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~~Code Monkey

Remember Douchey McChinpubes?

He was paid a visit today by the FBI.  Then he was shackled, and charged with violating the Stolen Valor law.  Something tells me that the federal judge in Texas (or a Jury) isn't going to look kindly on his asshattery.



--Chuck

Dear Mr. Pharmacist,

I realize that there is a law here in AZ that I cannot by Pseudoephedrine without having to sign some paperwork. Because I practically never buy it anymore, I was not aware that your pharmacy has the process computerized. Ooh, shiny. I'm so impressed. /sarc There was absolutely no need to treat me with scorn and disdain because I was unaware. One might think that my ignorance of the nifty new way you do things would indicate that I don't buy mass quantities of Pseudoephedrine to shake and bake in the back seat of my car into meth. Perhaps you just assumed that I was feigning ignorance though, or worse yet had addled that corner of my mind sucking on a meth pipe. A more astute observer would have noticed I still have all my teeth, have no gaping wounds on my face, and actually have a few extra pounds that a meth habit would have eaten away months ago. But no, you had to be a complete douche and make me wish I had never walked into your store.

The only reason I will ever come back is because the woman at the front counter was a ray of sunshine after your little black rain cloud moment. She oozed ten times as much friendliness as you did animosity. I am now afraid to stand in the center of the store though as the difference between the two of you could create a personality black hole into which a person could disappear never to be heard from again.

So thank you very much for making me feel like I was an inch tall because I didn't know your fancy little process. Life is short. Maybe you should spend some time with that happy woman at the front counter. She might teach you a thing or two.

Sincerely,
Code Monkey

PS Nice plugs.

In 1972, Joe Miller was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Tulsa Junior College .

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Joe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it As carefully and as gently as he could, Joe worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to Joe, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Joe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Joe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Thirty years later, Joe was walking through the Tulsa Zoo with His family. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Joe and his Family were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Joe, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1972, Joe could not help wondering if this was the same elephant. Joe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Joe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.


Hat tip to Mary.


--Chuck

Team Rubicon is a self-financed and self-deployed group of former Marines, soldiers and health care professionals currently providing emergency relief in Haiti.

Team Rubicon coordinates with Army on the ground

"Mobile Team Alpha has established a field triage at Delmas 60. An Army squad has made contact with us and asked us to medevac a patient two blocks away with a crushed leg and compartment syndrome. Our truck is en route."

 Much, much more here.

They could use your support.

--Chuck

If history and physics tell us anything, it’s the guaranteed failure of all things, including companies, countries, people, and entire civilizations. (Packard? The USSR? George Burns? Rome?)--Mike Rowe

I don't know if all things fail.  Most things fail.  Things which are not properly maintained, certainly.  Things which move even moreso.  The Egyptian pyramids still stand.

I don't think that the US will fail simply as a function of the nature of things.  It may grow or morph into something else.  If we look at failure in absolute terms, where something ceases to exist, then as long as a Packard operates on a road, the company still (in a sense) exists. 

The US can trace its history to the Magna Charta, and even to Hammurabi's first codified law.  What nations in the future will trace their origins to us?  When the combined federation of planets signs its charter, will that charter have origins in the US constitution?  The United States isn't a living thing, it is an idea.  Ideas are notoriously hard to kill, just ask Buddha,  Christ, Abraham, Mohammed (peanut butter on him) and the Sumerians.

I doubt there is much about our country that our founders would recognize (even less that they would approve, but that goes beyond the scope of this comment.)  That doesn't mean that their America doesn't exist, or that we will eventually decline and then become dispersed like the legions of Rome.  It means that anything which changes can adapt, and adaptability is what makes things resilient.  The founders sought only to create a *more* perfect union.  Their intent was not to create *the* perfect society, nor that we should settle for the one we have, and that it was the responsibility of generations to improve that society, learning from the mistakes of their parents and grandparents.

What can the government learn from the contractual bonus debacle?  (Not wanting to pay AIG execs bonuses.)  That the free market works.  That they cannot possibly hope to have lawyers working for the government (except the very rare few who serve for services' sake) who can compete professionally with the lawyers who earn millions writing contracts for wall street.  It's roughly the same thing as a state champion high school football team playing the 6-time superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  Even with the worst team they've ever fielded, the Steelers would absolutely murder the high school team.  Both teams have drive and desire.  Both teams know how to play the game.  Both teams love the game.  But only one team is populated with players drafted from the very best that the sport had to offer.

If your local congressperson (who, odds are, is a lawyer) were any good as a lawyer, they'd either be a judge or still be a lawyer.  There's tons more money in private lawyerin' than there is in public politics (assuming an honest politician.)