Word of the Day

From today's New York Times...

BERLIN — Some words can’t be translated easily. But they can cross national borders, lose their original context along the journey, assume different meanings and crop up in unlikely places.

This week, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany proved that point — memorably.

Speaking at a technology conference on Tuesday, Ms. Merkel, known as a staid, no-drama politician, told a self-deprecating anecdote about being widely mocked online five years ago after she described the internet as some mysterious expanse of “uncharted territory.”

She chuckled at the memory of the digital blowback.

“It generated quite a shitstorm,” she said, using the English term — because Germans, it turns out, do not have one of their own.

That, as you might imagine, stirred yet another online reaction, at least among many English speakers in Britain and the United States.

“I can die happy now that Merkel has used the word,” Anne McElvoy, a senior editor with The Economist, wrote on Twitter.

The writer David Simon wondered why the Germans had not devised their own term. “These guys have a word for everything,” he said on Twitter.

 

click on the shitstorm for a closer look

 

Deer Camp - The Last Hurrah

Just in case you haven't had enough - here we go - again.

One more time for mom, apple pie and all that is good.

Once more into the breech.

Last chance for 2018.

Charge!


A deer camp reprise to take advantage of Wisconsin's early December antlerless herd control hunt.

Stay tuned to meet the usual cast of characters...

Dignity and Grace

Marshall Ramsey

If you haven’t already seen this on the interweb you’ve probably been sleeping. 

Marshall Ramsey - the editorial cartoonist for the Mississippi Clarion Ledger — created this memorial illustration.  Today we honor the life of a man who will be sorely-missed. 

George Herbert Walker Bush had been shot down in the Pacific as a Navy pilot in World War II, left Connecticut after the war to become a successful oil man in Texas.  He served as a Congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, CIA Director, Vice President and President.  He led our nation out of the cold war.  He was a loving father and loving husband to Barbara Bush for 73 years – the longest marriage in Presidential history.   

To paraphrase scripture - to whom much is given, much is required - he believed in government service for the good of the country and not merely for power.  His life stands in sharp contrast to presidencies of indecency and self-importance.  George H.W. Bush was above-all a gentleman who lived a life of dignity and grace. 

God speed...

A Difference of Opinion

A friend recently asked why I’m ‘so hard’ on President Trump.  The short answer would be that I’ve had a negative opinion of Trump from the first time I became aware of him.  I never liked the guy.  I consider him a con man.  Opinions that date back decades are difficult to change. 

 

His reality television productions were lame.  When I learned he was a draft dodger my opinion hardened.  Trump's attitude towards women is beyond the pale.  If you asked me what I think about Trump I will tell you:  Donald Trump is a vulgar and godless individual. 

 

To be fair I am clear-eyed about this.  I am flawed too.  We all are.  As a consequence my judgment of anyone is taken seriously and done so with ample reflection-upon my own shortcomings.  I have boundless respect for the office of the presidency and embrace the truth that Trump is my President.  

 

I suppose what troubles me the most is that decent, upstanding and otherwise good people countenance and rationalize Trump's lying, his immoral behavior and lack of civility.  Has our culture become so transactional that we compromise our most basic of values and ethics so casually? 

 

Seriously – does tolerance have no boundaries? 

Fiftieth Class Reunion

A reader shared this - and it is worthy of sharing again.  For those graduates of the high school class of 1968...

Hunting Ethics

There is debate that never ends in the hunting community about the merits of a headshot.

You know - one shot, one kill - to the head. 

With a turkey it is almost the only shot - and is typically taken with a shotgun chambered specifically with a turkey load to drop a cagey and difficult to kill bird.  Scattershot is preferred.  With a bow it is nigh impossible in which case a heart-lung shot is advised.

The debate chiefly centers about the application of a headshot when hunting deer.  For obvious reasons an arrow to the head is ill-advised.  Easy to miss and penetration iffy.

With a gun a perfectly placed headshot is always fatal.  The operative term is 'perfectly-placed'.  Anything less can range from a clean miss to a dead deer or somewhere in between such as a badly maimed deer with a jaw blown-off and left to suffer a horrible and drawn-out death.

For those reasons - here at The Platz - we've discussed the matter at length and the crew has concluded that an ethical deer kill is always a bullet or arrow to the high probability heart lung part of the deer anatomy.  Preferably broadside.

This pic showed-up on a trail camera the other day.  It is poorly-composed and over exposed by the IR flash yet it clearly shows a doe with an ear hanging by a thread.  Likely a result of someone attempting a low-probability headshot.  This is not funny.

click on image for a closer look



She'll survive as whitetails are a tough species with documented recoveries from car crashes, legs being blown-off and worse.  Moreover, this is clearly the external part of the ear.  Nevertheless, it's unnerving and I'm posting this to illustrate an example of what not to do.

Animal deserves more respect than this...

A Special Centennial Celebration

If you like museums, military history, Wisconsin and are looking for a day or overnight trip to Mad Town during a drab and dreary winter you need to check-out the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.  It’s located on Capitol Square in Madison and is dedicated to the soldiers of the state of Wisconsin.      









The museum is composed of two award-winning galleries that chronicle the history of Wisconsin citizens who served in their nation's wars from the American Civil War to the Persian Gulf War. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is an educational activity of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.       

The museum dates to 1901 when it was established as the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall in the Wisconsin Capitol.  A Smithsonian Affiliate since 2013, it honors and affirms the role of Wisconsin veterans in shaping the history of Wisconsin and our nation. 









Presently featured is an exhibit dedicated to those who served in the Great War – the War to End All Wars – WWI.  It’s the centennial of the close to that terrible conflict so be sure to check it out. 

You can learn more about it here.

click on images for a better look