Picked up another six inches of snow yesterday. The metal roof sheds the snow so I don't have to go up on the roof and shovel;
The view from our windows is dwindling, the cats can no longer watch the turkeys.
I have no problem with winter snow; but our pattern this year has been snow, sleet followed by rain. Normally we have nor-easters that come off the coast and belt us with massive snow. This year all of our storms have come inland from the south - highly unusual. Tonight the temperature will be 7 degrees and tomorrow the high will be 14 degrees and the lows minus three. We currently have winds at twenty miles-per-hour and gust up to fifty - the same for tomorrow. It is quite likely we will lose power for a day or so. the Ol'Buzzard
There is a discussion in Maine whether to continue teaching
script (long hand) in schools. Perhaps
it is time to leave behind the hand-written word. Perhaps in the near future there will no
longer be a need for children to write longhand, or even print; because all
communication will be through tweets and word processors.
But there was a time before computers when handwriting and
beautiful script was appreciated. Cards
and letters came through the mail. People
looked forward to receiving hand written notes, cards and letters; and
personalized correspondence was valued and often saved for years and even
decades.
Now, in the days of texting and twitter and e-cards that
require no effort and little thought, correspondence is forgotten as soon as it
is sent and soon as received.
For those of us old enough to remember the pre-computer and cell phone world, the loss of personalized correspondence seems a shame. But, or course, the world has moved beyond
us, and changing generations brings about changing values.
The Ol’Buzzard
Children that can’t read cursive will not be able to read
historic documents.
Buzzards
circle overhead and ride the drafts to amazing heights, and the view from up
there can be illuminating.
Here is the
Ol’Buzzard’s view of the Democrat field of Presidential hopefuls and the
obstructions that could reelect Donald Trump.
1.We do not need an ‘old person’ for President.Experience is helpful but old people tend to
stick to the ‘tried-and-true’ and see things from their view of their past.Most old people are not totally comfortable with the technology and innovations of the present and the view of a
future that they will not experience.
2.Youth is not the answer.Just as older persons tend to have set ideas
and are less flexible, young persons lack world experience and tend to be
idealistic and are overconfidence in their own views.
3.We do not need a ‘cult leader.’When voters line up fanatically behind a
candidate it is often to the detriment of their own party; resulting in the
election of the opposition party.
4.Democrats are liberal in their views;
but we must remember that the most important outcome of the next election is to
defeat Donald Trump.We cannot let race,
sexual orientation or gender be the basis of our support.
5.We must not vote for the coronation
of ‘the next in line.’This is always
the choice of lawmakers that are awaiting their turn; and these people tend to
carry a lot of controversial baggage.
My view: It
bothers me that Bernie has such a fanatic cult following held over from the
last election.Also, the Democrat ole-boy
network is waiting for Biden to announce – and in my opinion, Biden is past his
sell by date.
I really
like Buttigieg, but his sexual orientation would undoubtedly alienate both
Catholics and Fundamentalist Christians and most other religious organizations, some of
which would likely support other Democrat candidates.It is a shame that religion plays such
a detrimental part of American life.
If we are
looking for a sure win, the Ol’Buzzard’s choice would be Michelle Obama.The
rest of the field is all-right; but I fear they are more conservative than
their presentation and they just don't have the ZING.
Michelle for President She would kick Trump's ass.
Buttigieg is
not some cartoon play on words. Peter
Buttigieg is the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
I admit, I
never heard of Buttigieg until he was interviewed on the Morning Joe show on
MSNBC. I was blown away about his intelligence
and demeanor. Unlike the other people
who have declared, he is not spouting catch phrases and canned talking points;
he actually addresses questions in a logical narrative that shows he can think
beyond, “what do the people want to hear.”
I am proud
that the Democratic Party has fielded a diverse group of candidates spanning
race, gender, age and sexual orientation; but so far, I have only heard expected
talking points. Until now.
Buttigieg is
a breath of fresh air and sanity and I hope he gets traction.
Why have a holiday to celebrate Presidents? There have only been a couple in my lifetime that I actually appreciated. Most people can't name a half dozen. Today's school kids probably even less. Past Presidents get enough recognition; and their retirement ain't half bad. If we are going to give a day off every year it should be in November, for voting. the Ol'Buzzard
If you like cozy
mysteries in the manner of Miss Marple and Herqule Poirot then you would enjoy
this series written by Alan Bradley.
Flavia de Luce
is an eleven-year-old brilliant and adorable savant, obsessed with the chemistry
and poisons. She lives with her father and two sisters in
a run-down mansion in rural England.
As an eleven-year-old
child Flavia can meld into the background of a ghastly murder scene, committed in an English
village, and her quick mind can often make connections before the local
authorities.
Death,
corpses, mayhem – nothing disturbs this inquisitive young sleuth, who is as comfortable
inspecting a dead body as a woman is selecting undergarments at a department
store.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the
Pie is the first
book of the series, and the tenth book,
The Golden Tresses of the Dead has just been released.
As a rule, I
do not like books and movies about children’s adventures; but Flavia de Luce is
my exception.
Remember when you could lock bumpers and push another car down the road without sustaining damage to either car?
They just don't make them like this any more. I slid into a snow bank at five miles an hour and damaged my car's plastic bumper. A $500 ding. the Ol'Buzzard
Religion is
a perfect example: people believe what they want to believe.
Instead of
using the scientific method and starting with evidence and building to a
conclusion – people start with a conclusion and try to collect incidents to
justify their premise.
Recently
there has been a resurgence interest in UFO’s. The History Channel (the name doesn’t fit the
programming) is running a new series: The Blue Book (proof of alien visitations.)
Let me state
this categorically: NO – space travelers are not covertly traveling to the
earth and abducting people to probe their ass for farts.
Astrophysicist and astronomers constantly use microwave telescopes, inferred telescopes, radio telescopes, telescopes in
space and satellites with cameras; NASA can track asteroids, smaller than a
mini-car, hundreds-of-thousands of miles away that may have a close encounter
with earth – they can track a wrench lost on a spacewalk, among space junk,
that may threaten the space station. The
military blankets the surface of the earth with surveillance technology that can
detect a nuclear missile within minutes of launch, they have cameras in space
that can watch an ISIS soldier crapping on a sand dune.
I am not
saying that there is not other life in the universe - the odds are there
is; but, the nearest planet in our solar system that falls within the (life as
we know it) zone is over a million light years away; which means that a
traveler from that planet would have to travel at the speed of light for over a
million years to reach earth.
People like to believe in fairies, ghost,
angles, vampires, werewolves, gods, zombies, Big Foot and things that go bump in the
night.
I have a
friend that absolutely believes in Big Foot.
If he finds bear crap in the woods it is proof of Big Foot. There was a woman who claimed that Big Foot
often looked in the window when she was bathing at night: I don’t know why she
didn’t pull down her shades.
I was
intrigued when I first heard stories of Big Foot when I was ten years old –
almost seventy years ago. In those seven decades no hunter has ever
killed a Big Foot, no body or skeleton has ever been found, Big Foot (who often
crosses roads) has never been hit by a car: in short, no animal that size could
exist in the United States without some hunter hanging his head on their
wall.
Let’s face
it: the human race is gullible. We
invent religions that then take over our lives; we blindly follow charismatic
con men, we seek allegiances with groups that reflect our ideals, we can be incited
with patriotism to the point of risking our life and limbs.
And, we are
not as bright as we think we are, which leaves us gullible to fantastic
beliefs.
THE FALLACY OF RELEVANCE: The premise is not sufficient to the conclusion. the Ol'Buzzard
The State of
the Union Speech given by Trump last night was stark in its whiteness.
The Democrat side of the House was a mass of women
dressed in white and the Republican side was all old white men.
Trump read
the speech that he has no intention of honoring, while Pelosi, sitting behind
him, confronted him without having to speak.
It was no
doubt that Democrat women had control of the House chamber last night.
Pelosi is thinking: ' when you are a powerful woman you can grab him by the balls and squeeze them. When you are a powerful woman you can make him do anything you want and he will let you.'
