Wednesday, May 30, 2012

I Suppose

I'm just a crabby SOB today.

Had to go to Wally World and pick up some prescriptions, and the bill was ninety five bucks. Which I had to scrape together - I was out of a couple items, and I won't be home for about three days starting tomorrow. Had to have 'em.

So, muttering under my breath, I headed out to the ol' pickem up truck to go home, when the guy came up to me:

"Excuse me sir (damn polite, he was) can I bother you for a minute?"

I was wanting to get home, I've gotta get up early, but you never know, so I said to go ahead.

"I'm stuck here broke and so on and so on and gotta have x amount of dollars to do such and such and the family is depending on me and blah blah blah...."

I blew up.

"I don't have three cents to rub together right now, and I don't have time for this shit!"

"OH! Excuse me sure, blah blah blah..."

Normally, I might even give up a fiver just because it's easier to one of these panhandlers. I'm sure the begging mofo already sucks at the government tit big time and so on and so forth.

His "soft touch radar" kinda failed him, I think.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day 2012

If you've been reading me for a while, you know that I always use this blog as a means to show my relatives that I have decorated the family graves once again. And, since there are quite a few pics, I'll put 'em under the fold to help the main page load a bit quicker. If you wanna see more, you know the drill.

Sorry


I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but if you've not been keeping up with keeping the takeup in your clutch adjusted, even if there is any left, you've probably toasted the lining. On The Other Hand, maybe you have and it's just worn out. Either way, the future of the current clutch is probably pretty short.

Get a new clutch brake installed while it's all apart, too. Get one that's two piece, so when it wears out, some intrepid mechanic won't be required to wave the blue wrench all over through the access hole to try and cut it out to replace it.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Hoo Boy

At the start of the NASCAR Coca Cola 600, part of the ceremony included playing Amazing Grace on bagpipes. That song has quite a bit of emotional baggage for me - I chose it as one of songs performed at Dad's funeral. It seems well suited to bagpipes, too. So, a bit of Googling uncovered this:


link

I think this video is entirely appropriate for the Memorial Day weekend, don't you? I know I found it particularly moving.

On a side note, Rooster the cat was quite distressed when he heard the bagpipes on the boob tube, and he wasn't much happier when I started looking at bagpipe versions of the song on YouTube. He's sitting at my feet right now hoping I'll put the laptop away and comfort him. Which I will do. He's never reacted that way to any audio coming from the surround sound system before, except for the odd cat meow in commercials. Those just get his attention. Sorry, old chum, but I'll be listening to this in the future as well.


Smooches = Good


But only if it's your mom.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

"Fill Your Hands"



"You Son Of A Bitch!" On this day, 1907 in Winterset, IA, Marion Robert (later Mitchell) Morrison was born. Of course, the quote and the picture are from True Grit. As Rooster Cogburn (who the cat that rules the roost here at The Poor Farm is named), he won his only Best Actor Oscar.

Of course, there have been acres of print written about The Duke, his politics, his personal life, his acting performances and his directorial skills, much of it detrimental at times.

I don't care. If there is one thing those who did not care for him cannot deny, it was the fact that he was larger than life. That trait, which he cultivated in his roles, also extended to his personal life and his politics. He was all in, whether it was drinking with his old buddy Ward Bond or Bruce Cabot, or chasing Communists. He was notorious for berating fellow actors who were not prepared and ready to put in a hard day. He was always ready, even when he was down to one lung.

One of the more oft jabs at his acting is that he always played the same character - The Duke. He always was pro American, walked the same walk, and espoused the same values. He refused movie roles that required him to curse, because it didn't fit his image. What is wrong with that?

And besides, that particular complaint rubs me the wrong way, because obviously those who say that have never seen Red River, The Searchers, The Quiet Man, or even 3 Godfathers. Tell me the roles Wayne played in those movies were all alike, and how they're just the same characters as in Sons of Katie Elder or El Dorado. I'll be waiting.

The Duke was loyal to those who worked well with him, too. The aforementioned Bond and Cabot, Ben Johnson, Maureen O'Hara, both Harry Careys, Walter Brennan, Chill Wills, Hank Worden, Ken Curtis and many others. He didn't mind splitting star time on the screen with Kirk Douglas, Jimmy Stewart, Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum and plenty of other notables. Like Rock Hudson, who credited Wayne with saving his career by giving him a role in The Undefeated, even though Wayne was aware that he was gay - didn't matter to him, what mattered was Hudson needed the work, he was a good actor, and the Duke could use him. On the other hand, Montgomery Clift reportedly wasn't happy with Wayne or Brennan on the set of Red River. But, the supposed romance between Clift and the alcoholic John Ireland disrupting the set more than likely was the culprit, not just that Clift was bisexual.

Anyways, I'll watch an old Duke movie just about any day over what passes for entertainment on today's boob tube. Even if I've seen it nine hundred times already. For all her "charms", Snooki just doesn't have it over The Duke.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Scratch Another One Off The List

Mississippi. Hadn't been there before, and was on my way when I took these pictures. We just went about another one hundred fifty odd miles to our destination.

Sometimes I get to thinking I speak with a Southern accent, and I actually do. However, it's pretty mild compared to what I heard spoken there. Pretty laid back bunch, too. All of us who went really enjoyed ourselves, even if we never did get grits for breakfast.

A Vision Of The Future?


I've got news for Bill Day. He shouldn't be giving those of us who believe in gun rights any ideas, take his defeat, and go home quietly. This sounds like a hell of a fine idea - having the Feds help fund self defense guns for those who cannot afford them. Training would be nice, too. Maybe even ammo handed out like government cheese.

Of course, I'm sure that's not quite what he meant, and I'm also quite sure he's disgusted with Congress critters taking NRA money, but the reality is there is a lot more voters involved on our side than his, and it's showing. So there, a$$hole. Get over it, already. The continuous bleating and lying is getting old.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Where Was I?


It's been quite a while since I've done one of these posts, mostly because I haven't been anywhere new. I have been through this town once some time ago, but it was coming home, east to west. Coming in from the west this time, I could really see the skyline to the south of the Interstate we were on.


This pic is obviously the north side of the same Interstate, getting ready to cross a major bridge over a major waterway. So, where was I? That ain't the Luxor, either.

Monday, May 21, 2012

What The H. E. Double Toothpicks


Yeah, I know this was topical several weeks ago, but when I saw this on That Large Social Site, well, I had to "share." Plus, I, of course, am on the road, pooped for the day, and lacking inspiration for a real post. So this is whatcha get. My standards are truly relatively low, as y'all may have noticed in the past.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

OK For Thee But Not For Me


link

And here I thought you were all about gay marriage and how brave Obama is for supporting the same.

I guess it's ok unless some of Teh Ghey might rub off on you, eh?

I like gay people, but I don't want any of them touching me!

Hrmmm. Let us substitute a word here and see how that kind of thinking works:

I like black people, but I don't want any of them touching me!

Actions speak louder than words, man.

Every Once In A While

I get my head outta the sixties, seventies and early eighties as far as music goes. And by music I mean classic rock. So I'm narrow minded. Sue me.


link

Yep, kinda partial to this song. Kinda like this one, too:


link

I guess Shinedown has been around a while. Couldn't tell by me, apparently. Oh well, I'm enjoying hearing their stuff when it rolls around on the ol' FM tuneage suppliers.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Makes Me Nervous


photo from Wikipedia

One of the many advantages to living out on the ol' prairie right smack dab in middle of nowhere in flyover country is the nominal quiet when the wind isn't blowing. This means that one can hear the birds sing, and there are plenty of those out here.

The mourning doves own the super early am and the late evening - I'm serenaded by dozens in the calm of a morning an hour or so before sunrise. Their calls all seem to sound the same at first, but then you start hearing little artistic differences between the birds - some hang on to a certain note longer, some are tenors and a few are bass - at any rate, it's somewhat soothing.

Another overachiever is the mockingbird. I seem to have a couple around every year, and the songs start well before sunrise while other birds are still logging inner eyelid study time. What is cool is the repertoire varies from day to day, and it's hard to tell just what those silly birds will pick up. I've heard that in cities, they mimic car horns, parking brakes on semis and so on.

But what I do find alarming is one song in this ol' boy's playlist. I swear I've heard a rattlesnake rattle, then a rabbit scream, only to realize it's the resident warbler - and that call shows up about once every other day or so.

What bothers me is I have to wonder where he heard that? That's gotta be a pretty good sized buzzer if it's hunting rabbits, if you know what I mean and I think that you do.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Huh?


I repeat: "Huh?"

Just exactly how does Republicans wanting to reign in spending compare to the members of the European Union that have blown their budgets - and are at or near bankruptcy? And if they all to fall, might bring down the economy worldwide? Just how does preaching austerity equate to the idea that you should keep spending money you don't have a chance of raising? Ever? And whose citizens are apparently so hooked on their entitlement programs that they'll vote for people who will continue to spend like they've got the bucks?

I follow a lot of editorial cartoonists, and Tony Auth is definitely liberal. I generally disagree with most of his messages. But this? I guess you have to believe money can be made by printing more and more and more and more........

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Not Aging Well

That would be me.

Yesterday, I made a trip to Wally World - I get my drugs, groceries and many other sundry items there as a rule. One stop shopping, doncha know. I'm not much for running all over town to buy a certain thing from one store, then dash off to the next one for the next item. Nope, it's all about convenience for me.

So, I was buying some items to fill in the corners of the ol' pantry, as it were. Among the items were some tomatoes, Swiss cheese and wheat bread. I had all my groceries sitting on the passenger seat and on the floorboard of the ol' Chebby Z71, and on my way home, it occurred to me that I was not seeing the loaf of bread. Well, crap, I wasn't finding the tomatoes or the dern cheese, neither. What in the wide wide world of sports had just happened?

Near as I can tell, I either left it in the shopping cart, never completely unloading it then pushed it into the cart rack. Or, I never got it loaded up at the checkout counter. I was the last customer that day for the checker - she was closing up as I left. It could have been on her rotating sack rack.

I think it was my fault and I just left the sacks in the stupid cart. I generally haul my bread and eggs in the child seat as to avoid the rough and tumble of the main compartment, and I sure think I remember putting the sack that held the bread up there.

I do not care for these kind of mysteries. Apparently I'm a prime example of a CRS* sufferer. Or, as the case may be, I might just be going whole hog and exhibiting symptoms of CRAFT**.

I've always said I can hear my Daddy speak at certain times in my life, even though he has passed on. On this occasion, he told me that I'd forget my a$$ if it weren't hooked on. Thanks, Dad, for that pithy and useful wisdom. Really helped out there.

* Can't Remember Shit
**Can't Remember A Fucking Thing.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Leadershi*


One could argue that the minimum requirement to be called a leader is that you don't wait for your Vice President to become so embarrassed by your position on a prominent national issue (gay marriage) that he takes control, forcing you to meekly follow. President Obama glibly said that Vice President Biden "got over his skis" when he came out in support of gay marriage. Actually, Biden displayed leadership. I understand why the President didn't recognize it.

On the Republican side, Romney is like a bag that's half snakes and half candy. When you put your hand in, you never know what you're getting. Romney might be awesome. I like the general idea of putting a turnaround expert in the oval office at a time when we need one. But the reality is that we don't know what we're getting with Romney. He is, after all, a robot that professes a deep belief in magic. Good luck predicting how that would shake out.

President Obama is getting a lot of credit for killing Bin Laden. But how much credit should we give to luck? It was lucky timing that our intelligence people located Bin Laden during Obama's term. And if no one knew for sure that Bin Laden was at the compound before the attack was launched, the President was guessing. He guessed right, but guessing isn't a repeatable skill. And realistically, you and I would have made the same decision to launch a strike. 

In theory, the United States is protected from revolution because we have the option of voting out the bums we don't like. The reality, which is sinking in, is that our only option is to replace bums with bums. As long as no candidate feels the need to be philosophically consistent, or to base decisions on data, we don't have a functional government.

Emphasis mine. Wish I'd said that. This is from Scott Adams's blog - I ripped off the title, too. Just to be painfully obvious, the * does not hide a "P."

Scott goes on, and you should read the whole thing. I'm for thinking he goes off the reservation at times when he proposes something, but one needs to keep in mind that his whole reason for posting is to get people thinking and talking. This, he does quite well.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

We Should Be Grateful



That there are scholar scientists working diligently to find solutions to problems that vex our society and economy to the very core.
It's all in the walk: Scientists explore the physics behind NOT spilling coffee 
Researchers are a step closer to understanding the science behind one of life’s common pitfalls - spilling coffee.
Scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, decided to investigate the physics behind the best way of carrying coffee without causing spillages.
‘In our busy lives, almost all of us have to walk with a cup of coffee. While often we spill the drink, this familiar phenomenon has never been explored systematically,’ the abstract of the paper entitled ‘Walking with coffee: Why does it spill?’ states.
‘Here we report on the results of an experimental study of the conditions under which coffee spills for various walking speeds and initial liquid levels in the cup.’

Rouslan Krechetnikov, a mechanical engineer at the university, and his graduate student, Hans Mayer, explored the phenomenon by conducting a series of experiments.
They monitored a person walking at different speeds along a straight path while holding a full mug of coffee and either focusing on the mug, or looking straight ahead.

A camera recorded the volunteer’s motion, while a tiny sensor on the mug recorded the instant of spillage, according to ScienceNOW.
The research, published in the journal Physical Review E, found that in average sized mugs the coffee’s natural frequency was the same as a person’s gait, which caused the liquid to oscillate.
The spillages were most likely between a coffee carrier’s seventh and tenth step, according to Live Science.
Following their discovery, the mechanical engineers had some advice for coffee drinkers. They said leaving a large gap between the coffee and the top of the drinking vessel, and walking slower, prevents spillages.
They added that watching the mug, rather than the floor, while carrying it proved to be a more effective coffee-holding method.
Well, allrighty then. Don't fill the cup completely full, walk slower, and watch the cup to prevent spillage*. Who'd a thunk it? Pure genius. As Letterman is fond of saying:
“There is no off position on the genius switch.”
Didja see just which state this amazing and valuable research took place? That would be the levelheaded locus of taxes and spending - California. They're only 16 billion in the hole, and bankruptcy is just around the corner - unless Governor Moonbeam pulls a rabbit outta his hat.

Yannow, it's just a few hundred grand here and there - that's not gonna add up or anything, 'specially when it's not your money. I mean, y'all don't have to get serious about a budget, now do ya?

H/T Dave Barry

*Of course, if one is using a styrofoam cup, one could always use a plastic lid. There. I just just saved a hundred grand or so. I expect a check in the mail tout suite.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Canary In The Coal Mine



That phrase dates back to the practice of taking canaries into coal mines, so that if the bird was exposed to dangerous gases, it would die, the miners would notice, and they could get out before they lost their lives as well.

Perhaps it is a good analogy for what happens when a government overtaxes it's minions, and they renounce their citizenship and move to another country to avoid the higher bills - become a tax exile. It's been happening in the UK for quite some time, and the people who stay are not happy about it.

We've been seeing this with major corporations leaving the US and relocating their headquarters to a more tax friendly haven for some time, with the powers that be getting rather upset that the profit minded businesses might actually prefer to operate with less tax overhead. Imagine that.

Now, we're starting to see wealthy individuals in the news doing the same thing:
Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill.
snip
Saverin, 30, joins a growing number of people giving up U.S. citizenship ahead of a possible increase in tax rates for top earners. The Brazilian-born resident of Singapore is one of several people who helped Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook in a Harvard University dormitory and stand to reap billions of dollars after the world’s largest social network holds its IPO.
Of course, this is practically being unpatriotic, especially if you're coming at the issue as a tenured college professor, who is immune to market forces:
“It’s plainly lawful and at the same time profoundly ungrateful to the country that provided these opportunities for him,” said Edward Kleinbard, a tax law professor at the University ofSouthern California in Los Angeles. “He benefited from his U.S. education, the contacts he made at Harvard, and most important the extraordinary openness and flexibility of our economy that encourages startup ventures to flourish.”
I gotta admit, I about agree with the good prof up to the point that I start to question just What We Should Do To Punish Such Malfeasance. Are we a free people, or a bunch of indentured servants to our Very Tax Hungry government? Am I just a tad jealous because I lack the financial freedom to be able to make those kind of decisions? We hear the talk - Tax the Snot Outta The Rich, cuz They Can Certainly Afford It and It Just Isn't Fair. And then the rich move - away. Imagine that.

In all the material our Founding Fathers left behind on the subject of being a good citizen, I just don't remember seeing much on "paying taxes is the mark of a Patriot." Nope, I've seen how they thought someone keeping a sharp mind, well fed body and armed to boot was a great idea. Yet somehow the guys who were revolting against taxes they were none to fond of kinda negates the idea that our country was founded on the principle of paying taxes, and that is what we all should be doing now.

Perhaps it truly is a sign - the canary is dead, and the high taxes are the poison. Ya think?

Friday, May 11, 2012

Road Test!


link

Car manufacturers test their wares. They test at facilities designed for such purposes, with tracks, simulated rough roads, in cold and hot rooms for temperature extremes, and about any kind of abuse they can think of. I've actually seen the disguised next year models in Michigan sporting their car cover coatings, running in convoys, as well as in the Rockies, for high altitude tests.

Hyundai kinda went on a different bent with their new i30 hatchback:  baboons!
The Hyundai was handed over to the troop for ten hours and left unattended. Designers wanted to see how the finish would stand up to the kind of punishment the average child might inflict during the car’s lifetime.

Dozens of the animals colonised it from the moment it was driven into their enclosure.

Result: a few scrapes, lots of smears and finger marks, a dislodged rubber door seal that was rejected as a snack, plus some tooth marks in the steering wheel. The good news: no one stole the alloys.

‘Safari park monkeys are particularly good at discovering weak points on cars and then pulling, prodding and tearing at the parts until they break,’ said Hyundai project manager Felicity Wood.

The park’s general manager David Ross said the baboons, which can weigh up to 66lb, ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ the experiment.

He added: ‘For a baboon to have a car to play with for the whole day is manna from heaven.’

link

Bonus - Hyundai Project Manager Felicity Wood gets to say "Cheeky monkeys!"

Might be kinda handy having a monkey proof car if your little cheeky monkeys can't keep their diaper filling in the diaper. This car wipes down fairly easily, if you know what I mean, and I think that you do.

Get Real


What the LGBT community, the press, and social liberals think is the situation now - their Hero has spoken and assuaged their fears that maybe he wasn't gonna "do anything."

 

The reality. All Teh Won did was say he was for gay marriage, but he is NOT going to expend any political capital on it. This was just a cheap way to sound like he's gonna keep a promise, while not doing so.

And I gotta say, I totally agree with Ted Rall's take on this issue. "The Decider." Heh. Remember, that's what he campaigned on - that he would be "The Decider" - non partisan, uniter, not a divider, and so on. What a fantabulous example of pure D leadership he has exemplified thus far. Hope and Change!

And just as an aside - remember Dear Leader is a self proclaimed Constitutional scholar. Sure came through on state's rights on this issue, now didn't he? However, state's rights mean nothing in Obamacare. It's all about what benefits Teh Won.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

How The Gutsiest President Evah!

Killed OBL!! A Pictoral History!









Yep, we should be so lucky. And, found this - seems to go with this post rather well:



H/T Lorrie, and found on the web here

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Several Times A Week


Ted Rall demonstrates just how much of a loon he really is. Equating the 9/11 victims to terrorists? Moral equivalency? Really? And apparently the attack was justified in your eyes?

Man, you need help.

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Compassion Does Not Mean Throwing More Money At the Problem


link

I've certainly made it no secret that I'm a fan of Congressman Tim Huelskamp, representing Kansas's Big First district, where I live. Here he is hammering on food stamp loopholes and the idea that we as a country need to have jobs for people rather than just handing out more food stamps. He's been really working on getting his colleagues to approve a budget, noting several times that we've gone over a thousand days (since 2009) without one.

Frankly, his efforts seem to have the same effect as urinating into a stiff breeze, as it were, but he's doing the job we elected him to do. He's asking rather pointed questions, and is certainly a thorn in the side of certain elites.


Or as Sally says: "Sydney or the Bush!"

In the past week or so, Og has been promoting the idea that voting can help bring incremental change, and getting hammered for it. He argues that it took incremental changes to bring us to this point, and that it won't change overnight. By refusing to become involved, we are only hastening the day when we have no input into the system, or we have to hit the "reset" button. And truthfully, "our" side has a lot of people who are living for and counting on that day to arrive with SHTF food and weapons supplies and a prepper attitude. Livin' the Red Dawn dream. Some feel that refusing to vote for the presidential elections will rain death and destruction on the Republican Party and teach them a severe lesson for bringing such tepid and progressive candidates so far from conservative values to the fight. Keep letting it get bad enough, and people will see, by Gawd. So there.

My thoughts on that are that by not exercising the right to vote, one might just lose it, regardless of how bad y'all made the Stupid Party feel. And I'm not too wild about bringing about anarchy and trying to start over again - I'm kinda invested in the system running to keep me in things like electricity and drugs that I need to live. Not gonna last long off the grid and away from a functioning pharmacy. Call me selfish, but that's the way it is.

So I don't think we've completely gone around the bend if we've got people like Huelskamp in Congress who aren't letting go. I'm pretty tickled at my Senators as well, even though they're certainly political animals. They've been making the right noises for quite some time as well. Even if the MSM isn't listening. I am, and now you know as well. So goes my hope for our future.

24V71 Detroit


link

This is Mike Harrah's baby. Harrah is a self proclaimed entrepreneur, developer, visionary and philanthropist.  He also is a gearhead. 3424 horsepower, and it is gonna go into a Peterbilt 359 ahead of an Allison automatic transmission (no doubt extensively customized as well). This I gotta see.

The blowers are custom, and it's also on "the bottle." I expect plumbing in turbos would be a real nightmare, and I have to wonder if the heads could take it. While most of you have heard my opinions on production Detroit Diesel engines in the past, there is no denying that this exercise is a work of art. It just is, and if you don't understand, there is no hope for you!

H/T Darrell at The Guncounter Forum

Sunday, May 06, 2012

The Beating a Dead Horse - erm - Corpse Department



Pepsi Announces Michael Jackson Ad Campaign

In a move not quite as dramatic as Coachella’s resurrection of Tupac, PepsiCo Inc. said today that it has collaborated with Michael Jackson’s estate to use the Gloved One’s  image and his music in a series of new ads across the world.
The promotion will vary across the globe but will include Jackson’s silhouette on 1 billion special-edition cans as well as a TV spot, contests and the opportunity for fans to download remixes of some of Jackson’s top hits.
The Michael Jackson campaign also will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the “Bad” album and his 1988 tour, which the company sponsored.
It is part of PepsiCo’s “Live for Now” promotion, which Brad Jakeman, president of Global Enjoyment Brands and chief creative officer of PepsiCo’s Global Beverage Group, said was meant to highlight the company’s relationship with pop culture. 
snip
Laura Ries, president of Ries and Ries, an Atlanta marketing strategy firm, said that it made sense for PepsiCo to bring back Jackson, especially for the “Bad” anniversary, because fans were eager to revisit good memories of the entertainer.
“We all want to remember the Michael who was the ‘King of Pop,’” she said. “He’s very iconic. … Enough time has passed [since his 2009 death]. They will be excited to remember Michael Jackson and excited about Pepsi.”
Believe me when I tell you I am not excited. Resurrecting the perv druggie as a sales tool smacks of desperate commercialism. "Live for Now????" Are you freaking kidding me? Did I stumble upon an Onion article? I got news for ya all:


link

That's right, Michael is DEAD. Dead, dead, dead. To Pepsi I say:
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
  Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit,
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
  Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
and
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
I got news for Pepsi. At a point in the not so distant future, The King of Pop will be a wart on the a$$ of culture, while the works of ol' Omar and William will still be studied and appreciated. I just don't see treatises on Billy Jean or Bad, for some reason.

Of course, who knows what the future holds? Perhaps Shakespeare (some old English dude who cain't speak modern English so weze cain unnerstan heem) and Khayyám (just some towel haided Iranian dude no one is innerested in no mo) will be heaped on the dustbin of history and The King Perv will be an object of veneration and adulation. If so, I'm glad I'll be gone or nearly so.

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Being A Disappointment


This is not the blog you seek. Which is fine with me.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

I Hear It!





During the drought of the past several years, well, it's been dry. It's been so dry that the toads haven't bothered to come out. I suppose the past few rains we've had were not enough, and not warm enough.

Monday night, things really popped out at the Poor Farm. We got a couple inches of rain, but not without the drama of withering hail and a tornado. I, on the other hand, had my butt parked in a motel north of Des Moines, so I missed it, and my poor hail pounded pickup did as well.

I got home last night with the Mighty Binder, and is my wont, stepped outside during the evening. Wow!!!

Thousands and thousands of toads, singing their song, the occasional croak rising above the chorus.

Welcome back, my singing friends. It ain't just birds that we like to hear out hyar!


Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Better Outlook


link

Yannow, I think Teh Won is an attention craving moron, particularly when considering his behavior regarding Seal Team Six's assassination of Osama Bin Laden. By jumping on the bandwagon and releasing some pretty sensitive information, he screwed the pooch for the intelligence folks, all in the name of lookin' good and being warlike and tough.

But it's good that the One World Trade Center's construction continues apace, and has made some serious progress in the skyline. Neat video from CBS News, using Earth One time lapse photography.

The smarta$$ in me wonders how long it will be before our President takes credit for this construction.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

This


Encapsulates in one picture what it would take me a thousand words to say. Amen, Lisa Benson, amen.