A work in progress

Earthquake in Maryland

2011-08-24T13:36:54Z

Don't post in here much anymore. Heck I don't pay attention to LJ much anymore. But something happened yesterday I thought needed to be recorded before I forgot about it.

Yesterday at around 2pm I was sitting at my desk in the new building (something I also forgot to post about) working on the database property store code.

Without warning, the otherwise stout building shook a bit. I jumped up out of my seat and said "What the fuck was that?". I had assumed that there was a big gust of wind or (what seemed more likely at the time) a truck had hit the building.

Then while I was trying to get a look out of the window, the building shook again, more violently. Each pulse couldn't have been more than a second or two but it very much felt like the building was getting wobbly. At the second pulse I said: "Yeah... fuck this shit I'm outa here....." and bolted for the stairs. I'm not a coward, nor was I particularly afraid but I'm also not about to be trapped in a collapsing/burning building without a fight. So with 9/11 still fresh in my brain, I made for the stairs. Apparently I reacted really quickly because there was only one person on the steps ahead of me and I was down about two flights of stairs before the doors started opening and the people started filing out. Then the fire alarms started going off.

I made my way very quickly outside and moved AWAY from the building. Everybody evacuated and I met up with the LRW crew. I went to go check my phone and quickly realized that I'd left everything not on my person upstairs. So I had my keys and wallet but nothing else. One of my coworkers had his phone and saw on the Toobs that there'd been an earthquake in Mineral Virginia that had measured 6.0 and we felt it in Canton. (The initial report was a 5.8 but it was upgraded over time).

They kept us outside for about an hour while they were making sure the building was ok and we went back inside to resume work. One of my coworkers decided to leave for the day. I then got a text message from my boss asking if they'd let us back inside yet. Not "Are you guys ok?" but asking if we'd resumed work. Such a capitalist that guy is.

I texted my wife and let her know I was ok and that was basically it. It was kinda neat overall but only because it wasn't bad and nobody got hurt. But I figured I'd better write this down before I forget.

What's left of the Wife's car

2011-03-28T16:40:09Z

WTF Happened

2011-03-27T17:50:51Z

Yeah so Saturday March 26th, 2011 we got into a pretty nasty car wreck. Here's what happened.

I had just dropped off the Versa at the dealership to have an oil and filter change done. Danielle came later to pick me up because we had intended to run some errands before coming back so I could finish painting the office and replanting my seedlings into a proper dirtbox so they could grow. I had friends coming over around 5pm or so for gaming and I wanted to have the office put back together by then.

Danielle showed up and I could tell she was worried. She'd talk to her mother and as it turned out the MIL was in the Emergency Room at Saint Agnes Hospital complaining of vertigo. Danielle was slightly indecisive about what to do so I said "Dude, it's your mother. Lets go."

We went down to Saint Agnes but we weren't quite sure where it was or hot to get there so Danielle asked me to look it up on my phone since her car doesn't have a Nav. I used the Map application to plot a route. Most of it was self explanatory but at the end it did something weird. It routed us off Canton avenue for some reason and down a street called Benson. It then had us go on some road that ran parallele to Canton for a bit then back onto Canton, effectively making a big circle for no apparent reason.

We got onto Canton avenue and I only noticed Benson after we were mostly through the intersection. I was like "Uh.. that was Benson back there..." We continued up Canton while I looked back down at my phone to see where it was going to route us. The next intersection after Benson had a light (Wilkin's avenue I think?) and was basically the entrance to the hospital. This is where the phone was routing us. Why it didn't do that to start with I don't know. But I told Danielle to make the left and we stopped at the intersection to wait for traffic to clear.

I looked up as Danielle started to move and I saw a MD Transit Cop in motion literally like 15 feet from us going pretty fast. Neither his lights or siren were on. I think he might have gone around the lane of traffic turning right into the hospital or something but I didn't see that just the fact that he was incoming. I had just enough time to shout "Dani, NO!" but she was already starting to make the turn.

The transit cop hit us effectively head on though somehow more to the drivers side. I guess he'd seen us a little too late and swerved to avoid us just as Danielle had started the turn.

Then the world got all spinny. The airbags popped the windshield crumpled and we were spun around 180 degrees to face the other direction. The engine compartment was basically obliterated and there was oil and bits of Elantra all over the road. My sunglasses (and Dani's eyeglasses) disappeared but somehow I'd managed to keep my hand on my phone. I pocketed it and got out of the car as soon as I'd realized that we'd stopped and I was still alive and conscious.

First thing I did was get my daughter out of her carseat in the back. She was terrified and squalling but otherwise unhurt. I then ran around to the driver's side. The impact had basically crushed the metal up to the door so that I had to pry it open to get Danielle out. As I tried to get her out of the car she just shouted at me to get Mia out of the car. Then a bunch of people who'd seen the accident and stopped started checking on us to see if we were ok. Some random dude walked up and started talking about Jesus protecting us and stuff and then left. Then a red truck pulled up next to us and said to me that I should get them (Dani and Mia) away from the car in case it caught fire. I figured that was a good idea so I got Dani out of the car and got them both to the nearby sidewalk.

Mia was flipping out so I was trying to calm her down. Being literally a hundred feet or so from Saint Agnes the paramedics and cops were on the scene within a minute or so. I could see the cop car about 100 or so feet down the road. His lights were not on but his door was open and there were some people checking on him. I got Mia calmed down a bit and then handed her off to Dani so I could go check on the police officer.

When I got down there he was half sprawled across the front seat. I don't recall him wearing a seatbelt (do cops wear seatbelts?) but his airbag had popped and I noted blood on it. I found out later he'd required a couple of stitches in his knuckles which is probably where the blood came from. I asked him if he was ok and he said he was shaken up. But that he'd made the call in. Later I'd found out he'd used some 'oh shit' police code and that's why cops had literally came out of the woodwork. Since the cop seemed ok I went back to my family.

Mia was still freaking the hell out so I picked her up and started calming her down again. I checked on Dani and she was crying and a bit scared too. By then the first emergency vehicle had already pulled up and was treating her. Still holding Mia I walked down to take a look at the car, which was totaled. As soon as Mia saw it she flipped out with renewed fervor so I walked back to the emergency vehicle so she couldn't see it anymore.

That's when the EMTs started arriving en masse. I could see them pulling the police officer out and putting him on a backboard and shit in the distance to get him into an ambulance.

The emergency vehicle I was standing by pulled a bag of what I assume was oil cleanup stuff that looked like ground up newspaper or something and tossing it onto the ground so they could start handling the oil and gasoline spills. They were putting a neck brace thinger on Dani and said they needed to get one on Mia as well. I said "Well she's probably not gonna like that but do what you gotta do."

Mia was surprisingly a trooper through that hold thing. She was still scared but I reassured her that the people were there to make sure she was safe. They put her in this like, nylon cocoon thing with the brace on her neck to keep her immobile and loaded Dani into the same truck. There was some question about where everybody was going for a bit there even though Saint Agnes was just across the street. Hell i could have walked over.

Then cops and EMTs descended on me when they realized I'd been in the accident too. I'd escaped completely unharmed as far as I could tell. But one EMT told me that there was a hole in the window where the passenger had been and asked me if I remembered the airbag hitting me or hitting the windshield or anything. I responded that "No I don't remember hitting anything." basically intended to mean "No I didn't hit anything." at that point there was a flurry and I was being back boarded and neck braced as well.

I think what they were talking about was caused by a crack that has been in the windshield for a long time now. It started as a little ding but was never corrected and every time it got cold and then warm it expanded. I'm guessing when the impact happened the window just collapsed there. So yeah it probably looked like someone hit it.

I was asked the same questions a hundred times, which I correctly assumed that they were trying to make sure I hadn't had some traumatic brain injury. Then they stuck me on a gurney and put me in an ambulance. They then wanted to give me a 'line' and I was like "Line? Uh.. am I bleeding or something?" and they said no but it was standard procedure because I'd just been in a severe trauma. So I said "Ok... go ahead and stick me." but they couldn't find any veins in my left or right arms and eventually gave up. They then drove me the hundred feet into the emergency room.

They took me into a waiting room in the pediatric emergency area presumably because that's where Mia and Dani were. i could hear Dani's voice coming from somewhere nearby.

My only complaint the whole time was the fact that I was basically left on that backboard for an hour. The only people that came in to check on me were family, cops and the chick who takes your insurance information. I started texting people and posting on facebook about what was going on. All I could move was my arms the way they had me strapped down.

And I REALLY had to pee. At one point I called out "Uh.. not to be ungrateful or anything but could someone get me the hell of this thing? I'm fine and I really have to pee."

My brother in law and his family were apparently also on their way to visit the MIL but were stuck in the traffic jam we'd created. R* visited me to check on me and let me know Mia and Dani were ok. Mia'd already been discharged and they were working on clearing Dani. I asked him to go grab somebody by the balls and drag them in there to get me out of this thing and he'd said "Well they're pretty much all females out there but I'll see what I can do."

I'd started fiddling with the restraints trying to figure out exactly how to get them off. I couldn't move enough to see where they were attached or how but I was going to MacGuiver my way out of there when finally a doctor came in to see me. He did some basic functionality and injury tests on me and then released me. Eventually I got to use the bathroom too (someone was in there and I had to wait) and then went to check on my family.

Dani's a bit banged up. She has some serious seatbelt rash that looks like bacon around her neck. She also has some nasty bruises in other areas where the seatbelt saved her from much worse injury. Mia has a tiny little bruise (which might have been from the neck collar) on her chin that she shows off like a war wound. I'm completely fine. The police officer was given a couple of stitches to his hand and then released. Both cars are pretty much totaled.

After we were released we went down to check on the MIL and another police officer came down to check on us. He took some pics of Dani's bruising and then showed us pictures of what was left of the car. He said that they'd cordoned off Canton Ave and were doing accident reconstruction. The Officer was very polite and helpful just like everyone else. He said that' he'd asked some of the other police to hang around in case we needed a ride home or to go get a new car seat for Mia since you can't really use them after they've been in an accident.

My family and the police officer are all ok and cars can be replaced. That is all that matters to me. All day yesterday and today I've been in a wonderful "Hell I'm still alive" kind of mood.

So, if you don't wear a seatbelt? Start. And remember, car seats for kids is a good idea. All the libertarian-style complaining about 'freedom' from those restrictions isn't going to stop you from splattering against the dashboard or you child from hitting the seat in front of them. Those restraints and countermeasures work and the alternative is a hell of a site worse.

Edit:
I wasn't intending to make it sound like Jesusdude just showed up, laid some Jesus on us and left. He was checking on us and according to Dani (though I don't remember this) helped me get her standing out of the car. Then he said "i'll leave you in the capable hands of Jesus" or whatever and left. He DID actually help. But I think by and large we were fine so he didn't need to stick around. EMS starting teleporting in from all over the place shortly after that so we were fine.

Amused

2010-10-02T21:57:52Z

i don't know why precisely this makes me laugh but it does. In case you didn't know there was a major progressive/liberal rally down in DC today. I'll be interested in seeing some crowd estimates by credible sources but for right now the neo-cons are claiming nobody showed up and liberals are claiming two billion people showed up. SSDD right? Here is a collection of the news stories about it. Just look at the titles:

MSNBC: Thousands gather for 'One Nation' rally in D.C
CNN: Liberal coalition rallies in D.C. for jobs, education
Reuters: Big crowd gathers for liberal rally in WashingtonCBS News: Thousands Gather in D.C. to Support Dems' Agenda
ABC News: Liberals Rally in D.C. One Month Before Midterm
Christian Science Monitor: Liberals rally in Washington: Will it help Democrats?
Associated Press: DC rally shows support for struggling Democrats
Wall Street Journal: Liberal Groups Stage D.C. Rally

All of these article titles are pretty neutral. I don't know anything about estimating crowds but based on the pictures I've seen I'd say the number is probably less than a million and more than say 50,000. But I haven't seen any of the top down photos yet and no official crowd estimates. However, saying a 'Big Crowd' or 'Thousands' is a perfectly accurate assessment just based on the pictures. Even Murdock's pet Wall Street Journal was relatively neutral (even if it was buried and I had to search for it)

Now here's the right wing crowd at Fox News.

FNC: Invoking Tea Party Anger, Thousands Rally in D.C. in Support of Dems' Agenda

Yes, that's the whole reason why the march happened. Just to piss off the Tea Party. All that crap about fixing America and decent jobs and stuff, that's just there to piss off the Koch brothers. lol. Stay classy, Fox.

Really tired of human beings today

2010-09-29T01:18:55Z

Just in general. You ever have a day that's going half decent and the somebody decides you might like a cactus enema just because they're a fucking douche? Yeah that's what today was like

So now I'm sitting on the back deck waiting on a burger to chat , drinking a beer and wondering if I should just let the asteroid hit he earth rather than suiting up with Bruce Willis to save the earth. Cuz really there are far too many raving douchebags in this world. Most of them are in public office but because the universe holds us all in a very special contempt there's one in your office too.

MDRF

2010-09-05T03:22:01Z

It was nice to go back home again to the warm welcome of friends. The weather was gorgeous and fall like, unlike previous early Septembers wherein you cooked in your own juices. I did feel out of uniform in my danes and without my trusty mug but all in all it was like coming home after a long trip. With all the stress of the last several weeks it was precisely what I needed.

(Unfortunately) I've dropped a bunch though. We went through the ren garb tub and tried on everything and nothing fits me anymore. The kilt I bought in Edinburgh (the one souvenir I was really happy with) is something like 4 sizes too big for me now. I'm literally swimming in it and I've only gotten to wear it like twice since I bought the thing for like 40 pounds. I can now get into the gladiator belt that I haven't been able to wear in like six years, but almost all the rest of my garb is either old and gnarly (Dra stuff is still in good shape though) or with bits falling off.

Gonna have to put some money into it and probably bust out the sewing machine to run out a few shirts ( I hate buying shirts cuz I can rarely find something I like for a reasonable price that won't act like a basting bag in the hot weather). Moresca did have a doublet I really liked and a shirt that I liked as well but both of which were too damned big. Apparently there was a run on regular sized clothes and only the things left were too small and too big. They also had a pretty bad ass cloak that I really liked (which was surprisingly reasonable in price) but would be far too warm for this time of year.

Shit sucks asscrackers of late - keep looking up.

2010-08-22T20:24:36Z

I'm probably just already emotionally unstable from the shit going on with my mom. But the news that Jack Horkheimer (The Star Hustler), a guy who'd be on screen less than a minute once a week at like 1am on PBS.... died two days ago makes me want to start crying. I kinda grew up with him considering how much time I spent as a kid watching PBS (Dr. Who) and not sleeping I'm not surprised I have at least a little emotional attachment to him. He went on the air two years after I was born and had been doing his periodic stargazing shorts as long as I can remember. Hell he's part of the reason I wanted (and still want) a telescope. You may only know him by his tagline ("Keep looking up!") and weird techno music. But if you've watched PBS in the last thirty some years you've probably seen him.

Still, the guy made it a good 72 years. That's a pretty nice long run of things. He died on the 20th of a 'respiratory ailment'. I assume this means pneumonia or something but every story I've found about it just says respiratory ailment.

And this is why Democrats suck too

2010-07-14T02:35:53Z

Did someone turn back the clock to 2005 when I wasn't looking?

Photos of the disaster - Yeah it's from a conspiracy site, but the photos are linked from other places.

It is now apparently the policy of our government that you must maintain a 65 foot perimeter around ships or booms in the oil spill cleanup. If you get closer, you risk a felony arrest charge and $40k in fines. Instead of it just being BP's hired goons doing the intimidation with threats of arrest, it is now the very people we put into power to protect us from this sort of draconian bullshit under the Bush administration.

Why not? BP is currently spending more money running commercials about how good they're doing on the cleanup, than they are doing the cleanup. Meanwhile the gulf is being turned into one big ass dead zone and our President sits on his hands. Don't give me that bullshit about the Fed not being able to handle Oil spill clenaup either. BP can't even handle it, as their emergency plans have shown. But the President can very well nationalize that damned company and force them to do whatever it is they're not doing. Obama has the power to do whatever is needed to fix this problem and yet after 70+ days we're still leaking and now we're not even allowed to know about it. Put together a dream team, and fucking fix it. Enough excuses.

This is not what I voted for. This is what I voted against. You've heard it from me before, if this is something that bothers you - call your Congressidiots. If enough people contact them, maybe something will be done.

NOW, this is Obama's Katrina. This is fucking ridiculous.

Vehicles

2010-07-13T04:30:22Z

Recent net searches on vehicles to replace the now 8 year old and half falling apart xterra or the SRSLY fubarred Elantre reveal that vehicles worth driving are vastly overpriced for what you get.

Seems as tho I am stuck between pumping thousands (on the order of 5k in the last two years) into these pos's or buying some overpriced plastic car.

I realize I am picky but for once in my life I want to own a vehicle that I like and want to drive rather than something I bought because I had to. I don't want another used vehicle because it has been my experience that you are just buying someone else's problems... And whilst I like my SUV in principal I am no longer willing to drive a vehicle that gets less than 30mpg given my 80 mile per day work commute. I'm tired of feeling guilty about how much gas the damned thing used (hummers now get better fuel Econ than me) But any monetary savings in gas would just be sucked up in a new car payment because of it.

I've still got about 9 payments left on the damn thing too, which would add another hunk onto any new vehicle I get. I hope to hold out of course but the xterra has already cost me over a grand this year and it's not even half over.

(assuming anyone still reads this lj) can anyone relate any good car experiences or recommend any reasonably priced sedan's/suv's that get decent economy?

Long time no post

2010-07-12T03:35:54Z

My last posting was six months ago. That surprises me and yet not so much. I retreated from the world when it became too difficult to bear and too stressful to handle. Between work, home and politics I decided to back off and focus on home. I am so deeply disappointed with the Obama administration and the Democrats in general that I can barely stand to read the headlines and my anger and frustration was impacting my health. I'm now on anti-anxiety medication, which I take as needed. I can now understand why so many people just stick their head in the sand when it comes to politics.

Work is still work. Had some struggles. Things appear to be stable currently but who knows.

My daughter is now 3 years old and I love her even if she frustrates me. She just went on her first beach vacation with the family. About to go back to work tomorrow and had to write down (on a private filter) a summary of the major events since the last posting and thought I'd pop in a public posting to let people know I'm still alive and kicking assuming anyone cares to read it. Feeling a bit of the post vacation melancholy at the moment.

Thats all for now. I need to go shave my grizzly adams beard and attempt sleep so I'll be ready for work tomorrow. Whether or not I continue to post I am not sure.

Goodnight all and i hope you had a pleasant weekend.

Bluedot on my Shitlist

2009-11-13T00:38:07Z

Alright Bluedot you're on my shit list. About a week ago or so, we realized our heater wasn't working because it got cold. After some investigation I figured out that it was the ignighter that wasn't working.

There's something to be said about doing it yourself. If you're right and you fix it correctly you save money. If you're wrong, and you replace the wrong part you're not only out the money you paid for the part but you STILL gotta pay for someone to fix it and of course if you do it wrong and it's a critical system (like say, a GAS LINE) and you burn down your house you are liable for the damage. Whereas if John Q LateHVAC guy burns your house down you can at least sue the company he works for. So we called around to get someone out to fix it. There are lots of things I'll work on around the house.. but ...anything that'll flood, burn the house down or blow it up I ain't touching.

The earliest they could get someone out was today. So we've been around a week or so without heat. Luckily it hasn't been that cold and we've been able to supplement with one of those electric oil radiator heaters that I bought the last time our heat blew up.

Anyway they set us up with a 12 noon to 4pm window... now because Dani is in florida I have Mia on my own from tonight till Sunday.

This makes the hour + (5 gallons of gas each way) drive to work pointless because I'd be there only a couple of hours before having to drive back. To be there for the noon window. So I stayed home and worked over the net. Personally I'd rather be in the office but whatcha gonna do?

Around 2:30 I get a call from Bluedot saying "You're next" and the technition will call me when he's on his way.

At 4 pm I start getting pissed, because now I've gotta go pick up my child from daycare and I don't want these guys showing up while I'm out and then leaving.

So I go and get back... 5 rolls around.. then 5:30...So I pick up my cellphone to call up and chew these guys out and find out that yes... their office is CLOSED.

I'm about to lose my shit by this point. I wasted a whole day waiting on these guys.

So I call back again to leave a message when the house phone rings and it's their dispatcher again telling me that the guy will be there shortly. He just finished up a trouble call and he's en route.

530 turns into 6:05 when he finally rolls up. Two hours and five minutes PAST the bottom end of the window I was told to expect him.

I explain to him that the diagnostic light is blinking once after failure, which indicates a problem with gas flow, gas valve, the ignighter or flame sensor. I also tell him that this fits with what I've been seeing. In order to keep us at a decent temperature I've been using a BBQ lighter to light the furnace.

It goes through a predictable cycle.
1. Power up
2. Fan turns on.
3. Lots of whirring noises.
4. Big time hissing noise which is the gas flowing into the ignition area.
5. One or two clicks as the igniter fires
6. WHOOSH

The thing's actually pretty cool. It looks like a jet engine or something when it fires. The last time this happened it was the flame sensor that wasn't working. After step #6, the flame sensor heats up significantly and it's capacitance changes, thus indicating that there is in fact a flame. If this doesn't happen the system vents any gas that had been emitted and then shuts down and blinks the 'Hey dude, your heater ain't working' light.

So basically I'd wait for #4 and put a lit BBQ lighter into the back of the chamber where these trumpet looking things focus the flames through holes in the back to heat the air. WOOSH... and then after that it worked fine.

Logically this tells me that whatever is supposed to be igniting the gas isn't doing it's job.

My boss's reaction to the knowledge that I was lighting the heater with a BBQ lighter was basically "Are you out of your damned mind?" Actually he recommended wrapping the house in saran wrap so that when it reached orbit I'd have a few seconds of air to breath.

I show him where it is... flick the heater off.. and back on so it begins it's startup/diagnostic cycle.

About five minutes later he comes up with the igniter which looks all discolored and says "You were right."

then he proceeds to ask me when I called it in.

Regular time is $132 an hour. Yes you're reading that right. Overtime is $160 something an hour. Which I suppose is better than time and a half but even so, it's FUCKING INSANE. It's not cutting open a brain and replacing the hypothamlus. It's putting a part off of heater and replacing it with another part you have in your truck.

Anyway I said "We called this in a week and a half ago and this was the first appointment they had.... you're also TWO HOURS LATE. There's no way I'm paying you overtime."

And naturally this is 'hour or fraction thereof' and not full hours. By 6:30 dude was back upstairs writing up the paperwork and when he was calling in to run my credit card number (unfortunately I had to put it on a card because we're flipping broke) it was 6:53. I checked. All told he worked for roughly 25 minutes and that's mostly because I had already done the diagnostic for him.

So now, I'm $214 poorer (which will actually end up being more since I had to put it on a freaking credit card) but at least I have heat. I should write up a bill for the 8 hours of work time I lost sitting around waiting for them because of these bozos and overtime for the extra two hours they had me waiting after they were supposed to be there.

and now I'm seriously considering doing my own HVAC from now on. $214 is a hell of a lot of money to spend on a glorified BBQ lighter.

Happy Samhain

2009-10-31T20:43:44Z

To all my pagan peeps!

Mia's Costume

2009-10-31T16:21:14Z

Happy Halloween and Happy Anniversary

2009-10-31T16:18:47Z

A year ago today I was just waking up from a trip to Fels point and was starting to get ready....and of course two days later I was back to working 16 hours a day.

Now I'm preparing to take my kid out for her first session of trick or treating in the Pirate costume I made for her (Year 1 she was too young to know what was going on... last year she was at the Wedding)

I can't believe a year has gone by so quickly.

Happy anniversary honey.

Tired of arguing with uninformed partisans.

2009-10-19T19:25:28Z

I don't really care what the topic is. If you open your mouth at least have some frigging idea what you're talking about.

I posted a link to Facebook at one point pointing out a situation where an innocent man (potentially innocent man actually) was sentenced and executed by the state of Texas. Complete with a supposed confession. Fast forward a few years and forensic fire examiners and other related professionals are stating that the evidence linking the executed guy and the fire is based on disproven folklore about how fire spreads.

So maybe the father did something that he felt guilty about and his confession was just recrimination. "Oh my god I killed my children because I didn't put a new battery in the smoke detector" sort of thing. I don't know, I wasn't there. For all I know the Texas state police beat the living shit out of him until he signed a confession. Given that the guy's been dead since 1991 I don't really give all that much of a damn because it's not like we can resurrect him.

However Texas governor Perry has been rather ham-handed and a lot of very vocal pundits are claiming that there's a cover up. Do I know if he's guilty or not? No. Am I forensic examiner? No. Do I live in Texas? No (Thank the universe for that)

Again, I don't care. The whole reason why I brought it up in the first place. Was because Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson isn't angry that an potentially innocent man was put to death. She's angry because of the behavior of Governor Perry and the way he handled the whole situation because "liberals" might use it to challenge the death penalty.

Like, oh my god, you mean we won't be able to execute retarded people anymore? NOooooooOOoooO! What we will do on Saturday nights? *

That kind of partisan bullshit pisses me off and I don't fucking apologize for that. Over the last (almost) decade anyone left of Ann Coulter has been repeatedly demonized not just by right wing pundits and places like Faux News but by the main stream media and everyday average Republicans and conservatives. Since 2003 everyone who doesn't conform to neo-conservative ideals has been called traitors, terrorist sympathizers, unpatriotic, unamerican, left wing extremists, the far right fringe, baby murders, moonbats, loons, that we hated America, that we were all cowards, and every other name they could think of because we did not agree with their President's policy on invading countries for the fucking fun of it.

You know what? FUCK YOU. The nation had well enough of your brand of 'government' and that's why it voted you and your shitheel friends out of office in not one, not two, but three straight elections. This sudden and direct slap to the face by the majority of Americans is the very reason why your party is running around like a headless chicken grasping for any straw you can hold onto in order to cement your return to power. The only thing you're not doing is what you should be doing - attempting to fix the fucking damage YOU AND YOUR POLICIES did to this country.

Instead, you're STILL demonizing everyone left of Coulter as traitorous or somehow undeserving of even living in 'your' country while simultaneously demanding that we do what you want. Not only that you have the unmitigated gall to lose your shit when a Bush commissioned report on 'Right wing Extremism' comes out and use it to attack Obama when you didn't say FUCK ALL when the same report came out three years earlier Bush put out a report on 'Left Wing Extremism'. In fact we were all told "If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide." Indeed you all laughed and chuckled and talked about how true it was. Meanwhile we've got assholes from Paul Ross Evans to Jim D. Adkisson to Scott Roeder to the right wing militias now Youtubing threats that the rebellion is coming and soon (and in one case even giving deadlines by which Obama and the rest must leave the government or else) wandering around murdering people specifically because they have 'liberal' ideologies for the express purpose of intimidating other liberals.

That's FUCKING TERRORISM.

Sorry shitheads, that isn't the way democracy works. Do you honestly think anyone wearing a loaded assault rifle would have lasted ten minutes outside a Bush rally when Bush security was tossing out and arresting people who had the wrong fucking T-shirts on or the wrong bumperstickers on their cars?

When I posted about it I provided a direct link to KBH's website and said "Yeah, THIS is the kind of people I want running my country".

Texans For Kay

The only thing Rick Perry’s actions have accomplished is giving liberals an argument to discredit the death penalty. Kay Bailey Hutchison is a steadfast supporter of the death penalty, voted to reinstate it when she served in the Texas House and believes we should never do anything to create a cloud of controversy over it with actions that look like a cover-up.”

To which I said:

Yeah THESE are the people I want running the country. An INNOCENT man is sent to die, a governor tries to cover it up and what's the Republican Senator worried about?

That her party might not be able to execute additional innocent people in the future.

Apparently the 40,000 people sentence to die each year because they don't have health insurance isn't enough.

So one of my 'friends' who has apparently lost her damned mind since i last saw her gets all huffy about how she's had lunch with Kay Bailey Hutchinson many times and she's certain I won't find her to be a right winger or Republican hardliner. Then proceeds to argue with me over the issue.

Here's a hint. I DON'T FUCKING CARE. KBH is still toting the meme that the evil 'liberals' are going to start coming for your rights (as if murdering people is a right) your guns, your bibles and your money.

KBH wasn't concerned that an innocent man might have been put to death. She was worried that her political opponents would capitalize on it all the while SHE HERSELF was capitalizing on it.

So this friend goes into a screed about how the dude wasn't found innocent and that years later groups came forward claiming they could prove it wasn't arson but that doesn't overturn a conviction. Yeah? So what. The courts found OJ Simpson innocent. Does that mean the courts were right? Yes we all have to act like they're officially infallible just to keep a handle on this system but you know what? They're not.**

But that wasn't the issue. The issue was a Republican Senator attempting to cash in on what might have been an invalid ruling so she can take Perry's job and is using 'liberals' as an excuse for it.

Then she tries to vaguely defend the death penalty by using the deterrent defense and then she says that I was being 'unfair' and that we need a rational dialog. Here's a clue people, the death penalty is NOT a deterrent for crime. She states that Texas (Specifically Houston) has more people than Maryland and yet has less. No... it doesn't.

All it took was about ten seconds of googling to discover that.

Maryland Uniform Crime Statistics 2008
Maryland Population: 5,633,597 Density: 541.9 sq mi
Total Crimes: 112,484, Murder: 242, Rape: 544 Robbery: 6,170, Aggravated Assault: 10,435, Arson: 1147

Texas Uniform Crime Statistics 2008
Texas Population: 24,326,974 Density: 79.5 sq mi
Total Crimes: 1,093,428 Murder: 1373, Rape: 8004, Robbery: 37757, Aggravated Assault: 76487, Arson: 6363

Yes, Texas has 4x the population of Maryland but despite 'everyone has a gun' and 'executing people deters crime' it has 10x the crimes. It's not like I made these numbers up. But I'm sure that won't matter in the slightest.

As far as Houston goes, it has 2,238,895 in the entire metro area with a population density of 3,828/sq mi, and according to what the city reports to the FBI they've got:

Crimes Known to Law Enforcement By City
Houston Population 2,238,895 Violent Crime: 24,779, Murder: 294, Rape: 750, Robbery: 10,603, Aggravated Assault: 13,132, Property Crime: 110,759, Burglary: 26,947, Theft: 68,947, Vehicle Theft: 15, 214, Arson: 956

So please wingnuts, before you open your mouth at least take a second to research your claim. Or better yet take a second to read what your opposing. Because my point had nothing to do with the death penalty itself OR whether the guy was innocent. But the fact that one of your 'not far right wing' Senators was using the evil liberals meme to put asses in the seats.

You want me to be fair and rational? Fuck you. You give me the last eight damned years of my life back and then we'll talk.

And if you'd like to look for evil, unamerican, incompetent, spendthrift, narcissistic leadership in American you need look no further than your own ranks and any complaints you have about the current state of things can be mailed directly to Crawford, Texas.

Start in your own backyard and start weeding out the nitwits, halfwits, traitors, criminals, pedophiles, demagogues, racists and other miscreants and then we'll talk rational. Because every time I turn on the TV I've gotta hear one more attack about how the 'far left fringe' is all about socialism or hitlerism, or pol potism and you idiots have absolutely no idea what any of that means. It just sounds good on a bumpersticker.

But the fact remains that if you rejects were even remotely capable of governing this country NONE OF OUR CURRENT PROBLEMS WOULD EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE.

* Yes I'm aware that this is a gross over-generalization of both Republicans and Texan. Deal with it.

** Believe it or not I support the death penalty. Not because it will deter crime (it doesn't) but because the person you executed will never hurt anyone again. Once a person has proven they don't belong in civilized society and that they are a danger to society at large they need to be removed from it. Yes left leaning people you can argue with me if you like on that point but you're unlikely to convince me otherwise.

*** It should also be noted that I don't like Democrats either for completely different reasons. But that I am COMPLETELY FED THE FUCK UP with having whining Republicans talk about fairness and dialog and bipartisanship only to spit in your eye every time anyone extends an olive branch.

My New Hero - Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

2009-10-09T18:53:03Z

[Wikipedia][Personal Website]

I wrote this guy an email after the last flap telling him to school his associates on what it's like to have a spine. I am pleased to see that he's keeping up with it.

Lead, follow or get out of the way indeed! Maybe there's hope for this party yet.

Book Review - Brian Keene - The Rising [3 of 5]

2009-10-07T14:01:32Z

[Amazon][Wikipedia][B&N][Borders] Just finished reading the first part of the book I reviewed before. I have to say that Keene probably should have just combined the two into one book and released them together.

All of that exposition, character build up and tension that was missing from the second book is in fact in the first book. So if you're going to get them definitely read them in order. While the second book will make sense without having read the first, trying to get into the characters and actually give a damn what happens to them won't be as easy and once they start dropping like flies it's not nearly as dramatic.

The book itself STILL starts off in the middle of the action. I guess Keene doesn't like giving you dramatic lead ups. That's ok, not every book or movie needs to start in the beginning.

Keene drops you into the froth from page one on. Just like the second book this creates a rather frenetic pace that leaves you feeling almost a little tired because of all the stuff going on. There are, mercifully, tension breakers and calm scenes so you can catch your breath but for the most part you hit the ground running and keep running the whole way.

The main storyline is somewhat universal - a father searching for his child during a disaster. But it also gets a little cumbersome because your face is constantly being shoved in it. Yes, Jim, we know you're looking for your kid. Yes, we know he called you. Yes, I'm pretty sure any parent would be trying to do the same thing but maybe put those outbursts every other chapter.

The characters themselves are made a bit more likable though, lets face it, they're all stereotypes of one sort or another. Some more poly-dimensional than others. Crack whore, Priest, Construction worker, crazy military guys, scientist, deaf mutes, redneck cannibals (who aren't zombies), LMOE survivalists....As is normal for fiction the main characters you get a bit more detail about and the bit players you know almost nothing - but with nobody do you really get a decent understanding of why they're not just cardboard cutouts or plastic/metal miniatures. The whole thing almost seems like an RPG wherein the GM delights in railroading the characters down a chosen path. I almost expect to hear dice falling at any moment.

I suppose the villains could use a bit more depth too but they're not too badly constructed. Ob's a calculating , plotting type (But... I'm a fucking demon!). Colonel Schow's a rat bastard. The national guard guys have a few that aren't rat bastards but are too afraid to do anything. Though I've seen some pretty fucked up shit in the news, I'm not sure a national guard unit would pull some of the shit Schow's does. Maybe Schow's just returned from the meatgrinder overseas. I dunno. I'll leave it at that.

Of the zombies, yes they're 'demons' effectively so for some reason that seems to make them a little less zombie in my eyes. Not really something I can explain. They're definitely more dangerous but there's something inherently off about people talking about zombies when the zombies are able to drive trucks, shoot guns and use tactics to take out the enemy. I can't say I'm in love with the idea that all you need to do to become a obot (that's what they call themselves) is die. Doesn't matter how you die or when, if you cack you're demon possessed within minutes. It's like the Manitou went on holiday. They rather remind me of that film from 1998 with Denzel Washington called 'Fallen'. The demons in this book don't spread by touch but the general concept of the demons is vaguely similar except that in this book nobody's immune.

It's not a bad book and it definitely makes more sense to read them in order. So if you're so inclined, pick it up and give it a whirl. Expect lots of sex, rape, drugs, violence, starvation, cannibalism, suicide, zombies, misogyny, biblical references, gore, involuntary penectomy, people behaving stupidly in a crisis, guns, guts, flies and the same phrases and imagery being reused over and over. But all in all, it's a good read.

Necronomicon Prop Making Contest

2009-10-06T02:31:25Z

Edit: The contest is already over.. Bummer.

Necronomicontest

Thought you'd like to have a look.

Book Review: Brian Keene - City of the Dead [3 of 5]

2009-09-29T14:22:51Z

[Amazon][Wikipedia][B&N][Borders]

Ok so, I just finished the book. It wasn't exactly Shakespeare but it wasn't bad either.

If you plan to check it out, get the FIRST book first. It's called 'The Rising' [Amazon][Wikipedia][B&N][Borders]. I got the wrong book first and it turned out to be the second in the pair. I'm hoping once I read the first book everything going on will make sense.

Keene doesn't seem to believe in the Exposition Fairie. This book just sort of drops you in the middle of the shit, like you just rappelled out of a helo into Somalia during a firefight. While that's good for establishing action and keeping up a frenetic pace it's not good for having much of an idea what the fuck is going on.

I assume that perhaps he goes into possible causes in the first book and maybe fleshes out the characters a bit. To be honest, they were pretty much front to back two dimensional and given that I hadn't spent any time with them previously I found that until about 3/4ths of the way through the book I didn't give a flying fuck what happened to them.

You don't really get enough of an explanation to understand what's going on until at least a third of the way into the book either. Granted that's not Keene's fault that I grabbed the second book from the Library rather than the first.

If you want a good synopsis click on the Wikipedia link above otherwise you're on your own.

Basically, there's a Zompocolypse. Keene's take on it is that God created the infinite multiverse and populated it with many inhabited worlds. But apparently some of God's angels fell and followed 'Morningstar' (Lucifer) into hell. They talk about blood and sorcery keeping them there, but never really explain what they mean by that. There are also established rules that they must follow, presumably laid down by God or somebody. Somehow (and I say somehow because I have no idea how, maybe it's in the first book), they start escaping by possessing the recently deceased. The first group of demons is lead by a demon named Ob, and they can possess reptiles, amphibians, birds, humans and other mammals after their deaths. These creatures can be dispatched by destroying the brain just like in classic zombies but that is where the similarity ends. If you want a good depiction of what Keene's putting forth watch Return of the Living Dead and make the zombies demon possessed corpses - or read about the Harrowed in Deadlands.

The zombies are not the original person though the demon inside has full access to the host's collected memories and skills. If a demon possesses a dead special forces guy he knows the location of weaponry, martial arts, security codes and so forth. Needless to say these critters make seriously formidable opponents. Especially since they don't need to bite you - or even touch you. When you die your spirit/soul/animus/whatever is displaced by one of these creatures. There swarms of birds and rats scouring the city as well as human corrupted. If you 'kill' a zombie, the demon is merely thrown out of the body and heads off to wait in line to get a new one. They claim to be more plentiful than the stars and being forcibly discorporated is more of an annoyance to them than anything. Greaaaat. One zombie even reports to the boss zombie that China and India have already been scoured. Wow that must have been messed up and nightmarish. Freaky, messed up demons chasing people around and doing freaky demonic things to them? Almost three billion people live in those two countries alone. You'd think it'd get more than a two sentence mention.

There are apparently three groups of demons, the first wave which create zombies as noted. The second wave which, get this, possess plants. Yes, zombie grass. But don't worry that little bit of ridiculousness is only mentioned a few times throughout the book and only actually occurs at the end. There is also a third group which sound a lot like the Hellementals from Warcraft and World of Warcraft - they burn the world with each step they take. But these other groups cannot be released from the Void until all humans and a large percentage of other life has been corrupted. The whole purpose of the zombies, it seems, is to piss off 'The Creator' more than anything.

Throughout the book there is a heavy disdain for rational thought and logic - with the demons and even the text stating that because of rationality and science humans have lost the only defense against these creatures. It almost felt like I was reading a Left Behind novel though perhaps toned down enough to make me not chuck it across the room in annoyance. Seemed like anybody who's not a godbot is automatically a pervert, murderer or some other miscreant. The doctor who has sex with a captive zombie is particularly grotty.....and what the hell was up with all the people masturbating? Did Keene get his knuckles cracked with a ruler as a kid or something? There are least four or five people in the book pleasuring themselves. I'm all for sex in books - we're humans after all. But a few instances were particularly whacked out and almost seemed like he threw it in because he needed some filler. It leaves you thinking "Another person masturbating? What the hell is this here for?"

The characters, even the main characters, were largely two dimensional though, perhaps this is because anything that might have endeared you to them might have occurred in the first book. I found that it wasn't until the last part of the book that I actually started to give a damn what happened to them. Keene certainly wasn't shy about killing them off in gory ways - but if you want people to see your NPC's as something other than another puddle of pulp in the middle of a sea of gore you need to give them some depth. It didn't really seem like it was there to me which I found a little disappointing. It was more like watching redshirts in TOS than anything. "Oh look, Barry just got killed..didn't he just introduce Barry two pages ago?"

If there's one thing Keene does really well in this book it's action sequences. Like I said he basically dumps you in the thick of things and leaves you to figure out what the hell is going on. The demons take particular delight in dispatching humans in bloody, disgusting, painful ways many times violating them for the fun of it and taking the time to play with their prey like cats hunting mice. Keene describes these encounters in gruesome detail. Once Ob, their boss, shows up they stop using Zerg strategy and start bringing real force to bear. Imagine zombies driving tanks down NYC streets and using machine guns, cars and even attack helicopters to chase you around. Not that they needed this, mind you, since they had a veritable carpet of NYC vermin to use as a creeping blight to destroy everything in their path. Ob orders them to search the entirety of the city and kill everything they find. They do their job with relish.

Eventually though, you start running out of people which is the whole point of the exercise. It isn't so much Divine retribution like some Book of Revelation smackdown as it is someone shaking up an ant farm like it was an Etch a Sketch. The last remnants of humanity end up held up in a skyscraper in New York owned by some Bill Gates type guy who everyone seems to know - but you don't hear about until over halfway through the book. He built the thing to withstand 9/11 style attacks and basically anything the zombies can throw is ineffective but the people can't leave either. Right up until Ob calls for 'all' of the undead on the continent to converge on New York. Zoinks!

The ending is by far probably one of the better bits of the book. It's an ending I can respect and probably very similar to the way I would write it (mostly) . I won't go into more detail than that. I'd comment more but I don't want to give anything away in case you want to read it.

All in all, it's not a bad book. I give it 3 of 5 'didn't sucks'. If you're into the Zombie or horror genres it's worth a read and if you're in Maryland at least the library will have it back shortly.

Review - Brian Keene's 'CIty of the Dead'

2009-09-29T13:34:22Z

Yeah so I finished 'City of the Dead' finally by Brian Keene. I'm pretty sure the first quarter of the book could be removed and not have much of an impact on the storyline. Very little exposition, mostly because it's the 2nd of two books (I thought I had the first book) so you're sort of dumped in the middle with no idea WTF is going on. I get the impression Keene's got apocalypse wood for religion and must have been beaten as a kid for masterbation or something. There's litteraly like five or six different times where people are whacking off or having particulalry messed up sexual encounters for no apparent reason. You get to 'em and it's like "Why the hell is this in the story?"

It wasn't a bad book per se, but it wasn't a great one either. It was, however, packed with action, gore and

Rice Husk Gasifier Stove

2009-09-24T17:38:04Z

The Belonio Stove on Make.com
The Belonio Stove

came across this on Make.com, thought you guys might like it. In that directory is a full PDF of analysis and diagrams on how to build it.

Because bittibuddha pwns

2009-09-16T13:10:35Z

Vaguely homoerotic Star Trek TOS - "Closer" Video (Nine Inch Nails) between Spock and Kirk.

I think the same song needs to be used for one between Picard and Crusher. I'm pretty sure I'd drop dead from laughing so hard.

Ok so in case it was in doubt.....

2009-09-10T04:54:04Z

Belize is not on my list of places to visit.

Polifact.com

2009-09-04T17:57:35Z

Polifact.com - The Truthometer

As seen on my facebook crap.

It's a site that monitors what the talking heads of all parties are saying, investigates and calls bullshit or verifies them. Sorta like Snopes for politicians but less early 90's styling....some of it's pretty funny too.

Check it out if you get a chance.

Tonight Tonight tonight... it suuuuucked.

2009-09-03T05:47:41Z

Not long after I got home and fed Mia dinner, Danielle came down from upstairs. She has some stomach bug that's been kicking her butt for the last couple of days. I was out in the kitchen making myself dinner while keeping an eye on Mia through the kitchen/living room pass through. Mia cried out "It's mommy!" as she always does and Danielle came over to give me a kiss. I kissed her and caught Mia out of the corner of my eye climbing up over the arm of the couch. Something she knows* she's not allowed to do.

I called to her and told her to get down. She ignored me. So I clapped my hands loudly to get her attention and she laughed. I'm not sure what she was going after on that end table.

So I went to go into the living room to get her down off the couch. but she did what she always does. Plops down on her butt so she doesn't get caught. At some point in the less than two seconds it took me to go from watching her through the passthrough to walking around the counter to get into the living room she started screaming. I wasn't really sure what had happened but I assumed she was just tired. I don't think she got a nap today and she makes a very distinct scream at times when she's really freaking out or she has a really bad dream. But thus far every time I'd heard that distinct sound it was when she was tired, upset and at her rope's end. One point a while back she made that noise for about two hours and I couldn't make her stop until she exhausted herself. It is a piercing, shrieking sound that makes my ears ring.

Well apparently she makes that sound when she's in a lot of pain too.

We surmise what happened was that she went to plot down on the couch on her butt and hit her arm or elbow or hand on something. There didn't seem to be any bruising or swelling. There was no obvious crunchy bits and just touching her arms didn't cause her to cry. However when her arm moved or turned a little bit.... she screeched...and was holding her arm like she was in pain.

We spent some time calming her down (as much as one can calm a toddler in pain down). Danielle came to the conclusion she needed to go to the ER a bit before I did but based on her behavior I agreed that we should get her checked out. I was thinking more along the lines of her spraining something.

When I moved her to the car, she wailed in pain. Dani sat in the back of the truck to comfort her and I drove over. Getting her out of the truck also generated ear piercing screams before I could get her inside and sit her down and rock her and coo to her to calm her down. The ER was largely empty so we got called pretty quick. I'm sure Mia's screams probably sped them up a bit too. They examined her and took her temp. But she wouldn't let the triage nurse touch her boo boo arm.

The ER nurse told us it was probably something called 'Nursemaid's elbow'. Basically if a kid lands hard and the wrong way the tendons pop off and slide under essentially dislocating her elbow.

yeah... ow.

The Doctor came in and the same thing happened Mia wasn't letting anybody touch her arm. The doctor examined her and came to the same conclusion. She said basically it just required some manipulation of the arm and it was going to hurt but with a little twist the tendon would pop back on it's own.... yes. Pop back.

aaaaaack!

She got it to work, and Mia screamed a bit. I turned away. I can watch people standing there with their legs half chainsawed off but seeing people I care about in pain or stuff like that bothers me.

Luckilly I didn't hear any pops... and as the Doctor predicted, Mia was fine within about ten minutes. To make sure, the Doc asked her to raise her arm over her head. But Mia wasn't having it. She was scared it was going to hurt. So the Doc went and got a coloring book and crayons....

and Mia colored, with her right arm. The one she hurt.

So yeah she's fine...and our second trip to the ER lasted all of about twenty minutes. That's the quickest I've ever gotten out of an ER for anything. The Doc said that toddlers are prone to this sort of thing and it would likely recur until she is about 4 years old. So she showed Danielle how to fix it on her own but said she could always take Mia to the ER if need be.

ack!

I'm glad my daughter's ok. It was hard to see her in pain. With luck she'll stop jumping on the couch but i'm not gonna bet on it. So yeah, tonight sucked. But at least she's ok and that's all that matters.

* as much as any toddler 'knows' anything about the rules.