http://www.easilydistracted.org easilydistracted.org Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:10:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en John McCain, in his 2002 book, Worth the Fighting For: I make [decisions] as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can. Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint. Three words: Nuclear. Launch. Codes. Vote. http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/28 Fantastic closing: America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and ... http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/27 Over the last few weeks of rehearsals a theory has slowly been taking root for me about the directing process. That is, specifically the pragmatics of the process, not the creative aspects. (That's an entirely different issue.) In the last few days, it's finally gelled into something approximating words, ... http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/26 From Robert Reich's blog: ...the apparent end of the boom and bust cycles led us to assume the economy would no longer impose huge, unexpected, and arbitrary losses on large numbers of Americans. So we basically got rid of the safety nets. We abolished welfare, let unemployment insurance wither, and paid ... http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/25 For the last few weeks I've watched in slow-motion horror as the Congress moved towards passage of the colossally-bad FISA bill that updates needed surveillance powers guts the Fourth Amendment. Actually, no, that's not the worst part, if you can believe it. Because the Democrats in Congress have no spine ... http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/24 13th century Persian poetry ((For those that care, it's a form called ghazal. )) ((In a ghazal the second line of each couplet must end with the same word. In this example, the repeated words are خواهی آمد (roughly, 'you will come'; used in different ways in each line). Neat ... http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/22 I stumbled across ((You might wonder how anyone "stumbles across" stuff like this. Unless you know me, that is.)) what may quite possibly be *the* most obvious safety rule -- or rule of any kind, for that matter. From AFI 91-114, ((Air Force Instruction. Part of the USAF regulations. This ... http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/21 From this memorable review of that worst of John Travolta's movies ((Yes, that is saying something.)), Battlefield Earth: The scenes in which humans plot to recapture the planet have the ease and verisimilitude of re-enactments on America's Most Wanted. I must find a way to use this, and soon. http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/20 I'm getting more than a little tired of the constant yammering about how awful gas prices are getting. (I'm not saying that I like paying $65 to fill up my tank, mind you.) But what's really frustrating is that nobody seems to have the guts to point out that this ... http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/19 At least pretty much everywhere except the US, it's Labour Day ((May Day, if you're on the lefty side)) commemorating (among other things) the eight-hour workday and the Labor movement in general. Or, as a bumper sticker I saw downtown put it, "from the people who brought you the weekend." http://www.easilydistracted.org/archives/18