Environmentalism has Officially Jumped the Shark

How do I know? Viz. the following, courtesy of LiveScience via Yahoo:



Environmentally Friendly Bombs Planned



I grant you that toxic chemicals are, well, toxic, and we're trying to save the planet. But if there was ever anything unfriendly for its environment, wouldn't most of us say a bomb would be example #2 (following AlGore himself, naturally)?



I know there are non-deadly reasons people use explosives. But let's face facts - the reason most of this stuff is out there is to make really, really big booms that eliminate whatever (or whoever) was standing there before. Leaving dust, debris, and destruction behind. Most employers of this technology aren't really all that concerned about a coupla liters of toxic byproduct.



Which raises to me the likely ironic aftereffect of enviro-safe bombs. How long before Hamas or Al-Qaida steps up to a microphone somewhere and piously declares that as Islam is fundamentally committed to saving the planet, all homicide bombers (excuse me - freedom fighters) on their way to "convert" buses full of schoolchildren and shopkeepers will now switch to the kinder, gentler IEDs and strapped-on explosives.



Greening the Ethnic Cleaning, indeed.

Conferencing

Got a couple days this week to poke around the big city at a conference. Nice mostly just to get out of the office a little. Things have not improved appreciably, so any excuse not to be there is welcome. Not a ton of consequence at the show, but it's helpful to find out what people doing real work in the area are busy with. And I had a nice burger with pastrami on it for lunch with some colleagues who went to the conference.



Another day of it tomorrow, plus some other business I have to take care of. And maybe a nice juicy steak to top it all off.

Yuck

Cleaning out the garage is a reasonable activity for mother's day. Stuff to toss, a little organizing, right?



Let me say that the unexpected object I had to remove from a double stroller (which we had just offered to the expectant couple across the street, BTW) put a severe damper on the joy of a neat garage.



That object would be a late, former member of the family Sciuridae. The disgusting remains had damaged the stroller, so I had to Indian Give (can I still use that term?) and set aside the conveyance for conveyance to a garbage dump.



I remain extremely creeped out by the experience.

Say Hello to My Leetel Frien' - Ex Utero Edition

Look who showed up on Sunday:






Cute, huh? Another girl (4 against 1 at my house now; anybody know where I can rent a Port-a-Potty?) 6lbs, 9 oz, 18 5/8", and in an awful ^%$# hurry. One hour from first contraction to outside baby. Worth the trip, though.



So there I was, happily leading services for the congregation on the last day of Passover, at a point where I couldn't stop, and the phone buzzes (I had it on vibrate so as not to offend anyone.) Who else would be calling? Finish up, hand off to someone else, call MIL, she says "I think we're getting ready for the baby", I walk home, half an hour later, there she is. Best part is the guy who took over for me at services, also named Dan, is the last guy who got beeped in the middle of leading services. He was doing the additional service for Yom Kippur, though, and it's not like you can just grab someone to take over. I at least made it easy for them.

All right, Outta the Pool

Mr. Possum loses this one; no additional SkinnyJuniors as of yet. Plenty of matzah and associated GI distress, a considerable lack of sleep, but no babies delivered Chez Skinny at any point over the extended holiday weekend.



Mr. P had selected a girl, arriving on 4/20. Mrs. Skinny would've been happy to oblige, but Jr. ain't quite ready yet. Updates as events warrant.

Word Invention

Terry sent me this link from Iowahawk the other day, where the good Raptor describes his brief visit to Postville, IA and the surprising accumulation of Orthodox Jews floating around that end of Flyover Country. I've known about this group for a while - they've established a major kosher meatpacking plant out there, presumably to be closer to the cows.



In any event, I mentioned to Terry that there's a book out called Boychicks in the Hood, in which author Robert Eisenberg describes his visit out there to see the Jews in Iowa. Which led me to coin what I think is a new term to describe noticeably Orthodox Jews living in rural parts of America:



Hayseedic: adj. - pertaining to or describing an ultra-Orthodox person living and working in traditionally rural, non-Jewish areas of the United States. cf. RebNeck, Yankel Reb.

There's a point at which

you start to ask yourself why you bother.



Today's one of those days.

Why Brer Jimmah

should be kicked out of the US and his citizenship revoked:



Carter Pays Tribute to Terrorist Mass Murderer



Perhaps the Georgia Nut will now fully embrace Hamas by signing up be a suicide bomber.

If You like to Grill

or even if you just like to eat, can I recommend you join Weber Nation?



I am watching their chef on a video podcast grilling some marvelous looking steaks. He hasn't even put them on the grate and I'm salivating.

The Lovely Jordana

has sent along a link that will leave the transportation buffs (like my Dad) glued to their computers for a day or 70:



London Transport Museum



Your spouses will hate me forever, or thank me for getting you off facebook for a while.

Archives in the News

Nothing ever dies in this modern media world, as Wally World found out:



Candid Camera: Trove of Videos Vexes Wal-Mart



It's a marvelous tale of handshake deals, unintended uses, unintended consequences, and the ability of Americans to turn lemons into lemonade.



I imagine the exec who killed the arrangement with this video company is no longer a "new Walmart Exec" but an "ex-Walmart Exec." This highlights a real problem in all organizations regarding institutional memory and the dangers of losing it or missing the value in it. Chances are the exec looked at costs and said "we can get this cheaper." Not a ridiculous idea, but it REALLY would've been worth investigating the parameters of the deal, not to mention saving the tapes for posterity, archival use, etc. Lessons to learn, folks.



Thanks to an archive buddy for passing this one along.

Statistics

I can't think of a task I'm less suited for than sitting here like a yutz and attempting to collate statistics on web usage. I can't figure out what the important numbers are, and I'm supposed to be providing them to a group of people who know even less than I do about what we should be looking at.



I'm sure there is value in these things somewhere, but heck if I know how to dig it out. The process itself is beyond mind-numbing, and it takes forever to do. I know every job has crappy tasks that just have to be done, but this is one that never should have gotten dumped in my lap. Not only do I hate doing it, but I'm no good at it and my time would be better used elsewhere.



Though I guess that's true in a great variety of ways around here.

Want to meet a Hero?

Meet a hero.



Mind you, I don't recommend this as an idea to try at home, but the instinctive reaction by L/Cpl Croucher was to save his fellow Marines. What's the British version of Semper Fi, anyway?



Nice job son - you done good.

The More I Talk to Some People

the less they clearly know or understand. In my current situation, it becomes more painfully obvious that people that I was OK with before are actually dumber than dirt.



It's OK to be dumber than dirt; but if you're talking to someone who knows far better than you what's going on, and who is clearly smarter than you are, take a safe route. Say "Dan, is it under control? I'm too busy to deal with this right now - if you say we're OK, then we're OK." Leave it at that, and I won't be shaking my head in wonder that you're doing anything more advanced than stocking groceries.

Terminal Boredom

n.- the effect of attempting to complete two tasks at once that, individually, cause the employee to fall asleep at his desk. cf. mind-numbing, repetitive.

Speaking of Sniffs

I appear to have picked up a cold someplace. Considering that the cough I developed in February still hasn't gone away, it's getting me a little irritated.



I know, I know - boo-frickin'-hoo.

Had a Sniff or Two

Nothing concrete, and I continue to crank out the personal documentation on a slow but semi-steady basis, but there have been a few encouraging inquiries.



None of it matters until it matters, but as I continue to ride the emotional and mental roller coaster, each sign of interest is a brief reminder that I'm not entirely useless or unwanted. This is not a pleasant exercise to say the least, but you just have to keep plugging away.



A colleague in the identical (and I mean identical) boat to me believes in sending out hundreds of feelers; I guess I disagree with him. Anything within 100 miles, within a football field of what he's looking for gets a shot. I don't know if it's the right approach, but I'm being more selective. If it looks like something I want, I try it; if I'm grossly underqualified, or it looks stupid, I'm not even wasting the time.



In the end I guess it doesn't matter that much - you only need one, and with the Lord's help (though I admit a touch of peevishness that He's not filling me in on His plan) the right one will appear whether you try for one opportunity or 1,000.



If I keep telling myself that, I imagine I'll start to believe it.

In Honor of the Day

A classic. One I'd never seen, actually.

There's been a Sighting

Shoulda posted this earlier, but kinda slipped my mind. There's been an Actual (well, Virtual) GOYL sighting. Check out the comments to this post.



By the sounds of it we're in similar situations, which explains her disappearance. Anyway, GOYL, welcome back however briefly to the world of blogging, and even if things are down, some of us are still checking up on you now & again.

Why I don't trust Experts

Via Yahoo/AP:



Experts: Years before dollar regains value, prestige worldwide



Conspicuously missing from the story is the length of time it took the dollar to slide. Look, I don't understand anything about economics. A dollar is still a dollar, though I guess it buys less and that makes it weak. Either way, what'd it take for us to go from gangbusters to a weak dollar? Six months?



Where, precisely, is it written that it will take years to come back? Things can turn up as quickly as they turn down, and there's no guarantee that Europe's economic problems (which I assume are varied) might not cause similar problems for the Euro.



At the end of it all, like the weathermen and the global warming crowd, too much of this is guesswork for my taste. They all have pet theories they've been waiting years to see turn real, and now that a down cycle has finally hit they're crowing about how right they are. I have no idea why they love doom & gloom so much, other than it's Bush's fault. My only actual concern is if one of the Democrats gets elected, these central planning ouija-board pundits might actually be in a position to ruin the economy.



In which case they're correct - it will take years to regain prosperity.