A thick layer of dust enshrouds this blog.
It's not that there's nothing to say. In fact quite the opposite. But others are saying it so much better than I.
Here's a new blog offering up one perspective on the Alaska governor's decision to step aside.
The MSM and the Beltway insiders are incapable of comprehending how somebody might wish to effect change without the trappings of insider power.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Credit where credit is due
Finally, I have an opportunity to say something nice about Obama.
Not the President.
First Lady Michelle Obama offered some good advice to students in one of D.C.'s under performing schools. The details here.
(Huge h/t to Betsy Newmark)
(Photo from the White House collection)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
My new favorite blog
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Is it really a jar of mayo?
There are so many urgent matters taking our time these days. A nasty recession (but not the worst since the Depression - but keep talking it down,) the rise of socialism, the man made global warming myth, I could go on.However, today there are bigger fish to fry. And after frying, slathering them in tartar sauce. But tartar sauce made with mayonnaise or with a revolting substitute.
Like me, Christopher Taylor at Word Around the Net is a purist when it comes to condiments.
Miracle Whip is one of those nasty fifties products that was marketed with dozens of recipes that James Lileks loves to mock. It is the same sort of bastard demon child of real food as Sandwich Spread and Spam.His full article may be enjoyed by clicking here. Come back when you're finished, if you don't mind.
Some people, dump this industrial waste into recipes such as cole slaw to get that nasty sweet assault on your senses.
I'll wait.
Oh, you're back. Thanks. Let me pick up where Mr. Taylor left off.
Miracle Whip is an abomination.
Because several misguided members of our extended family suffer from the delusion that this pitiful substitute condiment tastes good, my dear wife makes two types of potato salad for family gatherings. One version is made with pure, delicious mayonnaise (Hellmann's of course) - while the other is slathered in that toxic waste called Miracle Whip. Invariably, the bowl of good potato salad is emptied first.
Similar family feuds also erupt over butter and substitute spreads (yes, I'm looking at you, yellow container. And I can and do believe it's not butter!)
For so many things in our society, the pale imitation has been marketed so well, that it is often preferred over the real deal.
Come to think of it, that might explain why we have the president we do.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Windy and living right
Lincoln Day 2009 brought a rather intense wind storm to western Pennsylvania -much of the eastern U.S., really - causing power outages and other mayhem.
We had some odds and ends blown around our porch and the wind got under the the grill cover, all too briefly turning it into a light than air craft. It landed face down in the muddy back yard.
The more interesting development was noticing a neighbor's trampoline parked in the spot where my car usually spends the night.
For no particular reason, the night before, I had parked the car a little further back in the parking area than usual. The result was a near miss instead of lengthy conversations with the neighbor and insurance adjusters.
I count myself fortunate.
We had some odds and ends blown around our porch and the wind got under the the grill cover, all too briefly turning it into a light than air craft. It landed face down in the muddy back yard.
The more interesting development was noticing a neighbor's trampoline parked in the spot where my car usually spends the night.
For no particular reason, the night before, I had parked the car a little further back in the parking area than usual. The result was a near miss instead of lengthy conversations with the neighbor and insurance adjusters.
I count myself fortunate.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
We're here to help
This old yarn has been around awhile. I needed a good chuckle; this delivered:
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.
The driver, a distinguished looking man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?”
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, “Sure, Why not?”
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany .
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”
“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then the Bud says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?”
“You’re a Congressman for the U.S. Government”, says Bud.
“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”
“No guessing required.” answered the cowboy. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don’t know a thing about cows…this is a herd of sheep. .
Now give me back my dog.
(h/t Duncan at And Rightly So!)
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.
The driver, a distinguished looking man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?”
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, “Sure, Why not?”
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany .
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”
“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then the Bud says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?”
“You’re a Congressman for the U.S. Government”, says Bud.
“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”
“No guessing required.” answered the cowboy. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don’t know a thing about cows…this is a herd of sheep. .
Now give me back my dog.
(h/t Duncan at And Rightly So!)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Hello world. I'm here.
I haven't had much to say; still trying to digest the reality of the election.
Although, either way we would have a Democrat in the White House. So there's that.
Also, I don't think BO would approve of my views:
(h/t Cassy Fiano)
Although, either way we would have a Democrat in the White House. So there's that.
Also, I don't think BO would approve of my views:
(h/t Cassy Fiano)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sad day, PittGirl hangs it up
How sad that I should break my silence with news that one of the brightest, most talented, and entertaining bloggers I've had the pleasure to read has abruptly closed her blog.
The burghblog has been taken down.
Here's a portion of PittGirl's final post:
We'll miss you PittGirl. I do hope you find a way to share your voice with us on your terms.
The burghblog has been taken down.
Here's a portion of PittGirl's final post:
Her perspectives on all things Pittsburgh will be missed. It may be her success that led to this sudden end. Pittsburgh Magazine featured her in a recent cover story, and she was to have been the focus of an article in another Pittsburgh-themed site, Pop City, from where we learn more about why the anonymous PittGirl called it quits:I don’t know what I want to say here, but I know I have to say something so I’ll just start writing and you guys read along, okay?
I’ve got to say goodbye to you all.
And that really sucks and I’d be lying if I said I’m not incredibly sad about it because I didn’t realize how much a part of my life this blog has been for three years. It seemed like a little side thing I did and not a very important thing, but now that I’m cutting it away, I’m realizing what a big cut and a deep cut it really is. And how much it is hurting to let it go.
I hope you’ll trust me that I’m doing what I must do, for my comfort level, for my privacy and for my life.
I don't know what I can tell you other than my identity has been compromised and that means shutting it (the blog) down because of my job. It's important that I be proactive in removing all traces of my writing from the web if there is any risk of my identity becoming public.Dennis Roddy, a writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a journalist I've known for decades offers this succinct recap:
Therefore, the blog was nuked this morning after five days of deliberation on my part. It wasn't an easy decision, but I know that it was the right decision for me. I can't say who learned my identity because I don't want that person being the subject of inquiries as to his/her knowledge. It's better this way.
In a retirement worthy of Greta Garbo, PittGirl, the sassy and clued-in high priestess of Pittsburgh blogging, called it quits yesterday in a bid to preserve her status as an anonymous celebrity.I, for one, enjoyed the fact that she chose to remain anonymous. What is most surprising, I guess, is that she managed to retain that status for so long.
We'll miss you PittGirl. I do hope you find a way to share your voice with us on your terms.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Class act
"Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama — whether they supported me or Senator Obama.
I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.
Americans never quit. We never surrender.
We never hide from history. We make history." -- John McCain, November 3, 2008.
God bless America.
(h/t Deacon Greg)
I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.
Americans never quit. We never surrender.
We never hide from history. We make history." -- John McCain, November 3, 2008.
God bless America.
(h/t Deacon Greg)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Vote!
Update: 10:30 PM
So much for my prognostication skills. The Obama Machine did a stellar job of getting out the urban and youth vote. Much higher turnout that I would have thought. Overall turnout seems extremely high - and despite the outcome, that is a good thing for our nation. We will survive four years of BO, but I suspect it is not going to be pretty.
And John Murtha has no intention of going quietly into the long goodnight. With just over a quarter of the votes counted, the controversial Democrat is pulling away with a landslide victory over challenger Bill Russell. I picked the winner, but missed badly on the margin.
----------
Do it.
Predictions:
McCain takes PA, VA, OH, FL. Tops 330 Electoral votes.
Murtha takes PA 12th by <>
Keith Obamarman melts down live on MSNBC.
That is all.
So much for my prognostication skills. The Obama Machine did a stellar job of getting out the urban and youth vote. Much higher turnout that I would have thought. Overall turnout seems extremely high - and despite the outcome, that is a good thing for our nation. We will survive four years of BO, but I suspect it is not going to be pretty.
And John Murtha has no intention of going quietly into the long goodnight. With just over a quarter of the votes counted, the controversial Democrat is pulling away with a landslide victory over challenger Bill Russell. I picked the winner, but missed badly on the margin.
----------
Do it.
Predictions:
McCain takes PA, VA, OH, FL. Tops 330 Electoral votes.
Murtha takes PA 12th by <>
Keith Obamarman melts down live on MSNBC.
That is all.
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