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Showing posts from May, 2014

A Summary of United States of Secrets

Frontline is my favorite news documentary television program.  I do not watch every Frontline but I pay attention to its schedule.  Its in-depth coverage of the origins of the 2008 financial crisis was outstanding reporting and my review of its coverage is my most popular blog post ever . Last week, Frontline once again demonstrated its profound relevance and investigative integrity with a two-part documentary entitled " United States of Secrets ." This three-hours of television journalism blew my mind. " United States of Secrets " is better than any fictional political thriller any author could come up with.  It is a story of vast overreach of governmental authority, unconstitutional acts, and political lying by both the Bush and the Obama administrations. This is the story of how we as a society lost all semblance of privacy and due process of law. The National Security Agency (NSA) reads every email, every tweet, looks at every photo you upload to "t

Coldplay's Ghost Stories: Intimate and Ethereal

My admiration for Coldplay has been stated before. If you like, you can checkout my other Coldplay entries . I was excited to learn a few months back that they were coming out with a new CD entitled Ghost Stories .  I managed to pick up my copy at the local Walmart May 19, the date of initial release . I tried to stay away from what music critics had to say about Ghost Stories until after I listened to the CD several times. Usually with new music it takes multiple listenings before I form a final opinion. Sometimes the material is really great, like Neil Young's Psychedelic Pill , and I know instantly I love it. Sometimes the material is a disappointment, like Neil's Fork in the Road , and further listening is usually painful. There is no such thing as a "bad" Coldplay album. Their first five studio records, dating back to 2000 (with so few records over such a period of time, no one can exactly accuse them of being prolific or whoring their sound for the sake of

Free Range Strawberries

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Our modest strawberry patch is prolific this year with the sweetest, juiciest, most flavorful strawberries I can remember. We started enjoying them a little over a week ago but these past few days they have really been putting on a show.  We gather a "mess" of fresh berries almost every evening.  We can not possibly eat them all and we have given some away. Usually the deer get ours before we have a chance to enjoy them but not this year for some unknown reason.  Jennifer says we have had strawberries this good once before back when we first built our house.  But that is beyond my ability to recall.  Regardless, it is a wonderful treat to have something so delicious and good for you and so fresh awaiting every day when you get home. Another simple wonder of country life.

Dad's ECG

Recently my dad experienced what is referred to in the medical realm as a TIA .  A slight stroke.  It affected his sense of balance, his control over his right leg, it made him experience dizziness, and his speech became thick and slurred.  At the time this occurred we were unclear as to whether he had a stroke.  By the time I learned about his symptoms and paid him a visit (about three hours later) his speech had improved, he was able to walk again, though unsteadily. In questioning him I discovered that his physician had put him on some new blood pressure medication which he started taking two days ago. I also learned that he had taken a diuretic AND an allegra generic for some allergy symptoms he was having - all at the same time that morning.  He then proceeded to go out into what was a hot sunny day without drinking any water.  Since he had obviously done a foolish thing with all those meds and had basically dehydrated himself I treated him to a lecture on how he was going to ha

COA Fontenoy: The Aesthetics of a War Game

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My wargame table set up for the historic scenario of the Battle of Fontenoy. One of the many things I like about my table design is that the table itself can be rotated 360 degrees so you can view the situation from any perspective. This often helps spot weaknesses or strengths that would go unnoticed as you play any given game. It is always good to look at the game from the other side's point of view, especially when playing solitaire, as I generally do. Long-time readers know that wargaming holds a special place among my many hobbies and interests. As to why this is so see my posts here , here , and here for examples.  Most of my wargaming is played out digitally, either through actual computer wargames or, more often, digital renderings of printed board wargames that I own.  Games I could set up on my wargaming table but choose to play on my PC in VASSAL or Cyberboard or ADC2 . Time was when I would purchase many wargames every year.  Probably on the order on one per m