Tuesday, December 21, 2010

TSA & Backscatter XRay


Think about it for a moment. A radiologist must undergo years of training, certification, constant professional continuing education, and renew their license to operate the machinery on a yearly basis.

Before they became part of the Great American Theater Troop that masquerades as nationwide airport security, the most often heard phrase from TSA screeners was "You want fries with that?" These are the folks running the backscatter XRay machines. 50,000 slovenly, uneducated, feckless, untrained minions whose collective IQ struggles to rise above single digits.

One need only look at the failure rate Upwards of 70% of TSA screeners when it comes to simply looking at scanned bags, to be concerned with their ability to not only operate, but interpret backscatter images. One security "expert" claims that "it's simply human error." Really? Human error? 70%? Sorry, human error is 10% or less. Seventy percent is incompetence on a massive scale. TSA's new director even admitted "Every test gun, bomb part or knife got past screeners at some airports" during random, covert testing.

Yet, the government wants Americans to stand idly by and let these gommies repeatedly zap us as we stand, arms in the air? Sadly, thousands of traveling sheeples will do so, wholeheartedly believing they are being protected and kept safe.

No thanks...If my choice is to have some untrained former fry daddy relentlessly radiate me or one of his spado buddies play with my junk; I choose the latter.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Try It - You'll Like It



Jones Sausage & BBQ House. 2827 Martin Luther King Drive, San Antonio, TX. Tuesday-Saturday 1100-1900.

A small, little red cinder block joint that served up the most fantastic sausage and ribs I've ever eaten. If you find yourself in the area, don't let the looks or the location fool you. These folks know and do serious Que!

As the sign on the outside of the bldg says..."If it's sausage you want, the name to remember is Jones."

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Great Winchester Street Tree Massacre



Dominion Virginia Power came through the neighborhood last week to conduct their once every 3-5 year tree massacre. Dominion is allowed, by right, to trim back trees that pose a threat to their overhead power lines. I have no issue with keeping trees trimmed in a manner that keeps uninterrupted electricity, phone and cable to the house.

What I find offensive is Dominion's careless and blatant mutilation. In the course of a couple of hours, the teams came through and hacked the living crap out of a number of trees; leaving us with the offensive and monstrous "V" shape on the interior. You know what I'm talking about. You have the main trunk of the tree and a couple of large limbs to either side, forming a deep, wide "V" where the lines pass through. There appears to be no care, logical or rational approach to the "pruning" by Dominion. Pruning...Sure, whatever you say Dominion. Come in, hack, expurgate, mutilate and destroy any aesthetically pleasing design to the tree and label it pruning.

I fired off an email to both the City and Dominion indicating my displeasure. I asked that someone come out and survey the work to see if it was done properly. The City sent their arborist and the "pruning" was given a thumbs up. It appears that not only do I have to endure the insult that the trees were properly pruned, I also have no choice but to accept the resulting visual disfigurement.

Why do they do this? It's simple really. Not only does Dominion not give a damn they don't want to be bothered with the trees in the neighborhood for another 5 years. It's all about profits. Why come through every couple of years and properly trim the trees and leave something beautiful to look at, when you can save a few bucks, cut up, deface and mangle them in one fell swoop and not have to worry about it for half a decade?

Dominion gets to beat their chests and exclaim they are doing their part to keep everyone on the grid, while residents are left with these mangled and bastardized eyesores of nature, courtesy of the planets most dangerous animal, the human biped.

In five years I think I'll just ask them to cut the damn thing down and put both the tree and myself out of our misery.