Roger continues his Conservative Persons and Accomplishments Appreciation Week with The War On Terror. Funny, biting stuff. Past issues:

Federal spending

Schiavo

The Internet Gambling Law.

Perhaps there is cause for hope in the coming election.

The Nietzsche Family Circus

I bought a satellite dish three years ago when Comcast had just started inserting local ads into the commercial breaks of The History Channel, History International, and so on.  I hadn’t given it much thought until this election cycle, but I bet it’s hard to escape Corker’s mother on the cable unless you run to a premium channel or TCM.

On a lighter note, my Oakland Athletics last night clinched the AL West Division championship with a 12-3 rout of Seattle. The A's will have won their division with one of the lowest payrolls in Baseball (21st out of 30, and about 1/3rd the amount the Yankees pay), proving that small market teams CAN win.

Go A's!

I spent some pleasant time in “Murrville” yesterday lunching with an old friend.  We went downtown, ate at Los Amigos, and wandered back to his office to play with his relatively new iMac and discuss his plans for the new iTV Steve Jobs is foisting upon us next spring.

Los Amigos has decent food, service, and pricing, and access from the bike trail is a boon, but the real beauty of the day was our choice for dessert.  We stopped at Kay’s Ice Cream at the corner of West Broadway and Old Niles Ferry Road, walked straight into the fifties, and had lemon custard cones.  They were just like those of my childhood when there were Kay’s Ice Cream stores everywhere around town.

More PROOF the lefty EU bureaucrats are anti-capitalist scum (is it "consumer protection" or "restraint of trade"?).

My family and I recently dined at the Steak 'n' Shake in Turkey Creek.  The service was incompetent and surly, the fries are like toothpicks, the burgers were mediocre, the prices were unreasonable and the after-effects were like a methane plant. 

It was the farthest thing possible from a blessed day.  Good shakes, though.  Next time, we'll stick to those.

Commenters, please feel free to speculate on (a) how we got there, (b) how far we had to drive, (c) how many pieces of Vols clothing each of us was wearing, (d) how many "W" stickers were on our vehicle, and (e) whether we gassed up at Pilot on the way and, if so, whether we also bought a scratch lottery ticket.  Oh, and also whether (f) we hate America, (g) we care about the environment, and (h) we take ourselves too seriously, or not nearly seriously enough.

CNN is reporting a winery in Connecticut that uses no grapes.  Instead they are making fruit wines using raspberries, blackberries, cherries, and rhubarb.  Yesterday, I watched as a crew from RFD-TV interviewed a Kansas man who made wine from elderberries as well as elderflowers.  He had acres of the plants for his "vineyard" and was apparently making a financial go of the project.

Blasphemy, you say! 

My mother used to make a beautiful strawberry-rhubarb wine and I have made elderflower wine from a recipe my grandmother brought from Germany in 1891.  It's hard work but it makes a wonderful pale gold product.  I collected my blossoms from the wild and, believe me, passersby look at you as though you're some kind of nut as you stuff these "weeds" into a grocery sack.

But there is beauty in knowing that you will have the last laugh when you pop that cork.  Every June when I pass the clustered blossoms along a country road, I think, "I need to make another run of that stuff."

Does this little fellow give you grief too? I know he is there and I work hard to avoid him. Though, sometimes, I forget and slip my cursor over his 'spot'. An example being, after I just finish watching a movie and the volume is up loud on the PC. I jump on KnoxNews.com to read the latest news and this irritating pixel of an application knocks me out of my seat with "Want to know your detailed......". KNS --NO. I don't want to hear it. Neither does my neighbor, my co-worker or my significant other. Gone are the days of "sounds popping out of nowhere on websites". Please --for the sake of my sanity and serenity, take this wonderful, neat and completely useless feature off the index of your website.
Small Print: Image clipped from screenshot of knoxnews.com and pasted here for simplicity.

Michael Silence has proclaimed East Tennessee the Blogging Capital of Tennessee. Judging from the breakdown of the Rocky Top Brigade, it appears he is correct by a wide margin:

Total Members: 229
East TN Brigade: 107
Middle TN Brigade: 37
West TN Brigade: 11
TN Expat Brigade: 9
TN at-large Brigade: 48

Which raises the question: if a Tennessee blog is not in the Rockey Top Brigade, can it really be considered a proper blog?

Regardless, if you operate a Tennessee blog you really ought to go enlist (assuming you swear to uphold the Constitution). If you think you may be lacking credentials, you can take SayUncle's eligibility test to see if you qualify.

Of course, Brittney at Nashville is Talking takes exception to Michael's proclamation.

And Joe Powell discusses why Tennessee is fertile ground for bloggers.

Via Bob, comes Knoxville 520, which (per Bob) featur(es) assorted and sundry entertainment options in mighty KnoxVegas.

Thanks to all our contributors who took up the slack during my absence last week, and for all the kind notes. It looks like there was a lot going on, and I'm still catching up. Here's what I have learned so far:

The Iraq invasion and occupation took center stage, not out of concern for our soldiers or the people of Iraq, but instead out of concern for politician's own careers. The GOP again accused Democrats of being cowards who cut and run, while at the same time Senate Republicans supported amnesty for terrorists who killed American soldiers and Bush and his top generals discussed plans for withdrawing troops conveniently just in time for the November elections. Oh, and Rick Santorum found the WMDs and there was much rejoicing at Fox News, while the New York Times will be hung for treason in order to protect Dick Cheney's access to your banking records.

This stuff is beyond absurd. At any rate, the GOP is desperate for an issue to run on in November. Gay bashing and concentration camps for immigrants didn't get much traction, so it's back to the War on Terror and the invasion of Iraq which highlight the GOP's failed policies and astonishing incompetence. They are riding a one trick pony, and the pony has pulled up lame. Democrats can't decide whether to cower in the face of this brilliant plan or order out for lunch. On the plus side, Osama has not burned any American flags while presiding over the marriage of gay terrorists on the Capitol steps this week, and as far as I know no Korean ICBMs hit any surfers in Malibu. So there's that.

Around Knox Vegas, the charter issue took new twists and turns. An assortment of characters joined in the fray, including a commissioner who was against the charter before he was for it, pornographers and strippers, a federal judge, three dancing bears, and seventeen clowns piling out of a VW Beetle waving petitions for declaratory judgment of injunctive relief.

Around the blogosphere, I see that some guy calling himself DailyKos has taken over the Democratic Party and is now calling the shots. And "liberal bloggers" are supposed to bow to the dark overlord of the internets and do his bidding, prompting one prominent moonbat to hang up his spurs. Apparently, us D-list bloggers didn't get the memo, but I guess I'll submit graciously to his leadership as instructed. Right after I put on pants.

Okay, okay! So it's a cat and the photo was taken with my cell phone. The cat is the 'community stray' which enjoys the love and affection (and food) of my neighbors and me!

After a rousing evening of food, speeches and plain ol’

Democrat rabble rousing…

Who wants to go home?!?!?!

So…

Come on down to the Urban Bar and Grill

to continue the festivities!!

Drinks! Food! Conversation, Informal Speeches and …

... and more Drinks!!

This invitation to join us is extended to all Democrats, liberals, progressives and anyone whose opinions, feelings, thoughts or mode of worship Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter and the like would object to!  Whether you attended the Truman Day Dinner or not!

The Urban Bar and Grill is located at the corner of Jackson and Central in the Old City.  We’ll start gathering when the Truman Day Dinner ends, about 9PM-ish -  or so and will continue until … late-ish or so.

After a rousing evening of food, speeches

and plain ol’ Democrat rabble rousing…

 

Who wants to go home?!?!?!

So…

Come on down to the Urban Bar and Grill to continue the festivities!!

Drinks! Food! Conversation, Informal Speeches and ...

…and more Drinks!!

This invitation to join us is extended to all Democrats, liberals, progressives and anyone whose opinions, feelings, thoughts or mode of worship Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter and the like would object to!  Whether you attended the Truman Day Dinner or not!

The Urban Bar and Grill is located at the corner of Jackson and Central in the Old City.  We’ll start gathering when the Truman Day Dinner ends, about 9PM-ish or so and will continue until … late-ish or so.

Please keep in mind that the Knox County Democrat Party is Pro-Family (i.e.: equal rights, decent wages, worker safety, health insurance for all, truth in government, unmonitored telephone calls, no wars based on lies and so on) – to that end, while yes there will be alcoholic beverages present there will be NO poker playin’ and NO hookers!  So if you want whiskey drinkin’, pokerplayin’ and hookers please contact Brian Hornback for membership in the GOP.  Tell him I sent you.

One of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century had to be the mute button.

Jeanne Moos and CNN have shown what could be the first great product of the twenty-first.  In a video article available on CNN”s Pipeline (paid subscription required) she and a cohort show off The Beer Belly, available dirt cheap from BeerBelly.com.

Are you tired of paying five bucks for a Coke in a movie theater?  Fill this baby up, strap it on and Bob’s your uncle.

I see only two problems here.  The product is a container – complete with a sipping hose - designed to give the appearance of a beer gut under that T shirt.  What does one do if one already has a "generous" belly under there, and how does one smuggle in the popcorn?

WATE:

A bill that puts a liquor by the drink vote on the table in Townsend soared through the state legislature Tuesday.

The bill is now waiting on Gov. Bredesen's signature.

If Bredesen signs it, residents of Townsend can vote on the issue in the November election.

In 2005, a similar measure was taken to allow a liquor by the drink vote but the paperwork was not filed on time.

So, why exactly does the state have any say in a city matter?

Update: A reader at my place says:

I don’t know the reasoning or origins, but the state of TN regulates liquor sales and local governments regulate beer (and other low alcohol drinks) sales.

That answers that.

A twilled cloth of worsted or worsted and wool, often used for suits is apparently causing UT to turn away applicants in droves.  WATE’s web site reports this morning that you should keep this in mind when planning your college career.

This won't stay long, A sceen shot is attached. 

This reminds me of an email sent to me a few years ago from a dear friend

For all of you who have emailed me when my spelling is wrong

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

"Truck" and trailer belonging to a guy mowing a yard in the neighborhood. Looks like yard maintenance is pretty good business.

I could sure go for a good single malt Scotch whiskey for under $20 about now.

Two terms that you don't normally expect to come up in conversation are "aerosol cheese" and "defective nut packaging". Somehow, both came up in a conversation with the Mrs. yesterday.

The Mrs. was freaking about about something and belted out the "ahhahhhhaa" opening of this song. Which reminded me of the best "rock video" of all time. Truly a classic. (Don't miss the final scene.)

Link...

I've been out of the country but I've got a couple of posts brewing. Go Lady Vols. I am hoping for a Lady Vols vs. Rutgers matchup! 

Last month I posted here about what I thought was a miracle jug of milk. It had out lived it's sell-by date by more than thirty days. While I was still using the old milk, I purchased a new jug to be on standby. The new jug never had to fill in for the old one. When the old one finally ran dry, I did look to the new jug with high expectations.

The sell-by date on that jug was Feb 28. Sniff. Check. Good. I used that same jug of milk today for my coffee. Sniff. Check. Good.

Given the record of the last jug, I expect the remaining half gallon to last about thirty days from the sell by date.

You can bet your udders that I'll be buying the same brand milk from now on. It'll save me the 4 or so jugs I was buying to replace the old milk.

Am I the only one that sniffs milk?

For those of you who got the word despite the short notice and contributed to the ETCH, thank you. I appreciate it and I know the hospital does as well.

You know, this makes me think. We've got a lot of folks tied together in the RTB. It seems to me if we can harness our various resources, we could really do some good things in our communities. I'd like to see the RTB participate as a group in some of the local fundraising activities, like Canstruction, or the Cardboard Sled Race.

Are the rest of y'all interested? Let me know, and if I get enough feedback, I'll start looking at activities.

I go through lots of eyeglasses. I sit on them and break the frames. I drop them and crack or break the lenses. I buy stupid add-ons like "lens coating" that deteriorates in a few months making them unusable. I buy "designer" frames that turn out to be made of cheap pot metal painted with varnish that wears off and makes you break out in a rash.

So this last time around, I decided to go all out and look for the very best I could find. After checking out all the usual suspects, I went back to basics and visited Clancy Optical, one of the area's oldest and most established local optometry/eye wear companies.

I went out to the Peters Rd. store, and was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a second (I'm guessing) generation Clancy (sorry, don't remember his first name) who happened to be minding the store that day. He asked a lot of questions about my needs and preferences, and steered me toward a line of frames by Lindberg.

I've had them for a while, and I really like them. They are tough, lightweight, titanium wire frames with unique hinges that don't have any screws to come loose or get lost. Bonus, you can get custom matching sunglass clip-ons that fit better and are far superior to those drug-store brands.

They've already been through a lot of abuse, and they've even been sat on a couple of times, and no problems so far. Today, I found out just how tough they really are.

I was swapping out my camera tripod head. I had on one of these gimbal type heads, which is a large, metal, sort of partial "U" shaped configuration with a big metal knob on one side, and I needed to take it off. It was sort of stuck and I was having trouble unscrewing it, so I was hammering away with my fist trying to free it. It suddenly broke loose, spun around, and the big metal knob hit me right in the eye. It was like taking the full force of my own punch from a big metal knob.

It knocked my glassed off and stunned me for a second. After making sure I wasn't bleeding and hadn't suffered a concussion or something (although I'll probably have a shiner tomorrow), I inspected my glasses. I was sure they would be bent if not broken. Not a scratch.

So anyway, I can highly recommend these Lindberg frames and Clancy Optical. They gave me a discount on a second pair (after I asked), and graciously made me a replacement set of lenses for my computer/reading pair at no charge after some confusion about the prescription. I've been so happy and bragging so much about Clancy and these Lindberg frames that the Mrs. got some, too.

Which is sort of ironic, because she's been telling me for years to quit screwing around and just go to Clancy's when I need glasses.

With Mardi Gras arriving tomorrow, here's how I plan to celebrate:

With food.

For those whose lives were New Orleans-free prior to Katrina, no matter when you came from the rest of the world to New Orleans, you could expect to eat well. OK, not "well" in the sense of "healthily," but "well" in the sense of elegance, in the sense of satisfaction, in the sense of almost uncomfortable fullness.

Here's a simple menu, including nothing more than an entree and a dessert, but it's a good 'un.

Crawfish Etouffee
Bread pudding with bourbon sauce

I'll share my recipes after the fold... and I'm going to include a couple of notes, because there are some things that the cookbooks don't tell you. I don't know who here cooks and who doesn't, but I know that everyone here has to eat. And if you've been to New Orleans, perhaps you could share some thoughts in comments -- whether it's a memorable meal, a lingering memory, a particularly late night, a favorite haunt, or just some damned character that you met (he mighta bet you dat he could tell you where you got 'dem shoes).

more!

An odd story, but true.... The dates on milk jugs are there for a reason, right? I thought so, until my most recent purchase. I'm not much of a milk drinker, it mostly goes in my coffee, so the gallon in the fridge normally expires half used. On Feb 3rd, according to the receipt, I purchased a jug of milk from the local grocer. The expiration date was on the 7th of Feb. While I normally don't 'sniff the milk', I was in a fix for coffee one day and was desperate. It was the 10th, and the milk was still good. What a bonus! I had beaten the milk Gods! So the next day, I sniffed again. And the next. And the next. This morning, with about 1/4 of the milk left, I sniffed again. And, by golly, the milk is still good! Right, 18 days after the sell by date and 22 days from purchase, the milk in that jug tastes and smells just as good as the first day I purchased it.

Here is my thing: All this time, was I cheating myself of hard earned money to replace milk that was actually good? Are farmers doing hokey things with their cows? Are the grocery stores conspiring with milk vendors to drive revenues? Or, has my recent sinus infection affected my sense of smell and taste? The last question is doubtful, I haven't gotten sick and my coffee isn't getting clumpier. If you don't sniff your milk, you should! It could save you the cost of a new gallon!

March 1 Update: I used the milk from the jug previously mentioned again this morning. It was still okay! I've purchased another gallon, which is on standby just in case this one fails me. Eventually, it will go bad or run out.

Diamond
1000 Lufkin Road
Apex, NC 27539

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently purchased your Diamond 6 Piece Multipurpose File Set (Juego De Limas Multiuso De 6 Piezas) at a local home improvement store and wanted to let you know about a concern I have with your product.

It seems the Diamond 6 Piece Multipurpose File Set is packaged in some sort of indestructible plastic material heretofore unknown in modern materials science, making it difficult if not nearly impossible to get to your product in order to actually be able to use it.

It is certainly stylish and attractive packaging, and without a doubt sturdy. But, after several minutes of trying to open it by way of scissors, knives, hacksaws, and various other implements at hand, I very nearly gave up. Nonetheless, I am not usually one to concede defeat so easily, and I was really in need of using one of the files in the Diamond 6 Piece Multipurpose File Set.

So, I persevered.

After much effort, even more cursing, and some minor personal injury (don’t' worry -- it's healing up nicely and I'm not generally a litigious sort of person), I was finally able to gain access to my new Diamond 6 Piece Multipurpose File Set. I note that the packaging warns users to wear safety goggles when using the product. You might also consider warning purchasers to wear safety goggles when opening the product.

I am pleased to report, however, that once I was able to remove the Diamond 6 Piece Multipurpose File Set from its robust packaging, I was quite impressed with the quality, utility, and indeed overall value of your product. If the Diamond 6 Piece Multipurpose File Set proves anywhere near as tough and durable as the packaging in which it arrived, I'm confident I am looking forward to a lifetime of trouble-free service from your product.

I thought perhaps your crack team of materials and packaging science engineers down at the lab might at least appreciate some positive forensic feedback on their excellent packaging design. Might I also suggest they look in to acquiring federal contracts for use of these materials in the manufacture of bullet-proof armor, reentry heat shield tiles for the Space Shuttle, or the like.

OK, then.

R. Neal

P.S. If it were not for the fact that they are off the air and on to other pursuits, this would also make for an amusing Seinfeld episode: "They want you to BUY the product, but they don't want you to USE the product." You could shop it around.