Friday - April 15, 2016

ginger abuse

Dating site Match.com is pulling an ad campaign after receiving a barrage of complaints for suggesting red hair and freckles are “imperfections.”

The posters, which sprung up in London tube and train stations Monday, featured a freckly red-haired girl with the caption: “If you don’t like your imperfections, someone else will.”

Match.com, part of the Match Group (MTCH) that also owns Tinder, issued a public apology but only after members of the public took to twitter to voice their outrage.

Londoner Carrie Hill said: “Perhaps I’m a secret leopard. Or maybe they’re coordinates. But my freckles are certainly not ‘imperfections’.”

Chloe Vinden from South Wales: “Proud to have #freckles, not #imperfections.”

In a statement, Match.com said the campaign was misunderstood.

Sure, sure, a million reds can hate their freckles and piss and moan about them, but if you, oh pale one, say one negative word they’ll circle the wagons and gun you down like a rabid dog.

Me? Well, I’ve got my own dynamic standards. A little or a lot. It all depends. But only on the fire touched. Doesn’t work for diddly on brunettes. And only slightly on blondes. Basically, I can say only one thing:

Posted by Drew458     on 04/15/2016 at 08:57 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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   Thursday - April 14, 2016

bears watching

We are under a Bear Warning here.

Not that we’re supposed to run around warning bears ... or of what we’re supposed to warn them, I have no idea.

Just a warning that they are up and about, and have been busting up people’s garbage cans in the homes on the other side of Rupell’s Road. So keep an eye out.







Another exciting moment from Life In The (nearly) Country.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2016 at 11:29 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Daily Life •  
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taxes done yet?

The April 15 deadline is looming!

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2016 at 11:33 AM   
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   Tuesday - April 12, 2016

any excuse will do

It’s true! It really is Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day! [ and, while I would not combine the two, but to each his own, it is also National Licorice Day* ]

Some say the stately “GCS” had it’s roots in ancient Rome. Others say it didn’t really come about until factory sliced bread was widely available. Others have odd ideas about making them, using the toaster or the microwave. And the debate over the cheese is endless: Pre-sliced American, thinly sliced Cheddar, hey maybe let’s try Swiss, and let’s do pumpernickel instead of white bread. Still others just can’t resist temptation and have to add things, like tomato slices, bits of hot peppers or green peppers, various seasoning. And then there are those glassy eyed frightening types ... like this girl ...

who would probably spread store-brand Cheeze Wizz on raw bread and call it done. And then go on a killing spree. With serrated knives and peanut butter.

My way is my mom’s way, mostly.  You start with getting the butter out an hour ahead of time. Then you open up a loaf of a good quality white bread, like Arnold. None of this fluffy spongy stuff like Wonder. Heat the griddle gently to a low-medium heat, and lightly butter the outside of two slices of bread. A quick wipe of mayonnaise on the inside, and each slice of bread gets one slice of yellow American cheese. The real stuff from the deli if you can afford it, Borden’s from the dairy aisle if you can’t. Butter side down into the pan, and let them cook. In a couple of minutes use a metal spatula to peek underneath; nicely browned but not scorched is what you want. The cheese has melted by now, so drop on any additions, like two thin slices of a ripe tomato, drained and dried on paper towels. This is one time to avoid the bacon, because we’re not making BLTs with cheese. Let the cheese have it’s day. Don’t even add Bacos. Not today. A little ham slice is Ok.

Flip the two slices together, cut on the diagonal, and serve with a bunch of chips and a nice hot bowl of Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup. Made with whole milk of course, not 2%, and not 1/2 water, 1/2 milk. All milk. Hey, might as well pour a fresh cold glass of milk to go along with it. Sit and eat, and for 10 minutes you can be 7 again. Now, sit up straight and don’t let me catch you feeding the dog any of those chips.

* A note to Licorice Day celebrants: If it ain’t black, it ain’t licorice. You’re not fooling anyone with that red crap, especially not today. Anise extract, licorice root, molasses. No artificial strawberry anything. That’s rubber candy whips, not licorice.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/12/2016 at 12:01 AM   
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining • Holidays •  
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   Monday - April 11, 2016

spring groove

Looks like today is shaping up to be a perfect early Spring day. Excellent.

A memory floats up out of the deep past ... baked to the edge, spending sunny afternoons just groovin’ in the light with friends. All freedom, no responsibilities. Just reveling in the glorious aura of youth, without even realizing it. We were beings of pure light and energy, indestructible, blameless, and certain the future was ours to grab and shape and bend the world around us. And it would be easy. And why not, since our horizons ended just past our fingertips. Troubles, news, and politics were what happened on our parent’s TV. Personal stimulus was what mattered. Music was vastly important. Even if the lyrics were mean or nasty; as long as the beat was there it was awesome. Make it louder!! Playing sports. Mud and sweat. Getting wasted. Driving fast. Dancing to the new sound. Donna I Wanna in those little denim cut-offs and a tank top two sizes too small, standing up to rock out in a convertible flying down the highway, her waist length raven hair streaming out behind her like the flag of sexuality it was. Spring!

I can’t count how many lifetimes ago that was.

I got some sensory stimulus today. Turned off the heat, opened the windows, cranked up the stereo. I realized we’ve hardly played the Big Rig since we’ve had these cats. And on the rare times we did, it was at a very mellow level. Kittehs got a dose of Rock today. They’re hiding under the bed at the other end of the condo.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/11/2016 at 12:19 PM   
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too cool

Meh. Not quite a gentle Spring morning. More like dank, chill, and clammy. Which means I’ll have to wear the big wool socks and the 10 ton Polartec lined jeans to work. But I refuse to wear that friggin’ parka any longer. No no no, Winter is over. OVER, do you hear me???

Thank goodness I have a pair of mittens sent from the UK. No, no word on Peiper yet. I’m just going to have to sit down and write him. At least I’ve finally figured out a one liner for his condition, which ought to get some reaction.

Ack. Crap. And it’s time to finish off doing the taxes. I hates doing taxes. But I refuse to pay some schlub to do them for me, at least not until my assets are worth more than a million. Which will be about ... 400 years I think.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/11/2016 at 05:43 AM   
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Keep your eyes on the road, Your hands upon the wheel

New Jersey has these little light up message boards along the highways. They post traffic and weather conditions, Silver Alerts (ie misplaced senior citizens), and various safety reminders.

The one I saw yesterday was cute, reminding people that it’s against the law here to text while driving:

U DRIV

U PAY

I was going to use my cell phone to take a picture and then find a floating hotspot to upload it to Twitter, but hey, the law and all.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/11/2016 at 05:36 AM   
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   Saturday - April 09, 2016

UK Grooming Gang Gets Moderate Sentence

Prior to arrests, police, school officials, and social workers ignored 127 complaints to their existence

Asian child sex gang who included a bus driver who met victims as he took them home from school in Rochdale are jailed for total of 125 years

* Main victim in the shocking case was a white girl with learning difficulties

* She was repeatedly groomed for sex from the age of 14 by a group of men

* Judge paid tribute to her bravery today as he handed out long sentences

* Public gallery broke into applause as judge gave one man 25-year term

Ten men have been jailed for a total of more than 125 years for sexual offences against eight girls and women in Rochdale.

They included Afraz Ahmed, a former bus driver who picked up two of his young victims from school and offered them free tickets.

He was originally questioned in 2006 but a decision was made not to prosecute him after he claimed the girls’ complaints against him were racially motivated.

The public gallery broke into applause today when Ahmed was handed a 25-year sentence.

The main victim in the case was white and had learning difficulties. She was said by prosecutors to be an ‘extremely vulnerable young woman’ who had endured ‘a very difficult home life’.

She walked into a police station after media coverage of the 2012 convictions of a number of Asian defendants for grooming white girls for sex in the town.

She told officers that from the age of 14 she too had been repeatedly sexually groomed by a large number of men in Rochdale.

The main victim in the case said that ‘hundreds’ of men would ring her up, wanting her to go out and have sex with them, during the time she was groomed.

  

Former bus driver Ahmed, 33, of Rochdale, was found guilty of various sexual offences, including rape, conspiracy to rape and sexual activity with a child, in relation to five underage victims.

While working as a bus driver, Ahmed, then aged in his early 20s, spoke to his schoolgirl victims in a ‘highly inappropriate manner’, the court heard. He asked if one of them had a boyfriend and seemingly offered them free bus tickets.

The judge told Ahmed: ‘You objectivised your vulnerable victims so you could exploit them for your own sexual desire.’

Mohammed Zahid of Rochdale, got five years. Mahfuz Rahman was jailed for five-and-a-half years

On-the-run Choudry Hussein, 38, formerly of Rochdale, was jailed for 19 years in his absence for rape, sexual activity with a child and conspiracy to rape.

He is believed to be currently in Pakistan after he absconded during his trial.

Rehan Ali, 27, of Blackley, was imprisoned for seven years and Kutab Miah, 35, of Rochdale, for nine years after both were found guilty of rape and sexual activity with a child.

Abid Khan, 39, of Liverpool, was jailed for six-and-a-half years and Mohammed Zahid, 55, of Rochdale, for five years after both were found guilty of sexual activity with a child.

Mohammed Dauood, 38, of Burnley, was jailed for 16 years after he was convicted of offences in relation to two victims including rape, sexual activity with a child and sexual assault.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Dozens of other grooming gangs exist across the UK and have been operating with impunity for decades. Most of the comments on the news article feel the sentences were a joke; give the perps 125 years each or better yet just hang ‘em. And nothing ... NOTHING ... is being done to punish or even re-educate the PC-dominated police and other public servants who allowed this to continue for years by ignoring and disbelieving more than 125 tip-offs and complaints about the groomers. Give them the rope too!

Sorry, no new word on Peiper’s condition, but no news is good news. So I did a UK piece for him.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/09/2016 at 11:09 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • UK •  
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   Wednesday - April 06, 2016

rabbit’s busy day

Crivens, I’ve been going at it since 5:30 this morning.

I put in plenty of extra hours at work. I baked. Kitchen is all nice and clean. Laundry is done. Cats fed. Bruiser - the Beast In The Backyard - yelled at and chased away. Evil rapist murdering bastard. One of these days cat, your face and my baseball bat. Home run!

I even called the vet at home because poor Dizzy suddenly has anisocoria. Ann-eye-so-core-ree-ah. Which means the pupil of one eye is much more constricted than the pupil in her other eye. Which is probably a symptom of her neurological condition, brain tumor or whatever. Poor kitteh. Looks like she’s going to have to go to RedBank Veterinary Hospital for an MRI after all. We’re giving her the best life we can, but somehow I don’t think she’s going to be one of those “lived to a ripe old age of 27” cats. Sadly, I wonder if she’ll make it to 2. Or even 1. I can’t let a kitten suffer through a growing brain tumor, and there’s no way we’re going to pay for that kind of surgery.

Recycling out. Check. Garbage out? Rats. There’s always one thing, right? Tomorrow.

E. Nuff. Good night.

OH FUDGE --- Merle Haggard died. Aww. And on his own 79th birthday too. We’ll miss ya Merle!

Posted by Drew458     on 04/06/2016 at 10:41 PM   
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   Tuesday - April 05, 2016

double bagger

I went to the grocery store a couple of weeks ago to pick up some stuff.

“Did you get kibble for the outside cats? We’re starting to run low.”

“Um, no. Guess I forgot.”

***********************

I went to the grocery store a week and a half ago to pick up some stuff. Hey, the store is around the corner, so we go at least 4 times a week.

“Did you get kibble for the outside cats? We’re running low.”

“Um, no. Guess I forgot. Again.”

***********************

I went to the grocery store a week ago to pick up some stuff.

“Did you get kibble for the outside cats? We’re running almost out.”

“Damn. I knew there was one thing I missed.”

***********************

I went to the grocery store a few days ago to pick up some stuff.

“Did you get kibble for the outside cats? We’re out.”

“Noooo. I’ll get it next time. We’ll give them regular kibble for a couple days.”

***********************

I went to the grocery store today t pick up some stuff. I found a really good sale price on the 5 flavor Friskies, and bought a massive 22lb bag. Huge, although I’m old enough to know that it used to be a 25lb bag, and that gave me the “downsized again” grumpies. But 22lbs will hold the little beggars for a couple months, right?

She comes home a bit later than expected.

“I got kibble for the outside cats. I got a huge bag of Friskies on sale because you always forget.”

“Um, so did I.”

So now we have 44 pounds of cat chow in the hall closet. That should probably last until Christmas. One good thing about ferals: they’re too close to reality to ever be finicky about food. If they can swallow it, they’ll eat it, and come back for more.

Our “patio cats” have the thickest glossiest coats. Well muscled, bright eyes, good solid bodies. For “wild animals” they’re pampered pretty well.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/05/2016 at 09:41 PM   
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yesterday’s woodpile

Double Arrest Over Crab Legs Battle

A man and a woman were arrested on Saturday after a dispute over crab legs at a Connecticut restaurant turned physical.

Fox 61 reported police were called to Royal Buffet in Manchester at around 8 p.m. Saturday after a 21-year-old man was punched in the face.

Police said the victim’s mother used pepper spray on his assailants, but not before her son suffered a cut lip and a broken front tooth. It was not immediately clear what exactly caused the dispute.

Police arrested Clifford Knight, 45, and Latoya Knight, 38. Clifford Knight was charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct and released on $5,000 bail. Latoya Knight was charged with disorderly conduct and threatening and was released on $2,500 bail. Both are due in court April 14.

Neither the victim nor the victim’s mother will face charges over the incident. Investigators determined the mother used pepper spray in self-defense.

This is just one of the reasons I willl never go to a Golden Corral.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/05/2016 at 10:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Racism and race relations •  
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   Sunday - April 03, 2016

cheesey post

WTF. I’ve got nothing much this morning.

Kitteh is driving me crazy, singing all over the place and trying to climb all over me. We’ve had to up her dosage of the phenobarb because she had another fit the other night. Poor kitteh. Which means she gets two pills twice a day instead of one twice a day. So it’s double the thrill giving the cat her meds. And now she won’t even take the shit when she makes a special effort to grind it fine, mix it with the yummy Lysine paste and a bit of Friskies and hand feed it to her. I think I need to build us a pill gun; a micro muzzle loader made by snipping the needle end of a 1cc syringe off to leave just the open cylinder and the plunger. Pills in Lysine and water in the end, force it (ahem, insert it carefully and lovingly into the cat’s mouth) down her throat and press the plunger. Shotgun!!

The weather outside is really confused; it’s right at the freezing mark and the wind is blowing furiously. Whenever clouds hide the sun, it snows. Then the sun comes out 30 seconds later. Lovely Spring morning. More clouds. More snows. Sunlight. Lather, rinse, repeat. Make up your dang mind already! But hey, last night we had a nuclear thunderstorm. It wasn’t even raining, and suddenly we had The Big Flash. The whole world turned glare white for half a second, even inside the house. So I told the wifey, we’re either about to get one helluva thunderstorm, or else we’ve got about 45 seconds to live until the shock wave gets here from New York City nukes. And then the thunder arrived, and the rain. We had two further blasts like that, and that was it. So not the kind of “Hudson Valley Rumbler” kind of T-storm I grew up with.

Right, so I made some frozen veg last night. Broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. About the most boring thing you can stick in a white plastic bag in the frozen food aisle. So I figured I’d jazz it up somehow. Cheese sauce! Yay, that always works. Hit the fridge, pull out various bits and pieces of cheese. Hmm, Kerry Gold, some kind of Irish Cheddar. It makes nice toasted cheese sandwiches, so that ought to work. Half a block of Colby/Jack. That’s my go-to cheese for nachos and salsa dip, so I know it’s easy melting and creamy. Add that too. A chunk of Swiss the size of a cake of hand soap. Well, it melts on burgers, right? Put them all together in a cup, splash on a bit of milk. Because that’s how you make cheese sauce with CheeziWizz, right? And into the microwave ... and the Fail begins. It all melts right up, the milk starts to boil ... pull it out and stir stir stir. And nothing happens. I’ve got yellowy orange hot milk and a blob of goo. Heat it some more, another 30 seconds. Beep!! Stir. Still nothing. WTH? Ok, fine, into an actual saucepan to go on the actual stove burner. Heat gently, stir constantly ... it got worse!l I was left with more oily colored liquid dairy product derivative, and a big off-white blob of something that was quickly becoming chewing gum. And the more I stirred it, the worse it got.

Finally I gave up, poured off the immiscible liquid, cut the blob into two rubbery chunks and plopped them onto the veg piles on our plates. It was terrible. Not even any flavor. Total failure by the curds. Losers. What, the curds lost? No whey! Yes whey, totally.

Thinking it through this morning, I think the “goo” enzyme in the Swiss cheese just took over and promulgated to the other ones, and that was it. Never trust the Swiss!! (and perhaps always keep a box of Velveeta in the back of the fridge. It lasts forever, and no mold on earth ever seems to take hold)

Posted by Drew458     on 04/03/2016 at 08:37 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Fine-Dining •  
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   Saturday - April 02, 2016

your daily woodpile

Log One:

Claims she was kicked off plane for being black

Imani Cezanne boarded a flight in Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to get to Atlanta, Georgia. She didn’t quite make it to her destination as planned, when she started running her mouth on the tarmac. A flight attendant asked the stranger sitting next to her to change seats, when Imani felt the need to insert herself, and things unraveled rather quickly.

The passenger next to Imani didn’t speak English, and since they happened to be in an emergency exit spot, the stewardess asked for the person to switch seats, since it’s the airline’s safety policy. Although this had nothing to do with Imani, she made it about herself, demanding to know what was so problematic about the foreign passenger sitting there.

According to Imani’s account of the events on social media, the attendant said that “if she is unable to explain procedure, she must seat someone else in the exit row.” Seems reasonable enough to most rational people, but to this black activist, it was the flight attendant being racist, even though she wasn’t the one told to move.

Imani began talking to the foreign woman next to her, probably to tell her that rules are racist, when she said she was “rudely” interrupted by the flight attendant. “While speaking with the woman next to me about my concerns I was *interrupted* by FA and asked, ‘Are you going to be a problem?’” Cezanne claimed the attendant warned her. Then she wanted to know why she would ask that. “Is that an appropriate way to speak to a customer who is calmly having a conversation with someone?” Imani said.

The flight attendant got her manager to have the angry woman escorted off of the flight.

Sheboon goes out looking for a fight wearing her #BlackLivesMatter shirt, creates one, then screams Rayciss!!! when things go against her. Which is exactly what she wanted. Penalty box! Crossing the red line while being uppity, 10 hours and all airline privileges for a year.

Log Two:

Mother and Buck murder her child over a slice of birthday cake

A man accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s 9-year-old son over what police say was a missing piece of birthday cake is bound for court in Maryland.

Thirty-one-year-old Robert Leroy Wilson is scheduled for a hearing Thursday afternoon in Hagerstown. Deputy State’s Attorney Joseph Michael wouldn’t disclose the nature of the hearing and Wilson’s public defender didn’t return telephone calls.

Wilson is one of three people charged with second-degree murder in the July 5 death of Jack Garcia. Neither Wilson nor the boy’s uncle, Jacob Barajas, have entered pleas in the case. Jack’s mother Oriana Garcia has pleaded not guilty.

Barajas told police he handcuffed Jack, and Wilson beat him unconscious as punishment for stealing. Police say Jack’s mother allowed the abuse and delayed treatment by sending away an ambulance.

Funny how the new male alpha lion in the pack always seems to be involved in wiping out the cubs of the previous male lion. And she’s probably already pregnant with this baby-daddy’s sprog. Triple penalty box! Excessive cruelty in genetic cleansing. 5 yard penalty, straight down, 3 lengths of 5/8” hemp.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/02/2016 at 07:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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early to bed, early to rise

Posted by Drew458     on 04/02/2016 at 07:27 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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