Reflections

As we slowly fade back into the cute puppy stories and Fluffy the cat does it's antics, time to chillax (gad I hate that word) and ponder the glory days of yesteryear (after all what other pressing engagements do I have that can't wait till tomorrow?). Hard to believe that this creaky old body could once do handsprings but yes it's true. One of the only ones in gym class to accomplish the feat with no spotter or mechanical assistance. But years take their toll and the last time I tried nearly passed out from the blood flow. I thought black stars swirling the head only happened in cartoons.

Digging through the gray matter it still amazes my how I made it this far. They say you can tempt fate only so many times before statistics catch up to you. Guess I beat the odds at least for now. But with passing of time, a few minor battle scares and painful joints, comes wisdom. The smarts to know that you better not try that again or the body will let you have it. Yes I can still do a few things once though impossible but that list is shrinking. Let the whipper snappers suffer the indignities and pain while I stand back and direct traffic. Problem is they haven't learned the lazy man's ways and you can't tell them anything. Let them find out for themselves then. They'll find out the hard way just like we did in our day. And at some point midlife they too will begin to realize that you don't live forever and parts do wear out. I'll just sit here with a smug look on my face and watch the show.

Remember I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together...  Red Green

Mon Dieu l'odeur!

Let's see if this doesn't get some French visitors to the site.

I just love picking out lies.  The Lubrizol plant in Paris leaked a chemical called mercaptan which is the additive put in natural gas to give it a smell. Prior to that folks were overcome by gas leaks without a clue. Natural gas has no smell of its' own.  Problem here is that the French authorities stated that there was no problem. They said the gas was non toxic, move along nothing to see here. Problem is it isn't non toxic as listed on this MSDS sheet:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-123/pdfs/0425.pdf

Granted it would take a fairly high concentration to make you very ill but none the less even low levels for long periods of time would result in illness. And here's some  unusual facts. The exposure limits for short term exposure are the same as long term for a worker. Oh that's right we're not considered workers. How foolish of me.  And if this was such a harmless gas then why is it listed by the Department of Transportation as "Flammable Gas"? It's flash point is 0 F.

Now this might be but a tiny sample of something that we should not concern ourselves with but then stop to think of all the other toxins being thrown at us on a daily basis. You may be fortunate enough to live in the boonies where the air is fresh and clean but most of us live in or near an urban area with a barrage of air pollutants. 

Next up to keep you up at night, what's lurking in our water?

News you can't use and could probably care less about

Couldn't think of much to write about yesterday and today isn't much better so without further ado.

Chinese workers strike over 2 minute bathroom break rule. 

Sorry Lee you can't pee. Good grief are we moving back to the 1890s where the robber barons locked the exit doors and fired you if you got sick?

ADHA rates soar in California.

Wouldn't have anything to do with cell phone usage now would it? I hear they give cell phones to six year olds now which might do wonders for their spelling but staying focused not so much.

A farewell to 'Nudity' at Airports.

Well that's a relief. Keep it at the strip clubs where god intended it. Guess the screeners got sick of looking at obese passengers. Eww, think of the dreams that would give you.

50 car pile up in Ohio.

It's called slow down the office isn't going to magically move to a new location before you get there.

Should Texas secede from the U.S.?

Why not? Then it can become a complete third world country and fight their own civil war. That'd be a republican's wet dream until they realized most of their money comes from the federal government. Can picture it now. No abortions, bible classes in every school and no pesky liberal science classes to contend with. And not to forget no taxes and the worst roads in western civilization.

If you think of anything else let me know I'm too busy wasting my time on other things.

News indeed

Take a massacre throw in a happy story or two add to it some well spin cotton candy fluff with a dash of bitter sweet lies and you have the headline news. Oh, and don't forget the nondescript  photo under the shocking header with just enough teaser lead in that would make a stripper envious.

But again we all know that the corporate heads talk their game and slather on the BS heavier than a cow pasture. Have to keep the rubes in the dark. They might start to catch on. Take a step or two back and use both brain cells. And this is no conspiracy theory my friends. Alex Jones ain't got nothing on me. It's theft plain and simple only now on a global scale.

Look at it all, yes the whole thing. Whip out a microscope and see the fibers. The torn fabric of society slowly getting shredded before our very eyes. It's not about isms although they came in handy as weapons in this heist. Gun dealers are laughing all the way to the bank. The rubes bought it once again. Watch out for the terrorist under the bed was a good ploy. Oh forgot, it was fight them over there so they won't come here and hide with the dust bunnies. Forget about the trillions stolen in the process. Dick Cheney must have had a jolly good laugh after that plan worked. Didn't see his bank account shrink. Let's not forget the schools and hospitals that must be build over there because after all we're such humanitarians. Ignore the drone strikes and the fact that the schools and all were mostly never finished and it wasn't for the lack of funds. Don't mention that little Billy's school over here is falling apart, there's no textbooks and his lunch program was cut. Got to pay for the war and rebuilding you know. 

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. He's busy draining your accounts. All while his accomplices keep your attention diverted to the cute puppies on the screen. Sorry but you can not have what you paid for and the fine print says so. Didn't you read it? And don't forget to read between the lines because that's where the real information lies.

What ever happened to fighting the evil godless communists? Ah that's right we found gold in them thar red chinese. Not for us per say but some venture capitalists sure made out well.  Now the only thing left is to convince the world that Muslins are our friends. They must have gold stashed somewhere. Kindly keep your grubby hands off my stack while I figure out how to steal more. Taxes licenses and fees not included.      

It's in Vogue or maybe not

Creating outrage where there really is none, once again the internet boiled and bubbled a non-story. A slow news day perhaps me thinks? Seems to be the problem with the 24 hour news cycle when filler has no deadline. Exactly what is in that Twinkie cream filling anyway? Inquiring minds want to know. However in this case they ran out of outrage in mixing up this fluff. What no blood, gore or even a dog fight? I guess the pit bulls were all accounted for when this was written. Somebody got their juxtaposition meter out of whack because the heartlessness just wasn't there. If showing a bunch of underweight models next to our response teams is a crime then I sure missed something there. As Randal might say no asbestos filled buildings were harmed in the making of this photo shoot. No distraught mothers clutching their precious babies amid hurricane wreckage. Not so much as a water logged mattress or moldy family photo album to be seen.

I'm almost certain that Annie had a poignant statement to make but the viewing audience has become more jaded than that in these times. It'll take a bit more than a half dozen shots of generic service people intermixed with fashion models to invoke a response here. Hell I though they looked like an ad for a perfume or something.  Guess my skin has morphed into belt leather. That comes with age you know. Now where'd I leave my skin conditioner? That's right I don't have any not in this tight economy.

Nothing to see here folks so move along. If you come across something juicy you will drop me a line right? 

Friday pussy and hurricane Sandy

This would be disaster pussy. As we all know cats are smarter than people. They don't have owners they have secretaries. Who after all wouldn't come to the rescue of a meowing cat in distress even if they didn't have all the rescue equipment?

Annie Leibovitz the well known New York photographer is getting quite the flack for displaying photos of fashion models juxtaposed against a backdrop of Hurricane Sandy survivors and the wreckage it left behind. I say good on her. It's been over 80 days since the storm hit and yet very little has been done to help this area. It's true that many of the folks of this area were a bit higher on the income ladder than those of New Orleans but many were not. So Annie's photo spread gives rise to that almost cliche thought of well dressed New Yorkers stepping over the homeless lying in the street. And as we all know the longer and farther away from the latest of shocking breaking news one gets the further back in the grey matter it goes soon to become a faint memory. Then we can reminisce and only wonder "what ever happened to those folks up there in NYC after Sandy hit, wonder if they ever recovered?" All the while knowing that they didn't but as the saying goes out of sight out of mind.

We think of the other Sandy tragedy and race to change gun laws move an entire school to a new location and grieve for the tragic loss of life all the while forgetting the slow death of people living in cars in winter and crammed into shelters waiting for help when no help seems to be on the way. Which end would you choose quick or slow? And as difficult and tragic as facing a hurricane and it's aftermath may be it's nothing compared to next next nightmare, facing the insurance adjuster.

Bit busy today again. Not for myself. Helping an acquaintance in another state get out of jail on trumped up charges. I'm that kind of guy. Wouldn't think twice about helping kitty stuck in hole or up a tree. It's the right thing to do.

Bank fails later. And maybe I'll borrow one of Annie's photos for show and tell here.
UPDATE: One bank failed in MN. this week.
  

I'll just have the salad and an oxygen mask thank you

McDonald's in China was having a bit of problems with its' chicken. Seems a supplier was raising some fast growing chickens in an attempt to gain profits. A chicken normally takes 90 days to mature. The company however was feeding the chickens large doses of antibiotics which doubled their size and cut the grow date in half. All well and good you might think. Eat a chicken Mcsandwich and fight an infection, a win win for all involved right? Except that this is one of the primary causes of drug resistant bacteria. A side of MERSA with that?

Okay then make it a fish fillet. Not so fast there either Long John. A recent study found that 84% of the worlds' fish have unacceptable levels of mercury. Tuna and swordfish are at the top of the list of highly contaminated species especially those caught in waters around the China Sea. This is all the result of burning coal and mining in that part of the world.  And not to forget the toxins found in electronic products and their production. I suspect we have some pretty nasty fishing holes here in the U.S. as well.

For crying out loud then how about a burger? If they cook it right then that won't kill me will it? Maybe not but the beef in Ireland and Britain was found to contain horse meat.  Geez this takes me back to the days when they put saw dust in the bottom of cereal boxes and fed cattle concrete to juice the profits. Yep I'm that old.

Well then take a deep breath and relax. Can't do that if you're in China. 7 out of the 10 most polluted cities are in China. The air quality was so bad there yesterday that it couldn't be measured. A little background on air quality as that's up my ally. The good news is that the EPA has just tightened standards for air quality, it even passed a court appeal (hum wonder who filed that?) but the bad news is that much of the pollution in the west comes from China so until they clean up their act... Other good news is that because of the cash for clunkers program and the slower economy the air has gotten better. If you live around here you will note less air pollution alerts this past year. 

Busy day here so be careful out there. Wouldn't want to be the next statistic.