I do most of my bird watching by ear.
Cedar waxwings this morning. Didn't try to see them out in the pepper tree across the street.
During the course of the day I keep a kind of subconscious tally of species.
Scrub jay. Mockingbird. Crow. House finch. English Sparrow. Song Sparrow. Meadowlark...
Even when driving across town, when the windows are down. White-crowned sparrow. Goldfinch. Bewick's Wren. Turkey (!).
Morning meadowlarks along the fence line across from work, happy house finches in the afternoon, sleepy golden-crowned sparrows in the evening, all make me smile.
And I don't even have to catch a glimpse.
5/25/2013
5/24/2013
Obamic
Kind of a cross between The Bomb and Titanic.
See, I'm getting tired of comparisons between the IRS, DOJ, and other scandals in the current executive branch, and the Nixon White House of forty years ago.
Nixon was not a crook. In many ways, he was a great American patriot. To tell you the truth, there are lots of things in Mr. Nixon's presidency about which I am still more concerned than the break-in at the Watergate: price controls (the consequent meat shortage is still a painful memory), the darkening of Christmas lights due to the "energy crisis", the creation of the EPA, and the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit (to name a few).
Calling every scandal Something-Gate diminishes the impact of the "something" in question, and only makes it harder to find a scale of historical perspective. If your only unit of linear measurement is the millimeter, just about everything is going to fall into the category of hecka big. If your only unit of ethical measurement is the Watergate break-in, your evaluation of every other scandal will be ethically problematic.
IRS targeting of conservative nonprofits is not "Nixonian".
Abuse of the most intrusive arm of the executive branch goes far beyond Teapot Dome, Watergate, Iran-Contra, Paula Jones, Abu Ghraib, or Freddie Mac. The IRS selective targeting of political enemies, and the DOJ targeting of troublesome journalists, are of an entirely different order. This is not an overreaching avarice at work. This is a grasping for power at the expense of fundamental liberty.
This administration is not Nixonian. This administration is OBAMIC.
See, I'm getting tired of comparisons between the IRS, DOJ, and other scandals in the current executive branch, and the Nixon White House of forty years ago.
Nixon was not a crook. In many ways, he was a great American patriot. To tell you the truth, there are lots of things in Mr. Nixon's presidency about which I am still more concerned than the break-in at the Watergate: price controls (the consequent meat shortage is still a painful memory), the darkening of Christmas lights due to the "energy crisis", the creation of the EPA, and the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit (to name a few).
Calling every scandal Something-Gate diminishes the impact of the "something" in question, and only makes it harder to find a scale of historical perspective. If your only unit of linear measurement is the millimeter, just about everything is going to fall into the category of hecka big. If your only unit of ethical measurement is the Watergate break-in, your evaluation of every other scandal will be ethically problematic.
IRS targeting of conservative nonprofits is not "Nixonian".
Abuse of the most intrusive arm of the executive branch goes far beyond Teapot Dome, Watergate, Iran-Contra, Paula Jones, Abu Ghraib, or Freddie Mac. The IRS selective targeting of political enemies, and the DOJ targeting of troublesome journalists, are of an entirely different order. This is not an overreaching avarice at work. This is a grasping for power at the expense of fundamental liberty.
This administration is not Nixonian. This administration is OBAMIC.
5/23/2013
Bacon Cupcake
I dreamed last night that I was eating chocolate cupcakes made with bacon fat shortening, with bacon frosting and bacon-bits sprinkles. (Does that indicate a nutritional deficiency -- like not enough bacon?) Right now I am at work, and the atmospheric conditions are wafting bacon and sausage and maple scents from the diner up the hill into the front of the building -- nobody else seems to be able to smell it but me.
And ... I've gotta say that my life is more complete because of the many results for my Bing Images search for "bacon cupcake"!!!
And ... I've gotta say that my life is more complete because of the many results for my Bing Images search for "bacon cupcake"!!!
5/22/2013
Death and taxes
Federal Income Tax
State Income Tax (California)
State Sales Tax
County Sales Tax
Extra 1/2% "Keep On Spending" Sales Tax
State Disability Insurance Tax
Medicare Tax
Social Security Tax
Federal Gas Tax
State Gas Tax
Excise Tax - Tires, Ammo, Hunting Supplies
Phone Tax - Hearing Impaired & "Obamaphones"
Automobile Registration (Tax)
Smog Certificate (California) (Tax)
Toll Bridge Crossing (Tax)
Already - Health Insurance Premium Increases (Obamacare Tax)
What have I left out?
And then there's the dilution of the currency for the purpose of financing the nation's debt -- an additional 4% plus tax per year that even depletes SAVINGS !
I figure if I keep working I'll start making money some time around August.
*UPDATE* -- Oh yeah, there's the Property Tax too -- so maybe I'll get to have some personal income around the end of August.
State Income Tax (California)
State Sales Tax
County Sales Tax
Extra 1/2% "Keep On Spending" Sales Tax
State Disability Insurance Tax
Medicare Tax
Social Security Tax
Federal Gas Tax
State Gas Tax
Excise Tax - Tires, Ammo, Hunting Supplies
Phone Tax - Hearing Impaired & "Obamaphones"
Automobile Registration (Tax)
Smog Certificate (California) (Tax)
Toll Bridge Crossing (Tax)
Already - Health Insurance Premium Increases (Obamacare Tax)
What have I left out?
And then there's the dilution of the currency for the purpose of financing the nation's debt -- an additional 4% plus tax per year that even depletes SAVINGS !
I figure if I keep working I'll start making money some time around August.
*UPDATE* -- Oh yeah, there's the Property Tax too -- so maybe I'll get to have some personal income around the end of August.
5/20/2013
Dedicated to helping
"Northeast (front) and northwest facades from north -
Clara Barton House,
5801 Oxford Road, George Washington Memorial Parkway,
Glen Echo, Montgomery County, MD"
The American Red Cross was born on 21 May 1881 when Clara Barton convened its first official meeting.
The Red Cross is still very much alive and giving aid where needed -- such as this week in Oklahoma.
Disaster relief donations to the National American Red Cross can be made online here.
The start of something
People who love to hate Norman Rockwell have a problem with his representational art. They wish he were deconstructing the expectations of the viewer, or some such art-jargon. But dude, that's what he is doing.
5/19/2013
"Smalls"
Yes, smalls. In particular, men's smalls. I know: too much information.
Never. The. Less.
In the men's shorts world, there is choice of many unsatisfactory arrangements for the bottom half. Boxers, briefs, boxer-briefs... Within this world, the available products are made almost entirely by Hanes or by Fruit-of-the-Loom.
H and FOL have demonstrated their misandry by introducing products for eunuchs, products for donkeys; products made of moisture-impervious materials, products made of industrial abrasives; products that bind in one place and are loose in another, products that are loose in one place and bind in another. So there are lots of choices. Without even getting into the choice between the products that fall apart after the first wash, and those that fall apart over the course of half a year of normal use.
Yes I realize that there are more options if you want to think outside the box: commando; athletic specialties / European designerwear; gay partywear ("not that there's anything wrong with that"). But those are either "for occasional use, only as directed" or far too pricey for this author to countenance the purchase of the eight to twelve units I like to have in stock.
It occurs to me: Hanes and Fruit-of-the-Loom are the Macintosh and Microsoft of the underwear world. They both hate us, and it's just a question of which is the least uncomfortable fit. Moreover, the great fit and function you bought last time is a.) not available any more; b.) dumbed down to the point that it is now produced offshore so it looks like the product you knew, but now with the added features of random dimensions, abrasive materials, and self-destruction in the laundry.
H and FOL meet over a drink and smirk together. "Where else are they gonna go?" They slap each other on the back. "Ubuntu?!"
Never. The. Less.
In the men's shorts world, there is choice of many unsatisfactory arrangements for the bottom half. Boxers, briefs, boxer-briefs... Within this world, the available products are made almost entirely by Hanes or by Fruit-of-the-Loom.
H and FOL have demonstrated their misandry by introducing products for eunuchs, products for donkeys; products made of moisture-impervious materials, products made of industrial abrasives; products that bind in one place and are loose in another, products that are loose in one place and bind in another. So there are lots of choices. Without even getting into the choice between the products that fall apart after the first wash, and those that fall apart over the course of half a year of normal use.
Yes I realize that there are more options if you want to think outside the box: commando; athletic specialties / European designerwear; gay partywear ("not that there's anything wrong with that"). But those are either "for occasional use, only as directed" or far too pricey for this author to countenance the purchase of the eight to twelve units I like to have in stock.
It occurs to me: Hanes and Fruit-of-the-Loom are the Macintosh and Microsoft of the underwear world. They both hate us, and it's just a question of which is the least uncomfortable fit. Moreover, the great fit and function you bought last time is a.) not available any more; b.) dumbed down to the point that it is now produced offshore so it looks like the product you knew, but now with the added features of random dimensions, abrasive materials, and self-destruction in the laundry.
H and FOL meet over a drink and smirk together. "Where else are they gonna go?" They slap each other on the back. "Ubuntu?!"
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