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I am five days late in noting what is now the 18th anniversary of this blog. At this point, it is safe to say I am keeping it up as much out of habit as anything else, what with the more or less once a month posting pattern ever since my “friend” Donald J. Putin began kicking ass and taking names on Twitter. One feature of this blog has been my occasional reporting on my efforts at distance running. At 56 years old, it is likely that my fastest days (which were never fast) are well behind me. As such,...

Ordinarily I love to rant on this date, and would have done so earlier in the day. My earlier technical problems (a firewall at my IP address) have been helpfully resolved by my hosting company, and so we are back! Boo ya! I have My friend Donald J. Putin has a lengthy diatribe over on twitter, which is lengthy by twitter standards but not by those of this blog. Bottom line, it has been 18 years since 9-11. The damned World Trade Center twin towers were only open for 28 years. And yet, once the next ten years come and...

It is a truism that the sort of mass shootings that other nations will put up with perhaps once ever are an accepted daily fact of life in the USA (we are a really large country and by and large, rich and important people tend not to be involved in the mass shootings), and hence, last weekends near simultaneous massacres at an El Paso, Texas Walmart (leaving 22 people dead) and in downtown Dayton, Ohio (leaving 9 people dead) come at an interesting time, since it is widely believed that the, ahem, President’s racist rhetoric inspired “stochastic terrorism,” and encouraged...

Happy July the 14th everyone! Liberte! Egalite! Fraternite! These are the values of an actual first world country where everyone gets like five weeks vacation and working more than 37 1/2 hours a week is against the law! Sure, the Germans overran them in the Big One back in ’43, but then, they and the Germans both live better than we do, and we think we won the damned war! . This is but one of many premises of the upcoming “Donald J. Putin on American Exceptionalism: It’s Not YOU, It’s Just America Being America,” which, if it works out...

And so we come to that part of the Hallmark calendar where we say “Happy Father’s Day.” To those in a position to celebrate… happy father’s day. In the world writ large, things are moving right along. My literary projects are proceeding– well, Donald J. Putin on American Exceptionalism is nearly halfway through its second reading (and insertion of footnotes, of which there will be over 200 by the end). And if completed and successfully self-published, perhaps other projects can proceed. I have some gardening to do today… but, you know,,, I’m tired. Doesn’t look good for any of the...

Let’s take a break from the slow motion constitutional crisis, so slow that even our 78 year old Speaker of the House recognizes that we are in one, as the alleged USA President continues to crap on the Constitution, and in particular to the Democratic House, now thwarting all of their efforts at information gathering, so that I can note that today is the 82nd birthday of TD Dad (who as long time readers know (is there another kind?), passed away near the end of 2015). TD Dad, of course, was a long time fan of the blog here, and...

The answer to the question in the post-title is that the world gets a fuck of a lot more boring and unpleasant; We have now been living in a world where “amusing lies” are not merely the source of humor on the first day of April, but are now the basis for public discourse in this country (as told by the political party now in control of the presidency and upper house of Congress). While I would love to have concocted a fake 400 page redacted Mueller report, other than giving you 400 pp of redaction, I wouldn’t know where...

Ireland forever, or something, to which I mean happy St. Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate it (and I will just mention the looming Brexit no-deal, which, if played right, may actually lead to a United Ireland, even if this isn’t quite what the Brexiteers planned!) . Before seeing extended Familia TD (not really; TD Mom and TD Siblings, along with three of the TD nieces, as part of an ongoing celebration of TD Mom reaching four score), I ran (if you can call it that) this year’s edition of the NYC Half [marathon], a new iteration of the two...

Happy 2nd of February. For those who give a crap, out in Western Pennsylvania, the official weather rodent Punxsatawney Phil failed to see his shadow and predicted an early spring; of course, he is correct on these calls less than half the time, making him less effective than a coin flip. Or a typical member of the American media. Steady as she goes here at Stately Dog Manor. I do not seem to be making much progress on the athletic goals; I will blame the polar vortex (we actually had a number of insanely cold episodes this January, including for...

In the (OMG) over 17 years of this blog, I am not sure I’ve posted new year’s resolutions, but when SNL’s Jane Curtin resolves to ‘make sure the Republican Party dies,” I am happy to make an exception! I was going to try to take a moment of solipsism and post some athletic goals (as of today, I weighed in at a not svelte 187.4… or was it .6? lbs.. The goal by the end of the year is to set (at least!!!) one or more records in this category of lightweight rowing. , while advancing my 54 (so far)...