Mr. Rogers died today.
Though Fred Rogers faced his fair share of scorn from those who considered themselves more sophisticated, he always seemed a fundamentally pleasant and honest man.
He will be missed.
This is the archived edition of a blog kept from Nov. 24, 2002, to
Feb. 29, 2004, by Clay Wirestone.
The original description: "From the overstuffed mind of writer,
editor, cartoonist and crank Clay McCuistion comes a blog full of
-- well -- stuff. And things."
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Howdy, Will
My friend, Mr. Will Albritton, e-mailed to say that he read through the blog. Thanks much, Mr. Albritton. I hope that this site's unmatched blend of random jottings, interspersed by days of dull silence, will continue to amuse and please you.
At the house, things continue. A DSL router is allowing both my and the significant other's computer to share a single line of high-speed web access. Ah, what bliss.
However, my former computer, (Old Bessie, Max calls here) is giving me problems. I merely want to transfer a few middling sound files from it to this sleek, new machine I'm currently working on. Easier said than completed, I fear.
Still, onward and upward.
Monday, February 24, 2003
Someone had to win
My favorite Diet Pepsi ingredient of the day:
(drumroll please)
Potassium benzoate
Take a bow, Mr. Benzoate, take a bow.
(drumroll please)
Potassium benzoate
Take a bow, Mr. Benzoate, take a bow.
Sunday, February 23, 2003
Saturday, February 22, 2003
Sunday, February 16, 2003
Who am I?
To the point, then, and quickly. The updated bio.
Name: Clay McCuistion.
Age: 20-something.
Height: 6'1-something.
Weight: 170-something.
Occupation: Copy editor at a daily newspaper located somewhere in the wilds of the Tampa Bay area.
Main goal in life: To create a week's worth of comic strips.
Secondary goal: To rid the apartment of stacks of newsprint.
Another random goal: To figure out what's going on.
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Pertinent exchange
So, Mr. McCuistion, are you enjoying work at your new job? (The one at the different Tampa Bay area daily newspaper.)
Yes. Very much so.
Yes. Very much so.
Let's make a list
A week since the last post. What have I been up to?
To answer that question, a list of computer games being played at the apartment:
Grim Fandango
Neverwinter Nights
The Sims Online
Icewind Dale
Black and White
Alpha Centauri
Civilization III
Whew.
To answer that question, a list of computer games being played at the apartment:
Grim Fandango
Neverwinter Nights
The Sims Online
Icewind Dale
Black and White
Alpha Centauri
Civilization III
Whew.
Saturday, February 8, 2003
Back to the random well
I had fun with that last random file experiment. Didn't you? Of course.
Now that most of my documents are transferred to this beautiful new computer, I think I'll try it again. Hopefully the file will be a little bit shorter. Okay ... here goes.
Ah. It's an overblown column from my first year at the University of Kansas. Please excuse the blowhard nature of the thing.
It's pretty self-explanatory, up to the bit about turkey bowling. That was a ridiculous University of Kansas Thanksgiving fundraising practice. It involved bowling with frozen turkeys. Some well-meaning folk on campus were offended that dead turkeys were being so desecrated.
On with the column.
"Don't talk to me about animal rights.
"The topic has become a hot one at KU in this first semester, but don't count on me to support our little furry, web-footed, or scaled friends. I love animals and believe they should be treated well, but I think that the reverence they have been given on this campus is entirely unwarranted. Those of you who object to turkey bowling on moral grounds or believe that dissection and animal experimentation are evil are certainly entitled to your opinions -- just don't count on my support.
"I happen to be alive today because of animal testing.
"Animals died to save my life and I am glad of it. I happen to be one of the 700,000 insulin-dependent diabetics in the United States today. Insulin -- the life-saving hormone needed by type I diabetics -- was discovered through animal testing. In 1921 and 1922 Dr. Frederick Banting used 10 dogs to isolate and first use insulin in a clinical setting. The dogs had their pancreases removed-the pancreas being the gland responsible for producing insulin-and most likely died quickly afterwards. However, this experimentation led to insulin being available to humans.
"Such drastic operations and testing could not have been carried out on men or women. It was and is not ethical or feasible. However, such tests could be carried out on dogs-and have resulted in a treatment that has saved millions upon millions of lives.
"Were the lives of these ten dogs worth more than the lives of millions of humans who have been given new life and hope through insulin? That's your question to answer. If animals could help us to cure human diseases such as AIDS and various cancers, who will volunteer to tell a dying human patient that the lives of lab rats are more important than effective medicine? If animal rights activists had been active in 1922, would the 700,000 diabetics alive today be dead? How much value does an animal's life have compared to a human's?
"The entire turkey-bowling debate is foolish when viewed in this context. Once every homeless and hungry person in the world has been housed and fed, then we can think about the brutal use of turkey carcasses. The entire "animal rights" debate is one of ludicrously misplaced priorities. What about human rights? Do we pause to consider the sweatshop laborers toiling to make the Nike apparel worn by the KU basketball team? What should we do about the homeless and hungry people who wander the streets of this country in agony? Do we place turkeys above their well being? Again, I leave it to you to answer these questions.
"I don't hate animals. They certainly deserve respect and humane treatment. But humans deserve respect and humane treatment as well. We so often ignore the poverty that exists under our own noses and look to another, more glamorous cause. Poverty is not cute or fun. It's ugly and life threatening. After all, which is more photogenic? Helping a starving and crippled man, or rescuing a cuddly white bunny from a perfume-testing lab? Perhaps activists should think less about their press clippings and more about their duties to their own species.
"Animals died to save me. They might have died to save you as well. I don't always feel comfortable with the idea. But when I think of the millions of others besides me whom animal testing has saved -- and will save -- I do not feel guilty."
Now that most of my documents are transferred to this beautiful new computer, I think I'll try it again. Hopefully the file will be a little bit shorter. Okay ... here goes.
Ah. It's an overblown column from my first year at the University of Kansas. Please excuse the blowhard nature of the thing.
It's pretty self-explanatory, up to the bit about turkey bowling. That was a ridiculous University of Kansas Thanksgiving fundraising practice. It involved bowling with frozen turkeys. Some well-meaning folk on campus were offended that dead turkeys were being so desecrated.
On with the column.
"Don't talk to me about animal rights.
"The topic has become a hot one at KU in this first semester, but don't count on me to support our little furry, web-footed, or scaled friends. I love animals and believe they should be treated well, but I think that the reverence they have been given on this campus is entirely unwarranted. Those of you who object to turkey bowling on moral grounds or believe that dissection and animal experimentation are evil are certainly entitled to your opinions -- just don't count on my support.
"I happen to be alive today because of animal testing.
"Animals died to save my life and I am glad of it. I happen to be one of the 700,000 insulin-dependent diabetics in the United States today. Insulin -- the life-saving hormone needed by type I diabetics -- was discovered through animal testing. In 1921 and 1922 Dr. Frederick Banting used 10 dogs to isolate and first use insulin in a clinical setting. The dogs had their pancreases removed-the pancreas being the gland responsible for producing insulin-and most likely died quickly afterwards. However, this experimentation led to insulin being available to humans.
"Such drastic operations and testing could not have been carried out on men or women. It was and is not ethical or feasible. However, such tests could be carried out on dogs-and have resulted in a treatment that has saved millions upon millions of lives.
"Were the lives of these ten dogs worth more than the lives of millions of humans who have been given new life and hope through insulin? That's your question to answer. If animals could help us to cure human diseases such as AIDS and various cancers, who will volunteer to tell a dying human patient that the lives of lab rats are more important than effective medicine? If animal rights activists had been active in 1922, would the 700,000 diabetics alive today be dead? How much value does an animal's life have compared to a human's?
"The entire turkey-bowling debate is foolish when viewed in this context. Once every homeless and hungry person in the world has been housed and fed, then we can think about the brutal use of turkey carcasses. The entire "animal rights" debate is one of ludicrously misplaced priorities. What about human rights? Do we pause to consider the sweatshop laborers toiling to make the Nike apparel worn by the KU basketball team? What should we do about the homeless and hungry people who wander the streets of this country in agony? Do we place turkeys above their well being? Again, I leave it to you to answer these questions.
"I don't hate animals. They certainly deserve respect and humane treatment. But humans deserve respect and humane treatment as well. We so often ignore the poverty that exists under our own noses and look to another, more glamorous cause. Poverty is not cute or fun. It's ugly and life threatening. After all, which is more photogenic? Helping a starving and crippled man, or rescuing a cuddly white bunny from a perfume-testing lab? Perhaps activists should think less about their press clippings and more about their duties to their own species.
"Animals died to save me. They might have died to save you as well. I don't always feel comfortable with the idea. But when I think of the millions of others besides me whom animal testing has saved -- and will save -- I do not feel guilty."
Welcome back!
The archives are now magically fixed. What did I do? Not much, it seems.
Thanks, however, to Mr. McClosky, who e-mailed some tips.
Varied and sundry updates
Work continues.
Playing on the computer continues.
Neglect of this beautiful blog continues.
When will the craziness end?
Wednesday, February 5, 2003
Watching the tide roll away
What I'm listening to now: A live recording of Neil Young, with Booker T. and the MGs, performing "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay."
Monday, February 3, 2003
Saturday, February 1, 2003
Tribute
I remember when the space shuttle Challenger was destroyed on takeoff, in 1986. Today, with Columbia lost, I thought I'd post the address President Reagan made at the time.
"Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But, we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
"For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
"We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
"There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.
"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives.
"We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.' "
"Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But, we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
"For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
"We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
"There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.
"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives.
"We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.' "
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