Harry Chapin was many things, with a hefty dose of political activism included with his musical talent. He touched on a number of political issues over the years, but the one he kept coming back to, again and again, was hunger. "There's enough food to feed everyone on this planet twice over. Why, why, why are people going hungry?"

This time of year, Harry would always talk about Thanksgiving food drives, when schools would ask kids to bring in canned goods and other food to share with the hungry. "Just imagine," Harry would suggest, a principal who would stand up after a successful food drive and after the holiday and say "What we're gonna talk about is 'What are those people gonna eat next week?'"

People are hungry all year. Thanks for remembering to share what you can, when you can.

Thanks to logan607 for sharing this collection of AT&T's iconic TV ads from 1993 about technology that seemed wildly futuristic 16 years ago -- and nearly all of it seems second nature now.

Recognize the voice? Took me a minute.

The Finger Lakes region is awash with controversy surrounding plans for natural gas drilling around Tompkins County and the Southern Tier. In fact, the likelihood that natural gas drilling is slated to occur near your home is quite high if you live between NYS Route 79 in Tompkins County and the Pennsylvania border.

It seems so improbable that protest and activism could put a stop to natural gas drilling in inhabited areas that it seems to me that the best approach is to lobby for tighter regulation on how and where it can be done, and what precautions must be taken. The author of this article says of the attempts to scare the community into action that "The misinformation is going to bite people in the butt when it comes to defending regulations."

http://magazine.14850.com/2009/1118naturalgas.html

Author Jeff Burk is offering a free download, today only, of his satirical novel about William Shatner. I downloaded it because Wil Wheaton mentioned it, then read the first line, laughed, and sent a donation to Jeff via PayPal.

Download and enjoy!

http://jeffburk.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/download-shatnerquake-for-free-today-only/

I ran into Chris (Dan's son) last night. I actually vaguely expected to see him downtown, and sure enough I did, when I was out helping Tammera (yes, that's really how she spells her name) celebrate her birthday. I'd peeked into Mahogany Grill to see if he was there (he used to bartend there) but it was an hour or so later, at the Ale House, that he showed up.

Chris told me I should come to the memorial service tomorrow (I missed the calling hours yesterday, having not heard about them until afterwards) but "don't wear black." He thinks his dad would've hated people wearing black. So, I'm going to see if I can find a red blazer; Dan was unsurprisingly often dressed in one red garment or another when I saw him, which was nearly always at something Cornell-related.

Chris is absolutely his father's son, fun-loving and just a little bit inappropriate when talking to or about women, but never in an actually disrespectful way. Everyone's comment the last few days has been that the two of them were so close. He's been working out of state the last several months, probably never imagining that his time with his father was limited. I was glad he made it back to town before Dan actually passed away, though I have no idea how aware Dan was after the stroke. His older brother just got to town yesterday, I gather; their sister lives here.

I've been mostly staring at this post for about an hour since I started writing it, thinking there's more to say, but it's not coming, so I'll stop here.

How appalling! It's taken two and a half years and I still haven't finished going through all of the pictures from my trip to France. At least all of the folders are labeled as to where we were, because I would no longer be able to tell at a glance, and would have to scratch my head over the itinerary.

The latest batch of photos uploaded to Flickr last night was taken in Reims, one of the ancient cities in the Champagne region of northern France. There are pictures of the Basilica Saint-Remi (at right), where the Saint's body is interred, of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Reims, and photos to come of the Palais du Tau. I think.

( Pictures from Reims... )

The next day we headed to Troyes, and I've got a few scenic roadside pictures, followed by some delicious-looking food that's making me drool -- but I can't remember where we ate it. Five days' worth of photos remain to edit and upload. Stay tuned!

Tags: france

As taken aback as I was at the e-mail arriving a short while ago to let me know that Dan Morris had died, I suppose I can't say the "sudden" passing of someone who's pushing 90 is that much of a shock. But even if he'd been asking for rides more so as not to have to drive after dark, it hadn't occurred to me that Dan wouldn't always be part of the Alumni Association board of directors, wouldn't always be showing up to nearly every event, wouldn't always be saying vaguely inappropriate things to attractive women.

I hear Dan's arm was bothering him more than usual on Friday night, and he had a stroke on Saturday before the Harvard game. Dan passed away yesterday.

The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
   for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
   of the big lake they call "Gitche Gumee."
"Superior," they said, "never gives up her dead
   when the gales of November come early!"

http://www.ssefo.com/

I'm planning on buying some cases of decent coffee that can be brewed in our office coffee pots, to supplement the supply of crappy coffee CIT provides, and after twittering about some Community Coffee last week, I've been in touch with their sales folks about what they can sell in such forms. They kindly offered to send me some samples, and I named a few I'd like to try brewing for folks here. Look what just showed up!

The nice Community Coffee folks have said I'm welcome to share their holiday-season promo code with you. Enter "HOLIDAY" to get 20% off your order. Or, right now, use promo code "JINGLE" to get free shipping for orders of $28 or more that includes any of their holiday gift sets. (I'm guessing you can only use one code.)