Randy's Random Ramblings

Relaunch!

2011-06-28T21:45:00.003-06:00

I have decided to resurrect my blog and begin posting again. At this point, I have not decided the direction this will go. I started to document my health issue that arose in 2010, but got too depressed thinking about it, so I have gone back to my general thoughts. Last year was challenging, as I was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma, went through a splenectomy to remove my giant spleen, had chemotherapy, and beaten the cancer into remission. I now get blood work and CT scans every 3 months, and so far, so good. I may give updates on these checks here, but it will not be the focus of my writing.

The gap from late 2009 until now is probably the longest gap in my blogging. By restoring this blog I hope to find some creative release, a personal soapbox, and most importantly, a personal catharsis.

The historic posts here express my thoughts at the time I wrote them. They may or may not apply today, but for the most part should still be relevant.

Welcome to my world.

A Saturday With Randy

2009-11-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Join me on this Saturday. The video is a bit crappy, since my little six-year-old Gateway camera does pretty good on still shots, but video is sorely lacking. But it is better than nothing. Maybe someday I'll get one of those cool HD pocket video cameras.

Google Maps Screw Up

2009-11-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

Google Maps has a major screw up. I noticed this when I was looking at Interstate 79 where it crosses from Pennsylvania to West Virginia near Morgantown. Look at this screenshot...it labels Pennsylvania as Tennessee. Tennessee & West Virginia do not even share a border at all. The mighty Google is not infallible after all!

Poor Little Laika

2009-11-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Fifty-two years ago today, November 3, 1957, the evil commies launched poor little Laika to her death by putting her in space with no plan to get her back. She succumbed to heat and stress hours into her space flight. She was the first living thing to be sent into space.

Lyrics:
The cage is very small
A tiny silver ball
That makes you a hero
The moment you step inside
The world is watching you
What youre about to do
Will live on forever
Even though youll be dead
And gone
Buckle up
Were about to turn the engines on.

Boyoyoing

Hello from Sputnik 2
I am receiving you
Thanks for the dog food
Im somewhere above you now
Guess what Malashenkov?
I took the collar off
Im holding my own leash
And walking myself outside
This door
I dont think
I want to be a good dog anymore.

Now Im floating free
And the moons with me
And its bright enough
To light the dark

And its so high up here
And the stars so clear -
Are they close enough?
Will they hear me bark from here?

Moscow to Sputnik 2
I think were losing you
Your life signs are fading
We cant really say that were
Surprised
Its a shame
There is always something that gets compromised

Now Im floating free
And the moons with me
And its bright enough
To light the dark

And its so high up here
And the stars so clear -
Are they close enough?
Will they hear me bark from here?

Charlotte's Rough Economic Ride May Not Be Over

2009-11-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

It has been a year since the implosion of Charlotte-based Wachovia ended up with that banking giant being absorbed into Wells Fargo. Now two more blows may be in the offing. Bank of America, whose name is on everything from their Uptown Charlotte headquarters building to the Carolina Panthers' stadium, is seeking a new CEO. News Talk 1110 WBT is reporting that 98 percent of BoA's business comes from divisions headquartered elsewhere. What's more, the heads of those divisions have no ties to The Queen City. Add to that, the fact that CEO Ken Lewis is stepping down, and it is feared that a new CEO will move the corporate nerve center out of town.

Then today, US Airways CEO, Doug Parker, was in town just a few days after announcing a major downsizing of both routes and personnel. Service is being scaled back, and some cities like Colorado Springs and Wichita, will be eliminated from the airlines flights altogether. There will also be 1000 jobs around the country vaporized by the restructuring. As I have mentioned in the past, US Airways holds a near monopoly on air travel into and out of Charlotte, with other carriers holding a small share of the traffic.

Mecklenburg County has a current official unemployment rate of over 11%. If worst case scenarios become reality for these two major employers, Charlotte and the entire Metrolina region may have an even deeper hole to dig out of. This is a very nice city. It would be a shame to see this occur. As other cities without a great amount of economic diversity, Charlotte's crown as a major banking center may end up being its undoing.

The Sky Was Angry, My Friends!

2009-10-31T14:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon and evening, I was traveling back to Colorado from Charlotte. Even though there was a significant line of bad weather stretching from north to south from the Great Lakes to around Alabama, the plane ride was pretty smooth. This time, I had to change planes in Kansas City. Coming out of Charlotte's Douglas International Airport, there are not many choices than US Airways. This comes from its days as a hub for one of US Airways' predecessor carriers, Piedmont Airlines. So I had a flight on that airline which was a code share with United. At Kansas City International, I had to change over to a real United flight on to Denver.

I used to fly in and out of Kansas City with some regularity back in the late 1980s when I worked for Sprint. I used to like their terminal buildings, which are shaped like the letter "C", and you can get out of the car right next to your gate. No concourses to deal with. But in this post 9/11 world, that proves to be not such a good arrangement. The reason? That is because each airline has their own little area walled off by its gates. This means that in transferring from...oh, let's say US Airways to United Airlines...you have to leave the secure area for the former carrier and then go through the second carrier's security. You have to do the whole routine of shoes off, laptop out, and throw away your water bottle, even though you just got off a flight in a security-sterile environment.

But that wasn't the worst of it. The flight from Kansas City to Denver was one of the three most turbulent flights I have ever had. Not #1, but not far behind. You are totally helpless in that situation. All you can do is ride it out. You can't turn back, you can't get out, and you can only endure. At least I made it home for the weekend. Monday morning it's back to Charlotte. My suitcase full of dirty clothes back in North Carolina also awaits my return to wash them. Still, it should be a very good week ahead. Lots going on at work, and the deadlines continue to loom large.

Lexington Barbeque Festival

2009-10-24T14:43:00.000-06:00

Today is the 26th Annual Lexington Barbeque Festival in Lexington, North Carolina. It is a huge street festival that takes up about 2o or so blocks of downtown Lexington, the self-proclaimed "Barbeque Capital of the World". Here are a few photos from earlier this afternoon.

First, if you feel the swine flu coming on, you may need one of these shirts.

I never heard of a collard sandwich before. The couple in the picture must have thought I wanted their picture, since they stopped to pose. Then a guy walked in front of them.

1927 Pontiac

1949 Ford in cherry condition

Grill & hood ornament of a Hudson Terraplane auto

General Johnson and The Chairmen of the Board did a great set of Carolina Shag Beach Music

Wish they all could be Carolina girls...NOT!

Amazing sand sculpture of a haunted house

Davidson Covnty Covrt Hovse...faux Latin gives it a real touch of faux class

It is a barbeque festival after all...so let's partake!

Two buns on top when you open up, and under the foil, red slaw and barbeque pig! MMMmmmm!

A Quintessential Carolina Barbeque Joint

2009-10-18T15:52:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, some delicious Carolina barbeque was the lunch pick of the day. Off to find Gary's Barbeque, a quintessential barbeque joint in China Grove, North Carolina. The barbeque pork plate was some slow smoked, chopped pork; a baked potato, the distinctive red Carolina barbeque slaw, a slice of tomato, and three delicious hush puppies. The sauces available were a sweet and smoky sauce of about a ketchup consistency. Very good. There was also a vinegar-based sauce that was very thin by comparison, but oh so tasty. To drink the North Carolina favorite soft drink, Cheerwine, was perfect with the barbeque. Cheerwine tastes something like a cherry Dr Pepper, but not quite. We were too full to order dessert, but our waitress brought out a generous "taste" of their homemade banana pudding.

This is my kind of place. I am not a fan of chain restaurants if I have a local eatery available.

2009-10-18T15:30:00.000-06:00

You Want Sweet Tea, Shugah?

2009-10-13T21:02:00.000-06:00

I can tell that I am in The South. Since I have been back in Charlotte, I have never seen so many biscuits. Yes, I do love biscuits, but they are in great abundance here, and with most every meal. You want fried food? No problem! As for ordering tea, the default here is "Sweet Tea", and man is it ever sweet. They sugar it up 'til it is very sweet. If I get it, I try to mix unsweetened tea to cut the sweetness down.

Oh yes, speaking of sugar, one must get used to it. The female waitstaff at just about every restaurant will call you "shugah", sweetie, or honey. I do declare, such Southern charm. :-)

Charlotte, North Carolina

2009-10-10T22:00:00.000-06:00

Charlotte, North Carolina was once my home, but the changes are dramatic since I left 37 years ago. I have always wanted to come back for a visit, but I never dreamed of coming back here to live. Life sure throws some strange curve balls, and we will just have to see how this one plays out.

In any case, The Queen City is quite a lovely place. Unlike the open prairie of Colorado's Front Range, where you can see for miles; Charlotte seems like a forest. Trees everywhere, which seems so strange to me. Since I left, Charlotte became a major banking center, home to Bank of America (formerly NationsBank, formerly NCNB, formerly North Carolina National Bank), and Wachovia (now part of Wells Fargo). Since we taxpayers have had to bail out these big banks, I feel like I own part of these majestic building that stand tall into the North Carolina skies. The top photo shows the base of BoA's headquarters at the main intersection of "Uptown Charlotte", the city's central business district. The streets are Trade & Tryon, and there are interesting statues on each corner facing into the middle of the intersection.

The next picture is a piece of public art that is across from BoA, and is a huge disk-shaped sculpture. Finally we have a directional sign in Uptown, pointing people to various points of interest.

I'm Baaack!

2009-10-10T05:35:00.000-06:00

Greetings to all. After a six week long hiatus, I figured I would write a short post before getting back into the swing of things here. I have been, and continue to be quite busy. I am currently working a project for a company in North Carolina, and am under enormous pressure to get a product delivered by the first part of December. So these musings will be from 700 feet above sea level rather than my previous 6000 feet. The difference is amazing. Last night in Douglas County, Colorado, it was snowing and in the teens for a low. Here in the Carolina Piedmont region, it was clear and 77 degrees, a 60 degree spread!

Last night, I had a crazy notion to drive over to the high school where I graduated back in 1971 to watch a football game. Well, it turns out it was their 50-year anniversary homecoming. The poor little school they played had just a few people there, no band, and they got clobbered. Felt kind of sorry for them, but I suppose that is why they were chosen as the opponent for homecoming...gotta have a win for the alumni!

Baptist Pastor Prays for Obama to Die & Go To Hell

2009-08-25T07:31:00.000-06:00

There are very disturbing people in America today. Hate groups are on the rise. I thought we had gotten past most of this type of behavior. I am a strong advocate of free speech and the First Amendment, but this type of extremism could lead us to violence by inciting those on the edge of sanity to return us to an era of assassinations like in the 1960s. Even these type of lunatics have rabid followers. This man has very serious issues.

If I may quote from the book this man purports to teach:

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence."

1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NKJV)

Cash For Clunkers - A Bad Idea

2009-08-24T07:30:00.000-06:00

I will admit that I am not an economist, so those far wiser than me can likely refute some of what I say here. Still, with the CARS program, commonly known as "Cash for Clunkers", ending today, it seems a good time to reflect on this government stimulus plan.

When the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler Corporation took place, I was skeptical. After all, these are companies that had failed for a variety of reasons, most of them self-inflicted. So while I understood the need to try to save jobs, why reward these firms from the public till, for poor management decisions? We had already bailed out the banks, who turned around and rewarded their executive teams with big bonuses from the emergency taxpayer monies. Now we repeat the bailouts for GM & Chrysler?

Then there is the fact that even if these companies survive in the short term, what will change in the long term? What would they do differently than what they had done to arrive at such a sorry state of affairs? The real problem is people are not buying their products in sufficient quantities to sustain their businesses. With unemployment soaring, even if people want to purchase one of their cars, how can they do so? It is a bigger problem than paying the current bills coming due.

So now we come to the CARS program. I understand the desire of the government to get us all into more fuel efficient automobiles. I also understand the fact that this program creates a short-term spike in demand, which is good for the economy in general, and for the automakers specifically. It also is one stimulus plan that actually addresses the demand side of the equation and does something for the average person. But at what cost?

As a matter of principle, I am opposed to taking tax money from all of us to subsidize the purchase of new cars for a few. Why should any of us pay for our neighbor's new vehicle?

I also believe that the program is flawed in that it doesn't have any requirement that the rebates apply only to cars manufactured in the United States. We need to stimulate the economy at home before sending the tax monies to companies in Japan, Korea, and Europe. Sure, our economies are all interconnected, but for our public tax dollars, let's make sure they go to work at home before sending them with an express ticket to Tokyo.

Another issue is that many of the cars deemed to be "clunkers" are perfectly serviceable autos that are much better than many folks can afford to purchase. It seems extremely wasteful to purposefully destroy a perfectly good car that could help someone get to their job. It would be better if these vehicles were donated to charity rather than ruining their engines and crushing them. Sure, it doesn't get them off the road, but they won't last forever anyway. In the meantime, they could do much good.

And what about the parts market that will be negatively impacted by this destruction? Used replacement parts are one way that families can save money on repairs. Is this right to destroy what may be difficult to locate parts? This can conceivably create price inflation for those parts as a function of a more limited supply.

It isn't the proverbial bed of roses for those taking advantage of the program either. In hard economic times, how many people who have their cars already paid for, will rush out to buy a new one under this program, only to lose their jobs and be left without any car at all. Even if they don't become unemployed, a big downside to this is that instead of having a perfectly good auto with no payments and lots of good miles left in them, people now have locked themselves into a new monthly payment.

Then there is the fact that while the program was running, there was an expected spike in demand. But this is just a temporary spike. If someone was going to buy, they would likely do it during the program, and not wait until it expires. Artificially induced demand dries up once the stimulus for the demand ceases to exist. Will people also hold back on purchases waiting for an encore of the program?

Overall, I have come to the conclusion that this is a misguided program that likely began with good intentions, but the net result is not worth the cost.

How Long Would YOU Survive?

2009-08-06T18:11:00.000-06:00

Created by The Oatmeal

Microwave-Free Zone

2009-08-06T12:44:00.000-06:00

The title of this post in no way means I believe there is anywhere not being bombarded by radio frequencies. The entire universe is awash in radio waves in a variety of lengths from natural sources. Here on earth, radio waves do everything from track our airplanes to hooking us to the Internet via wi-fi. No, instead I am speaking of cooking with a microwave oven. Or not.

The Lovely Spouse and I moved into this house about 16 months ago. There was not a built-in microwave oven, unlike the past places we have lived for years. We have actually had a microwave oven in our homes since the early 1980s. So our initial thought was to buy one. At first we thought of buying a counter top oven, but then considered that maybe we should just purchase one to mount under the counter over the stove. In the meantime, as we wrestled with this dilemma, we continued to cook, and found out that we were doing okay for now, so the purchase could wait. As time moved on, we realized two things. One, we were doing fine without one; and two, the food we prepared by more conventional means was better!

With the Lovely Spouse, it became a contest to see how long could we hold out buying a microwave oven. As it turns out, indefinitely. And then there's the quality of the food. Meat reheated in a microwave tends to get overdone and dry. Potatoes don't have the same consistency as conventional oven-baked ones. As I am writing this, I am eating some delicious tamales I bought frozen. In the past, I would have popped them in to the microwave for about 3 minutes and eaten them. Instead, I put a pot of water on the stove to boil, topped it with a covered steamer with the tamales inside for about 25 minutes. I can attest, the steaming produces a moist, tasty and hot product; whereas microwaving them would have made them hot, but less evenly heated and much drier.

There are many times that we would have used the microwave in the past that we now use the toaster oven. Quick and efficient! Between that applicance, the stove and the regular oven, we are doing great. One of my sons was over shortly after we moved in, and he asked? "Where's your microwave?" In my best hillbilly voice, I replied, "Don't got one!". His reply was priceless. "How do you cook?" What he was trying to do was heat some water. We introduced him to the good old tea kettle.

Are there times I miss having a microwave oven? Sure. But only occasionally. Most of the time, I don't care anymore. The food is tastier, and it doesn't take long to fix either. If you preplan just a little bit, you will enjoy flavorful, moist meals with little fuss. Now the question is do we go even further with the retro lifestyle? Do we dump satellite TV for over the air broadcasts? Do we kill the cell phones and just use the home line? In these hard economic times, maybe this is all part of a simpler, more frugal lifestyle.

Intelligent Political Discourse in America - R.I.P.

2009-07-30T19:17:00.000-06:00

I have to wonder, has some members of the Republican Congressional Delegation been taking some really bad drugs lately? Nutty right-wing conspiracy theories seem to me to be at an all time high. Some of the ideas being tossed about on the Internet make the whole business about President Obama's birth certificate look rational by comparison (and no, I believe that one is pretty insane too). Now we have Congressmen picking up the conspiracies and telling their constituents via town hall meetings and appearances on right-wing talk radio, that the Democrat's health care reform proposal will cause the government to talk to the elderly about how they want to die; and that the plan will end in the government putting seniors to death. Then the talk radio loonies throw about comparisons to Hitler and Mao (Godwin's Law anyone?).

Is this the way American political dialog should be conducted? I think not. If these Republicans could come up with a viable plan of their own, they could talk about that. But no, they would rather continue to purvey fear upon our senior citizens, and everyone else too. What is sad is that so many buy it. I never thought I would see this country on such a downward slide so as to reach this low point in political discourse.

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC has examples in the clip below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Little GUI That Could

2009-07-26T18:50:00.000-06:00

A look back at a piece of computing history. Audio player and transcript below.

Back in 1990, the world of personal computing was divided into two camps; IBM Personal Computers and their clones running the ubiquitous MS-DOS, and Apple's Macintosh and its Graphical User Interface, or GUI. Text-based DOS ruled the business world, while the Mac had established a beach head in the graphic design, desktop publishing, and educational markets. But it was becoming clear that the future was a graphical one. Microsoft, the purveyor of MS-DOS had made early attempts with an environment called Windows that ran on top of DOS, but it was not very useful at that stage, and very few programs required it.

There were other attempts to bring DOS into the graphical world. Digital Research had tried to get its GEM Desktop accepted, but it gained very little traction in the marketplace. Part of that was because of an infringement lawsuit against Digital Research filed by Apple. Yet just when Microsoft was about to release its first really usable version of Windows, version 3.0, another program hit the shelves, that was in many ways superior to the Microsoft product. That program was called GeoWorks Ensemble.

GeoWorks was created by a small company named Berkeley Softworks, that had created GUIs for other computing platforms, such as the Commodore 64 home computer. GeoWorks was written in assembly language, making it extremely fast and responsive, even when running on an Intel 80286 chip. Like Windows, it still needed MS-DOS underneath its pretty shell, but it claimed several advances that Windows didn't yet have. These include filenames longer than the eight-plus-three format that DOS required, scalable typefaces, WYSIWYG desktop publishing, and a scalable interface. For neophytes, GeoWorks had a basic, iconic interface option, somewhat akin to the modern iPhone screen. For more advanced users there were two steps up, that resemble modern GUI design.

So why are we not all using GeoWorks 9.0 today? I see at least three reasons. First, although Geoworks was sold with several great applications, such as GeoWrite, GeoDraw, and GeoDex, it initially lacked a spreadsheet application. At at time where Lotus 1-2-3 had set the bar for financial modelling, a spreadsheet was a must. Secondly, the developer's kit for GeoWorks was prohibitively expensive, dissuading software coders from developing for the platform. Finally, it was a pure case of being outmarketed. With the DOS cash cow, Microsoft could easily bury the smaller firm in an avalanche of advertising and public relations noise.

Over the years, GeoWorks was sold twice...first to NewDeal Software, and then to BreadBox. But development remains stuck at least a decade in the past, and the niche markets that have been identified for the product have failed to respond.

How great it would be to see someone buy the rights who really cares about GeoWorks. It could be given modernized graphics, drivers for new hardware, support for OpenType, and perhaps even run on top of the Linux kernel. After all, Google's new operating system, Chrome, will use that kernel as its basis, and Linux is a solid base. Then perhaps we would see some real competition!

Still, that will remain only a dream. I doubt there is any chance of that becoming reality. But for those of us who found GeoWorks a viable, and advanced operating environment, it will always remain the little GUI that could!

A Walk Around Downtown Parker, Colorado

2009-07-24T12:56:00.000-06:00

Here is a short walking tour around the downtown area of Parker, Colorado; known as Old Town Parker.

ProtoPod

2009-07-16T18:13:00.000-06:00

Think Apple invented the iPod in the 90s? Think again. A British visionary inventor came up with a startlingly accurate view of the future...in 1979! Kane Kramer invented the idea when flash memory was prohibitively expensive and could only hold 3 minutes of audio. Check out his web site HERE.

What Next? Disco Balls to Return?

2009-07-16T17:57:00.000-06:00

The band, Cheap Trick, is releasing a new collection of tunes all these years after they were topping the charts. But they are really pulling a trick with this. The album, entitled The Latest, is being released not only on Compact Disc, but also on vinyl LP, and yes...even on 8-track cartridge!

Get yours HERE.

Food Oddities & Miracle Cheetos

2009-07-15T17:20:00.000-06:00

Here are some odd and miraculous food items I found in my kitchen. I did make one narration mistake...Rodney King's beating was not associated with the O.J. Simpson trial, but I am too lazy to redo the soundtrack.

Nine Gadgets

2009-07-09T11:47:00.000-06:00

MSNBC.com contributor Winda Benedetti did a feature HERE about

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31800716/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

We, too, possess the heart of an early adopter but the wallet and wary sensibility of a cautious consumer.

Winda Benedetti, contributor msnbc.com

iPhone 3G S

Flip UltraHD

GeForce 3D Vision Kit

Squeezebox Boom

Kindle 2

Roomba 562 Pet

Dream Cat Venus

Transport bed

Touch Watch Phone

Death by Chocolate

2009-07-09T08:14:00.000-06:00

A man who worked in a chocolate factory that makes raw chocolate to be used by other candy companies, died when he fell into a vat of melting chocolate. This story out of Camden, New Jersey. Twenty-nine-year-old Vincent Smith had only worked at the factory for a few weeks. Story HERE.

The City of Brotherly Hate

2009-07-09T07:59:00.000-06:00

Let me check my calendar...okay it says 2009. So why do some folks in Philadelphia think it is 1959? I might have expected a story like this fifty years ago, but not now. A day camp for kids paid The Valley Swim Club $1900 to allow their campers to swim there. The club is private, but advertises open membership. When the kids arrived, pandemonium broke out. What was the issue? The kids from the camp were mostly African-American.

One of the campers quoted a woman at the club:

"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.

Reports are that when the black children got in the pool, all the Caucasian kids immediately left. Horace Gibson, a parent of one of the day camp kids said:

"The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

The day after this happened, the camp was told their money would be refunded and they could not come back. The Valley Swim Club's president, John Duesler, said that the concern is that the kids would "change the complexion...and the atmosphere of the club".

Yes blatant racism is alive and well in America, and it is not only in the South. And what a sad thing for these children to have experienced. For the full story as reported by Philly's NBC 10, CLICK HERE.

Google OS

2009-07-08T07:55:00.000-06:00

Will Google have the muscle to do what OS/2 and BeOS failed to accomplish? The search giant has announced it will soon be releasing a new operating system based on the company's Chrome browser.

Personally, I would love to see more widespread choice. Although Google is touting the new OS as a Windows alternative for netbooks, can its wider deployment be far behind? Now if Apple can be persuaded to release OSX into the wild, we could see some real competitive choices. Windows, OSX, Google OS, Linux, wow! Let the OS wars begin!

King of the Wild Frontier

2009-07-06T13:09:00.000-06:00

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that when I was a small kid, I loved cowboy hats and my Davy Crockett faux-coonskin cap. In the old photos my sis has scanned was this one of me wearing that very cap. Needless to say, I was a big fan of Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier.

In my 1950s childhood mind, I probably had quite a few adventures emulating the bravery of Davy as portrayed by Fess Parker in living black & white on our television screen. Of course I was not alone. Davy was a pop phenomenon in those days. After all, he "kilt him a bar when he was only three".

One of my toys from those days is still in my possession. It was a plastic squeak toy of a child dressed out as Davy. This may be the only toy I still have from my childhood, and frankly I am surprised it is still around. The second picture is it, and you can also see the chewed up end of Davy's rifle. I recall that it was a really pleasant feeling to chew that thing, not thinking about the damage it was doing to the toy. Maybe I was like a dog with a squeak toy, chewing and squeaking it as much as I could.

So there we have it. A story of a boy, a toy, and a frontier hero who died at the Alamo.

Heard of Jackson Hole? Here's Jackson Tree

2009-07-06T10:08:00.000-06:00

It isn't uncommon to read stories about the Virgin Mary appearing in water stains under a freeway or on a grilled cheese sandwich. Or perhaps a cheese puff that someone thinks looks like Jesus. Now with the recent death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson has begun making appearances.

A family in Stockton, California says that Jacko has appeared on a stump where their birch tree had a branch removed. As Skeptic magazine publisher and author Michael Shermer has pointed out, we are pattern seeking animals. This is why we see shapes in clouds and constellations in our night sky. Despite that, I am sure there are people who worship MJ to the point that they will hang on to this as a sign of some sort. I just wonder...when they pruned the tree, did they remove Jackson's nose?

Yep...I'm bad.

It's Independence Day!

2009-07-04T21:07:00.000-06:00

Happy 233rd birthday, USA!!

1939 Pontiac

2009-07-04T20:41:00.000-06:00

I found out that my sister has scanned some old family photos that I never knew even existed, some of which I am very glad to discover. Here is one of them.

This photo was taken in 1955, and is my mother and I with our old 1939 Pontiac. I am sure of the year, as Mom is obviously pregnant with my oldest sister. This car is one of my very earliest memories. I vividly recall sitting in the back seat. I loved peering out of the second backseat window, the one in the very back that is smaller than the others. Another thing interesting about this car is that the back doors are hinged in the rear and open in the opposite direction from the front doors.

In this picture, I am wearing one of my two favorite types of head gear during those times...a cowboy hat. The other was my Davy Crockett faux-coonskin cap.

I am not exactly sure of the locale of this picture, and I will need to ask my parents, but I suspect this was at the married student housing at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, where my dad was completing his Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Below is an ad for this car when it was first offered to the public by General Motors. Wouldn't it be nice to have one of these now?

2009-07-04T20:32:00.000-06:00

2009-07-03T21:48:00.000-06:00

A July Thundershower

2009-07-02T16:59:00.000-06:00

We have been in a very unusual weather pattern for Colorado, where we have had beautiful mornings and early afternoons, followed by severe weather in the late afternoon. This has gone on for about three weeks, and has even included tornadoes, as indicated in an earlier post here. We also had about $13,000 in damage to the house, including the roof, all from hail. We are working to get that repaired, but it is a long process.

This afternoon's storm was a nice thunderstorm, not so severe, but gave us a good downpour and a lot of rolling thunder. I grabbed the trusty Olympus LS-10, and picked up a few seconds of sound. Below is some of it, and you can hear the rainfall, the thunder, and a neighbor's windchime. Enjoy!

Edited to add: This is the first audio file I have placed on this blog using a different host. I had been using podbean.com for hosting audio files and creating an embedded player. This one is using the Internet Archive at www.archive.com. They can host text, audio, video, and many other types of multimedia files. Their embedded player you see above has a volume control which is lacking on PodBean's. The Internet Archive also creates not only an embeddable player, but it allows you to choose a license for your files. The original file I uploaded was MP3 format, but they also create other versions automatically. My file resulted in not only the MP3, but also Ogg Vorbis, ZIP, M3U, and metadata files. It is totally free, and I highly recommend it. There is nothing wrong with PodBean, but I am liking the Internet Archive a lot!

The Wright Stuff

2009-07-02T07:28:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, I posted about the Air New Zealand in flight safety video featuring crew members in nothing but a smile and body paint. (Well, the captain did also have a hat). Well, now we have another "naked on the airplane" story in the news.

Fifty-year-old Keith Wright, a man from the Bronx who is apparently bipolar, decided to strip naked on a US Airways flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles. He refused to keep a blanket on that was put on him by a flight attendant. Ultimately, two Los Angeles law enforcement personnel on the flight wrestled him down and the flight was diverted to Albuquerque, where Wright will likely be given a psychiatric evaluation.

Win 7 Beta Going Down For The Count

2009-07-01T19:35:00.000-06:00

It's July 1, and those of you running the Windows 7 Beta may have noticed your machine shutting down every two hours. This is not a bug...it is Microsoft's way to get you to move over to the Release Candidate Code. Better do it quickly! It gets more severe starting August 1.

The RC will begin its shutdown routines on March 1, 2010. The commercial release of the OS will be October 22, 2009, so you should be in good shape. That is plenty of time to get the final product. One note though...it isn't an easy upgrade from beta to RC. A clean install is recommended (unless you had the foresight to run the beta in a virtual machine, that is).

104 KRBE Hit List

2009-07-01T14:31:00.000-06:00

Like every other type of business, radio stations have tried to find ways to market themselves to their communities. Often, these efforts involve bumper stickers, contests, and billboards. Another method used over the years by Top-40 stations has been by publishing a playlist. I have seen these in forms of brochures, but here is one I had totally forgotten about.

Houston's 104.1 FM, KRBE used to publish their playlist on record sleves for 45 rpm singles. Here is one from May 2, 1978. There were some great songs on the top 40 that week, and it is hard to believe that it has been 31 years since these were current. At least it is to me. But then again, I am old!

Just take a look at some of these. Songs like Dust in the Wind, Baker Street, and Runnin' on Empty are there. But most noticeable is the fact that songs from the megahit movie, Saturday Night Fever dominated this chart of the disco fever era. I count at least four from that soundtrack. And take a look at #4. Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold went on to become the theme song for the television sitcom, The Golden Girls. The show's theme was a cover version by Cynthia Fee. There is also a song in the Top 40 from the movie Grease. You're The One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John came in at #9 that week.

On the back among other things, is a list of the disc jockeys who spun those hits on KRBE. As always, you can click on the images to get larger versions.

Karl Malden - #8

2009-07-01T14:08:00.000-06:00

The bad week to be a celebrity continues with the death of Oscar-winning actor, Karl Malden. Known for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire, and for a two-decade run as spokeman for American Express, Malden also starred in the TV Series, The Streets of San Francisco. He was 97.

Baloney Detection Kit

2009-07-01T07:40:00.000-06:00

The late astronomer Carl Sagan wrote an excellent book about science entitled The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. One chapter of that book was laying out what Sagan called a Baloney Detection Kit. The idea is that there are reliable ways to test claims that will allow us to detect spurious and fallacious arguments, and use science to get at the truth of a theory or hypothesis.

The Richard Dawkins Foundation recently produced a video featuring Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic Magazine, where Shermer takes Sagan's idea of a Baloney Detection Kit and lays out the concept for wider distribution. This video is almost 15 minutes long, but well worth the watching, given all of the claims and counter claims flying about these days.

The video is below, You can also download an MP3 audio file of this HERE (6.7 MB); or download a video Quicktime file HERE (122.4 MB).

Interesting Record #3

2009-06-30T20:42:00.000-06:00

Here is an interesting find. It is a record by the artist who came to be known as Frankie Valli, lead man for The Four Seasons. At the time this record came out, it was Frankie Vally with a "y", and not even a single season in sight. In fact, Frankie also had records under Frankie Valley, The Four Lovers, The Travelers, Frankie Valle & The Romans, and The Wonder Who among others.

This particular disc came out in 1959, and while a pleasant sounding couple of tunes, it doesn't have that distinctive Four Seasons sound.

As you can see from the photo, this is a DJ sample copy intended for airplay on the radio.

Air New Zealand - The Bare Essentials

2009-06-30T16:59:00.000-06:00

You know how boring the safety announcements are when you board a commercial flight. After all, if you don't know how to fasten a seat belt and how to find a door out, you likely shouldn't be flying alone anyway. Still Air New Zealand is trying to get you to pay closer attention to their pre-flight safety video, so some of their employees went all out to get you to notice. Yep...that's nothing but body paint!

Interesting Record #2

2009-06-30T13:34:00.000-06:00

This record is one of the first records I procured in my collection. I got this one as a premium by sending in box tops from Kellogg's Corn Flakes, back in 1965. I would have been 12 years old at the time.

This record actually contains three songs. The side Doin' The Flake is obviously a promotion for corn flakes, and introduces a dance called..what else...The Flake.

The other side has two songs on it The first is the hit single This Diamond Ring, followed by a second track entitled Little Miss Go-Go.

Gary Lewis is the son of comedian Jerry Lewis, but the group didn't promote this fact when they got a gig playing at Disneyland. When producer Snuff Garrett heard the group, he felt that featuring that fact and calling the group "Gary Lewis and The Playboys" rather than just "The Playboys" would help sell records. Garrett wanted this to hit, so he also brought in studio musicians on the lead tracks, relegating the band to playing only backup on the recording. Notable of these session players were drummer Hal Blaine, bassist Joe Osborn, Tommy Allsup on guitar, and Leon Russell playing the keyboards. By the time Garrett was done adding another vocalist and overdubbing Gary singing, little was left of the original band, but it did produce a hit. With that, the group was on their way to producing other hit records.

As you can see, the label shows lots of wear over the years. You can also see where I put my initials on the label in permanent marker all those years ago. This premium originally came with a custom sleeve, something that has long since gone by the wayside.

Interesting Record #1

2009-06-30T13:14:00.000-06:00

In browsing through some of the old records I have sitting around in boxes, I have found some of interest for one reason or another. Let's start off with this one.

This particular record, Alvin's Harmonica, reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. It was the second record issued under the artist name of David Seville and The Chipmunks. Of course David, along with Alvin, Theodore, and Simon, were all the voice of Ross Bagdasarian. The first with this artist credit was The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late).

Bagdasarian played around with speeding up tape recordings to build the tracks for each chipmunk, and hit it big with the resulting novelty records. He also had a huge #1 hit in 1958 without the Chipmunk credit, singing as David Seville. That record, Witch Doctor, was his first experiment with speeded up voices on a commercial recording.

This record also has something I like. That is silver ink printed on a dark colored label. Something about that combination is just pleasing to me.

Robot's Job Sent Offshore

2009-06-30T09:51:00.000-06:00

Outsourcing of American jobs is now beginning to put US robots out of work, according to parody news source, The Onion.

Card Catalogs

2009-06-29T16:46:00.000-06:00

I have written in the past about cultural artifacts that have disappeared from the scene over my lifetime. Today, I thought about another one that escaped while we weren't looking. I was recording the movie Awakenings, and did a spot check on it. The scene I saw was Robin Williams in a library, searching through a card catalog. I suspect many younger folks today would not know what this is. One of the first things we were taught in the elementary school library was how to use the card catalog, along with the Dewey Decimal System to classify books.

Now replaced by the much more versatile and manageable computer database, the once ubiquitous card catalog has come and gone. I don't know of any library that still uses one, although I would not be surprised if some very small libraries do so.

There was something edifying about the feel of the file drawers, and their collection of data cards inside, typed by a librarian and placed in the correct sequence in the catalog. The procedure was to take a piece of scrap paper and jot down the title and the Dewey Decimal Number, and then proceed to the shelves to find the particular book of interest. It was a skill so critical that it was reinforced in high school as part of the exercise of researching and writing term papers.

So even as we gain new technologies, let's not forget what came before. The sample card here is actually a product of computer technology. I created it at the Catalog Card Generator.

Gale Storm Makes Seven

2009-06-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

Seems that my counts of recent celebrity deaths was one off, since I had forgotten about the death of actor David Carradine in Thailand. So adding that one brings us to six, and now we have actress Gale Storm who died yesterday to raise the recent celeb deaths count to seven.

Gale was born Josephine Cottle, and achieved stardom in the cowboy movies, including some with Roy Rogers. Later moving to television, she co-starred in the program My Little Margie, and later The Gale Storm Show. Margie started as a CBS summer replacement for I Love Lucy, and quickly found a following. The show moved to NBC where it had a successful run.

Gale Storm was 87 years old.

And Fred Makes Five

2009-06-29T06:29:00.000-06:00

The deaths of celebrities continue to mount. Comedian Fred Travalena succumbed to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at his home in Encino, California. Coincidentally, Travalena appeared in the premiere episode of a 1991 sitcom titled Good Sports, which starred the late Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal. Fawcett, of course, died last Thursday after a lengthy struggle with cancer.

Fred Travalena was 66 years old.

Denver International Airport

2009-06-28T18:50:00.000-06:00

Today was one of comings and goings to Denver International Airport for the family. The lovely spouse and I took my mother-in-law to the airport for her flight back home after a two-week visit in Colorado. In addition, my middle son and daughter-in-law returned from a honeymoon trip to San Francisco.

Of all the major airports around the country, Denver's is one of my favorites. It is new, modern, and easy to get around in. Locals refer to it by it's initials...D-I-A...even though its airport code is DEN, same as the old Stapleton International used to be. Situated out on the high plains northeast of the main part of the city, Denver International is easily seen for miles. The unique suspended peaks of the tent-like roof over the main terminal echo the majestic Rocky Mountains west of the airport.

D-I-A has not been without controversy. A project championed by former mayor (and later Secretary of Transportation) Federico Peña, the airport was known for its automated, state-of-the-art baggage handling system that cost gazillions of dollars and never worked right. That system was finally scrapped in the last year or so and replaced by the "tug and cart" system used at every other airport. The automated system was famous for losing and/or mutilating luggage in its care. Today D-I-A operates with great efficiency.

While it is much better equipped to handle adverse weather conditions that can occur on Colorado's prairie, no airport is "weatherproof". That lesson was learned a few years ago when a major blizzard blocked Peña Boulevard, the main freeway for access and egress to and from the airport. While people were trapped in their cars and snow plows were unable to keep the airport open, we saw what the priorities were. Somehow a cadre of snowplows were able to get the Denver Broncos busses to D-I-A so that Denver's NFL players could make it to their game.

In any case, once most of the bugs were worked out, Denver International has turned out to be a great airport. A guard at the airport told me today there are plans for future expansion to add a second main terminal just like the existing one, along with three more concourses. Even during a recession, D-I-A managed to add 2.8 percent to its traffic and have a 2 percent revenue gain in 2008. It is a major hub for both Frontier and United Airlines, as well as a major presence for Southwest since its return to the city a couple of years ago.

The only bad incident in the airport's history so far was last December, when a Continental jet bound for Houston ran off of a runway while trying to take off. Luckily it missed a fire station beside the runway and all passengers and crew escaped from the broken and charred wreckage alive.

And Billy Makes Four

2009-06-28T13:51:00.000-06:00

Holey Moley, it has been a bad few days for celebrities. First Ed McMahon dies, then Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson, and now TV Pitchman Billy Mays goes to bed feeling ill and doesn't wake up. Even though Billy's TV pitches are very annoying, I have been enjoying his new show Pitchmen on the Discovery Channel. The program showed a side of Billy you don't get on the ads. He seemed to be a genuinely nice guy and family man, who helped inventors get exposure for their products.

Mays was scheduled for a 3rd hip replacement on Monday, and had been on the road quite a bit. His last Twitter post was about the hard landing when a tire blew out on his plane yesterday. He had been to Los Angeles to appear on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien last Tuesday, followed by some work with his clients on the east coast.

Billy Mays was 50 years old.

Limited-Time Offer on Windows 7

2009-06-28T06:42:00.000-06:00

On October 22, 2009, Microsoft will make the new version of their Windows operating system available. Named simply Windows 7, the new OS is the successor to the much maligned Windows Vista. Supposedly, this new Windows, while based on Vista, fixes many of the complaints people have about the current version.

I hope so. My current laptop machine came preloaded with Vista, which took forever to boot to a useable system. I ended up replacing it with Linux (first PCLinuxOS, then Fedora 10), which gets me to a useable desktop in well under a minute. It is doubtful that I will migrate back to Windows with the release of version 7, as I find Linux more flexible, secure, and complete. Plus, I can get an application to do anything I need from the Fedora repositories. As I am not flush with cash, free software is a big help. Besides, I find most free and open source programs are as good as their commercially-available counterparts, so why waste money?

Still, that doesn't make Windows a bad OS. I know lots of Linux fans tend to disparage the dominant OS, but I do not. I simply like Linux better. Still, if you plan to upgrade your Windows system, now is the time to do so. Microsoft announced on Friday that they are offering a deep discount for pre-orders placed within a 15-day window (no pun intended). Until July 11, Microsoft is offering Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99, and Windows 7 Professional for $99.99. These will ultimately sell for $119.99 and $199.99 respectively.

Of course, Microsoft is also repeating its past policy of offering purchasers of new computers a free upgrade to the next version if they buy between now and the release of the new version.

So here's the recommendations for those of you running Windows. If you are using Vista, this is a worthy upgrade. Take advantage of this offer if you can. If you are running XP and have the hardware to run the new Windows 7, then it is also worthwhile. But if you have an older computer, be sure to run the Windows Upgrade Advisor, as both Vista and Win 7 run best on newer, high-end hardware. If you decide the time is right for a new PC, then you should get the free upgrade offer with your purchase.

If I wasn't dealing with a deductible for the thousands of dollars in hail damage we got at my house, I would be tempted to buy the special price upgrade just for future use.

Kodachrome No More

2009-06-22T09:43:00.000-06:00

A while back, I wrote about the demise of Polaroid instant photography film. Now another photographic film iconic brand is going down the tubes. Kodak has announced it is ceasing production of Kodachrome.

The fact of the matter is that Kodachrome constitutes less than one percent of Kodak's still picture film, and a photo processor in Kansas is the only place in the world that still develops it.

Still, Kodachrome retains a place in American culture. It was Kodachrome movie film that was used by Abraham Zapruder when he captured the only motion picture of the assassination of President Kennedy in Dealey Plaza. And of course, in the 1973 hit song, Paul Simon pleaded, "Mama don't take my Kodachrome away."

Pepperoni Rolls

2009-06-19T12:52:00.000-06:00

In northern West Virginia, the Italian-American bakers in the area have been making a favorite regional treat for years. It is a bit of mountaineer, and a bit of Italy in every bite. I'm talking about the pepperoni roll.

This taste treat has become so popular that every store from convenience markets to the local WalMart stores carry them. They come packaged individually and in bags of a dozen. The meat may be slices or sticks. But whatever the variation, they are an easy to handle meal or snack. Coal miners carry several in their lunch pails with great regularity.

I became acquainted with this delicacy when visiting the lovely spouse's family in Grafton, WV. Just a few miles away in Fairmont is where the pepperoni roll is said to have originated. Often, the LS and I lament that this is such a regional delicacy that we can't buy them here in Colorado. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to try my hand at making them until recently. In any case, I was noodling around on the Internet and found the Pepperoni Roll web site. That site has a history of the pepperoni roll and the various bakers that make them. It also happens to have a page of recipes. The one that appeared to me to be very authentic was one from a guy named Tim.

So this morning, I decided to make a batch of them. Oh my goodness, are they fantastic! These are just like you get back in West Virginia. They can be eaten warm or cold. You can dip them in tomato sauce, or have them plain. I think I may make a batch with some pepper cheese in them with the pepperoni.

The bread has just a touch of sweetness, which goes well with the spicy pepperonis inside, although I think the next batch I will cut the sugar by about a third. I also had another thought. When I lived in Houston, there are kolache shops on every corner. Kolaches are very similar to pepperoni rolls, except they have either a little smoky link inside, or made flat with a fruit topping, similar to a danish pastry. I think this dough would make great kolaches too!

I'm on a roll!!

Edited to add Tim's recipe from The Pepperoni Roll website. It doesn't say, but it only took 10-12 minutes to bake these. I used a cookie sheet with baking parchment.

Tim's Pepperoni Rolls
Makes about a dozen rolls, although I always double the recipe (just use twice as much of everything, except one package of yeast is fine.)

1 1/2 cups water, barely warm to the touch
1/3 cup sugar
1 package yeast
1 teaspoonful salt
1/4 cup dry powdered milk
4 cups flour
Thin-sliced packaged pepperoni, about four ounces (paper thin is best)

Dissolve sugar, yeast, salt, and powdered milk in the warm water. Stir in the flour, using extra flour or water as needed to make a soft dough that isn't too sticky. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for a couple of minutes. Shape into a ball and let raise in a bowl for 30 minutes to an hour, covered with a towel. Volume should double.

Turn the raised dough back onto the floured board, and cut it into 12 pieces (I use a scraper/cutter, but a knife works fine.) Take each piece, flatten it lightly on the board with your hand, and place 4-5 slices of pepperoni in the middle, overlapping but not stacked. Roll it up like a jelly roll, and then primp it with your fingers to seal the ends into an oval, with no pepperoni sticking out. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Melt a tablespoonful of margarine and beat in an egg and two teaspoonfuls of sugar. Brush rolls lightly with this glaze. You don't need to let the rolls raise further.

Bake rolls at 400 degrees until golden brown. Brush immediately and lightly with melted margarine so they soften up nicely.

You can read Tim's page HERE.

No-Stab Knives

2009-06-19T10:33:00.000-06:00

Is this really necessary? In the UK, knives are being sold to deter people from stabbing one another. John Cornock, an industrial designer, invented these utensils that are claimed to make it "almost impossible" to stab someone to death with them. Maybe. But couldn't someone still cut you up with the sharp edge?

These are expected to sell at a price point of around £40-50. If you are really concerned about someone in your household stabbing you to death with your kitchen knives, maybe you should rethink your choice of housemates.

Bad Time for Continental Airlines

2009-06-18T17:06:00.000-06:00

Houston-based Continental Airlines just can't seem to catch a break lately. Pilot error crashes a commuter partner plane in Buffalo, killing all on board; three children sent to wrong cities in the last week or so, and now a pilot died today during the flight of a Boeing 777 with 247 passengers on board. The flight originated in Brussels. A backup pilot took over on the flight deck for Captain Craig Lenell, who quietly died of a heart attack during the flight. Lenell, who was 60 years old, had been with the airline for 32 years.

The plane landed safely at Newark.

The Best Laid Plans of Maus & Men . . .

2009-06-18T15:39:00.000-06:00

From the You Can't Make This Stuff Up Department comes this story from Stuttgart, Germany. It seems that 29-year-old Demetrius Soupolos and his wife, a former beauty queen, badly wanted a child. Despite their best efforts, Mr. & Mrs. Soupolos could not conceive.

After medical examinations, the doctor determined that poor Demetrius was sterile. Their neighbor, Frank Maus, had two kids and a resemblance to Demetrius, so the couple hired Maus to impregnate Traute Soupolos. The agreement was three attempts a week for six months in exchange for Maus being paid 2000 Euros. After a while, Mrs. Maus began to complain, but Frank assured her it was "just for the money".

After six months and 72 attempts at impregnation, all with no success, Demetrius insisted his friend get a medical exam. The test results showed that Maus was also incapable of fathering children. This resulted in Mrs. Maus confessing that the couple's two kids were not fathered by Frank.

Now, poor Demetrius is suing Frank to get his money back. Frank says he never promised a successful impregnation, but only that he would try his hardest (note: I am trying hard myself to resist the obvious joke here).

Dumb Criminals in Colorado

2009-06-18T07:40:00.000-06:00

Two Denver-area young women may need to reconsider if a life of crime is a good career move for them. It appears that they do not have the brain power to be a success in that field of endeavor.

KUSA-DT reports that the two teens went into a used-clothing consignment shop in the Denver suburb of Lone Tree and started tossing clothes into a basket on the floor. They then took off in a waiting getaway truck.

Now you first have to consider if it is worth it to steal used clothes. Why not hit the nearby Park Meadows Mall which has Macy's & Nordstrom? But the next part is what should make these girls reconsider their career choice. It turns out that one of them gave the store owner her name and cell phone number on a form to have the store sell some of her used clothing. Police merely had to give her a call.

CLICK HERE to view the KUSA report.

No Fun Allowed!

2009-06-16T20:14:00.000-06:00

The administration at Bonny Eagle High School in Maine denied a graduating senior his diploma. What did the young hoodlum do to have such a thing happen. After all, he was in his cap and gown, attending the graduation ceremony with his classmates, and was called up on the stage to receive the diploma that culminated his achievement. What disruptive misbehavior would result in such a penalty.

He blew his mom a kiss. That's it!

The school administration says he broke the rules, so was sent back to his seat without the coveted certificate. They said that they don't want to have a repeat of the infamous silly string incident that disrupted the ceremony a while back. "Four years ago we had some issues with silly string and beach balls," said sourpuss Superintendent of Schools, Suzanne Lukas.

Bill Maher on President Obama

2009-06-16T06:48:00.000-06:00

Bill Maher made some critical commentary on President Obama on his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher. As much as I wish I could disagree, I do not. President Obama has a rare chance to bring real reform to health care, and instead he is leaving the crooked insurance companies as part of the solution. He has the chance to reform the fraud in the banking industry, but it has become business as usual for the banking giants. The spending of tax dollars to incentivize people to trade in their gas guzzling old cars for new, more efficient models, and reinvigorate demand for new automobiles has no provision to limit the program to American-made vehicles.

I agree with Maher that this is NOT what I voted for. I have been willing to give the President the chance to get things going before being overly critical. The ridiculous right is doing a great job of that. However, there is no guarantee that his party will retain its strong majority in the Congress after the elections next year. As the old adage goes, "it's time to make hay while the sun shines". NOW is the time to enact the key components of the platform he ran on. Forget bipartisanship. As Maher points out, maybe Obama needs to get a little of Bush's attitude...my way or no way.

Mr. President, don't forget what you promised...change we can believe in. We put you in office to effect that change. If you prove to just be another overpromising and underdelivering politician, you had better enjoy your job, as you could be a one-term president. You have the goodwill of most of the country. You have proven to be the hardest working man to get the job in a long time. But working hard isn't enough. You have to remember why you are there.

Unlike loudmouth Rush Limbaugh, I and most people want to see you succeed. It's time to quit compromising away your platform, when you don't have to. Perhaps instead of getting some Bush attitude, you should channel Larry the Cable Guy and just "Git 'Er Done!"

Meteorite Boy

2009-06-12T08:23:00.000-06:00

A 14-year-old German boy had an extremely rare event happen to him. Gerrit Blank was struck by a meteorite! The space rock was travelling at 30,000 miles per hour, and hit his hand before creating a crater in the ground a foot across.

The Telegraph reports that the boy said:

"At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand. Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."

The young man went on . . .

"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards. When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road."

Obviously Gerrit's scar will give him a lifelong reminder of a close encounter with the extraterrestrial rock.

Hail & High Water

2009-06-11T14:02:00.000-06:00

Two hours ago, it was a beautiful sunny day. But all of a sudden, the sky got dark as night, sirens started going off, and marble-sized hail pelted us for about 30 minutes. I have never heard such a noise as the roof was being pounded and the wind and lightning was running rampant. It turns out that multiple funnel clouds are dropping all around us, and we are under a tornado warning.

It got so noisy and loud that Molly the Dog and I went to the basement for a few minutes during the worst of it. Here's hoping that this won't cause problems with my mother-in-law's flight in to Denver from Pittsburgh this afternoon.

I don't ever get scared of storms, but all the noise of this one did get my pulse racing a bit! I also hope the roof is okay. I suppose we shall find out.

Working on the B&O Railroad

2009-06-10T20:14:00.000-06:00

The lovely spouse comes from a long line of railroad workers. Her father and paternal grandfather both were lifetime employees of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. As it turns out, her dad's maternal grandfather was also a railroad man.

In looking through some of the old photos we have, are a couple of pictures taken trackside along the B&O. These are in the railroad yard in Grafton, West Virginia in the late 19th or early 20th Century.

In both cases, the man on the right is the Lovely Spouse's great grandpa. I have no idea who the other man is. The B&O Railroad played an important part in the economy of the state of West Virginia, as it hauled the state's major natural resource, coal. I know railroad labor is very hard work, but if given the choice between that or working in a coal mine, I would definitely opt for the railroad.

In the second picture, the car on the left has a huge crane attached to it. Apparently it is used to load and unload the flat car to its right. It is also interesting that the flat car appears to be made of wood.

It is very interesting to look at old photos like this. It brings to life the people who came before us. We can see in their faces that although they lived in a very different time, they are not much different than we are. They worked to provide for their families, strugged to keep it all together, and although the technology of the age was not what we have today, we are not really different than they were.

It is too bad that photography is less than 200 years old. Wouldn't it be interesting to see pictures from the medival period, or perhaps from the Roman Empire or the Ming Dynasty? As usual, you may click on the photos to "biggify" them.

WTBO Sign

2009-06-09T08:42:00.000-06:00

WTBO sign overlooking the city of Cumberland, Maryland

Hollywood has its iconic sign on a hill overlooking the town. So too, does Cumberland, Maryland. In Cumberland's instance, the sign is on the grounds of radio station WTBO. That station, as I have mentioned before, is the first commercial radio job I had back in 1973. At night, the sign's neon face sequentially lights up each letter.

I took this photo on a trip through Cumberland in 1995. Downtown is situated in the distance just out of the shot to the left. The view here is facing to the north. The tallest mountain in the distance is on the north side of town, and is named Wills Mountain, most of which is situated in the state of Pennsylvania, but which does come into Maryland at Cumberland. At the Maryland end of Wills Mountain is a pass; through the mountains where the old National Pike ran through the Appalachians. It is known as The Narrows, and the road today is US 40.

Chattanooga 1966

2009-06-08T21:36:00.000-06:00

Here is yet another old photo I came across today. I took this with a cheap little box camera using 620 Kodacolor film. The photo has seen better days since it was damaged in a flood, but at least it is still viewable. What you see here is the view from Point Park on Lookout Mountain near Rock City. You are looking basically toward the north at the Tennessee River and the city of Chattanooga.

The freeway making the big, sweeping "S" curve along the river is Interstate 24. The interchange in the center of the picture is where US 27 peels away and heads north.

This picture was taken back in 1966, so that would make me 13 years old at the time. Hard to believe my oldest grandson is about to turn 14 this week!

Camping at Lake Livingston - 1970s Style

2009-06-08T08:36:00.000-06:00

While shuffling through some old photographs, I found a stack from the late 1970s that brought back memories of a very fun time. My buddy, Dempsey, and I took several days off and went camping. We borrowed my dad's canvas tent (yep, a lot heavier than today's nylon tents), loaded up some pots and pans, sleeping bags, food, and fishing gear, and spent several days at Wolf Creek Park on the shores of Lake Livingston in southeast Texas near the town of Cold Spring.

The first picture is me and my fishing pole in front of the tent. The second picture is Dempsey washing the dishes. As I recall, we made some kind of a silly bet, and the loser had to wash the pots and dishes from our next meal. I cannot remember what the bet was about, but there may have been a card game involved. I decided to capture the result on film for posterity's sake.

We had a great time, fishing and hiking during the daylight hours, and sitting by the campfire, or playing cards by the light of the Coleman lantern during the evening.

The third photo is one of me, about 30 years younger than I am now. I appear to be sitting by the campfire, watching over a pot of beans or chili. In the background, you can see Lake Livingston.

I also recall that had we been dependent on our success as fishermen, Dempsey and I would have likely starved to death. If we caught any fish at all, they were way too small to feed us, so they got tossed back in the lake.

Politics and Technology

2009-06-07T20:59:00.000-06:00

Regular readers of this blog know I am a big fan of the free Linux operating system, and open source software in general. One of the best Linux distributions out there is the Linux Mint project. It is based on the excellent Ubuntu Linux, but includes some of the niceties, such as multimedia codecs, right from the "get go".

Therefore, I was dismayed to read at Extreme Tech that one of the Mint developers, Clement Lefebvre, made a highly political post regarding the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. In it, he asked those who support the Israeli government to not use Linux Mint, nor contribute to the project. Initially, the post was made on the official Linux Mint blog, but has since been moved to Lefebvre's personal blog.

This is unfortunate, because whatever one's position on geopolitics, Linux has always been developed in the spirit of open, non-political cooperation. Also, Lefebvre is not the only developer, and should never have made such a statement.

Still, Mint is a great distro. I hope this episode doesn't cause it to fall by the wayside. Clement, you are out of line on this, and should retract the tying of Mint to your political views. You are certainly entitled to them, but despite your statements to the contrary, you did bond Mint and your politics with your statement about who should not use the product. Open source is open to all. You have erred, and erred greatly. Hopefully, you will retract this misguided statement, apologize, and put it behind you.

Tornado Outbreak!

2009-06-07T14:41:00.000-06:00

Funnel cloud forming in the eastern edge of Centennial, Colorado

Today was a very nice day through the morning and early afternoon, but just after 2:00 P.M. this afternoon, a line of severe weather suddenly moved in. There are several confirmed tornadoes in the area. One of them was formed right outside the back of my son's house in Centennial. He took these photos as he watched the funnel descend into a full-blown tornado. While the extent of damage is yet unknown, the tornado is confirmed to have touched down about three blocks from my son's house. KUSA television is reporting that the Southlands shopping center in extreme south Aurora has been hit, which is approximately 2 miles from my son's home, and about 8 miles NNE of where I live. Southlands is near the NE corner of E-470 and Smoky Hill Road. The tornado is moving to the southeast and entering Elbert County.

There are also confirmed tornadoes north of Denver at the town of Thornton. KUSA is reporting a tractor-trailer rig on I-70 at Watkins was picked up into the air and thrown into a ditch. Hail up to the size of eggs has been reported around the area as well.

Another view of the tornado forming near E-470 & Smoky Hill Road.

Elk in Estes Park

2009-06-06T18:36:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a couple of photos I took up in Estes Park, Colorado. NBC News had a nice story on the elk that inhabit the town and its environs. Here is the video below:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Defendant Did Not Speak in His Own Defense

2009-06-05T09:11:00.000-06:00

There is a sad, but odd story out of Queens, New York this week. The New York Daily News reports that while the body of a 59-year-old man sat dead in his van, the city continued to place parking tickets on the vehicle over a period of several weeks.

The daughter of the deceased is asking how this could happen. That seems like a reasonable question to me. The window was slightly open, so you would think that a decomposing corpse would have drawn some olfactory attention. The body was so far gone that the only thing left was skeletal remains and the heart.

The photo is not the actual vehicle in this incident, but is here for illustrative purposes only.

A New Toy Yoda

2009-06-04T08:21:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know this isn't new, but it did strike me as funny. The Hooters waitress in the picture thought she won a new car. She doesn't look very happy with her prize...a brand new toy Yoda!

How the States Got Their Shapes

2009-06-03T13:31:00.000-06:00

I have always been fascinated by maps and geography. When I found the book How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein in my local book store, I thumbed through it and though it was worth the purchasing. So I bought the book and brought it home to read.

It is a very interesting read, while being something you can take on in pieces as the mood hits you. It is chock full of historical side notes and maps that explain how the 50 United States ended up with their unique shapes. It is not a heavily-footnoted, scholarly work, but rather in the tone of a Reader's Digest publication, suitable for all ages.

I enjoyed the book very much, and it covers many trivial matters that shaped our nation. Examples are the arc on the Delaware / Pennsylvania border, the notches along the Tennessee / Kentucky frontier, and the Missouri boot heel. But I have one major quibble. The one anomaly I had hoped would finally be explained to my satisfaction was totally ignored.

That still open question (at least in my mind) is one that I have not even found an answer to yet using Google. The issue is the fact that the eastern border of New Mexico has a notch at northernmost part where the state shares a border with the Oklahoma panhandle. You see, the NM/OK border is at 103 degrees west longitude. But most of the eastern border of New Mexico is shared with Texas, and is situated a couple of miles or so west of the 103rd meridian! Stein doesn't address this anomaly at all!

Now my suspicion is that it has something to do with the borders negotiated by Texas with the US government when it agreed to become part of the United States. But I would love to know the story behind this border zig and zag. This map from Google shows this border. If you know why this is, please feel free to let me know.

All that said, Stein's book is still highly recommended. And if you wonder why Case Western Reserve University in Ohio is named that, the book covers that as well. Just say that it has to do with when Cleveland would have been located in Connecticut!

2009-06-03T13:30:00.000-06:00

Lunchtime!

2009-06-03T12:58:00.000-06:00

I am a man of simple tastes. I enjoy a wide variety of food, but sometimes it's the fairly simple things that hit the spot. Today, I decided to fire up the propane grill and heat up a couple of hot link sausages. I steamed some whole wheat buns for them, made some onion dip for my potato chips, added a bunch of grapes and a Coca-Cola and enjoyed a delicious lunch.

I remember when I was a boy, my dad telling me that my eyes had gotten bigger than my stomach, when I took more food than I could eat. That was the case today, as I just couldn't finish off the second sausage. It was good all the same.

Merciful Shopkeep

2009-06-03T07:20:00.000-06:00

A store keeper in Shirley, New York showed extreme compassion for the man who tried to rob him. The robber came in wielding a baseball bat, but when Mohammad Sohail pulled out a gun, the man began to cry and plead for mercy. He told Sohail that he had no money and was just trying to feed his family. Sohail gave the man $40 and a loaf of bread with the condition that he never rob again. He also doesn't plan to press charges if police find the robber.

While the robbery was wrong, this is just another tale of hardship from the economic disaster we are dealing with. For the full story, CLICK HERE.

Sauce for the Goose?

2009-06-02T21:31:00.000-06:00

Remember all the wailing and crying from the GOP about giving President Bush's judicial nominees "an up or down vote"? Well, wouldn't you know it. A group of conservative luminaries are asking the Republican Senators to filibuster President Obama's nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. What a bunch of hypocrites! The shoe is on the other foot now, and it doesn't feel so good to them!

Houston Freeway Videos

2009-06-02T10:42:00.000-06:00

Freeway Jim, mentioned in my last post, also has a great video of driving through a few of the terrific stack interchanges in Houston (another of my favorite places). Below is his video, again courtesy of YouTube:

And below is Jim's downtown Houston freeway tour. The building to the left of the freeway at 2:20 into the video is where I worked at Houston Traffic Central, a radio traffic reporting service that provided reports to most of the radio stations in town back in the late 1970s. The shorter building just to the left of it was where I worked at KULF, AM 790. The radio station was in the penthouse suite. This particular section of road is I-45, and is locally known as the Pierce Elevated, since it runs above and beside Pierce Street.

Great Freeway, Great Video

2009-06-02T10:04:00.000-06:00

It has been a little while since I have been able to post anything the least bit roadgeeky. Today while noodling around on the web, I came across a YouTube road geek who calls himself Freeway Jim. One of his videos is a trip westbound on Interstate 68 from its eastern terminus at I-70 in Hancock, Maryland; through to Cumberland. I have photos I took along this stretch of road last year posted here. However, Jim's sped up video gives you an idea of what it is like to travel through the beautiful scenery along this stretch of highway in rural western Maryland.

When I lived in Cumberland, I didn't have much in the way of money or possessions, but it was some of the best years of my life. This part of the country will always be a special place for me.

Below is Jim's video courtesy of YouTube:

Yet another YouTube citizen has a nice, real time video of I-68 Eastbound from about the point where Jim's video ends. It starts in the western part of LaVale and goes through the city of Cumberland. I have included it below. Items of note:

As the video begins, you are eastbound on I-68 on the side of a mountain. Just off screen to the left, on top of the mountain, is Sacred Heart Hospital. That is where my oldest son was born back in 1975.

At 0:17 on the video, the Exit 42 ramp is a long and very steep one that trucks should not take. You cannot really get a sense of how steep it is from the video. This is the exit to US 220. If you turn left at the bottom of the ramp, you are routed onto Greene Street into the city of Cumberland. If you turn right, it is McMullen Highway (both are US 220) and head southwest through Potomac Park, Bowling Green, Cresaptown, and on to Keyser, West Virginia.

At 1:46, the camera pans to the right across the Potomac River. Those houses are in Ridgeley, West Virginia.

At 1:35, you can see the road sign warning about the sharp turn at Moose Curve, which is visible in the distance. It is so named because of the Moose Lodge that was at the side of the road there.

At 1:55 TO 2:04, you are actually in Moose Curve. The old Moose Lodge is the red brick building right in front of the camera.

The radio station playing on the car radio is WKGO (GO 106). That was the first commercial station I ever was on the air at. It is the FM affiliate of WTBO (AM). My first job in radio was to be a DJ at WTBO, and I had to come in early to do local breaks on a college basketball game that was on WKGO.

G. Gordon Lunatic

2009-05-31T12:31:00.000-06:00

Convicted Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy, who somehow got himself a radio talk show, has clearly revealed his hatred and disdain for females. This piece of garbage made the following comment on his radio show in regards to President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Sotomayor:

"Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she’s menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate," Liddy said. "That would really be bad. Lord knows what we would get then."

So women are not capable of rational decision making, according to this felon, all because of their natural cycles. What a misogynist!

This is just more of what I have written about before...the fact that there is nothing too bizarre and off-limits for the right in their pathetic attempts to regain power. If someone wishes to discuss the pros and cons of a nominee, they should do that by talking about substantive issues. But this is basically an attack on all women based on their gender, and should be repudiated by those in the GOP. So far, all I have heard is dead silence. Do we have to wonder what the uproar would have been if a Democrat had made this comment about Sarah Palin?

Thank goodness that dinosaurs like Liddy are a dying species. We can only hope for their eventual fall into extinction.

To read more and hear the excerpt from Liddy's radio show, CLICK HERE. Thanks to John Walkenbach's J-Walk Blog, where I first saw this story.

Does This Make General Mills a Pusher?

2009-05-30T16:52:00.000-06:00

The FDA has informed General Mills that given its claims of the cholesterol reducing properties of Cheerios, the breakfast cereal must be classified as a drug. The claims about heart health are okay though, since soluble fiber from whole grain oats has already been approved by the FDA as a heart healthy food. But the cholesterol claims must be abandoned or the cereal will be regulated like a new drug.

What in the world would the Cheerios Kid and Cheerios Sue think of this?

News Airchecks

2009-05-29T14:10:00.000-06:00

I have been going through some more of my old tapes from the 1970s and 1980s, and found these newscasts. You can play these in the embedded media players below.

The first one is from AM 790, KULF, and adult-contemporary station at the time. It is now "The Sports Animal", KBME.

The following newscast is from News/Talk KTRH AM 740, a 50-kilowatt powerhouse. It remains a News/Talk station, but like KBME, is now owned by Clear Channel Communications.

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Then we have this one from the late 70s, broadcast on "All News" formatted KEYH AM 850. The station now broadcasts Spanish language programming.

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Lose Weight With AYDS

2009-05-29T13:26:00.000-06:00

Why take diet pills, when you can enjoy Ayds?

Before the outbreak of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), there was a appetite suppresant candy on the market to help folks lose weight. It carried the unfortunate brand, AYDS. This was pronounced exactly like the deadly disease. Needless to say, you don’t see AYDS for sale anymore.

While going through some of my old tapes of my radio days, I came across a radio commercial from the 1970s for this product. Imagine someone telling you to get a date with AYDS today! You may hear this recording in the embedded player below.

One Giant Bong

2009-05-27T17:00:00.000-06:00

I was recording some cartoons for my 5-year-old grandson to watch when he comes over to visit with grandma and grandpa. Today I decided to grab some Huckleberry Hound and Pink Panther shows for him. One of the Pink Panther cartoons had our favorite pink feline working as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. He presented a menu to the patrons, and it was quite amusing. I am not sure if the word "bong" did not carry its current meaning (a water pipe used by people to smoke marijuana) back in the 1960s; or if the writers were oblivious; or perhaps it was their little inside joke. In any case, I got a laugh out of the menu item of "1-Giant Bong, Serves Four Persons" on the menu.

Poorly Written Headline #2

2009-05-26T23:00:00.000-06:00

This time, from MSNBC.com. This gives the opposite meaning to the story, based upon the definition of a "Bronx Cheer".

Stupid Corporate Tricks - #6

2009-05-24T13:13:00.000-06:00

Time for yet another story from the front lines in the ridiculous world of business. This one is at the same company as the Stupid Corporate Tricks - #5, and involves the same two guys. Will had asked Doug about some research he had asked him to do a couple of months previous. Doug realized he had totally forgotten about the project, and had done absolutely nothing toward getting it done. So he says to Will, "Don't you remember, you sent me a memo telling me to forget about it?" Will looked puzzled and said, "No, I don't remember that." So Doug says he will try to find it.

He goes over to his desk and writes a memo to himself, ostensibly from Will, and backdates it by a few weeks. He was pretty good at forging signatures too, so he printed the memo and put a reasonable facsimile of Will's initials on it. He then wrinkles it up a little and stuffs it into his file drawer in a bunch of other papers.

The next time Will came walking by Doug's cubicle, Doug shouts out, "Oh Will, let me see if I have that memo you sent me." He opens his file drawer and shuffles through the papers and says, "Oh, here it is!" He hands it over to Will who says, "Hmmm....I guess I forgot about this. Okay then."

HOLY SHIT! It worked!! I could not believe it, and it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. I suppose Doug has had to update his repertoire of trickery now that email has largely supplanted printed memoranda.

Boldly Going Where Many Have Gone Before

2009-05-23T17:30:00.000-06:00

I rarely go to watch movies at the theater. The cost has just gotten out of hand. I may average about one film a year at such a venue. The feature that got me out of the house this year is J.J. Abrams' reboot of Star Trek. The lovely spouse and I went to see it today, and got in for a fairly decent matinee price of $5.50 each.

I have to say, this movie is a refreshing change. Star Trek movies, while entertaining, had strayed too far from the roots of the original series which debuted on the NBC Television Network back in 1966. Filmed at Desilu Studios, Star Trek, pitched by creator Gene Roddenberry as "Wagon Train to the Stars", was not a big hit initially. It took on a cult following after its cancellation. Eventually the franchise spawned five spin off series in addition to the original; along with what is now 11 feature films. Now, in a mostly brilliantly done movie, Star Trek returns to the original crew of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura.

The actors who played the characters in the 1960s have long been past the age where it was believable to see then cavorting around the galaxy. The new cast did an outstanding job of paying homage to the history of the characters, while bringing their own talents to bear. Probably the most amazing of all was the performances of Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Karl Urban in the role of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

This film will be enjoyed by Trekkies (or is it Trekkers), as well as people who never got into the Star Trek series. While largely true to the original, this reboot of the franchise ends up creating an alternate timeline with some differences to the continuity established over the years. I won't share any spoilers here, but nothing that is changed detracted from the story.

In fact, my only complaint is the fact that science fiction films seem to require a silly alien character. In the Star Wars series, it was the worthless, floppy-eared Jar Jar Binks. In the new Star Trek, engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, has a silly alien pet of some sort. They could have dispensed with him.

There seems to be odd coincidences that sometimes crop up in Hollywood, and this film has one as well. For example, in the 1950s Superman television series, the actor portraying the Man of Steel was George Reeves. In the 1978 film Superman, The Movie, the actor was Christopher Reeve. One letter difference from the actor in the TV show. In this Star Trek film, the actor playing the role of Captain James Kirk is Chris Pine. That is one letter changed from the original Enterprise captain, Christopher Pike. It doesn't mean a thing, but I noticed it.

The bottom line? I give Star Trek a 4.5 out of 5. Highly entertaining for Trekkie and Non-Trekkie alike. Lots of action, good ties to the original, and a fresh start for a franchise whose mythos had begun to get too cluttered to follow. If you can, you should see this movie.

Stupid Corporate Tricks - #5

2009-05-22T16:57:00.000-06:00

Today, let us continue the series of stupid corporate tricks. For this tale of workplace merriment, we will go back to the early 1990s. This particular story is more of an employee tale than something done by the company itself. One of my coworkers (let's call him Doug here) was always at odds with our boss (we'll call him Will). This boss will play into several tales before we are done.

To the point of this story, you need to know two things about Will. His desk was always piled high with so many papers that he could never find anything. The other thing is that he had a beloved HP 12C calculator. These used to be very common in business, and used RPN, or Reverse Polish Notation. This allowed for complex calculations in the days before calculators could use pure algebraic order of computation. Will had this one since his business school days, and he was quite fond of it.

One particular morning, we came to work and found a lost and found poster taped to the wall at every elevator landing in our building. Will's calculator had gone missing, and he was quite distressed about it. Now Doug always enjoyed Will's distress, so as you might imagine, he was enjoying this immensely. But then things took a nasty turn.

Will approached Doug and asked him if he had taken his calculator. Doug took great offense at the suggestion, and it didn't take long for him to find his response. As he was walking past Will's cubicle, he noticed the 12c was visible edgewise underneath a huge pile of papers on Will's desk. Doug said, "If I am accused of taking it, I will!" He took it from under the pile and hid it in his desk. He then proceded to create some ransom notes from an anonymous calculator kidnapper. leaving them where Will would find them. Will was going nuts trying to figure it out before Doug tired of the game and put the calculator back, where Will eventually found it.

The story doesn't end there however. A few years later Doug was working in another state for another firm. As fate would have it, I was again working for Will, but at a different company. During this time, Will again misplaced his calculator. I mentioned this to Doug, who immediately created another ransom note and faxed it to Will anonymously. Even though I was quite amused by it all, I also didn't have the heart to tell him what was going on. A couple of days later, Will found his calculator...in a pile of papers on his desk!

King of the Hill

2009-05-22T12:36:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite TV shows is Fox's King of the Hill. Sadly, the show has apparently reached the end of its run. There are unconfirmed reports that Fox has ordered a few more episodes, but these may appear on DVD rather than the network.

The program is the brain child of Mike Judge, who gave us Beavis and Butthead, and more importantly (in my estimation) the great movie that shows the inanity of working in corporate America, Office Space. While I didn't much care for B&B, both Office Space and King were strokes of genius.

So here is perhaps the final episode of King of the Hill, starring America's favorite salesman of "propane and propane accessories", Arlen, Texas' Hank Hill.

Jesse Gets It!

2009-05-21T07:47:00.000-06:00

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura doesn't take crap from anybody. Here is a YouTube video of a clip where he takes on the mindless talking heads of Fox & Friends. True patriots do not condone our country torturing people. It is anti-American and puts us at risk. Governor Ventura get it. Fox does not.

Estes Park, Colorado

2009-05-19T20:26:00.000-06:00

Just another photo from last Saturday. This time it's the rock sign along US 36 as you begin the descent into the town of Estes Park.

Sovereignty, Secession, and the Nutty Right Wing

2009-05-17T07:47:00.000-06:00

Many right-wingers rightfully ridiculed some celebrities on the left who threatened to move out of the United States if George W. Bush was elected President in 2000. But now, many righty politicians are doing things that are even more bizarre. Upset with the Democratic administration's policies, these nutty politicians are threatening to take their ball and go home. Last month, Texas Governor Rick Perry threw support behind HCR 50, a resolution in the Texas House of Representatives that asserts the state's sovereignty. (He also uses the oft-used, but false analogy of how to boil a frog).

Now, last Wednesday, the Oklahoma Senate has passed HCR 1028, a similar resolution to the one in Texas. How the Senate passes a resolution of the House seems odd to me. In any case, the verbiage of the resolution states that the Sooner State is "claiming sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over certain powers; serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates; providing that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed; and directing distribution.”

The resolution, also passed the Oklahoma House 73-22 on May 4th. It does not require a signature from the Governor.

Kurt Hochenauer, creator of the political blog Okie Funk: Notes From The Outback, has a good analysis on his site. He correctly notes that if Oklahoma were to secede from the United States, it would lead to military confrontation, widespread poverty, and a mass exodus from the state. I would add that if Oklahoma wants to leave the US, it had better make doggone sure that Texas goes with it, otherwise it will be a landlocked nation surrounded by the U.S.

Hochenauer also has posted an audio clip from Montel Williams' radio program where he interviews Charles Key, the Oklahoma City Republican Representative who introduced the resolution in the House. Williams calls Key on the fact that Oklahoma pays $19-Billion in federal taxes, but receives $28 billion in federal funding per year. So Oklahoma, good luck with that.

I don't think that either state will actually secede over this, any more than Alec Baldwin left the US over the Bush presidency. But it does demonstrate the lack of rational thinking within the minds of some elected officials in red-state America.

Stupid Corporate Tricks - #4

2009-05-16T21:40:00.000-06:00

The same boss that pulled the antics in my previous post, Stupid Corporate Tricks - #3, was well known around the office for another reason. It seems he had some kind of disorder that caused him to doze off at inappropriate times. For example, all of us who worked in the group would watch him when we were in meetings, because invariably the longer the meeting, the more likely it was that he would fall asleep. You would notice his eyes growing heavy. Then he would begin nodding off a bit, and finally, with eyes closed, his head would go down and he would be sound asleep.

While this was a bit amusing to witness, it was also kind of sad, because I am sure it must be some type of medical condition. But the thing that made it most annoying is when he would do this while with you in the office of a customer. The company required our managers to accompany us on the occasional sales call to evaluate and improve our selling skills. This man, who I shall call John, did this on several occasions while with me. One instance I distinctly recall, involved him not only falling asleep in the customer's office, but he began to snore loudly as I made my sales presentation. The customer looked at me and said, "I think John must not have gotten enough sleep last night."

Still, that isn't the worst part. On the way back to the office, John had the audacity to critique my performance, all of which he slept through. He had absolutely no idea what had transpired.

On another occasion, John walked into a customer's office with me. After we shook hands, John sat down in a chair and immediately let out a very loud blast of flatulence! He chuckled and told the customer, "Hey, it sounds like you have a frog problem out here."

Needless to say, when John indicated he wanted to go on a sales call with me, I was not happy, nor did I know what to expect.

Stupid Corporate Tricks - #3

2009-05-16T18:27:00.000-06:00

In the early 1980s, I worked in outside sales for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, then an operating company of the original AT&T. I mention the company here because it is pertinent to the story I am about to relate.

My job at the time was selling commercial accounts on leasing large, corporate telephone systems, called Private Branch Exchanges, or PBXs. I also sold local exchange services, long distance, and what were called WATS lines. WATS stood for Wide Area Telephone Service, and was basically dedicated lines with prepaid blocks of discounted long distance.

There was one company that was located along the Houston Ship Channel that still had an old "cord board" PBX. These are the type where an operator used cords to patch through calls coming in to the appropriate person's telephone (see photo). These were rare at the time, as most companies had moved to more modern systems.

This was early in the era of interconnect equipment, or non-Bell System equipment being available for connection to the phone company's lines. We were proposing a Bell Dimension 400 electronic PBX to replace the old system. There was a competing bid in from a company selling a popular system of the time, the Rolm CBX. This particular business had a huge campus with buildings located over a large area, and trucks coming in and out from all over the facility.

My boss had worked for Southwestern Bell for his entire career, and would be best described by the term "Bell Head", a phrase used to describe someone who had been working at the phone company for so long that they couldn't see any perspective other than that of Ma Bell. During the course of the visit to attempt to finalize the deal, the customer asked us if we had any references he could call. My boss stood up, walked over to the customer's credenza, picked up his Houston telephone directory, opened the rather large book to a random page, tossed in on the customers desk in front of him, and said, "Here is a book with our customers listed. Pick some out and call them."

Surprisingly, we did not get tossed out at that point, but when the customer stated that the Rolm CBX quote was quite a bit less than ours, the boss told the customer, "I hope their quote includes tearing up your entire facility to lay new conduit and cables. You know all the underground cables here are telephone company property, and we will not allow them to use our cables for their system. If you go that way, we will come out and stretch the cables very tight, cut them off short, and then fill the conduit with concrete. So you need to go back to them and get a quote for that. Would that disrupt your business any?"

Wow! Talk about a heavy handed close! If I had not witnessed it myself, I would not have believed it. But to some degree it worked. We did not get the customer to lease the Dimension system, but the customer did not take the Rolm bid either. He ended up keeping the old switchboard system in place. He also got to continue paying Southwestern Bell for the privilege. No wonder Ma Bell had her reputation!

Rocky Mountains

2009-05-16T18:00:00.000-06:00

There are many good things about Colorado, most of them being the natural beauty and generally agreeable climate of this state. The lovely spouse and I drove up to Estes Park today, about 100 miles to the northwest of of our home. It is a beautiful day, and I took this picture of the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park just to the west of the town. I never tire of the scenery there is to enjoy in the Centennial State.

Stupid Corporate Tricks - #2

2009-05-15T07:24:00.000-06:00

Today, let's continue with recounting some of the stupidity that rises to the top of the corporate heap. This particular episode took place at the same company involved in my previous post, Stupid Corporate Tricks - #1. This one was done by the branch manager for the Houston sales office.

Our offices had moved to a new building and along the way, we also got a new branch manager. This position was over the entire sales organization in the city. The new guy was hired after having spent a few years at our major competitor. The rumor mill had it that when he was fired from the competitor, the people who were under him on the organization chart all stood up and cheered. Then when they learned our company had hired him, the did the same thing again. Of course, I cannot confirm that, but it would not surprise me.

This particular guy was definitely a few tortillas short of a full enchilada plate. For example, he came over to my desk, totally out of the blue, with a porn magazine and opened it up to a picture of a young black woman who was, shall we say, quite under dressed. He said to me, "Hey take a look at this! That'll drive any prejudiced bones out of you, wont it?" So you get the idea of the type of person we are talking about here.

In any case, this particular sales office had one fax machine to support the entire office. It was very heavily used as you might imagine. This was also before the prevalence of email, so faxes were much more important than they are today. This machine was used for various documents coming in and going out of the office. One of the most prevalent types of documents that would arrive on the fax were orders being sent in by customers that all of us sales people had been working with. After all, this was a sales office, and this was a very efficient way to get things done. Otherwise, we would spend several hours travelling across town just to pick up the orders.

The branch manager was getting tired of waiting on the fax machine when he wanted to send something. So rather than getting a second one, he issued an edict. No more orders would be permitted to be faxed in, because they were tying up the fax machine when he wanted to use it. Pardon me? This was a sales office, and he actually shut down a major way that orders came into the company. Oh the stupidity of it all!! Or as Bugs Bunny might say, "What a maroon! What a nincompoop!" Rather than being responsible for getting new customers, perhaps he should have been put in charge of the Sales Prevention Department!

Stupid Corporate Tricks - #1

2009-05-14T20:53:00.000-06:00

People in corporate America take themselves way too seriously. Greedy and inept CEOs drive their companies into the ground while raking in gazillions of dollars in pay, perks, stocks, and bonuses. Clueless managers mindlessly bob their heads in agreement with whatever ridiculous idea or business fad du jour is being touted by their bosses as the next great idea. Of course, the people actually doing the work have nothing to do with how well the companies perform. If the firm does well, it is the executives' doing. If not, well it must be the workers.

In the forty-plus years I have been in the workforce, I probably have enough material to write a book. Perhaps I will. Still, it seems appropriate to share a few stories from the front lines of life in the corporate world here. While I have adapted myself to conform to the culture of offices akin to Scott Adams' Dilbert comic strip, I remain free spirited enough to see through the bullshit and recognize that the emperor indeed has no clothes.

So let's talk about a situation that happened when I worked at a telecommunications firm back in the late 1980s. I was in major account sales, and was doing rather well at it. During our annual meeting for the entire sales organization, it was announced that our “President's Club” for that year would be held at a resort in Hawaii. The top sales people in the company would be sent on an all expenses paid trip for two with awards and activities to reward overachievers. They showed us video of the resort, and all the terrific things that would be part of the trip for those whose sales qualified them to go.

During the course of the year, there was a change of plans announced. Instead of Hawaii, the trip was to be moved to Dana Point, California. Just as nice as Hawaii, we were told. Right! Well, as it turns out, when the time came for the President's Club trip, it was definitely not to Hawaii. Actually, it wasn't to Dana Point either. They ended up having the event at a resort in Scottsdale, Arizona on the outskirts of Phoenix. Nice, but definitely not Hawaii or Dana Point.

Now they did have some enjoyable activities lined up for us while in Scottsdale, but the highlight of the trip was an awards banquet to Pinnacle Peak Patio, a western themed steakhouse on top of a mountain. They put all of us top sales people and our spouses on buses to make the trip to Pinnacle Peak. Along the way, a staged hijacking by cowboy bad men occurred. They pulled the bus over, and a bunch of western hooligans came on board and “kidnapped” the executives. They went on ahead, and by the time we reached the venue, the execs all had on aprons and were serving up the chow. Nice enough.

However, once we were into enjoying the meal, the real reason we were there became readily apparent. The awards presentations began. Since all of us present were the top sales people in the entire company, assembled from all over the country, surely they were going to present some awards to us for exceeding our quotas and making money for the company. You might think that, but you'd be wrong.

The executives began giving speeches about each other, and what a wonderful job they did to motivate all of us to overachieve the goals set for us. They would then present each other with nice fat bonus checks for doing such a fine job. Then we were expected to applaud each of them as they received their checks and made their acceptance speeches. Obviously, they needed an audience to react to their awards ceremony. Once that was complete, it was back on the buses for the trip back to the hotel. Makes you really proud to work for a company with such motivating management! Well, maybe not.

Parking Convention

2009-05-10T21:11:00.000-06:00

Earlier today, I mentioned the convention that I worked over the past several days. Well, as it turns out, there is yet another one coming to Denver. This time it is a convention for the parking industry. Yes, that's right. People who run parking lots, meters, garages, and other places to leave your car have their very own convention coming to your favorite mile-high city. Who'da thunk it? I can guarantee you that there is one thing you won't find near the Colorado Convention Center...and that is free parking!

Oh My Aching Feet!!

2009-05-10T09:11:00.000-06:00

The last few days have been spent either in preparation for, or participation in, the annual convention for retailers who sell the products of my employer. The convention is always a major undertaking by many people, and involves training sessions, a trade show, and of course, entertainment. Thursday night, 80s rockers REO Speedwagon entertained the crowd. Last night's headliner to close the show was Howie Mandel (please excuse the poor quality of this picture...it was taken with my cell phone's camera). I got the lovely spouse a guest ticket to last night's performance, so we got to have dinner together and enjoy Howie's comedy act. This was particularly nice, since she suddenly was put in the hospital the night before the convention started.

Each year, the convention is held in a different venue, and this year I really appreciated the fact that it was held in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. It was great to be able to go home to my own bed each night after a day of standing on my feet all day. Some days, I drove to Denver, and on others I took the light rail which stops at the Convention Center. The light rail is a good option, but on weekends it doesn't run from the station closest to my home to the venue.

Since my blogging is done in the evening, obviously this event caused me to not post for the last few days. I do have several ideas percolating in my head for future posts, so I look forward to fleshing those out in the next few days.

And speaking of days...Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!

Poorly Written Headline

2009-05-02T22:55:00.000-06:00

The Curmudgeonly Old Party

2009-05-02T17:40:00.000-06:00

Will somebody please buy the Republican Party a Garmin? Seriously, the GOP has lost its way. After eight years of the Bush presidency, the USA is known for torture (uh...I mean "enhanced interrogation techniques"), warrantless domestic spying, and holding prisoners without charges. Rational Americans are appalled that these things are even open to debate. The misguided policies of the Republicans have lead to a major implosion that has left their party in major disarray.

Senator John McCain's daughter Meghan, made a good point in a joint interview with her dad on Phoenix's KTAR, when she said, “I just wish that moderates like myself — more moderate Republicans and more socially liberal Republicans — weren’t looked at as, ‘Get rid of the dirty moderates. Get rid of them.”

Then there is former GOP US Senator, Bob Barr, who told CNN that the the GOP is in deep trouble and lacks "any coherent philosophy, vision or leadership.” Barr's comments are followed by those of former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, who called several members of the Republican National Committee "a small bunch of egomaniacs who need to be coddled by the party chairman".

Finally, we have a move by some leading Republicans to attempt a makeover of the party's image. Perhaps this is a project for the TV show Extreme Makeover. It is an awesome undertaking, no doubt! The GOP's "Big Tent" has become a small pup tent occupied by a bunch of angry old white men and fundamentalist loonies; or as I like to call them...the Irrelevant Right.

The Republicans may be down, but I wouldn't count them out. Still, as long as they are the party of obstructionism, torture, and general curmudgeonliness, they will have a hard time rebooting their damaged image. In the meantime, it's time for President Obama and a Democratic Congress to get things done that are long overdue...starting with universal healthcare for all Americans.

Human Sacrifice in India

2009-04-28T07:24:00.000-06:00

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on another horror committed by someone to appeal to the gods. Rajesh Hembram of India beheaded his 10-year-old granddaughter and mixed her blood with seeds to appeal to the gods for a bountiful harvest. The curse of religious superstition continues its history of bloodshed, both in major wars and on a personal level. Little Bernaka Kandulana has paid with her life for her grandfathers religious beliefs. Whatever evolutionary advantage was gained by beliefs in deities has long been superceded by the suffering and bloodshed it visits upon humanity today.

Deluxe Reading Playmobile

2009-04-25T20:34:00.000-06:00

People always remember their first car. My first real car was a 1963 Rambler Classic 660 station wagon. I will always remember it with great fondness.

However, years before the Rambler, I had another "car". In 1961, the Deluxe Reading Toy Company sold their Playmobile dashboard in supermarkets and drug stores. I remember seeing it on display at what was then an A&P store at the corner of Old Richmond Road (now Bissonnet Street) and Beechnut Street in Houston. Boy, with all the shiny parts and look of a real car of the era, I really wanted this toy. I remember telling my parents I wanted it, but I also saw that it cost $19.95. To me, that seemed like a fortune. It probably wasn't that inexpensive for my parents back then either. Still, when Christmas morning came, there it was under the tree, glimmering and shiny with the colorful tree lights reflecting off of it.

The Playmobile had a car key, sun visors, tinted windshield with working wipers, rear view mirror, and all kinds of gauges, knobs, and switches. Oh man! I must have driven a million imaginary miles at the wheel of my Playmobile!

I guess I always liked driving toys though. One of my very early memories of my life was a big steering wheel that was installed in the playground of a park in Norman, Oklahoma. I must have been about 2 or 3 years old, and I still recall how much I liked playing there and pretending to drive.

Maybe that is why I still love road trips, and am somewhat a road geek all these years later!

Au Revoir, Chief Pontiac!

2009-04-25T17:19:00.000-06:00

First it was Oldsmobile. Now the weakened state of General Motors has brought us the demise of another great American automotive brand. GM will eliminate the Pontiac from its stable of cars.

During the muscle car performance days, Pontiac said "We build excitement". The "Wide Track Pontiac" was touted as a better handling car than its competitors. The Bonneville, Grand Prix, and Sunbird gone forever. Who can forget Burt Reynolds as "The Bandit", driving his performance Pontiac Firebird from Atlanta to Texarkana and back, being chased by Jackie Gleason as Sheriff Buford T. Justice of Texas?

Yet, it was the even older Pontiacs that I have a fondness for. The 1950s versions with their light up hood ornament of Chief Pontiac has to be the coolest auto decoration ever made. The very first car I remember riding in as a very small child was my parents' old 1938 Pontiac. I used to love sitting in the back, looking out the small triangular window near side rear of the passenger compartment.

So off to history Pontiac goes, joining not just the Olds, but Plymouth, DeSoto, Cord, Hudson, Rambler, Studebaker, LaSalle, and others that once owned America's streets and highways before anyone had ever heard of a Toyota or a Hyundai.