Downs

And in this corner, Watership Down, the book.
And in the second corner, Watership Down, the movie.

"Okay dog, well, we can just forget the rules" and timeline "shall we?" "That's fine with me, chicken!"+

So, who read the book? I don't think the story board personnel read it. Suffice to say, read the book.

+ Warner Brothers Foghorn Leghorn with Spike

Milking it

Fresh Cow Reproduction Manager

 

This was a real job posting title.  Now, any layperson would assume, as did I, that it was an animal husbandry job, but no.  It was a sales job.  I guess it did do something that it needed to do--got attention.  I'm glad it wasn't as crude as bull specimen collector or calf by douche facilitator.

Actual job listing may differ

Fresh Cow Reproduction Manager

I read through it and it was a sales job, but clearly, that's not what it sounds like. It sounds more like husbandry.

Actual job listing may differ

Fresh Cow Reproduction Manager

I read through it and it was a sales job, but clearly, that's not what it sounds like. It sounds more like husbandry.

2D-Play

They have a messload of games. The most recent one that has caught my attention is Crazy Chess. It isn't chess at all. The goal is to move your one knight across the board as quickly as possible to pick up coins, and other stuff. Meanwhile, pawns are moving toward the bottom of the screen. At the bottom are two castles. If eight pawns succeed in getting past the bottom, you lose. On each level there is a limit to the number of pawns moving. It does not help you play chess. It does help you to remember how to move a knight

Also neat about this game is that you can download this small game for free.

Thanks 2D-Play!

suspended

Now when I think of this term, several things come to mind.
In school, suspension meant, just that to extend out. There were in school suspension where you continued punishment in a room not in your regular classes and out of school, where most disruptive students really ached to be anyway.
Suspension, is in frozen in time or body.

I would like to think also; suspension being like a bridge, being held up by rope, wire, or cable. So in this sense, a suspended senetence could or in some cases should be 10 years suspended by the toes or the neck, or whatever.

In a recent case, a child molester got 40 years with 10 suspended, leaving 30 with possible half off for good behavior. I think it unlikely that upon completing 15 years in prison, he's going to be up and ready for the challenge of "impulse-free" living in society. Uh, no. How about suspended in a spinning ride, where the occupants are flung so hard with centrifical force that they are unable to move from the edge. I will agree to suspend you in a state of 365.25 days in spin 'n' puke with variable oscilation and indidual modulation, complete with 24 hour continuance regardless of weather. Now, to this I would agree. The man finsihes in 1 year after his 15 or so in the prison, without having to worry about probation. Of course, the "worry" then would be that he'd be a veritible mindless drone or vegetable, but I'm willing to live with that. A willless body isn't likely to commit more crimes.

If that seems like cruel and unusal punishment, then I suggest:
15 years mine disposal or
prompt execution or
parole upon reaching 76th birthday or
40 years (no early parole) hard labor such as 16-hour days of textile work or foundry work
how about trash and plastics sorting?

In the case mentioned, he plead guilty, he wasn't found guilty.

no thinking involved

Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali declared that women who don't wear burkas invite rape. That's an odd phrase coming from a Muslim who doesn't believe rape exists except for non-Muslims to engage in sex with Muslim women. Here too, the Westerners would be rapists, while the women would be whores. Therefore, easily fixed by a good ol' killing of everyone. He'll double up on bad statements by calling women "meat" and that the White House should be emptied. In retaliation to this outrage, the US did nothing. Huh! We didn't burn the man in effigy, nor start riots. Huh. Gosh! We're missing out!

I would speculate if this is, and I truly hope not, the taught concepts of more tradtioanl Arabic Muslims, then women should be afraid and that is a piss poor excuse -- slavery. I'm surrprised that they didn't take up the sub-Saharan African tradition of female genital mutilation. This practice is to "ensure monogomy" of the woman. The man, of course, has no such bounds. Some, not all, of these Muslim cultures in Northern Africa also have mentral huts, where bloody women go until they are no longer bleeding.

So, is this the standard? What I'd like to know is what is the standard? What group allows women to be, you know ... people? From the translations (Dead Sea Scrolls) and Qu'ran texts into English, it appears to be, well ... a religion where deviation is not tolerated and women don't have a real afterlife, per se. So ... again, I would like to know what the typical concepts, theories and practices are. What I see and get scare me.

How is a rapper being arrested news?

Rapper arrested fro drugs and illegal gun posession. How shocking! It's S Dogg. How shocking! Wait, no ... unremarkable. What would be remarkable, is if he served jail time.

scam scheme

scam scheme
Originally uploaded by MDH, II.

This picture looks very much like a pyramid, does it not? I got a do it yourself scam from a company that has the name of a fast car. I will not use the name of the car as someone might try to find the website. Anyway, I got this email with "go here". I knew it was bogus, but cleverly intersting for the foolish.

It used my name in print and in speech in this flash animation. The goal, get people to commit to $10 monthly charge for a doman name essentially. They didn't use that term for fear of someone finding out that you can get one for $10 a year. Anyway, $120 per year, plus pestering people you know to get on baord the BS train. I wonder how many people jumped in on this.

Really, once they put up this screen, any person could see -- pyramid. I had it playing in the background, then every now and then flipped to it. When I saw later the $10 monthly, I rewound the animation and saw this.

During the animation, the woman here sat in a chair during part of it. My question would be, why?

... in the window

I picked up my neice from school, she had a half day. She broght friends with her and I dropped them off at one of the girl's house. I pulled into the drive to see a little girl's face. She seemed happy to see guests -- moreover, knowing that her sister was home. I then saw the shape of a dog, another face. To my joy, I saw the dog barking, though I couldn't hear the noise and the girl approach the window.

The girl began scratching at the window as would a dog. The dog stayed back from the window. It was the funniest thing I'd seen in a long, long while. "How much is that doggie in the window?" The one with the curly blonde hair. It was very cute.

Secondhand Lions

It was a great movie! I was hesitant to believe so until i saw it. It reminded me much of Princess Bride with swashbuckling and boyish dreams and adventure. There was intrigue, doubt, relationship growths and fadings. It had implications, but no sex shown. Apart from the profanity, it could have been a kid's book. I'm glad that they didn't make Michael Cain's character the daring do-all with passion and power, but more as a reserved person.

There is nothing bad to say about this movie. It has re-watchability (credits to credits). I found it interesting that Robert Duvall was in a movie with Kyra Sedgwick.

The overall message was "true love". I shant give away more of the movie.

getting down with the lupine

Watership Down is a story with which I am have finished. I cannot believe that any middle schooler might have been called to read this. My word! Not only is it, well, cruel in some places, but the religious sects, ideals, and rabbits placeing others under arrest is just nuts. I can see a few things in the thoughts behind it, but this is no exodus of history. This isn't Old Rabbit Testiment nor WWII flight, but rather flight of fancy with odd choices.

Hazel should not have been used as a boy's name.

The writing style is simple enough, almost like an improved me on my rough draft ... dialogue, then fill in the backdrop later. I mean this in that you could subtract the "blades of grass delicately whispering ..." and still get the feel for the land and the trials and death of the rabbits. I suppose that I might suggest either a mature middle-schooler to read it, but they'd have to find the first bit interesting, otherwise, they'd put it down and never read anymore. In the middle of it, while their trip is full of danger and learning, you wonder, "why?" I almost interrupted my own reading with a Princess Bride moment, "Who kills Humperdink?" Alas, I'll finish it soon.

I found some interesting sites on the novel, including a researcher trying to find in Hampshire (Great Britain), the areas noted in the book. The paperback version I am reading has a sad little blurred map that is unreadable. For those who read some or all of the Lord of the Rings, it's about like that. The mountains around Mordor about as tall as the lowercase m on 12 point font. Thanks for the barely useful map Tolkein!

Fans of Watership Down have drawn some much better maps that make sense. The time frame seems unclear until you read that it spans weeks. I thought at first that the rabbits were traveling in days, but the text is ambigious in parts. The author, trying to stay true to rabbit thought, denies time and remarks dawn, dusk noon, night, and midnight.

My next assignment, John McCain biography, as it seems, presently that it will be Hillary Clinton (boo -- hiss) vs John McCain for 2008.

Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits? (nope, that's KISS)

I have read a transcript of President Bush's October 25th speech. His main speech was okay, I remark only on a few points, most of which were with the question-answer period after the speech.
........
A brilliant statement: "I do not question their patriotism; I question whether or not they understand how dangerous this world is." He made this regarding democrats. The statement is just about perfect.
----
And this is a big issue in the campaign. Security of the country is an issue, just like taxes are an issue. If you raise taxes, it will hurt the economy. If you don't extend the tax cuts, if you don't make them -- in other words, if you let the tax cuts expire, it will be a tax increase on the American people.. Take the child tax credit. If it is not made permanent -- in other words, if it expires -- and you've got a family of four sitting around the breakfast table, the taxpayers can be sure that their taxes will go up by $2,000: $500 for that child, $500 for the one right there; $500 for this one and $500 for that one.

That is a tax increase. And taking $2,000 out of the pockets of the working people will make it harder to sustain economic growth. So the two issues I see in the campaign can be boiled down to who best to protect this country and who best to keep taxes low.
That's what the referendum's about.
....
Oi! Okay, he lost on that one with the rambling, not really clearly conveying cut taxes to rich to increase spending. This fell flatter than Reagan's "This is not a regressive tax" speech, which clearly was detailing a regressive tax; in that it was a tax inversely proportional to income, which is the definition of a regressive tax. Oh well, he tried.
-----
I think the coming election is a referendum on these two things: which party has got the plan that will enable our economy to continue to grow and which party has a plan to protect the American people.
....
On this I might suggest that parties are not red and green only. I cannot believe that all republicans side with, "Stay the course+ and give tax cuts to stimulate economy." I can't believe that all democrats stick with, "Get 'em out of there now and tax the rich heavily!" I think the reality lies somewhere between. The problem now is that the congress and senate agreed to enter Iraq on false pretenses; no matter to what degree they knew and are now being fed fear of moving out. Lies and fear, sad that people use them (regardless of party).
----
-- the ultimate accountability rests with me. That's the ultimate. If you're asking about accountability, it rests right here. That's what the 2004 campaign was about, you know. If people are unhappy about it, look right to the president.
....
I haven't seen to much of the accountability for anyone in government. This sadly is a series of words like Jabberwocky, seemingly making a statement, but nothing is really stated at all.
-----
As a matter of fact, the benchmarks will make it more likely we win. Withdrawing on an artificial timetable means we lose.
Now, I'm giving the speech -- you're asking me why I'm giving this speech today -- because there's -- I think I owe an explanation to the American people and will continue to make explanations. The people need to know that we have a plan for victory.
....
"We need to know that we have a plan for victory." That's nice. What is it? Would you care to share it with us? I didn't think you would. I put this with the republicans' arguemtns that the democrats have no solutions that they will voice.
----
And I know it's incumbent upon our government, and others who enjoy the blessings of liberty, to help those moderates succeed. Because otherwise we're looking at the potential of this kind of world, a world in which radical forms of Islam compete for power; a world in which moderate governments get toppled by people willing to murder the innocent; a world in which oil reserves are controlled by radicals in order to extract blackmail from the West; a world in which Iran has a nuclear weapon.
.....
Here's my radical idea: stop supporting, protecting, and taking money from oil lobbies. Make oil companies accountable for price gouging and monopolies. Make America foreign oil independant in 5 or fewer years. Permanently illegalize fuel inefficient vehicles for general consumer use. Make non-oil burning public transportation a reality.
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They will support the war as long as they see a path to victory
....
Agreed. I think that most people don't see a path to victory. When the government understands that, it will either have to fess up to the plans for "what are we doing" or confess that there are ideas on post-it notes, but nothing beyond that.
-----
And we will not put more pressure on the Iraqi government than it can bear.
…
Later on, Bush remarked, “We're making it clear that America's patience is not unlimited”
----
We did not expect the Iraqi army, including the Republican Guard, to melt away in the way that it did in the face of advancing coalition forces.
….
This was planned to disband the army of the Hussein regime and yet, he didn’t know they would melt away. Okay, sorry, this was a poor statement to make.


Now then, overall, I think he did an alright job of defending his points, but lacked details to convince most people. He had a broken record on "end-zone dancing" and "benchmarks". At one point in his speech, it wasn't clear if he understood benchmarks. I think, for whatever reason, the question broke up his line of thinking, leaving him stumbling over his words. I think it was no worse or better than any other discussion, although he did better speaking this time. He has no doubt that republicans will retain control, but his constiuents are not so sure.

+ "Stay the course" has been purged as it conveyed a static ideal, though that wasn't the implication. A common myth regarding taxes is that democrats always want to tax the snot out of the rich. As most of the congress and senate are rich, that really isn't realistic to believe they they would seek to lose money. Another myth about tax cuts is that it always stimulates the economy. Whereas tax cuts and shelters enable individuals and companies to put money offshore, out of the country, that doesn't do squat for American economy. Like so much of the law, the tax code is like a cartoon contraption. Rather than set a mouse trap, Tom puts together a series of 30 parts to smash Jerry with a safe. Making the tax code more elaborate doesn't ensure improvement or success. It does make it more complicated and with more parts, more areas for error.

KISS -- keep it simple, stupid

Countdown clock

I switched it. I figure if you can't figure out that Halloween is coming like a shark in the water, fin up and charging near you, then you're just going to be bitten in the arse.

Christmas, and curse the stores for reminding us in July, is coming. No matter what you say, you are never really ready for it.

For a clever surprise for kids treating this year, drop in candy canes.

Treating 2006

There is always a question about when tick or treating starts here in good ol' FW and this year, it has stayed the same, 6-8 or was it 5-7 last year. Who knows? There is a great inconsistency, so much so that they have to put it in print and on TV. To their defense, Indiana second holdout to swtiching to daylight savings time, now has new hours. What a mess.

So, if you are here in FW, IN, then doorbells will be ringing at around 6. Let's hope for the little kids that the weather is again fair. As for the alcohol-breathing, cigarette smoking nutjob chronolgical adults ... well, may they grow up and put that crap away! What's scarier: very scary haunted house, scary masks, candy-bag stealing teens, vandals, or drunk so-called parents toting kids (maybe not theirs) around neighborhoods?

bad title

"Sect Leader Executed in 5 Deaths"

 

That was a local headline.  You figure it out!  Once you read and understand it pertains to a sect leader who killed 5 people, and today he was executed by the state it makes sense.

locally, assessor not clear

Written more for my benefit than for other readers ...

 

Assessor A: incumbant age 76 with years of experience

Assessor B:  41, with more difficult to achieve certification (incumbant has tried and failed to get this)

 

Seemingly a slam dunk for assessor B, but ... with campaign pages with B on them, more costly, will B be better manager with money?

 

hmmmm

 

shake, shake, shake ... magic 8 ball answers, "ask again later"

Damn!

He's Lump

He's lump; he's lump; he might dead.

Danny died by lethal injection. This famed killer slaughter, in every sense of the word, his Gainsville victims. According to evidence: sex, assault, and murder. They were intertwined into a gory mess left at scenes. Why the heck they didn't just kill him at the sight goes beyond my understanding. He was in court, stood there, plead not guilty by reason of insanity. He had details, opportunity, motive, access, guilty -- and so said the jury.

He slumped -- society's safer.

water fence

water fence
Originally uploaded by MDH, II.

put a fence to keep me out, or to keep Mother Nature in ...

This was a tennis court, but the parks and rec are ripping it apart and giving it a new one, oh, well, they're doing something. I've not really heard of anyone threatening to tear someone a new tennis court, but there have been stranger threats.

If you'll note, the color of the water seems odd. Yes, it is aquamarine, through intentional means and algae buildup.

photo taken at Lakeside Park

this, and nothing more quoteth the duck

fall follage
Originally uploaded by MDH, II.

fall follage at Lakeside Park.

The ducks were quacking away, the geese honking often, dogs entering and exiting the water chasing the thrown stick -- today, cool, bright, I got a chance to see autumn before all the leaves were gone. The folks and I went and they got a short walk. I got some interesting or at least colorful photos.