New Computer and A Football Game

I'm All lathered Up.....


I guess that you could compare my situation yesterday to that of having to spend the evening at Disney world while risking missing Santa Clause coming on Christmas Eve.

I love going to theater to do my set construction work, but at the exact same time that I was stomping around making sawdust over in Brunswick I knew that FedEX was hauling our new HP computer around in a truck somewhere for delivery.

I was right...and when I got home it was sitting in a box in the Foyer.

Dang it's fast.

And pretty.

And it has external speakers.

And it can display two full size pages of text on Microsoft Word on it's big flat 22" flat screen monitor.

I want to lay down in the floor beside it and take a nap, but I have to go back to the theater this morning to finish the panels for the set and screw around with Mister Ghost Puppet's framework before coming home to watch unranked Georgia Tech pound #7 Georgia in Football.

Then I have to put about a million lights on our friend Ski's Christmas tree (I'm in the Christmas tree decorating business also--haven't I mentioned that in the past?)

Y'all have a good post-Thanksgiving Saturday!

(Cheer for the Jackets if you will.)

Burp

Kitchen Clean...Coma Over With


I was awakened this morning from my lethargic daze about eleven by Heather at the Theater calling me on the telephone. It seems that I'm needed on the stage today with power tools in hand, so me and the PVC framework of the Ghost Puppet are heading over for a few hours of sawdust and hammering/nailing.

Actually, there's very little hammering because everything that isn't secured with a portable screw gun is connected with staples or brads using my new Craftsman air compressor and the appropriate pneumatic gun. I love moving my construction efforts from the dark ages into the 21st century in a single 12 month period of time. All it takes is money...

I'm proud to report that my epic cooking saga yielded a Thanksgiving dinner which was deemed a success, and surprisingly the Oysters Rockefeller and Prosciutto wrapped Sea Scallop appetizers were the biggest hit. I couldn't believe that I was able to get a dozen decent oysters at Harris Teeter for $2.99, especially since our local oysters are inedible because of industrial pollution and everything has to be shipped over here from the Florida Gulf coast.

So I'm off to Ace Hardware for a couple of items, then I stumble around and sweat over the final backdrop panel assembly before mounting Mr. Ghost Puppet's framework and fine tuning it's shape a little.

Watch your toes if you are going to the mall.


.

Gobble Gobble

Anyone Wanna Try Some Of My Spicy Nuts?


Well, me and Missy the Turbo Pup are sitting around on the sofa at this early morning hour basking in the glow of having pretty well gotten Thanksgiving Dinner under control.

The turkey has finally allowed itself to thaw so I could toss it into a giant pot of water, vinegar, and spices iced down in a big Coleman cooler, and since then I've been jumping around on and off all evening working on the stove top and throwing things into the oven in the preliminary phases of my dinner preparations.

In addition to not one but TWO giant pones of cornbread, I also have home made turkey stock in one big boiler, my Red Cabbage with Apricots and Balsamic Vinegar in another, and a big cookie sheet covered with something called "Spicy Nuts" that I made in a big stainless skillet using canned Planter's Mixed Nuts and seasonings like Cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, and brown sugar.

Can you say S P I C Y?

Time for a little nap with the Turbo Pup before cranking up the oven and finishing everything off for my guests.

I hope everyone has a really nice Turkey day.

I think that we all deserve it, even if it is going to rain here on our little island.

Standing Room Only

Don't You Wish YOU Were Going To Be At Our House On Thursday?


I've just now gotten through putting together my final shopping list and menu for my concoctions to be served to our crowd for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Since Mr. Turkey spent last night in the Fridge not thawing out, he/she's been relocated to the giant brinning pot situated inside a big Coleman cooler in the kitchen in order to raise it's internal thermodynamic energy while at the same time preventing the growth of anything intent on causing me to kill myself or my holiday guests in the process of cooking and serving the ornery bird.

After spending tonight exposed indirectly to the ambient conditions of the kitchen, tomorrow I'll dump a nice mixture of water, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, kosher salt, black peppercorns, and some Kristal hot sauce into the pot and then surround everything in between with an ice water mixture contained in the cooler--all the while praying that it all finishes thawing by Thursday about noon.

In addition to the Brined and Roasted Turkey stuffed with Sage Sausage & apple dressing, our guests can look forward to the following menu:

Appetizers

Home made Spiced Mixed Nuts
Oysters Rockefeller
Prosciutto wrapped Sea Scallops

Main Course

Red Cabbage with Apricots and Balsamic Vinegar
Creamed Red Potatoes
Porcine Mushroom Gravy
Cornbread Dressing

Being the contrarian that I am, you might notice that I've omitted the obsequious "Green Bean Casserole" from my menu.

Also, our guests have demanded to be responsible for the dessert course.

As a warning, I have to report that if you bring Green Beans into my house this week in any form except raw and offered as a gift for future consumption, I'm going to have some kind of a cosmic conniption fit and hurt myself or someone else in the process; because I'm VERY TIRED of eating and even smelling green beans with French Onions on top (even if I only eat them once or twice a year for nearly a half century.)

With my cooking skills, does that little quirk make me a bad guy?

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I'm Busting My Skull

Designing Theater Set Parts...That Is


As of Monday morning at 10:30 AM I was in full construction mode building this year's rendition of my idea for the Set of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" opening down at Brunswick's Ritz Theater begining December 4th.

The stage decking is in place and I'm now working on the plywood backdrop panels, along with my first theatrical puppet.

Here's my inspiration for what "The Ghost of Christmas Future's" head is going to look like:

I found it over here at this site.

My version of this skull will be about 18" high, 15" wide, and 16" deep with an articulated jaw and it will sit on top of a 12' high body with a 10' arm span.

The current plan is for it to appear on stage from behind Scrooge's bed, do it's scene with sound effects (including glowing LED eyes) but no spoken lines, then disappear the same way it came in.

Needless to say I'm...

B U S Y ! ! !

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Do You Know The Difference Between Planting And Share Cropping?

A Larger Scale Harvesting Of BS...I Guess.


I guess that by now anyone with a TV or a Newspaper has heard about the Clinton campaign admitting that they planted a question on global Warming with a college student at a "Town Hall" forum in Iowa a couple of weeks ago.

Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elliethee admitted that the campaign had planted the question and said it would not happen again.

"On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum,” Elliethee said.

“However, Senator Clinton did not know which questioners she was calling on during the event. This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again.”

Yeah...R I G H T T T T T.

After tossing, turning, and spinning the story every way possible they finally just had to admit what they did for a change and take their embarrassing lumps in public.

I bet there were a few industrial strength butt chewings handed out by the former First-Lady-in-Chief since then (for getting caught--not for planting the question), and ironically it was the lamestream media that jumped on the little "plant" and clipped it off at the roots for a change.

Unfortunately, it took about a week for Mrs. sHrillary's people to come up with another idea to get around the literal intent of their half hearted promises.

The plan was obvious and brilliant at the same time.

Instead of stopping with the question planting in Las Vegas, they'd just get someone else to do their planting--this time not just one "plant" but instead a whole "crop" of questions--for FREE.

The Clinton campaign sharecropper was not a person, but this time was in fact the cable network airing the debate, CNN, and the plants they planted were the following people identified on the air to the viewers simply as "undecided Democratic voters:"

The first was an antiwar activist, Catharine Jackson, who's son is home now from doing three tours in Iraq and likes to attend an anti war rally or two when she isn't appearing on national TV.

Then there was a (former) Democratic Party bigwig from Arkansas, LaShannon Spencer, who was only identified as a member of the First African Methodist Church. See, religious people were at the Debate also.

An active Union official, Judy Bagley, who identified herself only as "a booth cashier [whom] moved here over 30 years ago. And I have three children, and as of yesterday, 8 grandchildren." Senator Obama addressed her by saying "Well, first of all, Judy, thank you for the question, and thanks for the great work you do on behalf of the culinary workers, a great union here."

An Islamic Leader named Khalid Khan--President of the Islamic Society of Nevada, and also a big donor to Nevada senator Harry Reid.

A "Hispanic Activist" named George Ambriz, Secretary Treasurer of a group called ¡Sí Se Puede! Foundation of Nevada. George was introduced by CNN as "a graduate student here, and ...also a mentor to children." George's group is actually demanding that everyone, regardless of immigration status, be allowed to attend college here in the United States.

Finally, the event ended with a softball thrown by a future Harry Reid Intern, Maria Luisa, the UNLV student that CNN asked to present the "diamonds or pearls" question to sHrillary.

I don't know about you, but this all looks sorta fishy to me, and the deeper I dig the worse things get. I did watch the entire debate without falling asleep, but I'm still reading the official CNN transcript and could come up with some more things before the dust finally settles.

I guess that my basic question here is this...

After the Clinton campaign machine already had their knuckles rapped for planting the question in Iowa, isn't it very telling that at the VERY NEXT event, this time on TV in front of three or four million viewers, that the Clinton News Network is afraid to leave to complete chance what sHrillary might have to answer to and/or for?

It seems like, in an effort to ensure fairness to ALL of the Democratic Candidates, that they would have done the exact opposite of what they ended up doing, but noooooooOOOOOO....can't do that.

And of course since it was CNN that was the apparent guilty party, this story will get very little media play outside the Blogosphere.

I swear people, we're all going to go down a bumpy road to hell if people don't start paying attention to things like this.

Aren't you happy that I'm around to point things out for you?


.

Is The News Story Actually About The Deaths...

Or Just Covering The Political Agenda Of The Dumbasses Reporting Them?


I was languishing around the Internet this evening trying to find something to bitch about write about when I saw a headline about the recent Cyclone in Bangladesh that has killed at least 2000 people.

Bangladesh said on Sunday that the death toll from a massive cyclone hit 2,000, with that grim tally certain to rise as they struggled to get aid to millions of people left homeless.

The death toll has been jumping by hundreds at a time as rescue workers fight their way to remote areas where entire villages were flattened by the fury of Cyclone Sidr, which tore through south Bangladesh on Thursday night.

''I have never seen such a catastrophe in my 20 years as a government administrator,'' said Harisprasad Pal, a local official in the hard-hit southern district of Jhalokati.

''Village after village has been shattered,'' he said. ''Millions of people are living out in the open and relief is reaching less than one percent of the people.''

This story of death and loss is certainly yet the most recent "natural disaster" to hit the news wires, and I'm sure that the United Nations will be happy to rattle their tin cups demanding financial aid and the use of the US's military resources (something we're already doing) to assist in the relief effort; while at the same time lamenting that America should and could do more, ignoring the Europeans while they make yet another of their typical stingy offers:

The European Commission said it was sending US$ 2.2 million dollars in emergency relief aid to the country.

I hope that somehow that figure is wrong or a typo, because otherwise the socialists over in Europe will be guilty of offering only the equivalent of $1,000.00 per corpse, or $1.00 per displaced Bangladeshi?

That can't be right, nor is it morally conscionable.

That said, what really pisses me off is the amount of news coverage that stories about the poor citizens of Bangladesh get in the US and world media.

FOR INSTANCE, I did a Google News search using the words "Bangladesh Typhoon" and only came up with a total of 49 hits.

Next I did a Google News search looking for "Hurricane Katrina" and was astonished by finding
22,453 stories printed in the PAST HOUR ( at 1:54 AM in the morning)!!!

What the heck?

Then I realized that tropical storms occurring in the Indian Ocean were called Cyclones, not Typhoons, so I did another Google News search for stories in the past hour using the words "Bangladesh Cyclone" and came up with again only 4,024 hits.

My point here is this, Hurricane Katrina, a storm which by varying accounts killed as many as 1836 people in its initial assault and the resulting floods occurred over TWO YEARS ago, in a country with modern infrastructure, where virtually every household in the affected area had cable TV, was warned to evacuate, and had a private automobile or other public transportation available to assist potential victims in their Exodus.

With the exception of the elderly and hospital patients, most of the people who died or were injured were just plain stupid by not leaving when told to do so, and I'm not making this statement based on political affiliation or lack of human compassion.

Yet today the lamestream media is still publishing stories about the Katrina aftermath two years later bashing FEMA and the administration of George Bush at a rate 300% (4,024 stories versus 22, 453 articles) above their use of newsprint and ink on a disaster of possibly ten times Katrina's magnitude, in a country full of tan skinned citizens that live in poverty in houses on bamboo stilts with tin roofs, and without the benefit of getting a warning from the Weather Channel or their government.

Doesn't something seem a little strange about that statistic--4 to 1?

And another thing, where the %$#@ is the UN before this debacle happened?

After all, Bangladesh historically gets inundated every TEN or FIFTEEN years with this exact same kind of natural disaster. Poor illiterate people are killed and stacked like cordwood every decade, and all Kofi Annan, his successor, and his predecessors could and can do is bitch about the US's failure to recognize global warming.

I'm sure the stories will be popping up soon saying that me, my Chevy Suburban, and all of my fellow gas guzzling citizens here in the US bear at least half the responsibility for the size and severity of the storm, and Bush and Cheney used secret Air Force technology to steer the storm into the country in order to deflect attention from their illegal War in Iraq and their failed domestic policies.

And another thing--where the heck is the outrage of the bleeding hearts in the Democratic Party and Paul Krugman at the NY Times over this loss of life and destruction of people's homes and lives?

I suspect that in reality Krugman doesn't give a tinker's damn about poor tan skinned people in some far off foreign land, because there is virtually no political capital in them--they're useless compared to Louisiana and New Orleans' vocal "victims", many of which haven't gotten off of their asses since the storm and are still living in free government housing over two years after the fact.

Maybe it's just me, but something seems wrong here when you carefully think about the details...anyone agree?

I think I'll walk outside now and let my head explode...

Technical Details

More Stuff For You To Think About...


Take a look at this story about Mexico's policy on giving non-residents drivers licenses:

MEXICO CITY - The question of whether to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants ignited a national debate in the United States. But in Mexico, the largest source of U.S. immigrants, there's no question: Here, you must be a legal resident to get a driver's license. All of Mexico's 31 states, along with Mexico City, require foreigners to present a valid visa if they want a driver's license, according to a survey of states by The Arizona Republic. "

When it comes to foreigners, we're a little more strict here," said Alejandro Ruíz, director of education at the Mexican Automobile Association.

...

Proponents said the plan would have made the roads safer by ensuring that drivers are trained and insured, but the ensuing public outcry forced Gov. Eliot Spitzer to abandon the effort Wednesday.

...

Yet, licensing offices in all of Mexico's 31 states, along with the Federal District, where Mexico City is located, said they require applicants to prove their citizenship, preferably by showing a federal voter-registration card issued by the Federal Elections Institute.

Of those, 28 states and the Federal District said they would issue licenses to foreigners only if they present valid FM-2 or FM-3 residency visas.

The central Mexican states of Morelos, Puebla and Guerrero are more lenient. Foreigners there can get a driver's license with a valid tourist visa, or FMT.

How about them apples?

The Mexican Government wants proof of who you are and that you've gone through the proper channels to get there, yet the same officials and the flood of refugees illegal immigrants "undocumented workers" coming north across our southern border expect us to hand them A LICENSE TO OPERATE A MOTOR VEHICLE just because.

Because...it will make "the roads safer by ensuring that drivers are trained and insured."

Bullshit.

There is no driver training these days here in Georgia, and they don't even make you take a road test unless you are 15 or 16 years old and getting your first license.

Getting a driver's license involves standing in line for two hours, going into a building, paying your fee, then picking up a rule book written in English or Spanish on one side of the room and wandering into a booth with a computer on the other side of the room to take a simple test.

When you walk out of the building, you have not only a license to drive an automobile, but you also have THE KEY TO OUR ENTIRE SOCIETY in your hot little hands.

You can't get a bank account without a government issued picture ID.

You can't get on a commercial airliner without a government issued picture ID.

You can't rent a jet ski at the beach or a chain saw at the local equipment rental store without a Picture ID...

and most of all YOU CAN'T REGISTER TO VOTE WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT ISSUED PICTURE ID.

What IS NOT guaranteed by handing Miguel or Pedro a NY drivers license is that they will actually BUY auto insurance or that they actually know how to drive safely.

Heck, in my opinion three quarters of the legal population that have legitimate drivers licenses aren't safe drivers 99% of the time.

My point is that handing out ID's guarantees NOTHING, except that it will be easier for the people that have already broken the law by coming here and working to exist in our society.

There won't be less crashes with illegal and uninsured Mexicans, there will actually be more.

Just watch and see for yourself...

Dammit

Eyes Glazed Over

Lethargy Setting In...


I hate to admit it, but I'm just too damn comfortable these days.

Imagine that?

I think that I would actually lapse into a self induced coma or stupor if it wasn't for the inane idiots and morons that I encounter in the process of trying to spend money doing the things I love to do.

First, I finally managed to get my butt up out of the bed and off of the sofa after lunch to open the box that FedEX delivered around 11 AM containing our new 22" HP Flat Screen monitor. (The new computer is still on the production line I guess.)

Next, I hooked it up to my notebook computer on the coffee table and found that everything worked seamlessly.

Then I lumbered back to Pat's office and lugged her giant thousand pound 19" CRT monitor and docking station out of the way into the guest bedroom, then hooked our new marvel up to her little Dell laptop.

After a half hour fooling around with the driver CD she was cooking with gas...in a computer sort of fashion. So far so good.

While rummaging through the festering pile of mail adjacent to my computer I realized that my property tax bills were due down at city hall in Brunswick on the 15th (that would be today--at the time), so I jumped online and reluctantly agreed to pay a 2.5% "convenience fee" in order to avoid making the 15 mile round trip over to the mainland.

Of course Capital One still has my primary credit card screwed up, even after giving them a couple of thousand dollars late last week to pay off the balance that had inched upward over the past month of tool and material purchases, so I had to resort to using a Debit Card for the online payment...something that's just asking for disaster in my opinion.

I'm ready to climb over the phone lines and strangle the next customer "non-service" idiot that tries to act like I shouldn't be angry when my purchases are declined and I have to spend a half hour talking to some dang foreigner about my intimate personal financial data when the problem apparently lies with THEIR COMPUTER SOFTWARE, not my shortcomings.

I ended up a basically useless day by defrosting some of my patented chicken and black bean chili that I cooked up and froze last month, serving it with a little pone of my Killer Cornbread for Two, then vegetated on the sofa watching the CNN Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate out in Las Vegas.

I actually managed to stay awake through the entire two plus hours of mindless pandering and droning on about raising the cap on social security, pulling the troops out of Iraq, and not attacking Iran.

I think that they actually managed to not talk about Global Warming, but they did a good deal of stammering and yammering about "energy independence" and "universal healthcare" and, to me, after the first ten minutes, it looked like a pre-planned Hillary/Obama/Edwards kiss and make up lovefest.

I sincerely hope a good deal of the population is paying attention to details beyond the kind of crap delivered in these debates for both the Democrats and the Republicans over the next few months.

If not, we're all in big trouble for the next four if not eight years here in the good old US of A.

Recollections Of The Son Of A Military Pilot--Part II

Smoking Luggage


After having spent yet another late evening doing material takeoffs and lists of things to do in my construction efforts, this morning I happened upon this story about "a smoking backpack" found at the Phoenix airport.

PHOENIX - A backpack caught fire Tuesday in the cargo area at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, leading to an evacuation, but authorities said the flames were likely caused by heat from a conveyor belt. The bag contained no explosives or other banned items, just leaking toiletries.

Phoenix police Lt. Rick Gehlbach said the backpack likely began to smoke after it got jammed between two larger pieces of luggage on a conveyor belt.

The impact probably caused toiletries containing alcohol to leak, and a combination of heat from the conveyor belt and its track rubbing against the backpack caused it to catch fire, Gehlbach said.

The fire was extinguished quickly, Gehlbach said.

About 10 a.m., a baggage handler loading bags on the US Airways plane noticed that the backpack was hot and set it aside. The fire department was called when the bag began to smoke, and they in turn called in a hazardous materials team as a precaution.

"When the bomb squad arrived, everything was melted in the bag," said Victor Rangel, a spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department.

Rangel said the backpack contained hairspray and other toiletries.


Yadda yadda yadda...Whoop te doo... give me a break here and find something to really worry about.

I've actually had to jump up on the conveyor belt myself at Atlanta's Hartsfield "Interjacksonville" Airport more than once to save my suitcase from the ravages of the giant conveyors and the crap other idiots shipping baby strollers and coolers full of rotting fish home from the Philippines offer as "checked luggage."

Any way...

The story reminded me of an event that happened back about 40 years ago when my father was still flying airplanes and helicopters on a weekly basis.

As a test pilot and engineer, my dad was rated at least to ride in the co-pilot seat in virtually every airframe the US Army had in their inventory back then, and perhaps one of the most dangerous airplanes they had going was the Grumman OV-1 "Mohawk".

Here's a picture of the fastest, coolest looking fixed wing aircraft the Army ever had:

It's creation was a study in government stupidity and politics, but once the Air Force and Navy pulled out of the program it ended up being the only airplane the Army ever operated which included ejection seats for each of the cockpit crew.

Here's a look from the Pilot's seat:

Talk about bells and whistles...

In it's thirty year career with active duty and reserve forces, the plane also earned the nickname of "The Widowmaker."

It was unstable as hell, and was prone to going into an unrecoverable flat spin that killed several friends and acquaintances of my father, not to mention ending the life of one of my best friend's father from my grade school days in Vietnam in the late 1960's.

My father's flying career was essentially ended from a spinal injury he received in the ejection seat qualification training that the Army put the pilots through in order to qualify to fly it.

Now back to the smoking luggage story...

Dad was doing some test work with a Mohawk airframe out at his home airfield at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, and he and another pilot were required to shuttle the craft out to Texas for some additional work.

As I recall, the trip was long enough to be an overnight run with a return flight in another airplane, so dad loaded a small hardside briefcase with clean socks, underwear, and minimal toiletries (stick deodorant, toothpaste, etc.).

Not being a commercial airliner, the "luggage" was loaded into an empty equipment bay in the fuselage, and the mechanics were instructed to turn off the turbine engine operated heating system since the ferry flight would be a low altitude and the bays were empty.

That's where the problem came into the story.

Instead of turning the heat OFF, they apparently turned it WIDE OPEN.

I never will forget, as a little kid, seeing the warped body of that Samsonite hardside briefcase, the crispy socks (you could stick your finger through them), and the exploded tube of toothpaste and melted stick deodorant that came home after that little overnight sortie.

I'm quite proud to report that my Dad never bent or broke an airplane, even though things like this happened every now and then and he spent a couple of thousand hours in the air in his almost 20 year flying career.

YOU should be so capable or lucky next time you climb on a Delta airliner..

I'm On A Spending Spree

Somebody Stop Me...


Hurray, after months of delay and procrastination, I'm gearing up to get the residential construction project back on track over in Brunswick.

I've spent the past few months distracted with the new house and Pat's pending change in employment status, plus some design and renovation scope changes had me paralysed with indecision, but I've broken out of my funk and today placed the order for the nine new custom built windows.

I hate having to spend the money to buy custom windows on a lower end residential project like this, but the option would be to burn up another saw cutting concrete block openings to size to fit the stuff they sell at Lowes and Home Depot and I just don't have the energy to hang onto the saw for that long.

I can't imagine why in the world they don't make windows that fit standard increments of 8" and 16" that cinder blocks produce when building a wall, but they apparently don't--at least that I can find locally or on the Internet.

Next on the punch list is a new 200 Amp electrical service entrance and breaker panel and about a million dollars a thousand dollars worth of copper wiring
and accessories to power the new heat pump, outlets, and lighting fixtures. Back in 1959 when this place was first constructed they got away with putting one duplex outlet per room, but today you have to have them every twelve feet along the walls so I've got some creative wiring to do in the process.

Then there's the new 4" sanitary sewer connection (yuck)and 1" plastic water supply line that has to be dug into the tree root filled dirt in the front yard. I get tired thinking about that process.

Time to head back over to Brunswick to pay for my windows and get some other material moving now. All in all the process will be more fun than buying a computer I hope.

Would Somebody Please Kill Me

Hello...Doctor Kevorkian?


Dammit, it's that time in my life again.

Time to buy a new computer...this one for Pat.

One would think that, for a long time computer nerd, buying a new machine with lots of bells and whistles and a 22" flat screen monitor would be something akin to a psychic or sexual experience.

You'd be wrong however, because of the idiots you encounter in retail computer establishments and the processes you're forced to endure if you make your purchase online.

After several days of research online, we staggered over to Office Depot, Staples, and Circuit City on Sunday afternoon armed with model numbers of hardware that, according to the respective websites, was supposed to be in stock.

Nope.

Just like when I bought my HP widescreen notebook a year ago, the store employees had no idea what they had in inventory, and the computers displayed were a subset/superset of the things advertised in the newspaper and online. Nothing would allow you to compare apples with apples, or apples with HP's (excuse the pun.)

I walked out of the store after twenty minutes of tripping over a gaggle of customers worrying about video game capability and wild eyed pimple faced kids who weren't born when I first laid my hands on an IBM PC.

Meanwhile, back online, after massive additional research, and with credit card in hand, I discovered that Capitol One's new computer system upgrade had scrambled my personal information and, in spite of having paid the card balance off in the past week, their fraud department was blocking my charge because I didn't have a history of charging four digit amounts in one lump sum.

Dammit.

After three tries and an hour on hold on the telephone with the credit card company, I just got the order processed. What a total pain in the butt.

Since I'm having the machine custom built, now I have to wait until the week after Thanksgiving to lay my hands on the new wireless keyboard.

I think that I'll go smoke a nice cigar now in celebration.

NEWS FLASH: THERE IS NO SOCIAL SECURITY "TRUST FUND"

Who ARE These Idiots That Believe There Is?


Look at this story.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday he will push for higher Social Security taxes if elected, viewing it as the best option for improving the retirement program's
finances.

Obama and several other Democratic presidential candidates previously have signaled support for lifting the cap on the amount of income that is taxed to provide monthly Social Security checks.

But during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama said taxing more of a person's income was the option he would push for if elected president. He objected to benefit cuts or a higher retirement age.

"I think the best way to approach this is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like myself are paying a little bit more and people who are in need are protected," the Illinois senator said.

"That is the option that I will be pushing forward." Currently, only the first $97,500 of a person's annual income is taxed. That cap is scheduled to rise to $102,000 next year. Obama's proposal could include a gap or "doughnut hole" to shield middle-income earners from higher payroll taxes, he said.

Dammit, anyone that has any sense knows that the Imperial Federal Government of the United By God States Of America stole the proceeds of the so-called Social Security "Trust Fund" under Nixon back in the 1970's when they started commingling the revenue stream with the general budget.

If you managed to find a key and wandered up to Washington DC to open up the lamestream media glorified "lock box", instead of cash or gold bullion, all you will find inside are a bunch of IOU's written by the same lieing stealing bastards that we've all managed to (re)elect to office over the past 40 years.

And now Obama and 97% of congress--both Republican and Democrat--want to steal yet more money from higher wage earners to hand to all the withering masses of citizens that will be retiring over the next twenty years (myself included.)

Here's how the ASSociated Press reporter puts it:

Social Security is projected to start spending more than it collects beginning in 2017, with its trust fund depleted in 2041.

How can people that have spent four years of their life attending college, and a big chunk of their parent's money in the process, still sit in front of a computer keyboard and write the words "trust fund" and the other BS that is still written about Social Security with a straight face.

In the real world, based on things like reality and little details like FACTS, this shouldn't even be a news story. If there is a news story here, it's that the little shiny black presidential candidate is a class warfare pandering moron just like the balance of the other stupid, lieing Caucasian white pandering morons with testicles or ovaries dangling between their legs during this political campaign season.

They're all either STUPID, or they're LIARS, or possibly BOTH, and they must think that the public is all STUPID also, in my considered Redneck opinion.

Are you that STUPID?

I'm not...

32 Years Ago Today

Came The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald


Here's Gordon Lightfoot's version of what happened on Lake Superior, costing 29 men their lives and breaking a 729 foot long ship in half:

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconson
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the words turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

--Gordon Lightfoot

Nuke Unto Others...

Before They Can Nuke Unto You?


This crap going on over in Pakistan is making me a little nervous these days. I've done a good deal of reading in news outlets outside the US and it's getting more interesting by the moment tonight.

Instead of referring you to the ill-written ASSociated Press stories, here's a link to the horse's mouth the English Al Jazeera website talking about former Prime Minister Bhutto's situation:

Pakistani police have surrounded the Islamabad home of Benazir Bhutto ahead of her planned rally in Rawalpindi against emergency rule.

Sherry Rehman, a Bhutto party spokeswoman, said although the former prime minister was not officially under house arrest, police were blocking all movement in and out.

"It's virtual house arrest," she said.

Tariq Aziz, the information minister, however, said the former prime minister has not been formally placed under house arrest.

But "we will not allow any leader to carry out any rally. The law is equal for everybody and anyone violating it will be dealt with accordingly", he said.

A senior official said police had cordoned off Bhutto's only for her protection.

But other officials said she would be stopped if she tried to attend the rally, due to begin in Rawalpindi near Islamabad at 1pm (0800 GMT).

"She's free to go anywhere but if she tries to go to the rally she'll be stopped," said a government official who declined to be identified.

A senior police official said an order placing Bhutto under house arrest had been prepared.


I can't offer any glib insight or answers here except to worry, but when I first started reading these stories I thought about how different things would be if this guy were in charge:

(That's Bluto...played by John Belushi in the movie "Animal House.")

Instead of this woman:

(That's former pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto)


Just call me sexist, I guess.

I can't help but wonder if we haven't laid down with the wrong dog there by backing this Musharraf character.

One would hope that he knows better what to do than our own president and most of all the clowns in our US Congress, but then again, taking the steps that he has--suspending the constitution and locking up all of the lawyers--could be considered a bit extreme (no matter how much you dislike lawyers.)

Regardless of the outcome, of course 51% of the folks in Washington DC and 94% of the lamestream media will assert that it's all George Bush's and his maniacal VP's fault.

Right?

My Soul Is Mended

And I'm Warm Too...


Pat and I did something the past two nights that we've never done together, and I haven't done in thirteen years.

OK, get your minds out of the gutter, it's nothing like that--I'm talking about having a fire in the fireplace in the house I live in.

You see, after growing up in a house with a fireplace, spending weekends in my grandfather's house that had three fireplaces, and having fireplaces in both of my first two houses, I've allowed myself to live since late 1994 in houses and condo's without a real wood burning fireplace.

Of course the last house which I lived in that I owned didn't have a fireplace either, but it did manage to burn to the ground one April day in 2001. I guess that spontaneously combusting and burning down doesn't count because I wasn't there to enjoy the blaze and when things finally died down all of the wood and most of my possessions were reduced to ashes.

I suppose that you could say that it was the first and last fire in that house's 35 year history...all in the same four hour period.

Any way, living here on the coast in south Georgia makes a fireplace a truly seasonal luxury, but the past couple of nights the temperature has gotten down into the mid 40's and I just couldn't resist digging into the small pile of firewood that the previous tenant left sitting beside the edge of the driveway.

Last night's effort could hardly be called a roaring blaze because the wood was a little rotted, bug infested, and slightly damp on the outside, but I separated everything this morning to let it dry out during the day and then took a big hammer and masonry chisel (I don't own an axe or hatchet) and split the 6" and 8" logs into nice manageable wedge shaped pieces.

I fired things up about 6:30 PM while cooking Almond crusted Tilapia for dinner, and now I'm coming up on the sixth hour of this evenings inferno. I've been sitting at the coffee table about eight feet from my spirit healing blaze enjoying the cracking and popping, and now reluctantly in the interest of saving some wood for tomorrow night I'm forcing myself to let things burn down for the evening.

For some reason I'm sad for people that insist on using gas logs (and gas grills for that matter), because there's something instinctively soothing about the sights, sounds, and smells encountered while sitting in front of a real wood fire on a dark winter evening.

Maybe it's just an ancient inherited human trait...

Rosie Screws Up Again

Show's Dead Before The First Taping



I was wandering around Drudge Report this morning and noticed a link to Rosie O'Donnell's Website.

The link was to a posting indicating that she had lost her planned MSNBC evening political show because "she blabbed" publicly about the negotiations and the Network backed out of the deal.

All I can say is...

Good Riddance--very few people care what she has to say about current events and politics anyway.

(Anyone but me notice that she writes in her blog like an eighth grader, using all little letters and words like "2day" and "b4"?)

Marley's London...

Haven't I Been Here Before?


I swore that I was going to write something glib and compelling (or boorish and infuriating--depending on your political leanings) this evening, but I can't get my mind off my new theater set project.

I've had the privilege of designing and building the set for Brunswick's Ritz Theater's annual Christmas production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" for three years running now.

Working with Heather and Rob and the rest of theater staff is a pleasure, and they always do an excellent job with the casting and end up putting on a wonderful series of shows seen by about three thousand people over the short production run each year.

Two seasons ago I was challenged with building a set that was entirely contained within a giant trunk or "treasure chest" that could be opened up to reveal it's contents during the play.

Here's the set in the closed position with the members of the Cast presenting the Giant Key in preparation of opening it up:





and here it is opened up:








Last season's show was a more traditional production only requiring storefront scenes and Scrooge's bedroom, so here's what Heather and I came up with (we went tall and wide as you can see):




(that's my buddy Brunswick Mayor Brian Thompson there center stage left playing Scrooge)


Now this year's show presents yet another entirely new challenge, with a minimalistic set designed again for Mayor Thompson's portrayal of Scrooge, with the balance of the cast being pre-teen aged actors.

The coolest part of this set will be the design of a giant eerie "Ghost of Christmas Future" puppet with illuminated eyes, a throbbing red heart, and glowing ribs and hands.

Needless to say it's right up my alley, and my mind is racing over the possibilities. I'll be at Radio Shack as soon as it opens tomorrow morning to start looking at electronic doo-dads to include in my design.

Wish me luck, if you will...

Shusssssshhh...

I'm Actually Working Today


Sorry folks, but I've got new copper to solder in my "Mad Scientist" Waterhammer research project, and as of this afternoon I have a new Theater Set to design for yet another version of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" (my fourth consecutive Christmas Play production of an adaptation of Dickens' work,) so needless to say I'm a bit distracted.

I feel a little rant coming on later...I just have to decide what to complain about.

Success

It Was Chilly Out...


Well, the International Space Station made it's appearance this morning right on time in a brilliantly clear sky and flew a complete arc overhead ending on the eastern horizion in the morning twilight.

Here's a look as it cruises past Orion's belt (Orion's standing on his head upside down):




Click on the picture to enlarge.


(Yeah, I know...astronomy pictures are boring...you had to be there I guess...)

Time now for a nap with Missy the Turbo Pup.

Camera Set Up

Tripod In Hand...


I just walked outside and found the sky to be brilliant and clear this evening. I also did a couple of manual test shots to test my Cannon G3's aperture and slow shutter settings while mounted on the tripod and aimed at Mars.

Everything seems to be working fine, although I can only get a 15 second maximum exposure--I should be able to get some nice "streaked" images of the space station flyover later this morning.

Stay tuned to this channel...

More Nerdy Neat Stuff

I'm Here To Let You Know...


I think that I've mentioned here in the past that I'm currently "Telescopeless."

You know...living without Telescope.



I'm really embarrased to admit it, but I only currently have a couple of pairs of Binoculars...but no telescope, because two of them burned up when my house burned down; and some slack jawed moron broke into my Suburban about that same time and stole my sweet little portable Telescope.

I guess that it was stolen because it was stored in a vinyl case that looked like it had CD's or something inside that an imbecile could appreciate. (They probably threw it in a ditch when they found out that the Pawn Shop would only give them ten dollars for it because people that go to Pawn shops are only looking for gold colored "Bling" or used power tools and TV's--telescopes aren't generally high on the hit parade at pawn shops.)

Any way, I've been reduced the past few years to running around with a camera and binoculars looking to enhance things that can easily be seen by the naked eye, and one of the coolest but yet under observed things out there these days in my opinion is the International Space Station (ISS).

Did you know that in spite of the fits and starts and recent problems with things like computers and solar panels, the the ISS is the THIRD BRIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE SKY?

It's number three behind the Sun and the Moon.



Further, right now, with the Space Shuttle attached it's even brighter, and coming up on Monday morning here on the east coast the duo of spaceships is going to make a spectacular early morning pass over the southeastern US.

I can hardly wait--I've been planning this adventure for a week now.

Weather permitting, I'm going to toss on some sweat pants and a jacket and peddle over to the marsh causeway about 5:49 AM EST and watch the four minute transit across the sky.

You can go here to the space station tracking website to check future sighting events for your own area of the country or world.

Being the nice guy that I am, as a customer service I've taken the liberty to point out where my friends and known readers can go look if they're inclined to rise early and go outside to take a gander:

For my old friend and college roommate Rusty up in western South Carolina, things start about 5:50 AM and last for five minutes as it sweeps overhead to a maximum elevation of 54 degrees.

For my Buddy Roy over on the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast, you can go here and find out that it will fly out of the southwest sky at 4:49 EST and spend 4 minutes making an arc up to 60 degrees overhead before it disappears on the Northeast horizon.


For my Mom over in Alabama, the info's here and just like for Roy it's E-A-R-L-Y.

Finally, I'm happy to tell Pat's family that they can wait until Tuesday morning and sleep until about 6:14 AM up in Western Pennsylvania and still run outside on their deck to take a gander at the goings on. As a bonus, in addition to getting to sleep later than we can down here on our little island, they also have the longest transit time--up to an angle of 66 degrees and a five minute transit period.


Now aren't you happy that I'm paying attention to stuff like this so you don't have to?



.

Good Eats

Here...Try This...


I think that I mentioned previously that we've been doing a good deal of cooking and entertaining--mainly menu re-runs--here over the past few months since we moved into the new house down on our little island.

For instance, last weekend I cooked not one but TWO 16" pizzas for guests that came out pretty well, and last month I did my low country boil for the same group (the dish is a no brainer but still I've seen people screw it up.)

In addition to those events, I'm brining and smoking a half dozen racks of baby back ribs for guests next weekend and I'm handling most of the cooking for a fairly elaborate Thanksgiving lunch for six or eight folks here on the 25th.

Since the weather has cooled off a little, some soup/stews have also been on the dinner menu--things like Seafood/Chicken Gumbo and a Caribbean Jerk Stew I tried out the other night which was served on top of boiled potato and onion pierogies.

Pat and I have also eaten our way through most of a prime twenty pound Angus Beef Tenderloin and of course loads of things like my Chicken Picatta and various pork dishes because, as I said before, I HAVE A FREEZER.

Last night, after meeting friends for drinks on the deck of a local restaurant (yes it was over 70 degrees here at 5 PM,) I put together a made up dish I been working on for the third or forth time that I think is worth mentioning if you're interested and you like fish. It works best with Tilapia, but I think that you could use any mild fish like Flounder or Orange Roughy, etc.

Here's what I did to make dinner for two:

2 Tilapia fillets

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp white pepper
1 tbsp sweet paprika
pinch of baking powder

a splash of milk in a bowl

1 slice of a large sweet onion, separated into rings (more if you want more onion rings

1 small can sliced green olives (drained)
1 small can sliced ripe olives (drained)
2 medium ripe tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup of chicken stock
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper flakes
1/2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1/2 cup white wine

3/4 cup of long grain rice

Peanut oil


Here goes...Dice up your tomatoes, then toss them into a large skillet over medium heat while you dump in your green and black olives, the salt, Cayenne pepper flakes, and the chicken stock. Get everything up to a good simmer adjusting your heat as required, and let it cook for a good fifteen minutes. Add your wine and lemon juice and keep simmering.

Meanwhile start cooking your rice according to the package directions and mix up your flour spice mixture in a shallow dish and splash the milk into another shallow bowl. (Don't forget to slice your onion rings.)

Now put enough of the peanut oil into a large heavy skillet to make a 1/2" deep puddle of oil. Kick the heat up to medium high under the skillet and shoot for 375 degrees F. (It really helps if you have a thermometer that clips on the side of the skillet to tell you the oil temp continuously--I do.)

The key here is to get everything done at the same time, so you need to keep cooking down your tomato/olive mix while at the same time prepping your onion rings and the fish fillets.

Dip your fillets and onion rings in the milk, then dredge them through the flour to get a nice thin coating on all sides. Reserve them on the side on a plate or foil.

Once your tomato/olive mix is cooked down nicely and your oil is up to at 375, drop your onion rings into the oil and fry them for a couple of minutes on each side, then drain them on paper towels.

Let the grease come back up to temperature, then toss in your floured fillets and cook them for two or three minutes per side, until they're flaky. Place them on paper towels on the side to drain. (Your rice should be done by now and you might preheat a couple of big pasta bowls in the oven if you want to.)

Plating it all up (it's real hard):

Dump some rice into your bowls, place a fillet on top of each rice pile, dump half the tomato/olive mix on top of each serving, then lay two or three onion rings on top, Grab yourself a fork, and EAT.

I've got to go finish making Pizza now...Y'all have a nice evening.

Forty Acres And A Mule?

How About A Freezer And A Three Dollar Turkey???


Dang I LOVE having a chest type Deep Freezer. I've already got frozen meat running out of my ears, but regardless I just got home from a Harris Teeter "three day" pre-Thanksgiving Day sale and get this...

I bought a 11-1/2 Pound Turkey for $3.34 plus tax ($0.29 per pound).

My bird is now residing comfortably in my garage freezer along with a big plastic bag full of giant Alaskan King Crab clusters that were also on sale for less than half price. If I didn't have the volume of cold real estate in which to store my prizes purchased on sale, I would be forced to pay full price over the next few weeks for my holiday meals.

I think that instead of just handing out food stamps to people that the government should drive a truck around poor minority neighborhoods public housing developments up to the front door of the recipients of the public largess and dump a deep freezer off and chain it to the back porch of every address.

Then once a month (every time the local grocer has a sale) the truck would back into the driveway and deliver whatever was on sale that day.

Forget letting our benefactors buy cigarettes and ground beef to feed their dogs, I say that if they want to participate in "assistance programs" that they do like this mean old angry white arrogant "rich guy" and get themselves a freezer and a three dollar turkey rather than waiting until Thanksgiving or Christmas eve and spending $16 of taxpayer money on the exact same meat.

Just call me pragmatic insensitive, I guess...

Sauce For The Goose

How Do They Keep A Straight Face?


I was cruising around this morning looking at what was happening in the world when I came across this story on the "Editor & Publisher" website about the announcement of yet ANOTHER circulation decline over the past six months for the major print newspapers.

...The push to herald total audience is coming not a moment too soon since paid circulation continues on a downward slide. According to industry sources speaking to E&P, daily circulation for reporting papers in the six-month FAS-FAX period ending September is down about 2.5% while Sunday is expected to fall 3.5%. Those types of declines -- in the 2% and 3% range -- have been occurring as far back as the March 2005 period.

E&P has learned that several major papers have suffered declines in daily circ of over 7%, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Miami Herald and The Dallas Morning News.

Asked for comment, publishers of these papers blamed the decreases partly on the cut back in other-paid circulation -- which includes Newspaper in Education, hotel, and third-party copies. And papers have been chopping distribution areas--it's too expensive to serve outlying communities, at least in print.

...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's circulation fell about 9% for both daily and Sunday. "Those loses are in-line with our expectations," Robert Eickhoff, senior vice president of operations, told E&P. "We are focusing on individually paid and marching down a very strategic path." [emphisis mine-VRR]

...

Daily circulation at The San Diego Union-Tribune declined about 8.5% while Sunday was down about 7.9%. The paper has almost completely eliminated third-party copies and reigned in some of their bonus days as well as discounted copies. Bill Nagel, the vice president of circulation, noted the paper's total audience reaches more than 60% of the market.

Combined circulation for The Miami Herald and Nuevo Herald declined daily and Sunday about 8.4% and 12.3%, respectively. Terry Whitney, vice president of circulation, said the papers were cutting back on third-party and event copies under a two-year plan.

These people kill me. They are explaining rearranging the furniture on the deck of the Titanic like they're just doing a little planned redecorating.

They simply can't bring themselves to publicly admit that they are losing readers because their product SUCKS--either because of or in spite of all of the Columbia Journalism Grad school alumni they have hanging around their offices.

I, your lowly unpaid Internet blogger, tilt my head back and laugh to mock the dead tree legacy medias' fate as you keep your quarters in your pockets to feed the parking meter rather than paying fifty cents each day for want ads and useless false ASSociated Press stories about jobless recoveries and death and doom in Iraq.

How long will it take for them to figure out that they will either improve the quality of their product, else ultimately be forced out of business?.

It's not a question of IF, it's just a matter of when...

.

Political Activism

Blogging On The Back Burner


Sorry folks, but I'm busy these days doing some real writing on a story about Political Polling, and this morning I had to take time out to write a letter to the State Republican Party headquarters on behalf of my County Commissioner Cap Fendig's campaign for President.

I know...I know...I know, Cap stands a snowball's chance in hell of actually getting elected, but the assholes in Atlanta geniuses on the Republican Executive committee jumped the gun this week and tossed their slate of candidates for the February Republican primary to the Secretary of States' office with only the nine national candidates names on it--omitting Cap entirely.

Apparently they knew that he had qualified with the Federal Election Commission, that he was already on the New Hampshire and South Carolina primary ballots, but the "powers what be" are afraid of a two term county commissioner and what he might do to the state wide pecking order for offices like Senator and Representative and Governor if they allow people to find out about him by letting him on the presidential ballot.

Well, you know me, I couldn't just silently sit beside the process as it goes on (the deadline is November 17th), so I sat down at the keyboard this morning and blasted this off to Sue Everhart, Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party:

Chairman Everhart,

I am writing to you this morning to express my dismay over the state Republican Committee's decision to limit the slate of Presidential candidates in the upcoming State Republican Primary to the nine national candidates, in the process omitting Glynn County commissioner Neil H. "Cap" Fendig, Jr.

I believe that the committee owes the Republican voters of the state of Georgia the opportunity to consider the candidacy and, as a result, to potentially vote for any legal resident living within the borders of the state of Georgia that spends the time and money required to qualify to run not only for President, but for any statewide office.

I find the words "Grassroots Leadership" plastered all over the home page of the Republican Committee's website, yet apparently the words have a different meaning for the committee that they do for myself and the other Republican and independent voters down here in Glynn County.

It seems that you and your fellow committee members believe it prudent and fair to allow 56 people on the Executive Committee, mostly from the Atlanta metro area, to decide that Georgia voters aren't sophisticated enough to read ten names on a ballot, therefor limiting our choice to nine. (One has to wonder how many other excellent but as-yet unknown candidates' efforts have been stymied in the past here in Georgia by this same heavy handed political tactic?)

Commissioner Fendig has an excellent reputation here in Glynn county, he meets all of the requirements to run for President to the letter of the law, and it's just plain dirty politics that you deny him the opportunity to win or lose his bid to be on the November 2008 ballot by letting the GEORGIA VOTERS DECIDE as the voters will be doing in at least two other states.

I doubt that the cost of the extra ink on the ballots or the pixels on the electronic voting machine display are going to break the Committee or the State's budget next winter, therefore I respectfully ask that you and the committee reconsider your decision.

Best Regards,

Virgil R. Rogers, III
St. Simons Island Georgia


Now let's see what happens...

UPDATE 1:30 PM

I just received an E-mail from Commissioner Fendig thanking me. I copied my letter to both of my US Senators, and the two southern Georgia US Representatives who are also on the committee, and I really hope that they will reconsider.

If The National Weather Service Were A Company

I'd Buy Stock...


These guys at the National Weather Service, or more specifically, the National Hurricane Center, are truly amazing. I was sitting around here this evening checking the progress of Noel, the latest storm down in the Atlantic, and I compared the current 11:00 PM plot against the plot done last Saturday (three days earlier.)

Take a gander at Point A on each of these charts:

Not to be insensitive because I realize if you were in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, or Cuba, things have turned out quite differently and even been deadly, but look how close they were with the track three days out.

It was supposed to be where it is now during the middle of the day on Tuesday, but that was because the actual storm track moved north of the models' projections and then deviated back to the south southwest during the day on Monday and Tuesday.

Next notice the 8 PM Thursday point on the Saturday projection matches the mid-day projection for Thursday on tonight's projection.

As far as South Florida is concerned, so far they've nailed it and they also correctly projected that it would not make it up to Hurricane strength.

Twenty years ago this kind of forecasting would have been impossible, and Global Warming aside I think that everyone here in the southeast can close the book on the 2007 Hurricane season.

Thank GOD...

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Pumpkin Reruns

I'm Too lazy to Care Carve


Sorry folks, but the pumpkins available down here on our little island this year were basically overpriced and small, so my pumpkin carving efforts were put on hold for this season. I just couldn't get fired up for some reason.

For my new readers, here's some of my golden oldies from years past...

First a look at my own original design for 2004...John sKerry Herman Munster:

Here's a simple little haunted house I did for a friend's grand kids last year:

And finally, the giant 120 pounder last year with a more elaborate haunted house theme:

That big sucker kicked my butt--it took about three days to design the pattern on Photoshop and do the carving for the kids at the local Montessori School.

We ended up giving it to the local Nursing home the day before Halloween for them to display in the lobby.

After doing that one, I guess that you could say that I'm all "pumpkined out..."

UPDATE:

After looking around on my external backup hard drive I found this one from 2005. Guess what it represents?




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Joe Torre and the Dodgers?

Some Personal Recollections...


Let me start out this posting by saying that I'm a real fan of Joe Torre, but not just because of his work with the NY Yankees.

In fact I guess that I should say I'm a fan in SPITE of his work with the Yankees since, currently being a luke warm Atlanta Braves fan, it was tough watching the Braves lose not one but two World Series to Mr. Torre's team.

Joe Torre won my favor way back in 1982 when, having suffered through the lows and lowers of watching the Braves since Ted Turner launched his "Superstation" on cable TV in the early/mid 1970's and broadcast every single game each season, he moved to Atlanta.

You see, the problem with being a Braves fan in those "Pre-Torre" days was that they lost more games than they won. They lost A LOT of games--a 199 versus 388 game record in the 1977-1979 seasons.

Don't believe me...look it up here.

When I moved from my childhood home in south Alabama to college in Atlanta in 1977, I started attending Braves games in person instead of just watching them on TV. In spite of their record, making the 15 minute drive down to the old Atlanta stadium from North Avenue was at least a monthly if not weekly event in those days.

Back then you could get in on "day of the game" outfield seating from something like 2 bucks and a beer cost you another $2 and you had yourself an evening with parking for about $7.

We used make an event out of watching the games in my dorm's common room or the Fiji fraternity house until the sixth or seventh inning, then if the Braves were winning we'd jump into my Camaro and run down to the stadium and park in the preferred parking area for free, then run inside for free also (after the seventh inning stretch they opened the gates and stopped charging admission) and grab some drinks and cheer the conclusion.

Sometimes the Braves would still lose, but it was the adventure, not the final score, that counted most.

Now back to Joe Torre's three year stint as Braves manager...

After beginning his major league playing career with the the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, in 1982 Joe came to Atlanta from managing the NY Mets to reunite with the Braves as manager, in the process inheriting a team that was moving forward but had not achieved their true potential.

I vividly remember a guy named Bob Horner was playing first and sometimes third base that season, and the Braves, under Torre's new supervision, opened with their best start ever...a 13 and 0 win loss record.

The city of Atlanta was ecstatic.

The Braves went on to become the NLCS champions that season, and I camped out with my roommate Andy and a few friends at the old stadium to buy a set of World Series tickets for something like $13 per game for four games. (Oh for the days before TicketBastard TicketMaster and the other online BS that favors the professional scalpers.)

Unfortunately, Atlanta lost their second ever NLCS appearance that year in an 0-3 sweep to the St. Louis Cardinals, and I never got to use my World Series Tickets.

A humorous highlight of that season was when an Atlanta pitcher named Pasquel "Perimeter" Perez missed a start at home during the regular season when he got lost on I-285, the perimeter interstate, and drove two or three 60 mile long circles around the town while his fellow players wondered where he was (Perez also pitched the final losing game in the NLCS series that season.)

So any way, Torre has most definitely gone on to bigger and better things, and with his departure from the Braves after the 2005 season due to Ted Turner's quirky management style I remember proclaiming that the Braves would suffer and Torre would prosper.

I was right, but thank god that Bobby Cox came along later and saved Atlanta from themselves and Generalissimo Turner.

I had to look this fact up here, but ironically Torre left management to become a TV analyst for six whole seasons for the California Angles before coming back into the front lines of the sport as their manager in 1990.

What a HUGE waste of talent, in my opinion, but I could see where he might be discouraged and burned out and based on his success since then I guess that his mother can forgive him.

After this season's unprecedented loss in the playoffs, Torre has been dealing with yet another wealthy megalomaniac in the form of George Steinbrenner, who's management style often resembles that of a pack of Meerkats or some form of mentally handicapped dwarf.

I felt that his treatment was deplorable, but Steinbrenner's got a long long history of bashing managers and then kissing and making up more than once (see Billy Martin.)

According to tonight's breaking news, Torre could take the helm of the LA dodgers as soon as tomorrow, certainly with a better deal than the one year pay cut that Steinbrenner offered him this month to stay with the Yankees.

I don't think that Joe Torre plays the "kiss and make up crap" that Steinbrenner loves, and therefore, all I can say is...

GO JOE GO


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Porter Wagner's Dead

He's finally seeing "The Green Green Grass Of Home"



I think I've mentioned before that back in the late 1960's and early 1970's I was the world's worst guitar student. It's a funny thing what not practicing diligently does to your musical career.

Regardless of my ineptitude, one of the songs that I did manage to pick my way through mostly one note at a time with a few strummed chords thrown in was Mr. Wagner's 1965 hit "The Green Green Grass Of Home."

(If you look at the lyrics, the song is actually written from the viewpoint of a prisoner on death row dreaming about his home before he's executed. Fortunately Porter took a substantially different path to his grave.)

Living down in Lower Alabama back in those days, it wasn't uncommon for shows like "Hee Haw" and the "Grand Ole Opry"--which Porter joined in 1957--to flash across our new color TV screen every few weeks and there he was in his fancy sequin spangled suits singing and strumming away.

I have to admit that I wasn't a huge Porter Wagner fan, but I still have a great deal of respect for he and the other musical artists of his generation that put country music on the international map while making their meager incomes (by today's standards) from small venue live performances and radio, long before TV invaded the lives of most Americans.






RIP Mr. Wagner...

When Fall Doesn't Give You Beach Weather...

Put On A Sweater





(That little pup sure loves her beach chair.)

Owl Gore and The Unwashed Masses Celebrate

But Hopes For New FEMA Disaster Evaporate Within Hours...


I just noticed that I had received an e-mail from NOAA announcing the formation of Tropical Depression 16 at 11:00 PM. I'm sure that there are fingers and toes crossing in the ranks of the Global Warming zealots as the drama unfolds over the next week.

Here's the path He/She is expected to take according to the weather nerds:

I did a little checking, and here's the surface water temperature chart for the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Western Atlantic:



Anyone but me notice that hard turn to the North, then the northeast, that our newest threat to mankind and the most features of this hemisphere of the planet is expected to take?

You don't have to have a PHD in Meteorology to understand why.

It's because of this stupid stationary front that's been dripping and drizzling on everyone and everywhere from Savannah to Miami for the past half week.



Feel free to go back to sleep now, because the storm will be a total non-issue shortly...