Life on Mars

How about Walmatian life?

I had to deposit the check I blew off Friday because I didn't want to fight the traffic around 410 and Marbach, so I went to the Wally World up the road for the weekly groceries.

It's a *real* super Walmart with about 25 checkout lanes. All but two quick checks and ONE regular checkout were closed. On a Sunday morning where I was behind Mr. and Mrs. Anal Retentive. There they were with a piled-high shopping cart that included two plastic wrapped lamp shades.

They were nestled together so save space.
...And no check-out that I saw had any of those "my pile" separator bars.

Anyway, the checker has this thing about bagging. every. thing.
The 20# bag of puppy chow went (mostly) into a bag.
Then came those lampshades- in plastic- where our intrepid bag lady must have spent five minutes trying to get those PLASTIC encased lamp shades into a plastic bag.

Our stout and ever so helpful shoppers decided they'd give it a go and let her finish checking them out. Well, they succeeded by sheer intellect -and putting one PLASTIC wrapped shade into each separate plastic bag...where they found out that they couldn't shove them together like before.
As Mr. Anal was studying the little electric debit card gizmo, he decided to ask how it ...you know...worked.
Mrs. Bag Lady was clueless and I wasn't going to volunteer any info that would keep me there any longer than possible.


Oh, and each gallon of motor oil got it's own separate bag, too.

As I got up and was trying to hurry her- everything got it's bag.
Even my little package of nuts and bolts..she had to go to
an.
entirely.
different.
station to get said mini-bag so as not to contaminate the packaged gravy she just place in her bag.

Gawd, I'm glad to be home.
Oh, and Digiorno? I refuse to pay $6 for a pizza that I have to cook myself.

So how's your morning going?

Katie Price

She's some kind of supermodel/autheress/guest on Grahm Norton again tonight.

At first look, she's a knockout.
Stauesque, black hair over what I thought were Brittish blue eyes (nothing hotter than black over blue).


But tonight on Grahm...WAIT! (I'm a conservative so why would I be watching Grahm? A complete openly ghey Irishman who makes it part of his persona? It's not that I can overlook something like that because I'm actually a mature adult that looks at talent over gender issues.)

OK- got that out of the way.

Now...She's got brown eyes and what look like the silicone mountains of the BBC.
Damme... now I need to find someone else to represent all that's ...it in the UK.

Well, there's always Gwen and that sexy gap in her teeth...



But, Torchwod is over and in the BBC way of doing things, we on't be seeing them again, no matter how popular they are.

Well, here's a gimme to BBCAmerica...endless loops of Eve Miles running will keep your ratings up. - Just saying,,,because I'm only here to help.


UPDATE:
Bonus question -NO SCROLLING BACK UP!

How many rings is Katie wearing??

Oh hell no

The history of the Philadelphia Navy Yard is the history of the American Navy. Originally started in 1762 as a collection of some of the most skilled shipwrights in the colonies, it witnessed the birth of the United States Navy and the Marine Corps and outfitted the first American fleet in 1775. The yard was the site for the organization of a Navy Department, the Navy shore establishment, and the construction of the 44-gun frigate United States, the first American warship to be launched under the naval provisions of the Constitution. As the Navy converted its ships from sail to steam in the mid-nineteenth century, the Philadelphia Navy Yard was a leader in naval innovation, particularly the development of the screw propeller. During the Civil War, it stood as the first line of coastal defense for the Union as all navy yards to the south fell to the Confederacy.

Outgrowing its location in the Southwark district of Philadelphia, the Navy Yard moved to League Island in 1876 and became the center for such technological developments as radio and steam turbine propulsion. By World War II, the Philadelphia Navy Yard had become one of the most modern and productive shipbuilding industrial plants in the world. It was responsible for constructing scores of warships, including the largest U.S. battleships, New Jersey and Wisconsin. Following the war, the yard continued to serve as a vital part of the Navy shore establishment, refurbishing and modernizing vessels as well as maintaining a large reserve fleet.

Now, some Dem wants to rename it after the anti-American Democrat John Murtha, the ex-marine who accused the Haditha Marines of cold blooded murder.

And I missed this?

In the Mumbai terrorist attack aftermath, the Mumbai police blamed their poor performance on being out gunned by the terrorists who were using MP5s while they were using Lee-Enfield rifles.

Because a Lee-Enfield that throws a .30 cal round accurately over 2,000 yards is no match for a pistol calibre machine gun that sprays all over at maybe 150yards max range?
Maybe someone ought to show them the difference and stand 2o0 yards away from the next MP5 toting gunman while watching the bullets make little dirt geysers in front of him, then one round in the offhand position right in the brisket from that .308.

Recycling

Take it how you want.



Which seems to remind me of Adak island, which happens to be Eric's favorite duty station.

I'm stuck

At level ten.

--No I'm not, you have to treat it like the hole is the bottom of a drain.

Now why did the IRA, Northern Ireland and terrorists jump to mind

When I read this about an Irish town called Carrickmacross protesting the Israeli ambassador.

Because of Israels political policies said the SINN FEIN representative to that towns council.
Because there's nothing like bombing innocent Protestants and babies that spell honorable behaviour.

The scent of a transformer

Actually it was a Metal Halide 250 Watt ballast, but that would make a long title now- wouldn't it?

Short story:
We burnt a ballast in a light pole this morning.
Now, Six hours later, I still smell it.

Long, involved and wandering story:

Anyway- I got a cortisone shot in the elbow yesterday, and this morning felt like it had embedded razor blades. So I called the head service guy and asked if we could reschedule this service call for a day, or two?

"No, we promised them today and they're important people and we want their business."
Ok, I'll need a helper because I couldn't even hold my toothbrush right this morning.

So we get to this Mexican heritage place..you know 'Latino pride' and all.

For some reason they wanted ALL the ballasts and lamps (bulbs) changed out on light poles that looked almost brand new. Probably somekind of budget/funding/grant thing.

On the fourth light my guy just finished reconnecting the wires and i saw the one light was good, and walked over to where I could see the other one and "CHIT, DISCONNECT IT! FAST!" As the smoke poured out of every opening it could find.

I went up and took a quick look and saw it was hooked up right:
-hot to 208.
-Common to common.
-Ballast to capacitor.
-Ballast to lamp.
-Cap to lamp.

You hooked it up right, maybe it was just a bad ballast...that's why, when we heat something up after working on it- that we stay away when we power it on. (He's an apprentice, still kinda new)

I dug another ballast out of the truck, it got hooked up and worked fine.
We finished up and now, six hours latter I still smell like burnt insulation.

A blast from the past

"Why are you washing your truck?"

She might have asked (if I didn't make a habit of at least hosing the trucks down when I change the oil).
-"I just put on the new plates they gave me when I re-registered the truck."
"And you wanted the truck looking good for the new plates?"

-"Not really, they're too froufrou to be real Texas plates, I didn't want them to stand out any more than they will already, or like I was happy to have them."



"I mean the last ones were busy enough."




"...And the ones THOSE replaced said everything they needed to say."

Possible new talent on the CD rotation

He was a guest musician on Grahm Norton tonight.
He's Scots, so I had no idea what he said
At.
All.

But he and his band can get it going:

Who makes your pocket watch?

I've been noticing lately, that alot of people who work with their hands-and office workers are going watchless more and more.

When someone wants to know the time, they either look at a wall clock or take their cell phone out of their pocket (or holder).
That's great, if it wants to work.

Our company phones are the appropriately named Verizon's' Casio Boulder.
I say it's correctly named because more and more often, that's about as functional as it gets- until you notice it's frozen and pull the battery and reboot.
Yeah, it's water resistant and will stand up to being constantly dropped and abused.

So, I guess it's not a pocket watch as a pocket rock.

Medical horror stories from the summit

Yeah, and they were all on the Dem side.

This Barbra Streisand about Deedee Scosifario the Dem Rep. from NY and her sob story about a sister recycling her dead siblings dentures.

These are the first thoughts I had when I heard that:
"Dentures?" I thought we were listening to the Healthcare Bill--NOT the dentalecar bill
Then:
Dental insurance has *always* cost more than health insurance.

Then:
Ummmmm....the way she's talking, it sounds like she's eligible for Medicare or Medicaid(whatever, I'm paying for it whichever she falls into) so didn't the ,gov fall down there?
AND lastly.. HEY GIRL...drop them in some boiling water fr a while, then mould them to your gums.

Of course I'd probably need to tell her- since she sounds kind of *simple* that she doesn't need to keep it in long enough to burn her gums

Blow it up and start over again

That's Riv'r dogs solution, but his post title just gave me an ear worm.

Suspending disbelief

The Science channel has a new program, or at least one I've never seen before.

It's another 'reality' show called *Mantracker*.
The general idea (I guess) is that a pair of 'prey' and the trackers are in a war of wits with the prey trying to get somewhere without the tracker catching them.

Ok, I can see that, I played that game when I was young.

I'm wondering just how 'realistic' it is, though.
Something I noticed on the latest close call was that we had an excellent view of the prey when they were hiding from a near catch.

And I asked Karen if she noticed anything about that situation, and she said,,,yeah they've got cameramen, so how did they miss them?


Yeah, how?

So, is it just us?

Or is everyones internet slow?
I'm curious because even *after* someone was told about our climbing download millstone-
She *had*to check out like, 26 pics of FOXNEWS ,,,'Buffy the vampire slayer' cast pics.

Peer2peer filesharing and you

The FTC has warned companies about widespread personal data breaches.

Yes, the same .gov who's boss just today said they'd bull forward with an unwanted bloated bill that rewards favorites and punishes foes- all without 'fixing' the healthcare 'problem'. Oh-AND mandating even MORE online health record dumps.
Because no one has ever hacked a .gov computer...or found one sitting on a bus seat.

Just saying

Shelly Miles WOAI TV4traffic babe.
Yeah, in a heartbeat.

Like a screen door.

In a coffee can in the back yard

I finally got to Powerline and read down to Saturday.

John warns about the Dems going after your retirement savings.
They'll either pay you with worthless T-bills or another IOU.
Just like they did with the Social Security lockbox.

So, what are you going to do And where are you going to stash it?

We're having server issues here

For some reason, WildBlue (our satellite broadband) is piling on our download usage.

I don't know if it was me downloading two different browsers to try out, the Blackadder series- or most likely the computers at WildBlue/DISHinternet having hiccoughs.

I'm going to adjust the archives on here so as to hide the Blackadder serial and see if that helps my skyrocketing download rate.
OK, it doesn't make a difference.

Hopefully I can put everything back soon.




Peace.
Love.
Bobby Sherman.

Writing with blinders

I wasn't really interested in this story about the hair extension trail.

I looked at to see what ABCs take on it was, and found it surprisingly ambivalent to the ... ummm.... profiteering going on from poor (dot) Indian women's hair. ($227 a pound)

I also noticed that they had to take the usual swipe at religion:
While a number of temples can give evidence that the money does help the community in some way, it is impossible to tell whether it all really goes where it is meant to go.

Anybody remember the last time the Lamestreem Media had anything like that to say about the .gov?

Spoiled much?

According to the editors of Yahoo's driver spot there are ten things all new cars 'must' have to make them worth driving.

These essentials are:

1. One touch power window (all around is better) -because we're too lazy to hold a button for three seconds.
   
2. USB inputs because listening to the radio is sooo passe
3. Telescoping steering wheel- so we can get that just right feel when we're leaning on our right elbow looking down the center of the hood.
4. Back-up camera-because looking in the mirrors is so confusing.
5. Steering wheel controls (for audio) -because were either too lazy to reach two feet over, or our hands are busy texting as we drive.
6. A trip computer -since we can't divide the miles we've driven by the gas we put in to get our mileage.
7. Smart cupholders -Oh Gawd, I'm not even going to touch that.
8. Heated seats- try a hot summer day in the Texas sun. With vinyl.
9. Height adjustable seats- So we can see out the windshield while we're driving on our backs.
10. Third row baby seat latches- because we just can't get far enough away from a screaming kid.
    

Another president exceeding his constitutional bounds

This time the ineffectual President of Niger.

Expecting the 0bama administration to side against the Constitution in...

Three...

Two....

One...


UPDATE-
Nothing yet, but I did find this Digg stream on Obama Niger.

Our story resumes...

"Corpse men"

The cast
Part one
Part two
Part three


-Sir Melchett to see you m'lord.











-Yes, I've been expecting him. Show him in Baldric.











-Adder, I've just come from the Queens office and she is not happy about the Torries ending our super majority, but still wants this bill passed.








-I know, so does the Prince, and I have a waiting list to serve on those death panels that are in the House of Lords bill.










-And my cousin has has a chance to be one the corpse men- the caller: "Bring out your dead".










- Oh Gawd Baldric your breath smells like shite.











-I'm making shite soup Sire, I found some nice fixings on the road today.










-Anyway Melchett, there is a way called reconciliation.
It would have to work like this: Both houses would need to approve the House of Lords version as is- No changes whatsoever. then it goes to the Queens desk for her signature...








-But then the Upper House version becomes law with all the bribes, kickbacks and backroom deals that made it such a clusterflop.








-Yes, but with the assurance of the speaker of Lords, *I* have a promise and a letter promising that once it's been signed into law- that both houses will work to change it.
We then attach it to the bill allowing the further shipment of criminals to Australia. which as you know only requires a 51% aye vote.







-That is a cunning plan, and we can include something for Big Alchemy in it as well- their contribution was a bit late, something about a lead shortage.








-Your Lordships, may I ask a question?











*Sigghh*

-What is it Baldric?









-I'm a sub-moron who can't count to five, I eat shite soup and think owning a turnip is a big thing. Even I can see that once the bill from the Upper house passes that those Lords have no reason to change it, why would they?








-Because Baldric, they promised they would...AND they signed a promissory note.









-I hate to disagree with my betters, but they are Liberal politicians whose only use for something written has a Pound sign on it with lots of zeros behind it- and a promise lasts only as long as it takes to get their vote.








-Baldric, you're a simpleminded imbecile. This bill means too much for both houses, the Banks of England, France and Switzerland and many highly placed leaders in the medical field.









-Just let us do the thinking for you Baldric, we're the aristocracy and know what's in your best interest better than you.

....And now a bit of modern Anglophilia

To give you a break from machinations of politics.
Straight from the Beeb comic relief,,,and all the creepy cartoon stuff from your nightmares:




Yes that was Dr. Who amid the freakish animated icons and midgets.

Meanwhile, back at the Palace...

"Corpse men"

The cast
Part one
Part two
Part three


-How will we ever get this unpopular bill passed now?










-We'll find a way. There has to be a back door to pass this. It's your signature accomplishment.
You know that there will be a November election uprising against Labour if we get this passed using political tricks.







-I DON'T CARE! We have far to many of the wrong kind of Labour Lords sitting in Parliament anyway. Because you got them elected.








-We needed to load Parliament so we could pass as many of your policies as possible.
We've had the supermajority needed to push Britain as far left as we have already.







-It's not far enough! We had an enormous contribution from the Leech Farmers Association to get this bill passed. Also, my cousin owns a mercury mine.








-Very well, I'll consult with the archivist to find a way.

Corpse men

"Corpse men"

The cast
Part one
Part two
Part three


I say Adder, have you seen these figures on the plague?
People are dropping left and right.

Like flies.










Yes I have you Lordship, and it's not only the peasants this time either.
Those who have access to the best medical minds in England are dying too.









Do we know anything about it?











Or better yet, how much we can wring out of this to help your political fortunes...










Sire, Mr. Adder- William Pitt, the younger is here to see you.












What does he want Baldric?












He wants to discuss the meaning of the last election and you loss of Lord O' Kennedy's seat.










Very well, show him in.












Good day gentlemen. I shall be brief. As you know, Lord Browns election to the upper House puts your super majority in the books of history and we- the Loyal Opposition will do our best to halt your scandalous health initiative.








Oooh how feisty we are when one ekes out a bare majority in a meaningless election!
How quaint.









Lord Percy, that electoral split was almost exactly the same as when you held mock elections for Kingship and you declared it a huge mandate.









Yes, but that was then and this is now- besides we own all the printing presses and the town criers are all on the take.










We shall get our message out. Now good day to you both, I'll see myself out.














.............To be continued after a break for High Tea.............

...To the shores of Tripoli.

That second half of the Marine Corps Hymn happened this day in 1804. (That would be 'core'- Mr. President)

Navy Lt. Stephen Decatur lead a shore party into Tripoli harbor to fire the captured USS Philadelphia and then to spike the guns of the Bey of Algiers in our first unilateral invasion of a moslim country.

He's also the author of this often misquoted statement:
“Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong”

One of the nice things about living in the sticks

is the fact that nature is all around you.

one of the bad things is that ature is all around you.

And nature is always looking for something better.
Including feral cats, possums and whatever else sees your house as a good hideout from the cold.

As you can tell by the timestamp, I just got back from taking care of a nature related incident. I don't know how many more of 'the family' are in my floor and don't want to slice up the rest of my insulation to find out.

One dead tom and I'll let the dogs cull the rest until I can want to get under the house and make it cat-proof.
...AND fix the holes they made.

-It's not a duct tape situation down there.

Color me surprised

I have The Discovery Channel, or one of the other 'sciency' channels.

They're exploring Venus, and it's atmosphere is almost completely CARBON DIOXIDE.
They have molten metal puddles, and UV rays out the @ss.

OK, I'm convinced. It's not the sun that causes global warming, it's the CO2...






I'm just glad that we're like 15 times as far away from the sun as Venus is.


AND we've obviously got less SUVs than they had.