Another contender for most useless Christmas present

Vendors have outdone themselves in providing kitchy, ugly gifts, which no-one in their right mind would give anyone at any other season. This one can sit pridefully on your dresser, helping burglars to find your most expensive and valuable jewelry conveniently. Yours for $29 from Pottery Barn.

An aside on putting your good jewelry on top of your dresser. Don't do it. I speak from experience. Don't hide it in the freezer, either. Criminals know about that one. Where to put it? That's a tough one. Perhaps in a locked box under your bed?--no, that might make them mad, and you don't want angry burglars approaching your bed, especially if you're in it.

Anyway, you can have these replicas of the Taj Mahal or the Eiffel Tower by Christmas if you order before 10 am December 23.

Moral idiots

I never thought I would see the day.

Do these people want to abolish the social compact entirely?  Some activities are morally repugnant to every group that pretends to be civilized.

Shall we revert to a state of nature, when the lives of men are brutish, nasty, solitary and short?

Must drivers  going through a traffic light at 3 a.m., even though there is no-one in sight and nobody is harmed,  be held accountable for breaking a law, while a man who has sex with his daughter should be left to get on with it because she's over 18?

Still another sort of family values

in Alaska,  this time.

A different slant on family values

from Columbia University.

It's nice to go to college

but it's not going to get you anywhere.

In 1992 119,000 waiters and waitresses were college degree holders. By 2008, this number had more than doubled to 318,000. While the total number of waiters and waitresses grew by about 1 million during this period, 20% of all new jobs in this occupation were filled by college graduates.

So if you want to go to college, do so in a disinterested pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.

Or consider it a four (0r five) year adventure in drinking beer and having fun.

Garden scene with statue

New painting

I took this at night with my iPhone. The colors are not accurate.  Actual colors are much more subtle. It's still a work in progress.

By the way, I'm thinking of rolling out a new website just for my paintings after the first of the year.  Maybe someone will buy some of them?

The last day of Chanukah

Christmas letter, sort of

To everyone who deserves a personal note: You're not going to get one. We are another year older and that's about it. No, Mr Charm is not better. No, it's not likely he ever will be. Yes, we are coping. We have some laughs. And two lovely daughters. And two adorable grandchildren. And as much wine as we need, from our daughter and son-in-law's winery.

I feel pretty good most of the time. I don't know whether this is the result of exercise, good genes, or beta blocker, or if I am just to dumb to know better.

To Eleanor: I got a letter from Patti and answered it, but the answer came back Address Unknown. So either I got it wrong or someone at the Post Office is an idiot. So please tell her to write me again.

To Jacquie: I hope you are okay and that your family is doing well. I'd love to hear from you.

To Natalie: How is Florida working out?

To Joan K: How is retirement working out?

To Pat: I hope you are feeling better.

To Kay: I hope you are feeling better.

To all my friends in New Jersey and elsewhere: I miss you guys.

I am taking an art class at the Delaware Art Museum—also scanning photographs into my computer. Taking pictures with my iPhone, which takes surprisingly good pictures. And I usually manage to bring it with me, which I can't say about either one of my Olympus digital cameras.

I am volunteering at the Delaware Symphony, stuffing envelopes from time to time. I love it. The orchestra is unusually good. Not just for a small town orchestra, but compared to any other orchestra.

The above is a picture of our last year's Christmas decorations. All of them. It is in place again this year.

So I did write a Christmas letter, after all. And this is it.

Reviewing my purchase for Macy's

Macy's sent me an e-mail asking if I wanted to review my recent on-line purchase.  Do I?  In the words of Sarah Palin, you betcha!  But before I could review  said recent purchase, I had to log in.  I have a passionate desire not to log in to anyone's site.  I don't want to remember 1,000 passwords, some of which contain letters as well as numbers, other of which are case-sensitive, and so on.  I don't want to marry Macy's, I don't even want a relationship other than this:  you sell me stuff, I pay for it.  Even that is too much.

So my dear readers are going to have to read my review of my recent purchase, because I am brimming with the desire to tell all. Here goes:

I should mention here that I am one of Macy's favorite customers.  They tell me so repeatedly. So special am I that they keep sending me special offers only for their  favorite customers.!!!

I bought three pieces of jewelry from aforementioned Macy's website.  They were tiny, but came in a huge padded envelope.  One was a gold necklace which had looked okay on the website, but resembled dental floss in person.  I decided to return it to my local Macy's store.  I took the necklace, with tag attached, and enclosed in a little tiny baggie, and put it in my purse.  The envelope wouldn't fit in my purse, so I left it home.

The clerk at the jewelry counter claimed to be unable to take the necklace because I didn't have the packaging.  Even though I had charged it to my Macy's card.  She claimed to be unable to look it up in my account.  I figured she really didn't want to go to the trouble, but I was too polite or stupid to say so.   So I tucked the little tiny thing back into my purse.  I knew in my heart that I would lose the thing before I could manage to return with the bulky envelope.  In the words of P G Wodehouse, it had the stark inevitability of a Greek tragedy.  And so it proved to be.

Went home.  Got envelope.  Returned to Macy's jewelry counter.  No little tiny baggie.

So now I'm mad as hell at Macy's, but even madder at myself for being so stupid and gormless.  It's a lose-lose proposition.

Tendentious

This article, linked by instapundit, is tendentious.    Definition of tendentious:

having or showing an intentional tendency or bias, esp a controversial one.

Is all of America turning into Detroit? Hell, no.  Not even close.  The author cites a number of distressing problems in an  attempt to prove that we are going down the tubes.  In his zeal to make his point, he is mixing apples and oranges and throwing in a grapefruit or two and maybe a papaya.

The second most dangerous city in the United States - Camden, N.J. - is about to lay off about half its police.

I hardly know where to start taking this one to pieces:  1)  Camden has been a hellhole for ages; 2)  Some of those policemen are unemployables who are assigned to sit around the courthouse all day and never have any effect on crime; 3)This is an old game--those in charge want to make the citizenry feel their pain so that someone, somewhere, will give them more money; 4) Police in New Jersey are overpaid and have benefits the average working stiff would die for.

I could go on, but I'll let someone else have a go.  Read the article.

Late-breaking:  Linked by instapundit! 

A day that will live in infamy

December 7, 1941.

Good jobs for writers

Another shameful story from higher education, the Potemkin Village du jour.

Ugliest gift of 2010--so far

For only $49.95 it can be yours. From Nordstrom.

Flower cloes-ups by genius grandson

Taken with an iPhone.

My grandson's airplanes

Sorting silver

I spent part of today sorting and putting away the silver we used Thanksgiving. We were expecting 11 people, so we had to use silver from several different sets. In the event, we only had 8, so I could have made do with my grandmother's beautiful Tuileries sterling. It's 106 years old, the pattern having been brought out in 1904.

Yesterday everyone went home, and I felt rather blah. Decided to eat a cup of tomato soup and the rest of the pumpkin pie for supper. I knew it wasn't a good idea, but there was no stopping me. The ensuing tummy trouble was my reward.

Today I put together some leftover mushrooms, parsley, chicken broth and heavy cream which made a nice soup for Mr Charm and me. Stomach still grumbling.

The oh so politically correct carrying on about McDonald's reminded me of the days before Mickey D existed. People still had to eat; they just never knew where to eat in strange towns without encountering appallingly bad food. When we went on trips, especially driving to Florida, we were taking a risk with our lives and those of our children; the food was that awful. Breakfasts were the worst. Eggs cooked in rancid bacon grease, sausages made of God knows what and dishwater coffee. We were glad when McDonald's came along and we could buy a breakfast sandwich and a decent cup of coffee and know we were not risking food poisoning.

Coffee was usually bad everywhere in the old days. People have gotten used to getting decent coffee almost everywhere and don't remember the overcooked or weak brew we encountered in almost every restaurant except the really posh ones.

Longwood Gardens Conservatory. Photos taken by my 9-year-old grandson with an iPhone.

Two of our Thanksgiving desserts

Thanksgiving message

Gratitude is good for you.

Green bottles

Roses in November

Global warming--what's not to like?

Osama bin Laden appoints new second in command

He appears to be a man of mystery:

.Little is known about the shadowy al-Adel, who is also known by the names Muhammad al-Makkawi and Ibrahim al-Madani. Born in Egypt, al-Adel is said to have served as a colonel in its Special Forces.

I don't suppose we will get any more information about him, unless one of the fatheads on Sixty Minutes scores an on-air interview with him.  I don't look forward to this event.  I can certainly picture Mike Wallace trying to explore his human side, asking him about his hobby--collecting  fountain pens, perhaps, or bowling--his preference in beverages (decaf mint tea?) and how he is so busy running JihadsRUs that he doesn't get to spend as much time as he would like with the wife and kids.

I'm thinking of retiring from blogging

See, I've just won a lot of money and won't need the Adsense income:

Coca-Cola Prom

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Contact Person. Shawn Zulu (For your Payment Process)

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We Congratulates you on behalf of FIFA and its Partner for making FIFA2010 successful.

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And they didn't even ask for my bank account number--it must be authentic, right?

I especially like the name, Shawn Zulu.

I hope not...

but I fear this is true.

We have government without limits, unelected rulers, law enforcement without law, citizens without rights, courts without justice, and a vast pretense of "necessity" and "the consent of the governed" to cover all. Interest groups exist to promote each of these things, and in the usual case are opposed only by a vague and incoherent sense that "things have gotten out of hand." Every two years, we troop to the polls to elect new executives, legislators, and judges...yet no matter whom our ballots elevate, things remain "out of hand," if indeed they don't grow even more so. 

Celebrating Remembrance Day

British Muslims ruin sacred day.

Why don't they celebrate their rejection of British culture by returning their welfare checks?

Decorating from the Good Will

Thanks, Tony

Don't buy into the Muslim narrative.

Vase

This is a vase I got at Good Will. I think it is called "end of day." Does anyone know?

My root canal--the most fun I've had in a month

That's an exaggeration--but at least while my mouth was open and my dentist's hand in it no-one could call and ask me to take a phone survey on behalf of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, various individuals who were running for office, etc, ad nauseam.

The last month has been full of frustration.  First there was the long (25 days) struggle to see the cardiologist about Mr Charm's pacemaker.  Fortunately neither of us was bleeding heavily, so we lived through it, saw the cardio (nothing wrong with the pacemaker, see the neurologist) and received a profuse apology from the practice manager.

Yesterday, it was apparent that everything was going to go wrong, including a nervous breakdown on the part of the GPS.   I sensed that things were going to continue to go wrong.  The gods of petty annoyance were picking on us, and would continue to do so until they were tired of us and went to pick on somebody else.

We were late for the neurologist appointment, but signed the patient attendance sheet and were assured he would see us, as soon as possible.  We sat there watching other patients go in and out.  I managed to read a whole issue of the New Yorker, a relatively recent one .  More patients come and go.  Some come while we are sitting there and go while we are still sitting there.  I ask the female at the desk what is happening.  She informs me that he is trying to fit us in, but she can't ask him because he is With a Patient.   Short of calling her a liar, there was nothing I could do, although I was pretty sure her story would not hold up in a court of law.  She then deserted her post.  No-one took her place.

At last the office is deserted except for us and Deborah from Billing, sitting at another window and doing something, possibly to do with billing.  I finally collared her, and told her we had been waiting.  I was afraid the neurologist would decamp from another exit, which he was actually about to do.  But she caught him and Mr Charm had his exam.  The doctor told us he did not know we were there, and I believed him.  I actually knew this from the start, but it took three hours for it to be apparent to everyone else.

Toy trains at Longwood Gardens

November roses

I picked these this morning--not bad for November 2.

Saguaro cactus Christmas tree?

Seen at the Good Will store. It has little hooks all over it, my guess is that it is a saguaro cactus Christmas tree. Or not.

Halloween

We just turned off the outside light and declared trick or treat closed, due to depletion of treats.  We had a lot of children, many of whom I recognized from the neighborhood, including one or two who haven't really perfected their lines and just stand and gawk at you until you give them candy.  I was pleased to see so many little guys, but noticed that they were all accompanied by adults.

Due to the (unfounded) rumors of poisoned Halloween candy, people are reluctant to let their children out at night these days.  When my kids were little they used to roam freely on Halloween and bring home enough treats to make a family of ten sick for a week, but nowadays kids are not free range; they have playdates.

Instead of being a children's holiday it has been adopted by adults, who  make a fuss about dressing up in costumes and going to parties.  To my mind, they are faintly ridiculous.

When I was a kid children were encouraged, if not hounded, to go out of doors in all weathers.  There was a rumor that fresh air was good for them, but the real reason was so that parents could read the paper, do housework, smoke cigarettes and  have a little peace and quiet.  How do parents stand having them underfoot all the time?

Painting

Who will I vote for?

I wasn't impressed by Christine O'Donnell in the primary.  To me she is too girlish, too Sally Fields.  I would have preferred more gravitas.  And I particularly don't like her signature "I'm not a witch" ad, a bit too simple-minded for my taste.

Still, I don't like the way everybody is picking on her, starting with the Republican Senatorial Committee and her opponent,  the media, and, of all things, a bunch of rude and ignorant law students.   She had the guts to run when everyone thought she didn't have a chance, and that's a brave thing to do.  Also, she was the choice of the Republican voters, who apparently did not want to be represented by Mike Castle and turned out in force to send that very message.  She represents those voters, and their exercise of their franchise should be respected.

I don't like women in politics being  treated like Gorgons.  A case in point:  Hillary Clinton.  She was viciously attacked in the most personal way.  Sharron Angle gets called a rude name.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/27/candidate-sharron-angle-is-a-bitch-womens-groups-outraged-by-sexist-view-co-host-joy-behar/#ixzz13fCZ33st

 

“What is it that makes conservative women, who work inside and outside of the home, such a threat to liberal women like Joy? What has Sharron Angle done to deserve being described so profanely by Ms. Behar?”

Good question.

So, for that and other reasons, I expect to vote for O'Donnell.  I am a Republican, anyway.

Whites without college have more sense than college graduates

I can't link to this article without registering--don't you hate it when that happens?  So it's in the latest National Review, called Rust Belt Revival — by Duncan Currie, and its all about whites without college; working class whites, who are apparently disenchanted with Obama.

They seem to have more wisdom than college graduates, in that they believe the evidence of their own eyes.  The college educated, on the other hand, pay upwards of $100,000 for four years in which all wisdom, knowledge and common sense are methodically subtracted from their minds.

And mind you, generally it takes five years, maybe six, to get a four-year education.  Graduate school, like batteries, is not included in this six-years.  After graduate school, the student it lucky if he retains his toilet training..

Pot, meet kettle

I am getting sick and tired of people piling on Christine O'Donnell.  The latest and most risible example is Meghan McCain, the spoiled, immature and dopey daughter of former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain.  (Note to self:  Thank God for the adorable Obama girls--this critter could have been a presidential daughter.  Malia and Sasha are infinitely cuter.)

"Well, I speak as a 26-year-old woman and my problem is that, no matter what, Christine O'Donnell is making a mockery of running for public office," McCain told anchor Christiane Amanpour. "She has no real history, no real success in any kind of business."
McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that the message, "that sends to my generation is: one day you can just wake and run for Senate, no matter how [much of] a lack of experience you have. And it scares for me for a lot of reasons."
"I just know, in my group of friends, it turns people off because she's seen as a nutjob," she said.

O'Donnell can run rings around this lamebrained trust fund baby.  She did not "just wake up and run for Senate."    She has run for office before and lost, and it took guts to run as an outsider against an establishment Republican.  Apparently she is not flush with money, from what the local press has reported.  She dared greatly and won big.  Talk about the audacity of hope!

Without the benefit of a beer magnate grand-daddy, O'Donnell presented herself to the voters in the Republican primary, and apparently they liked her, or at least preferred her to Mike Castle.  The Republican turnout was tremendous.  Contrary to Ms M,  she was legitimately elected.  You have to be a citizen and above a certain age to put yourself forward for public office.  You don't have to have any other qualifications to run for the Senate, a body that has endured Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray and is still in business. And Robert Byrd.  And the chap who horsewhipped another chap on the Senate floor and whose name escapes me.

Meghan McCain doesn't have to worry her pretty little head, because the voters of Delaware will decide whether O'Donnell goes to the Senate.

The Great Pumpkin (and friends) visit Wilmington

George--the owner of the property--says he does it for the grandchildren. Oh yes.

Money tree

Somewhere in political lala-land  there is a "money tree"--something that continually, endlessly, and painlessly gives off money.   The money tree, like its animal counterpart, the cash cow, is just waiting to be found.

Voters in New York thought they had discovered a money tree in a state lottery.  The lottery was enacted into law in New York, but failed to put an end to the state's fiscal woes.  Several years later, the voters in New Jersey--one of whom was me, sad to say--thought they had spotted this exotic form of flora in legalized gambling.   Er, no.  Atlantic City gambling was legalized but the state still has empty pockets.

Now California thinks they have discovered the identity of this new form of plant life in the legalization and  taxation of cannabis.  The best of luck to them.

This smells fishy to me

Insulting Muslims with bacon.

Maybe it's true, but this seems like a manufactured scandal to me, like the Tawana Brawley hoax or the fake noose hanging from the Columbia professor's door.

Making words out of bacon?  You'd get your hands awfully greasy.

From instapundit.

A gift for Andrew Cuomo

Could the New York State Republican Party really run an idiot like this?

Yup.

The New York Republicans are famous for putting up real loser candidates for Statewide office.  They figure they're not going to win anyway, so they put up a rich guy who can lose his own money in the campaign, saving their money for--what?

Not from Nigeria

aA new con, this time from Japan:

Greetings,

I am sorry to encroach into your privacy in this manner, I found your
listed in the Trade Centre Chambers of Commerce directory here in Japan, I
find it pleasurable to offer you my partnership in business,

I only pray at this time that your address is still valid. I want to
solicit your attention to receive money on my behalf. The purpose of my
contacting you is because my status would not permit me to do this alone.
When you reply this message, I will send you the full details and more
information about myself and the funds.

If interested, please reply through my alternate
Email:tomsandnor@w.cn

Mr. Tomo Sand Nori
(Head of Account Dept, Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank,

Mr Tomo Sandf Nori sounds a bit dispirited.     He seems to lack confidence in himself, an indispensible quality in a con man.  Please send him e-mails to cheer him up.

What I want to know is...

...is his game improving?

No sweat

No.  I mean really.

Retread

I was gobsmacked when I realized that the chap running for governor of California on the Democratic ticket is none other than Jerry Brown.  I remember him from the days when he and I were both young.  I was a mere slip of a thing, and he was governor of California,  known  by the voters of California as "Governor Moonbeam."

A strange lot, the voters of California.  This man has been mayor of this and auditor of that and treasurer of the other thing.  The one career he has never tried was a nine-to-five in the private sector.  But his re-appearance on the stage is a near miracle, akin to the endurance of Rasputin, the sinister Russian monk who survived many attempts to kill him back in the day.  He is like a clapped-out hooker of 70 still proudly displaying her wares by the side of the road, next to the teenaged competition.

Can we have a cost breakdown on this?

Where does your student dollar go?  Here's the way I imagine it:

40 %  for administration (Vice Presidents in charge of Diversity, Sexuality, Legalizing Marijuana, etc.);
20 %   on upkeep (janitorial service, grounds maintenance, heat, air conditioning, water, library);
10 %  for student activities--such as bus transportation to Obama rallies for which they get credit;
25 %  for tenured faculty;
5 %  for adjunct faculty (aka slave labor) who actually do the work.

  I'd like to see this on a pie chart.

Stolen from instapundit.

disgusting commercial

You  know the yogurt commercial where a bunch of women are licking yogurt lids and putting them in envelopes to mail?  I feel sorry for the poor wage slave who has to open these envelopes with their yogurt residue and their icky disease-ridden saliva.

Haven't the people at Yoplait heard of germs?  I would as soon open an envelope laced with anthrax.

I dislike yogurt commercials generally.  There's one, with Jamie Lee Curtis, where a man is speaking with his mouth full.  And another where Heidi Klum pokes her finger in the yogurt container and sighs orgasmically.  Also on my list of the top ten stomach turners is the discussions of various people's digestive systems so dear to the heart of many advertising creative geniuses.

Let's keep it clean.

Exploding climate skeptics

When I saw this video, I I really thought it had been done by our side.  (You know, the tire-burning, carbon-emitting  crazed rightwingers.)

The global warmists actually thought this would persuade people?