Don’t forget. 

Buy some even if you don’t have a gun… yet.

Michele is back at a big victory reviewing her coffee choices…

Dunkin Donuts - My favorite. I drink two large DD coffees a day. It’s my crack. The daughter’s friends work there and I call them my crack dealers. We usually work  out some kind of arrangement. Like, I walk in DD and they shove a large coffee at me. A FREE large coffee. In turn, I’m nice to them when they come over.

7-11 -  Always tastes like it’s been sitting on the burner, no matter how fresh it is. Doesn’t matter. Their coffee jolts me like no other. Kickstarts my heart and keeps it hammering all day.  I had to lay off of those kickstarts, though.  The heart was hammering a little too hard. May have been all those free shots of extra caffeine they keep at the coffee counter. Hey, it was free. Like

McDonald’s - There’s hot, hotter, hottest and McDonald’s. I have no idea how the coffee tastes because it’s always too hot to drink. An hour later, I’m still cooling the damn thing off. Then it goes straight to cold and I gulp it down in one shot.

Deli coffee - You never know how long it’s been sitting there. Sometimes my coffee will end up with a  hue  somewhat like the skin of an old person who is days away from croaking. And I worked in a deli for years. I know that sometimes you’re getting decaf when you ask for regular. I know that sometimes the coffee is six hours old. I know that sometimes there’s unidentifiable things in the sugar, or the milk has been sitting on the counter since it expired three days ago.  Still, when you need a quick fix, you cross your fingers and hope for the best if a deli is all you got.

Starbucks - Tastes like they scraped mud off the boot of a ditch digger and added scalding hot water, and made by people who think pouring coffee is an art form and you should treat them all like Michelangelo just painted Christ in your coffee. If you walk in there without reeking of the sweat of an indie rock fan, you feel like a nun who just stumbled into a bachelor party.

Heh.  Yeah…. I still think Starbucks makes the crappiest coffee.  But most people simply see a line of SUV driving soccer moms on cell phones at the drive through and figure there must be something to it and get in line themselves.  Blech.

I like the comments on her post.  Pretty much everyone says it tastes like acid rain ran through old charcoal.

No, not this. This exposes the bad science.

A team of NASA and university scientists has detected an ongoing reversal in Arctic Ocean circulation triggered by atmospheric circulation changes that vary on decade-long time scales. The results suggest not all the large changes seen in Arctic climate in recent years are a result of long-term trends associated with global warming.

Everywhere I see more and more hype about global warming. And then I also see more and more evidence saying that what is supposedly the effects of global warming is suddenly perfectly normal cycles.

Robbery Suspect Charged With Murder After Alleged Accomplices Killed by Homeowner

The NAACP complained that prosecutors came down too hard on Hughes, who also faces robbery, burglary and assault charges. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

The Rev. Amos Brown, head of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP and pastor at Hughes’ church, said the case demonstrates the legal system is racist in remote Lake County, aspiring wine country 100 miles north of San Francisco. The sparsely populated county of 13,000 people is 91 percent white and 2 percent black.

Brown and other NAACP officials are asking why the homeowner is walking free. Tests showed Edmonds had marijuana and prescription medication in his system the night of the shooting. Edmonds had a prescription for both the pot and the medication to treat depression.

“This man had no business killing these boys,” Brown said. “They were shot in the back. They had fled.”

Lets try another story.  The KKK captures a black man, beat him with a baseball bat, then puts the noose around his neck, then the black man pulls a gun the KKK members run away.  I somehow do not think that the Rev. Amos Brown would support letting the KKK members go free because they fled from the scene.

For the record, they three black men beat the son of the homeowner with a baseball bat so bad he has brain damage and can no longer even feed himself.

Hey Amos - I’m willing to put the gun to the head of the final attacker and pull the trigger myself.  Because that’s what should be done with violent criminals who break into someone’s home and brutally attacks the people inside.

Abney Park

(more…)

I’ve loved the Keurig machines for years.  Picked up the latest greatest non-Keurig Keurig machine.

The Breville BKC600XL.

Oh it’s pretty.  And heavy.  And it makes such a great cup of coffee you’ll swear Starbucks is brewing stuff they found in that grill you left outside all winter.

If you buy from the link, make sure you select the Amazon.com purchase for 299$ instead of Macy’s for 399$.

Candidate Apologizes For ‘Buckwheat’ Remark

A state representative in a runoff election infuriated civil rights leaders after she ended a conversation with the mother of the NAACP’s local president by saying, “Talk to you later, Buckwheat.”

1

State Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez, of Morgan City, acknowledged she made the remark during a Thursday night telephone conversation with Hazel Boykin to thank her for driving voters to the polls.

2

Buckwheat, a black child character in the “Little Rascals” comedies of the 1930s and ’40s, is viewed as a racial stereotype demeaning to black people.

3

Hazel Boykin’s son, Jerome, is the NAACP’s president in Terrebonne Parish. She is well-known as a 1960s civil rights activist, helping to desegregate restaurants and the parish school system.

4

Dartez has represented parts of Terrebonne, St. Mary and Assumption parishes since 1999. She has said she does not intend to drop out of the race.

5

“I made an insensitive comment when speaking with Hazel Boykin, and I have apologized to the Boykin family and publicly for my choice of words,” Dartez said in a statement. “I have a strong record of fighting for issues important to the African American community; in fact, I have a 93 percent voting record with the Black Caucus.”

6

But the “Buckwheat” remark is the latest bit of trouble for Dartez and her husband, Lenny, who is a member of the Democratic Party’s State Central Committee.

7… maybe but not quite.

Before qualifying in September, Carla Dartez was given a summons for improper lane usage after hitting a pedestrian with her vehicle. She failed a field sobriety test but passed a later Breathalyzer test.

8

Earlier this month, Lenny Dartez was indicted on charges of allegedly harboring illegal aliens through his construction business.

9.  Well, that’s the end of the story.  Paragraph 7 almost came close to naming the party of the racist.  But throughout the entire story you do not find out that Carla Dartez is a Democrat.

End of the War Hero

Being a hero is not a job for everyone, many accept this and give credit to those who are willing to take the challenge.

But there is another group for who the sting of their own cowardice is too much to bear.  They are not willing to accept that they cannot be heroes.

They cannot accept that, even if they were younger or had the physical ability to confront a violent villain, they would shrink from the challenge.

To alleviate their guilt they invent a new villain–Halliburton, Cheney, neo-cons, politicians, military officers, Soldiers, Marines–in short, anyone who will not physically harm them.

Why is the current crop of anti-war movies going right into the dustbin of history?  Because even though the American public has been completely lied to constantly by the media about what is going on in the war, the public still instinctively understands who does step up to the plate.

The Ultimate War Simulation Game

In my Public Support Meter display, let me find out that the news media has run, in the same magazine, one story blasting us for going to war for minerals and another story blasting us for not acting on the continuing mineral shortage back home.

Never see that on Starcraft… but check the article for the 19 other requirements a reality based WarSim needs.

Ancient Peru Temple, Mural Excavated

Carbon dating tests and excavation of a colorful pre-Incan temple indicate that it was built thousands of years ago by an advanced civilization, a prominent archaeologist said in comments published Sunday by a Peruvian newspaper.

Unearthed in Peru’s archeologically rich northern coastal desert, the temple has a staircase leading to an altar that was used for worshipping fire and making offerings to deities, Walter Alva, who headed the three-month excavation, told El Comercio.

No mention of the strange idols they found.

Of the strange dreams they all had during the excavation.

Nor the strange chanting they heard during the dark nights.  Cthulhu ftagn!

Of course it was in a sad sorry state probably forever according to this quote:

“Here — shut that off!” cried the Shaggy Man, springing to his feet. “What do you mean by such impertinence?”
“It’s the latest popular song,” declared the phonograph, speaking in a sulky tone of voice.
“A popular song?”
“Yes. One that the feeble-minded can remember the words of and those ignorant of music can whistle or sing. That makes a popular song popular, and the time is coming when it will take the place of all other songs.”

– L. Frank Baum, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, 1913

From Thoughts of a Regular Guy

I just love it.

What’s this?  It’s my Verizon Wireless xv6700 Pocket PC.  Bought about almost two years ago.  Came with Windows Mobile 5 operating system.  Which wasn’t bad, but as of 2007 wasn’t the latest greatest.

Windows Mobile 6 operating system is out, and it’s much better.  So do I wait for VzW to come out with an upgrade?  Nahhhh…

Leave it to the community.  Thanks to Helmi_C and his “Kitchen”.

Download and install the kitchen.  Run it and select how you want your highly customized to you operating system to run.  Then the kitchen builds it for you and installs it.  Reboot the handheld device and you’re all ready to go.  Not quite what you wanted?  Build a new version in the Kitchen and try again!

Oh and yes, my dentist’s name really is Dr. Frisbee.

Alton Brown mentioned H. P. Lovecraft on one of his episodes.

Zombies have been a scourge for thousands of years.

From the very beginning of Predynastic research, Sir W.M. Flinders Petrie reported several headless, but seemingly intact, burials during his famous excavations at Naqada in 1895. Further excavations at Gerzeh and other sites revealed more of these curious burials, but no satisfactory explanation could be proposed at the time. More recently, excavations in the non-elite cemetery at Hierakonpolis (HK43), undertaken from 1996 to 2004, have uncovered more of these strange headless burials in addition to 21 individuals whose cervical vertebrae bear cut marks indicative of complete decapitation. The individuals include men and women ranging in age from 16 to 65. The number and the standard position of the cut marks (usually on the second-fourth cervical vertebrae; always from the front) indicate an effort far greater than that needed simply to cause the death of a normal (uninfected) person. The standard position also indicates these are not injuries sustained during normal warfare.

Overall, those with cut marks represent less than 4% of the cemetery’s population. Thus, one might suggest that the threat of zombification was relatively low, and those manifesting the disease were dealt with swiftly (though in some cemeteries evidence for cannibalism has also been found suggesting that one or two got a good meal first). Of course, if left unchecked, the virus could rage fiercely and it may have been the need for decisive and brave action that was the impetus that led to the development of early kingship in Egypt and at Hierakonpolis in the first place. (Perhaps a careful review of excavation records and skeletal remains from early Mesopotamian city-states is in order.)

While currently this might seem a speculative theory for state formation, the fine preservation of the brains rattling around in the skulls of some of the cut folks does provide the potential for scientific verification. We are currently seeking funding for a major research project to determine if remnants of the virus can be distilled from the preserved brain matter and, of course, more importantly, whether this virus is still viable. If so, it may allow for a vaccination to be developed so that this scourge, which seems to have threatened mankind for even longer than we previously imagined, can finally be put to rest.

Zombie Article from Archaeology.org

A guy enters a lesbian bar by mistake. He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a drink.
After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, "Hey, you want to hear a blonde joke?"
The bar immediately falls absolutely quiet. In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, "Before you tell that joke, sir, you should know five things…..
1. The bartender is a blonde girl.
2. The bouncer is a blonde gal.
3. I’m a 6 feet tall, 200 pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate.
4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and is a professional weightlifter.
5. The lady to your right is a blonde and is a professional wrestler.
Now think about it seriously, Mister. Do you still want to tell that joke."
The guy thinks for a second, shakes his head, and declares, "Nah, not if I’m going to have to explain it five times."

Learn such parenting skills such as knowing at what age your child should be able to remove a bottle cap by taking out his glass eye and using his eye socket as an opener and the important difference between plundering and pillaging.

Cap’n Billy will help you turn your boring, lazy, disrespectful, disobedient child…

…into an exciting, disrespectful, disobedient plunderer of the high seas or suburbs!

Cap’n Billy The Butcher MacDougalls Guide to Pirate Parenting

So who wants government run healthcare?

Who wants government run healthcare that remembers when the government managed phone service. In the 70’s long distance was much more expensive than now, and you could only rent the phones.

Or the government regulating the airline industry?

Before the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the Civil Aeronautics Board regulated every detail of the airline industry. Most importantly, it determined what routes each airline could fly and what air fares each could charge. It even determined whether a new airline could enter the industry. It also regulated levels of service, employment policies, finances, business structure, cargo and other factors.

But under the 1978 Act and the subsequent Civil Aeronautics Board Sunset Act of 1984, all this regulatory power was eliminated and the CAB was phased out. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) retained authority to regulate air safety. The overwhelmingly beneficial results of this deregulation surprised even the most ardent advocates of reform.

Airline ticket prices today are almost 40 percent lower, after inflation, than before deregulation. This price reduction saves consumers about $20 billion per year, according to Robert Crandall, senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, and Jerry Ellig, senior research fellow at the Center for Market Processes at George Mason University.

What would you rather have? Government running and regulating healthcare?

Or maybe we switch it out and have the government pay for… all telecommunications? Internet, land line and cellular.

All for free. Well, not for free, you just get the illusion that everyone else is paying for it instead of you still paying for it. Because that’s what most people who think we should have government controlled or managed health care really want. Is the illusion of not having to pay for it.