The end is nigh

Not talking about any rock group or video game here. The world which was never the brightest sphere of intergalactic galactics is experiencing the results of it's even less bright inhabitants.

Me me me me me. It could have been you but it's all about me now. In our narcissic splendor we have pillaged the planet in such an orderly and chaotic fashion. If that sounds psychotic then you haven't been paying attention. No brownie points for you. What's in this for me you might ask? Oh there's the rub. Absolutely nothing my friend! Ha! and you though you'd get out of this with some golden parachute or at least a severance package of sorts. Neigh my un astute student no golden watch or cushy retirement plan for you. No escape plans here. It's either wood coffin or cardboard box for us all lest you be the well to do. Only then can you have choice of down filled head rest or maybe the silk covered pea cock feathers hand embroidered with your name.

A segue a segue my kingdom for a segue. Oh say can you see the bombs bursting in air the rockets red glare then it was the last thing you saw. How deviously adept we've become at destruction with now touted super weapons! (court trumpets heralding their arrival). And lest you fear the messengers of the Apocalypse, have no fear Wyoming is here to save the day with an escape plan meant just for you. Just what you can do with a bunch of northwest greenbacks I leave to your imagination but let me say this: corn cobs just might be at a premium. And as for the leaderly leaders who think that all is forgotten and they can just carry on leading once again they'd better think again. Revenge is such an ugly dish.

Now how do I get out of here before the weight of the world weighs my weary bones? Darn I think I've caught the Graves disease and I'm not talking about the kind that makes your eyes bulge. Reverse memory. Didn't eat pepperoni and marshmallows before bed. Didn't sleep with Poe under the pillow so what could this malady be? No rock and roll fever or (okay you know the rest). Some transmutating internet virus shot through the screen?

Oh what the hell let's all just have a glass of Merlot and leave it at that.

More stupid things

As if we didn't have enough...

So tuned in to one of my few favorite programs last night only to find Buba and the boys in their fancy fire suits covered in advertising yapping about track conditions. Hoping this was some momentary delay to my usual Monday night spot I watched long enough to hear them say the reason for this interruption to my viewing pleasure. Seems one of the Buba's didn't see a truck used to dry the track filled with jet fuel and crashed into it. This reminds me of the guy here who ran into a ferry boat because he said he didn't see it. Pffft, Our boats are seven stories high and lit up like a christmas tree at night so how drunk were you when you ran into it? As for car races who the hell cares? "Look Buba they're makin another left hand turn!" "Wonder what happens next?"
Maybe they could make it more interesting by taking the governors off and adding combat weapons. That might make it interesting. A couple of 50 cals mounted where the headlights should be with a flame thrower and front and rear missile launchers might spice things up. It would sure thin out the lower end of the gene pool.

Then there's that other fine American "sport" ultimate cage fighting. Come on why not just bring back the real gladiators? You know they want to. Guys swinging real mace and other Roman weapons of that era. Make it really "ultimate"! Or how about the ultimate race through Homs, Syria on foot? You can picture contestants dodging tank shells and sniper fire. But now it seems nearly ever aspect of our daily lives has been turned into a reality show. Sorry but some things are best left at the office or factory because for the most part working is just a means to an end it's only that somewhere along the line we've forgotten what that was.

Now where the hell is my "House" Fox? Oops that's about a doctor and a hospital (Opens mouth wide extracts foot) :-)

A seriously Syrian update

I haven't been monitoring the Syrian portal much lately mainly because not much is coming out of the region. But here are a few snippets of info that I did get on Sunday. It appears that many of Assads' forces have moved to the northern part of the country having left Homs in ruins and many dead. After Homs came Daara the next section over. (Not exactly sure how or what to call these sections towns / suburbs or what have you). At any rate, the next town is called Deir Ezzor in the northeastern part of Syria. Assads' forces were in the process of surrounding the town. You couldn't see much as it was a night time camera phone video but you could hear the sporadic sound of automatic gunfire. I suspect that either this is yet another area inhabited by minorities or it is a stopping place along the long journey to smuggle weapons and supplies from Turkey. All in all I would evaluate the situation in the country as yet another example of ethnic cleansing much like we've witnessed in the past complete with horrors. A national referendum was held yesterday on the acceptance of bringing democracy to the country. Seeing as how those in support of such a bill were busy running for their lives or at best hiding in their homes I see no hope of passage of this piece of legislation. Even Russian TV was calling for a boycott of the vote. What a surprise!

The images above were taken some time Saturday night (actually Sunday morning their time). You might say so what it's a couple of pictures of a street in rubble. The dangers aren't apparent in these shots. The top image shows a view down a dead end alley. Somewhere between the safety of the wall with the peer-a-boo hole and the end of the street is a sniper. Exactly why the photographer choose to continue to the end with the sniper at his back is a puzzlement to me. I can only assume that he was looking for injured or fallen comrades that litter the landscape. Can anyone conceive of the mindset of someone so evil? Even after the worst of battles of prior wars it was a permitted aftermath to be able to remove the dead and dying from the battlefield. Not so in Syria. All of daily life there has now become a risk of death at the hands of this dictator.

More updates as I get them.

Help I'm surrounded by stupid

Stupid here stupid there stupid everywhere.

Look out the window and what do I see? Two guys pressure washing a roof at a business in the area. One complete with safety harness and long tie off rope. The other sans any safety equipment at all, guess he has a pair of wings under that raincoat. I know the business and I even watched when they put the new roof on the place. There's not one tie off point on the roof yet there they are running about one making sure the fall line doesn't get snared causing the guy with the wand to trip. But that's okay because like dominoes if one should slip and fall he'd just take the other guy with him because that's human nature to think we can somehow overcome 2000 lbs. of downward force. I'd call that the thinning of the gene pool. It's much like the fat mother holding her baby in her lap on the front seat of a car never realizing the forces of abrupt deceleration. Maybe that should be a requirement to pass a driving test, experience what it's like to be exposed to g 4 and I'm not talking about some economic summit or new wireless system here. It's okay mom the baby won't know what hit her when your body crushes her against the dashboard. Far be it from me to interfere with the natural order when Mother Nature is doing her job.

Stupid is walking or driving with ear buds in your ears listening to your favorite hits and expecting nothing bad to ever happen.

Stupid is saying the post office can be eliminated because people in rural areas can use Fed Ex.

Stupid is saying colleges are some kind of evil indoctrination program.

Stupid is wanting to eliminate all public schools and expecting the poor to pay for a private school.

Stupid is wanting kids to do the work of janitors thinking that will somehow get them ahead. That's why you go to school so you won't have to be a janitor.

Stupid is eating at a fast food place several times a week and wondering why you're 50 pounds overweight.

Stupid is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. Oops no, my bad, that's insanity a topic for another post.

Stupid is sliding down a railing on a skateboard and thinking you won't eventually get hurt. That only happens to the other guy right?

Stupid is thinking you can drink a half a fifth of scotch and drive home safely. The odds are against you stupid!

Stupid is thinking that a flag, a book, a cross, or any other inert object has more value than a human being.



I guess it's true you can't fix stupid. And life wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to cross paths with stupid people.

Feel free to add your own stupid comments.

Radioactive wasteland

Top image is the Japanese nuclear plat at Fukoshima. Look carefully at the amount of reinforcing rebar that was used in the concrete. It is very close to the amount used in creating a bank vault and the concrete is actually thicker. You can imagine the amount of force that it took to rip this building apart, but a destroyed building is the least of their worries. It's the aftermath of the waste that will haunt them for years or make that centuries to come. Some people were wondering when this will be "cleaned up". The answer is simple...Never. Not in our life time or our childrens' life time or their childrens' childrens' lifetime. The half life for such radioactive material is somewhere around 10,000 years. People think of nuclear energy as the clean alternative energy source but fail to see the byproducts and the legacy.

You'll note the reading on the dosimeter in the bottom photo 102. (click to enbiggen) Even at a distance that's equal to one chest xray per hour. Not an acceptable level even under normal conditions at a nuclear plant. If memory serves correct it works like this. Workers in a plant carry at all times a clip on pocket meter. It indicates exposures but isn't meant to be an alarm. At the end of the day the worker turns in the meter to be read getting a new on on the next shift. Should a worker be exposed to more than a maximum dosage then he can no longer work there. In large dosages the radiation destroys DNA causing a multitude of physical problems that can be both immediate and long term. That's why it's used to try and fight cancer. The theory is that by interrupting the DNA of the cancer cell it can not reproduce. Unfortunately the side effects from that and the chemotheropy used are not too pleasant.

They say life is slowly coming back to Chernobyl which is true to some extent but it's not a place I'd care to go for a vacation any time soon. And it looks like certain parts of northern Japan are off the list as well.

In an upcoming post stay tuned for my rant on stupid people.

All hail Lava Lamp and the friday pussy

This post was supposed to be about an arcane idea about a non symbolic symbol and the absurdity of worshiping artifacts but as one thing lead to another and after some browser crashes I stumbled upon an article so poorly written that I just couldn't help myself. I hate beating a dead horse or watching a dead cat bounce but the story isn't finished and won't be for some time. Our government is never in a hurry to resolve issues of great importance that is unless there's money to be made like the abundance of oil fields in Iraq. Come on face it you know that's the only reason we went there in the first place. New Orleans of course was another matter, it could wait because the French quarter was barely touched.

Syria one more time, maybe

The writer of this little news ditty forgot to do his homework because had he watched even the slightest bit from the web he would have seen the war up close and personal. He would have known that the area in question is not "held" by anybody but more like a target on a firing range. He'd also know that the streets are empty during the day as the populace tries to avoid at all costs being shot or shelled into the here after. It's only at night that it's safe enough to venture out to look for food, water and attend protest rallies. And as Russia has been supplying the current regime with all the military hardware it could ever hope for, no sanctions imposed will have any effect on the present bloodbath. Hate to say it but this looks like another job like Libya where brute force will be necessary in order to stem the tide of bloodshed. Whether Russia would intervene on behalf of the dictator is still a major question. One thing is certain patience is wearing thin and supplies to the people have run out. The reporter from my first post on this subject was killed that very night yet his family continued as a documentation of the event. If that isn't pure determination then I don't know what is.


As usual the bank fails if any later.

Two more failed one in Ga. and one in Mn.

Women's Health

Reps on both sides of the aisle scream about waste whether it be military spending of $6000 toilets or an overpriced hammer. The ultra right howls at anything that might smell like a pork barrel yet if you look at what they've done the past 20 years or so it's just the opposite. One would think that they would be the party of cutting out wasteful things as this has been their battle cry as long as I can remember. Why then in Virginia would any government require a woman to have a completely unnecessary medical procedure and there by adding to already ballooning budget shortfalls? It won't matter who pays for such a procedure in the steps to a woman having an abortion in Virginia but should this draconian legislation pass it will create yet another government agency. What should they call the newly formed department? How about the Department of Who Who examination documentation? And who gets to verify that the woman was actually pregnant in the first place? Would the ultimate decision fall on the government instead of the doctor? The latest incarnation of this Kafka like bill places the liability on the doctor and then right back on the woman when a conventional ultra sound produces insufficient evidence.

I have a solution that might just fit the bill for you ladies that just might make these "legislators" think twice. Send them the following letter if you would:

Dear Senator/Congressperson

With the current legislation on a particular womens' health issue we the women of the state are about to propose a referendum for a new piece of legislation. We believe that this legislation you will find be no less intrusive than the legislation you are about to impose upon us. It is our belief that you in the process of developing new ideas are not truly focused on all of the ramifications involved. Our new piece of proposed legislation would require all members of the state house and senate to develop and pass or reject all future legislation with a broom stick in their rectum. This would have so many benefits for the citizenry of the state. It would surely keep a keen focus on the issues in front of you and I'm sure would make for a faster pace in the usually slow legislative process. And just so there'll be no cheating we'll have monitors stationed on the floor making absolutely sure that you can experience the pain and humiliation that you have presented to us.