19 June 2013
TSA Now Enforcing Teen Girl Dress Code
Wonkette has the story. The fifteen year old girl clothing that a TSA officer found objectionable is depicted below:
Authentic Food
As always, Razib, at Gene Expression is among the first to spot a new cultural trend: authentic food.
The theory is that it is deeply aesthetically pleasing to eat what your distant ancestors ate and drank. It offers an appeal not to physical health, in the way that organic or "health" foods do, but to inner peace and a sense of history and connection.
My father is a fan of Ezekiel 4:9 bread*, which pitches its Biblically prescribed recipe of an assortment of "ancient grains", in a manner similar to a Passover Matzo, which is another example of authentic food. Razib notes an effort to make beer according to a Sumerian recipe.
* The verse reads:
The theory is that it is deeply aesthetically pleasing to eat what your distant ancestors ate and drank. It offers an appeal not to physical health, in the way that organic or "health" foods do, but to inner peace and a sense of history and connection.
My father is a fan of Ezekiel 4:9 bread*, which pitches its Biblically prescribed recipe of an assortment of "ancient grains", in a manner similar to a Passover Matzo, which is another example of authentic food. Razib notes an effort to make beer according to a Sumerian recipe.
* The verse reads:
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
14 June 2013
Stapleton Prophet
While I am keeping the Wash Park Prophet blog name, once again, in the interests of full disclosure for my readers, I inform you that as of tomorrow, I will be based neither in Denver's Washington Park neighborhood, as I was when I started this blog, nor in the Bible Park neighborhood of Denver, where I have lived for much of the last year. This weekend I move to a townhouse in Denver's Stapleton neighborhood.
The reason for the moves has been that I am getting divorced. This move, unlike the last one almost a year ago, has been made with time to be picky about locations and give it some thought, rather than out of an urgent and immediate need to separate with just a few week's notice, so it may last for a while.
A complete separation agreement and parenting plan reached non-contentiously without mediation or litigation and only modest lawyer involvement (I have represented myself because I do divorce cases from time to time at my day job, and my wife has had legal representation) to review the proposed arrangements and work out some final details was filed on the same day as the Co-Petition for dissolution of marriage. My background as a lawyer who has handled divorces has certainly helped smooth out the process - I know what works and does not work in practice, and I know what kind of proposed resolutions are likely to be considered acceptable and fair by a fellow lawyer representing my spouse. No one is really ever happy about getting divorced and it is never an unequivocally good thing, but we've done our best to minimize harm in the dissolution process itself.
Each of us have attended mandatory parenting classes and made full financial disclosures to each other. Sometime in late August or early September, our nineteen year marriage (which had followed a two year engagement) will officially be terminated in a very brief in person court hearing (required in all cases with children, even if they are resolved by mutual agreement), and each of us will have our pre-marital name ("Willeke" in my case, "Oh" in hers) restored from the hyphenated "Oh-Willeke" name that we both took when we married and that our children share (and will keep).
Apart from a handful of paperwork items to carry out the financial arrangement, the non-parenting provisions have already been implemented and we are already living the parenting arrangements that largely track those that have been in place, on and off (we have a reconciliation for a couple of months, although it didn't last) during the last year. Far more paperwork will go into changing addresses and effecting the name change with various government bureaucracies and businesses and informing friends and family.
Our co-parenting relationship is generally cooperative, civil and fairly flexible as it really has to be when your children are a high school freshman and a middle school child, respectively. Both of our children are doing well in school and one even received a good citizenship award during the separation, although I don't want to downplay how difficult this may be for them now or in the long run.
In the interests of privacy for all involved, harm reduction and ongoing civility, I won't be posting any time soon about why our particular marriage ended (something that the divorce process also does not inquire about) or my feelings about why our marriage ended or the details of our financial arrangements, although obviously, I have given both a great deal of thought and I have strong opinions about these matters. Those opinions will stay in my journal and in private conversations with close friends, associates and family on a mostly need to know basis.
Philosophically, a key point for me has been to understand that while divorce ends the marriage itself, that in our legal culture, a couple's relationship as co-parents is much more difficult to terminate legally. Termination of parental rights other than infant adoptions can take place only for serious risk of (or events of) abuse or neglect of the child in question, and these court cases can only be brought by government officials and involves quasi-criminal due process protections for the parent.
The relationship of unmarried co-parents has become, almost, a form of de facto secondary marriage, and Colorado law, when not required by federal tax law, doesn't even specifically describe one parent as having "custody" and the other "visitation" in most circumstances. The co-parenting relationship of parents who divorce or legally separate or were never married and seek court guidance regarding the relationship (and the rights of their children) under modern family law is almost entirely independent of the current or past marital status of a child's parents. This is in strong contrast to the way Japanese custody laws and traditional Islamic law work where a divorce completely terminates a child's relationship with a parent. Since our relationship is being radically transformed, but not actually ending, it is important for both of us to maintain and nurture the relationship in its current form to make life tolerable for both of us and for the well being of our children.
The reason for the moves has been that I am getting divorced. This move, unlike the last one almost a year ago, has been made with time to be picky about locations and give it some thought, rather than out of an urgent and immediate need to separate with just a few week's notice, so it may last for a while.
A complete separation agreement and parenting plan reached non-contentiously without mediation or litigation and only modest lawyer involvement (I have represented myself because I do divorce cases from time to time at my day job, and my wife has had legal representation) to review the proposed arrangements and work out some final details was filed on the same day as the Co-Petition for dissolution of marriage. My background as a lawyer who has handled divorces has certainly helped smooth out the process - I know what works and does not work in practice, and I know what kind of proposed resolutions are likely to be considered acceptable and fair by a fellow lawyer representing my spouse. No one is really ever happy about getting divorced and it is never an unequivocally good thing, but we've done our best to minimize harm in the dissolution process itself.
Each of us have attended mandatory parenting classes and made full financial disclosures to each other. Sometime in late August or early September, our nineteen year marriage (which had followed a two year engagement) will officially be terminated in a very brief in person court hearing (required in all cases with children, even if they are resolved by mutual agreement), and each of us will have our pre-marital name ("Willeke" in my case, "Oh" in hers) restored from the hyphenated "Oh-Willeke" name that we both took when we married and that our children share (and will keep).
Apart from a handful of paperwork items to carry out the financial arrangement, the non-parenting provisions have already been implemented and we are already living the parenting arrangements that largely track those that have been in place, on and off (we have a reconciliation for a couple of months, although it didn't last) during the last year. Far more paperwork will go into changing addresses and effecting the name change with various government bureaucracies and businesses and informing friends and family.
Our co-parenting relationship is generally cooperative, civil and fairly flexible as it really has to be when your children are a high school freshman and a middle school child, respectively. Both of our children are doing well in school and one even received a good citizenship award during the separation, although I don't want to downplay how difficult this may be for them now or in the long run.
In the interests of privacy for all involved, harm reduction and ongoing civility, I won't be posting any time soon about why our particular marriage ended (something that the divorce process also does not inquire about) or my feelings about why our marriage ended or the details of our financial arrangements, although obviously, I have given both a great deal of thought and I have strong opinions about these matters. Those opinions will stay in my journal and in private conversations with close friends, associates and family on a mostly need to know basis.
Philosophically, a key point for me has been to understand that while divorce ends the marriage itself, that in our legal culture, a couple's relationship as co-parents is much more difficult to terminate legally. Termination of parental rights other than infant adoptions can take place only for serious risk of (or events of) abuse or neglect of the child in question, and these court cases can only be brought by government officials and involves quasi-criminal due process protections for the parent.
The relationship of unmarried co-parents has become, almost, a form of de facto secondary marriage, and Colorado law, when not required by federal tax law, doesn't even specifically describe one parent as having "custody" and the other "visitation" in most circumstances. The co-parenting relationship of parents who divorce or legally separate or were never married and seek court guidance regarding the relationship (and the rights of their children) under modern family law is almost entirely independent of the current or past marital status of a child's parents. This is in strong contrast to the way Japanese custody laws and traditional Islamic law work where a divorce completely terminates a child's relationship with a parent. Since our relationship is being radically transformed, but not actually ending, it is important for both of us to maintain and nurture the relationship in its current form to make life tolerable for both of us and for the well being of our children.
Black Forest Fire Most Costly In Colorado History; Royal Gorge Fire Decimates Venue
Black Forest
(This photo is one of 165 at the Denver Post from the collection linked above and is posted as a claimed fair use for the purpose of discussing the political issues associated with the used of government funds to protect private property in high risk areas sometimes called "stupid zones.")
True to its name, the exurban Black Forest subdivision is ensconced in a scrubby, arid west, pine forest - as the late Colorado op-ed columnist Ed Quillen liked to call it, a "stupid zone." He had argued for a consistent libertarian approach towards developments in these areas, i.e. that they be permitted, but that government resources not be used to protect property in these zones (as opposed to human life) from the natural dangers that people building there assumed, or to subsidize development in these areas. In particular, it may not make sense to use disaster relief funds to rebuild structures in disaster prone areas.
Authorities say the Black Forest fire was probably started by a person (not necessarily intentionally) and is now being investigated as a homicide.
Royal Gorge
Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Fremont County is operated by the Royal Gorge Company of Colorado which employs 40 permanent staff and many more part-time seasons workers. It is a a standout Colorado attraction of the Route 66 era, including a bridge over one of the deepest bridge spanned canyons in the nation, that I've been to with my kids. The 3,100 acre Royal Gorge fire this week has devastated this relic of 1950s tourism. Their cable cars have (literally) gone up in smoke and the cable has fallen into the canyon.
The attraction will be virtually starting over from scratch and have to re-imagine itself. Presumably, the remainder of this year's season will be a lost cause for the attraction. The city had been considering a redevelopment of the attraction anyway, however, and the many millions of dollars of damage are mostly insured, although the jobs lost won't easily be replaced in the short-term.
Firefighters on Friday will continue to battle the Black Forest fire north of Colorado Springs that has consumed 15,700 acres and 379 homes since it started Tuesday. Some 38,000 people are impacted in the mandatory evacuation zone that covers 24 square miles, stretching from Elbert County to the northern part of Colorado Springs. . . . The number of homes destroyed makes the fire the most destructive in Colorado history. The Waldo Canyon fire in 2012 destroyed 347 homes.
Maketa said at a news conference late Thursday afternoon that firefighters found the bodies of two people in the rubble of the Black Forest fire. The bodies were discovered in what was the garage of a home that the blaze leveled. They were next to a car with its doors open. The car's trunk was packed full of belongings.From the Denver Post. A statement in an earlier blog post on the fire based on a breaking news Denver Post story that the Black Forest fire was 48 square miles was incorrect. The 15,700 acre burn area is 24 square miles and the mandatory evacuation zone size in the quoted language above is probably underestimate since it includes some areas that have not yet been burned. The fire is currently only 5% contained so the damage is likely to be greater when it ends. A back of napkin estimate of the damage done by the Black Forest fire is a hundred million dollars or more.
(This photo is one of 165 at the Denver Post from the collection linked above and is posted as a claimed fair use for the purpose of discussing the political issues associated with the used of government funds to protect private property in high risk areas sometimes called "stupid zones.")
True to its name, the exurban Black Forest subdivision is ensconced in a scrubby, arid west, pine forest - as the late Colorado op-ed columnist Ed Quillen liked to call it, a "stupid zone." He had argued for a consistent libertarian approach towards developments in these areas, i.e. that they be permitted, but that government resources not be used to protect property in these zones (as opposed to human life) from the natural dangers that people building there assumed, or to subsidize development in these areas. In particular, it may not make sense to use disaster relief funds to rebuild structures in disaster prone areas.
Authorities say the Black Forest fire was probably started by a person (not necessarily intentionally) and is now being investigated as a homicide.
Royal Gorge
Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Fremont County is operated by the Royal Gorge Company of Colorado which employs 40 permanent staff and many more part-time seasons workers. It is a a standout Colorado attraction of the Route 66 era, including a bridge over one of the deepest bridge spanned canyons in the nation, that I've been to with my kids. The 3,100 acre Royal Gorge fire this week has devastated this relic of 1950s tourism. Their cable cars have (literally) gone up in smoke and the cable has fallen into the canyon.
[Cañon City] Mayor Tony Greer toured the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park and even drove across the bridge Thursday.
"As devastating as some of the damage appears, it seems to have created a wonderful opportunity for us, as well," he said. "This national treasure that we've been charged with — the bridge itself — is intact and it's safe."
Of the more than 1,000 planks on the bridge, only 32 were burned on the south end of it. But of the 52 structures on the property, only four remain.From the Denver Post.
The attraction will be virtually starting over from scratch and have to re-imagine itself. Presumably, the remainder of this year's season will be a lost cause for the attraction. The city had been considering a redevelopment of the attraction anyway, however, and the many millions of dollars of damage are mostly insured, although the jobs lost won't easily be replaced in the short-term.
Father's Day Weekend Quote
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Promotion picture from the Disney movie Epic.
Near the end of Epic, Professor Bomba laments that he was never able to convince his late wife that the world of the Leaf Men was real. M.K. throws her arms around her father, reassuring him that she now knows the truth her mother didn't. Dad may not be a hero to mom, but he's one in the eyes of his daughter. In a fantasy world where adult women are so often absent, a young girl's devotion proves the key to her father's redemption. In real life, moms are still more likely to spend time with the kids except at the movies or on other entertainment-centered outings. But when those dads are alone in the darkened cinema with their kids, they are increasingly likely to be reminded that no matter their shortcomings as husbands or partners, they are still adored by their heroic daughters.From a thoughtful piece on feisty kids and bumbling dads in the movies as a reflection of the zeitgeist of American culture, at the Atlantic Magazine's website.
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