These are the sort of profundities that I'm looking forward to:

This morning she was painting, and what had been a portrait of her and her friend turned into a self-portrait, with the friend morphed into a house. And then she said something that’s stayed with me all day:

“All of my mistakes are giving me ideas.”

You can turn that one around in your head all day long. All your life, for that matter.

from Lileks.

to run about up there. Federer v. Agassi on a Helipad. Madness I tell you!! ATP Tennis Newswire has the scoop. Here's some sense of the vertigo:

leading from their site to the family of Metroblogs, London & DC among them. Tour the world & get the local skinny from the comfort of your office chair. Excellent.

My good friend Jimmy Meritt has a new website tracking his meteoric rise on the DC comedy circuit. Check it out.

Who will interpret for us now in a world where there's so much to fear and loathe....

MTV.com: Hunter S. Thompson, the author who pioneered "gonzo" journalism and became an anti-establishment icon with his 1972 book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself at his home outside Aspen, Colorado, Sunday night, police said. He was 67. In a statement released to the Aspen Daily News, Thompson's son, Juan, confirmed that the writer had taken his own life. "On February 20, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado. The family will provide more information ... shortly," the statement read. "Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family."

BoingBoing:

This Landspeeder is built on top of a three-wheel Harley Davidson golf kart and seats two; there's room for you and your droid, Wookie or Jedi Master. This Landspeeder is perfect for driving around the local golf course or your lot.

If this keeps up there'll be a solid market in Star-Wars stylee land-transportation.... I'm waiting on a speeder bike.

People are stealing the underwear that has been pasted over strip-club posters... although it is sort of amazing that the original image ever got onto a billboard in the first place.

Evening Mail: The Advertising Standards Authority last week received 16 complaints about the advert showing a naked woman on all fours, wearing only a Santa hat, boots and gloves. Angry families in Northfield said it debased women. One mother said: "There are probably some little ones who might think this is Santa's wife.

Sure there are...

via A Welsh View.

Mail your secret on a postcard today!!

BoingBoing brings you parodies of Christo:

1. The Crackers
2. Hargo's Gates

Of course, the real thing is online too:




Filed in: gatesmemory

& it sounds like the show was even more fun to make than it is to watch...

WWdN : Everyone I've seen is fiercely dedicated to the success of the show. The actors know and care about their characters, and how they interact with each other. When they're called to the set, they come immediately. They are prepared: they know their lines and they talk with each other and the director about the scene.The attention to detail at all levels is meticulous to the point of obsession. Yesterday, I walked around the stage, and looked at the set decoration. Every bit of paper on the wall was from a police department. The magazines in one of the offices aren't just Las Vegas Showtime guides, they're Las Vegas Showtime Guides from this freaking year...

Read the whole thing. Funny how TV shows are addictive. I couldn't get enough ER about 5 years ago, then West Wing, & now CSI. I wonder what will be next? I do know what it is that I like in a good drama, though, that all these shows share when they're at their best. A solid ensemble of interesting characters collaborating to achieve a shared goal.....

Thanks to Mo's Musings from England for the link. An excellent issue based Britblog with a spectacular sidebar of links.

I am interested in my ancestors and in my family's heritage. As of February 2005, after having my website about John Rodgers Jewitt for more than five years, I finally have new information, thanks to a cousin of my Dad's who has done some research, & thanks to the online version of the 1881 British Census.

Apparently the family has been in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, for generations. I have posted this information at Ancestry.com, Cousin Connect and Genealogy.com, & I am interested in a particular household from the 1881 census:

John Jewitt, b. Pontefract 1839, is my g.g.grandfather. In the census he is listed as aged 42, occupation Cordwainer, dwelling at Abeys Yard, Pontefract, Yorks.

He was married to Catherine Anne Jewitt, b. Ferry Bridge, 1843.

Their children born before 1881 are listed in the census:

Anne Margaret b. 1868

Jack b. 1870,

Virtue Emma b 1874,

Ernest b. 1875.

Subsequently they had 2 other sons

Charles b. 1882 (my g. grandfather)

Frank b. 1887.

The census also lists Thomas Whittan, lodger, b. Purston 1851, also a cordwainer.

Are these your relatives too? I am interested to know who John Jewitt's parents were & where they came from. Also where was Abey's Yard? Did the other siblings marry & have children?

Supposedly an ancestor of mine walked from Lincolnshire to Yorkshire to find work, & I wondered whether this ancestor was my link to the Lincolnshire / Hull Jewitts that are John Rodgers Jewitt's family. The 1881 census, though, shows both my g & gg grandfathers born & raised in Pontefract. So maybe there's no link with John R. Jewitt after all. At least I have solid information about my ancestors back as far as 1839.

If you can add to my understanding of this household, or if you recognise your ancestors here, please leave your questions and comments here for other visitors. Use the guestbook or feedback form at the John Rodgers Jewitt Hub to let me know if you've got Jewitt genealogy to share!!

I have also been contacted by an English relation of John Rodgers Jewitt who can trace her family from Eighteenth-Century Grimsby to London.

This has inspired me to do a bit of work on the website to remove old material and fix the columns so that the irritating Yahoo frame ads can be minimised to the right side and don't cover up my content any more. If anyone knows of an ad-free hosting service (or a service with less invasive ads) please let me know.

ABC News has a story:

At companies across the country, employees are being fired for Internet postings employers do not like. It is a new and increasingly prevalent cause for termination. The firings raise a central question: How much anonymity can anyone expect on a portal called the "World Wide" Web?" Many people don't understand how what they're writing on a blog is not as anonymous as they think it is," said Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group. "They feel like they're having a conversation with friends and family, when they're really having a conversation with anyone who comes by."

For no good reason other than the invite that came with this blog, I've gone out and set up 1000mb of G-Mail. Now I have to decide how to use it....

Enterprise is cancelled:

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- For the first in 18 years, prime-time U.S. network television will be without a starship crew to "boldly go where no man has gone before. Star Trek: Enterprise, the latest incarnation of one of the most storied franchises in televised science-fiction history, will end its four-season run in May, broadcaster UPN said Wednesday. UPN said the last original episode would air Friday, May 13, and its departure marks the first time in 18 years that the "Star Trek" franchise has been absent from prime-time network television.The series, which debuted in September 2001 and starred Scott Bakula, generated 98 episodes over its run, although it struggled in the ratings.

I am a former trek-nut of the highest order, and I stopped watching more than a year ago when the show became more UPN than Trek. In one of those "you know you're in trouble when the whole premise of the show changes" moments, Enterprise jumped the shark, I think, with their mission to find the superweapon, or whatever that was... We have enough of that at 6.30 with Dan Rather. Trek needs to be about an alternative vision, not the same grindingly bleak vision with better technology. Archer's obvious "we don't have the prime directive yet" moments were initially interesting but later repeatedly disappointing, as he did whatever needed to be done....

Via Samizdata: I love the image of the 2nd amendment. Love it.


The specific historical relevance of this amendment has been minimised by the gun lobby for years, and now here it is, minimised for all to see....

In the twenty-first century, "a well regulated militia" is no longer necessary for the security of this free state, what with its standing professional army & national guard and all. This amendment isn't culturally relevant any more. If there's going to be a constitutional justification for the right to bear arms, it should be a C21st justification and not a C18th justification.

Paul Revere is not going to roust people from their beds & call them to the town square for militia drills in 2005.....

Ah, the self doubts of the blogger as explored at Chasing the Moon:

Blog Suicide....... Can their be such a thing? How many times have you sat down at the computer making an entry to your blog about something you are passionate about, your thoughts are flying, you're reaching down deep, laying it on the line, just as you feel it. And then bam! You stop suddenly in your tracks and you ask yourself, "Is this politically correct? Am I going to get a bad rating for this? Am I committing Blog Suicide here?

We're all supposed to be so happy that we got us a superstar...

February 2005, BALTIMORE -- Tapping his heart and thrusting both thumbs upward, Sammy Sosa stepped to the podium and flashed the broad smile that Chicago Cubs fans know too well. Sosa loved his 13 years with the Cubs, yet he happily put all that behind him Wednesday upon joining the Baltimore Orioles.

But ESPN never forgets:

June 2003, CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs star Sammy Sosa was ejected in the first inning of Tuesday night's game against Tampa Bay right when umpires found cork in his shattered bat. ESPN's Harold Reynolds reports -- after talking to a a representative in the Cubs public relations department -- that Sosa will admit in his postgame presser that the bat he used tonight was corked. Sosa will say the illegal bat was used for batting practice, but somehow got mixed in with his game bats. He will add that he has never used a corked bat in a major league game before tonight.

Check out the money involved. Ridiculous.

"Chewie, there's an X-box in the smuggling compartments, and the engine room, and the lunch room, and, well, pretty much everywhere except the cockpit...." Best use for an old toy ever. I have a Y-wing fighter in the attic. Any chance these guys can turn it into an I-pod?


atmotect.com via BoingBoing.

Christo is at it again, this time in NYC. Looks like it will be amazing & add significantly to an already unique outdoor space.

See other Christo work at artencyclopedia.com


Filed in: gatesmemory

So the service works, and the Mozilla frame doesn't jump around any more, which is grand. I have discovered and linked to a couple of new blogs, & can see the virtue in being able to add blogs to a list to revisit, perhaps sans-frame, at a later date. In the meantime, the traffic driving obviously works, since one of the blogs I loaded through the service had over 500 blog-explosion hits on their truefresco counter. Let's see if I get so lucky. I have committed 100% of my earned traffic credits to drive visitors here, anyway, so we'll see how many show up & how many great blogs I find that I can add to my blogroll....

Via Contemblogging: Look at the huts and the clear blue water. The answer would, of course, be YES!!

From Sisters Talk:

PBS plans to broadcast the Buster episode that features two lesbian couples -- despite US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings condemnation. The show will air at 5:30 p.m. on February 02, 2005.And thanks to all the hoopla Spellings made about the show, I'm sure the show's ratings will go through the roof. People will tune in just to see what all the fuss was about.

via NPR & Geek Speak Weekly:

Here you'll find some of the top cowbell songs ever. These are the songs that took this dark, clanging demon and pounded the essence of rock into your veins and left imprints of the dark master in your subconscious. Click on the track and you'll hear why the cowbell, when used properly, is the perfect instrument...

Update 5/18/05: The cowbell continues.....

Filed in: cowbell, culture, music, television