This and That

So. Didja watch the debate last night? I didn’t, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost: it was on CNN. I simply wasn’t ready for more inane YouTube questions and “gotcha” moments. Strangely enough, there weren’t all that many moments of glaring stupidity or posturing according to folks I read and trust. Second, there are still too many candidates on the platform. I don’t expect the field to be winnowed down to the “real” contenders…read that: Romney, Giuliani, Huckabee (yes, Huckabee) and perhaps, just perhaps, Thompson…anytime soon, if ever. The field will narrow after Iowa and New Hampshire, but will there be further debates after the first primaries? History sez no.

Captain Ed, among others (see memeorandum), gives the win to Huckabee. There’s an interesting column at National Review Online… written from the grave by Richelieu… that essentially bemoans the state of US politics. An interesting choice of persona, that, and not inappropriate in the least. (Just as an aside: I’ll bet the Red Eminence is very near the top of Rove’s Hero List. But underneath Machiavelli, of course.)

Further on politics… I signed up, against The-Voices-In-My-Head’s better judgment, for e-mail briefs from the Giuliani campaign. This is the first time I’ve ever made such a move and I’m thinking of signing up for other newsletters, as well, including Hillary, Silky Pony, and Barack’s newsletters (just for laughs, mind you). But I won’t sign up in the manner which I did for Rudy, coz every e-mail I receive from the campaign begins like this:

Dear Norman (Buck),

Tonight, at the CNN/YouTube debate, Americans had the opportunity to ask questions and…

So. I’m now and forever known to the Giuliani campaign as “Norman (Buck).” Which, of course, tells me no actual human beings are involved in the mailing effort. Feh.

I’m suffering from another of those intermittent and undeterminable (as far as cause is concerned) network slowdowns/outages. This latest event began sometime around 1100 hours yesterday and made life frickin’ impossible. Well, life on the inter-tubes, anyway. All the usual, customary, and reasonable “fixes” don’t work, including PC reboots (numerous), modem reboots (more numerous), and that last resort— a call to Yucca Telecom. I called Yucca around 1330 yesterday and there were no other reported performance problems. I held while the tech checked the various towers I shoot to and he came back with “everything looks fine.” I trust this particular guy and always ask for him by name when I call Yucca with (current service) issues. You can ask for someone by name when you call a service provider in a small town, and I simply LOVE that. Still and even, my issues are not resolved. Surfing, reading, and viewing YouTube stuff is dang near impossible. I shudder to think how long it may take me to put this post up…once I’m done with the material gathering and writing.

My fiber connection simply cannot arrive soon enough.

Today’s Pic: The owner of an immaculately restored P-40 Warhawk holds forth on the wonders of his aircraft to an admiring gaggle. YrHmblScrb was himself no less enthralled by this man’s knowledge (and style!) and only stepped back to snap this picture.

At a Commemorative Air Force Air Show in Brownsville, Texas. I have to admit I liked ‘em just a lil bit better when they were the Confederate Air Force.

March, 2000.