Overheard At Work

Had a problem with a rotary airlock on a piece of equipment.

Looked up their phone number, called the rep up – “I’ve got a problem with this piece of junk. What you shipped us is not what we bought! I’m sick of this crap coming from your company!”

On the other end – “Well, which piece of equipment are you talking about?”

“The rotary airlock!”

On the other end – “We don’t sell rotary airlocks!”

Checked my number – realized I’d called the wrong guy. – “Do you know who I am??“

He said “No-”

I said “Good!” and I hung up.

<Snort!>

Real conversation, sometime in the 80’s.

-Popgun

The Obscene Cap and Trade Bill

You know, I’ve opposed the Cap and Trade Bill ever since I heard about it. It stands to increase indirect taxes by an incredible amount. It will literally double your electric bill, and gasoline will go up around $2 a gallon.

This morning, I found out this bit that is in that bill. From Powerline:

“The cap-and-trade bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, for example,” Mark writes, “is a bold assault on property rights: in order to sell your home–whether built in 2006 or 1772–you would have to bring it into compliance with whimsical, eternally evolving national ‘energy efficiency’ standards, starting with a 50 per cent reduction in energy use by 2018. Fail to do so and it would be illegal for you to enter into a private contract with a willing buyer.“

Now, that, I didn’t know about. Wow.

I live in a pier-and-beam frame house built by Jim Walters about 30 years ago, which has had additions several times over the years. It’s clean, but all the windows are single pane, and the insulation is not the best. It’s true that we’re not planning on going anywhere – I expect I will die in this house. But here’s the thing.

When I do pass on, my sons will have to spend a lot of money to make this house compliant with these regulations, if they elect to sell it. I have not actually read this bill, but now I wonder if this provision extends to inheriting a home. If so, they would have to deal with it at the time they inherit.

It will probably be more cost-effective to destroy our home than to bring it up to their standards.

That is what the Democrats do for you when they are in power. These damned liberals take value created by hard work and a lot of payments, and destroy it with the stroke of a pen, all to support their social agenda. They can’t get voluntary support for this kind of thing, so they ram it down our throats, just like they are trying to do with health care.

This bill has passed the House already. If it passes the Senate, it will become law. We need to stop it.

-Popgun

Today is my Sister’s Birthday

Today I celebrate the lives of my sister and my mother, in this small way.

Today (October 29) is my sister’s birthday. Four years my senior, she would have been 60 today, if she had survived. I miss her still, although when she was here, in her later years I didn’t spend a lot of time with her. Sometimes you don’t know what you have, until it is suddenly gone. She died at age 44, of liver failure – she was an alcoholic. Her death was one of the most stressful things that has ever happened to me. I was the second person on the scene at her death – her body was still warm. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

Then, there is my mother, who passed away on October 30, 2000. I was there at her passing. A heavy smoker, she died of a combination of COPD and dementia; when she died, and for some months before that, she did not know who I was. Her passing, really, was a blessing. COPD causes shortness of breath – a victim usually has a low-level panicked feeling all the time, perhaps a ‘drowning’ feeling. My mother was suffering from this for several years before I found out there was a medical reason for it. During that period, I thought she was going nuts. In reality she was having panic attacks and paranoid attacks that frequently caused her to behave irrationally.   

At this point, I am the last survivor of my birth family. My Dad passed away before my sister did.

Death represents the end of pain. Sometimes, for everybody involved.

If you’re a Christian, that is. Neither my sister nor my mother were what I would call ‘practicing’ Christians – but they were both acquainted with the Bible, and the precepts of Christianity. I do hope they were saved. If so, I expect that I will get to see them again.

A person generally is exposed to more death as he ages. It seems that probably, on average, half of everybody you know will die before you do. As my neighbor says, “Don’t worry about life. You’re not getting out of it alive!”.

A young person doesn’t really perceive that death will happen to him – it is off in some distant future. On the other hand, an older person knows that his time will come. This causes different reactions in different people.

Some people, if you were to throw them out of an airplane at 30,000 feet without a parachute, would scream all the way down. Others would enjoy the view for as long as possible.

I plan to enjoy the view.

Cheers!

-Popgun

Different Viewpoints

Everyone has their own way of looking at things. Currently, there seem to be two opposing viewpoints of how to manage our country.

Liberals want more government, more government control of individuals, less individual rights, and has the view that the government will take care of all your needs. This is called the ‘nanny state’.

They also tend to believe that you are a victim of your upbringing and are not responsible for bad choices you may make. This is why liberal judges tend to let child molesters off the hook.

Liberals tend to be pro-abortion. They call this ‘pro-choice’, although the baby involved doesn’t get a choice.

Liberals believe in involuntary redistribution of wealth, possibly for humanitarian reasons.

Liberals believe the Constitution of the United States should be ‘interpreted’ according to their viewpoint.

Liberals tend to be anti-second amendment because they do not believe any individual can be trusted with a gun, and the idea that people are walking around in Walmart carrying a concealed hand gun scares the crap out of them. Even if those people are not felons.

Conservatives (real ones, that is) believe in maximum personal freedom, the smallest government that can do the proper roll of government. This is very cost-effective.

Conservatives believe in personal responsibility for individual choices. This is why conservative judges think child molesters should be shot.

Conservatives tend to be anti-abortion. Most of them see this as the murder of babies, purely for the convenience of immature and selfish parents who don’t take responsibility for their actions.

Conservatives are generally against involuntary redistribution of wealth, which they correctly view as robbery at gunpoint. (Think that’s an exaggeration? Try not paying your taxes. Eventually, somebody with a gun will show up to collect or to put you in jail. They will have guns.)

Conservatives believe the Constitution of the United States should be strictly interpreted according to the intent of the authors.

Conservatives generally are pro-second amendment because they believe honest citizens can be trusted with guns – both to use them when needed, and not to use them inappropriately. Law abiding citizens walking around in Walmart with guns don’t bother me. I know that they are not a risk to me or mine; only a felon (or wannabe felon) is a risk with a gun. And the best defense against the felon with a gun is to myself be armed, since the felon will not obey the law that says he can’t have a gun.

How do you know which philosophy is the right one?

That’s a deep question. There are many frameworks of belief that may help you decide, such as the Holy Bible. There is also how you were brought up, what you learned from your parents (or whoever raised you, these days).

As for me, I know that, as a child, I was taught a sense of honor. I was also taught a work ethic that to this day makes me get up every day and go to my job to earn my own way and provide for my family. I believe that I am worth my wages, and I believe that they are mine, not yours. I believe in personal responsibility. I believe that I can be trusted with a gun, because I know my own mind, and furthermore I believe I have the responsibility to protect my family if necessary. I have seen more than one couple grieve as they buried a miscarried child, and I know that abortion is murder. I believe in my personal freedom – and yours, too.

And I resent every dime I pay in taxes that is given to somebody who doesn’t deserve it, or is otherwise wasted. I do believe in charity – but it should be voluntary. And I don’t believe that people who are unwilling to work should receive a single dime of charity. Charity should be reserved for those who want to provide for themselves, but cannot because of circumstances such as health or age.

I have self respect because I have worked hard to do the best I could with my life. Others have done better, and some have done worse. But the key is to do your best. I paid my rent on my chunk of the planet today, and I feel pretty good about that.

I can’t say why you should choose one philosophy or the other – but I know which one I’ve chosen.

-Popgun

Public Service for Obama

I’ve read in several places – here’s one of them – that quite a few TV shows are going to be running plots that support Obama’s push for the public to volunteer for public service.

There’s nothing wrong with doing public service, especially voluntarily.

Having said that, I strongly resist any effort at being persuaded to do so by propaganda embedded in entertainment media. It is propaganda, pure and simple, regardless of the source.

So I’m here to say to Hollywood and their advertisers: I will not watch any TV show that is pushing this propaganda. If I am watching a show and I detect that it has this propaganda in it, I will change the channel or turn the TV off.

In the real world, media always has an agenda. Traditionally it has been to promote the products of the advertisers, in some way. For instance, the McDonald’s advertising in “The Fifth Element” comes to mind.

This is different. This is mass manipulation of the public with a coordinated goal at the urging of a politician. Even if there is no direct control or collusion, even if Hollywood is doing this spontaneously, I reject any such message. This is a (albeit very mild) form of mind control, and I reject it.

I refuse to be manipulated.

Recommended Reading: The Notebooks of Lazarus Long by Robert A. Heinlein.   Especially this part:

Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!

So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.  

-Popgun

Tires – What a Pain

Saturday before last, I loaded up my trailer with some light trash and went to the local dump. On the way back, about a mile from the dump, the trailer’s right tire shredded. So there I was, in misting rain, with no tools and no spare, a few miles from home. I parked the trailer in the most convenient ditch, went home, got tools, went back, and jacked up the trailer and removed the wheel.

Those Hi-Lift jacks are wonderful things to have. Money well spent.

So then I took the tire into the nearest large town to the company I usually do my tire business with. They mounted a new tire for me in about ten minutes, and I went all the way back out to the trailer, mounted the tire in the misting rain, hooked it back up and took it home.

Because the remaining tire was in about the same shape, I dismounted it as well. During the week I took it in and got it replaced, matching the other new tire. So tires on the trailer cost about $150 total.

Then, last Saturday, I took Texas Grandma’s Dodge Grand Caravan in to the same tire dealer to have two new tires mounted. During this work, the tire mechanic destroyed the air pressure monitor inside the tire. So the shop went to the Dodge dealership and bought a replacement, and installed it.

Of course, then the sensor wouldn’t synchronize with the van’s computer. So I took it back to the tire place; after a couple of phone calls, they told me to take it to the Dodge dealer and they’ll take care of it. I did so. It turns out that when you replace one of these sensors, you have to have the dealer program the van’s computer to know about that sensor. This costs around $50, which will be paid by the tire company.

After I sat there for about an hour and a half, the dealer coordinator told me that they couldn’t get it to synch, that it must be damaged. Either the tire dealer damaged it when they installed it, or it was defective. In the first case, the tire dealer pays for it; in the second, it is warranted. But they didn’t have time Saturday to do this work, so Texas Grandma gets to take the van back to the dealer tomorrow to resolve this.

This is a perfect example of nanny state laws going wrong. Because some people can’t be bothered to check the air in their tires, our illustrious government passed a law that every vehicle starting in 2008 has to have tire pressure sensors. This is wasted on me – I ride motorcycles, and I BELIEVE in keeping up with my tires. So I have to pay for these things in the first place; and I have a new point of failure. If I was paying for all this, it would have cost me over $100 to replace this sensor, which I don’t want or need.

And it wasted half of last Saturday, and it’s going to waste another couple of hours of Texas Grandma’s time tomorrow. Between us, we’ve spent way to much money, and especially time, on tires in the last couple of weeks.

All because an incompetent mechanic made a mistake with some new technology.

-Popgun

Went to See Zombieland Last Night

Last night was Pokeno night for the ladies, so the guys (three members of the Silver Horde) bunched up and went to see Zombieland.

It’s definitely rated R for gore, violence and cussing.

It was extremely funny, though. We all enjoyed it, on balance. It reminded me of Monster Hunter International, a novel by Larry Correia that I read recently. Lots of shooting, humor, and great fun. Even a bit of romance. I did notice a certain lack of concern for the Four Rules in the movie.

This movie was strangely good, in the sense that you can’t really put your finger on any one thing, but you find at the end that you had a really good time watching it. I may even watch it again, but not with Texas Grandma in the room.

Recommended, for non-squeamish adults only. Snort.

Also recommended: Music. Popcorn, by Crazy Frog. We listened to it all the way to the movie.

Older people have fun, too!

-Popgun

Web Comics

Here recently, I have gotten interested in web comics. Normally, I do not use my computer for entertainment, but I do read a number of blogs daily. The very first blog I got interested in was The Lawdog Files. I’m pretty sure it was Lawdog who mentioned Roswell, Texas. That got me started. Later on, he mentioned Digger, and i’m still reading that one. So now I find myself following several comics daily. I’m going to list my favorites, and why I like them.

The ability to save multiple pages in tab sets in the Safari browser is really handy when you are doing comics. I’ll open three or four at once, read one and tell it to load the next page, then read the next tab while it’s loading, and so on. When I’m done, I save the tab set so I can pick up where I left off. This works great.

In no particular order:

Roswell, Texas – a fun alternate history in which Texas is a sovereign nation. It’s a good read, but be warned, it is designed to introduce the concepts of Libertarianism. I’m not quite a libertarian, but I enjoyed the Texas as depicted in the story. Complete story. Addendum: I especially like the fact that all adults in Texas are required by law to go armed…

Escape From Terra – this is a good sci-fi read by the same people that did Roswell. In process. Same Libertarian slant, but don’t let that slow you down. Most of it takes place in the asteroid belt.

Digger – an interesting story with good artwork. Fantasy. The main character is a wombat who winds up on a quest of sorts, and has a lot of peculiar friends. In process.

Schlock Mercenary – a space opera, and it is hilarious. It’s been around a long time, and is still in process. Anybody with a gun that goes ‘ominouuus hummmmm‘ when turned on, has got to be funny, and it is.

Freefall – science fiction, with often accurate science. Funny. Still in process. The main character is Florence, a genetically engineered Bowman’s Wolf who is smart, funny, and has moral sense. This is one of my favorites.

Girl Genius – this is steampunk, pure fantasy, and a great read. Adventure with a lot of humor. This is one of my favorites. Great artwork, fun characters, and even some of the bit characters are really funny. Starts off in black and white, but changes to color in a few chapters. Still in process.

Winters in Lavelle – I just discovered this one, and it isn’t very long yet. In process. A portal-into-another-world type fantasy. Good so far but too soon to tell if it will hold my attention. Artwork is good.

The Wandering Ones – this is a future-history science fiction, in which American Indian type tracking skills are combined with future military capability in a post U.S.A. world. Ongoing, this is a long running story, and it has held my interest. Good quality.

Code Name: Hunter – is a fantasy, with a feel of late 1800’s England. The characters seem to be all intelligent dogs. Great artwork and humor, with a good dash of adventure as well. I like this one a lot. Ongoing.

The Dreamland Chronicles – I wasn’t too sure about this one at first, but I got hooked. The premise is that in reality, where you go in your dreams is real. The artwork is 3D software created rather than cartoonist work. It’s a good story. In process.

Tomb of the King – fantasy, with elves and things. Great art, pretty good story. Ongoing.

Odd-Fish – pure humor, in a fishy kind of way. I had no idea there were so many ways to make puns with things fish-related. Ongoing.

Paradigm Shift – great werewolf story. Really good artwork, interesting story, engaging characters. Ongoing, but hasn’t updated in a while. I’m going to be ticked if I don’t get to see how this comes out.

Galaxion – science fiction in the vein of Star Trek, only with great artwork, good character development, good story. Ongoing. I particularly enjoy this one.

I check all of the above daily, except for Roswell, which is completed. Since most of them update only a couple of times a week, this doesn’t take long. There are two that I am still reading to get to the current page – Freefall and Schlock Mercenary.

Almost forgot – the first one I hit every day! Day by Day – political cartoon. Wit, on current events.

Enjoy!

-Popgun

Note to Bill Cosby…

I saw the other day that Jimmy Carter (the clueless) had chimed in, stating that most of the opposition to Obama is racist. I was wondering why anybody bothers listening to him. He’s wrong, in my opinion, and I said so in an earlier blog entry.

Now I see on TV that Bill Cosby agrees with his statement. Now, I actually respect Bill Cosby, so this surprised me, because the man generally makes sense. (I also really like his humor, but that is beside the point.)

The polls say that the great majority of people do not believe race is an issue in the resistance to Obama. I believe the statistic I saw was something on the order of 80% in the general population.

I suppose somebody could be cooking those numbers, although I doubt it. I do know one thing specifically, though:

One data point for your consideration, Bill Cosby and Jimmy Carter: Me. I personally couldn’t care less what color Obama is. I know this for a fact. In point of fact, I’d have been really happy if Condoleezza Rice had gotten the job instead of Obama. Now there’s a smart lady!

Shucks, I’d have been pretty happy with Colin Powell, too – up until he endorsed Obama. Something he did, I believe, because Obama is black. I’ll admit I could be wrong about that – but that’s what it looked like at the time. Hey, guys – voting FOR somebody because of their skin color is also prejudice – against the other candidate!

So I know for certain; this one data point of ME; race is not a factor here.

Logic dictates that I list the specific reasons I’m against Obama here, but I won’t because the list is far too long. The general statement I can make is that I believe Obama is ideologically opposed to everything the United States I grew up loving stands for.

Now there’s an interesting thought: just imagine a 2012 Republican ticket of Condoleezza Rice and Sarah Palin! I’ll have to think about that, some…

-Popgun

Thanks, Fox!

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Fox News, the O’Reilly Factor, Hannity, Beck, Greta and many others on Fox.

Any attempt by one human to communicate to another is by nature biased in some way. Fox makes the attempt to be fair and balanced. It isn’t perfect; but it is by far the best current ongoing attempt to do this.

There have been numerous examples of events recently that we wouldn’t even have heard about if it wasn’t for Fox News.

If you relied on any other network, you would probably not have heard about the Acorn scandals of the last few days.

You probably would not have known what a prejudiced, communist whack job the former ‘Green Jobs’ Czar Van Jones is.

You may not have heard that there was a Tea Party in Washington on 9/12/09, numbering upwards of 100,000 people, protesting health care, the enlargement of the government, cap and trade, etc. You might also have developed certain incorrect ideas about this group, due to the slanderous and misleading comments made by many in the administration, including Obama. If you even heard that part.

Chances are very good that you would have no idea what is actually IN the current versions of the health system overhaul bill, unless you did your own research. It would pass because nobody would have any idea what was in it.

What good are these other networks if they don’t tell you what’s going on? They have universally failed to deliver the news that we need to hear, and therefore have failed in their responsibility to us.

Thank you, Fox, for your ongoing efforts to be, you know, an actual real live news media. This country has a lot of problems, but they would be much worse without the information conduit that you represent for those of us who care.

Respectfully,

-Popgun