"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
Today, June 18, is the Women’s Transatlantic Flight Anniversary. In 1928, Amelia Earhart flew from Newfoundland to Wales in 21 hours. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Now, of course, we have the TSA strip-searching lil old grandmothers. My how times have changed…
For something more on the spirit of flight,
The music is
Stolen from Jay Navarette.
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Tony Blair a set of inexpensive and useless (to Tony Blair’s UK video formatting) DVDs, when Tony Blair had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one 20 year, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had apologized (in a begging fashion before the leads of dozens of nations) to Europeans for America for our unconscionable attitudes ” would you have approved?
If George W. Bush then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can’t think of anything? Don’t worry. He’s done all this in 10 weeks — so you’ll have three years and nine-and-a-half months to come up with an answer.
You can add to this with— If Bush’s people were responsible for flying Airforce 1 over NYC for a photo op and scaring half of the city; would you have approved?
Not much there to be happy about, is there? But watch, now some Loony Left Moonbat will twist this to say Bush DID do those things… Reality-based fantasy, you know. After all, for eight years the Left ignored the worst things Bush did (like play lapdog to successive Mexican presidents) and then lied about the good things he did.
*sigh*
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Son&Heir’s dogs are 16 (or 17*) and 13 years old. The older one’s a medium sized mutt that looks like a Heinz 57 that’s predominantly some sort of herding dog and beagle. Weighs maybe 45 pounds. The younger is a German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix. And there lies the tale…
Saw “young fella”–Leo–“rabbit hopping” when running the other day, and I’d already noticed that he’s become more clumsy on our vinyl tile floor in the kitchen (where we feed “the boys”). Yep. Weakened back legs, probable hip dysplasia exacerbated by arthritis. Immediately changed the boys’ diet. Since the older guy (Buttons) was still very energetic (I think “bouncy” is the word I’m looking for :-)) but just taking longer to start getting moving, after checking some dog health sites manned by veterinarians, I made up a batch of supplements for them to be fed in some canned food mixed with their dry. (Note: I know both dog foods we feed have some C, D and other supplementation but dogs do not synthesize D-3 and get it from prey in the wild, and C&D do work together in dogs, as in humans, in joint and bone maintenance, soooo… just keeping things within the general guidelines here )
So far–three days in, well before I could get a non-emergency vet appointment–I think the pain meds have had the most immediate effect. Leo’s pretty much stopped dragging his back legs and rabbit hopping. Buttons is just as energetic, but still takes about as much to get him started moving. We’ll see what the vet has to say as this progresses, but to this point I’m very pleased with Leo’s response. Oh, I also have started “brewing” some relatively weak decaffeinated green tea for their water dishes. COX2 inhibitors and anti-oxidants, you know. Weak as it is, even though “decaffeinated” does not mean “cafeine free” it doesn’t seem to have caused any problems in the last three days, and from mmy own joint pain experiences, I know the COX2 inhibitors aren’t hurting…
I just wonder if Leo could use a beer now and then… 🙂
A quick drive by post…
Over at Moonbattery, I ran into this hopeful comment:
…if Jimmy Carter could create a big enough backlash to give us Reagan, four years of Comrade Obama should be sufficient to bring James Madison back from the grave.
By jove, I think there’s some hope there! *heh* (Heck, I’d “settle for” John Hanson)
Bits n pieces:
Rainy, rainy day. Squirrels line-dancing on power lines, lots of lightning and thunder and hail and rain and nearby tornado… and the power only went down three times. Cable was out for what I believe was about six or so hours (I left after it went down and it was still down when I checked back in). But all’s well. Managed shutdowns on UPS-ed computers, so no real biggie.
Windows 7RC. What can I say? A mixed bag. Although with the ratings changes in the “Windows Experience” index this computer jumped up more than 3 points on the scale, Win7 seems much more sluggish. Notsogood. OTOH, everything works well overall, and… Windows Server Powershell is now included! (Whoo-hoo!) I had missed that before, although I assume it was probably in the earlier beta. Sure, most folks won’t use the command line much, but this is a power users’ command line. Like it. Some other good and notsogood things about this Win7 iteration, but I’ll either remark on them later or not. Who knows?
Mock stroganoff tonight. Just hamburger, onion, garlic, LOTS of freshly-ground pepper and some freshly-grated nutmeg with sour cream and the old standby shortcut, cream of mushroom soup. It’ll be fine over rice, and it’s a quick (less than 15 minutes’ prep time) and easy dinner. Some frozen mixed veggies steaming in a basket on top of the rice in the Wolfgang Puck rice cooker. Easy-peasy.
Gonna hit the sack early this p.m. Pooped puppy.
Today, I had it verified: never attempt to purchase ANYTHING from ToshibaDirect, not ever again. Avoid otherwise fine Toshiba products simply in order to avoid dealing with Toshiba. Lesson learned.
…well, it sure ain’t Belgium. No, what it is is this: the tail end of a whirlwind trip to (sort of) see my mom off on her trip to Israel. Glad I went to check up on her. She’d taken a fall late last week and hurt her knee but was refusing to see the doctor for fear he’d want to do something that would prevent her making her connections for her trip. *sigh* It’s in the genes. I do the same kind of thing. Fortunately, dragging her to the doctor only resulted in getting the right treatment for a swollen knee (X-Rays said no major damage) and her mind was eased. 85-year-old woman refusing to go to the doctor–NOT because she couldn’t afford to (was a $10 charge!) but for silly reasons. Hmmm, kinda like my reasons, usually. *heh*
Anywho, my dad will meet her there. Right now he’s finishing up a concert tour with a musical group in Armenia. Oldest guy in the group (by a couple of decades!). Still singing 1st Tenor. Go figure. My voice is now able to sing “second growler” (still coughing my lungs up; I’ll either live or die, and either one is fine by now *heh*), so maybe by the time I get to be his age, I’ll be able to get some of it back, should I live that long. 😉 Nicest thing aboiut this trip? Some friends of theirs paid their way. They have some good friends.
Well, that’s all I really know. My Wonder Woman’s back from her librarians’ conference, and we’re both a tad pooped. As soon as Lovely Daughter’s Family Birthday Blowout is over this evening, we’re both looking forward to some crash time.
Y’all be careful out there!
…a publisher makes.
I picked up a book by an author I who’s written well over a dozen books I have read with appreciation and enjoyment, and, on reflection, that have proven to be edifying. I picked up another book by this author just this week and began reading it. It is, as I have come to expect, well-written and as most of the other works have done, it evokes both current events and historical and cultural references aplenty, inspiring me to make connections and draw parallells that are instructive.
But. What a difference an editor/publisher makes. This book wasn’t published by the same firm as all the other books I’ve read from this author. Little things: multiple “then” for “than” errors. “…[N]either ‘X’ nor I is…” (?!? AM, dear reader, AM; I’d even stretch a point and allow “are”–though that’s just not right) and other such usage and grammatical errors that are the result of a quick mind introducing typos and grammatical errors through the process of getting a story down as it flows… that should have been caught by the editor, but were not.
Every time I run across one of these things, it’s like the meme of a turd in the punchbowl cropping up. *blech!* Or like saying “President Obama” now that I have permanently etched in my memory the image of his “situpon” facing me in the picture of him bowing and scraping to the Chief Saudi Thug, Abdullah.
These things ought not to be. Not in an otherwise well-written and thought-provoking book. (To which I must now return. Along about page 500, things have started heating up… Only another 280 or so pages to go before I inevitably learn that my “fear” that this is just the first of a trilogy–or more–is fact. Oh, please don’t throw me in dat briar patch! *heh* )
Just a few things from the last couple of days…
I was in a store, standing in line to make some purchases, and as usual was interacting with folks waiting in line as I was. An elderly (and when I say “elderly”… )woman was commenting on her expired DL license and the hugenormous hoops we now have to jump through to renew IDs, because of all the identity theft–mostly by illegal aliens. The checker got offended. “Those people are just like you and me; all they want to do is provide for their families!” Now, I know her employer pretty well, so I had no difficulty at all expressing myself, “Don’t lay that f***n lie on me! They may be like you, but I do not disrespect the country I live in with every breath I take, and that’s exactly what these line-jumping outlaws do!” Paid for my goods and left.
Idiot. Too stupid to ever be persuaded by argument; the only thing to do with such people is to shut them up… And find out who the illegals they associate with are, just in case the political climate changes enough to make it worthwhile.
I still haven’t found a completely satisfactory media center solution for this computer on either the Windows 7 side or the Ubuntu side. Windows Media Center sucks dead bunnies through a straw, as far as I’m concerned; MediaPortal is OK, but its rough edges and quirkiness are disatisfying. Hauppaugge’s WinTV app is OK for TV only… sort of. That does it for the Windows apps that actually work to one degree or another. On the Linux side, I have yet to get satisfactory TV from ANY of the offerings. Some really poorly-rendered TV from time to time, but not actually good enough to watch. The rest of the media stuff works pretty well, except when system updates screw everything up all over again. *sigh*
Oh, well. Perhaps this summer I will actually build a special purpose HTPC from the ground up for this sort of thing and be happy with it. If I don’t need to replace one of the cars or pay for a wedding, that is. *heh*
I hate it when I buy a bag full of new books (new to me–this last bag full was from a used book store) and misplace them when I get home. Yeh, the problem is too many books, period. Should never have taken them from the bag… and not put them where I could readily pick them out.
Planning on being out of pocket for a couple of days next week. My dad left for Armenia today with a music group. My mom leaves next Wednesday to meet up with him in Israel. I plan on visiting with her just before she leaves. Just a quick 500 mi. round trip while my Wonder Woman is off at a librarians’ conference. (A bibliophile married to a librarian. A match made in heaven.)
*phew!* I really (no, REALLY) need to clean up in my office again! I just can’t seem to stay ahead of this monster. Ahhh! The books! *heh*
My, oh my, how the leftards wet their collective (it’s always collective with the Hivemind) panties over the tax day TEA Parties! Napolitano must have her minions going over video of all the events she had informants at, collecting faces of all the “right wing extremists” to identify. *feh*
Just had a taste of the stout I brewed up a couple of weeks ago. Let my Wonder Woman sample a sip. We agree: Good Stuff! Great body; almost chocolatey-black color; really complex, rich flavor; nice head and lacing, heady aroma. I put a bottle in the fridge to chill so Son&Heir could give his opinion when he gets home. He’s a stout fan, so his opinion will carry a bit more weight than mine or my Wonder Woman’s–simply because he’s tried more different stouts than we have. I’ll have an “Oktoberfest”-style dark lager (pretty much my fav) with dinner (a rich, nutmeggy, mock stroganoff).
*heh* After my post earlier today on the knife-sharpening tip, I’ve sharpened about every knife that came to hand, including a couple I keep in the car (a skinning knife and a filet/boning knife–rarely use them for their designed purposes, but they’re both handy knives)… using a coffee mug left there earlier in the week.
Need to clean the car out, don’t I?
And speaking of cars, seen this?
Under $10K, ~55mpg in city driving. DOT and EPA approved. Tuk Tuk USA. Get with the Obamanomics plan: drive like the third world!
From the preface to Calculus Made Easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson:
*heh*
I frequently rail against stupid people who can’t–or don’t– count who nevertheless listen to even stupider (though often clever in their stupidity) Mass Media Podpeople, politicians *spit* and Academia Nut Fruitcakes who wittingly or not misuse statistics or other fudge numbers to make a phony point. But. I realized the other day when looking at some numbers that I’d forgotten–through long disuse–the reasons why the statistical formulae I mentally referred to in order to argue with the numbers worked the way they did. After all, understanding the “why” of such things rests on some calculus I’ve not used much, if at all, for about 40 years.
So, in my spare time (ha!) methought myself to drag out an old calculus text and have at it. But. *sigh* I am considerably stupider than I was 40 years ago, and so I tracked down Calculus Made Easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson. While I’ll order and read the revised version from Amazon.com, the 1914 version is the one I recall browsing through briefly more than 40 years ago, and reading it on Scribus isn’t terribly limiting. Perhaps, in conjunction with a beer or two a day, a little exercise for what Hercule Poirot called “the little grey cells” will stave off my growing mental decay a wee tad.
Anywho, it ought to be fun.
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