I can’t stand one more winter picture, even if we get a blizzard. St. Patrick’s Day is in 7 days. Let’s think ahead and get a little Irish spirit going. Are you Irish? If yes, what is your county of origin? Mine is County Cork and my husband’s is County Tipperary. He is more Irish than I am. His grandmother immigrated as a baby(with the help of her parents). My heritage goes back a few more generations than that.
Who is going to the Manassas St. Patrick’s Day Parade This weekend? One of the Howlers and perhaps two will be participating.
No Irish connection, but corned beef and cabbage plus
soda bread is always consumed around St. Pat’s Day.
Have you been to Ireland? I haven’t. Would like to, though.
I would also. But no I haven’t been to Ireland. I decided a long time ago that there is enough of my own country I haven’t seen.
I wish I could make decent corned beef and cabbage. I just don’t know how to cook the beef right. Elena probably does. She can cook anything. Me, not so much.
My Dad is from Kerry and my Mom from Mayo. I can’t stand cabbage. Spent a month there when I was a teenager. A beautiful place.
Just an FYI… The Senate Climate Action Task Force is going to kick off their ALL night talk about climate change starting tonight and going thru until about 9:00 AM tomorrow morning to bring attention to and demand action on climate change.
Which is a bit odd considering that they (the Democrats) hold a majority in the Senate and control every Senate committee but have yet to put forth any such legislation of their own…. with tonight’s all night discussion are going to demand action? I don’t get it but it sounds interesting.
Also, Senate Climate Action Task Force… is it just me or was this a poor choice for a task force name? S.C.A.T 🙂
@punchak
You’ve inspired me to open the Bushmills early….or perhaps the Jameson.
Hey….alcohol kills germs…maybe it will fix my cold.
You have no choice. Take the medicine.
Huffington Post tweet of the day (@HuffingtonPost)
“Shoe bomb conspirator will testify in trial of Obama bin Laden’s son http://huff.to/1i0mREc”
Didn’t that qualify as some sort of right wing dog whistle back in the day?
Obama? Was that a typo?
@Cargosquid
I’ve been drinking Kilbeggan of late. Not bad and reasonably priced. Tyrconnel 10 Year Old Sherry Cask Finish is supposed to be exceptionally good. They also make a port and a madeira finished single malt.
Is it just Irish whiskey?
Anybody want to talk about “12 Years A Slave”. I think that it didn’t deserve the Oscar – “Wolf of Wall Street” did – but it’s an interesting movie.
The screenplay is brilliant at bringing the brutality and inhumanity of slavery into your face, especially for the first half hour or so. And certainly it’s an interesting story. I need to read that book, actually.
But I think the director made it less of a film than it should have been (even though it was his idea to make it). His infatuation with suffering and darkness is not a trip most of us want to take. I’m not a Steve McQueen fan. His other two films are abysmal (“Hunger” and “Shame”).
The performances in the film were quite good. Michael Fassbender impressed me particularly. Luipta Nyong’o not so much. I’m not convinced that she can act at all. She won an Oscar because the character got whipped brutally, not because she acted it well. There’s a rumor that she and Fassbender are dating. If that’s true, I find it really cute and warm in a way that they could bond while acting a role where he rapes and chokes her, and eventually has her whipped to a pulp. Is that just me? She says that he was her rock and that they held hands before and after acting out their more brutal scenes.
Had to watch it twice to even start liking it. I think I have a handle on it now. Great script, bad director.
Sas “12 years a slave” last Saturday and, you know, I felt the same way
you did. I believe it was the subject matter rather than the entire production
that gave it the Oscar.
As for “Wall Street” / well, I couldn’t take it; walked out before the end.
But that might be because of the age gap.
Yeah, “Wolf” is not for everybody.
Nebraska was a great movie. Watch it and agree.
Is Nebraska on Netflix?
I liked “Nebraska”. It gets an A- from me. it was poetic, and funny. Moves a little slowly for some people, but a good movie in my book.
If anyone hasn’t seen “Philomena” yet, that’s a great movie.
When will Philomena be at Amazon or Netflix?
My favorite film from all of last year was “What Masie Knew”, which is on Netflix. So is a very interesting documentary on Wikileaks, “We Steal Secrets”. So is the explicit French romance “Blue is the Warmest Color”, which is a great movie IMO. And so is a documentary about the extreme murderous homophobia in Ugunda, “Call Me Kuchu”, which i can guarantee will bring tears to your eyes and change the way you see the world. Netflix rocks.
@Rick Bentley
I liked “Philomena” a whole lot!!!
“Philomena” is one of those films that I can’t imagine that anyone would not like. It’s an easy watch and at the same time is about deep things. Great movie.
@Rick Bentley I just saw “What Maisie Knew” on a recent flight, and I thought it was absolutely stunning. The character development was amazing.
Another compelling movie (if you don’t mind subtitles) is the 2008 German movie “Die Welle” (“The Wave”). It’s about a high-school teacher who runs an experiment to prove to his skeptical students that a dictatorship is still possible in 21st-century Germany. It’s on Netflix.
Thanks Emma. I’ll put that on my queue. Glad you liked “What Masie Knew”!
Malaysian: Investigators conclude flight hijacked
By EILEEN NG and JOAN LOWY
3 hours ago
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Investigators have concluded that one or more people with significant flying experience hijacked the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, switched off communication devices and steered it off-course, a Malaysian government official involved in the investigation said Saturday.
No motive has been established and no demands have been made known, and it is not yet clear where the plane was taken, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. The official said that hijacking was no longer a theory.
“It is conclusive,” he said.
He said evidence that led to the conclusion were signs that the plane’s communications were switched off deliberately, data about the flight path and indications the plane was steered in a way to avoid detection by radar.
The Boeing 777’s communication with the ground was severed just under one hour into a flight March 8 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Malaysian officials previously have said radar data suggest it may have turned back toward and crossed over the Malaysian peninsula after setting out on a northeastern path toward the Chinese capital.
Earlier, an American official told The Associated Press that investigators are examining the possibility of “human intervention” in the plane’s disappearance, adding it may have been “an act of piracy.”
http://news.yahoo.com/malaysian-investigators-conclude-flight-hijacked-035744022.html
Mosby needs to know that shamrocks have 3 cleaves, not 4. My grand-puppy is a Chihuahua named Mosby. This is not his real picture but it looks like like him.
@Starryflights
But where did it go? How do you hide something as large as that plane?
There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama!
http://youtu.be/EADUQWKoVek
Who knows? Maybe they crashed. This is absolutely incredible.
It really is incredible and no good can come of it. It’s like the plane was abducted by aliens.
No more snow pictures!
Well, I don’t have any pictures, but by Jove, it is snowing –
on March 16!
@Starryflights
It was reported days ago that the transponder was turned off. Wonder why it took so long to conclude that human intervention/hijacking was likely. Were the Malaysians being especially careful, or were they embarrassed, or were they concerned their military might have made a mistake?..?..?
@Cargosquid
That sure got me in the mood.
Thanks for posting it. I might have to do a thread.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24995670/video-motorist-captures-snow-plow-driving-the-wrong-way-on-virginia-road#axzz2wEw1W7pH
Be careful up your way. I know this is the county next door…but….
I love listening to all these experts discuss the missing Malaysian flight. From not knowing why the cell phones are not being answered to ‘knowing’ the auto pilot was manually changed to blaming Obama’s Iran policy. Many of these experts are laughable – yet, there are many people that hang on every word said by these people and the pundits that employ them.
Old Gaelic Blessing
May those who love us, love us. And those that don’t love us, may God turn their hearts. And, if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.
So…where does everyone think that plane went?
Last thing I saw was a report out of the Maldives islands of a low flying jet going from N to SE with a red stripe on it.
http://www.haveeru.com.mv/news/54062
Forgot the link.
@Cargosquid
alien abduction
Well, they are certainly on ‘The Island’. Someone just needs to go the the DHARMA Initiative headquarters over there on Wellington and find the current location of the island. I will lead a team of volunteers – any volunteers?
Apologies to anyone directly affected by this tragedy.
Oops….just reviewed my link.
The report said that the plane crossing the Maldives: It was flying north to south-west, according to the report.
The only things in that direction are the Seychelles and Madagascar and other islands.
So what happened after that terrible explosion in New York?
New about that is nowhere to be found in the news.
I’m totally out-planed! Experts!!! Nobody knows!
All I know is that it was a gas explosion. Not much as been said about it.
@punchak
It was a gas leak.
I heard that some of the pipes involved in the gas leak dated to 1887 or so.
I guess I didn’t realize they used natural gas back then. Yes, I have heard of gas lights. I never thought much about it though.
You are talking to the person who thinks electricity is magic.
Just as I predicted Moon… the second sign has now come, get your affairs in order… after the third and final sign the markets will crash. If you prepare now you can absorb losses, if you don’t then get ready to watch your $$$ vaporize into this air:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-19/u-s-stock-index-futures-are-little-changed-before-fomc.html
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101507905
I am not that spooked at the moment. Everyone likes to be a prognosticator.
If you are spooked, invest in things people are going to buy regardless. Health insurance, food, clothing, medicine.
Spring 2015 is the current popular prediction for a severe market downturn. I would say it will be a bit before that, it will start slow at first and then steamroll. Not quite the 2008 crash but maybe 1/2 that.
What are you basing your opinion on?
How are you going to prepare for it?
From the SON blog:
AnonymousMarch 19, 2014 at 1:53 PM
response:
Eh, does it matter? Has what I said would happen happened? There is a long and short of it… listen to me, don’t listen to me, I really don’t care… protect your assets pre-Spring 2015 or don’t. If you do worst case scenario you lose out on minimal gains, best case you save yourself hard earned capital.
How I’m preparing for it is irrelevant. I’ve already said a few ways… Everyone is different, amount invested, age, % contribution… too many variables. What I do would make no sense to a 60+ year old with a ton of capital v.s. a 30 or 40 year old with tons, or meager, capital. Everyone is unique and their investments are no different.
I think in case of a crash whatever protected your assets would be a good thing. The problem is, knowing when to get out and when to get back in. You might have better luck at the race track.
I have a friend who got out in time but never got back in. So as far as I can tell, that is a wash.
I tend to stay away from financials and avoided the gold craze. Was it smart? It all depends on timing.
@Moon-howler
Big fire on Woodstock early this morning.
I went by around 3 and saw nothing. They must have cleaned up real fast. Did the house go or just the shed?
and now for some good news – Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist has passed away. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/20/291909137/westboro-baptist-church-founder-rev-fred-phelps-dies
Sorry, but I cannot help it, but I feel no remorse. If his funeral was close to here, I would probably attend, err protest.
@Moon-howler
The back corner of the house and roof have damage. They had the roof tarped up shortly after noon. The house at the end of KG’s back side vinyl was damaged. Very lucky that it was not windy. Or would have been a lot worse.
Unpublished on another blog.