Sep 21
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, WTF is wrong with people?.
Mike Huckabee apparently is the “favorite among religious conservatives” for another presidential run in 2012. Seriously? Why won’t this man go away already? Have we not figured out that the last thing we need in this country is a religious zealot of any kind at the helm? And why don’t we just try and tell [...] [...more]
Mike Huckabee apparently is the “favorite among religious conservatives” for another presidential run in 2012. Seriously? Why won’t this man go away already? Have we not figured out that the last thing we need in this country is a religious zealot of any kind at the helm? And why don’t we just try and tell all those Jeebus-freaks that he already was President? We can then show them some episodes of Season 4′s 24 and pass it off as a documentary:
Me: “See, Huckabee has already been president! Watch this documentary proving it.”
Wacko: “But I know I would have remembered this”
Me: “I think you were on a secret mission from God during that time, and He erased all memory of it”
Wacko: “ohhhh….” [puzzled look]
Which is which? YOU DON'T KNOW!
Sep 09
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
…or at least, MEN’s public bathrooms? The only answer that makes any sense to me is “a woman”. Or maybe one of those creepy dudes who likes to talk to you while you are in the bathroom. I say this because the urinal layout is always not very well thought out, to the point where [...] [...more]
…or at least, MEN’s public bathrooms? The only answer that makes any sense to me is “a woman”. Or maybe one of those creepy dudes who likes to talk to you while you are in the bathroom. I say this because the urinal layout is always not very well thought out, to the point where men seem to be invited to violate one of the basic “man laws”.
Case in point: the bathroom at my office. We occupy a fairly large space, and therefore have a bathroom that is fairly generous in size: three urinals and two stalls. My beef is with the urinals in particular. They are lined up against one wall, two that are normal height, and one that is a “shorty”, the latter I guess being for the children that we hire to slave away in one of our many sweatshops. (Note: a joke, in case any of our HR people are reading this) The shorty is positioned at the left end of the wall, followed by the two normal ones. Most of the time, this is not an issue, since rarely is there more than one person using them at a time. But when there happens to be that occasion when there are two, the second person is put in a predicament: a) take the regular height one, breaking the man law that you always keep at least one urinal between you and your neighbor or b) take the shorty and risk making a mess, or feeling ridiculous for using what can be described as the “kiddie table” of the bathroom world. Sadly, the only real option here is choice “b”, since choice “a” is only allowed in very few situations, most notably concerts and sports venues.
Why is the shorty not positioned in the middle? If I were designing bathrooms, this would be a no-brainer. Yet I have seen this layout more often than not in countless bathrooms everywhere. If I ruled the world…
For those creepy guys mentioned earlier, do us all a favor and read up on men’s bathroom etiquitte (note #11 in particular).
Sep 07
Posted: under General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Sometimes, I wonder, if in this “age of information”, if we were better off back in the good old days of being in the dark about relatively everything. One of those times was this week, when I read a story that originally broke on the internet regarding the treatment of baby male chicks by chicken [...] [...more]
Sometimes, I wonder, if in this “age of information”, if we were better off back in the good old days of being in the dark about relatively everything. One of those times was this week, when I read a story that originally broke on the internet regarding the treatment of baby male chicks by chicken “farms”.
Apparently, there is little need for males in the poultry industry. This somewhat makes sense, but the way that this problem is handled by the modern egg-producing industry mortified me. Baby male chicks are “sorted, discarded, and handled like mere cogs in a machine “. And when they say “discarded”, they mean the animals are thrown alive into a grinding machine, where they are torn to pieces.
Sadly, these little chicks might be better off than their female counterparts, who are spared the death-machine, but instead get to live a miserable life of what amounts to essentially torture.
This article, which can be read here, stuck with me all week long. I just can’t seem to shake it off like I can with the myriad of other horrible news stories I read every week. It really has me wondering if it might be time to jump on the vegan train. But I know I am only kidding myself. I am not even sure I could adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, much less a vegan one. I like the taste of animals, cheese and eggs way too much. Raising my own animals isn’t an option, and even if it was, I’d end up making them all pets – there’s no way I could kill them myself. I’m too much of an animal softie.
This heartless quote is probably the single biggest thing that made this story poke at me all week:
“There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens. If someone has a need for 200 million male chicks, we’re happy to provide them to anyone who wants them. But we can find no market, no need.”
So it’s OK to throw them alive into what is essentially a shredder? If they have to die, isn’t there some better way we can do this? A gas chamber, maybe?
For me, the question is, what do I personally do from here? Not sure, but I am going to mull it over while munching a chicken sandwich.
Baby chicks at the largest egg hatchery
Jan 15
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Praise, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: cold, minnesota, winter, WTH is wrong with people?
…your garage door freezes to the ground overnight, and when you go to open it the next morning, it rips the 2X4 supporting the track right off the wall….this happened to me this week…twice. Last night was officially the coldest that I have seen it here yet. It never went above -1 in the city [...] [...more]
…your garage door freezes to the ground overnight, and when you go to open it the next morning, it rips the 2X4 supporting the track right off the wall….this happened to me this week…twice.
Last night was officially the coldest that I have seen it here yet. It never went above -1 in the city yesterday, and by the time I had taken the dog out when I got home, it was -7 in the ‘burbs. Predictions were for the temp to drop and the wind to pick up, with an ambient temperature of -21 and a wind chill in the -40 to -45 range. Balmy!
Around 7:00, I stepped out to grab something at the grocery store for dinner. Glancing at the temp on my way out, I saw that it had dropped to -11 in a matter of an hour. I regretted even having to make the walk from the car to the grocery store door. Luckily, on this end of the trip, I had the relative protection of the garage to look forward to.
While waiting in line to pay for my goods, I couldn’t help but notice the woman in front of me. She was holding just a single box of popsicles. I wrestled back in forth in my head whether I should ask why popsicles in January in Minnesota, and when she finally glanced back in my directtion, I spoke up.
“Popsicles? Really?” I said.
She laughed. ”Yeah, my husband called me at work and said ‘pick up some popsicles!’. I told him he’s crazy. So now he’s at home, sitting outside by the fireplace, waiting for some popsicles”.
I laughed – a little – while I digested what I just heard. Good thing it was her turn to check out, ’cause I really had nothing else to say.
Welcome to Minnesota indeed.
At -21.8 the weather station took itself offline (OFL). Smart machines know when to call it quits, unlike some dumb humans.
Dec 24
Posted: under General, Praise, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: Annie, RAGOM, WCCO
WCCO.com is now reporting that Annie the dog (the one spoken of in my previous post) is doing well, considering all she has been through. There have been multiple offers to adopt her, which is always a nice thing to hear, and she will be in a home in time for Christmas. There are still [...] [...more]
WCCO.com is now reporting that Annie the dog (the one spoken of in my previous post) is doing well, considering all she has been through. There have been multiple offers to adopt her, which is always a nice thing to hear, and she will be in a home in time for Christmas. There are still many bills that need to be paid for her $13,000 stay at the U, and they are taking up donations here.
Merry Christmas Annie!
Annie resting up
Dec 20
Posted: under General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: animal cruelty, University of Minnesota, WTF is wrong with people?
December 18th probably started off well for Annie, a Golden Retriever (maybe not her real name) in Western Minnesota. It’s hard to know exactly, but I’d like to hope that she woke up that morning, she got herself something to eat, maybe did her business, got a nap in, and do whatever else it is [...] [...more]
December 18th probably started off well for Annie, a Golden Retriever (maybe not her real name) in Western Minnesota. It’s hard to know exactly, but I’d like to hope that she woke up that morning, she got herself something to eat, maybe did her business, got a nap in, and do whatever else it is that dogs do on a daily basis.
Her day didn’t end so well though. Seems that some jackass decided that it would be fun to shoot her and leave her for dead in a snowbank. She lay there clinging to life after being shot twice in the neck and stomach. Luckily, some good samaritan came along, lifted her out of the snowbank and got her to a hospital. After stabilizing her as best they could, she was transported to the University of Minnesota, where she underwent several surguries to fix her abdomen, esophagus, diaphragm, and ribs. She’s been given a 60 to 70 percent chance to live, and if she does pull through, will have many special needs for the rest of her life.
I am truly outraged at us as humans when I hear about things like this happening. And I don’t know why every time I hear about stuff like this, I still get stunned. The total apathy some people have for the life of animals so close to us as humans, namely cats and dogs, our pets, is appalling. I get that not everyone understands the human/pet bond, but even the biggest dog-hating people I know wouldn’t stoop to levels such as this. I really hope they catch the sick sonofabitch that did this and shoot him or her and leave them for dead in a snowbank somewhere. And I hope no good samaritan stops by to help.
This whole scenario, of course, assumes that the shooter was a random person who saw a dog and thought it would be fun to shoot it. If this were the act of Annie’s owner, then I would just be completely speechless. That reaches a level of cold-heartedness that isn’t even on my radar.
Read the complete story at the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Annie after surgery
Nov 28
Posted: under Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: black friday, long island, stampede, wal-mart, WTF is wrong with people?
Gotta love Black Friday. People getting up at insane hours on their days off to go be a good Capitalist and purchase vast quantities of things that they probably don’t need, all while jockeying for that last parking spot and fighting the crowds of other shoppers doing that same thing. Apparently, in Long Island, Wal-Mart [...] [...more]
Gotta love Black Friday. People getting up at insane hours on their days off to go be a good Capitalist and purchase vast quantities of things that they probably don’t need, all while jockeying for that last parking spot and fighting the crowds of other shoppers doing that same thing.
Apparently, in Long Island, Wal-Mart shoppers do more than just fight with each other – they prefer to try and kill the clerks as well. Once in a while, they are successful, like at today’s 5AM opening of the Valley Stream Wal-Mart. Incredibly, only one person was killed when the frothing-at-the-mouth group of shoppers blew the front door off its hinges and trampled workers inside. One 34 year old clerk lost his life, one was injured, and a pregnant mom-to-be was also hurt in the melee.
Guess they just had to be the first ones to get their hands on the newest piece of crap that Wal-Mart was hawking. Wonder if they will still think it was worth the stampede when they find out that the shoddily-made toy/gadget that they just had to have falls apart in 3 weeks.
I just have to ask again and again, every day when I read the news, “What the eff is wrong with people?”.
And another take from my buddy Alan, who shares the same sentiment.
Sad update: The pregnant woman lost her baby. The story just gets better.
Nov 09
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: driving, minnesota, tailgaiting
I’ve been living here for about a year and a half and I have to say that unequivocally that Minnesota drivers have to be the worst drivers in the United States. Seriously, it’s a very good thing that I don’t personally own a car and that I don’t drive on a daily basis here, because [...] [...more]
I’ve been living here for about a year and a half and I have to say that unequivocally that Minnesota drivers have to be the worst drivers in the United States. Seriously, it’s a very good thing that I don’t personally own a car and that I don’t drive on a daily basis here, because I think that I would kill myself or more than one person around me in a fit of road rage. When I do drive around the Twin Cities on the weekends, my blood pressure comes close to a boil within about 10 minutes of leaving my driveway. Which is why Lori does most of the driving…
Driving in Massachusetts, I thought, would expose me to what I thought would be the absolute worst drivers ever to be assembled on a road, ever. That thought was destroyed over the past 18 months of living here in MN. I bet that drivers in the Dominican Republic (known as the worst drivers in the world) would have a few choice words if they had to navigate the highways of Minneapolis.
Couple of pointers for those of you with the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” on your license plates:
- Driving 2 feet off the bumper of the car in front of you is not safe, especially at speeds of 70+ MPH. This would seem to be a basic skill that one would be taught in driver’s ed, but apparently it is not one most Minnasota drivers wish to follow.
- Turn signals are something that are imperative to helping other drivers understand what your intentions are. Are you about to cut me off in a gridlock situation? Who cares? It’s all about you, right?
- True “defensive driving” rules say that you should leave a safe distance between the car in front of you so that if they have to stop quickly, I won’t suddenly become a passenger in their backseat. When I leave that 3 seconds between cars, it is not an invite for you to fill that “gap” and make me and everyone behind me susceptible to a 40 car pileup.
- The left hand lane is for PASSING! Minnesota drivers have the need to go all the way to the left at the very first opportunity, and then just travel at the same speed as the car to their right. The result? Three or four lanes of cars traveling the exact same speed, much like an entire linebacking corps holding back the backfield. Traffic flows much better when the faster traffic flows with speeders on the left, grandmas on the right.
A couple of other observations about the way that Minnesota goes about their transportation regulations:
- Why are we not required to do an annual inspection of our vehicles? I have seen some real pieces of shit driving down the road. Some of these cars and trucks don’t look safe enough to drive in a cornfield, much less a public road. Today, I swear I saw the brand of shoes of the guy beside me because of the rust holes in his door.
- To go with the above, if one is not required to maintain their cars, how does the average joe-blow know when it is time to say, replace their brakes, or get new tires, or fix their obviously unsafe chassis components?
- How is it that we have one of the hardest to pass licensing programs in the US, but yet have some of the worst drivers I have ever seen? Seriously, we have driven from here to the East Coast through both the US and Canada several times, and it is uncanny to watch the downgrade of driving etiquette as you pass across the Minnesota border.
- Considering 1 & 2 above, why would I EVER buy a used car in Minnesota, knowing that the previous owner wouldn’t ever have done one iota of maintenace to their car or truck that wasn’t forced on them?
Bah! Enough ranting for now. Last sentiment – Minnesota drivers suck! Wisconsin drivers, you have my props, at least you get it.
Learn from it!
Oct 25
Posted: under General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
All I can say is WOW. I can’t believe that this is 2008 and we still have people in this world, or at least of this corner of the world, with opinions as backwards and ignorant as this. I try not to get too emotionally fired up about politics, but this video transcends politics and [...] [...more]
All I can say is WOW. I can’t believe that this is 2008 and we still have people in this world, or at least of this corner of the world, with opinions as backwards and ignorant as this. I try not to get too emotionally fired up about politics, but this video transcends politics and speaks to the racism and ignorance that still plagues certain parts of our country. I hope that come November 4th we see that the educated and informed people among us make a strong showing at the polls and quash the antiquated, backwards views shown here.
Let’s review for the ignorant among us:
- Obama is not a Muslim (but why should it matter if he is?)
- He’s black. Why does that matter?
- “The blacks will take over” – I don’t even know where to start here…
- Obama is NOT a terrorist, nor does he “associate with terrorists” any more than the right wing Christian group does. Scare tactics at their core.
- Exactly when did Obama say or infer that he was “anti-white”?
This video just saddens me. I thought we as a nation had moved on from this kind of thinking. The title just doesn’t do the video any justice – “Misconception” isn’t a strong enough word.
Sep 24
Posted: under General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
I think that there probably not a person on this planet with radio/TV/Internet access that doesn’t know about the looming financial crisis that we as a country are facing. The problem, at its very core, is a series of terrible investments that the entire world, and more specifically investment companies in this country, made in [...] [...more]
I think that there probably not a person on this planet with radio/TV/Internet access that doesn’t know about the looming financial crisis that we as a country are facing. The problem, at its very core, is a series of terrible investments that the entire world, and more specifically investment companies in this country, made in the mortgage “boom” of the last few years. I cannot begin to sum up the whole situtation better than the people over at NPR did with their Giant Pool of Money podcast did, so go on over to iTunes, search for it, or see my previous post. It’s worth the hour of your time and the 99 cents to download and listen. Suffice it to say that investment companies were extremely greedy and started to make investments in mortages to people who could not, and should not, have them. Fast forward a few years to now, and all those poor investments are falling apart. Now we as a country seem poised to take the brunt of the burden of a fix in the form of a 700 BILLION dollar bailout. Your tax dollars hard at work. Bah!
You know what really frosts my ass about this whole thing? It’s not really the fact that we will have to pay to fix the problem, or that CEO’s of failed companies seem poised to make their fortune and walk away, or that government is yet again putting us further into debt, or any of that. It’s the fact that NO ONE is talking about the crux of the problem – the failure of us as a nation to take personal responsibility for the failed mortagages that many people took on. Financially responsible people like you and me all knew better than to take on mortgages that we could not afford. Everyone is bitching about the government and “predatory lending” but Jesus, take some personal effing responsibility! If you can’t even figure out if you can’t afford that 500,000 dollar house on your 50K combined income, you probably should be shot in the head. Now people like us have to deal with upside-down loans and more effing taxes to support those jackasses that couldn’t figure out $1+$1 does not equal $2000. Even worse is that we are in the spot where if we don’t bail them out, we will just suffer more. It’s just completely frustrating. Yes, the mortgage industry and their investment backers effed up royally. I blame them too, but seems like everyone is so focused on the mortgage failures that they don’t stop to think what idiots we are as a country.
To end on a good note – I walk the dog daily and see at least a half dozen nice homes that have been foreclosed upon. They are not hard to spot – unkempt lawns, seizure notices in every window, driveways with grass growing in the cracks between the pavement, etc. For the most part, they have sat vacant for weeks and months on end, with seemingly no realtor or buyer activity, but in the past few days, I have seen dozens of potential homeowners looking at them. To me, this is a sign that maybe, at least locally, we have bottomed out and are at the very beginning stages of an upswing. This gives me a glimmer of hope that the end might be in sight and that the panic to not buy is starting to fade. That of course does me no personal good, since I know for a fact that if I were to try to sell right now, I would be competing with homes comparable to mine that would be selling for 30 to 70 thousand dollars less than what I paid a little over a year ago. But it’s something.
