Tuesday - August 11, 2009
Pirates off the UK coast? International hunt launched as cargo ship vanishes into thin air.
C’mon. How does something this big get lost? A couple of interesting questions and a clever answer.
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 4:58 PM on 11th August 2009An international search has been launched after a cargo ship seemingly vanished into thin air as it passed through the Straits of Dover.
The Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea and its 13 Russian crewmembers has not been heard from since a last communication with the Dover coast guards on July 28.
The 4,700-tonne ship was carrying a load of timber worth £1.13million from Finland to Algeria.
It failed to arrive at the Algerian port of Bejaia on August 4 as planned. The last communication with it occurred on July 28 during a routine check with the coast guard as it passed through the Straits of Dover on its way to the Baltic Sea, a Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said.
The man who spoke with the coastguard gave all the correct information and said nothing to set off alarm bells, the spokesman told the MailOnline.
‘On July 28, the ship literally disappeared - no communication, no data on its location, not from the owners, nor relatives, nor Lloyds,’ reported the Russian maritime journal Sovfracht.
‘This is the first time in modern times that we have ever heard of someone trying to take over a ship in northern European waters,’ the coastguard spokesman said.
Piracy is an increasing problem in international waters, but most attacks have taken place in the seas off the coast of Africa, Somalia in particular.
A Portuguese search plane is understood to have spotted the ship, though officials could not say when. Spanish officials said the ship had not passed through the Straits of Gibraltar.
Mikhail Voitenko, editor-in-chief of the Maritime Bulletin, told the ITAR-Tass agency: ‘It is absolutely impossible to capture the ship with some criminal purposes in European waters.
‘If the ship is not hidden somewhere in Europe currently it may be anywhere within the range of 3,000 to 3,500 miles. So, all communication means are switched off or destroyed aboard the ship and it is going in an unknown direction.’
Now the Russian navy has joined the search for the boat. ITAR-Tass says ships from Russia’s Black Sea fleet will begin searching for the Arctic Sea and its 15 Russian crew members beginning today.
Days earlier, on July 24, masked men who identified themselves as police officers briefly seized the ship in Swedish waters and beat up the crew.
But Swedish authorities said they hadn’t searched any ships.
Russian maritime expert Mikhail Voitenko said the ship’s cargo belonged to Finnish wood products giant Stora Enso Oyj and could be worth up to $1.5 million.
The ship, originally called Okhotsk, was built in 1991, has a Russian crew of 13 and is operated by a firm based in the Russian port of Arkhangelsk, according to data at the end of March.
Some of the earlier quoted reports in the Russian media stated there were 15 crew at the time of the boarding, and that the ship was transporting Finnish timber to Algeria. They also stated the earlier incident was being investigated in Sweden.
Have I missed something? If the ship was going from Finland to Algeria, why, when it was going through the Dover Straits, was it heading for the Baltic Sea, as the article says? Shouldn’t it have been going the other way towards the Atlantic?
- Roy, Bexhill, E. Sussex, 11/8/2009 18:31
There are also pirates within the UK coast robbing the taxpayer, their leader, Gordon, and his crew have a hideout somewhere in London. Their pirate ship is called the Expenses.
- G Brown, Manchester UK, 11/8/2009 17:34
So this ship was en route from Finland to Algeria, Scandinavia to Africa, but to complete this trip the crew went through the straits of Dover heading for the Baltic, no wonder they have gone missing.
- Martin, peterborough, cambs, 11/8/2009 17:20
Unless it’s been scuttled professionally, you do not lose something that big that easily - not with constant sat-recon going on........ But you CAN disguise it to look like something else. How about looking for a ship which has APPEARED from nowhere, instead......?
- Robert, Worcester UK, 11/8/2009 17:15
Posted by peiper
on 08/11/2009 at 01:09 PM
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Permalink • Wednesday - July 22, 2009
I Love Rich People
I love rich people. Because they can afford to hire me to do stuff for them.
I have yet to get a window cleaning job in the ghetto.
But to be fair and balanced, I will do the windows in a condo unit for as little as $50 if I don’t have to drive more than a couple blocks to do it.
But folks with money are my favorite kind of people. I just got back from giving an estimate on a lovely huge home. 100 windows, 20 large driveway lanterns, plus gutter cleaning. Cha Ching! And every window in the house is made by Marvin, which is the top of the line. And believe it or not, but quality glass cleans easier than the cheap stuff. I gave them a very competitive price, I think, and made my pitch that I deliver a superior service. I hope I get the job. I’m confident; I did her friend’s place the other week, and she’s happy with that, even though that was not a full service cleaning.
I found out what people do with too much house. They turn the third floor into a giant playroom, with a pool table, foozball table, giant hi-def TV with audiophile surround sound with electrostatic speakers and full-on gaming consoles, card tables and a bar, plus an indoor shuffleboard court inlaid into the parquet floor. Sweet! That leaves the sun room free to be turned into a gym with more exercise machines than at Jack LaLane’s. And just for fun they put in a spiral staircase up to the finished attic so Mr. Rich Guy can have some extra closet space. Mrs. Rich Lady tells me they’ve had a 4 year long improvement project going, and it’s just about done. Got that right. Even the 200 yard long driveway is entirely done in flagstones, and the pool house has a two bedroom apartment in it, just in case they have extra guests over and the 6 regular bedrooms aren’t enough. Yowsa. Poverty sucks.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/22/2009 at 01:00 PM
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Permalink • Monday - July 13, 2009
GORBALL WARMING, CLIMATE CHANGE THE LEFT AND ONE PO’d NEWSMAN SAYS ENOUGH TO BBC NEWS & QUITS
Just a touch of background. Peter Sissions is a newsman of many years and has worked for more then one outlet.
After being shot in both legs in 1968 while covering the Biafran War he was left less mobile and became industrial correspondent then industrial editor, reading headlines part-time. His first role as full-time anchor was for ITN’s News at One in 1978.
Here’s part of what this veteran newscaster wrote in the Sunday Mail.
One of the links on their site unfortunately isn’t working and I’ve spent the better part of an hour and a half trying to gather his stuff together and also copy from the paper some of what he said. Wasn’t easy for me but it’s well worth the trouble.
Peter Sissons: BBC standards are falling - and bosses are too scared to do anything about it.By Mail On Sunday Reporter
12 July 2009Peter Sissons, the veteran newsreader who announced his retirement last month, has launched a withering attack on the BBC - claiming standards have fallen and accusing producers of being too mired in political correctness to do anything about it.
He says: ‘At today’s BBC, a complaint I often heard from senior producers was that they dared not reprimand their subordinates for basic journalistic mistakes - such as getting ages, dates, titles and even football scores wrong - it being politically incorrect to risk offending them.’
The 66-year-old also pinpointed the exact moment he decided to leave BBC News as the day senior producers attempted to stop him asking Labour’s then deputy leader, Harriet Harman, why the Queen had not been invited to the D-Day commemorations in May.
‘The most senior of the producers asked me directly what other issues I would raise with Miss Harman.
No problem, until I mentioned the last question I wanted to get in: why the Queen had not been invited to the 65th anniversary commemoration of D-Day. The response shocked me. It was suggested that it was not a topic worth raising because it was only a campaign being run by the Daily Mail.’
However, the topic had angered veterans and the campaign had gathered huge public support.The presenter went ahead and asked the ‘obvious and important question’.
‘I drove out of Television Centre for the last time a month later, with not a pang of regret,’ he wrote in the Mail on Sunday.
His withering attack did not stop there. He went on to address the corporation’s view on global warming. He claims
It is ‘effectively BBC policy’ to ignore climate change sceptics.
He also claims it is now ‘effectively BBC policy’ to stifle critics of the consensus view on global warming. He says: ‘I believe I am one of a tiny number of BBC interviewers who have so much as raised the possibility that there is another side to the debate…
‘The Corporation’s most famous interrogators invariably begin by accepting that “the science is settled”, when there are countless reputable scientists and climatologists producing work that says it isn’t.
‘But it is effectively BBC policy… that those views should not be heard.’
The leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas, went into the studio at Westminster to be interviewed by me. She clearly expected what I call a “free hit” to be allowed to voice her views without being challenged on them.
I pointed out to her that the climate didn’t seem to be playing ball at the moment. We were having a particularly cold winter, even though carbon emissions were increasing. Indeed, there had been no warming for ten years, contradicting all the alarming computer predictions.
Well, she was outraged. Miss Lucas told me angrily that it was disgraceful that the BBC- the BBC! - should be giving any kind of publicity to those sort of views.
Politically the argument may be settled, but any inquisitive journalist can find ample evidence that scientifically it is not.
Posted by peiper
on 07/13/2009 at 09:12 AM
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Permalink • Monday - June 22, 2009
Son wants to work in dad’s business. Dad decides to train but wait. In the nanny state,,,,,
In the socialist paradise things are never simple.
I have to copy this darn thing out word for word. As usual, I can’t locate the link because the Telegraph didn’t put the story on line. I tried to Google the headline but got nowhere.
See if you don’t agree this deserves a major Moonbat of the year even before the year is done with us. If it’s accurate.
I don’t have problem where rules are in place for a reason, and reason prevails. But this article just blew me away with it’s unreasonable insanity.
Or maybe I missed something important. ??
SON NEEDS RISK SURVEY TO WORK FROM HOME
By Daily Telegraph ReporterA FATHER who works from home was told to carry out a “risk assessment” and pay £350 (almost $700) so his son could join him for work experience.
Derek Coyle, 45, a property developer, wanted his 15-year old son to spend two weeks working alongside him to learn about the family business.
Mr. Coyle was contacted by his local council which said he would have to have the family home risk assessed. Officials said he needed public liability insurance costing £350 for his son to work at the house, where he lives with his father.
Mr. Coyle said: “I wanted to show my own son the business for his work experience. He lives here anyway. But the council called and said they would have to assess our house for health and safety. It’s a total waste of taxpayers’ money, sending council officers out here to do that. On a day to day basis he would be at no more at risk than he would anywhere else.” His son was set to visit offices and building sites as part of his training.
A spokesman for Cornwall council said: “We are aware that legally a student can be placed with a parent for work experience without the usual insurance. But we follow national guidelines in the administration of our work experience scheme. The advice is that all placements should carry both employer’s liability and public liability insurance, including those with parents.
-30-
The article never did say how the council discovered the kid would be working with dad. So that leaves an unanswered question. Something or someone had to contact them to get this bru-haha started. Right?
I can see where on a construction site with tin hats etc. there could be concern about a possible accident. But this reports about a ‘risk assessment’ of their house. And I don’t understand that at all. It just smacks of the usual intrusive big brother situation.
Or maybe just another avenue to squeeze more money out of ppl.
Posted by peiper
on 06/22/2009 at 06:52 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - June 03, 2009
Laundry and then to bed. Again.
Me so tired. Wiped out. Heel pain. Hand cramps.
10 hours on the job today, playing hide ‘n go seek with the rain all damn day long. Spent more than half the day working inside, sweating gallons. Hotter than blazes. “Oh, we only turn the AC on when it gets really hot. We just stay downstairs until then.” Gee, thanks.
I’ve made a lot of progress, but I would have thought the job would have been done by now. First, the weather is just not cooperating. Pretty stupid being up on a ladder during a thunderstorm. So when it isn’t raining the humidity is a mere 99%, so I’ve been sweating buckets. Next, these windows are imported directly from Hell. 1920s vintage double hungs. Paint flaking, putty turning to dust, wood frames disintegrating from rot. Pollen and dust buildup enough to make the glass milky. Opaque! But the glass is clean now! But only after a major effort. Cleaning windows is one of those unwritten Labors of Hercules. And this crop is a problem child.
I just don’t get it. I use the best tools and the best cleaning solution, and I know what I’m doing. I follow good procedure, change my water often, rinse the scrubber often, put a new clean dry one on twice a day, new rubber in the squeegees, low dust paper towels, etc. And yet, I try to wipe these windows dry (good luck with that in this kind of humidity) and they smear. Paint dust? Did some fool use oil based putty? So I scrub them again. And again. And use Glass Perfect. And wipe, and follow with microfiber clothes. And maybe this time they won’t smear. Maybe they will.
I managed to get only 15 sides done today, plus a 50 pane french door. Pathetic. But those sides (one side = the inside of a double hung, all panes top and bottom plus it’s more modern storms, or the outside of a double hung plus it’s 1920’s hung from iron loops and nailed in place storm). were cleaned, scraped [ whoever painted, whenever, left all sorts of splatter ], cleaned again, usually recleaned, then wiped, polished an reinstalled. Oh, screens brushed and sills and surrounds scrubbed too.
Face the truth Drew: the only people who call in the professional window cleaners are the people whose windows are a cast iron bitch. Everybody else just uses Windex.
I have to learn to call it good enough, clean enough, and move on. It’s too easy to become really obsessive compulsive. Must fight that!
Posted by Drew458
on 06/03/2009 at 07:29 PM
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Permalink • Monday - June 01, 2009
Blogging Break
I won’t be around much for the next two or three days. I’ve got a nice big window job over on the other side of the state. So I’ll be off making money ... which will flow right through my checking account and out the other side to pay some bills. That’s life!
Since I’ll be getting up around 5am tomorrow to be on the job site well before 7am, and I’ll probably be working until 6:30, then trying to zoom back across the state in time to vote in the primary ... I won’t be bowling this week on my Tuesday night summer league. Instead I went and pre-bowled this afternoon. And I took a pretty big chance: I used a “new” ball without throwing any practice games with it. But it isn’t completely new, just suddenly different. Even after I had it resurfaced, my Ebonite Total NV was still going really long, so I had the alley guy drill a balance hole in it. A balance hole can actually be more like an “unbalance hole”, because it takes a bit of weight off the lighter side of the ball, which makes the heavy side relatively heavier, which makes it hook more. [ While bowling balls are round, they are not evenly balanced. These days they have computer designed weight blocks in them, which gives the ball an asymmetric balance ... which means it turns to the inside when you roll it. And if you put a bit of turn on it yourself when you roll it ( what bowlers call “rev” ) then it’s going to turn quite abruptly at some point in it’s roll. You want that to happen! ] So I took 4 practice throws with this ball, 2 per lane, and got 4 strikes in a row. Good enough! So I did my pre-bowling with the NV, and threw 182-226-198 for a 606. Which means I threw my 2nd 600 series in a row, after last week’s 660. Which I have never, ever, never done before. Pretty cool I think. And, since last week’s series shot my average up to 183, my hope is that this 19 over average, on average, series will be enough of a boost so that my team can beat the other team this week, in at least 2 of the 3 games. We’re playing that group of drunken college girls, back for another year of boys, booze, and bowling. And even though they are quite cute they still rather suck, which is why my team is giving them a 179 pin handicap, even though we have a vacant position on our team. Go team!
In other toothsome news, I never thought it was possible for any of these “internet models” to do their schtick, sans fabrique total, and not lose their innocence. I think I’ve been proven wrong. Yum. Talk about cute! It doesn’t get much better than this.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/01/2009 at 06:00 PM
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Permalink • Saturday - May 30, 2009
Not For Me
If any of my readers are plumbers, bless ‘em. This is not a career path I want to take.
Oh sure, I can solder. I can sweat pipe; it’s kind of fun. For the regular sized copper water pipes, you slap on a big blob of flux, push the coupler onto the end of the pipe, and hit the joint with a torch. When you hear the flux start to sizzle, you put the solder up against the join, and it goes right in. Let things cool for a minute, then clean up and cool down the joint with a damp rag. That’s the fun part.
Doing PVC pipe is a blast too. The glue and primer is rather stinky, but the pipes are easy to work with. And I’ve installed a couple of sinks, toilets, valves, faucets, etc, so I can handle that stuff. These are the clean jobs a plumber has to do, and they’re OK. Honest labor with a fair amount of know-how, and some regular problem solving to keep your mind alive. Neat. Cool. Fun.
Shit is the un-fun part. The dark side of the job. I got a call yesterday from the doctor’s office I clean on the weekends ... “Can you pick up a gallon of drain opener? This lab sink is really backed up.” Remember the other month when I had that “find the smell” job in the middle of the night? Same office. Same smell. It’s the lab sink. A 4” drain under a 50 gallon iron basin, God only knows what gets put in there, and I don’t think they’ve ever had a plumber in to clean it. Ever.
So I got down there, and pried the strainer off the sink drain. Solid black goo. Solid. And stank. Beyond belief! Knock your socks off, eye watering, nose hair toasting hell. Eff this, I’m getting a pipe snake. So I went down the street to the Home Depot ... and they had a $9 snake you could use by hand, a $25 snake that hooks up to your drill, a $150 gizmo that has it’s own drill motor attached, a $175 contraption that looked like a bigger version of the self-powered $150 gizmo, and a $425 unit for guys who want to be Mr. Roto-Rooter™. I picked up the $25 drill snake and got to work.
Dis-fucking-gusting. Horry Clap. No, not the mess in the drain. That was bad enough, and it took me 90 minutes to clean the line. The disgusting part was using the tool. You have to feed the snake in by hand, and move it back and forth by hand. And you need another hand to hold the cover/clutch unit still. And another hand to work the drill trigger to spin the snake. And the spinning snake tears up the fingers of the rubber gloves you’re wearing. And when the clog is dense, it takes 2 hands to move the snake around. So that’s about 4 hands, maybe 5, and I only have 2. And when you’re spinning the snake in the drain, and you back it off a bit so you can get a nice reaming action going, a couple feet of the shit covered snake comes out of your end of the drain. While the snake is spinning around. So, naturally, centripetal acceleration takes place ... and shit goes flying. Everywhere.
But to be fair, this wasn’t real shit. No, that would have been an improvement. This was the black lagoon fetid putrescent evil proto-lifeform sticky tarry uber-stank glop from hell kind of shit that only forms inside pipes that have had commercial chemicals and leftover sandwiches flushed down them for 30 years.
“Always wear gloves while using the Wonder-Spin drill snake” it says in the one paragraph of instructions. Yeah, wear gloves. Underneath your full body Haz-Mat suit, face shield, and gas mask. And now figure out a way to flush some of that ooze off of the snake before you feed it back into the casing, because you don’t want that stanky, ooze dripping tool going in your car trunk. Or even back into your garage. Hell, you don’t even want to touch it.
At the end, I got the drain clean. And I packed up the tool and threw it away. The snake was nearly broken, severely kinked in several places, and gross beyond imagination. The snake itself is a 1/4” diameter coil spring about 25’ long. And every single coil was hairy with the foulness and the entire thing was dripping. I bet there was a gallon of watery ick inside the spring coils. There’s really no way to clean it on the job site. You can’t run it under the faucet, because you’ve got the P-trap open. Besides, the snake is steel, which will scratch the sink enamel.
The better tool would be the $175 self contained power snake, which has an excellent reputation. [ and every review is the same: “First I tried a drill snake, and it sucked. I should have bought this the first time.” ] But I’d re-engineer that tool a bit, so that it had 2 garden hose couplings on the case, so that I could hook up a hose and clean most of the yuk off. Then maybe fill the case with motor oil or something to prevent rust. I dunno. But I gather this one is the proper tool to have if you have to do this awful task more than once in your lifetime.
But I got the drain clean, and I’ll charge them enough to cover my labor and expenses, and it still will come out to a lot less than calling in the professional drain guys. And I will cross off Plumber from my list of Careers I Might Want To Do.
Gross.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/30/2009 at 09:42 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - May 27, 2009
Retinoscopy Before Breakfast
Oooh, I’m such a little martinet. I woke my wife up this morning with eyeball questions. It’s gotten to the point where I already know what the answers are myself, so I don’t have to look anything up in the books. I peppered her with questions until she headed out the door to go to the office. And she got them all right, everything from knowing the downside to chemical sterilization (very expensive) to how to make the spare batteries for the retinoscope last longer (fridge) to what kind of patient is most affected by dilating drops (those with blue eyes). And a boxful of lensometer questions, along with the colors of various laser beams and which surgeries they’re used for, questions about troubleshooting the various testing machines, and the proper means of taking a patient’s history. How many multicolored caps in the Farnsworth Munsell 100 and the D-15 tests? (85 movable & 1 fixed, 15 movable) Ishihara’s color blindness plates. The Fly. What is a dichromat? And so on. I’d say all her ducks are in a row, shackled tight and marching in lock step. Super. She isn’t just going to pass this exam, she’s going to ace the thing. Yay!! Looks like the episode the other day was just cold feet.
When she gets home this evening, surprise! Here’s a pencil. Draw me a sideview of an eyeball, and identify everything. Now draw me a bird’s eye view of the head, and show and label all the optic pathways right back to ... which part of the brain was it again? And then draw and name all the eyeball muscles, and show me which way they move eye. Then we’ll go over the X steps of CPR until she gets them all in the proper order. That will be on the test, and it’s a big freebie if you have the steps memorized.
Little does she know that I bought her the study guide for the next level of certification exam as a birthday present. But from what I can tell, she’s already ready for it.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/27/2009 at 07:40 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - May 23, 2009
WHISTLE BLOWER WHO BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN SPEAKS.
OK, Not a rant on the subject by me. This is interesting but of course it’s the short version. I recommend the full one but wasn’t sure about posting the long one.
Here’s one thing I forgot to mention over the past week of gripes and complaints about the mugging of the public by their own elected representatives.
I was originally so concerned (still am) about the amounts these people were spending, that I forgot to tell BMEWS readers about a small and very chintzy bit of pass it to the taxpayer expense. Now get this.
These representatives of the people were so wrapped up in themselves, so cheap, so petty, in their eagerness to pass off EVERY little item, that some wanted small change back. Like, one person bought a stainless steel dog dish, another person claimed for a kitchen sink plug. Alright, I understand they might be due some expenses but jeesh. Wouldn’t you think that with what these folks get in perks alone, that they could afford those items without putting in a claim for them? And these aren’t the only two.
Finally, and this is sort of cake icing. Many MPs are returning the money in question where it’s been discovered they were not due the amount in question.
So then, is that money going back to the taxpayer? Will it end up in the treasury? Oh come on. Get effin real. Of course not.
It’s due to go back to the house (commons?) and be put back into the fund that funds .... EXPENSES. Ha!
LATEST NEWS
Expenses whistleblower: our rotten Commons
This link will take you to the full 8 minute interview. WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK
Posted by peiper
on 05/23/2009 at 03:30 AM
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Permalink • Friday - May 15, 2009
Squeegee In A Can
Want to get your windows nice and clean? Don’t want to pay me $10-$15 per window to do it for you? Don’t feel like building a whole collection of window cleaning tools? Here ya go. All you need is a bag of lint free rags.
I’m not really into doing product endorsements. I don’t get paid for it. But while I was giving a bid on a nice big house this week, the owner was telling me all about this amazing spray he used to use. How it’s really hard to find, and how it costs a good bit, but how well it really works. Ok, make nice with the potential customer. Sure Mr. B, it must be a great product if you like it. Pity I’ve never heard of the stuff, pity I’ve never seen it in any store or at any online cleaning supply company. So the old guy goes rummaging in his garage, and hands me a can. “Try this! It takes me 3 cans to do the entire house!” So I give him the bid - I’m pretty sure I’ll get the job - and I took the can of stuff home. Never heard of it.
I tried it this afternoon. I did a small store, about 300 square feet of annoying windows. Annoying, because they’re the old style with the fat rubber gaskets and the sectional screw on anodized aluminum frames. Plus the window sets are lozenge shaped. A 4 window set is a half round, 2 rectangular windows, and another half round. 4 sets like that, plus 2 glass double doors. Round windows are a chore.
So I got out my gear, 4”, 10”, 24” squeegees, short handle, medium handle, 6” T-bar, 15” T-bar, 4” razor scraper, bucket, trough, gallon of cleaner, towels, rags, microfiber cleaning cloths. And went to work. When I was all done, except for 1 window, I went back over both sides of each window with the Zep 40. It didn’t take off any more dirt, but it did make getting into the corners a bit easier. Then I cleaned one entire window with the Zep 40 first. It came out clean. No streaks, no drips. I went back over it with my T-bar and squeegee, and I couldn’t get any more dirt off. So my conclusion is that the stuff works just as well as using commercial window cleaning tools. And it doesn’t streak. At all. And that’s fantastic.
Zep 40 is a mixture of ether, isobutyl alcohol, and some other kind of degreaser, all watered down so that it isn’t even inflammable. It smells a little oily, so it’s best to use it outside.
The stuff comes in a big 24 oz can, about $90 per case of 12, delivered.
Is it worth it? Well, the same $90 buys you 2 squeegee handles, a 6”, 10”, 14”, and 22” squeegee channel with rubber, a 6” swivel T-bar and sleeve, a 15” swivel T-bar and sleeve, and 2 of the imported German microfiber polishing cloths. In other words, it’s almost everything you need other than poles, a bucket, some rags, and a scraper to set yourself up in the window cleaning business. Well, and some quality ladders and an insurance policy. PS - the 16” plastic windowsill planter at Walmart makes a superb trough for your T-bars.
Ok, is it faster using Zep 40 spray? Maybe a little. One thing it can’t do is cool down hot glass. In the summer I keep an extra bucket of plain old water on hand. Go over the window with a sopping wet T-bar and you can cool a big window down a lot. That way the soap doesn’t evaporate instantly and leave you with a mess.
What about cold weather? That’s where Zep 40 may have an advantage. It’s pretty tough washing windows in sub-freezing weather, but sometimes that’s what you have to do. This stuff has enough alcohol in it that it won’t freeze on contact. Heck, it says Cold Weather Formula right on the label. Maybe I’ll keep a few cans on hand come the fall. In the meantime, a gallon of denatured alcohol costs $15, and will do the same kind of final wipe thing for a lot more windows than a case of spray cans.
Zep 40 should be good to use on textured glass. You can’t clean that stuff with a squeegee. Spray it on, go over it with a stiff natural brush, wipe it dry. Done.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/15/2009 at 09:34 PM
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Permalink • Friday - April 24, 2009
Charity worker suspended for Christian beliefs on homosexuality.
Story is a week old by now but it sort of dovetails on a subject Drew brought up yesterday.
Seems like there’s only ONE opinion sought or paid heed to, and that’s the left and the homosexuals. I am aware that not all of them are left. Apparently there are a number who regard themselves as conservative republicans. ??? I don’t quite understand that connection.
Anyway ... people either lose beauty pageants or jobs without the required one way opinion.
Charity worker suspended for Christian beliefs on homosexualityby:
Ruth GledhillA charity worker has been suspended after telling a colleague about his Christian beliefs against homosexuality, even though he says he is not homophobic and was merely responding to questions from a colleague about his beliefs.
David Booker, 44, who works at a Christian hostel in Southampton, a charity, was asked about his faith by a colleague, Fiona Vardy during a late shift last month.
He told her he was opposed to same-sex marriages and to homosexual clergy but denied being homophobic and said that he had homosexual friends.
The next evening, Mr Booker was suspended from his £19,000-a-year post as a hostel support worker with Society of St James, where he has been employed for the last four years. The hostel told him the action was taken for “events that happened last night”.
A few days later he was told he had “seriously breached” the charity’s code of conduct “by promoting your religious views which contained discriminatory comments regarding a person’s sexual orientation”. The action had been taken “to safeguard both residents and staff”, he was advised.
Mr Booker, an evangelical from Southampton, who is being advised by the Christian Legal Centre, now faces an enquiry and a disciplinary hearing.
It comes just weeks after a Christian nurse suspended for offering to pray for the recovery of a patient was reinstated. North Somerset NHS Trust suspended nurse Caroline Petrie for failing to show a commitment to equality and diversity after she offered to pray for the recovery of an elderly patient. The patient did not complain.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “This case shows that in today’s politically correct, increasingly secularised society, even consenting reasonable discussion on religion between two employees is being twisted by employers to discriminate and silence the Christian voice and freedom of expression.”
Do any of you reading this get the feeling as I did, that the guy was set up? I’m thinking that the person who engaged him in this conversation and already knew his views, knew what answer she’d get and so then shopped him. Just a theory.
Posted by peiper
on 04/24/2009 at 01:03 PM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • Religion • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Thursday - April 23, 2009
ALL IS WELL AS THE HEALTH AND SAFETY MOONBAT CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN.
I’ve banged on enough in the past about this topic but far from through sharing the lunacy.
So without further ado lads and lassies .... eers to yer elth ...
What a joke! Now health and safety bans circus clown from wearing his big, floppy shoes
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:00 AM on 23rd April 2009Roll up, roll up! The health and safety circus has come to town.
And it has made one clown very sad indeed.
Valerik Kashkin has been told by his bosses that he can no longer wear his giant comedy shoes because they are a health risk.
Mr Kashkin was performing in Britain with the Moscow State Circus a week last Saturday when, while wearing the shoes, he fell from a 10ft-high wire, hurting his left foot.
He continued with the show in Liverpool’s Sefton Park but was still in pain and when he went to hospital later that evening he was told he had broken his metatarsal bone.
After a week’s recovery he returned to the circus but was told by management that his size-18 clown shoes compromised his health and safety and would have to go.
In his routine, Mr Kashkin - who has been described as a Buster Keaton-type performer - dresses himself first while walking on a wire, then within a hoop of fire, and plays a drum-kit, trumpet and double-bass all at the same time.
The 40-year-old, from Temruk, in Russia, said: ‘The shoes are an important part of my costume, and I was disappointed to be told I couldn’t do this part of my act.
‘I feel fine, and think I could do it in the shoes - the impact might be lost on the audience now.
Posted by peiper
on 04/23/2009 at 06:08 AM
Filed Under: • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Wednesday - April 22, 2009
It’s a plumb job
I get to work as a plumber today. And as a display case builder. Hey, anything for money. I’ll be back later.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/22/2009 at 12:56 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Thursday - April 02, 2009
Drew, bulk mail, and the Post Office
Instead of replying to each post on Drew’s article “San Francisco Passes “Do Not Mail” Resolution” (especially since Drew decided to not respond to any of my points in his response to my response…) I decided to just write an op-ed.
First, the USPS is losing money. Last year was bad. Each time the gas price goes up 1¢ the USPS shells out another $1 million/day. Unlike our competitors, like FedEx, UPS, etc, the USPS is not allowed to own their own aircraft. Without its own airfleet, the USPS cannot contract for ‘bulk’ fuel. USPS contracts with private airlines to carry mail. Add in gassing up the semi-trucks, and even my own route van, you’ve a huge cost right there.
And, yes Drew, when you and I were children postage was five cents. Gas was also 19¢. And back then, postage was subsidized by the taxpayers. Postage rates haven’t been taxpayer-subsidized since 1983.
There is no reason on earth why the Post Office should essentially underwrite commercial advertising.
The Post Office does not underwrite commercial advertising. The Post Office and its customers negotiate bulk rates, as all businesses do. Bulk rate mail gets discounted in a variety of ways:
Volume discount.
Reduced service. Bulk mail is not forwardable, for instance.
Longer time-frame for delivery. Delivery is not guaranteed within _ days.
Unlike Drew, who seems to,
I think of trees as a crop. We can always plant trees. In fact, the lumber industry does just that. The lumber industry wants a crop to harvest in the future. Trees are truely a ‘renewable resource’. So attacking bulk business mail on that front is ridiculous. Rather like ‘think of the grass’ each time you mow your lawn.…think of the trees, etc
If you have a problem with receiving bulk mail, it’s probably not the Post Office you have the problem with. It’s the marketers who sell their customer address lists to each other. That’s right, businesses sell your personal info, such as–Name, Address, Phone #, Buying habits–without your permission.
This can be stopped now. No laws necessary. All you have to do is contact the Direct Marketing Association, either by phone (212.768.7277, ext. 1888) or on their website (https://www.dmachoice.org/dma/static/learn_more.jsp).
The fact is, business mail, bulk or otherwise, is important to the economy. The Direct Marketing Association says this:
Why Do Not Mail Bills Are Bad Public Policy
To many consumers and policymakers, Do Not Mail bills may sound like an idea whose time has come. However, learning even a little about advertising mail and direct marketing quickly reveals the many problems that Do Not Mail registries would create.
* Advertising mail is a large and diverse economic engine creating $686 billion of economic activity annually that would be adversely affected by even just one bill becoming law. Businesses both large and small rely on advertising mail to provide consumers with information, announcements and savings opportunities. Additionally, millions of jobs are dependent on advertising mail and direct marketing - from copywriters in ad agencies to rural letter carriers in remote corners of a sparsely populated state.
* Advertising mail provides consumers with a convenient marketplace and an easy connection to local goods and services. As well, it provides significant necessary revenues that help fund the services offered by local post offices.
* Advertising mail often can level the playing field between large and small business. It offers a cost-effective entry into new markets for small businesses looking to introduce themselves to local customers. These businesses would be seriously disadvantaged without access to advertising mail to reach potential customers. Further, advertising mail offers larger businesses, who often bring jobs to small towns and rural areas, a way to reach broader audiences.
* Legislation is not needed to provide consumers with options for removing their names from marketing lists. Consumers have a variety of choices ranging from contacting an individual company, to registering their name with DMAchoice.
Keeping a strong and vital postal system is a great advantage to consumers by maintaining competition in the package delivery market. On-line commerce is reliant on package delivery and a competitive postal system helps keep shipping rates affordable.
Keep in mind that we are currently in a recession, though el presidente Hussein seems hell-bent on causing an actual depression. With that in mind, let us not hamstring businesses from advertising the cheapest way possible.
Or get government out of the private sector entirely and let UPS or somebody else do the job ... faster, and for less.
The Constitution authorizes Congress to ‘establish Post Offices’. Now, I daresay that Congress could do a better job IF they ignored the politics. Example, the Post Office has just eliminated/restructured many of it’s ‘districts’. My district was one that was eliminated. Doesn’t effect me as a ground-pounder, but does effect several mid-upper level management positions. Well and good, until you read the fine print. Seems that those districts that most needed to be eliminated had very strong congressional support for keeping them. Therefore, the inefficient, bloated districts are staying put.
Congress could also repeal the private express statutes. These are the laws that effectively make the Post Office a monopoly. They basically say that, yeah, it’s your mailbox, but the Gov’t owns the space inside it. Therefore nobody but the Gov’t mailman can put mail in your mailbox. These laws date from the 1880’s.
The plus: competition in mail delivery. Better service!? Maybe.
The minus: numerous. From having however many private mailmen walking across your lawn, to, well:
Example. The USPS was experimenting with ‘contracting out’ mail delivery to private companies a couple of years ago. This was in high volume big cities like LA and Miami, FL. The private companies bid for the contracts and the low bid won. So far, so good.
Then the private companies turned around and hired people off the street to do the mail deliveries. These ‘street people’ not only failed to deliver the mail in a timely fashion, many times they didn’t deliver it at all. Several of these ‘temporary hires’ were video-taped dumping the mail. Several have been charged and convicted of identity theft. Several more were illegal aliens. Sometimes they were the same.
It’s easy to bash the Postal Service because who else can you bash? You don’t hear about the FedEx screwups. Why? Because I (the USPS mailman, who’s there every day and knows the people by name) usually flag down the FedEx (or UPS) driver and tell them that ‘Hey, you left a parcel at a vacant house.’ Or ‘Hey, you left a package for a person who moved last month.’
Even more frequent are customers who try to refuse/return a FedEx or UPS parcel to me. I tell them to call whichever company delivered it. If I take it, they’ll have to pay postage. The fact is, Drew, that I, as a mailman, have over 700 deliveries a day, every day. UPS drivers don’t even come close. They just deliver parcels. If they had to go door-to-door each day it would cost them, and therefore you and me, just as much. And UPS charges a premium for Saturday delivery. I don’t know about FedEx.
Now, let me tackle the so-called cheaper e-commerce. Yes, I suppose it is cheaper to receive and pay your bills over the internet. Or is it? The ability to do that involves a large initial capital outlay, and indeed a constant monthly outlay. In otherwords, you have to be able to purchase a computer, and purchase internet access. Just using myself as an example, my initial capital outlay was $1600. This bought an iMac and an inkjet printer. The printer immediately decided to clog up. Sigh.
Now, for internet access I need either a landline phone, which I have at $22/mo, or a cable connection. I don’t have cable because of its humongous cost vs. benefit. So landline it is. Adding broadband to my landline was another $25/mo. Total, just for internet access PER MONTH is $47. See, I’d can the landline since the wife and I have cellphones now. But I can’t if I want internet access.
Now, that’s me, and no doubt the average BMEWS reader. I can afford it. Note that I’ve not even mentioned, until now, ‘the poor’. Can ‘the poor’ afford the initial capital outlay and the monthly internet bill? Without some sort of government subsidy?
The answer is no.
Also, e-commerce presupposes things like electricity being available and relatively cheap.
Availablility: The remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through Dayton last year and caused much damage. Parts of the city were without power for over three weeks. Can’t pay your bills online without power.
Cheap: el presidente Hussein is going to ensure that power is forever out of reach with is Gorbal Warming Cap-&-Trade policies. I daresay that part of Hussein’s goal is to shut down dissent on internet sites like BMEWS by making power too expensive to maintain a blog.
Miscellaneous items:
SwedeBoy mentioned
Stopping Junk Mail is only part of the Problem.
The Local Fishwrap has a “Shopper” hand Delivered.
There is no way to Stop it.
They will not comply with requests to discontinue Delivery.
The Bundle is Dumped on your driveway and Piles up if you are on Vacation.
I view this as a Security Issue as Much as a Waste Issue.
All the Burglars just look for the Piles to know you are Not at Home.
Indeed. This is one of the problems that third-party mailers discovered back in the early 90s. Several magazines like Time, Newsfreak… er… Newsweek, etc, got together to find a cheaper way of delivery. They contracted with private firms, who hired day workers to deliver the goods. I can’t tell you all of the times I remember stepping over a plastic bag with several magazines laying in the middle of driveways and lawns. My guess is that many customers were not enthused either.
I have much the same problem with our newspaper. All I ask is that they get it on the porch. Not on the driveway, not in the flowerbeds, not in the bushes, not on the sidewalk, etc. Yet, at least once a month I have to call up the newspaper and threaten them: “I’m a mailman, how would you like it if I just threw your mail in the yard, driveway, bushes, flowerbeds, sidewalk? All I ask is that you get it on the porch!”
And, at this time of year, don’t forget those phone books that are thrown on your driveway, in your bushes, in your flowerbeds, etc. I’ve several vacant homes that have multiple years of phonebooks on the porch. These same homes have been ransacked for copper piping, used for drug dens, etc.
Peiper, the Forever stamps came out a couple of years ago during a past postage increase. The Forever stamps say Forever on them and have a picture of the Liberty Bell. They are ALWAYS good for the one-ounce First-class letter rate, regardless of the current postage rate. You buy Forever stamps today at 42¢ and a hundred years from now they (theoretically) will still be good for the going rate of $42. 
My bottom line is this. There are two Constitutional duties of Congress, the Military, and the Post Office. There is massive fraud and waste in both. That is the fault of Congress.
Now, if I were President, the first order of business would be to abolish all government unions…
Posted by Christopher
on 04/02/2009 at 10:22 AM
Filed Under: • Big Business • Economics • Government • Personal • Politics • work and the workplace •
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
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- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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