July 2004 Archives

We saw The Secret Garden at Zilker on Saturday with Doug and Luca and the O'Reillies. Once again, a very enjoyable production. I especially liked the voices of Corley Pillsbury as Mary Lenox and Dan Sullivan as her uncle Archibald Craven.

The story is a bit of a downer -- with a happy ending, of course -- but I think the plot might be a bit complex for kids to follow. Still, it's great to spend the evening on the blankets, and both Logan and Nolan were great throughout the show.

The play is still on for a couple more weeks. If you go, make sure to lay out your blanket before 6pm for good seating, and make a picknick out of it -- we highly recommend fried chicken and fresh watermelon and pineapple.

Last week the Terror in the Skies article was all over the Internet, on discussion forums and a favorite of "food for thought" emails. The way it is written, it sure sounds like a chilling story of a disaster barely averted.

I thought it was a bit over the top. A group of Middle Easterners in clothing with Arabic writing on it, carrying conspicuous instrument cases? I mean, would you dress and behave this way if you were an evil-doer?

As it turns out, it was just a group of real musicians on a trip to a bona fide gig, behaving the way any group of people might behave on a trip. Once again, Snopes.com comes through with the story behind the story.

Take a healthy dose of well nurtured paranoia with some good ol' prejudice stirred in, and season with with an unspecified code orange alert: can you really blame a "journalist" for turning her harrowing experience into an article?

Yesterday my Outfoxed DVD arrived and Jfer and I promptly watched it. We didn't get to go to one of the house parties on Sunday (Tim enjoyed his) so I was glad to get my own copy.

The movie consists of archival FOXNews footage, interviews with former FOXNews employees and discussions with media pundits, including Walter Cronkite. As a documentary, I find it better than Fahrenheit 9/11 -- and the topic much more chilling.

I knew that FOXNews, like the rest of Murdoch's media empire, has a conservative slant. I didn't realise just how effective a propaganda machine they are. Their continuous and relentless repetition of the GOP's talking points that permeates their "news" and talk segments is simply amazing. It's not journalism -- it's infotainment and misinformation at its worst.

I used to wonder how people could possibly lap up the Bush administration's version of reality, what with all sorts of media outlets contradicting it. I didn't realise that most people simply don't bother to go to other sources. That's really bad news when Fox is supposedly the most watched "news" cable channel -- and its viewers are consitently among the most misinformed. The Program on International Policy Attitudes has several interesting studies. Their Misperceptions, The Media and The Iraq War (315KB PDF) from last October is very telling. FOXNews viewers are consistently misinformed about Iraq-related issues -- and at an amazing rate (although other mainstream news viewers aren't all that much better). For example, 67% of FOXNews viewers had the impression that the US has found evidence in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was working closely with Al Quaeda (compared to 16% of NPR/PBS viewers). And no, we have not, despite the fuzzy claims that Dick Cheney's still making. The sad thing is that the deluded FOXNews viewers think they know the facts, since they are getting an objective "fair and balanced" scoop.

It really wouldn't be that bad if FOXNews were simply a conservative news organization. They're not simply conservative -- a valid viewpoint, even if I disagree with it on most things -- but instead their reporting closely tracks the Bush administration's policy and whenever Bush flips-flops on an issue (for example from being against the Homeland Security Department to being for it) they flip-flop right along with him without missing a beat -- or questioning the change in direction. Over and over and over again they take the GOP's spin on news, even if it happens to be against conservative principles.

Having grown up in Czechoslovakia where pretty much all the media was state controlled, everyone knew that the stuff on TV was one-sided BS (no-one believed they were in a "worker's paradise" or that the west was a bunch of imperialists bent on their exploitation). People either ignored the propaganda or they got other news by secretly listening to VOA or Radio Free Europe. The insidiousness of FOXNews is that people are clueless to the fact that it's propaganda. Why, it's fair and balanced -- it says so right there on the TV screen in front of those waving stars and stripes.

Let me know if you want to borrow the movie from me -- I highly recommend a viewing. But hurry up, I'm planning to donate my copy to the public library.

This amusing parody of Woodie Guthrie's This Land is Your Land has been making its rounds and I keep forgetting to show it to Jfer. So here it is.

This Land is Your Land is one of the songs I learned in my 7th grade English class in Switzerland. Ralph McTell's Streets of London was another one I still remember. I guess our teacher Herr Hohl was into folk music.

Oh, and he had us watch Easy Rider -- groovy!

(Originally posted on the Gracywoods.org forum)

We were out of town last weekend and so couldn’t participate in the park cleanup. Since our section of the park (between Bittern Hollow, Parkfield and Swearingen) was in pretty good shape, I didn’t feel too bad about missing it – I didn’t think that much work would be required. When I saw the cleaned up park on Sunday, I was at first surprised by the amount of cleared brush piled along Bittern Hollow and then taken back – I could say dismayed – by the amount of “cleaning” that happened along the creek towards Parkfield.

I’ve been always very fond of the Parkfield branch of the park, with its old untamed cotton wood trees shading the little creek. I walk there at least once a day and always look for turtles (I saw one laying eggs the other day) and squirrels, try to figure out the birds (I’m always happy when I spot the Yellow Crested Night Heron) and pay attention to the different plants. Over the last few years, though, the trees, turtles, squirrels, birds and plants have gotten scarcer and the park seems to be slowly changing from an oasis with a unique character to a bland urban park. I think it would be a pity if we let that happen.

I’ve been through several park cleanups over the years. These started off as picking of trash and trimming back of branches that invariably overwhelm the paths and get in your way. In the past, most of the trees and off-path plants were not affected.

Last year’s violent storms did some serious damage to trees in the park, including downing of trees and large branches. The paths were blocked in several places for quite some time. During last summer’s park cleanup, we cut up the fallen trees and hauled the branches away. I was there right along helping with the cleanup and hauling old logs and branches to the curb. Afterwards the parks seemed a bit bare, but I figured it was the storm’s doing.

This year there was no storm. The park was doing quite well and I was grateful that at least that portion of the park was safe from the whole LCRA and Austin Energy threat. Of course, the branches grew out again and started to block the paths (although, thankfully, someone clipped them back a few weeks ago), but there were no trees blocking the path and interfering with the enjoyment of the park. A few hours spent pruning should have been all that it took.

So what happened? How come all the cottonwoods that were laying down were denuded of all their branches and several, some as wide as two feet across, cut to small pieces? These trees were in nobody’s way. While not standing upright, they were still alive and their branches would provide valuable shade to the pond and creek, reducing the temperature and evaporation rate. Their foliage slows down the rain which helps with the erosion problems we have further down the stream. Their roots help soak up the mosquito breeding swamp that is developing by the pond. Their branches provide protection and nesting grounds for birds and squirrels. When those cottonwoods fall over, they continue to live. And even after they die, they continue to serve an important function. I, for one, did not find them unsightly and am sad to see them gone.

I’m writing this because of the article that Willie posted on the bench by Parkfield, with which I wholeheartedly agree. I encourage everyone to spend the time to read it. And I hope that in the future we can keep a lighter hand when cleaning up the park.

I went with Jfer to Wichita Falls for the WF Triathlon. I usually manage to get out of it, but this time I did the trip with her only to be reminded how freaking long the drive to Wichita Falls is.

It was nice to see the family and the I got to take lots of pictures during the tri. Jfer swam the 300m portion of the race and was by far the fastest member of her team. I think she was the only one in her team who actually trained.

On Sunday we got to visit the Schells in Dallas. Martin Josef is a very cute baby and definitely a Riha -- he's sporting our trademark nose which Kačenka was lucky enough to avoid.

Jfer was happy to be reunited with her wedding cross that she had lost in deep snow in Switzerland over Christmas and which aunt Hanka had brought back from Europe.

Today was supposed to be another appointment with our ObGyn, but she had to reschedule for family reasons. Good thing, too, since we aren't quite done with our birthing plan and we wanted to discuss it with the Dr.

Jfer still got to do her gestational diabetes test which consists of drinking a bottle of Glucola (50g of glucose) and then getting her blood drawn. To me Glucola (which has nothing to do with Swiss herbal drops) looked pretty nasty, but it's probably not much different from an orange flavored soda pop. Interestingly enough, some physicians use Jelly Beans for the same test.

My baby involvement is consisting of setting up a baby page which, at this point, doesn't really have much content. That and doing baby gear research be the water cooler and online.

After procrastinating as long as we could, we went and faced Babies'R'Us. And I thought registering for a wedding was a chore!

We spent several hours with our checklist and a barcode scanner (crappy UI, if you ask me) wondering what the hell all this stuff is that you're supposed to get. I made an emergency phone call -- and discovered that I'm perfectly capable of asking my cousin "whether she pumps" -- and we evesdropped on other shoppers who seemed to have a clue. They really should tell you to bring along a pragmatic mother who's recently been through this all. As it is, we decided to put stuff on the list that we may or may not use and plan to vigorously take advantage of the store's exchange policy. I must say that those nursing rockers felt awfully comfortable after a couple of hours of pink and blue exposure.

We still need to narrow down our stroller preferences and decide on what type of bottles to use and, really, a bunch of other things we didn't have the energy for. We didn't bother with clothes or toys, but I like primary colors and Baby Einstein.

We went to see the fireworks with the O'Reilies and our dogs. We managed to get there right before the traffic jams and managed to park next to the Lamar pedestrian bridge. The bridge turned out the optimal viewing spot, since you can see both the Zilker fireworks to the West and the town fireworks to the East. I took a ton of pictures, many of which turned out pretty good. I wish I had taken some pictures of the boys who where completely mesmerized.

Home was a champ and simply napped during the whole fireworks show. Sammy got freaked out and Michael had to take her to the car, away from the noise. Gracy was fine with the fireworks, but had twisted her leg or someting, and was moving very slow. The poor girl is getting old.

We started off our 4th of July weekend by going to see Fahrenheit 9/11 at the Arbor. Considering all that has been written about the movie, I'm not sure what all the uproar was about. As far as (social) documentaries go, I've seen better ones. I did not find the content incendiary or explosive, nor did it say anything patently untrue. Yes, it is a biased movie and some of the material presented may not be completely accurate: for example the date on which the plane full of Bin Ladens and other rich Saudis left the country with our government's blessings may be off by a day or two. Still, the vast majority of the movie is simply footage that speaks for itself (with a Michael Moore voiceover helping it along).

There wasn't much in the movie that I hadn't already seen or read about before -- though not in mainstream media. Some of the 2000 election related stuff I had not known or forgotten, such as the (overwhelmingly minority) house representatives objecting to the Florida results being rejected (by Al Gore) because they couldn't find a single Senate sponsor. Most of the cronyism involving Haliburton, Enron and the Saudis I had read about. And after Abu Graib and all the other stuff that has come out since he finished his movie, the shots of GIs posing with clothed hooded Iraqi prisoners look almost quaint.

It was the personal interviews and footage of the people directly affected by the movie that made the biggest impact. The raw footage of war casualties on both sides, the Iraqi woman crying in front of the ruins of her home and family, the American family of a dead service man, the young soldiers in the field and the amputees at the VA hospital.

Moore stays off camera throughout most of the movies and the couple of in-your-face interviews he does are fairly low key. Considering his public persona -- which I find a bit grating -- the movie is very low tone. I often wonder whether Moore's public personal activism does his cause more harm than good, but I think that the tone in the movie strikes a good ballance. It helps that F911 comes across as one long question rather than a sermon.

I'm not sure what the right is trying to do with their vocal opposition to the movie. I mean, very few people would bother to see a documentary at the movies -- unless it gets hyped up which the right seemed more than happy to do. You'd think they'd have learned from the Al Franken/O'Reily lawsuit. As it was, when we were leaving the theater after the show, we saw a long line of midle aged and older patrons (many wearing read, white and blue colors) waiting for the next showing. I think (and hope) that these are the type of people with whom Fahrenheit 9/11 will have the largest impact.

I think in Homer's eyes I'm the Alpha-dog when it comes to our pack. I was never quite sure where he ranked Jennifer. I think yesterday he clarified his position. We were sitting outside David's enjoying the unusually cool June weather when Homer sauntered over to where Jennifer was. He sniffed at her foot, lifted his leg and then leisurely urinated on her sandal-clad foot with that serene and aloof expression he has whenever he's marking territory.

At that point I was faced with a dilemma. I don't really care when Homer marks the park, but marking another member of the pack? As the Alpha I think it's my responsibility maintain my position by putting a mark on top of his -- which might have turned out a bit embarrassing. Jfer saved the day by claiming that Homer didn't “really” mark her. Supposedly he smelled something on the ground by her chair and her foot was just, er, collateral damage.

I'll let it slide for now, but if he ever does it again, they better both watch out...