Month: March 2013

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Walking Tour of Ontario Yesterday

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I went on a walking tour of old Downtown Ontario yesterday. The tour was interesting and I was honestly surprised at how many of the buildings from the 1800s were still standing.

Granted many of those buildings look a lot different today from when they were built. However, according to the tour leader in many cases the original architectural details of these buildings were simply covered by updated “more modern” facades.

The cool part of this tour was the “field guides” these were booklets that had photos of the buildings we were looking at through the years. 

Two things were obvious from these guides, first and foremost, these buildings were and are really interesting and in some cases grand. Secondarily, the tour guide who’d put these field guides together had love and passion for the subject. 

I was impressed by his knowledge and that he was involved in helping the city preserve and renovate many of these historic buildings.

It was also a beautiful spring day in Ontario and just walking around the old section of town was very nice despite the morons driving up & down Euclid who thought it appropriate to scream obscenities as they drove by.

No-one in my group noticed the gang member with his pants down below his butt flashing gang signs as he approached a group of similarly attired people. 

I’ll admit that until it was obvious these people were part of the same gang, I did scope out the nearest cover.

During the tour I was unconsciously keeping track of distance to the nearest object of substance, (walls, stone monuments, culverts, etc). That’s not to say that Ontario is a crime ridden city, but a certain gang element was obvious and the best way to survive a gun fight is not to get shot…

My brother would call it “situational awareness”, my über liberal friends would call it paranoia. I call it common sense. The trick to being situationally aware is to let it be a sub process in your mind but not to let the need to be aware overwhelm enjoyment of the moment.

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As we wandered around the buildings many of which were being preserved and earthquake retrofitted with public money I was thinking of the simpler times in which these buildings had been constructed. Some of the structures were WPA projects.

Characteristic  of many of the WPA era buildings are the somewhat ornate touches. Things like tile inlays in the entryways. Little details in the woodworking inside public buildings like courthouses and city/county public buildings. Since the WPA ran from 1935 to 1943 these buildings reflect the style and sensibilities of the 30s.

As the tour guide pointed out these buildings wouldn’t be built today.

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The tour ended at a building that was undergoing renovations. This particular building was constructed in the early 1900s. Typical of the era it had high ceilings and ornate tin / copper ceiling coverings. During the renovation workers had uncovered some of the tilework that marked the original entranceways.

The person that had laid the tile was working on a border pattern and honestly, I think it didn’t work out quite as he’d envisioned it would.

As you can see in the first picture the pattern is a repeating pattern that’s somewhat reminescent of Greek / Roman patterns that appear on buildings throughout America. 

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The problem is what do you do when you get to the corners?

The unknown artisan in question chose a pretty straightforward approach, with mixed results.

The corner details are what caught my attention.

No, those are not Nazi swastikas in the corners. The legs go the other direction for the Nazi version.

Nazi or not, it doesn’t matter because in the 1900s when this building was built there was no such thing as Nazism.

There were Eastern religions where this symbol and it’s mirror had significance, usually in the context of peace and contemplation.

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The point is, without context, if you didn’t know that this building predated the rise of the Nazi party by almost 40 years you could easily think something really bad about the owners of the building, or the people that  did business in the building.

Here’s a link to people that really try much too hard to find evil where none intentionally existed. 

 Thankfully the tour group I was with yesterday said very little. It was interesting since the closest thing to comment was “What year was this building built?” 

The tour guide answered “early 1900s” and that was the end of the matter.

The sad thing about the age we live in is that people are always looking for insult where none exists.

I won’t be terribly surprised if when the building opens again there isn’t some news coverage describing the “Racist” symbols that were preserved with taxpayers money. 

I’d recommend waking tours of your towns if offered, you’ll learn things about your home that will surprise you.

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Feinstein on the back burner…

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After a week of pain in my hand I’m typing again!

I don’t know what I did but for whatever reason I was having some serious problems moving my hand. Who would have thought that a sharp pain in the middle of your hand would cause so much interference just going about my daily life?

The pain was in the wrong position for stigmata so I’m relieved that I’ve not been called into the priesthood or anything.

I’ve been scanning the news and while there are many things that I probably should say I’m not going to.

I was glad to see that Feinstein’s gun bill wasn’t being voted on. I suspect that means that it will show up attached to some other group of bills that we really do need and thereby the old battle ax will have her way.

I can sort of understand her position on guns, early in her career she was first or second on the scene of at least two murders. That would have to change your opinion of guns and violence.

In my case it would make me decide to sponsor concealed or open carry that didn’t require registration. I’m a firm believer in the saying “An armed society is a polite society“

She has a right to her opinion and beliefs.

What concerns me is that she’s likely to snake her bill into something else and that bypasses the purpose of our politicians voting on bills/issues in the first place.

I’m in favor of out politicians having to vote on each law/bill individually. I think that would stop a lot of the pork and provide a more transparent and representative body of law.

It will never happen though…

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Does anyone think this was really about saving money?

It’s pretty clear that the DHS and Immigration officials were engaging in nothing more than political grandstanding in an attempt to punish and frighten American taxpayers.

The Immigration Depts release of thousands (Not Hundreds) of detainees can only be perceived as a blatant attempCt sc nw immigration releases jpg 20130314t to intimidate congress, more specifically the Republicans in Congress into a compromise with President Obama.

I suspect that the hope on the part of those who ordered this release was that outcry from angered citizens would force the acceptance of any agreement that would avert the sequester.

I was always taught that if you were a visitor to another country, specifically if you were seeking citizenship in that country that you had to keep your nose clean.

I’ve always believed that you needed to demonstrate that you were an upstanding person and that you were worthy of citizenship. I also believed that if you became involved in illicit activities you’d be immediately deported. All of this leads me to ask a couple of questions.

Why were these people being held in detention in the first place?

If they were to be released due to budgetary concerns why weren’t they simply put on a plane or a bus and returned to their countries of origin?

Since immigration knew that some of the offenders had not only already been convicted of prior felonies and were once again violating US immigration law why detain them at all?

Send these people home. No questions, no hearings. By virtue of the fact that these folks are here again without papers and have been involved in yet another crime, theres no need to hear their shit.

Congress is looking in the wrong direction into this obscenity.

Congress should be asking who gave the orders?

You know damn well that John Morton didn’t make this decision on his own. He’s simply being served up. He’s being a good soldier and taking the beating, for that I respect him.

But Mortons boss and I’d hazard a guess the chain of command all the way up to the President is where the order originated.

 

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I wouldn’t be taking a Carnival Cruise

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All joking aside what is going on with Carnival cruises?

To have so many ships in such a short time with serious / sometimes critical problems is concerning.

An engine fire could be called an accident, or an anomaly and it’s a good thing that the fire was controlled even if that meant 5000 passengers had a hellish week while the ship was being towed in.

Honestly, it could have been a lot worse. Fires on ships a sea are bad things. It’s not like you have a place to go, and you’re not going to hear a fire engine whizzing by to put out the flames. Sure you can hit the lifeboats then what? You wait for rescue, that is IF a distress call got out. Otherwise it’s up to the emergency beacons or radios in the lifeboats. The only place that a fire would be worse is in Space.

If the fire was a “one off” I’d be well everyone was lucky and I’m sorry their cruise was ruined.

What caught my attention is that Carnival has a fairly substantial number of it’s fleet reporting problems.

The problems being reported aren’t little things like a light bulb or a toilet not working.

All of these are engineering related problems.

Which in my mind begs the question… Are these ships being maintained properly? My knee jerk response is to say obviously not.

Looking at the dates the ships were completed you can see that they’re all pretty new, they shouldn’t be having these kinds of problems. There are freighters and fishing boats and other luxury liners that are operating every day which are much older.

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What does this say?

There are a couple of theories I can put out there.

1) The engineers maintaining the ships are young and inexperienced.

Ask any older worked if the person that replaced them could read well, or really understood cause & effect or could logically think through a problem to its resolution and you’re probably going to get a general trend in the answer. The trend will be towards “NO”.

 

This could simply be symptomatic of the retirement of experienced workers and their replacement with inexperienced or inferior workers.

Where do the mechanics and engineers on these cruise ships come from? Are they fully qualified to be doing the jobs they’re doing?

OR

2) Carnival Cruises is simply not paying to have the proper maintenance performed.

It wouldn’t be the first time that public / passenger / employee safety took a back seat to maximizing profit.

You really don’t want to think about how much fuel one of these ships burns per hour. With the world wide fuel prices bouncing all over hell and gone, it might be a situation where executives and accountants were trying to keep the bottom line in the black.

To do it, they started curtailing the routine replacement or refurbishment of critical components. I can hear the “Make it last another cruise” arguments now.

Having more than a passing familiarity with the business end of a screwdriver I’ve heard that argument myself. “Do we absolutely have to replace that powersupply right now? Can’t you make the machine work just a little longer even if it’s not perfect?”

Regardless of which of the theories is true or close to the truth.

I think that Carnival should be ordered to cease operations.

Each of their ships should be inspected from stem to stern and none of their ships should be allowed to leave port with passengers until all necessary maintenance has been completed.

Thus far, around 20,000+ passengers have been lucky. No-one has been seriously injured, they’ve only been inconvenienced.

It’s only a matter of time before something catastrophic happens and people start dying.

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N.Y. mayor ‘shocked’ by soda law ruling

I saw the following headline this morning. This link should take you to the whole article.

N.Y. mayor ‘shocked’ by soda law ruling, takes shot at Mississippi law

I couldn’t help myself…

 

 

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Dear Mayor Bloomberg.

First… REALLY???

You really don’t understand why Mississippi has passed an anti Bloomberg law?

You really were shocked that  the Judge ruled against your soda law? Obviously you must have forgotten about a little thing called freedom.

You can’t be that clueless, therefore you have to be working at being purposefully obtuse.

Let me explain this to you in a way that perhaps your sycophant aides won’t.

Mississippi, isn’t legislating in favor of obesity they’re legislating against government interference in their lives, a phenomenon all too present these days.

I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand this concept, you’re so sure that you know whats best for everyone.

In your arrogant conceit you assume that no-one is capable of thinking for themselves or making their own choices. Further, you seek to remove any choice that could have deleterious effect.

Where Mr. Mayor would you stop?

Would Steak and all red meat be outlawed in the city of New York? Would you further legislate that only a vegan diet is acceptable? A healthier lifestyle requires less in medical costs doesn’t it?

Would you ban all alcoholic beverages from your city? That should put a stop to drunk driving. It would also reduce employee absenteeism thereby making your city more industrious and productive.

To protect society and New Yorkers Would you criminalize sex out of wedlock? Or Would you simply pass legislation to enforce reversible sterilization? This would prevent the poor from overly burdening themselves with children that could require assistance from the state, or who might become criminals.

How about requiring registration and licensing for use all cooking knives over 5” long?Those too can be used as deadly weapons.

Would you decide that fashion envy is a threat to the stability of your city and require uniforms to be worn by everyone?

Would you try to engage in eugenics, assigning men and women to each other for the purposes of reproduction. After all, in just a few generations you could erase or significantly blur the color lines in your city. Homogenous is good isn’t it?

Would you outlaw religion? Or will you simply define a State religion, thereby removing any potential conflict over beliefs?

When your ideas were rejected and the people engaged in protests and other forms of civil disobedience would you give the police a shoot to kill order? Would you bring in the national guard to enforce your will? I suppose you wouldn’t need the national guard, NYPD does seem to shoot and kill innocent people with frightening efficiency. 

Mr Mayor…

As insane as these ideas sound. To some extent throughout history been tried in various times and places, thankfully for the most part they’ve failed or at least been mercifully short lived.

Despots, and Dictators seem to start out by enacting laws “For the safety and Security of their people”. Historically, it doesn’t end well.

Thankfully you’re not in a position of national power. You pose little threat to the rest of us. 

The people of Mississippi and indeed other states are using you as a means to voice their opinion by saying no to the Nannyism which leads to a dark path, a path that is anathema to the core beliefs of America and her citizens.

That Mr Mayor is why you’ve become a laughing stock in so many places.

That’s why a Judge has ruled against your silly law. That is why other states are etching your name in the annals of their books of law as someone who is on the wrong side of common sense and freedom.

That’s why you’re becoming largely irrelevant.

Mr. Mayor, you do serve one purpose, You’re an example to our politicians about what can happen when you go too far.

I hope they get the message.

I look forward to the phrase “He’s a / Thats a Bloomberg” entering the national conversation as a euphemism for someone or something which is largely irrelevant.