It’s stupid meeting day today, and unless it gets cancelled in the next few minutes, it looks like it’s on. Typically, it starts out with the person who keeps insisting we have this meeting saying, “I don’t have anything.” Well, great. Remind me what the point of this nonsense is again?

Meanwhile, in Boston, the misinformation continues. On the way home last night, I was told that these were two pressure cooker bombs triggered by a Casio watch used as a timer (I have this intense desire to Google “pressure cooker bomb” but am afraid they’d slam me into a dog pen in Gitmo before the day was over). By the time this morning rolled around, they could only confirm that one of them was a pressure cooker, and the other was yet to be determined because, well, because it blew the fuck up and there isn’t much to go on. They also said the triggering mechanism(s) were now “kitchen timers.” Or something. I don’t think they really know.

Or at least the nattering nincompoop on NPR don’t know. Hopefully the feds have some decent information, though I can’t help but remember what they put that poor schmuck Richard Jewell through down in Atlanta.

They also seem to feel compelled to keep saying that pressure cookers are “like you use to cook rice in.” Really? You have to clear that up for people (thank goodness it wasn’t a crock pot)? I’ve always had a bit of an aversion to pressure cookers, because the one we had when I was a kid was the default “puking pan” for when anybody was sick (if two of us were sick at the same time, the Dutch Oven was pressed into service).

Needless to say, we didn’t really prepare any meals (rice or otherwise) in the pressure cooker. I mean, just looking into the thing evoked a somewhat Pavlovian gag response.

Speaking of gagging, I guess I’d better get ready for this stupid meeting, ‘cuz it doesn’t look like it’s been canceled.

Late Update: Stupid meeting has been canceled. :yippee: Maybe this will be a better day than I thought.

Normally I’d be writing something like, “I hope y’all got your taxes done yesterday,” but of course with yesterday’s events in Boston, I guess explosions will be the talk of the day (and for many days to come, I expect). I didn’t pay all that much attention to it yesterday, because, other than the initial reports, the media tends to just keep regurgitating the few facts that are known, and a whole lot of speculation. Over and over and over. After checking in today, it appears that things could have been worse, as two more devices were found unexploded (or not, depending on what news account you read. I don’t think there’ll be any quick answers on this).

Since I know as little as anybody else, I figure I might as well speculate as to who did it. Given that it was done on April 15 and in Boston (and nobody’s claimed responsibility yet, which seems pretty un-terrorist like), I’m going to guess that it was some teabagger “tax patriot” group in protest of taxes, illegal immigrants, Obama, and the federal government in general. But I guess we’ll see.

Looks like my decision not to run the Marathon this year was a good one. I guess I can rule out NYC, too.

Whoever did it, I hope somebody catches them and locks them up. This is when it’s nice to live in a small town. We’re not exactly a high value target.

I was listening to a story on NPR a couple of weeks ago about how they were adjusting the traffic lights in LA to try to keep the traffic moving, and they were asking people to call in and tell them if their area had done any projects like this. I was tempted to call in and say, “well, we just got the one red light in town, but there’s a blinker up the hill a piece,” but I was in the car without my bluetooth thingie.

If you weren’t in Boston, yesterday was quite a nice day. It was sunny (most of the time) and it actually got up to 70° here. Since I was working from home, the dogs got to spend most of the day outside (lucky them). And since it’s warm again, I just pulled the first tick of the season off one of them. It wasn’t embedded – just crawling around on his head. Hopefully this is because of the flea and tick stuff I just reapplied to them a few days ago. I hate those nasty little things (the ticks, not the dogs – though I wish they’d quit digging up the lawn, the little bastids).

It’s not supposed to be quite as warm today, and even cooler tomorrow before temperatures rebound on Thursday and Friday (and then it’s gonna get cold again for the weekend because, well, because it’s the weekend). But I won’t worry about that now, because from a Tuesday point of view, it’s a long way ’til Saturday.

Ah, I see the ground is covered with white stuff this morning. Must be April in Syracuse. The snow’s not supposed to stick around, though. They say a high of 50 today, and, since tomorrow is Monday, it’s supposed to be in the 70s. Yesterday was pretty chilly as I was out trying to get some fencing done and eventually got caught in a downpour. Now I’ve got a bit of a cough and a sore throat (plus I’m kind of sore from all the bending and pounding and stuff).

What with all the “threats” from North Korea, you folks on the West Coast have been getting all the attention lately. Not for long, though, as our esteemed Republican legislators have decided that Iran is now (or soon will be) a threat to hit the East Coast. Although the DOD doesn’t think it’s necessary, they’re pushing to spend $3.6 billion to build a missile defense system east of the Mississippi. This is what’s known as being fiscally conservative, I guess.

Well, what the hell. We could use the jobs.

Much of the world seems to be suffering from post-Maggie depression. I really wasn’t terribly interested in hearing about her, but of course I had NPR on all day yesterday and was forced to listen. One person – it may have be British PM David Cameron – said people would be talking about her achievements for “hundreds of years.” Really? I realize she was every Konservative’s wet dream of union busting and “privatization,” but I think she’ll be pretty quickly forgotten. Hell, she already was mostly forgotten before she croaked and brought lots of attention to herself. Of course, the consequences of what she and her contemporaries around the world (and her political progeny in the UK) will, unfortunately, live on for quite some time. As for her? A footnote in the history of Britain: Margaret Thatcher, first female PM. Bubble cut hairdo.

I’m sure everybody has seen that Mitch McConnell is going to filibuster gun control legislation in the Senate. I’m not really sure what’s left in the bill, anyway, except for a proposal for background checks for all gun sales. I think something like 90% of the people are down with that, but the NRA says no, so it’s no. Oh well, just be sure to keep your head down, and don’t be a hero.

Otherwise there’s not much going on/ It’s a rainy start to the day, but it’s supposed to get sunny. It’s my late day today, so I’m trying to kill time before I have to trudge in to work. I really would have liked to stay in bed longer, but the damn cat kept jumping on me. I guess I’ll have to start sleeping with a baseball bat.

I just finished watching another incredibly annoying episode of Realtime. I had high hopes for it, sine Bernie Sanders was on, but it was made unbearable by the presence of loudmouth schmuck Stephen Moore, and some annoying twit from the Crappington Post Live. Neither of them would STFU when Bernie had something to say (as Bernie said at one point, “you’re loud but you’re not right”). I honestly don’t understand why Maher has Moore on. He’s always the same overbearing snide, ignorant purveyor of “free market” and rightwing talking points who refuses to shit up and let somebody else have a say.

Fortunately, after that debacle came the first episode of “Vice,” which was really good. They went to the Philippines, where elections are apparently won by whoever manages to kill the opposing candidates, and to Afghanistan where they explored suicide bombings (mostly by kids). I have to say, much as I appreciate the reporting they do, these people are nuts. No way in hell would I put myself in these situations.

You may have heard that Obama has officially decided to fuck over Social Security (and veterans’ benefits) by officially codifying the use of chained CPI in his budget proposal. Of course, his budget has no chance of passing, but, like his healthcare reform negotiating “tactics,” it means that he’ll now be forced to cave in even more. It’s not a surprise, but it is pretty annoying. No doubt they’ll raise the age for social security to 72 or something and turn Medicare into an insurance voucher system so that old people can just get sick and die and save the younger generation lots of money (they don’t realize that they’ll be old before they know it, but it’s OK as log as they can have the latest and greatest iThing).

On the bright side, he’s giving the OK (and the funding) to NASA to capture an asteroid. Yeah, we’re gonna go out and find one and bring it back to the moon, where we’ll go and walk around on it. In 2021. So, that should be fun, I guess. I’ll be 60, and looking forward to another 12 years of work before I can retire. Assuming I’m luck enough to still have a job, which is no guarantee the way things are going these days.

Oh well, it looks like it’s shaping up to be a decent day. Not super warm, but sunny. Maybe I can get to work on doing some fencing. I need something to tire me out so I can w=take a nap for a few hours this evening. Hopefully things won’t suck.

Damn, it’s cold out there. I left work last night during a whiteout. But by the time I got home, the snow had all melted around my house (though it was still pretty damn cold). Then I get up this morning, and everything’s covered with snow again. Plus, did I mention? It’s frickin’ cold. Supposedly this will all change tomorrow, as we’re supposed to get up over 50. I’ll believe it when I see it.

In an exercise of pointlessness, the small town of Nelson, GA has enacted a law requiring each citizen to own a gun. And when I say “require,” I mean not really.

The ordinance in the city of Nelson — population 1,300 — was approved Monday night and goes into effect in 10 days. However, it contains no penalties and exempts anyone who objects, convicted felons and those with certain mental and physical disabilities.

Other than that, though, you better get a damn gun.

I’ve actually been thinking about getting a gun myself. I mean, guns are manly, and I’m a man, so I ought to have one, right? And I live in the country, and country folk should be armed (based on all the shootin’ I hear, it’s possible we’re the only unarmed household in town). Plus, I like to drink a fair amount of beer in the evening, and what good is a drunk white guy out in the country without a gun.

Problem is, I have no idea what I’d do with a gun if I had one. I don’t really have a desire to kill anything. I’ve gone target shooting once or twice in my life, and that was kinda fun, I guess, but I don’t think it would be that thrilling to do on a regular basis (I’d probably have more fun getting a bow and an archery target).

And I’d probably do something stupid by accident, like shoot my wife (or, worse, my dog).

Then there’s the whole decision about what kind of gun to get. I can’t afford one of those really nifty cool-looking AR-15s. Damn things are expensive. And I don’t think I want a pistol. I mean, then I’d have to get a pistol permit, plus it would just seem too easy to shoot yourself with a pistol. At least with a rifle you kinda have to work at shooting yourself much above the foot. Have to kinda work your toe into the trigger and all that.

If my justification was for “protection,” I guess I’d have to go with Joe Biden’s suggestion and get a shotgun. Use buckshot, and there’s not much aiming required. Just point it in the general direction of whatever noise you hear and let it rip. There goes your intruder (or your wife, dog, cat, or mirror you blew out because you thought some creepy white guy snuck into your house and pointed a shotgun at you).

So I guess I won’t get a gun. Besides, I’m not the type to join a militia (and, given the way I eat, I’m anything but “well-regulated”).

You ever wonder why there just don’t seem to be as many miracles nowadays as there used to be? As with most everything, Pat Robertson has the answer: Ivy League Schools.

Why do miracles “happen with great frequency in Africa, and not here in the USA?” asked a 700 Club patron Ken. “People overseas didn’t go to Ivy League schools,” Robertson replied with a chuckle.

“We are so sophisticated, we think we’ve got everything figured out…. We know about evolution, we know about Darwin, we know about all these things that says God isn’t real, we know about all this stuff.”
[…]
Meanwhile, Africans are “simple” and “humble.” “You tell ‘em God loves ‘em and they say, ‘Okay, he loves me’,” said Robertson. “You say God will do miracles and they say, ‘Okay, we believe him’.”

I had no idea Africa was know for all the miracles that happen there. In fact, I’d always kind of thought that things is Africa kind of suck for most people there (once the white folks came in and exploited everything they could). But, hey, what do I know? I’ll gladly defer to Africa “expert” Pat Robertson.

Otherwise, not much is going on. We’re just trying to get ready for the Final Four. By “we” I mean “me,” of course, as I doubt that my wife is in any way aware that the FF is coming up, or that SU is in it, or – even if she did – that it is in any way a big deal. I just wish the game was on earlier. It’s very hard for me to stay up that late, even on a Saturday night. Last week was much better, ‘cuz the game was on at 4:30 and I could go watch the game with my sister and her husband while Fritzi played with his cousins.

I think I’m just gonna have to go to bed early and then wake up for the game. I just hope it won’t be a painful experience. Not many people are giving us much of a chance. And ESPN did one of their poll things the other day asking which team you were “rooting for” in the Final Four, and only in one state – NY – were more people rooting for SU than anybody else (and that was only a plurality of 44%). Not even “who do you think will win” but “who are you rooting for?”

Seems unfair that nobody likes us. I mean, it’s not like we’re Georgetown (because, of course, if we were GT, we’d have been out after the first game. “Hoya Saxa.” That’s latin for “one and done”).

Oh well, time to get back to work.

After a warm, if somewhat breezy (and yesterday afternoon, rainy) weekend, it’s back to work today. But it’s a home day, to that takes the edge off a bit. We’re celebrating the first day of April with some snow (it’s snowing like crazy at the moment), so I guess maybe it was a good call to leave the chains on the tractor for a few more days. This is a somewhat typical way to start off trout season around here. No matter how crappy it is out there, Nine Mile Creek (which rhymes with “stick” and is actually about 25 miles long)) will be full of silly men (and a few women, I suppose, but mostly men) standing thigh deep in slightly warmer than freezing water trying to catch fish. Why? I dunno. I guess all the good fish must be gone after the first day.

It appears I’m coming down with a bit of a cold (courtesy of my wife, who felt obliged to share hers with me). So far it’s just a little bit of a cough and a sore throat (plus some exhaustion, which may or may not be related). Right now, I just wish this week was over already.

I just heard on the radio that Louisville Slugger is coming out with a new bat. I didn’t catch what’s new about it, though. Of course, if you’ve ever been to Cooperstown you know that all the big names back before 1953 used Kren’s bats, made in (you guessed it) Syracuse. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mell Ott, Rogers Hornsby…. Unfortunately, Joe Kren died in 1953 and his ungrateful kids sold the company. Rotten kids.

Oh well, I guess I’d better get back to work. It’s gonna be a loooong week.

To those of you who celebrate it (either by going to church, wearing stupid hats, or eviscerating chocolate bunny rabbits), Happy Easter. The day doesn’t mean a whole to me, other than I have just realized that I miscalculated, and the place I normally go to for my weekly provisions (and gas) is closed today. Bummer. That means I either have to venture to an alternate location or try and stick it out this week living off my stockpile of quinoa. Otherwise, I guess I’ll just hang out. In an act of bravery, I took the plow off my tractor yesterday so we’d better not get too much snow from here on out. I still have the chains on, but they may need to come off too. The ground is still fairly hard (not hard enough to keep the dogs from digging up the leech field, unfortunately) so I don’t think I’ll start my fencing project this week (plus there’s still some snow on the ground in places where the sun has yet to get high enough to melt).

Speaking of dogs, yesterday was kind of a good news/bad news day as I took the kids in for their shots and a checkup. On the good news side, Peggy’s leg is doing well, and they are both in good shape all-around. On the bad news side, Bud is positive for Lyme disease. Apparently, when they test positive, they then do another test (which I guess has to go to a lab) to determine the level of Lyme shit (technical term) in the blood. If it’s above a certain level, they require 21 days of antibiotics. And he was a “strong” positive, so I reckon that will be the case. This also meant that Bud couldn’t get his shots yesterday. Bummer.

It appears that every Republican out there is (publicly, anyway) denouncing Don Young, representative from Alaska. Ostensibly, it’s because of his “wetbacks” remark (hey, he’s just being “folksy” – get over it), but I think it’s because he thinks tomatoes are grown on ranches. Here in “real” American, we call them farms, Don. Or gardens.

OK, so I found this place in Arkansas that calls itself Wynn’s Tomato Ranch, but even in their description, they don’t call themselves a ranch – except in quotes to show how stupid it would be to think of a farm as a ranch.

WTR is a family farm built and worked by just the 6 of us Wynns. We are located in a historic valley near the Battle of Prairie Grove site. Once a “Viney Grove” for which it bears the name and then a heavy producer of tomatoes and strawberries in the early part of the 1900’s, is now home to our “ranch”.

OK, so Webster’s gives it a secondary meaning of “a farm or area devoted to a particular specialty,” so I suppose if you specialize in tomatoes, maybe you could call it a ranch. But I’m not buying it.

Apparently “traditional” Catholics are none too happy with this Jesuit Pope, so far. This washing of women’s feet is not sitting well with them (plus he doesn’t appear to wear all the fancy dresses that Joey Ratz was so fond of). Personally, I think it’s nice to see a priest display some interest in women – even if it’s only feet. He should hook up with Rex Ryan.

You probably heard that at least some soon-to-be Johns Hopkins Medical School graduates want to remove Ben Carson as commencement speaker because he compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia and on Fux News (this guy is a doctor, so my big problem with him is, how could a gay person – or somebody of reasonable intelligence, for that matter – possibly feel comfortable being treated by him). Well, this has Rush Limbaugh bummed, as he seems to be slowly realizing that the tide is turning against fat loudmouthed assholes.

“These are students where this guy works, and they don’t want him to be their commencement speaker because of his political beliefs as espoused on TV,” Limbaugh said, according to an official show transcript. “Medical students! Not social workers, medical students. To me that’s evidence that… I don’t know what it is. We’re losing the country or what have you.”

That’s right, Rush. It’s not a bunch of dirty stinking hippies, but future doctors! :omg: You may never get a pecker pill prescription in a fake name (let alone narcotics) again.

Otherwise, there’s not much else going on. Well, there is, but I won’t bore you with it (if you’ve ready this far, you’ve clearly been bored enough already).

I’m a little tuckered out this morning, but it’s definitely shaping up to be a good Friday, indeed.

So, after we flew a couple of B-2 bombers over South Korea, North Korea decided to point their rockets at us (or at least our bases in Hawaii, Guam, South Korea and Japan). That doesn’t seem very friendly.

I mean, we could probably do without Guam, but we get a lot of neat toys from Japan and South Korea (though I’m sure Apple wouldn’t mind if they dropped a few rockets on the Samsung factory). So, what’s next? Do we go back to war with Korea? I don’t think the Chinese would care for that. In fact, I would think that China is kinda pissed at these people for drawing so much attention to the region. You’d think they could just tell Li’l Kim to knock his shit off already. I mean, it’s just not good for business.

As you’ve no doubt heard, the GOP is trying to remake itself as a kinder, gentler, less stupid and arrogant party. As part of that, they’re trying to reach out to Latinos. That’s the word now, right? We don’t use Hispanics anymore? I can never keep track of these things, so I guess I’ll go with whatever enlightened Republicans are saying these days. Like Alaska Representative Don Young.

“My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” he said while discussing economic trends of the last few decades. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”

Ah.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: they have tomato ranches in Alaska?

Not that I’m an expert, but I’ve never seen a tomato ranch (then again, I’ve never been to Alaska, either). I wonder if they have a problem with tomato rustlers up there, too?

Speaking of Republicans, our good friend Steve King of Iowa (where they have lots of corn ranches) is none too happy with the Obama kids going to spring break in the Bahamas. I’m not really sure why, though I guess it has something to do with Obama needing to practice a little “austerity” in this time of Republican-manufactured fiscal crisis. I have to agree. Michelle should just see if the girls can tag along with Rush Limbaugh on his next trip to the DR.

Oh well, time to get some work done (and by “get some work done” I mean read every sports section I can find online).

A Michelle Shocked song just came up on the old mp3 player, and I’m sitting here feeling guilty about enjoying listening to it. It’s a shame when people go insane. Speaking of insane, William Donohue (president of the Catholic League) has written to HBO’s parent company Time Warner saying that Bill Maher has just gone too goshdarn far being mean to the pope and that “[t]he time has come for someone in a position of responsibility to sit down and have a serious talk with this man.”

In a letter sent Tuesday to Glenn A. Britt, chairman of HBO’s parent company Time Warner, Donohue said that “Maher’s bigotry” must not go unpunished. Donohue attached a report titled “Bill Maher’s History of Anti-Catholicism, 1998-2013,” which documents 39 jokes made by the comedian that were directed at the Church.

“From the enclosed report, it is evident that Maher’s bigotry is not merely visceral, it is relentless,” Donohue wrote

I, for one am shocked. Shocked! Bill only directed 39 jokes at the Catholic Church in 15 years? That’s less than 3 jokes per year! Either Bill was slacking off, or Donohue has done some pretty sloppy research here.

It’s a darn shame that Bill’s off this week, ‘cuz I’d like to get his take on this (and on whether Donohue is the spawn of Karl Rove and an Orangutan).

I’m guessing that Donohue will be about as successful as that woman who wanted to get The Simpsons thrown off the air 20 years ago was.

Ah, now an acoustic medley from Bob Marley is up. Finally, music I don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying.

Don’t stay up too late tonight, kids. And if you don’t hear from me for a few days, you’ll know things didn’t go well.