New Decade.. Catching up on the blog I forgot I had...

2011.

We have now been cursed with the most vile of possible goobernators imaginable. Thanks to our non-runoff process (new laws anyone?) and a strong 3rd party candidate (I'm conflicted about how I should have voted to avoid this thing!) we're stuck with a despot who lost by a landslide. A 38% mandate from... whom?

"...only been in power.." he slips via freudianism.. Although he probably doesn't know what that is, and would want to ban it or defund it or denigrate it somehow if he did..

It's hard to avoid and/or ignore this curse we are under. Each week he does something more outrageous than the last and we get our ass handed to us in the global press because of it. Thanks, dickhead.

I am seriously, right now, going to write an email to Rachel Maddow asking her please, please, whenever you find another LePage bullshit story coming across the wire, please introduce it by stating emphatically, with attribution to me directly if desired, but at least to the 61% (FB group?), that HE ONLY GOT 38% OF THE VOTE!! He's NOT my governor, or anyone else's for that matter. Unless they're from out of state with a ton of money and willing to provide one particular kind of job for the governor. Or he to them... Which one is it?

Oh, and let us get a recall law as well. Please.

Parting aside:
I once lived a life without Facebook, and sent messages on paper to people by handing them off to other people who handed them off to... etc. until my friend received it and read my words, from my heart/mind to hand to stroke of pen, unique to me. If there were actual handwriting on the FB wall, who knows, it might start something. Hailed as a new breakthrough in technology, most likely. Still, we are all dogs, as far as anyone knows..

That's all for now. I've stuck my toe back into the blogwaters again. I hope to be a bit more consistent and focused, essaying to provide my views from wherever I happen to be sitting, which, unfortunately, as is now the case, in front of my computer. (I don't watch TV any more. Cuts into my surfing time. Infinite channel surfing. Brought to you by Big Brother. If George Orwell were alive today, he'd be turning over in his grave.)

In the meantime, you may find my manifestations here: My Website

Testing the eyes of Big Google

I am getting more and more concerned about the Google.

When I send an email to someone with deeply personal stuff in it, the Googlater parses it and throws up advertising based on the content of the message. This I don't like. The fine print says no worries mate no one sees it it's just our friendly robot who likes you no matter what you say as long as he can repeat some of it in public in the form of ads for condoms, erectile dysfunction, underwear, NASCAR, things with my son's name in them (!!! NOT OKAY !!!)

This I don't trust. Anonymous or not, there, next to my private, possibly intimate or sensitive or open to interpretation words, are their dissection and reconfigured relevance splayed out on the table with them. Raw and in the open. As far as I'm concerned.

But no one looks at it. But it is there, just a button push, a line of code, a change of logic away from everyone. All packaged up and analyzed and reconfigured into statements intended to persuade, distract, entice someone to expend energy and attention span to addressing.

And then there is the real Big Brother. Street view: I can see my car in the driveway of my apartment, and my best friend's pickup next to his front porch, and anything else within the hemispheric range of the snapshot dome of the Googley eye.

So here is an attempt to embed one of these..


View Larger Map

Someone's dog wonders what The Google wants...

This is in the "The kids will take care of it" category

CFL bulbs. Great green idea. Lasts for 10 years, uses much less electricity, the light's a little different, but such a good idea!

Then there's always that little aside "..although they do contain a small amount of Mercury". But if you're just careful for the next 7-10 years, no problem! Except you will still have to do something with them. Millions of them. The following is an excerpt from the DEP website here in Maine. Makes me a bit uncomfortable.

----------- FAQ ----------------------------------
What if I accidentally break a fluorescent bulb in my home?

fluorescent bulbs

The most important thing to remember is to never use a vacuum . A standard vacuum will spread mercury containing dust throughout the area as well as potentially contaminating the vacuum. What you should do is:

* Keep people and pets away from the breakage area so that the mercury in the powder inside the bulb is not accidentally tracked into other areas.
* Ventilate the area by opening windows.
* Wear appropriate personal protective equipment, such as rubber gloves, safety glasses, old clothing or coveralls, and a dust mask (if you have one) to keep bulb dust and glass from being inhaled.
* Carefully remove the larger pieces and place them in a secure closed container, preferably a glass container with a metal screw top and gasket seal like a canning jar.
* Next, begin collecting the smaller pieces and dust. You can use a disposable broom and dustpan or two stiff pieces of paper to scoop up pieces.
* Put all material into the glass container. Pat the area with the sticky side of duct, packing or masking tape. Wipe the area with a damp cloth or paper towels to pick up fine particles.
* Put all waste and materials used to clean up the bulb in the glass container and label it “Universal Waste - broken lamp”.
* Take the container for recycling as universal waste. To determine where your town has made arrangements for recycling of this type of waste, call your town office or check out the Maine Department of Environmental Protection website at http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/hazardouswaste/uwmunicipalmaster.xls

The next time you replace a bulb, consider putting a drop cloth on the floor so that any accidental breakage can be easily cleaned up.
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Holy crap. How many hazmat suits does it take to change a light bulb???

BTW - I am NOT a "let's rape the landscape for money" person. I am a proud and dedicated tree-hugger and environmentalist, and strongly believe in the need for 'green' priorities (even though that's becoming a new buzzword, with the potential to be abused, e.g. by the oil companies already..) I just think we've really got to pay attention, especially to the scope of things. Like the millions of CFL's we'll have to hazmat to the dump eventually..

Strategery

Tactician in Iraq : "They're not stupid - we killed all the stupid ones."

Why is the writing on the wall invisible to so many?

Re - keeping us safe: George W. Bush was president on Sept 10, 2001.

Wondering if you're really here

Just a passing thought. That passes each time I go to the supermarket, or any store with automatic doors. It sometimes seems like the doors don't open for me as quickly as they could... What 's that all about? What if they didn't open at all? Should I take it personally? Is this a flaw in my molecular structure? Am I just not paying enough attention to the door, so it's giving me the brush off, or at least a hard time?

And then there's that far off hidden valley where all the other socks go. Not far from the one where all the plastic lids are.

9/11/2001. The day that "My Pet Goat" took priority over the biggest national tragedy we have ever experienced. The scariest part is how inept and clueless our president is compared to the precision and awesome power of the fearless and horrifically focused terrorists. And that he claims he will be able to hunt down and capture them with his posse of cowboys. How many billions of dollars have we funneled into this use of brute force , draining the wealth and destroying the youth of our nation?