Comrade, Your Slip is Showing (or is that, Show is Slipping?)

About a week or so back, I commented that I thought Robbie Watson’s morning radio show at WRCG was a fair and balanced affair and that she did a good job.

But after today, I’m not so sure.

Today’s show has been mostly about Bush’s speech last night, which is fine. It was a very good speech. She obviously likes him, which is okay too. But when one caller came on to question the connection between 9.11 and Iraq, she commenced to calling him “comrade”, which was undoubtedly a lefthanded insult. She became argumentative, interrupting him time and again with “comrade” this and “comrade” that.

For those who don’t get it, “comrade” is a term often connected to Soviet, communist Russia. It was the most common way one communist party member addressed another.

Talkline is Robbie’s show. She can speak her opinions and conduct herself as she sees fit. That’s her right as an American, and as the host of her show. And up to the point when she got barrel-mouthed with her caller, I had found it all quite enjoyable. But I can get a gut full of just plain rudeness by going to the local Wal Mart or driving in everyday traffic. I was hoping for something better from her.

Up in Smoke

I’m not going to cry about it... but I will donate a few minutes and a few comments to it because I think it deserves as much.

Beginning July 1st, Georgia’s new anti-smoking laws take effect, effectively bringing that state down on the side of the anti-smoking industry. Most restaurants that used to have smoking sections will be forced to give them up but, pubs and bistros that do not serve or employ anyone under 18 will be able to allow their patrons this liberty.

An entire list of what will and will not be tolerated can be found within the Ledger-Enquirer story here.

Everyone I know is fully aware of the dangers of smoking. Everyone I know personally who smokes already tries to respect the airspace of those around them. Everyone who smokes already pays two arms, a leg and an internal organ to the government for a pack of cigarettes. I think the groveling should be allowed to stop there but the state of Georgia, as well as others, think differently. I also feel that while smoking is a bad idea, government has no business in governing how a business, like a restaurant, approaches the issue of patrons who smoke.

The same goes for use of seatbelts but, that’s another story for another time.

In the South, smokers nearly equal in numbers those who don’t smoke. This figure will be disputed by the anti-smoking industry... but I believe it to be true. I also believe that smokers have allowed themselves to become society’s leper colony because they feel as though they are somehow guilty of being lesser citizens and because of this, they continue to let themselves be kicked around.

Perhaps once the anti-smoking industry has tired of working over their neighbors and local businesses, they will turn to issues like air and water pollution. You know, designate an area where cities like Atlanta can trash the environment at their leisure without fear. Maybe they will make dirty industries clean up their act or face having to buy supplies with huge tariffs attached. They may even begin doing commercials of large rats dying on a public sidewalk to remind all of us how industrial pollution is dangerous to all of us.
Or, maybe not.

There are both smokers and non-smokers in my household. We have made arrangements to accommodate each other without the intervention of government. The smokers know the risks and accept them. All those who smoke in my family will probably, eventually give them up but will do it on their own terms. They just feel that it should be their decision.

You Can't Beat City Haul

Monday’s Ledger-Enquirer had a news item regarding garbage pick-up (or the lack thereof) in rural Lee County and specifically, the incorporated areas of Smiths Station. For anyone who’s lived in this area, the issue of garbage collection is nothing new. Basically, land/home owners pay an annual fee for collection and this gives them the right to load their cars and trucks with trash, transport it any number of miles to a collection point and then unload it into compactors.

For those that may think this is something of a rip-off and wish to protest this practice by withholding that portion of the land taxes each year, Lee County has pre-printed documents that require you to understand that you have no rights, no voice on this issue. What it says is that if you refuse to pay this fee, your case will be turned over to someone who will take you to court and then seize your property in lieu of payment.

But the L-E article didn’t mention any of this. What this piece was reporting was that questionnaire, or survey, had been sent to residents of Smiths Station merely asking if they would prefer to keep things as they are or have door to door pick up. According to this same report, it was a straightforward question with no mention of a cost involved for changing to curbside service. Sounds simple enough, right?

Here’s a portion of the article as it appears on the Ledger-Enquirer site, including the title of the article, details of the distribution of the survey and the response.

City eyes services change

Residents want curbside garbage pick-up

The commission sent out more than 15,000 postcards as part of a survey to gauge county residents' interest in changing the system. About 7,000 residents (45 percent) responded, with 72 percent of those responding saying they wanted to keep the current system.

Now, the lead in to the story which does appear just below the title clearly says:
"Residents want curbside garbage pick-up"

But the published results of the survey show otherwise…
"About 7,000 residents (45 percent) responded, with 72 percent of those responding saying they wanted to keep the current system."

What’s that contradiction all about? Huh?

Here’s another quote from the same article:

The large margin against the proposal made the commission's decision to maintain the status quo a no-brainer. A citizen vote for curbside pickup, however, would not have the change happen.

"The commission has to look at it from two ways," English said. "Yeah we've got to look at it to serve the people, but we also have to do it within the financial framework we have to work with."

Yeah… serve the people. What a concept!
And the no-brainer was a no-brainer before the ink on that survey had a chance to dry, I'm sure.

Now, while you are digesting this, consider that over the last 20 years, the garbage collection system has remained relatively unchanged. Aside from an extra compactor here or another scheduled pick-up of the containers that hold the refuse there, it is pretty much as it was in 1985 when I first moved here. But also consider that over that same 20 years, the population of this corner of Lee County has exploded and with that explosion comes revenue and with that revenue comes… what? More garbage on the side of the road as it continues to fall from loaded cars and trucks? More Lee County Sheriff’s deputies writing more tickets for seatbelt laws while cars often have to dodge limbs and sacks of household refuse left on the local streets? County mowers that shred the roadside blight into millions of smaller pieces to be blown by the wind over an even wider area?

The ‘City Haul’ concept of garbage collection is undoubtedly cheaper than curbside pickup and even with the added garbage of so many more residents, the county is either realizing a revenue bonanza or… that money is going somewhere else. Some things are for sure though; cute little surveys will not solve the problem, and comments like Judge English’s passing dismissals are more worthy of one of those garbage collection points, than of a public servant when addressing the needs of the people.

These are your rights... in a frying pan

A Supreme Court, in the addled death throes of a body that has no direction, has made life more difficult for those who it used to serve... those who used to be free.

Ten Commandments – Yes and No. What a crock. The elder judicial body of our nation was unable to escape Political Correctness.

P2P Software – Yes ? The writers of software ARE responsible for what someone else does with it. Be careful whom you trust with your computer or car or frying pan… under this logic, you could be held responsible for their actions.

Cable Networks – Forget about any competition in this arena. Expect your rates to increase and service to decline… especially on the West Bank.

Finally… the Big Government and Corporate guys can now steal your property legally. Don’t try and pin this on one political party because most of those voting in favor of the big money here were Reagan appointees. Just goes to show why Supreme Court Justices need limits to their terms. Money is the buyer, not values.

Knock-Knock. Who Are You?

Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes on the web has noticed that newspapers all over have begun locking their website doors to the free-surfing citizen. Publications like The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sacramento Bee, Minneapolis Star-Tribune as well as a host of others have begun requiring visitors to submit varying amounts of personal information (called 'Registration') and in return, they allow you to access their site via a sign-in name ('Subscription').

NOTE: The Journal-Constitution will often let you browse a bit before whisking you away to their registration page…

One of the reasons these media outlets have resorted to this tactic is because, well, they are a business and they need advertisers to make their websites work. A newspaper can use a lot of bandwidth and if they serve a large market, that usage can get expensive. They need to have a way to make the effort pay for itself.

Now, in this information age in which we live, advertisers want to know who it is that visits these sites so they know how to target them with advertising designed to generate sales. So the advertisers tell the paper to either get as much information as you can from your web audience or we won’t pay you very much for the space to run our ads. The newspapers in turn, place registration gateways on their sites and make you submit stuff like your zip code, date of birth, an e-mail addy that can be spammed, your blood type and sexual preferences in return for the cyber subscription.

The whole thing is really intrusive, especially when you consider that the on-line version of a newspaper is most often still far less detailed than what you get in paper and ink. And what they often ask of the visitor in the way of personal details can sometimes be very personal. Who you are - is very valuable information and you shouldn’t be too willing to just sell the farm upon request.

But there is a way to beat this…

A website called ‘Bug Me Not’ (www.bugmenot.com) is a database of registrations for most every subscription based newspaper and by simply entering the name of the website you wish to access, they will give you both a log-in name and password for it. If by chance you do come across one they don’t yet have a file for, they will ask you to create an account there and then, share the sign-in information so others can use it. It’s a sort of community involvement thing for the electronic age.

The reason I am approaching this subject is because it would appear that our local newspaper, The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, has begun clearing some of their publicly accessible files and this could be a first step in creating such a gateway for us locals. On the other hand, they may just be clearing some disk space and opening some bandwidth… but if they ever do begin requiring subscriptions for their website, we will be sure to remind everyone of the Bug Me Not alternative.

The Value of Controversy

I was right, this horse still ain’t dead!

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer is conducting a Public Art Poll here. There is also an article on the subject that includes this quote from Tom Wade, chairman of the Muscogee County Library Board's art committee: "If it's not controversial then we will have failed miserably…"

Whoa… old Tom has got his hubris in a lather again! Does art have to be controversial? Must it look and smell like a dog pile for it to be worthy of presentation? Should the price represent the art, or the preferred lifestyle of the artist?

By Tom’s set of standards, if the public had approved, the art would have been worthless... or maybe just a bit cheaper?

The Columbus Ampitheater??

Two items for this afternoon’s contributions: The first is a look at how location is EVERYTHING when building along a river that another state owns up to the highwater mark...

The second is another look at the glorious but waning Library Board fiasco in Columbus.

But first things, first. Here’s something for any of yall who keep up with Chuck over at Redneckin and his ongoing search for honesty and forthrightness in Phenix City.

There has been mentioned that Phenix City may have built a footbridge in Georgia. Well, here’s a picture of a footbridge along the river and if it is located below the highwater mark, it is in Georgia. But if the bridge is in Georgia, where does that leave the ampitheater?

Wait A Minute... This Horse Ain't Quite Dead Yet!

So, how much milage are we allowed to get from one story? I dunno… let’s find out.

I was scouting the web and in particular, Google’s satellite images and that led to one thing and then another…

Okay, remember the $250,000 Albert Paley ugliness that the Muscogee Library Board was gonna pile in front of their new library? Yup, that one. Anyway… before there was a library, there was an empty lot and before that, a rather run-down mall. But for the sake of this little piece, let’s just go back as far as the empty lot and do a ‘Before and After’ and see how it all MIGHT have turned out had the board had their way… call it an exercise in what-iffery.

Here is the ‘Before’ shot with a large area that has been cleared of the old mall and the resulting debris. Recognizable is the old Sears building to the left and Macon Road, top... the former being a sacred area that will soon be the home of the hard working school board.

Now here is the ‘After’ image of how it may have looked.

Points of interest are numbered for easy reference and here’s the key:

1 – Parking Lot. A large area capable of holding some 48 automobiles and just a mere 637 feet from the front doors of the library.

2 – Memorial to the Almighty Penny. This 100% copper likeness is 70 feet in diameter and weighs 13 tons. (Made from the pennies left over after paying for the parking lot.)

3 – The Albert Paley sculpture named “Transgarbification”. The Paley Vision Courtyard that surrounds it holds nearly 16 tons of various scrap metals and is worth a cool $3.88.

4 – The Sacred Sears Building, now home to the Muscogee County School and Library Boards who hold regular but cloistered meetings in the women’s apparel department on the second floor.

5 – Columbus Whitewater Park. After breaching the dams on the Chattahoochee and opening it to kayakers, it was found that the pollution coming from Atlanta was causing visitors to exhibit unusual growths upon their bodies… such as extra eyes and a few fingers sprouting where hair used to grow. This new park feeds from Lindsey Creek.

6 – Macon Road Temple to the Divine Sales Tax… otherwise known as the Public Library.

The Cows Are Coming Home

I really hate to make fun of something that deserves a more serious look. It’s no laughing matter. But in the most recent cases of Mad Cow disease, the beef industry as well as the USDA and the FDA have only themselves to blame. For some reason, after years of tests and result, the suspected cause of Mad Cow has not been eliminated because… well, it’s just cheaper to make a cow mad than to keep it contented.

So, how DO you make a cow mad? You feed them chicken droppings, blood and bodily parts from other animals because it’s less expensive than a purer diet.

Here’s a quote from the AP via MSNBC…

“…the feed ban has loopholes allowing cattle to be fed poultry litter, blood and restaurant leftovers, all potential pathways for mad cow disease. The Food and Drug Administration promised to close those loopholes last year but has not done so.”

The first things that come to mind is to ask WHY haven’t these loopholes been closed and WHY is our domestic cattle industry STILL using feeding methods suspected as making our cows mad? I’m not against a man earning a living wage but these guys are getting both and arm and a leg for just a single pound of ground beef and if you want a decent roast for the dinner table, the price goes up to include a firstborn male child! Cattlemen used to gripe that they were not able to make a decent living raising beef cows but this is no longer the case. These folks are the second most profitable food industry in the US (After citrus). There ain’t no excuse for making our cows mad enough to poison us!

There’s also some question as to just what the USDA and FDA are doing to earn their paychecks as well because if there are still letting these unfit bovines to continue to be a nuisance, maybe they need to be fed some chicken poop too!

Here’s one last thing to consider. I found this article on the web, dated from 2000. It comes from a researcher in the UK and has some very disturbing implications. It’s a fairly extended read but you may come away with a new perspective on Mad Cow… or at least, something else to think about over your next steak.

The Road To Ruin Needs Paving Again

With bad news like yesterday’s rip-off of landowner’s rights and finding out from Chuck over at Redneckin that Phenix City paid to have a bridge built in Georgia (Don’t they already have enough?), I figured I’d try and divert my attention to something else. I mean, there’s no sense in getting depressed over the fact that the government can steal your property, especially if they are already putting bridges where they don’t belong. The way I see it, I stand a better chance of getting Lee County to actually pick up my garbage than get an honest answer from anyone in an elected office.

So without lending much thought to the process (Maybe I could get elected too?), I decided to concentrate on some of the local road conditions.

Starting close to home, there’s Lee Road 212.



This particular stretch of pavement is one of the few direct routes between Crawford Road and Auburn Road and is very popular. During both the morning and afternoon stress hours, you can easily find yourself in a long line at either extremity. The end that junctions Auburn Road (Lee Road 240) is basically a stop sign with a cute, stubby little turning lane for those going left but, Auburn Road is also very popular… and waiting there for a break in afternoon traffic can be just a bit like waiting for water to boil… without a fire and while standing in a yankee snowstorm. What’s worse is that after you have driven over this span of what jokingly passes for pavement, you know your car needs a chassis overhaul. There’s a fair chance you may not make it home with your transmission.

Next, US 80 (Crawford Road).



Unless your car comes equipped with water wings, don’t even try driving either direction in the right lane on this highway during a thundershower. As a matter of fact, don’t try driving in ANY lane because those with high-stepping trucks just don’t care a lot about your problem because they are still in a hurry and will wash your poor little Toyota into Georgia when they pass you doing 90. This is an awful way to treat other drivers but they have learned that around here, people will commit a slowness in front of you just about anywhere, no matter what the weather conditions are so they feel perfectly justified in this preemptive automotive assault.

Let’s do Alabama 165 now.


This ribbon of blacktop can be used as a way to avoid deadly US 431 between Phenix City and the outskirts of Eufaula. The only problem with this is if you are still driving that little rice burner... because the big boys in heavy haulers also blaze the stretch up to about Cottonton. But there are a few dedicated passing lanes and if you are careful, they will get around your import without scratching it or gumming up your radiator with pine bark.


Finally, we’ll have a look see at our favorite of all places, US 280.



Now, this road used to be a lot different than today. At one time, the stretch between the Little Muddy and points north was riddled with turning holes in the median. And back then, there weren’t no traffic lights either so if you could manage to negotiate the dangers of this beast, it was a very fast way to go. But then came the access roads on either side and all the fun was gone. Literally, it just went to hell in a handbasket. Businesses moved away and some just disappeared when they got paved over. Did it make it safer? Well, yes and no. Yes because less and less people shopped that area but no, because the access roads have intersections and negotiating those boogers is like trying to find a dime in your wife’s pocketbook. Besides all that, when Wally World built the supercenter, everything moved north where there are still more of those turnarounds.

MSM Driving The Getaway Car

With yesterday’s demolition of the rights of the people, in favor of big government/big business, you’d think there would be a great deal of media attention paid to the issue. After all, this was no small decision. It has the potential to do enormous harm to homeowners and small businesses. But on the front pages of Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, the story that was so very briefly in big print, has now suddenly fallen to small print, buried securely under a ton of fluff.

* * * * *

Main headlines at CNN –

Cheney on Iraq
Judge arrested in Natalee Holloway case
Eric Rudolph’s memoirs
Iranian presidential runoff
NBA playoffs

The Supreme Court decision is located several frames down and under another story regarding a serial sexual predator.

* * * * *

Main headlines at MSNBC –

Iranian elections
NBA playoffs
Natalee Holloway

The Supreme Court decision does not appear anywhere on the MSNBC main page.

* * * * *

Fox News –

Main Story – NBA playoffs
Highlighted – Natalee Holloway
Highlighted – Iraqi leader in DC

Third from last under “Latest Headlines” is the Supreme Court story.

* * * * *

The biggest beneficiaries of the Supreme Court decision will be both government and big business. This issue steps arrogantly and completely over our petty political divisions. It is not Liberal or Conservative. It is not Republican or Democrat. It is the People being victimized by a government/business hegemony that will profit handsomely at the expense of the average Joe. You can doggone sure bet that they want this story to go away as quickly as possible because it has the potential to bring a divided electorate together for a single cause and that would be bad for both the politician and business.

A Supreme Insult

From the AP via MSNBC -

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people’s homes and businesses — even against their will — for private economic development.

I’ve been waiting to see what it would take to get the attention of the people. I wasn’t even sure that they still cared enough to sit up and take notice that they were being systematically isolated from their rights as Americans by an unholy alliance of big government and big business. Maybe this will stir them to life.

The problem here is that the Supreme Court has historically been the protector of the people’s rights. With this new sway, the only tool left to us is the vote, and to elect new officials to all those offices that ignore our will, regardless of political affiliation. Though, this won’t sit well with many who are already thoroughly indoctrinated by the various party propaganda machines.

So, if there are any out there who would like to take up the torch of Liberty, now would be a good time… before it flickers out on the ground.

Retro Post - Getting Comfortable

Originally published in the Smiths Station News - November 21, 2002

Some things are worth their weight in gold for no other reason than the sheer enjoyment they bring. Oh, I know that the first things that usually pop to mind are, kids and puppies and romantic strolls on some lost and deserted beach. All these are good things too and I don’t mean to reduce their worth but what I’m talking about really has no value beyond the purely palatable. OK, I can see that you’re confused and that’s my fault. I had planned an entirely different subject for today but it appears that my computer ate it, so let’s cut to the chase with a short list of some of life’s lesser-appreciated pleasures.

Coffee. Coffee is one of Mother Nature’s greatest gifts to mankind. It is also her way of making sure that as we get older, we can stay awake long enough to see that traffic light turned green and we don’t have some NASCAR driver wannabe behind us laying on his horn. A morning without coffee is unthinkable and, well… too much like the night before. So you might just as well stay in bed without it.

Chocolate. Chocolate is somewhat of a mystery to most guys. To us it is merely a candy bar or flavor of ice cream but to the ladies, it is an elixir and food group unto itself. If any fellahs out there have not seen the effect a bit of chocolate has on the female of our species, it’s worth your time and efforts to educate yourself. Buy your favorite gal some chocolates and watch your net worth increase by the ounce!

Finally for today’s list is, Chili. I love this stuff! Chili is one of those dishes that could be called a comfort food because once you pull up to a steaming bowl with fork in hand (if you have to use a spoon, then something’s seriously wrong); the rest of the world just seems to fade away. But some of the store bought stuff can cause heaps of trouble with your digestive tract and make you unbearable to your family and friends for days. If you decide to get yours from a can, I recommend you get those chocolates and have them ready to hand out on an as-needed basis.

Last gasp of a lesser god?

It would appear that this issue is about to run out of gas... which is good because the price of both gasoline and heathen idols are at a premium these days.

"It isn't scrap... . Artists frequently are ahead of us. We will come to love this statue if we get it."
- Thornton Jordan via the Ledger-Enquirer

The Macon Road Temple of the Divine Sales Tax has a $100,000 installment coming due on its idol. However, pagan gods (and artists) are often noted for their generous credit policies and might accept a sacrificial offering in lieu of cash...

Stealth, Theft, Boom Boxes and Talk Radio

For the first time since I began this blog, I managed to find a way to pull in WRCG’s signal and listened to their morning call-in show with Robbie Watson. What it eventually required to snag their broadcast was a bit of stealth (sneaking into one of my kids’ rooms) and some petty theft (I lifted a boom box). Anyway, I remember Ms. Watson from her days as a sports reporter at a local TV station and some of the times I saw her at CSU softball games so… I thought I’d eavesdrop on her radio rant.

Now, before I get into the meat of the post regarding the show, I’d like to suggest that WRCG could maybe turn their antenna just a tad towards Lee County, Alabama because aside from possibly making it easier to listen to their talk radio shows, they also carry my college football team of choice and THAT season is quickly approaching! Oh, and on a side note… the WRCG website looks like a building that got forgotten halfway through construction… some of the pages don’t do much of anything, but I did add a link to it here on the Sin City blogsite.

Anyway, back to the show. Robbie is very good in this format, allowing even those she disagrees with the chance to speak. In one particular case, she had a caller who was all broken up over the trial and conviction of Edgar Ray Killen… the former Klan member who arranged the murder of the three students back in medieval Mississippi. After she let this guy cry a bit how it had been too many years to stir up problems over such a minor incident, she let him have it and then politely disconnected him. My guess is that this fellah was lucky she couldn’t reach through the phone line and do any worse than that…

All in all, I was satisfied that her show was more than fair and balanced but had to leave it about 20 minutes before it ended due to a looming dentist appointment. If I can manage to purloin the radio from my younguns again in the morning, I’ll probably tune in again.

Nice job, Robbie!

Coming Soon...

I really like to take things apart and put them back together… just not necessarily in the same order they were to begin with. When I was but a wee lad, I used to raid my neighbor’s garage for old radios and clocks to disassemble. It was a two-edged learning tool and I made some of my first discoveries on the nature of electricity… that, by the way, included several (if not ongoing) lessons in the fine art of getting zapped and living to cry about it.

The reason I am spilling some of my childhood secrets here is that I intend to move the Sin City Inquisition & Bar B Q to its own domain soon and that is going to entail some erector-set type engineering. And though my motives are completely honorable, I am well aware the road to website hell is paved with good intentions. So to begin with, I’m not gonna be changing a whole lot.

Initially, the blog will be trucked in bulk to the new domain and will very much resemble itself here in the blogger configuration. Then after I am satisfied that everything is working, I’ll grab a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, along with some wire snips and a hack saw to have some fun.

The end product should be a more-fully functional blogsite with all kinds of frills like limited bandwidth and storage space for stuff I have to outsource to now. There will also be a cost attached to both the domain and the hosting service so I may even include an unemployed / homeless person begging for spare change…

Hopefully, the entire affair can be done in short order so the shortorder cook doesn’t find himself twiddling his thumbs between the old and stable… and the new and improved.

Curing the Headache

Speechless?

Here are a few sound bytes from the meetings of the Muscogee County Library Board and Muscogee County School Board last night… they speak for themselves.

"I have a severe headache," said board member John Wells…

Bobby Hecht: "I'm speechless."

"One said it looked like an explosion in a junkyard. The other said, 'I'd pay 10 percent if you find others,' " Dr. Tom Wade told the forum…

"When the city council considered the Paley sculpture, they spoke negatively about it," he (Tom Wade) said. "I feel confident if they had voted they would have voted against it. We don't have any means to spend public funds. We are going back to the drawing board and seeking public input -- like we should have in the beginning."

"We have not decided how to use the $250,000," Wade said. "I'm hoping Mr. Paley won't want the negative publicity and will let us out of the contract."

"The primary responsibility of this board is to advance education in Muscogee County," said Philip Schley, acknowledging the ongoing controversy.

"It's like throwing a stick of dynamite into the debate," Wells said.

"I don't have any problem with the decision," he said, "but I do have a severe headache. Excuse me."

It would appear that the mighty school/library boards have yielded the field to public opinion… they are not yet however, out from behind the woodshed. They signed a legal contract with the scrap dealer… er, artist and owe him an installment of $100,000 this week. As mentioned above, the board is clinging to the hope that he will try to avoid the headache that member John Wells was sporting at the meeting, and simply slink away back into his wrecking yard… umm, art gallery.

Source Credit - Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

* * * * *

I wonder if they do pedophile priests?

This little story is about 6 inches from being completely unbelievable and if I wasn’t so sure that there are those who exist on this level, I’d just ignore it all together…

A trainee nun who was crucified in an exorcism at a monastery in eastern Romania and left to die has been buried in a religious ceremony.

The novice, Maricica Irina Cornici, died last week after being tied to a cross, gagged and starved.

* * * * *

Faking It

From Reuters via CNN, this story is likely to raise a few eyebrows but I’m not sure any of the guys who are attached to them will be surprised… or maybe, they will.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Reuters) -- Women may be able to fool their partners by faking an orgasm but a brain scanner will catch them every time, a conference heard on Monday.

"Women can imitate orgasm quite well," Gert Holstege told a fertility meeting on Monday. "But there is nothing really happening in the brain."

In the brain? I’m not sure they are even looking in the right place…

* * * * *

Do you swear to tell the truth…

Redneckin has a brief on local radio personality, Robbie Watson and her summons to jury duty, among other topics.

* * * * *

Talking BS…

… with Sen. John McCain at Bubba’s Back Porch Blog.

* * * * *

Web Cam Shot of the Day

Monday Morning Shots

Oh, excuse me… did I shoot you? I’m ever so sorry!

It looks like criminal use of guns has become just an everyday occurrence to some neighborhoods. Witness the recent shooting of one Keivarius Walker, age 10 years. The story coming in is just a bit murky though…

“Keivarius and his 13-year-old cousin were on their way back to his aunt's house from his grandmother's house two blocks away. Keivarius was hit by the bullet at the front door of his aunt's house, Walker said.”

Okay, that seems straight forward enough, but wait, there’s more…

"The information we received is a 13 and 15-year-old had a disagreement with a person we initially thought was the victim's brother. Turns out, it's a cousin and they took a shot at the cousin, missed him, and hit the ten-year-old victim."

A 13 year old and a 15 year old had a disagreement and they settled it like John Wayne?

“Two teens are charged in the case. The family of the 13 and 15-year-old brothers is apologizing. "They said they're sorry," said Brittney Jackson, the suspects' cousin. "They didn't mean to and we're sorry."

Oh wait just a cotton pickin minute! The Duke would never apologize for capping anyone! Just what in tarnation is going on here?

"It was not mistaken identity. It was intentional," she said.”

It was?

"I hope the boy is ok," Jackson said. "We sorry, like I said, for the family. We know how that is. They didn't mean to do it."

Then it WAS an accident!

“On Sunday, Police Sgt. L. J. Warren said that, based on witness accounts, the boys intended to shoot another person but missed.

Just forget it…

The two boys, ages 13 and 15, were taken into custody shortly after the shooting at the corner of Benner Avenue and King Street in the East Wynnton neighborhood. Each will be charged as a juvenile with one count of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. The juveniles allegedly were armed with 9 mm and .38-caliber pistols, police said.”

Alrighty then! They busted the shooter and his cohort. But that still leaves a few questions unanswered…

"I'm mad and I want to find out where they got the guns from," Walker said.

"Where were their mom and dad?" said Sharon Tolbert, Keivarius' stepmother.

Good questions!

“Police say they don't know where the teens got the guns.”

Bad answer.

Maybe if the city of Columbus were to spend some of that $250,000 training and paying police instead of buying heathen idols to put in front of the library, they’d solve this little mystery.

Source Credits: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, WTVM

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15 Minutes of Fame…

On the back Porch Blog, Bubba recalls how his Granddaddy pinched some escaped convicts…

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On Jo’s Morning Menu…

Get your “I heart Gitmo” items here.

Talk about expensive soap.

Bob Geldorf might have a brain cell after all!

Police killer convicted in Alabama.

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At Redneckin…

It’s Shoot, Cook and Shut Up - "What will happen is wealthy out of state tourist hunters will continue to snap up the leases at the expense of poorer native Alabama hunters turning a natural resource for Alabamians into a cash producing crop for landowners. That is something that is generally cheered on around here whether it's a state park becoming a convention center or a river becoming a whitewater adventure ride."

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Web Cam Shot of the Day

The Chaotic Butterfly of Random Providence

“The flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to happen, does. (Ian Stewart, Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos, pg. 141)”

It is interesting how things that may have been random in occurrence, can create unexpected results. For instance, Bubba on his back Porch Blog, made note of the following portion of this website:

“WE DON'T COMB CHICKENS HERE - WE COOK 'EM!”

This eight-word message created for him an enigma, an unknown that was noticed because of his own familiarity with yard birds… or chickens. This led to a curiosity that in turn led to an epiphany, or a realization and then ultimately, satisfaction of solving the mystery.

After reading Bubba’s post there, I was reminded that when I began this blog, it was fully my intention to change that logo marquee on a regular basis, with random quotes or local references that may or may not find some kinship with that day’s topic. But as I became more and more involved in writing the various entries and having such a good time playing with the WTVM Skycam images, it just completely slipped my mind to change the logo.

Now as it happens, I had made the decision early this morning that today’s WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day would be the last of that series, as I have another format in mind for that spot in the blog. But if Bubba had not made mention of the marquee message, I probably still would have not remembered the original plan.

A Butterfly Effect? Chaos Theory? Coincidence? Divine Providence?

You decide.

The Price of Snowballs...

You just can’t figure the library board in Columbus. They seem absolutely bound and determined to do something stupid and then make-believe that it's something wonderful.

Now, I’m not against art. I think art is a great way for a person to express their vision in such a way as to share it with others. Even that obscenely expensive Paley piece they want to pile in front of the new Macon Road Temple of the Divine Sales Tax has some artistic value, I'm sure. Somewhere.

But then they (the library board) come along after taking some heat on the issue and say something like, "We think this can help more than books and computers at this time."

But hey, what in the hell do I know about running a library? Maybe that indelicate assembly of otherwise disconnected metallic objects can offer more than a book or a computer. It could be that a child will stop before this grand idol and be stricken with a miracle of intellect. Perhaps there is an art god somewhere who will bless each of those who gaze upon this monument to the tax payer’s burden.

"Mr. Paley can sell snowballs in hell, and we're buying."

Or maybe, just maybe it’s just $250,000 dollars worth of experience, and a mistake that the Columbus voters won’t make again.

Credits - Quotes from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

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Father's Day Wishes

To Chuck over at Redneckin and Bubba in Buena Vista – A Happy Father’s Day to both of ya!

And to Jo over at Jo’s Café – Thanks for putting up with the likes of us guys! Please give my best to CSM!

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day



NOTE: Because there is just such a limited number of views possible from the top of the Columbus Government Center, we will begin tomorrow showing images of other scenes and cities in this spot (Though we will still occasionally show a local view).

I would personally like to thank WTVM for providing the Skycam shots for all of us to enjoy and in particular, allowing me to have some fun with those images.

Gone With The Winn Dixie

For those of you who patronize the pharmacy at the Winn Dixie on US Highway 80 West (Ladonia), you may not be aware that today is the last day the pharmacy will be open. From what I’ve been told by store management, they are having a really tough time finding a pharmacist, but regardless of that, there is also the possibility that you may not be able to transfer any of your prescriptions to another outlet (CVS, Walgreen’s, etc.). I cannot confirm the latter report but I do have a good inside source that tells me that it was the initial plan deny any transfers on this, their last day of operation.

If you do use the Winn Dixie pharmacy, you may want to contact them to find out just what you need to do to make sure you have access to your prescriptions after today. The pharmacy phone number is 214-9129 and the main store number is 214-0123.

Friday Review - Updated 7:05 AM CDT

The Catfish are staying for now, so they say. But who could blame them if they moved? I mean, we just spewed 900,000 gallons of raw sewage in the Chattahoochee River, which is also by chance where they live. How would you like it if someone came along and took a dump in your home?

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Maybe She’ll Eventually Run For Office?

Jennifer Wilbanks, the ‘runaway bride’ that caused such a stir when she hopped a bus for a desert state without notifying her parents or her neighbors or the media or the paper boy, has signed a deal to sell her story to Regan Media of New York. It is likely they will make a movie about her little fling, if they can find an actress that won’t skip out on them during the shoot…

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Garbage Out, Garbage In?

Columbus City Counsel says stacking scrap iron is not what they would do with $250,000 but the library board responded:

Dr. Tom Wade, the library board chairman, defended the controversial piece of art saying it fits the facility's educational mission.

"We think this can help more than books and computers at this time," Wade said.

Gotchya. What in the hell would a library do with books, anyway?

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Chuck Has Entered The Building

Chuck has some Intemperate Thoughts, about ever deadly US 431 and the drivers thereon.

Welcome home!

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Jo’s TGIF Specials of the Day

NASCAR and Soap Box Derby - partnering up!

Boy, 13, Leads Police on 20-Mile Chase

Jackson walks, California shakes.

(I really like that last one!)

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Bubba’s in Buena Vista

Welcome to Bubba’s Back Porch Blog to our daily review!

Bubba does PETA this morning, relating the story of how two of PETA's own thugs have been exposed for animal abuse.

Here's a tidbit of his article:

These two PETA ‘operatives’ were arrested in North Carolina Wednesday night. They were caught dumping 18 dead dogs into a dumpster behind a shopping center. Police also found 13 additional dead dogs in the couple’s van. The animals had been taken from two North Carolina animal shelters. Officials said the animals were alive when they left the shelters, but would not say how they died.

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Waste is a Terrible Thing to Mind

For those of you who live in Lee County, a septic tank is no stranger. And depending where in Lee you live, the size of this necessary piece of equipment will vary but for the purpose of this article, let’s just think 1,000 gallons. Now while you are thinking 1,000 gallons, think roughly 50 average size automobile gas tanks (20 gals each).

If that doesn’t do a lot for your imagination, try imagining 10, 665 - 12 oz. sodas, or about what the average teenager can ingest over a normal 24-hour period.

Okay, now that we have that figure firmly in place, let’s multiply that 900 times to equal either 45,000 automobile gas tanks or 9,598,500 cans of soda at 12 ounces each or finally, 900 septic tanks each holding 1000 gallons of human waste. That last reference is pretty disturbing because 900,000 gallons of raw, fetid sewage is indeed no small amount… unless you accidentally dump that volume into the Chattahoochee River and then it becomes just a proverbial drop in the old bucket. Right?

From the Ledger-Enquirer –

An estimated 900,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Chattahoochee River Tuesday near the Columbus Water Works' water resource facility, officials said Wednesday.

"The amount of waste water that was discharged, 900,000 gallons, in comparison to the size of the river, it was kind of like a spit in the bucket," said Cliff Arnett, senior vice president of operations at the Water Works.

The rest of the story here.

Of course we are all quite relieved that it was only a "spit in the bucket". After all, what damage could 900,000 gallons of human bench droppings do to the river? Maybe a few 9-eyed catfish or a bit of fecal matter washed ashore here and there. Nothing more.

I for one am certainly satisfied with this explanation as I am sure those all those who use the waterway for work and play are. The soldiers who train along Engineers' Landing on Fort Benning are probably resting a lot easier. Fishermen everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief as are those down stream from us. Only 900,000 gallons.

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Hey Chuck… 900,000 Gallons…
Coming your way!

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Jo’s Café Morning Menu

Includes an interesting article on German law and flirting on the job… and a bit of useful information regarding the Batman Suit.

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Tearing Down the House

I’m all for historic preservation. History is our best reference when observing who we are today. Our creations; the buildings, the inventions, all the firsts and lasts that have come and gone are a part of us. But sometimes, just sometimes, the record is not all that significant and a picture will do as much as a physical presence.

In this morning’s coffee cup is floating...
The Case of the Razed Ruin.

To wit: One dilapidated structure, the City Mills Corn Mill, built in 1869 by noted local builder and designer, Horace King. For those who are uneducated, Mr. King was a respected designer and builder of many things, including bridges and the aforementioned structure. Well, it got torn down and now there are a lot of folks sweating over the loss.

From the Ledger-Enquirer - "In nearly 60 years, this is the worst mess up we have made," said Bill Reaves, president of Reaves Wrecking Co., the Columbus firm that demolished the 1 1/2-story wooden structure. He said Tuesday he takes full blame for his company not securing the required demolition permit.”

Read the entire story here.

Like I said, I appreciate history. I grew up in Savannah and know first hand how much it can mean to a community but in the case of the City Mills complex… there just doesn’t appear to be a lot there except a really unremarkable brick building that has little or no aesthetic value. It is not a marvel of design like say, the Octagon House. It is not a handsome building as was the late Muscogee County Court House. And as far as the old, wooden Corn Mill building in question, here’s another quote from that L-E article:

“He said the building was in terrible disrepair. Physically, he said, it needed to come down.”

If we rue the loss of such structures, then we only have ourselves to blame for allowing them to deteriorate to the point where demolition becomes a reality. Perhaps it could have been saved but for the 20 years I have lived in this area, there has been talk of restoring the City Mills complex and for 20 years, nothing has been done. We don’t seem to mind one bit leaving old buildings to rot in place but we then fall to pieces if, either by design or nature, they fall to pieces.

Related Links

Historic Columbus Foundation

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Chuck is Still Fishin

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Jo Still Has 48 Gmail Invites

And a very good morning menu for your reading enjoyment!

*Army deserter visits family in U.S. after 40 years

*Space station astronaut testifies from orbit

And much, much more!

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Buy American?

Do you approve of how American jobs have moved overseas? Here’s an article on how one of America’s largest corporations snubbed a US supplier in favor of an overseas outlet.

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Trans-disfiguration

Ever have so many bills that you couldn’t take care of all the necessities, much less the fluff? Remember how Columbus said that it didn’t have enough money to give its police officers a raise, much less hire more of them? Surprise! It looks like the city that still hasn’t found a proper name for itself, has been pigeonholing a few pennies and they now have in the neighborhood of $250,000 for a real work of art…



The picture above is not the exact sculpture (Transformation or Transfiguration) being purchased by the city’s school board for their new palace… er, library. But from what we’ve seen in the 12th Street Rag (not online, of course), it’s a near likeness, and by the same… ummm, inventor (artist seems a bit generous). The name is Albert Paley and his website is here.

Now, a quarter of a million dollars is a LOT of money. So are the thousands they spent searching for a good city motto. And while I am not a resident of Pee Wee’s Playhouse G-A, I will make this offer:

To: The Consolidated Insane Asylum of West Georgia
From: Sin City Inquisition & Bar B Q
Subject: You Can Afford Me

Save money by paying me to pile junk in front of your library! Will haul it in and stack it wherever you want! Rusty cars, nonworking appliances, old furniture, rancid bathroom fixtures, corroded street signs? NO PROBLEM!

And if you act now, we’ll throw in a free CITY MOTTO!

We are a small company so we have far less overhead and we pass along the savings to YOU!

Yes indeed, offers like this don’t happen everyday, so don’t delay! Save yourselves the utter embarrassment of explaining it on election day!

Just email us at redoubt@gmail.com TODAY!

PS- I'll even throw in a few cans of old spray paint @ no charge!

Catfish on the Summit?

The latest technology, the highest standards of construction, the area’s best nurses and physicians and all packaged to fit gracefully into a rural setting. Welcome to the Summit Hospital by Ameris.



That’s right, those might look like trailers to you and I but to the trained eye, that’s a state of the art hospital, masterfully blended into the local scenery. The new hospital is designed to look like trailers so most folks around here will feel right at home!

Here’s betting we end up with at least a one acre holding pond for drainage and that it is stocked with bream and catfish for visitors and in-patients!

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Phenix City on the Google

If you type in Phenix City in the Google search engine, you will get a number of fairly decent references. But the one listed below looks to be a little bit of a liar. But then again, they are selling real estate and truth is not necessarily included in the closing price…

- Note the URL below and the words “phenixcity”, then after you click on it, the pictures they show you…

http://www.realestate-homes-land.com/phenixcity.htm

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Good Question, Jo. What IS… Bluetooth?

Jo’s Cafe has a really nice menu for today’s diners… and ONLY 48 gmail invites left! Be sure to get one before they’re all gone!

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Redneckin has gone redneckin

Chuck has left the building and is probably right this very second floating around somewhere near Apalachicola. Here’s hoping that the hurricanes and tropical storms have left something for him to enjoy!

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

From the Lunch Box...

The Miss Georgia Competition returns to Columbus from June 22 through June 25 at Bill Heard Chevrolet / Olds /Geo / Cadillac / Sabb on Manchester Expressway.

No… wait just a doggone minute, that ain’t right! Let’s try it again.

The Miss Georgia Competition returns to Columbus from June 22 through June 25 at Bill Heard Theater which is a car dealership located in the River Center for the Performing Arts. (Close enough for government work.) This is a really great venue with a really enormous and somewhat upright stone obelisk in front that has fluid gushing from it.



Prior to the River Center’s erection, this event was held at the old Three Arts Theater on the corner of Talbotton Road and Railroad Track Street… err, 10th Avenue.

Okay, yes. I admit it. This entire post is so I can have some fun at the expense of our neighbor and Big Brother to the east, Slumgullion… um, Columbus. They are a city in search of a name, a logo, a motto… something that best befits a city that decorates for Christmas 365 days a year in traffic lights that blink to the beat of no drummer, and gaily amuse those housed in that other obelisk – the government center.



And while you are test-driving a new Chevy from Bill Heard, why not swing down to the River Walk and preview the new whitewater course on the Chattahoochee?



CLOSING NOTE:
Now, it wouldn't be fair of me to have so much fun without saying that the River Center really is a nice venue or to say...

... thank you, Columbus!

Speed Limit 56K

It was 1997 – the machine was a then top-of-the-line model, featuring a 4.3gig hard drive, 32 megabytes of RAM, 300Mhz AMD processor, 56K modem, and Windows 95. The first time it connected to the wild and wooly World Wide Web was via AT&T’s internet service on a telephone line through the aforementioned modem. Those were heady days of crashing operating systems, numerous restarts, scan disk, unwheeled mice, 256 colors and almost a complete lack of spam and pop-ups. Most everything you could want was free; even in some cases, internet service. But it was all so slow. Multi-hour downloads were the standard and Lord help you if you got an email with a picture attached!

A few years later, Phenix City’s tyrannical cable TV company introduced broadband and we hopped on it. They used to have this commercial that featured the flashing lights of a police car to advertise their service and it was fast… when it was working. Unfortunately, along with all this new speed came reliability problems. What made these problems worse was that when it wasn’t working and you called to report it, the techs took you down this rabbit hole of clicking this button and reloading that program and all to land at the conclusion that there was no problem to begin with. Never mind that your computer was sitting dead in the water. If they said it was working, it was working by golly and if it wasn’t, it was your fault.

Anyway, that’s all history now. I don’t know if Phenix Cable ever solved its issues but I do know that once Bell South introduced DSL to our area, we immediately defected.

The reason for this dance down memory lane is because Verizon has a program to collect Broadband Stories.

Yup, Broadband Stories. The purpose is, of course, to generate business but even that leaves you wondering just how many possible reasons one might have for wanting a fast(er) connection. Well, one very good reason was to avoid spending hours explaining to various (if not, dubious) tech-types how my connection wasn’t working and that I wasn’t kinking-up the garden hose just to amuse myself... or them.


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On a side note…

G'morning Chuck! I love oatmeal. Just not in June… and if they want to make me register my ATV, they’ll have to pry it from under my cold, dead butt!

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Too Many Blackberries?

Folks along the Eastern shores of the Little Muddy may be getting a new area code which means fingers will be walking a little further.

According to the 12th Street Rag, the 706 area code is being filled up by cell phones, computers, faxes, pagers and… blackberries. Now, as for the latter of this group, doesn’t the state come along once a month and mow along the roads? Anyway, what this could mean is that instead of dialing a 7-digit number for a local call, you would be dialing a 10-digit one.

I guess I’m not really surprised by this. After all, there are just so many blackberries that you can stuff into one bag… unless you eat as you go and then you can fill up while filling up, ya know? … … Nevermind.

Considering the number of incoming students to schools like Auburn and Troy, I figure we here on the good side of the river (area code 334) will soon be faced with the same thing. Can you imagine the blackberries and other various electronic fruit that are being used between the two of them? That’s not even to mention cell phones and the like.

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Tyson's Final(?) Entree

Mike Tyson avoided munching on his opponent’s ears, deciding instead to retire his career as a cannibal and general nuisance with a head butt and flop in the 6th round of last night’s fight.

The other guy, Kevin McBride, was declared the winner, and that was enough for him to declare himself “The Real Deal” and bite off the referee’s nose…

The rest of the story here.

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Alert Level: Frog Choker

I’m upgrading the weather alert to ‘Frog Choker’ or ‘Orange’ (for the goo you will soon be slinging all over your cars, trucks and SUVs).

Tropical Storm Arlene looks primed to dump and inch or two of liquid sunshine all over our weekend, but for those who enjoy slogging in the mud, this is a sport! Lee Road 213 is in excellent shape for this pastime as the neighboring construction has widened the drive surface and left it covered in a dusting of fine silt. One or two runs down through this bog course will almost guarantee that no one within eyeshot will have the slightest idea to the color or make of your vehicle. Now, would you believe that some folks would actually pay for this? Okay, some of you might but seriously, there are some places so deprived of muddy roads that they actually spend good money on cans of mud to spray on their cars and off-road type vehicles… read on:

From Wired News

Targeting self-conscious 4x4 owners whose rugged vehicles
seldom see obstacles bigger than a speed bump, the enterprising British e-tailer
behind Sprayonmud sells the scent of the countryside in a squirt bottle.

For 8 pounds (about $14.50), buyers get 0.75 liters (.85 quarts) of
genuine filthy water, bottled from hills near the company's premises on the
rural England-Wales border. The aim, says the website, is "to give your
neighbors the impression you've just come back from a day's shooting or fishing
-- anything but driving around town all day or visiting the retail park."

Imagine that. Maybe we could rent out some of our public roads to these folks? What a great idea for tourism! Lee County alone seems content enough to let a number of our roads disintegrate with only a passing patch truck making any attempt to hold them all together. Why even spend that effort when they could let them all go back to pasture and charge a fee to those who want to drive on them?

Anyway, the folks over in England also have another reason for wanting to muddy their cars… traffic tickets…

But, while the site promises SUV owners a route around social stigma flung by a growing anti-4x4 lobby, motorists of other stripes are thought to use the same technique to freely flout speed limits.

Tipsters in motoring forums advise canny drivers they can smear mud over their license plate to avoid detection by police speed cameras, which photograph plates' registration details to ID lawbreakers using a national vehicle database. A few squirts of dirt, and snapped speeders would become as good as invisible.

Speed cameras? Oh geez, don’t give our own elected officials any ideas, please! Better end this here and move on…

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Over at Jo’s Café…

This morning’s Specials of the Day include:

American Housewife has “Around the Reader” up — if you are stuck inside today…

Babe Ruth’s contract goes for $996,000

The Reports out of Aruba are getting sadder and sadder. I do not personally believe this gal is with this world anymore, but has gone on to her maker. Please, let us all remember her family this day, and pray for them and the people trying to help.

Jo is a local blogger with a great assortment of daily news and musings. Be sure to drop in and say hello!

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The Redneckin Weather Station

Chuck has built a dandy set of weather links and information reports regarding Miss Arlene for Phenix City and the area.

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Po Biddys Gone Wild!

Oh joy, it’s time for yet another Bicyclers from Hell traffic jam in Columbus. This event, Bike Ride Across Georgia, follows the April, Tour de Georgia, which is also known to incite gridlock and runs from traffic light central (Columbus), to the mosquito coast (Jekyll Island), over a period of one week.

According to the 12th Street Rag, this is the very first time this event has begun in Columbus and the coordinators have aptly named this first leg, The Po Biddy Ride.

There’s an idea for a city motto somewhere in all of this… just give me time.

More from the L-E here.

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Chuck over at Redneckin spends some of his morning reminiscing about old cars and the venerable VW Bug. They were, as he recalls, very reliable and easy to repair if they went down. I can clearly remember one winter back in the early ‘80s when it was like 4 degrees out, and I was on a concrete slab helping my brother pull an engine from his VW bus. I was wrapped in a quilted monkey suit but that didn’t stop me from getting cold or icicles from forming on my mustache…

* * * * *

The new computer is doing well enough. I have decided to wait a few more days to try and transfer the data from the old machine to the new because I don’t see the sense in spending $25 for a cable to connect the two that I will probably use only once in my entire life. The way I figure it, by the time this machine is old and ready to be replaced, there will be some reason why that cable won’t work on the next generation of PCs and it will just end up as an artifact for some future archeologist to unearth and puzzle over.

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Dude, I Gotta Dell!

I have a love/hate relationship with surprises because most of them come in the form of bad news. As a matter of fact, I usually have my better-half reconnoiter the Christmas Tree each year just in case some no-account accountant is hiding in my stocking. But yesterday I got a good surprise in the way of a Father’s Day present: a new Dell. This was a serendipitous event because my old machine (if you consider 4 years, old) was beginning to tire of the daily workout with MS Word, and riding the high web surf.

So here I am today with my new toy connected and having a blast! But (in a good Rod Serling voice) there's a signpost up ahead! You are now entering the crossover zone!

Try as I may, I cannot find a way to part with some 3.4 Gigs of my old stuff. This means I have to find a good way to switch all that mess from the old machine to the new one. Now, there are several ways to do this… I can copy it to some 5 CDs and then reload. I can somehow acquire a data transfer cable and do a computer-to-computer IV, or I can just pretend like all that stuff was never there and forget about it. Well, I will be the first to admit that I am a pack-rat by nature, as are most all good honest male types. This task WILL be accomplished at any cost! (martial music plays)

The catch to all of this is that I am gonna have to take the new machine down and re-up the old one to do this transfer because no matter how I do it, I have a severe limitation of nonstressed electrical outlets in this room and only one monitor.

So if I turn up missing for a day or two, trust that I have not gotten a case of cold feet and run off to some God forsaken desert state on a Greyhound Bus… and that you will not find a single lock of my hair lurking in the kudzu.

Oh, one last thing… welcome to Sin City Inquisition & Bar B Q!

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

Backhoes in Paradise

From: Alabama Department of Roadpeckers
To: The Little People... err, Taxpayers
Subject: Stadium Drive at Summerville Road

Dear Beloved Taxpayer,

As you are no doubt aware, our ongoing efforts to redesign the above mentioned intersection has met with some delays. Due to budgetary restraints, we can only man the field with half the normal amount of supervisors (35) and less than half the compliment of sign holders (164). This means that aside from the crew of 4 (four) who are actually doing the labor, we just don’t have the personnel to get this project completed any faster.

Please make sure to observe traffic conditions before driving. If you should be unfortunate enough to have to pass through our work area, it would probably be wise to pack enough food for three days and a change of clothes.

Sincerely,

The guy in the white pickup truck sipping iced tea.

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WTVM Skycam Shot of the Day

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