This cost too much

Our city is doing sewer separation to keep the storm run-off from filling the sewer pipes and overwhelming the water treatment plant in the event of a large storm. The main sewer line runs down the center of our street so we were told to expect the mess and disruption of the street getting torn up.
In a good cause, of course, because naturally none of us wants the sewer to back up and cause problems for homeowners and potentially Lake Erie as well. All homes built after 1971 were required to separate waste water and storm water. Nearly no houses in our pocket neighborhood were built after 1971. Until recently, many homes had a ditch out front that the gutters and other rainwater drained to.  So, progress. Good for Lake Erie. Good for the community.

Unfortunately, our city chose to contract the job to the cheapest contractor who then subcontracted some work to an even cheaper outfit. As a result, the city -because that is who is ultimately responsible here, no matter what the city engineer suggests- is complicit in the destruction of no fewer than five trees over the age of 20 and at least two that were about 200.
Our neighbors' 200-year-old oak, older than the city itself, had withstood centuries of "progress" only to be deemed in the way by the lazy contractor and eliminated.
This tree had survived the founding of the village, the building of the little vacation beach houses all around it, the piping of sewers, water and gas lines. Electricity came in and worked around it. The houses it shaded were built respecting its presence, The street was paved, first with gravel, then with blacktop and the tree was undisturbed.
But somehow, the lazy corner-cutting shits that are replacing the sewer under that very road had to have that venerable 150 foot tall, 200-year-old oak which was perfectly healthy, cut down. That irreplaceable tree now lays in pieces at the side of the road, a testament to the expediency at the cost of long-term value.

Interestingly, there is a board of municipal utilities in my city. And they are elected. I wonder if that idiot city engineer is elected too... .

That explains it.

So I read this article in the Wall Street Journal online (which I will graciously assume to be opinion) about the "anti-science" certitude on climate change. The author shares the story of the planet of Vulcan which was theorized to exist based on Newtonian physics and later disproven by using Einstein's theory of relativity. This anecdote from the annals of science history is supposed to illustrate that climate change is only a theory and could (totally) be disproven 100 years from now just like Vulcan was.
He also argues that because climatology as a discipline is only 170 years old, we can't predict stuff on such short history (even though we have --and use-- the ability to get a reliable historical model on temperature fluctuations and climate data from ice cores, sea floor cores, and old-growth forests).
Finally, he points out that calling people who deny that climate change is real "climate change deniers" is mean.


The reality is, 99% of all climate scientists agree that climate change is real and potentially catastrophic. Why would so many scientists agree? What do they gain by warning us of  possible doom? This was the one thing that I could never comprehend. I see all these conservatives denying the reality of climate change in the face of so much evidence. And their argument is that the "evidence" is self-serving. What? Thousands of scientists are talking about climate change to get grant money? Hundreds of "liberal" politicians are trying to pass legislation on emissions because their goal is not mitigating damage to our planet, but to "increase government control over the economy and the personal lives of citizens." What?

Anyone can see it's blue.

Oh holy god! How is this even a thing? It is "trending" on Tumblr, and Facebook. (For all I know it's all over MySpace too --who even goes there?)
A million youth are in a tizzy over the effing color of an effing dress. Seriously. They can't be bothered to vote for their elected representatives or donate to homeless veterans, but they will spend an entire day trying to determine the COLOR OF A STUPID DRESS.

It's days like this I grieve for our future.

Subject to blue laws?

 A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court has found that “the actual purpose in displaying the Cross at Ground Zero has always been secular.”
That’s right, the court ruled the purpose of displaying a Christian symbol has always been secular.
The appeals court ruled on Monday that the memorial cross at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York can remain at the newly-opened facility because the purpose of the cross is secular, not religious.

Perhaps the judges are unfamiliar with the word "secular." Perhaps we could point out that a synonym for the word is profane. Now the cross at Ground Zero is legally PROFANITY. I know a lot of atheists might agree, but I'm pretty sure all the Christians out there can't be happy.

h/t to LSH

Hey! There's a third pedal down here!

No one drives a stick shift any more.

Name that storm

Hello, Luna!

During the upcoming 2012-13 winter season The Weather Channel will name noteworthy winter storms. Our goal is to better communicate the threat and the timing of the significant impacts that accompany these events. The fact is, a storm with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation.  

Hurricanes and tropical storms have been given names since the 1940s. In the late 1800s, tropical systems near Australia were named as well. Weather systems, including winter storms, have been named in Europe since the 1950s.  Important dividends have resulted from attaching names to these storms:

• Naming a storm raises awareness. [because the actual freezing rain and snow isn't enough.]
• Attaching a name makes it much easier to follow a weather system’s progress. [again, the actual freezing rain and snow isn't enough.]
• A storm with a name takes on a personality all its own, which adds to awareness. [um. repetitive. also, see above regarding awareness.]
• In today’s social media world, a name makes it much easier to reference in communication. ["It's snowing really hard!" is so much more difficult to type than "Luna's making it snow really hard!"]
• A named storm is easier to remember and refer to in the future. [because who doesn't want to remember the time you got into that 15-car pile-up on the interstate?]

Cat-proof

Is there such a thing as cat insurance? Or a kitty rider on the homeowners' policy? I don't want to insure our cat(s). I want to insure our possessions against the damage done to them by the cat(s). The big dumb clumsy one (yes, we have a clumsy cat) is the worst.
Not only does he try jumping on things that will not support him, he flings himself at screens and hangs on them. He knocks things over with annoying regularity, and, worst of all, he chews anything plastic, notably wire covered in plastic. He has officially destroyed two pairs of headphones (and not the cheap ear-buds) by chewing through the wires.
I'm seriously considering tempting him with a plugged-in lamp. (Don't tell the ASPCA.)

Complaining? Who me?

Why is it that when we have a big old blizzard, all the global warming/climate change nay-sayers leap up and say "SEE!? Global warming is fake!!" but they don't seem the least bit panicked at a 70°F day in the middle of November?

Now, I know with reasonable certainty that climate change is real and that it is man-made. I also know that individual weather phenomena are not an indicator of (or disproof of) real climate change.

And I know that expecting integrity, or at least consistency, from the wacks who parade out their ignorance every time we have another snowpocalypse or snowmageddon or whatever is, at best, futile. But they are NO WHERE to be found when I am sitting on my deck in shorts enjoying the warm and sunny weather on November 11 in Northern Ohio.

self-awareness

I don't have any comments to make on the convention, the GOP platform, irony, or hypocrisy that aren't symbolized perfectly by this headline:

‘Missing’ woman unknowingly joins search for herself

Ignorance isn't bliss

Doesn't it disturb you that reality will not penetrate the skulls of nearly half this country? Really.
If you are a big Mitt Romney fan, if you think his vague tax policies will pan gold, if you truly believe that the nation should be run like a corporation, then great, vote for Mitt and I wish you the best.
But, and this is a big but, if you think that voting for Barack Obama is going to turn this nation into a post-apocalyptic communist hell-scape and you are voting for Romney only to prevent that scenario, you are a delusional ass.

In reality, without "spin," look at what the Obama administration has done. There is nothing he has proposed or signed into law that was in any way a threat to your way of life. Nothing.
The contortions of the ultra-conservative movement, which has, to our national discredit, gained a substantial foothold online in the business of peddling half-truths and innuendo, somehow turns every word the president speaks into the next installment of a socialist takeover.

Innuendo like this lovely Facebook sidebar ad here. Really? Mitt is going to single-handedly SAVE our country from the horrific threat that is a democratically-elected, charismatic, left-of-center, black, Christian president who's biggest sin is decreasing unemployment by only 2 percentage points since he took office? Really. What kind of superhero abilities do you think Romneyman has that will save us?
Another example, the budget passed by both Houses of Congress has made substantial cuts in funding for the Immigration & Customs Enforcement. Because there is not enough money for the department to pursue every undocumented alien in the U.S., the president has ordered this federal agency to use its limited resources to capture and expel only the illegal immigrants who are disruptive to our society. This, to hear the right-wing bloggers rant, was tantamount to tearing the Constitution in half, and handing it to Mexico.
However, this lack of knowledge, the willful ignorance, or worse ignorant ignorance, should terrify you. These idiots vote. Which reinforces Bill Maher's contention that we (as a nation) get the president we deserve. It almost makes you wish they would secede.

For sale

I have stuff. I'm a pretty acquisitive person (especially when it comes to shoes). I like pictures on my walls and the occasional candle-holder on my mantle. So I'm not against having stuff, but I'm wondering if we're not buying some things for the wrong reasons. Or maybe attaching value to some things that really shouldn't have value.
In April, some bonehead paid $45,000 for Marilyn Monroe's chest x-rays. Do you know what you can buy for $45,000? Do you know how many starving kids that would feed for a year? Does this person have so much money that it seemed reasonable to drop this kind of cash on chest x-rays? I'm sure that everyone I know can come up with at least 50 things that would be more worthwhile.
Now I see that Winston Churchill's dentures are up for grabs. At least these are only expected to fetch a few thousand pounds. And they have the added appeal of having actually been a part of the famous man. Anyone have £5000 they feel like tossing away?
If you're running a little tight on cash, you do have the option of bidding on the ashes of the cat who appeared in the opening credits of the British soap opera Coronation Street for 11 years. Because, of course, who wouldn't want the ashes of a strange cat for their front parlor decor?
I do advise you to hold on to your cash, though. You never know when one of Lassie's petrified poops might show up on e-Bay.

Democratic majority. We still got it.

I can't say it better than Jon Stewart. So here he is reminding Democrats that the majority of 100 is 51. Not, as the wankers, airheads, pundits, media and --it seems-- even the president think, 60.
The Massachusetts election was NOT a referendum on health care, Obama's presidency or hottiness in the Senate. It was a referendum on not electing an ignorant bitchy woman who has no grasp of who her constituency would be, let alone how to represent them.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mass Backwards
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Before... after... whatever.

In the vein of print errors, I stumbled upon this. I have included the link, in case the BBC hasn't made the correction, but the screen capture ensures that you can share in my amazement that the One World documentary about Natalya Estemirova didn't win first place with such a difficult interview.

Record-breaking

I'm thinking of setting a Guinness Book world record for the least interest in setting a world record. But just by thinking it, I suppose I'm out of the running.
Shouldn't there be some sort of guideline as to what can reasonably be a record-holding feat? Longest fingernails or largest cheesecake do not strike me as things we should be awarding as superlatives. Beyond that, it just encourages a new crop of wackos.
I read that a Michigan man put 16 cockroaches in his mouth (The article does not mention if they are living or dead.) for a shot at the Guinness Book. What is astonishing (beyond the cockroaches and the quantity) is that he's trying to beat a previous record. Some other lunatic did this already.
Where in the name of all that is holy did someone come up with the idea of putting cockroaches in his mouth. And what were the Guinness people thinking when they added his name to the pantheon of dubious achievements that they sell annually?
Perhaps we need to set up a Guinness record for stupidity. Nah. Too much competition.

Be vocal.

By all accounts the number of protesters in D.C. this past weekend was in the neighborhood of 60 to 70 thousand. Even on the generous end of this spectrum that is less than one half of one percent of the total electorate. Yet to hear the fuss you'd think the crowd was comparable to the inauguration.
Someone needs to remind these freaks that the majority rules. Actually, someone needs to remind Congress of that fact. And while we're at it, let's also remind them of good manners (Joe Wilson) and the basics of the English language (Mark Kirk: who said of Obama's speech, "He talked at us. He didn't listen to us ... It was a missed opportunity.")
But mostly let's remind them that we, the majority, are supportive of the bill as outlined by the president.

What were they thinking?

From wikipedia's entry on Ferret Legging:

"The sport is said to involve very little 'native skill', simply an ability to 'have your tool bitten and not care'. The current world champion, Reg Mellor, is credited with instituting the practice of wearing white trousers in ferret legging matches, to better display the blood from the wounds caused by the animals. Competitors can attempt, from outside their trousers, to dislodge the ferrets, but as the animals can maintain a strong hold for long periods, their removal can be difficult.
The ferrets are occasionally put inside the contestants' shirts in addition to their trousers. An attempt to introduce a female version of the sport—ferret busting, in which female contestants introduced ferrets down their blouses—proved unsuccessful [emphasis mine]."

Proof that women are indeed more intelligent than men.

Sub born

A few words on the Birther Movement:

GET A CLUE.

-

Editorial note

The importance of proofreading always trumps Spellcheck. As evidence:

Common mistakes include: "Dear Sir or Madman", "I'm attacking my resume for you to review," "Following is a grief overview of my skills" and "Have a keen eye for derail."

Common mistakes? People. No one who applies for a job for which a resume is required should ever have such errors.

Thriller

Hey, I'm not sure if you missed this, but the King of Pop, Michael Jackson died. He was memorialized Tuesday. You might have seen a little something about it.

In fact other stuff happened yesterday too. There are riots in China. Obama met with Russian Premier Putin. They are trying to hammer out a deal on the coup in Honduras. Lebanon nearly caught a spy. Former President Clinton is in Haiti. They are voting in Indonesia. The G8 is meeting today. A U.S. drone killed 14 Pakistanis.

You might not know it to watch the news here, but there is life outside the Staples Center in L.A.

The letter of the law

Here in the State of Ohio it is a STATE LAW (as you see) to yield to pedestrians within crosswalk. Does that mean I can plow them over if they're not within a crosswalk?

We need a law for this? Prompted by?

"Oh yeah, I ran over those kids crossing the street, but they weren't in a crosswalk or anything, so jeeze, it's not like I broke a law or something."