Mosaic seen in the ruins of a Roman villa, Sicily

 

Now there's a mosaic. Or part of one.

A mural at the Charleston airport

 

Bessie Coleman, aviation pioneer.

You've got to admire a guy like that

I mean Blago. I thought it was a smart move to appoint Burris. I also admire his spunk for sticking by his post. I seem to remember Bill Clinton responding to pressure to resign in the same way.

Suppose Blago is tried and found innocent. What then? I don't trust Fitzgerald, who made a big to-do about the Valerie Plame kerfuffle, spent tons of money, and put Scooter Libby in jail for, essentially, nothing. I don't trust the guy, and am surprised to see him still holding a government job. To me he seems like one of the pod people. Did anyone spot him disembarking from a spaceship lately? Or is he just a zombie?

I suspect he jumped the gun on Blago, and now needs extra time to figure out whether Blago used the office postage meter for personal business, or whatever other crime he can pin on the guy. Maybe he lied to somebody or other about Valerie Plame? Or Valerie Jarrett? Or Valerie Schmidlapp, queen of the cheerleading team at my old high school? Fitzgerald decides to prosecute someone and looks for a reason. He's creepy.

And now the Illinois Assembly in their purity and innocence are shocked--shocked! to find that corruption is taking place in Illinois politics! and recoil from Blago in dread that they will be tainted.

What a herd of independent minds!

My latest painting

 

This is the only one I ever finished to my satisfaction. Art class starts again next week.

New CIA boss stops inhumane practices

Waterboarding is a thing of the past.

The selection of Leon Panetta, who was Bill Clinton's chief of staff, was intended to tell Americans the era of waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary renditions and secret prisons was now over.

Don't worry, the miscreants will still suffer. Panetta will force them to listen to John Kerry's speeches.

Bits and pieces

Don't you feel a little depressed when you see a picture, say a wedding photo or a baby with a bow in her hair, for sale in a garage sale or thrift shop? I do. That's one reason I am scanning all the family pictures into my computer. To my future descendants: don't ever throw a cute picture of me away, or I'll put a hex on you. Ugly picture, okay, get rid of it. Always picture great-great-grandma (me) as a roaring, tearing beauty.

I saw a commercial warning the public to save energy by unplugging your cell phone charger. Boy, did that annoy me! The smug, smarmy self-righteousness of it. I felt like going out and burning a tire, just for spite. Take that, environment! Heat up, you stupid planet!

Every week I fill up another two bags of stuff and take it to the Good Will. But the stuff just keeps coming. You have to be vigilant or it will take over the house. My younger daughter confessed to me that she and her husband have two storage units. Their garage, where they parked their cars a couple of years ago, is now full of stuff which is threatening to invade their living quarters.

My basement is full of half-empty paint cans, left behind by the sellers of the house. Once upon a time, I would have carefreely (is there such a word?) thrown them away. Now I have to schedule a hazmat team to come and deal with them correctly.

The reason I don't have a dog is that I don't want to walk around the streets carrying a baggie full of doggy doo. That and the fact that Mr Charm won't let me get one.

One from my college days, long long ago:

 

That's me, second from the left.

Scanning

A lot of things are going on now that are rather upsetting, so to distract myself I've been scanning old photos. This is a really nice one of my younger grandson, who's a big boy of seven now.

 

Happy New Year!

 

And good sledding!

Blago--the gift that keeps on giving

There's a character in a novel by Evelyn Waugh--in might be Decline and Fall--who "blots his copybook(an understated way of saying disgraces himself)." Because he went to the right school his associates decide to let him off easy by putting him in a room with a bottle of whiskey and a pistol, trusting he will "do the right thing (Off himself)."

They go back a few hours later and find him sitting there, having drunk the whiskey but still alive. So they concede defeat and get him another job.

And so it is with Blago. The Illinois legislature, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and the news media all thought they could embarrass him into doing the right thing and taking one for the team. Not a chance!

And so he made a brilliant move, appointing a Senator to replace Barack Obama, as he is constitutionally empowered to do. Not just any one, but a black man. And at the press conference announcing the appointment, another black man who just happened to be there got up and helpfully pointed out that he would be the only black person in the Senate, and that Harry Reid and the rest of the bunch had better seat him, or else.

Now Blago's political enemies--all Democrats--are gnashing their teeth in impotent rage while the Republicans are feeling smug as all get out.

Where's the money, Madoff?

Stanley Bing wants to know.

And, to veer from the point, what a name for a gonif--made off with money, did he? Dickens couldn't come up with a better one.

My idea is that the guy had to be a gambler. Trollope's books are full of young, rich aristocrats who have gambled away towering fortunes. There's not enough money printed by all the world's government printing presses for a compulsive gambler.

You can tell a compulsive gambler because all their relatives are going around with their pockets turned inside out, having given their little all so that poor Bernie doesn't get two broken legs.

Label your photographs

 

If you don't, you will find pictures like the one above, of people who are probably related to me, but as to who they are, I haven't a clue!

Write the name and date in pencil, lightly on the back.

Future generations will thank you.

I hope Santa is good to all my readers

 

Ohio University

This image, of the campus of my Alma Mater, makes me sentimental.

Oh to be young, free, and in the right place.

What's not to like about Caroline Kennedy?

She's perfect for the Senate seat. She looks like she's straight out of central casting. First--the debutante slouch, taught only in the most expensive private schools in the nation; then there's the slight equine resemblance, emphasized when she tosses her mane artlessly away from her face; and the aforementioned straight I-can't do-anything-with-it hair, which takes endless time and money to achieve; and lastly, the air of entitlement, of deserving to be a Senator by acclamation, without going through the dreary business of running for office.

Next at bat: Chelsea Clinton.

What's with this "elect" stuff?

I don't ever remember having heard of the position of "president-elect." Is it sort of like being the Prince of Wales? How much does the job pay, and is everyone eligible?

I am reminded of these words from the Mikado:

Emperor: I'm the emperor of Japan!

Katisha: And I'm his daughter-in-law elect!"

Just saying.

Me as a skinny-legged teenager

 

Equal time for Chanukah

Menorah lighting tonight.

Chanukah was taken with calm, not to say torpor, in my family. Somebody lighted candles (that would be bubbe), and if they remembered, or I nagged, they came up with a cash bribe. Not Christmas, by a long shot. We didn't even have Chanukah gift wrap paper, let alone gifts to wrap. And as for household decoration, forget about it!

Meanwhile, I was wild with excitement as the neighbors put up lights and Christmas trees. Mother issued a firm nolo prosequi on this stuff, but once or twice Santa Claus delivered a doll, which he placed at the foot of my bed. We didn't have a chimney, and if we did have one, and Santa got cinders on the oriental rug, mother would have killed him.

Tonight, I lit the candles when the sun had gone down. It was the shortest day of the year, gloomy and raw, and I was glad to have the cheerful sight of the candles burning in my kitchen. When my grandson was little, he had his own menorah, his mother had hers, and I had mine. We put them all in the living room, near the window, and they were a pretty sight, especially on the eighth night. Surprising how a few candles light up the place.



For the record, these candles were blue and white, not multicolored.

Cute little purple tree

 

Happy lighted fake Christmas tree

 

Merry poinsettia

 

Politics Chicago style

There's lots of innocent merriment coming out of Chicago these days. It turns out many Chicago politicians are crooks, selling political office, appointing wives of contributors to cushy jobs, and cursing over the telephone, among other crimes and misdemeanors.

I don't really mind the sleaziness on display here. What sticks in my craw is the sanctimoniousness of it all. These crooks--sorry, elected officials--profess just to want to work tirelessly for the people of Illinois, particularly the poor and underprivileged. It's all for the poor--and the children, of course. The combination of high-mindedness and criminality really sickens me.

I am reminded of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr, a Harlem politician, minister and crook. He was unabashedly in it for the money and the wine, women and song. He didn't assume an air of piety while having his hand in your pocket. He was a scoundrel, he knew it, and everybody else knew it, including the voters who kept returning him to office. As politicians go, he was refreshing. His polar opposite would be Eliot Spitzer, who gave holier-than-thouness a bad name.

Trivial thoughts

About this time of year, I start to meditate on the Meaning of Life. My conclusions? Your life can change overnight.

Once upon a time I thought my life would continue along its pleasant but uneventful course. Mr Charm and I would attend concerts and visit with friends and I would work in the library. All that came to a sudden end, without notice. The friend I had the most fun with died and I was not ready to lose her. I was supposed to go to Atlantic City with some friends who were great fun to be with, but he got sick and couldn't go, and suddenly, he too was dead.

Even the college I enjoyed attending so much had morphed into a huge university. I went back to visit and found the place unrecognizable--they had moved the river which was a prominent feature of the place.

And I found myself in Delaware, where the only person I knew was the real estate lady who sold us our house.

On a lighter note; I have had so much vexation with Verizon, who unexplicably keep misplacing my payments, not to mention billing me $45 for viewing a World Wrestling Federation event. Now do I seem like a person who would watch a WWF competition? After hours of voice mail, I spoke to several rude individuals about all of this. All of them had ingested their daily I Don't Care Pill that day. I was so upset that I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about Verizon.

Today, I decided to give it one last try. After being re-directed to the wrong person no less than three times, I finally spoke to someone who understood what had happened and was in a position to do something about it. Hallelujah!

I am one of Macy's best customers: They send me so many coupons that it doesn't pay for me to shop anywhere else. After I apply my $25 off coupon, my $50 off coupon, my just for today coupon which gives me 20 percent off on every purchase, and a voucher they sent me which is just like cash, I pay a little less than I would at K-Mart, and I like Macy's better.

Non-committal all-purpose holiday greeting du jour

 

Above is my non-committal, non-denominational holiday greeting to every one. All you Christians, Jews, and Muslims can accept it as my expression of good will to all men, women, and people. Even atheists can get behind the sentiment expressed here. I hope.

Ugly

but expensive.



I apologize for prematurely announcing the most useless Christmas gift of 2008. The above beats the fish training kit hollow.

When I first saw this advertised on the New York Times website, I thought it was a representation of four breasts, two with eyes. How wrong I was. It is a hand cooler. Whether it cools your hands or some beverage within, it is world-class ugly.

I am officially speechless. If anyone can find an uglier or more useless gift, please e-mail me the particulars. This one will be hard to beat, though.

Bigot

From the December 2008 edition of Hadassah magazine, a letter to the editor:

You asked your respondents to focus on "issues of concern to Jewish voters." Clearly the most important issue is Judaism itself and our freedom to practice it....I think [Sarah Palin's] candidacy changes the parameters of the debate.

Her public statements and the few glimpses of her that we have been allowed indicate that hers ls a Christ-centered worldview and that she believes in the primacy of that religion above all others. (Note: Is there anyone who does not believe in the primacy of their own religion?)

If there is any more frightening issue of concern to Jewish voters (Note: I can think of several others, but that's just me )than the possible (Note: But not probable in a million years) erosion of the free exercise of religion, I cannot imagine what it might be.

Be alert, Jewish readers! The Christians are apt to burn down your synagogues and Jewish Community Centers and invade Chabad houses, torturing and killing their innocent inhabitants--oh, wait! Those aren't Christians, they're Muslims!

If past performance can predict future actions, I would say that Jews in this country have little to fear from Christians, even evangelical Christians. But this bugaboo is raised every time a Republican professes a belief in evangelical Christianity. Barack Obama, in contrast, could attend a racist church whose pastor espouses the Palestinian cause for 20 years without incurring criticism.

Perhaps the president-elect slept through the reverend's more fiery sermons. I, at any rate, am inclined to give Obama the benefit of the doubt until he actually does something which adversely affects the Jews of this or any other country.

Hadassah, by the way, is a Zionist organization. You might assume that its readers are more concerned with the perils facing an embattled Israel than with the imaginary and highly unlikely persecution of American Jews.

This year's most useless Christmas present

 

Train your fish?

Miscellaneous

I haven't gotten any comments lately, which worried me--but then I remembered that I hadn't posted anything in ages, so what's to comment on?

So here I am, with what a lady I once worked with called "nits and lice," miscellaneous trivia dredged up from the hodgepodge in my mind.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving? Mine was very nice, thank you. My daughter and her husband love to take over the kitchen, so I let them. My kitchen's too small for more than one person, anyway. I made the stuffing and peeled the potatoes and disappeared. My daughter and aforementioned husband love to go to the Acme every day, so they do. They even checked on Wednesday night to make sure the Acme would be open Thanksgiving Day. (It was.)

Their life is a whirlwind of purposeful activity. This daughter is the mother of a 7-year-old who she is convinced will perish if he does not get broccoli and green beans every single day. We did have an very enjoyable time. My older daughter and her son were able to come for the holiday so we were all together, which doesn't happen often enough.

They came at dinnertime the Monday before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately there was a power outage at thee o'clock Monday afternoon so I was unable to cook anything. We all went out to dinner and then they very sensibly went to the Holiday Inn for the night.

I've been reading a book called "The Legal Limit" by Martin Clark. It's very good, particularly the small-town Virginia setting. But it could have been better if an editor like Maxwell Perkins had been on the job. I guess they don't edit anything these days, or maybe the authors are paid by the word, because this book would have been better if it had been shorter. It tells the story of two brothers, one of whom peaked as a high school football hero and has gone downhill ever since, and the other a striver who pulls himself up by his bootstraps to become the county prosecutor in his home town. The action takes place over a period of twenty years, with the younger brother--the prosecutor--as the hero.

The book covers his life from his early twenties to his forties. The parts dealing with life as a small town prosecutor and his relations with his friends and neighbors, and particularly his brother, are well handled. His courtship and subsequent marriage, not so much.

His wife sounds too good to be true: I am sure it's not outside the realm of possibility that there are women who are tall, beautiful, intelligent, honest and artistic geniuses, but it's not plausible or believable within the covers of a novel. Also--and this is a minor quibble--scenes of passionate abandon are much more fun to experience than to read about. I could have done with a little less of his gay best friend's problems as well. Still, I enjoyed the book, most of the characters are extremely well done, and I look forward to reading Clark's other books.

We win an award

Another meme, courtesy of Father Brown: I have to pick 15 blogs:

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.

Okay, here goes:


decision '08 (time for a new name, though);
Jules Crittenden;
Mark Steyn;
15 minute lunch;
Iowahawk;
scrappleface;
gates of Vienna;
passing parade;
Jack;
powerline;
Wyatt Earp;
Michael Yon
citizen of the month;
Lileks;
Tim Blair.

There are many more excellent blogs I follow, so I set myself some criteria: I generally am prejudiced toward blogs written by one individual. I decided not to include any Delaware blogs--there are too many good ones. I also tried to exclude blogs whose owners only blog once in a while and those who have terminated their blogs.

Anyway, there you have it. Whew! It was exhausting, posting all those llinks.

Oy vey! The best and brightest are back!

Lock up the silverware and hide the car keys! David Brooks lauds the high school heroes who went on to make the Ivy League the sinkhole of political correctness and fraudulent scholarship it is today.

Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law) will take the oath of office as his wife, Michelle (Princeton, Harvard Law), looks on proudly. Nearby, his foreign policy advisers will stand beaming, including perhaps Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale Law), Jim Steinberg (Harvard, Yale Law) and Susan Rice (Stanford, Oxford D. Phil.).
[]



The domestic policy team will be there, too, including Jason Furman (Harvard, Harvard Ph.D.), Austan Goolsbee (Yale, M.I.T. Ph.D.), Blair Levin (Yale, Yale Law), Peter Orszag (Princeton, London School of Economics Ph.D.) and, of course, the White House Counsel Greg Craig (Harvard, Yale Law).

This truly will be an administration that looks like America, or at least that slice of America that got double 800s on their SATs.

There's worse:

Any think tanker can come up with broad doctrines, but it is rare to find people who can give the president a list of concrete steps he can do day by day to advance American interests. Dennis Ross, who advised Obama during the campaign, is the best I’ve ever seen at this....

Dennis Ross--where have I heard that name before? Isn't he the guy who is always seen knowledgably opining on the Sunday talk shows, demonstrating with vast erudition that he always grabs the wrong end of the stick and beats up the facts with it?

Could this be the Dennis Ross who crafted the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process which has successfully settled the mid-East's problems, leading to peace and prosperity on both sides? Oh, wait--not quite at peace yet! Unfortunately Yassir Arafat sold Dennis Ross a bridge which he has not been able to locate yet.

In my opinion, getting through Harvard requires the skills needed to get into Harvard, and nothing else.

William F Buckley once said that he would sooner live in a society governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than in one governed by the 2,000 men of the Harvard faculty.

Me too.

Delaware people are so polite

Delaware people are so much politer than people in NY and NJ. I hardly ever approach a door that someone doesn't hold it open for me--even teenagers. They're friendly and pleasant, too.

Even the panhandlers are polite. I had occasion to be in downtown Wilmington a few times lately, and encountered three panhandlers in one day. They were polite, almost deferential: "Pardon me, ma'am..." Such a nice change from the panhandlers in San Francisco, for instance, who will threaten you and follow you around.

One young man had a novel approach. I was selecting stuff at a salad bar, when he came up to me and told me he wanted to buy something or other--a soda, maybe? He asked me if I could give him a dime. I was so struck by the modesty of his request, I gave him a quarter.

What should my bumper sticker be?

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Anything worth taking seriously - is worth making fun of

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car?

We love our customers...

I mean the ones we don't have yet.

I'm referring to Comcast and Verizon, who are constantly sending me offers for Internet, phone service, tv, etc. at bargain basement rates. Once they get their claws on you, however, it's no more Mr Nice Guy. My mother told me that if I was too easy, boys would not respect me, and she's right. Verizon doesn't even take my calls.

Did it ever occur to these businesses that if they were nicer to their current customers, people would be content to continue paying their salaries?

Babies

 

 

Are Americans getting smarter?

The number of cars with "My son is an honor student at XXX school" bumper stickers seems to be multiplying exponentially. Also--and I admit this is anecdotal evidence--I never seem to hear a young person discussed without assertions that he or she gets nothing but As and Bs.

Are our children getting smarter? Has our educational system improved to the point where everyone is fulfilling his or her potential to the max? Can we rest confident that America's future is in the hands of these budding geniuses?

Or is there a new definition of honor student--someone who attends school most of the time, gives the teachers no lip and doesn't burn the building down?

In Alice in Wonderland there is a dodo race. Everyone runs around aimlessly wherever he wants to, and at the conclusion, everyone wins and gets a prize. Is this the model for the American education system?

God makes them...

and they find each other:



This unappealing pair met over the Internet, and they broke up after she caught him virtually cheating on her. I can't find a picture of their avatars, but you can bet your boots they look better than the actual couple, him ripped and studly, her svelte and slinky.

Amy Taylor, 28, split up with her husband, David Pollard, 40, after catching him digitally cheating on her in the popular online game "Second Life."

The British couple had a passion for "Second Life," in which people lead alternative existences over the Web, with personas - or avatars - that are typically far more svelte and suave than their real selves.

Pollard and Taylor spent countless hours living in the game as their attractive alter egos, Dave Barmy and Laura Skye, after getting married both in real life and in the game in 2005.

In real life, Taylor and Pollard are both overweight, and he is balding.

But in February 2007, Taylor caught Pollard having sex with a pixel prostitute ....

"I looked at the computer screen, and I could see his character having sex with a female character. It's cheating, as far as I'm concerned," she said....

"We made it up, and he promised her he would never do anything to hurt me again, and would never cheat on me again," Taylor told The Daily Mail of London.

But two months later,... She caught Barmy in a compromising position with another woman.

It wasn't long before Taylor confronted him while he was in the act.

[]
"He said our marriage was over and he didn't love me anymore," Taylor said.

She filed for divorce on the grounds of "unreasonable behavior." A divorce lawyer told her the next day that this was the second case involving "Second Life" she had dealt with in one week.

Taylor has since given up "Second Life" for "World of Warcraft," another online game.

I blame Al Gore. If he hadn't invented the Internet, this would never have happened,

Elections in this country are getting slipshod

Let's stop it. Voters are voting by mail (what an opportunity for fraud!), by absentee ballot, provisionally, with or without previous registration. Ballots are being conveniently found in the back seat of cars and other inauspicious places. Let's stop it now.

Elections should be clean and should be seen to be clean. If people want to vote, let them show up at the proper venue at the proper time and register. Then let them all vote simultaneously, on the same day. This system has worked for 200 years and there is nothing wrong with it. The idea that people have to be coaxed to vote is a rotten one. If you don't care enough to show up at the polls, that's fine. There should be no coercion, and no "volunteers" signing up "voters" in streets and homeless shelters.

At some pre-determined time, all the votes should be counted and the ballots sequestered. Ballots found after that period, no matter where, should be discarded. Precincts which report after that period should not have their votes added to the total. Polls should be closed at the previously announced time, and no latecomers should be admitted.

This Al Franken thing now going on is a disgrace to the republic. So is Franken, but that's an issue for another day.

Jesse weeping--the mean-spirited community weighs in

Several conservative commenters--I believe Krauthammer was one--were touched by the sight of Jesse Jackson weeping at Barack O's election. I can't believe the old fraud and shakedown artist was weeping tears of gratitude.

More likely, someone probably stepped on his toe.

Pumpkin display, Highland Orchard Farm

 

Another time-waster

You Are 90% Yankee, 10% Dixie

You're so Yankee, it's possible you've never even been to the South!

Are You a Yankee or Dixie?

A poem for our day

The Second Coming

by William Butler Yeats

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Obama's worker bees

Bill Bradley was on Hannity and Colmes tonight. He suggested that all the people who were campaigning for BO over the weekend ought to be enlisted into--what? I know not, but I don't like the idea of having the Soviet Youth dropping around the house to see whether I'VE RECYCLED or something. I want all these willing volunteers who are so eager to help Obama achieve his vision to leave me strictly alone. I prefer that they sink into apathy, or go off and get drunk or do drugs. I don't want to be part of Obama's corps of concerned citizens.

What I want to do is turn my thermostat to whatever makes me comfortable, to get gasoline that is reasonable and readily available, to eat whatever unhealthy food I feel like scarfing down. I don't mind paying for what I use. I don't want Big Brother looking over my shoulder.

At art class, one of the women said it was time we had a president who would save the planet. Could we first have a dispassionate look at what, if anything, is wrong with the planet? Ditto health care? Could we investigate dispassionately what's wrong with American health care, and how good--or bad--other systems are?

We take so many things on faith, without any proof. I'm not convinced global warming exists or that there is anything the United States could do to remedy it without crippling our economy. Obama talks blithely about bankrupting coal producers. If he delivers on any of his promises, he will be a piss-poor president.

I blame Bush for the Democratic victory, at least partly. He didn't bother to get the country behind him on the Iraq war. Or on anything. He just went on doing whatever he was doing without explaining himself or justifying himself. The presidency is a bully pulpit, but he ignored its propaganda function, and that's how he lost the battle for public opinion.

McCain was pretty pathetic, too. Why didn't he publicize the Rev Jeremiah Wright's relationship with Obama--a relationship that stinks to high heaven? Why didn't he articulate his plans for solving our financial crisis? Why did he tie himself to using public financing, the equivalent of tying one of his legs behind him?

Basically, I believe that Obama won for two reasons: one, the economy. The financial meltdown worked in his favor. Two: the man is just plain lucky. He only won his Senate seat because his opponent dropped out, among other things. I just hope his luck extends to the country.

Guy Fawkes Day--how could I forget?

I've always loved the idea of Guy Fawkes Day since I first read about it in Mary Poppins as a little girl:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Instead of setting fire to cars--the French way--the Brits enjoy setting off fireworks to commemorate the foiling of a plot against the government. Fireworks must light up the dreary November skies nicely.

A quiet day in New Jersey

I went to New Jersey Thursday to visit a relative who is recovering from surgery. I was surprised at how uneventful the trip was. The generic, nondescript trees lining the turnpike didn't look as generic and nondescript as usual, due to the fall foliage. And the traffic--well, I came home at rush hour, and there were a minimum number of trucks on the road. Even at the place in the road where truck traffic and car traffic come together, which is generally pretty fraught, everything proceeded smoothly. Usually there is a snarl of traffic which causes tempers and radiators to boil over, but on that day everything proceeded quietly.

This must be the result of the economic meltdown. Business must be very slow. It was uncanny, as if a disaster had occurred somewhere nearby. I felt...uneasy.

However, I did get my car pumped full of New Jersey gas by somebody else.

Librarian fined for promoting daughter's book

Was this unethical?

For 39 years as an educator, Robert Grandt has been promoting other people’s books. So this year, when his daughter helped create a graphic novel of “Macbeth,” Mr. Grandt could not resist bragging a little in the newsletter he distributes as a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School.


Mr. Grandt’sdaughter, Eve Grandt, co-illustrated a version of “Macbeth.” He said he was taken aback by conflict-of-interest charges. "I was just so proud of my daughter for writing it," he said.

“Best New Book: Grandt, Eve, ‘Shakespeare’s Macbeth — The Manga Edition,’ ” he wrote under the heading “Grandt’s Picks.”

He also placed a few copies of the book at a library display table, and posted a sign: “Best Book Ever Written.” If someone were interested, they got a book free.

But one person’s parental pride is another panel’s ethical transgression.

On Monday, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board announced it had settled a case it had brought against Mr. Grandt for promoting his daughter’s work. He agreed to pay a $500 fine and admit in a three-page stipulation that he had violated the city ethics code.

Turning leaves, Wilmington DE

 

 

 

 

All these phots were taken at the Delaware Art Museum.

The Charleston Library Society

 

I took this picture for no particular reason, except that it's a library, last July. Today I looked it up and it has a fascinating history:

The Charleston Library Society is the South's oldest cultural institution and the third oldest library in the United States. For more than 250 years it has collected, preserved, and made available cultural materials for the use of its members and researchers from around the world. Today, it is a circulating library and a repository of rare books, periodicals, manuscripts, clippings, maps, directories, almanacs, and visual materials.

Established in 1748 by seventeen young gentlemen of various trades and professions wishing to avail themselves of the latest publications from Great Britain, the Charleston Library Society paved the way for the founding of the College of Charleston in 1770 and provided the core collection of natural history artifacts for the founding of the Charleston Museum – America’s first – in 1773.

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During the war years of 1861 - 1865, part of the Library's archives was sent to the state capitol for safekeeping. The reunion of the collections at the end of the war also marked the merging of the Apprentice's Library with the Charleston Library Society, resulting in the long-standing practice of providing each adult member a free membership to gift to a minor twenty-one years of age or under.

The Charleston Library Society's building at 164 King Street is fronted by two of the city's largest ginkgo trees. This species represents memory and long life, and for many years the ginkgo leaf has served as the symbol of the Charleston Library Society.

I love libraries, particularly old ones!

How should I dress for Halloween?

You Should Be a Fairy for Halloween

According to our quiz, you'd make an ideal fairy. Your runner up costume: Showgirl

The Halloween Costume Generator

No comment.

No passport?

It has been said (sneeringly) of Sarah Palin that she doesn't even have a passport. And what might she have learned, had she had a passport? I've only been to Europe, so please excuse my Eurocentric bias:

1. There are a lot of churches in Europe.

2. Ditto museums.

3. Likewise historic sites where stuff happened.

4. (British Isles and Canada only) Cute young guys in kilts.

5. Also, the Euro is worth about a dollar, sometimes more, sometimes less.

6. Many foreigners speak English. Many do not.

7. There's a long wait to get into the House of Commons; sometimes you don't get in anyway.

8. Did I mention churches?

My trips to Europe did not result in any epiphanies or insights into how to run the nation. I might as well have stayed home and read some Fodor's guidebooks. Going was more enjoyable, but also more costly.

But it was fun, and I heartily recommend that Sarah, Todd, and the kiddies go on a nice family vacation in Europe.

Horse hits tree

From the Telegraph (UK).

The scholastic scribe: 200: This Bling's for You!

the scholastic scribe lists her favorite blogs:

An interesting idea. I can't wait to visit all the blogs she lists.

My own choices, among many: 15 minute lunch; lileks; tim blair; Iowahawk; the nose on your face; not necessarily in that order.

Whew! I'm bushed! Putting in all those links is not easy.

Open for business

What in the world is the Obama discount on the stock market?

Are investor concerns about an Obama presidency influencing the stock market? And by "concerns" I mean "existential panic." And by "Obama presidency" I mean "a tax-hiking and regulatory reign of terror." And by "influencing" I mean "eviscerating." At least that's the overwrought take I get from a few of my more skittish E-mailers.

Here's my thinking: I was supposed to get a minimum distribution on my 401(k)on Nov 15. However, I was pretty sure the market would tank if Obama were elected president, which appeared very likely. I didn't want to wait until after the election; that would be too late. So, the Friday before the market started to slide gracefully downhill like an Olympic skier, I called the company and asked them to send me the money now--I mean then, of course.

Well, the very next Monday the market started to plummet and has since continued the good work, so I have discovered that I have financial acumen which has hitherto been latent. I was as surprised as anyone to learn that I know as much about the market as anybody else, including Alan Greenspan (who confessed himself puzzled at the way things have gone.)

So, exhibiting the old pioneer spirit which led my ancestors as far west as Columbus, OH, I have decided to set myself up in business as a financial adviser. I am dedicating a corner of my office--the one formerly occupied by the mop and the broom--to my new business. Hours: noon to four, Monday through Friday.

Perhaps I will start a new website called "Miriam pix stox," to be consulted by my devotees when they are in need of some savvy advice. Or you can e-mail me.

What goes around comes around

I'm not happy about our country's financial meltdown, but it does have some positives. For instance, when you try to deal with some company on the phone, they are downright civil!--almost matey, in fact.

My car was recalled and I dreaded calling the dealer. People who work at automobile dealers are generally either rude or dismissive. Not this bunch! I told them I was sent a recall notice, and they directed me--in person, not voicemail--to someone to make an appointment with. They gave me the name of the person who would be taking care of my car. I couldn't have been more pleased if they had sent me a dozen roses.

I also ordered a computer for my husband from Dell, this time using live chat. Gabe was friendly and knowledgeable. I explained that we did not need a monitor. Gabe set me up with one of their promotions, and said someone would call me. (Apparently you can't order anything over live chat.)

A few minutes later Craig called and was downright friendly. Entire time spent ordering a computer: 15 minutes. Nor did either Gabe or Craig try to sell me a long-term maintenance contract or upgrade me from what I wanted to something more expensive. They also did not mention their own payment plan, under which you pay them a certain sum of money, an amount which increases arbitrarily from time to time, for the rest of your life plus 10 years.

Now if someone would just do something to Verizon....

grasshopper weathervane, duPont house, Hagley Museum

 

The day I gave away taxpayer money

I, along with a bunch of other librarians from the county, (which shall be nameless) were summoned to an urgent meeting at the office of the community college library director. It turns out there was some state grant money to be spent on the arts, they had a hatful of applications, and someone had to decide who got the money. That would be us. They couldn't think of anyone better equipped, knowledgeable, blah blah blah. Or maybe they couldn't get anyone else on such short notice.

It turns out there were two kinds of organizations looking for grants. First, those which were doing okay without the money but could have used some, and those that were hopeless. Among the hopeless was an application to paint a mural on the side of a disused barn in the middle of nowhere.

We had to decide where to disburse the money that very day. The applications had apparently been found in somebody's inbox just a day or two before the deadline, so we had to make up our minds very fast.

I discovered then and there how good it felt to spread money around. It was a small amount, but we felt powerful and important. A thousand here, a thousand there--we felt the thrill which undoubtedly motivated the Rockefellers, with the pleasing difference that it wasn't coming out of our pockets.

So I learned how easy and rewarding it is to give away somebody else's money. Well, it felt like other people's money, even though it was tax money and we were the taxpayers.

oysgevarfene gelt*

The Bill Ayers/Barack Obama/Annenberg Challenge mess chiefly inspires this sentiment in me: Shame on you, Annenberg Foundation! You gave enough money to rebuild a whole neighborhood in New Orleans, to a couple of radical fakers and time-servers who wanted to radicalize school children--and they couldn't even do that! (Neither could they teach them to read, write and calculate, which I bet is the reason their parents send them to school-- but that's another issue.)

President Roosevelt liked to build dams and other infrastructure projects, because something tangible was there to show where the money went. These Annenberg idiots could have built a school, a bridge, a bikepath, a dam for God's sake, and have something to show for the money. They could have bought every child in Chicago a Big Mac.

I'm all for eliminating tax-free foundations. They just make mischief.

*It means money thrown away.

Dirty work at the crossroads

There is a sinister plot afoot to mess with my blog. Blogrolling disappears, and comes back. Some of my links don't work, for no conceivable reason.

I blame Bush.

Also at Carnival of the Insanities.

Yom Kippur report

Well, the Jewish holidays are over, and I can now ignore the Jewish religion until Passover, when another spasm of piety will undoubtedly strike. I am not religious, but I draw some kind of strength and certitude from being among believers. There is something noble about those who take religious precepts seriously and govern their behavior accordingly.

When I visit my cousin Bernie for Shabbat dinner and he recites the blessing over wine, I admire his dignity and strength. I also acknowledge a direct connection between him--and me--and our ancestors who did the very same thing, far away, in a different country and in different circumstances, but using the very same words. Tradition continues l'dor v'dor--from generation to generation, and I am still part of this, one link in the chain.

People who found my site...

through Google and other search engines. They are a strange lot.

I would say the number one search that lands people on my site is Miriam's porn. I get them from all over--Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Australia. They must be so disappointed; it's kind of deceptive advertising, actually. I should take it down--that and my numerous references to nude blogging. Then no-one would visit me.

Another combo that gets hits is English towns with funny names. They are pretty funny. Example: Butthole Lane. Also, Mercedes-Benz: the car of choice for dictators. Some British automotive magazine linked to this one, and I got a lot of visits.

I get visits from people who want to view the soler system. At least half of them think that is the correct spelling. Poor education.

Survival techniques

I could survive for 28 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

This is not good enough. Must practice.

Yeah, but she went to Harvard

So she must be qualified for a position of leadership.

It stands to reason. But certain soreheads resent her success:

Ken Lay and Jack Abramoff must be green with envy over the all the mischief that has been accomplished by Jamie Gorelick, with scarcely any demonization in the press.

Imagine playing a central role in the biggest national defense disaster in 50 years. Imagine playing a central role in one of the biggest economic disasters in your country's history. Imagine doing both as an un-elected official. Imagine getting filthy rich in the process, and even being allowed to sit self-righteously on a commission appointed to get to the bottom of the first disaster, which of course did not get to the bottom of that disaster or anything else for that matter.

Some people just don't want anyone to get ahead.

One of the advantages of being old(er) is that I've seen it all. From the perspective of a faculty wife, I've seen my share of blockheads who went to Harvard, Swarthmore, Berkeley, you name it. People who couldn't tie their own shoes without a government grant. These people, by the way, were employed as tenured professors in highly prestigious institutions of higher education. And they had sneering privileges over the rest of us, lowly graduates of state institutions that were probably founded to educate farmers on how to rotate the crops. Like the University of Idaho, where some nobody whose name escapes me got her degree.

Apparently the hardest part of going to Harvard is getting in. After that, it's duck soup. Cut classes, foment revolution, burn down historic buildings, rape the president's daughter, it doesn't matter. All will be forgiven. My brother the genius informs me that it's just the same at MIT. Just get admitted, and the faculty and administration are frightened that you will commit suicide if your little frailties are not overlooked.

ht to lead and gold.

The Palin-Biden debate

I thought they both did okay and did not commit any egregious errors. What struck me was how Biden kept dragging Bush into the debate. It's his King Charles' head.

Cheney was also dragged into the debate on topics that had nothing to do with him What is it about Cheney that makes him such a bogeyman? Parents apparently frighten their children by threatening to call in Cheney to discipline them if they don't mind.

Frankly, I can only think of two things Cheney did in his eight years in office. One was telling Senator Leahy to go f*** himself, and the other was shooting his friend on the hunting trip.

Will our country be ruined?

Maybe not.

From Milton Friedman: [W]hen Adam Smith was told that the British loss at Yorktown would be the ruination of Britain, Adam Smith replied, "Young man, there's a deal of ruin in a nation."

From an interview by Rightwing News.

Delaware and the tort bar

Perfect together.

A remarkable political fact of Mr. Biden's career is that his top campaign contributor is SimmonsCooper, a law firm in Madison County, Illinois, of all places. Aficionados of tort law will understand. SimmonsCooper is a big asbestos player, and Madison County was until recently one of America's meccas for jackpot justice. But the story gets better: Mr. Biden has been helping the tort bar turn his home state of Delaware into a statewide Madison County.

Thanks, Joe.