Friday, March 30, 2012

Contempory Art Sucks!

I just have not had that much to say lately.

I don't care about NCAA basketball,the Brewers are a week away from the season, and frankly . . .nothing.

For all of you Downton Abby fans here is a not yet releases Arby's commercial which is a hoot.

http://screen.yahoo.com/downton-arby-s-28723019.html



Yea - OK!!   Thanks




OK - I'm going to come right out and say it.

CONTEMPORARY ART SUCKS!

I walk past the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and am appalled!  Seriously?  That is art?  A boot hanging from a ceiling by long ropes that spins around making the boot flop?  How much? $10,000?    Is this a joke? 

I saw one where it was a big empty room and someone with a roller had rolled a straight line of paint that slowly faded!   WOW - BRILLIANT!!!  A CERTAIN OTHERNESS!!

Contemporary art started as a joke and now people seem to think it's real!

I bring this up because next week at Hydro Street Brewery I'm hanging seven new pieces of art called

"What Was, What Could Be - a impressionistic look at the Columbus Auditorium".  I'm still deciding if Hydro and I will have a press release.  It seems rather  . . . .braggerish but . . . . . .

I have them framed and DJ was looking at them exclaiming that they look so much better framed instead of the raw images and I had to agree.  What got me was one of my "extra" images, one of the ones that was low in the batting order drew her attention. 

Art is so weird.  I liked the image (as I like all of them) but was surprised she liked it so much.



That is the "problem" I'm having with this whole art thing. You just never know what will flip a switch.

So if you have a chance sometime later next week check out Hydro Street Brewing.

In June I'm hoping to have images of Civil War Reenactors which has always been one of my more favorite things to photograph. I took a whole year on the Civil War In High School. Sat through the 4 hour Gettysburg movie (awesome awesome movie). My brother had the original Avalon Hill Gettysburg war game BEFORE hexagons were invented (I believe a Russian invented hexagons accidentally when looking to invent a Sputnik Cap).


So I'm pretty pumped that Columbus will have a Civil War (like Columbus needs an excuse) in June. 



Then there is this whole Pink Slime thing.  All of a sudden we find out that because social media has killed the addition of pink slime in hamburger, which is 100% edible, nutritious and good for you . . . .hey, you puree ANY hamburger it becomes pink slime . . . because they have shut down 4 of the 5 places that make it, we now need to kill 1.5 MILLION more cattle and beef prices are about to zoom up!

THANK YOU!!!    Maybe we should talk about how many pounds of bugs are in Cheerios.  Did you know that we eat TWO POUNDS of bugs a year? 
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The Game of Thrones returns SUNDAY!    There is an Unofficial Game of Thrones Cookbook?  mmmmmmmm  How about  "Khaleesi's Heart".  Yes you can infuse your unborn child with the horse-riding spirit of the Dothraki — it's basically beef heart with veggies and red wine vinegar.  Or The Imp's Wild Strawberry Fool—a dessert light enough to make Tyrion smile

 
   On this day in 1981 President Ronald Reagen was shot.  There was a show on Discovery called "Saving Ronald Regan" that was outstanding.  Actual footage from inside the operating room and I actually liked Ronald a little more afterward.   Then there was a show right afterward about how facts are NOW starting to come out about a VERY VERY VERY close nuclear war we had in the early eighties.

My God.  Were we bumbling buffoons!  Two countries that do not trust each other at all and we have war games that simulate nuclear destruction?  We had operators stationed all around the world transmitting fake messages about starting a nuclear war??   Seriously?  Of course the Russians are listening,    AND THEY THINK IT'S REAL!!!   They think that this is a clever idea and we are FAKING a fake war game!

Yea - what could possibly go wrong!   Reagan - what a bumbling buffoon! 

Well - as I said - I really don't have anything to say so I'll stop before I think of anything!

OH - we also purchased Alaska in 1867.  "Seward's folly," which in turn created Sarah Palin "Mccain's folly".


Have a great weekend. 

Rod

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Find the cat.

This might be so obvious to everyone I'm surprised no one as acted on it.

PINK SLIME HELPER!!!

Hello!!!
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And another idea is to disallow all politics as actual news! Create a new network, SPIN, and have all politics on that one network!
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We never had weathermen come to our school when I was a kid. But then again, back then weather was all hocus pocus and if anybody actually predicted the weather they would be charged with witchcraft! 

Seems a weathermen (also called meteorologist by some people who are trying to be "smarter" then the rest of us) went to a school and a little boy wrote a nice thank you letter back.



That has to be the best compliment and I think I need to repeat it.

“You’re more awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out [of] bacon riding a cyborg unicorn with a lightsaber for the horn on the tip of a space shuttle closing in on Mars while ingulfed in flames.. And in case you didn’t know, that’s pretty dang sweet.”

And here is one of those always entertaining

CAN YOU FIND THE CAT photos


And my answer is - NO - freaking wast of time and it was not that much fun in the first place. 

Monday, March 26, 2012

Hunger Game of Thrones!

WELL - I'm certainly glad THAT week is over. It took almost exactly one week from system shut down to systems running as expected (last night). I purchased Papaya tablets to aid digestion and that seemed to help a bunch to get things running smoothly once again.
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I'm going to try to make this a politics free zone since it seems it is now GAME ON for redundant political advertisements. We not only a Presidential Race which is pretty decided already, but the GOP bickering for nominations AND the RECALL's so it'll be non stop spin for the the next 8 months.

However - one tiny thing I have to bring up is the fact that while Walker is lawyering up with some of Wisconsins most expensive lawyers (which he boast's is all from his personal money) the feds (who he is is lawyering up against) are labeling this little inquiry, a RICO Investigation.

In case you don't know what a RICO investigation is. RICO stands for "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations". There was a loophole you see that has been closed. For instance. If you ordered a hit on a guy and the hit man was caught, BEFORE, you would not be guilty. Now since you ordered the hit you are as guilty as the hit man.

You seem the implications? When what's her name, the woman Walker personally hired, although he claims he did not have a clue what she did 25 feet from his office, pleaded not guilty, she HAD too. If she took the bullet and said guilty, HE would also be guilty.

If the RECALLS don't work, he will be lead away in hand cuffs at some point anyway. All these people with "I Stand By Walker" signs in their yard can stand by him in jail!  Freaking corrupt SOB!
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Mowed the yard yesterday, March 25th. The yard looks GREAT. I had the mower up at it's highest settings.

One thing I learned while working up on the square in Madison is that yard grass is awesome lush, soft and barefoot worthy when you mow at the highest settings. I can not see why people scalp their yard down to a 1/4 inch. Makes no sense at all. It burns the ground, feels scratchy and you actually mow more often. So it's more work, looks bad AND feels bad.What is the upside? 

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Did I hear that DUC Computers has close their Internationale offices in Columbus? I didn't tell you that a couple weeks ago I was driving by and saw a guy in the store. So I slammed on the brakes and walked in. Brad Frye says "Hi I was just thinking about you, I need your phone numbers" and yada yada yada. I asked about my computer and he said I could pick it up tomorrow. I said when (not really believing him)and he said let's set up an appointment. sigh.

I said OK 10:00. Next day I'm there at 10:00 and SURPRISE! He's a no show.

Well the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection called me the other day and asked all sorts of questions, asked for copy's of the checks and they are building a case. I hope he has not disappear. It was all on a very "need to know" basis but this investigator seemed to have it together.

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Working on the 2012 Antique & Classic Boat Show poster which OF COURSE, will be on the weekend when EVERYTHING in the world is happening. It seems that August 4th and 5th is the BIG BIG day for all events! DJs dad has a big big tribute at Miller Park in Milwaukee on the 4th, I HAD a large art fair on the 5th, the Classic Boat Show is on the 4th, The Great American Time Machine Festival in Columbus starts on the 4th. Hydro Street has their Beer Fast on the 5th. sigh

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Hunger Games

Well, not a bad 1st weekend with $155 million. I went to the best place for reviews, The Golf Forum. I wanted to see what Republican Males were saying about the movie (golfers are a high percentage of conservative Republicans) and while most said the movie was good they also said the book is SO much better (of course)!!

I'm in book two of The Game of Thrones and know that the HBO series is right smack on the book. Season Two starts in a week and from what I have read it does depart a little from the book - HOWEVER - double the huge budget, more blood and more sex, wow, can't get better then that!!





http://youtu.be/VVkr9oYsIbo



I'll have to wait on The Hunger Game book. Amazon is just over the top with reviews so I can't get a good idea on it.

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Have a good average Monday

Friday, March 23, 2012

Better

Just an update - I feel much better from the flu - however I think I did some serious back tracking with the 4 pieces of pizza I had lastnight. Obviously my empty enzyme depleted intestines did not like the idea that after 4 days of non eating and then having an extremely tasty bowl of oatmeal was not the correct base for 4 pieces of pizza.

Yea - OK - lesson learned! WOW, I did not know a body could make those sounds INSIDE!! I think I woke up Blake and he's deaf. I felt like Clintonville. Although Mary did comment that my downfall into the hells of flu-dom did coincide with the Clintonville booming and perhaps I'm a ventriloquististic poltergeist.
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So that is the update.

HOWEVER - I do want to share one video. As you all know we're pretty hot on Johnnie Depp up here in Columbus and here is the trailer for his new movie

Dark Shadows! This looks like a riot!!!! There are not THAT many true actors around. The kind that will put on a costume and just be totally NOT themselves at all.

http://youtu.be/wpWvkFlyl4M



Have a weekend.

Rod

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

blah

The flu - nuff said

Monday, March 19, 2012

Big Saturday Night

MISSING - did anybody record Missing last week?  the debut was on at midnight because of the basketball tournament.  The PROBLEM is that Missing was missing a track,  the word track.  All I get are background sounds and explosions but there are no words.   Anybody else have this problem?  is it a DIRECT TV thing? WKOW problem?
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Spring is getting close. The Brewers are starting to send players down in spring training so that always means warm weather is sure to come soon!

What? it's 59 right now? The average High is 44 while the average low is 24 so we are 35 degrees above the average low with only 3 more record high days to come. Then the GREAT COOL DOWN happens and we will only be 20 degrees above normal this coming weekend! brrrrrrrr get out the winter coats!!

Tomorrow should be the warmest day of the group so far hitting the middle 80s. Don't worry, there is no actual cold weather to speak of in the next 10 days. There is just nothing to move this ridge of high pressure off of us and most models are starting to raise the temps for next weekend.

The one good thing (among many) about this weather is that it's great for carbonating beer which needs to be near 70 degrees.

Speaking of beer. Hydro Street Brewing has my Kentucky Common on tap. It turned out great. Getting lots of compliments from strangers. It's like a dark Heineken ale. Came from a recipe from the 1900's. Seems a little . . grainy like if I had used an English Maris Otter barley as the base grain but it must be from all the flaked grains. It was a mess to brew and the mash was more like oatmeal.

Speaking of Hydro Street Brewing. I tasted their Belgium Pale Ale at a big event in Columbus and it's pretty darn good.  Lori Compas is running against former Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Hydro was the beer of choice. Pretty good Pale Ale I thought.

Large and excited crowd at the event and I need to get more non-trick out photos ready.  I have to work on my journalistic approach to photos.  




 Who would imagine that on March 17th it would be a beautiful summer night!

What I like about this shot is that you can see Venus and Saturn on the left side of the photo. Venus is on top and Saturn is below.



Afterword DJ and I stopped in at Hydro and the Driftless Bluegrass Band was playing. I tell yea - this is the closest you can get to the pubs and bars on St.John USVI. Very relaxed and informal. Awesome atmosphere!  All they need are a few dogs roaming the tables looking to get head scratches.

Driftless Bluegrass Band at Hydro street Brewing

Lori Compas came in with her war council later on that night.  The big thing was that a friend from high school was the DJ for the event.  I had not seen him in about 30 years and the last time I saw him he had hair not unlike Gregg Allman but maybe a little longer!  We were at HSB until about 12:30.


Speaking of RECALLS

I see some people saying that Walker never had a clue that there were shenanigans going on and he had no clue that his staff was using tax payer money.  hmmmmmm  Let's look at some facts  . . .

From the beginning . . .

At Marquette University, Scott Walker was disqualified from running for Student body President due to corruption in his campaign that Walker proclaimed he knew nothing about.  REALLY?   They  literally disqualified him from running for student body President, yet Scott Walker was totally oblivious to the corruption undertaken on his behalf, just ask him.

As Milwaukee county Executive, County workers were working on campaign activities, while clocked into their taxpayer funded jobs.  Meaning the Walker administration was forcing taxpayers to pay for his re-election activities, yet once again, Scott Walker, "integrity intact" , knew absolutely nothing of the criminal activity taken on his behalf.

Kelly Rindfleisch, personally hired by Scott Walker, without the knowledge of then Chief of Staff Tom Nardelli, and an individual who was granted legal immunity in the pay for play legislative scandal in Madison around 2000 that brought down Dem Majority Leader Chuck Chvala,  and  Republican Speaker of the Assembly Scott Jensen, to work in an office 25 feet from Scott Walker's office, yet Gov. Walker who personally hired Kelly Rindfleisch, knew nothing about her criminal activities on his behalf?

At every stage in his career, scandal and criminal activity has followed Walker, yet once again, he is totally innocent of all charges.  He has hired two criminal trial lawyer experts because he is so  innocent.  Yea - OK.  LOL

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Latest polls have Santorum crushing Romney in Wisconsin and Romney crushing Santorum in ILL.  I can't wait to be inundated with advertisements!

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Gotta get some work done today.  Lots of projects.

See ya
Rod

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Great American Time Machine Experiment - and Garbage

So I walk outside this morning about 5:45 to get the newspaper and, brrrrrrrr it's a little cool out here today. WELL YEA - I'm in a tee shirt and shorts and it's MARCH 15th.

We broke another record yesterday and probably 4 more coming. HOWEVER - Milwaukee spent most of the day hovering around 47. Their official high was 72 but when the wind came off the lake they plunged LOL Columbus got to 80.47 yesterday smashing the previous record high which was 69. Looks like another 80 day today.

What gets me is not only the temperature but the humidity. Certainly a summer pattern. A few years ago we had warm weather but the ground never thawed as we did not have and WARM rain. We had that half inch of warm rain last week so flowers are in full grow. I think I'll plant all of my annuals today. What could possible go wrong. :-)

Remember - our average high is 43. Our LOW tonight will be 15 degrees above the our average high. Milwaukee will get to a balmy 65 today brrrrrrrr!!
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The Columbus Police Department has said they will stop ticketing cars parked illegally do to winter parking restrictions.

But the big news is all about the weekend of August 4th. On that day The Great American Time Machine Experiment begins. The festival begins Saturday, August 4th, 2012 with the opening of the time portal in our quaint little town of Columbus Wisconsin. Anyone can participate. Festivities include live music, food, art show (???) but most importantly the feature exhibit of time machines created by fellow time travelers.

It is suggested that time machines be mobile kinetic sculpture. They can be created in any size, scale or medium. Sunday the 5th of August includes a parade through the portal into another dimension so be sure not to miss the festivities.

Would you like more information or would you like to be a featured artist? Contact us for more information at Frey Carriage Company (920) 623-1998 or info@freycarriage.com.

Here is a look at last years tee-shirts (below) (event canceled do to a time flux dispersal - see right).




BUT WAIT - there is more.


Hydro Street Brewing will have a REAL craft beer festival, not Point, Leinies, Miller and Pabst but actual craft beer from literally around Wisconsin and THE WORLD!
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I think it is ridiculous that the powers want to move the State BB Tournaments to Green Bay. For 100 years high school kids have roamed State Street feeling free and learning about the Capitol of Wisconsin. It's like Mecca. Packs of well behaved kids rubber necking State Street is a tradition. It will be a huge huge loss to this event if it moves to . . Green Bay.

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Careful with that email - I won't say the name of the major insurance company on the east side of Madison but a high up person sent an email to her husband saying "I just got a $200,000 bonus". Problem was it didn't go to her husband. It went to EVERYBODY!!!

She is no longer at her position! This will be news at some point I suppose. HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!
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The Home Brew bill passed and I suppose Walker will claim it was all him! Our uneducated buffoon takes credit for many many Federally mandated actions it seems. This was just a common sense bill with  the only dissenting vote being Fitzgerald, the Tavern League whore.

There will be am event at Fireman's Pavilion Saturday to kick off  Lori Compas's Senate Kickoff to Recall Fitz.

Help Lori harness the luck of the Irish throughout the campaign by joining us in the beautiful Fireman’s Park Pavilion in Columbus (1049 Park Ave) on March 17 from 7-10pm.

This family event that will feature special guests, light fare and refreshments, music and opportunities to get involved in this important election. There will also be a auction fundraiser so bring some green and gold! A free drink ticket at the door with your donation of $10 or more. Note that we cannot accept any cash donation over $50 (checks are preferred)
.

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Madison's very own international rockers, Garbage have a new CD coming out soon. The first song has been released. Sadly while Garbage is a HUGE hit in Europe they are not as big in America.

DJ went to school with Duke and Shirley has been seen roaming State Street.

Garbage has sold 17 million CDs. They have won the Breakthrough Artist award at the MTV Europe Music Awards along with being nominated for two Grammy Awards, Album of the Year and Best Rock Album and were named as one of Rolling Stone's Top 10 Albums of the Year AND, are ranked at #60 on VH1s "100 Sexiest Artists".

I took this shot at their last Madison concert.  BTW - Shirley hugged Jenny and actually stopped a concert when Jenny was being smashed against the stage. She told the crowd to "back the f*ck up please".



http://youtu.be/4wIsb5G3XSQ



Here is another video of Garbage at the Glastonbury Festival in Europe. They really like their flags over there!



And finally some cool interviews with Shirley on the Craig Ferguson - I had never seen this - it's pretty good

http://youtu.be/EatRYvZ3Oy4



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Have a great weekend
Rod

Thursday, March 15, 2012

The end is nigh!

HEY - anybody know of a 3 bedroom apartment or house for rent? One is needed ASAP. Contact me if you know of one. 
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I'm not sure if I shared this or not.

Jenny made a YouTube Video of Caydence doing her signs! She is so smart.

Sydney (1), who is little miss grumpy but has a quick sense of humor was being cranky and she always likes to have some Cheerios to make her happy. Well Caydence thought she should help and was signing cereal, cereal to DJ and Jenny last night. Smart Girl.




OH - here is Sydney at her first birthday party.  She missed her mouth.

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Only 7 more days of record highs, then we drop down to only 20 degrees above average   brrrrrrrr!  DJ has some friends taking off to Hawaii today where it's 2 degrees warmer.

It was awesome sleeping with the windows open, listening to the frog.  Do frogs really freeze in the winter?  Is that an old wives tail?  I had to look up worms and what happens when you chop them in half.

On a side note I remember hearing about Tibetan Monks who were building a chapel or church or what ever they are call and they realize they were hurting worms.  Well, can't have that, so they made a rule that no worm would be harmed when digging the hole and however long it took, they would save every worm and take it to a new home. 


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Think about it.

On December 21, 2012, the earth will complete a wobble on its axis, known as precession. 


On 12/21/2012, the sun, Earth and the center of the Milky Way Galaxy align in an event that happens only once every 26,000 years or so. It's amazing to think how the Mayans knew this over 3,000 years ago. 

 Here is something to chew on  and to make you feel insignificant.   Look at this photo. 


This HUDF image was taken in a section of the sky with a low density of bright stars in the near-field, allowing much better viewing of dimmer, more distant objects. The image contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. In August and September 2009, the Hubble's Deep Field was expanded using the infrared channel of the recently attached Wide Field Camera 3. When combined with existing HUDF data, astronomers were able to identify a new list of potentially very distant galaxies.

This image is just one-tenth of the diameter of the full Moon as viewed from Earth, smaller than a 1 mm by 1 mm square of paper held at 1 meter away, and equal to roughly one thirteen-millionth of the total area of the sky.

So, in one thirteenth millionth of the area of the sky there are over 10,000 GALAXIES like our own Milky Way with its BILLIONS of stars like our Sun.

Of course if the earth end because of those pesky Mayans we will not have to worry about the upcoming Unix Millennium Bug. A very real problem no one is talking about yet.

The problem will affect all software and systems that both store system time as a signed 32-bit integer, and interpret this number as the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on Thursday, 1 January 1970.

The furthest time that can be represented this way is 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, 19 January 2038. So at that time all computers will reset their internal clocks to 00:00:00 UTC on Thursday, 1 January 1970.

Of course you say that by that time no one will nave 32 bit computers. Yea - Well the State of Wisconsin has many programs running on software that was written in BAL a very very VERY old software language that is like 30 years old and only a few people know BAL (I was trained in BAL).

I think KnowItAll will be called back to work for the State to rewrite  all of those assembler programs!

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And one last thing - Afghanistan.  With that recent massacre everyone was waiting for huge riots and after 24 hours nothing substantial had happened.   I feel the reason is that the average Afghans is not stupid. They know that this was one nut job. Not something the United States condones (like burning the Quran I guess). Plus, the Taliban massacre people all the time, it's a common thing.

I did have to laugh though when I saw them burning a cross. Did they think we would get all worked up about that?

BTW - I LOVE this saying

Spirituality is for people seeking answers. Religion is for people seeking rewards.

Have a great Thursday  -  GO BADGERS!!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Sex is fun, for liberals! Just a lot of work for neo-cons I guess!

Just a note - when I say "republicans" I really mean the no-conservatives (neo-cons).  I understand that many Private Republicans are actually sane and balanced.  It's the far right Rush-heads that I speak of. 

Here we go! For the next 7 days we will be about 30 degrees above average. Then a strong cold front will hit us NEXT Wednesday night and we will only be 20 degrees above average.

A lot of people keep saying, OH, just wait, we're going to get hit sooner or later. I've been hearing this since December. This is warming the earth up so much that any cold that does come our way will be warmed by the earth so I feel that yea - we can get back top average but real snow is over for the year and I would not be at all surprised if we go right into summer. It's happened before.

Where is the cold? Alaska and the west coast is colder then average.

Just remember these days when we get 30 degrees BELOW average with a high of 20!  And be happy we're 30 above and it's not the middle of July and over 112 for one week straight! 

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Now I know how Rush Limbaugh feels. Sponsors are leaving in droves. Well, one person unsubscribed from my blog! No worries though, there is still 150 of you that read this droll every day!  Probably did not like me always saying Rush was a drug addict (multiple arrests including Doctor shopping) who dropped out of college because, as his mother said "he flunked everything".
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As for the GOP. Where else but in American politics can a candidate come in 3rd in two primary's and claim victory! A Romney spokesperson was spinning a victory chant last night. The biggest news about Romney are his mom jeans. I think I heard him say "I LIKE mom jeans".

Actually the biggest news in this whole campaign are the lack of people voting in the primary's. It's startlingly low. Every primary someone get's asked about the lack of voters and it's always some vague answer. Last night it was the weather and schools being closed but the REAL reason came from a  quick interview of one voter who said she was voting for Gingrich. She said "You know, all of the candidates just sound like they are just telling us what we want to hear."

That says it in a nutshell.

In Wisconsin news. The Republican Senate passed a bill yesterday saying that all school's will now be required to have classes on abstinence when it comes to sex education AND the bill prohibits teachers from teaching contraception. Currently, sex education classes must include use of contraception in a comprehensive curriculum. Now schools must teach that abstinence as the only reliable way to prevent pregnancy and disease.

Stepping forward INTO THE PAST!!

So ummm . . . . how long are these classes anyway? Will there be a demonstration on how to put that aspirin between your knees?

I'm pretty sure most high school students will say "OH, just don't HAVE sex, I understand everything now, because sex is evil."

HEY - if God did not want woman to have sex he would not have invented the orgasm!

As one person puts it "Women have orgasms because by and large they refuse to launch monstrous ultraviolent illegal soul-deadening wars over oilsucking phallocentric powermad landwhoring BS powergrabs and therefore they fully deserve all the inexplicable otherworldly cosmically infused clitorally energized pleasures they can get"

Seriously - for a woman, why would they need an orgasm, it does nothing for creating a child. If God did not want sex to be fun he would not have allowed woman to have an orgasm.  Men need one because . . well . . BAM, like you know?  But there is no real reason for a woman to have an orgasm! 

Republicans are anti sex it seems and it shows.  I mean look at them.  They get all pent up.
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I got my grades back from the Dunkelweizen competition! A dunkle is a dark (dunkel) wheat (weizen) beer.  The Sun Prairie Wort Hogs entered their first club competition.  The deal was each club needed to submit 3 different batches of beer.  We only had two but when we found out that they moved the competition back a week this allowed me to make a Dunkle in time with like 2 days to spare.

It would be very very close!

My final score was a 31 (out of 50) and I (we) came in 6th place.  A 31 means "Very good with minor flaws".  The BIG minor flaw was the lack of carbonation which was my big main concern (it was a timing thing - I needed more time).  But 31 for my first rushed competition makes me pretty happy!

If a beer is up closer to 40 you will place, as opposed to getting a participation ribbon. 

OK - gotta run

Rod

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Stuff to fill in the time waiting for SLOW government computers

I went out last night to try to take photos of the moons of Jupiter but the dang earth spins to fast. Jupiter and Venus are outstanding in the sky the next few nights. Can't miss them in the Western sky as they are the two brightest objects AND I was told anybody with a telescope will have an easy time seeing Jupiter's moons!
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I can not believe that we let criminals blatantly steal from people here in Columbus! What good are the police if they can not protect the citizens. DUC computer is just ripping people off and no one does a damn thing.

I was driving past the place and saw someone in the shop. I stopped in to get my computer ($350 charge in December but I have not gotten my computer back yet) and BRADLY says "Oh, I need your phone number" and then he said I could pick my computer up TOMORROW. I said what time and he said let's set up an appointment. OK 10:00 it is.

Guess what. He was a no show. SURPRISE!!!

SO - the Columbus police allow identity theft. Sweet!!!
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I mentioned how Japan coastline sank 4 feet before the tsunami. I think that 4 feet is emerging in my driveway. We have a slab that is being pushed up. Maybe we're about to have an earthquake? Volcano? Glad it's my driveway and not my basement.

Hey - new app (maybe old, new for me) is Zillow. You can see the current Zestimate** for any house in America, a 5-10 year monthly history and property taxes. For an extra $10 a month you can look in the windows at random times to see what's going on and for another $5 you can look in the refrigerator of any house! I love technology!

I found that our house went up $70,000 when the foreclosed house next to use was purchased. Plus our house is actually worth ten grand MORE then what we paid for it. It was in a steady decline since we purchased it but BAM, November it zoomed up $70,000.

My moms house has really been climbing. Last May it was listed at $77,000 and as of today it's at $108,000.

Zestimate** = home valuation is Zillow's estimated market value, computed using a proprietary formula. It is not an appraisal. It is a starting point in determining a home's value.
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I see Mr. Limbough has now lost 100% of his National Advertising. The 141 companies that left is sort of misleading. Most of those advertise on Clear Channel told the exec's they do NOT want to have their ad's run on the drug addicts show so it's not like they LEFT the show - just refuse to go on it!

I guess they feel that Rush signing "Obama the Magic Negro" (which when you take the WORDS is not racist but unless you live in a cave or, are in fact a racist, is very very racist) and calling college students whore's was the last straw for many advertisers.
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Still loving Downton Abby. Stopped recording SMASH, good show but just bad timing to watch it. Sunday nights are no a problem as three things are on at once at 7:00.
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Going to the Fireman's Pavilion Saturday night for some sort of socialist convention with the RECALL people going against Fitzgerald. I find it funny how Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald was so sure he would not be recalled because they remapped all the districts. Yet the GAB said no no, we will be using the same mapping as when you got elected, NOT the new ones!!

Your little gerrymandering scheme did work.
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I can not WAIT for One Putt Twelve IPA to be carbonated. Every so often I brew a beer that really gets me pumped up. Not every brew is outstanding but I can still taste the one. Almost grapefruit-like with the Amarillo hops. Sadly I can only keep 1/2 of the batch as adubya purchased the ingredients.

My Scottish60 will not be ready for competition! boooooo!!! I'll be two days short.

A porter is up next, I'm calling it The Black Pearl! Dark and sweet with hopefully a super smooth mouth feel (from the malto dextrin).

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Did you know that in Lurens County, S.C., Republican candidates must henceforth sign a pledge that they did not or will not have sex before marriage, are not gay, and will not watch pornography. The pledge — approved unanimously by the GOP executive committee — contains 24 other moral requirements that chairman Bobby Smith says are "essential to try and protect the party's reputation.

Yea - they got a reputation all right!

A Wisconsin seventh-grader was suspended from a school's basketball team for speaking a Native American language. Sacred Heart Catholic School in Shawano, Wis., is 60 percent Native American, yet when a teacher heard Miranda Washinawatok, 12, telling a friend how to say "I love you" in the Menominee tongue, the teacher angrily objected, saying, "How do I know you're not saying something bad?" The school has since apologized.

Damn Indians are always trying to pull a fast one!

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On this date in Wisconsin

1849 - Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi Founded in Milwaukee
On this date a small band of five men and six women Franciscan tertiaries left Ettenbeuren, Bavaria to journey to North America. They were led by their parish priests, Fathers Francis Anthony Keppeler and Mathias Steiger. Upon arriving in Milwaukee they settled south of the bay of Lake Michigan. It is here that the women founded the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. Their first mission was teaching and caring for the children at St. Amelian's Orphanage in Milwaukee. Two years later they offered domestic services at the newly established St. Francis Seminary.

1862 - (Civil War) Battle of New Madrid, Missouri, Ends
After 10 days of shelling, Confederate troops evacuated New Madrid, Missouri. They retreated to Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River and fortifications on the eastern bank at Tiptonville, Tennessee. The 8th and 15th Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 5th, 6th and 7th Wisconsin Light Artillery batteries fought in this battle.

Cheers
Rod

Monday, March 12, 2012

St. John Adventure redue!

When told the reason for daylight savings time the old Indian said "Only the government would believe you can cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it onto the bottom and think you have a longer blanket".
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This coming Saturday there will be a fund raiser for Lori Compas who's running against Scott Fitzgerald. at the Fireman's Pavilion. Fitzgerald is the only person I have ever seen get booed in a parade!! Funniest thing I have ever seen (well, not literally but . . .)

OH - not sure I mentioned it here but there is/was a bill going through the State Government that would make it so Home Brewing was NOT illegal in Wisconsin. Right now if I take one of my beers off my property I could be arrested. Well the government said that is ridicules and wording was being changed. HOWEVER Scott Fitzgerald the Republican majority leader had amendment to what appeared to be pretty good legislation.

He wanted to have it so if you wanted to brew beer at home you would have to file and pay a fee for the right. His amendment would also limit homebrew events to licensed establishments to 2 times per year, that includes meetings, and no contest prizes for competitions.

LUCKILY - his amendment failed 32-1. Fitzgerald is a complete whore. The guy was being paid by the Tavern League who hate home brewers.

Anybody watch Justified (one of the best shows on TV)? He reminds me of that Detroit bad guy. All smiles while he screws everybody!
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So I'm looking to seen when they pick up yard waste and knowing that the Columbus City Website is a deadbeat site that never gets updated with stuff you really want to know (like when they pick up yard waste) I'm forced to look at the paper.

What I learned is that Ordinance 670-2012 (what happens when I dial that number) says that you can only have three dogs or cats per household. Also passed is the law where you can only have 3.2 kids! However if you have more kids and less cats you may apply to have a child listed as a cat but voting rights will be nullified.

I found nothing about yard waste.

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Saturday was the first day golfers were on our course and 50% of the golfers hit our house with their balls! First day out with a 30mpg headwind and you know there are slicers. We watched a foursome tee off and every time they hit the ball they would all look our direction!

Luckily I know all about those sort of mishits and when I purchased this land I paced off how far it was from the tee box and knew that MOST balls aimed at our house would be low screamers or high pop-ups ! No damage so far. One close one to a window though (according to some cracked siding).
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So all sorts of stuff on TV about the Japanese Tsunami (wow - spelled that right the 1st time). Interesting things. Seems they have this giant Tsunami walls that failed. The problem was not that the "walls" failed at all. But what engineers did not take into account was that the ground actually DROPPED 4 feet due to the earthquake. So a 20 foot tsunami was now only a 16 foot wall which was too low. WHO KNEW!!
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And here is something new - a blast from the past. Since Tradewinds Cottage is posting a bunch of my photos from our trip to St.John USVI I'll repost my blog from that amazing week.
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Where does one begin.

Because we had an early flight to St.Thomas USVI,  DJ and I stayed at a Park & Fly in Chicago. Arriving early, we were bored so we decided to take a look at O’Hare to see what we were going to have to go through the next morning.

So far – no problems. Looking at the crowds we decided to catch the shuttle back to our hotel. HOWEVER – we quickly realized that the departure and the pick-up were in totally different zip codes and the fastest way to get from one to the other was to go through security.

WELL it's  2006 THAT AIN’T GOING TO HAPPEN.
SO – we did the smart thing and asked for help.

EASY - take that escalator over there, go down the hall, stay to your left, get on the elevator and go down two more levels staying on the right and go across the parking lot, then go though the double doors - and follow the orange buttons it'll be straight ahead, can't miss it.

OK!!!  

I thought to myself  "I hope DJ got all that" since as normal I phased out about halfway through the directions.

We quickly got lost.

One half hour later we stumbled into the right shuttle area, boarded the shuttle and were happy - UNTIL, DJ spotted a Krispy Creme sign. We escaped the shuttle, bought some donuts and got on the second shuttle and were relaxed . . . . . UNTIL,  we had to stop to pick up 14 shivering vacationers that had been standing outside for 30 minutes. They looked at us like we were just going on a joy ride and taking up room (yea, well we were actually). They made some snide remarks about taking up space. I forgave them as they were getting back from Mexico. blah

Take off day! 

Everything goes smoothly for the flight to St.Thomas – we land and step out of the plane to glorious, sunny, warm, humid air and we are all smiles. Filing our way down to the ground we walk past “the loser line” of an outgoing aircraft. boo hoo! You have to walk totally around to the other side of the airport to get your bags.  it was all so surreal.

As we enter the baggage area we have our 1st taste of Cruzen Rum and it is fantastic AND has a small kick!!! The bags come and we head towards THE CABS!

WOW – it’s very crowded and we are herded into areas of destination. I yell Red Hook and we are on the Red Hook wall. Then we’re told THIS is the taxi to Red Hook (we had no choice) and 12 of us pile into a taxi. DJ is in the back with 3 other people stuffed and I am in the front next to the driver. No choice.

Then the crazies start, a woman starts asking insane questions.  "How far are we from Cuba and can we get a ferry to Cuba how far are we from Cancun has anybody ever gotten sick in your cab is it always this hot if this is Charlotte Amelia where is St. Thomas and so forth. The cabby just takes it in stride.

We FINALLY get to Red Hook (about 45 minutes) which looks more like 3 ice fishing shanties and 2 guys help us with our bags to catch the ferry that is JUST getting ready to leave. As we approach the ferry a ferry guy is screaming at us saying “DON’T TIP HIM, DON’T TIP HIM, THEY DON’T PUT YOUR BAGS ON THE BOAT” stunned I tip the guy $3 (hey – they helped us).

We climb up to the top of the ferry and it seems like only a 5 minute ride to St.John. DJ is nothing but smiles. It is WAY WAY TOO wonderful to get seasick.

As we near St.John our jaws drop at the beauty, We THOUGHT St. Thomas was pretty but St.John has the other island beat hands down. No comparison.

NOW – the adventure begins. With bags in tow, two carry-on's over the shoulder, and each hand has a bag, we start to look for Penn’s Jeep rental.

Cruz Bay is utter chaos. No urban planning in THIS town!! And no sidewalks where you think there should be. I know Penn’s is near the Lumber Yard and is on the left so I say TRUST ME and we move forward.

Through a small park we wander and then through an even smaller park until we get to a post office and, THANK GOD, an information booth. Well, the kid has never heard of Penn’s.   I say it’s near the Lumber Yard, he points to the Lumber Yard and we gaze UP this mammoth hill. We will have to climb UP a VERY busy street and there are no sidewalks on either side.

We grab our bags and start trudging up the hill, DJ makes it 97% of the way but can not make the final hill into the parking lot, she lets out a yell and I can tell she is about to turn teary.  I am in the middle of the climb and there is no level place to set my bags down. Long story short – we survive. But – STILL, no Penn’s! I get directions from a shop owner and leaving DJ I go looking, after 2 blocks I ask again (I’m now at Mongoose Junction, 3 blocks away from DJ in a strange and bizarre town and I'm sure I will never seem my wife again) and a jeweler tells me to look for a building under construction.

I know THAT building, it’s the OTHER SIDE of the street from where we were. sigh!

I get the jeep, rescue DJ, and our 1st instinct is to GET OUT OF THE CRUZ BAY CHAOS.

Driving on the left is easy as long as there are no intersections.  Of course 20 yards from where jump in the jeep is a 5 way intersection. 

The roads are exactly like a Formula 1 Computer Racing Game that I spent a good deal of my life playing, up, down, break, accelerate, turn while heavy breaking, turn while going straight up, it was a blast.

We make our way across the island, DJ is rubber necking while my eyes are glued to the ever-changing road. FINALLY we get to the TradeWinds cottage, open the door and gasp – it’s beautiful. I run to the porch and am floored by the view. We made it. That night we see the Milky Way, listen to music, relax, smile a lot and go to bed very very happy.

Views from our balcony. The first one looks east, the large hill is the island of Tortola and just in front of it is the "east End" of St. John.
The second photo is of what seemed to be the typical sunrise looking more southerly towards Norman and Peter Islands.

Join us tomorrow for Day 2 of DJ and Grinder's St.John adventure featuring Salt Pond, Bananaquits, Antillian Crested Hummingbirds Skinnys an Awesome lookout and a crazy steep road..

hmmmm - too bad the photos are not coming out better. I think all of my St. John shots are on a different computer. I'll have to redue them!

Cheers
Rod

Friday, March 9, 2012

Veganizm

What's up with this whole Vegan thing. I just don't see it. Did you know that 0.5% (meaning less then 1%) of Americans claim to be Vegan. 3% are vegetarian. Of those, 59% are woman, 17.4% are over 55 (they have seen the light and stopped) and 57% have been vegetarian for over 10 years.

Of 57% 10 year people, only 53% have said their health improved.

The question is how many vegetarians are REALLY pescatarians (those that eat fish and seafood).

How many semi-lacto-ovo vegetarians are there???

I'm a bovovegetarian. Or what could be a bi-vegetarian, I go both ways but in reality I'm not a big veggie fan at all. I've tried to make a persona decision not to kill plants. Ahimsa, the law of noninjury to plants.

Being a bovovegetarian is better as studies have shown that a bovovegetarian diet is easier to digest and provides a wider range of nutrients . We are less susceptible to major diseases such as malnutrition, green-colored excrement's and dreams of plants eating us.

I saw a vegetarian once eating a big plate of meatless nachoes made of genetically modified, pesticide-laden cord shipped from Iowa topped with a mysterious cheese product and hydroponically grown artificially ripened tomatoes shipped from Florida. Which was perfectly healthy because she was not eating a cow.

Being a vegetarian carry's many risks! Unless you supplement your diet with Vitamin D, B12 and iron you will become anemic. Vegetarian also miss out on omega-3 fatty acids and oddly there is a much higher incidence of depression among vegetarians.

In a five year study vegetarians are 30% more likely to break a bone and have 5% less bone density.

Becoming a vegetarian will NOT make you healthier! As with anything having a variety in your diet is the best!
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I was reading a piece by Doug Moe in the paper today about trying to find a copy of the New Yorker in Madison. Seems there is a large piece about Scott Walker and he could not find a copy.

I know his problem. Since Snappys and Pic-A-Book closed there are very very few places to get magazines. I was looking for Sports Illustrated last year an nobody had it. I loved Snappys and Pic-A-book. Where else could you go and get newspapers from around the world.

BTW - the article in The New Yorker is rather bland. The only big news was when the liberals were presenting 1 million signatures for the Walkers recall (Walker complained it was all being run by out of state money) Walker was on Park Avenue in New York hosting a  $5000 a couple dinner to raise money for his Recall campaign!
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I mentioned that I was pro-Iraq war. The reason is I feel America SHOULD be the police force of the World. Why? Because we can! Seems the Republicans only want a war when there is something in it for them (oil!). Who cares about saving innocent lives.

Our military is a professional organization. If you join the military you WANT to go in harms way! You WANT to fix things! You WANT to help people that can not help themselves. The problem with Iraq was that the Republicans in charge were buffoons that did not have a clue what they were doing. Colin Powell, who I THOUGHT was going to be in charge, had a clue. Well, they got rid of him because he felt you had to go in with overwhelming force.  What an oddball concept for war.

MUCH better to tippy toe in trying to not hurt feelings. 
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Job numbers - funny the things that are NOT being mentioned! The first thing is that people seem to think that job numbers are the key to the economy. There are plenty of jobs out there. Whole industries are SCREAMING for workers. There is a HUGE lack of welders. One company I read has been trying to fill 30 welder jobs starting at $35,000 a year with a $2,500 signing bonus.  Can't find any! 

The State Government of Wisconsin can't fill positions. There is a serious lack of engineers! The January jobs report came out and Walker is pounding his chest because 12,000 jobs were added in Wisconsin.  He failed to mention that the revised jobs report for last year also came out and instead of adding 900 jobs, LAST YEAR, Wisconsin actually lost 12,500 jobs.

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SORRY SORRY - seems I can't mention Rush without insulting him!  LOL I guess I must work on my anger management when it comes to Rush!

I'm sorry for going off on that last blog about my good friend Rush Limbaugh. I just get so pent up with how some people base their thoughts and ideals on a drug addicted ignorant clown. Even his faux apology was insulting to normal intelligent people.

Rush is 100% clueless. His apology

“I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress.”

Fluke made no reference to her own sexual history.

“I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities.”

Fluke was not advocating for public financing of contraceptives, but for a policy mandating “contraception coverage in student health plan.” 


“What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line?”

Fluke made abundantly clear, coverage of contraceptive services is a matter that affects students who do not use the prescriptions for birth control. 

“In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom…”

Actually Limbaugh,  not only discussed Ms. Fluke’s sex life — a subject which she had made literally no reference to in her testimony — at length and in graphic detail, he also demanded that she “post the videos online so we can all watch.”

People that listen to Limbaugh live in their own little world that is not really part of reality. Thank God what he does is drive people from conservatism and is helping Obama win the upcoming election.

OH - and that whole argument about Limbaugh being just like Bill Maher (who I also dislike).  The difference is that Maher was speaking about one woman. Sarah Palin.  Limbaugh was insulting ALL woman!  He was attacking any woman who dares to argue publicly for insurance for her recurring charges for birth contro.

Plus - Maher loses endorsers all the time. Seems to me that while conservatives are all whining about Rush not being treated fairly they can do the same to Maher can't they?  But wait, MOST people can tell the difference between what a liberal political comedian says and a nationally syndicated conservative political commentator says.  

DAMN IT - there I went again!  sigh!   I'm such a nice person but when I try to listen to him I just want to run my car into the first car I see with a fish on the back bumper.

Have a GREAT GREAT warm weekend!

Rod 

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Politics and DUC faces two theft charges

on a rant here!

To answer a couple comments about comparing Rush to Bill Maher! First I can't stand Bill Maher! The guy is just an angry whiner.

The big difference between Rush and Maher is that Rush's audience is much much larger the Bill Maher's. I'm sure I have said a few things that piss people off but no one listens. No one listens to Maher either and he SAYS he is an entertainer. Rush is a nationally syndicated talk show reaching with 20 million mostly ignorant lemmings listening to his every word AND, more importantly, agree with his flat earth blathering, Maher is on HBO where you pay to listen to him, with less then 500,000. People that listen to Maher are there for entertainment only.

Oddly the only people sticking up for Rush . . . .seriously, who is sticking up for this meat head, not the conservatives who are running away from him. The guy is just a big stinking piece of shit that makes $50 million a year.

When 35 advertisers run away from this drug addict you have to believe he has finally taken one step over the line.

The bottom line is that Rush was whining about how HE should not have to pay for woman to have sex using contraceptives! Well, then I should not have to pay for wars created by Republicans (who have started every major war in American history).

BTW - truth in advertising - I was pro war in Iraq along with 90% of Americans at the time (oh, you might have a different memory but at that time 90% of Americans were gung ho on bombing SOMEONE). I just did not know that the Republicans would be so stupid and attack like dainty little girls trying not to get hurt.

Oddly, when Bush and his monkeys finally got some balls and created The SURGE things started to happen. The surge worked and Obama was dead wrong.
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As for the primaries! WOW - chalk one up for the left. Romney is the 2012 version of John Kerry and last night was a big nail in the GOP coffin. The right are just not that excited over any of their candidates.

A poll was conducted a few days ago. If you take out the the base of both parties (the true lunatics) the question was "which party is better at energizing the voters". The HUGE winner were the Democrats. The surprising part was that most Republicans thought the Democrats were better. 65% of independent voters were voting left, and woman were way way on the left side.

Romney, Mr Milk Toast and Santorum, Mr. Nutjob just are not creating a lot of excitement in the GOP. Some news not getting a lot of air play is that the GOP primaries are getting something like 13% less votes that last time. That's a pretty big deal!

I've placed bets on the last 7 presidential races and I'm 6-1 so far with the only loss being Gore vs. "W" which I SHOULD have won as Gore won the popular vote by 500,000. Right now Obama is a huge 9/25 favorite (or -278 if you prefer). I got my $10 in at -100 the day after he was elected a few years ago which was a even bet (bet 100 to win 100).

OH - Wisconsin - Santorum will win in Wisconsin, every poll has Santorum winning by a lot. However, remember, Wisconsin is ranked absolutely dead last in contributing to the GOP money-wise (The Walker effect). So all 500 republican voters will vote for Santorum.

OH - latest Walker recall polls out and are somewhat surprising.

Kathleen Falk (who DJ worked for and we know her) is doing well, here are the latest candidates! I did not think she would do this well being from Madison.

Falk 48%
Walker 47%

Vineout 44% **
Walker 46%

I might vote for Walker if Vineout is running as she supports the Pharmacist conscious bill. Any politician that takes a vow to NEVER do something loses my vote.

LaFollette 45%
Walker 46%

Barrett 49%
Walker 46%

David Obey 45%
Walker 47%

Peter Barca 46%
Walker 48%

Jon Erpenbach 44%
Walker 47%

Ron Kind 46%** again - Walker might be better then Kind (corporate whore).
Walker 45%

Russ Feingold 52%
Walker 45%

---------------------------------

Voter ID. What is the big freaking deal here. I have no problem with voter ID. Seriously, you are saying a person voting does not have to have any ID except a letter with his name on it? All Americans should have an ID. When you get hit by a car it would be nice to know who you are. It's common sense. When Republicans say it's to stop voter fraud, well, who commits more voter fraud, the left or, as proven in Wisconsin the right! It seems to me that the right in Wisconsin will do ANYTHING to get their way so I believe voter ID protects the left against the right!

It's almost like the GOP is saying "protect us against ourselves".
--------------------------------

And the good news is my computer fix it guy is being charged with theft!

OK - ENOUGH!!!!

Monday, March 5, 2012

WELL - I hope people remember how I was right on THAT storm. Putting a bright side on 200 tornadoes. I wonder if it is good for the economy. All those homes have to be rebuilt and furniture and so forth. I'm just curious.

Say good bye to the winter 2012 and hello to flu season, which I was told is ramping up now.

Yea - that was it for winter, today's the last day. After today we will be in the 50s, upper 40s and then 50s again for the next ten days and by that time we will be in middle March. Sure, maybe another snow fall but one day events and rapid melting.
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Had yet another Party Pig disaster. Pigged some big ale. Had a small leak when the bladder expanded but I tightened it all up and waited for 2 hours, no leaks, all was good.

Took the pig into my office and we were good to go. Went out and when I got home . . . hmmmmm . . .smells like a brewery in here. Walked into my room . . . oh crap. 2.5 gallons of beer were all over my carpet. It's a gasket problem. I've been plagued with gasket problems lately. Pigs are great when they work as advertised and a nightmare when they don't.
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Rush Rush Rush. I wish I was an advertiser for Rush Limbaugh so I could pull my advertising. What a total ass that waste of fluid is. Here is a list of the advertisers still behind Rush.

Tax Resolution Services [TRS], Lifelock, Hillsdale College, Health/Heart and Body, Allstate Insurance, AOL, and Lear Capital The Precious Metal Leaders.

Clear Channel has taken down the page that lists all the stations that play Rush's garbage.

Let's see, OxyContin addiction, Hydrocodon addiction, Lorcet Abuse (out of rehab for the 3rd time), fired from ESPN for racially insensitive remarks and currently being investigated for money laundering by Florida State and Federal officials.  Yet the neo-cons love him!

OH - his apology to woman in general is not being accepted. So far ProFlowers, Quicken Loans, Sleep Train and Sleep Number, Citrix, Carbonite and LegalZoom have all pulled ad's. Stick it Limbaugh! What's your wife say about all this, OH yea - she is to busy pressing an aspirin between her knees as birth control.
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Went to see The Artist yesterday. I tell ya - it is a totally different movie experience, no multi-tasking. Lots of outstanding little things to watch for. Did I like it? Well, only that it was different. It was no Shutter Island (which is way way way good and not at all what I expected).  DJ loved it, I thought it was  . . nice.

Lindsay Lohan (a real actor) . . . . (sorry, I made myself laugh) was on SNL Saturday night and she was in the very first Debbie Downer skit, here is it. . . . . not sure why it's backwards but . .

http://youtu.be/Y7bf-3uL2gg




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DJ and I were mentioned on a post on facebook from Tradewinds Cottage. So I dug up all of my old shots.

Here is one from the balcony of our cottage.


Have a good good good day!

Rod

Friday, March 2, 2012

First Robin

Looking out the window this morning we spotted our first robin of the spring. FLY FLY AWAY MR. ROBIN.

Big wet heavy storm coming today. This baby is really winding up. As of 7:00 this morning the LOW is in Missouri and should track south of Chicago with out part of the woods being on the cold side of the storm. 


NOAA has been all atwitter with their excitement.  You can tell it in their text.

AND STILL LOOKS THAT EVENING RUSH WILL BE GREATLY IMPACTED WITH A QUICK TURN OVER TO ALL SNOW FROM WEST TO EAST WITH THE HEAVIEST ACCUMULATIONS IN THE LATE AFTERNOON TO EARLY EVENING. COBB SUPPORTING 1.5 TO 2 INCH PER HOUR SNOWFALL RATES AS STRONG LAYER Q-VECTOR CONVERGENCE AND FRONTOGENETIC RESPONSE PRODUCE DOUBLE DIGIT OMEGA VALUES INTERSECTING THE PRIME DENDRITE GROWTH ZONE.

YEA BABY!!!   Be very careful on drive home time today.
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Just finished watching the 8 hour mini series "Pillars of the Earth"   Excellent show.  I didn't read the book.  I'm really getting into medevil times lately with reading The Game of Thrones to this outstanding show!  

http://youtu.be/pU3bUJroGNg



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VITAMINS IN THE NEWS 

First we find out that taking supplements of FISH OIL is outstanding for not only your heart but your brain.  In fact the latest studies say fish oil contains mega doses of omega-3 fatty acids. Oddly fish do not actually produce omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 comes from what they eat, microalgae and prey fish and THEY get it from what THEY eat.

What they found is Omega-3 is outstanding for the brain and taking Fish Oil tabs will keep you from going bonkers late in life.

And now Vitamin A is in the news for skin cancer - melanoma the 7th leading cause of deaths in the U.S. I had a melanoma about 25 years ago. Sun burns are the big thing with melanoma and I had an ice cream scoop of skin (down to my muscle) taken out with Mohs Chemo surgery. I actually had Dr. Mohs in the room.

Sun burns are very very evil and should NOT be taken lightly. They will get you sooner or later.
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Oh man - what a day - The Cardinal couple just showed up at the feeder. Have not seen him for a while. Cardinals, Robins, Chickadees, Pheasents.

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Watching Downton Abby and now just started watching Mad Men. I love NETFLIX. I hate staring to watch a show and then finding out it was canceled after 9 episodes. Like buying software, I like to stay a few years behind. . . . . except my WIN7 64 bit computer sucks. I can't play the good games like Railroad Tycoon or the original SIM CITY.
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Mitt Mitt Mitt - Where do you get those jeans.  MOM jeans.  Dude, if you are going to be "one of us" get some jeans that ride a little lower then your nipples!!  Can you actually buy mom jeans?  I mean look at these.

That is a good 2 feet from crotch to the top of the jeans . . HEY - STOP LOOKING AT MITTS CROTCH!! 

I mean seriously - if you put Mitt in better jeans it changes everything.


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Hydro Street Brewing now has 8 taps of brew on tap (sounds redundant).

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People often complain that art is expensive. The thing with art is that people don't see how much all the swing and misses cost. The art that does not sell. I bring this up because I received my 7 new pieces for Hydro Street and all are way way too dark and red. Since red and yellow make brown it SEEMS printers are very delicate when it comes to printing images that have a lot of brown in them. The curse of digital. DO OVER. $200+ in my art budget just got tossed!! OUCH!! The hidden cost of artwork.
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I don't know why but looking through some folders I found this image. I'm feeling guilty because I have not used my camera much recently.  Just not motivated with the grayness of the world. 


Have a fine weekend.  Hopefully I'll have more to say NEXT week!

rod