Arizona Massacre, moment of silence: I am not usually watching tv during the day, but I found it emotional and binding to watch the President and First lady come out of the White House and observe a moment of silence.
“Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern standard time, I call on Americans to observe a moment of silence to honor the innocent victims of the senseless tragedy in Tucson, Arizona, including those still fighting for their lives. It will be a time for us to come together as a nation in prayer or reflection, keeping the victims and their families closely at heart.”
The President will observe the moment of silence with White House staff on the South Lawn. The moment of silence will be pooled press.
Today, the President has signed a proclamation calling for flags to be flown at half-staff.
Also, the planned trip by the President to Schenectady, New York, on Tuesday, January 11, to the General Electric energy division is postponed. The trip is expected to be rescheduled.
moment of silence, history:
The idea for a Remembrance Day silence was first suggested by Australian journalist Edward George Honey in a letter to The Times in May 1919. He was thinking of a five-minute silence but that was thought too long. One minute was deemed too short.[2]
followup, weather, Charlotte: Yesterday I was hoping for –*–*–*–*–*–*. Sometimes you get what you wish for!
Snow started about 3:30 a.m. and came down heavily for several hours before lessening after daybreak. Forecasters say snow will fall intermittently much of this afternoon before changing to sleet by sunset and eventually to freezing drizzle later tonight.
“We expect another 2 to 4 inches of snow today in the Piedmont,” Anthony Sturey, of the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C., said late Monday morning.
Jen Thompson, of the N.C. Department of Transportation, said road crews are working to gets roads in better shape but are contending with continuing snowfall and temperatures in the lower 20s.
“We’re still working to get bare pavement exposed,” Thompson said.
The storm has not spared places that typically do not see wintry precipitation.
Up to 5 inches of snow fell in the Columbia area, and from 4 to 6 inches accumulated in the sandhills corridor from Florence to Fayetteville. Freezing rain also fell Monday morning in Charleston.
via Major winter storm could bring 6 to 9 inches to Charlotte area – CharlotteObserver.com.
sports, skiing/snow boarding. equipment: Looking for recommendations for helmets for my boys. Any suggestions?
One of a new breed of helmets that can be used for skiing, skating and biking. It comes with a removable liner so it will keep you warm in winter but cool in summer. £74.95, http://www.bernunlimited.com/Home
architecture, home, heritage, culture: Loved this article … makes you really think about the purpose of a house … is it for today or tomorrow?
The very idea of heritage is, of course, modernist. It indicates a consciousness of our place outside – or beyond – history, as super-historic rather than as a seamless part of it. The relentless neophilism of contemporary design, the obsession with innovation and originality, makes for a very curious situation. For instance, in the midst of a severe energy crisis our buildings are built to last only a generation or so. Something has gone wrong with our idea of architecture.
For the past four centuries, the architecture of the house – whether it was a palace, a country retreat or an urban terrace – drove the architecture of the era. It was the ultimate expression of architectural form, an embodiment of culture and aspiration.
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There are traditional houses and there are self-consciously innovative houses, trying very hard to become a work of original genius. Both claim to be the ideal way to create a piece of heritage by either being explicitly of their time, or explicitly of all time.
Tom Emerson, though, sees the real interest in the gap in between the two. “All our work is about continuity as a means of contextualising,” he says, “but there is a tension between abstraction and familiarity which makes it easier to subvert an idea and make it original and striking.” Which is exactly what he’s done with the slightly, almost unsettlingly familiar – if altogether striking – form of Mines Park.
Is there an effort to make it an eternal building rooted in a culture of landscape and vernacular – even though it is so resolutely modern? “It’s the wider culture which in time will decide what it will incorporate into heritage. You can’t second guess what values will be in the future and architects would be better employed refining their work rather than trying to ensure their own legacy.”
movies: I thought Country Strong fun … but obviously NPR was a little more critical.
Then again, Paltrow’s casting is only the most conspicuous of several curious elements at the heart of Country Strong, an earnest but misguided drama about the treacherous intersection of love and fame. Here’s another one: Of the four lead actors — Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund, Leighton Meester and Tim McGraw — the one who’s a bona fide, arena-filling country music superstar (McGraw) is the only one who doesn’t get to sing, at least not until a duet over the closing credits. The others acquit themselves well enough onstage, but writer-director Shana Feste doesn’t show much of an interest in getting the details of the country world right, and the inauthenticity leaves her cliches exposed.
via ‘Country Strong’ – Love In The Limelight, Fitfully Illuminated : NPR.
travel, lists, bucket list: Now I could go for this!
Classic cars in the Highlands
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-type with a long weekend driving one of the iconic sports cars through the Highlands of Scotland. You pick up a red E-type in Edinburgh, then spend three days driving, staying at pre-booked hotels along the way. The trip is available from April to mid-October.
travel, Peter Pan: This looks like fun … but probably not on my list because there are so many other places to go first. Still love the idea!
So far there are only three of these treehouses in the UK, all at Sherwood, though Center Parcs plans more at its other sites (Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Whinfell Forest in Cumbria, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire). It seems a bit of a gamble: they do not come cheap, and I wonder whether people with that much disposable income might not opt instead to jet off somewhere hot. But for those who live in the UK, there’s a lot to be said for avoiding the hassles of flights and airports, especially with children in tow; and the quality of service and accommodation was world-class.
ChristCare, faith: Loved this article that we were going to discuss at ChristCare today.
Above all, look to Jesus as your good shepherd. He will never leave you or forsake you. He isn’t some wishy-washy hired hand who runs off at the first sign of trouble (Jn 10:11-13). No, Jesus is the good shepherd who is in it for the long haul. He loves you with an everlasting love. He is “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Pe 2:25). Today, trust Him with your whole life.
via Discipleship Journal Archives :: I Am The Good Shepherd.
political cartoons: I liked this one. What do you think it means?
The week ahead: Inspecting Iran | The Economist.
LOL, improv, YouTube: OK … I am going to check YouTube now … interesting that WSJ posted this.
This Sunday afternoon, if the NFL isn’t really your bag, consider joining several thousand New Yorkers who plan to nonchalantly ride the train in their underwear as part of the 10th annual No Pants Subway Ride.
View Full Image
Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal
Improv Everywhere’s Charlie Tod
The event is organized by the trouble-making collective Improv Everywhere, who were responsible for the people freezing in unison in Grand Central Station, a stunt whose Youtube video garnered more than 24 million hits. Of course the “improv” in their name belies the coordination involved: The No Pants Subway Ride is global, with planned, pantless counterparts in 47 cities world-wide, even ones without subways. In El Paso, they take to buses, and in Minneapolis, to the Mall of America tram.
via An Interview With the Organizer of No Pants Subway Ride – WSJ.com.
-and here it is … YouTube – No Pants Subway Ride 2011 Part 1 New York, Manhattan.
parenting: Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior – WSJ.com.
random, incredulous: Lawyer F. Lee Bailey Says Evidence Shows O.J. Simpson Innocent in Murders.
lists, travel, bucket list: Some great places on this list. The 41 Places to Go in 2011 – NYTimes.com.
Arizona Massacre, media:
“All the vitriol we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that.”
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But we all swim in the same American cultural soup, all 300 million or so of us. And until now, not one person had decided to do what Jared Lee Loughner is accused of doing. Whether it’s one guy or several behind the attack, if Loughner was the shooter, we already know he was a seriously disturbed and irrational young man.
In a world where ordinary people can easily gain access to extraordinary power, events like these are, sadly, inevitable. And make no mistake, during most of the long sweep of human history the power of a semiautomatic handgun would have been considered truly extraordinary.
But as long as events like these remain exceedingly rare, our reaction should be measured and not emotional.
I’m not minimizing what happened. This was one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism in American history. But put it in this context: if Saturday was an average day, about 100 people were killed in car wrecks on American roads. Are you planning therefore to armor your car or change your approach to driving?
via The Arizona Massacre Was Insane — Our Reaction Should Be Measured.
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On behalf of NPR News, I apologize for this mistake to the family of Rep. Giffords, to the families of everyone affected by the shootings, to our listeners and to our readers.
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Already all of us at NPR News have been reminded of the challenges and professional responsibilities of reporting on fast-breaking news at a time and in an environment where information and misinformation move at light speed. We learn, we redouble our efforts and dedication and move forward with our best efforts for the millions who rely on us every day.
LOL, tv: I may have to watch since I have watched ESPN’s Sports Center for years … against my will, as the mother of two boys.
To The Onion, the satirical newspaper and Web site, “SportsCenter’s” quotidian elements offer a rich target for extreme parody. The result, a half-hour weekly program called “Onion SportsDome,” starts a 10-episode run on Comedy Central on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m., preceding “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.”
Will Graham, an executive producer and director of the series, said, “The fun part is there are 36 channels of ESPN running 24 hours a day, a whole world of sports media that is cultish and ripe to mock.” He added, “The goal is for people passing it or watching it in a bar to think that it’s real coverage.”
via Onion Hopes ‘SportsCenter’ Parody Leaves Viewers Saying Boo-Yah – NYTimes.com.
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