Pictures

When traveling the country side of Ohio you don't have much n the way of a beautiful scenery. there is no mountains, castles or cathedrals, no crystal clear rivers rushing over boulders, there is this;

 Miles upon miles of flat, unappealing farmland. Occasionally you are amused by a slight hill, group of trees that show the fall colors, or even a dilapidated barn, if that's what you like. But it isn't all lost, there are a few gems, you just have to find them. Although not above a clear river the bridge made for a nice scene with the trees on the bank of the waters.

I found this walking bridge in a nature preserve that I never knew existed until last week. Now I did do a little editing just to help the orange pop out a little more. 

Back to night photography. This was shot from a pull off for lake access near a fairly busy road, streaks of light at the bottom are cars. The streak of light in the sky is a plane and the cluster of stars that the plane is cutting in half is the head of the constellation Hydra, the water snake.

Found this on the internet;

Pink-wash and Mary Jane

You know you’re old when you purposely turn the radio to the news stations and actually listen. I have been listening to it on and off for the past year and more so in the past few months because of the increase of commute time to work. Surprisingly it’s not as boring as I used to think it was.

For instance there was a story on this morning about a marketing ploy called “Pink-washing.” Because October is breast cancer awareness month there is pink everything, ribbons, clothes, even sports teams are sporting the color all in efforts to raise money for research of breast cancer. Now here comes the dirty, is the money really going to research or is it just a marketing scam. A lady on the radio this morning was quoting numbers (dollar amounts, mortality rate, remission rates, etc.) and the jist of it is that besides the dollars presumably being raised each year the mortality/remission rates haven’t changed dramatically in the past thirty years which raises the question is the money really going towards research? Now I don’t remember all the numbers but I do know the dollar amounts were huge and maybe all the money is really going to research and everyone is really being honest, but with all the money it only makes one think that shouldn’t there have been some improvement or huge breakthrough by now?

            Another headliner that has caught my attention is Colorado being the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. This law will create so much revenue for not just for the government but for small and big businesses so it will be a huge benefit for the economy. With such a huge population of smokers in the USA there is no way it can’t bring in money. Less money would be spent fighting drug wars and more money will be brought in by import/export revenue. Taxes alone on selling, harvesting, shipping, packaging, etc. of the plants will increase the government revenue maybe even enough to prevent things like a government shut down. It’s like a new cash crop such as tobacco was when it was first harvested. Farmers, vendors, and, indirectly, food vendors would all turn profits. But marijuana is a mind altering drug, like alcohol, that’s why there are limitations. The first is that a person may have no more than an ounce on them at one time, no one under 21 can buy it, marketers can’t market towards minors, and a person can grow their own but not have more than six plants in their residence (only three can be flowering) and driving while high will earn you time in jail just like driving drunk as it should.

             These are just a couple of stories that make news radio interesting between the less entertaining and depressing stories of politics and terrorism. Now don’t think I'm listening to one station, I listen to them all so when I do have to sit through a political rant I get both sides. Occasionally I have also listened to catholic radio and other religious stations, but that’s a whole other story for another day.

“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”   -Mark Twain

DAMN NATURE.....

...you more than just scary. 

"Hong Kong (CNN) -- Swarms of aggressive hornets, in their fall mating season, are inflicting a deadly toll in a central Chinese province.

Hornets have killed 42 people and injured 1,675 people in three cities in Shaanxi province since July, according to the local government. Thirty-seven patients remain in critical or serious condition."

Full article: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/world/asia/hornet-attack-china/

Gov Shut Down

So apparently the government shut down. Well not exactly. This morning, an estimated 800,000 of the 2.1 million federal workers who are deemed nonessential for the operations of the government will be sent home after they have shut down their work. Let’s see, 2.1 million minus 800,000 equals out to 1.3 million people still going to work this morning. That’s not really a shut down more of a mass lay off. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling the government a liar… ok I am. You say shut down and people get a little freaked out about jobs and the security of the country. Part of the essential personnel who continue to do their duty today is our military so no fret about the security, but what about jobs? Obviously congress doesn’t shutdown because who then would decide what we do next so they are in the clear. But the whole reason for the “shut down” was because congress couldn’t decide on how to fund The Affordable Care Act or Obama-care. So technically it’s their fault. “The Affordable Care Act is moving forward," Mr. Obama said. So why did we “shut down” if it’s going to happen anyway? “House Democrats said Monday they were willing to pass a six-week spending bill that would keep operations funded at sequester levels, giving Congress more time to negotiate.” So wait, we relieved less than half of the nonessential government but we passed six week bill to keep other parts of the government funded? Why do they keep calling this a shut down? They closed the doors and gates to museums and national parks so the people who were forced these days off without pay can’t go out and enjoy FREE attractions. On Monday, speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner told reporters, "What our members want is fairness for the American people." And that’s what we all want is fairness. So why is it that some people get laid off and others don’t? Why can’t we just stop pay or cap pay for certain people that make a certain amount that is funded by tax payers, like congressmen and women. For instance why not take their $174k a year salary (some get more depending on where you sit) and bring it down to the national median household (not personnel) income of $52k. That would save around 62 million and might even fund some of the nonessential staff so they could continue to work. OR why not suspend the current congress since they can’t make a decision and bring in temporary replacements that can decide. It might even put some people in the House who are trying to do good for THE PEOPLE and not in it for the money.  I guess that’s why I’ m not in politics, I’m a practical thinker. I’m sure there are a million other stipulations when it comes to figuring a means to an end on this mess but unless you are on the front lines we can only see and understand what the media tells us, which brings us to another jousting match of its own. Most networks lean one way or the other so you’ll only hear what they want you to. And if you lean one way or the other than you wont bother to listen to the other network. What we need is an independent, someone who can’t be swayed left or right by money or media and can come up with a middle ground that would make this and that work.

Again, just my two cents.   

Grind my gears

You know what really grinds my gears? Is when I walk into a store in the middle of September and the store has already set out Christmas stuff. I mean come on, it’s not even October yet, we still have Halloween and Thanksgiving to get through. It seems they put out Christmas stuff earlier every year, but it doesn’t just happen in the stores. Neighborhoods across the USA seem to put out décor sooner every year as well. Down the street from us someone has put out Halloween décor already. Look it’s not that I’m not excited about the holidays or that I think it’s not smart to start shopping for X-mas gifts early but I just don’t want to start hearing Christmas music on the radio three months in advance.

    

WTF

There are a lot of things in the world today that just make people say, “what the f**k?” Whether it is Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Dennis Rodman or the entire NCAA. For instance, Miley, and outrageous performance that has led everyone to believe she is on the fast track to turning out like Britney, Lindsey, or Amanda. But what is more sad than her reputation is that most people reading this will know who all of those names belong to without even hearing the last name, but if I mentioned Bashar al-Assad or Kim Jung-un only a few would recognize what I was talking about. I realize that the demise of young celebrities is more entertaining than threats against the USA and that a raunchy performance by a twenty-something will get over 300,000 tweets in the first minute but come on people there are much bigger issues out there. Kanye West and Dennis Rodman are just idiots.

As for the NCAA, if you dig deep enough on any football team you will find some corruption and bribery somewhere down the line. Again, get over it. No matter how many people you punish and how many game suspensions you hand out there will always be someone handing out money to keep a winning streak alive. But the stupidity doesn’t stop there. As the athletes go to the pros they get a bigger paycheck, legally this time, along with a gift basket of performance enhancing drugs. Then they get injured and can’t play for the rest of the season but still get millions to sit the bench. Hey I have an idea, every game they don’t play take the money and put it back into the economy… A-Rod? Again it’s not their fault but ours for wanting to pay $100 a ticket to watch them sit there and cry. Or a better idea let them juice up with roids and increase difficulty of the sport. That would make it real entertaining to see true monsters go at it.

Put all the down-falls of celebrities and the chemical war fares aside for a minute and let’s talk about a real serious issue, Parking and the ass-holes that don’t know how. If you drive a nice car but don’t want anyone to park next to you then park at the very end of the lot. Don’t take up two spots. When you do that you are just asking for someone to purposely ruin your douche-car with a key or a door. There are only eight-hundred thousand BMW’s in the USA I don’t care that you own one. And parking diagonally doesn’t omit you from being an ass-hole. If you go to the store and only need milk, park your car in a parking spot not in front of the store in the fire lane. Are you really handicapped? No. It’s obvious when you are a sixteen year old that gets in and out of a taller SUV with high school football stickers on the back. There are real handicaps out there that truly struggle. Being fat isn’t a handicap either, that’s just laziness and your doctor should be smacked for giving you a handicap sticker. There should be spot at the end of the lot mark specifically for fat asses next to the douchebag parking. You people should have to walk the farthest anyway. I’m going on a campaign to stop horrible parking. Maybe I’ll type up a citizen issued ticket letting the parker know what an ass-hole they are. Provided in the ticket will be a number for a driving school.  

Rant done.