Sunday, July 31, 2005

rubbish at being suicide bombers

listening to bbc radio... dunno who it was, but the jist of it was (about 2 of the arrested bombers):
c'mon, they were caught in their underpants. how pathetic. they are rubbish at being suicide bombers. for their punishment, they should be kept alive foreve, on life support or whatever. never allowed to die.

made me laugh! does that make me cruel?

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Bwwhhhaaaa!!!


This made me laugh!!!! Great news about the IRA and their announcement. But, this pic, from a Japanese web site made me laugh a lot. (thanks Padraig if ya ever read this!)

Car safety

I almost got hit this morning on my way in by a white Crown Victoria. I immediately thought “old person”. I was wrong. Young-ish person. Woman. Short. Blonde. Applying eye makeup and not watching where she was going. Using her rear view mirror.
I got away. I hope everybody else was as lucky. She should get her car taken away and permanent makeup applied.
Could she not have got up 5 minutes early? Maybe missed some breakfast. She didn’t look underfed. On that, she wasn’t particularly beautiful to start with. It would have taken a fair schlap of makeup to make any difference.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Another Brazilian. This time, a lot less serious.

A guy from Brazil (who will remain nameless on the web due to the amout of child maintenance he may owe) used to work with us. Talk about a funny guy. Always a source of amusement. If anything comical was going to happen, it would happen to him.
He’s a bit of a smooth operator with the ladies. All except his command of the english language. Once he informed us that he was “going out Friday night to look for some hot chickens”. KFC?

The Brazillian

The Brazilian guy who got shot up in London last week was not a terrorist, but was on an expired student visa. So that’s why maybe he was running. He was also wearing a coat in hot weather, making him look suspicious. Turns out he wore a coat anyway, coming from brazil, London’s balmy summer seemed relatively cool. Bad luck. Now, the cops who shot him ... I can understand the need to take him out as effectively as possible if there was a threat that he may have been about to detonate. At the same time, again, a bit better identification of potential terrorists could have prevented this.
There are some disturbing reports that the undercover cops did not identify themselves until they had him on the ground, second before pumping 5 or 8 rounds into him. Specifically, there seem to be no witnesses who recall the cops identifying themselves. If this was the case, then the whole process needs a total overhaul. Or maybe some good training. I do feel sorry for the trigger-puller; his intentions were good, and he was doing his job, but I imagine he’s felling a bit messed up now. Remember, he’s only a cop, and likely this was his first kill. Cops killing people rarely happens in the UK.
My opinion of the guy (assuming he knew they were cops): He didn’t want to be deported. He wasn’t too bright. He seen no issue with running onto a train. He didn’t expect to get shot, or maybe he wanted to avoid any police violence by staying in a public place. Like a train. Bad choice. So he put his life on the line to stay in the UK and lost out.
So what happens when this warm weather goes away in London and people (even arabs) start wearing heavy coats? Is everybody gonna be a suspect? I guess everybody is now. Sad situation.
At the least, this whole affair will ensure 2 things: Undercover cops will make sure to identify themselves.. Suspects being persued will be more likely to give themselves up.
This all for sure shows the cops mean business.
On that note, looks like they actually caught one of the potential bombers. Alive. Excellent!! Hopefully they will prise some useful facts out of him and make another few arrests. I’m sure vee have vays of making you talk. hahahahhaha

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Tuesday rants - New London & Non-smokers Rights

2 totally unconnected points this morning. well this lunchtime really

  • People travelling on the London Underground are now scared to use ipods or any other wirey type thing in case they look like bombers, or more so, in case they don’t hear police shouting at them. Also, an Asian guy has taken to carrying a bottle of wine so he doesn’t risk looking like an Islamic terrorist. All this from the BBC. London is reaching paranoia. Cant really blame them though.
  • Also, when arriving at work, I hate having the last piece of fresh air I inhale contaminated by cigarette smoke. Why do smokers have the right to stand by entrances, blowing their fowl carcinogenic crap into the air in my pathway to work? I don’t have a big issue with going into a smoky bar as I have made that decision to go in (I could just stay at home and stay smoke free) and so can’t really complain from where I stand, but I have to walk past the smoky smokers and their smelly smoky stinky pot full of smoldering butts and ashes to get to my job. While working in Indiana some time back, I remember them having a city (maybe state?) law that people can’t smoke within a specified distance from an entrance to a non smoking building. That was great!!! No contamination on the way into work. C’mon Michigan, do the same. Yea yea smokers rights smokers rights. What about non smokers rights?

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Avatars, woogles, and Holly


Seen some great bands on Friday .. none of whom I knew a whole lot about beforehand. HOLLY GOLIGHTLY with THE WOOGLES & THE AVATARS.

The Avatars (pic above)kicked off the show. Kinda new wave punky mixture with some decent poppy rock n roll. Apparently no releases apart from a 7” single (yep the vinyl kind). HURRY UP AVATARS. I spent time trying to tell my friend that I’d heard of them, and on further investigation, they played the Hamtramck Blowout. These guys are good. They need to hurry up and get them CD’s together and out there.

Next up were The Woogles. Talk about musical entertainers. These guys made me feel tired just by watching. At one point, only the drummer was left on the stage. An aural Buffet. That’s what The Professor, their lead man, wrote in the CD I bought. It’s a fine description. The seem to mix 50’s and 60’s surfy type riffs with blues, pop and country, the professor is energetic to the end, and the bad are more coordinated in a twisted entertaining way than a military marching band. I can’t believe I’ve not heard of them, they have been around for years. The pic here is apparently out-of-date, but all I could find. The guitarist, (at the front) sadly passed away last year. Updates here when I find them meself.

All in all, I recommend this band highly and will be looking out for them in the future.




Headlining was England’s Holly Golightly.
Known to me only by her recent work with the White Stripes, it was her who attracted my friend to the gig. International folk with a south-of-england peasanty twist, she was pretty good. Oh yea, and throw some country type blues in there too. The lack of a playlist made this concert all the more raw. As I like it. Also, the swapping of instrument playing too.
Altogether a great night.

4 little bangs and one massive mistake

Referring back to the blog on 7/21 … well it seems it was #2, bad explosives. Again, my theory stands true. The majority of bad men are not rocket scientists, if they were the world would be a very very bad place. What a let-off for London though. Take that lucky break anytime!

One of the post-little bang witnesses said they seen a guy on the floor with a ripped rucksack wondering why he was still alive. Kinda morbidly comical.

So the Metropolitan Police messed up a little. Well, a lot. Shooting a Brazilian for a “terrorist” threat. I really have mixed feelings about the whole affair. Had he appeared to be middle-eastern, perhaps some justification (albeit very wrong anyway) could be given to account for the trigger-happy approach. He didn’t appear middle-eastern. I can understand the cops (assuming it was the cops) being under orders to shoot to kill to avoid a potential attack, but were they just a little jumpy, and perhaps a bit under-trained in recognizing a real potential threat. So, some guys in plain clothes with guns chased a foreign national. Now, maybe where he’s from, people in plain clothes conduct robberies, posing as undercover cops, and he wanted to not be robbed. Or, maybe he was in some kinda mild trouble and wanted to avoid this by running from the cops, and doing like in the movies, jumping onto a departing train. Either way he’s dead now, a “cop” has blood on his hands, some witnesses are traumatized, and the police look very bad. Nasty no-win situation.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

attack of the extremists #2??

Back at work after 2 days in my basement working on long tedious documents. Working from home is good at times, but it could drive a body stir crazy. Its actually nice to be back.

I did arrive in a bit late today as I was watching the tv reports of the ‘attacks’ in London. Scary. TV said there were bombs, and, like probably the rest of the world assumed it was going to be like 2 weeks ago, lots of dead people chaos and so on. Thankfully I was wrong. Only one injury. Seems the bombs were only detonators. So who done this one? Here are my theories and why:

  1. The same people as the last one. Only this time, it was a reminder that they can do what they like, when they like.
  2. The same people as the last one. Only this time they had a bad batch of explosives.
  3. Some nutters who wanted to prove the vulnerability of the london underground.
  4. Some other group doing a copycat type thing.

My guess is 1. Which is scary. What was also scary was the ages of the suicide bombers from the last one. Kids. Just kids. Brainwashed kids who were willing to give up their lives for this cause. This one’s gonna be on very steep uphill battle if this kinda behavior is ever gonna be stamped out. Or do we just accept that this is the modern world?

NPR also has an interesting article this morning, I caught the tail end of it. Jails are producing Islamic extremists. Bad men go to jail, and gain enlightenment through the teaching of islam. But this isn’t the peaceful teaching, its teaching from extremists. So, men who know how to be bad for their personal gain go to jail. They leave jail, still being bad, but now they will be bad for a different cause. And, maybe, a lot badder. Very scary.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

The Hawkeye State


Back in town again, was out for a few days in Iowa. Experienced small town America. As I was driving back from the airport it occurred to me that my abode for the previous 3 days could have been on another planet. The speed of life is not huge here, but it is comparatively speedy. Everything from the bright lights, mixed ethnicity, air, is different.

Stupid plane was an hour late or so boarding. Then we sat on the stupid runway for 45 minutes cos it was storming in Detroit. I hate flying. No, I hate waiting to fly. The flight was cool, took a kinda roundabout way back, ands it was clear for a good portion of the way so the ariel view was amazing. Struck me how dominant the road grid system is in some parts of America, even in the middle of the country. We flew north east to traverse, then east to Saginaw and then south to Detroit. Nice trip. Pity it took so long. Northwest seats are tiny and uncomfortable too.
Wow, its getting thundery out there.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

yuck

not a nice day at work... my friend was let go. dont really understand why meself, apparently costcutting, but there are other bigger costs elsewhere tied up in uselessness. just makes it a lot less fun place to work now.

anyway, i'm getting sent to the lovely state of Iowa for a few days for work. more on that when i return. unless the internet is there too.

woody pic

Here's someone we seen in the woods recently. Very Cool.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

The rest of Sunday

Had enough of the office so I ‘broke the back’ of the report, and left. Then I helped move teh heaviest TV in the universe. We spent the afternoon walking around the nature trail, in the shade of the trees. It was pleasant. Lots of noises from bugs and birds. We didn’t see any deer this time. Maybe next time.

On the wayt home we stopped into the Asian supermarket. Cool stuff. We got some interesting sauces, noodles, dried squid and other fish. And got home and felt too tired to cook any of it. Easy-cook dinner this evening.

Why is it that most of the products in Asian stores have the cooking instructins in some language that I don’t understand???? Does add to the mystery of what will come out at the end of the cookin.

Sore crazy woman in a ugly brown jeep liberty tried to kill us when we were getting onto I75. Note to self: When merging, assume people already on the road will speed up to cut you off, then balme you.Stupid woman.
Well, we’re sitting on the deck as I put this together. MFMCC has just ran off as she thinks she put her $40 birthday money thru the washer. It’s still reallllly hot out here now. 88 deg F at 7:40 in the evening. Kinda heat that makes ya wanna go ughhhhhhhh after a relatively busy day.

Working again - and it's Sunday

yep, and how I hate reporting.

The drive in was great though. Roads empty, sun shining, nice and airy.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

The Penal Principal

Here’s a favorite rant of mine from cartalk (link up there where it says links). It’s about a solution to having to house up criminals. It’s pretty funny.

Although most of what these guys say is tongue-in-cheek, this rant has some interesting points which make sense.

The Penal Principal by Doctor Thomas L. Magliozzi (Ph.D. in Penology)

Saturday at last - GAS!!

..and I'm at work. I guess the overtime pay will be useful, but the sun is shining out there and I wish I could be there.

I filled up my car with gas on the way in here. $2.37 a gallon!!! Well, I guess I lived in European countries for long enough, so I should not complain much. but $2.37 a gallon?? Cripey, I remeber when it was under a dollar. Tankfully (hee hee), I just drive a little focus, which don't guzzle that much. Also, I suppose it's another kick in the nads for the hummer drivers too.

Jonathan Ross: "Elton has become the Blarney Stone of pop. If you see him you have to kiss him for luck"

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Chloe the dog!



Here's the happiest dog in the world, her name is Chloe and she lives next door. Despite her funny-colored eyes, she seems to have no sight problems.

nik kershaw???

woxy. its great. they have a vintage station ther too. they just played nik kershaw. i havn't even thought about nik kershaw for years. The Riddle. wow. makes me feel ancient.

ok. heres the last songs they played: World Party - Is It Like Today?, The Clash - I Fought The Law, Nik Kershaw - The Riddle, Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Sinead O'Connor - Three Babies

Best around. Listen in. Buy. Ok. Now I'm gonna hit the road. Later Blog.

ibuprofen haze

shoud ibuprofen make me dizzy? I dunno.
my knee has been really really sore and the doc told me to take 600mg of ibuprofen. i took 400mg earlier and then i felt dizzy. then the pain came back so i have taken another 400. i dont like taking any kinda medication. mri results are due tomorrow.. lets see what they are going to do to me. probably nuthin. probably just "ah yer ok. yer knee will be better in a couple of weeks".

if they do say that i will amputate my right leg. i am not happy now.

Smoked Whitefish

Mmmmmm. just had some smoked whitefish for lunch, courtesy of a colleague who just returned from the Yoo Pee. That stuff tastes great.

Garbage Trucks and Couriers

Do garbage truck drivers have a secret alerting system that tells them when I'm approaching? Seems every time they have to reverse out onto a busy street, I'm alway the one driving straight for them. Then, I have to slow down, or hit them. And seeing as I'm not in an armored vehicle, hitting them aint an option.

And Couriers. In particular, Fed Ex today. Why do their turn signals never "work"?

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

fireworks~~~and wetness

ok.. we just seen a bunch of fireworks. Big ones. Huge great big colorful ones. We also got soaked wet waiting for them. it was fun, watching the lightning in the sky, sittin by a chain-link fence, then gettin skin-thru wet, and, finally seeing 30 minutes of pyrotechnic brilliance.

Gotta hand it to them, if America knows about one thing, it's blowing stuff up colorfully.

alrighty, now i'm off to have a wee drink, maybe watch some tv, anc certainly get ta bed. holiday over. and out.

g'night wubalya wubalya wubalya

Monday, July 04, 2005

Happy Independance Day!!!!

Well, its a beautiful day here, sun is shining, and it's a special birthday.

More later....

...back again. just been spraying water on kids. its dang hot here. feels like about 85.. hold on, I'll just check....

ok I was wrong. it's 91 degrees farenheit. H-O-T

am sippin a rolling rock beer now. its icy cold. Ever notice how even crap beer tastes good on a hot day when it is chilled enough?

also... for internet radio, I don't think there is much to compare with www.woxy.com if ya like something a little removed from the run-of-the-mill. ok, a bit more removed than a little. listening to it now. it's webcast from somewhere in Ohio. we need this stuff. Go visit, listen, and buy stuff from amazon thru thier links, cos then they gat cash to keep up the good work.

I'm outta here again.