Wednesday's Digressions

Get it?

• As of this writing (today is 01/07/2016) there is a standoff in progress in Oregon where a bunch of white militia types have taken over the headquarters to a national wildlife refuge. If the militia guys were browner and more Muslimie-er that building would have been a smoking ruin long ago and to identify the perpetrators the authorities would be sifting through the aforementioned ruin and dental records .
• If Bill Cosby were white he would have been under a jail long ago and penniless from civil lawsuits.
• There is a video of a South Carolina police officer killing a person by shooting him in the back as he briskly fled on foot at a high rate of speed ambled half heartedly away from the officer. There isn't a chance the cop would have done that were the runner not black.
• Were Mexico the consumer and America the producer of recreational drugs and this reversal caused the same problems of murder and instability for the US as our insatiable lust for drugs has caused Mexico we would have flattened parts of that country long ago and The US Army's First Cavalry Division, Fourth Infantry Division and a Marine Expeditionary Force would be occupation forces.
• The preceding are what are called natural facts in that we can only disagree on the how and whys and what to do with the information, not the well- natural fact that they are true.
• On a more positive note- I just ate a jalapeno cheeseburger and fries for breakfast and drank a Dr. Pepper. The rest of the day may be all downhill but it started out deliciously.
• When I was young it was nearly impossible  to get a loan on a vehicle with 100,000+ miles as everybody including loan officers knew a vehicle with that many miles was done. With the present condition of my truck, the relatively good care it has received and relatively low amount of abuse I heap on it there is no reason to think it won't go 200,000+ miles with only a little more than normal maintenance costs.
• They don't make 'em like they used to!
• Thank God.
• This morning while getting ready for the daily grind I finished watching The Amazing Spiderman 2. Verdict: very good- the best one yet.
• When if Stan Lee dies what will they do for his cameos? Will it be CGI, stock footage or will they work a visit into a wax museum into the story and have a likeness of him there?
• At work to supposedly make the workload more balanced they put out what is laughingly termed a Call Rotation to issue to the clerks to route calls to the nursing staff. It is a list of nurses names and extensions that starts with me and the same list was issued to every employee.
• 1 million- the number of calls I now receive in a week.
• The other nurses are lovin' it though (I hope).

Friday's Dispatch

View out your window of the cabins at Lake Murray. Ha, I got you- it is a painting silly.

• Lena Dunham is pervasive and even refers to herself as a celebrity. I do not know who, what or why she is- and I'm OK with that.
• The Treaty Of Tripoli is a fascinating document and I'm surprised it doesn't cause more of a stir.

  

  Mastodon tusk

  
  

  

  Cylindrical shaped fossils are the stems of an ancient relative of lilies.

• It was 16 degrees this (01/08/2015) morning. My son left his coat at school. That was one long, cold drive until the truck warmed and walk to class for him I bet.
• There were signs on the road last night, " Road crews preparing for winter conditions- expect delays." In the past the state and local governments got caught with their pants down when they should have known conditions would be bad and prepared accordingly. Now, they go on a freakout and prepare for an Iceocalypse whenever a cool breeze blows. There wasn't any precipitation in the overnight forecast. It wasn't going to happen- not a chance was there going to be icy conditions on the roads.
• Next year conditions will be right and there will absolutely be weather coming that needs preparation for a massive response and officials will shrug and say, Last year we had roads prepped and materials stockpiled and paid workers overtime to be on standby- for nothing. Meh.
• What is wrong with us?

  

  This

  
  

  

  is covered with this. Stupid.

• Women: one of the few things I know about them is if you don't want to argue with them when they want to fight- they assume they've won and you knew you were wrong all along.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  My ginger daughter is a natural at skateboarding.

• The number of Bill Cosby's accusers stand at something like 30-31 now. The sheer number, the perceived credibility of most, the number who have something to lose- by making the allegations, the variation in backgrounds and strata of the accusers and the fact I haven't heard a dollar figure that any of them want make me think- he is guilty as sin.
• A bonus: his holier than thou attitude always seemed at best disingenuous to me especially as it has long been known he was not faithful to his wife. Another thing about this issue- I looked the rape subject up a minute ago for the first time. Otherwise, I have only relied on random newscasts and reading one or two blurbs by the accusers so I am not overly saturated on the subject making me think he seems guiltier than he is.
• Once I saw in print the question asked, "What did he use to drug them?" to which no good answer was provided. I'll make a wild guess- either chloral hydrate or dilaudid or even a combination of the two. The combo would seem plausible as accusers report the effects were both quick acting and long lasting. They both come in liquid form and chloral hydrate at least in the past was surprisingly readily available.

  

  In this droughty apocalypse in which we live these cleats are almost comically sad as a boat couldn't get within a hundred feet of the dock.

  
  

  

  Drag marks where guys have drug their boats down to the water.

  
  

  

  Animals have (probably) died of thirst making the trek down to the new shore of Lake Murray.