I'm very sorry that this woman died. Just like I'm sorry about Steve Irwin and the guy who had a "trained" movie star grizzly bear a few years ago and all the other people who have gone out and decided that playing with gigantic wild predators is a cool thing to do.
Once again let me warn people. . . these are gigantic wild predators. They have instincts that, when they get mad or disturbed, they have no problem grabbing hold of whatever is pissing them off and giving it a good thrashing. If you get a good thrashing by a grizzly bear, a killer whale or a big ol sting ray, you're probably going to die. So go ahead, play with gigantic wild predators, but don't expect a whole lot of sympathy when one of them decides to stomp your ass.
Oh, but folks are going to be horrified and get all upset about this event. Well, I'll tell ya what. Make a pledge to lobby your legislators to come up with laws that forbid people from taking gigantic wild predators and locking them up in little cages and tanks instead of leaving them be out in the big wild natural world. Then refuse to patronize these animal prisons.
Come on, let's stop doing stupid fucking things.
Whale kills trainer as horrified spectators watch
AP
ORLANDO, Fla. – A SeaWorld killer whale snatched a trainer from a poolside platform Wednesday in its jaws and thrashed the woman around underwater, killing her in front of a horrified audience. It marked the third time the animal had been involved in a human death.
Distraught audience members were hustled out of the stadium immediately, and the park was closed.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Strange standards in the USA
I might be an old man, but I'm not THAT old. I can still hold my own with younger bucks and does. To prove that, I recently signed up for and began taking an EMT-B course. I don't see why a guy in fairly good shape and with sound mind at 56 yrs old can't take on a new challenge, so I did. Gotta keep the old brain sharp, focused and agile and I figured, what better way. . . for now.
So I'm into this class and I'm beginning to get psyched about the job of being an EMT. I'm actually ready to go out there and work on a truck (ambulance).
Interestingly, a friend of mine jut got a second career job carrying the mail around our local little town out here in the boonies. He puts in a few hours every day delivering mail on a downtown walking route.
Well, we began comparing what a letter carrier for the post office with a few hours traing makes compared to an EMT working an ambulance and saving lives with over 120 hours of training and a national test certification.
Letter carrier - $21/hr.
EMT - $9/hr.
No shit. This is how our society views things. The guy who is going to be holding your fratured/dismembered body together, covered in your blood while keeping you alive long enough to make it to a hospital makes less than half what a letter carrier for the USPS makes.
Yea, the guy who will be breathing for you and keeping your circulatory system pumping while rushing you to the ER after you just collapsed from a heart attack is making $9/hr.
Just another symptom of what a totally fucked-up and twisted society we exist within.
If you think this is fair or even at all acceptable, let me know so I can remember who you are when I get called to safe your worthless fucking life.
So I'm into this class and I'm beginning to get psyched about the job of being an EMT. I'm actually ready to go out there and work on a truck (ambulance).
Interestingly, a friend of mine jut got a second career job carrying the mail around our local little town out here in the boonies. He puts in a few hours every day delivering mail on a downtown walking route.
Well, we began comparing what a letter carrier for the post office with a few hours traing makes compared to an EMT working an ambulance and saving lives with over 120 hours of training and a national test certification.
Letter carrier - $21/hr.
EMT - $9/hr.
No shit. This is how our society views things. The guy who is going to be holding your fratured/dismembered body together, covered in your blood while keeping you alive long enough to make it to a hospital makes less than half what a letter carrier for the USPS makes.
Yea, the guy who will be breathing for you and keeping your circulatory system pumping while rushing you to the ER after you just collapsed from a heart attack is making $9/hr.
Just another symptom of what a totally fucked-up and twisted society we exist within.
If you think this is fair or even at all acceptable, let me know so I can remember who you are when I get called to safe your worthless fucking life.
Friday, February 19, 2010
The good die young
How is it that a royal prick like this and many other American fascists live to be 85 while guys like Abraham Lincoln, JFK. . . .
I remember sitting in a grocery store parking lot listening to Haig on the radio shortly after Reagan was shot (another miscarriage of karmic justice) claiming that according to the rules of succession, as chief of staff or whatever he was at the time, he was in charge of the country. I thought, "oh fuck, we've got a military coup going on."
This guy was one of the worse of the bad guys.
Haig, top adviser to 3 presidents, hospitalized
AP
BALTIMORE – Former secretary of state and presidential adviser Alexander Haig is in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Hospital spokesman Gary Stephenson said Friday that the 85-year-old was admitted Jan. 28 and remains in critical condition. Stephenson says he cannot say why Haig is hospitalized.
The four-star general served as a top adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own. President Richard Nixon appointed him White House chief of staff in 1973. In that role, Haig helped the president prepare his impeachment defense and handled many of the day-to-day decisions normally made by the chief executive.
Haig later served as secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan.
I remember sitting in a grocery store parking lot listening to Haig on the radio shortly after Reagan was shot (another miscarriage of karmic justice) claiming that according to the rules of succession, as chief of staff or whatever he was at the time, he was in charge of the country. I thought, "oh fuck, we've got a military coup going on."
This guy was one of the worse of the bad guys.
Haig, top adviser to 3 presidents, hospitalized
AP
BALTIMORE – Former secretary of state and presidential adviser Alexander Haig is in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Hospital spokesman Gary Stephenson said Friday that the 85-year-old was admitted Jan. 28 and remains in critical condition. Stephenson says he cannot say why Haig is hospitalized.
The four-star general served as a top adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own. President Richard Nixon appointed him White House chief of staff in 1973. In that role, Haig helped the president prepare his impeachment defense and handled many of the day-to-day decisions normally made by the chief executive.
Haig later served as secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Nazi chic?
This image dumbfounds me every time I go into Books-a-Million and see the book sitting there on their "best seller" pile.
Why would anyone dress up like a Nazi? Why would people buy a book written (supposedly) by someone who dresses up like a Nazi?
I don't get how it is that people find this acceptable. Am I just old and a remnant of a generation that was raised by people who sacrificed dearly in a war against Nazis?
Why would anyone dress up like a Nazi? Why would people buy a book written (supposedly) by someone who dresses up like a Nazi?
I don't get how it is that people find this acceptable. Am I just old and a remnant of a generation that was raised by people who sacrificed dearly in a war against Nazis?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Please Sarah Palin. . .
be the republican nominee in '12!
Maybe have Michael ("a million dollars isn't much after taxes") Steele for a running mate.
Maybe have Michael ("a million dollars isn't much after taxes") Steele for a running mate.
Monday, February 1, 2010
New direction for NASA
Bravo, it's about time!
I've been saying for years that this whole "Orion" moon thing has been bogus bullshit. Old technology rehashing what was done 40 yrs ago.
WE NEED NEW ROCKETS! GOOD ROCKETS! WE NEED NEW ORBITAL TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN GET US BEYOND ORBIT!
NASA has done nothing new since 1969. Thank god somebody put the brakes on this boondoggle and has redirected things toward a more science oriented program with a futurist view.
Once again the OBAMA administration looks at things realistically and does the right thing.
NASA: Good night moon, hello new rocket technology
AP
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer – Mon Feb 1, 5:50 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is redirecting America's space program, killing NASA's $100 billion plans to return astronauts to the moon and using much of that money for new rocket technology research.
The moon mission, which had already cost $9.1 billion, was based on old technology and revisiting old places astronauts had already been, officials said. The previous NASA chief, in selling the old moon plan, had even called it "Apollo on steroids." The rockets were based on space shuttle boosters.
"Simply put, we're putting the science back into the rocket science at NASA," White House science adviser John Holdren said at a budget briefing Monday.
The $4 billion that NASA spends yearly on human space exploration will now be used for what NASA and White House officials called dramatic changes in rocketry, including in-orbit fueling. They said eventually those new technologies would be used to send astronauts to a nearby asteroid, a brief foray back to the moon, or the Martian moons.
I've been saying for years that this whole "Orion" moon thing has been bogus bullshit. Old technology rehashing what was done 40 yrs ago.
WE NEED NEW ROCKETS! GOOD ROCKETS! WE NEED NEW ORBITAL TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN GET US BEYOND ORBIT!
NASA has done nothing new since 1969. Thank god somebody put the brakes on this boondoggle and has redirected things toward a more science oriented program with a futurist view.
Once again the OBAMA administration looks at things realistically and does the right thing.
NASA: Good night moon, hello new rocket technology
AP
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer – Mon Feb 1, 5:50 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is redirecting America's space program, killing NASA's $100 billion plans to return astronauts to the moon and using much of that money for new rocket technology research.
The moon mission, which had already cost $9.1 billion, was based on old technology and revisiting old places astronauts had already been, officials said. The previous NASA chief, in selling the old moon plan, had even called it "Apollo on steroids." The rockets were based on space shuttle boosters.
"Simply put, we're putting the science back into the rocket science at NASA," White House science adviser John Holdren said at a budget briefing Monday.
The $4 billion that NASA spends yearly on human space exploration will now be used for what NASA and White House officials called dramatic changes in rocketry, including in-orbit fueling. They said eventually those new technologies would be used to send astronauts to a nearby asteroid, a brief foray back to the moon, or the Martian moons.
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