their recent support of SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act, supported by the large media companies and panned by everyone fond of civil liberties) and subsequent unconvincing backtracking in the face of massive negative response was the straw that broke the camel’s back for 10′s of thousands of people… like me… who finally said enough, and transferred their domain names away from godaddy, to other registrars.

namecheap.com reported 27,0000 incoming domain name transfers (away from godaddy) during one day of the protest… a drop in the bucket, but still a loss of face, and revenue.

godaddy sucks. namecheap rocks. caveat emptor.

a family friend was an opera singer who provided me with an introduction; i studied with stewart for a little over eight years. i knew that stewart had taught kathryn crosby (wife of bing), met the king of england (george vi), and been a child prodigy. i only recently discovered that he sang at the opening of grauman’s chinese theater, los angeles, in 1927, and was singing in front of 10,000 people at a time by the time he was 10.

he lived in presidio heights, in san francisco, in a jackson street mansion he had inherited from his parents. the music room was unbelievable… probably 60′ long and 30′ wide, with a piano on a stage at the far end, against the wall with the organ pipes (!). he would sit at the piano, looking like a cross between yoda and friar tuck; i would stand on the stage, next the the piano. he knew i was a rocker (as opposed to classical singer or actor), but was always supportive, and a friend; in some ways, the lessons were more like mutual therapy sessions. he died of colon cancer a few years after i stopped see him.

i think of him often, as he gave me my piano (it come out of the room to the left of the piano in the photo)… he told me that no one knew how his father had got the piano in that room, as the doorway was very narrow, and that if i could get it out i could have it. i had that thing out of there in no time flat, and have had it ever since! i was at a.c.t. the other night, and noticed that one of the actors had won the ‘stewart brady competition’. some intermission googling brought up more of stewart’s history, and, of all things, a photo of the music room. i’ve tried over the years to convey how stunning it was, but the picture trumps any possible description. the house apparently sold for $3.5 million in 2010.

1. leo rosten in the joys of yiddish defines chutzpah as “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible ‘guts,’ presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to.” in this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and a grudging admiration. in the same work, rosten also defined the term as “that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.”

2. my favorite cartoon in the new yorker was published many years ago. in it, an executive at his desk is being interviewed. the smokestacks of his factory can be seen outside his plate-glass window, as can the lake. the caption is “it’s not our factory polluting the lake… it’s all those dead fish!”

redefining chutzpah for 2011, bp has published its 2010 sustainability report. in it, they claim with pride that they leaked less oil in 2010 than in 2006 and 2008. but, you exclaim, what about the gulf oil spill of last year?!? the footnotes of the report speak for themselves:

Although there are several third-party estimates of the flow rate or total volume of oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon incident, we believe that no accurate determination can be made or reported until further information is collected and the analysis, such as the condition of the blowout preventer, is completed. We have not included any emissions from the Deepwater Horizon incident and the response effort due to our reluctance to report data that has such a high degree of uncertainty.

they have a point. we don’t really know for sure, even if it was the the biggest offshore oil spill in american history. it does seem like the right thing to do is assume the amount is zero, until we really know for sure.

the bar graph on the left shows what bp is reporting for 2006/2008/2010. the chart on the right uses government estimates of how much oil bp spilled into the gulf in 2010:

cruise ships are another problem. in one week, a typical cruise ship generates 210,000 gallons of black water (sewage), 1,000,000 gallons of gray water (shower, sink, dishwashing water), 37,000 gallons of oily bilge water, more than eight tons of solid waste, millions of gallons of ballast water containing potential invasive species, and toxic wastes from dry cleaning and photo processing laboratories… adding to the aforementioned fuel emissions. illegal dumping has been a continuing problem, with one of the worst reported cases involving royal caribbean, who were found guilty of routinely and deliberately dumping waste oil, photo processing, dry cleaning, and print shop chemicals into coastal U.S. waters.

more (depressing) info at: http://is.gd/iHqH1

QUICK UPDATE – OCTOBER 2011:
My kind-of brother-in-law (partner’s brother) works for a very large shipping company, out of Singapore. I asked him about this issue, and he said that since 2008 container ships have been traveling more slowly, increasing efficiency and reducing pollution. He also forwarded me a copy of the AlphaLiner Weekly, which had a feature article discussing container carriers and their approach to sustainable shipping and the reduction of emissions. In 2000 the average size of new container ships was 2,900 teu (‘twenty foot equivalent’… essentially, one container). By the end of 2011, the size of new container ships will be 16,000 teu; by 2013, they are expected to hit 18,000 teu. According to my source, newer technologies, slower speeds and greater efficiency are all helping with the problem… although i have to think that if an older, 2,900 teu container ship emits more pollution than 50 million cars, a newer, 18,000 teu ship, no matter how efficient, is going to leave a commensurate environmental footprint… the word ‘ginormous’ comes to mind.

founded by david letterman bassist will lee and featuring tonight show guitarist jimmy vivino, the band plays stunningly accurate reproductions of beatles songs… sometimes playing entire albums, sometimes with horns and strings, but always with obvious love and respect.

it is amazingly exciting, pleasing and often even mind-blowing to hear live versions of the beatles’ incredible repertoire rolling off a stage.

keep an eye out for the fab faux… and go see them if you have a chance. intense satisfaction guaranteed.

one of those who has come forward is lillian mcewan, former assistant u.s. attorney and senate judiciary committee counsel, and thomas girlfriend, who corroborated much of what hill initially reported. it also turns out that other corroborating testimony was ignored by the senate all those years ago. imagine that.

so… on one hand, we have a woman who was willing to risk her career and the glare of a hostile, public spotlight to report harassment, and a man who to this day denies inappropriate behavior… and was protected by other men.

what percentage of women falsely accuse men of harassment? (answer: very small)

what percentage of men lie and deny when accused of harassing women? (answer: just about all of them)

i’d like to think that virginia thomas is not an idiot, or a deluded believer just trying to protect her man (albeit a little late). maybe she and clarence had a fight. maybe she’s always known about his extracurricular interests. maybe on some level she WANTED us to re-visit the discussion.

well, it worked… you go, girl!

this, by the way, is one of those times you’ve just got to love the internet. how are you sleeping these days, clarence?

each july more than ten thousand new doctors begin medical residencies in teaching hospitals, and are given more responsibility for treating patients.

a study just published in the journal of general internal medicine (jgim) provides the first u.s. evidence supporting the ‘july effect’ – a 10% spike in fatal medication errors in july of each year in counties with teaching hospitals… with no change in counties without teaching hospitals.

the co-editor of the journal, dr. richard kravitz, wrote:

the accumulated evidence on the ‘july spike’ is probably convincing enough to prompt action: for example, having attendings or senior residents ‘in house’ during extended hours, conducting rounds twice a day (as pediatrics has done for decades), or just making sure adequate help is available at the point of care. academic general internal medicine doesn’t shut down during the dog days of summer. our resolve to improve the quality of hospital care shouldn’t shut down either.

no one cares more about you than you… be prepared to be your own medical advocate.

opponents of the proposed mosque and community center to be built in lower manhattan speak in hushed tones about the sanctity of ‘the shadow of ground zero’.

perhaps a little reality checking is in order:

• “hallowed ground” – within a three bock radius of where the world trade center used to stand are 3 liquor stores, 11 bars, 17 pizza shops, 18 bank branches, 10 shoe stores, beauty salons, and porn stores flying american flags… not to mention street vendors and food carts (including two serving muslim food). there are also 10 churches, a hare krishna facility, and a muslim prayer center (not affiliated with the new mosque). visitors to the scene of the worst terrorist attack on american soil are welcomed by solemn memorials and a visitors center amid the noise of reconstruction. they can also buy porn and sex toys, play the ponies and take care of all manner of personal business… all within blocks of ‘hallowed ground.’ the proposed location of the center is two blocks from ground zero… why don’t we make all of manhattan protected/hallowed ground?
   
• “13-story mosque” – no one has proposed building a 13-story mosque. the proposal is to build a 13-story ymca-like community center with fitness facilities (swimming pool, gym, basketball court), a 500-seat auditorium, a restaurant and a cooking school, exhibition space, a library, art studios, a 9/11 memorial (what?!?!?!?) and childcare facilities… oh… and a mosque. usnews says that calling the entire building a mosque is a bit like referring to the empire state building as a 103-story walgreens because the pharmacy chain has a store on the ground floor.
   
• “bad bad muslims” – the 9/11 terrorists were a fringe movement from a religion with more than one billion members. how much outrage would there be if plans were submitted for a new church to be built within two blocks of the alfred p. murrah federal building in oklahoma city, the site of the worst terrorist attack on american soil before 9/11… an attack committed by a christian? can anyone say ‘two sets of standards’?

nothing said here will change anybody’s mind… too bad.

very creative, very cute!

adele has taken the images off of her blog because of rampant theft, uncredited use, and blatant rip-offs. she is working on a book on the project, scheduled for release in 2012. you can read more here: http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

you can see some of the images here.

yes, i understand that the power that courses through you when you forward an email to (potentially) hundreds of people .

yes, i understand that joining a group of people who share a belief in something found on the internet makes you feel less alone, and socially validated… even if the group you’ve aligned yourself with is mis-informed.

yes, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that i haven’t seen your latest online discovery… even though i am a webmaster who is online constantly, and sees things way before you ever would.

please do us both the courtesy of reality checking before forwarding. the best way to do this is to visit snopes.com, where you can find out quickly whether there is any truth whatsoever to the information you are about to blindly pass on to others.

and, even if what you want to send me turns out to be real… i’ve probably already seen it.

please forward this to everyone you know! it’s important!!!!!