Libyans, Tunisians and Bahrainis, oh my!

I am back. You did not think that I would let the situation in North Africa/Middle East (NAME) pass without comment, did you? Have any of you been watching the crumbled empires fall? Very interesting, and uncertain, stuff. The genie is indeed out of the bottle. Fear no longer controls the masses. What does it mean and why now?

I do not know what it means or how this thing ultimately plays out. Of course, there is historic precedence for these events. So, we will have to deal with the uncertainty as this plays out from NAME to Iran and Pakistan (as it will).

The funniest part is this. After Eqypt and Mubarak's resignation, crazy Unlce Mo (Mohammar Khaddafi) opened his freak mouth in Libya. He suggested that this kind of protest would work by the Palestinians against Israel. He suggested, non-violence of course, that the Palestinians in the Gaza should march on the Israeli border. They should do it peacefully and that Israel would capitulate.

Classic misdirection ploy? Ignore his own people and his 41 years of repression and try to rally the Palestinians. What does he get for his brilliance? Big time riotting and blood shed in his country. Did you see his short press talk to state that he had not fled Libya for Venezuela (Mr. Chavez, you may be next)? What the fuck was with that umbrella? Does he think he is Rhianna? Mary Poppins? He is a fucking nutbar!

So, his UN delegation has defected. 2 of his fighter pilots also defected to Malta, taking their aircraft with them. He is firing on his own and people and states that he will become a martyr rather than flee. Came to power in a coup and going to go out like his buddy Saddam (bloody and cowering). It looks good on him.

"Martyr", there is term that is thrown out a bit too religiously, I would say. Not sure, how he can claim the 72 virgins in heaven as a martyr. It seems just retribution for all the Libyan blood he has spilled. Good luck to he and his sons, that family business seems to have gone bankrupt.

Next!

Ciao!

Just a strange thought or two

I am back. I find that it being cold and winter in these parts, I am wearing my long, heavy, wool coat. No problem there.


I am looking at the back of my coat and there are a lot of feathers "stuck" to it. Now, the coat hangs near my down jacket, so maybe it is picking up stray feathers there. But to look at it, as I am now, I have to wonder, has my coat ate a fucking chicken, feathers and all? Do I own a carnivorous coat?

I just do not understand it. We have received some more lightish snow over the past few days. It is lovely, though at this rate, I may never find my car key.

There is a story there. It was about three or so weeks ago, we (the Wife, the Lad and myself) were going to my mother's home for dinner. I went to clean the Wife's car of snow and had the key to my car in my jacket pocket. I went to pull out my glove to clean her car and recalled thinking that my key could fall out of the pocket. Lo and behold, when I went to move my car, I had no key in my pocket or otherwise.

As it was already dark (damn shortened winter days), I could not see the key anywhere (I would search with a flashlight later). The thing must have fallen out somewhere between our front door and the driveway. In my hope (timing would have been everything) for a winter thaw, we got snow. The upside is that with the snow, the key remains buried and I am not so worried about some unsavory character finding my car key on my driveway before I can get to it, making my car an easy object to steel. Then again, my car insurer has raised our rates quite considerably, so I would have no trouble putting in a full claim for a stolen vehicle....fuck 'em!

Anyway, I await a thaw to see if I can find my key. Then, perhaps, I will have to feed my wool coat again. Ciao!

Groundhog Day...Groundhog Day, a day later.

I am back. I have returned for no apparent reason. In my absence, I failed to note the Lad's 14th birthday (mid to late January) and Groundhog Day. That was yesterday.

Well, we were supposed to have the Blizzard of the Century around these parts yesterday. What a disappointment. There was snow but I have seen worse even three years ago. We were supposed to get 30-38cm of the white stuff by the end yesterday and I do not think we broke 20cm. It was supposed to be so bad that they actually closed the schools. It was a fucking Snow Day.

I do not recall those when I was in school. I do recall some heavy snowstorms while in grade school. I do not recall school being closed. Not that it mattered to me, I lived a short, very short, walk away from grade school, so no amount of snow would prevent me from getting to school. I can recall an April snowstorm, when I was in grade 5. That was pretty heavy and I had to help push my brother's JK teacher's navy blue VW Beetle out of the snow covered parking lot. But there was no declaration of Snow Day.

I am sure that there were others and I do not recall there ever being a Snow Day. I do recall them closing the schools at lunch because of weather but never before that time. This time, a Snow Day was declared early, so the Lad had a day off. It was not a bad thing, better safe than sorry, but it was not necessary. I could have got the Lad to school yesterday morning.

I do recall a wicked snowstorm when I was in my first year of university. It was February 27/28th, 1984, and I remember coming home late that Monday night from a frat meeting and jockeying three cars so that I could put my car in the garage. My parents were going to work and I had only one class on that Tuesday morning, biology and that was a study prep day class to cover our midterm exam being written on the 29th. I was not planning on going, so I figured I would leave my car in the garage over night. In fact, I did stay home, study and my family were off to work and school. I did dig out and take my car to watch the Grammy's at a friend's house that night, though (I figured that if I did not know my work by that time, more studying would not have helped).

Well, during this big snow of yesterday, it was Groundhog Day. As there was still snow falling and the sky was grey, there was no sun to be seen in Weirton, ON (home of Weirton Willy) or Punxatawny, PA (home of Punxatawny Phil). Was it any wonder that neither groundhog saw its shadow? That means an early spring is forecast.

Now, I do have to wonder about the wisdom of using a fucking rodent to predict the weather and coming of spring. Are we that unenlightened that this is a mode of prediction? I get the tradition (and it is not to be taken too seriously), I just do not understand the genesis of the day and how or who thought that the fucking groundhog had seasonal/weather predictive powers. Why not Wolverine Day? Why not Mangy Coyote Day? Why the fucking groundhog, of all animals? Somebody help me with that one, please.

Ciao!