Author's archive
QOTD 0
Groucho Marx:
Afterthought:
I can’t provide the citation, but Bennett Cerf once wrote that Groucho also said,
My television has a six-foot screen. It’s a Japanese screen.
I put it front of the television and read a book.
Dodgy Descent 0
Some things run in families.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
American Heritage 0
Tony Norman reminds us that the past is not even past.
Experiments Fail, Even Noble Ones 0
Writing at The Roanoke Times, Pete Hamilton is not optimistic. A snippet:
Today it appears that Franklin’s cynicism might well be justified; that Hamilton’s optimism may have been premature; and that Lincoln’s bright vision of our national origins could possibly be approaching an inglorious conclusion. Could the American experiment in democracy be doomed to the same fate of those “petty republics” of ancient Greece and Rome?
Follow the link for the rest.
One Thing Is Not Like the Other Thing 0
In a fitting post for the Fourth of July, Gina Barreca muses on difference between patriotism and nationalism.
Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest. It will be worth your while.
Patriotism is about a desire for progress, not a yearning for repetition. It’s about wanting to be better, not just longing for an idea of what we think we once were. While it should be rooted in a knowledge of history, patriotism is more than a sentimental reverence for an idealized and nostalgic vision of what most people never possessed.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is slip-sliding away . . . .
Suffer the Children 0
Remember this while you grill your Fourth of July burgers: Here are your tax dollars at work.
Origins Issue 0
Badtux ponders the origins of wealth.
Meta: Up and Running 0
I mentioned earlier that we had a lighting strike that took out a computer, a printer, a KVM switch, a television, and two mini-boxes from the cable company.
I’ve got the replacement computer up and running with Debian 9 running the Plasma desktop. (The new television is up and running also.) As an aside, our cable company replaced the mini-boxes without a question. I must admit that I have some gripes with my cable company, but customer service is not one of them.
I had some truly oddball hardware issues with the computer when I first hooked it up and I have nothing but praise for ThinkPenguin’s support. When you want a new computer, think penguin.