Idle thought

After Monday and Tuesday even the workweek calendar says W T F.

Idle thought

Overheard TV commentary: “The question is how much is healthcare reform going to cost the taxpayers and the government.”

Is there something here I’m missing? Aren’t the taxpayers and the government pretty much the same thing? Isn’t separating the two somewhat disingenuous (or ignorant)?

Idle thought

Does the guy doing the Olympic hockey gold medal play-by-play think we don’t have video? Geez, we can see what’s happening already.

That notwithstanding, what a great, great hockey game!

Idle thought

Damn Chileans and their pact with the devil.

Idle thought

Northern Virginia —

I lived in the Virginia suburbs and worked in downtown Washington, D.C., for fifteen years and no one was ever quicker to laugh at the mass hysteria and weather wimpiness that frequents this area.

But today is not that day. This is a serious storm with as much as two-feet of snow already on the ground. A hangar roof at Dulles has collapsed. Power is out for tens of thousands. Neighborhood streets are impassable.

This area simply does not have the equipment to move that much snow. You can’t just plow (at least not at airports and on dense city streets). You also have to truck the snow away. Having the capacity to handle a 100-year blizzard would not be reasonable use of ever tighter funds (and like children we Americans all want less “government,” and lower taxes, and yet can’t understand when we have fewer services).

Yes, the snow will melt and the world will return to whatever normal is. But not soon.

Idle thought

Things you learn when you take your grandson to pre-school: “our flag is rojo, blanco y azul.”

Idle thought

I realize I am just a cranky old guy fast approaching geezer-hood, but am I the only one who finds it odd (rude?) when I am conducting business with someone — like just now on the telephone — and they start addressing me by my first name?

Perhaps I just notice it because they call me Kenneth (the name on my credit cards, etc.) and not Ken (the name I use with people I am on a first name basis with).

Shuffleboard, anyone?

Idle thought

What exactly does “native people” mean?

In the post before this about Acadia National Park the Park Service says, “Evidence suggests native people first lived here at least 5,000 years ago.” Well, who lived there 6,000 years ago or 10,000 years ago? And where did the “native people” of 5,000 years ago live before they lived at what is now Acadia National Park?

And if all humans originated in Africa, as is pretty certain, then who really qualifies as native people anyway?

Crayola Evolution

Crayola Evolution: 1903-2010.

An interesting graphic of the explosion of colors from the original eight.

Idle thought

Chargers fans. What were you expecting? Your coach is Norv Turner.

Idle thought

If I were God we wouldn’t have earthquakes where people live, and we especially wouldn’t have them where poor people live in already tragic circumstances.

Idle thoughts

I’m changing some things around here at home — moved the iMac into the bedroom so I can more comfortably watch internet movies on it; stuff like that. I find that Apple, Hulu and Netflix streaming videos are about equal to DVD quality. And I have the Bose Companion 3 for audio, so music and movies on the computer sound very, very good.

Until now, for several years, I had a receiver in this room with Marantz speakers. The speakers sound wonderful, but they were always a little in the way — they’re the kind of floor speakers we all had decades ago, about two-feet high.

They should go.

But I’ve had them for 34 years! They’re like family heirlooms. Giving them to charity is too cold — like giving an old pet to charity. I need to find a good home for them.

Shocked, I tell you, I am shocked

Mark McGwire admits to using steroids.

Sarah Palin signs with Fox News.

Idle thought

Got the software and took an early look at my 2009 income taxes. The good news is I actually had enough medical expenses last year to get a deduction. The bad news is I actually had enough medical expenses last year to get a deduction.

Also, as I pay off my mortgage the interest deduction decreases some each year. Isn’t it nice how the property taxes go up in almost perfect coordination to keep the net deduction the same?

Does anybody actually

… buy Valentine cards in December? Photo taken at Target yesterday.

Idle thought

I don’t know about you all, but this year I’ve traveled 584 million miles and I’m just about back where I started.

Same as last year.

Any ideas?

If you were a pair of pillowcases trying to make a run for it, once you left the linen closet, where would you hide out?

Just askin’.

Cuff links

This story is beyond sad — Mexican Hero’s Family Killed. When are we north of the border going to take responsibility for some of what is happening south of the border because we like illegal Mexican imports so much?

The Last Living American Veteran of WWI is 108-years-old. He was 16 when he enlisted. There’s a 10-minute video interview.

Dan Neil doesn’t think much of Tiger Woods or professional golf. A sample:

My take-away is simply this: Sponsors, run. It doesn’t matter if you’re backing Davis Love III or Ernie Els or Vijay Singh; save your money. Honda, Deutsche Bank, MasterCard, Shell, make a break for it. For the immediate future, the branding opportunities of professional golf have been utterly vacated by l’affair d’tigre. Tiger Woods was and is the sum and whole of the game. He was and is the purest, most unalloyed product of the sport and culture of golf. And when all that is golf was cooked in fate’s crucible and poured down this young man’s gullet, the result was the perfect player who hasn’t breathed an honest breath in years, a jerk — Joe Francis with a 400-yard drive. Tiger’s failure is golf’s summary bankruptcy and indictment.

Camelot fell when Lancelot sinned against the realm. Same deal here.

Gawker tells liberals to shut up. A sample:

Remember when Bush attempted to negotiate an international climate deal, pass a jobs-focused economic stimulus, reform the nation’s health care industry, and come up with a hopefully coherent plan to end the Afghanistan war in one year? And remember how his attempts at all those things were stymied by an uncooperative and undemocratic Senate, but he still managed to make real and tangible gains on each of them? Oh, no, you probably don’t remember that because it was a joke we were making about how you have lost all sense of perspective.

Emily Yoffe explains Why, exactly, our brothers and sisters drive us so crazy.

Evolutionary behaviorists are trying to understand why it is that the emotional connection, and conflicts, between siblings can last a lifetime. The prevailing theory is that it all comes down to math. With our nearest relatives—each parent, our full-siblings, and our children, we share 50 percent of our novel genes. This overlap, and gap, helps explain the continual cycle of family love and conflict.

There’s more. BTW, don’t we share 100% of our genes with our siblings? What am I missing here?

Katherine Boehret of The Mossberg Solution explains what Windows users need to know when they switch to Mac. You might want to save this for when you switch. You will, you know?

Oh, and you can get a pretty good deal on a Saab right now. But consider this first —

Every year on Dec. 24 at 3 p.m., half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, “From All of Us to All of You.” Or as it is known in Sverige, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul: “Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas.”

Jeremy Stahl of Slate Magazine elaborates.

Idle thought

Holy shit! Christmas is next week!

Idle thought

I’m watching the Heisman Trophy show and wondering if it is possible for there to be more clichés in 60 minutes.

[How come O.J. never shows up with the other past winners?]

Idle thought

Ephraim argues for wait-and-see in the face of what he thinks is uncertainty about planetary temperature changes. Of course, he is wrong to begin with. The data is conclusive. But even if we were to agree that it is not, his logic is flawed.

If we lack sufficient data, that means that margin for error in the existing data is greater. And margin of error is given as PLUS or MINUS.

The consensus among those that study the problem is that the temperature will rise by 2-3º F this century. Ephraim says their data is incomplete. That means their data has a margin of error of lets just say ±3º. So, maybe it will turn out that with better data and better models the temperature will actually be about the same in 100 years as it is today.

BUT IT IS JUST AS LIKELY with better data and better models that we will find the temperature will rise even more than the current predictions. The margin of error is PLUS or minus.

Doing nothing now is stupid.

Moral dilemma

Strictly hypothetical mind you: Is it OK to eat whipped cream by itself?

Idle thought

We’re half-way from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve.

How you doin’?

Idle thought

Every one of us will be one day closer to death tomorrow than we are today.

Have a nice day.

Idle thought

We had a small discussion hereabouts yesterday about whether Tiger Woods should talk to the police. The answer is, of course, that no he shouldn’t. He has that right. We all have that right.

He doesn’t have to let them in the house either. He has that right. We all have that right.

But I have a question about a different kind of situation. Here in Albuquerque, as in many locations, we have routine roadblocks for DWI enforcement. The one time I’ve encountered one of these roadblocks, I was asked whether I had had anything to drink. I answered, truthfully, that I had not.

Did I have to answer that question?