Speaks for itself.
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Secrets In the Earth Here's an interesting, newfound puzzle . My thoughts initially ran between a concrete grave marker for one or two family pets (depending on whether or not Fluff and Coomp were two different pets or two names for the same pet, as sometimes happens in a household) that the kids were allowed to inscribe, or it's a club treasure trove sealed securely years back and perhaps all but forgotten as some or all of the kids moved away. Right or wrong, that's what I passed along to the gent. Subsequently, I realized that the part that doesn't fit for me is the space in the middle. Now it's looking more like an inscribed foundation for something that was subsequently removed from the base. If the base was poured at one time and then something else grouted/mortared to it later (and there's definitely signs of that), that grout/mortar likely would have remained the weak link. If nothing is found beneath the "marker" then it most likely was ju...
Iron Man Weekend Almost here for me. I likely won't get out to see it until sometime Saturday - making a round of several comics shops for Free Comic Book Day to get, among other things, the free Iron Man Heroclix piece - and making a family visit along the way. All reports thusfar have been positive, though, for this first of a slate of films Marvel's developing under a wonderfully protected $525 million fund they established three years ago , finally beginning to bear fruit. The movie reportedly cost $150 million for production and $75 million in promotions, so there's a big chunk to overcome up front, but so far it seems poised to take it. A co-worker saw it last night (they started showing it as early as 9pm Thursday, making me wish I'd checked -- I'd presumed that a midnight showing would be the first) and gave a positive report. I'm sure I'll have something to say about it by late Saturday.
marriedtothesea.com Thanks to Darren for tipping me off to married to the sea . Since Tony already ran the one in the bunch that caught my eye early on as I started to work backwards through the archives, I went with the one above, which was one of many to get a good laugh out of me. As who knows how many Indiana Republicans are going to wade into the Primary next Tuesday to vote for Hillary so that McCain can potentially steamroll her come November... Feh. Listening to Governor Mitch Daniels chuckle about how some of them might just want to have some fun" found me nearly loathing the man. (It's near the end of a 5 minute interview found here .) I find it difficult to believe it would strike him as so whimsical were it the GOP candidates locked in what's really proving to be a destructive struggle, and Al Franken was advising Democrats to vote for the candidate who has 15 years or more of deep-set demonization (deserved or not) caked on him.
Well, I did my part I voted yesterday. While the state fell to Clinton, Obama still picked up almost as many delegates and is still running some 126 ahead. My suspicions remain that a significant number of the 160,000 PA Republicans who switched to Democrat this year did so to help keep Clinton in the race so the internal fighting can continue , and potentially help her win the nomination so they can go vote for McCain in the fall. It's a simple, but in its way brilliant strategy, as the Clinton supporters' reflex is to deny it, putting forth an argument where they confuse those newly signed up to the voter rolls with the Republicans in Democrats' clothing. The Dems fight among themselves and become gradually more partisan. At the moment it's all mostly unpleasant, but it's far from over.
Ye gods! It's April 18th?! No special significance to the date, at least not that comes to mind. It's simply that I haven't posted anything here since March 13th. Well, at least my taxes were filed a bit before the deadline. I managed to do one thing right. Some ups, several downs, and another month plus ripped from my calendar. I really need to be more careful about such things. My calendars aren't as inexhaustible as I would like to believe. Not that I needed a reminder on that front, but on Wednesday night a member of my usual lunchtime work quartet lost his father to protracted illness; I'm expecting that the next time I see him will be at the funeral, probably sometime next week. (Details will likely be coming through sometime today.) Thanks are overdue to Tammy & Darren for both a kung-fu fighting singing card and a fine, bright red shirt with Alex Ross' dynamic reinterpretation of the "Captain America Lives Again!" cover for Avengers #4...
...and she'll take the low road It's been another too-busy day, but I have to take a few moments to note a quote from Hillary Clinton I heard this morning . "That was his choice, Steve" she said in an interview with Steve Inskeep. "There was no rule or requirement that he take his name off the ballot. His supporters ran a very aggressive campaign to try to get people to vote uncommitted." Oh, right, Hill. I'm sure "uncommitted" really drew something like the same vote an actual name would have... in primaries where the electorate was already told their delegates wouldn't count. Winsies for you. I could barely believe it. The voice sounded right, but I thought maybe my mind had wandered and I was actually hearing some Clinton campaign aid/spokesperson talking too much off the cuff. But, no, it was the candidate herself. I understand the unwillingness to believe that her presumed frontrunner status has become part of the past, and...
Saturday Into Sunday Yesterday there was some weather about... ...and while it briefly looked as if my Saturday plans over at Abbygal & Crypt Leak 's place might be washed away like Piglet, we mostly lucked out and plans were un-canceled, save for Eric G . having exited the plans the night before (though we didn't know until going for 5 on Saturday due to some communications problems) as he headed West to help his parents out with imminent flooding from heavier rains than we ended up getting. Good conversation, snacking flowing into eating and back into snacking, and time spent as A-Gal (mostly her, because they were her characters and it was more entertaining this way rather than having us fumble around through unfamiliar mechanics) moved her character along through the challenges of being stranded on an island. ..which is considerably more dramatic of a presentation than what we actually went through, as since with other Sims games much of the activity is making sure o...
Just to clarify... Under George W. Bush, we are the evil empire . Not that we really needed the reminder. ( Edit: Some related expansions to the post.) Isn't there a Fox tv show in this somewhere? Suspects Say The Craziest Things? Along similar lines (passed along via email by Dwight Williams ) we see that related issues are matters of a political battle in court, and so of some at least momentary scrutiny, up in Canada. Court discussions are underway concerning a government's responsibility (and, so, one presumes culpability) with respect to conditions in Afghani prisons when they turn prisoners over to Afghanistan officials . Up for argument will be whether or not they are under any obligation to gain real assurances that the prisoners won't be tortured. Aside from any basic notions of decency and what each nations claims to be what they stand for, officials should remember that if one has power over anyone's life and fate then he has moral and ethical responsibili...