1781 - Friends

I was looking at some of the 'friends' I have on 'Google Friend Connect'. (which is a different name than I remember) A few of them set up accounts years ago and haven't been back since. The last one I got was a guy who friended about 4000 people to get a following on his blog.

But then I found this note and some links...

We're retiring Friend Connect on March 1, 2012. Find out how you can keep in touch with your community.

Using Google Friend Connect
Friend Connect will be retired March 1, 2012
Keep in touch with your community

Create a Google+ page and edit your profile

Google+ Pages

Send a newsletter

Export your community data

So it looks like they want me to use google+ whether I want to or not. With google acting like they have been recently it may be a 'not'.


********

If you haven't been here over the weekend go look at Saturday for something more entertaining.

 

1776 - The newt, the ship

I should be doing a patriotic post for post number 1776. Well maybe this is. Patriotic information about a presidential candidate.

Here's some more info about the newt. It seems the wanna be candidate for the family values party was a deadbeat dad to his kids. Here's a link to the ARTICLE. But I'm going to copy the whole article here to make sure the link doesn't go dead.


********
I'm generally of the camp that believes a politician's personal life has little to no bearing on whether or not he can be a good leader. Meaning, I don't really care whether or not my president had an affair with an intern or sneaks cigarettes in the Oval Office, as long as he or she is smart, fair, responsible and honest (about things like taxes and war, not sex and smoking). But the latest dirt on Newt Gingrich is basically proof that Gingrich is NOT fair, responsible, or honest. (The jury is still out on "smart.")

According to recently released divorce documents from Gingrich's split with first wife Jackie Battley, the Republican was more than just a crappy husband. He was also allegedly a deadbeat dad!

The papers filed by Gingrich's then-wife state:

Despite repeated notice to plaintiff and requests by defendant, plaintiff has failed and refused to voluntarily provide reasonable support sufficient to include payment of usual and normal living expenses, including drugs, water, sewage, garbage, gas, electric and telephone service for defendant and the minor children ... As a result, many of such accounts are two or three months past due with notices of intent to cut off service and gas and electricity.

Nice, really nice. He was so caught up in his political career -- or pursuit of second wife Callista, perhaps -- that he couldn't be bothered to make sure his kids had electricity? Apparently things got so desperate for the family that the church collected donations to help pay the bills until a judge finally ordered Gingrich to make monthly payments.

Financially neglecting to support his own flesh and blood is, to me, a "personal" issue that is extremely relevant to Gingrich's presidential potential. There's a tremendous difference between a politician
indulging a vice and a man failing to take care of his family. Is Gingrich really going to care about the countless Americans affected by the recession when he allowed his children to literally become charity cases?

********

A grounded ship. Fix it and float it? Nope. Cut it up and haul it away. 29 pictures.

 

1750 - Social media - yours or the companies?

Social media users watch out. Here's an article about two people that are having trouble with former employers about 'personal' social media accounts.

In one an employee was fired. The company was maintaining her Linkedin account for her so they had all the log in info. They went in and changed her name and picture to someone else that works at that company.

In another incident on twitter a company is suing a former employee who left for $340,000 in lost revenue over 'his' twitter contacts. The article about that is in a link in first article.

So go do some reading about your possible company liability on your personal social media accounts.

1737 - Get yourself in line soilder

Here's an article from a site called 'Talk To Action'. The article is written by a gal named Chris Rodda who works for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Here's a snippet from the article...

'Foreign military students are taught that America is a Christian nation, and that liberals, starting with the liberal justices appointed by F.D.R., have subverted America's so-called judeo-christian heritage, and how the "courts struggle with ... accommodation of atheists demanding religion be kept out of public life."'

I saw something similar to this on PBS about the military indoctrinating the recruits in the one and only right wing religion.

It's an interesting read.

********

And then a bonus.

 

1734 - Wealth distribution

I found an article about wealth distribution in the US and around the world. Below are the main talking points in the article. The article has more charts and graphs along with short supporting information. (I was going to say supporting facts. But this is from the internet.)


FACT: The wealthiest 1 percent of households own 34.6 percent of all privately held wealth, and 42.7 percent of all financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one's home).

FACT: The United States has more income and wealth inequality than most countries that have been studied, including India and China — countries that are traditionally viewed as having unequal distributions of wealth.

According to data gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency for 2010, the United States has a Gini coefficient of 0.45, on par with such countries as Iran (0.44) and Mexico (0.48)

FACT: Among the 299 companies listed in the S&P 500 Index, the average CEO's compensation was $11.4 million in 2010, or 343 times more than the median pay ($33,190) of American workers. The ratio of CEO pay to median worker pay was just 42:1 in 1980, and is currently 25:1 in Europe.

FACT: Between 1979 and 2005, the average after-tax income for the top 1 percent increased by 176 percent, compared with an increase of only 6 percent for the bottom 20 percent. Between 1990 and 2005, the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage actually declined by 9.3 percent when adjusted for inflation.

FACT: Most Americans have no idea that the wealth distribution is as concentrated as it is, but regardless of their gender, age, income level or party affiliation, they believe wealth should be much more evenly distributed than they think it is.

 

1716 - Twits

Company Policy: 'We are not hiring until Obama is gone'

That's what some dumb ass Georgia company owner (U.S. Crane, LLC) put on his trucks. I think this is carrying the hate thing a little to far. What's next. The Dems saying 'If a republican gets elected we're going to quit buying stuff'.

The real problem is the haters are a more committed bunch. There's nothing like hate to make you attack someone with no thought of the consequences.

What this moron (or as the haters spell it 'moran') company owner didn't anticipate was the reaction, of both sides. The haters besieging his phones and website to congratulate him and the left to chastise him. He had to change his phone number and shut down his website. Congratulations dumb shit, how's your business now?

VIDEO from Georgia.

St. Louis TV article.
ABC news story.

The link to his website.


 

1681 - 5 O'clock

Read this.

NOEL, Mo. - A dispute over prayer time for Muslim workers at a Tyson Food plant in Noel has been tentatively resolved.

About 130 Muslim workers, many of whom are Somali refugees, walked off the job at the plant in Friday because of the dispute.

Muslims are required to pray five times a day at specific times. The Joplin Globe reports that one of the times is 5 p.m., which was the time most in dispute between employees and a new management team at the plant.

The workers returned to the job on Monday after a tentative agreement with management allowed prayer time.

The Globe reports that Tyson officials and workers met Monday afternoon and agreed to negotiate a long-term solution.

Well what do you think? 'I' think that you shouldn't take a job if your personal life is going to interfere with the job. I'm really surprised the company is putting up with this. There must be more to this. Like the workers are getting poverty wages and these are the only people the company can get to do the job so they have to make concessions.

I'm going to start a religion that requires the middle eastern governments to supply me with an endless supply of cash. Anybody what to join?

 

1678 - 2 year old Chinese girl hit

Did you here about the little Chinese girl that was run over and ignored by passersby? (She has since died.)

Don't watch the first video if you can't watch other peoples' pain.

There are lots of videos of this on the internet. Some show the accident, most don't. This one I found shows the accident. But what is strange about this is that it doesn't look like an accident in this video. Most of the other videos show the girl just as she gets hit. This one shows the van accelerating from a stop and swerving slightly 'towards' the girl. It looks intentional to me. Especially the way the driver rolls the back of the van over the girl.



Then I found this video. (It does not show the whole accident) Why are all the people passing her by? Go to the end of this video and listen to what the broadcaster says. (go to 2:25)



Sounds like China has become more like America.

 

1677 - A letter to your congressman

Well how stupid can the government be? WAIT! I don't have time to answer all your comments. Besides, this is my bitch session.

I got my brand new Medicare card today. Plastic? Nope. Cardboard. But that's not the problem. Guess what my Medicare number is? IT'S MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!! That's right. The one thing they tell you NOT to care around in your wallet to prevent ID theft is now in there. Permanently. Until I die. What a bunch a morons. So I guess I'll copy the card and blank out the first 5 digits. That ought to make for some interesting conversations in the future.

Also, I have a name problem. I've always gone by my middle name. Guess what Medicare has no option for. That's right. The IRS can do it. The State of Missouri can do it. But not Medicare!

So the Medicare card has the wrong name and my SS# on it. I love the government. It adds stress to my life. And I hear a little stress is good for you. Thanks government for looking out for my health.

So here's what I wrote to two Senators and a Representative (you can write one too)...

1. I just got my new Medicare card and could not believe what I saw. My medicare number is my social security number. How stupid is this in today environment of ID theft! You need to get Medicare to come up with their own numbering system quickly.

2. The name on my Medicare card is not the name I go by. Apparently the programmers are too dumb to figure out how to program in a middle name.

If the IRS can figure out how to use my right name surely Medicare can too.

 

1673 - Jaco Report

Yesterday's post didn't. It turned itself into a draft again so if you didn't see it, see it.


I would have posted this video but it's a link from a TV station, not Youtube.

Apparentley a new group of morons are protesting an existing group. The '53 percenters' are protesting the 'Occupy Wall Street' group. The 53%er's make the OWS group look smart.

Here's a link to a good commentary. The Jaco Report.

ST. LOUIS, MO (KPLR)— Here at Jacology, we're dedicated to the proposition that every American, no matter how misinformed, uninformed, or mentally malformed has the right to unleash their inner moron. After all, if it weren't for morons, neither police officers nor journalists would have anything to do. But a new outfit calling itself the '53%' is taking stupidity to such heights that the air's getting thin.

Jaco - The '53%' Have It All Wrong

If you like Jaco, here's a LINK to more of his reports.

 

1667 - Truth in packaging? Or not.

Here's an new cereal. It's chunk full of nuts. Nuts in every bite. Roasted nuts.

Here's the side panel with the list of ingredients. To small to read? Go down one picture.

Let's see. Nuts.... nuts.... HEY! Where's the nuts?!

May contain tree nuts? What happened to 'nuts in every bite'?

Maybe the box ingredient writer guy thought peanuts were 'NUTS!' Guess what. They're not, box guy. They're beans. Your tag line on the front should say 'Beans in every bite'.

I still like the cereal. Damn.


13..... 13..... Oh oh.
 

1600 - Expensive (or not)

Used or new? Well if your buying one of these cars the answer is obvious.

How much did this car cost new? Why yes it is a VW. And it's on the list.

10 Cars That Depreciate Like a Stock Market Crash

If I have to get one of these I'll pick number 5.


And then staying with car theme, guess where the money you pay for gas is going. Why to build a new 3281 foot Saudi tower. Twice as tall as the sears tower.

Saudis Set to Build Kingdom Tower, Soon to be The World's Tallest Building

And then to finish this off I found this on Johns facebook page. It's a rant about the debt deal.



 

1597 - Walgreens at 1AM

Well I was out of milk. What the heck. I'll run up to Walgreens. It's 3 minutes from my house. I'll be back in 10 minutes. Right? Wrong.

I walk in, go get some milk and walk back to the register. By the time I did that there was a woman that had just beaten me there. She had a basket that was about half full and she had coupons for everything.

Of course the coupons she had didn't match half the stuff that she had in the basket. So there was a lot of out loud coupon reading going on. The clerk made one run back into the store to get the right thing for her.

Things get sorted out and the total is xxxxx. Out comes the check book. We get the check book open, get the pen ready, write some stuff down in the check register, and... out comes the debit card. That's right, she's not even writing a check. Just tracking her debit card, at the counter, at 1 in the morning.

So she moves forward far enough for me to get to the register and stop. Then she starts going over the 12" long receipt. The clerk rings me up, I hand him cash, the change machine kicks out some change.

Oh oh, now she's got a problem. She turns and starts talking to the clerk. The clerk, seeing where this is going, reaches past her, grabs my change, passes my milk back around the register and I'm out of there.

So it took 20 minutes and I don't have any place to be to begin with, BUT!!!

 

1574 - NAR

Here's a gem from Not Always Right. This is supposed to be funny. It's not. It's too true and going to get truer.


Through Joy And Sorrow, Sickness And Health Insurance
Call Center | Madison, WI, USA |
(I work for a call center for the state’s health insurance.)

Me: “Thank you for calling. How may I help you?”

Member: “Hi, I’m calling to make sure my husband’s heath insurance is active.”

Me: “Okay, do you have his ID number or social?”

Member: “Well, no. I’m not sure where his card is and I don’t know his social by heart.”

Me: “Well, is he there with you? I could get it from him.”

Member: “He is, but he can’t really talk right now. He’s having a heart attack.”

Me: “Ma’am, you need to call 911 right now, not us.”

Member: “I will. I just want to make sure he’ll be covered when they take him to the hospital!”

 

1560 - Side Effects

"Certain Antibiotics Spur Widening Reports of Severe Side Effects"

Here's a report of the side effects of a certain class of antibiotics. If the video doesn't start and you get sound only, hit the refresh button and try again.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

I can hear the drug companys saying, "Man O Man, we didn't know THAT was going to happen!"

 

1524 - GOP health plan

Watch the short video first. Then read the short article.

READ ARTICLE

 

1503 - CR6

Laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group have detected hexavalent chromium, the carcinogenic “Erin Brockovich chemical,” in tap water from 31 of 35 American cities.

That's from an article on the Environmental Working Groups website. It seems that water companies in most states don't even have to report chromium-6 in their yearly water quality reports. What's the over all picture look like in the US? Here's a map. Click it to big it.

I checked my water companies website and there is no mention of chromium-6 anywhere. The link above has a link to a petition site to try and get the water companies to at least report it. You should at least know if you're drinking chromium-6. Hey, maybe it adds a unique taste to the water.

Here's some additional reading. A CNN article when all this was news. It's not news anymore because the problem's been fixed nobody cares.

 

1494 - Hide your wallet

While the right wing wackos are out front in getting their well deserved bashing's, the left can sneak up on you and slip one in. I was at the auto repair shop getting my AC fixed. The store manager just happen to mention something that's coming down the road so to speak.

It's a new AC refrigerant for cars. It replaces R-134a. Some of the new cars next year may have it already. It's called HFO-1234yf. And it costs 10 times as much as r-134a. That's right, 10 times. And the store manager said it requires new equipment to handle it. He said a $100 AC repair bill could easily jump to $800 or $900.

Are you excited yet? I thought I needed to check this out on the knower of all truths, the internet and wikipedia. Unfortunately I found info backing up most of what I was told. But I also found some additional information. HFO-1234yf is flammable. And when it burns it creates toxic gases. Have I got you interested yet? You have a lot more reading to do.

General info from the Government.

Here's a link to wikipedia's HFO-1234yf info.

Here's a link with a video on the fire danger of HFO-1234yf.

 

1483 - Virus

k70ccreloc.exe virus - Crap

1446 - WBC again

WBC got a ruling from the Supremes yesterday. And depending on who you talk to it was a good/bad decision. I have a tendency to go with the good right now. But somebody needs to be working to fix the WBC.

Here's what will be happening more and more as the idiots from WBC spread their hate even more.


And if you haven't seen it, here's Michael Moore harassing WBC.



And FYI I fixed that typo in post 1444.