Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on February 18, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/18/todays-earworm-475/
News Roundup
- From the “Chocolate City” Department – Ray Nagin, former mayor of New Orleans and lifetime achievement award winner from the Politicians For The Evacuation Of Politicians society, has been convicted on multiple counts of corruption. It appears, ironically, that Mr. Nagin was as dirty as a Louisiana politician. My suggestion to Mr. Nagin is to read Peter Grant’s memoir of his time working in a Louisiana prison. Some of the things in there might come in handy.
- From the “Snidely Whiplash” Department – A National Guard exercise in Ohio last year apparently had people like me as the villain. The exercise, designed by the West Virginia National Guard and conducted by the Ohio National Guard, had a janitor and chemistry teacher decide to gas their school as part of the underlying scenario. In order to make things more realistic for the soldiers, pro-Second Amendment literature and graffiti was placed in the training area. Because, as we are all aware, no-one in the United States is more likely to be a mass-murderer and terrorist than someone who believes in civil rights. Why, we can all fondly remember those “Chemical Warfare and the Gun Owner” classes the NRA put on at the annual meeting in Pittsburgh. You know, the next time I go for training down at Fort Knox, I’m going to suggest they put up some quotes from the leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center in the torture chamber or the bomb factory. Fair is fair.
- From the “Get A Rope” Department – Several children were recently rescued from an abusive home recently when one of them emailed a teacher asking for help. It is alleged that their family tied them to beds for days on end, beat them, and the girls were raped by their step-father. I know I show distrust of government agents at times, but there is a place for them to step in. This would be a prime example of the narrow set of circumstances where I believe it is fit and proper for the authorities to take action.
- From the “Get A Rope” Department – A man in Pennsylvania has been charged with multiple counts stemming from the shooting death of a horse. The horse in question was being used by an Amish family to pull their buggy when it was shot. The jackass in question is currently in jail on charges that include reckless endangerment and cruelty to animals. I would have thrown in attempted murder as well. That horse was the primary mode of transportation for that family, and it’s desperately cold out this winter. If the horse had dropped right there, that family would have been left out in the elements. If he’s convicted, I suggest he be broken to a bridle and forced to pull a buggy around the countryside for a few years. A diet of oats and salad will be good for him.
- From the “Dumbass of the Week” Department – A woman in Germany is in trouble after she mistook her friend’s can of pepper spray for deodorant. She then maced herself, causing the club she was in to be evacuated, with two people having damage to their eyes from the fumes. I would imagine that one of the two women who were harmed was the sprayer herself. Things like this are the reason I don’t care for the holsters that look like a wallet, or the stun guns that look like cell phones.
- From the “Potassium and Lead” Department – A man in Texas was cited for standing on the side of a road and waving around an AK-variant rifle to promote a nearby gun store. Interestingly enough, the store in question was owned by the man who made a bit of a splash recently when he was stopped in a mall as he tried to walk to his gun store with a rifle on his back. Apparently, it’s a bad thing to use an actual rifle to point the direction to a store that sells rifles.
- From the “This Land is Your Land, or Not” Department – A couple in Colorado has had some of their property condemned and are fighting an eminent domain action to have it seized by their county government. It appears that the county doesn’t like that the couple is using an ATV to get from their property on lower slopes to get to their property on upper slopes via an old mining road. It’s not clear from the story whether or not the road they were using is on their property. The county says it is doing this to keep lands open and wild, and had offered to buy the acreage, but was refused. I guess the horror of property owners accessing their property along an established road in a manner that works for them is too much for local officials to handle.
- From the “PSH” Department – Florida lawmakers are proposing legislation that would allow them to more closely regulate backyard target practice by homeowners. Reasons for this are that they are worried about people shooting their neighbors, causing damage to property, and being responsible while exercising their rights. Next up – people who do automotive repairs and welding in their garage. Heaven knows what all that acetylene and gasoline could do if someone were careless.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 18, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/18/news-roundup-210/
Movie Quotes – Day 49
Roxanne Ritchi: What’s the plan?
Megamind: Well, it mostly involves NOT DYING!
Roxanne Ritchi: I like that plan!— Megamind
The best plans have a simple goal, a simple method, and a simple way to gauge success. When you start getting creative, things will start getting harder. No-one gets style points, but you will certainly pay if you overcomplicate things and fail.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 18, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/18/movie-quotes-day-49/
Thoughts on the Day
- You know your wife had a rough day when all you can say to her after she tells you about it is “When was the last time you revised your resume?”.
- Winter returned to normal patterns here in Louisville today. It was gray, foggy, wet, and chilly.
- Some days, there just isn’t enough aspirin.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 17, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/17/thoughts-on-the-day-212/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on February 17, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/17/todays-earworm-474/
Movie Quotes – Day 48
Yzma: All right, I’ve had enough of this. Tell us where the talking lhama is and we’ll burn your house to the ground.
Kronk: Er, don’t you mean or?
Yzma: [even more angrily] Err, tell us where the talking lhama is *or* we’ll burn your house to the ground.
Chaca: Well, which is it? That sounds like a pretty crucial conjunction.
Ever notice how quickly people can slip in a small detail that makes all the difference? It can be anything from the quickly spoken disclaimer at the end of a commercial for a pharmaceutical to “We have to pass it so we can know what’s in it”. You have to pay attention to just about everything that is said and done in order to know the true motivations and goals of others. It’s rare in my life that someone I didn’t know very well doesn’t, at one time or another, try to sneak something into our dealings. Heck, it’s not uncommon that I’ll work with someone for years, with no issues, and then one day they try to tweak our relationship in some small way that hurts me. Whether it’s a politician, a lawyer, a salesman, or even friends and family, always know not only what they said, but also what they mean.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 17, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/17/movie-quotes-day-48/
Musings
- Know what will wake you up from a sound sleep and get you to run across the house like a fool in a hurry? A loud buzzing noise coming from your furnace when the temperature in your house is only 60 degrees.
- That’s better than a cup of strong coffee right there.
- Well, winter is over. I dropped $400 on a new blower motor this weekend, so next week it’ll be sunny and 72.
- Parts were about $250, and there was a small surcharge for calling the repairman out on Saturday.
- Now that I’ve seen how it’s done, I’m pretty sure I could do it myself. Of course, now that I know how to do it myself, that new blower motor will outlast me.
- I’m not sure how old the motor he replaced was, but it was old enough that General Electric manufactured it in the United States.
- Of course, the replacement microwave was too small when it arrived. When have we ever been able to do something only once around here?
- Luckily, BIGONLINERETAILER has a very liberal return policy, and BIGGRAYBOX retailer had the exact model Irish Woman wanted in stock.
- For those of you playing at home, that means that I’ve spent north of $700 that I wasn’t planning for over the past five days.
- I’d like to say that my budget can absorb things like that easily, but I was taught to never lie.
- We’ll get back a bit of that when the microwave we ordered on-line gets back to the seller.
- Oh well, that’s what the emergency fund is for.
- It’s rarely a good sign when your wife sends a link to plans for something she wants, and you immediately realize that you’re going to need new tools and skills to make it.
- I always wanted to learn how to put in pocket screws from scratch.
- I’m worried, though. After this, all that’s left is joinery, and that can get expensive fast.
- A good side effect of Irish Woman making her own butter is that there is always a cup or two of fresh buttermilk in the refrigerator for biscuits or pancakes on Saturday or Sunday.
- Girlie Bear was amazed when I pointed out that the double batch of pancakes we made this morning cost less than $3 to make.
- It’s rarely a good sign that 20 minutes into working with a group of people, you start thinking “I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue” over and over.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 17, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/17/musings-35/
Movie Quotes – Day 47
Look Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over. — 2001, A Space Odyssey
There is a time to sit and think, and there is a time to act. Once you’ve made up your mind, execute. When someone has abused your trust or tried to harm you, their advice isn’t worth considering. “Calm down.” is usually code for “Give me time to figure out how to screw you over again”.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 16, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/16/movie-quotes-day-47/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on February 15, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/15/todays-earworm-473/
Movie Quotes – Day 46
President Jordan Lyman: I know what Scott’s attitude on the treaty is, what’s yours?
Colonel Martin “Jiggs” Casey: I agree with General Scott, sir. I think we’re being played for suckers. I think it’s really your business. Yours and the Senate. You did it, and they agreed so, well, I don’t see how we in the military can question it. I mean we can question it, but we can’t fight it. We shouldn’t, anyway.
President Jordan Lyman: Jiggs, isn’t it? Isn’t that what they call you?
Colonel Martin “Jiggs” Casey: Yes sir.
President Jordan Lyman: So you, ah, you stand by the Constitution, Jiggs?
Colonel Martin “Jiggs” Casey: I never thought of it just like that, Mr. President, but, well, that’s what we got and I guess it’s worked pretty well so far. I sure don’t want to be the one to say we ought to change it.
We have a flawed system. Sometimes those flaws are almost fatal. But the founders had the foresight to make it possible to correct these flaws. It’s not easy to amend the Constitution, but it’s not impossible, either. I think one of the reasons we’ve been able to keep this thing going for almost two and a half centuries is that our military doesn’t see its role as doing that amending for us. We still find it offensive when politicians try to ignore it. While we argue at length at interpretation of what the Constitution means, it’s rare when someone who advocates replacing it entirely is taken seriously.
So long as those things hold true, we’ll find a way through our troubles. When we stop following them, we are doomed.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 15, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/02/15/movie-quotes-day-46/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 