WWWD? What Would Walt Do? The Disney/Marvel Deal.

If you really, really care about all things Disney, then the announcement that Disney is going to acquire Marvel Comics for $4 billion is cause for concern.

Disney is more than a company; it's a 70-plus year old belief system that every kid worldwide seems to adopt at an early age. For some people, the fairy dust dissipates at puberty; for others, it is as ingrained in their personal psyches as much at age 50 as at age 5.

How that feeling can linger much longer, I don't know. Buying up Marvel can't help. We've seen the original Disney characters pushed aside in the past at Disneyland (Toontown, or California Adventure, for example) but I can't bear to see the X Men take over Tomorrowland, or see Spiderman swinging down Main Street USA. I'm sure thousands of people would, but not me. I'm sure it's just not what Walt would have wanted.

Uncle Walt's been dead now (can you believe it?) 43 years, and the stewardship of the Magic Kingdom has strayed from Walt Disney's visage considerably during that time. I like to blame Michael Eisner, the long-time head of the company, but Eisner's been gone now for several years, so who's to say?

Perhaps it's the people that Eisner hired, and still work there; perhaps it's the people who concern themselves with watching the money and the stock price, rather than pretending they work alongside the seven dwarfs or Cinderella.

No matter. I personally now see Disney as just another entertainment empire. Perhaps it was always so, but I think Walt truly wanted us to believe that there was a safe, interesting world of history, science, and nature, and a bright future for all. Bringing Marvel into the Disney fold adds nothing to that vision.

Tom Dowd and the Language of Music

Last night I watched an absolutely fascinating documentary on Tom Dowd. I'd never heard of him before, yet he did so much in his lifetime that I'm familiar with. It's one of those stories that, if somebody made it up, one would say "that's preposterous -- nobody did that" and yet Tom Dowd really did.

Imagine a 16 year old Physics whiz, studying at Columbia University. It's 1941. At night, he haunts the jazz clubs, meeting legendary acts that we still revere today. Through a twist of fate, he ends up engineering recordings. This is back in the day of direct-to-acetate discs, mind you.

Soon, he's drafted into the Army, where he's sent right back to Columbia to work on something called the "Manhattan Project". Yeah, that Manhattan project -- the kid is helping design the first atomic bomb.

His night job is getting him lots of attention, though, in the music world. The war ends, and he's sent off to Bikini Island to study A-bomb tests. Mind you, he still hasn't completed school!

After the tests, he returns to Columbia to find they want him to study 1939-era Physics, when the Physics world has totally been changed by the advent of the Bomb -- which he helped create. Dowd drops out to concentrate on his music career.

And what a career. Dowd engineered recordings for the likes of John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Cream, Lynyrd Skinner, the Allman Brothers, and many many more.

Oh, and while he's doing all this, he pretty much invents the use of multiple track recording techniques and the equipment to make it possible. Just freakin' amazing.

Toward the end of the show, Dowd sits at a console and demonstrates just how he mixed "Layla" for Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominoes. I was totally blown away.

If you're the least bit interested in music, history, or even Physics (!) you've got to see this film.

Practice Your Portuguese While Peeing In The Shower. Really.

Looks as though I'm on the cutting edge of something...

First I open my Redlands Daily Facts tonight, and I find a lengthy column on the benefits of taking a leak in the shower. Apparently, you can not only save a gallon of water, but it's good for what ails your feet.

Not an hour later, I run across this You tube video from Portugal. It's a for-real public service announcement, and it's pretty damn funny for a PSA. I hope you enjoy it.

It Slices, It Dices -- the New "Bushomatic".

You've got to try this! I won't spoil the surprise by describing the "Bushomatic" but it can be a hell of a lot of fun. I thank movie critic and all-round great guy Roger Ebert for the link. Just click the headline of this entry, or enter the following:

http://www.idyacy.com/cgi-bin/bushomatic.cgi

Justice Scalia and the Letter of the Law.

Common sense is the basis for common law. Common sense, however, seems to get lost in today's legal system. Here's a prime example this week from Justice Scalia:

"(The Supreme Court) has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a court that he is 'actually' innocent."

In other words, if a man sitting on death row, about to be executed, is somehow found to be innocent, but has received a fair trial finding him guilty, there's nothing a federal court, even the Supreme Court, can do to intervene.

Why? It's because the Supreme Court hasn't ever ruled on the topic. So... sorry dude -- you're gonna fry or get gassed or injected because of the arcane nature of our legal system. The best the Supreme Court can do right now is send flowers to the funeral.

Maybe it's true, but it sure is freaking scary, isn't it? Common sense would lead you to believe that the highest court in the land could stop an innocent man from being executed. But --- nooooo!

Watch Your Mouth.

From today's Irish Independent: A Vogue cover model has won a court case against Google, seeking the identity of a blogger who called her a "skank". She sought the identity of the anonymous poster so she can sue for defamation. Apparently, the courts, at least in New York, don't view blogs as a legitimate method of free speech.

I am so screwed.

Look who's going to kick my ass, should anyone ever discover "Another Day": General Motors; Shell Oil; Jamie Lynn Spears; Southern California Edison; the Michael Jackson estate; The Redlands Facts, and about a hundred others.

I hereby apologise to everyone I have so egregiously offended. Shame, shame on me for having an opinion. Really.

The "New" GM Lies, Just Like The Old GM

What's the old joke -- statistics don't lie, only liars with statistics?

Earlier this week, every media outlet I can think of ran with General Motors' announcement that the new Chevy Volt will get 230 MPG. Some went on to clarify that GM meant the hybrid will get that kind of mileage in the city. Only a very small number of people bothered to look at the actual numbers to see how the new GM is already bullshitting us.

First, yes, the Volt can get 230 MPG. On one very big condition. You drive no more, no less than 51 miles to calculate your MPG! We're talking big time misleading here, folks. I suppose they could also claim that if you drove the car less than 40 miles on the electric motor every day, forever, and used but one gallon of gas during the life of the car, it would have received 200,000 miles per gallon, but the public might actually question a number like that.

My Honda gets at least 150 MPG going downhill but I don't claim that as my actual average. I suppose if I peel off the Honda nameplate and glue on a Chevy "bowtie" I can do so with impunity.

This Week In History...

40 years ago this week...

The Woodstock music festival in Bethel, New York became both a focal point for the nation, and an everlasting symbol of a generation. Damn, I wish I'd been there. I once met a woman who'd been there. She hadn't even intended on going, and ended up there for four days. Some people have all the luck.

Also 40 years ago this week...

The Beatles didn't make it to Woodstock, because they were busy crossing a street in London. That street was Abby Road, and the resulting photograph/album cover became one of the Woodstock generation's iconic images. (Paul, it is noted, is still alive, despite being shown barefoot.) If you don't understand that comment, ask your parents.

Plus, 40 years ago this week...

Charlie Manson sent his followers on a murderous rampage, something we'd like to forget, but can't.

35 years ago this week...

Richard Nixon quit the Presidency. Despite what he said at the time, he was a crook. And, as someone who was on Nixon's enemies list notes, nobody has trusted a President since.

Random Notes.

Goodbye Radio Shack. Sorta.

Radio Shack is changing its name to just "The Shack", an image makeover attempt to get away from its perception that they're just a place to shop for arcane electronic items like diodes and capacitors. Good luck with that.

Do They Really Have To Do That?

Dealers who take in cars under the "Cash For Clunkers" program must destroy the engines by filling them with a nasty solution and running them until they seize. Somehow, that's akin to a vet shooting the dog you've brought in to be "put to sleep" because he's too old to walk. What ever happened to recycling? (other than crushing the car and sending it to a Chinese smelter?)

Hey Marine: Stop Tweeting and Start Shooting.

No more social networking for the Marine Corps, at least for the coming months. Seems they're worried it's dangerous -- The Enemy might get hold of Pvt. Pyle's 140 character Twitter messages and find out our battlefield strategy, or some such. (I suggest Bin Laden just tune into CNN for that info.) The Army, on the other hand, is actively promoting the use of social network sites, and even has Generals tweeting on the front lines. My take: the Army has grown soft. You want a terrorist killed, hire a Marine. If Pvt. Pyle needed a Facebook page, the Marines would have issued him one. Hooya.

Stimulating Thoughts.

What with half the country running around celebrating the success of Obama's Cash For Clunkers program (a government program that works! What a concept!) perhaps it's time to try Blogger Dave's stimulus idea. Drum roll, please...

Cash For Computer Clunkers.

Having just replaced our cranky old PC with a new Mac, I'm thrilled. Lightning-fast page loads! Intuitive software! The old HP was chugging along like one of those clunkers the administration urged us all to trade in.

So, says I, let's have a program to benefit America's tech industry. Trash the old PC and get an instant rebate from Uncle Sam... say, $300. Who'd benefit? Microsoft, Intel, Del, Apple, big box electronic retailers... you name it.

Great idea, huh? It's too late for me, but call your congressman (or woman) and pitch the idea.