What the F...?

Do I Have This Right?

Berkeley rioters on February 1

So, it's righteous for progressives
to employ violent protests to prevent someone from whose views they find disagreeable from making a speech on a college campus...

"I'm a Democrat, rules mean nothing to me!"

...but it is outrageous for the Senate to enforce its long-standing rule against disparaging other senators on the floor of the Senate during debate? Give me a break...

I guess progressives would have been fine with it if Majority Leader McConnell has simply thrown
a molotov cocktail at her instead.

"When have progressives ever been logical or consistent?

Damned if I know...doesn't make their behavior any less aggravating...

February Fun

8:25 AM CST

Just a couple of days ago there was ZERO precipitation in the National Weather Service 15-Day forecast.

That changed yesterday, when the NWS put this area under a Winter Weather Advisory.



When I woke up this morning, the temperature was brutal (14 degrees, wind chill of -1), and the snow was still falling. The advisory expired at noon, but the problems this sort of thing causes are going to linger for awhile.

"You've got some work to do out on the patio, am I right?"

Yes, the Wild Kingdom Bed & Breakfast took a hit, but I should have it back to normal before sundown...

When It All Began

The oldest athletic conference
in the United States for what are called Division I schools is the
Big Ten Conference, which was born on February 8, 1896 as the Western Conference.


The charter members were the University of Chicago, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue, and Michigan. The conference changed its name to the Big Nine in 1899 when it added Indiana and Iowa as members. They kicked Michigan out for cheating in 1907 and added Ohio State in 1912.

When they let Michigan back in in 1917 they adopted the name Big Ten, which they kept until the University of Chicago left the conference in 1946, after which they went back to Big Nine. Three years later the conference added Michigan State, and has called itself the Big Ten ever since, even though the conference currently has 14 member institutions, including my best friend Skip's beloved Penn State.

"So these guys started the trend of colleges not being able to count?"

Yes...I blame them for the fact that we now have the Big 12 (10 member institutions) and the Atlantic 10 (14 member institutions)...

Did Somebody Have a Boo-Boo?

From the pen of Lisa Benson, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do?

Until Next Time...

On February 8, 1932 John Towner Williams was born in Floral Park, New York.
To say that he made a name for himself in music would be an epic understatement.

For his work as a composer, arranger, conductor, and musician Williams has won 5 Academy Awards (and has received more Oscar nominations than anyone other than Walt Disney), 3 Emmy Awards, and 22 Grammy Awards. His score for the original  
Star Wars film (now known as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope) has been honored by the American Film Institute as the most memorable score of all time for an American film, and in 2004 it was selected for the National Recording Registry curated by the Library of Congress.

The list of honors and awards Williams has earned over the course of his career is truly awe-inspiring. He isn't my personal favorite among film composers, but he's right up there in the pantheon.

Williams has been extraordinarily prolific throughout his career, which of course means that much of his work has been attached to projects that are something less than cinematic masterpieces. Think Gidget Goes To Rome, Valley of the Dolls, Daddy's Gone A-Hunting, and Monsignor, to name just a few of the clunkers to feature his work.

In 1973 director Robert Altman selected Williams to do the score for his film The Long Goodbye, based on the novel of the same name by my hero Raymond Chandler.

The score Williams produced was the only good thing about the movie, and the original soundtrack album has become a collector's item due to its being out-of-print for years.

Today's send-off is the film's main title theme, from John's YouTube channel. Enjoy...