The Kit Era Comes To A Close

From Wikipedia on the HeathKit.

By the 1980s, the continuation of the integration trend (printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, etc), and mass production of electronics (perhaps especially computers overseas and in plug in modules) eroded the basic Heathkit business model. Assembling a kit might still be fun, but it could no longer save much money. The switch tosurface mount components and LSI ICs finally made it impossible for the home assembler to construct an electronic device for significantly less money than assembly line factory products. As sales of its kits dwindled during the decade, Heath relied on its training materials and a new venture in home automation and lighting products to stay afloat. ...

On March 30, 1992, the end came. Heath announced that it was closing out its kits and leaving the business after 45 years, an event important enough to a number of people that it was reported on the front page of the New York Times.

You gotta dance with the one that brought you.

Sacramento was Rush Limbaugh's last stop before hitting the big time. And, god help me, I listened. I was convinced, then, that he saw himself as an entertainer and couldn't possible take himself seriously. I haven't listened in a long, long time.

One time a caller was trying to move Rush a little closer to the weeds than even he was willing to go and said " You gotta dance with the one that brought you." Meaning, the outliers who supported him needed his support then. Rush wasn't having it (and to be fair, I don't recall the issue).

All of which leads us to this fine column by Courtland Milloy. About the teabaggers he writes:

They aren't racists, the apologists say. They just don't like deficits and government takeover of health care. So what does using vile epithets for black or gay congressmen have to do with that? The tea party people didn't refer to white Democrats using racial epithets. No one yelled "white trash" or "redneck cracker" at any of those congressmen. And none of their own ever stands up and declares that such practices are morally wrong.

I would think the Republics want to be careful about who they get in bed with.

Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be

From The Onion (of course)

"Men like Madison and Jefferson were moved by the ideals of Christianity, and wanted the United States to reflect those values as a Christian nation," continued Mortensen, referring to the "Father of the Constitution," James Madison, considered by many historians to be an atheist, and Thomas Jefferson, an Enlightenment-era thinker who rejected the divinity of Christ and was in France at the time the document was written. "The words on the page speak for themselves."

According to sources who have read the nation's charter, the U.S. Constitution and its 27 amendments do not contain the word "God" or "Christ."

This was timely as I got my census form in the mail and marveled at the 'constitutionalists' who aren't going to fill out their form. The census being, of course, one of the few obligations of the federal government explicitly spelled out in the Constitution.