Source

Enacted or not, this shows a scary mindset on the part of those in charge.

Police given THREE HOURS to respond to emergencies under new Home Office guidelines

By Matthew Hickley
Last updated at 12:28 AM on 16th July 2008

Guidelines ordering police to respond to emergency calls within three hours and to attend less urgent incidents such as burglaries within three days have been drawn up by the Home Office.

The astonishing proposals were designed as ‘national standards for local policing’ in England and Wales.

because that’s where most of the clowns are.  Would have been a perfect traveling circus.

Giraffe helps camels, zebras escape from circus

Jun 30, 2008

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Amsterdam police say 15 camels, two zebras and an undetermined number of llamas and potbellied swine briefly escaped from a traveling Dutch circus after a giraffe kicked a hole in their cage.

Police spokesman Arnout Aben says the animals wandered in a group through a nearby neighborhood for several hours after their 5:30 a.m. breakout.

And this is one of the best the Taunton area of Massachusetts has to offer by way of citizen representation in that state?  Hey, they voted him in…

Meet Massachusetts Rep. James Fagan:

Source:  several 

A Massachusetts politician and defense attorney has touched off a firestorm with his shocking public vow to torment and “rip apart” child rape victims who take the witness stand if the state legislature passed stiff mandatory sentences for child sex offenders.

Rep. James Fagan, a Democrat, made the comments during debate last month on the state House floor.

Got up very late this morning.  Wasn’t much of a night last night.

Had a seafood platter for lunch and then to the insectarium this afternoon.  The place is really a good visit, with its combination of humor, truly ingenious displays, and displays done in beautiful artistic fashion.  There is plenty to see and plenty to learn there and if you get your parking ticket validated there is a $5 discount on parking at several nearby locations as shown on their web site.  The place is an excellent balance between multimedia presentations, live displays, mounted displays and interactive displays.

From Jefferson:

So, let’s see…

Crab quiche (got the recipe!), seafood gumbo with garlic bread and more crab quiche, canoli to die for (and probably will because of the dietary contents).  That was all home cookin’ thanks to my sister.  Well, except for the canoli.

Then there’s summer squash and crab meat soup, but to call this a soup seems disingenuous.  The squash gives it a distinctive but soft flavor and color, and the crab meat was so thick it was almost fork-able.  Unfortunately this was from Whole Foods, so no bringing the recipe home for this one.

Found this in my draft folder a few minutes ago.  I have no idea why it’s been sitting there, but it has been doing so since April!!!

Maybe that was one f my better ain pill evenings — it was a month and 5 days after my last surgery.

Yeah, that’s it.  Blame it on th epills…

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Mostly Cajun has been posting some pretty good Cajun humor of late, in addition to his wide range of interesting subjects (want to see one hell of a circuit breaker?  Go there!) and when I got this in an email a few minutes ago, I thought I’d add it to the blogosphere. 

No matter how optimistic he is, when a man reaches sixty it is more difficult to cling to
the idea that he is middle-aged.  He stands at the threshold of old age and senses the increasing speed of time’s winged chariot.  Intimations of mortality grow stronger.

Robert Coram in  Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War

From Jefferson:

Driving through rain is a part of travel. 
So is driving through driving rain.

This morning was another story, however.

Our little spot on the world map, here at my sister’s house in Jefferson, was very special.  We had our very own color on the evening news weather maps — we got six inches of rain in roughly two hours today.  Most of the rest of the New Orleans got three or four inches.  And the pumps for this area were apparently inoperative the whole time. 

From New Orleans, or to be more accurate, Jefferson:

After a leisurely breakfast at the motel in Biloxi yesterday and our two nights reduced to only one, we left by way of highway 90 along the coast. 

2008 seems to be a special year for me and I really hadn’t realized that until just a few weeks ago.  Of course special things happen every year in most people’s lives, often without being noticeable at the time, but the more I think about this year the more I realize how special it is.  And yes, it has a lot to do with Father’s Day.

Earlier this month, Ruth celebrated her birthday.  Yes, we all have birthdays every year, but this was the big six-oh.  Let’s face it, some are just more noteworthy than others.

From Biloxi:

I felt it a bit when I got up this morning, but didn’t think much of it.  Just a bit of a pull, nothing more.  We ate a leisurely mini-breakfast at the Hampton Inn where staying, read the paper afterward, and finally made our way out to the car.  Eglin is such a large base that it is easier, quicker, and shorter to go through the base than to go around it, so we did so and topped off the gas tank on the way through.  We intended to go through the base and Ft. Walton Beach, onto the highway along the coast to Pensacola, and finally join I-10 only when we had to at that point.  From there on it was to be interstate to Biloxi, a reasonably short run.

Hello from Niceville.

We picked up the rental car at 0645 Wednesday, just a few minutes early.  Definitely a good deal.  The Hertz Florida drive away program is a good deal as-is, but with the free upgrade it’s even better.  $79 a week for two weeks, no drop-off charge, and we have the comfort of a brand new Mercury Marquis.  When I saw it my first thought was that it was going to eat our wallets in gas, but not so.  On the road at 75mph it runs between 24.4 and 24.8 MPG.  That’s what our Hyundai Elantra gets with not nearly as much comfort or space!  And the VERY powerful engine is turning under 2,000 RPM at 75 MPH, which surprised me.  It doesn’t reach 2000 RPM until 80 MPH.  Overdrive can be a good thing.  The only negative is that the CD player won’t play MP3 files, a clear indication of the vehicle’s target group.

Another crap email received today from yet another yahoo.com.hk address.  I am just about ready to block all Yahoo email.  Yahoos, indeed.  Tell you what, Frank, take all that inheritance I’m missing and buy a cup of coffee with it before you crawl back under the rock you came from.

I am a Diplomat from the Caribbeans named Frank Chambers,mandated to deliver your inheritance to you in your country of residence.

Hardly a day that goes by that I don’t read of a law enforcement officer losing his life in the line of duty.  It can be dangerous work that goes from the routine to the chaotic in the blink of an eye.

We are in the midst of National Police Week and in a few minutes, at midnight, I’ll go outside and lower the flags in front of the house to half staff for National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day.  The sun will rise in the morning on those flags at half staff as it also rises on the thousands of graves of fallen officers.

This post is especially for the younger folks who don’t think much about being hospitalized because they think they are indestructible, or because they think it won’t happen to them, or they are just too busy to think about it at all, in spite of the reality that they are one slip on the ice, one red light runner, one trip on the stairs, away from exactly what I just went through.  My situation is caused by disease and aging and this was my fourth surgery.  Medical expenditures are not always the result of something that is under your control.

ujnews.com

May 2008
Baked Bean Diet Works Nicely For Nell

WHEN DOCTORS told Neil King tbat he risked bowel cancer be decided to change his diet and lose weight.

Tbe Essex man bas now lost 10 stone (140 1bs) in nine montbs - by eating six cans of baked beans a day.  King, 40, has munched his way tbrougb more than half a ton of beans in tbat time, reported the Daily Mirror.

Tbe mechanic serves tbem up for his breakfast, lunch and dinner and his weight has fallen from 30 stone in June to just under 20 stone today.

So I’m just wondering why my Caller ID shows “Restricted — number unavailable” when the VA calls with their electronic humanoid to remind me of an appointment…  Restricted?  Why?  Are people really going to try calling back to that Sci-fi voice to discuss the reminder?

And that would be the appointment for which I made a blood donation yesterday morning.  Well, it should be counted as a donation.  5 tubes worth.

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In changing the intent, format, and size of what was before “just” a chronology of my military career I have found that the new intent has created a tremendous workload. 

At your ripe old age of going on three, you won’t be reading this, and even if it were read to you it doesn’t have the pizazz of The Cat In The Hat.  But, I’ve been thinking of this for some time now and it is time I made the commitment.

When I began this blog, one of my primary reasons was to chronicle my military career.  If others might be interested in reading it, so be it, but if not, that was OK, too.  The latter came to be the case, based on the lack of comments, but the number of search engine hits for those posts has been interesting to watch and the specific search terms that garnered the hits have been even more interesting.

Bayou Renaissance Man has posted an excellent article about the Chicago situation, taking Mayor Daly to task for his numskull approach to governance, this being the weekend following their 32-shootings and 2 stabbings weekend.

In that article he relates a telling episode in the time following hurricane Katrina.  I’ve quoted that part below, but you really should read his full article, here.

Crystal recently had a garage/yard sale.  She has posted twice about it, once pre-sale and once post-sale.   They are both interesting, and the second is a hoot.

If you have ever had a garage sale, have had thoughts of doing so, or know of anyone contemplating same, these are each a short must-read.

Pre-sale here.

Post-sale here.

And sorry, Crystal, not even for 5 bucks.  I already have one.  In fact, I just shrink wrapped it for the attic again until next time.  I’ll put it up there when I can go up a ladder again, in about 6 months.