Longwood Gardens Conservatory. Photos taken by my 9-year-old grandson with an iPhone.

Two of our Thanksgiving desserts

Thanksgiving message

Gratitude is good for you.

Green bottles

Roses in November

Global warming--what's not to like?

Osama bin Laden appoints new second in command

He appears to be a man of mystery:

.Little is known about the shadowy al-Adel, who is also known by the names Muhammad al-Makkawi and Ibrahim al-Madani. Born in Egypt, al-Adel is said to have served as a colonel in its Special Forces.

I don't suppose we will get any more information about him, unless one of the fatheads on Sixty Minutes scores an on-air interview with him.  I don't look forward to this event.  I can certainly picture Mike Wallace trying to explore his human side, asking him about his hobby--collecting  fountain pens, perhaps, or bowling--his preference in beverages (decaf mint tea?) and how he is so busy running JihadsRUs that he doesn't get to spend as much time as he would like with the wife and kids.

I'm thinking of retiring from blogging

See, I've just won a lot of money and won't need the Adsense income:

Coca-Cola Prom

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And they didn't even ask for my bank account number--it must be authentic, right?

I especially like the name, Shawn Zulu.

I hope not...

but I fear this is true.

We have government without limits, unelected rulers, law enforcement without law, citizens without rights, courts without justice, and a vast pretense of "necessity" and "the consent of the governed" to cover all. Interest groups exist to promote each of these things, and in the usual case are opposed only by a vague and incoherent sense that "things have gotten out of hand." Every two years, we troop to the polls to elect new executives, legislators, and judges...yet no matter whom our ballots elevate, things remain "out of hand," if indeed they don't grow even more so. 

Celebrating Remembrance Day

British Muslims ruin sacred day.

Why don't they celebrate their rejection of British culture by returning their welfare checks?

Decorating from the Good Will

Thanks, Tony

Don't buy into the Muslim narrative.

Vase

This is a vase I got at Good Will. I think it is called "end of day." Does anyone know?

My root canal--the most fun I've had in a month

That's an exaggeration--but at least while my mouth was open and my dentist's hand in it no-one could call and ask me to take a phone survey on behalf of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, various individuals who were running for office, etc, ad nauseam.

The last month has been full of frustration.  First there was the long (25 days) struggle to see the cardiologist about Mr Charm's pacemaker.  Fortunately neither of us was bleeding heavily, so we lived through it, saw the cardio (nothing wrong with the pacemaker, see the neurologist) and received a profuse apology from the practice manager.

Yesterday, it was apparent that everything was going to go wrong, including a nervous breakdown on the part of the GPS.   I sensed that things were going to continue to go wrong.  The gods of petty annoyance were picking on us, and would continue to do so until they were tired of us and went to pick on somebody else.

We were late for the neurologist appointment, but signed the patient attendance sheet and were assured he would see us, as soon as possible.  We sat there watching other patients go in and out.  I managed to read a whole issue of the New Yorker, a relatively recent one .  More patients come and go.  Some come while we are sitting there and go while we are still sitting there.  I ask the female at the desk what is happening.  She informs me that he is trying to fit us in, but she can't ask him because he is With a Patient.   Short of calling her a liar, there was nothing I could do, although I was pretty sure her story would not hold up in a court of law.  She then deserted her post.  No-one took her place.

At last the office is deserted except for us and Deborah from Billing, sitting at another window and doing something, possibly to do with billing.  I finally collared her, and told her we had been waiting.  I was afraid the neurologist would decamp from another exit, which he was actually about to do.  But she caught him and Mr Charm had his exam.  The doctor told us he did not know we were there, and I believed him.  I actually knew this from the start, but it took three hours for it to be apparent to everyone else.

Toy trains at Longwood Gardens

November roses

I picked these this morning--not bad for November 2.

Saguaro cactus Christmas tree?

Seen at the Good Will store. It has little hooks all over it, my guess is that it is a saguaro cactus Christmas tree. Or not.

Halloween

We just turned off the outside light and declared trick or treat closed, due to depletion of treats.  We had a lot of children, many of whom I recognized from the neighborhood, including one or two who haven't really perfected their lines and just stand and gawk at you until you give them candy.  I was pleased to see so many little guys, but noticed that they were all accompanied by adults.

Due to the (unfounded) rumors of poisoned Halloween candy, people are reluctant to let their children out at night these days.  When my kids were little they used to roam freely on Halloween and bring home enough treats to make a family of ten sick for a week, but nowadays kids are not free range; they have playdates.

Instead of being a children's holiday it has been adopted by adults, who  make a fuss about dressing up in costumes and going to parties.  To my mind, they are faintly ridiculous.

When I was a kid children were encouraged, if not hounded, to go out of doors in all weathers.  There was a rumor that fresh air was good for them, but the real reason was so that parents could read the paper, do housework, smoke cigarettes and  have a little peace and quiet.  How do parents stand having them underfoot all the time?

Painting

Who will I vote for?

I wasn't impressed by Christine O'Donnell in the primary.  To me she is too girlish, too Sally Fields.  I would have preferred more gravitas.  And I particularly don't like her signature "I'm not a witch" ad, a bit too simple-minded for my taste.

Still, I don't like the way everybody is picking on her, starting with the Republican Senatorial Committee and her opponent,  the media, and, of all things, a bunch of rude and ignorant law students.   She had the guts to run when everyone thought she didn't have a chance, and that's a brave thing to do.  Also, she was the choice of the Republican voters, who apparently did not want to be represented by Mike Castle and turned out in force to send that very message.  She represents those voters, and their exercise of their franchise should be respected.

I don't like women in politics being  treated like Gorgons.  A case in point:  Hillary Clinton.  She was viciously attacked in the most personal way.  Sharron Angle gets called a rude name.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/27/candidate-sharron-angle-is-a-bitch-womens-groups-outraged-by-sexist-view-co-host-joy-behar/#ixzz13fCZ33st

 

“What is it that makes conservative women, who work inside and outside of the home, such a threat to liberal women like Joy? What has Sharron Angle done to deserve being described so profanely by Ms. Behar?”

Good question.

So, for that and other reasons, I expect to vote for O'Donnell.  I am a Republican, anyway.

Whites without college have more sense than college graduates

I can't link to this article without registering--don't you hate it when that happens?  So it's in the latest National Review, called Rust Belt Revival — by Duncan Currie, and its all about whites without college; working class whites, who are apparently disenchanted with Obama.

They seem to have more wisdom than college graduates, in that they believe the evidence of their own eyes.  The college educated, on the other hand, pay upwards of $100,000 for four years in which all wisdom, knowledge and common sense are methodically subtracted from their minds.

And mind you, generally it takes five years, maybe six, to get a four-year education.  Graduate school, like batteries, is not included in this six-years.  After graduate school, the student it lucky if he retains his toilet training..

Pot, meet kettle

I am getting sick and tired of people piling on Christine O'Donnell.  The latest and most risible example is Meghan McCain, the spoiled, immature and dopey daughter of former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain.  (Note to self:  Thank God for the adorable Obama girls--this critter could have been a presidential daughter.  Malia and Sasha are infinitely cuter.)

"Well, I speak as a 26-year-old woman and my problem is that, no matter what, Christine O'Donnell is making a mockery of running for public office," McCain told anchor Christiane Amanpour. "She has no real history, no real success in any kind of business."
McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that the message, "that sends to my generation is: one day you can just wake and run for Senate, no matter how [much of] a lack of experience you have. And it scares for me for a lot of reasons."
"I just know, in my group of friends, it turns people off because she's seen as a nutjob," she said.

O'Donnell can run rings around this lamebrained trust fund baby.  She did not "just wake up and run for Senate."    She has run for office before and lost, and it took guts to run as an outsider against an establishment Republican.  Apparently she is not flush with money, from what the local press has reported.  She dared greatly and won big.  Talk about the audacity of hope!

Without the benefit of a beer magnate grand-daddy, O'Donnell presented herself to the voters in the Republican primary, and apparently they liked her, or at least preferred her to Mike Castle.  The Republican turnout was tremendous.  Contrary to Ms M,  she was legitimately elected.  You have to be a citizen and above a certain age to put yourself forward for public office.  You don't have to have any other qualifications to run for the Senate, a body that has endured Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray and is still in business. And Robert Byrd.  And the chap who horsewhipped another chap on the Senate floor and whose name escapes me.

Meghan McCain doesn't have to worry her pretty little head, because the voters of Delaware will decide whether O'Donnell goes to the Senate.

The Great Pumpkin (and friends) visit Wilmington

George--the owner of the property--says he does it for the grandchildren. Oh yes.

Money tree

Somewhere in political lala-land  there is a "money tree"--something that continually, endlessly, and painlessly gives off money.   The money tree, like its animal counterpart, the cash cow, is just waiting to be found.

Voters in New York thought they had discovered a money tree in a state lottery.  The lottery was enacted into law in New York, but failed to put an end to the state's fiscal woes.  Several years later, the voters in New Jersey--one of whom was me, sad to say--thought they had spotted this exotic form of flora in legalized gambling.   Er, no.  Atlantic City gambling was legalized but the state still has empty pockets.

Now California thinks they have discovered the identity of this new form of plant life in the legalization and  taxation of cannabis.  The best of luck to them.

This smells fishy to me

Insulting Muslims with bacon.

Maybe it's true, but this seems like a manufactured scandal to me, like the Tawana Brawley hoax or the fake noose hanging from the Columbia professor's door.

Making words out of bacon?  You'd get your hands awfully greasy.

From instapundit.

A gift for Andrew Cuomo

Could the New York State Republican Party really run an idiot like this?

Yup.

The New York Republicans are famous for putting up real loser candidates for Statewide office.  They figure they're not going to win anyway, so they put up a rich guy who can lose his own money in the campaign, saving their money for--what?

Not from Nigeria

aA new con, this time from Japan:

Greetings,

I am sorry to encroach into your privacy in this manner, I found your
listed in the Trade Centre Chambers of Commerce directory here in Japan, I
find it pleasurable to offer you my partnership in business,

I only pray at this time that your address is still valid. I want to
solicit your attention to receive money on my behalf. The purpose of my
contacting you is because my status would not permit me to do this alone.
When you reply this message, I will send you the full details and more
information about myself and the funds.

If interested, please reply through my alternate
Email:tomsandnor@w.cn

Mr. Tomo Sand Nori
(Head of Account Dept, Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank,

Mr Tomo Sandf Nori sounds a bit dispirited.     He seems to lack confidence in himself, an indispensible quality in a con man.  Please send him e-mails to cheer him up.

What I want to know is...

...is his game improving?

No sweat

No.  I mean really.

Retread

I was gobsmacked when I realized that the chap running for governor of California on the Democratic ticket is none other than Jerry Brown.  I remember him from the days when he and I were both young.  I was a mere slip of a thing, and he was governor of California,  known  by the voters of California as "Governor Moonbeam."

A strange lot, the voters of California.  This man has been mayor of this and auditor of that and treasurer of the other thing.  The one career he has never tried was a nine-to-five in the private sector.  But his re-appearance on the stage is a near miracle, akin to the endurance of Rasputin, the sinister Russian monk who survived many attempts to kill him back in the day.  He is like a clapped-out hooker of 70 still proudly displaying her wares by the side of the road, next to the teenaged competition.

Can we have a cost breakdown on this?

Where does your student dollar go?  Here's the way I imagine it:

40 %  for administration (Vice Presidents in charge of Diversity, Sexuality, Legalizing Marijuana, etc.);
20 %   on upkeep (janitorial service, grounds maintenance, heat, air conditioning, water, library);
10 %  for student activities--such as bus transportation to Obama rallies for which they get credit;
25 %  for tenured faculty;
5 %  for adjunct faculty (aka slave labor) who actually do the work.

  I'd like to see this on a pie chart.

Stolen from instapundit.

disgusting commercial

You  know the yogurt commercial where a bunch of women are licking yogurt lids and putting them in envelopes to mail?  I feel sorry for the poor wage slave who has to open these envelopes with their yogurt residue and their icky disease-ridden saliva.

Haven't the people at Yoplait heard of germs?  I would as soon open an envelope laced with anthrax.

I dislike yogurt commercials generally.  There's one, with Jamie Lee Curtis, where a man is speaking with his mouth full.  And another where Heidi Klum pokes her finger in the yogurt container and sighs orgasmically.  Also on my list of the top ten stomach turners is the discussions of various people's digestive systems so dear to the heart of many advertising creative geniuses.

Let's keep it clean.

Exploding climate skeptics

When I saw this video, I I really thought it had been done by our side.  (You know, the tire-burning, carbon-emitting  crazed rightwingers.)

The global warmists actually thought this would persuade people?

Brotherly love

Perhaps you could call it sibling rivalry.

Oops! Forgot to mention that I am indebted to Tim Blair for the link. (Grovels.)

What do Conservatives believe?

On one of the Sunday Fox talking heads shows, Juan Williams opined that the mullahs are "even more conservative" than Ahmenwhatshisface. You know, the Iran Prime Minister, who regales us with the latest message which Allah has just communicated to him.

Since when is a religious nut "conservative"? Did Bill Buckley advocate burying women up to the waist and pelting stones at them? Did I miss the column in which he discussed this practice? Has Charles Krauthammer come out for burqas lately? Does Sarah Palin believe in police shooting down protesters in the street?

Conservatism is a noun that means something specific. Consult a dictionary if you don't understand the meaning of this word. It is not a term of obloquy for everything that is reprehensible. Yet it used interchangeably with "Nazi" and "fascist," terms which, as now used, to label people liberals don't agree with, are essentially meaningless.

Muddled speaking leads to muddled thinking.

Facebook? Twitter?

People occasionally e-mail me that they are following me on Twitter. I am flattered, but I don't know why. Yes, I have a Twitter account, also a Facebook page. Also a Myspace page. I suggest you avoid all of them. They are extremely boring.

I am a boring person, with a life that would be extremely boring to others, although I find it interesting enough. Once in a while, I paint a picture or take a photograph. I usually post these on my blog.

Often, I read a book I enjoy. When I do, I usually finish it up and give it to someone else who I believe would like it. Occasionally I will mention a book I have read. Writing reviews requires some effort, which I am not willing to expend on reviewing a forgettable book. if I review a book, it is because I find it valuable, charming, or interesting. Most of them I read and forget.

If you are interested in what I have to say, follow me on blogger or my atom feed (whatever that is) or Google reader.

Did I mention that I enjoy getting comments?

1920's (?) bathing beauty

 

One of Mr Charm's aunts, in a playful mood.

Jobs program

The Taconic State Parkway used to be a major road leading from the Massachusetts border to New York City. Years ago, when the New York State Thruway was built, traffic was diverted, and hardly anyone takes the Taconic any more, preferring a modern highway with tolls and heavy traffic. Don't ask me why--can the people who voted for Eliot Spitzer have their reasons?

So I am driving down the Taconic State Parkway, zipping along nicely at 70 miles per hour. There is one vehicle in sight, ahead of me, and no-one coming in the opposite direction as far as the eye can see. Long story short, a state trooper stops me and issues an expensive ticket, and I have to send a certified check for a lot of money to some jerkwater town in Upstate New York.

I am appalled by the witlessness of this entire transaction. I was not drunk, I was not on drugs, I was in total control of the car, I was not endangering myself or others. If I had hit somebody at 55 mph they would be just as dead as if I had been going 70.

So what's the rationale? The State trooper is paid a lot of money to stop people like me, so the State can get enough money to pay the trooper, who then has to stop more people like me so that State will have enough money to pay his salary.

Okay, I figured it out. It's a jobs program! All these people--the trooper, the clerk who sends out the notice, the judge who presides over the court, the bank which issues the certified check, and the mailman who delivers it, and goodness knows who else--are productively employed.

I'm proud I could do my part! Otherwise, unemployment might be at, oh, 50 percent, maybe, instead of 9.6.

New painting

 

I like the colors, but I need a new vase. I've painted this one over and over.

This just in:

Hold the presses!

Fed wants your input

in creating new fuel economy labels.

Why don't they just hook up Obama's mouth to a generator. He never shuts up. His yadayada could power a small house.

Okay, just a trailer. But it's a start.

Stolen from instapundit.

Horrifying

in every respect.

Why didn't they give the money to the library?

Don't be silly.

How much easier would it have been

not to offer degrees in "creative writing" at all?

That noise you hear is their little pea brains rattling around in their heads. I can't believe that the students learn anything worth knowing in this atmosphere. But then, I don't believe you can teach illiterates "creative writing."

It's a jobs program, like the WPA.

Welcoming the 26-hour fast

We Jews really know how to party, don't we?

On an unrelated note, where are all the commenters? Let me know if you are still alive.

Embracing ignorance

Free public libraries are a unique American institution. So let's close them, shall we? Ignorance is so much more worthwhile.

Library users need their own union, like teachers.

Yesterday's election in Delaware

First, let me make clear that I am not up on Delaware's partisan political scene. I voted once--once--in a Republican primary before yesterday, because a very nice man came to my house and asked for my vote. (He lost.) Often primary day came and went without my participation. I didn't bother to vote because I am more concerned with the Great Issues and ignorant about local issues. Why just pull a lever for someone I know nothing about? So I let the primaries pass me by.

This time I wanted to vote because it seemed that Mike Castle had a chance of winning the seat away from the Democrats. He was pretty wishy-washy, but we in Delaware like them that way. If we want entertainment, we can listen to Joe Biden make a fool of himself. Castle was bland and soothing.

When I got to the polls there was quite a crowd, or what passes for a crowd in Delaware: a smallish assembly of well-behaved quiet people. But though they wouldn't raise eyebrows in New Jersey,it was a crowd by Delaware standards. I counted at least eight people, besides the election officials. That was seven more than the turnout last time I voted in the primary.

I got the feeling that these people were stirred up, in their courteous and civilized way, and I was sure that most of them did not turn up to vote for Mike Castle. I got a sense that they showed up to vote against Mike Castle. I figured he would lose, and he did.I had a feeling that many more people turned up
because they wanted to vote against anybody.

My support of Castle was pretty lukewarm, but I was surprised by the victory of O'Donnell, who has been a perennial candidate ever since I moved to Delaware, running for anything and everything. Well, this time she won the lottery.

Castle's reaction was very surprising, though. I thought he would act the gentleman and vow to support the winner. That's how professionals do it. Better men than he have conceded defeat. But he chose to act like a sorehead. That kind of behavior is just plain mean.

So maybe the voice of the people is the voice of God?

Longwood Gardens, September 16, 2010

 

 

 

 

Photos taken with my iPhone.

Crazy house in Massachusetts redux

Remember the crazy house in MA, lived in by the friend of my friend, Eve? Well, the crazy house is no more. Eve's husband died, and Eve has Moved On. The house was sold to someone who wanted to tear it down, and did.

Eve was lucky. She sold the house at the top of the real estate boom and made a lot of money. With the proceeds she bought herself a very nice condo in a desirable neighborhood of Boston. My friend visited her shortly after she moved in and reported that the apartment was really nice. Eve apparently left the Jergens' lotion bottles, old clothes, and grand piano back in the teardown. She could hardly have fitted it all into the new condo, she would have had to purchase all 24 flats in the new building.

Peace and harmony reigned. But not for long. A cloud no bigger than a man's hand hovers over the new place. Our mutual friend visited recently and reported that Eve had begun to furnish her new home with large cartons in which she was storing everything that had come in the mail which she had not had time to look at.

She only had a few of these cartons last year. This year, a visit revealed that the number of cartons had increased. Eve is well on her way to recreating the ambiance of her old house, little by little.

A pity she had to get rid of the grand piano.

The whole country goes nuts.

Up to and including the president.

President Obama starts pleading with that nutty Florida minister to knock off his idiotic plan to burn Qurans.

Obama said the act would incite terrorists "to blow themselves up."...

but... nobody burned Korans before 9/11, or the first World Trade Center attack in 93.

There was no Koran barbecue prior to terror attacks in Argentina, Kenya, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, London, Lebanon, Italy or Germany.

The victims there didn't ask for it.

So why are the President, Secretary Gates, and General Petraeus all pleading with this minister not to burn Korans--thus elevating this loony pastor to the status of the despicable Fred Phelps?

The response to Rev Jones's unseemly plan is dignified silence. Petraeus, Gates, and Obama should treat him the way the media treats the tea party; not notice them for as long as possible, then heap them with contumely and scorn.

I am particularly annoyed at Petraeus behaving like an old lady who has spotted a mouse on her pillow. I can only say, in the words of Lady Macbeth: Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard?

Sibling rivalry

I'm always writing about my mother's family, which is understandable because we lived near them and we saw more of them. Maybe a little too much.

But fair is fair, so I want to direct your attention to my father's side of the family. The cast of characters:

Grandma, who spent her final 40 years of life in bed;
Grandpa, rabbi and sometime streetcar conductor;
Helen, oldest child and only daughter, who took over the household when her mother went to bed;
Al, oldest brother, of whom I know nothing except that he had perfect pitch and played the drum;
Ed, next brother in line and the family black sheep;
and my dad, whom I will call Nat, the baby, continually striving to measure up to Ed.

Ed and N had a fairly fraught relationship. A lot of it was about sports--who could pitch better, who could hit the ball farther, who could beat who in tennis, and so forth. Nat was puny and small, and Ed picked on him, even breaking his arm in a dispute over a baseball game. When they grew up, they stopped plotting to kill each other--Nat got old enough and big enough to defend himself-- but still had a fairly intense relationship in which each tried to outdo the other.

When they visited each others' homes, they tried to outdo each other in hospitality. You were sure to get a good feed at Nat's house when Ed was in town. Upping the ante, Ed would take everybody out to a trendy restaurant, sparing no expense on food or wine. Ed's daughter got into a good college. Nat's son, who was about the same age, got into a better one.

When Nat was about 89 he had a heart attack and was hospitalized. He left the hospital against doctor's orders so he could host a party for Ed and show him what nice friends he had. After the party, he went back and had a bypass.

Ed lived to the age of 97. I knew Nat would never let that record stand. Undefeated, he has made it to 98. So Nat won.

Rev Wright is back...

and this time he's using good grammar. No more ebonics.

I knew he could use correct English if he really, really tried.

Woman with spine curvature

 

Does this woman (from a sales flier for Spanx) have scoliosis, or has her picture been photoshopped? How in the world did she manage to twist herself into that amazing posture? And why is one of her arms longer than the other?

She looks as if she's been sculpted from some bendable material, not flesh. Creepy.

Berries on a dogwood tree

 

Great posters

from the London Transport Museum.

Longwood Gardens, end of August

 

 

Taken with my cell phone.

I don't like Labor Day

It depresses the hell out of me. Labor Day seems to have a kind of hammer and sickle motif, but it doesn't stand for anything, really. It doesn't invoke any historic events or major heroes, like Memorial Day or Martin Luther King Day--it just a made up holiday, a bone thrown to unions.

Also, it marks the end of summer and the onslaught of bad weather. Soon the leaves will fall from the trees. Dreary.

And there was Jerry Lewis--does anyone else remember his ghastly telethons in aid of some charity? And felt annoyed because it was for a good cause, so you felt guilty for hating him?

Glenn Beck and that old time religion

The massive Beck rally makes me uneasy. It is uncomfortably close to a Christian revival meeting with a Come-to-Jesus sub-text.

Why must religion come into it? Our Founding Fathers were not literally Christians but deists. They believed in natural law, not messianic religion, whereby only Christians (or Muslims) can achieve salvation. In fact, our country is not about heavenly salvation, but about governance which respects the rights of all men to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on this earth.

Whenever a strong Christian element enters the discourse, I think of the Crusades. Maybe the Crusades saved Christendom, but when it was all over and the infidels were vanquished, a lot of innocent Jews were dead.

Collateral damage? Well, yes, but I don't want me and mine to be collateral damage, even inadvertently.