And Now, Something A Little Different

I have often been amused by certain words and terms. I mean sometimes they just don't sound right.

I went to the grocery store the other day and tried to go through the "self-check out" lane and saw a sign on the scanner that said, "OUT OF ORDER".

What did that mean?

Should I have done something else first?

Would it work if somebody brought some "ORDER" to it?

That's along the same line as when someone says. "It's out of whack!

"WHAT???

Out of whack? Why I've never seen any whack. (And if I had, I don't think I'd tell anyone!) I suppose it's too simple to say, "AIN'T WORKIN'!"

But that leads us down another road. "AIN'T" Some people say that "AIN'T" ain't a proper word to use.

Excuse me!!!! Some people say "AIN'T" isn't a proper word to use.

Well for a word that's not proper, it's sure been around for a while. Since 1685 to be exact, more or less.And think of all the people that have used it, besides me. Sojourner Truth gave a speech entitled, "Ain't I A Woman?" Lewis Carroll used "AIN'T" in his "Through The Looking Glass" as did Al Jolsen in the Jazz Singer. The use of the word "AIN'T" even cropped up in the last presidential election when Sarah Palin used it during the vice presidential debate and Barack Obama used it during his speeches on the stump to say, "That ain't right!"

And lest we forget, Bugs Bunny's, "Ain't I a stinker?"

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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In My Humble Opinion.....

I like to check out The Drudge Report daily because it seems to do a great job of collecting some of the most important headlines of the day and the links to them. Sometimes it is great entertainment too.

I was looking at last night. I began to notice the tag lines of some of the news stories; such as BBC POLL: WORLD WANTS OBAMA..., Russians like Putin and Obama, polls find..., 80% in France..., etc.

A few facts about me. I'm not a political blogger. I do happen to prefer McCain/Palin, but I'm not going to campaign on the blog. But something struck me when I saw these headlines. Since I think of myself as an America first person and I read that "...the world wants Obama", "Russians like...Obama..., and "80% in France" prefer Obama; wellll......All of that just SCREAMS that we need McCain. After all, I would think if the Russians want Obama, there must be a problem. After all they wanted Georgia and it didn't seem like Mr. Obama was too concerned.

Just a thought on my part. I hope I didn't offend!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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How Many Are There of You???

I found an interesting web-site yesterday It's called How Many of Me. What it does is use statistical and demographic data from the US Census Bureau.

I did some "research" at the site and found some interesting information. There are 5 of me in the US. I have either 14 or 8 wives, depending upon which name you use; the long or the short respectively. No here is the killer; I have 33 children if you search my son's name and my daughter's name. Wow!

More fun info: There is only 1 Hillary Clinton. Thank goodness for small favors. I searched for Barack Obama. Apparently there isn't one. Well then, who's that guy that seems to be the darling of the media and is planning the decor for the White House? And how about John McCain you ask. There are 449. If you don't like the one running for president you've got 448 others to pick from. There might be a good one in there somewhere.Give it a try. I'll bet you have fun with it just like I did. Oh, while I'm thinking about it, there are some pretty cool tools at the Census Bureau site; such as, Frequently Occurring Surnames, full information from the last census, and information about the next census. Go there sometime and give it a look see.

© 2008 Barry T Horst

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#151B8D or #000099 - They're Both the Same To Me

In an earlier post I ranted (?) about the connection that the color green has with now current idea of concern for the environment. I remember when I was in high school in the early 70's the big thing was "ecology". Now there is a word I haven't heard in a while. Anyway, it seems that everyone and everything wants to jump on the "green"bandwagon. Why even Mr. Obama is now saying that he wants Mr. Green; OOPS! that should be Mr. Gore, to advise him on solving the vexing environmental issues that face us and will surely lead us to a quick demise if not addressed in a timely fashion. As you may remember, I chose to switch the font color to green as a small show of support. Extremely small show of support actually. In fact, I don't really support it at all. I just simply thought it would be kind of fun to do. But I digress!

In the above referenced post I also mentioned that I really like the color blue. My brother then wrote me and said he liked blue also and would post on it soon. He did and here it is on HORST ONLINE. His post got me thinking about something. Now that is an accomplishment. I have been asked before, "What were you thinking?" Now I can honestly say that I was thinking about what in the world does blue mean. How do you define a color? And no, I don't mean some silly hexadecimal code or some other such nonsense.

So I did a little research. Very little in fact. Well to be perfectly honest I googled "blue" and just started looking for things that looked like they might tell me something interesting. Here is what I found. On Emily Gems I learned that blue is the preferred color of conservatives. At Color Wheel Pro I found out that blue is associated with males and is considered masculine. So far, so good! In the Bible, blue is seen as a heavenly color. At three-musketeers.net I read that blue is associated with femininity and girls with pure qualities. Wait a minute. Isn't that different than the other thing I read? The same site said that it blue can symbolize depression.

Hey, I don't like where this is going now. I think I'll wind this up and just leave this whole meaning thing alone. I still like blue and the reason is simply because I like it. So there! I don't care about the meaning. It's pretty and I like pretty. Yeah, it's also cool and calming and relaxing, and reminds me of the sky, and water, and pretty blue eyes, and bluebonnets, and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

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Feeling the Fallout

Geraldine Ferraro has stepped down. After verbalizing an astute observation on her part regarding Barack Obama's aspirations, Geraldine has decided to step down from her position in the campaign. She served as an unpaid "Honorary New York Leadership Council Chair," on Hillary's finance committee. I guess this is the latest round in the tag-team resignation match between the two camps. I believe the first happened last week after Hillary was branded a "Monster."
Elsewhere in New York, Client #9 has resigned. It's about time.

Worst of all though, The Baylor University Lady Bears basketball team went down in flames in the Big 12 quarter-finals. This is the first time they have lost in the first round and the first time that a #2 seed has lost in the first round. Firsts are not that great all the time.
© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Politics 101

You know, when I started this blog I told myself, "Self, I'm not going to make this political." I imagine that I've already made it political once or twice already. Well, here I go again.

What is it with the Democrats? The candidate in the delegate lead has been offered the VP slot by the candidate in second place. Well, well, well. To no surprise #1 pretty much declined the offer from #2. Not only does he decline, but he mocks her.
Now another prominent Democrat has suggested that perhaps Mr. Obama has only made as far as he has because his skin color. It seems that this same prominent Democrat has had this problem before.
Now the Democrats face the unenviable task of deciding what to do about the delegates in Michigan and Florida. If they count the delegates in Florida, look out. Who's going to pay for it? Who's going to vote? How is it going to take place? Good questions. Time will tell.
On top of all this, Ralph Nader is in the race again. Yippee!
I thought after the Texas and Ohio primary all of this would be over. Sounds like now it's not even close to being over. But then maybe it is close after Saturday's Wyoming victory for Barack and his Mississippi win yesterday.
© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Super Tuesday II Is Over And Am I Glad? YES!

Yesterday was Super Tuesday II in Texas. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama racked up the frequent flyer miles. John McCain did a bit of traveling too. All of that time in Texas and it is still too close to call. I'm extremely glad it's over now. I really got tired of the political commercials, Democratic and Republican Party alike.
It was pretty nice before the campaign focused on Texas. Not many commercials. Then they hit! It was time to focus on Texas and the commercials started. It may be my imagination, but it seems like Barack Obama outspent Hillary Clinton on advertising here in my part of Texas. (I live near W's backyard[In a figurative sense].) In fact, Garrett Lewis, host of The Morning Ritual on KWTX-AM mentioned that Hillary Clinton bought time on all of Waco's Clear Channel radio stations, except KWTX- AM. Barack Obama bought time there and apparently a lot of it, because I heard his ads quite often. You know, it's really strange to be listening to Sean Hannity go to a commercial break and then have Barack Obama telling why he should be president.
There a a few things about the campaign that bugs me. First, I think they're a waste of money and certainly do not influence my decision on who to vote for. I also think it's silly when the candidates try to sell us on their positions and then tell us at the end of the commercial that they, ".... approve of this message." Well DUHH!!!! And finally, the one thing that bugs me the most. After spending a rough primary season, the former back-stabbing foes who lose will now begin to endorse the winners. At least some will.
© 2008 Barry T Horst


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