Sunday, October 2, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Herman Cain?
A Republican FB friend posted: "Herman Cain? Stomped Perry and everybody else in the Florida straw vote! Whoa buddy!"
Brian Leekley I just looked at the Wikipedia articles about Cain. I disagree nearly 100% with his positions and in some cases, like tax rates, advocate the opposite of what he does (not that I'm an expert but just going by common sense), but I can see right off that he's smart, competent, and has leadership qualities. He'd be a formidable opponent of President Obama in 2012. My first impression is that Cain is very conservation economically, politically, and socially but is relatively less of a looney crackpot than some of the other contenders to be the 2012 Republican candidate for President, so he might get moderate Republican votes that Obama is probably also seeking.
Brian Leekley I just looked at the Wikipedia articles about Cain. I disagree nearly 100% with his positions and in some cases, like tax rates, advocate the opposite of what he does (not that I'm an expert but just going by common sense), but I can see right off that he's smart, competent, and has leadership qualities. He'd be a formidable opponent of President Obama in 2012. My first impression is that Cain is very conservation economically, politically, and socially but is relatively less of a looney crackpot than some of the other contenders to be the 2012 Republican candidate for President, so he might get moderate Republican votes that Obama is probably also seeking.
Friday, September 23, 2011
StudentsFirst query
Brian Leekley
A group called StudentsFirst is pushing a change.com petition promoting a bill called Empowering Parents Through Charter Schools Act, which passed the House "with bipartisan support" and is on its way to the Senate. Reading about StudentsFirst online, I couldn't determine if it's on the up and up or is just a propaganda ploy to get public support for laws shafting teachers. What are the pros and cons of the Act and of Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst organization?
A group called StudentsFirst is pushing a change.com petition promoting a bill called Empowering Parents Through Charter Schools Act, which passed the House "with bipartisan support" and is on its way to the Senate. Reading about StudentsFirst online, I couldn't determine if it's on the up and up or is just a propaganda ploy to get public support for laws shafting teachers. What are the pros and cons of the Act and of Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst organization?
Chef knife and bassinet
A FB friend posted gratitude for 2 laundry baskets she has used daily for circa 16 years and others commented on long lasting tools.
Brian Leekley Sometime in the late 50s or early 60s when I was a teen I gave my ma for her birthday a Sebatier chef knife. She used it for both cooking and gardening. A few years ago it got passed down to me. It's rusty and worn but still my preferred knife for chopping vegetables. Someone gave my ma a wicker bassinet in the late 40s for a baby. Then it was a laundry basket (or book basket) for over 40 years before wearing out. Other tools have gotten left behind through the years that I'm sure someone is still using. I'm grateful that life sometimes brings one such items.
Brian Leekley Sometime in the late 50s or early 60s when I was a teen I gave my ma for her birthday a Sebatier chef knife. She used it for both cooking and gardening. A few years ago it got passed down to me. It's rusty and worn but still my preferred knife for chopping vegetables. Someone gave my ma a wicker bassinet in the late 40s for a baby. Then it was a laundry basket (or book basket) for over 40 years before wearing out. Other tools have gotten left behind through the years that I'm sure someone is still using. I'm grateful that life sometimes brings one such items.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
D. H. Lawrence
Friend: "The only reason for being alive is being fully alive." D.H. Lawrence
Brian Leekley: I liked Lawrence's novels, such as SONS AND LOVERS, THE RAINBOW, and WOMEN IN LOVE. Have you read much of him? The only reason for being alive is that life is kind of interesting.
Friend: Yes, I have read all of him and have written paper on him as well. He is one of my favorites. He died very young.
Brian Leekley: Lawrence lived 1985 to 1930 so he was only 45 when he died of TB. Makes one at 69 think it's time to get working and get some quality writing done.
Friend: Wow, I thought he was younger. i might be thinking of that poet who died young, is it Yeats? I wonder what the life expectancy was in 1930.
Friend: Looks like it was 58. Thank you, internet!
Brian Leekley: Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) stopped creative writing before he was 21 and died of cancer at 37. Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) died of pneumonia at 39. Albert Camus (1913-1960) died in a car accident at 46. So it goes.
Brian Leekley: I liked Lawrence's novels, such as SONS AND LOVERS, THE RAINBOW, and WOMEN IN LOVE. Have you read much of him? The only reason for being alive is that life is kind of interesting.
Friend: Yes, I have read all of him and have written paper on him as well. He is one of my favorites. He died very young.
Brian Leekley: Lawrence lived 1985 to 1930 so he was only 45 when he died of TB. Makes one at 69 think it's time to get working and get some quality writing done.
Friend: Wow, I thought he was younger. i might be thinking of that poet who died young, is it Yeats? I wonder what the life expectancy was in 1930.
Friend: Looks like it was 58. Thank you, internet!
Brian Leekley: Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) stopped creative writing before he was 21 and died of cancer at 37. Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) died of pneumonia at 39. Albert Camus (1913-1960) died in a car accident at 46. So it goes.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Fozy
Brian Leekley
My new favorite word is "fozy". Someone played it in a Scrabble game. I'd better eat my fruit before it gets fozy. My brain is getting fozy with age. Brian has a fozy belly from eating bismarks full of jelly.
My new favorite word is "fozy". Someone played it in a Scrabble game. I'd better eat my fruit before it gets fozy. My brain is getting fozy with age. Brian has a fozy belly from eating bismarks full of jelly.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Baby tortoise
Friend: Saw a beautiful baby tortoise today, about the size of a quarter (about 2.5 cm? across).
Friend of friend: where? did you leave it there? some mean crow might eat it!
Friend: I left it there. Wasn't at all sure I'd be able to break the glass that separated us in the zoo's Tropical House.
Brian Leekley: Mean crows and people eat turtles. Some mean turtles eat bugs and worms. Mean bugs and worms eat people, turtles, and crows. Conclusion: a) the mean get to eat; b) meanness is relative to which side of the mouth you're on; c) what goes around comes around; d) it's all good; e) if you deprive a crow of a baby turtle meal, give it some roadkill to compensate; f) vegan is best.
Friend of friend: not entirely sure how Brian got to (f) but I'm glad the tortoise was safe (if we can call being behind glass in a cage safe)
Friend of friend: where? did you leave it there? some mean crow might eat it!
Friend: I left it there. Wasn't at all sure I'd be able to break the glass that separated us in the zoo's Tropical House.
Brian Leekley: Mean crows and people eat turtles. Some mean turtles eat bugs and worms. Mean bugs and worms eat people, turtles, and crows. Conclusion: a) the mean get to eat; b) meanness is relative to which side of the mouth you're on; c) what goes around comes around; d) it's all good; e) if you deprive a crow of a baby turtle meal, give it some roadkill to compensate; f) vegan is best.
Friend of friend: not entirely sure how Brian got to (f) but I'm glad the tortoise was safe (if we can call being behind glass in a cage safe)
Odd number of slices in a loaf of bread
A friend posted: "... why is there an odd number of slices in a loaf of bread ....?"
Brian Leekley: My bread theory: To have a classic loaf of bread shape, the middle slice needs to be the largest, with each slice in turn to the left and right of that being of about equal size, each subsequent slice on the left and the right being a little smaller. With matching slices on either side of the one biggest slice, there must be an odd number of slices. Of course one can cheat and get an even number of slices by not having all slices of uniform width. Mathematicians, is that right?
Brian Leekley: My bread theory: To have a classic loaf of bread shape, the middle slice needs to be the largest, with each slice in turn to the left and right of that being of about equal size, each subsequent slice on the left and the right being a little smaller. With matching slices on either side of the one biggest slice, there must be an odd number of slices. Of course one can cheat and get an even number of slices by not having all slices of uniform width. Mathematicians, is that right?
Palestine in UN?
Commenting on a link pertaining to a petition to the UN for Palestinian statehood:
Brian Leekley The experience of the USA has been that what works well is one nation with freedom of religion / thought and no established religion and with many ethnicities welcomed and honored within a broad consensus of permitted behaviors.
Brian Leekley The experience of the USA has been that what works well is one nation with freedom of religion / thought and no established religion and with many ethnicities welcomed and honored within a broad consensus of permitted behaviors.
Friday, September 16, 2011
NY Times: White House Weighs Limits of Terror Fight
Brian Leekley:
Michael Corleone: "I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies." Does might make right? Is the USA Boss of Bosses of the world? Is there any limit to the legal and moral justifications for killings ordered or authorized by the President? How do state power and inter-nation conflicts differ from gangsterism and gang wars? Will killing more people result in more friends and fewer enemies?
Friend:
Bumper Sticker: We're Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them
Michael Corleone: "I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies." Does might make right? Is the USA Boss of Bosses of the world? Is there any limit to the legal and moral justifications for killings ordered or authorized by the President? How do state power and inter-nation conflicts differ from gangsterism and gang wars? Will killing more people result in more friends and fewer enemies?
Friend:
Bumper Sticker: We're Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them
Commenting on an anti-pollution link
Brian Leekley Or is unregulated industry with its polluters and other destroyers of life and life support systems needed to cull the overpopulated human herd?
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Immigration politics
Comments on link to How the Right Made Racism Sound Fair and Changed Immigration Politics - COLORLINES colorlines.com
Brian Leekley Make sense?
Brian Leekley The main thing to keep in mind about immigration policies and practices is that capitalist investors and those looking out for their interests use them to both increase the pool of workers competing for jobs and at the same time to keep workers divided and unorganized. For a dramatization of this, see the movie or read the novel THE GRAPES OF WRATH.
Brian Leekley Make sense?
Brian Leekley The main thing to keep in mind about immigration policies and practices is that capitalist investors and those looking out for their interests use them to both increase the pool of workers competing for jobs and at the same time to keep workers divided and unorganized. For a dramatization of this, see the movie or read the novel THE GRAPES OF WRATH.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Me and My Magic Jack
Last August I bought a Magic Jack gadget. $39.99 paid for the gadget plus the first year of service. Each additional year of service will be $19.99. For that under $20 per year I can make otherwise free calls to numbers in the US and very cheap calls to other countries.
At the time that I got my Magic Jack I did not have a landline phone or a cell phone, and my Magic Jack phone came in handy a few times. But in the following months I soon had alternatives. I can make free phone calls without a gadget and with no service charge using Gmail Talk. I can make free webcam calls with Skype. For months I have had an AARP discounted prepaid cell phone with which I text with my wife. So for many months my Magic Jack gadget lay unused in a file drawer.
Then the other day I made up the lyrics of a song, and I wanted to hear myself sing it to the tune in my head, and I remembered the niftiest feature of the Magic Jack service.
When someone calls my Magic Jack phone number and doesn't get an answer (because I don't keep the program running or the gadget plugged into a USB port), they get a voice message from me saying to leave a messge. If they do leave a voice mail message, that is sent to me as a .wav digital audio file attached to an email.
So I used my cell phone to call my Magic Jack number; sang my song; got the email; listened; revised my scribbled notes of the lyrics; deleted the email; called and sang again, and so on until I was satisfied.
How is that better than a tape recorder? Because I get the recording as an email attachment on a free email service, I don't need to buy and to store audio tapes. And like any email attached file, it's easy to share the .wav files.
I've started experimenting with making up stories. My expectation is that I can make up a story off the top of my head as I speak to my Magic Jack voice mail; listen; try again; get opinions; call and tell the story again, and so on, and have a good core story that holds attention and entertains before I write a word of it.
That'll give me an incentive to go for sundown and twilight walks, to both tell improvised stories to my cell phone and get my exercise.
I can, and no doubt will, use my Flip video camera that I got for my birthday for the same purpose of verbally improvising stories. The Flip has the advantage of recording both video and audio, and I can save Flip files, too, to my computer. The Flip camera has the advantage, but sometimes making a phone call is more convenient. Like, people will scarcely notice someone walking while talking on a cell phone but might think it odd to see someone strolling along talking to a Flip camera held in front of their face.
Magic Jack's voice mail to email feature has the additional use of recording, saving, and sharing voice and sound messages of historical significance. Did you reach the mountain top? Call and shout the news. Did you just give birth? Call. Did your sweetheart just say yes to your marriage proposal? Call and ask her to repeat those precious words. Did you just catch the biggest perch in Waybackdar County history? Call to capture the moment with a message to the world and posterity. I'll forward the email with the attached file of your spoken words of historical importance to you.
At the time that I got my Magic Jack I did not have a landline phone or a cell phone, and my Magic Jack phone came in handy a few times. But in the following months I soon had alternatives. I can make free phone calls without a gadget and with no service charge using Gmail Talk. I can make free webcam calls with Skype. For months I have had an AARP discounted prepaid cell phone with which I text with my wife. So for many months my Magic Jack gadget lay unused in a file drawer.
Then the other day I made up the lyrics of a song, and I wanted to hear myself sing it to the tune in my head, and I remembered the niftiest feature of the Magic Jack service.
When someone calls my Magic Jack phone number and doesn't get an answer (because I don't keep the program running or the gadget plugged into a USB port), they get a voice message from me saying to leave a messge. If they do leave a voice mail message, that is sent to me as a .wav digital audio file attached to an email.
So I used my cell phone to call my Magic Jack number; sang my song; got the email; listened; revised my scribbled notes of the lyrics; deleted the email; called and sang again, and so on until I was satisfied.
How is that better than a tape recorder? Because I get the recording as an email attachment on a free email service, I don't need to buy and to store audio tapes. And like any email attached file, it's easy to share the .wav files.
I've started experimenting with making up stories. My expectation is that I can make up a story off the top of my head as I speak to my Magic Jack voice mail; listen; try again; get opinions; call and tell the story again, and so on, and have a good core story that holds attention and entertains before I write a word of it.
That'll give me an incentive to go for sundown and twilight walks, to both tell improvised stories to my cell phone and get my exercise.
I can, and no doubt will, use my Flip video camera that I got for my birthday for the same purpose of verbally improvising stories. The Flip has the advantage of recording both video and audio, and I can save Flip files, too, to my computer. The Flip camera has the advantage, but sometimes making a phone call is more convenient. Like, people will scarcely notice someone walking while talking on a cell phone but might think it odd to see someone strolling along talking to a Flip camera held in front of their face.
Magic Jack's voice mail to email feature has the additional use of recording, saving, and sharing voice and sound messages of historical significance. Did you reach the mountain top? Call and shout the news. Did you just give birth? Call. Did your sweetheart just say yes to your marriage proposal? Call and ask her to repeat those precious words. Did you just catch the biggest perch in Waybackdar County history? Call to capture the moment with a message to the world and posterity. I'll forward the email with the attached file of your spoken words of historical importance to you.
Hurray!
Hurray! I did it! I just finished draft 5 of my short story in progress "Pickup in Buzzy's Bistro" — originally "Matilda on the Prowl". Now I'll set it aside for 1 or 2 or more weeks and then have a fresh look at it. Meanwhile I'll work on my website and blogs.
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