Ahoy lubbers!

Words you may find handy today

Addled -- Mad, insane, or just stupid. An "addlepate" is a fool.

Avast! -- "Hey!" Could be used as "Stop that!" or "Who goes there?"

Begad! -- By God!

Belay -- Stop that. "Belay that talk!" would mean "Shut up!"

Blimey! -- An exclamation of surprise.

Booty -- Loot.

Cap'n -- Short for "captain."

Cat o'nine tails, or just "cat" -- a whip with many lashes, used for flogging. "A taste of the cat" might refer to a full flogging, or just a single blow to "smarten up" a recalcitrant hand.

Fair winds! -- Goodbye, good luck!.

Grog -- Generically, any alcoholic drink. Specifically, rum diluted with water to make it go farther.

Grub -- Food.

Handsomely -- Quickly. "Handsomely now, men!" = "Hurry up!"

Matey -- A piratical way to address someone in a cheerful, if not necessarily friendly, fashion.

No quarter! -- Surrender will not be accepted.

On the Account -- The piratical life. A man who went "on the account" was turning pirate.

Rum (noun) -- Traditional pirate drink.

Rum (adjective) -- Strange or odd. A "rum fellow" is a peculiar person, the sort who won't say "Arrrr!" on Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Wench -- An individual of the female persuasion. "Saucy" is a good adjective to add to this, and if ye can get away with "Me proud beauty!," more power to ye.

Yo-ho-ho -- A very piratical thing to say, whether it actually means anything or not.

Welfare Queens II: The Golden Parachutes

Richard S. Fuld (Lehman Brothers) - Severance: 65mil

Chuck Prince (Citigroup) - Severance: 40 Mil Pension: 1.78mil

Stan O'neal (Merril Lynch) - Severance: 160 million

Jimmy Cayne (Bear Stearns) - Severance: 30 million

Welfare Queens

This unfortunate term was used by Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, as part of the conservative class/culture warfare. Images and stories were woven about people living like royalty off the government checks and cheese given to them. With that a whole segment of the American population, mostly single black women, were labeled as lazy thieving sneaks living off the hard work of regular Americans.

The term "welfare queen" conjures up a totally different image for me. I take a look at what goes on in corporate America and I see the real "welfare queen." The wall street players love to talk about their ideal of laissez faire capitalism. Corporations live happily off the the backs of the American workers and consumers while they evade taxes. They bust unions and exploit workers here and oversees; their profits kept offshore and they only give back the community to get a write-off.

Corporations and traders alike complain about taxes. These are the same taxes that built the roads, waterways, schools, etc. that they exploit every day. Without the rights extended to them arbitrated by judges and secured by the police their businesses would not exist. These fat cats sit in their boardrooms or private jets finding ways to screw ordinary Americans and fill their coffers.

What happens when something goes wrong?

It's happened several times in the American economy: first in the 30s then the 80s and now. The conservative policy of under-regulated, unfettered capitalism has brought us to where we are today. Companies who have been making money hand over fist for many years are now looking for handouts. In short they are privatizing the profits and socializing the losses.

The taxes that companies evade are now being used to save them. The American people are going into deeper debt to save businesses that are "too large to fail." So much like the welfare queens of old, these guys are collecting welfare (bailouts) through fraud and manipulation while living large off their golden parachutes.

The Ravioli Experiment

The recipe advised that i build a well of flour and fill the center with egg. I quickly found out that eggs do not like to be trapped inside impenetrable flour walls. In fact, they just run right through. I did not get a chance to take a picture of this debacle as I was too busy sequestering the egg back to the well.

My new non-stick board and rolling pin in action, sorta.


Hot Italian sausage from Farmers Market = $$$$.
Pasta sauce thyme oregano garlic = $ Parmesan cheese = $
Homemade filling = delicious

Sometimes a milk can is more than a milk can.

Wow that is awful round and flat!


All that work for so few?


The mostly finished product.

The rest is pretty obvious. I found that pictures of water boiling are kinda boring.

I tried the experiment today and it was delicious.

Who cares about politics?

I've been inspired by KoolRedd to write a some about US politics. My interest in politics and government did not start yesterday, but I was inspired to let loose my thoughts by his first posting. My earliest recollection of politics was from my father. He espoused many views from the corrupt government and entrenched power found in the islands to the corruption and entrenched US power structure.

My own coming of age occurred on one September morning. All the lessons of the past came in direct contact with my present. When I went to class that morning I was just another college kid trying to get by. When I got back to the apartment I was greeted by the stunned look on my roommates faces and the images on the TV.

That fateful morning was an awakening for me, not a redefinition of me. I say this to be clear that I am not a person who sees the entire world through the lens of that day. Rudy Giuliani used that day to redefine himself; that day he decided to use one of his greatest failures as a launching point. What sort of person claims any know-how when their principal decision put cops and firefighters at risk during a disaster?

First I will attempt to describe the basics of US politics and politics in general. Perhaps I will then tackle the word "change" and how we can really get change. If we are looking for "change" then what are we changing to? KoolRedd has laid down the challenge; I plan on answering.

Ceramic Goodness