Minutia and trivia amuse me. When I was younger my brain was filled with facts and figures and entire passages from books and movies. That stuff is still in there, I guess, but I just cannot access the files and folders as readily. This love of useless stuff was piqued last night as the weather reader reported yesterday marked the 27th day in July our high temperature peaked at 90F or higher. I was trying to remember the three days it did not get that hot.
The Man is predicting rain today. I will believe it when it happens. Lately Mother Nature has acted more like a prick-tease high school girl than the middle aged matron on the margarine commercial.. You remember that PT chick from your randy youth. She goes on a date, gives a few lingering kisses, lets you fondle her boobage through her tight sweater. The next date she shows a little thigh and leaves you excited, overheated, and wanting more. The "more" is never delivered. That is the way Mother Nature has been lately. She darkens the sky with some clouds. Sometimes she brings on the wind and thunder, but never more than a light mist of rain. She teases us with that long soaking we need, but laughs as we get all excited for nothing. Is it ironic that these two women, decades apart, both force us to take frequent cold showers?
On the bright side, I have not had to mow the lawn since late May.
July 31, 2012
July 30, 2012
Responsibility
I know this couple. They have owned their own small business for decades. They certainly are not rich, but they are not eating ramen noodles for supper either. Any of us would describe their life as decidedly middle class.
They met at the university. They married and moved back to the small town where I live and raised a couple of kids.
In the building next door to their existing business they started another mom and pop. They worked hard, very hard, running both businesses. They were there six days a week, and vacations were rare. The days were long, but they provided the usual for the kids, dance classes, football, baseball camp, cars, college. One of the business failed. The other hangs on in these tough times.
Why did one business fail? Leftists like Obama will claim successful business owners only got what they have through the hard work of others, through the government. Yet these fine people had two business, on the same street, a few blocks from the same bridge. Both had a similar education and even shared some teachers.
Why did the government and everyone else cause business number two to close?
If you and I were responsible for building what these people have, aren't we responsible when things do not go well?
See how silly President Obama and Cherokee Princess Warren sound when you look at their actual philosophy? What kind of world would we have if no one was ever held responsible? You did not build that business, You did not build that house. You did not paint that artwork. You did not write that book. You did not run that business into the ground. You did not shoot up that movie theater.
They met at the university. They married and moved back to the small town where I live and raised a couple of kids.
In the building next door to their existing business they started another mom and pop. They worked hard, very hard, running both businesses. They were there six days a week, and vacations were rare. The days were long, but they provided the usual for the kids, dance classes, football, baseball camp, cars, college. One of the business failed. The other hangs on in these tough times.
Why did one business fail? Leftists like Obama will claim successful business owners only got what they have through the hard work of others, through the government. Yet these fine people had two business, on the same street, a few blocks from the same bridge. Both had a similar education and even shared some teachers.
Why did the government and everyone else cause business number two to close?
If you and I were responsible for building what these people have, aren't we responsible when things do not go well?
See how silly President Obama and Cherokee Princess Warren sound when you look at their actual philosophy? What kind of world would we have if no one was ever held responsible? You did not build that business, You did not build that house. You did not paint that artwork. You did not write that book. You did not run that business into the ground. You did not shoot up that movie theater.
July 29, 2012
Dead white guys are no longer "history"
A couple of weeks ago I was on a business trip and took the long way home in order to stop by the grave site and home of the legendary Sgt. Alvin York. I even wrote a post about it if you bother to scroll back a bit. I am not going to link it 'cause it is not important to this post.
I showed the pictures and described the visit to the York home to my wife. A blank look was followed with a questioning "who"?. My daughter was visiting at the time, she gave me the same "so?" face as her mother. They had never heard of Sgt. York. I showed the pics to my son when he came home. When questioned, he said he "might have heard of him", but allowed he did not know who York was.
My dad knew. My brother knew. The rest of my family and friends had no idea regarding the heroism of one of America's most decorated soldiers. I think that is sad.,
The movie "Sergeant York" was on TCM last week. I recorded it on the DVR. I am going to try and make the wife and boy watch it with me. They won't.
Audie Murphy -- isn't he in that one John Wayne movie?
I showed the pictures and described the visit to the York home to my wife. A blank look was followed with a questioning "who"?. My daughter was visiting at the time, she gave me the same "so?" face as her mother. They had never heard of Sgt. York. I showed the pics to my son when he came home. When questioned, he said he "might have heard of him", but allowed he did not know who York was.
My dad knew. My brother knew. The rest of my family and friends had no idea regarding the heroism of one of America's most decorated soldiers. I think that is sad.,
The movie "Sergeant York" was on TCM last week. I recorded it on the DVR. I am going to try and make the wife and boy watch it with me. They won't.
Audie Murphy -- isn't he in that one John Wayne movie?
July 28, 2012
July 27, 2012
Increasingly on the fringe
I am afraid I am increasingly out of touch and perhaps even wrong when it comes to my perceptions regarding the role of the Federal Government. In my travels I often listen to the local radio stations, usually news talk or sports talk. I was getting in some windshield time earlier in the week and the hourly news included a farm report. That is not unusual in this part of the country. A great deal of the report focused on the next iteration of a Farm Bill, but more importantly, on the efforts to pass an emergency "drought relief" for farmers.
Farming is a business. Why are we, as taxpayers, bailing out the farmers*? Isn't drought one of the reasons for Federal crop Insurance programs? Does the government step in and give money to other businesses in times of natural woe? Was there a program to help struggling snow plow operators this past winter when a capricious Mother Nature refused to send snow our way? Do we get emergency "rain relief" to pool salesmen and water park operators when we have a wet cool summer? I am sure farmers across the nation will point out that farms produce our food and without a viable farm system starvation faces the nation.
Bad crops equal higher prices. The law of supply and demand even applies to the mercantile exchange. The CBOE pays more for corn futures when the yield outlook is low. If the taxpayers are expected to pay the farmers for the ill effects of nature, shouldn't the farmers pay more to the taxpayers in times of abundance?
Better yet, shouldn't the government stay out of the farming business altogether?
* I won't even get into subsidies and pay not to plant programs.
Farming is a business. Why are we, as taxpayers, bailing out the farmers*? Isn't drought one of the reasons for Federal crop Insurance programs? Does the government step in and give money to other businesses in times of natural woe? Was there a program to help struggling snow plow operators this past winter when a capricious Mother Nature refused to send snow our way? Do we get emergency "rain relief" to pool salesmen and water park operators when we have a wet cool summer? I am sure farmers across the nation will point out that farms produce our food and without a viable farm system starvation faces the nation.
Bad crops equal higher prices. The law of supply and demand even applies to the mercantile exchange. The CBOE pays more for corn futures when the yield outlook is low. If the taxpayers are expected to pay the farmers for the ill effects of nature, shouldn't the farmers pay more to the taxpayers in times of abundance?
Better yet, shouldn't the government stay out of the farming business altogether?
* I won't even get into subsidies and pay not to plant programs.
A moment of silence
The International Olympic Committee refuses to honor the fortieth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. It has been reported the IOC fears it will antagonize the delegations from various Arab nations.
I hope you join me in a moment of silence, prayer or reflection for the innocent victims of hatred and intolerance. If honoring these athletes is not part of the Olympic Ideal, then I am honestly not sure what the Games represent.
July 26, 2012
Friday Covers -- Thursday edition
Inspired by my man Yabu at Bad Bad Juju:
Desiree Bassett puts some hot electric guitar into a timeless classic
For some reason this version makes me want to cry.
No commentary required.
Desiree Bassett puts some hot electric guitar into a timeless classic
For some reason this version makes me want to cry.
No commentary required.
July 25, 2012
Tick tock goes the clock
And then the one day you findTen years have got behind youNo one told you when to runYou missed the starting gun --Pink Floyd
It is as inevitable as water flowing down the Mississippi. Life moves forward. In just a few weeks my youngest and last remaining "at home" kid will head off to college. He will be a freshman at Indiana University.
We have watched him grow up here on the old blog. When I first started writing he was active in little league and youth football. He learned to drive, went on dates, graduated high school. By mid-August he will be packing his car and heading to Bloomington, Indiana.
The nest will be more than empty. When the daughter headed off to college, to life, work, and marriage, it was tough, but there were still two boys at home. Then the oldest son headed off to the university and life in another town, making music. But one remained. The five year separation between the middle and youngest son helped keep the empty-nester wolves at bay.
That time is nearing the end. I can see it in my wife's eyes. She is going to struggle with this one even more than the others. And she had a hard time as they left to pursue their life.
I have never been one of those parents who cannot wait until their kids get to be adults and move out. I enjoy my children. I like having them around. I am a lucky man. Watching your offspring spread their wings and jump from the nest into life is hard. I suspect my parents sat at night and wondered how I was going to get by. Perhaps they wondered what they were going to do with their time, walking the house peering into empty bedrooms.
I think it will be hardest on my wife. Travel is part and parcel of my job. Always before there was a kid at home, or coming home to keep her company, even if only in a metaphorical sense as he played video games behind closed doors. Now, just an empty house will echo her silent conversations. Me? I like my own company. I spend all day in an office alone and hours on end in a car or hotel. The wife does not like alone time so much.
In many ways the coming weeks will be filled with joy. The boy is so happy and excited to start his new life, you cannot help but share in his enthusiasm. It is with pride you realize you have prepared your child to enter the world, despite a complete lack of instructions,direction, manuals, or on-line tech support. That makes me happy.
So I keep telling myself.
July 24, 2012
Whoever built this blog sure did a crappy job * Updated with cool video
The cursor is blinking away. I am staring at it, waiting on someone, anyone, from the government to build this post. There are actually four phones here on my desk, and so far this morning not one has rung, buzzed, beeped or chimed with the latest words, phrases and themes for this entry.
---aside. yes, there are four phones on my little Sauder-built black aged wood-looking desk: my cell phone, my work land line with a local number, my work internet phone (with a corporate number), and the house phone via a cordless handset.
As we took the irrelevant side trip about my plethora of phones the government failed to build this post. I guess the Obama team must be off golfing or fundraising. No time to build here. Perhaps they are busy closing Gitmo, or getting our money back from GM? Maybe the Golfer-in-Chief is busy lowering the oceans and cooling the Earth.and does not have time to build at this crappy website. Oh wait, President Obama's laser-focus on jobs means he is meeting with his Jobs Council, I bet. What? You mean the Jobs Council has not met for months? Never mind, I forgot the Stimulus solved the economy and unemployment problems Bush caused.
Oh look! I built a post all by my self. Millions of Americans get work done, create wealth and jobs without the government helping. Usually despite Government interference. On second thought, this post is about the Obama and Democrat insane insistence that nothing can be done without the government, the government was responsible for the content...Well I can take solace in the notion this crappy post is a perfect example of what happens when the government gets involved.
update. Nothing else needs to be said:
* Since this place went live in 2005, it is probably Bush's fault
---aside. yes, there are four phones on my little Sauder-built black aged wood-looking desk: my cell phone, my work land line with a local number, my work internet phone (with a corporate number), and the house phone via a cordless handset.
As we took the irrelevant side trip about my plethora of phones the government failed to build this post. I guess the Obama team must be off golfing or fundraising. No time to build here. Perhaps they are busy closing Gitmo, or getting our money back from GM? Maybe the Golfer-in-Chief is busy lowering the oceans and cooling the Earth.and does not have time to build at this crappy website. Oh wait, President Obama's laser-focus on jobs means he is meeting with his Jobs Council, I bet. What? You mean the Jobs Council has not met for months? Never mind, I forgot the Stimulus solved the economy and unemployment problems Bush caused.
Oh look! I built a post all by my self. Millions of Americans get work done, create wealth and jobs without the government helping. Usually despite Government interference. On second thought, this post is about the Obama and Democrat insane insistence that nothing can be done without the government, the government was responsible for the content...Well I can take solace in the notion this crappy post is a perfect example of what happens when the government gets involved.
update. Nothing else needs to be said:
* Since this place went live in 2005, it is probably Bush's fault
July 23, 2012
Something needs to be done about these insane laws
Thirteen are dead. Do we blame the truck? Do we blame the refusal of Federal officials to enforce immigration law?
That would make as much sense as blaming guns for the action of one evil person.
That would make as much sense as blaming guns for the action of one evil person.
BTW shooting a dozen people is already against the law
While we are at it, I am sure I will not be the first nor the last to point out one of the worst single shooting sprees in history took place just one year ago in Norway. That country has some of the strictest gun laws of any nation and is surrounded by countries with a similar stance regarding firearms.
All the legislation, all of the laws imaginable will not stop a person determined to act. Unless you envision each of us living alone in a cage like at a zoo, this is life on Earth, where free will rules and evil is just around the corner.
All the legislation, all of the laws imaginable will not stop a person determined to act. Unless you envision each of us living alone in a cage like at a zoo, this is life on Earth, where free will rules and evil is just around the corner.
July 22, 2012
3662
There is already an ocean of ink, both real and electronic, devoted to the acts of one crazy individual in Colorado. That won't stop me from injecting my two cents, even if my opinion is only worth one and a half pennies.
This shooting was perpetuated by a sick, evil individual. The Batman movies were nothing more than the excuse for the gunman. The notion we should take the movie from theaters is ridiculous. That is like saying we should ban university classrooms in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre. No amount of gun control, paperwork, UN Treaties, blaming the Right or Rush Limbaugh, or lengthening gun permit wait times would have prevented this from happening. The guy was smart enough to make his own tear gas and by all accounts the mousetrap of destruction planted in the apartment was advanced. The killer would have found a way to make himself famous through illegal guns, homemade bombs, anything. Short of banning and confiscating every gun in the nation and somehow every Firework, box of ammunition and household cleaning supplies, this could not have been avoided. Guns will never be banned or confiscated in this country. Not without a bloodbath that will make the previous Civil War look like the invasion of Grenada.
I am not sure why a private individual would need all of the body armor the assailant was allegedly wearing. But that is none of my business. Some people are spending tens of thousands of dollars building modern bomb shelters. Some people might look around my house and wonder why I need a 52 inch big screen TV. How a person defends his self and loved ones is not relevant to me. At least until those methods impede upon my own freedom. Say your self defense methods involves letting loose a herd of poisonous snakes in the lawn next door for instance --that is not an opotion. But if you find it necessary to pretend you are a Ninja warrior, SWAT wannabe, or medieval knight, have at it.
There are sick people out there folks. The desire to be famous is part of modern society. Little could have been done to save the lives of the dozen who died and scores who were shot. Perhaps if one person in the crowd had a concealed weapon and fired back it might have helped. We will never know.
This shooting was perpetuated by a sick, evil individual. The Batman movies were nothing more than the excuse for the gunman. The notion we should take the movie from theaters is ridiculous. That is like saying we should ban university classrooms in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre. No amount of gun control, paperwork, UN Treaties, blaming the Right or Rush Limbaugh, or lengthening gun permit wait times would have prevented this from happening. The guy was smart enough to make his own tear gas and by all accounts the mousetrap of destruction planted in the apartment was advanced. The killer would have found a way to make himself famous through illegal guns, homemade bombs, anything. Short of banning and confiscating every gun in the nation and somehow every Firework, box of ammunition and household cleaning supplies, this could not have been avoided. Guns will never be banned or confiscated in this country. Not without a bloodbath that will make the previous Civil War look like the invasion of Grenada.
I am not sure why a private individual would need all of the body armor the assailant was allegedly wearing. But that is none of my business. Some people are spending tens of thousands of dollars building modern bomb shelters. Some people might look around my house and wonder why I need a 52 inch big screen TV. How a person defends his self and loved ones is not relevant to me. At least until those methods impede upon my own freedom. Say your self defense methods involves letting loose a herd of poisonous snakes in the lawn next door for instance --that is not an opotion. But if you find it necessary to pretend you are a Ninja warrior, SWAT wannabe, or medieval knight, have at it.
There are sick people out there folks. The desire to be famous is part of modern society. Little could have been done to save the lives of the dozen who died and scores who were shot. Perhaps if one person in the crowd had a concealed weapon and fired back it might have helped. We will never know.
July 20, 2012
Yak milk is pink
We had a few brief showers Wednesday and Thursday and you could almost hear Mother Nature sigh an audible "ahhh". It is amazing what less than a half of an inch of rain can do for a lawn when there has been no precipitation to speak of for 45 days. Some parts of the grass are actually sporting a pale green hue this morning. Weeds have popped up by inches over night. It is still hot. I think that has something to do with summer.
Did you know as part of ObamaCare health care providers like hospitals have to conduct a community needs survey every three years. This is the gift the government brings. Now the local hospital has to hire a person to coordinate this regulatory burden. This increases costs. Chalk it up as just an example of why ObamaCare will not make your health care more affordable, but will add layers of bureaucracy, red tape and governmental interference, and increased local costs into what used to be a semi-reasonable operation.
Did you know as part of ObamaCare health care providers like hospitals have to conduct a community needs survey every three years. This is the gift the government brings. Now the local hospital has to hire a person to coordinate this regulatory burden. This increases costs. Chalk it up as just an example of why ObamaCare will not make your health care more affordable, but will add layers of bureaucracy, red tape and governmental interference, and increased local costs into what used to be a semi-reasonable operation.
July 19, 2012
A suggestion
Not only am I tired (see previous post), but the day is not starting off well on other fronts. In fact, I have developed a case of red-ass in monumental proportions. I suggest friends, family, co-workers, customers, commenters, phone solicitors, and the general public-at-large tread lightly.
I am not in the mood for bullshit, and I suspect i will be awash up to my ankles before the day is through. I would like to imagine a peremptory "fuck off" will help.
You have been warned.
I am not in the mood for bullshit, and I suspect i will be awash up to my ankles before the day is through. I would like to imagine a peremptory "fuck off" will help.
You have been warned.
What's goin' on?
It has happened two nights in a row. I wake around three in the aye em, wide awake and ready to start the day. Not on purpose. I pad to the kitchen to grab a drink of water and then the head, and somehow my old buddy insomnia takes charge of the situation. Unfortunately I don't go to bed until around 11:30 or so. Four hours of sleep is not enough for this 50 year old man. In my youth, no problem. I spent most of my teens and twenties managing about four hours sleep. Now, my beauty fading, I have to get the deep sleep to rejuvenate my brain and body.
Now it is really time to start the day and I am exhausted.
Now it is really time to start the day and I am exhausted.
July 18, 2012
Mystery of Amelia Earhart is solved!
I can report with near certainty, I know what happened to Amelia Earhart.
She died.
She is with Lucca Brazzi.
Maybe she crashed at sea. Maybe she and Fred Noonan putzed along for years like Gilligan and Mary Anne on some desert isle. She might have drowned fishing for snapper. It could be she was swept away in a typhoon. She could have met her end via snakebite or a peck from a rabid seagull. As the Munchkins might say "And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead."
In the end, she met the fate of many intrepid explorers and seekers of adventure. She failed.
The millions of dollars spent at the time of her disappearance and since will not change that unalterable fact.
Like Robert Scott, Earhart remains a historical figure only because her failure resulted in tragedy and death.
But my wife did live in a residence hall at Purdue University named after her, so there is that.
She died.
She is with Lucca Brazzi.
Maybe she crashed at sea. Maybe she and Fred Noonan putzed along for years like Gilligan and Mary Anne on some desert isle. She might have drowned fishing for snapper. It could be she was swept away in a typhoon. She could have met her end via snakebite or a peck from a rabid seagull. As the Munchkins might say "And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead."
In the end, she met the fate of many intrepid explorers and seekers of adventure. She failed.
The millions of dollars spent at the time of her disappearance and since will not change that unalterable fact.
Like Robert Scott, Earhart remains a historical figure only because her failure resulted in tragedy and death.
But my wife did live in a residence hall at Purdue University named after her, so there is that.
July 17, 2012
Mountain Goat Memoirs
I had to do some rare travels over the weekend. Monday morning found me traveling the hills and dales of the north-east corner of the Volunteer State. I finished early yesterday with my customer and picked up the trusty old atlas. Just a few ridges away was this house:
If you are a hard-core war movie fan you will recognize that abode from the pivotal scene at the end of an Academy Award (insert applicable trademarks symbol) winning picture. Yes, that is the home of Sergeant Alvin York, one of the most decorated soldiers in American history. I also made a quick stop to the York burial site, just a short distance away.
I have stated it many times and fellow road warriors will testify; life on the road is not the fun and glamour most of you imagine. It is these little side trips that makes it all worthwhile. And the paycheck. I like the paycheck.
July 16, 2012
But seriously folks
I am begging for a response to this post. I encourage anyone to give their viewpoint, especially those opposed to my position, because I truly cannot see the other side of this question.
Why is asking for identification prior to voting a big deal? The State GIVES free picture identification to any citizen. There is no financial burden.
You have to present identification to board a plane, to collect unemployment, to serve on a jury, cash a check, buy booze, buy cigarettes, and start a job. Most employers, schools and government workers have picture IDs assigned. You even have to provide a picture ID if you want to get in and see the US Attorney General give a speech about how awful picture ID requirements are. But to prove you are you before voting, before we participate in the most important task as citizens, is asking too much? I just do not get it.
Why is asking for identification prior to voting a big deal? The State GIVES free picture identification to any citizen. There is no financial burden.
You have to present identification to board a plane, to collect unemployment, to serve on a jury, cash a check, buy booze, buy cigarettes, and start a job. Most employers, schools and government workers have picture IDs assigned. You even have to provide a picture ID if you want to get in and see the US Attorney General give a speech about how awful picture ID requirements are. But to prove you are you before voting, before we participate in the most important task as citizens, is asking too much? I just do not get it.
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