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Little Things… Again

Still. Always. *heh*

My lil Kindle Fire is a trap. As I’ve noted before, via the Amazon Prime videos, I’ve watched a lot of TV shows I’d otherwise not have watched, particularly quite a few British shows. In general, they’ve all beat the pants off the usual fare on cable TV around here. Some, though are just barely better.

Midsomer Murders. What to say about it? *sigh* Very good programatic instrumental music, and on the Fire, with a good set of headphones or ear buds, the sound in general is amazing. All the tiny sounds of the really quite interesting environment–passing traffic, birds, background conversations, etc.: wonderfully reproduced.

The sets and locations are gorgeous, very interesting, lush. And the video is very beautifully done.

So, production values: superb, in general.

But. The plots are pedestrian ripoffs of the typical English village mystery murder story. *meh* Often, the acting is really overdone–a fault in direction, IMO. And some of the details are pretty poorly executed. Depictions of blood are particularly transparently stage blood (I’ve made and used enough of it–and had even more experience with the real stuff *heh*–that the telltale look is really grating at times) poorly applied in unrealistic manners. Settings depicting places that have been ransacked or where fights have supposedly occurred are often clumsy as well.

And then there are the anachronisms and especially the chronological issues that arise when large time offsets are depicted in preview or flashback scenes.

Altogether, these sorts of things reduce what might have been an A- show to a B- or even C+ in my estimation. Sad, really, but I’ll keep watching it, because even a C+ beats the heck out of most other TV that’s available, and the music and visuals are worth it, anyway.

But still… only four episodes per season?!?

Another minor quibble, but this applies to any streaming video from time to time: pixelating, etc., when there are some pipeline issues. But, eh, notaproblem, really.

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I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

So, lost bunches of fat in the last year-and-a-bit. My Wonder Woman’s been after me to get new clothes, as a result. So, OK. New slacks. But… well, for years I’ve carried my wallet in a front pocket. That started when I was spending 50,000 or more miles a year with my butt planted on a car seat to work and back, lather, rinse, repeat. But, with a cell phone, a wallet, knives (What?!? You carry just one?!?), change, keys and other such effluvia, it’s begun to get cumbersome, so… a man-purse:

Eh~ It was under $7 and got here the day after I ordered it, thanks to Amazon Prime.

Never thought I’d actually like something like this, but… I have already found I like this thing. So far, I ride this “fanny pack” on my left hip. Pockets are empty. It even has room for my Kindle Fire. That’s nice.

And the really fun thing? Shirts that just hang on me, now, hang right over it. *heh*

BTW, lovin’ that Amazon Prime “free” 2-day shipping. I’ve already gotten my money’s worth out of the videos, so the “free” 2-day shipping (though this came next day) really does seem free.

Oh, yeh, the man-purse works well for casual wear. I think I’ll keep it and use it.

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Fortunately…

…the driver died. “Fortunately” in more ways than one. If nothing exculpatory emerges (and I doubt it will), the driver appears to have earned her death sentence from Darwin. Unfortunately, she was old enough that she might already have reproduced.

100 mph down an urban street
No seat belt
Injured four other people.

As I said, the driver appears to have earned her death sentence from Darwin.

If only more of these useless oxygen sinks would find even less harmful ways to remove themselves from the gene pool…

Continue reading “Fortunately…”

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My Skin’s Different From Your Skin…

I have a little ditty that uses the old Kennel Ration commercial, “My dog’s better than your dog” tune, but I’ll not inflict it on you now.

The point, though? Different does not necessarily mean better. We are all different from the skin all the way to the bone and blood and meat and sinew, heart and soul. Different in composition, talents, abilities, outlook, desire, understanding, etc.

We are also all the same in many ways. Some of the most important ways we are the same include that we all have the same opportunities while at the same time we all have different opportunities.

*huh?!?*

Let me repeat that.

We all have the same opportunities while at the same time we all have different opportunities. We all have the opportunity to choose to be useful. We all have different opportunities (and different kinds of opporunities) to be useful. Some, sadly, choose to be useful in the least positive way, viz.,

“If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning”–Catherine Aird

And remember,
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the graphic and attendant caption misses the simple fact that there can be many uses for such a distorted, mangled tool, but of course, none of those uses fit within its original design parameters…

Another opportunity that everyone has is the opportunity to be just. Everyone can choose to be fair in dealing with others… or to be hypocritical, applying standards–if any–differently to different classes of people: the very essence of unjust behavior.

“Those children are noisy and rude, while my children [who are engaging in exactly the same behavior] are simply being [enthusiastic, exuberant, creative–pick your own fav hypocritical lie].”

All of us have the opportunity to choose to be grateful… or to be whiners. If you’re alive, know that you don’t deserve to be. It’s a gift. Start there. I like the way Joe Sobran put it,

As one of the characters in Lear tells his father: “Thy life’s a miracle.” Of whom is that not true?

The more we reflect on the sheer oddity of our very existence and, in addition, of our eligibility for salvation, the deeper our gratitude must be. Amazing grace indeed! To call it astounding is to express the matter feebly. Why me? How on earth could I ever have deserved this, the promise of eternal joy?

And given all this, in comparison with which winning the greatest lottery in the world is just a minor fluke, how can I dare to sin again, or to be anything less than a saint for the rest of my life?

I suppose I could continue, but you get my drift, I trust. I’ll leave the other ways we are “the same” (and different in ways that make little difference at all, really… and all the difference in the world, as well) as an exercise for the reader.

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Super Easy, Super Quick, One Skillet

Easy-Peasy, Pseudo Faux Semi-Italian Shepherd’s Pie, Sorta, Kinda. *heh*

No, it’s not “fine dining” or any such thing; it’s just good eats.

Brown one pound of ground meat–your choice; I prefer to use “chili ground” lean Angus for this one–in a large skillet. Make it 12″ or so. With lean ground meat, I’ll add enough olive oil to make it work well.

Add 2 C medium “bow tie” pasta

Add the liquid from a 27-oz. can of this (honestly, I tried to find ’em at Amazon, but I ended up finding everything else from that company but this *sigh*) and enough of your favorite tomato-based pasta sauce to make up 3 cups liquid. BTW, while I really like chunky tomato sauce for many things, this one works much better with pureed sauce. Just sayin’.

Top off with the beans from the can you got the liquid out of, bring to a boil, then back it off to a simmer and cover for about 15 minutes, tops. If yo want to add any other vegetables before the “bring to boil” stage, that’s fine, too. Some frozen carrots and/or peas are a nice addition, IMO.

At the end of the 15 minutes’ simmering, remove from heat and let it come together and cool off enough to serve. You can add a lil grated cheese if you wish to top it off, and a simple salad to side it if you want.

BTW, I have no idea how many folks this’ll feed, but feed 2 or 3 and have LOTS of leftovers… which are only improved by being leftovers.

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Enlightened Curmudgeonry

I like to think of myself as an enlightened tightwad curmudgeon. I know, I know, I fail to achieve standard as either curmudgeon or tightwad from time to time, but I strive to meet–and even, if possible, exceed–standards. As for the “enlightened” label, well, I do try to distinguish between “cheap” and “inexpensive” and to act accordingly when discerning different classes of people.

The last point is particularly important to me. There are different classes of people who engage in thoughtless, careless and stupid behaviors that negatively impact people around them. Those who are, through no fault of their own, truly mentally incapable of being reasonably careful, thoughtful and intelligent in their behaviors which have an impact on others I do give a bye, although, even there, if I have told such a person pointedly to go somewhere else and bother someone else and they do not desist in their annoying behavior, I may become a wee tad more blunt.

But those whose only excuses for thoughtless, careless and stupid behaviors that negatively impact people around them are that behaving thoughtfully, carefully and intelligently are that it would be minimally inconvenient for them, that they are simply lazy or too self-important or even nearly (or actually) sociopathic (e.g., politicians *gag-spit-spew* and Mass MEdia Podpeople), then f___ ’em with a rusty hammer. A rusty claw hammer. Sideways. Repeatedly*. I have no time for such people and view them as simply wastes of oxygen. While I have never considered any such person to be worth the powder it would take to blow their brains through their noses (an extremely small amount of powder, since most of ’em seem to have spent years giving large chunks away to politicians *gag-spit-spew* and Mass MEdia Podpeople to play their own little dirty games with), I do sometimes tell such persons what a public good they could do by performing the exercise themselves, often vividly and vulgarly.

Of course, since such persons have usually spent decades in self-enstupiation and couldn’t even find their own asses with a mirror on a stick, I doubt their ability to perform such explosive microsurgery.

Do note that since those who are able to pass the extremely dumbed-down, easy-peasy, “only-a-moron-could-fail-it” drivers license exams have demonstrated a societally-acceptable level of intellectual prowess *sigh*, there’s not a single, solitary driver anywhere on America’s streets, roads or highways I give a bye under rule #1 above. Drive like a dangerous asshat around me and your license plate WILL be phoned ahead to the appropriate authorities**. It’s usually easy revenue for whatever law enfarcement agency catches the call, so there’s a good chance I’ll be able to later drive by the asshat, stopped ahead of some flashing lights. (I love driving by one of “my” stops… and waving. Just doing my part to use the anarcho-tyrannical tendency of law enfarcement to “get” the easy ones in favor of doing at least something good for society.)

I think you get the drift. No “vigilantism” need be involved. I do like to use the system to persecute asshats though. I do NOT use the system to persecute asshats just for my personal benefit, though. No, that’s not some higher ethic; it’s tightwaddery. Those are my tax dollars at “work” there, too, and I’d like to see them used in the most parsimonious way to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number. Encouraging official persecution of asshats for dangerous–or even sometimes just rude–behavior that also usually needlessly inconveniences others (out of sheer arrogance, laziness, self-centeredness) is a public good, IMO.

And I’m just being “public spirited” right?

*heh*

Continue reading “Enlightened Curmudgeonry”

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Commit Forty Minutes a Once a Week for 10 Weeks to Citizenship

A whole hour would be nice, but around 40 minutes a day would enable you to “attend” an online overview of the Constitution. Now that the University of Chicago Press has changed access to its online version of The Founders’ Constitution*, this opportunity–beginning Monday, February 20, 2012, could be a useful tool to sharpen citizens’ views of issues this election year.

Pass it around, would you?

BTW, here’s an introductory video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=du_GfHlqZXg

h.t. and a big “Thank you!” to Lady Diane for binging this to my attention.

*Use this link to access it now. I’ll update the link in my sidebar soon.

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/toc.html

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The Parable of the Kosher Deli

Before I insert the meat of the post (you may groan now; you certainly will once the pun hits you :-)), a question: has anyone asked about the effect of HHS rulings about Obumascare requirements on Muslim health organizations? Or are they exempt? And who would care anyway?

The Parable of the Kosher Deli, as told by William Lori, the bishop of Bridgeport, CT, in testimony before the House Oversight Committee, February 16, 2012

Continue reading “The Parable of the Kosher Deli”