pinions of buddy don: kin it be that jurnalists is makin a cumback?

i aint had much time fer bloggin lately on a counta havin to wurk out as a way of fitin them migraines (seems to be heppin so fer). today i am a'hopin that i am still employd at the end of the day on a counta thays rumors bout layoffs n rifs all up n down 'the street' as folks calls wall street firms. but i am hopin fer the bes, witch whenever yer bout to have fates cards dealt to ye, thay aint much more ye kin do.

but i do have sum good news, witch seems lack thays folks that bof lacks to commit jurnalism now n then ... n that folks that watches tv kindly dont keer much fer a channel that aint nuthin but a mouthpiece fer one of the parties.

tiz good to have good news on a day that could turn out bad, so have a look at them articulls whilst ye mayhap send sum good thoughts n luck at this ole wanderin hillbilly.

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waka writ by miz budouadana: raindrops

Raindrops carve into
flat, impenetrable stone,
transforming it from
obstacle into vessel.
Persistence leads to success.

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pitchers tuck by buddy don: cuple frum man hattan

ye thank ye gut parkin trubles whar ye live? how bout man hattan?



but the sidewalks is grate fer walkin ... n sparkin ...



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home improovmints of buddy don: new heater

yue mite coulda eggspeckted whut happend. me n miz bd has been a'livin here in this rite nice apartmint fer nigh onto 8 years now n thangs is startin to brake. whenever we tuck the place back in 2000, everthang in it wuz brand new. now sum of them thangs is a'wearin out. the heater gut to makin a awefull noise ere it quit a'wurkin atall. the mike-row-wave dun the same a lil while ago, but we figgerd we could live without it till we could buy a new'un on a counta it cost as much to fix the ole one as to buy a new'un.

innywho, that heater knew when to die, witch twuz rite at the beginnin of the coldest spell we dun had this year. it tuck em a lil over a week to order the reeplacemint, witch they cum to putt it in on saturdy (makin us wait aroun near all day fer em). but the new heater is much bettern the ole one on a counta it has a thermostat n a sleep mode n all, but the best thang bout it by far (cumparrd to the old one) is how tiz so quite.

thang is, whenever ye lose sumthin ye doot hardly thank bout on a counta how well it wurks, ye git to real eyesin jes how much ye orta be countin them blessins ye dont hardly notiss till thar gone.
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pomes of buddy don: Those Who Survive

Those Who Survive

The genius of the market, so they say,
Is simply to reward efficiency,
The truth of which is boldly on display
In US health care self-sufficiency!

It’s there that for the low, low rate of twice
The rate per capita of socialized
Medicine (that lesser lands think nice)
The dreams of billionaires are realized.

And what a bargain to pay twice as much
To have a system that leaves out the horde
Of folks whose skills and luck are out of touch
To such degree that they can be ignored!

Meanwhile the market will soon find its way
To give those who survive great care . . . someday.

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mizry of buddy don: still a'gittin them migraines

me n miz bd spent the hole weekend indoors, witch i wuz a'feelin a lil iffy all along, but yesterdy mornin i woke with no choice but to upchuck furst thang, witch thats the wurst start to one of them thangs thay is. innywho, i sprayd sum immitrex up my nose n lay down n by the end of the day, i wuz ok. miz bd hepped out a lot by a'lyin beside me n doin sum reiki.

now i am wore plum out frum it, but i need to git to wurk. as ifn thangs wudnt alreddy bad a nuff, thays rumors runnin roun lack hedless chickens at wurk, sum sayin tharll be 5% laid off, sum 10%, n sum even high as 30%. i caint hep but let that skeer me on a counta my bad histry with migraines, but ye never know. i am a'doon sumthin at the momint that couldnt jes innybidy do, so mayhap i will be ok.

thang bout wall st is how whenever ye see the market tankin in a big way, ye kin bet they will cut staff as quick as they kin. ifn ye kin make it thru, ye probly wont half to wurry much till the nex downturn ... n we orta not kid ourself bout thisn bein a downturn. tiz ... sad but true.

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pinions of buddy don: steven jobs splains how i am not a people

tuther day i wuz readin sumthin steven jobs had to say bout me, witch twuz his way of attackin one of his cumpetitors or lease whut he mite coulda thunk wuz a cumpetitor sum kinda way. heres whut he sed, frum a articull in the new york times:

Today he had a wide range of observations on the industry, including the Amazon Kindle book reader, which he said would go nowhere largely because Americans have stopped reading.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

i wood lack to set ye strate on sumthin: people still lacks to read. i know it fer a fack on a counta i leave outta the apartmint ever mornin n git on the bus to ride over to man hattan, witch that thar bus is chock full of folk a'readin thar books with thar em pee three player earphone in thar ears.

so mayhap thays a minorty of folk that dont read but a book ever year. that dont mean that people dont read, only that sum of em dont.

as fer readin, heres sum of the books i been a'readin lately, witch ye mite wonta check em out yer ownself:

1. The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen. i tuck to readin thisn on a counta them waka i wuz ast to rite fer a dojo. mosly whut they wonted wuz sum waka in english that had sum of the sam meanin as them that wuz writ by the Japanese Emperor Meiji, who he writ over 100,000 of em. that gut me to wundern about im n whut kinda worl he cum frum, n nex thang ye know, i wuz hip deep in modurn japanese histry writ by a feller that started out in ww2 a fitin agin em as a translater. tiz a verr mazin tale, witch it led me to read a trillogy of novels bout the tokugawa period in japanese histry.


2. them three books together is calld The Tales of The Otori: Across the Nightengale Floor, Grass for His Pillow, and Brilliance of the Moon, all three by a woman name of Lian Hearn, witch thats the fake name she uses n dont nobidy know yet whut her real name is, or ifn they duz, i couldnt find nuthin bout it. i will say that even ifn ye dont much lack to read, ye wont be able to putt these down ifn ye once git started.


3. i have now cummenced a nuther trillogy on a counta readin bout a movie made frum it over on anne johnsons site, The Gods Are Bored. ye mite coulda dun herd bout em, witch they wuz writ by a feller name of Philip Pullman. the trillogy is calld His Dark Materials n cummence with a book name of The Golden Compass. bout alls i kin say bout thisn is ifn ye read the furst 30 pages, ye a'gone have ye a hard time stoppin. ye mite dun alreddy herd bout how that thar furst book has won mos ever prize thay is fer books that kids mite wonta read, n much as i gut lots of pleashure frum the harry potter books, fer my money, thisn is much better with more to thank on. aint no doubt i will finish these three n then carry on to read otherns.

fack is, folks lacks to read, even if mr jobs claims they dont. as proof, here sum more books i red lately n thank ye mite could lack:

1. Illium and Olympos by Dan Simmons—science fickshun that lanks in tales as old as the iliad an oddyssy.


2. also by Dan Simmons, a fine sci-fi riter, i read a tetrallgy that wuz more fun than disnyland: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion. i doubt ye kin find better ritin innywhar, whuther tiz science fickshun or not.


3. The Hard-Boiled Virgin by Francis Newman, a verr suttle kinda book that mite not seem lack much at furst, but by the end, ye know ye dun herd the voice of a grate critick of the place n lifestile of women in the south at the beginnin of the 20th centry.


4. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin—probly the best science fickshun novel n one of the best novels of inny kind i ever red, tho it dont grab ye the way sum lesser wurks mite could do.


5. Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, all by Orson Scott Card, witch the furst book is amazin tho to me they seem to git a lil less with each one.


6. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd: i pickt thisn up at one of them book sales by the side of the rode, witch i had herd of it but dint know much bout it, so i figgerd i wood give it a try n it wuz shore wurth the effort! whut a fine book tiz.

point is, people still reads, even if mr jobs aint figgerd it out.

corse, i dont thank i will git to the point of readin a book frum a kindle no time soon on a counta i jes luv the feel of a real book. the smell of the pages, the look of it once i am dun with it, the notes i kin make in the margins n so furth.

i wunder, duz innybidy else read? twood be a blessin to me ifn ye wood add mitt it in a commint n say whut book ye red lately that ye really lacked a lot, witch i pall gize bout that commint moderayshun, but seems them lank spammers lacks to use this site fer thar vile lil lanks.

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pitchers tuck by buddy don: whuther to laff or cry

this here pitcher of comedy n tragedy has icons it it that kin eggsplain much bout how we live, witch half the time we dont know whuther we orta laff or cry. as tiz sed, ifn ye thank too much, ye laff, n ifn ye feel too much ye cry ...



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pomes of buddy don: the nanny state

The market God is where we place our trust
Since that’s a force that never can be wrong —
Though competition leaves some in the dust
Their loss helps compensate the lucky strong!

And if some poor folks have to starve or die
We should not intervene since that’s the price
We pay to prove it never goes awry —
And having billionaires is very nice!

For all are free to use their native luck
To choose their wealthy parents upon birth —
And if a person hasn’t got the pluck
To choose well, then he is of little worth.

No Nanny State! Don’t coddle the ill-fated!
What Jesus would do is simply outdated!

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mazemint of buddy don: them kids

yesterdy twuz my 56th burthdy, witch far as i kin tell, them fifties is the best of the decades we git (so far). we had a lil git together yesterdy, witch all them kids cum over ceptn vaclav, who hes still stuck in the czech republick hopin he kin git back here or that jack kin move thar. ye caint hardly magin my mazemint whenever they give me a present that all of em -- loretta n n paddy, jack n vaclav, tony n his gurlfrien sarah -- had dun gut together to git me one of them wii video games fer yer tv. i had been kindly thankin bout how one of em mite be fun cumpard to other kinds of game thangees, n i reckun i musta bin a'thankin out loud. i ast miz bd had she tole em i wonted such a thang, but she pled ignernts, so i musta spoke out moren i real eyesed.

innywho, me n miz bd stayed up a lil too long playin with the thang, rite down to the point of havin a few sore mussels this mornin.

ceptn fer the colts a'losin thar playoff game, my burthdy wuz bout as purrfeck as one kin git!

by the way, buck of tete-a-tete-a-tete lef a commint bout how he wuz bout to turn fifty his own self n how he figgerd he wuz in the 4th qtr of his life. heres whut mz bd had to say bout it: 'buck, sir, thays a hole lot more football lef to be played ... n have ye notissd how overtime sumtimes lasts longer than the game?"

i will repeat myself here: even tho i am barrly half way thru, them fifties is the best decade yet ...

oh, and thays one other thang to reeport: i had to turn on commint moderayshun on a counta sum spammer a'usin my commints to store links to vile websites, witch twill take me a lil while to clean up the mess that wuz made ...

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short note of buddy don: that thar grind

yesterdy wuz a verr long day fer me. i gut to wurk at 8 in the mornin n dint git dun till 9 in the evenin. n thangs aint a'gone git no easier fer a lil while on a counta i am trainin folks in europe the nex three fridys frum 4 in the mornin till 2 in the afternoon. sounds brutal n tiz, but on tuther hand, i git a car in to wurk on the cumpnys nickel n git to cum home a lil early fer the weekend ... n this weekend sundy will mark my 56th go-round ridin on this earthly ball! i am hopin to stick aroun fer minny more.

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waka of budouadana: silence

A mason who sees
Cracks in the foundation stone
Of a busy bridge
And says naught is like the friend
Who views one's flaws in silence.

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pitchers tuck by buddy don: rite outside port authorty

ifn ye tuck the bus to new york city, one of the furst thangs ye wood see whenever ye stepped outside the port authorty bus stayshun is how they dun thunk of nigh onto everthang lodes of folks mite could need, at lease, sooner or later ...



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waka of budouadana: sap

The flower’s sweet sap
Lures the eager fly to death
In its graceful bowl,
As the timid friend's false praise
Poisons both truth and friendship.

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mizry of buddy don: not how ye wood lack to cummence the new year

yesterdy we had one of them weather changes that i caint seem to take without havin a migraine. i am verr lucky in my new job on a counta my boss aint wurried bout whuther i am thar, long as i keep up with my wurk, witch i am a lil ahed of that, so he tole me to git on home (i figgerd i could tuff it out, witch so far that aint never wurked).

but the bad news wudnt cunfined to that. in sted, we larnt yesterdy that vaclav wuz denied his visa to return to this cuntry. this is a setback that we are fitin in the bes ways we know how. twuz grate to larn that jacks boss tuck it the bes way ye could hope fer by sayin he wood try to (1) git a immigrayshun lawyer n see whuther they couldnt hire vaclav sos (2) he kin git a wurk visa. turns out they need folks that kin speak slavonick langwages, witch vaclav has eggzellent english, czech, russhun n who knows whut else. the bes piece of this news is they dun it on a counta that lil cumpny caint magin gittin along without jack! we kin sartinly understand that our ownself.

so thays sum silver linins in all the bad news. i am hopin fer no migraine today, witch i dun cummenced to wurkin out a lil while back n that has hepped a lot, deespite whut happend yesterdy.

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pitchers tuck by buddy don: which way is up?

i thank a lot bout health keer n medicine n how we run it here in this cuntry. we here lots of cumplaints bout how tiz run in other cuntries n they always tell us that ye caint git nuthin bettern whut we gut. ifn we dint live here, we wood half to wait longer fer hip replacement operayshuns, fer instunts. the fack that we pay more per persun than inny other cuntry n still leave 47 million out is sumthin ye probly aint spozed to notiss. but heres whut i do notiss: it takes 1.5 munths to git a poinment with my primary keer docter n even longer to git in to the newrologist. i spoze i could go to the emergentsy room, but i woodnt see my reglar docter thar.

so twuz quite a spize whenever miz bd showed me this story name of Czechs grumble at doctors' fees:

The Czech healthcare system undergoes a minor revolution on 1 January as patients are asked to pay a small fee each time they visit their doctor.

The move is part of a widespread reform of the health sector unveiled by the centre-right government.

It is far from popular - a number of leading figures are calling on Czechs not to pay up.

Czechs enjoyed free healthcare during four decades of communist rule and in the past 17 years of capitalism.

But from 1 January, Czech patients will be asked to pay 30 crowns (£0.83; 1.1 euros) for each visit to the doctor, and 60 crowns for each day spent in hospital.

thang is, vaclav (jacks partner) is in the czech republick rite now a'visitin. his dad had to have triple bi-pass surgry, witch everythang cum out jes fine. he dint half to pay nuthin n stayed in the hospitull fer a few weeks!!

lucky fer us, thangs is much better here: i jes filld out my flexibull spendin account fer nex year, witch i putt $3,000 in it on a counta havin migraines, witch they kin git eggspensive. n i gut to reemind myself everday of my life how i am truly one of the lucky ones!

makes ye wunder whuther we kin figger out witch way is up:



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