thebiblioholic

Jul. 8th, 2009

08:14 pm - United Breaks Guitars


Dave Carroll writes:

In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say “no” to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise.

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Jul. 4th, 2009

06:43 pm - Declaration of Independence



IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America


WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great- Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those
People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of the Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and the Convulsions within.

HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us;

FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rules into these Colonies:

FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

HE has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

IN every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time
of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.


John Hancock.
GEORGIA, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. Walton.
NORTH-CAROLINA, Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn.
SOUTH-CAROLINA, Edward Rutledge, Thos Heyward, junr., Thomas Lynch, junr., Arthur Middleton.
MARYLAND, Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, Thos. Stone, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.
VIRGINIA, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Ths. Jefferson, Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nelson, jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.
PENNSYLVANIA, Robt. Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benja. Franklin, John Morton, Geo. Clymer, Jas. Smith, Geo. Taylor, James Wilson, Geo. Ross.
DELAWARE, Caesar Rodney, Geo. Read., Thomas M'Kean
NEW-YORK, Wm. Floyd, Phil. Livingston, Frank Lewis, Lewis Morris.
NEW-JERSEY, Richd. Stockton, Jno. Witherspoon, Fras. Hopkinson, John Hart, Abra. Clark.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE, Josiah Bartlett, Wm. Whipple, Matthew Thornton.
MASSACHUSETTS-BAY, Saml. Adams, John Adams, Robt. Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.
RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE, C. Step. Hopkins, William Ellery.
CONNECTICUT, Roger Sherman, Saml. Huntington, Wm. Williams, Oliver Wolcott.

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Jul. 3rd, 2009

02:01 pm - In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry


In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry

So where's the summer? It's July already.

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03:01 am - Alien Secretion



At dinner tonight, one of my friends who doesn't/can't drink beer ordered an interesting concoction called Alien Secretion. Apparently she worked as a bartender at one point in life and she specified the recipe to the waiter: vodka, midori, pineapple juice. It actually tasted pretty good. Looks like some of the online recipes (and here) call for coconut rum in addition to/instead of the vodka.

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02:55 am - Judo dinner



My judo club went out for dinner at Congee Village after practice tonight. We were celebrating some recent college/grad school graduations, as well as saying farewell to a member who is moving to Thailand for work. Mounds of good food, dozens of bottles of beer, good conversation.

More pictures on Flickr.

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Jul. 2nd, 2009

12:27 am - Marco Polo Didn't Go There



Marco Polo Didn't Go There by Rolf Potts is an interesting collection of travel essays. These essays/stories appeared in various travel magazines, anthologies, etc. Here Potts brings together many of his articles and adds end notes at the end of each chapter where he gives the back story about the preceeding story, sometimes pointing out the difference between what literally happened, and how he reinterprets things to make a better story, effectively giving a mini-tutorial on travel writing.

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Jul. 1st, 2009

10:37 pm - Another Staten Island Ferry crash



I just heard on the news that there was another Staten Island Ferry crash. No fatalities, 14 injured. "The fire department says it appears the boat lost power before hitting the Staten Island dock Wednesday night. There's no damage to the boat but some damage to the pier."

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Jun. 29th, 2009

01:52 am - The Letters



I just finished The Letters by Luane Rice and Joseph Monninger, an epistolary novel about a couple whose son has died in a plane crash in Alaska. Unable to cope with the loss, the couple have filed for divorce. The father feels compelled to travel to Alaska and go to the crash site which is only reachable by dogsled. On this trip he exchanges numerous letters with his soon to be ex-wife.

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Jun. 28th, 2009

03:39 pm - Sunset at Harbor Island Park, Mamaroneck, NY


Field Day 2009.

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02:07 pm - Corelli's Mandolin



Last night I finished reading Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. It was another wonderful book by him. I recently read his Birds Without Wings. That book takes place during the end of the Ottoman Empire/World War I. This book, written earlier by de Bernières takes place in Greece during the Italian occupation in World War II. It is written in a similar style and one family in Birds even appears in it, linking the two books. I very much enjoyed this pair of books and highly recommend them.

Do I dare see the movie made from this book?

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01:51 pm - Field Day



Yesterday was Field Day, and as usual my radio club, WECA was set up at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck, NY. Field Day is an annual event where ham radio operators in North America set up radio operations typically in undeveloped areas (parks, wilderness, etc.) and set up radio stations, antennas, power sources (generators, solar, etc.) and get on the air for a 24-hour long contest to see who can contact as many other Field Day participants as possible. It is part playing with radios, part demonstration of amateur radio to the public, part practice for emergency/disaster operations.

WECA operates under the call sign N2SF and operates a 4A (4 HF radios on generator power) station, in the ENY ARRL section (Eastern New York).

I went to the FD site in the late afternoon, stayed through the magnificent dinner (steaks, lobster tails, fried chicken, chili, corn, fries, hotdogs, hamburgers, ice cream cake...) and hung around till late night.

More pictures are on Flickr.

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Jun. 27th, 2009

12:11 pm - Never on a Sunday


The book I am almost finished reading, Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières, makes a passing reference to the song "Never on a Sunday" which reminded me that I like that song, so I browsed around on YouTube for a while. In addition to a clip from the movie with Melina Merkouri singing it and the English version sung by Doris Day, I found the above Muppet version. :-)

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Jun. 26th, 2009

07:06 pm - Baklava!



Ooh! According to Gothamist, Güllüoğlu is opening a store in Manhattan (982 2nd Avenue at 52nd Street) in a few weeks.

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Jun. 21st, 2009

09:30 pm - Chocolate Souffle Omelet



We went to Zanaro's in White Plains this afternoon for Sunday brunch. After a yummy brunch buffet, my daughter loaded up on strawberries at the chocolate fountain, while I ordered a Chocolate Souffle Omelet to share with everyone at the table. The chef said it was 2000 calories (exaggeration?) and was best shared at the end rather than ordered up front as part of the main course, though I think I could have managed one by myself. :-)

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Jun. 20th, 2009

06:46 pm - Another Rainy Saturday



Another rainy day. My daughter and I went to the library and afterwards I wandered around the park with my camera. Usually there would be a little league game, spectators, kids playing, dogs, etc. Today the park was deserted. An abandoned chair, the pitcher's mound covered to protect it from the rain, wet park benches, and puddles... A few pictures from the park are on Flickr.

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Jun. 16th, 2009

06:59 am - Ah Ege Ah


Scenes from the Aegean coast of Turkey, some of my favorite places.

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Jun. 15th, 2009

01:07 am - Great Hunger Memorial Park



I went to the Great Hunger Memorial Park at V. E. Macy Park in Irvington, NY this evening. The sun was finally out this weekend, and I thought I might get some nice pictures.

The park is adjacent to the Woodlands Lake, a lake created by a small dam on the Saw Mill River. The South County Trailway goes by here as well. Lots of ducks and geese call this lake home. The ducklings and goslings were swimming about when I first got there, but by late evening they had all gone to bed, and only the adult mallards and Canadian geese were about.

There used to be a mexican restaurant called Cantina here. They went out of business years ago and the buildings have been boarded up and unused since then. The "Great Hunger" in the park name doesn't refer to the absence of the restaurant though. There's a memorial to commemorate the suffering of millions of Irish immigrants who died from the potato famine or were forced to leave their country. I didn't notice the memorial when I was there today and didn't even know that was the name of this park until today.

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01:05 am - Canadian Goose, eh?

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Jun. 14th, 2009

12:30 pm - Happy Flag Day


(Photo taken on June 23, 2007)

Happy Flag Day.

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01:40 am - The Bank Job




I watched The Bank Job this evening. It was apparently based on a true story. It was a fun heist movie starring Jason Statham.

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