Away!

Off to Redding for a few days. Nothing new here until Monday.

Have a good weekend.

And Guns!

In my glee over the collapse of the Anglican Communion, I forgot to also post my Hip Hip Hooray for the Supreme Court on their landmark decision to protect gun ownership.

Three cheers for the NRA!
Three cheers for the Court!
Three cheers for the Second Amendment (just about the only amendment in the Bill of Rights that I like).

The Anglitics

Oh the Anglitic Communion splits in two
Doo dah
Doo dah

This worm of an institution has lasted entirely too long. I have long held that it would have been better for the looted churches of England to be reduced to dust by the Luftwaffe than to remain in the use of the Church of England, and I do not retreat from that position one iota.

Until the English government stops supporting this false alternative magisterium, England should be held as a rogue state, a menace to civilization, and a sponsor of terrorism.

May God save the Queen and convert her to the True Faith!

Smoke and Fire

Well, obviously I am in favor of both of those things, in their place. However, the uncontained fire gets to be problematic. Fortunately the Napa fire is contained, although the smoke is heavy in the air around here.

And, to tell the truth, I don't mind that. Now, it is not the glorious smoke of a Cuban Cohiba, nor the aromatic smoke of applewood soaked in red wine and slowly smoldered under a pork loin, but it is a decent woodsy smoke and it gives the air some weight. There is nothing like smoke and haze to really show aerial perspective. As for the sting in the eyes, well, use eyedrops.

Lightning and Fire

It really is simple:

If you live in an area that has an ecosystem that depends on fire (hints are usually there: plants that do not germinate without their seeds being scorched, for instance), and you suppress fire for a hundred years, you are going to face some nasty fires when the thing finally goes.

Of course, as I look out on the curry-colored sky, I can say, "oh, yeah, well that does us a lot of good now."

But this round of fires will eventually pass, and the areas that were hit will have significantly lower fuel loads, but will we change our fire policies? Probably not, and I cannot say that I would do any differently if my position as Grand Emperor, Autark, and Sovereign Poohbah of These Parts, Those Parts and Some Other Parts were recognized by the Armed Forces and the Bureaucrats. We have buildings surrounded by massive fuel loads, and control burns would quickly become out-of-control burns.

Of course vegetation can be physically thinned (death to all Scotch Broom!), and should be, and I imagine that anyone living in a canyon in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, etc. Counties would be at least thinking about spending some quality time with implements of pruning.

And that would be a capital opportunity for beer consumption!

So, We the Grand Emperor, Autark and Sovereign Poohbah of These Parts, Those Parts and Some Other Parts, hereby declare this coming Saturday a "Beer and Gardening Day", thus stimulating wholesome activities, fire safety and landscaping. Additionally, anyone planting fruit and vegetables is to be commended for participating in the Agricultural greatness that is California. And furthermore, those living near our Beloved and Cherished Wine Country have extra obligations to protect the vineyards from fire, and, in doing so, have Our eternal gratitude.

Ruling from the House Absolute, We are Erik I, Grand Emperor, etc.

Be safe out there.

Coming Soon!

Monomaniacs! Allegations of International Recipe Theft! Shenanigans of Animal Rights Activists and Anti-Smoking neo-Puritans! The Pure Joy of Country Music on a Hot Day!

Amalia Is Cooking

Right now she is making a "cake" that consists of alternating layers of peanut butter and sugar. She wants to add rose water and then put the whole thing in the microwave.

I think I should make her the food editor of Erik's Rants and Recipes.

Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett.

This is a different version than the one that was done with actual helicopters by the Arditti Quartet. However, it shows a tremendous inventiveness and a lot of serious thought about the structures of the original string quartet. The video work is also quite good:

What to do, what to do?

Obviously, this blog is pretty low on my priorities right now, and that is for two reasons:

1. There has been a lot going on.

2. The things I really want to write about take a lot of time, and my freetime seems to be swallowed in a vortex of online word games.

Yes, you read that right: online word games. Scramble, Scrabulous, Word Twist, and Pathwords. I have been playing against some old friends, and that has been eating my free time.

I think my favorite is Scramble, which is a digital version of Boggle. I do miss the little hourglass.

Now, I suppose the blog is at a crossroads. I am seriously thinking of devoting it solely to art and music talk, as politics is not really interesting these days. Fun, if watching the Democrat Party self-destruct is your idea of fun, but not all that interesting. Depressing, if you are following the California judicial system, but again, not that interesting. Why is it not interesting? Because the issues are all engaged on the same banal level of preferences and feelings.

We live in a culture where "it is", "I think that" and "I feel that" are seen as the same thing. Accordingly, our idiot populace insists that the law exists to make everyone feel better.

We had a rather silly election today. Silly, because the Presidential primary was held earlier, but state issues are still on the June schedule. So we had two ballot measures and some local candidates for County Supervisor. Two of these candidates have been waging a pretty fierce war with each other...to be a Supervisor of Solano County. It is a step above dog catcher, but only in that it is a little less useful.

And, yes, our fair city, the first State Capital, is filing for bankruptcy, and nobody, not a soul, knows what this really means for the city, except for a vague feeling that it won't be good.

You know, I haven't done a capsule review in awhile, so here goes:

Prince Caspian. Yawn. Wait this one out. The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe was a much better film. Do we really need another computer generated battle that begins with the good guys making some good hits, is followed by the bad guys coming back to the edge of sure victory, and a deus ex machina ending to save the day?

And, to make matters worse, they showed a preview for a perfectly horrid looking film that features anthropomorphized chihuahuas. Amalia has to see it. God help us.