Land of Oz

Halloween

I just saw an article about the 10 best places to spend Halloween. One place that wasn't mentioned was Stonehenge. It's probably changed a bunch now, but back in the early 80s (probably 1981 since Halloween was Friday night) when I was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford, I spent the evening and early hours of the day around Stonehenge and Avebury. I started out at Stonehenge, but it was too crowded and hard to approach and I ended up in the village of Avebury later than night (early morning) completely by accident.

One couldn't have asked for a better night (as I remember it anyway). It was pretty clear with a large moon and scattered clouds that the wind pushed across the sky. There was a little bit of ground fog that would come and go as well. It was fairly cool. I found a place to park in Avebury that gave me a good view of the area from the seat of my VW Thing. I had a thermos of hot tea and BBC was playing very good music over the radio. Nothing that I'd consider supernatural happened, but it was a very neat way to spend all Hallow's Eve. The only strange bit was that I took an entire roll of film and absolutely nothing came out when it was developed. That was the only time that ever happened with my Canon EF in over 20 years. I might expect a shot or two to not come out, but not everyone. I took an assortment of long exposures of the countryside and also of car lights moving along the various roads.

Labels: rave

Extinction

Every so often, and lately, more often than not, you read some article or another deploring the fact that some critter or plant is going extinct. I can't really see a problem with that. That's the way things go. Things live and they adapt to their conditions. The cockroach has been living for millions of years virtually unchanged in basic form. Obviously that has been a very good version. Thankfully, things like the dinosaurs haven't been quite so able to adapt. How many of us would be willing to swap out our place so t-rex and friends could continue.

The loss of species is going to happen. I don't think artificially keeping them going is the answer. If the only place to see the sable-bellied, bug-eyed, dwarf salamander is going to be the reptile display at the Los Angeles zoo, why bother - let them die off in peace. And you know what? I'm not going to miss them. Same for all those odd bits and pieces that only exist in some little three acre meadow in Outer Mongolia, or for that matter, in some empty lot in downtown Detroit. Stuff dies and other stuff comes along to replace it. Obviously the species to die off didn't have what it takes to survive. Let the replacement take over and see what happens next. The results can't be much worse that what's happened since us mammals elbowed out the dinosaurs.

Labels: gripes

Pickle Assault Probation

I'm sure some of you who have read this story will feel that the punishment is out of order for the crime. After, who could be hurt with a pickle - right? Like the guy getting life for stealing a pizza and another guy getting jail time for a donut assault, the important point here isn't the item. It doesn't matter if it's a pizza, a donut or even a pickle. To me the two important items here are the fact that it was an assault - no matter its severity, but more important, it was also a break in. Now I don't really care what a criminal does after the break in, the fact is they entered someones home without their permission. It's not important how trivial the event that happens later - later the criminal is only compounding the crime. Granted if it's an life-threatening assault, murder or rape, the idiot should be put away forever (or executed) as soon as possible. But even if it's a trivial event like throwing a pickle, it's still crimes against an individual. Not only the assault but the break in as well. Quit feeling sorry for people who are out to get you or someone else. Our society has no need for people who can't function without breaking laws - whether it's breaking in and throwing a pickle or walking out with an unpaid donut.

(AP - October 30, 2007)NILES, Mich. -- Calling it silly yet serious, a judge sentenced a 35-year-old man to time served in jail and probation in a case that police say involved an assault with — and over — pickles.
Bobby Lee Bolen, who lives in the southwestern Michigan community of Buchanan, was sentenced Monday to 54 days in jail with credit for 54 days served and one year of probation as well as restitution for third-offense home invasion.
According to police reports, Bolen broke into (my emphasis) Jody Lee’s home in Buchanan Aug. 20, got into an argument and threw two large pickles at friends Lee and J.W. Romanski III.

Labels: crime, food

More Money Than Sense

Here's a couple of quotes from an article about the drought that is affecting Georgia and other states in the southeast. It seems Georgia wants to slow down the amount of water released from a reservoir in their state which would in turn affect other states downstream. First let me say, that I do sympathize with some of the people in the drought - but not all. I have no sympathy with golfers, folks with swimming pools, and others who waste more water than they should. And I especially have no sympathy for the idiot who spent $500,000 on a boat and destroys it trying to navigate a drought-stricken lake.

It's not like the lake dried up the day after he bought his monster boat. I feel the same towards him as I do with the idiots driving Dodge 4x4 Ramchargers and Ford F-250 pickups back and forth to work who complain about the price of gas.

Oversize houses are the same thing. We've been looking at new houses over the last couple of months. Houses are cheap right now. We saw one 3000+ square foot house for just over $200,000 that was really nice looking and another around 2500 for $180,000. We were thinking about buying something like that until I started to think about the utilities cost. Heating and cooling something that big would have cost a lot. Cheap to buy, but not cheap to keep.

Here's a couple of statements from the news article that set me off:

Because of the drought, the 38,000 acre reservoir is almost five meters (15 feet) below average levels, and officials say the water will continue to dwindle.
"There's this guy who'd just bought a 500,000-dollar boat, tried it out and hit a reef. It was a total loss," said Ken Smith, whose company sells second-hand motorboats.

Like I said, if that person is stupid enough to spend half-a-mil on a boat for a dried up lake, he deserves running it aground. What pisses me off is that because of his idiocy, and others like him, are the type of overpaid cretins that will make my insurance rates go up to pay for his damages, which should have never happened in the first place.

Labels: gripes

Envelopes

Why can't businesses supply envelopes that fit the item they want mailed? Or if they can't supply an envelop at least make their product fit existing envelopes. One example is our water bill. For years, it came as an oversized postcard type of bill with a tear off portion to return with the check. The tear off portion was too large to fit into a normal envelope, so that you had to fold over about 1/2" of it to fit.

Then there's a lot of places that offer membership cards about the size of a business card - note, I said about. You'd think if anything, they'd make them just a smidgen smaller. Nope. The American Legion card is made about 3/16" larger than a business card. The buy X number and get free something is a good candidate for this size oddity as well. There's a coffee shop nearby that has a buy 20 get one free card that is just bigger than a business card - and there's a theatre here that has one just as odd sized.

Today I had to mail out a rather large packet of paperwork of whose instructions required the mailing of said packet in the supplied envelope. First off, the paperwork I had to fill out was legal size, and you guessed it, the envelope was standard sized. And the packet of paper I had, legal sized and otherwise, was about a 1/2" thick. So I had this big ol' pack of paper and nothing to send it in. Staples only sells legal sized envelopes in boxes of a hundred or so. Target didn't even carry any. I finally bought some kraft paper and packing tape and made my own. Think about it. In this day and age, I'm back to constructing envelopes like it was 1842 with paper and paste.

Labels: gripes, tech

Destroyer

There's a paperback series with a large number of volumes called The Destroyer. It was started in the 70s and has to do (to make a long story short) with a cop framed for murder, put through a fake execution and then trained as a secret assassin for the U.S. government. His trainer is Chiun, who is the current Master of Sinanju, the first martial art that was started in Korean a couple of thousand years ago.

It's actually a pretty good series full of humor and cutting remarks about the U.S. and many of its foibles. I just finished episode #30, Mugger's Blood. This was an interesting tale in its take on black America. I googled the title and was a little surprised there wasn't more feedback about it. The story skewers quite directly street and ghetto blacks and New York city.

I think there's something like 115+ volumes. There was a movie sometime ago about this bunch. It was pretty universally panned, but I enjoyed it. Joel Grey actually plays North Korean Chiun and as far as I'm concerned, hits the character spot on. It's not a great movie, but clearly follows the books in spirit. This is one of the few movies where I think having read the books enables you to enjoy the movie more.

Anyway, I'm working my way through the series, up to volume 31 right now and just thought I'd mention it. And there's a faint memory of having written about it before on this blog.

Labels: rave, reading

Tibet

In case you don't know, here's a picture of the Dalai Lama. I have no desire to extend the usual American jokes about musicals or pack animals and just want to display a picture of someone who from what little I really know, seems to be a pretty nice guy. And who is up against from what I see to be a pretty annoying big country that really doesn't give much of a damn about humans in general.

(CNN News - AP Photo) "Beijing has claimed to be the legitimate and rightful government of Tibet since 1951, the year after China invaded the then-independent state. Some say the claim doesn't jibe with international law. Allegations abound that China has stifled Tibetans' religious and other fundamental freedoms, sometimes violently.

The Dalai Lama has led a government in exile from neighboring India for decades. In 1959, the then-24-year-old Buddhist leader fled Tibet during a failed uprising against the Chinese."

Labels: freedom, government

Stupid Cop Shows

For the most part I can take the inaccuracies of TV shows in stride. There are several things though, that really get to me. This came to mind after reading a story where a doctor is walking dog in the woods, sees some red spots on the ground and then touches them and tastes, "hoping for the taste of berries."

This is like the cops shows where the cop finds a plastic bag with white powder, sticks it with his knife, and then tastes it, saying "yep, it's coke." Which is really good for him, because it could have just as easily been rat poison, lye, strychnine or some other powder that would lay him low rather then get him high. There's also a certain CSI guy who as much as I admire his character, tends to do this with unknown substances.

The next thing are surveillance tapes. You know the kind, they have a frame from a dark basement parking lot and after enlarging it can read the numbers off the perps (my cop talk-type writing) driver's license or name on her name tag. That night on the 11p.m. news you'll see a picture made of various shades of gray with a barely human appearing splotch in it and they'll ask you if you can identify this person. Most of the time you can't even tell it's a person.

Then there's fingerprints. OK, this bugs me, but I really don't know if it's realistic; I'm just guessing here. They get a teensy scrap of a fingerprint on the wall and within 10 seconds, they "have a perfect match" for some person "in the system." I really doubt it's that fast or simple.

Labels: crime, gripes, tech

Online Video

I guess it's my oldfashionedist feelings again, but I am far from convinced over how cool online video is supposed to be. I use the Internet mostly for news and I do read pretty quick, so am probably outside the comfort zone of those pushing video.

I find that by the time I get a video player (assuming it's the among the ones I have) to launch, then wait for the video to stream into the buffer, then watch the 15-30 second commercial, then finally get to see the little teeny compressed video, I could have read an in depth written story containing five times the info.

I've also noticed that most of the videos that play - even youtube, with which I will admit to wasting time once a month or so, are so compressed that they begin to take on the blocky picture resolution of the original Atari TV video games. Some of the stuff on BBC News is so compressed and so small, I'm guessing it would transmit over dial with no problem.

And all this isn't because I'm on some weeny Internet connection. I consistently clock out at around 4.5 - 5.5 MBPS via speakeasy.net which is advertised at 6 MBPS (which no one should really expect to get). I'm usually running on an iMac or fairly new PC with XP. So it's not like I'm running a CP/M based TRS Model 4P over a dialup modem (which I once did). And with all that speed and technology, most online videos still suck.

Labels: computers, gripes, oldies

Stolen 'Donuts' = 30 Years

Even the International press picks up on a story like this. Do a google on "stolen donuts" and you'll be offered a big-big bunch of blogs (like this) and editorials and comments about the guy who is risking 30 years for, what they say, is a donut. Reminds about another story a couple years back about some guy in California who because of the three strike rule was going to get life for stealing a pizza.

Folks, you're missing the point. The problem here isn't a pizza or a donut. The problem is stealing. You took something you had no right to, away from its legitimate owner. And you know what? It doesn't matter if that donut belonged to a penniless drunk on the street or to a multibazillion corporation like Pepsi. It's still stealing and it's wrong. And stealing (which he admitted) is why he's going to jail - he's not going to jail because of a donut.

Labels: crime

Drivers?

This morning I saw a couple of interesting drivers on the road. The first was driving a white convertible and stopped at the light in front of me. I noticed her because I thought it ironic she would have the top down on a day that was almost 40 degrees cooler than the day before. Once the light changed and the cars started moving, she began to tailgate the truck in front of her. And then she started to brush her hair - while wandering into the center turn lane. It was at that point I dropped back and got into another lane. With any luck she'll find a tree to run into soon and quit endangering others.

The other idiot today was in a white van doing 30 in a 45 mile per hour zone. The poor car in front of me (who was directly behind the snail) was looking for a way to get past with no luck. Once he turned off, I was soon to follow trying to get around. Unfortunately I was also stuck behind this idiot until my turn off came up. The problem with this road is that it is only two lanes (one each way) in a semi-residential area. I think the problem is that the population here has a lot of older folks and heaven forbid they should drive the speed limit. Those are the ones complaining in the paper about the "speed demons" on the road. The only reason we seem like speed demons is because we aren't driving 15 miles an hour under the speed limit and are on our way to work, not for coffee at Macdonalds.

If you're going to drive that slow, at least pull over every few blocks and let us speeding idiots get past - obviously you're not in any hurry to get where you're going.

Labels: driving, gripes

Made In China

This isn't so much a bash China post, but more in the way of asking a question post. Now, as much as ever, China manufacturing seems to be taking some pretty good hits. Lead in this and antifreeze in that and stuff falling apart before its time is all over the news. It got me to wondering though if China makes anything at all of good quality.

When I was young "Made in Japan" was synonymous with junk. Remember the tale about a village in Japan renamed Usa, so they could say stuff was "Made in Usa?" Now of course, it's completely different with Lexus, Toyota and Yamaha well respected. But even back then, there was stuff in Japan with quality. Nikon has always seemed a good brand, and of course Samurai swords are mythic in their quality. And it didn't take long for Japanese electronics to rise to the top of both quality and value.

But now you have China. Is there anything that China makes that might be considered better than average, let alone desirable? Have you ever heard someone say, "ooh, that Chinese whatever sure is some good stuff!"

Now while I will admit that not everything made in China is complete junk, if given the choice of a powered drill made in Korea, Canada or China, China won't be my first choice - even if it's cheapest. On the other hand, I also know that a powered drill with a "Made in Canada" label can be built completely with parts from China as long as the labour to build it is over 50% of the value. I just wonder how long it will take before people are comparing Chinese goods of some sort (even if only one or two items) with high quality and desirability.

Labels: gripes, tech

Big Brother

According to president Bush, "This government does not torture people. We stick to U.S. law and our international obligations." (referring "The memos, first disclosed Thursday by the New York Times, condoned interrogation techniques such as head slapping and simulated drowning. "

When I was a kid we used to torment others (thankfully there were others further down the foodchain than me - tho' not by much) by using statements like the above. A friend of mine would take someone's hat, and hand it to me. When the victim tried to find the hat, my friend could truthfull state that he didn't have it and I could truthfully state, that I didn't take it.

While I have no doubt that Bush feels the statement he made is true, how hard would it be to find some non-citizen from Romania or Israel or Iraq who would be more than happy to beat the hell out of a suspect while US officials either watched - or perhaps went for a cup of coffee while it was going on. And you know? Sometimes that's OK. If John Doe planted a bomb in an elementary school or knew where one was, would I have any qualms about somebody slapping him around to find it before it blew up 134 kids? Nope. But you'd better make damn sure you're beating up the right John Doe.

Labels: crime, government

Gotta Eat Here

Here's my kind of restaurant - Thai Cottage restaurant. I like spicy food and rarely find a restaurant, especially in mild-mid-america, that cooks the sort of food I like.

I find that most ethnic restaurants around here - and they are few and far between - are hesitant to really spice up a pot. Occasionally the local Indian restaurant, Kabob and Curry in Saginaw, Michigan (go there - please, they need the business and they have very good food) is about the only one to push my limits. There's another mixed-asian store in Midland, but they are almost 25 miles away.

Labels: food

O.J.

Here's another news article title, "O.J. Simpson ordered to surrender Rolex." No, I didn't click it to read it. You know what? I really don't care. I didn't follow the trial that much. Other than the few/many sound bites that made it into the news and American culture, I really don't know what was going on out there.

I sometimes wonder though, what if he really is innocent? Can you try to imagine what he is going through now? After all, 12 people sitting in the courtroom thought that. They couldn't all be bribed or brain dead - well, maybe brain dead. As much as I like Jay Leno, he's made it aboundantly clear that he figure O.J. did it. And granted, O.J. was just involved in a pretty bizarre adventure in Las Vegas, but after all these years living as he has had to, can you really blame him for being a little off?

After all, we are supposed to hold sacred that a person is innocent until PROVEN guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. In many ways, I'm surprised we convict as many as we do.

Labels: celebs, crime