We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Welcome to those of you arriving from Instapundit and my thanks to Glenn for the helpful link. My original post on this gruesome subject is here and the Save-Our-Doc donation page is here.
And welcome to Maggie's Farm, the oldest and bestest eclectic site in the sphereoblogs. It's the only site in town where you'll see a penetrating look into the human psyche by a renown psychiatrist, an exposé of the rotten core we call our educational system, a warning about the latest nasty computer virus, all followed by an endearing piece titled 'Chipmunk of the Week'. Quality eclecticity, all the way.
As far as who the hell I am, I was blogging ten years before the word was invented and had a page of the latest hot web links up a decade before Instapundit launched. Details here. As I said to Ed Driscoll today, relics like me should be preserved. As for some of my recent posts, if you like music, check this out. If you like horses, check this out. The genetics post Ed once referred to as "epic" is here, and my home site is here.
As for the rest of you lugs (and lugesses), I'm still tentatively scheduled for the 24th, but I might push it back a bit. The problem with the entire medical field is that it's full of 'ifs'. If the operation goes routinely, I might have enough money. If the post-operative costs are normal, I might have enough money. If the drugs are still available (a number of post-operative cancer drugs have recently become harder to find because of — you guessed it — government over-regulation by the FDA), I might have enough money.
It's the not-ifs that are worrying me.
The good news is that a subsidiary of the company I normally do the web work for hired me to do a big project for them (Ever put an Excel database online? It's not a pretty site.) so that'll keep me busy for a while. It should be worth about $800, but the pisser is that I won't get it for almost two months.
I also dusted off my plumbing tools the other day and made $350 replacing a water heater and two faucets. I modestly admit I haven't lost my touch. I had those puppies replaced in no time flat.
And, of course, no Big C update would be complete without including one of the many, many (many) happy-go-lucky, cheer-me-up cartoons and pics my two best friends have sent me since this all began. I'm sure lucky to have such support!
And I don't mean large in a Chris Christie kinda way, I mean large in a spit-in-the-face-of-the-law, let's-incite-anarchy kinda way. That kinda large.
I've never gone to Coyote's site on a regular basis. Coyotes are, to be perfectly frank, scavengers. And a pretty scruffy lot, to boot. As such, I also tend to view his writing as 'scruffy'.
Such is the power of word association.
Well, Bird Dog bravely linked to this scalawag the other day, so I held my breath (coyotes live in filth, I needn't remind you) and checked it out. I enjoyed the article, but it seemed like there was something 'off' about it. I read a few more posts and continued having this strange feeling that all wasn't right in the world of coyote scruffiness.
Then I discovered the raw, naked truth: A blatant admission to the world that he had spit in the face of Truth, Justice and The American Way by preaching outright anarchy against the government!
Automatic weapons, you ask? Incendiary bombs? Molotov Cocktails?
No!
I am proudly holding the government-mandated flow restrictor I just removed from my most recent shower head purchase.
Pic: Artist's concept of the crime in progress
After calling the FBI, DHS, EPA and OSHA (just for good measure) about this self-admitted nihilist, I felt it my duty to warn you, the Maggie's Valued Reader™, about this 'gateway crime' — where the pusher draws you into his web of sin with a 'simple' crime — only to have you later trapped into doing his bidding when it comes time to rob that armored car guarded by six ex-Army commandos with Uzis and you end up dying a horrific, painful, bloody death — and all because you visited Coyote's blog.
I also thought I might elaborate on his post, so that you may further know exactly what to watch out for while steering clear of gateway crimes such as this. I have a little perspective on the whole water-rationing thing because I was a sub-contractor when California went through an official 8-year drought back in the 80's. Then the weather cycle flipped back around and 'flood control' was at the top of everybody's list.
Such were the whims and vagaries of weather, back in the days before global warming, back when nature still had a say.
This week's Mac virus is brought to you by the makers of BackDoor.Wirenet.1, a delightful little keylogger that has drawn rave reviews wherever it goes.
Keyloggers, to remind you, record all of your keystrokes and then periodically send them home to mama. A program then looks for 16 entered numbers in a row (your credit card) followed by 3 more numbers (your security code), then it's off to cadillac.com and some early Christmas shopping.
It also steals passwords:
The malware "also operates as a keylogger (it sends gathered keyboard input data to intruders); in addition, it steals passwords entered by the user in Opera, Firefox, Chrome, and Chromium, and passwords stored by such applications as Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, and Pidgin."
(Odd he'd mention the other browsers but not Safari?)
The fix is fairly simple. You delete some files on your computer and then block access to a certain IP address. Details are in the above link and one method to block the IP address is here, more info here. Even if you don't have the bad files on your system, you should still block the IP address.
It took a while to get here, but it's been a fun run. I enjoyed every minute of the debates, the primaries were quite interesting, as was pondering who would grab the VP slot. Now that the convention's over, it's time for the main event to get under way.
At this point, I like our chances. Along with gauging audience reactions, I also like gauging the overall feel of the comments on non-political sites. That is, if I'm on some site selling dog brushes, and someone mentions Obama in the site's forum and, the next thing ya know, there are regular, non-political people screeching about Obama & company all over the place, this is a good sign, and I see it all the time.
As for last night's show, the Reagan tribute was pretty cool:
On a local note, we have proof that Mitt Romney's son, Craig, reads Maggie's Farm. Hi, Craig! In my wrap-up yesterday, I suggested it would have been a smart move for Gov Martinez to talk to her fellow Hispanics en Español for an entire minute, just to show them that they really meant something.
So what did Craig Romney do tonight? Spoke in Spanish for an entire minute.
Thank you, thank you — I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
Ron Paul supporters, you have my sympathy. That video they showed was just pathetic. I thought the big guy, hisself, was going to speak, hopefully issuing a small tut-tut to the conventioneers to keep their collective eye on the fiscal ball, but no. All we got was a campaign commercial. Hmph.
Remember, by the end of the debates, a lot of people saw what I meant when I said at the beginning, "I completely agree with 75% of what he says. The other 25% scares me to death." In many, if not most ways, he really does have the right answer, but in the general election, every vote for Ron Paul is most likely a vote taken from Romney. That stuff's fine during the primaries, but we're trying to win the big one here. The best thing we can hope for is that the press (continues to) completely ignore him. The less press, the less votes. The less votes, the greater our chances.
Remember Ross Perot in '92? Result? A Clinton dynasty.
Say, I've got a good idea. How 'bout an Obama dynasty? Cool idea, huh?
Day one of the convention went pretty much as I expected it to go. A whole bunch of boring speeches, albeit with a few exceptions, ending with two fabulous speeches performances by Ann Romney and Chris Christie. If you missed them, the links are below.
The one big 'disgrace' — to pick a word — was the delegates casting votes for Ron Paul. I'm not sure what kind of kooky message they were trying to deliver, but 'unity of the party' certainly wasn't on their agenda. Michigan cast the majority of its votes for Ron Paul.
Delegates are ethically but not legally compelled to cast their ballots based on the results of primaries and caucuses conducted in their state.
Well, sure. That makes sense. There's certainly no reason to pay any attention to those pesky primaries if just a handful of people can make the decision. Thank goodness for abbreviated democracy!
On the up side, the person at the podium was only repeating the votes for Romney, so when the Michigan rep said, "Thirty-three votes for Ron Paul (wild, maniacal screaming from the 127 Paulbots in the audience), six votes for Mitt Romney, one vote for Rick Santorum", all the person at the podium said was, "Mitt Romney, six votes". Big statement to the world you made there, Michigan.
A lesser disgrace was the six states that had their vote number reduced because the morons governing the state races decided to hold their primaries before the date the RNC had allowed. My home state of Florida, which, being the 4th-largest state in the union, should have had near as many votes as California's 172, was allotted a paltry 50. Hmph.
One other small disgrace were the 'abstention' votes. Nevada had five. Please tell me how a person can become a Republican delegate and find none of the candidates acceptable — on a write-in ballot!
Pics, links, and more unabashed blather below the fold.
For those of you without a TV, YouTube is doing a constant streamcast of the convention here.
It's been on for an hour or so and it appears to mostly be short speeches by various local dignitaries and the occasional live band. The real action begins tonight at 7. Two schedules to check are here and here.
I suppose the highlight of the evening will be Governor Chris Christie's speech at 10. After all the feisty videos we've seen of him at some small-town function, it'll be interesting to see him in a 'formal' setting. I imagine he'll try to keep his natural boisterousness toned down, but his charismatic personality will still shine through.
I also look forward to seeing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. He was my original choice for the VP slot when the primaries got under way.
Well, not unexpectedly, I've postponed my tumor operation a few weeks. I'm tentatively scheduled for Sept 24th. Between getting much less for my stocks than I'd hoped for and losing my web job until October, I simply don't have the money yet.
But it's cool. As I mentioned in the last update, the tumor hasn't grown any worse, so there's no need to panic. I'm currently designing a web site $600, so I'll get there. For those of you just tuning in, the back story is here. Contributions to the Save Our Doc fund are more than welcome. To those of you who have already pitched in, my sincerest thanks.
One thing I've noticed that seems to be common amongst cancer docs is that they tend to be a fairly upbeat group. My doctor in Miami is a riot. At one point he adopted his 'tough guy' voice and growled, "Just rub a little dirt on it — you'll be fine!" The doctor in Mexico was the one who, after looking at the scans, said "Good news. You have a cancer, not the cancer." Whether or not hospitals specifically seek out cancer docs with an upbeat personality is anybody's guess, but it sure has helped on this end. Whenever I start feeling down and picturing the worst, something one of the docs has said inevitably comes to mind and cheers me up.
I also notice they have a particular reticence to using scary words like "cancer" and "tumor". It's usually just "your condition" or "the problem". I happened to be watching an episode of 'House MD' a few weeks ago and Wilson, the resident oncologist, was talking to a patient and referred to "your condition", so I gather it's just part of the biz.
To finish up on an upbeat note, two of my friends are delighting in sending me 'gallows humor' cartoons to cheer me up. I posted one a few weeks ago; the 'Dead End' sign next to a graveyard. This one's pretty funny:
I suppose it's slightly ironic that, twelve hours before I might possibly drown from a hurricane, I'm posting an article on fire. Such are the whims and vagaries of outrageous fortune.
Yesterday, I said something in an email that only a Floridian would say:
The good news is that it's supposed to still be a tropical storm when it gets here, or a weak Category 1 hurricane. Hopefully.
Only in Florida would someone say it'll hopefully be a Category 1 hurricane.
When I posted on Isaac last Wednesday, it was barreling directly for us. Over the next few days, it moved slightly to the west, as far as Key West, then it turned slightly northward which drew it back our direction. So it looks like we'll get clobbered pretty good.
The good news is that it's picked up a real head of steam over the last few days and is now scheduled to hit us tonight, rather than tomorrow morning as originally forecast. More speed = less time over the water = less time to pick up energy.
For what it's worth, this is the fifth hurricane I've gone through in the six years I've been here. Four in the first two months, now Isaac. We also got lashed a good one a few years ago with Tropical Storm Fey.
As for the video, I don't think you'll learn anything particularly new ("governments are stupid"?), but it's nice to see the subject neatly laid out. As you know, along with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and unscheduled solar eclipses, the recent spate of large wildfires has also been attributed to global warming.
What makes this video exceptional — coming from a left-wing, AGW-loving organization like NPR — is that the expert actually says the following in real, live English words for all to hear:
Even without climate change in the mix, this is probably not coming back as the forests and woodlands that they were before.
That's right, even without global warming, the expert still acknowledges that shortsighted government agencies might have played some small, tiny part in this travesty.
When we last left the exciting Fukushima/earthquake/tsunami story, it had been determined that the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered almost no ill effects from the largest earthquake in Japan's history and the fifth-largest ever recorded. They had built the reactors deep in solid rock and they withstood the upheaval just fine.
Then the tsunami came along, knocked out the backup generators, and the whole thing went into the toilet.
Then the Japanese government freaked out and shut down all of their nuclear power plants due to 'safety concerns'. The first one finally went back on line a few weeks ago, a year and a half later.
Now, a little panic and overreaction from a government is hardly anything new. We see it here all the time. Some 11-year-old moron puts out an eye with a bottle rocket and immediately all fireworks are banned throughout the county. About the only thing they have in some places these days are sparklers and snakes. Happens all the time.
But then Germany got into the act, likewise shutting down all of its nuke plants over safety concerns, all of which raises one of the greatest questions of all time:
There are tsunamis in Germany?
Earthquakes, sure, but, as Fukushima testified, nuke plants can be built to withstand earthquakes just fine. So what the German high command was really saying to its citizenry was, "We're afraid we're going to get hit by a tsunami any minute now." That, all by itself, might have earned Germany the coveted title, Fool of the Decade.
But it gets even worse than that.
When they built Fukushima, they constructed a sea wall that would withstand the highest tsunami in Japanese recorded history, back in the 30's. These people obviously aren't fools, and they well knew that (1) the reactors would probably withstand a major quake just fine, but (2) a tsunami breaching the sea wall would do them in. So they obviously put a lot of research into it.
Turns out, that wasn't a tsunami after all that swept into northeastern Japan last March, killing nearly 20,000 people and launching a major nuclear and environmental crisis.
That was two tsunamis that merged far out at sea and rolled swiftly toward shore, more than 135 feet high. That means the speeding wall of water was almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty, torch to toes.
They've been studying data from a trio of satellites that fortuitously happened to be passing over that part of the Pacific Ocean on Friday, March 11, Japan time. And they have now confirmed what until now had only been hypothesized:
That separate massive water movements, ignited by undersea earthquakes miles beneath the ocean surface, can grow and actually merge their massive energy and water volumes to roll across scores of miles of ocean undiminished by distance. They are, it now appears, shaped and steered by the unseen contours -- the ridges and mountain ranges -- of the ocean bottom beneath.
Until now such twin tidal waves had never been observed, just theorized as possible explanations for such devastation as the 1960 Chilean tsunami that traveled trans-Pacific to kill about 200 in Hawaii and Japan.
"It was a one-in-ten million chance that we were able to observe this double wave with satellites," said Y. Tony Song of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. "It was like looking for a ghost. A NASA-French Space Agency satellite altimeter happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture the double wave and verify its existence."
So, to sum up, not only did Germany shut down its entire nuclear power industry because they were afraid of getting hit by a tsunami, but it turns out the tsunami they based this on was such an unlikely event that, until now, it had only been hypothesized.
Ah, there's nothing quite like living in the beautiful Florida Keys. The clear, blue Atlantic outside our door. The gentle ocean breeze wafting through the palm trees. The lovely wahines serving drinks at the local tiki bar.
Yes, you simply couldn't ask for a more peaceful, tranquil existence.
In The Secret of Amazon.com I reveal how one can buy older books for upward of an entire penny, assuming your wallet coin purse can withstand such a blow.
Well, I found out something even more amazing about Amazon.com the other day. This tale won't just introduce you to some new product or service; it'll introduce you to an entire new genre of item that you probably never even knew existed...
...and, if you own a printer and do much printing, you might want to very much.
"Crap! Out of printer ink again? What? Cyan? How the hell can I be out of cyan if I haven't printed anything in color in over a year?!?"
You probably know the feeling.
What happens is that every time you turn the printer on, or even in mid-print if it feels the need, it cleans the printer heads. And every time it cleans the heads, it shoots a little ink down the nozzle and, after you add up a bucketload of cleanings, you're out of cyan. Or magenta. Or yellow.
Again.
So you cruise into Office Depot. $63 for the 4-pack. Hmm. Clearly, there must be a better way.
You check the Office Depot online site. $56. Hmm. Clearly, there must be a better way.
(you're repetitious, but thorough)
So you check Amazon.com. Ah-ha! $31. Now we're talkin'. You sniff around the page and see an "11 new from $27.20" link and figure you've hit rock bottom. $63 down to $27 in five minutes? Not bad, you old pro, you.
Then it happens.
That's when you spot the link next to it, and you humbly realize that, as smart and seasoned a shopper as you are, there's an entire genre of ink cartridges out there that you never even knew existed:
Used ink cartridges.
And, no, I just couldn't stop myself. The ad's gone now (there was only one in stock), but I grabbed the 4-pack listed for — are you ready — $9.95.
It arrived yesterday and all four cartridges are brand new inside of their factory-sealed vacuum packs. The reason they're sold as 'used' is because they're not in their nice little 4-pack box.
With such an important event coming up in a few months, I figured we should install a countdown clock here on Maggie's, since so many of us are eagerly anticipating having the Democrats kicked right out of Washington, if not right off the planet.
You have to admit — if the world disappears into an alternate dimension, at least it'll take care of runaway inflation. And those pesky Democrats.
While I don't think you'll particularly learn anything new here, it's still interesting watching an official JPL guy cover the bases.
And if he's wrong?
Just do as we learned to do back in the 60's when Russia was about ready to launch 25,000 nukes at us.
Just crawl under your school desk. You'll be fine.
On July 11, 2011, two high-speed 'bullet' trains collided in Wenzhou, China, killing 40 people and injuring over 190. It was the second-worst high-speed train wreck in history.
As a disaster documentary buff, I've occasionally dashed over to YouTube to see if some company like the people who produce the 'Seconds From Disaster' or 'Mayday' series have done a special on it.
But I've left disappointed. No one's ever produced a comprehensive documentary covering the entire sad event.
It's ironic that 'R&R' usually stands for Rest & Relaxation — when resting on our current policies and relaxing our stance against government proliferation is the very opposite of what our own R&R — Romney & Ryan — intend to do. Such are the whims of fate.
Personally, I'm quite pleased with the pick. I originally thought that Romney & camp would go the low-key route — especially after the VP candidate in the last election outshone the guy running for the P slot — so picking a firebrand like Ryan showed they do, indeed, have a message for America. That they are, indeed, going to give it a choice.
My one regret is that I didn't start saving all of the "Why The Ryan Selection Is Great News For Obama!" links that suddenly popped up. It would have made for a fun post. Seriously, how insane do you have to be to make such a claim? Palin, sure. Newt, Perry, Bachmann, Christie, Pawlenty, Jindal, Portman, sure. I'd agree. All possible good news for Obama.
But not Ryan. Not the one guy even Democrats will tip their hat to for knowing his stuff.
And these loopy articles weren't on some backwater blog sites. Slate, Politico, Daily Beast, Puffington Host, Boston Globe, Washington Post, NY Times; all have spit out the "This is great news for Obama!" meme since the selection.
One wonders, if their immediate reaction to the announcement is gross hyperbole — what's it going to be like from here on out? I'd look for some real zaniness coming out of these sites in the near future. I'll collect some of the better ones for our mutual amusement.
The first official piece of zaniness is below the fold, and I'll also expound on why I think Palin not speaking at the convention is a good thing. Long-time readers know I'm a devout Palinite, so it's not an issue I take lightly.
As a small aside, I want to draw your attention to an important post I made last Saturday, A new age in viruses dawns, because when a computer virus can actually lock up your machine — which means you can't download and run some handy fix-it program — the rules change. There remains an easy solution, but you'll have to be ready beforehand.
So, here's how last Thursday went:
I hated selling my stocks for the tumor operation, because they're one of the few things my dad left me, but they obviously had to go. The last time I talked to the broker, a few years ago, I was told they were worth around five grand.
Or $3,284 on today's market. That's all I got for them, after the fees were paid and the dust settled. Welcome to the New Economy, Doc.
I talk to the broker on the phone, he delivers the bad news, I hop into my car to do some errands and the battery's flat as a pancake. $523 worth of diagnostic fees, labor, and a new alternator later, I'm back on the road.
I got the battery jumped that morning from a neighbor and drove it to the local fix-it shop. One of the guys was making a parts run and gave me a lift home. There's an email waiting for me from the guy I do my bread-and-butter work for (Web site maintenance), informing me that the Powers That Be at corporate headquarters have nixed this season's event and there goes my steady income for the next few months.
I've had better days!
As for my operation, I'm penciled in for Sept 4th. The good news is that I went up to a hospital in Miami a few weeks ago and the tumor hasn't gotten any worse.
The bad news is that I'll have to push back the operation if I don't have the funds. I still have a month and a half to go, but it'll be close. Losing the Web job really hurts. The good news there is that they'll have to do their next event in October, so I'll be able to make some money while I'm healing.
My original post on this worrisome subject is here. I could sure use some help with my donation fund. As I've noted before, if I can repay you by helping you with something online, like setting up a blog or web site, just tell me in the comments to email you and we'll take it from there.
In case you're looking for some lightweight Sunday fun, I added four horrific disaster vids to my Special Vids page yesterday:
Crossroads — Two airliners defy all odds and collide in mid-air. What makes it interesting is that it wasn't the usual faulty part or pilot error this time around. It was cultural.
Flying On Empty — As much as I like powered flight, I like the concept of gliding even more. The fact that this particular glider weighs 264,000 pounds just makes it all the more fun.
The Gimli Glider — Speaking of 264,000-pound gliders, do you know what 'slipping' an airplane is? It's a little hard to describe. Try "flying sideways — on purpose." See picture below. According to the vid, this was the first time an airliner without power had ever gone into such a heavy slip during a landing. And survived.
Mistaken Identity — Okay, so how does one of the most modern warships in the U.S. Navy mistake a gigantic civilian airliner for a twenty-times-tinier, ten-times-quicker enemy jet fighter and shoot it down?
Damn good question.
Home site is here, art gallery is here, Special Vids page is here. Enjoy!
This airliner is coming directly at you — sideways
Here they are, homeless, without a shell to squat under, yet they hold their heads high.
Can your species say the same, when the going gets tough?
Persecuted? And how. Pop a shell on it and suddenly it's escargot at $69 a plate. Remove the shell and it's the garden version of vermin. Please execute every one you see on sight.
Many slug species play an important ecosystem role by eating dead leaves, fungus, and decaying vegetable material. - Wikipedia
Yeah, good idea, kill all the slugs, let the decaying matter build up. Smart move, humanity.
I fought them for years while living in the middle of a Redwood forest. Once a month, I'd grab a big bag of rock salt and lay a perimeter around the building. But I never had anything against them personally. They were just gettin' by.
So, hail to thee, noble slug. Long may thy sliminess reign. Hold your head high in the face of bias, prejudice and blatant slugophobia, and remember, you are not alone. Look at the ugly, squint-eyed opossum. .22-rifle bait for any kid within a mile. Put some fluffy fur on a rat's tail and suddenly it's a cute widdle squirrel. This blatant prejudice runs rampant throughout the animal kingdom, and you must bear your share, noble slug, guilty of nothing more than being homeless.
On the other hand, no matter what the lofty price, being eaten for dinner doesn't sound like much of a fate, so maybe you're better off without the shell.
(With Bird Dog on vacation, I'm going to try to fill his mighty shoes by doing a few nature posts.)
Our twig of the week, orviminehebdomadis, is a remarkable creature, inhabiting many of the woodland areas of our wondrous globe. Not just a mere leaf or branch, viminehebdomadis is a hybrid, displaying the very best of both worlds.
As such, many consider it to be the origin of Zen, where every twig, no matter how similar, still has an intrinsic value unto itself and the universe, and how we are much more than the mere sum of our parts; so much so that we become a whole new word in the process of evolving.
Made globally popular by supermodel Twiggy, the once-lowly twig has gained an admiration in humanity's eye that can only be envied by mere leaves and branches. You might see the occasional anti-twig screed on some radical blog site, but this twigophobia is the result of the powerful Leaf & Branch Union and is a story too sordid to be told here.
In short, be proud of the lowly twig, and be happy for the small but valuable niche in life it holds. It cries every night as it holds your heart in its precious little hands, wishing for you to have the most wonderful life possible, and its only hope is that you return a tiny bit of the sentiment.
So far, so good. In case you haven't heard the horrific news yet, Bird Dog is on vacation until Tuesday, leaving the site in the clutches of the likes of me and Bulldog.
The modern, sophisticated mind reels at the very thought.
If you happen to see the big guy, let him know that everything's cool. I simply deleted all of those warning notices I received from the FCC yesterday, figuring by the time they get around to handing out the indictments, our valiant editor will be long back. I'm sure a quick phone call to Washington will clear everything right up.
As for today's video, I've run across a small handful of web vids over the years that really touched me inside, mainly because of the accompanying music. The collection is here.
Dreadful news, I'm a'feared. Bird Dog has gone on vacation for a week.
(the old-timers in the audience burst into tears at the thought of the horror to come)
That's right, the tyrannical, oppressive firm, guiding hand of our beloved editor won't be around to keep us in check, and I suppose just about anything might happen. As, unfortunately, usually does. Hence the tears.
For example, one really horrible thing to see would be a link to the Maggie's Farm Smut Guide, which isn't normally available because no self-respecting blogger would ever link to such a vile, disgusting piece of trash.
Much less blog on the site that produced it!
Also, you might still see a few pre-dated posts by the big guy. That's his not-so-subtle way of telling us Mutinies will NOT be tolerated! Death awaits those who try! It's a fair precaution, given the ripe opportunity.
So, buckle down, me hearties, and we'll see if we can't weather this storm together. In case of fire, please throw a glass of water at your monitor and maybe some of it will seep through and cool down the server. If you see a big "CENSORED BY THE FCC" screen, well, that's why we usually have an editor.
So, let us recap what's transpired since we last discussed the election.
As I recall, once Time Magazine and the New York Times picked up on the Maggie's posts and started printing them, the entire world realized that the wise and kindly Dr. Mercury was correct that Newt 'Big Picture' Gingrich was the one candidate with the historical perspective and across-the-aisle contacts to really-
Oh, wait. That was a dream I had the other night. Never mind.
Okay, so, while other blog sites were still mocking Romney by calling the others the "not-Romney" candidates, we'd all-but decided over here that it was probably Romney or bust. I believe he won my prestigious 'most presidential' award in every debate except one, where he shared the honor with Jon Huntsman.
Once the primaries started, the 'presidential' difference just became all the more apparent and the only surprise was the strong showing some of the other candidates made in certain states. But only in certain states.
Which brings us to today.
Like others, I'm expecting the Romney VP pick any moment now. For the record, I publicly called for Sarah Palin to be John McCain's running mate three weeks before he announced it.
But that was a gut call; wishful thinking. This is me actually trying to be politically analytical.
The standard "It won't be pretty" warning is in place.
Pic: Artist's concept of the crime in progress
This week's Mac virus is brought to you by the makers of BackDoor.Wirenet.1, a delightful little keylogger that has drawn 
Ron Paul supporters, you have my sympathy. That video they showed was just pathetic. I thought the big guy, hisself, was going to speak, hopefully issuing a small tut-tut to the conventioneers to keep their collective eye on the fiscal ball, but no. All we got was a campaign commercial. Hmph.
Day one of the convention went pretty much as I expected it to go. A whole bunch of boring speeches, albeit with a few exceptions, ending with two fabulous 
And they're off and running... 
When we last left the exciting Fukushima/earthquake/tsunami 
In 
It's ironic that 'R&R' usually stands for Rest & Relaxation — when resting on our current policies and relaxing our stance against government proliferation is the very opposite of what our own R&R — Romney & Ryan — intend to do. Such are the whims of fate.
Consider the noble slug.
Our twig of the week, or
Day two and counting.
Dreadful news, I'm a'feared. Bird Dog has gone on vacation for a week.
So, let us recap what's transpired since we last discussed the election.