The call of the wild

That's what got the white one.

Yesterday, some little assholes juvenile delinquents kids opened the front gate and let the dogs out.
The black one, Meg came home after about an hour.
The white one (who's picture used to grace this site) is still gone.
And probably won't be back- one way or another.
He pulled the escape artist thing up in Conroe and was within 5 minutes-literally- of being left up there.

My voice is hoarse from calling for he and Meg within a week.
If anyone finds him and calls, (if he's not shot for chasing goats) I won't know him.
He doesn't want to live here, he won't.

Now we have to put a bike lock on the gate, or think of some thing to keep the dogs in if the gate is open.
But, then I guess it's the season for runaways...we found a toy dog on the porch. A toy breed dog.
The phone number on the tag is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

He's a teeny li'l ol' thang. Karen says she's seen chicken wings with more meat on them than his legs. After looking, I think he's a Black version of a long haired Chihuahua. Except that he doesn't have the nasty attitude.

Once Karen and the girls know he's a Chihuahua, we'll defiantly be loosing him.
Karen want's to know if the dog pound will take a trade-in for a real dog.




(UPDATE 7:15PM)
We just got back from the San Antonio emergency vet.
Bodie (the formerly missing dog) was hit by a car on the highway. He couldn't move his back legs when Karen saw him in the median going to Hondo. He was already going into shock when she got him home.
At least he got to say good-by to everyone before we took him to his final sleep.
I'll be burying him tomorrow in the back paddock.

Well, they do say opposits attract

You Are: 30% Dog, 70% Cat

You and cats have a lot in common. You're both smart and in charge - with a good amount of attitude. However, you do have a very playful side that occasionally comes out!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

H/T shoprat

EXCLUSIVE----THIS BEATS DRUDGE

(I think)


I'm the first to bring you the pictures of John Edwards FIRST EVER Pro Bono work.



He also took the opportunity to declare his bid for the 2008 presidential race.
Because, you know he "cares" about the unfortunate- he cares millions for the unfortunate.

How big is Ethiopia's army?

It can't be a whole lot bigger than maybe one of our Divisions, right?
Their Air Force could probably be held on two of our Carriers, do ya think?

Do you know what they're doing to the militant funamentalist Micheal Moors Minutemen African Tailban who were runnng the country untill about three days ago?

They're wiping the floor with them.
They took off the gloves- hell, they didn't even bother putting them on.

They're fighting a war.
They're not trying to "Win the hearts and minds " of the people, they're fumigating the region.

I've been hearing the question "Well, how do you know when your winning?"
How about when moslem women (who have less standing than a dog) are throwing rocks at the mullahs and saying "Look what you did to us!"

MR. Bush- you're trying to find a way to deal with these 'freedom fighters' of the MSM islamic world- I suggest you take a look at how to win when you don't care who calls you bad names.

Identity card or cash cow?

If we do get a national identity card, I hope it's not like the Brits are going to use it for.
I have to admit that I'm, ambivilent to the nat'l identity card. I carried one while on active duty- and don't have that much of a problem if it's used for identification purposes only.
We have SSI as a defacto identity number anyway,,,but it's taxpayer funded. It's not ment to be a revenue generator for the government.

People who fail to update their national identity card will be fined a staggering £1,000, it has been revealed.

And it will cost £30 to replace a lost or stolen card or buy a new one if a name needs to be changed, for example when a woman gets married.

A "draconian" regime of fines, which will also include £1,000 for failing to return a dead relative's ID card, is revealed in the latest Government plans for the controversial scheme.

~snip~

Home Office minister Joan Ryan confirmed charges would apply "if a person wished to add a married surname to his or her register entry". (30 pounds,,,about $60)

Based on an estimated 311,000 marriages a year, these charges alone would rake in up to £9 million a year.

At least £30 would be charged for lost or stolen cards, earning the Treasury more than £28million a year.

Mr Reid also admitted that applicants will be asked for "all current alternative addresses".

A failure to update these details could result in a £1,000 fine.

It is feared millions of students could be hit by the fines, for example if they fail to inform the Government of additional term-time addresses, for example their hall of residence.

And naturally, the real cost will be much more than the guestimated amount. Just look at Bushes' Perscription Drug boondoggle.

According to independent researchers, it will cost £19billion over ten years - nearly four times the £5.4billion budget.

The Government has said people will have to pay £30 for a simple ID card, or more than £90 for one with a passport.

But experts say the actual cost of a combined card could be as high as £300.



(UPDATE)
Sorry, here's the link

I hope your Christmas was pleasant

Ours was typical of the rest of the year.
Of all the presents opened I got three Thank You's- two of them came from Karen. And, as usual, the 18 yr-old decided to wait until we were ready to sit down for Christmas dinner to call her dad in the UK (about 9:30PM their time) because she's decided that she's only part of the family when it meets her self-centered needs.
She DID manage to make up for supper with desert, though.


Ok, So waddid ya git?

The Christmas meme

Thanks Capitain.


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper- it really puts your mind to work for odd shaped gifts.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Fake and fast.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Karen and (one of) the girls put it up Thanksgiving weekend.

4. When do you take the tree down?
New Years weekend.

5. Do you like eggnog?
I'm not much into liquid dairy products.

6. Favorite gift you received as a child?
'An official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!' -actually it was a Daisy.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
One of those things we should, but don't.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
Mom.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
Besides me buying my own presents? Karen.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail, I married Karen to make sure they got mailed out :-D

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A weight set.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
They used to show L & H 'Babes in toyland' on Christmas,,,but I don't think Laurel And Hardy are allowed to be shown on TV anymore...

13. When do you start shopping?
Anytime it occures to me that "this would make a good Christmas present".

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Probably, it runs in the family.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
'Chex party mix' and 'Stollen' (a german fruitbread).

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
It came with colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
'Snoopys Christmas'

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Moms'- in Conroe.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeers?
Yep, AND all seven dwarves little people.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Angel.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but maybe Denitia needs to do some penance for finding this video and the emotional dammage that results.

I don't know how to respond to this study

It was a study of "more than 200 lung cancer patients".
Even I know that that number is really statistically insignificant.

BUT what I'm wondering about is the idea that quitting smoking after a cancer diagnosis is really a 'better' quality of life idea.

If they quit, they don't live any longer, but they don't deteriorate as fast.
BUT if they quit, then they're going through withdrawals while going through the chemo as well.

Specifically, their "performance status" -- a measure of patients' ability to care for themselves and function in daily life -- was generally higher, according to findings published in the medical journal Chest.

Patients who gave up cigarettes did not live appreciably longer than those who continued smoking, the study found, but the difference in quality of life highlights the importance of quitting even after lung cancer develops, according to the study authors.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate a correlation between smoking cessation after diagnosis and performance status," write Dr. Sevin Baser and his colleagues.

Forgive me for being cynical, but doesn't the "ability to care for themselves and function in daily life" have something to do with the bottom line in terms of healthcare costs? You know, make them stop smoking while undergoing chemo and radiation, so they have to go through withdrawal at the sme time just to save a couple bucks?

Speaking of Christmas vacation

....I see blogroll has decided to go on indefinet hiatus.

And Merry Christmas!

I told you about my new work truck

...And how willing to be impressed with it I was.
And how disappointed I was

I also mentioned the cr@ppy placement of the mirrors.
I knew they'd get me in trouble some day.

I just didn't think it would be this soon.
See, the way the mirrors are set so far back, I loose the car in the right lane from my side marker (middle of the trailer) to just behind the last wheel.

I got stuck behind someone 'moving', and naturally since the left lane is banned from trucks- all I could do is move to the right- the slow lane (where he should have been). He was doing all of 50 MPH in a 65 zone.

I looked in the big West Coast mirrors and didn't see a thing, I put on my turn signal and started easing over and noticed in my convex mirror... an extra set of headlights that I couldn't see anywhere else. I couldn't see it from my back window, and unless I almost got out of the seat, I couldn't see it from my perch.

I stopped in time to avoid pushing him into the wall, but I bet I gave him a thrill.

I don't work on Madison Ave.

But I do think I know what might help or hurt in selling some things here in "Flyover country".

The mummified rats in the Quiznos commercial for one. Karen still refuses to eat there.
I guess it was 'cool' and 'edgy' out there in New York City on the east coast, and all.

Another thing is just product display.
If you want to sell something, try to make it at least not ,,, ummmmm,,,,,,,natural.
Unless that's a positive thing.
I'm sorry but I wouldn't want to come within 10 feet of that desk.
Kinda looks like the girls rooms- only cleaner.

What could possibly go wrong with this?

I guess some on the left are starting to realize that Bu$Hitler=Haliburton isn't the sole source of evil in the world.

Beth Ditto, lead singer of the Gossip, who will perform with the newly reformed Yaz, thinks the march is overdue. "Forget right wing Christians. They don't hang gays for being gay. Islamofascists do. That's why were asking moderate, non-violent Muslims across the Western Province to join hands and embrace gay people everywhere.

And being typical Left wing paleohippies, they're going to hold a "March on Mecca"!

PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO DATE: December 15, 2006, 4 PM.

IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM AND TOLERANCE, AND IN HARMONY WITH OUR GAY MUSLIM BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WE PROUDLY ANNOUNCE THE FIRST MARCH TO MECCA, FEBRUARY 14, 2007

Human Rights Watch, Moveon.org, ACT-UP, the Huffington Post and David Geffen are proud to present the March to Mecca, a celebration of peace that calls all gay brothers, sisters and people undergoing sex-reassignment to march to the holiest of holy cities, Mecca, the capital city of Saudi Arabia's Makkah province on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2007.

Like I said, what could possibly go wrong here?
It's not like the 'religion of piss' would be somehow,,,offended by these pervs people marching on their holiest site.

And don't worry, they'll take all reasonable precautions to ensure nobody gets hurt.

The March to Mecca will snake through the sandy, sunny valley of Abraham, and it is urged that you pack sunblock and plenty of bottled water. "Don't forget to blog!" adds co-sponsor Arianna Huffington. After the march, Rep Barney Frank of the U.S. House of Representatives will host a special VIP rave on the Queen Boat, a floating disco on the Nile.

Update on "Jobs Americans won't do"

Remember those ICE raids last week where they rounded-up from meat packing plants?
Remember how El Presidente Bush talked about how the illegals were only doing jobs Americans weren't paid enough wouldn't do?

Meet the Americans who are lining up to do the jobs that illegals used to do.
GREELEY - The line of applicants hoping to fill jobs vacated by undocumented workers taken away by immigration agents at the Swift & Co. meat-processing plant earlier this week was out the door Thursday.

Among them was Derrick Stegall, who carefully filled out paperwork he hoped would get him an interview and eventually land him a job as a slaughterer.
.................................................................................
Greg Bonifacio heard about the job openings on television and brought his passport, his Colorado driver's license, his Social Security card and even a color photograph of himself as a young Naval officer to prove his military service.

"I don't want to hassle with any identification problems because of my last name," said Bonifacio, a 59- year-old Thornton resident of Filipino heritage.
.................................................................................
Bonifacio was hoping to get a job in production or fabrication. So was Nathan Korgan, a former construction worker whose company closed and moved to California.

That's just a Colorado location. I wonder how the rest of the country-wide plants are handling their worker shortage?
As an added thought, I'd bet the wages went up along with some bennies.

OHhhh, and your meat prices? look for an increase there of probably less than a nickel a pound.

Ok,,, I'm watching LoTR

Return of the King on TV.

Ok, I know it's been out for a while. I'm Cheap- and busy.

So now my Questions start.

If I were in the movie place, I probably wouldn't have to cycle my volume control between 10 and MAX to hear the dialogue. Smeegul/Gollum has some kind of pitch that I just can't hear at a normal level.

It's a brilliant movie (just like the book) that can tug at your heat strings, and almost make you feel you were there.

BUT..what's with the Elvin babe?

I thought they were supposed to be so drop-dead gorgeous that mere men dropped dead at seeing them.

Sorry, but this guy was wondering who got the 'beautiful-in-an-ugly-way' babes for the Elvish babes?

Yea, I know they were Brits, but still.... hot is hot.

OOohhh, back to the movie,,,, great fight scenes and all the rest.
I just couldn't get over the hot-but-not Elvish Princesses.

Big brother meet Pavlov

Or we could call it the law of unintended consequences.

A town council in Wales is going to remove a speed camera from an on ramp because of the congestion that sometimes causes a 5 mile back-up.
Because people sees the cam and automatically hit the brakes...even if they're already going the speed limit.
Kinda like here when these morons come almost to a complete STOP if they see a cop on the side of the road giving someone a present.

I have to give them some credit in recognizing and doing at least something about it.
Unlike most Liberals where the results of their actions have no relationship at all with action its self....because the INTENTION is what matters.
How they WANTED to make it "better" in spite of how it actually ended up.

Conservatives (are you listening to this RNC?) actually recognize some relationship between what they do and what happens afterwards.

I think lemon fits me better

I was coffee.

Mmm, I am Lemon Flavoured. I am bitter and twisted. Expect from me acerbic humour and sharp commentary. While I may seem nasty at first, I'm actually quite good company if I like you, so long as you don't mind a bit of cutting to the chase. What Flavour Are You?

George W. Bush and his economic slump

Another story of people being forced to live pay check to paycheck.
I can relate...almost.

NEW YORK (Money Magazine) -- If she thought it would really fix her family's finances, Amy Schuett would make it her New Year's resolution to squeeze every bit of extra spending from the family budget.

But she's already slashed so many little luxuries - the gourmet coffee, the restaurant lunches, the weekly dates with husband Brian - that she's fresh out of ideas.
Cable TV? Unplugged. Pool membership? Down the drain.

They've even considered giving up their unlisted phone number. At a cost of $3 a month, this move wouldn't save much - even over, say, 150 years - but it shows how desperate the couple feel about easing their financial strain. "We're struggling week to week to get by," says Brian, 42. "Any money that comes in gets chewed up right away."
~snip~
And they do have four daughters to raise, ages four to nine. But still.

The Schuetts don't have any child-care bills (Brian is now a stay-at-home dad). They don't have credit-card debt. They don't splurge on fancy vacations. And they live in a nice but definitely not luxurious home on a three-acre plot in Elkhorn, Neb., just west of Omaha, where the cost of living is, well, livable.

Yet, says Amy, "We live from one paycheck to the next, we're struggling to save and we never seem to have enough money to do anything fun."

It's a statement that an awful lot of Americans can make these days. About two-thirds of families need their next paycheck to meet their living expenses, according to a recent survey by the American Payroll Association.

Sounds pretty bad, doesn't it?
We're kinda like that because of some financial mistakes I made many years ago (and forgot about), but we're working out of it.

OHhhhh, did I mention that the copule in question pull in over $150,000 per year?

Dash, I found some in Austin

The other day, Dash had a post asking where the civility was in Austin general.

I was delivering a load of sugar to Austin Coke and got done in the middle of rush hour.
If anyone is familiar with the Austin I-35 rush hour traffic, you know how bad it is.
Throw in a Friday and you have a mess. I was listening to the CB as I was unloading, and heard about the wrecks happening in both directions.
As I was leaving, and trying to decide if it would be better to bypass I-35 and take HWY 183 south, I cam up to a parking lot that used to be the on-ramp to I-35 which made my mind up.

I took HWY 183 south and about 45 min later was ready to try merging back onto I-35S.
The access road was nothing but brake lights as far as you could see, and no-one was going to let a semi-tanker in if they could help it.

UNTIL a guy (probably conservative) pulled up to get my attention to wave me in.
I thanked him and got in line to wait my turn to merge on.

I don't know if I saved any time going around, but at least I was moving.
Anyway, I imagine this guy was a conservative by the way he was thoughtful enough to go out of his way to help someone he didn't know, and the fact that he was driving a Cadillac Escalade convinced me.

And, no dash, I didn't see any bumper stickers on that shiney new black Caddy.
I know it wasn't dash because this guy was as well fed as I was.
I just wanted Dash to know that all is not lost in the hippy capitol of Texas.

Why did I know it was a Democrat?

All I had to do was see this headline.

"Senator defends travel to Syria"

Because we're all about caving dialogging with terrorist states.

So, Elves are liberals?

~OR maybe they're just metrosexual.

RH Junior had this quote at the beginning of his Dec. 11 post:

One of the driving themes in all the stories I write about the Eldritch is how their society is crumbling for lack of manual laborers or people who deal strictly with the laws of nature: engineers, farmers, architects, people who work in construction, on the land, in factories. This was born of my observation that elves all seem to be poets, singers, kings or bon vivants, with nary a grease monkey in sight. I wondered what would happen if that was literally true, and the answer was (of course) disaster.
From this posting of haikujaguar on 'manual labor'.

RH puts his finger right on what I believe is the big difference between Liberals and conservatives. I guess that's why I never could have much empathy for modern literary elves and the "little people". The old school Elves of Celtic myth, on the other hand, knew what it was like to work with their hands. At least until they departed to New York City Tirra Noc Nog, and forgot what dirt and calluses were.

I'm stealing this post from RHJunior because He says it best:

That is a frickin' brilliant observation, and it makes me feel an utter dunce that I never put my finger on it myself... It's probably the biggest part of what makes typical fantasy elves so stinkin' annoying--- the unconscious awareness that these pointy-eared nancy boys never get their hands dirty.You see them sitting there in ornate palatial homes eating delicacies from silver and crystal dishes... you never see them FARMING to GROW those delicacies. Or sweating in the kitchen, cooking that food or washing those dishes. They show an elven king reforging an epic sword in "Return of the King"--- fine; so where's the elven miner that dug up the ore? The elven stonemason that made the furnace? Or, for that matter, the calluses on King PineSol's pretty hands?

Upon reflection, it's probably why so many professors, performers, artists, and other people who work with their mind rather than their hands tend to be liberals, subjectivists, postmodernists. When you work with your hands, you don't just know objectivism, you feel it in the material world. You can't argue philosophy with a bar of iron or a block of wood--- you either work it, shape it, hammer it and cut it just so, or you FAIL to get the results you want. Sometimes dramatically. A field of beans doesn't give a damn what your theories about socialist agriculture say, they'll grow as they damn well ought to, and you'd best water the plants and pull the weeds or they'll make things difficult come harvest time. A man who has to drive nails into wood and build a house knows, often from painful thumb-mashed experience, that there IS such a thing as a right way and a wrong way, and there isn't much give in either direction.
The material world doesn't suffer fools lightly.

When you're an artist or a theoretician or a pundit, though-- -when you work with your mind instead of your hands, when you do things where success is largely measured by popularity and other men's approval--- when your day to day existence does not depend on dealing skilfully with wood or stone or metal or earth in any consistent way--- the real world can seem vague and mushy, hard to grasp, full of uncertainties. And any old theory can stand on its own, no matter how shoddily constructed...

If I add any more, I'd probably spoil it.

You should go check out both of their blogs.


(UPDATE)
As long as we're talking about people out of touch with the real world, don't be surprised to see a variation of this quote from Sony next time taxes are going to might be cut:

“We will stay competitive but we won’t do anything that damages the industry long term,” said Vandenbree, who added that Sony has a “responsibility” not to accelerate price declines in a way that could hurt the industry.

“We decided that we had to be competitive, but we didn’t want to send a signal that there is not value in the products,” he said. “We didn’t think a permanent price cut was in order.” Source: News.com

Sony- overpriced, unnnecissary toys that include a FREE root kit, and pyro electric batteries. Nothing but quality here, boys.
Hurry~ buy our cr@p before it self destructs.

Laura, please stop calling me

Really.
I'm married.
You're married to him.

Please stop sending me mail, because too much of a good thing is still too much.
I have a garbage can under the desk that's over half full of your adoration of me and what I can do for you and yours.

I'm sorry that I can't return the feelings. It's not that I wanted to, but you and yours have alienated me by your shortsighted and tawdry behavior these last several years.

Some of us aren't lucky, or motivated to become like you are- we work for a living.
Some of us work at night, and your constant and repetitive calling just annoys us.

Henry, you had my vote. If I could go back, I'd not vote at all.
I'm sick and tired of EVERYONE with access to an automatic voice spam machine calling me to vote for you.

Next time I fill out one of those political questionnares, I'll use the DNC's phone number.



I was trying to take a nap because of the sleep schedule and interruptions I get with the house getting ready for work and school in the mornings.
I must have been called 10 times in the last two hours.

I guess next election cycle, I'll just unplug the phone for four months.

Interesting

Funny, but definatly NSFW- in a nekkid blonde way.

Lets take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

Remember the moslem reaction to the "fake-but-accurate" koran flushing?

How about reaction of the religion of piss to the pedaphile cartoons?

Lets not forget how they show their love of their adopted France.

Now they're "protesting" the 'loosening of islamic sharia law'in the fact that rape is now a crime, with real penalties. . . sometimes. It depends how the judge feels.

NOW we come to the Christian reaction to moslems desecrating a bible.
We have to stop it!
Ohh, the horror...

You DID hear about it, right?
From the same MSM that piles on with every 'insult' to the hypersensitive molem world.

I just KNOW you've been wondering

Who are the hottest Disney Chicks?

And Greedo has his list up.
I'd probably rank them in a little different order.
But Jessica Rabbit would be #1, too in my list.

It's just too bad that Princess Clara and Foxy Love can't be on that list...



Ohh, and not to forget Tripping the Rift's Six.



Or our own Sam from Day by Day.




Maybe someone needs to do a "hottest comic babe"?

I finally finished my Christmas lights

I think the red lights add just the right touch of realism...







...and...
My best distance on the "Penguin smack" is 483 feet.

As I was stumbling through the parking lot of an invisble 7-11

The blues has got ahold of me, and I believe I'm getting dizzy.


Ok, I'll stop with the bad ZZ Top.

If you'd like to read what a right leaning beatnik has to say, follow these tracks cat, and be prepared to enter the flag draped coffee house of Albert Sark.

">"
Maynard wants you to scoot your sandals over there to groove to the bluesy beat of a red blooded poet.

Go Daddy-O

This started it

This finished it 4 years latter.

It would have taken a lot longer if ALL of America hadn't pulled together to win.

Does America have the intestinal fortitude to win anymore?

OHHHH, By the way- Japan is now a fully functioning Democracy because we took off the gloves.
AND because we stayed there after it was over.
Germany the same.

Can someone please tell me

What is the absolute fascination that some people have with my trailer tires?

They're big, black and round. WHY would anyone want to sit there next to them for miles on an open road?
Let me tell you what they do, so you won't have to get alongside of me and take up one of my accident avoidance options.

The wheels on the trailer go round and round
Round and round, round and round
The wheels on the trailer go round and round
All the way to town.

The wheels on the trailer go round and round
Round and round, round and round
The wheels on the trailer go round and round
All the way to town.

The wheels on the trailer go round and round
Round and round, round and round
The wheels on the trailer go round and round
All the way to town.

OK? Do you want me to repeat it for the 30 minutes it takes to go from Castroville to San Antonio?

Because driving something that's almost 70' long and weighs up to 80,000 pounds is a little different than driving your average 12'long 3,000 pound 4 wheeler.

When I go down hill, I can't ride the brakes and expect to have any when I get to the bottom. The way drivers are supposed to do it is to brake hard then ease-up and brake hard until at the bottom. If you're tailgating me on the way into town, you'll have a big surprise when I hit my brakes to drop 10 MPH below the speed limit so I can hit them again at 10 MPH over. ...And repeat until the bottom.

Driving is about space management. I have my lane, you have yours. My truck is about 8 feet wide, yours is 6 or less. Please use the extra 2 feet to stay in your lane because I can't jerk my truck out of your way when you drift into mt lane while texting on your phone. If you're on my right side, all I can see is the top of your vehicle, not how close you are to my wheels.

If I have someone on my trailer tires and some dork on the phone on my right, all I have is the brakes. At 70 MPH, it takes 3 times as long to stop my truck as it does your car. If you slam on your brakes in front of me, I can Guarantee that no matter what your wheels do, your vehicle WON'T stop until my truck does.
In addition to reaction time, my airbrakes take another second or so to actuate all the way back to my my trailer brakes.

To wrap it up: Pass me or stay behind me.
and most importantly... F*ing HANG-UP AND DRIVE!




This DOT test guardrail test film is interesting, too- with Flying cars!

(UPDATE)
I'd like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to all the Union workers the the International plant for their thoughtful attempts to ensure that I have plenty to listen to in my new truck.
Those annoying squeeks from ill fitted parts and especially the screwdriver y'all left in the dashboard where I can't get to.
I appreciate it.
Who needs to hear a radio, CD or CB when I can listen to your careful placement and securing results.

Nothing spells "UNION PRIDE" like a truck with less than 8,000 miles on it that the driver needs earplugs to drive. "Proudly made in America" buy our cr@p because we say so.

Water?????????

I'm not a highly trained firefighter, but I don't think I'd want to get anywhere near a 100,000 watt transmitter with a water hose.
Dumb ol' me would probably grab a type B/C dry chem fire extinguisher.


Yeah, I know- they *said* it was off...

Two questions on this story

1- Does ANYBODY in charge ever show up?

2- Are the Libs so far out of touch that they thought asking donations for illegals was OK?

Lets get to the first question:
He said only News Director Peter Roghaar could respond to those questions, and, "He won't be in until Thursday." WND also was told the reporter was off on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the general manager, Brian Lawlor, was out of the office today. Messages left for Lawlor, his assistant and Roghaar weren't returned.

So how many holidays do these people get? It seems like anytime the toss a PR bomb out that everyone and anyone who has ANY responsibility is 'out". You know on vacation, on assignment, out of the office, can't be reached...

On to the second question:
The top-rated television station in West Palm Beach, Fla., is calling on viewers to put aside their ''political beliefs'' to help 13 illegal aliens trying to "survive the American Dream" after being displaced by a fire at the home they rent in the city.

Jamie Holmes, a reporter for the NBC affiliate, WPTV-TV, avoided referring to the members of the Bravo and Morales families as illegal aliens or undocumented immigrants in an original on-air report, instead describing them as ''the hard-working kind of people which created such a controversy in America this year ... .''

Don't worry Jamie. I'm sure our tax dollars are going to provide them with more than their fair share of section 8 housing, food stamps, health care and the rest of the taxpayer goodies that bring them here like candy does to kids.

They already HAVE a prayer room

In every public place in America.

It's usually labeled "Men".

Now stop trying to force your bloodthirsty religion on the rest of the world.

Ciro Rodriguez cares about the law

This is what I saw when I went to the Hondo courthouse annex to vote.
(UPDATE)
It's a runoff between Henry Bonilla (R) who got 49% of the vote and Ciro Rodriguz (D) who got ...like 18%. Henry didn't receive a 50+ percentile of the vote, so we have a run-off...it's a Texas thing.













I must admit that he meticulously adhered to the electioneering demarcation line.
Even though you can see the door entrance ramp and handrail on the right side of this picture.












The Democrat Party.
Obeying the letter of the law.





















Even if they have to use two parking spaces in a small parking lot.



Because they care!

Henry Bonilla- he remembers what it's like to look for a parking spot in a small lot.

If you're going to do something illegal

Don't go bragging about it on MySpace.

Also in regard to MySpace. I have two teens with MySpace accounts. I think -in addition to the music downloads (limewire) that's why we're almost at our download limit.
Has anyone ever LOOKED at a teens MySpace site?
WTF???
How can anyone enjoy looking at all that visual garish puke?
And the auto loading noise that they insist on showing their current *mood*.
I'm not even going to get into the intentional mis-spelling.....

The semi-meme

I googled searched my name on Yahoo and came back with 33,200,000 for Kurt- including some drug addicted musician and a precision tool maker, along ith actors and writers.

My last name came back with 29,000 results, including somekind of factory that was bought-up by Fedders.
H/T to Rhianna for that,,,or is it Rihanna?

FYI- just to give anyone who's thinking of a new laptop for themselves or a gift. You probably want to stay away from the Compaq (HP) Presario. The only power supply (and battery charger) has an almost pre-engineered weak spot intenally that's almost guaranteed to break. It requires gong inside the computer to repair or replace the cheap plastic center pin holder.

Also, the keys are pretty f*cked up, they need a FIRM stroke all the way to the bottom of the contact or you'll spend as much time fixing missing letters as you do composing.

I like the youngests IBM thinkpad. If it wasn't crashing the Win98 all the time, I'd steal ittrade her for it. (it was pre- used)

WOW!

If you go here, be sure your sound is on. If you want to do it, this is what you need to do.
This gets a 10 in coolness.

That should make him real popular with the voters- sounds like he's getting political advice from his buddy Jimmy carter.

...And this lucky guy's not even Mexican.

Hey, Barney- lets go get some Bronto Burgers.

Girls, are you lonely? Let your phone get stolen.

More news you don't want to miss

You report this like it's a surprising ting?

But, is she sorry enough to NOT use the damn cell phone while driving....again?

Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this?

Disgusting in a kind of rabbit watching a snake way...definately NSFW

My tribute to the Hollywood lifestyle. Here's to ya Britney, Paris and Lindsey:

"Moderate" mooslimbs, please take note

This is how you show displeasure with your extremists.

Reaction to Phred Phelps Phobic Protests at cemetaries:

It's about time.

"Moderate" Islamists please note the lack of flames, gunfire and free flowing blood.

. . . Also the lack of chreographed "DEATH TO,,,(ummm-whoever)!!" chants.


I do, however hope you DO take note of the show of distain for something most Americans hold for this kind of behavior.
You, too can show your displeasure with your extremists--IF you want to.


H/T to Gawfer, and I guess it's old according to Roberts' comments.

Evolution

I'm an Adorable Little Rodent in N.Z. Bears ecosystem.

Misc. news blurbs

Democrats, the most ethical party we've ever known

When critters attack!!!!! ... now with Sea Lions.

5 year-old kid 'Free to good home'.

More proof that Americans have too little to worry about.

Quick and easy Christmas gifts, all you need are CD cases. (or would that be cheap and cheesy?)

At last Video conversion downloads. Maybe NOW I can do something with the Nikon videos?

Naked sunbathers via Google Earth.

Global warming hurricane predictions..... oops- maybe next year we'll get it right.

We need to do *something* about the quagmire in Iraq- If that's your criteria, lets look at the death rate of Americans caused by Illegals.

A list of things to remember if you become an Evil Overlord.

Compare and contrast

Mountain

Mole hill

Loudmouth dumb-ass

Race-baiting extortionist

Lets review:

Drunken dumb-ass

Race-baiting extortionist

Any questions?

Truth in advertizing

I used to drive OTR

And I noticed that it seemed like the more leftist/Liberal the state was, the worse the roads were.
Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma-Good roads.
Louisiana, Cali, New Jersy, New York, Mich., Minn.- Roads in .....not so great shape.

Now I see this nude "pothole" calender from Canada with canoes in their potholes. (SFW)
That pretty much verifies my Liberal=bad infrastructure theory.

Liberalism explained

If you don't think I'm right- just think about all the pro-abortion arguments.
Incest, abuse, pedophilia (oops, sorry NAMBLA), and all the rest of the excuses they make to hide bad decisions.

I've always thought that Most Libs I've seen on TV and read on ALGores internet were,,,,well basically rebellious teens in adult bodies with college vocabularies. They throw out ideas and accusations with (it seems) no anticipation of the end result.
I have teens. I was a teen ager. I know how absolute and unrealistic some of their ideas are. It took me going into boot camp to realize that I didn't know the answers to everything just because I had an answer to it and that there were usually reasons for answers without a question.

Gun control? OMG, they'll start shooting whenever someone pisses them off!!!!
What scares me most is the arbitrary nature of self-defense. What line must be crossed to signal to you that there is imminent danger or threat? Is it a criminal pulling a gun on you? In which case, unless you're a gunslinger, you're not going to outdraw him. Is it someone pulling a knife? Threatening words? Bad language or rude gestures? Where is that one point where you decide, "Yes, my life or the life of my loved ones is in danger and I must now take it upon myself to take the life of another person." What if the guy is reaching into his jacket, and you are sure, absolutely certain that it is a weapon. You pull your gun and shoot--and see he's reaching for his wallet. Or worse, you miss and hit a child running in the street. Where is that line?
~snip~
I understand completely that you have the best of intentions, the best training, the best gun money can buy, and the best reasons in the world to want to defend yourself. But I'm sorry, I don't have insight into your character from my vantage point and I can't assume you can be trusted with a gun any more than I can assume you're not going to attack me anyway without a gun.

Drugs.
Infidelity.

How about this explanation?
Projection concerns externalizing the issues that we need to deal with ourselves. Usually we project onto others issues and problems that we need to address within ourselves, or are unable to manage properly. Projection is irresponsible behavior as we dump our problem onto somebody else. We justify these projections by blaming someone or something outside for the emotions we do not want to feel. We project our disappointments and problems onto other people, it is somehow their fault, we become a blamer. Ultimately it is the person who projects that loses, as they never really sort out their own problems.

You've seen parents raging at their children demanding they meet requirements the parent has failed to achieve themselves. This is projection. The parent trains the child to do all the negative behaviors the parent has repressed for a lifetime. If the parent has a problem with addiction they will rage at the child until the child becomes addicted too. They see their own behavior mirrored back in the child and then rage against their own projection trying to get the child to change what they are not yet willing change and face in themselves. We try to change everything outside us when we are not willing to go inside and do the work we need to do to change ourselves. You see this with so called progressives. They try to change everything in the world rather than do their own inner work.

A history of the Mid-east in 90 seconds

Gives you something to think about.

If you want to.

Stolen from Aelfheld who has lots to steal from.

When he writes.

...And, yes those motorized carts DO beep when backing.

Does anybody recognize this?

No, don't cheat and jump down to the body.

I'll give you some stats on it.

When issued its battle sites were set at about 546 yards.

It was reissued during WWII.

It is a .30 cal weapon, with a revised ammo designation that was changed when the ammunition was made a little hotter- back in 1906.


Is that better?

Overall length is 43.20 inches, unloaded weight was 8 lbs-11 oz. The barrel is 24 inches and has a 4-groove 2 groove, left-hand twist barrel. The magazine holds 5 rounds.

According to this site, it was made in 1942.
(link is fixed)

But, according to the barrel it was made in July of 1944.


OK, it's a 1903 A3 Springfield in what appears to be - really good condition.
After looking, I think the stock is a replacement, because it doesn't have any factory markings on it.

This is the one that I can used to drop shots into the black all day long at 200Yds+. I haven't got it to the range yet, because my shoulder is still not right, and I'd like to be able to use the fingers on my right hand for a while yet.

Wasssup?

Brought to you by, teletubbies.

The 18 yr-old had a visit from the recruiter yesterday

The Army recruiter.
She and her friend were thinking od going in under the "Buddy program".

Both of them took a practice ADVAP test.
All of a sudden reality is starting to slap both of them in the face.
Neither of them would have gotten above 35 on the real test.

As a measurement I use is that I scored 85 on mine.
They needed a 50 to get their Vet. MOS. So then they decided to check out the M.P.'s- be cause one girl couldn't handle giving a dog a thermometer up the butt.

OK, they're pretty clueless teens- that's life.
I'll let them make their own mistakes- the Army has plenty of experience in re-assigning inappropriate people.

The recruiter was here for about two hours. One thing that caught my attention was the "New and Improved" General orders.

I seem top remember that there was 5 or 7 general orders of a sentry.
She mentioned the THREE general orders.

When did they downgrade the basic tenants of the military?
I was under the impression that we had the best and brightest enlisting?
I guess we all need to lower our standards to accomodate those that live in these times,,,THREE general orders...??????

I question the timing

Here we have an ex-general telling a Spanish paper that Rumsfield authorized the Abu-Graib 'torture'.
I'd think that if it were true, it would have, and should have been exposed back in 2004 when everything was boiling.
-OR-
It should have been made public last month to do the most harm to BushCo.

But then again, maybe ex-General Janis Karpinski was as lackadasical in her personal calender as she was in enforcing military discipline in her unit assigned to guard the prisoners in Abu-Graib.

I wonder if he even knew the word before he sounded it out

See, 50cent (some drug thug)is "appalled" that James Bond can show a gun on a poster, but a gangbanging rapper who glorifies anti-social behavior can't.
Gee, I just can't see WHY anyone would have a problem with seeing an advocate for the total breakdown of civilized behavior with a gun. Showing inluencialble (is that a word?) youth and immature adults that it's ok to solve *ANY* problem with violence.

Oh, and he wants Hollywood to do their Liberal thing and adopt a "Zero tolerance" policy on showing ALL guns on movie advertizments.

I wonder who was in front?

Steve-o or Robert?

I also wonder what kind of cologne they had on.

Our stalwart and stiff lipped British allies In the GWoT

Are trying to find how to get to Amarillo


Thanks to Rusty for the new video link

HEY BILLY

You can stop YELLING on your OxyClean commercials.

Really!
I have My volume down for a reason- I *don't* need your yelling about your snake oil wonder product.

I can hear the Tv just fine where my sound is set.

Did you usta sell used cars? Just curious because I think I'd trust you as much as a used car salesman.

I don't know how much extra it costs to double my volume on your TV ads, but believe me-You're not making any friends at my house (or on the internet it looks like).

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving

I hope that you stuffed yourselves well.
I hope you have plenty of white bread and Miracle Whip For those turkey sammiches.

Now- just in case you haven't been to Wallyworld in the past two months, it's time to think about Christmas.
And what would Christmas be without animatronic window displays?

How about a Kola doing the deed with a Wombat in a department store window down in Oz? (SFW- sort of)

Actually it was just one of those unforseen engineering mishaps. You know, those guys who went to collage for 4+ years and didn't take into account the movement affect on a makeshift connector.

Happy Thanksgiving

Tavin tells you about what he has to be thankful for

Something else to be thankful for

The ability to HAVE the ability to take "Firm, resilient female flesh bravely resisting the recoil of heavy caliber weaponry..." for granted.

I'm sorry -really

But I just CAN'T get all worked-up about the impending fall of the Lebanese facade of a government.

I know, I know- at least it was a stabilizing influence over there.
I have a sneaking suspicion- given the history, that the ONLY way they'll get a stable government will be from Syria.

They gave Hiz b'Allah a veto over anything going on there. Syria has had their fingers in the pie for so long that there isn't any crust left.

As for the so-called Democratic movement over there last year?

Those people over there wouldn't recognize Democracy if they stepped in it up to their armpits.
They're actively opposed to the ONLY Democratic government in the region.

Tell me again- why should I care? Just keep sending Israel the tools to keep those terrorists on the fastlane to paradise.

I just gownloaded IE7

Can't say I'm very impressed.
In order to load it, I had to turn off all mu internet protection.

Now, the masters at Microsoft won't let me customize the top bars like I want.
I can't hide the tool bar, but I CAN hide the navigator bar. I'd rather move the toolbar into the navigation bar and get rid of half an inch of useless Micocrap on top of my screen.
Must be that pesky free will thing that only the Head Liberals feel only they need.

THEY know better than I do about how I want my computer to work, so I should b happy they allow me to buy their stuff.
Right?


(UPDATE 11-21-06 2:35AM)
I just uninstalled IE7 because I couldn't get it customized ,or how to work the way I wanted. I finally got those annoying tabs to hide, but never could find a way to get rid of those stooopid "favorites" stars.
OR to hid that bottom bar.

I just hope that Vistas isn't as f*cked up as Explorer 7.

Ummmmm...........

First the serious scientific story.
They're going to sink and document the ecological benefits of a whale carcass.
Yep, science at it's best.

Confronted with a rotting whale carcass on the beach in 1970, officials in Florence, Ore., hauled in 20 cases of dynamite and lit the fuse.

The resulting rain of blubber chunks smashed a car a quarter-mile away, sent onlookers fleeing for cover and yielded one of the Internet's most side-splitting video clips.

Biologists at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories have a better idea for disposing of a 54-foot fin whale that turned up dead in the Port of Everett earlier this month.

They plan to attach 3 tons of metal railroad wheels to the corpse and sink it off the coast of San Juan Island.

But because these are scientists, that's just the beginning of the story.

The real goal is to study the whale's decomposition at a level of detail that would make most people gag.

Using an underwater drone equipped with a video camera, the researchers will document the types of fish, crabs and other creatures that feed on the carcass, and the role it plays as a food bonanza in the marine ecosystem. Divers will also visit the site for an up-close view of the putrefaction.


Now for the good part:


Including this tongue twister "The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds".

Oh, look!

This would make a nice companion to the .357 Blackhawk I want to get.

Just in case ayone was feeling generous for Christmas...

Craigslist has been sued

If you're not familiar with craigslist, it's basically an online classifieds site.
there is probably one near you no matter where you are.

If you have then bookmarked, you'll notice the international sign of the Liberal as their icon (a peace sign).
Anyway, some-even more Liberal Liberals were suing them for discrimination in their self policed ads in Chi-town.
See, craigslist doesn't charge for ads, or even -really censor them. That's left to the veiwing public. If something is deemed objectionable, then it's flagged and looked at more closely.

This unfounded suit was the result of such 'exclusionary' terms as:

. While craigslist takes fair housing issues very seriously, and we want to do everything we can to assist our users in promoting fair housing for everyone, the 100 ads cited were a little surprising. Some were roommate ads involving constitutionally protected speech and the right to free association, such as "prefer christian roommate", or were ads containing incidental and harmless remarks such as "near St Gertrude's church," and "Buddhist temple nearby." Others simply celebrated the diversity and tolerance of the local community ("vibrant southwest Hispanic neighborhood offering great classical Mexican culture, restaurants, and businesses"), or sought to appeal to some groups without excluding anyone ("Great apartment for graduate students, married couple, or small family"). And for a few it is difficult to determine what protected classification is at issue ("wants one nice quiet person").

Like it's been asked before. Once you start down that slippery slope, how do you stop? It's better to not get the sled moving at all, instead lets move our ideas with all the deliberation of inching the ship-of-civilization out if the drydock on her new mission.

As craigslist goes on to (unwittingly, I'm sure) affirm the very essence of the Liberal state:

Though possibly well-intentioned, this lawsuit ignores the essential nature of craigslist, demanding that we cease treating our users with trust and respect, and instead impose inappropriate, mistake-prone, and generally counter-productive centralized controls (such as manual review by our staff of the nearly 2 million free housing ads of unlimited length posted each month, a volume of ads greater than that received by all US newspapers combined), controls which would actually be less effective in catching discriminatory ads than what we have in place currently, and which would vastly reduce the number of legitimate non-discriminatory ads that the site could process.

Overreaching further, the suit demands that craigslist proactively volunteer personal information about posters who post a discriminatory preference (e.g. "church next door") to regulatory authorities for prosecution, without subpoena or warrant -- clearly a violation of privacy rights, this demand may actually run counter to federal law governing the handling of user information.

Ya know, they get it, but they can't admit that they "get-it".
Because that would somehow ,,,tarnish their humanistic insincts.

Yes,I 'm training her well

Karen and I went to San Antonio this morning looking to see if there were any trees worth buying to replace the Crape Myrtles that the Leafcutter ants killed.
We stopped into Sportsman's Warehouse to buy some felt wads for the Colt ( they don't carry them in .44).
As we were passing the gun counter, she told me we needed to get a Winchester for the house.

Because this is Texas and we *should* have one.


YES!
I love my wife!!!


Actually, I think she had something like this more in mind than a bright shiney new one

Hondo, Texas

The only city in Texas where a minor cross street takes precedence over a state highway.
I can garrantee that if you see a car at an intersection with a traffic light, the highway traffic will have a longer stop than the crossroad.

This is sooo wrong

On multiple levels-
I got this *11* thing in my mail today (or last week? It's one of those extra mailboxes).

I don't know ALL of what's wrong with it but my BS detector is going off right now.
I'll paste it and add my two cents as we go.

Subject: Fwd: Number 11

Try this, Coincidence? make up your own mind.

The Secret behind the number 11 -

Read to the bottom. Try it out. It is unreal.

If you are a sceptical person - still read on as it's actually very
interesting!!

1) New York City has 11 letters [But it's official name is New York, New York= 14 *OR* Da City= 6]
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters. [Ok, I'm sure lots of _____stans have 11 letters, too]
3) Ramsin Yuseb has 11 letters. (The terrorist who threatened to destroy
the Twin Towers in 1993)[BUT- it depends on how you spell it]
4) George W Bush has 11 letters. [And *W* only has one]

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.[Remember this flight number]
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11 [does that include the hijackers? If the hijackers weren't counted, the number wouldn't BE 11, would it?]
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 =
11 [ditto the above. And if that didn't work, we can always add the flight crew -as needed]
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11[and 9 x1 x1=9, so?]
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911.
9 + 1 + 1 = 11


Sheer coincidence..?! Read on.
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254.

2 + 5 + 4 = 11. [So are we including the flight crew this time? What about the hijackers?]
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year.[OUR calender- islamists use a different one]

Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11. [OR 2 x5 x4= 40]
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.[more number manipulation fun]
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.


Now this is where things get totally eerie:

The most recognized symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the
Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Koran, the Islamic holy book:


"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The
wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some
of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the
Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."


That verse is number 9.11 of the Koran. [Of WHICH version?]

Unconvinced about all of this Still ..?!

Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:
Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to
hit one of the Twin Towers. [Remember the flight number I told you to remember? It was 11]
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS 1
What do you think now?!!


I think it's as big a stretch as someone wasting an entire day trying to figure out how to fold a $5 bill to somewhat resemble the twin towers.

Big rule for motorcylists , , , BE SEEN

Maybe I need to rename this the Drivers-Ed blog?

Here are two articles about the same accident:

Motorcyclist killed doing stunt with non-graphic pics.

Motorcyclist not at fault, friends say
With this insightful quote:
Castaneda said Brown was such an experienced driver that if he had attempted a wheelie, he would have made sure no one was in front of him.

Right- all the way up until the driver in the LEFT TURN LANE didn't see your dumb @ss with the headlight aimed at the sky.

Anybody that has ever ridden a motorcycle KNOWS that you're invisible to 4 wheelers at best-usually it seems that they're out to get you.

I'm missing something

It's something I've grown accustomed to hearing at the end of every election cycle for the last six years.

The allegations of

• Minority disenfranchisement
• Voter intimidation
• voter fraud
• voting in the wrong precinct
• The Jimmy Carter Center for fair and honest elections- sorry can't resist this blurb:

  ''Ever since then the Palestinian leaders -- Arafat and his successors -- have told me that when and if they have another election they want the Carter Center to be observing it," Carter said. ''I will be going out there two or three days in advance and we will have a total of 80 or 90 observers all over the place." (forgot where I found it- though)
  

• AND , most of all the KKKarl Rove/BusHaliburnton conspiracy theories.

I mean, c'mon- where is the forests of dead trees, and gigabytes of electrons screaming about all the historic and unchanging voter fraud that has been the Liberal war cry since November of the year of our Lord 2000?

(UPDATE) 2:40PM- on the way to work-

Speaking of BusHitlerian plots. Do you think he manufactured the Democratic take-over just so he could pass his illegal amnesty/citizenship gift to his business buddies?
I wonder when THAT'LL pop up over at the D.U.

I'm sure you've heard of the Darwin Awards

Where people end up still polluting the gene pool in spite of the stupid cr@p they pull.

Here's another worthy set of awards from the mailbag:

The Stella Awards

The Stella Awards are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who
spilled hot Coffee on herself while driving and successfully sued McDonald's (in
N.M) on the ground that the coffee they'd sold her was that hot. That
case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous and
successful lawsuits, in the United States.
Here are this year's winners:

5th Place (tie):
A jury of her peers awarded Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas,
$80,000 after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running

inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably
surprised at the verdict, being as how the misbehaving little toddler
was Ms.Robertson's son.

5th Place (tie):
19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical
expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr.
Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the
car
when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

5th Place (tie):
Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had
just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the
garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning.
He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house
and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation,and

Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He
subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food.
He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him
undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.

4th Place :
Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and
medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next-door
neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard.

The award was less than that sought because the jury felt the
dog might have been just a little provoked the time by Mr. Williams who
had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it
repeatedly with a pellet gun.

3rd Place :
A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster,

Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink
and broke her coccyx (tail bone). The beverage was on the floor because
Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier
during an argument.

2nd Place :

Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a
nightclub in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window
to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while
Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to
avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental

expenses.

1st Place :

This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor
home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having
driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly

left the drivers seat to go into the back &make herself a
sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and
overturned. Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the
owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her
$1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their
manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other
complete morons around.

And these winners of the judicial lottery (and the jury of their peers)are most likely beneficiaries of our government school complex.
I wonder who they voted for (if they did)?

I'd like to expand on yesterdays driver video

At least those guys had a clue.

Now let me refresh your drivers-ed concepts.

The on ramp (also called the acceleration lane) is to help you get up to speed to merge smoothly with traffic going 70MPH. You don't meander up it at F*ING 30 miles per hour! YOU have the Yield when merging onto the Highway- the big semi truck #1-does not have to let you on and #2- probably can't move over because I have some moron still sitting at my rear wheels from two miles back.

A yield sign is NOT a stop sign.

A stop sign will NEVER turn green- so you may as well stop waiting for it to happen.

If you are on a cell phone and are 5' away from the white bar when the light changes to YELLOW- it's ok to go through. It is NOT cool to slam on your brakes with a (luckily unloaded) semi truck right behind you.

The zipper(dotted white line) is a sight guide, it is NOT where your left tire should be.

Sit up, you look like a drunk dork sighting down your hood centerline- when there are two of you doing that, it looks like you're going to do a guy kiss. Yep really cool.

OHHHH,,,,and speaking of cars and trucks- anyone notice which way the gas prices are going since the Dems got elected to the majoritys?

Driver training

4:45 of your tax dollars at work.

I was fully prepared to be awed by the new trucks

Here is #469:






BUT,,,
If any Driver wants to take a good close look at the mirror placement in relation to the windows...


You'll notice how far back they are, to use these handy things, you have to turn your head almost 90 degrees, and the convex are so low as to be almost useless. Not to mention that I was always taught to watch my trailer as I was turning. You can't. The mirrors are so far back that you loose the last marker light at about a 45 degree turn. Good thing I have a day cab- it would REALLY suck to have a sleeper.

As much as my boss paid for these I'm surprised at how cheaply they're put together.
I blew a turbocharger boot on #468 at about 650 miles, and it has something rubbing on the firewall, and somethings rattling around inside the passenger side dash.

On the positive side, they are nice and quiet. The A/C works very well, and they are comfortable- even with the short seat bottom.


The four drive wheels that replace the tandems take some getting used too. For lack of a better word- they're 'slidey' when the load shifts- the back of the truck shifts, too. Not as much as it feels like, but enough to know you don't have 16 sidewalls giving you lateral stiffness.

I got a new work truck

I took some pictures last night.



It's a 2006 International Eagle 9900i


The one I took pictures of right now has 2936 miles on it.


I just got done downloading the pictures and found something I wasn't expecting.


It's kinda sad, in a way...


But I felt you needed to see it.


I decided to try some photoshopping


I don't think she'd mind


Do you?

It's called a "tape display"

after looking at it in it's current time...

What do you think the time is that you're looking at?


would you rather take a glance at your watch?


YESsssss,,,,,,, moving the boundaries of mankind.

What? Really?

No... You're kidding me.

You paid attention during 100% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
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You gotta be chitting me!
I was a 'C' student...with any effort I coulda been an "A" student- or close, but I blew it off.
I'm lazy, I admit that.
Ok, I'm not "really" lazy- I just want to get the most out of what I put in. I'm efficient.

If I hire you, I'd better not be coming back to untangle your lifeline more than once. If I have to again, I realize that you are
A- Not listening to anything I said, or
B-Trying to get attention by getting into trouble,. so your designated 'hero' can save you- once again.
C- I realize that I was spoiled by the military- I had all these kids who actually ABSORBED what I had to tell them..... then I got into civilian life and all the ones who couldn't ad 1+3+6to get ten if you gave them the calculator.
Seriously, I'm laid back drinking what Karen picked up at the liquor store.
I'm sitting here trying to get a muscle spasm ...drunk away (selaxin doesn't help) and as I was working- asked the wondrful wife to get me some E&J VSOP brandy- to try to ...you know- relax the entitre shoulder muscles.

She must have been on a bad cell because I'm trying to down E7J VS (not VSOP)which isn't helping the melloeing-the-muscle-spasm-on-my shoulder part because I really hate drinking paint thinner.

I guess if I were younger and didn't know the difference, I'd think it was good booze- kinda like the indians and their whiskey.

BUT now I do know that the good stuff isn't supposed to take the enamel off your teeth,,,,