It's all going to pot.
For months now I have been bookmarking pages to post on Memphilter. Here's the thing...bookmarking pages with the intent to post them does not actually allow all of you to see those pages. I have the same problem with the damn phone. If I think about calling someone, then to me that counts as having called them. Sorry I never call any of you...but I think about it all the time! Doesn't that count?
That said, while Isabel and Daddy are at the zoo I am taking a moment to address one item that keeps popping up in my bookmarks.
Pot.
Why is it illegal (according to Pete Guither)?
I know about the old school anti-drug propaganda - where can I see some new stuff?
Should I move to Mexico? (No, not yet)
How can I learn to just grow pot myself?
And finally, isn't there a book about marijuana for children?
Burke's Books sends out an SOS
Burke's Book Store, a bona fide Memphis institution (and, in the interest of full disclosure, a former part-time employer of a college-aged yours truly), appears to be on the brink of closing after 131 years in business. A few months back, they issued a plea for help. While the outpouring of support seems to have provided a temporary fix, it looks like Burke's must significantly rethink its business to stay afloat after the textbook season. In two words: this sucks.
Corey and Cheryl Mesler are good people and are book people. I always suspected Corey thought I was batshit crazy when I worked there, but, frankly, I think he may have been on to something. At the time, though, Corey had read, if I recall correctly, just over 900 books. He kept count in a decades old notebook where he logged each book title and date. My guess is that he has read well over a 1,000 novels now, 13 years later. This probably makes Corey one of the most well read people in the universe, and that suggests he would be a good person to buy a book from, if you ask me. And even though I held Corey in high esteem as a supervisor, he moved up a notch on the old esteem ladder (there is such a thing as a notched ladder for those literary types who cry mixed metaphor) when he married Cheryl, who also worked at the store. I will forever remember their wedding ceremony (held at the playhouse next door, on the set of the Heidi Chronicles if memory serves) in which Toby, Corey's then 2- or 3-year old son marched on stage, moved between the bride and groom, and held each of their hands throughout the vows. Even a college guy could not deny the cute on that one. Point is, these are real people, trying to eek out a living from a labor of love that provides a tangible public benefit.
It's no secret that the book business is a bloodbath right now, and you can imagine how tough things are at Burke's.
All of that is to say, if you still live in Memphis and you get a chance, go browse the store. Buy a few books. Help a brother and sister out.
Quote of the Day
"It was a shock to get a call from Israel"
-Bushra Khayyat, describing the effects of telemarketing used as a weapon of war. Is this an example of actual war dialing?
Where are the aliens? Playing video games.
An interesting article by an evolutionary biologist proposes a new solution to Fermi's Paradox.
"This town is party central!"
Celebrity globetrotting chef Anthony Bourdain found himself trapped in Beruit when the current unpleasantness got rolling. His characteristic eat-drink-and-be-merry attitude inspired an epic MeFi thread Now, with the conflict entering its second week, Bourdain has sobered up.
"Dem come fe kill Bob!"
From the Guardian, an excerpt from the upcoming book Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailer's Album of the Century: the day they shot Bob Marley. Two days later, Marley played in front of 80,000 people at theSmile Jamacia concert.
"Two tribbles of imitation fur stuffed with foam rubber, one gray and black, the other white, gray and brown.
With the franchise on ice for the forseeable future, Paramount clears out the cargo bay.
Meanwhile, in Space
Tensions at Cape Canaveral are high tonight, after today's discovery that a chunk of foam had fallen off of the Discovery's external fuel tank. It seems that the rainy weather experienced during yesterday's aborted launch attempt, coupled with the rapid expanding and contracting of the shuttle's tank as liquod hydrogen and oxegen were pumped in and out of it, conspired to crack the foam. As darkness fell on the Cape, a hastily convened meeting of NASA managers decided, with the lives of seven astronauts and the entire American manned space program on the line, to roll the dice. The Discovery will launch for the International Space Station at 1:27:55 PM Memphis time on Tuesday, July 4.
Jabberwocky, by Sen. Ted Stevens
One of the most confused discussions I've ever read. Here's a sample: "They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of tubes." Of course. Audio here.
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