Is there any greater waste of time than the so-called "debates"?

I've logged off Facebook ... too much of a time sink. So, after nearly a year, back to Live Journal. I am paying for it. Might as well use it.

More later.

A Modest Proposal for a Presidential Candidates Debate FormatI propose that the debate actually be structured more like a debate, not like a free-for-all ( Read more... )

Spectrum: Ken’s Corner for November 16, 2010 [edted for posting 11/13/2014]

Ken Umbach

Well, how about that. I always pictured the Dark Ages (say, 400 - 800 A.D.) as, you know, DARK. That really seems only to have been the case from the point of view of the Romans, who were displeased about being booted off the top of the hill. (Or in Rome’s case, ( Read more... )

Ken’s Corner, November 4, 2014
Ken Umbach

Well, here it is Election Day. That is something to celebrate, because it means for a while a stop to the torrent of deceptive and often hateful mailings and an end for a while to political phone calls and TV ads. Ok, my call blocker has stopped the phone calls (other than two quick rings before they go off ( Read more... )

Ken’s Corner, October 28, 2014
Ken Umbach

I guess there are worse problems than homemade chili without enough beans. In fact, that is probably the least important problem I can imagine. Nonetheless, I made chili without enough beans, and with (comparatively) too much other stuff - sliced bell pepper, sliced onion, cut-up tomatoes, and browned ground ( Read more... )

Spectrum: Ken’s Corner for October 20, 2009

Ken Umbach

Recently my lovely wife and I visited the expanded and relocated Midway Antique Mall, on Madison Avenue, near Auburn Boulevard, Sacramento. In a sign of the times, it is in a former furniture store building. Furniture stores are suffering, judging from the number that have recently closed or that ( Read more... )

Ken’s Corner, October 14, 2014
Ken Umbach

For years the first four volumes (in the Folio Society edition) of Edward Gibbons’ vast The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire have been lurking on a shelf always in view in my living room. At last, I decided that I’d start reading the books. So far, a couple of weeks into the project, I’m ( Read more... )

Ken’s Corner, October 7, 2014
Ken Umbach

Well, here’s irony for you.

On impulse, I bought a bag of fortune cookies. Is there any other reason except impulse for buying a bag of fortune cookies unless you run a Chinese restaurant? In any event, fortune cookies are a tasty treat with only about 17 or 18 calories each, so why not?

One of the cookies ( Read more... )

Ken’s Corner, September 30, 2014

Ken Umbach

“No added sweeteners,” boasts the label on a package of plump Medjool dates.

Well, that’s nice, that those dates have no added sweeteners. And I should hope to Hannah that they don’t, since two dates have 25 grams of sugar already. Dates are one of the sweetest, most sugar-laden natural products on the ( Read more... )