Flipping Comedian

Part of my job as a medical courier is to pack some specimens in dry ice for shipment. We get our dry ice in blocks that need to be pulverized before going into a Styrofoam container. In the picture you can see a block of dry ice and the precision tool we use to pulverize the dry ice. 

Scottsbluff, NE. I am pulverizing the dry ice. Sweet little old lady comes up to me and says, "Sir, I think it is already dead".  She then smiles sweetly and goes on her way leaving me going, "Uh,  uh .....". Bitch!

Reflections

Thinking back on the nine or so hours spent in a ditch in a Prius hasn’t been fun. Humility isn’t my strong suit.

The spring storm wasn’t technically a blizzard but when your vehicle is slowly being buried by drifting snow the distinction is moot.

All these years of packing a winter survival pack paid off. Sure was glad to have that balaclava while out in 35+ gusting winds.

Cell phones are a great comfort.

The habit of keeping the fuel tank topped off paid off.

Our family trait of not quitting and pressing on can be over done. That road closed sign doesn’t apply just to pilgrims.

While I’ll drive a car with traction control that can’t be turned off if I’m paid to do so, I will never own one, ever. Had I been able to turn off the traction control, I could have gotten back on the road. I have years of experience getting unstuck and know several ways of doing so.

My ever loving sister will never let this incident be forgotten, ever.

Need to have reading material in the survival bags, both the winter and the summer bags.

Having the ability to pay a tow truck on the spot paid off.

Having a taste of what a refugee faces makes me determined to never be a refugee.

In spite of all our modern “progress”, Mother Nature can damn well kill you, and in short order.

Before summer arrives, need to unpack and check the contents of the summer survival bag. At the same time check the winter bag before putting it away.

I take no comfort in the hundreds of motorists who found themselves in my situation.  I’m better than that, damnit! (Yeah, I can hear my sister snort) The tow trucks are still pulling out abandoned vehicles.

Occasionally you come across the phrase, “Africa wins again!” Perhaps we should have our own phrase, “Winter wins again!”

Focus Groups

All the smart people use focus groups, right? Well, except for Donald Trump.

Several decades in the retail car biz made me a cynic about focus groups. We would get called into training sessions where the car company “suits” would waste our oxygen going over the results of their latest focus groups. Since I met only two or three “suits” I would have hired for my crew I didn’t spend a lot of mental energy on their presentations.

One mean, nasty, rude and graceless manager I worked for was also the one I made the most money with.

In the sales process, the salesperson makes a presentation to the customer then returns to the “tower” (the back and forth customers “hate). The exchange would go like this.

“Boss, the customer wants, blah, blah, blah……”

Kinsman, “I don’t give a fuck what the customer WANTS. Find out what the fuckers will DO.”

Therein is the weakness of focus groups. They are “wish” forums.  And, as Art Kinsman would say, “Wish in one hand and shit in the other. See which one fills first”.

So along comes Trump (see, I do get to a point) who ignores the whole industry of tea leaf readers and their sophisticated tools and goes for the throat.

“Hey, American public, what will you do right now”?  Kinsman would have loved him.

No Fun, Not At All

Went off the road in a whiteout about 0600. Got pulled out at 1530. Quality time in a Prius. Too old for this. Will look at your posts tomorrow.

Bob White, R.I.P.

This picture is from 1958. In honor of the Colorado Centennial, a lot of men grew beards.

My father passed March 21, 1985 from heart failure. In hindsight, undiagnosed sleep apnea was the underlying cause. Age 64.

He was a good and honest man. Given to outbursts of temper, he seemingly didn’t hold grudges on a personal level. He grew up in the Great Depression in a “Grapes of Wrath” level of poverty. His own father died when he was 16.

For many years he supplemented the family income by shoeing horses and was highly regarded as a fairer. As a horseman, he had few peers. He had a gift for languages and came back from the China India Burma theater speaking several variations of Hindustani (which was his favorite for cussing). Later he acquired peon Spanish and a working vocabulary of Navajo.

As a hunter he had few equals. Best shot I’ve ever seen. We would go to the range and I would kill paper way better than him. A bunch of elk running through aspen? I killed trees and he dropped meat.

The night he died I was sleeping in a motel in Yakima, WA and had a strange dream I never had before or since. I seem to be immune to any kind of paranormal experiences so it sticks in my mind.

Like most folks who has lost a parent  I miss him and wish we had more time together. 

Pissing Off (P)regressives

My Facebook posting was not well received.

Thought to ponder. The 60's and 70's radicals are the 21st Century Establishment.

This election cycle has seen a number of folks "unfriending" me. Pussies can't stand anyone calling them on their bullshit. They seem to need a safe place to keep from having their feelings hurt. On Facebook?

I am rapidly becoming persona non grata in the People's Republic of Boulder. Oh well.

Snort

From a grandson's Facebook page.

Speaking of grandsons.

Yeah, I'm Depraved

This made me laugh. Shamelessly stolen from Dysfunctional Veteran on Facebook.

Damn Drunks

This morning one of the hospitals we service had a belligerent drunk in the Emergency Room. The town is too small to support a detox facility. I felt so sorry for the staff trying to deal with him. A Deputy was standing by to haul his sorry ass to jail once the medical staff cleared the transfer.

I don't have a problem with people who over indulge but keep their manners (and aren't on the road). The assholes get to me. In the younger days when working crowd control, I enjoyed throwing their sorry asses out. I wouldn't have made it as a police officer, lacking more than rudimentary tolerance.

But WSF, what kind of drunk are you? Sunshine, I don't need alcohol to be obnoxious.

End of rant. YMMV

Life in a (P)gressive City

http://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2016/03/04/come-on-denver-city-attorney-who-didnt-work-a-day-in-2015-gets-another-raise/

Climate Change Shamans

Once again WSF goes wandering down a murky path. You have been warned.

Trying to stay awake on the road, turned on the radio and came across an individual preaching “climate change”.   Said it is the, “Biggest threat to us as a species”. As he went on, the message I heard was only he and his fellow “scientists” and useful idiots could save us. Damned if he didn’t sound just like an evangelical preacher spouting fire and brimstone.

History is replete with shamans, priests, witches/wiccans, druids, etc. While a source of good (medicine, morals, laws) they have also been focused on gaining power over their fellows. That brings wealth, status, and good sex to them while they promise various rewards to those they seek to dominate. Someone please tell me I’m full of shit.

Climate change?  Hell yes, it has been happening for eons. Will we suddenly become Venus? Will we enter another Ice Age?  Will all the frozen methane on the sea beds be released suddenly? Will the ocean currents suddenly reverse course? Will the magnetic poles suddenly reverse polarity? You don’t know, I don’t know, and these “climate change” scaremongers for damn sure don’t know. What the scare mongers do know is there is money and power to be had if their “message” is believed by enough people. Many of them could make a living writing scripts for horror films.

Take for example this gem.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/scientists-earth-endangered-by-new-strain-of-fact-resistant-humans

I get it that this is satire. I also get the people who find this humorous also believe it.

I’m reminded of another little gem.

 If we can’t use the power of persuasion, we’ll use the persuasion of power.”

Andy Stern, Former SEIU International President

I don’t doubt for a minute that, if available, force won’t be used to advance the “climate change” shaman’s agenda.

There are two real dangers here.

First, the loss of our freedoms and property.

Second, the boy who cried wolf. So much bullshit has been spread that a real and serious threat won’t be believed.

One last swipe at “settled science”.  I read where someone drilled down on one claim. The scientific organization has a membership of around 6,000. 79 members, out of 6,000 were surveyed. The results were published as to imply all 6,000 members were in agreement.

As always YMMV.

Belly Flapping Principal, Political Divison

My late father was a great proponent of what he called, “The Belly Flapping Principal”.  Short version, nothing changes your perspective and motivation like hunger.

So now WSF is tripping down the road of Presidential election politics. Why not? All the cool bloggers are doing it.

Many people see their financial lives eroding. The older ones see their children and grand children struggling. The “millenniums” sense they are screwed. Lots of belly flapping going on now, and lots more on the horizon. People want answers. They want solutions.

Bernie Sanders promises relief using other people’s money. Trump promises to, “Make America Great Again”.  

All of the other candidates are offering, “Same shit, different day”.  First order of the day is protecting the vested interests.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Abraham Lincoln

Of course Abe lived in an age without sophisticated “spin doctors”.

Where will it all end? Damned if I know. Lots of people a whole lot smarter than me can’t answer that question.

YMMV