I hate this time of year coming up on the fourth of July. My neighborhood is riddles with jerks who set off incredibly loud illegal fireworks almost every nights for weeks before the holiday. The cats get terrified and I get full of rage.
Need some music to help me feel better. Here's Supertramp doing The Logical Song in Paris, 1979 ...
The Logical Song
When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily
Oh joyfully, playfully watching me
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh responsible, practical
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical
There are times when all the world's asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am
I said, watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical
Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're Acceptable
Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!
Oh, take it take it yeah
But at night, when all the world's asleep
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man
Won't you please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am, who I am, who I am, who I am
'Cause I was feeling so logical
I finished the novel, Star Trek: Picard, and it was really good. I am so looking forward now to watching the tv series. For some reason, Netflix doesn't have it available yet. Here's a trailer ...
So fun to see favorite characters from the past ... Data, Riker and Troi, and Seven of Nine :)
Today George Floyd's younger brother, Philonise, testified at a House of Representatives hearing on police brutality. It's worth a listen.
I hope testimony like this, plus the protests and the recorded scenes of police misconduct help to make a real difference in the way we view policing and the way police departments are run. People are talking about "defunding" and I think that's a positive isea. Police have a huge amount of power over people, with limited accountability - it's past time to re-envision the situation. It's been done before .... Camden, New Jersey is one example.
[...] The city, home to a population about 17% of Minneapolis' size, dissolved its police department in 2012 and replaced it with an entirely new one after corruption rendered the existing agency unfixable.
Before its police reforms, Camden was routinely named one of the most violent cities in the US.
Now, seven years after the old department was booted (though around 100 officers were rehired), the city's crime has dropped by close to half. Officers host outdoor parties for residents and knock on doors to introduce themselves. It's a radically different Camden than it was even a decade ago. Here's how they did it ....
Critics call ESPN's new Bruce Lee documentary a "must-watch" for fans and soon-to-be fans of the late actor and martial arts great.
"Be Water," which premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT on ESPN, is directed by Bao Nguyen and named after a saying Lee used to share: "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ...
Being interested in martial arts and Asian culture since college, I was,of course, aware of Lee and I can still remember going with my sister to see him in Way of the Dragon (1972), in which karate expert Chuck Norris also appeared. There was a 'karate v king fu' scene in the movie, which takes place in the Roman Colosseum ...
As it turned out, I ended up joining a dojo later and marrying an Asian martial arts student there. Here's me back then, and you can see the ex at the far L ....
an American web television series featuring the character Jean-Luc Picard .... Picard begins 20 years after Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and sees a retired Picard deeply affected by the death of Data in that film as well as the destruction of the planet Romulus in the film Star Trek (2009). Patrick Stewart executive produces the series and stars as Picard, reprising his role from the series Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as other Star Trek media.
I just started the book but it's pretty good so far. I haven't yet seen the tv series but I'm signed up for it at Netflix.
Hard to believe that I began watching Star Trek on tv when it premiered in 1966. I've seen every permutation of the tv series since then, and all the movies too, and have read a ton of Star Trek novels. It just never gets old :)
