tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-107026212024-02-28T11:43:48.654-12:00Thinking The LionsRide The Pepper.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.comBlogger3254125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-54320005078879585242017-12-13T13:36:00.001-12:002017-12-13T13:38:22.812-12:00Santa, Godzilla and Jesus Walk Into A Bar: Chapter 1: No orphans were harmed in the making of this story.<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This might be my favorite Xmas story I ever wrote; if you've read it before, maybe read it again. If you haven't, then here's the first installment of the story, from back in 2011:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0); font-size: 28.8px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Santa,<br />Godzilla,<br />and Jesus<br />Walk Into A Bar"<br />a/k/a </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Greatest Xmas Story Ever Told</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12.48px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.48px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(By me.)</span></span></div>
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No orphans were harmed in the making of this story.<br />
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And only one orphan was harmed in the telling of it.<br />
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On the street in front of Nick, who makes UFOs for a living – it’s a long story, and there’s no time to explain it right now because we’re only moments away from something really important happening -- was a tiny brass trumpet.<br />
<br />
It was dirty.<br />
<br />
It was covered in soot and laying in a puddle of slush next to a crumpled pack of cigarettes, and looked as though it had a lipstick smear on it, on the wrong end, and maybe some teeth marks, too.<br />
<br />
So naturally, Nick picked it up and was just seconds away from blowing into it when the door to the bar he’d just been told to leave opened up behind him and he heard the voice of the man who’d told him to leave, saying:<br />
<br />
“Okay, okay. So here’s this one: <span style="font-style: italic;">Santa, Godzilla, and Jesus walk into a bar…</span>”<br />
<br />
and Nick paused with the dirty lipstick-smeared horn up to his mouth and listened because with a set up like that who wouldn’t, and then that important thing you were told was going to happen but you already forgot about it happened:<br />
<br />
A body slammed to the ground in front of Nick, falling into, as it happens, the exact same puddle that Nick had just pulled the trumpet out of. How’s that for irony? We’re only just getting started, too.<br />
<br />
Sirens immediately started up all around Nick, and from both ends of the street – he was in the middle of the block – came cop cars racing towards him, almost as if they’d been waiting for just this.<br />
<br />
(They had been.)<br />
<br />
Nick squatted down and looked at the body in front of him. It was a large man, laying on his stomach. His face was turned to the side, his eyes closed. Somehow, the fedora the man wore, which Nick hadn’t noticed until that moment, had stayed on when the man had fallen to the puddle from wherever it was he’d fallen from.<br />
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All the buildings on the street being three stories or shorter, Nick didn’t bother looking up above him. The man had fallen straight down from the sky, Nick knew, because it had happened right in front of his eyes.<br />
<br />
“We’ll take care of this, sir,” said the surprisingly sexy cop who was suddenly standing in front of him. Nick blinked up at her, and saw her eyes narrow in a fetchingly cute way.<br />
<br />
“Where’d you get that horn?” she said.<br />
<br />
Nick looked down at his hand, still poised near his mouth.<br />
<br />
“It’s a trumpet,” he said.<br />
<br />
The cop reached for her waist, and Nick made his second regrettable decision that day, the first being “admitting to the bartender that he had no money before he ordered.”<br />
<br />
He ran.<br />
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The third regrettable decision he made a second later when he looked back and saw the sexy lady cop lifting up the dead bum’s jacket, and noticed the dead bum had wings.<br />
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PART TWO COMING SOON. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Santa-Godzilla-Jesus-Greatest-Story-ebook/dp/B006QMZBF0/ref=la_B00J7Y811K_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513215439&sr=1-7">Or if you want you can buy the entire story all at once here. </a><span id="goog_1871927084"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1871927085"></span><br />
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-56368867695102276492017-12-08T15:16:00.000-12:002017-12-08T15:16:55.207-12:00Good thing Obamacare fixed health care...... so we never have to think about it again, right? NOTHING TO FIX HERE. Keep that in mind when the GOP -- soon to be NUMBER ONE IN PEDOPHILE SENATORS!! -- threatens to tear down Obamacare, too. What we had before was terrible. Obamacare is terrible. What we will have next is terrible.<br />
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Here's what got me started thinking about this. From <a href="http://www.smbc-comics.com/">Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal</a>:<br />
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<img src="http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/1512753328-healthcarecomic.png" />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-69581436250791448102017-11-11T02:47:00.000-12:002017-11-11T02:47:01.593-12:00tales from parallel universes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FGfOZoQA_Bm3JQ_by7uNt6iKqpb_r0ff9JnRnwWOBmDGKnCOIWG_rU7OLOIsseJ2S9xIXgJ5Ac49rJ-G2DRRTlsRrFQPXUiSXlZ8CtM5ge9FplRYve-Tjq-Am4ub4-aZ3nLijw/s1600/universe+314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FGfOZoQA_Bm3JQ_by7uNt6iKqpb_r0ff9JnRnwWOBmDGKnCOIWG_rU7OLOIsseJ2S9xIXgJ5Ac49rJ-G2DRRTlsRrFQPXUiSXlZ8CtM5ge9FplRYve-Tjq-Am4ub4-aZ3nLijw/s640/universe+314.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-11525165806755721652017-10-29T08:07:00.001-12:002017-10-29T08:07:25.253-12:00A minute with Mr Bunches<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhposnCXZdxsrdsRlZAnNNB7QODAj3crf5MnBCMDhvJY6CngSh9ayIRknWWh2kN4ZTYBjTylzc70renVEkzWcrcel6Ri4ANa3cGnbxtUOlfneFw3JjpF8_yOfRm2hG29RCDj-HTjg/s1600/20171029_145240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhposnCXZdxsrdsRlZAnNNB7QODAj3crf5MnBCMDhvJY6CngSh9ayIRknWWh2kN4ZTYBjTylzc70renVEkzWcrcel6Ri4ANa3cGnbxtUOlfneFw3JjpF8_yOfRm2hG29RCDj-HTjg/s400/20171029_145240.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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<br />
As I got ready to peel the potatoes...<br />
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"Dad, are you going to shave the potatoes?"<br />
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-41958624822202501922017-10-28T01:00:00.001-12:002017-10-28T01:00:32.349-12:00Quotent Quotables<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/3363-1/BB9/753/97/%7BBB975397-9DC4-45BD-9EC7-59C8E3967DEC%7DImg400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/3363-1/BB9/753/97/%7BBB975397-9DC4-45BD-9EC7-59C8E3967DEC%7DImg400.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">"...Space. The place where British people do not go because the British space programme is, what, two guys with a really long stick?”</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">“In that way, Jed, it is very much like U.S. healthcare.”</span></b><br />
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<i>Tigerman</i>, by Nick Harkaway<br />
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<br />
<a href="https://www.kff.org/uninsured/fact-sheet/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/">28,000,000 adults in the US have no health insurance </a>because even with Obamacare, health insurance is still too expensive for them.<br />
<br />
3 out of 4 Americans work for a company that does not offer them health insurance.<br />
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Uninsured people who end up in the hospital receive fewer diagnostic tests and services and have higher mortality rates than insured people in the hospital.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/business/health-insurers-profit.html">Since the passage of Obamacare, health insurance companies have seen their profits and stock prices rise higher and faster than nearly any other type of company in the S&P 500.</a><br />
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Plus we don't have a space program either.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-27347568710320649432017-10-26T00:09:00.000-12:002017-10-26T00:09:24.819-12:00A reminder: George W. Bush was our worst president ever.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2013/12/gwbush-911speech-A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2013/12/gwbush-911speech-A.jpeg" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="334" height="228" width="400" /></a></div>
Democrats recently decided to become even more Republican than they were already (and than they have been since <i>Bill</i> Clinton first moved the party significantly to the right in the 1990s, helping create our current world, in which two major political parties compete to see who can be more cruel to the middle class and poor.)<br />
<br />
That rightwards-and-downwards shift by Democrats is reflected in numerous ways, most recently in reports that Democrats were now more approving than ever of George W. Bush, the worst president in United States' history. It's not true that a majority of Democrats have a favorable opinion of Bush now (only 48% do) and<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/george-w-bush-democratic-opinion-poll_us_59f0c60be4b092dad3bb3fed"> the way the question was asked ("Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Bush?</a>") doesn't demonstrate approval of any specific policy or policies Worst Ever pushed through, but still.<br />
<br />
But still.<br />
<br />
So some reminding.<br />
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Bush is credited with a $1,300,000,000,000 tax cut as one of his first achievements in office. Those tax cuts left unchanged the taxes paid by people earning between $17,000-$68,000 a year. They were a subsidy, at the expense of that lower middle class, to the top earners, who saved a <i>minimum</i> of $25,000 per year on their taxes. That's <i>minimum</i>. A person earning $374,000 per year in 2001 has in his or her pocket an extra $325,000 by 2012 as a result of Bush's tax cuts. A person earning $68,000 per year then has no extra money now. Those tax cuts repealed the estate tax, allowing the rich to pass on their wealth without any taxation.<br />
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<a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-legacy-of-the-2001-and-2003-bush-tax-cuts">The deficits created by the Bush tax cuts (which never produced the surpluses predicted, because: economics) will account for fully 1/3 of the national debt by next year. </a> Bush and the rich borrowed from the poor in 2018 to finance a spending spree that caused the economy to crash in 2008 and left our current government impoverished. Again: $1 of every $3 the federal government owes today is <u>directly</u> because of the 2001 Bush tax cuts. (The economy began to grow <i>faster</i> after the tax cuts were phased back out in 2012.) (But in exchange for phasing taxes back up in some cases, other things such as the capital gains tax cut were made more permanent.)<br />
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Bush started the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter without any reason and the former without any reasoning. 20,000+ Americans have been wounded in Afghanistan, 2,800+ killed. The numbers are just under 32,000 wounded and just over 4,000 dead in Iraq.<br />
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The Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina was more callous and less effective than Trump's response to the three hurricanes this year. Bush refused to agree to the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/us-greenhouse-gas-inventory-report-1990-2014">US greenhouse gas emissions rose steadily from 2001 to 2007.</a><br />
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Bush's administration engineered bailouts of numerous businesses that caused the financial crisis. They turned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into guarantors and rescuers of businesses, allowing risky investments and commodifying people's mortgages so that to this day people are foreclosed on by lenders with little risk to the lender and lots of loss of homes to people who did not cause the problem but are suffering the fix. The federal government took over a major insurance company and made low-interest loans to businesses to guide them through the financial crisis, deals that supposedly were anathema to the Republicans but which we know were not, because Republicans use government to benefit the rich while Democrats use government to benefit themselves (and they are also the rich.)<br />
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When Richard Nixon died he was given a state funeral and honored by genteel comments from everyone. People forgot that he was a criminal who only avoided prison because the man he gave the job to pardoned him, and people forgot that Nixon ordered peace talks to end in Vietnam so that he could be re-elected. 22,000 more people died before that war ended, all on Nixon's watch. He got a state funeral and honors for killing 22,000 young Americans. But at least it used to take a person dying before we forgave his sins and pretended everything was all right. George W. Bush pushed America into a ditch -- a ditch <i>dug</i> by Bill and Hillary Clinton and one that is being filled in above our heads by the Trumpocalypse, true, but it was Bush that put us here.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-53585938171545262372017-10-24T23:52:00.000-12:002017-10-24T23:52:11.102-12:00There goes 2020, here comes the Dickensian America of Tammany Hall.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://jtf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/hillary-clinton-laughing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://jtf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/hillary-clinton-laughing.jpg" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
California will vote in the 2020 primary on "Super Tuesday," Early primaries favor well-known candidates. Having lots of primaries at one time favors candidates with lots of money to compete in multiple states at the same time. Having lots of primaries early on means that well-known candidates with early fundraising advantages can effectively sew up a nomination before any other candidate can gain much traction, which is what happened in 2016. Then after a number of early wins the leader seems to be a foregone conclusion and the funds -- as well as votes-- start moving towards the leader and away from challengers.<br />
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So a candidate like Bernie Sanders, who had broad support in the Democratic Party, had virtually no chance of winning the nomination in 2016 and would have even less in 2020.<br />
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Those are things largely beyond the Democratic Party's control. What is <i>not</i> beyond the Dems control is who the delegates are. T<a href="https://theslot.jezebel.com/dnc-appoints-lobbyists-as-superdelegates-ousts-longtim-1819687954#_ga=2.206326547.1404762165.1506981802-142084849.1468530677">he Democratic National Committee is attempting to name as "superdelegates" for 2020 a lobbyist for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. as well as a lobbyist for Venezuela's national petroleum company</a>, among others. The party also ousted some minority members from power positions including the head of the Arab-American Institute, who had backed Sanders. Numerous Clinton backers and friends will now hold positions of power.<br />
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Superdelegates are not bound by primaries and can back who they want.<br />
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The Democrats' answer to losing to the Republicans in 2016 is to become more like the Republicans. We would not be noticeably better off if Hillary! were president, but we will be noticeably worse off as both parties continue to march steadfastly to the right.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-48809959489362654182017-10-22T02:41:00.000-12:002017-10-22T02:41:04.708-12:00'go big or go home' the man said and i responded with 'i was told never to talk to strangers' (I had this moment)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXCf0aP29Q5gScvGWuRCOxDAlOKQLGcmcLPTCHRL0bIqpVQ3aT75zVr5Tfw6Xn9A-p-W15WtoXcAyhKM_2FPzJD2sruTKU9XZsaQa-akT6RUCV6kaCbLpZjZv43XMn5w1ssIgt5g/s1600/cargo+shorts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="1600" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXCf0aP29Q5gScvGWuRCOxDAlOKQLGcmcLPTCHRL0bIqpVQ3aT75zVr5Tfw6Xn9A-p-W15WtoXcAyhKM_2FPzJD2sruTKU9XZsaQa-akT6RUCV6kaCbLpZjZv43XMn5w1ssIgt5g/s640/cargo+shorts.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-5311232251386558392017-10-20T12:02:00.000-12:002017-10-20T12:02:14.553-12:00These footnotes got a little out of hand but the point is this is cool music.Last night I bought "Act 1- New Game" by Phillip Leon (son of writer <i>extraordinaire* </i><a href="http://strangepegs.blogspot.com/">Andrew Leon</a>). Andrew says it's good music to write to, and it is that -- it's got soundtrack written all over it -- but it's also just plain good music to do <i>anything</i> to. You could listen to this music and go for a walk, or listen to this music and rail against rich people, or listen to this music and kneel for the National Anthem, or listen to this music and dream of the day when society finally stops letting rich f***s destroy the world and we can all be a little happier.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1904160697/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://pipmaster.bandcamp.com/album/act-1-new-game">Act 1 - New Game by Phillip Leon</a></iframe><br />
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You can listen to the music and be a little happier, and for just $5** you can get the music for yourself and make Phillip Leon both a little happier, and a lot more likely to keep on making cool music like this. <a href="https://pipmaster.bandcamp.com/album/act-1-new-game">Go buy your own copy here. </a><br />
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*WHEN IS BROTHERS KEEPER COMING OUT ANDREW FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!<br />
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**Come on it's FIVE BUCKS. Even I spent that much and I am the cheapest living human being.***<br />
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*** that's true. I won't buy a brown belt to wear with my brown pants because what am I the queen of England here?Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-54095343697724517162017-10-19T01:25:00.000-12:002017-10-19T01:25:05.248-12:00Shut up about celebrities giving away a miniscule amount of their net worth.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/hhzr5nw5vxrdkmxqynvs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="800" height="238" src="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/hhzr5nw5vxrdkmxqynvs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
After losing faith in Captain Hammer yesterday, I got up this morning to read this headline over my Frosted Flakes (TM):<br />
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<h1 class="headline hover-highlight entry-title js_entry-title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word;">
<a data-id="" href="https://deadspin.com/chris-long-will-donate-all-his-2017-game-checks-to-char-1819657104" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Chris Long Will Donate All His 2017 Game Checks To Charitable Causes</a></h1>
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It's all over the headlines, at least the headlines that deal with athletes. Chris Long is apparently an NFL player on the Eagles. He will make $1,000,000 this year and has already given away six of his paychecks (of six games) with 10 to go. <a href="https://deadspin.com/chris-long-will-donate-all-his-2017-game-checks-to-char-1819657104">Says Deadspin</a>:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 29px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 636px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word;">
<i>Long will donate the money to “organizations supporting educational equity and opportunity” based in the three cities he’s played in: St. Louis, Boston, and Philadelphia. He used his first six game checks to fund scholarships in Charlottesville, Va., which means he will use his whole 2017 salary to educate others. Long is in the first year of a two-year, $4.5 million deal with the Eagles, and his base pay for the year is $1 million.<br />“I’m playing the entire 2017 NFL season without collecting income because I believe that education is the best gateway to a better tomorrow for EVERYONE in America,” Long said on his website. </i></blockquote>
<div class="js_ad-mobile-dynamic js_ad-dynamic ad-mobile-dynamic" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #222222; font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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Apropos of what I said yesterday, though,<a href="https://overthecap.com/player/chris-long/1315/"> Long has actually earned $88,000,000</a> in his career. He is giving away 1/88th of his total past earnings. He's about 30 years old. So if Chris Long lives to be 100, he will live another 70 years. If he never earns another penny again, he will have an average of $1,257,000 to spend each year for the next 70 years of his life.<br />
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His average <i>earnings</i> per year so far have been $9,798.000. Because of the way search engines work it is impossible to find out how much he might have donated in the past, so I can't comment on that.<br />
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People frequently justify paying millions of dollars to athletes by pointing out that they work very hard to do what they do, have short careers, and not everyone can do what they do. That is true of numerous other occupations, including lawyer and doctor and tax accountant and teacher. And while athletes careers are short, the fact that many of them make tens and hundreds of millions in a few years is not justified by a short career; most people do not make tens of millions in their lifetime.<br />
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Plus, Chris Long is the son of NFL and television star Howie Long, which means Chris had advantages growing up that many kids who aspire to be in the NFL do not have. <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=st+anne%27s+belfield+tuition&oq=st+anne%27s+belfield+tuition&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64l2.3133j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">He went to a private school where tuition starts, for pre-kindergarten, at $13,000+ per year</a>, for example. He went to the University of Virginia as an undergraduate before going to the NFL as a 2nd overall draft pick. Going back to 1942, <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/schools/virginia/">only 168 UVa players have ever played in the NFL</a>. Is it possible that being the son of a former NFL player who had a television position at the time his son was playing helped attract the attention of NFL scouts to a college that places about 2 players per year on average into the NFL (out of 1,600 players total on active rosters at the start of the season?)<br />
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Deadspin, which is usually pretty good about pointing out hypocrisy in sports, played up the Chris Long story without batting an eye. But Chris Long's donation means very little in the life of Chris Long, who likely will have a long and fruitful career post-NFL as well, as a television personality or coach, and who already has earned more money than 10 other men will in their lifetime. Chris Long's million-dollar donation also means very little in the life of those who depend on donations for education.<br />
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In 2012, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/25/how-grossly-underfunded-are-public-schools/?utm_term=.a5d29b09e2ac">the Washington Post published an article on how grossly underfunded public schools are</a>. In 2017 <a href="http://www.complex.com/life/2017/03/chance-the-rapper-chicago-schools-explainer">Complex published essentially the same story, updated.</a> America spends less than $10,000 per year, on average, per public school child. <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/07/pf/football-prices/index.html">Attending an NFL game costs a fan, on average, $209 per game. </a> With 8 home games per year, an average NFL fan spends in excess of $1,600 just watching football. The Philadelphia Eagles average 69,000 fans per game; each home game you see Chris Long play in means that people voluntarily spent $14,421,000 <i>that day alone</i> to attend that game. If the Philadelphia Eagles (a company valued at $2,650,000,000 -- that's <i>two billion</i>) donated <i>one game</i> worth of attendance per year, they could increase public school spending by $14,00,000 per year. If each of the 32 NFL teams did that, it would amount to $461,472,000 worth of extra school spending.<br />
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The Philadelphia Eagles' owner, Jeff Lurie, is worth $2,000,000,000. If he would give up 1% of <i>his</i> money the way Chris Long gave up 1% of his, an extra $200,000,000 would be given to education.<br />
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So Chris Long's self-aggrandizing donation costs him little and does very little for public education in this country. And Chris Long's dedication to public education is questionable in the first place; not only did he go to private school, but he endorsed Gary Johnson in the 2016 election. Gary Johnson wanted to get rid of the Department of Education and wanted to privatize public education in New Mexico using the voucher system. Sound familiar? It's essentially the Trump/Scott Walker plan to dismantle public education.<br />
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In the end, Chris Long gets a ton of publicity to top off the Super Bowl ring he lucked into last year, all in exchange for making a 'sacrifice' that isn't. Chris Long is a phony and people who give him attention for this are playing into the myth that celebrities are worth celebrating.<br />
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Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-73247818437079580642017-10-18T01:21:00.002-12:002017-10-18T01:21:50.468-12:00Technically his character in "Firefly" had been fighting on the wrong side in that war, too. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wllfvqxVEN4GxOlrzqmz3Q5TjQM2a94E6ytmetFVcwDmNdyLchYm44LX40QBdPFHBSopNgQJ1P9nne0QeIRLF55MYezmux3u3Qra1fJAbDIbzsNqKEbg_zSPh0cPyrwQstw7ew/s1600/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-02-56.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wllfvqxVEN4GxOlrzqmz3Q5TjQM2a94E6ytmetFVcwDmNdyLchYm44LX40QBdPFHBSopNgQJ1P9nne0QeIRLF55MYezmux3u3Qra1fJAbDIbzsNqKEbg_zSPh0cPyrwQstw7ew/s400/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-02-56.png" width="225" /></a>Celebrities make millions of dollars, and lord it over regular people like us. While we (and I in particular) frequently rail against the billionaires who now run the country officially and previously and soon will run it unofficially when they return to their day jobs, it's important to remember that 'celebrities,' about whom there is little to <i>celebrate</i>, as they contribute nothing to life in any meaningful way, also have millions upon millions of dollars which they use selfishly.<br />
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And do not tell me that "celebrities" donate millions of dollars; a famous person who has $100,000,000 and donates $1,000,000 of that has donated 1% of his or her wealth, which is a <i>miniscule </i>amount, especially considering that the person would be left with $99,000,000, which is more money than any one person can spend in a lifetime and more than any one person should be allowed to have. If you make $100,000 per year and donate $1,000 of your money to charity, you've made the same <i>percentage</i> donation, but have hurt yourself worse than the celeb who donates 1%, because you are left with only $99,000 and must go on working and earning money to continue to live; a 'celebrity' who is left with "only" $99,000,000 need never lift a finger again, literally. <br />
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"Celebrities" make it worse when they use their star power to demand money from us not just for entertainment, but for charity, rather than simply contributing their own money and shutting up about it. If you call in to a charity and donate $100 because Seth Myers asked you to, do you get a raise at work and more attention from your boss? Likely not. But because the 'celebrity' was on TV, people will buy their album or watch their movie or whatever. So shut up about celebrity charity work, too.<br />
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This whole rant was set off by Captain Hammer's self-satisfied smug Instagram post there. I saw that just before I left for work this morning, and it enraged me. I love to travel. I <i>love</i> it. It is one of my favorite things to do. I don't get much of a chance to travel, though, as I had to point out to Captain Hammer in my responses:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihae_9Q4DhYZOYmHTqNpdtOOCRZMNO35s5NPCX603ndR_Q_7vsUKsxEoLgdIikk4CTzCBYUY4P0tERri-cIZHSHGgD2byhEwn7ZcuyXVRR2Z7clh4ZC5sX9tUbEOaH00_X362vaQ/s1600/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-07-10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihae_9Q4DhYZOYmHTqNpdtOOCRZMNO35s5NPCX603ndR_Q_7vsUKsxEoLgdIikk4CTzCBYUY4P0tERri-cIZHSHGgD2byhEwn7ZcuyXVRR2Z7clh4ZC5sX9tUbEOaH00_X362vaQ/s640/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-07-10.png" width="360" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMg-vxcxEHSFTl3KKIIk5lo308-4k4gBQLx8yd7KwUX38HL1XP3LRAqt4aoq8IJE3VHacYq-P7jK-xxv0hHteMY2GGdZk5XzCmeHqmIUpLVxl2g9UJPqvqTTUtTgl1WmCqhRWcRQ/s1600/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-07-15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMg-vxcxEHSFTl3KKIIk5lo308-4k4gBQLx8yd7KwUX38HL1XP3LRAqt4aoq8IJE3VHacYq-P7jK-xxv0hHteMY2GGdZk5XzCmeHqmIUpLVxl2g9UJPqvqTTUtTgl1WmCqhRWcRQ/s640/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-07-15.png" width="360" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaPtiGUFx6aHMZTxlphHTYhhPrC_3Wvw5SUU1yuctAZ9RW9tJbe2N9dDdLbnBlphsvrbi2KtVXpf53JlyaKOpId-iZhazT3MNa0I654OBa2zKB4uGBlyxvhhQFcG6FrwLNfZaTA/s1600/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-07-27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaPtiGUFx6aHMZTxlphHTYhhPrC_3Wvw5SUU1yuctAZ9RW9tJbe2N9dDdLbnBlphsvrbi2KtVXpf53JlyaKOpId-iZhazT3MNa0I654OBa2zKB4uGBlyxvhhQFcG6FrwLNfZaTA/s640/Screenshot_2017-10-18-08-07-27.png" width="360" /></a></div>
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I'd post more, but it's 8:20 a.m. and I have on my agenda today an appeal in a foreclosure case and then working to keep a client from being evicted from her house. After that I will probably work a bit on helping people whose cars were repossessed or whose kids were bullied at school, until I go home tonight to see if Mr F will sleep through the night at all, as he's not sleeping again -- hasn't slept well 6 of the last 7 days and slept only about 2 hours last night -- and we don't know why. </div>
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But yeah after that I'll probably contact my travel agent and use some of the millions of bucks I earned pretending to be a space captain so that I can go jet around the world and crap all over people who work for a living.</div>
<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-86113372113630353672017-10-15T02:03:00.001-12:002017-10-15T02:03:30.427-12:00The girl who exists<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSK71F4Pxk_wXtbqiSStJkvhCzUnkbjIcNgoehfwlyi2WFJ-1fEaenfQAWILbdRCtBhJY2nfHw1xIbnt9wvAwoMMR5tHq3HhbXd6OTP6Rw43U4hpCXtZ3KEaygL4Xtl61ZdZIGLg/s1600/the+girl+who+exists.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSK71F4Pxk_wXtbqiSStJkvhCzUnkbjIcNgoehfwlyi2WFJ-1fEaenfQAWILbdRCtBhJY2nfHw1xIbnt9wvAwoMMR5tHq3HhbXd6OTP6Rw43U4hpCXtZ3KEaygL4Xtl61ZdZIGLg/s640/the+girl+who+exists.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE97wevmB-c1fygaKN6c-Ua1xBBt6sFgj_dvp3_ij4p2UZr7rqa_yI0mjpGq9v6PTmV5QgtvWCC9OcDquWcBmwCgcKBpvxYoFElUkW91p9I97l9Fr59qTzlf7OaycPIAYu6rAttg/s1600/the+girl+who+exists+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE97wevmB-c1fygaKN6c-Ua1xBBt6sFgj_dvp3_ij4p2UZr7rqa_yI0mjpGq9v6PTmV5QgtvWCC9OcDquWcBmwCgcKBpvxYoFElUkW91p9I97l9Fr59qTzlf7OaycPIAYu6rAttg/s640/the+girl+who+exists+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh894eCDV2mtKrff2kzPBM6TqNoTaGOTL90W1ZfqmrajhCsS_Z4VqfxBjh7V-h4EnRM-73sBuDOhL1NcR9vFYwfma9bmu1qR98_w-qy83cy1lN2c8ZnIgCgHaoR8eHzE6iWtZ4dZg/s1600/the+girl+who+exists+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh894eCDV2mtKrff2kzPBM6TqNoTaGOTL90W1ZfqmrajhCsS_Z4VqfxBjh7V-h4EnRM-73sBuDOhL1NcR9vFYwfma9bmu1qR98_w-qy83cy1lN2c8ZnIgCgHaoR8eHzE6iWtZ4dZg/s640/the+girl+who+exists+3.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-84964094310996302242017-10-09T12:14:00.001-12:002017-10-09T12:14:48.711-12:00"Escape From The T. Rex!" Mr Bunches invented a game! It's called "Escape From The T. Rex." He designed it, and I drew it to his specifications. Here are the game pieces:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJiQ0yvv-iiIaiZYSwu3XA_Zcqcej8a4tLm1l7dMFvWfqOBil-o9nqiBYcFp7a6QZICrYjXsI0OMhzGLrgyuMDK7co7jjizJve2qoQ1NEFo9rf9FMaGfDyjT08AR92Px4h2nBTQ/s1600/20171009_190539_Film3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJiQ0yvv-iiIaiZYSwu3XA_Zcqcej8a4tLm1l7dMFvWfqOBil-o9nqiBYcFp7a6QZICrYjXsI0OMhzGLrgyuMDK7co7jjizJve2qoQ1NEFo9rf9FMaGfDyjT08AR92Px4h2nBTQ/s640/20171009_190539_Film3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Each player is a jungle explorer, and has to make their way along the treacherous path from Start to Finish:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xgpsYbu3PUJOnx28yrJ3CZlACrnByNRePYHsjT2uTxBLJ_Z5TY9YggtJMpH8oaYsTYWvQfq86psg5hb2VJwPU9yxqR9ergHJV8pOdVVTtQxhPdg9s2ol7mm0rpS-ajWP9tspGA/s1600/20171009_190618_Film3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xgpsYbu3PUJOnx28yrJ3CZlACrnByNRePYHsjT2uTxBLJ_Z5TY9YggtJMpH8oaYsTYWvQfq86psg5hb2VJwPU9yxqR9ergHJV8pOdVVTtQxhPdg9s2ol7mm0rpS-ajWP9tspGA/s640/20171009_190618_Film3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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You roll a die to move, but Mr Bunches decides how many steps to take in between the marked spaces. This is intentional: Mr Bunches hates to lose (he is always the red explorer) so by <i>not </i>marking spaces on all the boards, he can decide (as he did tonight, for example) that if you roll a six and are pretty close behind him you move <i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6 tiny little spaces</span> </i>so you stay behind him.<br />
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There is, of course, a T. Rex:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HWpZXHNwfyMhDCJwSbPEc4EpyCiOGE0mmaDf0K7FNOtzdmgWzOL1F9Rq6kA5roYW2cE5XMKsHVOnDzKjRUK0MGYRCn1hX8CB9-6pp4yuhqde_-BczA919G6DR7mwTuR6b_oDDQ/s1600/20171009_190646_Film3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HWpZXHNwfyMhDCJwSbPEc4EpyCiOGE0mmaDf0K7FNOtzdmgWzOL1F9Rq6kA5roYW2cE5XMKsHVOnDzKjRUK0MGYRCn1hX8CB9-6pp4yuhqde_-BczA919G6DR7mwTuR6b_oDDQ/s640/20171009_190646_Film3.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scientifically accurate</td></tr>
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But the T. Rex only comes into play if you land on that space, in the middle of the board, labeled "Eaten By The T. Rex!"<br />
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If THAT happens, your piece is replaced with one of the pieces indicating that his head has been bitten off:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF-8-oPCV6RGvZV-npLqaoBdNU5-w7E966zZqPLklB3uXPQ-Z7DRSQEewHuM5CSTxC1dwYpGWnOfxvcA7sldh-Liv0_0DSg3_tnjwi6B4qTYvmK7V8jB3ErLyfeb940SkRAipgQ/s1600/20171009_190606_Film3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF-8-oPCV6RGvZV-npLqaoBdNU5-w7E966zZqPLklB3uXPQ-Z7DRSQEewHuM5CSTxC1dwYpGWnOfxvcA7sldh-Liv0_0DSg3_tnjwi6B4qTYvmK7V8jB3ErLyfeb940SkRAipgQ/s640/20171009_190606_Film3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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and you are either out of the game, or returned to start, or -- in one strange quirk tonight -- turned into an angel and then by magic your head is back. (That happened to my piece, I think because I looked sad at being out of the game.)<br />
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If a person makes it all the way to Finish, then you have escaped the T. Rex and also beaten it so that it turns into a fossil:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkw0jrajM3wbEZXr0_i9MoSUA_O4grzrYj94_nQCQFnzLsfXxDSny4CurvfdFzLpAmKvYSzpd160cyOJbMG8Y5NZctXrsQLmUOEyDuZ_q4y9v82XIVuszZjHtxJrcV0aI22wCHQ/s1600/20171009_190652_Film3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkw0jrajM3wbEZXr0_i9MoSUA_O4grzrYj94_nQCQFnzLsfXxDSny4CurvfdFzLpAmKvYSzpd160cyOJbMG8Y5NZctXrsQLmUOEyDuZ_q4y9v82XIVuszZjHtxJrcV0aI22wCHQ/s640/20171009_190652_Film3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty sure that's EXACTLY how fossils are made. </td></tr>
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It is a VERY exciting game that combines the best of science, board games, and the thrill of Escaping From A T. Rex!Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-29567248151864325492017-09-25T11:38:00.000-12:002017-09-25T11:38:23.738-12:00I think a cool thing to do would be to spend an entire day using ONLY Star Wars quotes.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ashtonsolutions.com/images/easyblog_shared/May_2015/5-4-15/targeting_computer_in_blog_4.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="500" height="170" src="https://www.ashtonsolutions.com/images/easyblog_shared/May_2015/5-4-15/targeting_computer_in_blog_4.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boom goes the dynamite</td></tr>
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"... Only <i>you </i>can see then, Martin. You want to know why?"<br />
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"This is bullshit," Martin said.<br />
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"You've got the sight," Harrison said. "The third eye. The sixth sense."<br />
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"I don't see dead people," Martin said.<br />
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"No, you see worse. I've met people like you before. You have a talent. You don't need a gadget to make it work."<br />
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"Is there where you tell me to put away the targeting computer?"<br />
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-- <u style="font-style: italic;">We Are All Completely Fine</u>, Daryl Gregory.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-68047534201979709002017-09-24T00:52:00.000-12:002017-09-24T00:52:01.922-12:00But with new Loquinex (TM) you can be free of all that (i had this moment)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-86727835232892790752017-09-14T07:35:00.000-12:002017-09-14T07:35:02.860-12:00Bear Comics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-86282354340992408762017-09-08T03:05:00.001-12:002017-09-08T03:05:12.723-12:00The Boys etc etc August!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Miniature golfing:</div>
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Swimming at the "Dolphin Pool" (So named for its dolphin-water fountain)</div>
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At Zipline Park. </div>
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On our way to the Dolphins' Cove waterpark for Mr Bunches' early birthday present. No pictures from the waterpark, for non-waterproof-camera-related reasons. </div>
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Babysitting Mr F's and Mr Bunches' nephew (my grandson) and taking him to the nature trail...</div>
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Mr F & Grandson at the splash park:</div>
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Swinging on the last weekend of summer...</div>
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Bonus Summer Day: Actually September 1, but I took the day off and we went bowling: </div>
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Mr F has a "Green Machine," a Big Wheel for older kids, but it had already been delivered to the school by the weekend of September 2 (he uses it for phy-ed), so he was relegated to old school Big Wheels when playing outside: </div>
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-90602301559342189752017-09-07T01:31:00.000-12:002017-09-07T01:31:07.094-12:00The boys are tenty-one, part two: pics from July<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sweetie and I agreed summer seemed less full of activities this year -- me busier with a new job and having fewer days off helped that. But we packed a lot in.</div>
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Stewart Lake, </div>
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This is our nature walk to the natural springs and then the big hill we call "the mountain." We got to the springs, but this impending thunderstorm called off the hike up the mountain:</div>
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Free day at the Milwaukee Public Museum: Mr Bunches in the butterfly room</div>
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Us in the European village. </div>
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Mr F in front of the Native Americans hunting buffalo display. Clearly excited by it!</div>
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We only stayed about 1 hour at the museum. It was supercrowded and Mr Bunches was made nervous by the dinosaur display where the dinosaurs seem VERY real and there are thunder noises in the background.<br />
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Swimming, then swinging at the beach down the street from us.</div>
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This was when we went to go wading up the river, right at the start. Mr F slipped and cut his ankle, and while it wasn't bad I didn't want it to get infected so we cut the trip short. Then weather kept us from ever finishing the trip, one of three traditional summer activities we had to skip that we'd done every year up to this one. </div>
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The Vilas Zoo in Madison. Free, so we go all the time. </div>
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Sad story alert! This is a splash park where Oldest Daughter brought her son (my grandson) and I took the boys. While Mr F and the grandson had a great time, Mr Bunches kept coming over and telling us that there were "troublemakers" squirting him (as shown below). We both thought he was just having fun and saying they were troublemakers because of the squirting, which, you know, <i>splash park</i>. We learned <i>after we left</i> that it had really bothered him, that he wanted to play with the horse squirters but was trying to get the kids to stop squirting <i>him</i>, and that in fact he wanted our help. I felt guilty for days.<br />
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I took him back to the splash park a month later, and he was worried about the troublemakers being there again. So I stuck by him and when a kid tried to squirt him, I explained to the kid that he did not want to be squirted, and Mr Bunches finally had a good time there.<br />
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This is what happens when you swim several days in a row...</div>
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Mr F finished off July lounging in our lower level, where my home office used to be but now it's becoming a playroom again.<br />
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-32408198773717187132017-09-06T00:23:00.001-12:002017-09-06T00:23:38.670-12:00The Boys are Tenty-OneThe boys turned 11 yesterday, but I ran out of time to post photos of them. In lieu of the yearly roundup of past pictures of them, I'm going to post a bunch of stuff we did this summer. Today is from June:<br />
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Graduation from fourth grade. As 5th graders, they now go to a new building with fifth through eighth graders.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clearly impressed by his achievements.</td></tr>
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Trip to the beach with their nephew. It was the windiest day I've ever seen, but Bucket Helmet (Patent Pending) was an unrelated fashion choice.<br />
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Early in the summer, Mr F didn't want to go in the water when we went swimming. So we compromised...<br />
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Dad teaches hygiene, Mr Bunches fights back using The Power Of Notes (Patent Pending)</div>
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"Cops & Bobbers": free fishing poles for the kids at the park where Sweetie and I had our wedding reception years ago. Mr Bunches caught TWO fish.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKi0Rqqn5wU7zGP_geHrYsphVKjTqORFB37E7lCDZ9gWSPVX814-2p4Znu7dfaKeLMpiFzEjfVluz84Rt_Xu9sHVJXxuL6UL22UrBKHCT0H-c8KlYW37BaUvkyCBdwACchmvOJnw/s1600/20170617_083906_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="901" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKi0Rqqn5wU7zGP_geHrYsphVKjTqORFB37E7lCDZ9gWSPVX814-2p4Znu7dfaKeLMpiFzEjfVluz84Rt_Xu9sHVJXxuL6UL22UrBKHCT0H-c8KlYW37BaUvkyCBdwACchmvOJnw/s640/20170617_083906_HDR.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Of course without DNA testing we can't say whether<br />that's a different fish or just the same, really really<br />gullible, fish.</td></tr>
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Most Sundays I go into work for a few hours in the morning. The boys come with me, and then we go do something fun. Here's Mr Bunches playing with the Dollar Store Robots by my fish tank. Oh, yeah, we got goldfish for the office. Mr Bunches named them: the boy is "Sam Alex," and the girl is "Rose Alice."<br />
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I am the only lawyer in my office with a working catapult and an easy chair. BOTH ARE NECESSARY.</div>
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"Krafty Kids" at the library. Mr F was making an ocean necklace.</div>
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On weekend nights, Mr F's nightly ride is the "Capital Route," which takes us down by the Capitol, through the UW campus, and home along the lakeshore. One night, we got this scene:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaM6Hxi5ve977BPNxFtOmSwdsPh2hb2ZvIM4bEOqKYxNI6gxUGZW-vDlJBT98mA4he2awS-vv4dWgO0KbJVc66ErQw3lSFG6mWUK3cKBO5CnnUUtmyQkkGaq4hEGvzWF3AyNjQdw/s1600/20170624_200313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaM6Hxi5ve977BPNxFtOmSwdsPh2hb2ZvIM4bEOqKYxNI6gxUGZW-vDlJBT98mA4he2awS-vv4dWgO0KbJVc66ErQw3lSFG6mWUK3cKBO5CnnUUtmyQkkGaq4hEGvzWF3AyNjQdw/s640/20170624_200313.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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"Tall Park." Guess why we call it that?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgIOveg8CcqsQ3J9mIGH_e_ZvyGoL6NKn8Naos99ZcCyiV7hM3_mOz51bAW5BBoej4Aq18he49zKDaS0g-zFACk-EvYQ7WwWQ8nLubJtdsNNx75NtYHDtO6CMeOFpXC9uKeiQOw/s1600/20170625_114918_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgIOveg8CcqsQ3J9mIGH_e_ZvyGoL6NKn8Naos99ZcCyiV7hM3_mOz51bAW5BBoej4Aq18he49zKDaS0g-zFACk-EvYQ7WwWQ8nLubJtdsNNx75NtYHDtO6CMeOFpXC9uKeiQOw/s640/20170625_114918_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Swinging at the park around the corner from our house.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUrL2iYbIJi74afdnWfgt-JKzippaOIM2doPt28c3MruoXHRTn0mIZqTXasDrJRBXsgplj8KeeQGLZiuHOJVHMslEvZk6ZVI-efhEOUQi8Q6D4prsRPIp4WUeBEDf-VkKsR7MTg/s1600/20170625_162935_Film8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUrL2iYbIJi74afdnWfgt-JKzippaOIM2doPt28c3MruoXHRTn0mIZqTXasDrJRBXsgplj8KeeQGLZiuHOJVHMslEvZk6ZVI-efhEOUQi8Q6D4prsRPIp4WUeBEDf-VkKsR7MTg/s640/20170625_162935_Film8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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"Little Park On The Mountain." I don't know why he was posing this way...</div>
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But it reminded me of something...<br />
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<a href="http://ll-c.ooyala.com/e1/I4Y2NxYjE6vEdGqSfWwZ2BLJRhK61b3B/promo324702291" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ll-c.ooyala.com/e1/I4Y2NxYjE6vEdGqSfWwZ2BLJRhK61b3B/promo324702291" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-64346524083684683752017-09-04T02:21:00.003-12:002017-09-04T02:21:45.369-12:00Trumpocalypse: Hurricane Kirstjen has hopefully learned how to read her email. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On the website Above The Law a columnist recently said there should be a website where you could go look up the (lack of) credentials of any Trump Administration appointee. We all know that I will never muster up the efficiency to do that, especially given that most of them <a href="https://thinkingthelions.blogspot.com/2017/08/hey-why-were-all-these-ceos-willing-to.html">leave before their crimes are discovered, as Carl Icahn did after using his post to make a cool half-billion bucks</a>.<br />
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But it's Labor Day morning and I'm in the office to do some work after being out all of last week for a trial, and I'm not really ready to look at a hundred zillion emails yet, so I'll at least get a start on it. So I went to the second-to-top post at the Executive Office of the President, as a start. The highest-up post is White House Chief Of Staff; we all know that's that Kelly guy for now until he gets fired. DEPUTY WH Chief of Staff is <a href="https://cchs.gwu.edu/kirstjen-nielsen">Kirstjen Nielsen</a>. Do you know her? You don't.<br />
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Together with the White House counsel, the press secretary, and a few others, the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff set the president's appointments and schedule. They serve an average of 18 months (not by law, by choice; only one has lasted a full term) and frequently use the post as a springboard to other appointments or positions in government. Obama's Jack Lew, for example, went on to become Secretary of the Treasury, back when Treasury was headed by someone <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/us/politics/mnuchin-louise-linton-treasury-instagram.html?mcubz=0">other than a criminal billionaire whose wife mocks the poor on Instagram.</a><br />
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Kirstjen Nielsen would like to be known as an expert in "homeland security," and although I've been beating this drum for 16 years I'm going to say again how much the word "homeland" creeps me out. When Worst President Ever created the Department of Homeland Security I thought it sounded Nazi-ish. Turns out I was right. But Nielsen's expertise in securing the homeland does not, apparently, extend to natural disasters. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/08/25/kirstjen-nielsen-dhs/">T</a><a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/08/25/kirstjen-nielsen-dhs/">wo Congressional reports said she was one of the Bush Administration's officials who dropped the ball on Katrina</a>. (Ironic that she was named to her post as Harvey hit land.) Nielsen was said to have received a series of warnings via email about Katrina's impending severity, yet the White House never acted on them. Nielsen was fired in April, 2007 by Bush. Imagine being fired by the Worst President Ever (like the NFL Hall of Fame, people currently on the job are not eligible for this award).<br />
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What Nielsen really is is a lobbyist for tech and aerospace industries. Her bio also says she is "general counsel" for "Civitas Group LLC," a position that helped her <a href="http://www.securitymagazine.com/media/photos/14-the-most-influential-people-in-security-2016">be one of "The Most Influential People in Security 2016". </a> (Her bio for that award mentions her role in the Bush Administration as being "crisis manager for major events and emergencies." Hey, it didn't say she was a <i>good</i> crisis manager!)<br />
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Nielsen also lists herself on Twitter as the "President" of "Sunesis Consulting." Sunesis' specialty is helping companies comply with "Sarbanes-Oxley." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes%E2%80%93Oxley_Act">That's the law the Bush administration passed in the wake of Enron and other scandals</a>. I bet with all the attention being given to the economic collapse of 2008, you entirely forgot about its little brother, the collapse of eleven major companies in 2002 due to the fact that they were (to use a technical term) "criminally fraudulent enterprises that cooked the books to ensure profits for the head CEOs." Bush called the law (which [passed the Senate 99-1)<br />
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<i><br />"the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The era of low standards and false profits is over; no boardroom in America is above or beyond the law."</i></blockquote>
What do you want to bet that just as Carl Icahn broke the law in trying to get cap-and-trade changed so he could make <i>more</i> than just $500,000,000, we will see the Trump administration start to roll back boardroom regulations that were put in place by the previous Republican administration?<br />
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Don't place that bet yet: In March Trump ordered that the Treasury Secretary review regulations including Sarbanes-Oxley specifically. Now would be a good time to pull your money out of the stock market.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-1490858801789913352017-09-01T10:51:00.000-12:002017-09-01T10:51:12.361-12:00I had this moment...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-64897704231824842592017-08-28T14:00:00.002-12:002017-08-28T14:00:54.173-12:0010 Minutes About "The Illustrated Man"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81peIaflGgL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="477" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81peIaflGgL.jpg" width="190" /></a></div>
I first read <i>The Illustrated Man </i>when I was maybe 12, and my Uncle Steve loaned it to me. I had the feeling that the book was taboo, and wasn't sure that my uncle (who was about 20 years older than me) should have loaned it to me.<br />
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That concern was doubled by the actual book, which at 12 <i>freaked me out</i>. Those stories were so scary that they stuck in my head for years and years and years: madmen on Venus and puppets locking people in boxes and stuff like that.<br />
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I think I re-read the book again maybe in college, but I can't really remember. Now I'm listening to it on audio, and it's been, so far, somewhat of a letdown.<br />
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It was written in 1951, and like a lot of scifi written in the 1950s and into the 1960s, it has a completely different tone, if tone is the right word. A lot of the stories I've read from back then -- from Theodore Sturgeon, Bradbury, and even Phillip K. Dick -- are hamhanded, with rather obvious, <i>Twilight-Zonish</i> twists.<br />
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So far, I've gotten through the first 4 1/2 stories. Of them, only two stand up so far.<i>The Veldt</i> is okay: a straightforward, somewhat predictable but still creepy story of two little spoiled kids in a rich family who have a room that's basically a holodeck from <i>Star Trek; </i>they program it to be set on Africa, with lions, with rather predictable results. That's not much of a spoiler; you can see the ending coming from about ten million miles away but it's done well.<br />
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<i>Kaleidoscope</i> still manages to be excellent, although less creepy to 48-year-old me than 12-year-old me; it's the story of a bunch of guys whose rocket blows up, and they all drift off in separate ways into space, talking over their radios about what it all means to them. It's sad and amazing and even with a hokey ending still a great story.<br />
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But <i>The Other Foot</i>, about what happens when the first white man lands on Mars after it was colonized 20 years earlier by blacks, is drivelish "Magical Negro" type of writing, essentially wish-fulfillment for white people who would like to think that black people might forget about all the ill treatment and just shake hands. And <i>The Highway</i>, about a man who lives by a highway and sees a bunch of people fleeing the "atom war" that has ended the world, just feels pointless.<br />
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There are still fourteen stories left; tonight I left off halfway through <i>The Man</i>, about astronauts landing on another planet where, apparently, Jesus has just come and gone. It's not very good either but I've got hopes for the next 2/3 of the book that it will live up to what I remembered.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-76453594691693474322017-08-26T02:11:00.000-12:002017-08-26T02:19:29.364-12:00GIT R DONE: Why throwing more money at cops won't help. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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Madison journalist wonders why cops dont arrest people before they commit crimes: <a href="https://t.co/gSxe0WoFhZ">https://t.co/gSxe0WoFhZ</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisRickertWSJ">@ChrisRickertWSJ</a></div>
— BrianePagel (@BrianePagel) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianePagel/status/901421736687788032">August 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>There was recently a spate of shootings and related retaliatory violence in Madison, Wisconsin, where that sort of thing isn't supposed to happen.<br />
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This morning, <a href="http://host.madison.com/news/local/columnists/chris-rickert/article_9996c8d0-05b7-5b20-bced-c8aa6661db1f.html">Chris Rickert, a columnist for whatever is left of the local media, posted an editorial which has some remarkably backward thinking in it. </a> The gist of Rickert's editorial (that link leads to the whole thing) appears to be that long-term action is useless and we should devolve to a police state because that GITS THINGS DONE.<br />
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Seriously: The piece's title is "Madison do-gooders haggled over shootings police stopped." It begins "provocatively":<br />
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Madison’s mayor and City Council spent valuable time this spring and summer feuding among themselves and with local activists over how to respond, ahem, quickly to a rash of shootings.<br />
Madison Police Chief Mike Koval on Aug. 9 announced plans to round up those suspected in the violence and two weeks later announced that the shootings had largely stopped...</blockquote>
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Wait for it...<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "yrsa" , serif; font-size: 20px;">— at least for now.</span></blockquote>
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The best problem solving is always temporary! Rickert went on to ask why the cops hadn't just arrested the bad guys BEFORE they committed the shootings, and when I questioned Rickert's commitment to creating a pre-crimes unit at the MPD he suggested the police already had warrants for the future-shooters and could've just picked them up.<br />
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Rickert's piece plays up the notion that all we have to do is GIT THINGS DONE by throwing more money at the cops. He talks about how all the money already thrown at social programs aimed at ending violence haven't stopped ALL THIS VIOLENCE and whether it's worth it to try again. This is the same fatalist debate that people use to argue guns ought not be outlawed: <i>people will still HAVE guns won't they? Can't turn back the tide might's well just let people do what they want.</i><br />
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The argument that something has not worked at 100% capacity is a false argument. First of all, my computer crashes about 10 times a week. According to Rickert's philosophy, since all previous fixes have not corrected the problem permanently, I should go back to an abacus. Secondly, NO law or social program is 100% effective. Kids fail school. Murders happen even though murder has been illegal since Moses broke the tablets. The internet hasn't yet killed local newspapers. So just because social programs haven't ended all violence is not a reason to simply say "well they failed SADDLE UP BOYS WE'RE FORMIN' A POSSE."<br />
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Rickert talks about how the cops don't have the resources to track down the 8000 outstanding warrants MPD has, and finishes his piece with this <i>bon mot</i>:<br />
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[The chief] doesn’t think the shootings have stopped for good. But given how much police have been able to accomplish in a few weeks of targeted effort and overtime, it’s hard not to wonder whether violence could become less prevalent if the mayor and City Council were slightly more receptive to Koval’s calls for more resources.</blockquote>
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The well-intentioned social progressives who run Madison don’t like to consider it, but there may just be some hardened criminals who can’t be reformed by anything paid for by government or carried out by Madison do-gooders.</blockquote>
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None of which is to say the do-gooders shouldn’t keep trying.<br />
But if all the trying fails, it’s nice to know something as simple as more policing hasn’t.</blockquote>
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So piece that out: we need only "slightly" more resources -- in an unknown amount -- thrown at the police to achieve... what? Rickert's piece admits the police DO NOT THINK THE SHOOTINGS HAVE STOPPED. That undermines Rickert's whole thesis: quick action achieved a temporary lull at best and maybe achieved nothing at all.<br />
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More importantly, it is not a matter of SLIGHT increases in resources. Give the police 8,000 more men, say, one for each of those warrants. Those guys go out and arrest EIGHT THOUSAND people in the Madison area.<br />
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<a href="https://danesheriff.com/documents/pdf/2015_Annual_Report.pdf">The Dane County Jail, where MPD keeps criminals awaiting charging who have not been released, has 341 beds and 24 segregation cells.</a> Maybe we could just put 25 guys in each bed. Or, if we still consider human rights, what would happen is at least 7,659 arrestees would be IMMEDIATELY released back out on the streets on some form of bail or signature bond. At least that would give the 8,000 new cops something to do: they could monitor them! And arrest them and release them again if something new happens! Catch And Release as law enforcement.<br />
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Once those 8000 guys are booked, they will have to be arraigned. Dane County has 17 judges and about 8 court commissioners who can do initial hearings and other LEGALLY REQUIRED steps in prosecuting cases. One Dane County judge recently commented -- ON THE RECORD -- about how more and more accused were demanding speedy trials (it's only a constitutional right, after all) and that was placing a burden on the court system.<br />
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Those 8000 guys will need lawyers. Most criminal defendants get public defenders. In Wisconsin, the public defender system is <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=korematsu_center">so overburdened it led to the Seattle University of Law releasing a study in which it described Wisconsin's system as "Justice Shortchanged."</a> Public defenders in Wisconsin are paid $40 per hour by the state. Average overhead per hour for a lawyer in Wisconsin is just over $41, so assigned counsel public defenders barely make ends meet. I won't go into what that means because I don't want to demean the GOOD lawyers who do that work. But there simply aren't the resources to dump 8000 new cases onto public defenders and private lawyers willing to do pro bono or extremely cheap work.<br />
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But maybe you're one of those people who doesn't think the criminals deserve lawyers and all that liberal do-gooder nonsense. Even for you, there's problems: Wisconsin's <i>prosecutors</i> are overburdened and underpaid. In 2016 <a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/investigations/2016/10/14/da-shortage-public-safety-crisis/92004016/">a study said Wisconsin needs at least 140 more prosecutors -- about 2 per county.</a> District attorneys described what they do as "a public safety crisis" and "essentially malpractice."<br />
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Hey, guys -- here's 8000 MORE CASES to prosecute. Have fun!<br />
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This "crisis" it should be noted is almost ENTIRELY the fault of the Republican party. While Wisconsin's criminal justice system and law enforcement was already in trouble in 2008, the GOP has controlled Wisconsin since 2010 and it was in 2016 and 2017 that the nation began to notice just how truly bad Wisconsin's justice system is. So much for law and order, right? Republicans talk a good game but don't back it up.<br />
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It's easy to write up six quick paragraphs about how we need to GIT THINGS DONE. It's a lot harder to actually try to understand the systemic problems that lead to an 8000-warrant backlog, and even harder to understand the failure of a nation to even TRY seriously to undo the terrible educational, social welfare, and medical 'systems' we have allowed to develop. We do a terrible job of helping people get educated, find work, take care of their children, get medical care, stay off drugs, and generally be good people. Anyone wanting to fix any of those systems runs into billion-dollar opposition from the Republican party, and gets no help from a Democratic party that has given up and exists solely to promote the good of a few people within it.<br />
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All of THOSE problems are worsened by editorials which make no effort to investigate the facts or understand the problems, but instead just blithely suggest that if we were willing to just pay the cops a bit more everything would be all right. People read those things, and believe them, and it makes it harder to fix things. It is a failure of the media to publish that kind of drivel.Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-49855199652090918982017-08-25T00:39:00.001-12:002017-08-25T00:39:32.936-12:00It began with just wanting to find one book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A while back I started trying to find a copy of the book <i>Master Of The Five Magics</i>, a book I read long ago and wanted to re-read again as part of my 100-Book-Year to see if it held up the way I thought it might.<br />
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Only the book wasn't available (at the time) as an e-book, and they didn't even have a paper copy of it at the library. So I decided I would try to find it at a used bookstore, because why not? I mean sure I could have gone on Amazon and ordered it and had it in 5-8 days, but that didn't appeal to me.<br />
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So with that I began occasionally stopping at the used bookstores in town and seeing if they had a copy. They didn't, but they had many <i>other</i> paperback books I'd read once before. I no longer had hardly any of my books; I'd sold many of them to the bookstore years ago when ebooks first became a thing.<br />
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But as I walked around the store trying to find a copy of the book <i>Master Of The Five Magics</i> I decided that I <i>liked</i> the way paper books looked, and I began missing my old collection of paperback scifi and fantasy books (and some other favorites), so I decided that if I had a chance I'd pick up some of my other old favorites, too, and re-stock my collection; not necessarily to <i>read</i> but because I liked them, liked having them around and the way they looked. They were nostalgic and interesting and fun.<br />
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With that, I sort of gradually slid into just plain book <i>collecting</i>, and that's where I realized I was the day I was in a used bookstore and came across some old E E Smith scifi books that they were selling for just a buck each. E E Smith is one of the early scifi writers (I once read most of his <i>Lensmen</i> series after hearing it might have been an inspiration for Green Lantern, my favorite superhero). So I bought the books. I'm not particularly a fan of Smith, but they were old and collectible books, and I liked <i>them</i>, so I bought 'em.<br />
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That was the tipping point, so now I'm more or less committed to building up a library of books I loved and/or find interesting, particularly focusing on scifi/fantasy paperbacks, with a side of paperback movie novelizations, which I have <i>always</i> loved. As a kid I often liked reading movie novelizations for movies I'd seen, and generally preferred them over the movie.<br />
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That's all the intro to this post, in which I proudly display the three latest books I picked up, during a stop at the library yesterday to return books. They are:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqoCpiRX2ythu4iYQlIxdLNMP-VrHkjjqyTHgt0wU4xKh_aRrl4p1tQflPC4mcJ9nrLwh-GHXqOTrGY3az8UsxHnli732sMhT9E9Ji6UNqQtbeVeQ3EWlW_plKJzl-8RNNNlayg/s1600/20170824_203455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqoCpiRX2ythu4iYQlIxdLNMP-VrHkjjqyTHgt0wU4xKh_aRrl4p1tQflPC4mcJ9nrLwh-GHXqOTrGY3az8UsxHnli732sMhT9E9Ji6UNqQtbeVeQ3EWlW_plKJzl-8RNNNlayg/s640/20170824_203455.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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The first two I got mainly because they were movie novelizations; someday when I own a bookstore/toy rental company/book museum there'll be a whole wing devoted to those. The last one is a book I first saw when the boys and I were spending the day at the Madison library (the big one). We were hanging out on the level where they let you eat snacks, because libraries are cool now, and while the boys were eating I was looking at the display books where the librarians group together books in themes like "Back To School" or "Beans!!!" or something. I'm not sure the grouping that had Willis' book in it, but I was drawn by the cover and the description<br />
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<i><br /></i><i> Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He's been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump. It's part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid over a hundred years earlier.
But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump back to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right--not only to save the project but to prevent altering history itself.
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I put it on my list of books to eventually read, but the problem was that there isn't an electronic version of the book at the library, which means that I can't get it through the library as an ebook, and the volume of books I read is such that I never want to buy them if I don't have to. (I'm still reading about 100 books per year, so it'd be like $500 or more on books per year to read this.) Then I saw it at the library and decided I'd spend all of 50 cents -- the cost for used books at our library sales -- and picked it up.<br />
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So there you go. I'm a book collector, having come full circle from when I eschewed ever reading a paper book again.<br />
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PS I found <i>Master Of The Five Magics</i> about a year into the search, at a bookstore near the home of my elderly uncle, because I now go to bookstores in cities where I have business, too. I re-read it, and it was still a solid book. A bit more basic than I remembered but not a bad read.<br />
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10702621.post-62335035205197209772017-08-22T01:44:00.000-12:002017-08-22T01:44:11.241-12:00The sound of one hand not even clappingThe sound of a glass plate shattering on the kitchen floor can be terrifying...<br />
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but it is nowhere near as bad as the silence of a little boy who has no other way to express strong emotions.<br />
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<br />Brianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com3