fidlmath

Diana the Spider Wrangler

Bush Sings

This is too long, but very clever - that or someone has way too much time on his/her hands.

posted by: mafidl at November 29, 2006 20:22 | link | comments |

This 'n That

Several articles in the Miami Herald held my attention this morning.

First, one about the sad state of care for the mentally ill, some of whom are in jail and of the 300 insane ones " Just 5 percent were known to the mental-health system before they were jailed. Had they received care, they likely would not have gotten so sick -- and their prospects for recovery would not be so dim. They also might not have committed crimes that put them behind bars."

Next, an article that doesn't appear in the online version but was in the paper today entitled "Scientists are moonstruck" - news that " ... when the US resumes exploration of the moon with a new crew vehicle, the Orion, and new Ares rocket."  they will be able to reach any part of the moon, including areas that face away from us.  There are definitely pluses, such as with the lack of atmosphere, there will be no clouds to obstruct the view.  Meteors and dust might be a hazard, but Paul Spudis of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory stated that all in all "I contend the moon is a benign environment ..."  Scientists should begin to fly the Orion in 2007.

Today the Supreme Court was to "hear arguments on whether the federal government can regulate emissions most experts say contribute to global warming."
" The Bush administration stresses in legal briefs the ''substantial debate and uncertainties'' surrounding cause and effect. Prominent climate scientists including David Battisti and John M. Wallace from the University of Washington reply that all reasonable doubt has evaporated."  Evidently there is some controversy, but we can't bury our heads in the sand - which is probably already polluted with ....?

Finally, " Practitioners of Transcendental Meditation are heading to a tiny city in Iowa in hopes of spreading peace and prosperity across the globe." They are going to be bolstering a wave of positivity with around 2000 meditators from around the world, believing that ''The solutions of our forefathers haven't worked,''  "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the TM founder and a one-time spiritual teacher to the Beatles and other performers in the 1960s... contends that simultaneous mass meditation creates a wave effect that calms the world, influences stock markets, decreases crime rates and prompts other positive societal behavior. "  The organizer of this assembly is John Hagelin
" a quantum physics researcher educated at Harvard and Dartmouth."  I know nothing about TM, but I think we should all wish these people and the millions around the world who practice TM nothing but success.

posted by: mafidl at November 29, 2006 17:11 | link | comments (1) |

Work - living in a "Third World Country"

I'm currently swamped with the work that I should have done over the holiday, sigh.  Now I will be giving 3 tests, only 1 of which is written, so have to get on it. 
On another note, there was an interesting article in the Miami Herald this morning.  It seems that "Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo  is no fan of Miami's ethnic makeup." He referred to it as a"Third World Country".  Of course he said this from the safety of his weekend at The Breakers in Palm Beach. Now I would have more respect for his opinion if he'd actually spent, oh, say even 2 days here in other than a luxury hotel on the Beach.  " Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who called Tancredo 'flat out wrong' ...extended an invitation for him to come and judge the city for himself. "  The apparent response to this was that  "... if Ros-Lehtinen's invitation includes 'a stay at a five-star beachfront resort, he may be willing to look beyond the inherent dangers that he had cited and visit Miami again,'' his spokesman said.  Now, I'm afraid that the way people drive here would lend some support to his comments.  Also, the fact that even when you call a local government office, you may find that the person answering speaks little English and, probably due to low pay and long hours, is often rude.  But not all the bad drivers and rude people are immigrants, and I have lived here for 25 years, don't speak Spanish, but get along pretty well with nearly everyone - as long as I don't have to drive on I95 - and don't feel in danger.  You don't suppose that his comments reflect the fact that he is touting the ultra conservative line and supports, for example, that long, expensive, probably worthless wall along the Mexican border?  Nah. 

posted by: mafidl at November 28, 2006 16:17 | link | comments (7) |

hi

I was going to post a whole bunch of stuff about not liking living in Florida, but it got too unwieldy.  Suffice it to say, the humidity and temperature are higher today - just when I got acclimated to lower on both.  Sob!

posted by: mafidl at November 25, 2006 14:48 | link | comments (5) |

Postprandial survival and kitties

I've always wanted to use that word.  Anyhow my daughter, J, friend, R, and I had a mostly delightful buffet at a hotel by Miami International Airport about 12.  Great variety in appetizers, entrees, sides, salads and desserts.  About 5, I went over to friend, N's, house where his Mom had cooked a great meal, which I managed to sample, only.  Then about 7, daughter, J, and I went over to the W's house, where they had deep fried a turkey.  I had to try a verrrry small piece - and it did live up to it's publicity.  BTW they're the family from whom I acquired the newby cats - and they confirmed that the phantom pooper is the orange tabby, Milo - one of them caught him in the act. - now all I need is a cat behavioralist to help me figure out why.  I notice that he has gunk in the inside corner of his eyes regularyly - as in twice a day.  I'll have to ask my vet if that's significant. 

posted by: mafidl at November 24, 2006 22:29 | link | comments (2) |
kitties

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, O.J. and Kitties

I hope y'all have a great holiday - maybe a couple days?  For 2 years several years ago friends and I went out to T dinner at local restaurants, where the food was at best disappointing.   So for the next couple of T and Xmas dinners, friends and I ordered turkey dinner from, first,  a local grocery store [chain].  The turkey was OK, the sides were not. Then we decided to get dinner from the honeycut ham place.  Not enuf meat and the sides, again, forgettable.  Last year I decided to cook a turkey for the first time in years.  Also made a couple of sides and others brought some.  It was great.  This year I'm feeling lazy again, so we are going out for a T brunch - too expensive, but I'm worth it. :)
Then about an entirely different matter:  It seems that Rupert Murdoch has yielded to massive complaints and criticism and has " pulled the plug Monday on a book and TV special in which O.J. Simpson would have confessed -- maybe, sort of -- to the murder of his ex-wife and one of her friends. "  Ye Gods, what is the world coming to - Rupert Murdoch giving in on a matter ot taste?  One friend of mine, R, came up with the following joke:  "Fox news announces that if we had shown it you would have seen how he did it if he had done it."  [I think he's a great joke writer]
On another note.  Yesterday I decided to dump the water out of the downstairs sink.  Let it dry and sprayed with "Keep Off" .  One of the brothers, Milo, came in and curled up in the sink when I was in there this morning and in the back of my head a little voice said "better spray it again", but I ignored the voice.  About 30 min later, there was poop in the sink.  Not necessarily courtesy of Milo - but one of the former owners confessed to me when I told her about the poop problem, that they had a similar problem before I took the 2 boys.  Oh well - back to keeping water in the sink. I tried to get a good pic of the 2 of them playing with the running water in the kitchen sink.  I don't think it came out well enuf to post - but I'll probably try again.

posted by: mafidl at November 21, 2006 12:30 | link | comments (6) |
kitties

Good News

In this article from the Washington Post, it was announced that for the  Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, " Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) -- a liberal who has called global warming a dire threat -- is in line to chair the committee in the next Congress as a result of last week's elections,..."  This represents a very welcome, indeed needed switch from the current chairman,  "Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who has said that global warming is a hoax."  Also,  "Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) announced his intention to become the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee" has   "called for action against climate change, and his ascension to a leadership post would accelerate significant changes already underway. "  It's about f&%king time.  Inhofe must have, like the rest of the current administration, had his head buried in the sand - it not elsewhere.

posted by: mafidl at November 18, 2006 15:43 | link | comments (4) |

1984 again?

This morning in the Washington Post there was an article with this leading comment:
The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security."
Does this sound like doublespeak?

posted by: mafidl at November 16, 2006 19:44 | link | comments (4) |

clouds

Yesterday my older daughter, J, went with me to the Broward Center for Performing Arts in Ft Lauderdale for a concert.  The tickets were given to me by some friends for my birthday.  I really didn't know what to expect but it was great.  The Florida Sunshine Pops Orchestra performed and in the first half there was a singer named Julie Budd who was small but had a really big, lovely voice.  She sang several show tunes, which aren't usually my favorite music, but she sang them with gusto.  She has an amazing range and a lot of power.  The second half featured a pianist named Copeland Davis.  He and the orchestra played the themes from several movies, including the one from Mash.  [Did you know that the title of it is "SuicideIs Painless" ?  I didn't and I'm wondering why that was used.]  Anyhow the pianist was equally adept at classical music and jazz.  Several times during a piece, the rest of the orchestra stopped playing and only the pianist, drummer and a great bass guitar player were heard.  All in all it was a fun concert, we had a good meal first and if I had't nearly gotten us lost coming back down to Miami [lol], the evening would have been perfect.  Oh well.  It coould have been worse.

On my way to work this morning snapped these pics - guess there's still some sunrise when I have the early class.

As I said about some earlier cloud pics - this is one of the good things about living in this place.  Now that it is finally getting cooler, I like it here.  Well, at least for the time being until it gets too hot again.

 

posted by: mafidl at November 16, 2006 19:29 | link | comments (3) |
landscape

First a note on my last post.  If you look carefully at the say no to sign - the object isn't a dog, as I had assumed, but a toilet!!??  So - guess it's saying no dogs going to the bathroom or?

Since we had the time change, I'm not up quite early enuf for sunrise pics, but I did get a couple of cloud pics that I liked.  BTW I have no clue what the dark fuzzy area is at the bottom of both pics - so might have to learn how to crop - maybe I had a strap or something on the phone in the way?  Who knows.
Also,  as of today my back isn't hurting for the first time in over 2 weeks - I'm keeping my fingers crossed, knocking on wood and doing a couple of exercises several times a day.  And again, here's my office desk - note there's no dark shadow at the bottom of the pic? I just noticed that one of the cloud pics was on my computer then.  Cool.

posted by: mafidl at November 14, 2006 11:44 | link | comments (3) |

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