The essay isn’t coming along too well, but I thought I might start small. One of the things that drives me up the wall is when I hear or read people who ought to know better talk about the necessity of income redistribution. For some reason, the fact that some people are poor and some [...]
Unfortunately, my vacation is now officially over. I just got back from doing some personnel evaluations with my 3rd shift staff. It’s a good thing the Head Rat is an understanding, supportive person. I’m not sure how many wives out there would still be speaking to a husband who spent the evening of their wedding [...]
When I was much younger, I spent a couple of years experimenting with various substances, both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical. Whether it is your intention or not, such a pursuit necessarily involves a certain exposure, if not active participation, in the attendant counter-culture. I have no idea what the prevailing ambience of the drug culture is [...]
The Second Annual Ratlands Assorted Pork Products and Cheese Smoking Festival kicked off yesterday. The festival opened with the traditional sharp cheddar and gouda along with this year’s experimental variety: pepper jack. We also prepared smoked, grilled chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs and hot links. (I’m on vacation this week, and the Head Rat and I aren’t [...]
Friday, Captain Capitalism posted a picture of the Korean Peninsula. At night. Hop on over there and take a look. I’m pretty sure the stark difference displayed is due to the fact that the happy, healthy indigenous people of the North are busily pursuing the greater good by minimizing their carbon emissions and participating in [...]
OK, that’s a bit grand. Suffice it to say that in spite of the odd bits of humor floating through my life, things have been better. And, all of us here in the Ratlands have the fever-chills-aches-sore throat thing going now. So, it was with a bit of a minor emotion, as yet unnamed but [...]
Quite by accident I stumbled onto the Captain Capitalism cartoon website. I recommend “Piggy Bank Pinko”. (Regular readers will, of course, take into account the vagaries of my sense of humor and adjust accordingly.) Also, don’t confuse the cartoon site with the blogger who calls himself Captain Capitalism. He had an excellent article on Friday [...]
I’ve stayed away from commenting on the Foley situation for a variety of reasons, none of which are relevant to this post. But, just because I’m not ready (and may never be) to offer any thoughts on the matter, it doesn’t mean I can’t share a few quotes by some of my favorite deep thinkers. [...]
I know there are members of the Armed Forces (current and former) who are also Democrats. It would have been nice if the DNC could have consulted one of them. From Q and O: The Democratic Party’s web site makes a big show of supporting our troops, which is nice. It’d be even nicer if [...]
Not quite Friday: I have time now. I won’t tomorrow morning. Not quite Random: OK, it’s random except the playlist is loaded with stuff I haven’t heard in a while and I went down the list til I found a song I really like. Not quite Ten: I really like the 11th song in the [...]
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