They call it the graveyard shift for a reason, ya know.

There are reports on Twitter that the rightwing Free Republic website has crashed because of celebratory messages about the shooting from its contributors. It's hard to confirm this, but I couldn't get to the site about 10 minutes ago.

I have very weird flexible joints and can bend my fingers back to my wrist. I can also clap one-handed. I don't do it often because people find it disconcerting. My bother-in-law studied to be a Zen Buddhist priest and I did it for him once. He roared with laughter. A very Zen response.

But then again, our bed is in the attic with our home office. I do own a 1999 Saturn, but I rarely drive it as we live in Chicagoland. Bikes and the RTA can take care of most of our transport needs.We also have a bike trailer, backpacks and a little red wagon for shopping trips.

A fresh snowfall covers up the trash and garbage for a while. Then the dogs, cats, birds and people start pissing and crapping on on it. People throw more trash and garbage on top of it. Then it starts to melt and mix with the petrochemical sludge on the streets and the general city debris everywhere.

Oh well, enjoy the esthetics of it while it lasts...

One reason we are in this economic mess is because of the union busting that has been a feature of the US economy for several decades. One of the results of this union busting has been stagnant or declining working class wages. To make up for low wages, many working class people substituted credit cards and exotic loan packages for the decent wages that were no longer there.

These went to pay for health care, elder care, shelter, education, other basic necessities and yes, consumer goods (whose sales helped keep our economy going).

Does union busting look so wonderful now that our massive debt sodden economy slowly sinks into the west?

Maybe paying people decent union wages instead of sending that money to overpriced CEO's and Wall Street investors might have been a better idea.

Being an old fogie, my favorite construction toy was the Kenner Building Set. My brother and I could put together fairly complex building complexes. They had a distinctly suburban look about them thanks to the panels that fitted over the plastic framework that was snapped together.

We could then use our old wooden blocks to make additions and walls and our old cars to simulate roads and traffic.

It was hours of fun for a couple of easily bored suburban kids who were not quite teenagers and thus not yet self-conscious about playing with "uncool" kids' toys.