Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Thank You Wikipedia

For this explanation, nearly 20 years ago I saw the term "Eschew Obfuscation" on a church sign in Azle TX and it stuck with me ever since.





"Eschew obfuscation, also stated as: "eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation", is a common humorous saying of English teachers and professors when lecturing about proper writing techniques.
Literally, the meaning is "avoid ambiguity, adopt clarity", but the use of relatively uncommon words in the English language itself causes confusion, making the phrase a prime example of irony.
The phrase has appeared in print at least as early as 1959, when it was used as a section heading in a NASA document.
The linguist Paul Grice used the phrase in the "Maxim of Manner", one of the Gricean maxims."



Wikipedia

Monday, June 29, 2009

Mondays Missives





  • A lot of people who have been comatose open their eyes as they die. The first thing you think when you see it happen is what do they see? If they are looking at a blank wall I step into their field of view with a kind/warm expression and smile at them and tell them they will be OK and then back away. If looking toward a window or family portraits etc. I leave it at that.


  • A 100 years from now people will be wearing Polo and Henley shirts.


  • It made no sense in the 50s and 60s when the designers of the day would roll out ridiculous looking dress made of plastics. Styles may come and go (and come back even) but, a human wrapped in plastic will always be a bad idea.


  • Things aren't often as they seem nor do they turn out the way we envision they will.


  • Someone recently told me I would look good in a pink polo shirt. I think pink shirts for guys may be the white devils lie but, I guess I'll keep an open mind. I think women should wear pink though.


  • The patient I mentioned in the past who played golf into her 80s looked at me like I was an imbecile and said,"You better start." when I told her I never played.


  • Recently a nurse from another agency made a very overt sexual advance toward me- kind of freaked me out at first then made me feel good.


  • It usually starts with them rubbing my bald head...

Friday, June 26, 2009

Friday's Dispatch



  • Came across a blog that I follow being followed by a blog that I could not have come across in a more random way- it seems impossible really, there are probably hundreds of millions of blogs and I came across that one.


  • Of all the blogs in all the world...


  • I finally saw it the other day: a blog about blogging.


  • 25 years from now will our childrens children be able to learn about what we were thinking on a given day by reading our blogs? I can fully see where they might still be there and then also they might be long gone.


  • I've got to get on the ball and get me and my children a go kart. The baby is cool with taking the riding mower for a spin around the neighborhood but, he's two- when he's three that will be lame-O.


  • And for some reason you could not force my teenager on the thing at gunpoint.


  • Kids these days.


  • Some times a beating (literal) would be easier than doing the right thing but, afterward I feel whole and clean. Recently someone told me I didn't have to do something I knew was the right thing I said,"I have no choice- it's part of my code."


  • That thinking will be the end of me I fear.


  • Right or wrong- baby son is attracted to pretty women- teachers, family members, his little friends that happen to be girls that he really likes- also happen to be cuties.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Wednesday's Music Video Extra Vaganza- O Rama


Here's one of my all time favorite songs by The Man In Black. It's a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song. He died a short time after this video was filmed and four months after his wife.
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
[Chorus:]
What have I become My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Big Predictions- Small Mind



    Been sitting on these thoughts for a while and recalled them with N Korea in the news as it's been lately.


  • Five hundred years from now people will still be reading Stephen King.

  • Mayan society at some point will be completely recreated on the site of what we refer to now as ruins- to include human sacrifice.

  • In my lifetime Idaho and some other surrounding states will form a de-facto separate nation.

  • Twenty years from now and beyond to learn what day to day life was like and how and why people thought what they did and what they were thinking- people will look at old blogs.

  • Same thing with contemporary music 100-200 years from now the songs of Britney et. al. will still be being rerecorded and in fact will be listened to as original recordings.

  • We will be in a war with North Korea within less than 3 years. If not, then never.

  • President Obama will be viewed as one of the worst presidents.

  • There will be a war in the US but, not a race war like a lot of people think- it will be Muslims against everybody else.

  • Former prisoners of Gitmo will set IEDS in the US.

  • Israel will tire of the ceaseless attacks and threats of same and give the state sponsors of the groups that perpetrate them an ultimatum: Stop the attacks or we will bomb your oilfields with dirty nukes rendering them unusable for the next ten thousand years.

  • Or Mecca- same treatment.

  • There will always be large, corporate farms but, instead of taking over and having a complete monopoly the balance will shift and more food will be provided by small, local producers.

  • The US postal service will essentially go out of business.

  • Within three years marijuana will be legalized.

  • Soon, nearly every type of cancer will be curable and if not the simplicity of how it will be done, the fact of how wrong researchers were in many of the assumptions made during research will be shocking.

  • There will never be a flying car for the masses.
  • Although, within the next 20 years there will be rotary winged transports in large cities that use GPS and AI to ferry passengers from the suburbs to city helipads without a true pilot- only an attendant of some type.

  • Fifty years from now nearly regardless of where it's at water will be as valuable as oil is today.

B/W And Color A Reflection In Juxtaposition- A Study In Contrasts




Monday, June 22, 2009

Mondays Missives





  • A recent patient threw every bad visual during his death that has ever been documented by man- in about 2 minutes.


  • Not trying to pat myself on the back too hard but, I simply cannot imagine what it would have been like for the family if I had not prepared them. They did super though.


  • I'm reading A Leap In The Dark by John Ferling about the American Revolution. I had thought of the American Colonials that fought as insurgents but, this was the first time I'd seen it in print- kind of a strange connotation.


  • A coyote came up to the house a few weeks ago that was big as a wolf and walked with a limp.


  • I met a guy once with a friend and while we were talking and watching him work on his motorcycle a coyote just walked up to us and sat down and smiled so casually then watched us interact like it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. The guys wife had three cats and they climbed to the top of the carport with urine running out of their bodies while they hissed and spit like nothing I've ever heard.


  • If my children are out after dark to make sure the porch light is on for them I'll check it multiple times before I even think of lying down.


  • When it's time for the bus to be here I like to have the door open and on occasion a fire going in the fireplace.

  • When I was a child my dad had an old Ford Falcon station wagon. When we were taking a weekend trip or vacation that car would be left at the house and mom would pack it down and when he got home the jon boat would be tied to the top, everyone would pile in and we'd be off- what a sight we must have been.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Friday's Dispatch




  • Letourneau, the Seattle teacher convicted of raping one of her students met the boy when he was in second grade and they began having sex when he was 12.
  • That first detail had escaped me and makes the crime seem that much worse.
  • I knew one of my friends bought a mountain bike last year- I remember him saying something about it but, didn't recall any details. I saw it when I worked on a lawnmower for his wife recently. It's a beautiful Trek, probably a 1000 dollar bike (maybe more) before he started throwing accessories at it.
  • Couldn't prove it by me he's ever been on it.
  • For breakfast yesterday I had 4 cups of coffee and a Dr Pepper. For lunch a steak, mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms with buttered sourdough rolls and sweet tea. For supper sliced brisket, garlic mashed potatoes and red beans with sweet tea.
  • I think my left ventricle just exploded.
  • And my pancreas just fell out.
  • Zac came to me with a broken toy yesterday and said," Hir, bwoke- fix- dad- pwease." Pretty good for a guy that's not quite two years old.
  • Huh, "hir", "bwoke" and "pwease" get flagged by my spellcheck- that's crazy.
  • Another Zacism that just crossed my mind: he doesn't like having his hair messed with sometimes and while absentmindedly running my fingers through his hair the other day he said," Uh, uh- weave my harr awone, pwease!"

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Pig And Its Boy

My son showing his pig Pinky Tuscadero at his schools show. He placed 3rd out of I think 15 animals in his first show. He is staying tonight in a tent at the Sheriffs Posse Grounds where tomorrows show will be held. Can't wait- so proud. I took him some supplies earlier today. He was sitting at a table under a shade shelter with some girl. He shooed me off real quick after taking the supplies- wonder what that was all about?

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Best Of Craigslist

best of craigslist > new orleans > Flawless Business Plan Seeking Teleportation Scientist Originally Posted: Wed, 18 Feb 14:37 CST
Flawless Business Plan Seeking Teleportation Scientist
Date: 2009-02-18, 2:37PM CST
We are a small group of very well qualified businessmen who have a complete business plan that aims to yield investors, and partners, 1,000% returns within only a five year period. We have all the pieces in place, including CEO, marketing, and finance management. The only missing piece is YOU! We are looking for a very motivated, team-oriented scientist who has experience in teleportation research and/or technology. We will provide patent funding and small stipend. Once technology prototype is developed, the business will take off running- or teleporting! Significant equity will be provided as payment. Send a resume and any other information that may set you apart from other teleportation scientists. Can't wait for you to join our team.
Location: Who Cares-you should be here in a second
Compensation: Small stipend for living expenses; significant equity in the business
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.PostingID: 1040248146

Illness Quote

"Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place." - Appears in 133 books from 1947 - 2008 according to Google Book Search.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Mondays Missives





  • In spite of being an avid observer, very amateur photographer of and general lover of wildlife and any show covering them oddly, the subject of oceanic aquatic life holds no interest for me.
  • On another blog Jarhead (I think it was) mentioned his prejudice towards fat people and cigarette smokers in that he automatically assumes them to be of lower than average intelligence. I have to admit I feel the same way and have contemplated the possible meanings of this thought for awhile.
  • My son and nephew kept replaying a Korn song for the soundtrack to their Wii game- now I can't get that stinking thing out of my mind.
  • I love having kids around and it would suit me just fine if the house was full of them.
  • This post has been scheduled for quite some time. Is Hamageddon over? Is anyone left alive to read this?

Monday's Missives

  • While looking for a movie on .99 cent day I saw that guy Toby Keiths movie Beer For My Horses on the rack.
  • Instant deflation.
  • Everybody loves the patriotic songs of both he and Lee Greenwood.
  • Except the troops.
  • I promise you.
  • Bought the little ones a ginormagantuan, megalithic Little Tikes playground set with 2 slides a tunnel and plenty of climbing features.
  • Hero.
  • Zac is unsure of the big slide still.
  • Never knew any of my great grandparents.
  • I would be a garbage man and ride on the back of the truck and pick up the trash in a minute.
  • In fact- it's still a back burner type goal I truly intend to make happen when the time is right.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Friday's Dispatch




  • While I'll admit I can get as cranky as anyone else, overall I'm pretty calm- often too much so for my own good I'm sometimes reminded but, few thing in this world could make me ##^&&%%$#! madder than the above. Crazy, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

  • Baby played with the water hose and a spray nozzle by himself for the first time today and watered the yard real well while getting himself wet. I sat on the porch in my rocker and watched.

  • Contentment:" 1.the state of being contented; satisfaction; ease of mind.
    2.Archaic. the act of making contentedly satisfied."

  • Not working as much as I'd like- will have to find something else if it doesn't pick back up.

  • Great thing about my profession.

  • I don't know what they think of it now but, there are a few nurses who went into nursing largely due to my influence although of course they had thought about it before on their own. I might have given that final push. There are few things that made me feel as good as seeing them out in their practice making a good living.

  • Going to buy new tools for a brake job on the turd bomb. Tired of trudging back and forth digging through stuff for tools I then don't find because they were lost long ago. This time I'm going to take care of them and keep them in one accessible spot.

  • Whatever.
  • My oldest patient now was 4 weeks short of 101 years old.
  • My youngest: 4 weeks short of 6 months.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Post Storm Post

  • It's 053 and 15 seconds as I write this in my notebook.
  • Home computer knocked out by storm so I'm at the library with people looking at Hot Or Not and Bootycall.com while wearing mismatched military uniforms or unintentionally retro clothing.
  • Somebody stinks.
  • The guy next to me thinks he smells good- it's just strong. Where did you find Hai Karate anyway, dude?
  • For better or worse my life is half over at best.
  • I'm OK with that.
  • Zac went to sleep with me last night. I was about to put a shirt on to sleep in and changed my mind so he could feel the skin of my chest against his cheek when I carried him to his own bed.
  • He smiled when I said,"Daddy's got you." even though he was dead asleep.
  • I went out on the back porch on the way to the car to get my notebook and the kitten my teenage son rescued was way too quiet in his box inside the dog kennel I put him in for protection.
  • My heart sank.
  • "Ah man." I said out loud which caused her to stir around.
  • There was a toad sitting beside the kennel that looked ready to explode from gorging on June bugs. He didn't move an inch- just impassively watched me walk by.
  • It was sprinkling.
  • I turned the hall light on to look in on my daughter. Pink bedspread, pink flowers in a brown vase with pink polka dots and to top everything off a closet full of pink clothes.
  • She likes pink.
  • She got into trouble and had to go to bed early last night.
  • Not without screaming, crying and kicking first.
  • She is a monster but, looks angelic sleeping.
  • I returned a movie borrowed from my son that he had rented himself.
  • How did that happen?
  • Yesterday he was colicky at 3 AM and he and I went to 7-11 got coffee and drove around until dawn in the Camaro I drove in college and then I got ready for work.
  • Is that the craziest part of our story? Or yesterday when your 2 year old brother handed me tools while saying,"I halper!" when I was doing a brake job on the car bought for you?

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Max The Phantom Viagra Ad Emailin' Dude Says:

"Push your banger up inside lady- you body could be the best love machine girl ever imagined" Thanks for your concern and as always keepin it classy but, I think I'll pass.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Monday's Missives

Barney Oldfield 1917 in the Golden Sub car.

  • Let's talk about going to the moon, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto- wherever when we can watch The President give an address in the Rose Garden without police and ambulance sirens screaming in the background.
  • Every single time.
  • Although crime rates there are at a 20 year low, violent crimes occur at three times the national average in our nations capitol.
  • Instead, city and state governments across the country and world in fact should be clambering for information on how to make a city so safe and attractive to visitors.
  • Instead, ask a resident of the area or someone familiar with travel there about sight seeing and the first thing they will say is,"Well, don't go anywhere after dark...".
  • Last seasons hailstorms continue to claim victims: my ornamental plum is about to succumb to it's wounds after all this time and effort to save it.
  • My baby son was recently taught how to operate a very realistic semi auto style toy pistol. I Could not be more disappointed or fearful.
  • My family was so lucky for so many years- tragedies and heartbreaks yes but, few and far between I think. My childrens great grandmother has died now after a fall which was contributory to her death and I'm afraid the hits are going to just keep coming for awhile.

Mondays Missives

my cubicle in the Al Anbar office. Click to enlarge











  • My house sets only about 12 miles from the weather station for my area so reports are generally dead on- as in when the weather says a cold front will move through at around noon- you could set your watch by that.







  • I've scared a couple of people with stories of the horrors I was associated with in Iraq and this is part of the reason some of my closest friends haven't heard the worst.







  • We called being there being Downrange.







  • I don't understand how an author/historian could ever attempt to alter history to bend to their views. For instance, just this morning on the histroy channel site there was a sentence that read to the effect regarding the Battle Of The Bulge: "Nazi atrocities abounded during this period including the murder of 72 American prisoners of war at Malmedy." I don't know where to start with this statement but, the Malmedy Massacre as it has become known as far as I know is now regarded by every historian on both sides as a horrible, unfortuante event that started with the shooting of a few escaping prisoners which devolved into a mass escape attempt by the Americans who believed they were being executed without cause. The shooting of an escaping POW was both legal and engaged in by all parties 100% of the time. Early in the war though the Germans were known for their magnanimity in dealing with
    American casualties and prisoners which surprised and often had a deep impact on US GIs because of the German reputation for fierceness in battle. The German forces would often be the first to broker battlefield deals to allow casualty collection and body removal- even when they had the upper hand. Medics would report their surprise they could move through a hail of fire as if they were invisible- they were simply not being targeted by the German soldiers. One incident which did work toward changing the way Germans acted on the battlefield though was the murder of two German medics who had commandeered an American jeep and were rushing a wounded German and American soldier back to their field hospital. The American soldiers shot both of the medics and dumped the wounded German in a ditch to die. The term "Nazi soldiers" is also perjorative and a bit misleading- it was a political party that until late in the war most soldiers were prohibited from belonging.




  • Contiue to be curious about the controversy surrounding President Obamas color. He is half white and was not exactly raised in the ghetto.




  • I think it would be easy to perceive that he will be able to do nothing right because so much is expected of him and he has so many problems to deal with but, I think the truth will be unless he really steps on something he will be viewed as if he could do no wrong.




  • When I first got out on my own I think it was generally accepted it was cheaper to eat well and healthy than not- I believe the opposite is true today.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Friday's Dispatch

Laminate and place in a highly visible area in your time machine. If you don't- don't blame me when something goes wrong
  • My oldest son just told my daughter she ,"is soooo spazmatic."
  • If someone cuts one around my baby son he'll say,"Eschuuuuse you!"
  • If he does it himself he slaps his knee and cracks up laughing.
  • The other night Zac took a big drink of his milk, looked over into my tea glass, looked back up at me, smiled turned back to the glass and spit a mouthful of milk into my glass.
  • I have no idea how many times I've already mowed my yard.
  • The baby swallows uder the front porch are fully fledged and look like miniature versions of the parent birds- very clean and pretty though.
  • Wish I had a place for some chickens.
  • Bought my daughter a little bantam rooster once thinking he wouldn't crow all that bad since he was so little.
  • Ha!
  • Also, he would start at 3 AM. Unless it was stormy then he'd do it anytime.
  • So unbelievably loud. When the baby was little and not sleeping much I would hold him to keep him quiet. In the morning there we both would be zonked smooth out in the recliner.
  • I mean me and the rooster.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

With Her Oldest Son


Mondays Missives






  • Regardless of the endeavour, when starting out with something new you'd be hard pressed to find material more helpful than the For Dummies series. There are 1500 titles in 24 different languages in the series, look for them in 1/2 price bookstores.



  • I'd nearly be willing to bet Don Imus has Parkinson's.



  • I bought some carved animals year ago that have leather stretched over the carved part to represent hide- very pretty, interesting pieces of art originating in India. The funny/strange thing about them is when new they had a faint odor of urine. This dissipated over time to nothing but, a slight baseball glove smell. I'd forgotten about this until a guy I worked with mentioned travelling extensively in Mexico in the 70s. He related making his way to the coast and going deep sea fishing, he reported one of the biggest surprises of the trip was seeing Mexican tanners treat shark skin for custom boots by urinating on them.


  • Man, I love sweet tea. Not too long ago I was in a sort of fancy restaurant and asked for sweet tea the guy who took my order literally rolled his eyes at me and in his most practiced, condescending tone said,"Sir, we do not serve sweet tea here."


  • Alright dude, come down to earth here a little bit- we are in Fort Worth Texas not Martha's Vineyard.

  • Just finished re-reading Stolen Valor by Burkett. If you are curious about the Vietnam war, it's impact on popular culture and how and why Vietnam Vets are portrayed the way they are- read this book. He tackles issues ranging from Agent Orange, PTSD to war fakers (and there are a lot of these) If you read it you'll be surprised at who has lied publicly or falsified their war service and I'm talking iconic images from actors to politicians to the idiots we've all seen on the covers of magazines slumped against the Vietnam Memorial bawling their eyes out.

What's In A Name?

I have a nephew named Corbin Dallas after Bruce Willis' character in The Fifth Element

Monday, June 1, 2009

A Crazily Random, Beautiful Picture


Any guesses? First correct answer wins and I mean wins BIG!

Boat Dock


as a child probably on Lake Worth