A Boy Thing

A kid who knows what team he's on Click for Areolae ... and a girl who works for that same team, evidently  (roll over)

The Way We Live Now

At The Cinema                            The Way We Live Now I just watched the fifth and final episode of The Way We Live Now.  I will recommend this Victorian period piece to the gentleman with these words: Harry Flashman gets his comeuppance, but then, maybe not so much. And for the lady -  Affairs of the heart, intrigue, & other girl stuff .

The English Language In 24 Accents

The English Language In 24 Accents NSFW F-words. But impressive skill

Spielberg's red dress - phooey

Steven Spielberg Behind Obama's Failed Bain Capital Attack Michael Barone is correct, Obama really needs to stop taking advice from wealthy, limousine liberals. If you were looking for advice on how tell a story that would impact millions upon millions of people, would you go to a director whose last four films were "War Horse," "The Adventures of Tintin," Indiana Jones 4," and "Munich?" Nope. But Team Obama did, and what they got in return was a continuation of the ongoing Spielberg flop-streak:     At DreamWorks Studios, Steven Spielberg spent three hours explaining how to capture an audience’s attention and offered a number of ideas that will be rolled out before Election Day. An early example of Spielberg’s influence is RomneyEconomics.com, a website designed by the Obama team to tell the story—a horror story, by their reckoning—of Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital. Afterward, Spielberg insisted that Messina sit down with the DreamWorks marketing team. Hollywood movie studios are expert, as presidential campaigns also must be, at spending huge sums over a few weeks to reach and motivate millions of Americans. What I find especially funny is that the film business, including, obviously, the failing venture that is DreamWorks, has been a quivering tower of risky financing, corporate welfare, and shady investment for decades now. Spielberg's indignation of over Bain Capital is like water's indignation over wet. [Full] Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC My comment is embedded behind the text

Hooker's Pledge

From The Barn Army's John Phillip Sousa - James Hooker

The Pledge from James Hooker on Vimeo. Adapted, written and performed by James Hooker.

Death of a Skillet

TECHNO THRILLS                       Death of a skillet You crack me up This skillet may have been one my granny brought over from England in 1914, or so.  It was definitely the skillet my mom would have used to make my dad's last breakfast before he shipped off for France in Jan 1945.  It is my absolute favorite,  better than any of the designer pans I've collected over the years.  Properly season it cleans up like Teflon, heats evenly and holds the heat.  It takes a manly wrist to flip flap jacks, but you can. It took me, then, just 30 minutes to order this.  I didn't think it was possible to abuse an iron skillet like this, but ... . I was making pancakes on the  induction cooktop (discussed here), and heard a pop!  Didn't notice anything,except every pancake was burned on one particular area.  When I look closely I could see a red hot spot moving across the pan as it continued cracking.  Horry Clap!  What evidently happened is we got a new stove top, which center burner (22,000 BTU) carried a warning that it could melt porcelain. Blah-blah- blah. One of the first things I noticed is that oil was collecting under that burner, leaving nasty carbon spots that were the devil to clean.  I took special care not spill oil, but the problem persisted.  Where was that oil coming from!!?  I told MoSup that it had to be oil soaked into the pan over those many years.  The seasoning that me it so easy to use and clean.  I was right.  So, when I put it on the induction cooktop, at a setting of "6" (highest), while I got my stuff together, the last ounce of life was evidently drained from her. I'm keeping the old one to use as a backstop,  so I can target practice with my S&W .22 from my La-Z-Boy.

Can you pass this test- if it was updated?

WHAT GUMMINT DO          West Virginia Diploma Test - 1931 Jodi Lou sent me this 1931 West Virginia Elementary School Diploma Test.  You can download the entire thing (,pdf) HERE.  Of course it will elicit the usual comparisons between then and now; the older you are the harsher the comparison.  But, this is what struck me the most.  Look at the Geography section.  The emphasis on the local economy and West Virginia itself hearkens back to a time when people saw themselves as citizens of their state first, and Americans second.  When Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Army of the Potomac in 1861,  the Virginian rejected the command  on the day after Virginia seceded.   It was with Virgina, he felt, that his sacred honor dictated he must follow.  And what a wonderful notion it was, federalism.  It meant that if the state you lived in wasn't being governed to your satisfaction, you could vote with your feet and move to another. It was what the framers anticipated. All that ended with the election of FDR in 1932. Yes, you can still  vote with your feet, but to little avail, since the Federals and their courts dictate what the states may, or may not do.    We have chained ourselves to a central government, so that today we are reduced to debating  passage of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s  “21st Century WPA Act” to reinstate the FDR's New Deal employment program.  Laut's estimated cost  —   through 2013?  — $250 billion!   I am positive Lautenberg would have failed this West Virginia test. Here a 1910 test from Washington state.