Duck And Cover.

Earlier today, I was flitting about the internet and happened upon this post by David, whose blog I particularly enjoy when I remember to read it. (I'd add it to my sidebar, but it's one of a few blogs I pig-headedly refuse to add just because I like it -- That would make me look too much like I'm playing follow-the-leader to other friends who have it linked. And yes, I know that argument has almost as much logic as a five-year-old threatening to run away and "then, they'll be sorry!")

Anyway, reading that post reminds me that I'm thankful I wasn't born a few years earlier, otherwise, I'd have spent most of my childhood a a gibbering idiot, in constant fear of nuclear annihilation. Lucky for me, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I was just approaching my third birthday and spent my days concentrating on life's important lessons like whether dirt or pine cones tasted better. (Dirt is kinda gritty, but pine cones leave a sticky residue.) And things had calmed considerably by the time I started thinking deep thoughts about anything other than cap guns or whether Bewitched or Gomer Pyle was on TV that night.

My parents, obviously, were aware of the danger presented by the Cuban Missile Crisis, and presumably, throughout the remainder of the Cold War. I congratulate them on not having become gibbering idiots, in constant fear of nuclear annihilation.  Or putting up a really good front, anyway.  However, the fact that they weren't completely incapacitated by fear doesn't mean they didn't think about that stuff or take reasonable steps.  It's not like they built a bomb shelter in the backyard, but I have a distinct memory of one or more shelves in the bathroom closet being stuffed with bottled water and flashlights and batteries and things like that. I suppose those were also handy things to have around in the event of a not-unheard-of Hurricane coming along and rearranging the geography. (I'm starting to think I grew up in a really dangerous fucking place!)

By now, some of you (regulars who can't be blamed for forgetting and new visitors who have no reason to know in the first place), will be asking yourselves, "Where the hell did Nathan grow up?"  Well, pretty much at Ground Zero of what would have been on the Soviets' list of worthwhile First Strike Targets -- Jacksonville, Florida. More on that later.

In addition to having bottled water stored, (latent steam, really), I'm pretty sure that every kid I grew up with wore a set of dog tags.  I still have mine!

You can see that it listed my name, my father's name, my address, date of birth, phone number and a "J" for Jewish.  It wasn't until I was maybe 17 that it dawned on me that the reason I'd worn this thing when I was a kid was so that there'd be some identification left on the me-shaped shadow that would have remained after a nuclear strike.  I'm not at all sure why they thought it was important that I was Jewish.  My elementary school had considered that a quirk to be tolerated, if not actually accommodated.  And the inclusion of the phone number strikes me as hysterically optimistic. (BTW, if any family member reads this, what the hell did the RA stand for in our phone number?  Was it RAnsom5, or RAdcliff5, or RAygun5 or what?  It's on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't remember.)

Anyway, back to why Jacksonville would have been such an attractive first strike target.  First there's proximity - just a bit over 500 miles as the ICBM flies!

Then, there's the little factoid that by 1962, Jacksonville had a fairly major military presence, including the bastards who proved there were missiles in Cuba to begin with!

Yeah, I'd have wanted to take those things out quick if I'd been in charge of Soviet plans.

Like I said, I'm glad I grew up completely oblivious.
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BTW, while researching this post (I did too do research!), I ran across this wonderful tidbit about one of NAS Mayport's more auspicious moments in U.S. History.

Shortly before noon on June 8, 1959, the first official dispatch of U.S. Mail was launched from the guided-missile submarine USS Barbero (SSG 317), from international waters off of the Atlantic Coast.  Twenty-two minutes later, the Regulus I Missile, carrying 3,000 pieces of mail (postcards), landed at the U.S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Mayport.  Among the officials present for the event was Postmaster General Arthur Summerfeld, who stated, "This peacetime employment of a guided missile for the important and practical purpose of carrying mail, is the first known official use of missiles by any Post Office Department of any nation." He proclaimed the event to be "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world," and predicted that "before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles.  We stand on the threshold of rocket mail!"

To my knowledge, this remains the first and last use of missile mail by anyone.

Teufel Wants You To Know It's Kinda Hot Here.

And he has no plans to move until roughly 4:00pm.  That's when he begins his daily reminder that it's nearly 6:00pm and why don't you go ahead and fill my bowl with some delicious dinner so I can sniff at it and then come back and stare at you some more because it turned out to be cat food AGAIN and, O.K. I'll eat it anyway.

Google Knows Things.

I'll have plenty more to say about Michele Bachmann in the future, but for the moment, I just want to go on the record saying that there's nobody in American politics I loath more than this woman.  She's been occasionally portrayed as Sarah-Palin-Lite, but that's not really accurate.  Palin is, at heart, just an opportunist.  Bachmann is a True Believer. And in her quest to remake America into the Theocracy she honestly believes the Founders envisioned, there is no lie; there is no slur; there is no misrepresentation she won't employ.

I've been searching for a historical comparison and I keep gravitating toward Sen. Joseph McCarthy, but I'm convinced he'll eventually stack up as nothing but a piker in her shadow.

Yesterday, Chris Wallace asked Bachmann if she isn't a "flake".  If only she were that benign.
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Updated to add:  Here are some links to a few articles you might want to look at.

The first, suggested by Janiece: Michele Bachmann's Holy War, Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone.

An older article linked in Taibbi's: The Chosen One, a 2006 article by G.R. Anderson, Jr. in Minneapolis City Pages.

Bachmann's Unrivaled Extremism, by Michelle Goldberg on The Daily Beast.

I Hope This Clears Things Up For You.

God save the sheep!

Some Music Was Meant To Be Heard And Not Seen.

This is a song that came out my freshman year of college and I was only reminded of it because it's on a commercial for somebody or other. (I forget what the ad is for -- great spot, right?)  Anyway, I went off looking for it online, which is surprisingly easy considering it's in French and I had no idea what the lyrics might be.  (Go ahead and do a little Googling yourself -- Sah Va Boom Wah will get you there just fine!)

Anyway, here's the song with no visuals and then, what I assume is the original video.  I'll let them speak for themselves.

In Which I Mention imention.

I haven't done this in a while.  Today, I ran across a website I hadn't seen before and found myself stuck there for about an hour!  I have no idea who runs the site or anything else about it -- other than the fact that they post some pretty neat shit.  Hell, I'll even be adding it to the sidebar.

But in the meantime, go look around over at imention.

Half Baked.

Sarah Palin, Alaska’s half-term ex Governor, today denied rumors that cutting her tour of America short by half should in anyway telegraph her intentions about a Presidential run.  Reached at home where she was eating half a sandwich (bologna, Cheese spread and Miracle Whip on Wonder Bread), she said, “I’ve halfway made up my mind about a run and I’ve got some partially formed ideas if I do decide to jump in.  First of all, I’m not sure I’ll bother  choosing a running mate.  I mean, really, who cares about the Vice President?  I think there’s a lot to be said for half a ticket.”

Earlier in the day, Palin had explained that the reason she had returned to Wasilla was because she had been called for jury duty.  However, when reporters trailed her in what appeared to be the direction of the courthouse, she stopped at a convenience store halfway there to buy a half tank of gas.  Then she went into the store and chatted with the store’s owner for half an hour before reappearing with a half case of beer and returning home.

Expanding on the question of whether or not she’s planning to run, Palin said, “Listen, I just haven’t decided yet.  But if I do, you can take it to the bank that I’ll be jumping in with one foot!”

Thursday Photo Challenge Jumps The Gun. (I Mean Really Jumps The Gun).

So last week, Michelle got me to volunteer to come up with this weeks photographic scavenger hunt list. And since she's already posted the list, I get to go ahead early too!  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is:

-Wood (that’s been worked)
-fluorescence
-Clothes that clash
-Geometry
-Black & White
-Looks fast standing still.

I'll admit that I've been cheating and keeping my eyes peeled for this stuff since I already knew what would be on the list.  I'll also admit that I may have been a little ambitious with this list.  I don't think I'm gonna come up with great examples of each.

Anyway...go forth and shoot pictures.  When you've posted them to wherever, let Michelle know and she'll put up a link so we can all glory in your creativity and sleuthing skilz.

P.S. I've already decided that if I "look fast" at something to take a picture of it -- while I'm "standing still" -- that doesn't count.  Just sayin'.
 --------------------------
You know where I admitted that I've been cheating and "keeping my eyes peeled for stuff"? Well, I had my camera with me while I was doing that.  And, occasionally, I put the camera into a position that placed it between my "peeled" eye and the stuff I was looking at. And then -- Ooops! -- I clicked on the shutter button.

Was that wrong? My bad.

Anyway, that means I've got pictures to post already! With this round, I did crop and/or otherwise mess around with most of the photos.  If it mitigates my guilt at all, while I did make a point of carrying my camera around with me, I didn't go anywhere I wasn't already planning to go to find subjects.  I'm betting that shows.  Anyway, here's what I got.

Wood (that's been worked)

 Fluorescence

 Clothes that clash.

 Geometry

 Black & White

 Looks fast standing still

 (See what I did with this one?)

That's my contribution for the week.  Kinda hit and miss, but...
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Annnnnnnnd...Here's a BONUS SHOT just so I won't have shot all of these before the assignment was assigned. For an alternate "Looks fast standing still" (Fast -  Adj - Firmly fixed or fastened):

Not For Nothing, But...

This is the crappiest Happy Hour I've ever been to.

Messing Around.

It's time for a new look here.  I'll be messing around for a bit, so don't be surprised if things look a bit jarring occasionally.   That is all.  Actually, I just sort of randomly made a couple of changes to the look after I made that new banner and I think I like it.  So I won't be fucking around with it.  At least for a while.

You should all feel free to tell me how much you love it.

P.S. Look at the next post down for a bit of an update.

O.K.?  O.K.!

Hey! It's That Time Of Year Again! (Scroll to the bottom for an update)

That's right!  It's time for Todd Wheeler's 5th Annual Virtual Summer Reading Program! (Say that 5 times fast.)

This is a no brainer folks.  You read stuff (which you're going to be doing anyway, right?).  Then, you go tell Todd about it every time you finish a book.  And there are PRIZES! (which you could win, but you won't because I'll be winning them).

And when it's all done, Todd makes a donation to the Children's Literacy Foundation!  This is all good stuff, so go read stuff and keep Todd obsessively informed about it. Every book you read gives you another chance at being a winner.

This all starts Monday, so get your reading chair ready. Sort your book pile.  Charge up your Nook.  Fire up the Kindle.

P.S. To increase my chances of winning, I'll be happy to recommend some 1200 page epics to you if you don't know what to read next.  I'll be revisiting Dr. Seuss.
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And it seems that Janiece is shamelessly (with permission) stealing Todd's idea and she's running her own Summer Reading Program.

I'm pretty sure you can just enter the same books into both contests (assuming you've actually read them - you're on the honor system here), and Janiece will make her donations to the Douglas County (Colorado) Libraries.* 

And you get a second chance to win shit just from reading stuff you'd be reading anyway!  W00t!
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*Janiece points out that she is in no way affiliated with the Douglas County Libraries or with any other governmental, quasi-governmental, non-governmental, or anarchic organization.**  She's not  affiliated.  Nothing she says is their fault!

She'll just be giving them some money.
------------------------
**She is a member of her Home Owner's Association but that's another story and I don't see her giving them a damn thing voluntarily.

Thursday Photo Challenge (On Friday -- What's Up With That?)

Michelle keeps forcing inspiring us to get off our asses and go out into the world with our cameras.  Here are my results (And Michelle has links to other folks efforts as well):
BTW, "Still Water" is the only picture I cropped and/or messed with in any way.  The others are all straight out of the camera.

Brick

 Purple Flowers

 Purple Clothing

 Something Else Purple

 Still Water

 Chaos

 

Amazing News: Florida Girl With No Discernible Brain Delivers Valedictory Speech!

Edited to add: While we're on the subject of having no discernible brain, it should be pointed out that this whole damned thing apparently actually took place in friggin' 2007!  I ran across a link somewhere and ended up looking at a couple of other links, and the next thing you know...I'm a mass of rabid, foaming indignation...over a 4-year-old story. To be fair to me (and I'm totally in favor of being fair to me), I ran across enough current links to indicate that I'm not the only one who thought this just happened.

Oh well.  It doesn't change any of the opinions I expressed, but it does make me wonder whether or not the protagonist has grown any smarts in the last four years.  On to the post:

Bonus:  She's graduated from my alma mater!

I don't have a whole lot to say about this.*  A week or so ago, Shannon Spaulding, as Valedictorian of Wolfson Sr. High School's Class of 2011 2007 (D'oh!) delivered what amounted to a 20 minute sermon instead of a valedictory speech.  She informed the crowd more than once that  those who didn't accept Jesus Christ as their lord would go to Hell.

I have no argument with the school or with the District, both of which seem to have reacted in sane, appropriate ways. 

No, the amazing thing is that this brainless twit managed to have the highest GPA in her class while apparently lacking any gray matter whatsoever.  The relevant quote:

"I guess I don't totally understand why it's such a big deal," she said.

 Proof positive that intelligence and good grades have no correlation.
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*OK, I lied.  I have a bit more to say about this; specifically about Ms. Spaulding's above quote.  And please note...none of what I've got to say here is really about me being offended by her sermon (which I am); it's about her supposed reaction to people's offense.

Here's the thing...she's either incredibly stupid or she's lying through her teeth.

Choice 1: She's completely unaware that there are people who would be offended by such a speech.  This means that she's apparently never met any of the Jewish or Muslim (or other) students at her school.  And unless they've changed the way students are assigned to the various High Schools in Jacksonville, there's a way more than token representation of Jews, Muslims and "others" attending Wolfson.  (When I went there, it was probably the most Jewish school in Jacksonville just because it sits in an area where a lot of Jacksonville's Jews live.  There were Muslims there at the end of the 70's; I'm sure there are more now.)

And she's completely unaware that there's any controversy in America regarding what is and isn't appropriate in a Public School.  This means she's never read a newspaper or internet story about religion (unlikely).  And presuming she attends an Evangelical church (yeah, I'm making assumptions here, but I think pretty safe ones -- I'll happily correct it if someone tells me different), she's managed, somehow, to not hear a word of preaching about how much better America would be with Religion (her version) firmly in the public square (highly unlikely).

I don't believe either of those suppositions.  I think she's keenly aware that there is a religious culture war afoot and she wanted to take part in it.  I think she knew full well that this would be a "big deal" with a number of people.  She just didn't give a shit about any of them.

Which brings us to Choice #2:  She's lying through her teeth.  I won't presume to teach her Christian values, but I'm pretty sure lying isn't one of them.  I will comment on the concept of civil disobedience**; something she may have read about on her way to out-nerding every other student at her school.  I think she may have missed the part about standing with "the courage of your convictions".  I've never seen a definition of Civil Disobedience** that describes purposely breaking a law and then saying, "Oh.  Was that wrong?"And standing up to deliver a Valedictory Sermon at a Public School is definitely an act of civil disobedience**.  Maybe not the kind where you voluntarily choose to face prison, but certainly the kind where you choose to face a dash of opprobrium from some circles.

I wouldn't like the fact of her sermon any better if she fessed up and acknowledged she knew exactly what she was doing, but I'd have a bit more respect for her.  Look, she's a 17 or 18 year old kid.  She's obviously applied the hell out of herself to get good grades.  But either due to incredible ignorance or some lacking bit of character, she's managed to get this far in life and still be utterly clueless.  I'm not advocating any harsh consequences for the kid, but either way, she needs a bit more schooling.  The smartest kid in school should have some idea how the world around her is arranged.

Updated yet again:  Yeah...for not having a whole lot to say about this, I guess I've got a whole lot to say about this.

Thinking about what Space Lady said in the first comment, I've got one more thing to add, which might be the most significant thing about the whole affair when you get right down to it.  I'm probably outing myself as a complete old fart, but when I was in school, at least in Elementary School, we received a grade for "Citizenship".  It was basically a judgment on whether or not one "plays well with others."

Shannon Spaulding seems to have managed to graduate at the top of her class in spite of having zero empathy for her fellow students.  Every one of the students in that auditorium was there to celebrate the achievement of making it through 12 years of schooling. This was not a party to celebrate only your achievement, Ms. Spaulding.  And even if it had been only one student who might have been made uncomfortable by the "speech", Ms. Spaulding's disregard for for the feelings of her fellow students is appalling.  If for nothing else, for this, shame on you Ms. Spaulding.

I'm also saddened by the assumption that she'll probably receive nothing but positive reinforcement from her family and church community.  I'd say, "I hope she's proud of herself" but I'm sure she actually is.
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**I use the term Civil Disobedience because I couldn't come up with a more apt phrase.  Technically, she's not capable, as the valedictorian, of actually breaking the law with her speech...she's not a Government official of any kind.  But she is committing an act that she knows goes against the spirit of the law.  If anyone's got a better description, I'm open to suggestions.

I Was Born With A Plastic Spork In My Mouth.

 Note: This is a screenshot from the movie Spork, which sounds weirdly fantastic.

Elsewhere around the Blogsmos™, some Production Blogs have been talking a bit about long hours, Silver Spoons, and Cell Phones.  What follows, is my shameless attempt to appear to be inspired. I may have touched upon some of this stuff before, but gimme a break...at least I've never published a complete rerun before!

Part, the First:

No matter where you are in your film career, you'll face long hours.  The only difference as time goes by is how you react to them. I used to negotiate my deal to include an absolutely ludicrous rate of pay after working 16 hours.  The fact is, I wasn't doing it to be greedy.  I mean, yeah, I'd take the money if I had to work that long, but my my main point was to discourage Production Managers from keeping me there.  I like to go home.

As I mentioned on Michael's Blog, I got my start working in a Lighting and Grip Rental House, and they had to kick me out of the place every night when they wanted to lock up.  I loved being around all that stuff and a bunch of people who could spend hours trading war stories.  As I also mentioned, it didn't hurt that the place was pretty much fueled by beer after a certain hour every day.  To this day, I honestly have no idea how the boss decided when I had gone off payroll for the day and had transitioned into merely "hanging around" (while continuing to put lights on trucks).  And in hindsight, if anybody reading this ever found an empty Heineken bottle instead of a 5k bulb in your order, you have my humblest apology.  I promise not to do it again.

Part, the Second (which will morph directly into Part, the Third).

Silver Spoon is another term for Political Hires...people who get the gig because they know somebody.  Those of us who got our first jobs the old fashioned way, (because somebody else called in sick and/or by moving an A.D.'s furniture for him), resent the hell out of people who get the job just because they know somebody.  The fact that we're all equally useless on our first jobs makes no difference whatsoever. The fact that most (but assuredly not all) Silver Spoons fall by the wayside fairly quickly is also no consolation.  The fact that I could probably list hundreds of Silver Spoons for you who went on to highly successful careers is also beside the point.  The point is that when you're starting out, there are very few people you can resent and lord it over, so Silver Spoons fill an important niche.

The first job I worked on when I moved to NY in 1986 was a TV movie version of The Saint,* (which I got hired on because a Script Supervisor I knew introduced me to a 2nd A.D. she knew...who gave me the gig because I helped move his furniture -- and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't suck any worse than anybody else he may have been considering).  There was one PA on the show who was a bona fide Silver Spoon.  His uncle was a VP at the company that was financing the show. If Vinnie Barbarino and Arnold Horshack had had a love child, this PA would have been the result.  He was a little rough around the edges.

On the first day of shooting (in the middle of nowhere in The Bronx), he was assigned to get breakfast for the actors as they arrived.  One of the female supporting cast was a woman who fancied herself a real-life incarnation of Lovey Howell.

She was very prim and proper and she oozed entitlement. Anyway, Silver Spoon approaches her as she's arriving at her trailer and asks if he can get her anything for breakfast.  She responded in her veddy-proper  (and totally made up) upper crust British accent, "Why yes, dear boy.  I believe I'd like some banana nut bread and a chilled glass of Evian."  Silver Spoon responded in his best Sweathog delivery, "I'll give it a shot Lady, but have you ever been to The Bronx before?  I'm pretty sure you're gonna be shit-out-of-luck on that one!"  I don't remember what his assignment was on the second day.

On another show, our 2nd A.D. was our 2nd A.D. because he was related to someone at the studio.  I honestly don't remember if he was any good at his job, but I do remember that he was universally despised.   By everyone.  For some reason, he had brought his surfboard with him from California.  Granted, there might have been somewhere for him to go surfing, but we were working 6-day weeks, and it was a little doubtful that he'd have had the time.  The Producer had our office call the hotel one day and claim we needed to get something for him from his room, so could the hotel please let one of the P.A.'s in to get it?  Of course, the hotel thought they were doing him a favor and the PA -- as he was assigned to do -- went in and kidnapped the surfboard.  When the despised 2nd A.D. got back to his room that night, instead of his surfboard, he found a ransom note.  It had a picture of the surfboard juxtaposed with that day's NY Times and some list of ridiculous demands for the surfboard's return.  Every few days, he'd get another ransom note, usually with four or five crew members holding the board -- their heads artfully cropped out of the photo.  The best part was that he could have gotten his board back pretty much anytime he wanted.  The surfboard spent weeks cunningly hidden in his office, which he never visited even once after we started shooting.

I believe I mentioned that he was despised by everyone.  Everyone, in this case, included the male lead in the movie.  The only thing that guy hated more than this A.D. was when a cell phone went off during a take.  This was in the days when not everyone had a cell phone yet and if a 2nd AD didn't have his own, he'd be assigned one by Production to conduct business on set.  A running bit of torment (for the run of the show) was for some random crew member to borrow his phone to call the Production Office and then hand it back to him immediately before a take.  With the ringer turned as loud as it would go.  And, not leaving things to chance, the Production Office would call his phone about a minute-and-a-half later.

In hindsight, I almost feel sorry for the guy.


---------------------------------
*I can find no documentation whatsoever of the existence of this project.  I looked at the IMDB listings for a couple of actors and at least five people I know worked on the thing, and it just isn't there.

Underwear Bomber II*

*Why yes, I did totally steal that from John McLaughlin.

I've been trying to decide how I feel about the whole Anthony Weiner thing (I mean the thing, not his thing, though I'm sure it's a fine thing), and until this morning, I couldn't get past "stupid".  I mean, everything about this has been stupid.  He thought he could tweet his dick to random women and nobody would ever find out. He thought he could claim his account had been hacked and then nobody would think anything of it when he didn't think it was worth investigating.  And now, he thinks he can go into treatment and all will be forgiven. (Sadly, he's probably right, but we'll get back to that).


This morning TMZ published a bunch of pictures Weiner took of himself in the Congressional Gym and looking at them, I've settled on "sophomoric" as the best way to describe this whole mess.  I mean look at those pictures.  He looks like some dumb High School Jock who's so proud of his summer growth spurt that he just has to show it off.  Understandable in a dumb H.S. Jock...not so much in a Congressman.

soph·o·mor·ic
1. Of or characteristic of a sophomore.
2. Exhibiting great immaturity and lack of judgment

Here's the thing, sophomoric behavior is forgivable...among sophomores.  In fact, it's forgivable to a greater or lesser degree from anyone who is still supposed to be growing up.  Teenagers, students, young adults...they all  do stupid things.  It's part of the job description.

Congressmen aren't supposed to behave sophomorically.  They're just not.

I don't blog about a whole lot of political things here.  It's not that I'm not interested...it's just usually beyond my expertise.  I tend not to understand the legal ramifications of some legislation before it's explained to me.  There's a lot of nuance in legislation.  I'm hopeless when it comes to the economy.  And that should be fine.  Ya'see, I have this unreasonable expectation that the people I help elect are better at a lot of things than I am.

They should be better at understanding these things than I am.  They should be better at articulating things than I am. They should be more pragmatic than I am.  In a perfect world, they should even be more empathetic than I am. 

And even if they're younger than me, I'd like them to display a bit more maturity than is expected of me.

Yeah, I said it.  If you want to represent hundreds of thousands of people (directly) and millions (indirectly),  you should be better than I am.

So I'm pissed at and disappointed in Mr. Weiner. During the Heath Care debate, Mr. Weiner was a rock star.  Unfortunately, he seems to have decided he can behave like one.  And now he's going into fucking treatment?

Where? The Betty Ford Center for narcissistic douchebags? Horizons' "Get over yourself" 12 step program?  What exactly is he detoxing from?

Like I said earlier, sooner, rather than later, this will probably all be water under the bridge and all will be forgiven.  And I suppose, in some ways, that's fine.  Sending pictures of your dick to people who don't, apparently, have any major objection to it, shouldn't come with a death sentence. (On the other hand, with a name like Weiner, this isn't going to be one of those things where people eventually forget it happened at all.) 

But here's the thing. The whole treatment thing is utter bullshit.  If you're caught behaving like a child, the solution ought to be a childish one as well.  Children get a "time-out".  Children are sent to their rooms to "think about what you've done".  In my experience, when the kid is finished "thinking about it", the parents tend to have a little talk with them.  And I bet they expect the kid to acknowledge that they "did a bad thing", and "it was bad because "A", "B", and "C"." And that they won't do it again. (They probably will, but it's the thought that counts.)

What I doubt is that the parent would be satisfied if the kid came downstairs and explained that their inner demons, (brought on by feelings of benign neglect and jealousy toward an older sibling), got the best of them, and even though it "wasn't really my fault, it was a sickness", the kid now knows how to keep his inner demons under control.

I'd have a lot more respect for Mr. Weiner (at this point anyway), if he just said, "I'm going away for a while to think about what I've done."

Sometimes, it is someone's fault.

Thursday Photography Challenge (With A Distinct Lack Of Instant Gratification Issues).

On Thursday, Michelle issued a challenge to gather images of some specific things. Once one gets past the question of why one might take orders from the internet, the exercise starts to sound like it might be fun.  So I bit. (If you guessed I wasn't working yesterday, you'd be correct.)

Anyway, here's what I came up with.

A Park Bench.

 Pink Flowers.

A Pink Form of Transportation.

Something Else Pink. 

Something that makes you think of Steampunk (some assembly required).

 Exuberance!

 All done!