Meats of Yore

A couple of days ago I tried canned deviled ham again for the first time in decades.

I have survived the experiment, with no ill effects so far. It was a lot greasier than I remember it being.

And we now have a farmer's market in town. There's a local cattle farm that sells their own meats. I tried a spicy Italian sausage which wasn't bad last week; today I bought a London broil, though it might be a while before I try that.

The New Yorker had a recent article on the many evils of processed food, especially factory meats, but I can't bring myself to eat vegetarian. No amount of liberal East Coast elitist nagging will do it.

Larry Craig Bobblefoot Night

Yes, folks, you can't make this stuff up.

The St. Paul Saints of the Independent League in Minnesota had a Larry Craig Bobblefoot Night (scroll down some for the image).

Too bad Minnesota is so far from Rhode Island. I would have gladly driven 300 miles or more for one of those babies, even if gas was $10 a gallon.

It Don't Mean a Thing...

...if you aint got that King.

So Nepal joins the long list of countries that have deep-sixed their monarchies. At least the Nepalese had a tragic Shakespearean reason or three to do it.

King Gyanendra ascended after his nephew Dipendra died, who in turn was King for only 3 days (and in a coma!).

Dipendra had been blamed for the 2001 brutal massacre of the previous king, Birendra (Gyanendra's brother) and the rest of the royal family. The public viewed Gyanendra as responsible for the massacre even though Dipendra was the official culprit. Gyanendra had spent much of 2005 dissolving the Nepalese parliament.

From April 2006 Gyannedra's status has been that of a ceremonial monarch. He was then deposed peacefully 3 days ago (May 28, 2008) and Nepal became a federal republic. So much for ceremony...

Welcome Nepal! Long live your tiny republic!

Now how long before this tale becomes a hit on Broadway?

Bob Barr: This Year's Nader

So Bob Barr has finagled the Libertarian Party nod. Good for him!

"I'm sure we will emerge here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party," Barr stated in his victory speech shortly after being selected as the Party's nominee. "I want everybody to remember that we only have 163 days to win this election. We cannot waste one single day."

Yes...waste not, want not. I don't really foresee this as having much impact in the general. Obama will crush McSurge like hot grape. But it could be fun watching the returns from places where third party candidates historically do well, such as Alaska.

On a trivia note...when was the last time a Presidential canddiate had facial hair?

And Schicklgruber notwithstanding, moustaches are usually pretty good indicators of electoral failure (see the early John Rowland, former CT governor and felon, who had a moustache and lost the CT governor's race, then shaved and won, if I remember correctly...).

Snuggle Time

McSurge is running low on fundage for his doomed campaign.

Call in the Grand Pioneer hisself: George W. Bush!

``Any sitting president, even one whose approval rating is in the low 30s, can raise money,'' said Jim Pinkerton, a Republican strategist. ``McCain has to distance himself from Bush, but he also has to reassure the Republican base -- and that means snuggling up.''

Mmmmm. Snuggling up to W. Doesn't get any cozier than that!

100 Years Ago in June

June 30, 1908 specifically.

That's the date the Tunguska event occurred - a large meteor or comet asploded above the forest in the Tunguska region of Siberia. The resulting explosion knocked down millions of acres of trees, and lit up places like London, thousands of miles away - Londoners were reportedly able to read at night by the resulting light of the event.

According to a report in this month's Scientific American, a group of Italian scientists believe they've located a meter-wide remnant that continued down to Earth and created a small lake with its impact crater.

The Italians are going to try to recover the meteorite and prove once and for all that the event was caused by something natural, and not by the midair collision of alien spacecraft or something quasi-bizarre like the passing of a mini-black hole through the Earth.

Frog March, Not So Interrupted

So the House Judiciary Committee has finally subpoenaed Karl Rove, Bush's Brain.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall at their closed door meetings. Are they prepared to go the Inherent Contempt route?

I'd love to see that. Rove arrested in Texas by the House Sergeant-at-Arms, flown back to Congress in handcuffs, tried in the well of the House and imprisoned for the balance of the Congressional term.

Oh, and let's hope they grab Miers and Bolten while they're at it.

The Tenacity of Life, or Lack Thereof

I'm building a stone wall. Living on an old New England plot that used to be farmland generations ago, there are remnants of the former clearings in the shape of boulder piles. These rocks are perfect for constructing a stone wall, and I've had a hankering to build one ever since I moved here to Rhode Island ten years ago.

So up it goes. The piles have been there so long that the outer stones are covered in lichen...so I've saved the best of these for the wall topstones. They give my new wall the street cred of something ancient.

Now lichen are weird. Dry crispy blue green flakes of life that take decades to grow, subsisting on air, ambient moisture and rock. When we find alien plant life, I think much of it will resemble lichen.

Another slow growing plant we have a lot of is moss. Last year I accidently stripped a large section of moss from the south side of our yard, very close to the house. The soil beneath was dark brown and very rich looking.  I thought about reseeding it with grass, but never got around to it. Then when I walked by it one day last fall I resolved to leave it alone, just to see what Nature, abhorer of vacuums, would insert in its place. I've been checking this tabula rasa regularly ever since.

So what has Nature provided me with? Absolutely NOTHING. I have boulders and piles of boulders covered with rock-sucking lichen that might thrive on the Moon, but here's a 10 square foot patch of rich soil, that used to support moss, for peat's sake (pun intended) with no signs of life whatsoever.

What gives?

Bush Calls Dems 'Appeasers'; McSurge & Joe Agree

Who are the only 2 people racing to Bush's defense, after he used his speech to the Knesset to deride Obama and Dems as akin to Nazi appeasers?

1) St. John McSurge, natch.

2) LIEberman, channeling Zell Miller. When will Joe get his comeuppance?

Kudos to Hillary for coming to Obama's defense. And Biden, who can drone endlessly at times, simply called it "bullshit." Kerry, Pelosi and Reed all made statements attacking Mr. 19%.

The GOP's Mississippi loss the other day has finally emboldened the Dems.

Weeding Out The Halfodils

We used to have daffodils in bunches in the front yard, on either side of our garage.

Two years ago we relandscaped to create a front yard garden - the goal was to have mulch beds with blue hydrangeas spaced about 6 feet apart. A simple look, that was simple to keep. The landscaper we hired to cut out the beds and rototill must have tilled the existing daffodils randomly. So now we have the scallion-like shoots of the daffodils all over, but no flowers. The resulting appearance is very weedy looking. So we spent part of Mother's Day weeding out these halfodils.

My wife was quite happy doing this on Mother's Day; in fact, it was her choice lest you think I'm some kind of awful slave-driving gardening tyrant. I could live with halfodils and weeds alone, believe me. In fact, if it wasn't so environmentally unsound I'd probably pave the yard rather than maintain it, if it was just up to me.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Illustrated Man

...was a great short story collection from Ray Bradbury. I spent many childhood evenings reading of Martian antics attributed to that tattooed individual.

And then there's Delonte West, of the Cleveland Cavaliers. His tattoos don't tell stories, at least not coherent ones. Apparently among his many body drawings, he has a tattoo of a Chinese character on his neck. He told a reporter he hopes it means "Strength." When asked why he qualified the statement, West said that when he goes into Chinese grocery stores people point and stare and start laughing at him.

I have no tattoos. But you better believe if I ever do, it will be of lettering and symbolism that I am thoroughly acquainted with.

Abort! Abort! Abort!

"Danger, Will Robinson!"

Now Google ads is trying to draw me into controversy by running a link to a New York Times article about The Abortion Debate.

There's no debate in my mind. I am a man; I never have to have one, and it really isn't any of my business imposing my will on other women. I'd like to see less of them, of course...I don't know of anyone who wants more.

The Newport Cliff Walk in May

Today started out overcast. My little one's softball practice went smoothly.

And then it was off to Newport for the afternoon. We drove directly to Ocean Drive. Parked and attacked the Cliff Walk from the far end, and headed back east. Usually we start on the town beach side and head south and west along the Mansions and Salve Regina University before quitting at the pagoda and its tunnel.

So this time we reached the pagoda from the other direction, and I may expire a happy man, knowing the I've completed the entire Cliff Walk, albeit in pieces. We probably walked about 6 miles, my wife and I.

The fragrant beach roses are not blooming yet, but the views were still spectacular against the blueblue sky and the occasional cotton puff ball clouds.

Stopped in town for a celebratory burger and beer. Ran into an old friend from a previous job, shot the proverbial breeze.

A very relaxing way to start the weekend. I wish I could do this more often...

Sucks Getting Old

I played softball with my cousins last night.

Nothing special happened...unfortunately we lost 9-7. I pitched well, fielded poorly, and went 3 for 3 with a double. But the mere act of running from home to 2nd on the double left me winded. 

And today, I could barely walk. My left heel is killing me, and I have no idea why. This is the weird and unexpected thing for me as I age...acquiring random injuries of unknown origin.

I have to run around tomorrow, too, as I coach my little one's softball team. Something tells me that an afternoon nap and beer may be in order.

La Dolce Vito

You hear about Congresscritters misbehaving from time to time...and you hear about regular folks who lead double lives (separate families in different states, for example).

Thanks to Vito Fossella, (R-NY) you get to hear about both.

Iron Man

Saw Iron Man last night.

Now I like Robert Downey, Jr., and he was solid as the modern-day Oscar Wilde-ish billionaire playboy Tony Stark, but it was the presence of Jeff Bridges as the heavy that convinced me to go see this movie. Bridges did not disappoint. His portrayal of Obadiah Stane, Stark's nemesis, was excellent...full of smarm, fake camaraderie, and bluster.

I was surprised to see Gwyneth Paltrow cast as Stark's assistant and potential love interest, though. But she did a credible job as well.

Overall, I liked it. I give it 3.5 out of 4 Vitamin-Enriched Xanax, on the Manic Indolence Scale. Perfect escape-from-reality movie.

60 Minutes v. Wade

60 Minutes had another interesting piece on tonight...this time a look at the prosecutorial misconduct of the infamous Henry Wade.

Henry Wade was the Dallas County, Texas District Attorney for over 30 years...In fact, Roe v. Wade was the first case he ever lost. He was also the prosecutor in the Jack Ruby trial.

Apparently Wade's modus operandi was to ignore evidence that might exonerate his defendants, thereby ensuring that anyone he charged went away to prison for decades, if not the rest of their lives.

The 60 Minutes piece examined the 15 cases of Wade's that Project Innocence Texas has overturned so far, primarily through exculpatory DNA evidence. The freed men gave moving interviews. And kudos to the current DA, who is cooperating with the Project Innocence Texas folks to expedite the claims.

No Explaining the Ads on this Site

When I write about my Volvo, I get Volvo ads.
When I write about Spam, I get meat ads.
When I write about Hillary or Obama, I get political ads.

So when I write about ticks on our puppy Toffee, I get "Meet Sexy Singles" ads.

Huh? Is there some new fetish out there that I am not aware of?

Uptick in Tick Updates

Toffee's tick has vacated his eyelid.

We managed to get an appointment for Thursday morning to remove said tick, but by then he had left the building. Jacqueline and I scoured his bedding and his sleeping area, to no avail.

But the Tick finally re-emerged later that day, scuttling around on Toffee's neck.

J wrapped him in paper and flushed him to the Great Tick Beyond. Yay!