Obsidian Wings

The Rules of Travel

by JanieM

From the Prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring:

The Shire at this time had hardly any ‘government’… There remained, of course, the ancient tradition concerning the high king at Fornost, or Norbury as they called it, away north of the Shire. But there had been no king for nearly a thousand years, and even the ruins of Kings’ Norbury were covered with grass. Yet the Hobbits still said of wild folk and wicked things (such as trolls) that they had not heard of the king. For they attributed to the king of old all their essential laws; and usually they kept the laws of free will, because they were The Rules (as they said), both ancient and just.

This post grew out of my recent sidetrack into barn basketball memories, but it starts with a travel story.

Once upon a time, when my kids were small, we three went traveling. As soon as we were inside the terminal at Logan, one kid toddled one way and the other crawled the other, and there I was in the middle, stuck with the luggage and trying to decide which kid to go after first.

Out of that experience came “The Rules of Travel”:

1. Stick together
2. Keep track of your stuff
3. Be nice

Those rules obviously weren’t ancient, and whether they were just or not, they were at least short, sweet, and in the case of the first two, concrete.

They worked pretty well.

Skipping over to barn basketball…

About the Japanese health care system

by liberal japonicus

Below the fold is post 2, about the Japanese medical care system.

Your Beautiful Open Thread, the Best

by Ugh

I've been neglecting my posting duties so thought I'd put this up.

Having sh1t for brains for President is turning out to not be a good thing. Whoocoodanode! I especially like all the people abandoning him left and right in the past couple months, as if he's somehow changed from the campaign.  "That's not the guy I know/knew!" Clearly you weren't paying attention.

Anyway, looking forward to Nuking NK, letting PR go to sh1t, and some completely effed up tax bill they will try to call "reform" and then not be able to pass.

And, just because: Paul Ryan is dumb as a box of rocks.

Open thread.

What I did during my summer vacation part 1

by liberal japonicus

Below the fold, a medical story that may be of interest to:

-men of a certain age (over 50)
-people interested in national health comparisons
-people interested in how Japan may be refracted thru their health care

If you are not interested in hearing details about my health, I encourage you to skip this. Ret's go...

Questions of Travel

by JanieM

The last lines from the poem Questions of Travel, by Elizabeth Bishop:

'Is it lack of imagination that makes us come to imagined places, not just stay at home? Or could Pascal have been not entirely right about just sitting quietly in one's room?

Continent, city, country, society: the choice is never wide and never free. And here, or there... No. Should we have stayed at home, wherever that may be? '

I spent a few days in the Eastern Townships of Quebec last month. When I have more time I may write a longer post about that trip, but meanwhile, since we’re in dire need of a new thread and wj has thrown out a challenge, here’s a topic:

Where would you go if you had a year to travel, and sufficient money to make it comfortable for your needs/preferences?

I’d spend a few months in London, with side trips to some of the great English gardens. Timing: spring.

I’d spend a few months in New York.

I’d probably divide the rest between Ireland, which I love beyond reason, and Italy, where half my ancestors came from and where I’ve never visited at all. And may never at this point, realistically speaking.

Slow Learners

by wj

Sometimes, I come across things that just totally blow my mind. This, from the Wall Street Journal:

The federal flood insurance program has paid more than $1.8 million between 1979 and 2015 to rebuild a single house in Kingwood, Texas. The house has been flooded 22 times since 1979
H/T FiveThirtyEight

The house appears to have any number of up-scale features. Including an indoor swimming pool . . . even when it isn't flooded. This isn't some poor guy who just can't afford to live somewhere else.

I'm not sure who I consider the slowest learner here. The homeowner, who is only now figuring out that he ought to locate elsewhere. Or the Federal Flood Insurance program, which has been willing to keep sinking money into a property which is pretty clearly located on an utterly inappropriate site. (Our Federal tax dollars at work -- since, of course, Texas keeps taxes low and lets the rest of us subsidize them for stuff like this.)

Your pet(s)

by liberal japonicus

Regular commenter wonkie posted this and I wanted to lift it to the front page. She wrote:
My dog rescue book has just become available on Amazon. It’s the story of the rescue of the Olympic Animal Sanctuary dogs—the largest dog rescue to be carried out without support of local authorities. It's is a story of assaults, protests, lawsuits,and small town corruption and abuse of power. I took me two years to write. The text includes the police files released under state law, eye witness accounts, lots of photos, and additional essays by professional dog behaviorists. All proceeds will be donated to the rescues that took in the surviving dogs.

She said that the proceeds will go to
Safe Haven in Nevada (facebook)
Lionel’s Legacy in California
Gentle Giants in New Jersey
Chicagoland Eskie Rescue
AARF in Seattle
and others if there is more money. Buy the book, check out the websites.

I’d also like to point out that wonkie also published a book of short stories, one of which she shared in a post here. You can get that at this link. (she published it under a different name)

Below the fold, stories about my pets and in the comments, you are encouraged to talk about your pets.

A Glimpse of Sanity? -- Open Thread

by wj

I couldn't find a place to put this, so . . . new open thread!

I ran across this:

President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling.

Getting rid of the debt ceiling seems like an idea whose time is way overdue. Nobody can argue that it has achieved its avowed purpose: forcing Congress to constrain spending. All it really does is provide an occasion for a whole lot of really stupid posturing. So good riddance -- if they manage to actually pull it off.

I confess that I was skeptical at first about just pushing the debt limit issue out 3 months. But if what that does is provide time to ditch it entirely? Hallelujah!

I'm not getting my hopes up on this. Except that I am getting my hopes up.

Irma

by liberal japonicus

this from http://grist.org/article/irma-the-strongest-atlantic-hurricane-in-history-keeps-getting-stronger/ via LGM

Should the hurricane make landfall in Florida or elsewhere in the Southeast, it will set a regrettable record — the first-ever back-to-back U.S. landfalls of Category 4 or higher storms.

Hurricane Harvey’s catastrophic impact in Texas and Louisiana now ranks as the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. (Hurricane Katrina cost an estimated $150 billion in 2017 dollars, and the Texas governor’s office estimates Harvey could cost $180 billion.) A recent study examined the possibility of a Category 5 hurricane strike in downtown Miami. It calculated that damages from that nightmare scenario could cost upward of $300 billion.

As improbable as it may seem, two of the worst hurricanes in U.S. history might hit in the span of just two weeks.

Consider this in lieu of any number of sarcastic comments that I could make.