Civics Lessons.

Sandra Day O'Connor (former U.S. Supreme Court Justice) and Roy Romer (former Governor of Colorado) wrote a piece today about the need for Civics to be taught once again in schools to American children. See their piece here.

Now... If I had read this piece yesterday, I may have responded to it differently. However, I was talking to a friend (in her 50's) who told me about how she had to give a lesson to someone at her work about the Government. This other person, also in her 50's asked my friend to explain what the difference between a Liberal and a Conservative was. This lead to other questions that made my friend give almost an hour of Civics lessons to this person. This person is in her 50's and she didn't understand what the major differences were between the two major parties in American politics.

Um. I don't know... I think I'm vaguely appalled. I mean... How can an American in their FIFTIES no less, not know anything about the way our government works?

Ms. O'Connnor and Mr. Romer write a very eloquent commentary on our need in America for Civics to return to our schools. They spoke about the past, where students were required to learn about the necessity for being good CITIZENS in the United States. How to vote, why to vote, and to give the students tools with which to base their opinions.

I wasn't in this group. By the time I made it through grade-school and high school... The courses were no longer part of the curriculum. I had a course in Government (like they speak about in their article) but not anything to do with Civics. The one thing that Ms. O'Connnor and Mr. Romer talk about... About how the Government course teaches perhaps about "how a bill becomes a law" and explains the differences between the House and the Senate... Yes... I learned all of that... The one thing that the authors forgot to mention was how damnably BORING the subject was! If anything, current Government courses teach students that Government is a snooze-fest, and really has nothing at all to do with their lives. Obviously, there's something lacking in our curriculum.

I find myself agreeing with Ms. O'Connnor and Mr. Romer, we must begin to teach young people just WHY our government works, and also why is sometimes does NOT work. We need to give our young people some tools... Not just to make them better citizens, but also to make our country stronger.

That's a bit of a better solution, than waiting until their 50-something, and hoping they ask questions of a co-worker.

-- Tuckmac

Just a quick one...

Folks...

For about six years now, I've been using "Yahoo Mail." Yeah, I know... I have a professional e-mail address, and I have another "professional" e-mail address...

But I've been using a Yahoo mail account for my "main" e-mail since I moved to Britain. Yeah, I've returned to the States (more's the pity) but I still liked having a "co.uk" address.

Well... Folks... Tonight I was attempting to get into my "Yahoo mail" account, and got THIS page... Over and Over... And Over... No matter WHAT I did... I got the same damn page...

I never signed UP for the "New Improved Yahoo Mail"... I don't bloody well WANT the bloody new Yahoo Mail... I like my OLD FASHIONED Yahoo Mail.

And I am not able to get my mail, 'cause Yahoo has a freakin' problem...

Fugg That!

Okay... So... Friends that read this space... Get a hold of me via my "professional" account which is GOOGLE MAIL.... They don't feck around with you.... Oh no... They don't mess with my e-mail.

tuckerphoto(at)gmail.com

(To those unititiated... Replace the (at) with a @ symbol... I'm trying to keep "internet bots" from finding that e-mail... Yeah... You've probably seen lots of people doing that lately... It's a decent way to avoid spam. Anyhoo...

That's the address I'm going to keep using... To Fecking HELL with Yahoo....

The bastids!

Gah!!!!!!!!

-- T

Condie Threatens...

Sorry... I saw this picture, courtesy the BBC:



And the first thing that popped in my head for a caption was: Don't FUCK with the U S of A!

Perhaps I'm just a bit wrong. I don't know. Speaking of the sweet-thang Condie... Ha.

Here's an example of the world going wrong... Denmark can move the Little Mermaid statue to protect it from vandals. I mean... Who'd mess with the Little Mermaid? That's just wrong.

Caption Competition... Brown bores Clinton, news at Eleven.

Yeah, right. Come ON Britain... It's time to get rid of Tony, and put Brown on the throne!!! Brown... Brown, he's our man... If Brown can't do it... Then no self-respecting Labourite can! To be honest... Both my Lady, and myself are firm Brown Backers... But then, we're "Old Labour" and we realise that most folks in Britain are labouring (sorry) under the same issues that the U.S. is dealing with today... The former "Liberal" party being SO Centrist, that you can't tell the difference between a "liberal" and a "conservative" anymore. Och weel... Dae ken the night.

Speaking of the decline of Liberalism... Hello Big Brother.

Gah. Okay... If this post wasn't depressing enough for you... Reader... You are a severe mess.

Finally... Thank you City Pages Blotter for THIS link...
Global Politics in 30 Seconds

Bye!
--Tuckmac

Hump Day.

'Cause this title will hit really funny search engine results!

But seriously... It's the middle of the week. Blessed be.

Whilst trolling the internet for amusing things, I found THIS site:
Cigarette Pack Generator

And made two of my own packs:




Okay... So I was in a silly mood.

Check this out: Berlusconi rides again! I mean, seriously... This guy makes Prince Charles' gaffes look TAME! (Yanks, Prince Charles and his papa Philip tend to get into lots of verbal-problems due to their big mouths.)

And another one's down, and another one's down, and another one bites the dust! One stinking republican down, about half the population of the United States left to go.

Er.

Sorry... That was mean.

I fecking HATE the "Arctic Monkeys" but hey... They were live on NPR, and a Twin Cities writer, whom I normally completely agree with, is glad! Jim Walsh shows that he too jumps on stupid cultural band-wagons occasionally.

Och weel... Everyone has to make mistakes SOMEtimes.

Standing for Islam appeared today in my local newspaper the Star and Sickle. The article is an interview with Sumbal Mahmud, a Pakistani-born American Lawyer working in the Twin Cities. I found this to be a very thought-provoking article. At times, I wept with her, and at others... I railed against her. Probably says a LOT about her character that she made me respond in this way. Well... Read the article, and perhaps this next thing I say will make a bit of sense. Perhaps not... But:

I already know that Islam is a religion of peace. I know that true Muslims are peaceful. I do not look askance at a woman wearing a hijab walking down the street, or a man dressed up for Eid, or something. However... Over and over, we're hearing prominent Muslims speaking about the "peacefulness of Islam" and yet... They're fellow Muslims are blowing up innocent (and not so innocent, I grant you) people all over the Middle East. Here's a quote from the article by Ms. Mahmud:

"Fourteen hundred years before the Geneva Convention, Islam taught some simple rules of war. For instance: You can't attack a civilian. ... If I am in your country and displace a tree, I am obligated to replace the tree."

As a pacifist, a Muslim, and a feminist, she said, "The idea of civilians as 'collateral damage' is mind-boggling."

I took this to be a bit of a dig at the U.S. Military... And rightfully so... I agree with Ms. Mahmud that "collateral damage" is mind-boggling. However... I have a question... If a millennia and a half before our Western Geneva Convention, Muslims came up with the "don't ever attack civilians" then why the Suicide Bombing? Seriously. If Islam says that killing civvies is horrific, and not allowed, why do so many (granted, militant) Muslims go around killing people sitting at Cafés, or in office towers, or in Subway systems?

I don't know... Sorry... I went off there, but... I find myself to be floating in a grey sea of amorphia here. I am completely and totally against the false war in Iraq. End of fecking list. However, I am also completely and totally against militant Islamism and fundamentalism.

There has to be a better way to deal with the clashing our our cultures. Both the Western Culture and the Eastern Culture of Islam have beautiful things about them... However, both also have a lot of the "ugly" and perhaps we should all sit back and start attempting to look at the positives on both sides of the issue? Hmm?

I'm off. Cheers, readers, thanks for visiting.

-- Tuckmac

Tuesdays are my favourite day of the week.

Why? I'm not really sure... But they are.

Oh yeah... Maybe it's cause I GOT A JOB! Okay... It's just temp... But it pays pretty good, and it's for six weeks... Full time... And I actually may see some way to survive! Yay! Okay...

After yesterday's deep blog entry... I've decided to do a bit of a "fun" one today... A "LINK" day!

I spent some time trolling the internet for interesting, and well, frankly... Weird video. And thought I'd throw these up... Most are "streaming" so dial-up well... You may want to skip some of these... If it's REALLY cool... Then I'll tell you... And you can just click on that one... Go make and eat a three-minute egg, and come back and watch it! On with the links:

• Czardas


• Stupidity, I mean... Someone took the time.


• Peep fight. Do people from Britain and other places know what a "peep" is? I'm not sure.


• Fun Star Trek clip.


• Fluffy - If Faith and Buffy were lovers. Okay... This one's pretty much just for Lucy. But other "Buffy" watchers may get the humour

And the one you can't miss... This is the "three minute egg" one for dial-up users:

• Juggling to the Beatles. It's freaking AMAZING!

Okay... I'm off. And readers... How come NO COMMENTS? Love ya!

-- Tuckmac

Adwaita, and our last 250 years.

The death of Adwaita, the 250 year-old tortoise that died at the Calcutta zoo this weekend made me reflect on our history. 'Clive of India's' tortoise dies

Think about it... This old-man tortoise lived for 250 years. TWO hundred and FIFTY bleeding years.

What's happened in the past 250 years? Well... 1756, the year Adwaita was born. (Okay, it's "speculated" that he's 250, and they're going to carbon date his shell, now that he's died, but still... 250 give or take is still bloody old.)

1756. My country (the US) declared it's independence from Britain in 1776. 20 years AFTER this animal was born! Think about how many wars were fought in 250 years, in Britain's history... How many?

This tortoise saw the horse and Calvary charges change to battle wagons, to tanks to jet-fighters. This tortoise saw the end and the beginning of countless countries... Countless inventions... Countless revolutions... The end of slavery, the end of empire... The beginning of a new one. (Sorry, can't help but poke my government a bit in a blog.)

The sad thing, is that if he could've spoken, before dying... What would the old guy say? "You human's and your ultimate stupidity made my life VERY interesting."

May all the gods embrace you, Adwaita, as you take your place in the jungle in the sky... And, all things being strange and metaphysical... May animal's be able to speak, in the after-life... As when I get there I'm going to really enjoy sitting down to a long conversation with you.

Readers... to get back to our "reality" lets just think about this span of time. What good have we, as humans done, to our Earth, our peoples, our fellow beings on this planet? And what evils have we done?

I shudder to think that a tortoise who lived for 250 years could find nothing but contempt for our species, as he watched the world fall down around his ears for the past quarter of a millennia.

On that depressing note readers...

Farewell for today.

-- Tuckmac

The job search continues, and other fun stuff.

It's about 10:00am on Saturday (CST) as I type this... Why am I telling you this? 'Cause I woke my ass us at 6:00am this morning. Not on purpose, oh no... My bedroom alarm-clock is two hours ahead, unbeknownst to me. Gah. Problem, is that My Lady has to go to work today at the Soap Factory, at noon. At 9:00am (CST) she came RUNNING downstairs to the studio in an absolute panic, as she thought it was a little after 11:00am! It takes about an hour to get to the gallery if you take the train, and walk to the building. Anyhoo... She calmed after realising that it was only a bit after 9:00. But still.... Two of us completely discombobulated due to a faulty clock.

Gah.

What's the "job search" news... It's honestly looking up. A bit. I have an interview on Monday for a "testing service" job. The job would entail grading student-written essays (Eighth-graders and Eleventh-graders or 13 year-olds and 17 year olds) for standardised tests. It's only a month contract (well, six weeks, actually) but it's full time, and pays $12.00 an hour. Anything I can get, at this point. It's going to be a drive to get to this place every day at 8:00am. Simply 'cause it's on the other side of the Twin-Cities, and I have to drive through all the rush-hour traffic. (For a British idea of the drive, think Bromley South to Camden Town or properly Kentish Town perhaps...)

Gah.

The "letter of application" is written, sort of... I have sent it to a few friends to have them read it over, due to my fear of "messing it up." I read over the job-requirements, and folks... This job is PERFECT. Now, if I can only get the darn thing. It doesnt' start till August (thus the test-centre job, and probably other temp work) but I still think it's bril.

Um... Yeah. My Lady posted a funny little caper yesterday in her blog... As well as spewing off about my president (which I can't blame her for) she also found one of those "test things" that so many of us bloggers get sucked into... Anyhoo... It's a "Which Country SHOULD you live in" test. Go to her post here, and take the test yourself... Don't forget to comment!

That's it for today, readers... Have a good one.

-- Tuckmac

My Case for the Separation of Church and State.

I mean, I honestly am REALLY, REALLY tired of all of this crap.

Here's where my country WAS:

Amendment I - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

-- Link

The "Separation between Church and State" is actually from a Letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Congregation in 1802. (Library of Congress Link)

You see... There's a serious problem in our (US) government today. That problem, fine readers, is religion. Religion has insidiously crept it's slimy trail into our (US) government. I briefly touched on this subject in Wednesday's Blog review of "V for Vendetta." the film. This problem, is that the movement of the Christian Right further and further into our law-buildings, and government offices is slowly destroying our country. They're agenda is to do NO LESS than take away our rights, and lead us down the corridors of the next Nazi Regime, and the showers at the end of that corridor are filled with the faithful, as well as the faith-less.

You see, folks... My government got a bit messed up. It's not the "Founding Father's" fault... Well, I guess it sort of is... But they didn't know what they were doing. You see... The "Founding Fathers" of the U.S. Government were, for the most part, Deists and Freemasons. They were of the belief (as many were at that time) in Science, and human philosophy, not in giving power to the church. (They were also a bit weird, but I'm not going to dwell on Freemasonry, or anything like that today)... No.

The "Founding Fathers" were worried that if the government interfered with Religion or had ONE STATE RELIGION, then OTHER religion's rights would be infringed upon.

Okay.

This makes sense.

What they forgot to do, however... Was to make sure that religion didn't start sliding under the court-room door as soon as they turned their backs. For them, saying that the government could not legislate against the church, ended the problem. What they ALSO should have done is make sure that the church ALSO can not legislate to the STATE.

Today's Examples:
Ouster of the Easter Bunny draws unwanted attention to St. Paul - (The State (or City in this case) has decided that the symbol of the Easter Bunny is not P.C. But in doing so... They've actually violated the first Amendment. "The free exercise thereof - of religion".

Faith is focus of rally over marriage amendment The opposite... "Religion" making it's case in the government's sphere.

I actually yelled, the other night. I kid you not. I yelled. I am so upset with my country at the moment. I am really really disturbed at the current movement of the Christian Right in America.

Fellow U.S. Citizens... When J.F.K. was elected, many of you worried that the U.S. would be controlled by the Pope in Rome, due to J.F.K.'s Catholicism.

Luckily... The Pope had nothing to do with anything during Kennedy's term in office.

Do you NOT SEE the current danger? Do you not see that although fundamentalist Christians have no "world leader" that may "control the U.S. Government" from abroad, that the danger is the same? The danger to our rights and freedoms are being slowly and carefully infringed upon, by the Christian Right's movement?

Am I the only person in the U.S. right now who is NOT blind? Am I alone? Am I howling out in the middle of the wilderness without anyone around to scream WITH me to the philistines in the Government and Churches?

My God, my God... Forgive them, for they do not know what they do. - Jesus

Any gods... Any gods... Get the hell out of my government! - Tuckmac

Meh... Links day today, I think...

Hi folks.

Well, yesterday, we recovered from the "Manic-Tuesday" that comes twice a month with the release of Motif Radio. It goes up twice a month, and the day BEFORE the episode is uploaded is a busy one. Granted... Mainly for My Lady, who does all the sound engineering, and such... But since this last one was, as she called it: "Tuck's Baby" I did my share. Anyhoo... We spent Wednesday recovering. Gah.

My Lady had a meeting at the The Soap Factory yesterday. They were choosing studio spaces, and organising the volunteering. She's having fun.

I dropped off a cheque to the lawyer (for our immigration attorney) and spent time in two coffee shops trolling the internet, and generally wasting valuable time that I should have been using to write my "letter of application" to the two different colleges that I'm applying for at the moment. It's really hard to write those things, now... Just as I've written so many of the bloody buggers, and I've not heard BACK from any of the previous attempts... That tells me I'm writing them incorrectly. Ger... So... I'm sort of frozen in fear now, that I'll fuck THESE two apps up, and my options will be that much more limited.

Gah.

Okay... Enough depression...

Links... I got 'em... You want 'em:

• Found this one whilst reading the Star and Sickle this morning: The Internet archive... It's filled with pretty much EVERYTHING ON EARTH... Free... Downloadable... Exciting... Seriously... If you want a time waster, this is the site to spend some time trolling through.



• I like the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. I really, really do. Did you know the guy can speak, like seven languages? Did you know that once he was ordained as the Archbishop of Canterbury (the 'leader' of the Anglican Church) he also became a Druid Priest? (That may be a myth, but My Lady swears to it.) Anyhoo... I LOVE this guy. If I were Christian, I'd become an Anglican, simply 'cause of him... Anyhoo... He says that teaching Creationism in schools is not a good thing. Bless him.



• This has been around for a while... I first saw it over a year ago, whilst still living in Britain... However, if you've missed it till now... It's worth me putting it back up here! Carlton Draft, Big Ad



• Speaking of great Aussie adds... Here's the add that has recently been banned in both Britain, and recently, in Canada. It's not banned here in the States... Probably, 'cause we think: "Where the bloody hell are you?" is a funny statement here in the States... But then, we also saw no problem with "Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me" whereas in Britain, it wasn't liked very much. Of course... We in the states, didn't really know that "Shagged = Fucked" but then, we're heathens. Anyhoo... Ha. Brilliant OZ! Way to go!



• Final link for today... This is just brilliant... I keep looking for a good place that's FREE that allows you to show video on the web for free... Did I mention "free?" Well... I found THIS space: Putfile.com, and it seems to be a pretty good deal. You can't just use it for hosting something, and then have it show up elsewhere, but still... It's pretty cool. I may give it a shot. If one of YOU, my fine readers, has heard bad things about this site... Then leave a comment, and I'll revoke my "pretty cool" status.

Okay... I'm off. Have a good one, folks.
Smiles,
Tuckmac

Woooo-whoooo!

Yesterday, although a bit messed up, due to me sleeping till almost noon, was a pretty darn good day. (Although I ended up being awake till 3:00am again.)

The newest episode of is out!!!!! It's a "Photography Special" that I co-produced with my wonderful Lady... Please go check it out! Podcasting is COOL! You'all know that!

Damn... I'm good... My Lady is good... We're good! Also... Check out the website, as I've finally uploaded and made everything WORK on the site in our gallery page:

Okay... Enough advertising...

Last night, after getting Motif Radio up and running, Fiona and I went out to the late film (10:20pm) showing of V for Vendetta. (IMDB LINK) (OFFICIAL LINK)

Short "Tuckmac Review" of V for Vendetta:

Okay, so... I noticed something about the film. I won't go into the acting... Natalie Portman was fabulous... And Hugo Weaving, considering he was forced to wear a mask throughout the ENTIRE film showed acting chops that I didn't expect from "Agent Smith." He did a spectacular job! But the real thing I noticed, and I'm sure other folks have already drawn these parallels... Man... It's like a wake-up call to the U.S. of A. I'm serious... Like the book "1984" by Orwell was a caution against communism, set in Britain... This film is a warning against religious extremism in our OWN societies today, also, again, set in Britain. The most chilling quote was the "Voice of London" going off about the fact that the United States had fallen due to "godlessness" and how England was strong because of their faith.

Now... No self-respecting person can fail to see the irony in this statement... We all know that Britain is very secular... And the U.S. is getting a bit spooky with the whole 'Christian Right' movement.

Another parallel? In the film... The "Chancellor" of England rules by FEAR... Hmm... Georgie W. Pordgy... How exactly is HE ruling the U.S. at the moment?

Folks... If you don't get the fact that this film is a blatant WARNING to the U.S. of A... Then you are a serious DENSE person, okay? Either that, or you're a Christian-right Republican.

The film gives us hope in the end, folks... I won't say in what manner... (Cause I don't want to ruin the film for anyone) but... Let's just say that I'd love for the American People to do what those Englisher's did in the film, and make sure that WE are not afraid of our government... Make sure OUR GOVERNMENT is afraid of US!

All right... I'm going to post this, and then wait for Georgie's death-squads to come knocking on my door.

Bye for now (and maybe forever..... Ohh....)

-- Tuckmac

Gah.

Hi readers... Well, it's about 12:20pm (CST), as I write this. I didn't get out of bed until 11:30am (CST).

That's right... I was in bed all morning.

Weird, huh? At least for me. I'm a "morning person" in ways that make other people sick. (Three years of teaching High School MAKES you a morning person. Trust me... Having a class full of 14-15 year-olds at 8:00am is a mind-bending experience) But there IS something that makes even a "morning person" like me, stay in bed till almost noon.

That, my friends, is insomnia. I was still awake at about 5:30am this morning, and I just couldn't get to sleep. I actually heard my mother (yes, My Lady and I live with my mother... Yeah, we can't wait to get out) get up this morning for work, and I finally dropped off.

I HATE when my brain refuses to go to sleep. It isn't something that happens very often to me. I have studied enough esoteric meditation religions, that normally, if I have a problem going to sleep and turning off the brain, I just meditate for an hour or so, and can then relax enough to sleep. However, last night... Nothing was working. Gah.

SO...

Yeah, I've been awake for about an hour, and I have nothing really to talk about today. Sorry... I just don't have time to do the "trolling the internet for things that amuse/disgust/or bother" me.

My Lady and I are going to be working on the Motif Radio show today (she's already at it)... I'm co-producing this episode, and am really excited. I've recorded my photographer-friend Brett making comments about contemporary photography using Skype (he's on a Fullbright in Italy) and we're going to be doing a pretty interesting show! Yay! Wonderful thing, Skype. Internet telephony is an amazing technological advance! On Sunday, Fiona spoke with her father in England for an hour, for FREE. Yesterday I spoke with Brett for a half hour, in Italy, for free! This is a revolution, folks.... Get on it soon! You'll notice I have a Skype "CALL ME" button on the right-side column of this blog... Feel free to USE it! It's free! Duh!

Okay... I'm off... Sorry about the naff-ness of today's blog entry.

Adiós!

Tuckmac

Welcome to a new week. And "Spring" supposedly.

It's not too bad out... When I last looked at the outdoor thermometer, it was 34°F (1°C). There's still a LOT of snow, but you don't get rid of 18 inches of the white-stuff quickly, even with the sun being stronger, and the weather getting warmer. They talk about the "snow-effect" on temperature. You see, the white-stuff reflects the light of the sun, not to mention all the frozen shite cools off the atmosphere just like a bunch of ice cubes in a cooler of beer. But... It IS slowly going away, thank all the gods. I am really looking forward to warmer weather. I got a nice reprieve this year, in Minnesota. After missing "real Winter" for two years of living in England (where Winter is just cold-wet-and miserable - but still not really cold...) I was treated to a "warm-eque" Minnesota Winter. I'm thinking that it was just "Mom-nature" being nice to the Minnesota-kid who probably would have died from the shock, had the Winter been normal.

Still... Warmth would be nice. I'm getting tired of the heavy Winter coat.

• Okay... I said earlier that I was adding Katherine Kersten to my "Slap-em if you see-em" list. (Link, towards the bottom of the column)

She's doing a great job of excoriating her OWN side in the argument against Same-sex partners in Minnesota. Bless her... Some highlights? I'll just paraphrase, as I'd love for you to check out the column yourself, right here. Anyhoo... Paraphrasing:

She's quoting the Star Trib's own Editorial-page here: "This question [of same-sex marriage] should not be decided by popular vote. It's easy to whip up sentiment against an unpopular minority."

She uses this quote as an example of how "weird" and "wrong" we are being against a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. And strangely, it's the best quote from the article she wrote. I completely agree with the Editorial-comment. Sorry Kathy.

Her OWN quote: "Amendment supporters are ordinary Minnesotans: soccer moms, Twins fans, the folks next door. But some advocates of same-sex marriage apparently view them as a sinister and unsavoury bunch, even comparing them to racial bigots."

To Ms. Kersten, and her friends: YOU ARE BIGOTED, and yeah... You are someone to compare with the KKK and other bigoted groups against the civil rights of EVERYONE.

You are the same "good ol' boys" that hated blacks in America, and fought the Civil-rights movement. You think that prejudiced white-folk from the 60's weren't "regular" people? You think they didn't take their "White-kids" to an all White school's soccer game? Or that they didn't haul their "White-butts" down to the Twin's game? Or that guy that used to live across the street from me, who "moved out of the neighbourhood, 'cause it's getting unsavoury" meaning: Black.

Jesus-cluny-frog... The entire article backs up EVERYTHING I believe, and the woman wrote it herself, attempting, and failing to be "tongue-in-cheek." Ah... America.

Tuckmac's Truth: The majority of Minnesotans are FOR a bigoted-anti-gay-racist amendment to our State's constitution. That's 'cause they are bigots. As a civil society, we have to legislate things that go AGAINST the majority, because the majority is wrong. It's not their fault... They are scared. They are uninformed. They are occasionally ignorant. And "they" the majority are wrong.

Gah.

Okay:

• Eddie Izzard has a great quote of the day, today:

• "I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from."

• Finally... An instalment of "The Chronicles of Agamemnon, the dog."



Have a good Monday, folks...

-- Tuckmac

Sunday.

I'm not really going to post anything... It's Sunday.

I had a nice time with friends last night... "Drew and Jen" and others... Thanks guys.

Good music... Good Guinness... Good times.

Besides all that... Nothing to talk about, as it's Sunday. Take a bloody day OFF will ya?

Love ya,
Tuckmac

After St. Patrick's Day.

It's funny... St. Patrick's Day...

Two years ago (2004) I was living in Canterbury, England. It was England. So... You know, the whole "Irish Day of Celebration" that St. Pat's tends to be here in the States... Well, um... It's just not really a "big deal" like it is here. Anyhoo... I had just started dating My Lady and she and our friend Toby and I were asked by the Student Union Manager-guy to perform. We played folk instruments, and music... Can you play at our "St. Patrick's Day" party at the Student Union-Bar.

Toby (who was sort of "in charge" of our music-making at the time) said HELL YEAH.

Well... Toby's English, and rather likes the Blues. My Lady is Scottish, and knows her share of Scottish fiddling tunes... And I'm a Yank, with a fair amount of both Scottish and Irish tunes in my repertoire. However... I stress that "Toby was in charge." I couldn't play any Irish tunes, 'cause Toby didn't know them... And Fiona could've followed along, I suppose (she's pretty gifted) but really... If you're playing a mandolin, you're not meant to be taking the lead... The fiddler is... So... Yeah. We didn't PLAY any Irish music on St. Pat's. The Irish students were quite drunk, and got rather boisterous (which I really couldn't blame them for) and then finally got WAY the fuck out of hand.

Fiona ended the evening by punching a particularly RUDE IRISH FUCK in the face.

Bless her.

Anyhoo...

Last year... I thought I would head it off at the pass. I was ON the Student Union at that point, and offered to "DJ" for the St. Patrick's Day party. You see... I have a laptop, with ALL of my music on it... And when you just choose the "Irish" music, I have approximately 34 hours of continuous Irish music. If ANYONE could play six hours of nothing but Irish music in an English Pub... It would be me.

I did it. I kept them dancing the whole night... No fist fights (thanks to My Lady, the guys were very careful in 2005) and no issues. I had a GREAT freaking time... And I really miss my DJ-ing duties.

Och weel...

So... This year.

I stayed in, with Fiona. That's right... St. Pat's is also known as "Amateur Night" to all of us that regularly frequent Irish-pubs in the States. All the bars get a million people who aren't actually Irish (even by a tenuous ancestry) but of course... They are on St. Pats. They come in droves to pubs, ordering pint upon pint of "Irish Beer" (which to the uninitiated includes stuff like Bass Ale, and Newcastle Brown) and drink enough Jamieson's Irish Whiskey to float a parade-ground Float. (From my phone-cam):


Jamiesons Irish Whiskey bottles at Kieran's Irish Pub in Minneapolis... The night BEFORE St. Patrick's Day.

Anyhoo... It's awful. The great bands that you adore end up playing the same "Danny Boy" or "Whiskey in the Jar" over and over again for all the drunk morons that don't actually KNOW any other songs... It's just sick.

So... In the States... I tend to avoid the whole kit and kaboodle.

We stayed in, and watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

I hate Harry Potter... And that film didn't help him, AT ALL, in my mind... But My Lady and Mother just loved it.

Great.

So... Here's a few photos... Me, in my St. Patrick's Day gear:


Noice the nifty shamrock socks!

And Fi did the honours of cooking us really yummy cheese and spinach omelettes. (It's Lent, you know... No meat on Fridays)



Okay... I'm off. Lot's to do. Take it easy folks!

- Tuckmac

Like we didn't already know this?

You Are Gonzo the Great

"Is something burning in here? Oh, it's just me." You're a total nutball who will do anything for attention. The first to take a dare, you'll pull almost any stunt. You're one weird looking creature, but your chickens don't mind!

The Muppet Personality Test

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Happy... Happy... Day! All right, I'm back in the States... And am again allowed to be a little insane about my Irish heritage... Whilst living in England... I had to be an "American" and couldn't celebrate my ancestry as much as we Yanks are used to doing. I was always asked by my Brit friends why Americans were always so insane about their ancestry.

A common complaint was: "If you ask an American what they are, they never say 'American' they always say stuff like 'Irish-American' or 'Polish-American.' Why is that?"

I never really had a great argument for it... It really is a bit silly. However... I think the main reason for the "hypenisation" of our great countries people, is our connection to our shared immigrant-based population. All "Americans" (except of course for our Native American friends) are FROM somewhere. In Britain... If you are "born" in Bristol... You're English. Full Stop. Doesn't matter if you are black or purple, or even if your parents were American... You're just English, 'cause you were BORN there.

There's good and bad things about both systems... But I'm not going to go into them, as I'm trying to write a "St. Patrick's Day" blog today... So... On with it.

First... Photos!!! That's right... As a photographer who's actually LIVED in Ireland for a while... I have some of those... I pulled the images off of a few old CD-R's and thought I'd share a few with you all.


Derry (or Londonderry if you're English) No. Ireland - 1999


Dun Laoghire, DART station - 1999


Kissing the Blarney Stone, Blarney, Co. Cork - 1999


Derry Crenellation - 1999
This is one of my actual "art-works." A piece that has been altered digitally.

Hope you liked those... And now... For folks trying to get in the mood for St. Pats:

• The History of St. Patrick's Day

• Leprechauns

• Guinness. 'Nough said.

• The Irish in America

• Gaelic

• Irish Music

• Jamie's... Yum.

• And for the aftermath: Hangovers

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone... It's a great day for the Irish!



-- T

It's snowing again.

Comparison between March 13th, and today March 16th.

I mean... Really! According to the news-reports, we received 10.5 inches of snow in total on the 13th in my neighbourhood. It's been melting for the past couple of days... And now we have a huge 13 to 14 inch pile of snow on the patio.

Gah.

Well... The difference this time, is that the snow is "light and fluffy" in comparison to the really heavy/wet/dense snow that we had on Monday. So... The snowblower hopefully won't clog up like it did on Monday. And the shovelling should be easier too. To my British friends dealing with some snow... HA! Try THIS place! Gah.

I applied for a waitering job last week. I stopped by there yesterday, and was told that they were still "arguing" about it. The associate manager is the one that took my application. I've known her for, jeez, like 10 years, or something... She's on my side... However, the general restaurant manager took one look at my education, and has decided that I'd leave in a heart-beat if something else came up. Gah...

You know... It's really annoying to be under-qualified for 50% of the jobs out there, and be OVER-qualified for the OTHER 50% of jobs out there!

Please, readers... If you hear of any great job that 10 years of educational experience and 15 years of graphic-art experience would be a good thing to have... Please tell me.

Gah.

Okay... On to slightly more interesting things than my "woe is me" attitude about employment.

• My friend Dave sent me this link, and I just HAD to throw it up here: Bush's Speech Writer

• Echoed, strangley, by this BBC commentary on Bush's second term. The quote:
"Who was standing at the podium in white tie, causing the assembled ranks of cynical Bush whackers to roll between the tables and choke on their canapes? W, the White House Wit!

My favourite line? "You gotta feel sorry for me", Potus quipped, looking theatrical daggers at vice-president. "I have a 38% approval rating and then you, Dick, shoot the only trial lawyer in the US who likes me!"

• Men and women are actually quite similar! I worry about my "looks" too... Don't want to start getting a belly due to the Guinness... Not me!

• I consider myself to be pretty intelligent. I'm not "blazingly brilliant" or anything... But I think I have a pretty good brain. I read this editorial, and honestly couldn't figure out if he was trying to be ironic, or if he was serious. Let me know what you think.

• I have a list of people that I'm allowed to "slap" if I ever see them on the street. This is an important list... Because I'm usually NOT violent, and it's a bit out of character for me to have one of these lists. However... The list is also important, because the people ON the list are so bloody repugnant that I think it's actually my duty to the human race to fulfil the "slap-em-silly order" on them, regardless of prison term. Catherine Kersten has now made my list. Anyone that is THIS much of a hate-monger should be on everyone's "Slap-list!"

• Finally a bit of GOOD news... U study finds possible agent in Alzheimer's Amen... Thank the gods! Why? My family has a VERY strong history of Alzheimer's Disease. Perhaps my mother won't be saved... But maybe I will. It's nice to think that perhaps I WON'T be wearing nappies and staring at my wife in puzzlement at the age of 70.

Okay folks... Have a great one... Tomorrow is St. Pats... And I'm going to, hell... I don't know... I probably won't actually get trollied, but it would be fun, wouldn't it?

Smiles,
T

TGIW... Or something like that.

Okay... Please check out the continued conversation on My Lady's blog... Is a biscuit or a cookie... What a fun time. I love the cross-cultural Yank v. Brit stuff... Endless hours of fun.

Anyhoo... Neal, you're welcome, and sorry about spelling your name wrong... It's now fixed.

Okay... On to OTHER stuff.

Yesterday, due to the marvellous snow of the 13th, and the great sunlight... Fiona and I made a trip on the light-rail to downtown Minneapolis. She, to go to the Walker and me to the Mill-district to make photographs. Obviously... Fruits of MY labour will be showing up on my Tucker's Photo Blog Site, starting tomorrow... (Today's photo ends the Minnehaha Falls series.)

Anyhoo... We had "split up" to do our respective afternoons, and then met up again to hit Brit's Pub. It's not a bad place, really... Whilst sitting there, and having a bowl of Cock-a-leekie Soup, we decided to "get Canterbury-esque" and have some good ol-fashioned British-type drinks. I noticed that they had "London Pride" on tap! (There's not a direct link to the beer, but you can go to The Brewery Site and clicking around to find the beer... I hate "bad designing" on sites that don't allow for direct linking. Ger. I digress...)

Now... Yanks, you may not get this... But London Pride is a typical "cask ale" meaning it's vaguely warm, and not really fizzy at all... Of course... London Pride is different over here in the U.S. due to the fact that it's not in a cask, but in a keg, and thus is carbonated. Hmm... It really does change the taste. It was gross. Of course, REAL London Pride is pretty gross too... But that's just my opinion. Having it fizzy was not a good thing taste-wise but it was nice for the nostalgia-thing. Fiona had Pimms and 7up... (we don't have the British:"Lemonade" over here...)

Sitting next to us were a couple of Yorkshire men. They're accent was confusing me, till Fiona told me where they were from. No offence to any Yorkshire folk reading this blog... But y'all have a strange accent... It's sort of a mix of Northerner/Scottish/Lake District-type accent. Very, very interesting. One of the two Yorkshire guys is heading back to England, basically as I type this entry... And I find myself very jealous.

On that happy note... I'm going to get going. Lot's to do today... And more snow on the way... A forecasted 6 more inches! Crud. Anyhoo... Bye for now!

--Tuckmac

Yesterday my computer... And I, well...

We had an issue. That's right... A big, bloody AWFUL issue.

I was trying to prepare that little "map" thing that I put on my blog yesterday (the Great Britain in Scale with the U.S. map thing) And my "scratch disk" was full, then my "hard-drive" was full... Then my computer refused to do ANYTHING!

Gah.

So... I look at the "info" window for my hard-drive, and sure enough... I had finally filled my hard-drive. Full. 80 Gigs of space USED UP.

Man.

My Lady and I had been talking about getting a nice HUGE portable HD in order to continue doing our work... She works in Sound and Video, whilst I work basically only in Photography and Graphics, but any way you hang the fish... All of those things add up to MEGS worth of crap. The thing is... Just four days ago, we were both saying... Heck, can't afford it now... But in a year, we'll get a portable hard-drive, won't that be nice...

And here I was yesterday.... Already screwed.

So... I spent five (count them) FIVE hours taking all the photos that I've made in the past few years (not that I hadn't already burned quite a bit of my stuff onto CD about a year ago) and burning it to disc. I now have a collection of 43 or so CD-Roms FULL of nothing but photographs from the past two years.

I hate being prolific.

Anyhoo... After doing the burning... And emptying out the iPhoto Library... I now have an additional 11 Gigs of space.

Phew...

Of course... Guess what happens... My cousin writes me an e-mail asking for some photos of Kisimul Castle on the Isle of Barra (our supposed "ancestral home"). If she had asked three hours earlier... I would've been able to just upload directly from iPhoto... But, due to the imps of the perverse I'm forced to go back through all of my CD-R's and try to locate the bloody Kisimul Castle photos... Typical. I found them, and put them here... Anyhoo... I did the CD-R's by date, and completely forgot what "date" I was in Barra.

Typical.

Okay... Folks, bit of advice... Don't do your photo-storage CD's by date... Bloody nuisance.

Just one "newsie" style link today...

• The Guardian Praises the Blogosphere As a guy who's been blogging for a little over two years... I'd like to welcome all the newbies out there... Keep it up. Here's a really COOL example of a great new blog... Neil is in Antarctica, and he's blogging, and posting photos! This is the sort of blog that I like to see. It's interesting... You learn stuff, and it's great having a person from exotic-locales to keep us all on our toes. Thanks Neil!

Okay... I'm off for the day... My Lady's making lunch, and I'm meant to get showered before I get to eat. Damn.

Smiles,
Tuckmac

March Madness - Recovery

Okay... Couldn't resist. Fiona and I went out to snow-blow and shovel the mess that Mom-nature gave us today... And I thought, heck... Good time to do photos!


Me snowblowing, thanks Fi for the photo.


Fiona shovelling


Fiona after a job well done.


We're great!


Memnon looking for the snow-ball that Fi threw... Brains? Not many.


Self-portrait.


Fiona contemplating mischief, perhaps a snowball towards her husband?


Luckily, she missed...

That's it for today kids... Ta!

-- Tuckmac

Well... The March weather is interesting!

Hi folks... Woke up this morning to a GRAND snow-storm. Even in Minnesota, we're sort of messed up. That's right... I used to complain about Canterbury shutting down the city when it snowed. Here's an example of WHY I was always so pissy:


From my back door

That's right... We had us a great snow storm this morning. Whilst the storm was at it's peak, we were getting approximately 2 inches per hour.


From my front door

And now... One more showing a my garage:


The little tree is having issues

Why is this funny... Well... Here's a photo I made this weekend whilst on a walk with the puppy:


If you notice the tracks, they're from me and the dog... Got a bit muddy.

That's right... Minnesota is strange in March. We hit temps around 52°F (11°C) this weekend... And today it's hovering at 32°F (0°C) and we have 6 or 7 inches of snow in my back garden.

Gah. As I said... I used to get pissy at Canterbury for closing down... Because, you see... The snow outside right now? Yeah, well... It made the schools open two hours late today. That's it. Everything else is open. People went to work this morning. We DEAL with the weather! Yeah... Baby.... We're MINNESOTANS!

Anyhoo...

I have to go out and snow blow today. But one more little quick weird fact... The news reports are talking about the "horrible Mid-west Storm" and there were tornados and thunderstorms all across the Mid-west yesterday and today. And what do we get in Minnesota? Also "part of the Midwest?" Snow storms. Being this far north is sometimes a good thing.

For my friends across the pond, and anyone else interested... I made a little "scale map" of Britain "inside" the U.S. so you all can get the idea of the size of my country.


Minnesota in "blue" the Island of Great Britain in "purple" and the entire U.S. in "red" (yeah, I sort of did the colours on purpose.)

The storms that caused tornados were in Illinois which is towards the bottom of the big "Great-lake" sticking the furthest into the U.S. (It's Lake Michigan, by the way) Minnesota is actually QUITE far from there. So... Friends back in the UK... Don't worry... My Lady and I are not in any danger... Just up to our knees in snow.

Hope you're all having a nice one... It's kinda "fun" here, actually.

Smiles,
T

Saturday's kinda blow.

Funny thing... I was looking over my stats, and someone checked out THIS blog when they searched for "What does Och Weel Mean?" on Google.

Okay...

The meaning of Och Weel, and other weird Scottish-isms:

Och weel: "Oh well" But can carry so much more meaning than just "oh well" depending on the situation.

Y' Ken?: "You know?"

Och, ya dinnae say tha' y' ken?: loosely: "Oh, you didn't say it, did you?"

Here's an example of a conversation in the Scottish Borders (or, as my Lady calls it: the Armpit)

Man A: "Och, y' ken, Ken?"

Man B: "Aye, ken."

Man A: "Dinnae Ken, ken the kirk-man?"

Man B: "Aye, ken."

Man A: "I nae ken Ken, nae ken the kirk-man."

Man B: "Och weel."

And the translation:

Man A: "Hey, do you know Ken?"

Man B: "Yeah, I know him."

Man A: "Doesn't Ken know the church man (not necessarily a "minister" but probably is...)"

Man B: "Yeah, Ken knows him..."

Man A: "I don't know either Ken, nor the church man."

Man B: "Oh well, then why the hell are you asking me all about Ken, you stupid git."


As you can see... The "Och weel" phrase actually has quite a bit of "hidden meaning."

I'm off for now... More exciting linguistic manoeuvres later.

-- T

Todd Menton

Hi there folks...

My Lady, N8 and myself hit the Dubliner Pub last night. And an old friend was performing.

Todd Menton.

I've known Todd for almost 15 years now... (and no, that isn't a "Tuckmac" exaggeration. That's true. I first saw Todd performing with another guy named Stuart when I was 18 years old (sneaking into pubs underage).

Todd is one of the most gifted Irish Musicians in the Twin Cities. He's known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of Irish and Scottish Music. He plays the bouzouki, guitar, bodhran and harmonica at every show... Has a great voice... And is just amazing! Some of my British readers from Canterbury would be familar with his music as I played it quite often in Britain: "Pancho and Lefty" (by Van Zandt) being a favourite... As well as Richard Thompson's, "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." He was a former, and now is back RE-joined - frontman for "Boiled in Lead" an amazing standard of weird punk-rock/irish/kletzmer/acid folk... And to be honest... The years of "no-Todd" in Boiled in Lead, didn't do them any favours... The band can ONLY get better now... They were great with Todd, then they sorta were "not" so great... And now... I'm sure they're going to freaking ROCK!

Todd has a new solo album out, of some FUN FUNKY Irish-esque music (you'll see it on the Todd Menton link above)... We've only had a chance to listen to about half of it so far... But his gifted musicality, and soaring vocals are truly awe-inspiring.

Unfortunately... Todd doesn't have a "web-presence" per se, so... I can't point you to him, if you're really far away (a la Britain) but if you're a reader, and you're ever in the Twin Cities... Get in touch with me... And I'll let you know of his next show.

That's it for today folks... Don't forget to check out the new "Photo of the day" on my Photo-blog!

Smiles,
Tuckmac

Wow... I should do "tech" stuff more often!

I actually had some "commenting" happening yesterday, due to my "Piggybacking of wireless broadband" discussion. That was fun! Thanks Ick and N8.

Anyhoo... Nothing big today. I applied for a server/waiter position yesterday. I figured out, that even if I get a "real job" it probably wouldn't START till after the summer... So... I need MOOLA! I'm hoping I get it. My friend that works at this restaurant was "excited" that I was trying... And really hopes that I get the job... But there's the worry that I'm "Over-qualified." or something. Why? Just 'cause I have a master's degree? It's not like it's in food service or something.

So... Wish me luck. My friend makes enough money, working at this place, to actually own his own home... So... The money ain't bad... I NEED the job. Blah!

Anyhoo... Besides that... Just a photo of our puppy... Memnon... Starting to think that he's human. He's taken to "standing on his hind-legs a LOT." It's cute.



I also want to celebrate my "Clustermaps" map at the bottom of the right-column... I finally have "readers" in every continent (excepting Antarctica) So... Thanks readers! You're all stars!

I'll leave you with THAT and a link... To My Lady's SECOND pod-cast... Check it out! Motif Radio, 2nd episode

Ta!

-- Tuckmac

Dude... When you're freaking out...

The week just goes TO DAMN FAST.

It's Wednesday already... Again. It's amusing really... I'm sure that most "employed" people are saying, "Gah... Only halfway through the week!" And here I am saying that the week is going by to quickly. There's a sociological/psychological study in there somewhere. So here: Copyright © 2006, by Tucker MacNeill. All rights reserved. Now all I have to do is wait for a big fancy university to do the study, and I'll be rolling in it. Hmm...

Anyhoo... My Lady was up all night last night... I don't even know when she finally came to bed. She's still abed now. Poor thing... Anyhoo... She was up forever last night... Getting the "Motif Radio - Episode TWO" out to the internet/air-waves... So... Please go check it out!

• I found it... The blogger without peer... Neil Gaiman's Blog! How cool is he? Well... Okay... There are better "bloggers" and such... But he's just awesome!

• I liked this one... Use the "Bug Me Not" link on the right-hand column of links to avoid signing up... But: Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking on my Wireless! Is a great article from the NY Times. I tend to agree with the people STEALING bandwidth, rather than those with the wireless networks that are getting tapped. Why? Especially when I'm a person with my own broadband and wireless network? 'Cause if you don't secure your network... You are allowing people to USE IT! Duh! It takes almost no time to set up a few passwords, and then your network is secure. If you are too stupid to do it... Then it's your own fault. Ger.

• Did China Invent Golf? HA! I found this article to be great, probably 'cause I'm married to a Scot, and I'm of Scottish descent, and the whole "Scotland invented golf" thing is a BIG part of Scottish identity. And why should it NOT be? The other sports that they invented... Like caber tossing (tossing a telephone pole... Now that's intelligent) and rock-eating (okay, I made that one up) but you see where I'm going with this? The only sport the Scots "invented" that the world plays is being threatened with a different background... OH MY GODS! I do rather wonder about this one... I mean... China's starting to claim all sorts of things... Like being the first to discover the "New World" and etc... Well... It's just a bit nationalistic of China... But... You know... They WERE the first civilisation with a record, and stuff.

Side note... I've really thought the fundamentalist Christians to be rather silly, as they still hold onto the claim of a strange bishop that came up with the world being created in 4004 BC. When Chinese written records actually PRE-DATE that date. ha.

Anyhoo... That's about it for today... Except for the latest in Iraq... They're doing "Mafia-style killing" now. Jeez. I don't know why we're still there... It's a lost cause folks... Let's get the hell out of there before our US/UK soldiers are found blindfolded and strangled in the back of lorries... Hmm?

Adios...
T

Oh... Man...

Wow... I'm depressed.

Look... A baseball player dies, and the news is STILL all about him.

Today someone died, and they're actually important. And I'll bet you TONNES of money that the news tonight doesn't spend the entire newscast on HIS death.

Fort Scott native Gordon Parks dies at age 93
Parks was born Nov. 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, and left at the age of 16. A photographer for Life Magazine, he became the first African-American to direct a major Hollywood production with "The Learning Tree," a memoir of his youth that was partially shot in Fort Scott. (Story Link.) to avoid "registering" username:dogbreath password: runrun

Perhaps, if you're not a photographer, you may not have any idea who this amazing man was... So... Here's a link to check out: Gordon Parks

There are very few heroes that I have in the photographic world... He's one of them.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Parks. Thank you for all you have done for the world, through your photography.

Another day another dollar/pound something...

I'm going to begin today's blog with a rant... Please skip the next paragraph/or so... If you aren't interested:

Watching the news last night, on Kare 11. The newscasts here, in the Cites are all a half and hour long... Half an hour to get across all the news of the day. Began watching it at 10:00pm. The story? Kirby Puckett. You'll notice I didn't link to him... Very quickly... He was a baseball player for the Minnesota Twins. He died yesterday. Boo-fucking-hoo. Look, it's a sports-player. He died. How long would you think that would make the news? How much of my time should be spent hearing "commentary" by friends/ex-team-mates/family and the Owner of the Minnesota Twins? How much time? How about ALL of it. That's right... The ENTIRE FUCKING newscast was about Kirby. They broke IN THE MIDDLE to give us a broken weather forecast... Then... BACK TO KIRBY! I mean... Holy SHITE! I flipped to the other channels... Channel 4, channel 9, channel 5... NOTHING BUT KIRBY! Jesus, Mary and JO-seph... I attempted to flip over to Channel 17, which carries the BBC World-news... But the reception was too awful to actually try to watch... I did learn that Hamas is causing problems, there were fights in India... Etc... Etc... But you know what? That sort of thing doesn't make the news in Minnesota... No... JUST a bloody-fucking-BALL player that died. Shit! I just want to tell my ENTIRE FUCKING STATE THAT A BASEBALL PLAYER DIED, FINE spend five minutes on that, and then give me some bloody news that has SOMETHING to do with me or politics, or something!

Okay... Tonight... My Lady and I are heading to the Precinct Caucuses for the DFL party. These are the "beginnings" of the elections that will be coming up in November. I've never attended a Precinct Caucus before... Should be interesting. But, then... Who knows... Could be the biggest pile o' poo ever. I don't really know. I'll tell you about the experience tomorrow.

News... As my local-news doesn't seem to care anymore... It's MY job... Fine.

• Aritstocrat Seeks Heir. (Britons need not apply) I liked this story... You could tell that this man is a terror. Ha. Wish I were a Slade, I'd give it a go. Ha. Brits and their manor-houses... and such. It's cute.

• Anatomy of a nerd: Onna Otaku. Is any other guy strangely turned on by this? Okay... Maybe it's just me.

• Your vanishing privacy. Yeah... No kidding. I'm currently reading a book by David Baldacci titled: The Camel Club. It's a story about vast governmental conspiracies, et al... And the characters have just discovered the "Data Mining" operation that the US Gov. has started since 9/11. Every time you use a credit card... Every time you do ANYTHING that writes you down, through a computer... The government's new data-mining software can find you. The deal with this sort of idea... Is that it ISN'T actually happening YET... Or is it? Who really knows. The thing is, though... Whether it's here or not... It soon WILL be, or IS actually possible. Okay... You're saying that nothing you do is wrong, and the Gov. really won't chase after you. Hmm... Anyone else been hearing about the transcripts from Guantanamo Bay? Hmm... Half the prisoners there didn't do ANYTHING to get arrested... Yet they're still being held four years ON from the first attack in Afghanistan. I don't like the idea that all the government has to do is type my name into a "search engine" or something, and learn absolutely everything about me... Sorta gives me the willies.

• Speaking of conspiracies... Dan Brown's Court Drama continues... And it's not looking good for the plaintiffs. Oh... Too bad... You're not going to get a tonne of money that you didn't earn the FIRST time. Gah.

I'm off... Have a great one folks!

Smiles,
Tuckmac

Oscars, et al...

Yeah, yeah... I realise that everyone and their mother's cousin is going to be blogging about this one today.

(Okay, that was a broad and stereotyped statement...)

But I wanted to throw out a couple of comments about it. I realised that after watching the entire programme last night, for the first time in six years, that I never actually SEE any of the Oscar contenders. Like at all. I haven't seen "Crash" or "Brokeback Mountain" or "Memoirs of a Geisha" or "King Kong" or any of them.

That's why I don't usually WATCH the bloody Oscars. The only reason that I saw the programme last night, was because My Lady wanted to watch them "for real, in real time" for the first time ever. (She's British, and this is her first time in the States... For those who don't know us.)

"Crash" won best picture over "Brokeback Mountain"... Blah... Blah...

"Reese" blah blah...

"Clooney" Blah.. Blah...

"Three Six Mafia" Now... That was fun... But still... Blah, blah...

All we REALLY care about is the dresses, right folks? Who looked good, who looked awful?

Couple of spots to see the offending/defending dresses:

BBC-Entertainment

People Magazine On-line

• Michelle Williams... Yellow just doesn't work, even on pretty blondes. 'K?

• Charlize... You "can wear anything" is a myth that has ended due to your dress last night... What the HELL was with the shoulder bow thing? Was it for catching an occasional sneeze? A pillow, for if you fell asleep? What? Man... You are one of the most beautiful women on the planet, and you looked down-right silly. Was that the plan?

• Kiera... You have NO CHEST! But you look absolutely STUNNING in your dress! Good going, girl. That Vanity Fair cover, where you're naked? Not so good. Don't show up naked anywhere. You have a very pretty face, girl... But the whole anorexia thing you have going just doesn't do well without plenty of fabric draped on you.

• Reese... People didn't like the dress... I think you looked stunning. Loved the dress, lady... Loved it.

• Nicole Kidman... You are stunning, as always. However, the whole "Blonde" thing really has me depressed. You are a gorgeous red-head... Stop looking like a washed out "über-blonde" chick... It's not a good thing.

• Rachel... Congrats on the Oscar... Best supporting actress, good on you... Nice job with the empire waist dress, displaying and celebrating your bump! You're glowing, and gorgeous, darling!

• Ziyi, love... You looked STUNNING! My god, are you beautiful. By the way... I'm sorry that the western press keeps writing your name as Ziyi Zhang... When we all know that it should be Zhang Ziyi. It's funny... That's how it was written in the press before, until they figured out that your first name wasn't Zhang... Then they switched it around. Just so you know... There are quite a few of us that know that in China/Korea/et al... The family name is written first... We DO know that... And so, forgive the press, okay?

• Salma, Miss Hayak... You were, by far, the most beautiful woman at the Oscars. The blue dress... The asymmetry, Your face, your hair... Your poise... WOW! You blew all the soft-skinny-sickly looking blondes AWAY! You are a star!

Well... I could go on... But I've been catty and "gay" enough today. Have a good Monday, readers!

-- Tuckmac

It Snowed!

Marshall Ave, St. Paul. Taken from "our coffee shop" the Fine Grind.


Snow doesn't stop a guy from buying an ice-cream, though. Not in Minne-SNOW-ta.

Of course... It's just at freezing... 32°F/0°C at the moment, and for Minnesota, that ain't bad.

We're down at the coffee shop again... Had a nice Sunday morning... And now are having a Nice Sunday Afternoon.

I like that. Also listening to the newly updated version of iTunes that I downloaded the other day. It's meant to be able to do video stuff, etc... etc... Don't really know why I bothered downloading the new version, as... Really, the old one did just fine. Och weel... I tend to get into "downloading" and that's an issue. A few days ago, I did the normal "Mac Software Update" thing. (It's where the computer automatically searches for updates, online, and then installs the ones you "need/want" on the computer.) Well... It said that there was an "Airport" update, and so... As I use that (that's a Mac Wireless thing, by the way... It's Mac's WiFi.) Anyhoo... I downloaded it, and stuck it on the computer, and low and behold... I get home, try to get on the network, and NOTHING. The computer is really confused. As was I. So... I went and re-installed the original Airport Software from the disc, and all was repaired. Got to love, when you get software that's updated, and supposedly removes a tonne of "oopsies" on a piece of software, and it works LESS well than the earlier "messed up version" of the said software.

Gah.

Well... I found a new "job opportunity" that has not only myself... But My Lady and my mother getting all excited. It's a Assistant Professor job in Wisconsin (just over the boarder from us, here in Minneapolis) Teaching Digital Photography and Media.

It's a job MADE for me.

So... I'm applying for it... I also KNOW people at this university... So I'm hoping to be able to "network" a bit, and actually have a CHANCE at getting an interview. So... Please, folks... Send happy thoughts my way... And wish me HUGE luck/Pray or whatever... I NEED this job!

Thanks.

Beyond that... I'm going to get going. I want to thank readers for the nice comments about the "Audioblog" of yesterday... I miss all of you folk too! As the entire purpose of the Audioblog was to blatantly plug my Photo Blog I hope you all check it out tomorrow (Monday the 6th of March) as I'm starting another week of interesting photographs.

Gratuitous Plug - Audioblog #2

TGIF - I think. But it's Lent. Gah.

So, Lent. Fish on Friday. Yep. Uh, huh... Fish. My Lady and I aren't actually Catholic. (Both raised that way though) However, as we're living with the "Mother" who is still a devout Catholic... We're required (at least for the shared meal tonight) to do the "fish thing" on the Lentan Fridays. Okay... My answer:

Salmon in a tomato/cream sauce with really huge shrimp (prawns) over linguine. Muahahahahaha. I am a very good cook. My Lady, and my Mother are both very lucky I'm here. Anyhoo...

Okay... So right before I came back from the UK, there was a big hullaballoo about a bank robbery in Belfast, N. Ireland. It was a huge heist... And supposedly there was NO WAY a group could've done it, unless it was tied into the IRA. Of course, this went really far towards derailing the shared government in N. Ireland... And the fuck-head Rev. Ian Paisley (head of the proddie-unionists) had a field day. Everyone just KNEW it was the IRA... Only a para-military group as trained as the IRA could've done it... See... "Those bloody heathen-papists just don't want peace..." Blah... Blah... Blah...

Oh... Wait a minute... New "Largest Bank Heist in Britain" and... They're not Irish? Really?

Um... Oh... Well... Okay, the tactics were the same in Tonbridge as they were in N. Ireland... But... But... Well.

Maybe the IRA's in Kent too. I guess you never know...

Damn Unionists. Sorry... Just really cheeses me off... If it's in N. Ireland... It's got to be the papists. If it's in Kent... Well, um... guess we don't know. Please.

Okay... So Georgy-pordgie "W" knew about the levies in New Orleans before the Hurricane hit. And three days after the storm was quoted as saying: "No one could've known." Ha! I just think it's great... If you have a fast connection, make sure you click on the video link, and hear what Bushie heard... This is just priceless. It's so much fun to see the administration falling apart. It really is. It renews my faith in Karma.

Oscar nominated actress is not appreciated by her old high school. HA! Weird ass Christians. Any OTHER high school in the States would be naming the bloody school auditorium after a famous person like Williams when she gets ahead. Man.

Speaking of Brokeback (and on a happier note)... City Pages Blotter beat me to it, and that cheeses me off... I've had this link ready for a week! Darn it. Well... If you haven't seen/heard these before Angry Alien Productions do these "famous films in 30 seconds, featuring Bunnies." And the newest and my current favourite goes to Brokeback Bunnies.

Cheers and puppies, readers...

Tuckmac

Ah... Thursday is an okay day.

Well... I'm not going to bore you with all the details... My job search is SUCKING.

That's enough.

But there IS good news from the My Lady front... She hasn't told the WORLD this yet... But... She's modest...

Fiona is being put in CHARGE of the Soap Factory Audio/Visual Department! That's right... She had an interview yesterday with the owner of the Soap Factory Gallery, and the head of volunteers, and she was hired... On the spot.

First... Yeah, it's a volunteer position. Number one, she CAN'T work here, as she doesn't have a visa yet... And Number TWO who CARES if it's not a paid position... She's getting a HELL of a line on her C.V.! The position is about 20 to 30 hours a week, beginning at the end of March. She also gets a BIG ASS studio space, as part of the deal. So... Congratulate her here: fiona(at)two-artists.com If you're wondering why the weird (at) instead of the @ symbol in that e-mail address... Well... It's 'cause we've been getting a LOT o' Spam... And I'm trying to avoid the "internet BOTS" that scavenge around for e-mail address... But... Just replace the (at) with the real "e-mail" symbol... And send her a "kudos" as they say in MySpace.

Other than that... I'm doing some photos today... I can't be arksed to write a big scree against the world today:


Don't mess with Fi! (After I had taken about 100 photos of her during lunch.


Yeah, I lost the extra-long side-burns and cut my hair for the job fair that was a bust. Dammit.


Okay, okay... Puppy love. Memnon, close up.

Okay folks... I'm off for today. Love ya readers!

-- Tuckmac

I like "hump day" even when it's Ash "hump day"

Happy Lent, everyone. Gah.

All right... Why do I read the The City Pages Blotter every day? Because of wonderful little links like this one: If Microsoft packaged the iPod video...

Tee hee...

Welcome to the idiot. 'Nough said.

BBC's Best Sea-going photographers of the year... Pretty pics... And not in competition with me. Which I really like.

First homes in UK required to have water meters. I like the quote from this one:

"I would be more than happy to have a meter." - Tio Terry, Epsom, UK

Um... Yeah... No kidding. I'm sure a few of my Brit readers would agree... I remember some of the water bills we'd get at the flat... And it would be disgusting... There's NO WAY we used that much water. But... There's no way to PROVE it. It was very disgusting. So.... I say... Join the "Yanks" when it comes to this... The problem though... Is that rarely do the companies CHECK the meters that already exist. We had problems with our gas bill too... And they weren't "checking" the meter, they were just guessing at what we were using. Again... Completely wrong. My flat-mates and I were BIG on conservation, and we never used the heating, or anything... Our shower was an electric one, and our stove was too... Only the heating and the hot-water came from our gas-powered boiler... And we were getting charged more money than my THEN fiancée's entire house of four women and the heating being on every day for 10 hours... And a bath not power shower... And gas cookery... Etc... etc...

I'm sorry... Two guys and one woman, being very conservative, shouldn't owe £100.00 a month MORE than a house full of crazy women. (Sorry, love... You couldn't control your house-mates.)

But I digress.

Nothing on the front today... More job applications sent out... And now that it's 1:00ish in the afternoon, perhaps I should go upstairs, shower and such, and get dressed, hmm???

Love ya readers!
-Tuckmac