Social Commentary

Little Far North For Rednecks, But…

…hey, I guess it can happen anywhere:

State fire officials say a Woodside-area man was seriously burned last night in an explosion after he poured gunpowder into a charcoal grill and ignited it.

And imagine my surprise to read this:

Investigators believe alcohol played a part in the incident.

Guess they left out the part about “Hold muh beer….”

And yes, these are getting more and more difficult to categorize. I need more categories, but I suspect that the need will be bottomless, given the nature of the world…

Economics

I Hate When That Happens

And I’ll bet that the Norwegian whaling industry does as well. A whale was shot down while being watched by tourist whale watchers:

Jan Kristiansen, who represents the whalers, defended the shootings. He claimed the whalers were simply taking advantage of the nice weather, when the hunting is best.

“Many of the whaling boats had been tied up at the dock for several days, waiting for better weather,” he said. “When it finally came, we have to make the most of it.”

Kristiansen claimed that he and the other whalers “don’t have anything against the whale safari boats… but it’s important to get across that it’s the extreme opponents of whaling that travel out to see whales.

“We can’t prevent them from being against the hunt, and they can’t prevent us from hunting.”

He’s obviously never met American environmentalists.

And, yes, I did have trouble finding a category for this one.

General

Another (Frickin’) Sunny Day In South Florida

This should be cause for celebration, right?

Wrong. Why?

First of all, I hate the sun. I mean, it’s nice that it’s up there to provide energy and all, but I really don’t like it. It’s bright, I have to put on sunglasses, I have to slather myself with goop to protect myself from the rays, it makes it hotter here than it would be without it (which is hot enough, given the latitude). One of the things that I love about coastal California is that it is so reliably cloudy and foggy (and cool) almost every day, at least part of the day if not all day.

Second, the last couple weeks have been predicting rain every day. I look at the radar, and see thunderstorms all around, but they never make it here (the Gulf coast looks like it’s been getting drenched, though). It’s tantalizing. I see green blotches heading towards us, or standing right next to us, but not moving at all, and either they don’t move, or they move and dissipate before they actually get here.

Today, we were supposed to get Yet Another Tropical Wave that was supposed to bring us wind, and rain, and miserable (by the local standard–what do they know?–they like sun. And flat. And hot. And humid) weather, and yet, the sun has been shining all day.

I’ve filled the pool, I’ve watered the lawn, in vain, to attempt to cause some non-trivial precipitation, but no go.

One of the few things that I like about this God-forsaken (if an agnostic can use that phrase) land is that it gets thunderstorms. But not here. Not now.

[Rant Off]

General

Another (Frickin’) Sunny Day In South Florida

This should be cause for celebration, right?

Wrong. Why?

First of all, I hate the sun. I mean, it’s nice that it’s up there to provide energy and all, but I really don’t like it. It’s bright, I have to put on sunglasses, I have to slather myself with goop to protect myself from the rays, it makes it hotter here than it would be without it (which is hot enough, given the latitude). One of the things that I love about coastal California is that it is so reliably cloudy and foggy (and cool) almost every day, at least part of the day if not all day.

Second, the last couple weeks have been predicting rain every day. I look at the radar, and see thunderstorms all around, but they never make it here (the Gulf coast looks like it’s been getting drenched, though). It’s tantalizing. I see green blotches heading towards us, or standing right next to us, but not moving at all, and either they don’t move, or they move and dissipate before they actually get here.

Today, we were supposed to get Yet Another Tropical Wave that was supposed to bring us wind, and rain, and miserable (by the local standard–what do they know?–they like sun. And flat. And hot. And humid) weather, and yet, the sun has been shining all day.

I’ve filled the pool, I’ve watered the lawn, in vain, to attempt to cause some non-trivial precipitation, but no go.

One of the few things that I like about this God-forsaken (if an agnostic can use that phrase) land is that it gets thunderstorms. But not here. Not now.

[Rant Off]

General

Another (Frickin’) Sunny Day In South Florida

This should be cause for celebration, right?

Wrong. Why?

First of all, I hate the sun. I mean, it’s nice that it’s up there to provide energy and all, but I really don’t like it. It’s bright, I have to put on sunglasses, I have to slather myself with goop to protect myself from the rays, it makes it hotter here than it would be without it (which is hot enough, given the latitude). One of the things that I love about coastal California is that it is so reliably cloudy and foggy (and cool) almost every day, at least part of the day if not all day.

Second, the last couple weeks have been predicting rain every day. I look at the radar, and see thunderstorms all around, but they never make it here (the Gulf coast looks like it’s been getting drenched, though). It’s tantalizing. I see green blotches heading towards us, or standing right next to us, but not moving at all, and either they don’t move, or they move and dissipate before they actually get here.

Today, we were supposed to get Yet Another Tropical Wave that was supposed to bring us wind, and rain, and miserable (by the local standard–what do they know?–they like sun. And flat. And hot. And humid) weather, and yet, the sun has been shining all day.

I’ve filled the pool, I’ve watered the lawn, in vain, to attempt to cause some non-trivial precipitation, but no go.

One of the few things that I like about this God-forsaken (if an agnostic can use that phrase) land is that it gets thunderstorms. But not here. Not now.

[Rant Off]

Political Commentary

What The White House Should Say

“There has been much speculation as to whether or not we destroyed some, if not all, of the North Korean missiles launched yesterday, in explicit violation of requests from all of the five parties in negotiation with it to not do so. In the interests of the security of the US and the region, we can neither confirm or deny such speculation.”

War Commentary

Short Fast

My grilled animals didn’t taste quite as good when I read this:

Other supporters, including Penn, Sarandon, novelist Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover will join a ‘rolling” fast, a relay in which 2,700 activists pledge to refuse food for at least 24 hours, and then hand over to a comrade.

But they still tasted pretty good.

Aren’t these people pathetic? They call us chickenhawks, but they can’t even be bothered to go hungry for more than one day to defend their so-called principles. Are they really so daft as to imagine that anyone will care about this “sacrifice”?

Don’t answer that question.

[Update at 3 PM]

You know, I hadn’t done the math before, but this makes it even funnier. With 2700 people at one “strike” (read: too busy to eat for a few hours) per person per day, this could go on for almost a decade. Yes, I’m sure it will be front-page news every day…

Administrative

Busy

In case anyone was wondering over the light posting. I’m paying for my holiday weekend by frantically reviewing/rewriting CEV spacecraft system requirements and verification statements to hit a deadline.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!