News Of The Week

Got to love the Central Kentucky weather reporting. They damned near went into hysterics reporting that snow was coming to Lexington. There were people at work on Friday calling around to see how much snow was falling, and then leaving at lunch even though not much was falling locally, and in fact, the weather reports were predicting the bulk of the snow wouldn't come until late afternoon and go throughout the night. Not that I would pay that much attention until the snow really starts falling. I'd be a rich man if I had a buck for every time the snow belt landed just north of us (take that Ohio). This week the expectation was originally that Lexington would get a snow/ice mix. Then it turned to possibly 10" as Lexington gets hit with the worst snowstorm in 10 years. Then by Saturday morning, it's been downgraded to 3-5", pretty much what was on the ground and about where we finished. So, how did it compare to 1998? Well, here was Lexington just before noon today:
Not bad. I'm sure it was fun for the kiddies. I was out driving in it pretty easily. Or would have been if Mexicans were a little more used to driving in snow. Sideways is not the optimal way to drive down a hill. Then there was 1998:
Somewhere in this picture is my old pickup truck. Needless to say, I wasn't doing much driving for a couple of days. That year was the opposite of this year. We were only supposed to get a light dusting to maybe an inch or two. The weather people were off by almost a foot and a half.

Here's a video on how to turn a bottle of Coke (obviously not Pepsi which is so much less functional) into a crib sheet to cheat on a test. Now, I wasn't that interested in it until I saw the brand of printer they were using. Suddenly, my job seems to have a purpose.

Travesty of the week - Madonna is being inducted by Justin Timberlake into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. I guess Wham gets the call next year. Call me crazy, but I always assumed the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame would have rock and roll acts affiliated with it, not silly pop acts. I wonder what rock anthem by Madonna put her over the top? Who's That Girl? Vogue? I would ridicule Timberlake's discography, but I've made it my life's goal to not know what he sings. Even better, Iggy Pop will be doing a tribute. Pardon me while my head explodes. I've never been a big Iggy Pop fan, but recognized his influence on later punk and metal acts. However, unless he's using the act as a cover so he can burn the place down, he's lost any credibility with me for doing that show.

And Michelle Obama strikes again. As part of her stump speech, she apparently seems to think this country and its people in general suck. The country is "just downright mean." Nobody can get an education anymore. People are dying in the street because of the health care system. It's so bleak that only electing a half term Senator who has accomplished nothing politically is the only way to turn this horrible place called America into the Obamatopia that she knows it can be. Maybe that's not exactly what she said, but not far off. As I've said before, it's not that surprising to me to find what these left wingers think, but I've really got to question the strategy. There's this thing that happens after the party conventions called a "general election". That's where Obama has to get votes from non-liberal nutsacks. Apparently, Ms. Obama is unaware that a lot of people think this is a great country to live in. In fact, you might notice that a lot more people want to come to this country than are leaving. Hell, all the hack celebrities that declared they would leave America if Bush was elected are still here (For the record, I don't consider Pierre Salinger a celebrity).

But let's look at her specific arguments. I thought it was funny on a news show when some newsjerk made the comment that it seemed wrong to have white men criticize a black woman who says America sucks. Well, it's not. I don't give a crap who says anything like that, they deserve criticism. Anyone who makes the money she does and lives in a $1.6 million mansion is a either delusional or a hypocrite when she talks about people not being able to make it in this county. However, she makes it worse with her specifics. To begin with, she says education has gotten worse. It actually might have, but considering she's probably in the "more money for schools" lobby, I don't take her complaints seriously. After all, we spend increasing amounts of money every year for public schools to get those decreasing results. Still, that's not the worst part. Michelle Obama went to magnet schools before leaving for the Ivy League. I guess she figures she's so extra special that she can accomplish that, but "the commoners" can't. She also criticizes the American health care system. Someone want to remind me what field she works in? Oh right. PR for a hospital. Maybe health care wouldn't be so expensive if hospitals weren't paying 300 grand to people who don't provide health care services.

I'll save my respect for someone like Frank Buckles, the last doughboy still living. At 107. He also was a civilian POW of the Japanese during WWII. Even after surviving two world wars, he still seems to have a great appreciation for and pride in this country. This article was hard for me to write about. It's not often I find a West Virginian that I will not make fun of.

I've come to the conclusion that no intelligence at all is needed to be in the book publishing industry. The latest author to write a fictional biography was a young lady who wrote how she was raised as a gang-banging drug mule foster child. Look at her picture. Who could have possibly met this girl, read her book about her gang life and never had a single suspicion that it could be made up? I'm not saying it couldn't be true (wasn't The Jerk based on a true story), but when a lily-white girl shows up with stories about running drugs for the Bloods, don't you think a background check might be a good idea before you print up a bunch of copies? On the plus side, I may finally be able to get my biography published so the story of how I escaped from a Sri Lankan POW camp in 1976 can finally be told.

It's a little late in the news, but here's this week's story focused on boobs. A Japanese model had her conviction for allegedly breaking into some dudes house by busting a hole in a door overturned. Her argument was her boobs were too big for her to have fit through the hole. After some measuring (I really hope the judge did the measuring himself), the judge decided they were too big. Now, the photo in the story was obviously a stock picture, so in order to understand the story better and as a service to my loyal readers, I have found a picture of her. Yeah, she'd need a pretty good size hole to get through.

Good ole MSN.com. Always comes up with the lists some chick magazine comes up with to improve men. This time is the "Things A Man Should Never Do In The Company of a Woman". Some are obvious. A man shouldn't refer to his mom as his best friend in front of his guy buddies either (although he probably doesn't have many guy friends if his mom is his best friend). As for others, not so much. What's wrong with cleaning a gun? Women always complain men don't clean. Well, here he is cleaning. Women constantly refer to other women as "bitch, slut, tramp or whore". If they can say it, so can I. As for tugging on it. It's mine. I'll tug on it if I want. "Forget to carry cash". The obligatory "men are cash machine" reminder. And my favorite - don't "tip less than 20 percent". Sure, since they already expect the man to pay for everything, why not decide how much to tip too? I'm a good tipper, but I'll stick it to a bad server. I find the whole point rather ironic since the belief is rather strong in food service that women are much worse tippers than men.

Sad to see Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer. Hopefully his doctor is right and he won't be dead within five weeks like the National Enquirer wrote. I always liked Swayze. Ironically for movies other than the ones always cited in the stories about him, Dirty Dancing and Ghost. I prefer to remember The Outsiders, Uncommon Valor, Red Dawn, Road House among others. Interesting timing that this came out since Jeff Healey, who was also in Road House, recently passed away at 41. If Swayze does die, paranoids would probably blame a Road House curse. Which wouldn't work. Ben Gazzara is older than dirt, but still alive. Sam Elliott has looked older than dirt for years and he's alive. The only thing dead about Kelly Lynch is her career after being in Mr. Magoo.

Interesting case from Australia. A 16 year old girl was murdered by two roommates for being annoying. Then dumped her in a wheelbarrow in the backyard (criminal geniuses at work there). I think what gets me is that the two killers got 24 years for it. Let's see. Brutally beat and strangle a teenager to death. Make out over her dead body. Joke around during the trial. Yeah, 24 years is way too long for two such creatures to have to endure prison. At least it gave the headline writer a chance to come with "Sadistic Killer Lesbians Share Blood Lust" which sounds like a plot for a low grade horror movie. Of course, I thought all lesbians were sadistic killers. Or maybe that was all women. Or maybe just women I went out with. For some reason, a lot of them wished I was dead.