Napa State Hospital. For a few years, before my parents had divorced, I'd lived in Napa California. My father & sisters had continued living there afterward. Whenever my brother & I would go visit, we'd always pass this place. It didn't really look so nice in the early 1970's. Neglect & cheap paint made it look pretty bad. But I remember my brother frequently teasing me that I would would wind up there. Little did he know that Reagan would withdraw that threat & send all the people there packing.
You can rest easy, now. Yellowstone's Ancient Supervolcano: Molten Plume Of Material Cooler Than Expected (or so they claim here). I don't know about you, but I prefer the excitement of potential. Yellowstone blowing up, the massive earthquake forever being predicted, etc. I can't think of nicer things I'd like to photograph.
Bad news...well, sort of. Due to having received misinformation -- from my apartment manager, no less -- my plans to move to Reno the beginning of November are now like shards of glass scattered all over the floor. I was told that signing the new lease was, essentially, a formality. In reality, while the land-lord would prefer everyone remain in their apartments till the end of January, he would accept a twenty day notice at any time during the course of the lease. Nice, eh? But noooooooo.
Apparently, a leak under my kitchen sink had caused some water damage to the apartment below mine. I wasn't, till yesterday, aware that the leak was bad. So, arrangements are made to be home & awake early today so the land-lord can assess & OK the work a plumber has to do to correct the problem.
So, when the land-lord is about to leave, I ask him about cleaning requirements, etc. Well, no cleaning has to be done & the full deposit will be returned to me, but the agreement is only if I (or any of us in the building still) stay till the end of January. Because breaking the new lease would a loss of income (can't very well rent a place for two or three months), the land-lord would legally be able to force payment to the end of the lease, & I would forfeit some or all of my deposit. Yipee!
I am locked into my apartment till the end of January. At least I'll get my deposit back, won't have to do any cleaning, can save more money for the move, & await any positive Juju from the Gods, or family, or friends...or all of the above.
While finding an apartment any time of year is never any big deal, finding work during the first quarter of the year is never good. (I'm making a noise which is a rather grating, groaning sound -- dunno how to reproduce it print).
Here are ten interesting things you didn't know about oil. OK. If I knew some of these things, it's likely you may know some -- or all -- of them as well.
There is a man who has three girlfriends, but he does not know which one to marry. So he decides to give each one $5000 and see how each of them spends it.
The first one goes out and gets a total makeover with the money. She gets new clothes, a new hairdo, manicure, pedicure, the works, and tells the man, "I spent the money so I could look pretty for you, because I love you so much."
The second one went out and bought new golf clubs, a CD player, a television and a stereo and gives them to the man. She says, "I bought these gifts for you with the money because I love you so much."
The third one takes the $5000 and invests it in the stock market, doubles her investment, returns the $5000 to the man and reinvests the rest. She says, "I am investing the rest of the money for our future because I love you so much."
The man thought long and hard about how each of the women spent the money. He finally decided to marry the one with the biggest tits.
Ever wanted to access a free site which requires registration? I certainly have. BugMeNot.Com may be able to give us access to sites we really want to see -- even when we aren't willing to play any marketing games.
If you've ever worked for a boss that reacts before getting the facts and thinking things through, you will love this!
Arcelor-Mittal Steel, feeling it was time for a shakeup, hired a new CEO. The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers.
On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning on a wall. The room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he meant business.
He walked up to the guy leaning against the wall and asked, 'How much money do you make a week?'
A little surprised, the young man looked at him and replied, 'I make $400 a week. Why?'
The CEO then handed the guy $1,600 in cash and screamed, 'Here's four weeks' pay, now GET OUT and don't come back.'
Feeling pretty good about himself, the CEO looked around the room and asked, 'Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did here?'
From across the room came a voice, "Pizza delivery guy from Domino's".
Interesting search engine called Viewzi offers different ways to few the results. Granted, I'd only tried their "News View" on a search for "reno, nv", but it seems interesting. Doubt it would replace the great "Gazoogle", but what the hell?
Here are some psych time wasters. Some require registration, but take any result with a grain of salt. I've seen hucksters have better results at guessing personality traits.
This list of 8 drugs doctors would never takedoes look like one I mention above, but I think there are some other entries here. Too lazy to compare the pages.
This was posted on Craig's List RnR, &, apparently, was sent to the poster in e-mail. I'd graduated high school in 1980, & things were pretty much the same as in 1957. Some of the 2007 bits might be exaggerated, but much of it is stuff I remember reading about or seeing on TV news. Why the hell is this the life we have to endure now?
SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2007
Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack. 1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack. 2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school. 1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies. 2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students. 1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again. 2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt. 1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman. 2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.
Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school. 1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock. 2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario: Pedro fails high school English. 1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college. 2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed. 1957 - Ants die. 2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him. 1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing. 2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.
Have you ever used Google Maps Street View to sight see? If so, do you stop, click the arrows to show you the buildings either side of the street you're on & feel as if you're holding up traffic...?
Wow! Of course, who but Ed could bring such conviction to spewage like this? Thanks Lonniemarie.
Something different: Adrift In Manhattan. Apart from the still luscious & lovely Elizabeth Peña(so she's put on a few pounds), Adrift is A meditation on isolation. Among the best movies I've seen in a long time.
With all the advances in cybernetics & a long sci-fi history of such, it was bound to happen: UK researchers give robot a "biological brain". Of course, if you can't touch the future, you can't stop it from happening.
When I'd lived in London that sweltering, yet amazing summer in the 80's, I'd suddenly found that I wasn't feeling ill after meals. Since my early teens, most anything I'd eat would either make me feel a little queezy, or -- most often -- gave me heartburn. But the food I'd eaten in London, including even KFC & a Big Mac from McDonalds, didn't have any ill effects on me whatsoever. Upon returning to the US, I was back where I'd started -- geographically as well as gastronomically. At some point in the 90's, I'd started taking an over-the-counter antacid which is only to be taken once a day, as opposed to the chewing of minty, chalky antacids after each meal. For some time, I was in heaven. I could eat anything & not feel ill or experience any heartburn. Naturally, I'd put on some weight. Later, apart from not being pleased with daily diarrhea, I'd learned that these little, pink pills have the nasty effect of making one's liver work overtime, leading to eventual, early failure. Plus, it appears, they do many other nasty things to us. I'd immediately stopped taking these pills & went back to chewing Rolaids. At least Rolaids won't likely kill me, right? Well, isn't it interesting that this isn't disclosed in the pink pill adverts. Even a nurse practitioner I'd gone to see about my heartburn issues had told me it's all true, &, since I have to eat, chew those chalky tablets. Anything bad they may do to me won't come close to what the pink pills do. So, it turns out that there are a number of meds the pharmaceuticals don't want us to know are worse for us than the initial symptoms (uncontrollable flatulence aside). Here's a nice little article: 8 Drugs Doctors Would Never Take. Hmm, if they won't touch them, why do they prescribe them? Could there be something akin to kick-backs involved...? Maybe we all should just avoid anything coming from the pharmaceuticals.
Interesting. I've never tried it (although I don't find it very difficult to get the gist of things once you get past the accent -- same goes for any Germanic language, they may be different, but there is enough Germanic in English, in my opinion, that they're all easy enough to figure out), but blogger explains Why Norwegian is the easiest language for English speakers to learn. Funny, this brings me back to reading Martin Luther in Dutch, & -- heh -- Moliere in French without having studied the languages.
Hey, if you see this with a wild-eyed guy with kinky hair, can you tell him I miss my guitar. It has the sweetest sound of any guitar I've ever played.
If you're anything like me, you've sat & stared at a Rubik's cube knowing there was a trick to it, but just couldn't quite figure it out. Finally, the Rubik's cube secrets are revealed.
Today's literary critics [& entirely too many others] have fallen into the unfortunate habit of using the word "voice" when they mean "style." It's easy to see why that metaphorical usage has become popular -- a writer with a strongly individual style often seems to be speaking directly to the reader -- but appearances can be deceiving, at times cruelly so.
Clearly, it's not a matter of finding one's voice, as there are entirely too many of us writing all sorts of crap that we don't know when to shut the fuck up. I say: Find this. The word that's escaped you is style. English. It's a language. Dictionary. (Hopefully big book explaining what words mean. Use it sometime.
In looking at Multi-band radios, I find on this CB page the subject just isn't as simple as one might think. And, look at the index of radio-related technical docs -- whomever had written them, makes it all pretty clear to even the meer non-engineer.
Thinking of moving? I am. Well, I was thinking of moving well before I'd returned to Seattle. I'm sure glad Reno isn't on the list of America's Fastest Dying Cities. Is yours?
Muto, an ambiguous animation painted on public walls makes for one fine video.
These mug shots are clearly nothing like the mug shots we've seen from our current crop of crooks, murderers & fifteen minute stars & starlets.
Oh, Salma! Sigh.
This will not fool me into paying exorbitant prices of pretty food.
Last night I'd stepped out for a smoke, as I frequently do, & am accosted by two lovely, young, slightly inebriated girls.
We'd spoken of many things, but we'd not exchanged names. Of the things we'd spoken of, Roselle (left), who'd done most of the talking, told me of her blahg The White Blazon. Roselle's a very entertaining woman. Perhaps, if you all check her out, we can all find out if her sister, that would be Catharine, blahgs too.
Spammers make perfect sense: Deg. B.m.) amid low sand hillocks and sand banks, laughed hysterically, and in that laugh i joined as if chopping up his victuals, when he would here in exhampton. They drewit up for him. Then, terrace was deposited, and that theditch, while breed with short legs and long body, knownto a quart of great oysters, puddings, sausages, or a rag.the meaning of this i could not well terms than are setforth in this agreement, you of the singular tragedy ofthe atkinson brothers after midnight we moved out of thechappar khana, to the piano, and sang the following ballad:'traveller, she went on: 'it would be for you i would havefrom the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced andi am blind!' chapter xxxvilight harold had. Hmm. It would be for you I would have from the window of a hut. Yes. This is what I love about you so. But, ...and swiftly they advanced and I am blind. What more can a man ask of a woman?
And here, I've only seen young men & old women pushing it. Things seemed to have changed in Jahovah's Witnesses land.
I knew it was a scam, but hadn't realized just how great. Dennis Myers of the Reno News & Review tells us in detail about The Great HDTV Swindle. I'm tellin' ya, I won't miss that damn TV when I make the move to Reno.
This is the Jumper (or Levels of Freedom -- different title on different sites), by Li Wei, is one piece of his incredible work.
A pound of hand, please.
While I understand it -- & don't think I'd have any trouble in similar circumstances (humans being as they are) -- I'm not too sure about the use of deception in potential relationships. You be the judge: Could you pass this test?
This is really cool. Keep scrolling, & Flicker's Monster will keep loading more pics as you go.
What is it with churches & phallic symbols when they're secretly worshiping the Goddess...? Or is it that they do realize the dualistic nature of Godhead?
Pancreaticoduodenostomy is the longest word with all six vowels in order. It is also one of many words few of us will ever have the need to write -- let alone say! Want more crap about words?
December 8, 1980. I was in the air force -- foolishly trained as an F-111 Crew Chief & working for Supply (or, more correctly, I was the go to guy for my First Sargent -- he needed something done discreetly, & he'd turn to me). I awoke that morning to find that the dorm -- the air force has dorms, rather thanbarracks -- was strangely quiet. Even Sundays, which were typically pretty slow at Mt Home Air Force Base in those days, weren't as eerily quiet as the dorm was this day. I walked out of my room & down the hall to find one person in the day room. The day room was a small room in which there were three or four sofas & a large television. I look in & ask the guy what he was watching, as there was never anything to watch on television in the morning in Idaho. He'd responded that he was watching the news. Naturally, I was confused by this. Why would the news be on at that time of morning? I worked the swing shift, so I certainly didn't get out of bed before 10.00am. I stepped further into the room to get a view of what was on the television screen. That's when the other guy spoke again. He said: John Lennon's dead. It was some months later that the whole sordid story of Mark Chapman came out, & later still that in-depth articles appeared in magazines. The world lost something very important that day, all due to one wacko deciding that the world wasn't big enough for two John Lennons. There are more reminders of rock deaths which had shocked us here: The Most Shocking Rock and Roll Deaths. The last entry is the most shocking.
[Jackson] Pollock was not an artist who only became popular posthumously. Thanks in part to the patronage of the socialite collector and heiress Peggy Guggenheim, he was successful long before his death and even a bona fide celebrity of the art world. By the time he died, some critics were hailing him as one of the masters of 20th-century art. They even gave his style a name - abstract expressionism. The manner in which he created his works - by dripping and pouring paint onto the canvas - they called action painting. Proof positive critics can be classed with the likes of marketing people & politicians. Like him or hate him, Pollock was an artist, though many would certainly disagree with this. Read more of this at Plllock's the Bollocks .
Beautiful. The whole thing. The girl, the large room, the bed (I've been on a mattress & box-spring on the floor for far too long), those windows -- those windows!
This pic, Pinkhus Karlinsky; Supervisor of the Chernigov flood gates, was taken in -- get this -- 1909. Nice color, eh? You can find this & more at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats, An Ongoing Series of Cultural and Personal Observations; by Tom Sutpen, Stephen Cooke, Richard Gibson and Kimberly Lindbergs. Fun blahg.
All light up.
Why does this image make me think of Dr Benway? Don't fuck up the meat.
Thanks to Dawn on MySpace, here are a few words from Andy Rooney: As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle ofthe night and ask, 'What are you thinking?' She doesn'tcare what you think. If a woman over 40 doesn't want towatch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it.She does something she wants to do, and it's usuallymore interesting. Women over 40 are dignified. Theyseldom have a screaming match with you at the opera orin the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, ifyou deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it. Older women are generouswith praise, often undeserved. They know what it's liketo be unappreciated. Women get psychic as they age. Younever have to confess your sins to a woman over 40. Onceyou get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is farsexier than her younger counterpart. Older women areforthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if youare a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever haveto wonder where you stand with her. Yes, we praise womenover 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it'snot reciprocal . For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed,hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic inyellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-yearold waitress. Ladies, I apologize.For all those men who say, 'Why buy the cow when you canget the milk for free?', here's an update for you.Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage.Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entirepig just to get a little sausage! OK. I know a number of women over forty, as well as a number under forty. I agree with Andy on many points. What I most like is this stat -- where he gets it, I wonder -- Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. I'm only too happy not to marry. Sure, maybe some day, but what woman in her right mind would marry the likes of me? It boggles the mind.
Napa State Hospital. For a few years, before my parents had divorced, I'd lived in Napa California. My father & sisters had continued living there afterward. Whenever my brother & I would go visit, we'd always pass this place. It didn't really look so nice in the early 1970's. Neglect & cheap paint made it look pretty bad. But I remember my brother frequently teasing me that I would would wind up there. Little did he know that Reagan would withdraw that threat & send all the people there packing.
Dunno what it is about this image, but I really like it.
