DJHJD
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Right after I get the subscription bill, he validates my paying for it AGAIN
By Bill in Portland Maine
on Cheers and Jeers
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Late Night Snark...with 100% Humidity
"President Bush is now in Japan for the big G-8 summit, which is going on right now. The G-8 Summit is where the world's top economies get together. The bad news: we are no longer one of them. I wouldn't say the U.S. economy is doing bad, but you know how Bush got to Japan? Southwest."
---Jay Leno
-
"On Fox News, Jesse Jackson was caught saying he wants to cut Barack Obama’s nuts off. This marks the nicest thing ever said about Barack Obama on Fox News."
---Conan O'Brien
-
"In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court overturned Washington, DC's ban on handguns! Finally, the residents of Washington, DC have the right to defend themselves---from each other, one assumes. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said, 'It is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.' He is right. Killing the Constitution is the president's job. The court's job is to overturn elections."
---Stephen Colbert
-
"Well, you know, Barack Obama, he's started a fashion craze in Italy. Italian designers have taken his look, and they're turning it into fashion. It's an amazing thing. But don't sell John McCain short. He's also influencing fashion. He has popularized the 'something on your chin' look."
---David Letterman
-
And the headline of the week: Bush addresses the Italian prime minister in Spanish: "Amigo! Amigo!"
Hey, America! When you're thinking about which candidate to vote for in November, remember: Republicans invented the punch clock, Democrats invented the weekend. Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
on Cheers and Jeers
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Late Night Snark...with 100% Humidity
"President Bush is now in Japan for the big G-8 summit, which is going on right now. The G-8 Summit is where the world's top economies get together. The bad news: we are no longer one of them. I wouldn't say the U.S. economy is doing bad, but you know how Bush got to Japan? Southwest."
---Jay Leno
-
"On Fox News, Jesse Jackson was caught saying he wants to cut Barack Obama’s nuts off. This marks the nicest thing ever said about Barack Obama on Fox News."
---Conan O'Brien
-
"In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court overturned Washington, DC's ban on handguns! Finally, the residents of Washington, DC have the right to defend themselves---from each other, one assumes. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said, 'It is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.' He is right. Killing the Constitution is the president's job. The court's job is to overturn elections."
---Stephen Colbert
-
"Well, you know, Barack Obama, he's started a fashion craze in Italy. Italian designers have taken his look, and they're turning it into fashion. It's an amazing thing. But don't sell John McCain short. He's also influencing fashion. He has popularized the 'something on your chin' look."
---David Letterman
-
And the headline of the week: Bush addresses the Italian prime minister in Spanish: "Amigo! Amigo!"
Hey, America! When you're thinking about which candidate to vote for in November, remember: Republicans invented the punch clock, Democrats invented the weekend. Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Saturday, July 05, 2008
The most appropriate
From the New Yorker
His earlier speaking ill of the not yet dead:
When a "colorful" celebrity has achieved some sort of sustained and nominally respectable worldly accomplishment (record sales, business success, public office), and has been around long enough to acquire the appealing vulnerability of old age, and has not been convicted of a capital crime, there's a powerful tendency to go all warm and fuzzy on him. So it is at the moment for Jesse Helms, the senior senator from North Carolina. With his announcement, last Wednesday, that he will not seek a sixth term next year, Helms became a certified legend—the feisty (but always courteous) conservative icon, the plainspoken Tarheel who never feared to be politically incorrect, the paragon of traditional values who always let you know where he stood and is destined to be remembered, as President Bush put it, as "a tireless defender of our nation's freedom and a champion of democracy abroad."
The strangest tribute came from Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and normally a levelheaded (if chronically puckish) observer. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Mead described Helms as "one of a handful of Southern statesmen who ensured the triumph of the civil rights revolution"—and not, as you might suppose, by provoking disgust and indignation among the fair-minded with the crude racism that was his stock-in-trade (along with an "anti-Communism" that treated liberal reform and Soviet tyranny as indistinguishable). According to Mead, the decisive contribution of Jesse Helms was that "once the civil rights legislation of the 1960s was enacted"—over Helms's unremitting and demagogic opposition, by the way—"he accepted the laws and obeyed them." Also, in edifying contrast to his counterparts of a century earlier, he refrained from "being directly and openly involved in the murder of black political leaders."
Talk about lowering the bar! But Helms never bothered with the soft bigotry of low expectations. He has always preferred the hard stuff, undiluted by the branch water of euphemism. Many of the Helms retrospectives of recent days have dated his entry into serious politics to 1960, when, after having spent most of his thirties as a banking lobbyist, he began delivering nightly five-minute commentaries on a Raleigh television station and on something called the Tobacco Radio Network—the job that propelled him into the Senate, twelve years later. But as far back as 1950, Helms, then twenty-eight, helped run what the Duke University historian William H. Chafe has called "the bitterest, ugliest, most smear-ridden campaign of modern times," the race to unseat Frank P. Graham, the former president of the University of North Carolina and probably the most distinguished North Carolinian ever to sit in the United States Senate. "The Graham campaign is generally viewed as the most pivotal in modern southern history since it set the precedent for the race-baiting and red-baiting tactics that were later employed so widely by politicians like Orval Faubus, George Wallace, and Jesse Helms," Chafe has written. "Helms, of course, helped invent these tactics." Over the succeeding half century, Helms changed but little. His own campaigns have invariably been powered by appeals to prejudice, racial and otherwise. In recent years the focus of his bigotry has shifted increasingly toward gays and lesbians. But his disdain for people of color (exemplified by his "humorous" habit, in private, of referring to any black person as "Fred") continues to find ways of expressing itself. He is the Senate's most reliable opponent of any measure aimed at securing the rights or improving the conditions of African-Americans. In 1994, when Nelson Mandela visited the Capitol, Helms ostentatiously turned his back on him.
* from the issue
* cartoon bank
* e-mail this
To be fair, the snub of the South African President probably had less to do with race per se than with foreign policy, the field in which Helms, who since 1986 has been either the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or its ranking Republican, has done his worst mischief. His vaunted anti-Communism was never based upon a principled belief in democracy. His support of the apartheid regime was of a piece with his enthusiasm for any dictatorship, no matter how brutal, that could plausibly be described as right wing. (He even supported the Argentine junta in the Falklands war with Britain.) He has crippled America's diplomatic corps, systematically starving the State Department of funds and capriciously blocking the confirmation of highly qualified ambassadorial nominees. But it is in his unrelenting hostility to international institutions that he has done his greatest and probably most lasting damage.
The gauzy story line of the past week requires Helms to have "mellowed," the main piece of evidence being his agreement, in 1999, to allow payment of some nine hundred million dollars of the $1.3 billion in back dues the United States then owed the United Nations. Never mind that it was he who had abused the rules of the Senate to hold up the payments in the first place, or that the United States was on the verge of being deeply embarrassed by losing its right to vote in the General Assembly. The real significance of the episode is that what was supposed to be legally binding has now been certified as volitional. A new "principle"—that the solemn obligations of the United States are subject to abrogation without notice by congressional ideologues—has become ever more entrenched. America's U.N. bill, by the way, remains unpaid; it now amounts to $2.3 billion, a record, thanks to the machinations of such mini-Helmses as Tom DeLay, the House majority whip. Helms's heirs now populate the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, too: the national-security apparatus of the Bush Administration is heavily salted with his former assistants. Little wonder that the Administration adds almost weekly to the long list of useful international treaties it proposes to reject, abrogate, or simply scrap. The retirement of Jesse Helms has been hailed (and mourned) as "the end of an era." If only that were true.
Dropping the Helmsman
Far too late for it to do anybody any good, Jesse Helms has died. He has done so on Independence Day, which, since he was born too late to own slaves and in too liberal an age to allow him to outlaw sedition, will forever be his only resemblance to Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
It is rude to speak ill of the dead. Luckily, I did so ahead of time.
His earlier speaking ill of the not yet dead:
When a "colorful" celebrity has achieved some sort of sustained and nominally respectable worldly accomplishment (record sales, business success, public office), and has been around long enough to acquire the appealing vulnerability of old age, and has not been convicted of a capital crime, there's a powerful tendency to go all warm and fuzzy on him. So it is at the moment for Jesse Helms, the senior senator from North Carolina. With his announcement, last Wednesday, that he will not seek a sixth term next year, Helms became a certified legend—the feisty (but always courteous) conservative icon, the plainspoken Tarheel who never feared to be politically incorrect, the paragon of traditional values who always let you know where he stood and is destined to be remembered, as President Bush put it, as "a tireless defender of our nation's freedom and a champion of democracy abroad."
The strangest tribute came from Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and normally a levelheaded (if chronically puckish) observer. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Mead described Helms as "one of a handful of Southern statesmen who ensured the triumph of the civil rights revolution"—and not, as you might suppose, by provoking disgust and indignation among the fair-minded with the crude racism that was his stock-in-trade (along with an "anti-Communism" that treated liberal reform and Soviet tyranny as indistinguishable). According to Mead, the decisive contribution of Jesse Helms was that "once the civil rights legislation of the 1960s was enacted"—over Helms's unremitting and demagogic opposition, by the way—"he accepted the laws and obeyed them." Also, in edifying contrast to his counterparts of a century earlier, he refrained from "being directly and openly involved in the murder of black political leaders."
Talk about lowering the bar! But Helms never bothered with the soft bigotry of low expectations. He has always preferred the hard stuff, undiluted by the branch water of euphemism. Many of the Helms retrospectives of recent days have dated his entry into serious politics to 1960, when, after having spent most of his thirties as a banking lobbyist, he began delivering nightly five-minute commentaries on a Raleigh television station and on something called the Tobacco Radio Network—the job that propelled him into the Senate, twelve years later. But as far back as 1950, Helms, then twenty-eight, helped run what the Duke University historian William H. Chafe has called "the bitterest, ugliest, most smear-ridden campaign of modern times," the race to unseat Frank P. Graham, the former president of the University of North Carolina and probably the most distinguished North Carolinian ever to sit in the United States Senate. "The Graham campaign is generally viewed as the most pivotal in modern southern history since it set the precedent for the race-baiting and red-baiting tactics that were later employed so widely by politicians like Orval Faubus, George Wallace, and Jesse Helms," Chafe has written. "Helms, of course, helped invent these tactics." Over the succeeding half century, Helms changed but little. His own campaigns have invariably been powered by appeals to prejudice, racial and otherwise. In recent years the focus of his bigotry has shifted increasingly toward gays and lesbians. But his disdain for people of color (exemplified by his "humorous" habit, in private, of referring to any black person as "Fred") continues to find ways of expressing itself. He is the Senate's most reliable opponent of any measure aimed at securing the rights or improving the conditions of African-Americans. In 1994, when Nelson Mandela visited the Capitol, Helms ostentatiously turned his back on him.
* from the issue
* cartoon bank
* e-mail this
To be fair, the snub of the South African President probably had less to do with race per se than with foreign policy, the field in which Helms, who since 1986 has been either the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or its ranking Republican, has done his worst mischief. His vaunted anti-Communism was never based upon a principled belief in democracy. His support of the apartheid regime was of a piece with his enthusiasm for any dictatorship, no matter how brutal, that could plausibly be described as right wing. (He even supported the Argentine junta in the Falklands war with Britain.) He has crippled America's diplomatic corps, systematically starving the State Department of funds and capriciously blocking the confirmation of highly qualified ambassadorial nominees. But it is in his unrelenting hostility to international institutions that he has done his greatest and probably most lasting damage.
The gauzy story line of the past week requires Helms to have "mellowed," the main piece of evidence being his agreement, in 1999, to allow payment of some nine hundred million dollars of the $1.3 billion in back dues the United States then owed the United Nations. Never mind that it was he who had abused the rules of the Senate to hold up the payments in the first place, or that the United States was on the verge of being deeply embarrassed by losing its right to vote in the General Assembly. The real significance of the episode is that what was supposed to be legally binding has now been certified as volitional. A new "principle"—that the solemn obligations of the United States are subject to abrogation without notice by congressional ideologues—has become ever more entrenched. America's U.N. bill, by the way, remains unpaid; it now amounts to $2.3 billion, a record, thanks to the machinations of such mini-Helmses as Tom DeLay, the House majority whip. Helms's heirs now populate the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, too: the national-security apparatus of the Bush Administration is heavily salted with his former assistants. Little wonder that the Administration adds almost weekly to the long list of useful international treaties it proposes to reject, abrogate, or simply scrap. The retirement of Jesse Helms has been hailed (and mourned) as "the end of an era." If only that were true.
My very favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon (and my second favorite)
And one of the best wartime ones -
And the one that gives me my identity:
Friday, July 04, 2008
Bill Moyers, peaceful afternoons and distraction
A day alone at the house. I've listened to two of Keith Olbermann's recent broadcasts, and I've now listened to four of Bill Moyers' broadcasts - only another two to go to be fully listened up.
I was putting together bread dough, which I've done hundreds of times over the last 25+ years - and I was listening to the Bill Moyers' broadcast in which he puts on Phil Donahue and the focus of his movie "Body of War," and I was so distracted that I prepared the entire raw dough loaf WITHOUT putting the yeast into it. Never have done that before. What was it that drew my attention so far away?
I'm not sure whether listening to this broadcast does ME any good. I know this information; I've heard about it as it was coming on for years. It's upsetting at a deep level based on my personal world view. "Liberty produces wealth, and wealth squelches liberty."
I was going to wash and wax the car today; the thundershowers interfered with that. Hmph.
Had a terrific conversation with Dina last night about working together more closely in the future. Lots of things in reflection today.
I was putting together bread dough, which I've done hundreds of times over the last 25+ years - and I was listening to the Bill Moyers' broadcast in which he puts on Phil Donahue and the focus of his movie "Body of War," and I was so distracted that I prepared the entire raw dough loaf WITHOUT putting the yeast into it. Never have done that before. What was it that drew my attention so far away?
I'm not sure whether listening to this broadcast does ME any good. I know this information; I've heard about it as it was coming on for years. It's upsetting at a deep level based on my personal world view. "Liberty produces wealth, and wealth squelches liberty."
I was going to wash and wax the car today; the thundershowers interfered with that. Hmph.
Had a terrific conversation with Dina last night about working together more closely in the future. Lots of things in reflection today.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
I STILL love this guy..
Bill from Portland Maine writes in today's Cheers and Jeers
So true, so true
Dear Bill: Is there a method to winning a political argument online? S.L., South Bend
Dear S.L.: Try this:
You always You never You should You must You shouldn't You mustn't. Why can't you Why don’t you Why aren't you Why didn’t you How could you? You suck You blow You lie You have no idea. You ignoramus You jerk You Ass You partisan hack. You're lying You're cheating You're distorting You're asking for it. You're out of your mind You’re out of your league You’re out of your tree You're out of your gourd. You’re off your rocker You're off your meds You're off the reservation. You're wrong You're stupid You're ignorant You're mental You're full of shit. You're an automaton You're a bomb-thrower You’re a water carrier You're a Kool Aid drinker You're a hack You're a loser You're a prick. You've got blinders on You've got no sense You've got spittle on your chin You've got your head up your ass. You disgust me You repulse me You disappoint me You make me want to puke. You’re talking in circles You're talking in riddles You’re talking in gibberish You're talking trash You're talking like a two year old. You can go to hell You can kiss my ass You can leave You can take your shit to another blog. I'm warning you I'm telling you I'm advising you I'm this close to troll-rating you. I'm sick of your crap I'm sick of your attitude I'm sick of your comments I'm sick of your emails I'm sick of your purity. Mine's better, smarter, faster, more organized, more effective and more experienced than yours, whatever it is. I say so I know so I was there I heard it from the horse's mouth I saw it on the internet I found it on Wikipedia I have a friend who took a class I got it from Fox News I read a press release from my congressman. Knock it off Cut it out Get a clue Do your homework. Clearly you don’t understand Clearly you don’t listen Clearly you don’t get it Clearly you haven’t tried it Clearly you weren't old enough at the time Clearly you're out of touch Clearly you're running around with the wrong crowd Clearly you want us to lose. One more word One more peep One more comment One more outburst One more syllable and you'll regret it. Don’t give me that attitude Don’t play that card Don’t change the subject Don't act so surprised Don’t be so stupid. Go to hell Go pound sand Go back to your mommy Go screw yourself Go to Little Green Footballs. I'm sick of you I loathe you I hope you get what's coming to you, crybaby.
And then add: "With all due respect." Bingo---you win.
So true, so true
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
AlterNet publishes the "Bottom 10" list for Geo 43
The 10 most awesomely bad moments of the Bush presidency
It's worth reading, not just as a refresher, but as proof that even the ideologues that these folks are pursuing think that it's all screwed up.
It's worth reading, not just as a refresher, but as proof that even the ideologues that these folks are pursuing think that it's all screwed up.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Unintended consequences
What if medical advances, considered to be without flaw, actually had consequences that are uncomfortable and undesirable?
What if the "sub-prime meltdown" was just the beginning?
What if our mess in Iraq had already happened once before, and we, who were unfamiliar with history, were condemned to repeat it?
What if you could avoid paying nearly any credit card or bank fees just by asking nicely?
What if Walnut Bend is my Manderlay?
What if the "sub-prime meltdown" was just the beginning?
What if our mess in Iraq had already happened once before, and we, who were unfamiliar with history, were condemned to repeat it?
What if you could avoid paying nearly any credit card or bank fees just by asking nicely?
What if Walnut Bend is my Manderlay?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
George Carlin passes, nation mourns. Constitution is equally dead, no one notices.
I was truly shocked when I heard George Carlin had died. Rendered speechless for two or three seconds.
Why isn't it at all a surprise that a.) The constitution of this country is equally dead, or that b.) Barack Obama is fine with that?
Whoever wins in November, we're going to get four more years of the same - platitudes, rising prices, falling wages and government run by and for corporations with the best paid lobbyists.
At least in California, sensibility seems to be reigning to a minor degree.
Friday, June 20, 2008
What do you know about that?
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)
For quotes, always check out quotations page.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
I love Matt Taibbi
And sometimes he writes things that make my jaw hang slack:
McCain's transformation is so complete that at a recent town-hall meeting in Nashville, when asked to name an author who inspired him, the candidate -- who once described televangelists of the Jerry Falwell genus as "agents of intolerance" -- put none other than Joel Osteen at the top of his list. "He's inspirational," McCain said.
Standing at the meeting, I didn't write Osteen's name down in my notebook -- apparently because my brain refused on some level to accept that McCain had actually said it. Of all the vile, fake, lying-ass, money-grubbing shyster scumbags on the face of this planet, there is perhaps none more loathsome than Osteen, a human haircut with plastic baseball-size teeth who has made a fortune selling the appalling only-in-America idea that terrestrial greed is actually a form of Christian devotion. "God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us," Osteen once wrote. This is the revolting, snake-oil-selling dickhead that John McCain actually chose to pimp as number one on his list of inspirational authors. So much for "go, sell everything you have and give to the poor," and all that other hippie crap from the New Testament.
End to end and edge to edge
Robert and I cooked up this little project a few weeks ago, and only tonight worked on the math. Check us and see if we're right.
So, this required a little research. (edit - and, fortunately, I know a Canadian who helped me with the metric conversion error)
Iraq is 438,317 km² or 438,317,000,000 square centimeters (edited to correctly reflect cubic centimeter calculation)
A dollar bill is 156 mm by 66 mm by .11 mm, or 102.96 square centimeters (edited from 1029.6 centimeters, which I thought looked pretty big...)
We've spent $3,000,000,000 on Iraq according to the Washington Post.
If each of those dollars were laid flat across the land surface of Iraq, they would cover 3,088,800,000,000 square centimeters.
3,088,800,000,000 centimeters divided by 438,317,000,000 centimeters is .7046954601. (edited to correctly show relationship between smaller dollar size and larger Iraq size)
If we'd have just taken the cash, and laid it all end to end and edge to edge, we'd almost have covered the surface area of Iraq with dollar bills. (edited to allow for corrected math.)
Taken another way, the WaPo estimate is considered by many to be low, and is several months old. Pretty soon, we could conceptually have covered the entire country with dollar bills.
Thanks to Wikipedia for providing the measurements of Iraq and the US Dollar, and to Google for its most helpful up and down conversion function, and Excel for being able to take numbers over 100,000,000.
And, thanks to my favorite Canuckistanian, Eric in Vancouver, who provided me with this very helpful conversion:
Ya know D,
After going to bed, I thought of an easier way to calculate this without losing track of erroneous zeroes and to help you with imperial-vs.-metric measurements:
Let's start with 1 square metre. A metre is approximately the size of a yard (39" or so). A metre is 100 cm, so a SQUARE metre (approximate the size of a square yard) is is 100cm x 100cm or 10,000 square (NOT cubic) cm.
A square cm (a little under a half inch squared ) is about the size of a sugar cube.
By your measurements, it would take 103 to cover a dollar bill. Let's round it down slightly to 100, and add the 3% later.
A km (1.6 miles) is by definition 1,000 metres. So a square km is 1,000 x 1,000 metres or 1 million square metres.
So to cover a square km with dollar bills we need 100 (to cover a square metre) X 1 million, or 100 million of 'em.
10 (TEN) square km would therefore take ten hundred million (aka 1,000 million, aka a BILLION) singles to cover it.
Let's stick to 10 (TEN) square km needing a BILLION bills for now:
Iraq is 438,317 square km.
To cover it would therefore take 43, 831 BILLION dollar bills
That's also known as 43.831 TRILLION bills.
(Remember that 3% we rounded up a while ago? Let's take it off now to bring the 43.831 BILLION down to 42.5)
So to cover Iraq in dollar bills would take 42.5 TRILLION of them
At $4.25 Trillion spent, you could cover 1/10 of the country in dollar bills.
E.
So, this required a little research. (edit - and, fortunately, I know a Canadian who helped me with the metric conversion error)
Iraq is 438,317 km² or 438,317,000,000 square centimeters (edited to correctly reflect cubic centimeter calculation)
A dollar bill is 156 mm by 66 mm by .11 mm, or 102.96 square centimeters (edited from 1029.6 centimeters, which I thought looked pretty big...)
We've spent $3,000,000,000 on Iraq according to the Washington Post.
If each of those dollars were laid flat across the land surface of Iraq, they would cover 3,088,800,000,000 square centimeters.
3,088,800,000,000 centimeters divided by 438,317,000,000 centimeters is .7046954601. (edited to correctly show relationship between smaller dollar size and larger Iraq size)
If we'd have just taken the cash, and laid it all end to end and edge to edge, we'd almost have covered the surface area of Iraq with dollar bills. (edited to allow for corrected math.)
Taken another way, the WaPo estimate is considered by many to be low, and is several months old. Pretty soon, we could conceptually have covered the entire country with dollar bills.
Thanks to Wikipedia for providing the measurements of Iraq and the US Dollar, and to Google for its most helpful up and down conversion function, and Excel for being able to take numbers over 100,000,000.
And, thanks to my favorite Canuckistanian, Eric in Vancouver, who provided me with this very helpful conversion:
Ya know D,
After going to bed, I thought of an easier way to calculate this without losing track of erroneous zeroes and to help you with imperial-vs.-metric measurements:
Let's start with 1 square metre. A metre is approximately the size of a yard (39" or so). A metre is 100 cm, so a SQUARE metre (approximate the size of a square yard) is is 100cm x 100cm or 10,000 square (NOT cubic) cm.
A square cm (a little under a half inch squared ) is about the size of a sugar cube.
By your measurements, it would take 103 to cover a dollar bill. Let's round it down slightly to 100, and add the 3% later.
A km (1.6 miles) is by definition 1,000 metres. So a square km is 1,000 x 1,000 metres or 1 million square metres.
So to cover a square km with dollar bills we need 100 (to cover a square metre) X 1 million, or 100 million of 'em.
10 (TEN) square km would therefore take ten hundred million (aka 1,000 million, aka a BILLION) singles to cover it.
Let's stick to 10 (TEN) square km needing a BILLION bills for now:
Iraq is 438,317 square km.
To cover it would therefore take 43, 831 BILLION dollar bills
That's also known as 43.831 TRILLION bills.
(Remember that 3% we rounded up a while ago? Let's take it off now to bring the 43.831 BILLION down to 42.5)
So to cover Iraq in dollar bills would take 42.5 TRILLION of them
At $4.25 Trillion spent, you could cover 1/10 of the country in dollar bills.
E.
Monday, June 16, 2008
popping corn and popping bubbles
This morning, I went for a walk around the huge KBR complex up the street. I intended to listen to a Bill Moyers podcast (which takes about 45 minutes) and to get some idea of what the heck USED to be on that huge yard. As I was walking along through the mounting waves of heat and temperature, I noticed that I could hardly hear out of my left ear, but could hear great out of my right.
The first thought was that perhaps my headphones were busted. After all, these mini-cables are very tender to internal breakage and shorting. That thought lasted a nano-second, and then I started to reflect that I hold my Treo 700 (tm) to that ear. I put my Bluetooth (tm) headset in that ear. Was I suffering damage to that ear from the constant irridation of that part of my head?
I come home, and my friend Ben has sent me an article. Ben's always got something interesting to share, so I went to it right away.
Uh, scary. Seriously scary. Fortunately, it's not TRUE. But, it makes you wonder.
While we're on the subject of scary, how about this new fangled definition of two words not previously associated?
Over on Hullabaloo yesterday, Tristero wrote something that I'll never forget about the Supreme Court's decision released last week about Guantanamo...
Lastly, here's a terrific article from Harper's magazine about the law and order herd mentality that will cause those who have an open spot in their thinking to revisit the idea that more police, more prisons and harsher punishment is the answer.
It was written in 1929. It could have been written today.
The first thought was that perhaps my headphones were busted. After all, these mini-cables are very tender to internal breakage and shorting. That thought lasted a nano-second, and then I started to reflect that I hold my Treo 700 (tm) to that ear. I put my Bluetooth (tm) headset in that ear. Was I suffering damage to that ear from the constant irridation of that part of my head?
I come home, and my friend Ben has sent me an article. Ben's always got something interesting to share, so I went to it right away.
Uh, scary. Seriously scary. Fortunately, it's not TRUE. But, it makes you wonder.
While we're on the subject of scary, how about this new fangled definition of two words not previously associated?
hot stain n. Because there are what scientists call “hot stains‘“…the parts of the Earth now running out of potable water. Hot stains include northern China, large areas of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia, the U.S. Midwest and sections of South America and Mexico. —“Protecting water vital to America” by Marylou Healy APP.com (Asbury Park, New Jersey) June 16, 2008.
Over on Hullabaloo yesterday, Tristero wrote something that I'll never forget about the Supreme Court's decision released last week about Guantanamo...
As much as I would like to believe the Bush revolution has failed, I really don't think a 5-4 decision restoring the Magna Carta counts as evidence, or any of the other victories for America that occurred with the same or similar margins.
Lastly, here's a terrific article from Harper's magazine about the law and order herd mentality that will cause those who have an open spot in their thinking to revisit the idea that more police, more prisons and harsher punishment is the answer.
It was written in 1929. It could have been written today.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Lies, damned lies and statistics
If Obama had done this, or Kerry, or Gore, or Clinton .. what would have happened?
Friday, June 06, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
I wish I'd thought of it
Digby (who's the blogosphere's equivalent of William Shirer or Edward R. Murrow) has this to say today, and damn, if she can't just spell it out before the dots start connecting up in my noggin:
Well, now that you mention it...
Isn't it rather appropriate that the biggest blowhards of the last thirty years (save for and except Phil Gramm) are now gasbags for pay? All that effort, all that power and the BEST that they can do is to bloviate on Fox News?
Bill Clinton is in the pantheon of popular ex-presidents who continues to do important work on global initiatives. Hillary Clinton is a Senator and historic breakthrough presidential candidate who won more primary votes than any candidate in history aside from Barack Obama. Al Gore is a global leader and Nobel prize winner. On the other side of that epic battle, Newt Gingrich is a Fox News commentator, writing reviews of mystery thrillers on Amazon. Tom Delay is a private citizen facing indictment. Half of the social conservatives who unctuously criticized Clinton's behavior have been run out of town on morals charges. Fox News is sinking in the ratings faster than George W. Bush.
Well, now that you mention it...
Isn't it rather appropriate that the biggest blowhards of the last thirty years (save for and except Phil Gramm) are now gasbags for pay? All that effort, all that power and the BEST that they can do is to bloviate on Fox News?
From last night's speech by McCain:
You will hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I'm running for President Bush's third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false.
So, who is it that's trying to get Americans to believe something they know is false?
Oh, the Republicans.
Here's something that's REALLY funny - in the Montana Republican primary, an 85 year old guy who's been running for public office (and has lost EVERY time - 15 contests) since 1964 crushed the other five Republican primary contestants, who were well funded.
Could it be that the Republican brand is in far deeper trouble than people are willing to let on?
Monday, June 02, 2008
last minute reading list
A few articles I happened upon yesterday that you could look at:
A discussion of how California marriages must, could and might be treated by other states, including a discussion of just how awful DOMA really is can be found here.
A look at the dissimilarities of the Clintonistas who claim they'll vote for McCain if she's not the candidate and previous "Democrats" who broke for another candidate, and a more better rant than the one I posted two days ago.
A review of just who's ahead in the popular vote, using Clinton's math and common sense.
Finally, a truly outstanding rant and evaluation of what an apology is, and what it isn't. Bookmark this one for later.
A discussion of how California marriages must, could and might be treated by other states, including a discussion of just how awful DOMA really is can be found here.
A look at the dissimilarities of the Clintonistas who claim they'll vote for McCain if she's not the candidate and previous "Democrats" who broke for another candidate, and a more better rant than the one I posted two days ago.
A review of just who's ahead in the popular vote, using Clinton's math and common sense.
Finally, a truly outstanding rant and evaluation of what an apology is, and what it isn't. Bookmark this one for later.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
This weekend's reading assignment(s)
Every once in a while, I make you go to work. Just as a little carrot, I'll give you two gimmes to induce you to read up.
First, here's a terrific website that aggregates online shopping discount and coupon codes for a few hundred significant merchants. As in, your junk mail nailed the email, but you still get to save the bucks. Check it out.
Second, another handy little online tool that allows you to zip through and just print the store coupons you're actually needing. Mommy saves big!
Okay, down to business. Get out your little Walgreen's reading glasses, and your big glass of water, and dig in.
First, I'm going to have you read a terrific article in Rolling Stone about how the United States Senate should be fired. All of 'em. They're only interested in giving away the dough to those who give the biggest checks.
Don't believe a word they tell you. And, don't write your Senator, unless you're writing a check.
Mother Jones has been raising hell again, and describing for you how a former Economics professor from Texas A&M wrecked out financial system nearly single handedly, and then is now advising John McCain on how to make it even BETTER. Forget Punxsutawney Phil, this is Phorclosure Phil!
Okay, you'll need some musical support for this next one - cue up the old favorite "Proud to be an American" while you read this one. A Brit, who spent years in Africa providing charity medical services to dirt poor Africans now does more than 60% of his work here in the USofA. Where we have the "best medical system in the world."
Uh-huh. E recently traveled from YVR to SFO, London and Paris. He bought supplemental insurance to cover his medical risk during his trip. They asked him if he was spending more than 48 hours in the US, because if he was, they'd have to charge him more than double.
That's more than double the amount for medical care risk than he'd have had to pay to visit, say, one of the former Soviet stans over near the Black Sea. Yeah.
Is that song over yet?
Finally, a bit of hope that's very cool. A researcher has concluded that a single, universal vaccine for the influenza virus is possible. This could lead to a wide range of viral vaccines, and a reduction of influenza death. Whoo hoo!
Other stuff you'll have to contend with - I'm reading "The Disappearance of the Universe," and it's hot stuff. Also, I'm reading this article from Scientific American that investigates whether time moves forward and/or backward in other realms. My brain blew up earlier when I started it, so I'll report more later.
Trying to drag you kicking and screaming into integrated knowledge...
First, here's a terrific website that aggregates online shopping discount and coupon codes for a few hundred significant merchants. As in, your junk mail nailed the email, but you still get to save the bucks. Check it out.
Second, another handy little online tool that allows you to zip through and just print the store coupons you're actually needing. Mommy saves big!
Okay, down to business. Get out your little Walgreen's reading glasses, and your big glass of water, and dig in.
First, I'm going to have you read a terrific article in Rolling Stone about how the United States Senate should be fired. All of 'em. They're only interested in giving away the dough to those who give the biggest checks.
Don't believe a word they tell you. And, don't write your Senator, unless you're writing a check.
Mother Jones has been raising hell again, and describing for you how a former Economics professor from Texas A&M wrecked out financial system nearly single handedly, and then is now advising John McCain on how to make it even BETTER. Forget Punxsutawney Phil, this is Phorclosure Phil!
Okay, you'll need some musical support for this next one - cue up the old favorite "Proud to be an American" while you read this one. A Brit, who spent years in Africa providing charity medical services to dirt poor Africans now does more than 60% of his work here in the USofA. Where we have the "best medical system in the world."
Uh-huh. E recently traveled from YVR to SFO, London and Paris. He bought supplemental insurance to cover his medical risk during his trip. They asked him if he was spending more than 48 hours in the US, because if he was, they'd have to charge him more than double.
That's more than double the amount for medical care risk than he'd have had to pay to visit, say, one of the former Soviet stans over near the Black Sea. Yeah.
Is that song over yet?
Finally, a bit of hope that's very cool. A researcher has concluded that a single, universal vaccine for the influenza virus is possible. This could lead to a wide range of viral vaccines, and a reduction of influenza death. Whoo hoo!
Other stuff you'll have to contend with - I'm reading "The Disappearance of the Universe," and it's hot stuff. Also, I'm reading this article from Scientific American that investigates whether time moves forward and/or backward in other realms. My brain blew up earlier when I started it, so I'll report more later.
Trying to drag you kicking and screaming into integrated knowledge...
I had her son in my living room two weeks ago
I'm sorry, but if you're going to choose McCain over Obama because you're angry HRC didn't win the nomination, then you deserve everything you get out of it. No complaining from you between 2009 and 2013...
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sometimes what makes sense doesn't make sense
From Motive Magazine, who snared it from Consumer Reports:
After digesting the permanence of $4 gasoline, many consumers are jumping ship to smaller, lighter cars that get better sticker mileage — just you try to find a Honda Fit on a dealer lot and let us know how that works out for you. But Consumer Reports, wet blanket of reason that they are, has recently put out a report finding that jumping ship without factoring all the costs can end up putting a bigger dent in the piggy than buyers will ever save on gas.
To wit, CR figured that depreciation makes up nearly half of what owners pay out during a car's first five years. But gas costs are only 21 percent. So by trading out of a car halfway through the note, consumers are shafting themselves by taking on even greater depreciation with a new car.
Like having your hopes and dreams shattered further? The douche of cold water continues after the jump.
YONKERS, NY - With national average fuel prices approaching $4 a gallon, many consumers are clamoring to trade in their current vehicles for smaller, more fuel-efficient ones. But a new study from Consumer Reports warns drivers that downsizing too soon can cost them more in other owner costs than they'll save at the pump.
Consumer Reports has always encouraged drivers to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. But if the timing isn't right, it can cost you more in the long run. An analysis of CR's exclusive owner-cost data found that it often doesn't pay to downsize if you've only owned your vehicle for three years or less and haven't paid off the loan, even if the new car's fuel economy is much better. Consumer Reports' experts say consumers should typically hold on to their cars at least four or five years to minimize the financial impact of depreciation and finance charges. Owner cost data include depreciation, fuel usage, interest on financing, insurance, maintenance and repair, and sales tax. A complete analysis and sample trade-in comparisons is available free at www.ConsumerReports.org
According to Consumer Reports' calculations, depreciation makes up about 48 percent of an average owner's total vehicle costs in the first five years of ownership. Fuel, however, averages only about 21 percent of total costs. Because the greatest depreciation occurs in the first three years, your car costs you less to own overall in the following years. So for a typical, payment-making owner with a 60-month loan, trading in a three-year-old vehicle means you've just taken the biggest depreciation hit on your current car and still have a lot of the loan principle yet to pay off. What you'll save in depreciation costs by holding onto the vehicle for another year or two will net you more money in the long run than you'd save in gasoline with the new car.
"These hidden costs may be the factors you are least likely to focus on when downsizing," said Rik Paul, automotive editor, Consumer Reports. "After all, depreciation and interest are less tangible costs than the high price for a gallon of gas that slaps drivers in the face with each fill up."
For example, a 2005 Ford Five Hundred SEL V6 sedan got 21 mpg overall in Consumer Reports' testing. The 2008 Toyota Prius got 44. Assuming 12,000 miles per year at the current national average for gasoline of $3.75 per gallon, the Ford will cost about $2,000 in gas this year, while the Toyota will cost just $1,000. But factoring in all of the owner costs of trading in the Five Hundred now, the Toyota will cost about $9,000 to own for the first 12 months, while the Ford costs $6,000. That's a difference of $3,000, or $0.23 per mile.
"Based on today's numbers, it's less expensive to tough out another year or two with a gas guzzler than trade-in too early," Paul said. "However, if gas prices rise past $5 a gallon, large vehicles may see their depreciation accelerate and owners could face new challenges in selling their old model."
Consumer Reports continues to advise shoppers to buy the highest-rated, most reliable, and safest model with good fuel economy that suits their needs. When it comes time to buy a new model, there are considerable savings and advantages to downsizing, but consumers should understand the full financial impact of the timing for their decision.
Jeff Bartlett, deputy automotive editor, ConsumerReports.org, adds, "While we support the downsizing trend in principle, we caution consumers to look at their long-term owner costs and not rush to make a change they may later regret."
ConsumerReports.org has recently launched a "Guide to Driving Green" special section (ConsumerReports.org/fuel) with tips on how to improve fuel economy; lists of models with the best fuel economy; guides to the latest hybrids and alternative-fuel vehicles; and powerful tools for searching Consumer Reports' ratings.
Online subscribers can compare costs for one, three, five, and eight years of ownership from the detailed model pages.
With more than 7,000,000 print and online subscribers, Consumer Reports is one of the most trusted sources for information and advice on consumer products and services. It conducts the most comprehensive auto-test program of any U.S. publication or Website; the magazine's auto experts have decades of experience in driving, testing, and reporting on cars. To become a subscriber, consumers can call 1-800-234-1645. Information and articles from the magazine can be accessed online at www.ConsumerReports.org.
After digesting the permanence of $4 gasoline, many consumers are jumping ship to smaller, lighter cars that get better sticker mileage — just you try to find a Honda Fit on a dealer lot and let us know how that works out for you. But Consumer Reports, wet blanket of reason that they are, has recently put out a report finding that jumping ship without factoring all the costs can end up putting a bigger dent in the piggy than buyers will ever save on gas.
To wit, CR figured that depreciation makes up nearly half of what owners pay out during a car's first five years. But gas costs are only 21 percent. So by trading out of a car halfway through the note, consumers are shafting themselves by taking on even greater depreciation with a new car.
Like having your hopes and dreams shattered further? The douche of cold water continues after the jump.
YONKERS, NY - With national average fuel prices approaching $4 a gallon, many consumers are clamoring to trade in their current vehicles for smaller, more fuel-efficient ones. But a new study from Consumer Reports warns drivers that downsizing too soon can cost them more in other owner costs than they'll save at the pump.
Consumer Reports has always encouraged drivers to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. But if the timing isn't right, it can cost you more in the long run. An analysis of CR's exclusive owner-cost data found that it often doesn't pay to downsize if you've only owned your vehicle for three years or less and haven't paid off the loan, even if the new car's fuel economy is much better. Consumer Reports' experts say consumers should typically hold on to their cars at least four or five years to minimize the financial impact of depreciation and finance charges. Owner cost data include depreciation, fuel usage, interest on financing, insurance, maintenance and repair, and sales tax. A complete analysis and sample trade-in comparisons is available free at www.ConsumerReports.org
According to Consumer Reports' calculations, depreciation makes up about 48 percent of an average owner's total vehicle costs in the first five years of ownership. Fuel, however, averages only about 21 percent of total costs. Because the greatest depreciation occurs in the first three years, your car costs you less to own overall in the following years. So for a typical, payment-making owner with a 60-month loan, trading in a three-year-old vehicle means you've just taken the biggest depreciation hit on your current car and still have a lot of the loan principle yet to pay off. What you'll save in depreciation costs by holding onto the vehicle for another year or two will net you more money in the long run than you'd save in gasoline with the new car.
"These hidden costs may be the factors you are least likely to focus on when downsizing," said Rik Paul, automotive editor, Consumer Reports. "After all, depreciation and interest are less tangible costs than the high price for a gallon of gas that slaps drivers in the face with each fill up."
For example, a 2005 Ford Five Hundred SEL V6 sedan got 21 mpg overall in Consumer Reports' testing. The 2008 Toyota Prius got 44. Assuming 12,000 miles per year at the current national average for gasoline of $3.75 per gallon, the Ford will cost about $2,000 in gas this year, while the Toyota will cost just $1,000. But factoring in all of the owner costs of trading in the Five Hundred now, the Toyota will cost about $9,000 to own for the first 12 months, while the Ford costs $6,000. That's a difference of $3,000, or $0.23 per mile.
"Based on today's numbers, it's less expensive to tough out another year or two with a gas guzzler than trade-in too early," Paul said. "However, if gas prices rise past $5 a gallon, large vehicles may see their depreciation accelerate and owners could face new challenges in selling their old model."
Consumer Reports continues to advise shoppers to buy the highest-rated, most reliable, and safest model with good fuel economy that suits their needs. When it comes time to buy a new model, there are considerable savings and advantages to downsizing, but consumers should understand the full financial impact of the timing for their decision.
Jeff Bartlett, deputy automotive editor, ConsumerReports.org, adds, "While we support the downsizing trend in principle, we caution consumers to look at their long-term owner costs and not rush to make a change they may later regret."
ConsumerReports.org has recently launched a "Guide to Driving Green" special section (ConsumerReports.org/fuel) with tips on how to improve fuel economy; lists of models with the best fuel economy; guides to the latest hybrids and alternative-fuel vehicles; and powerful tools for searching Consumer Reports' ratings.
Online subscribers can compare costs for one, three, five, and eight years of ownership from the detailed model pages.
With more than 7,000,000 print and online subscribers, Consumer Reports is one of the most trusted sources for information and advice on consumer products and services. It conducts the most comprehensive auto-test program of any U.S. publication or Website; the magazine's auto experts have decades of experience in driving, testing, and reporting on cars. To become a subscriber, consumers can call 1-800-234-1645. Information and articles from the magazine can be accessed online at www.ConsumerReports.org.
My Review of FreeStyle Test Strips
Originally submitted at AllegroMedical.com
FreeStyle Test Strips - TheraSense FreeStyle Test Strips Stock up on FreeStyle Flash Diabetic Test Strips to test blood glucose levels with the FreeStyle Blood Glucose Monitoring System. The easy-to-use FreeStyle Test Strips allow people with diabetes to take a blood sample from multiple sites inc...
One out of five ain't bad
By drdivo from Houston, Texas on 5/30/2008
Pros: Comes in a yellow box, Has numbers on the label
Cons: Don't buy at full price, Poor web resources, Terrible quality control
Best Uses: Daily Use
Describe Yourself: Type II
I've been using this BG measuring system for about six years. Over the last two plus years, each box of test strips that I've received has had about 1/6th of the contents not work. Meaning, you do everything the right way, and the strip picks up the blood sample, and nothing happens until the device tells you that there is an error. Then, you re-stick yourself, use a new test strip, doing everything the same way and -- results.
NEVER buy these full price. Always look for a sale, and never buy them after their posted expiration date. When you buy 100, only 82 or so will work. Count that into your math.
(legalese)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Better get busy
So, last night, I actually did one of the things that I intended to do yesterday - and would have done during the day had I not spent most of my day being irritated that someone had stolen the big marble ball out of my trackball at the office.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Whimsy
This evening, I made a couple of mad dashes outside. Once, I realized I hadn't yet taken the COH garbage can out to the curb, so .. whoooooosh! I manhandled the can past the shrubs and off of the loose rock upon which it sits, and lumbered it out to the curb. I was #7 tonight. I need to get some numbers for it, or some paint or something, so I can mark it as my own.
Later, Jackie arose from her deep slumber on my bedroom floor to announce it was time for her evening constitutional. We headed down the steep stairs, and went around the back side of the patio homes. As we went southeast, the huge KBR complex across the street, it was apparent that the rain bands Guy had been speaking of were about to spill their drops on our neighborhood. The wind had kicked up a bit, and I was delighted with a plastic bag - so familiar to us, this one from a Chinese restaurant, just from the gauge of the plastic and the design printed on the side - floated in a whimsical cyclone of its very own. Around, and up, and back, and around and down it went.
As I approached it, my presence disturbed the delicate balance of air currents, and the bag began to move in lurching, distressed patterns. It finally started trying to jerk away from my outstretched hand but I caught it, ending the demonstration of the wisps of disturbed air.
It, and the Dr. Pepper bottle I had picked up earlier, went into the neighbor's trash can. They were going to be #8, it seems.
Later, Jackie arose from her deep slumber on my bedroom floor to announce it was time for her evening constitutional. We headed down the steep stairs, and went around the back side of the patio homes. As we went southeast, the huge KBR complex across the street, it was apparent that the rain bands Guy had been speaking of were about to spill their drops on our neighborhood. The wind had kicked up a bit, and I was delighted with a plastic bag - so familiar to us, this one from a Chinese restaurant, just from the gauge of the plastic and the design printed on the side - floated in a whimsical cyclone of its very own. Around, and up, and back, and around and down it went.
As I approached it, my presence disturbed the delicate balance of air currents, and the bag began to move in lurching, distressed patterns. It finally started trying to jerk away from my outstretched hand but I caught it, ending the demonstration of the wisps of disturbed air.
It, and the Dr. Pepper bottle I had picked up earlier, went into the neighbor's trash can. They were going to be #8, it seems.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
This guy rocks - Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday
Just to remind you, I pay $5/month so that this guy has a job and can continue to write this stuff every day. Today, he brought a moment of aliveness to my otherwise crappy morning.
By Bill in Portland Maine
on Cheers and Jeers
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Hurricane season starts in five days. If the Grand Committee of Meterological Poobahs hasn’t come up with their list of names yet, may I suggest the following as a way of commemorating the greatest hits of the Bush administration in this, its final year:
Ashcroft
Brownie
Condi
Dick
Enron
Feith
Gonzales
Hughes
Iraq
Jack Abramoff
KBR
Lieberman
Matalin
Negroponte
Osama
Perle
Quagmire
Rummy
Scooter
Turdblossom
Uranium from Africa
Viceroy Bremer
Wolfowitz
Xenophobe
Yoo
Zell
On second thought, that would really be unfair. To the hurricanes.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
By Bill in Portland Maine
on Cheers and Jeers
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Hurricane season starts in five days. If the Grand Committee of Meterological Poobahs hasn’t come up with their list of names yet, may I suggest the following as a way of commemorating the greatest hits of the Bush administration in this, its final year:
Ashcroft
Brownie
Condi
Dick
Enron
Feith
Gonzales
Hughes
Iraq
Jack Abramoff
KBR
Lieberman
Matalin
Negroponte
Osama
Perle
Quagmire
Rummy
Scooter
Turdblossom
Uranium from Africa
Viceroy Bremer
Wolfowitz
Xenophobe
Yoo
Zell
On second thought, that would really be unfair. To the hurricanes.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Friday, May 23, 2008
Once you have an idea of what you're looking for..
A few weeks back, one of my clients was asking me a question about an acronym used by the State of Colorado in mortgage training. Today, I cracked the code. That's a big "atta boy" in my corner.
I've worked up some financial calculations for a house in rental service - what's the tax benefit after expenses - it worked out much better than I would have otherwise guessed.
This afternoon, it's all about getting the den in full order, such that I can have guests over on Sunday. It's so easy to just clooooooooose the door and ignore everything in there, but that is not what I'm committed to. I'm also hanging the hanging baskets this afternoon, and weeding the pool area.
My rubber trees keep tumping over, and it's as annoying as it can be. Sheesh! I'm going to have to figure out a way to intervene there.
Just a few more things to work on this afternoon, and then it's home to create some more structure and peace.
I've worked up some financial calculations for a house in rental service - what's the tax benefit after expenses - it worked out much better than I would have otherwise guessed.
This afternoon, it's all about getting the den in full order, such that I can have guests over on Sunday. It's so easy to just clooooooooose the door and ignore everything in there, but that is not what I'm committed to. I'm also hanging the hanging baskets this afternoon, and weeding the pool area.
My rubber trees keep tumping over, and it's as annoying as it can be. Sheesh! I'm going to have to figure out a way to intervene there.
Just a few more things to work on this afternoon, and then it's home to create some more structure and peace.
Some really outrageous thoughts
This video is awesome (in my mind...)
How about some discussion that lowering interest rates and preventing foreclosures from taking place is not the way out?
And, how about an article discussing how the Republican brand got to be so very popular, and how it's struggling today?
How about some discussion that lowering interest rates and preventing foreclosures from taking place is not the way out?
And, how about an article discussing how the Republican brand got to be so very popular, and how it's struggling today?
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Piano-free environment
After twelve years of moving its bulk, paying movers to move its bulk and dusting, I've finally sold my piano. It came to live with me during the election returns of 1996, and has occupied a significant chunk of real estate ever since.
In February, the offer to purchase was made and I endured many days of deep remorse and sadness contemplating it. After moving it again just a few weeks ago, I began to wonder just WHAT I was thinking and got over myself.
So, I emailed the fellow who offered to buy it back in February, and he was still interested. His movers just picked it up a few minutes ago. It's gone. I don't miss it, although I now have a bunch of sheet and book music that is basically worthless (and has been so for a long time, since it's never been used the entire time I've had it.)
Coming soon to an eBay clearance table near you:
Phaeton Phanatic collection
Marvin the Martian collection
Sheet music galore
Book music
Other geegaws
In February, the offer to purchase was made and I endured many days of deep remorse and sadness contemplating it. After moving it again just a few weeks ago, I began to wonder just WHAT I was thinking and got over myself.
So, I emailed the fellow who offered to buy it back in February, and he was still interested. His movers just picked it up a few minutes ago. It's gone. I don't miss it, although I now have a bunch of sheet and book music that is basically worthless (and has been so for a long time, since it's never been used the entire time I've had it.)
Coming soon to an eBay clearance table near you:
Phaeton Phanatic collection
Marvin the Martian collection
Sheet music galore
Book music
Other geegaws
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Friday, May 02, 2008
Speakers!
Trevor has been over here, and has trouble-shot the installed speakers in the ceiling in both of the living room and the master, which is far more progress than I was thinking. It's starting to come together - tomorrow will require a lot more substantive progress.
The music sounds awesome through the ceiling speakers - I'm actually listening to music at home again, which hasn't happened in years.
YAY Trevor!
The music sounds awesome through the ceiling speakers - I'm actually listening to music at home again, which hasn't happened in years.
YAY Trevor!
About Jeremiah Wright
You know I keep finding things that I couldn't say better myself - here's another one:
From today's Dues Ex Malcontent
From today's Dues Ex Malcontent
I'll make this quick and to the point.
If the American voters really are willing to take into consideration, even for a moment, Barack Obama's association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright when deciding whether or not to vote for him, then we get what we deserve in November.
The conflict-addicted mass media has been going ape-shit over the past several weeks, robotically parroting Hillary Clinton's talking points and keeping on life support a non-issue that's always been the kind of thing only the most simple-minded and sheltered among us would concern him or herself with. Now, in a ballsy tip of the hat to their own fuck-you-all might, TV and print news organizations are touting the Wright "scandal" as reason for Camp Clinton's recent bump in the polls. The whole ridiculous mess has forced Obama -- who had been taking the highest of roads by not throwing Wright under the bus -- to play by the asinine game that so many voters purport to loathe and actually address this nonsense. This of course adds yet another surreal layer to the story, by allowing the media vultures to breathlessly claim that the "normally cool Obama is on the defensive" against a tempest that they themselves created.
The Jeremiah Wright "issue" isn't one. In the famous words of Gertrude Stein -- there's no there there. Yet I don't doubt that there are quite a few voters across this land of ours who aren't convinced -- who find themselves scratching their heads and saying musically and suspiciously, "Well, I don't knooow."
And it's exactly this kind of thinking that gave us eight years of George Bush.
If you're really stupid enough to worry about bullshit this inconsequential, particularly with everything else that's going on in the world right now -- with all that's at stake -- please do this country a favor and stay the hell home on election day. You shouldn't be entrusted with the power of a vote.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
show and tell
A partial list of Texas cities and towns that I've seen in the last week:
Lubbock
Waco
Crawford
Abilene
Amarillo
Dumas
Texline
Dalhart
Wichita Falls
Fort Worth
Acme
Waxahachie
Things I've seen that I never otherwise would have seen:
Unit trains on the BNSF traveling faster than we could drive
Mass production cattle farms
Wind generator turbines as far as the eye can see
An entire world of coordinated flashing red lamps atop the wind turbines
Winching a 4x4 Jeep Cherokee out of 25" of snow on a gravel road
Deer poop
Pine tree killed by pine beetles
Pine tree infested by pine beetles
Things I've done that I never otherwise would have done:
Turned off my cell phone for three days
Winched and driven a 4x4 out of 25" of snow
Off-roaded
Walked around on a mountain
Lubbock
Waco
Crawford
Abilene
Amarillo
Dumas
Texline
Dalhart
Wichita Falls
Fort Worth
Acme
Waxahachie
Things I've seen that I never otherwise would have seen:
Unit trains on the BNSF traveling faster than we could drive
Mass production cattle farms
Wind generator turbines as far as the eye can see
An entire world of coordinated flashing red lamps atop the wind turbines
Winching a 4x4 Jeep Cherokee out of 25" of snow on a gravel road
Deer poop
Pine tree killed by pine beetles
Pine tree infested by pine beetles
Things I've done that I never otherwise would have done:
Turned off my cell phone for three days
Winched and driven a 4x4 out of 25" of snow
Off-roaded
Walked around on a mountain
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Why do we continue to validate HRC?
Are we that desperate for a veneer of inclusion that we pony up millions to an organization that doesn't represent us in any meaningful way?
As far as their lobbying effort goes, it's beyond parody or joke. It's pathetic. Their public face amplifies the perfidy and prevarication that we've come to expect in society to levels of ridiculousness that even a right-wing radio host would find embarrassing.
Thinking that after a ten year hiatus, I could fight from within more effectively than without, I re-joined HRC in November 2007, but have never received any acknowledgment of my application nor fee payment. Repeated inquiries have produced nothing.
Nothing is what HRC brings the gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual communities. They are a glitzier, drug-free version of an endless circuit party - sucking up $41,000,000 in 2007, and paying out a whopping $8,902,000 in lobbying and advocacy.
Don't be fooled by their "program services" items of "Public policy & training," or "member education and mobilization."
Those items are self-promotion and fund-raising. Big parties, fees to celebrities who can feel good about supporting "gay rights," and magazine advertisements that have a hint of civil rights and lots of requests for more money.
I assert that we would all of us be better off ceasing to validate HRC in the blogosphere, by ending our support of their parties and dinners, and ceasing to sport their bumper stickers. They clearly are NOT in favor of equal rights; they're interested in SAYING that is their mission while raising as much money for self-aggrandizement as possible.
As far as their lobbying effort goes, it's beyond parody or joke. It's pathetic. Their public face amplifies the perfidy and prevarication that we've come to expect in society to levels of ridiculousness that even a right-wing radio host would find embarrassing.
Thinking that after a ten year hiatus, I could fight from within more effectively than without, I re-joined HRC in November 2007, but have never received any acknowledgment of my application nor fee payment. Repeated inquiries have produced nothing.
Nothing is what HRC brings the gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual communities. They are a glitzier, drug-free version of an endless circuit party - sucking up $41,000,000 in 2007, and paying out a whopping $8,902,000 in lobbying and advocacy.
Don't be fooled by their "program services" items of "Public policy & training," or "member education and mobilization."
Those items are self-promotion and fund-raising. Big parties, fees to celebrities who can feel good about supporting "gay rights," and magazine advertisements that have a hint of civil rights and lots of requests for more money.
I assert that we would all of us be better off ceasing to validate HRC in the blogosphere, by ending our support of their parties and dinners, and ceasing to sport their bumper stickers. They clearly are NOT in favor of equal rights; they're interested in SAYING that is their mission while raising as much money for self-aggrandizement as possible.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Awesome new BMW ad
This is terrific. Ever wonder what goes on inside of a piston in your car? Now you will know:
Created by OnePlusYou
Created by OnePlusYou
Saturday, April 05, 2008
A Martin Luther King wrap-up
So, it was the fortieth anniversary of Martin Luther King's death in 1968. A number of articles about Dr. King, his mission and where we are now with respect to that mission are here:
A Los Angeles Times article about Dr. King's anger over economic inequality.
Following right after that, a current Christian Science Monitor article about how the tax code can be sensibly used to promote economic equality without punishing or forfeiture.
And here is a letter that Dr. King wrote while he was in the Birmingham city jail. This shows us what a national leader was like forty years ago versus today.
We're overall losers in this situation.
A Los Angeles Times article about Dr. King's anger over economic inequality.
Before 1965, King was upbeat and bright, his belief in white America's ability to change by moral suasion resilient and durable. That is the leader we have come to know during annual King commemorations. After 1965, King was darker and angrier; he grew more skeptical about the willingness of America to change without great social coercion.
Following right after that, a current Christian Science Monitor article about how the tax code can be sensibly used to promote economic equality without punishing or forfeiture.
And here is a letter that Dr. King wrote while he was in the Birmingham city jail. This shows us what a national leader was like forty years ago versus today.
We're overall losers in this situation.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Bush Vows To Make It Up To Country Somehow
From this morning's Onion
April Fool!
WASHINGTON—Amid allegations that his thoughtless and insensitive decisions have damaged his relationship with the nation, President George W. Bush vowed Monday that he would, starting now, "make everything better."
"This time I'm serious," Bush said. "I am ready to make a fresh start if we can just put the past behind us. I promise."
Enlarge Image Bush
Bush swears that this time he's really going to pay attention to all 280 million U.S. citizens, and try to do right by them for once.
An estimated 35 million citizens listened to the president's televised remarks while silently crying behind locked bathroom doors.
Though Bush told all Americans they owed it to him to give him one more chance, he admitted that there was no excuse for his mishandling of national affairs.
"Things have just been so crazy at work lately," he said.
During the 14-minute address Bush acknowledged that he and the country had drifted apart. He accepted some of the blame, but stressed that it was partly the American people's fault, and went on to chide them for not giving him an opportunity to explain, not standing behind him, and failing to understand his "very real" need for unchecked executive authority.
"My job is stressful," Bush said. "Trust me, things will calm down in a few months once I don't have to deal with it anymore."
George Bush Slideshow
George W. Bush
The president, whose approval ratings have dropped steadily in recent years, said he had no idea how bad things had gotten until he found out that an overwhelming percentage of Americans didn't even bother responding to an opinion poll this month about his recent $3.1 trillion budget proposal.
Bush has since taken steps towards reconciliation with the American people, including promoting a promise to help alleviate the fiscal woes the U.S. has faced in recent months. Bush said he knew that the $300 he intended to give to every citizen "couldn't possibly make up for how [he has] governed," but nevertheless asked the nation to have faith in him.
"I know it's not much, but it's a start, right?" Bush said. "And it hasn't always been bad. Doesn't this remind you of that other $300 rebate I gave you in 2003? You always forget all the times I'm a really great president. We have really had some wonderful moments."
"Cut me some slack here, for Christ's sake," Bush continued. "I'm trying. I really am."
In addition to providing economic relief, Bush said he has taken other measures to strengthen his bond with the nation. According to the president, his newly proposed warrantless-wiretapping bill will greatly broaden the reach of his personal attention to the American people's needs and put him in a position to be more directly involved in their lives.
The president concluded by imploring the nation to help him rectify the situation, stressing that he always has America's best interests at heart but cannot be expected to improve things all by himself.
"You have to realize that everything I do, I do for you," Bush said. "Do you think I like denying health care to underprivileged children, or plunging the country deeper and deeper into debt? Well, I don't, and I hope someday you'll understand that. In the meantime, I'm asking the American people to try to meet me halfway on this."
Despite Bush's seemingly conciliatory stance, public response to Bush's promises has been frosty at best. Cato Institute policy scholar Brian Whitaker echoed the sentiments of many Americans, calling Bush's recent overtures "too little, too late."
"We want to believe that he's finally going to be the president we always wanted, but we've given him so many chances," Whitaker said. "I don't think we can handle another disappointment. Maybe it's time to realize that President Bush will never be the head of state we need him to be."
"Then again, maybe our expectations are unfair," Whitaker added. "He seemed so sincere this time. He wouldn't abuse his executive powers if he didn't care about us, right?"
Whitaker predicted that the nation will likely move forward and try to forget Bush, though it may be difficult for Americans to ever trust a president again. He said the current crop of presidential contenders offers little in the way of an alternative to Bush, but maintained that "at least Barack Obama listens to us."
April Fool!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Which appeals to you?
Hm. Jobs, economic support for "the people, by the people, of the people," and cutting back on corporate welfare... versus
Safe from whom? Churchill's speech about defending the beaches? Since when has that been a problem? If we're all living in tents, our military destroyed, our national treasury empty, couldn't they just .. buy tickets on airlines and come in and buy us out? Why invade?
Nabbed from Daily Kos
Are YOU in favor of W's third term?
Thanks to Daily Kos' and their very creative readers/contributors for this big smile this morning.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
After years of sitting on my butt at home
It's weird. I've been going out now for weeks on end, to Galveston, here, there, to a movie, to dinner - it's been so long since I've had a steady companion to spend my time with. My body rather resists - it's been inert for so very long.
This morning, up at 6, out the door at 7, picked up Robert at 7:40 and we went up to Rusk, which is about three hours northeast of Houston to ride the Texas State Railroad.
We rode in my car, and left the interstate at Huntsville, headed east on a succession of Farm to Market roads, with many twists and turns, mostly on two lane undivided pavement.
You know, it just isn't hard work to drive a car on an urban interstate. Even on an interurban interstate, it's not a challenge. Up and down curving hills, with blind corners, no shoulder, on a two lane road - THAT'S work. It was fun. We had my Delphi Nav200 unit on the windshield and Robert's Garmin on the dashboard (he was insisting that his was superior.) The Delphi quickly proved that it would get us LOST, not there, telling us to turn left or right while the Garmin kept telling us "no, stupid, just keep going straight ahead."
We gave up on the Delphi when we realized that not only were its directions poor, it had the wrong true road speed (my speedometer is NOT inaccurate, it's HYPER accurate) and generally had a bad attitude. It is going back into Bram's car now.
The weather was movie-perfect. We zipped along like no one was on the road (mostly because no one was on the road) and pulled up at the Rusk Depot of the Texas State Railroad with 45 minutes to spare before they chuffed out.
Robert insisted that we should pay extra for the climate controlled tickets, and we boarded the combine car which sits in the middle of the train, and dropped our lunch cooler off in the baggage/concession area then headed into the small seating area in the combine car. You can see the combine car just to the left of the depot here:
We were the only people seated in the combine car; everyone else was in one of the other six coaches. After a cab tour (which was more like a cab drive by greeting) of the steam locomotive, we settled in and the train headed off for the 24 mile ride to Palestine.
Being the only ones in the combine car, we enjoyed a very peaceful environment (aside from the rocking back and forth, the traffic back and forth to the concession stand, where Cracker Jacks were the most popular necessity) and arrived in Rusk about ninety minutes after starting for lunch.
Robert had packed a cooler for us, so we sat in the perfect weather under some shade trees and waited for the sign to re-board the train back to Palestine. The engine makes a big "Y" around the depot to turn itself around, and we were perfectly positioned to watch this operation.
Robert walked over to drop a few coins on the rail for the locomotive to smash for a souvenir (I have my penny from his trip up there last weekend.) The locomotive, nor the crew seemed to be much interested in mashing flat our increasingly valueless coinage.
After recoupling to the train, we re-boarded and took our seats again in the combine car. The trip up had been so peaceful - just me and Robert hanging out, talking about whatever we talked about - I was really hoping for solitude again. People walked through but somehow we had an air of exclusivity - people kept saying "this must be a private car or something."
We did pretty darned well until about twenty minutes into the journey back, and a fellow who was loud with his speaking (and his movie camera) brought his daughter into the car and tried to sit her down. Frankly, she wasn't very interested in it. She kept trying to go back to whence they had come. He tried to leave her in the car and retrieve the rest of his tribe, but she had skipped out on him by his return.
He corralled her and got her seated in the pair of seats directly behind us and began chatting her up about nothing (but in a dominating voice.) Robert, as casually as you could imagine, says "Sir? Sir? Are you planning on sitting there for very long? This is a private car, you know. The climate controlled tickets are for the cars behind this one."
And he GOT UP AND TOOK HIS DAUGHTER AND LEFT APOLOGIZING. Uh, I nearly spewed I was choking from trying not to laugh out loud.
What a hoot.
A short time later, some young kids came into the car and sat in some of the seats. We worked to not allow them into consciousness, and they were very well behaved. I kept expecting the guy to come back with his daughter, but he never did.
The trip back was much shorter. It was something - there was no phone signal at all after we left Rusk, and hardly any the whole day. As we were leaving, we noticed that their rail yard had a bunch of equipment that looked interesting, so we peaked around. An old Southern Railroad business car - hmm. Doesn't that need to be in my garage?
The whole day was weird. I should have had a sense of deja vu all day, given that I spent my boyhood growing up with a nearly identical steam excursion railroad in my grandparent's back yard.
And, it wasn't like that. The whole steam thing didn't make me connect to how I felt when I was eight or eleven, and the whole train thing just didn't send me upriver emotionally like it always has. It was a whole new experience, and it was all about hanging out with Robert. Not what we were doing, just that we were doing something.
It was great. It really tells me that the most important things in life are the memories that you create with other people, not what you buy, what you have or what you've seen.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Don't you just love the smell of regulatory napalm in the morning?
Read this terrific article about the developing re-regulatory "storm" in Salon magazine online.
More on creating time with people important to you and proof that the French are weird
It was very clear to me yesterday, we could have been sitting in a hot tub, in a beach resort, my living room - any would have sufficed. It was having nine non-stop hours with no distractions that gave the day its meaning.
"I don't get it..." said a French businessman over lunch on Friday. "In
fact, I don't think any of us get it. You've got a guy – the governor of
New York – who hires a prostitute. He gets caught and has to resign. But
the President of the United States lied to the American people and started
a war in which thousands have died...a war that is so expensive it
threatens to bankrupt the entire nation. How come he doesn't have to
resign? Strange system."
This was just the coolest thing to see
Okay, so I'm an airplane dork. But, this really made my week.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Why I like reading Josh Marshall's TPM
Josh Marshall writes/manages the news site "Talking Points Memo," which has been honored with new journalism's highest quality award (not bad for a BLOG, huh?) based on their work to reveal the information and the depth of the current administration's US Attorney purge.
Here are one of his blog poster's thoughts today about our three presidential candidates, the financial crisis and what's NOT being said. I think that it's something that should be reviewed, and then those questions asked of the candidates. You will have to do it, though, the media won't ever do it.
Here are one of his blog poster's thoughts today about our three presidential candidates, the financial crisis and what's NOT being said. I think that it's something that should be reviewed, and then those questions asked of the candidates. You will have to do it, though, the media won't ever do it.
TPM Reader SW's lament ...
I am appalled, though not surprised, at the complete silence by the candidates on the last few days' events on Wall Street and the world's stock, bond and currency markets. This has far more effect on all of our futures than racist comments by the oxygen deprived brains of some old political or spiritual leaders. I know why Clinton and McCain are not talking about it: too many of their biggest supporters had too much to do with what happened, and benefited from the deregulation of the past twenty years for which both (and their allies) had a great deal of responsibility. (Remember that Hillary stood by while her colleague Chick Schumer killed the bill to tax hedge fund managers, who ear scores of millions every year, at income, rather than capital gains, rates.) What about Obama? Is he not up to the task of educating people about what the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act did to the markets many Americans poured their retirement and college savings into? Does he know that the Federal Reserve is about to bail out bankers, investors, and outright thieves who helped drive down the dollar, and brought the credit markets to a near standstill? Does he understand the problem? I wouldn't know.
Seventy years ago Franklin Roosevelt was able to explain this country's and the world's financial crises to a far less educated, and less accessible, American public. That today's candidates are unwiling, or unable to do so, is alarming. Maybe if the media first tried to understand the problems, then asked the proper questions until answers were forthcoming or it was clear the candidates are afraid to ask them, political coverage would be more than the extreme sports coverage it has turned into.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Two weeks, holy cow
I think that this is the longest I've gone without entering a blog post in .. well, since 2003.
Lots going on, I guess. Work has been consuming, and personal growth work has been consuming a lot of my time. That, and, for the first time since Tex Johnny died, I've had a regular playmate in R. It's been GREAT having someone who wants to spend time with me, just hanging out, having fun, doing things - I NEARLY played Frisbee (tm) golf with him today - but had a prior commitment. Uh, hello? Me? Flying kites on a beach? Playing Frisbee (tm) golf? Answering the phone on a late Friday afternoon and agreeing to go to a movie on 90 minutes' notice?
This is just not the "me" that I've known.
I've just juiced some of Jeremy's left over fruit that needs to be used or will be as sour as he is - Just made a lovely cocktail - one jigger vodka, one juiced ruby grapefruit, one juiced small orange, and one juiced blood orange over ice in a highball glass. YUM!! I'm calling it a Blood Diamond Greyhound.
There's something I haven't posted about - Jeremy. He's still gone - totally out of contact. I packed all of his things up last week, and it's neatly sitting on the garage shelves. He's either finally gone off and killed himself, is being supported by some new person I'm unaware of, or has wandered off to another place and time.
In any of those outcomes, he's chosen to leave his things behind and to refrain from any adult conversation. Once his fruit left in the 'fridge is consumed, and after April 25 (the date I told him I was going to hold his possessions through,) he will be only a faded memory.
I have my guest room back, however. Today, I re-hung pictures in there and cleaned. Again. More, actually.
Brought home a carpet steamer/shampooer from church - we didn't know we had it and didn't know if it worked or not. I cleaned it all up today, and it works - it's just not getting the carpeting wet. Hm. I intend to use it on the stairs, the landings and the bedrooms to get all of the Jackie/Jeremy residue out. More will be attempted later tonight.
Back when I bought my iPod, I also bought a Kuda USA phone pad to hold the iPod in the Red Rocket. It's languished here these last weeks, and yesterday - I finally decided to try to install it myself. And, it WORKED beautifully. I installed the clip holder to the pad (myself, thank you) and got the whole thing working.
I also cleaned up the car, cleaned the garage, bagged up the recycling and took it out, pruned the hibiscus on the courtyard, cleaned the kitchen (a never ending story,) and did the church thing.
Now, I'm watching "break up" or whatever that Jennifer Anniston movie is. What was it that Brian said? "Even when Jennifer Anniston is offstage you can hear her acting suck."
And, the rich art buyer guy in the movie looks JUST like my favorite porn star. i can hardly wait for the credits.
Lots going on, I guess. Work has been consuming, and personal growth work has been consuming a lot of my time. That, and, for the first time since Tex Johnny died, I've had a regular playmate in R. It's been GREAT having someone who wants to spend time with me, just hanging out, having fun, doing things - I NEARLY played Frisbee (tm) golf with him today - but had a prior commitment. Uh, hello? Me? Flying kites on a beach? Playing Frisbee (tm) golf? Answering the phone on a late Friday afternoon and agreeing to go to a movie on 90 minutes' notice?
This is just not the "me" that I've known.
I've just juiced some of Jeremy's left over fruit that needs to be used or will be as sour as he is - Just made a lovely cocktail - one jigger vodka, one juiced ruby grapefruit, one juiced small orange, and one juiced blood orange over ice in a highball glass. YUM!! I'm calling it a Blood Diamond Greyhound.
There's something I haven't posted about - Jeremy. He's still gone - totally out of contact. I packed all of his things up last week, and it's neatly sitting on the garage shelves. He's either finally gone off and killed himself, is being supported by some new person I'm unaware of, or has wandered off to another place and time.
In any of those outcomes, he's chosen to leave his things behind and to refrain from any adult conversation. Once his fruit left in the 'fridge is consumed, and after April 25 (the date I told him I was going to hold his possessions through,) he will be only a faded memory.
I have my guest room back, however. Today, I re-hung pictures in there and cleaned. Again. More, actually.
Brought home a carpet steamer/shampooer from church - we didn't know we had it and didn't know if it worked or not. I cleaned it all up today, and it works - it's just not getting the carpeting wet. Hm. I intend to use it on the stairs, the landings and the bedrooms to get all of the Jackie/Jeremy residue out. More will be attempted later tonight.
Back when I bought my iPod, I also bought a Kuda USA phone pad to hold the iPod in the Red Rocket. It's languished here these last weeks, and yesterday - I finally decided to try to install it myself. And, it WORKED beautifully. I installed the clip holder to the pad (myself, thank you) and got the whole thing working.
I also cleaned up the car, cleaned the garage, bagged up the recycling and took it out, pruned the hibiscus on the courtyard, cleaned the kitchen (a never ending story,) and did the church thing.
Now, I'm watching "break up" or whatever that Jennifer Anniston movie is. What was it that Brian said? "Even when Jennifer Anniston is offstage you can hear her acting suck."
And, the rich art buyer guy in the movie looks JUST like my favorite porn star. i can hardly wait for the credits.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Voter excitement
I went with Guy to vote today in the Texas primary. Obviously, we were voting early.
The news media and the blogs have been talking about how busy this primary has been in early voting - from the harrisvotes.com website, here is how busy...
Through last night, 114,473 people have early voted in Harris County.
In the 2004 primary election, 160,904 total people voted. That means that through yesterday, nearly as many people have voted early as voted at all in the 2004 primary.
In the 2006 General Election, 601,186 total people voted. In the 2004 General Election, 1,088,793 total people voted.
The news media and the blogs have been talking about how busy this primary has been in early voting - from the harrisvotes.com website, here is how busy...
Through last night, 114,473 people have early voted in Harris County.
In the 2004 primary election, 160,904 total people voted. That means that through yesterday, nearly as many people have voted early as voted at all in the 2004 primary.
In the 2006 General Election, 601,186 total people voted. In the 2004 General Election, 1,088,793 total people voted.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
If you're circulating that schlock about Obama
That schlock specifically that Obama isn't patriotic, here are some points for you to consider, courtesy of Bill in Portland Maine, whom I think is so awesome that I give him money every month to keep writing.
Bill's words:
Bill's words:
Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday
by Bill in Portland Maine
Tue Feb 26, 2008 at 04:51:51 AM PST
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Poll questions CNN should ask next
Sunday the Most Trusted Name in News asked on its homepage: "Does Barack Obama show the proper patriotism for someone who wants to be president of the United States?"
Here are some other poll questions they should ask:
When George W. Bush puts his hand over his stomach during the national anthem, he seems to be signaling that America is a piece of chewed-up food headed straight for the crapper. Is this proper patriotism?
-
Mike Huckabee says the Constitution needs to be amended to reflect God's standards, including, we assume, stonings for adultery. Is this proper patriotism?
-
John McCain says we should stay in Iraq for a thousand years "as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed," even though anyone with a pulse knows that Americans (not to mention innocent Iraqis) are still being wounded and killed over there every day and will continue to be killed and wounded for as long as we're there. Does McCain show the proper patriotism by advocating this kind of head-in-the-sand foreign policy?
-
When a Republican politician wears an American flag pin on their lapel that was made in Communist China, does this show the proper patriotism?
-
When President Bush says "we do not torture," and we find out that we really do torture, is this proper patriotism?
-
When Republicans try to scare Americans half to death by lying about the ramifications of the expiration of the "Protect America Act," is this proper patriotism?
-
When the White House guts the Fourth Amendment by enlisting the phone companies to abet the most blatant and illegal form of warrantless eavesdropping and then demanding retroactive immunity for them, is this proper patriotism?
-
When the vice president tells a senior United States senator to "Go fuck yourself" on the Senate floor, is this proper patriotism?
-
When a United States senator grabs a microphone and calls a brown-skinned American citizen "Macaca," and a crowd of his Republican supporters laughs and applauds, is this proper patriotism?
-
When one of the most prominent Republican lobbyists working in Washington says the United States government should be "drowned in the bathtub," is this proper patriotism?
Gosh, I could come up with these all day long. Take the poll.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Monday, February 25, 2008
Peak oil news round up
A fun peak oil news round up.
Had some fun this weekend - Friday night went to see the Carmina Burana at Houston Symphony, which was great - probably the best thing I've ever seen at Houston Symphony. Saturday I hung out with Bram, had the new sofa/love seat delivered, then went to see Joe Rogan with the str8 man I'm hopelessly in love with. Yesterday was all church, and then had a handyman over to put together my new garage shelves and plan out my courtyard remodel.
Pictures!!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tuesday that felt like Monday
Urgh. So much silliness and stupidity to deal with today, but I seem to have made some accomplishment.
Finally watched "The Messenger" tonight. Cleaned the kitchen a few minutes ago, read some stuff, read about Obama's winning Wisconsin in a BIG way, now I think it's time to hit the sack.
Finally watched "The Messenger" tonight. Cleaned the kitchen a few minutes ago, read some stuff, read about Obama's winning Wisconsin in a BIG way, now I think it's time to hit the sack.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Okay, so I can now tell you a few things
that distinguish this city (a Beta world city) from a Gamma world city:
* The Embarcadero has been transformed into an incredible, livable, gorgeous collection of parks, base ball stadium, restaurants, street cars and public art, all looking out over the Bay
* There is a paucity of franchised food here
* Things away from industrial areas are VERY clean
* There seem to not be police cars every twenty feet, and people seem to feel confident
* Everything in developed areas seems to be well kept
* There is a paucity of big box retailers, and almost no acreage dedicated to parking lots
* There is evidence of further enormous growth, which is laid out in a manner designed to increase walking and interplay, and reduce driving
And that's just in two days of not really having had the time to look around.
I'm already packed up to go home; my flight is in three hours.
Later, I'll deliver my impressions of the Gay VN awards show here, what it's like to consistently find amazing food in little nooks and crannies, and why the new BMW 330i is amazing.
* The Embarcadero has been transformed into an incredible, livable, gorgeous collection of parks, base ball stadium, restaurants, street cars and public art, all looking out over the Bay
* There is a paucity of franchised food here
* Things away from industrial areas are VERY clean
* There seem to not be police cars every twenty feet, and people seem to feel confident
* Everything in developed areas seems to be well kept
* There is a paucity of big box retailers, and almost no acreage dedicated to parking lots
* There is evidence of further enormous growth, which is laid out in a manner designed to increase walking and interplay, and reduce driving
And that's just in two days of not really having had the time to look around.
I'm already packed up to go home; my flight is in three hours.
Later, I'll deliver my impressions of the Gay VN awards show here, what it's like to consistently find amazing food in little nooks and crannies, and why the new BMW 330i is amazing.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Greetings from a Gamma World city
I flew to San Francisco last night to work with one loan client (for sure,) and possibly/probably two. What's the difference between this and Houston? Beats me. Houston's a Gamma World City. San Fran beats us by three points, but that WAS nine years ago. Maybe we've caught up a bit.
Flight here yesterday was .. about what yo'ud expect. Every seat filled. 31" seat pitch; the diminutive Asian man in front of me reclined his seat all the way back, and the man sitting next to me didn't just take over the armrest, he was trying to take over my seat. Left late, arrived on time (you just HAVE to love Continental about that.) They fed us on the airplane - not a meal that one would rave over, but .. they fed us on the plane. Flight attendants were all pleasant, and worked the aisle for the entire flight. I worked my iPod for the very first time, and played FreeCell on the new in flight entertainment system for two hours, which was a hoot.
Saw this as I drank my second cup o'joe this morning -
It's awesome. I want to get a big supply and pass them out.
Yesterday, I only saw the campaign buttons and stickers for a single presidential candidate - Obama.
This is an interesting weekend - there is urgency, but also languidness interposed for a very surreal experience.
In a few minutes, we go on a quickie tour of SF commercial space, and then to the office to do some writing.
Flight here yesterday was .. about what yo'ud expect. Every seat filled. 31" seat pitch; the diminutive Asian man in front of me reclined his seat all the way back, and the man sitting next to me didn't just take over the armrest, he was trying to take over my seat. Left late, arrived on time (you just HAVE to love Continental about that.) They fed us on the airplane - not a meal that one would rave over, but .. they fed us on the plane. Flight attendants were all pleasant, and worked the aisle for the entire flight. I worked my iPod for the very first time, and played FreeCell on the new in flight entertainment system for two hours, which was a hoot.
Saw this as I drank my second cup o'joe this morning -
It's awesome. I want to get a big supply and pass them out.
Yesterday, I only saw the campaign buttons and stickers for a single presidential candidate - Obama.
This is an interesting weekend - there is urgency, but also languidness interposed for a very surreal experience.
In a few minutes, we go on a quickie tour of SF commercial space, and then to the office to do some writing.
Monday, February 04, 2008
What a difference a piece of paper makes
So, I've been living in my house nearly a full year now. Since moving (back) in, my bedroom window has been rattling like crazy because of the traffic passing by on Briar Forest, which never used to be as bad as it is now.
The window is, of course, 37 year old, and was cheap in 1970. Over time, its mechanism has failed, and it doesn't fit nor lock in its frame very well.
Anyway, the other morning, I was kept in a semi-REM state most of the night and awakened at 5:30 a.m. by trucks rumbling by which caused the window to rattle violently. I arose in a crappy mood (which has been happening a lot lately,) and was suddenly struck with an inspiration to fold a piece of copy paper into an origami wedge to go between the window frame and the window itself.
Jammed into place, my creation muted the window's shaking, but didn't eliminate it. So, I then folded a matchbook cover and jammed it in between the origami wedge and the window frame.
Voila! Peace!
I've actually been sleeping much better; I can live with the rumble of traffic, but the death throes of the old window were preventing me from sleeping.
The window is, of course, 37 year old, and was cheap in 1970. Over time, its mechanism has failed, and it doesn't fit nor lock in its frame very well.
Anyway, the other morning, I was kept in a semi-REM state most of the night and awakened at 5:30 a.m. by trucks rumbling by which caused the window to rattle violently. I arose in a crappy mood (which has been happening a lot lately,) and was suddenly struck with an inspiration to fold a piece of copy paper into an origami wedge to go between the window frame and the window itself.
Jammed into place, my creation muted the window's shaking, but didn't eliminate it. So, I then folded a matchbook cover and jammed it in between the origami wedge and the window frame.
Voila! Peace!
I've actually been sleeping much better; I can live with the rumble of traffic, but the death throes of the old window were preventing me from sleeping.
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