A headline you’re not likely to see in the U.S.

‘Horny arrested in Fresnillo’

Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 12:45 pm
STAFF / NTRZACATECAS.COM

Fresnillo.- Two minors were brought before the judge qualifier after they were found scantily clad inside the unit in which they were traveling.

Elements of the Municipal Public Security Bureau (DSPM) conducted a tour of surveillance and noticed that the glass of a vehicle were fogged, so down from the radio patrol to check the unit.

The vehicle was a Chevrolet, Chevy type, model 1999, silver, no license plates; inside minors having sex.

The unit and violators were available to the Qualifier judge on duty, who asked that they be brought to the parents to make a decision for their children moral offense committed.

The arrest took place at 19:35 hours on Sunday, on the Rio Lerma Street, Colonia Linda Vista.

http://ntrzacatecas.com/2016/09/27/detienen-a-calenturientos-en-fresnillo/

A possible book title

In 1923, the Texas Legislature ended hanging as the state’s method of execution, bringing Texas into civilized line with most other states. No longer would death sentences be carried out by hanging at the county seat where the crime occurred. Now, the state would electrocute its capital criminals.

Executed Today remarks:

“Denouncing countyseat [sic] executions as a barbaric relic of the frontier past, L.K. Irwin launched a one-man campaign to bring Texas in tune with the times. The state legislator converted many to his cause with the argument that public hangings harmed society almost as much as the condemned.

“Irwin insisted executions usually degenerated into bloodthirsty carnivals that did nothing to instill in spectators a respect for the law. All too often untrained local officials made the spectacle even more gruesome, when the drop failed to snap the victim’s neck. On those occasions, he slowly strangled in full view of females and impressionable children.

“In the 1923 session of the Lone Star legislature, Irwin introduced the Electric Chair Bill. In addition to doing away with the gallows, the proposal relieved county sheriffs of the responsibility of the carrying out death sentences.Future executions would be held behind closed-doors inside the Texas Department of Corrections.”

http://www.executedtoday.com/2010/08/31/1923-nathan-lee-angleton-last-public-hanging-in-texas/

In all that is a good title for a book: “In Full View of Females and Impressionable Children.” Maybe the book would be about politics.

Greenfield, Okla., population drop

Greenfield is in southern Blaine County, in West Central Oklahoma. Census numbers in 2000 showed 123 people. By 2010, that number had dropped by 30. The town’s all-time high was 233 in 1980.

2000 census shows 88.2% residents were White; 9.76% Native American; and 1.63% African-American. Twenty percent of families and 17.6% of total population lived below the poverty line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenfield,_Oklahoma

Hometown Locator says the July 1, 2016, population was 119. Greenfield has 71 housing units -- 46 owner-occupied, 8 renter-occupied, and 16 vacant. Average household size was 2.2, average family size at 3. In Oklahoma’s 632 ZIP codes, Greenfield’s 73043 ranks 596 in population.

Here is a satellite photograph: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7304484,-98.3888596,4936m/data=!3m1!1e3

A few miles outside town there are quite a few oil wells.

All you have to do is convince people you are an artist

I stumbled across Leah Ceriello while searching for something else. In a January 2016 interview by Callie Garp, Ceriello talked about her art:

“I consider myself to be a cross disciplinary artist. I use durational performance, performance art walks, performative sculptural experiments, text, photographs, documents and other ephemera to explore time.

“Ever since I can remember– I’ve sort of been obsessed with the difference between perceived, or lived time that humans experience, versus deep geologic time– the time of mountains, and glaciers, and deserts, and stars.

“Recently, I’ve also begun to incorporate weaving, spinning, and natural dyeing into my practice– looking at techniques and methods that are sort of specific to humans pre industrialization. I like to think of my participation in these modes of working as sort of part of an unbroken line running throughout human history. Who knows how long humans have been spinning & weaving some sort of fiber into cloth, and then dyeing it– using very simple technology. I mean, the first spindles were literally rocks. Pretty amazing– in terms of multiple levels of time operating simultaneously.”

http://www.fabulouslyfeminist.com/eco-justice-art-ethics/

“Ceriello explores our place as the organic up against the inorganic, the human body as a temporary earthly placeholder acted upon.”

From a piece in another edition of “fabuously feminist**:”

“On October 15, 2014, Leah Ceriello presented a thirty-minute performative work utilizing her signature medium, geologic material (this time, 100 lb. of gravel) to address existence, mortality, and other aspects of the human condition.

“Upon entering the room, the artist was in place. Dressed in black, she lay prone on the mound of gravel in the center of the room, a single spotlight above her, arms outstretched with head, hands, and feet exposed. On approach, the installation appeared as a geographic place, an aerial view, thus distinguishing itself from the rest of the space.”

http://www.fabulouslyfeminist.com/leah-ceriello/

** “Art for Social & Eco Justice”

Art is a woman lying on a bed of gravel. Riiight.

’18 Things Feminism Has Destroyed’

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/things-feminism-has-killed?utm_term=.aw2LLq7Aa#.wu100YoJz

Link at http://ace.mu.nu/

Williford, Arkansas – odd statistics

Williford is in Sharp County, northeast Arkansas, with a small area touching Missouri. The 2010 population was 75, up from the 2000 census count of 63.

Detailed 2000 numbers showed: 32 households, 18 families and 46 housing units. Racial makeup: 96.83% White; 3.17% two or more races.

Twenty-five percent of households had a child under 18; 43.8% of households were married couples living together. Forty percent were made up of individuals. Thirty percent of families and 29.6% of the total population lived below the poverty line, including 71.4% of those under 18. No one 65 or older was living in poverty.

The town has a couple of stone buildings; one is a library.

Here is a satellite view: https://www.google.com/maps/@36.2507463,-91.3609756,1622a,20y,3.75t/data=!3m1!1e3

In 1930, Williford’s population was 357.

“Williford is a small community located in the eastern part of Sharp County near the Spring River, one of Arkansas’s most popular streams for recreational floating. During the early twentieth century, it was one of the county’s largest and fastest-growing towns, but since then it has experienced a steady decline resulting in an almost nonexistent business district and a population of fewer than eighty citizens.

“By 1890, the town consisted of three general stores, a saloon, a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a one-room schoolhouse, a doctor’s office, and a post office. By the turn of the century, the population more than doubled. In 1907, a steel frame bridge was constructed across the Spring River, stimulating growth. The Sharp County Bank was established by 1911, and, in 1912, a ten-room hotel was opened for business. Finally, on December 8, 1914, the town was officially incorporated.”

In 2004 the local school district merged with Oak Ridge Central School to become Twin Rivers school system. Twin Rivers closed in 2010.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=5984#

Mariners suspend Clevenger for tweets

That didn’t take long.

"The Seattle Mariners has suspended catcher Steve Clevenger for the remainder of the Major League Baseball season over controversial tweets in which he called the Black Lives Matter movement and President Barack Obama 'pathetic.'

"Clevenger posted a series of comments on Twitter on Thursday, two days after Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man, was fatally shot by police in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"The Mariners catcher appeared to suggest that those protesting against Scott’s shooting should be locked up 'like animals.' He also mocked athletes who have been protesting by kneeling during the national anthem at sports events.

"'Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha s--t cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the anthem!' Clevenger tweeted on Thursday.

"'BLM is pathetic once again! Obama is pathetic once again! Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals,' another tweet from his account read.

"Several Twitter users captured screen grabs of the posts. Clevenger has since made his account private."

Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto: “As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve yesterday we began to examine all of our options in regard to his standing on the team. Today we have informed him that he is suspended for the remainder of the season without pay.”


http://abcnews.go.com/US/seattle-mariners-suspend-steve-clevenger-tweets-labeling-black/story?id=42327292

Clevenger said his comments were “beyond poorly worded” but not racist, rather reaction to recent events in the news.

Everybody has the right to free speech. And team bosses have the right to suspend or trade or release a player for just about any reason.

Waiting for the player's union to protest "without pay" part of the suspension. Waiting ... Waiting ...

Probably alien H3 visas

“Seriously, I don’t know when exactly that UFO landed and dumped all these stupid people, but they apparently aren’t coming back for them.”

http://favim.com/image/583183/

Prediction: Mariners catcher Steve Clevenger will not get ESPN award for courage

Clevenger said protesters in Charlotte “should be locked behind bars like animals” and had some choice words for the 49ers third-string quarterback, as well as Soros-funded racist Black Lives Matter.

While the Mariners “are very disappointed” at Clevenger’s tweets and say “he is certainly free to express himself,” the club is “examining all internal options available to us as we determine appropriate next steps.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mariners-catcher-critical-of-black-lives-matter-after-charlotte-protest-001408008.html

Clevenger’s tweets definitely take him out of the running for any ESPN awards, such as Whatizface Jenner for courage and a “humanitarian” award to a few non-white University of Missouri football players.

Loveland, Oklahoma, population 13

That’s right – 13. By the 2010 census. By 2015, the population had dropped 7.7%, to 12. The highest ever population was 191 in 1920.

In the 2000 census, 100% of the households were married couples living together. For every 100 females 18 and older, there were 100 males. (How that figure is determined in a town of 14 – Well, the government makes the formula.)

No individuals or families were living below the poverty line. Of the 14 population of 2000, 92.86% were white; 7.14% were African-American.

Loveland is in far Southwest Oklahoma, in Tillman County, which borders Texas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveland,_Oklahoma

oklahoma.hometownlocator.com says there is a vacant housing unit in Loveland. Of 731 Oklahoma towns ranked on population, Loveland is 724. It is Number 496 in per capita income.

http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=LO022

has additional information.

“Located in Tillman County, Loveland (formerly Harriston) is located thirteen miles due east of the county seat of Frederick and six miles south of State Highway 5 on County Roads E1870/N2360. The town was carved from portions of two cotton farms when the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway (acquired by Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway in 1911) extended its line from Wichita Falls, Texas. Harriston was founded on July 27, 1908, by G. V. Harris, Charles A. Swartz, and Frank Kell. Located in the newly opened Big Pasture, Harriston was situated near the train depot. The Post Office Department denied the requested designation of Harriston, because it was similar to other Oklahoma town names. Although the reason for the choice of Loveland is unknown, it is generally believed that it was selected either by postmaster Tom McCracken or local merchant E. C. Duncan. The Loveland post office opened October 23, 1908.

“By 1911–12 Loveland was an agricultural trade center with approximately three hundred residents. Several companies and individuals operated three grain elevators, one of which continued in service until the 1990s. Two cotton gins remained active until wheat replaced cotton as the major money crop. Hardware, grocery, clothing, lumber, and petroleum-product establishments catered to the farm families.

“An early-day weekly newspaper, the Loveland Journal, informed the local citizenry. Baptist and Methodist church congregations established early meeting places. Polk School, located near the northwestern corner of the townsite, first served public education needs. The last high school graduating class was in 1957, and the elementary school closed in 1961. In 1920 the town's population had declined to 191. By 1950 and 1970 numbers were 96 and 36, respectively. At the turn of the twenty-first century Loveland had 14 citizens, and in 2010 it had 13.

"Loveland has received its most widespread acclaim because of its name. Romantically inclined individuals send their Valentine greetings to be mailed and postmarked from Loveland. The postmaster later added to the service by affixing a red, heart-shaped rubber stamp bearing the words, "Valentine Greetings from the heart of the Big Pasture, Loveland, Ok.’"

Hard times in Cement, Oklahoma

Cement is in Caddo County, in the southwest part of the state. The 2010 population was 501. The town’s biggest population was 1,117 in 1930. Racial demographics for 2010 show 87% white; 8.1% Native American; 2.64% African-Merriman; and 1.89% Hispanic or Latino.

“About 24.6% of families and 27.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.3% of those under age 18 and 24.7% of those age 65 or over.” (Wikipedia)

Clinton Manges, Texas oilman and financial robber, was born in Cement in 1923. His parents were sharecroppers. Manges picked cotton in Oklahoma and worked at a gas station in Texas before hitting big money … somehow.

A satellite view https://www.google.com/maps/@34.9400903,-98.1372666,1554m/data=!3m1!1e3

shows a bunch of oil wells, most with new storage tanks. Land is mostly open.

Eastern Europe remembers fall of Constantinople, siege of Vienna

Ancestors lived under Muslim rule or threat for centuries.

EU rulers open borders to Muslim invaders.

“Since the fall of Constantinople in 1453, much of Eastern Europe's Christian population spent centuries under Islamic occupation, particularly under the Ottomans. It now seems that the clock has reverted to 1683, when Ottoman armies were at the gates of Vienna.”

…

“Brussels is whipping up a propaganda war to cast the Western Europeans, who favor unvetted Muslim migration, as cosmopolitan and tolerant, and Eastern Europeans as a bunch of xenophobic bigots, if not outright neo-Nazis.”

…

“Europe's educated elite might do well to listen to their Eastern brethren. These countries, ironically, are the core of the "new Europe," the last to join the European project and the very countries, having escaped from authoritarian regimes, which should have revived it. Brussels' policy is now pushing this Eastern bloc back under Russia's sphere of influence.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8972/eastern-europe-christianity-islam

EU rulers in Brussels should listen to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who remembers “Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity.”

Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

Stalin was a victim?

Bust of the dictator emplaced in Siberian town earlier this month by Russian Spirit movement.

"The idea came up when we were celebrating the 70th anniversary of victory [over Hitler's Germany in 1945]," Russky Dukh activist and Communist Party member Denis Khanzhin told RFE/RL. "To honor the leader of that victory: Generalissimus Josef Stalin."

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-surgut-stalin-bust/28004817.html

Survivors of Stalin’s repression do not agree.

“Pavel Akimov, one of the organizers of the project to remember Stalin's victims, told RFE/RL what happened to him and his parents, independent farmers who were sent to Surgut from Tyumen Oblast in 1930.

"’First they were sent to Tobolsk,’ says Akimov, 71. ‘Then to Khanty-Mansiisk, which was then called Ostyako-Vagulsk. From there, people were scattered around. My parents and others were simply dropped off on the banks of the river. They were given a few axes and shovels and told to dig themselves some bunkers. It was autumn. They were left to the whims of fate to survive.’"

But, countered a present-day Stalin supporter: “(T)here is no reason for the descendants of the exiled to object to the Stalin monument. After all, he says, the dictator gave their relatives work when he evacuated a fish cannery to the city from Odesa, in Ukraine, during the war.”

(That's right. Stalin could have shot the resettled, but instead, he gave them work. And, work makes one free.)

“Moreover, Stalin himself, Khanzhin claimed, ‘was a victim of [Soviet leader Nikita] Khrushchev's political repressions.’"

Stalin was three years dead when Khrushchev gave a secret speech on Stalin’s murderous reign.

If you don't have a gun, your car might do the job

From This Ain’t Hell:

“In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a man went to the ATM with his wife and child. Another man confronted him with a gun and took his money from the ATM. The victim got back in his car and started to leave, but he remembered his ATM card was still in the machine so he returned, so did the thief. The victim proceeded to run over the criminal with his car. Then he got out of his car, took his money back and got the ATM card and drove off again until he had to explain it to the police. They viewed security camera footage and determined that the story checked out and as soon as the crook gets out of the hospital, he’ll be arrested.”

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=68047

Red State used to make sense

Now, it’s a joke, like almost all other establishment self-identified Conservative sites.

See for yourself.

http://www.redstate.com/

Popular baseball player

In three Major League seasons, Tom Dowse played 163 games, at catcher, first base, second base, all three outfield positions and he even pitched a game in 1890. The lifetime .197 hitter was quite popular in 1892 – he played for the Louisville Colonels (.195), the Cincinnati Red Stockings (.000), the Philadelphia Phillies (.185) and the Washington Senators (.259).

On Dowse trades, baseball-almanac.com lists only one transaction – Released by Louisville Colonels (July 15, 1892).

Stop the stupid

If somebody where I worked had this on his/her/their/zhe/zhis (or whatever tf kind of supposed pronoun people want to throw around these days) coffee mug …

Gender is between the ears
Sex is between the legs
Attraction is between the heart

… I would tell my supervisor I was offended and to tell the offender to stop offending me.

Take a play from their playbook. Stop the stupid.

(Attraction is between the heart? What kind of physiology are we dealing with here?)

There was a link to the mug, but adding the link would only encourage more stupid.

Vinson, Okla., gives some unusual statistics

Vinson is in Harmon County, which is in the extreme SW part of the state, right up against the farthest SE part of the Texas Panhandle. Except for 1930, the county has lost population in every census since 1910, Wikipedia says. That year, 11,328 people lived in the county; by the 2010 census, the population was 2,922.

Of Vinson, Wikipedia says: “Vinson is an unincorporated community in Harmon County, Oklahoma, United States. The community was named for Henry B. Vinson, townsite owner. Although it is unincorporated, Vinson has a post office, which was established on August 20, 1903. It remains operational with the ZIP code of 73571.”

http://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/73571/ notes Vinson’s population is 87 – 82 White, 3 Black or African-American, 1 Other Race and 1 Two or More Races.

The average household size is two. Eighty-five percent of the 39 households do not have kids.

One hundred percent of the population lives in occupied housing units. Of the town’s 73 housing units, 39 are occupied. That’s 53 percent. One of the 34 listed vacant units is for sale; 2 are sold but not occupied; 6 are listed as for reactional or occasional use; and 21 are vacant for other reasons. Thirty houses are valued $24,999 or less.

Fifty percent of the working age people have fulltime jobs; six work part time; and 47 reported no earned wages.

Four years ago, three women broke into a disabled man’s house. The homeowner’s shooting hand, however, was not disabled.

“VINSON, Okla_The Harmon County Sheriff's Department and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations are investigating a shooting which happened on Thursday at a home in Vinson, Oklahoma about 20 miles west of Mangum.

“According to the OSBI, a disabled man was asleep in his home around noon when he awoke to find three women burglarizing his home. The homeowner grabbed a gun and fired at the intruders, hitting one.

“Two of the three women left the scene in a Ford Mustang but the woman who was shot died from her injuries. The two women who fled were later arrested near Elk City and booked into Beckham County Jail on first degree murder charges.

“The women have been identified as 26 year old Misty Dawn Puskaric, 37 year old Starr Michelle Timmons and 50 year old Mary Kathleen Sanders, who was the one killed at the home. All of the women were from Elk City and Sanders was a former employee of the homeowner.”

http://www.kswo.com/story/19547844/1-dead-2-arrested-after-burglary-in-vinson

City of lights

Coming to a country near you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju79YT_lBVI

Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

This stuff is done on purpose by people who think Americans are stupid

Or, people who want to make some Americans even more stupid.

“Sometimes, all you can do is show you care, when the person understands that YOU care, either the person will show they care or walk away..then you no if it was ment to be or not.”

Again, that is from the board of wisdom site. “Wisdom?” Not bloody likely. Inane and immature gatherings of words is more accurate.

(I need more coffee.)

Grammar, people!

One of these days I will admit to the futility of the fight. But not today.

“Follow your heart and let your fate decide.don’t ignore what you are feeling because your not responsible for it.” – jessa lizardo

That is written as posted, with no space after the first period and incorrect capitalization.

This is so bad, I have to provide a link.

http://boardofwisdom.com/togo/Quotes/ShowQuote?msgid=426364#.V9rJwCErKM8

I wondered, “Who is this Jessa Lizardo, and why does she say things that don’t make sense?” Search shows many Jessa Lizardos, so I could not apply blame to a specific one.

But, why does someone with no sense of observation, let alone grammar, get paid for posting stupid stuff? The poster writes “you are,” and then busts the thing by not recognizing the need for the contracted version, “you’re.”

Here is another from Lizardo: “Its just hard to believe in your enemy.” No kidding? Let’s assume for the sake of argument, that if you believe in someone, he/she cannot be an enemy.

Oh, and the first word should be "It's."

‘The stupid is strong with many local governments’

Crackdown on share libraries goes beyond dumb. Lenders and lendees had not applied for permits, you see.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/09/13/big-government-cracks-down-on-people-sharing-books/?singlepage=true

Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

Wheatland, Okla., gets 28 words from Wikipedia

“Wheatland is a rural community located on State Highway 152 in extreme southwestern Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. The post office opened February 10, 1902. The ZIP Code is 73097.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatland,_Oklahoma

Let’s see if we can improve on that a little bit.

Wheatland has a Roadhouse, Pioneer Equipment, Midwest Streetcars Automotive, Y Mart, HK&S Iron and Mustang Food Mart. Housing developments include Canadian Estates to the west and Embassy West to the southwest. Will Rogers World Airport is a few miles due east.

The population is 187, living in 84 housing units. The median age is 44 – 48 for men and 38 for women. Ten-year difference. Hmm. But – 95 men and 92 women. Racial breakdown shows 159 white; 8 American Indian or Alaskan Native; 3 Asian (Philippino? Korean? Azeri?); 4 “other races;” and 6 “two or more races.”

Of all households, 52% are husband and wife; 26% are singles. Seventy percent of the households are “without Kids.” That might be because the largest age groups listed as head of household are 55-64 and 75-84, people not likely to have kids at home. All the population is in housing units. Thirty two units were built in 1939 or earlier; 35 in the 1980s. Seven units are vacant.

Thirty-three percent of the population works full time; 6 percent are part time; and 61% report “no earnings.” Again, indications of an elderly population. All working people drive to work, by car, truck or van.

Of those 25 or older, 51% do not have a high school diploma.

http://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/73097/

Update, more Florida efficiency

My wife got an appointment with a different Medicaid office. The people there saw John and agreed he qualifies for state benefits. My wife told the people of her previous appointment at an office that no longer exists. One woman said, "That office has been closed for a year."

What is shown is not the actual product. So I clicked

Happily scrolling through various photographs and discovering Ralph Moody (both) and abolitionist Wendell Phillips, I came across a photograph of what looked like cut-up dark poster board, with this caption: “Not Actual Product Shown.”

“Cab foam kits. Cab kit w/headliner.”

I even clicked on the link and accessed 16 pages of Herschel Parts, 12 kits per page, and each set of poster board-looking cutouts labeled “Not Actual Product Shown.”

If I’m replacing a headliner, I would like to know what the “Actual Product” looks like.

https://www.herschelparts.com/aspx/prodListing.aspx?catid=1470

Russian scientists overturn U.S. theory on Earth’s magnetic field

Well, “overturn” is not exactly the right word, but it’s what the online site said.

http://www.pravdareport.com/news/science/earth/10-05-2016/134374-earth_magnetic_field-0/#at_pco=smlre-1.0&at_si=57d8a231ccc7f4bb&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=1&at_tot=4

Nobody really knows why Earth has a magnetic field, but everybody is talking about it.

Russians invented baseball, too. And television. And ballroom dancing. (I made up the ballroom dancing.)

Wooster, Arkansas – growing

Wooster is in Faulkner County, not far from Conway, the county seat. Wooster’s 1960 population was 161. The 2010 census showed 860 population. Estimated population in 2015 was 999. Right. Since that figure is an estimate, why don’t we just round it off to 1,000? OK. We did.

The 2000 census showed Wooster as 97.3% white. About 9% of the population is below the Federal poverty line.

Here is a satellite image:

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.199243,-92.456835,935m/data=!3m1!1e3

Cow ponds and creeks show up better on a map.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Wooster-Arkansas.html says the town’s population is 100% rural. When I was growing up, people lived either in town or in the country. If you lived in town, you weren’t rural. But, then, we weren’t (and still are not) the ones making official government definitions.

The site gives man/woman numbers as 467/504. That’s a decent ratio. You always want more women than men in your population.

People have lived in the area of Wooster for some time.

“Land grants were given to Frederick Campbell, Alexander Ferguson, John Lewis, and John Wiser in 1820 for the section of land where Wooster would be developed. Evidently, they farmed the land without developing a community, since the first recorded structure in the area was a store built by N. E. Adams around the middle of the nineteenth century. Adams also maintained a sawmill and a cotton gin. Adams sold his store to J. P. Wooster in 1881. The community was named for Wooster, who is described in local histories as ‘acting postmaster.’”

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=7293

Google says Wooster has two gas stations – Circle R and Patton’s 1 Stop & Deli.

An online site said I would be better off buying diamonds from NabCom, rather than paying out money to a Wooster diamond dealer. I don’t think Wooster has a diamond dealer.

Save me from the idiocy!

“If your reading this, your awesome and everything will be okay.”

There is a link! Someone takes credit for the thing!

http://boardofwisdom.com/togo/?viewid=1003&listownerid=70775&start=81#.V9YGsx4rKM8

For sanity’s sake! It’s “you’re,” as in “If you are reading this …” Look up “contraction.”

I guess it doesn't matter. The people who write that stuff don't care.

Stumbled across when entering my solitaire score in the search box

“Certificate of Completion For
“Judicial Ethics For Temporary Judges
“Online Course”

Issued to a lawyer in “Southern California’s Top Rated DUI Law Firm!”

https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/92606-ca-thomas-wallin-329046.html

Here is a “review” by a client:

“Mr. Wallin represented me on a 3rd offense DUI out of Riverside. I didn't have to do any jail time. He knew the DAs in the Riverside Courthouse and was able to get me a good deal.”

OK, let’s review: Mr. Wallin knows all the DA’s and was able – despite his online ethics course for temporary judges – to keep his client from any jail time on a third (!!!) DUI offense.

More BS internet posters

“Love is a serious matter. Once you’re involved, it’s not easy to get out unless you’re not serious about it.”

What? That isn't even in the neighborhood of making any kind of sense.

“Any man who does not accept the conditions of life sells his soul.”

Double "What?" on that one. What are "the conditions of life?" If I were a rich man, my "conditions" would not be the same as those of a beggar in Cairo. If I "accept the conditions of life," I don't try to do anything different.

Are these frat boy discussions before the kegs arrive?

Government gathers all these numbers …

…and then tries to make them fit into categories that oftentimes don’t make sense.

Clarkedale, Arkansas, is an example.

Clarkesdale’s 2010 population was 371. It is a small town.

The people have to fit into government categories, because … Well, the government said so.

Of those 371 people, 216 were employed, in these areas, ranked top to bottom: educational services; health care and social assistance; transportation and warehousing; agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting; retail trade; construction; public administration; manufacturing; finance and insurance; professional, scientific tech services; admin, support, waste management; real estate, rental, leasing; and wholesale trade.

The most common country of origin: Mexico, Russia, Costa Rico.

Citizenship: 100 percent U.S.

Most common non-English language: French, French Creole, Spanish.

Degrees awarded: 744 – 53.9% from Arkansas Northeastern College; 46.1% from Mid-South Community College.

Median household income: $85,000, with the largest share of households at $75,000 to $100,000.

Median property value: $205,000.

http://datausa.io/profile/geo/clarkedale-ar/#demographics

Here is a satellite view: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.3092804,-90.2364441,555m/data=!3m1!1e3

Looks like one church, a dozen houses and 12 grain silos in the town itself, surrounded by miles and miles of fields, probably soybeans and some rice.

The numbers just don’t seem to match the ground.

Mrs. Clinton poses with a 6-foot-tall used to be dude …

… uses bullying remarks, yet she can’t figure out why a whole bunch of Americans in two months will not vote to make her the leader of this nation.

At an “LGBT gala fundraiser” in New York City, the Democratic candidate was welcomed by Laverne Cox, who is a couple of heads taller than Mrs. Clinton. If “Laverne” didn’t have replacement parts, (s)he would be a prime candidate for Massa Bill’s four-poster bed up to the Big House.

Given her audience, Mrs. Clinton pulled the expected bandwagon filled with platitudes, tempered by attacks on Republican candidate Donald Trump and the people who will vote for him over her.

Half of Trump’s followers are a “basket of deplorables,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Who occupies such a basket?

“Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hillary-clinton-half-trump-supporters-belong-basket-deplorables-n646026

Well, thank you, Mrs. Clinton. I had been confused, but now I see what you really think about me.

Oh, and the half who are not a basket of deplorables?

“Now some of those folks, they are irredeemable, but they are not America but the other basket … are people who feel that government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures. They are just desperate for change …”

Aw, poor, simple people who feel let down by the government. Nobody cares. Boo-hoo-hoo.

Bullshit, Mrs. Clinton. Bullshit.

Not places in the heart, but a couple of Texas towns new to me

Sadler and Southmayd, both in Grayson County. And, yes, Southmayd is pronounced “Southmade” or “Southmaid.”

The two towns are served by the S&S Consolidated Independent School District. Grades Pre-K through five are in Southmayd. The others are in Sadler.

Southmayd’s 2010 population was 992, representing a 0% change from the 2000 census. Estimated 2015 population was 1,015. Demographics of 2000 show 91% white, 3.2% Native American, 2.7% Latino or Hispanic, and 1.6% African-American. About 7.3% of families were listed as below the Federal poverty line.

Sadler’s 2000 population was 404, a 29% increase over 1990’s figure of 316. By 2010, the population dropped to 343. Estimated 2015 population was 356.

Demographically, the 2010 population was 98.76% white. About 12% of families were below the Federal poverty line.

The Handbook of Texas Online says: “Sadler is on U.S. Highway 82, Farm Road 901, and the tracks of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line, twelve miles northwest of Sherman in west central Grayson County. The area was settled in 1869 by A. J. Cross, who was soon joined by other such pioneers as Zeke Hall and Jim Beach. The community proper developed around 1878, when John Sadler, a local landowner for whom the town was named, donated land for a right-of-way to entice officials of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas to extend the railroad tracks to the settlement. A post office opened in 1892. From the mid-1920s through the mid-1930s Sadler reported a population of 400; seven businesses were there by 1936. In 1956 Sadler reported 185 residents and three businesses, and from the mid-1960s through 1990 it reported a population ranging between roughly 300 and 350. By the mid-1970s the community had incorporated, and in 1990 it had an estimated population of 316. The population reached 404 in 2000.”

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hls02

And: “Southmayd is on State Highway 56 seven miles west of Sherman in central Grayson County. It developed when the tracks of the Texas and Pacific Railway crossed land granted to D. S. Southmayd, from whom the community derives its name. The presence of the railroad attracted settlers, and by 1881 the settlement's first business, a general merchandise store, was built, and a post office began operations. From 1904 to 1926 Southmayd had a population reported at 132, which increased to 250 by the mid-1930s. By 1936 it had nine businesses. During the mid-1970s the population fell to 235 and the town had no businesses. In 1989 Southmayd had a population of 348 and two businesses. In 1990 the population was 643. The population increased to 992 in 2000.”

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hls66

Pretty much cut and dried, there. Just the facts, Ma’am, just the facts. Joe Friday would have been proud.

Satellite picture shows lots of pasture land, a creek and stock ponds.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6826586,-96.8376634,5043m/data=!3m1!1e3

Typical North Central Texas small town, where on hot summer days cows look for ponds or creeks to stand in and people look for shade.

This one makes sense

COFFEE: Because anger management is too expensive.

American Airlines Flight 1

“American Airlines Flight 1 was a Douglas DC-2 airliner on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Memphis to Little Rock. On Tuesday, January 14, 1936, the flight crashed into a swamp near Goodwin, Arkansas, disintegrating on impact and killing all 17 people on board. At the time, it was the worst civil plane crash on U.S. soil. As of 2016, it remains the deadliest crash in Arkansas state history.

“A cause for the crash could not be determined, though probable causes include passenger interference, fuel exhaustion in one tank, flying below a safe altitude, and/or the co-pilot somehow being alone at the controls.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_1_(1936)


‘Arkansas Swamp Tragedy Still a Mystery’

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1936/01/22/page/6/article/hunt-cockpit-trouble-clew-in-plane-crash

British Pathe news film (no sound):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKnbW04EQvQ

‘Worst Tragedy in American Air Travel History’

17 killed in 1936 crash.

W. R. DYESS, WPA ADMINISTRATOR, ONE OF VICTIMS IN WORST TRAGEDY IN AMERICAN AIR TRAVEL HISTORY.

PARTS OF WRECKAGE OF PASSENGER PLANE STREWN FOR 400 YARDS IN SWAMP; REMNANTS OF BODIES REMOVED.

FOUR WOMEN LOSE LIVES

SCENE OF DISASTER REACHED HOURS AFTER SHIP OVERDUE FROM MEMPHIS TO LITTLE ROCK; CHILD ALSO AMONG PASSENGER VICTIMS.

Goodwin, Ark., Jan. 15 -- (AP) -- Remnants of 17 bodies -- victims of American's most disastrous airplane catastrophe -- were recovered today from Arkansas march country where they crashed to death last night in "The Southerner," American Airlines luxurious transcontinental ship.

There were no survivors. Coroner J. C. CRAWFORD following an inquest on the scene, held that the 17 passengers -- 12 men, four women and a child -- died "by accidental airplane crash." A department of commerce official predicted cause of the disaster probably never would be known.

Last of the bodies were brought out of the swampland area at 8:45 A.M. on flat-bed wagons, drawn by mules which had difficulty making the trip. All bodies were removed to a Memphis funeral home where it was hoped that definite identification could be made.

Rescue workers, still assembling bits of bodies strewn over an area 400 yards long and about 75 yards wide in a water-filled bog, did not attempt to clear the wreckage pending arrival of JACK JANES, Forth Worth division airline inspector for the department of commerce.

Wreckage Located At Midnight.

The liner crashed early last night on the Memphis-Little Rock hop of the regular New York-Los Angeles flight. Searching parties did not locate the wreckage until midnight, finding plane and bodies torn to bits as the big liner settled down over a woodland, then crashed through a dense growth of trees in the midst of the swamp.

Among the victims was W. R. DYESS, Works Progress administrator for Arkansas; and FRANK C. HART, wealthy New Yorker, president of the Hartol Products Company.
The passenger list given out by the company at Fort Worth follows:
CHARLES ALTSCHUL, 340 north Central, Glendale, Calif.
J. C. CAHN, 827 south Pimpau Blvd., Los Angeles.
MRS. S. HOROWITZ, MRS. B. HOROWITZ and SEBA HOROWITZ, all of Walcott Road, Boston, Mass.
W. R. DYESS, 101 Ridgeway, Little Rock, Ark.
R. H. McNAIR, JR., 314 South Balman street, Little Rock, Ark.
MRS. J. S. GREMILLION, Knoxville, Tenn.
F. C. HART, 630 Fifth Avenue, New York.
W. S. HARDWICKE, Beardstown, Illinois.
A. D. CHERNUS, Beardstown, Illinois.
N. PORTER, Third and Lehigh streets, Philadelphia.
HENRY W. FLATO, JR., of Laredo, Texas.
SAM SCHWARTZ, Apollo Hotel, Atlantic City, N. J.

Inquest Knee-Deep in Water.

One of the strangest inquests ever held was converned at the side of the splintered ship before dawn when J. C. CRAWFORD, aged, crippled coroner, was carried tortuously on a stretcher through the swamps to the scene to hold it.

CRAWFORD was held aloft on the stretcher by four men, standing waist-deep in water, as he examined the bits of bodies, heard two farmers who said they saw the plane fall and made notes in a small book by the light of lanterns.

On the stretchers, the parts of bodies which had been recovered from the mud-thick water were carried before him and with the assistance of CECIL WEST, of the Little Rock airport, who held a passenger list, attempts were made at identification.

The coroner asserted he believed he had viewed the parts of 17 bodies, 13 remaining insufficiently identified to be checked from the passenger list.

The body-remnants were placed on stretchers, covered with whatever covering was available in the heart of the marsh.

The only conveyance which had any success in prenetrating the swampy undergrowth early today was a shaky farm wagon, drawn by two mules, which managed to get within 500 yards of the wreckage after bogging down many times.

It was held for use in the event no better method of getting the bodies out to the highway, a mile and a quarter away, was found.
Farmers Tell of Seeing Descent.

Two farmers happened before Coroner CRAWFORD'S swampland inquest to tell of seeing the plane descend into the woods shortly before 7:30 p.m., last night.

GAYLORD DOVER, of Palestine, Ark., testified he was walking along highway 70 -- Broadway of America route usually followed by the transcontinental ships through Arkansas -- when he saw the regular evening passenger liner flying rather low over the adjacent woods.

"The motor didn't sound right," he said. "Suddenly the plane dropped down into the trees. The motor quit, and the ship disappeared in the trees."

GLENN WILLIAMSON, also of Palestine, said he was sitting in his home reading when he heard the plane overhead. He testified he heard "the motor sputter," and looked out a window.

"I saw it dip into the timber and crash," he said.

Both DOVER and WILLIAMSON gave the alarm and then joined searching parties.

Postal officials from Little Rock this morning gathered up what they could of the mail scattered through the woods and after weighing it said they thought all of it had been recovered.

GERALD V. MARSHALL, 40, veteran pilot, with the company since 1928, and with 9,400 flying hours under his helmet, was in charge of the ship. The co-pilot was GLENN FREELAND, former manager of a Joplin, Mo., airport. MISS PERLA GASPARINI, of Fort Worth, stewardess, completes the crew of "The Southerner."

Mud-plastered searchers who found the plane wreckage after hours of stumbling through the marsh with flashlights, brought word of the find to Goodwin, said the plane was "all to pieces."

"The plane and the bodies are scattered all over the place," M. E. DAVIS, one of the party which found the plane told the Associated Press as soon as he could reach a telephone. "I do not believe it would be possible to definitely identify more than three or four of the dead."

He had heard there was a child on board the plane -- SEBA HOROWITZ of Boston -- and he said:

"I found the child's shoes, near the motors, but not the body."

Left Newark Yesterday at 12:30 p.m.

The plane, a Douglas twin-motor, left Newark airport yesterday at 12:30 p.m., making the usual stops at Washington and points south, taking on and letting off passengers.

Pilot WALTER HUNTER brought the ship from Newark to Memphis, President SMITH of the airline said.

"At Memphis," said SMITH, "Pilot HUNTER reported that the airplane was in excellent flying shape and that both motors were functioning fine. At Memphis, the airplane was taken by Pilot MARSHALL, Co-Pilot GREELAND, and Stewardess GASPARINI.

"At Nashville, gasoline had been taken aboard and the airplane left Nashville with 410 gallons, an amount sufficient to take it to Little Rock or Dallas."

"Pilot MARSHALL departed from Memphis westbound at 7:03 p.m. At 7:18, he reported to Memphis by radio that he was flying at 2,000 feet, 35 miles west of Memphis and that the weather was good and visibility 15 miles."

"After the 7:18 contact, no further information was received from the airplane."

Hop From Memphis to Little Rock Only 55 Minutes.

The hop from Memphis to Little Rock is only 55 minutes and when the plane was nearly an hour overdue at the latter point and not further radio messages had been received, the company authorized searching parties to start out from both Memphis and Little Rock. Subsequently, as time passed, the airlines dispatched five ambulances to Brinkley, near here, announcing the action as "a precautionary measure."

A group of airline officials who flew to the area from Fort Worth reported by radio at 12:30 a.m., shortly after the finding of the plane was announced by the Associated Press, that they had sighted the wreckage from the air, deep in the swamps.

At that time, it was disclosed later, Gen. Supt. HUGH SMITH of Fort Worth, aboard the searching plane, told his home office by radio that "probably all of the crew and passengers had been seriously injured or killed."

J. W. FOGG, farmer, who was emerging from the swamp with the ground search crew said grimly:

"They're all dead. You can't believe the damage. The plane - what is left of it - is buried in five feet of mud and water.”

Fayetteville Daily Democrat Arkansas 1936-01-15

The U.S. is only now catching up

Or, The disappearance of the USSR meant the philosophies had to go somewhere.

“… (T)he family propaganda of the second half of the 1930s is even more notable for being anti-men than for being anti-revolutionary. Women were consistently represented (as they were and would continue to be in Soviet-Russian popular discourse) as the nobler, suffering sex, capable of greater endurance and self-sacrifice, pillars of the family who only in the rarest of instances neglected their responsibilities to husband and children. Men, in contrast, were portrayed as selfish and irresponsible, prone to abusing and abandoning their wives and children. In the inevitable conflict between women’s interests, construed as altruistic and pro-family, and men’s interests, read as selfish and individualistic, the state was unquestionably in the women’s corner.” – Sheila Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism, 1999, Oxford University Press.

Strange action from a buzzard

A buzzard circled low about 50 meters outside the liana screen. The big bird side-slipped around a medium-size tree and then a smaller tree and settled onto the top of the southern levee. It then stepped cautiously down the side of the levee, as though sneaking up on something. I have never before seen a sneaky buzzard; usually, one will just land close to road kill, walk up and begin pulling off pieces of fur and meat.

Not this buzzard. This one crept down to the edge of the water and tenuously stretched its neck between leaves of some big, green plant. Then it pulled back its head and extended its wings, as though making itself appear larger than it was. It did the neck-stretching and the wing-extension again and then dipped its head and flipped something onto the levee.

A fish? Had to be. Dead, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because we don’t want dead fish floating on the pond. Dead fish are turtle food and alligator food and should be found and eaten before becoming buzzard food.

The buzzard walked to the dead thing and beaked it up. The dead thing flashed white momentarily, white like a fish’s belly. The buzzard carried the dead fish into a hedge row, I imagine for afternoon meal. I had never seen a buzzard carry off its find, certainly had not seen one find a hiding place in which to eat.

More weird Florida stuff.

Florida efficiency update

Still the same. My wife called the Medicaid office yesterday and was told someone would return her call within 24 hours. The call came in at ------- Yep. So Priscilla called back this afternoon, left a voice mail again recounting: appointment day and time; empty office; no note, no new address. And she got: Someone will return her call within 24 hours.

Learning the hard way

Which is the only way soldiers learn war.

Tet 1968 for 244th Aviation Company:

"The TET truce never had a chance to get underway before the VC struck. General Westmoreland had personally alerted the IV Corps TOC for an impending VC offensive throughout the country to begin on 31 January, 1968. Nothing happened until about 0230 hours on the 31st. Then approximately 150-200 VC from the Tay Do and 303rd VC Battalions attacked the airfield. The 244th was manning a portion of the perimeter on the south side of the runway and bore the bulk of much of the night's fighting. The VC attacked savagely, using B-40 rockets, AK-47s and M-79 grenade launchers. The enemy got close to the 244th's positions but were repulsed - several dead VC were found only feet from the bunkers. The company duty officer, Captain Jack Spisak, directed the Cobra helicopters to the enemy and helped adjust their fire. The fighting lasted throughout the morning and finally at about 0500, the remainder of the enemy withdrew, being pursued by the Cobras. The 244th perimeter was not manned by trained infantrymen - they were mechanics, clerks, imagery interpreters, cooks, radio repairmen and other non-combat soldiers on the line that night, but they held it despite the intensive efforts of the VC to overrun their positions. Men who had fired their weapons only in basic training quickly became experts. The untrained men on the line held their positions and repulsed a well trained and determined enemy. The VC had suffered 67 killed and 32 of the attackers were taken prisoner. For the brave actions and determined defense against the enemy, every man on the 244th line was nominated for award of the bronze star. (The VC were quite astute in their plan of attack, they approached the perimeter fence, upright, laughing and joking, they entered through a gate. For that short period of time, it was thought that is was just the ARVNs coming back into the line. It was after that, all hell broke loose. Not to diminish the efforts put forth that night, but it was a case where those defending had no where else to pull back to without exposing themselves to the attackers. They had to stay put and fight because there was too great a distance of open terrain between each position. Bunkers did not exist, all we had were berms of that fine gray clay pushed up by dozers, and you kind of hunkered down behind the dirt. In retrospect of that evening, at mid-night, the sky lit up all round the city with tracers, we guessed that they were just ARVNs celebrating TETs arrival. Little did we think that it was our friends in black pajamas, checking their weapons for later use that night. I was one of the "lucky" people, that evening, I was down over the Umen Forest when the radio informed us that Can Tho and all of the other air fields were under attack. The pilot made comment that this was a rather interesting predicament. However, for some reason, the VC did not launch the offensive on Bien Thuy Air Force Base, so after some sweated bullets and lightened sphincters, my pilot decided to chance a landing there, which we did with no opposition. Because of the precariousness of the situation during TET, the Hawks bugged out to Vung Tau {bg})".

…

"(When we arrived in country, all of our weapons were locked up in a supply conex, after the first ground attack, we were given our rifles, to be locked up over our bunks but no ammo, that was stored in the supply conex. After TETs visitation on us, we had weapons, we had ammo and we had a little nastier region to be working in and flying over {bg})."

http://www.lotsaspace.info/OV-1Mohawk/NewsLetters/244thHis.htm

NOTE ON WEAPONS AVAILABILITY: The first Army advisors sent to Vietnam were not (supposed) to carry weapons on operations with the South Vietnamese army. That changed to advisors could carry weapons, but were enjoined to use the weapons only in self-defense. Here is a fact: In war, any trigger pulling is in self-defense.

He forgot to say, ‘This is not who we are’

“This past weekend, the city of Chicago passed it’s 500th victim from gun violence, so the mayor Rahm Emanuel decided, being a legislator, that Chicago needs more gun laws, reports Fox News;

“’It is a complex problem with multidimensional facets to it,’ Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Friday of Chicago’s homicide rate. ‘It’s not just about more police, but it will include that. But it’s also about more resources for our children, more resources for our neighborhoods and stiffer laws that reflect the values of our city.’

“Keep in mind that Chicago has run all of the legal gun dealers out of the city, it’s nearly impossible for anyone to legally own a firearm within the city limits, but somehow, making tougher gun laws, that will solve it’s problems. After Emanuel made that statement on Friday, 69 people more were shot, six fatally. None of the suspects are legal gun owners.”

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=67833

(A news report last week said Chicago police say 1,400 armed criminals commit 85% of Chicago’s gun crimes. If you can put a number on something, you can put faces on the numbers. Police know who the bad guys are. But, solving the problem is “complex” and “multidimensional.”)

A 'Wow!' moment

My wife's response when reading that a house we owned in Texas for 25 years just sold for more than twice what we got for it.

Times change.

A very, very non-PC list

A college I attended, and of which my wife is a graduate, made the list.

Yea!

“The listing will be updated annually. This is the first-time Campus Pride has released a listing of the worst anti-LGBTQ campuses across the country. New campuses may appear in future and campuses may be removed in future as well.” – Shane Windmeyer, spokesperson for Campus Pride.

The “worst anti-LGBTQ campuses across the country.”

Yea!

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/04/lgbt-shame-list-christian-colleges-released.html

Yeah, it’s California …

… but stuff has a way of wandering east from the Left Coast.

“George Washington, the guy on the quarter, could soon be facing the ax in San Francisco as surely as his fabled cherry tree.

“The president of the San Francisco school board thinks it’s time to consider renaming schools that bear the names of slave owners — including Washington and his friends and fellow presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.”

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-official-suggests-taking-slaveholders-names-9206217.php

Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com

(With that logic, every man, woman and child whose last name is Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Williams, Smith, Jones, and etc., should be required to change his/her name to one acceptable to the population at large. This can be done. We need only appoint a commission at state or federal level to search property records, make a list of all men and women who owned slaves, determine which public/government buildings carry those last names, and get rid of the racist names. The commission will publish the list, along with recommendations for new names, with a deadline for persons who have racist names to make legal changes.)

See how easy it would be?

More Florida efficiency

My wife has been setting up appointments and filling out forms to get John transferred from Texas Medicaid to the Florida version. At times, the process seemed easy, and bureaucrats received Priscilla’s heartfelt thanks for information and patience.

Three weeks ago, she got notice that a Medicaid representative would need a face-to-face with John, to ask questions and determine if John qualifies for assistance. John is almost 60 physical years old, but his emotional and functional age is around 5 or 6. An interview would establish, without a doubt, of John meeting Medicaid requirements.

The notice was a letter, complete with address and phone number. Priscilla called the office after receiving the letter. She set an appointment date for today, early afternoon.

Today she got John from his group home and drove to the address.

“The place was empty,” she said about 15 minutes ago, after returning home. “I got there, but there was no office furniture, and no people.”

She called the number from three weeks ago. A recorded voice said someone would return her call within 24 hours. That’s all that was said. No “We moved.” No “Our new address is …” Nope.

If you are like Priscilla and me, you wonder why a statewide agency would make appointments at a specific address, then empty the office and leave no new address.

I chalk it up to Florida Efficiency. We have lived here for almost 22 months and have had several meetings with Florida’s way of doing business, which is Not At All.

So, Priscilla took John back to his group home. Perhaps she will get the return call sometime tomorrow.

Tom Blasingame, Texas cowboy

On December 27, 1989, after working for the JA for 73 years, Thomas Everett Blasingame climbed off his horse Ruidosa, stretched out on the grass, folded his arms across his chest and died. He was buried in the ranch cemetery with cowboys who had worked the ranch since the 1870's.

Blasingame lived alone at a camp in the canyon, without a phone or electricity. His one luxury was his transistor radio. He tried to never miss a Rangers game. He visited his wife Eleanor on weekends. She lived in Claude, north of the ranch.

Eleanor, who died in 1999 and is buried beside Tom, said, "His life was a better life than what you and I live. He doesn't worry about more than one thing at a time and that's what he is doing right then."

"I've rode all my life. Every chance I'd get I'd ride. I was about 7 or 8, along there, and people would hire me to help 'em drive cattle to market," he told Anne Mailer with Voices. "They'd furnish me a horse. It would take nearly all day to get to a shipping point. I'd get two bits a day for that. I went to school two or three winters. It was a country school way out. We had to walk about a mile and a half. I quit after a few years because I just couldn't study. Too many windows to look out and see covered wagons and people moving cattle through the country. We had a man teacher and he would say, 'Get to studying young man.' But I was contrary and sassed back at him. He used to whup me hard, but he never could make me cry.

"If you got a whuppin' at school in them days, your parents would whup you when you got home. My dad used a double rope. I was so stubborn and high-tempered, I'd cuss him all the time he was whuppin' me. I was might near an outlaw when I was a kid. I don't know why I was so mean. It was just borned in me. I guess that later the work took that meanness out of me.

"I quit school to help my dad work, but I learned how to read and write of course. I just wanted to be outside all the time. Finally, when I was 18, I left home. I wasn't happy with my family. I just wanted to get out of there. I couldn't stay off a horse and wanted to get out where teh big ranches was.

"I headed west on a big iron-gray horse. I got him for $125 from a feller up the road. I don't know how I saved that much money making two bits a day, but I finally did. I rode into the JA's here in 1916 and didn't have 50 cents in my pocket. Back then, the JA ran 25,000 mother cows. I guess there was about 800 sections. They had five chuck wagons out all the time, about 10 men to a wagon. By the time I came, the whole outside range was fenced. Inside, the ranch was all open country, but no more. Everything is fenced and cross-fenced with gates. I don't like fences and I don't like gates either.

"I like to break horses. They raised their own horses here at JA and they'd break about 40 broncs every spring, 4-year-olds. They was wild. They had run on the range. In the long run that was the best. A 4-year-old is pretty well hardened and hard to hurt, and he's got a good tough heart, too, not like these horses nowadays that are halter broke when they're winter colts not even a year old. I never did hit the horses much while I was breaking 'em, maybe a slap on the neck or somethin' just to let 'em know they done somethin' wrong. A horse is pretty smart. he knows when you're abusing him and when you're not.

"I left the JA after two years to go to Arizona. I wanted to get to wilder country. Everybody wore six-shooters out there. I didn't. I was just a kid. I never did see any gunfights, but I heard of 'em. They robbed a train while I was there and had a big shoot-out with the deputy sheriffs. One outlaw got his arm tore plum off with a high-powered Winchester. I seen him later at a dance. He'd dance with one arm.

"I worked at the Double Circles in east central Arizona. It was a monster outfit. They didn't know how big it was. We'd make big drives and throw the cattle together and brand and cut what we wanted to ship out. They had a big holding pasture in the center of the range where we'd put 'em, then we'd turn the others loose and brand 'em. We had plenty of wood in that country; so, it was easy to make a good fire.

"We lived outside all the time. We had our bedrolls rolled up in a tarp. If it was raining, we'd just cover up with our tarps and sit there. We'd bathe in the river. It was pretty cold sometimes. We lived on beef and pinto beans. The meat kept fine outdoors. It was a lot better than this Frigidaire meat, you bet. Down on the desert outfits, they made lots of jerky. I'd eat it with biscuits if they was good, or I'd just eat is straight. You didn't have many good bread cooks out in the camp. In the wintertime, we'd have them steaks for breakfast, and gravy. It was a pack outfit, so you didn't get eggs or anything like that. It had to be stuff you could pack, but I never got tired of eating the same thing all the time.

"At the Circles, we'd go to town on the Fourth of July and Christmas. Most of the cowboys would get drunk, but I never did take to that whiskey. Drinkers, they're pretty disgustin' when they get down and waller on the ground, mumblin' and stumblin' and vomitin'. Course, I'd go to the saloons. There was music going all the time. Them dancin' girls would come out there onstage. You ever heard a song called Mexicali Rose? Well, I saw her. She was a beauty, all right, a tall, slim brunette. She sure could sing.

"On Christmas, we'd hurry back to the ranch because that's when they'd have them big dances. People would come from a hundred miles on horseback, women, children and all. They'd pack their good clothes on little mules. They'd stay around a week and dance all night and sleep in the daytime. We'd lay around and run horse races, and a lot of 'em would play poker and kill time till night when they'd go to dancin' again. Don't every think that people who lived way out like that couldn't dance. Man, they could dance, waltz, one-step, square dance, you bet. Even them little kids could square dance. That was the prettiest thing to watch.

"I stayed at the Double Circles for a couple of years. Then I worked some in New Mexico and California, and I moved back here two or three different times. I wanted to work for a lot of different places. That was the only way a poor man could see the country. I would just decide to quit and go. You know, cowpunchers is pretty restless. Back then you could just throw your saddle over the fence and go to work for the next outfit. The Texas outfits paid $30 a month and the Arizona outfits paid $50. If I'd a had any sense, I could have been rich today, if I'd saved my wages. I always spent it or loaned it to some renegade that never did aim to pay it back. They'd drink it up and gamble it away. But heck, you were working with them, and you didn't think nothin' about it much.

"I never did gamble or play poker or drink liquor. I didn't even drink black coffee. That's the reason I'm living today. I don't smoke. I chewed a world of tobacco though, but I've quit that because my teeth wore out. I've still got a few left, enough to chew beef with."

"Eleanor smokes, drinks coffee, cusses too, once in a while. I met her in '32 when I came back to the JA. It was at one of their July Fourth dances. her dad's ranch was right next door. I don't know why we got married. We just kind of wanted to. After we had our son and daughter, they'd come out and stay with me sometimes on the ranch. I always liked little children, and when I had some of my own, I loved 'em so much. I never did spank 'em. I let Eleanor do the dirty work.

"I've read lots of books. Read the Bible a lot. I believe what the Bible says, but I don't reckon I'm religious. Even if I was, I couldn't go to church because I've got too much work to do.

"There's never been what you call crime out here that I know of. You're so tired at night you go to bed early and you have to get up early. There ain't much time for meanness. There's a lot of crime down in the cities, I hear. I guess it's because there's so many people who haven't got nothing to do. I've had somethin' to do all my life. I never did want to settle down. I just wanted to work on a cattle ranch all the time. That's my kind of life.

"I still help 'em work cattle here, brand and ship. I've got sections to look after, riding the fences, checking for washouts down in the fence. I don't ride every day, but most of the time. Riding is the best medicine for me. I can ride in a car and it makes me ache. Put me on a horse and I quit aching right away.

"There aren't too many young me who want to do this kind of work anymore. They want a good house, electricity and things like that. They think cowboyin' is a big hat and a rope and a party on Saturday night. There's not many left like me. I'll stay out here as long as I'm able to work. I don't know, though, I may try another ranch one of these days, a place where they have a little more cow work. That's all I'm fit for is roping cattle."

Tom told Jay O'Brien that in the early part of this century there was a farmer who lived in a dugout on the north side of the river west of where 207 is now. The farmer had seven daughters and the young cowboys would often leave the wagon after work was done on Saturday and trot to the dugout. Tom said they would spark those girls until Sunday evening when they would trot back, riding all night, to join the wagon for work on Monday morning having spent two nights without sleep.

http://www.ranches.org/tom_blasingame.htm

In case you are offering an Eid al-Hada sacrifice this year

The Caucasian Muslims Office (CMO) Gazi Council has made recommendations on Eid al-Adha.

Report was told in the press service of the CMO that slaughtering a sheep in Eid al-Adha is mainly important for the people performing Hajj pilgrimage. Slaughtering by the rich at other places is welcomed. Distribution of sacrificial meat to the poor and needy families is a great deed.

Sacrificed animal should be healthy and fat. Ill, lean and defective animals shouldn't be slaughtered as a sacrifice. Sacrificed animal may be sheep, goats, bulls, cows and camels. These animals should reach a certain age. Goats and sheep should be one year, bulls, cows over one or two years, camel five years.

Reading a prayer while slaughtering or to say 'Bismillаhi vallаhu akbar' is recommended.

This year Eid al-Adha coincides with September 12 in Azerbaijan.

Eid prayer will be offered in Azerbaijani mosques on that day. Our state has officially announced two non-working days - September 12-13 due to the holiday.

News.Az

http://news.az/articles/society/112661

I didn’t click on the link …

… because it was all wrong.

Headline (or grab line): “Kaley Cuoco Exposes Her Bare Breast on Snapchat.”

If her breast was bare, wasn’t it already exposed?

Headline as quoted at Fark:

“Nearly half of British women cannot identify their vagina.”

Actual headline: “Nearly half of British women cannot identify the vagina.”

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/health/female-anatomy-identify-vagina-vulva-eve-appeal/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

With the Fark headline, I imagined someone placing a photo lineup on a table and saying, “Ms. Smyth-Harrington, would you please point to the photograph of your vagina?” and the so-named replying, “Well, aye jus doan’t knoaw. I mean, they all look alike, dinit?”

Lambrook, Arkansas, Zip Code 72353

Race killings, disparate numbers.

Wikipedia entry: “Lambrook is an unincorporated community in Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. Lambrook is located onArkansas Highway 20 7 miles (11 km) west-northwest of Elaine. Lambrook has a post office with ZIP code 72353.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambrook,_Arkansas

Lambrook must not be of much importance, since everything we need to know is listed in one sentence.

Could be there is more.

December 2015 estimated population, 111, down 3 from 2010 census. Unwed mothers as a percentage of all births: 0%. Unwed and on public assistance: 0%. Citizenship status: 100%.

http://www.towncharts.com/Arkansas/Demographics/72353-Zipcode-AR-Demographics-data.html

Phillips County Arkansas is bounded on the west by the Mississippi River and a little south of center between Louisiana and Tennessee.

Less than 100 years ago, rampaging white mobs killed an alleged 237 black people in Elaine, Ark., 20.7 miles from Lambrook. Wikipedia says: “In 1919, two whites tried to break up a meeting of black sharecroppers who were trying organize a farmers' union to get better conditions of payment and accounting from white landowners of cotton plantations. After a white man was killed, hundreds of other whites poured into the area, attacking blacks.”

Five white men were killed, in addition to the 237 blacks, or 100-240 blacks, or 800.

Headlines from the Arkansas Gazette edition of 3 October 1919 included: "Negroes Plan To Kill All Whites,” “Slaughter Was To Begin With 21 Prominent Men As The First Victims,” “Blacks Had Armed Themselves and Planned to Kill Every White Person in Sight When Plot Was Exposed.”

Phillips County’s estimated 2015 population was 19,513. In 1950, 46,254 people lived in the county. The 1920 population was 44,530.
The 2010 census shows the county population 63.1% black and 35% white. Around 29% of families and 33% of the total population were below the poverty line, including 45.5% of those under 18 and 26% of those 65 or older.

Now, having given all that bad information, fairness dictates figures from another site.

The present population of Lambrook is 253. The 2010 population was 114. The 2000 population stood at 83, and was 90 in 1990. Racial demographics show 59% black and 41% white.

http://www.bestplaces.net/people/zip-code/arkansas/lambrook/72353

Taxman: You’re working for no one but me*

Things are not quite that bad, but it could be only a matter of time.

By Terence P. Jeffrey | September 2, 2016 | 9:01 AM EDT

(CNSNews.com) - Government employees in the United States outnumber manufacturing employees by 9,932,000,according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Federal, state and local government employed 22,213,000 people in August, while the manufacturing sector employed 12,281,000.

The BLS has published seasonally-adjusted month-by-month employment data for both government and manufacturing going back to 1939. For half a century—from January 1939 through July 1989—manufacturing employment always exceeded government employment in the United States, according to these numbers.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/government-workers-now-outnumber-manufacturing-workers-9932000

Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

*By G. Harrison

Employers have trouble finding people who can do these things:

Communicate clearly, take initiative, problem-solve and get along with co-workers.

“Those traits, often called soft skills, can make the difference between a standout employee and one who just gets by.”

http://stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/2016/08/needed-soft-skills.html

Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

Suggestion: Seek out former military for communications, problem-solving and ability to get along with disparate kinds of people in order to accomplish a specified mission.

Internet wisdom

“The only time to eat diet food is when you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”

http://www.hellawella.com/19-funny-weight-loss-quotes-when-you-dont-want-motivation

As my wife says, "A cow is food surrounded by leather."

From Venezuela

“On other news, a tale from my cleaning lady.

“Now she needs to go a get a number the day before her appointed day for shopping (note: for certain items you can only shop on the day that corresponds to your last number of your ID card). That line to get the number by itself lasts a couple of hours, at least, if you want to be sure to get a number. And then you still need to go early next day and do, at least, another couple of hours standing in line if you want to make sure supplies are not exhausted before your turn comes.

“This is already bad enough but it gets worse. See, while they are in line people chat, get comfy, start exchanging phone numbers so they can text each other when things arrive. So far so good. But the bachaqueros, those people making a living out of buying and reselling what they get in line, have noticed. So they play the friendly game without passing for bachaqueros and THEN, when they happen to not get as many number line as they wished for, they start calling people and threaten them if they refuse to give up the number they got.

“In other words, within the long line there is a now a surveillance network of bachaqueros that notice who are the weak links and when they do get a number. Then, voila, extortion on those poor friendly souls.”

----------------

“Added in proof: I just learned that the regime is now threatening to close/fine the bakeries that have lines outside. Apparently Maduro says that there is enough flour and that the bakers, in a giant conspiracy I suppose, want to force people in line to give bad propaganda to the regime.”

http://daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com/2016/08/tales-venezuela-breadlines.html#more

Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

In other news, Hugo Chavez is still dead.

Yeah, whatever

Internet poster:

“Don’t feel sorry for yourself, just remember there is always someone out there that dosn’t (sic) have internet connection, therefore they are not reading this quote. Feel sorry for them.”

http://boardofwisdom.com/togo/Quotes/ShowQuote?msgid=203799#.V8iWME0rKM8

(Linked just so you’ll know a site responsible for decay and eventual death of established American English as we have long known it. Errors include typo on “doesn’t”; two uses of comma (,) when semicolon (;) should have been used; one misuse of pronoun “they”; and one misuse of pronoun “them.” The site proclaims itself “wisdom.” Yeah, right.)