Good gravy

We should acknowledge the one positive thing that Mr. Chump's campaign has done; the American public has seen how the sausage is made.  The hard facts of party infighting, media manipulation, lies, damn lies, and statistics, are all in plain view, like it or not.

My breaking point came when I started learning about Rule 9 of the Republican National Committee.  Why am I doing this?  It serves no purpose except to stoke more idle speculation about the body politic, and it has become tiresome.  I'll still read what others have to say about this national trainweck, but Que sera, sera.  There are other worthy topics of discussion.

-----

In 1991, at the end of the Cold War, the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists stood at 17 minutes before midnight.  It is now 3 minutes before midnight, where it's been since last year.

There is a lot of sabre rattling going on; India/Pakistan, North Korea, and the Big Dog, Russia, with the most nukes on the planet.  It doesn't ease my mind that our Air Force has been test dropping mock nukes in the Nevada desert recently.  Routine exercise?  Maybe, but it should be a matter of concern.  There are too many crazy people in the ranks of international leadership.

-----

"...here I think of Old Dog and me and a young man of fifty at the latest seminar, all of us mateless, discussing relationships, but women really hate that crap."

In defense, I'd like to point out that we were talking about relationships and not the nuances of grabbing any pussy.  I think the subject was brought up by the youngster of the group, perhaps agonizing over the fact that he may end up like a couple of geezers of his acquaintance.

As for what kind of crap women hate these days, I haven't a clue.  It hasn't come up and I'm not about to start any fracas with the ladies in the venue.  Always trying to keep it friendly, folks.

-----

Another topic at the latest seminar was YouTube, when I asked Uncle Ken if he'd viewed the Keith Olbermann rants.  He was quite vehement in his rejection of YouTube, stating "I'd rather read a book."

I like to read books, too, but I was surprised at the intensity of his opinion.  There are some things that aren't in books, sometimes because the market is too small.  It takes a lot of dough to publish a book which may not be commercially viable.  A video, in some cases, can make it easier to acquire new knowledge.

For instance, a while back I was looking for a good recipe for biscuits and gravy.  There were plenty of written recipes, but it was the abundance of online videos that helped me understand what makes a good sausage gravy.  Watching the cook prepare the gravy, in real time, is the kind of thing you can't get in a book.

Another situation is when I built my first 3D printer, which was a kit from a Kickstarter project.  There were no written instructions, and the online documentation from the project creator was very weak.  But a series of amateur videos on YouTube got me up and running with no problems.  Damn thing worked the first time I fired it up.

Of course, there are a lot crap videos on YouTube, maybe upwards of 90%, but I don't watch those.  Besides, where else can you see Nicky Minaj shake that booty, on demand?