Only time for a quick drive-by post this morning. While fixing breakfast I encountered one of my pet peeves. So you’re a manufacturer. You seal a bottle — could be honey, could be salad dressing, could be bleach, could be a lot of products — with a thick metallic-paper seal. To that you attach a thin half-circle of plastic film. Then you announce to hopeful product users that all they have to do to open the product is pull the insubstantial little semicircle of plastic, which will magically lift the heavy (and firmly glued-down) slab of metal from the bottle!…
27 CommentsMonth: February 2014
I found this yesterday via Tam and have been thinking how to comment/elaborate on it: “Assortative Relocation, Remington, and You” by WeaponsMan.
He’s taking the long look at Remington’s just-announced decision to open a plant in Huntsville, Alabama.
Remington has been identified for nearly two centuries with an otherwise unheralded burg in upstate New York. Ilion. That’s where a man with the marvelous name of Eliphalet Remington designed his first gun. And since 1816, apparently not much else has ever happened in Ilion other than … Remington.
The company says it has no intention of abandoning its plant or employees there; it’s just expanding (and good for Remington). Furthermore, a Cuomo spokesthing waves its arms and frantically shouts, “New York isn’t losing any jobs! New York isn’t losing any jobs!”
But this is how it works. Even a union official (member of a crowd that tends to be oblivious to ways in which actions produce consequences) understands.
SAFE Act … general nannying … high costs of doing business … crushing regulation = eventual goodbye.
9 CommentsStop to help an injured person. Call 911. End up being abused in jail. Recommend nobody ever call 911 again. Good Samaritan fail. Yeah, I know. “Cops abuse bystander” has become so routine it hardly merits a mention these days. But this is San Francisco where (despite growing tensions between tech-yuppies and old-timers) cops haven’t been known for such Xtreme thuggery against respectable young white guys. (H/T He Who Dislikes Being Mentioned)
9 CommentsI try not to be paranoid. I really do. I laugh at Alex Jones-style alarms and snort haughtily when I see that a story originates with InfoWars. I believe myself to be above all that. I really do. I consider much alarmist “news” to be on par with reports that lizard-brained aliens are secretly running the country. (Human-brained aliens are quite sufficiently awful, thank you.) But then there are times …
10 CommentsSaturday morning. Up early, if not bright. The weatherperson warns of two storms headed our way this weekend.
Being caught up on work-work (and even forbidden by one client to proceed on his projects for now), I know that kind of weather will leave me inert and gloomy if I don’t have a plan.
Hm. Plan … a plan. The choices are … framing and drywalling those closets I’ve been promising myself to build for three months. Or … going to the beach!
Well, I tell ya, that was a hard decision. But by 8:30 a.m. I’m off to a pleasantly grubby little oceanside town (not far from the one pictured in this post). By late morning, the dogs and I are holed up in a grubby little motel a short walk from the beach.
Let the storms begin!
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The first storm took its time, but boy, it was worthwhile. To me, anyhow.
13 CommentsYou probably thought it was just hearts, flowers, mushy-mush, and (for the guys) excruciating pressure to be romantic when you’d rather be changing the oil in your car. But nope. Turns out it’s forbidden, immoral, vulgar, profane, the subject of conspiracy theories, and likely to be the ruination of generations yet unborn. It’s also hush-hush, empowering, inspirational, rebellious, and possibly even a sign of a quiet revolution. In some parts of the world. Outlaws should enjoy all of the above. Happy Valentines Day.
27 CommentsThis is another of those where I begin without knowing where I’m going. Bear with me.
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About 15 years ago, I attended a funeral on a desolate hilltop in Wyoming. I’ve avoided weddings and funerals most of my life. This was only the second funeral I’d ever been to.
The first had been conventional, insincere — and an excruciating ordeal for everyone involved.
The Wyoming funeral was the most sincere thing you could imagine.
31 CommentsCharity Philanthropy can be shockingly self-serving. You already know that. Good article, though. The governments of Samoa and Belize are more fair to investigative journalists than the U.S. government is. No big surprise, really. Hey, God! That ain’t no way to treat those beautiful Corvettes! Memory is such a funny old thing. Yesterday when former Nawlins mayor Ray Nagin got convicted on multitudes of counts of corruption, the NPRistas tsked about Nagin’s long and tragic fall from the days he was the “face of New Orleans” during Hurricane Katrina. Do they actually remember what the “face of Katrina” looked like?…
10 Comments“If you knew you were going to die this year …” I suspect that Frederick, the dying man who just paid for Joel’s new batteries, is the anonymous soul who allowed me to print his story here last year. I don’t know. But judging by the great spirit Frederick has shown Joel and the great spirit with which “Anonymous” approaches his death, it’s a good guess. Judging by the fact that Frederick is now in hospice care, I guess his time is short. So Frederick and Anonymous, whether you are two or one, thank you for sharing your tremendous spirit…
2 CommentsHow did this (ahem) “anti-gun” spokesguy keep such a straight face? (H/T jb) Anybody seen The Lego Movie? Critics and audiences are loving it. Foxians have ranted that it’s anti-business. This review say’s its a hilarious and inspiring romp that savages crony capitalism and promotes all that we hold dear. Sure. You’re an anti-gunner and you just “forgot” you carried your gun into an elementary school. Yet another state proposes a law to make it lights out for the NSA. LOL! Best comment yet on the latest unilateral delay by the Obamaites of their “signature” sort-of-a-law-until-we-say-it-isn’t. “They” really do hate…
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