I learned that power only goes so far. For someone to have power over somebody it has to be given to them.
One of the first times I rebelled was over a football. Some kid had the football and kept threatening to take his ball and go home if we didn't do what he wanted.
Quick fix. I raked a few leaves and bought a used football. It wasn't anywhere near as nice as the new one the other kid had but it was a real football.
I put it in a bag and put the bag in the basket of my bicycle and kind of hid it.
Of course, whe the next pickup game started the kid with the ball started being bossy as usual. I simply told him to take his stupid ball and go home. With that I pulled the bag out of my bicycle basket and pulled the ball out of the bag.
Of course, he pointed out that his football was a lot nicer but guess what? Nobody cared. We played the game and had just as much fun with a worn out football as with a new one. We also didn't have to put up with somebody's crap.
Ever since that I have always had somewhat of a 'shoot the hostage' attitude toward things. You take whatever the persn is holding above you away from him, one way or the other. In this case I took away his monopoly on footballs.
Power over someone else only goes so far. You have to look at what they are using to gain their power and either take it from him, destroy it or simply decide the consequences of not playing along are worth it.
In high school one time I was ordered to sit for a detention as one of those 'everyone has detention until someone tells me who threw the penny' deals.
I simply refused to take someone else's rap and stood my ground. I pointed out that I was willing to go the whole mile and bring it to the attention of the school committee or even take it to court.
I won that one. Hands down because of two reasons. First I refused to be intimidated. Second I had my act together and knew that if he pushed and I pushed back the administration would look foolish.
By being in the position of being able to make the vice principal look foolish I had stripped him of his power.
Sometimes you can strip someone's power simply by making it clear you're simply not going to play their silly little game.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this:
http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
It is the middle of the night and I can't sleep.
I guess the deer were out there and set off the motion detector lights and for some reason it woke me up.
Someone asked me about work yesterday and wanted to know what it was like living sort of a double life. I told him the weird part was the transition of going to work.
The transition is the period of time from when I leave the house to the time I board the vessel. When I board things just seem to take care of themselves.
First there's the drive which is pretty boring. Along the way I check in and see what is going on and see if there have been any changes in plans or crew change. Sometimes there are but usually there are not. When I arrive in town it's straight to the motel for an overnight as I don't like to arrive to the boat all beat up and tired.
Occasionally that's a bit on the weird side.
I have my choice of two places to stay and generally opt for the cheaper of the two because I can get a ground floor room which makes things convenient in the winter. I can haul a lot of stuff into the room easier to keep it from freezing.
On the other hand, the cheaper of the two can be a mild pain in the neck as tonight I was awakened by a hooker knocking on my door. I didn't answer I shouted "If you're a hooker, you're too late. I took care of myself!"
Whoever it was didn't knock twice.
It's a brief, strange interlude of a cheap motel and all night diners out of a painting called "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams".
I just pass through this part of the world briefly as I transition from a "Leave it to Beaver" life in suburbia to a life on board a boat.
The people around me during transition are a motley crew ranging from traveling business types, construction crews, an occasional family passing through on vacation and whatever punctuated with the occasional out of town stripper working the club down the street. I guess they all have their own stories.
One time a while ago I 'made' a vice cop working a prostitution sting. It was funny. She came up to me and before she could say anything I greeted her with, "Hello, officer." The look in her eyes told me I was right and when I started to wander off she stopped me and asked me how I knew.
"First of all, you're a gym rat," I said. "You are too damned healthy, polished and professional looking. I see no signs of drug abuse and the only thing you probably drink is an occasional glass of wine. Besides, if you are a working girl you're too polished for this neighborhood. You got cop written all over you. Try working in a better class of hotel. You'd do well in the upper class places."
She looked at me like she was interested in what I had to say.
"On second thought you'll probably make a couple of good pinches here. They'll take one look at you and start acting impulsively. You are quite attractive and that would likely cloud judgement."
She thanked me and wandered off.
Prostitution is a problem hotels of all levels have had since Day One. I would imagine the reason there was no room at the inn when Jesus was born was because it was payday night and the inn was full of whores plying their trade. Hence Jesus was born in a manger.
Actually the worst people I have to encounter seem to be the goody two-shoes types passing through. I once had some New England bird watcher type old woman griping to me when she was checking in. She was asking the desk person three hundred questions about the place. I was compassionate toward the clerk and told the woman she should drive an hour south and thirty minutes off the highway and she'd save a fortune as the rates here were higher because of the location.
She left and the clerk thanked me.
That woman would have not gotten any sleep here and would have been on the phone to the desk all night.
It is what it is. It's a world of cheap motels, all night diners and the characters of different lifestyles all crammed into one building and trying to get some sleep and or make a living.
For me it's kind of a twilight zone as I pass from a life in the suburbs to a live on board a boat. In a way I fit right in because I am in a leather flight jacket and topped with a fedora. By all appearances I am just another Damon Runyon character as I pass through transition time.
I will arrive at the motel and overnight as just another character passing through, eating and sleeping and the following morning I will board the boat and be a different person altogether.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Someone asked me about work yesterday and wanted to know what it was like living sort of a double life. I told him the weird part was the transition of going to work.
The transition is the period of time from when I leave the house to the time I board the vessel. When I board things just seem to take care of themselves.
First there's the drive which is pretty boring. Along the way I check in and see what is going on and see if there have been any changes in plans or crew change. Sometimes there are but usually there are not. When I arrive in town it's straight to the motel for an overnight as I don't like to arrive to the boat all beat up and tired.
Occasionally that's a bit on the weird side.
I have my choice of two places to stay and generally opt for the cheaper of the two because I can get a ground floor room which makes things convenient in the winter. I can haul a lot of stuff into the room easier to keep it from freezing.
On the other hand, the cheaper of the two can be a mild pain in the neck as tonight I was awakened by a hooker knocking on my door. I didn't answer I shouted "If you're a hooker, you're too late. I took care of myself!"
Whoever it was didn't knock twice.
It's a brief, strange interlude of a cheap motel and all night diners out of a painting called "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams".
I just pass through this part of the world briefly as I transition from a "Leave it to Beaver" life in suburbia to a life on board a boat.
The people around me during transition are a motley crew ranging from traveling business types, construction crews, an occasional family passing through on vacation and whatever punctuated with the occasional out of town stripper working the club down the street. I guess they all have their own stories.
One time a while ago I 'made' a vice cop working a prostitution sting. It was funny. She came up to me and before she could say anything I greeted her with, "Hello, officer." The look in her eyes told me I was right and when I started to wander off she stopped me and asked me how I knew.
"First of all, you're a gym rat," I said. "You are too damned healthy, polished and professional looking. I see no signs of drug abuse and the only thing you probably drink is an occasional glass of wine. Besides, if you are a working girl you're too polished for this neighborhood. You got cop written all over you. Try working in a better class of hotel. You'd do well in the upper class places."
She looked at me like she was interested in what I had to say.
"On second thought you'll probably make a couple of good pinches here. They'll take one look at you and start acting impulsively. You are quite attractive and that would likely cloud judgement."
She thanked me and wandered off.
Prostitution is a problem hotels of all levels have had since Day One. I would imagine the reason there was no room at the inn when Jesus was born was because it was payday night and the inn was full of whores plying their trade. Hence Jesus was born in a manger.
Actually the worst people I have to encounter seem to be the goody two-shoes types passing through. I once had some New England bird watcher type old woman griping to me when she was checking in. She was asking the desk person three hundred questions about the place. I was compassionate toward the clerk and told the woman she should drive an hour south and thirty minutes off the highway and she'd save a fortune as the rates here were higher because of the location.
She left and the clerk thanked me.
That woman would have not gotten any sleep here and would have been on the phone to the desk all night.
It is what it is. It's a world of cheap motels, all night diners and the characters of different lifestyles all crammed into one building and trying to get some sleep and or make a living.
For me it's kind of a twilight zone as I pass from a life in the suburbs to a live on board a boat. In a way I fit right in because I am in a leather flight jacket and topped with a fedora. By all appearances I am just another Damon Runyon character as I pass through transition time.
I will arrive at the motel and overnight as just another character passing through, eating and sleeping and the following morning I will board the boat and be a different person altogether.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
From the past
A short while ago a friend of mine sent me a picture of an old girlfriend of mine I dated briefly back in the mid 80s.
She was a decade older than I am and is still a decade older than I am now for some odd reason. I have never been able to figure out why that happens.
She's in her mid 70s now and still drop dead gorgeous.
She taught me one big lesson in life. Nobody is out of my league.
I commented to her once that I wondered why she was dating me because I was obviously out of her league.
She smiled at me and told me I was selling myself short and that it was HER decision to decide who was in her league.
I never sold myself short again, thanks to her.
We parted ways because I was in the middle of a transition and a small boat sailing voyage. Over the years I wondered if leaving was the right thing to do and I know it was.
Circumstances of the time dictated it. I had to go and I did what I had to do.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
She was a decade older than I am and is still a decade older than I am now for some odd reason. I have never been able to figure out why that happens.
She's in her mid 70s now and still drop dead gorgeous.
She taught me one big lesson in life. Nobody is out of my league.
I commented to her once that I wondered why she was dating me because I was obviously out of her league.
She smiled at me and told me I was selling myself short and that it was HER decision to decide who was in her league.
I never sold myself short again, thanks to her.
We parted ways because I was in the middle of a transition and a small boat sailing voyage. Over the years I wondered if leaving was the right thing to do and I know it was.
Circumstances of the time dictated it. I had to go and I did what I had to do.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
People keep mistaking me for being a Republican
which I am clearly NOT. I am much closer to being a Libertarian simply because I don't really like a whole lot of government to begin with.
Like a lot of people out there I simply do not like being told what to do and how to live.
I try to live fairly responsibly and really don't like a whole lot of useless rules and regulations. I think that the government should simply stay out of our lives, our closets, our bedrooms and our property.
A while ago I read where some guy got arrested for a DUI because he was drinking a beer while on a riding mower mowing his lawn. That's a little much for me.
It would be one thing if he was driving on a public road. However, I have a real hard time seeing where he was endangering anyone but himself while mowing his own lawn. That's just another case of government overstepping the line.
I consider things like that to be an infringement on liberty.
I also think the Republicans should stay the hell out of our bedrooms. What goes on there is nobody's business and certainly not governmental business.
I don't think Uncle Sam should be sticking his nose into everything and I'm tired of it.
In short, I just wish the hell government would mind their own business.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Like a lot of people out there I simply do not like being told what to do and how to live.
I try to live fairly responsibly and really don't like a whole lot of useless rules and regulations. I think that the government should simply stay out of our lives, our closets, our bedrooms and our property.
A while ago I read where some guy got arrested for a DUI because he was drinking a beer while on a riding mower mowing his lawn. That's a little much for me.
It would be one thing if he was driving on a public road. However, I have a real hard time seeing where he was endangering anyone but himself while mowing his own lawn. That's just another case of government overstepping the line.
I consider things like that to be an infringement on liberty.
I also think the Republicans should stay the hell out of our bedrooms. What goes on there is nobody's business and certainly not governmental business.
I don't think Uncle Sam should be sticking his nose into everything and I'm tired of it.
In short, I just wish the hell government would mind their own business.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Now what?
Happy Easter.
Let's leave it at that because I'm sure that for some of you that somehow, somewhere, something will come along and ruin your holiday for you.
It has to.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Let's leave it at that because I'm sure that for some of you that somehow, somewhere, something will come along and ruin your holiday for you.
It has to.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Saturday, March 26, 2016
I just saw where Carl's Jr
is replacing people with touchscreens in response to the eventual minimum wage raise to $15/hour.
As usual the people that fought to support the eventual raise are probably agape and ready to shout, "That's not fair!"
Actually a blind man could see that one coming.
Of course this means that a lot more people with few if any skills are going to be without jobs. It goes without saying.
I can't hold it against Carl's Jr, either. If I were the CEO that's what I'd do if the government raised the minimum wage.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Friday, March 25, 2016
Well that didn't take long.
I just read where a gang of black urban utes beat up some poor bastard under the Blacklivesmatter flag. It isn't the first time and won't be the last.
Of course even Helen Keller could see that one coming.
Actually what has surprised me is that it took this long.
The whole thing actually reminds me of the beginnings of the Ku Klux Klan when I think about it. Most people are not aware that the Klan had innocent enough beginnings. It was originally a fraternity of former Confederate offiicers.
What changed it early on was the night the members donned ghost costumes and rode through town. It spooked the hell out of superstitious blacks. The fact that it scared blacks opened a floodgate and the bigots flooded in.
It seems like the same thing happened here.
What started as an (arguably) innocent protest organization has and is rapidly turning into a hate organization.
A few months back I crossed swords with a white BLM supporter. Of coures, I countered with "All lives matter."
He started speaking to me like I was a small child.
"I know all lives matter, but for now we're just looking out for the black ones," he said.
"Tell it to Dr. King," I shot back. "There's one race and that's the human race. We're all in this together. All lives matter or no lives matter. Pick one!"
He stood there agape. He didn't know what to say.
I suppose the BLM people will swear on a stack of bibles that the thuggery being practiced under their name isn't their doing but I have not heard one word out of the BLM leadership confirming or denying approval of people getting beaten.
Therefore I have to believe they support it. I am given no other choice.
I seriously wonder if the Southern Poverty Law Center is going add the BLM movement to the list of hate organizations. Actually I don't really wonder. They probably won't even though they most likely ought to.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Thursday, March 24, 2016
I just read where GOPe has started to run a series of scantily clad pictures of Donald Trump's absolutely hot wife.
They were taken from her earlier modeling career.
It's a effort to make him look bad.
The truth is that is nothing more or less than an act of jealousy.
They're just mad because their wives never looked half that good on the best day of their lives.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
It's a effort to make him look bad.
The truth is that is nothing more or less than an act of jealousy.
They're just mad because their wives never looked half that good on the best day of their lives.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
The tree fell on schedule
I was mildly surprised yesterday. The tree fell on schedule.
Yesterday morning I looked at Weather Underground and saw that it was going to be windy between 14 and 1600 local time.
That's when I predicted that the tree would drop and sure enough, it went down at 1414 local time.
Weather Underground is pretty good most of the time which is rare for any weather prediction service of any time.
Anyway, I had a rope tied to the tree and a come-along holding tension on it to try and direct the fall. I knew that as soon as the tree began to fall it would slack the line and it would really be useless. Therefore I out a skellet on the line.
A skellet is a weight on a line to keep tension on it and also to redirect the direction of it. It is also a force multiplier of sorts. In this case I took a clothesline pulley, put it on the line and tied a concrete block to it. Then with a seperate line I hauled the block halfway between the tree and the come-along. It did create somewhat of a sag.
It also served the purpose of being a tell-tale. I could see it from the house and if it dipped I knew the tree was leaning a little more.
At a little before 1400 the wind started to pick up a bit and I saw that the block was a little closer to the ground so I started watching while I drank a cup of coffee. At about 1410 I put my cup down and when I got there I watched for a few seconds and decided to take the sag out of the line.
I put one click, just one measley click on the come-along and heard the crackling sound of a tree letting go from its hold on the earth and ran away to a safe spot.
It came to earth flat, pretty much as planned and when it hit I glanced at my watch out of curiosity. I was wondering how accurate my guess had been. The watch read 1414.
I wandered out to the tree and saw to my satisfaction that the trunk was solidly on the ground and not suspended by branches. This was going to be a safe, easy job of bumping knots and bucking up the trunk.
Off to the garage and the chain saw and by about 1800 the trunk had been bucked up and so had most of the branches.
It is about 0930 as I write this and I have already stacked about 20% of the trunk and started to pile up the slash. There are going to be three seperate piles. The trunk, any of the branches 1 inch or greater and the remaining slash.
I think I will invite some of the neighbors to help themselves to the wood simply to get rid of it. The guy down the street has a camp and he spends weekends there. I suppose he'll snag a bunch. He can have it all as far as I am concerned.
If not, I suppose I'm going to buy a case of beer and maybe a jug and have the First Annual Fall whatever and recreational fire. There's another pile from another tree there. It is pretty dry, alomst to the point of being rotten. I'd like to simply dump a gallon of gasoline on it and throw a match at it but I can't unless it is some kind of recreational fire.
A few years back I went on a mild rampage and spent an entire week burning up a fir that I had cut up after it got taken out by a wind shear. I got a visit from an annoyed fire marshal who knew what I was doing. Every time he showed up at the inferno he'd see me sitting there with a hot dog on a spit roasting it. He'd glower and slink off as this was (and still is) legal.
I doubt I'll go this route, though, although I very well may come fall.
Anyway the tree is down, my wire antennas are back up and I am back in business on the 160 meter band.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Yesterday morning I looked at Weather Underground and saw that it was going to be windy between 14 and 1600 local time.
That's when I predicted that the tree would drop and sure enough, it went down at 1414 local time.
Weather Underground is pretty good most of the time which is rare for any weather prediction service of any time.
Anyway, I had a rope tied to the tree and a come-along holding tension on it to try and direct the fall. I knew that as soon as the tree began to fall it would slack the line and it would really be useless. Therefore I out a skellet on the line.
A skellet is a weight on a line to keep tension on it and also to redirect the direction of it. It is also a force multiplier of sorts. In this case I took a clothesline pulley, put it on the line and tied a concrete block to it. Then with a seperate line I hauled the block halfway between the tree and the come-along. It did create somewhat of a sag.
It also served the purpose of being a tell-tale. I could see it from the house and if it dipped I knew the tree was leaning a little more.
At a little before 1400 the wind started to pick up a bit and I saw that the block was a little closer to the ground so I started watching while I drank a cup of coffee. At about 1410 I put my cup down and when I got there I watched for a few seconds and decided to take the sag out of the line.
I put one click, just one measley click on the come-along and heard the crackling sound of a tree letting go from its hold on the earth and ran away to a safe spot.
It came to earth flat, pretty much as planned and when it hit I glanced at my watch out of curiosity. I was wondering how accurate my guess had been. The watch read 1414.
I wandered out to the tree and saw to my satisfaction that the trunk was solidly on the ground and not suspended by branches. This was going to be a safe, easy job of bumping knots and bucking up the trunk.
Off to the garage and the chain saw and by about 1800 the trunk had been bucked up and so had most of the branches.
It is about 0930 as I write this and I have already stacked about 20% of the trunk and started to pile up the slash. There are going to be three seperate piles. The trunk, any of the branches 1 inch or greater and the remaining slash.
I think I will invite some of the neighbors to help themselves to the wood simply to get rid of it. The guy down the street has a camp and he spends weekends there. I suppose he'll snag a bunch. He can have it all as far as I am concerned.
If not, I suppose I'm going to buy a case of beer and maybe a jug and have the First Annual Fall whatever and recreational fire. There's another pile from another tree there. It is pretty dry, alomst to the point of being rotten. I'd like to simply dump a gallon of gasoline on it and throw a match at it but I can't unless it is some kind of recreational fire.
A few years back I went on a mild rampage and spent an entire week burning up a fir that I had cut up after it got taken out by a wind shear. I got a visit from an annoyed fire marshal who knew what I was doing. Every time he showed up at the inferno he'd see me sitting there with a hot dog on a spit roasting it. He'd glower and slink off as this was (and still is) legal.
I doubt I'll go this route, though, although I very well may come fall.
Anyway the tree is down, my wire antennas are back up and I am back in business on the 160 meter band.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
The dream came back the other night.
It starts where I save New York City and destroy my truck in the process. i don't even know how, it begins after the alleged swashbuckling takes place.
Of course, the mayor wants to give me the key to the city which I hve no use for. All I want is my simple 2 wheel drive, manual transmission Toyota replaced.
It's really quite simple. You go to the nearest Toyota dealer or scout around and find a base truck with a 5 speed and hand it over to me.
My truck is replaced, the city is saved. I'm happy, the city is happy and everyone is happy.
Does it happen that way in my dream?
NooOOOoooOOOooo.
No way in hell. That would be too easy.
The Mayor gets up and wants to replace my simple four cylinder manual transmission Toyota pick 'em up with a humongous 8 cylinder loaded behemoth!
Of course, he's astonished I don't want the monsterous land boat they want to palm off on me. I just want my simple truck replaced.
It really IS that simple.
When he asks me why I don't want a V-8 or power windows I simply tell him that those things break and have to be fixed and that a V-8 uses too much gasoline.
As with most big shots they do not know how a simple man thinks or what he wants. He thinks that everyone wants the biggest and baddest. Like most elected officials he's wrong. Some of us just like what we like.
He also wants the show New Yorkers how cool he is.
The replacement now has nothing to do with replacing my destroyed vehicle and everything to do with garnering votes. The Mayor wants to be seen as a generous, kind and grateful soul. Truth be known, he doesn't give a damn about Piccolo at this point.
Finally I cave in and accept the behemoth and have a tow truck show up to haul it off. A shocked mayor asks me why I don't just drive it away.
I tell him I don't know how to drive an automatic transmission and his jaw drops. He never thought that maybe someone didn''t want a slush pump tranny simply because he doesn't like them.
The truck goes on the back of the dealer's tow away vehicle and I hop in with the driver and we go back to the dealer where it came from in the first place and I trade it in and get what I wanted in the first place plus a pretty good wad of cash.
The dealer, being slick has called in a reporter friend of his from the Daily Whatever and hears my side of the story and leaves laughing. I guess the mayor is going to look like an idiot when the morning issue comes out.
Then I take my new truck, the simple one I wanted in the first place but the concept was too difficult for a politician to understand. Then head to the wrecking yard they sent the old one to so I can salvage my fairly new bed cover. This was followed by a trip to the auto parts store for a couple of other things.
I snag a bug deflector, floor mats and a couple of other things, gas up and with the leftover cash head to Las Vegas. I'm not going there to gamble.
Entering the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, I spy Rick Harrison.
"Hey, Rick!" I say. "I got the key to the City of New York."
"Want to pawn it or sell it?" he asks.
"Sell it," I reply.
"Where did you get it?" he asks.
"The Mayor gave it to me last week," I reply.
"Hey... " asks Rick. "Are you that guy..."
"That's me," I reply.
"Why do you want to sell it?" Asks Rick.
"Will it get me into a booze or food store after hours?" I ask.
"Probably not," replies Rick.
"Then it's of no use to me," I say.
The Old man laughs like hell.
"Give him ten grand, Rick," says the Old Man.
"Tell you what," I reply. "Sell it on consignment and take a third for yourself."
"We can do that," says the Old Man.
I hand Rick Harrison the key and now there's one more useless thing I don't have to deal with. Who needs a key that doesn't open anything?
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Monday, March 21, 2016
I have a tree in the wayback I'm going to lose
It is like the leaning tower of Pisa only a little worse. It is about 20 degrees or more out of plumb. One good gust of wind from the west and it's down.
When I looked at it carefully I decided that it wasn't probably a safe candidate for the usual chain saw route. It looks kind of diseased at the base.
Many years ago I wasn't paying attention and cut one down that was diseased at the base. When I got the saw into the base a bit the entire base exploded and instead of falling where I wanted it to it fell where IT wanted to. I was lucky not to be injured.
While I'm still fairly agile I am not as quick as I used to be.
I can also see that nice Mister Ground Hog and friends have dug tunnels through the root structure. I wish I could get a little Old School dynamite or something and destroy the root structure and hasten its fall.
On the other hand, I suppose if I did that there would be a big stink. I'd get yet another visit from guys with blue suits, badges and guns. Years ago I could likely get away with something like this but the climate has worsened and if I did there would be penalty markers thrown.
What I did to insure this one will fall where I want it to is I ran a line from well up the trunk to a Come-Along tied to the base of another tree. The tree is going to fall safely anyway and this is a little more encouragement.
Anyway that's what today brings although I may be able to take another bite on the Come-Along line and lean the tree over more today because at about 1600 local we're slated for about a 17 knot wind. As the tree sways I'll take up the slack created.
Patience is required for this one but I think I can get this one down to the ground safely.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
When I looked at it carefully I decided that it wasn't probably a safe candidate for the usual chain saw route. It looks kind of diseased at the base.
Many years ago I wasn't paying attention and cut one down that was diseased at the base. When I got the saw into the base a bit the entire base exploded and instead of falling where I wanted it to it fell where IT wanted to. I was lucky not to be injured.
While I'm still fairly agile I am not as quick as I used to be.
I can also see that nice Mister Ground Hog and friends have dug tunnels through the root structure. I wish I could get a little Old School dynamite or something and destroy the root structure and hasten its fall.
On the other hand, I suppose if I did that there would be a big stink. I'd get yet another visit from guys with blue suits, badges and guns. Years ago I could likely get away with something like this but the climate has worsened and if I did there would be penalty markers thrown.
What I did to insure this one will fall where I want it to is I ran a line from well up the trunk to a Come-Along tied to the base of another tree. The tree is going to fall safely anyway and this is a little more encouragement.
Anyway that's what today brings although I may be able to take another bite on the Come-Along line and lean the tree over more today because at about 1600 local we're slated for about a 17 knot wind. As the tree sways I'll take up the slack created.
Patience is required for this one but I think I can get this one down to the ground safely.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Sunday, March 20, 2016
An open letter to GOP elites and for that matter the DNC big shots.
So why are Donald Trump and Ted Cruz so popular these days?
Most likely because the average working stiff is sick and tired of your party elite bullshit. I would dare say that Trump likely could have run as a Democrat and gotten a lot of crossover support from Republicans like he is now from Democrats.
People of both parties are sick and tired of party bullshit and backroom deals that are designed to take care of party elites at the expense of the rest of us.
What happened is that someone decided to throw his hat into the ring that could not be controlled and you clowns don't like it. The truth of the matter is that you wanted to try and cram that idiot Jeb Bush down our throats and we told you to go piss up a rope.
The actual truth of the matter is that Donald Trump even a few years ago wouldn't have even rated a spoof campaign a few years back but you clowns with your back room deals and desire for power have brought it on yourself.
The days of back room cover ups are over with thanks to the real media people use for information these days. The internet has seen to that. You may still have control of the mainstream media to a point but you have no control over the internet and it's kicking you in the pants by exposing you. Tough shit. It's about time.
If you clowns use the brokered convention to keep Trump of Cruz off the ballot and stuff give us Little Mario of Dumbass Jeb, we're walking out. Adios. You can take your ball and go home.
Of course, you really don't give two shits about who the next POTUS is just so long as you keep your precious Republican elite rice bowl from being tipped over.
Truth is that I suppose you ought to try and keep Trump or Cruz off the ballot if you think they are the least bit vengeful because if either of them make it to the White House a lot of you high muckety-mucks are very possibly getting a trip straight to jail.
People are sick and tired of you bullshit and your little front candidates and your little agendas that fill your pockets with my money.
It's not only Republicans that are fed up, either. If and hopefully when you backroom thugs go down the next step is to take a long hard look at the DNC and clean them up, too.
Then and only then can we put the country back in a productive direction again. We're tired of being run by backroom dealmakers and party elites who have only an interest in what they can steal from the rest of us.
As for Donald Trump?
He's nothing more or less than someone that filled the vacuum you created with your backroom greed. You've kept trying to steal the whole damned pie.
That's not the way it works if you are going to be a successful criminal. Jimmy Hoffa wrote the book on that one while he was robbing the Teamsters fund.
The Teamsters knew they were being robbed but kept re electing him because they knew "He gets his BUT WE GET OURS!"
Trump and Cruz have popularity not because of who they are. They are popular because of what you have created.
And you have nobody to blame but yourselves because the working stiff wants his party back,
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Most likely because the average working stiff is sick and tired of your party elite bullshit. I would dare say that Trump likely could have run as a Democrat and gotten a lot of crossover support from Republicans like he is now from Democrats.
People of both parties are sick and tired of party bullshit and backroom deals that are designed to take care of party elites at the expense of the rest of us.
What happened is that someone decided to throw his hat into the ring that could not be controlled and you clowns don't like it. The truth of the matter is that you wanted to try and cram that idiot Jeb Bush down our throats and we told you to go piss up a rope.
The actual truth of the matter is that Donald Trump even a few years ago wouldn't have even rated a spoof campaign a few years back but you clowns with your back room deals and desire for power have brought it on yourself.
The days of back room cover ups are over with thanks to the real media people use for information these days. The internet has seen to that. You may still have control of the mainstream media to a point but you have no control over the internet and it's kicking you in the pants by exposing you. Tough shit. It's about time.
If you clowns use the brokered convention to keep Trump of Cruz off the ballot and stuff give us Little Mario of Dumbass Jeb, we're walking out. Adios. You can take your ball and go home.
Of course, you really don't give two shits about who the next POTUS is just so long as you keep your precious Republican elite rice bowl from being tipped over.
Truth is that I suppose you ought to try and keep Trump or Cruz off the ballot if you think they are the least bit vengeful because if either of them make it to the White House a lot of you high muckety-mucks are very possibly getting a trip straight to jail.
People are sick and tired of you bullshit and your little front candidates and your little agendas that fill your pockets with my money.
It's not only Republicans that are fed up, either. If and hopefully when you backroom thugs go down the next step is to take a long hard look at the DNC and clean them up, too.
Then and only then can we put the country back in a productive direction again. We're tired of being run by backroom dealmakers and party elites who have only an interest in what they can steal from the rest of us.
As for Donald Trump?
He's nothing more or less than someone that filled the vacuum you created with your backroom greed. You've kept trying to steal the whole damned pie.
That's not the way it works if you are going to be a successful criminal. Jimmy Hoffa wrote the book on that one while he was robbing the Teamsters fund.
The Teamsters knew they were being robbed but kept re electing him because they knew "He gets his BUT WE GET OURS!"
Trump and Cruz have popularity not because of who they are. They are popular because of what you have created.
And you have nobody to blame but yourselves because the working stiff wants his party back,
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Saturday, March 19, 2016
A long post for an old friend
"You know what started to raise the plight of the black man? World War Two," said a friend of mine.
I turned to him and said, "I do believe you are right."
Later on someone said to me that we have spent billions on all sorts of social programs and haven't gotten very results.
I told him he was right. Adtually it is pretty obvious.
A few years back when I was visiting my hometown an old classmate (class of '69) commented that our (then) small town was really sheltered from a lot of city drug and race problems.
I replied that if my parents had opted to stay in Dorchester, where I spent the first three or four years of my life, that my attitudes may very well be different.
The then small town I lived in suffered few if any major drug and race problems to speak of. I was fortunate. The small handful of minorities were simply a part of the town and nobody gave it much thought. We played and lived together fairly unaware of any differences. We were always welcome in each other's homes with no second thought.
It actually wasn't until I got into the Army when I had to deal with racial differences and I avoided it for the most part by treating everyone fairly.
Looking through things there are a lot of people that seem to think that the racial problems this country has suffered involving the black community is mainly a Southern thing. The South has been blamed for a lot of it over the years but that's not entirely true. You can see that in Boston and that carries on to a certain extent even today.
After the Civil War many Blacks moved north and the blacks that moved into the Boston area were willing to work cheaper than the Irish and cost the newly arrived Irish jobs.
While historically the Irish are a warm and kind people, the inverse holds true when they are slighted. Someone referrred to Irish Alzheimer's once. It's where you forget everything but the grudges. This has passed on through the generations and until recently Southie, the Irish enclave of Boston, was pretty much off limits to blacks after dark.
But let's go back further than that. Let's go back to about 1865 when the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished.
In effect the government cut an entire race loose and gave them their freedom. On paper this is all well and good but the reality of it is that is that we gave an entire race freedom without the tools required to work with it.
Educating blacks in the South prior to the Civil War was illegal. The entire plantation system was set up so as to keep the then slaves entirely dependent on plantation life. They worked in the homes and fields and in return were fed and taken care of. They needed no education nor much of anything else. They worked and were taken care of in return.
Releasing people from bondage with no education is and was really a ticket for failure. It should be noted that General Sherman during his march to the sea advised blacks to stay where they were simply for this reason. He understood that the now free blacks were likely not in a position to be able to support themselves.
Incidentally the stories of beatings and mistreatment of slaves is very much overplayed. When you stop and think of it for a minute and look at things clearly and clinically, beating someone doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
You have to look at it like a business man. A field hand slave was actually a machine to do field work, a machine that hadn't been invented yet. Slaves were expensive and were not to be abused. A beating could easily result in infection and back then before miracle drugs, death.
Also savvy plantation owners knew that treating people well generally results in a better productivity.
Also by the 1860s slavery as an institution was beginning to die. If it had been left alone it would have likely died within 20 or 30 years. Farming technology was in its infancy then and starting to build up s head of steam.
A slave could only do a man's work in a day and required food, shelter, medical attention and such 24/7, 365 days a year. This was fairly expensive. A machine could be parked in the barn when not needed and simply sit there costing nothing. In addition to this, a machine could do the work of several men in a whole lot less time.
By 1880ish slavery would likely have disappeared simply because it was too expensive.
Still, history says that as of 1865 virtually all of the slaves were freed.
With that a large number of uneducated people found themselves without a way of taking care of themselves. What they wound up doing varied.
Some stayed on the plantation as hired labor, some became sharecroppers, some moved north and some headed west.
Some of them enlisted in segregated army units and a couple of the colored regiments became famous in the west and later on during the Spanish American war.
Others became cowboys. It's not commonly known but about a third of the cowboys were black. You never see it on the silver screen, though.
Boston, New York and Chicago absorbed a large number of these people and in Boston and New York they fought with new immigrants for jobs. Often they were met with predjudice because they wound up fighting over scarce jobs.
A handful of them took advantage of the Homestead act and farmed. Others worked in the mid west as farm hands and laborers. In many cases these people were accepted over time and simply assimilated into the community.
All in all it was not really a good time for blacks in general. Getting cut loose from the plantation probably wasn't a very easy row to hoe.
In the South the blacks that stayed faced segregation and Jim Crow laws.
It has been said that the South hated blacks collectively but loved them individually while up north they loved blacks collectively but hated them individually.
While the blacks in the South faced Jim Crow, the blacks that moved north faced a different kind of predjudice in the cities.
All in all it was a hard time for blacks in general although a number of them managed to assimilate and become successful.
When World War 2 broke out the army still had segregated units. The Navy also had their ways. Any blacks that served in the Navy during WW2 probably served food. This was actually a step backward because during WW1 there had been a small number of black rated men in the Navy.
Blacks during WW2 for the most part served in service units. The Red Ball Express that served to supply the army that swarmed across Europe was manned mainly by blacks.
The Tuskegee Airmen were a segregated Air Corps fighter unit that served with pride and distinction escorting bombers in Europe. In a typical display of poor pollicy, the white bomber pilots that wanted to buy the fighter jocks a drink for saving their bacon were turned away. The clubs were segregated.
Black combat units fared between excellent and dismal depending on the leadership. The army issued a statement that black units required good leadership to be successful in combat. The statement was hogwash because all units require good leadership to be successful.
Still, the Second World War was the turning point for the black man. Most people don't see it but I believe it to be true.
While there were few commissioned blacks in the service during WW2, in the segregated units there was a need for NCOs. They had to come from someplace and they were promoted from the ranks like they were in all other units. NCOs provide the grass roots leadership in any military organization.
In general, Black NCOs served well. This was actually the planting of the seeds of the future Civil Rights movement of the late 50s and 60s.
For the first time blacks had colectively been put in positions of responsibility and they had succeeded. There was to be no turning back. These NCOs had proven themselves as being capable. They had proven themselves to the point where in 1948 Harry Truman desegregated the services.
I'm going to interject something here. It's as good of a spot as any. Racism is very easy to figure out. All you have to do is follow the money. In Boston after the Civil war color had nothing to do with the resentment shown to blacks. It was simply because jobs for Irish immigrants were hard to come by. Blacks would work for less money and a lot of Irish immigrants lost their jobs over it.
Of course, the employers got rich because their labor costs went down.
If you dig deep enough, at the bottom of every racial situation you'll always find someone getting rich at someone else's expense. Racism also serves to be a tool for dividing people.
If you think the system really wants the people united then guess again. If you think that a politician that speaks of uniting Americans is telling the truth then I have some nice land to sell you in Florida. People are a lot easier to control when they are fighting with each other.
They are a HELL of a lot easier to control when they are disarmed but that's another issue entirely. Incidentally the first gun control laws were aimed at blacks to keep them from being able to protect temselves. For that matter, Dr. King kept a shotgun handy. I digress.
Between 1945 and 1950 it seems to me like everyone took a break and recovered from the war as best they could. I suppose I can mention that right after the war the Battle of Athens, TN took place. The first casualty was a black man that was gut shot when he walked in to vote.
In the 50s the murmuring of the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement started. A lot of the people involved were black veterans that had served in the military. They had tasted responsibility and success and simply wanted their fair share.
I won't get into the Civil Rights movement of the late 50s and early sixties. It's been hashed and rehashed countless times.
I'm going to go straight to the Civil Rights Act signed by President Johnson who I consider no real friend of the black man.
If you look at the congressional voting record of one Lyndon Baines Johnson you will see that he voted against civil rights for blacks his entire career. In fact, on board Air Force one he was quoted as saying: "When I sign this bill I'll have those niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years!"
That doesn't sound like the man was any friend of the black man any way you slice it. It sounds like he signed it simply to garner votes.
While the act should have covered all forms of government, and it did. It guarenteed the rights of all Americans to vote and be treated fairly by all forms of government. Still, it went too far. They had no right wandering into the private sector and trying to force things.
To clarify a point here I'll add that as soon as any private organization or business takes government money they automatically open their doors to anyone.
While the act was probably written with the best of intentions it backfired a bit by creating animosity. It created animosity by telling private owners how to run their businesses.
While people will likely obey the law if they have to they will be very grudging about it. They will generally do all they can to circumvent it and as a result the intended result is not likely to take place. Like it or not, not a whole lot of people like being told what to do, who to like or what to eat. It just won't happen like the government thinks.
Back in the day just about every business place used to have a sign that said proudly, "We have the right to refuse service to anyone".
There was something to be said for that, and there still is.
There is a scene in the old movie 'Giant' when Rock Hudson's character gets knocked on his ass in Sarge's Diner for defending a family of Mexicans that the owner is refusing service to.
Sarge didn't want to serve them. Fair enough. His business, his rules.
Bick Benedict (Hudson's character) meddled and got knocked on his ass and thrown out. Fair enough.
Of course, in Piccolo's Diner everyone is welcome not only because I refuse to see ethnic differences but because everyone's money is the same color. Sarge really wasn't much of a businessman when you think about it.
On the other hand, Sarge has a right to go broke.
Of course, Piccolo's diner, because it caters to everyone is likely to be successful. Because he is open to everyone it is pretty likely that he's going to get a lot of minority business there.
Another interjection. I have to state that even though I will defend Sarge's right to not serve people, I certainly would not eat there. I have the right to eat where I want. If the place won't serve my friend they won't serve me, either.
Then again I am one of those people that will defend the right of the Klan to hold a rally on the town square only to show up and throw vegetables at them.
The truth is that there is no real dignity being able to sit at the Woolworth's lunch counter simply because the law says you can. Nobody wins in that case. Everyone is uncomfortable and nobody really wants to be there. It is a forced situation and is really meaningless. It's kind of like being allowed to play ball with the bigger kids because Jimmy's mother said you can't play ball in the yard unless you let little Timmy play.
I could never figure out why Dr. King fought that stupid battle that way. I would have simply opened a soul food kitchen a block or two away, open to everyone. Good food cuts through a lot of things.
As I write this I can picture Bull Conner waddling out of the place with a toothpick between greasy lips.
Several years ago one of those so-called fraternal organizations was ordered by the court to open its doors to minorities. Bad call. It was a private organization that took no money from government.
We're back to having Jimmy's mother forcing the big kids to let little Timmy play ball with them. Members of the club that previously would have welcomed minorities are now angry at having their right to pick and choose taken away from them. This adds to the resentment. It's just like the Woolworths lunch counter. Why would someone even bother to force their way into a place they are not wanted to begin with.
Many moons ago I walked up to a contractor looking for work. He simply asked me, "What can you do for me?"
I told him I could I could make money for him by selling the fruits of my labor. That got his attention. He started me at $15/hour but when payday rolled around he paid me $17.50 and a couple of weeks later it went up to $20. It should be noted that this was back in 1984. That was a lot of meoney back then.
Why? Because I was making money for him. He didn't hire me because I was white. He hired me because I could frame an apartment building quickly and efficiently.
The ability to provide a service and or make money is generally what conquers racism. If you have a foot of sewage in your basement you generally don't really give a damn what color the plumber is.
You don't care what color he is or that he has plumber's crack or smells or needs a haircut. You just want your drain unclogged. If he gets your drain unclogged you are certainly going to take his card and put it somewhere so you can call him again.
One can say that it isn't much of a victory to be standing knee deep in someone's sewage but the truth is it really is a victory. One of these days Joe Homeowner is going to need a bathroom or kitchen redone and guess who he's probably going to call? That IS a victory.
I suppose that I am rambling now so this might be a pretty good time to look at the failed Great Society programs of LBJ.
Failed programs?
Yes. Failed and failed miserably. The Aid to Dependent Children actually shook a lot of our values to the core. They gutted the American family in general and hit the Black community especially hard.
Prior to the legislation a girl that found herself unmarried and pregnant generally married the young man responsible. Prior to the legislation it was about 75%.
A'shotgun marriage' was probably not the solution. An awful lot of these marriages ended in divorce. However, it did provide for some kind of accountability. The father had to stand up to the plate and take responsibility for his actions.
A year after the program began the marriage rate dropped to about 11%.
And why not? Why hould she marry that oaf that is working at a dead end job when Uncle Sam will take better care of her than he will?
As for the father? All the little girl has to do is put 'unknown' in the name of father box and the guy gets off the hook. It would be interesting to find out how many children have birth certificates with this on it. Probably a lot more than you think.
Prior to this Great Society program there was a certain amount of shame with having a baby out of wedlock. It was seriously discouraged. These days it means little or nothing.
I heard a so-called joke once that the definition of mass confusion was Father's Day in Harlem. Truthfully, it was completely unfair. This is just as much a white problem as it is a black problem.
LBJ stood on a porch with an older West Virginian once and told him he was going to make sure the man had something to look forward to. Five years later the man was still sitting on his porch and the American taxpayer was poorer for it.
Ben Franklin had an interesting say on the poor.
“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
The way I see it the government made the poor poorer. What you do for yourself is what counts.
In short, government has a bad habit of taking a bad situation and making it worse. They simply ought to butt out and let us settle it. It'll work out.
Tip O'Neal once said, "All politics is local." I do believe he was right. It starts at grass roots and trying to take it to more than that is a sure fire recipe for failure.
Government at any level should simply see that everyone has their basic rights and leave it at that.
I think I'll address so-called white privilege here.I don't see it. I have to get up in the morning, have a cuppa joe and go off to enter the rat race just like everyone else. I'm only as good as my last gig and can be replaced by someone else in a heartbeat. In that respect there really is no white privilege.
I suppose it refers to the guys in the oak paneled back room where brandy and cigars are served but they don't want me there.
They routinely invite guys like Herman Cain, though. Race matters little to get into the back room. Ability does. Herman Cain has the ability to rescue failing corporations. I don't.
In fact, we now have a black president and the last two elections we have had a couple of black candidates which says something. While I'm no particular fan of President Obama, fact remains he's in office. My beef with President Obama is that I simply don't like his politics. Fair enough.
This post has been written for a black friend of mine that has recently retired from a career in the government sector.
He came from a poor background and took his GI bill and ran with it. He got himself an education and has been successful. He didn't get rich financially but he has done OK.
It started over his fears of what could happen to his grandchildren in dealings with police.
The truth is, Old Buddy that the 'talk on how to deal with The Man' isn't a only a black thing. Most fathers give it to their sons at one time or another. It really isn't a whole lot different.
The truth is that the average working stiff black man has a LOT more in common with the average working white guy. We all have to get up and go to work and earn a living.
As for your grandkids, if you have done your job they'll likely have no real problems. If you look at the victims of overzealous policemen you'll find the victims have done something wrong to begin with.
You simply teach your children how to behave themselves and I know you have.
Pic.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Friday, March 18, 2016
I have
just read where a school district in Washington has stopped serving pork products in their school lunch program because some Muslims have threatened to sue them if they don't.
Frankly the school district should have simply told them to sue them and explained that the countersuit for wasting their time would follow if they didn't win.
One of the things I fondly remember about the Army was the chow line and the attitude of the cooks. Of course, the cooks recieved a lot of complaints because it is the general nature of a GI to complain about everything.
Eat it, don't eat it, throw it away. I don't care, I did my job. The Army gave me the food and I cooked it. It's on you. That was the gist of the answer the cooks gave to the complainers.
I, of course, simply ate what was out in front of me but that is just my nature. One day one of the coooks asked me why I never complained about the food. I shrugged and told him I was on a see food diet. When I see food I eat it.
But that is just me.
One of the things that we all have a right to do is throw food away. If you don't like something, don't eat it.
Want something to complain about? I can do that.
How about if we hire a couple of big guys to grab the students that don't like pork? One holds their arms and the other holds their nose and when the student opens his mouth to breath he rams a bacon covered pork chop down his throat.
Of course, it the school were to do that I would likely be in the front lines of that battle. You don't take someone's legitimate choice away from them. People have the right to eat what they want.
I remember the time I had some pork chops I was getting ready to cook up one night and a Jewish compadre was visiting me when I was ready to cook them up.
"You're invited to dine with me tonight. I will serve you Jewish dilemmia," I said.
"What is Jewish dilemmia?" he asked.
"Free pork," I replied. "I'm having pork chops."
He laughed. "I'll pass," he replied. Then he grew somewhat serious. "I'm a Jew and can't accept. We don't eat pork. But thank you for offering to share a meal with me."
He knew my offer wasn't a slight. It was simply an offer to share a meal with a friend and he took it that way. The offer was given in friendship.
Still, the point is that the Muslim community has to realize that the rest of us are not going to change our dietary habits (or much of anything for that matter) to suit them. It's not fair to the rest of us and when you get down to it it really isn't fair to them, either.
For one thing it cheats them out of learning to deal with other people.
Let's go back to my Army days.
Out in the field our fine dining often consisted of C-rations. Here's a sample of a typical conversation.
"Hey, Jimmy! What did you draw?"
"Turkey loaf."
"Trade ya for dicks and mothers. I'll throw in the Luckies."
"Cool!"
A pair of cans and a 4-pack of smokes would fly across to each other and the trade was completed. Jimmy got dicks and mothers and four Luckies and Joe got turkey loaf. The final results were two happier campers.
One of the things the kids will be cheated out of this by this policy is learning flexibility. Back in the day we learned how to trade. One of the things I would do if I were a kid in this day and age is sit near a Jew or Muslim because I like meat of all sorts. I'd trade just about anything on the plate for a serving of meat.
Come pork days I'd likely be swapping my whatever for whoever wanted to trade for another pork chop. However, that is just me.
Still the point is that Muslims and everybody else have to learn to live here and there is no real reason the rest of us have to change to suit them.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Frankly the school district should have simply told them to sue them and explained that the countersuit for wasting their time would follow if they didn't win.
One of the things I fondly remember about the Army was the chow line and the attitude of the cooks. Of course, the cooks recieved a lot of complaints because it is the general nature of a GI to complain about everything.
Eat it, don't eat it, throw it away. I don't care, I did my job. The Army gave me the food and I cooked it. It's on you. That was the gist of the answer the cooks gave to the complainers.
I, of course, simply ate what was out in front of me but that is just my nature. One day one of the coooks asked me why I never complained about the food. I shrugged and told him I was on a see food diet. When I see food I eat it.
But that is just me.
One of the things that we all have a right to do is throw food away. If you don't like something, don't eat it.
Want something to complain about? I can do that.
How about if we hire a couple of big guys to grab the students that don't like pork? One holds their arms and the other holds their nose and when the student opens his mouth to breath he rams a bacon covered pork chop down his throat.
Of course, it the school were to do that I would likely be in the front lines of that battle. You don't take someone's legitimate choice away from them. People have the right to eat what they want.
I remember the time I had some pork chops I was getting ready to cook up one night and a Jewish compadre was visiting me when I was ready to cook them up.
"You're invited to dine with me tonight. I will serve you Jewish dilemmia," I said.
"What is Jewish dilemmia?" he asked.
"Free pork," I replied. "I'm having pork chops."
He laughed. "I'll pass," he replied. Then he grew somewhat serious. "I'm a Jew and can't accept. We don't eat pork. But thank you for offering to share a meal with me."
He knew my offer wasn't a slight. It was simply an offer to share a meal with a friend and he took it that way. The offer was given in friendship.
Still, the point is that the Muslim community has to realize that the rest of us are not going to change our dietary habits (or much of anything for that matter) to suit them. It's not fair to the rest of us and when you get down to it it really isn't fair to them, either.
For one thing it cheats them out of learning to deal with other people.
Let's go back to my Army days.
Out in the field our fine dining often consisted of C-rations. Here's a sample of a typical conversation.
"Hey, Jimmy! What did you draw?"
"Turkey loaf."
"Trade ya for dicks and mothers. I'll throw in the Luckies."
"Cool!"
A pair of cans and a 4-pack of smokes would fly across to each other and the trade was completed. Jimmy got dicks and mothers and four Luckies and Joe got turkey loaf. The final results were two happier campers.
One of the things the kids will be cheated out of this by this policy is learning flexibility. Back in the day we learned how to trade. One of the things I would do if I were a kid in this day and age is sit near a Jew or Muslim because I like meat of all sorts. I'd trade just about anything on the plate for a serving of meat.
Come pork days I'd likely be swapping my whatever for whoever wanted to trade for another pork chop. However, that is just me.
Still the point is that Muslims and everybody else have to learn to live here and there is no real reason the rest of us have to change to suit them.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Today is St. Patrick's day and to celebrate it I will put on a green yarmulke.
WTF?!?!?
Green yalmulke?
Yup. Green yamulke. I am ashore for this holiday and have to celebate it properly. I can not stand to est that boiled mush called 'corned beef and cabbage'. It rates up there with New England boiled dinner.
It is a total mush.
So being a good Irishman I will put on my yalmulke and head on down to the Jewish deli and have me a corned beef on rye with a side of cole slaw.
A few years back someone asked me what it meant to be Jewish. I replied that it was kind of like being Irish but they do a better job on corned beef.
The Catholic standing nearby furrowed his brows in confusion for a second and then turned to me.
"You're right," he said. "They do a much better job on corned beef."
So that is how this American of Irish descent is getting his corned beef and cabbage again this year.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
WTF?!?!?
Green yalmulke?
Yup. Green yamulke. I am ashore for this holiday and have to celebate it properly. I can not stand to est that boiled mush called 'corned beef and cabbage'. It rates up there with New England boiled dinner.
It is a total mush.
So being a good Irishman I will put on my yalmulke and head on down to the Jewish deli and have me a corned beef on rye with a side of cole slaw.
A few years back someone asked me what it meant to be Jewish. I replied that it was kind of like being Irish but they do a better job on corned beef.
The Catholic standing nearby furrowed his brows in confusion for a second and then turned to me.
"You're right," he said. "They do a much better job on corned beef."
So that is how this American of Irish descent is getting his corned beef and cabbage again this year.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Deer. A whole ringtailed passel of 'em.
As I sit here looking into the wayback I see a half-dozen deer.
They have has an easy winter and they are fat which is unusual for this time of year. Usually after a hard winter they are a lot skinnier. After a very hard winter there are a lot fewer deer in the area.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
They have has an easy winter and they are fat which is unusual for this time of year. Usually after a hard winter they are a lot skinnier. After a very hard winter there are a lot fewer deer in the area.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
In Texas
even the vegetables are made out of meat and I have a dinner and a movie coming up.
I think I am going to serve ribs, Brussels sprouts and peas Texas style.
I can make Brussels sprouts out of meatballs and peas out of chopped up fried stew beef so I suppose things ought to be good to go.
Sounds like a pretty good Texas-style meal for three guys that come over for a movie.
I suppose no meal is complete without fruit so I guess the young man in the crew will get lemonade and his old man and I will split a half-pint of peach brandy. You have to have fruit in your diet.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
I think I am going to serve ribs, Brussels sprouts and peas Texas style.
I can make Brussels sprouts out of meatballs and peas out of chopped up fried stew beef so I suppose things ought to be good to go.
Sounds like a pretty good Texas-style meal for three guys that come over for a movie.
I suppose no meal is complete without fruit so I guess the young man in the crew will get lemonade and his old man and I will split a half-pint of peach brandy. You have to have fruit in your diet.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Monday, March 14, 2016
I just found out a couple of hams call me 'Corporal Yakasumi'.
It is because someone started a rumor a while back that I was sending CW (Morse) messages on the ham bands claiming to be a leftover Japanese holdout from WW2 out in New Guinea someplace.
I guess a while ago someone did that and stirred up a hornet's nest.
Anyway, someone said that it was the kind of thing I would do and they're probably right. I have a sick sense of humor. I once posted on a board that I served with Colonel Roosevelt in Cuba.
Most people chuckled but enter the Dumb $hits who believed it. Hilarity ensued when someone pointed out that knowing how to count can save someone a lot of social embarrassment.
If the people that either believed I served with TR or accused me of being a glory hound faker had bothered to do a little mental math they would realize that I would have to be about 136 years old.
Still, when I was frst accused of the CW misdeed I simply grinned and didn't deny it. After all, that is a pretty good mark to have on one's record.
The stories surrounding a misdeed like that tend to grow and grow. Last time I heard the rumor was that the Japanese Army were sending out two or three battalions to look for him.
I came here to patently deny this misdeed but as I sit here writing I don't think I will. I will neither confirm nor deny it.
Besides, I am beginning to like being called Corporal Yakasumi.
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Sunday, March 13, 2016
Late start today.
The clocks were screwed up this morning as it was a Daylight Savings time change. I suppose I could have swapped them out last night but didn't bother.
The living room clock took me about two seconds to swap out.
It's the ham radio Atomic clock that is a real bear. It's a major chore because I don't do it often enough to remember how and the damned thing has 8 buttons on the back.
It is one of those damned things that every time you get one of the features you want turned on you manage to turn another three off and wind up going around in circles which is a big part of my life.
I THINK I got it but I'll have to wait until the atomic clock part resets itself.
Six months ago it took me DAYS to get it squared away but I suppose I can't gripe about the damned thing because I bought it for a buck at a garage sale.
The big problem with it is that you can not turn the automatic Daylight Savings time option off. Had I been able to do that and it would not have even been a bump in the road.
A lot of this is something that is common. There are a lot of things that have automatic features and no way to shut them off.
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Saturday, March 12, 2016
I just read where a Swedish police
department told the female population not to walk the streets so as not to be the target of rapes by Muslim immigrants.
Wrong answer.
The correct answer would have been to train Swedish women in the use of handguns and let nature run its course. After about a dozen young studs discovered that attempting rape of a Swedish girl is likely to be painful the practice would come to a screeching f***ing halt.
I don't care who you are or where you live, you have the God given right to walk down the street unmolested wearing just about anything you want.
Actually the truth of the matter is that those people should have not been allowed into Sweden in the first place.
Rudyard Kipling was right when he said, "East is east, west is west and never the twain shall meet." There is too big a difference in culture for many of the Middle Easterners to immigrate to Europe of the Americas. It really is that simple.
Someone pointed out that that kind of behavior would not be tolorated in Louisiana or Texas and they may very well be right. I have been told that in Texas that if you can convince a jury that 'the man just needed killing' that you can walk off scot-free. Maybe there is something to that law. Perhaps we need more like it.
When the police have to tell the townspeople that they have to stay inside unescorted then something is patently wrong. Yes, it really is that simple.
The Swedish police should not be telling the citizens that they can not protect them from the immigrants. They should be telling the immigrants that they can not protect them from angry Swedes if the commit crimes.
People in general do not understand mob justice.
When there is no law enforcement available then people do what they think they have to do to make themselves safer. The other time it happens is when the law enforcement either can't or won't provide the public with security.
When the former happens it is generally the public that bears the responsibility for not having established some sort of legal system. When the latter happens it generally means the legal system has failed the public and people have lost faith in it.
Is mob justice justified?
It really doesn't matter. It can and likely will happen if the system breaks down and the law enforcement community can't take care of a problem. Justified or not, it's going to happen.
In this country people are rapidly losing faith in the government and their ability to take care of us. It seems that government has chosen to take care of the people by simply handing out checks, EBT cards and free Obama phones.
While the lower classes seem mollified it isn't going to be long until there is some sort of uprising when they lose faith in government to provide basic security.
Most people here don't want a huge influx of Middle Eastern Muslims, especially the uneducated ones. They seem to bring their ways with them. We are already seeing crimes committed by recent arrivals. It's not OK to murder your daughter for smiling at a Christian boy and it's not OK to throw acid on your wife because you didn't like the way she cooked dinner.
We're seeing open rebellion in Europe regarding immigration and we will soon be seeing it here.
Anti-immigration violence. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Wrong answer.
The correct answer would have been to train Swedish women in the use of handguns and let nature run its course. After about a dozen young studs discovered that attempting rape of a Swedish girl is likely to be painful the practice would come to a screeching f***ing halt.
I don't care who you are or where you live, you have the God given right to walk down the street unmolested wearing just about anything you want.
Actually the truth of the matter is that those people should have not been allowed into Sweden in the first place.
Rudyard Kipling was right when he said, "East is east, west is west and never the twain shall meet." There is too big a difference in culture for many of the Middle Easterners to immigrate to Europe of the Americas. It really is that simple.
Someone pointed out that that kind of behavior would not be tolorated in Louisiana or Texas and they may very well be right. I have been told that in Texas that if you can convince a jury that 'the man just needed killing' that you can walk off scot-free. Maybe there is something to that law. Perhaps we need more like it.
When the police have to tell the townspeople that they have to stay inside unescorted then something is patently wrong. Yes, it really is that simple.
The Swedish police should not be telling the citizens that they can not protect them from the immigrants. They should be telling the immigrants that they can not protect them from angry Swedes if the commit crimes.
People in general do not understand mob justice.
When there is no law enforcement available then people do what they think they have to do to make themselves safer. The other time it happens is when the law enforcement either can't or won't provide the public with security.
When the former happens it is generally the public that bears the responsibility for not having established some sort of legal system. When the latter happens it generally means the legal system has failed the public and people have lost faith in it.
Is mob justice justified?
It really doesn't matter. It can and likely will happen if the system breaks down and the law enforcement community can't take care of a problem. Justified or not, it's going to happen.
In this country people are rapidly losing faith in the government and their ability to take care of us. It seems that government has chosen to take care of the people by simply handing out checks, EBT cards and free Obama phones.
While the lower classes seem mollified it isn't going to be long until there is some sort of uprising when they lose faith in government to provide basic security.
Most people here don't want a huge influx of Middle Eastern Muslims, especially the uneducated ones. They seem to bring their ways with them. We are already seeing crimes committed by recent arrivals. It's not OK to murder your daughter for smiling at a Christian boy and it's not OK to throw acid on your wife because you didn't like the way she cooked dinner.
We're seeing open rebellion in Europe regarding immigration and we will soon be seeing it here.
Anti-immigration violence. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
A day of business
This is a day of family business and taking care of things like insurance etc. etc. and so on and so forth.
Today will be a colossal pain in the ass of epic proportions.
That is all.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Friday, March 11, 2016
So I see where CHumlee of 'Pawn Stars' has been arrested.
Which does not surprise me, really.
Generally it is something like this that knocks over someone's rice bowl. My guess is the series is not going to live very much longer even though it is popular.
Things like this often end up costing celebrities the very thing that makes them celebrities. It's somewhat common. It's often because they forget which end up their rice bowl is supposed to go.
The minute one gets any kind of celebrity status in this country the public seems to want to see them fall on their ass and starts watching.
If it had been me that had gotten into trouble it would hardly be news at all. I am a nobody and would likely rate a page sixteen two or three sentence blurb if that.
Don't these people think?
Maybe they do. I'll bet some of them think they're above the law and can get away with things because of their celebrity status.
One thing, too. When you achieve celebrity status you have to remember that it is assumed you have money. When that happens you have to assume that everyone is trying to take it away from you. You have to watch your self and behave yourself because there are a lot of sleazy people out there looking torob youone way or the other.
Oh, well.
I'll bet you the Harrisons are not too happy with you and most likely you'll be dropped from the series if it does survive.
Sorry 'bout that!
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Generally it is something like this that knocks over someone's rice bowl. My guess is the series is not going to live very much longer even though it is popular.
Things like this often end up costing celebrities the very thing that makes them celebrities. It's somewhat common. It's often because they forget which end up their rice bowl is supposed to go.
The minute one gets any kind of celebrity status in this country the public seems to want to see them fall on their ass and starts watching.
If it had been me that had gotten into trouble it would hardly be news at all. I am a nobody and would likely rate a page sixteen two or three sentence blurb if that.
Don't these people think?
Maybe they do. I'll bet some of them think they're above the law and can get away with things because of their celebrity status.
One thing, too. When you achieve celebrity status you have to remember that it is assumed you have money. When that happens you have to assume that everyone is trying to take it away from you. You have to watch your self and behave yourself because there are a lot of sleazy people out there looking torob youone way or the other.
Oh, well.
I'll bet you the Harrisons are not too happy with you and most likely you'll be dropped from the series if it does survive.
Sorry 'bout that!
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Home and already up to my ass in paperwork
I got home last night and played with Kitty and had a couple of beers and sacked out. I was beat after a long, hard trip.
I woke up feeling refreshed which is unusual as it generally takes me a couple of days.
I went straight at it and started catching up on some paperwork.
This afternoon I guess I will have to start in on Coast Guard paperwork to square a few things away.
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I woke up feeling refreshed which is unusual as it generally takes me a couple of days.
I went straight at it and started catching up on some paperwork.
This afternoon I guess I will have to start in on Coast Guard paperwork to square a few things away.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
#Some lives DON'T matter.
I don't care what race, creed or color you are, if you don't respect your own life and everyone else's then your life doesn't mean a damn to me.
I get sick and tired of the 'celebrate the beauty in you' crowd telling me that all human life is precious. It isn't.
There are quite a number of people out there that not only serve no useful purpose but are a major detriment to the rest of us that want to live in peace.
If you consider your life to be precious that you really shouldn't run around stealing and assaulting other people. It can easily cost you your not so precious existince.
What? Little Johnny who was just coming around and changing his life got shot while robbing a liquor store at gunpoint?
Good! We're a lot better off without him! Bet he won't do that again! Looks like his life wasn't too precious, was it? If it was precious he wouldn't be trying to rob a liquor store.
And don't hand me that 'he was just starting to turn his life around' crap, either. If he was turning his life around he wouldn't be out robbing a liquor store. He's been somewhere else doing something constructive.
Sergeant "Smitty" Smith took out a guy that had a suicide vest on? Outstanding!
That's one more detriment to the world being we don't have to worry about. Good shooting, Smitty! Two of them in the X-ring! Keep up the good work!
The truth of the matter is that it is up to the individual to make his life precious.
You know that dumpy little guy you met that's married to that homely woman and has three kids he's trying to raise well?
He ain't got much. He busts his ass on the end of a shovel and has never done anyone any harm. His life is precious. As is the guy that fixed my furnace last year...and their wives and kids.
These guys deserve to not have someone do them any harm. So does the doctor that saved my ass a few years back. So does the guy that runs the 7-11 down the street. He's trying to live a decent life.
Incidently the guy that ran the 7-11 came here from India and has given the most precious thing he has to the country.
Every one of his four children, three sons and a daughter have served in the military. It's how they managed to get a good education. His daughter was an Air Force nurse and as a part of her contract the Air Force paid off her student loans. I think his sons did the same thing but I am not sure.
His life and the lives of his family are precious. They have contributed.
On the other hand, there are a lot of lives out there that are not worth a plugged nickel as far as I can see.
They have nobody to blame but themselves for being worthless. We are all given choices If you choose to be detrimental to society please don't expect me to get upset and start a riot in your memory after you meet some misfortune of some sort.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Anyone ever notice that the cops never seem to beat up or shoot the guy that was carrying and armload of books to read to his blind aunt?
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
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