CUSTOMER SERVICE IN JAPAN

A little startling at first, but truly excellent customer service.

WHERE AM I?

You ask where have I been.  I'm right here.  In truth, no one asked where I've been.  Sniff, sniff...  I've spent the better part of the day trying to get virus protection downloaded onto my laptop.  (I know.  Buy a Mac, and I won't have to worry about virus protection.  I wanted that out of the way, before someone else says it.)  I'm not looking to buy a computer now. 

My laptop was freezing up, as I said earlier, and, as best as I and my helper could figure out, the culprit seemed to be my anti-virus program.  When I uninstalled the program, my laptop started working again. I didn't like the program anyway, so I decided to try the program I use on the desktop.  In fact, I tried to use the CD from which I downloaded the program to my desktop, but alas - the program was for one computer only, which may have complicated the subsequent attempt to download the anti-virus program to my laptop properly.  After a series of failures and frustrating phone calls with customer service, my efforts finally succeeded, and now all is well, after hours of effort.  Sooo...that's how I spent my morning and part of the afternoon.  What a fun day!

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

The Tyler Morning Telegraph has learned that a Van Independent School District employee accidentally was shot during a district-sponsored concealed handgun license class on Wednesday.

The class was part of an effort to permit teachers to carry firearms on VISD campuses.

....

[School board member Leslie] Goode would not disclose the identity of the employee or the nature of the injury, but did say the accident would not change his mind about a recent decision by the board to arm some teachers.

Thank heaven the person was not killed or badly wounded.  Sadly, I fear this is not the last of this kind of story we are likely to hear as the push for guns in schools continues.

Image from Wikipedia.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAUL KRUGMAN!

Paul is my favorite economist. I read his posts at his blog "The Conscience of a Liberal" every day.   He writes about economics in a way that folks like me, who are mostly unschooled in economics, can understand.  Along with his capacious knowledge of economics, Paul exhibits a great deal of plain old common sense, which I find quite appealing.  Oh, and he also won the Nobel Prize in Economics in  2008.  Before the day is over, I'll raise a glass to Paul's having many more happy birthdays, and I look forward to reading his wise posts, interspersed with humor, for a long time in the future.  And that's not to mention his Friday night musical offerings.

H/T to Bill in Portland Maine for the reminder and to my friend Paul (A.) for the link.

"CAT VS DOG - A TRICK CONTEST"

What a delightful video.  I'd say Kaiser, the cat, wins because cats are much harder to train.  Border Collies are intelligent and eager to learn.

I love the Bengal cat, which are rarities around here.  I've never seen one.  Of course, I love Nana, the Border Collie, too.

The owner and trainer of Kaiser and Nana says, "I do all of my animal training using positive reinforcement and clicker training."

YES, IT MATTERS WHERE THE PRICE TAG GOES

 

FEAST OF GEORGE HERBERT - PRIEST AND POET

A Wreath

A wreathed garland of deserved praise,
Of praise deserved, unto thee I give,
I give to thee, who knowest all my wayes,
My crooked winding wayes, wherein I live,
Wherein I die, not live: for life is straight,
Straight as a line, and ever tends to thee,
To thee, who art more farre above deceit,
Then deceit seems above simplicitie.
Give me simplicitie, that I may live,
So live and like, that I may know thy wayes,
Know them and practise them: then shall I give
For this poore wreath, give thee a crown of praise.

 (George Herbert)

HAGEL CONFIRMED AS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

Former Senator Chuck Hagel was finally confirmed as Secretary of Defense, after his confirmation was stalled in the Senate by members of the GOP.  Senate Republicans view Hagel as a traitor to the party ever since he turned against the Iraq war and Bush's conduct of the war when he was in the Senate, which gave them reason enough to oppose his nomination.  Only four Republicans voted to confirm.

Back in late 2011, Senator Lindsey Graham, one of  the most vehement opponents of Hagel's confirmation, suggested the US might have to go to war with Pakistan.

From the AP:

A Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunday that the U.S. should consider military action against Pakistan if it continues to support terrorist attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.

"The sovereign nation of Pakistan is engaging in hostile acts against the United States and our ally Afghanistan that must cease, Sen. Lindsey Graham told "Fox News Sunday."

He said if experts decided that the U.S. needs to "elevate its response," he was confident there would be strong bipartisan support in Congress for such action.

From Juan Cole:

The GOP Orcs have a further list of countries they’d like to invade and occupy. Senator Lindsey Graham added Pakistan to the list. Does anybody else in the known universe think it is a good idea for the US abruptly to go to war with the world’s sixth-largest country, which is a nuclear power, and which is backed by China? I mean, shouldn’t this man just be declared clinically insane and mercifully put in an institution instead of being allowed to strut the halls of power?

I burst out laughing at Juan Cole's comments about Lindsey Graham's suggestion that we may have to go to war against Pakistan. Then I caught myself and realized that it's not funny at all that people like Graham and others in the Senate, who must always have a war going, operate in the highest halls of power in our country.  We can only hope that the "strong bipartisan support" in Congress for a war with Pakistan has evaporated, if it was ever present.

COMPUTER TROUBLES

The desktop where I'm typing is fine, but my laptop is freezing.  I believe the trouble is narrowed down to my virus protection program, so I uninstalled the program and will install a different brand.

My laptop has served me well, and I have no complaints, but I have been dissatisfied with my virus-protection program, because it continues to prompt me to include add-ons which I do not want.  I must uncheck the little boxes, to exclude the add-ons, which I think is a sneaky and annoying way to operate.  Plus, when I ran a performance scan, the result showed poor security protection.  What am I paying for?  Later...

"HIS HOLINESS" STAYS, BUT THE RED SHOES GO

With only two full days left of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy, more details emerged Tuesday of what the future holds both for the retiring pontiff and the cardinals who will choose his successor.

The pontiff will keep the name Benedict XVI and still be addressed as "his holiness" once he retires, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters at the Vatican.

He will also be known as pope emeritus, emeritus pope or Roman pontifex emeritus.

The guidance clears up questions about how Benedict -- the first pope to resign in almost 600 years -- should be addressed as he moves into a life of seclusion and prayer after his Thursday resignation.

Not only do we learn of the proper way to address the retired pope, we learn of how he will dress.

He will wear a simple white cassock, without the customary red mantle of the pontiff. He will also no longer wear red shoes, probably adopting instead the brown shoes that he received as a gift in Leon, Mexico, during a trip last year.

I will miss the red shoes and the red mantle trimmed with ermine, with matching camauro, which reminded me a little of a Santa Claus hat.  The Vatican has not addressed such decisions in 600 years, since the last pope stepped down, and I'm sure other adjustments will follow as Benedict settles into his retirement.  Since change is in the air at the Vatican, my advice to the two popes would be to change the form of address from "Your Holiness" and "His Holiness" to something less presumptuous, but I don't expect my suggestion will be followed.

Picture of the pope's red shoes from Wikipedia.

H/T to Charles Pierce for the link to CNN.