Category: Uncategorized

Have you ever known one of these?

I’ve never had the pleasure/priviledge of working for or with a supervisor/manager/boss like this:

“He’s loyal to his employees; he knows them and cares about them and treats them well. He goads them to make sure he hears all points of view. He does not encourage rivalry and competition among them. He surrounds himself with people who are widely regarded as being smarter than he is, and values the ideas of those who are better-informed…” ?Orson Scott Card

Who was Orson Scott Card talking about, this rare person who embodies the commonsense approach we all wish our boss/manager/supervisor in some (probably past) job had embodied? Is it some character in one of his well-written novels? Possibly a protagonist who overcomes great obstacles and triumphs because of the heroic character that truly values those he leads?

No. Orson was synopsizing Ari Fleischer’s description iof President Bush in Fleischer’s new book, Taking the Heat..

Breaking news: Yeh, the Instapundit himself is discussing the advantages.disadvantages of different razors. *heh*… indeed

The link above and this one for Glenn—and his readers— on… shaving.

Well, each to their own. I decided some years ago that since

a.) my wife frequently commented on the beard I had when we met and married (and how much she liked it) and
b.) I dislike the process of scraping my face anyway

that I’d just grow it and trim it with the same clippers/scissors/razor combo I use to cut my own hair. (Yeh, I also decided some years ago that griping about the loon that butchered my hair would be better directed at the loon in the mirror.)

Noticeably warmer in winter. Extra care keeping clean in summer (sweat & dirt from yard work–more care than bare face).

Added benefit? I get to shave it once a year for my April 15 “National Day of Mourning” ritual. (I keep hoping that holiday will catch on… )

Added benefit #2? I buy about 4 disposable razors a year.

Problem? My beard is MUCH grayer than anything else I have for hair. On second thought, not so much of a problem… any more, that is…

*heh*… indeed.

🙂

…but some of these dishes at Carnival of the Recpies #32 are looking awefully good…

(Parenthetically, after THREE attempts to post this, I am beginning to hate blogger)

I had all kindsa nice stuff to say bout this week’s Carnival of the Recipes, but Blogger seems to want to lose it all. Again and again… Just go here and see all the goodies. Still gonna have Mac n Cheese tonight, but I can see a couple of the recipes from this week’s carnival making the list for this weekend’s meals.

Well, an old gig in new clothing, perhaps…

Back to curmudgeon mode.

I’m thinking of beginning a new consulting firm. People can call me up and ask if their boss/co-worker/spouse/neighbor is a jerk. I’ll be happy to listen to the circumstances, pronounce my diagnosis (naturally, they’re all jerks—at least there’s a vanishingly small chance they are not) and charge my fee. ($75/15 minute call? Sounds about right.)

Sounds like a winner: “Wah-Wahs for Whiners” I think I’ll call it. Whadda ya think?

Addendum: I just placed a call to myself to test this out. Griped a while about some jerk in a WallyWorld parking lot who decided to drive the wrong way up an aisle in the parking lot. What? The “U.S. Mail” sign on his pickup gave him the right to do so? Not in my book. I laid on my horn until he backed on out. Jerk. Next step? A call/letter/fax to the postmaster in that town complaining about the unsafe driving and rude behavior of this jerk. Then, a lil phone call to my congrsscritter asking what can be done to get this jerk hung by the short and curlies. Hey! And if he can’t tell which way to drive in a WallyWorld parking lot, maybe he’s impersonating a typical oh-so-bright and “professional” USPS part-time rural mail carrier. After all, don’t they have to take some kinda civil service exam (like that’s harder than reading a comic book)? Maybe this guy’s a terrorist or something. Yeh, the feebs ougghta investigate his sorry… a-hem… Yeh, that’s the ticket….

So, after griping to myself on my $75/15-minute phone call (nice to have 2 lines so I can do that), I told myself that this part-time rural mail carrier was indeed a jerk.

Money well spent.

*heh*

It’s Good Friday. Have a nice trip. (Do you know your destination?)

See the first (Good Friday) half of “Cruci-fix”.

Joe Schembrie marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Jules Verne

I missed it yesterday, but March 24 was the 100th anniversary of the death of Jules Verne. If you’re thinking “Huh?!?” right now, just go read Joe Schembrie’s essay, “Jules Who?”

An excerpt:

“…Verne’s two novels of space travel, From Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon… foretold of NASA’s actual lunar voyage a century later with surreal accuracy. For example, Verne’s space-shell resembles the Apollo 8 Command Module and even weighs the same. Both real and fictional vehicles carried a crew of three. Verne’s space-shell was launched from a location in Florida just one hundred and fifty miles from where Apollo 8 was launched, and the actual mission splashed down in the South Pacific just two and a half miles from where Verne’s fictional mission returned. “

Heck, don’t just read Schembrie’s essay, go read (or re-read) some of Verne’s prescient 19th Century novels.

Jerry Pournelle on Terri Schiavo, again

In Chaos Manor Musing‘s Current View, Thursday, this comment from Jerry Pournelle:

She is unfortunate. She is a white female Catholic innocent of any crime. Were she Black, or Hispanic, then she would have her defenders and the more her brain damage the more insistent the ACLU would be on defending her rights. As it is, she has no one to defend her but some people who actually believe in law and justice and are not raising a rebellion in her aid.

Esmerelda had her beggars as defenders. But she was hanged quickly even so. Along with her goat.

One is tempted to add, “Of course.” But then, one always attempts to resist such temptations. Not. Further, were she a confessed monster, convicted of horrible acts of brutality and justifiably sentenced to death after all due process of law, she would be the poster child of the Left as they sought every means to prevent her death.

This isn’t irony. It’s the “logic” of monsters, Satan-spawn. Once can almost hear the dialog between Wormtwood and Screwtape…

You DO have a dog in this fight.

First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.

–Martin Niemöller

Enough with this shilly-shallying around, Ann; tell them what I really think…

Now here’s a scary thought: either Ann Coulter’s been reading my mind or she thinks a lot like I do. You doubt that? Here’s me a couple of days ago:

“But the legislature and administration of Florida (are you listening, Jeb?) were also wrong in the way they have allowed judges to become little emperors in their State in the last few years. Florida law allows for the prosecution of those who torture people who are in their care. Jeb ought to order the arrest of the judge in the Schiavo case and vacate his order by the simple expedient of taking her into protective custody.”

And here’s Ann Coulter, today:

“Just once, we need an elected official to stand up to a clearly incorrect ruling by a court. Any incorrect ruling will do, but my vote is for a state court that has ordered a disabled woman to be starved to death at the request of her adulterous husband.”

Of course, since I posted my remark noted above, I’ve read quite a few others who think essentially the same thing. I have noted several times in the past that legislatures and executives (both stte AND federal) need to exercise their responsibility to reign in judges/justices who violate both the letter and the intent of laws duly passed, as well as their respective constitutional documents’ letter and intent.

Gutless legislators and executives are the proximal cause of much of the woe being caused by inperial courts.

More On The Babe Theory of Political Movements

View the evidence and the development of his thesis. It is compelling. (And not bad on the eye candy chart, either. )

Money quote:

Where and when there are hot babes, an exponential number of men will show up. If 100 cute girls with voluptuous bodies are protesting for freedom, you can count on a thousand men being there as well.

If sexy babes are involved in a peaceful political movement, it has a far greater chance of succeeding. If there are no good-looking women involved, the odds of a successful (and peaceful) movement fall dramatically.

Well, duh.

🙂

A little help, here…

Yeh, yeh, I know about (and have read, though 40 years ago) the John Lymington book, “Froomb!” (1964). What I’m looking for, with no joy so far, is the cartoon I vividly recall of about the same vintage—but with an interesting variation on the cartoon’s theme—also titled, IIRC, “Froomb!” (for “Fluid’s running out of my brakes!” as with the title of the Lymington book).

The cartoon features a personified world/globe (wears a hat, has eyes, mouth, hands, etc.) driving a car that’s headed off a cliff with—surprise!—the caption, “Fluid’s running out of my brakes!” IIRC, it (the cartoon, not the Lymington book) was meant as a commentary/cautionary on the dangers of the nuclear standoff policy, MAD—Mutually Assured Destruction.

Anyone, among my legion (where legion=2) of readers have any clue

1.) who the cartoonist was
2.) where I can find a copy
3.) whether this exists or I have imagined all this

Awaiting your responses with baited breath. (Baited with cheese, garlic and smoked turkey, if you really wanna know. Or even if you don’t.)