Read Some Stewf

Arroyo Walk

Mama Red Riding Hood

Taken on Museum Hill in Santa Fe where I get to spend another Thanksgiving. Now you know where I get my eyes.

Celebrate Good Times

This is pretty much exactly how I felt last night while traveling from the FontShop election party to another in the East Bay where Oakland’s streets were alive with celebration — honking and wooting as if we had just won the World Cup.

Wish I knew the brilliant animagician who made this. Info about its origins are welcome. I believe the poetry of Kool and the Gang is also in order. I advise watching the video and the above animated GIF side-by-side for ultimate joy factor.

Yahoo! This is your celebration
Yahoo! This is your celebration

Celebrate good times, come on! (Let’s celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let’s celebrate)

There’s a party goin’ on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you

Come on now

Celebration
Let’s all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time

It’s time to come together
It’s up to you, what's your pleasure

Everyone around the world
Come on!

Yahoo! It’s a celebration
Yahoo!

Celebrate good times, come on!
It’s a celebration
Celebrate good times, come on!
Let’s celebrate

We’re gonna have a good time tonight
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right
We’re gonna have a good time tonight
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right

Baby...

We’re gonna have a good time tonight (Ce-le-bra-tion)
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right
We’re gonna have a good time tonight (Ce-le-bra-tion)
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right

Yahoo!
Yahoo!

Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on!
It’s a celebration!
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)

(ad lib)

Come on and celebrate, good times, tonight (Celebrate good times, come on!)
’Cause everything's gonna be all right
Let’s celebrate (Celebrate good times, come on)
(Let’s celebrate)...

Also: Sean and Vamsi Discuss White House Basketball

McCain’s Best Case Scenario

Assuming that the race is indeed tightening, as McCain supporters hope, I made what would could be called McCain’s Best Case Scenario Map. I gave McCain all the toss up states according to Pollster.com’s composite trend estimates, and even some of the big states that are currently leaning Obama, such as Virginia, Florida, and Ohio. Basically, any state within 7 points either way I put in McCain’s column.

Being this generous with McCain’s chances, he still loses 265 to 273.

At the risk of jinxing it, I must say I don’t see how Obama can lose unless something extremely dramatic happens in one of those blue states on my map within the next 2 days. No poll aggregate has moved more than 7 pts in a week, let alone 48 hours.

Pessimists may now spread your apocalyptic dread in the comments below — or make your own map with LA Times’s vote calculator.

Update — Polling wonk Nate Silver pretty much agrees.

Dick Cavett Interviews Dick Cavett

Brilliant impression by Rick Moranis who in a close-up looks nothing like Dick, but it doesn't matter. See also Charlie Rose Talks With Charlie Rose.

Market Street, San Francisco, 1905/1906

Thanks to Ivo for linking me to this film shot from a streetcar traveling down Market Street in 1905, before the earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed the city. Remarkable footage of turn of the century lifestyles in California and the transition of transportation modes, from horse and buggy to the earliest automobiles. Interesting to see how well the street traffic worked despite what seems to me like chaos. There were couple of moments that made me yell at people to get out of the way. Look out for that car, fine fellow! You foolish, foolish, fine fellow.

Here is the Western Addition neighborhood and the same stretch of Market in 1906 after the earthquake struck. Almost complete devastation. Though the Ferry Building at the end of the street still stands!

It spooks me a bit to know the Bay Area is still filled with many of the same wood frame structures and potential for seismic activity. Of course, they are earthquake veterans here. My former home, Salt Lake City, sits on a fault just as dangerous but hasn’t experienced a single major quake since it was settled. I hope folks are prepared. Fortunately, being prepared for emergencies is a Mormon strong suit — nearly every one I know back home has emergency food and water thanks to a long tradition of preparedness admonition from Church leaders.

Thanks to the Prelinger Archives for preserving these films.

Prop 8: A Christ-like Cause?

I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, the bosom of the LDS Church. Though I left Mormonism over 10 years ago, I still feel a bond with the LDS people and culture, often defending them against friends or acquaintances who may not benefit from a former member’s experience and perspective.

My family is still very active in the Church with a strong faith in its teachings. Yet despite their leaders’ unusual call to campaign for California’s Prop 8, none of my four siblings or their spouses support the measure.

The New United States of America

At the risk of being divisive, I feel I must post the following amusement. The author is anonymous, though some trace the original message to San Francisco’s Craigslist boards (big surprise). I removed some of the stuff that I didn’t like and added some bits of my own (in blue). Remember, this is all in good fun. Will return to a tone of unity in my next entry.

Dear Red States,

We’ve decided we’re leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we’re taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren’t aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the entire Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the New United States of America.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma, and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel, Microsoft, and Apple. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss. We get 85 percent of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to do what you’ve always wanted and cut taxes to the point that there are no government services beyond an unnecessarily strong defense and millions of miles of asphalt.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition’s, I’m sorry to report we’ll have fewer broken families — whether they are gay or straight. Please be aware that the New United States will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we’re going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we’re not willing to spend our resources in Bush’s Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country’s fresh water, 92 percent of the nation’s fresh fruit, 95 percent of America’s quality wines, 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech, and MIT. With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, and Bob Jones University. We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

But it’s not all bad for the Old United States! You’ll keep most of the oil and gas resources, and you’re welcome to continue a 20th-century dependence on the car. We’ll be forced to pass legislation and adequately fund mass transit, smart city planning, and renewable energy. It’s a sacrifice and future we’re happy to live with.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale; 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the war, the death penalty, or gun laws; 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory; 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11; and 61 percent of you believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

All that said, this is not an unmitigated split. The trade borders between our countries will be open as we intend to import much of your fine music and we’re sure you’ll want some movies. Not a bad trade.

Best of luck,
Blue States

Colin Powell for Barack Obama

Colin Powell examines both candidates thoughtfully and then goes down the list of nearly every reason why I too will be voting for Barack Obama in two weeks. A powerful endorsement.

And the rest of the points on my list are covered nicely here:

New cat. New chair.

This is the second time in a year that I've taken in this cat without ID. The first time I sent her off with a collar that said "please tag me or someone else will". She disappeared for a few weeks but then returned last week to hang around in the parking lot behind our building, missing my collar, looking quite scrawny and wanting food.

Perhaps she has a home but is always taking her collar off. Will hang on to her for another week for the owner. If no one claims her it's off to the vet for a checkup and spaying. Then perhaps she can live with me and lounge on the new Tirup chair anytime she likes.

Fighter

My winter months in Stockholm were filled with bitterness and gloom, fueled by self-imposed isolation and 4 hours of sunlight per day. The only cure was a mix CD full of cathartic music.

Here is the cover, sized for Jewelboxing's King Size cases. The art is a page ripped from a book I found at a Stockholm bar called The Library. Just discovered tonight that the dude is a Swedish boxer named Ingemar Johansson who won the World Heavyweight Championship in 1955. Fitting that the guy shares my middle name. He looks like I felt at the time.

Typeface: Refrigerator by Mark Simonson