Author: David

Found at Guppyman’s Rant Zone (no, really, I swear that’s the name!)

That frog. Yep, that one…

Several months ago, Neal Boortz floated three questions he’d like to see as voter qualifiers…

As a means of correcting the sad, sad situation of voters too stupid to be able to mark their ballots correctly, I’m all for Neal Boortz’ idea of asking three qualifying questions before allowing a person to vote in a national election. Legitimate questions like

“Who is the vice president?”
“Who is your congressman?” and
“Who are your two senators?”

Would seem appropriate. Folks who could not answer all three would still be allowed, under Boortz’ proposal, to “vote” but they’d be directed to machines that sent their votes directly to a trash bin.

Oh, I’d like to have a few other questions thrown in, like

“Is there a transfinite number between that of a denumerable set and the numbers of the continuum? If so, provide two examples.”

or

“Construct generalizations of the reciprocity theorem of number theory. Show your work.”

…but those sorts of questions should only be asked of the inhabitants of Smartland, who all arrogantly assert they are infinitely smarter than those of us in Flyover Jesusland…

Oops. Beginning to feel the ole curmudgeonly mood creep in. Backing away slowly…

(Yeh, I’m having a hard time turning up the original Boortz article where he made the suggestion. It’ll come to me—or one of you guys’ll give me the link in comments.)

THANKS, Diane! That was the article I was thinking of! (I’ve updated the post above to reflect the link Diane thoughtfully provided.)

Cao did me the very good turn of linking to Crosses aCross America—Thanks, Cao!

Take up the torch. Hold high the flame of your faith. Clearly and unapologetically proclaim your religious beliefs, regardless of pressures from LLMB and MMPA to remove all such expressions from public view. Put crosses on your lawn or home. Stars of David. Whatever symbol proclaims your true faith.

OK, for some of you that will be a picture of Franklin on a $100 bill. That’s fine, as long as it is honest. (We’ll talk later. 🙂 It’s your right to do so.

Oh, and while you are at it—putting up symbols—better make darn sure your lifestyle affirms what those symbols stand for…

Here comes another one… gee, gals, leave some room in the blogosphere for us dimwitted bubbas, would ya? 🙂

Get ’em while they’re hot!

Google… Stealth
Originally uploaded by mnmus.

This satellite photo from Google maps shows a stealth bomber. (I’ve circled the bomber in yellow.)

This actually began being circulated, as far as i can now tell, Monday last week, but I just saw it linked to by a correspondant over at Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos manor in Perspective’s Current Mail.

BTW, in comments, Woody notes an “… index of interesting features found on the Google satelite map images…” and lists this URL:

http://perljam.net/notes/interesting-google-satellite-maps/

I used a trial of Keyhole, the software Google Satellite/Maps is drawn from, for a while and was almost persuaded to buy it just for the cool factor. Check some of the indexed satellite maps out for some fun in all your copious spare time. When you’re not reading my blog, that is. heh

And DO be sure to visit Woody’s News & Views. Some good stuff going on there. The post yesterday on dolphins as toolusers is a pretty cool example.

I called it that cos of the prepackaged seasoning I used, and it stuck.

Thanks, Romeocat, for (unintentionally, I’m sure 🙂 reminding me to submit this. (Your Really easy “Mexican” chicken looks great, too. 🙂 This is one really, really easy recipe… or not. Depends on how you prepare it, really. Here’s the easy way, and I’ll give you some hints on mucking around to make it the hard way.

Now, usually I don’t much care for prepackaged seasonings mixed according to someone else’s idea of what tastes good. but McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning is one of those very rare cases where a pepackaged product is just about perfect for some foods. Here’s how it goes:

Ingredients:

four to six frozen, boned skinless chicken breasts
one cup rice
one cup water
one cup your fav spaghetti sauce (heavy on the oregano, though)
liberal amounts of McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F
Place the rice in 9X12 baking dish
Place the chicken breasts on the rice
Mix water and spaghetti sauce and pour the mixture over the rice and chicken
Sprinkle LIBERALLY with McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning
Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven. bake for about 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 5 or so. Oven temps may vary, so you may have to adjust the times. The frozen chicken will thoroughly cook and the rice will absorb the moisture and cook well, too.

Now, if you want to make your own seasoning mix, you can do so and this dish can actually taste better balancing things to your own taste. McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning is pretty much a mixture of dried, crushed chilis, cumin, coriander and dried onion and garlic. If you use fresh garlic and onion and grind/crush your own spices, the flavors will have more punch. (I’d at least sautee the onions and garlic–or “microwave sautee” them—before adding to the baking dish, if it were me.) You’ll just have to experiment with balancing amounts and go through all the prep work.

This is great with some freshly-made flour tortillas and beans, but I’ll get into that recipe another time (especially for the one who’s asked for the tortilla recipe—you know who you are. :-).

Mr “Bush-is-an-idiot-I’m-a-genius” Jean Fraud sKerry finally lets his Yale grades out of the bag…

4-“D”oofus
“Yale grades portray Kerry as a lackluster student… ”

Oh. So sKerry’s cumulative grades at Yale were actually lower than Bush’s?

Yep. For numerical grades available, they were quite similar: Bush’s 77 average vs. sKerry’s 76. Still, lower is lower.

And look at some of the grades —coulda knocked me over with a feather. Yeh, Bush had a D his freshman year. sKerry had four of ’em. Four Ds. In one year. And he was able to stay on? And here’s the kicker: I was in another school with relatively high standards during about the same time as Bush and sKerry. Fs started at anything under 70 in my classes. At Yale, 60-69 scores were Ds. In my school Bush would have had to repeat the course he got a D in at Yale. sKerry would have been flunked out. period. Four Fs? not college material, at all, at all.

Still, even by my school’s scoring system (where Cs started at 75), they both squeaked out a low C average for their undergrad careers.

Granted, by the time I graduated, grade inflation through sliding the numerical scale downwards had already begun, and I did benefit from a LOT more A grades my (final-heh) senior year.

Still, for sKerry, who squeaked through law school at Boston college after being turned down at his alma mater to sneer at Bush’s intelligence as he did directly (and through his flappers and handlers) is yet further evidence of his stupidity and disingenuity. Lying about his intellectual achievements (even simply through hiding their paucity) by sneering at his opponent’s accomplishments, is not only deceitful but exposes him to further ridicule.

Speech-challenged Piscine (Dumb Bass), indeed…

Of course, the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army of Smartland glosses over sKerry’s stupidity with such as

“Like Kerry, Bush reportedly suffered through a difficult freshman year and then pulled his grades up.”

Yeh, higher than sKerry’s. But let’s not bury what is for me the money quote, eh?

“Kerry’s weak grades came despite years of education at some of the world’s most elite prep schools, ranging from Fessenden School in Massachusetts to St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire.”

In spite of all the very expensive tutoring could do for this doof, he still, by any serious academic criteria, FAILED four courses his freshman year.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

UPDATE… from last year. On August 5, 2004, Ann Althouse wrote:

We keep hearing about Kerry’s ability to deal with “nuance” and “complexity,” but could it be that this is spin, and the truth is he actually doesn’t think clearly? We know he doesn’t speak clearly: he can’t get to the point, and he often strays off-topic. We keep hearing that he’s “thoughtful,” implying that he takes a long time to think things through. Another way of putting that is that he’s slow.

Exactly

A good place, Soliloquoy… one writer’s thoughts

Beethoven’s symphonies #1 and #3 are available for download now at this page.