There You Have It
December 29, 1999
I have been sick as a dog the past few days. Well since December 21st. I had a flu-like thing that was dreadful. Then there have been all the end of the year and end of the century end of the millennium and end of the world stories. And the ubiquitous lists. It has all been enough to make me say the heck with it for a while. Then I read that the Lone Ranger has died.
So I have to say something. When I was a kid, I loved the radio shows. This one, the old Lone Ranger was my favorite. Listen to this! and wax nostalgic with me. Now I know that Clayton Moore was not the original radio Lone Ranger, but his TV show was one of the few TV shows that was created from one of the great old radio shows that made the transition well. In fact, it may have been better. So have a visit here at this Lone Ranger site. Watch an old TV episode. Listen to one of the old radio shows. Slow down.
Have an easy New Year.
December 24, 1999
Happy Christmas!
Saturday December 18, 1999
And, some unfinished business so, let's have at it. Here in no certain order are a few specifics:
That's all for now. I will be gone for a little while. Well, maybe a medium while. And longer still.
Friday December 17,1999
Today I want to start with what I hope will be a steady stream from Molly Ivins about George W. She first alerted me to him way back when she dubbed him "shrub" and told the world look out. So now thanks to Nation Magazine here it is. Just look and click on Shrubwatch.
While I am at it how about this from Charles Krauthammer, who usually is too scary for me but today he hits the nail just about on the head relative to George W's stupid answer to a question about political philosophers.
And in homage to the season, why is there no snow yet this year? I want answers! The probability for at least a white Christmas where I live is 50-75%. I wouldn't have needed a map for that guess.
This just in, as they say. While I was quitting britannica.com sent me to this place which sounds like fun. I will look at it later. Now it is time for lunch...........it's after lunch and I have looked at it. Not as much fun as I thought.
Thursday December 16,1999
While it is most likely just going to be either boring or stupid to most anyone who may actually read my comments, I have to say that any chance to get this woman is music to my ears.
A well known jerk who likes to think of himself as aWalter Winchell clone had this as one of his lead articles today. He is at least ( beware residents of Kansas, Oklahoma and any other folks that, like George W, doubt the wisdom of even saying the word Darwinism) twenty five years late with this "scoop"
By the way, Yahoo.com is all over my relatively minor complaint about e-shopping on their site.Amazing and encouraging.
Wednesday December 15, 1999
I read in my paper today that Missoula Montana has been given this years Great American Place Award by Forbes American Heritage Magazine. The award story, featured in their October 1999 , issue is only available in the print version of the magazine so buy it. Go here to otherwise learn about Montana and maybe Missoula.
I first heard of Missoula back in the fifties in Jack Kerouac's On The Road. So I went there for a few months in 1958. It was a truly great place then, good jazz, great bars, silver dollars, poker games, sugar beet mills, cattlemen, lumbermen, and everyone made fun of my accent. Talk about culture shock for someone who had always believed that all of the USA west of central Massachusetts was wilderness. I went back for a second look about eight years ago. It was not the same, but still a neat place. Go there someday.
At least someone at yahoo.com is trying to help me resolve my e-purchase problems with one of the merchants on their shopping site.. So good for them. I got an actual e-mail from a actual worker person at Yahoo that had actually read my specific actual complaint e-mail.
Tuesday December 14, 1999
Today I will just rant a little about e-commerce. Despite whatever the slew of TV ads say, the internet .com sites were not as ready as they should have been for all the new guys who wanted to try out e-shopping. I have been buying and selling via the internet for years and even before that via rudimentary networks like fidonet.
This year I odered stuff from newcomers like this and semi established sites like www.yahoo.com .
Stuff I odered from the toy site on November 30 is still sitting unshipped today. The yahoo shop I odered from using their propriety system calld Yahoo Wallett is bogged down and trying to get me to send credit card information via e-mail since there seems to be no communication between the shops I used and Yahoo despite claims to the contrary. What a mess. Some of the sites I used in the past are OK, but many of the newer individual shops and portal shopping services are screwing up. I guess I have to go to the dreaded mall.
That's it. I feel better.
Monday December 13, 1999
The kid is still here. What a shame. Where are any voices of reason on this one. Clinton, Gore, Bradley, one of you show some courage on this one.
The silly six will be at it again tonight. More nothing I suspect. The real problem is that there are no alternatives to Bush. McCain will not ever be the nominee of the Republican party. And obviously the other four are really just fringe. So at the end of it all Bush will not crash and burn, it will be said that he didn't lose, therefore he wins.
So, the entire weekend came and went and not much happened. Except that I found this item and I can't wait. Can you imagine this dream trip of at least a lifetime?
Saturday December 11, 1999
The lawyers who claim to be fighting for the boy are nothing more than right wing wacko's who only want to create a mess that will make Castro look bad. They care nothing about the kid.
It won''t work. There are no arguments to support forcing this kid to stay here. None. You guys are on the wrong side of this one. The longer the kid remains here the more Castro wins. Give it up! Under any ordinary circumstances the kid would have been home with his father and grandparents for days by now.
This is idiotic. Step up on this one, Bill Clinton. Take charge. Do the right thing. Stop the mockery of justice.
Friday December 10, 1999
Back to George W. Bush and his quest for revenge. His ability to keep ahead in the polls baffles me. Here is another column questioning the guy's lack of credibility.
But on March 2, 2000 The Red Sox will open the Spring Training schedule against the Twins down in Florida. That's only 82 days away. With that reminder of good things ahead I am feeling good today.
And this story from my morning paper should start the kind of commotion I love. The headline should be Scientists On Verge of Creating Life.
Thursday December 9, 1999
It was never my intention to do this kind of--- well---silly stuff , but this (encountered elsewhere) struck my long lost funny bone today, so...go here.
And to show you that I haven't abandoned the search, this is complete and inspired baloney fat. From the concocting of the notion of a trial to verdicts based on theories. How did we get here?
Wednesday December 8, 1999
As usual There You Have It was ahead of the curve. Just down a few lines is my "send the kid home" plea to the powers that be. If my newspaper is right and the between the lines message of this internet version of their page one story is right, it's going to happen. However, I guess the internet is supposed to be more conservative. The headline on this story in the actual paper reads, Cuban Boy May Go Home. The article on The Hartford Courant front page also includes this information from the Miami Herald which the internet version of my papers article leaves out.
Thanks to the new and finally working new reference site, www.britannica.com, and one of their newsletters, I will direct your attention to another well done and interesting place out there.
Doesn't "direct your attention" sound pretentious and stupid? I should just say go here. From now on, I will try to watch out for falling into jargon.
Tuesday December 7, 1999
Funny math indeed from the increasingly strange bunch who seem bent on challenging the (gulp) Reform Party for first prize in the " who can run the weirdest guys for president" contest.
Enough. No mas. Send the kid home. Tell the crazy ex-Cubans in Florida to get over it. it's been forty years for crying out loud. Come on President Clinton, it's time. The ex-Cubans in Florida won't vote for Gore anyway.
What's next Rhenquist, Scalia and Thomas, back to rubber hoses?
And finally, I do not remember December 7, 1941 as much as I remember the next day when Mrs O'Hare, my first grade teacher, came to school crying and told us that her husband was in the Army and stationed at Pearl Harbor. Much later we found out that he was not hurt.
Monday December 6, 1999
There is nothing in the paper, nothing on the news and as if nothing isn't bad enough, C-SPAN offers up Paul Rodriguez of The Washington Times and Insight magazine infamy and he talks about how some reporters commit journalistic crimes. Talk about adding insult to injury.
So here is a comment about one of the latest political insults, or jokes depending on your perspective, of the moment. And another site that is worth a look for non-political reasons.
Meanwhile I am waiting for a window repair guy who called up over an hour ago and said " I will be over in a little while" Yeah right. And I am waiting for a phone guy from the cable company and they said as far as we can tell you are on the schedule. All well and good but they said that three weeks ago and again ten days ago.
Sunday December 5, 1999
So I did try to watch the Sunday talking head guys. I did. But they kept telling me that Bush didn't fall down on his face so he has passed his big test and will likely be, not only the GOP nominee, but probably the next president. Then they foisted the likes of a bunch of nutcases like Ventura, Trump,and Keyes on me. At least NBC had McCain on and did manage to demonstrate that he is a geniune closet right wing wacko, so don't get fooled by his so-called genuineness. But then, it's all baloney-fat, isn't it?
By comparison, this is much more real.
And this. Use this to montor your little kids. Yeah right.
God (metaphorically speaking of course) in heaven save me from all this.
Saturday December 4, 1999
I have this picture in my head of the little bug like probes up there on Mars digging away, sniffing, tasting, cooking dirt, taking pictures merrily chirping out kazillions of bits of data , and otherwise doing their thing. Sort of like the tree falling in the woods paradox.
Friday December 3, 1999
I want to take a break from this nonsense today. Nonsense that would be funny if it wasn't so scary possible.
Instead of worrying, I will spend some time saying "...so, go science guys. Find bugs" Probably unlikely but far less scary.
And something that would have been impossible back in the sixties. I loved this guy when he was Cassius Clay. And still do. Sportsman of theCentury, Muhhamad Ali!
Thursday December 2, 1999
I don't know why this story isn't getting much more play. Am I missing something?.
And at the opposite end of the scale there is this piece of drivel about really stupid stuff that no one cares about that actually gets play in a newsletter I get that is supposed to be about politics. And people get paid for this stuff?
And this. When I was in the fifth or sixth grade a guy by the name of RogerPierce and I had a fight about something in class and he stuck me in the belly with a fingernail file and I hit him in the face with my fist and Miss Pooler or Mrs McDonald ( It could have been either one ) made us go out into the corridor and told us to continue out there. As stupid as we were, we did and along came Mr. Carbone the principal who heard the commotion. He ordered us to go to the office. We did but we continued to sort of fight and bicker in there. He came in a minute or two later took us into his private office where he made us hold out our hands while he whacked us with a strap a bunch of times. It hurt like mad. Mr. Carbone was later promoted to become the Superintendent of schools in our town. Roger and I were both promoted to either sixth or seventh grade. And neither of us dared to tell our mothers or we would have really got killed.
note: a homely anecdote but step one in the solution.....no not the corporal punishment. The mother stuff.
Wednesday December 1, 1999
Three or four items in today's paper an on C-SPAN, at least three or four, have me boggled today. Maybe they are all related, maybe not.
First the stuff about the out of control protests in Seattle for the WTO meetings. The news all centers around a couple of scary looking telephoto pictures of crowded streets, cops in riot gear, hovering plumes of tear gas some broken storefronts and one picture of a woman with a cut over her eyebrow. Or at least that is what the news seems to be focused on. I am boggled because some of the reasons for the protests, some of the groups involved, some of the concepts driving them are causes which I might support. Of course some are not.
But those are too complex and serious for me to talk about. Here is what boggles me the most. The pictures of daredevils calling attention not to their cause, but to themselves by hanging from huge construction cranes as if the whole thing were some kind of extreme sports event being broadcast by ESPN II. The silly college girls looking cute in turtle costumes confusing the rally for a pep rally for the ball game. The guys trying to look serious and thuggy by wearing handkerchiefs over their faces like the Chiapis dudes they must have seen on TV. Except the stupid guys trying to look and act thuggy are taking pictures of the cops and themselves with their expensive cameras for souvenirs. Oh they will say for evidence but... Then the people singing solidarity as if they have any idea. I could go on.
I don't object to the concept of the protest marchers and demonstrators. I do mistrust the motivation of many of those involved.
My local paper reports that the coach of the men's basketball team at the state university has just signed a contract that will give him over $900,000 per year for at least six years. This speaks for itself.
We are not going to stop the Navy boys from playing on Vieques for at least the next few years. The Navy boys say ,"oh OK, but we still want to use real bombs not dummies.". Idiots.
George W is going to give a speech today about tax cuts that will widen the gap between the top 5% and the rest of us even more and we will marvel at his compassion.
Tuesday November 30, 1999
It is getting harder to distinguish sites like this from regular commercial sites that are all over the web, but the new Britannica site tipped me off to the changes in the PBS site so I am pasing the tip along. I still like it despite it's new look. While I am at it, I might add that the new Britannica site is finally up and working most of the time and is quite good.
Is this the beginning of the final chapter in the Irish peace plan? Wouldn't that screw up one of the right wing wacko's anti-Clinton attacks? Will the mid-east follow?
Message to George W. Get out your maps and tutors. They may ask you stuff about both of these places one of these days. Clue, the fighting Irish does not always refer to a football game but you could say "the Gipper" when asked any questions about it. That should work
Yes, I watched C-SPAN today as usual. It was less extreme than
reasoned today in it's morning call in shows. Hope this is a
trend. My local newspaper had a good story on one of C-Spans more
ambitious projects. I share the
reports point of view.
Sunday/Monday November 28/29. 1999
A long while back, I said someting about "...goes around and comes around". Well whatever I said here we go again. One of the news stories over the weekend tells of the coming merger of two of the oil companies that were forced to break up back in the days. The gigantic oil company that good old John D. created seems about to come back to life like a creature in a horror movie. OK, maybe not that bad. Maybe just a small ghost of the old giant, Standard Oil.
I don't know if this merger trend is really good or bad. My instincts are saying watch out, but .........
One word about the WTO talks. The problem with American Unionists and many of the other left leaning groups who will be protesting, is that they never really understood that it was supposed to be "workers of the world unite" not workers of the USA unite. And if this ( alright it is more than one word) doesn't click with you, you don't get it. Remember the words to the song?
I tried this site for the fun of it. It failed to predict my future vote. Try it out if you want to.
Now these true facts.
Saturday November 28, 1999
So it's not the end of the month, but it is after the first of the holidays that are part of the holiday season so close enough.
At the risk of sounding like a typical geezer, today I'm going to talk about some of what I learned and did over the two days of Thanksgiving. First I learned that if you keep the meat in the sauce too long, the braciole all break up and ,while not ruining the taste at all, does ruin the look of the meat dish. Especially when the bits of toothpick and tying thread are lost and at large.
Second, I think that there may be a lot of hope that George W will not win next year. One of my kids, the most conservative of the bunch usually, and a veteran of Reagan's crazy Granada War and Reagans revenge showboat bombardment of Lebanon after his mistakes with the marine deployment there, said that he actually watched George W on his softball interview on Meet the Press the other day and declared him a loser.
Third that having a bunch of computer types in the house for a few days may not create the best conversation, but they sure can solve my internet and computer woes.
I learned that "rules" exist for tipping the guy who delivers appliances ( I never tipped them ) as well as rules for how much to spend on lots of other things. I never followed any of them either.