Some days I just feel low. This is one of those some days.

Computer coding before there were computers!

Many many years ago Tom Schmitt, my cousin, painted pictures of my brother Eric whom had passed away years earlier. This video is the reaction of my parents as they opened the painting at Christmas time. Honestly, I can’t tell you the year I took this video.

Anyway, I told Tom I’d try to get it posted on my blog, but that was in the days before YouTube was around. I then forgot about it until I cam across it today.

They have this picture hanging on their wall to this day.

See, the plan was simple. Elegantly simple. It was to remain inside and stay warm and cozy with My Love. However, she wasn’t paying attention yesterday when she picked up some ingredients for the chili she is making today in the slow cooker. She grabbed two cans of diced tomatoes and one can of crushed tomatoes. Unfortunately, one of the cans of diced tomatoes was flavored with Basil, Oregano, and Garlic. Yeah, that’s right. I don’t think there’s such a thing as Italian Chili.

Sigh. I guess I will also take the time to pick up some AA batteries and a few odds and ends since I have to brave the cold, miserable weather. But than, that’s what you do when you love someone as much as I do My Love.

This is not all that surprising. A few years ago there were reports coming out of Africa of kids taking human excrement, sealing it in a bottle, and then letting it sit in the sun for a few days. After that they’d open it up and take a good, deep whiff.

Then there were the alcohol atomizers. Instead of drinking it, you breathed it in as a mist. It was set to become all the rage, but I think it faded.

There’s a new trend to getting drunk. Butt chugging is becoming more popular, but be careful, it can get dangerous.

Source: Butt Chugging: A New Trend Teens Are Doing | PressRoomVIP

Some of this is as much media overreaction and playing on basic human fears – it goes back millenniums that kids are just no damn good.

Still, at what point is this suddenly a good idea?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And next thing you know, when doing Chemical Health assessments I’ll be asking if they are sharing bottles the same way I have to ask if they’re sharing needles……

Known for his charismatic clowning and his halfcourt hook shots, Lemon was the Globetrotters’ top showman for more than two decades.

Source: Meadowlark Lemon, Harlem Globetrotter Who Played Basketball and Pranks With Virtuosity, Dies at 83 – NYTimes.com

I grew up watching the Harlem Globetrotters’ specials. It was never the same without Meadowlark and the rest from the 70s.

Outside the Beltway, the right is livid with new Speaker Paul Ryan’s trillion-dollar spending deal with Democrats.

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter says Ryan, just seven weeks on the job, is ripe for a primary challenge. “Paul Ryan Betrays America,” blared a headline on the conservative site Breibart.com. And Twitter is littered with references to the Wisconsin Republican’s new “Muslim beard.”

Source: Fury of the right falls on Ryan | TheHill

Did anyone think that Paul Ryan had a chance of herding the Republican cats in the House? If so, I’d say you should go back to huffing exhaust fumes.

But in a nod to the critics, Ryan has also emphasized that he “inherited” the flawed omnibus from his predecessor, ousted Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), and that the cake was “already baked” by the time he was handed the reins in late October.

Those arguments have done little to sway some of Ryan’s critics, particularly on conservative talk radio.

Laura Ingraham denounced the spending package as an “omni-bust” and said Ryan should be “regarded as a declared enemy of the Base.”  Mark Levin said Ryan is “already a disaster” and criticized the funding package for increasing the number of visas for foreign workers.

Criticism has also come from Rush Limbaugh, the king of conservative talk radio, who declared that the GOP sold the country “down the river.”

There is no chance in hell that the Republicans in the House are going to be able to work together and accomplish anything remotely resembling sane government. The remnants of the Tea Bagger……. err, I mean Tea Party brigade are as yet uncowed, and still of sufficient numbers to stonewall any attempts at serious compromise; especially when egged on by the hard right conservative pundits. That Ryan didn’t dismantle the bi-partisan coalition allowing for the passage of the budget at least shows he wants to be productive. But he doesn’t have the numbers, any more than John Boehner did, to be strictly partisan in running the House of Representatives.

In the end it all comes down to whether the hard-line conservatives want to have total, uncompromising power, or whether they want to be leaders. They can’t have it both ways.