Texas has a bi-yearly Legislature

As in it meets every two years.
I heard that one of the items on the agenda this year is the American Cancer Society trying to get the Lege to outlaw ANY smoking in a public or private business that is open to the public.
You know,,,private property where adults congregate by choice. Even though they *know* there is secondhand smoke.
Yes a do-gooder organization is trying to get the TEXAS Lege to make a blanket law, so they (the ACS) doesn't have to go to every city in Texas to ,,,coerce their citizens into behaving the *right* way.

This is still TEXAS- where the concept of personal responsibility is still alive.
Sure smoking is bad for you. So is drinking (in bars where they want to ban smoking), so is too much fast food and driving too fast.
If a private business wants to ban smoking, let them. People will go where they feel comfortable. If it's a smokey bar with tired barflies, well then let them get lucky.

As far as the health care costs they cry about, that's SUPPOSED to be taken care of from that ginormous Big Tobacco shakedown during the reign of Slick Willie- remember?
Not to mention the ever increasing sin tax smokers pay to defray the additional healthcare costs.

They don't want a statewide smoking ban for the *good of the people*- they want it because they can. Pure Liberal Socialism. Since they're trying to outlaw a legal product, why not just make a notional law to prohibit it. It was tried once with booze, and we all know how well that worked.

So to my State Senator Carlos Uresti(D) go against your instincts and say NO! to this intrusion on personal choice.
AND State Rep. Tracy O. King(D) go against your "Moving Texas Forward" progressive cr@p and try to keep Texas Texas, NOT NYC on the Brazos.

Larry the Cable Guy

Is having his Christmas special.
I noticed that he took pity on seveal young women to hire them for his time-out segments...
What a Christian thing to do.

Merry Christmas Larry.

Finished with your Christmas spread?

Feeling tired?

Wake up and feel the joy!

Oh come all Ye Faithful


Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas




Silver Bells



And a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Winter Solstice, or whichever loving holiday you celebrate.

A cranberry tip

If you're making a grenadine-ish cranberry sauce and don't have grenadine or a jar of cherries, cherry Kool-ade will make an acceptable alternative.

I found this out on Thanksgiving.
So after playing with it after too much O.J. concentrate), I came out with this chutney sauce.

• 1 bag fresh cranberries
• 1 med apple- chopped
  
• about 1/2 cup raisins
• about 1/4 cup dried pineapple chunks -cut into quarters
• 1 1/2 cups orange juice
• 1/2 cup water
• about 2 cups brown sugar
• a dash of allspice...maybe two
• a dash of cinnamon (optional)

Mix in sauce pan and simmer until thickened.
Taste, and ad white sugar as needed.

Merry Christmas

From Casa Trainwreck!


Via Robert Earl Keene.

Every one is thinking of Christmas

I got passed by an F-150 this morning in the rain, he was in a hurry to get to the site of his accident, I guess- judging from the way he was driving.

Then I was moving a 35' box van to a jobsite when I saw a cop chasing a speeder.
As they worked their way over to the right shoulder, I started slowing down.
The slower I went, the slower the F-150 went that was door to door with me on the left. I was a little trapped by a cop in front and a clueless elf on my drivers side.
The slower I went to ger behind her (and out of the cops way) the slower she went until I had to hit my bakes so hard she had to pass me and I just got out of the cops way in time to miss him.

To all of you that celebrate it...

Happy Festivus Day



Now amaze us with your feats of strength,
And you may air your grievances into the wine.

Jodie calls

The Navy never really made them an art form.
Because they were on ships and had their own sea ditties.

The Air Force always had a ride, I bet their booters were chauffeured around so they didn't have to get their unbloused boots dirty.

BUT the Army and Marines *DO* march.
A lot.

So, here's what Thing 2's boyfriend is going to be hearing some time in June...







I'll reserve my BZ's until you leave Parris Island, guy.
AND Thing 2 isn't coming to help you celebrate your graduation,,,sorry.
I *know* what that celebration entails.



Thanks Rhianna for yor earworms.

Throwdown with Bobby Flay

Tonight he's in the Windy City doing a deep dish pizza challenge.

Sorry Bobby, but even the dead people are going to vote for the local guy- no matter how good your pizza is.





UPDATE:
Daym, what a surprise, it was unanimous for the Chicago guy.

Dinner Impossible-
They're in Biloxi, MS making a tent city meal for hurricain survivors.
It turns out that ALL the donated kitchen equipment was designed for natural gas- instead of the propain they were provided.

They are scrambeling to get Gawd knows how many different venues to cook the meal.
I *know* that there is a Natural gas line along one of the main roads that can be tapped in less than half an hour and ALL the temperary ovens and grills working in 45 minutes.
I guess out of sight is out of mind.....

Someone's going to hell

Especially if he meant to sing like this.



Thanks to Phlemmie who's a bit more forgiving,

Oh no!

Our new Jesus is going to put Joe **I full facts out of my @ss** Biden in charge of ...ummm....narowing the middle class divide.

See, for some reason, I guess they see the middle class shrinking under *The Ones* administration, and it will be the Gaffmeister's job to "do something" about it.

I can see this ending badly.
I hope I can work myself into the category of "evil rich" before Belly gunner Joe fixes it so I can't afford to do anything but hold on.


But on another note, we can only hope that he's as frigging incompetent on this as he is at everything else, and nothing will happen...


And speaking of boobs, let me introduce you to the Obama nation. Yep, straight from The Smoking Gun.

A pay raise of almost $5,000

Want one?
Sorry, YOU aren't one of our elite leaders who are going to get another automatic pay raise next year.
These are the same people who caused the implosion of the Mortgage industry, which in turn tipped the scales on everything else.
Which caused them to give away over 12 Trillion Dollars of your money. So far.

These are the same ones who didn't say jack chit to their contributors in the money industry except "How much do you want?"
These same people who want the heads of the Big Three to work for free- because of 'bad management' are going to get a $4,700 pay raise, and their staffs (the ones who can't be bothered to even READ the bills to be voted on) are going to all get raises, too.

Because everyone in D.C, is doing such a tremendous job looking out for the taxpayers interests.

Eartha Kitt

and her Christmas list



In the modern version of the 'reason of the season.'

In matching Erica's Post

I'll match her with ...
I'll come out for Christmas:

Forgive me

I just can't hold it in.

An affiliate of cBS has a slideshow of celebrities that happen to be Republican.
I'm not really surprised at the country singer and NASCAR people, but at some of the actors who are there.
If you go deep enough into that list you find Jamie Farr.

So to paraphrase Mr. Hopey McChange...




Does that make him



A
Bitter Klinger?

It doesn't matter what it looks like

It's still a firearm.
It has a barrel, a chamber and fires bullets.

Everyone who owns a firearm should be fighting for the rights of everyone who owns a fire arm- weather you *like* the weapon or not.
If you use it for target practice, self defence or hunting.

Just because your .30-30(oooh ... pretty baby...) doesn't look like that EBR the Mr. Lightworker wants to ban doesn't mean it's not in the targets of Those Who Decide either.

Just because you don't own any pistols doesn't mean that it's ok to sit back and let them take away someone else's right because they don't 'need' it.
Just ask yourself this- and I'm talking to all three of you that are reading this...

What kind of car and how many do you have? Are you sure you 'need' that SUV instead of a Yugo? Why do you 'need' so many vehicles instead of taking turns to use just one?
Who do you want to decide what you can drive and which vehicles are banned?

And since owning a vehicle isn't an enumerated RIGHT in the Bill of Rights, it should be much easier to ban certain types of vehicles than scary guns, right?





Hmmmmm...any kind of gun? Even if it's not worth $200?
Earlier this year, the NYPD tried a different tact, teaming up with churches willing to host the buy-back program, and offering a $200 bank card to anyone who turns a gun in.

Great

Is anyone else all of a sudden having issues with AdAware?
I downloaded the daily newest security update and now I keep getting "Interactive service dialogue" about AdAware crashing.

I restored my computer to before I downloaded and still keep getting crash alerts.
I guess I'll just have to uninstall and reinstall it....

Our new DearLeader promised change

Are these the new civil security forces he has in mind?




Stolen from the Jawa

How to follow directions

Can you follow directions? Sure you can,,,or can you?
Here is a simple test to see how well you can.
CONCENTRATE and give it a try- but you only have three minutes to complete it.

It works better if you can copy this test- or hand copy it (or just pretend)

1. Read everything before doing anything.
2. Put your name in the upper right hand corner of the paper.
3. Circle the word "name" in sentence two.
4. Draw five small squares in the upper left hand corner of the paper.
5. Put an "X" in each square.
6. Put a circle around each square.
7. Sign your name under the title.
8. After the title write "yes, yes, yes."
9. Put a circle around each word in sentence #7.
10. Put an "X" in the lower left corner of the paper.
11. Draw a triangle around the "X" you just made.
12. On the reverse side of the paper, multiply 70 times 70.
13. Draw a triangle around the paper in sentence #4.
14. Call out your first name when you get to this point in the test.
15. If you think you've followed all the directions so far, call out "I have."
16. On the reverse side of the paper, add 8245 and 9863.
17. Put a circle around the answer. Put a square around the circle.
18. Count out loud, in your normal speaking voice, from one to ten.
19. Now that you have finished carefully reading theses directions, do only sentence one and two.

Feel free to pass this along, but I wouldn't mind a mention- instead of just copying a post and dropping it in your blog without attribution.

It hasn't got out of the thirties since Sunday

I'm glad I'm off this week and not sitting on an elevated exposed piece of equipment.
I think I found out why a spring mandrel isn't such a hot idea -in practice.
In theory it's great, but making the spring is alot harder using #12 piano wire.
I'm sure I could get it right if I used an actual spring manufacturer to make them.
I just can't afford an initial set-up for an unproved idea.

Maybe I'll come back to it.
I have another idea that might be better anyway.

I might start selling repair sleeves for conduit, too. I can make them cheaper than the short factory couplings and they'd work better when easing conduit around a bend PLUS the glue would actually work.
I wonder if I need any OK's for that? UL or NFPA?

I don't WANT to be working where I am now next year, and I want it to be my own choice not to be.

The reason we celibrate this season

Not, like the Reverend Stephen Coulter of Dorset, England, do we forbid this song for politically correct Barbera Streisand.
Yes, he banned his congregation from singing it because of the way the Israelies had to protect themselves in Bethlehem from the childeren of Allah.

H/T Interested Participant

I worked all day yesterday

It was really windy.


We were at (redacted) I.S.D.s San Antonio's newest sporting complex at the old Quarry. We were drilling holes for parking lot lights.

Kind of like a reverse norther, the wind was out of the south and getting warmer. I was watching a *HUGE* Texas flag flying almost constantly straight out. It was about a mile away and still looked as big as the flag at Lundquist Chevy dealership. I took a picture with the phone, but even at the highest resolution I could get, all you could see were the construction trailers and the handicapped sports field behind them. I knew it wouldn't look the same as I was seeing it, but didn't think the flag would be almost unseeable.

Funny how cameras work that way.

I'm off for the week. I spent today making Karens present and working on the right size form to bend wire for my experimental conduit bending form.
I still don't know why there aren't any out in the field.
It's such a simple idea that's been around in pressure controls forever.
It's simple, cheap enough that when it gets run over or buried, it's no big deal.
I mean someone must have though to stiffen hot conduit so it didn't kink on them...or deform under it's own weight instead of throwing away the ten or fifteen that were ruined at $18 a stick.

The Princess and the pea

Every one remembers that fairy tail, right?

The Princess was supposed to be so tender and feeling that she could feel a pea through a bunch of mattresses.

This meant, I guess that she was a real catch, or over sensitive royalty which is better than a peasant who has to take things as they come...or something like that.

If I was living with said hypersensitive Princess, I'd *have* to strangle her for peace and quite,,,"It's cold in here" "I feel a breeze" "I felt a mouse walking in the other room" "Your hear beat is shaking the bed" "We need a new toilet seat, this one has a molecule out of place" "You had sardines last week, didn't you!" "Do something about this dust falling on me"

Kinda like living with Rachael Rae.....Shut UP woman!

The word of the day is...

TUSK!



That is all.

JCB

Made in America...


But designed in Britain.

Where apparently they don't believe in straddling trenches

Or ever use their backhoes on uneven ground, so they don't need any extra lift on their outriggers.

So they can get the backhoe out of the guys in the trenches way when he's tamping.

Shotgun posting and EBRs

Does anyone know if military insignia (identification patches) are copyright or trademark protected? If I wanted to use a variation of say my unit patch as part of my name or logo, would I need .gov permission?

For you buying EBRs before the Obamessiah takes office, an AR dust cover with the immortal words from Team America on the inside.

Tomorrow is 'Call in Gay' day. That'll make your co-workers and management really happy with you. I'd bet they even remember that when Mr. HopeyMcChange forces them to think about downsizing. Besides we all remember how well it worked for the illegal amnesty people, right?

You people in the fast lane doing 5 MPH below the speed limit...
Do you have a clue about WHY the people tailgating you until they can cut over THREE lanes to get ahead of you and cutting you off and zooming away from you?
Do you think if you got your head out of your @ss you might drive better?
Same thing with those morons who take an off ramp from the hammer lane and almost hit the Jersey wall dividing it from the Interstate.

The high tomorrow is supposed to be 37, windy and sleety. Next year I don't want to be looking at climbing onto an exposed backhoe. I want to be selling $5 parts at a $5 profit and being able to pocket $1 after Mr. Charity takes his cut.

My battalion

Sure looks like those EOs need something to do.
That's NMCB 133, guys.
3 Battle "E"s in four years.
Best of type (at least) five years running.
Don't know what they've done in the last twenty, though.

Here's some from CE "A" school(just keep the sound down because the rap sux. And what's with the bucket trucks? I suppose they let them use hydraulic tampers to set poles, too.
The guy at 3:11 looks familiar... except he's only an E-5, and anyone I knew would be in the Chiefs mess by now- if not retired.

67 years ago today

Just before morning Colors(8 AM) the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval base.
Four years and tens of thousands of casualties later, the United States ended it in an unanswerable way, saving thousands on both sides from further loss.

In the aftermath, the United States showed our usual compassion mixed with self interest and changed Japans leadership and thought processes. Unlike some revisionists would like us to remember- we were there as an occupational force for decades...ensuring that democracy stuck.

This was a successful outcome to a bad start. We should all remember that no matter who's in charge, that it's not over until we've accomplished what we came there for. Not getting out for political points so we have to go in and do it again.
...But I won't get into the Treaty of Versailles, although we have several turning points in this era to think about.

Goodish news, I guess

In doing searches for my idea on conduit stiffeners, I've come accros very few of the same type as I envisioned. Mostly they're selling for smaller conduit in the U.K.
The difference is that it's for small diameter conduit being cold bent.

I might still get a toe in if I get the market on a flexible form for 3" and 4" hot bend PVC conduit. I can get the material for less than $9 and be able to sell it for less than the smaller ones, and still make several dollars each.

That way after taxes I migh be able to pocket a dollar each.



AND if I do the mail order thing, it definatly WON'T be with UPS Big Brown.

Keep your money, it's yours after all

That's the newest economic "fix" over there in wonderland D.C.
The way I understand it is that our betters in Congress would give us a two month break on all Federal withholding from our paychecks- to be paid for with the ever increasing bailout promise. A tax holiday if you would.

Except that it's our future money that will be promised to pay this withholding brainstorm.
Sure, I'd love to see my entire paycheck go into my bank, I might even be able to afford to get some bargain basement stocks.
BUT this $1.3 trillion bailout money, if i understand it, is not being 'spent' right now- just promised. Right? So instead of actually SPENDING the money- why not just take that amount off the table and only spend the remaining availab..................CHIT- that's right it's our modern Congress.

The same geniuses that raided the Social Security trust fund and dropped in an IOU.
The same people who have absolutely no concept of living within you means, or balancing a checkbook.
The same people who mandated "fairness" in the mortgage industry- which caused its collapse.
The same ones who think giving jobs to illegals will help the looming unemployment crisis for Americans.
The same ones who are completely blindsided when their newest expensive and intrusive "fix" causes people to react in their own self interest, and opposit their intended results.

Yeah, they'll find a way to waste it. Since it's been allocated it just *needs* to be spent. May as well use it for something that will bump the taxpayers money in the short term instead of rewarding FAIL.