It was Thanksgiving but we had a ham

edit: Man blogger compresses the heck out of the video.

Sean

My sister Jordan wrote this a while ago...

Sean was my cousin. Sean was also like a brother to me - though he beat on me less than my actual siblings did. Growing up, we spent a lot of time together, as
family members, as friends. We went through a lot together, and I'd like to share a few of the moments Little Sean and I went experienced.

When we were small, Sean and I would make up dance routines to such classics as "Rock around the clock" and Barbie and the Rockers' "Born with a mic in our hands." Then we'd practice them until they were perfect, and we'd drag whatever unsuspecting adults who were around to watch us perform. Sean always had a flair for drama. He performed in plays in high school, too. He was particularly proud of his role as Fenris Ulf, Captain of the Queen's Guard, in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. During that play, Sean and Lexy and I would dance and sing even offstage, though none of us, Sean included, had much in the way of talent for singing or dancing. Whathe did have was a gift for the absurd. He once came up with a dance we called the "Mating Dance of the Whooping Crane" which mostly consisted of standing on one leg whilst bobbing your head, flapping your arms, and squawking as loudly as possible. Sean was a very good actor, a talent he must have sharpened by being a closeted gay teenager in a small, straight town.

As most everyone here probably realizes, Sean was an exchange student in high school. He went to Denmark. Sean loved Denmark. Upon his return, the phrase "When I was in Denmark..." quickly became a cliche. I know it was one of the most important experiences in his life. Away from home, out of the country, he grew up. Though he had already had a wealth of experience standing on his own two feet, his experiences in Denmark made him realize that he could make it alone. He also came to terms with some truths about himself, like that he was gay, and that he was okay with that. He learned that he loved travel, and began to see himself as a citizen of the world. This is not to say that he didn't also enjoy Denmark's rather lax laws about substances generally forbidden to 17 year olds in the United States.

Sean was so charming. He
could befriend anyone, anywhere, and he often did. He collected
interesting people, and interesting people collected him. My life,
my family's lives have been so enriched by the people who Sean
brought to us. I personally am very grateful to Sean for befriending
all of the mean girls in high school, and thus keeping them from
beating the tar out of me. I remember meals around the table, with
Sean and our friends, everyone stuffing their faces, and having
casual one-upmanship put down contests. Sean could no more resist a
good insult than he could resist a good story. But really who can?
He hardly ever meant any of his insults, and his stories may have
been exaggerated. Both were always top quality though.

Of course, along with all
of his fabulous qualities, Sean did have a few flaws. He was the
most stubborn person I have ever met. He probably inherited that,
along with the nose, from the Ryans. He could insist that something
was true, even if it was demonstrably not so. You knew that you'd
done well in an argument with Sean if you could get him to admit that
his point only should be true, but perhaps wasn't. He was also stoic
to the point of ridiculousness. In Savanna, once, when he was 12 or
13, he took a long ride down a steep hill, partially on a bicycle,
but mostly on his face after the bike's brakes failed. He didn't
admit to any pain, or cry, even though he was all torn up. There was
gravel involved. Instead, he calmly suggested a trip to the doctor.
He could be like that with his emotions, too. But that stubbornness
and stoicism served him well as battled cancer. He was determined to
survive, and he faced his illness with resolute optimism and fierce
grace. I firmly believe he survived as long as he did because of his
mule-headed, pig-headed stubbornness. It bought him years, then
months, and then days.

Clearly, since I'm here,
crying and speaking in public, both of which I hate to do, even world
caliber stubbornness will only get you so far. Which leaves me
speechless, and sort of angry. I don't know what to say, beyond: I
hope to see you again someday. Jag alskar du, Seanie. We'll miss
you so much.

Everything you ever needed to know about Glenn Beck

From Glenn Beck becomes damaged goods | Salon News:

"The animosity between Beck and Kelly continued to deepen. When Beck and Hattrick produced a local version of Orson Welles' 'War of the Worlds' for Halloween -- a recurring motif in Beck's life and career -- Kelly told a local reporter that the bit was a stupid rip-off of a syndicated gag. The slight outraged Beck, who got his revenge with what may rank as one of the cruelest bits in the history of morning radio. 'A couple days after Kelly's wife, Terry, had a miscarriage, Beck called her live on the air and says, 'We hear you had a miscarriage,' ' remembers Brad Miller, a former Y95 DJ and Clear Channel programmer. 'When Terry said, 'Yes,' Beck proceeded to joke about how Bruce [Kelly] apparently can't do anything right -- about he can't even have a baby.'"

Joe Wilson at the Gettysburg Address

Let's ask doctors about health care

Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option : NPR: "Most doctors — 63 percent — say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance. That's the position of President Obama and of many congressional Democrats. In addition, another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they'd like to see a single-payer health care system. Together, the two groups add up to 73 percent."

Communists... or something;)

The original Mac?

MAC PANEL computer tape (Dec, 1961)

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Ghost Fleet

Some of the hundreds of container cargo ships of the "Ghost Fleet of Malaysia".  The ships sit at anchor of the coast of Malaysia as the global economic downturn has left them without cargo to ship.

Do not tell these men and women about green shoots of recovery. As Briton Tim Huxley, one of Asia's leading ship brokers, says, if the world is really pulling itself out of recession, then all these idle ships should be back on the move. This is the time of year when everyone is doing all the Christmas stuff,' he points out.  'A couple of years ago those ships would have been steaming back and forth, going at full speed. But now you've got something like 12 per cent of the world's container ships doing nothing.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession.html#ixzz0R6CY9JND

09:09 09/09/09

Five nines.  (First one to mention that my camera's timestamp is set an hour off gets a prize.  Unfortunately the prize is scorn.)

Health Care Reform Explained

Can The US Air Force Save Darfur?

Can The US Air Force Save Darfur? — War & Health

I don't know, but its a good question.

10 pounds of lard

Lee Ogle Spelling Bee 2/26/09

9:46 Auditorium filling quickly. No wireless so this is a non-live blog.

9:55 Guy in front of me has a point and shoot 35 MM film camera.

Henri went out on alleviate in the third round in 13^th place.

conway twitty - its only make believe

Painting

Waffles

Will Leitch's review has to be better than the movie

The Will Leitch Experience -- FRIDAY THE 13TH:

"Jason should only be about killing stuff: That’s as complicated as he needs to be. I prefer to think that when there aren’t any teenagers around, Jason just hacks at inanimate objects with a battle ax, waiting for them to start spewing blood and sighing quietly when they don’t. Walls, lamps, picture frames, pianos, whatever."

The fools who run this place

DispatchPolitics : U.S. Rep. Austria blames Depression on Roosevelt Columbus Dispatch Politics:

"'When (President Franklin) Roosevelt did this, he put our country into a Great Depression,' (US Rep Steve) Austria (R-MoronOhio) said. 'He tried to borrow and spend, he tried to use the Keynesian approach, and our country ended up in a Great Depression. That's just history.'"

Shouldn't a basic grasp of a country's history be necessary to be a member of one its parliamentary houses? Further, I wonder if right this second King could pass the citizenship test administered to people trying to become naturalized citizens. I would bet against him. Honestly, just based on the above statement, I would bet against him passing it.


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My daughter asks if he has teeth.

I've always wondered what this says about Brandy.

Why do so many sailors talk about her?