This page contains all entries posted to Manufactured Environments in June 2005.

Austin Skyline

Austin Skyline, originally uploaded by dstout.

A night photo taken in downtown Austin, Texas after we were walking back from watching 1.5 million bats fly out from the Congress Avenue Bridge at dusk.

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Is unionization a good thing?

That’s what people are asking at my university. There’s a move to unionize us “Professional & Scientific” staff. The only P&S staff who are currently unionized are the nurses at the university hospital. SEIU Local 199 is looking to band people together. I’ve been getting lots of emails and stuff in the mail regarding this issue. What do you think? Should professional university employees unionize?

To clarify, we have three classifications of staff: merit (who are trades people, secretaries, etc.), p&s, and faculty. As of this afternoon, it looks like it became a moot point for me anyway. I have supervisory duties and my job classification has been lumped into the “excluded” managerial group. So even if we get a union, I won’t be a part of it.

There are some groups who feel strongly that the union shouldn’t come to the University of Iowa. There are the Just Vote No and Stop The Union folks.

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Beware: A Tale of Sin

Howdy, y’all. We’re all back safe and sound from the Austin trip. Took a few photos and might put one or two online when we get the time. Lest y’all think that the mighty Manufacturers have gone all soft with food and drink, I just wanted to point out that we mightily paid for our sins. This being then a tale of mortification of the flesh….

There we sit by the slippery surface of the porcelain toilet. We look at our watch. It is 2:30am. “Oh, yes, we have sinned,” we say. “Let our sin come forth from our mouths and spew, yes, SPEW into the empty vessel before us.”

We look at our watch. It is 4:40am. “Please let it come.”

A crack of light comes through the hotel window.

We look at our watch. It is 6:30am. “I can stand it no longer!” With that, we give a heave and out comes the vomitus. First in spurts, then in torrents. The dead remains from deep within come boiling forth. We are heaving, crying, screaming.

And so began two days of misery for us at the Austin Hilton.

Just wanted to let you know.

(We’re much better now. Thanks for asking.)

(By the way, this entry is dedicated to Warren Ellis who feels that people who write about quizzes and books should be “fucked.” Yes, we were “fucked,” but it only took two days from us. And now, having paid our debt to the god of diarrhea & vomit, we are ready to kick some muthafucking ass. Cheers. To. Creative. Writing. Adieu.)

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Video Warehouse Update (Decorah, IA)

I may not have Video Warehouse to kick around anymore, because, ladies and gentlemen, they lost their lease and everything must go.

“The current Video Warehouse building has been donated to Vesterheim by Dave and Brenda Carlson of Decorah as part of a $240,000 gift to the museum.”

“Vesterheim gets city, county support.” Decorah News 21 Jun 2005. 24 Jun 2005 <http://www.decorahnews.com/06-21vesterheim.html>

There is no word on a new location and it is unclear if there are definitely plans to find a new location.

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All is cool in Austin

We’re rocking out to some ancient Archers of Loaf track at the moment here on the 18th floor of some building in downtown Austin, Texas. Speaking of Archers of Loaf, we’ve been partaking of some of the great live music here. Our favorite so far is Ruthie Foster. Ruthie gave a great performance the other night. She’s somewhere between alt-country, folk, and r&b. Her music made us feel good. She’s got a bassist and a great slide guitarist backing her up. Very good stuff. Ruthie records for the Blue Corn label.

As shown in the photo above, we were dancing the night away with fellow conference attendees at the University of Texas alumni center. Duck Soup, a local dance band, did a fine job of providing the entertainment.

I’m hoping to get to Waterloo Records in the next day or two.

At any rate, 6th Street is where the action is. We had dinner here, and we’re having breakfast here. If you’re looking for BBQ, we can heartily recommend both Iron Works and Stubb’s.

Okay, that’s the groove here in Austin.

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Video Warehouse and Customer Service

“Section 714.1 of the Iowa Code provides that failure to return property within 72 hours after the end of the rental period shall be evidence of theft.”

Video Warehouse Rental Invoice

Everytime I rent a video from Video Warehouse, a reminder of Section 714.1 of the Iowa Code is printed on my invoice. This in itself is not so bad. But, when I fail to return a movie by 6:00pm the next day, I always receive by a message on my answering machine accusing me of video rental property theft and reminding me that a person who obtains or retains possession of video rental property and holds it past it’s due date does so with the intent to deprive the owner of the use of the property. The criminal charges for property up to $100 in value is a simple misdemeanor. Theft of video rental property between $100 and $500 in value is a serious misdemeanor, and theft of video rental property between $500 and $1000 in value is an aggravated misdemeanor. I appreciate the reminder. I don’t appreciate the tone and have a difficult time believing other customers appreciate it either.

Note to Fridley Theatres (owners of Video Warehouse):

Failure to constantly remind customers of Section 714.1 shall be evidence of treating them like people instead of felons. Ever wonder why so many people have signed up for Netflix?

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1980’s clip of Huey Meaux on Austin’s KUT

I wonder if Huey Meaux is out of prison and back on the air in Austin, Texas. If not, perhaps he should procure the services of Thomas Mesereau Jr. If so, I wonder if, as Mr. Stout samples Austin area radio (perhaps while trying to get to sleep), he will happen upon the Crazy Cajun. Regardless, here is a clip from the WFMU Aircheck archives of Huey Meaux circa the 1980’s:

Huey Meaux on KUT (RealAudio format)

It is three in the morning, he is in quite a mood, and is desperate to have the people of Austin call into his show. I have never heard anyone so desperate spend so long begging listeners to call. I am not really sure why he wants people to call. He doesn’t talk to them, put them on their air, or take their requests. Perhaps he simply did want to prove, to himself or the station’s manager, that people were still listening after broadcast hours. Wasn’t Arbitron around back then? Did Huey expected to get paid for the overtime? Was there really still a person there answering the phones? Did the person answering the phones expect to get paid for the overtime? What was the manager doing at the station at 3:00am on a Sunday morning? Was this overtime sponsored?

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Work & Play

We’re here in the lobby of the downtown Austin Hilton. Texas has been warm and welcoming to us. We appreciate the southern hospitality. At any rate, this visit is a little bit of work and a little bit of play. Presently we’re focused on the work bit, but soon shall come play.

In the meantime, we’re hoping Faust will pick up some slack and keep this blog moving into the 21st century. (Suggestion to Faust: Write an educational post about philosophy, possibly answering the question: Why should we [whoever we is] listen to philosophers or worse yet guide our lives by things they say?)

If you’re in Austin, give us a call at the Hilton, and we’ll meet and drink some blogger coffee.

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Murray Saul Revisited

If you didn’t run to your radio (internet or terrestrial) to hear Aircheck’s Murray Saul show last night, you can continue to take your sweet time doing so. It was a full hour of nothing but “It’s FRIIIIDAYYYYY!” rants calling listeners to throw off the slave master’s reins and participate in some sort of dissipation, at least for the weekend. I suspect the show was simply the The Get Downs, Vol. 1 , with minor edits to accommodate the FCC’s current, more stringent, unwritten standards for decency.

Murray Saul’s rants are pretty entertaining and I can definitely see how they struck a chord with listeners. But a full hour of rant after foaming at the mouth, growling rant is bit tiring. After all, these were things to look forward to after a long week of working for the slave master. They were a five minute calls to the weekend and a celebration of it’s freedom. It is like John Belushi yelling “Food Fight!” I love it. I just don’t love a full hour of it. I am sure the CD and the show gave Murray’s fans just what they wanted, a whole bunch of those wonderful rants. But for the uninitiated who is wondering what all the fuss was about, the hour gets long pretty quickly.

Now where did I put those Animal Stories LPs?

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Aircheck returns to WFMU’s summer schedule with Murray Saul

Do you love classic radio? I’m not necessarily talking about the nostalgic Chuck Schaden golden age of radio stuff. I am talking about personality driven radio from likes of Jean Shepherd, Bob Lassiter, Frankie Crocker, Frank MacCormack, Bobby Crane, or Jim Hawthorne. Well, if you do, you won’t want to miss Aircheck’s return to WFMU tonight from 6pm—7pm (EST).

Tonight’s show features Murray Saul.

Through the 1970’s this excitable WMMS Cleveland DJ weaved a tapestry of bellowing salutes to the upcoming weekend, literally frothing at the mic and covering it with saliva during his deep contemplations and freeform spieling on what the “Chocolate Covered Weekend meant” as well as celebrating the en masse release from the Chains of the Slavedriver. For years we knew him only as the “It’s FRIIIIDAYYYYY!” guy, until finally landing his identity and recordings.

Archives for Aircheck

The only Murray Saul (a.k.a. Murray the K?) I think I have ever heard before is off of Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years. He is the one who annouces Devo before their four song, Halloween 1975 set. BTW, they were opening for none other than Sun Ra. I can’t wait to hear more Murray Saul tonight.

If you miss it, make sure to check this and other shows out in the Aircheck archives.

Audio Update

• Aircheck’s Murray Saul Show (June 16, 2005) [RealAudio]
• Aircheck’s 5 minutes of unknown 70’s DJ. (June 19, 2002) [RealAudio]
• Boing Boing’s Wacked MP3: Murray Saul “It’s Friday!” [MP3]
• Numbskull’s “Murray Saul Boogie” [MP3] - a wonderfully fitting tribute song by a band on Smog Veil Records that you could also easily file under In The Red Records, Sympathy For The Record Industry, and/or Crypt Records.

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Jobs: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs of Apple Computer & Pixar gave the commencement address at Stanford University this past Saturday. Jobs, a college dropout, shared some personal stories about his experiences over the years. They make for an interesting read. The entire text of the commencement speech has been posted online. Or view this video excerpt. Mr. Jobs tells three stories in his speech. The first story is about connecting the dots. The second story is about love and loss. And the third story is about death. Apparently he is feeling the urgency to share what he’s learned from life since his bout with pancreatic cancer last year.

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Where the hell is Austin?

We’re going to be packing it up soon and taking the Manufactured Environments show on the road to Austin, Texas. We’re looking forward to spending some time down there. To whet your appetite for good things to come from Austin, we’d like to present a fabulous link sent to us by Faust of Amanda Congdon of Rocketboom having a fine time dancing at the sights in Austintown. This video put a big smile on our face, and we hope it does yours too. Enjoy!

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Book Meme of the Day

Caterina passed the baton on the latest meme du jour about books. So here goes:

Total number of books I’ve owned:

I currently own about 600 books but have owned many more over the years.

Last book I bought:

The last book I bought, which was yesterday, was Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi. Thanks to T+T for the Barnes & Noble gift card. Never Eat Alone is a business book on networking. It looks to be very interesting, and I look forward to reading it.

Last book I read:

Given the following category, I’ll take this one to mean: what are you currently reading? Right now I’m doing a little remedial reading in a book published by Apple Computer called The Objective-C Programming Language in preparation to read Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (2nd ed.) by Aaron Hillegass.

Last book I finished:

Mervat returned from Egypt a few days ago, and she was kind enough to bring me a couple of books to read. One that I read immediately was The Call of the Curlew by Taha Hussein (biography here).

Five books that mean a lot to me:

Like Caterina I find this to be a difficult one. I feel that way whenever someone asks me what music I like. I want to reply: do you have a few hours for me to answer this question?

At any rate, I’ll try and cobble down a list here:

1. The Stranger by Albert Camus. This made a huge impact on me when I first read it in high school. It’s a short book, but it totally floored me. I think it helped that I was reading the Matthew Ward translation, which was a lot more visceral than the traditional Stuart Gilbert translation.
2. Walk When the Moon Is Full by Frances Hamerstrom. I had this book when I was growing up and few books meant so much to me as this one. My father had met the author out on the marshes one day as a young man, and maybe it was the personal connection that my parents had to the author that made it so important to me. A great book for children.
3. Neuromancer by William Gibson. I read this book in 1992 when I was in college, and it was another book that totally knocked me over. Gibson is one of my favorite writers, and I’ve read all of his books. Visually, think Blade Runner or The Matrix.
4. The Plays of Oscar Wilde. There’s nothing better than witty conversation, and there’s nobody better at writing it than Oscar Wilde. These plays reveal both his clever mind and his big heart. The 5 plays contained in this Vintage edition are his best works in my opinion.
5. The Love Space Demands: A Continuing Saga by Ntozake Shange. This list wouldn’t be whole without a book of poetry. Here’s a book by an African American woman poet that really sings. I remember letters to the editor being written when I read one of Shange’s poems live on KWLC, but she’s an awesome writer—very artistic and very poetic.

So that’s it. What books have you been into lately? What books mean a lot to you?

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What philosophy do you follow?

In the Quest for a Better Test, today we examine a quiz entitled “What philosophy do you follow?” If you find yourself amused by this sort of thing, which apparently I am, feel free to take the quiz yourself (see link below). We’d like our blogga’ friends, especially Sam, to take the quiz too. Wouldn’t that be fun? Rock on.

Without further ado, here is how I scored on today’s Quest for a Better Test:

You, Daniel R Stout, scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”
—Jean-Paul Sartre

“It is man’s natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”
—Blaise Pascal

Your scores:

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)

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Self-Referential Aptitude Test

Jim Propp, an associate professor of math at the University of Wisconsin, devised a clever little multiple choice logic test. He calls it a self-referential aptitude test. Enjoy!

Some folks also devised an interactive version of the test over here if you’re into that sort of thing.

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Reading Books in Los Angeles

Dana made us laugh about life in L.A. On her list of resolutions is:

5. read more books. and by “books” i mean “magazines” and by “magazines” i mean “billboards” because let’s face it, i live in los angeles so give me a freaking break already.

So true. The last time we were in Los Angeles we spent time at Skylight Books in Los Feliz, but we spent a lot more time here and here.

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A new book by Laura and William Gentry

Laura Gentry and her husband William have a new book out called Living Word that I think you’ll enjoy. It’s a series of photographs of people each wearing a white t-shirt with one word printed on the front. The Gentry’s asked their subjects to name one word that defined them and that is the word on the shirt. There are also texts next to each photo describing each person in their own words.

It’s all a very interesting art project, and we’re happy to see some familiar faces amongst the photos. We congratulate Laura and William on their latest project. We also heartily apologize to Laura for any undue noise and whatnot emanating from third floor Larsen and disturbing her studies when she lived below us on second floor.

Now that we’ve established contact again we sincerely hope that the Gentry’s will keep all of us here at Manufactured Environments appraised of their projects.

That said, the word that came to mind that describes me is ebullient. That is what came to mind first. Ahoy!

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