Straight Azaleas In My Back Yard

Spring Arrives at My Next Door Neighbor's

Peeps On Patrol

Just in time for Easter!

HT: Cute Overload

Right Again

On such an important topic.

"American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe yesterday defended controversial contestant Sanjaya Malakar as someone with "guts."

"Can't you understand why little girls vote for Sanjaya? I can," said Lythgoe, one of the key creative minds behind ratings juggernaut American Idol, which airs on Fox in the United States and on CTV in Canada."

I commented about this here on March 9th:

Q: Who are these people that would allow Sanjaya to stay and send a rocker (with an awesome voice and stage presence) like Sundance home?

A: Teenie Bopper girls who love a little Indian Boy. He reminds them of Mowgli from Jungle Book. Gay boy teens probably too.

This fella Lythgoe appears to have his success with AI in proper perspective.

It just T.V. for goodness sake. But blogworthy nonetheless here.

Quick Thinking!

Mike, an elderly man in South Carolina, owned a farm for several years. He had an enormous pond in the back, picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some apple and peach trees. The pond was properly shaped and fixed up for swimming when it was built.

One evening, Mike decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over. He grabbed a five gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee.

As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all quickly went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!"

Mike frowned, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked."

Holding the bucket up he said, "I'm here to feed the alligator."

Thugo Doesn't Mow His Own Lawn

"CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez announced Sunday that his government's sweeping reforms toward socialism will include the creation of "collective property."

"Chavez — a leftist former paratrooper popularly known as "El Comandante" — said his government fully respects private property, but pledged to replace capitalist ideals with socialist principles on cooperatives such as cattle ranches and farms."

Story here.

A mid-life insight after purchasing my first house had me understanding the wonder that is the American economy. Whenever a home is purchased people have to go out and buy all kinds of things to get the venture up and running. Lawnmowers being one item for most. Home buying and selling keep our economy humming. Like it or not. This is why tax breaks on mortgage interest exists. There is probably a huge benefit for government to subsidize, so-to-speak, home-ownership, because so much is produced and purchased for those homes.

This leads me to lawnmowers and collectivism. On the face of it, it hardly makes sense to have 10 separate lawnmowers on a typical suburban street servicing 10 homes. Such redundancy!

At least Thugo would say that. How about the state buy the street 1 lawnmower and all 10 homeowners share it! Collectivism!

Identify at least 5 problems with this scenario and you yourself will see how collectivism does not work.

Here are a few of my questions about a collective lawnmower:

* Who will keep the gas tank full?

* Who will change the oil and keep it tuned up?

* When will I get to mow my grass? I like Saturday mornings... like most of my neighbors.

* When it breaks... what will "we" do?

* What if one of the neighbors operates the mower carelessly?

* How will the blades remain sharpened?

* Who decides the processes for obtaining the mower?

* Where is the mower to be stored?

Will a collective lawnmower work in the real world?

But I Say

Enjoy them while we have them.
Kate Winslet

The Way of All Flesh

A poignant example.

Wine 'O Elvis

On sale at Woot today!

TGIF by Monica Stewart

Mark Knophler - Prairie Wedding

Written by David Rawlings. From Knophler's Sailing to Philadelphia album, 2000.



We Only Knew Each Other By Letter
I Went To Meet Her Off The Train
When The Smoke Had Cleared And The Dust WasStill
She Was Standing There And Speaking My Name

I Guarantee She Looked Like An Angel
I Couldn't Think Of What I Should Say
But When Adam Saw Eve In The Garden
I Believe He Felt The Selfsame Way

I Handed Her Up On The Wagon
And I Loaded Up Her Trunk Behind
She Was Sitting Up There With The Gold In Her Hair
And I Tried To Get A Hold Of My Mind

Do You Think That You Could Love Me Mary
Do You Think We Got A Chance Of A Life
Do You Think That You Could Love Me Mary
Now You Are To Be My Wife

We Finally Headed Out Of The Station
And We Drove Up The Home Trail
And When We Came To The Farm She Laid A HandOn My Arm
I Thought My Resolution Would Fail

And I Froze As She Stepped In The Doorway
Stood There As Still As Could Be
I Said I Know It Ain't Much, It Needs A Woman'sTouch
Lord She Turned Around And Looked At Me

Do You Think That You Could Love Me Mary
You Think We Got A Chance Of A Life
Do You Think That You Could Love Me Mary
Now You Are To Be My Wife

We Had A Prairie Wedding
There Was A Preacher And A Neighbour Or Two
I Gave My Golden Thing A Gold Wedding Ring
And The Both Of Us Said I Do

And When The Sun's Going Down On The Prairie
And The Gold In Her Hair Is Aflame
I Say Do You Really Love Me Mary
And I Hold Her And I Whisper Her Name

Do You Think That You Could Love Me Mary
You Think We Got A Chance Of A Life
Do You Think That You Could Love Me Mary
Now You Are To Be My Wife

Bring Back the Corn Cob...

and the outhouse!

Instapudit sites Ann Althouse's opinion about a dude trying to live a no impact lifestyle, including not using toilet paper! He gets a book deal, a documentary, and maybe even a reality show, or sitcom out of it!

This fella's "carbon footprint" will be in the negatives!

Idiocy!

I've always wondered how those corn cobs worked. Maybe there will be other organic alternatives forthcoming from our friends.

Prediction: People's carbon footprints will as popular our cholesterol, and body mass index numbers were.

"This nonsense too shall pass." Thank God.

Pez

From arkworld on Flickr!

There Is A Movement Afoot

And I've joined. MGF and his ever and always faithful companion believe that butterflies need to be renamed something more appropriate. So it's "Flutterbies" from now on. Pronounced: singular: "Flutter-by" or "Flutter-byes" in the plural.

We are so right about this. And we know it too. Join up.

There are no plans to rename cocoons or moths at this time.

The Best Right Now

Melinda Dolittle. I was going to say "My American Idol," but I remain uncommitted. She's got the best voice IMHO, but even though I am a newbie, I understand that to be the AI you have to have the whole package. Jordin just might. As may Blake. Stay tuned.

Sweet With Lungs

Jordin. Best personality. Gina is a close second with personality.

Still The Hottest

Haley. Young men 20-35 keep her coming back.

Gore Implores Congress to Save Planet

And they are just the people to do it, don't you think? Article here.

"Gore drew overflow crowds as he testified before House and Senate panels about a "true planetary emergency" if Congress fails to act."

There Are Antidotes...

to Gore-bachev out there.

Czech leader Klaus fights global warming 'religion'

Everybody's Got One II

Mother's little helper!

How Old Do You Feel Now?

Eddie Haskell ---- The Beave ---- Wally

This questions is posed to Baby Boomers of course!

New West Virginia Camouflage

Iraq War Veterans Memorial

"The Iraq Veterans Memorial is an online war memorial that honors the members of the U.S. armed forces who have lost their lives serving in the Iraq War. The Memorial is a collection of video memories from family, friends, military colleagues, and co-workers of those that have fallen."

There is an outstanding, very homemade, memorial video of family and friends personal remembrances of some of our Americans killed in action.

This appears to me to be a great project. Appears to be apolitical also. Using the web for things like this is great. Hats off to the people behind the Memorial.

Update: I was completely wrong about the project being apolitical. One need only look at the site's links. However, what they are asking for from friend's and families appears to be memories about their loved ones not rants against Bush and Co.

Everybody Has A Laptop But Me

Found on Flickr.

Leaving for a few days. Tell me you'll miss me.

It's Hard For Me...

not to love Camille Paglia. Here are two examples why:

1) "Capitalism, which spawned modern individualism as well as the emancipated woman who can support herself, is essentially Darwinian. It expands any society's sum total of wealth and radically raises the standard of living, but it leaves the poor and weak without a safety net. Capitalism needs the ethical counter-voice of leftism to keep it honest. But leftists must be honest in turn about what we owe to capitalism -- without which Western women would have no professional jobs to go to but would be stuck doing laundry by hand and stooping over pots on the hearth fire all day long. "

2) "Hence my unhappy surprise when Edwards, who has an attractively comprehensive social policy and strong oratorical skills, was the first to pull out of the scheduled August debate moderated by Fox News. What is this morbid obsession that liberals have with Fox? It's as if Democrats, pampered and spoiled by so many decades of the mainstream media trumpeting the liberal agenda, are so shaky in their convictions that they cannot risk an encounter with opposing views. Democrats have ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time and 98 percent of American humanities professors to do their bidding. But no, that's not enough -- every spark of dissent has to be extinguished with buckets of bile.

"But Fox is certainly disingenuous with its absurd "fair and balanced" motto. Oh, come on, give it up! Why can't Fox honestly admit its conservative agenda, as do major radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and simply argue that it represents a culturally necessary antidote to the omnipresent liberal line? Yet for Democratic presidential candidates, who will be assessed by voters for their ability to stand up to China, North Korea or al-Qaida, to run squealing from a Fox moderator as if he or she were a boogeyman with blood-dripping fangs makes the whole pack of them look like simpering wusses. Dennis Kucinich was quite right to express his scorn and offer to debate anyone anywhere and under any sponsorship. Nice job of skewering the sacred cow!"

From her March column in Salon. It is worth reading the whole thing here.

CP is beholden to absolutely no one. It is so refreshing.

Short on RAM These Days?

Salvador Dali - Persistence of Memory, 1931

...there are more distractions than ever before, inhibiting our ability to concentrate. We are constantly bombarded by media from advertising, news, music, and data streaming, on our radios, televisions, computers, iPods and even in virtual worlds. Often, we can not escape this media, even when we make an effort to do so.

Combine these trends with a major skills shortage and every year or two, we need to double our ability to figure out what's important, then synthesize, understand, prioritize, and use everything coming at us. Add the technology revolution that pushes all this information at us at ever faster rates and you have the perfect storm for knowledge workers and everyone in an information-based society.

This non-stop exposure hinders our ability to retain the facts and information that we crave. We tax our memories beyond their capabilities. This overtaxing is not only a problem for the Baby Boomers, but people of all ages. According to the Natural Marketing Institute, close to Philadelphia, nearly three-quarters of consumers are currently using supplements, foods, or beverages to prevent memory problems.

From Today's Herman Trend Alert

The Shamanic Cheerleaders

Eclectic, remember, eclectic. Pagans have feelings too, you know.

Find all cheers here.

HT: Rob Brezney

Corporate Dicks and Their Swordfights With Them

Viacom sues Google over YouTube.

This will probably take years to resolve since the issues are pretty complex.

YouTube will survive and Viacom may get richer.

Good ol' human greed and envy are evident here me thinks.

Does The Word "Implosion" Come To Mind?

When you think about the Walter Reed scandal and the way it treated our "beloved troops?"

Then there is all the swinging dick swagger of dumping "under performing" U.S. Attorneys. Gonzales will probably be next to go due to "a thousand little cuts."

Then there is... see below.

Dems are having a hay day.

What next Jorge? You wonderful strong leader you.

Another One (Will) Bite The Dust

Story here. He's toast.

Play Ball !

Here. It's wierd and it's cool. HT: Reality Carnival

The Great Global Warming Swindle

This BBC Documentary is a must see. Go to Google video.

"Global Warming: How a media scare became the defining idea of a generation."

"The whole global warming business has become like a religion. And people who disagree are called heretics. I'm a heretic! Nigel Calder, Former Editor, New Scientist

Dancing

Love this! The millions of you that read here have probably seen it already. It so well fits the eclectic genre though. HT: Rowan Manahan at Fortify Your Oasis.

In My Town

Squiggly Wall and Quite An Intersection.

Fred Thomson, 08?

This guy can probably act like Ronald Reagan. Get it?

Speculation here.

Gingrich Probed During Clinton Probe

It was probably his first one, ya think? Article here.

What's interesting is that Newtie was visiting James Dobson where he at least confessed, if not absolved. No evidence (yet) of Newt kissing Dobson's ring.

Outsourcing

This is a complete hoot. Not sure of the source. I got it with an email today.

It seems everything comedic has to slam W these days, but that aside, enjoy!

Jo-El Sonnier - No More One More Time

From his Come On Joe album, 1987.

Van Morrison - Let The Slave

Let The Slave (Incorporating: The Price of Experience by William Blake) from his Sense of Wonder album, 1984. Van is the man.

If this doesn't touch you, oh non-readers, nothing will.

Let The Slave

Let the slave grinding at the mill run out into the field

Let him look up into the heavens and laugh in the bnght air

Let the inchained soul, shut up in darkness and in sighing

Whose face has never seen a smile in thirty weary Years

Rise and look out; his chains are loose, his dungeon doors are open;

And let his wife and children return from the oppressor's scourge

They look behind at every step and believe it is a dream

Singing: The sun has left his blackness and has found a fresher morning

And the fair Moon rejoices in the clear and cloudless night

For empire is no more and now the Lion and Wolf shall cease

For everything that lives is holy

For everything that lives is holy

For everything that lives is holy

For everything that lives is holy

What is the price of Experience? Do men buy it for a song?

Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price

Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children

Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy

And in the wither'd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain

It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer's sun

And in the vintage and to sing on the waggon loaded with corn

It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted

To speak the laws of prudence to the homeless wanderer

To listen to the hungry raven's cry in wintry season

When the red blood is fill'd with wine and with the marrow of lambs

It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements

To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughter house moan;

To see a god on every wind and a blessing on every blast

To hear sounds of love in the thunder storm that destroys our enemies' house;

To rejoice in the blight that covers his field