Saturday, February 13, 2010

A Challenging Valentine Day Observation...

On Valentine's Day, we will have a nice grouping in the west RIGHT after sunset. It will be challenging to see since the sky will still be brightly lit, but worth giving it a try if you have a clear western horizon. We will have a close grouping of Venus (Godess of love and beauty...appropriate for the day), Jupiter and a very slender crescent Moon. A chart is shown below.


You will look slightly south of west as you can see. This map shows the positions only about 10 minutes after sunset (in Tucson). All three objects are very bright, but you can't delay after sunset if you want a shot at them!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Continuous Chest Compression CPR



The life you save may be mine!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Mr. Brain's Pork Faggots




BBC News: Family of faggot fans fly the flag


"A West Midlands family is playing a central role in the quest to raise the profile of a forgotten British dish - faggots.

"The Doody family from Wolverhampton has been crowned The Faggot Family in a national competition, and to kick off their reign they will launch National Faggot Week."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2698507.stmtext

Apparently, this is a real product:
http://www.tesco.com/superstore/xpi/5/xpi50150805.htm

The "Doody" family, no less. Ain't language something?

Happy Birthday Abe Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln had been a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and twice an unsuccessful candidate for election to the U.S. Senate. As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States,[1][2] Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that year. His tenure in office was occupied primarily with the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Six days after the large-scale surrender of Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee, Lincoln became the first American president to be assassinated.

Sorce iformation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Lincoln

Four for Fridays

Hello Everybody! Nice to see ya again! Let's get silly!

1) Do you pull practical jokes?

2) How would you describe your since of humor?

3) Who's your favorite comedian?

4) When was the last time you laughed?

Have fun! Enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Liagra

The Number One Choice of Racine City Council


Hey, Mayor Dickert!

Google Fiber for Communities

"Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We'll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

"From now until March 26th, we're asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their communities through a Request for information (RFI), which we'll use to determine where to build our network."



http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/overview

http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

Somebody in an official capacity in Racine, Wisconsin, get on this fast! As I understand it, if this works out, Google may offer fiber optic internet service nationwide. A monopoly? Maybe, but a damn fast one. We've lagged behind Japan and Europe in internet speed for long enough.

Again, all you suits and suitesses in City Hall, get Google fiber optic internet service installed in Racine! Make this a priority! Think of it! We'll be famous, we'll be fast, we'll piss off Time Warner Cable immensely. People will want to move here just for the incredibly fast internet service. Dickert, if you get this done, I may even start shilling for you.

Podcast Archive

Podcast Archive: "Monday, February 8, 2010"

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my sublime snow bunnies! How are you? Well, I guess we shouldn’t complain too much about this storm. We haven’t had that much snow this winter, and a few whoppers are part of just about every winter in Wisconsin. I joined the humble ranks of Ms. kk and others yesterday by slipping in the snow and falling on my arse. Oh my! I should have seen that coming. Not enough coffee. Or too much potion the night before. Be very careful out there my dear, dear irregulars! The snow can get you in more ways than one. Someone please remind me why I’m still living here . . .

How about that Super Duper Bowl on Sunday? The New Orleans Saints have won their very first one. I did see that coming. Especially after their owner, Mr. Benson, contacted me about making sure that they win. Ahem. A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do to keep body and soul together. Besides, the Saints deserved it, right?

There were no Super Bowl ads in the inbox this week, my dears.

For some reason, my mind is snowbound. Yes, it’s obvious that we’ve had a winter storm, but I can think of almost nothing else. And I don’t even have that big of a stake in it, other than my sore rump. I don’t have to shovel or plow the stuff. I can easily wait until the roads and other areas are cleared. In fact, I slept yesterday like I haven’t in years. After that, I chatted with neighbors. It was kind of nice, the way the snow slows things down.

So how did you spend your snow day? Were you off from work or did you battle the elements to get there and back? How was it? Are you off today? Please tell us do.

Meanwhile, here are some famous faces and voices from the previous generation in a scene from the movie White Christmas. Oh my, they are actually looking forward to snow. How Hollywood glamorizes everything!



Thank you for reading my blog this week. I love all of you and want you, again, to be careful in the snow today. If you have elderly or disabled neighbors, perhaps you could look in on them and make sure that they’re all right. Please forgive other drivers who are idiots in the snow, for they know not what they are doing. Be extra careful around plows and say a prayer of thanks for all of the city, county, state, and utility employees out there doing their jobs.

Please forward your belated Christmas lists and letters to Santa to: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

I love chatting with you. I’ll talk to you again next week, my dears. Right now, I have to go soak my rear. Telefunken!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Who's On Stage?

The Superbowl half time show reminded me of this fun old Animaniacs clip. Of course it is set at Woodstock!

Comments made in the year 1955!

Comments made in the year 1955!
That's only 55 years ago!

I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $10.00.

Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $1, 000.00 will only buy a used one.'

If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. 20 cents a pack is ridiculous.'

Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter?'

If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.'

'When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.'

I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.'

I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.'

Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President.'

I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.'

It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.'

It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.'

I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.'

Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government..'
'The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.'

'There is no sense going on short trips anymore for a weekend, it costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel.'

No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $15.00 a day in the hospital, it's too rich for my blood.'

If they think I'll pay 30 cents for a hair cut, forget it.'

Does He Owe the Colts an Apology?


Not that there's anything wrong with that!



Monday, February 8, 2010

A Day in the Gym...

I go to Gold's Gym here in Tucson...have been ever since I moved here over 4.5 years ago. You see the same people a lot of the time and eventually end up chatting. Some its just casual greetings, others you get to know better and end up hanging out with outside the gym.

Well, there is one woman who falls into the former category. Don't even know here name, but we say hi. She has been going there then entire time I have. She is a bit younger than me. I have always wondered if she was some sort of exotic dancer since she frequently is wearing long fake eyelashes when she works out.

Well, I hadn't seen her for a couple of weeks. Today I saw her again and it looks like she went to Whoville. Her hearts grew three sizes. Yeah, she has two...one on the left and one on the right and they both grew (maybe she's a Time Lord Grinch?)

Prayer for favorites

Dear God,

Last year you have taken away my
favorite dancer Michael Jackson,
favorite actor Patrick Swayze,
favorite actress Farrah Fawcett,
favorite comedian, Dom DeLuise,
favorite pitchman, Billy Mays,
and favorite sidekick, Ed McMahon.

Please don’t forget my favorite
politician is Barack Obama
my favorite Congress woman is Nancy Pelosi
and my favorite senator is Harry Reid.
Amen

Beejay's New Ride

789 Chevy

1957, 1958 & 1959 All Rolled Into One!

It sits on a Corvette C6 chassis, front styled like a 57 Chevy, side like a 58, rear like a 59.

Hence the designation "789."




Sunday, February 7, 2010

CBS Super Bowl Coverge: FAIL

I know lots of thing go into broadcasting the Super Bowl. So much of it is carefully scripted and choreographed that you wonder how they miss some things. But no one even mentioned that the coin used for the coin flip flew to the International Space Station aboard Atlantis in November. Remember the game was played in Miami and Florida is the home of the Kennedy Space Center so these things are kind of a big deal locally. Of course the coin did not have the names of the two teams playing etched onto it yet. CBS failed to mention this in their broadcast (at least near the coin flip...if anyone saw it in the several hours of pregame, please let me know!)

I will let you in on a dirty little secret: I played football in high school. In our games, the coin flip took place about 45 minutes or so before kickoff. Now right before kickoff, the refs and team captains would go to the center of the field, the ref would throw a coin up in the air, look at it and everyone would pretend that was the real coin flip. Yep, it was all theater. I don't know if they still do it this way, but I participated in that farce many years ago.

Our coin was just a quarter or something and didn't fly on a space shuttle!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

CARTOON OF THE YEAR


Late Show Super Bowl Ad



"How the Letterman-Oprah-Leno Super Bowl Ad Came Together:" http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/how-the-letterman-oprah-leno-super-bowl-ad-came-together/

Cool, I think.

Day care Centers – The Saga Continues

My hat off to the investigators from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Day cares, parents use kids for profit

$350 million Wisconsin Shares program continues to pour out monies to Wisconsin Thieves! I know there are nicer words to call them, but in reality, they are thieves!

Reading the article on
JSOline the bleeding of money appears to be endless.

Everyone has excuses why it is happening but I have a hard time finding the cures to fix the system.

This is my idea on how to fix it. SHUT IT DOWN, at least for one year. Zero dollars pasted out, it is no worse then the family ‘bread winner’ getting laid off!

During the shutdown year, review and correct all the loop holes. Hire a fist full of auditors, which may sound crazy like where is this money going to come from. Well give it a quick thought, money saved from the thieves will more then cover their wages and bennies!

One thing, which needs to be added, is the auditors DO NOT HAVE TO INFORM the Day Care centers when they will be there, they can show up anytime unexpectedly. It is simple, they have to conform or no money and their license is revoked.

Of course the auditors could take as little or as much time as necessary to audit the centers. IF, for some strange reason the auditor is lead astray...off to the poky for him or her, that would be a requirement of the job.

So vote SER for Governor!