Darwin Award Contender

I can't embed the video - sorry - but a guy in a T-Rex costume got in a pond with an alligator and ...

well, go see for yourself.

 

What a moron.

Monday in the A.M.

We've only gotten an inch or two here at home, although AccuHunch insists we'll have 4" to 8". Okay; if we get it, we get it. Otherwise ... meh.

Temp is 8°, but they say it'll be sliding south most of the day, headed for -11 overnight. Again, whatever we get, we get.

I haven't checked headlines except to glance at commuter reports. They read about the way you'd expect: lots of loose, blowing snow and poor visibility.


I don't know about you (actually, I have a pretty good idea), but I'm truly weary of listening to these Dimocrits whining about how their candidate was cheated out of the Presidency. They're unable to prove it, but the media is giving them plenty of opportunities to claim it. So the low-information types, the empty-headed moronic 2nd-generation hippies who didn't vote, can all repeat the complaints/accusations.

I'd like to insist they get jobs, but who would hire them?


I'll try to assemble a police blotter report, later this morning. Thanks for stopping by. :)

Go-Chair Vs. Bullwinkle

You know how I'm always saying that we need to keep our distance from the wildlife here?
Especially bears and moose?

This guy in the electric wheelchair chased the bull all the way across our parking lot, about an hour ago:

Midweek Potpourri

Ouch! That's Gonna Leave a Mark Dept: 

A woman injured by a piece of climbing gear in a fall was flown off Pioneer Peak near Palmer on Tuesday evening by an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter crew.

A report of a fallen climber who "had an ice ax lodged in her back" first reached Alaska State Troopers at about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to an online dispatch. 

* * * * *

The First of Many Dept:
Morning temps below freezing, that is.

It was 36° at my house on the hillside, but 32 in the river valley below. That temp bounced around as I drove to work, reaching 39 at one location just outside of Anchorage.

The truck's thermometer reading dropped to 31 as I reached the district where my building is located, and the temp on the software which controls the HVAC shows 29.4° F. at the roof.

While the lows are supposed to be a bit higher over the next week, I guarantee you this: it won't be much longer before we look back at 29 degrees as the balmy last days of Fall.

* * * * *

Hedging His Bets Dept:

Anchorage Assemblyman Patrick Flynn knelt during the Pledge of Allegiance at Tuesday night's Assembly meeting, which he said was in solidarity with a national movement started by NFL player Colin Kaepernick to protest police brutality and social injustice.

Flynn also put his hand over his heart while he knelt and recited the pledge and also wore an American flag pin.

"Obviously I'm respectful of our community and our country, which is why I put my hand over my heart and knelt at the same time," Flynn said in a later interview.

I'm guessing he hasn't made any headlines lately, and so decided an empty gesture was the best way to garner some attention. I'm not going to say the first thing that went through my mind when I saw this headline, because I'd just have to repent all over again. 

People of Wal-Mart: This Time, It's an Employee

Someone needs to tell this guy how snow works.

I Got Yer Irony, Right Here

And somehow this makes sense to the Progressive mind. I'm beginning to think they're mentally unbalanced.

Updated: Do You Remember When I Wrote

about companies in the Lower 48 that insist on higher shipping costs to Alaska (and Hawaii, too)? I stated then that I refuse to do business with them. Well, here's an exception that proves the rule.

On October 23rd, I spent two hours searching on-line for a particular item which was out of stock everywhere, and I mean everywhere. No one had it, but I finally found one place which had a "click here & we'll e-mail when it's back in stock." So I clicked.

On November 15 I received an e-mail to that effect, and promptly tried to order 2 of the items. Nope, they only had 1 left. So I ordered the one, and found that the only options for mailing this small piece are a) Priority Mail, or b) 2nd Day Air. Ignoring my previous howls of anguish, I opted for the less expensive (Priority) and agreed to pay $10.43 for postage on a $30 item.

Grrrrrrrr.....

So I watched with interest as the tracking number made its way from the Midwest to my office in Anchorage. It was "out for delivery" on the 20th, as expected - and then was returned by the mailman due to "insufficient address".

This isn't my first rodeo, fellas; I know that means the sender left off the suite number. The regular letter carrier used to give me all the mail with missing numbers, as I generally know who everybody is, and for which tenant they work.

But that guy's been reassigned.

So I watched with dismay as the package was sent to an address Virginia, which the vendor's Customer Service (clearly a euphemism) assured me is their corporate office - where they would "determine what happened and try to figure out" how to get it back to me.

Duh. It's the mail, no?

After they had it in their possession for three days, they added my suite number by taping it onto the original mailing label, and sent it again. I finally received the package on December 4th.

Oh, and that Priority Mail I paid for? As I said, the original label, with "November 16" printed on it, was still on the package.

And it was sent via First Class Mail.  But I paid well over ten dollars for the "privilege" of Priority Mail - which I didn't want - and, due to the vendor's incompetence, the joy of three-week delivery of an item which should have been here in 3 business days.

Thus endeth the reinforcement of my lesson to never, ever order from such a place again. At least the thing's here.

But never again, no matter how badly I want/need the widget.


Update: From comments below, I agree with those who said the USPS is unnecessary/incompetent/uncaring/ whatever, but that's not the point.

The culprit is the incompetent shipping clerk at the vendor's warehouse who left my suite number off, and also who shipped it at a slower speed than I paid for.

Of course, the fact that they sent it first class also proves that Priority Mail - or even MORE expensive modes - is completely unnecessary. I receive first class mail six days/week, just like everyone else.

Threat: "National Day of Action" Feb. 29

I've mentioned that I manage commercial property while on sabbatical from the church. We received this notice from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) yesterday. 

 

National Day of Action Rally – The flyer posted on the Preparedness Team Site was provided to us at the end of last week along with a reference to a website providing further information for a planned national day of Call to action to shutdown corporations within the United States on Feb 29^th.

"The F29 Shut Down the Corporations National Day of Action is calling on activists across the country to engage in a day of mass non-violent direct action. Direct action is a means of obstructing practices we protest and reclaiming our agency in creating the world we live in. Direct action manifests in many ways such as sit-ins, strikes, blockades, boycotts, banner drops, culture jamming, and performance among many others".

www.shutdownthecorporations.org

It is our understanding that groups within 30 cities have signaled their willingness to participate and we should all be aware that others will be joining the effort in all likelihood over the next few weeks.

Jason E. Todd
Director, Federal Affairs
Building Owners and Managers Association International
1101 15th St., NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005
202-326-6356
Fax: 202-326-6377
jtodd@boma.org

The Range Idiot Song (Don't Shoot!)

Rampant Correctness

Older daughter bought a bottle of scented lamp oil this afternoon. Lamp oil. You know, for burning in a lamp.

There's a big sticker affixed to the label.

"WARNING: Contents are flammable."

It's lamp oil, you morons. It had dang well better be flammable!!

Didn't Have "the Green Thing"

In the line at the  store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
 
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former  generation did not care enough to save our environment."
 
He was right: that generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. (So they really were recycled.)
 
But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.
 
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
 
But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
 
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
 
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the  house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you.

 
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.  Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working; no need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
 
But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.
 
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
 
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
 
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.
And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out  in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
 
How wasteful the old folks were; they didn't have the green thing back then!

 

h/t Jan S.

It's HIS Fault: a Recap

With the understanding that, no matter what we do, say or forward, we will never ever change the mind 
of a committed ideologue, I hope you all will understand that that is not the intent of forwarding this on. 
We do so in the hope that it will help the 80% of math and fact challenged Americans to get a grip on 
reality, thus enabling them to get off the fence under their own power rather than be violently pushed 
off by the coming onslaught of lying left wing media losers.

So... let's examine exactly whose fault this is. B-b-b-But It's HIS Fault The Washington Post babbled again today about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this BULL. So once more, a short civics lesson: Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that  controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for FY 2008 & FY 2009 as well  as FY 2010 & FY 2011. (FY = fiscal year) In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise  on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing  continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office.  At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets. And where was Barack Obama during this time?  He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills,  and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009. Let's remember  what the deficits looked like during that period:   If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican  budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit  spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes  Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.  If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is "I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th."  There is probably no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us tells someone else.  This is your chance to make a difference. Stay Focused, Connected, Informed and Inspired.

Political Song and Dance

Monday Moanin'

We haz it, from going back to work after a long, sunny weekend. If you've been in this little corner of the cortex in the last couple of months, you know we've had very little sunshine this year, and actually set a new record with 32 consecutive days of rain.

Today is supposed to be sunny & 67, which is about 8 degrees above normal. In fact, it's supposed to be nice all week. Maybe we could declare a sun holiday? I'm not saying we should go all Incan, but it's worth considering.

* * * * *

Apparently the sunshine made folks here a bit rowdy. Last night there was two folks shot downtown, shots fired after a 3-car collision in the northeast part of town, plus a "disorderly crowd" where the police arrested several & tased one fellow, outside a bar where that crowd is typically, shall we say, exuberant.

* * * * *

Finally, in the "Huh?" category, we have a letter to the editor in today's paper, where a gentleman opines that despite the bemoaning of only a 27% turnout for the primary election, we should celebrate our "right to not vote", if we so choose. After all, he says,

The most common and passionate objection is soldiers past and present laid down their lives for our right to vote, so how dare we disrespect them by not showing up at the polls?

However, did they not also lay down their lives for our right to not vote?

Not so much. Yes, our military fights to preserve our freedoms. And the letter-writer is free to vote or not, as he pleases.

But apparently the letter-writer in question has confused "rights" with "freedoms", and thinks that having a say in the form & function of government is too onerous a condition for citizenship. I'm sure there are plenty of places where voting isn't available to the hoi polloi. Makes me wonder when he's leaving.

Correction, Mr. Letter-Writer: you have the freedom to not vote. But don't say a stinkin' word when/if your taxes go up, or you disagree with your elected officials. You gave up the right to complain when you exercised your freedom to saturate the polls with your absence.

Just sayin'.