Koegels!!!!

Debbie's home and she brought Koegel hot dogs and bologna!!!


Woohoo!!

Early Morning Ranting

I woke up this morning, rolled over and looked at my clock, which politely informed me that I should have been up and in the shower 15 minutes ago. So I bailed out of bed, did all my morning stuff, came out into the kitchen and grabbed my daily bowl of sugar, artificial color and preservatives and started to chow down. The microwave said it was 5:15am. So did the stove. And the DVD player. I grabbed my cell phone. 5:15am. I checked the clock on my nightstand. 7:45am. So my clock has a poltergeist that randomly moves the time forward two and a half hours. I guess things were getting too boring around here or something.

So I'm blogging. Or at least, I trying to blog. It seems Google has been improving things again, so there are all sorts of glitches when trying to edit my blog post. It looks like some of the improvements will be handy, and there have been some things fixed that haven't worked quite right since long before Google bought Blogger, but the process of getting from here to there looks to be rather painful.

Debbie should be rolling into town about the same time I get out of work, so we'll do a quick unpack of the rental car and try to get it back over to the local "airport" (one step removed from a mowed field and a wind sock) before the guy that handles car rentals, concessions, flight school, etc. goes home for the day. The rest of the evening will likely be getting all her stuff washed and put away and finding places for the stash of Koegel meat products that I'm certain she is bringing back with her.

Anyway, some tidbits from today's trip around the internet:

In news that will surprise no one, cops are some of the worse drivers on the road. They sideswipe parked cars, back into things, open doors into traffic, drive too fast for conditions, drive on the sidewalk, run red lights, and generally make a nuisance of themselves on the road. Or at least some of them do. I suspect the bad drivers are the same ones who swagger around with their "cop attitude" on full display anytime they are not behind the wheel. I also suspect that a significant fraction of these guys are responsible for the vast majority of abuse cases. Like repeatedly tasering a pregnant woman. Cop schools need to do a better job of weeding these guys out.

Christian militias are back in the news. It's like the worst of the Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter presidencies all rolled into one giant turd ball. At least the FBI managed to get through the arrests without shooting any unarmed women carrying infants or setting any children on fire. This time.

A couple health care-related stories: The British NHS is widely despised by those forced to suffer under it, and with good reason. Stories like this or worse are regular features of the British press and illustrate that there are some things that government can do, and many things that government should stay far away from. To be clear, we are not implementing anything like the NHS under Obamacare. At least, not yet. We seem determined to get there in some form or another, but not in this round of "reform." Instead, we are setting up health care to be a spoils system to be manipulated by the rich and influential. We see that already in just passing Obamacare (like the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase). Expect this to begin in earnest as unions, corporations and insurance companies begin the feeding frenzy. And keep in mind what happens to the grass when elephants fight. I see that at least some of our overlords are moving past arguing about who wins or loses and starting to look at the bigger question of what legal or constitutional authority gives the federal government the power to force me to do business with a private business? Again, this is not an academic question; it is a defining question.

And now it really is getting to be time for me to get moving for the day.

The Daily Mail

One of the dangers of the internet is not knowing which foreign-yet-still-English-language papers/web sites are rubbish. I don't recall ever linking to or quoting the Daily Mail....

"...enshrined in some little folder..."

Today started off at the po-lice officers' station getting a study in black and white of my fingerprints, which I sent off to Washington where they will undoubtedly be enshrined in some little folder. The IRS requires fingerprints as part of the ERO application process. I realize they may not want lowlifes and criminals doing tax returns, but I was a bit bemused given that I didn't have to submit fingerprints for my FFL application, but I do in order to submit e-filed returns for other people. In any case, the whole process had Alice's Restaurant running through my head all day. I almost started singin' a few bars while at the po-lice officers' station, but I managed to keep it to myself.

The big news of the day: Debbie's mom is finally home. I can only assume that Debbie is on her way back to New Hampshire. I don't have any word on what arrangements are being made for her in-home care, but just the fact that she's finally home instead of in the hospital is a huge deal for everyone.

On the non-news front, the CBO reports debt will rise due to health care reform, bank bail-outs, Social Security, Medicare, and other government largess. Nice to see someone who collects a government paycheck doesn't have their head completely shoved up their ass. Repeat: it is not possible to add $1 trillion to the budget and not increase the deficit without a massive increase in taxes on everyone. Unless the only thing you ever see is the inside of your own colon.

Meanwhile, US troops deaths rise in our little forgotten Forever War in the Middle East. I'm sure our soldiers appreciate being ignored except when we are cutting funding for VA hospitals. There is no possible way that can ever end badly.

That's all I can muster, mister. For some reason I could not sleep last night. I finally fell asleep about four hours before my alarm went off. Not good.

Michigan Pyrotechnics Arts Guild

First, why have I never heard of these guys before? Second, how do I join?

Words you don't want to hear when fireworks are being set off nearby:

"Oops."
"That's unfortunate."
"Oh shit."

There is also an impressive mushroom cloud about 7 minutes in that I don't think was intentional.

TGIF

This week seemed to go by fairly quickly, even though sitting alone in an empty office made the days feel like they would never end. I'm not entirely sure that makes any sense, but that's how it is. And it really isn't TGIF when you have to go in on Saturday. The upside is that I go in an hour later and only work a half-day. Debbie is supposed to be home Sunday, so I'll have to scrub and polish tomorrow afternoon and Sunday so she doesn't vomit in disgust when she walks in the door. The temperature is supposed to get up into the 60's, so at a minimum I can open the windows and air out the aftermath of an over-consumption of dairy products....

Current status on Debbie's mom as of this morning:

Mom had anoth­er uneve­ntful night­-- this morni­ng the neuro Dr was in early this morni­ng to check out her numb leg. (He apparently is the top neuro surge­on in the area!­) He belie­ves the probl­em is the nerve­s from the probl­em disks in her back. He said they could come back to life right away or in 1 month­s... no way to reall­y know. He did not have any sugge­stion­s for immed­iate help besid­es order­ing a "drop foot brace," but talke­d about being able to help her out after compl­etely recov­ered from the heart surge­ry. The brace will help to stabilize the foot and keep it from dragg­ing and her toes from bendi­ng backw­ards.

Her heart surge­on came in after 7a to check up on her. He didn'­t seem too conce­rned with her left leg bruis­ing and the pain Mom start­ed to compl­ain about last night. He said it looks fine. He talke­d to Mom about going to rehab for a coupl­e days befor­e being relea­sed, Mom decli­ned. Sherr­y said she would have 24hr suppo­rt at home to help out. He will proba­bly order home PT also. He said she MAY get relea­sed by the end of the weeke­nd. It will proba­bly all depen­d on her 1) walki­ng to check out how the heart does 2) getti­ng the oxyge­n level up -- she is still using the oxyge­n nodul­e -- breat­hing deepl­y and cough­ing like she needs to to try to clear up the lungs­.

Debbie had hoped to spend some time getting her mom settled into the house before she started the trek back to New Hampshire, but that isn't going to happen unless she extends her stay in Michigan. At least she was able to help bed-sit and spend some time with her mom.

Now that Apple has given tablet PC's a much-needed kick in the pants with the iPad, there is a lot of talk about the impact on print media. Pictory shows what an e-magazine would look like. Looking at it on my main system isn't perfect because my screen is oriented the wrong way, so by the time I zoom in enough to be able to read the text, the whole page isn't being displayed. But with a tablet rotated to portrait mode, it would be perfect. I would have no problem reading my National Geographic and Reason magazines like this. The difficulty would come when I was done reading them; both get passed around to friends and family. I know the publishers have wet dreams about eliminating what they consider theft-by-sharing (as well as theft-by-library, theft-by-used-book-store, theft-by-reading-aloud, etc.), but I, and last I checked, the US Supreme Court, consider my first-sale right to be as valid as the publishers' copyright. Call me old-fashioned.

I am very tempted to jump into e-books now that I can run the Kindle software on my PC without needing to plunk down $300 for a Kindle. My tower and 42" screen isn't very portable, but I could easily read books from the couch using my current setup. The number of free books alone could keep me busy for the rest of my life. If I had a Win7 tablet with a battery that would hold up for at least a day, I wouldn't be sitting here typing about being tempted; I'd be reading.

The health care reform debate/debacle has taken over the headlines here in the US, so there hasn't been much news about the PIGS' debt problems. That doesn't mean they've gone away:

Portugal's debt rating drops.
Greece "will default."

And speaking of sovereign debt problems, the US is having problems finding buyers for our trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. Go figure....

Bloomberg.com has an article on how over half of the people who get loan modifications default anyway. I'd consider being surprised by that is like being surprised by gravity, but that's not what I want to point out:

U.S. homeowners are struggling to make payments as depressed housing prices leave them owing more than their properties are worth.

Bullshit.

The ability to make your house payment has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you are underwater. You make payments on every other thing you buy on credit in spite of being "underwater." A new car loses 15-25% of it's value as soon as you sign the title papers, before you have driven it one single mile. And yet you make the payments just fine, assuming you didn't buy more car than you can afford. Every single thing you buy on a credit card is worth less (and sometimes worthless) by the time the bill shows up, yet you make your credit card payments without difficulty, assuming you haven't racked up more than you can afford. It's the same with a house; you are struggling with the payments because you bought more house than you can afford. It has nothing to do with being "underwater." Shame on you, Gittelsohn for writing bullshit, and shame on you, Bloomberg for publishing bullshit.

And on that pleasant note, I need to try to get some sleep.

Obama Math

Health Care Reform

I always get a funny feeling in my gut whenever a politician starts talking about reforming something; the same funny feeling I get whenever I've eaten food that has sat around too long. The promises are always the same: money will be saved, taxes will be lower, deficits will disappear. We will arrive in the Promised Land! Only it never works out that way. Now the federal government is wrapping its slimy tentacles around a sixth of the economy. Is it possible this won't be the train wreck that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and every other thing the federal government touches has turned out to be? Sure. And there really could be a Tooth Fairy (which has to be the creepiest of the lies we tell our children). But we will run the experiment. Again.

The primary effect will, of course, be a further expansion of the government workforce. The purpose of government is to increase government payrolls. If something else is accomplished in the process, well that's fine. But it isn't the primary purpose. The Iron Law is absolute, and this, or something as bad, was inevitable. Government is a one-way ratchet; always increasing, never decreasing. Even in the worst economy in decades, with state and federal revenues falling, no one is suggesting that maybe, perhaps, the public sector should imitate the private sector and make permanent reductions to the payrolls. The best we get are reductions in already-planned increases or in the most dire circumstances, temporary freezes.

The second effect will be a vast increase in taxes or the annual deficits. Or both. Logic and common sense says you cannot increase spending by $1 trillion a year and not increase taxes or deficits. To say otherwise is to reveal yourself as a moron (in the clinical sense) or a liar. They won't be called taxes, of course. They will be called "fees" or "fines," and, like we have found here in the Live Free or Die state, they will be worse than any straight-up tax could ever be. It begins with the Tanning Bed Tax today. Soon, everything you buy will have a hidden tax buried in the price, just like here in New Hampshire where every penny of the insanely-high corporate and real estate taxes comes out of shoppers' and renters' wallets. To pay for the vast increases in Medicaid, states will have to continue adding fees to every encounter you have with a government agency, voluntary or not. Expect higher vehicle registration fees, drivers license fees, library fees (like the $50/year fee for a library card at our "public" library), pet licenses, marriage licenses, etc., etc., etc. Some states will attempt to fight back, or at least do a lot of posturing. But eventually, they will roll over and piss themselves like the obedient, co-dependents they are, the minute some federal bureaucrat threatens their highway money. All of this falls disproportionately on the poor. Plus ça change....

It will be some time before we know the full impact of this bill. Many of the provisions don't kick in for years with the heaviest ones not taking effect until Obama is either safely into his second term, or on a beach somewhere enjoying his retirement from Messiah-hood. Much will be fleshed out deep in the bowels of some government building by unelected and unaccountable government drones slaving away toward their 20-and-out pension; the amorphous They that rule so much of our lives without us ever knowing about it. And like previous expansions of government, it will happen gradually over a generation with the economic effects masked behind a general lowering of living standards that will be blamed on whatever group is out of favor at the time, and aided by the long-term memory loss that has become a permanent part of American culture.

However, the big question I have has nothing to do with taxes, deficits, capitation, or death panels. It is simply this: where in the Constitution is there a right for me to demand money from you to pay for my medical care? This is no idle question; it is defining. This latest "historic moment" is by no means unique in this respect; the same question can be (and has been) asked of much of what the federal government does. The difference I see in the current instance is that the question isn't being glossed over with some tortured constitutional argument. It is simply being dismissed as more "tea-bagger nonsense" to be smirked at by the bi-coastal intelligentsia. This is new and should be of some concern, but it isn't.

As I have said repeatedly. We are on a road. The end of that road is knowable, and is in fact known. In theory, it isn't too late to begin turning the ship. We won't, of course.

Catching Up

I haven't done one of my long, pointless rambles in a while, so...

One thing I love about Britain is the dry humor. The story goes something like this: some rather dumb geeks claim that wearing hoods into public places such as government buildings is protected religious expression. In response to some very un-Jedi-like whinging, a corporate suit issues an awesome apology/take down:

"Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores," he said, "although we would ask them to remove their hoods." On that point, the company noted that Jones seemed a little unclear on his own mythology. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless [in public] without ever going over to the Dark Side," the spokesperson continued, "and we are only aware of the Emperor as one who never removed his hood." Impressive, but the final blow was still to come: "If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they'll miss lots of special offers."

I have a hard time imagining some corporate drone in the states having the guts, not to mention the imagination, to issue a statement like that.

Speaking of take-downs, here is a collection of "devastating" climate changes in the US over the last hundred years. If they fail to awe and terrify you with the ferocious changes in climate, you're not alone.

"What's the difference between General Motors and California? California hasn't gone bankrupt. At least, not yet"

Another Friday, another 7 banks. At least the trend to smaller banks seems to be holding up; only one of the seven had over a billion in deposits. Sure, a billion bucks is a lot of money, but it's chump change compared to the size of banks going down a year ago. This made me sit up, though:

The pace of bank seizures this year is likely to accelerate in coming months, regulators have said, as losses mount on loans made for commercial property and development.

Was that thump another shoe dropping?

At least someone is showing some common sense in all these sexting cases. Too bad it's too late for the teens that have had their entire lives destroyed by over-zealous prosecutors. And I'm still trying to figure out by what definition that clothing that is routinely worn in public constitutes "partial nudity." Maybe they should wear socks with their bikinis so their ankles are covered....

And I should write something about health care "reform" but I think I will wait on that for another time.

One Guy Gets It

We have chosen a direction; that direction matters more than the details of any particular bill. The majority of the country seems opposed to that direction, but we're just a bunch of red-necked, Fox-watching, fly-over-country bumpkins that need to be told what is good for us by our masters.

They Did It

Well, Hope-n-Change got his way. Remember the third Chinese curse; "May you find what you are looking for." November will be interesting. November 2012 even more so. I'm still not clear exactly what passed (and neither is anyone who voted for it), but at least it looks like it was a straight vote on the Senate bill, not some un-constitutional parlimentary trick. The "fix" bill looks to be an even bigger fight than the bill itself, so we may as well plan on living with the Senate bill. And I still want to know how a $1 trillion bill reduces the deficit. My remedial math skills must be slipping. Or at least somebody's remedial math skills are.

We are getting the government we voted for, and we are getting it good and hard.

Debbie is in Michigan with her mom. I just got a call from her; she was just getting to the house after spending the night at the hospital. Her mom has still not slept more than a few minutes at a time, which is starting to concern everyone. Physically, she is doing fine and is pretty much where she ought to be. She is able to move around and has been getting out of bed routinely. There were rumors that she will be moved back to CCU where they hope to get her on a routine schedule that includes sleeping at night. Her last stay there didn't go so well, but maybe this time will be different.

Work is completely dead. Which explains why I'm doing this from work. I have a couple returns on hold that need to be followed up on and one or both may even get sent through. I have another return that was completed weeks ago and has been sitting here waiting for the wife to "have time" to sign the damn thing. People need to figure out the difference between being important and lacking basic time management skills.

I'll probably post more after work, unless I decide to start another geeky movie marathon.

Best! Typo! Evaaaar!!!

My inner 12-year-old is rolling on the floor:


Large Hardon Collider
Originally uploaded by Skepchick

On My Own

Debbie just headed off for Michigan, leaving me here to my own devices. Scary, really. Having a job will force me to at least pay minimal attention to hygiene, but it could still get ugly by the time she gets back. Her plan is to drive half-way today, spend the night in Batavia, NY, then make the rest of the trip Sunday. She will be in Michigan all next week to be with her mom when she gets released from the hospital, then heading back next Saturday and Sunday. She's driving because a) air fare could only be described as "You're a fracking idiot if you think I'm paying that much to fly less than 900 miles," and b) getting to and from the closest thing to an airport here in the colonies is a pain for us, and getting herself to and from the airport in Michigan would have been a pain for someone else. So she is driving the 800 miles. Most of it is on the turnpike, so it's an easy trip, but I'm still not real sure this is a good idea.

Since the last time I posted anything, her mom has been moved out of the surgical ICU to the CCU, had some problems with hemoglobin and oxygen levels, and is now back in SICU. It's mostly to keep closer watch on things and to be more proactive with her breathing treatments, pain medications, etc. As of a couple hours ago, the hemoglobin problem was fixed by topping her off with a couple pints, oxygen levels are back up, pain is under control, and she even did some walking in place. They will likely be keeping her in the hospital for a bit longer than anticipated as yesterday ended up being mostly a lost day in terms of recovery. The downside of the SICU is the limited visitation and no phone calls, but at least she is back on track.

And to celebrate my bachelorhood, I am guzzling down some Diet Coke while totally jamming to some serious Emerald Web. It is off da hook up in here, dawg!! Dis boy knows how to par-TEY! Later, I might even watch all the Star Trek movies and eat mac&cheese with our last two Koegel hot dogs cut up in it! Woohoo!

(sigh)

I have a bunch of links on Washington DC's attempt to destroy our health care system, but I think I'm going to hold off and see what happens tomorrow. Besides, I gotta get going on that double-batch of mac&cheese!

The Great Reneger

No comment; none whatsoever.

Truly Strange

What happens when you combine a lyrebird (a mimic) with zoo construction and a bit of monkey thrown into the avian improv? Behold, Chook the Lyrebird:

And the Hits Keep Comin'

Completely random collection of stuff I found while being bored out of my mind at work (not a single client all day). May as well start with this:



I don't know how effective they are in combat, but Parachuting Dogs would be an awesome name for a band.

Speaking of dogs, new DNA research has narrowed in on where dogs were domesticated. It makes sense that dogs were first domesticated from wolves in the same area that other animals were. The whole co-evolution of humans and dogs is fascinating to me; turning a predator into a defender seems so unlikely. And how has having dogs around effected us? What would our social structures look like today without the influence of our four-legged companions?

Expect to see more major chains refusing Medicaid patients. Then you can expect some sort of attempt to make accepting Medicaid patients a requirement to obtain or keep a license. Of course Obamacare will fix all that by magic. Don't believe it? Consider this: there must be some powerful juju in that bill for it to reduce the deficit while simultaneously spending a trillion dollars. I can feel myself filling with hope just thinking about it. (gag)

Another state uses interest free loans from its taxpayer/subjects to balance its budget. I don't think the bureaucrats coming up with this stuff understand how much it damages their legitimacy to govern. And now the courts have decided there is nothing wrong with the state putting people on sex offender registries that are not, in fact, sex offenders. I believe our overlords have gone completely mad.

And that's probably enough of that. I'll probably have even more tomorrow if business stays as bad as it has been over the last few days.

My Morning Laugh

What is so funny is that anyone who has had a run-in with a typical lefty, PriusPrick immediately relates to the conclusions of the study Do Green Products Make Us Better People. The short answer is, "No." The slightly longer answer is:

According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the “licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour”, otherwise known as “moral balancing” or “compensatory ethics”.

Ah yes; that just made my day.

The End is in Sight

The end of tax season is in sight. At least I can see the row for April 15 on my spreadsheet I use to track the number of returns we complete each day. Today we may as well have been closed; in fact, we haven't completed a single return since around 11am yesterday. I think the schools are closed again (I don't recall have several week-long vacations when I was in school...), which means a lot of people are likely out of town. But it sure makes for a looooong day. You can only watch so many videos of guys doing stupid things that end with them getting smacked in the nads before your brain turns to mush.

Debbie's mom is still doing well. She is off all blood pressure meds and is down to just the "nose hole tubes" for oxygen. She was able to get out of bed and sit in a chair for short bits today. They are keeping her in the surgical ICU for at least one more day before moving her to a regular room, so it's still no visitors and no phone calls for a while longer. But you can keep yourself updated and leave her messages here.

I see the Democratic leadership is determined to create a constitutional crisis. I guess "we won" means that a handful of people can run the country like a private fief. I repeat: this will not end well. More on why this is a bad idea from KipEsquire.

The price of "green" power, which will fall hardest on those who can least afford it. Anyone who thinks the higher rates charged to business and industry won't be reflected in the price of everything is as big a fool as those who think "green" power is.

I think I'll do a bit of reading, then hit the sack.

Mom Update

Most important thing for today is that Debbie's mom has come through her open-heart surgery. The doctors say everything is as it should be. They will be keeping her in the surgery ICU for a bit and if all goes well, she will be released in four or five days. If anyone wants to keep up to date, go here and click on "Request invitation to a page." A number of people are working to keep that as current as possible.

Work for both of us is more or less a distraction with everything else going on. My office seems to be busier now during the "slow" part of tax season that it was during the "busy" part. Everyone is settling into their roles and it's all just starting to click now that it's almost over. I sure have a knack for picking a career. Debbie's work is staying steady; the store here seems to have much better traffic than her last one. We'll see if that holds up over the summer.

A couple tax-related stories: The IRS sends a couple goons to harass a guy over four cents ($202.31 with penalty and interest). Stories of IRS agents kicking in doors and generally acting like TV gangsters used to be common; then the IRS when through some serious reforms. I hope this doesn't mean the bad ol' days are coming back.

States are so broke, some are delaying tax refunds. So if I don't have the money to pay my taxes to the government, that's a crime. But when the government is so mismanaged that it can't pay its bills, then that's just tough crap for everyone else. I guess when you have a monopoly on force, you can pretty much do as you please.

Remember Al Gore's "lock box" and all those predictions about when or even whether Social Security was going to run out of money? Well, guess what? The answer to "whether" is yes it is, and the answer to "when" is 2010. Trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see....

Fred Reed is up to his usual with a new essay on race relations in the United States:

Racism is in bad odor among the virtuous. I wonder why. At least, I wonder why any discussion of race is thought to be racism. The United States faces grave racial problems—more accurately, has them but doesn’t face them. Refusal to acknowledge their existence is not productive: Few problems are solved by forbidding their mention. The question should not be whether views are racist, but whether they are wrong....

...It gives me no pleasure and little hope to hear that black schools regularly produce functional illiterates, that the schools of Detroit and of the nation’s capital and for that matter of wherever blacks predominate are disasters, that savage beatings of whites by gangs of blacks are common and hidden by the media. That these things happen is of no advantage to me. I would be delighted to see blacks and Hispanics excelling academically. I would like to walk the streets of American cities without carefully noting pigmentation, which we all do and pretend we don’t....

I recently had a rather heated Facebook discussion on race. I dropped the issue as it was on someone else's wall, but all I said was that hate crime laws are mostly crap because a) they require a jury to be mind-readers, b) a crime is a crime; the "why" is, in my view, relatively unimportant, and c) white straight males seems to be the only ones capable of them; black gangs killing whites are never charged with a hate crime, or if they are, the media very carefully and intentionally covers it up. I was immediately tagged as a horrible human being. (shrug) Probably, but entirely beside the point. And it's the same regardless of the topic. Washington DC's schools suck and are locked in a battle to the bottom with Detroit. Not that they're all that much worse than a certain all-white northern Michigan school district I could name, when measured by test scores, drop-out rates, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol use, etc. But the mere mention that it may be counter-productive for Detroit to routinely graduate illiterates and you're a racist; everyone knows that Detroit's problems are the fault of all those white folk who fled to the suburbs after the '67 riots. Same with crime: Next time the subject comes up, point out that the leading cause of death among blacks age 16-25 is blacks age 16-25 and see how long it takes for someone to label you a hater, then go on at length how even if true, it's all your fault. Whatever.

And something else to worry about; stem rust is back. The Dark Horse has been the constant companion for all of human history. The Green Revolution wounded him, but most certainly did not kill him.

On that cheery note, I need to go find a snack.

Surgery scheduled

Mom's heart surgeon got back in town and up to see her this afternoon. He decided to schedule the surgery for Monday morning (730a) -- she will be having a triple bypass and aortic valve replacement.

Please keep her in your prayers.