The Daily Show :: Satire not News
What RSS reader will you use in July?
My guess is that most of you know that Google's RSS reader is going away as of July 1st. I currently use it to keep up with many blogs and news feeds. I will really miss it and wish that Google was not killing it.
Guess I am not happy with the alternatives. Do not care for the "magazine" formats of Feedly and the like. Do not want to go back to Bloglines. I think that Blogger itself is pretty limited with regard to aggregating feeds.
So I am wondering what you plan to use. Please tell me what reader you are using and what you like about it. I am interested more in why (not just what) you like.
Dad's Stew
To honor the day I am republishing this post from a few years ago.
My wife and I have been busy sorting through our accumulated stuff these days as we plan to downsize from our house in suburbia to a loft in the downtown Kansas City area. And as I sorted through my stuff I recently came across this picture in the basement.. and I grinned a big smile
The photo is one of my dad back in the 1980s making his famous stew - and yes.. that is a boat paddle that he is using to stir the stew that is cooking in a cauldron heated by a propane flame. He made the stew each year for the family reunion.
My mom and dad were divorced in the early 80s after 40+ years of marriage and my dad left his home of 40+ years in the New York/New Jersey area to return to his childhood home in Mississippi. It amazed everyone when he did it.
After Dad moved my wife, children and I would regularly visit dad once or twice a year. We were the geographically closest to him and were able to drive to see him (my brother and sisters had to fly). That went on for a few years - I especially enjoyed going there on Thanksgiving.. my dad was a great cook.. he was a chef for a colonel when he was in the army (before World War II) and seemed as comfortable cooking for fifty as for five.
A few years passed and my dad remarried a wonderful woman and I was honored to be his best man.. it was a strange experience standing beside him when he married again.. a time I will never forget. A year or so past and my dad began working with his niece and nephew to put on a family reunion that the family simply called "The Stew". Upwards of 50 or so of my Mississippi family along with my sisters would attend it on the last weekend in September. The timing was great because it was close to my dad's birthday.
I have great memories of meeting my Mississippi relatives. I had never met any of Dad's siblings and it was a wonderful feeling getting to know them and a bit of my southern heritage. It was a strange feeling seeing Dad's younger brother - they looked so much alike.. I got my middle name from Uncle Fred. The move was a good one for Dad.. I saw a lot of change in him over the years.. he began going to church and one day moved me deeply when he spoke to me about loving the Lord.
When I think about Dad's stew I reflect upon how much his life was like that delicious soup. Like that wonderful red stuff, Dad was a blend of different ingredients - Dad was a blend of the best of the South and of the North. He was the most loving man I have ever known - like the savor of that stew his life had a sweet aroma.. people who knew him loved him.. he was such a friendly man. Dad was a kind man.. a southern gentleman who was not corrupted by the crassness of the world.. he emanated a quiet dignity I appreciated so much.
Thinking about Father's Day always brings me back home to my dad. He passed away over eight years ago and I still think of him a lot. Like my wife Ann's dad, who passed away a few years ago, he was part of what has been called the greatest generation. Men like these two, who were both named Lawrence, are a part of what makes our nation great. They are a major part of this wonderful melting pot.. a stew if you will.. that we call America.
My wife and I have been busy sorting through our accumulated stuff these days as we plan to downsize from our house in suburbia to a loft in the downtown Kansas City area. And as I sorted through my stuff I recently came across this picture in the basement.. and I grinned a big smileThe photo is one of my dad back in the 1980s making his famous stew - and yes.. that is a boat paddle that he is using to stir the stew that is cooking in a cauldron heated by a propane flame. He made the stew each year for the family reunion.
My mom and dad were divorced in the early 80s after 40+ years of marriage and my dad left his home of 40+ years in the New York/New Jersey area to return to his childhood home in Mississippi. It amazed everyone when he did it.
After Dad moved my wife, children and I would regularly visit dad once or twice a year. We were the geographically closest to him and were able to drive to see him (my brother and sisters had to fly). That went on for a few years - I especially enjoyed going there on Thanksgiving.. my dad was a great cook.. he was a chef for a colonel when he was in the army (before World War II) and seemed as comfortable cooking for fifty as for five.
A few years passed and my dad remarried a wonderful woman and I was honored to be his best man.. it was a strange experience standing beside him when he married again.. a time I will never forget. A year or so past and my dad began working with his niece and nephew to put on a family reunion that the family simply called "The Stew". Upwards of 50 or so of my Mississippi family along with my sisters would attend it on the last weekend in September. The timing was great because it was close to my dad's birthday.
I have great memories of meeting my Mississippi relatives. I had never met any of Dad's siblings and it was a wonderful feeling getting to know them and a bit of my southern heritage. It was a strange feeling seeing Dad's younger brother - they looked so much alike.. I got my middle name from Uncle Fred. The move was a good one for Dad.. I saw a lot of change in him over the years.. he began going to church and one day moved me deeply when he spoke to me about loving the Lord.
When I think about Dad's stew I reflect upon how much his life was like that delicious soup. Like that wonderful red stuff, Dad was a blend of different ingredients - Dad was a blend of the best of the South and of the North. He was the most loving man I have ever known - like the savor of that stew his life had a sweet aroma.. people who knew him loved him.. he was such a friendly man. Dad was a kind man.. a southern gentleman who was not corrupted by the crassness of the world.. he emanated a quiet dignity I appreciated so much.
Thinking about Father's Day always brings me back home to my dad. He passed away over eight years ago and I still think of him a lot. Like my wife Ann's dad, who passed away a few years ago, he was part of what has been called the greatest generation. Men like these two, who were both named Lawrence, are a part of what makes our nation great. They are a major part of this wonderful melting pot.. a stew if you will.. that we call America.
Derby Dreams
I remember dreaming about building a racer and competing in the Soap Box Derby when I was a kid. Did you ever want to be a part of a derby? Well today the carts are out in Kansas City with the All American Race (i.e. KC Finals) beginning at 9am. Next stop for the winners is the national competition in Akron, Ohio. Here is a blurb from the KC chapter site about the sport:The Kansas City Soap Box Derby has been holding races since 1947. Soap Box Derby is a racing program for boys and girls ages 7-20. With the help of a parent or another adult, kids build their own gravity-powered race car which they drive themselves. Soap Box Derby builds close parent/child relationships and teaches building skills, perseverance and good sportsmanship.My understanding is that the combined weight of the cart and the driver cannot exceed 200 pounds - wonder how many older kids fit into that category? Even so, it sounds like a fun place to be today in KC - good luck to the racers!
Honoring Old Glory
You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag and forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of the land I love. The home of the free and the brave. -George M. CohanIt is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the men whose people have been here many generations.
-Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. -Francis Scott Key
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Promised Land | ★★★★★★★
That said, I liked the somewhat even handed approach it took about fracking as two sales people from a natural gas company descended on a small town trying to buy rights to the gas. At times I felt the movie was going to go too far to the environmental left but then it centered a bit. But again the movie is really not about that issue.
I liked the writing and acting in this movie - thought Damon and John Krasinski were good in both the writing and acting roles. Also liked Rosemarie DeWitt in the role of a romantic interest and 88 year old Hal Holbrook as a voice of reason.
As you can tell, I liked the movie and, on a scale of ten, give it ★★★★★★★.
The love of Bacon binds us All!
Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. -Doug Larson
I'm not sure how healthy bacon is in general, but I know it's incredibly delicious. -Gwyneth Paltrow
One day I'm going to come up with a room deodorizer that smells like bacon and onions. -Paula Deen
Target v. Walmart
After a decade of meteoric growth at both Target and Wal-Mart, labor groups say the two retailers are no longer very different in the way they treat their workers. Entry-level hourly workers in Target stores earn roughly the same pay and have more difficulty qualifying for health care coverage than their peers at Wal-Mart. Both retailers oppose unions and have taken steps to prevent organizing efforts in stores. And both have outsourced jobs overseas to save costs. But while Wal-Mart is perceived as a corporate giant that will do just about anything to maximize sales and profits, Target — thanks to its hip advertising campaigns and its longtime contributions to a variety of civic and cultural causes — is seen as a model corporate citizen and benevolent employer.
Einstein :: Optimist, Pessimist or Realist?
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.
Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
The Impossible | ★★★★★★
That said, I did not really love this movie. For sure the frightening ten minutes of tsunami terror was amazing and troubling all at once. The survival scenes were touching and scary. Yet there was an emptiness that came because of a focus on a few people when so many thousands were devastated. In truth, I think that this story would have been a great segment for 60 Minutes. The story was worth telling but I am not sure that it needed over two hours of screen time. I thought that it was just okay and, on a scale of ten, give it ★★★★★★.
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