My Time to Waste

This morning I watched a bit of a Sunday morning news program. The panel of pundits was discussing Michael Vick. I wasn’t paying close attention but I believe that they were all more or less in agreement that “Americans believe in second chances. Vick deserves a second chance, but I wouldn’t sign him if I was a GM”.

I’m not sure what that is supposed to mean.  You deserve a second chance, I hope you can get it from someone.

What Vick did was bad.  He has served his prison sentence.  He lost millions. He deserves a second chance.

I would have had no problem if the Packers had signed him (reportedly they considered it), and I bet the Eagles will benefit from having him on the roster.    I believe he will be a star again and I wish him the best (except, of course, when the Eagles play the Packers).

It is difficult

To read Shakespeare

On an airplane

Here is a video I shot a few weeks ago on the job site.  I noticed the movement beneath the bottom step of a step ladder and bent down for a closer look.

Although the spider does not seem all that appreciative of the spin the fly creates, I am not convinced that the spin isn’t counterproductive.   I don’t think one can tell from the video, but it would seem that the spinning could lead to more web wrapped around the fly’s legs.  Now I wish I had watched/”filmed” more than I did.

I did check on it awhile later and the fly was completely wrapped up and stowed safely tight up against the bottom of the step.

In the background on the radio is NPR’s Talk of the Nation.

This was shot with my Nikon Coolpix L5.

My apologies for the inconsistent focus.

It is interesting to me how often people I talk to do not believe in “facts”.  Maybe it is true, maybe it isn’t.  Who’s to say?  That there is no shortage of talking heads out there with no more agenda than ratings and a willingness to just make stuff up (or repeat what someone else made up) certainly contributes to this phenomenon.

But there are facts.  Jonathan Chait has a nice post up over at The New Republic talking about some facts.

One example is it is a fact that in England, the government owns the hospitals and the doctors are government employees.  It is also a fact that this kind of arrangment is not even being considered by Obama and the congress.   More at the link.

Increasingly the right side of the political spectrum seems to be spending its time with hands over the ears chanting “no, no, no, no”.

No, we do not accept evolution.

No, we do not accept man caused climate change.

No, we do not accept that the currant health care system is in crisis.

It would be nice if there could be a discussion of facts instead of rants.

There is so much music out there.  So much of it might be good but not to my taste.

I just discovered 56 Hope Rd.  At the website, just beneath the “56 Hope Road” at the top of the page is “Hope Road Radio”.  Click the play button and enjoy.

Well, I am enjoying it.

Hat tip to Railbird Central.

It is hard to know just how disruptive the protests have been at various town hall meetings that congressmen and women are having around the country.  Some of the video I’ve seen is edited and it isn’t clear whether a town hall meeting was allowed to go on or not.

The video of Texas Congressman Doggett’s town hall seems to be at the end as he is preparing to leave.  The video could easily have been preceded by a productive town hall meeting.

Still, I suspect there have been some town halls that have never gotten off of the ground due to the disruptive protests.   I think you can see more evidence in the video posted at TPMDC.  I don’t know much about Rachel Maddow, and I believe she is guilty of being strongly biased to the liberal side of things, but I do think that some of the video she shows counts as protests that disrupt the town hall.

Is that a bad thing?  It is not as evil as many commenters are making it out to be.  When the congressman needs a police escort to get safely to his car, that may be over the line a bit.  But from what I’ve seen, I’m betting that there have been many such protests in the history of this country from many different sides of the political spectrum.

The tactic of shouting down the other side in a forum designed for discussion is often used by those who have no good argument to make.

I am a life long Green Bay Packer fan.  I have only learned of this tradition in the last year or so.  During training camp the players have to get from the locker room to the practice facility.  The method of transportation is bicycle.  Kids show up with their bikes and each player borrows a bike and “rides” the bike to practice while the bikes owner walks along beside him carrying the player’s helmet.

Jeepers!!  To have your bike chosen and to carry the players helmet!!  I can only imagine.

Video is here.

Debby and I attended a wedding on Saturday.

The couple was almost giddily happy.  Most couples getting married are happy, but these two were joyous.  It was cool.

The caterer was very careful to serve the salad to every seat at every table.  Even the empty tables.  There was an empty seat at our table and we tried to stop the server, but no “We have to set every chair”.   And, of course, charge for every chair.  But only the salad gets served.  The rest of the food is in a buffet.  A bit of a racket, but then, they had to have enough of all the food just in case everyone showed up.

When it was time for our table to go through the buffet I was not yet done with my salad.  By the time we got back to the table, my salad plate had been cleared.  This is a pet peeve of mine…wait staff removing stuff from the table before I’m done with it.  I am amazed how often the server wants to take my plate before I’m done eating.  I have become very paranoid about it.

It hit me (and I may be the last person on earth to figure this out…) that the throwing of the bouquet and the garter actually serves a useful purpose.  It allows the single people to see who among the opposite sex is single.

Two girls wrestled over the bouquet leaving a lot of petals on the floor.  I was wondering if I was on a movie set.

The reception dance floor was not at all slippery.  It was non slip.  Presumably this is to reduce liability?  I would think I’d be more likely to get hurt trying to “dance” on a non slip surface than I would on a slippery surface.

“Dance” is in quotes because…you’ve heard of the TV program You Think You Can Dance?…well, when they come up with the show You Know You Can’t Dance But You Don’t Care…that’s the show I’ll be on.