http://grdurand.com/blogger/ Refudiating liberalism in all its forms. en-us 15 May 2013 14:46:55 GMT 15 May 2013 14:46:55 GMT http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Zeta Woof's BlogWare grdurand@yahoo.com (Gordon R. Durand) grdurand@yahoo.com (Gordon R. Durand) http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/it-gets-worse.html We knew it would. "To monitor compliance with these rules, the IRS and HHS are now building the largest personal information database the government has ever attempted. Known as the Federal Data Services Hub, the project is taking the IRS's own records (for income and employment status) and centralizing them with information from Social Security (identity), Homeland Security (citizenship), Justice (criminal history), HHS (enrollment in entitlement programs and certain medical claims data) and... 15 May 2013 14:46:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/it-gets-worse.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/carolyns-ninetieth.html My mother-in-law Carolyn celebrated her ninetieth birthday this weekend with a big party on Saturday and a family get-together on Sunday. Here she stands surrounded by all her children and most of her grand-children and great-grand-children. 13 May 2013 02:16:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/carolyns-ninetieth.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/out-on-our-walk.html We went by the old railroad bridge just as the sun went down. The light was perfect, but all I had was my phone oh well. 9 May 2013 03:35:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/out-on-our-walk.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/programming-will-resume.html I was doing some work in the garden yesterday afternoon that involveed two shovels, a sledgehammer, and a twenty pound, six foot long, steel pry bar. Really stupid work obviously. At one point I pulled the top of the pry bar toward me really hard and the bottom slipped and I cracked myself smartly on the forehead. With a twenty pound steel bar. I first thought: "That really sounded bad." Then I thought: "I'm sure glad I'm still alive." And finally: "Am I bleeding?" As it turned out I... 3 May 2013 05:23:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/05/programming-will-resume.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/sterling-ditch-tunnel-hike.html In 1877 four hundred Chinamen dug a 26 mile long ditch to bring water from the Little Applegate River to the Sterling Mine. We hiked about three miles along that ditch today. At one point, just to save time, they dug a 100-foot tunnel through a ridge. Naturally, we had to crawl through it. On the way back we saw some fair sized madrone trees. 21 Apr 2013 05:57:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/sterling-ditch-tunnel-hike.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/tab-clearing.html A few bits of bright news that got drowned out by the stupid news about the stupid Chechens in the stupid city of Boston. On Monday morning Lisa Fabrizio penned a brief but brilliant screed which deserves more attention than it got. Tuesday The New York Sun explained why the phrase "value of gold" sounds like the screech of chalk on a blackboard. On Thursday Brigid, perhaps inspired by some pictures in the Daily Mail, wrote about crosswind landings, and Murphy's Law, inspired by another... 20 Apr 2013 04:11:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/tab-clearing.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/push-envelope.html If you don't get audited now and then you're not really trying. 15 Apr 2013 13:58:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/push-envelope.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/thatcherism-lives.html Boris Johnson taunts the taunters. "Ding dong, the Soviet Union is dead! Ding dong, communism is dead! ... Ding dong! Old Labours dead! The Labour Party has given up its ridiculous belief in the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange the slogan that used to be printed on the back of every party membership card. Ding dong, Clause Four is dead as a dodo. But I tell you what, my little Left-wing friends, and all you who think it amusing to break out the... 15 Apr 2013 01:41:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/thatcherism-lives.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/in-mail-today.html More from Alina Ibragimova. Nikolay Roslavets: Violin Concertos. I already have most of the well-known concertos: a half dozen Sibeliuses, three or four Beethovens, Mendelssohns, Tchaikovsky, etc.... From now on I will be going further and further afield. Roslavets I hadn't heard of before now, and I was prepared to be underwhelmed. But the third movement of the 1st, I sat up and listened.... This is good. Real good. 14 Apr 2013 04:36:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/in-mail-today.html http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/insourcing-resourcing-outsourcing.html This is just plain weird. "Indian textile manufacturer Alok Industries is planning to open its first textile mill in the U.S., in an effort to save money on energy costs, a company executive said.... The mill, which would spin U.S.-grown cotton into yarn or thread, would be a major shift in the textile industry. For years the U.S. has shipped its cotton to mills overseas for processing, and then imported the finished products. Mr. Agarwaal said Alok's mill would spin the U.S. cotton and... 13 Apr 2013 02:15:00 GMT http://grdurand.com/blogger/2013/04/insourcing-resourcing-outsourcing.html