Monday, December 30, 2019

California Logic

San Diego installed some years ago a bunch of cameras which caught people running red lights. Outrage ensued, of course. The lights interfered with "civil rights." No, not the right to run red lights, the right to "confront one's accuser." Seems you cannot argue with or discredit a camera.

So San Diego, and most of the surrounding suburbs, removed the cameras and went back to letting people get killed by people who ran red lights because they had protected their "civil rights." Of course those people were trampling all over the civil rights of the people they killed, but...

Then somebody noticed the lower death and injury rate in the one suburb which had not removed the cameras, and a movement began to reinstall the cameras in San Diego. The countermovement has new grounds for opposing the cameras, that being that cameras will cause an increase in rear end accidents as people who are not stopping for red lights will crash into people who are stopping for the cameras. Only in California.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Our Christmas Present

We have an appointment tomorrow to pick up our new family: Daisy, a calico, and her brother Skipper, black and white. They are very social cats, not quite five years old, and lost their home when their owner passed away. We have been catless for about seven months, so it's going to be a bit of an adjustment, but...

Friday, December 20, 2019

Can Nancy Remain In Office?

I'm not talking about this impeachment mess and her role, or lack thereof, in it. I'm talking about the number of times she has stood at the podium and babbled along with a vacant stare and in a manner suggesting that her brain is not connected to her mouth. Will voters in her district look at that and reelect her to yet another term?

Thursday, December 19, 2019

A Test Of... Courage?

from space

When I was a youngster my friends and I would play a game of seeing who could stand closest to (but not on) the tracks as freight trains came through at speed. There were steam engines pulling these trains, really big ones, with side rods flopping around, and often there were several engines pulling a train, so it was a considerable test of courage.

It was also a substantial display of stupidity, of course, but we were young males with far higher content of testosterone than of gray matter.

The engineers hated it, and would blow their whistles at us, which did nothing but encourage us of course. One engineer hit on the solution. He would open the cylinder drain cocks just before he got to us, which produces a major blast of live steam at ground level. (See above.) That dropped our testosterone levels quite a lot and very quickly.

He would then give us a couple of celebratory toots on his whistle as we showed him a rapidly diminishing view of our backsides and elbows.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Unicorns Again

The Washington Post tells us that "The House on Tuesday approved a massive $1.4 trillion spending package that would stave off a shutdown and fund the federal government through September." Really? That's almost ten months for a paltry $1.4 trillion, when the government has been spending more than $3.5 trillion per year for more than five years now. Is the Post delusional, or has there been massive budget cuts that we don't know about?

The question was rhetorical. I think we all know the answer.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Insanity

The following statement appeared in the New York Times today (behind a paywall), in reference to American military forces stationed within Syria.

“Commanders have requested guidance outlining how U.S. forces might deal with an attack from the assortment of armed groups, including Russian-backed Syrian government forces, that have, in the past, tried to seize territory held by the United States.”

The absurdity of that statement, presumably issued by someone with an IQ above room temperature, is off the scale. The question being asked, and the situation leading to the question, is the work of total idiots. The least stupid part of that question is that the Syrian Arab Army is not merely one of an “assortment of armed groups.” The real question should be phrased as,

“What do we do if the Syrian Arab Army tries to take back territory which we are illegally occupying within their country.”

How does a democratic nation come to such a pass?

Monday, December 02, 2019

Football Highlights

This was the best football weekend of the season. I will admit that Ohio State vs. Michigan was not everything that one might have wished for, but the Iron Bowl (Alabama/Auburn) not only lived up to expectations, it exceeded them. The game was even better than the final score (48-45) might lead one to believe. It was not busted plays or flukes, it was an entire game of outstanding football by both teams on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Edge of the seat stuff.

On Sunday the Ravens and 49ers game, despite being played in a downpour, or maybe because of it, was everything we all hoped it might be. It looked like the defense of both teams were not playing up to par because both offenses looked so proficient, until one looked at the scoreboard and realized the final score was only 20-17. That's the way football should be played; no spectacular plays, just solid, every play perfection.

The best couple moments came during the game between LSU and Texas A&M. One of them was not during the game and the other was not even on the football field. The first was when quarterback Joe Burrow came out before the game wearing a jersey with his name spelled "Burreaux." The home crowd went nuts. He changed it for one with his name spelled properly before the game.

The other came in the fourth quarter when, with LSU having a massive lead, they ceremoniously took Joe Burrow out of the game. It brought the house down, of course, as it was intended to do, and the camera panned to his parents in the stands. The look of love and pride on their faces was the best moment of the entire football weekend.