I Got A Didgeridoo

Are They Legal Where You Live, And Am I Weird Or What?


I've been wanting one of these for a couple of years now, so I just picked one up tonight on the Internet from some hippies out in California:

(No Rusty, I'm gonna play music on it...not smoke it...and I have to come up with my own feathers and vegetation to wear while playing it...)

What it is is a "Didgeridoo", an instrument designed by the native Australian Aboriginal Peoples.

I've had some success in the past playing wind instruments like the trumpet and the harmonica, I know that I've had limited success with and could probably play the piano successfully in public if I bought one and put my mind to it, and I've fiddled (excuse the pun) with the violin a little but found it and the guitar to be of lessor interest and greater effort than I could muster with my scatter-brained lifestyle.

Enter the Didgeridoo, stage right...

These things are really cool sounding. They make that eerie woooommmmm waaaaawwwwww wooommmmmm waaaaaaawwww "droning" sound that you've heard in the movies and on TV.

No, I don't expect to make any money playing my Didgeridoo for throngs of cheering fans anytime in the near future, I just want to display mine in my living room and piss Pat off while she's trying to sleep entertain myself late at night when I'm tired of blogging.

Next on the acquisition list is a pair of Caribbean Style Steel Drums...something like this would do nicely:



I've got to go now...I need time to practice my circular breathing...

Almost Done

How's This?

My Haunted House

Pumpkin Carving Ideas

What about this for a carving design?



Comments...Questions...Suggestions???

I'm the Pumpkin Pie King Pied Piper

More Public Art...At Private Expense


Well, the phone call came in here about 11 AM.

I have a 150 pound pumpkin, and now on October 30th I have an audience of 95 kids to watch me carve it into something as yet to be determined.

Anyone got any good Ideas?

Where Do We Go?

And How Many People Do We Have To Slap?


Forget my head exploding...

Forget my head rotating (even at supersonic velocity)...

I'm just turning red in the face and standing up while writing this posting.

Just look at this crap:

ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you're out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, S.C., school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

Dang it ladies and gentlemen, but I think that, instead of carving my big Pumpkin, I'll just drive up to Massachusetts and drop it on one of the school board member’s feet.

My pumpkin obviously has more brains than all of these Politically Correct Boston liberals.

IDIOTS...

So Many Lawyers...

So Few Legitimate Torts Little Time…


Would somebody please take a look at this stupid crap this so called “news” story for a moment and explain these peoples' logic to me?

Go ahead and take your time…

I’ve got the rest of my life…

Here’s an excerpt for those of you too lazy to click on the link:

MARION, Ind. - Relatives of a university student misidentified as a classmate who was killed in highway accident have told officials they plan to sue over handling of the crash.

The so-called tort claim on behalf of survivor Whitney Cerak, her parents and sister targets the actions of Grant County Coroner Ron Mowery in identifying four Taylor University students and one employee who were killed in the April 26 crash.

Grant County officials on Monday received the tort claim, a legal step required under state law before a government agency can be sued. The claim argues Mowery was "not properly trained and educated" as a coroner and that he "failed to exercise reasonable care" to avoid the misidentification.

The claim seeks unspecified damages for emotional trauma.

So think about this with me for a minute...someone you love with all of your heart is reported to be killed in a car accident, then two weeks later you find out that they are actually still alive.

What do you do, sue the messenger?

If that were the case, the US Army would have gone out of business in WWI as a result of lawsuits over inaccurate killed/missing in action reports delivered to mothers and wives here stateside.

Two wrongs never make things right, and in this case this lawsuit appears to be totally unwarranted and totally absurd.

That's not to say that there's not a good chance that, given our current legal climate, they might not win a judgment in their favor, but will their windfall be based on additional medical costs caused by the coroner's proported negligence (and there were no costs--the young lady went straight to the hospital from the accident scene...) or our "jackpot mentality" touted by the legions of Tort Lawyers wandering late night TV commercials and printing ads on the back of your local Yellowpage Phone Books.

Some of you may remember the original story about the April 26th crash involving a tractor trailer and a College van, killing five and severely injuring four of the vehicle’s occupants.

The Cerak family’s argument and resulting lawsuit results from the fact that at first they were told that their 19 year old daughter, Whitney Cerak, was killed in the accident, and continued to believe that she was dead for a couple of weeks.

It was actually 22-year-old Laura VanRyn who was the fatally injured victim.

The VanRyn family kept vigil beside Whitney’s bedside for a couple of weeks, only realizing her true identity when she awoke from her coma and was able to speak coherently.

So why aren't the Cerak's suing the VanRyn's also, since they couldn't tell their own mutilated daughter from the Cerak's mutilated daughter?

I also like to point out that a key point of the lawsuit questions the coroner's "handling" of the accident victims.

Let's see here...the dead people were buried, and the live people were sent to the hospital, weren't they?

It's not like that the coroner sent the live girl to the morgue (thereby denying her of emergency medical treatment) or hit her in the head with a hammer to stop her from thrashing around at the accident scene--at least as far as I've heard.

So are the VanRyn's out there somewhere waiting to see the outcome of the Cerak's legal follies, in anticipation of hitting the financial jackpot themselves?

Probably, but maybe not...

My position here is that this family should be content to rejoice that Whitney actually survived her ordeal, then shut up and go sit home and in church with their recently recovered daughter, all the time counting their blessings, rather than hiring a lawyer and suing the county for a coroner’s innocent mistake.

After all, it’s common published knowledge that the girls bore a striking resemblance to each other, and in this day and time of many kids having virtually cavity free teeth, even dental records might not have provided any assistance in the identification process.

I also suspect that some member of the Cerak family was asked to do an initial identification of the body of VanRyn, and there might not have been an autopsy, but the family could possibly share some responsibility for the mistake.

Further, maybe these two young women were in the 2% small minority of young women in the US that don’t have rings and studs protruding from their faces and tattoos covering their breasts and the small of their backs--making the identification process even harder.

Regardless, I think that if anyone should be the target of the lawsuit, it should be the truck driver that caused the accident and possibly the trucking company that operated the equipment.

And in a final moment of political incorrectness, I have to admit that if I were the coroner, I’d be tempted to ask if the Cerak family would drop the lawsuit if I rented a truck and finished what the other driver started.

(OK, I just felt like saying the last paragraph, but I really don't think like that, so don't be e-mailing me with your whiny complaints...)

It's The Great Pumpkin

Where's Charlie Brown & Linus When You Need Them?


Late this afternoon I wandered over to Harris Teeter looking for only TWO things--a newspaper and a bag of Sauerkraut to go with my Knockwurst and Bratwurst for dinner tonight.

Fifteen minutes later, I ended up coming home with THIS MONSTROSITY…




That creature would be a 30” diameter PUMPKIN that weighs about 150 pounds.

It took the efforts of myself and two bag boys to load it into the back of my Suburban, and the cargo net, bungee cords, and various blocks and shims were installed to keep it from rolling around in traffic, thereby killing me on my way home from the store.

In the back of my suburban is exactly where it’s going to stay too, at least while I cut a hole in the top of it, scoop out the seeds and extra flesh, then I hope to haul it over to one of the local elementary schools to do a pumpkin carving demonstration.

You see, I like to make my own 3-D patterns and do things that look like this two years ago…



And it looked like this in the dark…


No...that's Herman Munster, not John Kerry... And last year I found a Georgia Tech logo in a little pumpkin:



Unfortunately, today on my way home from the store with my newly purchased vegetable prize I suddenly had the grim realization that most politically correct schools don’t officially do Halloween anymore, so I may just have to lug the darn thing up the stairs and let it sit and rot outside my own front door until the end of the month.

Not to worry, because now I have my friend Keenan, the owner of Ziggy Mahoney's (the most popular dance club here on the island) checking out his kids' private school's interest in having their own Pumpkin carving.

One way or the other...it'll get carved and displayed, and finally I guess I have to ask the obvious question…

“Anyone need a couple dozen Pumpkin Pies?”

Feeling Small? (Part II)

This One's For The Ladies...

Feeling a bit small?

I Do Now...

Ghee Whizz

Should I Buy a Motel 6, Or A Seven-Eleven?


Anybody out there know what “Ghee” is? I’m proud to say that I do now…

“Ghee” is the Indian word for a batch of carefully clarified unsalted butter, and I had no idea until last night what the heck it was myself.

You use it in cooking Indian cuisine, and I used some of my Ghee to make a variation on this version of Chicken & Vegetable Curries.

I lightly steamed some broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and celery, then cubed up some boneless chicken breasts, and cooked up a nice batch of Basmati rice to serve everything with for dinner.

The other fun thing was that I did everything from scratch, including making my own batch of Garam Masala--the spice blend that puts the “Curry flavor” in your Indian Curry.

Garam Masala includes things like coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, black cumin seeds (shahjeera), dry ginger, black cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and crushed bay leaves.

Turmeric powder and coconut milk finishes off the sauce and gives it it’s characteristic yellow/green color.

The house still smells fabulous right now.

The only things I didn’t have on hand was the black cardamon and black cumin seeds, but the resulting flavors of my mixture--even without these two items--roasted and pounded by hand to a fine powder in my mortar/pestle, were quite acceptable.

I'm gonna try to find those two additional spices and then I’m going to repeat my efforts again next week while trying my hand at making some Indian parantha flat bread to go with it all.

In the mean time, I have some other meals planned featuring Turkish delicacies and possibly some Egyptian dishes, thereby completing my tour of cooking my way around the Mediterranean --having already completed my French, Italian, Greek, and Moroccan studies earlier this year.

Don't you wish that you were eating dinner at my house these days?

Poetic Justice

Idiots In Traffic--A continuing Theme…


I was a complete bum most of the day today, after spending much of last night working on a couple of proposals for consulting and construction work and my continued efforts to get this new computer formatted and operational.

Then Pat and I did a late afternoon bike ride, covering the six mile round trip from our home on the marsh up to Fort Frederica in less than 40 minutes, but upon our return I was too tired to face an hour or so cooking my planned entree, authentic Chicken Curries.

As a result of my “Chickening out,” I was forced to drive a few miles south to the local deli to pick up a Greek salad and a Sub sandwich. In the process, I once again encountered another ignorant arrogant asshole one of our indigenous resident’s with a severe case of self-importance.

About half way to the Deli, buzzing along at about 36 MPH in a 35 MPH zone, I looked in my rear view mirror and all I saw was a windshield and the top of a hood ornament on a late model white Mercedes coupe.

I didn’t budge a half MPH.

As I neared my destination in the shopping center, I broke one of my cardinal rules and entered the turn lane a bit early--hoping that my co-pilot would simply continue onward at his desired higher rate of speed.

I was WRONG.

Like a member of the Blue Angels stunt team, he hung right there with me a few feet off of my rear bumper, and then made the left turn into the parking lot still “flying in formation.”

What really pissed me off was that his tight formation position caused me to drift past a couple of parking spaces, and only after he dove into one of the spaces which he caused me to miss did I manage to park twenty yards down the lot on the opposite side.

The son of a bitch had the audacity to glare at me as he virtually sprinted in the door of the deli ahead of me, placing his order…fumbling for exact change, then spending the next few minutes hiding behind the potato chip rack, impatiently drumming his fingers on the top of the stainless steel counter.

I, on the other hand, being the laid back, useless beach bum that I am, calmly placed my order and wandered around out front of the shop enjoying the nice cool evening.

When I walked back inside, I arrived just in time to witness my adversary complaining because “I know I forgot to say it…but you guys know I always have whole wheat bread with my chicken salad sandwich…”

Well now...just let me issure a giagantic "Boo hoo HooooooooooOOOO" on his behalf.

Since he was in too much of a hurry to wait another three minutes for the 16 year old kid working the counter to make a replacement sandwich, he simply left the shop in a huff.

So sad....and although he deserved it, I never said a single word to him, but he did see me smirking at his delimma.

I really hope that he perceived the rest of his evening to be as shitty as the fifteen minute portion which I witnessed.

Maybe he even managed to survive the balance of his drive home without having a heart attack...but you never know.

I, personally, refuse to live here on our little Island and be in that much of a hurry and, in spite of idiots like this fellow encountered this afternoon, thus far I think that I’m definitely getting my money’s worth.

Survival Of The Fittest

More Public Stupidity


My regular readers know that two of my favorite reoccurring themes here on this blog are those of driving autos and riding bicycles or walking as a pedestrian on the public streets and in the parking lots here on our little island.

While I’ve previously issued what I think to be the definitive mandate when it comes to traffic safety, after my trip to the grocery store today I believe that a refresher course is in order…

Today I almost killed three people accidentally, and when the two events were over with, after averting disaster caused by their own STUPIDITY, I almost went ahead and killed them anyway just to get them off the streets and out of the food chain.

Be advised that IF I ever manage to strike you with a motor vehicle, that under most circumstances, I will shift into reverse to back over your quivering carcass, thereby finishing the job of ending your miserable life.

Sue me…if you will…

Today’s first circumstance revolved around a family of four riding their shiny bicycles parallel to Frederica Road, the main north/south artery here on our little island. The problem I have with groups of bicyclists is that they seem to act like they are a freight train, connected together at the front and rear bumper of their bikes--if one does something, everybody does it regardless of safety and traffic conditions.

You see, Saint Simons has an extensive network of wide sidewalks which also serve as bike trails, and perhaps as many as one out of ten people here on the island either own or rent a bike to use on a daily basis.

The problem comes when the men and enthusiastic older children ride well ahead of the women and younger child(ren), thereby causing a 100 foot long chain of potential dead humans--all because they don‘t pay attention while crossing intersections on side streets.

Today’s adventure included what appeared to be a mid-teenaged daughter and portly dad, dragging a young boy and middle aged woman along the bike path.

When the SUV two vehicles ahead of me stopped dead on Frederica before turning right onto a side street in order to avoid the daughter/father grouping, instead of stopping, the mother son group just sped up and made six or eight vehicles wait as they caught up to the balance of the biking party.

I was almost rear ended by the car behind me in the process.

Having survived that near disaster unscathed, next came the usual adventure visiting the local grocery store parking lot, a place that twenty years ago I would have already been arrested in for assault because of the stupidity that I have witnessed or otherwise been subjected to over the past 2-½ years.

This portion of my shopping trip was relatively uneventful, the checkout lines were uncluttered, but upon returning to my vehicle everything changed. As I was backing out of my parking space, with at least 50% of the Mustang sticking out into the lane and still rolling backward, some silly bitch drove down the traffic isle--blabbing on a cellphone--and cut off not only my efforts but at least two other autos over the next fifty yards of asphalt.

I call this maneuver “the parking lot slalom course”--and all of you self-important assholes out there that do it know who you are and exactly what I’m talking about.

Stop it, dang it…it pisses me off…and it’s WRONG.

If a car is already rolling backwards and is at least half way out of a parking space, STOP.

At least YIELD.

I swear, if I manage to live into my eighties, I’m going to buy an old Studebaker or possibly a Sherman Tank and I’m going to lurk around parking lots and when I see you exhibit behavior like I saw today, when you come back out of the store with your Brie and Champaign you’re going to find your Escalade or BMW sitting there in the form of about six inches of flattened metal and plastic.

Think about it…and to all of the safe, courteous drivers out there…YOU have a nice day...

Rechargable Batteries

I Take Mine For Granted These Days...


Way back about 1980 I was employed by a company that designed and built custom low humidity air handlers and "clean rooms."

Most of our customers at the time were companies involved in the manufacture of Lithium batteries for industry and medical products like pacemakers. Lithium batteries made their public debut by powering the “Lunar Rover” vehicle that the Apollo astronauts drove around in the early 1970’s on the moon.

Some of you might remember that in those days most rechargeable batteries were bulky, cumbersome contraptions that, after sitting attached to the wall outlet charging overnight, would last about fifteen minutes in your “portable power screwdriver“, after which time your “portable power screwdriver” worked better as a hammer--as that was the only way to install screws after the batteries had discharged.

Lithium batteries represented a MAJOR improvement.

Now fast forward to 2006, and most of us take rechargeable batteries for granted. Heck, today I think that most children think that long lasting rechargable batteries grow on trees.

Cell phones, portable phones, laptop computers, digital cameras…you name it, most people have a half dozen sets of rechargeable batteries in their home and/or car at any given moment.

About 2 AM this morning, standing on the cart path adjacent to 18th hole of the Sea Palms Golf Course, I found myself to be in possession of only one set of rechargeable batteries after dismounting from my bicycle.

One tripod, one bicycle, one digital camera, and…

DEAD BATTERIES.

We all missed some awesome images of a spectacular October moonrise over the marsh.

Sorry

If You Can’t Say Nuthin’ Nice--Don’t Say Nuthin’ At All…

The Silence Of The Lambs Pachyderms


I’m sorry, but to my regular readers I feel the need to offer my sincerest apology for the low quantity of ranting and writing recently--but I have to admit that I’ve been distracted with other matters, things like making a bit of money here and there.

Call me a capitalist…I’ll confess…

Meanwhile, there’s some really crazy stuff happening out there in the world, and I don’t believe that you need me to provide “closed captioning” or “English subtitles” to explain the insanity of the situations.

For instance, my favorite recent story is that of the young man from Pennsylvania who hired a Mariachi band and rode an elephant around the Rio Grande on the border outside of Brownsville, Texas for HOURS, and never managed to get the attention of the US border patrol in the process.

Elephants, a six-piece mariachi band and a former reality TV contestant stood at the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Don't wait for the punch line.

It's not a joke but a political stunt by Raj Bhakta, a Republican looking to unseat Democratic incumbent Allyson Schwartz in the 13th Congressional District, to prove the sad state of border security in the nation.

Bhakta, best known for being fired on “The Apprentice” in 2004, hired elephants and a mariachi band to draw attention to the lack of security along the border between the United States and Mexico on Tuesday.

“It was a shock to see that we have almost no border security. It's a joke,” Bhakta said.

“The elephant never made landfall into Mexico, but I tell you something, he could have made 15 laps back and forth, but no one showed up,” Bhakta said in Wednesday's editions of The Brownsville (Texas) Herald.

He said he and his crew were there for “at least an hour.”

Bhakta, who was in the area of the U.S.-Mexican border raising money for his campaign, said he got the idea after seeing men swim under an international bridge without getting caught.

Circus producer James Plunkett told the newspaper he was hired for the photo shoot and provided three elephants.

Think about that situation for a while while I take a little morning snooze, then I’ll stop back by to provide some additional commentary.

Is George Steinbrenner A Supporter of Terrorism?

You Heard It Here First


Apparently a NY Yankee's pitcher went out and flew his half million dollar Cirrus airplane (in the style of JFK JR) into a mid-rise apartment building on the East River in NYC.

More hysteria to ensue...stay tuned...

MORE

Look HERE for the story of Cory Lidle's demise.

I'm just glad I live way out down here in eastern bumblef**k on the rural Georgia coast rather than in a major metropolitan area so when something like this happens we are instantly sure that the Muslims aren't responsible.

Now where's my parachute and bungee cord....

Credibility…Or The Lack Thereof

Taking Oneself Way, Way, WAY Too Seriously…


Have I mentioned here on the blog that my IQ has been tested to be somewhere near 140? (I don’t remember the exact number, nor does it matter in the course of this dissertation at this moment.)

Something else I need to mention is that I also happen to know more about the design and construction of industrial smokestacks than perhaps all but a few hundred people in the entire world.

Whoop teee Dooooo.. .with that and a buck...I can get a cup of coffee at the local diner...

That said, does anyone honestly believe that YOU should be arbitrarily forced to listen to anything that I have to say about politics and world events, except on a totally voluntary basis?

Don't you come here to this blog VOLUNTARILY, for FREE, and if you don't like what you hear and see you are free to leave and never come back--your only cost being the time spent with my commentary searing your retinas?

Enter, Stage Right Madam Barbara Streisand--actor, singer, and now ...

POLITICAL PONTIFICATOR (or possibly POLITICAL FORNICATOR)

Here’s my point…just because I’m really intelligent and I can design and build smokestacks, why should you be ambushed and forced to listen to me and my political rants simply because you happen to stop by my office to place an order for a 250 foot tall stack?

I say not, but…

Miss Streisand, for some reason, seems to think that if you and I decide to show up at one of her concerts that she, just like the Dixie Twits Dixie Chicks, should be allowed to make uncontested political commentary to all of the unsuspecting patrons when the tickets were actually sold for the purpose of presenting a musical concert.

There was Streisand, enduring a smattering of loud jeers as she and "George Bush" — a celebrity impersonator — muddled through a skit that portrayed the president as a bumbling idiot.

Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it had gone on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing like she had been doing for the past hour.

"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored during the sketch as she and "Bush" exchanged zingers. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.

"Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"

With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered — no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.

Once the outburst (which Streisand later apologized for) was over, Streisand noted that "the artist's role is to disturb," and delivered a message of tolerance before launching into a serenely beautiful rendition of "Somewhere." That put the focus back on what the audience came for — her voice, one of the greatest female instruments of her generation.

Obviously, I won’t be buying any tickets to her shows (although I like her acting and singing), but how the liberals like Miss Barbara can get all upset and start issuing profanity laced statements at their audiences while expecting Ann Coulter and other conservatives to put up with pies in the face and Columbia University students to be allowed to rush the stage at “Minute man” speeches is beyond me.

I guess that I'm just a miserable old ever greying, ever balding, old fart libertarian.

And while I’m at it, I’d like to say that Ted Turner should just take his billions home to his Wyoming ranch with a big fat bottle of Glen Livit Scotch and proceed to shut the heck up--because it seems to me that thus far he’s wasteing the good Scotch and ruining everyone else’s buzz in the process.

OK, that will be all, for now (I’m busy calculating…)

I Think That My Head Is Going To Explode...

AGAIN...(my favorite title, with a slightly different topic...)


Here, I can hardly write or speak right now after hearing about it, but I want you to click on the link and go read this story about a FEMA funded program, Project Hope, which has thus far paid about $22.6 Million of the taxpayers' money to fund "Puppet Shows and Bingo games" benefiting what are describe as Florida victims of last year’s Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.

Last year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Florida $22.6 million for "crisis counseling" for victims of hurricanes Wilma and Katrina.

Florida's program, called Project H.O.P.E. -- Helping Our People in Emergencies -- is still in operation with about 450 workers across the state who spend much of their time leading games and performing shows for residents -- regardless of whether they're in crisis or even experienced the storms, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has found.

I might have to remind some of you that Katrina did blow across south Florida just before crashing into Louisiana and washing all of the stains and vermin off of the New Orleans streets and doing a little "Urban Renewal" demolition, but it was hardly more than a big mass of thunderstorms when it blew across Miami. I know someone that lives there and I got a first-hand account of the proceedings at the time.

Floyd, as I recall, managed to toss around some tree limbs and wreck a little havoc on some retiree's trailers, but again I hardly could vote for extra bingo and yoga on the beach when there is already a bingo parlor and Jai-alai arena every fifty yards up and down the Florida Turnpike and US 1.

So why the hoopla and government cash infusions?

Oh, I remember now, there's a shortage of PORK in south Florida during Hurricane season...the pigs all fly north (in the style of a popular Pink Floyd album and in respectful deferrence in order to avoid any lingering persons of the Jewish persuasion that might not have the will nor the means to escape back to Kew Gardens, NY during the balmy south Florida Summer months.)

What really makes my head spin at an even higher RPM is this little detail...

In an effort to protect the “privacy” of the so-called “victims” which are supposed to be served by the program, FEMA has caused Project Hope to find their beneficiaries not by receiving addresses and phone number information from the government, but by forcing the program's employees into driving around the city asking people if they’ve been traumatized by the aforementioned storms and doing things like looking for blue tarps on the roofs of houses and apartment buildings.

Dammit all people, but I have to ask…when will the government insanity end?

And more importantly, why do they insist on using MY money to prosecute their follies?

New Computer Takes Nose Dive

Patience Wearing Thin...


My heart sank into my shoes about 1 PM today when the new HP laptop froze up and wouldn't re-boot.

I fumbled around with the F10 key and system diagnostics, and the report was not good:

Hard Drive Test Failed.

Just DAMN.

After spending five and one half days deleting all of the crappy demo software (Quicken, AOL, MSN, etc.) and installing some really big programs and getting everything configured, I was really afraid that I was looking at sending my computer back to HP for service.

In looking at the Circuit City paperwork, they confidently demand a 15% restocking charge, IF you bring the computer back within the first 14 days after purchase and IF you've opened the box.

Since I, like most people, have trouble typing on a keyboard and viewing a display through heavy cardboard, my computer's box had been opened on day one, so returning the machine to the retailer and getting a new one somewhere else was not much of an option.

As usual, I couldn't find anyone in the state of Georgia that could make a decision about replacing the machine without making me ship it back to HP, so in desperation I did something unusual...

I READ THE LITTLE THIN PAPER MANUAL THAT CAME WITH THE MACHINE.

Low and behold, I found a possible remedy. As luck would have it, on Sunday I tried a new windows feature that allows you to make a System recovery partition on the hard disk to use in the event that your Windows Boot files and sectors get corrupted.

I closed my eyes, hit the F11 key on startup, and TWO HOURS later I had a functioning computer again.

The only loss in the end of the ordeal was a few word processor files and a little Photoshop work I had done, along with all of the software that I had installed from CD's--things like Photoshop and my Cannon camera software.

I also lost all of my favorites list in Internet Explorer that I was rebuilding from scratch. Regardless of how many dozens of hours it will take to get me back to where I was this morning, anything is better than shipping the computer back to HP and waiting a couple of weeks for it to return, because...

I'm actually busy WORKING right now…

A Nuclear North Korea?

Peacenicks And America Bashers Celebrate...


I was watching FOX News last night when the news broke about North Korea possibly doing the test of a nuclear weapon.

As usual with the "professional media", nobody really knew anything for certain as the story broke, but FOX news and CNN proceeded to spazz out and incrementally introduce details like seismograph data and comments from world leaders and the usual suspects—the so called “media experts.”.

Assuming that there really was some kind of nuclear event in Korea, or that there will be one in the near future without substantial intervention, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of these little historical details.

In WWII, most of the US military walked away from Europe with a divided German State, leaving the Russians free to later conquer most of south western Asia and Eastern Europe. It took until the late 1980’s to allow the resulting confederation of communist states called the USSR to self implode for economic reasons.

Then, in the early 1950’s “Korean War,” we walked away for the Goryeo Peninsula leaving a “demilitarized zone” and a major quantity of US military troops dividing communist North Korea from democratic South Korea.

Ten Presidents and over fifty years later, we’re now looking a failed North Korean economy funding an unelected government and military which chooses to starve their own people as they threaten their neighbors in the region (South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) if not the balance of world power and stability.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il seems to be quite happy doing his "saber rattling” while being fecklessly watched by the United Nations and our domestic Democrats/Peacenicks.

Hopefully some of our elected leaders and all of you mindless anti-war idiots out there will finally get the idea that a policy of “leaving them alone” will do nothing but incubate regional aggression, terrorism, and insane rhetoric from people like the little troll North Korean leader.

His most recent stated reason for wanting a big Bomb?

The threat of a US nuclear attack.

Yeah, RIGHTTTTTTTT…Mr. Jong-il…

If the US wanted to, we could improve South Korea to island status by eliminating their connection through North Korea to mainland Asia-but I know that that won’t happen.

Just sit back and watch the stupidity as it develops, with Pelosi and Kerry saying we should do it “smarter”, the UN paralyzed with indecision, China and Russia twiddling their thumbs on the Security Council, and the Iranian leader issuing mindless bullshit statements and cheering Jong-il on.

I’ve got to go now, thinking about this is making my head hurt…

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After thinking about this issue for a while, I find Kim Jong-il's rational for a nuclear weapons program--the threat of an attack by the US--to be even more absurd than I found it at first glance.

Does anyone believe that they could actually develop enough bombs and missiles to counter the inventory of munitions currently in the NATO and US inventories?

All Korea could possibly end up doing, besides continuing to extort concessions and economic "incentives" out of the rest of the nations of the world in return for false promices of discontinuing their atomic efforts, would be to possibly lob a few explosions in the direction of US allies like Japan (like Sadam did to Israel in the first gulf war) or to supply tools for worldwide terrorism.

And by the way, if I were in the Chinese government, I'd be EXTREMELY PISSED OFF because China has repeatedly gone to bat for the Koreans on the world stage and in the UN, supporting Korea's right to have a nuclear program for peaceful energy purposes, and now they simply look like 3 billion duplicitous idiots.

Money Can't Buy Happiness

But It Sure Comes Close...


Take a look at this little toy I ran into last week at the bicycle shop:



It's a 1951 Schwinn "Whizzer"--a gas powered bicycle.

Notice that it has pedals, and that's how you start the little gas motor.

Thousands of these were made, often from kits, between the late 1930's and early 1950's.

One thing that I noticed is that it's very heavy, weight wise. I found out when I helped the shop owner pick it up off a rack on the back of his SUV.

I would have loved to try to ride it, but since it's worth about $5,000 and the owner wasn't there to give me permission, the best I could do was give it a good going over visually and with the camera.

Speaking of bikes, it's time to go ride mine. I'm doing about five miles a day right now as I get my lungs and legs back into shape.

See y'all later...