I've done a lot of debugging...

I've done a lot of debugging – but it never involved a device whose failure would create an explosion with a three mile radius of total destruction.  Yikes!

Your morning Beethoven...

Your morning Beethoven...

There are moments...

There are moments ... when I think the human race might be worth fighting to keep.

But they don't come often enough...

Over 8 months...

Over 8 months...  That's how long the average unemployed person has been out of work.  Previous post-1950 recessions were far less severe by this measure.

The longer someone has been out of work, the more severe the financial impact on them and their families.  Prior to my retirement, if I had ever been out of work for that long I'd have had to make some extremely difficult choices – such as whether to keep my house, or keep my retirement savings.  For the many two-income families these days, having one spouse unemployed for that long means a big reduction in income, but perhaps less than ruinous.  For single-income families (like ours), it would be worse...

Yup, that's about right...

Yup, that's about right.  Via my mom:

A Harley Biker is riding by the zoo in Washington, DC when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage. Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the collar of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.

The biker jumps off his Harley, runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.

Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly. A reporter has watched the whole event.

The reporter addressing the Harley rider says, 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I've seen a man do in my whole life.'

The Harley rider replies, 'Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and acted as I felt right.'

The reporter says, 'Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist, you know, and tomorrow's paper will have this story on the front page... So, what do you do for a living and what political affiliation do you have?'

The biker replies, 'I'm a U.S. Marine and a Republican.'

The journalist leaves.

The following morning the biker buys the paper to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on the front page:

U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH

And THAT pretty much sums up the media's approach to the news these days, especially if you are a Conservative Republican.