Well it's about fucking time.

Finally another Canadian team in the NHL -

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/05/31/sp-nhl-winnipeg.html

Too bad the game is FUBAR.

Remember that thing about global warming?

You know  - the source of it being carbon dioxide emissions?

Well no surprise, they's up again. And higher than ever.

And today's the day where it no longer shocks or surprises me. That is, the ratting off of idiotic comments from people who still don't think global warming can and is negatively affecting the world, or its future.

Here's a sampling of the stupidity -

blinkypop - "AGW is absolute nonsense promulgated by the green marxists in an attempt to shift wealth from the can do to the won't do superintended by bureaucrats, kleptocrats and con-men. While humans put out 30 gigatons of carbon the biosphere(you know the earth) by way of volcanoes, fires etc puts out 550 gigatons. This from Dr James Lovelock who posited the Gaia theory. Nothing we can do or are doing. "

General Wolfe - "After this winter i am no longer a denier!! Global Cooling is is full swing. BRRRRRRR Frost warning last night and had a snowball fight last weekend in the foot hills. Stick that in your pipe hippies, time to go for a drive in my 3/4 tone pickup!!."

truth10 - "I can sum up all this "global human Co2" propaganda in 2 words... B*** S***global.. lmao, does it ever end.........""

Seriously - is this so hard to understand?

Global Warming 101

• What is global warming?

Think of a blanket, covering the Earth.

When CO2 and other heat-trapping emissions are released into the air, they act like a blanket, holding heat in our atmosphere and warming the planet.

Overloading our atmosphere with carbon has far-reaching effects for people all around the world—more extreme storms, more severe droughts, deadly heat waves, rising sea levels, and more acidic oceans, which can affect the very base of the food chain.

• What causes global warming? We do.

The primary cause of global warming is human activity, most significantly the burning of fossil fuels to drive cars, generate electricity, and operate our homes and businesses.

Tropical deforestation, also by human hands, is another major contributor. When these forests are burned, they release huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and because the forests no longer exist, they are no longer available to absorb CO2.

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/global_warming_101/



Of course it not's just cars. It's airplanes, boats, tanks, lawnmowers, you name it. Often times I ask myself this question - why do people not understand? What I've learned in my time, is often it's not that they don't understand.

It's that they don't accept.

To do so would be to admit one was wrong, and more importantly, to assume the respnsibility for one's actions and be accountable.

Here's a tip for businesses on how to retain customers.

Don't malign your customer right in their face.

Case in point.

At a local spot I've taken the family before, we elected to grab a snack before dinner. We saw this place that advertised ice cream and cookies, so we thought that would be good.

I noticed the establishment was selling coffee. Turns out it was a container of coffee that had been sitting there for a very long time, so I passed on it.

The guy behind the counter then proceeded to malign the company which was selling him the very coffee he was trying to sell me, as well as their business practices. I shrugged. Then he said, "Well the problem is, they got all them ethnics back there screwing things up."

Nice. Evidently he missed the part about me not being white. I guess he must have realized this eventually, because he proceeded to keep his distance.

But then it occured to me - what is it about people that can so casually say things like that to a customer and expect that they'd agree with them. I got the impression that this was not likely the first time he'd said that to someone, and perhaps not unlikely he had a customer agree with him.

I'm not sure which is more disturbing.

Of course this guy has the right to an opinion and to speak it.

Just as I plan on not returning back to this business as a customer.

C'est la vie.

Quote of the day - 05-25-2011.

"No speak English, no service" - Greg Simons.

Read more at Crooks and Liars - The many rewards of bigotry: Why right-wing 'libertarianism' on race is a lie -- and a cover.

Commenter Bill E Pilgrim sums it up best -

"It had nothing to do with e-thec-ticity" BZZZZZZ. Sorry, sir, you'll have to leave your restaurant, whatever you're speaking, it's not English.


Also "No Speak English" , is that supposed to be English? Or is he being like one of those American tourists who think foreigners will understand him if he speaks English in some weird accent and broken grammar that he thinks matches their language?

Plus, I'd love to see this guy on vacation in Europe and have someone pull this on him, Americans demand that they be treated like kings and spoken to in their own language when they travel, otherwise they threaten to sue. Especially Americans like this one.

 

STILL HERE .... MAYBE NEXT TIME ....

I don't have anything against people who choose to practice religion or any specfiic religion for that matter. What people choose to have go on in their heads is their own affair.

I do a have problem when religion causes people otherwise capable of rational thought to suddenly go bat-shit crazy and terrorize the rest of us with the abject moronicism in their heads.

In that spirit (pardon any puns) check this link out -





(h/t to Kaili Joy Gray at Daily Kos)

Two big babies duke it out - with their parents at their sides.

What does this all mean?

"I'm bigger!"

"Well I'm better"

"NO I AM!"

"NO I AM!"


"NO I AM!"


"NO I AM!"


"No you're cheating!"

"No you are!"

"NO YOU ARE!"

Isn't it great how the world's largest trade dispute doesn't seem to actually benefit the world?

As if the fight to build and deploy larger, even bigger gas-guzzing jet airliners somehow is a good thing for the planet and its people?

What fucking hypocrisy from conservatives, the media, the right-wing and most of all, Republicans.

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-0517-arnold-20110517,0,4552508.story


Everyone made such a big deal about John Edwards, yet this guy fathered a child outside his marriage long before he decided to run for office.

The silence from the corporate-controlled media makes me want to throw up.

The end of the article is priceless -

As an actor, Schwarzenegger reveled in his macho image. But his behavior became an issue during his first campaign for governor, in the 2003 recall election, when more than a dozen women said he had groped them over a period of many years.

Schwarzenegger at first denied the allegations, then apologized. Shriver offered a timely and politically crucial defense of her husband, vouching for his personal integrity.

After his landslide election, she emerged as one of the most visible first ladies in California history, maintaining a high profile as she promoted volunteerism and directed a wildly popular annual conference on women.

Seriously, I cannot it believe it took this woman 25 years to finally come to terms with the fact that she was a moron all these years.

Why we all owe a thanks to Steven Colbert

While the (corporate) media chose to really work hard to deny the severe impact of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission court case. decision, Mr. Colbert has chosen to take that and really expose it for all it's stupidity.

http://www.indecisionforever.com/2011/05/17/stephen-colbert-on-stephen-colbert-filing-for-superpac-at-fec/

Exposing idiocy and abject corruption at the heart of our broken political system is what Colbert does best.

This is great -

http://www.colbertpac.com/

And the best part is, it's no joke - http://www.colbertpac.com/AO_REQUEST.PDF

Finally playing music again.

Well after a long time, I'm back to playing music again. It's in a (cover) band and I'm mostly playing rhythm guitar as well as some bass on a few tracks. What started as just 4-5 songs has become more like 15.


While it's true that I've been (and still am) collecting a ton of ideas for songs, the fact that there is no time, or resources for me to do something useful about it has been eating away at me for a very long time. The inability to simply pick up a guitar, plug it into an amp, connect things up to record all the necssary parts that make up a song, all of this has been getting under my skin for ages.

How is this connected to playing in a cover band?


Of course it's not exactly the kind of music I would prefer to play. But perhaps that's not the point. I think I'm playing because it's a chance for me to focus on learning something again, not just the songs, about myself. Since I didn't know any of the material prior to agreeing to join, in my mind it was a test as to whether I still had the mental capacity to apply what I know to get what I needed done.

My technical ability on a guitar has more or less stayed the same. But my ability to analyze songs, listen to them, figure out chords, riffs, even a few leads, that sparks something in me.

But even that's not it. I suspect the reason why I went along and am doing it, is because, on some level, I think I feel like I need to be wanted for something other than cleaning up other people's messes (i.e. working in IT in QA). It's nice to be appreciated and perhaps even admired for a chance by other adults for something one is fairly good at. It's nice to be held in high regards for a change. And I get to make a bunch of new friends (as well as reconnect with some old ones).

My hope is it'll lead to something more, not just in this group, but for myself. We'll see.

Overheard on a bus - 05-11-2011.

Bandana'ed fellow named 'Javier' was ranting away on his Bluetooth device to someone about how he has to fight to get his pay for his 40 hours.

I know this useless piece of information because Javier was loud enough so that the whole front half of the bus could hear him whine.

I'm not sure who to feel more sorry for - us, or the motherfucker on the receiving end of that call. It actually might be the latter, as after about 10 minutes, that person evidently had enough, we all heard Javier say, "Oh you have to go now?"

At that moment, I got the distinct impression that many of the people on the bus were either -

1. Laughing on the inside
2. Wishing they had a big stick to beat the shit out of Javier
3. Some combination of 1. and 2.

Seriously - these individuals are fucking self-absorbed. No one seriously wants to hear such morons at 5 PM, stuck in traffic, in the pouring rain. If you want to whine about your problems, be passive-aggressive like the rest of us and complain about it anonymously on a blog.

Otherwise shut the fuck up.

Save Jock Ewing!

http://www.ultimatedallas.com/dallasnews/2011/05/10/save-jocks-portrait/

Mr. Hagman is placing a number of items for auction, and Ro Kim's infamous Jock Ewing portrait of actor Jim Davis is up too.

It's times like this I wish I had lotsa money.

But seriously, a wonderful portrait like this that serves as a memory to both the character and the actor doesn't belong in some private collection, mine included.

Let's hope this portrait finds its way to Southfork Ranch.

Here's the link to the portrait listing -

https://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/24/lot/6587/

As as bonus, here's a fantastic poem written by the late Jim Davis himself. This is fucking awesome. I truly wish I had met the guy.

How many people do you know who can get the words 'son-of-a-bitch' in a poem?

Why I can't stand lobbying.

Lobbying is an affront to democracy, in my opinion. It allows a segment of the population to have access to government individuals either don't have, or don't have the time to take out of their day.

It allows those segments unfettered access to instruments of society (government, politicians), and effectively curtains them into their bidding.

And ... that really fucks up society. As in peoples' lives get destroyed.

Case in point.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/05/center-for-responsive-politics-los.html




This right after the 2010 West Virginia Coal Mining explosion.

Read more here - http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-coal-mine-safety-20110508,0,1300434,full.story.

No matter what any right-winger tells you - the number don't lie.

Corporations don't know how to profit from future misery, you might say?

"Already, agricultural companies such as Monsanto are investing in developing such strains for maize and soybeans, but that leaves less profitable wheat and rice at the mercy of shrinking public sector agricultural research budgets. "Working on a trait like drought resistance is more complex than introducing a trait like insect resistance," says plant breeder Robert Reiter, vice president of biotechnology at Monsanto. "We don't have a lot of genes [to work with] that help produce more grain under water stress."


Nevertheless, Monsanto plans to begin field trials of such a hybrid corn next year, and hopes to introduce it for sale as early as 2013. "Our first gene close to commercialization—what it seems to be doing is helping the plant basically maintain more normal metabolic levels as opposed to trying to shut those processes down under stress," Reiter explains. "We may be taking [genetic] leads from corn and putting them into wheat to help it be drought tolerant and high-yielding.""

Way to go Monsanto!

Oh wait a second ... we're talking about Monsanto and their frankenproducts that the rest of the world calls genetically engineering.

For a good cause you say?

Really? You think so?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-change-impacts-staple-crop-yields

Basically the human race is either going to get fucked over by global warming in one of three ways -

1) Companies like Monsanto will create frankenfood that will destroy us from the inside.
2) Global Warming and all it's subsidiary effects will eventually doom us to extinction.
3) Some combination of 1) and 2).

Have a nice weekend everyone!

(h/t to The Disaffected Lib)

Quote of the day - 05-03-2011.

"I cannot tolerate other people's idiocy. Heck I can barely tolerate my own."

President Obama's 2012 re-election strategy kicks off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden

Assuming this to be validated as fact, it's pretty shrewd. Whether it was justice for those whose lives were lost is another issue.