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Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
Winston Churchill

Funny Money

Funny Money

My Pix

 

Mirror, Kew Gardens, 1993
Kodak High Speed Infrared

Yap

Never in the House did I use the word which comes to mind. The nearest I came to doing so was when Sir Winton Turnbull, a member of the cavalleria rusticana, was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a Country member". I interjected "I remember". He could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides.
Gough Whitlam

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumpter, April 14, 1861

The other anniversary this week. The photo was taken 150 years ago today and shows the Confederate flag flying over the newly won fort.

Fukushima Daiichi

    Fukushima Daiichi reactors 1 -4 March 18, 2011.  Photo by Digital Globe.

The press reports about the disaster at Fukushima have been fragmentary and occasionaly hysterical.  This article from the BBC is the best one page explanation of what happened and what needs to be done.  Highly recommended.

50 Years in Space

    Yuri Gagarin in the capsule before launch.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the 1st human to orbit the earth.  It was a stunning achievement that took the world by surprise.  As the tides of history flow and our own age is forgotten, they will still remember Yuri Gagarin.  Nobody else can ever be the 1st man in space.

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In politics, nothing moves unless it's pushed.
Morton C. Blackwell

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If you need drugs to be a good writer, you're not a good writer.
Rod Serling

Pix

    One of the amazing photos from Japan showing the power of a tsunami.

My Pix

    Union Station, Chicago, 1988

My Pix

Window, Paros, 1986.  This was the day it started clicking for me in Greece.

Yap

Rehab is 4 quitters
Grafiti on side of rehab facility

Cheap, Fast & Easy

    From the always awesome Tofutti Break

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POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles
Ambrose Bierce

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If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.
Emma Goldman

My Pix

    Attica, 1986

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Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Samuel Johnson

My Pix

    The Embankment, London, 1984

I think its a monument to the Merchant Marine in WW2.  The point of this picture is the shadows, which seem to almost explode.

Yap

A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?
Oscar Wilde

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All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
Dr. John Arbuthnot

Bon appetite Mr. Harper

Water

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War on the cheap is always a rotten policy.
William Rees-Mogg

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Ah, better be a poor fisherman than meddle with the government of men!
Georges Danton

Well, it is when you lose.

Radiation

 

     Finally, a useful comparison of radiation doses.  Watch out for those bananas.

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Barack Obama has now fired more cruise missiles than all other Nobel Peace prize winners combined
David Burge
via Twitter

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Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Lester B. Pearson

Pix

Oh. Oh.  Cold War nostalgia looms.  Nice plane though.  Its just a jet engine with stubby wings and a seat on top. 

Like many Russian weapons of the era, it was cheap, simple, reliable and very good.  Anyone who could mount the infrastructure to maintain the plane could afford one. 

Yap

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Oscar Wilde

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It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody
Richard Nixon

My Pix

    Everything under control at the Bank of England, 1993.
    Kodak High-Speed Infrared

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Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.
Richard M. Nixon

My Pix

    Burnside's bridge, Sharpsburg, Maryland, 1996

A deluge of US Civil War books will be upon us as the 150th anniversary passes.  Many will mention this bridge.  I'm not a fan of "what if" when it comes to war.  But many say that had Burnside not become so fixated on this bridge that he forgot about the battle, the Civil War might have ended in on this battlefield in September 1862.  Its a tempting idea, but supposes McClellan would have pressed a decisive victory. This was not in his character.

In any case, to play with such an idea misses the entire point of that war; we had entered an age where it was insufficient to defeat an army, you had to defeat the nation.  Its been the theme of almost every major war since.

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I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
Thomas Jefferson

Pahlay Ball!

    Wrigley Field, Labor Day, 1988

I watched my first baseball game of the season last night.  Boston beat The Yankees in Florida.  I love baseball like no other sport.  I love the balance of the game, the pace, the lack of a clock, the intensity of the individual contests between batter and pitcher.  Most of all, I like that there's no set duration. You play until at least 51 batters are out.  If that doesn't decide it, they just keep playing until someone wins.  No overtime rules or special tweaks to make it more exciting. 

I also love Baseball for the stadiums.  Wrigley Field (above) was a terrific experience, but my favorite is Dodger Stadium.  Nodding off to sleep on a Saturday night while watching a west coast game is my ultimate comfort food.

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"the trouble with quotes on the internet is that you never know if they are genuine" 
Abraham Lincoln