Saturday, December 6, 2008

Beware the Ugandan Boobie Trap

According to the Telegraph, police in Uganada are warning men to be aware of women in skimpy outfits. Men have been waking up with all the possessions stolen, even their clothes The story goes that women are putting a chemical believed to be chloroform on their chests. When men go in for a good motorboat, they get knocked out. That's when the criminals do their dirty work.

And I cannot possibly add any funny comment to this...

"The most beautifully decorated tree in Racine"

http://news.racinepost.com/2008/12/most-beautifully-decorated-tree-in.html

A friend of mine, John Nowicki, decorated this tree. He is an exceptional artist. His watercolors are stunning. You can see some of his work on display at Salute Italian Restaurant in downtown Racine.

Grrrr.......!



Even girls can beat me.

:(

Friday, December 5, 2008

Happy Friday (yawn...) blog


YEAH!! We made it to Friday!!
What do you guys have going on this weekend?
Big guy here is set to go home Sunday night,
mom is back from Iraq, I'm going to miss the big lug!
Other than that, I'm planning a lazy weekend :)

Ice Skating Returns to Racine

"Parks flooded for ice skating"

Yay!

I was just saying to a friend the other day, "Why don't they flood the parks for ice skating like they used to?"

Now, is there anyplace in town that still rents skates?

Man's Bond Set High Because He Might Be Innocent

A suspect in a murder case had his bond set at a quarter of a million dollars. His attorney argued that it should be lowered because of the man's ties to the community, his work record, and his lack of a serious criminal record. In refusing that request, the judge labeled the suspect a flight risk, saying, “The fact of the matter is his family has vehemently, vehemently argued he is not guilty and deserves to be let free.” [source]

The man, of course, is Adrial White. The judge is our own Charles Constantine. And the lunacy is just another day in Racine's criminal justice system.

Adrial's bond cannot be lowered because he protests his innocence too much. If only he would admit some guilt, then maybe he could be released on bond. Such is the reasoning in the twilight zone of Racine County Circuit Court.

The sooner the feds investigate Racine's courts, the better.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

www.BenefitsCheckUp.org

http://www.benefitscheckup.org/

For those of us 55 and better, a site to make sure that you are receiving all of the benefits to which you are entitled. Remember, there's $700 billion of our money available to the big guys, so don't feel bad about claiming your share of government programs.

Why You Should Subscribe to The Journal Times

http://news.racinepost.com/2008/12/dtente-jt-needs-your-help.html

Dustin Block, former employee of the Journal Times and founder of the Racine Post, argues in the above article that the Racine community should support the Journal Times financially because of Lee Enterprises' dire economic straits and the possibility that it and/or its newspapers could go belly up. I have to agree that the thought of Racine without a daily newspaper is not a pleasant one. The Journal Sentinel's coverage of Racine has been spotty at best, even when they had a local bureau. In other words, the Journal Times is just too big to fail in Racine.

Mr. Block's primary suggestion is that more people subscribe to the newspaper in order to provide a cash infusion. I applaud that idea. If you can afford it, subscribe to the Journal Times. Perhaps you should consider giving subscriptions to the Journal Times as holiday gifts this year. I know that at the JT Irregulars, whenever we put up the Festivus Pole and start the Airing of Grievances, the Journal Times plays a big part. I would subscribe myself but for the fact that I already receive a daily paper via my mother's subscription. I don't need that much fish wrapping material.

There are other ways to raise money for the Journal Times, too. First, I recommend that Lee Enterprises' CEO beg Congress for money. There certainly is no shame in doing that during these tough times - look at the Big 3 - and I always like to see people who are paid annually more than five times what the average person makes in a lifetime explain why we should give them our money. Perish the thought that maybe an executive making millions and millions of dollars should have his or her salary anchored in economic reality. In any case, it's worth a shot. The current administration is on its way out and apparently is giving away the store. Time to line up for the handouts.

There are other options. I've done some soul searching and I've decided to ask my fellow Irregulars if they might consider digging deep into their pockets so that we might advertise our site in the Journal Times. I'm not sure what print or online ads cost, but if we pool our resources, perhaps we could give a boost to the Journal Times' bottom line while also promoting our own peculiar form of insanity. After all, when you think about it, we are the bastard children of the Journal Times, and maybe we owe our parent something. A full page ad for the JTI is definitely preferable to more scams about Amish heaters and the like.

Or how about an adopt-a-JT-employee plan? Put all of the Journal Times' employees names into a hat and then draw them out for select sponsors to help. You could provide a Journal Times employee with lunch or dinner once a week, or maybe chip in for a warm winter jacket or snow boots or whatever else he or she might need. The possibilities are endless. Set up bell ringers outside of major retail stores to solicit donations for the Journal Times. A bake sale, maybe. Or we could stage a benefit, like the Thoughts for Food event. Put some bands on a stage, get everyone drunk, and watch the money pour in. Perhaps a telethon on Channel 25. At the very least, the Journal Times should put a donation box in their lobby. We can't help them if they're too proud to ask.

Whatever happens, I don't want to lose our local daily newspaper. It's as much a part of Racine as Danish Kringle, North Beach, and corrupt courts. We need the Journal Times to provide our community with a sense of identity. Me and almost all of my trolls agree on that.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Canadian Police Chase

For the Person Who Has Everything...and Thinks Their Pets Should Too!

Would you buy this for your pet? Come on, they're worth it.

Been Feeling Sick,Lately

Well,I've been feeling really sick lately. Been coughing and hacking away like I'm going to die. Took myself to Prompt Care to see what they can do for me. Got some meds-antibiodics and codeine cough syrup-Wheee! I also prescribed for Chantix. It's official,I'm quitting smoking. No more of this hacking away. I want to live to see my grandchildren. At least,go through a Mean Jake show at the Shillings without going outside for a smoke.

This Test Brought To You By...

Many teachers have to dig into their own pockets for classroom expenses ranging from chalk to pencils to paper. One teacher at Rancho Bernardo High School near San Diego came up with a different solution.

He is now selling ad space on his tests and quizzes. Math teacher Tom Faber decided he shouldn't have to shell out to get his students ready for the AP Calculus exam, so now he sells ad space to raise money. His final exam is already sold out.

"Brace yourself for a great semester! Braces by Henry, Stephen P. Henry D.M.D.," reads an actual ad from one of his tests.

When I lived in Florida, they had a special legislative session to address funding for school construction and one State Senator (who is now governor) proposed allowing schools to sell their naming rights. It didn't pass. Maybe he needed to start small.

You Feel Like the Need For Speed?

The Fastest ISPs in America—and Where You Live

And the Nation's Fastest ISP Is...


Worlds Fastest Internet Service

Dear Madame Zoltar

Howdy doody, everybody! It’s Madame Zoltar with your weekly peak beyond the pale. I hope that you all are well, and I’m happy to report that my incantations for the mayor’s health have proven beneficial. The city will be receiving my bill.

Our first missive today comes from AvengingAngel, who writes:

Dear Madame,

Hale recently posted pictures showing the conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon. Is there some cosmic meaning to this occurrence?

Dear Mr. AvengingAngel,

Hale who?

In any case, yes, there is great significance to this astrological event. It signals the dawning of the Age of Vicarious, a time when people will start to live their lives ever more online. Soon, the lines between reality and the cyber world will blur completely.

“Then PCs will guide the planets, and spam will steer the stars.”


Our next query comes from Alwin Lorenz, who writes:

Hello,
my name is Alwin.
I´m writing to you, ´cause I received an e-mail by Ms Awa Dominic, who the f%*# is that?
She wants to do some investments in my country, eh? She needs a contact person here - sounds very mysterious to me - who is she? I read some on your bloq, sounds not really good!
Thanks for answering!

Yours
Alwin

Dear Alwin,

You’re welcome.


Finally, I thought you all might want to take a peek at junior’s website, Zoltar.com. I haven’t the faintest idea of what it is about, but as long as he stays out of my hair, I’m OK with that.

Send your love letters and hate mail to me at: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Thank you for reading my blog. I look forward to seeing you again next week. Nolo contendere, my compadres.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Adrial White to Get New Trial

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/12/02/local_news/doc4935a409c1eb1197796119.txt

Frankly, I am very surprised by this ruling. Of course, if the powers that be in Racine had not gone out of their way to make Mr. White a scapegoat for their failures, and had just tried him on the merits of the case, all of this insanity could have been avoided. Now we get treated to the spectacle of another circus trial. Plus we get to pay for it. How much has this already cost us? How much more? What will it cost us when the city settles the lawsuit that Adrial will bring? All of this so that some good old boys could save face . . .

Meanwhile, the citizens of Racine are at the mercy of criminals, and people who torture two-year-olds to death face 6 years imprisonment (maybe). What a farce, and what a sad commentary on crime and punishment in Racine, Wisconsin.

Idiot Tax III, the sports edition

This is an Idiot tax/Semi-Darwin award story involving probably one of the best (soon to be former) receivers in the NFL. What a colossal ass. Many of us dreamt of having just 1/10th of the athletic ability of someone like Plaxico. Why so many of them just piss it all away will always be a mystery to me.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12022008/postopinion/editorials/the_perils_of_plaxico_141772.htm

Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us

Taking a cue from Orbs, here is some information regarding Festivus


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma879--VKrI&eurl=http://www.vidlit.com/festivus/&feature=player_embedded

"City Council to discuss praying before meetings"

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/12/02/local_news/doc4934962232615722938992.txt

"Both the Racine County Board and Congress say a prayer before their meetings, Maack said." He alludes to the largest collection of professional criminals in the nation as a model? Ha ha ha.

Personally, I think that prayer before betraying the public trust is a good thing. Such hypocrisy adds the spiritual texture of blasphemy to the proceedings and invites divine retribution against those taking part. I suggest that the public confessing of sins also be added to every meeting.

Don't forget to include some Muslim and Buddhist prayers, too, or there will just be another lawsuit against the city.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Geeky Christmas Cards

The Telegraph had a collection of geeky Christmas cards...I thought this one was notable for us.
Links are provided to buy many of the cards they feature.

What Crappy Xmas gift are you?

A fun little quiz......

ok.. the wonderful people who always edit my messed up posts.....
(got you covered... no prob, kk)

here is the link
http://www.blogthings.com/whatcrappychristmasgiftareyouquiz/

I used the insert link and it never seems to work for me...

The Hubble Advent Calendar

The Boston Globe's Big Picture is putting up a Hubble Advent Calendar. Each day from now until Christmas, a new Hubble image. Here is the first one.This is a star called V838 Monocerotis. This normally dim and obscure star had a big brightness outburst in 2002 and got about 600,000 times brighter than our Sun for a brief time. It is now back to its normal boring dimness. What we are seeing here is called a light echo.

When the star got really bright, it gave off light in all directions. Some headed toward us (which we saw already) and some that headed off in different directions bounced off dust in the area and got reflected toward us. Since this light is taking a longer path to us, it takes longer to get to us. That is what we are seeing in this image: the movement of the light echo.

The light echo gets dimmer as time goes on. You may notice the background stars appear brighter in the later images. Since the light echo is so much dimmer, they take longer exposures to see the light echo and the background stars appear brighter. In reality, they have not changed and would look the same if you kept the same exposure time (but then you wouldn't see the light echo which is what they are interested in!)

I won't be able to blog every one, so check back every day for the next picture on the Hubble Advent Calendar.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

James Bond at the Very Large Telescope

Previously, I blogged about the movie Quantum of Solace being filmed at the Very Large Telescope. Unfortunately, you didn't get to see the telescoped in the movie, but rather the astronomers living quarters. You can watch a video about the filming here (sorry, not embeddable).

I saw the movie last weekend...I wouldn't have recognized the place since I have never been there! Wish I had seen this before the movie. I would have appreciated those scenes more.

The Mayor's surgery


We may disagree with him politically (often and loudly), but I sincerely wish Mayor Becker a speedy recovery from Kidney surgery. A little research indicates that Kidney cancer is usually found by accident and is often wrongly diagnosed as a kidney infection. Beware, as is often stated, what do you call someone who graduated medical school with a "D" average? Answer: "Doctor".


Journal Times Promotes & Perpetuates Amish Heater Scam


These are electrical heaters manufactured in China. Obviously, the Amish have nothing to do with electricity or this product, but the Journal Times, Parade Magazine, and who knows how many other publications continue to run this scam advertisement. Just Google Amish heaters scam to get the facts: $400 for a "free" HEAT SURGE® (i.e., electric) space heater. (As I typed "Amish heaters" into Google's search field, it auto-filled "scam" - lol.)

Or you can buy one at Wal-Mart for $25.

A full page ad of lies, lies, and more lies brought to you by the newspaper of record in Racine county.

Happy Monday!! Open snowy blog...

They've got the right idea, just cuddle up and stay warm!!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Grand Conjunction: Sunday Night Photos

Just thought I would post my best two photos from tonight of Venus, the Moon and Jupiter.



Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

The Festivus Pole is up and Ready....


Let the "Airing of Grievances" begin!

Now be nice...

Here is mine, “That f&%k’in White Mans Club, who is blaming chemicals on the pumping system so now the children of Racine can not run and play in the water fountain by the lake”! I have to stop here otherwise; I will use some real potty words.



FACEBOOK - do you use it??

OK, a friend from England (a lizard guy) sent an
invite to join Facebook to me.
My kids do facebook, alot of people do facebook,
am I missing something or what??
Do you use Facebook? Are you a facebook junkie?
What's the draw? What's the deal? I just started
but I really don't get why it's such a big thing,
I need your input.
Do you facebook?
Why or why not?