The Inner Circle

Books

My brother sent me this book by T. Coraghessan Boyle, a fine author that he introduced me to years ago (Thanks Kevin!). The Inner Circle is a fictionalized account of the life, research and relationships of famed sex researcher, Alfred Kinsey. The story, told from the point of view of a former student who is hired by Kinsey to help conduct his research, provides a glimpse at what it must have been like to be a member of Kinsey’s staff, and a member of his ‘Inner Circle’.

The book led me to dig deeper. The movie Kinsey, starring Liam Neeson as Professor Kinsey, and the PBS American Experience documentary by the same name, were each good follow-ons to watch.

Despite its universal importance to the survival of our species, and the extra bonus that it’s also great fun, the taboos we wrap around ‘sex’ confront us daily. Some may be reasonable, and many are not. The Inner Circle was a good read, and a fascinating look at a man who tried to tear down some of these taboos, and the consequences that can accompany such efforts.

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Time Capsule

Diversions, Home
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I like time capsules. The idea of taking some items, and stashing them away in a place where they are unlikely to be disturbed for a very long time, in the hopes that someday in the future, someone will discover them, really appeals to me. Home construction always offers good opportunities to create a time capsule. We buried one under the slab at our first home in Lake Ridge, and the sub-floor in the basement has some stuff stashed under it. And so we took the opportunity to bury another one underneath the newly poured concrete slab for the addition that we’ve putting on our house.

But the preparation of our time capsule came with some unexpected pressure to make it profound. I hold no expectation of competing with King Tut’s tomb or anything, but what if you write a letter to the future and sound like an ass? Or the treasure trove of trinkets is found to be less than museum worthy? Whatever, I’ll be dead. Then again, they might use the enclosed hair sample to resurrect me, just to mock me for my lame time capsule. We’ll see.

Update: I’ve had my first regret over something I should have included in the Time Capsule, but didn’t. A copy of The Constitution. One needs to be stashed away for safekeeping somewhere!

Here’s the whole inventory of what I included. May be it a worthy find some day…

Family photo w/Family Group Sheet
CD – The Casey Family Tree
2005 School photos of Katie, Will & Colleen
Letters from Chris, Will & Colleen Casey

Collection of Chris’ business cards
CaseyDorin Internet Productions Post-It note pad

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News Headlines compiled by Colleen, 6/19/2006
Washingtonpost.com front page, 6/20/2006
Google News front page, 6/20/2006

Sutton Impact Cartoon, 6/19/2006

Hair samples from Chris & Colleen Casey
(for future cloning. Will refused to part with any of his hair except for a single strand which is loose in the capsule. He was concerned it’s amazing powers might overwhelm the people of the future.)

Cubs ‘Believe’ wrist band
‘Support Our Troops’ wrist band

FPYC 2006 All-Star Soccer Father’s Day Tournament Patch

No ‘W’ sticker
John Kerry for President button
‘I VOTED’ sticker from 2006 Virginia Primary
‘Lefty’ a foam donkey mascot from my company, NGP Software

Two Dollar Bill – 1976
Virginia Commemorative Quarter – 2000
New Jefferson Nickel – 2005
One 1965 Penny (the year Chris was born)
One 1996 Penny (the year Colleen was born)
Three 2006 Pennies

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Greetings from Las Vegas

Travel
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It’s Friday afternoon at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas and I’m hear attending the first YearlyKos Convention. It’s been fascinating so far. Right now California Senator Barbara Boxer is delivering the lunchtime keynote. Earlier this morning Ambassador Joe Willson was among those on a panel discussion about the White House outing of his wife’s identiy as a covert CIA agent.

Two nights of evening receptions, and probably a little gambling, to go. When I have more photos, I’ll add a link here.

UPDATE: OK, a growing photo album has been posted.

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The Fragrant Slug

Rants

To the woman who caught a ride into the city with me this morning. Manners prevented me from saying this to you directly, but it must be said. Ease up on the perfume, please! Five minutes into our commute, my nose was irritated and I had a bad taste in my mouth. Soon I was feeling dizzy, and a headache began to take root. By the time we crossed the 14th Street Bridge, I was nauseous and had chest pains. Yes, chest pains. It was a 40-minute long assault on my senses, a personal gas chamber, a commuting nightmare. After you got out of the car, I commented to our rear seat passenger that we’d be wearing your fragrance all day, and he allowed as how he was also feeling nauseous. I can only hope that whatever odor you were attempting to mask would have been worse. Regardless, your attempt to smell nice is a miserable failure.

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666

Diversions

Today is 6-6-06, BFD!

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But Kudos to the marketers to the remake of the movie The Omen, for choosing today to release their remake of the classic move about the antichrist. They deserve credit for capitalizing on a coincidental date, that matches a symbolic bogey-man, from a book that many take as the word of God, to sell movie tickets. It’s great. But it does make me feel old to see they are re-making a movie that came out in my lifetime. Meanwhile, others agonize about how the movie version of The Da Vinci Code is blasphemous, dangerous, or whatever.

If only getting mad about a movie was as far as we allowed our irrational beliefs to take us. The book I’ve just started reading, The End of Faith, offers this interesting bit of perspective:

Imagine a world in which generations of of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything – anything – be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in.

Anyway, believe what you like, but do me a favor and don’t kill me for not sharing them. And yes, that goes for you too beast.

with thanks to Chuq for the fun 666 link

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Worst President Ever

News, Politics
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America comes to this realization too late to spare us this second term we’re currently suffering through. But perhaps in time to strike some balance by taking away Bush’s lapdog Republican Congress… we have to remain hopeful. Failing that, all that will remain is the cleanup of his mess, and the bad memory of the Bush era.

Bush Tops List As U.S. Voters Name Worst President

Quinnipiac University, 6/1/06

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A Christopher Comeback?

Diversions

A year ago I wrote about the dropping popularity of the name Christopher, the name having dropped to the #10 spot in the list of Most Popular Baby Names for 2004.

But there is good news to report. The Most Popular Baby Names for 2005 list has been released, and I’m happy to report that Christopher has climbed back into the #9 spot!

When we reach #1, it will be the greatest comeback in popular names history.

with thanks to Chris Massicotte for spotting this happy trend

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Find-A-Grave

Genealogy, Guide to Life, Web Surfin'

findagrave.jpgFor me, one of the most satisfying parts of my hobby of exploring family history is finding and visiting the burial sites of my relatives. And I have a growing album of photos from such visits. While these visits sometimes can provide new information, more importantly they give me a sense of connection and satisfaction. Regardless of anyone’s individual beliefs in an afterlife, I know that one sure way to live on after death is in the memories of others. And I like that.

As nice as these cemetery visits are, it’s not always possible to make them. And that’s where a great site for Genealogists and Graveyard enthusiasts can be a big help. Find-A-Grave is a virtual cemetery in which information matching burials in real world cemeteries. For example, you can find information about my brother Sean, and my Great Grandmother Myrtle on the site.

One feature that’s available on Find-A-Grave is to request a photo. If there is a burial for which you’re interested in seeing a headstone photo, you can submit your request on the site. The request will be sent to registered users who have agreed to be photo volunteers that live near that cemetery. I have submitted a few such requests, but to earn the favor, I wanted to do the same for someone else. And I recently got the opportunity when a request to visit Hardens Hill Cemetery and photograph a particular headstone arrived in my email.

Thanks to the Google Map that showed the location, it was easy to find our way to Harden’s Hill Cemetery, unexpectedly nestled in some woods at the end of a cul-de-sac in a development just minutes from our home. My daughter Colleen joined me on the hunt, and we quickly found our subject, Theodore Reid. I took a bunch of photos, and added all of them to the appropriate internments on Find-A-Grave. The oldest burial we spotted at Harden’s Hill was in 1905, the most recent in 2005. And by the flowers all about, it was obvious this is not a forgotten cemetery. But even when there’s not human visitors, we learned that there are others keeping watch.

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