Some Blog Site

I heard this week is Band Books Week, where we are supposed to read books that have been overlooked and neglected because, well, they’re about bands. I think it usually starts the last Sunday in September, or something like that.

For my contribution to this week, I am suggesting the following 3 books to people

• The Marching Band Handbook
  This book is a guide for various aspects of marching bands. If you are looking to run a marching band, this might be just what you need.

  If you are not involved in running a marching band, then you’ll probably want to skip this one.

• The Line
  If you want an actual story, instead of a manual, then go for this book. It follows some high-school kids as they navigate the tricky waters of classes, band, and relationships.

  If you are not a girl who is in junior high or high school, then you’ll probably want to skip this one.

• The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life
  Not all bands are marching bands, so here is a book about a pop band. Or rather, a former pop band. Rock band? Alternative rock? Whatever they were, here’s a book about them and their music.

  If you did not have a poster of Morrissey on your bedroom wall when you were a teenager, then you’ll probably want to skip this one.

Disclaimer: I have not read these books, nor am I endorsing them. I have no idea if they are any good. Read them at your own risk.

What books would you recommend for Band Books Week?

Dear Presidential Candidates:

I won’t trust much of what goes on in the campaign; in fact, I won’t even pay attention to it. But if you do want to gain my attention – and my vote – then please include these items in your promises to the American people.

Promise us that

• we will be able to keep our shoes on our feet at the airport;
• we will be able to buy any kind of light bulb we want;
• Presidents’ Day will be observed on the Monday following the first Sunday in February; and
• anyone who tries a pen or marker, sees that it doesn’t work, and puts it back in place (instead of throwing it away) will be fined a day’s pay.

For the second-to-last item, a candidate could promise to observe Groundhog Day on that day, or make up a new holiday. The point is to give us that Monday off, to recover from the Super Bowl.

For that last point, an additional consequence should be that the person cannot vote in the next election. If someone is going to re-elect a writing utensil that everyone agrees is bad, how can he be trusted not to re-elect a bad president, governor, or congressman?

What would you like to add to the list?

No real post today – it’s too hot.

And there was a holiday this week.

And we’ve been busy at home.

But if you want to read something, go read The Eliot Papers.

The phrase “born this way” has the potential to be either inspirational or lazy.

If someone uses the phrase “I was born this way”, pay particular attention to what comes next. Why are they saying they were born that way?

If it’s to excuse their behavior, then it’s lazy.
If it’s to explain their accomplishments, then it’s inspirational.

How were you born?

Helpless and useless.
A burden to society.

But you know what? You don’t stay that way.
You learn, you develop, you become better.
You overcome how you were when you were born.

If you are still how you were when you were born, don’t you think it’s time to grow up?

I wrote about the ban on incandescent light bulbs before, and I’m still against it. The difference between then and now is that now it is affecting me.

The big “downside” about incandescent bulbs is that they produce a lot of heat. But guess what? I already use electricity to heat my house, so it doesn’t matter to me. Can those of us with electric-resistance baseboard heat be exempt from the ban? Now that my light bulbs put out less heat, I have to use more electricity to generate more heat to replace the missing heat.

…and don’t get me started on the demise of the Easy-Bake oven. You’ll be waiting forever to get a CFL to bake anything.

…and pity the poor residents of the chicken coop during the winter, huddling under a CFL that produces no warmth.

I hear incandescent light bulbs being decried as “inefficient”. They are not inefficient – they just multitask. They are good at producing heat and light together. Why is that so bad? What if someone wants both heat and light?

Old-fashioned light bulbs are not dangerous and shouldn’t be regulated by the government. Did the government ban gas lamps to get people to switch over to electric lights? As Americans, we have the right to lights, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Actually, CFLs are more dangerous than incandescents. Does an incandescent bulb contain toxic substances? CFLs do. You can’t just throw a CFL in the trash if it breaks or dies. I would rather use more electricity than contaminate the land with more mercury. But I’m not getting that choice anymore.

The main reason I want to be able to keep buying normal light bulbs is for their dimmability. I have several rooms with dimmers. Standard dimming circuits kill CFLs. I know I could buy new equipment and get dimmable CFLs, but the bulbs are $5 each. That’s over 10 times the price of a regular bulb. Plus I would have to buy a new dimmer switch and install it. All that work, and for what? No tangible benefit for me. (Yes, the CFLs would use less electricity, but the initial cost is so high that we’ll probably move into a new house before we would get the payoff.)

I saw the writing on the wall and started putting CFLs in the house a couple years ago. On my own. Without being mandated.

Why?

Because it made financial sense to do so.

I compared the price of bulbs plus the cost to operate them for CFLs and incandescents and saw that CFLs had to last about 10 or 11 months in order to recoup the purchase price. So as long as they lasted over a year (which they did), I would come out ahead financially.

But only for non-dimmable bulbs.

Next government action: sanctioning the sun because it produces heat in addition to light and is a major contributor to global warming climate change.

Welcome SCL fans!

It’s fun being an SCL guest post-er; I’m wondering what to do to live up to the hype.

.
.
.

I got nothing.

Maybe not nothing – I can point you to the welcome post I put together about a year ago when Jon ran my first guest post.

And for those of you who are reading this but don’t read SCL: I invite you to go read my guest post about Christianizing TV shows.

This might make more sense if you’re familiar with the news story that picked up steam last week about Fannie Mae. If you haven’t been paying attention to the news, read this article or this article to get up to speed, then come back here and continue.

And you should also be familiar with the parable found in Matthew 18:23-35. If you are not, go read the parable of the ungrateful servant, then come back here and continue.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain president, which would take account of his agencies.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed $317,000,000,000.

But forasmuch as it had not to pay, the president commanded it to be sold, and its officers, and all that it had, and payment to be made.

The agency therefore fell down, and pleaded with him, saying, “Mr. President, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

Then the president of that country was moved with compassion, and bailed out the agency.

But the same agency went out, and found one of its mortgagors, which owed it $5,000: and it laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, “Pay me what you owe!”

And the homeowner fell down at its doors, and besought it, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

And it would not: but went and foreclosed the house, till it should be sold at auction.

So when the other mortgagors saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto the president all that was done.

Then the president, after that he had called the agency, said unto it,
“O thou wicked bureaucracy, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy debtors, even as I had pity on thee?”

And the president was wroth, and delivered it unto bankruptcy, till it should pay all that was due unto him.

In case you had trouble following the story:
Original version:
king forgives servant,
servant does not forgive other servant,
king gets mad at first servant.

USA version:
Fannie Mae gets bailed out so that it can help people stay in their homes,
Fannie Mae keeps its money and continues foreclosing on people,
President/Congress gets mad at Fannie Mae.

For a nice ending to the story, we would see some oversight of the quasi-governmental agencies such that the bailout money is used for its intended purpose.

Even better, the bailout money could be taken from them and given directly to the people – cut out the middleman. In which case tax money is taken from the people and then given back to the people. Might as well just not tax ’em.