[date Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 10:54 AM]
PN:
I have sworn for years that as soon as I’m able, Canadian winter and moi will part company. This is now under review.
After all, what does “able” mean? This winter’s deep reflexion on the “little three” (who am I? where did I come from? where am I going?) has revealed a crack in the mortar. (I would usually say “chink in the armor”, but I’m trying to curtail the racist comments….) I have a streak of weak. Who the hell wants to be pushed around by weather? I feel such shame. FY Winter! I’m tougher and more enduring than your petty 20 below tantrums. I AM ABLE! Turn up the thermostat, open a good book (there are soooo many!), pour a mug of filial Ringwood juice, then grin and wear it! Cabin fever – that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
Weather or not, Spring will feel pretty damn fine when she gets here. (There is no way Spring could be masculine. That there is my ONLY concession to that ridiculous language called “French” (whatever that means.))
CANADADDY
ONTAR-E-I -O
Politicians must be prohibited from making ANY fiscal decisions regarding new technology until that technology is proven. I feel sorry for my birth province’s citizens. What is that about the road to Hell?:
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/01/25/blowin-in-the-wind
Funding for research and development? You betcha – with tight control on budget, timeline, results. What a bunch of well meaning asshats. You can’t legislate technology into being. You can’t legislate creativity.
More evidence the United Nations (which nations, and how united?) is a crock ‘o shite:
http://www.investorvillage.com/groups.asp?mb=6966&mn=38224&pt=msg&mid=12489991
To ANYONE who doesn’t see through the U.N. agenda – you might be a pinhead.
Kathy Shaidle has an ascorbic review of liberal Canadian political futures in Taki Mag:
http://takimag.com/article/canadas_hair_apparent_kathy_shaidle#axzz2JMo9Kjx9
I’m inclined to agree. You CAN fool all of the people ALL of the time…………
U.S. OF HEY!
Lots of Obamby cartoons showing up with ….GASP!!…… GUNS! Can’t possibly be a coincidence, da? Seems like dumbass gets a full pardon from the MSM every time he sticks his foot in his mouth. Gotta love cartoonists. Some of them are fighters –
I couldn’t watch the inaugural speech. Just couldn’t. Thank the Lord for cartoonists! –
The following caption sums up the picture quite well. Mr. Nixon was very intelligent…. and somewhat clairvoyant –
Think you can tell the difference between quotes of raving leftist commie basterds (I lernd ta spel frum movees) and pinko progressives? Try these out:
http://olbroad.com/2013/01/30/trivia/#more-66922
The answers shouldn’t be a surprise to no more than 70% of the American populace. How about Kanuckistan? I ain’t bragging, but I knew they were all “none of the above” because the quotes, quite frankly, sounded illiterate. Consider the source…..
How about them taxes? Here’s an eye opener –
Here’s another thought to ponder. With 16,000 more “Feds” hired to administer Obamanation Care, how long will it be until they pass laws against certain food items? Video here:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=1xUfocxS-T8]
I swear I could taste that pan fried fish….
GUN DEBACLE SHEMOZZLE
Here is an interesting juxtaposition of moral objectivity, philosophical dissonance, and brutal reality. Man saves child from a savage attack by three Pit Bulls. He did this by shooting the dogs – cop shows up and helps shoot. Child rushed to hospital – will survive. Man may be charged:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/338992/arrest-warrant-atticus-finch-michael-james-barton
There is Natural Law, and there is man-made law. The law of man isn’t made from the jawbone of an ass, but the law is often difficult to distinguish from the exhaust area of one.
An update on the gun industry in the United States:
http://directorblue.blogspot.ca/2013/01/update-status-of-gun-industry.html
Just a little bit more than citizens stocking up……
if you say, “Banning weed doesn’t stop anyone from getting it.” Then turn around and say, “We need to ban guns, there is too much gun crime.” …you might be a liberal (weed is, after all, illegal. Guns are second amendment A-OK)
Food for thought –
“If you are for gun control, then you are not against guns, because the guns will be needed to disarm people. So it’s not that you are anti-gun.
You’ll need the police’s guns to take away other people’s guns. So you’re very Pro-Gun, you just believe that only the Government (which is, of course, so reliable, honest, moral and virtuous…) should be allowed to have guns.
There is no such thing as gun control. There is only centralizing gun ownership in the hands of a small, political elite and their minions.”
INTERNATIONAL HIJINKS
Oh! those wacky Muslims!
Victor Davis Hanson exposing the whitewashing that hides the real nature of the Islamic threat:
http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/fantasies-about-radical-islam/
A quote from the article –
“The therapeutic approach sends the message to the young terrorist that we are in some way culpable for the violence that he intends to commit, that there may not be dangerous repercussions to his terrorist acts, or that we do not believe in the values of our culture as much as he does in his own.”
Well worth the time to read again – even if I read 100 words a minute with my lips moving…..
How can you possibly argue ANYTHING with the modern version of Cro-Magnon? I take that back….. the modern version of Neanderthal:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/01/bomb-blast-kills-two-more-polio-workers-in-pakistan/
I say give mercenary-minded rough men contracts, munitions, and free reign. Then celebrate their work. New reality show: “Big Time Bad Guy Bagging®”. Education won’t prevail if there isn’t a mind to absorb it.
“Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!” – Leonardo da Vinci
The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks
Here is an article from November, 2011, describing the mad scramble to find and purchase wood stoves in the devil-may-care white and blue entitlement culture of Greece:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/us-greece-heating-idUSTRE7AM25S20111123
The net result? Here is an article a few days old, describing the same issue further down the road:
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/22/169931378/under-a-cloud-of-austerity-real-smoke-clouds-greece-as-well
Seems like two things have happened: 1. Renewable energy sources are undependable, too expensive, inadequate to the task, and subsidized too extensively, out of proportion, via the public purse. 2. Law breaks down when survival (real or imagined) is threatened.
Winston Churchill is quoted as saying “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else. ” Lady Thatcher is quoted as stating “The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” There may not be a Greek equivalent….. one less than 2000 years old that is.
MUSIC STUFF (with bonus culture history notes)
A real gift for all passed along by Randy P. This website is a treasure trove of music. As I type this I’m listening to the 1941 jukebox. You can too! Pick yer own year / artist / genre:
Some history included with most….. The “12 Pack” feature is awesome!
Maybe I could start a new career singing. And drinking while I sing. Or singing when I’ve drunk. Whatever, here’s Keith Richards and Tom Waites playing pirates of the Iowa River:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=hJgWaqwZml4]
From the smile inducing album “Son of Rogue’s Gallery”. Here’s another from the original “Rogue’s Gallery” called “Fathom the Bowl”:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=kTj-8waBk7E]
As one sage commented – “I’m trying to sing along ’cause I’ve listened to this song so many times but the rum is making it difficult to accomplish. I’m top heavy and I’m loving it.I’ve fathomed the bowl and gone back for second and thirds and fourths…” 😀
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND IDEAS
Follow-up on the 3-D printer story from last week. A brief summation of how they work:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/01/23/f-3d-printing.html?cmp=rss
A very thought provoking presentation by Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal):
He states the current bubble is education (in a world of increasing bubble frequency). Some very astute observations from the edge, where all real innovation and change originates. Extremely thought provoking.
The world is waking to Thorium reactors. Here is a CBC article from 2007 aimed at a layperson:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/science/thorium.html
Here is another that is easy to understand:
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/2006/10/a-nuclear-reactor-in-every-home/
Norway is doing a 4 year test, but it isn’t a molten salt reactor:
http://singularityhub.com/2012/12/11/norway-begins-four-year-test-of-thorium-nuclear-reactor/
Looks like the Chinese will lead the world on this technological path.
But they don’t have Dancing with the Stars now, do they? Good grief…….
The Earth has zits!! Active volcanoes in Russia are providing a spectacular show:
Demolition Man strikes again! 16 demolition videos:
http://weburbanist.com/2008/03/05/16-sweet-and-scary-building-demolitions-in-action/
Another job I would have loved to do……..
ODDS & SODS
A graphic example of why I don’t surf – Garrett McNamara surfs a 100 foot wave in Portugal –
PHILOSOPHY (for Philistines)
The Big Three of course, is: Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? That is, Past, Present, Future. The philosopher ‘o the week is from the Past.
Leonardo da Vinci
“While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.”
SUNDAY SERMON
Leonardo da Vinci commands the pulpit – I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have…..
WEATHER (’tis nobler)
Some very good advice in the cartoon below. I’m smiling at the calender (August 31st) and marveling that the air conditioning bill this month was only $350 Cdn……. to bring the temperature down to a truly cool wear your booties and sweater, don’t fall to sleep in the hammock degree of blue-nose comfort. Only 4 months to go!
The Okanagan valley is wonderful to behold when the sun is shining……………..
Joe (wishy-washy) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez matured to perfection. From the cellar –