OK, I don’t usually repost these things but this “Stormtroopers’ 9/11” made my day. Thanks, Sean.

I just have to get this off my chest. Don’t usually denigrate the NFL team of whatever hometown I end up living in. I usually cheer for them until they play the Steelers. Then we wipe them up with our Terrible Towels. I used to be an Eagles fan (growing up in Lancaster PA). Moving to Pittsburgh cemented the deal for me with the Steelers, though. I was a Redskins fan in DC and have been a Broncos fan in Denver. The latest controversy in Denver over Brandon Marshall and his antics has made everyone come down on him. And all the booing over Cutler’s return made me nostalgic for Philadelphia. Yeah, sure, those two guys have their issues but they were the best players Denver had. Think what you may about them but when it comes down to it, I’d probably act like that too when you have a little girl for a coach.

Just thought I’d put together a sign for the health care rally tonight: Nazi Alien Healthcare Reform.

I updated my Michael Bauer page since I realized that I hadn’t done so in a while. An unvarnished, unashamed attempt at topping the list for my name in Google. Doubt it will work.

Talking with my friend Bill is always an educational and enlightening experience (even if the man did drive a Porsche). I loved his analogy of how the right wing health care rabble rousers are the carpetbaggers of the 21st century. They are still exploiting poor white guys in this country by getting them to think that whatever they start with (health care, jobs, environment) they will always end up with some person of color prying their gun from their cold dead hands. Same in Reconstruction, same today. That’s why Glenn Beck is going on about health care being about restitution. Only difference this time is that the landowners are media moguls.

As much as it might satisfy you to feel the sickeningly sweet spray of the arterial blood of Glenn Beck wash over you like the cool splashing waters of a baptism, do not do it. Do not kill Glenn Beck. It will just play into their hands, giving them the gentle martyr they so fervently seek. As much as you want to do it, as much as you think it needs to be done, do not do it. It would be wrong. Do not plunge our country into civil war. For the love of god, please, don’t do it. Leave that to decision to the illegal immigrant alien communist Nazi death panelists.

I want an iWatch with clock, calendar, compass, altimeter, depth, temperature and GPS. Nothing fancy. Just the basic.

Well, I thought I was going to need the surgery after I finished the ride but fortunately, that wasn’t necessary. Never again, though.

I love living in Denver. What passes for a respectable bike ride in many places (40 miles) is kind of pathetic around here. Especially when you run into a fellow cyclist that’s simply on his way from Boulder CO to visit him mom in Monument CO (75 miles). I have trouble taking the train from Philly to Lancaster to see mine (just kidding).

Here’s my running list: “flip side”, “read you loud and clear”, “dialed in”, “jumping on the bandwagon”.

Original Post: As I’ve surpassed my “demi centenarian” mark (would prefer to be a primo centurion) I’ve started to be more and more sensitive to my outdated speech patterns. I glommed onto this recently when I was talking about “jumping on the bandwagon”. There hasn’t been a goddam bandwagon for 70 years in this country. I wondered what might replace this (I proffered “find the rave” but that’s probably so 90s). I read there was this interesting post somewhere out there on this topic but couldn’t find it. I think I’ll keep digging…

I want to amend this a bit. I’m not trying to be hip - although I think that phrase right there is outdated. Nor am I trying to find the latest word for cool - because for some reason we still don’t have to. No, I’m just trying to listen to what I say and identify everyday phrases that are just not quite so everyday anymore. Things like “dialed in”. Who uses a dial anymore? I “read you loud and clear”. Read me? What do you mean, read me? Read my posts?

The thing that’s interesting me are phrases that came up in the past century to describe human situations and conditions that were borrowed from technologies that no longer exist or are rapidly fading away. Most of my examples come from forms of transportation and communication.