I’m leaving shortly for a picnic (despite ominous skies and the scent of rain in the air).  I want to share my feelings on the inherent evil of PowerPoint presentations, but that will have to wait until later.  More soon.

Crop circles are poor supporting evidence for extraterrestrial life (what kind of advanced aliens would waste time using their formidable psychic powers to flatten cornstalks?).  But they make great wallpaper for my desktop.  And I had to smile today when I saw this picture of a crop circle in the shape of the Firefox logo.  Could crop circles be the next form of viral marketing?  Are farmers across the land going to wake up to find ads for iPods and Gap jeans in their fields? 

Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation is an excuse for her to dwell on her obsession and share it with the rest of us.  My hunch is that she is the kind of person who would pull you aside at a party to tell you everything she knows about the influence anarchist thinker Emma Goldman had on Leon Czolgosz, President McKinley’s assassin.  But if she is as engaging and funny and exuberant in person as she is in her writing, I would gladly listen to her for hours. 

Assassination Vacation follows Vowell on a personal itinerary devoted to the lives and deaths of three assassinated American presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.  Stops include the preserved home of Lincoln and his family in Springfield, the desolate Jersey resort town where McKinley died, and the former site of the utopian Oneida Community in upstate New York (which once hosted Garfield assassin Charles Guiteau).  Vowell is at her most reverent when writing about Lincoln and she doesn’t miss the opportunity to take jabs at the modern Republican party and its betrayal of Lincoln’s legacy.  But it is Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd, who serves as the book’s symbolic alpha and omega by having the the cosmic misfortune to be an invited presence at all three assassinations.

Vowell is clearly fascinated by the myriad cast of presidents, assassins, and eccentrics that populate her book.  And in the best tradition of historical writing, she lets the reader share in her fascination. 

Next up:  the first volume of Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan.

I despise those inspirational posters that adorn the office walls of middle managers across the nation.  You know the ones–they feature a generic scenic photo with some faux-Zen caption extolling the virtues of teamwork or vision.  But I can totally get behind these Star Trek-themed riffs on the concept.  You gotta love the one featuring James Kirk and his deliciously smarmy smile.  He looks like he’s relishing a recent sexual conquest.  “Yeoman Rand?  Yeah, I tapped that.  Isn’t that right, Lieutenant Uhuru?  After all, you were there, too.  Heh.”

I just got a note in my Inbox regarding an organizing meeting for the DFL Disability Caucus.  I attended similar meetings during the 2004 election cycle and still have mixed feelings about the experience.  The people who took it upon themselves to chair the group were not well-known in the disability community and were not entirely familiar with the rules of disability etiquette.  One of the co-chairs was shockingly rude to a volunteer with a developmental disability during a meeting; it was missteps like this that created a lot of tension within the group and ultimately made me reluctant to get involved in future campaign efforts. 

But I’ll probably go to the meeting, despite any misgivings I might have.  I do see that the organizers are making allowances for people to teleconference into the meeting, which already shows me that they at least have a clue. 

If you’re interested in attending the meeting, here are the details:

The Minnesota DFL Disability Caucus invites you to attend an organizing
meeting on Wednesday, August 16^th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
at:

Courage
Center, Ed Center
conference room

(The information desk can direct you to the correct room.)

3915 Golden Valley
Rd

Golden Valley, MN 55422