You may recall during protests against evildisgustingrichassrichpeople a few years ago, some of the smelly hippy protesters were holding signs declaring themselves to be "the 99%" of America that for some reason resents the people who got to the top of the heap by their own effort.
Well here's a fun factoid for you: the people holding those signs are, in fact, the 1%. If you have a few minutes, read this fine piece by Willis Eschenbach and then come back and tell me how not getting 99 weeks of unemployment benefits is some kind of hardship.
We have met the 1%, and he is us
Kudos to Watts Up With That for hosting this fine writing!
Showing posts with label Life Isn't Fair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life Isn't Fair. Show all posts
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Friday, April 20, 2012
Heart Wrenching, Heart Warming Story
A 5 year-old boy who cannot read is working with his brother, sweeping out train cars. He gets separated from his brother, and then gets on the wrong train and wakes up thousands of miles from home. Is adopted, grows up. Figures out how long he was on the train, then how far he must have traveled, and finds his original home town using Google Earth. His brother died a month after he disappeared, and 25 years later the lost boy walked back into his mother's life.
Wow. Finally a compelling story from Yahoo! News and it's so compelling I don't even care that it's an obvious plug for a yet-to-be-filmed movie.
Wow. Finally a compelling story from Yahoo! News and it's so compelling I don't even care that it's an obvious plug for a yet-to-be-filmed movie.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Peace In Our Time
I walked in to the room where my Darling Wife was watching the idiot box. On screen there was a night-time gun battle between deck mounted heavy machine guns on two boats headed toward each other. Tracers flying both directions, men being shot, and then boats colliding, one exploding.
This is the reality of unfortunate people in other places and other times. I thank God when I remember, we are very blessed to have peace here and now.
Imagine driving to the grocery store and the pavement is chewed up in front of your car by a string of warning shots. Imagine responding to a cell-phone robocall and bringing your rifle to a battle in your neighborhood park. Your neighbor from two doors down ends up dead, riding a the swingset on his belly like a little kid but dripping blood out the exploded top of his head. You're at work and the parking lot blows up. The electricity is cut for hours every day because sappers keep cutting the lines. By jumping on them.
These are some of the possibilities of living in a war zone. Now consider that the worst hassle in your day is that some jerk cut you off and slowed down in front of you on the way to work, and then you had to call IT Buddy when the networked printer told you PC LOAD LETTER.
You people should thank God every day that you don't hear shots fired in anger. It's a blessing, and it's not a guarantee. The USA started in a local war, and there have been several "small" wars here since then. Now, the closest you get to a war is downtown ("gun free") Chicago on a weekend.
So, thanks Jesus.
This is the reality of unfortunate people in other places and other times. I thank God when I remember, we are very blessed to have peace here and now.
Imagine driving to the grocery store and the pavement is chewed up in front of your car by a string of warning shots. Imagine responding to a cell-phone robocall and bringing your rifle to a battle in your neighborhood park. Your neighbor from two doors down ends up dead, riding a the swingset on his belly like a little kid but dripping blood out the exploded top of his head. You're at work and the parking lot blows up. The electricity is cut for hours every day because sappers keep cutting the lines. By jumping on them.
These are some of the possibilities of living in a war zone. Now consider that the worst hassle in your day is that some jerk cut you off and slowed down in front of you on the way to work, and then you had to call IT Buddy when the networked printer told you PC LOAD LETTER.
You people should thank God every day that you don't hear shots fired in anger. It's a blessing, and it's not a guarantee. The USA started in a local war, and there have been several "small" wars here since then. Now, the closest you get to a war is downtown ("gun free") Chicago on a weekend.
So, thanks Jesus.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
"It Just Went Off!"
Two lives lost. As the song says, "one's in the morgue and the other's in jail; one got wasted and the other's a waste."
Atlanta teenager in jail facing involuntary manslaughter charges. His three year-old niece was shot in the stomach* and later died of her injuries in hospital.
Guns don't shoot themselves. Please take just a moment to review the 100% sure-fire way to prevent this happening in your own family.
****
* This is agony. An arm or a leg you can tourniquet and it goes numb. Shot in the guts is sheer pain until you die.
Atlanta teenager in jail facing involuntary manslaughter charges. His three year-old niece was shot in the stomach* and later died of her injuries in hospital.
Guns don't shoot themselves. Please take just a moment to review the 100% sure-fire way to prevent this happening in your own family.
****
* This is agony. An arm or a leg you can tourniquet and it goes numb. Shot in the guts is sheer pain until you die.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Three Things Nobody is Mentioning
There is much fuss made over the pro-life/pro-abortion argument, now that we have some unabashedly anti-abortion candidates for President flapping their gums. That is fine as far as it goes, but everyone seems to be forgetting (or forgetting to mention) a few important points:
***
First, it is NOT your body. The thing growing inside a woman has an entire, 100% unique human genome all its own. The thing is effectively a parasite until removed or expelled, but it is unquestionably, inarguably, a human thing in its own right. When an ovum and a spermatozoon get together and form a cell, that cell has its own DNA. It has its own life, separate from its mother or its father. It just so happens that the mother supports the zygote/foetus/baby inside her body. Any biologist worth his salt will say with certainty that this thing inside a woman is a separate homo sapiens. It is in her body, but her body is not the one destroyed during a miscarriage or abortion. The body of that tiny, separate, immature human is destroyed, and hers is only injured somewhat. She will suffer emotionally, but it is fashionable to let her figure that out on her own, after the fact. Let us be quite clear: when a foetus us removed from a uterus, it is the ending of the life of a homo sapiens. This is beyond debate, unless you are so mentally broken that the debate would do you no good anyway.
***
Second, when do its rights begin? If we call for rights for the helpless, regardless of status of having been born or not, the question is the same. Aside from drawing their own air, post-partum babies can't do anything. They will die without care from another human. Those not yet born will also die, and for the same reasons, if separated from their caregivers if born a few weeks before their due date. The maintenance of life gets slightly more complicated the farther back you go, but get this:
Babies can (we know, because it has happened) survive with extreme medical assistance after gestating for only 5 months. It is possible for such a very prematurely-born PERSON to live separate from their mother. Toddlers can (we know, again, because it has happened) continue to sustain themselves for days after the death of their custodians, if they know where food and water are to be found. There have been cases of children feeding themselves the food they could reach (like cereal) and getting at the liquids they knew how to get, and living for DAYS when their parents were decomposing in the next room. These children are obviously able to live with some limitations, entirely autonomously.
Before the child is able to be born and rushed to the NICU ward so that it can live, it is without question totally helpless. There is basically zero chance (at least, not yet) of saving a baby born, e.g., in the first trimester of gestation. They are 100% dependent on the wombs of their mothers. Before a child is able to get up and go to the pantry when Mommy just won't wake up, it is also 100% dependent on other people. They can't DO anything for themselves, and life is totally unsustainable without someone to supply their needs. To those with twisted minds, this is only a matter of degree.
At what point does a human become entitled to human rights? At the point they are self-sustaining? At the point they are medically able to be saved from death outside the hospitable uterus?
This is a debate from which our country has shied. We need to decide, as a people, what is the answer. And by the way, except as pertains to hypothetical future actions, this is entirely a State question. A person who is not born is beyond the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of the United States.
***
Third, and this is one that practically NObody wants to discuss, anywhere in any forum, is the fact that just because you are inconvenient does not mean you deserve to die. And before you read on, just remember that yes, I did go there and I mean it.
The jews, homosexuals, christians, mental defectives, etc. were considered to be inconvenient to the Race and generally a burden on the world, so the NAZIS murdered them by their millions in what became known as The Holocaust. The free people of the Ukraine were inconvenient to the Soviets, so they starved them to death by their millions in what became (less-well known) as The Holodomor. And children not yet born were inconvenient or politically incorrect at the time of their gestation, or would have raised questions and eyebrows the mothers and grandmothers didn't want raised, or god-forbid you should be sad because you didn't want to have sex in the first place (yes this even goes for rape and incest) . . . so we Americans have killed, in numbers greater than the Holocaust and Holodomor COMBINED, children whose only crime was being fertilized inside your holier-than-thou-and-hell-no-I-don't-want-this-baby uterus.
If being the cause of mental anguish is an acceptable reason to kill someone, then why does a stepchild go to jail for killing the step-parent? If causing emotional distress is enough, how is there a single mother in-law in the world? If being inconvenient will do as a reason to kill someone, why is your kid brother still alive? If a person deserves to die because they raise inconvenient questions by merely existing, then why is Vince Foster . . . oh, wait.
It does not matter why a woman is pregnant. If she is, she is the host to a separate human being who depends on her for its life. The question rather is, on what grounds to you end that life?
********
For those who honestly have to make the choice between the life of a mother and the life of her baby for medical reasons, I give both a very large amount discretion and my heartfelt condolences. This is the only case in which a mother is entitled to end the life of her child without blood guiltiness. In this case only does the "It's my body/It's my choice" argument apply.
********
Tell me how we are not deserving of the worst that God could do to us, when our society allows this to happen for the convenience of the DNA donors?
I'm not sure why they have it, but greenvilleeagles.com hosts this picture. Photobucket called a similar photo a violation of their terms of use and yanked it. I wish Uncle Sam would say the same about what happened to make the picture possible!
***
First, it is NOT your body. The thing growing inside a woman has an entire, 100% unique human genome all its own. The thing is effectively a parasite until removed or expelled, but it is unquestionably, inarguably, a human thing in its own right. When an ovum and a spermatozoon get together and form a cell, that cell has its own DNA. It has its own life, separate from its mother or its father. It just so happens that the mother supports the zygote/foetus/baby inside her body. Any biologist worth his salt will say with certainty that this thing inside a woman is a separate homo sapiens. It is in her body, but her body is not the one destroyed during a miscarriage or abortion. The body of that tiny, separate, immature human is destroyed, and hers is only injured somewhat. She will suffer emotionally, but it is fashionable to let her figure that out on her own, after the fact. Let us be quite clear: when a foetus us removed from a uterus, it is the ending of the life of a homo sapiens. This is beyond debate, unless you are so mentally broken that the debate would do you no good anyway.
***
Second, when do its rights begin? If we call for rights for the helpless, regardless of status of having been born or not, the question is the same. Aside from drawing their own air, post-partum babies can't do anything. They will die without care from another human. Those not yet born will also die, and for the same reasons, if separated from their caregivers if born a few weeks before their due date. The maintenance of life gets slightly more complicated the farther back you go, but get this:
Babies can (we know, because it has happened) survive with extreme medical assistance after gestating for only 5 months. It is possible for such a very prematurely-born PERSON to live separate from their mother. Toddlers can (we know, again, because it has happened) continue to sustain themselves for days after the death of their custodians, if they know where food and water are to be found. There have been cases of children feeding themselves the food they could reach (like cereal) and getting at the liquids they knew how to get, and living for DAYS when their parents were decomposing in the next room. These children are obviously able to live with some limitations, entirely autonomously.
Before the child is able to be born and rushed to the NICU ward so that it can live, it is without question totally helpless. There is basically zero chance (at least, not yet) of saving a baby born, e.g., in the first trimester of gestation. They are 100% dependent on the wombs of their mothers. Before a child is able to get up and go to the pantry when Mommy just won't wake up, it is also 100% dependent on other people. They can't DO anything for themselves, and life is totally unsustainable without someone to supply their needs. To those with twisted minds, this is only a matter of degree.
At what point does a human become entitled to human rights? At the point they are self-sustaining? At the point they are medically able to be saved from death outside the hospitable uterus?
This is a debate from which our country has shied. We need to decide, as a people, what is the answer. And by the way, except as pertains to hypothetical future actions, this is entirely a State question. A person who is not born is beyond the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of the United States.
***
Third, and this is one that practically NObody wants to discuss, anywhere in any forum, is the fact that just because you are inconvenient does not mean you deserve to die. And before you read on, just remember that yes, I did go there and I mean it.
The jews, homosexuals, christians, mental defectives, etc. were considered to be inconvenient to the Race and generally a burden on the world, so the NAZIS murdered them by their millions in what became known as The Holocaust. The free people of the Ukraine were inconvenient to the Soviets, so they starved them to death by their millions in what became (less-well known) as The Holodomor. And children not yet born were inconvenient or politically incorrect at the time of their gestation, or would have raised questions and eyebrows the mothers and grandmothers didn't want raised, or god-forbid you should be sad because you didn't want to have sex in the first place (yes this even goes for rape and incest) . . . so we Americans have killed, in numbers greater than the Holocaust and Holodomor COMBINED, children whose only crime was being fertilized inside your holier-than-thou-and-hell-no-I-don't-want-this-baby uterus.
If being the cause of mental anguish is an acceptable reason to kill someone, then why does a stepchild go to jail for killing the step-parent? If causing emotional distress is enough, how is there a single mother in-law in the world? If being inconvenient will do as a reason to kill someone, why is your kid brother still alive? If a person deserves to die because they raise inconvenient questions by merely existing, then why is Vince Foster . . . oh, wait.
It does not matter why a woman is pregnant. If she is, she is the host to a separate human being who depends on her for its life. The question rather is, on what grounds to you end that life?
********
For those who honestly have to make the choice between the life of a mother and the life of her baby for medical reasons, I give both a very large amount discretion and my heartfelt condolences. This is the only case in which a mother is entitled to end the life of her child without blood guiltiness. In this case only does the "It's my body/It's my choice" argument apply.
********
Tell me how we are not deserving of the worst that God could do to us, when our society allows this to happen for the convenience of the DNA donors?
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Rule 1, Rule 3, Rule 4
You only have to break two to hurt somebody. This guy broke three and killed his daughter.
Rule 1: ALL guns are ALWAYS loaded.
Rule 1: ALL guns are ALWAYS loaded.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Things You Don't Want To Know . . .
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow -Ecclesiastes 1:18
You don't go on vacation expecting to kill the guy who suddenly decides to throw your girlfriend off a bridge . . . but you should at least be aware of what you might have to do with your knife*, should it come to that.
Speaking the truth in love, the Dark Arts for Good Guys series continues with The Right To Knife. You owe it to the ones you love to read the whole thing.
********
Rule #2: Always have a knife.
You don't go on vacation expecting to kill the guy who suddenly decides to throw your girlfriend off a bridge . . . but you should at least be aware of what you might have to do with your knife*, should it come to that.
Speaking the truth in love, the Dark Arts for Good Guys series continues with The Right To Knife. You owe it to the ones you love to read the whole thing.
********
Rule #2: Always have a knife.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
New Alabama Law Great for Alabama School Children!
Everybody is always crying about how they want lower class sizes. Alabama just passed a law that has lowered class sizes by 2% in some parts of the State, and now they are complaining?
Anti-illegality campaingers have long said that illegal aliens will self-deport when local laws make it difficult for them to live normal lives without being caught breaking national immigration law. The immediate effects of this new law proves the theorem to be true in some cases.
Sob stories abound, but here's the bottom line: class sizes are shrinking because parents are taking their children out of the schools. If they take their children elsewhere, preferably wherever the parents have legal residency status, then it is extremely likely that the children will be back in school in short order, wherever the parents end up taking them.
That the children suffer upheaval in their lives is the PARENTS' fault, not the States'. Good for Alabama.
********
You think that's controversial? Howabout this: I hope those lawbreaking Mexican parents stay in the USA and work, paying sales taxes and property taxes (through their landlords' tax bills) and DON'T get caught being illegally in the U.S. I hope that they put their efforts toward homeschooling their children. It is theoretically possible that this law could lead to BETTER education for these children because they will be homeschooled. Of course (stand by for the really insensitive controversial bit) if they just pull their children out of school and stop their education altogether, the parents should be arrested for neglect, serve prison time and then get deported. The children would of course be made wards of the State, which would counteract this positive effect of the new law: The State would put them back into school, raising class sizes again!
Deport the parents. Let them deal with their own children, wherever they came from.
Anti-illegality campaingers have long said that illegal aliens will self-deport when local laws make it difficult for them to live normal lives without being caught breaking national immigration law. The immediate effects of this new law proves the theorem to be true in some cases.
Sob stories abound, but here's the bottom line: class sizes are shrinking because parents are taking their children out of the schools. If they take their children elsewhere, preferably wherever the parents have legal residency status, then it is extremely likely that the children will be back in school in short order, wherever the parents end up taking them.
That the children suffer upheaval in their lives is the PARENTS' fault, not the States'. Good for Alabama.
********
You think that's controversial? Howabout this: I hope those lawbreaking Mexican parents stay in the USA and work, paying sales taxes and property taxes (through their landlords' tax bills) and DON'T get caught being illegally in the U.S. I hope that they put their efforts toward homeschooling their children. It is theoretically possible that this law could lead to BETTER education for these children because they will be homeschooled. Of course (stand by for the really insensitive controversial bit) if they just pull their children out of school and stop their education altogether, the parents should be arrested for neglect, serve prison time and then get deported. The children would of course be made wards of the State, which would counteract this positive effect of the new law: The State would put them back into school, raising class sizes again!
Deport the parents. Let them deal with their own children, wherever they came from.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Better Than A Trash Dump?
One can hardly expect the Right Thing to be done by New London, in light of recent history, but does anyone really think turning the woman's home into a garbage dump is better than saying "haha, woopsy!" and handing her back the deed?
Hat tip: Instapunhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifdit
Hat tip: Instapunhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifdit
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Good for the Gander
A point I have made repeatedly over the last few days in personal conversation is that it seems rather the opposite of Justice for Ms. Anthony to be convicted of Lying to The Only Ones when she was delcared Not Guilty of the crime they were investigating her allegedly having committed.
Neal Boortz is on the radio and I am selling junk on eBay, because he can phrase things better than I can. He put my sentiment into exactly the right words today. He was saying that he (as a juror) would never have convicted Anthony of the crime of lying to law enforcement officers because
Exactly. Yes Virginia, the Police can say anything and everything to anyone they please during an investigation, and you are expected to tell them the truth or else. Is this fair? It is, if Jury Nullification can be introduced in a courtroom!
Neal Boortz is on the radio and I am selling junk on eBay, because he can phrase things better than I can. He put my sentiment into exactly the right words today. He was saying that he (as a juror) would never have convicted Anthony of the crime of lying to law enforcement officers because
"If they can lie to me, I can lie to them."
Exactly. Yes Virginia, the Police can say anything and everything to anyone they please during an investigation, and you are expected to tell them the truth or else. Is this fair? It is, if Jury Nullification can be introduced in a courtroom!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Anger at Welfare Recipients May Be Unjustified (so don't be angry at 'em)
~or~ Welfare the Cat as an Analog for 49% of Americans
********
This is Welfare the Cat.
She is a kitty that lives where I work. Every time I see her, I have to remind myself: being mad at her is dumb, because she is a cat and cannot think for herself.
Since she was a kitten, she was fed by the employees. Possibly she also goes out and gets her own food, but there is no need and I never saw her with a mouse or a roach in her mouth. One day I realized she was getting fat and blamed the employees for over feeding her. Then I realized she was gravid and I named her Welfare the Cat. She has no husband, but she was going to have children, who would also be totally supported by the productive efforts of someone else. Then they took her to the vet, killed the kittens before they were born and sterilized the cat. There will be no more cats in the Welfare family, and her burden to society is limited to what she will take.
The analogy is not perfect. Current welfare brood mares don't kill (all) their children before they are born, because they get paid more the more children they drop. There is moral outrage when someone suggests even temporary sterilization of recipients of taxpayer-funded handouts. Forced sterilization is something we conflate with Nazism and the Communists in China.
But those are people, and this is a cat. People should be able to think for themselves and aspire for their own benefit to greatness. A cat cannot think for herself. A welfare babymomma does not think for herself, at least not to the extent that she realizes she is actually harming herself and her progeny, as well as society and her neighbors individually. But to be angry at the fat black lady with eight kids in a shack in the ghetto is a waste of energy, just as much as it is a waste of energy to be mad at a brown tabby cat for being feral. The woman was 99.99995% certainly "educated" in government schools, and society has set up the circumstances in which she lives. She is to blame, but only part way. The rest of the blame falls
on Democrats.
********
This is Welfare the Cat.
She is a kitty that lives where I work. Every time I see her, I have to remind myself: being mad at her is dumb, because she is a cat and cannot think for herself.
Since she was a kitten, she was fed by the employees. Possibly she also goes out and gets her own food, but there is no need and I never saw her with a mouse or a roach in her mouth. One day I realized she was getting fat and blamed the employees for over feeding her. Then I realized she was gravid and I named her Welfare the Cat. She has no husband, but she was going to have children, who would also be totally supported by the productive efforts of someone else. Then they took her to the vet, killed the kittens before they were born and sterilized the cat. There will be no more cats in the Welfare family, and her burden to society is limited to what she will take.
The analogy is not perfect. Current welfare brood mares don't kill (all) their children before they are born, because they get paid more the more children they drop. There is moral outrage when someone suggests even temporary sterilization of recipients of taxpayer-funded handouts. Forced sterilization is something we conflate with Nazism and the Communists in China.
But those are people, and this is a cat. People should be able to think for themselves and aspire for their own benefit to greatness. A cat cannot think for herself. A welfare babymomma does not think for herself, at least not to the extent that she realizes she is actually harming herself and her progeny, as well as society and her neighbors individually. But to be angry at the fat black lady with eight kids in a shack in the ghetto is a waste of energy, just as much as it is a waste of energy to be mad at a brown tabby cat for being feral. The woman was 99.99995% certainly "educated" in government schools, and society has set up the circumstances in which she lives. She is to blame, but only part way. The rest of the blame falls
on Democrats.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Don't Hate The Player, Player, Hate The Game!
I note in advance hat he Fair Tax, if implemented as proposed, would put all this by the wayside.
Very much to-do is being made over the fact that General Electric managed to get rid of most of its federal tax burden. It is somehow upsetting that they did not Pay Their Fair Share. Well here's a clue: what GE does is probably 100% legal. They comply with the law and get out of paying a few billion dollars in taxes? Bravo Zulu to the 900+ accountants on staff at GE, from the bottom of my heart.
Never forget that the Democrats have had the pen which wrote the tax code for 6/8 years under Bush and 2/2 years under Obama. The tax avoidance at GE is in accordance with Democrat-written tax law. . . but that is beside the point.
. . . because corporations don't pay taxes. Their taxes are built right in to the prices they charge for goods and services, and paid by the end consumer. GE has you pay their corporate income taxes. It's a shell game, and you are the sucker! You don't like it? Then support Herman Cain for President in 2012!
Very much to-do is being made over the fact that General Electric managed to get rid of most of its federal tax burden. It is somehow upsetting that they did not Pay Their Fair Share. Well here's a clue: what GE does is probably 100% legal. They comply with the law and get out of paying a few billion dollars in taxes? Bravo Zulu to the 900+ accountants on staff at GE, from the bottom of my heart.
Never forget that the Democrats have had the pen which wrote the tax code for 6/8 years under Bush and 2/2 years under Obama. The tax avoidance at GE is in accordance with Democrat-written tax law. . . but that is beside the point.
. . . because corporations don't pay taxes. Their taxes are built right in to the prices they charge for goods and services, and paid by the end consumer. GE has you pay their corporate income taxes. It's a shell game, and you are the sucker! You don't like it? Then support Herman Cain for President in 2012!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Reactor Schmeactor.
On the first day I heard an unconfirmed report of up to 80,000+ Japanese people unaccounted-for. Then the reporting got swallowed up in a serious but not zOMG EVERYBODY PANIC-serious set of problems at a nuclear electric station.
Well, those people are still missing. The only thing between the 4500 dead of today and 10,000 dead or 20,000 on the official body count is the official finding of the bodies. The finding, by the way, may never happen. Entire villages are gone, wiped off the map and the bodies lost. Hundreds of thousands are dependent on charity and government assistance for their daily bread, and the supplies are running low.
Click here for before/after shots of some of the destruction, including the power plant in question. Slide your mouse over the images to reveal the after shots. These people need help. Fortunately for them, the Japanese government is as on top of disaster preparedness as any, but still . . . it sucks to die of dehydration stuck in the ruin of what used to be your house because rescuers ran out of gas before they could get to your town.
Hat tip: Uncle (I think)
Well, those people are still missing. The only thing between the 4500 dead of today and 10,000 dead or 20,000 on the official body count is the official finding of the bodies. The finding, by the way, may never happen. Entire villages are gone, wiped off the map and the bodies lost. Hundreds of thousands are dependent on charity and government assistance for their daily bread, and the supplies are running low.
Click here for before/after shots of some of the destruction, including the power plant in question. Slide your mouse over the images to reveal the after shots. These people need help. Fortunately for them, the Japanese government is as on top of disaster preparedness as any, but still . . . it sucks to die of dehydration stuck in the ruin of what used to be your house because rescuers ran out of gas before they could get to your town.
Hat tip: Uncle (I think)
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Louie The Lightning Bug Says . . .
. . . if you'd watched more TV in the 1980s you'd still be alive!
Both parents and one of the children in a family in Southern California have been electrocuted to death in their own back yard. Even worse: they had two more kids inside the house, now orphans.
It seems at least partly like it wasn't their fault they died. This was the SECOND time a power line fell and started a fire in the family's back yard. Do you call 911 and wait for the fire company, or do you fight a fire threatening your home? It seems, if the fire was started by a 12kV high tension line, you might want to let it burn.
The above commercial played on TV during kids' cartoon time when I was growing up, in a mix with at least a half-dozen others starring Louie the Lightning Bug. From the time we were old enough to understand words, we were told to keep away from and not do things that would kill us like curious cats. I guess it might be easy not to see a high tension line lying like a snake in your burning grass, but here's a PSA for you:
Look out for downed power lines when you go spraying water on unexplained fires in the vicinity of (formerly) elevated power lines.
Both parents and one of the children in a family in Southern California have been electrocuted to death in their own back yard. Even worse: they had two more kids inside the house, now orphans.
It seems at least partly like it wasn't their fault they died. This was the SECOND time a power line fell and started a fire in the family's back yard. Do you call 911 and wait for the fire company, or do you fight a fire threatening your home? It seems, if the fire was started by a 12kV high tension line, you might want to let it burn.
The above commercial played on TV during kids' cartoon time when I was growing up, in a mix with at least a half-dozen others starring Louie the Lightning Bug. From the time we were old enough to understand words, we were told to keep away from and not do things that would kill us like curious cats. I guess it might be easy not to see a high tension line lying like a snake in your burning grass, but here's a PSA for you:
Look out for downed power lines when you go spraying water on unexplained fires in the vicinity of (formerly) elevated power lines.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday, December 27, 2010
Unintended Consequences, Travel Edition
Half a brazillion people were stranded by all the global warming that socked in the New England region in the last few days. Lots of them were traveling light so they could get through security quickly. So they had no food with them, and they were stuck either going hungry or paying airport prices for food. Because Uncle says you can't take deadly dangerous things like a bag lunch on the plane. Way to go TSA.
Monday, December 6, 2010
I Want A Refund
We paid $120M to print just under $1T in new-style $100 bills. The bills came back from the printer, printed wrong. If this happened to you at the UPS store, you'd get pissed and refuse delivery, and demand a refund. Three guesses who pays for those waste printings at the Federal Reserve.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Madness @ Work (Future Disappointment Edition)
I know a guy who is seriously considering a change of careers. He wants to be a medical professional. I overheard him telling someone else about it, and I had to clarify because I could scarcely believe my ears:
VFD: Did he just say he wants to be in medicine so he doesn't have to deal with office politics?
NP: Yeah, I think he did.
VFD: LOL (pause) LOL . . . well, good luck with that
NP: Yep.
This is obviously someone who has not done his research. Just WOW. Talk about your nasty surprises. Hint: if you are considering a career change, look up the blogs of people in that field. For example, this post from a Respiratory Therapist who had to take a mental health vacation because his workplace is toxic to the soul. If you think you've got it bad, ask the other guy who's been doing what you want to do for a few years, just how bad you've got it.
You might end up wanting to keep your current position.
Or you might be the type who thinks "it" only happens to other people. In that case, good luck. Sorry about that whole "everyone else is screwy" problem/life you're having.
********
This is another reason it's good to have a wife. You say "I wanna do X instead of Y" and if she's a keeper, she'll remind you that Y is paying the bills and the grass only looks greener in X. Then she'll . . . distract you. ;)
VFD: Did he just say he wants to be in medicine so he doesn't have to deal with office politics?
NP: Yeah, I think he did.
VFD: LOL (pause) LOL . . . well, good luck with that
NP: Yep.
This is obviously someone who has not done his research. Just WOW. Talk about your nasty surprises. Hint: if you are considering a career change, look up the blogs of people in that field. For example, this post from a Respiratory Therapist who had to take a mental health vacation because his workplace is toxic to the soul. If you think you've got it bad, ask the other guy who's been doing what you want to do for a few years, just how bad you've got it.
You might end up wanting to keep your current position.
Or you might be the type who thinks "it" only happens to other people. In that case, good luck. Sorry about that whole "everyone else is screwy" problem/life you're having.
********
This is another reason it's good to have a wife. You say "I wanna do X instead of Y" and if she's a keeper, she'll remind you that Y is paying the bills and the grass only looks greener in X. Then she'll . . . distract you. ;)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Doing it Wrong: Helicopter Flight Edition
Medical helicopter flight crashes en route to a patient. 3 crew dead. People familiar with helicopters last seen not even bothering to put on their surprised faces.
My condolences to the families.
My condolences to the families.
I Hate The Phone Practices Of Experian
I had to call Experian today to get something taken care of, and had great success!
I had previously requested my credit report over the phone. It is super-easy to do, if you don't have an accent. I'm from Texas. The robot failed -twice- to figure out how to spell my name correctly, then it had me leave a voice recording of my name and how to spell it. The credit report came with all the proper information on it, but with my name misspelled.
I ran an internet search on "How to talk to a human Experian" and came up with this: Call 1-866-583-0303 and enter the report number and last 4 of your oh-so-secure-password Social "Security" Number. Then it comes up with a menu of options, none of which is "stop talking to a robot." You have to say "Agent" while it is telling you your options. It will stop talking and ask if you want to talk to an agent. Tell the robot "Yes" and be prepared to wait on hold for a while.
********
When the robot initially answers the phone call, it rattles off a bunch of disclaimers, and also tells you that it looks at your area code to determine hours of service. This means that, as the business day was closed where I live last night when I got the erroneous report, I was out of luck until today. If you have the ability to spoof your area code, that might be a workaround (and illegal). I called back today during lunch, and got through to a human! . . . in India, where it was WAY past bed time. C'mon Experian, you have an overseas call center that's always open, and can't spend a little extra and just offer 24/7 service?
I had previously requested my credit report over the phone. It is super-easy to do, if you don't have an accent. I'm from Texas. The robot failed -twice- to figure out how to spell my name correctly, then it had me leave a voice recording of my name and how to spell it. The credit report came with all the proper information on it, but with my name misspelled.
I ran an internet search on "How to talk to a human Experian" and came up with this: Call 1-866-583-0303 and enter the report number and last 4 of your oh-so-secure-password Social "Security" Number. Then it comes up with a menu of options, none of which is "stop talking to a robot." You have to say "Agent" while it is telling you your options. It will stop talking and ask if you want to talk to an agent. Tell the robot "Yes" and be prepared to wait on hold for a while.
********
When the robot initially answers the phone call, it rattles off a bunch of disclaimers, and also tells you that it looks at your area code to determine hours of service. This means that, as the business day was closed where I live last night when I got the erroneous report, I was out of luck until today. If you have the ability to spoof your area code, that might be a workaround (and illegal). I called back today during lunch, and got through to a human! . . . in India, where it was WAY past bed time. C'mon Experian, you have an overseas call center that's always open, and can't spend a little extra and just offer 24/7 service?
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