Fish Fear Me

Mind Power

Things have been a little rough around these parts the last few months, what with the health stuff and quitting the cigs. But those are positive things in the end, and on top of all that I am pleased to announce that I have recently received a Major Award...

Let's Start The Week With A Chuckle

I'm guessing at least one regular reader will like this(via one of my sisters):

Just FYI

I'm not getting anywhere near this damn mess around the NAACP, Breitbart, and Shirley Sherrod until it stops moving. Or at least until I can watch the video in question for myself and in its entirety. That's not going to happen until this evening at the earliest. Sometimes it pays to be a bit slower than the cool kids.

I've Got Your Shovel Ready Right Here

I feel the need to 'fess up, or at least make clear to my regular readers, that one of the things I failed on before having surgery at the beginning of June was the garden fence. So, to be clear, I failed on that one. I also decided to not plant anything besides tomatoes and bell peppers, and the bell peppers were just to confirm that the darn rabbits would have eaten everything else without a fence in place. To spare you the suspense, it's confirmed. I haven't forsaken the dream though.

So, despite my inability to secure American REcovery and Reinvestment Act funding, the project is once again moving forward. The hand has healed to the point where it's all actually good exercise and the prep work has recommenced with an eye towards completing work this year and then not having to worry about it for years to come:

But my first stab at just putting up some stakes and chickenwire was looking sort of half-assed so I've decided to take a step back and rethink that. Things are a bit tight right now with the out of pocket medical bills and therefore it's not like a big budget will be available. Something sturdier and better looking to the neighbors is called for though.  Any suggestions are welcome.

In the meantime, some better late than never tomato porn:

 

Ackerman and Segretti: Two Sides of the Same Ratfucker Coin

I know, politics ain't beanbag as the saying goes, but I think any decent person understands that this crosses the line(emphasis mine):

I do not endorse a Popular Front, nor do I think you need to. It’s not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-Wright’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.

And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.

The author of the above, Spencer Ackerman, invokes the old "ends  justify the means" defense:

“Part of me doesn’t like this shit either,” agreed Spencer Ackerman, then of the Washington Independent. “But what I like less is being governed by racists and warmongers and criminals.”

Obviously, integrity is not exactly Ackerman's strong suit.

Ackerman fancies himself to be a journalist, but he's really just another two-bit partisan hack who merely poses as one. His job is not to enlighten or inform any of us, it is to craft a narrative by promoting some facts and ignoring others that might contradict his desired outcome. And, as he admits here, if he has to make shit up, well, that's just the price that has to be paid to make sure the righteous win the debate. Remember this shitstain's name and think twice before accepting anything he writes as truthful.

Hey Spencer, I'm pretty sure he's on the other side, but I bet Donald Segretti admires your work.

Chasm Creek

We did a short walk along part of the Superior Hiking Trail on Monday afternoon. This section roughly follows a river named Devil Track that flows into Lake Superior a few miles north of Grand Marais. This time of year there is not much flow, but the scenery is nice along the 100 to 150 foot gorge that the river has cut into the land here(as always here, click any pic for a larger version):

The parking area for this part of the trail is just under a mile from Lake Superior, and just under a half a mile from there you come across a very interesting tributary named Chasm Creek. I didn't have the right footwear to go too far up or down stream. I probably could have made it down the quarter mile or so to the river, but I could see a couple of drops that I might have struggled with on the way back up, my left hand still being less than 100%. Here's a look up and then down stream from the bridge where the trail crosses the creek.

The Grand Canyon it is not, but there are a ton of scenic spots like this one to explore along the North Shore. I've sometimes been remiss about taking pics and posting them here, so I'll try to do better on that. And finally get the photo album stuff figured out.

Thank You For Coming

I've asked you all to be here today...

Sunday Stuff

Greetings, this fine Sunday, from just south of Grand Marais, MN. My little sis and dad came up here last week and I had debated about joining them, too many things to do, that I'm flailing on, or that are just plain stressing me out, but I decided WTH and came up for a couple of days. If nothing else it's good for a little perspective adjustment.

The drive up was 4.5 hours, my longest road trip since I quit smoking. Three different types of munchies got me through it fairly easily. Another first thing successfully navigated this weekend.

The bills are coming in now from my surgery and I've gotten a more personal take on the state of health care and the good and bad. The quality of care has been outstanding across the board I think. Now comes puzzling through the bills and figuring out why some things are covered and others aren't. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be unhappy before the latter is done.

The Twins are staggering into the All-Star break and here's hoping that the starting rotation can use the time to pull their collective head out of their ass. Carl Pavano excepted, so far today is doing his part to avoid a sweep by the Tigers, the rotation seems to have utterly collapsed the last few weeks. Check this out for ugly:

Five games into this road trip, Twins starters are 0-3 with a 16.53 ERA and have allowed 14 home runs.

Ouch. My patience has officially run out when it comes to Baker, Slowey, Blackburn, and Liriano. Two and three years ago I was willing to wait for these young starters to develop some discipline and consistency in their game and forgive the momentary lapses of reason, so long as they worked their way into regular six or seven(or more) inning quality starts. Time is rapidly running out on that. And I hate to say it, because I've been a strong supporter of his over the years, but pitching coach Rick Anderson better take charge of this staff or get ready to hit the road himself. Is it just me, or is this a fairly lame statement?

Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said Blackburn didn't throw nearly enough off-speed pitches against the Tigers.

"If I throw 90-some percent of my pitches the same speed, I'm going to get my butt kicked," Anderson said. "I've got a theory I say to everyone: 'The harder you get hit, the softer you throw.'"

I think Anderson knows what these guys need to do, but he seems to be having trouble getting them to do it. Okay, Blackburn needed to throw more off-speed stuff. Why didn't he? Why couldn't Anderson or Gardenhire get him to do so? I like both of those guys, but I'm starting to question if they have the ability to coach this team to its potential.

I was going to post some political stuff, but the heck with it. I need to get my sense of humor back a little bit first.

Seen In Bristol Bay

I wish I had seen this before my other post, but now that Stacy McCain has quoted Ahab Sullivan's take on it, I have to go all in on the Godfather riff:

In Palinland, no one knows what’s really going on. But I wonder if this is a somewhat panicked response to the recent blip upwards in web interest in the Trig question. With all these family members able to speak to the public and McGinniss digging deeper, Todd and Sarah may have felt the need to crack down and use Levi’s access to Tripp and Bristol as their latest weapon.

Sullivan doesn't know the half of it. You see, I was there and this is my transcript:

Crack The Code, Eh?

Don't bother:

The U.S. military’s new Cyber Command is headquartered at Ft. Meade, Maryland, one of the military’s most secretive and secure facilities. Its mission is largely opaque, even inside the armed forces. But the there’s another mystery surrounding the emerging unit. It’s embedded in the Cyber Command logo.

On the logo’s inner gold ring is a code: 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a

Yeah, that was an easy crack. Trust me, it says:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

What?