Base10Blog
Monday, June 20, 2005
 
To Sail Beyond the Stars...
Several sources ar reporting that a private group has contracted with the Russian space agency to launch a solar-sail powered satellite into earth orbit. The craft will actully be fired on the tip of a Russian submarine launched ICBM. The craft's sail will deploy in orbit and researchers will determine if this is indeed a feasible means of space travel. The launch occurs tomorrow.
Monday, June 13, 2005
 
Liveblogging LAX
Unfortunately, it's time to call an end to my and Mrs. Base10's excellent LA adventure. We sit in the early morning hours waiting for our flight out of the City of Angels. Bye bye sunny southern California, w'll miss ya'. I'l be working on a couple of LA recap posts on the plane.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
 
The Georgian

The Georgian, originally uploaded by base10blog.

This is where Mrs. Base10 and I are staying. It's a wonderful old hotel on the bluffs above the beach.


 
Wilshire Boulevard

Wilshire Boulevard, originally uploaded by base10blog.

This is the view up Wilshire Boulevard from the bluffs along the shore.


 
Beach Bum

Beach Bum, originally uploaded by base10blog.

A small reminder that
not all of Santa Monica's beach denizens have blond hair and tans.


 
When Art Goes Bad...

When Art Goes Bad..., originally uploaded by base10blog.

...Special California version. This is yet another example of bad public art.


 
How to Wake Up

How to Wake Up, originally uploaded by base10blog.

Can you possiibly think of a better view to wake up to. Mrs. Base10 and I hd breakfast at Patrick's Roadhouse and snapped this on the way back.


Thursday, June 09, 2005
 
Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier, originally uploaded by base10blog.

Mr. and Mrs. Base10 finally made it out to the beach. I have nothing but good things to say about the hotel and the area, but more on that later. The body clock transition required by early morning flight did not go well for Base10 so he needed a little lie-down in the afternoon. But afterward, there was this.


 
LAX

LAX, originally uploaded by base10blog.

Base10 snapped this photo on the way out of the airport. LAX is nice, but for some reason Heather Locklear wasn't there to greet me.


 
Welcome to LA

Welcome to LA, originally uploaded by base10blog.

We finally made it to LA. Lovely weather so far, too.


 
Live Blogging From Minnesota
Mr. and Mrs. Base10 have arrived safely at our interim destination in Minneapolis. Seems like a lovely state indeed. But we are on our way to the City of Angels. The flight was unneventful, albeit a tad turbulent. A disturbing aspect of the flight was a little asian girl sitting accross the aisle from us who utilized her in-flight sick bag with what csn only be described as gusto. I felt bad for her since she was quite ill, and never having seen anyone actually use a airplane barf bag, Base10 thanks the young lady for adding to his experience bank.

So far so good, more later in our travels.

While we're here: Go Vikings!
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
 
What Happened in Brooklyn?
Base10 doesn't know what to make of this. Police Officer Patrick Caprice was shot by a drug dealer in Brownsville last Wednesday. Later, when officers confronted the perp in his apartment, the perp, one David Redden, shot and killed himself. Caprice was saved by his vest and looks like he's going to be okay, but several news reports today indicate that Caprice's partner, PO Gilberto Marrero actually fled from the scene. Here's the article in NY1 and here's the account in the Post. Apparently caught on surveillance tape, Marrero ran from the scene without returning fire and waited for other units to arrive before doing anything. He did however call for help. Apparently, the incident was caught on video surveillance cameras, too.

I'd like to debunk some of the things in the Post article. A police "official" said that Marrero could lose his job due to "dereliction of duty." This official patently doesn't know what he is talking about. There is no charge for "dereliction of duty." While incidents lke this are rare, they have happened in the past. First, I'm not convinced thst Marrero was so at fault. The Post's unnamed official says,
While the wounded officer bravely gets up and returns fire, Marrero is seen running away several car lengths towards other officers who were responding to the scene of the shootout, the investigator said.

I don't think that runing several car lengths to take cover constitutes cowardice, but I haven't seen the tape. The thing that makes this most innapropriate is that the tape was leaked. An incident like this should never have made it to the press. Remember that this is the same pub lication that was ready to send Officer Richard Neri to jail when he accidentally shot a young man on the roof of a public housing development, A grand jury disagreed.

This particularly hits home with Base10. Brownsville was his old neat. And Base10 was inviolved in a fatal shooting there too. My partner and I confronted a group of men in the stairwell of a housing development when one of them turned and fired at me point-blank. I was able to return fire and hit him. At the end of the confrontation, the guy who shot at me was dead and I was not. Miraculously, he missed and I escaped with only powder burns on my face. I relate this event not to garner sympathy from my readers but rather to support Marrero.

Many people find it easy to judge others in this situation. I do not. Most of these people have not been in the situation themselves. I firmly believe that you have no idea how you will react in this situation until you are in it. If you thnk Marrero was such a coward, you had better hope that you never get your chance to prove youir bravery. You might not react quite as well as you hope.

There is another issue here as well. The Police Department simply does not train its members sufficiently in combat skills. You go to the range one a year and that's about it.

As for dereliction of duty, I'd like to see the "investigator" who leaked this tape brought up on charges of releasing information about pending investigations. There is a rule against that.
 
Bush's College Grades Better Than Kerry's!
Base10 wishes to add his voice to the growing cacaphony about this topic on the internet. So much for Kerry as an "intellectual."

This is another albeit subtle example of media bias. During the election, the press was willing to shill for the Kerry campaign that he was a high-minded intellectual while in fact his intellectual abilities mirrored that of his opponent. Why is this an issue now? Because the NYT and the Washington Post made it one in 2004.
Monday, June 06, 2005
 
Monday Photoblogging


Well, it's not exactly from Monday. Actually it's from Base10's Memorial Day adventure in Rockaway. Just a lovely day last week. Picture perfect--excuse the pun.

Base10 is going to California on Thursday with Mrs Base10 for Mrs. Base10's nephew's wedding. Base10 thought this picture was good to get into the mood.

In the buildup to Thursday, Base10 has a lot to do at work, so posting may be sparse. Base10 will try to make up for this by much photoblogging on the "left" coast.

Actually, Base10 is looking forward to the trip, and not just in a perverted old man in Venice Beach sort of way. We are going on Thursday and coming back on Monday, so it should be a nice little stay. We are staying in Santa Monica in an old-style hotel close to the beach. Fortuitously, Base10's Mets play the Angels that weekend in interleague play, so the games will be available on local TV. And just in case, Base10 has been researching sports bars in the area and is quite pleased with the results.
 
Woe to Jet Fans
Unhappy news today. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has indicated he will not vote in favor of the Westside Stadium. Silver stated, "This plan is at best, premature."

Silver indicated he was concerned that development on the Westside would detract from development in his district, which includes ground zero. While Base10 agrees that development should be jump-started in ground zero, Base10 thinks this excuse is a bunch of crap. (See last entry).

It doesn't help that Silver's counterpart in the State Senate has shown himself to be only lukewarm on the idea. There is of course hope that the Mayor and the Governor can pile so much pork into Silver's Assembly district that the idea of voting to help the city get lots of construction jobs and an Olympics and Superbowl might become more palatable.

Gillford Miller of course took a swipe at the Mayor as well, calling for a stadium to be built in Queens. As much as Base10 would like to see the Jets come back to Queens, perhaps Mr. Miller forgot that the Jets have flatly rejected the idea of a Queens stadium.

Who knows what will happen? Silver and Miller want Queens, but the Jets will not make the kind of investment they're willing to make on the Westside if they go to Queens--if they would consider it at all. It is even possible that the Jets could start to look at greener pastures, particularly in L.A., and remember, Connecticut already has a stadium development plan in the can from its abortive attempt to woo the Pats there in 1999.

There's is much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in Mudville today. Developing.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
 
Is it Art? Or is it Crap?
There is a great online quiz that test your ability to distinguish between art and well, crap. Click here to take the test. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Base10 did quite well when he took the test, even better than Mrs. Base10. Which just goes to show you that while I may not know much about art, I do know my crap.

Via Boing Boing.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
 
Buchanan Speaks
Base10 has not been a fan of Pat Buchanan of late. His brand of conservatism preaches economic protectionaism and American isolationism. I think America is doomed if it follows that course, but sometimes, he is right (excuse the pun). He wrote an extensive piece in RCP about his take on the Deep Throat/Mark Felt affair--now thirty years after the fact.

On the Celebrity of Woodward and Bernstein:
But to Bob and Carl and Ben and Sally, Felt is a "hero," a real Medal of Freedom man. And to them, perhaps, he is. For in the 1970s, a hero was any turncoat who would sink teeth into a president who was ending with honor a war into which the Liberal Establishment had plunged this country, and then cut and run when the body bags started coming home and their Ivy League kids started calling them names.
On Felt and the press's double standard:
Why did Felt lie? Because Felt knew he had disgraced himself and dishonored everything an FBI agent should stand for. He didn't want his old comrades to know what a snake he had been. Linda Tripp, savaged by the same press lionizing Felt, at least had the moral courage to go public and take the heat when she blew the whistle on Bill Clinton.

On Nixon:
And so they [the Liberal Establishment] resolved to finish him. And by his failure to act decisively and ruthlessly to clean his campaign and White House of loyalists who had blundered and, yes, committed crimes, he became ensnared in a cover-up that would destroy his presidency. He gave them a sword, and they ran it right through him. And when he went down, Southeast Asia and everything 58,000 Americans had bled and died for went down with him.

While I think Mr. Buchanan is being a little charitable to the late President, he does have a point. The injustice is not that Nixon was forced to resign, but that Clinton got off without even a slap on the wrist (Ms. Lewinsky's slaps elsewhere, notwithstanding). Saying that everybody does it (and on this point I have not doubt that the Nixon administration was no worse than prior ones) does not justify illegal actions by the government. Long ago, I saw G. Gordon Liddy give a talk. While he was a very powerful speaker, his justification for his bits in the Watergate affair where basically good intentions, patriotism and the sincere belief that American society was in danger. In a classic example of unintended consequences, the legitimacy--and hence the stability--of American democracy for everyday people was probably shaken more by this event than by any prior war or national crisis.

I remember when Nixon resigned. I was ten years old. It was during the summer (August 8, 1974 according to Wikipedia) and my family was in our backyard watching a small black and white TV. I remember my parents and my aunt and uncle calling me over to watch and telling me that this was a very important moment in history. Being a ten year-old, I didn't understand what was going on, but I
 
Weekend Sports Roundup
Base10's beloved Mets were rained out last night, but will face the Giants today at one o'clock today, and they have a double-header at 4PM and 8PM on Sunday. In any event the Mets won the series against Arizona. Click here, here and here for game summaries. Click here for a preview of this afternoon's game. The amazing thing about the Mets (I just can't stop writing puns today) is that inspite of good fortune, they are only a couple of games above .500 in an amazingly tight division. It's still anybody's ballgame.

Meanwhile, our uptown cousins, the Yankees have been struggling. The Bombers lost last night to Minnesota (click here) bringing their losing streak up to 6. This of course follows the dismal sweep by the Kansas City Royals--currently the worst team in baseball. Now wait a minute. If you are swept by the worst team in baseball doesn't that then make you the worst team in baseball? The logic seems flawless, but I'm sure that the Boss disagrees and reports are that he said words to that effect to Torre and Cashman. I'm sure he didn't use such a logical argument, though. The Yanks play at 7PM tonight and 1PM tomorrow.

Other sports items of interest include the French Open, if tennis is your thing. Base10 is watching the women's final as he types this and the men's final is tomorrow morning. (Curse the French for preempting Meet the Press, but that's another blog entry). Click here for the woman's score. This link takes you to the Yahoo Tennis page which has a link live scores which are, alas, in French. Sacre blue!

Also today, the US national soccer team faces Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier. Click here for a preview. The American team has historically done very well at home, and this match is in Salt Lake City. Althought the US is in good shape, they could use a bounce back after a loss in a friendly match with England.

The PGA Memorial Tournament is going on this weekend for golf fans. Significant events include the likelihood that this will be the last US tournament game played by Jack Nicklaus, who missed the cut by six strokes. Speaking of cuts, Tiger Woods made it after missing his first cut two weeks ago.

There's no real NFL news of late. It seems to be business as usual. You know: arrests, drug test failures, your occassional free agent signings. That's it for sports right now. Time to gear up for the game!
Friday, June 03, 2005
 
Base10 Bought It
The Libretto that is.

Last night, Base10 went to J&R Computer World to see if it was back in stock. The salesman indicated that he had just received four, but that one was already spoken for because someone bought it over the phone the night before. Being unwilling to spend so much on an item sight-unseen was however too much for Base10, who asked to see the item. The salesman said he was about to put out a floor model.

Base10 usually agonizes over these decisions for weeks until he makes the decision to buy. This time however, he simply said, "I'll take it."

Although I am still learning to use the thing, it is pretty amazing. Base10 will post from it soon.
 
We Are Sad
Stadium Financing Vote Is Once Again Postponed - NY1.

In spite of the bad news, the vote is scheduled to go forward on Monday. Mayor Bloomberg's comments are priceless. The Public Authorities Control Board (basically votes controlled by Pataki, Silver and Bruno) had claimed it needed some new information. Quoth the Mayor: "This is a process that has gone on for a long time. If you have questions about this after all of this time, either you weren't asking or you weren't listening."
 
We Are Happy
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Sale Of Hudson Rail Yards - NY1
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
 
Busy Day, Part Deux
Base10 was doing the gerbil-in-a-Habitrail thing today. The office lan got hit with a Sasser worm variant and Base10 spent his entire day administering the fix. Not to complain mind you, but when I was in charge of the incoming and outgoing traffic, things like this didn't happen. Now that we're using different infrastructure, today's activity may become a quite common thing. If that's the case, Base10's retirement may come sooner than his colleagues think.

In real news, Jets fans look to the Public Authority Control Board to vote on the Jets Stadium on Friday. This follows a scheduled ruling tomorrow by a State Supreme Court judge on the legality of the MTA's award of the development contract. Bear in mind that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has only weekly supported the stadium project up until now, has control of a make-or-break vote on the board.

In other development news, the Mayor unveiled today a $150 million spending initiative to create a "greenway" on the East Side in lower Manhattan. Of course, it is only a coincidence that this development project just happens to be in Silver's district.
 
Rare Wednesday Morning Shoutfest
With the revelation of the identity of "Deep Throat" yesterday, the media feeding frenzy has begun. After a more than thirty year silence, Mark Felt, the second-in-command at the FBI at the time of Watergate, revealed himself to be the source for Woodward and Bernstein stories of that era.

Base10 caught Chris Matthews on the Today show. Matthews, a political shill if ever there was one born, makes Base10 chuckle when he rails about the integrity of big media. Basically he said we should trust the journalists because they are the only ones who give us the truth. All I can say is there's precious little of that commodity on Hardball.

Matthews basically called Pat Buchanan a liar. Buchanan--who by the way is not a Base10 favorite--was critical of Felt and according to Today, suggested that "Deep Throat" could not have known some of the things he claimed to have known. Matthews was completely dismissive of this, suggesting "You have to be able to tell the difference between the firemen and the fire." I thought journalists were supposed to ask questions? What happpened, Chris?

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