Saturday Ramblings

Which GOP presidential candidate has Obama worried? It's not Mitt or Michelle or Tim or Ron:

US President Barack Obama's top reelection strategist charged Friday that Republican White House hopeful and Texas Governor Rick Perry had "very little to do" with his state's economic success.

And well he should be worried about Perry.

Presidential bearing? Check.

Executive experience? Check.

Military service? Check.

Self-made man? Check.

I like Perry's announcement speech because he ignored all the other GOP candidates and acted as though he's only running against one opponent -- the one that's currently in the White House. If he keeps that up, he'll really have my respect.

Update: Yep. Perry's entry into the race is alarming the Obama Dems. Any guy who has the far lefties up in arms is the right guy for me.
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What's at the root of the UK riots? Maybe parental attitudes like this:

‘But, I believe our human rights have been completely taken for granted. Daniel was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

‘As a mother, I’m not responsible for my son’s actions and they are penalising me for his actions.’

Marvelous job, Mum.
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I haven't seen a really good heist job comedy in a long time. I have hope, because this looks promising:


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What is just about the silliest question ever posed?

"Can brownies be too rich?"

Really?
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For Denny and Jimbo, who I could see doing this song:



Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha!!!

(A tip of the cap to GruntDoc for that little giggle.)

In the Rearview Mirror

Two ancient memories dredged up within the last 24 hours:



And...

Jackie Gleason...



What I'm really looking for is the "Harry Vederci" episode of The Honeymooners. Anybody know where I can find it? (And if you know which one I'm talking about, you're officially old.)

Drive-Bys

This'll put a smile on your face:


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For all you GRRM/Game of Thrones fan-geeks like me, Maureen Ryan (whose column I miss in the Chicago Tribune, dammit) has Part 1 of her interview with him here and Part 2 is here. Good stuff.
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Ooooh! And you can now stream Season One of Game of Thrones on your computer. Sweet!
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Just how bad is the economy here in Illinois? We're going back to burying our indigent dead in potter's fields. That's just sad.
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Wholly crap! The Dems are losing their union support:

About a dozen trade unions plan to sit out the 2012 Democratic convention because they're angry that it's being held in a right-to-work state and frustrated that Democrats haven't done enough to create jobs.

The move could pose a larger problem for President Barack Obama next year if an increasingly dispirited base of labor activists becomes so discouraged that it doesn't get the rank-and-file to the polls in the usual strong numbers.

Did you spot the flying pig that just whizzed by?
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For those that think all the looters in the UK are poor, down-trodden folks on the dole who think they are taking their bit back, think again:

The middle class 'rioters' revealed: The millionaire's daughter, the aspiring musician and the organic chef all in the dock

It's an eye-opener, no?

Justice is being handled very swiftly:

Two-thirds of those who have come before magistrates have been remanded in custody and a large number have been sent to Crown Courts, which have powers to hand down prison sentences of longer than six months.

Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly said: 'Yesterday and today I met court staff and judges who had worked 30 hours straight.

'We will continue to provide all necessary support to the police to ensure anyone involved in this kind of criminal activity is brought to justice as swiftly as possible.'

A Ministry of Justice spokesman added: 'We have enough prison places for those that are sentenced to custody after these incidents. There is substantial capacity in the prison and youth justice system.'

In addition, the papers are shaming by naming names. LOTS of names. Well done.

Also, I love this purple rain idea:

In addition to shutting down Twitter and BlackBerry messaging during civil disturbances, the government is suggesting rioters be sprayed with dye....

Other governments have used brightly colored dye to mark and arrest people. The tactic has been used in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, Hungary, Bangladesh, Uganda, South Korea and Indonesia.

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Are there really no good new story lines, for cripe's sake??? Now they're bringing the Munster's back... and making them... edgier... darker. It was a comedy! It's not supposed to be "dark" dammit.

Leave. Well. Enough. Alone.
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Gross-Out Alert:

If there’s a warrant out for your arrest, perhaps you should think twice about popping your pimples in a public place.

That’s what police in Florida said when they arrested Owen Lemire Kato outside a Cape Coral McDonald’s in an incident that would make the Hamburglar blush.

As Mr Kato, 23, reached behind him to pop zits on his back for 10 minutes, customers demanded that he leave the restaurant.

The popping of zits is disgusting, on his back is even grosser, doing it in a public restaurant is appalling.

But the thing that really blows my mind is that he had enough back zits that he could take ten whole minutes to pop them and still not be done. *Shudder*

I don't know about you, but I feel like I need to shower in Lysol now.
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Beep Beep!

Just a year or two off, but who's counting?
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A few of the gifts I received today?

A gazillion and one birthday wishes on Facebook. I'm truly blessed with wonderful friends.

A stunning decor suggestion from Og.

A Master Class in prose from Leeann:

This demonspawn is obviously the love child of Joan Crawford at her frothing finest and the Honey Badger. She’s the only 4 year old I’ve seen that has the voice of a chain-smoking dock worker. She is the dark underbelly of what happens when breeding is left to amateurs. If we airdropped Makenzie’s rhinestoned ass into Afghanistan, the war would be over the next day. If we sent Makenzie to live one day with each teenage girl in America, the teen pregnancy rate would drop to zero. If we wait long enough, most likely the pits of Hell will open up and reclaim her.

Fried butter on a stick.

The race card.

Fantastic news in the fight against leukemia.

A heads-up from my pal Donna:

If you are a LinkedIn user, you may want to act on this quickly. In classic social network style, LinkedIn has borrowed from Facebook’s playbook on abusing your privacy. They’ve made agreements with advertisers and defaulted your LinkedIn account’s privacy settings. Unless you change the default setting, advertisers have permission to use your LinkedIn name, photo and posts in their ads. In effect, this makes you an implied endorser of a company, product or service without your explicit consent.

To change your settings, do the following:

Go to LinkedIn and sign into your account. In the upper right and side of the window you’ll see a small hyperlink for your name.

Click on your name and click Settings from the drop down menu.

Go to the bottom left of the window and click on Account (icon is a small grey shield)
Just left of that, a list will appear for PRIVACY CONTROLS. Under that, click Manage Social Advertising and remove the check from the box.

You may also want to click Turn On/Off Enhanced Advertising and remove the check from that box too…depends on your feeling about ads you receive.

When’s the last time you heard of anything more snake-oily than ‘enhanced advertising’?

A very naughty, very funny gift from Ray at Finish the Book, George:



A new dive to visit!

A mention from Oom Keesie with a request for pictures of lips.

When a man describes one as "Da driver of some serious sex and common sense" you've gotta ante up.

(Oom Keesie? I do not think that Hillary is wanking at you. Or maybe she is. Come to think of it, she's probably got the equipment for it.)
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Happy birthday to me!

Spit-Take

At least I warned you.

Who Said...

... no good deed goes unpunished?

I promoted an Etsy shop last week because I really love their gorgeous, girly jewelry... and I come home to find these (or the next closest thing) in my mailbox with a lovely thank-you note:

Girly, pretty, totally romantic! I'm going to have to go shopping because I want something soft and feminine in heather grey and another something in burgundy lace to wear with these gorgeous ear bobs.

To the wonderful folks at A Pocket Full of Posies -- thanks for the totally unexpected and greatly appreciated birthday gift!

(To my gentlemen readers -- A gift from APFOP will make your own lady feel totally appreciated. Bookmark and use them for Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day or "just because" gifting. Your lady will be impressed with your good taste and flattered that you see her as feminine enough to rock this gorgeous stuff.)

Again, many thanks!
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UPDATE: It wasn't a gift from APFOP after all. Even better, it was from my beautiful daughter. I wore them right away, and felt absolutely beautiful in them! (But it does pay to post your wish list!)

Oh, Goodie

Lovely searches that brought folks here today?

• daddy's little princess* sexy panties
• fuck no
• funny beans
• funny bitch

Y'all are some seriously twisted people.

(*Either that or you've been over to Bou's place recently.)

In Memoriam

Another amazing hero of World War II has passed away:

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifA World War II heroine spy who topped the Gestapo’s wanted list after her daring exploits behind enemy lines helped pave the way for the D-Day landings has died aged 98.

Nancy Wake, who inspired the film Charlotte Gray after becoming one the Allies' most decorated servicewomen for her role in the French resistance, passed away in a nursing home in London yesterday.

After reading Beyond Silk and Cyanide several years, I've always had tremendous respect for the spies, British and American, who risked their lives under incredibly difficult circumstances. Very, very few made it home again.

God speed, Mrs. Wake.

In Memoriam

God bless and God speed to all who were lost, American and Afghan alike. Prayers sent up for their families.

Choices, Choices

The purple or the black? I've got weddings coming up... and my dress has both colors in it.

Drive-Bys

Giggle of the Day:

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Funniest newspaper "Corrections and Clarifications" ever:

In a Page 2 column on Wednesday, John Kass incorrectly asserted that by raising the federal debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, President Barack Obama had grabbed "reality by the hair" and kicked it repeatedly "in the behind." But Thursday's stock-market plunge of more than 500 points proves that reality remains immune to the president's charms. The Tribune regrets the error.

Gotta love John Kass!
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I'm stunned:

Durbin said “Democrats have to be prepared to talk about entitlement reform and Republicans have to be prepared to talk about revenue if we’re both serious about meaningful deficit reduction. It’s tough politically on both sides. I mean, it’s as volatile as can be.”

Yeah. I actually agree with Dick Durbin, who is making sense for once.
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Seems Obama will never run out of groups or people or events to blame for the lousy state of the economy. Here's the latest:

"We've weathered the Arab Springs effect on oil and gas prices. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami's effect on supply chains. The extraordinary economic uncertainty in Europe and recently markets around the globe have taken a bumpy ride," Obama said this morning.

That's four finger-points in two sentences. (He did, however, leave out Bush, Republicans and the Tea Party... for once.)

Is anyone else ready for a little of Harry Truman's "The buck stops here!" mentality from the Oval Office for a change?
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And while we're at blame casting, "At Google, don't blame the technology when something goes wrong, blame the person behind the technology."

I hope they're right, though. The Princess Mom sure would have been a prime candidate for a robot car:


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Rules of the Road:

Do you live and drive in an urban area with lots of bicycle traffic? Then you should try this in order to prevent "dooring" accidents:

When you get out of your car on the driver’s side, open the door with your right hand. This will force you to twist your body and look back, allowing you to see if any cyclists or walkers are coming by.

Easy peasey lemon squeezy.
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After hearing about that awful story out of Australia where the young woman was collared with what was alleged to be a bomb this week, it brought back memories of a similar device that actually did what it was alleged it would do:

Suddenly, the device started to emit an accelerating beeping noise. Wells fidgeted. It looked like he was trying to scoot backward, to somehow escape the bomb strapped to his neck. Beep… Beep… Beep. Boom! The device detonated, blasting him violently onto his back and ripping a 5-inch gash in his chest. The pizza deliveryman took a few last gasps and died on the pavement. It was 3:18 pm. The bomb squad arrived three minutes later.

I'm so glad that Miss Pulver survived to tell her tale. And I hope they catch the sicko who dreamed that little stunt up. Let's hope karma catches up with the SOB.
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As my old pal Jihad Gene used to say, "It's Friday! Let's Dance!"


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Handicapped Parking

I see that BlogHer is coming up this week.

No, Miss Nancy and I aren't going this year.

Why?

At both the 2009 and 2010 conference hotels there were real issues with handicapped accessibility, and Miss Nancy uses canes to walk short distances, a wheelchair and/or a scooter. Yes, mobility is an issue with her.

At BlogHer 2009 she only brought her wheelchair, and it was very difficult to get from one end of the conference to the other over alternating areas of tile and carpet and also to get to many of the meeting rooms, as access to elevators was blocked and attendees were directed to escalators instead. Yes, we went around barriers, as Nancy otherwise would have been unable to access them at all.

When we received our feedback surveys, we both made a point of stressing how difficult mobility was in the conference hotel, the ballroom and the vendor areas. We heard back nada.

For BlogHer 2010, we discussed making getting around easier, and Nancy was able to reserve a scooter through the conference hotel's concierge. That's the good part.

The bad part is that once again, level access to parts of the show hall were blocked off during the day, with the only access being via escalator. Furthermore, the show hall where all the vendors and exhibitors were located was on two levels, the second of which appeared to only be accessible via escalator.

No. You can't take a scooter on an escalator.

No one from Blogher had made any arrangements for handicapped access. One of their own staffers is handicapped and uses a wheelchair.

We went to the lobby to discuss the difficulty with the concierge, who referred us to the bell captain. We were then instructed to follow him... out the front door of the hotel, around the corner, down the street for a block and a half, through the loading dock... and onto the freight elevator:




We then followed him out of the freight elevator, past the garbage skiffs and vendor storage, past the curtains and out into the upper exhibit hall.

When we asked about getting back down, he told us we'd have to find someone to help, as we couldn't call the freight elevators by ourselves to get back to the main floor, and off he went.

A kindly security guy finally pointed us to the only "regular" elevator that would get us back to the main floor in the main portion of the hotel. Of course, it was conveniently located and marked:




And what's that sign Miss Nancy is reading?


Yup. Very convenient access -- not only for scooters or wheelchairs, but also for moms with mega-strollers that are more the size of an Airstream camper than the infant mobility devices that fold up to the size of a golf umbrella.

Furthermore, while I don't have pictures, once again the ballroom used for breakfast, lunch, dinners, awards and speakers was too small, with no room between the tables to maneuver. If there had been an emergency and we needed to get out of there fast, there would have been no way to maneuver a scooter in or out, and people would also have been tripping left and right over giant baby buggies.

Once again we were very vocal in our disappointment at BlogHer's inability and/or unwillingness to make sure all areas of the conference hotel were handicapped accessible.

Did we hear back from the kind and socially correct ladies of BlogHer? Hellz to the no.

Phooey on them. They can say all they want about making it an inclusive, feel-good experience. It's not so inclusive after all.

Drive-Bys

How did CharlieDelta's cat pick him?


It was a match made in heaven, actually.
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Side by side in today's Daily Mail, the following headlines:

• Smoke, drink, eat the wrong food and live to 100... if you've inherited the right genes
  
  
• Mediterranean diet 'lengthens life by up to FIFTEEN years', researchers claim

So... which is true and which isn't?
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Why, oh, why do politicians just not get it???

Another politician forced to resign after sending naked pictures to woman he had online relationship with

Camera phone + naked + press "send" = TROUBLE + caught... er... red-handed

It's a very simple equation, no?
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On the other hand, here's a little article to remind you that there are good people left in the world:

In 55 days, Kellogg assisted 115 strangers and made an exhilarating realization: “You don’t have to be a billionaire to be a philanthropist,” he says. “You just have to ask people, ‘How can I help?’ ”

Would that there were many more young folks out there just like him.
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Why do I love hanging around with my BlownStar Blodgers pal El Capitan? Because he'll take part in the damnedest things... like this. (And, yes -- you can see him quite clearly in that video clip.)

I'll be seeing him in just a few weeks. Check back to see if he taught me all those fancy steps.
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Giggle of the Day:

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These Fuelish Things...

Under the heading of "don't try this at home"?

A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was only doing it as a hobby....

The 31-year-old Handl said he had tried for months to set up a nuclear reactor at home and kept a blog about his experiments, describing how he created a small meltdown on his stove.

I don't know which is crazier -- his hobby or his blogging about it! (And where do you store nuclear fuel in your home?)
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Ear Worm of the Day:

Whiplash

I got the funniest request ever in my comments today. Though I don't usually pass on what may well be comment spam, this just worked for me:

Please for Christ sake please help me
I have made a blog at blogger.com Since i have added a google adsense in the blog but haven't made a penny with this. I need your help and support to help me make some money to PAY MY college Tuition Fees.

What you have to do is follow these simple steps

1.go to Google.com and search "Kwotz-Golden Words of Life"
2.then visit my blog from the the search results.
3.Remain on the page i.e Kwotz for one minute or so and do some random surfing
4. click ONE of the ads that appeals to you from AdChoices and visit there.
5.remain on that page for one minute or so and do some random surfing.
and that's it.

Note: Visit my blog through Google. Only ONE click is needed and nothing else
I will be very grateful to you.

Help the kid out, will ya? He gets beaucoup style points for that one!

Drive-Bys

This* shouldn't look like so darned much fun...



... but it does, doesn't it?
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PSA:

If you feed your cat Purina One Vibrant Maturity 7+ dry cat food, you might want to check out this recall due to possible salmonella contamination.
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By jinkies, Rahm is actually a man with a backbone:

Pink slips were sent Friday to about 80 full-time city traffic control aides who will be out of a job Aug. 15. The layoffs stem from a plan Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on his first full day in office in mid-May, not his more recent plan to lay off up to 625 workers after he said unions failed to agree to work-rule changes.

Now maybe the unions will sit up and pay attention. I hate to see anyone lose their job, on the one hand. On the other, unions really need to stop thinking they should get more benefits than the tax payers who pay their salaries.
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Oooh! An invisibility cloak that really works. Put one on my birthday list, will ya?
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Lots of pretty things like this...


... can be found at A Pocket Full of Posies. I want them all. (Note birthday wish list above. It's coming soon, you know.)
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I have a new super hero -- Excuse Man!

Gotta love a guy who says things like, "Hell no, I don't exercise. When I want to lose my ass, I go to Vegas."
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*Blobbing... blogging -- either way, someone launches you and you're out there on your own, flying without a net. And it's absolutely how this particular blog was launched, too.
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Ear Worm of the Day:

Book Your Ticket

Books read in July 2011

11/59

The Informationist: A Thriller, Taylor Stevens[1]

My Mother’s Lover, David Dobbs[2]

Saving Rachel (A Donovan Creed Crime Novel), John Locke[3]

Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices, 36 authors ­during a writing marathon called The Novel: Live![4]

Building the Successful Theater Company, Lisa Mulcahy[5]

JANE I’m-Still-Single JONES, Joan Reaves[6]

The Billionaire Bum, Samantha Blair[7]

How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival, David Kaiser[8]

A Dance With Dragons, George R.R. Martin[9]

The Bitch-Proof Suit, De-Ann Black[10]

Wahoo Rhapsody, Shaun Morey[11]

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[1] Written in a flat, factual style that was vaguely off-putting in the beginning, it actually explains a lot about the main character, who I came to appreciate.

[2] Kindle Single.

[3] When your main character doesn’t show up until halfway through the book and then he doesn’t turn out to be very sympathetic… not so good, actually.

[4] Having participated in a similar writing joint venture under not quite as strict time constraints, I have a huge appreciation for the work that went into making this incredibly twisted tale work. My buddy El Capitan would especially appreciate the work it takes to tie up all those loose strands and give you a palatable ending to such an undertaking.

[5] I had a lot of questions. While this book by no means answered all of them, it certainly pointed me in the right direction and gave me a lot of food for thought.

[6] I’ll plead to having read one crap book and one business-oriented book before this one and needing a light read. This was pure dandelion fluff.

[7] Ditto. But better fluff than the previous book.

[8] While I have never been a science geek, I do appreciate the stories of the people behind the science. A terrific read if you’re interested in quantum physics and how it affects us on both micro and macro levels.

[9] Far superior to book 4 in the series. If you’re not reading this series, at least you should be watching it on HBO.

[10] Funny, smart, fast-paced rom-com set in Dublin. What’s not to love?

[11] Wanna-be screwball comedy/thriller. I’ll give this author a second shot, just to see if he can make his main character less one dimensional. Fingers crossed.