BLATHER REVIEW

Scene From An Unwritten Screenplay

Our protagonist -- we'll call him Spooning Torque -- has been walking for miles in the cold and wind. He is cold and sore and wants only to rest comfortably. He spies a Motor Inn down the road.

Torque: Oooh! A hot bath in that place would be pure heaven!

He trudges to the motel and meets the desk clerk

Torque: Excuse me..

Clerk: Yyyeeessssss?

Torque: Yes, pardon me, but are you the desk clerk?

Clerk: Ye.. No, I'm an 18-wheeler with a mustache.

Torque: Heh. Well, did I read your sign correctly... that you charge by the hour?

Clerk: Oh, yeeeesss! Love lasts forever but the night is only just hours!

Torque: Well, you have full bathtubs? Not just shower stalls?

Clerk: Why, yeeeeeesssss!! Of course! You can't be swept off yer feet if there's no room to sit, riight?!

Torque: Heh, I suppose not. But, look; I'd like a room for two hours.

Clerk: Ooooooo, two hours. Wanna take it slowly and gently, eh? (he winks and nudges the air between them with his elbow)

Torque: Definately. I want it as hot as possible; so hot I can hardly breath.

Clerk: Ooooo, and (leaning forward in a near whisper and a wink) what do you plan to do?

Torque: Absolutely nothing!

Clerk: (excitedly) Ooooooo!!!!! You're a man! Well, I've got cabin 9 all set and ready for you and... and... (looking around) I don't see your friend...

Torque: Oh! No, no I'm alone.

With sudden stoniness the clerk drops the keys into Torque's open palm, and the strange new guest limps and staggers his cold and wet and sorry ass toward cabin 9. The clerk shakes his head, approaches the office sink and washes his hands.

Clerk: (muttering) Freaky nihilist. (shuddering) Now I feel like I need a shower.

I gotta get out more

I tried to do this yesterday from Daniel's post and, for some reason, it didn't work. But I tried from Ted's post and it worked!

State's I've visited (in red):

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

I think it might be high time for a road trip... Maybe this one:

Or I could just hit all the Major League ballparks(!):

500th Comment

I just got my 500th comment. Woo Hoo!!!
It was from that 62.213.67.122 spammer. D'oh!!!
So I banned the sucker. Woo Hoo!!!

"I'm not a monster, I'm just being consistent!"

I just found a link to this article over at Drudge. Headline:
Government adviser: killing children with defects acceptable
by NICHOLAS CHRISTIAN

A GOVERNMENT adviser on genetics has sparked fury by suggesting it might be acceptable to destroy children with ‘defects’ soon after they are born.

Yeah, you read that right.

John Harris, a member of the Human Genetics Commission, told a meeting at Westminster he did not see any distinction between aborting a fully grown unborn baby at 40 weeks and killing a child after it had been born.

Most people don't; that's why they consider late term abortions to be infanticide. But, I suppose, in the name of consistency, those who support abortion at 40 weeks would naturally draw the logical conclusion that newborns are as unhuman as they were before they began to push their way through the birth canal.

Harris, who is a professor of bioethics at Manchester University,

Yeah, you read that right.

...would not be drawn on which defects or problems might be used as grounds for ending a baby’s life, or how old a child might be while it could still be destroyed.

Because there's no rational way to make those distinctions. A "defect" or "disablility" can be anything from Down's Syndrome to blindness to webbed toes. To say that one type of defect causes the baby to lose (or never to have earned) a right to life and equal protection under the law, while another type of defect does not, is to confuse the very ideas of moral and ethical consistency. If a newborn has no right to life, then no one does.

So, then, why stop with infants? There are plenty of toddlers, adolescents and adults walking around with defects and disabilities. If we're to be consistent then they have no right to life either. Perhaps it would be better to ease the burden that they put on society and kill them.
I guess Hitler wasn't evil afterall; he was just ahead of his time.

Harris was reported to have said that he did not believe that killing a child was always inexcusable. In addition, it was claimed that he did not believe that there was any ‘moral change’ that occurred between when the baby was in the womb and when it had been brought into the world. He did not say how old a child might be while it could still be destroyed

And just when does a "moral change" occur? Perhaps when the kid is old enough to understand that, when asked the question "Do you mind if we kill you?", that answering "No" might not be in his or her best interest.

Or, perhaps, the truth is that there is no biological or philosophical justification to claim that a person becomes a person at any given moment or stage of growth later than the moment of conception or the first instance of cell division. (I'm just trying to find an ethically consistent position here...)

Harris, who also gives advice to doctors as a member of the ethics committee of the British Medical Association (BMA),

Yeah, you read that right.

is understood to have argued that there was no moral distinction between aborting a foetus found by tests to have defects and disposing of a child where the parents discovered the problems at birth. The words drew a furious response from anti-abortion campaigners. The Pro-Life lobby group, who had members present at the meeting, noted what Harris had said and condemned his words.

Why in the world is the reaction of anti-abortionists being focused on? Is it only anti-abortionists who get infuriated at the idea of killing newborn babies? Are pro-choicers unphased by the idea of taking a crying, smiling, breathing, kicking, fidgetting bouncing baby suckling at his mother's teat and killing him?

Julia Millington, the group’s spokeswoman, said: "It is frightening to think that university students are being educated by somebody who endorses the killing of new-born babies, and equally worrying to discover that such a person is the establishment’s ‘preferred’ bioethicist."

However, Michael Wilkes, the chairman of the BMA’s ethics committee, claimed that Harris was simply trying to encourage debate and consistent thinking.
He said: "There are many who might concur that there is no difference between a full-term foetus and a new-born baby, although the majority would see there is a substantial difference. Abortion is legal, but termination after birth is killing."

Oh, that's the difference! The "majority" can't see the world in moral or ethical terms, only in legal terms! The reason Harris' remarks are causing commotion is because most people can't see that if they in any way accept the legality of abortion then they must also support the right of women to smother their babies in a blanket. Oh... *smacks palm into forehead* ...We're such neanderthals sometimes!

In the past, Harris has spoken of the need to allow people to buy and sell human organs as a means of increasing supplies for transplant operations.

Why? Why not just kill someone in a wheelchair when a real person needs a kidney?

He also recently expressed support for the sex selection of babies for social reasons. He said: "If it isn’t wrong to wish for a bonny bouncing baby girl, why would it be wrong to make use of technology to play fairy godmother?"

Y'know, that's what I tried to explain to the Nevada Gaming Commission! I told 'em; "If it isn't wrong for me to wish for a royal flush, how can it be wrong for me to make use of my own deck of cards to create a royal flush?!" They didn't like my "reasoning".

Actually, what are the "social reasons" of which he spoke? If it's to create an even ratio of boys to girls, nature does a pretty good job of that. If it's just to give parents an opportunity to choose the sex of their children, then what's the heck is the "social reason"?
Any parent who would choose the sex of his or her child is sexist. Let's encourage that!

Okay, okay, let's say daddy has five girls and, dag nab it, wants a boy. Has anyone ever heard of ADOPTION?!!!! But, if you're going to adopt, you'd better get to the agency fast. Those kiddies might soon be labelled "disadvantaged" and be destroyed.

Bouncing Baby Diaper Service, LLC

Walking around in the cold and wind all week (not to mention the new boots I bought that gave me blisters after two days of wear) made my feet, legs, lower back and (pardon me, ladies) b*lls very achy. So I soaked in a piping hot bath for about an hour this morning.

For some reason the washcloth reminded me a post on a blog this past week (I forget which right now) about disposable dish rags.

Then I remembered that on Wednesday the #4 bus was ten minutes late thus causing me to miss the connection to the Costal Link by about two minutes, and I had an hour to kill before the next one.

Downtown Bridgeport is a very old place. Buildings that date back to the 19th and early 20th centuries are everywhere. Stone, marble, gargoyles. One block on Main Street is one building with shops along the street level and offices above. At one end is a McDonald's, at the other end is a Dunkin' Donuts.
After wolfing down a Sausage McMuffin w/Egg sandwich (if there's one thing that McDonald's does well it's breakfast), I headed over to Dunkin' Donuts for a coffee.

As I sat at a table blowing on the coffee to cool it, an old guy was flirting with the gals behind the counter.

"Are you married?" he asked one of the gals.

"Am I married? Yes, I am, sir. Why... are you looking for a woman?"

"She's available." said a second gal as she pointed to another.

"I'm available!" the third gal said excitedly.

The old man pointed and looked at her slyly, "You sexy enchantress you..."

"AAAAH!" "HAHAHA!!" "WOOOOO!!!" they gaffawed.

Then he turned, winked at me and walked over to my table.

"How old a man are you?" he asked.

"40."

"Aaah. 73 here, and if there's one thing I've learned it's that life is too short to walk around with a frown. When you smile at people they always smile back!"

"Yep, that's absolutely true." I nodded with a smile.

He asked if he could join me and, of course, I invited him to sit down.
He told me some interesting stories about his family. He was one of 8 kids, grew up in Fairfield (next town over), no electricity, outhouse. He said that if kids had responsibility and chores to do -- like washing diapers -- they wouldn't so bored and aimless and stray into nihilistic behavior (or something to that effect).

When he mentioned the wastefulness of disposable diapers filling up landfills, I mentioned the new disposable dishrags. He shook his head sadly.
Anyway, after a while I had to thank him for the conversation and go catch my bus.

So I was in the tub this morning and thought about how it be better if people washed and re-used diapers instead of throwing away piles and piles of disposable diapers. It would be a lot cheaper and a lot less wasteful, but the problem is that nobody wants to wash diapers; yecch!!. Then I thought, "Why don't I do it!

Let's say I had a diaper cleaning service and 2,000 customers (from Bridgeport and the the five or six surrounding towns).
Let's say I had ten industrial strength machines that could wash and bleach and steam and fold and bale about 12,000 diapers a day, and six people to operate them (3 each in two shifts).

Let's say I had 10 trucks and drivers to do the 1,000 pick-ups and deliveries per day, and a full-time mechanic to keep the trucks maintained. (Each truck would need an oil and filter change at least once a week.)
And let's say I had two additional employees to do paperwork and answer the phone.

(An additional thought on this: While I'm figuring this for 2,000 customers (babies), a lot of the diapers would be picked-up at - and delivered to - Day Care centers, so the drivers wouldn't have to make the 100 stops a day that it seems at first glance that they'd each have to make.)

20 people @ about $2,000 a month each would be about a $40,000 payroll per month.

Extrapolating from my friend's plastic molding business, I'd estimate the monthly electricity bill would be about $7,000. Oil to heat the place: $200 a month. Natural Gas to heat the machines: maybe $1,000 a month. Gasoline for the trucks: I guestimate it would be somewhere around $14,000 - $16,000 a month.
Lease and/or loan payments on the machines and trucks: probably less than $10,000 per month, (I could put down payments on them with money collected by selling stock shares to investors - if I wanted to go public.)

So, the cost of the machines, trucks, maintenance, payroll, supplies (cleansers, bleach, etc) might be somewhere around $70,000 a month to operate. Divided by 2,000 that'd be $35 per customer per month, or, say, $8 or $9 a week.
But, since I'd obviously want to make a profit because it's always good to have some funds available for emergencies, growth, employee benefits, maybe a hot tub in the employee lounge, I'll charge $12 a week for the service.
The Bouncing Baby Diaper Service will pick up you're dirty diapers (from a special box on your front porch) and leave a wrapped bale of fresh smelling bright white clean ones 3 times a week on a schedule of either Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, for a mere 12 bucks a week.
It's good for the environment (we'll stop dumping those disposable things in piles of garbage that don't biodegrade), and it's good for the customers (saves money [?] and trips to the supermarket to buy and carry home huge packages of puffy evilness).

(Another additional thought: My recallection of cloth diapers is that they tended to be leaky, soaked through, a were generally messy compared to the best modern diapers. So let's assume that I've designed and manufactured a diaper that incorporates all of the best qualities of disposable diapers -- that snug non-leaky absorbancy -- into a washable re-usable diaper.)

Now, my question: How much do people spend on disposable diapers nowadays? Is it more than $12 a week? A lot more? Would this diaper service be such a bargain that new parents would jump at the chance to pay for this service? Anybody got any thoughts on this?

Lunar Return; then onto Mars

Why build a moonbase and/or go to Mars when we still have such suffering and strife here on Earth?

In the movie Things To Come a Moonshot is set against the backdrop of seemingly unending war. Cabal and Passworthy have a son and daughter aboard the rocket that blasts off at the conclusion of the story; destination: the Moon.

As war still rages in various theaters across the world, Passworthy has misgivings and wonders if we should be investing our treasure in the Moonshot.

This the final scene from H.G. Wells' shooting script of the 1936 film Things To Come:

PART XVI: Finale
[An observatory at a high point above Everytown. A telescopic mirror of the night sky showing the cylinder as a very small speck against a starry background. Cabal and Passworthy stand before this mirror.]

CABAL: "There! There they go! That faint gleam of light." [Pause.]

PASSWORTHY: "I feel--what we have done is--monstrous."

CABAL: "What they have done is magnificent."

PASSWORTHY: "Will they return?"

CABAL: "Yes. And go again. And again--until the landing can be made and the moon is conquered. This is only a beginning."

PASSWORTHY: "And if they don't return--my son, and your daughter? What of that, Cabal?"

CABAL [(with a catch in his voice but resolute)]: "Then presently--others will go."

PASSWORTHY: "My God! Is there never to be an age of happiness? Is there never to be rest?"

CABAL: "Rest enough for the individual man. Too much of it and too soon, and we call it death. But for MAN no rest and no ending. He must go on--conquest beyond conquest. This little planet and its winds and ways, and all the laws of mind and matter that restrain him. Then the planets about him, and at last out across immensity to the stars. And when he has conquered all the deeps of space and all the mysteries of time--still he will be only beginning."

PASSWORTHY: "But we are such little creatures. Poor humanity. So fragile--so weak."

CABAL: "Little animals, eh?"

PASSWORTHY: "Little animals."

CABAL: "If we are no more than animals then we must snatch at our little scraps of happiness and live and suffer and pass, mattering no more than all the other animals do--or have done."
[He points out at the stars.]
"It is that--or this. All the universe--or nothingness.... Which shall it be, Passworthy?"

[The two men fade out against the starry background until only the stars remain. The musical finale becomes dominant. CABAL'S voice is heard repeating through the music:]
"Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?"
[A louder stronger voice reverberates through the auditorium:]
"WHICH SHALL IT BE?"

THE END

Showcase time again!

The problem with the New Blog Showcase is that it's a competition between new blogs. Some know exactly what they want their blog to be and how to be it. But most, I bet, are still finding their voice and their blogs will probably shortly become something other than what they are now.

That said, the entry this week that I have any desire whatsoever to vote for is American Amnesia, both for this entry and on the strength of the overall mission: to remind us of our own history so that we can meet the future having learned the lessens of our past.

Home-made Spaghetti-O's with Sliced Franks

I ambled through my front door at about 8:30 the other night. Having spent the past 2 ours commuting, and having just walked the 25 minutes home from the bus station, I was cold and achy and tired and hungry. But I was in no condition, mentally or emotionally, to prepare dinner.

"Why can't I just open a can of Spaghetti-O's with Sliced Franks, or something...?" I moaned. Oh yeah, I don't have any Spaghetti-O's because I hate that stuff.

I used to looooove Spaghetti-O's when I was a kid, but, I tried a can a few years ago and it was godawful. I wanted some Spaghetti-O's with Sliced Franks that tasted as good to me now as they did 30 years ago. So I made some!

I heated up some pasta sauce in a saucepan (I usually make my own, but being so short on layin' around time lately, I bought some Newman's Own "Sockarooni" sauce. It's pretty good stuff considering that it comes out of a jar.)

In another large saucepan I boiled a sliced hot dog and some rigatoni for about 12 minutes.
I drained the dog/rigatoni in the colander and grabbed my vegetable slicer.
The slicer looks kinda like a garlic press, only it's about 4 times larger and slices.
(It's great for slicing mushrooms and plum tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs and stuff.)

Using a pair of salad tongs I then loaded the slicer with rigatoni (about 5 or six at a time), held it above the pan of simmering pasta sauce and pressed. Out popped a mound of 1/4 inch thick home-made "Spaghetti-O's"!

After slicing all the rigatoni (it took about 5 minutes) I stirred in the sliced franks. A few dashes of Texas Pete's Cayene Pepper Sauce, and a few more seconds of simmering, and I was ready for some chow.

And it was gooooooooooooood! Without having to chew up them big ol' full-sized rigatoni logs, I was able to shovel it in with abandon. Mmmmmmm.

Societal Status Revealed on the Bus(?)

After having ridden the bus for a week I've noticed something.
Women tend to take the front seats; men tend to walk to the rear.

Young men tend to be drawn toward the back of the bus.

I feel comfortable about mid-way back; the last seats before the rear door.

Young women seem to be spread all around except the back of the bus.

Old women stay as close the driver as they can. Old men choose the center but always toward the front.

There seems to be a self-manifested seating heirarchy concerning front and back based on sex and age.

The thing I can't figure out is: Is it about power or vulnerability?
Or is it that the most powerful also feel the most vulnerable?

This is really bugging me.

The Showcase Must Go On!

My vote in this week's New Blog Showcase goes to exvigilare even though the link at the Showcase doesn't get me to a post about MoveOn.org as promised. The other posts, though, make the blog an interesting and fun read. But, I really wanted to read about MoveOn.org. Guess I'll just have to read the whole blog!

That Was The Week That Was

So, anyway, I walked out monday morning and discovered that ol' Carmine, my truck (so named for it's color), had a flat tire. Since Chris, my housemate, is dead to the world until at least noon, there was no way I could replace it in the morning. Off to the bus stop I walked.

We've had single digit temperatures and lots of wind all week. It's only a ten minute walk to the bus stop in the morning, but it's a harrowing ten minutes (plus the standing-around time at the stop) when the wind is blowing sleet into your face.

On the way home I had a choice: either stand around in the bus terminal waiting for my connection to the #4 bus, or take the #11 and walk the 25 minutes to home. I opted for the #11. Brrrrrr.
On the way home I picked up a can of Fix-a-Flat (or whatever it's called) so, I could inflate the tire enough to drive it to Town Fair Tire in the morning.

Tuesday morning I got into the truck and turned the key. Nothin'. The battery's dead, either from the cold or from the electrical problem that my mechanics have been unable to identify. There's a short somewhere that causes something called "spool failure" in the battery and need to replace it every two years or so.
Off to the bus stop again.

The problem is that Chris can't drive me around in the morning to get a battery because he sleeps too late, and we can't do it in the evening because I get home too late; about 8:30. (The commute by bus takes about 2 hours each way.) So, I spent the entire week riding the bus and walking long distances in the -10 degree wind chill. This made my legs and back extremely sore, and by Friday I could hardly walk erect.

(Running printing presses for a living, I'm on my feet all day. The only time I sit down at work is when I have my lunch.)

So, anyway, Saturday finally arrives. Time to get a battery and a tire!

I guess I made up for all the sleep I lost during the week, 'cause I slept 'til 1:30pm. I didn't even wake up naturally, I was awoken by Chris. He knocked on my bedroom door, came in, and told me that the pipes had frozen. We've got hot water, but no cold. "I can't take a shower and the toilet doesn't flush," he said.

"Is the kitchen sink frozen, too?" I asked. Chris went to check it out, came back upstairs and told me the cold water in the kitchen runs fine. So the pipes are frozen somewhere in the walls between the 1st and 2nd floor. How the hell are we gonna thaw them out?

Long story short; the bathrub dripped some cold water, so I left the handle open. Sure, it's cold water, but it's warmer than ice so the pipes unfroze after about ten minutes. whew.
Chris took his shower, then left the house. Hey! We need to get a battery and tire! He came back around 5pm.

I asked him for the money for the utility bills. He said he wont have it 'til next week. That means I don't have enough to buy a battery. (The tire, on the other hand, has a lifetime warranty, yay!) So, there'd be no point in getting a tire if I can't get the battery. I'll be riding the bus next week, and I just heard a news report that, starting Tuesday, it's going to get even colder than it was last week. (boo!!)

(I've been really short on cash the past month because of the holidays. Thankgiving, Christmas and New Years all fell on Thursdays. Those Wednesdays were half-days at work, and on those Fridays the shop was closed, and I didn't get paid for any of that lost time.)

Also, I've had trouble eating, lately. I think everything I've eaten in the past week could fit on one dinner plate with room to spare. But, last night I suddenly got hungry. I made a bowl of beans and franks with Bush's Baked Beans and Ballpark Hot Sausages (that look and taste like hot dogs). That's when I began to feel it. A toothache.

Within 20 minutes it went from a dull ache to a sharp throbbing pain. I ate less than half of the beans and franks 'cause I just couldn't stand the pain of chewing anymore. I have an old tube of Anbesol that doesn't seem to work very well (It's about 4 years old). I had a partial bottle of brandy hanging around; it was a good night to put it to use.
I had trouble sleeping last night, constantly waking up and wincing from the pain in that fershlugginer tooth.

I woke up at 10:00am and couldn't sleep anymore. I got dressed and went around the corner to the Dew Drop In Deli and bought some Extra-strength Tylenol and popped three of 'em. The cold weather (slightly warmer today...I think we made it into the 20s) making my legs and back stiff and sore some more.

I went on-line and tried to read a blog or two, but couldn't concentrate. Then I got a great idea: hot bath!
I haven't had a bath in well over a year, and it was high time I had a good hot soaking.
As the tub filled I began to feel the Tylenol working. The pain had lessened to the point where I went ahead and brushed my teeth. Then I undressed and slowly sank into the steamy hot water.

Ooooooooooo. Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

As the water cooled I'd pull the plug and let some water drain, then turn on the hot water again.
After about an hour (or more?) I was as loose as a well steamed sprig of asparagus. In fact, I began to overheat.

So, now I'm sitting here all warm and cozy. I'm beginning to feel the tooth again, so I'll be popping three more Tylenol in a minute. I can't see a dentist tomorrow because I'll be leaving at 6:30am to be in work early to finish a job I started on Friday and will be picked up tomorrow. So Tuesday will be a fun day. Not only do I have to get to a dentist, but I have to figure out how the hell I'm gonna get to the Court house for what will hopefully be the last time I ever have to set foot in a court. (I'm being sued -- it's no biggie.)

If I'm in the mood later, maybe I'll tell ya the real problems I'm dealing with. ;)

Hmm..

Drudge alert:

A state auditor's report found that the administration of former Vermont governor Howard Dean failed to take steps to prevent the appearance of impropriety in negotiating a contract for processing health care claims of state employees.

Now, I'm no big fan of Howard Dean, but, what the hell does this mean?
"...failed to take steps to prevent the appearance of impropriety...?" Is this the great undiscovered secret of the locked-down Dean records?
More info on this story is definately needed, Matt...

IMAO Returns

FrankJ is back from his trip to Guantanamo! Posting will resume manana.

get out the vote!

My vote in the New Blog Showcase goes to this post by Self Composed.

I'm not here

If you're reading this then you've shown up here dispite my warning that I wouldn't be posting for at least a week while I try to put my f'd up life into some f'n order. YOU RULE!!!!!!!!! :D

The best I can do right now is to steer you to some others' good stuff.

Stevie discusses mistakenly appropriated Joisey versions of Windows. (Put your drink down for this one!)

Abject Apathetic Procrastination has apparently been taken over by Madfish Willie. If you have any interest in biology you'll love the Bartender's posts.

Susie links to Iowahawk's testimonial to why he's a Democrat. (Another drink alert!)

And, finally, Noel has a laugh out loud
post at Consent of the Governed about John McCain's newest reform projects. (If yer drinkin' something, y'know.... )

Happy New Year!!!!