Nice article and photos here:

Festus, MO Gives Hero’s Welcome to a Wounded Iraq Vet

(HT: Michelle Malkin and the Gateway Pundit)

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Last Sunday the StarTribune’s OpEx section featured two photos side by side that the paper had downloaded from its news service. The photos had come one right after the other and though they were for unrelated stories the editors couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition: one photo was of a starving child from (I believe) Niger and the other was of competitors chowing down at a hamburger eating contest.

My copy of that section has long since wrapped fish, but my recollection of the text is that the Strib mainly pointed out the interesting coincidence of the order in which the photos arrived and let the contrast pretty much speak for itself. No doubt there may also have been an implied message of, “look how decadent – no wonder they hate us,” but maybe I’ve just become sensitized and cynical. My own thought would be, “no wonder so many people want to come here.”

I expected a flood of letters to the editor to appear declaiming American wantonness in the face of suffering and based on logic as thin as refugee camp gruel. Only a couple were printed, however, and they were not as mealy-mouthed as I would have expected.

The Sunday Op Ex pictures of a starving child in Africa vs. the American pig-outs at food-eating contests are stark! How often I’m reminded of our national feeding overindulgence when I see the leftovers at restaurants, especially at the “breakfast-special” restaurants or the “all-you-can-eat” buffets, with enough pancakes, toast, bacon, sausages and hash browns left behind to feed a Nigerian family for days.
– George Mayerchak, Long Prairie.

Yes, there is no doubt we Americans take our abundance for granted, are wasteful and even profligate. (At least in the Household of the Night we don’t believe in throwing good food away. We wrap a leftover and put it in the refrigerator and wait until it becomes bad food, and then we throw it away.) The reason is because food is so cheap. Say what you will about our culture, but our economic system has mastered the growing, raising, harvesting, processing, shipping and buying of food to such a degree of efficiency that something so essential can essentially be dirt cheap, even though everyone involved at every step in the process takes their cut. Am I going to save that last ear of corn from dinner when I can go to Cub tomorrow and buy six fresh ones for a dollar? (You might be able to tell that I didn’t grow up during the Depression.)

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It was Kevin who tipped me off to the World Map feature on Site Meter. I’d never looked at that until this week, and it was amazing to me. In the course of this week I’ve had visitors from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, the Ivory Coast, Iran, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Belgium, Spain, the UK and the distant and exotic land of Canada. (Does anyone know how you say, “Hey, y’all” in Farsi?)

Granted, just about all of these came to me as a result of Google searches, and may have stayed only long enough to say, “Vas ist das scheisse?” but it’s still kind of cool that I have the potential to create an international incident any time I sit down at the computer.

To paraphrase Satchmo, “What a wonderful World(wide web)!”

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The Duluth Shipping News has a series of photos of an incident this afternoon where the Dutch ocean-going ship Vlieborg veered into the canal wall while approaching the Aerial Lift Bridge. The Vlieborg was departing Duluth with a load of beets. No injuries have been reported, though there were a number of tourists near the wall when the crash occurred.

For some time now I’ve enjoyed looking in on the Shipping News site periodically. The editor, Ken Newhams, keeps a running log of the ships in port along with folksy news of what’s happening in the vicinity. The best part, however, is his excellent photography. He does an terrific job of capturing and communicating life in and around the harbor in all kinds of weather. The people, the ships, the storms, the tourists are all there and he has extensive archives you can browse. I find his slide shows from the November 2001 and 2003 storms especially fascinating.

Go check out the site, but keep your eyes peeled for runaway beet boats!

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I somehow missed this, which is strange because I rarely go a weekday without visiting his blog, but Varifrank’s one year blogging anniversary was August 15. His post on the subject is an interesting story on why he started and the lessons he’s learned (some fun and some not) in that time, as well as describing some exciting opportunities that have opened up for him as a result.

His is one of the most distinctive and informative voices in the blogosphere and if you’re not clicking him regularly you really, really ought to.

Happy Blogiversary, Varifrank!

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A co-worker pointed me toward a new Minnesota-based blog, Cedric’s Blog-o-Rama.

Cedric is a young, soon-to-be-married, freelance illustrator and artist. His site is a breezy take on the fun and challenges of his job and the joys of his faith and being engaged. I’m not sure of his politics, but he is liberal in his use of illustrations on the site. His art is bright and cheery, and you may even recognize some of his work from displays at the Mall of America.

Here’s a post he offered to comic book fans about Fanboy radio:

One of the great things about freelancing is that you get to work at home and be your own boss. One of the not so great things is that it can get quite lonely. You miss having other artists around to talk to, joke around with, and be inspired by. So I was really excited this morning when I stumbled upon Fanboy Radio. It’s a two-hour radio program dedicated to discussing comics and interviewing people in the industry. Airings have included interviews with Mike Wieringo, John Byrne, and Stan Lee just to name a few. For only 75¢ each you can download episodes as podcasts. For me It’s like a breath of fresh air to hear such accomplished artists discussing their work, sharing their ideas, or just kidding around. It’s not the same as having a live person to talk to, but at least I get to hear the voices of other artists in my studio (even if it is through my computer speaker). And not just any artists, but accomplished professionals whose work challenges and inspires me. So if you love comics and you’re looking for something fun to listen to, check out Fanboy Radio.

Check it out!

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Rainy days and blog days always get me down.

Well, not really. I’m starting to get a rhythm to this blog thing, or at least a tempo I feel I can maintain while eating up the miles. But somedays my mental blogging jog somehow leaves the paths of scenic opportunity and insight and I find I’m in a dead-end alley with nothing to look at but trash and recycling. As the day drags on without something piquant and pithy to post the alley seems to get darker and narrower.

Ah, but then a timely glimmer of light such as this funny pamphlet, What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression (HT: Sandy at The MAWB Squad). It’s a parody, I think, but as often happens, the parody reveals the truth. And the truth will make you free. I read it and realized that while I want to post every day, I don’t have to! It’s my blog! So I’m not going to post today! Hey, nonny, nonny!

Oh, I guess I already have. Oh well, I’m taking the next 7 or 8 hours off anyway, and I already feel refreshed!

Please don’t be disappointed, dear reader. For today’s amusement I heartily encourage you to read the very entertaining and provocative Gettysburg ghost-stories and commentary here and here. (HT: Amy Ridenour’s National Center Blog). Just the thing for a gloomy day!

See you tomorrow.

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Today’s StarTribune features a commentary by David Brooks that highlights many positive societal changes since the early 90s that suggest America is becoming more virtuous. For example, family violence, violent crime, violence by teens, drunk driving fatalities, hard liquour consumption, teen pregnancy, abortions, the number of children living in poverty, divorce rates and teen suicide are all declining. It’s strange that I haven’t seen the front page headlines about these trends, but if the Strib let this story run then it must be true.

But wait, out of their commitment to providing fair and balanced perspective, the Strib’s editorial staff had to weigh in as well with an editorial entitled “Moral revival: Not with both eyes open”. After first calling our attention to Brooks’ column “on the opposite page” (um, oh yeah, the right hand page) they note, “With one eye open, he runs through a litany of good news.” This is followed by a flying “but”-monkey bigger than anything in the Wizard of Oz: “These are indeed wonderful trends to celebrate. And, as Brooks suggests, they are part of an improved climate of private virtue. But Brooks sees only half the picture. If he opened his other eye — his eye on public virtue — his claims of a clear moral revival would quickly blur.”

The editorial then launches into a series of rhetorical questions, which means they weren’t really expecting responses (easy to do when you’re a one-way medium). Well, in my best Samuel L. Jackson voice, “Allow me to retort.”

Update:

Doug at Bogus Gold has more commentary on this editorial.

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For those holding their breath right along with the crew of Russian submariners trapped 600 feet below the surface, last Sunday’s rescue was a welcome relief. Similarly, today’s safe return of the space shuttle Discovery after unprecedented in-flight repairs brought more good news to the headlines. Somewhere between these hard-won triumphs in the depths of the ocean and the reaches of space there is room for perspective.

Men and women today are so accustomed to the technology and inspiration behind our modern miracles such as cell phones and iPods that we’re almost blind to the wonder of it all. Then when extreme scenarios present themselves we again stand in awe of the capabilities available to us. Such awe would easily lead to arrogance when it appears that there is nothing we can’t do, but for the memories of other subs and other shuttles that did not return. Our human ingenuity seems barely able at times to stay ahead of our human ignorance. We can conceive of things in a way that borders on the Divine, while the Devil remains in the details.

We stumble and trip, then breakthrough and soar, going from saying, “What were they thinking?” to “Imagine that!”

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I’ve seen some interesting information on other blogs and web sites about the distant and mysterious land that my wife and daughter recently visited. This news verifies much of what they witnessed.

Go here to see signs of the times and the writing on the wall and other places.

Here’s something that might make you wonder what this country might do with 33 million unmarried, surplus males between the ages of 15 and 34.

The seeds of an answer to that question may be found at this post from Apprehension.

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