Cowboys and Aliens

Thishas the potential to be really really good or really reaaalllllyyyyy BAD!

Sign

When looking for animals you follow the sign. For pig hunting, this would be the mother of all sign! That is supposed to be a nice pasture and on the left side of the picture is the road. Or at least what is left of it. THe hogs tore up everything they could in this clearing including the road.
Unfortunately for us, this was at least a day old and the pack responsible had moved on to another field next door. We did see a couple lone hogs but not the pack or hogzilla we really wanted. Game camera pictures show there is one that is at least 3.5-4 feet tall standing on all fours and very fat. Wish we could have crossed paths with him. Also saw two nice looking little bucks but they will live to grow a little more as their rack was not wide enough to qualify for taking. Besides, this is a doe weekend in Grimes County and it is time to gather some meat.

That sinking feeling

when you are sitting in an office and someone walks in and asks, "Who's driving the truck parked out front?". I answered with the question, which truck? The response was, the brown 4X4 just outside the door. "That would be me." I just hit your truck. At which point, I pointed to misbeHaven and said, "talk to her, it is her truck and I already wrecked it once."

Well, misbeHaven's hair being all up in getting processed, I went outside and had a look. Not anything major at all. They backed into the drivers side rear fender. Damaged the fender flare and the underlying fender and support structure aroudn the wheel well.

They said, well, I have XYZ insurance and they will take care of you. Guess what, we carry XYZ insurance as well. So, we swap info since it is in a private parking lot the PD is not at all interested.
I go back inside and misbeHaven and I talk a bit while her hair is doing its thing. I finally call the insurance company and wade through the automated answering system and work my way through to claims. The claims agent already has my member number with my phone caller ID info that popped up on her screen and she greets me and says, "that's just too weird, I just got off the phone with Xxxxx and we are accepting full responsibility on their policy." Now you may think this is some local insurance company with one person answering the phones. You would be wrong. Lets just say, if you are active or retired military officer, they would likely be your insurance company. Not small to say the least.

Anyway, I have an appointment next week to have the local partner bodyshop have a look and schedule when they can have all the parts and supplies and be ready to do the repairs. Rental will be waiting at the shop when I drop of the truck for repairs as well. All handled directly by the insurance company.

Well, while I would prefer to not have the damage and repair, this treatment, and the cost, is why we carry our auto insurance through them. Same as when misbeHaven had her bad wreck, and back when I crashed her truck when it was two weeks old. They take care of their policy holders well.

Random Act of Culture

This is just way too cool. With all the flash mob activity and such, it is interesting (to me) to see a cultured flash mob.

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU

Always Remember

Remember those who served! This would be the young Lt being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. For the first time, there is an Oak Leaf Cluster to follow.

WHOP WHOP DUEX

Today brings a follow up to my last helicopter post that covered Huey's flying in. Well, as I was leaving work this evening there was a rumble from the other side of hanger. I wandered over and there were 4 SeaHawks warming up. Yhe lead had a special tail plane though. It was dark base with SPARTANS across it in gold. Sorry but all I had on me was my cell so the picture is a bit crappy.


I followed up by getting my camera and by the time I got back to the ramp they were taking off in a sloppy trail.

Guns -n- Gambling

They just don't mix! At least that's what we are told. You can't have guns in any area where gambling is taking place so that must be prohibited place for those with Concealed Carry Licenses.

What's that?


Armed robbers hitting up a bingo hall? You mean a victim disarmament zone where no one is legally allowed to have the effective tools to fight back? Kinda like no guns in schools as they are a learning environment. No crime can take place there so we don't need guns there.

Election Excriment

So, a bunch of new power hungry psychophants have ousted a bunch of the existing psychophants. Whoop de freakin do! Stay tuned for the flurry of lawsuits and accusations of election fraud as these nut bags try to retain their grip on power. Also, be prepared for the self serving money grubbing legislation that will be rammed down our throats in the next two months by the lame ducktards that still occupy their seats of power. "WaDaYaGoNaDoBoutIt? Fire me?"

Meanwhile, since local news doesn't come on until 05:30 here, we tuned in Houston news. Interesting thing there was that Prop 3 (red light camera continuation) failed overwhelmingly. The ad campaign for it was a union hack from the firefighters union going on about having to pull wreck victims from cars especially children then a hospital administrator who states the fact that "We KNOW red light cameras work". Now that it has been voted down, the cities reaction was, "Now we have to find the money to pay for all the work we wanted to do with the red light camera money. As a result peoples homes are going to get flooded and the streets are going to suck because we can't afford to fix drainage or roads." So, it really wasn't about safety, it was about revenue to pay for things the city should have been doing already and haven't.

UPDATE:
The city council meeting this morning in Houston yielded some interesting results. The city controller announced the city would lose $10 million in revenue with the cameras gone. The city annouced that the cameras will stay on and people will still get tickets and have to pay them until they decide what to do. The city has a contract with ATS for another two years and ATS hasn't decided if they are going to sue the city over this yet!

What a crock of sticking poo! If this doesn't show all too clearly that these cameras never were about safety but are all about money then I don't know what will. That is all this is about money! I'm glad we got that settled here locally.

Powder Explosion Aftermath

If you remember back in may the explosion at Black Mag powder manufacturer, the official OSHA ruling has come down.

Gunpowder manufacturer fined more than $1.2 million after explosion kills two workers

OSHA issued 54 citations* with penalties totaling $1,232,500 to gun powder substitute manufacturer Black Mag LLC following a deadly May explosion that took the lives of two workers at the company's Colebrook, N.H., worksite.

The workers, who had been on the job for only a month, were being required to hand feed explosive powder into operating equipment because the employer failed to implement essential protective controls. The multiple explosions that occurred when the powder detonated killed both men and blew out the walls and roof of the worksite. Four months earlier another worker had suffered serious burns from a flash fire at the facility.

"Even with a prior incident in which a worker was seriously injured, and multiple warnings from its business partners and a former employee, this employer still decided against implementing safety measures," said OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels. "Unfortunately, we see this kind of disregard time and time again across industry. All employers must plan for and prevent workplace injuries so these types of avoidable tragedies don't happen, and workers can return home safely at the end of the day."

OSHA inspectors found that the employer had shown willful indifference to protecting the safety and lives of his workers by failing to train those involved in the manufacture of the gun powder substitute, failing to locate operators at safe locations while equipment was operating and failing to separate workstations by distance or barriers. The employer also failed to provide fire resistant clothing, face shields and gloves; to safely store gun powder; and to identify explosion hazards in the company's operating procedures. See the news release for more examples of Black Mag's numerous safety and health violations.

So, OSHA found willful indifference in the violations and say that is common across industry. Well, they will have to pay for it now but that won't do anything to bring the dead workers back. I would not be surprised if they end up out of business after OSHA and the victims families get done with them.