Too Much Technology "Lite"

Lately I have come to feel that we are misusing the term "technology." All over the place its used to describe what really amounts to mostly useless tweaks to computers, which even though we carry them in our pockets today, are not new any more, they were invented in 1947.  Even the New York Times "technology" section mostly describes what really amount to titillating toys that enable the mild minded to pass time gazing at glowing screens or spreading useless personal information about themselves or what they ate for lunch. You can even blab at folks and watch them endure your boring yammering. Worse yet they may even be interested in your yammering since the glowing screen has removed them from the real world in which thinking is so often useful or required.
Its mostly nonsense, and it is a lousy excuse for "technology". In the early days of television folks used to hope for a vast educational asset but what we got is mostly a barren wasteland full of night soil of the mind. Similarly "edu apps" are promoted as helpful to "digital natives" (these are young kids whose lives are impoverished by early access to pads and pods and other such junk - I actually heard this bullshit on NPR today) who will in all likelihood grow up unable to boil water or rake leaves. Or care about the world they take up space in.
We were supposed to have bullet trains and personal jets and X-ray glasses. That's technology! All we got are crappy little gizmos that waste our time.

Let's Say Goodbye to Texas

Lets all think about what would happen if the country let Texas leave the union. A number of things to consider-
First, we would get rid of Senator Cruz, the loudest Whining White Person in the country. And the slack minded yokels who think he is so great. I wonder what they would think about him when their social security checks stopped? And remember Texas  has more uninsured people than just about any other state, and they want to keep it that way.
We would not have to hear from Rick Perry, except as a joke from another country. That new country could have as many branches of government as it wants and dear Rick would not have to worry about which three he wants to abolish.
Oklahoma would not have to suck so hard to keep Texas from floating off into the Gulf of Mexico.
I'm sure lots of good ol boys would be delighted to be a separate nation. That is until they had to come up with their own currency and find out no one will lend them money because they would not be able to stop laughing, since the state won't have much revenue once the oil companies have their way. After all somebody will have to make up for the federal subsidies they get from all of us.
They could build a huge wall along their border with Mexico, until they discovered that they don't really have the bucks to finish it.
The opposite of secession is decession like "de-aquisitioning" works of art. We don't really have to wait for the Texans to take action. Perhaps we could even sell Texas to Mexico, or perhaps France. Or maybe we could "gift" Texas to, say, Iran.

Fear and Loathing of the Future

The "Anti Economist" column in Harper's is always a worthy read, as is the whole magazine.
In the most recent issue the columnist Jeff Madrick noted that 218 out of 233 Republican House members have signed a pledge to vote against taxes regardless of circumstances. They signed this myopic pledge at the urging of one Grover Norquist, who makes his living it seems by getting others to change centuries.
I wonder how many of these pledge signers also claim to want to run the government "like a business." Perhaps they know of a business that can never, no matter what, raise prices, and the utopia it occupies. Every single one of them, along with the so called "self made" success characters, becomes dependent on government the instant their car tires touch a paved road. Paved roads wear out. Paving costs more money now than then, and will cost more in future. But some think they would prefer gravel roads. They come from gerrymandered cocoons into which no breath of modern thinking can penetrate.
The reason I think is fear and loathing of the future. And part of the fear just may be that the idea of being returned home from Washington to the lousy places they come from.. Can't say I blame them.

Cape May

A very fine place, off season. No brats and mostly older folks sauntering about the town square. Lots of cute shoppes full of mostly junk. The nice thing about the junk is that the stores mostly do not have the same junk, so the junk variety is less boring than most places.
Also fine eating sans crowds. We especially enjoyed Louisa's, best described as eclectic. And delicious!
The coolest thing I found was the quaint architecture which makes San Francisco's "painted ladies" well below first place.
Also lots of new mcmansions along the shore line which remind one of the Jersey shore's "Irish Riviera" (also known as Avalon). Sad to see this here but that's the way it is.

 

One of my favorite items down here is the carcass of a concrete ship, the Atlantis. It seems that during the First World War there was an effort to build ships from concrete. Quite a few were built and actually used. One sank at the tip of the cape and is still visible today. Some years ago I bought a sort of book about them. They were, and at least one still is, real.

How to Enjoy the Jersey Shore - Part One - The Winery Tour

To be specific, we have just spent a delightful few days in Cape May New Jersey.
The first thing to do is be sure to go when all the schools are back in session so you will not be bothered by brats behaving worse than you ever let your kids behave (they are all worse than your kids...).
Also avoid the places damaged by hurricane Sandy. Head south!
Take a few back roads and go on a winery tour. That's how you can find  real diners in places like Clayton (the Liberty Diner, where the waitresses still say "youse").

We stumbled upon a fine little vineyard/winery called Coda Rossa in Franklinville, well off the beaten trail of the Cape May County wine whatever they call their organization. The young lady there did not say "youse" so I can confirm wineries have, in general, more class than diners. Pretty decent vinos.

Southerly from there as one closes in on the bottom of the state there are a bunch of places, some of which have been in business for quite awhile but got good press only fairly recently (thank you Phila Inky). We stopped at all of them except Turdo, which sells out all their wine early in the summer and closes. And has a cool name that none of the winery folks we talked to smirk at.
Closing in on Cape May we stopped first at Natali Vineyards which had a nice selection and even a banana wine which I thought would be horrible but it wasn't. Then on to Jesse Creek Winery, followed by Hawk Haven, Cape May and Willow Creek wineries. These guys all grow their own grapes and get some from local farmers who I assume find fruit of the vine more fruitful than lima beans. (We just missed the Lima Bean Festival in  West Cape May, for real, no lie).
Were I a more practiced wino I would recall more specifics about each one. At the end of our tour we had bought wines from every place we visited. They all sell almost all their production from their tasting rooms and the proprietors have lots of tasting notes about flavors I usually can't discern at all. We were told that they had a bumper crop this year and business was very good. I know we did our part in that regard.

If He Were a White Man

Inspired by Tevya's song "If I Was A Rich Man"  from Fiddler on the Roof* - or Obama's lament-

 

If I were a white man,
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.
All those yahoos wouldn’t hate me so

If I were Caucasian
I could take this country on the move
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy white,
Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle man.

I could make some room for healthcare
so all of us would share
A life much better than we ever could before

We could have a real congress,
Not the joke we have right now
The world could still respect us instead of laughing while we fuss

If I were a white man....

* all rights reserved but certainly not for me

Another Thought About The Affordable Care Act

So this whole deal is modeled after the program initiated by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts - some folks still call it "Romneycare."
97 % of Bay State residents have health insurance, more than any other state.
People like it.
The state did not go bust.
Businesses did not flee the state.
Taxes did not go out of control.
Medical costs did not skyrocket.
There are still lots of docs in the state.
So none of the horrors feared by the whining flapping lips actually took place.
Just a thought.