News, History, "Journalism"

     Tam is watching Today and chortling, "You've gotta see this!  Savannah [Guthrie] is finger-wagging at the Israeli ambassador about, 'You say you're not targeting civilians...'"

     I spoke directly to the ambassador on the TV screen, "Hit back!  Ask her about drones!"

     Tam: "Drones?  The anniversary of Hiroshima's only a week away!"

     Funny thing: war is Hell.  Tam knows it.  I know it. Polished and perfumed professional network journalist in NYC?  She doesn't know it.  A blue zillion history books and documentaries out there and I doubt she's even seen Hellcats Of The Navy.  In Savannah's world, WW II, concentration camps, aerial firebombings, death marches, atom bombs and all, was a kind of multi-year Boy Scout Jamboree with some spirited disagreements.

     When the next World War comes marchin' in -- as seems more likely with every passing day -- it'll have stunningly white teeth and near-total amnesia.

     (Talking to Tam, I remarked the Palestinians are now into what, the fourth and fifth generation of  "displaced persons/dispossessed refugees," even the ones living behind real walls and under a solid roof; it's soaked into their cultural memes and it's not going away.  And on the other side, with the only cards that'll trump that, a nation with thousands of years of the same general experience.  Anyone who thinks there's a fix for the mess -- on a timeline shorter than centuries -- that'll work happy-good for all involved is either dippy or doped up.)

Cooker

     They make reproduction antique stoves -- even wood-burning ones as well as clever fakes that look as if they should burn wood instead of coal a hundred miles away.  But nobody makes one that looks like this:

     Perhaps they should.

     (Found here.)

Assorted Items

     - This morning's Roseholme Breakfast is Midwest Looks South-by-Southwest Hash, consisting of 2/3 country sausage, 1/3 chorizo, a couple of small potatoes (diced), three huge green onions (sliced), a couple of piced hot petters chopped up and the leftover half of a red bell pepper, likewise, with a couple of eggs scrambled into it.  Dee-lish!

     - This morning's news, mostly the missile mess, has Tam in a state of quivering And Now The News... attentiveness.  It's a morbidly-fascinating soap opera and we're all reluctant extras: Cue William Conrad! "Will Mr. Obama scold Mr. Putin?  Will Mr. Putin stick out his tongue and thumb his nose in reply?  Is there any way we can make them stay after class and write something on the blackboard five thousand times, possibly, 'I will not dance blithely and clumsily around civilization-ruining brinksmanship,' or words to that effect?  And what of the various and assorted whistle-blowers and the various spy-on-everyone programs who are undaunted thereby? [CUE dramatic organ chord] Tune in for our next exciting episode here on CNNBCBSABCFox!" Unless one of the nitwits decides to push too hard in the meantime.  Last word to Sturgeon: "...killed over 7.25 billion people before they got 'em."  H'mm, not quite what he wrote. 

And In The Nation's Capitol, Predictably

     --The District of Colombia's very own (and relatively new*) government has filed to keep their gun-carrying ban in place while they appeal the decision that wiped it out.  Who didn't see that move coming?

     Never you mind that crime in the District has been declining ever since Heller, either.

     It seems the Mayor and Council in D.C. agree with the sentiment I read on F-cebook recently, asserting that "we mustn't let the courts turn society upside down to protect the rights of a tiny minority."  Legal gun-owners in the District of Colombia are still -- alas -- a tiny minority.  Me, well, I'm in favor of the Bill of Rights, even the part that reminds readers the list is by no means comprehensive, that We The People have plenty of rights and the Feds are charged with defending them, not infringing them.

     D. C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan gets QOTD, from here:
“A stay would prevent the Council from having to unduly rush, which could result in a law that is not as considered as it could be, and limit the public’s confusion and other unintended consequences.”
     Emphasis mine.  "Time to feed the pigs," is it?  Tsk, sir, tsk.
__________________________________
* They got home rule in 1973, making D.C.'s about as young a big-city government as you can find in the States. 

Someone's Headed For A Hot Time In HR

     Oh, the insensitivity:

     Also, wrong abbreviation.

     (FWIW, these are delicious cookies. Among the best I have ever eaten. Tam -- no fan of sweets -- had a taste and soon after requested an entire cookie.)

Retro-retro Keyboards

     This USB keyboard typewriter conversion looks to be a lot slicker than the earlier versions.

     If that doesn't suit you, how about a QWERKYWRITER?  Longer lead time, but slick as can be,

Could Have Swore I Posted Something

     Nooop.  Storm blew through at posting time, lots of lightning; I shut down and cooked breakfast instead.  (Bacon/Swiss cheese omelet.)

And Here's To Not Getting A Decent Night's Sleep

     Did not sleep well.  Did not go to sleep at all happy -- I'm not chatty at the end of the day and I am fighting with a difficult bit of editing -- and woke up less so and with an aching back, which I have capped with barely-adequate French Toast and inexplicably overstrength coffee.  Oh, and a hammering headache to go.  Can I get chips with that?

     Such is life within my narrowed horizons.  One of the reasons I'm not commenting so much on world, national or even state-level happenings is that practically none of it looks good.  Republic stumbles towards Empire and on the main stage, there are no Catos, only would-be Caesars of mildly differing stripe -- and I am told with sincere pride that this is a "choice."  Yeah, no.

Here's To A Decent Night's Sleep

     ...Which I got last night for a change.  In bed by 8:30 p.m.  Awake by five, and that suits me, too, since I'll start next week "in the barrel," working two early-morning shifts as my day-shift peers and I do now, one week in three.  If I can get my hours precessed around sufficiently, it might not be as much of a burden as it usually is. 

     Still ending each day with unhappy knees and cold-packs on 'em.  This may be the new normal.

The Unexpected Blocks

     There they were at our neighborhood grocery, looking like some Warsaw Pact version of the famous (and very trademarked) plastic building bricks:

   
     Thing is, the grocer's in my neighborhood doesn't have a toy section....

     Yes, it says "Candy Blox," and they were right next to the big jars of "penny" candy.  I checked: they do interlock, weakly, and they taste okay, too -- sugar, citric acid, just like the label claims; maybe some fruit flavor.  Just the thing if you're topping a cake for someone in the grip of  Legomania™ -- although it may give Junior Structural Engineers some unrealistic expectations.

     (There's a storm coming through and the power went out -- and stayed out for five minutes! -- right as I went to add photos.  Oh, First World Problems.)

Still Ouching

     But sleeping with cold-packs on my knees sure did help!  I'll have to dig out my kneepads the next time I have a project.

Oh, My Aching Knees!

     I have now completed the second set of bookshelves I'd cut and routed while on vacation. Another afternoon spent mostly crouched or kneeling over the shelves while I whittled, cut and sanded has done my knees no favors (most strikingly my "good" knee, which pops, cracks and catches in an alarmingly painful manner).

     They're sitting in one side in the living room now, adjusting to the much lower humidity, quite in the way (though not as in the way as they were in the garage -- even standing up, they featured in a conversation that included the phrase,  "I was barely able to get my car out and I don't know if I can get it back in again!" They had to move).  Having gotten them this far, I'm starting to wonder if there's enough clearance to get them around the corner to the office or stand them up once I get them there.  So it might be there's additional work in my future featuring a saw, dowel centers and drills, plus installing a crossbrace on the top section so it can become a kind of "removable hardtop."

     All this, and before I can even place it, I have to rearrange furniture in the office, empty and remove an existing set of shelves that date back to 1980 (and are slated for rebuilding and re-use elsewhere) and generally clear the decks.  It's likely to take every evening this week. I think I'd better check on that "clearance to stand them up" issue before proceeding.

     ...With that done, Step Two is to measure the wall space between the new shelves and the window frame, in order to build yet another set of shelves to fit there.  (Is there an end to my shelf-building?  Probably when I run out of walls to put them against.  I should've bought a bigger house!)