Blue Armadillo weblog

Saturday, June 02, 2001

I think I'm reasonably well-informed about many things, but I am ashamed to admit that until this morning I had no idea that Nepal was ruled by a king. Unfortunately, I found out by reading in the Washington Post about the murder of King Birenda and seven other members of the royal family. I am also ashamed that reading the article made me think of the episode of The Simpsons in which Bart calls the Springfield Police Department Rescu-Fone: "You have selected regicide. If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered, press one."
posted by John Heaton 5:37 PM | link

Thursday, May 31, 2001

I've heard people complaining about stadiums named after corporations, corporate sponsorship of public television and radio. or conditional gifts by private individuals to public institutions. I think I've done so myself. Smithsonian Institution secretary Lawrence Small makes the excellent point in the Washington Post that without conditional gifts there would be no Smithsonian Institution. Are gifts like this self-serving? Sure. But so what? We should encourage people to spend their money in ways that benefit the public, and if the cost of that is naming a building after a donor, I say go for it.

Naming rights on stadiums is a different matter. The problem with naming rights is that the deals are cut after the fact. If, say, PSINet had donated $100 million to fund the construction of the new football stadium in Baltimore, then it would make perfect sense to name the stadium for PSINet. In fact, that exactly the kind of civic-mindedness that we should encourage from corporations. Instead, the team coerced the state of Maryland into paying for the stadium, and then kept the $100 million for themselves. That's just scuzzy.
posted by John Heaton 11:13 PM | link

I didn't have much interest in seeing Pearl Harbor even before it was almost universally panned by critics, but I might go see the "enhanced edition" described in this "Newsweek web exclusive." (Link via Studio Briefing)
posted by John Heaton 3:10 PM | link

A student politician in Pennsylvania was suspended for promising to give everyone a cookie if elected. He should have promised to give everyone $300. There's a precedent for that, at least. (Link via the Obscure Store)
posted by John Heaton 12:59 PM | link

"They're giving Elvis a bad name. I don't know where to draw the line, but we need some oversight." So says Kent Ripley, an Elvis impersonator who participates in wedding services at Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas. He's quoted in the Washington Post as a supporter of tighter regulation of the Las Vegas wedding industry.
posted by John Heaton 11:26 AM | link

I work for a large corporation, albeit a fumbling and incompetent one, but nevertheless it irritates me that corporations are not held to any sort of moral or ethical standard, and that corporate officers are rewarded for treating employees and customers like dirt. It was no surprise, therefore, to read in this Salon.com article about radio giant Clear Channel Communications that Clear Channel CEO Lowrey Mays is pals with the all-time king of corporate scumbags, Jack Welch of GE. Salon has done a good job of reporting on Clear Channel in recent months; anyone who cares about the radio industry should be aware of the damage Clear Channel is doing to the industry.
posted by John Heaton 10:16 AM | link

Wednesday, May 30, 2001

I have a client who has a pet parrot. The parrot talks (well) and sings (poorly) and will climb up your arm and sit on your shoulder. I think it would be fun to own a parrot, but they're really expensive. Plus, I learned today that the demand for parrots has led to a serious parrot poaching problem in Central and South America, which would just make me feel guilty about owning one.
posted by John Heaton 11:27 PM | link

Tuesday, May 29, 2001

After the concert I stopped by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, one of my favorite memorials in Washington. This was my first visit to the memorial since they added the new statue of FDR in his wheelchair. I don't like it. It's too small, and out of proportion to the rest of the memorial.
posted by John Heaton 12:52 AM | link

I attended a Memorial Day concert by the United States Navy Band Monday night at the Navy Memorial in Washington DC. I played French horn for almost 15 years, so it's always fun to go to band concerts because invariably I've played at least one of the pieces on the program. Tonight, I had performed four: American Overture by Jenkins; Eternal Father, Strong to Save by Smith; First Suite in E Flat by Holst; and Stars and Stripes Forever by Sousa. All four are among my favorites, but the I like the first two in particular because they have great horn parts.
posted by John Heaton 12:35 AM | link

Monday, May 28, 2001

Happy birthday, Vanessa! Trust me, 23 isn't so bad. It's not until you get to the 20th anniversary of things you remember happening that you really start to feel old.
posted by John Heaton 10:40 AM | link

High school seniors in St. Louis, Missouri selected the school janitor to speak at their graduation. I worked as a school janitor for six months after I graduated college, so this warms my heart.
posted by John Heaton 1:36 AM | link

Who knew there was such a thing as the American Association of Single People? Not me, until I read an AP article in the Winchester Star headlined "Unmarried Americans Lacking Political Power." No shit.
posted by John Heaton 1:25 AM | link

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