UConn James

Well, the sh-- of it is that when you look at what it was like, essentially it'd be like knocking on doors in New Orleans, Gulfport, etc. and asking them to fund a war. Not surprising that people might start sighing when the army was requisitioning a goodly portion of what they did and made. But by and large, from the town minutes, (to read some of the wording and to try and decipher the handwriting, and you question whether this was really written ~250 years ago and not in the Bronze Age, but I digress...) when the soldiers needed or asked for something, the townspeople tried their best to provide it. To wit: "April 7, 1777 -- Voted in sd meeting that the Selectmen shall provide 3 blankits for ye 3 men now ready to march into ye Conentall service & deliver ye same. December 8, 1777 -- Voted to supply the families of those non comm. officers and soldiers now in Contin. Service." Those are just two of numerous entries, just that I don't want to be typing all day. Other entries for "20 pounds lawful money" paid to each man for three years of service. There's additional provisions later on too. A quartermaster complaining about not having enough supplies for his troops? Perish the thought! That comes with the job no matter what period of human history warfare you're talking about. Just the same as a farmer will complain about bad soil and no rain, and a banker will complain about robbers and interest rates. This ain't a perfect world, and ain't nobody gets everything of what they ask for.

My favorite character of the Revolution has to be Thomas Knowlton. At age... I think it was 36... he became a Lt. Col, one of the highest ranking soldiers at the time (Aaron Burr said of him: "It was impossible to promote such a man too rapidly"), and formed the Knowlton's Rangers, the forbear to today's Army Rangers, and served as the chief intelligence/recon officer for the army. I lived (note: I did not say that I "grew up" heh heh) in the town he came from. And with such varied terrain in that town, combined with a Yankee practicality that thrives there to this day, it's not surprising that he left his farm to go on to such heroism. The regiment from the town was the first support to arrive at Lexington and Concord --- about 60 miles away --- in 2 days, I believe. He was the one who sent Nathan Hale (another local man, a schoolteacher iirc) on the mission where he was caught. Knowlton was killed at Harlem Heights and is buried there, but there are two (count 'em 2) grave markers in old cemeteries in town. I lived nearby one of them and would often pass it when walking my dog, and I'd think about what he'd say about us today, and it always went something like, "Exactly what did I fight for? To have a different word used for the title of the despot? King or President, as so much power has shifted to the Executive Branch, what is the difference?" I've tried finding out more about him online, but at most, it's a few paragraphs. There's more to be read in the town anniversary book and even that's not much. That's a shame b/c his life seems like it was fascinating even in its brevity. OTR, it's pretty interesting to read through all of the town meeting minutes from that era as well. That is mainly what the anniversary book consisted of, and you'd be surprised how much the town contributed to the soldiers. They were not paid with federal funds. The people were asked to sacrifice and pay higher taxes and to support the war materially. And it is like Mickey said, they paid for things and tried to preserve the ledgers, mostly b/c it was necessary to do so. Quite the contrary from our contemporary situation.

The commercials are part of the territory and it gives you pee-pee time after drinking all of that coconut juice at the TBD Lost party. It's the long hiatuses that are really starting to irk me more than they did last year. Nine eps in, and we've seen them all twice or in some cases, three times. The spoilers didn't bother me either, and then in the lead-up to where Shannon died and then when the double-wide exploded killing Wayne, it's gotten to the point of 'OK, just shut up and let us watch the show and be surprised.' The Arzt exploding scene was so shocking and so friggin' great b/c absolutely no one saw it coming.

"I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this."

There we go, everybody. Nothing more convincing than the arguments of: 1) Everybody else is doing it, so why can't I? 2) VABills doesn't have a problem with it (those 290 million other people can stuff it). Narcissism much? Truly, the cornerstones of determining U.S. policy.

Two more weeks. But I am looking forward to seeing the "What Kate Did" ep next week. Some things I'd like to see again. I think coming back from this hiatus, the plots are going to get much better now that most of the background has been taken care of. Remember that the last scene was with Michael at the computer screen.

Isn't in the sentence, but to be fair, read the topic title. "Federal." The federal gov't isn't spending time discussing smoking in bars, to the detriment of putting our country in deeper and deeper deficits b/c we have a president who calls himself a fiscal conservative and yet refuses to make serious efforts to balance the books. This country is headed for some SERIOUS trouble when the accumulated bills come due.

After re-watching the Season 1 finale... For people bemoaning the lack of the Monster this season, bear in mind that Kate threw the dynamite down the hole, there was the black-smoke inhalation and then it was gone. Perhaps it was injured pretty badly? Dynamite can do that, yaknow.

Same deal w/ my brother & s-i-l. I dropped the Season 1 discs off at their house last month with a 'You HAVE to watch this show' note. They're hooked, but haven't watched Season 2 yet. Brother is headed to Afghanistan soon for a year-year and a half tour.... By that time, I think LOST is slated to be done. And, the cast of the show was named "Entertainers of the Year" by People magazine. Well deserved, tho I think the writers had something to do with their success.... For all of you who've been down on Season 2 so far (I'm not, except for the casting of M-Rod), think about it. Think back to the start of the year, then the 3-hour finale ep. They got it on the Arzt explosion alone. I was expecting some stuff in that ep, but when that happened I damn near jumped off the couch and hit the ceiling. (Had the sound up pretty loud, too).

I was at a delayed family Christmas party and got home to see about 15 minutes in the third Q.... but, could it be possible that the injury might have required them to pull down his pants? That's a pretty common thing to do when a player has an injury "down there." Good thing the kid was there with the towel. We may have been blinded by Tedi's Allmighty pee-pee aka "Stand back! I don't know how big this thing gets!"

People who are content to have TD (and to a somewhat lesser extent, MM) back are the same people who'll sit and try for 20 minutes to get a 3/4" bolt off with a 12mm wrench.

If, by some miracle, there was a .5 percent chance that he still had a job after this season, it just went down to .000000005 percent. This guy has all the class of a pregnant nun.

Da Bears. Which, of course, means they'll lose in the first round.

So, 10:30 a.m. is early for you? College student? (Even at the U, I loved early morning classes. So much the better to sing "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor" to.)

The only reason I'd get up early is if my dog nudged me with a cold, wet nose that is his way of saying, "I need to go outside." But he was fat and happy from ham drippings/scraps last night. Got up at 8:30 today. Nice.

You could always do what my old man did back in the '60s. Guy across a horseshoe bar was smoking a big cigar. Guy was kindly asked not to blow smoke in his direction. Guy took a big puff and blew it right at him. Guy had his cigar ripped out of his mouth in one fell swoop, and snuffed out in his mashed potatoes. Guy spent the rest of time while my father finished eating not knowing whether to sh-- or turn purple.

Exactly. Why pay a guy $2M/year and a $25M signing bonus in the top five when you can scootch down to about 15 and get a player who has every bit as much a chance to be a quality player and pay $1M/year and a $5 signing bonus? I hate fans who want to draft a friggin' name. Reggie Bush may end up being worth it, but he's a rare player, and it's not like we have a shot at the top pick, nor do we have the luxury to be picking a RB.

Link.

Looks like Ted "The Hulk" Stevens' brute strength wasn't enough. On one hand, there won't be oil drilling in the short term, and we're going to continue to be beholden to OPEC (tho, we still would be; most of the oil drilled here isn't used here). On the other hand, necessity is the mother of all invention and it will put a fire under our butts for bringing alternative, renewable energy to market.

Unbelievable how? The rich and famous and their children are exempt from depression? A good friend's cousin in Greece killed himself a few years back. The note was very detailed as to why the decision was made; X was not greater than Y when he reflected on where he was in his life, and how, realistically, anything would change. I would argue that not all suicides are irrational. Tho at first blush, this case seems pretty tragic. It is sad that he couldn't work things out, and it's sad that it had to happen in a family that seems so nice in a world full of blowhards. One more example of how this is a pretty cruel world, and only the strong survive.

So, someone needs to work up a statistical analysis of the success of gadget/trick plays vs. traditional "Just f---ing run people over" plays? I think there's a reason other, successful coaches use those calls sparingly, whereas MM does about 6 per game, which can come to about 10-15-20 percent of a day's plays.

I'd like to think that democracy would and will work for them. Otherwise.... But these are people who've lived under rulers of one ilk or another for a few thousand years. They know better than to expect good things from the government, whatever its form --- despot, king, council, whatever. You could call this apathy, maybe, but it's simply a matter of trying to live their lives, get enough food for a day.... They'll vote if they can vote, they won't vote if they can't vote. The world doesn't end and young Sayeed still needs water. Maybe more important is how they deal with the transition from govt with its basis on the "tribal" micro to one that is more "Iraq" macro. So, yeah, the formation of one nation among three constituencies, and a government that works for all of them equally, is going to be a minor miracle.

Read the part about us not even asking for him to be extradicted. They've lost track of him. But I'm sure he's rehabilitated himself. No worry.

Link. Nice. I'm sure it's consolation to Mr. Stethem's family that, in place of justice, there's a Navy destroyer named after him.

Don't know about that. In those last two stints, the HCs who took over those teams led to a lot of playoff appearances on Parcells' work. Carroll/Belichick and Edwards. Maybe he is just that kind of coach --- one who can build the foundation, put up the walls and roof.... maybe a little white siding. Then it takes another kind of coach to come in and work the finer details. But that wholesale-change guy is exactly what we need right now.