Over an AnarchAngel Mel gives us some background on a news story I saw recently. Now I saw this on the news and rolled my eyes at the stupidity of the .GOV prosecuting some poor father for protecting his family from a bear. But either I didn’t read the whole article or they didnt print all the info, (coulda been either), because its alot worse than just “roll the eyes” worthy. Seems the STATE government decided the guy was in the right, and cleared him of all charges. So the Feds decided THEY were going to. Add in the fact that this is the state of Idaho, which isn’t all that thrilled with the Feds in the first place, and then drop in the fact that this little incident happened in a county called Boundary……which became infamous for the Ruby Ridge incident, which ALSO just so happened to involve the Feds……Can you say STUPID??
Links
Canning
I spent a couple hours yesterday and today pickling jalapenos and canning pears.
Ending up using the recipe at Food In Jars Blog for the jalapeno’s (for other folks who can, she’s got some cool looking recipes, some of its fancier than I go for, especially since I”m not much of a jelly or jam person, but cool).
For the pears I went to Pick Your Own and used their basic canned pears recipe. Lots of recipes all over for pears, but since this is the first time I’ve done this I wanted it plain and simple. Sides, there’s lots more pears to use up and I can play around with those once I know that I know what I’m doing.
Lids sealed up nice on all the jars. Ended up with 4 of pickled jalapenos (in retrospect I didn’t pack them tight enough and if I had it would have been 3, oh well), and 4 of pears (which I packed better). We’ll give them a few days to set and then pop one of each to try.
My dad’s offered to bring over their pressure canner next time they come since he’s not using it. Can’t wait to play around with the next batch of jalapenos and pears!
(Speaking of the Food in Jars Blog, she’s got recipes for Mint Simple Syrup, Vanilla Syrup, Rhubarb Syrup, and even Vanilla Extract…..I might just have to plant a patch of mint next year after all!)
I was following links today…..
…..and ran across this prediction at Pirate with a Permission Slip…..I think I’m glad I don’t live in WI, cause damn if that doesn’t make sense!
LInks for the day:
IN college won’t play the national anthem any more, deemed “to violent” Ok, its a religious college, so I suppose they get to do what they want, but really? If you don’t like the fact that we went to war so you could worship as you want then you may want to find another country.
Large eagle does what comes naturally, also attacks human who gets in the way…..human upset at attack on his prized geese?
Yet another reason not to go green.
Where’s the “Made In China” sticker? Seriously, they couldn’t find someone in the US to do this??
The TSA has plans to become even bigger. (like you didn’t know that already)
Play an EA game on your computer? Recently have to install their new software called Origin? Might wanna go back and re-read the EULA again…..I occasionally play Spore, might have to change my mind on that…..
A couple more links
Family gets $333,000 after cops raid their house and shoot their dog. The cops of course hate the judgement. Personally, if judgements like this is what it takes to make the cops stop bursting into random houses and shooting animals and people who aren’t a threat then so be it. Seriously, “protecting themselves” from a Lab? Yes Labs aren’t small dogs, and yes they (on very rare occasions) can bite and be protective of their family, but really? Its a Lab and, like the case not to long ago where police shot a Newfie, the large majority of the breed haven’t a clue what the word “aggressive” means. Frankly the large majority of these cases scare the heck out of me, cause it means that if the police ever decided to use such a raid on my house then Apollo would likely be the first victim.
On a lighter note: 6 Reasons why the guy (or girl) who’s fixing your computer hates you. I love reading Cracked.com. This is especially pointed for me as I recently had to fix my coworker’s laptop for the 2nd time in the space of a couple months. I sent him home this time with a 2 page list of instructions. And you don’t want to know how many tool-bars I removed from his work computer……
Links.
I often enjoy reading Cracked.com, often NSfW, but almost always funny. This one hits the spot, with the 6 Dumbest Things Schools Are Doing in the Name of Safety.
Then over in CA, the nanny state strikes again, requiring hotels to use fitted sheets.
And in Iowa some pervert learns why trying to pickup a minor is a bad idea.
A couple links
With husband around the house more I’ve not got peace and quiet in which to blog as much, hence the lack of posts.
I do have this though: Amtrak’s 4 legged security system. I really don’t see why this isn’t already used in the major airports at least, I really don’t…..
And a link to Lagniappe’s Lair….idiot resists when the police dog is sent in, and then threatens to sue for damages that have caused sexual disfuction as a result of that resisting……I don’t have much sympathy.
Top 10 Fantasy and Sci-Fi books of all time
Go vote here.
Personally I found it very difficult to narrow it down to just 10 (I was at close to 30 before I realized how many I had, and I wasn’t done), but I also found it interesting what books they were missing. For example: they list Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series, but not his Dresden books, and Dresden is a much more popular and acclaimed series. Anne McCaffrey gets the mention with ONE title, instead of the whole dragon series, which would have made ever so much more sense. David Eddings, again one part of a series, instead of the entire series. Mercedes Lackey gets mentioned in two different places for two different trilogies….that are really just parts of a larger series. David Weber only gets a mention for the FIRST book in the Honor series rather than the whole series itself, even though that first book did NOT do well untill well after the next few books were out and people were going back to find it after having read books 2 & 3 (infact I read books 2,3 & 4 before I was finally able to track down a copy of 1, and THAT was only because they re-released it!).
I do have to say though that I was delighted to see so much Asimov and Heinlein, not to mention the inclusion of the Liaden Series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Oh Helene!!! if you don’t mind your fantasy with a distinct touch of Sci-Fi mixed in you need to pick up this series!!!). And of course the Princess Bride is listed, as is The Last Unicorn…..Choices choices!!
Found via a Facebook link from Think Geek, though I’m now seeing it crop up in several places I frequent.
News & Links
UK Court Decides that Every Time a Link is Clicked it Violates Copywrite Law. And the ruling was upheld on appeal! Expect Google to stop carrying UK websites shortly.
Hackers Unlock Car Via Text Message. On the surface kinda cool. Once you think about it, kinda scary!
And my favorite for the day: Georgia Mom opts for new trial after being convicted in the death of her child. Seems the lady in question was to lazy to walk down to the cross walk and decided to jaywalk across a 4 lane road with 3 small children. Her excuse was that the bus stop let her off 1/3rd of a mile from the nearest crosswalk and that it was to far to walk. Now I’ve never spent time in GA, but even Syracuse’s horrid public transit system would have had a stop closer to the crosswalk than that, which means that all she had to do was ride the bus for another stop or two, get off at the crosswalk, cross the street and then walk back. Instead she decided to “run across the road” and her 4yr old son, one daughter, and she herself didn’t make it across. Her son was killed. The driver of the car was convicted of hit & run. Mom was convicted of jaywalking, secondary vehicular homicide and reckless conduct. She ought to consider herself lucky they didn’t toss on child endangerment for the other two kids. Personally I’m glad to see them throw the book at her. I’ve watched parents drag kids across the street infront of traffic several times, and had to stomp on the brakes myself a couple times when someone did it in front of me. You want to endanger yourself that way fine, but don’t drag your kids in too.
Readiness Drill Goes Wrong
And that’s the actual title to the article. Personally every time one of these makes the news I think the title ought to be more along the lines “Some Idiot in Corporate Decides to Scare the Crap out of Most of Their Employees and See if They Can Kill Another.” This is the FIRST such article I’ve seen where the authorities make the point that if one of the victim employee’s had been lawfully armed the “robber” could of ended up dead (and in CA too!). Seriously though, who thinks this is a good idea?
Not that I’m against readiness drills, its probably the only way to make sure your employees actually know how to react in a real situation, but every time one of these such drills makes the news none of the “people in charge” have put any REAL thought into how the “victim” employees are going react and feel about it. “oh, they’ll run and hide” (uhuh, better hope you don’t have a former military person working there, they might head for cover, but they’re just as likely to come back out of cover firing too) “we’ll tell them afterwards it was just a drill, they’ll understand” (uhuh, and when you have workers comp claims for “mental suffering”?)
Has anyone heard of one of these such “drills” going WELL? Personally I’m just waiting till someone decides this is a good idea and a prepared employee shoots the “robber.” Bets on how many years said employee will get?