Wednesday, May 02, 2018

The Fairy Granddaughters left their mark...


14 comments:

  1. Trump’s Tariffs Could Cost GOP Control of Congress[Click] “Farm-state Republicans are getting nervous, as tariffs may sow the seeds of a midterm disaster.”
    You mean they got what they voted for and don’t like it? Tired of all that winning, I suppose.

    “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” —H. L. Mencken


    Better Call Cohen: The Shady Cases of a Trump Lawyer's Personal Injury Practice[Click]

    Trump’s goons got outa line.[Click] Seems like they didn’t get their annual refresher on the HIPAA privacy rule. And no, Sarah, it isn’t standard operating procedure.[Click]

    The Most Powerful Person In Washington[Click]

    Relic claimed to be bone from St Clement rescued from the bin[Click] “Fragment linked to pope martyred almost 2,000 years ago found after rubbish collection run in central London.” How very strange; and no one has claimed it or recognizes where it came from?

    The University of California Stands Out Among Top Schools When It Comes to Serving Poor Students[Click] I have gathered for some time that they have been doing a lot more to support first-in-their-families students than when I was young.

    —Alan

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was almost deterred by the fairy, but Alan gave me courage to be my usual acerbic self.
    ******
    The rule of law is an impersonal substitute for a dictator or government by the people. In other words, the law does not have a head that can be offed and puts the public in its place. Ever since the advent of universal suffrage, government by the people has achieved potentiality. And that has to be forcefully countered. When the people govern, there is no place for poobahs, much less dictators.

    Not only is the rule of law impersonal, it is virtually immortal and immutable. The rule of law is the secular version of a deity. Of course a dictator is going to invoke it. The purpose of religion, whether secular or deistic, is to control people without them noticing who is turning the crews.
    ******
    This was in response to the news that Pence and Arpaio are in a mutual appreciation society. Authoritarians stick together. Duh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, if you weren't already aware of Pence from his Indiana shenanigans his support of Arpaio tells you everything you need to know.

      Delete
    2. Hannah, why would a fairy be a deterrent?

      Delete
  3. Cat—Remember thinking it was odd that the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs suddenly quit after only six months on the job? Well, this seems to explain it.[Click]

    Did Trump Link Arms Sales to Ukraine with Cutting Off Mueller? [Click]

    Cambridge Analytica Parent Company Ceases Operations[Click] Not “just” Cambridge Analytica, as the WSJ headlines, but its parent company as well. But reading to the end it sounds more like they are just ordering new stationery.

    GOP fake news in W Va![Click] As my father said, “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”

    Trump Should Take the Fifth[Click] But that would be rational!

    'We Will Not Negotiate Under Threat'[Click] Trump is using the possibility of tariffs to get trade concessions from Europe. The Europeans are not interested.

    And now for some yard work.—Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So I went to the article on Ukraine - Mueller, and found it very interesting...!

      On the same page was a link to another article that leaves me mystified. It's really only half an article because it never explains anything it's saying. Why in the world would this be true? Thoughts?

      Ryan Warns Of ‘Subpoenas’ If Democrats Win Back Either Chamber Of Congress
      https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ryan-warns-of-subpoenas-if-democrats-take-back-control-of-the-house>

      Delete
  4. How'd your yard work go, Alan? You've been at it awhile, so I gather you are good at pacing yourself, especially on the super hot days.

    Today I spent 6 hours doing yard work, and it turned out it was 86F out there. Those who know me, know I dislike anything over 80F. So this would be phenomenal, except that there is still snow in the mountains, making the breezes cool. We'll see whether my SPF 50 lotion passed the test and whether I will be limber enough in the morning to enjoy Tai Chi class. Ha! But I am so very glad to have cleared the grass sods from The Mound and to have finally used up all the mulch we got from our trees last year!

    I sent a photo of the finished product to Wil and he responded, "Not possible. This must have been photo-shopped. LOL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The yard work went OK; we will get some more done tomorrow; it has cooled off into the 70's here; the sprinklers will work tonight, which will make weed pulling easier tomorrow. We have both been tired yesterday and today--maybe because of the cats waking us up early? I got the tax problem (the folks at the IRS seem to have made a bunch of mistakes calculating our Schedule D) out of the way for now, so that's a stress reducer. This evening I will organize my current consulting jobs--they have definitely picked up, and just piling paper up on the desk doesn't work for very long. I got to working on my paternal ancestry again, and discovered a fair amount of new-to-me documentation. I joined ancestry.com and ordered their DNA test, so had better get to work and cobble together a basic family tree for them to refer to and link with others. I discovered that the outfit that analyzed my Y-chromosomal DNA a few years back is folding just in time to be able to download my data. Discovered that the nomenclature has changed, too. Ancestry doesn't do Y-chromosomal DNA, but if my suspicions about my genetic paternal grandfather are correct, there are two living direct male descendants of his father who would in theory carry the same paternal DNA markers I do. First things first, though. The genealogy stuff is worse than potato chips. I found my father's birth certificate, which his mother swore under oath never existed, and the record of her divorce (quite a story there). I found two or three more marriage licenses for her, too. Oh, and a photo of her and her identical twin sister--whichever one she is in the photo, I don't recall ever seeing a photo of her before. The gal who published the photo seems to be related to me through the birth family of my great-grandmother.

      --Alan

      Delete
    2. Yesterday and today we harvested, washed and bagged quite a bit of mitsuba [AKA honewort or honeywort, one subspecies native to Vermont], which is doing famously where we have planted it under fruit trees; more of the same tomorrow, for a get-together this weekend of Japanese aficionados of a particular species of sung poetry. There should be a good-sized contingent from Los Angeles, and the mitsuba is always a big hit; I think no one grows it commercially in California.

      Alan

      Delete
    3. Wait, it was actually 88F today! We broke the old record of 86F from 2001.

      Delete
    4. Wow, Alan! That's a LOT on your plate. So much for retirement. 😉 But genealogy research is a great thing to do in retirement. It's one way we find out more about what has influenced our life unawares. I think we often come away with a deeper appreciation of all we have overcome, or at least why it was so hard not to!

      Delete
    5. Regarding mitsuba...which is a Zone 7 plant, I would imagine any Honeywort in Vermont would be QUITE a different species! Ha! California's hardiness zones are 5-10. Vermont's are 3-5! I believe your flower is white, yes? Ours is apparently blue, and I don't know that I've ever come across it. Will have to keep an eye out.

      Delete
    6. Canadian Honewort [Click] with photo and range.

      Japanese Honewort [Click] with photo (a close close-up; the flowers look bigger than they really are). This sure looks like what we have, and it ought to be. We were given a few plants by a Japanese acquaintance. Never knew it could be eaten as a root vegetable.

      We have a difference of one or two climate zones between our front and back yards…

      And six hours' work in the garden is a lot; we are aiming for an hour or an hour and a half together.

      --Alan

      Delete
  5. Mueller interviewee: Mueller remains focused on collusion with Russia[Click] “The Senate and the House are net fishing. The special counsel is spearfishing.”
    Nice simile.

    —Alan

    ReplyDelete