Che Shirt

Orale, Pendejo!

That is Ernesto Che Guevara, Argentinean physician, author, soldier, Marxist philosopher and hero of the July 26 Movement of the Cuban Revolution.  His early death made him at least a demi-god in the pantheon of Latin American heroes – right up there with Pancho Villa and Simon Bolivar.

The image above has appeared on a gazillion T-shirts, and was lifted from the photo taken by Alberto Korda in 1960

Titled Guillerico Heroico, it has been called the most-viewed photograph on  earth.

It has been said, and there is some evidence to believe, that at the time of his death Che was preparing to return to Cuba as part of a plot to assassinate his old pal Fidel.

Whether that is true our not, he did remain true to his Marxist beliefs until his death at the age of 39.  He was involved in revolutions in Africa and in South America.  He was eventually captured and killed in 1967 while working to recruit tin miners to a revolution in Bolivia. 

I know Marxists do not believe in the existence of the soul, but Guevara’s must be undergoing a particularly painful sort of torment.  His name and his image have become Big Business, making millions of dollars world-wide for hundreds of entrepreneurs.  Fashion conscious children and would-be revolutionaries in Kinshasa or Cleveland can buy backpacks and T-shirts with his image.

You can even go on-line and buy the Che Guevara

Bobble Head Doll :

If his soul really is rolling over in Hell, maybe Satan will give him a break today.  I just read that in in Mumbai, for this week anyway, Obama T-shirts are outselling the Che T-shirts, in fact it is reported that that Obama shirts are selling like hotcakes among folks for whom the cost of a shirt may represent a month’s income.  I really don’t know whether Guevara should be jealous or relieved.

One Fourteen and Counting

My own opinion is tempered by personal experience, and I have always thought the women of Deep East Texas were tougher than a steel-toed boot. 

My great-grandmother – dad’s mother’s mom - lived well into her 80’s, and I can remember seeing her mother, my great-great-grandmother attending my great-grandma’s funeral. I was still pretty young, so my impression was that she looked older than dirt, but she was still getting around on her own. 

Now, as of yesterday, a 114-year-old East Texas woman is considered to be the oldest person in the world.

Eunice G. Sanborn of Jacksonville (pictured above) gained that distinction after 114-year-old Eugenie Blanchard, a nun who was said to be the world's oldest person, died Thursday on the French Caribbean island of St. Barts.

The Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group, which keeps track of such things,  listed Sanborn as being born on July 20,1896. Blanchard's birth date was Feb. 16, 1896.

Dr. L. Stephen Coles, of Gerentology Research, told The Associated Press that, with the death of Blanchard, the group considers Sanborn the oldest person in the world. Coles also says he spoke to Sanborn's family Thursday and "she's doing well.”

In an April interview back in April, Sanborn told the Tyler Morning Telegraph that she loves everything about her life and has "no complaints."

-UPDATE -

Right after I posted this morning, another article came out saying that Eunice is 115, not 114.

According to the family, Sanborn was born on July 20, 1895, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She moved to Jacksonville after her first husband, Joseph Orchin, died.

Although she never worked outside the home, Sanborn stayed busy with community activities her entire life and was an active member of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, where her membership remains.

Sanborn survived a bout of scarlet fever when she was a child but lost two sisters to the illness.

She outlived three husbands and her only child, Dorothy, and credits her long life and good health to her belief in Christ.

Happy Birthday, Honey

Really amazing – hard to believe – but my beautiful teenaged bride officially became a senior citizen today. 

I meant “til death do us part” when I said it back in 1964, but I don’t think I realized that it meant that one day I would be married to a little old lady. Would I marry her again?  Hell yes – in a heartbeat – but you won’t ever hear me saying it! 

Honey thought those “Marry her all over again” diamond ads were demeaning,  and they made her furious- I used to have to mute them to keep her from throwing stuff at the TV. One would come on, her back would arch like an alley cat in attack mode, and she would say things like “What makes you think I’d marry YOU, you condescending ….”

Like anyone else, we have had our portions of joy and pain – but the pain has been more bearable and the joys so much sweeter because she was by my side. She is by far the best thing that ever happened to me.

Stats – Here’s Looking At You, Kid

According to the little counter I installed on the upper left of the page, Boggy Thicket just went over 800 views yesterday.  That doesn’t sound like much of a return for my efforts, and I’ll admit that it is  a little but  discouraging.  

I mean, just think about it, I’ve come across blogs about crocheting miniature doilies that have almost as many followers as I have hits. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing this and would probably keep doing it just because it gives my tired old brain much needed exercise.

Then yesterday, I came across something that makes me feel much more justified about the hours I've spent. 

There is a tab called STATS on the blogspot dashboard that allows the blogger  to view all sorts of interesting information – not only how many views the blog has had (almost 2200) but where the viewers are, what Browsers and Operating Systems they used, and which posts had the most hits.  The software won’t tell me your shoe size, number of siblings, or even your name or IP address, but it does provide a remarkable amount of information.

By far, my most popular post to date was Can't Fix Stupid - well - Sometimes You Can posted back in June.  Other popular posts included those about Brookings, Oregon and the one last month I called October and Awareness .

Most folks view my blog via Internet Explorer, and almost all of them (95%) are using Windows.  Some - 1% or less, - used browsers I had never even heard of; things called OneRiot, BAVM, and Jakarta Commons-HTTPClient.

The vast majority of my visitors are from the USA, but I’ve had at least 64 viewers from Canada, 34 from Brazil, 30 from France and 20 from China.  There have been 19 each from Spain and Italy, 16 from Switzerland, and 15 apiece from Turkey and Japan.

The STATS tab also lists  search terms and referring sites.  Most visitors came to Boggy Thicket via Google and the next largest group via FaceBook.

I have no explanation for the disparity between the counter on the page and the one on the dashboard, but I think I’ll believe the one on the STATS tab and keep the other one up there just to keep me humble.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

 

Nancy Pelosi (pictured above with Rahm Emanuel) once said:
“So if somebody has the idea that the percentage of GDP, of what our national debt is,  will go up a bit, but they will now — and their neighbors and their children — will have jobs, I think they could absorb that.”
Since Speaker Pelosi took office :

- The national debt increased by 41.8%.
- The budget deficit has nearly tripled.
- The debt limit (borrowing limit) increased FIVE times.

When the Democrats gained control of Congress, the CBO projected that the federal government would run a budget surplus of $800 billion between FY 2008-2017.  Now, over that same period, the federal government is projected to run a deficit of $7.4 trillion.

That is the kind of thinking, and the kind of result that gave the Republicans a 60 seat gain the the House yesterday.  Pelosi did manage to hold on to her seat, garnering about 73% of the votes in her California district.

Based on what she said in a press statement she issued this morning, Madame Speaker still doesn’t get it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the midterm elections that delivered a Republican majority mean lawmakers must work together to support the middle class, create jobs and reduce the deficit.

In a statement early Wednesday, the California Democrat urged Republicans and Democrats to find common ground and said the outcome of the election does not diminish the work that's been done for the American people. Pelosi saluted the Democrats who she says took tough votes as they tried to create jobs and improve the economy.

She did not say whether she wants to continue to lead the House Democrats' smaller, more-liberal caucus next year.

Pelosi remains speaker through the end of the year. In January, she'll surrender the speaker's gavel.

SixthSense Technology

It has been said on 60 Minutes and elsewhere that the youth of India who are not bright enough to attend university at home have been forced to attend schools in the USA like Cal Tech and MIT.  Don’t know how true that is, but if they have many students sharper than Pranav Mistry, an MIT doctoral candidate, I would be amazed.

Mistry, pictured above,  is interested in ways of combining the actual world around us with the virtual digital world in our computers.

He’s not only interested, he has made amazing strides toward allowing you to become your own interface.  He calls his achievement SixthSense Technology,  and he is planning to make the software he has written open-source, free to anyone.

If you can spare 15 minutes, here is his explanation of his work:

Morning After

It appears that a lot more people celebrate the Pagan-inspired Halloween than observe Christian All Saints Day.  At least that seemed to be true in my little part of the world until recently.

This year, we didn’t have a single trick-or-treater come to our door, and the stores already had Christmas stuff out on display.

Whether Halloween is gone for good, or just gone for another year, it is time to move away from the horror.  With that in mind, here’s a video I came across:

I am not one who looks at education as panacea, but I do think it is extremely important. 

I remember when our daughters, Cheryl and Shanna, were in elementary school; Cheryl was getting pretty old,  in 5th or maybe even 6th grade at the time.  She came home from school and asked her mother “Did you know that you don’t have to go to college?”

Before Honey could reply, and with a voice filled with authority,  Shanna firmly    said  “Oh yes you do!”