Author Archives: ken

Creepy

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Coming to a WalMart telescreen near you, from the Ministry of Homeland Security:

Don’t forget, as the video says, to contact the WalMart manager if the local PD or sheriff can’t be reached immediately.

No word on who will be presenting the Two Minutes Hate, which doubtlessly will be appearing soon.

-k-

When an Upgrade alone does not Suffice

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Well, then, you change themes, put up a new header, delete plugins that you’ve forgotten what-the-heck they do, rearrange widgets, and just have a blog gardening afternoon.

The theme is the (now) default WordPress Theme, twentyten. Header graphics credit, as always, is atop the right-hand sidebar.

WP 3.0 suffers from some non-working(at least for me) items:

  • Upload of new theme headers can be charitably categorized as erratic. Works sometimes; usually doesn’t.
  • Updating installed plugins from the admin panel has never worked for me.

Other than the spiffy theme, I see no compelling reason to take the WP3 plunge, save for the transient geek thrill of running the latest and greatest.

Color me transiently thrilled.

-k-.

Incessantly Repeated Myths

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the chief causes of this condition were the disastrous policies pursued by our government since the World War, of economic isolation, fostering the merger of competitive businesses into monopolies and encouraging the indefensible expansion and contraction of credit for private profit at the expense of the public.

Those who were responsible for these policies have abandoned the ideals on which the war was won and thrown away the fruits of victory, thus rejecting the greatest opportunity in history to bring peace, prosperity, and happiness to our people and to the world.

They have ruined our foreign trade; destroyed the values of our commodities and products, crippled our banking system, robbed millions of our people of their life savings, and thrown millions more out of work, produced wide-spread poverty and brought the government to a state of financial distress unprecedented in time of peace.

The only hope for improving present conditions, restoring employment, affording permanent relief to the people, and bringing the nation back to the proud position of domestic happiness and of financial, industrial, agricultural and commercial leadership in the world lies in a drastic change in economic governmental policies.

We favor maintenance of the national credit by a federal budget annually balanced on the basis of accurate executive estimates within revenues, raised by a system of taxation levied on the principle of ability to pay.

We advocate a sound currency to be preserved at all hazards and an international monetary conference called on the invitation of our government to consider the rehabilitation of silver and related questions.

Two excerpts from the Democratic Party Platform of 1932, after Republican Herbert Hoover spent us silly in a last-ditch, failed effort to stop a recession.

The myth that Hoover was a laissez-faire capitalist is right up there with the one that “free, unregulated markets” brought us to our current economic state.

-k-

Kindle Reading List

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The Kindle has been getting a workout the last few days. I took it along when I took MLB to ER last Saturday; it was along for the ensuing trip to the surgical waiting room, and I’ve taken it on my daily visits. I spend around six hours a day over there with her, not that I’m bringing much to the party. I was the “walk the halls” coordinator, helping her get ready, and then accompanying her on walks of the corridors. With the removal of many of the external drains, tubage, and other medical paraphernalia, that role is diminishing. She’s getting stronger, and is perfectly capable of going on solo hallway jaunts. And she has been. This is a good thing. My chief value add now is schlepping stuff from the house to the hospital; her hot rollers, cosmetic articles, the Wall Street Journal, and such like.

Hospitals are terrible places to sleep, even at night, so it’s not unusual for Morpheus to take her in tow to during the day. It’s then Kindle time. Here’s what I’ve been reading, along with my ratings expressed in units befitting the circumstances:

The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta. My fascination with time and life management books rolls on. Rating: 3/5 bedpans.

Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, by Thomas E. Woods Jr. Timely analysis of the current economic mess that you won’t see elsewhere, and a great, easy-to-read intro to Austrian Economic Theory. It all clicked with me. Rating: 5/5 bedpans.

Southern Fried Plus Six, by William Price Fox. A bunch of short stories, mostly set in South Carolina, during the 30′s and 40′s. Rating: 4/5 bedpans.

The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch. Gutwrenching, sad, funny and uplifting all at the same time. Excellent, though probably not one to be reading while your wife is being operated on. Rating: 5/5 bedpans.

The King James Bible. No, I didn’t read the whole thing, just a few Psalms; Psalm 100 and 121 come to mind. No rating here, but the comfort provided was out of this world good.

On deck for tomorrow; started it today:

Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan, by Suze Orman.

Probably more reading of non job-related stuff than I’ve done in a long time.

-k-