GET BACK TO WORK!

Now that everyone is back at work people can read the blog.  shhhhhhhhh! 

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Weather - looking better  (as I see it's -23 at 9:00AM)  We COULD hit 50 on Monday.  I would not count on it as I think the snow will just be too much for the sun to overwhelm.  That whiteness just absorbs too much energy.  So my gut feeling is temps will not be as HIGH as many think.  

40/45/48 on Saturday, Sunday, Monday with clouds and showers.  Then back to regular February cold cold for the rest of next week.  

Columbus has now been less then 1 degree since 7AM Tuesday.  We did get to 0.6 for 3 hours Tuesday afternoon so can't say below zero.   LOOKS like Friday about 10AM we should hit zero again and THEN . . . up up up and we won't be BELOW freezing until Monday night.

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Foxconn is making not only national but international news as it was on the BBC and how Wisconsin was duuped like the three other places Foxconn wanted to build.  Foxconn promises the world, gets what they need and then scales back.  

You wonder how the elderly get conned into giving away money?  When politicians get conned can they blame being senile?   OH - of course they are blaming Evers on this.   A simple bait and switch scam the GOP of Wisconsin fell for.  Even when half of Wisconsin was screaming IT'S A BAIT AND SWITCH SCAM!   

Speaking of "early voting".  NOPE - it DOES NOT HELP voter turnout nationally as many believe.

At least if you believe in science.  OH - it certainly makes it easier for sure.  But it does not help turnout.  So GOP voter suppression took a hit.  All that work to shorten the voting process and it does not suppress turnout like they thought.  All the other things they have done DOES suppress turnout.   

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Happening today -  Illinois law allowing patients to substitute medical cannabis for opioids takes effect 1/31/19.

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So I'm playing a round in my virtual league in The Golf Club 19.   Kind of a crappy course I will never play again.   I see only 50 rounds have been played on the course so it's rather new and untested or ranked.  There are some MAGNIFICENT course out there.  This is not one of them.

ANYWAY  - I hit the green and have this putt to content with.    It did not end well.

I am the the poster child of mediocrity on tour (different then league).  Not good enough to get a promotion badge (you need 5) and not bad enough to get a demotion point.  I'm filler.     

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Gus has been a very good dog. He RUNS outside.  Looks desperately for a place to pee,  pees and RUNS back inside.   Pooping is a little more problematic as he likes to be on TOP of the snow. So he runs down the sidewalk looking for a drift and poops and RUNS back. 

He;s not a fan of this weather at all. 

 OOPS - gotta run.   Thats all for now

Welcome to my new obsession

Knowledge is never wasted - only misused 

                                                                            --Rod Melotte

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Not sure what the catalysis was for this one but coffee is on my radar.   All my life I have had coffee, good coffee, bad coffee, indifferent coffee. It never really mattered that much what it was.  Some good, some bad but I never actually THOUGHT about coffee and what makes it tick. 

Here is the weird thing - I get zero JOLT out of coffee.  I cannot ever remember getting a coffee buzz.  Caffeine for me is non-existent.  I can drink 4 cups and not feel any extra energy at all and go take a nap.  I WISH I could. 

On a 500 mile bike ride few decades ago I was with some people and they were drinking coffee in teh morning and one asked if I liked coffee.  Of course but going a week without coffee?  I never thought it was a weird thing.  It's like going a week a without a Coke.  No big deal.  

I just like the taste. 

So ANYWAY, flash forward to today.   

OH  SORRY - I do know the catalysis.  A friend posted a note saying JBC Roaster in Madison was ranked by Forbes as one of the top 10 roasters in America.  THUS - I had to try it. 

I went to Jennifer Street Market and purchased a 12oz bag of Tano Batak Sumatra - having ZERO clue what it was.    

OF COURSE Sumatra is one of the oddest areas in the world for growing coffee.  Odd techniques and a flavor which I'm told people HATE or LOVE. It's a special coffee (who knew). 

Most coffee farms in Sumatra are small with 100 coffee trees and then it goes to a co-op.  Sumatran coffee is processed by "wet-hulling'.

Typically the coffee seeds are dried to 11% moisture before being processed. They are laid out and sun dried.  But in Sumatra you only get 4 hours a day of sunlight and the rest of the time it's raining so they go to a 50% moisture instead and then the seeds are taken to a machine that uses friction to complete the process. This ferments the beans/seeds creating that earthy, wild mushroom , peat/mossy flavor. 

 Most Sumatra is roasted dark like a french roast.  I purchased some French Roast coffee from Ankora(sp?).  The roast date was 6 months ago which I now learn is 4 months too old (I'm told).

OH - JBC Roasters buy from small farms and give a higher price to the farmers then the so called

"Fair Trade" coffee which gives each farmer an extra nickle per pound.  

ANYWAY - Tano Batak is an interesting area.

In their culture the woman are in charge.  Woman own all the farms, they do all the harvesting, all the processing.  When they go to market the "Pajuar" who collect all the beans are also woman.   

Men do all the drying and hulling. "This is truly a socially responsible area that affords empowerment to women".

I need to find more Sumatran just to compare to this one. 

And then there is Kopi Luwak.  One of the most expensive coffees in the world that comes from Sumatra.

To get beans for this coffee farmers look for  palm civet cats.  These cats eat the fruit and poop out the seeds.  The farmers gather the poop, get the seeds and bingo.  Kopi Luwak.

While inside the cat the seeds are protected and continue to ferment.

The acid inside the cats stomach and the wet-hulling process  create a earthy tones of mushrooms and tomato (I'm told).

Good wild Kopi Luwak is about $160 a pound.


Sumatran coffee is different then most coffee you have tasted.

Let the adventure begin LOL

I bet many of you guys have smelled JBC Roasters.  They are right at the exit to the belt line from southbound I94 into Madison.   DJ and I are taking a JBC Brewing 101 class February 22.   $35 BUT - you get a bag of coffee worth $16.

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WEATHER - everybody knows about the coming record breaking cold but after Friday we have 3 days of reprieve.  Saturday the high will be 37 Sunday 35 Monday 33 and then back to the middle teens.   Some rain and wintry mix of course those 3 days.

BE CAREFUL with your dogs!!!! 

OH  Columbus  5.9 inches of snow. 

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So far - every dire prediction about cannabis has been false.   In Colorado teens are not smoking more pot.  There is no evidence that states with legal cannabis have more accidents.  In fact there is evidence that drunken driving is down.

17 States have bills going through their government to legalize cannabis       

        

***********************

WELL - the government shutdown gave us one lesson to remember.  We now know what the canary is for the American economy.  It's the TSA employees and airlines.

Once those to things get effected all of a sudden everything changes.  Government OPEN.

We also learned Trump is a very very bad poker player.

He continues to misread his hand.  He is like a poker player that holds Ace / King and THINKS he has a good hand.  Ace King is the hand you can lose the most on because you overplay it.  It LOOKS good and all is well until you are too deep and there is no way to dump the hand, TOO LATE.

People complain about bad beats but normally it's because you played the hand too long.   I would say I'm a pretty good poker player putting a down payment on our house,  island vacations and road trips across America and the way to win at poker is NOT to lose.

Winning is easy - NOT losing is the hard part.  Trump plays his hands too long and gets stuck.  He holds pocket jacks (the glass hammer) and thinks it's a good hand but does not fold when a "ace called Nancy" hits the board.   

*********************

 Nuff Said -

have a wonderful day and stay tuned to your dogs needs.  His paws and nose are not ready for -20 degrees 

Weather / Columbus alderman FUBR

Gus the Weather Dog was wrong but not as wrong as all of the talking heads on TV who only want to make you tune in to their forecasts.  Everything "I" was reading and the maps and charts were saying 7-8 inches and 6 originally.  But the 12s? where were they seeing THAT, what were THEY smoking!

The freezing rain took a few inches away and even that was in the original forecasts and not taken into account.  Wisconsin was very dry so we had 3 hours of snow evaporating before it hit the ground 

The good news is that freezing rain ( it was warmer ABOVE this cold layer)  will keep the drifting down later today. 

The high Tuesday will be about -1 but that will be a midnight tonight.  Still looking at records Wednesday but rain/showers on Saturday as we get close to 40 (maybe 38ish?)          

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Went to see Green Book and HIGHLY recommended  A feel good happy tears movie that reaffirms we should have let the south secede when we had a chance.  It's a longer movie that never feels long and you are disappointed when it's over.

and it's a true story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZxoko_HC0


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I want to congratulate by friend Rich the Ref Fronheiser  for being chosen to be one of the umps for next years Little League World Series in PA.  way to go!!!  Making Columbus proud.

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I'm going to repost this from Facebook which was on a Columbus Chatter page.

++++++++++

I just went off on someone for being negative about Columbus. The CONSTANT negative views about this town finally got to me.

I cannot see WHY people are so down and think Columbus is a sinking hole. Is it the mammoth amount of new business that has happened in the last few years with high paying jobs? The tens of millions of dollars in business expansions happening in Columbus? The record breaking amount of new homes being built? The infrastructure that keeps getting better and better?  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What is the problem? You would THINK if this was such a horrible community we would be LOSING residents as opposed to building homes that sell almost immediately. You would think that nation wide companies would not be moving to Columbus.

I'm sorry but GEEZ - do they teach negativity in Columbus schools? Are we a city of complainers?

This is a GREAT community and I am 100% happy I moved here 12 years ago when it WAS a dark dark place.

This town has progressed so much in 12 years it's CRAZY.

Let's lighten up and not be Debbie Downer Columbus resident.

+++

 I'm glad this got a lot of positive posts after I put it out there.  It seems people forget to open their eyes and enjoy what they have. The grass is always greener in the next town over it seems.

Everybody complains about the downtown but then when there are TWO alderman seats available in the downtown area . . . nobody wants to run or even be appointed.  Everybody cares until it comes to actually working at it. 

People wonder why Columbus SEEMS to be lagging. Maybe this is the reason. In Kewaunee, a town HALF the size of Columbus has 8 alderman and zero issue on fill those seats.  In Columbus we have 6 seats and are having trouble filling 3 of them.  Yet people complain that the government does nothing as they sit on their couches watching TV.

*******************

  OK - I gotta blow some snow before the trash guys come.  Stay warm 

Nightmare cold coming.

Fuckety fuck fuck when did this happen  . . .65 years old? Seriously?  What is amazing is I feel exactly like I did when I was 20 . . at least my brain part.  Body is fine.  Knee healed overnight and I believe I broke my toe (stress fracture)  which has not healed but when I put it in a sling I could not only not walk OR comb my hair  . . not a problem as I have not combed my hair since . . . . . the late 70s so . . . . . I'm good there.

When I was High School I wore a beanie like Michael Nesbitt of The Monkees.  He was cool and in a rock band and I felt I was cool and in a rock band (Wonderhorse).  Everybody kept telling me my hair could not breath and it would fall out prematurely.

BUT  NOOOOOOO -  65 and a head of hair that has not seen a comb for 40 years.  This could have been the last time a comb touched my hair - - it could still be in there.  I have not looked for it.

1972 - I was best man and that was my cool van.  I was stylin.

Yea - this was 1973

I guess I needed a job in IT which at the time was not the look employers wanted 

And then my prison photo  KIDDING 

And then  I grew up and became an alderman 

******************

But enough about me!

what about the nightmare weather coming.  We are looking at 105 straight hours below 0 next week starting about midnight Monday/Tuesday and lasting to next Saturday morning. Wednesday and Thursday mornings wind chills will be near -40

Daytime wind chills will be in -28 range during daylight hours Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays

Did I mention a big snow storm Sunday Night into Monday?  Amounts could be greater the 8 inches with a LOT of drifting with strong winds. There is still plenty of model differences on the track but STAY TUNED

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Had another meeting with Michael Simon builders (No relation to Don Simon builders  THANK GOD) on our new deck which will begin in a week or so . . . probably after NEXT week.   I have no idea how they will do it as they need to put in new footings in the ground.

The plan is something like this but not exactly.  Different railings.

We did not want to spend a lot on the house until we knew what we wanted.  Why have a nice deck if we never used it.  So many people have decks and we never ever see people on them.

Well, we use our decks a lot.  There is one corner facing south that in winter and spring is 20+ degrees above the ambient outdoor temp.   Last February was 20 degrees outside but that corner it was near 45.

Of course in summer it was near 100 so . . . . . a screened in deck with shade.  We put up a canopy for a week to see what we thought of having that area covered.  Worked out fine.

I just noticed that photo there is a speaker and lights in the ceiling. Not going to have that.  One thing we relearned.  Every "option" costs either $3000 or $10,000.  GULP!

My advice when building or buying a house.  Get what you need  and hold off for a decade to see what you really WANT!  Save that extra money for later and then use it smartly.

SADLY - one thing we wanted was trim on the back windows.  That was an option but then they asked how old the siding was.  About 12 years and they said WELL, it's now brittle and they MIGHT have to replace ALL the siding two put trim around the windows as it would break.  Or not.

I guess there is more to trim then I thought.

*********************

Baseball season is nearing - I ordered my stuff.  The stadium draft is next week but I'm keeping the 2016 version of San Diego which ODDLY is one of the better HR parks in our league.

Miller Park . . .oops  AmFam Field (or whatever) is still a homer paradise for left handed hitters but the number of hits has been reduced.  So lower batting average in the park but lots of HRs.

The real rookie draft begins in 4 weeks and the Free agent Draft mid February.

******************

A poll of Wisconsin voters found that they support legalizing marijuana, 59%-35%

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said that "the train has already left the station" on marijuana legalization and that he expects federal reform under President Trump.

We shall see.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said he thinks lawmakers should legalize marijuana this year.

New Mexico representatives filed a marijuana legalization bill.

West Virginia delegates introduced a marijuana legalization bill.

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KEEP WARM 

     

Winter storm is bigger then expected

Not a big blog today but a weather update as this storm is slowing down and ramping up.

Officially 6-11 inches in the Columbus area.  My original though was going to be in the 4 inch range because there MIGHT be some freezing rain about midnight and the storm finishing about 9 Wednesday .

Take the freezing rain out of the equation and slow things down  and this is now a 24 hour snow dump with at LEAST 7 inches if not more and this will not be the light fluffy stuff.

******************

City Council listening session tonight . . . .  if anybody shows up.

*********************

I was an American Indian once (before DNA testing said I was not) so this whole thing with the MAGA students and the American Indian has me intrigued. 

If you watch the WHOLE video and NOT the one FOX is showing as it 'as some of the audio has been edited.  There are a few questions.

1. Why are hundred of kids with MEGA hats attending a woman's rights march in the first place. 
2. if you watch the whole video at the 1:10 mark why are the kids chanting Zieg Heil?
3. why would the kids be dancing mile monkeys in front of the FIVE black protesters . . FIVE!
4. There were a thousand woman marching, 5 black protesters and a few America Indians yet, they say there were protecting the American Indians? .

Why were they there? All wearing MEGA hats (the new sign of racism)

Meanwhile Trumps approval ratings are now at a 1 year low.  Not that he cares about America - only his base. 

*******************

My new Coffee Grounds page is up and active on Facebook.  OF COURSE a coffee page would be active.   My page EVERYTHING BEIGE never took off.

********************

Our young Coopers Hawk in real life.

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It seems my NBA system has hit a "Period of Unpredictability" and for 2 weeks I have been breaking even.  NOT losing but not winning.   In the last 2 days I have lost 3 TOTALS by a total of 5 points.

ONE more basket in 3 games and I would be 3-0.  BUT NOOOOO!!!  Hitting 58% in 124 games.

*****************

CBS is refusing to air a proposed Super Bowl ad on medical cannabis from Acreage Holdings.
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Seems North Korea has 20 (TWENTY) undisclosed missile sights and are adding more
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There is a sports book that is giving back money to people who bet on New Orleans.  I wish they would give back the $10 I had on Clinton winning the election.
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Have a good shoveling - probably no blog tomorrow

Cheers
 

Records were broken Saturday.

Meanwhile - in Columbus we went 345 days, from February 8, 2018 to January 19, 2019 without going below 10 degrees.  At 6am Saturday morning Columbus dropped to 9.8 degrees.  This is the longest in recorded history ( back to the 1850s) that that amount of days above 10 has gone this long.

**************

Meanwhile - I hurt my knee sleeping.  No really  LOL

I don't mind getting old since you really don't get old. Your brain is still young and foolish but parts of you do get old.  It seems when you get to be 64 every day is a new completely random pain that comes and goes.  AND I feel I'm in fine health. . . mostly.

My knees have always been loose which is why I work out. I've had 3 knee operations from sports.  The muscles are just loose around my knees and when I sleep JUST RIGHT I sort of dislocate  my left knee a LITTLE. 

Well last night I rolled over and OMG my knee went PING!!!  It hurt so much so was feeling sick.

So it's be careful day and hope it gets better.  OH and my big toe has a pinched nerve.  FEELIN GOOD OTHERWISE!

****************

Watching the game yesterday  DJ says "is that a hawk on the deck"?  I looked YUP, a young Coopers Hawk.  So I RUN upstairs to get me camera and am clicking away before he/she flies off.

This was 3 minutes into the first game.  Halftime was just getting over when he finally flew off.  I guess I didn't have to hurry.

BTW - won $10 on New England.  I mean come on The Pats are 21-11 ATS as dogs under Belichick with Brady and 85-52 ATS as an away team. 

******************

So Trump started to wheel and deal.  sadly.

Offering something temporary in exchange for something permanent isn't a proposal, it's a Con.

Offering to give something back that you took away isn't a proposal, it's blackmail.

Using humans as bargaining chips isn't strategy - its extortion.

***********************

MEANWHILE - there was a blood hound that was let out to go pee.  Problem was there was a half marathon happening in the street, the Elkmont Trackless Train Half Marathon in Canada.  He runs across the start line and joins in. 

Along the way he stops to smell a dead animal and goes off track to play with some cows but always coming back to join the heard of humans running somewhere.

He came in 7th!

Dog Accidentally Runs Half-Marathon After Being Let Out For Pee, Finishes 7th

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WELL - another very complex storm is heading our way.  A lot of moisture flowing north from the Gulf.  A warm from in the vicinity and a storm that is just starting to spin.  

Looking like 4 inches of wetter snow, MAYBE MORE.  The issue is that during the height of this storm it will also the warmest and there COULD be freezing rain and then back to snow.

The real story is what happens after the storm. 

Highs on Friday will be in the -2 or colder range and Saturday 3.  Then a couple warm days near 10 and then back down with lows near -10 and highs near 4.

**************************   

26 days until Pitchers and Catcher report / Here comes winter.

WEATHER - as storm #4 scoots beneath Wisconsin it is creeping a little further (farther?) north then expected and Columbus will get 3-5 inches with more south.

Should start about 3:00 this afternoon and end sometime around sunrise.  Might even turn sunny late Saturday and into Sunday which will have a high of 12ish.  Then Tuesday we're looking at another 3-5 inches which will go from drive time Tuesday morning to drive time Tuesday night.

High temps will be hovering between 15 to 20 for the next 10 days.   THANK YOU DECEMBER for doing this to us.  December was so warm that it push a wobble into the polar vortex which is now wobbling into our area.   

The Kansas City Chiefs football game will be played in temps about 25 degrees below average.

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Baseball 

Bill James 2019 book is out and he explains why MLB is suffering a small decline in attendance and it mirrors what I have said but MUCH more succinctly.  

If you are on ANY baseball forums there is a lot of complaining about how analytics are ruining the game and people are no longer watching.  WRONG!  

In a nutshell - baseball attendance is in a decline because there is nothing exciting happening.  LIKE ALL SPORTS.  There is no Tiger Woods to get fans excited,  No Wayne Gretzky, no Babe Ruth or massive rule changes of new stadiums.

Attendance in baseball was pretty constant until 1920 when Babe Ruth came onto the scene.  BAM  attendance spiked and then after a few years evened out and slumped.   Then in 1945 attendance spiked again because of night baseball and integration.

Then teams started to move around. The Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee and attendance went from 280,000 to 1.8 million. The St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore BAM attendance went from 297,000 to more then a million.  The Giants moved to San Francisco and attendance doubled.

It was good for baseball.  Then in the 1970s the DH rule happened and BAM attendance rocketed and stabilized.

In the 1990s a whole slew of new ballparks opened BAM . . attendance.  And now - nothing really new is happening and thus attendance is stagnant.

 Some people argue it's because of too many strikeouts - well . . . last year was sort of different.

The number of K's in a game has been increasing for over 100 years at a pretty constant rate.  HOWEVER - for the first time in a decade something happened last year.

BEFORE last year - if you took the top 10 teams with total strike outs batting AND hitting. Those teams were pretty much the 10 best teams.  Take the 10 teams with the LEAST among of K's and those were the bottom teams.  Seems opposite doesn't it.

The reason is that statistically the good pitchers strike out the most batters and the good batters are the ones that strike out the most.  Home runs and strikeouts go hand in hand and we are in a age of home runs.

LAST YEAR - it reversed for the first time.  Has MLB reached the critical mass? Stay tuned.

Then there is shifting.  It works.

Moving on with a few tidbits.

Lorenzo Cain was the #1 BEST defensive CF in the league last year and in fact the Brewers were the #2 best defensive team in MLB in 2018 and a LOT better then the 3rd place team.  Arizona was the #1.

Cain was the best OF at going back on a ball over his head.  Lead all of MLB on balls hit deep and saved 20 runs, teh most of all CF'ers.

One thing that might be fading in analytics is "launch angle" which is a fun thing but as MLB players have found out . . . not a viable thing to worry about.

YES - hitting the ball on the ground REALLY slows down a ball but IT SEEMS hitting a 95 mph baseball is REALLY hard and trying to adjust a launch angle is leading to more strike outs and NOT helping batting average or home runs.

Yelich proved this last year.  His launch angle did not change at all BUT he hit a lot more line drives and Home runs. Its not how high you hit the ball it's ow hard.  Exit velocity is the key. 

Then there is bull penning.  Again this is nothing new to baseball and for 140 years the tendency for starting pitching is to pitch less and less innings.  100 years ago teams had ONE starting pitcher and he would pitch the whole game, then teams got more starting pitchers and then they added a reliever and it goes on and on until we have Tampa Bay bull penning with nothing but relievers.

It won't happen in the rest of the league as there are way to many problems doing this.  The only time MOST teams will try this is if they HAVE too! (Brewers).  Most teams just don't have a roster where you have so many good relievers.

You can't bullpen if you only have 3 viable middle relievers.

And for balderdash - The Hall of Fame. 

The best three players NOT in the HoF?

#1 Bill Duhlen
#2 Lou Whitaker
#3 Ted Simmons - really?

Looking at current players that will likely make it to the HoF

Mike Trout (age 26)
Clayton Kershaw (30)
Max Scherzer (33)
Ryan Braun - CLOSE but no cigar (34)       
Miguel Cabrera (35)
Albert Pujols (38)
Adrian Beltre (39)
Ichiro Suzuki (44)

The WORST Hall of Famer - Tommy McCarthy

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Couple news pieces on cannabis -

US Virgin Islands are now a medical cannabis area as of yesterday.

Connecticut is moving a bill to legalize cannabis with 25% of The House co-signing the bill.

Hawaii is considering legalizing and will be a priority in the budget.

Portugal is looking into legalizing

Cory Booker (D-NJ) - MY candidate for the 2020 election tweeted

 "I support adult & medical use. But that's not enough! The failed drug war unfairly targeted the poor, veterans, brown people. It's now not enough to just make it legal. We must have expungement. We must invest tax proceeds back into those communities targeted by the drug war."  

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) appeared at a press conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and praised his moves to allow patients to smoke medical cannabis.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) released her budget proposal, which includes her marijuana legalization plan.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said he wants lawmakers to hold hearings on marijuana legalization this year.

New Hampshire lawmakers filed a marijuana legalization bill.

There are a total of 14 cannabis bills in the works for next week.

and in Ohio - the first day of medical cannabis, $75,000 in cannabis was sold

Nuff said

Brexit / Evers and cannabis

Tony Evers yesterday, when addressing the Wisconsin Technology Council, said that the Wisconsin budget will contain the first steps in legalizing medical cannabis and looking farther ahead his administration will take more steps in full recreational legalization.

He said it's not IF Wisconsin will become a full legal state but when.  The PROBLEM is that he does not want Wisconsin to mirror what Colorado or Washington is doing. 

In Colorado the state is making out like a bandit while the people and companies that are in the industry are not making any money at all.  Budtenders make minimum wage and would be better off working at McDonalds and the hundreds of small companies are going broke with zero profits.

In Washington there were hundreds of small companies that were all gobbled up by large corporations. 

Of course Scott Fitzgerald is totally against ANY cannabis talk. Alcohol is the king.       

Meanwhile on The Hill, William Barr sent MY cannabis stock down 3% in 10 minutes when he said he would be all for making ALL cannabis illegal but then said he would not go after companies in side "state laws".

************************* 

Brexit - what the hell is it and why do we care. 

If you think Americas government is in chaos it ain't nothing compared to the UK. They WISH they had our problems. 

Brexit - is short for Britain Exit.   In a simplified explanation.   The European Union (EU) is like the United States (US) .  After WWII all if the European Countries banded together to help each other after wartime. They formed the European Union that contained all the other countries. 

The EU is like the US with countries instead of States.   In 2016 there was a referendum and with a 71% turnout England and Wales voted to leave the EU with a 52% vote. 

Just like America many voters did not take the voting seriously and many voted out of anger not believing Brexit would actually WIN (sound familiar?). 

WELL! Wales and England voted to leave and now the two countries, by law, have to leave and this is a huge problem. 

This is like the East Coast saying, we are forming our own country with our own laws and the rest of America needs to make their own National Government.  And you have until March.  READY GO!

So now we will need a passport to get to New York with all the boarder crossings and we will have to make trade deals with Ohio we have never had to do before and all sorts of tiny logistic issues.

Yesterday Theresa May's government tried to pass legislation that would keep the current trade deals in tack until everything was figured out.  The EU said "that's fine we support you"  BUT, the Parliament said NO very very loudly!   In fact it was the biggest NO  against a Prime Minister since 1920.

What happens now?  Nobody knows except come March 29th all trade with all other countries will come to a screeching halt. 

Theresa May got to be the PM with one purpose, Make Brexit happen.  She won the vote and now people are saying WAIT! - we didn't think she would actually win and we DON'T WANT THIS. 

People seem to not take voting seriously and look what happens. In America we don't have a government because of a fake emergency and in Britain they will not have any trade with other countries. 

********************

FAIL! 

 I actually think I have that shirt!

********************   

Stole this from Kimmel last night -

this is what Sandra Bullock see's when she takes off her blindfold in Bird Box 

  
mmmmmmmmmm - there is NOTHING better then cold fast food. 

I do love what Burger King tweeted.

due to a large order placed yesterday, we're all out of hamberders.
just serving hamburgers today.

— Burger King (@BurgerKing) January 15, 2019

********************************

Speaking of Columbus - I LOVE that somebody wants to make downtown business shovel their sidewalks a LITTLE more quickly.  Last year one business did not shovel for 2 days which I believe is more then the 24 hours that they have.   

The 12 hour limit is great. I am 100% PRO a 12 hour time limit. 

Then there are the banners which are being talked about.  One estimate is that they will cost $8000 BUT they could go with a cheaper less durable banner.  STOP  JUST STOP!!  Don't go cheap.  Good lord that would be stupid.  Unless you can replace them every couple years with new ones that look clean again and still save money.

Look how dirty our flags get over just one summer. Who will wash the banners?  I suppose DPW.  Durable banners will need to be cleaned if not replaced. Make sure they are cleanable with ease.

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Exciting day in our house as a truck load of contractors will come by for a look at our deck augmentation/reconstruction.  Everybody that will work on it will be here discussing  . . .things.

We have learned so much about contractors in the last year.  So many little things that can be missed in a job that we WISH we would have known at the time . . . .  such as installing a toilette when the sewer pipe is slanted THE WRONG DIRECTION.  Of course we could rip up the floor and jack hammer 14 feet of cement but . . . . or wishing an outlet was closer to a table or more powerful so we would not blow a fuse plugging in a light!  . . it seems two 250 watt sub-woofers use a lot of juice LOL

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I have a $100 bet with a former boss / Trump lover.  I bet him Trump will see jail time before Obama does.  He took me up on it because Obama lies as much as Trump does.  The old "both parties are the same" argument. 

I think not.

    

*********************

Weather - the weekend is coming more and more into focus with three potential snow events one being BIG on the horizon.

1-3 inches of snow starting 8ish Friday night lasting 8 hours.  then cold Saturday with a high almost 20 and a high Sunday about 10. Starting Monday look for more snow of 1-3 inches and little snow events all with with a big one NEXT Thursday.

Watch Washington State starting Monday as a storm enters America, moves south like all the other storms but this one might be in our wheel house for a large event of 5-8 inches  - OR - it could stay south. 

In either case there is a large mass of super cooled air heading our way after THAT storm. 

this is the projected map for 10 days from now.  Red = bad  Yellow = worse

Winter is Coming

Lot's of cannabis news yesterday.  First Chuck Schumar announced a big deal in New York State as they licensed Canopy Growth (that company I said you should invest in) to be the main hemp grower in the State.  ZOOOMMM   Canopy Growth rocketed up 11% yesterday. 

Then the Governor of Illinois, in his inauguration addressed, promised to make Illinois a recreational cannabis state ASAP creating 24,000 jobs and $300,000,000 a year that would go for schools, infrastructure and protection.

Meanwhile the backwards GOP in Wisconsin refuse to look into Medical cannabis.

Ron Johnson voted AGAINST
Allowing Cannabis Businesses To Use Banks
Allowing VA Doctors To Recommend Medical Cannabis
Ending Cannabis Prohibition At Federal Level

***********************

I made a trade in my Strat-o-matic league and now have one of the best fielding 2B in the majors with Ian Kinsler.  SADLY - he hits against left handed pitching almost like a pitcher.

Well not really.  But it seems like it. 

So I was looking at line ups and was wondering how many plate appearances each of the 9 spots in the batting order get.  The idea of a perfect order is rather old school.   Old school thinking was  have a fast guy leading off and the 2nd guy left handed to stay away from double plays, the BEST hitter 3rd and the power hitter forth   yada yada yada . . . old school.

With the help if science technology  we now know that you want the best hitters to get the most at bats.  Period.  I really does not matter that much who is around each batter. Well, simulations show that a PERFECT batting order will net you maybe 2 or 3 runs a year.  The one thing that DOES matter is you don't want righties and lefties all bunched together.

SO it seems every spot in the order gets 14% more plate appearances then the one after it.

Leadoff will get about 764 plate appearances and the #2 hitter will get 740 and so forth.

Kinsler has an OPS of .460  against left handed pitching which is HORRIBLE.  Yet compared to a  second baseman like Shaw on the Brewers he would save almost 50 hits  a year going through his area.

That's a LOT.

************************* 
  
The World Cup will be in Qatar . . . .count me out.  If you get a license to buy beer in Qatar there is ONE store and a case of Heinie's is $92. 

*****

Hoodie SZN hit the top spot in Billboard Album sales last week by selling a whopping 823 albums. 

*****

Why would an innocent person need to hire 17 lawyers.  I think Kelly Crombie is living in the wrong town, you need to move to Washington. 

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Nexus. 

many moons ago I read Batman The Dark Night Returns 

I literally can remember exactly where I was in 1986 when I read it and I remember getting chills and saying OMG - they can't do that in a comic.   It was so . . . ADULT. 

I started to look into "comic" books more seriously.  In Madison there was Capitol Comics who created a character called Nexus and since I worked next to a comic book shop on The Wash in Madison I could browse titles.

Nexus was JUST starting to be color and he was sort of like The Punisher, a killer of mass murderers around the galaxy.

ANYWAY - I started to reread some of the old ones and ordered back issues because it is so much better then a lot (not all) of rehashed computer generated art coming out today.  These were hand painted by Steve Rude.  Sadly - they went to Hollywood when a Nexus movie was being talked about but never happened. 

SO, here is the thing.  DJ and I have so many "like" experiences in our lives, like a Kennedy/Lincoln thing going on. 

For instance.  we both grew up next to slaughter houses and railroads (I LOVE hearing teh trains at night in Columbus).  Her dad was rescued by the same PBY my dad flew to rescue survivors.   I'm 7 years older then DJ who is 7 years younger then her brother.  I'm 7 years younger then my brother and my dad was 7 years older then my mom and so on. 

There is a list of maybe 30 "like" things and now a new odd one I found out last night.  DJ's x-husband also liked Nexus and collected them . . well . . .he collects ALL comics . . to the tune of 3 storage lockers actually.  I'm guessing over $100,000+ in collectibles on a conservative side . . .if there is a market.  All in MINT condition.

So DJ married a comic book geek, and then without knowing it married ANOTHER one (but only a small hobbiest . . not a collector).  OH I do have the first appearance of The Punisher   

       *********************

There was a woman on Facebook complaining about the high taxes in Columbus and she compared Columbus taxes to what she paid in Germantown . . . COME ON . . . comparing a town of 20,000 with an AVERAGE home price of $250,000 to Columbus and our 5000 population and average home price of $150,000?  Really?

She said well, when she moved there the town was 8000 and now it's 20,000. Really? is that what you want when you move to a small town?  to make it BIG?   NOT ME! 

I am all for slow, steady, sustained, smart growth.  Not like Sun Prairie.  Ever try to drive through Sun Prairie at rush hour?   People want that?  I don't. 

**************

Weather - I still say the talking heads on TV are not reporting just how cold it will be this weekend.

I'm looking at 17 on Saturday and a high of 12 on Sunday.   1-3 inches Friday night to Saturday morning as yet another big storm Zooms past south of Wisconsin.   LOOK OUT in a couple weeks.  Looks like a large C C C COLD air mass is heading our way for the last week of January. Could be brutal with no snow on the ground.  Hide your water pipes. 

Winter is Coming 

Wall Bonds / Glenn Grothman the deplorable

SO - what happened over the weekend.  Lets see.  I defended Columbus Water and Light from people saying they are gouging customers.  One person said their bill is over $200 a month in water. 

Well . . . . perhaps the issues is not how much the water costs but HOW MUCH WATER THEY USE!    I'm pretty sure if CWL lowered the rates and they only payed $175 a month they would STILL complain.

I tried to explain that you pay for what you get.  If you want low low rates move someplace where if there is a large fire the rest of the town can't drink water because of low pressure.  Columbus has built in redundancy and can handle two large fires AND still have water pressure.   Columbus is a Six Sigma -like community when it comes to water.

and of course one person said she called DPW to complain about the water and DPW said there is lead in the water.  What?  She said DPW had an article in the paper about the lead issue in Columbus.  WHAT?

Luckily a DPW person posted the article which had actual facts and not what she believe facts.

And this morning I had to explain to a person that NO - Columbus politicians did not vote down a new school a few years ago.

I think social media is showing just how out of touch with reality people are when it comes to actual knowledge and facts.

******************

WEATHER - I STILL don't see any long term COLD. Yes we have some pretty cold weather coming next weekend and next Friday night we will FINALLY drop below 10 degrees for the first time in ALMOST a year.  Here is a forecast map for Friday.

Notice it is just a break off of a bunch of cold air - not the main event. This shows surface temps and that big blob north of us just spins like a top but does not come down our way.  I'm looking at 4 days of pretty cold weather but then back to normal.

Look for highs next weekend to be in the 15 degree area and lows about 2.  OK weather up to Thursday.
  
No REAL storms here but THREE BIG storms hitting south of us, south of ILL.

********************

The government is STILL closed and people cannot buy houses using federal loans, brewers cannot put out new beer, the US Patent Office is closed so no one can patent new inventions and fed workers are going to food pantries to find food for their families.

MEANWHILE - there was a vote to pay federal employees for the #TrumpShutDown.  411 votes said we should pay employees for being basically laid off.  7 voted to NOT pay them.

One of those 7 is Glenn Grothman the deplorable who believes if you don't work you should not get paid EVEN if it is his fault.  Instead if you need money have a yard sale.  Sell your stuff.

And Trump?   If it is a National Emergency CALL A NATIONAL EMERGENCY.  It is or it isn't, right?  Either he is too weak to do it or it's not a National Emergency.

Here is something he COULD do but him being the smartest guy ever to be President I'm sure he has thought of it.

Sell Wall Bonds.  Like War Bonds.  People that want to wall can purchase a low interest Wall Bond to fund his useless not needed wall for a fake made up emergency and they can make money from interest.  Win win for them. .  Heck Mayors on the border were asked about the crime waves.

NOPE - they said they are the safest communities around - no wall needed.

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I have to share this - I'm sorry - I'm a Nightwish fan boy it seems and there are a lot of these videos on youtube of people listening to Nightwish for the very first time.  This is from a Canadian couple who have zero idea who Nightwish is and how amazing their performance is OR how freakishly amazing Floor Jensens vocals are.

This was literally their first BIG concert with Floor who had been with the band for 2 weeks.  The last vocalist quit mid tour and they called her and said can you learn a 22 song set in 24 hours.  So she flew 2000 miles and met them.

But the couple is funny.  Not sure when the girlfriends purpose is but she is entertaining also LOL  So many people have the same reactions on the finale'  VERY goose bumpy.

My BUCKET LIST CONCERT!  They fill up stadiums in Europe with ease.

https://youtu.be/D9JopAGy8aE



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51,000 TSA employees have called in sick.  So weird how everyone is getting sick.  Something is going around it seems.  Making America safe.

Did I mention Trumps disapproval rating is in a very steady decline?

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Own a home on a golf course (I do)  SUCKS TO BE YOU!    Trying to sell a home on a golf course takes 14% longer then house in the same county and 27% longer then all houses on the market.

In 2017 200 courses closed and 15 new ones opened.  When a course closes the houses drop 25% in price. 

In 2001 30 million people played 500 million rounds of golf.  In 2017 24 million played 450 million rounds. 

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 Nuff said

      

Nazi's / road signs / Recycling

Everybody thinks the Nazi's are a thing of the past but in reality it's still a strong organization but underground in secret. 

Paul Manning wrote a book about finding Martin Bormann, Hitlers Chief of staff in 981.  The publisher of the book had both his legs broken soon after.  In 1993 Pail Manning was about to publish a new book.  Days before it was to be published his son was murdered.

Manning stopped all research.  

This not an isolated incident.  An amazing number of Nazi hunters have been killed in the last 3 decades. The Nazi'as are still a viable thread. Remember Trump calls them "many good people".

Just sayin'

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I am all for law enforcement but why are they taking all the credit for finding Jayme Closs.  She saved herself.

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In Washington STATE there is an issue of people stealing mile markers.  Specifically the miles "69" and "420".  (oddly this week I am 420th on the TGCTours money list)  200 of them actually.  

So to fight this they are changing their signs to "68.9" and "419.9".  

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On Facebook 11.1% of people older the 65 share fake news while only 3% of 18-29 year old's share fake news.  The issue is those 11.1% share a LOT of fake news.  So while it's good that MOST people don't propagate the ones that do are REALLY going to town with sharing at 7 times the amount of the 18-29 year olds. 

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Hunting is a dying sport  (no pun was intended . . it just happened).  In the last 2 decades there is an 18% drop in hunters older then 16. 

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In Columbus we have single stream recycling. Seems good right?  Except single stream is MUCH less efficient and 25% of all you recycle is put into land fills and with China no longer buying our garbage the US is in for some big changes.

If you don't wash your recycle stuff it gets put into the dump.  If you are not going to rinse off your cans of tuna or plastic bottles of orange juice toss it in the garbage as that is where it will end up anyway.  

When that truck comes and dumps everything into the back and crushes and squeezes and breaks glass onto the cardboard, that cardboard can not be used.  

Recycling as we know it may soon be coming to an end. 

******************* 

I have to laugh. When trump visited the border yesterday he interviewed the Mayor of the town he was near.  "How many deaths have occurred"    "ZERO" the Mayor said - "we are the safest town in Texas".   But  but  this is an emergency right? 

When will Americans go on strike.  When will TSA just close down airports.  TRUMP - making America safe?  I think not. 

There are over 1000 GoFundMe pages from Americans without pay checks.  Trump is making the middle class beg for money so he can make America GREAT!  Those pages have produced a little over $100,000 so far. 

******************* 

Interesting chart about MLB Umpires.  In Estra innings of the batting team is WINNING they get a lot more balls called.  If the batting team is losing they get a lot more strikes called. 

***********************

The Nuclear Clock is getting way way too close to midnight!  

    ************************

WEATHER - BRRRRR - NEXT weekend is looking cold but lots of sun is in teh forcaste for the next bunch of days . . except Saturday.  But keep watch out as YET ANOTHER storm will pass south of Wisconsin next weekend . . OR . . maybe it will go a little north and we will get 5 inches.  Gonna be close.  This will be ANOTHER big one for the east coast. 

We should continue to be above average at least until late late next week.  Average high is 26.

Have a great weekend 

Council Listening session / Mike Savad / Yasmani Grandal

I was in a vibrant conversation on Facebook about all the "issues" in Columbus.  It seemed more like a conversation about the Mexico Wall.  So many people complaining about ALL the issues in Columbus.  WHAT?

People are SO concerned about all the horrible things that nobody actually opens their eyes to see how wonderful Columbus is.  All they do is complain.  

NOT ENOUGH BUSINESS 

ROADS

INFRASTRUCTURE

NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY ENOUGH

THE FOOD SUCKS

NO REAL GROCERY STORES

McDONALDS NO LONGER SERVES ICE CREAM CONES

NOTE - 250 Commerce Drive - that little empty strip Mall next to the soon to be former ShopKo?  It's all yours for ONE DOLLAR!!  no really it is. 

These are all made up emergency's like The Wall.. 

Open your freaking eyes and enjoy what we have. Columbus is growing in population, the business community is growing at a near record pace.  Maybe not downtown but still growing. It's all good.  

Look at the past year. James Street Pizza. Fast Lanes, Cercis Brewery all in one year.  Lots of new building going towards Fall River.  In the past 2 years over 30 new homes.  A few years ago a multu million dollar expansion of the hospital.  6 years ago we went to the Christmas train and there were MAYBE 50 people, this year 3000.  And people think Columbus is stagnant and failing?      

ANYWAY - the City Council will be having a listening session January 22 . . somewhere (I'll find out) and I told all of the people in the thread I hoped to see them there.    

************************

An artist friend of mine is doing so amazing stuff with old photographs.  Mike Savad  is a genius and I love love all his work.  He takes B&W photos from the past and colorizes them.   

Speaking of The Wall 

here is some good news.  

Trump is losing ground on support for The Wall.  Not much but a few percent points from both sides.

What is interesting is that Trump won with 45% of the popular vote.  Of that 45% only 70% think The Wall is a good idea. This means that only 31.5% of the country approve of The Wall.   

Only his STRONG base supporters believe his lies about an "emergency" and the rest are against the #TrumpShutDown  / Build the Wall for no reason movement. 

Perhaps the Trump groupies are pro socialism?  Get everybody to pay for something only a few believe is a real issue?  Maybe if they are so frightened over these families hoping for a better life they should build a wall around their house so they can shiver in fear in private.  

BTW - Trump is at his lowest approval ratings in 4 months which is odd as his base has been REALLY consistent. 

******************

I have no idea. 

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OK OK  I THINK this guy would get his eyes poked out in a gallop. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.  Is this Columbus?  Is that Todd Frye thinking he is on a llama? 

*********************

Brewers sign elite defense catcher Yasmani Grandal, to a one year deal  - OMG this is GREAT!!  This is BIG. He rejected a 4 year $60 million deal with the Mets for a one year deal with the Brewers

This is his spray chart from last year with Miller Park overlayed

Defensively Yasmani is the 4th best catcher in the past 5 years.   

Think of him this way - take Erik Kratz defense and add Travis Shaws batting and you have Yasmani Grandal.  He is an instant impact player.  Some argue he is the BEST catcher in MLB and instead of playing in cavernous Dodger Stadium he is in band box HR friendly Miller Park.  YUMMY  

Queen Victoria / Trump / USS indy

NBA System - still 60% after 104 picks.

**************************

I hope some of you stayed up late to watch the USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter.

WOW - DJ and I literally did not say a word for one and a half hours. This was a magnificent documentary. The one we all have been waiting for for 5 years. Segueing back and forth from current day searching for the Indy in 3 mile deep water to what was happening in 1945.

OUTSTANDING and I still have goosebumps.  Many family members around the States had tears in their eyes.  The U.S. Navy was so crooked and needed a scapegoat which was the Captain who took his life 23 years later after constant never ending hate mail.  COMPLETELY innocent.

The one thing that caught my attention was that the "strong" were the ones that did not survive in the water.   Most of the sailors could not swim - it was not a requirement to know how to swim in the Navy and the Kapoc life vests were only good for 2 days.   

The ones that survived were the boys who were ignorant to how much danger they were actually in.

Mel said for 5 days all he thought about was getting 2 weeks off after he was rescued.  HOPE was what kept the survivors alive. It was easy to die, hard to live.  They baked and were blinded in daytime and froze and fought hyperthermia at night.

ANYWAY - this should be required watching.

Stream the show here! 

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In a few days Season Three comes out of Victoria. This is a show about Queen Victoria and is an adult fairy docudrama about one of the best monarchs EVER.  The Victorian Age an all that.

Queen Victoria reigned from the age of 18 all the way to 82 and was said she was one of the most beautiful woman in the land.  NOTE - Queen Victoria was 5'0" tall. 

She was also one of the most prolific writers in her day.  It is estimated she wrote over 56 million words in her daily journals so historians have a LOT to draw on.

The show is just gorgeous and the opening credits are simple but one of my favorite in it's simplicity.   In 30 seconds she goes from a teenager to a Queen so so subtlety.

Being a mans man (or pretending to be) I was reluctant to watch this "chick flick" but caved in and OMG - this is so well done and fascinating about this amazing woman. 



Season one trailer - she is SUCH a firecracker!!


******************

OK OK - the Trump "address"

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing "Amazing Grace" in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. Watch him again, behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

  ---By Charles Pierce

WHAT an amazing waste of time - all Trump wanted is the spotlight back on HIM and for media to stop talking about the Democrats.  Nothing more.  He's an attention whore that constantly needs to be stroked by his followers.

I'm embarrassed for any that still listen to his constant lies.   

and don't get me started on the media - buffoons all for even showing this deplorable waste of skin on TV.  EVERYBODY knew he had absolutely nothing relevant to say.   Just a rehash of old lies and fear mongering.

Nuff said.   Bring back the REAL GOP and dump the cowards now in office. 

*************************

Weather - continuing to look far ahead weather-wize.  It's getting harder with NOAA basically shut down.

Lot's of clouds in the next 10 days but temps well above average (the reason for clouds or because of the clouds) with no "all clear" days  . . anywhere.  Storm after storm will scoot by south of Wisconsin and all we will get are clouds.

Long range Feb/Mar/Apr look to be above normal wit normal precip and far far out it's looking like a typical summer - not warmer not colder . . . but it's a ways off so . . .

**************

We were at Menards yesterday and as we were looking for a parking spot there was this WTF moment

Seems some army guy was in a big hurry to get to the store and forgot about putting his SUV in PARK and it rolled into another SUV.  SOMEBODY was in for a surprise.  We told Menards - they did nothing, announced nothing.

Carry on. 

USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter / Peppermint / Coffee

Learned something about coffee last night.  Most Americans don't put enough coffee in their coffee.  The recipe always  says 2 scoops in a 6 oz cup.  Who the hell drinks out of a 6 oz cup.  Our cups are 10 oz.

Here is the thing.  When you brew a good cup of coffee 67% of the coffee is tasty good stuff which covers up the 33% of the bad flavors.  It's just the way coffee is.   It's a trade off.  So when you put to little coffee grounds in your brewer, because of the height of the grounds, it's letting too much bad stuff into your cup.  Perhaps it's now 50/50 good and bad.

By adding MORE coffee grounds you do not make it "stronger". What this does is give the water more of a chance to get the good flavors out of the grounds as it travels through the cone, thereby making that percentage more like 67/33.

Also - the bulk coffee at the stores is WORSE then buying in the bags. They are old with air all around them and light which deadens the coffee.   Buy whole beans and buy a $20 grinder.  10-15 second grind is perfect. Fresh ground coffee is worth the the extra 15 seconds.

Whole beans in the bags are MUCH fresher.

Ever notice the tiny hole in the bags?  It's a one way hole made because the beans are off gassing.  If they put freshly roasted beans in an air tight container  . . it would explode. Three days after roasting beans start to go stale.

I've started buying fresh roasted beans from Rusty Dog in Madison and even have tried JBC Roasters in Madison which Forbes Magazine said is one of the 10? best roasters in America .  OMG - it's like I have been drinking the Budweiser of coffee all my life and FRESH roasted coffee is the craft beer of coffee.

SO - that is my coffee jolt blog . . . I NEED MORE COFFEE.

****************

Tonight 9:00  PBS     USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter
  
While many of you will be furious at Trumps fake "news" announcement telling us of the fake emergency so he can save face to his groupies (he cares very little over the majority of Americans)  we will be watching  the above.

 https://youtu.be/U1DI6W06iUc



************************

1.18 inches of rain the last 2 days - in January.

There is storm after storm hitting California.  I think there are 5 lined up for the next 2 weeks.  All of them hitting the jet stream and going south of Wisconsin.

STILL - no real rush of cold air coming our way in the next couple weeks.  Just normal winter stuff.  No BIG storms no BIG cold waves.  Can we make it out of January?

   ******************

Watch out.  NOAA is responsible for the Global Forecast System, a sophisticated weather system that fuels models and forecasts across the country.   Normally there are 50 scientists working on this. NOW?  1 dude who knows nothing about forecasting. Just makign sure teh computers are plugged in.

Thank you #TrumpShutDown for shutting down the government. 

****************

Let's see.  GM is closing 5 plants even after Trump gave them a CRAP load of money and now it seems the CEO is getting a 22 million dollar bonus for her good work. How is that tax cut for the rich helping YOU. 

And then there are the coal mines.  Coal mines are closing at a faster rate in the last 2 years then the previous 10 years.  Coal miners love Trump because he promised them he would open all teh coal mines . . . . and make Mexico pay for them?

*******************

Watched a movie last night.  #Peppermint - the WORST title for a movie ever. YET - VERY good action-revenge movie.  EXCELLENT.

Jennifer Garner is back, kicking ass, killing bad guys and taking names.   If you want a feel good revenge movie (feel good because the bad guys REALLY pay for being bad guys) this is a good one.

I really liked this movie. Sydney Bristow (Alias) is back. This time she gets dirty.

Warning - the first few scenes are graphic-ish - the rest of the movie is not. 

https://youtu.be/_D98X6ST5y4



**********************

Anybody looking to buy something from ShopKo Home Town . . . maybe go soon?  Or wait for the sales. Nuff said.

********************

Have a GREAT day - is that SUN?  After tomorrow and Thursday we are in for a real boring weather pattern for a while.   Average high is about 27 now.

We are gaining about a minute and 15 seconds of sunlight a day now.  WHOO HOO!