Gitz Ewe Sum Smartz..........

Economically speaking.

Here's some interesting stuff for ya. It'll require a bit of time but I think it's in your best interest to read it. Your Mileage May Vary and all that.

How Hyperinflation Will Happen.

Hyperinflation, Part II: What It Will Look Like

I haven't gotten to Part II yet. Been busy here today. So far it's pretty interesting.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Evening-

Monday Morning. Post MotoGP............

The Race weekend was a success. Got to see a ton of good racing and all the cool stuff that goes with an event like this.

Met folks from Italy, Venezuela, Germany and Japan yesterday. MotoGP really is a world class event and it's pretty cool that Indianapolis is able to host this race.
They are signed for next year but after that, I don't know.

Compared to an Indy 500 race there were a lot of empty seats. Not what you would see elsewhere in the world for an event like this.

I guess it's a bit like Soccer. Huge other places but not there yet in the USA. At least not yet.

Our house guest just hit the road for points North. Nice guy and we all had a nice visit.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Morning-
Evolution.

Off to the Races............

Off to Indianapolis to watch the qualification runs for the MotoGP tomorrow.

Have had out of town visitors the last few days.

The youngest boy met former World Champion Nicky Hayden the other day while at work.
Pretty cool that.




Thinking about going to the Indy Mile Flat Track Race tonight also.
Not sure of that one. Makes for a hell of a long day. We'll see.

OK, gotta hit the road.

Gratuitous Picture for a Race Weekend-

Paddock Girls!

Quick Pre-Work Video.........


H/T - Theo Spark


Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Morning-

Monday Night.............

The Weekend shift in the ER was,,,,,,,, Interesting. The full moon effect was already pulling on peoples heads and making for some strange behavior and strange patient complaints. Privacy lawsd do not let me elaborate much on this stuff nowadays. Just not a good idea.

Which is a damn shame because there is a lot of funny ass shit that goes on that I'd love to share with you. People are Nucking Futz on good days and the full moon just makes 'em Nuttier.

I had to go in for a training class today and will be working 12 hours tomorrow so don't expect much till Wednesday. Of course, I'll be trying to catch up on all the shit I'm behind on and .................. Yeah, you get the picture.

QueenBuffness has been laid up with a bit of a health problem as of late. Nothing life threatening, but enough to keep her off her feet. Poor timing.
There's a whole lot of Tomatoes and Pears that ain't gonna get canned this year. The Chickens and Ducks are enjoying the bounty and laying eggs like crazy so I guess that's the upside.

Looks like we'll be having to buy some canned goods though to make up for the loss. Thank God for Aldi and Save-a-Lot stores.

The 2nd crop of Green Beans shouldn't be in for several weeks yet so we should be good to go by then. That'd be one hell of a loss.
It could be worse.

Not that many years ago losing crops like that meant you starved so I'm not gonna get to worked up here.
Much more important that the wife is ok.

It's an absolutely beautiful evening out and I'm gonna go sit outside now and enjoy a bit of it. Hope y'all can too.
See ya in a day or 2.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Evening-

Two Words About This..............

Hell & No.

As in, HELL NO!!!!!!!!!

David Codrea brings this exciting tech product to my attention.

"Iris Scanners Create the Most Secure City in the World. Welcome, Big Brother"


"We've all seen and obsessively referenced Minority Report, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopian future, where the public is tracked everywhere they go, from shopping malls to work to mass transit to the privacy of their own homes. The technology is here. I've seen it myself. It's seen me, too, and scanned my irises.

Biometrics R&D firm Global Rainmakers Inc. (GRI) announced today that it is rolling out its iris scanning technology to create what it calls "the most secure city in the world." In a partnership with Leon -- one of the largest cities in Mexico, with a population of more than a million -- GRI will fill the city with eye-scanners. That will help law enforcement revolutionize the way we live -- not to mention marketers.

"In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris," says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years," he says."

Not Fucking Likely, Asshole.

Yes, I can see how this would be a hell of a tool for merchants. You don't even have to be half the, Paranoid, Tinfoil Hat (Shiny Side Out, BTW) wearing, Lunatic that I am to see how friggin WRONG this shit is.

Not a chance this would be abused, right? Right?????
Nah, it's all good.

According to the Follow Up Article, this same Asshole, Jeff Carter has this to say - "So we've even worked with three-letter agencies on technology that can capture 30-plus feet away. In certain spaces, eventually, you'll be able to have maybe one sensor the size of a dime, in the ceiling, and it would acquire all of our irises in motion, at a distance, hundreds--probably thousands as computer power continues to increase--at a time."

So the Bastards will GET your info whether you give them permission or not.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong!?!?!?

Seriously, is it any wonder I have such disdain for most of the human race? This MoFo is absolutely gleeful about this shit.
Some people just need to be dumped into a Louisville Slugger mixer, set it to Frappe and push the start button. Just for being this big an asshole.

Read both of the articles. Neither is very long but you should take the time to read them.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Night-

All You Airplane Geeks out there - You'll Like This.............

2009 Edwards AFB Open House



A great series of pictures - AND - There are flyby sounds you can hear of a shitload of cool planes!

Lots of good stuff. Check it out.

H/T to Theo Spark

And since we're on the subject of airplanes and Warbirds-

I hope you've been following the Battle of Britain Day by Day I told you about awhile back. This was Indeed, Britons finest hour. You can hear Winston Churchill's speech on this subject at the 2nd link there.
EDIT - No you can't. The audio link above is gone.

But since it's August 20th, perhaps it's a better time for this quote anyway.
From his speech 70 years ago today regarding the Heroes of the RAF - "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"

There is a link there at the bottom of the Wiki page to an audio recording if you're feeling lucky. I will try it later when I can take the time to enjoy it. I've heard it before, if you haven't, take some time to listen to what a REAL MAN, who wrote his own speeches and Didn't Need A Teleprompter, sounds like.

OK. Worked late last night. Got up late this morning.
I need to put some pants on and get something done around here.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Morning-
Sums it up nicely for me.

Not That We Need Anything Else to Worry About But...............

Howz about This - "Doctors brace for more cases as Indian superbug hits Canada"

"At least two Canadians have become infected with a dangerous new superbug from India that is spreading around the world, partly due to medical tourism.

The superbug, which is resistant to almost all antibiotics, has Canadian public-health experts bracing for outbreaks.

“There will be others. It’s just a matter of time,” said Dylan Pillai, a medical microbiologist at the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. “It’s just the nature of the beast.”

Researchers reported dozens of cases of British, Indian and Pakistani patients who contracted infections caused by bacteria harbouring an enzyme called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Wednesday."

Swell. Just what we need. I deal with MRSA infections every single day that I work.
Back when I was in school, MRSA was the "Superbug" everyone was worried about.

Then VRE showed up and everyones ass cheeks tightened up a little more. VRE has been the, "Thing who's name will not be spoken" in the USA. As far as I know, and I will admit, I don't stay on top of these SuperBugs, VRE has been limited in it's spread.

Like I say, as far as I know. I do know this - We need another drug resistant bug like I need another asshole.

Our government has decided to take the low road on health care. Everyone will get some but only the elite will get the best care. That's gonna be great till the decrease in funding on research along with the FDA refusal to allow new drugs on the market comes home in a few years or so.

I know that everytime I get a spot on me I immediately think I've finally hit the MRSA jackpot. Shit. That' shits treatable - now. No telling WTF it's gonna be like in a few years.

Oh well. Maybe we'll just have to go back to quarantine and avoidance. That does work but the lag time between exposure and outbreak makes it difficult to determine where or when the hell you got exposed.

My point is, there are no easy answers when dealing with these little bastard bacteria.

Carry hand sanitizer when you go out and use it after you touch doors, shopping carts, etc.

Gotta hit the sack. Work tomorrow. You'd be well served to research this sort of thing now and plan accordingly. Plan on spending a lot of time alone.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-

This is Kinda Neat..........

From The Daily Mail -
"History revisited as 20 Shire horses haul 16-ton Titanic anchor through Midlands just as their forebears did 99 years ago"

"A procession of Shire horses dragging a 16-ton replica of the Titanic anchor has recreated history 99 years after the event.

The £50,000 anchor is an exact copy of the one used on the ill-fated ship in 1911 and was towed from Dudley to Netherton, yesterday.

The original anchor was cast by Hingley’s of Netherton and was hauled to the old Dudley train station by shire horses in 1911."


Not sure if spending that much for a replica was so wise but it's neat to see a 20 horse team in action. I'd like to see video of this.

Yep. I dig work horses.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Morning-

Tuesday Morning Internet Awesome...............

It seems that the Eldest Son, TherapyBoy, has a WEBSITE now. He stopped by this morning and shows me this incredible video. Just shows you what talent and to much free time can accomplish!



I'll have to add the Kids link to the sidebar.

The weather here today is absolutely perfect so I'm going for a ride on theBigBluePlasticMotorcycle. Later!

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Morning-

Lazy Monday..........

Don't think I accomplished a single thing other than the daily chores today.
Don't feel all that bad about it either. I feel pretty wore out from the weekend in the ER and that's what kept me down all day.

Damn, I'm getting old or something. We've had a few weeks now where there are just an unbelievable number of sick MoFos that decide they need to be in the ER at the same time.

Whew!! Wearing my old ass out. Don't know if it's this extremely hot weather we've been having all Summer or what, but it's been bad for everyone concerned.

Even the Wife has been having problems. Has a damn blood clot in her leg. Thankfully it's just a superficial one and not in one of the big vessels, but she's still off her feet an not able to process any of the things that are coming in from the garden now.

Oh well. It could be worse. I can always buy some Tomato sauce............ Well, I COULD buy a new wife too but that seems like a hell of a lot more trouble and work than I need right now. Best to stick with what ya know.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Night-
This is probably be my luck.

That Looks Just Like Your Motorcycle.............
Except it's.......... CLEAN!

Or so said the Wife today. It was ANOTHER 98 degree day out there today and after picking Tomatoes for canning I headed into the garage to be out of the sun.

I had dropped the new front tire off along with the wheel at the tire guys yesterday and picked it up this morning early. I was dicking around and doing 3-4 things at the same time while I was putting the wheel back on the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle and things were just not going well.

None of the things I was trying to accomplishlish were really going as planned and with the heat, it was 92 degrees at 10:30 this morning, I was getting a bit testy. No, I was bitching and complaining pretty good.

Decided to just quit bouncing around from one thing to the other and focus on getting things done one at a time.

Good call that was. Once I knocked out the little shit I whipped the wheel replacement out and realized that it didn't seem quite so hot when I was working on one thing at a time. SCIENCE!!!!!
Amazing. I've only removed & replaced that front wheel a dozen times since I've owned this bike. Geeezuzz. This ain't rocket science.

I was done being out in the Sun at this point and since I had all of the Plastic off of the Motorcycle I got the can of PLEXUS out of the saddlebags and started cleaning things up.
Plexus is the best thing ever in getting bugs off of your bike. I have know idea how it works but it just sort of, melts bugs off and you wipe them off from there.

Totally cool.

I sat there in the garage and did about as good a cleaning as I ever do on things and spent an hour or so cleaning the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle up as I put each piece of the fairing back on .

Darn glad I only have 2 pieces of chrome on that thing. I average cleaning this thing about once every 18 months and ride a shit load of gravel roads and through a lot of mud so you can imagine what this looks like regularly. I like to think of it as a, "Working Mans" look.

I could never own a custom chrome cruiser bike because of how it would look after a few months of my riding and cleaning habits. I'd be better off with taking a rattle can of flat black primer and coating everything as soon as I got it home from the dealer. No way in hell I could keep all that chrome clean and shiny. just would never happen.

The wife canned a couple dozen jars of Tomatoes and I got things squared away on the bike. Win all around.

TherapyBoy, that's the eldest son, came by and took me out for dinner later.

Perfect. Just what I needed.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Night-

Look! Up in the Sky..............

It's a Bird! It's a Plane!
IT'S A METEOR SHOWER!!!

Get out in the dark tonight and look to the sky. I may take a nap this afternoon so I can keep my ass awake out there. It's currently 97 degrees outside so it's not like the nap is gonna effect productivity much around here today.

In Other News- I pulled the front wheel off the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle this morning and took it and the new tire down to get it swapped out. Got there a bit late and will have to go back for it in the morning. My bad. Should have gotten my self going a bit earlier.

While in town, I stopped by the local Glass and Mirror place and got a sheet of Lexan to make another windshield with.

This one is gonna be real short so I can get some air on these hot days we've been having. Between the excessive heat and the worn out front tire I haven't been riding near enough lately.
The homemade one that's on there now is only 1/2 the size of the factory shield and in this weather still blocks to much wind.
I'm sure it'll suck in the rain but that's what a helmet is for. Maybe I need one of those little 1/2 helmets for this time of year.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Afternoon-

Rain Maker............

Finally got a little this afternoon. About a month late for a lot of things and not enough, but better than nothing.
I broke down last week and bought a sprinkler and a new hose so I could water the Green Beans I planted a few weeks ago that were looking pretty sick. Hate to use water I have to pay for but what ya gonna do, let 'em die? Of course it rained a bit later that same day.

I watered things again this morning as I was picking Pears and Navy beans to dry. And it rained again this afternoon! This is cruel. I'm not sure what it costs me to water things out in the garden but I know it ain't cheap.

Maybe I should just pretend to water stuff and see if that works next time!


Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-

Quick Post..............

How Strange is it that these lard ass types do shit like this?


Here's 2 Photo Links for you to enjoy. I love looking at this stuff.

Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943 That's from the First Great Depression.



Captured: The Pacific and Adjacent Theaters in WWII



Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Night-

There Should Probably Be a Heat Warning..........
That tells you when it's, "So damn hot you can't even sit in the shade and drink beer kinda Hot."

Hit 98 degrees today. Yeah, the humidity has dropped some, but damn. Hot out there today.

This weekend in the ER was an absolute friggen' asskicker. I stayed over a couple of hours last night because it was just so damn busy I couldn't abandon those guys. We had multiple "Really sick MoFo's" and a ton of, Not really emergencies, but folks who THOUGHT their problem demanded that they present to the ER for "IMMEDIATE" treatment. Which means they also think that "They are the only person in the universe who requires treatment - NOW!"

I wish it were possible (Read- Legal) to take these type of self centered assholes over to the room where the guy with esophageal varices was spraying blood and clots across the entire room as he vomited - every 5 minutes or so- and point out to them, "THAT is an Emergency! You have a minor medical problem and ain't gonna die anytime soon. Asshole!"

Of course we can't do or say any such shit like that as it may be construed as being, "Rude or Insensitive" and may offend the tender sensibilities of our clientele.

People just don't seem to give a shit that there are other folks who really may die if we don't take care of them immediately. The twisted ankle, kid with a fever (who they didn't bother to give any tylenol to), upset stomach, etc, all think they are more in need of our time than the guy having the friggin' "Big One"!

It may be difficult for normal people to appreciate how it feels to have some asshole sticking his head into a room in the middle of a code and complaining about how long he's been waiting while you're in the middle of doing chest compressions on a dude that was alive and talking to you just a minute earlier.

And they STILL DON'T GET IT!

OK. That's not correct. They do get it. They just don't give a shit.
It's getting harder for me to take that shit from self centered assholes anymore. The problem is, there's more of them everyday.

That's a true story & happened a few years ago. Some asshole really did stick his head in a room during the middle of a code and bitch at me while I was doing chest compressions, about what was taking so long and why hadn't we fixed his little problem yet.

Really, how the hell are you supposed to even answer someone like that?

Same bullshit with the folks who need stitches but have multiple piercings and tattoos and then complain about how thsy are "Afraid of needles." Oh, fuck me running! If you have a God Damn TONGUE piercing, I don't want to hear about your fucking, "Fear of needles" problem!

And folks wonder why EMS personnel have bad attitudes.

I don't hold out a whole lot of hope for our nation. There's no way things can turn out well when we have assholes like this around and there are still laws that prohibit us from killing these, Useless Parasites whenever encountered.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Night-

Exciting Technology for Safer Riding.........

Leave it to the Germans to come up with technology like this for motorcyclists.



H/T to Roger, The Real King of France who I shamelessly stole this from.

Gratuitous Picture for a Saturday Night/Sunday Morning-

65 Years Ago Today..........

BOOM!!!!



And things have never been the same.



Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Morning-
For Clint.

Thursday Morning............

Got a little shower here this morning. Not as much as we needed but any rain is better than what we've had lately.

Finished up shelling out the Black Beans this morning. Didn't get a huge amount, 7 lbs, but I only planted one 4x14' bed so that's a pretty decent amount from a single bed.
The wife, QueenBuffness knows what to do with them, too! She made an asskick meal from some of last years Black Beans the other night.

She's really become a darn good cook since I first married her. It's amazing that I'm not fat as a hog.

Here's a little something to piss you off this morning-

Fallen Soldiers' Families Denied Cash as Insurers Profit

"The package arrived at Cindy Lohman’s home in Great Mills, Maryland, just two weeks after she learned that her son, Ryan, a 24-year-old Army sergeant, had been killed by a bomb in Afghanistan. It was a thick, 9-inch-by- 12-inch envelope from Prudential Financial Inc., which handles life insurance for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Inside was a letter from Prudential about Ryan’s $400,000 policy. And there was something else, which looked like a checkbook. The letter told Lohman that the full amount of her payout would be placed in a convenient interest-bearing account, allowing her time to decide how to use the benefit.

“You can hold the money in the account for safekeeping for as long as you like,” the letter said. In tiny print, in a disclaimer that Lohman says she didn’t notice, Prudential disclosed that what it called its Alliance Account was not guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its September issue."
(Bold mine)

Yeah, No FDIC Insurance & they're making 3% by holding it for ya. Ain't that swell.

Rotten Bastards. I hope the Sonovabitch that came up with that idea ends up with a family of Angry, Rabid Weasels stuffed down the front of his pants.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Dumb asses.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Morning-

You caption this one. I know what my first thought was.

My, How Time Flies................

Here it is Wednesday Afternoon already.
Sorry about the lack of posts or pictures lately.

Things have been busy here at the old, Command and Control Bunker this week. It was 98 degrees out there today so not much got done outside. The heat about got me in only the short time I did work outside today.

I'll have to get up before sunrise and be ready to go as soon as I can see tomorrow.

I had to break down and water the garden today. We haven't had a decent rain in weeks and the plants were starting to go belly up. I've got Black Beans drying out on a screen door insert laid across a couple of horses outside and heat like this should dry 'em out even with the humidity levels out there.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Evening-