tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83812952009-10-13T02:19:20.137-05:00No I don't have a recipe.Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.netBlogger179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-34958222910822537762009-10-13T01:53:00.007-05:002009-10-13T02:19:20.156-05:00

He's a High School senior. I sent him an email that included this:I'm thrilled that young people like you are recognizing marriage equality for the civil rights issue it is. It's a matter that couldn't be more personal to me. I'm 53, and my life partner is 76. He became disabled a few years ago due to crippling lower back pain. Without me he'd be in a nursing home, miserably unhappy, and rapidly

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-42907085555682121662009-08-11T02:16:00.004-05:002009-08-11T03:22:37.152-05:00

I read of what Sarah Palin is up to, and I conclude the woman is insane:The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."There

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-17935841820101030082009-06-13T18:32:00.017-05:002009-06-14T03:34:28.200-05:00

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeIt's been a long time since I posted here, but something very bad has happened.Barack Obama ran for president on a very gay-friendly basis, appealing directly to us and making many promises. (The photo is of marchers in the 2008 West Hollywood Gay Pride parade waving Obama posters.) He stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, but said he supported civil unions and

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-10778514418411184322009-01-03T17:11:00.001-06:002009-01-03T17:13:59.477-06:00

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, playing ..... no, I'll let you find that out for yourself. Happy New Year.

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-48612686360273867242008-11-29T17:17:00.004-06:002008-11-29T18:10:20.359-06:00

Of course, I'm disappointed that it went through, even though I probably would not have taken advantage of it. A and I have been together over 30 years, and throwing a wedding at this point would seem a little silly, and after the fact. For better or for worse? In sickness and in health? Been there, done that. Till death do us part? Don't rush things. But I sure do understand the shock and pain,

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-24131475352246218502008-10-20T21:42:00.004-05:002008-10-20T22:07:44.233-05:00

Often in brain surgery the patient is kept conscious through the process. With anesthetic and mild sedation, his responses to the surgeon's probes can help to focus in on just the right spot in his brain for intervention.Banjo player Eddie Adcock had been having trouble with a neurological problem causing a tremor in his right hand which interfered with his playing. So when brain surgery was

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-2772017157380918562008-10-16T13:38:00.002-05:002008-10-16T13:53:10.339-05:00

Andrew Sullivan has a good article, Why I Blog, in both the online and print versions of The Atlantic. It's a very good description of the blogging experience, a good introduction to the form for those who have never yet dared to jump into these hazardous waters, filled as they are with so many sea monsters.When he compares the improvisational nature of blog writing with the more deliberate one

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-69141122473383417272008-09-17T16:51:00.003-05:002008-09-17T16:56:04.515-05:00

Here's McCain campaign manager Rick Davis explaining why Sarah Palin isn't giving any press conferences.So until at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment.Wow. I didn't realize she was running for queen.

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-89267052272050048172008-09-14T14:28:00.002-05:002008-09-14T14:31:13.396-05:00

McCain seems to think his medical records are on a need-to-know basis, and that we don't need to know.He's wrong. We need to know.

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-14875669211324991242008-08-29T15:46:00.001-05:002008-08-29T15:46:58.091-05:00

Off to Mississippi again.

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-25558671808431106062008-08-27T23:19:00.002-05:002008-08-27T23:25:27.356-05:00

Yet another hurricane? It's looking more and more likely that Hurricane Gustav is going to chase us out of uptown New Orleans. Again. I mean, it's good, very good, wonderful even, that we were able to set up a place in Jackson, MS, we can evacuate to. But this running for your life thing is getting pretty tedious. If we have to do it this time, that will make three.Or four, if you count the

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-31225341189360847212008-07-05T17:40:00.006-05:002008-07-05T18:20:04.608-05:00

It seems that some battles have to be fought, some lessons learned, over and over again. Carl Schurz (1829-1906) was a German revolutionary who at 19 fled Germany after the unsuccessful Revolution of 1848. He wound up in America and threw himself into anti-slavery politics. During the Civil War he served in the Union Army, rising to the rank of major general, fighting in the Second Battle of Bull

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-22561227386457447682008-06-12T19:13:00.003-05:002008-06-12T19:56:35.375-05:00

...it gets me every time. McMurdo Station is the largest permanent outpost in Antarctica, and its purpose is scientific research. During the summer it can house around 1,250 residents: scientists and their assistants, station staff, the odd reporter. When winter comes, everyone leaves except the core staff needed to keep the Station functioning and intact until spring, and a few scientists to

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-53369995405939342492008-05-13T19:27:00.001-05:002008-05-13T19:27:00.639-05:00

Do you remember the State of the Union speech President Bush gave in 2003 to justify his planned attack on Iraq? Actually you don't. My GP covert ops team has uncovered incontrovertible evidence that this supposedly live broadcast speech was a sophisticated media hoax, pulling the wool over all our eyes. Fortunately GPCO was able to recover a copy of the actual speech, though we lost two guys in

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-60955349085141170712008-05-11T17:11:00.003-05:002008-05-11T17:19:03.046-05:00

To honor all mothers everywhere, here is Anita Renfroe distilling it all down for you. If you are actively parenting at this time, it might be useful to play this every morning at breakfast and get it all out of the way.[Technical note: The subtitles, which are very helpful, are in English and Japanese because the English-only clip I found has lousy audio.]

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-89653453283774590402008-05-07T12:57:00.001-05:002008-05-07T15:12:10.359-05:00

So the folks in Michigan and Florida are all upset that they aren't getting any delegates to the Democratic convention. Doesn't matter that it's their own stupid fault. Doesn't matter that their state party leaders were clearly warned that this would happen if they broke the rules by holding primaries too soon. It's just wroooongg, they say, for them to go to all the trouble of holding illicit

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-20893103781070813232008-05-03T21:50:00.004-05:002008-05-03T22:49:56.333-05:00

There's been talk about whether Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal might be under consideration as a running mate for John McCain. He's a very conservative Republican, an up and coming politico, and the first elected Indian-American state governor. That's Indian as Punjabi, not Comanche.I don't think it will happen, as I think Jindal's far too smart a guy to fall for this. Why? Aaaaaand that gives

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-83450221329530015602008-04-30T18:55:00.003-05:002008-04-30T19:00:30.653-05:00

The thing about the beasts is that they never have come with a users manual. Somebody's trying to remedy that.

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-54546141204541707632008-04-19T00:09:00.003-05:002008-04-19T00:37:24.741-05:00

It's a pity that people who really care about this election turn to the media only to find blathering about lapel pins and bowling scores, rather than, say, how to fix the economy. Not helpful. But in this Internet age at least we can go to the candidates' websites and find out from them directly what we want to know. But sometimes that's not much better. I found this on John McCain's site, from

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-54104496978454738872008-03-26T21:14:00.004-05:002008-03-26T22:30:43.958-05:00

This is absolutely creeping me out:I had no idea robotics had advanced to the point where a machine could do something like this. This thing - Big Dog, it's called - is amazing. It's easy to make a four-legged machine that just plods along in the direction you point it. There are plenty of toys that do that, so long as they don't bump into anything. But to navigate over a pile of bricks? Recover

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-68716607310751639592008-03-23T15:29:00.004-05:002008-03-23T16:10:04.882-05:00

No, A and I aren't splitting up. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and it's the name of a conference held annually at Monterey Bay since 1984. It draws together over a thousand of the top people in a wide range of fields to meet, give presentations, talk, have a ball, and figure out how to save the world. What do I mean by top? I mean people like Bill Clinton, Paul Simon, Bill

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-78762514083409055102008-03-20T15:58:00.001-05:002008-03-20T16:00:22.242-05:00

Or, how to keep a dachshund amused for hours and hours and hours...

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-70110000563815929032008-03-14T19:26:00.003-05:002008-03-14T19:57:48.812-05:00

I'm fascinated by how David Paterson is going to do as the new governor of New York. I had never heard of the guy before the Spitzer governorship exploded, and I find that not only will he be only the third black governor since Reconstruction nationwide, but the first blind person in such a high office.I think I'm a bit more interested in blind issues than most sighted people. My mother (hi, Mom!

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-62278714946583244952008-03-12T19:26:00.002-05:002008-03-12T20:02:00.304-05:00

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal, about how addictive browsing the web can be. The word "addictive" may be closer to the reality than is comfortable. Research suggests that humans get pleasurable feedback from encountering and processing new situations and new information, possibly even through the release of natural opioids in the brain. This makes sense. If our monkey curiosity is

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381295.post-55583664589624349472008-03-12T00:42:00.004-05:002008-12-11T13:53:13.584-06:00

Oh, jeez, here we go again. Another high-flying politician, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, with presidential ambitions yet, a crusader for right and justice, the scourge of sleaze and crime, gets caught bumping a pricey hooker when he's out of town away from his wife. Worse, he actually imported her into DC for a little fun between daytime business. (Google the "Mann Act" please.) The only

Steve T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12075948665118760070gumbopie@bellsouth.net2