Dann Todd's 'Dain Bramage'^**

Father's Day For Me

So, I'm walking up the front steps at my in-laws house. There is a bike.....a motorcycle.....sitting under a tarp near the front door. My first thought was "Hmmmm...I wonder who is riding a bike out here today?" Turns out it was me.

Beloved bride had a shot at a Yamaha XS750. And she bought it. For me. It only has 19,000 miles on it and is in pretty good shape.

I'm one lucky guy.

Click on the link or the pic for a better view.

If you haven't seen me on it yet, well there is a good reason. The rear tire has some minor issues. [I'm guessing that it is the tire that shipped with the bike when it was new.] It's in the shop being replaced as I type. Which is why I hope I won't be typing tomorrow!!!!!!

This link or the pic for a better view.

by Dann 

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Road Trip

I was on the road about a week and a half ago. On the way home, I stopped at my favorite Lebanese restaurant located north of Detroit Metro Airport. The walls of this place are fabulous. They had someone paint scenes of Lebanon all over them.

It is a clean place. Glass table tops. Good silverware.

And the most delicious Lebanese food I've ever had!! Stop by if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

Click for a larger view.

by Dann 

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I Inspire Greatness

I participate in a newsgroup that is dedicated to the discussion of comic strip art. We talk about other things as well.

I posted something a couple weeks ago about one particular strip. And this strip is the result!!

by Dann 

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Round Of Golf

We were rained out last week.

This week I shot a 52. That included par on a slightly shortened par 5 as well as quite a few bogeys. It was a pretty good round for me.

Jack Nicklaus would still whip my butt.

by Dann 

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Introducing......

I've just added a new blog to the blog roll at left. Mike Peterson is a 30 year veteran of the newspaper business. More often than not, I find something new, unique, and informative whenever I read something that he has written that is serious. We knock rhetorical heads on a regular basis, but what fun would life be if we all agreed about everything. Bottom line, he'll make you think when you least expect it. And I mean that it in a good way.

Mike also writes two weekly pieces that are targeted towards young readers. You can access the most recent editions of "Drawing Conclusions" and "Nellie Bly" here. I recommend both of them highly....mostly....usually.....unless I'm being unreasonable.

Welcome to the blogopheroidicalthingy, Mike. And welcome to my blog roll.

by Dann 

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Hey NYTimes!!! Pick One Will Ya?

Over a the Free Republic site, someone has dug up an old NYTimes editorial that called for the US government to take stronger action to shut down the international financial network used to fund terrorism. Precisely the sort of secret program that the NYTimes declassified earlier this week.

Those folks at the NYTimes need to pick which side they want to win in this particular war and then stick with it. Thus far it appears that they would rather that Osama and friends were victorious.

Check out the editorial cartoons in this response for some inspiration.

Update- Apparently, the LATimes and the Wall Street Journal also published articles on this legal intelligence program. I infer from the coverage that they published their stories to avoid being scooped. The NYTimes actually broadcast their story via the Internet the night before all three newspapers printed their respective stories. I would have thought that the Wall Street Journal would have known better.

by Dann 

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Just What Do The Democrats Have To Offer??

James Lileks has some thoughts on the Democratic themes being offered during this year's election cycle. It seems to him (and me) that they have forgotten one or two things that should have been included in their message.

Anything on the war? No. the Dems slam Bush for not adjusting Pell Grants for inflation, but the manifesto says nothing about Terror, the War On. We’re supposed to intuit that they’d redeploy to Camp Murtha, from which we can strike Iraq with only a fortnight’s delay. Let no one mistake their position: they have risen to the challenge of these perilous times, and come out against excess CEO compensation. No doubt this means they’ll be hard on Iran.

Those mullahs are pulling down millions.

Until the Democrats demonstrate a willingness to support an effective military campaign from beginning to end, I'm afraid that they are doomed to being in the minority. And that is as it should be.

by Dann 

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Inspiration Requires No Perspiration

There are times when Garrison Keillor is positively inspirational:

Here in Minnesota, we have actual food that tastes foodlike, and we can go outdoors and not burn in hell. There are no bears within the city limits of St. Paul. Why would one wish to leave such a place? If you want to see Alaska, just Google it: there must be live Webcams online.

A lounge chair...or better yet, a hammock,....a shady tree...and a mild breeze. What better vacation could one seek.

by Dann 

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A Few Words From James....

James Lileks offers some thoughts and a rejoinder or two to Ang Lee's recent pronouncement that the US is the least free place on the earth for making movies. James is pretty sure that he's off is rocker, too.

by Dann 

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<AOL> Me too!! </AOL>

A few words from Charles Krauthammer on Australia:

God, I love Australia. Where else do you have a shadow health minister with such, er, starch? Of course I'm prejudiced, having married an Australian, but how not to like a country, in this age of sniveling grubs worldwide, whose treasurer suggests to any person who "wants to live under sharia law'' to try Saudi Arabia and Iran, "but not Australia.'' He was elaborating on an earlier suggestion that "people who ... don't want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then they can basically clear off.''

...

It is surely the only place where you hear officials speaking plainly in defense of action. What other foreign minister but Australia's would see through "multilateralism,'' the fetish of every sniveling foreign policy grub from the Quai d'Orsay to Foggy Bottom, calling it correctly "a synonym for an ineffective and unfocused policy involving internationalism of the lowest common denominator''?

...

Australia has no illusions about the "international community'' and its feckless institutions. An island of tranquility in a roiling region, Australia understands that peace and prosperity do not come with the air we breathe, but are maintained by power -- once the power of the British Empire, now the power of the United States.

H/T to Señor Reynolds.

by Dann 

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Wher Da Zeebas Live

I found it!!

[Link if you need it]

Ok. Now the explanation.

There is a comic strip named "Pearls Before Swine" by Stephen Pastis that I have come to appreciate. One of the running gags of the strip are the crocodiles that are always trying to kill a zebra to eat. The male crocs pronounce it "zeeba".

The above is a small joke for those that like the strip. [In spite of Mr. Pastis' apparent disregard for micro-bloggers such as yours truly.]

The original image is here.

UPDATE: Per Ronnie's request, here is a link to the map of the area west of Ann Arbor where the original picture was taken. The sign sits on westbound I-94 about 300 yards east of the Zeeb Rd. exit. The additional 'a' came from a photo of Jackson Rd. that sits a couple miles back to the east on westbound I-94. It sure is a good thing that there weren't any cops on that stretch of road last Thursday.

by Dann 

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