We at the height are ready to decline.
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
— William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, IV.ii.269–276
All posts by daddybear71
Quote of the Day
Posted by daddybear71 on March 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/15/quote-of-the-day-10/
Mel Brooks was robbed by the Academy
It’s day 3 of being home sick with Boo. I’ve read every Dr. Seuss book we have at least 3 times, I’ve indulged him in watching the Backyardigans and the Star Wars trilogy several times, and now I’m working through the good Muppet movies.
This brought me to this particular sequence, featuring the genius of Mel Brooks:
That’s some of the best acting of the 20th century right there, friends and neighbors.
By the way, this scene is the reason I say that any weapon that has a select fire capacity has “Der Svitch!”.
Boo seems to be pretty much mended, and I seem to have hit bottom of this flu last night. I’m better than I was yesterday, and I hope to be able to go back to work tomorrow. Irish Woman is taking tomorrow off to take Boo for his follow-up with the doctor, so even if I don’t feel up to work tomorrow, I will be able to get a bit of rest.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/15/mel-brooks-was-robbed-by-the-academy/
30 Days of Churchill – Day 13
I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.’ We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. — Speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940)
Posted by daddybear71 on March 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/15/30-days-of-churchill-day-13/
It’s that time of the year
I can now officially call the productive part of the year in Kentucky over until about September. My reasons for making this judgement call are:
- NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – There shall be no productive work done here until either the tournament ends or all of the local teams are out. My hope is that Kentucky and Louisville are out after the first couple of rounds. If they make it to the last rounds, then nothing will get done around here for the next two weeks as people take time out to watch the games, watch news programs about the games, talk about the game they watched and the news coverage, and talk about the next game. Remember, in Kentucky, there are three major religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Basketball. I find it best to not even get involved in the quasi-religious conflicts between Kentucky and Louisville fans.
- Kentucky Derby Festival – The madness begins in mid-April with Thunder Over Louisville. During the two weeks it takes for Louisville to run a two minute horse race, no-one will be working. And I don’t mean they will be in the office and goofing off. I mean they won’t consistently be in the office. Entire work groups will leave someone behind and go have fun at the track, the parade, the food concessions, or some of the other events that revolve around the Derby. Heck, they even call off school the day before the Derby so that locals can take their kids to see the Kentucky Oaks race.
- Vacations and Summer Holidays – From the beginning May to the end of August, productivity picks up a bit, but at any given time, approximately 25% of the workforce will be off on vacation, off to attend a conference, taking a nice afternoon office off to get in 9 holes, or just deciding it’s too nice a day to work. Now, I take advantage of this as much as the next guy, so I can’t cast stones here. I just don’t understand the “I’m taking a couple of days off every two weeks until the end of the summer” attitude.
So for the next few months, I’m going to be frustrated trying to get an entire working group to work all at the same time for more than a couple days in a row. Does anyone else have this happen to them in their area?
Posted by daddybear71 on March 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/15/its-that-time-of-the-year/
Another Reason to Celebrate the Day
Today is Pi day, but it is also another wonderful day on the American calendar. Since this is a PG-13 blog, we’ll have to play blog pictionary to figure out what it is:
Happy
 |
| Name That Entree! |
and
 |
| Name this character from M*A*S*H |
Day!
Posted by daddybear71 on March 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/14/another-reason-to-celebrate-the-day/
What are you doing here?
Go read something worth your time.
Now, excuse me while I go find something to wipe my eyes with. Must be a side effect of the Tamiflu.
H/T to Blackfive.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/14/what-are-you-doing-here/
Captcha Update
It’s been a few weeks since I shut off captcha on comments here, and things seem to be going OK.
I went for a week or so with comment moderation, but shut that off after a while. I have configured the comments now so that moderation is now only necessary on posts that are 3 or more days old.
For the vast majority of spam comments, the built-in filters that Blogger catches them and sends them down the hole. I haven’t had to get rid of but one or two requests for help cashing a check drawn on an African bank or advertisements for dating sites that specialize in Eastern European left-handed redheads.
Thing is, I can see why everyone hates the new captcha, but to me it’s not that big a deal to post a comment on a blog that still uses them. You see, my handwriting isn’t much better than the font Google is using for captcha, and if I can phonetically say the ‘word’ that is being presented, I can usually type it in. Let’s face it, if you can read the hand-written Russian tax receipt given to a Finnish truck driver by a Ukrainian border guard, you can read “thouck mrabiyn” on a computer screen.
That being said, I think I’ll stay with the no-captcha policy for the time being, at least until Google notices that a lot of people have dropped that feature and corrects the issue.
What say y’all?
Posted by daddybear71 on March 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/14/captcha-update/
30 Days of Churchill – Day 12
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences. — Speech in the House of Commons, November 12, 1936
My Take:
I may be cynical, but every election that’s occurred in my adult life has been the “most important election in our history”, so I won’t say that November 2012 will be THE tipping point in American politics where we have to choose between soaring towards ever higher heights or going down the path to historical oblivion.
But I will say that the time for going along to get along, of compromising our principles, and deferring to the hooting mob of either side of the political spectrum has been over for a long time. It’s time we stood up, set our minds to the task, and got on with the business of being citizens instead of residents or dependents. No matter who you support, you need to get up off the couch, find a way to help your cause, and be counted among those who will not let our history be written by those who take us for granted.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/14/30-days-of-churchill-day-12/
Happy Pi Day
Posted by daddybear71 on March 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/14/happy-pi-day/
Thoughts On The Day
- When the day starts by reading a 102 degree fever in your youngest, it’s not a good sign.
- I love our pediatrician. Not only was she able to get us in early today, but her office staff is prepared for just about everything. The power went out in the office about halfway through our appointment. The staff calmly found their way around the office by the light of their cellphones, broke out flashlights and chem-lights, and distributed them to the young patients so they wouldn’t be afraid of the sudden dark.
- Holding a 50 pound four year old down so that samples for strep throat and influenza can be taken should be considered a martial art.
- Good news – Boo was negative for strep
- Bad news – Boo was positive for influenza
- Worse news – I just took my own temperature, and it’s just a hair shy of 100 degrees.
- My doctor was gracious enough to call in prescriptions for Tamiflu for Irish Woman, Girlie Bear, and me. Hopefully this means I will be back to 100% in a few days.
- Thank goodness for good insurance. The retail price for a 5 day dose of children’s Tamiflu is over $200. Our cost was about $35.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 13, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/13/thoughts-on-the-day-6/
DaddyBear
