One

Just one week remains before we are shed of this house and move into our new one. I am very much conscious of the fact that we are blessed...there are a lot of Americans that are moving, but they are moving out and don't always have a place to go.
What a difference a few years can make. I was born in 1940 and so I missed the Korean War. Then, I joined the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman in 1959; getting out in 1965...just a year before the war in Vietnam exploded and Corpsman began dying daily in the horror of that war. I joined the Carpenters Union after I got out of the Navy, married and we soon had a family of five. Because of the Union, I had a health plan and a pension. I had work. We bought a house. During the first thirteen years I was able to scrape together one week for a family vacation. Other than that, it was almost always continual work. I worked in commercial and high rise construction and was not affected by the sudden 'stop and go' of residential work. I retired in 2004, right at the top of the housing 'bubble' and was able to cash in on all of the years of house buying and moving. My pension exists. Social Security exists...and I paid into it for many years. Medicare exists...something I pay for every month.
But for my children, what future exists for them? And my grandchildren? I have a great-grandson and he's four. What kind of world will he see when he wants to retire?
In a Republican world, he won't know what a pension is and he will have read about Medicare and Social Security in his history books...if the authorities allow them to be mentioned. He will have to take care of his own retirement plans and heaven help him if he makes a mistake and invests in the wrong stock or if the stock market should plunge just as he retires. Too bad. Sorry about that. Healthcare? Once again, that will be up to him to provide for. Remember; in a Republican world it's every man (woman and child) for himself.
Yes, just a year or two can make a big difference in how our lives turn out. It doesn't seem fair, does it? Well, it isn't fair and it is Social Security and Medicare that help to make it less unfair. Through those programs we help each other...it seems like the American thing to do.

Labor -

- From the Edge - September 8, 2011 - Chico News & Review:

Mr. Porter has collected some worthy quotations here...

From TIME GOES BY

TIME GOES BY | The Elder Vote:

If you are a voter under the age of 65, you need to read this. If you are a young voter, a first time voter...you need to read this. Believe it; the Republican Party is determined to reduce or eliminate every single benefit that you have been paying for. They don't care that you have paid into the SSI or Medicare. They are determined to force every middle class citizen into poverty. Believe it. Read it. Then do something about it!

85 Years

We just came back from a long and sad weekend. One of our very best friends had lost his battle with cancer. And it was a battle that lasted twenty years! He was 65 when he was first diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent radiation therapy. That put the cancer into remission for awhile and then, three years later, he lost his wife…a wonderful woman! He moved on, sadly, with his life, though always surrounded by his loving children. Children that we knew and loved when they were toddlers, teenagers and now adults…faced with the death of their father.

  When I first entered the construction trade, he was my first foreman. I learned so much from him! We worked together all around the country, staying for long weeks in motel rooms while we filled our days with hard work. Yes, I certainly knew this man and came to love him. And argue with him! We both loved to argue any point you might want to give us. My wife heard me talking to him on the phone one night and later she asked if I wasn’t afraid I would be fired? Not a chance!

Truth is…it’s hard to find a lot of intellectuals in the construction trades. We valued each other for that because there was very little that we couldn’t discuss…or argue about. Our families would get together on a regular basis and we would sit in his kitchen at the old round table and talk about everything under the sun; our voices rising as the rhetoric became heated. So much fun!

He was of Syrian/Lebanese descent and that same table was always covered with food. Tabbouleh, Kibbeh, Hummus, stuffed grape leaves, olives, cheeses, tomatoes, cucumbers and plenty of flat bread to eat it with. Funny; as soon as you walked in the door, the food would begin to appear, as if by magic.

One thing he taught me early on in our friendship I have valued for ever after and that it was a good thing to hug one another. We didn’t do a lot of that in my family…but in a Middle Eastern family, it was a requirement! And I’ve done it ever since. I remember telling my future son-in-law that he was going to be hugged regularly so he better get used to it! Yes, it really is okay to love another man and to tell him so.

He and his family were longtime members of the Syrian Orthodox church; Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Los Angeles. The Orthodox church is, arguably, the oldest church in the Christian faith. We often accompanied him and family to this church and came to know some of the priests there. (Interesting note; Orthodox priests have to be married if they are to serve a parish. Priests who wish to remain celibate must work in administrative posts) We always found the ancient rituals of the Orthodox faith to be comforting. But…we’re Presbyterians with a love for the Orthodox and we see no problem with that.

Enough…my eyes are tearing up again. I can say that we attended the funeral service and listened to the Litany for the Departed, the priest chanting the old words while shaking the censer, incense and bell sounds softly filling the room. Again, we were comforted. Then it was time for the graveside service and the terrible finality of it all.

Afterwards, we gathered with friends and family for the Mercy Meal at a small Lebanese restaurant where, once again, we ate the same foods we used to enjoy while sitting around that old table, almost fifty years ago.

Almost fifty years ago? I’m afraid I’m feeling a little bit ‘old’ this week. Maybe because there were only four of us at the funeral that were old enough to remember him and his family when we were all young. Even the pall bearers had to be recruited from the generation of his youngest child.

        Okay, I have to snap out of it. I’m only seventy one now and I see years and years ahead of me. 

From Seth's Blog

Back to (the wrong) school:

Well said and oh, so correct...

Life in the slow lane...

We are moving. Everywhere I look I see boxes. I open cupboards and they are empty. Drawers are the same. Why on earth did we pack the ice cream scoop? The garage is getting filled close to overflowing with boxes and tubs. The seller of our new home are on track with his end of the bargain and may be out with a few days to spare so that we can rent those days and start moving early. We need every day we can get. But we have the buyers from hell. They have asked for the impossible and for the ridiculous time after time. Their own agent has cautioned them and yet they persevere. Of course, as sellers in a buyers market, we're stuck and have to try and comply with as many of their ridiculous requests as we can. But, they are 'Cash' buyers...and that is their only redeeming feature.
For myself, this is all a very difficult time. Both before and after my surgeries I have been cautioned to not exert myself in any way. Don't pick up more than 10#'s. Don't do this and don't do that. And so I'm stuck watching while my wife and family does the work that I should be doing. I know...it's a male ego thing and I should just get over it. Consider myself lucky. But with close to 71 years of male conditioning behind me, it's not all that easy.

Talking about it

A little over  a week ago I went to the local hospital for a simple surgery. The surgeon was going to adjust the position of the ‘paddle lead’ in my back so that I could use the Spinal Cord Stimulator Implant. The following is how I remember it… Can you believe it? A week has gone by and five of those days were spent in the hospital. I went in for the simple one hour ‘day’ surgery and after four hours of this surgery it was decided that I should spend the night in the hospital. No problem. Until that evening. I was up and walking around without a problem. I spent some time talking to my daughter, Alicia, just before I went to bed. And it was about half an hour later that the pain began. Real pain. Off the charts pain. The pain was around my hips and I was unable to lie down with my legs straightened out. I had to sleep in a fetal position. I was asking for and receiving pain meds constantly. Finally, they gave me a morphine pump and I could then give the meds to myself as I needed them. And I needed them almost constantly. With every push of the button I got .2 mg of morphine every ten minutes if I wanted it, (and I did) and that was on top of the Percocet I was being given every four hours. Plus Valium every four hours. Guess what? I was not drugged in the least. The pain was still there. All I had to do was to move as if I were going to straighten out and I would scream. Okay, my screaming wasn’t very loud. After all, I’m a guy and we’re not supposed to scream. The next day, the doctors wanted to take a CT scan of my back and hips and I was unable to lie down on the gurney they had sent for me. I tried getting on the gurney twice but ended up taking a wheel chair down to the radiology department, but only after the nurse gave me an injection of morphine, a full 2 mg in the hope that this would be enough to enable me to lay flat for the three minutes required for a scan. It wasn’t. As soon as I tried to lay down on the sliding table for the scan, the pain had me scrambling to get off of that flat surface. Finally, the two tech’s were able to hold up both sides of the sheet I had below me and slid me carefully into position. I lowered my legs slowly while wrapping my arms tightly about my chest to hold back the pain. They slid me in to the machine and the process started. I was in pure agony for the next three minutes and I was shaking after it was over. Naturally, the scan revealed nothing amiss and that left the doctors scratching their heads. Finally, it was decided to do nothing and just let it run its course…if there were a ‘course’ and to give me all the meds I needed for pain. Four days later, I had given up the pump and about half of the other pain meds. It was time to go home. What caused the pain? No one knows for certain but it had to be a result of an insult to some? nerve during the spinal surgery.

Ah, yes! The spinal surgery. The plan was to open my back and then wake me up. While questioning me, the surgical site held open with all sorts of retractors and clamps, they would move the ‘paddle’ lead in the hope of finding a position that would enable a signal to reach my right hip. They did just that and I was soon awake and talking to the surgeon, who I could not see. My vision was limited to the floor directly below me and the feet and knees of the anesthesiologist. The surgeon asked questions and I answered. But all to no avail as I felt nothing happening to my right hip. Finally the surgeon said it was time for me to go back to sleep again as he was sure I didn’t want to be awake while he did the next thing in his ‘bag of tricks’. That ‘trick’ was to remove the paddle lead and place it behind the vertebrae directly below. Unfortunately, for both of us, my body had developed scar tissue of ‘biblical proportions’ all around the paddle and he had to chisel it out. Then he had to chisel out a space for a new paddle in the space below. And since it was a new paddle, he had to make another incision at the site of the transmitter so that he could remove the old lead and connect the new one. (My back has to look simply amazing, with scars everywhere!) Then it was time to wake me up again and ask all of the same questions. All very boring and I answered them all to the best of my ability though I really wanted to go back to sleep. I should mention that I had no pain at all during these times when I was awake. Finally, it was decided that I had done my best and once more I was told ‘Good night!’ by the anesthesiologist and I was out, like a light. When I woke up in the recovery room, I was given all sorts of ‘attaboys’ by the surgeon and nurses for my lucid answers during the surgery. And all were amazed that I remembered it at all. Apparently, most patients don’t remember any part of this procedure. I suppose I did because I was very curious about it. I remember asking the anesthesiologist (jokingly) if it were possible for her to give me something that would allow for an out of body experience so that I might stand behind the surgeon and watch. Unfortunately, even the most advanced of anesthetics don’t allow for such a thing. A shame.

My mind is still not drug free and I don’t know when it will be. I can only hope it will be soon. In the meantime, I continue to take my Percocet, Norco, Dilaudid and Valium as needed but in smaller amounts. A good pill cutter was a small expense and well worth it.

Now I wait for Monday morning when I will meet with the St Jude rep who will turn on the Spinal Cord Stimulator (Again!) and try to program it to hit all the pain spots. I wish I were as optimistic about it as I was a few months ago; before the failure. Now, cynic that I am, I am well prepared for it to fail. And if it does, I’m leaving the hardware in place and will not go through another surgery in one more attempt to make it work. I can and will adjust my life plans to include the pain and the narcotics to ease the pain. Maybe I can find a good recipe for marijuana brownies…

Historical Question for Governor Perry

From Juan Cole and his Informed Comment

C'mon, governor...answer the question! (I know the answer)

The market

Does anyone else - besides me - get the feeling that the recent wild gyrations in the stock market are due the machinations of 'insiders' and money is being made no matter which way the market moves? While our money is lost? Just wondering.

Boats

I subscribe to the quarterly "Wooden Boat Magazine" not because I own a wooden boat - I don't - but I read it for the sense of peace I get when I view the beautiful photos of hand built boats of all ages, sizes and descriptions. Really. I enter a different world when I open this magazine. All the strife and pain goes away as I'm captured by the beauty... and the daydreams. It's easy to see yourself at the helm or the rudder or even with a paddle in your hand.

I'm not posting here because I get something from the publisher - I don't. I'm just posting this because any alternative to the harsh realities of the day might be welcomed. Daydreams are good for the soul!

Boats for Sale - WoodenBoat MarketPlace - Online Classifieds

ps I have a plan to build a boat, my first, with my middle grandson. I have the plans for an 8' long Puddle Duck Racer and once we're moved, I will buy the necessary plywood and glue, the screws and the trim and then we will immerse ourselves in the project. I have it planned for a winter 'build' and then when spring rolls around, we'll be able to hoist the sails!

From Mature Landscaping: Feral

Feral

Worth sending on to your own congressperson...

Watching

I'm watching the news as the market plunges more than 600 points today. And there is only one place for the blame and that is the Republican Party. And because of their arrogance and stupidity, we will not only lose our place in the world's pecking order. All US citizens will lose out as well as all of those things that make up a prosperous society are eliminated...people will die because of this. Not only in this country but all over the globe. This is not just something that will affect our wallets. We will be losing our humanity in the days ahead. I'm so ashamed...

From the Nameless Cynic

Time for an investigation

You really need to read this. Really!

From Daily Kos: Perry's use of faith to launch presidential campaign divides religious leaders

Perry's use of faith to launch presidential campaign divides religious leaders

Is there no end to republican insanity?

The Defense Department

It used to be named the 'War Department'. It was the War Department for hundreds of years. It needs to be renamed the War Department....because that is what they do.

Dissent

Expertise, Dogma, and the Journalism of Crackpot Ideas -

When will these people ever learn? Now, it seems more and more as if we are going to get a chance to see the the republicans try these failed ideas once again. Weren't Reagan and Bush failures enough? Do we really have to do it again?

Why, yes...I am mad

"The United States may have saved its credit rating, but world leaders say its reputation may have faltered."


Gee...you think so? I know our countries reputation has certainly faltered among its citizens! Where was the leadership! Failures! each and every one of them. I hope that now we can see them all for what they really are. Fakes and liars!

Down the river

Here we go again. Another day and definitely not another dollar. Life moves on as if it were a river and I am in that river, but not in the mainstream. No, I am bobbing along in the current near the shore. I get hooked on snags every once in awhile but then I’m free and I sail along with the others once more. Until the next snag. Looking downstream, it appears as if there are quite a few snags so I will have to be careful if I want to continue the trip.

Here it is, the end of July and that means that in just another month I will be seventy one years old. Seventy one. Who knew! Now what’s the average life span for US citizen males? I think it has dropped to seventy eight and it’s still sliding south as our health care system evaporates under the harsh sun of a Republican/Tea Party Congress. Perhaps I should be moving north to Canada instead of east to Chico? I would have a better chance for a longer life. No, I suppose not. Even though I love most things Canadian…except for their Conservative government, with Stephen Harper, Canada’s answer to Ronald Reagan, as Prime Minister. Truth is, I could be run over by a car in Canada just as easily as I could in Chico. 

I was mowing the orchard yesterday, an hour long chore that will soon be just a memory. And as I mowed, I was thinking about the sale of our house to a local rancher. I have met a lot of local ranchers, farmers, etc in this area and I don’t hesitate to brand the majority of them as racists. That doesn’t mean that the new owners here are…I haven’t met them and don’t plan on meeting them. But racism is a big part of the Glenn County culture. Brown people are supposed to work here but they are not encouraged to be part of the community. Blacks and Asians are rarely seen. Separate but not quite equal. Anyway, back to the sale of the house. We have a black neighbor. A rarity. They are a very nice couple and we have shared dinners, backyard advise and most important, we have shared power tools! And then it struck me that seventy one years ago, in the State of California, I would have been fined if I had not disclosed to the buyer of my house, the fact that Black people lived nearby. Can you imagine that?

I was blessed, growing up, by the fact that my mother was a Roosevelt Democrat and a Socialist to boot. I was instructed early on that ALL people were equal. It made sense to me. Still does. Unfortunately, living in Manhattan Beach, there wasn’t a single soul that was different from the rest of us. I never saw an Hispanic until I was in high school and then I learned that they lived in North Redondo and that was a place we shouldn’t go. When I was 15, I met the first Black person that I would know by name. Jesse. He was hod carrier that worked for my dad and I had heard his name many evenings at the dinner table. My dad had a very high opinion of Jesse and would tell us about him often. Anyway, Jesse had a 1930 Model A four Door Town Sedan that he was going to sell to me for $15. One Saturday, he drove out to Manhattan Beach, we met, we shook hands and $15 dollars was exchanged. He took his tools out of the back seat (It was his ‘daily driver’) and dad took him back home in the company truck. I was so innocent then. I had no idea that Jesse had to live in Compton and could never live in my neighborhood. Despite the fact that I thought he was a pretty neat guy.

What I didn’t learn on my own about social justice, my mother taught me. Even my father taught me that, he just wasn’t as vocal about it. But even so, when living in a ‘white bread’ community like Manhattan Beach, racism was just a concept. And then I joined the Navy. Wow! This was cool! I lived and worked with Black, Brown, Red and Yellow sailors. I enjoyed it and it felt right. Until I was sent to Jacksonville, North Carolina. The home of Camp Lejeune. There were over 50,000 Marines and some sailors living there; those of us who worked in the Base Hospital and those Navy Corpsman assigned to various Marine regiments. Officially, in 1960, there was no segregation in the armed forces. Unofficially, it existed. The fact that North Carolina, and especially Jacksonville, was segregated, made silent segregation almost inevitable on base.

When face to face with segregation I have to say that I was confused. My social idealism was threatened and being an INFP personality type, I was not going to be the one to try and change things. I had a Native American bunk mate; unfortunately, he became the stereotypical angry drunk and had no friends.  I did try to keep the few Black friends I had made and encouraged friendship with others but it was almost impossible as the Whites and the Blacks slowly drifted apart. The Blacks found bunking together was more comfortable and who could blame them? And most of them stayed on base during their tour. Why would they want to go to Jacksonville or beyond? On base, they could enjoy some dignity because of the shared uniform. Off the base, they were just another black face to be disrespected.

In late 1961, I was released to the West coast and some sanity as far as race relations…or so I thought until the first Watts Riots occurred in 1965. Even though I was shocked by the violence, I knew why it was happening. It’s that tribalism that we are all cursed with. And it continues today.

All of this while I was mowing…I hope I didn’t miss any spots.

From the Story People

Why is the world so confusing? he said & I said it's only confusing if you believe it has to make sense & he looked at me & shook his head. I can't believe they let just anyone have children, he said.

Courage Campaign

Tell Obama "We have your back!"

Use it!

DeMint

Leads South Carolina Opposition to Debt Bills

"But the steadfastness stupidity of South Carolina lawmakers has owed as much to DeMint’s muscle and popularity at home as to raw political factors on the ground in the Palmetto State."

The blind leading the blind and where does that get you? In a ditch!

Moving soon

So, what’s new, you ask? Both houses are in escrow now and we’ve begun the inspection process. We’ve had a test of the well and a pest inspection. The buyer paid for a whole house inspection and that has occurred. Also a pool inspection. Last, but certainly not least, is the septic system testing and that will happen sometime this morning. The packing continues apace and there are boxes and more boxes in every room. I think we’re ahead of the game. We have a 60 day escrow on both houses and I believe we have only used up 7 of those days.

I had forgotten what an ‘impossible’ task moving is. How could we have accumulated so much? And why? The pile of things that will go to the Seniors Thrift Store grows apace. (I’ve always wanted to find a use for the word ‘apace’ and here I’ve found two spots for it in just two paragraphs) We’re not going to have a ‘garage sale’. We will invite our children and grandchildren over to view the accumulated stuff and ask them to take what they wish. We’ve already been through our library and have discarded many boxes of books. Whatever the family doesn’t take, goes to the Friends of the Library. At the same time, I’m amazed at the number of books we have decided to keep. We had told ourselves that now was the time to let the library go. We hadn’t opened a lot of these books in years; Kipling’s Kim would be a good example of that kind of neglect. But I can’t let it go! And so the boxes of books we will keep grows…but not apace. (Three times!)

Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with the septic tank guy as he dug down to the covers of the tank. It was a hot day and so I brought him a bottle of water. And we talked. He’s a small business owner and has owned this septic tank pumping business for ten years. (Hey! Someone has to do it.) Before that, he was a farrier. That business was ruining his health as most farriers can tell you. Trying to hold up the hoof of a poorly trained, one thousand pound, horse can do terrible things to your back. Anyway, back to our conversation. He proceeded to tell me how ‘change’ in our country had produced terrible results. Crime was rampant! The streets weren’t safe. Welfare was out of control! And it didn’t used to be this way in the good old days…of course he was wrong on all points, but I didn’t want to pick a fight with the man. It was obvious that he believed these fables and I would never be able to change his mind. What bothers me most about our encounter is the fact that this man will probably vote. And so will his friends and family. Voting based on rumors and plain old lies.

When I meet and talk with people like this; good people, salt of the earth! But oh, so uninformed, I become quite worried about our future as people upon the earth. 

Moving on

It's been a busy morning. I've been trying to consolidate my art materials into as few boxes as possible as we prepare for the move. I already have 10 boxes packed and I'm not through yet. My wife is carefully wrapping all the 'art decor' in the house. A job that I really can't do...I would be tempted to throw them in the box, write Fragile on top and call it good.

We both spend a lot of time daydreaming about the new house. We try to remember what things looked like; how big was that room? It's hopeless. I had good intentions; I was going to photograph each room. It never happened. Now I have to content myself with the photos I stole off the internet. It won't be long till we have the keys and then we can begin the moving in process. That's when we will remember what the house looked like!

We also spend a lot of time worrying. Will the pest inspection reveal that we have monster sized termites living under the floor? Will the well inspection reveal that our water is laced with arsenic and we just didn't know why we were feeling out of sorts? Septic tank inspection; we don't want to even think about it! On and on. Worry after worry. Which made me think that there should be a service which, for a fee, will 'guarantee' that everything will work out. I'd pay a $1,000 for that in a heartbeat! Maybe $2,000...

Snail mail my email?

Yes, in  my browsing of the intertubes this morning, I ran across this offer. I really want to do it, but I am suddenly speechless. What would I write? To who? Or to whom? I'm really an email kind of guy and always have been. Even my love letters, back when I was in my teens, were short and to the point. "Dear (blank) I love you. Yours forever, me" Then, in the Navy, I had to write nursing notes in all of my patients charts, each and every day! Sometimes I had fifty patients. It was agony...I vowed after that to never write again. And email has saved me. And you should know that a post this lengthy may take me an hour or more to complete. Whoa! I'm really off track here...visit the website and see for yourself.

ps It seems to me that the recipient should be very, very far away. Just to make it interesting.

I feel better

I don't know if it will make any difference, but I just sent scolding (maybe even scathing) emails to my congressman, my Senators and my President. You should do the same. It gives you a temporary elevation of your mood. And it only took about 5 minutes. Worthwhile!

Things are happening

It seems we are adrift now. No home!

Okay, the house is in escrow (a good thing) and we have made an offer on what we hope will be our future home. (another good thing) We have our fingers crossed that the offer will be accepted. Our agent seems positive, so all we have to do now is borrow some of that positive energy from her!

Although we took a beating on the sale of our present home, the same market conditions have helped on the purchase of this new home. We believe the new home to be seriously undervalued. All we have to do now is wait for it to regain that value and we have nothing but time...it'll happen.

This move will produce some culture shock. The last time we had neighbors that we're closer than 50' away was in 1977. Now we will be in 'suburbia', surrounded on three sides by civilization to the max. Directly behind us, the side not in suburbia, is a small ranch of, maybe, 20 acres. But that's behind a wooden fence that's on a raised portion. I would need a ladder to see over it. To the northeast of that ranch are the foothills that lead to the northern extreme of the Sierras.

I'm certain that we're going to love the new home. It's closer to family and we won't have the physical challenge that the orchard presented to us. I do think that we might be able to grow a tomato or two here, but not much more than that. Which only means that we will have to go to the local farmer's market more often. We know our power bill will be much smaller here. No swimming pool and no well. And it took a lot of energy to cool off that big house. So, all in all...we think it's the right move.

How time flies

I just read that today is the anniversary of the first landing on the moon. And like all such anniversaries, the memories of what we were doing at that moment come flooding back. We were in Phoenix, Arizona at the time. We were building the new Weinstock's Department store in Scottsdale and our boss had encouraged us to bring our families to Arizona for the duration of the job. He supplied the apartments. We had four families living at a nice apartment complex and since all of our children were close enough in age to really enjoy the Arizona summer...there was a pool, we did most things together. We even had our two month old son with us and the older children competed to baby sit with him.

That night we had all shared dinner and then we watched the television while standing on the balcony and looking at the moon. We kept the door to the apartment open while we ran from balcony to television to balcony again. Finally, we settled on watching the moon from the lawn below while sitting in lawn chairs and looking at a portable TV. Could we see the Lander? We debated that for awhile...and although it was impossible (certainly improbable) we liked to think we saw 'something' that night.

Ain't life grand?

I’ve been to the doctor's office and despite many attempts, the implanted spinal cord stimulator didn’t work. Apparently, the electrode, the ‘paddle’ lead is in the wrong position. It seems to have slipped very slightly down and a little to the left of where it’s supposed to be; sitting directly underneath vertebrae T-9. Now what? More x-rays, of that I’m sure. Then it will certainly require another trip to the operating room. Four back surgeries in 2 years; four! And my back will soon look like a graphic representation of the Los Angeles freeway system.  

Things I read about...

Khan Academy

I was just reading the latest issue of Wired and found a story about this place. I'm fascinated! I will reveal here that I never learned algebra; got a D-. It might have been the 9th grade teacher, Major Alfeo Bernardi, US Army retired. He taught the class as if he were commanding a platoon of recruits and if you didn't understand something, you were sent out of the room to 'police the area'. So I was frequently found outside the classroom, picking up litter. Anyway...enough of that. I'm going to try out the Khan Academy method of learning algebra... I'm almost 71 and I should learn it before...well, you know...

Google Plus

I'm a new member of the Google + test group. I imagine that there aren't more than ten or twenty million of us.
Since my membership is only a few hours old, I'm still looking it over and trying things out. I like the look of it. Certainly beats Facebook in appearance. And that is what I want it to do...beat Facebook. I really don't care for Mark whatshisname and his attitude and I think a dose of reality is what he needs. Listen to me...what am I doing? Comparing the qualities of the Super Rich when I don't even know them.? How do I know that Larry Page and Sergey Brin aren't just as obnoxious as Mark whatshisname? As it is said, Perception is Reality.

Anyway, let me know if you want an invite to be a Google+ tester...

Well!

Something is happening. After a full year, plus a month or so, we have movement in the real estate market. Our real estate. We heard last night that a couple that had viewed the house 3 times (in person) have decided to write us an offer today. We already know that we’re losing money on the house, but so are a few million other Americans. We’re in good company.

And we’re already viewing property in Chico. And using the internet to do it. We sit at our desks, back to back, and scan all the listings, pointing out the interesting ones to each other and bookmarking them. Sharing URL’s. It’s so 21^st century! Remember how it used to be done? Getting in the realtor’s car and wandering about for a full day and seeing, perhaps, six houses? Hah! I can see that many houses in ten minutes now.

  We’re not going to be sad about moving. We have done the ‘country’ life more than once in our lifetime and although we enjoy the space that comes with it, there are too many negatives for us. The county we hope to leave is so ‘Red’ and so dedicated to the 20^th century that we can scarcely breathe. Living in Chico, a town with a state university, will offer us some intellectual oxygen. No, it’s not a perfect city, but it’s about the right size for us. And it seems to have the right temperament.    

Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself here…we haven’t seen the offer yet and it may turn out to be so ridiculous that we will have to turn it down. But something is happening…

More, later on.

Something New

I've been looking at the new 'Dashboard' of Blogger. Like all things Google these days, it has been simplified to the extreme! But it does have some great new features and it is much easier to navigate. The feature I am not all that fond of is the graphic representation of the traffic on my blog. Yikes! I must be talking to myself these days. That's okay, I was very interested in 'traffic' a few years ago and tried my best to keep it entertaining, but I'm not an entertainer at heart, I'm an observer. Every once in awhile I get motivated to write some lengthy post of indignation but then that feeling passes and I'm back in observation mode. Relaxed.

Speaking of being motivated...last night I finished the book, The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley. I now have a morbid fascination with the book, as on one hand, I want it out of the house because of the evil it contains; the words of Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Yet I read it again as I find it hard to believe that these things really happened. They did. For instance, Mr. Bradley tells a short version of the Opium wars and of the fortunes made by Anglo entrepreneurs selling opium. Names we know...Warren Delano (think FDR), Cabot, Russell (think Yale Skull&Bones) Low (think Columbia University) Green (think Princeton) Forbes and Perkins.

 Enough of that ancient evil! We do have some fresh evil out there and that's the story of Rupert Murdoch and his handling of the "News of the World" hacking scandal. First, he shuts the newspaper down. Now where's the evidence? Harder to find when the newspaper no longer exists. The scandal grows, none the less, and it makes headlines on all of the news services...except FOX. They ignore it in favor of a story about Jennifer Anniston...did she or didn't she have plastic surgery?

Books of The Times -

James Bradley’s ‘Imperial Cruise’ - Queasy Side of Roosevelt’s Diplomacy

In our library this was marked as a 'New Book' and, unfortunately, with library budgets under attack everywhere, I'm sure it's the best they can do. So...the book is a few years old but no matter, the subject matter was fascinating to me; Teddy Roosevelt. I've read a few books about him but none with the detailed telling of his upbringing and of the times he lived in. Unfortunately, supporters of TR tell us that this was a time when white Americans commonly believed in their racial superiority. That's not an excuse. Presidents are meant to be better than the common man. Sadly, as we have found through the years, they are far more 'common' than exceptional and TR is no exception. I wouldn't have been able to stay in the same room with him without being sick to my soul.

This Modern World » Blog Archive » The debt crisis on planet Glox

The debt crisis on planet Glox

Tom puts it all in perspective...

Epic. Fail

I've been trying to keep up with the national news and whenever I do, I’m so disappointed by what I read. I sometimes wonder if the behavior of the politicians is calculated to drive away any valid interest in what they’re doing. They defy common sense in their assaults upon one another (and logic). This causes you to shake your head; baffled. So, you turn to the comics where Dilbert’s boss makes more sense than what you just read or heard from your representative. In the voter’s world, these buffoons were elected to do the citizens work. All of the citizens. Not just the Democrats that live in their district or the only the Republicans. They are supposed to work for ALL of us. Fail. Epic fail.

Take the Supreme Court; please. More buffoonery from the right side of that august bench. One; why on earth would anyone think that a corporation should deserve the same status as a person?  Two; their latest failing was their rejection of California’s law that protected minors from violent video games. They did agree that it was wrong for minors to see a bare breast in a video game but it was not wrong for that same minor to torture and kill that same woman as long as she was properly clothed. And Scalia, he with the IQ of a turnip, argued that since children already had access to ‘Hansel and Gretel’, where a witch would cook and eat little children, there was no reason to protect them from video game violence.

I sometime wish there were laws that said I couldn’t insult a Supreme Court judge or a Senator or a Congressman, even a President. (maybe there are? No, the Sedition laws were repealed some time ago) I would gladly go to jail just to proclaim loudly that Scalia and Thomas were devoid of both principle and intelligence. The list of Congresspersons and Senators that deserve the same is far too long to place here in print…but I will, if I need to.

And then there is the President. What happened? No, he is not any of the things that the conservatives call him. But he is certainly not the man I voted for. I can’t count, nor do I wish to recollect the promises he has broken. Yes, I know campaign speech contains promises that sometimes cannot be delivered. But far too many of his campaign promises never made it past the front door of the White House. I will vote for him again. I have to. I will do anything at all to keep a Republican from sitting in the Oval Office. It makes me gag whenever I think of the possibility of that happening. Every time we’ve had a Republican President, the nation has suffered immensely. Not one Republican President of the 20^th century was worth a bucket of warm spit. Let’s not even consider that 21^st century failure…the one that has caused all of the pain we’re suffering now.

Atlanta cheating scandal

highlights dangers of high-stakes testing:

"Proponents of so-called 'reform' like to blame teachers' unions for everything bad that happens in schools, but with cheating scandals popping up across the country, including in a number of decidedly non-union districts, it's becoming clear that that's not the case. In fact, although Atlanta teachers have no collective bargaining rights, some of them belong to the American Federation of Teachers, and it was the local AFT chapter that first reported cheating to the district superintendent."

Campbell's Law is valid everywhere. It's in your school districts as well. They just haven't been caught yet.

Focus fireplaces

contemporary fireplaces | modern fireplaces

No, I don't want a fireplace. I hate the mess that comes with it; the wood fragments, ashes, even insects that hitchhike in on a log. I've cut and split enough wood in my lifetime to say that it's over for me! No more!

But...these fireplaces are tempting me! Amazing. Look at the whole product line, you might find the one that will tempt you as well.

Old

From the Edge - Chico News & Review

Another good one from Mr. Porter. (my favorite local author) He describes a small part of aging in his usual humorous way. It's difficult to do much more than laugh when it comes to aging. And I welcome any opportunity to do so...!

Kentucky Tea Party

Sells ‘Yup, I’m A Racist’ Fourth of July T-Shirts

There are times when I am utterly stunned by the gross stupidity of some of my fellow human beings. This is one of those times...

Something local...

From the Chico, News and Review...a little something from my favorite columnist in this small paper. He describes the latest folly by the local police force. They claim that they need more manpower and then they do this...buy a tank for a quarter million dollars! Don't laugh; I bet it's happening in your own community as well. It's hard to keep the boys away from their toys...even deadly toys.

Ouch! Redux...

I really don't care for the fact that I know so many of the staff at the local hospital. But...they are great friends to have when you have to spend so much time there. Now, unless there is some great calamity, I won't be seeing them again. Except at the store or the library...places where I'm quite happy to see them. On Monday morning I had a neurotransmitter and paddle leads installed in my backside. This is the last step for those of us who have FBSS (Failed Back Surgery Syndrome) and are in constant pain. The installation of these items went smoothly and much faster than the back surgeries that preceded this one; only 90 minutes! Everyone was so nice! In fact, I was really enjoying my conversation with the anesthesiologist when she interrupted me, with a smile, and said 'Good night!'

I woke up, as scheduled, in the Recovery Area. Then pain ensued. And it has been pretty much a constant companion ever since. They have me on Percocet (Oxycontin) but it is doing very little for me. On a positive note, I have finally removed the dressings and taken a shower. After that, I had my wife take a photo of the creative landscape of my back. It's easier to do that than to twist my neck trying to look in the mirror. I won't post that photo, I promise. It's quite ugly, with lots of staples showing through the yellow and purple bruising. The new scars go quite well with the older ones, though I may have a tattoo artist label them with dates.

Now I have to wait for the swelling to go down and that is when the St. Jude's rep will meet with me and turn the transmitter to ON. There will be a period of programming as he determines what kind of stimulation will work best for me. After that is over, I get a card that notifies TSA that I'm a legal carrier of metal in my body. And then it's over; I don't have to see anyone again 'medical' until the internal battery fades and must be replaced. That would be in about ten years...in the meantime, I get a chance to get my life back. Walking! Lots of walking...

I'll let you know how it works, in just a few weeks.

AARP and Social Security

Why did I ever think that AARP had my interests at heart? Did I really believe that the management there at AARP headquarters was comprised of 'do good, feel good' Americans who spent their weekends volunteering at the homeless shelters while the apple pies they had just baked were cooling at home...watched over by a cute Cocker Spaniel? Argh! What traitors they turned out to be. I should have known that people in high management positions, even within AARP, have only one agenda and it's a Republican one.

Quantum-dot displays

Dotting the eyes |From The Economist

Doesn't that figure? Our television set is just two years old and with this technology on the very near horizon it might as well be 20 years old.

Party Politics

How Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality - TIME

Now, I rarely read Time news...but this headline caught my eye and I was pleasantly surprised to read an intelligent piece under the Time banner. This short article should be sent to every Congressman and Senator...

Fantastic...

Image Record from Cornell University.

Amazingly enough, this was written during the creation of the Republican Party...somehow they knew the future!

"A heavy, stupid demon, despite his dignities)....his powers are in the gluttony and the pleasure of the belly."

The Republican Agenda

From TIME GOES BY

Sure, she's angry. Why not? I have to agree with her 100%. If you haven't already read this well written post...click on the link above and get busy!

From Wired 9.12:

The Geek Syndrome

I remember reading this article when it was first published and having an 'Aha!' moment.

Here's a link to the author and more of his work...

Roger Ailes

His Office Protects Him from Gay Terrorists - Gawker

Oh, the weird stuff you run across while surfing the intertubes!

Considering how Fox News is run, this story really does make sense. And it certainly tells you a whole lot about the intelligence level at NewsCorp...starting with Sir Rupert, who hired this creep.

StoryPeople?

The story for today is:Golf

When I first read about the Story People, I was interested enough to visit the website. But I was less than thrilled by what I read there. Since the site had good recommendations I decided to sign up for the daily 'Story' to be delivered to my inbox. Truthfully, I would have to say that the first few 'Stories' were just so-so. Then they began to get my attention. Now they're like Cheetos but without the orange crud...

"The first time I played golf, I had the most fun throwing bread to the goldfish in the pro shop. It made as much sense as anything else."

Let Them Eat Tanks

From Sojourners Magazine/June 2011:

You may have to do a 'free' one time registration to see the article (so dumb!) Anyway, what is not shown in the on-line article are the various graphs that indicate where the tax money goes AFTER the Pentagon takes 58% of our annual budget for discretionary spending. And then the article questions why we spend this un-Godly amount of money on war and not on defense. If it is for defense, who are we defending ourselves against? It's not China; they are our largest trading partner. We will never go to war against China. Terrorists? A RAND Corporation study showed that military force was the least effective means to address terrorism. Politics, at 43%, was the 'best' method. The Pentagon does to the taxpayer what Bernie Maddoff did to his investors...except the Pentagon will never go to jail as they should.

Ben Cohen, of Ben&Jerry fame, uses the article to explain this thievery with a couple of boxes of Oreo's...

"Wallis: Tell me about the Oreo demonstration.

Cohen: That's a demonstration I developed on my own. It makes it easier to understand the federal budget. One Oreo represents $10 billion. The $700 billion Pentagon budget is just a stack of 70 Oreos -- you can understand 70 Oreos. In comparison to that, the federal government spends just four-and-a-half Oreos on education, just one-half an Oreo on alternative energy, and a fraction of an Oreo on Head Start. If you take just seven Oreos off the Pentagon budget, you could provide health care for all the kids who currently don't have it. You could provide Head Start for all the kids who need it. You could eliminate our need for Mideast oil through energy efficiency. You could change our country into one that cares about people, eliminates poverty, and helps people climb their way out, through education."

If you don't have any Oreo's, any cracker will do if you want to see what this looks like on your kitchen table. And once you've seen that, consider the fact that not one of our elected representatives or the President has seriously considered doing something about this abomination. Consider it? They won't even talk about!

Lightning Bar Blues:

from Arlo Guthrie «

Follow the link above. Classic Arlo...I hadn't heard this one in a long time.

From 'This Modern World '

Once upon a time

Oh, it's such a classic fairy tale! And I knew it after the first panel...

Joe Bageant (1946 - 2011)

Bageant’s Frustration: Extreme Isolation

He was one of my 'heroes' as he always spoke his mind. I didn't always agree with him but I probably did about 90% of the time.Order one of his books at your library...

"The Rant"

by Tom Degan: The Disenfranchised States of America

Just as described in Tom's piece, the students in the 'Big City' of Chico are being targeted for disenfranchisement. The local knuckleheads of the GOP have obtained enough signatures to get on the ballot with their idea of a perfect democracy. A democracy without student participation. Since students normally go home during the summer months, their proposal (Measure A) is to move the City Council elections in the city from November to June. It doesn't matter to the GOP that most of the students are residents, physically, for 3/4 of the year. I would believe that would qualify them to be full time residents in a legal sense as well. After all, if you're a rich Republican and decide to take a world cruise, do you lose your residency status?

MonkeyLectric

LED Bike Wheel Light

Might save a life...but will the police want to ban them as 'distracting'?

Life

Life goes on. And I'm still in the thick of it. Thank goodness! I'm awake at an early hour every day and browsing the internet via my Google Reader links. I usually start with my Art links and download images of all the art that strikes me as 'good'. I'm up to 3,500 or more images in that collection, all of which help me satisfy my Aspbergian desire to collect things. The internet has become a great tool for that and I have a separate 1.5 Terabyte hard drive that is becoming choked with my odd image collections. Before the internet, 'collecting' was so much more difficult! Hmmm? I just noticed that my large scrapbook filled with business cards is sitting out again. A physical collection as opposed to a digital one.

Moving? We're still at the same address and interest in the house is low. We've had two lookers since January. Two! We've reduced the price and we are ready to lower it again, this time to below the price we paid for it. That's something we had never planned on…We have to console ourselves with the fact that this would be the first time for this to happen in our long history of buying and selling our homes. We started out by purchasing a 3Br/2Bath house in Newbury Park, CA for $21,000. Now we're dealing with hundreds of thousands. We also keep saying that we don't have to move and we can wait for the market to turn around. That's true but almost unbearable to think about. We are very tired of making the thirty minute trip to Chico at least six times a week.

Speaking of Chico, we were there yesterday for a trip to the Farmer's Market and Costco. That's shopping at the opposite ends on the marketing scale. We bought strawberries and sugar peas at the market and enjoyed a long discussion with the seller about the various types of strawberries (Avoid the Chandler!) and how to deal with customers, a topic that the seller had pursued at college while he lived in Minnesota. He happens to be a Hmong and our community is being blessed with their presence these days as more of them move here and get involved in the local ag businesses. They are great farmers. I have no idea as to why so many of the Hmong's were originally sent to Minnesota as that is about as far as you can get from Vietnam – climatewise.

Now, about Costco…it's the cheapest place in town for gas as it's always ten to fifteen cents cheaper than anywhere else in town. Yesterday was the wrong time to go as we had forgotten about the crowds that would be stocking up for graduation parties this coming weekend. Cal State Chico, the local university will be graduating the class of 2011 on all three days of the weekend. Anywho…we made our way around the store and bought/ground our supply of coffee and we also bought one of the hot rotisserie chickens. Our daughter had raved about them and so we had to try it. It was only $5 and we have discovered that we can have three meals from it and still have chicken left over for salads. Of course, being Costco, we also bought things we shouldn't have. I lose all willpower when I'm there and come out poorer at the end.

I'm still waiting to meet with the surgeon that will do the implant of the Spinal Cord Stimulation device. Just one more week! And at the meeting he will discuss what he is going to do (I already know!) and then he will send me on my way with a promise that the hospital will call – sometime - and give me a date for the surgery. Maybe, after the surgery, I will be able to reduce the amount of pain meds I'm ingesting. Which varies. Yesterday was 4 Norco day and the day before that was 6 Norco day. Oddly enough; I really want consistency. If it's going to be pain, give it to me all of the time. Don't give me pain and then, mysteriously, relieve it for an hour, two hours or a day before returning me to the pain. All or nothing, please! I'm sure that doesn't make sense to the average person but that's how it is…for me.

I'm reading the Koran, or Qur'an these days. Just half a dozen pages a day as it's not easy reading. It's somewhat like reading Leviticus or Deuteronomy in the Bible. And it makes just as much sense. There are lots of contradictions in it; very much like the Bible in that respect. We attended a seminar at our church on Islam. The speaker was Jon Armajani of the College of Saint Benedict/Saint Johns' University. He was a fascinating speaker, being of Iranian descent, a Princeton Seminary Presbyterian pastor and teaching Islamic Studies at a Catholic university. So I'm reading the Koran as interpreted by N.J. Dawood, that was Jon's recommendation.

I've been quite surprised by the all of the references to Moses, David, Mary and her father, to Jesus and Apostles. In the Koran, Christians and Jews are lumped together as the People of the Book. That 'Book' being the Old Testament or Torah. In the Koran, the People of the Book are respected…as long as they behave exactly as the 'Book' orders them to. Impossible.

My art projects have come to a halt, all except for the most minor ones. I'm sure it's the drugs that have robbed me. I have half a dozen large and blank canvases in the garage and spider webs are growing around tubes of paint. Sigh.

Well, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing and it's time to do something else. I've sat here too long!

Woof!

An interview with John Elder Robison, Living Boldly as a “Free-Range Aspergian”

Good stuff here!

Mom

Memories of my Mother. Such a complex person! So I’m just going to post her picture and tell you that I loved her very much. And I miss her. 

My Nana

 I was reading Mature Landscaping the other morning and Nance’s topic, her grandmother, immediately made me think of my Nana. Eava (or Eva) Seymour was born in the Iron Range town of Tower, Minnesota in 1890. When I look at her school picture I have to admit that she was funny looking little kid. Time moves on and she grew up tall (for those times) probably 5’7 or 5’8. She would have been considered a beauty; petite women were considered ‘pretty’ in those days and she was tall. A classical beauty. She was wooed and won by a handsome Scot, an immigrant and a scoundrel. He was also my grandfather, William B Dunn. She soon had two children, my Aunt Jessie and my father, another William B. Then, in the early 1920’s, the scoundrel came up with the idea of taking the family to California to live. Which he did and then promptly disappeared, going back to Minnesota and another woman, leaving his small family alone and broke in San Francisco. Nana had to get a job if they were going to survive and she found it almost impossible to find work in those days, but they did survive. Dad told me of stealing bread and fruit during the leanest of times. Eventually they made it to Los Angeles and that is where Dad finished school, graduating from John Marshall High School. She didn’t like to talk about the past so I only received bits and pieces of her story as I was growing up. I remember my dad always referred to her as ‘Tilly’, short for “Tilly the Toiler’, a popular comic strip character from the 1920’s that was described as a ‘Stylish working girl…’. I do know that she worked for J.W. Robinson Co., a high class department store in downtown Los Angeles. For years she worked as a saleslady on the 7^th floor, in the  Lamp Department. Sadly, she made a mistake when she went to work for them because she listed her age as being 10 years younger. I think she was afraid of age discrimination. All was well until it was time for retirement and then she had to continue working until she was 75 if she wanted the pension. Of course she did.  And she worked till the day she died…    

My favorite memory of Nana was a day when my younger sister and I had taken our red wagon out to find bottles to collect for their redemption value. We lived near the beach and discarded bottles were hard to find. I was 6 years old at the time and my sister just 3. We had been lucky and after a long day had found enough bottles to cover the bottom of the wagon. We were right in front of our house when three older kids came walking up and demanded that we give them the bottles. We protested of course and just as tensions reached a peak, the screen door of the house flew open and Nana came to our rescue. I had never seen her with her hair down before and I was quite startled to see her magnificent cloud of gray hair flying into the air behind her as she grabbed the hose, turned the water on and raced toward us, directing the spray at our tormentors. “Shoo!’ she yelled. “Shoo, you kids and don’t come back!” Well, they shooed all right and we were saved! It was the one and only time I can remember her raising her voice. Our hero! 

From Mature Landscaping:

She Never Had Nothing

This is some classic material from Nance...what a great writing voice!

Of course I couldn't help but think of my Nana, my most loved grandmother. During the next 24 or so hours I have to come up with a post of my own about my Mother and my Nana. I have already shared their photos with the family, via Facebook and I can use those here tomorrow as well.

The High Cost

of Low Teacher Salaries - NYTimes.com

I read this yesterday in the Times and said 'Yes!' to myself. This is what I've been saying for years and I was quite happy to see that someone with writing talent was bringing these thoughts to the pages of the NYT. A good one!

Makers

Download for Free

Cory Doctorow and I have the same thoughts regarding copyrights but he is able to do something positive about it while I can only cheer him on.

I read a review of this book a little while ago and then downloaded the html version. Three pages later I'm hooked. I'm actually looking at some of the URL's and thinking about following them with a cut and paste...but wait, this is fiction!

Warning! I read in the review that there are a few x-rated sections in the book. Do what you wish with that information. I'm taking the risk because I love geek books. I love technology. And I love an author who dares to speak the the truth about copyrights. (no, the book is not about copyrights...only the author is!) By the way, you can even buy the book if so inclined.

It’s dark out there

It is early and that's no surprise. I was in bed for about five and a half hours before I gave up and decided to make a pot of coffee. Now I've had a cup and browsed the internet as I usually do about this time. My feed reader told me that there was something new to read on a friends blog; Mature Landscaping. Nance has a great way with words. And her posts prove it. If you read carefully you might notice a small reference to pain. Her pain. From what I can tell, she is at odds with severe pain on a regular basis and still appears to be a winner. She handles pain with much grace. Enviable grace.

Speaking of pain as I was... in about a month, I will be talking to the surgeon who will do the Spinal Cord Stimulator implant. Surgery will follow within a week or two? A month or two? Whatever! Then, with any luck at all, I will be able to wirelessly dial up the necessary pain relief any time I wish. Electronic wizardry sending messages from the embedded controller and up my spine; these fool the brain by scrambling the pain message. What a wonderful time to be alive!

Of course I don't get off the hook of pain completely. I now count 'Trigger Finger' as something new to plague me. Luckily it is my left hand ring finger and so, being right handed, I'm not incapacitated by it. I was able to get my wedding ring off before the swelling became too bad and now the ring sits here in front of me, looking a little lonely, waiting to go back on someday.

On a different subject; I've been researching Asperger's Syndrome during the past half a dozen years. I had always thought that I had ADD/ADHD. (I'm seventy years old. It doesn't make a lot of difference now.) But as I read about that I began to see references to Asperger's and so I explored some more. I took the usual on-line tests and each time I did I came up with scores that indicated that Asperger's was definitely a part of me. And this (self) diagnosis explained so much about my childhood! And my adult life as well. Such as the fact that I have a problem looking anyone in the eye. I remember all of the meetings I had to attend and the silent commands to myself, "look him in the eye...you have to or he won't believe you!" It was one of those 'John Wayne' things...you simply couldn't trust a 'cowboy' that wouldn't look you in the eye. I failed so many times. I can't do it for more than a second or two, so I've learned to look at eyebrows instead! And then there is my boring recitation of facts that only I would enjoy. I often see my unwilling audience's eyes glazing over as I interject with yet another useless fact from my never empty treasury of facts. I used to read the dictionary for fun; Aardvark to Zymurgy. And then I would read it again. And again.

There are plenty of other signs of Asperger's, enough so that during the time with my Tuesday morning painting group, I mentioned the fact that I was fairly certain that I had Asperger's. One of my friends there, nodded her head  and said, quite firmly, "I knew it! I knew it!" She works with developmentally challenged kids at the local high school and knows quite a bit about Asperger's. (I'm developmentally challenged in ways you would not notice at first glance.) Asperger's, or Aspie's, as some call themselves, usually have higher than normal intelligence. I have an IQ of 138 or 143, depending on who you want to believe. Those numbers did not make me a rocket scientist; I was a carpenter! Having a higher IQ and having Asperger's makes for a very uncomfortable life at times. I can't always make use of the intelligence in ways that society understands. And when I was younger I was constantly being flogged with those numbers by counselors who thought I needed more motivation.

Being a carpenter was really a blessing as I could usually work by myself if I needed to. Plus, I could work out construction problems in my head while I was alone and come up with better methods for building. That 'talent' soon promoted me to foreman and superintendent. I was still an apprentice when they made me foreman as well. (That didn't win me a lot friends) But, being deeply introverted, I had to come up with a different way of leadership as I simply couldn't yell and threaten to fire anyone. I did find a way and it worked for me for many years. I would give them the 'look'…without actually looking at them, of course. I would exude disapproval without ever saying a word. Devastating!

As I said earlier, I'm over seventy years of age and whether or not I have ADD or Asperger's…or a bit of both, makes no difference now. Except for the fact that I'm now aware of some of my more irritating 'habit's' and will try to moderate them for the sake of friendships. Just don't ask me to look them in the eye

Disappointed

I just read that our President has released the "long form' of his birth certificate. He should never have done it. He's playing right into the wacko's hands with it. Now they will claim it's a forgery...'it must be, otherwise he would have shown it earlier.' These fools won't let up. You watch...

Buzzfeed says...

Pay Your Taxes? These 10 Companies Didn't. [PIC]

From injaynesworld: i

it's the "Sunday Recap - Late Edition..."

I didn't get around to this till the early hours of Tuesday...but it's still fresh stuff!

Love the 'Toenail' story!

Remember when?

I ran across this bit of wisdom (satire) and just had to share it...

"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half our 401(k)’s, took $trillions in taxpayer funded bailouts, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves $billions in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah…me neither. Pass it on." 

Tweetit

Have I become immature, or has Twitter matured? I prefer the latter. All I know for sure is that I have suddenly started following and reading all sorts of tweets on my once dusty Twitter account. It started, I believe, when I picked up on the John Kyl story and I just had to read Stephen Colbert's tweets on the subject of 'Not intended to be a factual statement'. Here's a sampling (44) of these great tweets that still make me laugh. Can you believe that Kyl is still a Senator? How can he have the nerve to pick up a paycheck? But I digress...I started looking around the Twitter world and have begun following lots of people and organizations. I'm up to 71 now and still looking for more to follow. But, what I don't understand is...why do people follow me? I rarely have an original tweet; I am a habitual re-tweeter, just doing my bit to spread the news...

Todd Lamb

Notes From Chris

This is one of the 'Treasures of the Day'. Too bad our town is so boring. No one here would even look twice at these notes...

Argh!

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This Modern World

Language is a virus

Soylent Green. Coming to a theater near you...soon

Sorry, you have to be of a certain age for this to make sense...

(One of Charlton Heston's worst films)

Tax myths

and misunderstandings - Chico News & Review:

A clear and concise story on the 'Reagan Ripoff'.

Why doesn't a Republican give us a verifiable accounting of how successful Supply Side Economics works? Because they can't. It's the same old lie and repeated endlessly.

9 Things

9 Things The Rich Don't Want You To Know About Taxes

It's just nine little lies explained. Nine little lies that you need to know about...and who said them!

Colbert

Colbert twittering silly John Kyl into oblivion:

"Kyl, like so many on the Right flaps his gums and lies so much he has to have someone else call his dog. "

Now that's funny! (And true!)

A special report on pensions:

Falling short | from The Economist:

The second paragraph of this story told me just about all I needed to know... "The employers who promised higher pensions in the past knew they would not be in their posts when the bill became due. That made it tempting for them to offer higher pensions rather than better pay." It was simply criminal and no one has gone to jail for it yet. Maybe the CEO that signed the agreement is gone but the company isn't and they are responsible for those sins. Someone...lots of someones need to go to jail. They lied. And they knew it when they signed the agreements. And until someone is punished I don't intend to believe anything they have to say.

In the past five years we have lost half of our wealth. Stolen. Theft by the manipulations of Wall Street and no one has gone to jail for those crimes either. But we were lucky as I had a Carpenter's Union pension. When the Dow Jones collapsed, I didn't hear a word of complaint from the Carpenter's fund; the checks continued to arrive. On time and for the full amount. If they hadn't, we might have had to live with our children!

And now someone, lots of someone's, want the gullible to put their retirement savings into 401(k) plans? Why?

Enough griping...the rest of the articles are fascinating but must be taken with lots of salt.

From Street Talk:

Another Haley Barbour Hunkers Down on K Street : Roll Call Lobbying

I know...and I'm sorry for it. Sort of. But take a look at this guy (and read the story of course) and imagine him as President. He wants to be. Appearances shouldn't matter but Mr. Barbour needs a year at a gym and elocution lessons. Hopefully he will be eliminated in the first round.

A good read

I've been reading the book The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason. It's a crime novel set in Iceland, the home of the author. I'm not finished with it but I'm thoroughly hooked. I was hooked enough to open up Google Earth and descend, virtually, on the small island of Iceland and tour some of the spots described in the book. Such as Hafnarfjordur. Say that three times, fast. Heck, say it once! The photos don't tell me the temperatures but they are uniformly lovely. The aerial views seem to indicate that everything is 'neat and tidy'. And the roads! Wide roads with beautiful sweeping interchanges, but where are all of the people? The photos almost all show deserted vistas both in towns and out on the highways. Unfortunately, Google hasn't sent their camera cars to Iceland so you can't take a virtual tour street by street at ground level, but you can click on the hundreds of photo opportunities and get a good sense of the place. Enough so that I want to go. Unfortunately I will have to go alone as my wife had already read the novel and sensed that it was never 'really' warm in Iceland (Duh!...it's called Ice-land for a reason!). For her, vacations are in warm places.

In the book, the police detective, Erlendur Sveinsson, is not at all like any detective novel 'hero' that you read about before. He is a tormented and lonely soul. His children hate him and he's hated by his ex-wife. Odd, but he reminds me a great deal of Kurt Wallander, the Swedish detective in the novels by Henning Mankell. That's another author that's a favorite of mine. Maybe it's the long dark winters of the sub polar regions that gives these authors such a tortured view in their books. Iceland sits astride the Arctic Circle and isn't all that far from Sweden…and it's really dark all winter long. In fact, the author notes that depression is a major problem in Iceland.

But I'm going in the summertime when the sun never sets! I guess I'll have to bring my wife some souvenirs…

California's Republicans:

Dead, or just resting? | The Economist

Hopefully the former. It's just one more good thing to love about the Golden State.

American Fascism

Henry A. Wallace's Warning of American Fascism

This was written in 1944, believe it or not. 67 years ago and it reads as if it were written yesterday. I came across it on True Blue Texan's blog and after reading it, I just had to post it. Read it and see if you don't see some truths...maybe even more than 'some'.

Hopeful

Yippee! I think I'm finally emerging from a three month Fentanyl holiday. I'll take my pain plain from now on…straight up thank you! Hopefully, this new feeling will last for awhile and I can get on with living again. I had been in a creative slump for the past few months but last night, just before bed, I whipped out the watercolor crayons and my big sketchbook/art journal and started drawing with big strokes and big color. Added water and then more color. I let it dry and then I started in on it again this morning. All very abstract of course but I have featured a big Rx with black slashes through it.

Somewhere in my reading this morning I came across this bit of wisdom…why is it that the Republicans have successfully focused the righteous anger of public opinion on the costs of the public sector employees and have pulled a curtain across any view of the crimes of the banking industry whose excesses have cost us far more than the public sector? How dumb are we? And don't get me started on the wars. Three trillion dollars for the Iraq war and now the Afghan war, the longest war in our history at over ten years…we haven't even begun to calculate what that will cost us all in the end and it's all because of the power of the military/industrial complex, the bad boys that Ike warned us about. Oh, Ike…if only you could see it now. You would weep. I know we should. But we continue to watch TV, that gentle soporific machine, and our lives glide along undisturbed. We need the draft! Yes, if we want out of the current wars and to avoid the future ones, we need to put ourselves in harm's way. I guarantee you if we thought that our son's and daughter's, our grandchildren, wives and husbands were in danger of being sent to fight in some senseless war, we would rise up and demand that it stop…now! We have not been attacked by any nation and yet we have laid waste to two nations and alienated ourselves with countless citizens of the world. Disgusting.

I better go back to my painting…

Of the 1%,

by the 1%, for the 1% | From Vanity Fair

An educated look at the inequality crisis...