Guard Dog

Considering where I'm going on vacation in November. I have it down to two choices. Either I go to southern Egypt & Ethiopia to take up the search for the lost Ark of the Covenant. Or I could go to Florida and do some fishing. I'm sort of leaning towards the latter. The former sounds expensive, I can't bring my dog, and there's no fishing.

Outstanding!

It sounds less like a safe space and more like a brainwashing workshop where white students can be taught the proper level of self loathing. And the best part is, everyone hates the idea anyway! If I could a give a high school student close to graduation on nugget of advice it would be this: Don't go to college!

Cynthia Nixon lost in the Dem primary for NY Governor. The moral of the story is know-nothing celebrities with bad manners and worse ideas don't make good political leaders. Experience really is the best teacher isn't it?

Long read but well done article about one of my all time favorite artists Johnny Cash https://bittersoutherner.com/he-saw-our-darkness-johnny-cash-15th-death-anniversary

We've been doing that for years. Ever heard of dodgeball?

In other news it looks like the storm is suffering from high level wind shear which is weakening it. Pressure is rising in the eye (a very good thing) and it's becoming a little more ragged. Still a strong Cat 2 and moving too slow for comfort. Especially for SC. But a hurricane losing energy is never bad news.

On the topic of storm preparedness http://reason.com/blog/2018/09/12/waffle-house-index-fema-hurrican-florenc OK, Reason (bless their hearts LOL) is trying to make a point here. They missed because the comparisons are not even close to being the same. But the thought of a Waffle House Storm Recovery Command Center and a team of volunteers working to keep the supply of watery eggs, cheap coffee, and waffles coming is jut too funny not to share.

Well, isn't this curious? https://www.cnet.com/news/mysterious-observatory-evacuation-stirs-alien-conspiracy-theories/

Bears are even better than dogs when it comes to getting themselves in trouble. Kudos to the game warden & fire fighters for the assist. https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/09/12/black-bear-milk-jug-roseau/

repeating self. there is no question what is fema's role. they coordinate efforts. fema doesn't have resources to deliver food and water. they cannot repair power grids. they do not build or repair or whatever. coordinate. HA! Good Fun! In theory and design yes. In practical application no not so much. But, as I said, it's still better with them than without them probably.

Let me give you a little taste of my own experience with government disaster relief here. FEMA is underfunded as Grom said, but only because it's scope is too broad and it's directives unfocused. Disaster relief from FEMA, or any State or Federal agency is a whole lot of dedicated people who really want to help and do good but end up standing around or often working against each other because they lack direction, a clear understanding of what needs to be done, and often have little communication with other agencies and volunteer groups. All theses different groups do not work together so they bump into each other, repeat tasks that don't need to be done, miss ones that do, etc. Millions of dollars of assets and donated relief are delivered to the wrong places, not delivered at all for lack of logistics, or direction on where they need to go. Generators are deployed then never refueled. Assets are lost because they are never picked up after recovery. What disaster relief needs is a single point of contact to take things in hand. Ideally a State Governor or someone like that with a small well organized team. But political leadership is not and cannot be organized and different agencies simply do not and will not work together. So gobs of money and people are just thrown at the problem. The relief is usually ineffective with millions of dollars in wasted goods and man hours. But everyone pats themselves on the back and thinks "It's still better than if we did nothing". And that is probably true. Government relief is like trying to hit a target 100 meters away with a shotgun. If you want to see how it should be done watch how the power companies, cell service providers, and phone company work. Single points of contact that direct all efforts no matter is they are employees or vendors with clear goals and time tables. They will have a concise list of assets available and a plan for what to do with them. Everything FEMA, State Agencies, etc will not have.

Just finished this one. It was OK. Not great, not terrible. He was trying to be thought provoking I guess. Didn't "stick the landing" if you know what I mean. Starting today:

They say this about 9-11, the JFK assassination and Pearl Harbor (for those that are still around). They say you will remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you found out it was happening. For my part at least, that is true.

Does anyone else hear that song from HMS Pintafore, A British Tar, while reading this? https://www.navytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2018/09/09/drunken-british-sailors-are-invading-florida-and-beating-each-other-up-because-why-not/

Ah chlorine gas. Everyone's first experience with nearly killing themselves with ignorance. Reminds me of a great line from the movie Tremors "Just a few common household chemicals mixed in the proper proportions"

Some of the ads for the State House districts in Memphis have been very amusing. My Congressman is going all out with ads. Ironically I live in a area that hasn't elected a Democrat since Reconstruction ended. So he's pretty much a sure thing as long as he doesn't get arrested or anything.

Ditto. November can't get here soon enough!

OK, back to the funny stuff

Best political meme ever!

I'll admit, I have pretty much lost all interest in the NFL. Mainly because the league has grown dull to me. Nearly every team is running the exact same offense and defense now. Gone are the days of scheme match up. But politics is a factor to me. Can we not have just one thing in our lives that is not exploited to forcibly ram a political message into our brains? Can we not have just one thing that enjoyed for it's own sake without layers of bullsht messaging of one thing or another? TV, movies, newspapers, magazines, news broadcasts, even f-----g comic books and computer games morph into propaganda too often. Can't we at least watch our f-----g sports in peace??? Actually we do have something. It's called baseball. It turns up every now and then but nowhere near as prevalent as the NFL or NBA. The NHL is also largely (not completely) politics free.

Don't overthink it.

TQBR below 55 over his last three seasons, demanding starter pay AND fan poison? Not a good combo there Kap. As far has the fan poison part, meh. If you don't like him there's nothing wrong with that. But he's hardly the biggest PoS to ever play in the NFL IMO. I hated Michael Vick and would have packed up every bit of Buccaneer apparel or memorabilia I own (and it's a lot) and Fed Ex'ed it to One Buccaneer Place with specific instructions on where to shove it all had the Buc's signed that piece of human waste. Next to him Kap is nothing. He hasn't actually committed any crime or harmed anyone. It's worth remembering there have been actual felons playing in the NFL. Rape, assault, even murder accusations and sometimes convictions. All Kap did was kneel. Folks should probably maintain some perspective. Like I said before, the ONLY reason this went on and became a thing is because people got bent out of shape over it. If you really want something to go away, ignore it. No fuel, no fire.

Last night I made 5 gallons of mead. Now we play the waiting game. See you in 9 months. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JVNMmsN3Co