Sometimes I wonder that we're even allowed to own guns anymore.  What with every nutcase in the world having a camcorder or a video phone, don't people know that this stuff is going to make it to youtube?  You'd think that the guys WITH the guns would worry that eventually somebody is going to make hay out of it.  Don't get me wrong, I know that there are safe ways to handle guns and unsafe ways, and I can hope that somebody with a brain is supervising these people.  But that one at the beginning of this clip continuing to pull the trigger WHILE falling down?  Something is wrong there.  And putting firearms that large in the hands of women that small?  Not that they shouldn't be able to handle it, but it seems that they weren't prepared.  It's a recipe for disaster.  That's why I'm gonna teach my kids while they're small.  Not only so they'll be able to handle it, but so they'll know when to leave the party.

Yeah, I know I know, it's old.  But it is SO worth the next minute and a half.  Apparently these guys were casting for a martial arts b-movie, but I hope they got some term life insurance first.  I'd really like to know what the movie was, so I could compare their skill to the guys that actually GOT the job.  Seriously, though, if this is the kind of talent out there, then I personally know a couple dozen guys who could probably fill in as bad guy extras in the next no budget action film!  These guys are REALLY awful.  Maybe they should audition for the next chess tournament movie.

Well, I guess it's kind of official.  I've starting doing some really odd things for what used to be a somewhat abstract reason.  I know that we never really planned on settling down in this house, but now it's real.  Leeanne and I decided a little while ago that since we intended to move eventually, that we didn't want to accumulate more stuff for us to have to move, especially heavy stuff.  That's why we decided against getting wooden swing sets . Well, my favorite chair finally broke.  Right there on the arm rest.  Really stinks because the armrest on this chair supports the back, so without it, the chair isn't good for much.  But faced with the choice of buying even an eighty dollar chair or making this one work, I descended to the garage where I came up with an old engine rod bearing.  Couple smacks with a hammer, 30 seconds or so at the drill press, couple passes at the bench grinder, and voila, good as ghetto.  This chair is not moving with us anyway, but going into the trash when we pack up our truck.  It'll do.

Ok, so I suppose it was just a matter of time before it happened again with Hillary Clinton in a position of public import.  It seems as if yet another lady has stepped up to the plate claiming to have been propositioned by Bill Clinton.  And just when we all thought it was safe to assume the worst of the worst was over with.  By her admission, she "nearly" had an affair with him.  Apparently it was close but no cigars.

Ok, so maybe I'm not ready for snow, but I AM ready for it to cool down a bit already.  I probably could have done this from the overpass across the street last year, we got so much of the powdery white stuff.  Looks like a lot more fun than I had digging out my driveway, anyhow.  Here's a video of some guys riding snow tubes down a hill to tide you over until snowy season.

Well, it's pretty cool being able to take classes online, but the system needs some serious work.  It's called Blackboard .  Overall, it's pretty decent, but if an instructor isn't incredibly adept at communicating through it, assignments get confusing or lost.  Speaking of lost, I have to make a journal entry each week for Biology and I now can't find last weeks entry.  I can't afford to lose any points, so hopefully the prof can help me find it.

A nice article from yahoo details ten states that are below the national average for unemployment .  It looks like most of them are highly agricultural, and a couple are tourism based.  Also notable is that about 25 percent of the population or so of most of them have a bachelor's degree, which is lower than the national average.  I think it's great that there are some beacons of hope for bringing home a paycheck, but something the article doesn't address is the average wage for those employed.  I mean, don't get me wrong, earning 80 percent of a paycheck is better than earning zero percent of a paycheck, but it would put some perspective on the employment numbers.  I think that this recession is going to depress the mean wage for quite a while.  Why?  Because it CAN.  Right now large companies are barely hiring regardless of the cash reserve that most of them are sitting on.  Why?  Because they are expecting a slow return to the retail stores by the nation's consumers.

I keep hearing over and over (and used to parrot, as well) that large companies are necessary and we need to make life easy for them because they CREATE the jobs .  How many jobs  has the fry guy at McDonald's ever created, they ask?  Here's a thought, though, born out by the recent lack of hiring, even by the large companies.  When they don't expect to sell product or services, they don't HIRE to sell product or services.  What would really create those jobs ?  Demand for the products and services.  What creates demand?  Disposable income.  That's right.  So let's make consumer credit a little more difficult to obtain, ensure we have respectable wages here at home, and then get something for that money!  At least that's my pie in the sky.

Here's a great house that I would LOVE to stay in!!  It is one of Caronlina Designs Outer Banks Beach Rentals, and it is SICK.  A guy I used to work for vacationed out there once and said it was fantastic.  This place though, WOW!!  And I can feel stress building up already.  I'm still working full time with a 90 minute commute each way, plus going to school full time after no school for over a decade, plus Leeanne is going to school full time to learn a trade so that I won't have the only family income (like it is right now), all on top of 4 children, 3 of whom are in diapers!!! Yikes, what were we thinking?  At any rate, a vacation someplace like that is just what we need.  A hot tub, some recreational gaming, a walk along the shore.  Talk about killer vacation!

Makes me want to build something rear wheel drive.  Like, right now.

We've been composting all our organic waste for a couple of months, about the same amount of time we've been recycling.  That's right, we're trying to go green.  Composting, though.  Wow.  We've been collecting all the organic waste in an unused trash can, but since I can't find my huge paint stirrer or anything like it, we don't really have an easy solution for stirring it up.  I like the can, because we can put a lid on it and cut down on the flies, bugs, and smell.  Not sure how to stir it, though, and incorporate the new stuff into the old mostly decomposed mess.  This stuff is going back into my yard and my garden when it's ready to eliminate some chemical fertilizers next year.  What I really need is a couple of large either plastic or stainless steel drums that I can fill up and then seal, so I can tumble them around or flip them over from time to time.  Problem is I don't know where to get them for nothing or next to it.  If you have one, two, or more that you'd like to donate to lessening my carbon footprint, let me know.

Here are some things I learned in food service that we implement in my household, as promised yesterday.

1)  Temperature is king.  Put a reliable thermometer in your fridge and freezer.  Heck, two each since they're cheap.  Know what temperature your cooling equipment is at.  That's right: cooling equipment.  It's there to do a job, so have some expectations from it and know how it's performing.  Optimal temperature is 34-38 * for most food and 0 or below for the freezer.  Those crisper drawers on the bottom are separated from the rest of the fridge for a reason.  They stay warmer.  Look at the top of your fridge from inside and you'll see some vents.  Most refrigerators are cooled from the freezer, so the area around that vent is going to be the coldest part of the fridge.  Veggies are less likely to freeze over in the drawer, and many of them, especially the leafy ones, are going to do a lot better in a 45-50 degree environment.  That leads me to a difficult problem, though.  The best place to store raw chicken and meats is below foods that won't be cooked to at least 165 *.  Since we don't cook our salad at all, and it goes in the very bottom, what do we do?  Sadly, I just don't use one of my drawers, and leave the chicken on the shelf over it in a tightly sealed container until it's ready to cook.

Also, don't be afraid to pull something out of your fridge just to work it over, either.  Have some lettuce started to wilt?  Some apples starting to develop soft spots?  Take it out, right away.  Get rid of all damaged produce.  As fruit matures or ripens, it starts to expel a gas called ethylene.  It actually helps other fruits and vegetables to ripen more quickly, or spoil if they're already ripe.  That's why gramma used to put green bananas in a paper bag with some apples.  I guess it would have worked better if she's punched the apple in the face first.  But take that apple out to save the rest of the drawer.   Pare it down and eat it, make applesauce, whatever.  Peel away damaged lettuce leaves.  Most vegetables respond well to swimming in some cold water when they start to soften a bit, especially carrots and celery.  Maybe that package of steak or chicken was inconspicuously damaged, you can see the steak starting to dry out now.  Pull it, trim it, and get it back into an airtight container.

But wait, you have to get them home first, right?  Transport your groceries as well out of the sun as you can.  If you have a window shade, take it from the dashboard and lay it over your groceries in the backseat or hatch.  Have more than 15 minutes to drive?  Get a thermos bag.  They aren't terribly expensive, and they are reusable.  That drive home is dangerous, especially if you've spent more than 30 minutes at the grocery store.  Speaking of that, we all know to shop the aisles first, then the refrigerated outer cases, and the freezer last, right?  I see people all the time at the deli with empty carts getting their moist, high-protein sandwich meat and pass them again an hour later at the register when I clock out for my break.

National food safety standards allow for only 4 hours TOTAL time in the temperature range of 40* to 140 *, a bit more if most of that time is below 70*.  Restaurants typically have strict controls and verifications on their suppliers and transporters and get nearly all four hours in the restaurant, but that includes receiving, storage, prep, rotation, cooking, holding, serving, cooling, reheating, holding again, and serving again sometimes.  I've never seen anyone reheat a food more than once, as most of us are paranoid about that kind of thing.  But I can promise that 4 hours isn't all that long. 

I think that most grocery stores do a pretty good job of temperature control as well, but that doesn't mean you should let food sit on the counter for three hours for no reason, either.  Get it into the fridge or freezer. 

Wherever you store your cans and dry goods should also be cool, say below 78*.  Moisture can also be bad for anything not canned or jarred, and sometimes bad for the can or the jar.  If you have a problem with humidity, consider a dessicant.  It's cheaper than a dehumidifier, and more practical as well. 

I think I will save food safety for another post. 

Get in the habit of knowing the conditions under which you store your food, and you'll have more confidence in it than you ever got by simply looking at the date on the package.

I was listening to an NPR program, Talk of the Nation, maybe, or maybe Science Friday, I forget.  I believe it was Ira doing an interview of Nadia Arumugam.  I was going to bash her for some of the seeming-nonsense that I heard on the show, but I took a moment to google her article and find that it is reasonably well written, and I will assume that she just writes MUCH better than she interviews.  While she made some half-points on the show, she elucidated in the article.  It's here  if you're interested.

Apparently her whole story is centered around why we shouldn't pay any attention to expiration dates.  The heat of the meat is in a lonely sentance tucked safely away in the middle of the article, and is something that I explain to folks all the time at the grocery store.  Expiration dates are a measure of quality rather than safety.  Food can be safe after an expiration date, and unsafe long before.  That being said, advising people to ignore expiration dates because SHE doesn't find them to be legitimate ignores the folks that yearn for utmost quality, top of the shelf style.  I meet these people on a daily basis, and you know who they are.  They are the people in front of you at the deli counter order a quarter-pound of this turkey, three slices of that ham.  And I see most of them three to five times a WEEK.  Fortunately, I think we can safely say that Ms. Arumugam wasn't directing her article towards those folks. 

While I might take contention with minor technicalities of argument, such as beans shriveling, indicating they were less nutritious versus beans shriveling because they were less hydrated, which often coincides with vitamin decay, I agree with the spirit of her piece entirely.  Granted, with 4 children in the house, I can't even remember the last time I bothered checking expiration dates, never mind paying them any heed.

Having worked in the food service industry since I was 13, and managed in said indusry for more than a decade of that time, I have some tips that will help keep your food safe to eat, and maybe even a little fresher.  I'll start posting them tomorrow.

Well, it looks like we have a partner in squashing liberties and choice in favor of supposed anti-terrorism.  In case you didn't see this one , the United Arab Emerates is trying to ban blackberries because they use ultra secure encryption.  Why is this bad?  Because they claim they can't investigate terrorists that use blackberries.  Sounds like a load of crap to me.  I mean, I'm sure that they've run into problems trying to get data from suspected terrorists and were stalled by blackberry's RIM, but really?  Banning the smartphone?  Next thing you know, they'll be standing in line for two hours at the airport holding their shoes in hand.  Wait...

Here's the thing about terrorists and security.  We keep spending our time and resources trying to catch the last terrorist that attacked.  Follow me here.  September 11, 2001, a handful of dirtbags hijack 5 planes with box cutters, and we can't carry pocket knives or nailclippers on board anymore.  Somebody plans to use separate liquids to improvise an explosive over the Atlantic ocean, and we have to leave our mouthwash at home.  Some other jerk hides a bomb in his shoes, and we all have to stand around in our socks.  These guys may lack critical thinking skills concerning their religion and family values, but they are creative, and this policy of security is tail-wagging-the-dog-ish.

Surely nobody thinks that even THEY believe they can bring down our country by some random or even orchestrated violence.  We'd catch them before they could do enough obvious damage.  Hidden damage, though.  Damage to our securities.  Our freedom.  Our idealogies.  Our pride.  That could start some real badness.  You don't demolish a building by picking it up and throwing at the ground.  You carefully plan the best place to set charges, you decide the best type of charge to do the job, and you pull the trigger.  This is what they are doing.

R136a lies in a neighboring galaxy, and is the new title holder of most massive star.  That's right, even bigger than Britney, Lance, and Kobe put together.  Here's a decent write-up .  What I REALLY love, though, is how when this kind of stuff gets written up, scientists are always astonished, perplexed, or amazed.  I mean, come on.  Really?  Anyway, it's not in the article, but I LOVE this size comparison, so here ya go.

Pretty much every domestic news podcast I've listened to in the last couple days is responding to all the flap about prop 8 being overturned in California.  I listen to the debate and the interviewees on both sides and it pretty much goes like this...

(Pro gay marriage) We deserve the rights to the same benefits of marriage as straight people
(Anti gay marriage) We want marriage to be between one man and one woman to preserve it as a holy union.

And here's what I don't get.  Do homosexuals who want to be married really care if it's called married?  Or is it just the shortest path to what they want?  Either way, I think it's a valid argument.  Not sure how legitimate it will prove to be in the courts, but I think they're close.  I guess what I want to know is whether a compromise would work?  Something equal to marriage but not marriage.  As a humanitarian, I think that gay people DO deserve equal treatment from the government as straight people, though.  If two people are committed to each other, live together, pay the bills together, contribute to the community just as much (or as little) as their straight neighbors, and are partners of that sort til death do they part, why shouldn't they get the same tax breaks and insurance plans and whatever else as if they were married to someone of the opposite sex? 

What really gets me, though, is how the anti-gay activists keep talking about how they want to preserve marriage, yada yada yada, but I don't really see a lot of movemetn towards keeping traditional marriage sacred to they men and women already married.  I lifted a reference from divorcereform.org claiming that "The number of divorced people in the population more than quadrupled from 4.3 million in 1970 to 18.3 million in 1996, according to a Census Bureau report." Since in 1996 gay marriage was illegal all across the country, yet marriage was apparantly not very important to the people getting married, we can't blame THAT on gays and lesbians.  Looks to me like the institute of marriage is in plenty bad shape already, and maybe what it really needs is some people who WANT to be married to each other.

On the other hand, these people who are jealously guarding their marriage-club are starting to appear as though their anti-gay arguments are just thinly veiled attempts to coerce the government into punishing people who are doing things that they don't approve, usually on account of their religion, it seems to me.  And that's where we have to draw the line.  I don't want someone's religious idealogy playing that large a part in the government that I pay taxes to.  People should not be persecuted, discriminated against, or punished by a government representing a belief system at odds with the way any large portion of American citizens conduct themselves.  Period.

American Airlines accepted some pets on a day that was 1 degree hotter than the upper limit of their policy, and later, half of them died .  What a crappy way to go.  I mean some of them probably thought they were going to kick the bucket while fulfilling their dreams with Lassie, maybe at least one of them thought he'd go in the line of duty.  But trapped in a cage in the cargo hold of huge airplane selling overpriced alcohol as an alternative to flat soda to wash down stale peanuts to cranky people stuffed together on the next floor up?  Incredibly sad.

Yes i can post from voice. Android turn voice to text. Everyone should get 1 of these phones.

Well, Android phones apparently don't have much by way of comprehensive media collection organizers.  At least not to the depth that Apple does.  I mean, Android now gets Doubletwist , but it seems like you can't make any smart playlists in it.  At least it can pirate the playlists from iTunes, but it's more of a workaround than a solution.  Oh well, that's more than I can say for the Microsoft Zune.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Zune, but it's lack of playlisting ability for podcasts was a dealbreaker.  After I heard that Windows Phone 7 would generate a multimedia experience from the Zune division, I gave up on the LG Expo, which I wanted REALLY badly.  At any rate, I'll post when I have success in making my playlists do EXACTLY  what I want them to do on my phone.

And that would explain why Leeanne is selling her 3G and getting a Captivate just like mine....*snicker*.  I'm sure I had a little something to do with that.  I KNEW she would love this phone, so I kept showing her how cool it is.  When she finally realized that I WASN'T gloating (like that would make any sense, because she is the wonderful WONDERFUL woman who bought it for me in the first place) she saw that it really is a fine piece of machinery.  Ought to be here in a couple days.....YAY HONEY!!!

Finally got my Captivate in the mail a few days ago, and I've been messing with it nonstop.  About the only place I can say that the iphone makes any leaps ahead is in the itunes category; at least the only place that makes a difference.  Sure the screen has better resolution, but not so much better than I can tell much of a difference, and with the captivates dedicated high power graphics cpu, it kicks the iphones ass in intensive graphics work imo.  Also, the front facing camera.  Not a big deal for me because a)i'm not vain enough to want to take pictures of myself that have to be just so, and b) the only video calls you can make are over wifi, and frankly I don't think the odds of anyone of my friends actually having a video call phone are very good, nevermind them being in a wifi spot when I happen to want to talk video.  Besides, who the hell wants to look at someone over the phone?  I just don't get it.  I love this damned thing.