Locally, the biggest story was that a soldier from Kingston was killed in Afghanistan on July 4 and the funeral is being held today.
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...well not anymore. I returned to the good ol' USA today after a few days in Canada. I came home to no phone service in my house. The storm on Tuesday must have knocked it out. Of course, this being Friday evening, the earliest the phone company can come out is Tuesday. Luckily, it appears nothing else major was affected by the storm except maybe my garden. I took a quick look at it and it, well, looks, oooook, but I can see that it did take a beating. Nothing appears uprooted or totally destroyed but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.
I'll have another post in a day or two about my trip and maybe post a few pictures.
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For some odd reason, my alma mater decided to change their secondary logo, pictured above, and they must have used some art-school dropout (excuse the redundancy) to design the Panther logo pictured above. Below is the most recent panther. I never thought it was great either but at least it's clearly a cat.
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I'll probably be taking holiday from blogging for the first half of July. Stay tuned, though, as I may sneak a post or two in depending on my mood.
Remember to fly your flags and read the Declaration of Independence on the 4th.
Here's the link to the post that explains what I did last July 4th. As for this one, I'll probably just go see the fireworks and spend time with the family, aside from, of course, flying the flag and reading the Declaration of Independence. I usually read through it two or three times a year including on the 4th. I think everyone should do the same.
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...and making beer is too. The local homebrew store I buy my stuff from recently raised their prices, significantly. For example, the kit to make a batch of porter, which I just made (Pat, email me if you want to sample it when it's ready, it should be ready by next week) went from $34.95 to $41.95. Yowza! Considering the average yield is around 50 12 oz bottles, that price increase equals about 14 cents per 12 oz. That may not sound like a lot, but imagine the outcry if gasoline or even milk went up by that increment in a two month span!
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"Painted" freehand on my laptop computer by me; used GIMP. Ok, so I'm no Jasper Johns.
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I saw another coyote just beyond the property line of my yard a few days ago. it was about 3 pm and I was in the kitchen with the patio door to my right and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a deer. I looked and it was no deer. It was a coyote. It was too big to be a fox but it didn't look as big as the coyote I saw in the same spot in 2005. It wasn't a dog either and I could tell it didn't have a collar.
As I did the last time, I grabbed my camera and by the time I got out the door, he ran into the woods - the same spot as before. Undaunted, I ran outside to about 10 yards from the spot he was standing but saw nothing. However, I did hear a flurry of activity from the birds, akin to how they chirp when my cat is about. The cat was inside this time so they were either chirping at the coyote or another animal.
On a side note, about two weeks ago, I noticed bite marks on my cat. I assumed it was from a dog or larger cat. I'm wondering if my cat has seen the coyote up close; something I've been unable to do. I just want to get close enough to snap a photograph.
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Since Google is unwilling to honor US veterans on Veteran's Day or honor those on Memorial Day who have given their last full measure of devotion so that Google can choose to ignore them, I have an idea for Google's new logo:
I know I'm a little late but 1) I'm busy and 2) I am not an artist. I would like to make an animated logo where 'Google' transforms to 'Goebbels' but I haven't the skills to do it. I need to work on the B's yet. I tried to make them lowercase but they didn't turn out right.
Anyway, here is a link to some very dignified design recommendations. Given that Google hires only the best talent, there is no excuse for such perfidy. Again, these are very good and very respectful.
A quote from the link (from Google): "We wouldn't want to create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful in any way."
Google, your PR people are worthless pieces of trash. Look at those submitted logos. Tell me you can't create graphic as tasteful as any of those. I hope the numbnuts at Google realize that their bullshit is protected by the First Amendment.
For the record, I use Alltheweb my primary search engine and Ask.com as my backup. Google is usually choice number three and, luckily, I usually find what I when using Alltheweb and Ask.com.
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As Ike addresses these men from the 101st Airborne Division, many thoughts must be going through their heads. I can assure you that one thought not going through their heads is wondering if any seditionous weasel in Congress will announce to the world that the war is lost if any part of their objectives are not met.
Let us not forget that bloody day on June 6, 1944. Let us not forget the many bloody days that both preceded and followed that day. Let us not forget the men, perhaps some men in this picture, who gave their lives so that others may have opportunity and hope.
Let us not forget that this was not FDR's war, it was our war. "FDR's war" sounds silly doesn't it? It sounds silly today too with another name inserted in there.
Let us not forget the spectacular display of military and industrial might, the likes of which had never been seen before or since, that our great nation put on in the months following June 6th. Let us never forget what we are capable of when we work together for a common goal.
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Yes, he's back. After serving eight years in prison, Dr. Kevorkian is a free man. He said he'll no longer assist those who are terminally ill and wish to commit suicide. So, what's Jack to do? I have an idea.
As of January 1, 2007, there were 3,350 death row inmates in the U.S. Let's put Jack back to work! He can start with the older and terminally ill inmates and then work his way down the list. However, he must make one exception in the chain, for his first 'case' he must rid the earth of the thug turned commencement speaker who was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulker. Go Jack go!
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Like many Americans, I was surprised to find out that Hillary Clinton failed the DC bar exam in 1973. To her credit, she did pass the Arkansas bar exam that same year. I haven't watched the news today but I am confident that this must be all over such mean conservative leaning news outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and CBS News. Drat that conservative media who buries stories like these!
So it was 34 years ago and what does it matter? Something that happened 30-plus years ago mattered when Bush was running for a second term and it mattered so much that several people had to conspire and create Microsoft Word documents that pre-dated Microsoft's founding to make something 'true.'
I did some searches on Google news. I typed in "hillary clinton failed bar" (sans quotes) and got 169 hits. The first was from Newsbusters.org and the link worked. The second was from the Boston Globe. I clicked the link and the mention was on the second page, fifth paragraph from the end. At least the Globe didn't hide the story like NPR did which was the the third result from the search. When I clicked that, I got a page not found error.
Additionally, I didn't find anything in the NYTimes about it but I'n not surprised either. I changed 'failed' to 'flunked' and only got a story about JFK Jr.
Anyway, I went to the NPR site and did find the story which is more of a blog post. In the article was a quote: "already-known fact that Clinton failed the District of Columbia bar exam."
Already known? By whom? She admittedly kept it secret for 30 years! The link provided by blogger Tom Regan where he claims it was 'already known' links to a someone's blog post dated on May 25, 2007 which simply references that she did mention it in her autobiography. I seem to recall her book made some bestsellers lists but it appears that no one read it or, if they did, they selectively forgot that part.
If she's capable of hiding something from her closest friends for 30 years, imagine what's she's capable of hiding from the American people. There is nothing wrong with failing a bar exam but there is shame in not being able to admit it.
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