New and Improved

Anytime you see something being touted as "new and improved" you can almost certainly be assured that it will be alien and aggravating.

(Thinking especially in the realm of electronics. Thinking "new versions" of OS, thinking fb, thinking Blogger, you name it.)

Just let us enjoy that with which we are familiar!

Okay, I suppose if the world really worked the way I am thinking, we'd still be sitting in caves scratching pictographs into the walls.

Oh, Please Give Me a Break

Heard today that a group of "parents" is suing Apple because their kids are addicted to games on the I-Phone and it is costing them "a lot of money."

Question: Who bought the kids the dern phones?

Resolution: Take the dern phones away and give the kids something to do. Or lock them up until they magically become independently wealthy.

Sheesh!

Polygamy and Slavery

Polygamists in the family trees

Similarities in Obama and Romney’s roots.

Another teaser from the WaPo. But what has it to do with anything? Neither party mentioned practices nor condones the practice. So who cares? It is like making me responsible for the fact that my great-great grandmother was a slave holder. Oh, wait. There are those who make the claim that that is my responsibility. How ridiculous is that?

We may all be the product of our ancestors' choices, but we are not responsible for their choices.

Senator Lugar

Dick Lugar: Too mild to be memorable? --WaPo, April 9,2012

Clark Kent was noted for being "mild-mannered" was he not?

I have great respect for my Senator. I would have had greater respect for him had he announced his retirement. I mean, he's old. I mean, he's even older than I (by a small margin.)

Thurmond and Byrd come to mind. Is it really necessary?

Long Live the Republic!

E.J. Dionne Jr. wrote in the WaPo "Supreme Court Activists: Conservative justices forget we're a democracy."

This highlights exactly what is wrong with liberal pundits. The facts are never allowed to get in the way of a bias toward their own point of view.

1) If you want to see activism on the Court, take a look at the "liberal" justices.
2) Dionne needs to bone up on history, could discover exactly why we are not a democracy.
3) I've got to quit reading the WaPo opinion pages.

About Time

Three, four years ago WallyWorld here installed "self checkout" stations in docks one through four. Shopping there this winter I note that they are gone and registers are manned by real people now. Good. Enough with the nonsense, already.

This is related to the hiring of enough people to take "your call (which) is important to us" that Pat Sajak and I were on about a few days ago. And yes, I did just finish (is snapping shut the phone the modern-day equivalent of banging down the receiver?) a very unsatisfying automated phone experience.

More Than a Handsome Face

"Your call is important to us."
"Not important enough," said Pat Sajak, "to hire enough operators to take it."

Excellent Advice

Even a smart-aleck cannot be sarcastic or flippant all the time. This advice I read today is too good not to pass on; too good not to follow.

Don’t waste your time listening to false praise or distorted criticism. The praise will go straight to your head and the criticism will go directly to your heart. Both will lead you astray and both will damage the work God is doing in you and through you. --Pete Wilson, on his blog Without Wax.

Sunday Evening News

The ten o'clock news reader said,
"The robber crashed open the display case at the XYZ Jewelry store in the ABC mall just before nine o'clock this morning. Security cameras both in the store and on the parking lot captured clear images of the thief as he ran to his car with $25,000 worth of necklaces and bracelets, to make his getaway.

Police will be unable to pursue leads before Tuesday, as Monday is an official holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day."

Really?

Corpus Christi CBS affiliate, January 15, 2012. Edited by me to fit the space alloted.
You can't make this stuff up.
And if my arithmetic is correct, assuming the police "start work" right after coffee and donuts on Tuesday morning, the robber will have had a full forty-eight hours in which to make his escape to ??? One could get to Australia in less than half the time, if he had advance reservations.

Sunday

Today was spent exactly as a "day of rest" should be spent. We rested. Hallelujah!

Rudy Giuliani Nails It

To the "Occupy Wall Steet" crowd:

"Occupy a job!"

Caffeinate Me

Old people's social bash last night.¹
Decaffeinated coffee is the devil's brew.²

I've not been terribly concerned about "global warming." Not, that is, until I read that it may ultimately be the cause of coffee going extinct. *gasp* Oh, wait. Even if so, I'd have to live to be 396 years of age to see that happen.

¹"night" = 6:30 - 8:30
²Not original with me, but true, nevertheless.

DSAEK Underway

Playing With a Full Deck

I: The presidential primary field is set, so they say. And I was hoping a Knight in Shining Armor would emerge from the herd and rescue us from ourselves. Guess it's not going to happen.

Spouse: Or a Princess.

Land of the Free

Rally Nashville, Tennessee October 8, 2 to 4 p.m.

What's Happening?

On String Too Short to Tie this morning I explained what is going on here in Perfect.

Herk Bitterman will still be around on Saturdays.

Be of Good Courage

From Psalm 27

1: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
14: Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

sheesh

change.org is petitioning for the marriage of Bert and Ernie. r u kidding? They're puppets, for crying out loud. Get a life. And keep it out of our kids' entertainment media.

Yard Work

Third day. Crabgrass, weeds, mosquitoes, ants, gnats. Bumblebee. Finger strength gone, holes in gloves. Quit.

Who is D.B. Cooper?

The question has tantalized us for forty years. The FBI says it now has new information, and the identity may be revealed.

1. I prefer it remain a mystery; he will "live" forever as a legendary bad man about whom endless speculation will continue to fascinate and entertain.



2. I want to know every detail. Did he die? Does he still live? Who were his parents? What size hat does he wear? Yadda, yadda.

Vote (1) or (2)