Fireside tweets

Any questions?

None from me, as your responses to Uncle Ken's assertions were quite reasonable.  He does tend to go off at times and once his mind is made up he will not budge.  I've learned to live with it but I wish he would remember that Swedes and Finns weren't Vikings unless you count the odd settlement here and there.

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Yes, a hot dog is a sandwich, and a taco is a taco.

If you eat a hot dog without a bun are you still eating a hot dog?  The package says "hot dogs" but there aren't any buns included at all.  That article, with it's "cube theory" of food, was a unique (and humorous) take on the food we eat and shouldn't be taken so literally.  I thought the drawing covered all the topological aspects nicely except there was no mention of donuts or bagels.  And to argue about the usage of "starch" kind of misses the whole point of the article, in my opinion.

...and less is not more, it's less.

Again, a literal interpretation misses the point.  The "less is more" idea precedes Mies by quite a bit, particularly with the Japanese design aesthetic of elegant simplicity.  Some people can't get their minds around the usage of empty space, a space which can be it's own pleasing design element.  You either get it or you don't and further discussion will likely prove fruitless.

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I agree with Mr. Beagles that he is not obsessed with the caravan but is simply expressing a legitimate concern, but how about this?  The Russians have plans to deploy bombers in the Caribbean on an island controlled by Venezuela.  This is the kind of story that requires a bit more coverage in the mainstream media, I think, and certainly more newsworthy than the usual tripe we are being fed.

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What's the big deal with Beto O'Rourke except that he's young and photogenic?  He couldn't even beat Ted Cruz in an election and now he's in the running for president in 2020?  I can't figure it out but I guess the other main contenders, like Bernie and Biden or, god forbid, Hillary, will be too old to mount a winning campaign.  One way or another the Republican candidate won't be Trump or Pence because of all the legal issues and drama they bring with themselves; the Republicans are starting to wise up.  I wonder if John Kasich is biding his time and waiting to make a move; he might have a good chance unless the Democrats come up with someone we haven't considered yet.  That's one of the problems with our electoral system, the most qualified candidate may not be a winning candidate.

But it could be that we are making too much of the role of president, something that USA Today has recently written about.  The Founding Fathers would be appalled at the current political situation, and it goes back to FDR.  What a world we live in.