Blue Moon

Taken about 0530 31Aug2012

Once in a Blue Moon is now!

A blue moon can refer to either the third full moon in a season with four full moons, or the second full moon in a month.^[

Two full moons in one month:^[

• 2009: December 2, December 31 (partial lunar eclipse visible in some parts of the world), only in time zones west of UTC+05.
• 2010: January 1 (partial lunar eclipse), January 30, only in time zones east of UTC+04:30.
• 2010: March 1, March 30, only in time zones east of UTC+07.
• 2012: August 2, August 31, only in time zones west of UTC+08.
• 2015: July 2, July 31 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon)

I'm not sure I ever knew what a Blue Moon was until I watched a "Pretender" TV episode a few years ago.  They used the 2 full moons in a month definition.

So this is the day to do all those things that you only do once in a Blue Moon!  Plus either now or wait funtil 2015.

I found an intersting article on the origin at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/3305141.html?page=1&c=y.

Tactical Error

This morning I made a tactical error.  Our dog was up and roaming around ( at 0400), so I got up and did morning stuff (went to the bathroom and since it was Thursday I gathered the garbage )  and got ready to take the dog out.  Since if he is up and about it is a good idea to get him outside before tragedy strikes.

But he tricked me!  He went back to sleep and was not about to get up for a walk.  So I fooled around for a while and tried again, failure yet again.

Eventually after being up for over a hour, he got up and we went on the walk .

********

I am ready to give up on the Tigers.  How can they lose to KC twice, with Verlander giving them 7 or so runs and then not scoring in the next game.  The White Sox were even losing 2 in a row, but won yesterday.

I had high hopes for them at the beginning of the season, but now I am looking forward to football, Go Lions ( I have trouble spelling "ion" words like Lions)!

Dead Voting

Americans will fight and die for democracy, but when it comes to the actual business of elections, stuffed ballot boxes and cemetery voters are the subject of jokes more than outrage — though a democracy in which elections are decided by fraudulent votes created by corrupt politicians is no democracy at all.
That contradiction is the subject of “Who’s Counting: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote At Risk,” by journalist John Fund and former Justice Department attorney Hans von Spakovsky.
For all the national outrage about “hanging chads” and the like back in 2000, very little has been done since to improve the reliability of our system for registering and identifying voters, and recording and counting votes. In some ways, in fact, we’ve moved backward.
An ideal voting system would:
* Make it easy for voters to register.
* Positively ensure that voters were who they said they were.
* Make certain that no one could vote more than once.
* And guarantee that votes properly cast would be properly recorded, while making the recording of fraudulent votes impossible.
Unfortunately, no such system exists — and the ones we have are far from the best available.
Current voter-registration systems are flawed, with huge numbers of dead or disqualified voters still on the rolls. And, since voter-ID enforcement is poor, in many places a person can simply claim to be one of those people and vote in their name with no one the wiser.
(Sometimes it’s worse than that — one voting-rights activist, a twentysomething white guy with a pony tail in Washington, DC, managed to get a ballot in Attorney General Eric Holder’s name.)
You might call our system “Third World,” but that would be an insult to the Third World. As Fund and von Spakovsky note, to register to vote in Mexico a voter must provide a photo, a signature and a thumbprint. The Mexican voter-registration card includes holographic security, a magnetic code and a serial number. Before voting, voters have to show the card and have the thumbprints matched by a scanner.
Similar safeguards apply in many other countries, along with simple precautions to prevent repeat voting (remember those Iraqis with purple thumbs?) that America lacks.
In the United States, meanwhile, only 17 states even require identification in order to vote. Holder & Co., claim that requiring photo ID would be racist, because getting a driver’s license, etc., costs money. This claim has consistently been rejected by courts, and with good reason: If requiring photo ID to vote is racist, then what about requiring photo ID to exercise other constitutional rights, like buying a gun?
Of course, the real objection to requiring voter ID isn’t based in civil rights, but in civil wrongs. With elections often decided by narrow margins, the ability to produce a few thousand more ballots can often swing the results. (In Minnesota’s 2008 disputed US Senate election, won by Al Franken — who proceeded to cast the deciding vote in favor of ObamaCare — the margin of victory was 312, but it turned out that 1,099 votes were cast by felons who were ineligible to vote. Many of them have gone to jail, but Franken has remained in the Senate).
Voter ID makes that kind of trickery harder, which is why political manipulators oppose it.
Voters understand this. According to a Washington Post poll taken earlier this month, 74 percent of Americans support laws requiring voters to show photo identification.
The irony is that it is precisely the people who Eric Holder et al. purport to speak for — poor, often black, inner-city residents — who suffer the most from voter fraud.
Many of America’s largest and worst-governed cities suffer from entrenched and corrupt political machines that maintain their position in no small part via voter fraud. Corrupt machines (like that of Detroit’s disgraced ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick) siphon off money that should go to essential services and instead divert it to political fatcats and their supporters. Efforts at reform are often defeated with fraudulent votes.
As we approach a presidential election that may prove to be as close as 2000’s, Fund and von Spakovsky’s book is a wake-up call. If democracy in America is to survive, something must be done. Will we do it?
Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Tennessee; his new book is “The Higher Education Bubble.”
(http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/dead_voters_dying_democracy_mZiteqXrMHygrJhVFYOTxL)

I good article (IMHO) about the dead stealing elections.  Many are against voter ID since it is sooo hard to get ID.  Must not be many drivers or people flying or buying things!

Cutting the Grass

As I said one of the few advantages of the drought was that the grass did not need cutting.  Since we have had some rain in the last few weeks our grass is growing (or rather the weeds since they are tougher than what little grass we have).

Whenever I cut the grass, I fill the gas in the lawnmower to the top. Except when I am low on gas (like today) when I just put whatever is in the gas can.   When I cut the grass, I spend at least 2 days doing it.

With a full tank of gas the lawnmower will cut about 1/2 to 4/7  of the lawn.  Today since there was not much gas I figures I could start the back and be done in 30 minutes or so, but the gas kept lasting and lasting so I got most of the back, most of the side and started on the front.

I find that the gas outlives my ambition most times.  I feel that I have cut enough and want the gas to run out but it doesn't!  Today I got about an hour's worth of cutting, which is the amount I get with a full tank.

You might think that I could just stop cutting when I'm tired, but if I don't use the gas up it will evaporate in the lawnmower gas tank and the gas would be wasted.  And as I have mentioned once or twice, I am cheap and hate to waste anything that costs about $4 per gallon.

Self than Others

At the beginning of our worship service we have a confession which reads in part:
"We have thought better of ourselves than others".

I'm not sure what it means.  If it said "treat" better, I would understand it better and I would definitely be guilty except for my LW and certain other family.

Does it mean that I think I am smarter than others?  If so I guess I am guilty except for my LW and kids and grandkids and certain other people.

Does it mean that I took care of myself better than I did others? Guilty except maybe my LW.

Does it mean that I respect my opinion better than others?  In general, I am guilty especially politically (with some exceptions).

In my opinion, it is difficult to act as a Christian as Jesus wants us to.  This is why at the beginning of the service we confess and ask for forgiveness.

Front Row

Luke 14  ⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.¹⁰ But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹ For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Then there was the famous Bob Uecker quote that he must be seated in the froonnt roow.

Usually we sit in one of the front rows at Church.  At Church, it seems that the most coveted seats are in the back.  I figure if we don't sit in the front, the congregation would be further and further back in the Church.  I was thinking that maybe they were following the Lord's advise in the above Bible passages or maybe they are trying to get further away from the Pastor so they can sleep easier!  Whereas, I think maybe we are taking the less popular seats.

1995

I just thought this was a clever cartoon!

There are some very important years in my life.  1968, 1970, 1973, 1986, 2001.  But one year stands out (at least it did this morning on the dog walk- many of my blog ideas come from the dog walk) - 1995.

In 1995, both of my older children got married to some wonderful people and I "retired."

The kids got married 2 weeks apart (we almost got into a car accident on the way to my son/s rehearsal picnic but other then that it was actually great fun).  So if I remember one of the dates, I can figure out the other.  Since our marriage was in August, I tend to remember my daughter's date first (which is good since it comes first).

I "retired" in 1995 because I had a 1 1/2 to 2 hour commute to my job and it was "killing" me.  Plus since the kids were married, we had fewer dependents and we could get along on our reduced income easier.

So 1995 was a great year which led to 5 grand children and less stress.

Saving

On Monday, we bicycled to Kohls in Kenosha (about 28 miles total).  This time, we actually went the way Google Maps told us to go (unlike the first time when I had 2 routes to different places and inadvertently combined them) .  I like bicycling in WI, Kenosha has bike lanes on many roads that we used plus the bike trail is blacktopped in WI (unlike IL where it is a fine dust).

But the next to last road was under construction and we used the sidewalk for a few blocks.  Another road crossing a busy highway does not recognize bikes so it doesn't change without a car at the light.

Kohls often sends me $10 off cards and often gives 15 or 20% off codes or a form that can be printed to use at the store.  We bought about $100 worth of stuff (a sport coat, a shirt, a tie, and some leggings & top for my LW).  I used the printed form and a $10 off card.  The total that we "saved" was $208.  The coat, tie & shirt were all on clearance , e.g.,so the coat was $180 originally but only about $50 on clearence.  They also gave us 3 instant game tickets and $10 Kohls cash.

This reminds me of the ads that say "spend more save more.".  Plus the cashier said if I spent another $3 I would one more instant game and another $10 Kohls cash.  Saving more is OK,but the best way is to not buy anything not MORE!

Another thing I was thinking about was that now a days it is cheaper to buy another item instead of repairing it.  That was not the way it was when I was younger!

Government Overreach

Sometimes I think government just makes rules to make rules.  I would think that a birthday party at a farm would be OK!  My LW grew up on a farm, I hope they don't come after her for enjoying parties!

Beer and Women

“Honey, get me a beer,” might be said more by women than previously thought.
A study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association on Saturday found that married women drink more than previously married women, but married men drink less than previously married men.
Additionally, several women in the study said they did not drink alcohol at all until they met or married their husbands.
(http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/08/20/marriage-means-more-drinking-for-women-less-for-men/)


Assuming people are honest about their drinking, America’s imbibing is holding steady, with the 66% who say they indulge averaging 4.2 drinks a week, according to the latest Gallup survey. A year ago, the same poll found 64% of Americans imbibed at an average of 4.1 drinks a week.
The Princeton, N.J.-based Gallup organization said beer was America’s favorite alcoholic beverage, with 39% of drinkers saying that was what they drank most often. Wine was next at 35% and liquor third at 22%.  ....
The polling organization said 12% reported having eight or more drinks in the past week and 22% of those who drink said they sometimes drink too much — up from 17% last year.
Gallup said the number of people admitting they sometimes drink too much peaked at 35% in the late 1980s.  ....

•Men drink more than women; male drinkers report downing an average 6.2 alcoholic beverages per week, compared to 2.2 for women. And nearly three in 10 males admit to sometimes drinking more than they should, compared to just 14% of women drinkers.

•Men aged 18-49 are the heaviest drinkers and any age or gender group. 70% of whites acknowledging drinking alcohol, compared to 57% of non-whites.
•55% of men prefer beer as their drink; 52% of women say they most often drink wine. Geographically, Midwest drinkers prefer beer, while wine is most popular on the East Coast.
(http://www.freep.com/article/20120820/FEATURES01/120820032/Gallup-poll-American-drinking-habits-men-women)

Since my son is into beer brewing and I heard a podcast from the Wall Street Journal that beer manufacturers are looking to get more women to drink beer so that the sales would increase, I googled women and beer and got the above articles.

It is intersting (to me) that women drink more when they get married or go out with men.  I guess we are difficult to live with without something to dull their senses.