Inaccurate Bumper Stickers

I saw a sticker at Evolvefish.com that said "If you can read this, thank a teacher". There was a description about how you'd be showing your support for the underpaid overworked downtrodden etc. real heroes of the US. Evolvefish has some funny stickers, but a lot of their stuff I can't agree with. They're more for lily-livered-liberal types, I'm more of a Stop Making Excuses, You Are Not Entitled To Special Rights Because Of Your Skin Color/Gender/Religion So Go Get A Job type of person.

Anyway... the Sticker... and the description...

First and foremost, I could have read that sticker before I went to school. I can read better than a lot of teachers, especially some of the ones I had in High school. Second, and I'm so proud of Tulsa, OK for even suggesting this, they're talking about paying teachers based on results. How sweet is that? If you fail as a teacher, and you can't do your job, and you constantly piss off the students GUESS WHAT? You're not going to be making as much money as the teacher who actually gets results. Isn't that they way it should work? Isn't that the way any other job works? You suck, you get fired, you do good you get paid good? All a teacher would have to do, is do their job well, and they have nothing to worry about... but of course, there are a bunch stuck in their rut that they've been in since the the 60's, and they are protesting it. I really hope they decide to pay teachers on merit, they will no longer be able to whine about lack of pay - it will be their own fault if they aren't paid well.

DON'T PANIC!

I found this on snopes.com. It's worth reading.

Here's the problem...

...Never looked at it this way. Found this a while ago, you should read it:

SCHOOL 1977 vs. SCHOOL 2007
Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1977 - Vice principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his own shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lockdown, the F.B.I. are called, Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors are called in to assist traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. They are charged with assault and both are expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey wont sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1977 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal's office and given a good paddling. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra provincial funding because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbors car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1977 - 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 is 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 an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some Aspirin to school.
1977 - Mark shares Aspirin with the school principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high-school English.
1977 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Canadian Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against provincial school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover Canada Day firecrackers, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1977 - Ants die.
2007 - Canadian Firearms Centre and the RCMP are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. CSIS investigates parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1977 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in federal prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy

HAHA!

Go See For Yourself

Land of the Free?




Owasso, Oklahoma touts itself as a "city of character", every month there is a new sign put aside all the roads leading into town. These signs are emblazoned with "virtues", and then they have their interpretation of said virtue. Their interpretations are very, very scary. Always, every single one, has something about "According to the directions/wishes of my superiors/authorities. I'm trying to figure out if the signs would look better with a hammer and sickle, or a swastika.

Leave me a comment, let me know which YOU think fits...

Are American cars really poorly made?

Until recently, I had a small Japanese truck. It was made by Mitsubishi, and incidentally, was made on the same assembly line and was identical to the Dodge D50 trucks. The D50's were actually Mitsubishi's, not the other way around. It was a nice little truck, it had about enough power to get a payload up to 60 miles an hour, and a top speed of maybe 75 or 80. It would have done better, were it a 5 speed instead of the 4 speed overdrive slushbox. It always (kinda) ran, but it tended to start getting hot if worked too hard. The heater controls were stuck so that I could choose cold or hot, but could not choose where it blew out - it blew out everywhere. It leaked oil quite a bit, even after replacing seals. It also blew a head gasket, and a new one was not cheap by any means. It needed a new carburetor one day, the old one got to the point where there was no way to make it operate correctly anymore. It was, of course, made in 1988, and some problems are to be expected. When I sold it, it had 170,000 miles on the clock, and would get about 21 miles to the gallon if everything went just right.

I then purchased, a couple of months ago, a Chevrolet C1500. It has a regular cab, and an 8 foot bed. Under the hood sits a 350 cubic inch 8 cylinder engine, which unlike the Mitsubishi is NOT buried under a mass of rubber hoses and wires. Everything is easily accessible, and even with 165,000 miles, it doesn't leak any fluids. At all. Nothing. It's a 1989, and by all means SHOULD leak SOMETHING, especially with it being American made, and all, right? I mean, it's just a Chevy, it should be on it's last legs, shouldn't it? But it isn't. It starts and runs like it's new. The heater and vent controls all work like they should. The transmission (it's a 5 speed) shifts smoothly, once you can get the clutch pushed in. It accelerates with authority, passing is never a problem. The interior parts are all still in place, everything fits, and nothing rattles. The same could not be said for the Mitsubishi.

So what, really, is better quality? The only reason the Mitsu ran at all, was it spent 4 years in my possesion, while I worked out all the kinks. I bought it when it was at 103,000 miles. It had serious overheating problems at the time, that lead to a blown head gasket. Parts were expensive, when they could be found at all. Some things were well-nigh impossible to get to or replace. The Chevy is something any shadetree mechanic could keep in some kind of running order. Parts, even obscure and rarely needed ones, are easy to get. Most everything under the hood is easy to get to. Better than that, is it seems to not NEED any repairs. It just runs, and shows every inclination to keep running. It is not 100% in perfect working order, however - simple things are wrong. It needs front shocks. It needs a new gear in the power window on one side. The door hinge sags on the driver's side. But I don't need a radiator, carburetor, or head gasket. I know when I start it up, it will make it to my destination. Can your 20 year old Honda give you the same confidence, with so few repairs?

Stupid Environmentalists

That's right, I said it, who wants some?

Every website I go to where there is any mention of global warming there is a huge debate and about 70% of it is whackos off on a religious crusade to save us from ourselves, at any cost to the taxpayer, even though the US only has 5% of the worlds population... meaning we won't make much of a difference one way or another.

But anyway... lets talk about one thing I know a little about, that affects the environment: Power generation. Everybody is ready to preach the evils of coal fired plants... but nobody realizes what that white stuff is billowing out of the stacks - that's water. The fly ash and other particulates are passed through electrostatic grids, and that stuff is sold. They wouldn't put that in the air, it's worth too much money! Same with the CO2 - where do you think dry ice and CO2 cartridges come from? Sure - it's released into the atmosphere anyway, but you get some use out of it first. It's not wasted. Another good point, is all the coal used in the power plants in the United States comes from - you guessed it - the United States. Not so for natural gas. Not so for oil. Not so for Uranium.

Enough about coal - lets get to the "Stupid" part of the title. What alternatives do people offer up, right on the tip of their tongue? Wind turbines, and solar panels. Wind turbines are good for about 20 kilowatts each. That's 20,000 watts. That sounds like a lot, unless you're the kind of person who knows that a gallon of gasoline has 37,000 watts of stored energy. Or the kind of person who knows that a electric water heater uses upwards of 4500 watts. Care to guess what that electric stove or central heater or air conditioner uses? 20 kilowatts is about enough to run two small houses, maybe, just as long as both of them don't dry their clothes the same time in the summer! I don't have money for a $100,000 wind turbine, neither does my neighbor.

Solar? It works good for a calculator, but then again so does a watch battery. Solar panels are at most 15% efficient. Usually closer to 4%. And the cost?? A Sharp 62 watt (not 62 kilowatts, just 62 watts) solar panel goes for $439. Don't think so? Go look for yourself. What can you do with 62 watts? That's enough for one light bulb. Or enough for four compact flourescent bulbs. And it costs $439. At that rate, it would cost more than $500,000,000 (ONE HALF BILLION?????) to get 20,000 watts to run my house, and I'd have to cover the whole roof and part of the yard.

(Just thought I would mention, the solar panel website crashed my computer every time I tried to look up prices on the bigger panels. It might not cost a half billion to do it all, but it would cost well into the six figures.)

And for the record, right now, it's dark outside, and the wind isn't blowing. What does that mean? It means I would need about $100k worth of batteries, and inverter, a control system to switch seamlessly between the turbine, solar panels, and batteries. That's another $5,000 easily. So all together... panels... turbine... batteries.. controls... assuming a real price of $200k for the panels... I'm staring down the barrel of four hundred thousand dollars to power my house, NOT including installation, NOT including building an outbuilding to store the batteries, NOT including replacing the batteries every 10 years and the solar panels every 25 and whatever maintainence is needed on a wind turbine. By comparison, my electric bill this month was $37.

Stupid hick with his hound and his big truck, paying only $37 a month for his electricity when he could be paying $400,000+... what is he thinking?

Thank you Uncle Sam for doing my thinking for me...

I was reading a little while ago, wondering why model rockets and their associated paraphernalia (Like the motors) aren't as common anymore. I used to love playing with these things, I've surely got some of the rockets and maybe a launcher somewhere.

And then I saw it. The government is trying to limit access to this sort of stuff, "because it could be used as a weapon."

Well holy crap, really? Ya think? Nobody is limiting access to blackpowder rifles or high-powered airguns, and they *are* weapons. I legally purchased 6 bags of sand and I have several pairs of old socks, they can be adapted to weapons. Idiots. ANYTHING can be made into a weapon, in the right (or perhaps the wrong) mind. Are we to ban everything? Will they take away anything and everything, to save us from ourselves?

A few examples, from my own sick little mind:

A block of wood with a nail in it, buried with a shotgun shell so that the nail will hit the primer when the shell is stepped on - homemade land mine, total cost: 25 cents.

As mentioned, sand or fishing sinkers, a ziploc bag, and an old tube sock will knock someone senseless. No sand? No sinkers? Pennies will work too.

Speaking of pennies, you can sharpen them and glue them to a hat brim.

Sewer pipe, black power, and soup cans full of cement. Hopefully I don't have to spell out "Cannon" for you.

The drunk's old standby - broken glass bottle.

The infamous Mag Lite.

Any 18-24" length of black iron pipe, or anything else heavy and unyielding. Broken skull, anyone?

Baseball bats can be had for as little as $10.

I'll stop now, not because I've run out of ideas - I've run out of motivation. More or less, anything you find lying around you can be "adapted to a weapon", and with much greater ease and success than a model rocket. We cannot ban everything just because someone thinks of another use for it. The world is full of very smart crazy people.

I have the POWER!

At least... I have electricity. I was without the juice all last week. Not much fun at all, really. I ate pretty good though, I had to get the stuff out of the fridge somehow! And I discovered that my gas water heater works in a power failure... made for warm, but dark, showers. And a tip for you guys who need to shave: It's better and safer to shave outside, using the mirror of your truck and a bowl of water, than it is to shave in a dark bathroom.

Also... if you've got any trees hanging over your house, keep in mind how majestic they won't look after puncturing your roof. My father, brother and I cut two of my trees down thanksgiving weekend, and I am very happy for that. They didn't fall on the house. However... this has made my whole week in the dark worthwhile... the huge pecan tree in my ex wife's front yard dropped huge limbs all over her roof, fence, yard, and new vehicle.

Karma, For the win...

-Mark