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Another Southern Bumper Sticker

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Personally vouched for by my brother in law:

Embrace Violence

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Incredible pictures

Saturday, September 4, 2010

This has nothing to do with politics, or the many other subjects upon which I pontificate, but I just had to pass on some of the pictures posted at Why Evolution is True, by a photographer named Igor Siwanowicz. These are stunning examples of evolution producing animals or insects that mimic their surroundings.

Here’s a few, but check out the rest at the link above. This is a mantis that mimics a flower.


I don’t know what these are, but the pictures are incredible.

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Friday Night Music-Labor Day

Friday, September 3, 2010

This post was partly inspired by Paul Krugman’s use of a youtube video of Al Jolson singing Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime, to which I made reference in a previous post. I decided to put together some labor themed songs.

I find that I must break a number of my self imposed rules. I try not to repeat artists and I’ve never posted videos with just still pictures as accompaniment, but those rules go out the window today. I knew some of the titles I wanted, and went searching for the best versions I could find, within the limits of the time I had to look. For some, there were no good video versions.

First up, the aforementioned Buddy, this time growled by Tom Waits. He had stiff competition, in the form of the aforementioned Jolson, and a host of others. There were two versions of this performance on youtube, both accompanied by still picture slide shows. Neither was completely satisfying to my taste. One featured modern pictures, the other, period pictures. I decided to play it safe and go with the old stuff.

And now for something completely different. What Waits does qualifies as singing, but only barely. Paul Robeson, on the other hand… I must confess that I’ve never really listened to him sing before. He’s been sort of half erased from American memory. When I heard this version of Joe Hill, it blew me away. What a voice the guy had.

Finally, something a bit more upbeat from Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie: Woody Guthrie’s Union Maid.

By they way, I reserve the right to bring Robeson and Waits back for video encores.


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A prescription for what ails us

Friday, September 3, 2010

My friend, Bob Roth, is not a serious person. He thinks we should do something to help the unemployed and, perhaps in the process, restore this country’s economic base. He doesn’t seem to care about those scary deficits. Not serious at all.


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A bit of a conundrum

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Apparently, girls now think they are smarter than boys.

Oh, really? If they’re so smart, how come it took them so long to figure out something so obvious?

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Well deserved

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

I am pleased to pass on the word that Mrs. CTBlue will be among the Ella Grasso Women’s Leadership Honorees honored at an awards breakfast on the 27th at the Aqua Turf restaurant in Plantville. (Why, do the folks from the interior think it’s appropriate to make us hicks get up at an ungodly hour to attend these things?). Those who know us know that, while I bloviate freely, my wife is the member of the pair that actually gets things accomplished. She, along with a number of other dedicated women (and they are all women) have transformed the Groton Democrats into a dynamic organization. I can take some small amount of credit for the award, however, since I drafted the submission to state central in support of her nomination. As the poet almost said, “They also serve who only sit and blog”.

If you can’t make it to Plantville (or don’t want to shell out the fifty dollar “donation”), consider coming to Drinking Liberally (which she co-founded) tomorrow to congratulate her, and drink a toast to her and the other honorees. Early indications are that turnout will be good. 6:30 PM at the Bulkeley House, Bank Street in New London.

UPDATE: Seems I’ve been misunderstood by some. I didn’t nominate my wife for the award. I simply volunteered to put together a narrative of her activities. Sorry if I didn’t convey that, though I thought I did.

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Interim Report-The Ipad

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

As I mentioned at the time, I was among the very first recipients of an Ipad. Many of you are probably asking: How’s that working out. Well, none of you are really asking, but I’m going to tell you anyway, in case you’re contemplating getting one.

When I bought the thing, which I’m using to write this post, by the way, I acted purely on faith. I just knew that it would be a great device to have, though I couldn’t exactly explain why.

Slowly but surely, as the available software has come along, it has become a not quite complete replacement for my laptop. It jumped the final hurdle a few days ago when I finally found a blog editor that had the ability to embed links, something you’d think would be fairly basic, so I’m now able to edit a full post without having to post it as a draft and add the links on the computer. I doubt that I’ll be bringing my laptop with me anymore when we take trips away from home.

One thing I miss, which I’m hoping will arrive with IOS4 and multi-tasking, is a clipboard utility like the one I use on my laptop. If you have one on your PC you know how useful it can be: I can copy a number of quotes, links, etc. off of a web page, for instance, and then go to my blog editor and paste them where I want them, without going back and forth between the browser and the editor. A small thing, but something you miss a lot after you get dependent on it.

If you want to do any serious writing on the thing, you really need some sort of stand (I got a nifty folding one at the Apple Store) and a bluetooth keyboard. The on-screen keyboard is a pain, what with the need to shift from the letter keyboard to the numeric pad, and the lack of a key to move the cursor. Using your finger to place the cursor can be a frustrating experience.

For music and videos, it’s far better than a computer.

Now, if I can just cure myself of my app addiction, I’ll be fine.

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Krugman looks in the Crystal Ball

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Paul Krugman makes a prediction that is terribly likely to come true. There are times when it’s hard to conclude that we are anything but f**ked.

If the Iraq parallel is any guide, and deficits become intolerable for everyone, years from now, when the American economy is mired in a deflationary trap — long after most people will have conceded that austerity was a mistake — only those who went along with the mistake will be considered “serious,” while those who argued strenuously against a disastrous course of action will still be considered flaky and unreliable.

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A new low for the New London Day

Monday, August 30, 2010

A few days ago the Day ran a headline stating that Glenn Beck drew hundreds of thousands of people to his rally for suckers, a claim belied by the article itself and the only scientific attempt (Approximately 87,000 attendees) to determine the numbers. I said nothing.

But I can no longer hold my tongue. Today, on the front page-that’s right, not in “Living”, not in the comics, not even in “Religion” the Day features an extensive article on some religiously loony Ghostbusters calling themselves the East Coast Angels, who are dedicated to getting rid of ghosts in Jesus name, Amen.

Perhaps I’m thick. Perhaps I’m missing the irony. But I can’t find a syllable of skepticism in the entire article. It is straight reportage on ghosts, and the idiots who believe in them, along with their truly scientific methods for detecting and expelling them. I mean, they don’t even take the standard approach most reporters take to scientific questions these days. You know, where they balance the overwhelming scientific evidence against one crank. In the Day, we only hear from the cranks.

Why cover the news, when you can give the idiots what they want?

How long before we start burning witches, with the Day giving a respectful hearing to the witch burners?

UPDATE: A commentor refers us to this article, which discusses the fact that the push to drive internet traffic is behind the dumbing down of the American newspaper. I had actually read that article recently, possibly following the same link from Colin McEnroe, but I didn’t connect the dots when I read the Day’s article. I certainly should have, since my wife said she got a “tweet” from the Day with the teaser line “Do you believe in ghosts?”. I guess something like that is more likely to generate traffic than, “Do you think Congress should raise the payroll tax ceiling instead of cutting social security?”, which, I concede, is probably too long to tweet.


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Some pictures from Maine

Saturday, August 28, 2010

My wife and I went to Maine for a visit on Wednesday, to the Wells and Oguinquit area.

I probably wouldn’t ordinarily post these pictures, but this is actually in the nature of an experiment. I recently downloaded a new app for my Ipad, called Blogpress, which is the first blog editor that I’ve found that actually enables you to easily embed a link. One would think that would be fairly basic, but the WordPress app does not have that functionality.

This app also supposedly makes it easier to post pictures, so I thought I would give it a try. This first picture was taken at the top of Mount Adamenticus, from whose lofty peak (I would estimate 300 feet up) you can view Mount Washington in the dim and hazy distance. The picture of that vaunted peak is decidedly uninteresting, but I was sort of proud of this picture I got of a butterfly that was sipping at the local flora.

We arrived as a bout of rainy, windy weather was coming to an end. The folks who had week long rentals had been confined indoors until Thursday, when they turned out in force to enjoy the beach.

We have gone to Perkins Cove quite a few times, but this may have been the first time we went when the weather was perfect.

Not being an expert, I’m only guessing, but I think these are cormorants. If past experience is any guide some bird expert will set me right if I’m wrong. Every time I’ve ever posted something about birds someone has posted a comment giving helpful information.

Speaking of birds, a dovecote at Snug Harbor Farms, a wonderful nursery near Kennebunkport.

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