Sunday Roast: Cliff top

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Photo by Zooey

Okay, I got interested in doing something, and forgot about my Sunday post.  Here’s a picture of the southern Oregon coast.  🙂

This is our daily open thread — Talk among yourselves

108 thoughts on “Sunday Roast: Cliff top”

  1. Damn EV, I hope Webber can beat Rosberg and Hamilton to the first turn at Monaco. If he is to ever have a good start, he needs it today!

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    • And he did!

      Boy, you have to wonder about Schumacher’s RF suspension after the impact with Grosjean. Fronts usually don’t fare better than rears when they hit.

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    • Can’t understand how an article like that takes off on an Obama bash in the comments section.
      A lot of ignorance in this world.

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      • The racism and stupidity of the comments is staggering. First comment starts the Obama bashing and it never stop except when they bash the guy with the Middle Eastern name. They say the shoplifter is stereotypical not even noticing that they’re acting like stereotypical southerners. It’s embarrassing how many ignorant people aren’t ashamed to show how racist they are.

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  3. I’ve got pole position for the I-25 100 HofR, it’s 6:30 AM, and the rest of the pack is still asleep.
    Making a pit stop in San Marcial, I’ll give you an update then!
    🙂

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  6. Indy 500 today
    When I was a kid I really got into it.
    Nowadays…meh
    I can understand a Rolex 24. That’s how you make a car better
    F1 same thing. Incredible machinery.
    NASCAR?
    Seriously, only recently have they permitted fuel injection.
    No auto manufacturer has used a carbureter in at least 15 years.

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  7. Last Tuesday President Obama got off the helicopter in front of the White House – carrying a baby piglet under each arm.

    The squared-away Marine snapped to attention, saluted and said: “Nice pigs, sir”.

    “Then Obama replied: “These are not just pigs. These are authentic Arkansas Razorback Hogs. I got one for Speaker of the House Boehner, and I got one for ex-president Dubya Bush.”

    The squared-away Marine again snapped to attention, salutes and says, “EXCELLENT TRADE SIR.”
    http://instantrimshot.com/

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  10. On Meet the Press, Newt Gingrich just said Catholic schools are cheaper to run than public schools.

    Some of you former/current Catholics help me out here, please. How much do priests and nuns get paid for working in those schools?

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      • Frugal, I make less than bank and other corporate CEOs. I guess what I’m asking is do nuns and priests even get paid anything?

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            • Plus Catholic schools like all private schools only have to take the kids without learning disabilities or behavioral problems. That makes it very difficult to judge against public schools that have to take everybody. Some priest like CEOs end up very rich.

        • Thanks for the update, Raven. We smelled smoke from that fire here, yesterday morning. We were camped in the mtns. about 17 miles to the west and woke up to that heady aroma one gets sitting next to a smouldering campfire — learned later it was from New Mexico some 400 miles to the SW. Reminded of last summer when we got smoke here from the huge fire in AZ. It’s not the smoke that bothers, of course … it’s the knowledge of how much forest has disappeared to produce enough smoke to drift 400 miles and become so noticeable. I’m beginning to wonder if, in say another 20 years and nothing changes, there will be any forests at all remaining in the Southwest. Very sad concept, that one.

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      • Catholic schools are private and they do pay their teachers less money. Nuns have to share all the income. There are fewer nuns teaching and more low paid lay teachers working in Catholic schools.

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    • As usual, it’s a ridiculous argument for anything regarding public education. Catholic school staff includes priests and nuns who don’t have families of their own to support, and often have room and board paid for by their employer, who probably doesn’t have a mortgage to pay each month. It’s just a stupid, typical-Newt thing to say, because it’s an apples-and-oranges comparison that doesn’t apply. Did he point out the “radical” agenda the Catholic schools try to promote? I’m sure he didn’t.

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    • House, I think it may depend on the denomination. My nuns were of the Dominican order, and I believe that they take a vow of poverty. Way back in grammar school, the nuns only were allowed to wear habits, so it’s not like they needed to go clothes shopping. They got room and board, I assume paid for out of the collection baskets/tithes. Then again, since nuns were supposedly “married to God”, maybe god paid them somehow.

      Newt may be correct in that it’s cheaper for the state/federal gov’t to run Catholic Schools, because the Catholics themselves pay for most of the cost. OTOH, their tax-exempt status costs the rest of the community.

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      • I didn’t think the state/federal gov’t ran Catholic Schools. I thought they were private schools. I don’t have a problem if the Catholic schools are run as non-profits, thus tax-exempt, as long as they don’t discriminate on employment or admissions, as that would be under the same rules as public schools, which are also non-profit, but do pay the employees a bit more.

        The problem I have with privatizing schools is the same I have with any other government service, you go from trying to provide the most service for the least money, to providing the least service for the most money. At my job, we obtain a government contract by competitive bid, then attempt to fulfill the terms of the contract to the minimum of the requirements. That’s what private companies do when the government (the citizens) is the customer.

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        • I do remember that my parents paid extra (on top of their tithes) to send us to Catholic school. They absolutely refused to send us to public school, but I don’t believe that it had anything to do with which offered the better education.

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          • A Catholic school education does require paying tuition. We sent our children to Catholic school and paid tuition. It was the most affordable private school at the time. They did receive a good education so much so that when they transferred to public school at 7th grade, they were ahead of the other students. My grandson will be going to a Catholic school in September. He can opt out of religion class. The Catholic school provided the best option for my daughter and her husband.

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          • That’s really interesting. My parents absolutely refused to send us to Catholic school…but my mom was a school teacher, I wonder if that had something to do with it?

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    • There were 4 K-8 Catholic grade schools, a boy’s High school and a girl’s High school back in 72 when I graduated. Today there is a single co-ed high school and three grade schools, one is K-2, the 2nd is 3-6 and the last is 7-8..In that same time frame the public schools added a junior high and three grade schools. If they are so much cheaper to run why the disparity?

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      • In the town where Wayne and I grew up, the only school (that I know of) that offered kindergarten was public. That school closed down within the last few years, and the Catholic grammar school that I attended closed last year, I think. In the meantime, the public middle school and high school have expanded immensely, they’re just finishing some more new buildings. The closest Catholic high school that I attended was a few towns away, about a 15-20 minute bus ride.

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    • I don’t know how many of the teachers are either priests or nuns these days, especially since there are fewer of each every year. I have a B.I.L. that teaches in a Catholic school and he is definitely paid less than he would be in a public school. As Shayne notes, they can be picky about who they accept and are not required to make the sorts of accommodations that public schools are. Note to Rmoney: class sizes are very small.

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  11. Yesterday I watched several movies in my Wallace Beery collection. Beery was a prolific actor having appeared in 232 films from 1913 until 1949. One of his better known roles was the title character in 1946’s Bad Bascome, an outlaw who hides from his pursuers with a wagon train of Mormons headed for Utah. Among the many actors in the wagon train were three women of historical note today: Marjorie Main, Margaret O’Brien and Janet Jeppson.

    Marjorie Main appeared in 5 other movies with Wallace Beery including 1941’s Barnacle Bill but perhaps is better known as Ma in 10 Ma and Pa Kettle films.

    Nine year old Margaret O’Brien who appeared in her first film with James Cagney when she was 4. Margaret had also been presented with a special Oscar as 1944’s Best Child Actress.

    Janet Jeppson was a 19 year old extra from New York. Her parents were Mormons who had left Utah before she was born and did not have her baptized when she was 8. Janet received a B.A. from Stanford and an M.D. from NYU Medical School and became a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst as well as a writer of Science Fiction.

    It was at a symposium on Science Fiction where she met her future husband, Isaac Asimov. In her 2006 book, Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, and Writing, Janet wrote that while on location in the Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyoming, on August 14, 1945, Wallace Beery stepped out of his trailer to announce to cast and crew that the war (with Japan) was over.

    Now, you may ask, so? Well to me there is a 6 degrees of separation aspect to this since on that day in 1945 I was 1 year old. 🙂

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  13. Hoodathunk, Martina McBride is singing the National Anthem at Indy. She did it without music, and sang it straight up until the next to last line, then she put a little flourish on the ending. Not embarrassing at all.

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    • Yes, she did quite well.

      I was somewhat aggrieved, though, at the lone car commemorating the death of driver Dan Wheldon’s death circling the track during the playing of Taps. I know that Wheldon won Indy last year, but, to me, Taps being played on Memorial Day weekend should be reserved for commemorating soldiers who have been killed, not race car drivers.

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  15. pachy you music wiz, she sang Inuomini, in soldati from Cosi Fan Tutte first in all thee rounds Today in the semifinals the were down from 200 to 40. Today they had a different accompanist who made a mistake and so chances of getting in the finals is grim. Shit happens I guess.

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    • My college choir performed a Rossini piece that was accompanied by the Chairman of the Department of Music. The Chairman, an accomplished concert pianist, used music and a page turner during our performance. During an aria for the tenors the tenors stumbled in their singing, an obvious fuck up in the performance.

      The next day, at the beginning of a regular rehearsal, the choir director began reaming out the tenors. His tirade was interrupted when the Chairman came in the rehearsal room and apologized to the choir; it seems his page turner had turned two pages at once!

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      • Bwahahaha that’s excellent pachy. This was one of those mistakes, unfortunately that the can be done the piano player does it if the singer notes it that way so judges might not realize whose fault it was. Although the last two days the pianists got it right. Mistakes don’t make too much difference if it isn’t a competition because the audience usually doesn’t have a clue, like me.

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      • I responded to someone on TP this morning who said, in a reply to another commenter, that liberals were ruining our country, and now all three comments have been ‘disappeared.’ Don’t know why.

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        • The usual response by those fuckwits is, “”Because they are! I don’t like them, so there!”

          If “ruining” the country means that we’re cleaning up yet another repiggie mess, and pointing out their hatred, bigotry, misogyny, and stupidity — then I can deal with it. Okay, we’re “ruining” their ridiculous and insane idea of what this country ought to be. I’m glad about it, too.

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    • Okay, someone tried to answer on her behalf, I guess. Must be a fan of Pat Robertson.

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        • Glenn Beck and Pat Robertson were big on fueling the fear that the United States was going to give up its sovereignty to a union of the USA, Canada and Mexico. Their “evidence” consisted of claims that a “NAFTA Superhighway” was being built to run up through the middle of our country linking Canada and Mexico directly, and that the US was minting a coin called the Amero to be used as our currency, in much the same way Europe has the Euro. You haven;t heard of it much since Fox fired Glenn Beck. (And don’t let anyone tell you he wasn’t fired.)

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        • Mitt Romney’s hair is a unique blend of polyester fibers and vulture down attached to an aluminum foil helmet
          It’s formulated for long wear and weather resistance. It is impervious to idiotic statements too stupid for anyone to comprehend and, offers little or no traction in public appearances thereby remaining unaffected by awkward social situations.

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          • It’s also specially engineered to block any outside information.

            Wonder if he’s named his planet yet, the one he gets to rule in the afterlife.

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  20. Lagging behind on my Memorial Day Race, taking the whole day to do a mere 200 miles.
    Had to take time out for a nap, a hot spring, breakfast, (not necessarily in that order) more breakfast; and now the shade of a cottonwood on the banks of the Rio Grande.
    In a spot where once upon another time I saw a vermillion flycatcher, today there are just a few doves and a couple of Harley Davidsons.

    WHAT in the WORLD!!!???

    I have no idea.

    🙂

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    • …the shade of a cottonwood on the banks of the Rio Grande.

      Sounds relaxing (well except when the HD start up or passby).

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    • The birds have forgotten about me too, a hummingbird, a trio of goldfinches in their bright black and yellow twitterabout formal wear, and a bullocks oriole dropping the dropping it carried away from the nestlings.

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    • The river is low, everybody got their share for the hay and the chili.
      Languid now as it shrinks it’s way downstream through dry hills, the loudest sound is the carp slurping the grey-brown- green algae

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      • You (word) paint beautifully, Raven.

        I gather the water is being diverted by farmers. Is there lack of rainfall to assist in replenishing?

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        • thank you Ebb.
          Very little rainfall this spring, still awaiting the snowmelt from Colorado to make it downstream this far.
          Irrigation is the biggest drain, trying to grow hay enough to feed the cows up here in the parched mountains.
          A cold front has passed through, dropping temps and hopefully slowing the big fire. Also creating an inversion which is holding all the smoke down in the valley. Choke and sneeze.

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  21. In my little town today, I inquired as to the whereabouts of the local blacksmith, whose supposed to be doing a project for me; and found out something interesting about Mormonism.
    They are exempt from tipping in a restaurant.
    Some religious rule, kind of like Romney being excused by the Bishops for lying, saying that it’s for a Special Purpose, and that lying is allowed to achieve the goal.
    “Romney and his Special Purpose” has a sardonic ring to it, eh?

    Oh, and the blacksmith is recently converted to Mormonism, so his shop is now closed on Sunday (dumb move economically, especially on a holiday weekend) and the waitress at the gallery said he leaves a smirking “Have a nice day” as a tip.

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    • If I were the local restaurant workers, I would give the blacksmith lousy, or even non-existent, service, knowing he’s not going to leave a tip when he leaves. Tips are part of a restaurant staff’s compensation. I believe they can be paid less per hour than minimum wage because of that.

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      • They’re paid less than minimum, sometimes a lot less.

        Being a (very) small) town, the blacksmith is only one of several odd cranky old rancher types, with some very archaic notions about general civility towards women. Fertile minds for Mormonism.

        But, it’s the only business other than passers through, so we have to be nice…

        I had two of my sculptures sell, so it’s worth it to put up with the provincials.

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  22. Lordy, I hate getting things organized to move. Next, I get to fit the things I want to take with me into the car. It’s like one of those complicated puzzles I let other people work out.

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    • How adorable. 🙂

      I’m glad humans don’t carry pregnancies like that. People always feel free to put their hands on your belly, can you imagine what it would be like if there were an opening? Yikes.

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  24. Joe Klein has a must-read. Money quote:

    “It seems to me that Obama’s immediate point is wrong: Romney wasn’t primarily about job destruction and corporate plundering. His larger point–that Romney was not so much about job-creation as he was about profit-creation–is correct, though. But the largest point of all is this: private equity capitalism was all about short-term profits–maximizing shareholder value–rather than long-term growth. It ushered in an era of massive executive compensation and bonuses. It prospered because of tax rules that made debt more profitable than equity, and a “carried interest” tax dodge that enabled Mitt Romney to pay a lower percentage in taxes than your average construction worker. It can be a useful tool in restructuring companies and steering them toward profitability, but it is not the sort of model you’d want to apply to the entire American economy.

    A President has to be about long-term growth, not short-term profits–and to the extent that Barack Obama is using the Bain ads to make this larger argument, he is not “stumbling” or attacking “free enterprise,” but he is steering the conversation toward the most important topic this year: what sort of economy do we want to have and how do we get there?”

    — The point is that a president cannot just maximize profts for shareholders. Being a CEO is not the same as being a president.

    Obama Stumbles? Why the President’s Right to Talk About Bain

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    • This sounds intriguing Ebb, but the Yahoo link won’t let me access for some reason.

      Let me guess:
      “No matter where you go, there you are.”
      Bilbo Baggins

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      • Apologies!
        the GPS states:

        “Follow your bliss.”
        “The obstacle is the path.”
        “If you aim for it, you are turning away from it.”

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  27. Happy Memorial Day everyone!

    Someone came and got all the horses yesterday, so it looks like I’ll have to go find a jackrabbit or something similar for the barbeque.

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