thanksgiving

well, somehow it's slipped already into friday here in england, and so i missed posting on thanksgiving day. but i've clearly got loads to be thankful for, so had to post anyway.

all week the french and spanish editors of my site (ok, so i don't OWN it, but when you manage a website, you naturally end up feeling like a loving parent... i just wish it would pick up after itself) have been in town, helping manually migrate the content that wasn't auto-migrated into the new content management system. and a small army of my office mates and even the tech team from our vendor (who happens to be oxfam great britain!) has been helping QA, and stitch together all the pieces of our baby.

we're planning sort of a soft launch tomorrow (um, today, friday), but it's not going to be any one particular flip of the switch. we finally got, as of a few days ago, the ability to publish content on the 'live' server, and so have begun pushing articles over to it. so that's what we'll be doing over the next few days. then hopefully on wednesday: flip the switch. that is, repoint the domain DNS to that server with all the content on it. and let it propagate.

it's funny how exact and specific computers and the web (ie, all the code behind the web) must be in order to run properly (properly = do what we want them to do)... but at the same time, it's like freaking magic. who can predict who will click on what and read which page and download which thingamabobby?!?! i love it!

it so happened that several weeks ago i saw an ad for this band called Ska Cubano, playing at the Zodiac, where they get a good mix of local, regional, and national acts. (at capacity 400 or so, it's a bit too small to host international acts.) their description sounded right on, plus i figured might as well, as i knew i'd not be home to celebrate Tgiving with family. also i knew i wanted to ask this friend who is in the final death throes of finishing her doctorate, and i knew she could use a night out. so at 13 quid, it was a little pricey but well worth the steamy sweaty dancing.

in fact it was literally so steamy, it took like 20 minutes for the steam to dissipate from my camera lens! and not being patient enough for that to happen, while bodies be knocking about all around me, i used my t-shirt to WIPE THE STEAM OFF THE LENS!!! far as i can tell, that's like the #1 Cardinal Sin for Camera Lens: DON'T WIPE THEM WITH ANYTHING BUT A PROPER LENS CLEANING CLOTH!! ah but i could not wait. like the Heinz ketchup commercial.

so here are a couple piccies! enjoy! (i uploaded 4 photos but do not seem them here in preview mode... will have to check once this entry is published).

i hope you didn't over do it on the pumpkin pie tonight!!!!

out on a limb

biking home last night through the trees and the magical cold air now blowing in, i knew i had to address the season.....

out on a limb

it's nice sitting up here
no one bothers us
we get to sing, dance
have a nice chat
no one nagging
no one begging
no one bitching

and such a view!
we can snuggle
stay warm and cozy
make love
rub elbows
flap our arms
wag our tails
toss our cookies
tip our hats
none of the tit for tat
that flogs the minds of most
no one minds if we get on with our neighbors
most mortals simply gaze
some even take pictures
and share 'em with their friends
in books neatly squared
orderly labeled under sheets of plastic

and the breeze!
it clears the fog like nothing else
no need for caffeine in these limbs
the clouds wave Hi on their way by
the wind in our sails
perks us up
so reassuring to stand so tall
on top of the world...

but then...

off goes that prissy bitch, so full of her bright shiny self
usually so warm and charming
decides she wants more time to herself
calls it beauty rest
works shorter days
says she's thinking things through
needs to spend time with relatives down south

and before you know it
things get quite chilly round here

we unpack our scarves
and big old worn mittens
huddle together to keep warm
but still we yellow with the chill
which rattles our bones

we stuff that old towel under the window
the blood boils red for a while
we twist to and fro angrily
struggle to hang on
and finally mellow
into a drab color
of brown, beige and rusty acceptance

and then...

oh shit!
the inevitable
cold, damp wind
finally comes
and takes us...

some defy for a while
but then falling
spinning
we drift down
unraveled
no more encumbered
by the desire
to hang on

they still take pictures of us
though not as many
we still crouch together
but it's not the same
soft and airy
carefree, wondrous feeling

now we're wary of getting stepped on
or picked up, brought home,
and pressed under a thin
sheet of damn plastic

mind-boggling, ain't it?

i logged on just to write a quick email to my friend ted, who lives in princeton, to ask him about the best method for transfering money back home (from UK to US). a couple years ago he was just launching a company to help folks repatriate dough back to their families, their homeland. i haven't spoken with ted in a long time, so don't actually know how he got on with his business venture. i was a little skeptical, as he was talking about going up against western union... but i'll tell you: that man teddy rock is truly amazing, so ya never know.....

but i got sucked into the news, as my home page is nytimes.com.

tonight's news is typically grim: bombings in the middle east. picture of a (presumably) dead man, lying bloody on the front page.

judith miller, a times reporter for 28 years, leaves the paper after a row with her editors, publishers, congress, and seemingly everyone else.

and a headline that really got my goat:

Oil Executives Defend Profits Before a Critical Congress (link will probably be good for a week, then the Times will likely archive it and charge you to read it.)

here is a picture of some of the chief execs testifying before congress:





what REALLY astounded me was that exxon's profits alone were nearly $10 BILLION!! that's almost as big as the entire music industry...! and this at a time when the nation has been reeling and recovering from the hurricane. as the times says: exxon's chief, lee raymond (looking just a shade too smug), noted that their "industry's profits measured as a percent of revenue were no greater than other industries." (shouldn't it be "...were no greater than other industry's"?)

"We are in line with the average of all U.S. industry," he said. "Our numbers are huge because the scale of our industry is huge. How are these earnings used? We invest to run our global operations, to develop future supply, to advance energy-producing and saving technologies, and to meet our obligations to millions of our shareholders."

admittedly, i am woefully out of touch with figures for the profits of US companies as measured as a percent of revenue. but i find raymond's assertion as hard to swallow as one of those evil 63 white sausages that poor Catalina Sandino Moreno had to stomach in "maria full of grace" (a rather disturbing but very moving film).

the times article also states that "There has not been a new refinery built in the United States since 1976." holy crap. add to this the fact that gas (um, petrol) was over $3/gallon, and it's not hard to see why profits were so mind-bogglingly high.

makes it really hard not to invest in mutual funds that don't invest in oil co's.

at least some of the senators are doing their bit to question these corporate dudes (who between their salaries, bonuses and stock awards are raking in millions), and making some recommendations as to how the system could create a measure of fairness for consumers.

the hard cold facts

last week was a milestone in the bassuk household back in boston. despite the natural and inevitable slow-down in uptake of broadband in the US, my parents just joined the more than 121 million Americans who now have broadband access. after some 6 years of dealing with narrowband dial-up, i can practically hear the cries of "hallelujah amen" arising from their little study, as the persistent stream of 1-meg photos that i send home now appear on screen with glorious alacrity. (maybe next year mom will overcome her fear of actually downloading them onto her 40-gig drive!)

so already i see the wave of stories and links coming from her increasing. naturally, as have i the most caring jewish mother on the planet, many are for recipes or other health related recommendations (like go to bed earlier). for instance, november has barely come in and sat down for tea and mom sends me this article by one Judy Forman, from today's Boston Globe 'Health Answers' column:

How long are you contagious when you have a cold?

It depends on which virus is causing the cold, and there are lots -- including rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, and coronaviruses, to name a few, said Dr. Lindsey Baden, an infectious disease specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Typically, you are most likely to spread the virus to other people from just before symptoms appear and through the first few days of an illness, when symptoms such as coughing and sneezing, and nasal mucus production, are highest.

Dr. Jack Gwaltney, professor emeritus of internal medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has done research that shows the virus starts reproducing within half an hour of entering the nose; it takes only 8 to 12 hours for new virus to appear in nasal mucus.

This rapid production of virus lasts about three days -- the days when you are most contagious -- and then falls off as the immune system gears up and finally begins to kill the virus. One study showed that when one spouse is experimentally infected with a virus, the other spouse typically gets infected within the first three days.

Since it's mucus from the nose that is the main carrier of viruses, you should dispose of tissues yourself. It also pays to wash your hands, whether you're the one who's sick or the one trying not to become the next victim.

Once you start feeling better, the virus may still be present in your nose for as long as two weeks. But you are much less contagious.

As for antibiotics, they don't do anything for viruses. But if your ''cold" is actually a bacterial infection, antibiotics will help with that and will make you less contagious while you are taking them.

of course this is much of what you always hear: wash your hands a lot, etc. really, do you usually give your snot-ridden kleenex to the woman in the business suit and matching pumps sitting next to you on the train to have her toss it in the trash? "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your breakfast ma'am, but could you..."

or maybe at lunch, or even on break with the smokers outside, do you have a "farmer's blow" contest with your colleagues? "Betcha i can nail that tree." "G-head, just don't get any up into my nose. I don'wanna catch what you got!" makes me think Judy wrote that article just so she could say "rhinoviruses"....... (make me think also perhaps really I'm reprinting the article just so i can say "snot-ridden")

[note to self: finally this blog has *really* devolved into its strapline. life fulfills art.]

i think what would be most helpful is if someone told us what to do in those first 8-12 hours upon getting infected. that along with: how does one know if one's nasal mucus is infected within such a short time frame with that dastardly adenovirus?

ok, enuf buckshot.

i just received a link to the poem mentioned first off in my last post. it's by radical supergirly (aka claire fauset) from her Oct 27th post:

let the poem do the talking

be good kiddies, and be sure to bring an umbrella.

have it

i heard a poem last night that was inspirational. it cut to the bone, hit to the heart, not quite stung but made you feel and think. good qualities for a poem.

plus it's always great to hear a poem recited by its author. in but rare occasions, that gives it much more punch than otherwise.

in life, you gather things. you also disperse things too. and hopefully there's sort of an equal balance. (not like me: i'm weighted to be more of a gatherer.) so, i've picked up a phrase from one of my mates and band members, simon: "have it." it seems to be sort of a british-ism. i say that cause he's british, and i've not heard it elsewhere. (pls correct me if i am wrong and you've heard it....)

in life, also, there are various sources of inspiration; simon is a wicked fiddle player and a solid source thereof. great fun to play in a band with. he's only one of the many sources of inspiration for this poem which i wrote when i burst in home from the pub tonight (b'day celebration for a friend at the Angel & Greyhound)... another source is the percussion playing poet, Claire, whose poem i heard last night, which had the lot of us enraptured by her words and passionate delivery.

in any case, here's tonight's offering, direct from my semi-addled brain :) ......


Have it

be it
do it
have it
say it

eat it
feel it
suck it
come on, don"t be offended by it

laugh it
live it
like it
laud it

see it
hear it
touch it
taste it

no, really... put it in your mouth and taste it

fry it
burn it
squeeze it
flog it

flip it
dip it
doggone nip it
tuck and turn and churn and rip it

sing and ping and wing and fling it
hog and dog and really flog it

climb it
rhyme it
just don't time it

wing it
ping it
please be sure to bring it

despite it, right it;
might it be something you decide to fight it?

will it
swill it
totally fill it

man it
pan it
just don't ban it

ham it
spam it
dammit, janet

ram it
flam it
closely examine it

clearly i could go and go
but surely now
you ought to know

the point
all else above it
is truly deeply
just to love it