Friday, April 11. 2008
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude - with lots of Parrotheads in evidence.
Good poll news for John McCain NYT writes unbiased article on Iraq Truth-telling about immigration in Swedish MSM. Gates An illustrated history of data storage (h/t, Thompson's Friday Ephemera) The disastrous 17th Amendment (h/t, Right Wing Prof) Shipping containers and the economy
 In an effort to round out Maggie's Farm and make it truly eclectic, Bird Dog has invited me to add the geek factor to the mix. But, rather than just adding a few geeky articles here and there, I thought it would be fun to actually get serious about the whole thing and turn those interested into budding computer experts.
The reasoning is, since computers won't be going away anytime soon, you might as well just sit down and learn about the dang thing once and for all. Make sense? And let me quickly point out that both programs and Windows, itself, are a lot more fun to use once you learn the basics and how to set things up properly, and there are lots of small, free programs around that'll add to the enjoyment. We'll cover everything.
Continue reading "Dr. Mercury's Computer Corner: Introduction"
Thursday, April 10. 2008
"Well it's twinkle, twinkle, little star
Along came Brady in his 'lectric car
He's got a mean look right in his eye
He's gonna shoot somebody just to see 'em die Refrain: He's been on the job too long! Well, Duncan, Duncan was tending the bar
Along comes Brady with his shining star
And Brady says, "Duncan, you're under arrest,"
Then Duncan shot a hole right in Brady's chest Brady, Brady, Brady, well you know you done wrong
Breakin' in here while the games goin' on
You come a-breakin' down the windows, And knockin' down the door
And now you're lyin' dead on the barroom floor Well, ol' King Brady was a big fat man
The Doctor reached down, grabbed a hold of his hand
He felt for his pulse, then shook his head
Said I believe to my soul, King Brady's dead High tail carriages just a -standin' around
To carry King Brady to the buryin' ground
Them rubber tired buggies, them rubber tired hacks
They took him to the graveyard, never brung him back When the women all heard that King Brady was dead
They went out a home and they be racked in red
They come a-slipping' and a-slidin' and shufflin' down the street
In their big mother hubbards and their stockin' feet." "Duncan and Brady," which I am happy to be able to post now that someone has uploaded a video of a 2000 performance, a year when Bob opened many of his shows with the song. Who was the original author? I do not know.
Barry Obama has a race problem: he is pissed off at whites despite his charmed life in America. The guy misses the point that almost everybody in America is post-racial these days (not in Euroland, however). White folks do not spend one second of their lives thinking about oppressing black, brown, yellow or red people, and to imply that they do is hateful, malicious, manipulative, - and wrong. Character and behavior, not skin, is what folks are interested in. I do not give a damn about skin, and I believe that very few people are hung up on skin these days, and we would be even less so except for the Left constantly pushing skin and genitalia and transgender-mixed-frozen-vegetables in our faces. Honestly, would Obama be a presidential candidate today if he were a white guy? Of course not. Hillary would have eaten him as an hors d'oevre by now. It's plain as day, but people don't say it. Heck, Congress is full of glib Leftists: consider the always-charming and articulate Barney Frank. Obama is a phee-nom because he is half-black (and he is a likeable fellow, as pols go). The Obama effect is pure reverse-racism - mixed with ageism (he's a kid) and a touch of jaunty metrosexual bias (the American MSM press is not known for its comfort with manliness). I find this video disturbing, insulting, dumb, and offensive (from piece at Gateway):
 I'll be away tomorrow, but I have these gems now:
Ship rigging, and other technologies which created wealth in antiquity. How to blog. Sipp Canada: A link to libel constitutes libel? This could render blogging dangerous up there. SDA. More on related Canadian insanity at Coyote. I wonder what Canada would do with this link to Riehl: God Bless Racist America. Your sexual intentions show on your face. Sheesh. Where's my mask? A tough cop: "Kill the bastards." Krugman denounces ethanol subsidies. So does McCain. So do I. An "all-Bolshevik conference" remembers the Columbia student riots. Groovy, dudes: how very advanced and progressive. More on how free trade has increased American prosperity. As far as I can tell, only dinosaur unions oppose it, as with the recently-tabled Colombia agreement. Affirmative Action for boys. Dems planning $40 million hit on McCain Nationalized medical care? Polls are against it
From a comment on the above book at AEI: Religious belief is thriving in America today, even though it seems under assault as seldom before--attacked by secularists, scientists, and increasingly vocal atheists; constrained by judges and civil libertarians; mocked by contemporary artists; and treated pragmatically, if not cynically, by politicians seeking votes. This book explores the enduring strength of religion in American life. Faith and religious observance are not obsolete or incompatible with modern society; on the contrary, the religious principles that guided the Founders continue to bind the nation and justify human endeavor. In Religion and the American Future, a distinguished group of scholars examine the future of religion in America. Michael Novak, John C. Green, Leon R. Kass, Douglas W. Kmiec, Roger Kimball, and Marcello Pera contemplate in turn the relationship of religion to the dominant secular realms of politics, science, law, and art. They argue that the religious and the secular realms should construct a mutual and productive understanding; that faith-based voting is not the threat it often seems; that science cannot answer humanity's deepest moral inquiries; and that the United States Constitution presupposes the existence of God. The volume concludes with an instructive look at Europe and the troubling implications of turning away from religious belief altogether.
"New publishing industry needs new editors," at Pajamas. Fascinating. (h/t, Flares)
Assessment 101. How teachers (should) do it. Clinton's missteps. Politico The University of Delaware's freshman indoctrination. The knock on the door: House to house searches for guns...and twinkies? The population crisis. Steyn The real cost of public schools.
Free Yorkshire Terrier. 8 years old. Hateful little dog. Free puppies: 1/2 cocker spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog Free puppies: part German Shepherd, part stupid dog German Shepherd. 85 lbs. Neutered. Speaks German. Free. Found: dirty white dog. Looks like a rat. Been out a while. Better be reward. 1 man - 7 woman hot tub $850/best offer Snow blower for sale. Only used on snowy days. Cows, calves never bred. Also 1 gay bull for sale. Nordic Track $300. Hardly used. Call Chubby. Bill's Septic Cleaning. "We Haul American-Made Products" Hummels -- largest selection ever -- "If it's in stock, we have it!" Harrisburg Postal Employees' Gun Club Georgia peaches California grown 89 cents/lb. Nice parachute: never opened – only used once Tired of working for only $9.75 per hour? We offer profit sharing and flexible hours. Starting pay: $7-9 per hour. Exercise equipment: queen size mattress & box springs $175. Our sofa seats the whole mob and it's made of 100% Italian leather. Joining nudist colony! Must sell washer & dryer. $300. Alzheimer's Center prepares for An Affair To Remember Open house. Body shapers toning salon. Free coffee & donuts. For sale by owner: complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica. 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1,000.00 or best offer. No longer needed. Got married last weekend. Husband knows everything.
I read compulsively. I read fiction and non-fiction. I read shrink-related stuff also, but less so than other stuff. I read plenty of history. I read 2 books per week. I do not watch TV because it interferes with my reading and my family, and because TV is idiotic. Yes, I am proudly snobbish about many things, and I happily know little-to-nothing about pop culture. Do I have a Reading Addiction? Some of my fellow shrinks seem to want to make a diagnosis out of everything people like to do: Internet addiction. As you all say, Good Grief. Editor's note: See Dr. Bliss' piece on The DSM: Not the Shrinks' Bible
Wednesday, April 9. 2008
We have officially termed the Obama campaign "The Teeny-bopper Campaign." (All Rights Reserved) The money is not coming from the youthful masses, however. Rich guys in suits. Still, the question always does come up: Did the GOP lose the youth vote? Well, for the yout', it's all about image and fashion. Grown-ups are past that nonsense. Is John McCain a cool MTV dude? I wouldn't know, but I prefer an adult - and I don't do childish dreams anymore: I try to do reality.
Not. They are Moslem schools. Allah Akbar, Baby.
A quote from The Price of Ignorance at Captain Capitalism: The most glaring source of ignorance is that 45% of the people (versus 35%) think the democrats will do a better job of helping the economy.
You have got to be joking. Political bias aside, let's just look at it from a purely economics perspective. Both major candidates for the democrat party are advocating tax increases. I don't care who they're for, but taxes slow down the economy. And Obama's outright idiotic statement that he would increase capital gains taxes by nearly 100%, and still didn't think that would hurt the economy, shows you his ignorance as well.
Additionally this also flies in the face of history. You may hate Bush, but he got this economy out of a recession after a Dotcom Crash and a terrorist attack. He kept it going the entirety of his administration and he did it with tax cuts (and an egregious amount of spending). Reagan the same thing. The best argument the left has is Bill Clinton, but there he was restrained by a Republican congress and if you were to look at government revenue as a percent of GDP it went down (thus a macro-economic decrease in taxes).
 I am meeting John McCain at a fund-raiser this week, to which our Editor Dog-in-Chief, Bird Dog, has invited me and the Mrs.
In fact, several of the Maggie's Farm crew will drive there, with money in hand, regardless of our beefs with McCain. I have my sentence ready for the guy: "I am happy to meet you, and thank you for your service." I want to say "Global warming is BS," but the Mrs. will not let me say that to him or there will be hell to pay. I disagree with him on about 30% of the issues of the day (eg immigration, McCain-Feingold, global cooling). But what the heck, I disagree with everybody about something or other, being a difficult, cantankerous, opinionated Yankee. We have warnings that the AFL-CIO might be protesting something or other, along with other lefty loonies. Good on 'em. A free country. But are they aware that the employment rate right now is higher than it was during Clinton? No, and they don't care. They have their agenda. Update: Got a photo with him. Thanked him for his service to the country. He is solid, somewhat of a tough guy, enormously likeable, and uninspiring. Those are all probably good qualities for a president.
Yes, we send Chris some money every time we borrow, and occasionally wonder whether to post his stuff daily: 
A good point. If China were not a totalitarian country, I doubt Tibet would have the same complaints. And why does China want to control Tibet anyway...other than that China is the last imperialist totalitarian nation on earth? Unless you count teensy Cuba and tin-pot dictator and joke du jour Chavez.
 From a CNN piece on the Pulitzer announcements, which includes this about Bob:
Long after most of his contemporaries either died, left the business or held on by the ties of nostalgia, Dylan continues to tour almost continuously and release highly regarded CDs, most recently "Modern Times." Fans, critics and academics have obsessed over his lyrics -- even digging through his garbage for clues -- since the mid-1960s, when such protest anthems as "Blowin' in the Wind" made Dylan a poet and prophet for a rebellious generation. His songs include countless biblical references and he has claimed Chekhov, Walt Whitman and Jack Kerouac as influences. His memoir, "Chronicles, Volume One," received a National Book Critics Circle nomination in 2005 and is widely acknowledged as the rare celebrity book that can be treated as literature. According to publisher Simon & Schuster, Dylan is working on a second volume of memoirs. No release date has been set.
Why reporters persist with that "prophet for a rebellious generation" nonsense I don't know. Maybe it's to put the guy in a box with a label. Of course, he is not the corporate guy in the grey flannel suit, but if that's rebellious, then bring it on. I'd call him a prodigious and ambitiously truth-telling singer-songwriter whose work, over 45 years, covers everything from love to God to war, from joy to despair, and which borrows - or steals - heavily from the Great American Songbook using folk, blues, country blues, country, ditties, jazz, nursery rhymes, rock, and love ballads...not to mention the Great Irish and Great Scottish Songbooks - and from movies, books, and especially from the Bible. Many folks don't seem to realize that most of Dylan's best stuff is post-60s. We do get a kick out of olde Maggie's Farm though, because all of us have learned to dislike working for other people (what's with the headdresses? Pure loony frivolity, methinks):
Obama campaign: "Get me more white people." Dick Morris: Obama's weakness is weakness Mr. Free Market loves Texas LaShawn on chastity. Fun with Richard Dawkins. Video at Thompson Mugabe evicting farmers, wants revote. I reckon I was wrong to trust that guy. "Prevention" does not reduce medical costs Traumatizing blacks to serve the Left. Am Thinker. The Dem Party is a plantation. Michelle has slides from Petraeus' talk Surber got all the answers: Just Ask Me A website dedicated to "exposing" the "Christian Right." Any excuse to raise taxes: LA wants global warming tax. Meanwhile, Al Gore plans mega-buck advertising scare campaign. Quoted from Jim Miller on wars: Those who know little military history often think that most wars are like World War II, immense and relatively short. In fact, many wars are like our two century long war with pirates, low intensity, but unending.
Americans are often criticized for wanting instant results, and I think there is some truth in that criticism. Perhaps if we knew our own history better, we would be more patient, less ready to expect a quick victory in our wars with the pirates— or in the war on terror.
Newport Mountain, Mount Desert Island, Maine. 1851. The fellow in the foreground seems to be pulling in a mast from a wreck. 
Tuesday, April 8. 2008
If there is no self, whose flu is this? Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated? Drink tea and nourish life; with the first sip, joy; with the second sip, satisfaction; with the third sip, peace; with the fourth, a muffin. Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story. Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health, or a life without problems. What would you talk about? The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single Oy. There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that? Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis. The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao is not Jewish. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems. Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as a wooded glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with such rounded shoulders. Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers. Each flower blossoms ten thousand times. Each blossom has ten thousand petals. You might want to see a specialist. Be aware of your body. Be aware of your perceptions; Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness. The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Buddha says “There is no self.” So, maybe we're off the hook.
That reminds me of this old, old one:
Shirley returns home to Miami from her big Africa trip. Her friends ask her about it, as she sits crying at the Mah Jong table.
"Oy," she says. "In the jungle, I was carried off by a huge gorilla, who took me up into a tree and had his rough, animal way with me for hours."
"You poor thing. It must have been terrible." "No, it was more wonderful than you could ever imagine. Nothing like Marvin." "Then why are you crying?" "It's been two weeks, and he doesn't write, he doesn't call."
and there's a good Passover joke at Theo
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