Sleepless in Midland

Kid killed by automatic gunfire at Massachusetts gun fair 10/26/08

According to the reports, an eight year old kid was trying to fire an automatic weapon, but he lost control of it with one bullet striking and killing him. A fully automatic weapon generates a lot of recoil energy and requires a strong grip.  This accident could have been avoided if an adult had been holding onto him, but it's certainly tragic and teaches us that children need supervision when doing something like this.

One unfortunate consequence of these tragedies is that lawmakers scramble to make new laws which they think will prevent these occurrences. Never mind that this accident was fluke. It's entirely possible that an accident exactly like this one has never happened before.

The most remarkable statement about it was found in Criminal Charges Possible in Boy's Gun Show Uzi Death in which the Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett is reported to have said the following:

"At this point in the investigation I have found no lawful authority which allows an 8-year-old to possess or fire a machine gun," Bennett said in a statement.

Surely the District Attorney knows that a law can prohibit certain activities, but if the law is silent then those activities are legal.

There's a constant threat of new regulations on gun shows. So let's make an important distinction. The accident in Massachusetts appeared to have occurred at a facility which offers customers the opportunity to fire fully automatic weapons. That's not a gun show. Here's one example of the confusion. Freakonomics has posted an article titled Are Gun Shows Dangerous?.  In spite of that obvious error, the article does helpfully point to an interesting study titled The Effect of Gun Shows on Gun-Related Deaths: Evidence From California and Texas PDF which according to the abstract, maintains that:

We find no evidence that gun shows lead to substantial increases in either gun homicides or suicides. In addition, tighter regulation of gun shows does not appear to reduce the number of firearms-related deaths.

Lesson learned:  hold onto a child who is shooting a fully automatic weapon.  Here's a video titled Teaching little kids to shoot a sub machine gun showing an adult strictly supervising a youngster learning how to handle an automatic weapon.

Something good to eat

Our blogging pal J.P. -- click for bio -- is the suburb photographer at Bleu Chocolate. He's also a chef, and he's embarking on a new venture, a mobile eatery called the Big Red Lunchbox. Click the link for locations.

Let's see now. What to order. He's got sammiches, double bolt lightn' burgers, tex mex, and, well, go look at the PDF menu and see for yourself.

Mmmmm, sammiches! I can't wait.

Wondering what Obama's America would look like? See Canada.

Our neighbors to the north have had a difficult time with this freedom-of-speech-thing. See B.C. Human Rights Tribunal may never live down embarrassing Steyn fiasco about the attempt by the a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to prosecute Mark Steyn and Maclean's magazine for publishing opinions that the Canadian Islamic Congress didn't like. Steyn and Maclean's came out on top. But there are other less well know people caught up in that effort to shut people up.

Guy Earle, for example, was a comedian trying to MC a show but who got seriously distracted by some hecklers. The hecklers were gay females, and he made some insulting remarks to them in regard to their sexual orientation. Insulting? Yes, but illegal? Anyway, he got hauled into the Human Rights Commission because of it. I heard about it on an interview on a Shire Network News podcast. And you can read the story in his own words at A Bitter Joke.

So what do these assaults against free speech have to do with us? Last month we learned that Barack Obama was attempting to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics, and it prompted the Governor of Missouri to respond with this scathing news release. Excerpt:

. . . The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election. . . .

Hopefully Mr. Obama's efforts to shut people up won't get very far. But a lot of his supporters are trying. Take, for example, the steady drumbeat about the "fairness doctrine" which has been hanging like a sword over talk radio's head for some time now. See The Coming Obama Thugocracy for other examples.

We see examples daily of how the main stream media have buried negative news items about Mr. Obama. Today's story involves the LA Times refusal to release the tape of Obama praising a PLO spokesman.

This democracy needs opposing voices. Obama tells his supporters "I want you to argue with them and get in their face." And those of us who don't buy into the Obama magic need to do the same with them.

Obama ready for prime time tv? Yeah, if it's a paid Obamercial.

Take a look at the tv schedule for 10/29/08. It's a tv show titled "Barack Obama." Could this finally be the long awaited msm expose based on some real research into his character, his shady friends, his crazy preacher?

Oh wait. Never mind. It's a prime time Obamercial shown simultaneously on three broadcast networks.

So now we know where all that money is going. You know, once it's spent, it won't be available to be paid back should some future investigation reveal there were illegal campaign contributions.

Hey, "Pushing Daisies" is on tonight! That's what I'll be watching.

How firm is Mr. Obama's stand against slavery reparations? Does it matter?

Barack Obama reportedly rejected the prospect of slavery reparations a while back. Here's a link to the AP article, excerpt:

In a 2004 questionnaire, he told the NAACP, "I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say, 'We've paid our debt,' and to avoid the much harder work."

And that was the end of the story as far as it was reported in the news. There was so much noise on the subject leading up to that point that the silence since then has been deafening.

Mr. Obama has let it be known that he thinks the redistribution of wealth is a desirable goal, and slavery reparations would fit so very neatly into that philosophy. Reparation proponents surely haven't given up. So the question to ponder is whether, if elected president, he will succumb to their pleas for the benefit of a particular group or stick with his plan to equalize wealth through taxes and government programs.

Does it matter? For taxpayers, yes it does. Mr. Obama said himself -- see the quote above -- that payment of reparations might be considered by some as the payment in full of any perceived debt. Can't have that. An impossible-to-kill government spending program that takes from the productive and gives to the unproductive could last indefinitely. So not only we, but our children and our children's children, assuming that they are even motivated to work, will get to help alleviate this alleged debt incurred by their ancestors over a century ago.

"Now it's payback time." See Reparations By Another Name for list of some of programs Mr. Obama plans for a bailout of inner cities plus an excellent essay in the Investor's Business Daily editorial in the series The Audacity Of Socialism.

Addendum. Previously on these pages: Slavery Reparations on 1/30/04 and Skeletons in the closet, slave traders in the family tree on 6/23/08 about the POV tv show "Traces of the Trade."

Yard display -- Halloween or Political? You be the judge.

Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Note the peace sign.

Answer:  It's a political display.  Photo taken with permission from a very creative Obama supporter.

Snopes.com, revisited

Way back in December of 2003 there was a post on these pages -- click to see it -- about Snopes.com, and its proprietors, Barbara and David Mikkelson. Lately there have been a lot of people visiting that post via search engines. This happens to all bloggers, and most times we never find out why the sudden interest.

Well, this time I know why. There's an email rumor circulating which is highly critical of snopes.com and accusing the proprietors of pro-Obama, anti-McCain bias. I received what I think is that email, and here are some highlights:

"Very Interesting.
Subj: SNOPES a hoax? ...

"I have suspected some problems with Snopes for some time now, but I have only caught them in half-truths. If there is any subjectivity they do an immediate full left rudder.

"Truth or fiction.com truthorfiction.com is the better source for verification, in my opinion.

"I have recently discovered that Snopes.com is owned by a flaming liberal and this man is in the tank for Obama. There are many things they have listed on their site as a hoax and yet you can go to Youtube yourself and find the video of Obama actually saying these things. So you see, you cannot and should not trust Snopes.com....ever for anything that remotely resembles truth! I don't even trust them to tell me if email chains are hoaxes anymore. ..."

So when a person receives such an email what does one do with it? Do some fact checking before forwarding. Take a look at the website the email claims is a better source, truthorfiction.com, and lo and behold, right there near the top of the list is a link to an article debunking that very email. Excerpt:

Snopes.com is a secret tool of the Democratic Party to promote Barack Obama- Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor:
An eRumor about Snopes.com accusing them being owned by a flaming liberal and this man is in the tank for Obama.

/snip/

The bottom line is that if you try to report the truth, there will be those who don't like the truth you've reported and who will develop suspicions about why you did.

That, in our view, is what is happening with Snopes.

The 2008 presidential campaign has been one of the most intense and unique in our nation's history and has prompted more political eRumors than any presidential campaign in our experience, especially about Barack Obama.

These anti-Snopes emails have probably been prompted by someone who does not like Barack Obama and does not like the fact that Snopes (or TruthOrFiction.com for that matter) has debunked some of the emails that are not true about him.

One of the versions of the eRumor mentions TruthOrFiction.com and recommends our site. We appreciate that, but we want to say for the record that we've had nothing to do with this eRumor about Snopes.com and we condemn it. updated 10/21/08

Ouch.  What we need now is someone who can fact check the fact checkers.

New York Times, junk status. We knew it already.

We knew the New York Times was junk when it came to political reporting. And now along comes S&P to put that label on its bonds. Via Forbes. Excerpt:

Late Thursday, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it has lowered the company's corporate credit rating to junk bond status, citing weak prospects for advertising revenue.

(Emphasis mine.)

Barack Obama -- "You know" "You owe"

If you see enough clips of Barack Obama speaking without a prepared script you'll hear this verbal tic he has. Many of us will inject the phrase "you know" into our speech as we talk. I'm not sure why we do it, but it could be because we can talk faster then we can compose, and "you know" serves as a space filler while we think of the right words. I do know that it's a hard habit to break.

Barack Obama does it with a twist. He drops some of the letters, so it comes out "You owe." If you haven't heard it yet, listen to him, and you will. It could be that he's trying to quit the "you know" habit, but he's only part way there. Or maybe he's subconsciously telegraphing what he thinks and where we fit in his view of the entitlement environment. "You owe." He's certainly given us plenty of forewarning about tax hikes and sharing the wealth, so maybe this is part of that early warning system. If you already pay taxes, you'll owe more. You know?

I watched "Sons of Anarchy" so you don't have to

A middle aged gun running Southern California biker gang? Yup, that's story. They so thoroughly dominate the small town of Charming that we must presume that they've blocked cable access. Otherwise they would have learned from the History Channel that border state outlaw gangs making the most money deal drugs, not guns.

What brought this show to my attention was the news that FX has signed it up for a 2nd season. For shows about middle aged bad boys the AMC show "Breaking Bad" actually deserved another season, but it just slipped away. That was the show about a hen pecked high school teacher with cancer who became a meth cook, drug king pin and murderer. Now that was a mid life crisis.

The "Sons of Anarchy" gang boss is played by Ron Perlman, and he's convincing enough. Katey Sagal does a pretty good job playing his old lady. She's got some great lines and gets to drive a beautiful product placement. The story line is supposed to be a modern day "Hamlet," according to one reviewer. So the goal has been set high, and maybe that accounts for this Shakespearian exchange between Katey Sagal's character and a 20 something bimbo who wants to make whoopee with Ron Perlman's character, to wit:

Katey Sagal: "You so much as flash a pretty grin at him? I will jam my fist so far up your bony a** your cup size will double."

Bimbo: "Is that how your rack got to be that size?"

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, watch you backs.

Dave Letterman was funny once

Dave Letterman has had a late night tv show in some form for as long as I can remember. And I was once a big fan. For the longest time I taped his nightly show and watched it the next evening, but with a single vcr tape dedicated to that archive the new shows began to get recorded over unwatched shows.

The tipping point for me was the little joke routine they did with the great presidential speeches. There would be short clips of speeches from Kennedy, Eisenhower, Johnson, et al. Then they would show a clip with President Bush fumbling his words. Yuk yuk. Once it might be funny -- we know GWB is not glib. The second time maybe it's worth a smile. But over and over and over, and it soon became a tedious validation of Johnny Carson's rule of "one too many. " Dave Letterman does not like George Bush.  We get it.

They've fawned over Hillary since she ran for the Senate, and I suspect they are fawning over Obama now. But they were bashing McCain long before McCain so famously stood up the Letterman show on 9/24/08. "John McCain is so old ... he's like the elderly relative who sends you a blank email."

So it was so refreshing to see Pulitzer Prize winner Dorothy Rabinowitz give Letterman a lashing. See The Other Letterman Show. Excerpt:

In the course of his complaints, Mr. Letterman lurched from fury to fervent wonder at John McCain's wartime heroism, to jibes that somebody had been putting something in the candidate's Metamucil -- a joke consistent with the Letterman show's now standard brand of comedy. It was impossible, needless to say, to mistake any of this for joking -- nothing in Mr. Letterman's tireless emissions on the subject spoke for anything but his rage.

and

When this election year is over we'll have chance to look back, too, on those kings of comedy who best reflected the current standards of wit, invention and don't forget -- class. We'll be thinking of you, Dave.

I don't think Johnny Carson would have done it like that, Dave.

Addendum: Just so you know I don't hate everything I see on tv, there are some good shows on. For late show viewing Craig Ferguson is a dynamo. He's a newly made American citizen, and hopefully he is still avoiding politics. He's funny in both words and gestures, plus he's got a cool accent. Check him out. And for my daily taping I grab the Bernie Mac reruns on the FX in the AM. It's quite entertaining. See previously.

Happy Birthday Typepad

The blogging service Typepad is celebrating its 5th birthday this year. As one of the early users I can say they have served me quite well over the years. Oh, there have been some problems here and there, but they've been quick to find solutions, and people answering the "help" questions have indeed been helpful.

There's still one little problem, though. They used to have a "search" button which allowed subscribers to search for keywords in prior posts. Well, it's gone. I may be one of the few who noticed, but with over a thousand posts at Sleepless in Midland there's often a need to link to or update an old post. The last time I asked about it they replied that they are working on it, so I still have hope.

That's my quibble. How about some good news. Go to their celebration page to see some success stories, including how a couple met through their blogs and got engaged.

Happy birthday, Typepad! (And please don't sell out to Microsoft or Google.)

Updated:  They brought back "search!"  Thanks, Typepad!  You guys/gals are terrific!

Sarah Palin, into the SNL lions' den

Gotta admire that woman, Sarah Palin. By accepting Mr. McCain's invitation to run for VP she stepped onto the lopsided playing field where national media play their ruthless games of smear and gotcha for anyone who challenges "The One." But dog gone it, Ms. Palin is coming out all right in spite of their best efforts.

In recent weeks others have gushed about how Tina Fey did such a great impersonation of Ms. Palin. And she did seem to have the look and accent down. But it was a mocking humor -- Fey's Palin character came across as a retard. People have been packing the stadiums to see and hear the real Ms. Palin, and when SNL tries to make Ms. Palin look retarded they are insulting a lot of people.

So Ms. Palin appeared on Saturday Night Live last night. And a lot of her fans tuned in to watch. SNL was estimated to have scored its highest ratings for the late-night show in 14 years. That's gotta be a tough on Lorne Michaels and the SNL crew -- they desperately want Obama to win, but if he wins, an adoring SNL crew plus a humorless President Obama equals a shriveled paycheck.

Then we have Tina Fey and her recent remarks about how she doesn't want to do the Sarah Palin impersonations. See If Sarah Palin wins, Tina Fey is 'leaving Earth!'. Well, Ms. Fey, exercise your own free will. If you detest the impersonations so much, don't do them. You don't have to leave the earth, just say "No."

Updated: See Lorne Michaels: How 'SNL' Got Sarah Palin for an informative interview with SNL creater and producer Lorne Michaels, including the following:

What do you think Palin gained from her appearance?
I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful. Her politics aren't my politics. But you can see that she's a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman. This was her first time out and she's had a huge impact. People connect to her.

She's a ratings magnet, too — do you think she can land a development deal if this VP thing doesn't work out?
She could pretty much do better than development. I think she could have her own show, yeah.

Why was her impending appearance kept so under wraps?
From the experience on the first show of last season. Hillary's people had called to book the first show. This was in '07. We said okay, because they called first. Then she bailed. Obama had called just after, and I had to say, no, they called first. Everybody wanted to release it, and I said, no, too many things can happen in a campaign. Then Obama was set for the first show this past season, and it got leaked by the campaign to people.com, and we said, really? Because we don't do that. Then the hurricane happened, and we looked foolish. There were a lot of press calls, and it didn't happen. From that moment on I said I'm not doing anything until they're in the building.

Sunday Diversions 10/19/08

1. Plumber named Joe: Does business in Amarillo. Here's his website: JoeThePlumber.com. Got about 1000 calls on Wednesday after the Presidential debates. "The resulting deluge clogged Francis' phone line, e-mail and Web site." See news item at Amarillo.com

2. Healthy Beer: The best of all worlds brought to us by the benevolent geniuses at Rice University: Better beer: college team creating anticancer brew. Via Linkfilter.

3. Eyeball it: Test your ability to eyeball things, the midpoint of a line, bisect a triangle, the center of a circle, etc., at Eyeballing game. Via Neatorama

Nomination for scariest Halloween costume '08

You're sitting at home on Halloween night balancing your check book. There's a knock at the door. You're nervous, you're scared, but you answer it anyway.

"Trick or treat!"

It's the Barack Obama Halloween mask.

"What's in YOUR wallet?"

Our central planing commission at work, 401k department

In school many of us learned that the main difference between capitalism and communism was that a capitalist economy was based on individual rights and a free market while a communist economy was controlled by a central planing committee backed up by law.

In recent weeks we've seen some rather drastic stock market action, and most of us who are stock market investors have seen our account values shrink. That's the downside of a free market system, but that isn't a reason to turn it over to the government.

As we look ahead with dread to the possibility of a House, Senate and White House controlled by Democrats, let's see what their central economic planning committee has in the works for the 401k. See Retirement Accounts Have Lost $2 Trillion So Far, excerpt:

Some experts argue that the hefty tax subsidies that Congress has put in place in recent decades for 401(k) and other worker-contribution accounts have made people's retirement income less secure by shifting risks, decisions and costs from employers to people who often know little about investing.

"They are fatally flawed," Teresa Ghilarducci, an economist at the New School for Social Research, said of the tax-advantaged plans. "They're too risky, and it's not good policy to have workers run their own retirement plan. They want government help."

Did you get those last two sentences? The only time they can tell us this with a straight face is during a market downturn: We're too dumb to handle our own money, and we want the government to do it for us. But of course.

Aside: I believe AP uses the word "subsidy" to mean the amount of income taxes that would have been collected by the government had the income not qualified for the 401k exemption. Put another way and expanding it just a bit, a worker gets a gross income, and the government collects a tax from it. Subtract the tax from the income and the remainder, i.e., the worker's take home pay, is a "subsidy."

So just how would the government help us? Ms. Ghilarducci, is getting the attention of some Democrats. See House Democrats contemplate abolishing 401(k) tax breaks. Excerpt:

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, are looking at redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute. ...

Under Ms. Ghilarducci's plan, all workers would receive a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U.S. government but would be required to invest 5% of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration. The money in turn would be invested in special government bonds that would pay 3% a year, adjusted for inflation.

The current system of providing tax breaks on 401(k) contributions and earnings would be eliminated.

"I want to stop the federal subsidy of 401(k)s," Ms. Ghilarducci said in an interview. "401(k)s can continue to exist, but they won't have the benefit of the subsidy of the tax break."

Under that plan workers pay an additional 5% into Social Security, and that money would be given to the government to be spent as our Legislators and Senators see fit but with a promise to pay it back someday with 3% inflation adjusted interest.

Tax, spend, pay back with interest. Now there's a plan. Asking us to trust the government in light of the terrible job it's done with our money is really asking a lot.

"We're from the government, and we're here to help. Oh, and also to spread the wealth."

Everybody wants in on the action

Okay bloggers, scoot over. There's a new website coming to town: livemidlandtexas.com. Not sure what it's all about, but it's supposed to debut in a few hours. From CBS7:

The site will feature a live web cam, a blog about life in Midland, and also give a place for potential businesses to see a possible future in the tall city.

Laura Roman of Midland Development Corp., said, "We hope that this sight will help spur re-development. It is a place where people can give input and any information on the life of downtown."

My only advice to them would be to stake a claim to the domain name midlandtexaslive.com, too, so some scoundrel doesn't grab it and try to piggyback on all of the fame that's surely headed their way.

Here's an example of what could happen. Mywesttexas.com is the local newspaper's popular website. But someone uses a slight variation of that -- Mywestexas.com -- to capture the attention of spelling bee dropouts who might need an accountant. Nothing illegal about that, but it must be awfully annoying to the newspaper.

P.S. Here's the old Midland downtown webcam.

Okay investors, time to cool down

Sure, it's hard to keep one's cool when everyone else is panicking. But selling into a sell off is simply a game of musical chairs with the seller hoping he/she can get out before the market reaches bottom. But think about that. Are these panicky sellers going to be smart enough to figure out when to start buying again?

Look at all of the money that has been taken out of the market in the last few days. All of those sellers are now sitting on piles of cash, and they've got to do something with it besides hide it under the mattress. Interest rates are low and not likely to go up any time soon, so most of those sellers will eventually reinvest in the market.

By the way, it's hard to escape the correlation between the market decline and the conviction that Mr. Obama is Mr. inevitable. Let's take a look back in time. Remember that big bull market that started shortly after the Republicans took over the House and Senate in 1994? There was a realization that with neither party controlling both houses AND the White House the outlook for government messing with business was sharply reduced. And a bull market ensued.

At least one contributing factor for the present market decline is that investors are scared to death of the thought of Barack Obama with all his anti-business baggage in the White House. Add Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to that package and we have a very formidable threat to the economy.

Well, maybe the future doesn't look that bright after all, but I'm not about make a mid entry flip flop. I'm holding onto stocks and holding out for a McCain/Palin victory. And if your retirement funds are invested in the stock market in any form or fashion either directly, in a 401k plan or a pension program, then this is as good a reason to vote for McCain/Palin as anything the most highly paid political consultant could ever come up with.

Maybe he just wanted to do work Kenyans won't do

Kenya deports US author of anti-Obama book. Excerpt:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The American author of a controversial book accusing Barack Obama of seething with "black rage" and of being unfit for the U.S. presidency was kicked out of Kenya on Tuesday.

The deportation of Jerome Corsi came just hours before he was to launch his book in a country where the U.S. Democratic candidate for president is wildly popular.

Corsi, who wrote "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," was detained at immigration headquarters in Nairobi for not having a work permit before being ordered to leave Kenya, said Joseph Mumira, head of criminal investigations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Or maybe he just wanted to drop in on George.

Pickard v. USAA

Remember the trial of State v. Pickard, the arson case of a few months back? Robert Pickard was charged with arson after his house was severely damaged by fire, and the jury found him not guilty. The case was followed closely on these pages, and you can see the daily summaries here.

Mr. Pickard filed a claim for the fire damages with his insurance carrier, USAA.  But they denied the claim, and he sued.  A trial date had been set in November, however the case was dismissed on 9/24/08. I emailed Mr. Pickard's attorney, Hal Brockett, asking whether there was a settlement, and if so, how much. And here's the reply I received:

Dear Mr. Johns

The Pickard v. USAA insurance case was settled at mediation on August 7, 2008. It took a little while to get the paperwork done but the civil case was dismissed on September 24, 2008. The civil case has now been concluded.

I cannot disclose the amount of the settlement because it is subject to a confidentiality agreement between the parties.

Thank you,

Hal Brockett

Block those annoying Flash ads -- a Firefox addon

There's a scene in a "Futurama" episode in which the characters' virtual selves fly around surfing the world wide web of the year 3000. But to enjoy themselves they first have to escape advertisements, just like today.

We've all experienced those Flash ads on some websites with their distracting movements and annoying images flashing on and off. Well, here's a great add-on for the Firefox browser called Flashblock. It's supposed to speed up surfing, but the real delight is that it keeps those annoying Flash ads from appearing, that is, unless you want them. If you want to see a Flash image simply click on it, and the block is removed.

It's such a pleasure NOT seeing those things.

Migrating favicons

Firefox is a good and popular free browser, and version 3.0.3 is now available. However, there's one bug/feature that I hope they will eventually fix. There's a tiny logo -- a favicon -- that appears in the bookmarks by each of the bookmarked webpages.

This bug sometimes puts the favicon of a recently visited website by the wrong bookmark. For example, take a look at the jpg on the right. You can see the tiny green Typepad favicon in the accompanying image to the left of several bookmarks in that folder. However, there's one that doesn't belong. See that tiny little human image by "Sleepless in Midland?" That's another blogger's favicon, and somehow it migrated into this folder and attached itself to the bookmark of my own blog like a squatter camping on the front porch.

Fortunately, there's a fix. Someone posted a solution about a year ago. Goodbye trespassing favicon.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Today the Midland Association of Retired School Personnel heard a presentation put on by some of the individuals who helped organize the recent high school reunion at the White House. See A High School Reunion to beat all High School Reunions, previously.

But the tables got turned on those former teachers. The speakers pulled a pop quiz with "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" questions.

Well, I was floored. Many of the questions were quite tough, but the teachers did remarkably well. Judging by these retired teachers, the Midland Independent School District has some very knowledgeable teachers -- let no one say otherwise.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader? See how well you would do. Answers at the end. No cheating -- it will go on your permanent record.

1. 5th Grade U.S. History -- Who was the first chief justice to the U. S. Supreme Court?

2. 5th Grade U.S. History -- Published in the 1780's, the Federalist papers were written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and what man who would later become a U.S. president?

3. 5th Grade U.S. Geography -- Which of the Great Lakes lies farthest East?

4. 5th Grade Measurement -- If you traveled two decameters and one hectometer, how many meters would you have gone?

5. 5th Grade Measurement -- How many watts are used during one kilowatt hour?

6. 5th Grade Cultural Studies -- The ancient region know as Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers") was bordered by two rivers. Name them.

7. World History -- Which Frenchman was the first European explorer to navigate the Saint Lawrence River in Canada? (The teachers couldn't get this one.)

8. 5th Grade Life Science -- How many incisors are there in a typical adult human mouth?

9. 5th Grade Health -- Of the 32 teeth in the typical adult human mouth, how many are bicuspids?

10. 5th Grade Astronomy Halley’s Comet is named after an English astronomer. What is his first name?

11. 4th Grade Geometry -- In a right triangle, the side opposite the right angle is called the what:

12. 5th Grade Music -- In the 1720’s, what man composed a series of violin concertos known as “The Four Seasons”?

13. 5th Grade Earth Science By definition, an anemometer measures the speed of what?

14. 4th Grade Cultural Studies -- Who was the Greek god of wine?

15. 5th Grade History -- What former US President was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize?

16. 5th Grade Measurement -- How many pecks equal one bushel?

Answers:

1. John Jay

2. James Madison

3. Ontario

4. 120 meters (Decameter=10 meters, Hectometer=100 meters)

5. 1000

6. Tigris and Euphrates

7. Jacques Cartier

8. Eight (flat teeth in front on top and bottom)

9. Eight

10. Edmond

11. Hypotenuse

12. Vivaldi

13. Wind

14. Dionysus or Dionysos

15. Theodore Roosevelt (1906)

16. Four

So, how did you do? Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Paul Newman in "Tales of Tomorrow"

Jeff penned a very nice eulogy for Paul Newman, and if you click on the list he linked you'll see how productive Mr. Newman was. I'm sure we'll be exposed to many of his movies in the weeks to come, but in the meantime let's look at a tv oldie.

Archive.org has the ambitious mission of digitizing things that are in the public domain, and it's a fun place to browse. And sure enough, there were some old tv shows with Paul Newman.

For example, there's Tales of Tomorrow - Ice from Space, a 1950s sci-fi tv show, in which Mr. Newman has a minor role as Sgt. Wilson. The show really isn't worth the time to watch except for a glimpse of a young Paul Newman. So I'll go ahead and spoil the plot for you.

It seems that an AR76 test missile was fired into the sky, but it didn't come back down right away like it was supposed to. When it finally returned to earth it contained a large block of ice. So for 20 something minutes the characters pondered what to do about that ice as it grew larger, became more radioactive, and developed an internal flashing light. The actors speculated that it would eventually freeze the entire planet earth, but a brave Major Dozier saved the day by having it loaded back onto the AR76 and flying with it on a suicide mission to blow it up in space.

Although we got to see a film of the rocket take off in the beginning, the entire show was filmed on a set that could have been someone's den and garage. There now, aren't you glad you didn't watch it yourself?

Updated 10/2/08 -- TCM has scheduled a tribute to Paul Newman on October 12 with the following movies:

Eastern time:
6:00 AM The Rack
8:00 AM Until They Sail
10:00 AM Torn Curtain
12:15 PM Exodus
3:45 PM Sweet Bird of Youth
6:00 PM Hud
8:00 PM Somebody Up There Likes Me
10:00 PM Cool Hand Luke
12:15 AM Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
2:15 AM Rachel, Rachel
4:00 AM The Outrage