November 21, 2009

My Hat is in the Ring

With the wave of citizen activism sweeping the country in this time of crisis I can no longer sit idle.

THEREFORE

I hereby announce my candidacy for the seat in the United States House of Representatives that will represent the unassigned congressional district of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Among my qualifications:
As I am currently homeless, I am able to meet the strict  residency requirements for a congressional district that has not existed since 1935.
My legislative experience is, likewise, nonexistent.
I have no degree at this time.

ON THE ISSUES
*As your Representative...whoever "YOU" are....I pledge to work tirelessly to reduce the deficit through budget policies that are flexible...yet firm....bendable yet straight...and FAIR TO EVERY AMERICAN!
*I will also work to protect "you" (my constituents) from the existential threat of the Dero who even now conspire against our democracy.
*I oppose listing the Mothman as an endangered species due to the principle that PEOPLES SAFETY MUST TAKE PRIORITY!
*I oppose deportation for the Bat Child as he is a natural born citizen.
*I support composting toilets.
* I support the teaching of the number eleventy in our schools.



NO ONE IS MORE OBJECTIVELY QUALIFIED TO LEAD NOTHING THAN THE BRICKMUPPET!!

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As I Get Older

...I note that I understand what they were REALLY saying in some of those artsy videos from my youth.



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November 19, 2009

Everything has a Silver Lining

I can has skylight!!


OK...a tinfoil lining.
Most everything was indeed lost. It rained like cats and dogs for days and I was not allowed to re-enter the trailer to move stuff out of the affected areas until Sunday.....


...by which time the damage was done.
The city has cut off the power to the end of the cul de-sac and forbidden anyone from being in the trailer after 5pm. The last few days have revolved around salvaging what little I can...some were surprising.  Protected by their wrapping and the drawer they were in, which itself was in the closet, two long forgotten 2003 and 2004 Masamune Shirow calenders were unscathed...The thing is, they'll be good again  in 2010 and '11.

Well I laughed....

It's official. The chassis is bent, whole frame is warped, ergo the trailer is totaled.

Blogging has been and will be quite light for a few more days. I have to have everything out in a few days and make arrangements to haul away my home of the last 9 years for scrap.

Thanks to everyone for the kind thoughts.

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November 13, 2009

Does anyone know

...the artist who did this cute take on Beethoven's 5th


It's evidently not from DDR.

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November 12, 2009

Argh

My day began at 3 when I headed off to work. The current inclement weather caused several delays with incoming loads and I was, as a result a little late getting out. I went home to be greeted by 3 police cruisers, 2 ambulances 4 fire trucks and a patrolman who informed me that I could not drive down the dead end road where my house resides.

Hampton Roads was and still is being clobbered as I type this. Hurricane Ida, now a tropical depression, has hooked up with a nor'easter and the two have hit it off and decided to do the barometric boogie all over Southeastern Virginia.

It has rained unrelentingly for 2 days. Totals as high as 12 inches are expected by tomorrow evening. The wind is gusting as high a 67 kts.This is worse in some ways than the Hurricanes Floyd and Isabel. Total damage seems to be less but, whereas both of those storms passed fairly quickly this storm is lingering and actually intensifying a bit. Norfolk is flooded. Tides as much as 8 feet above normal have occurred and are expected. In Portsmouth the seawall was holding as of an hour and a half ago but as I drove through I noted a sand blow coming out of a manhole. The ground is supersaturated and is turning into something with the consistency of pudding. This is not a good thing as the trees have nothing to hold them against the fierce wind.

To wit....



Suck...

Yes, that is a tree...in MY manufactured home.

In reality I'm lucky. The neighbors child was pinned. The tree fell around 5:30AM  and they were still extracting him at 9. He survived, but I don't know anything about his current condition.

As for my house, the roof is peeled back like a sardine tin, and although it does not show up on these pictures it was (and still is) raining intensely. After they finished pulling the injured out of the other trailers I briefly inspected it and tried to cover a window that had popped out. I left to get a tarp and was immediately stopped by a fireman who informed me that all three trailers are condemned and I need a safety inspection to enter again. I can't even get my stuff out and try to salvage my things from the rain....and most ominously, the rising water.

Suck...

 While crossing the Monitor/Merrimack bridge tunnel, my newly acquired Cressida got pummeled with brown water as a wave actually broke over the bridge. The car began acting...odd...and would not start when I tried to head back home. I jumped it and took it to the repair place in Churchland.

Dead alternator and solenoid. Not entirely astonishing given the age of the car ( 27 years) and immersion in brackish water but damned poor timing.

Because I've been house sitting and was helping my folks deal with medical issues earlier in the year I have a few changes of clothes at my folks house and a couple of DVDs and books too but I may have lost nearly everything else.

Still, I have a job which is a very good thing in this day and age and I was not impaled by the tree.  I've got crash space at my folks for now which is most fortuitous. Even if the trailer is totaled, I'll be able to get it hauled away thanks to the insurance.

But...damn. A tree ate my house.

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November 11, 2009

Thank You


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November 02, 2009

KAIJU NEWS ALERT

The marine Kaiju threat level has been raised to eleventy off of Chiba.

A Japanese fishing trawler has been sunk by giant jellyfish
.
Now although I have wanted to be able to truthfully report something like this since I was six, I was initially skeptical.So, I read the article to find out if:
A) the source was the Weekly World News or Pravda
B) what REALLY happened

To my surprise the source is the London Telegraph and what seems to have happened is that giant jellyfish have sunk a Japanese trawler. Fortunately no one was hurt.
See also here and here.

The culprit seems to be the infamous nomura jellyfish, which has been in the news before.
There was a huge infestation of the things in 1958 and 2005. Unlike the 1958 infestation, their numbers have remained rather high for the last several years and they have caused considerable difficulties for the Japanese fishing industry.
This year, another very large infestation has hit Japan.


Now in fairness to the jellyfish, were I doing a marine casualty investigation of this (assuming the facts as reported are true) I'd be disinclined to issue a finding of fault against the jellyfish. However, it is important to keep a sense of perspective and focus on what is surely the most important thing to take away from this bizarre occurrence. To that end, one of the Brickmuppets crack team of science babes has some insightful thoughts on this incident.

 Giant jellyfish have sunk a trawler!!1!...That is SO freaking cool!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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