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JimmyC
We spent the day at the Botanical Gardens
Gotta love a warm summer afternoon and wonderful kids!
Just finished it - the last few chapters pulled me so far in it woke me up. Ellen’s light is on; Maia carries my light. She will someday carry my Talisman. Never can despair overcome the hope of the light in a child. Good stuff.
Phi Tau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I had no idea -
The stylized Greek letters ΦΣΚ appear in a wrought iron railing on the southwest corner of the 1928 residence, photographed in 1995.
Is there anything more frustrating then a passive aggressive person. Its that combination of punch-n-tickle with blind "I don’t know what you mean" after a mean comment. You hear it from people who are close enough to you to know about you and yet somehow hostile towards you. Whether its in a competitive situation or socially stressful, or a personal spat between friends or lovers.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it: passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following authoritative instructions in interpersonal or occupational situations. It can manifest itself as resentment, stubbornness, procrastination, sullenness, or repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is assumed, often explicitly, to be responsible. It is a defense mechanism and, more often than not, only partly conscious. For example, people who are passive-aggressive might take so long to get ready for a party they do not wish to attend, that the party is nearly over by the time they arrive. Alternatively, leaving notes to avoid face-to-face discussion/confrontation is another form of passive-aggressive behavior.
I know I’ve done it, sometimes I’m just outright aggressive. And more then not - it makes me aggressive when someone is passive aggressive
Bob Dole Defends John McCain in Letter to Rush Limbaugh - You Decide 08!
I used to listen to Rush but I don’t anymore. I’m 42, working hard to give my family the best and tired of angry mindless airbags like Rush.
The way he spins, is no different then Hannity or the other liberal loud mouths. For example, he sums up what he thinks is a slam at Dole - saying Dole told Hannity that he didn’t support McCain, this is from Rush’s website and radio talk show:
From Hannity’s show: “DOLE: My heart’s kind of with McCain, but you know, again, I’ve stayed out of it. I don’t have any dog — I don’t want to say dog, some may say that’s saying we don’t have a good candidate, but I don’t have anybody in this fight.”
From Rush’s show (they weren’t talking to each other) RUSH:
“So he sends me the letter. He wants to sing the praises of McCain and he ends up saying on television last night, he doesn’t have anybody in this fight. Let me read to you the letter. "Dear Rush: I’ve not seen yo…”
“…. All I know is they raise huge question marks. But to sit here and to witness the manipulation of Bob Dole with a letter to me leaked to the public, to criticize Mitt Romney for attacking a war hero when no such thing happened; when Bob Dole’s letter is not an endorsement of anybody; when Bob Dole’s le…”
“….Here’s the quote: "If I believe the country will suffer with either Hillary, Obama, or McCain, I would just as soon the Democrats take the hit rather than a Republican causing the debacle, and I would prefer not to have conservative Republicans in the House and Congress paralyzed by having to support out of party loyalty a Republican president who is not conservative."
….."If I believe the country will suffer with either Hillary, Obama, or McCain, I would just as soon the Democrats take the hit rather than the Republicans cause the debacle." By "if," I meant it’s unknown yet. It’s in the future. This is February, folks. The general election is November, and what I meant when I told this to Howard Kurtz, "if," parentheses, "down the road I think…" It’s an open question yet, and yet everybody reading this thinks that I’ve just said, "Screw it! I’m voting Hillary or Obama." That’s not what that meant to say. I clarify it.”
Rush you don’t know what you meant to say or what you are saying half the time. Dole said his heart is with McCain - he does support him, he just isn’t sure he can win. Does Rush actually think Huckabee or Romney will win? I think Rush wants Hillary to win so he has something to talk about on his show for the next four years! That is disgraceful!
The conservatives in this country are really disappointing me with the way they are attacking McCain and Dole. This is a damn good letter and very reasonable. Mitt’s just saying what they want to hear and polarizing with positions on Abortion and Immigration that just create an enormous amount of insane focus on issues that won’t determine my children’s future. All the talk about McCain not supporting tax cuts is half-told. If the congress would cut spending he would support them. I like his positions there too. I’m more concerned with psychotic fundamentalists blowing up my countries buildings, out of hand spending in congress and by our current president, and the promise of a president the world will respect. I don’t see that with Mitt, Huckabee is a good talker but I don’t see it there either and certainly not with the Democratic candidates. Come on, an egomaniac and a child? Grow up people and lets fix the real problems.
I wonder sometimes where the boys we watched turn into men end up. John broke all of our hearts as he threw his temper tantrums and wasted his talent. Glad to see he is still playing:
Maryland Basketball: Where Are They Now?: John Gilchrst Goes Back to Israel Again posted in this very useful weblog (though I find the spelling of John’s last name either wrong or an unnecessary abbreviation. Interestingly enough - we will have a new Gilchrist at MD next year - Augustus Gilchrist.
Interesting website - none the less. I didn’t know Nick Caner-Medley was with Gran Canaria Grupo Dunas (Spain), Ibekwe was with Gilboa/Afula (Israel), at least these men are seeing the world!
Ahh- Macworld. The future is next week. CIS has some cool
In an article in today’s WSJ Business Tech blog:
Apple chose today to announce two new high end computers the week before Jobs takes the stage
I love my Mac Pro - wish I had one of these. Ahh, the processing power, but FinalCut is working for me now, enough power. But still - to upgrade to a new processor - maybe I’ll hack someday. Can’t wait to see what Steve has for us next week. The blog Wingfield @ the WSJ wrote about that too. The wafer thin powerbook - I’m not excited about it yet. When they come out with a multi-touch OSX mac I’ll start pressing IT for one.
As for today’s Stock Tank!!! "Oh Apple, if there’s been a fool around - its got to be me." As I watched you tickle $200/share and now back to the November number of $171 - This happened last time you made a big announcement - iPhone’s in Europe. We are heavy in this one, in the IRA so we won’t sell but its painful. Makes me think to buy more after we just cashed in a bit to buy some Citi which also tanked. I thought it was the bottom for the financial sector but it’s not there yet. Countrywide may "go away" and the rest are suffering. Looked at it like a strong Dividend play - may still be for the long run, but if they cut that dividend - I’m all wet. Time to shift to even more safe stuff like more into P&H where we are already heavy and Coke where we probably didn’t put enough.
A business associate of mine - Commercial Banker is retiring, had a nice conversation with him. He is one of quite a few I know in the past few years. At 42, its a leading indicator that I have to stay serious. So what happens when Steve Job’s retires - Bill’s on his way out, its only a matter of time.
And now to the politics. Can you believe this - all they talk about is change. Change CHANGE! even the republicans want change. The funny thing is, Bush can’t run again so there is going to be change 
regardless. So what I want to know is - change to what. I know we need it, I don’t like what the Dems are proposing, I don’t know what the Repls are proposing. Its all reteric now - I quite frankly don’t trust Hillary and Mit - they both have changed what they are saying so much - that thats all I can count on in regard to change from them. I fall back to McCain as that is about all I can do. I just wish I could get comfortable with a guy like Huckabee - but I’m Jewish and don’t know what that means to him. So we have some time - and time to change, my mind. 
So I read in the NY Times today that Harvard is going to increase financial aid
to middle class families so that they would pay approximately 10% of their income. The fact is, Harvard can do this because they have a $35 Billion endowment. This is fantastic news but raises the question about why it costs so munch in the first place. It costs $45,000 per year to attend this school and those like it, and those like it. Think about that - if my three (3) children wanted to go there it would mean that either I would have to save or they would have to take loans for $540,000. Over a half a million dollars!!! Now I’m not saying its not worth it - or am I. I just don’t get it.
Why does it cost so much - this is the average for top quality schools in the US. You have the information - the stuff they learn. The teachers - the way that its taught. The tools - facilities, classrooms, labs, etc. The dorm rooms and social/athletic stuff - not even that big of a deal. I’m amazed.
I guess the endowment will help. And I suspect it proves that it really doesn’t cost that much to attend these schools. From another article in the times a few weeks back:
Officials said the policy would cut costs by a third to 50 percent for many students and make the real costs of attending Harvard comparable to those at major state universities.
This will make it even more competitive to get into Harvard, unbelievably hard. Imagine now all of these upper middle class students - who have not even tried anymore - applying. Interesting shake up. My kids, at this point, are smart enough to go to any of these schools. Will they mature in a responsible manner, study hard and have the grades to continue on that path - I have no idea, only hope for the opportunity. But this does change things as I had always ruled out Ivy League as an option.
I love reading Walt’s tech column in the WSJ, not just because he is also a Mac fan but also because he always has a positive and enlightening approach to most subjects, even techie ones. Today I found his weblog and this is a great article on a positive situation in Israel and Jordan. Here Walt talks about the fact that the peace process between the two countries is working and it is possible for the people of both countries to not only get along but work together: Peace in the Mideast, With Great Cellphone Coverage . I think this is wonderful and a model for the possibilities. I wonder if it’s possible for cooperation someday as there is in Asia between Japan, China and the other countries in Asia who for centuries were sworn enemies. Japan is the economic powerhouse and the countries around have learned from them, trade with them and now are on equal ground. Would you call Korea Jordan? I’ve written here how most of these Arab countries are simply extensions of kingdoms. How I feel that the borders are fabrications and simply the result of previous empires leaving - England, France, Rome, Persia, Greece - all built these borders. Are there really Jordanians, Palestinians, Kuwaitis, Iraqis, Israelis? Or are these people from ancient times in kingdoms that replaced empires, countries created out of convenience or voids. Foreign countries drew these lines after world wars. We do know there are Persians, Arabs and Jews, Kurds, Hindus, etc. These are cultures that could be countries; but that’s another topic.
What I can say is Walt hit the nail on the head - a border is just a crossing and it can be a gateway to discovery and possibilities when your perspective is positive. Thanks Walt for stepping out of the box, tapping your experience and shedding some light and love.
