Here’s another in a series of posts featuring wisdom ripped from the history books that, for whatever reason, speaks to me.

I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.

These, of course, are the words of Clara Barton, best known for organizing the American Red Cross, but also one of those wonderful historical rabble-rousers with her hands in everything from the women’s suffrage to the civil rights movement; one of those great people who inspired that bumper sticker I shamelessly used as the title for this post.

I’m a big fan of the sentiment expressed in her words; too many of the world’s problems, large or small, personal or public, are the result of people being too hide-bound by tradition or precedent to even conceive of the idea that they might be able to do something to change things for the better.

I can only hope that we all might aspire to look at the world through that lens, challenging the status quo where we see things like inequality and injustice, regardless of how entrenched the current ways of doing things are.

Linking to that Rebecca Black video on Friday was, in hindsight, a mistake.

I say this because Catherine saw it, and for some reason (most likely the simplistic, monotonous lyrics which are almost ready for Sesame Street, except that Sesame Street lyrics are generally clever and novel), she spent the entire weekend singing it and demanding to watch it.

Yes, Ms. Black’s recitation of the days of the week and paean to indecision regarding seating arrangements has supplanted Cat Flushing the Toilet in popularity with a certain pre-schooler.

I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out that means.

This probably isn’t a traditional proverb, but you know what? It really ought to be:

The long, hard, road to seeking resolution truly begins with the difficult steps of admitting to yourself that your actions were inappropriate, and then telling the harmed party, bluntly and without embellishment or expectation, that you realize you committed the offending action, and that said action was unjust.

Only after recognizing and admitting openly one’s transgression can one seek forgiveness for it. Otherwise, the apology is meaningless.

In other words, don’t go apologizing without first figuring out what it was you’re really apologizing for in the first place, and then owning up to it.

It’s been a long week, forgive me for just going for the cheap, ironic internet meme.

Here are some tunes that are generally better than the one I’m invoking:

1. “I think I’m Paranoid” – Garbage
2. “I Pity The Fool” – Molly Lewis
3. “Kamera” – Wilco
4. “Like O, Like H” – Tegan and Sara
5. “Sad Transmission” – The Raveonettes
6. “I Can Do Better” – Avril Lavigne
7. “Cadence to Arms (live)” – Dropkick Murphys
8. “Damnation” – Gaia Epicus
9. “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” – The Beatles
10. “Swallow” – The Wailin’ Jennys

♫gotta make my mind up, which seat can I take?♫

♫partyin’ partyin’ yeah♫

I missed posting on the actual vernal equinox, but all things being equal (HA!), I’m not particularly worried. I spent some pleasant time on Saturday afternoon riding the trails along the James, enjoying the pleasant warm springtime weather and the general majesty of nature, running in the bike after a welcome tune-up, and working toward knocking off the next ten or fifteen pounds, which, if nothing else, will make me feel better about myself, which I guess is obliquely related to the whole concept of spring renewal and rebirth, if you squint at the idea just right.

Oh, and I’m rather sure amongst all the cranes and waterfowl and turtles and raptors and squirrels I regularly see on my rides through this particular park, I saw a cavorting river otter, which, frankly, made my day, in the midst of a weekend that was compared to others in recent memory, pretty damned good, overall, for a variety of reasons.

Between playing Rock Band: Beatles late into the night with friends on Friday, and watching The Prisoner finale on Saturday afternoon, I’ve had “All You Need Is Love” running through my head all morning, usually paired with the indelible image of Patrick McGoohan with a Thompson submachine gun.

At least this earworm is more palatable than the previous one, that Britney Spears tune currently circulating where she just rips off the Bellamy Brothers…badly and without shame, her producers confident that none of her “fans” would be the wiser.

Since I’m in a mobile (but not really) sort of mood this morning, here’s ten more tunes off of my pandora “quick mix” channel:

1. “Save Me” – Queen
2. “In Your Eyes” – Peter Gabriel
3. “Paper Gangsta” – Lady GaGa
4. “Love Bites” – Def Leppard
5. “Waking Up In Vegas” – Katy Perry
6. “Minneapolis” – That Dog
7. “The Town Crotch” – Jonathan Coulton
8. “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight” – R.E.M.
9. “Sattelite” – THe Hooters
10. “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight” – The Cutting Crew

Still awfully close to the stuff I actually have channels set up for; but that’s okay. In general, I set channels up for given artists because I like them, but I also want to hear stuff that’s similar to them. Discovery is fun!

Now, after all this other stuff this morning’s wrapped up, I need to go dust off my dice and a couple of board games…

I’ve had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this Monday-to-Friday Island!

Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day, everyone.

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if you need a little help, take a look here and here. Though you don’t need any help, do you?

Happy π (Pi) Day.

Please observe a moment of silence (or 26 of them*) at 1:59pm.

Mmmmmm. Pie.

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* I don’t really have to explain this, do I? If I do, then here.

A couple of discussion points within the geek milieu that I’ve run into in the last couple of days:

♦ – Kill a few minutes by playing URL Hunter, an experimental game played entirely in your browser’s address bar.

♦ – Stan Lee finally puts to rest the “superhero secret” from Mallrats. His answer is pretty much what we all expected. Mr. Lieber, you are indeed a national treasure.

♦ – Monsters proves that you can make an effective kaiju film on a severely limited budget. How you do it, of course, is to essentially make Before Sunrise, only set it in the middle of a battle with giant monsters in the South American jungle instead of Prague in the early 90s. You wouldn’t think this works, but it really, really does.

♦ – It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one out there who has a nostalgic affection for the live action Masters of the Universe film. What makes me kind of sad is that I just missed an MSTK-style screening of the film at my local historic movie house.

♦ – Doctor Who: Series Five plays just as well, if not better, on subsequent viewings, especially now that I have the Blu-Ray discs. I’m about half-way through now, and knowing how it ends up, I’m quite impressed with how well the whole thing hangs together and threads back on itself almost seamlessly. It’s also pretty much official; Matt Smith has become my favorite Doctor.

♦ – It’s also a good feeling to be able to make someone’s day by sharing large stacks of sometimes difficult to find British television with someone who’ll truly enjoy it.

“Good Journey” everyone.