From C. Maloney: Things I’ve done that I might not have if my husband were here: 1) Set up the TV, VCR, amp, and cable; 2) Programmed a universal remote; 3) Put my clothes in both sides of the dresser instead of squishing them into just half; 4) Assembled a table; 5) Slept alone for 39 days and counting; 6) Watched Gilmore Girls every Tuesday without argument (for…

Yesterday I was the guest of a 7th grader at Brady Middle School’s Veteran’s Day program. American Veterans from WWII to the Gulf Wars, and one veteran of the Congo/Biafra Civil War, were there and spoke of their service. The program concluded with a student reading this poem that is a bit of an Internet meme:

It is the Veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to assemble

It is the Veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Veteran not the politician who has given us the right to Vote.

It is the Veteran who salutes the Flag, who serves under the Flag, whose coffin is draped by the Flag.

To serve is to honor those who have served before us. Nothing more, nothing less.

November is a light-blogging month for me as I take part in the National Novel Writing Month and pound out 50,000 words in 30 days. During this time I’m relying on a cache of emails from my dad to help fill in the space so that Have Coffee Will Write doesn’t go dark. I’ll be back full-time on Friday, 1 December. B’shalom, Y’all.

Three friends from the local congregation were asked, “When you’re in your casket, and friends and congregation members are mourning over you, what would you like them to say?”

Artie said, “I would like them to say I was a wonderful husband, a fine spiritual leader, and a great family man.”

Merle commented, “I would like them to say I was a wonderful teacher and servant of God who made a huge difference in peoples lives.”

Don said, “I’d like them to say, ‘Look! He’s moving!'”

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

0533 Finally Getting Rove Off Our Necks

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections 1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.

The rice lands were divided into squares by banks called “check-banks.” The squares were named: Tackum Square, Heyward Square, Gaaden Square, Landing Square, Barnyard Square, Knoll Square, etc. p. 14

Here’s an interesting exercise that I just learned about from reading Mind Performance Hacks. Hack No. 45 is: Predict The Length Of A Lifetime. By that author Ron Hale-Evans means, how do you predict how long a trend, a business, or anything for that matter will last? You use a heuristic known as Gott’s Principle.

If you want to read what’s behind the math, get the book, but it’s pretty straight forward: if you want to know with 60 percent certainty how much longer something will continue the minimum life span is the sum of the age and the age divided by four. The maximum is the sum of the age and the age multiplied by 4.

Hale-Evans also shows how to figure 50 percent and 95 percent probability levels, but 60 percent is a good probability to use.

I decided to apply Gott’s Principle to state-licensed casino gambling in states other than Nevada. In June 1977 New Jersey became the second state to legalize casino gambling, making the age of casinos outside of Nevada 29 years and five months.

Gott’s principle then predicts that non-Nevadan casinos will be around for a minimum of another 6 years and 9 months or until July 2013; and a maximum of another 117 years and 8 months or until June 2124.

What does that say about people who see a future in casino gambling in Ohio? I’m not sure. Like I said, it’s an interesting exercise.

But I’ve got to think that in the past 30 minutes I’ve given more thought to the subject than Jimmy Dimora did before he decided to lie to his constituents about the benefits of the Lie And Equivocate Issue 3.

Every time I’ve been downtown on a weekday this year I’ve been struck by one thought: who dropped the neutron bomb? You could run around the sidewalk at Public Square with your arms spread and have no fear of touching another human being. Compare that to Terry’s experience in Chicago last week:

The whole trip was an adventure I don”t think she”ll ever forget. She loved the pace of Chicago and the bustling energy of the streets, so very different from laid back Seattle. We joked that someone could die there on Michigan Avenue and the body would never hit the sidewalk, just be carried along with the crowd for a mile or two.

She tried and loved Chicago style from Pizzeria Due, supposedly the original home of deep dish pizza, a nice brisk walk from our hotel. It was so filling we ended up leaving with over half of it in a box. I think if we could have found a way to stuff it in a suitcase and bring it back to Washington with us, we would have.

When was the last time you heard anyone writing something like that about Cleveland?

Because I’m devoting most of my time in November to the Novel In A Month Challenge, I’ve set up 30 items from my blogpile — items I once thought interesting but never blogged about — for everyone to discuss. Next up is Exploring autism and technology. Scoop, lever, heave, scoop, lever…

From A Nurse: Many times when people learn I am a civilian nurse working in a military hospital they ask if I take care of any wounded soldiers. When I reply “I do” they always ask how they can come and visit the wounded. I always tell them “you can’t”. People are shocked by that blunt response and frequently tell me, “I just want to say thank you.” I realize most people are…

November is a light-blogging month for me as I take part in the National Novel Writing Month and pound out 50,000 words in 30 days. During this time I’m relying on a cache of emails from my dad to help fill in the space so that Have Coffee Will Write doesn’t go dark. I’ll be back full-time on Friday, 1 December. B’shalom, Y’all.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections
1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.

Foliage at Smithfield included China briar hedges and Pride-of-India trees. p. 14

I just took a look at my stats and found that my No. 1 Search Keyphrase is Jimmy Dimora. That is so sweet. In honor of Tadvent I’ve decided to create a new category on my blog: Remove Dimora. Why? Because of his shameful leadership in repeatedly lying to the citizens of Cuyahoga County about the went-down-in-flames Issue 3.

And this dovetails perfectly with another decision I’ve made which is, with the House and Senate safely in opposition to the out-of-control and in-denial White House, to retire my Impeach Bush category. Congress has much more important issues to deal with now.

Have Coffee Will Write is officially open for all things Jimmy Dimora. If you have a story you’d like to share, or a reason why Dimora should seek employment elsewhere, email me at:

lieandequivocate AT havecoffeewillwrite.com

[Update — 1652 — Feck, I’m in good company. Take a look at this Google front page.]

Because I’m devoting most of my time in November to the Novel In A Month Challenge, I’ve set up 30 items from my blogpile — items I once thought interesting but never blogged about — for everyone to discuss. Next up is Watching Lebanon. Scoop, lever, heave, scoop, lever…

I listened to Robert Siegel’s interview of Karl Rove last week and at the time I remember thinking two things: first, did Rove really know something the rest of us didn’t? And second, the hubris of this clown could know no bounds. We now know that it was the latter, not the former. Jake Tapper (hat tip to Daily Dish) does an excellent fisking.

SIEGEL: We’re in the home stretch, though, and many would consider you on the optimistic end of realism about –

ROVE: Not that you would be exhibiting a bias …

SIEGEL: I’m looking at all the same polls that you’re looking at every day.

ROVE: No, you’re not. No, you’re not.

SIEGEL: No, I’m not.

ROVE: No, you’re not. You’re not. I’m looking at 68 polls a week. You may be looking at four or five public polls a week that talk about attitudes nationally but that do not impact the outcome of –

SIEGEL: I’m looking at main races between – certainly Senate races.

ROVE: Well, like the poll today showing that Corker’s ahead in Tennessee, or the poll showing that Allen is pulling away in the Virginia Senate race.

SIEGEL: Leading Webb in Virginia, yeah.

ROVE: Exactly.

SIEGEL: But you’ve seen the DeWine race and the Santorum race – I don’t want to have you call races.

ROVE: Yeah, I’m looking at all these, Robert, and adding them up, and I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math, but you’re entitled to your math, I’m entitled to THE math.

SIEGEL: Well, I don’t know if we’re entitled to our different math, but you’re certainly –

ROVE: I said THE math. I said you’re entitled to yours.

Laugh clown laugh.

From SGT “Roy Batty”: Most of the time, the coolest place to be on post is the coffee shop that I call my other home. It’s nestled in between two Hadji internet cafes, and since the internet places have wireless LANs, one can sit in the coffee shop, enjoy the Arabic television, surf the internet on your laptop, and best of all, smoke! The place is full of the gray…

Ahhhh… Poor, poor Rush Limbaugh. First he had to beg forgiveness from his listeners for his drug habit and now he has to beg forgiveness for lying through his teeth to his listeners since who knows when. On his radio show yesterday the pompous, pain killer eating gas bag had the audacity to say the following:

There have been a bunch of things going on in Congress, some of this legislation coming out of there that I have just cringed at, and it has been difficult coming in here, trying to make the case for it when the people who are supposedly in favor of it can’t even make the case themselves — and to have to come in here and try to do their jobs. I’m a radio guy! I understand what this program has become in America and I understand the leadership position it has. I was doing what I thought best, but at this point, people who don’t deserve to have their water carried, or have themselves explained as they would like to say things but somehow aren’t able to…

Andrew Sullivan has this to say:

I’m so sorry Limbaugh had to lie through his teeth to try and keep in the good graces of his Republican masters. Have you ever heard of intellectual honesty, Mr Limbaugh? You can look it up in the dictionary.

Can you say ditto?

[Update –1216 — The Moderate Voice adds his two-cents with lots of links to other bloggers, and the Washington Post.]

November is a light-blogging month for me as I take part in the National Novel Writing Month and pound out 50,000 words in 30 days. During this time I’m relying on a cache of emails from my dad to help fill in the space so that Have Coffee Will Write doesn’t go dark. I’ll be back full-time on Friday, 1 December. B’shalom, Y’all.

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should get used to the idea.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections 1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.

In 1785 Smithfield Plantation consisted of 1,694 ½ acres. By 1851 it was reduced to 715 acres, of which 476 were highland and 239 were swamp. p. 13

Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday dear Have Coffee Will Write… Happy birthday to you. Two years ago I decided to see if I had anything worth saying that people might enjoy reading and turned on the lights here. A year ago I took stock and had just under 5,000 unique visitors per month.

Last month that was more than doubled to nearly 12,000.

In my first year I wrote nearly 300,000 words. I have a much less precise estimate this year (OK, I’m just feckin’ lazy, there’s no word count function in Word Press) but I’d place the number much closer to 400,000 and maybe even 450,000 if I throw in my posts to The Writing On The Wal.

Have Coffee Will Write has received local and national attention in the past year (see My 15 Seconds Of Fame in the left-hand sidebar) and my readers gave me a wonderful bloganniversary present, when, purely coincidentally I’m sure, of the best single-day performance ever with 1,542 visitors stopping in to see what I’d written.

None of this would have been possible without my Web Sorceress Terry whose skills got us through a server change, a major hack and hundreds of fiddly little details. She is the best. Thank you.

And now into the Terrible Twos.