Tuesday, August 23, 2005

24 hour virus?

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Kinda felt like the guy in the picture yesterday. Not sure why, but about 2 hours after posting yesterday's entry-I started to feel .........unwell. Not sick, just didn't feel good. I intended to lay down and take a nap, but it turned into 11 hours of sleep. I guess I needed the sleep as I feel much better today.

I took a couple of pictures of some of the stuff I make at work..............
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This is a small sample of what I make every night. I usually have about twice this amount of product to make, but since it is early in the week-we don't make nearly as much.

And here is my specialty..................
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I really enjoy making these, you can be very creative. I'm not bragging, but I make pretty damn good donuts.

That's about it for today, I'm gonna hit the sack and hopefully not for 11 hours like yesterday.

Till later.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Link Dump Monday

My wife and I went shopping at Wal-Mart this past weekend. Usually we go there during "normal" hours, but this past Saturday we popped in at around 11 PM at night. Unbelievably to me-the store was damn busy. It was filled with customers that some folks would call "trailer trash" Not that I'd ever call someone that, since we were there shopping as well and I'm no better then anyone else.

That being said, it was interesting to watch some families shop. Lots of loud noisy obnoxious kids with their moms not really paying attention to them. I pity the poor night stockers there- it was almost impossible for them to move around in their aisles to get anything done. If I worked there, I would have probably killed my self by now.

They look like bike shorts to me.

I don't know about anybody else, but if I had to fly-I'd avoid Northwest.

Here's 4 hours of your life you'll never get back. Wouldn't it just be easier to just buy a shitty 40 dollar digital camera to take the same quality pics and save 4 hours of time?

Nice. I guess hoping that they would simply fire themselves is out of the question.

Customer service people have very stressful jobs ........and don't you forget it..................... bitchdog.

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Fill'er up.

Was gonna do a ride with a buddy Sunday AM-he had to bag at the last second so I took the opportunity to do a nice slow ride around my old neighborhood. Not a whole lot has changed since I grew up there except there is way more traffic and the woods behind my old house are gone and the land is now an industrial park.

In my travels to the north side of Hellam, I saw another one of those "McMansion" type developments going in. Not sure who is buying all those 3, 4 and 5oo,ooo dollar houses but I'd like to find out and get a job where they work at. Would I buy one if I had to bucks to afford it comfortably? Hell yeah, but I'd have to live somewhere with trees. Most of the new places going in are on old farmland and are as flat as a pancake and all the houses all look the same. Screw that.

An off-color joke...........

A man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk,
when he comes upon a preacher baptizing people in
the river. He proceeds to walk into the water and
subsequently bumps into the preacher.

The preacher turns around and is almost overcome
by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks the drunk,
"Are you ready to find Jesus?"

The drunk answers, "Yes, I am."

So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water.
He pulls him up and asks the drunk, "Brother have
you found Jesus?"

The drunk replies, "No, I haven't found Jesus."

The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunks him into
the water again for a little longer. He again pulls him
out of the water and asks again. "Have you found
Jesus my brother?"

The drunk again answers, "No, I haven't found Jesus."

By this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks
the drunk in the water again --- but this time holds him
down for about 30 seconds. When he begins kicking his
arms and legs, the preacher pulls him up and again
asks the drunk, "For the love of God have you found Jesus?

The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and
says to the preacher,

"Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

Those little mini-bikes are dangerous. Kinda neat little video clip.

Our son plays World of Warcraft. Thankfully for him nobody else in the family does.

Storm pictures. Wow.

Till later.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Hell is CLOSED..........

I am blatantly stealing this joke from my buddy Hank.............

The following is an actual question from a University chemistry mid-
term exam. The answer by one student was "profound".

The bonus Question was:

Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic(absorbs heat)?

Most students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law
(gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some
variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So
we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the
rate at
which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once
a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls
are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at
the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these
religions state that
if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.
Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do
not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls
go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect
the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because
Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in
Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand
proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which
souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will
increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls
in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell
freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by my friend Teresa during my
first year, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,
and take
into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number
2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has
already frozen
over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen
over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is
therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the
existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa
kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A

All I can say is that joke is funny as ........heck.

Here's a bike race I could win. I go down hills a helluva lot faster then I go up them.

I stopped for gas this morning on the way home from work. I've never put in 45 bucks worth before today. I'm sure glad I only have to fill up once every 2 or 3 weeks. Ouch.

Once I win the lottery, in addition to my fully staffed kitchen stadium, I am gonna have a couple of those upright freezer cases with glass doors like they have in grocery stores. I will have every damn variety of Hagen-Daz ice cream they make. For me, ice cream is like crystal meth is to a drug addict. Only meth makes you skinny and ice cream does the opposite.

You gotta be fuckin' kidding me. If you're offended by my politics...........you might be at the wrooooong blog.

Anybody got a fake skull head like this they wanna sell? I want to put one on my chopper. A real one would be okay to if anyone has one, I just don't wanna have to pay 15 bucks for it.

If I kill it, do I get my 30 bucks back?

Ya like McDonalds? ...........I be liking it too.

Wassup with this shit?

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I'd vote for him.

A page full of "oops".

Till later.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Dinner was on FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!

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Sure ain't no complaining about cold food.

We went to one of those restaurants where they cook all of your food right at the table for dinner last night to celebrate our son's 12th birthday. Man, was that ever cool. If I ever win the lottery, I'm gonna have me one of those set-ups right in my kitchen stadium................chef included. I ate my dinner, half of my moms and half of my mother-in-laws. I'm a pig.

This is a re-post of the Gigapxl Project. Since I last posted this site, they have added more images. Truly one of the coolest websites I've ever seen.

I saw this on the news................The people running the PA Game Commission are idiots. I suppose I don't have much sympathy for anything the PA Game Commission does after PA mountain bikers took it up the poop chute a couple years back when they closed off access to all of their land.

I've never hunted deer in my life (I couldn't bear to shoot Bambi) and have no desire to but I'll be the first guy in line for deer steaks. Too bad the PGC has mismanaged the deer herd.

Stupid criminals............. The hospital staff must of had a good laugh.

Words fail me on this one. Check out the video.

This is another re-post, my mom reads this blog and I told her I would post about this site that is critical of Wal-Mart. They have some new stuff up since I last posted it, so read up-it's a pretty good site.

Been reading some other bike blogs and this guy has some awesome pics with his entrys. I think it's neat that he has a picture of himself from 25 years ago and he still has some of the same bike parts on his current bike.

I'm going to head down to Lake Redman and ride some singletrack and take some pics this weekend, stay tuned.................

Till later.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

More stupid TV.............

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Why is a 42 year old hosting the "Teen Music Awards"? Dear God, I must be getting old, I don't recognize any of the names of the winners.............okay, maybe a couple-but not many. I did happen to catch Jim Carrey surfing down the steps. It sounds funnier then it actually was................

Here's the "stupid people" link of the day.

Why would anyone want a 320 pound subwoofer that is gonna vibrate the paint off of your car?

Here is today's "You gotta be kidding me" link. I say throw the ungrateful old bitch back into the quarry.

Interesting pic in this article but what I see happening is that the Chinese will be sucking up all the oil reserves real soon. 1.3 billion people use a lot of natural resources.

Alan Greenspan is the man.

Winter will be here before you know it.

This guy has a great blog and a highly interesting podcast. If you are a conservative or have the mindset of someone over 35 , just skip this one, because all it's gonna do is piss you off.

The editor of 2600 Magazine is taking a round-the-world trip this summer. Here's his blog starting with the first entry.

Till later.........

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Just in case you forgot................

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Here's what snow looks like.
Our daughter took this pic off the front porch last winter.

Last night, I watched 10 minutes of the most retarded show on television. It's called "Fear Factor". This has to be the most revolting show I have ever seen. I mean seriously, crawl through a trench filled with brine and cow parts?

And then put maggot infested meat in your mouth and carry it back through the trench to put it in a meat grinder and then drink what comes out?

For 50,000 bucks?

You have got to be kidding me.

First off-50,000 bucks ain't near enough money. I wouldn't do it for any less then 5 million bucks. And I would charge more if they wanted to film it for television.

Who the the hell watches this shit?

Television execs are complaining about declining revenues?

No forkin' wonder. Maybe the execs oughta pop their heads outta their asses once and awhile and put out some quality television..................

Gotta change the stem on the Cannondale, it puts the handlebars about 3/4 of an inch too close to the seat. I have my Surly set up exactly how I am comfortable on the bike and the stem I put on the Cannondale last week is the rise I want, but is a tad bit short. That's the beauty of shopping at your LBS, I'm sure it won't be a problem if I bring it back and pick out another one to try. The guys at the shop are totally cool. Mail order is okay but you can't beat the service of your local bike shop.

I listen to quite a few podcasts at work at night, this one is one of my favorites. I don't always agree with what they have to say, but they are always interesting and are never rude to callers. Gotta respect that.

If you don't run Microsoft's "Automatic Updates", it might be a good time to manually update. A new worm is out there. Shouldn't be a big deal, but you can never be too safe or paranoid when it comes to computer viruses.

Saw this on Fark.com.............. today's "art" break.

I am so happy I have a short commute.

Your ass deserves it. Actually, I don't think my ass could tell the difference.

Till later............

Monday, August 15, 2005

Social ride and stuff.............

I hosted an "out and back" social road ride over to Turkey Hill in Lancaster yesterday. I thought we would beat the heat by starting at 8 AM.................Wrong! It's always a good time when you can ride with friends but today it felt like we were riding into the inner ring of hell on the way back. The heat is okay but the humidity makes me sweat like an pig in a bacon factory.

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Best part of the ride is coming back down off of Turkey Hill. I was hoping for 50 mph.

On the way back into York, One of the banks has an outdoor thermometer and it read 92 degrees. We only did 35 miles at a 16mph average but by the time we got back I was ready for a nap.

I tried to watch today's NASCAR race at Watkins Glen.........I can't understand how stock car racing got so popular when there are so many damn commercials. It makes the races almost unwatchable. The cars, the crew's uniforms, the buildings, the graphic overlays on the TV screen are all billboards for advertisers.......so why the hell do I have to watch the same damn commercials every 7 minutes? I only watch 3 or 4 races a year-guess I will have to tape them from now onso I can fast forward through the crap.

I did see that Tony Stewart won the race, which is no surprise considering he has driven just about everything with wheels out there. I wish he would stop trying to climb the fence after he wins, he's gonna fall off sometime and f**k himself up.

Anybody has any good ideas for free photo stitching software ? I have software that will stitch pictures end to end, I want something where I can layer 5 or 6 similar pics on top of each other. I was playing around with layers and different levels of opacity but I really ain't happy with the results. I did take this pic at my brother-in-laws house...........

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I took about 40 pics of the waterfalls with different exposures and aperture settings to get what I wanted.

Let me throw this out there...........I totally support what this woman is doing.

Laura chooses a new chef.............like that's really important.

I don't go to the movies very often. Why?

-4 dollar sodas.

-5 dollars for popcorn.

-Maybe I'm a cheap bastard but I ain't buying a 3 dollar candy bar.

-20 minutes of commercials and "coming attractions".

-don't enjoy sitting with 200 other sweaty humuns.

-don't like to peer around someones head to see my 8 dollar movie.

-most movies out now are shit.

The final reason, the movie will be out on DVD in 3 months and I can buy it for less then it cost to go to watch it. No wonder the studios aren't having a good year.

If anything good came out of Peter Jennings death, this would be it.

This is a neat car.............why not make a minivan with the technology? That way there would be more room for batteries and I could fit my mountain bike inside.

Religion for smartasses.

I'm wondering why "Devil In A Blue Dress" wasn't included...............

till later

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Help me...............


Help me, I'm melting. Posted by Picasa

I officially have the shits of summer. I might pull this post up in January and have second thoughts, but right now..........I'm tired of coming home from work stinky, sticky and sweaty.

It's not like I am dreaming of having my balls froze to the top tube of my Surly when I'm out on a road ride, but I'd at least like to go outside and not start sweating within 10 seconds. It's not the heat that bothers me, I am used to getting hit by a 400 degree blast of air-it's the humidity level that has my misery level pegged.

Had a regular customer stop in last night with her 2 year old. I don't know why, but I identify with little kids and they identify with me for some reason. The fact that I pumped the kid full of cookies probably helped.

We give out free cookies to all kids, kids with crappy manners get stale cookies-kids with good manners get the good stuff....................having good manners does pay.

My pop got a new digital camera yesterday- it's really nice and it's pimped out on memory. He can take over 3000 pictures and not have to take any off the camera. Actually I ordered it for him and it's exactly like mine except his has a shitload more memory then mine.

When he gets comfortable with his camera and learns how to upload some pics to his new blog-I'll put a link up so ya'll can check his work out. I guess I'll have to teach him how to use his new blog too...................actually he doesn't know he has a blog yet, but I'll drag him into the 21rst century.

Should be fun.

Till later.

Friday, August 12, 2005

We have a winner............

I checked here about 5 o'clock yesterday and no one had posted about my computer give-a-way, so I offered it up to one of my riding buddies who just has one computer, a wife and 2 kids that all use it for different stuff. Hope it helps out with their computer log jam.

Great ride last night..........25 miles or so and no back pain. Woo hoo. Changed out the seat on my Cannondale to a Specialized Body Geometry, now I have them on my road bikes and my hardtail. I also bought a new stem that is shorter and slightly higher to raise my position an inch or so. Looks goofy as hell but that's the way I like it and my hands don't go dumb after riding for a couple hours.

Also had my 17 year old nephew along for the ride, I think he coulda kicked my ass at any time-he was just being nice. He's a hell of a rider for only being 17.

Till later.......

Thursday, August 11, 2005

How old? + free stuff

Saw this post over at Oil is for Sissies and it made me think..........will there ever be a time where I say to myself "Am I too old to ride a bike?" I don't ever see me having that conversation with myself , I'll be one of those crusty old bastards riding around on a 3 wheeler bike .

Wow, those folks over in Japan really know how to have fun.

I read about this awhile back.........here's the website. Those PETA folks sure know how to set an example, huh?

How fitting. I wonder if the candle smokes much.

Spent a good hour last night getting my ass handed to me by our son playing one-on-one in the driveway. I have the height advantage right now, but he is one quick 12 year old.

Also fixed the front derailleur on my Cannondale road bike. It's been overshifting right off the big ring. I did have it shifting perfect, but I messed with it for some reason and got it all bunged up. Road bikes with 3 front rings are really hard to get to shift nice and crisp. Out of all my bikes, it's gonna be the first to go to make room for a new mountain bike next year.

If anyone that reads this blog is local and wants a free computer, be the first in the comments section saying ya want it and it's yours. Not 100% sure of how fast it is, but it has WIN 98 SE on it and comes with a 15" monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. I'm pretty sure it has Word and Excel on it as well, I haven't used it for quite some time so I might be wrong. Sue me-it's free. It would be a good computer for an elementary school student.

The sky is definitely gonna be falling because I am heading out for my second road ride of the week tonight. Our club has beginner road rides on occasion and my 17 year old nephew has been wanting to try a group ride. He's probably gonna kick my ass.

My postings on here are going to be getting more irregular now that school is starting back up soon, I won't have very much free time in the mornings after I get home from work............I'll be prying our 12 year old out of bed and getting him fed and on the bus with his sister.

What's the problem? Don't believe the billboard? Go to Google and type in "Worst President Ever" and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.......................

Till later.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Fun at the mall............

Went shopping with our daughter at the mall last night.

Had a great time, haven't had the oppurtunity to spend much time with her this summer due to her being at Pitt for 5 weeks so I really enjoy spending time with her.

It's hard to think that she's gonna be 18 in a couple months. My little girl isn't really a little girl anymore. She's a young adult with a pretty good head on her shoulders.

One thing about going shopping, it's fun to people watch. I can't get my head around some of the stuff that kids wear nowadays. Some of it really isn't clothing, it's more like a uniform.

That and the herds of kids all walking and talking on cellphones makes me laugh inside. They aren't talking with each other-that wouldn't be cool. Maybe they are talking to each other on their phones.

..........Those young whippersnappers:-)

Till later.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Anyone see the new ad campaign for Dove Soap? It's a good ad and they will sell a shitload of soap,but I don't think any of the woman featured in the ad are "big boned", "full featured" or any of that other P.C. bullshit.
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They just look normal to me.

Bring back Dan Quayle. Potato or Potatoe...........who gives a shit? The guy is dumber then a bucket of rocks, but I liked him and besides....... how much more could he screw up stuff then it is already?

Feel the love.

Nice guy. Too bad he smoked. Smoking is slow motion suicide.

This is America's new sport.

Here's 2 minutes of your life you'll never get back.

Dancing breakfast. Pretty cool.

WTF? Article says he was intoxicated. Really?????

Condom recall.

"The Internet Is Forever" Pt 395.............Poor kid. He's gonna be 35 years old and people will still be pulling up that video to embarrass him.

The York County Commissioners could learn something from this guy.

Saw this over at Cleverchimp. I've never had a folding bike and probably never will as it's something I really have no need for one but so whole concept is spot on for folks that travel.

Had a really nice road ride with a buddy yesterday. We went about 25 miles and besides one flat tire-it was smooth sailing. I need to ride as much as my back will let me, I've lost a shitload of fitness this summer.

Only bad part of the ride? We were passed by numerous out-of-state trash trucks on the way to the landfill and I feel for the poor people that live along the roads near the fill site because it smells bad.

How bad?

Bad as in I nearly threw up when one particularly ripe truck passed me. I literally gagged for 30 seconds before I was sure I wasn't going to pitch breakfast. Lots of out-of-state trucks, so if you live in Jersey or NY-bury your own trash where you live ..........not near me.

Gonna turn my old Raleigh into a fixie sometime this fall just for shits and giggles. I'm not brave enough to take both brakes off-gotta have at least a front brake. Anybody have suggestions for front/rear gearing?

The cat loves me..............

My in-laws got back from their trip and came over to pick up their cat. Evidently, the cat likes me more then it likes them bacause the cat immediately hid when it saw my mother-in-law. I had to bring it over later after she had left. It was nice having company this week while my wife and kids were away, but cats shed a metric shitload of hair.

What's wrong with this headline? ...........A 42 year old woman with 14 kids. I'm sorry, but when you don't have enough food to go around or the means to support that many kids..........use some kind of birth control. If you're Catholic-you can still use the Pill, just place it between your knees and keep it there. .........................................and don't bend over.

What's wrong with the way people drive nowadays? The most normal person in the world can turn into Satan whenever they slide behind the wheel. Don't believe me? Go to your nearest church parking lot right when church lets out. When ever I'm out on my bike, I see drivers doing all kinds of stupid stuff to each other. Cutting each other off, pulling out in front of each other, blocking intersections, etc. I only drive about 5 thousand miles a year, so I don't get lots of experience being an asshole..........driving, that is.

If everyone rode a bike once and awhile, shit would be different.

I went into Wal-Mart to buy a couple things and tried to use the do-it-yourself checkout. Not sure what I did but every freakin' time I go in there I have problems. I buggered it up so bad this last time buying a USB cord-it took 2 cashiers, a manager and 5 minutes to fix whatever I screwed up. Wouldn't it be easier to just have registers with cashiers? Yea, I might be a dumbshit, but I am still the customer.

I like Burger King. Couple of reasons......... First off they have pretty good burgers and onion rings. Second, most BK's use a serpentine line system so there is only one line and one cashier. Ever go to McDonald's and get stuck behind some asshole that doesn't know what they want or somebody that orders the entire menu? I hate it when that happens. Besides that, McDonald's food is greasy.

I see this all the time where I work. I'm not the skinnest guy in the world, so I can't say too much............except that if you're fat-do the world a favor and dress appropriately. Nobody and I mean nobody wants to see all that nasty fat hangin' out.

At first glance-this seems like a neat idea. I'm wondering where 20,000 extra people are gonna find jobs though...............

You want bike blogs? Here are 652 of them. I just finished reading this one. In two years I will have 5 weeks of vacation every year, I'd like to take it all at once and do a bike tour down the coast of the Eastern seaboard during the fall and watch the leaves turn.

I really like this car but after watching the video on the web page of it crashing into a full sized Mercedes, I'd feel a whole lot better about driving it if I could bolt a railroad tie on the front. That Merc appeared to come right into the passenger compartment. Could you imagine a Smart car vs a Ford Expedition? It would be ugly.

Haven't posted much of anything lately about riding because I haven't been riding. My sacroiliac joint has been bothering me a bit for the last couple weeks, that coupled with the ungodly humidity means no rides for the donut guy. Since my sacro laid me out flat last year for a couple weeks-I really didn't see a need to do a repeat this year. Plan to do a nice social paced ride later today- really looking forward to it................

Till later.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Real food..........

Since my family is away this week and I've been living on cold pizza and frozen chicken patties, it was really nice to go down to my folks house for a real meal. Had one of my favorites too-beef stroganoff. Yum. Both my parents are very handy in the kitchen-maybe that's how I ended up in the trade I'm in.

My mom is recently retired and my old man is still out there plugging away working at the same company for close to 45 years. Soon time to retire I think, but he likes to get up early in the morning and put in 50 hour work weeks......................find a hobby dad :-)

This thing looks neat as all-get-out. If I spent 5 years building something, I think it would be built on the ground. Can you imagine how pissed you'd be if the tree blew over in a storm?

Off-color pizza. NSFW.

Off-color George Bush. Someone is pretty damn creative with their video editor. (tons of pop-ups)

Wow. I bet this guy had to change his e-mail address...........

From the Washington Post-

Give Grandma a Pass
Politically Correct Screening Won't Catch Jihadists

By Charles Krauthammer

Friday, July 29, 2005; Page A23

Six percent of British Muslims -- more than 100,000 citizens -- thought the July 7 London terror attacks were justified. A quarter of British Muslims merely sympathize with the bombers. Even more shocking, nearly one-fifth of British Muslims say they feel little or no loyalty to Britain. Yet the most disturbing news from the July 23 London Telegraph poll is that these trends are worse among younger British Muslims.

These numbers, attesting to a massive failure of assimilation, are inconceivable in the United States, with its centuries of successful Americanization. This does not mean that there cannot be isolated cells of American Muslims -- or others, such as McVeigh types or antiabortion nuts -- who hate their country and want to attack it. But the massive, teeming suburbs of disaffected and alienated immigrants simply do not exist here.


Which is why, whatever terror attacks might be in our near future, in the long run America is much safer because its enemies overwhelmingly reside overseas.

Britain's problem, however, is not just an alienated minority but also a suicidal civic openness that permits sheiks and imams to openly preach jihad against Britain. The United States, for all of its openness, does not tolerate this kind of treason. Just this month, an imam from Virginia was put away for life for the kind of incitement that makes Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed a sought-after media presence in Britain.

Britain is now desperately trying to correct its never-never land hospitality to agitators and inciters. It is proud of its long history of harboring exiles, misfits and revolutionaries from just about everywhere. After all, Karl Marx lived, wrote and died in London. But 52 victims dead and the near-miss two weeks later are helping Britain place necessity above nostalgia.

The American response to tightening up after London has been reflexive and idiotic: random bag checks in the New York subways. Random meaning that the people stopped are to be chosen numerically. One in every five or 10 or 20.

This is an obvious absurdity and everyone knows it. It recapitulates the appalling waste of effort and resources we see at airports every day when, for reasons of political correctness, 83-year-old grandmothers from Poughkeepsie are required to remove their shoes in the search for jihadists hungering for paradise.

The only good thing to be said for this ridiculous policy is that it testifies to the tolerance and goodwill of Americans, so intent on assuaging the feelings of minority fellow citizens that they are willing to undergo useless indignities and tolerate massive public waste.

Assuaging feelings is a good thing, but hunting for terrorists this way is simply nuts. The fact is that jihadist terrorism has been carried out from Bali to Casablanca to Madrid to London to New York to Washington by young Muslim men of North African, Middle Eastern and South Asian origin.

This is not a stereotype. It is a simple statistical fact. Yes, you have your shoe-bomber, a mixed-race Muslim convert, who would not fit the profile. But the overwhelming odds are that the guy bent on blowing up your train traces his origins to the Islamic belt stretching from Mauritania to Indonesia.

Yet we recoil from concentrating bag checks on men who might fit this description. Well, if that is impossible for us to do, then let's work backward. Eliminate classes of people who are obviously not suspects.

We could start with a little age pruning -- no one under, say, 13, and no one over, say, 60. Then we could exempt whole ethnic populations, a list that could immediately start with Hispanics, Scandinavians and East Asians. Then we could have a huge saving, a 50 percent elimination of waste, by giving a pass to women, except perhaps the most fidgety, sweaty, suspicious-looking, overcoat-wearing, knapsack-bearing young woman, to be identified by the presiding officer.

You object that with these shortcuts, we might not catch everybody. True. But how many do we catch now with the billions spent patting down grandmothers from Poughkeepsie?

You object that either plan -- giving special scrutiny to young Islamic men, or, more sensitively, just eliminating certain demographic categories from scrutiny -- will simply encourage the jihadists to start recruiting elderly Norwegian women.

Okay. We can handle that. Let them try recruiting converts, women and non-usual suspects for suicide missions. That will require a huge new wasteful effort on their part. And, more important, by reducing the pool of possible terrorists from the hundreds of millions to, at most, the tens of thousands, we will have reduced the probability of an attack by a factor of 10,000. Those are far better odds at far less cost to us in money and effort. And infinitely less stupid.



Not a very P.C. way to look at it but it's mostly true. Grandma ain't gonna be packing a bomb. I was listening to an interview on a podcast last night about how NYC cops are searching random people getting on the subway. The guy they interviewed was approached by the police and asked to submit to a search. He refused to let them search him, he left and walked a couple blocks to another subway station where they weren't conducting searches and boarded there. Good job NYPD.

If a terrorist wants to blow something up, they'll find a way. Probably not a popular way to look at it-but that's how it's gone down in the past and I don't see it changing. They might catch 99 out of 100 attempts but they'll never catch all the crazies..........

Till later.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Living dangerously.........

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Not that dangerously though........

I went through my computer and did its monthly clean-up. Deleted about 500 megs worth of junk, checked for spyware, checked the hard drive for errors and defragged. I also went into msconfig and checked out what starts up when I turn this beast on. Lots of stuff that doesn't really need to run got "X"ed off the start-up list and some stuff that I didn't really wasn't sure about got crossed off too.

Musta worked okay because I sittin' here typing this.

My wife and kids are due back this Saturday from Myrtle Beach, I'm glad because it's kinda lonely with just the cat here for company. I don't really go to alot of trouble making anything to eat, so it's leftover Domino Pizza and frozen chicken patties for me and some of the smelliest cat food in the world for the cat. Not sure why cat food is so damn smelly, just glad I don't have to eat it. No wonder cat shit smells so bad.

I had second thoughts about posting this link. It has a really cute girl with huge boobs driving a Ferrari. The first half of the video is awesome if you have a good sound system with a subwoofer on your computer.Crank it UP!!! The sound of the car driving through the tunnels is way cool. The second half kinda turns into a swimsuit shoot.

Yeah, I watched the whole thing.

Twice.

Chopper alert. I have a soft spot for cool looking bikes. Most of those will probably never get ridden-they are more "art" then bike............that's totally cool but I ride my chopper:-)

Steve and Lori aren't getting my vote next election. York needs more recreational opportunities not less. York County has too many fat-asses already.

This is a damn good idea. Since I go through a vehicle every 10 to 12 years-it's gonna be awhile until I buy one though.

I never noticed a decline in the amout of donuts I made when Atkins was popular.

Reason?

It's the theory of "One small treat won't hurt"........Judging by the size of some of our customers, maybe it should be "2 dozen donuts won't hurt" We have some fat customers.

Not sure I would upgrade to this when it comes out next year- Probably wait until I get a new computer in a couple years.....Everyone said Windows ME was crap but I have a spare computer that runs it okay 99% of the time.

Intelligent Design? Whatever, but doesn't George Bush have enough shit to worry about over in Iraq to waste what little intelligence he does have on this right now?

I'm not a computer hacker or anything but there is a lot of good info on this site if you are interested by how things work. Check out the lecture page.

Till later.

This could be fun..........

This site could be fun..........

A joke.........

A lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a Cop. Being a typical lawyer, he thinks he is smarter than the Cop so he decides to have some fun at the Cop’s expense.

Cop says, "License and registration, please."

Lawyer says, "What for?"

Cop says, "You didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign."

Lawyer says, "I slowed down, and no one was coming."

Cop says, "Exactly! License and registration, please."

Lawyer says, "What's the difference?"

Cop says, "The difference is the law says you have to come to a full and complete stop. License and registration, please!"

Lawyer says, "I’ll make you a deal. If you can show me the legal difference between slowdown and stop, I'll give you my license and registration and you can give me the ticket. If not you let me go and no ticket."

Cop says, "Certainly. Exit your vehicle, sir."

At this point, the Cop takes out his nightstick and starts beating the ever-loving crap out of the Lawyer. All the while, the Cop kept saying...

"DO YOU WANT ME TO STOP OR JUST SLOW DOWN?"

8,000 copies. I really feel bad for the guy. Not.

I'm with Lauren.

I'm not a girl but I can't imagine having a string wedged up your ass crack is very comfortable.

I don't believe him.

I love "Drinking with Bob" He might not always be P.C. but he's always funny.

Holy crap-I think it was 900 degrees yesterday when I decided to get all my yardwork done so I could ridey ride my mountain bike with the boys tonight. It's supposed to be hot as hell today too. Beats the shit outta winter though.............

Till later.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Shitty roads, dogs and cats.

Heard a really interesting podcast from Trucker Tom concerning how lousy Pennslyvania roads are. Since I've lived here my entire life, I really have no frame of reference to compare our roads to other states.

I do know they ain't the greatest as far as traffic congestion. Usually I am going so slow-the crappy pavement isn't an issue. Would I be willing to pay more for better roads?

Nope.

I think the state legislature should do a better job managing the money we already send them. Not sure where the hell all the money goes but maybe they need to do a re-think on their priorities.

As far as stuff like bike lanes? To be honest-I'm not for them. I would rather have a fairly wide paved shoulder on all roads. In our center city, most streets are too narrow for them anyways..........

The rest of my family is down at Mrytle Beach this week, me and the in-laws cat have the house to ourselves. Cats are way different then dogs. While I like cats-they do have a mind of their own. Ever try and call a cat? It just looks at you and walks away in another direction.

Dogs, on the other hand will come right over to you but dogs will hump your grandma's leg when she comes over to visit so I suppose it's a wash. I'm also watching my sister-in-laws cats this week. She has 3 of them and one of them was supposed to be locked up in a bathroom. Unfortunately-it bolted the second I cracked open the door and God knows where the hell it went.

Oops.

The little bastard will probably end up shitting on something valuable.

Till later.........

Monday, August 01, 2005

This is fun.............

Some of the links in this entry might not be work safe or might have pop-up ads, so if you don't have pop-up blocking software or off color stuff makes you get your underwear all twisted up in a wad................skip this blog entry.

Try this link and make your own Google search page. I'm famous.

I like this idea. Except for hosing off the dog shit.

I suppose just because you have a lot of money, doesn't mean you have to be very smart. Most Americans already follow this diet..........most any meal at McDonalds would fit the description.

This is worrisome. Here's what I don't understand...........If the average cop can catch and pull over someone-how can the military lose 3 guys when they have way more manpower, high tech stuff and really big guns.

Here's another thing I don't understand...........why this company is still in business. I guess the market for 300 dollar baskets hasn't dryed up quite yet.

I can't believe my eyes. Pretty neat stuff.

Breathing difficulties and they were purple as well.

Cop shaped hole. SFW video on a NSFW website.

Packed for vacation.

Celebrities now and then. Kinda fun. The "next page" thingie is at the top of the page which is pretty stupid.

Hispanic shooting range. Not politicly correct whatsoever. Don't get pissed at me-I don't create these dumbass sites-I just link'em.

Give me one hand and 30 seconds with one of these and I'll have it smashed into tiny pieces. I hate puzzles.

You know you're a redneck when this seems like a good idea.

When I win the lottery- this is my bike. Don't know how much it costs, but it's more then I have.

Cats and dogs too? What a sick bastard.

Mom of the Year. They should take her a good 40 miles out of town and drop her off.

Here's a very un PC site if you are a Bush supporter. Guess which side of the fence I'm on?...........the side with all the signs.

Cool video about a scuba diving cat and dog.................. seriously. I am watching my in laws cat this week-she a real people person-she follows me all over the house............
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Smokey is probably blind after looking directly into the flash.

Here's a whole page of bike videos. The one I have linked is my favorite.

I like the way this fellow bike blogger thinks...........

Read this if you bike commute or are even a casual rider. I couldn't agree more.

I have some more links to add to my links section, I will get around to it this week. If anyone wants me to link their site and I don't currently have a link posted-just shoot me an e mail.........

Back to work tonight...........time to make the donuts.

Till later.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Back from Pittsburgh...........

Went out to the University of Piitsburgh to pick our daughter from Governors School for Healthcare. Lots and lots of very smart kids.

The director said something like 110 of the best and brightest kids in PA. And my kid is one of them.

From Carlisle Pa to just outside of Pittsburgh there is a whole lot of this......
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Lots and lots of open spaces punctuated by small clusters of houses.

I saw a couple of trails leading off into the woods at different places- I kinda wish I could of rode some of them.

Here's the view out my hotel window.................
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I've never been to Pittsburgh before, man that place is hilly! Looks like I might be going back to the area quite a bit in the next few years-our kid really like it out there and she is looking at several schools in the area.

Sunday is my last day of vacation, I think I am gonna be spending it doing yardwork and taking a nice leisurely mountain bike ride .................

Till later.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Technology..............

I love gadgets. I was one of the first people in the family to buy a computer and hook up to the internet. I think that was back in 1994 right before Win 95 came out-anybody remember Windows for Workgroups 3.11? Yikes, we sure have come along way since then.

Yesterday I helped a family friend get her fairly new computer up to date and helped her set up some new programs. She had a family member fairly accomplished in computers help her set it up but they plugged one of the color coded cables into the wrong color hole so she hasn't had sound up until yesterday.

Oops.

As easy as computers have become to use-they are still intimidating to someone new to them. Most older folks think of computers as something locked away behind glass doors that only guys with pocket protectors operate. For the most part-that's not true anymore-as long as someone has a good firewall, up to date anti-virus, spyware software and pop up blockers..........(did I forget anything?)

Well maybe it isn't as easy as it sounds but if someone has a fairly intelligent geek in the family(that would be me I think)-it's not that hard to set up a computer.

If you are using a podcatcher client-this article might be of interest to you.

If you are my father and you're reading this, check this bike out.
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How can you go wrong for 380 bucks? Everyone should have a back-up bike.

Check out this lawnmower. 2,300 dollars? Holy shit, that amount of money would buy close to 2 dozen of the Wal-Mart mower I use currently.

I need one of these. How over the top is that? Damn thing probably shoots snow a 1/4 of a mile.

I think I would soil myself if this happened to me. Check out the rest of the site-really cool pics and ya'll might learn something too.

Till later..........