Layng quietly in fields

Layng quietly in fields
Glstening lights

Friday, February 26, 2016

The worms were digging in Earnest.



Today's Tids Issue 3,539
Opening Stuff:

Right now the Republican party looks like Libya with little hope for unification, and Obama dropping bombs all over the place.

As far as I culd see, last night’s Repub “debate” was like WWE Naked Wrestlemania. It is apparent to anyone that watched that Rubio took home the big prize and that the Trumpster fell victim to his own very thin skin. Yes everybody thought Rubio won…except potential voters, 75% of whom gave the evening Trump! Go figure. It is that kind of year when getting rid of the old in Washington is the only thing.

Police were suspicious when the wine merchant blurted out that his basement was where the berries were bodied. Thanks to Hillary Price

The Question:
Name three books by John Updike, and Upton Sinclair. Bonus: BTW, Updike won the Pulitzer twice for fiction. Only two others did it twice. Who were they? Double Bonus: A lot of early US manufacturing expertise (And wealth) grew out of the gun industry. Name five of America’s early gun inventors and manufacturers.

The Headlines:
--4 Dead. 14 Wounded In Kansas Workplace Shooting; Son In Phoenix Kills Five Family Members, Sets House On Fire.
--US Economic Growth Revised Upward By One Percent; US Futures Looked Strong To End Week Higher, Market Opened Stagnant; Oil Moving Up; China Stocks Rebound Slightly.
--US Fires ICBM To Display Power To Russia And NK.
--The Hill Reemphasizes The Need For “O” To Appoint True Progressive As Replacement For Scalia; Hill Confuses Declaration Of Independence With Constitution In Gun Pitch.
--Many Not Buying trump Tax Release Excuses.
--Israel Blasts Iran For Its New Cash-For-Martyrdom-In-Israel Program.
--37 Stranded On Antarctica Icebreaker Rescued.
--Three Black Women Who Cried Racism, Were Convicted Of Several Misdemeanors As Part Of A Giant Hoax; Video Evidence Shows Three Black Albany U Students Attacking 19 Year Old White Woman On A Bus.

When you think about it, two of the biggest discriminators in the country are Hollywood and the fashion industry who try to dictate exactly what constitutes acceptable beauty, which necessarily surpresses the wonderful attributes of probably of 98% of the population. Why just yesterday an undernourished model lambasted SI for putting a generous model on the cover – Probably to protect her own malformation. Think of the money that’s spent trying to live up to the arbitrary expectations. Think of the pressure. the pain of not being among the chosen. Think of the jobs lost. It is the quiet discrimination that nobody talks about.  

The New US slogan: In Superficiality we Trust.

Consumer Reports Says 15 new cars to avoid at all costs are Smart Car for 2, Scion iQ, Nissan Titan, Nissan Armada, Mitsubishe Mirage, Mitsubishe iMiEV, Lincoln MKT, Lincoln MKS, Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Patriot, Jeep Compass, Fiat 500L Dodge Journey, Cadillac STS and BMW 7 Series. The BMW may be a big surprise but it is seen to have lost that famous “edge: and is also rated very low on resale value and very high on operating expense. Yikes. Where have you gone, Ultimate Driving Machine.

The new manager of anything wants to take the human out of the formula. We talked about sabermetrics picking ballplayers yesterday. But docs are relying numbers as do employers and government agencies. So, the while the machines see digits upon digits, the flesh and bones person sees a spark in the human eye that is undeniable.

I think March came early yesterday. The winds were wild and the ocean was amazing; foam filled waves rolling for 100’s of yards across the deep blue wintry sea. I inhaled it al and enjoyed the cleanliness of the churning seas.

I was pleasantly appropriate to see a Terminex “Pest” Control ad pop up in my Spam.

I think Kasich is sounding more like a “Peter Principle” guy. And Carson a “Peter, Peter , Pumpkin Eater” Man. Salads?

I guess the “J’s” are out in AI land as two of my favorites, Jeneve and Jenn were ousted by the voters. In my estimation, they went for screamers over talent.

Newish TV, Department:
You, me and the Apocalypse is a well acted, well produced strange little new TV series that will keep you watching (well, it held me)…and you will wonder about your mental stability when you find yourself understanding it. – Another fairly new venture is Full Frontal starring the extremely liberal feminist Samantha Bee who basically eviscerates everybody outside of her smallish intolerant sphere. She is clever and at times funny but unfortunately thinsk that crassness and four letters are a big part of a humor. As you might imagine she blasted Scalia under the pretense of paying honor to dead rather despised adversary. She balanced that a bit with funny gig on Bernie and some good shots at Hillary, But always with too many of the words this family column does not typically ingest.

I still think good ole’ Sears has the best selection. But, they have one big problem – people have stopped going there. In today’s society, being up is far more important than being good. Remebr when the pages of the Sear’s catalog was part of your daily constitution.

The Parking Lot: Chapter 48.
    Elizabeth stood back with the rest of the women on the hilltop  overlooking Sakonnett harbor. It was magnificent New England day by blue and shining sea, but a black cloud hung low over the little village. She could feel it.
   She was in awe of her father-in-law who always seemed to have an answer for the toughest situations. His answer this time was, “Be the man who you are.”
   So there he was riding slowly down the hill leading the procession, Jeremiah following in his one horse carriage and the other Hicks, and neighbor men joining together for Howland’s funeral. Richard knew that the town could easily blame his family for the death, seen though he had heard it appeared accidental. Being there at this moment was important for the entire region, he had told them all after young Howland had left.
  They came off the hill and joined on the path to town, now passing the point where she had leapt off the rock to bring down big Howland. She felt big hands grasping her stomach.
   The party paused. She assumed they were all taking in a large breath of air as they sat up strong to face the unknown. She left the ladies to walk higher up the hill for a better view of the small church and the crowds that had gathered. She felt a sense of victory even as the possibility of a retaliative disaster rose. This was right she said.
   Elizabeth wondered what young Howland had told the sea town people, when he returned two days ago. He seemed good after he calmed down at the Hicks compound. He seemed to respect Richard. But he said little.
   Now she saw the riders coming into view at the church. Towns people’s heads turned, and then looked away, moving now to the doors of the church. There were no shouts, but there was neither a welcome. The mourners were there to mourn. They moved away from Richard, who had doffed his hat in respect; the others followed.
   The people quickly moved into the church, and The door slammed. There was no need to put out a “Do not enter” sign.
    
Reading Between the Lines Movie Reviews:
--Eddie the Eagle is fun and easily one of the best overall Pics for the Weekend. It has that Hoosiers feeling as we watch the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics journey of Michael “Eddie” Edwards, the ski jumper who fought the British establishment and the experts who said he had no chance. As many of you remember, Eddie became the best story of the show, and was rooted for by the word as the experts slinked into the corner. Want to feel good? This is it.
--Triple 9 is a good cast, mediocre movie that is so-so with the crtcis but might be good entertainment for the mindless like me. It’s about dirty cops blackmailed by the Russian mob To abet an almost impossible bank heist. It is fiolled when a rookie cop who is planned to be killed goes off script and beguns a surge against the bad guyts with amny a double cross and lots of revnece and grteed. Kate Winsletis pretty god as a  nevi mob boss. RThat might beworththe price of admission.
--Gods of Egypt looks like a terrible film, and I can’t even tell what it’s about. It is a big action move which I suspect has too much Dolby sound around.

The Answer:
John Updike is known for the “Rabbit” Series – Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest and Rabbit Remembered. Sinclair was prolific, writing over a 100 books including the popular The Jungle (About the meat packing industry), The Bronze Check (About yellow Journalism), The Money Changers and Call Me Carpenter: A Tale of the Second Coming. Bonus: The other two double “P” winners were Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner. Double Bonus. Sam Colt comes to mind first as does Eliphalet Remington (America’s Oldest). But then we have  Daniel Wessen and Horace Smith, Oliver Winchester, John Moses Browning, John Garand, Richard Gatling, John T. Thompson (“Tommy” Gun) and Hiram Maxim. There plenty more, but those are some of the historic US names.

Help me. I don’t want to be digitized.

Have a great weekend, E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!

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