Courtesy of mister victor lams:

Scipio You scored 73 Wisdom, 65 Tactics, 59 Guts, and 49 Ruthlessness!

You're most simillar to Scipio in the fact that you're smart and ruthless. Scipio beat Hannibal by luring him back from Western Europe (where he was crushing legion after legion of Roman soldiers trying to gain support from local tribes) by laying seige to his home country of Carthage. Hannibal returned to defend his home and was defeated at the Battle of Zama. Ruthless, but it worked. Scipio was the conqueror of Hannibal in the Punic Wars. He was the son of Publius Cornelius Scipio, and from a very early age he considered himself to have divine inspiration. He was with his father at the Ticino (218), and he survived Cannae (216). The young Scipio was elected (c.211) to the proconsulship in Spain. He conquered New Carthage (Cartagena) almost at once (209) and used the city as his own base; within several years he had conquered Spain. As consul in 205, Scipio wanted to invade Africa, but his jealous enemies in the senate granted him permission to go only as far as Sicily and gave him no army. He trained a volunteer army in Sicily. In 204 he received permission to go to Africa, where he joined his allies the Numidians and fought with success against the Carthaginians. In 202, Hannibal crossed to Africa and tried to make peace, but Scipio's demands were so extreme that war resulted; Scipio defeated Hannibal at Zama (202), returned home in triumph, and retired from public life. He was named Africanus after the country he conquered. His pride aggravated the hatred of his enemies, especially Cato the Elder , who accused the Scipio family of receiving bribes in the campaign against Antiochus III in which Scipio had accompanied (190) his brother. It was only through the influence of his son-in-law, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, that Scipio was saved from ruin. He retired into the country and ordered that his body might not be buried in his ungrateful city. Later he revealed his great magnanimity by his attempt to prevent the ruin of the exiled Hannibal by Rome.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 90% on Wisdom You scored higher than 45% on Tactics You scored higher than 63% on Guts You scored higher than 50% on Ruthlessness

Link: The Which Historic General Are You Test written by dasnyds on OkCupid Free Online Dating

words fail

This is tragic in so many ways. (In case link crashes: an man who was accused of sexually abusing kids while he was a priest in the 1970s killed himself yesterday. After leaving the priesthood - apparently of his volition - he "worked in the mental health field at Parkview and St. Mary-Corwin medical centers as a social worker, substance abuse counselor and behavioral science supervisor.")

How long, O Lord, how long?

Circling the drain: faster, please!

Lately we’ve been getting quite a bit of mail for folks that haven’t lived here in several years. One – from People for the American Way - is worthy of note. It’s a solicitation for contributions to their Supreme Court Defense Fund. (Pay no attention to the fact that only the 100 members of the U. S. Senate properly vote on the nomination (other than as one of many issues in presidential and senatorial elections), broad public participation in this hoopla must be the American Way!)

Time for a mini-fisk of pertinent excerpts.

• . . . the right to speak out against your government’s policies without fear of harm.
. . . the right to live free of unreasonable government searches and seizures.
. . . and the right to worship as you choose . . . even if your choice is different than the president’s.

These and other principles lie at the heart of our democracy – and they have never been more at risk than they are today as politically powerful extremist groups seek to impose their own narrow moral views on the rest of us.

There has never been a greater risk to freedom than there is today, eh? Forget about the Sedition Act, Suspension of Habeas Corpus by Lincoln and the near-dictatorship of Woodrow Wilson. Those are nothing. Forget about the days lynchings were commonplace. Look at al the harm that’s come to Cindy Sheehan, Andrew Sullivan, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Joshua Micah Marshall, Markos Moulitsas al-Zuniga, Bill Maher, Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, John Kerry* and so many others for their opposition to the administration.

But even those horrors pale in comparison with those countless mandatory Methodist Bible studies, exercises and doctrinal interrogations we’ve all experienced. /sark But seriously folks, think this through: Only those who have lived in the Saudi occupied territories or Iran may accuse anyone in a hitherto secular state of advocating theocracy.

• Far right extremist groups want government sponsored prayer in our schools, censors in our libraries and discrimination in our Constitution.

As a living, breathing far right extremist, I take issue with the veracity of that statement. I wouldn’t want government sponsored prayer in this country, because the demands of PC would render it idolatrous. Anyone who’s serious about their own religion would answer the same way. Having a censor in each library would be wasteful – general policies of how public funds should be spent is more reasonable. And who would cry the loudest about things like this, this or even this being in a public library? What sort of discrimination is meant? Is it wrong to discriminate against convicted violent felons by not allowing them the same access to firearms that law-enforcement officers have? Well, I’d have to support that one. But as far as discrimination based on ethnicity or religion, there’s lots more of that coming from the extreme left than from anywhere else on this continent.

• We were among the first to expose the troubling record of Judge John Roberts and we must be prepared to act just as quickly with any additional nominees.

The same Judge John Roberts who is now coasting through to confirmation as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? And the “troubling” part was . . . . Wouldn’t have anything at all to do with, say, his holding religious beliefs that vary from those of PFAW? Didn’t think so. /sark

• With your help, we’ll get our message out through paid and unpaid media.

At least they own up to their biggest assets. And the big finish (in faux handwriting):

• If you’re tired of watching the Radial [sic] Right turn back the clock on our rights and freedoms, please join us today!

Was the pun of “tired” and “Radial Right” intentional? How about the bias [ply] of the extreme left?

The letter was received on 9/20, but was directed more toward Roberts as a candidate for the O’Connor seat than for the Rehnquist seat. They really have the ability to mobilize rapidly in sending dead letters to dead people, don’t they? Must be a consequence of the vitality of their ideals.

*The subject of Unfit for Command.

Very flattering

that someone considers this blog to have a point.

Fight the dictatorship of relativism!

Many weather reports include a notation of the relative humidity, which reflects the fact that air’s capacity for holding moisture increases proportionally to the temperature of the air. Very few folks even know there us such a thing as absolute humidity, let alone what the measures of it would mean.

There is, though, a measure that’s less relative but still easy to grasp: the dewpoint.

The dewpoint is the temperature that must be attained for water to start condensing out of the air with no change to the absolute humidity.

This report includes both relative humidity and dewpoint. When I pulled it the relative humidity at the nearest station was 11% at a toasty 76 degrees F. The dewpoint was 18 degrees F.

Simple scale for determining whether the weather is too dry, too muggy or just right.

If the dewpoint is below 5, it’s dry enough to cause significant inconvenience. Be careful or you’ll get dry skin and perhaps nosebleeds.

If the dewpoint is between 6 and 15, you’ll need to drink lots of water.

If the dewpoint is between 16 and 25, it’s just about perfect.

If the dewpoint is between 26 and 35, it’s a little muggy, but not too much to bear.

If the dewpoint is between 36 and 50, air becomes noticeably heavy and activity becomes increasingly strenuous.

If the dewpoint is above 50, you’re in a location better suited to amphibians than to people.

NB, when the dewpoint is below 32 and the air cools to the dewpoint, you’ll get frost rather than dew.

Odds ‘n middles

I’ve been scarce lately for a few reasons.

We took a great leap forward in the re-landscaping of the front of the house. About three dozen new plants have been in for the past three weeks. Thus watering, weeding and the like consume broad swaths of nearly every day.

We took a nice little vacation. A snapshot or two may be forthcoming.

Weather is finally pleasant. Three consecutive morning walkies with temps in the fabulous 40s: Wahoo! Woot! Yippee-ki-yi-yay! That means the pup and I both have a great deal more life in us than we have had throughout the relentlessly torpid summer, so we both want to stay out longer, roam farther and sniff more things. The temperate conditions and the paucity of daylight also pretty much clear out the park so no one need by offended by my combination of Hawaiian shirt, walking shorts and cap. Let’s get peripatetic!

The planned October trip to the city once known as The Big Easy is, of course, off, having been replaced with a trip to a perfectly lovely town that has no such snappy nickname.

That being said, some things simply must be addressed.

Erik the K goofs – not just once, but an unprecedented three times in one post! First he states that mayonnaise may belong on some sandwiches. Perish the thought! Then he engages in historical revisionism by impugning the validity of placing raw onions on a burger. Tsk. Does he not recall that the burger is an American adaptation of Steak Tartare, of which the onion is an indispensable part? The raw onion on a burger is clearly an appropriate historical reference – so long as the onion is sliced to appropriate thinness. Thirdly, it appears that il miglior fabbro has never had a good onion roll. Of course he’s right about how hard it is to find truly good bacon of late. That being said, even ordinary bacon is better than just about any other food out there. (How come bananas get to call themselves the most perfect food? While the banana is indeed a very good food, bacon is clearly much more perfect!) He’s also right about tomatoes, which we’re fortunate to finally have in abundance in the backyard.

Last night featured two major network TV shows that may not have been net negatives to civilization. That’s pretty astonishing!

First was Bones. Yeah, that one: the 3826th crime investigation show on in primetime, so what? Well, the chemistry between the two main characters is a good deal better than the norm. Better still is the concept of a character who doesn’t just live and die for infotainment. The dazzling sets and gadgets, though, are what really make this something to watch. There’s even contemporary architecture that’s ennobling and inspiring! Are those delicious sets CGI backdrops, real locations or what? (That 3D monitor has now joined the walk-in fridge and the vibraphone as extravagant toys I’d like to eventually obtain.) The whole exercise ends up largely as eye-candy directed at selling more HD sets. Coincidentally, it seems that many ladies’ sentiments toward the leading man are summed up in the preceding sentence. However the show probably won’t last if it continues trying to be too many things for too many people at one time. That’s not all bad as it takes the cliché of the law enforcement hero that simply must break the rules and carries it to hitherto uncharted desert isles of absurdity. Due to commotion, I missed a line where it seemed a character was going to quote – of all people – St. Albertus Magnus. That in itself is worth another viewing.

Then the season premier of House, M.D. – best show on TV this side of The Sopranos. (What is it about Jersey shows?) Sure there are formulaic and predictable facets to each episode and the characters aren’t that well-rounded even yet (could any physician anywhere ever have social skills as advanced as those routinely displayed on this show?), but it is a show that’s willing to glance at the shadows and edges of the things that matter. In our Oprahfied world, that’s rare as can be. Most importantly, this episode touched on an issue of major contemporary interest: does a biological predisposition to engaging in an activity excuse one from fault when he engages in that activity? To their credit, the writers don’t fall into the trap that biological determinism trumps morality at least in the context of bludgeoning people to death. Surprising, since I’d guess that the writers would rush headlong into that trap when it comes to the issue where it’s most often applied.

Times like this bring in the worst in too many people.

Very Weird.

What’s so weird? Not the two more suits regarding Fr. Harold Robert White. There will likely be several more. What’s weird is that one new suit alleges that Fr. White performed Heteronormative Intergenerational Holistic Sex Education as well as the vastly more common Contraheteronormative variety.

Muses, Musing and Music, Music, Music.

A few days back, in preparation for houseguests, I made a batch of pineapple-infused vodka. Good, if very simple stuff: chop up fresh pineapple into little pieces about 1/8th inch thick, put them in a Mason jar, fill jar with vodka, leave in fridge for a few days, strain into a bottle, keep refrigerated until ready to drink. (Some commercially-minded acquaintances call these “Stoli-Doleys”. Sullivan’s steakhouse takes the result, shakes it with crushed ice and sells as the Knockout Martini. I don’t find either name particularly satisfactory.) The beauty of this drink is that it is light and refreshing – only a hint of the pineapple’s sweetness comes through, but it’s just enough of a hint to make it a perfectly effortless drink. Needless to say, the drink is a strong one – if you start with 80 proof you probably end up still north of 78 proof. If you make this, please note that the result does have a yellowish tinge to it that may disconcert some drinkers if they aren’t fully apprised of the potable’s provenance.

When the nectar was ready to be strained and decanted, I was duty-bound to perform some quality control. It was a hot day and the martini shaker wasn’t handy, so I poured a hearty splash over ice into a handy tumbler. That first sample didn’t taste quite right. As hospitality is a weighty responsibility, I simply had to take all necessary steps to be sure everything was up to snuff for our guests. Apparently the problem with the first glass was in the ice, as the second glass was clearly of sterling quality. The tie-breaking third sample was also top-notch. By now it was time to take the dog for afternoon walkies.

I had yet to notice the attenuation of my attention to the mundane as my mind began to wander. I mused a bit about AAE’s “Missa Na Na Hae Hae”. It occurred to me that the Dies Irae could be set to the tune that, depending on your background, is either “Boomer Sooner” or “Boola Boola” if, after each three-line stanza, one just inserts either “Miserere Domine” or “Kyrie Eleison” – they not only scan properly, but they fit the theme of each verse.

By this time we’re strolling through the park and I begin to not only think this through, but sing it – at least the verses that I remembered at the moment – singing loudly, as one would normally sing such a tune. The gents practicing Gaelic Football in the park took note, though I don’t know if they caught on to the text.

So, pace TSO, text messaging isn’t the only text that can get out of hand when mixed with aqua vitae.