The Letter F

For many of the most finest and most fantastic and fun things in life for a fellow, it is notable that the the letter -F -plays a fairly important part. None of these things need be feared, but it must be faced that some are not for the faint hearted.

Fair weather flying
Food, figs, and fish filets from full flavored flounder
Fast and forward floozies wearing filmy tops
Fidelity & fondness
Federico Fellini, film, and fine art
Fitness
Friendly fury felines
Forests
Flea markets
Flower power and flute music
Favorable sharp focusing lenses
Forget-me-not flowers
Formidable fox terriers
Fortuitous events forecasted by fortune cookies
Formula 1 racing and four wheeling
Fragile fragrances from farmer’s daughters
Freedom
Free lunches of French bread, freedom fries, fudge, fresh fruit, fruit cake, fudge, and fast food
Funky and funny friends
Frisky fillies and freestyle dressage
Frivolity and fooling around
Finding females, fondling forbidden fruit, fornicating, felatio, fingering, and fucking
Flatulance, frequently referred to as furious foul farting
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Hook & Loop Tape

Hook and loop tape is the generic name for Velcro. Neither Velcro nor Tang were invented thanks to the manned space flight program of NASA. They both already existed and were simply popularized by the space program.

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I was playing around this morning and decided to try taking a heavy duty closeup (macro) of some Velcro. Neat stuff.

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Velcro and duct tape are the best inventions since concrete lined irrigation ditches. Well, maybe we should include wire ties and cell phones too.

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Real Friends

I just read an interview of Jay Leno in the latest Rolling Stone magazine. He is a really down-to-earth guy, and I respect him a lot. One of the things he talked about is "friends."

Like Mr. Leno, I have a lot of acquaintances. Not as many as him, but after working in high profile positions in business for 20 years here in America and then another 15 years in Europe, I know a lot of people. Thousands of people, really. Lots of people in El Paso, Texas, New Iberia, Louisiana, and Kerkrade, The Netherlands know who I am, even though I have never met them and I have no idea at all who they are.

But I don’t have that many close friends. It used to take almost both hands to count them, and now that I am getting older, I can easily count my real friends with the fingers of one hand.

In the article Leno describes the best way to know who your true friends are: When they willingly offer to give you a ride to the airport. Only genuine friends will do this. When the ride is 88 miles (143 km) one way from Kerkrade in The Netherlands, to Zaventem and the Brussels National Airport Belgium this certainly is just about as close as you can get without being blood brothers.
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Containing Health Care Costs

I just got finished reading the article in The New Yorker magazine dated 1 June 2009 called: Annals Of Medicine, The Cost Conundrum. The article is subtitled, What a Texas town can teach us about health care.

This is an excellent article which should be required reading for all legislators, doctors, insurance company executives, and patients in America. And even though The New Yorker is a national magazine, throughout the article it shows how McAllen, Texas is doing it wrong and how El Paso, Texas is doing things right.

On another issue Barack Obama turns out to be right. The big issue is not a private versus a public system, or universal access. The real issue is cost containment. Taking greed out of the health care system and making it be patient oriented.

Honest, you really need to read this article!

LINK: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all
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This is a response from a friend of mine who lives in Europe:

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Very good article.

In the states medicine is just big business. In the UK where the system is national health care the cost to the state is 9% as opposed to almost 20% in the states.

Part of their moderate success is prioritising who gets treated.

If you are over 65 and do not contribute to society in any way the treatment is slower.
If you smoke or are fat you don't get an operation.
Unnecessary testing is kept to a minimum

In most of Europe and Japan Doctors get respect and a salary that averages $4,000 per month. It is profession to treat the ill, not get rich. Naturally, specialists get more but not that much more.
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-LINK:Lhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/opinion/05krugman.html?_r=1&em
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Nighttime Leg Cramps

One of the many symptoms that some people experience while going through late stage leukemia is severe leg cramping at night. There are those who say that leg cramping is associated with dehydration, or a calcium deficiency which taking a Tums or two at night will help.

Last night I drank four large mugs of water over the course of the night. I ate two Tums just before going to sleep, and then another one around midnight. Even so I was awakened by a severe leg cramp in my calf around 4:30 a.m.

For me the only way to stop this leg cramping is to stand up on the leg. But of course for the first few seconds when one tries to stand on the leg it is sort of like having one’s foot asleep. You have to apply full pressure slowly, gradually over the course of a few seconds.

I can imagine how strange all this must appear to my little doggie. While sound asleep I let out a shrieking little-girly type of scream from being in such intense pain. Then I very hastily throw the covers off me and jump out of bed in the dark without my glasses on. Keep in mind that I am still barely awake, and that only one leg is functioning.

Actually I think it would make a pretty good comedy sketch watching a fat old man jump around in the dark with only his underwear on, half blind and half asleep, with only one leg working, and still moaning in pain.

My dignified and loyal little dog would be watching me and thinking to himself, “Hey Dude, just what in the hell is going on here?” LOL.

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Rule-Of-Law

Respect for the concept of Rule Of Law is one of the primary indicators of an advanced civilization.

Look at the rampant corruption in Mexico. It is a part of the culture down to the most basic level. Everyone in Mexico participates in it. And because of this open lack of respect for the Rule Of Law, Mexico is well on its way to becoming a failed state.

Democracy means that after the voting is over there is a peaceful succession to the next leader with no rioting or looting. There is no way this can be effectively enforced from the top down by law enforcement personnel. It has to come from the bottom up. A basic acceptance and support by the general populace that everyone should follow the country’s laws and regulations.

Rule Of Law means that everyone must have a valid driver’s license, and liability insurance in force if they are going to drive a motor vehicle. It also means that all drivers agree to pay the required fees to keep their vehicle registration and safety inspection certificates current. Finding ways to slip around and not pay your taxes, or intentionally running red lights and trying to evade automated traffic cameras clearly shows a gross disrespect for the concept of Rule Of Law.

It implies that everyone else should follow these rules, but that “I am so important and special that I stand far above all these silly rules.”

Legislators certainly play a part in this. Their passing of laws with which the vast majority of the populace do not agree, actually encourages open disrespect for the idea of rule of law. Some examples are the laws prohibiting the possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages during the historical period of the nation which is now referred to as “prohibition.”

The now defunct 55 mph (88 km/hr) speed limit on Interstate highways is another example. This was a very poorly thought out attempt to encourage conservation and reduce the country’s dependence of foreign oil. A far more intelligent approach to this problem is the way that other countries have dealt with it. Simply impose high taxes on motor fuels like gasoline and diesel. Maybe even several dollars per gallon. This is a vastly more effective way of encouraging energy conservation. The government can also impose large taxes on buying a gas guzzler and tax credits for people who buy a socially responsible car which gets good fuel economy. The same applies to the annual registration and licensing fees. Wasteful cars pay much higher annual fees than those vehicles which are more socially responsible.

The additional taxes also mean that the government now has adequate revenue to implement things like universal health care.

Another way to make enforcement of generally accepted traffic laws work effectively is to make the traffic fines be variable, based upon one’s ability to pay. For example, in the country that I lived and worked in for 15 years, if you are caught driving faster than 100 mph (160 km/hr), the fine is that you forfeit your car. The government now owns your car. This makes the fine appropriate whether you can afford to drive a 15 year old BMW which is worth $1,500- or a brand new 911 Porsche or Ferrari which cost well over $100,000-.

I don’t completely agree with this, but some people would say that the way America sends people to jail for possession of small amounts of marijuana falls into the same category.

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Sonia Sotomayor

The Washington Post has a good article today which starts out by saying, “President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, is a proud and accomplished Latina.
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This fact apparently drives some prominent Republicans to a state resembling incoherent, sputtering rage.”
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Can't you just see those fat, old, white, racist, male Republicans with their red noses just about coming unglued over this?

LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/28/AR2009052803627.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

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Mortgage Foreclosures in America

According to an AP story published today “a record 12 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are behind on their payments or in foreclosure as the housing crisis spreads to borrowers with good credit. And the wave of foreclosures isn't expected to crest until the end of next year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.

The foreclosure rate on prime fixed-rate loans doubled in the last year, and now represents the largest share of new foreclosures. Nearly 6 percent of fixed-rate mortgages to borrowers with good credit were in the foreclosure process.”

This same article reports that “almost half of all adjustable-rate loans made to borrowers with shaky credit were past due or in foreclosure.”

These numbers are hard to fathom. This is earth shaking to the people who believed in the American Dream. Really!
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A Mountain Top Experience

A wonderful and moving operatic video called Mountain Top Experience performed in 2009 by the famous Uruguayan-American tenor Gaston Rivero, who has sung at Carnegie Hall in New York City, has been published on You Tube.

He is singing Lamento di Frederico from L'Arlesiana by Francesco Cilea, with Douglas Martin's amazing accompaniment on the piano. Gaston Rivero has sung in the El Paso/Juarez area.

I am honored to have been chosen to provide some of the mountain pictures for this amazing video.

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQYiav9X-Uk

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http://www.gastonrivero.com/

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General Motors

In the 1970’s OPEC began feeling their oats, and they caused a worldwide oil shortage. After this all settled down many reasonable people began moving towards owning cars which got better fuel economy. I already was driving a Toyota when this crisis occured.

Toyota in particular gained fame as a manufacturer of cars which were the very best in reliability and which also got good fuel economy.

In business which companies succeed and which go bust are normally based upon who makes the most mistakes. Lots of businesses are ruled by bozos who make incredibly bad decisions, but they manage to limp on anyway. As long as times are good.

But when more difficult times come around, these poorly run companies are usually the first ones to fail.

The employees of GM didn’t cause this collapse. Neither did their labor unions. The demise of General Motors clearly is due to a long series of bad decisions by top management going back 40 to 50 years. What a pity.

The kindest thing I can say about the top management at GM is: I hope these bastards rot in hell and suffer horribly. But I know better. The top guys have plenty of money socked away in hidden places. The people who will suffer the most are the loyal workers. This is a travesty.
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Who Reads This Blog?

Almost exactly 1/3 of the visitors to this blog are not in the United States of America.
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I cannot tell exactly who is reading this blog, but I do have software which allows me to keep track of where they are located. Sometimes just their country or city, but often it will go clear down to the street level. A bit scary really. No doubt this means that if they wanted to the CIA, NSA, KGB, FBI, and the Chinese all are quite capable of viewing exactly every web site that I visit and probably even every key stroke I make.
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Outside of the USA the most visitors come from the UK and Canada, but with Germany, Holland, Australia, France, and Italy not very far behind. Next comes India, Belgium, Sweden, Mexico, Korea, and Spain. Overall a very nice combination of guests.
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I would like to welcome and thank everyone who drops by!
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Dr. Terry Hamblin

I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have known Dr. Terry Hamblin. I met him a couple of years after I was diagnosed with cancer. I was living in continental Europe at the time, so it wasn’t that difficult to fly over to southern England to meet him. He was kind enough to run a series of the very most high tech blood tests on me including testing various specific genes and their mutational status. He would not allow me to pay him for his work, I only paid a token amount for the lab work done by the third party laboratory he uses.

Besides discussing leukemia we also discussed various political and ethical issues. Then he acted as sort of a tour guide, recommending various neat places to see while I was in Dorset. It is a truly wonderful place. I would highly recommend a trip to southern England to anyone.

He is now semi-retired, and he is currently suffering through several rounds of painful and aggressive chemotherapy trying to cure a type of abdominal cancer. A great many people in all parts of the planet wish him well, and I consider myself honored to be among that group of people.

Dr. Hamblin spent most of his professional career studying a type of malignant cancer or lymphoma known as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). He is still regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and top experts in the disease worldwide.

He also is a charming, brilliant, and funny guy. He is a very ethical man who fits right in with all people. From the lowest and most uneducated members of society, to royalty and the top elites.

Today I was reading one of the many professional papers he has written on CLL over the course of his career. Google scholar allows one to search for articles written by a particular scholar, and this link should get you to much of his published work. You might be asked to type in his name as a search criteria: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q="author:T.%20J.+author:Hamblin"

Dr. Hamblin started a blog called Mutations Of Mortality a few years ago, which is generally a true pleasure to read: http://mutated-unmuated.blogspot.com/

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Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely

This is a quotation from John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902), of the UK. The historian and moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887:

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

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I sure hope this doesn't happen to President Obama.

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The American Way

Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the United States of America, this is how the American dream works.

If you get really sick, like with leukemia, the chances are quite good that you will eventually lose your job. You employer will trump up some other kind of charges in order to get rid of you, but it will really be so that they won’t have to suffer the financial expenses of your illness.

When you do get sick, there is no way possibly that most people can afford health insurance. And even if you did have a pot of gold hidden somewhere, the health insurance companies consider someone who has leukemia to be uninsurable.

All flag waving, patriotic Americans understand this. Anyone who questions this is obviously suspect, probably some kind of foreigner, or maybe a pinko commie intellectual who reads books and believes in left wing things like socialized medicine.

In America only the strong survive. It is kind of like what Charles Darwin talked about, except of course we are taught not to believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Our political leaders like Ronald Rayguns, George Bush I & II, and Rush Limbaugh have taught us that things work out the way they do because of intelligent design. Whatever happens is just God’s will, so one should accept it with good grace and not complain. All that complaining just bums other people out.
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Driving Through Paris in a Ferrari Going REEEEALLY FAST

A friend of mine sent me a YouTube video which is truly incredible.

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I have been to Paris about fifteen times…maybe twenty. I’ve kind of lost track. Most of my travel through Paris has been on foot or by French Taxi, but five or six times I drove my own car there. The first time I drove my own car in Paris was in 1973 when I was living in Frankfurt, and the last time was in 2006 when I lived in the Netherlands. I've seen these sights in Paris many times, but never at this speed.

On an August morning in 1978, the French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 driver, go through the heart of Paris early in the morning really, really fast.

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For technical reasons the film was limited to ten minutes. The course driven was from Porte Dauphine, then southeast on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées past the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre museum, then turning north and finally ending up at the Sacré-Cœur Basilica up on the Butte in Montmartre, which is the highest point in Paris.

No streets were closed because Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit.

The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 mph (225 km/hr) in some stretches. The footage shows him running lots of red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up one-way streets.

Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and the film went underground. If you haven't seen this before you will enjoy it. It is a classic.


LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqHrCLt3Geo

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NOTE: Recent claims by the director himself suggest that he may have driven his own Mercedes 450SEL in the film and afterwards dubbed in the sound effects of a Ferrari 275GTB. Or even that he may have been travelling MUCH slower and just speeded up the playback. There is a bit of controversy surrounding this, but to me it really doesn't matter. The kind of car that was used is almost irrelevant, and for certain this guy was going way too fast for safety. What a masterful piece of driving. It was risky, selfish, and egotistical luncacy for sure. The person who was was driving showed callous disregard for the safety of others around him which is unforgivable. But anyone who has actually driven the streets of Paris knows that this was a once-in-a-lifetime, totally amazing ride. Breathtaking and awesome, FOR SURE!
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Newspapers

While other cities around the world are rapidly losing their daily newspapers El Paso, Texas has a successful and growing on line paper called the Newspaper Tree.

Getting one’s news from the internet is clearly the trend. Printed newspapers are going bankrupt all over the country. Whether the paper is printed or on line is not the important issue.

If the country loses most of its competent and ethical journalists who cover local and regional stories, and especially if the country loses its investigative journalists, our democracy will be severely weakened.

LINK: http://www.newspapertree.com/opinion/3860-letters-obama-health-care-and-torture

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Judge Sonia Sotomayor

President Obama has chosen Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the next justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

She was first appointed to the bench by President George Bush the First, and was later given a nice promotion by President Bill Clinton.

An excellent choice Barack! Good going.
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The Long Hot Summer

The Long Hot Summer is a movie which was released way back in 1958, but even so it is really very enjoyable today. The film is based on stories by William Faulkner, primarily "The Hamlet."

When watching many old movies the cars are what dates the movie, and here there are plenty cars from that era including a ’56 Chevy, a Jeep, and a classic Mercury rag top which accurately date it. Some famous actors play in it, including Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Wells, and Angela Lansbury. It was entered into the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, where Paul Newman won the award for Best Actor.

I watched this movie on DVD last night. Fifty one years later I recommend this movie highly. Really. It is not just a classic, it is also fun to watch.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the plot:

“Ben Quick (Paul Newman) hitches a ride to Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, from Clara (Joanne Woodward) and Eula Varner (Lee Remick). Clara's father and Eula's father-in-law is Will Varner (Orson Welles), the domineering owner of most of the town. Will sees in the brash newcomer a younger version of himself, ruthless and ambitious. These qualities are, in Will's opinion, sadly lacking in his only son Jody (Anthony Franciosa).
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He is also disappointed with his schoolteacher daughter. Clara's boyfriend, genteel Southern blue blood Alan Stewart (Richard Anderson), is a mama's boy, not the kind of son-in-law Will wants. He schemes to push his daughter and Ben together, to try to bring fresh, virile blood into the family. She, however, is (seemingly) unimpressed with the crude, if magnetic upstart. He at first is attracted by the wealth Will offers, but eventually comes to see something in her beyond that.
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Meanwhile, widower Will's longtime mistress, Minnie Littlejohn (Angela Lansbury), is dissatisfied with her situation. All these strained relationships come to a boil during the long, hot summer.
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Jody becomes increasingly alarmed when he sees his position in the family being undermined. Ben is first made a fellow clerk in the general store, then invited to live in the family mansion. When Jody finds Ben alone, he pulls a gun on him and tells him his body will be found downstream, but Ben talks his way out. He tells Jody about buried Civil War-era treasure he has found on some property that Will gave him, a down payment to seal their bargain over Clara. When the two men find a bag of coins, Jody is elated, thinking he might finally get out from under his father's thumb. He buys the land from Ben. Late that night, Will finds his son, still digging. After examining one of the coins, he notices that it was minted in 1910. Jody is crushed. When he later finds his father alone in their barn, he bolts the entrance and sets it on fire. However, he cannot go through with it and lets Will out. The incident brings about a reconciliation.
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Meanwhile, the fire causes trouble for Ben, who has been smeared with the reputation of his barn-burning father. Some men assume he is the culprit and start toward him with a rope. Clara drives up and rescues him. Will later claims responsibility for accidentally starting the fire.
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The smells bring back bad memories for Ben. He tells Clara how, at the age of ten, he had to sound the warning against his father as he was about to set another fire. Out of gratitude for her saving his life, he tells her he is leaving. However, she has other plans for him, much to her father's delight.”
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Nuclear Proliferation

Condemnation by the U.N. for detonating another nuclear bomb is basically zero disincentive for North Korea. The U.N. nuclear watchdogs have been watching Iran for years. Lots of resolutions have been passed, but Iran just shrugs its shoulders and says, “So What? Get out of here.”

We need to face up to the idea that rampant nuclear proliferation is the future we are most likely to see.

If some lunatic in North Korea uses the atom bomb against Japan or South Korea, what will the civilized, advanced countries of the world do? Pass more U.N. resolutions?

What if some religious zealot in Iran uses the atom bomb against Israel? Or what if the government in Pakistan loses control of their weapons, and some different shade of religious zealots use them to kill millions in India?

Are we really prepared to kill millions of civilians by bombing them back?

Thinking that the U.N. can sanction countries like Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran into giving up their quest for nuclear weapons is unfortunately unrealistic and very naïve. I don’t know what the answer is. Honestly, there might not be an answer or an outcome that we like. Mankind is inherently aggressive and warlike. That innate aggressiveness coupled with a massive brain is what got us this far…and it may also be responsible for our extinction in the not too distant future.
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The planet is rapidly losing its ice cover at the poles and from the high altitude glaciers. Toxic amounts of industrial chemicals are now found in the breast milk of mammals in the far distant wilderness. We are already witnessing the largest extinction of plants and animals since the time of the dinosaurs. China, India, and the USA don’t intend to do much at all to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.
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I’m just glad that I’m 60 years old, and that I have leukemia. Every morning when I wake up and I am still alive, I am a bit surprised. I am just so grateful that I am not in my teens or early 20’s.

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Choose Your Battles Carefully

If I were an adviser to Obama or one of his close confidants, here is what I would tell him. Choose Your Fights Carefully.

One hundred years from now the Muslims and the Arabs will still hate the Jews. Do what you can to help, for sure, but realize that no matter what you do this problem is not going to be solved during your time as President. The same goes for the warlords in Pakistan and Afghanistan, achieving world peace, stopping nuclear proliferation, ending corruption in Mexico, and putting an end to poverty in America.

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You should only give it your all when there is at least some remote chance that you might actually succeed. Single payer, universal coverage health care falls into this category.

If you marshal your forces carefully, the time is right. You might actually have a chance of wining this battle. And if you do, millions of people who currently cannot go to a doctor would have that opportunity. This would be a massive and truly meaningful success. This would save more lives than anything the American military can possibly accomplish with bombs and guns. You could go down in American history as more important than FDR…or at least in the same league as him and Lincoln.

In the twenty-first century health care is no longer considered to be a privilege that only the wealthy and powerful landowners deserve. It is now almost universally accepted that it is a basic human right which even the serfs and field slaves should have. But you appear to be distancing yourself from universal health care, instead you are only calling for extremely minor reforms. Like implementing computerized record keeping. This is demeaning, condescending, pompus, and shameful. Barack, just how stupid do you think the American people are?

Don’t forget where you came from. You are just a skinny, half white, half immigrant lawyer from a single parent family who plays pretty good basketball. And who still smokes cigarettes behind closed doors in the closet.

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Many people thought that you were the right man in the right place at this moment in history. As much as anything you were elected because you had the very most liberal voting record of anyone in the U.S. Senate. And you have a nice, soothing voice like Ronald Rayguns. You don’t have much more going for you than your wonderful eloquence and the President’s bully pulpit. So use the power you’ve got to accomplish something truly meaningful.

There is another piece of advice I would like to give Obama: Lead your life like you are going to be a single term president. It will sharpen your mind and make you much more brave and effective. If in the back of your mind you always have nagging at you what effect a certain action will have on your future career in politics, you will end up being an ineffective and lousy president.
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You Can Choose Your Friends But You Can't Choose Your Family

This morning I was searching through my archive photographs and I saw a picture of an old family member, Colonel Addison S. Garland CSA who was born in 1846. The civil war ran from 1861-1865, making him a Colonel when he was only 15 to 20 years old. He must have been one tough, interesting guy.

He was the younger brother of my direct ancestor Colonel Joseph Parker Garland CSA, who was the father of Joseph Percivil (Percy) Garland. J.P. Garland was my grandfather. I remember the day he died in El Paso, Texas. J.P. Garland was the father of Benjamin Hadley Garland, my father, who also died in El Paso, Texas. Both are buried in Restlawn Cemetery on Dyer Street in El Paso.

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B.H. Garland was the father of Sharlene Jan Garland Cannon, Hadley Paul Garland, and Michael Dwight Garland. Mike died in his early 40's and is also buried in Restlawn in El Paso.

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Jan and Paul are now both in their 60's and are residing in El Paso, Texas as of 2009.

This is a link to some information on these people that I got from google: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cresap/descendants/names8.htm

Both of these men pictured lived in the 1800’s, and both served as Colonels in the rebellious army of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. I hope that this was just because of the part of the country they were living in, rather than some innate desire on their part to continue slavery or discrimination against people of color.
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Where Is The Moral Outrage?

I worked to help Obama get elected in both the primary and the general election. I took this picture election night just as the polls were getting ready to close.

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After Bush & Cheney he seemed like such a breath of fresh air. Remember the outrage Obama felt when his mother was dying of cancer, yet she had to spend much of her time fighting with health insurance companies?

I thought we were electing a leader. A dragon slayer. A strong man with a lot of energy who would defend the little guy against the greed and insensitivity of the powerful and wealthy interests. Especially against the health insurance companies.

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A guy who could be a street fighter (coming from the Chicago political scene), and also someone who was well rounded, educated, and articulate.

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He said that he would end the wars, end torture, and get universal health care implemented. At least that is what I heard.

Now after just a few months in office I am beginning to have some real doubts. Ronald Reagan also spoke with a very reasonable and reassuring voice. I am starting to get worried that Obama is not much more than a sweet talking con man. Not at all what he pretended to be. He appears to be afflicted with male hypogonadism. This is also referred to as a testosterone deficiency, or in street language NO BALLS.

His obsession with compromise is beginning to look distinctly like brown nosing. He appears be weak and ready to give up strongly held moral beliefs in a heart beat. I think maybe he is afraid of a getting in a fight. A bit of a sissy or a coward.

So instead of him being a dragon slayer and defender of the little guy, he appears to rapidly be turning into a tool of the health insurance companies and Wall Street. Where is your moral outrage Mr. Obama? Have you forgotten about your own mother?

Stand up and fight!

Maybe you will lose. That is possible. But that would be a whole lot better than just buckling under to the evil crooks at the health insurance companies without first giving it your very best fight.

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I sent the above in a letter to President Obama today. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

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Friends of mine in both The Netherlands and in Belgium have written to me saying that they felt I was being too harsh towards President Obama. They may well be right. My Dutch friend sent this wonderful picture!
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Diana Gabaldon Gossip

I am sort of a groupie for the author Diana Gabaldon. I got this from one of the groups I belong to:
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Book Seven in the Claire and Jamie series is called AN ECHO IN THE BONE and it will be released on September 22nd in the USA and Canada.
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Diana has stated that YES - there WILL be an eighth book, but NO she doesn't know when it will be out (fer crying out loud! have some patience - these Big Books take 3-4 years to research/write! ) and NO she's not sure if it will be The End.

She won't know that until she gets into writing Book Eight. There is also No Title for book #8 and will not be for a long while.
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Internet Crooks

Everyday one is exposed to phishing, spam, spyware, malware and various other techniques whereby wicked criminals on the internet try to steal money from you. I didn’t open this particular email, but today in my inbox I saw one that reached a new low.

The sender was Obsidian Journal. I guess that somehow these people know that I am a rock hound, and that I am indeed interested in geological things like the volcanic glass called obsidian. Maybe they know this from computer cookies.

The subject line read, “THANK YOU….... Dear Beloved in Christ, I am Mrs. Latsis Fenard, suffering from cancerous ailment. I was married…”

Do these immoral people know that I have incurable cancer, and that in the past I was married? Maybe because at some point I searched on Google and other search engines for information related to the particular type of cancer that I have.
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Universal Health Care

I know this will offend many of my fellow Decocrats. I really am sorry about that, but it needs to be said anyway.
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President Obama and the other political leaders from both parties are not providing the leadership that is needed to make sure that everyone in America receives access to the health care system.

Too many of the leaders in the Senate and Congress are truly afraid of the Health Insurance Companies. Not only the campaign contributions that they would have to forgo, but also the powerful lobbyists and the tremendous amount of money that will be spent on dishonest advertising campaigns to get them thrown out of office.

These political leaders are cowards. What we are watching right now is a sadistic and deceitful hoax. The American people may be stupid and poorly educated, but eventually they will figure it out. When they do there is going to be hell to be paid.

Civil Rights legislation was simply politically impossible too. Until we had a president who provided strong leadership. Not just smooth talk Mr. Obama! Genuine leadership. Yes, it takes real balls and strength of character. Sorry Pal, now is the time for you to stand up for what is right. Nice eloquent words are no longer enough.

If single payer universal health care is not passed during your first administration, you will not have a second administration. And you will go down in history as nothing more than a fraud - just a fast talking con man.  George Jr. didn't read books and wasn't very bright.  But at least he had principles that he belived in and stuck to.

If you don’t care about the millions of people who are completely denied access to the health care system, think about your own Mother for heaven’s sake.

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Median Survival Rates

Based upon the statistics of average life expectancy, and considering the type of leukemia I have and the prognostic indicators, only 35% of the people who were diagnosed when I was will still be alive a year from now.

With its effects on reducing the proper functioning of the body’s immune system, this seems about right to me.

I don’t smoke or drink any alcohol, and I eat a quite healthy diet…lots of fruit and nuts, whole grains, fish, no sugar, etc. I take the dog for a one kilometer walk out the in desert twice every day, and since I have retired my stress level has declined markedly. Maybe I will do a little better than the average, but maybe not too. The people I have known personally who have CLL all seem to be trying to take good care of themselves.

One of the doctors who I have gone to regarding my leukemia is a world renowned specialist in the disease. He lives in Southern England. He is a very nice guy. But unfortunately he now has cancer of the abdomen himself. He is in the middle of undergoing very difficult chemotherapy.

His latest blog entry addresses this issue of median survival rates very well.
LINK: http://mutated-unmuated.blogspot.com/2009/05/message-of-medians.html

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Jerusalem

When I was travelling around the middle east I spent several days in Jerusalem. It is one of the most historic places on the face of the earth.

The Jews are adamant that it should remain Jewish and not be divided. The Arabs are equally adamant that some of their holiest sites are in Jerusalem, so they don’t want the Jews to control it. And the Christians have a bit of a vested interest as well.

In the name of organized religion many, many thousands of people have been brutally killed over the years. Jerusalem has been the focus for much of this.

There really is only one solution which will work over the long term.

Jerusalem becomes a neutral and independent entity controlled by the international community. Anyone of any religious faith would be welcome to come and visit. It could be the headquarters of the Muslim faith, the Jewish faith, and the Christian faith all at the same time. I think it would be a good idea for it to serve at the same time as the world headquarters for the “Anti-All-Organized-Religion” faith as well.

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Well Dressed Men

This picture was taken by the Official White House photographer. It shows President Barack Obama meeting with Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete in the Oval Office Thursday, May 21, 2009.

If you click on this picture it will enlarge.

This could be used in the book called “dress for success.” Both men are wearing dark navy blue suits, well ironed white shirts, and simple blue ties. Kikwete has on cuff links but thank heavens that Barack does not. Note that these men DO NOT have on shirts with button down collars (which are too casual), or heaven forbid shirts which are made with a collar of a different color.

Both men are wearing a simple gold band for their wedding ring, and neither has on a lot of gaudy “bling” jewelry. Each of them is sporting a very short haircut.

One can’t see it on Kikwete, but I am certain that both men are wearing thin, dark colored socks and shiny elegant black dress shoes.

Look at almost any picture of successful heads of state or the top men in almost any organization. You will see that this is exactly the correct way for the alpha male of the human species to dress.

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NOTE TO WOMEN:  It is worth noting that powerful and successful women have a similar dress code which does not include green or purple hair, miniskirts, or revealing tops.
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Volvo

Ford Motor Company is trying to sell Volvo for about $2 billion. This is less than a third of what it paid for the Swedish maker of station wagons a decade ago. I have been to Sweden several times, I have known a great many people from Sweden, and I have also had the genuine misfortune to have done business with some dishonest and unethical Swedish sharks.

There are some really fine countries and cultures up in Scandinavia. Denmark and Finland are both truly delightful places. But the basic arrogance and dishonesty of the Swedes that I have known has turned me off to their whole country.

In 2009 the well educated, young Swedish elite is actually still proud that they did not oppose Hitler during WWII. Really. The youth in Germany has fully admitted what terrible things their ancestors did, and they have moved on. But not the Swedes. They still brag about their country’s refusal to join in with the Allies in opposing the Nazis. It is truly shocking to an outsider, and it all seems a bit unreal.
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Wanda Sykes

There are some very bright and funny stand up comedians in America at the moment. In my view Wanda Sykes is both the most intelligent and also the host humorous. She is an Emmy Award winning entertainer. I just looked in the thesaurus: She is witty, amusing, entertaining, hilarious, and riotous. All are good words to describe Wanda Sykes.

I especially like the last word: Riotous.

In a slightly different context this can also mean mutinous. And she certainly is. She is the lady who at the White House Press Correspondents roast she likened Rush Limbaugh to Osama Bin Laden and the fanatics who perpetrated 911. And since the drug dependent entertainer Limbaugh has openly been calling for America and President Obama to fail, Wanda Sykes said, “I hope his kidneys fail.”

Wanda Sykes was married to David Hall for 7 years. The seven year itch, just like my final marriage. Since her divorce she has entered into a same sex marriage with her wife Alex.

Wanda Sykes is wonderful. And her DVD is truly outstanding.

For her fans, her biography is worth perusing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Sykes
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Gun Ownership

There have been a lot of news articles written recently about gun owners. The assumption in many of these pieces is that most people who own guns belong to the NRA, are racists, and are politically right wing.

That is a gross exaggeration. It is kind of like saying that someone who is not rabidly pro-life is actually in favor of abortion. It really is much more complicated than that. Most pro-choice people very reluctantly support abortion. It is a horrible choice. They would far rather support things like birth control, sex education, and help in getting an unwanted child adopted.

The same sort of complexity applies to gun ownership in America. Not that many gun owners are lunatic AK-47 toting right wing conspiracy theorists. Some are legitimate outdoorsmen who enjoy hunting. By far the majority of gun owners are normal people, whose beliefs fall across the entire political spectrum.

On financial issues I am very conservative. So of course I oppose the Republicans. Every time the GOP gets in charge of the country the budget deficit rises out of control. Reagan did it, so did Bush Jr. On many social issues I am compassionate and open minded. I think the country has a duty to help out people in need. So I am in favor of government funded universal health care. I think wealthy people both have the ability and the moral duty to pay a larger portion of their earnings in taxes than poor people.

I am very much in favor of wilderness, and in favor of clean water and air. The idea that pesticides, heavy metals, and industrial chemicals can be found in mother’s milk at hazardous levels strikes me as completely insane. I am not a racist, and I like almost all of the foreigners I meet. When a “true believer” religious fanatic Christian comes to my front door, I consider him/her to be at least as hazardous as a Muslim fundamentalist doing the same thing.

No doubt the right wing lunatic Chaney would say that I am left wing. Hard Core. A Pinko. But Chaney was a coward who lacked the balls to serve in the military. I did, and during the Vietnam War. When my time was over I left the military wearing a medal on my chest and carrying an honorable discharge.

But I have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and most of the time I do indeed have a concealed gun on me. Especially if I’m going somewhere prone to lunatics with guns. Such as the bank, or the convenience store.

I’m not a member of the NRA, but I know this: There are a lot of very odd and dangerous people out there. If some arrogant, drugged up loser with a gun were to threaten me, I consider it to be my constitutionally guaranteed right to be able to counter his aggression. Self protection.

Just take a look at Mexico. Guns are absolutely forbidden there. But all of the bad guys have high power guns, and there is much more gun violence and murder in Mexico than there is here in Texas.
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Guantanamo

In today’s news I read that a soon to be released Pentagon report claims that 74 of the 534 prisoners released from Guantanamo "have returned to terrorism or militant activity."  The notorious U.S. Military prisoner of war camp still holds 240 inmates.

I am patriotic, and unlike Cheney and Bill Clinton, I have served in the armed forces of my country. During the Vietnam War I was in the army, and after doing my duty, I received a medal and an honorable discharge.

Especially after having been in the military I am aware of how vital it is that we constantly question the military’s honesty and integrity. Reputable journalists should be jumping on this, asking “What exactly does it mean to say that someone has returned to terrorism or military activity?”

But of course honest investigative journalism is a rapidly dying profession. This trend has not been caused by the actions of some right wing fanatics, it is the genuine advance whereby one gets one’s news free from the internet rather than buying a newspaper. So there just aren’t many competent, reputable journalists left. And its getting to be less all the time.

If on my blog I openly say that Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney are complete raving lunatics, and then I help organize some type of political activity to get others to realize this sad truth, am I guilty of Engaging in Militant Activity?

I do not doubt that some of the people who were held at Guantanamo were really bad guys who have now returned to their old ways of hating America and democracy. Maybe even most of them. People who after being released are trying to do something about their ideas. Maybe some were even radicalized by the experience of being held and tortured for years in an American Military Jail.

But the military, the CIA, or any other part of the U.S. Government cannot be trusted to deliver unbiased news or information. The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident never happened. Remember? The entire premise of the Vietnam War was falsified and then covered up.

There is a genuine legacy that George Bush II left with all these people kept in U.S. Military jails located in Cuba and other even less savory places. Unless America is prepared to just put all these people into gas chambers, or stand them up against a wall and shoot them, this whole issue has to be dealt with sooner or later. And now is the time to do it.

The reason they were kept off the shores of America was because of some intellectually weak, morally stunted, and perverted concept that American law, the American Constitution, and the Geneva Accords on torture did not apply to employees of the American Government or contractors working for the government as long as the activities took place off the shores of the 50 states.

These ideas and concepts are of course completely absurd. They go against everything that America was found on. They were promulgated by the right wing ideologues Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rove, Limbaugh, and other fanatics like them. Lots of these people were well educated, and this just goes to show that simple “book learning” is only a very small element of true education.

Back to Guantanamo: This jail in Cuba must be closed down completely. In fact the entire base needs to be returned to the Cubans, along with a most genuine and sincere apology.

It should be made clear to all that American civil rights laws, and the provisions and full protections of the U.S. Constitution do indeed apply to employees of the U.S. Government and all of its contractors, no matter where they are located or how evil some of these prisoners of the Twin Towers War might be. America must return to the moral high road.

If the citizens of the democracy of America decide to continue holding these men in jail even though they have never been convicted of anything, well, countries can do things like that. But these men should be held in a facility located somewhere in the Continental United States where the press, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and others can have full access to verify that everything is on the up-and-up. Not in some U.S. Government Gulag located in Communist Cuba for heavens sake!

California Governor Schwarzenegger wants to sell off San Quentin. Maybe the U.S. Government can buy it. Northern California, right next to all these well educated people who believe in the Bill Of Rights and the U.S. Constitution, might be just the right place to keep these guys.

This openness and daylight should go a ways to ending the torture and making sure that America lives up to its ideals.
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Afghanistan

I heard yesterday that no one has even been fully successful at conquering Afghanistan since Alexander The Great. I don’t know if that statement is correct. During its long history, the area has certainly seen many different invaders and conquerors.

Wikipedia says that “Through the ages, the region has been home to various people, among them the Aryan (Indo-Iranian) tribes, such as the Kambojas, Bactrians, Pashtuns, etc. It also has been conquered by a host of people, including the Median and Persian Empires, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids, the Indo-Greeks, Turks, and Mongols. In recent times, invasions from the British, Soviets, and most recently by the United States and their allies have taken place. On the other hand, native entities have invaded surrounding regions in Iranian plateau, Central Asia and Indian subcontinent to form empires of their own.”

The part of Holland that I lived in for so many years had also been conquered by many different rulers over time. I guess some places just seem to attract invaders.

I have known three people who were from Afghanistan, and all 3 were really nice, honest, hard working people. But they were all expatriates living in Europe, so maybe they are not representative of most Afghans.

I would certainly advise President Obama to use caution. He is a bright guy who is well educated. Obama is such a nice change after all the years of putting up with losers like Ronald Rayguns, Nixon, and George Bush II. But recently Obama has been walking lockstep with the military. At times he seems to be following right behind them, like a loyal lap dog, with his nose firmly stuck up their behinds. This is horribly unattractive to watch.

Barack, you are going to get hung up in Afghanistan. Just like brain-defect Bushie did in Iraq, and Kennedy/Johnson did in Vietnam.

Please use caution, Sir.
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Stephen Fry In America

Anyone who is a fan of Stephen Fry will absolutely love his DVDs entitled Stephen Fry in America. In this TV series, which was first broadcast on the BBC in the UK, Stephen travels through all fifty states in America. He goes from New England, down South, to Florida, and then all the way up the Mississippi to the frozen North. On and on through all 50 states.

In England he drives a London taxi cab to maintain some anonymity, so that is what he uses in this BBC series to drive all over America. This particular London cab was hired in America, but it is still neat.

In May 2009 the two-DVD set is already being sold in England, but unfortunately it is not playable on an American format DVD player. The American format DVDs are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will be shipped on September 1, 2009. Since I lived in Europe for so many years I have a lot of European format DVDs, and I also own a couple of European type DVD players that I can watch this on. I bought my copy from Amazon.co.UK which they promptly shipped to me here in America.

I have been a fan of Stephen Fry’s since the Jeeves and Wooster days, then Fry & Laurie. Kingdom was absolutely superb. I still miss seeing more of Kingdom.

This may be his best so far. Really. “Best” or most enjoyable is a value judgement, but for any fan of Stephen Fry I can assure you, you will treasure this series called Stephen Fry in America.

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Digital Photography vs. Film

I have been taking pictures for more than a half a century. When I started you didn't even have a light meter on the camera. Everything was manual. I even used to have a darkroom in my house.

Up until just a very few years ago the resolution in digital photography sucked if you wanted to enlarge much above 8”x10”/A4. But now even with little cheap point and shoot cameras you have sufficient resolution to enlarge bigger than is reasonable. Which means that you have enough to crop a little. In the bad old days you could adjust shutter speed and aperture. When you put in the next roll of film you could change ASA/ISO to more or less light sensitive film. This is now immediately changeable as is white balance. All can even be adjusted automatically and essentially instantaneously.

With a good digital SLR which has a quality lens mounted on it, one can take truly first class pictures. And you can easily shoot the equivalent of several 36 shot rolls of 35mm film just while you are out walking the dog. When you get home you simply upload them to the computer and delete most, or sometimes all of them. Through quantity comes quality.

And the software available now like Photoshop is incredible.

It would seem like bragging if I admitted just how many film cameras I own, but it is far more than I can count on my fingers and toes. Both medium format and 35mm. But now they are just beautiful reminders of another bygone era. For 99.9% of all photography, the benefits of digital photograph far outweigh the benefits of using film and chemicals.
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Diana Gabaldon

Diana Gabaldon has written the seventh book in the Outlander series. It is called An Echo In The Bone. It will be released on September 22, 2009, and it is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com

This is what Amazon has to say about the new book:

Readers have been waiting with bated breath for the seventh volume in bestselling author Diana Gabaldon’s epic Outlander saga — a masterpiece of historical fiction featuring Jamie and Claire, from one of the genre’s most popular and beloved authors.

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Jamie Fraser, erstwhile Jacobite and reluctant rebel, knows three things about the American rebellion: the Americans will win, unlikely as that seems in 1778; being on the winning side is no guarantee of survival; and he’d rather die than face his illegitimate son — a young lieutenant in the British Army — across the barrel of a gun.

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Fraser’s time-travelling wife, Claire, also knows a couple of things: that the Americans will win, but that the ultimate price of victory is a mystery. What she does believe is that the price won’t include Jamie’s life or happiness — not if she has anything to say.

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Claire’s grown daughter Brianna, and her husband, Roger, watch the unfolding of Brianna’s parents’ history — a past that may be sneaking up behind their own family.


LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Echo-Bone-Novel-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0385342454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242769230&sr=1-1
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Getting Accepted vs. Being An Ousider

Now that Barack Obama is president, it seems that more than anything else he wants to be accepted by the traditional political establishment in Washington, D.C.

In order to fit in with these other politicians, he is having to give up many of the beliefs which got him elected: Ending all torture, ending the wars, getting Universal Health Care implemented in America.

Flip Flop. This is difficult for me to say, since I campaigned for him in both the primaries and the general election, but here goes: You Are A Sell Out!!
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Cliff Swallow

Walking the dog this morning I saw a large number of Cliff Swallow nests under a bridge over the Rio Grande river in El Paso, Texas. The scientific name for them is Petrochelidon pyrrhonota. They dart around really quickly.

I was fortunate to have a fairly long telephoto zoom lens on my camera and took this picture.

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Swallow
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Pragmatism Over Promises

The Los Angeles Times has an article today entitled “Obama puts pragmatism over promises.” This refusal to live up to his campaign promises may be positive and just an indication of a truly open mind.

Whether it is universal health care, ending the wars, or stopping torture and the military tribunals at Guantanamo, there sure are a lot of issues now where President Obama has turned his back on the people who supported him.

He is charming, articulate, well educated, and intelligent. But I am beginning to have some big doubts about his strength of character when it comes to standing up to the right wing lunatics. Seeing him walk lock step with the military, his nose squarely up their asses is really rather unattractive.

I sure hope I am wrong about all this.


LINK: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-changes17-2009may17,0,11647.story

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The Spoled (Ruined) Generation

It took me a long time to get through college. I screwed around, partied too much, dropped out, etc. In all it took me five years to finish a four year degree. I have always had mixed emotions about this. One is shame, and the other is acceptance. Many people are slow starters who do just fine once they get their acts together.

But many people who are graduating from University in 2009 seem to have taken it to an entirely new level. It is not uncommon to see someone who is in their late twenties, and is still living at home. They are still freeloading off their parents for their rent, food, laundry, and in many cases even the car, insurance, and gasoline.

My own kid is now in his early thirties and is still working on getting a University degree.

My parents started me in school one year early thinking they would give me a head start. They were nice people who I respect and admire (both are long deceased now). But as soon as I graduated from high school I was determined to spread my wings and jump out of that comfortable nest.

Extended families are good for society. Having the grandparents, aunts, and uncles around to help raise the kids helps. The different viewpoints result in these children growing into more balanced adults. It is not healthy for people who are in their mid-twenties or even older to still be living with their parents and for the most part not taking any responsibility. Not working, not cleaning the house or doing the laundry, in fact not doing much of anything at all to help out.

This incredible delay in people accepting their adult responsibilities also means that more and more women are delaying having their first child until they are in their 30’s. This is unhealthy physically and emotionally both for the children and the mother.

Unfortunately modern advanced societies demand that both the husband and wife work in order to achieve even a middle class income. So even if they do decide to have children, the kids are mostly raised by day care centers, baby sitters, and the television.

I fear that this is not going to turn out well. And in fact looking at the generation of people who are just now becoming adults, for the most part I am unimpressed.
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Health Insurance Reform

President Obama is better than the right wing lunatics Cheney or Limbaugh. And he is certainly smarter than the simpleton George Bush II. But he appears to have lost his way.
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I worked for Obama in the primaries and the general election. I like him a lot. He is a nice guy and real snart, but I'm beginning to have serious reservations. Obama has not indicated any exit strategy from Afghanistan. So we are just moving the troops over from Iraq. America voted for him to end the wars and bring home our troops, not to be another George Bush.

Increasingly he is doing exactly what the military tells him to do. Whether it is continuing with the military tribunals for judging the people imprisoned in Guantanamo, or being against the ACLU and standing with his nose up the ass of the military in refusing to release the photos of torture. Obama is adamantly against prosecuting anyone from the Bush administration for their illegal acts of torture.

On health care all one hears from the Obama administration is about reducing the cost of health care, or making it a bit more efficient. Everyone else is talking about Universal Health Care. Between 45 and 50 million people in America do not have health insurance, but rather than taking a FIRM and absolute stand in favor of universal health care, Obama continues to take the politically expedient way out.

This is not good…
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Chuck

This is Chuck. He is a male Chihuahua who still has his cajones. My dog I have met him three times now while we were out on our walks.

Chuck belongs to a really nice black man. This gentleman and his wife are originally from Detroit, but they got tired of the cold winters.

They now live in the Dallas area. He drives an 18 wheeler truck, and each time we have met him he was delivering to Best Buy in El Paso.
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