Oh, my aching head. (link may require a bit of information from you. tell them you are male, born in 1932, and live in 86001. that should throw them off…)

At 2000 hours, on March 28th, 2008, we are told that the city of Phoenix and all Valley residents “who care to join in” will turn off their lights for one hour.

Give me a freakin’ break. The “organizers” are saying this is mostly a “symbolic gesture” meant to show that “each person” can “contribute” to “reducing” their “carbon-dioxide” “emissions”.

So will not breathing for an hour. And, if you buy into this whole “man has caused the earth to become overheated” claptrap, perhaps you, too, should join in the “not breathing” crowd. That way, the seeohtwo emissions will be GREATLY reduced, and the rest of us can continue to live on this earth without being bombarded by the media panic-du-jour. (early 1970’s – global cooling and the ice age; mid 1970’s – population boom and an overpowering of earth’s resources, which lead to 1970’s – “energy crisis” – etc., etc., ad nauseum …)

Look, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do your part to reduce your energy consumption, but for crying out loud, let’s have some common sense here. Turn off your lights when there is sufficient outdoor light to illuminate your area. Turn off lights that aren’t being used (you know, like in the room you just left). Unplug electrical zombies that aren’t being used – like the microwave, the stereo, the TV, your cell phone wall charger, your electric rechargeable razor after it’s charged – they suck power even when you aren’t actively “using” them, and that would certainly reduce energy consumption.

(nuh uh, cary – my tv doesn’t use any power when it’s “off” – that’s why it’s called “off”!)

(really? how does it know when the remote tells it to turn on? it’s called a “wait state”, when it’s just sitting there, “waiting” for a signal from the remote)

*sigh*

So, Cary – (you ask, hoping i don’t drop back into snark mode) how do you save energy?

I’ve outlined several ways above. Mostly, I try to avoid using electricity where and when possible. But, there are times when I have to use it – like on the computer, or when I’m working in the shop, or when the sun goes down. Other than that, I try to keep my use to a minimum. I do leave my DISH receiver plugged in all the time, though – otherwise the schedule doesn’t get updated, and I can’t find my favorite races…

I think the number one thing that we, as a people, can do to reduce energy consumption (notice I didn’t say anything about impacting the globe here…) is to unplug the “convenience” appliances – the chargers – that come with the mobile technology that is our life now. Just doing that will make a bigger impact than turning your lights off and sitting in the dark for an hour.

clarification: leaving your phone plugged into the charger after it is fully charged is when the electricity is vampired. any electronic item that can be controlled by a remote control device sits in a “wait” state; that is, it uses electricity while scanning for the signal that tells it to turn on. while I have some cfl bulbs in use, i have been reading nasty things about these bulbs – it can take up to ten minutes to reach the brightness of the incandescent it replaced, they contain amounts of mercury so if they break you have a hazmat situation on your hands (according to federal regs, anyway – i remember playing with mercury in science class), also when they break they can send shards farther than an incandescent will, simply because instead of the vacuum in the incandescent the cfl bulbs are pressurized. just thought i’d clear a few things up. thanks for listening.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

UPDATE: Both races will run today, 2/25. starting at 1100 MST. Still, no mention anywhere of which network might be carrying the races… I think NASCAR and their broadcast partners need to work on this aspect of the show.

I have Dish Network. The only reason I am paying for this premium service is to be able to watch all of the NASCAR races – the Cup series, the National series, and the Truck series.

Normally, I have no problem at all, no matter when the races are scheduled. I have timers set up to catch the races on FOX, ABC, SPEED, ESPN, ESPN2, the Alternates, and wherever else NASCAR tries to hide them. The timers I have set up start 3 minutes before posted race time, and run an hour (the maximum allowable) past the scheduled end of the race. Like I said, normally it’s not a problem.

Tonight I am a little perturbed. Through no fault of NASCAR, I will most likely miss the Cup race, and will be highly likely to miss the National race. The National race was postponed from Saturday due to the rains southern California is getting right now. The original plan was to run the National race an hour after the Cup race completed. That’s not going to happen now, because the Cup race was first rain delayed, and then after it got started a crash involving Casey Mears, Dale Jr, Sam Hornish, and one or two others caused the race to be stopped (red-flagged) when Mears’ car ended up on it’s side with Hornish’s car tucked under it and on fire. After and hour and ten minutes or so, the race resumed, and about forty laps later the rain stopped the race again.
I just checked NASCAR.com and they are saying the race will run tonight, with a restart at 0100 EST. That’s about 11:00 here, but they failed to mention which channel the race will be run on. There is still no mention. I did find out that the National race will be run on Monday, but again, no mention of the channel.

DISH DVR does not do schedule updates often enough to catch the timers and the new times – so I can either stay up until I find it, and manually record the Cup race, or read about it in the paper tomorrow. Or not, since it’s not basketball and there is no way the Arizona Birdcage Liner will hold the delivery for an auto race.

*sigh*

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

My cousin, the one who sent me last Friday’s funny, sent me this one this week:

=+=+=+=

What? Too many shakes?

UPS – 1, FedEx – 0

Just one – that’s all I ask – just let me touch one of them…

Hmmm, let’s try spelling first, and then move on to more complicated subjects…

I think it was the FedEx driver:

This wouldn’t happen to be by the school that teaches Arithetic, would it?

Sometimes, a name change would be a good idea…

Hey, take me to the cleaners!

Don’t rush me – this is a very important decision…

Turns out I can’t there from here, anyway.

Little known fact: CMT’s new series, My Redneck Wedding, was inspired by this sign:

Oh, the Joys! Oh, the Blessings! Oh, the College Tuition!

Uhm, logic check, lane one …

Actually, kind of a relief, wouldn’t you say?

Take two languages, both with idiosyncrasies, idioms, and a tricky sentence structure, and mix goodly:

The cow jumped over the what?

Hay, Martha! Feed ’em some burritos, and let’s go!

I think I know what happened to Mr. FedEx here…

Oh, the shame of not knowing how to react…

I – I – I just don’t know what to say here…

Grass? What grass? Oh, I get it – it’s one of those preachy, “artsy-fartsy” anti-drug messages, man…

Now, I don’t feel so bad for failing physics…

Now hiring for what? Short term employment?

Don’t drink and make road signs, you mean…

It must have been the FedEx driver!

=+=+=+=
Have a safe weekend, and come back soon!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

My good friend Gawfer and I were chatting on Yahoomessenger (and I will get my sound fixed, so I can enjoy the audibles, Gawf…) when he pointed me to this entry by Cap’n Ed.

Have you gone and read it yet?

If you haven’t, the following will make no sense, since I will be referring to it occasionally.

The point being made, and in a limited framework, is valid. Obama is a socialist-taught, -thinking, and -acting person. While the candidate Clinton(s) are trying desperately to make it appear that she has the all-around appeal for everyone AND the experience needed to be President (although Article 2 clearly does not layout any ‘requirements’ for ‘experience’ for the office of ‘President’), the Obamanation is clamoring to follow the Promising One to a land of Change – although he has never really stated what, exactly, he plans on changing.

His wife, Michelle, seems to have let slip that little secret – he’s planning on changing how we, as a nation, will operate. Under his command, of course. Because he knows best.

It really amazes me that all the proponents of socialism never take into consideration that there is not one nation under socialist rule that has successfully remained under socialist rule it’s entire existence.

If you read down into the comments, the liberals and leftists take the topic way the heck off into strawman land, but the comment from “Michael_Smith”, about the third one into the discussion, makes a very valid and sobering point: (my comments are in parentheses) (<--like these-->)

“Remember that the complete name of the Nazi party was the “National Socialist Worker’s Party of Germany”. Here is a portion of the Nazi party platform:

“We ask that the government undertake the obligation above all of providing citizens with adequate opportunity for employment and earning a living.” (this used to be called government interference with the free market, but I’m just a dumb ol’ cowboy, and what could I possible know?)

“The activities of the individual must not be allowed to clash with the interests of the community, but must take place within its confines and be for the good of all. Therefore, we demand: … an end to the power of the financial interests.” (can you say ‘political correctness carried to its logical conclusion?’ i knew you could…)

“We demand profit sharing in big business.” (i think Billary has proposed this too..)

“We demand a broad extension of care for the aged.” (*cough*socialized medicine*cough*)

“In order to make possible to every capable and industrious [citizen] the attainment of higher education and thus the achievement of a post of leadership, the government must provide an all-around enlargement of our entire system of public education ….“ (“And when everyone is super, then no one will be” – Syndrome)

“We demand the education at government expense of gifted children of poor parents.” (and this will be paid for by … ?)

“The government must undertake the improvement of public health—by protecting mother and child, by prohibiting child labor…. by the greatest possible support for all clubs concerned with the physical education of youth.” (whatever happened to personal responsibility and self-accountability?)

“[We] combat the… materialistic spirit within and without us, and are convinced that a permanent recovery of our people can only proceed from within on the foundation of The Common Good Before the Individual Good.” (sounds religious, without any mention of God, since man is the highest power in this scenario)

Modern liberalism advocates all of this.

I think he said it just about as well as anything I’ve read lately.

Oh, I’m sorry – for the lefties reading this, a point was made – Modern Liberalism = Socialism.

Socialism is a failed economic theoretical model. (For my lurking economist reader, please bring proof that it works before you go spouting that I don’t know what I’m talking about on this subject. “Proof” would mean actual concrete evidence that a country can support a socialistic economy (what’s mine is everyone’s and what’s everyone’s is mine) for more than, let’s say, ten years. By that time, the people who have a work ethic are working harder than ever and getting less and less in return, because the people who DON’T have a work ethic have figured out that the government is going to take care of them whether they work or not.)

Less workers = less stuff produced = less stuff to share. (hey, libs – that’s another lesson. write that one down, it’ll be on the quiz later.)

All that to say this: The two-party system has screwed us, people. We have the unenviable position of choosing for President a liberal, socialist, career politician. None of these traits is admirable, in the context of a representative republic, and the second one could be the straw.

(think about it, libbies. you’ll get it sooner or later.)

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

TMBWitW had some vacation days she used on Thursday and Friday – and she had yesterday off, so I wasn’t very active on the ‘net. Deal with it. No offense, but I would rather spend time with her than ya’ll. We even went to the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park on Sunday with our friends.

I’m attempting to offload some stuff that seems to be gathering dust around here. Craigslist seems to be the best bet for me, since PayPal and eBay can’t seem to find my bank in order to verify my account. (for the record, I still bank with a rather unknown, hard-to-find place called “Bank of America”)

What am I offering, you ask?

A piano (George Steck, upright or console, depending on how pianophile-ish you are):


An electric cement mixer:

An electric lawn mower:


A Grumpy shirt, with the namepatch mis-applied:

If you are interested, drop me a comment or e-mail (top of left column is the contact info). Otherwise, I’m going to have to fight with PayPal about whether or not Bank of America is a real bank.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!