Last post of the year

Back from running errands and working out at the gym. Lifting weights was a lot easier 40 years ago...
Be nice to unwind a bit tonight; we'll be going to some friends for the evening, so I'm making up a couple of bowls of chip dip for the evening; shrimp-garlic, and a lime and cilantro bean dip. Both are usually liked by people, and they are healthy (though the chips usually aren't).
For those who like tasty fried stuff (in moderation), my wife learned how to make beñuelos, which are a bit like a crisp sopapilla with a bit of sugar and cinnamon.
They are about eight or nine inches across, but are very thin and light. They are quite good with a cup of coffee or tea.











So far I haven't gained any weight over the holidays, so if I keep moderation in mind, I should be ok. Hope all of you have a good New Year's Eve, and that the coming year is a good one.


Today's playlist seems to be a little more upbeat; at least the top ten in the list are. The majority of them are probably older than half my visitors however. What can I say? I like the moldy-oldies better...

"It Was a Very Good Year" by Frank Sinatra
"Maggie May" by Rod Stewart
"Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell
"Squeeze Box" by The Who
"She's My Girl" by The Turtles
"Eternity Road" by The Moody Blues
"Runnin' Blue" by The Doors
"Eight Miles High" by The Byrds
"I Got a Line on You" by Spirit
"Ball and Chain" by Janis Joplin & Her Kozmic Blues Band

2007 is winding down

Another year shot in the ass. Seems like I had a lot of plans that never seemed to get completely off the ground. Anyone else have that feeling? Hopefully this coming year will be different. I know I need to get my health squared away; more cardio exercise and drop more pounds, if I want to keep my heart from failing on me again.
Getting things taken care of around here is up high on the list, also. Seems like since my health went bad I got messier; I used to keep things a lot neater than I do now. That needs to get back on track. If I can clean up my act, maybe I'll feel like blogging more. There are a lot of people who come by here to visit and chat, and I'd like to tell you that I appreciate the company; visiting others and having them take the trouble to stop by at my mad ravings is one of the higher points of my day, sometimes. Are there any subjects or thoughts that any of you would like to share or to have me share with you? I'm not always sure what I want to blog about, so sometimes my thoughts tend to wander about like a stoned sheep. Thanks for bearing with me.

Have sort of a moody playlist today; most are older, but some of you may recognize a few of them in the top ten of the list.

"Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol
"Red, Red Wine" by Neil Diamond
"Turn the Page" by Bob Seger
"It's My Life" by Bon Jovi
"Someday Never Comes" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
"Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel
"Honky Tonk Blues" by Hank Williams
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by Johnny Rivers
"And the Tide Rushes In" by The Moody Blues
"Always On My Mind" by Willie Nelson

Anyone have any opinions, or memories associated with any of those?

Best holiday wishes to all

Looking at the news, there is a lot wrong with the world, but in the spirit of the season, there will be none of the usual ranting, raving, bitching or complaining today. It was good to see that there were people out there who actually noticed my absence; I wasn't too sure of anyone coming around once I got back on line.

My music mood today has been all over the place; the top ten on today's playlist shows that:

"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding
"If You Don't Like Hank Williams" by Kris Kristofferson
"With You There to Help Me" by Jethro Tull
"She's a Lady" by Tom Jones
"These Dreams" by Heart
"Perfect" by Sara Evans
"If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot
"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield
"Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles
"Bring Me Some Water" by Melissa Etheridge

Some old, some newer. Anyone who is familiar with all of them?

Sorry about the absence...

In case anyone was wondering where I've been, I've been having technical difficulties the past two weeks, and am just now getting online; will be visiting people and posting soon.

Professional hand-wringers...

I see where the MSM is falling all over themselves to report on Romney's talk about his religion. WHO THE HELL CARES? I can think of several reasons not to vote for him without bringing in the fact that he wears funny underwear (here in Utah, we non-LDS refer to them as "angel pants" or "chapel chaps"); I don't like his way of changing his platform every time he talks to someone different. Who he (or any other candidate) prays to is irrelevant to me. It seems as if the journalists go out of their way to find the least little thing, and try to magnify it into pant-wetting proportions.

I don't have a real lot to say about the shootings in Omaha; once again some kid falls out of his tree and takes it out on a bunch of innocent people. He had a history of drug abuse, was mentally off, and was a felon. Why did anyone think a "No Guns Allowed" sign would keep them safe from him? And why did they think laws prohibiting him from having a firearm would keep him from acquiring one? I notice the MSM is going on about an "AK-47 automatic assault rifle"; too bad they don't have a clue what they're talking about. It seems as if half the people in journalism are as stupid as most actors; what is it about the media that attracts idiots?

Time for some music, maybe that will cheer me up on a gloomy day. The top ten on the playlist for today:

"Welcome to My Nightmare" by Alice Cooper
"Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot
"Alone" by Heart
"I Just Want to Make Love to You" by Muddy Waters
"Essence of Now" by It's a Beautiful Day
"Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix
"Snowblind Friend" by Steppenwolf
"El Nicoya" by Santana
"Tube Snake Boogie" by ZZ Top
"Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult

I've been lost...

Been a while since I had decent contact with the Web; my connection has been down more than up, and when it was up, was running at about 30% speed (sort of like right now). The past few days have been snow, which is probably why I've been having internet withdrawal symptoms. Yesterday I had to shovel about a half foot, and it is some really heavy wet stuff. The main roads are clear, but neighborhood roads like mine still have about an inch of clear ice, so driving has been interesting.

I notice they're still fighting about the UK teacher over in Sudan. I don't understand the logic here; the country hires foreign teachers, and then gives them grief for a well-meaning mistake that didn't hurt anyone. It seems to me that no matter what is decided, when the teacher is sent home from that cesspool, the UK (and everyone else who has the slightest inkling of ethics) should pull out all aid, close their embassy there, and let those ignorant assholes either solve their own problems, or climb out of the Dark Ages and join civilized society.
Just my opinion.

I feel in an Eighties mood today, so the top ten of todays playlist reflects that. I imagine most of these should be familiar to visitors.

"Back Where You Belong" by .38 Special
"The Tide Is High" by Blondie
"This Ain't the Summer of Love" by Blue Öyster Cult
"Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back" by Meat Loaf
"Sole Survivor" by Asia
"Shot of Poison" by Lita Ford
"A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran
"Dreamboat Annie" by Heart
"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds

Boy fully recovered from antler in the brain

This could have turned out a lot worse than it did.

A 5-year-old boy has made a full recovery from injuries sustained when a deer antler punctured his brain.
KTVX reports that Connor Schick was on a July camping trip with his family when he found a set of deer antlers. He picked them up, and while running tripped -- and an antler went through is left eye and into his brain.
Fortunately, the antler entered at an angle that spared his sight and serious neurological injury.

Well, at least he wasn't running with scissors...

Panhandling time again...

The Brady Bunch has heard the latest case the SCOTUS is going to decide on, and has decided that they need more money, NOW! They are already e-mailing everyone.

Just minutes ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take what could be the most significant Second Amendment case in our country's history.

Thanks to your support, your Brady legal team had already begun preparing for this announcement, but now our lawyers have swung into high gear to prepare our "friend of the court" brief.

We have a tidal wave of work to do in the weeks ahead and we need your help now.

This fight is so critical that we need to raise $50,000 by November 30. And since your gift will be going to our Brady Gun Law Defense Fund, it will be fully tax deductible!

We need your help today to build a strong Brady Gun Law Defense Fund to protect America’s gun laws. Please give today.

I fail to see why they always seem to need more money; and why are "gifts" tax deductible? Sending money to the NRA is not deductible, so why should it be for the anti-gun crowd?
The Brady Bunch is always telling us what the second amendment is supposed to mean (according to them); now that the SCOTUS has finally been backed into a corner into making a ruling on it, the hoplophobes all have their panties in a bunch.
If you have any doubts as to what the writers of the amendment were talking about, read below:
______________________________

"No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-- Thomas Jefferson.

"The great object is, that every man be armed ... Every one who is able may have a gun."
--Patrick Henry

"That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms ... "
--Samuel Adams
_________________________

Is that clear enough for you?

This explains some things

The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Visual/Spatial You probably feel at home with the visual arts, maps, charts, and diagrams. You tend to think in images and pictures. You learn best by looking at pictures and slides, watching videos or movies, and visualizing. People like you include sculptors, painters, surgeons and engineers. Visual/Spatial 89% Logical/Mathematical 86% Verbal/Linguistic 86% Musical/Rhythmic 75% Intrapersonal 75% Bodily/Kinesthetic 64% Interpersonal 57%

I guess this is why I'm not consistently good as a writer, but seem to have no problems with photography or math.

H/T to Roberta

You have got to be kidding...

ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) - A man wearing a ski mask used a stapler to hold up an eastern Kentucky ice cream store - and briefly got away with $175, authorities said.

I wonder if he got it at a gun show...

In further news, Milton was unavailable for comment.

Interesting technique...

SOUTHWORTH, Wash. - A man trying to loosen a stubborn lug nut blasted the wheel with a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring himself badly in both legs, sheriff's deputies said.
The 66-year-old man had been repairing a Lincoln Continental for two weeks at his home northwest of Southworth, about 10 miles southwest of Seattle, and had gotten all but one of the lug nuts off the right rear wheel by Saturday afternoon, Kitsap County Deputy Scott Wilson said.
"He's bound and determined to get that lug nut off," Wilson said.
From about arm's length, the man fired the shotgun at the wheel and was "peppered" in both legs with buckshot and debris, with some injuries as high as his chin, according to a sheriff's office report.
"Nobody else was there and he wasn't intoxicated," Wilson said.
The man was taken to Tacoma General Hospital with injuries Wilson described as severe but not life-threatening.

You really have to wonder what the hell some people are thinking when they do stuff like this.

So what are you playing on your musicbox today? The top ten in my list is mainly old rock today, with a bit of other odds-and-ends thrown in.

"Coming into Los Angeles" by Arlo Guthrie
"Oye Como Va" by Santana
"Unconscious Power" by Iron Butterfly
"For Ladies Only" by Steppenwolf
"Quicksand" by The Youngbloods
"Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer" by Nat King Cole
"You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" by The Lovin' Spoonful
"Magic" by Olivia Newton-John
"Hell Hound on My Trail" by Robert Johnson
"I Only Want to Be With You" by Dusty Springfield

Veterans Day

In honor of Veterans Day, I would like to take this time to say to our veterans: Thank You.

Thank you for the sacrifices you made; on the bloody battlefields, the burning decks of ships, and in the smoke filled skies.
Thank you for giving everything you had; your life, your health, and your innocence, in order that others would not have to give theirs.
Thank you for helping to preserve everything that is important in our country; life, liberty, and the ability to choose what we do in life.
For all those that died before their time, in order that we at home would not, thank you. We owe a debt that can never be fully paid.














"Militum semper memento"
(Always remember the soldiers.)

Earth to BobG, please reply...

Looks like I've been remiss about blogging for a few days.
Ever have one of those periods where you can't seem to get too excited about anything? It's been like that around here. Something about the weather change seems to cause a slight ebb in my metabolism, which in turn affects my moods. It never reaches the depression stage, but it does cause an amazing case of apathy at times. Add that to the pains of a bad back, edema, sleep apnea, and the normal BS of everyday life, and it can get to you at times. Luckily I seem to be coming out of my slump, so thank you for visiting during this time.
I haven't really been doing too much during this time, mainly getting things ready for winter out in the yard. I did go to a gun show Saturday, and that cheered me a bit, even though I couldn't afford some of the stuff I really liked.

Most of the weekend was classical music time; I seemed to be favoring Handel and Bach, with a bit of Vivaldi thrown in. Today I seem to be in a "country oldies" mood; these are the top ten in the playlist:

"Tennessee Stud" by Eddy Arnold
"Cold, Cold Heart" by Hank Williams
"Johnny Reb" by Johnny Horton
"I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash
"Wolverton Mountain" by Claude King
"Saginaw, Michigan" by Lefty Frizzell
"Walkin' After Midnight" by Patsy Cline
"Ribbon of Darkness" by Marty Robbins
"Long Haired Country Boy" by The Charlie Daniels Band
"He'll Have to Go" by Jim Reeves

Anyone else out there old enough to remember them?

Separatists claim responsibility for California wildfires

ORANGE COUNTY, California (CNN) -- Radical Hispanic separatist organization MEChA ("Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan") is taking responsibility for setting the wildfires in California, confimed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
California officials received a letter earlier today containing photographs of individuals holding Molotov cocktails, then throwing them into dry brush. The faces of the individuals appeared to have been digitally distorted.

Also included was a rambling manifesto, stating that the reason for the act of arson was that "Aztlán belongs to indigenous people, the Chicanas and Chicanos of Aztlán. We are sovereign and not subject to a foreign culture."

Orange County Fire Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion told CNN that the pattern of wildfires definitely indicates arson.

If this is true, we may have a bigger problem than originally thought; this amounts to terrorism when a group attacks civilians. There may be some interesting times to come.

Update:

This has turned out to be a hoax, luckily. Glad that it does not seem to be true at this time; this could have gotten really ugly.

Poll: One-third believe in ghosts, UFOs

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was bad enough when the TV and lights inexplicably flicked on at night, Misty Conrad says. When her daughter began talking to an unseen girl named Nicole and neighbors said children had been murdered in the house, it was time to move.

Put Conrad, a homemaker from Hampton, Va., firmly in the camp of the 34% of people who say they believe in ghosts, according to a pre-Halloween poll by The Associated Press and Ipsos. That's the same proportion who believe in unidentified flying objects — exceeding the 19% who accept the existence of spells or witchcraft.

According to the poll, over a third of the people in this country believe in ghosts. Interesting, in a country like America in the 21st century.

A smaller but still substantial 23% say they have actually seen a ghost or believe they have been in one's presence, with the most likely candidates for such visits including single people, Catholics and those who never attend religious services.

I would have thought that more religious people would believe in the supernatural; evidently that is not so.

By 31% to 18%, more liberals than conservatives report seeing a specter.

Hmm, that explains a lot...

This is begging for a caption

Anyone got a good caption for this?

Warning: Geek Alert

This is one of the more interesting ideas I've seen in a while; a simple docking station for internal hard drives that connects to the USB. Instead of tossing out older, smaller drives, just use them for simple storage by swapping them in a dock. I wonder if you could boot from one? That could be a good thing, since you could have one drive with Windows, one with Linux, etc, and just swap them. It definitely bears some looking into to see how well it works, and how reliable it is.



Hat tip to Everything USB

Baggy pants

When the Virginia House of Representatives tried to outlaw the wearing of low-slung pants two years ago, they drew ridicule from Sydney to London. Comedians joked about a "boxers' rebellion," and so many online political blogs derided the bill that the state Senate quickly killed it.

The mockery in Richmond, however, hasn't stopped other politicians from trying to stamp out sagging pants. Bans have become law or are being considered in at least eight states. The movement is fueled by growing worries among lawmakers that sloppy dress by America's youth could be related, no matter how indirectly, to delinquency, poor learning and crime.

It's good to know that we have solved all the other problems in those states so that this is the most important thing on their agenda. Since when do baggy pants mean "delinquency, poor learning and crime"? If that's true, we better lock up clowns, since they have some of the baggiest pants money can buy.
Granted, seeing guys walking around looking like they shit their pants is not exactly esthetically pleasing, but neither is it a menace to society, only to good taste. Since when is it illegal to go around looking like a dumbass? If you want to fight "delinquency, poor learning and crime", then fight those directly. Quit wasting time worrying about Buttcrack McMoon and his baggy pants.
Just my opinion.

In a different vein, a music selection. The other day, Sir Philipston-Higham Johnston-Higham of nourishing obscurity didn't find the list I had as particularly cheerful. To help correct that, I have put together a playlist of more upbeat stuff, the top dozen of the shuffle being listed here. Anybody out there who is familiar with all/most of them? Any comments?

"Lookin' Out My Back Door" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
"Dreamboat Annie" by Heart
"I'm Alive" by Electric Light Orchestra
"Here For The Party" by Gretchen Wilson
"Soapstone Mountain" by It's a Beautiful Day
"Sugar Town" by Nancy Sinatra
"Reasons for Waiting" by Jethro Tull
"Orinoco Flow" by Enya
"You Got It" by Roy Orbison
"She'd Rather Be With Me" by The Turtles
"Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys
"Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles

After getting a letter from Hoplophobes-R-Us, it is time for something to lighten the mood; so I've loaded a playlist with ladies of rock; I don't know how familiar everyone is with them, but here is the first ten of the list:

"Holding Our for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler
"Sometimes It's a Bitch" by Stevie Nicks
"I Only Want to Be With You" by Dusty Springfield
"Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford
"Summertime" by Janis Joplin & Her Kozmic Blues Band
"Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes
"Promises in the Dark" by Pat Benatar
"As Tears Go By" by Marianne Faithfull
"Both Sides Now" by Judy Collins
"What's Love Got to Do With It" by Tina Turner

Any thoughts, observations, or opinions on this group?

Didn't take them long, did it?

Part of the latest mail from the Brady Bunch.

If this email does not display correctly, click here to open it in your browser.

More Guns at Schools While Senate Stalls on Improving Background Checks Your support can help us break the logjam on a bill to strengthen the Brady law's NICS Dear Robert, I'm once again heartbroken that a deranged teenager was so easily able to get his hands on two guns and ammunition, shooting four people before killing himself at a Cleveland school on Wednesday. Together, we must stop senseless tragedies like this. And we can. The first thing we must do is convince the U.S. Senate to strengthen the Brady background check system by passing the National Instant Check System (NICS) Improvement Act. Will you help me by making a special contribution to the Brady Campaign right now? Your contribution will be used to bring pressure to bear on the Senate, garner media attention, and rally public support for this critical bill.

Somebody gets goofy and these people immediately have their hands out asking for money.

It's For The Children™.

Just how is the NICS Bill supposed to prevent something like this? He was already unable to buy any kind of firearm legally; obviously the law was unable to prevent him from obtaining them. The problem, in this particular case, was a bad home environment; it seems he and his brother had been in and out of trouble for quite some time. As long as there are people growing up under bad conditions, you are going to have violence. Blaming a piece of metal and making "feelgood" laws does not solve problems.
Just my opinion.

Hmmm...

I'm actually surprised I wasn't farther out on the upper right quadrant.

You are a Social Liberal (86% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (75% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian (75e/86s) Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Autumn

Saturday was one of those sort of cloudy, dreary days, so we decided to go up in the hills for the day. Just south of Salt Lake Valley is Utah Valley, home to BYU and Provo. At the north end of Utah Valley, branching off to the east, is American Fork Canyon. The road through it takes you up over the top and down into Provo Canyon, the home of Sundance. The drive is quite scenic. There was a light rain in American Fork, with snow in the higher elevations as we journeyed toward the summit. Going down the other side we went down through snow, and into patches of rain and sunlight. The temperature was not too bad; a long-sleeve shirt and a light vest were enough to stay warm. It was a relaxing day, but winter is definitely on it's way.
The first two pictures are from the American Fork side, the bottom two are from the Sundance side. The one of the stream is at Sundance Institute, where it was not snowing at all (the sun was shining) at the time I took the photo.

Click on pictures for full size.

Uh, no thanks...

Welcome to Inkafterlife.com. We make custom photo memorials by creating a custom ink formulation using ashes from a loved one or pet and our ink. We then print a beautiful memorial photo using that blended ink.

Is it just me, or does that sound sort of creepy? I'm not sure I want someone's remains hanging on my wall.

I ar iliterut

Been trying to knock some of the cobwebs out of my brain today; my linguistic skills are getting a bit rusty, and I decided I needed to do a bit of vocabulary and grammar revues. I was looking up something that Caesar wrote, and found that my Latin was a bit out of practice, so I thought I might brush up a bit. I had already found that my Anglo-Saxon was not what it used to be, so I will be spending a bit of time with Beowulf, also. It's interesting how you lose touch with a language when you aren't using it a lot. Though not fluent in any language, I have a working knowledge of several, mainly in their written form. Looks like I need to do a bit more work with them than I have been doing lately.

I found music helps when studying, but only instrumental, highly structured types. For studying, lyrics can be distracting, and some repetitive types are mind-numbing if you are trying to concentrate. My favorite for studying is mainly baroque (Vivaldi and Bach, in particular), and some light jazz, such as Brubeck; I find it to be conducive to thinking and organizing the thoughts. Any suggestions on methods that you have found to work well with languages?

Tiny twin-engine plane

This has to be one of the smallest planes ever. Seems like you would feel every little variation of the wind, and I can't imagine what would happen if you hit a decent-size bird. Check out some of the other pictures at their site.

Better times

This is a time of year that always brings bittersweet memories to me; experiences that bring joy to remember, but sadness in knowing they will never be repeated.
While I was growing up, I went camping a lot with my dad. Even after I grew to adulthood, we would get together and go camping and fishing at times. Fall was always sort of special to us; the temperature was cooler, and it was the start of the hunting seasons.
I recall the crisp bite of the morning air when getting up in the morning; the way you could smell everything around you with crystal clarity, and your ears were tuned to hear and interpret all of the sounds, whether in woodland after deer, or in more open plains and chaparral looking for rabbits and hares.
Sitting around a small campfire, bacon and eggs in an old cast-iron skillet, with a couple of slices of bread to sop up the grease before it hardened in the clear cold air as you stood before the fire to warm up, since the sun was usually still down behind the mountains.
A few pieces of jerky or peanuts in your pockets, check your rifle and ammo, and go off hunting. If you were lucky, you brought home game. If you didn't get any shots, it was still ok; you had the experience of doing something out away from the city together.
When traveling or sitting around the campfire, it was a time to talk; children and parents don't always agree on everything, but as long as they can communicate with one another, they can get along and bond at some level.
I lost my dad in November of 2005, and now those experiences are relegated to the status of memories. I have a lot of them, but there never seem to be enough to fill up the empty space that a loved one leaves behind.
To those out there with children and parents, make as many memories as you can now, because later there may not be time.

Thanks for sitting through this uncharacteristic post, I usually don't get this maudlin.

Global warming is here

Had to go out and do a few chores at my mom's place; she lives about 50-60 miles SW of Salt Lake City. The weather wasn't the best, as these pictures taken a bit north of her show:




Between the fog and the snow, it was hard to see very far. It made it difficult to see the cattle that were wandering about at times, so we drove a little slower than usual today.
Here in Salt Lake Valley we just have sleet.

Bunch of oldies in today's playlist; most are probably older than a lot of the readers here:

"Summertime" by Janis Joplin & Her Kozmic Blues Band
"Wishful Sinful" by The Doors
"Fresh Garbage" by Spirit
"Red, Red Wine" by Neil Diamond
"Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
"Hungry" by Paul Revere & the Raiders
"Stop, Stop, Stop" by The Hollies
"Possession" by Iron Butterfly
"Oye Como Va" by Santana
"I Am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel

Anybody out there know all of them?

Clinton proposes $5,000 'baby bonds'

WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Friday proposed giving every baby born in the United States $5,000 to start an account to use for paying for college.

Clinton made the comment at a forum sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus as she and Democratic rival Barack Obama competed for support from black voters a day after leading Republican presidential candidates skipped a debate on minority issues.

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school, they will be able to access it to go to college," Clinton said.
Clinton, a senator from New York, offered no details on how to pay for the program. The $5,000 "baby bonds" would accrue interest over time.

This has to be one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard. Promising something like that without mentioning how it will be paid for to get votes from minorities. And there are probably morons out there who actually believe that line of bullshit. Does anyone have the slightest idea of how much that would take? And of course it would be paid for by raising someone's taxes. I would also like to see what happens if a person dies before they have a chance to use the accrued money. The legal battles, scams, and general all-around things that can go wrong (sad to say, there are people out there who have killed their own children for less) boggles the mind.
Just my opinion.

Everybody needs a pet

I've watched this several times, and it makes me laugh every time. I think they picked the wrong animal to advertise.

Yuck...

I was checking my sitemeter this morning, since I find it interesting from where I am getting visitors, and ran across this:










You have to really wonder about people, sometimes...

Where does the time go?

Busy week; stuff to do out at my mom's place, chores at my uncle's yard, stuff around here. My wife has been suffering from a nasty sinus condition that has her coughing and sneezing at all hours; it's been hard on her trying to get some rest at night.
Missed the gun show over the weekend, but since I didn't have that much loose cash it was probably just as well. The weather is definitely starting to resemble autumn around here; the temperature dropped down to 40 at night, and there is snow on the mountains around Salt Lake valley.
For the cat lovers, here is a shot of a kitten from my mom's back yard that my wife took:

A good weekend

The weekend was one of family; Sunday my wife and I went to the state fair with one of my nieces and her daughter; we walked a lot and had a fairly good time for the last half of the day.
Saturday was the 1-year birthday of my youngest great-niece; hot dogs, mac salad, and all the other stuff that goes with an outside picnic-type party.


Click on picture for larger view.

Being Uncle Bob can be a good thing when you have nieces like that. :-)

One of life's great pleasures...

I'm not much into sweets such as candy and soda pop; I tend to prefer fresh fruits for my sugar. One of the few exceptions is homemade fruit pie, especially with my wife's pie crust, which is the best I have ever had. This was a new type, an apple and pear recipe that I found over at Kit's place. I took a picture, but didn't use a flash, so it came out with a weird yellow cast over the whole picture because of the type of lighting it was sitting under.
Homemade pie with a mug of Kona coffee...life is good.

More tunes to lighten the load

Decided to put together blogroll, then paste the whole thing together in my blog at once. While I'm doing this, I have a playlist of oldies that I enjoy, this is the first ten in the list:

"Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire
"Tequila" by The Champs
"Happy Together" by The Turtles
"A Summer Song" by Chad & Jeremy
"Walk, Don't Run" by The Ventures
"Sock It To Me-Baby!" by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
"The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" by The Walker Brothers
"Lil' Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
"Stay" by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs
"Sky Pilot" by Eric Burdon & The Animals

Anybody out there old enough to remember any of those?

Whoops

Somehow in my tinkering, I have managed to delete my whole blogroll and a bunch of other stuff on my site. Will be working on that over the next few days.
If you used to be there, and I somehow miss you over the next few days, let me know.

Relatively slow week

Not a real lot going on during the first part of the week; warm days, cool nights. Trying to catch up on stuff around the yard. The Salt Lake Greek Festival is going on this weekend; we caught it yesterday. Souvlaki, calimaria, loucomades, spanakapite, dolmades, and much more. Brought home some feta, loucomades, baklava, and olives. Will have to do more working out than usual this week, I guess. Trying to decide whether to go to the state fair after lunch today, have to see how we feel later.

For some reason I felt like listening to older country-western music this morning:

"Hello Walls" by Willie Nelson
"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" by Waylon Jennings
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by The Charlie Daniels Band
"Tennessee Stud" by Eddy Arnold
"Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams
"I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash
"Ribbon of Darkness" by Marty Robbins
"Whispering Pines" by Johnny Horton
"Crazy" by Patsy Cline
"Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" by Kris Kristofferson

Anybody else remember these? I tend to prefer older stuff, rather than the "cowpop" that seems to be prevalent these days. Just showing my age, I guess.

Labor Day weekend

Not a real lot going on this weekend, a lot of it is just catching up. We did get away for a bit Sunday and went hiking up at Brighton, where there are several ski resorts. It tried to sprinkle lightly at times, but not enough to get wet. It was in the nineties in the valley, so the 65F temperatures up in the mountains felt good. We did get a good look at a bull moose that was up there. It was used to people, so we were able to get up within 20 feet of him without him getting excited at all.



Click pictures for larger view

We have quite a few moose in the local mountains; during the winter sometimes they wander down into Salt Lake City. The bulls are usually not much trouble, but cows with calves can get extremely belligerent. It seems any more that I see more moose than deer in the woods here in northern Utah. The moose was on the shores of the small lake in the photo. We also saw woodpeckers and ducks, so it was a pleasant afternoon. There are a few other pictures from the area in my Flickr account, if you're interested.

Interesting letter

This is the news from the Brady Bunch:

********************************************************

Dear Robert,

Activists and community leaders gather in cities and towns across the country for a national day of protest against illegal gun and corrupt gun dealers.

Thank you! Your support and activism helped make our nationwide events on August 28 a huge success!

On Tuesday — the 44th anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech during his March on Washington — in more than 25 cities and towns across America, thousands of activists gathered in their local communities to raise their voices about the dream of stopping gun violence in America.

The Brady Campaign with its network of Million Mom March Chapters organized local events — along with Protest Easy Guns activists, state group leaders, and other allied organizations — in support of the efforts of Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition to draw attention to our nation's epidemic of gun violence.

From San Diego and Richmond, California to Portland, Maine and Newark, New Jersey — and from Dallas to Denver to Duluth, Minnesota — activists and community leaders organized marches, rallies, candlelight vigils, "lie-in" protests, memorial bell-ringing ceremonies, and press conferences.

• Read a summary of the events that took place.
• Watch video and see photos from the August 28th events.

This week, volunteers around the nation came out to make it clear that there are steps we can take to fight gun violence in our communities. We applaud the efforts of Rev. Jackson, our Chapters, and all the volunteer activists across the country who worked hard to make their voices heard on this day.

If you were unable to join us at one of the events, you can still be a part of the day by giving a gift in honor of these events and helping us all make our dream of a safe America a reality. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sarah Brady, Chair

***********************************************
What is interesting is that this bears no resemblance to to what I have read in the news or heard from witnesses.

...thousands of activists gathered in their local communities to raise their voices about the dream of stopping gun violence in America.

I wonder where that was?

This is an interesting bill

It would seem that some of our Congressmen feel that taxpayers should pay for groups friendly to illegal immigration. Why does La Raza need money out of my pocket? Most of the people I've seen associated with La Raza were running around yelling "Reconquista!" and claiming to own the part of the country I live in. Not all members of the organization are this extreme, but the group is just one step away from espousing open borders. Seems that the people whose representatives are sponsoring this bill might want to send a letter or two to those representatives.
Just my opinion.

Sponsor:
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa [D-TX]

Cosponsors [as of 2007-08-26]
Rep. Barney Frank [D-MA]
Rep. Edward Pastor [D-AZ]
Rep. Rick Renzi [R-AZ]
Rep. Silvestre Reyes [D-TX]

Another letter

The Brady Bunch is pushing again; part of their latest letter below:

************************************************

Dear Robert,

Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke joined Jesse Jackson at a Chicago protest against illegal gun trafficking, organized by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition designed to highlight the roleplayed by corrupt gun dealers.

We know you share our dream of a safer, saner America. We also know this dream must be supported by action.

That is why the Brady Campaign is supporting the Rainbow PUSH Coalition's National Day of Protest — against corrupt gun dealers and the scourge of illegal gun trafficking in our country — on Tuesday, August 28, the anniverary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington. We ask that you support this day in any way you can: by joining us at one of the protests or by giving a gift in honor of the day.

More than 20 events are being organized in communities throughout the nation by the Brady Campaign's Million Mom March Chapters, state gun violence prevention groups, and individual activists.

************************************************


Notice how they are begging for more money, again? These people have no shame.
And who is their poster boy today?
Jesse Jackson, assclown and media whore par excellence. These people are targeting law-abiding merchants (if they are doing any illegal trafficking, they would have been arrested by now) who are not bothering anyone. If they want to cut down on crime, try going after criminals, and conditions that give rise to criminals. Jackson would be better advised to try protesting against drug dealers, since much of the crime stems from drug users. Of course, he wouldn't get his face in the media or get as many donations. The same goes for the Brady Campaign; they make more money by demonizing inanimate objects than pushing for better criminal control. Most firearms used in crimes are not bought from licensed dealers or gun shows; they are stolen or bought from other criminals, something which has been known to the law enforcement community for years. Of course, we can't be distracted by the facts, can we?
I think I need another cup of coffee...

Buy more ammo

The Brady Bunch and Jesse Jackson are having some sort of protest against guns on August 28. For those of us who think they are nothing more than a bunch of people exploiting the media for power and money, we ask that you buy some ammunition on that day, as a way of having our own protest.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition."
-- Rudyard Kipling

H/T to The War on Guns

A special day

Click picture for larger view.

On August 18, 1973 I got married. It would turn out to be the smartest and most important thing I have ever done. Not everyone is lucky enough to find the one person that makes life complete, and helps keep a person balanced and grounded. Fortunately I was one of those lucky people. To all of the other happily married people out there, I wish you well, and hope you can be as fortunate as I am. This is a picture of myself and my lovely bride (Sandy) with Father Howlett at the St. Stephens Episcopal Church in West Valley City.

More panhandling

I just got some email today from the Brady Bunch; here is how the letter starts out:

Dear Robert,

We have a tremendous opportunity to accomplish a major Brady Campaign goal: keeping guns out of the hand of criminals and the mentally ill. And the Brady Campaign needs your help today to make this happen.

For just $5 or more each month, you can help the Brady Campaign ensure passage of this important legislation that will saves lives. The Brady Campaign is lobbying key Senators to help ensure the bill's passage and we need the necessary resources to make this happen. We must also be prepared to launch a targeted ad campaign to get our message out and get the critical Senate votes we need.

In the first place, they don't really say what their legislation is about; I am just supposed to take their word for it.
In the second place, why do they need money to pass it? Are they planning on bribing someone in the Senate?
These people are interested in money and power; and they are able to get it by appealing to uninformed people who are prone to hysteria rather than logic. If they really wanted to do some good, they would go for harsher penalties on criminals, and slapping offenders in jail, instead of letting them out on bail to commit more crimes. It seems to me that locking up a criminal is the best way for "keeping guns out of the hand of criminals and the mentally ill".
Just my opinion.

Guardian Angels come to Utah

Either for a lack of resources or a lack of concern, Salt Lake City and Ogden have not been able to stem growing gang and drug problems.
That's the position of Curtis Sliwa, leader of a controversial group of red-beret-wearing civilian security guards who came to town Thursday to announce help is on the way.

The New York native said he has seen rough parks in San Francisco and Los Angeles but never expected to see a similar site in Salt Lake City.
"You say no way, people smoking meth, smoking crack, openly in Salt Lake City," Sliwa said. "That means City Hall is openly allowing that activity. It's not a hard problem to fix."

I'll be interested to see how this pans out; a lot of people have been getting frustrated by the lack of law enforcement of gangs and related problems. The park to which they refer is Pioneer Park in SLC; it is home to junkies, drunks, dealers, and bums. Most of the undesirables there are not "just homeless", the majority of them are people who have fallen to the bottom through circumstances of their own choosing, so I have little sympathy for them.
Utah didn't really have a gang problem until a few years ago; much of it was the result of people moving from southern California to "get their children away from gangs". As soon as they got here, the "children" formed local chapters of the gangs of which they were members.
Much of the local criminal activity has been the result of two main groups; illegal aliens, and meth junkies. Between the fact that a lot of Utahns are getting CWW permits, and these Guardians coming in, maybe things may turn around a bit. We'll just have to wait and see.

Quack alert!

A study by doctors in Hong Kong has concluded that epilepsy can be induced by the Chinese tile game of mahjong.

The findings, published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal, were based on 23 cases of people who had suffered mahjong-induced seizures.

The report's four authors, from Hong Kong's Queen Mary Hospital, said the best prevention - and cure - was to avoid playing mahjong.

The study led the doctors to define mahjong epilepsy as a unique syndrome.

Remind me to never get a medical diagnosis from a Hong Kong doctor.
God only knows what you could get from solitaire or dominoes...

Something to ponder

My wife sent me this; I don't know who wrote it, but they obviously were thinking.



COWS

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a single cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they
are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.



THE CONSTITUTION

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq . Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.



TEN COMMANDMENTS

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this:
You cannot post "Thou Shall Not Steal," "Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.

Winner!

"EEEK! It's the Constitution!"


After perusing all of the captions, my favorite (your opinion may differ) has to be the one from Ambulance Driver.

This one is just begging for a caption...

Anybody got one for it? Winner will be decided and announced Friday.

I must be doing something right

I used to get a lot of Chinese hits on my sitemeter, then they stopped some time ago. I guess I know why now. Was it something I said, LOL?

Police arrest two in hypothermia death of 9-year-old boy in Salt Lake

Police have arrested two people in the death of a 9-year-old boy who apparently succumbed to hypothermia in a downtown restaurant after being placed in a trash can full of ice water.
Pedro Gaucin-Canales, 36, was booked into jail Wednesday after he told police he and another person put the child in the water at the Melting Pot fondue restaurant, where firefighters found the child dead in the kitchen about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a jail booking report.
Rebecca Hernandez-Velasco, 19, the victim's sister, was booked into jail this morning on suspicion of child-abuse homicide.
Both suspects were employees of the restaurant.

What is wrong with people like that? Can anyone tell me a legitimate reason to stick a child in a garbage can full of ice water? I can't imagine doing something like this to a little kid.

Game in bag prompts airport evacuation

LONG BEACH (AP) — A suspicious item in checked luggage that prompted the evacuation of a terminal at Long Beach Airport on Thursday turned out to be an electronic game, authorities said.

Several hundred people were evacuated from the terminal for about 90 minutes and five arriving aircraft were held on the tarmac until the all-clear was given.

Transportation Security Administration screeners spotted the suspicious item while X-raying a checked bag around 9:30 a.m., agency spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin said.

"It is basically a handheld game board that a passenger packed," she told Fox News Channel.

The item turned out to be a handheld electronic game board in a "raw form" that showed its wiring, she said.

"It certainly was nothing but it certainly looked like something. It had all the wires and components that you would see in an explosive device," Peppin said.

It had wires and electrical components, so that makes it a bomb? How the hell would any of those characters know what a bomb looked like? Has it occurred to any of those people that all modern electronics have "wires and components"? Did anyone notice something called explosives connected to the "wires and components"?
In the meantime, grandmothers still have to take off their shoes, and nail files are confiscated. And they wonder why people think their tax money is misspent.

An award

I have been given an award by fellow blogger Nyx. I am not sure if I can live up to it, but I feel touched that someone considered me to be worthy of such.

************************************



"This award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you.

Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy… of knowing them and being blessed by them.”

Here are the rules for this one:

1. Copy this post (meaning the rules).
2. Reflect on five bloggers and write a least a paragraph about each one.
3. Make sure you link this post so others can read it and the rules.
4. Go leave your chosen bloggers a comment and let them know they’ve been given the award.
5. Put the award icon on your site.

The thing about a source of love and being a Godly example isn't really my thing; I am a longtime agnostic, and most of my encouragement has just been the reading of their blogs, rather than active encouragement on their part. They are all people who make me think, and whose words I enjoy reading. With that in mind, these are some of the people who I enjoy reading.
*************************************

I think the first one I would have to list is the late Acidman of Gut Rumbles. This was a person who was read by many, and both liked and disliked by a lot of people. He was a prolific blogger, posting several times a day. It was through reading his blog that I first started toying with the idea of posting my own blog. I never got to meet him, but wish I could have done so.

Marko the Munchkin Wrangler is an inspiration to those who value freedom. He writes well constructed posts on politics and life in general, and does some very noteworthy stuff, such as his essay on concealed carry. Definitely a thinking person's blog.

I first started reading GuyK at CHARMING, JUST CHARMING after reading his comments at Gut Rumbles. He has a laid back relaxed view of life (after a couple of rants in the morning upon reading the news), but is not lazy. He manages to stay busy, but doesn't let life push him too much.

One of my first reads in the morning is to check on Tamara's View from the Porch. Reflections on history are common, and usually with a mixture of sarcasm and wit where required. She is always a joy to read, and teaches the proper employment of snark.

I first discovered "Scully" at Skywriter about a year ago, I think. She does serious writing that flows easily, it evokes images and memories, and makes me wish I could write that well. A combination of intelligence, education, and experience, her posts are always good to read. She also has a subtle, almost dry sense of humor when commenting that can be hilarious.


There are a lot of reasons to read the people listed, these are just a few of my reflections on them.

Make Al Gore cry...

Want something that will go anywhere, and have a carbon footprint the size of a T.Rex?
You might need one of these:




A Humvee that converts to a boat in 5 seconds, and has the global warming people wetting their pants in even less time.
I remember something like this in a couple of James Bond movies, but this is even cooler.

A little music to make things go better...

Popped a few tunes into the playlist; seems to make me feel better after a bit. Everybody familiar with the top ten in the list?

"Coming into Los Angeles" by Arlo Guthrie
"Crippled Crow" by Kris Kristofferson
"Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra
"Yakety Axe" by Chet Atkins/Mark Knopfler
"Here For The Party" by Gretchen Wilson
"Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran
"Summer Nights" by Marianne Faithfull
"Nothing Is Easy" by Jethro Tull
"You Talk Too Much" by George Thorogood
"When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin

I tend to listen to odd combinations; lower in the list I also have stuff by Vivaldi, Hank Williams, and Miles Davis.

I've been expecting this

Since the Parker case has been submitted to the SCOTUS, the Brady Bunch has gone into hysterics again. I just got this in an email this morning:

District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty announced this week that the District will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision in Parker v. District of Columbia — an assault on D.C. gun laws and one that could threaten every city's gun laws.

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide in about three months whether they will hear the case and each month brings a tidal wave of work for the Brady Center to defend our nation's gun laws. We must be geared-up to fight this battle. Simply put: we need your support today!

Please click here to make a tax-deductible commitment of $25 or more. Your gift today will help us prepare for the incredibly large amount of work that needs to be conducted to hold off this assault on our nation's gun laws.

You'll recall, in a 2-1 decision this past spring, a federal Appeals Court overturned Washington D.C.'s long-standing restrictions on handguns based on a twisted view of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, while ignoring more than 60 years of precedent — a decision that endangers America's gun laws coast-to-coast.

This battle — to its very core — is the most important battle we have ever waged. We need your help today to save America's gun laws by building a strong Brady Gun Law Defense Fund.

Your tax-deductible gift of $25 or more today is critical to our success!

We must prepare for a long hard battle. So much of what we have worked for in the past and everything we're currently working on could be destroyed by the heinous decision of right-wing activist judges who chose to ignore more than 60 years of precedent in order to help the gun lobby accomplish in the courts what it has been unable to accomplish in Congress.

Notice how they don't waste much time panhandling for money? And distorting and lying (as usual)? These bozos are so predictable. If they would even try to give some semblance of truth, rather than the ridiculous drivel that they spew into the media. I need another cup of coffee to get the bad taste out of my mouth after hearing from them...

Couple accused of starving infants while playing video games

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- A couple authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect.

The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age 11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said. Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Police said hospital staff had to shave the head of the girl because her hair was matted with cat urine. The 10-pound girl also had a mouth infection, dry skin and severe dehydration.

Her brother had to be treated for starvation and a genital infection. His lack of muscle development caused him difficulty in walking, investigators said.

Michael Straw is an unemployed cashier, and his wife worked for a temporary staffing agency doing warehouse work, according to court records. He received a $50,000 inheritance that he spent on computer equipment and a large plasma television, authorities said.

I can't imagine any normal parent deliberately neglecting their child, but to play video games? Makes me feel like beating the living shit out of them. People with those sort of priorities have no business having children. I just hope the despicable assholes have a very miserable time while in prison.

Must be feeling a bit nostalgic

Got looking at the playlist I set up today...hmmm. I don't live in the past, but sometimes I get in strange music moods. Some days it's a mixture, other days it's all classical, or country, or blues. Sometimes its rock from a certain period, other times a mishmash. Today seems to be an oldies-rock day.
This is the top ten on it:

"Tequila" by The Champs
"It's Only Make Believe" by Conway Twitty
"Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by Fifth Dimension
"Jupiter's Child" by Steppenwolf
"Pretty Ballerina" by The Left Banke
"Let's Live for Today" by The Grass Roots
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by The Animals
"Good Morning Starshine" by Oliver
"Kind of a Drag" by The Buckinhams
"Let Me Be" by The Turtles

Anybody else out there old enough to remember these? Any comments on them?

China blames Internet for rise in teen pregnancies

BEIJING--Nearly half of the pregnant teens in China's financial hub, Shanghai, met their partners on the Internet, state media said on Tuesday.

Zhang Zhengrong, a doctor who oversees the city's first-aid hotline for pregnant teens, said 46 percent of the more than 20,000 teenage girls who called the hotline over the past two years said they had had sex with boys they met on the Internet.

A survey by Zhang's hospital found that only 7.9 percent of the parents queried talked to their children about sex, and 79 percent of high school and university students said they got their ideas about sex from the Internet.

When I was a kid, they blamed stuff like this on rock-and-roll music.

Sounds like there are a lot of teenage boys on the internet over there typing one-handed...

11-year-old girl charged with DUI after chase

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (AP) — Police who chased a car for miles along a highway at speeds up to 100 mph said the driver was drunk, hardly a rarity in this resort town. But there was more: When they looked inside the flipped vehicle with guns drawn, they found an 11-year-old girl at the wheel.

I'm a little curious where her parents are during all this, and whether this is something she does all the time.

Sax Player Boots Randolph Dead at 80

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Boots Randolph, whose spirited saxophone playing on "Yakety Sax" endeared him to fans for years on Benny Hill's TV show, died Tuesday. He was 80.

Most people out there are probably unfamiliar with his name, but those of use who are older remember him well. Those who are younger, and familiar with the Benny Hill show, will recognize his "Yakety Sax" that was played during many of the routines. He was well known for work with a lot of country western stars, and will be missed.

Insanity from iCult members

Scene from Fifth Avenue Apple Store:

Good 'ol American capitalism. A sharpie a couple seats down from me sold his spot in line for $250. He had come with his cousins to keep them company with no intention of buying an iPhone. Sensing an opportunity, he struck. The sucker… er, purchaser is now being interviewed by an MSNBC reporter (seen to the left of another salesman).

Granted, the iPhone looks interesting, but is it that important to be the first on your block with one? I think this guy would have done quite well for himself if he was still around.


H/T to SCI FI Tech

"Honey, I've got a headache..."

MIAMI - A Florida man awoke with a severe headache and asked his wife to drive him to a hospital, where doctors found a bullet lodged behind his right ear, sheriff’s deputies said.

The wife, April Moylan, fled the emergency room when the bullet was discovered but later told deputies she had accidentally shot her husband as he slept early on Tuesday.

How do you shoot someone behind the ear by accident while they are sleeping? Sounds like she was a little miffed at him. I'd be curious to know what she used to shoot him. Probably a .22 I'd imagine, but this sort of thing has happened with larger calibers.

High-tech fence on Ariz. border delayed

WASHINGTON (AP) — Technical issues are delaying the completion of a multibillion-dollar high-tech fence intended to reduce illegal entry along the nation's southern border, the government said Thursday.

The first phase of the project involves building nine towers that are dotted along 28 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border, and bracket the Sasabe port of entry.

So the Bronze Age Egyptians were able to build The Great Pyramid of Giza using nothing but manpower and ropes, but a superpower in the Nuclear Age can't seem to build a fence...
Maybe someone should study some Roman engineering to see how it's done.
Sounds like the typical sort of thing we see contractors for the government do; come up with a winning bid, and then find ways to gouge and jack up the price later. Business as usual.
Just my opinion.

Michael Moore's 'Sicko' Leaked Onto Web

I'm sorry, but I find this somewhat funny.

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- Michael Moore's new documentary "Sicko" has been pirated and is now widely available for download on peer-to-peer content sites like www.thepiratebay.org.

Last week, the Oscar winning director announced that he'd decided to stash a copy of "Sicko" in Canada, in case the federal government decided to impound it over an apparently unauthorized trip to Cuba made during its filming. As it turns out, the hard part won't be getting the film released, but getting audiences to pay to see it now that its available for free.

He made such a big deal out of claiming that the government was going to steal his documentary, and it is pirated from the place where he sent it to be safe.
Whoops...

Bush Continues Push for New Immigration Bill

President Bush today pressed his campaign for a new comprehensive immigration bill, telling an audience of Latino religious leaders that "our economy depends on" foreign workers and calling on Congress to act now before the problem of illegal immigration "grows worse."

You'd think, at this point, they would quit beating this dead horse. Obviously the thing is not going to pass, so quit slapping band-aids on it and toss it out. There comes a time when it isn't worth the trouble to fix something, you need to start over. I don't see why they are making such a big deal out of something that should be simple. Toss the stupid bill in the trash, and start over. May I offer some humble suggestions?

Secure the borders.
Stiffen the laws regarding the hiring of illegals.
Quit giving them citizen benefits unless they are legal citizens or are applying for citizenship.

That should cut down on some of the influx, then we can try to figure out what to do with the ones already in this country.
What we have right now is a bunch of jackasses in Washington DC who are all trying to find some way of declaring an amnesty without coming right out and saying it. You would think somebody in office would care what their voters want. The Democrats want future voters and the Republicans want cheap labor. When you also factor in the clueless media pushing for an amnesty, it's a three ring circus, and all three rings seem to be full of clowns.
Just my opinion.

Don'tcha hate it when that happens...

My ISP had server problems, went down Wednesday, didn't come up until this morning a little bit ago. Will probably take a while to catch up. Not counting spam, I have about 50 emails; that alone should take a bit. Won't be able to catch up on my usual blogs for a while today.

Customer forced at gunpoint to pump gas into suspect's vehicle

A woman filling her car Sunday morning at a Salt Lake City gas station was forced at gunpoint to pump gas into another vehicle.
The victim was at a Chevron station at 875 S. State St. around 10 a.m. when she was approached by two men who had parked next to her, police said. The driver, a black adult, pushed something against her back and told her he had a gun. He then told her to fill up the tank on his newer white Jeep Cherokee.
The victim pumped $15 into the man's vehicle before her credit card reached its limit and stopped, police said. The suspects then drove away.
The passenger was described as male white adult. Cherokee had Wyoming license plates.

So now this person has an armed robbery charge on him when captured; all for $15 dollars worth of gas. Hell, around here that's only about four gallons worth, since gas is over three bucks a gallon.

What a dumb ass...

It's about time...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly two years after federal agents reported finding $90,000 in a freezer in his Washington home, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana has been charged with a global campaign to solicit bribes, obstruct justice and engage in racketeering, Justice Department officials said Monday.

The veteran New Orleans Democrat faces 16 criminal counts, said Alice Fisher, assistant U.S. attorney general in the criminal division.

In addition to the racketeering and solicitation charges, Jefferson has been charged with money laundering, wire fraud, conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

It sure took them long enough to get around to this crook. He should have been locked up long ago.

As you may remember, Pelosi put him on the Homeland Security Committee even after his crimes were made public; so much for the Democratic promise to "clean up Congress". Which just goes to show you can't trust either party; corruption and greed are bipartisan.

I've been memed (is that a word?)

It looks like SpeakerTweaker has gotten me with a meme.

1. Go to the Billboard #1 Hits listings ;
2. Pick the year you turned 18;
3. Get nostalgic over the songs of the year;
4. Pick 5 songs and write something about how these songs affected you;
5. Pass it on to 5 more friends.

I'm not good for passing memes to people, but I'll try to do justice to the other parts of it. I turned 18 in 1970.

1. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head - B. J. Thomas
This one I remember because it was the main song in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid . The history wasn't very accurate, but the movie is a classic, and a hoot to watch.

2. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Had no affect on my life, but I have always liked their stuff, and this was probably one of their best.

3. Mama Told Me (Not To Come) - Three Dog Night
This was a very humerous song for someone in college who grew up during the Sixties. If you have to ask why, you either know nothing about the Sixties, or have never listened to the song. ;)

4. War - Edwin Starr
One of the signature songs of the time; most of us were not big fans of unnecessary war in the first place, and with Vietnam it was sort of personal.

5. My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
This one was very appealing to the Eastern philosophy crowd; my own reaction was more of WTF? Though I am familiar with a huge number of religions and philosophies, I subscribe to none of them in their conventional form, though I do respect anyone's belief as long as they don't try to push it in my face.

I was never a big fan of the "Top Ten" type of music; at that time period I was listening to other stuff. The Moody Blues was (and still is)one of my all-time favorites; I also listened quite a bit to The Doors, Cream, John Mayall, Jethro Tull, ZZ Top, and a lot of classical, jazz, and blues, with a bit of country at times. I tend to be a bit unconventional in my musical tastes.

Vacation was good, but too short

It was interesting spending several days without a TV, radio, or computer. We all need a break now and then.
The trip started on 5/24, we made fair time down to Moab, since the traffic wasn't too busy. The Memorial Day weekend can be quite hectic; it is the traditional first weekend that a lot of people use to travel down to Lake Powell. We spent a couple of days around the Moab area, both out in the deserts, and up in the alpine regions of the Manti-Lasalle mountains outside of Moab. After leaving Moab, we meandered over towards Escalante, stopping at various places such as Goblin Valley. If you saw the movie Galaxy Quest, they filmed the scenes that featured the giant rock creature in Goblin Valley. We stayed in a small town called Torrey, just a few miles north of Escalante, and west of Capitol Reef National Monument. Capitol Reef is always enjoyable to travel back in the gorges and washes, and there are some old pioneer buildings and such there to look at. South toward Escalante, you first come to the Aquarius Plateau, so named because it is the watershed for the whole area. There was still a fair amount of snow on top, but we were only at about 9600 feet elevation when we crossed over, so we weren't in the snow. Did see a bull and a cow elk near the top, but they were heading uphill. We stopped at the small town of Boulder partway down the side of the Aquarius, to see how the progress is going on an Anasazi village they have been excavating there. The place has grown a bit since we were last there, but is still fairly small. Boulder is right at the junction of the Burr Trail and Highway 12, so we took a trip down it for a ways. It brought back memories of backbacking in the back canyons of that are back in the late Sixties. We were going to hike down Calf Creek, but it was so crowded this weekend that we decided to do it another time when there were fewer people. The town of Escalante has grown quite a bit, but there wasn't much there we were interested in, so we stayed out in the back roads away from people as much as we could. We could have used a few more days in both Moab and the Escalante area, but all good things must end, so we got back 5/28.
Below are a few samples of what we saw; there are a few others in my Flickr account that can be reached by the widget in the sidebar. Click to see full size.
1. Balancing Rock
2. Manti-Lasalle Mountains
3. An arch (I forget which one)
4. Part of Goblin Valley
5. Part of the Hogback Road between Boulder and Escalante; the sides drop off a thousand feet or so to the bottom, and it is barely two lanes wide.
6. One of the gorges in Capitol Reef.