More Wastage Of Time...
After a short stay with family in Northeast Florida Monday night, we got here to the Florida Panhandle just before lunch time yesterday.
Between the sand and the sun and the waves and the restaurants (and the crappy wireless internet) I just haven't had the time to sit down and write anything until now.
The weather is awsome, and we have one more day to look forward to before heading back north to lower Alabama to spend a long weekend with Mom.
(No...I wasn't the guy driving around around shooting people in nearby Geneva, Alabama yesterday.)
Hope y'all are having at least half as much fun as we are down here...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Monday, March 09, 2009
Letter From A Law Student
Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...
This little Gem was published last Friday on Neal Boortz's website:
Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters,
We've stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know that we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and just will not ever agree on what's right. So let's just end it right now while we can do it on friendly terms. We can smile, shake hands, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and each go our own way.
So here's a model separation agreement.
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass, each taking a portion. That's going to be the difficult part, but I'm sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy. Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate taste. We don't like redistributive taxes so you can have those. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. And since you hate guns and you hate war, we'll take the firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. But you are going to be responsible for finding a biodiesel vehicle big enough to haul them around.
We'll keep the capitalism, the greedy corporations, the pharmaceutical companies; we will keep Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have the homeless, the homeboys, the hippies and illegal aliens. We will keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, the greedy CEOS and all of the rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and we'll let you have NBC and Hollywood.
You can be nice to Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer anybody that threatens us. You can have the peaceniks and the war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we will provide them with security. You won't have to worry about it. We will keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley Maclaine. You can also have the UN, but we will no longer pay the bill.
We will keep the SUVs, the pickup trucks and the oversize luxury cars. You can have the compacts, the subcompacts and every Subaru station wagon you can find. You can give everybody healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors. We will continue to believe that healthcare is a privilege and not a right. We will keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the national anthem, and I am sure you will be happy to substitute in their place "Imagine." I'd like to teach the world to sing "Kumbaya" or "We are the world." We will practice trickle-down economics and you can give trickle-up poverty your best shot. And since it so offends you, we will keep our history, our name and our flag.
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots. And if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the friendly spirit of parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in about 15 years.
Sincerely,
John J Wall
Law student and an American
P.S. You can also have Barbara Streisand and Jane Fonda
This little Gem was published last Friday on Neal Boortz's website:
Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters,
We've stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know that we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and just will not ever agree on what's right. So let's just end it right now while we can do it on friendly terms. We can smile, shake hands, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and each go our own way.
So here's a model separation agreement.
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass, each taking a portion. That's going to be the difficult part, but I'm sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy. Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate taste. We don't like redistributive taxes so you can have those. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. And since you hate guns and you hate war, we'll take the firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. But you are going to be responsible for finding a biodiesel vehicle big enough to haul them around.
We'll keep the capitalism, the greedy corporations, the pharmaceutical companies; we will keep Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have the homeless, the homeboys, the hippies and illegal aliens. We will keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, the greedy CEOS and all of the rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and we'll let you have NBC and Hollywood.
You can be nice to Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer anybody that threatens us. You can have the peaceniks and the war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we will provide them with security. You won't have to worry about it. We will keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley Maclaine. You can also have the UN, but we will no longer pay the bill.
We will keep the SUVs, the pickup trucks and the oversize luxury cars. You can have the compacts, the subcompacts and every Subaru station wagon you can find. You can give everybody healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors. We will continue to believe that healthcare is a privilege and not a right. We will keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the national anthem, and I am sure you will be happy to substitute in their place "Imagine." I'd like to teach the world to sing "Kumbaya" or "We are the world." We will practice trickle-down economics and you can give trickle-up poverty your best shot. And since it so offends you, we will keep our history, our name and our flag.
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots. And if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the friendly spirit of parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in about 15 years.
Sincerely,
John J Wall
Law student and an American
P.S. You can also have Barbara Streisand and Jane Fonda
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Beach Dog
The Turbo Pup in Action In Her Native Environment...
Well, things are winding down here this evening after a wonderful four day visit back to our little island on the Georgia Coast...we extended our stay by a day because we were too tired to drive toward Florida.
Now our adventure takes us on to the Florida Gulf Coast for a few days for some business and more time with little Missy the Turbo Pup doing things like THIS:
Well, things are winding down here this evening after a wonderful four day visit back to our little island on the Georgia Coast...we extended our stay by a day because we were too tired to drive toward Florida.
Now our adventure takes us on to the Florida Gulf Coast for a few days for some business and more time with little Missy the Turbo Pup doing things like THIS:
That's a darn fine dog we got there...
Saturday, March 07, 2009
People's Choice--Second Place
We Did It...
OK...I know that you've been wondering what I've been talking about for the past year.
Here's a look at the unofficial official "Cajun Chili Shack":
And here's what it looks like three hours later:
Here's my team again after they've righted themselves:
Here's some of the crowd. (we served over 1400 tasting "cups" of Chili between 11:15 and 2:00 PM)
OK...I know that you've been wondering what I've been talking about for the past year.
Here's a look at the unofficial official "Cajun Chili Shack":
Here's what about thirteen gallons of Chili looks like:
And here's what it looks like three hours later:
Here's the other members of my team:
Here's my buddy Kimbo (the lead guitar player third from the right) and his band "The StringRays":
Here's my team again after they've righted themselves:
Here's some of the crowd. (we served over 1400 tasting "cups" of Chili between 11:15 and 2:00 PM)
Here's some of our funny looking NASCAR neighbors:
Here's our team photo accepting the prize for "Second Place-People's Choice":
Here' s a look at another group of our worthy competitors that won the" judges" prize for "best chili":
These guys beat us out for "Best Booth": (dang it)
And now it's time to go to sleep after three loooong days of hard work.
And now it's time to go to sleep after three loooong days of hard work.
See y'all later...
Chilly Chili Here On The Georgia Coast
Who's Idea Was This Anyway???
If you could watch a TV commercial about our "working vacation" like they do for the credit card companies it would go something like this:
Eight hours on the interstate =
$35.00 in gas
Two six hour days spent making sawdust and foam chips on the back deck overlooking the marsh at Blackwater Grill =
$0.00
A Saturday on our little Island cooking Chili against 26 other teams...
PRICELESS.
The good news is the preparations are pretty much over with--with the singular exception of moving 70 pounds of pre-cooked meat, 15 gallons of home made chicken and beef stock, and all of the other associated accoutrement's and tools about three miles across the island from the restaurant to thescene of the crime event location adjacent to the "Old Casino" within a hundred yards of the Atlantic Ocean beginning at 6 AM this morning in anticipation of setting it all up then...
cooking TWELVE GALLONS of my soon to be world famous Chili recipe.
I've learned that there is no way that an individual could accomplish this feat without association with a restaurant and one or more professional chef's.
I have to give Blackwater's Chef Jamie a shout out here for spending two days cooking the home made chicken and beef stock down from the raw ingredients and rendering out thirty pounds of ground beef.
John--the restaurant owner and fellow GT alumni--and I rendered the forty pounds of boneless top round roast down mid-day today after he spent the morning hand cutting out 1/2" steaks and close trimming the fat and gristle out of everything.
Then Pat did yeoman's duty handling a paint brush and keeping ahead of me doing the fine finish details, and little Missy the Turbo Pup stood guard over the entire proceedings and gave the stray cats and birds that ventured too close to our efforts a good barking.
So now it's time to do a little reading of the news on the Internet and see what my fellow bloggers are up to for a few minutes, then we're off to complete our adventure which began over a year ago when I received the invitation to be guest chef in last year's event but we had to cancel because I ended up spending a month in the hospital and one of John's employees died in an auto accident the week before the event (as I wrote about here in this link.)
I guess that we'll see y'all later with pictures and the recipe.
Wish us luck...If you will...
If you could watch a TV commercial about our "working vacation" like they do for the credit card companies it would go something like this:
Eight hours on the interstate =
$35.00 in gas
Two six hour days spent making sawdust and foam chips on the back deck overlooking the marsh at Blackwater Grill =
$0.00
A Saturday on our little Island cooking Chili against 26 other teams...
PRICELESS.
The good news is the preparations are pretty much over with--with the singular exception of moving 70 pounds of pre-cooked meat, 15 gallons of home made chicken and beef stock, and all of the other associated accoutrement's and tools about three miles across the island from the restaurant to the
cooking TWELVE GALLONS of my soon to be world famous Chili recipe.
I've learned that there is no way that an individual could accomplish this feat without association with a restaurant and one or more professional chef's.
I have to give Blackwater's Chef Jamie a shout out here for spending two days cooking the home made chicken and beef stock down from the raw ingredients and rendering out thirty pounds of ground beef.
John--the restaurant owner and fellow GT alumni--and I rendered the forty pounds of boneless top round roast down mid-day today after he spent the morning hand cutting out 1/2" steaks and close trimming the fat and gristle out of everything.
Then Pat did yeoman's duty handling a paint brush and keeping ahead of me doing the fine finish details, and little Missy the Turbo Pup stood guard over the entire proceedings and gave the stray cats and birds that ventured too close to our efforts a good barking.
So now it's time to do a little reading of the news on the Internet and see what my fellow bloggers are up to for a few minutes, then we're off to complete our adventure which began over a year ago when I received the invitation to be guest chef in last year's event but we had to cancel because I ended up spending a month in the hospital and one of John's employees died in an auto accident the week before the event (as I wrote about here in this link.)
I guess that we'll see y'all later with pictures and the recipe.
Wish us luck...If you will...
Friday, March 06, 2009
Internet In Hotel Today
Still Building Chili Shack & Cooking Stock...
(another message from Starbucks internet cafe...)
(another message from Starbucks internet cafe...)
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Good Weather, Good Food, Good Friends
12 Hours From Now We'll Be Back In Paradise
I'm packed.
I have a milk crate full of files.
A notebook computer loaded up.
Got the oil changed on the Chrysler 300.
A giant rack of hanging clothes.
Missy the Turbo Pup's lockers and sea chests on board.
Did I mention the Flip Flops and the predicted sun and temperatures in the high 70's this weekend?
Don't you wish you were me?
Well...maybe not...but still...you can't blame me for wanting to brag a little...
(You are hereby notified that the Blog posting will be sporadic and at the whim of time and the available Internet connections over the next thirteen days.)
Y'all take care now...
I'm packed.
I have a milk crate full of files.
A notebook computer loaded up.
Got the oil changed on the Chrysler 300.
A giant rack of hanging clothes.
Missy the Turbo Pup's lockers and sea chests on board.
Did I mention the Flip Flops and the predicted sun and temperatures in the high 70's this weekend?
Don't you wish you were me?
Well...maybe not...but still...you can't blame me for wanting to brag a little...
(You are hereby notified that the Blog posting will be sporadic and at the whim of time and the available Internet connections over the next thirteen days.)
Y'all take care now...
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
They Had More Dollars Than Sense
Putting You Money Where Your Life Is
I feel sorry for the three guys that left Clearwater Florida last Saturday with Marquis Cooper piloting a 21' single engine boat into the Gulf of Mexico on a fishing trip.
From what I understand about the timing of the trip and the weather forecast the expedition was ill conceived from it's outset.
Take the word of a man that's spent thousands of hours on the water and put nearly as many hours on engines while at the helm of water craft ranging from 21' open bow ski boats to a 32' 12,000 pound twin engine Sea Ray I lost to thieves in another life...
As a boat captain, I wouldn't have gone out of sight of land that day in any boat less than 30 or even 40' in length and without multiple engines under the circumstances these guys wandered into on what amounted to a 21' single engine dingy.
I know that to all of you "land lubbers" the edge of the ocean is a beautiful, wonderful, fun place for people to fool around on and in.
But...let me let you in on a little secret.
The middle of the ocean...the part that starts about five or six miles off shore and extends for what seems forever to the next continent or other major land mass will swallow you whole without a trace in an instant, and the ocean can rise up from a near flat surface to a raging hell in a matter of an hour when a thunderstorm forms on top of your head or a cold front comes through like it did last weekend to these three athletes and their so called "Captain."
I understand that they've found one poor guy alive clinging to the capsized boat, but at this point in time I give the other three a less than 1% chance of being found alive and the odds of finding their bodies may be even less.
I guess that you could say that this is a perfect example of having disposable income killing people that aren't smart enough to pay attention and understand the risks they're taking.
I know...let's call the government and make them pass a law making boating against the law unless you pass some sort of test and pay some form of additional "luxury tax."
Yeah...that's the ticket...more Obama government taxation and intervention.
It's unfair that only mean old ever greying, ever balding white guys and professional athletes get to go deep sea fishing any way. I want a new government program that loads homeless people and "working families" up on ramshackle government boats and hauls their disadvantaged butts twenty five miles offshore with a few buckets of stinky squid and cigar minnows so they can learn how to tie a stainless leader to a piece of 50 pound mono filament line to a 0000 Penn Senator fishing reel.
...er...sorry... I lostmy mind train of thought for a moment...
Any way...I always say that money doesn't solve the problem of being arrogant or even STUPID, so when peopleget zillion dollar sports contracts win the lottery and then go out and buy a Lear Jet or a thousand horsepower car or a Yacht and proceed to make fifty foot deep craters in the ground, wrap their skulls around telephone poles, else disappear into the Bermuda Triangle that it's just Darwin laughing at modern society from his grave in Topeka, Kansas (he's actually buried in the Cemetery at Westminster Abby.)
How was that for my "insensitive essay of the week" submission?
Time now for a little nap before packing up the rest of my possessions in anticipation of heading back to St. Simons to cook Chili.
I feel sorry for the three guys that left Clearwater Florida last Saturday with Marquis Cooper piloting a 21' single engine boat into the Gulf of Mexico on a fishing trip.
From what I understand about the timing of the trip and the weather forecast the expedition was ill conceived from it's outset.
Take the word of a man that's spent thousands of hours on the water and put nearly as many hours on engines while at the helm of water craft ranging from 21' open bow ski boats to a 32' 12,000 pound twin engine Sea Ray I lost to thieves in another life...
As a boat captain, I wouldn't have gone out of sight of land that day in any boat less than 30 or even 40' in length and without multiple engines under the circumstances these guys wandered into on what amounted to a 21' single engine dingy.
I know that to all of you "land lubbers" the edge of the ocean is a beautiful, wonderful, fun place for people to fool around on and in.
But...let me let you in on a little secret.
The middle of the ocean...the part that starts about five or six miles off shore and extends for what seems forever to the next continent or other major land mass will swallow you whole without a trace in an instant, and the ocean can rise up from a near flat surface to a raging hell in a matter of an hour when a thunderstorm forms on top of your head or a cold front comes through like it did last weekend to these three athletes and their so called "Captain."
I understand that they've found one poor guy alive clinging to the capsized boat, but at this point in time I give the other three a less than 1% chance of being found alive and the odds of finding their bodies may be even less.
I guess that you could say that this is a perfect example of having disposable income killing people that aren't smart enough to pay attention and understand the risks they're taking.
I know...let's call the government and make them pass a law making boating against the law unless you pass some sort of test and pay some form of additional "luxury tax."
Yeah...that's the ticket...more Obama government taxation and intervention.
It's unfair that only mean old ever greying, ever balding white guys and professional athletes get to go deep sea fishing any way. I want a new government program that loads homeless people and "working families" up on ramshackle government boats and hauls their disadvantaged butts twenty five miles offshore with a few buckets of stinky squid and cigar minnows so they can learn how to tie a stainless leader to a piece of 50 pound mono filament line to a 0000 Penn Senator fishing reel.
...er...sorry... I lost
Any way...I always say that money doesn't solve the problem of being arrogant or even STUPID, so when people
How was that for my "insensitive essay of the week" submission?
Time now for a little nap before packing up the rest of my possessions in anticipation of heading back to St. Simons to cook Chili.
Monday, March 02, 2009
I Can Do This--Confessions From An Ego Maniac
This Ain't Me, But Close Enough...
Sometime about 20 years ago I was wandering around Orlando, Florida on a business trip, and after the conference and the formal dinner stuff had ended I found myself sitting at a place where they had "Laser Karaoke"--something purported to have at the time been imported by the Japanese as a secret weapon to finish fighting WWII.
Having a couple of Jack Daniels worth of courage in my belly, I waited my turn and then jumped up in front of the microphone and proceeded to die a slow death doing an old R&B classic song "If You don't Know Me By Now" then covered by a band called "Simply Red."
Fortunately when it was all over with I was three hundred miles away from home and as far as I know it today there were no witnesses in the room that still know my address or phone number.
In spite of that dismal intro experience, I was intrigued by the concept and ever since then I've spent a good deal of time learning to publicly perform various songs by artists like Jimmy Buffett, James Taylor, Willy Nelson which are within my vocal range and today I'm proud to report that I can pretty much hang with the best of them in any given venue.
Any way...I was staggering around the interent looking at Johnny Cash and Ray Charles songs this evening and in a fit of Googling I started looking for video of people doing songs I sing as "covers" to the original artists.
Check out this guy playing the piano and doing the one hit wonder song "Brandy" by the 1970's group "Looking Glass":
Somebody give me an "Amen"...
Sometime about 20 years ago I was wandering around Orlando, Florida on a business trip, and after the conference and the formal dinner stuff had ended I found myself sitting at a place where they had "Laser Karaoke"--something purported to have at the time been imported by the Japanese as a secret weapon to finish fighting WWII.
Having a couple of Jack Daniels worth of courage in my belly, I waited my turn and then jumped up in front of the microphone and proceeded to die a slow death doing an old R&B classic song "If You don't Know Me By Now" then covered by a band called "Simply Red."
Fortunately when it was all over with I was three hundred miles away from home and as far as I know it today there were no witnesses in the room that still know my address or phone number.
In spite of that dismal intro experience, I was intrigued by the concept and ever since then I've spent a good deal of time learning to publicly perform various songs by artists like Jimmy Buffett, James Taylor, Willy Nelson which are within my vocal range and today I'm proud to report that I can pretty much hang with the best of them in any given venue.
Any way...I was staggering around the interent looking at Johnny Cash and Ray Charles songs this evening and in a fit of Googling I started looking for video of people doing songs I sing as "covers" to the original artists.
Check out this guy playing the piano and doing the one hit wonder song "Brandy" by the 1970's group "Looking Glass":
Somebody give me an "Amen"...
I'm Remiss In Not Mentioning
Distractions Yield Potential Slights...
This past week saw a number of positives and negatives present themselves on our personal calendar here on the banks of the Mighty Tennesse River, and I at first felt like just letting things pass because I was busy paying attention to other worldly matters but now that the dust has settled a little I feel the need to make mention.
First was the celebration of my deceased Father's birthday and that of my Sister here in late February...both of them being just a few days away from being "leap year" babies.
Next is the sad occasion of my sister's family suffering the loss of a great spirit of a pet--a twelve plus year old German Shepard who's legs couldn't carry him any further through what had been a great life with a loving family.
Smokey's gone but not forgotten down in Georgia, and I hope God gives everyone some peace with the knowledge that his suffering is over and it was all for the best in the end.
Another event of lessor importance in the big scheme but still of interest to me was Johnny Cash's birthday on February 26th in the same year of my father's birth in 1932. Here is a video of a younger 31 year old Johnny singing "Ring of Fire"...
and if you liked that you really need to go here and check out this link to the last video Johnny did before his death in September 2003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go
As to "The rest of the story", I guess most everyone has heard that radio talk legend (a blogger before his time) Paul Harvey died this weekend.
Some of my earliest memories were of listening to my old 1930's Philco AM radio as a kid and hearing Mr. Harvey do is version of "the news" with his polite, witty, insightful commentary.
R.I.P. Mr. Harvey
This past week saw a number of positives and negatives present themselves on our personal calendar here on the banks of the Mighty Tennesse River, and I at first felt like just letting things pass because I was busy paying attention to other worldly matters but now that the dust has settled a little I feel the need to make mention.
First was the celebration of my deceased Father's birthday and that of my Sister here in late February...both of them being just a few days away from being "leap year" babies.
Next is the sad occasion of my sister's family suffering the loss of a great spirit of a pet--a twelve plus year old German Shepard who's legs couldn't carry him any further through what had been a great life with a loving family.
Smokey's gone but not forgotten down in Georgia, and I hope God gives everyone some peace with the knowledge that his suffering is over and it was all for the best in the end.
Another event of lessor importance in the big scheme but still of interest to me was Johnny Cash's birthday on February 26th in the same year of my father's birth in 1932. Here is a video of a younger 31 year old Johnny singing "Ring of Fire"...
and if you liked that you really need to go here and check out this link to the last video Johnny did before his death in September 2003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go
As to "The rest of the story", I guess most everyone has heard that radio talk legend (a blogger before his time) Paul Harvey died this weekend.
Some of my earliest memories were of listening to my old 1930's Philco AM radio as a kid and hearing Mr. Harvey do is version of "the news" with his polite, witty, insightful commentary.
R.I.P. Mr. Harvey
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Three Days Off--Spent Thinking About Thinking
I Still Say That It's Gonna Be OK
I can't quite explain it, but things are pretty upbeat here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River these days.
Maybe I'm just stupid or ignorant or something...I don't know...but in spite of the "housing bubble" and the ongoing "stock market crash" (I'm buying stock as we speak) I just can't get real excited with the idea that the country is going to hell in a hand basket...IF
...we can keep the liberals and the Government from guaranteeing disaster by fooling around with fundamental things that have to happen in order for things to get balanced back out and moving forward again.
What about the giant American auto companies?
I say that they probably should be relegated to history if they can't get things together on their own with a little government money which has already been handed out to them.
And the Airlines and Banks and the Insurance companies shouldn't be that far behind them going down the toilet if their management can't get their houses in order.
Just like Chrysler almost bought the farm back in the 1980's before Lee Iaccoca got the Federal Government to guarantee a bunch of money from the private sector, I just don't see what the problem is with continuing to buy a Honda or Toyota instead of a Ford or Chevy if the companies, their employees, and most importantly their management can't get things together.
The most amazing thing to me is how the government and the liberals can scream bloody murder about things like green energy, then Obama comes out with a budget last week which stabs the American Gas drilling and production business in the heart by ending tax breaks and actually increasing taxes on the natural gas industry in general.
The sniveling, tree hugging, booger eating liberals are either ignorant or just plain stupid because when we can't build nuclear plants (because we can't dispose of the spent Nuclear fuel), and we can't burn coal (because of CO/NOx/SO2/coal ash), what else is left but natural gas (because wind turbines kill birds and solar farms cast shadows on Prairie Dog holes.)
But Virgil, what about "Bio-diesel"?
I've got news for you "lay people" out there, "bio-diesel" and "bio-whatever" isn't cheep.
"Bio-diesel" and "Bio-whatever" is is going to cost your earth friendly butt and wallet about $4 or $5 a gallon including TWO OR THREE DOLLARS of government taxes, and when you burn it it still makes CO, CO2, NOx, and S02/SO3...just at lower levels that the less expensive stuff we drill out of the ground.
And what about the Chinese and the Koreans and the Indians from India?
These bastards have been and will be exempt from the "Kyoto Protocol" and the UN and Al Gore are gonna continue to give them a break in the next round of "International Climate Change" treaties while at the same time attempting to impose debilitating restrictions on Western Europe and North America.
Meanwhile, what else is worth mentioning...
I see that the northwest is suffering from yet another bout of Global Warming induced snowfall which is expected to leave a foot or more of the white wet stuff on the ground in places like Philadelphia and NYC.
I say they should strip Al Gore naked and chain him standing by a tree in Central Park for 48 hours during the storm, and then let former President Clinton stop by with a pitcher of luke warm water a couple of times a day to pour on him to defrost his testicles (he'll have wet hair they'll have risen so far).
I hope you understand if I just shrug my shoulders and keep staring at my computer screen doing work I've gone out and found on my own...without government intervention.
I'm also busy packing our bags and loading up Missy the Turbo Pup's lockers and sea chests in anticipation of a Wednesday departure on a visit back to our Little Island.
I can already smell the salt air, and my soul can sure use the balming effect returing to the shore of the ocean has on my spirits.
Meet me at East Beach at sunset Wednesday...I'll bring the cocktails.
I can't quite explain it, but things are pretty upbeat here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River these days.
Maybe I'm just stupid or ignorant or something...I don't know...but in spite of the "housing bubble" and the ongoing "stock market crash" (I'm buying stock as we speak) I just can't get real excited with the idea that the country is going to hell in a hand basket...IF
...we can keep the liberals and the Government from guaranteeing disaster by fooling around with fundamental things that have to happen in order for things to get balanced back out and moving forward again.
What about the giant American auto companies?
I say that they probably should be relegated to history if they can't get things together on their own with a little government money which has already been handed out to them.
And the Airlines and Banks and the Insurance companies shouldn't be that far behind them going down the toilet if their management can't get their houses in order.
Just like Chrysler almost bought the farm back in the 1980's before Lee Iaccoca got the Federal Government to guarantee a bunch of money from the private sector, I just don't see what the problem is with continuing to buy a Honda or Toyota instead of a Ford or Chevy if the companies, their employees, and most importantly their management can't get things together.
The most amazing thing to me is how the government and the liberals can scream bloody murder about things like green energy, then Obama comes out with a budget last week which stabs the American Gas drilling and production business in the heart by ending tax breaks and actually increasing taxes on the natural gas industry in general.
The sniveling, tree hugging, booger eating liberals are either ignorant or just plain stupid because when we can't build nuclear plants (because we can't dispose of the spent Nuclear fuel), and we can't burn coal (because of CO/NOx/SO2/coal ash), what else is left but natural gas (because wind turbines kill birds and solar farms cast shadows on Prairie Dog holes.)
But Virgil, what about "Bio-diesel"?
I've got news for you "lay people" out there, "bio-diesel" and "bio-whatever" isn't cheep.
"Bio-diesel" and "Bio-whatever" is is going to cost your earth friendly butt and wallet about $4 or $5 a gallon including TWO OR THREE DOLLARS of government taxes, and when you burn it it still makes CO, CO2, NOx, and S02/SO3...just at lower levels that the less expensive stuff we drill out of the ground.
And what about the Chinese and the Koreans and the Indians from India?
These bastards have been and will be exempt from the "Kyoto Protocol" and the UN and Al Gore are gonna continue to give them a break in the next round of "International Climate Change" treaties while at the same time attempting to impose debilitating restrictions on Western Europe and North America.
Meanwhile, what else is worth mentioning...
I see that the northwest is suffering from yet another bout of Global Warming induced snowfall which is expected to leave a foot or more of the white wet stuff on the ground in places like Philadelphia and NYC.
I say they should strip Al Gore naked and chain him standing by a tree in Central Park for 48 hours during the storm, and then let former President Clinton stop by with a pitcher of luke warm water a couple of times a day to pour on him to defrost his testicles (he'll have wet hair they'll have risen so far).
I hope you understand if I just shrug my shoulders and keep staring at my computer screen doing work I've gone out and found on my own...without government intervention.
I'm also busy packing our bags and loading up Missy the Turbo Pup's lockers and sea chests in anticipation of a Wednesday departure on a visit back to our Little Island.
I can already smell the salt air, and my soul can sure use the balming effect returing to the shore of the ocean has on my spirits.
Meet me at East Beach at sunset Wednesday...I'll bring the cocktails.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Blaa Blaa Blaa
This Ain't No Party...This Ain't No Disco...This Ain't No Fooling Around
I saw the President talk (I thought Nancy Pelosi was going to hit her head on the ceiling jumping around clapping.)
I heard the Governor of Louisiana speak (where was his audience applause.)
Can you guess who I agree with?
Can you see beyond the end of your nose?
Can you accept the responsibility for filling your own wallet without a stimulus check?
Then you, like me, should be extremely concerned about the BS happening in our government today.
How in the hell can anyone look me in the eye and honestly tell me that because I elect to work 12 hours a day for something above minimum wage that my "fair share" is near 50% of what I earn?
They can't...but the Democrats are going to do it any way.
They just know that I won't starve to death when they steal that much of MY MONEY and for the time being I won't quit working because what I have left over when the robbers leave the building is still worth the effort and better than the alternative.
I hope they choke on my tax dollars spent outside the military and the other things outlined in the Constitution that the federal government should be providing.
That will be all, for now...
I saw the President talk (I thought Nancy Pelosi was going to hit her head on the ceiling jumping around clapping.)
I heard the Governor of Louisiana speak (where was his audience applause.)
Can you guess who I agree with?
Can you see beyond the end of your nose?
Can you accept the responsibility for filling your own wallet without a stimulus check?
Then you, like me, should be extremely concerned about the BS happening in our government today.
How in the hell can anyone look me in the eye and honestly tell me that because I elect to work 12 hours a day for something above minimum wage that my "fair share" is near 50% of what I earn?
They can't...but the Democrats are going to do it any way.
They just know that I won't starve to death when they steal that much of MY MONEY and for the time being I won't quit working because what I have left over when the robbers leave the building is still worth the effort and better than the alternative.
I hope they choke on my tax dollars spent outside the military and the other things outlined in the Constitution that the federal government should be providing.
That will be all, for now...
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Home Again...Home Again...Jiggity Jog
I'm Busy, Busy, Busy
I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad right now, but the good news is that just two months after loosing my day job I find myself up to my eyeballs in work.
Paying work.
I came home yesterday afternoon with two new avenues of investigation to pursue, and each is a unique undertaking which I came up with on my own which the attorney's liked when I presented the concepts to them.
Forget "Genius" ...I'm bordering on "SUPER Genius" in the words of Wyle E. Coyote.
I'm not gonna brag and hand out the numbers, but let's just say I've been able to get myself a raise in hourly rate that more than doubles what I was making working for someone elses company.
That's the beauty of working for yourself.
In spite of facing the risk of going broke each and every day (been there...got the tee shirt), by being "self-employed" you also enjoy the benefit of having the owner (that would be me) decide that the president (that would be me) needs a raise...then all you have to do is go out and sell yourself to someone willing to pay the amount you're asking for...except instead of having some sort of imaginary "guarantee" of employment you only have the opportunity of billing your customer(s) for the amounts agreed on with each contract or opportunity.
(then of course you have to write an invoice and actually get PAID to make any money, and working for yourself often involves waiting at least 30 days for you "paycheck" after your finish your work.)
Most people don't realize that the same thing is true when you take a salary or hourly wage and the company pays the other half of your FICA/FUTA/SSI and your workman's comp and health insurance and any other benefits you enjoy.
If you're grossing $50K a year the owner has to be able to sell you or whatever it is you do or produce for at LEAST $75K annually (sometimes nearly $100K) or the mean old under taxed rich bastard (the owner) can't afford to have your silly butt in his building in the first place.
That's what kills me when the sniveling tree hugging booger eating liberals and their friends the union thugs start crying and bitching and complaining about employment practices at Wal Mart.
If you're paying attention you would understand that when Wal Mart's hiring they have something like fifty people per position apply, and in spite of having a good number of part time positions with limited benefits they generally have a happy workforce making about $10 per hour on average with at least some contribution toward health benefits and paid leave off for vacation and having babies and stuff.
This means that the average worker costs Wal Mart about $35,000 to $40,000 per year in total, and with those labor expenses they're still able to sell you a toaster for $12 or a set of tires for $225.
Can you imagine what the cost of those same home appliances and rubber doughnuts would be if the unions are allowed to step in with the proposed "card check" voting which eliminates secrete ballots on unionization?
When "Vito" and "the Moose" get through intimidating a bunch of middle aged women, twenty something pimple faced boys, and senior citizen greeters into checking the "yes" box on their Card I guarantee Wal Mart prices will go up at least 20% if not more, and in spite of the higher wages won't those same employees just basically give back their raises to the company if they also SHOP at Wal Mart?
And what about the "working poor" and all the "Working Families" out there that aren't employed by Wal Mart?
They're not getting a raise...they're just paying more for Onions and Meat and AAA batteries for their kids video games, so the net benefit to the unions (in the rebound of members and associated increase in what they're really after-billions in union dues) would simply be spread out across the balance of the population in the form of increased costs...more or less the same as a net tax increase in the form of decreased purchasing power.
...so any waaayyy
Back to my position, so now I've gone from spinning my wheels with nothing productive to do all day to having to bust my butt over the next 7 days to get product and answers out the door, then taking the laptop computer with me on our ten day "epic southern sojurn" along with a milk crate full of files and books on what is rapidly turning into a "working vacation."
That's OK with me I guess. I did it for ten years back in the 1990's and I can do it again today until it stops paying well or ceases to be fun.
I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad right now, but the good news is that just two months after loosing my day job I find myself up to my eyeballs in work.
Paying work.
I came home yesterday afternoon with two new avenues of investigation to pursue, and each is a unique undertaking which I came up with on my own which the attorney's liked when I presented the concepts to them.
Forget "Genius" ...I'm bordering on "SUPER Genius" in the words of Wyle E. Coyote.
I'm not gonna brag and hand out the numbers, but let's just say I've been able to get myself a raise in hourly rate that more than doubles what I was making working for someone elses company.
That's the beauty of working for yourself.
In spite of facing the risk of going broke each and every day (been there...got the tee shirt), by being "self-employed" you also enjoy the benefit of having the owner (that would be me) decide that the president (that would be me) needs a raise...then all you have to do is go out and sell yourself to someone willing to pay the amount you're asking for...except instead of having some sort of imaginary "guarantee" of employment you only have the opportunity of billing your customer(s) for the amounts agreed on with each contract or opportunity.
(then of course you have to write an invoice and actually get PAID to make any money, and working for yourself often involves waiting at least 30 days for you "paycheck" after your finish your work.)
Most people don't realize that the same thing is true when you take a salary or hourly wage and the company pays the other half of your FICA/FUTA/SSI and your workman's comp and health insurance and any other benefits you enjoy.
If you're grossing $50K a year the owner has to be able to sell you or whatever it is you do or produce for at LEAST $75K annually (sometimes nearly $100K) or the mean old under taxed rich bastard (the owner) can't afford to have your silly butt in his building in the first place.
That's what kills me when the sniveling tree hugging booger eating liberals and their friends the union thugs start crying and bitching and complaining about employment practices at Wal Mart.
If you're paying attention you would understand that when Wal Mart's hiring they have something like fifty people per position apply, and in spite of having a good number of part time positions with limited benefits they generally have a happy workforce making about $10 per hour on average with at least some contribution toward health benefits and paid leave off for vacation and having babies and stuff.
This means that the average worker costs Wal Mart about $35,000 to $40,000 per year in total, and with those labor expenses they're still able to sell you a toaster for $12 or a set of tires for $225.
Can you imagine what the cost of those same home appliances and rubber doughnuts would be if the unions are allowed to step in with the proposed "card check" voting which eliminates secrete ballots on unionization?
When "Vito" and "the Moose" get through intimidating a bunch of middle aged women, twenty something pimple faced boys, and senior citizen greeters into checking the "yes" box on their Card I guarantee Wal Mart prices will go up at least 20% if not more, and in spite of the higher wages won't those same employees just basically give back their raises to the company if they also SHOP at Wal Mart?
And what about the "working poor" and all the "Working Families" out there that aren't employed by Wal Mart?
They're not getting a raise...they're just paying more for Onions and Meat and AAA batteries for their kids video games, so the net benefit to the unions (in the rebound of members and associated increase in what they're really after-billions in union dues) would simply be spread out across the balance of the population in the form of increased costs...more or less the same as a net tax increase in the form of decreased purchasing power.
...so any waaayyy
Back to my position, so now I've gone from spinning my wheels with nothing productive to do all day to having to bust my butt over the next 7 days to get product and answers out the door, then taking the laptop computer with me on our ten day "epic southern sojurn" along with a milk crate full of files and books on what is rapidly turning into a "working vacation."
That's OK with me I guess. I did it for ten years back in the 1990's and I can do it again today until it stops paying well or ceases to be fun.
Monday, February 23, 2009
I'm Off To See Be The Wizard-Part II
I'm Looking For My Brain...
Greetings this morning from "the strip" in so-called "beautiful" downtown Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We drove into town in the middle of a little half day long snow storm that dumped a few inches on the grass and trees and made the countryside not covered in concrete sort of pretty
Man have they ever screwed this place up since I was last here in the early 1970's.
You can hardly see the mountains and countryside for the "Ripleys Museum" and the giant dinner show theaters which line what was once a two lane country road that's now a five lane highway.
I was pretty sure I hadn't lost anything here from reading about the place but Pat's wanted to come up and stay since we moved to this side of Tennessee and I took a chance arriving on a Sunday on our way to the latest chapter in my Forensic injuneering adventures which begin again late tomorrow morning about an hour further east from here.
I'm sure the place is fine if you have a mini van full of kids or you never get out much and like amusement parks and this sort of entertainment, but just like going to the mall Christmas week I'd rather have brain surgery or a case of hemorrhoids than spend my time and money coming somewhere like this on a holiday weekend.
There was literally a five mile long bumper to bumper traffic jam leaving town at noon today (we were going into town--not out)as we arrived.
The place was a ghost town by 3 PM when we wandered out to do some shopping at the outlet mall, then out for dinner and some drinks later in the evening.
I guess I'm just getting old or something, but at least I managed to show Pat what the place entailed and she might be back shopping again, but I'd rather stay home and re-roof the house or clean out the attic myself.
Time now to read some of the four inch thick file on this project and refresh my memory before visiting the scene of the accident.
Y'all have a nice week.
Greetings this morning from "the strip" in so-called "beautiful" downtown Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We drove into town in the middle of a little half day long snow storm that dumped a few inches on the grass and trees and made the countryside not covered in concrete sort of pretty
Man have they ever screwed this place up since I was last here in the early 1970's.
You can hardly see the mountains and countryside for the "Ripleys Museum" and the giant dinner show theaters which line what was once a two lane country road that's now a five lane highway.
I was pretty sure I hadn't lost anything here from reading about the place but Pat's wanted to come up and stay since we moved to this side of Tennessee and I took a chance arriving on a Sunday on our way to the latest chapter in my Forensic injuneering adventures which begin again late tomorrow morning about an hour further east from here.
I'm sure the place is fine if you have a mini van full of kids or you never get out much and like amusement parks and this sort of entertainment, but just like going to the mall Christmas week I'd rather have brain surgery or a case of hemorrhoids than spend my time and money coming somewhere like this on a holiday weekend.
There was literally a five mile long bumper to bumper traffic jam leaving town at noon today (we were going into town--not out)as we arrived.
The place was a ghost town by 3 PM when we wandered out to do some shopping at the outlet mall, then out for dinner and some drinks later in the evening.
I guess I'm just getting old or something, but at least I managed to show Pat what the place entailed and she might be back shopping again, but I'd rather stay home and re-roof the house or clean out the attic myself.
Time now to read some of the four inch thick file on this project and refresh my memory before visiting the scene of the accident.
Y'all have a nice week.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Happy Birthday President Washington
I Know You're Turning Over In Your Grave...
(And I wouldn't blame you if you arose up out of the ground and asked to have your face taken off of our soon to be value-less Money either...)
(And I wouldn't blame you if you arose up out of the ground and asked to have your face taken off of our soon to be value-less Money either...)
America After Obama's First Term
Country "Infrastructure" Going Backwards...
Today's topic which has my head spinning around at orbital rotational velocity has to do with my current foray into "Green Energy"...or more specifically the implementation thereof.
You may remember that the company that hired me and drug me up here to Knoxville (it snowed again last night) with a salary from our warm Little Island on the Georgia coast last May was involved primarily in the design of facilities that used or processed Coal.
Coal fired power plant engineering and Coal Coking facilities for steel mills were 90% of our business.
Things were already slowing down through the summer with the economy stagnation, but then Candidate Obama let it slip that it was his intention to bankrupt the Coal industry and any companies attempting to develop new Coal fired electrical generating plants.
That caused the feces to impact the rotating impeller (i.e. "the shit hit the fan" for those of you that went to college at UGA or Tennessee)and ten of twelve employees were asked to depart the office and not come back the Friday before Christmas.
I offer a hearty thanks to all the *%#@! tree hugging Greenie WeenieDemocrats Liberals
Any way, I've spent most of the month of February when I wasn't playing Forensic engineer doing the groundwork for two proposals for so called "Green Energy" developments here in the southeast.
One project involves natural gas fired co generation of electricity and possibly steam for sale to an industrial park and the local electric utility. I already pretty much know all the fundamental technical details associated with that project although the B.S. factor associated with permitting the thing with the local, state, and federal government is still a bit of a daunting mystery.
For your reference in your quest of $1.00 gasoline and $50 per month electric bills, I'd say at this point that probably at least ONE THIRD of the cost of your electricity delivered to your house to heat your coffee and microwave your Eggo in the morning is due to Government induced Crappola relating to paperwork and the associated engineering it takes to overcome the restrictions the EPA and the tree huggers have placed on our industry.
So just pay your electric bill and shut up...don't come crying to me about having to cut back on things like food and new tires for the SUV (and realize that something like 40% of the cost of your gasoline is state and federal taxes--not profits for "EVIL" oil companies. )
That said, let me tell you what I've learned this past week relating to one of the other favorite "Green Energy Technologies"...
WIND POWER.
FIRST of all, the cost of "free" wind energy, or more specifically the state of the art wind turbines and electrical connections needed to get the "free" energy into the electrical grid, would be prohibitive without government subsidies.
In some places they're herding people together by conducting campaigns where people sign up to pay an additional 1.5 cents per KWH on their electric bill so they can reduce their "carbon footprint."
Even with the premium charge, it still many times makes the technology at best a break even endeavor for investors--but I guess breaking even is better than losing your ass in the stock market as the President and the US Congress continue to "Stimulate" the economy with other peoples' money.
The other thing about "free" green wind energy technology is that you can't just toss up a utility or industrial/commercial scale wind turbine just anywhere and throw the switch, cut your power wires to the utility, and go watch TV for "free."
Noooooooo Sirrrrr
There's only a small percentage of the land mass of the country that has wind blowing hard enough over enough hours to make building a "wind farm" viable.
Then there's the limitations the same aforementioned tree hugger greenie weenie's place on their beloved "green energy" windmills.
The same people which object to offshore oil and gas drilling because they worry about "oil spills" ruining the environment also lead the battle against expanding the available areas here in the US where there's adequate wind over shallow water in places like the Great lakes and along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf shorelines because people in the penthouse condos don't want to have their view spoiled by their beloved "green technology."
Senator Ted "Jabba the Hut" Kennedy (former swimming coach) of Massachusetts falls into that category with his objections to permits for a wind farm in sight of his family compound in New England.
The thing that really blew my mind was the contents of a paper produced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service--again driven by the sniveling booger eating Earth Day ecologists--all 57 pages worth of guidelines entitled "...Avoiding and Minimizing Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines."
If you listen to these bureaucrats, they basically don't wind turbines located where they could disturbe Prairie Dogs, Raptors, and migrating birds.
Funny thing, but if you look at the map of logical areas where "green" wind energy could be "farmed" or "harvested", this requirement eliminates virtually every area with better than average wind because a Goose or a Hawk might fly into the rotating blades of a turbine or the hum of the generator might make the Prairie Dogs change their mating habits or start living in the top of trees or something.
I thought farmers were shooting Prairie Dogs because their horses and cattle were breaking their legs stepping in holes?
And in the mountains here in Appalachia where there's good winds they're worrying about BAT's --rats with wings-- being affected.
Screw the bats...I want a 500 foot tall wind turbine on my roof and I'm never paying TVA another dime again if I could finance the project.
My industrial utility project could be a problem because it's on the Florida gulf coast so not only do I have to beat the Condo owners and developers, but I've got the Gulf on one side and the inter coastal on the other and the place is eat up with Sea Gulls and Owls and Hawks and God knows what else flying around and here's the kicker that will further raise the cost of the project.
If I can get past the Corps of Engineers and the Federal and State EPA's, and IF I can get the local government on board, and IF I can survive the public commentary period, and IF I can negotiate an acceptable power purchase agreement with the local electrical utility...THEN I might have to pay to have an "Avian and Wildlife Impact Study" conducted over a one to THREE year period of time in order to dig a hole and pour a concrete footing and string a single electrical wire.
Can you understand this bullshit?
Why in the world would anyone but the most zealous wild eyed fanatic even bother with doing business under those restrictions?
My grandfather ordered a 40' prefab farm windmill to pump water on his hand dug shallow well in the 1940's from Sears and Roebook, and when the truck showed up he and my uncles bolted that sucker together and stood it up in the air (without OSHA approved hardhats, safety glasses, and anti-fall harnesses.)
In less than a week they were pumping water for the house and the chickens,cows and a couple of dogs hanging around the property.
Under today's rules they'd have died of thirst and my Mother would just now be getting the permit in the mail this week--all two hundred and thirteen pages worth.
Am I wrong here?
Isn't there something totally screwed up with this whole "Green Energy" concept?
It doesn't work as a money making enterprise, thus it has to be government subsidized for anyone to afford or otherwise want to use it.
Just like everything else the government gets involved with the costs are greater than the benefits so they have to outlaw or tax the other profitable means of product delivery in order to get people to accept their alternative.
Then they proceed to legislate and regulate their endeavor into a corner where there is a SHORTAGE of the product they're producing and they come back to the consumer and demand more money and a change in lifestyle and usage in order to accommodate the results they get out of their inane, feckless process.
Just remember these concepts the next time you're sitting around the breakfast table and your government educated kid or your sniveling booger eating tree hugging eco friendly liberal neighbor starts talking about "man made global warming" and "green energy."
You want Green Energy?
Then you better get your wallet out because the main source of the "Green" in "Green Energy" is going to be YOUR MONEY.
and while you're at it, realize that you're probably going to be dressed like this while you're sitting around your crumbling house in the dark waiting out the latest "rolling electrical brownout."
...dammit
Today's topic which has my head spinning around at orbital rotational velocity has to do with my current foray into "Green Energy"...or more specifically the implementation thereof.
You may remember that the company that hired me and drug me up here to Knoxville (it snowed again last night) with a salary from our warm Little Island on the Georgia coast last May was involved primarily in the design of facilities that used or processed Coal.
Coal fired power plant engineering and Coal Coking facilities for steel mills were 90% of our business.
Things were already slowing down through the summer with the economy stagnation, but then Candidate Obama let it slip that it was his intention to bankrupt the Coal industry and any companies attempting to develop new Coal fired electrical generating plants.
That caused the feces to impact the rotating impeller (i.e. "the shit hit the fan" for those of you that went to college at UGA or Tennessee)and ten of twelve employees were asked to depart the office and not come back the Friday before Christmas.
I offer a hearty thanks to all the *%#@! tree hugging Greenie Weenie
Any way, I've spent most of the month of February when I wasn't playing Forensic engineer doing the groundwork for two proposals for so called "Green Energy" developments here in the southeast.
One project involves natural gas fired co generation of electricity and possibly steam for sale to an industrial park and the local electric utility. I already pretty much know all the fundamental technical details associated with that project although the B.S. factor associated with permitting the thing with the local, state, and federal government is still a bit of a daunting mystery.
For your reference in your quest of $1.00 gasoline and $50 per month electric bills, I'd say at this point that probably at least ONE THIRD of the cost of your electricity delivered to your house to heat your coffee and microwave your Eggo in the morning is due to Government induced Crappola relating to paperwork and the associated engineering it takes to overcome the restrictions the EPA and the tree huggers have placed on our industry.
So just pay your electric bill and shut up...don't come crying to me about having to cut back on things like food and new tires for the SUV (and realize that something like 40% of the cost of your gasoline is state and federal taxes--not profits for "EVIL" oil companies. )
That said, let me tell you what I've learned this past week relating to one of the other favorite "Green Energy Technologies"...
WIND POWER.
FIRST of all, the cost of "free" wind energy, or more specifically the state of the art wind turbines and electrical connections needed to get the "free" energy into the electrical grid, would be prohibitive without government subsidies.
In some places they're herding people together by conducting campaigns where people sign up to pay an additional 1.5 cents per KWH on their electric bill so they can reduce their "carbon footprint."
Even with the premium charge, it still many times makes the technology at best a break even endeavor for investors--but I guess breaking even is better than losing your ass in the stock market as the President and the US Congress continue to "Stimulate" the economy with other peoples' money.
The other thing about "free" green wind energy technology is that you can't just toss up a utility or industrial/commercial scale wind turbine just anywhere and throw the switch, cut your power wires to the utility, and go watch TV for "free."
Noooooooo Sirrrrr
There's only a small percentage of the land mass of the country that has wind blowing hard enough over enough hours to make building a "wind farm" viable.
Then there's the limitations the same aforementioned tree hugger greenie weenie's place on their beloved "green energy" windmills.
The same people which object to offshore oil and gas drilling because they worry about "oil spills" ruining the environment also lead the battle against expanding the available areas here in the US where there's adequate wind over shallow water in places like the Great lakes and along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf shorelines because people in the penthouse condos don't want to have their view spoiled by their beloved "green technology."
Senator Ted "Jabba the Hut" Kennedy (former swimming coach) of Massachusetts falls into that category with his objections to permits for a wind farm in sight of his family compound in New England.
The thing that really blew my mind was the contents of a paper produced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service--again driven by the sniveling booger eating Earth Day ecologists--all 57 pages worth of guidelines entitled "...Avoiding and Minimizing Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines."
If you listen to these bureaucrats, they basically don't wind turbines located where they could disturbe Prairie Dogs, Raptors, and migrating birds.
Funny thing, but if you look at the map of logical areas where "green" wind energy could be "farmed" or "harvested", this requirement eliminates virtually every area with better than average wind because a Goose or a Hawk might fly into the rotating blades of a turbine or the hum of the generator might make the Prairie Dogs change their mating habits or start living in the top of trees or something.
I thought farmers were shooting Prairie Dogs because their horses and cattle were breaking their legs stepping in holes?
And in the mountains here in Appalachia where there's good winds they're worrying about BAT's --rats with wings-- being affected.
Screw the bats...I want a 500 foot tall wind turbine on my roof and I'm never paying TVA another dime again if I could finance the project.
My industrial utility project could be a problem because it's on the Florida gulf coast so not only do I have to beat the Condo owners and developers, but I've got the Gulf on one side and the inter coastal on the other and the place is eat up with Sea Gulls and Owls and Hawks and God knows what else flying around and here's the kicker that will further raise the cost of the project.
If I can get past the Corps of Engineers and the Federal and State EPA's, and IF I can get the local government on board, and IF I can survive the public commentary period, and IF I can negotiate an acceptable power purchase agreement with the local electrical utility...THEN I might have to pay to have an "Avian and Wildlife Impact Study" conducted over a one to THREE year period of time in order to dig a hole and pour a concrete footing and string a single electrical wire.
Can you understand this bullshit?
Why in the world would anyone but the most zealous wild eyed fanatic even bother with doing business under those restrictions?
My grandfather ordered a 40' prefab farm windmill to pump water on his hand dug shallow well in the 1940's from Sears and Roebook, and when the truck showed up he and my uncles bolted that sucker together and stood it up in the air (without OSHA approved hardhats, safety glasses, and anti-fall harnesses.)
In less than a week they were pumping water for the house and the chickens,cows and a couple of dogs hanging around the property.
Under today's rules they'd have died of thirst and my Mother would just now be getting the permit in the mail this week--all two hundred and thirteen pages worth.
Am I wrong here?
Isn't there something totally screwed up with this whole "Green Energy" concept?
It doesn't work as a money making enterprise, thus it has to be government subsidized for anyone to afford or otherwise want to use it.
Just like everything else the government gets involved with the costs are greater than the benefits so they have to outlaw or tax the other profitable means of product delivery in order to get people to accept their alternative.
Then they proceed to legislate and regulate their endeavor into a corner where there is a SHORTAGE of the product they're producing and they come back to the consumer and demand more money and a change in lifestyle and usage in order to accommodate the results they get out of their inane, feckless process.
Just remember these concepts the next time you're sitting around the breakfast table and your government educated kid or your sniveling booger eating tree hugging eco friendly liberal neighbor starts talking about "man made global warming" and "green energy."
You want Green Energy?
Then you better get your wallet out because the main source of the "Green" in "Green Energy" is going to be YOUR MONEY.
and while you're at it, realize that you're probably going to be dressed like this while you're sitting around your crumbling house in the dark waiting out the latest "rolling electrical brownout."
...dammit
Friday, February 20, 2009
Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez
Mardi Gras Reflections
Sorry about the silence here on the blog for the past few days, but it's hard to type with my eyes rolled so far back in my head from watching the antics of our Congress and the new occupant of the White House.
In other news, a good friend invited us to do rural Louisiana Mardi Gras with him again this year and I really wanted to go because he's a local, but things didn't work out.
Unfortunately Fat Tuesday is next week and I have to be in Newport, TN working on my never ending forensic engineering project on Monday, and we already had an epic ten day swing planned through the South Georgia coast, the Florida Panhandle, and lower Alabama starting the following week so we had to decline the invitation.
With that trip already on the books for some time we just couldn't justify the time and expense of adding a separate trip to Alexandria, Louisiana and other points on the Bayou.
It's not like I haven't seen a half million drunks stagger down Bourbon Street before, but I hear that the festival of Lent leading up to Ash Wednesday is quite quaint and different in the smaller villages that it is in the Big Easy.
My first visit was Mardi Gras 1978 as a member of the Georgia Tech NROTC band. I didn't just GO to Carnival, I was IN Carnival as we marched and played in three or four of the major parades like Edymoin, Bacchus, and Proteus. What a great experience, and we stayed for free on a Navy ship which was berthed right on the river by Cafe Du Monde.
I've been back several times in the 1980's and again about 1996, but the whole thing has grown so much and gotten out of hand to the point that at my current age I don't enjoy walking around in streets filled with an inch of other peoples barf and urine yelling "show your tits" and scrambling around for bead necklaces and other worthless trinkets.
Call me a Curmudgeon I guess...
What I am gaining by missing Mardi Gras this year is the opportunity to be the guest Chef with my fellow GT alumni John Howton, owner of Blackwater Grill on our little Island, in the 2009 Chili Cookoff.
I've been cooking chili for the past week in small batches to further refine my recipe and get the ingredient list together to cook TWELVE GALLONS of Chili in three hours on a Saturday morning in a 12'x12' booth with no running water.
Did I mention there'd be a few hundred people stopping by to taste and judge the results of my efforts?
I spent fifty bucks on the Penderys website on giant containers of fancy Coumin and two kinds of chili powder to support my efforts.
After last nights efforts, I've got time to cook one more batch this weekend before delivering the final ingredient list for purchase.
I'll post the recipe and some photos of the event here on the blog for your enjoyment after the final results are in.
I really want to do well in the event because John's reputation is at stake, but in the end the event raises money for charity and it's supposed to be FUN, so I might have to put my slide rule and calculator away and just have fun and COOK...something I get better at every day.
Wish us luck...If you will...
Sorry about the silence here on the blog for the past few days, but it's hard to type with my eyes rolled so far back in my head from watching the antics of our Congress and the new occupant of the White House.
In other news, a good friend invited us to do rural Louisiana Mardi Gras with him again this year and I really wanted to go because he's a local, but things didn't work out.
Unfortunately Fat Tuesday is next week and I have to be in Newport, TN working on my never ending forensic engineering project on Monday, and we already had an epic ten day swing planned through the South Georgia coast, the Florida Panhandle, and lower Alabama starting the following week so we had to decline the invitation.
With that trip already on the books for some time we just couldn't justify the time and expense of adding a separate trip to Alexandria, Louisiana and other points on the Bayou.
It's not like I haven't seen a half million drunks stagger down Bourbon Street before, but I hear that the festival of Lent leading up to Ash Wednesday is quite quaint and different in the smaller villages that it is in the Big Easy.
My first visit was Mardi Gras 1978 as a member of the Georgia Tech NROTC band. I didn't just GO to Carnival, I was IN Carnival as we marched and played in three or four of the major parades like Edymoin, Bacchus, and Proteus. What a great experience, and we stayed for free on a Navy ship which was berthed right on the river by Cafe Du Monde.
I've been back several times in the 1980's and again about 1996, but the whole thing has grown so much and gotten out of hand to the point that at my current age I don't enjoy walking around in streets filled with an inch of other peoples barf and urine yelling "show your tits" and scrambling around for bead necklaces and other worthless trinkets.
Call me a Curmudgeon I guess...
What I am gaining by missing Mardi Gras this year is the opportunity to be the guest Chef with my fellow GT alumni John Howton, owner of Blackwater Grill on our little Island, in the 2009 Chili Cookoff.
I've been cooking chili for the past week in small batches to further refine my recipe and get the ingredient list together to cook TWELVE GALLONS of Chili in three hours on a Saturday morning in a 12'x12' booth with no running water.
Did I mention there'd be a few hundred people stopping by to taste and judge the results of my efforts?
I spent fifty bucks on the Penderys website on giant containers of fancy Coumin and two kinds of chili powder to support my efforts.
After last nights efforts, I've got time to cook one more batch this weekend before delivering the final ingredient list for purchase.
I'll post the recipe and some photos of the event here on the blog for your enjoyment after the final results are in.
I really want to do well in the event because John's reputation is at stake, but in the end the event raises money for charity and it's supposed to be FUN, so I might have to put my slide rule and calculator away and just have fun and COOK...something I get better at every day.
Wish us luck...If you will...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Nearly A Month After Taking Office
Still Full Of Shit...
Looking at this Wall Street Journal story...I think you'll agree:
President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package.
In his remarks, every gloomy statistic on the economy becomes a harbinger of doom. As he tells it, today's economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Without his Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he says, the economy will fall back into that abyss and may never recover.
...[snip]
This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate.
Consider the job losses that Mr. Obama always cites. In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs. That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2% of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost -- fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2% of the labor force, the same as now.
Job losses in the Great Depression were of an entirely different magnitude. In 1930, the economy shed 4.8% of the labor force. In 1931, 6.5%. And then in 1932, another 7.1%. Jobs were being lost at double or triple the rate of 2008-09 or 1981-82.
Auto production last year declined by roughly 25%. That looks good compared to 1932, when production shriveled by 90%. The failure of a couple of dozen banks in 2008 just doesn't compare to over 10,000 bank failures in 1933, or even the 3,000-plus bank (Savings & Loan) failures in 1987-88. Stockholders can take some solace from the fact that the recent stock market debacle doesn't come close to the 90% devaluation of the early 1930s.
Mr. Obama's analogies to the Great Depression are not only historically inaccurate, they're also dangerous. Repeated warnings from the White House about a coming economic apocalypse aren't likely to raise consumer and investor expectations for the future. In fact, they have contributed to the continuing decline in consumer confidence that is restraining a spending pickup. Beyond that, fearmongering can trigger a political stampede to embrace a "recovery" package that delivers a lot less than it promises. A more cool-headed assessment of the economy's woes might produce better policies.
Looking at this Wall Street Journal story...I think you'll agree:
President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package.
In his remarks, every gloomy statistic on the economy becomes a harbinger of doom. As he tells it, today's economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Without his Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he says, the economy will fall back into that abyss and may never recover.
...[snip]
This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate.
Consider the job losses that Mr. Obama always cites. In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs. That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2% of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost -- fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2% of the labor force, the same as now.
Job losses in the Great Depression were of an entirely different magnitude. In 1930, the economy shed 4.8% of the labor force. In 1931, 6.5%. And then in 1932, another 7.1%. Jobs were being lost at double or triple the rate of 2008-09 or 1981-82.
Auto production last year declined by roughly 25%. That looks good compared to 1932, when production shriveled by 90%. The failure of a couple of dozen banks in 2008 just doesn't compare to over 10,000 bank failures in 1933, or even the 3,000-plus bank (Savings & Loan) failures in 1987-88. Stockholders can take some solace from the fact that the recent stock market debacle doesn't come close to the 90% devaluation of the early 1930s.
Mr. Obama's analogies to the Great Depression are not only historically inaccurate, they're also dangerous. Repeated warnings from the White House about a coming economic apocalypse aren't likely to raise consumer and investor expectations for the future. In fact, they have contributed to the continuing decline in consumer confidence that is restraining a spending pickup. Beyond that, fearmongering can trigger a political stampede to embrace a "recovery" package that delivers a lot less than it promises. A more cool-headed assessment of the economy's woes might produce better policies.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Scenes From My Kitchen Window
They're "Them" and We're "Us"
Damned Democrats.
Maybe more precisely I should say "Damned Liberals."
Even if I can avoid cursing every time I watch the news or read something political on the Internet I still can't help but issue epithets when I look out my kitchen window and see the remains of that tree trunk and branches littering my "Japanese Garden" area of my back lawn.
The "Japanese Garden" part is still a figment of my imagination but the area was nice and clean and clear last Monday--not without a good deal of effort on our part over the past 10 months and now it looks like a commercial pulp wood staging area.
The more I think about it the more pissed I get at my asshole neighbor--a regular pasty white business wimp bastard weaselly looking fellow--sort of looked like Colmes from "Hannity & Colmes."
You can almost always spot the liberal men and women in a crowd just by looking. I'm not saying always, but after the initial visual impression, just give me ten minutes of conversation and I can tell if you believe our country is great BECAUSE of government, or in SPITE of Government.
I can also tell if you've ever owned a gun and by looking at the car you drive I can probably tell if you're a mama's boy nanny state sniveler or a grown man willing to take care of your responsibilities.
I'm afraid that the idiot living behind me embodies all of the negative things that we've sunk to as a people and society today.
Cold, blank, lifeless eyes....wandering though life with the wife and the mortgage and the kid and the car payment--looking for shortcuts and ways to dodge the next man made inadequacy or "act of God."
Then going to the ballot box and voting himself a share of my paycheck to pay for his shortcomings and to fund his dreams and ideas.
"Here asshole...take all my money...I'll just get off my butt and go earn some more while you choke on "your fare share..."
Damned Democrats.
Maybe more precisely I should say "Damned Liberals."
Even if I can avoid cursing every time I watch the news or read something political on the Internet I still can't help but issue epithets when I look out my kitchen window and see the remains of that tree trunk and branches littering my "Japanese Garden" area of my back lawn.
The "Japanese Garden" part is still a figment of my imagination but the area was nice and clean and clear last Monday--not without a good deal of effort on our part over the past 10 months and now it looks like a commercial pulp wood staging area.
The more I think about it the more pissed I get at my asshole neighbor--a regular pasty white business wimp bastard weaselly looking fellow--sort of looked like Colmes from "Hannity & Colmes."
You can almost always spot the liberal men and women in a crowd just by looking. I'm not saying always, but after the initial visual impression, just give me ten minutes of conversation and I can tell if you believe our country is great BECAUSE of government, or in SPITE of Government.
I can also tell if you've ever owned a gun and by looking at the car you drive I can probably tell if you're a mama's boy nanny state sniveler or a grown man willing to take care of your responsibilities.
I'm afraid that the idiot living behind me embodies all of the negative things that we've sunk to as a people and society today.
Cold, blank, lifeless eyes....wandering though life with the wife and the mortgage and the kid and the car payment--looking for shortcuts and ways to dodge the next man made inadequacy or "act of God."
Then going to the ballot box and voting himself a share of my paycheck to pay for his shortcomings and to fund his dreams and ideas.
"Here asshole...take all my money...I'll just get off my butt and go earn some more while you choke on "your fare share..."
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Where Things Have Gotten To Today
Hey Dude...It's Not Personal...BUT...
This topic has been stewing around in my head for a couple of days now, but in reality it's just a subset or superset of thoughts I have almost every day of every week of every year for some time now.
It seems to me that, thanks to our government and education system, no one is responsible for anything that happens around them any more.
Everyone wants the income and benefits of any given enterprise or endeavor, but no one wants to pay the costs of the risks of owning or doing.
Take my yard as an example.
We've owned this place since last April 25th, and in that time I've probably spent $1500 on lawn maintenance, and more importantly I spent $500 of that money having trees which were in poor or overgrown condition cut down and removed--including having the stumps ground out in anticipation of re sodding the affected areas.
Then last week after watching things look a little crappy with the grass not being cut and the leaves from our lot and the neighbors' property blowing all around I paid another $100 to have the grass mowed and all of the remaining debris picked up and hauled away.
This in addition to having two small fires in which I burned a bunch of crap that was laying around on the fence lines and pruning clippings which had accumulated around the place.
As of Monday of this week we had things looking pretty good and were looking forward to doing some over seeding and fertilizing in anticipation of the spring thaw.
Then on Wednesday afternoon we had a angry little squall line blow through the area and in the midst of the rain and wind one of the 15" white pines on our rear neighbor's lot decided to break off at ground level and blow over into our back yard, smashing a big 20' tall ornamental Holley Tree I'd been pruning on but missing Missy the Turbo Pup's fence.
No big deal I thought, since I've grown up wielding a chain saw and cut dozens if not hundreds of trees in my day, although I hate to admit that today I only own an ELECTRIC chain saw because my days of cutting cords of firewood are long over.
Any way, I made a phone call to my insurance agent, and stopped by my neighbor's house to let them know of the event.
You know what I got for my efforts?
Well, as of 5 PM TWO DAYS LATER I still haven't heard back from the insurance agent, but I did get a visit from the "Hubby" from the household that owned the tree.
"Gee he was sure sorry, but when his other tree fell and hit his neighbor's house his insurance paid and...since this tree didn't hit anything the way things work in Tennessee is that the cleanup is my (that would be me) responsibility."
He did offer to let me borrow his chain saw if I needed it.
Pat and I cut up the tree, tossed the smaller limbs in a pile on our property, and I'm going to stack up the logs from the trunk back on the lazy asshole's property out of sight behind my fence.
See people, this is where we are today.
There is no way that my Father or my Grandfathers would have or could have stood there and told their neighbor that because of the "government rules" relating to the "government mandated" insurance they be allowed to let their property fall onto another man's property and simply shrug their shoulders and walk away because the law let them do it.
This sniveling asshole bought the property with the nice trees on it, paid the value of the property with the trees on it, and when he sells his house that he's owned since 1990 (according to his own admission) he will benefit from the value of the aforementioned trees, YET...
this shit headed wimp of a man stops by long enough to say he stopped by, then walks away while people ten or fifteen years older than him to cut up his tree else pay to have it removed.
I wish a Pox on his household, and may the fleas of a thousand Camels infest his wife's privates.
...dammit
This topic has been stewing around in my head for a couple of days now, but in reality it's just a subset or superset of thoughts I have almost every day of every week of every year for some time now.
It seems to me that, thanks to our government and education system, no one is responsible for anything that happens around them any more.
Everyone wants the income and benefits of any given enterprise or endeavor, but no one wants to pay the costs of the risks of owning or doing.
Take my yard as an example.
We've owned this place since last April 25th, and in that time I've probably spent $1500 on lawn maintenance, and more importantly I spent $500 of that money having trees which were in poor or overgrown condition cut down and removed--including having the stumps ground out in anticipation of re sodding the affected areas.
Then last week after watching things look a little crappy with the grass not being cut and the leaves from our lot and the neighbors' property blowing all around I paid another $100 to have the grass mowed and all of the remaining debris picked up and hauled away.
This in addition to having two small fires in which I burned a bunch of crap that was laying around on the fence lines and pruning clippings which had accumulated around the place.
As of Monday of this week we had things looking pretty good and were looking forward to doing some over seeding and fertilizing in anticipation of the spring thaw.
Then on Wednesday afternoon we had a angry little squall line blow through the area and in the midst of the rain and wind one of the 15" white pines on our rear neighbor's lot decided to break off at ground level and blow over into our back yard, smashing a big 20' tall ornamental Holley Tree I'd been pruning on but missing Missy the Turbo Pup's fence.
No big deal I thought, since I've grown up wielding a chain saw and cut dozens if not hundreds of trees in my day, although I hate to admit that today I only own an ELECTRIC chain saw because my days of cutting cords of firewood are long over.
Any way, I made a phone call to my insurance agent, and stopped by my neighbor's house to let them know of the event.
You know what I got for my efforts?
Well, as of 5 PM TWO DAYS LATER I still haven't heard back from the insurance agent, but I did get a visit from the "Hubby" from the household that owned the tree.
"Gee he was sure sorry, but when his other tree fell and hit his neighbor's house his insurance paid and...since this tree didn't hit anything the way things work in Tennessee is that the cleanup is my (that would be me) responsibility."
He did offer to let me borrow his chain saw if I needed it.
Pat and I cut up the tree, tossed the smaller limbs in a pile on our property, and I'm going to stack up the logs from the trunk back on the lazy asshole's property out of sight behind my fence.
See people, this is where we are today.
There is no way that my Father or my Grandfathers would have or could have stood there and told their neighbor that because of the "government rules" relating to the "government mandated" insurance they be allowed to let their property fall onto another man's property and simply shrug their shoulders and walk away because the law let them do it.
This sniveling asshole bought the property with the nice trees on it, paid the value of the property with the trees on it, and when he sells his house that he's owned since 1990 (according to his own admission) he will benefit from the value of the aforementioned trees, YET...
this shit headed wimp of a man stops by long enough to say he stopped by, then walks away while people ten or fifteen years older than him to cut up his tree else pay to have it removed.
I wish a Pox on his household, and may the fleas of a thousand Camels infest his wife's privates.
...dammit
Friday, February 13, 2009
Q400 Icing?
Another Airliner Down
I woke up after midnight to the news of the Continental commuter flight crash about 6miles short of the Buffalo, NY airport a little after ten PM.
Of course the media--self proclaimed aviation experts because they RIDE commercial airliners with some frequency--is spazzing out offering wild eyed conjecture and interviewing anyone they can find that can spell the word airplane.
I did a Yahoo map search myself and they're not only calling the town of "Clarence Center" simply "Clarence," but the crash scene on "Long Street" is referred to as "Long Road" as of 2:01 AM.
Of course there's the obligatory report of "fire coming out of one engine" and all the other crap that you hear before the final results are available.
The weather on the ground at both Newark where the flight originated and Buffalo where it was due to arrive a few minutes after it crashed was a sloppy misty snow at about 32 degrees F, but based on the weather conditions I see on the NOAA Aviation Weather website there were icing advisories at altitude across the entire state of New York.
The Bombardier Q400 turboprop involved is one of the new generation of "non-jet" commuters that is designed to deliver quiet "near jet" cabin noise levels and cruising speeds close to the little commuter jets they're designed to compete with. It has a Cat II autopilot and instrument landing capability in all but the very worst of conditions (Cat III being worst.)
The weird and dangerous thing about icing in flight is that it can build up on the aircraft while you're at altitude and cruising speed and you'll never know that it's there until you start slowing the airplane down and the extra weight and the effect of the change in the shape of your wings and fuselage due to the ice buildup become apparent.
To offset the problem of ice build up fancy private airplanes and all commercial aircraft have "deicing boots" on the leading edge of the wings and heated propeller blades to keep ice from building up while things are whirling and spinning around at 20,000 feet. Unfortunately the pilot has to actually turn on the deicing systems and then those systems have to work--something not necessary on every flight so the systems could be inoperative or working at less than optimal performance.
My heart goes out to the friends and relatives of 50+ lives that were lost this evening, but I just wish the media would shut up and wait for some tangible data--I say something broke and Icing was possibly an issue--while they leave the bystanders and self-proclaimed experts and armchair quarterbacks to keep their inane opinions and mindless conjecture to themselves.
UPDATE...5:31 AM
The descriptions of the crash scene indicate a "vertical" crash profile rather than a long sliding crash scene entry...giving further creedence to the idea of icing problems or even possibly an engine failure on approach causing the plane to stall, stop flying, and dive into the ground from low altitude.
I woke up after midnight to the news of the Continental commuter flight crash about 6miles short of the Buffalo, NY airport a little after ten PM.
Of course the media--self proclaimed aviation experts because they RIDE commercial airliners with some frequency--is spazzing out offering wild eyed conjecture and interviewing anyone they can find that can spell the word airplane.
I did a Yahoo map search myself and they're not only calling the town of "Clarence Center" simply "Clarence," but the crash scene on "Long Street" is referred to as "Long Road" as of 2:01 AM.
Of course there's the obligatory report of "fire coming out of one engine" and all the other crap that you hear before the final results are available.
The weather on the ground at both Newark where the flight originated and Buffalo where it was due to arrive a few minutes after it crashed was a sloppy misty snow at about 32 degrees F, but based on the weather conditions I see on the NOAA Aviation Weather website there were icing advisories at altitude across the entire state of New York.
The Bombardier Q400 turboprop involved is one of the new generation of "non-jet" commuters that is designed to deliver quiet "near jet" cabin noise levels and cruising speeds close to the little commuter jets they're designed to compete with. It has a Cat II autopilot and instrument landing capability in all but the very worst of conditions (Cat III being worst.)
The weird and dangerous thing about icing in flight is that it can build up on the aircraft while you're at altitude and cruising speed and you'll never know that it's there until you start slowing the airplane down and the extra weight and the effect of the change in the shape of your wings and fuselage due to the ice buildup become apparent.
To offset the problem of ice build up fancy private airplanes and all commercial aircraft have "deicing boots" on the leading edge of the wings and heated propeller blades to keep ice from building up while things are whirling and spinning around at 20,000 feet. Unfortunately the pilot has to actually turn on the deicing systems and then those systems have to work--something not necessary on every flight so the systems could be inoperative or working at less than optimal performance.
My heart goes out to the friends and relatives of 50+ lives that were lost this evening, but I just wish the media would shut up and wait for some tangible data--I say something broke and Icing was possibly an issue--while they leave the bystanders and self-proclaimed experts and armchair quarterbacks to keep their inane opinions and mindless conjecture to themselves.
UPDATE...5:31 AM
The descriptions of the crash scene indicate a "vertical" crash profile rather than a long sliding crash scene entry...giving further creedence to the idea of icing problems or even possibly an engine failure on approach causing the plane to stall, stop flying, and dive into the ground from low altitude.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Happy Birthday Abe
We Could Sure Use A Man Like You Now...
(There's actually a black man in your office...and in spite of what I think personally I'm told he didn't use a crow bar to break in...)
(There's actually a black man in your office...and in spite of what I think personally I'm told he didn't use a crow bar to break in...)
By The Way...He Served In Vietnam
This Idiot Is Truly Incredible...
Here's John sKerry's take yesterday on your ability to spend YOUR money wisely:
I'd like five minutes alone in a dark alley with the arrogant, useless, pandering SOB...when I got done he'd have his fourth "purple heart" and I'd like to see him throw this one over the fence at the White House.
Here's John sKerry's take yesterday on your ability to spend YOUR money wisely:
I'd like five minutes alone in a dark alley with the arrogant, useless, pandering SOB...when I got done he'd have his fourth "purple heart" and I'd like to see him throw this one over the fence at the White House.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
What?
Senator Chucky Schumer (Democrat-NY) Sez...
See who you got spending your children's and grandchildren's money?
I'll probalby die in the next two or three decades, and it all won't really matter to me beyond the next ten or fifteen years I might try to work a little. I still really hate to see the fruition of the "New Deal" and "The Great Society" culminate in yet another level of Class Envy, income consfiscation, and wealth distribution.
Some people just can't be helped, and a whole lot of people would be much better off if given the chance to keep their own money rather than being forced at gunpoint to hand it to the government hoping it will be well spent and some of it might come back to them in at least some form of value added service like a pothole free road or a safe bridge.
I keep wanting to ask this question when the government keeps talking about creating or saving 4,000,000 jobs. Why throw the money at poor people and the lower "middle class" and "working families." How's that going to create jobs?
After all, when was anyone hired by a homeless person or by some guy working two jobs to feed his kids and pay his rent?
Unfortunately, Mr. Schumer...it is the hated upper class and RICH people (but not professional government ass hats like you that never worked an actual day in their miserable, meddling, liberal lives) that start companies and create jobs in the private sector, and GM and Ford and CitiCorp be damned...you and your pompopus elite asshole friends in both houses of Congress are going to rue the day you try to pull this crap with America's wallets.
Wild eyed fanatics shot at Kennedy, Wallace, Ford, and Reagan. I say you and Reid and Pelosi et. al. better watch out because there may be some people out here fed up enough to start sighting in their rifle scopes and heading to the range to dust off their skills.
Can you say R E V O L U T I O N?
We might need one shortly...
See who you got spending your children's and grandchildren's money?
I'll probalby die in the next two or three decades, and it all won't really matter to me beyond the next ten or fifteen years I might try to work a little. I still really hate to see the fruition of the "New Deal" and "The Great Society" culminate in yet another level of Class Envy, income consfiscation, and wealth distribution.
Some people just can't be helped, and a whole lot of people would be much better off if given the chance to keep their own money rather than being forced at gunpoint to hand it to the government hoping it will be well spent and some of it might come back to them in at least some form of value added service like a pothole free road or a safe bridge.
I keep wanting to ask this question when the government keeps talking about creating or saving 4,000,000 jobs. Why throw the money at poor people and the lower "middle class" and "working families." How's that going to create jobs?
After all, when was anyone hired by a homeless person or by some guy working two jobs to feed his kids and pay his rent?
Unfortunately, Mr. Schumer...it is the hated upper class and RICH people (but not professional government ass hats like you that never worked an actual day in their miserable, meddling, liberal lives) that start companies and create jobs in the private sector, and GM and Ford and CitiCorp be damned...you and your pompopus elite asshole friends in both houses of Congress are going to rue the day you try to pull this crap with America's wallets.
Wild eyed fanatics shot at Kennedy, Wallace, Ford, and Reagan. I say you and Reid and Pelosi et. al. better watch out because there may be some people out here fed up enough to start sighting in their rifle scopes and heading to the range to dust off their skills.
Can you say R E V O L U T I O N?
We might need one shortly...
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Did You Watch President Obama's News Conference?
Thirteen Pre-Prepared Questions From Twelve and One Half Admirers Reporters
The highlight, for me, was Helen Thomas' question, presented here verbatim:
"Mr. President, do you think that Pakistan and -- are maintaining the safe havens in Afghanistan for these so-called terrorists? And, also, do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?"
To me what was even more amazing than Helen still being allowed to sit there with her painted lips and her fox stole around her neck was that the President pretended to know what she had asked and he answered her.
I'd have given her a "do what?"
I'm sure in the last part about "Nukes" she was talking about Israel rather than Iran, and I'm insulted with her continued "so called terrorists" dogma.
I just wish someone would stir some extra Metamucil into her Ensure, pop a few Geritol in her mouth and wheel her back to assisted living in suburban Maryland and give us all a break here.
The highlight, for me, was Helen Thomas' question, presented here verbatim:
"Mr. President, do you think that Pakistan and -- are maintaining the safe havens in Afghanistan for these so-called terrorists? And, also, do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?"
To me what was even more amazing than Helen still being allowed to sit there with her painted lips and her fox stole around her neck was that the President pretended to know what she had asked and he answered her.
I'd have given her a "do what?"
I'm sure in the last part about "Nukes" she was talking about Israel rather than Iran, and I'm insulted with her continued "so called terrorists" dogma.
I just wish someone would stir some extra Metamucil into her Ensure, pop a few Geritol in her mouth and wheel her back to assisted living in suburban Maryland and give us all a break here.
Virgil's Valentine Bear Company
If You Can't Join 'Em...Beat 'Em
Anyone but me tired of watching the antics of the three stripper chicks on the Vermont Teddy Bear commercials?
On the late night version...I swear to God...the bimbo recipient says this line:
"...it's so much bigger than I thought...(other girls squealing in the background)...I could just kiss it and kiss it..."
Pluuuueeeeeeaaaassssseeeee...Spare me the innuendo.
UPDATE: I found the long ad in YouTube here:
As an equal opportunity insulter, the guys featured in the ad certainly look like losers that would buy the bears based on the appearance of the girls and the rhetoric delivered in the process of opening a box of goods that virtually everyone in America has heard "will make her think you spent days coming up with..."
No...you saw the ad, googled "Vermont Valentine Bear," gave them your credit card number, and hung up the phone on your way to go buy condoms and cheep wine.
Any way...I checked out the web site and wrote about this same subject tongue and cheek (excuse the pun) a few years ago.
This morning I thought I'd revisit the subject again because looking at the site I see that they're somewhat insensitive and exclusionary in their selection and obvious exploitation of certain societal and racial stereotypes of men this Valentines day.
If I were running my own competing "Virgil's Valentine Bear Company" I'd expect to be forced by government equality mandate to include products based on a WIDE cross section of our ever broadening melting pot society.
Not just white people or black people or construction workers or PHD's like Vermont Bear does.
I've taken a preliminary look this evening in some other places and come up with a few pretty good ideas I think.
As a tribute to the undervalued and oft overlooked American Sanitation Engineer, I'd do something using this guy as the model:
Anyone but me tired of watching the antics of the three stripper chicks on the Vermont Teddy Bear commercials?
On the late night version...I swear to God...the bimbo recipient says this line:
"...it's so much bigger than I thought...(other girls squealing in the background)...I could just kiss it and kiss it..."
Pluuuueeeeeeaaaassssseeeee...Spare me the innuendo.
UPDATE: I found the long ad in YouTube here:
As an equal opportunity insulter, the guys featured in the ad certainly look like losers that would buy the bears based on the appearance of the girls and the rhetoric delivered in the process of opening a box of goods that virtually everyone in America has heard "will make her think you spent days coming up with..."
No...you saw the ad, googled "Vermont Valentine Bear," gave them your credit card number, and hung up the phone on your way to go buy condoms and cheep wine.
Any way...I checked out the web site and wrote about this same subject tongue and cheek (excuse the pun) a few years ago.
This morning I thought I'd revisit the subject again because looking at the site I see that they're somewhat insensitive and exclusionary in their selection and obvious exploitation of certain societal and racial stereotypes of men this Valentines day.
If I were running my own competing "Virgil's Valentine Bear Company" I'd expect to be forced by government equality mandate to include products based on a WIDE cross section of our ever broadening melting pot society.
Not just white people or black people or construction workers or PHD's like Vermont Bear does.
I've taken a preliminary look this evening in some other places and come up with a few pretty good ideas I think.
As a tribute to the undervalued and oft overlooked American Sanitation Engineer, I'd do something using this guy as the model:
Pretty good...huh. After all, everyone doesn't want a CEO Bear or a Donald Trump Bear because it might hurt an ego or two.
Then, while looking through the Vermont Bear offerings I noticed a lack of "diversity" when it came to products aimed at the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered) market and I immediately thought of these guys:
That covers a lot of ground in my book, how about you?
And not to leave out the angry lesbian part of the LGBT equation I thought of this lovely woman...
That particular model would definitely have to be fully clothed and offered in a extra heavy, extra large cardboard box so the price would put it in a different category from say...the Skinny Gay "Brokeback Mountain" Cowboy Bear or the "Indian Chief with the vibrating tommahawk Caricature Bear."
And finally, I noticed lots of "blue collar" offerings on the Vermont site, but they were all mostly based on "Caucasian" Americans. How about a Bear based on one of the hard working guys from another land country that supports our glorious American way of life?
Someone like this "Taxi Driver Bear" guy from the middle east?
...or this cuddly little fellow, "Construction Worker Bear on His Day Off" from south of the border?
I know, I know, I know..you're probably all excited about the idea by now, and I'm hard at work in my spare time working on my bear prototypes but I'm afraid my products won't be making it to market by February 14th.
Bear with me here (no pun intended) as I get organized, and please keep me in mind for next year. I'll keep you informed as things develop.
No Matter What The Politicians Do (Short of Outright Fascism or Socialism)
The Economy's Gonna Improve...
Didn't I tell ya?
Did you take me up on the bet I made with my readers last Friday?
After downplaying the Senate's passage of a newPorkulus "Stimulus" Package the Senate was touting their astute ability to work together to reduce the package below $800 billion, I wrote these prophetic words:
I bet everyone who reads this a dollar of my "stimulus" payment that the final numbers meet or exceed the $900 billion plus cost they started out with Yesterday.
President Obama went on TV tonight to defend the process which is coming to a close this week in conference committee just as the Drudge Report is linking to this story tonight saying the new numbers are now up to $970 Billion.
And they're not finished.
They're saying this thing contains enough money to PAY OFF 90% of the home mortgages in the ENTIRE COUNTRY.
And the other funny thing is that it is all supposed to be about producing jobs...now nearly 4,000,000 of them.
Do the math...that's a cost of $242,500 PER JOB.
And what kind of jobs are we talking about here? Most likely...GOVERNMENT JOBS...because I've worked for myself for over a decade and I've hired a few people and produced a few jobs and private sector jobs don't cost anything close to a quarter million dollars each to create.
Do the math again...$970,000,000,000.00 is enough money to give every single person in the country--legal and illegal--about $3000 each.
And that $9.7 with an 11 exponent behind it??? ...that's not the end of the spending either.
That's just the start of the spending, because much of it will not go away in a couple of years. It's going to become permanent programs and entitlements that will not only go on for years but will GROW into money losing monsters like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
(cue the sounds of the crickets chirping...)
But you know what?
I'm starting to not worry in spite of what they end up doing because a couple of things came to me in the past couple of days that made me feel better.
First of all, there's nothing I can do except complain because the election was over last November and my side lost.
Second, the telephone is starting to ring here in my consulting office's opulent World Headquarters situated on the banks of the mighty Tennessee River. In less than two months of business I'm getting proposal requests and within another couple of months I expect to have business coming in.
You know what the government is going to do for me in the process?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, except come in with a gun and take 1/4 to 1/3 of whatever I manage to earn and use it to pay for this ill founded illness we call government "stimulus."
Just give my money to someone that's spent the last two months sitting around cheering for the process and waiting on their stimulus check.
Third, I don't believe that they would seriously be spending this kind of money if they didn't know what a large minority of the country already knows after living through Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush.
That is, that the economy is cyclic, it takes time to move, and whoever is in the Office of President is usually not responsible for whatever is going on in the economy--positive or negative--for the first two or three years in office...AND...
I say they know things are coming back regardless of what they do, so they're taking advantage of the achievers and producers for twenty years into the future by spending money on their constituents and if things really do improve the President and the Democrats will get the credit for getting things turned around.
They can't lose here, and if this "stimulus package" doesn't do it they'll just spin their eyes around in their heads, the media will join in with the clammoring unemployed masses, and they'll be back knocking on my door in 12 months looking for another trillion and a half dollars to throw down into the Abyss.
They know I and people like me can't afford to fail, and therefore we can't afford for them (the Congress and their brand of Socialism) to fail no matter how much I disagree with them and their policies.
No matter how much I hate having to work for three or four months each year--from January to April--just to pay taxes, here I sit this morning working on the couple of forensic projects I have and working on marketing my services to other companies.
I don't need the President and the Government, state and local, to do anything for me but get the hell out of my way and let me do business.
Do things like reducing or eliminating "incorporation fees" when starting a new business, or not having to pay "business license fees," "professional engineering registration fees," and having to spend a week of my time each year filling out ten pages of income tax forms?
Things like that is what I want in my "stimulus package," Mr. President.
You and your government, just go help somebody else.
Please?
Didn't I tell ya?
Did you take me up on the bet I made with my readers last Friday?
After downplaying the Senate's passage of a new
I bet everyone who reads this a dollar of my "stimulus" payment that the final numbers meet or exceed the $900 billion plus cost they started out with Yesterday.
President Obama went on TV tonight to defend the process which is coming to a close this week in conference committee just as the Drudge Report is linking to this story tonight saying the new numbers are now up to $970 Billion.
And they're not finished.
They're saying this thing contains enough money to PAY OFF 90% of the home mortgages in the ENTIRE COUNTRY.
And the other funny thing is that it is all supposed to be about producing jobs...now nearly 4,000,000 of them.
Do the math...that's a cost of $242,500 PER JOB.
And what kind of jobs are we talking about here? Most likely...GOVERNMENT JOBS...because I've worked for myself for over a decade and I've hired a few people and produced a few jobs and private sector jobs don't cost anything close to a quarter million dollars each to create.
Do the math again...$970,000,000,000.00 is enough money to give every single person in the country--legal and illegal--about $3000 each.
And that $9.7 with an 11 exponent behind it??? ...that's not the end of the spending either.
That's just the start of the spending, because much of it will not go away in a couple of years. It's going to become permanent programs and entitlements that will not only go on for years but will GROW into money losing monsters like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
(cue the sounds of the crickets chirping...)
But you know what?
I'm starting to not worry in spite of what they end up doing because a couple of things came to me in the past couple of days that made me feel better.
First of all, there's nothing I can do except complain because the election was over last November and my side lost.
Second, the telephone is starting to ring here in my consulting office's opulent World Headquarters situated on the banks of the mighty Tennessee River. In less than two months of business I'm getting proposal requests and within another couple of months I expect to have business coming in.
You know what the government is going to do for me in the process?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, except come in with a gun and take 1/4 to 1/3 of whatever I manage to earn and use it to pay for this ill founded illness we call government "stimulus."
Just give my money to someone that's spent the last two months sitting around cheering for the process and waiting on their stimulus check.
Third, I don't believe that they would seriously be spending this kind of money if they didn't know what a large minority of the country already knows after living through Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush.
That is, that the economy is cyclic, it takes time to move, and whoever is in the Office of President is usually not responsible for whatever is going on in the economy--positive or negative--for the first two or three years in office...AND...
I say they know things are coming back regardless of what they do, so they're taking advantage of the achievers and producers for twenty years into the future by spending money on their constituents and if things really do improve the President and the Democrats will get the credit for getting things turned around.
They can't lose here, and if this "stimulus package" doesn't do it they'll just spin their eyes around in their heads, the media will join in with the clammoring unemployed masses, and they'll be back knocking on my door in 12 months looking for another trillion and a half dollars to throw down into the Abyss.
They know I and people like me can't afford to fail, and therefore we can't afford for them (the Congress and their brand of Socialism) to fail no matter how much I disagree with them and their policies.
No matter how much I hate having to work for three or four months each year--from January to April--just to pay taxes, here I sit this morning working on the couple of forensic projects I have and working on marketing my services to other companies.
I don't need the President and the Government, state and local, to do anything for me but get the hell out of my way and let me do business.
Do things like reducing or eliminating "incorporation fees" when starting a new business, or not having to pay "business license fees," "professional engineering registration fees," and having to spend a week of my time each year filling out ten pages of income tax forms?
Things like that is what I want in my "stimulus package," Mr. President.
You and your government, just go help somebody else.
Please?
Monday, February 09, 2009
Not Reading Drug Directions
Yields Unreliable Results...
I was all excited when I got this free sample in the mail last week aimed at middle aged men.
We went out, had dinner and a few drinks, then rushed home to try it out.
Well...I don't know if I should be telling this or not...but dang if this drug isn't intended to be taken orally.
Silly me...I thought it went in the other end, and see what happened...
(sorry...I just can't help poking fun at TV ads these days.)
I was all excited when I got this free sample in the mail last week aimed at middle aged men.
We went out, had dinner and a few drinks, then rushed home to try it out.
Well...I don't know if I should be telling this or not...but dang if this drug isn't intended to be taken orally.
Silly me...I thought it went in the other end, and see what happened...
(sorry...I just can't help poking fun at TV ads these days.)
Sunday, February 08, 2009
So "A-Rod" Took Steroids?
Does Anyone Else But Me Not Give A Crap?
Next thing we know the media will be telling us this guy sold the drugs to him...
What ever happened to "I'm strong to the finish...'cause I eats me spinach???"
Next thing we know the media will be telling us this guy sold the drugs to him...
What ever happened to "I'm strong to the finish...'cause I eats me spinach???"
I'm Starting A "Political Activist" Campaign
Anyone Care To Join Me?
So can anyone tell me if the FBI will come knocking at my door if I mail all 100 US Senators a pack of these?
Maybe I could start a campaign and get people in all 50 states to send their Congressmen a pack of Peanut butter crackers or some Reeses Cups.
I'd be willing to coordinate the effort from here if I knew that they wouldn't act the same way they do these days when someone mails out envelopes full of talcum powder or corn starch.
I did defy fate and buy a new jar of my beloved Peter Pan Peanut Butter yesterday. Some of you probably think that I'm crazy but if you've been paying attention the tainted product is only included in "processed foods"...not in the jar variety like was the case a couple of years ago when my brand (Peter Pan) disappeared from the shelves for a half a year.
In closing I'd like to remind everyone that in spite of the fact that the company which shipped the contaminated product is initially responsible, you can also blame your beloved Socialistic GOVERNMENT--through the FDA and the Department of Agriculture-- for not adequately carrying out their oversight and inspection roles.
We pay a zillion dollars a year in taxes and the US Congress takes the money that should be "earmarked" to fund food inspection at the source (in the fields and barns) and in the factory where it is processed and diverts it off into competing areas while stupid companies like this ship pureed rats and roaches to your schools for your kids to eat.
dammit...
So can anyone tell me if the FBI will come knocking at my door if I mail all 100 US Senators a pack of these?
Maybe I could start a campaign and get people in all 50 states to send their Congressmen a pack of Peanut butter crackers or some Reeses Cups.
I'd be willing to coordinate the effort from here if I knew that they wouldn't act the same way they do these days when someone mails out envelopes full of talcum powder or corn starch.
I did defy fate and buy a new jar of my beloved Peter Pan Peanut Butter yesterday. Some of you probably think that I'm crazy but if you've been paying attention the tainted product is only included in "processed foods"...not in the jar variety like was the case a couple of years ago when my brand (Peter Pan) disappeared from the shelves for a half a year.
In closing I'd like to remind everyone that in spite of the fact that the company which shipped the contaminated product is initially responsible, you can also blame your beloved Socialistic GOVERNMENT--through the FDA and the Department of Agriculture-- for not adequately carrying out their oversight and inspection roles.
We pay a zillion dollars a year in taxes and the US Congress takes the money that should be "earmarked" to fund food inspection at the source (in the fields and barns) and in the factory where it is processed and diverts it off into competing areas while stupid companies like this ship pureed rats and roaches to your schools for your kids to eat.
dammit...
