That Florida condo should not have collapsed.

 Writing up here in NH, I have no real idea of what failed.  Could have been a lot of things

1.  Design failure going right back to when the building was constructed.  Not enough stout in the framework.  

2.  Concrete deterioration over the years, water, especially salt water, attacking the concrete of the building frame.  

3.  Failure of building inspectors to insist on repairs, expensive repairs, after building inspection found weakened concrete structural members.

4. Subsidence of the land upon which the condo was built. 

5. Something else??

 My Tiger Lilies bloomed two days ago.  It was rainy and overcast so I waited until I had a bit of sunlight to photograph them.  This entire bed of Tiger Lilies came from my mother's Tiger Lily patch. Due to all the rain on the last two days they are looking a little bit peaked.  Hopefully a little sun will perk them up.

Where is Global Warming when we need it?

It's July and my furnace is still firing.  It is only 60F, cold.

 

America is the finest country in the world.

 American created democracy in the modern world.  When we ratified our Constitution in 1798 all the other countries in the world were hereditary monarchies.  Two hundred thirty years later that Constitution is still working for us with only 27 amendments.  Of those 10 were part of the original deal and passed the same year that the Constitution was ratified, so we really only have 17 amendments as later thoughts on how things ought to be. 

   We ended slavery.  It took the worst war we ever fought to do it, but the Union won, and they abolished slavery.  We lost 600,000 men fighting the Civil War, worse than all the other wars we ever fought, all put together.  We followed up with the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.  

   We showed the world what capitalism could do.  People believe the streets are paved with gold in America.  That is because of the wealth American capitalism created.  American labor unions defeated communism by winning decent wages for the workers.  America (with a good deal of help from the Russians and the British) defeated the Nazis and the Japanese in WWII. 

    Americans are inventive.  Cotton gin, electric telegraph, steamboats, revolvers and repeating firearms, telephone, incandescent light, gyrocompass, airplanes.  America launched the first missions to the Moon.

   Forth of July is coming right up.  We should be proud of our country.  We have done good work over the years.

Bill Cosby is out of jail

 I have been a fan of Bill Cosby ever since he was  doing "I-Spy" on Philadelphia TV in the 1950's.  I had an LP of "200 miles an hour".  I watched Fat Albert and the Huxtables.  It was a big surprise to me to hear on the radio that Cosby had been indicted.  I know nothing of the facts of the case, only the verdict and the jail sentence.  Now the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned the court findings and ordered Cosby's release from prison.  Only took 'em two years, while Cosby was doing prison time, to get around to it.  No explanation as to just why they did it.  I am sure Cosby and his family are overjoyed.  I am perfectly OK with it. 

We don't do Declarations of War anymore

Last time we declared war on anybody was back in 1941, right after Pearl Harbor.  Now a days we call it "Authorization for the Use of Military Force" and apparently they last forever.  They give the president authority to spend money, dispatch troops, order air strikes and other military action.  The old fashioned declaration of war became moot when the war was over.  Anyhow Congress just decided to cancel out some  Authorizations to kick ass in the Middle East passed some twenty years ago and still being used today.  Not a bad idea.

   The president can use military force to defend the United States which covers the small stuff but probably does not go as far as doing regime change on disagreeable nations.  As a matter of procedure, and a matter of political survival, the president wants to have Congress and the bulk of the nation behind any serious military operations.  They should remember that we lost the Viet Nam war for lack of domestic political support. 

Excaliber 1981

Released in 1981 making it forty years old this year.  It’s long, two hours and twenty minutes.  It tells the King Arthur story beginning with Uther Pendragon’s visit to Igraine, where with Merlin’s magical help he begets Arthur.  We have a young Arthur pulling the sword from the stone, in front of a big crowd and being acclaimed king.  We have Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere.  We have Mordred’s treachery leading to Arthur’s death at the battle of Camlan.  In short all the significant stories from Malory’s La Morte d’Arthur are presented. 

   The movie has a few costume problems.  Everybody wears shining armor, plate armor, all the time.  Makes it hard to tell who is who since they all look alike, and wear helmets that obscure the actor’s faces. Arthur gets marred wearing shining plate armor.  In real life plate armor doesn't breath, making it sweaty as well as heavy.  I am sure armor would have been kept on hooks in the armory and only donned to go into combat, not worn around the house. The other trouble is, in Arthur’s time (late 400’s to early 500’s) armor would have been either old Roman armor or chain mail, or boiled leather.  Plate armor would not be developed for another thousand years. 

   Nigel Terry plays King Arthur, Helen Mirren plays Morgana, and Nicol Williamson plays Merlin.  Patrick Stewart and Liam Neeson have bit parts, so small that I never recognized them while watching the movie.