Dragons' teeth

The seasons following the Arab Spring aren’t looking so prosperous or fertile for anything except violence, bigotry and extremism. The attacks Tuesday night on US diplomatic posts in Cairo and Benghazi are probably not the culmination of the savagery; sadly, I expect we’ll see more.

Frankly, I don’t know what to make of a culture that seems to prefer international outlawry to working within rules, and that favors a return to the Good Old Days of the 8^th Century—only with 21^st Century weapons.

But I really hope world leaders figure out what to do about it. Because it’s evident that an Arab Summer is going to be long and hot; and an Arab Winter may well be nuclear.

Oh, the shame! (& the skunks)

Okay, I'm going to interrupt my series on the mailboxes of Sunnyvale to bring you a website that you really must check out.

It's really rubbish in terms of UX and presentation, but if you need a laugh, this is it.

(Well, my sister, who has dogs, thought that the dogs aren't bad so much as the owners irresponsible in not addressing the problem behavior. But I think it's pretty funny.)

By way of teaser, I give you:

(I can't look at the above without laughing.)

We had a chihuahua mix that used to take on skunks up from the Arroyo Seco, so I'm familiar with the tomato sauce bath routine.

And a repeat offender.

One of the interesting things to me is that there appears to be a high representation by Boston terriers in the photos on the site. Not casting any aspersions; I'm just sayin'.

Please, Mr. Postman Pt. 1

I live in an area of Sunnyvale that comprises mostly single-family dwellings dating from the 50s through 70s, from the looks of the architecture. Those on this side of El Camino Real appear somewhat more upmarket than the ones across the way, but back in the day they’d all have been for working class and middle class families.

(That was of course in the day when the working and middle classes made enough money to buy houses anywhere, much less in this area.)

There’s one sub-neighborhood of a couple of blocks of two streets where everyone appears to have decided to express individuality not in the paint on their track houses, or the landscaping, but in their…mailboxes.

I’ll show you what I mean:

Fire engine sideways.

 Fire engine front.

Car sideways.

Car front.

They mostly seem to have been homemade and bolted on to your common or garden mailbox.

 Ark with pair of elephants.

I’ll share some more tomorrow.

Praying man

The Mountain View Art and Wine Festival was held this past weekend. (This is California; you can't have any arts-related activity without wine.)

And, this being California, where the sun always shines, there was a Sunscreen Booth, where you could slather on or top up your sun block.

There was also this stand, right at the corner of Castro Street and El Camino:

This fella was here last year, and the year before that. I've not seen him at any of the other Arts and Wine Festivals. I don't know whether that means folks in Los Altos and Palo Alto don't need prayer, or what.

State of confusion

I suppose that taking potshots at the Discovery/History cable franchise’s borderline illiteracy is like running down elderly pedestrians in the crosswalk: it’s such a sure thing that there’s no real sport it in.

But still—it’s so much fun.

Here’s what I found a while ago:

Evidently we’ve added a new state to the union.

Secure government job?

You’ll recall the various phishing emails I’ve had, purporting to be from the USPS, but probably from some rather less service-oriented sender.

Now they’re offering me a job:

It’s only marginally more illiterate than some of the emails I’ve had from recruiters, and not really so much more preposterous than some of the same.

But still—I don’t believe I’ll try any of the emails associated with this.

TJ's stand

I came across this sign planted about six feet in front of the exit of the Sunnyvale Trader Joe’s store:

The location of the sign is precisely where I’ve often seen people sat with collection boxes for one charity or another.

Interesting to me that TJ’s tolerated the organizations for some time—I guess I thought that what they’re calling “the apron” was the property of the shopping center landlord and therefore not under their control.

Apparently I was wrong, and they’re now taking a stand. 

Also interesting that the sign is hand-written, therefore not a corporate effort.

Well, they must have got complaints.

Pas de Maru, Pt. 3

You may not be aware of this but there was an Internet cat video festival last month. People actually gathered at the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis to watch a curated collection of videos that people took of their cats and posted to the Web.

Then they voted on the “best cat video”.

While I’m sure it was as tough to decide amongst all the submissions as it is for AMPAS members to vote on the Best Picture Oscar, the Golden Kitty award went to…Henri, le chat existential.

(Maru was in the running, but his film was more of a live short, as opposed to the film noir that Henri’s tale represents.)

In case you’ve forgotten about Henri since I last posted about him, here’s the winning vid:

You can find some of the also-rans here. What do you think; did the people choose wisely?

Crime & punishment

My dentist has a somewhat puckish sense of humor. Witness this sign in the parking lot outside her office:

I will say that I certainly don't park in that space.

Laboring under no illusions

I pretty much said all I can say on the subject of labor in my post for Labor Day last year. So this time around I’ll just point out that it’s not looking good for those of us who have to work for a living.

There are a lot of people facing layoffs in the coming months, from companies ranging from HP to Food Lion. These figures only cover private sector jobs; these folks will be joining thousands of government workers on the unemployment line.

Think about this when you cast your vote in a couple of months.