Tweaking the template

Had to be done. I was tired of having to post only small pics from Flickr.

I wanted sufficient space for this pic, staged/taken by Izzy, who may still be giggling about it.



Izzy calls the photo "Prohibitive Jesus."
Note: (Items in the photo were fewer than 5 feet apart, so were "practically already together.")

Black Friday Round-up

So, on the day after Thanksgiving, Izzy and I went to the Mall and bought a tie.

This mall:



This tie. We're not so crazy as to go to a shopping mall on Black Friday (!)

We're having a great visit with Gashwin. This post is a brief one whilst more pics upload to Flickr.

Gotta say, somebody's wedding music sounded pretty good in rehearsal.....

I was doing a final check of email, when I saw this headline/link on Drudge:
Pope to purge Vatican of modern music...

Look for another busy week for St. Blog's Parish.

More sometime soon, I hope, on Richard Robert's resignation as President of Oral Roberts University. Immediate impression -- it means little and will not help the school recover from his years of mis-management and fraudulent "theology" unless he also steps down as head of the OR Evangelistic Association and surrenders his position on the ORU Board of Regents.

But that's more than I can write about at this hour. Off to Charm City tomorrow to see the renovated Cathedral.

Lines that will have to tide us over

Kelly: Were Jim's parents first cousins who were also bad at ping pong?

Lawyer: So, you were under [Jan] the entire time?
Michael Scott: That's what she said.
(best when re-read by the court reporter)

Michael Scott: I throw myself at (on?) the mercy of the deposition.

[Visual] Dwight returning a ping pong volley with one hand while texting with the other.

Michael Scott: You expect to get screwed by your company, but you never expect to get screwed by your girlfriend.

Here's hoping the strike ends soon.

Campaign ads are Hard, Caucusing is Easy

From a link at Drudge, comes this ad designed to get Hillary supporters out to the Iowa Caucuses. Nice use of self-deprecation, esp Bill & the Cheeseburger, and Hill singing the National Anthem.

The version I found, here, has annoying teensey ads that show up on-screen during viewing, but they can be easily closed.

From Breibart TV:

It opens with Clinton huffing on a treadmill envisioning a double cheeseburger. Can you say typecasting?

The point? "Exercising is hard," an announcer intones.

Cut to former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and his wife Christy, both Clinton backers, doing the twist. Again the announcer: "Dancing is hard."

Cut to Hillary Rodham Clinton's now famous off-key rendition of the "The Star-Spangled Banner." Cue the announcer: "Singing is hard."

"Caucusing is easy."

Two teens appear on screen to explain that any one of voting age by next year's general election can caucus. Others explain the simplicity of it all: Remember the date, find the proper precinct site, arrive on time, assemble in one corner and count off.

Caucusing, they all say, is easy.

Cut back to Bill Clinton. Not to give it away, but he proves that exercising is indeed hard.

Note the appeals to key Iowa/Democrat constituencies.

World Diabetes Day

It's apparently been World Diabetes Day all day long. I can't say I celebrated. Here's what I might have done had I known all day.

• Said "Thanks" to the Dells who volunteer their time to help raise money for diabetes research.
• Followed my diet and medication regimens (oh -- did that!)
• Gotten to bed on time, since sufficient sleep is important for sugar regulation.

Best take care of that now.

Different Approaches to Pollsters

Last Saturday afternoon, the phone rang and I saw it was a New York area code. Feeling charitable, I answered and found myself talking to a volunteer for the Giuliani campaign who had asked for me by name.

Could he ask me a few questions?
--Sure.

Who are you most in favor of at this point among the Republican candidates for president?
--Mike Huckabee.
(Izzy's head swivels -- so, you like that guy, hmmm? )

Who are you least likely to vote for among Republican candidates for President?
--Giuliani. I'm strongly against his positions on abortion.

There was another question where I said that "social issues" were most likely to sway my votes, vs. "security" (a term that I think is designed to make voters more likely to think of Rudy & 9-11.)

So, less than five minutes later, the phone rings. It's the same area code. Izzy answers, since he knows they'll be asking for him.

Could he ask Izzy a few questions?
--Wait, whose campaign are you with?

Rudy Giuliani.
--Not a chance in hell!

So, that's two no votes for Rudy. I don't think Izzy's answer will be reflected on any USA Today pie charts.

In case you're curious, neiher of us is a registered Republican.

Deja vu

So, I'm here in the hotel and I fear I'm coming unstuck in time.

First there was the Seinfeld re-run, where I was reminded that "Yada, Yada, Yada" was in the same episode as when we discovered Jerry was an anti-Dentite.

I was ready to return from the 1990's, so after the re-run, I switched to a news channel for background noise while typing the Bulletin. At one point I looked up and there was OJ Simpson in a courtroom conferring with his attorney. Holy 1994, Batman!

I went downstairs for more teabags, and came back to see a guy with a one-syllable first name, surname Peterson, denying any involvement in the disappearance of his wife, whose name rhymes with Laci. I hope there was no mysterious early morning fishing trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now they are running a story about people truly unstuck, persons with Alzheimer's who have forgotten their spouses and developed a love/fondness/affinity for someone else in their same institution. This was the story in the lovely, heartbreaking film we saw last summer, Away From Her. The same tragedy is now happening to Sandra Day O'Connor, whose husband has forgotten her. The love of the forgotten spouse is truly an example of "for better or for worse," and one of which we hope to be worthy if ever called upon to live through "the long goodbye."

Our time isn't working

Just received email about an elevator in our building, which included this bit of info telling me that the elevator in question

Is temporally OUT OF ORDER.........General Services is working on this issue........Thanks you for you patients.

Good thing there are no longer actual patients in this building who might need to get anywhere in or on time.

Sense of Humor

... or Humour, as it were. Following a link from a link from a link from a link from a link, I came to a BBC article on Sri Lanka time, parts of which had (have?) been 30 minutes off of Indian Time, making trade difficult.

Arthur C. Clarke, he of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame, was interviewed for and pictured in the article. What I wanted to blog for posterity was what Sir Clarke was wearing:

"I invented the satellite and I I got was this lousy T-shirt."

Brilliant!

Opening Night

We're at home watching the taped Thursday NBC comedy line-up (a bit overdone on the whole "green" thing, people) and I've had the ACC game tracker on. It's frozen with 30 seconds to go, but I think the score is unlikely to change very much at this point.

Duke - 121
NC Central - 56

Great way to start a long weekend!

I also re-looked at Gashwin's pics of the Lateran cathedral, on this the feast day marking its dedication.

Our photos are here. Besides the lovely Cloisters,




my favorite bit of statuary from the Lateran was the statue of St. Bartholomew, holding his own filleted skin.


St. Bartholomew


Fish eye view


St. Francis (w/bird) waving to his friends at the Lateran.

Now to finish planning the Sunday AM music.

Extended Family Congratulations!

My very favorite (only!) brother-from-another-mother, reports his Dad had won his long-shot election yesterday. I think having a "family" member in a sandwich board did the trick. Very sexy, guy.





Congrats to my sorta Dad-from-a-distance.

Starting off well

Duke acquitted themselves last weekend in exhibition play, this time in NC. Looks like we'll do just fine without Josh McRoberts' nearly-always-angry self. Maybe we'll even have a decent bench this year.

Gerald Henderson in the Duke 134, Shaw 55 blow-out.

Coach K & Greg Paulus.

(Photos from goduke.com)

Then there's the Duke 105, Barton College 44 game.

Photo from the News & Observer.

The season starts 11/9 with NC Central. Not sure if I'll be watching on TV or the internet -- but I'm hoping to be watching.

Sad news on the suffrage front

We won't get the chance to vote for or against Colbert. I was considering using him as my "none of the above" choice.

From a link from Drudge:

NEW YORK (AP) - Stephen Colbert has dropped his bid for the White House.

His announcement came after the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council voted last week to keep the host of "The Colbert Report" off the state's primary ballot. The vote was 13-3.

Colbert poses as a conservative talk-show host on the Comedy Central show.

"Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history—only 10 votes—I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle," Colbert said Monday in a statement. "It is time for this nation to heal."

Colbert had said he would run only in his native South Carolina, a key primary state. He said he planned to run as a Democrat and a Republican—so he could lose twice. Colbert, 43, later declined to file with the GOP, which has a much higher filing fee ($35,000) than the Democrats ($2,500).

"I want to say to my supporters, this is not over," Colbert said. "While I may accept the decision of the Council, the fight goes on! The dream endures! ... And I am going off the air until I can talk about this without weeping."

In reality, "The Colbert Report" was going off the air because of a strike by Hollywood writers that began Monday. Many talk shows were expected to be shown in repeats during the strike.

I'm sure Dogwood and my kid brother will be blogging their laments later on.

Guy Fawlkes Day

Just got an email from a colleague reminding me of this celebration.

Guy Fawlkes

I'm never quite sure, this far removed from the events, if those who celebrate bonfire night now are (1) happy that the king & Parliament were spared, (2) happy that Fawlkes and his co-conspirators made an attempt to bring avenge the wrongs done to Catholicism, or (3) happy in general from the grog-n-mead.

Wikipedia has traditional rhymes that were sung in honor or in memory of Fawlkes. I'll post both sets of verses, since the 2nd has definite "Catholic Content" and says a lot about the feelings of the English following Mary Tudor, Phillip II of Spain and the Armda, only a generation before.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah hoorah!

It's not exactly Shakespeare...