We were shopping at JD Penney's at Lakeside Mall last weekend and heard one of the greatest versions ever of the Twelve Days of Christmas. A solo female singer in general (there might have been harmony vocals too - I can't remember), but the melody was altered so that most of the time it would follow the descending pattern of "four calling birds" but with the initial note also descending with each step of the countdown.
Anyone know who that is? Where I can find the recording? I'd really like to know - it's driving us crazy!
UPDATE:
I found it - it's The Bird and The Bee doing it, and it's just as good as we thought it was.
It was offered as a free download at their website, so check it out- spectacular!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Still trying to decide
just how depressed / despondent / concerned to be over all that's going on these days.
Prayerful is how I'll approach it for now.
Still, one thing is just incredible to me: we in Michigan have now enshrined in our constitution the concept that it's OK to experiment on some humans, as long as we think - with or without any evidence, of course - that there might be some benefit for some other humans sometime down the line somehow. It's hard to see that as anything but a step into darkness and evil.
At the same time, California - land of fruits and nuts, source of all progressive thinking in the US, etc. - has actually put the traditional definition of marriage as a man and a woman into their constitution.
Confusion reigns here. More to come later.
grr.
Prayerful is how I'll approach it for now.
Still, one thing is just incredible to me: we in Michigan have now enshrined in our constitution the concept that it's OK to experiment on some humans, as long as we think - with or without any evidence, of course - that there might be some benefit for some other humans sometime down the line somehow. It's hard to see that as anything but a step into darkness and evil.
At the same time, California - land of fruits and nuts, source of all progressive thinking in the US, etc. - has actually put the traditional definition of marriage as a man and a woman into their constitution.
Confusion reigns here. More to come later.
grr.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Interesting Race, Now
Well, who'd have thought that John McCain would worry enough about the conservative base of the Republican Party to bother to appease them? After all, isn't he the original maverick? (I thought that was James Garner, or someone.)
Anyway, I think his choice of Governor Palin (no, not Michael Palin) was an excellent choice. Not only does she have the only executive experience in the race - both as Mayor and Governor - but she's also been involved in a real business operation, and has a husband who actually works for a living doing real work. At last an outsider who's really an outsider, but might be able to speak for regular folks.
I don't know how the debates will play out, although I think Biden won't be able to resist being a complete jerk - and be seen as one, but I know this was about the only way McCain could have gotten me to throw my vote away to the Libertarians (or some such pseudo-party), and he didn't.
Maybe I don't have to fear for my Constitutional rights after all - not even the ones McCain jumped on with his "campaign reform" legislation. As long as we avoid an Obamanation in Washington, it looks as though citizens will retain their rights and responsibilities, and perhaps even some of their money. Obama's statement regarding lowering taxes on 95% of us notwithstanding, there's no way anything he plans can happen without either taking all the money there is from everyone above the poverty line, or causing a massive Depression by spending twice as much money as there is in the whole country.
As regards Biden (I know you're all wondering about my opinion of him), it matters not a bit how much experience one has when one is completely wrong about everything - and that's Biden's position, wrong on everything.
What a garish display of cognitive dissonance or outright prevarication - this is the only country in the world where I could have worked my way up from nothing to being better than you, but you can't do it unless I take over and "help" you.
"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you," ought to frighten the living whatever out of anyone with at least half a brain and a modicum of sense. Sadly, it may not.
grr.
Anyway, I think his choice of Governor Palin (no, not Michael Palin) was an excellent choice. Not only does she have the only executive experience in the race - both as Mayor and Governor - but she's also been involved in a real business operation, and has a husband who actually works for a living doing real work. At last an outsider who's really an outsider, but might be able to speak for regular folks.
I don't know how the debates will play out, although I think Biden won't be able to resist being a complete jerk - and be seen as one, but I know this was about the only way McCain could have gotten me to throw my vote away to the Libertarians (or some such pseudo-party), and he didn't.
Maybe I don't have to fear for my Constitutional rights after all - not even the ones McCain jumped on with his "campaign reform" legislation. As long as we avoid an Obamanation in Washington, it looks as though citizens will retain their rights and responsibilities, and perhaps even some of their money. Obama's statement regarding lowering taxes on 95% of us notwithstanding, there's no way anything he plans can happen without either taking all the money there is from everyone above the poverty line, or causing a massive Depression by spending twice as much money as there is in the whole country.
As regards Biden (I know you're all wondering about my opinion of him), it matters not a bit how much experience one has when one is completely wrong about everything - and that's Biden's position, wrong on everything.
What a garish display of cognitive dissonance or outright prevarication - this is the only country in the world where I could have worked my way up from nothing to being better than you, but you can't do it unless I take over and "help" you.
"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you," ought to frighten the living whatever out of anyone with at least half a brain and a modicum of sense. Sadly, it may not.
grr.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Pickens Plan
Well, well, well. Self-made gazillionaire (through the oil business) T. Boone Pickens has a plan to wean the US off its petroleum addiction. Somehow, he's decided that we don't need more oil, we need more wind (as if DC weren't already oversupplying that).
No doubt, this will take massive government subsidies to get up and running, and then with the regulated guaranteed profit levels of all power utilities. Hmm.
So this is a great investment, but it needs government money to make it good?
Sounds like the ethanol boondoggle all over again. E85 is cheaper than regular grad unleaded gasoline at the stations I passed this morning, but that ignores the huge subsidies we (as in We the People) pay to such otherwise-poverty-stricken outfits as Archer-Daniels-Midland so they can turn corn into alcohol. (I think Jim Beam and Jack Daniels do the same thing, don't they?)
OK, ignore the tax and cost portion for a moment. Does anyone really for a moment believe that the wind blows constantly and consistently enough to be the source of our electrical power? Certainly no one who's ever been in a sailboat thinks that. Certainly no one who ever had to depend on a windmill to pump water and grind grain thinks that.
This, of course, is the same kind of objection that is often raised regarding solar power - what about cloudy / overcast / rainy / snowy / et cetera-y days? and it is a valid objection in both cases.
However -
Why is no one following up on solar power from satellites? A fleet of satellites with large solar panels could easily beam down vast amounts of power to the Earth, with no concern for the weather conditions in any particular locale. The power (in the form of microwaves) would be collected and converted to electricity by antenna farms on the ground. In fact, they could even be precisely that - farms. There's no reason a wide-grid microwave antenna couldn't be strung over a field where cattle could graze, or where grains or other crops could be grown - we're not talking beams with the localized punch of a microwave oven, after all.
If we really want to get serious about breaking our dependency on oil - and especially on foreign oil - the best thing to do is to get about drilling for domestic oil, and using the profits - which would now stay here in the States - to fund the R&D necessary to get other forms of energy to the point where they're actually economically viable, rather than where they can be supported by taxes to the point where they kind of look affordable.
The first "Oil" company that truly embraces the idea of being an "Energy" company will be far ahead of its competitors, both in a competitive sense, and in a PR sense.
Of course, this all makes too much sense, I suppose, so it's doomed never to happen.
grr.
(PS - I'm all for nuclear plants as well, but that didn't really fit with the other thoughts here. More on that later.)
No doubt, this will take massive government subsidies to get up and running, and then with the regulated guaranteed profit levels of all power utilities. Hmm.
So this is a great investment, but it needs government money to make it good?
Sounds like the ethanol boondoggle all over again. E85 is cheaper than regular grad unleaded gasoline at the stations I passed this morning, but that ignores the huge subsidies we (as in We the People) pay to such otherwise-poverty-stricken outfits as Archer-Daniels-Midland so they can turn corn into alcohol. (I think Jim Beam and Jack Daniels do the same thing, don't they?)
OK, ignore the tax and cost portion for a moment. Does anyone really for a moment believe that the wind blows constantly and consistently enough to be the source of our electrical power? Certainly no one who's ever been in a sailboat thinks that. Certainly no one who ever had to depend on a windmill to pump water and grind grain thinks that.
This, of course, is the same kind of objection that is often raised regarding solar power - what about cloudy / overcast / rainy / snowy / et cetera-y days? and it is a valid objection in both cases.
However -
Why is no one following up on solar power from satellites? A fleet of satellites with large solar panels could easily beam down vast amounts of power to the Earth, with no concern for the weather conditions in any particular locale. The power (in the form of microwaves) would be collected and converted to electricity by antenna farms on the ground. In fact, they could even be precisely that - farms. There's no reason a wide-grid microwave antenna couldn't be strung over a field where cattle could graze, or where grains or other crops could be grown - we're not talking beams with the localized punch of a microwave oven, after all.
If we really want to get serious about breaking our dependency on oil - and especially on foreign oil - the best thing to do is to get about drilling for domestic oil, and using the profits - which would now stay here in the States - to fund the R&D necessary to get other forms of energy to the point where they're actually economically viable, rather than where they can be supported by taxes to the point where they kind of look affordable.
The first "Oil" company that truly embraces the idea of being an "Energy" company will be far ahead of its competitors, both in a competitive sense, and in a PR sense.
Of course, this all makes too much sense, I suppose, so it's doomed never to happen.
grr.
(PS - I'm all for nuclear plants as well, but that didn't really fit with the other thoughts here. More on that later.)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
SCOTUS!
It's been a long time coming, but the Supreme Court actually got a major ruling right.
Imagine, these 5 justices have realized that the second amendments words actually have a particular meaning, and that by reading them, one can discover just what that meaning is.
Of course, I have nothing but contempt for the 4 sniveling wastes of a robe who blew their noses on the constitution, the federalist papers, and assorted other such documents and traditions.
In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."
Well, Mr. Justice, they did, in fact, do precisely that. The whole point of the constitution is the limiting of the government's ability to control and regulate the behavior of the citizenry. As noted in the Declaration of Independence, the rights which are enumerated in the constitution are not granted by it, but rather are there specifically to recognize the danger of allowing the government to abridge them.
As much shame and opprobrium as possible should be heaped upon the minority opinion holders in this case, who have shown themselves to hold their duties as far less important than their personal, political opinions. Despicable.
Still, "well done" and "good on you" to the majority.
Imagine, these 5 justices have realized that the second amendments words actually have a particular meaning, and that by reading them, one can discover just what that meaning is.
Of course, I have nothing but contempt for the 4 sniveling wastes of a robe who blew their noses on the constitution, the federalist papers, and assorted other such documents and traditions.
In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."
Well, Mr. Justice, they did, in fact, do precisely that. The whole point of the constitution is the limiting of the government's ability to control and regulate the behavior of the citizenry. As noted in the Declaration of Independence, the rights which are enumerated in the constitution are not granted by it, but rather are there specifically to recognize the danger of allowing the government to abridge them.
As much shame and opprobrium as possible should be heaped upon the minority opinion holders in this case, who have shown themselves to hold their duties as far less important than their personal, political opinions. Despicable.
Still, "well done" and "good on you" to the majority.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Right or Loving?
You've probably seen those signs in front of churches, or heard the line mouthed by well-meaning folks - I'd rather be Loving than Right. (Sometimes it's Kind rather than Right).
There's a false dichotomy if ever there were one.
One assumes, given where the phrase is used, that this refers to contentious areas of theology and doctrine, not minor things such as how to squeeze the toothpaste, or whose turn it is to take out the trash.
Given that assumption, it's not only folly to think that it's better to be Loving or Kind than Right, but it's downright un-Loving. If we're considering major points of doctrine, points of significant divergence which can lead to heresy, then there is nothing Loving or Kind about leaving one's brother or sister in grave error.
"But, Lord, when did we see You in error and not correct You? When did we not tell You that you were on that broad road that leads to destruction?"
"As you did it not to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to Me."
There's a false dichotomy if ever there were one.
One assumes, given where the phrase is used, that this refers to contentious areas of theology and doctrine, not minor things such as how to squeeze the toothpaste, or whose turn it is to take out the trash.
Given that assumption, it's not only folly to think that it's better to be Loving or Kind than Right, but it's downright un-Loving. If we're considering major points of doctrine, points of significant divergence which can lead to heresy, then there is nothing Loving or Kind about leaving one's brother or sister in grave error.
"But, Lord, when did we see You in error and not correct You? When did we not tell You that you were on that broad road that leads to destruction?"
"As you did it not to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to Me."
Friday, June 06, 2008
It'll be a tough choice come November
I knew it was going to be bad, regardless of how the Democrat primaries turned out, but now we get to choose between a radical socialist and a non-conservative who's jumped on the global warming bandwagon just in time to find it running off the road.
Either way, my taxes will be raised significantly, and largely to fund programs which are directly antithetical to my beliefs, needs, and desires.
Still, sitting it out or casting a protest vote for the Libertarian candidate (do they have one yet? is Ron Paul going to run there again?) is just making a lefty take-over that much more inevitable, I'm afraid.
This is not my favourite election cycle.
Either way, my taxes will be raised significantly, and largely to fund programs which are directly antithetical to my beliefs, needs, and desires.
Still, sitting it out or casting a protest vote for the Libertarian candidate (do they have one yet? is Ron Paul going to run there again?) is just making a lefty take-over that much more inevitable, I'm afraid.
This is not my favourite election cycle.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Today's Coinage
Peninsulate (v.i.) to block from outside influence, leaving a single, completely unblocked access route.
Peninsulation (n.) the act of peninsulating, or the material or mode of said blocking.
as in:
"He was wrapped completely in peninsulation, being moved by the speeches of Obama to the exclusion of all other thought and opinion.
Enjoy!
Peninsulation (n.) the act of peninsulating, or the material or mode of said blocking.
as in:
"He was wrapped completely in peninsulation, being moved by the speeches of Obama to the exclusion of all other thought and opinion.
Enjoy!
Sunday, May 04, 2008
CROP Walk
Well, another CROP Walk in GP, and it was a spectacular day - thanks, Lord!
Kooder raised another $470 for world (and local) hunger - not bad for a 12-year old mutt.
We had a great time, and thanks to everyone who pledged their support.
Kooder raised another $470 for world (and local) hunger - not bad for a 12-year old mutt.
We had a great time, and thanks to everyone who pledged their support.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Today's Coinage
PRETALIATE (v.) to retaliate, but in a pre-emptive manner, to wit, to get someone back for what they were about to do, thus preventing the "original" offense.
Please feel free to use this word as often as you like.
Enjoy!
Please feel free to use this word as often as you like.
Enjoy!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Item du jour
Why are there pork rinds, but no beef rinds?
I don't have any problem with pork - I think it's delicious and nutritious (pork, it's neat!) - but I'm more of a beef man, myself.
When this country has a full array of rind products available from the bowling alley vending machine ("hmm, do I want the pork rinds, the turkey rinds, the frog rinds, or the beef rinds?"), that's when we'll know civilisation has well and truly come to these shores.
huzzah!
I don't have any problem with pork - I think it's delicious and nutritious (pork, it's neat!) - but I'm more of a beef man, myself.
When this country has a full array of rind products available from the bowling alley vending machine ("hmm, do I want the pork rinds, the turkey rinds, the frog rinds, or the beef rinds?"), that's when we'll know civilisation has well and truly come to these shores.
huzzah!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Stop Making Sense
I guess I'm living in a Talking Heads world. Somehow, moving jobs to a higher priced area, hiring people with less understanding, experience, and knowledge, makes for a more efficient process.
Heavens to ISO!
Holy Six Sigma, Batman!
Good Grief.
OK, just grief.
grr.
Heavens to ISO!
Holy Six Sigma, Batman!
Good Grief.
OK, just grief.
grr.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Are we all bozos in this country?
So now we've managed to keep an extra socialist in the Democratic race - who knew so many single women could be moved to vote by the sight of Hillary's tears? - and in Michigan there's a petition drive starting to amend the State Constitution to mandate universal health care.
Good grief - who's going to pay for it? All the out-of-work folks who are busily packing up and trying to sell their homes so they can move to another state where there are jobs?
Oh, we'll just raise taxes on the few who are left - they can pay for it all, right?
I hate to say it, but I seem to be living in a State of greedy, selfish morons.
grr.
Good grief - who's going to pay for it? All the out-of-work folks who are busily packing up and trying to sell their homes so they can move to another state where there are jobs?
Oh, we'll just raise taxes on the few who are left - they can pay for it all, right?
I hate to say it, but I seem to be living in a State of greedy, selfish morons.
grr.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
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