2013 archive
The Fever Isn’t Catching 0
The resident curmudgeon at my local rag takes the temperature of this area, home of the largest complex of military bases in the world, and finds no sign of war fever.
In fact, quite the opposite.
ROI 0
Jonnie Williams, he of the magickal nicotine pills, expensed many of his “grifts” to the Regent as business expenses.
Really.
Gamed 0
Noz keeps his poker face.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, September 5.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)
Stray Thought 0
Persons who complain about “political correctness” signify their wish for a free pass to be offensive.
Recency Affairs 0
Life for the Regent, aka Governor Ultrasound, is getting more and more interesting.
His claims of being an innocent buystander bystander, an unknowing victim caught in a shower of unnoticed largess from a smooth-talking marketeer wanting favors from the Commonwealth, seem to be getting shakier and shakier.
The Republican War on Science 0
A clear and present danger to the Republic:
Bad Hair Daze 0
Back in the olden days, when I was a young ‘un and the Beatles came on the scene, schools invested lots of energy in mandating that boys not grow their hair.
It was considered a sign of the Apocalyse for boys to have hair even a couple of inches longer than a short back and sides, let alone as long as an American icon such as Buffalo Bill.
Indeed, one of my fellow students, a star pitcher on the baseball team a year or so ahead of me, was ordered to cut his hair because it was too long; mind you, these days, he wouldn’t be noticed. In a brilliant seizure of malicious compliance, he shaved his head. As this was long before the “bald look” was the Next Big Thing, the principal* ordered him to wear a toboggan cap until his hair grew out, so a toboggan cap it was for the rest of the school year.
By the time a few more years had passed, the high school hair wars were recognized to have been a phenomenally stupid waste of energy over stupid stuff.
It is comforting sign of continuity to know that school administrations have not lost their ability to waste energy over stupid stuff.
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*The principal was a fairly reasonable guy. His family was friends with my family and we used occasionally to visit them in their house, where my brother and I would play with their daughters.
He attended my mother’s funeral as the last surviving member of their bridge club.
Back then, long hair on boys made lots of grown-ups stupid.
Mileys To Go before We Sleep 0
In the Roanoke Times, Tim Harvey suggests that we shouldn’t take Miley Cyrusly.*
The author of Ecclesiastes was way ahead of us on this one when he wrote:
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Read the rest, in which he suggests some things worth worrying about.
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*I know. That was soooooo last week.
Dulcet Tones 0
In which I bake honey wheat bread.
Flashers 0
And I thought “flash mobs” were so three years ago.
Afterthought:
One of the legacies of the wedding industrial complex is that proposals are no longer private, personal, and intimate. They have become Spectacles, and not the kind I wear, thank you.
I once watched a fellow propose on the stage of a playhouse during the curtain call for the last performance of a community theatre production.
The lady accepted on the stage.
But Second Son, who performed in the play, told me later that all hell broke loose in green room.
It took the fellow six months to regain the ground that he lost.
Piping in the Pablum 2
Jamesetta Walker goes shopping for a better deal on a television connection and finds it an unpleasant experience.
Find out why at the link.