions from menace to merriment, from terrifying to teasing. Silence of the Lambs, of course but Nixon, Amistad, Mask of Zorro. Even in his supporting roles in sputtering duds, his moments on film bring MOMENT to the moments. (AND he never ever stops working.)

EWAN MCGREGOR - Unlike Alec Guinness, McGregor was known and will be widely known for much more than his Obi-Wan Kenobi role. His past is mixed, his future is the light side of The Force.

VINCENT PRICE - Pigeonholed, obviously based on that voice. Hard to play a leading romantic role with such mischief and malice in every word spoken. his adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe are cinematic, genre history. He dominates them, sharing space in the "region" perhaps only with Boris Karloff, but Karloff was just there first and made a campy ass of himself most times.

MORGAN FREEMAN - Usually when he's in film I take notice that it's likely to be a good one. It helps that he's in on eof my favorite films of all time, The Shawshank Redemption.

Honorable mentions, because all of a sudden a lot of actors came to mind:

STEPHEN FRY - (Demoted because I can't have 6) - I was trying to add a comic actor to my list because comedy is usually what I enjoy. This guy has gifts, though right of the bat I can't think of any film he's been in but he's been all over British TV. He has a Podcast now that is just him musing about life but it is amusing - like a knife. (Ask me and I'll give you the link if you can't find it)

Peter Sellers - Maybe i should have picked him rather than Stephen Fry, seeing as he's actually been in movies.

Sidney Poitier

Robert Downey Jr. I don't think he's been in enough to count but on Ally McBeal, he made that show watchable in its dying days.

Walter Mathau - underrated.

Samuel L. Jackson - Again, when he's involved, there's likely to be some pop and bang, and I want to see the film.

Leanard Nimoy

Al Pacino (except all his films have pretty much the same feel and geography)

This one will be a let down after Spurs VS Suns but this is just a test of liveblogging software.

There will be inaccuracies here, even if it wasn't a test. It's mostly me following along, with emotion. See how long it takes to figure out who I'm rooting for.

Now what? Skype Have I.

And yes, I believe I'm forgiven because it only cam out for Mac in February. (I believe).

It says free but then has a $0.00 next to my name.

I also have live blog widget going, which I will be using for NBA liveblogging and y'all are welcome to join in when I get it. ... Temple

I have had one issue bothering me about Amazon for about the last year. I can't quite remember on which book I noticed it first, but it bugged the hell out of me.

Here's what I sent:

I wanted a contact e-mail to address a specific point. That is that somewhere on every listing there NEEDS to be a release date of the original book or recording. "First Released ..." or First Published ..." I say this because people are getting a distorted view of musical and literary history. When there are 10 different versions of a release of To Kill A Mockingbird" for example and none date back before 1990, then there's a problem. It's not necessarily Amazon's fault or problem, but it is one that could be fixed and could restore a much needed historical perspective to young and old alike.

Thank you. Temple Stark

The Direct Amazon Feedback page is here, by the way

I was on an open network named rvwifi. I couldn't think of an rv park that was close by so assume it was some single owners rvwifi

It lasted for about 8 minutes until it faded out. Enough to get my e-mail but not reply. Not enough to post this at the time.

When I checked my Airport link there were also password-needy networks called Against Abuse, Rickman home, orange, orange12, orange13, and orange14.

That's quite a little group of networks for such an isolated area. I wasn't at an apartment complex, I was at a small medical center, waiting outside in the car.

Across the street I know is Cafe Grande's open network, but it didn't connect.

I couldn't make a comment at the Flickr account, so I'm posting from there.

- Temple

I, for one, am sick and tired of those high paid teachers. Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes and they only work nine or ten months a year!

It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do...baby-sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right...I would give them $3.00 dollars an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time. That would be 15 dollars a day. Each parent should pay 15 dollars a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now, how many do they teach in a day.... maybe 25.

Then that's 15 X 25 = $375 a day.

But remember they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for any vacations.

Let's see... *that's 375 x180 = $67,500.00

(Hold on, my calculator must need batteries!)

What about those special teachers or the ones with master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage just to be fair. Let's round it off to $6.00 an hour. That would be $6 times 5 hours times 25 children times 180 days = $135,000.00 per year.

Wait a minute, there is something wrong here!!!

Jeez, I shouldn't have left that nasty story at the top of my down-home, aw-shucks blog.

Time for the Star Spangled Banner from the Cactus Cuties. And I mean that sincerely, these gals gave the song a very worthy, spine-tingling a capella rendition.

Father and daughter have daughter and are unrepentant. When I clicked the headline I was thinking it was just one of those sensational headlines.

Some things need to remain culturally pariahtic. The article in its entirety.

Father and daughter have child

April 7, 2008 - 5:58AM -- A South Australian woman has given birth to her father's daughter after the couple had sex.

John and Jenny Deaves reunited 30 years after Mr Deaves separated from Jenny's mother. Jenny was 31 and, just two weeks after meeting, father and daughter had sex.

"John and I are in this relationship as consenting adults," Mrs Deaves told the Nine Network last night.

"We are just asking for a little bit of respect and understanding."

Their 11-month-old daughter Celeste, shown on TV, appears fit and healthy. Ms Deaves said soon after reuniting with her father she began to see him as a man first and her father second.

"I was looking at him, sort of going, 'Oh, he's not too bad.'

"Like you might look at a man across the bar at a nightclub."

Ms Deaves brought two children, Samantha and Alex, into the relationship after splitting from her former partner. Mr Deaves admitted that he "initially" thought having sex with his daughter was wrong.

"Emotions take over. As people no doubt realise, there are times during your life where emotions do rule the heart, it rules the head," he said.

"I knew it was illegal. Of course I knew it was illegal but you know, so what."

Ms Deaves said the physical relationship with her father was like "a sexual relationship with any other man".

For Mr Deaves the sexual relationship was "absolutely fantastic."

A South Australian police media spokesman said: "The couple is being monitored."l

Just monitored? Isn't incest illegal in Australia? They have the proof.

I'm in a time where I could write something similar, though it can't quite be reduced so one-dimensionally. Still the general feelings of finality, with life forever changed, while parts of life are forever ended apply.

Louise Gluck's Mock Orange

It is not the moon, I tell you.
It is these flowers
lighting the yard.

How can I rest?
How can I be content
while there is still
that odor in the world?

Or to put it all in a different, lighter, frame of reference

I'm not sure if it has hit 90 yet this year in Phoenix, but it did so today. (It's 75 right now and it's midnight.)

So this story that Arizona's temps have risen more in the last five years than anywhere else comes as no surprise.

It would be humorous briefly to ask if the 200 square miles of now broken ice shelf off the coast of Antarctic could make it's way inland just a little. The importance of the break up, is that when it does the pressure holding back ice and glacier flow off the land is less. This accelerates ice erosion and melting. That on a grand scale can raise the ocean level, while the ice shelf breaking up and melting cannot because it was already in the water.

I'm watching the first season of MI-5 on DVD, and Tom Quinn / Matthew Archer is handling the reveal that he's a spy ALL wrong. The first three episodes have had a current of hating to hide it from his girlfriend.

It's pathetic. He's been afraid to tell Elie for fear of losing her - and he's being churlish and defensive in the exchange.

And he left for a drink in the middle of her stewing about it.

Horribly handled.

Other than that really enjoying it. There's a quality about British TV shows that I've only been able to define as "more real." They show the bald spots of the actors, the actresses aren't impossibly gorgeous, underwear is slightly wrinkled.

This is the one with Hugh Laurie playing Jules @ MI-6. He's not needed but he's a much better actor than House. Comedic timing is impeccable.

Many other shows seem to thrive on getting a shtick for their actors and then sticking with it to the detriment of plot, story, suspense and more.

UPDATE, 3/28 OK,' Ive watched the final two of season 1 and I'm still riveted. The entire thing ended in an excruciating cliff-hanger. Elie, who has been trying to accept Tom Quinn's secretive lifestyle had finally agreed to move into his new, super-protected flat. Except when a bomb is unwittingly brought into his house, the super-secure building - and broken access card - means Tom Q is on the outside as he hears the news and he's locked out.

Elie, and her 7 / 8 year-old daughter, are stuck inside, only able to watch the clock count away the seconds. ... ... Aaaaaaaaaaaand cut.

The scene has to be watched because there are so many forlorn looks on people's faces. It's painful to watch.

I'm a big opponent of women getting boob jobs aka breast augmentation.

I can understand in some rare cases where there are very flat chests that it might be confidence boosting and comforting to have a more curvy shape.

Maybe this is more the sad reality, just check out the first sentence:

Cheerleader Dies Following Breast Augmentation

She was captain of her high school cheerleading squad, a nearly straight-A student and a soon-to-be pre-med freshman at the University of Florida.

And 18-year-old Stephanie Kuleba felt she needed bigger breasts as well. Here is her online memorial page, with picture.

That is just incredibly sad to read. I believe the pressure comes much more from women than men. This is much more typical of the story behind getting more titular tits - and I'm waiting for someone to prove me wrong.

Well, I've been learning about creating WordPress sites from the ground up. I haven't dug too deep, yet but I did get one off the ground and am now customizing it handily. I called it verytas at my PolState Web site, because I could get into the CPanel and create a mySQL database. Yes, I now know what they're for and how they fit in.

Good start. Shuh.

I also found out that this TempleStark.com site is on an old version of Movable Type that is too old to add anti-spam filter akismet. Kinda figured, but had it confirmed today. Considering I have 33,000 comments I haven't deleted - not including the actual real comments I want to keep - this is important. They're dragging me and my site down man!

So assuming this book covers transfers from MT to WordPress this Web site will also be WordPress in the near future. After carefully saving EV-ERY-THING.

Greg Mitchell, as editor of the trade magazine Editor & Publisher, is its most public face.

The magazine is designed to keep readers up to date on the latest technologies and trends in the industries, and its movers and shakers. A valuable part of its existence is to also turn a self-critical mirror to journalism and its failures, in whatever scope they may exist.

Mitchell has used his platform to condemn the media's role in fostering an atmosphere where the Iraq War happened with the natural journalistic qualities of questions, skepticism and suspicion subdued. Increasingly, though for a long time as well, Mitchell has become horribly blatant in criticizing the Bush administration, poking fun at various people in it, and coming out against every aspect of America's role in Iraq.

In fact, he sticks out like a thumbtack on a glacier at the magazine's Web site.

He does so in often - but certainly not always - cartoonish ways, and in simplistic black and white ways which he has decried, rightfully in others.

All that is certainly understandable - but not in the role as editor of Editor & Publisher. In trying on both hats at once, he fails by representing those views as those of the journalism industry as a whole. I wrote a letter to Mitchell about two years ago (maybe less, maybe more) expressing many of the same concerns. His presence feeds negatively into the stereotype on both sides of the question.