http://johnny.hulver.com/ johnny's Diary on Hulver's site en-us Copyright 2003 - Hulver's site 2008-07-09T09:31:23Z johnny's Diary johnny's Diary on Hulver's site http://www.hulver.com/images/topics/husi-topic.png http://www.hulver.com/scoop/ http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/6/22/211831/127 In a clear violation of the principle of separation of church and state, a bunch of Tibetan monks of the Dalai Lama variety spent the last four days at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, making a sand mandala, and then destroying it. This is their equivalent of the Catholic mass, with a sacrifice and all. It's an art show, but you no fool me. It's a religious ceremony first and foremost. Good whiney librul that I am, I was outraged by this incursion of religious mumbo-jumbo into the public arena. NOT! Man, it was so fucking cool! In other news, I quit the Democratic Party again. This time perhaps for good. http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/6/6/101817/6574 I had a dream about Atreides and Welsh Girl last night. It took place at my home/private amusement park (kind of like a very scary Michael Jackson style Neverland). There was some confusion about where we were supposed to meet, but I finally caught up with them at the Millennium Falcon Ride, which you could only get to by crossing a moat. Atreides liked the ride a lot, but Welsh Girl thought it was stupid. She and I both kind of hated my house. Welsh Girl was very tall, about 6'3", and not friendly. She was preoccupied with hers and Atreides' children, of which there were five: two each from a previous marriage, and the middle one, who was twelve years old and born last week, with an attitude. As Welsh Girl turned strode away from me very quickly, I realized who she was: http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/5/31/10649/5943 Long long time ago, Dear Wife and I found ourselves in an elevator car in Boston along with four extremely tall gentlemen. After they got out and we were out of earshot, she asked me, "Do you know who they were?" I said, "Kurt Rambis, AC Green, Byron Scott, James Worthy." She said, "Why didn't you say hello?" I replied, "What the hell is wrong with you?" http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/5/28/22847/6974 Please report status. Also, it has been quite a damn while since you graced us with a diary about traveling on this particular run. What gives. Thanks. (For those not in on the joke, this is role reversal. Usually it's K nagging me about not writing on schedule). http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/5/24/233220/725 Went to a wedding today in a lovely Catholic church in Gardner, Massachusetts. The last time I was in that church was 14 months ago, when Older Daughter was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic faith (from which I fled 35 years ago). http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/5/15/203929/796 Four people will be giving talks at the memorial service for my brother on Saturday.  I'm first. I'm supposed to just give the "obit", the chronology, the biography, whatever you want to call it. Five minutes to sum up his life.  All the weepy reflections and amusing stories come from the guys who follow me.  Anyway, my draft appears below & if you have any suggestions I would appreciate it before I send it to my sister-in-law. It will probably take twenty minutes for me to read this. Oh well. I'll either edit it down or people will just have to deal with it. http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/4/17/95443/0439 The United States used to pay tobacco farmers to not grow tobacco. This was a kind of redneck welfare commonly called the "tobacco alotment" or in redneck-speak, "backalotment". It had to be administered by somebody. For a while in the early 1980's it was administered by a friend of mine. We had been grad students in Agricultural Economics together. He went to work for the USDA & I became a computer geek. Then we lost touch for several years. Until I read his name in the New York Times, when all hell was breaking loose because congress had voted to phase out tobacco allotments and farmers who had been used to getting a large check in the mail for doing nothing every year were seeing the size of their checks shrink and shrink, and they were going batshit crazy about it. Inside: Hands off my innernet! http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/3/31/23451/1038 I took the train from Boston down to Philadelphia to hang out with all the lefty bloggers at Eschacon. Had dinner with the Shrill One himself, Paul Krugman, who had been on a panel on economics earlier in the day. http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/3/26/95311/4415 As I was walking to the entrance of the Stop & Shop yesterday evening, I found a folded $20 bill on the ground with a $1 bill folded inside it. http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2008/3/9/133154/4522 Rosa Barks January 21, 1993 -- March 9, 2008 One hell of a dog you was.