Listening to my MP3 collection on shuffle is a jarring experience.  Think Sarah McLachlan followed by the Beastie Boys… 

This guy obviously wasn’t thinking very far ahead.

A motorist’s bail was revoked when police said he had the daring to show up drunk to his preliminary hearing on drunken driving charges.

Emerson Moore Jr., 46, of Caernarvon Township, was awaiting his hearing before Muhlenberg Township District Justice Dean R. Patton when Moore got into an argument with state police Trooper Roberto Soto, officials said.

Soto, who had arrested Moore in the drunken-driving case June 20, smelled alcohol on Moore’s breath as the two stood in the hallway outside Patton’s courtroom, officials said.

Moore, who had driven himself to court, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent, police said. The legal limit for driving in Pennsylvania is 0.08 percent.

Patton revoked Moore’s bail and sent him to Berks County Prison on $2,500 bail. He also will be cited for public drunkenness, he said.

“You don’t show up drunk for a preliminary hearing, especially when it’s a drunk-driving case,” Patton said. “I asked him what he was thinking and he said, ‘You told me I could drink at home.’”

Sounds like he was suffering from a major case of dumbass.

It was also nice to come back to the whole Rathergate thing.  The only way I knew anything was going on was when I read Glenn Reynolds.  It’s kind of interesting to see this thing unfold in reverse chronological order.

I went to the range last night at Bass Pro.  Next to Bass Pro is Big Buck’s restaurant.  They have TVs in the restroom (at least in the men’s room, I can’t say whether there are any in the lady’s room).  I couldn’t help but notice Dan Rather looking a bit unhappy on last night’s news as I walked by. 

I look forward to much future discomfort for Rather, although I doubt that he’ll ever come out and admit his bias.  We might, if we’re lucky, get a ‘we were duped’ confession at some point.  Of course, if he does admit error, I’ll only find out about it through weblogs.  I can’t stand to watch the national news anymore.  It raises my blood pressure and scares the dog (she thinks I’m yelling at her).

Here’s just one more reason to be wary of extremely loud music.

Blasting music can be hard on the ears and the neighbors, and now researchers say it can also pack enough punch to collapse a lung.

Reporting in the medical journal Thorax, they describe the cases of four young men who suffered a lung collapse—technically called pneumothorax—that appeared to be triggered by loud music. Three of the men were at a concert or club when the pneumothorax occurred, while the fourth was in his car, which was outfitted with a 1,000-watt bass box because he “liked to listen to loud music.”

I can recall several times where I could feel extremely loud bass in my chest.  It actually made me feel a little short of breath.  I’ve also noticed something similar at the range when someone beside me is shooting one of those monster hand cannons.  The article mentions that the problem seems to affect tall, thin male smokers most.  I guess this is one of the few times that being a short, fat guy has its advantages.

I originally mentioned this case in July.  Now it appears that a resolution has been reached.

EULESS – The flap is over in the Heritage Place neighborhood. American flags can now fly free.

Homeowners voted Monday to revise a deed restriction and allow flags to be flown as long as they are not larger than 5 feet by 8 feet, and not faded or damaged.

Of course, not everyone is happy.  It seems that a few people are miffed that their petty tyranny was exposed for all to see.

Tensions remained high Monday night. Many homeowners expressed frustration about the media attention, and at least two people walked out of the meeting at the Midway Recreation Center.

“This is creating nothing but animosity between all of our neighbors,” said one resident who declined to identify herself.

They may also be unhappy that their actions have spawned potential state legislation to bar any homeowners assocation from preventing the American flag from being flown. 

This post at Across the Atlantic pointed out how the cleaning crew accidentally threw away a piece of “artwork.”

A bag of rubbish that was part of a Tate Britain work of art has been accidentally thrown away by a cleaner.

The bag filled with discarded paper and cardboard was part of a work by Gustav Metzger, said to demonstrate the “finite existence” of art.

It was thrown away by a cleaner at the London gallery, which subsequently retrieved the damaged bag.

Hmmm…  Seems to me that if you can’t tell it’s art, then perhaps it really isn’t art, then is it?  Anyhow, this reminded me of some Blog Ads for Quent Cordair Fine Art that have been running recently on Instapundit. 

In particular, the work of Han Wu Shen really caught my eye.  For example, consider his piece titled “Lying Woman”:

To me, this is actual art.  Here you can see the work of someone who has taken the time to apply considerable skill in creating this painting.  Throwing together a partially shredded nylon wall hanging and a bag of garbage is not art.  Soaking something in feces or urine is not art.  Frankly, I’m starting to wonder if most of modern art is contrived as a snow job to try to scam the public into continuing to support a bunch of talentless hacks.

Call me old fashioned if you will, but I think art should attempt to represent something, real or imagined.  I suspect that Han Wu Shen and the rest of the artists with Quent Cordair’s gallery have probably forgotten more about art than Gustav Metzger ever knew.

It just seems like there isn’t anything that the perpetually offended classes won’t find an excuse to gripe about.

Miller Brewing is celebrating the “50th Anniversary of Rock ‘n’ Roll” with eight commemorative beer cans that feature Rolling Stone cover shots of Elvis Presley, Blondie and others.

What’s missing, some say, is a black artist.

Robert Thompson, a pop-culture professor at Syracuse University, called the absence “beyond conspicuous,” since black artists are often credited with inventing rock ‘n’ roll.

“It would be like doing a set of cans of six great Impressionist painters and not including any French people on it,” he said. “It leaves out an enormous amount.”

While it’s easy for people like this to look for the racist boogeyman under every rock, the truth in this situation is far less sinister.

“We didn’t even consciously think pro or con, the same way that the only woman on there is Blondie. We just went with the people that we thought were appropriate,” he said. “We went through [the covers] and said, ‘These people we don’t think are appropriate or wouldn’t appeal to Miller drinkers.’ “

Miller spokesman Scott Bussen said that the company started with a broad wish list but that its choices were limited to Rolling Stone covers.

…

Miller spokeswoman Molly Reilly said, “These are the artists that gave us approval to use their images on the beer cans.”

This morning’s coverage of this wreck reminded me of something I once heard a cop say.  He thought that the flashing emergency lights on police cars and fire trucks were like magnets to drunks.  Something about the flashing lights just seems to draw them in.

That got me to thinking.  Someone could set up dummy lights on water barrels beside the road and activate them around 2:00am.  I wonder if that would lure drunks into crashing into the barrels?  Perhaps it would prevent them from hitting innocent drivers (or cops who seem to get hit by a drunk about once a month around the DFW area).

A local woman in Euless has learned that she is not allowed to fly the American flag at her home because of the rules of the homeowners association. 

The American flag cannot fly on Patriot Street, Colonial Lane or anywhere else in the Heritage Place subdivision.

It’s a rule homeowner Linda Martin would like to see waived.

A few weeks after Martin moved into her new villa-style home in June on Republic Drive, she received a letter from the Heritage Place Homeowners Association requesting that she remove her U.S. flag. The letter said the flag violated efforts “to preserve and maintain the property values” in the subdivision.

Martin had been flying a 4-by-6-foot flag on a pole attached to her fence for the Fourth of July and to show respect for the troops and for her son in the Navy.

“I would have never guessed in a million years that a homeowners association would restrict a United States flag on a holiday,” she said.

Martin dusted off the manual of covenants she had set aside after she moved in and discovered that she had, in fact, violated the rules.

At least she admits that she hadn’t fully read the rules and was violating them.  However, I think this sort of thing just further illustrates why I’ll never buy a house where there’s a homeowners association.  These associations always seem to be populated by petty little martinets who get a rush from the power they hold over the homeowners. 

So why don’t they want people to fly flags? 

Flags are restricted for aesthetic reasons because people often neglect them, Weber said. The deed restrictions are standard, and use of flags was not an issue until 9-11, she said.

After Martin received the letter dated July 6, she said, she approached board members at a meeting.

They told her that if she wanted to fly an American flag, they would have to allow her neighbors to fly any flags, even Nazi or Ku Klux Klan ones, she said.

This one pegs my bullshit detector.  First, since they have a plethora of rules about the maintenance and appearance of homes, it would be a simple thing to make a rule that requires the flag to be well tended and in good condition.  Second, the association can create just about any rule it wants (it’s a private organization and isn’t covered by the First Amendment), so the idea that they would have to allow any other kind of flag just doesn’t seem to fly.  Being a private organization, with voluntary membership, they could surely write a rule that only allowed the American (and possibly Texas) flags to be flown.

Martin is not amused that an association created to protect the value of her home would go so far in restricting her freedom.

“People die in wars so that we can own homes and have a homeowners association,” she said.

Martin is working with a lawyer to request permission to fly a flag three days before and after a national holiday. Even though she loves her home, Martin said that if her request is denied, she will probably move out in a few years.

“And I will never live in a community with a homeowners association again,” she said.

It sounds like she’s learned an expensive lesson about avoiding these petty little martinets in the future.

So the New York protesters are demanding water and other amenities from the city now, eh?  It’s too bad I’m not the mayor or police comissioner.  I’d give them water.  Straight from the firehose.  Heck, it might even wash off some of the smell.