Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

I’m originally from York, which is just down state route 74 from Dover, PA, probably now and forever known as the land of intelligent design.

I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear the US District Judge’s ruling that struck down the Dover School Board’s decision to require the teaching of Intelligent Design. I was particularly amused by some of his rather scathing remarks:

The breathtaking inanity of the Board’s decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has not been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources.

I have no problem with religion, far from it, but I don’t understand why this needs to be brought into school. I grew up learning the theory of evolution in high school biology and I never really thought the concepts of evolution were inconsistent with the possibility that maybe someone/something created that first minuscule atom from which we all evolved. Whether you buy creation or evolution or a combination of the two, I think maybe the theories can co-exist in our brains and not cause any undue confusion.

And really, I don’t know how much time and space could be devoted to this subject. Once you say that something may have created that from which we evolved, well, what else is there to say? How can you possibly devote entire texts to the subject?

I guess I just don’t get it. Thank goodness the U.S. District Judge didn’t get it either.

I’m not donating money to the Red Cross. Probably not donating to the other usual suspects either. Nope, no Catholic Charities for me, no United Way, no Salvation Army either. At this point, the aforementioned organizations not to mention a slew of others, are getting tons of monetary donations. And I’m not sure how much of the intended aid can actually get to New Orleans right now.

Instead, I think I may try to physically volunteer down there in the future. My birthday is in November. To me, getting away from work for a little while and helping out with a much-needed relief effort would be the ideal to spend my birthday and the week before Thanksgiving.

To be completely honest, I’m not quite sure how to go about this. My favorite charity (for an awfully long time now) is Habitat for Humanity. I’ve wanted to volunteer with them for ages, but it seems like the local projects get filled up very quickly. I’m thinking that they’ll be able to use people for projects in the Gulf Coast region for the foreseeable future.

If anyone would be interested in joining me in this effort, let me know.

Ha! Gotcha here, didn’t I?

So I thought I’d throw in a couple more pictures and a different perspective on yesterday’s Live 8 extravaganza.

As you know from Chris’ post, we started the day with intense G8 Beer Blogging. We had some initial concerns about the availability of French and Russian beer, but thanks to the beer computer at the Foodery, our fears were quickly soothed and we left the place with 8 beers, one from each G8 nation. Actually we ended up with 9; I really liked one particularly cute Belgian beer with a pink pig on the label and I guess I forgot to put it back once we found the French beer that we were going to substitute with the pig beer. Alas, the beer looked more girlie than it tasted but since I’m a knowledgeable beer chick, that wasn’t a problem.

So we started the long walk from Washington Square West to the Art Museum. The weather wasn’t too hot and the walk was pleasant, but the beer quickly got the best of our bladders. I’m a bit of a dive bar connoiseur, as is Chris, so Oscar’s Tavern was the perfect beer, trivia, and bathroom break. The age gods must have been smiling upon me, because both Chris’ wife and me were carded by the bartender. If I’d been drunker, I may have gone straight behind the bar and kissed her feet, but I was sufficiently sober to maintain an appropriate level of decorum. But really, can I tell you how long it’s been since I was carded? I don’t even remember the last time, it’s been quite a while. Here’s a quick plug for Oscar’s. Most Saturdays (except for yesterday), beers on tap are $2.00 from 2-7PM. Their tap selection isn’t the best in town, but it’s not that bad either. We didn’t eat at Oscar’s yesterday, but they have pretty decent food too. Here’s a picture of my new favorite bartender.

So we continued along and hit the Parkway just a bit later. Along the way, we found Cindy, a Upper West Side Manhattanite who was wandering around the festivities while her son played at a chess tournament at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza. There’s always good bit of stuff to see in Philly, but she really couldn’t have timed her visit any better. Here’s a picture of my happy companions.

Come on now, you didn’t think I’d actually post the real picture did you?

We walked along the north side of the parkway, in what are normally the outer lanes of traffic. Here was the scene at the Rodin Museum.

The fire department had their big trucks out, using the long arm as a nice big sprinkler. The firemen seemed to be enjoying themselves, as did everyone else.

We managed to get pretty close to one of the jumbotrons and found a nice spot on the grass. That’s where we came across this character. He just looked so retro, I had to waste some memory card space on him. He was definitely grooving to something. At this point, it might have been Def Leppard.

The crowd was pretty mellow. I think it’s hard to maintain a lot of intensity for a live concert when the stage is incredibly far away, particularly when it has a big statue smack dab in front of it. The best performer I heard was probably Sarah McLachlan. Her duet with Josh Groban was beautiful.

I was surprised at the fast pace the concert managed to maintain. Chris and I walked to his parents house for a pee break, I got a quick tour of the place, and by the time we left, Stevie Wonder was finishing up Superstition. We got back to our group just in time to catch Paul McCartney finishing up the Hyde Park portion of the program.

Here’s a image of the aftermath of the concert.

Keep in mind, this is what I saw right by the trash containers. But trash was strewn everywhere. I know the city does a good job of clean up after these events, but I can’t help being disturbed at the amount of trash that people abandon. To be fair, I think the city might have underestimated the amount of receptables needed, but people need to take a hard look at themselves when they go to an event like this and just cover the place with trash.

It’s nice seeing happy, positive images of Philadelphia being broadcast all over the world. All in all, it was a fun day.

More discussion on the New Jersey decision to promote healthy eating in their schools.

Why in the world has it taken our schools so long to get on the healthy-eating bandwagon. Honestly, this should have been a no-brainer, which goes hand in hand with the President’s Commission on Physical Fitness (or whatever that entity is called). The publicly funded schools should be doing the right thing. I’m curious how different our society would be if this type of change had been enacted long ago.

Forever A Square Peg throws her voice into the discussion. Click here for a look.

Here’s one for the women! I hope the guys find it interesting as well. From the Daily Mail. Here’s an excerpt:

“A leading theory is that, far from being a defect, the failure of some women to orgasm regularly is actually a refined mate-selection tool.

Only men who are most skilled in the art of sex, physically attractive, or psychologically compatible will be able to make them climax.

These are the men they are most likely to stay with, and who would also be expected to make the best long term partners”

Interesting Stuff.

Any of you who know me, or have read my previous post on clutter, understand that I struggle everyday to keep junk from overwhelming my life. I’m not sure where all the junk came from; might have been the constant flea marketing that I did almost every Saturday for a year or two. Or, it could have been the generous exboyfriend who just loved giving me things. Bottom line, I have a lot of stuff, too much stuff.

This morning, I was listening to XPN (they stream, by the way) and I heard a great song called, “Too Much Stuff”. This particular version was done by Lyle Lovett and Delbert McClinton. Between phone calls, annotating records, and answering emails, I’ve been searching for the lyrics to this song. I think it may be an old blues song and I’m pretty sure Lyle Lovett wasn’t the original artist. I found a song by Michael O’Keefe and Bonnie Raitt with the same name, but I’m pretty sure the song I heard was longer and the lyrics were different. And I can also say with reasonable certainty that the song I heard is not the “Too Much Stuff” by Michael Jackson. That’s pretty much all the info I’ve got.

OK readers, your mission, should you choose to accept it is to find me the lyrics to the Lyle Lovett version of “Too Much Stuff”. If you find the lyrics, just post them in the comments section. An MP3 would be acceptable I suppose, but I don’t want anyone to spend their precious pennies on my entertainment. Precious time is a whole other matter.

On Saturday night I saw a great movie called Mad Hot Ballroom. Briefly, it’s about a New York City competition among the ballroom dancing programs in the public schools. Three schools are highlighted, one in the fairly impoverished Washington Heights area, another in Bensonhurst, and the last in Lower Manhattan. The kids are so cute, their stories so inspiring, so uplifting. I could probably go on and on about it, but I’ll refrain. Seems like it was a relatively low budget film and I’ve seen very little advertising, so it looks like they’re relying on word of mouth. Well, you’ve got some, go see this movie.

At least I’m not the only person who’s a little suspicious of the anti-smoking crusade.

Check out Stu’s futuristic scenario.

Kind of makes me wonder what’s next. Maybe soon only people who get at least 1 hour of exercise three days a week will be covered for medical insurance. Or maybe it’ll only be the people who fall into the normal weight guidelines on those damned government charts. Fast food places will be brought to their knees by lawsuits over their unhealthy menus.

And on and on it goes…

This daily grind of work, stress, demanding ex-boyfriends, mothers, and pets has got to stop. I don’t want any of it to go away forever, but god, I desperately need a break. Here’s the problem. I love vacation, I tend to feel much better when I can get away for a while. I’ve never been one of those people who takes time off work and just stays home. Nope, if I’m taking vacation, I’m going somewhere. Unfortunately, vacation takes money and this year (well actually since starting my current job) my disposable income has been a negative number.

In the spirit of things that probably won’t happen for a while, I’ve compiled a short list of things that I’d like to do sometime in my life, preferably before I get much older. If you’ve been to any of them, feel free to throw some feedback my way.

1. Go to and fully participate in Burning Man. I’m intrigued, scared, and thrilled by the effect this experience could have on me. But alas, this probably will not be the year. Living in the Nevada desert for a week will take more resources and supplies than I can pull together by Labor Day Weekend.

2. Experience the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca Mexico. I’ve been to the lovely colonial city of Oaxaca; went by myself in 1999 and had an unforgettable experience. From what I understand, this part of Mexico is one that still has large scale celebrations of the Day of the Dead. Another desire that may take more cash than I can gather this year.

3. Carnaval in either Rio de Janeiro or Salvador, Bahia Brazil. Given that I’m a relatively spontaneous, sensual person, I don’t think this one requires much explanation. Hmm, if I start saving now, maybe I could swing Carnaval 2006.

4. I’ve always been fascinated by Morocco. I’d go pretty much anywhere, but I’ve heard the markets in Marrakesh are amazing. Besides, I’ve never been to Africa, so this would be a great way to add a new continent to my list. If anybody wants to go, email me. Not a location I’d be comfortable going as a single woman by myself.

5. Turkey - I must go to the city immortalized in song, you know the one, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”. Besides, I’ve yet to set foot in Asia and this would be the perfect opportunity. Again, not sure I’d be comfortable going here as a single woman by myself, so any fellow curiousity seekers who have a desire to go places on a budget, drop me a line.

My vacation needs to happen sooner than any of these options are likely to materialize. A childhood friend lives in Las Vegas, so that’s always an option. I’m also thinking that Canada might be a nice driveable option. I’m pretty adventurous, so any ideas would be appreciated. I’m not likely to be interested in any place that involves people dressed up like rodents.

OK gang, let’s have a go at this, I’ll consider any and all ideas.

Yuck. That’s the only word I can think of to describe my feelings on the whole stem cell research debate. Before opinion comes crashing down on my head, let me clarify that I support the research and agree that it should be at least partially funded by the federal government.

My yucky feeling about this research comes from the lack of foresight into what actually happens to the millions of embryos produced by the millions of in-vitro fertilizations done in this country. We already have plenty of unwanted children; did we actually think we were going to use all those extra embryos?

I understand the perspective of those who think that using the embryos for stem cell research is wrong, but I have to wonder, why were these same people not more vocal while the practice of in-vitro fertilization was becoming incredibly commonplace.

When a couple is unable to have children, why have we deemed it alright to go against what may be God’s will and artificially carry out the fertilization, implantation, etc.? And then when there are extra fertilized eggs, we refuse to use the embryos for what may ultimately be lifesaving research for individuals who are currently suffering? Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

Take a look at this general article on stem cell research. This piece (see Clone of Silence by William Saletan) is a bit more snarky, but also brings out good points.

I’ve always been curious about why some people “get” sarcasm and others don’t.

Seems that Israeli researchers might be onto something,

“People with prefrontal brain damage suffer from difficulties in understanding other people’s mental states, and they lack empathy,” said study co-author Simone Shamay-Tsoory, a researcher at the University of Haifa. “Therefore, they can’t understand what the speaker really is talking about, and get only the literal meaning.”

I’ve known a number of very intelligent people who don’t seem to catch sarcasm, so I’d be very curious to understand what else is impacted by this area of the brain.

Very interesting study.

The 9th Street Italian Festival wrapped up activities for yet another year. This may have been the biggest crowd in recent memory. The weather cooperated (except for some drizzle late yesterday afternoon) and everybody seemed to be having a great time.

My blogmate, Chris, and his wife joined me for today’s festivities. We left the square-assed dog at home. Too many people, strollers, and other dogs. To be honest, he’s much happier just lounging on the couch. Besides, when Zack (square-assed dog) comes in contact with others dogs, he becomes a spitting, snarling, lunging maniac. Very different than his usual mild-mannered dogginess.

My new very favorite festival food may be the mango on a stick. The Mexican vendors peel them, cut them slightly so they are easier to eat, rub them with lime juice, and sprinkle them lightly with cayenne pepper. Best thing I think I ever ate. The sour lime and the hot pepper offsets the sweetness of the mango perfectly. It’s the new soul food and you heard it here first.

The festival is really all about food and drink, but this year, along 9th Street between Fitzwater and Christian, they set up a bunch of craft vendors. I think they had some crafty people last year, but this year, there were more and better vendors. I found a guy selling great stones. For $40, I got a huge pair of denim lapis earrings and an equally huge matching ring. He had some great stones, some that I noticed were carnelian, sodalite, coral, jasper (numerous varieties), and best yet, the vendor has an ebay store.

I think a nice day was had by all. It happens again next year, usually the 3rd weekend in May, so mark your calendars now.

Update: Chris butting in on Melissa’s post - Dragonballyee has some pictures of the festival up here.

Well OK, so I exaggerate. But there is a party in my neighborhood this weekend. The Italian Festival will be happening about 4 doors down from my house. After a few years of no festival, in recent years it’s been back, bigger and better than ever. The official website will probably do a better job of outlining all the activities than I can, but I’ll just guarantee you a fun time. Albert over at Dragonballyee has also been talking about the festival.

Parking will be yucky, so I strongly recommend public transportation. The 23 bus runs down 12th Street and the 47 runs down 8th. Both will get you within easy walking distance.

Since I live in the neighborhood, I’ll be there both days. I believe that my blogmate, Chris and his wife will be there on Sunday.

If you see a long-haired woman walking around with a square-assed dog, that’s me.

Hope to see you there!

I work in the technology industry and I love being surrounded by the youthful idealism of my young co-workers. Their enthusiasm is contagious and if it weren’t for them, I probably never would have seen the Chapelle Show and I doubt that I would have ever heard of Bongo Jones or Pepper’s Ghost. But as much as I love them, I just don’t get their politics.

I hate talking politics in the workplace; usually it’s just not a good idea. But since yesterday was the primary, I decided to check in with a few of the kids (whom I already knew to be left-leaning) only to discover that everyone I spoke with was a registered Independent.

I’ve got nothing against Independents. In fact, with my opinions ranging all over the political spectrum, I probably should re-register as an Independent. Whoa Nellie, not so fast.

What do we need to say so people understand that change happens at the local levels and then hopefully works up to the higher levels? If you really want to know if your vote counts, look at the local elections, particularly those with low turnout. In yesterday’s D.A. race, with a total turnout of less than 107,000, Lynne Abraham beat Seth Williams by about 12,285 votes. In a city the size of Philadelphia, that’s nothing.

My two closest friends, both of whom live in Philadelphia, are registered Republicans. Matt or Joanie, if either of you are reading this, “What is the point of being registered as a Republican in Philadelphia?” You rarely get to make any difference in a primary because most everyone runs unopposed. Until somebody decides to challenge Sam Katz on his mission to become Philadelphia’s first Republican mayor in eons, you really can’t make a difference at the local level. (Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone if you vote Republican every November, my concern at this point is the primary.)

I ask the same question of my kind-hearted, young co-workers. “If you enjoy living in Philadelphia and care about it’s future, why not register as a Democrat so you can have a voice in the political process?”

Ideally we should have both strong Democratic and Republican parties in Philadelphia, but since I don’t see that happening anytime soon, it seems like the only way to be a catalyst for change is by becoming a registered Democrat.

I don’t want to distract anyone from the mission at hand for too long. And what, pray tell, is the mission at hand, Melissa? Ooh goody, I thought you’d never ask. The mission at hand is to get the heck off our sorry asses, collect our registered Democrat friends, neighbors, and family members, and vote for Seth Williams.

In case you don’t think you have time, you do. The polls open at 7AM and close at 8PM. There’s no excuse gang, get out there and push a couple of buttons on behalf of a good cause. The turnout probably won’t be spectacular, so the lines will be short. I’m telling you, any excuse you can come up with, I can come up with a bunch of reason’s it’s not valid. So, go ahead. Try me. Or you could just get out there and vote. Trust me, I can be a real pain in the ass. You’re probably better off just voting. Seth Williams, Lever #40.

Well, at least now I know it’s not my imagination. Will Bunch mentioned this on his blog, but here’s the direct link to the reason for all the German spam some of us are seeing. Be afraid, be very afraid, here’s an excerpt.

“Der Spiegel Online mentioned as a suspect today the NPD (German National Party), a neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic party that has advanced in some parts of the country lately. Last year, the NPD shook Germany when it got 9.2% of the vote in elections in Saxony, winning representation in the parliament there for the first time ever.”

Odd and pretty disturbing, I think. The really strange part is that I noticed German subject lines in my junk emails for about a week now. And many of the first addresses I noticed were at hp.com. Now, I’m seeing stuff that is coming from both Yahoo and Hotmail.

Based on the calls we were getting at work today, about 3 of our corporate clients have already been hit and I’d suspect more may get hit before things improve.

Vielen Glueck Alles!

I got home late tonight, after spending a little time with a friend from work. My front door swung open to my smiling, square-assed dog and a pile of political flyers that had been shoved through the mailslot. And who, pray tell, do you think was on the top of the pile? Yes, that’s right, my friend and yours, incumbent District Attorney Lynne Abraham.

Since we’ve been writing so much about old-school Lynne and her “new kid on the block” challenger Seth Williams, I figured I’d take at look at what our girl, Lynne, had to say. The following, is the actual text of the flyer.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham “The People’s D.A.”

“Community Prosecution is the cornerstone of the District Attorney’s office under Lynne Abraham’s leadership. Lynne Abraham has worked with neighborhood organizations and police to fight crime and drugs in every corner of Philadelphia. Her Nacotics Strike Force has locked up thousands of drug dealers and taken millions of dollars of drugs off our streets. Her Public Nuisance Task Force has shut down hundreds of nuisance bars and drug houses. Lynne Abraham Puts Victims’ Rights First! Thanks to Lynne Abraham, criminals must now compensate their victims. And victims now must be notified before a criminal is released from prison.”

I’m not even going to attempt to verify the veracity of Lynne’s claims. I’m very skeptical about the last sentence in particular, but we’ll let it slide this time. And I won’t even get into this country’s (not just Philly’s) war on drugs and the fact that it’s been a huge money pit and is essentially worthless. Those two topics are better left to the professional bloggers. (I’m an amateur, and after a full day of researching techie stuff at work, my brain is mush.)

What really struck me about the flyer is Lynne’s use of the term “Community Prosecution”. Funny how similar that little catch phrase is to the main element of Seth Williams’ platform “Community Based Prosecution”. Of course, a little bit of research reveals that they’re talking about two completely different things, but the average voter who knows a tiny bit about both candidates may not get the distinction. (By the way, if you’ve visited the link to Seth’s website but did not check out the pdf outlining the idea of Community Based Prosecution, do it now. Believe me, it’s very comprehensive and well worth a look. Don’t feel guilty, I’ve been endorsing the guy pretty vociferously and until tonight, I hadn’t viewed the pdf either.:))

For all I know, Lynne has been using the term, “Community Prosecution” for years now. Maybe Seth swiped her perfectly good idea and catchphrase.

Nah, for some reason I doubt it.

I’ve been thinking about change a lot recently. Significant changes in my own life, some brought about by me, others thrust upon me by an unforgiving world. But I’m doing OK, learning to accept things and moving forward with the changes I’ve initiated. Does anyone really love change? I don’t think so, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Next week, we have an opportunity to enact change in the District Attorney’s office of Philadelphia. Clearly, the methods of Lynne Abraham are no longer working, if they ever were. The murder rate appears to be spiraling out of control and under Abraham’s control, lots of suspects have been released because the D.A.’s office was not ready to prosecute the cases.

Look, I know we live in a large city and there will always be crime, but at least Lynne Abraham’s challenger Seth Williams knows what is wrong within the D.A.’s office and has ideas on how to improve it, ie. community based prosecution. We should give him a chance to prove himself. We’ve given Lynne plenty of opportunity and in my opinion, she’s failed.

Fear of change is a strong disincentive to take action. But next Tuesday, let’s conquer our collective fears and vote for a change.

See you at the polls.

Last Saturday night, I went to my second Ratdog show ever. At age 38, I guess you could call me a bit of a late-blooming deadhead. I only saw one Dead show while Jerry was still alive. Appropriately enough, it was the final show at JFK in June of 1989. What a way to close the place.

My true initiation into the subculture came at the hands of my ex-boyfriend. I’d always loved what I knew of the music, but having not seen the live show often, I knew I was missing the essence of the band. When we started dating, he’d been seeing the Grateful Dead for years. Steve was a wonderful teacher. He copied studio and live CDs for me, he played me live stuff when we went places, and he took me to shows. My first show was a Ratdog show on Penns Landing. The day had been rainy, but as Ratdog took the stage, the clouds broke apart and the sunset over the river provided a gorgeous backdrop for the concert.

Over the 4 and ½ years I spent with Steve, I saw a bunch more shows, mostly the Other Ones, but the last two years, they started touring again as The Dead. Until Saturday night, the best show I’d seen was in June 28, 2003, the second show at the Tweeter Center. Willie Nelson opened and Joan Osbourne joined the Dead with her soulful vocals. The crowd practically lost their collective minds when the band broke out old chestnuts like “Mama Tried” and “The Race is One”. The show closed with a relatively rare version of St. Stephen, including the Celtic sounding High Green Chilly Winds (aka William Tell Bridge).

But as great as that show was, something about Saturday night’s Ratdog show elevated it to the top of the list. Maybe it was the small venue. The place was packed to the gills, but the crowd was largely peaceful. We arrived pretty early, got drenched when the skies opened up, but were lucky to find seats on a two level bleacher on the first floor. Best seats in the house, for watching the show and all the other happenings. Watched lots of people getting kicked out for various infractions. Most likely pot smoking, but I couldn’t guarantee it. Everybody was getting their grooves on, including me and the previously non-dancing ex-boyfriend, but my favorite activity is watching the people who are spinning, gyrating, emoting with what seems to be complete disregard of the music. I guess the music in their heads is a little different than what I’m hearing.

Click here for the setlist.

I’m not going to try and do a real review. That’s probably better left to the experts. But for me, the highlights of the show included the ending songs of both sets. The first set ended with “Silvio” (a Dylan song) interspersed with “Tequila”. Yes, the Pee Wee Herman song. It’s hard to believe that I would have been the only person dancing like Pee Wee, but I didn’t see anyone else making a spectacle of themselves. Well, actually, lots of people were making spectacles of themselves, but not by dancing like Pee Wee. And “Not Fade Away” was a great end to the second set. The entire crowd was singing, “I’m gonna tell you how it’s gonna be…”. I know Ratdog/The Dead play it a lot, but it’s a great song for whipping the crowd into a complete frenzy. The encores were “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and the traditional, at this point, “One More Saturday Night”. The last thing I heard after the show ended was the bathroom attendant and one of the maintenance guys screaming for an encore. The ultimate sign of a great show may very well be the reaction of those who work at the venue and can’t leave as soon as the show’s over screaming for more. It was a cool moment indeed.

I’m not the most political poster on this site; I leave that to Chris and David, but I was listening to the presidential press conference tonight while going about my other business.

Honestly, sometimes Bush just cracks me up. I know he grew up mostly in Texas, but seriously, who taught this man to speak? I’m accustomed to his verbal missteps, but he started talking about legal reform and “ass-bestos” lawsuits, with the emphasis clearly on “ass”, and I thought I was going to die.

So, just as an experiment, I decided to Google the word (well, not really a word) Ass-bestos.

The results appear to be a delightful combination of genuine misspellings, family names(?), and slanguage.

Enjoy!