Monday - February 15, 2010
The Not So Great White Hunter
UPDATE:
So I go and get some traps, and they’re really cheap. 4 for $1.96, so I bought a dozen. Take the traps and the peanut butter down there and set up shop. I had all the traps out, baited, and set, and lined up all nice. And then the entire staff there turned into diaper wetting liberal crybabies. “No, you can’t do that!” “Oh, that’s so cruel! I’m gonna call PETA!” “I’m not touching that!” “Eeew, there’s gonna be splat all over!”
I can’t believe it. Grown men. They ran and told Doctor on me. What a bunch of titty babies. Ok, call me sexist, but I can accept if the women there want no part of it. And I can also slightly accept that they wanted some kind of invisible solution. Like those $40 traps that keep the dead mouse inside, so you don’t seem them. Wish they’d told me that. But men being too squeamish for this? When all you have to do is get out the broom and the dustpan and sweep them into the trash can? Horry clap. Such a bunch of dandies.
So it turns out that no one there is going to check the traps or --eeeewww-- pick one up and dispose of a dead mouse. Not even with exam gloves on. So I have to go down there each morning. Hey, extra money for me.
I think I’ll hunt up one of those DIY Wanted Dead or Alive posters, and a picture of old Mickey. Too bad I don’t have a rubber stamp, so I could keep a dead mouse tally. If I get 5 that makes me an ace, right? 
I get a phone call from the receptionist at the doctor’s office I work for.
“We have mice!! Eww Ick!! Come get rid of them!”
Mice? Are you sure it isn’t just one?
“No, we caught one in a bag last week and let him go, and now we’re seeing droppings all over the place. They were all around the coffee pot this morning. Do something!!”
Well, do you want me to use a bag as well, or would a less humane method be acceptable?
“I don’t care. Just get them out of here. We can’t have mice running around and pooping on everything the patients might be coming into contact with.”
Oh boy! I’ve got visions of caffeine crazed mice zooming around the office at 100mph. This is gonna be fun. Mouser. It’s just one more hat for me to wear.
Mus Musculus, the “little thief”, the common house mouse. If you have a crack in your foundation big enough to stick your finger in, you probably have some living in your home. And where there is one mouse, there are two. And where there are two, there are soon 50, since the little horrors can start breeding at 29 days old. Breed like rats? Hell no. Mice out breed rats 3 to 1.
I like mice. I think they’re cute. Field mice are lovely little fellows, brown on top and white underneath. I had 2 mice as pets when I was a small boy. Crossbred lab mice. We used to make mazes for them to run in, and timed them and kept the results in a log book. Hey, I had scientists as parents, what did you expect me to do? One of them lived almost 2 years, which is impressive as most mice in the wild average about 7 months.
But the wild ones are pests when they get into your home. Or your office. The mice themselves don’t do very much damage unless you’ve got an army of them inside the walls, but they poop constantly. Like 70-100 times a day, little black grains of “rice” everywhere. And if they have fleas, well, those could carry plague, right? So the mice have to go. It’s time for Mickey to die.
So I look online to see if there’s anything new in mousetraps. I don’t like the sticky kind. I think they are cruel. Catch ‘em and kill ‘em. Make it quick and sure. Good old Victor is still in business, the original mousetrap, still made from a couple bits of bailing wire stapled to a little piece of scrapwood lathe. But now they have an “easy set” version. Why? What for? The old metal tongue trap was perfectly simple to set. I could do it when I was 5. Oh, is it too sensitive? Duh, it’s a trap, they’re suppose to act that way! But you can still find them around, along with the new easy set model. And now there are aesthetic models too, where you don’t have to see the mouse. Silent models where you won’t hear him getting whacked. Electronic traps, for only $100. Holds 10 mice at once! Yeah, just what I want. 9 dead mice mouldering in a trap while I wait for the 10th one to overcome the stench and go for that bit of cheese. Nope, if I can’t take my .22 and a flashlight, I’ll set plain old Victor traps. 75¢ each when you buy a boxful.
And now there is a new contender. TomKat brand traps. I dunno. So ... this is the 21st century, I’m sure there are online reviews. There are, and every one says that the Victor is still the best thing going.
So tomorrow I’ll go by a dozen traps and head down there with a jar of peanut butter. Cheese is so 1890. Soap works too. Mice used to eat the Castile soap in the basement when I was a kid. Little pieces of apple or banana work as bait, but they don’t last. Nothing beats good old peanut butter. I prefer chunky, but I don’t think the mice really care. So I’ll set 10 around the lab, another one in the bathroom by the floor drain, and one or two up in the ceiling. I’ll check the doodies to make sure they’re small. If they are big, like 1/2” long and a bit thicker, that means rats. And rats are a whole different level of pest. For which I’ll charge a lot more money.
I’ll draw the lab guys a map, and tell them to check the trapline every day, or when they hear a snap. It’s a quick few bucks for me, but I think of it more as fun.
I’ll get them one of those big plastic boxes with the snap lid to keep all their snacks and stuff in too. And I’ll even check to make sure the mice aren’t actually living inside their cereal boxes. Which mice love to do. They might be inquisitive, but making a nest in the middle of their food supply is their idea of heaven.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/15/2010 at 09:41 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (8)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - February 11, 2010
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE MAD TO WORK HERE …. SHORT BUT TELLING COMMENT ON OUR WORLD
This is just a very short item at the bottom of his article. You might call it an aside and a telling one at that.
Snapshot reveals the increasingly tangled web
Martin Waller: City Diary
I tiptoe uneasily into this one, well aware that it will generate plenty of hate mail.
The US Department of Justice is advertising for as many as ten “experienced attorneys” for its Civil Rights Division, which enforces laws preventing discrimination. The Civil Rights Division encourages “qualified applicants with targeted disabilities” to apply.
Targeted disabilities include deafness, blindness, missing limbs, etc, and “mental retardation, mental illness . . .” Yes, I know, in a civilised society everyone should have a chance. But actively seeking a lawyer who suffers from mental retardation? It gives a whole new meaning to the cliche “you don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps”. Hate mail to the usual address, please.
Posted by peiper
on 02/11/2010 at 09:57 AM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Stoopid-People • USA • work and the workplace •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Sunday - January 31, 2010
work work work
Home again from my Sunday maintenance job. Had to put in a new toilet seat today. That really isn’t a hard job, especially if you clean the thing first. And while no one has yet invented a strong enough bolt to secure the seats that doesn’t corrode, once you get the wrench on they usually come right off. A touch of Kroil or some WD-40 loosens up the nuts most of the time. If it was up to me, I’d design some sort of compressible nylon collar that fits in the holes in the bowl and keeps the bolts centered. Those holes are all made to a common size and spacing, so it should do the job. Then I’d put in a grade 8 stainless steel bolt with a nylock nut. Brass corrodes, plain steel rusts, nylon bolts snap and the threads pull off. And bad bolts give you wobbly seats. Wobbly seats are annoying, which always leads somebody to tighten the heck out of them, which bends the bolts or over stretches them so that they later snap. Let’s face it, most toilet seats aren’t made to actual commercial spec. They’re semi-disposable, which fits the price bracket of $15-$30. That’s a shame. I’d rather pay $50 and have one that lasts several decades.
But I sure would like to find a good brand that holds up. I’ve put in American Standards with both brass and chrome fittings. 3 years, tops, and they’re dead. I put in a top of the line Bemis, one of those Slo-Close models that take the lid down slowly. $45, and within 6 months the chrome was pitted all over. After a year the Slo-Close feature stopped working. But the worst part is the finish. This Bemis was a painted wood seat, and the paint used is not at all durable. I’m not expecting it to be impervious to toilet cleaner - which is usually a pretty strong acid - Ok, I am actually expecting that, because, come on, what do you think toilets get cleaned with anyway? No, the finish on this one didn’t even stand up to Windex. Within a year it developed blue stains all over the underside of the lid. Not what I’d call quality.
So today I went to Lowe’s and found an all plastic Kohler. $20. Solid plastic seats hold up to the cleaners much better than painted wood. This one has steel bolts with plastic nuts, so we’ll see how it lasts. I’m betting on a year. The downside to most all plastic seats is that the lid is usually too light to work as an actual seat. Sure, sure, they’re not designed that way you say, but they really ought to be. Let’s face it, sooner or later you’re going to find yourself using the toilet as a seat. Unless you’re rather well off, and have a bathroom big enough for an actual chair or two. Sure, I keep mine in there too, next to the table by fire place, right alongside the tame cheetah and the indoor waterfall. Yeah, right.
The one brand of seats that I have found that holds up is made by Church. They live up to their slogan “the best seat in the house”. All plastic, heavy weight, big solid hinge pin. Brass bolts I think, but pretty robust ones. It’s about as commercial weight as you the homeowner is going to find. That’s the 380TC for the closed front residential model with a lid, $50. Slo-Close, $55 in colors. The commercial, lidless open front model is the 9500, $40. You will not find either of these at your local Big Box home repair store. Home Depot carries both models, in colors, online only, for a huge mark-up. Get yours at PaulSupply for almost half HD’s price.
But when it’s Sunday afternoon, and you have to put on a new seat RIGHT NOW, you take what you can find. At the closest place that’s open. And hope for the best.
PS - to my not-really surprise, it turns out that most of the name brands of toilets and toilet seats are all actually the same company. Bemis owns Church, although they used to be owned by American Standard. Church appears to own Eljer and one or two other specialty brands.
Horry Clap, I saw a $942 Kohler toilet for sale at Lowe’s. Recession? What recession? And Kohler really isn’t the real top of the line in porcelain water chairs. There are high end brands that sell for 5 times that, and that’s not even including the electronics. Yes, electronic toilets. I am not kidding.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/31/2010 at 07:10 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (10)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Tuesday - January 19, 2010
The Continuiing Adventures of Windo Gai
So I get a call from my doctor customer. The guy I do weekend cleaning and maintenance for. “Can you replace some light bulbs for us? Bring a ladder” Sure, Ok. So I head down there and find out that it’s a street light in their parking lot that needs some attention. I’ve seen the private property street lamps before. Anodized aluminum box up on a square pole, usually about 16 feet tall. Fine. No worries. So I get out my 27 foot extension ladder, and set it up, and up it goes. And keeps going. And going. This is not a 16’ lamp pole. It’s a 30 foot pole. Yikes. So I set the base in close, a little too close for safety, and up the ladder goes me, the monkey. That’s when I found out that to my surprise, a hollow core 4x4 rusted steel square pole is actually quite whippy! So I’m 20+ feet off the ground, and the pole is going harmonic as a Honer. Eff uck dis! So it’s back down the ladder and get out my cinch straps. I lashed the ladder to the pole at about 8 feet and then again at about 20 feet. Cranked it down tight, and that took a whole lot of boingy-boingy out of things. Up the ladder again, and now it’s time to bend out into space to reach the underside of the light fixture. Turns out these boxes have a trapdoor plate underneath that holds the lens. To my delight they’re put together with a wire hinge on one end, and the trapdoor is held in place with 4 Dzus screws. Give each one a quarter turn and they unlock, and the trapdoor opens. The glass of course is utterly filthy, but now I can get at ... almost get at ... the bulb. And it’s a standard one. Amazing. Takes a 400 watt high pressure sodium. Which is pretty much the John Holmes of light bulbs, a glass cucumber about a foot long (including the base) and about 2 1/2” inches across. Comes out just fine. Now, where do I go to buy a new one?
I tried the local lighting store. They had every kind of chandelier and carriage lamp you could imagine, and I saw some awesome low voltage under cabinet lights that were only 3/8” thick. But no HPS bulbs. And no T7 exit sign bulbs, which was another thing that needed doing. So it was off to Home Depot down the street. Home Depot has everything, if you know where to look. The clerks didn’t know. I got there at the dead time of day, around 4:15pm, so I had 2 clerks working for me. She was trying to find me 4 of the exit sign bulbs ( which are like aquarium bulbs but use an even smaller base, and they only pull 20 watts ), while he was digging through the dust covered industrial light bulb section. She managed to get me 3 bulbs, but their cards were already opened, so she stapled them closed and only charged me for 2. He brought me a mercury vapor bulb. No, that’s not it. I need a high pressure sodium bulb. He brought me a 400 watt metal halide bulb. Mmmm, metal halides. I loves me them things, but it wasn’t what I needed. Finally he just gave up and walked away. I found the bulb I needed, hiding in a corner, unpacked in it’s case of 3. I had him open it and I bought one. $22. For one light bulb. And I’ll cut the guy some slack; the package label was in French and Spanish. So I got that stuff, and 4 par-38 outdoor floods that they also needed.
Back to the doctor’s office, which is only half a mile up the road. Oh good, nobody has stolen my ladder. Back up the ladder, while the wind is picking up and it’s just about ready to rain. And the cars go zooming by on the highway. Oh, did I forget to mention that I’m pretty much leaning out over traffic doing this, because his office is only a couple feet from the edge of the busiest local highway in the county? Sorry. So I get my screwdriver, get the bulb, and carefully time my steps back up the ladder. Because you want to move in time with the oscillations. I feel I’m starting to understand how those old time sailors felt. So I get up to the top, hang onto the pole with one hand, lean back and reach out with the bulb in my other hand, and ... there’s this Chunk! Brrrzzzzz! noise. I missed my window of opportunity by about a minute, and now the ballast has turned on. Ok, maybe it is safe to hold onto a metal pole (possible ground) while screwing in a glass lightbulb (insulation, right) which is almost surrounded by a minimal clearance metal reflector. But I’m not taking chances. A 400w high pressure sodium bulb has a crystal core in about the size and shape of a pencil. That’s the part that ignites. How many farads and how many hundred/thousand volts does that take? I have no idea, and I don’t want to provide any electrons an easier path. So I go back down the ladder once again, and have the guy inside figure out what breaker it is and turn it off. Klank! All the lights in the parking lot go off. Great! Back up the ladder, and then Allen sticks his nose out the office door “I’m not sure I turned off the right one. Maybe they’re all resetting. Let me throw another one.” “Allen, no, it’s off, I can tell!” “No, I’ll figure it out!” So back up the ladder again, right up to the top, start reaching out to the turned off lamp unit ... and the office sign, a billboard sized light up affair right next to this street light, goes out. And then Chunk! Brrrrzzzz! and the ballast is back on. AAAAAALLLLLEEEENN!! Geex. Finally got that straightened out, went back up the pole for the 4th or 5th time, screwed in the new bulb, then overcame the challenge of locating the rusty Dzus fasteners in the dusk, and got them all back in. And I even managed to clean the glass, although all the years worth of crap rained right down on me. But after I flipped the proper breaker back on, my lamp lit right up, like a big orange star. Cool.
Spent another 45 minutes replacing the par-38 floodlamp bulbs outside, then trying to put new bulbs in the Exit signs. Those signs were junk to begin with, and these ones are 25 years old. The plastic is falling apart in my hands. So I got 3 out of 4 dead bulbs replaced, and held the red plastic together with some scotch tape. Good enough to keep the fire marshal happy.
Going up that damn bouncy rusty pole at dusk, messing with a zillion volts just as it starts to rain, and hunting down weird-ass light bulbs. For all this, I’ll charge him $60. My bet is a service call from the “pros”, who would show up with their truck and a cherry picker rig, would have set him back $300. Minimum. Plus parts at a huge markup.
So that was my adrenaline rush for the day. It’s almost funny now that I’ve had a half a coffee mug of Grouse on the rocks. Swaying around a couple feet in the breeze wasn’t funny then though. Now to turn on the TV and see if we’ve got MA election results trickling in yet.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/19/2010 at 06:35 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (8)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - January 15, 2010
Too much for me
That’s a heck of a big job for 6 guys. I’d call it lifetime employment. Especially since the ropes would wear out before they were finished even once. Splat. Hanging from a rope 2200 feet up, not even a boatswain’s chair, no shade and everything wet and slippery is not my idea of a good time.
And, of course, long before they were done they’d half to start all over again.
Looks to me like they’re using the deionized water method. It works great, but it uses a whole lot of water, and it’s mighty expensive. Given this building’s location, they’d want to heat the water up to around 130-140°F so as not to stress the sun heated glass. And that means a pretty large built in system. So I’m fairly amazed that the Burj Dubai didn’t build in an automatic cleaning system like other modern buildings use; they’ve already got the hard part installed.
I wonder what the glass life on that building is specified as? All that sand blowing around. Maybe they’ve put in some special coating or something? I have no idea.
Oh, and the naughty little music hall ditty was done by George Formby, recorded in 1936. I think I should learn the words, especially the more risque verses not sung in this recording. I didn’t even know there was a window cleaning song!
Posted by Drew458
on 01/15/2010 at 12:17 PM
Filed Under: • Humor • work and the workplace •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Sunday - January 03, 2010
ANOTHER WORD BANNED? YUP. “ MOTORIST “ TO BITE THE DUST. HEY, I JUST PASS THIS STUFF ON.
I’d bet money that not one single person at this site is surprised in any way. And that fact alone says how bad things have become. Surely there should be some things we can look at and be surprised by. But these days? Now if this isn’t stupid and made up by folks with nothing to do, I don’t know what else is.
And they get paid! These loooney tunes get a salary. Or the quango that dreams it up. Was a time ppl like this would be tossed out on,, wait. No. Was a time they’d have never thought of it and if they did they’d be laughed at.
There might be a few things here that make sense, but overall? Don’t think so.
Highways Agency staff told not to use word ‘motorists’
Government officials have banned Highways Agency staff from using the word ‘motorist’, saying they should say ‘road user’ or ‘driver’ instead.
By Ben Leach
03 Jan 2010The edict is included in a lengthy set of guidelines issued by the Agency, setting out what language its employees should and should not use. Other terms to be avoided include “winter maintenance”, “off-peak hours” and “the travelling public”.
The move has brought an angry response from motoring campaigners.
“We’ve had years of increases on fuel duty and policies that have worsened road travel for the majority of people because ministers are wedded to the idea that public transport is good, while most forms of private transport are bad.”
James May, the television presenter, called the guidance a “complete waste of time and money”.
“It’s pretty preposterous,” he said. “It’s not the Government’s job to tell their staff how to speak. They should tell them not to be racist or not to incite murder, but not the correct word for someone who happens to be in a car. For God’s sake, we’re all grown-ups.
“The word ‘motorists’ covers people driving cars very well. Admittedly it doesn’t cover people on bicycles but then we have the word ‘cyclists’ for that, and ‘pedestrians’ for people who are walking.
“They’re very useful words with very definite meanings that have been worked out over many centuries so I’m quite happy to stick with them. With the weather we’ve been having they should spend the money on some more salt.”
Asked to justify the ban on “motorists”, a spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said: “The dictionary definition of a motorist is a car driver. As an agency we target all road users, including those in vans, buses and on motorcycles, not just those that travel in cares. The word ‘driver’ is a more inclusive term.”
The Highways Agency lexicon, released by the Department for Transport in response to a Freedom of Information request, also suggests that staff required to write about roadworks should avoid the word “works” as a general term and instead “describe what is happening so the reader can visualise it”.
Under a section entitled “Words and phrases to avoid” the guidelines state: “Don’t slip into jargon by thinking that’s how it ‘ought to’ be said. We are trying to get away from agency speak. Think of our customers out there on the network.
“Above all, if a word or phrase doesn’t make sense, or if it seems wrong, then don’t ignore it. Question it.”
The five-page note to Highways Agency staff advises that the phrase “winter maintenance” should be replace with “agency winter services”, “off-peak hours” with “outside of peak hours” and “the travelling public” with “road users”.
“Speed up” should be dropped in favour of “accelerate” and “manned” in favour of “staffed”.
The rule book also advises staff to avoid using “access” (to be replaced by “travel to"), “carriageway” ("lanes"), “improving congestion” ("reducing congestion") and “improve safety” ("make the route safer").
It also includes sections entitled: “How do we sound human?”, “How do we sound helpful?” and “How do we sound active?”
Guidance in the first section includes: “Empathise with your reader. Acknowledge their feelings and show we have them too,” “Include references to our concern for the environment where appropriate,” and “Choose active verbs to make us sound involved. Passive words can make us seem more distant.”
Meanwhile, staff at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have been told not to use the word “unfortunately” along with the phrases “I’m afraid ...”, “not possible” and “I can’t”.
Other words and phrases to be avoided include “no problem”, “yeah”, “bear with me”, “What’s your problem?” “I will pop you on hold”, “maybe”, “probably” and “basically”.
SOURCE
Posted by peiper
on 01/03/2010 at 12:49 PM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •
• Comments (9)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Sunday - December 13, 2009
On the threshold of madness
"Find yourself a Drew over there” cracks Rich. Yeah, right.
Let me tell you, it ain’t easy being me. I never get the easy jobs, just the crap.
Today it was “Can you fix the door? It won’t close properly when it’s cold.” Oy. It’s an anodized aluminum hollow section exterior office door, in a hollow section aluminum frame, with an aluminum threshold mounted on slab concrete. The door “hangs” from two “security pin” hinges, each one a single knuckle 1.25” diameter with a 5/8” screwed in pin, riding against a single knuckle that is integral to the door frame. The top pin screws in from the underside, and the bottom pin screws in from the top. Which means the entire weight of the door is carried by the lower pin, because the upper pin is there just for alignment. In theory a single stamped lock nut keeps the lower pin from backing out, although in reality both upper and lower pins have a little set screw in the sides for “security”. Which means you can take the door off from the outside in about 5 minutes with a screwdriver and a C clamp. Such security. It’s hardly worth installing a lock on the damn thing.
And that’s exactly how I adjusted it. Blast both hinges with WD-40, loosen the set screws, then lift up the entire door by tightening a 4” C clamp around the upper hinge. The damn door came up 1/4” with hardly an effort at all. Then it was just a matter of screwing down the bottom pin until it contacted the boss (a ground contact plate under the lower hinge pin). Which I hope is steel. Best fix would be to use a great honking thrust washer between the knuckles of the lower hinge. It’s a cheap design, and it’s a cheap door. But I got it fixed.
Then I had to adjust the sweep on the inside. That’s when I found out that it was mounted with plain steel screws. Ages ago. Totally corroded of course. Rusted in place and rusted almost through. Nothing more fun than being down on my hands and knees, face almost on the ground, making my own impact hammer out of a screwdriver and a 10” adjustable wrench.
Oh, and did I mention that it’s official duck hunting weather here today? Freezing rain falling from the sky with passion. I passed half a dozen accidents on the way down, cops out everywhere, ambulances creeping along. Black ice on everything, and I guess the highway department has the weekend off. Not a handful of sand or salt on any of the roads anywhere. And out in that mess is me, down on my knees on the cold wet concrete. Damn. But I got it done, and brought the sweep down enough to keep the stronger breezes out.
So of course the threshold is now all out of whack. And it’s been messed with before. The 3 main screws that hold it down are rusted to bits, and OF COURSE the screw slots are just chewed to shit. And some bright boy has tried to help things in the past by screwing 3 or 4 drywall screws into each end of the threshold, were OF COURSE the door rubs on them, so those screw heads are both chewed up and worn down. Nothing to get a bite on with any kind of tool.
“Lucky” for me that there’s a Home Depot just down the street. So I go there and buy a few #14 2 1/2” screws to replace the beat ones. What I want is Grade 8 or better. No such luck. So I buy the store brand instead. Bring them back, screw one down into the hole where the old #14 screw came out ... feel it start to bite ... one turn, two turns ... and it shears. Shit. Try the next hole. One turn, two turns, starting to grab, snap. That one sheared as well. Son. Of. A. Beach. #*(!ing dog &*^# camel ~+%^ shit steel from China. WTFF! DAMN YOU HOME DEPOT. DAMN YOU TO HELL.
This is one of my worst pet peeves. All the hardware stores only carry nuts bolts and screws imported from China these days. And China - as usual - turns out a garbage product. It’s not that a #14 screw is a dinky little thing. Hell no. You OUGHT to be able to anchor a car with one or two. They’re pretty hefty. You don’t use a #2 Phillips screwdriver with these, you need the special, hard to find, bloody gigantic #3 Phillips. A screwdriver that can double as a tire iron. The screw shaft is nearly 1/4” across. And they sheared off with hand pressure. Deep in the holes too, naturally. Because Chinese steel is even worse than French plastic. And the froggies make some sorry ass plastic. It’s nearly powder, since they save a few euros by not heating it up properly during manufacture.
You need screws? Go to McFeelys if you can’t find American made ones locally. Even screws from Taiwan are far better than the junk from China. Ooh, but they cost less! Sure, because they’re absolute crap. I thought I’d learned my lesson with a huge drywall project some years ago ... but you hold out hope, and pray you’ll get lucky, because the chicom screws are almost all that’s available. And halfway through a job you don’t have the luxury of mail ordering stuff.
So that was a couple hours of cold wet aggravating non-fun. Now it’s time to prop up the ADA sink I wrote about the other day. Let’s see, how to do that? Ah, I know, let’s tighten the mounting bracket. OK ... crawl under the sink (very glad I just washed the bathroom floor!) ... and there is no mounting bracket. No lag bolts holding it onto the wall either. WTH? This sink has some kind of hidden mount, and a couple of holes on the underside of the hollow porcelain with some sort of bolt on a strap dohicky thingamabob. Is that the mount? Some kind of lever operated turnbuckle? Beats me. So I tighten them up until I start hearing those scary crunchy pottery sounds. Is it tight? No. Does it still sag? Yes. And look, when you push down on the lip of the sink, the WALL bows outward!! Huh? this ain’t right. So I find a nice hefty steel shelf bracket, made in America, all white powder coated and gusseted for strength. I figure I can mount that to the sidewall and support the sink, right? Ought to work. Use the stud finder, locate stud in the right area, jack up the sink, mark the holes, then mount the bracket with 3 5/16” diameter lag bolts. That ought to hold a cranky pony, at least. So supporting a 60lb sink should be nothing. Funny thing though - the pilot holes drilled awfully easy. Through the drywall, then a bit of pressure, then POP! and the drill bit sank in all the way. Huh. So I do all the work, let the jack down, and watch the bracket torque off to the side under the weight of the sink. Son of a bitch, the damn wall is made with metal studs.
Metal studs suck ass. Sure, they’re just fine for holding the drywall in place. And they cost less, weigh less, and are faster to install than wood studs. But they’re made out of tinfoil. You can’t hang anything from them. And they don’t support screws and bolts for shit. No wonder the sink is sagging off the wall. There’s no wall in the wall. Darn sink is supposed to be held in place by a 2x8 brace between 2x4 studs.
Another cheap ass implementation. Office buildings are just shells. The walls are just for show. The ceiling is just a fiberglass panel that hides some wires. I am just so sick and tired of this. Everything is made like crap, installed like crap, and built like crap. Which makes repairing things nearly impossible.
As far as I can tell, to have this ADA sink held properly in place, I’ll have to tear out the wallboard and install actual studs, long ones that I can screw into the concrete slab on the bottom and clamp on to the rebar truss roofing network ten feet above. I can’t see any other way to have a strong enough wall. But what else can I do? It’s a customer bathroom, therefore the sink has to be ADA compliant. Which means no legs or pedestals under the sink. This sucks.
I am slowly. Going. Crazy.
UPDATE: As the text message junkies say, “FML”. I’m as tenacious as a terrier, so I couldn’t just walk away from that sink situation. No, Google is my bitch, and the entire world is on the internet, therefore my solution is out there. Somewhere. I tried and I tried, and entered all sorts of searches. Finally I tried something like “hidden mount ADA sink” and in the results saw the words “concealed arm carrier”. I knew they weren’t talking about guns, so I followed the link to Zurn, which showed me what these things are. Then I had to download and install a free copy of SolidWorks’ eViewer, so I could read the .dxf file. I’d never even heard of a .dxf file; turns out that’s an AutoCad rendering. So I put that in, read the file, and saw my nemesis, that two armed bastard. Now properly enlightened, another quick Google sent me to MiFab, where an even better picture showed me what was going on.
A “concealed arm carrier” is a sink support that is mounted inside the wall, and two iron bars stick out of the wall like arms. The hollow sink slides onto them, and a couple of screws adjust the tilt of the sink up and down. Son of a gun. Duh. No wonder that sink wasn’t lag screwed into the wall - it wasn’t supposed to be. And the screws I was turning just tightened the sink to the mounting bars. They didn’t do a darn thing to adjust the saggy angle. Sha-grin. 
So tomorrow morning I’ll go back down there with a knife, a caulk gun, and a screw driver. Loosen the locking screws, pare off the caulk seam I put in, and turn the adjusting screws. That should raise the lip up and get the back edge snugged up to the wall. Re-tighten, re-caulk. And it should be good to go. Duh, I’d better take my adjustable wrench too, to remove the utterly useless and unnecessary bracket that I put in today. And if this doesn’t work, at least I can explain why the wall needs to come out - to replace the carrier.
Parts drawings on the overleaf:
Posted by Drew458
on 12/13/2009 at 04:41 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - December 10, 2009
I am Joe The Plumber
Or at least I will be this weekend.
I have to repair an ADA compliant bathroom sink for one of my doctor customers, and he wants the little sink in the second exam room replace.
ADA compliant sinks are the long ones that are made for wheelchair access. It’s a great heavy piece of porcelain hung from a wall mounted bracket. To be fully compliant it needs to have an offset P trap underneath and levers on the faucet. His sink is sagging and is held up with cheap metal legs. That’s a no-no. Can’t get a wheelchair under there if there are legs in the way. And his has a regular P trap. Plus plain old knobs. Putting in faucet levers and the offset P trap is just a matter of finding the parts and screwing them on. Getting the sag out could be a different story entirely. These sinks are about 30” long. They stick out from the wall twice as far as regular sinks and weigh about 60 pounds. So that’s at least double the amount of torque applied to the wall mount bracket. And what happens when a big guy like me leans on the front of the sink? I might have to get not one new bracket but two, and double them up. I might have to go into the wall and replace the stud support with a double 2x8 or one made of oak. Instead, maybe I can find or fabricate a seriously heavy duty angle bracket to sneak under the front edge of the sink to support it from the sidewall. Less work for me, but it should be a good fix. Any way you look at it, it’s a pretty big job. $$$. Yay me!
The little sink in the second room is a total oddball. It’s about 10"x24", a shallow bowl enameled model with a low rise faucet mounted on the right end. Strangest little sink I’ve ever seen. It’s mounted to a 30” countertop back in a little nook. Dark, cramped, and hard to get to. And IIRC, the plumbing underneath is pretty strange too, with some kind of electric pump on it with a valve because that pipe is actually below grade. I’m not sure such a funny size sink is even made any more. It might be easier and cheaper to just replace the whole bit of countertop and put in a standard stainless bar sink with a medium gooseneck faucet. It’s never the easy jobs I get, like sorting out Peiper’s electric.
Both jobs together look like the better part of 2 days of labor to me. Cool, I’ll take it. You can hire me for $250 a day, and I’ll do whatever you want, as long as it’s mostly legal. Parts extra.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/10/2009 at 12:57 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - November 13, 2009
Let us see now. How an we help police and spend money. Got it. Publish book on how to ride a bike.
Ok I know things can get pretty stupid here, but I’m not certain if they can get more idiotic and waste more txpayer money then this.
On second thought, yeah. They have come up with stuff somewhat dumber. But this really does rank very high in the DOH awards list.
And if the mayor (who hasn’t read it yet) thinks it may have value, then he’s smoking smoking funny or maybe having just one glass too much.
A 93-page guide on how to ride a bicycle – including advice on the need to carry out a risk assessment before removing one’s helmet - has been drawn up for Britain’s police forces.
By Matthew Moore
13 Nov 2009The Police Cycle Training Doctrine was drawn up by biking enthusiasts in forces across England and Wales.
The two-volume tome offers lengthy guidance to constables on skills that most children have mastered by the age of 12, such as how to maintain balance at corners.It even reminds officers that they must not attempt to detain suspects while in the saddle – or “engaged with the cycle” in the words of its authors.
The Police Cycle Training Doctrine was drawn up by biking enthusiasts in forces across England and Wales and submitted for the approval of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), but its officials yesterday distanced themselves from the contents.Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and a passionate cyclist, led the chorus of derision, saying that while the guide’s advice was “very, very sound”, it did not represent value for money. Thousands of pounds were reportedly spent putting the full colour publication together.
“I am sure it is of great value, I haven’t seen it, but I think you can do this kind of thing much, much more cheaply,” Mr Johnson said.
The mayor has already proved himself a master of mobile crime fighting, dismounting from his bike to save a filmmaker from attack by a hooded gang in the capital earlier this month.
Officers from the police’s national working group for cycling training, which wrote the book, declined to comment. But independent bike safety experts said there was no need for police to devise their own basic training guide.
“I would like to remind Acpo that the national standard for cycle training covers all the basics of cycling skills and road sense,” said Greg Woodford of CTC, the national cyclists’ organisation.“I’d recommend all police cyclists pass their level three [cycling test] and encourage Acpo to work alongside what has already been developed.”
Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group added: “This guide is an absurd waste of police time and taxpayers’ money. Police officers are perfectly capable of riding a bike.”An Acpo spokesman insisted that the doctrine was never intended to become official policy, and would not be issued to rank-and-file officers.
“This work was neither requested nor drawn up by Acpo and we do not endorse it,” she said.
“It was put forward by a group of well-meaning police officers with an interest in this area. Acpo will not be taking it forward.”Rules from the police cycle “doctrine”
Always wear padded shorts to ensure “in-saddle comfort”Consume sufficient food and “adequate liquids” before setting off
Listen to instructions when cycling in formation. If your leader shouts “Move to double file”, move to double file
Undercover officers should carry out a “risk assessment” before removing their helmets
Take care to avoid the kerb during “deployment into a junction” - or turning the corner
So then. Whatcha think BMEWS? These folks on to something? Or maybe some spare cash was found in the public kitty and it had to be spent?
Posted by peiper
on 11/13/2009 at 07:39 AM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • Health and Safety • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Saturday - October 31, 2009
Doing It Doggy Style
Busy day. I had a whole house window job, a regular sized home with 28 windows. It was unseasonably warm here today, but it was raining most of the day. So it was an inside cleaning job, aided by the Marvin windows they have that unhook easily from the frames and fold inwards. Nice. It’s actually faster to do double hung windows the regular way, outside first then the inside, but at least I stayed dry this way. It just takes a bit longer.
They were referred to me by the Cat Ladies, the two biddies down the road that I do odd jobs for. Thank goodness this client didn’t have a dozen cats and 5 stinky litter boxes like they do. No, she has dogs instead. Lots of dogs. Wall to wall dogs. She’s got an old, nearly blind Springer Spaniel, and half a dozen Welsh Corgis. She used to show them, and has a den full of ribbons and trophies. Oh, and they have one little rescue kitten who right now lives in a carrier. Poor kitteh. Probably psychologically damaged already.
I love dogs. Dogs are great. But while the spaniel is old, and slow, and rheumy, and sleeps a lot, the corgis are high energy animals. She kept 5 of them in a little room so they be out of my way, and the one running around was fairly mellow and quite friendly. Actually all the dogs were nice. But 7 dogs is a pack, and they act that way. So whenever I moved from room to room, put something down or did anything that made a small noise, they started barking. And when one starts the others chime in, and nobody wants to be the first to stop barking.
Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Woof. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Woof. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Woof. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Woof. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Woof. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Woof. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! Woof. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark! meow?
All day long. Yeesh. My clothes smell doggy. I think I’ll take a shower too.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/31/2009 at 07:49 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Sunday - October 25, 2009
Sunday, my day of NOT rest
Morning cleaning job done. Minor repair in their bathroom, 10 minutes, one screw, no charge.
Grabbing a quick bite, then off to the afternoon cleaning job. Which will include more priming and painting in their bathroom, hanging another vent fan in the production area, and now ... I have to replace a shelf on one of the benches. With something that won’t rot or rust, but can still support the 80lb weight of the edger slop bucket. So I’m thinking pressure treated 2x6s or some 3/4” exterior plywood. Probably need some sturdy U-channel to support it with. Nuts and bolts. Looks like several hours of project. Maybe a sheet of Melanine to cover it with? Whatever I put in has to be “milspec plus” because the crew in that shop is brutal. They don’t treat anything with care or respect. Bunch a animals.
I have to start charging this guy for the time it takes me to figure out solutions and shop for the parts. Just billing him for parts purchased and the labor to put them in isn’t covering my effort.
So it looks like I’ll be down there for the better part of 8 hours instead of the 2 it usually takes me to spruce the place up.
And I WILL be delivering a bill tomorrow. I can’t front this guy hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. He will pay me, no problem. I just haven’t written up a bill yet since everything is in the works.
Otay, I’m off. Back to the grindstone.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/25/2009 at 12:03 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - October 16, 2009
There’s Always One
I just got a call from one of my window customers.
“Why didn’t you scrape off the paint splatters when you did my windows?”
I remember that job. It was a nice big house, about a thousand dollar job. I gave them the estimate. Silence. Weeks later they called me back and said they only wanted the outside of the upstairs done. In one day. That cut a $1000 job down to about $150. And no tip either I recall. And it was an hour’s drive across the state too. So no, you don’t get supercalifragilistic work for that price. You get clean windows, and that’s it.
You can take your car to the drive through car wash, or you can take it to a detailer. In the window cleaning business, I’m a detailer. You don’t get that level of work when you only pay for a drive through. But yeah, I can just give things a wash if that’s all you want.
So they’ll call back in the spring and have me back to do it my way, and pay for it. Actually, I’ll probably only charge them the same amount, but do better work. Besides, windows that I’ve cleaned less than a year ago just won’t be all that dirty. But I’ll leave a happy customer that way. That is, assuming I’m still in the window business at that point.
I don’t like taking shortcuts. But I don’t like feeling backed into a corner either. I really don’t charge much more than the guys who come to your house mostly sober, give things a quick swipe and take your money. So I’m already giving great value for the money, so stop (redacted politically incorrect expression) me down.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/16/2009 at 11:10 AM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (7)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - October 15, 2009
End of the Season?
It was 33 here this morning, touched 40 for a half hour earlier, and it’s only 38 now. I think winter is setting in early. Which pretty much means it’s the end of the window cleaning season. So time to find some other line of work. Even with waterproof gloves and a heavy jacket, that’s getting a bit cold to be playing with water outside.
The first bathroom ventilator fan arrived today for my weekend employer. I’m going to hook it up here and see just how quiet 0.6 Sones really is. The fan is rated 150CFM, which means it will exchange the air in that bathroom in under 2 minutes. I’ve got a 290CFM model on order for the lab area, which is quite a bit bigger. It was only $25 more, and 1.2 Sones louder. 290CFM ought to pull the aromas of their acrylic grinding out of there just fine, in less than 10 minutes. My only concern is that the guy wants to save a couple of bucks, so there won’t be any ducting to the outside. Both fans will vent to the area above the dropped ceiling, which is about 10,000 cubic feet. It should work, although who knows if or where the aromas will leak out.
Ok, back to work.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/15/2009 at 03:17 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
• Comments (7)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Tuesday - October 06, 2009
Hard Work
Work was just awful today.
I did the windows for another one of these condos here. The lady was watching Charlie Rose on TV, and his guest was author, and fanatic leftist, Max Blumenthal. Horry Clap. The guy was on for 15 uninterrupted minutes and almost every word out of his mouth was a lie. What a total crock. Al Gore won the 2000 election. Bush was selected not elected. The Christian Right wants to execute doctors and eliminate old folks. The GOP has no ideas. McCain is a moderate Republican. Republicans overwhelmingly rejected Sarah Palin. And on and on and on. 10 years worth of tired old Push Button talking points dragged out and repeated for the 83rd millionth time. Plus how wonderful Obama is, and how he’s going to save us all, and take the country in the right direction finally. GAK.
Maxxy baby has a new book out, called “Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party”, in which he “exposes” the Christian Right as intolerant haters who want to rule everyone and violently stamp out all forms of dissent or contrary opinion. It turns out that extremely large portions of Max’s book are just retellings of Frank Shaeffer’s book “Crazy For God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back”. So much for originality and actual research.
As Mr. Shaeffer himself explains, for 18 paragraphs, in the review section at Amazon for Blumenthal’s book,
For me reading Max Blumenthal’s Republican Gomorrah is a look into a mirror. That might be because Blumenthal extensively interviewed me and drew rather heavily on my book “Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back” as a reference for his in-depth exposé of what has gone so very wrong with the Republican Party. He’s on my turf so I happen to know he’s telling the truth as its not been told before. But there’s more.
Republican Gomorrah is the first book that actually “gets” what’s happened to the Republican Party and in turn what the Republicans have done to our country. The usual Democratic Party and/or progressive “take” on the Republican Party is that it’s been taken over by a far right lunatic fringe of hate and hypocrisy, combining as it does, sexual and other scandals with moralistic finger wagging. But Blumenthal explains a far deeper pathology: it isn’t so much religion as the psychosis and sadomasochism of the losers now called “Republicans” that drives the party. And the “Christianity” that shapes so much “conservative” thinking now is anything but Christian. It’s a series of deranged personality cults.
Th e Religious Right/Republicans have perfected the method of capturing people in personal crisis and turning them into far right evangelical/far right foot soldiers. This explains a great deal that otherwise, to outsiders, seems almost inexplicable--the why and wherefore of “Deathers” “Birthers” et al. Blumanthal brilliantly sums up this pathology as:
“...a culture of personal crisis lurking behind the histrionics and expressions of social resentment. This culture is the mortar that bonds leaders and followers together.”
So we have one lefty encouraging another. Big whup. Give each other a hand. And a reach around.
Max Blumenthal is a jerk. Want more proof? Here’s a couple excerpts of his book, from over at the “fair and balanced” NPR site. Max is writing about his almost dangerous, amazingly bold foray into the lion’s den, about when he attended the 2008 GOP Convention:
From the Idaho delegation, I pushed through a gaggle of reporters and cameramen surrounding the Alaska delegation to meet some of Palin’s constituents. When I approached a young man, the only delegate from the state who appeared to be under the age of fifty, he snapped, “You’re not going to ask about Bristol, are you?” referring to Palin’s pregnant sixteen-year-old daughter, who sat nearby with her fiance, eighteen-year-old self-proclaimed “fuckin’ redneck” Levi Johnston. I asked about Palin’s support for laws banning abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger. “There’s no reason to kill a baby, whether you consider him unborn or born,” the delegate replied. Another delegate, a middle-aged woman, explained to me how her husband took their two daughters on “dates” to “talk about keeping themselves pure until marriage.” (Two days later, the same woman, dressed in a construction worker’s outfit like one of the Village People, bellowed on the convention floor in favor of offshore drilling: “Drill, baby, drill!")
This was a portrait of the Republican Party fully in the grip of its right wing: almost exclusively white, overwhelmingly evangelical, fixated on abortion, homosexuality, and abstinence education; resentful and angry; and unable to discuss how and why it had become this way. Noticeably absent from the convention were moderate Republicans. Senator Lincoln Chafee, legatee of the moderate Republican tradition in Rhode Island, was defeated in the 2006 midterms, and he was endorsing Obama.
Born in 1900 in Germany, Fromm descended from a long line of rabbis. After studying to be a rabbi himself, he switched to the law, sociology, and the new field of psychoanalysis. He joined the famed Frankfurt School for Social Research [ You watched Peiper’s video yesterday? Then you know that this means that FROMM WAS A COMMUNIST!! ] but fled the country after Hitler’s assumption of power, eventually making his way to New York. In 1941, Fromm published Escape from Freedom, a book illuminating the danger of rising authoritarian movements with penetrating psychoanalytical insight.
Writing after the Nazis had overrun Europe but before the entrance of the United States into World War II, Fromm warned, “there is no greater mistake and no graver danger than not to see that in our own society we are faced with the same phenomenon that is fertile soil for the rise of Fascism anywhere: the insignificance and powerlessness of the individual.” Those who could not endure the vertiginous new social, political, and personal freedoms of the modern age, those who craved “security and a feeling of belonging and of being rooted somewhere” might be susceptible to the siren song of fascism. For the fascist, the struggle for a utopian future was more than politics and even warit was an effort to attain salvation through selfmedication. [ and yet Blumenthal doesn’t see the slightest thing wrong with Obama and Obamabots. Hmm, willful disconnect perhaps?? ]
When radical extremists sought to cleanse society of sin and evil, what they really desired was the cleansing of their souls. Fromm’s understanding of the psychological character of authoritarianism was not only penetrating but also prophetic. He described how submission to the authority of a higher power to escape the complexities of personal freedom would lead not to order and harmony but ultimately to destructiveness. [ this sounds EXACTLY like the Left’s desire for the NANNY STATE. Max must be asleep at the wheel not to see this one! ] Movements that evangelized among the crisis-stricken and desperate, promising redemption through a holy crusade, ultimately assumed the dysfunctional characteristics of their followers. After sowing destruction all around it, Fromm predicted that such a movement would turn on itself. Dramatic self-immolation was the inevitable fate of movements composed of conflicted individuals who sought above all the destruction of their blemished selves.
“The function of an authoritarian ideology and practice can be compared to the function of neurotic symptoms,” Fromm wrote.
“Such symptoms result from unbearable psychological conditions and at the same time offer a solution that makes life possible. Yet they are not a solution that leads to happiness or growth of personality. They leave unchanged the conditions that necessitate the neurotic solution.”
I thought he was never going to shut up. I was hoping, really hoping, for a commercial break. Ha, not on Channel 13! But I had work to do, so I kept my mouth shut and got done as quickly as I could. It was awfully hard to do so.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/06/2009 at 02:10 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • work and the workplace •
• Comments (5)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
LAAR She Blows! Part One
(2 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Planes Ideas Blog
[...] CABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEB [...]
On: 07/12/11 01:57
The Tactical Cowboy
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Sights Service Blog
[...] E LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE [...]
On: 07/10/11 08:30
Nasty Dirty Money
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Money Reviews Blog
[...] ONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLES [...]
On: 06/17/11 08:31
Amazing aerial images taken by daring Allied pilots on secret missions during WW 2
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Hookers and Booze
peiper over at Barking Moonbat EWS found some absolutely kickass aerial photos from WWII. I grabbed this one because I’m a big fan of the movie A Bridge Too Far.…
On: 11/23/09 04:14
Clear Thinking and Straight Talk
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at baldilocks
Let Them Fight or Bring Them Home Read all of it--and tell every American you know to do so. (Thanks to BMEWS) UPDATE: The author of the above blog is…
On: 10/02/09 09:29
DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.
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
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.
Copyright © 2004-2008 Domain Owner
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.
RSS 2.0 
Atom 
