11:27

Sigh.

13:02

Converted RGB images to grayscale before outputting rush film job.

20:51

First I poured the fat free skim milk into my favorite glass… Then I added the chocolate syrup. I then proceeded to stir, brisky, the syrup-milk combination. The result was a fine glass of chocolate milk. I sat on my couch and enjoyed the subtle beauty… On the television was the World Series… I thought for a moment about what it would be like if the Cubs were in the WS. I decided I will have to buy an official jersey when the Cubs make the World Series, so I can have one with the WS patch on the sleeve.

Oh, and the Cubs will make the series…

15:20

I just checked my personal email. There were no new messages, but I responded to a message from earlier in the day. After sending the message, I unwrapped a coffee flavored Nip, which was in a box in the bottom drawer of my desk. I’m currently enjoying my coffee flavored Nip while typing this entry.

08:30

On my drive to work this morning I saw a woman mouth the word “asshole” to me… The fun part about this? She pulled out in front of me.

Good fun.

22:30

I was in the kitchen getting a drink, and I thought I saw a drip from the faucet in the sink… Upon closer inspection I found this not to be the case. I finished drinking my glass of water, and exited the kitchen.

I woke up…

I woke up at 7:30 am, turned over and stared up at the ceiling. After a little thought, I got up out of bed and started my day.

The highest form…

“The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.” -Rainer Maria Rilke

Thank you for being patient with us…

… please stay on the line and we’ll do everything we can to help you in just a few moments.

Milky

Our Milky Way Galaxy is a spiral (or, perhaps, barred-spiral) type of galaxy that has approx. 200 to 400 billion stars and a diameter of 160,000 ly. Our Sun is approx. one third of the way out from the center, or 26,000 ly from the center (which is located in the Sagittarius region of the sky). We are found in the flat disk of the galaxy (which contains the spiral arms) and our Sun takes 230 million years to orbit the galactic nucleus once. The galaxy has a nuclear bulge which contains the nucleus (core) in which is probably a massive black hole of 3.4 million solar masses that is, perhaps, 1.6 ly in radius. There is also a halo of globular clusters of stars that encircle the galaxy (and also a more distant “outer halo” that may contain “missing” galactic mass). Globular clusters are spherical groups of up to hundreds of thousands of stars, most of which (in our galaxy) are old, metal poor (“Population II”) stars. The younger (metal rich, “Population I”) stars are found in the disk of the galaxy (which is bluish due to the O and B type stars) where active star formation is taking place. Some older stars are found in the disk as well. The bulge has mostly K, M type stars and is rich in heavy metals. Our galaxy is one of a local group of approx. 30 galaxies.

Pete & Pete…

Saturday night’s all right…

All’s well that ends…

Sitting home today, watching the Cubs on TV, I get a knock on my door. Now, I don’t get many knocks on my door, and to be honest, I don’t really like people knocking on my door, so my initial reaction is apprehension. I look through the little hole in the door and see a young boy crying relatively hysterically. “This is not good,” I think to myself…

I open the door and the kid starts explaining to me, through sobbing and tears, that he went on a ride and now he is lost, and can’t find his way home… He keeps telling me that he just went around the block, and now he is lost, and he can’t remember where he was… I proceed to tell him it’s going to be okay, and everything is going to be fine, and not to worry… I ask him a series of questions, trying to find out exactly what the story is… He’s in town on vacation, from Ohio, and he’s visiting his Mom’s Mom (he never said Grandma), and now he’s lost and he can’t find his way home… I ask him if he remembers any street names, or anything… Nope… “Do you know your Grandma’s phone number?” I ask him. “No,” he replies. I ask for his Grandmother’s last name, he gives it to me, but can’t spell it (neither can I)… I go in the house and get my phonebook and start looking for something that might be her name… I find something, and call the number… Nope, the lady on the other end doesn’t know what I’m talking about… That didn’t work… Hmmm… He tells me the name of a street, and I don’t recognize it… So I go get my computer, and go back out on the porch with him, and proceed to use Mapquest to attempt to find this street… No luck… I ask him if his Mom has a cell phone… Ah Ha!! She does, and he knows the number… but doesn’t know the area code. I ask him where he lives in Ohio, he tells me… I go online yet again and get the area code, call the number…  Voicemail. I leave a message explaining that her boy has gotten himself lost, and can’t find his way home… I leave my name and number, and hang up.

I proceed to ask him other various questions; What do you want to do while you’re on vacation? Do you like the beach? Do you like baseball? I tell him that I got lost when I was around his age (which, by the way, is eight years), and other random things to hopefully calm him down some more, and reassure him all will be okay… Through all of this he did indeed calm down a bit… So I proceed to ask him more questions about maybe what he saw on his ride, how long he’s been lost, etc. etc… Finally my phone rings… It’s his Mother… I tell her where I live, and she said she’s called the police, and she’ll be right over… “Has he been lost long?” I ask… “No, about 15 minutes…” she replies…  “Ahh… okay… see you soon.” Click.

A few moments later, a police car, followed by a minivan pull up to my house… The officer is friendly, and introduces himself to me, as the Mother has some words with her son (where were you going, and why didn’t you stay on the block, etc. etc.). The Mother asks me my name, thanks me, etc. The officer then has a few words with the lad and his Mother… They load his bicycle into the back of the van, and off they go. As she’s driving off, the Mother says thanks again, and they’re gone…

During all that, the Cubs managed to score a run and ultimately beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2.

Whew…

The President and McCarthy

Although Dwight Eisenhower (Eisen-hoover) deplored Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist tactics and personality, the president refused to condemn him, believing that denouncing him would alienate powerful, old-guard Republicans. McCarthy’s end came when his televised hearings on communism in the U.S. army convinced Americans that he was a cruel bully. With the Senate’s censure of McCarthy in 1954, the worst excesses of McCarthyism came to an end.

Civilizing the City

The cities became a focal point of the progressive movement. Progressives wanted them to become safer and healthier places to live. The attack came on several fronts. The settlement house movement, which began in England, put well-educated women in the role of social workers, tending to the various needs of the ethnically diverse big-city populations. Churches also attacked social problems of the cities through the “social gospel”—a mission to reform society as well as the individual. Christian clergy began to argue against the “gospel of wealth” in favor of Christianizing capitalism. Church leaders also spearheaded the social purity movement, which emphasized cleaning up the urban evil of prostitution. This drive often was accompanied by calls for the prohibition of alcohol, a campaign that demonstrated a strain of nativism as progressives stigmatized groups like the Irish, the Italians, and the Germans as heavy drinkers. All of these efforts were characteristic of the progressive movement, showing the progressives’ belief that the government could solve problems without altering America’s economy or institutions.

HPJ

I love you Grandma.

Scream.

Sometimes I feel like it’s just too quiet, and I need to scream… I feel like yelling at the top of my lungs… It’s an anxious feeling, and it’s upon me now… I don’t think yelling will help… I can’t see any particular cause for this feeling, it’s just there… It’s like being tapped on the shoulder over and over by someone you’d rather not talk to…

When I used to play the drums, I hit pretty hard… I would break a lot of sticks… Now that I’m attempting to learn the piano, I find myself wanting to hit it hard… I wonder how long till I break a string…

It’s quiet here… noise doesn’t help…

January 1, 1920

Prohibition was boosted by the war effort, as its supporters argued that the consumption of alcohol was a waste of needed grain, caused moral and physical weakness, and served to profit German brewers. Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, which banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, in December 1917, and prohibition went into effect on January 1, 1920.

Progressive Government: City and State

A millionaire by age forty, Thomas Lofton Johnson turned his back on business and entered politics in 1899. He was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, on a pledge to reduce the streetcar fare to three cents, touching off a seven-year war between the mayor and the streetcar moguls. When Johnson responded by building his own streetcar line, his foes tore up the tracks and blocked him with court injunctions and legal delays. At the prompting of his opponents, the Ohio legislature sought to limit Johnson’s mayoral power by revoking the charters of every city in the state, replacing home rule with central control from the capital, Columbus. In the end, Johnson had the city buy the streetcar system as well as the public utilities. Governor Robert La Follette of Wisconsin brought progressive reform to state government in 1901. With popular support and political savvy, he improved education, advocated railroad regulation, and instituted the first direct primary and state income tax in the country. Additionally, he initiated a cooperative relationship between state government and talented educators at the University of Wisconsin to draft more effective legislation. Wisconsin became the model for other progressive states, earning the title “laboratory of democracy.” An emphasis on reform rather than party loyalty became a characteristic of progressivism. Democrats like Tom Johnson and Republicans like Robert La Follette could lay equal claim to the label “progressive.” Hiram Johnson became governor of California in 1911, running on the promise to curtail the influence of the powerful Southern Pacific Railroad and give the state honest government. He introduced democratic reforms and signed an employer’s liability law. Johnson also introduced the use of the initiative, referendum, and recall. His changes were the most beneficial to small business owners and entrepreneurs, who had new opportunities when the Southern Pacific was brought under state control.

militarism

Many progressives hoped that World War I would improve life in America and free Europe from tyranny and militarism. During the war, workers and women made important advances, partly as a consequence of wartime mobilization. But the war also challenged progressive ideals. President Wilson’s efforts to foster patriotic support for the war simultaneously led to a harsh crackdown on dissent and an assault on civil liberties.

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