Saturday - September 10, 2011

Eye Candy Redux

Peiper, you’re gonna have to learn about eye-candy.

Posted below the fold because, nudity

I really like her smile.

Peiper, you may remember i really like hats:

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by Christopher     on 09/10/2011 at 11:28 AM   
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How about some of that “kinder, gentler” stuff?

I really don’t want to cover Obama’s Jobs Speech. It was a total load of crap, full of empty and unworkable ideas, plans without details, and his never-ending belief in more government spending. Flush.

But one part of his talk is being given a rather harsh rendering on many Conservative blogs, and I have issue with that. Obama suggested a $4000 tax credit for hiring people who have been out of work for more than 6 months. The general reaction to that has been rather merciless, and I don’t mean that in relation to Teh Wun. I mean that in the “why should companies hire these LOSERS? If they had any skills and weren’t slackers they’d have jobs by now!” way.

And that is pure bullshit.

Let’s assume that there is a highly specialized niche field somewhere. There are 100 people on the entire planet who have put years and years of their lives into training for this niche. They are all uniquely qualified experts, and all of them are highly productive workers. Now shrink the economy by 20%. Companies go belly up, demand slackens ... and 20 of those experts are now out of work. Having invested so much time and effort in their field, they are not going to immediately abandon that expertise and take up a new career as cart boys at the local supermarket. No, they are going to try like hell to find another job in their skill set. But the economy has shrunk, and it stays shrunk. Some of those 20 manage to get interviews with the remaining companies that employ the other 80, and offer to do the job for less. This results in a low-bid war against the current employee, and the bottom line is that one or the other of the two will get or keep the job ... but that makes no impact on the bottom line: 20 of these productive experts are still out of work.

Not one of these blogs considers for a second that the newly hired, formerly long-term unemployed person might come to work with a drive to survive and succeed that far exceeds the work ethic of the current employees. And you wonder why Conservatives are seen as heartless? Case in point, right there.

After most of a year of looking, 10 of those 20 give up the dream and retrain for some other line of work. Now they are considered raw beginners in their new field, with “only scholastic experience” as the HR folks would poo-poo their efforts, ignoring completely that they showed great productivity and learning ability in their previous career path.

You want to put America back to work? Then stop the crap. Stop the HR people from merely checking boxes, or replace them with people who can actually get some insight out of an interview and realize the potential of some potential employees. Simply demanding “we only hire the best and most experienced” is a crock that gives short shrift to an awful lot of talented and productive people.

I don’t disagree with those other blogs that a tax credit creates an artificial market and skews economic reality somewhat. But giving companies a bit of extra incentive to make some extra effort to hire those who have been jobless for some time is not automatically another Cash For Clunkers program. It could just as easily be a way of winnowing out diamonds from the coal bin, which is not something you can do when you only buy coal by the ton and never look closely at what’s in your shovelful.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/10/2011 at 08:56 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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eye candy … cheryl cole

I’ll never be able to figure out why a beautiful woman, or any woman, would think she looks better or has added to her looks in a positive way by adding tattoos.
I wouldn’t suggest she hasn’t a right. It’s her billboard after all, but I still wish they wouldn’t.
Now if a lady has outstanding beauty we may still be drawn to her face no matter what’s on her ankle or her neck. BUT ... oh gee.  When they aren’t great lookers to begin with, like the lady (aged 35, she told me tho I never asked) who cut my hair yesterday, it really, really looks not only bad.  It also looks dumb. My barber yesterday was a tall lady with a bunch of some kind of red color piled up on top of her head and to the front, a really bad color too, and her head had been shaved on the sides. She had a button on her tongue as well. She also has five kids. 
Great example mommy.

Which brings me to my eye candy choice who I think is one of the most amazingly beautiful woman on the planet.  But darn it, why oh why the damn tats?
I wish I knew her so I could ask.

Now then, I’m not a professional shutter bug or any kind of artist so perhaps I shouldn’t question the photography here. But considering the subject, I wish the shots hadn’t been so muted. I guess they wanted atmosphere or whatever.

I’ll still buy that calendar when I can get it by golly.  And I do not buy calendars like this normally. Not ever. But I kinda like

CHERYL COLE

I heard her on the radio once, an interview, and she sounded like a very nice person. She just came across well. But I never heard her sing and not too sure I want to cos her music would not be my choice and anyway, I don’t want my illusion spoiled if she’s a bad vocalist.

this is from the 2010 calendar, which til today I didn’t even know was out there.

Posted by peiper     on 09/10/2011 at 07:14 AM   
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Phil Foglio

Yeah, I’m remembering the days in the mid-70s. Playing D&D and reading The Dragon magazine. Phil Foglio was one of the cartoon artists.

Posted by Christopher     on 09/10/2011 at 07:33 AM   
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Today’s Chess Problem 9/10/11

This one is White to move and win. Black has the weak back rank.

As usual, solution posted tomorrow.

Posted by Christopher     on 09/10/2011 at 12:41 AM   
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   Friday - September 09, 2011

We lucked out again

We’ve been on a “boil water advisory” for several days now, because the ultra-high water table from all this rain and flooding has allowed some septic system run-off to contaminate some of our town’s water wells. That advisory was lifted today. Thousands, perhaps several millions, of others here in the north east aren’t so lucky. Actually, they’re lucky to have a water truck in their town at all, whether or not they choose to put on heels and pearls to go fill up a bucket like Miss Brit the other day.

Nasty floodwaters from the remnants of Lee and Irene—tainted with sewage and other toxins—threaten public health in parts of the Northeast by direct exposure or the contamination of private water wells, officials said Thursday.

“We face a public health emergency because sewage treatment plants are underwater and no longer working,” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said as flooding from Lee’s drenching rains inundated central and eastern Pennsylvania. “Flood water is toxic and polluted. If you don’t have to be in it, keep out.”

A dozen Vermont towns flooded by Irene were still on boil-water orders 12 days later, though officials reported no waterborne illness. Similar precautions have been taken throughout other storm-damaged states.

New York City officials said any threat from Irene’s backwash had passed, but upstate, 23 municipal water systems had boil-water orders for varying lengths of time. As some communities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were taking similar precautions after Irene, the unrelenting rains of Lee were expected to trigger more.

Officials in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia, which were also hit hard by Irene, said drinking-water quality had not been compromised.

Stretching from central Virginia up through New York and into New England, the latest area hit by this round of flooding and water contamination is considerably larger than the entire United Kingdom, and probably has more people as well. And this is all inland areas, mostly unaffected by any coastal hurricanes. They’ve got their own problems down south too, as Lee made an impact up and down the whole east coast.

Is it inconvenient?  A little. Is it costly? A tiny bit. A shopping cart full of water set me back $20, and will last the two of us for several weeks. But it could have been so damn much worse:

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — The Susquehanna River, swollen by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, spilled into downtown Binghamton on Thursday and threatened riverfront towns in Pennsylvania, and nearly 100,000 people were ordered to pack up and leave their homes.

The storm’s rains continued to pelt the Northeast, which has been saturated since Hurricane Irene roared through in August as it became a tropical storm. Rivers and streams passed or approached flood stage from Maryland to Massachusetts and experts said more flooding was coming.

River water coursed into the streets of Binghamton, a city of about 45,000, and climbed halfway up lampposts at a downtown plaza. Buses and then boats were used to evacuate residents, and National Guard helicopters were on standby. Streets were closed to non-emergency traffic.

“It’s going to get worse,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Rainfall totals topped 8 inches in some areas around Binghamton.

The Susquehanna is an ancient ancient river, perhaps the oldest on earth and easily the longest river on the east coast, but it’s in flood from upstate NY (Cooperstown) all the way down to the Chesapeake Bay. Right past Three Mile Island, as a matter of fact.

We will continue to use our 3 stage filter on the water that comes out of the tap for cooking water, and we have no plans to actually drink any of it until we’ve gone through all the inexpensive bottled spring water we bought (Nirvana brand, $1/gal in a clear plastic bottle. Not bad tasting at all). I still have enough to last another week, so any latent problems in the wells and pipes should be sorted out by then. Well, assuming we don’t have another deluge and another flood situation between now and then. Personally, I blame Obama.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/09/2011 at 05:23 PM   
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Hope that fixes it

We have now had an entire 24 hours without rain, and the sun even put in an appearance for half the afternoon today. While the flood waters start to recede a bit in central PA and central NY (guess I should refer to Binghamton now as my “alma mudder") I seized the chance to try and fix my car trunk.

Not sure why, but the trunk lid has been leaking. Maybe strapping giant ladders to it under tension has pulled it out of alignment a bit? Could be. After this latest deluge, when I opened the lid, at least a gallon of water poured out from the various recesses in the lid itself. The brake lights were filled with water. Not to mention the small ponds under the spare tire and in the corners. Something had to be done.

So I took the trunk lid apart, took it right off the car, dried and cleaned everything, then had a go with the silicon bathtub caulk. Everything got caulked. Every nut, every bolt, every place where a bit of plastic nestled up against a bit of metal, every gasket, every place where there was an opening. The result is ugly, big blops of white stuff everywhere, but it should be watertight now. Later on when I put the lid back on, the lock didn’t line up with the hasp. Not much good waterproofing if the trunk won’t stay shut! I figured that one out - the hasp is adjustable. To do that I had to crawl into the trunk from the backseat to get at the bolts. It wasn’t hard, but the trunk wasn’t tightly closed afterwards. That’s when I realized I needed some downforce to do the job right. So I borrowed one of the neighbors, who is not even close to anorexic, and had her sit on the trunk lid while I went inside to do the hasp bolts. Squished it right down, tight against the inner lip gasket. Now the trunk shuts tight as a drum. After the caulk was dry I took a plastic scraper around the outside of the trunk and peeled away all the extra white caulk, then covered it over with some black RTV sealant. That makes the caulking much less obvious, so I don’t feel like I’m driving a redneck spazmobile.

I bet I bailed 3 gallons of water out of the trunk wells. Let’s see what happens the next time it rains ... which might be tomorrow? 

Posted by Drew458     on 09/09/2011 at 05:01 PM   
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you can not steal your property from the thief who took it, victim is advised

Darn, where’s the time go?  Need more. Like another month. At least.

You’ll recall the posts with regard to how a person’s home ain’t their castle these days.  Welcome to 21st century Britain, where apparently some ppl of some small authority, don’t think his stolen bike is his either.  Nope.  It’s the property of the thief.  Think I’m kidding?
Here. Take a look.

Bungling police tell victim of bike thief ‘you can’t take it back, the crook could sue you’ ... and then let thief escape

Cyclist spotted his stolen bicycle in the High Street after it was stolen from his shed

Police botch CCTV operation to catch robber

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

A cyclist whose bike was stolen was flabbergasted when bungling police stopped him from taking it back - and then let the thief ride off on it.

Simon Turner, 48, spotted his bicycle chained up on a busy high street as he shopped with his six-year-old son, Giles.

But after he approached a Police Community Support Officer in his home town of Maidenhead he was told not to break the lock and retrieve his stolen bike.

The PCSO told him it was not his property and the crook would be able to sue him if he took it.

Mr Turner was told police would monitor the area using CCTV and catch the criminal.

But the next day he heard the thief had slipped through their fingers and had walked off with his bike for a second time.

Two men, who could not be identified, had unlocked the bicycle and taken it away from the high street in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Mr Turner said: ‘I’m absolutely appalled. The worst thing was, when we found the bike, we had to explain to Giles why we had to leave it and let the thief get it.

‘He was scared that maybe his bike would be stolen as well.’

The black and burgundy Universal bicycle - which was stolen from his shed in early August - had cost him £55 second hand, and he had made various improvements.

When he saw it chained up outside a McDonald’s in the town centre later that month, he even offered the PCSO £5 to pay to replace the lock so that he could get his bike back. But he was advised that the thief could sue for damage.

He said: ‘I gave details of a hidden technical modification. She looked and there it was, clearly proving it was my bike.

‘I said I’d go home and get some tools and remove it but they said we couldn’t remove the bike.

‘They said, “you’ll be damaging the lock and it’s not your property”.

‘The PCSO was taking advice from another officer over the phone and was just as incredulous as I was.’

Mr Turner, who runs a home tuition company, then had to sit back and wait while the police allowed the thief to get away.

‘I was tempted to hang around and see who came to take it back but I was with my son and it wouldn’t have been practical,’ added Mr Turner, who lives with wife Anu in Maidenhead.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: ‘The PCSO was acting on the advice of a colleague and we’ve yet to establish exactly what happened.

‘However, it does appear the incorrect advice was given to her and there were other steps that could have been taken at the time.

‘We’d like to apologise for this mistake and reassure the gentleman concerned that we are doing all we can to track down the person or people who stole his bicycle.’

The Citizens Advice Bureau advises that police can seize goods if they have reasonable grounds for believing they have been obtained illegally, or are evidence in relation to an offence.

the plod lets thief go

Posted by peiper     on 09/09/2011 at 01:35 PM   
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this might not be the right time to try p****** into the wind.

Oh great. We’re really looking forward to this like a case of the flu.

Batten down the hatches – there’s a HURRICANE heading to the UK

Katia expected to lash parts of Britain by Monday

Winds of 80 miles an hour and waves of up to 50ft look set to hit the UK by Monday after Hurricane Katia changed course from the Caribbean with its eye set for Britain.

Forecasters are predicting fierce gusts of wind that could cause transport chaos and structural damage from late on Sunday night and into Monday with torrential rain battering much of the country.

However .... wanna bet the America haters will blame Bush and the USA for the direction change.

Katia has so far avoided land and yesterday turned north east heading away from the U.S. coast and towards the UK.

Posted by peiper     on 09/09/2011 at 10:25 AM   
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Today’s Chess Problem 9/9/11

Once again Black to move and win. Hint: White has a weak back rank.

Solution tomorrow.

Solution!:

1… Rxd6!
2.Qxd6 Rd8!

Posted by Christopher     on 09/09/2011 at 03:50 AM   
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   Thursday - September 08, 2011

saving your time

Just in case you’d got that last piece of lint out from behind the clothes dryer, got all your socks sorted, cleaned the fish tank, and couldn’t find anything at all else to watch on TV and were resigned to watching Teh One give his paramount Jobs Speech (have your shovels ready!), ADHD leveraged his contacts and found a pre-teleprompter copy of the speech. So you can read his short version, avoid watching the Great I Am on the tube, and get back to important things, like sorting the coins you found under the couch cushions.

WASHINGTON, D.C – In a major campaign (jobs) speech before Congress tomorrow night, President Barack Obama will say that jobs are priority #1, just as soon as he gets re-elected in 2012.

In the meantime, the “Great Orator” will spell out a 5-point plan that will continue to spread a matrix of a Thousand Points of Darkness throughout the land until he can once again claim in January 2013 that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

[ a small part of ] Obama’s $300 billion lackluster plan:

3. Creating the Barack Obama Caddy and Bus Driver Fund. Immediately following his speech, the president will go on permanent vacation until his presumed second inauguration in January 2013. Instead of running the country, Obama will embark on the I Take No Responsibility Bus Tour across America, stopping every day at a golf course to, of course, play golf.

Not a bad effort at all. Read on!

Posted by Drew458     on 09/08/2011 at 11:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor • Obama, The One •  
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The Obama Economy

Posted by Christopher     on 09/08/2011 at 12:34 PM   
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STWA

I gather it took him a year and a half to develop the concept, work up the graphics, and get the game ready for market. And he has obviously put in a lot of effort. The fold up board is visually impressive and worth looking at for 5 minutes even if you don’t play the game. And the Obamabucks play money is fantastic, far better than what passes as real money in Zimbabwe.

He even got John Cox, from the late Cox & Forkum politcal cartoon, to do some of the artwork.

Choose membership in one of four organizations: Public Service, ObamaCare, Big Labor or Wall Street. From your perch atop the ruling class, you’ll bankrupt other players, drag them before show trials, carve them up in unnecessary surgery or just get one of your big labor goons to wack ‘em in Rocko Roulette.

Rather than accumulate wealth in Spread the Wealth Around, you’ll rack up mountains of debt – just like Obama’s America. Scam dead people and collect their Social Security in Public Office. Unplug granny and play the lawsuit lottery in ObamaCare. Gamble and go burnin’ and lootin’ with Big Labor. Cut in line for your Wall Street bailout – it’s all for the children.

...

Why earn when you can spend? Why work when you can party? You don’t have to be an assistant deputy undersecretary for central planning to get too big to fail – you just have to Spread the Wealth Around! If you never let a crisis go to waste, then leave behind the little people in the tea party, and get your green job aboard the high speed train to the ruling class.

Prosperity is just another government program away, so don’t wait for global warming and the next ice age before playing the ultimate boardgame for Bamster bureaucrats. Like the deficit and gas prices, there’s no where to go but up! It’s time to reward your friends, punish your enemies and get your fair share of stimulus money.

All of this would be for naught if the game itself sucked. But it doesn’t. We gave it a couple of tries, and it’s not to hard to learn and rather fun. It is NOT Monopoly™. Just because you get money, and go around a board, and there are two decks of random circumstance cards conceptually similar to Chance and Community Chest ( called Social Justice featuring Comrade Obama smiling over a legion of marching skeletal death Nazis, and Nanny State, showing a frightened child’s nightmares as the wicked witch approaches) the similarity ends there.

It’s a game for 4 or more players, but we were able to try it out with just the 2 of us. The first time we each played 3 roles, the second time we tried it with just one. It worked, but it’s best with 4 or more. You get a token ( I suggested acorns in every color of the unicorn rainbow other than white. Phillip came back with ideas for lead pipes, coke straws, food stamps, union membership badges, but regretted they’d have to wait for the Deluxe Edition. They guy has at least as much snark as I do, so I’m impressed ), you get a huge amount of money. And then you buy your position in the government (sound familiar, Chicago residents?). Somebody should be the bank, though it’s the most expensive role. But it makes money, always. Then you go around the board and just follow the notations on the squares. Sometimes you may not make it even once around before getting wiped out, but hey, that’s life. Your debt gets tracked on a little notepad, included along with a microscopic pencil. And the roles are fully explained, each on a nicely made card. So it’s pretty easy to pick up, even if you don’t read the rules.

The game is fun, the messages on the back of the Social Justice and Nanny State cards are really sharp, and the graphics are fantastic. It’s sure to be a hit the next time you have a Tea Party meeting at your house, or if you have a few Right-thinking folks over for chips and beer. Which is almost the same thing.

Spread The Wealth Around is available for online purchase here. The web site gives you much more information about the game, and shows you more of the fantastic artwork. Oh, and it has a love song for Kim Jong-Il too, that master of Progressive Thought.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/08/2011 at 10:26 AM   
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D’oh!

A young New York woman was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean, but just before she could throw herself from the docks, a handsome young man stopped her.

“You have so much to live for,” said the man. “I’m a sailor, and we are off to Italy tomorrow. I can stow you away on my ship. I’ll take care of you, bring you food every day, and keep you happy.”

With nothing to lose, combined with the fact that she had always wanted to go to Italy, the woman accepted.

That night the sailor brought her aboard and hid her in a small but comfortable compartment in the hold. From then on, every night he would bring her three sandwiches, a bottle of red wine, and make love to her until dawn.

Two weeks later she was discovered by the captain during a routine inspection.

“What are you doing here?” asked the captain.

“I have an arrangement with one of the sailors,” she replied. “He brings me food and I get a free trip to Italy .”

“I see,” the captain said.

Her conscience got the best of her and she added, “Plus, he’s screwing me.”

“He certainly is,” replied the captain. “This is the Staten Island Ferry.”

Posted by Drew458     on 09/08/2011 at 10:10 AM   
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