In case you were wondering what your government may be spending your tax dollars on in the future (besides putting up more signs announcing we're a wholly-owned subsidiary of China), consider this article that showed up yesterday on CNN - The $50 Question: Grant or Reagan?
Yes, a Republican Congressman from North Carolina plans to introduce a bill that will remove the picture of President Ulysses S. Grant from the $50 bill and replace it with the image of President Ronald Reagan.
This would be the same President Reagan for whom the Reagan Building is named, and for whom (at Republican insistence) Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in 1998 (by the way...the next time there's a major Metro accident or problem caused by lack of money to keep the system in repair, remember that the Republican-controlled Congress required Metro to pay the full cost of the renaming - an amount estimated to be as much as $400,000...which would have bought a lot of repairs and maintenance instead of a lot of signs and maps).
Now, President Grant was a great general, but perhaps less successful as a president. Does he deserve to be memorialized on the $50 bill? I don't know. My mental jury's still out. But I also question whether it's appropriate to put Ronald Reagan's name on something else, particularly our money. My personal opinion is that history will be less kind to Ronald Reagan than those who worship at his festooned altar would have you believe. I think that much of our current economic disaster can be traced back to the cut-taxes-and-deregulate-everything policies championed by President Reagan and those who idolize him today.
Leave President Grant on the Fifty. President Reagan has enough things named after him. If you want to put someone on the money, how about putting any current member of Congress on the $3 bill? I think that's as appropriate as anything.
Expect better from your elected reprehensives, but don't be disappointed when, instead of fixing the problems that beset the nation, they waste your time and money on new ways to deify Ronald Reagan. After all, it's easier than solving real problems.
Have a good day. Cartoon Saturday is coming tomorrow...you'll need it.
Bilbo
Friday, March 05, 2010
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Sound of Then
I enjoy listening to classical music, although I don't recognize many specific pieces by name. There are a few pieces I can hear and name (Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz, Mussorgsky's A Night on Bare Mountain, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, and a few others), but for the most part it just washes over me in a tide of pleasantly entertaining sound.
But is it the sound the composer actually heard at the time he wrote the music?
Yesterday I read this fascinating article in MSN Slate Magazine: "In Search of Lost Sounds: Why You've Never Really Heard the 'Moonlight' Sonata." Author Jan Swofford writes that "During the 19th century, Viennese pianos were noted for their lightness of touch and tone and British pianos for a more robust build, touch, and sound; French pianos lay somewhere between ... When composers wrote for these instruments they sometimes loved them and sometimes chafed at their limitations, but in any case they wrote for those sounds, that touch, those bells and whistles."
Mr Swafford notes that, for instance, a piano built today will have a tone very different from the pianos Beethoven and Strauss knew in their day. Construction techniques were different, the treatment of the materials used was different, and composers wrote their music based on the quality of sound they were used to hearing from the available instruments. In some cases, those sounds are not only quite different from those we hear and know today but, as Mr Swofford explains, some cannot even be accurately reproduced on modern instruments.
If you enjoy classical music - or even if you just enjoy a good tale of how things change over time - read the article and play the audio clips which are included. For a few minutes, you can hear music as audiences heard it in the past, and as the great composers imagined it as they wrote.
If you like rap or heavy metal "music," never mind. Your ears are probably a lost cause, anyhow.
Have a good day. Listen to some beautiful music.
More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
But is it the sound the composer actually heard at the time he wrote the music?
Yesterday I read this fascinating article in MSN Slate Magazine: "In Search of Lost Sounds: Why You've Never Really Heard the 'Moonlight' Sonata." Author Jan Swofford writes that "During the 19th century, Viennese pianos were noted for their lightness of touch and tone and British pianos for a more robust build, touch, and sound; French pianos lay somewhere between ... When composers wrote for these instruments they sometimes loved them and sometimes chafed at their limitations, but in any case they wrote for those sounds, that touch, those bells and whistles."
Mr Swafford notes that, for instance, a piano built today will have a tone very different from the pianos Beethoven and Strauss knew in their day. Construction techniques were different, the treatment of the materials used was different, and composers wrote their music based on the quality of sound they were used to hearing from the available instruments. In some cases, those sounds are not only quite different from those we hear and know today but, as Mr Swofford explains, some cannot even be accurately reproduced on modern instruments.
If you enjoy classical music - or even if you just enjoy a good tale of how things change over time - read the article and play the audio clips which are included. For a few minutes, you can hear music as audiences heard it in the past, and as the great composers imagined it as they wrote.
If you like rap or heavy metal "music," never mind. Your ears are probably a lost cause, anyhow.
Have a good day. Listen to some beautiful music.
More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
So Much Bloggable, So Little Time...
This is one of those times when it seems that interesting things about which to blog are coming in faster than I can use them. If I dedicate a whole post to each one, by the time I get to the last one, the topic will be stale and nobody will remember the context. Of course, it's better to have lots of things to choose from instead of a dry spell when I can't think of anything to say, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
So...
Here is today's post - a little bit about a lot of things...
The catastrophic earthquake that hit the South American nation of Chile last Saturday caused enormous damage. According to some scientists, the quake was so powerful that it tipped the earth off it's axis by about three inches (eight centimeters) - enough to change the length of a day. Each day is now approximately 1.26 microseconds shorter than it was before the quake...not a lot, but enough to attract the notice of scientists...and of Congressional Republicans, who quickly introduced a bill in Congress to reduce taxes because the average working day is now shorter.
Yesterday the Senate finally managed to get past the objections of Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning and pass legislation to extend unemployment benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans. Bunning had continually blocked the legislation because it was unfunded and would add to the deficit. He finally yielded to the pleas of other Compassionate Conservatives who were worried that his intransigence was negatively affecting their gentle, caring image. Senator Bunning settled for a compromise under which he agreed to vote for the bill if Congressional Democrats agreed to hang House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Effigy...a small town in rural Texas.
The celebrity cast of the new season of Dancing with the Stars has been named, and includes "actress" and former Playboy playmate Pamela Anderson, actress and professional bad girl Shannen Doherty, and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. No jokes about Mr Aldrin doing the moonwalk, please.
According to an article in People Magazine, pop singer Lady Gaga has announced that she is "single and celibate." Apparently the "celibate" part isn't by choice, but results from the inability of potential sexual partners to find a body underneath her bizarre costumes.
Texas governor Rick Perry has won reelection over a challenge from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. In his victory speech, Governor-elect Perry shouted a defiant message to Washington: "Quit spending all the money! Stop trying to take over our lives and our businesses." One assumes that doesn't apply to the money the government spends on military bases in Texas, and on the $3.5 billion the state will receive this year in assorted Federal grants.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
So...
Here is today's post - a little bit about a lot of things...
The catastrophic earthquake that hit the South American nation of Chile last Saturday caused enormous damage. According to some scientists, the quake was so powerful that it tipped the earth off it's axis by about three inches (eight centimeters) - enough to change the length of a day. Each day is now approximately 1.26 microseconds shorter than it was before the quake...not a lot, but enough to attract the notice of scientists...and of Congressional Republicans, who quickly introduced a bill in Congress to reduce taxes because the average working day is now shorter.
Yesterday the Senate finally managed to get past the objections of Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning and pass legislation to extend unemployment benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans. Bunning had continually blocked the legislation because it was unfunded and would add to the deficit. He finally yielded to the pleas of other Compassionate Conservatives who were worried that his intransigence was negatively affecting their gentle, caring image. Senator Bunning settled for a compromise under which he agreed to vote for the bill if Congressional Democrats agreed to hang House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Effigy...a small town in rural Texas.
The celebrity cast of the new season of Dancing with the Stars has been named, and includes "actress" and former Playboy playmate Pamela Anderson, actress and professional bad girl Shannen Doherty, and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. No jokes about Mr Aldrin doing the moonwalk, please.
According to an article in People Magazine, pop singer Lady Gaga has announced that she is "single and celibate." Apparently the "celibate" part isn't by choice, but results from the inability of potential sexual partners to find a body underneath her bizarre costumes.
Texas governor Rick Perry has won reelection over a challenge from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. In his victory speech, Governor-elect Perry shouted a defiant message to Washington: "Quit spending all the money! Stop trying to take over our lives and our businesses." One assumes that doesn't apply to the money the government spends on military bases in Texas, and on the $3.5 billion the state will receive this year in assorted Federal grants.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Socks
Yesterday I mentioned my efforts each morning to match my clothes and ensure that my socks match each other, but not the rest of my clothes. Here, as the late Paul Harvey would have said, is the rest of the story...
One of little issues that makes my life interesting is that I have wacky color vision. Not wacky in the sense of "only sees black and white," but wacky in the sense of, well, wacky. In general, I have a real problem with telling similar colors apart, particularly in the absence of bright sunlight: black, navy blue, dark brown, dark green - forget it...they're all more or less black to me. Same with pastel shades: pale yellow, green, pink, light blue, light tan - they're all more or less white to me. If you would put any of these colors out by itself in bright light, I could probably tell you what it was. But put them all together and, well, I can come up with some interesting matches.
Okay, I told you that long-winded story so I could tell you this one...
When Agnes and I met, I was still in the Air Force. A military career is a pretty good deal for someone with defective color vision, because you wear the same clothes every day, and you always wear black socks. Voila! - no problem, ever, with matching colors!
Now, Agnes's mother enjoys knitting. And after Agnes and I had been together a while, Mama presented me one day with a box of beautiful, hand-made wool socks...black, of course, because that was pretty much all I could wear. And after that, about twice a year she would send me a new package of hand-made black wool socks. I never ran out.
Fast forward about 14 years...
When I retired from the Air Force, I discovered that one of my big problems was going to be making sure that my clothes always matched. I got into the habit of laying out the next day's work clothes the night before so that Agnes could make sure that shirt, tie, suit, and socks all matched.
Act II...enter Mama...
Agnes's mother now realizes that I am no longer limited to black socks, and that some variety is in order. And so it was that one day a package arrived in the mail. We opened the package and found many pairs of nice, new, hand-made socks...in some of the most bizarre color combinations you can imagine. There were bright blue socks with flashed of yellow and red. There were brown-and-yellow striped socks. There were socks with colors so bright they hurt your eyes.
I now had plenty of beautiful socks that didn't match anything else I owned.
Well, when life gives you lemons, the saying goes, make lemonade. I decided that as long as everything else matched, I could wear whatever socks I wanted, and if an observer didn't like it, well, too bad. My loud socks would become my lucky charm.
So now we come to this part of the story...
I had hammered away for months on a major project at work, and my customer decided it was time to have a "murder board" of distinguished graybeards (and bluehairs) to review it. We duly assembled a board of about ten retired General Officers and senior government civilians, and on the appointed day, they filed into the conference room to hear my presentation. For my part, I dressed in my best conservative gray suit with light blue shirt and power tie (all carefully vetted by Agnes)...and a pair of the most garish socks I owned. They were bright red, shot through with bolts of yellow, orange, and blue. People gawked at me on the bus. Mothers hid their children. Radical imams issued fatwas condemning my un-Islamic socks. I was ready.
I spent all morning making my presentation, answering the graybeards' questions, defending my analysis, and generally coming up smelling like the proverbial rose (cue the self-congratulatory back-slapping). At about noon we broke for lunch, which had been arranged in one of the private dining rooms in the Pentagon. As we walked down the hallway, the tall and distinguished general who was chairing the board turned to me and quietly said, "Bilbo, I've just got to ask you...where did you get those damned socks?"
I told him the story, he laughed, and his board endorsed my project.
So nowadays, I'm known for something. I'd rather it be for my wit, panache, and towering intellect, but if it's my socks, well, I'll take it. In fact, I've been at conferences where people I've met before may not remember my name, but remember that I'm "The Guy with the Socks."
Sock it to me, as it were.
Have a good day. Wear bright socks. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
One of little issues that makes my life interesting is that I have wacky color vision. Not wacky in the sense of "only sees black and white," but wacky in the sense of, well, wacky. In general, I have a real problem with telling similar colors apart, particularly in the absence of bright sunlight: black, navy blue, dark brown, dark green - forget it...they're all more or less black to me. Same with pastel shades: pale yellow, green, pink, light blue, light tan - they're all more or less white to me. If you would put any of these colors out by itself in bright light, I could probably tell you what it was. But put them all together and, well, I can come up with some interesting matches.
Okay, I told you that long-winded story so I could tell you this one...
When Agnes and I met, I was still in the Air Force. A military career is a pretty good deal for someone with defective color vision, because you wear the same clothes every day, and you always wear black socks. Voila! - no problem, ever, with matching colors!
Now, Agnes's mother enjoys knitting. And after Agnes and I had been together a while, Mama presented me one day with a box of beautiful, hand-made wool socks...black, of course, because that was pretty much all I could wear. And after that, about twice a year she would send me a new package of hand-made black wool socks. I never ran out.
Fast forward about 14 years...
When I retired from the Air Force, I discovered that one of my big problems was going to be making sure that my clothes always matched. I got into the habit of laying out the next day's work clothes the night before so that Agnes could make sure that shirt, tie, suit, and socks all matched.
Act II...enter Mama...
Agnes's mother now realizes that I am no longer limited to black socks, and that some variety is in order. And so it was that one day a package arrived in the mail. We opened the package and found many pairs of nice, new, hand-made socks...in some of the most bizarre color combinations you can imagine. There were bright blue socks with flashed of yellow and red. There were brown-and-yellow striped socks. There were socks with colors so bright they hurt your eyes.
I now had plenty of beautiful socks that didn't match anything else I owned.
Well, when life gives you lemons, the saying goes, make lemonade. I decided that as long as everything else matched, I could wear whatever socks I wanted, and if an observer didn't like it, well, too bad. My loud socks would become my lucky charm.
So now we come to this part of the story...
I had hammered away for months on a major project at work, and my customer decided it was time to have a "murder board" of distinguished graybeards (and bluehairs) to review it. We duly assembled a board of about ten retired General Officers and senior government civilians, and on the appointed day, they filed into the conference room to hear my presentation. For my part, I dressed in my best conservative gray suit with light blue shirt and power tie (all carefully vetted by Agnes)...and a pair of the most garish socks I owned. They were bright red, shot through with bolts of yellow, orange, and blue. People gawked at me on the bus. Mothers hid their children. Radical imams issued fatwas condemning my un-Islamic socks. I was ready.
I spent all morning making my presentation, answering the graybeards' questions, defending my analysis, and generally coming up smelling like the proverbial rose (cue the self-congratulatory back-slapping). At about noon we broke for lunch, which had been arranged in one of the private dining rooms in the Pentagon. As we walked down the hallway, the tall and distinguished general who was chairing the board turned to me and quietly said, "Bilbo, I've just got to ask you...where did you get those damned socks?"
I told him the story, he laughed, and his board endorsed my project.
So nowadays, I'm known for something. I'd rather it be for my wit, panache, and towering intellect, but if it's my socks, well, I'll take it. In fact, I've been at conferences where people I've met before may not remember my name, but remember that I'm "The Guy with the Socks."
Sock it to me, as it were.
Have a good day. Wear bright socks. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Monday, March 01, 2010
Of Busy Mornings, and Socks
Today is March 1st - since it's the first day of the month, that means paying bills (gotta get that mortgage check in so the bank will let us keep living in this house, dontcha know). We also have a new step-dog: Nessa is now living with us, and demands a certain amount of attention. There's trash to put out, recyclables to get to the curb, and consciousness to re-achieve (not always easy on a Monday). Not to mention the stress of making sure that my clothes match and my socks match, but that my socks don't match the rest of my clothes (it's a long story that I'll tell you another time...the punch line is "Oh, yeah! You're the guy with the socks!"). I also have to go through the end-of-February agony of figuring out how to reset the calendar function on my watch so that I know today is March 1st, rather than February 29th (you'd think an expensive watch would be able to make that change on its own, or at least with minimum effort on the part of the owner, but you'd be wrong).
So...
No long and erudite post this morning...just a reflection on how some mornings can be so much more stressing than others.
And we haven't even talked about work, yet.
Sigh.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
So...
No long and erudite post this morning...just a reflection on how some mornings can be so much more stressing than others.
And we haven't even talked about work, yet.
Sigh.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Curing Character
I recently read that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (known in shorthand as the "DSM"), the bible by which psychiatrists identify and characterize mental disorders and their treatment, is in the process of being updated. Then this morning I read this interesting OpEd piece by George Will: A "Cure" for Character. My mind being what it is, I next made the connection to this Cartoon Saturday offering from a month or so ago:
What my parents might have called laziness in the 50's, and cured with a swat on the fanny or a few nights banned from TV-watching, might today be called laziness syndrome and cured with drugs. Is this progress?
Mr Will suggests in his article that the proliferation of behaviors that are characterized as mental disorders reflect deviations from a perceived normality, and that this characterization could be dangerous in the long run. He writes, "...childhood eccentricities, sometimes inextricable from creativity, might be labeled 'disorders' to be 'cured.' If 7-year-old Mozart tried composing his concertos today, he might be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and medicated into barren normality."
So, what's normal, what's eccentric, and what's a dangerous psychiatric disorder that requires treatment? I think of myself as more or less normal, although I'm realistic enough to recognize that I'm also a bit eccentric. But where do we as a society draw the line between harmless eccentricities and conditions that require treatment?
As an alpha geek in grade school and high school, I met my share of bullies who might have been normal, or who might have been serial killers in training. A psychiatrist might refer to the DSM to help him (or her) tell the difference. But would he or she judge these individuals as patients to be cured or as potential criminals to be judged? As Mr Will writes, "Today's theraputic ethos, which celebrates curing and disparages judging, expresses the liberal disposition to assume that crime and other problematic behaviors reflect social or biological causation. While this absolves the individual of responsibility, it also strips the individual of personhood and moral dignity."
So...
Is Bilbo lazy or does he suffer from laziness syndrome?
Is it right to replace judgment of bad behavior with curing of a perceived disorder?
I wish I knew. Then I could make lots of money by writing a book and selling it to psychiatrists...who could then include it in an upcoming edition of the DSM.
In the meantime, I still think there's a place in this world for punching out bullies.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
What my parents might have called laziness in the 50's, and cured with a swat on the fanny or a few nights banned from TV-watching, might today be called laziness syndrome and cured with drugs. Is this progress?Mr Will suggests in his article that the proliferation of behaviors that are characterized as mental disorders reflect deviations from a perceived normality, and that this characterization could be dangerous in the long run. He writes, "...childhood eccentricities, sometimes inextricable from creativity, might be labeled 'disorders' to be 'cured.' If 7-year-old Mozart tried composing his concertos today, he might be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and medicated into barren normality."
So, what's normal, what's eccentric, and what's a dangerous psychiatric disorder that requires treatment? I think of myself as more or less normal, although I'm realistic enough to recognize that I'm also a bit eccentric. But where do we as a society draw the line between harmless eccentricities and conditions that require treatment?
As an alpha geek in grade school and high school, I met my share of bullies who might have been normal, or who might have been serial killers in training. A psychiatrist might refer to the DSM to help him (or her) tell the difference. But would he or she judge these individuals as patients to be cured or as potential criminals to be judged? As Mr Will writes, "Today's theraputic ethos, which celebrates curing and disparages judging, expresses the liberal disposition to assume that crime and other problematic behaviors reflect social or biological causation. While this absolves the individual of responsibility, it also strips the individual of personhood and moral dignity."
So...
Is Bilbo lazy or does he suffer from laziness syndrome?
Is it right to replace judgment of bad behavior with curing of a perceived disorder?
I wish I knew. Then I could make lots of money by writing a book and selling it to psychiatrists...who could then include it in an upcoming edition of the DSM.
In the meantime, I still think there's a place in this world for punching out bullies.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Cartoon Saturday
A massive earthquake has shaken Chile; 26 people have been killed and at least 41 injured in a stampede at a mosque in Timbuktu; Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning has vetoed an extension of unemployment benefits for millions of unemployed Americans because Congress has not specified a way to pay for it; in order to save money, the city of Colorado Springs has removed trash cans from public areas and turned off a third of its streetlights; and the data from a large national U.S. sample indicates that, on average, people who self-identified as liberal and atheist have higher IQs.
Aren't you glad Cartoon Saturday is here to help you cope?
I've spent a lot of time on hold this week, listening to recordings that tell me how important my call is in spite of not answering it. I've finally found the explanation...
Haven't you wondered from time to time about where some things originally came from? I like this one...
In the wake of the so-called Health Care Reform Summit (which appears to have accomplished nothing except contribute excess hot air to the global warming problem), health care continues to cost Real People a staggering amount - 17.3% of gross domestic product, according to figures compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services. All of which leads us to a few new cartoons about the economy, which is otherwise the least funny of topics nowadays. This one is good for those of you who like your data presented graphically (with apologies to Dr Tufte)...
Isn't it awful when pesky facts get in the way of a good theory...?
The domino theory doesn't just apply in geopolitical arguments, either...
And finally, from the Department of Just Plain Silly, But Obvious...
Agnes is on her way back from Germany, and will be home this evening, bringing my universe back into balance. It's about time.
Have a good weekend. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
P.S. ...
I need to put aside the fun of Cartoon Saturday for a moment to say goodbye to a good friend. Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will remember my old high-school friend Debbie, who has been a frequent commenter here and who has provided me with the material for many posts. Debbie passed away last night after years of bravely fighting an array of health problems.
We knew each other only in passing in high school, although at one point I had a fearsome crush on her. We reconnected last year through Facebook as she rallied the class of 1969 for our 40th reunion, and we quickly became fast friends. Although we were political polar opposites, she was always able to push my buttons gently without the partisan rancor that is so common nowadays. Her sense of humor and infectious, happy smile were a delight to all of us, and she will be sorely missed.
Good bye, Beautiful Lady. Someday, in a better place, we'll dance the tango we didn't get at the reunion.
B.
Aren't you glad Cartoon Saturday is here to help you cope?
I've spent a lot of time on hold this week, listening to recordings that tell me how important my call is in spite of not answering it. I've finally found the explanation...
Haven't you wondered from time to time about where some things originally came from? I like this one...
In the wake of the so-called Health Care Reform Summit (which appears to have accomplished nothing except contribute excess hot air to the global warming problem), health care continues to cost Real People a staggering amount - 17.3% of gross domestic product, according to figures compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services. All of which leads us to a few new cartoons about the economy, which is otherwise the least funny of topics nowadays. This one is good for those of you who like your data presented graphically (with apologies to Dr Tufte)...
Isn't it awful when pesky facts get in the way of a good theory...?
The domino theory doesn't just apply in geopolitical arguments, either...
And finally, from the Department of Just Plain Silly, But Obvious...
Agnes is on her way back from Germany, and will be home this evening, bringing my universe back into balance. It's about time.Have a good weekend. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
P.S. ...
I need to put aside the fun of Cartoon Saturday for a moment to say goodbye to a good friend. Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will remember my old high-school friend Debbie, who has been a frequent commenter here and who has provided me with the material for many posts. Debbie passed away last night after years of bravely fighting an array of health problems.
We knew each other only in passing in high school, although at one point I had a fearsome crush on her. We reconnected last year through Facebook as she rallied the class of 1969 for our 40th reunion, and we quickly became fast friends. Although we were political polar opposites, she was always able to push my buttons gently without the partisan rancor that is so common nowadays. Her sense of humor and infectious, happy smile were a delight to all of us, and she will be sorely missed.
Good bye, Beautiful Lady. Someday, in a better place, we'll dance the tango we didn't get at the reunion.B.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Killer Whales
A big story in the news over the last few days has concerned a whale trainer at killed at Sea World in Orlando. The whale apparently chomped down on the trainer's pony tail and dragged her to the bottom of the pool in front of a stunned audience. The lady died of drowning and "multiple traumatic injuries."
This is a killer whale:
I feel very bad for the trainer, but I just have to ask the question:
Why on earth would someone willingly go into a tank with a killer whale? Is the term killer not a red flag of sorts? Isn't swimming in a tank with a killer whale something like getting into a car with Ted Bundy?
Just thought I'd ask.
But if you're looking for a silver lining inside a dark cloud, I suppose we can be glad Claudia just tripped over the dog instead of swimming with a killer whale.
Have a good day. Cartoon Saturday is coming. More thoughts then.
Bilbo
This is a killer whale:
I feel very bad for the trainer, but I just have to ask the question:Why on earth would someone willingly go into a tank with a killer whale? Is the term killer not a red flag of sorts? Isn't swimming in a tank with a killer whale something like getting into a car with Ted Bundy?
Just thought I'd ask.
But if you're looking for a silver lining inside a dark cloud, I suppose we can be glad Claudia just tripped over the dog instead of swimming with a killer whale.
Have a good day. Cartoon Saturday is coming. More thoughts then.
Bilbo
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Taking One's Best Shot, So to Speak...
You may have thought you'd heard it all, but you'd be wrong.
Consider this story which ran in the Washington Post this past Sunday: Plaintiff in Handgun Case Is Suing D.C. for Right (to) Carry Firearms in Public.
Just in case you didn't catch it, here it is again: Plaintiff in Handgun Case Is Suing D.C. for Right (to) Carry Firearms in Public.
It's difficult to list how many ways, on how many levels, this is insane, but since I like a challenge, let me try:
1. Some bozohead is going to sue the city of Washington, D.C. This is the city that doesn't have enough money to plow snow, fix potholes, run decent schools, and hire enough police to keep the streets safe. I think that defending itself against a stupid lawsuit is an excellent way for the city to spend the money left over after all the crooked city employees have finished looting the treasury.
2. Nothing makes me feel safer than knowing that all the unbalanced idiots around me are packing heat. "Are you talkin' to ME, punk? BLAM!!"
3. If you thought road rage was bad, think how it will be when everyone can carry a gun in his car. This should be interesting.
4. The absolute Constitutional right to own a gun does not magically convey the maturity and good sense necessary to use it.
Once again, before all the gun nuts come down on me like a ton of bricks, let me say this: I know what the Second Amendment says. I don't have a problem with gun ownership in general. But I think that wrapping oneself in the verbiage of the Constitution as if it were the Quran (every letter of which is the absolutely perfect and utterly unchangeable word of God...just ask any Muslim) is silly. The Founders wrote the Constitution in the 1700's and understood that it was being written at a moment in time - that's why they built in a process for changing it when necessary (that would be Article V).
Perhaps it's time to have that debate about the Second Amendment. But it will never happen.
In the meantime, D.C. will waste money it doesn't have defending itself against a useless lawsuit brought by a person with nothing better to do.
And I feel less safe than ever.
Have a good day. If you plan to visit D.C., wear your kevlar vest. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Consider this story which ran in the Washington Post this past Sunday: Plaintiff in Handgun Case Is Suing D.C. for Right (to) Carry Firearms in Public.
Just in case you didn't catch it, here it is again: Plaintiff in Handgun Case Is Suing D.C. for Right (to) Carry Firearms in Public.
It's difficult to list how many ways, on how many levels, this is insane, but since I like a challenge, let me try:
1. Some bozohead is going to sue the city of Washington, D.C. This is the city that doesn't have enough money to plow snow, fix potholes, run decent schools, and hire enough police to keep the streets safe. I think that defending itself against a stupid lawsuit is an excellent way for the city to spend the money left over after all the crooked city employees have finished looting the treasury.
2. Nothing makes me feel safer than knowing that all the unbalanced idiots around me are packing heat. "Are you talkin' to ME, punk? BLAM!!"
3. If you thought road rage was bad, think how it will be when everyone can carry a gun in his car. This should be interesting.
4. The absolute Constitutional right to own a gun does not magically convey the maturity and good sense necessary to use it.
Once again, before all the gun nuts come down on me like a ton of bricks, let me say this: I know what the Second Amendment says. I don't have a problem with gun ownership in general. But I think that wrapping oneself in the verbiage of the Constitution as if it were the Quran (every letter of which is the absolutely perfect and utterly unchangeable word of God...just ask any Muslim) is silly. The Founders wrote the Constitution in the 1700's and understood that it was being written at a moment in time - that's why they built in a process for changing it when necessary (that would be Article V).
Perhaps it's time to have that debate about the Second Amendment. But it will never happen.
In the meantime, D.C. will waste money it doesn't have defending itself against a useless lawsuit brought by a person with nothing better to do.
And I feel less safe than ever.
Have a good day. If you plan to visit D.C., wear your kevlar vest. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
High-Tech Fairy Tales
I had another post all ready to go this morning, but then I read Miss Cellania's blog this morning and found one of the funniest things I've seen in a while: fairy tales updated with modern technology. Check these out...
Little Bo Peep never loses sheep because of their embedded silicon identity chips.
Cinderella searches for her prince on Match.com - and leases her pumpkin-colored SUV at Avis.com.
Hansel and Gretel use the GPS rather than bread crumbs but have reported problems stuffing the wicked witch into her microwave oven.
To avoid travel stress, Alice now plans her Wonderland vacation with travelocity.com.
A reformed Ebenezer Scrooge sends Bob Cratchett to update his certification for Excel and Quiken.
Jack's making a fortune on his bean stalk bioengineering breakthrough.
Old McDonald uses voice recognition to make ordering easy at his agricultural auction site http://www.eieio.com.
Romeo and Juliet avoid tragic problems by keeping in touch through their cell phones.
With her early Web capabilities, Charlotte is now a motivational speaker at tech conferences around the world.
The Pied Piper switched career fields after his tunes were bootlegged on Napster.
King Arthur has replaced that expensive round table with satellite video conferencing.
Gulliver is on sabbatical using up all his frequent flyer miles.
Jack and Jill order their Evian on peapod.com.
Sleeping Beauty was treated for sleep apnea and now enjoys normal sleep thanks to her CPAP machine.
Little Red Riding Hood whipped out her taser and put the wolf quickly in his place.
The last two are my adds...anyone have any other ideas?
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Little Bo Peep never loses sheep because of their embedded silicon identity chips.
Cinderella searches for her prince on Match.com - and leases her pumpkin-colored SUV at Avis.com.
Hansel and Gretel use the GPS rather than bread crumbs but have reported problems stuffing the wicked witch into her microwave oven.
To avoid travel stress, Alice now plans her Wonderland vacation with travelocity.com.
A reformed Ebenezer Scrooge sends Bob Cratchett to update his certification for Excel and Quiken.
Jack's making a fortune on his bean stalk bioengineering breakthrough.
Old McDonald uses voice recognition to make ordering easy at his agricultural auction site http://www.eieio.com.
Romeo and Juliet avoid tragic problems by keeping in touch through their cell phones.
With her early Web capabilities, Charlotte is now a motivational speaker at tech conferences around the world.
The Pied Piper switched career fields after his tunes were bootlegged on Napster.
King Arthur has replaced that expensive round table with satellite video conferencing.
Gulliver is on sabbatical using up all his frequent flyer miles.
Jack and Jill order their Evian on peapod.com.
Sleeping Beauty was treated for sleep apnea and now enjoys normal sleep thanks to her CPAP machine.
Little Red Riding Hood whipped out her taser and put the wolf quickly in his place.
The last two are my adds...anyone have any other ideas?
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
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