Lightning

Back when I worked for the local electric utility company, there was a lot of talk about lightning. There were even people whose job it was to use a computer program to keep a data base on lightning strikes. Lightning is a definite concern for electric utilities in the southeastern USA.

Recently, it became a definite concern for me as well. On Saturday April 24th, about mid morning, a single stroke of lightning burned out my desktop computer, cable modem, wireless router, magicjack and digital TV converter. There had been a moderate thunderstorm earlier in the morning and I had turned off and unplugged the computer while it was going on. I did that because in 2009 I had lost three desktop computers during a thunderstorm. Anyway, the thunderstorm on the 24th had passed, I thought, and I had hooked the computer back up and was reading some emails when there was a bright flash, a wisp of smoke from the computer and a deafening clap of thunder all simultaneously.

It has taken me until this week to get everything back working. I've got my fingers crossed but I have also been shopping for some surge protection.

If you know a little science

If you know a little science, you already knew the two key points that this guy is making. Unfortunately, most Americans don't know a little science.




Also unfortunately, I see that YouTube has chosen to delete the video. It has been awhile since I saw the video and don't recall the second point but I am fairly sure that the first point was that water vapor is the primary greenhouse gas. Everything else is relatively inconsequential.

I suppose it is still too early to point out the falacies in man made global warming and not be censored.

Hubris

Wikipedia says that Hubris "means extreme haughtiness or arrogance. Hubris often indicates being out of touch with reality and overestimating one's own competence or capabilities, especially for people in positions of power."

Ford Motor Company used to have a slogan, "Quality is Job One." I think that based on the definition above, we could easily paraphrase Ford and adopt "Hubris is Job One" as our national slogan.

Constitutionality

The system we have in this country where the Supreme Court decides the constitutionality of laws makes about as much sense as you having an agreement with a friend that if you and he get into a disagreement, y'all will let his older brother decided which of you is right.

A Beater With A Heater

Back in 2004 I went up to Pittsburg (PA not TN) and bought a 1979 Mercedes 300D. I got it cheap because it was what they call up there "a beater". I didn't want a real nice car because I was going to experiment with running cooking oil in it and I didn't want to spend big bucks on something I might screw up. Until my trip up north, I don't recall ever hearing the expression beater.

Best I could tell, a beater is a cheap car that is used as transportation in the winter time when there is salt on the roads. Down here, we have cheap cars but the folks that have them drive them year round.

Back in the summer of 2008 I made a trip to Alaska. I feel in love with the place and have been working on a way to get back up there ever since. Ultimately, I would like to relocate there for at least part of the year. In my spare time I read forums that discuss life in Alaska. Many of them have a mix of people like me that are wannabes and resident Alaskans. This past week I read a thread and someone mentioned having a "beater with a heater". Just for the hell of it, I Googled "beater with a heater 'site:craigslist.org'" and found that it is not just an Alaskan expression. In fact one of the ads was for Gulfport. Must have been written by a relocated yankee. From the number of ads nationwide, beaters with heaters must be fairly popular. Considering that my yard in full of what could be loosely classifed as beaters, I think maybe I need to get an Automobile Dealers License and open up Beater Motor Company LLC. Who knows, if it was profitable enough, it might help me finance my move to Alaska.

The Census

I got my census form 2 or 3 weeks ago. I looked at it, decided it did not ask any questions that I had a problem answering and laid it aside. Why did I lay it aside. Because it said that they wanted to count where people were on April 1. Thats today. I had every intention of waiting until today to fill it out. Last week I got a little post card reminding me that they had not received my response yet and by law I had to submit my census form. Well, I had every intention of submitting it but I was gonna wait until today because that is when they said the count was for. I went ahead and filled it out when I got the little card and sent it in. Nothing has changed since I filled it out so the info they got is correct but why tell people you want to know what their status is on April 1 and then get upset because they are waiting until April 1 to respond. I've seen several media articles lamenting the poor response to the census. I suspect part of that is because people are following the instructions they were given. I hope the government is gonna run the new healthcare system better than they have this census but I doubt it.

Get Out While The Getting Is Good

Have you noticed how many career politicians are giving up their jobs and not running for re-election lately? Did you ask yourself why someone would give up a high paying job with virtually certain employment (over 90% of incumbents are re-elected.)? I've got an idea and it revolves around the subject phrase, "get out while the getting is good." Politicians are not stupid. They are probably corrupt and maybe inept, but not stupid. They have spend a lifetime suckling at the teat of the government cow, but they know that the cow is fixing to go dry. They, better than most of us, know how the system works and they recognize when the scam is about to play out. Like rats deserting a sinking ship, they are headed over the side. Better to be out in open water swimming than to be sucked down with the ship.

Most of the US citizens alive today were born and have lived in relatively prosperous, peaceful times. Sure, there have been a lot of wars and police actions, but they have been somewhere else. And sure, we have sent many of our brightest and best to fight and die in these places, but most folks did not have to go and were affected indirectly at most. No, its been guns and butter through out most of our lives and people tend to think that how it has been is how it's gonna be. Unfortunately for all of us, actions have consequences. As a nation, we have done a lot of imprudent things. We have told ourselves that we were doing the right things, but calling a pig's ear a silk purse does not make it so.

The politicians know this and they are taking their lifetime pensions with their superior health care plans and heading off into sunset. Best to be long gone when the shit hits the fan. Many folks I am sure doubt this, after all, things have been good for so long, and our intentions are good, but you can't spend more than you make, kill anyone that disagrees with you and expect it to go on forever. Sooner or later the cows come home and unfortunately, I fear our herd is quickly becoming dry.

One of these days ...

One of these days I am gonna drop dead. When I do, some of my friends and family will no doubt say they knew I should have been going to the doctor. If I had, they (the doctors) would have caught that and treated it. Well, they will probably be right, but it won't make me any difference because I will be dead.

So far in my life I have been blessed with very good health. Since I have not been sick a lot, I have not had to go to the doctor much. Sometimes I think that I have not been sick a lot because I don't go to the doctor much. It's funny about people and doctors. Who do you know that takes his car into his mechanic every year and asks him to check and see if there is something that needs fixing? Sure, people have their cars oil changed and they put additives in their gas tank, but that is just routine maintenance like taking vitamins and supplements would be for a person. And people check their coolant and oil levels and look out for their check engine light on their cars, much like getting a blood pressure cuff and regularly checking blood pressure would be to an individual, but who among us would ever consider driving up to a dealership and asking them to see if they could find something on their car that needed replacing?

But that is exactly what well care is all about. When you feel fine and you go to a doctor, he or she is going to find something that needs treating. Its what they do. They have a hammer in their hand; you are the nail. And what does all that treatment accomplish? Mostly it winds up putting you on prescription drugs that may mitigate the symptoms of one thing and create or exacerbate the symptoms of half a dozen others. In a recent article, Bill Sardi made this statement, "The only three proven medical technologies are (a) mending broken bones; (b) replacing cloudy cataracts; (c) repairing decayed teeth. The rest are questionable." When I first read this, I was a little taken aback, but then I remembered where I had read recently that it had never been statistically proven that anyone had lived longer because of heart surgery. How much of what passes for medicine today is really just "busy work"?

Now obviously there are people who suffer from conditions that need medicine and treatment. Insulin dependent diabetics are the first ones that pop to my mind. I am sure that you can think of dozens if not hundreds of other conditions, but these are people who are sick. And also keep in mind that insulin does not cure diabetes, it just enables the diabetic to live longer with the ailment. Clearly, I am not encouraging anyone to go against their own judgment. If you feel a need to go to a doctor, even though you fell fine, by all means go, but when you hear about me dying, don't despair. I may not have lived every minute possible, but I did enjoy some extra time along the way that others lost sitting in waiting rooms.

I lied

In my previous post I said that I was not gonna address the Okaloosa County Florida Sheriff's deputies arresting a 11 year old girl for throwing a plastic pistol at her father. I lied. I just can't let this go. I am gonna stay away for the obvious question of how in the hell did they find out about it. We all know that a lot of folks in this country should not have kids in the first place, but stupid people do procreate. Nope, I am not gonna get into that. What I am gonna say is that if Okaloosa County Florida has enough deputies on the force that they have time to go out and arrest 11 year old girls for throwing toy pistols, maybe they should look at their law enforcement budget. All I hear lately from bureaucrats and politicians all over the country is how they don't have enough money and they are going to have to figure out a way to raise fees or taxes and increase their revenue so they don't have to cut back services. Seems to me that arresting 11 year old girls for throwing toy guns is a service that folks could do without at least until times got better. I wonder how many other public "services" could be scaled back in these tight times.

There is so much wrong and ....

Back when I was younger, I used to hear older folks (people who were younger then than I am now) talking about how bad it had gotten and they just didn't know what was gonna become of all of us. I always promised myself that I would not ever get like that and I've tried my damnest to follow through on that promise.

I've always said "there is so much wrong and we are gonna have to do a lot to straighten it out." At least that is what I have said up until today. Then I read this news article." In case the link is dead when you read this, the article is about a 11 year old girl that was arrested by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies for domestic battery. What did she do? She threw a plastic pistol at her father because he put her in time out. The plastic pistol cut his scalp. This is so wrong on so many levels that I am not gonna even start addressing all of them. You can figure it out for yourself. But this incident is the straw that broke the camels back. From now on, I am gonna say, there is so much wrong and there is no way in hell we are gonna straighten it out. As the mogambo guru is always saying, "We are freakin doomed."

They Got A Problem

I was just reading about some of the backlash by people upset with the recent passage of the health care bill. It reminded me of something I have read many times. To paraphrase, No government exists except by consent of the governed. On the surface, that might seem untrue. Many people will point to brutal dictatorships that exist currently or have existed in the past and say they exist through the use of force and not because of consent. But do they? Certainly they use force, but can force alone subdue all of the people all of the time? I think not. So long as enough people are reasonably satisfied with their circumstances, even the most brutal governments can hold on, but there comes a time when enough people are unhappy and they will demand and bring a change. If the people have confidence in the process, the change can be peaceful. Unfortunately for the powers that be, times are sort of rough for a lot of people right now. Couple that with the government passing laws that are unpopular with a significant portion if not a majority of the people and it creates a dangerous situation. Our government officials may not be in eminent danger of being voted out of office or worse yet being lynched, but I think they got a problem.

AL.com Comments

I know, I've bitched about them before, but I can't help it. I just finished reading some articles on AL.com and for some masochistic reason, I read the comments. My experience frustrated me so much that I just have to vent.

I have lived in Alabama all my life and have traveled in the United States a bit. I have met people in lots of places and for the most part, I found them all to be very similar. I don't think that the folks in other places are that much smarter or more impressive than the folks I have known in Alabama. But, when I read the comments on AL.com, I wonder who in the hell are the people that are writing them? I'm not talking about spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization or anything like that. After all, its the internet, those things don't count for as much and we all take short cuts. Nope, I am talking about stupid, stupid, stupid remarks. Who are these idiots that perpetrate this madness?

I could give you examples, but it pains me too much to recount what I have read. Better I just rant here to blow off a little steam. If you doubt me, go to AL.com and click on an article, any article and read the comments and then see if I am wrong.

The Problem

"It’s not what people don’t know that’s the problem, but what they think they know that just ain’t so." - Will Rogers

Spyder Solitaire

Well I have found a new distraction to eat up my time. The other day Linda told me that she had a game called Spyder Solitaire on her computer and that she had been playing it and loved it. She told me to check mine and see if I had it. I assured her I did not as I don't play games on the computer and never install them. Opps, turns out SS comes with Windows XP. I have only recently started using XP. I bought a refurbrished Dell on eBay and it had XP installed. Before that, I had used an older Dell with W2K. The old machine did everything I needed but an early morning thunderstorm took it out along with my phone server and my Ubuntu linux machine.

Anyway, I do have Spyder Solitaire and it is kind of addictive. I think I like it better than regular solitaire, and I love to play the regular version. For now, I am limiting myself to about a half dozen games at a sitting and no more than 3 or 4 sittings per day. Since the weather has been cold, I have been staying kind of cabin bound anyway, but when warm weather gets here, I may have to relegate myself to only late night games just before bedtime. To explain how bad this is, I've even located a linux version and loaded it on to my eee PC so I can play when I travel. I guess its just another life lost to addiction.

TSA Anal Cavity Searches

Not yet, but give it time. I just read this article on CNN about the TSA reaction to the attempted Christmas flight bombing. It's just a matter of time until some wacko sticks a homemade explosive device up his poop shoot and tries to detonate it while the plane is in the air. As soon as he does, the TSA will start immediately having passengers strip, (what difference does it make, their machine already lets them see you naked) bend over and be probed anally.

As for me, I would not currently get on a plane for any reason short of saving my life or the life of a close loved one.

Taking A Chance

Funny how when you get to thinking about one thing, it leads you to another, and then another and finally you are thinking about something far removed from where you started. All the current news about the "Bingo Raids" got me to thinking about gambling in general. Gambling, like drinking, religion, abortion and politics, is a hot button topic. Hot button topics are apt to stir up controversy whenever they enter a conversation. I'm not gonna discuss any of them here today but I am gonna recount a story that this topic brought to mind.

Years ago, at the company where I worked, we played a game called check poker. I'm sure it, or a variant of it was played through out the country. We got paid every other Friday and our company was big enough that all the checks had 5 or 6 digit sequence numbers in the upper right hand corner. Before the checks were handed out, a group of us, usually the same suspects, would put $1 each in a pool. Then when we got our checks, we would compare the check numbers as if they were poker hands, 1 of a kind, a pair, 3 of a kind , 4 of a kind, full house and straight were all possible. The person with the best hand took the pot.

Not everyone played. I suspect that some were too tight and afraid they might loose a dollar. Some didn't want to be seen as associating with "our" kind, except as work forced it. Others maintained that it was gambling and was immoral. When any one brought up the moral argument, there was a guy, whose name happened to be "Guy" who loved to tell the story of an old switchboard wireman that was in his crew when he worked in the field. The old wireman was named Tony. By all accounts, Tony was a good man and a hard worker. I met him myself and remember him to be rather loud, funny and good natured. He was of Italian decent and I suspect he was a good Catholic. I did not know him that well but Guy said that Tony was hard against any form of gambling. It may have been from a personal experience or from something that happened in his family, I don't know, but it is said that he hated any form of gambling. But Tony always participated in check poker. The more sensitive portion of our population would let something like that slid, but the folks in Tony's crew, in fact the folks in all of our field crews were not the kind of folks to let anything slide. They were the in your face types. If they sensed hypocrisy or inconsistency they would confront you immediately. When payday rolled around and check poker was being played, someone new to the crew or someone that had recently discovered Tony's hatred for gambling, would challenge him about the paradox of him playing check poker when he hated gambling. Tony's answer was that check poker was not gambling, it was just "taking a chance."

Often I tell stories because they reinforce some point I want to make but not this time. I told you this story because I like it. Of course it probably does not mean as much to you if you can't put faces with these names, but I can and as I said, I like it.

Good Guys and Bad Guys

Next Tuesday the final season of the TV series "Lost" begins. Last night, I watched last season's final episode on Hulu. Not to give away any spoiler info but in it Ben does what I would call a bad thing. Through out the entire series, Ben has been heard to tell people, "we are the good guys."

It is said, and I believe, that your brain works on problems while you sleep. Apparently, last night, my brain worked on the problem of Ben, a self proclaimed good guy, doing a bad thing. This morning I woke up thinking of this famous quote by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson:

There is so much good in the worst of us, an so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves all of us not to talk about the rest of us.

I have to admit that it has crossed my mind that an alternate solution might be that Ben is lying about being a good guy.

I Do Too!

Maybe Bigger Is Better

I originally wrote this back in January 2010 but somehow it got saved as a draft and never was published. I was doing some house keeping in my blog files tonight (8 July 2010) and ran across it. I read it and still feel about the same way so here it is:

I was born and raised in Alabama and have spent most of my life here. It has always been my home. I have traveled often but usually in the SE US. I have made one trip to England, a couple of trips to Canada and 3 or 4 out west. After traveling, I have always returned and in my mind I've thought, there really is no place like home. But that has changed in the last few years. A few years ago, my daughters family moved to Texas. I've been out there to visit several times and I have to say that I really like Texas. Then in 2008, I drove up to Alaska. It was great. If I could get used to the cold in the winter, I believe I could live my life out in Alaska. I'm temped to say that bigger is better and that the big states have something the others don't. Then I remember that I was very impressed with South Dakota and figure It might be a good place to live as well.

Alabama is not the worse place in the world and I am pretty happy here but I definitely have found some other places that seem like they would be a good replacement.

Back From Texas

We got back from Texas this week. We had been out there for the birth of my second grandson. Ford Miller Jones. He is a sweetie, just like his older brother Gantt. Since he was born in Texas, he is a native texan. I guess one of these days he will be driving a car with two stickers on the bumper. One, with the Texas single star that says "Native Texan" and another on the other side that says "Don't mess with Texas."