50 Comments
User's avatar
Jay Janney's avatar

It is a quiet morning here in Parke County. Parke County has numerous covered bridges, so it is a favorite of the Model T clubs who drive here, unload their model Ts (what, you think they'd try driving them 200 miles on our highways)? We saw a dozen Model Ts putt-puttering about Turkey Run State Park, and on the old roads leading to the covered bridges.

When I proposed to Katie, it was during the covered bridge festival. We put up a sign near one, where they had a hayride; we rode the hayride past the sign, the driver stopped, My oldest (age 4 at the time) handed her the ring box asking if she wanted this? Okay, not quite according to plan, but it worked. I invited her parents along for the hayride, her mom loved it.

The weather is pleasant, so we are hiking trails. The youngest went on the annual golf outing. last night he and half a dozen cousins went to the public course in the dark (riding 4 wheelers on back roads) to collect lost golf balls. He took half a dozen with him today.

Tonight will be the big pickleball tournament, our first annual. katie made a trophy for it. She also bought us t-shirts with pickleball themes on it. My has a giant pickle, wearing shades and a baseball cap (backwards) muttering "if you want a soft serve, go get ice cream!".

Jay Janney's avatar

I've caught grief about my Ukraine position in the past, but here goes.

Our Ukrainian policy is immoral. Our policy is to sacrifices thousands of civilian lives in Ukraine, because Biden would not commit US boots on the ground, which would have routed the Russian military in under two months, and he slow walked support, to keep Ukraine from attacking Russia.

If your policy is no boots on the ground, then don't send arms whatsoever: Ukraine surrenders with a significantly less loss of life. Plus, it would be a temporal, pyrrhic victory for Putin (trying to police Ukraine would have drained him of resources). But it would have saved innocent civilian lives.

Biden literally chose the worst of all decisions to make. And thousands of innocent civilians died as a result.

Angie's avatar

Not talking politics, especially about this...

So, Good Morning everyone

It it not super hot today and I escaped either of the two tornados we had Tuesday, though some people are still without power....but it is very humid, which is worse...lol

Our customer from Russia, speaking of Russia...lol...visited yesterday and he was pretty cool...younger and nicer looking than I had pictured him...he was very nice and had a cool accent...his family was in DC seeing the sites while he was here

I wanted to ask for some finger crossing etc...I am starting to see wavy lines, which is not good news and could be very bad...so, I have an appt with the eye Dr Monday...I also have developed some more floaters that are driving me nuts( mostly outside when there is a lot of sun)

As it is incurable, not sure what they can do, but, I could also just slowly lose my sight or not lose it at all ( technically you still have peripheral vision) the data are pretty favorable...only 15% of old age onset of macular degeneration actually go blind). If I am one of the 15%..I won't be able to read or drive, and thus can't work...sigh...can these things please stop...and no more computer, or movies , books etc

Anyway, everyone have a good week end

IncognitoG's avatar

Hope your condition improves, Angie.

Just going to post this here because 1) happen to know about it and 2) with every conceivable hope it might help:

https://www.youtube.com/live/qcHraoSH9Bg?si=BBsJFgoaQLtoBJOg

Angie's avatar

Thank you for the link, I will check it out at home

Funny thing , though, my boss does this diet and I find a lot of what he eats really, really gross...lol...

I have read people who think it is awesome and other who say it is a bad way to diet etc, so, I am not sure what to think...they already have me on a vitamin supplement which is supposed to help with eye health...

We shall see...I am now seeing a grey spot to the right of my vision, though, not in the center...so it may be the floater thing...

Sigh...right now I am panicked and it feels like how I felt when I was diagnosed with cancer...

Trying to stay positive till I know what is really happeneing

LucyTrice's avatar

Fingers crossed! I hope you have something pleasant to distract you between now and Monday.

Angie's avatar

Thanks Lucy...yeah, we taped the whole Olympics and have been watching what we can every day, we are behind, but we have time to watch at our leisure...

M. Trosino's avatar

I have no idea who Jurgen Nauditt is. Also, the "Ukraine Had A Chance To Blow Up..." looks like a screen shot headline from Forbes, the best that I can tell. More info, please...

Phil H's avatar

From the mothership, your David French fix:

Worth Your Time II: 'Mockery Won’t Increase Fertility' --David French

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/opinion/birth-rate-jd-vance.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Bk4.STIR.bDQFnCUqYwFe&smid=em-share

M. Trosino's avatar

I wasn't aware David French needed fixing, or that it was up to any of us to do it.

Sorry...sorry.

Not really. But thanks for the French thing. Appreciate it.

Edit: If Mockery won't git'er done, how 'bout punning - bad or otherwise - or badinage??

Just askin' the question...

M. Trosino's avatar

On a related and more serious note... as to the ability or advisability of a country trying to *baby* its way out of any 'economic' problems...

https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-pronatalism-pushing-baby-booms-to-boost-economic-growth-amounts-to-a-ponzi-scheme-235725

Phil H's avatar

Good morning. Nice evening last night. Humidity seems to be low, and hipefully today will be about the same.

The mothership is discussing the google antitrust case, which legal beagle sarah Isgur calls "Bonkerstown". (Actually, she calls all antitrust law that).

The FP TGIF is a real potpourri.

as to the article here, I absolutely agree. Ukraine as an invaded country has the right, and should have been permitted, to strike strategic military targets inside Russia. Fears of escalation are nuts. Not even Putin is stupid enough to use nukes, and we can all see how weak his conventional capabilities have become. What would he escalate with?

Wilhelm's avatar

I'm kinda on Sarah's side with the Bonkerstown reference. I never understood how that made the least bit of sense. If someone is headed toward a monopoly in some industry, build a better mousetrap. Beat them at the their own game. Whatever. But if Rockefeller or Carnegie have the good judgment to integrate vertically and horizontally, good for them! If they price gouge, the Saudis or Chinese can challenge them today.

And in all fairness, oil and steel at the end of the Nineteenth Century seem closer to true monopolies than does Google. I can still use DuckDuckGo or Bing or even MetaCrawler or Ask Jeeves, if I'm feeling really old school. And there's no price gouging! They're still free.

I'm not sure those laws ever made sense. But they certainly don't to me in this era.

CynthiaW's avatar

Good morning. Looks like it will be a nice day here.

IncognitoG's avatar

Morning. We stayed on the dry side of the whole shebang, except for some patchy sprinkles in the night.

M. Trosino's avatar

So, would a hebang be sort of like a himicane?

Edit: Has anybody thought to ask the weather what its preferred pronouns actually are?

Phil H's avatar

Time to blow on out -- 🚪

The original Optimum.net's avatar

We are getting the rain you recently had, but it doesn't seem to pose as much of a flooding threat as was feared.

CynthiaW's avatar

Glad to hear it. I assume everything is fine at home, there being no word from Fang or Jake.

The original Optimum.net's avatar

I initially read that quickly and assumed you were talking about MY home. And then I wondered why Fang or Jake would be here. Then I chuckled.

CynthiaW's avatar

Is there food at your house?

The original Optimum.net's avatar

Yes, but, until my plumber finds a part for the hot water tank, no hot water. I've been going to the sports center to shower.

IncognitoG's avatar

Maybe they heard you’d be out of town.

Wilhelm's avatar

Five decades and counting.

"I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates says of [then-]Vice President Joe Biden. The Atlantic, Jan. 7, 2014.

The original Optimum.net's avatar

He may have gotten better over the past decade, but only marginally. But even my lukewarm defense concerning the hostages get overwhelmed by the fact that we are not letting Ukraine use our weapons, which are better than Russia's, to gain significant advantage for their survival.

IncognitoG's avatar

Of course, Trump makes Biden look like the brightest strategist since von Clausewitz by way of contrast…

The original Optimum.net's avatar

Yes, and I'm sure Ukraine is glad Trump is not in there. Still, the you-can't-have-F16s-oh-wait-you-can-but-you-can't-use-our-bombs schtick is really frustrating for them.

Wilhelm's avatar

That bar is sooooo low, though.

The history of U.S. presidents isn't filled with geniuses and statesmen. But mostly, they were adequate.

Suddenly, it's the Age of the Midwits. And there's no end in sight.

IncognitoG's avatar

At the moment, they seem to aspire to being just half a halfwit, tbh.

M. Trosino's avatar

Even nitwits need something to aspire to. A quarterwit may be out of reach for some, but they should at least have the right to try.

Phil H's avatar

Nitwits are (fortunately for you) not the same as puns.