Driftwood horses...

Driftwood horses...  Beautiful sculptures by James Doran-Webb. 

My brother Scott makes driftwood sculptures, too...

Memories...

Memories...  My dad and I once stood in a grove of giant sequoias, looking up at a scene much like this.  My camera didn't have a wide enough lens to capture it, to my regret.  This photographer did it beautifully...

Not adding up...

Not adding up...  ObamaCare's primary purpose was to reduce the number of Americans who had no healthcare insurance.  In that goal it has completely failed.  Just one of the indications of failure is this simple fact: far fewer uninsured people signed up for ObamaCare than were expected to.  Megan McArdle digs into the reasons why, concluding with this:

That leaves us with two possibilities: First, would-be applicants may simply be waiting until March. They’ve gone without insurance a long time; why not wait a few more months and save on premiums?

The second possibility is more troubling: There may be something seriously wrong with our understanding of who the uninsured are, and what they are willing and able to buy in the way of insurance. I don’t know exactly what the fault may be in our understanding. But if the numbers stay this low, I’d say we need to reassess the state of our knowledge about the uninsured -- and the vast program we created to cover them.

The comments, as ever on her site, are quite interesting, and occasionally entertaining...

A Russian photographic talent...

A Russian photographic talent...  I was entranced by the simple beauty of these photographs (just one example at right).  The photographer is Elena Shumilova, who first took up photography in 2012 to document the lives of her two children as they grew up on their family farm in Russia, in a small town near Moscow.  Her Flickr collection is here, and more information here...

Worried dog parents...

Worried dog parents...  Yesterday Debbie noticed a growth on the inside of Lea's mouth (Lea is our oldest field spaniel, over 16 years old now).  This morning we took her down to see the vet, and the verdict is that (a) it must come off, pronto, and (b) it is likely some form of a cancer.  She'll be operated on today, and then we await the biopsy results.

I really hate this waiting part...

Twits on Tweeter...

Twits on Tweeter...  Or something like that.  On the advice of a friend, I'm going to start posting some of the very short topics on Twitter instead of on my blog.  It will be an interesting experiment at the least, and who knows – maybe it will actually be useful!  My Twitter handle is @SlightlyLoony1...

In the womb...

In the womb...  A dolphin, and more at the link...

Take a ride in the back seat of an RAF Typhoon...

Take a ride in the back seat of an RAF Typhoon...  You'll definitely want to go full screen for this one!

Through fire and water...

Through fire and water...  The Prime Minister of Canada (Stephen Harper) isn't well known to most Americans, which is a shame – because he would be a great role model for many of our politicians.  Here's the conclusion of the speech he gave to the Israeli Knesset yesterday:

Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude with this thought. I believe the story of Israel is a great example to the world. It is a story, essentially, of a people whose response to suffering has been to move beyond resentment and build a most extraordinary society. A vibrant democracy, a freedom-loving country with an independent and rights-affirming judiciary. An innovative, world-leading "start-up" nation.

You have taken the collective memory of death and persecution to build an optimistic, forward-looking society, one that so values life you will sometimes release a thousand criminals and terrorists to save one of your own.

In the democratic family of nations, Israel represents values which our government takes as articles of faith and principles to drive our national life.
And therefore through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.

Do read the whole thing – it's an excellent speech, full of truths that That One doesn't seem to understand...

No lobsters?

No lobsters?  That settles it: I'm not moving to Cuba.  Well, Cuba wasn't on my list of possible destinations anyway...

Michael Totten (one of my favorite independent journalists) visited Cuba, and is writing articles based on his travels there.  Here's an excerpt from his latest post:

Castro’s checkpoints are there to ensure nobody has too much or the wrong kind of food.

Police officers pull over cars and search the trunk for meat, lobsters, and shrimp. They also search passenger bags on city busses in Havana. Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez wrote about it sarcastically in her book, Havana Real. “Buses are stopped in the middle of the street and bags inspected to see if we are carrying some cheese, a lobster, or some dangerous shrimp hidden among our personal belongings.”

If they find a side of beef in the trunk, so I’m told, you’ll go to prison for five years if you tell the police where you got it and ten years if you don’t.

No one is allowed to have lobsters in Cuba. You can’t buy them in stores, and they sure as hell aren’t available on anyone’s ration card. They’re strictly reserved for tourist restaurants owned by the state. Kids will sometimes pull them out of the ocean and sell them on the black market, but I was warned in no uncertain terms not to buy one. I stayed in hotels and couldn’t cook my own food anyway. And what was I supposed to do, stash a live lobster in my backpack?

What happens to JamulBlog...

What happens to JamulBlog ... when we escape from California?  Several people have asked me about this – JamulBlog is, after all, named for the place where we live. 

The answer is that I will stop posting to JamulBlog, but will keep it in place.  My new posts will go on a new blog that I am currently constructing.  I'm moving to a new blogging host (Ghost) – much more flexible than my old host (Blogger).  It will take me a while, at least a few weeks, to get that new blog configured – and for me to learn how to use it.  The new blog's name will not be specific to where we live, so I'll likely be switching over to it before we actually leave California...

Ramblings of a retired mind...

Ramblings of a retired mind...  Via my lovely bride:

I was thinking about how a status symbol of today is those cell phones that everyone has clipped onto their belt or purse. I can't afford one. So, I'm wearing my garage door opener.

I also made a cover for my hearing aid and now I have what they Call blue teeth, I think.

You know, I spent a fortune on deodorant before I realized that people didn't like me anyway.

I thought about making a fitness movie for folks my age, and call it 'Pumping Rust'.

I've gotten that dreaded furniture disease. That's when your chest is falling into your drawers!

When people see a cat's litter box, they always say, 'Oh, have you got a cat?' Just once I want to say, 'No, it's for company!'

Employment application blanks always ask who is to be notified in case of an emergency. I think you should write, 'A Good Doctor'!

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older. Then, it dawned on me. They were cramming for their finals.

A penny saved is a government oversight.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are XL.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble..

Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words 'The' and 'IRS' together it spells 'Theirs...'

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of Algebra.

One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young. Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

What the fashionable young men will be wearing...

What the fashionable young men will be wearing...  At least, according to London's Fashion Week.

Judging from some of the comments there, many folks are surprised to see this.  I see it as a natural, predictable result of the feminization of Western society. 

Ugh.  Now wait for a moment while I go take a shower and take an emergency dose of Cabernet...

What kind of food has all this junk in it?

What kind of food has all this junk in it?

An egg, that's what.  A plain old ordinary egg.  Lots more on his blog.

Reminds me of the dihydrogen monoxide scares (see here for much more)...

That One speaks...

That One speaks...

(2014-01-20) — In a holiday ceremony to commemorate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President Obama spoke of the “fairly significant role” Dr. King played in the run up to his own historic presidency, but humbly downplayed potential talk of an Obama national holiday.

Sounds ... completely plausible, doesn't it?  But it's ScrappleFace...

Rosetta is awake!

Rosetta is awake!  After almost three years of hibernation, the Rosetta spacecraft today woke itself up and reported back to Earth.  The mission's controllers (photo at right) were rather happy about that :)

It will likely be a few days before the controllers have determined Rosetta's state of health, but ... an awful lot of things had to work correctly simply to get the signal they got, right on time, this morning.  There's every reason to be optimistic about the spacecraft's status...

Class warfare in San Francisco?

Class warfare in San Francisco?  The Googlers and their ilk are raising the cost of living in San Francisco, and the natives don't like it very much...

An open source, free hike information site...

An open source, free hike information site...  This has promise, but it needs a lot more content to be very useful...

Amazon gets even more awesome...

Amazon gets even more awesome...  Now they're talking about starting the process of delivering a package before you order it!  They've filed for a patent on the idea of using your past orders – or even your searches – to predict that you're going to buy something, and then they preemptively ship to your area so that delivery would be faster than you expect.

We've already noticed some things getting delivered far faster than we'd think possible, and some of those things are repeat orders for us.  Most recently I noticed this with my tea order.  I've been buying the same tea now for several years; a kilogram about every 10 weeks.  The last time I ordered it was just a couple of weeks ago, and the tea arrived the day after I ordered it – and considering that we live out in the San Diego mountains, that's pretty amazing...

A Texan speaks out...

A Texan speaks out...  Click to embiggen...