Follow the link if you want to see which cities are safest. mjh
Top 10 Safest & Most Dangerous Cities to Drive In
10 Most Unsafe Cities to Drive In
According to the new findings, the 10 most unsafe cities for driving in the U.S. are:
- Orlando, Fla.
- Memphis, Tenn.
- Glendale, Tenn.
- Miami, Fla.
- Las Vegas
- Birmingham, Ala.
- Sacramento, Calif.
- Tampa, Fla.
- San Antonio, Texas
- Jacksonville, Fla.
My right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness exceeds your fucking right to have the means to kill 100 people in minutes. mjh
E.J. Dionne: Rationalizing gutlessness on guns – The Washington Post
A study last year in the Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection & Critical Care analyzed gun death statistics for 2003 from the World Health Organization Mortality Database. It found that 80 percent of all firearms deaths in 23 industrialized countries occurred in the United States. For women, the figure rose to 86 percent; for children age 14 and under, to 87 percent. Can anyone seriously claim that our comparatively lax gun laws had nothing to do with these blood-drenched data?
E.J. Dionne: Rationalizing gutlessness on guns – The Washington Post
I have two immediate reactions upon returning to Albuquerque after two weeks camping in Colorado. First, Albuquerque is horribly noisy. That we all put up with the cacophony is a real shame. Humans are noisome and the more of us you have, the more noise (and trash and violence and destruction) you have. Still, we could put some of our creativity and oh-so limited intelligence into making the world quieter.
Second, after being immersed in green, I understand the reaction so many visitors have to the bleak and barren aspect of Albuquerque. Mind you, I will always love the expansive vista (and much more about home). It’s not just dry here — it’s exposed, naked, raw. I say this as someone who doesn’t find a deep woods comforting — I’d rather see the enemy coming from a distance, thank you. (Or hear them, in the case of all you fools with ATVs.) But steeping two weeks in innumerable shades of green from foot to a hundred feet overhead makes our tiny patch of green outside the kitchen door look like a smiley face sticker on the side of the Death Star.
See, home barely 12 hours and I’m stressing out. Did you miss me?
Maybe Erasmus wrote the play. They’re the original odd couple, I suppose. mjh
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/01.html?src=rss
mumpsimus \MUHMP-suh-muhs\ , noun:
1. Adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy.
2. A person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice."I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you made such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious as that of the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false reading, preferred, from habit’s sake, his old Mumpsimus…
— Sir Walter Scott, The TalismanMr. Burgess, who sticks (I fancy) to his old mumpsimus, thought that the other gentleman might have given the canoe a shove to get it clear of the lock…
— Ronald A. Knox, The Footsteps at the LockMumpsimus comes from a story (perhaps first told by Erasmus) about an illiterate priest who mispronounced a word while reciting the liturgy. The priest refused to change the word, even when he was corrected.
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/01.html?src=rss
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/02.html?src=rss
sumpsimus \SUHMP-suh-muhs\ , noun:
1. Adherence to or persistence in using a strictly correct term, holding to a precise practice, etc., as a rejection of an erroneous but more common form (opposed to mumpsimus).
2. A person who is obstinate or zealous about such strict correctness (opposed to mumpsimus).
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/02.html?src=rss
I wasn’t sure what to say when I heard about Andy Griffith’s death (first from Fred Reiner). Like my cohort, I grew up with Andy of Mayberry. I’m sure my family watched it religiously (an ironic word for my family). I don’t think one can really understand or appreciate those days merely by watching YouTube or reading Wikipedia. Simple, naïve, innocent, unsophisticated times. I much preferred Green Acres, the post-modern Mayberry.
I wonder if I’m the only person Mayberry made uncomfortable. What happened to Mrs Taylor? (Don’t refer me to IMDB or a Wiki page.) Why were so many families incomplete in those days between Father Knows Best and Father is a Bigot (All in the Family)? Did Andy and Helen ever sleep together? Was Otis ever sober? (I have a vague recollection he was once.) Did we ever see any black people? (Am I imagining migrant workers in an episode?)
I hated Barney Fife, the self-important bumbling fool suffered so gladly by Andy. I hated the very odd barber, Floyd — especially his voice. I hated Earnest T Stubbs, the belligerent hillbilly moonshiner. Above all, I loathed Gomer Pyle and shake my fist at the idea that he — of all people — earned a spin-off (a military one, at that). I just threw up a little. mjh
Laura’s Birding Blog: Andy Griffith
[L]earning of Andy Griffith’s death, a flood of memories came back to me about one particular program. Opie got a new slingshot and killed a bird—I think a robin—and it turned out that it was a female with hungry nestlings. Andy gave Opie a talking to, and Opie felt sad and guilty and tried to do something to save the baby birds. Beyond that, my memories are murky, but I do remember that it reinforced my belief that Andy Taylor was a perfect role model, and I remember sensing a great truth about how even small things we do can have horrible repercussions we hadn’t anticipated. And even the most well meaning, adorable little boy bears an obligation as a human being to repair damage caused by his actions. [mjh: Keep reading at the link.]
E.J. Dionne Jr.: The Founders’ true spirit – The Washington Post
Madison’s lovely words in Federalist No. 14. “Is it not the glory of the people of America,” Madison asked, “that, whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience?” …
We are a more philosophical people than we give ourselves credit for. Constitutional questions enter the political conversation in the United States more than in most countries because our diverse nation is bound by our founding principles, not by blood, race or ethnicity …
Those who claim we can be so certain of the “original” intentions of the Founders should take note: If two of the authors of the Constitution came to such a stark point of disagreement so quickly, what exactly does “originalism” mean?
Moreover, it is dangerous to turn the Founders into quasi-religious prophets who produced a text more like the Bible or the Talmud. It’s neither. …
E.J. Dionne Jr.: The Founders’ true spirit – The Washington Post
We’ll never see the smallest nor largest things. There are things we’ll never, ever know. Period. Which is not to say we shouldn’t try.
And for god’s sake stop dumbing it down as the “god-particle.”