Posted 10:22 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Sincere apologies

For almost the past week, I've been unable to update my website. For some still unknown reason, my ISP managed to change my login information behind my back, and it took that long to get it straightened out. My username, the same for years, stopped working.

Meanwhile, a most intriguing story hit the news this morning, about a cat in a Rhode Island nursing home who can signal the death of a patient within 2-4 hours. He predicts so accurately that the staff now calls the family of the patient when the cat signals.

It's also a little personally spooky, because Oscar the death-signalling cat looks a lot like my own late cat, Squirt (on the right)

Posted 9:30 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Two more smokers die prematurely

Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady and smoker despite Lyndon's rabid anti-smoking attitude, passed away at age 94 (Lyndon died at age 64).

Charles Lane, long-time character actor in movies and TV, succumbed to 70 years of smoking, passing away at age 102.

Posted 6:09 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Kablaaaam - craaack - wooosh

Ah, a big rain. Very big, very quickly. Here in Richfield, a heavy thunderstorm suddenly had high wind added to it. Having just opened the windows to pull in some cooler fresh air, I had to turn right around and close them as the wind increased, blowing rain straight in.

As much as this is welcome rain for crops and fire prevention, it will have another temporary benefit here in the shadow of the Crosstown rebuild. Construction will stop. The past few days, our whole apartment building has been vibrating, in addition to the noise. I haven't bothered trying to find out what is causing the vibration. Perhaps it's some sort of dirt compacting machine. I'll have a good seat on the construction, right from my recliner, of about 50 yards of the Crosstown. Since this project will go on for 4 years, an occasional downpour will be welcome relief.

Since these highway contractors began work, they're moving with serious dispatch. Monstrous amounts of dirt moved, sand dumped, concrete poured, most impressively around the Diamond Lake bridge reconstruction. If you need any additional incentive to visit the wonderful Museum of Russian Art (where I've volunteered for 2 years) at 35W and Diamond Lake Road, you can also view the construction from TMORA's front steps.

Here's a map of the construction detour to TMORA these days... take the 46th exit from 35W, then south on Nicollet to Diamond Lake Rd., then turn east to the barriers and turn left into the parking area.

Posted 10:54 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Familiar places

There aren't many things that haven't changed in the last 46 years, and that sometimes grieves me. Familiar places usually feel comforting. Dealing with change requires more effort, even though it might be rewarding. I detect that, as we age, we long even more for familiar places. They seem like places where we already "belong", while new places require us to "squeeze in", at least temporarily.

I was recently nicely surprised to be sent links to some online photos about a memorial service at Midway Island... the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, considered the turning point of the Pacific war against the Japanese. The battle itself is fascinating in many ways, and having spent a year at Midway, I was interested.

I've seen many recent photos of Midway, and the destruction the Fish and Wildlife Service has wreaked on what was, when the U.S. Navy owned the atoll, a lush, tropical paradise (or as close as a Navy base can come to that). FWS has removed most of the grand Ironwood trees the Navy transplanted to Midway, givinging a hot sandy island badly-needed shade, but keeping great beaches. Well... I could complain for days about the radical environmentalist attitude of returning Midway to it's original but worthless state. I won't.

There was one photo from the day of the ceremony that revealed one of the few things FSW hasn't destroyed... the base theatre. Evidently, the few people allowed on Midway do enjoy movies. Midway is isolated... it's 1200 miles to anything better... so entertainment is valued. It was valued back in 1961 when I was there. We got a few movies, but most of the time, we watched films of recent TV programs on the big screen... like Wagon Train (Ward Bond), Rawhide (a young Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates), and 77 Sunset Strip (Ephrem Zimbalist, "Kooky (lend me your comb)). Then, as it still is, watching a movie in a theatre was a sort of escape from the rest of the world, and even more important in the military.

Here's a recent photo of the Midway theatre:


It hasn't changed (well, maybe new paint on the walls) in 46 years. Even the old murals of scenes from the Battle of Midway are still in place, and the same old seats. It feels good just to look at it.

Posted 12:24 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Not to spook you...

but have you noticed that this is another Friday the 13th? Booga-booga

Posted 12:08 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Who's peeking?

It's sometimes interesting to see who is reading my No Force commentary, and to wonder why. A few years ago, I happened to notice a reader from the Military Command unit in Iraq. A few days ago, I noticed the reader shown below, from the Information Systems section of the U.S. House. My writings could easily be seen as anti-government, so why would someone from the house be reading? Sort of spying? Could there be a libertarian in that department? Computer people tend to be libertarian, so that's very plausible. Note that the visitor lingered for some time. I can only hope that the visitor read my two articles beseeching government employees to quit their cushy jobs and return to compete in the private sector.

Posted 11:15 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

From the "As ye sow, so shall ye reap" files

Seems like St. Paul is now desperately seeking night spots for the massive crowds expected to attend the Republican convention in '08. This was noted by blogger Marcus Aurelius, who has been a stalwart at tracking the effects of smoking bans, including maintaining a list of hospitality businesses that have bit the dust (now 100) since the bans went into effect. Even those clubs remaining just ain't the same. Listening to long sets of bluesy jazz at the Artist's Quarter now seems all too antiseptic. GOP... welcome to a boring Democrat-sanitized city.

Posted 9:34 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Whatever were they not thinking?

A special report by the Pioneer Press lays out the incredible story of a massive development gone belly up, taking down a lot of people with it. One man (now deceased) with a talent for convincing others, backed in seeming collusion by a several bankers, appears to have sold a pig in a poke to gullible government officials in the city of Ramsey, but also to the overbearing Metro Council.

What galls me is the mere idea that a town like Ramsey should want such a development. There are a few good reasons that people settle down in a small rural town, and none of those reasons is compatible with growing that town into a major shopping destination with big housing developments and chain stores. Obviously, some people are exceptions. I suspect that most of the exceptions are of the sort who run for city councils and other city officials... often people who want attention or power, or those who hope to use their position for financial gain.

I'm certain those officials would claim, maybe even with sincerity, that the development would have benefited everyone in Ramsey. If it had been fortunate enough to have been successful (which looks impossible now) it might have put some money in the pockets of residents. It would have increased property values, but that's only a benefit if one wants to sell and move. People who moved there to enjoy the quiet life of a small town might well have wanted to move when the "quiet life" became like any bustling, high-traffic suburb. If successful, what drew residents to Ramsey would have been gone. Old residents would have moved away, replaced by an influx of new suburbanites.

Who would have benefited? Aside from those doing financial speculating... city officials. They would have been transformed from big fish in a small pond to big fish in a bigger pond. That's an irresistable lure to many who seek public office. It's one of the reasons why so many big, poorly-planned, unneeded, destructive developments go forward. It's also cause for people moving around so much. The place they chose to live doesn't remain the place they chose to live.

Government, even in a small town, is force. It assumes the right to manipulate anything in that territory, claiming "progress", and such power almost always corrupts. It allows officials to think that they somehow know best, and are suddenly capable of "playing" far over their heads. They become "players", but with no increase in capability... only because of their position. "Golden opportunities" are tossed at their feet... a chance to be part of something big. Egos swell and "best-case" becomes the vision. Oversight, due diligence, and common sense are glossed over in the name of moving forward.

Beware who you elect to office. Beware of those who run on grand ideas, for they might just succeed. Or not.

Posted 3:40 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Some days...

just seem determined to depress me. After a quiet beginning, eating my oatmeal and reading the news, I tried to post a new article to No Force, No Fraud. That went OK, but when I tried to FTP the updated index of articles... not enough server space. This happens occasionally, and I have to decide what to remove from my website in order to add anything new. That choice gets harder with time, but I did it, and got the index updated.

About the time I relaxed from that chore, 2 big dump trucks with trailers pulled in the parking lot, and proceeded to make an extraordinary amount of noise, tearing up the ground where the electric utility had planted some new cables. Naturally, all the vehicles... 2 trucks, a Bobcat, a little pavement ripper, and a paving roller... all had the dastardly beep-beep-beep backup signals on them. This great din drove me to evacute my home.

I headed toward the Southdale area, with plans for lunch at Hot Wok, where I, on occasion, get excellent fried rice. Now - the Southdale area is a madhouse over lunchtime on a weekday, as the mass of employees who work around 494 from France to beyond Hwy. 100 all turn themselves loose round about 11:30, to get in lunch and a little shopping and errand running in their lunch "hour". It's manic-traffic, but since I used to be part of that crowd, I can handle that.

What I have more trouble handling is the way the Southdale area has gotten continually more upscale and grindingly boring. I'm inclined to say that all of the interesting stuff is gone, replaced by the same chain stores that squat in every mall area. Sort of the last straw for me is the loss of the Schinder's bookstore. I didn't go there for the porn niche, but I was glad that choice was available. I went for magazines, and most of that can be gotten at Barnes & Noble, except for comic/horror/superhero/heavy metal books that I enjoyed looking at, and sometimes buying (there are some incredible artists working in those genres). Mostly, I was just more comfortable at Schinder's than at Barnes & Noble, and I'm sorry to see them go after so many years.

I used to look forward to wandering the Southdale area, and I just don't any longer. software (and others) is long gone (run out by big-box office stores). Big-box stores hire kids cheap... the old software-only stores hired (and trained) pros who gave good advice. Gone also is Egghead, Sharper Image, and Brookstone's, and the Nature store, and more. Now Wick's Furniture is going belly-up, as did St. Paul Book and Stationery, and all the other interesting places I used to patronize. Remember the pizza joint with the enormous rockin' theatre pipe-organ? Naw... you can't even imagine, can you? Replaced by a store that sells bedding. Seems like everything is now either big-box. boutique, or an expresso chain store None of those fits me.

I did get the fried rice, but I'm guessing that management changed and it just isn't as good as it used to be. When I returned home, I thought, at first, that the workmen had finished. Wrong... they were just at lunch, and got back to making noise again. Not long after they finished and left (leaving us with the smell of fresh asphalt wafting through my window, the lawn-care people arrived with a new cocaphony. This too shall pass, but, unfortunately, it will all return to throw a new day into a funk.

Posted 12:41 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Ron Paul whups ass in Iowa

Having been excluded from the Iowa GOP tax forum in Des Moines, Ron Paul arranged a rally next door to the forum, and his rally was better attended than the "official" multi-candidate Republican event.

I know of a group of Twin Citians who traveled down 35W for the Paul event. I also know that it takes a significant incentive to draw people to Des Moines. The trip is dull, as is the setting. That a candidate "not approved" by the Republican party can out-draw an official event, at which many party loyalists would be required to attend, is a testament to just out of whack the GOP is, and how popular Ron Paul's positions are.

I have a Ron Paul ad on my home page... put one on yours, or on your blog. Let's keep this moving.