Happy Halloween

Oh, not for lack of trying. That's for sure. This am's radio was telling me about several schools that banned costumes and parties. They at least had the smarts to hide behind "limited instructional time" in order to minimize the chances they'd get showcased for being PC wet blankets. I actually have sympathy for the schools, most of who I think would be happy to celebrate halloween, xmas, and other holidays just as always, if not for the wet blanket patrol. Not to say schools are w/o WBP, just that the WBP thrives due to tightarse support.

I wish just for the sake of fun common ground and for kids we could all agree that the government celebrates only the secular component of halloween and christmas, whatever we decide to call 'em. That way we could keep saying boo and talking about Santa without so many people getting their panties all atwist.

Then we could allow individuals to bring in whatever spiritual components they wanted as personal manifestations of these ideas. If the official celebration centered on let's call it a philosophical concept (death, gratitude, rebirth, sacrifice), then everyone could express what the ideas meant to htem, to their culture, to their families. Especially given that so many cultures tend to have analogs for xmas, easter, and to a lesser extent halloween.

Few folks seem to agree with me on this, though.
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I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy for those who think, and a tragedy for those who feel. -Horace Walpole

C'mon now Tully.There's stuck and then there's stuck. It's the predominant form. The cost in money and aggravation to switch would be high. The break-even point? Surely distant. In some respects unknowable.

Remember when we agreed that whenever someone talked about the free market, they were usually referring to whatever was curently passing as the free market?

Same thing here. I'm talking about what passes for stuck. Who buys a house primarily based upon the heating method? Around here, insisting on gas would at a guess rule out at least 2/3 to /4 of homes.

Once you buy, you stick (are stuck with) with what you got unless it's approaching replacement time. Furnaces aren't that complicated, so one is unlikely to experience much reason to consider replacement on anything less than 20 or 30 years old unless they experience let's say a cracked boiler.

And you're going to pay probably a grand off the top to get rid of the old oil tank. By the time you add that to the replacement cost, even if you think you'll save $500 a year (iffy and hard to calculate), you're pushing the break-even point off a decade. Don't even get me started on british thermal units or marketing material passing itself off as instructional or educational. :-)

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I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy for those who think, and a tragedy for those who feel. -Horace Walpole

Lowest it's been here is $2.26. Bunch of lucky ducks you are in Kansas. Lucky ducks indeed. :-)

"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

I'd probably show up at the Bible Halloween party dressed as Eve (before the fall), and that gets a mite chilly in October.

You can come to MY party! The new furnace works fine. ;-)