tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51848364104560506112024-03-17T22:15:50.134-06:00Mister Fweem's BlogHere there be monsters. And kids. And a guy who babbles a lot about all sorts of things, including technical communication and rocks that resemble pigs' noses. Remember, you were warned.Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.comBlogger3942125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-43644554528328163872024-03-17T22:14:00.004-06:002024-03-17T22:14:56.990-06:00Follow-Up from the Get Ready Man<p>You may, of course, remember this <a href="https://misterfweem.blogspot.com/2024/03/march-comes-in-like-get-ready-man.html" target="_blank">post</a>.</p><p>Back on March 2, we had about 21 inches of snow fall on us all of a sudden, making scenes like what's pictured below (this in my back yard) a common scene.</p><p>I got the branch cut down and stabliized a few days after, but I was worried because there were two branches resting on our neighbor's shed roof that I couldn't budge. I was sure the shed was skewered.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFobXMjwbk3H7d8vzPTUsBQ8ai6ZNcim2PlaAlpfjQDi5lc_-lEbT8z9KUx7Q9mhNWMP4DQlU4o__3CqlOuX6uWI5DFHMh1nPiwLs09k7-dYWaZ0XO-x6f0owvmCtFpZFimKI7OxFLYC6MpPEyPwuFICHd7tYxaCbrEw4Py4wkqa1kf_52MFo6jZO4W4/s960/tree%20limb1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFobXMjwbk3H7d8vzPTUsBQ8ai6ZNcim2PlaAlpfjQDi5lc_-lEbT8z9KUx7Q9mhNWMP4DQlU4o__3CqlOuX6uWI5DFHMh1nPiwLs09k7-dYWaZ0XO-x6f0owvmCtFpZFimKI7OxFLYC6MpPEyPwuFICHd7tYxaCbrEw4Py4wkqa1kf_52MFo6jZO4W4/s320/tree%20limb1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>But quite a bit of the snow has melted since then. I went out in the yard this afternoon and pulled at the branches, and they slid right off the roof without resistance. They'd just been buried in the heavy snow to the point I couldn't budge them earlier. So no shed skewering. That's a relief.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-39772586234011348512024-03-16T22:22:00.002-06:002024-03-16T22:29:20.151-06:00. . . A Lorry-Load of *Interesting* Cheeses . . .Rest assured, folks, Facebook is out there protecting you. Protecting you from the likes of. . . <div><br /></div><div>Rowley Birkin.</div><div><br /></div><div>I imagine it's the title of this clip that caught it in Facebook's humorless web:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HkuBvL0rCSA" width="320" youtube-src-id="HkuBvL0rCSA"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Now, Facebook has yet to follow up with me for reporting two individuals posting pornographic material and tagging me in their posts because I commented on an automotive-related page and they figure, car guy=sexual deviant. I don't know if they're protecting me from that.</div><div><br /></div><div>But they are protecting you, gentle reader, from the horrors of humor. Just so you know.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47iE1HU6VUxettxQUEbTtxiNI_fMyl7rwx0z4bta878xXesNvhxSqSwJ_Gje5fecfejbVKsDl2J34LOS8dIJ2YQT-r9uwMe8M-M8w1KiZ6-lbtVerB1MDj6bUApO8Tkxvttovap2sLLQHEWF_Ot2oSaauBvuXqZs8TZB9RU9zkFrqoaoUdlCjxf4OkyU/s842/lorry%20load%20of%20interesting%20cheeses.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="842" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47iE1HU6VUxettxQUEbTtxiNI_fMyl7rwx0z4bta878xXesNvhxSqSwJ_Gje5fecfejbVKsDl2J34LOS8dIJ2YQT-r9uwMe8M-M8w1KiZ6-lbtVerB1MDj6bUApO8Tkxvttovap2sLLQHEWF_Ot2oSaauBvuXqZs8TZB9RU9zkFrqoaoUdlCjxf4OkyU/s320/lorry%20load%20of%20interesting%20cheeses.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Again, note the complete lack of a clear explanation as to what exactly was wrong here. You'd think by the message there that they objected to the lorry-load of interesting cheeses. No mention of the video at all. I only guessed when I went back to YouTube and saw the title of the clip:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4uJjrkfiYRaPtSwmgyaRy8IYERqP5tEcgpKhGdpiL-lX2IdKKg1IoihyphenhyphenX1ff7fqyhhbJnZBXOiV7j4bRI34yYsn_Ozb-Dh6yRW4wM-N9EySbwIQd5p7ab-uFwJhMBKb4qCvaGnmk5kmMiWvL5vs67ZZn7I4xjEBKsD9hlYmHa-W2lLSm7_iTUY7_z9go/s901/shoot%20him%20you%20fool.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="901" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4uJjrkfiYRaPtSwmgyaRy8IYERqP5tEcgpKhGdpiL-lX2IdKKg1IoihyphenhyphenX1ff7fqyhhbJnZBXOiV7j4bRI34yYsn_Ozb-Dh6yRW4wM-N9EySbwIQd5p7ab-uFwJhMBKb4qCvaGnmk5kmMiWvL5vs67ZZn7I4xjEBKsD9hlYmHa-W2lLSm7_iTUY7_z9go/s320/shoot%20him%20you%20fool.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Their reluctance to repeat the (shh!) *naughty words* does them and their users a disservice. Had this happened a week, a month hence, I might have lost all context and had no idea what they were talking about, as seen <a href="https://misterfweem.blogspot.com/2024/03/another-facebook-absurdity.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Facebook, do better.</div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-35888497990356500432024-03-16T21:38:00.003-06:002024-03-16T21:38:45.952-06:00More Friends! *MORE* Allies! More I Say!Again, the weirdness of Facebook:<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wFCB7XJIwSA" width="320" youtube-src-id="wFCB7XJIwSA"></iframe></div><br /><div>How many Facebook friends do I have? I don't know. And I'm not sure Facebook knows either.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm thinking about this not because I feel friendless or want to wear a totem of social media allies, but because I've hovered at the 511 to 513 friend threshold for many months now on Facebook.</div><div><br /></div><div>But sometimes Facebook tells me I have 509 friends. Sometimes 511. Occasionally 512. Rarely, 513. I don't know how they count them. I don't think they know either.</div><div><br /></div><div>Neverlethess, there's a few inches over here, ho!</div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-8382843997179126822024-03-15T22:56:00.005-06:002024-03-15T22:56:57.594-06:00No, Not Upton Sinclair. Sinclair Lewis.<p>A question for my bookish friends: Has anyone out there read anything by Sinclair Lewis?</p><p>I ask because I see a lot of lists of the "Great American Novel," and Lewis is rarely on them. I don't understand that. In reading things like "Babbitt," "Main Street," "Arrowsmith," and "It Can't Happen Here," I see an American who really understood in his time what it meant to be an American, and in reading his books today, I can still see a lot of America reflected in his characters and stories.</p><p>He's not a dry writer either. There's a lot of action, and humor, and pathos in his writing.</p><p>I mean, he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1930. . .</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZlIpE8_vjfw1IqX3DWmBevb727sF6FbL9_T3OjamBrA4g6_80PEemMYzKlH7-CmbyE3ZSQcpR2CDhVtPKue2giI_HbJgIAxIo8UDSBQ4rVpMoap7VEOMeTq80DniEHNX0Y9P78z3MAUtarfmb6WgFwAECEqsrmcnS6vNSGCgCqyzwNZRvHVouZs0qyVo/s532/sinclair%20lewis.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="465" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZlIpE8_vjfw1IqX3DWmBevb727sF6FbL9_T3OjamBrA4g6_80PEemMYzKlH7-CmbyE3ZSQcpR2CDhVtPKue2giI_HbJgIAxIo8UDSBQ4rVpMoap7VEOMeTq80DniEHNX0Y9P78z3MAUtarfmb6WgFwAECEqsrmcnS6vNSGCgCqyzwNZRvHVouZs0qyVo/w350-h400/sinclair%20lewis.png" width="350" /></a></div><p>I"ll bet this photo prompted a lot of people to want to call him Poindexter. I hope he went with a nickhame with more pizzaz.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-10508211912750873112024-03-13T13:28:00.001-06:002024-03-13T13:28:30.122-06:00Hired Goons?<p>Long story: Spent the last 24 hours sweating I had committed a miscalculation on our 2023 tax returns because when I checked on my refund status, the IRS was all confused that my information didn't match their information.</p><p>Actually DREAMED the IRS goons showed up at the house and my family, rather than getting into a [deleted because Facebook will censor it] with said goons, let them cart me off without incident.</p><p>Short story: When checking on the status of your 2023 tax refund, don't enter information from the 2022 tax year.</p><p>Even shorter story: I'm *still* a moron, if anyone out there doubts it.</p><p>My Facebook friends, of course, had helpful and supportive <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MisterFweem/posts/pfbid02Ucn6Acw3nT9WUShucm4gQiWkqG4PcUeT4HqXPY23zB2aqC7YcT4eVoS1oPiHiViWl" target="_blank">things to say</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XwlGq1W0haE" width="320" youtube-src-id="XwlGq1W0haE"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-89387772783898931032024-03-11T20:05:00.004-06:002024-03-11T20:05:50.183-06:00Way Too Late at the Movies: Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_-Kz67kea8Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="_-Kz67kea8Q"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I so wanted <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8337264/" target="_blank">this</a> to be a good movie.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I mean, I knew it was going to be predictable. Mrs. Tweedy was going to make a return -- I had high hopes for Mr. Tweedy to be there too, cowed and ineffectual, but, alas.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But it was not good.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The music was, well, not good. Tack on a jaunty song at the beginning and end because, you know, that's what you do. The music in the film was so bland I don't remember any of it. And while I had doubts they'd bring back Mel Gibson because, you know, reasons, that they also didn't bring back Julie Sawalha because she SOUNDED TOO OLD, maybe that's a sign not to make a sequel to a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120630/" target="_blank">24-year-old movie</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Aardman was there in full force in the animation and artwork. But the story, dialogue, and music were definitely lacking. Altogether, a disappointment.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I think what bugged me is that there were absolutely no stakes whatsoever. Yes, Mrs. Tweedy was back. But we've seen the gang defeat her before, so it was a foregone conclusion. At no time whatsoever did I feel like we were going to see anyone but some rando background chicken turned into nuggets. And you'd think that with bringing back the same writer for Chicken Run, and the same director as Flushed Away, both of which had great stories and great stakes, they would have recognized that. But it seemed everyone involved wanted to play it safe. Which is sad, because the chickens in Chicken Run didn't play it safe at all.</div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-42870218580756495942024-03-11T19:51:00.005-06:002024-03-11T19:51:52.612-06:00House is Gone<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN2rLBoAZeLEBSn_rpE58WnP4y6bHBxjneMeP457W7ryTuFzRKkHU_z7UR6BsalSinNqqZGD3-tmzoUeYQCl0vtsRxtQcqjRGszPnIDolBcmfBlqaJcYdCX6T3qw7mp0aM7t45rlzs7lQ05LNxH57g_ZMvInEOQtdt0-AYLdDjKdFwEMwKZ9LSy-ZgbQ/s800/old%20house%20going1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN2rLBoAZeLEBSn_rpE58WnP4y6bHBxjneMeP457W7ryTuFzRKkHU_z7UR6BsalSinNqqZGD3-tmzoUeYQCl0vtsRxtQcqjRGszPnIDolBcmfBlqaJcYdCX6T3qw7mp0aM7t45rlzs7lQ05LNxH57g_ZMvInEOQtdt0-AYLdDjKdFwEMwKZ9LSy-ZgbQ/w400-h300/old%20house%20going1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tFxqRlGj-kYW8O1IztsIC4RentzDumkYae8cKGVFiPiXILNY_5FVpX0WX7owFyfwTQiZ2-pJPaMZb5-_EraywoA_AAeYk0LGE9ePm1r33HqNlJc4d-CCeHzhiFWmA3ba8__BC4NRs4A9kN4Y8Ca3l40jwG0JQ5y-hvXTBeK1fIELWjUM059Pv6pCRqE/s800/old%20house%20going2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tFxqRlGj-kYW8O1IztsIC4RentzDumkYae8cKGVFiPiXILNY_5FVpX0WX7owFyfwTQiZ2-pJPaMZb5-_EraywoA_AAeYk0LGE9ePm1r33HqNlJc4d-CCeHzhiFWmA3ba8__BC4NRs4A9kN4Y8Ca3l40jwG0JQ5y-hvXTBeK1fIELWjUM059Pv6pCRqE/w400-h300/old%20house%20going2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisX7wMPIakztCYTMmKRGkHd5s_qJDfrekjXraUTa5hG2SZe_AN8Ak-q_p4KJ86-oHfNdkdi83F5D1pOqo5FBX0T2cQCOO3RjYV2xxC21qBJ6Z7prnE2m_Cjbtb0u5djLRKknPK04NjB9C3brBa0ylu0qRoAi83r4s5YDO8RUQ2oZs1ctYwtW_ezZObtCg/s800/old%20house%20going3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisX7wMPIakztCYTMmKRGkHd5s_qJDfrekjXraUTa5hG2SZe_AN8Ak-q_p4KJ86-oHfNdkdi83F5D1pOqo5FBX0T2cQCOO3RjYV2xxC21qBJ6Z7prnE2m_Cjbtb0u5djLRKknPK04NjB9C3brBa0ylu0qRoAi83r4s5YDO8RUQ2oZs1ctYwtW_ezZObtCg/w400-h300/old%20house%20going3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAohE5vEzkNtU7riI2tZYMRLAhSYpcXvSwKkU0bZ01NGWBS7xjTCjJSPyyNEREgi-WZwhmY9OLUpzbemTNimPwfzSNCdOTolwJy3zwWjECz7c-qzWh0SRyHqcXNrms3OyUw0508UVAtdZXgyofBg0Sf_JbeRT3f2_Nk_jjed8xdKGB1WfFJO-OE2a5_S8/s4032/old%20house%20gone%203%20photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAohE5vEzkNtU7riI2tZYMRLAhSYpcXvSwKkU0bZ01NGWBS7xjTCjJSPyyNEREgi-WZwhmY9OLUpzbemTNimPwfzSNCdOTolwJy3zwWjECz7c-qzWh0SRyHqcXNrms3OyUw0508UVAtdZXgyofBg0Sf_JbeRT3f2_Nk_jjed8xdKGB1WfFJO-OE2a5_S8/w400-h300/old%20house%20gone%203%20photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4ip6l2pZQ5V_eCFkiPwSoPyy2pX5sHgKPdeOXzcFN_w_C7fmU-Wfy_LeXx8x4RrnD9WhNjQTZX4rebaKnJ9lqc4cvWg0pQqanrPll-rwGfm23kz5jrcsjdrZUnzpAmULNObnkSMBrdOHnT8w3xARRbti67hSwpImkxWxRGRdRUDT1yVUhye0OVmYnvY/s4032/old%20house%20gone%20photo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4ip6l2pZQ5V_eCFkiPwSoPyy2pX5sHgKPdeOXzcFN_w_C7fmU-Wfy_LeXx8x4RrnD9WhNjQTZX4rebaKnJ9lqc4cvWg0pQqanrPll-rwGfm23kz5jrcsjdrZUnzpAmULNObnkSMBrdOHnT8w3xARRbti67hSwpImkxWxRGRdRUDT1yVUhye0OVmYnvY/w400-h300/old%20house%20gone%20photo1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYL9MrPXtVeOecFa7N32oxDaqUv8bX9HKcOTeLR8ltBjgmd41Uuz0S1nrVHNDZZSHsX2Wxp5mlp05nU2jr9L9yXNh1bVBaYTB_1H79dacxZ2vTOL8eBqt_A5C9Qt6lo0I049IYUpU4SYsoAuFmB4UXqbTvoI-PtrJhfLff9f7s1IjNMJDR1EOGOWTTw8/s4032/old%20house%20gone%20photo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYL9MrPXtVeOecFa7N32oxDaqUv8bX9HKcOTeLR8ltBjgmd41Uuz0S1nrVHNDZZSHsX2Wxp5mlp05nU2jr9L9yXNh1bVBaYTB_1H79dacxZ2vTOL8eBqt_A5C9Qt6lo0I049IYUpU4SYsoAuFmB4UXqbTvoI-PtrJhfLff9f7s1IjNMJDR1EOGOWTTw8/w400-h300/old%20house%20gone%20photo2.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The house I grew up in is gone.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I won't admit to being a sentimentalist, but it is sad to see it go. All in the name of road widening and traffic safety.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I remember as a kid asking Dad when we'd ever move, and Mom always said maybe when they widened the road. That was in the early 1980s, so forty some-odd years ago. We all did move on, and now the house has as well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was a good house, full of memories, but as Albert says, the house lives on in all of us, as we carry those memories with us. And he saved us a few bricks, guaranteed to have been laid by Dad. So that's neat.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyIVYpoY2U3lG7V__czo07xwR2LEIdsG6qn4-OmPmNeXy7gaBYIqoF94fFTf2SBj-CYfSo4jl6CXzy0GLaadw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>(Photos of the house going courtesy of Doreen Sorenson, a family friend. Photos and video of the house gone, courtesy of Albert.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-66577008247373519762024-03-10T09:46:00.003-06:002024-03-10T13:00:22.202-06:00Another Facebook Absurdity<p>(Click the photo to embiggen) </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYkmoYF06hDHvabKCumk6nPG89qS33HMx2omamDLMkIhzvTO4zxL8GYd9xMOZiBbUG4PV1aYnHlG0cfLzU2i4qJ5d8oDEhYINAr9PBikwb1gQ-pVa9Iw0r_f_2azDPZxhUft0ZKOgccy2UFoEJQCmcIAC4e5cHB-rb2QodnWqf4NRHn2Pkqk5Em0Pkb0/s1349/facebook%20noodle%20scratcher.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1349" data-original-width="843" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYkmoYF06hDHvabKCumk6nPG89qS33HMx2omamDLMkIhzvTO4zxL8GYd9xMOZiBbUG4PV1aYnHlG0cfLzU2i4qJ5d8oDEhYINAr9PBikwb1gQ-pVa9Iw0r_f_2azDPZxhUft0ZKOgccy2UFoEJQCmcIAC4e5cHB-rb2QodnWqf4NRHn2Pkqk5Em0Pkb0/w250-h400/facebook%20noodle%20scratcher.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><p></p><p>Facebook, surely even you see the absurdity in this.</p><p>You "can't show" me whatever offensive content it was I posted. It's so long ago I Gandalf-in-Moria Faced when I looked at the date. You offer me a chance for me to defend my content, but as you can't show it to me and I can't remember it, you may as well have asked me to recite The Lord's Prayer in Klingon as rebuttal; that would be as effective as me stabbing around in the dark trying to defend my honor.</p><p>So I went with the standard "You misunderstood my content; it was a joke," not really knowing if this is accurate.</p><p>Next time I guess I'll write a vignette about <a href="https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/9749093" target="_blank">Private Ogilvy</a> as I try in vain to remember what it was you're shoving down the Memory Hole. </p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-43898574604138421362024-03-07T12:38:00.003-07:002024-03-07T12:42:33.741-07:00Who Knew AI is Relativistic?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtO1l900hDtwIWAw_14-b1iqwMXX3I4RB5mG6XXJyln2LJlZIdhpHVwouMGn3gwdVol1-3bcsqc62U8o3O0_w_0RuRbwXaW_5J9EXecILNJvx1-SVLlh_TKyvoHXr_-sITgpBm_Wo5Wylu5oOUOF_U5DA6kddIQiJuHMroRYS3jVfMBCpt859BnKchTA/s634/FB_IMG_1709832378688.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="634" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtO1l900hDtwIWAw_14-b1iqwMXX3I4RB5mG6XXJyln2LJlZIdhpHVwouMGn3gwdVol1-3bcsqc62U8o3O0_w_0RuRbwXaW_5J9EXecILNJvx1-SVLlh_TKyvoHXr_-sITgpBm_Wo5Wylu5oOUOF_U5DA6kddIQiJuHMroRYS3jVfMBCpt859BnKchTA/w640-h494/FB_IMG_1709832378688.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Spotted in the wild (in this case, on a friend's Facebook feed). I don't know if this is an actual AI response or not, but that's how it's being presented. (Am image search tells me this is a real <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13127549/google-ai-nuclear-apocalypse-misgender-caitlyn-jenner.html" target="_blank">AI interaction</a>, difficulty: The Daily Mail.)<p></p><p>Who knew artificial intelligence is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativism" target="_blank">relativistic</a>? And, yanno, it's a cop-out to say it's a hypothetical situation.</p><p>What's more important is that it provided some amusing social media commentary:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-9Q71FHNzvupHDKs93HiGbZ-9MYN2wJhOatRv5Gi-CrwSkeOt01d4_N5dAjQRQ1ZM6SeGcG4RhdZW4JVjDwChonggrA3OHEVxGqDh_M2fGXJ3zLWPoHEaCszqRKgY6BUoE_7YJPUwPzqLid0EsVJu5fHOAKt2k3-E96zhe4E0aZFy_N9hKOIK1HjVhg/s1677/Screenshot_20240307-123319_kindlephoto-844611079.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1677" data-original-width="1181" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-9Q71FHNzvupHDKs93HiGbZ-9MYN2wJhOatRv5Gi-CrwSkeOt01d4_N5dAjQRQ1ZM6SeGcG4RhdZW4JVjDwChonggrA3OHEVxGqDh_M2fGXJ3zLWPoHEaCszqRKgY6BUoE_7YJPUwPzqLid0EsVJu5fHOAKt2k3-E96zhe4E0aZFy_N9hKOIK1HjVhg/w450-h640/Screenshot_20240307-123319_kindlephoto-844611079.png" width="450" /></a></div><br /><p><br /> </p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-35359261425822228462024-03-06T19:46:00.004-07:002024-03-06T19:58:01.546-07:00Snow is A Relative Thing, I Guess<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-p7xDZCcj09vgf_joTdQRUPAHD06JtrQpP1CdbC-DsKGyad2fef7R1rRm7aNEZZBYyRTx1EUCa0G6mwioppcA1GUuyXVpkK-QErehtWUOOmwLVU9nSjy990_dbIPIB7Kt8vYExe3SUCXskPjn3xoLepXO-gpvHZMtT8J80h8Wf3LA1_kf6LFbmJ_S-e4/s940/Idaho%20Falls%20HOTH.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="940" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-p7xDZCcj09vgf_joTdQRUPAHD06JtrQpP1CdbC-DsKGyad2fef7R1rRm7aNEZZBYyRTx1EUCa0G6mwioppcA1GUuyXVpkK-QErehtWUOOmwLVU9nSjy990_dbIPIB7Kt8vYExe3SUCXskPjn3xoLepXO-gpvHZMtT8J80h8Wf3LA1_kf6LFbmJ_S-e4/w640-h310/Idaho%20Falls%20HOTH.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The winter of 2022/23 was pretty intense. It started early, snow piled up to the rafters and it left late.<p></p><p>We got 79 inches of snow last year.</p><p>This year's been a bit different. Oh, we've had snow, but as late as the last week of February, the ground was bare.</p><p>Then came March. As of now, I don't know how much snow we've got in the back yard, but they're telling me sofar we've gotten <a href="https://howmuchwillitsnow.com/in/idaho-falls/id" target="_blank">51 inches</a>. It feels like a lot less for some reason, but there we are.</p><p>Dogs were real happy the last week of February with no snow on the ground. Now, they're just depressed and want to piddle in the downstairs bathroom. At least their hearts (and bladders) are in the right place.</p><p>Tonight, we had to shovel snow off the roofs of the camper and the utility trailer. It was heavy stuff; I hope the camper isn't damaged, but I do have to get in there this spring and re-do things. Not going to be fun.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-3470145185009017382024-03-05T11:19:00.003-07:002024-03-06T08:47:22.944-07:00Way too Late at the Movies DOUBLE FEATURE: Darby O'Gill and the Little People and Indiana Jones and the Dial of DestinyMy brother Albert is a fan -- if a fan is the right word -- of 1959's <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052722/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Darby O'Gill and the Little People</a>. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's like with some of the things I take a shine to: They're just stupid enough that you can't stop watching, and by the time you figure out you're maybe wasting your time, there you are already done with the movie and thinking, "Well, it wasn't that bad now was it."<div><br /></div><div>Hold on to that thought as I discuss first Mr. O'Gill, and then move on to Dr. Jones.</div><div><br /></div><div>Darby O'Gill might be the first movie I saw though memes first -- live memes presented by my brother.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uIT_ov0lOXo" width="320" youtube-src-id="uIT_ov0lOXo"></iframe></div><br /><div>Lots of scenes like this, with little people dancin' about and Mr. O'Gill pretending as most actors do when called upon to play a musical instrument.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not sure there's much of a story here: Darby loves to tell tall tales and doesn't do much work anymore, so a replacement is brought in. Good thing Darby has a daughter who's pining, and not after the lockjawed local yokel whose mother wants Darby's daughter to marry because why not?</div><div><br /></div><div>A lot of this felt set up to give Disney practice with filming techniques that would later be used to better effect. Still, it's a silly enough film and story to keep you watching if only to see what happens next.</div><div><br /></div><div>I do like the idea of miniature horses, though. Pretty cool.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next, let's move on to 2023's <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462764/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny</a>, and the "Well, it wasn't that bad now was it" vibe I mentioned earlier.</div><div><br /></div><div>Indy is old. So old.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eQfMbSe7F2g" width="320" youtube-src-id="eQfMbSe7F2g"></iframe></div><br /><div>I have to confess I haven't seen the entire film; I missed the beginning. But suffice it to say there are post-World War II Nazis about and they've found some hunk of junk time portal detector invented by Archimedes, heretofore best known for jumping out of his tub starkers and shouting "Eureka!" when he figured out a way to see if the king's crown was gold or gold-ish.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think at the end they imply or say or I don't really know but Archimedes really invented the thing to find someone in the distant future who could come to the battle of Syracuse and do some rescuing. Maybe they do say it; the summaries of the film I'm reading online certainly do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Biggest missed opportunity: That kid who flew the second(!) plane through the time portal should have said "Fly, yes. Land, no," when the lady (whoever she was; I didn't see the beginning or do the reading) asked if he could fly the plane.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then boom at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Syracuse_(213%E2%80%93212_BC)" target="_blank">Battle of Syracuse</a> and the planes are flying overhead and the idiot Nazis in the plane, being idiot Nazis, begin shooting at everyone, thus ensuring that anyone with a ballistic-style missle weapon was going to start targeting them, making the grand plan of the Head Nazi to turn around and get out of there fail because the plane is hit and crashes and everyone dies.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not the kid flying the second plane, who successfully lands the plane conveniently close to where Indy and the Lady land after parachuting out, and where Archimedes can find them. Who knew the airport in Syracuse was that convenient to the battlegrounds?</div><div><br /></div><div>Indy, of course, wants to stay with Archimedes, who at this point isn't actually dead, which is what happened at the end of the Battle of Syracuse, but the Lady, fearing TIME PARADOX knocks him out and brings him back to the 1960s where he's reunited with Marion who brings ice cream but nobody really cares because oh finally the movie is over.</div><div><br /></div><div>And wow, Sallah, you really became a cabbie in New York? I guess you do you.</div><div><br /></div><div>Verdict: I'd probably watch it again, just for the sake of saying I'd seen the whole thing. But only for that reason.</div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-91678929170869250772024-03-05T09:23:00.004-07:002024-03-05T09:23:37.502-07:00News Item: Facebook, Instagram Appear to Be Out of Serivce<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B1kJhSMuV60" width="320" youtube-src-id="B1kJhSMuV60"></iframe></div><p></p><p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/05/facebook-threads-and-instagram-are-down-for-some-users.html" target="_blank">Panic</a>, of course, in the streets. Including me, I'll confess.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-47775889850419858842024-03-02T17:02:00.004-07:002024-03-17T22:11:47.258-06:00March Comes in Like the Get-Ready ManStarted off today with thunder and lightning, two rounds of hail but, surprisingly, not a lot of wind. The wind is, in fact, suspiciously absent as we've been wallpoed by an early spring snowstorm that dumped about a foot in our back yard.<div><br /></div><div>The dogs, sensing the unstable weather or just being general fusspots, had me up at about 6 am so I could observe said weather phenomena, and ponder whether James Thurber's Get-Ready Man was about to make an appearance.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLrSJzYP_TeQIFhbaJGmgoPgJg_JL2-gPBK4j1LyBh9lE8hI_By7eTKlQiDPranZ_Cx_3UcxDfnPF8vanG15myG-NU2m-x2vive1yPuA4VELupuV-U8fRGVTODljLOk1XttcBVrDK-YUVWHiTNI-zhPT8UfeRSGg9Mh9ytOgkRaIUYrPt4ydYUR2aTwCo/s1778/the%20get-ready%20man.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1778" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLrSJzYP_TeQIFhbaJGmgoPgJg_JL2-gPBK4j1LyBh9lE8hI_By7eTKlQiDPranZ_Cx_3UcxDfnPF8vanG15myG-NU2m-x2vive1yPuA4VELupuV-U8fRGVTODljLOk1XttcBVrDK-YUVWHiTNI-zhPT8UfeRSGg9Mh9ytOgkRaIUYrPt4ydYUR2aTwCo/w640-h346/the%20get-ready%20man.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>For those of you unfamiliar with the Get-Ready Man, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/thurberj-mylifeandhardtimes/thurberj-mylifeandhardtimes-00-e.html?fbclid=IwAR2PvhOjxrW92R9IGQ9r8TfavO0dasThtRofpmesYOdPkPeuC5xLYdUlY_c#ch03" target="_blank">behold</a>. Or at least read.</div><div><br /></div><div>But as I gazed out the window upon the lovely morn, I did notice the snow had managed to lop off a rather large limb in the tree in our backyard, viz:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0sNNDihczKoQfBj2P5RMAtA7zjNgBw6yWjgJ1sQz09H9T0hC_NdRoOpT5qaceN9qMa0bNH-4-68fSvDFc7Nw3PU6PQadKLsaZ9hYf020V_RYtj2tl_jFu1hnSTopHMJ4zfobNefO8UrH8I-hMe8IdtxSRLf8EXsQjsMVg9OyDJonYhZJyRPAmRha78jA/s960/tree%20limb1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0sNNDihczKoQfBj2P5RMAtA7zjNgBw6yWjgJ1sQz09H9T0hC_NdRoOpT5qaceN9qMa0bNH-4-68fSvDFc7Nw3PU6PQadKLsaZ9hYf020V_RYtj2tl_jFu1hnSTopHMJ4zfobNefO8UrH8I-hMe8IdtxSRLf8EXsQjsMVg9OyDJonYhZJyRPAmRha78jA/s320/tree%20limb1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MaX-j59-ADdFRtKLOyDtEx1rDG9bqpGzzcqAOi0lDjOaZfz5nw_h9CWgoO-pKpl5JOMW-YGd-kh6XvpbkhOOLUoFS2sclGzTg3hsJKhWBaKTd6c9PF4jg4n7iqAQeMkd4HT-f_pfQ3m0h3Ml1CmeKRe3z2Gt26uLhEB9a1cvJSiCImyi5c3ld6rQoa0/s960/tree%20limb2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MaX-j59-ADdFRtKLOyDtEx1rDG9bqpGzzcqAOi0lDjOaZfz5nw_h9CWgoO-pKpl5JOMW-YGd-kh6XvpbkhOOLUoFS2sclGzTg3hsJKhWBaKTd6c9PF4jg4n7iqAQeMkd4HT-f_pfQ3m0h3Ml1CmeKRe3z2Gt26uLhEB9a1cvJSiCImyi5c3ld6rQoa0/s320/tree%20limb2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>So I knew what I'd be doing this morning. Fortunately, I was gifted a pole saw for my birthday in January, so I was able to make pretty short work of it:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqi2v-icgEqG6gzB0vf4pka1gU2ll-qSMb78irfjkMYJFj1cVe97S267X7A2SahP1n1Jl8R8E6MvCNQzgPOb3tTXrTvrg2RwhHRImlud3-xICe11Tis7bwSgHCjzw1mei-0pHJ5-TDg7nrQ7KKRXt9jN8cPN7RjEGnoPQ_KeXhHwhh0x-qP9F9t9zLTs0/s395/tree%20limb3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="395" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqi2v-icgEqG6gzB0vf4pka1gU2ll-qSMb78irfjkMYJFj1cVe97S267X7A2SahP1n1Jl8R8E6MvCNQzgPOb3tTXrTvrg2RwhHRImlud3-xICe11Tis7bwSgHCjzw1mei-0pHJ5-TDg7nrQ7KKRXt9jN8cPN7RjEGnoPQ_KeXhHwhh0x-qP9F9t9zLTs0/s320/tree%20limb3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>It's not cleaned up by any means, but at least it's in a state where it won't fall any further and spear a weenie dog. I think it did skewer next door's shed a bit, though probably not catastrophically. I'm just glad it didn't flatten anything on the way down.</div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-48531069570200537762024-02-28T08:57:00.005-07:002024-02-28T08:57:37.273-07:00[Warning: Spoilers]<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJKST4zIoKaeKHUIFgBr0eijEwHKfcIVomodUr5EhO_4MMGJf25lM5a8YqZESFcJY4O308HuSYB4PWrkQLttANOdhkze9UmlSPAHMNc7WCrzed8Z54feTWz3X-j5YAomTZgqoZ0t5oY7kBp34qI5Xu0TnGbzXra1hnmhCaRw7v-GwQfkAHp0ksl8U8NM/s625/wordle%20devil.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="521" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJKST4zIoKaeKHUIFgBr0eijEwHKfcIVomodUr5EhO_4MMGJf25lM5a8YqZESFcJY4O308HuSYB4PWrkQLttANOdhkze9UmlSPAHMNc7WCrzed8Z54feTWz3X-j5YAomTZgqoZ0t5oY7kBp34qI5Xu0TnGbzXra1hnmhCaRw7v-GwQfkAHp0ksl8U8NM/s320/wordle%20devil.png" width="267" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Well, the Devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal,<p></p><p>But he stopped himself at a greasy spoon to gobble up one last meal.</p><p>There he came across a bus boy slopping up crumbs with a filthy rag,</p><p>And said "See, boy, I bussed myself; cleaning up is in my bag!"</p><p>The bus boy shrugged, handed him a tub with a shake of his floppy mane,</p><p>"I dealt with the cook, I dealt with the host, dealin' with the Devil is no real pain."</p><p>So Beelzebub, he grabbed that tub; the lad's eyes glowed with joy,</p><p>The cook came out and ripped a belch and shouted GET BUSSIN' BOY!</p><p>The plates went a-flyin' and the Devil he was tryin' to find in a boy a wedge,</p><p>But the plates kept a-comin' and the Devil got stuck on a crusted table ledge.</p><p>"If I can be so bold, I'll win your tub of gold," the boy said with a mighty sneer.</p><p>Then the fat men shouted for another round of pie and the Devil, he knew fear.<br /></p><p>The boy set to scrubbin' while the Devil began blubbin, the boy's rag as fast as wind.</p><p>With one last swipe the boy showed his might -- then said the Devil with a voice of tin:</p><p>"You won my tub, you lanky schlub, but the Devil will have his due!"</p><p>Then the host smacked the Devil with a greasy copy of the slop shop's menu.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-34857520961179446832024-02-27T09:10:00.005-07:002024-02-27T09:10:29.708-07:00POOEY ON SURGE PRICING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpw77vXBFE51tkz85Sg_JOv8f1mVweqLB8MIFFeptbl2hW0TwvzlYPTt5c71V_xyIwXoytIPBV41ea7fsuv95WHTOVFFrtj0fFXVW4ZdPwJ9SSaZH4-jqdKAcOsxGHtHMlidjElly77iYVFAuX98hsAwl0uA3iX-U721kHvDf3LeGQPAjVe3kllpA_sGE/s1354/geezil%20and%20popeye.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1354" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpw77vXBFE51tkz85Sg_JOv8f1mVweqLB8MIFFeptbl2hW0TwvzlYPTt5c71V_xyIwXoytIPBV41ea7fsuv95WHTOVFFrtj0fFXVW4ZdPwJ9SSaZH4-jqdKAcOsxGHtHMlidjElly77iYVFAuX98hsAwl0uA3iX-U721kHvDf3LeGQPAjVe3kllpA_sGE/w640-h242/geezil%20and%20popeye.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>News Item: In <a href="https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/02/wendys-will-soon-begin-testing-uber-like-surge-pricing/?fbclid=IwAR38M7jBjlp7JVjB58TkJvNUJ3B1qL6GG7cEu6d4GrsyjTB-nTXGZEO0s2o" target="_blank">2025</a>, Wendy's will begin experimenting with surge-style pricing, increasing prices on menu items as demand increases throughout the day.</p><p>In response, I offer this scenario, suggested by the 1980 film Popeye:</p><p>Popeye: Bunch of carrots?</p><p>Mr. Geezil: No, no.</p><p>Popeye: You ain't got to carrots? What are those, prunes?</p><p>Mr. Geezil: POOEY ON CARROTS. Canned broccoli.</p><p>Popeye: I am in the mood for carrots. I need me vitamins.</p><p>Mr. Geezil: POOEY ON CARROTS. Take spinach.</p><p>Popeye: If I wants spinach, I'll axe yez for spinach.</p><p>Mr. Geezil: So, why didn't he say so? For you, each a dollar.</p><p>Popeye: How much is the broccoli?</p><p>Mr. Geezil: Nickel, maybe dime.</p><p>Popeye: And the spinach?</p><p>Mr. Geezil: Dime, maybe quarter.</p><p>Popeye: Then how come carrots is a dollar?</p><p>Mr. Geezil: Dollar fifty. You buy what I don't feel like selling, it cost you two dollars.</p><p>Popeye: [Begrudgingly takes offered carrots, tosses a coin.]</p><p>Mr. Geezil: Uh uh uh uh, no, no, this is a nickel!</p><p>Popeye: I pays what I feels like payin'.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-2927627033769682942024-02-26T11:45:00.006-07:002024-02-26T21:44:13.028-07:00Godspeed, Future Disintegrator<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMz_F7VJjpT4PeTmxhlgQ01vB_nlPFMI5uj8ao-Zw1hKyRkFVVVz4oF_lRdBCSGZNuoWiwPvR-Lt0ou2c9GlYuqGUmhRo_Jm1oEFhB3-2tS0oOBA6K-h0yZQUiIHkfzDOZLXyQieAifemPVyBGY31K5qTWZsSWiLDmzVConACTiTV97pxMCFPybSAMV1w/s868/acme%20building%20disintegrator%20guy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="868" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMz_F7VJjpT4PeTmxhlgQ01vB_nlPFMI5uj8ao-Zw1hKyRkFVVVz4oF_lRdBCSGZNuoWiwPvR-Lt0ou2c9GlYuqGUmhRo_Jm1oEFhB3-2tS0oOBA6K-h0yZQUiIHkfzDOZLXyQieAifemPVyBGY31K5qTWZsSWiLDmzVConACTiTV97pxMCFPybSAMV1w/w640-h412/acme%20building%20disintegrator%20guy.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The J.C. WIlber building was built in 1892 and replaced in 1955 by the Tregoweth Brown Building.</p><p>The cornerstone of the building, as we know, was the home of Michigan J. Frog, until he was discovered by the nameless, hapless fellow who thought a singing frog would bring him fame and fortune, until near insanity and poverty drove him to hide the frog, case and all, in the cornerstone of the Tregoweth Brown Building.</p><p>It's now 2024. The Tregoweth Brown Building is set to be demolished by the ACME Building Disintegrators in 2056, only 32 years from now.</p><p>So it's a fair bet that Michigan J. Frog's next handler has already been born.</p><p>Godspeed.</p><p>As usual, Dennis' response on Facebook is perfect:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuhiJTtTxSH6n_AmUlSGvGw4yiBfwOVy5rDryl9_uJ5OwP-7WMin_mQGlKoQOkdRqijKYaP6TauoiyLXR2fjim26On2aYrBmSZv5rHeHW5Xoc-086Nf5NcBCCvLckCMAE_ZvlipvPwWw-LlQlm_fbWCKxsJMP4ldw8AqhAyXviXTwEiephZS_QMfDHuk/s699/dennis%20cthulhu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="699" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuhiJTtTxSH6n_AmUlSGvGw4yiBfwOVy5rDryl9_uJ5OwP-7WMin_mQGlKoQOkdRqijKYaP6TauoiyLXR2fjim26On2aYrBmSZv5rHeHW5Xoc-086Nf5NcBCCvLckCMAE_ZvlipvPwWw-LlQlm_fbWCKxsJMP4ldw8AqhAyXviXTwEiephZS_QMfDHuk/w400-h109/dennis%20cthulhu.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-81475086581202015082024-02-26T08:04:00.004-07:002024-02-26T08:04:38.669-07:00'Tis Done<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzHaCSb9FORAEFqrMOzsfjMcfA6uCFjz9AsSUs5OnTJqim__SzVeHfLNPgt0W_q7zfRc61Rwz_ymtdK-xC-Od2xOJ7Af5NEuS4HQAhgKk852FDMqKy-7AAczvJZQI4Xd_qPKZsfiQWFqe6-CK9pdr1BkDLH4ZtHaHVIkVL3jkyVviwTykWT6NlV3_2Ik/s2048/Lexi%20and%20Keaton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzHaCSb9FORAEFqrMOzsfjMcfA6uCFjz9AsSUs5OnTJqim__SzVeHfLNPgt0W_q7zfRc61Rwz_ymtdK-xC-Od2xOJ7Af5NEuS4HQAhgKk852FDMqKy-7AAczvJZQI4Xd_qPKZsfiQWFqe6-CK9pdr1BkDLH4ZtHaHVIkVL3jkyVviwTykWT6NlV3_2Ik/w640-h480/Lexi%20and%20Keaton.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />There's a lot to write about, of course. And I should do it now. But these two are just starting their adventure together.<p></p><p>So more later.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-40466477907997099762024-02-22T14:23:00.004-07:002024-02-22T14:23:57.874-07:00Don't Let this Be You, Instructors<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Av0w55Q6Ps" width="320" youtube-src-id="7Av0w55Q6Ps"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p>Honestly, this could have been me earlier this semester. And by me, I don't mean me as a student, but me as an instructor.</p><p>Turnitin flagged a student essay as likely partially created by AI. I gave her a zero but decided I wanted to hear from her before going any further.</p><p>Turns out she had used Grammarly to check her work. I had her turn in her un-Grammarlied essay and graded that one -- which netted her a 98 percent score on the paper. She used Grammarly because English is not her first language -- something I completely understand. But clearly in reading her draft, she has enough talent as a writer that the problems she has with English aren't a major concern.</p><p>No report to the academic integrity office. I wanted to hear from her first, and to find out the extent of the AI use.</p><p>So, I'm going to emphasize this: Talking with students about AI use, especially when papers are flagged as AI, is important. I'm not sure if the student in the news story had a talk with her instructor, but clearly the result was a zero and academic probation. Knowing what's going on, and helping a student see the pitfalls and concerns, will go a lot further than automatically slapping on the penalties, especially on a first offense.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-82836130893283599092024-02-21T13:03:00.004-07:002024-02-21T13:03:58.099-07:00Visualizing Artificial Intelligence's ShortcomingsThough this fellow talks about the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence, specificallly ChatGPT, in a programming context, what he says has wide application as we try to figur eout how to use AI in English composition and the pitfalls it can present to our students.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6CGtwF_5kzY" width="320" youtube-src-id="6CGtwF_5kzY"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>The crux of his argument is that ChatGPT has helped him bridge small knowledge gaps, but poses problems when he relies on it to help him bridge larger gaps in his knowledge and experience.<div><br /></div><div>First, he says through judicious use of ChatGPT, he's been able to unlock "skills and opportunities that might not have been possible without it." He quickly learned that when he encountered a gap in his programming knowledge, ChatGPT was a quick way to get hints on how to fill the gaps. The AI hints also prompted him to learn more to fill in the gaps he noticed in his knowledge. The hints from ChatGPT worked in tandem with the knowledge and experience he already has as a programmer to fill in those gaps: He could see how ChatGPT's suggestions worked.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, good use of AI here, which he illustrates thus:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1vHGjKPdEHau0P_HtS_QJNh3Yq4WH65_NDQTT27QPoew6oNXaUz8HH97EqXpYDuq8tPfh2GD0cubCQzeykhwhZJfyJAPuiOzoRjOqUDV1A3PGS5qPUBg7XazMkqxINtW99XmUTQKo1ikuPFV1SkeR1OT89pCgw_rIuPirCvuoFDxcaLP40R7UT67hGo/s1115/ChatGPT%20knowledge%20gaps.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1115" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1vHGjKPdEHau0P_HtS_QJNh3Yq4WH65_NDQTT27QPoew6oNXaUz8HH97EqXpYDuq8tPfh2GD0cubCQzeykhwhZJfyJAPuiOzoRjOqUDV1A3PGS5qPUBg7XazMkqxINtW99XmUTQKo1ikuPFV1SkeR1OT89pCgw_rIuPirCvuoFDxcaLP40R7UT67hGo/w640-h314/ChatGPT%20knowledge%20gaps.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>He adds: "You might know most of what you need to build something or achieve some task, but maybe there is some part you are lacking that completely blocks you from getting it done. ChatGPT can help break through those barriers quickly and poit you in the direction you need to go."<div><br /></div><div>He goes on to say: "Where I think it is not as healthy is where you are relying on it to substitute for large gaps in knowledge."</div><div><br /></div><div>He illustrates these "traps" as follows:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdloq8bvCB1lwIE0CbepUy5m-2qb_jKtAfeIVjbc7J0mqUfFZtG9_gBbr0lPRmNFFJqt5nnjTRkHPu_JKfce9AXYwz6ZTgM9dMBjymKvutn4c_zLCzAzUTYToFziAZqbkOwZFfGIFjAoteEFVDB1ICt3bBphBxVzNlgsA49onAdqz0WXjmw97OMeUlFAw/s643/chatgpt%20knowledge%20traps.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="643" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdloq8bvCB1lwIE0CbepUy5m-2qb_jKtAfeIVjbc7J0mqUfFZtG9_gBbr0lPRmNFFJqt5nnjTRkHPu_JKfce9AXYwz6ZTgM9dMBjymKvutn4c_zLCzAzUTYToFziAZqbkOwZFfGIFjAoteEFVDB1ICt3bBphBxVzNlgsA49onAdqz0WXjmw97OMeUlFAw/w640-h309/chatgpt%20knowledge%20traps.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>When confronted with a programming problem he had some familiarity with but not near enough knowledge to tackle, he presented the problem to ChatGPT -- which provided a solution that didn't work. When he "pressed" ChatGPT that the provided solution didn't work, the AI suggested a different approach that would have meant sweeping changes in the overall program and customer interface.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was then he realized he had more context for the problem and impact of the suggested solutions than ChatGPT had. He set to work without AI and found a solution that worked without the sweeping changes ChatGPT suggested. He asked ChatGPT about the solution he came up with, and asked why the AI didn't come up with the idea: "It said essentially that my approach is tailored to this specific situation, whereas ChatGPT was generally going to go for a more general solution."</div><div><br /></div><div>"Having context of the problem and the system in general allows you to search for solutions where a coding assistant might miss them," he adds.</div><div><br /></div><div>His experience has application to use of AI in English composition. We have artificial intelligence assistants in place already (spellcheck, Grammarly, predictive text) that can help us fill in the little gaps. Often enough as we use these assistants, we decide it's easier to learn the logic behind the suggestions and get things right the first time. I used to misspell antenna on a consitent basis, with spellcheck helping me out. It wasn't until I wrote the word out a hundred times longhand that I trained my brain to spell the word correctly. So using these simple AI tools to help us fill these little gaps is useful, and leads us to learn so we avoid making the mistakes in the first place.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it comes to using AI to write outlines, or to help brainstorm, I see that as an acceptable application. We still have to look at the outline and see how it works with the assignment requirements, or look at the brainstorm suggestions to see what makes sense in context. But when we or our students rely on artificial intelligence to bridge bigger gaps in our knowledge, we see ChatGPT and the like stumble, and often stumble bigly. Even worse -- relying on AI to fill those larger writing gaps robs us of creating more elegant solutions we could come up with if we put in the effort ourselves. But that means researching, vetting the research, brainstorming and outlining and writing and revising on our own. That initially can take a lot of time, and maybe we don't have the time. But if we rely on AI as a time boost, we lose in the learning department. We don't become better writers, who become more familiar with common pitfalls and problems and solutions and aren't able to recreate them on our own.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kudos to YouTuber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@JoshuaMorony" target="_blank">Joshua Morony</a> for this content, and inspiration as I look to fill my tiny knowledge gaps as I try to help my students -- and myself -- avoid those big traps.</div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-24353001082175934252024-02-20T10:21:00.003-07:002024-02-20T10:21:12.356-07:00I Give You MALK!<p>From the "I Saw This Advertised on YouTube and Thought it Was A Joke" department, I give you actual MALK.</p><p>Not a joke.</p><p>But clearly branded and advertised by an entity unfamiliar with the health benefits of Vitamin R.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivr9XDdDcNP4NwMY-8t1f4QSWFaEY5jKiaSTjHYGidGH0wGgncb-r6vGHyktYSGakdBic5hiXDXIzHPoKV9WCheJclVLthOkHIno8KYuTSQ1OzcbaWFlOxFoxPZ_ZEOMVQsYa1LD-JLQm5bGUMwEAvMiGidU7c2qRdnwGi7jxRFnIlGhsGWyxhdG6u2UI/s1878/real%20malk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1878" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivr9XDdDcNP4NwMY-8t1f4QSWFaEY5jKiaSTjHYGidGH0wGgncb-r6vGHyktYSGakdBic5hiXDXIzHPoKV9WCheJclVLthOkHIno8KYuTSQ1OzcbaWFlOxFoxPZ_ZEOMVQsYa1LD-JLQm5bGUMwEAvMiGidU7c2qRdnwGi7jxRFnIlGhsGWyxhdG6u2UI/w400-h188/real%20malk.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LS05Okms7cM" width="320" youtube-src-id="LS05Okms7cM"></iframe></div><p>I realize, of course, as an older, out-of-it COW MILK DRINKER that I am not their target audience. And that's okay.</p><p>But there are almond and oat milk drinkers in my family. Who might laugh at buying actual Malk, but that's beside the point.</p><p>Of course, I have to realize <a href="https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_PTA_Disbands" target="_blank">this episode</a> aired in the far distant past -- 1995 -- so why I thought they might hesitate at branding themselves MALK seems silly now. 1995 is ancient history.</p><p>Or maybe it's a clever bit of marketing? Getting oldies like me laughing about Malk until I buy some and discover its qualities and then spread the word to my fellow oldies?</p><p>Nah. Someone just said "Malk. That's a good name."</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-85841449453500622192024-02-18T20:26:00.002-07:002024-02-18T20:26:10.756-07:00Careful: Humor May Be Dangerous<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFNxP5ebKoi6jy1E58-Rpl4613NMjJGsp8FW99NgVWvXlHPqJAxGYYLK06CH99TZ07bS6lxTT2I5ExTNMMZe69lPNgi2piyf4ciGupfdKeQlV2La7eyE9P0WFiWYMm1MdVd_uCLnp2b4S_zYXuJR9NjOJ0-9AWoPVU6erNDMb7btiyFWCfWK3rTxKpf0/s640/i'm%20going%20to%20marry%20a%20carrot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFNxP5ebKoi6jy1E58-Rpl4613NMjJGsp8FW99NgVWvXlHPqJAxGYYLK06CH99TZ07bS6lxTT2I5ExTNMMZe69lPNgi2piyf4ciGupfdKeQlV2La7eyE9P0WFiWYMm1MdVd_uCLnp2b4S_zYXuJR9NjOJ0-9AWoPVU6erNDMb7btiyFWCfWK3rTxKpf0/w400-h300/i'm%20going%20to%20marry%20a%20carrot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>So our daughter is getting married next Saturday. I've been doing a social media countdown, using mostly marriage-related bits from The Simpsons.</div><div><br /></div><div>This was Saturday's seven-day warning. Which prompted a little concern from our future son-in-law:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNPzRfLfzCJsAUkwqLWy5m1dceph6vOzzM2fK7UGWgDML-UkwwZwcv7IbkuRQ2M0UYSIUWVt69QPWOfkmXTVRZUjybM3-CzByBAFCiXmhcF7O-qRGdnN2Nf4HuMrKUiEzMjca52UX6unR7k-5K_mqAW80J-FWu3923Oz3l4Iv01ElyBpnvPeUIR6AibY/s2796/IMG_20240218_201247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2796" data-original-width="1290" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNPzRfLfzCJsAUkwqLWy5m1dceph6vOzzM2fK7UGWgDML-UkwwZwcv7IbkuRQ2M0UYSIUWVt69QPWOfkmXTVRZUjybM3-CzByBAFCiXmhcF7O-qRGdnN2Nf4HuMrKUiEzMjca52UX6unR7k-5K_mqAW80J-FWu3923Oz3l4Iv01ElyBpnvPeUIR6AibY/w296-h640/IMG_20240218_201247.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><div>I don't think he was offended, but it's a good reminder that what I think of as funny may not translate to his family. So I'm going to have to be on better behavior.</div><div><br /></div><div>For the curious, Lisa is marrying a carrot because the kids are teasing her about becoming a vegetarian:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nX-FLRW_3KQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="nX-FLRW_3KQ"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-91637437398777024352024-02-17T10:33:00.004-07:002024-02-17T10:33:56.411-07:00Edward R. Murrow: In Other Words, Shaddap Shuttin' Up!NOTE: I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this book I'm reading on Edward R. Murrow.<div><br /></div><div>At a career nadir, Murrow delivered in part this speech at the Radio-Television News Directors Association in Chicago in 1958:</div><div><br /></div><div>"I have no tecnical advice or counsel to offer those of you who labor in this vinyard that produces words and pictures. You wil forgive me for not telling you the instruments with which you work are miraculous, that your responsibility is unprecedented, or that your aspirations are frequently frustrated. <b>It is not necessary to remind you that the fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you grater wisdom or undestanding that you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other . . .</b>"</div><div><br /></div><div>I think, right now, it's necessary for that reminder, particularly to those shouting the loudest on the internet.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are times to speak. But most of the time should be spent shuttin' up and doing some hard listening. And not listening to react, but listening to understand.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ePFeq8NOTYo" width="320" youtube-src-id="ePFeq8NOTYo"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-18017455907547367892024-02-14T11:18:00.003-07:002024-02-14T11:18:40.621-07:00No More Giants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGW3H-LFvTZDdZKhhSvwZUCBB6fUcGTws-tPDuP_CNrQtmenBchxpOQ5efMRhEMSiIwOzMT7j3S_0ikFAbzdNswhf-p4RgnfmS91V3pWNaBeHtoRqq3qihAm4_tlPfU4o2Wm3N093nB62pz__jF2ugzAjpiT7H285b-F62zS845eXAOKjPT7hHjYZ8maw/s945/roosevelt.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="945" data-original-width="773" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGW3H-LFvTZDdZKhhSvwZUCBB6fUcGTws-tPDuP_CNrQtmenBchxpOQ5efMRhEMSiIwOzMT7j3S_0ikFAbzdNswhf-p4RgnfmS91V3pWNaBeHtoRqq3qihAm4_tlPfU4o2Wm3N093nB62pz__jF2ugzAjpiT7H285b-F62zS845eXAOKjPT7hHjYZ8maw/s320/roosevelt.png" width="262" /></a></div><br />I'm reading in Bob Edwards' biography of Edward R. Murrow, "Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism," and came to his report on the Buchenwald concentration camp.<div><br /></div><div>Part of it is on the universal praise he heard of President Roosevelt from those at the camp, and others:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>If I've offended by by this rather mild account of Buchenwald, I'm not in the least bit sorry. I was there on Thursday, and many men in many tongues blessed the name of Roosevelt. For long years his name has meant the full measure of their hope. These men who had kept close company with death for many years did not know that Mr. Roosevelt, within hours, would join their comrades who had laid their lives on the scales of freedom.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Back in 1941, Mr. Churchill said to me with tears in his eyes, "One day the world and history will recognzie and acknowledge what it owes your president." I saw and hear the first installment of that at Buchenwald on Thursday. It came from all over Europe. Their faces, with more flesh on them, might have been from anywhere at home. To them the name "Roosevelt" was a symbol, the cvode word for a a lot of guys named "Joes" who are somewhere out in the blue with the armor heading east. At Buchenwald, they spoke of the president just before he died. If there be a better epitaph, history does not record it.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>What his tory also doesn't record is that we've had a president of the United States who could fill Roosevelt's shoes in the last twenty years; perhaps even longer. Hearing former President Trump yesterday <a href="https://misterfweem.blogspot.com/2024/02/with-apologies-to-neville-chamberlain.html" target="_blank">denigrate the alliance</a> that came out of World War II and would leave countries open to invasion and perhaps annihilation if he's re-elected, is something I hope others will remember.</div><div><br /></div><div>I understand this is <a href="https://perspectives.ushmm.org/item/edward-r-murrow-broadcast-from-buchenwald-april-15-1945" target="_blank">a recording</a> of Murrow's report, delivered by Murrow about two years after the original radio broadcast.</div>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-49270730992152162292024-02-14T08:09:00.000-07:002024-02-14T08:09:06.636-07:00With Apologies to Neville Chamberlain<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIH9mu_1XuaDLarDXS541KX1-mFJS61ItGabd9UMknXatjP5i8Ci0_RHx1yynAssjJP48N08bIfTrUXCEDlqEy1AHmQV1nnb0-IejsfWCLKR_HnOcFZjxT8EqC_2XzbIDV8GKMd2_-xy02et2ODeulfbRD_C2AO4Np-Z_a9zfCjxSqUHMc4Q8oJoazhM/s1200/trump%202024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIH9mu_1XuaDLarDXS541KX1-mFJS61ItGabd9UMknXatjP5i8Ci0_RHx1yynAssjJP48N08bIfTrUXCEDlqEy1AHmQV1nnb0-IejsfWCLKR_HnOcFZjxT8EqC_2XzbIDV8GKMd2_-xy02et2ODeulfbRD_C2AO4Np-Z_a9zfCjxSqUHMc4Q8oJoazhM/w640-h360/trump%202024.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />News item: Former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump would let Russia "<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/10/politics/trump-russia-nato/index.html" target="_blank">do whatever the hell they want</a>" to a NATO ally if that ally didn't allocate 2% of its GDP to defense, gutting the mutual defense core of the pact.<p></p><p>Trump, of course, sees no problems if he's got <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/" target="_blank">bills to pay</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/15/trump-alleged-co-conspirators-never-got-paid-by-trump-team.html" target="_blank">doesn't pay them</a>.</p>Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184836410456050611.post-52992244809295487532024-02-12T19:49:00.006-07:002024-02-12T19:50:04.759-07:00Hand me My Patching Trowel, Boy!<p>I used the word "sparge" in a technical context today, which of course made me think of Homer Simpson sparging the lath in his basement.</p><p>And here, the Frinkiac has a rare error: Troy McClure advised viewers of "The Half-Assed Approach to Foundation Repair" to "barge the lathe," which is something completely different.</p><p>Now, hand me my patching trowel, boy.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnl8yGNfmPXI9FIfC8TQsaT5JKZFVgOjUyDufhtpD-SZzJah0D8pN2ezWrJPOGp0AWQUcDj2iEE9YePaZWrejXTs8FpoazzWh22HtNmYSMIhWlFFbWahcTVuDlbRKhNJ7LRHTb68_5aA1UkLelSjiWDx2oJSwhyphenhyphend4FkOPiiEemmox32GQfJk-ZNcf_5o/s720/sparge1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="720" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnl8yGNfmPXI9FIfC8TQsaT5JKZFVgOjUyDufhtpD-SZzJah0D8pN2ezWrJPOGp0AWQUcDj2iEE9YePaZWrejXTs8FpoazzWh22HtNmYSMIhWlFFbWahcTVuDlbRKhNJ7LRHTb68_5aA1UkLelSjiWDx2oJSwhyphenhyphend4FkOPiiEemmox32GQfJk-ZNcf_5o/w400-h251/sparge1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDA8Uac091nywa0E6BJk5gdtgCK3ik1L0qEirrfK0oO6BnCxOMSOgwDoI-dqxQHgu4FAEy0pcBHcx7AANx8fczkT-LG2RTC3sgQvA-Ka4Y3mcdvMunPOf8wI9IjIHAAXjgJSmgHpQsl76jWGdiUJRJPBc8GxnaerCtydJTw5ibpyS-es-m1kIqy6il9SU/s640/sparge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDA8Uac091nywa0E6BJk5gdtgCK3ik1L0qEirrfK0oO6BnCxOMSOgwDoI-dqxQHgu4FAEy0pcBHcx7AANx8fczkT-LG2RTC3sgQvA-Ka4Y3mcdvMunPOf8wI9IjIHAAXjgJSmgHpQsl76jWGdiUJRJPBc8GxnaerCtydJTw5ibpyS-es-m1kIqy6il9SU/w400-h300/sparge2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITjyE5V081dyMTEduAzp_QOBqFrjQ1I0lyc4497M8xUIB3cWnOqHSj7T7jWKxrBj73yYTX-pyNOL8BjrXaD-Mn_Ty2GXBQJS73cORlGKDiG7xBOwWEA3DaldL731dr2BRHhr73YGaINBNp70kKa4V8k6XvCo-JyX-efKUCbG73CXrVIDPv-8dOh4teQI/s640/sparge3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITjyE5V081dyMTEduAzp_QOBqFrjQ1I0lyc4497M8xUIB3cWnOqHSj7T7jWKxrBj73yYTX-pyNOL8BjrXaD-Mn_Ty2GXBQJS73cORlGKDiG7xBOwWEA3DaldL731dr2BRHhr73YGaINBNp70kKa4V8k6XvCo-JyX-efKUCbG73CXrVIDPv-8dOh4teQI/w400-h300/sparge3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Mister Fweemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339287419996343926noreply@blogger.com0