“You have to have the time to feel sorry for yourself in order to be a good abstract expressionist.”

American artist, Robert Rauschenberg, died today at the age of 82. I don’t often mention my favorite artists or the ones who have influenced my own work in any way, but Mr. Rauschenberg has always been at the top of a very short list. I am saddened by his passing.

You can see some of his works here and here.

Rauschenberg on YouTube, discussing art and his erasing of DeKooning works:

NASA has scheduled a media teleconference Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to announce the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years. This finding was made by combining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with ground-based observations.

I, for one, will be anxiously awaiting the announcement of whatever the hell it is they have found. It better be good, if they are going to be so mysterious about it.

There are times when it seems to me I am the only American that still understands the English language. This is one of those times.

A few days ago, I think, Obama said that McCain was “losing his bearings.” Naturally, some of McCain’s aides are now barking about how ageist it is to say that.

A person doesn’t have to be old to lose their bearings. It’s not like he said McCain was becoming senile or losing his marbles. Those are the sorts of things I have been saying about him, because he is not the same John McCain I used to know and like … and yes, he does seem to be getting old, not just physically.

Yet the blogosphere and the 24 hour news circuit are alive with people ranting about how rude it is to say that McCain is losing his bearings, because it is a stab at his age. My suggestion is for these folks to learn how to use a dictionary, since they obviously don’t know the meanings of simple words and phrases.

Meanwhile, I will continue to believe that McCain is senile and losing his marbles.

There have been a few things in the news that irked me today.

Three small-town eighth-graders were suspended for not standing at the start of the school day Thursday for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The school district has a rule that even if you don’t say the pledge, you still have to stand. Three students didn’t, and according to one parent never had, and they have now found themselves suspended. I am, of course, opposed to the punishment, not because I am anti-pledge, but I am against mechanical, blind, rote patriotism and forced allegiance. I am not alone in thinking this school is whacked in the head for punishing these students either. There are “numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings dating to the 1940s say that ’students who refuse to participate in the pledge cannot be punished for refusing to participate.’” Sitting would be refusing to participate. I call foul on the punishment.

When the Russians start parading their nuclear weapons and other war toys down their city streets, it would do everyone some good to take notice. They can say it isn’t saber rattling all they want, but some of us are old enough to remember when it was a rather regular occurrence. It was saber rattling then, and it’s saber rattling now.

No, I do not want our airport to be leased out to Australia. Could we possibly, just possibly, maintain control of some of our own infrastructure? It’s bad enough our toll roads are under the control of companies in Spain (and elsewhere). Our airport doesn’t need to be in anyone else’s hands. Their reason for even considering it is that taxpayers aren’t seeing any benefit from the money the airport makes, due to a federal law requiring that money be put back into the airport. Rather than leasing the thing out to some other country, why don’t we try to change the law that is causing the problem in the first place? Oh, yeah … that’s a lot more difficult than just selling out to the highest bidder.

A New York woman who took her family to visit the Maritime Aquarium has filed a $100 claim against the city, saying her child’s shoes, along with the entire outing, were ruined when her 1-year-old stepped in dog feces early last month outside the Maritime Garage.

Shit happens. Yes, occasionally, a human steps in some shit, but I have never known any shit to not wash off of shoes, hands, clothing, or whatever else it gets on. I question why she felt it necessary to throw away her child’s $42 shoes, but then I also question what toddler needs $42 shoes in the first place and why her 1-year-old was wandering around far enough away from her to even have the opportunity to step in shit. Additionally, why would her baby not having shoes on ruin the whole trip. Kids (and adults) do amazingly well without shoes. They aren’t a requirement for walking, sitting, or living. Something tells me this mom has more money than sense.

Time was, when a girl had a crush on a boy, she sent him a note in class. Today, as at least one local school district has learned, she might use her cell phone to take a naked picture of herself and send the photo to him. The Pioneer Central School District over the past two months has discovered three cases of teenage girls — ages 13 to 16 — electronically sending nude photos to male classmates.

And how did the school authorities discover the nude photos? They “came to light when school officials confiscated students’ cell phones for other disciplinary reasons.” They took the phone because the students were using them during class or at school, which is apparently forbidden, but that does not explain what gave the school the right to then poke through the things on the cell phone. Kids with cell phones need to read the manual and learn how to use the security features. It is entirely possible to keep anyone but yourself from nosing around in your cell phone. Just don’t give them the password. They’ll be expelled or suspended anyway, thanks to our lovely zero-tolerance policies, but they might as well keep their private data private. And as far as kids sending nude pics to each other, I have to ask why adults today continue to think that today’s kids invented teen sexuality and believe that kids haven’t always been sexual creatures?

And now for a bit of trivia! Did you know the male platypus has venomous spikes on their hind feet? I certainly didn’t, but now I know, and so do you.

What happens when a thunderstorm collides with a volcanic plume? Look at the first thirteen photos in this set. Be prepared to be amazed.

Just posted this at Metafilter, so of course, I have to share it here too.

“What the autistic 12-year-old can’t express verbally or in social interaction he can show through his carefully cut out geometric shapes assembled into characters in a paper collage.”

Lin and I have been amusing ourselves by watching the fuss on CNN over the late arriving Lake County, Indiana primary results. We are amused because those are the stomping grounds of our northern family members. Lin was born in Hammond and grew up all over that area. I got my tattoo in Gary. We have friends and family members sprinkled there like salt and pepper on a steak. It doesn’t make the national news often, if ever, so that’s been interesting.

I’ve had a rotten headache all evening, and I just ache all over. I think I’ll go take a nice hot shower and get ready for bed. Maybe by the time I am done, the primaries for today will be over. If not, at least I can pass out while waiting with nice clean hair.

Even though nothing much got done around here today, it’s been a long day. I am so, so tired.

The justice has been explaining his positions publicly more and more, and even delving into some thorny issues, like torture.

“I don’t like torture,” Scalia says. “Although defining it is going to be a nice trick. But who’s in favor of it? Nobody. And we have a law against torture. But if the - everything that is hateful and odious is not covered by some provision of the Constitution,” he says.

“If someone’s in custody, as in Abu Ghraib, and they are brutalized by a law enforcement person, if you listen to the expression ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ doesn’t that apply?” Stahl asks.

“No, No,” Scalia replies.

“Cruel and unusual punishment?” Stahl asks.

“To the contrary,” Scalia says. “Has anybody ever referred to torture as punishment? I don’t think so.”

“Well, I think if you are in custody, and you have a policeman who’s taken you into custody…,” Stahl says.

“And you say he’s punishing you?” Scalia asks.

“Sure,” Stahl replies.

“What’s he punishing you for? You punish somebody…,” Scalia says.

“Well because he assumes you, one, either committed a crime…or that you know something that he wants to know,” Stahl says.

“It’s the latter. And when he’s hurting you in order to get information from you…you don’t say he’s punishing you. What’s he punishing you for? He’s trying to extract…,” Scalia says.

“Because he thinks you are a terrorist and he’s going to beat the you-know-what out of you…,” Stahl replies.

“Anyway, that’s my view,” Scalia says. “And it happens to be correct.”

Scalia is one scary, scary man, and he’s going to be a Supreme Court Justice for a very, very long time … unfortunately.

How do you not notice a dead body suspended five foot overhead in a tree in your very own yard? How?! Even crazier … how do tree trimmers trimming a tree not notice a dead body is said tree while trimming it? I am astounded that a dead person could hang out in a tree for apparently a year (in balmy Florida) without a single person noticing it, yet that is exactly what seems to have happened.

I may miss some of the finer details of things in my very own yard on a regular basis, but there could be a dead squirrel in one of my bushy trees, and I’d probably notice rather quickly. I am dead certain I would notice a dead human body in one of my trees, and I wouldn’t have to smell it either. More people need to look around and pay attention to the details that are at least as large as a dead human body. That’s a pretty big detail to miss.

Every so often, you run across a story in the news about something really, really weird. This time it’s about loud booms and bright lights in Pikesville, Maryland. Though the headline indicates they are closer to an explanation, they aren’t. They have eliminated just about every one of the easy possibilities, and that leaves them not really knowing what’s causing it. It’s really, really weird. I suggest you watch the video. Yeah … weird.

Proof that when it’s your time to go it’s your time to go:

A shark on Friday attacked and killed a 66-year-old swimmer who was training in the ocean off San Diego County with a group of triathletes.

The guy makes it to 66, is obviously someone who took great care of himself, and a shark just swims up, takes a bite out of him while he’s training for a triathalon, and it’s all over.

When the universe draws your card, that’s it, I guess.

When I have the time to sit at the computer, I don’t have the energy. When I have the energy, I don’t have the time. Therefore … another link dump. Just assume I wanted to squawk or snicker or roll my eyes for each of these links.

‘Disneyland’ comes to Baghdad with multi-million pound entertainment park

Penis theft panic hits city

Osama-Obama Sign Removed From Church

CNN now sued for $1.3 billion - $1 per person in China

Machine-Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway

‘You’re It!’ May Again Be Heard at Va. School

Clueless in America

Small Church’s Obama Sign Causes Big Controversy

Six Things in Expelled That Ben Stein Doesn’t Want You to Know…

Intelligent design film far worse than stupid

In lean times, biotech grains are less taboo

“Eating Local” Has Little Effect on Warming, Study Says

Measure backs ‘American values’ in state schools

Innocent photographer or terrorist?

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

Americans hoard food as industry seeks regs

Since it’s a product I have been known to buy in the past, there has been a rather large recall of puffed rice and puffed wheat cereal produced by Malt-O-Meal. It’s sold under a variety of store and private brands as well, so if anyone reading this tends to buy the bagged cereals, they might want to check that it hasn’t been recalled. 23 people in 14 states are sick, and the culprit seems to be the cereal.

Last week in my Link Dump, I posted about a high school art contest sponsored by the Virginia Pilot that disqualified the two winning entries due to nudity being inappropriate. I want to revisit that story.

The first judge the Pilot brought in to judge the contest was Aaron De Groft, director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. He selected Nancy “Beth” Reid’s nude self-portrait as the winner. It was declared inappropriate, and a new judge was brought in. Scott Howe, education director at the Chrysler Museum, acting as the second judge selected Jasmine Childs’ nude torso sculpture as the winner. It was also declared inappropriate. Finally, the Pilot used members of their marketing and advertising department to choose the winner, because, obviously, who knows best what good art is than someone working in the marketing department of a newspaper, right?

All three works can be seen here.

Having now seen the three works, I can make a somewhat informed opinion on the matter. The first two works chosen as winners are outstanding works of art for 17 year olds. The official winner? Not so much. Nothing wrong with it, but it isn’t really as outstanding as the other two. That’s just my opinion.

The nude human form has been intrinsically tied to human creative expression since mankind was sitting in caves and started being creative. Some of our most revered and lauded historical artworks are, in fact, nude human forms. If the Pilot didn’t want any nasty, nasty nudity in their art contest, they should have put that in the rules before the contest started, not after the judging was over and they didn’t agree with the outcome. To change the rules at that stage is flat out wrong and cheats all the participants. It makes the competition a sham.

Once again, kudos to the people who are working to award the ladies originally chosen as the winners of the event, and a smack on the back of the head to the Virginia Pilot for being such prudes and rigging a competition to get the results they wanted. Bad form. They need to get out of the art contest field, because it’s obvious they don’t know a thing about it.