summer of nothing so much as heat

At loose ends today - not so many chores to do, especially since I did all the laundry in existence over the weekend. Too hot to play outside, no desire to run errands that involve going to the store. All the same I feel restless and out of sorts.

I think the epic failure of CNN to provide breaking news coverage of the situation in Iran hurt. Headline News and Peter Jennings were my two main sources as a kid. (Well, the local paper isn't great and Kurt Loder really just told me about my favorite bands.) I watched the first Gulf War for hours, that eerie night footage and explosions. CNN & Headline News were things I just left on constantly in the background, until there was this switch to shorter and shorter cycles and useless "info-tainment" news. I love being entertained as much as anyone else, but I don't want that from my news coverage.

It's virtually impossible to read everything on Twitter. AS much as I slag on Twitter for being an arena of self absorption, I think it has provided an amazing place and platform for the exchange of information right now. The volume is overwhelming.

To counterbalance the queasy feeling from an overload of news, I will some Cute Overload for lunch. I think the phrase "disapproving, froggular sphere!" is possibly one of the best I've ever read. How often do you read something like that, outside of Cute Overload and Lovecraft?

NY Times on home grown terrorists

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/opinion/14rich.html?em

What is this fury about? In his scant 145 days in office, the new president has not remotely matched the Bush record in deficit creation. Nor has he repealed the right to bear arms or exacerbated the wars he inherited. He has tried more than his predecessor ever did to reach across the aisle. But none of that seems to matter. A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country. Change can be frightening and traumatic, especially if it’s not change you can believe in.