Home Repairs

Months ago we smelled something

Unlike any other

Something was dead

You know the smell

It's unique, like everything else

We never knew what it was

Until...

Why is it taking so long?

And they're still damp?

Something was wrong

With our fabulous dryer

I pulled it out

Away from the wall

And crawled behind

Unhook the vent

What is it?

Oh look, it's a bird

A very dead bird

Stuck in the vent
Remember the smell.

This bird no longer smells

No longer smells like hell

As if there was a hell

Which there isn't.

We called up Sears

They sent a guy

He did some tests

"You're dryer's fine"

"You found a bird?

I'm not surprised

I see it like this

All the time"

They use their beak

To open the vent

And climb inside
And build a nest
And lay their eggs

Where they're safe and warm

I bet there's a nest

Inside your vent

Inside the wall

That's 40 feet tall

Our wall is tall

It's 50 foot tall

It ain't too straight

But it sure is tall

The bird in the vent

Had to crawl and crawl

15 feet east

Then an 8 foot drop

Then a twist and a turn

To finally get stuck

At the back of the dryer

And die

What a way to go.

The vent is there

Near the top

Of the 50 foot wall

There's no ladder

To bring

That's safe enough

To reach that high

Unless you're a fireman

Maybe if I told them my cat was in there...

When I was younger

And still in school

I studied it all

Like rapelling a wall

It's something I thought I'd never need to do...
Just for fun.

Now it's the only way

To reach the vent

Unless I hire

A mighty lift

For 400 dollars a day

I heard of this guy

Who's not all there

He likes to hang

Way up in the air

He uses a rope

To go over the side

And lowers himself

On a plank, what a ride.

On the way down

He stops at the vent

He pries it open

And looks inside

It's a really big nest

And fabric and sticks

And ribbons and fur

It's a really big nest
Or it was....

Now, we have our dryer back!

Toon time

Some of the best Toons from 2010 so far...(click them to make them bigger and open a new window)

162K jobs added

Well, well well.  Speaking of "turning the corner," it looks like the economy is finally recovering from the pathetic misadministration of that frat-boy asshole Bush.   The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in March.  I'm sure that the rightwingnuts will find something to condemn in this report: it's not fast enough!  If McCain and Palin had been elected, we'd have MILLIONS of new jobs by now!  Obama is a NAZI!!!  He wasn't born here!  He has a MOLE his face!!  Waaah! 

We still have a long way to go to repair the Bush damage to the economy.   But at least we're moving in the right direction.

Shit, when Bush and Cheney and the scurrilous SCOTUS stole the election of 2000, we on the left cursed, gritted our teeth and rode it out.  We didn't toss bricks through windows, or make death threats to Congresspeople, or mail white powder to anyone, or send a shredded US flag soaked in gasoline to anyone.  We DID have a few peaceful marches and call Bush all kinds of names and deservedly so, the punk, but I have never before seen such childish behavior by so many people as we see coming from the right.  It's shameful and embarrassing.

Obama isn't perfect.  Far from it.  He should have pressed for a single-payer health option, closed Gitmo, prosecuted the Bush Gang of Thugs, slapped some hard new financial regs on Wall Street, etc.  But he is light-years better than Bush.  And yet, these rubes and yahoos on the right want to go back to another Presidency like Bush's.  They are certifiably insane.  Greedily, stupidly insane.

Oh yeah, the story...

162,000 jobs added in March, most in 3 years



Unemployment rate stays unchanged at 9.7 percent for third month in row
 
WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy posted its largest job gain in three years in March, while the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.


The increase is the latest sign that the economic recovery is sustainable and healing in the job market is beginning. Still, the healing is likely to be slow, and most economists don't expect job creation to be fast enough this year to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate.

The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began but below analysts' expectations of 190,000. The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast.

Private employers added 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007.


Manufacturers added 17,000 jobs, the third straight month of gains. Temporary help services added 40,000, while health care added 37,000. Leisure and hospitality added 22,000.

Even the beleaguered construction industry added 15,000 positions, though that likely reflects a rebound from February, when major snowstorms may have kept many construction workers off payrolls.

The average work week increased to 34 hours from 33.9, a positive sign. Most employers are likely to work current employees longer before they hire new workers.

The department also revised January's job total to show a gain of 14,000, up from a loss of 26,000. February's job numbers was also revised higher by 22,000.

Still, more Americans said they were working part-time even though they preferred full-time work. When they and discouraged workers who have given up searching for jobs are included, the "underemployment" rate ticked up to 16.9 percent from 16.8 percent.

You can find the original here, with all those beautiful adverts and pop-ups.

April Stargazing

The season is turning, the trees are leafing, the flowers are blooming, and the sky at night is still mysterious and full of wonder.

Happy silly religious holiday everyone!  Let's go hunt some eggs!

Stargazing Summary

The favorite constellations of the season spring into view in the early evening this month. Leo is well up in the east at nightfall, with Regulus, his bright heart, leading the way. A curved pattern known as the Sickle, which outlines the lion's head and mane, is to the left of Regulus. Virgo is low in the sky at nightfall but quickly climbs to prominence, highlighted by Spica. A pair of planets puts on a good show in the west shortly after sunset. Brilliant Venus will remain in view throughout the month, with Mercury scooting close to it in the middle of the month.

More stargazing information: http://stardate.org/nightsky/weekly.php


Radio Program Highlights
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http://stardate.org/feeds/rss.xml

April 1-4: Four plus two. Four planets are visible in the evening sky this week, and we'll tell you when and where to look. And we'll also point out two dippers. Plus stars that are too hot for their own good.

April 2:  Four of the five planets that are visible to the unaided eye are in sight at the same time early this evening. Venus, the "evening star," is low in the west at sunset, with fainter Mercury to its lower right. Orange Mars stands high in the south, with golden Saturn climbing skyward in the east.


April 3: The Big Dipper is high in the northeast this evening. It appears to "pour" its contents toward the northern horizon and into the Little Dipper. This fainter dipper is anchored by Polaris, the North Star, which is at the end of the dipper's handle.


April 4:  Polaris, the North Star, anchors the northern sky. It also anchors the Little Dipper. At nightfall, the dipper stretches roughly parallel to the northern horizon, with Polaris at the tip of the handle and the bowl to its right.


April 5:  The planets Venus and Mercury are low in the west as night begins to fall the next few evenings. Venus is the brilliant "evening star." Much fainter Mercury is just a little to the lower right of Venus.


April 5-11: Hot planets. The two hottest planets in the solar system -- the only two planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is -- huddle close together in the evening twilight this week. Join us for Mercury and Venus.


April 6:  The planet stands quite close to Venus, the brilliant "evening star," early tonight. They pop into view low in the west not long after sunset. Mercury is just to the lower right of Venus and looks like a fairly bright star.


April 7:  Look for the planet Venus low in the west just after sunset. It's the brilliant "evening star." And it has a bright companion: the planet Mercury, which is just a bit to its right.


April 8:  Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, slides across the southwest this evening. The star is well up in the south-southwest as darkness falls, and sets by around midnight. It twinkles fiercely as it drops nearer the horizon.


April 12-18: Listening in. The first try at hearing radio signals from other civilizations took place 50 years ago this week, and we'll talk about the effort and its target stars. Join us for Project Ozma and much more.


April 19-25: Moon, Mars, and meteors. The planet Mars, which glows bright orange, huddles close to the Moon this week, and we'll have details. And we'll also talk about a faint but fickle meteor shower.


April 26-30: Planets galore. The roster of planets outside our solar system includes several worlds that are sort of like Earth -- including one that's in the right zone for life. Join us for worlds beyond the solar system.


April Program Schedule: http://stardate.org/radio/calendars


Find an Affiliate: http://stardate.org/radio/affiliates.php

Fred? Is that you?

A few months ago, a friend of ours gave us a couple of Cuban lizards to help with pest control in our garden.  A male and a female.   We released them on the deck and they began doing the nasty right off the bat because in no time, we saw lots of little bitty lizards.


They looked pretty freaky.  Prehistoric, even.  So ancient that we called one "Fred" and the other "Wilma."  Couldn't really tell which was which, but we figured a Flintstones name was appropriate.

 
We hadn't seen any of the klan in a good while, and just a few days ago as I was cleaning up the deck a bit, I found what you see above: a dessicated (frozen?) lizard.  Can't tell if it's actually Fred or Wilma or one of their offspring.  Poor thing probably froze to death in one of the many freezes we had this year.


It gives my wife the willies, what with the missing eyeballs.  

Apple boycotts FOX

Now HERE is a good example of corporate responsibility.  Don't just pull your ads from Glenn Beck, take them off the WHOLE network, because they're ALL a bunch of liars.  Makes me proud to own Macs.

Apple boycotts Fox News because of Glenn Beck


A two-week old report by the Washington Post is only now gaining traction in the tech section. It appears that Apple has boycotted Fox News based on Glenn Beck and his ludicrous statements, including calling President Obama a racist and branding progressivism a "cancer."


"More than 200 companies have joined a boycott of Beck's program, making it difficult for Fox to sell ads," the Washington Post reports. "The time has instead been sold to smaller firms offering such products as Kaopectate, Carbonite, 1-800-PetMeds and Goldline International. A handful of advertisers, such as Apple, have abandoned Fox altogether. Network executives say they believe they could charge higher rates if the host were more widely acceptable to advertisers."

Given that Fox has the largest cable news viewership in the US, Apple's decision to boycott them was no small decision, especially with the impending launch of the iPad. Then again, Apple doesn't have a problem garnering media attention; it'll probably still penetrate a majority of the mindshare market without running a single iPad ad.

Bravo!