Gas Station Signs

Most advertisements annoy me (see previous post).  However, there is one category of advertisements that I consciously use all the time: gas station signs.  I've got a card for a particular brand, and it is important for me as a consumer to know where the stations for my desired brand are, preferably before the exit to the feeder so that I can actually get off and buy gas there.

The signs, often, aren't all that high.  Gas station owners must be pretty thick-headed.  There are gas stations that I have passed a hundred times in my life that I would have bought gas at had the signs been a bit higher.  

Polemic Against (Sort Of) Healthy Food

Has anyone seen those commercials for Nutella the peanut butter-like substance?  They show pictures of happy children and their mom.  It hits all of the bases targeting the mom consumer demographic, and it closes with "and a touch of coco."  I was in a grocery store the other day, and there was some popcorn that said "with a hint of salt and a taste of butter."  I also saw some peanuts that said "lightly salted."

Products like this disgust me.  I find them just sickening.  Who only wants to have a little bit of fun?  I'm glad that they weren't around when I was a kid, because if my mom tried to give me anything with a "touch of coco" I'd burst into tears and be scarred for life.  I found the mom in the Nutella add to be a tragecomic character.  In all seriousness, what sort of cruel heartless parent smiles at the thought of sort of but not really giving their kids something that is sort of but not really yummy?  I don't know about soccer moms, but when I have kids a few years from now, I won't be giving them anything with "a touch of coco" or a "hint of salt."  When they get chocolate and salt and butter, I'll make dang sure that they get chocolate, salt, and butter.  None of this hint, whiff, taste, touch nonsense.

Politics

Everything I hear and read about politics has become grating.  Since the real issues are so hard to face, we've invented other issues (i.e. earmarks, Iran) to argue about so we don't have to think anything important.

By far, the most repugnant, deceitful, and baseless political blather comes in the form of an appeal for "political civility."  What's there to be civil about?  Politics is about money and power.  But by its very nature, divvying up money and power is uncivil and mean.  I concede, there is a way to be civil in politics, get rid of all unnecessary money and power elements.  But few want to give up their cut of the cake, first or last.  So it's back to Iran and earmarks.

Holsters

About a week ago I was on the family ranch in the Texas hill country walking our little dogs with my stepmother.  All of the sudden, a huge pig bolted out from the brush on one side of the road.  Our largest, but still small, dog started after the pig down another road.

Behind me was a woman and two small domesticated animals, before me was a large potentially dangerous wild animal weighing at leas 200 pounds.  For thousands of years, it has been the established policy of male-gendered hominids in my position to take up whatever fire and/or sharp things were at hand and use those things against the potentially dangerous animal.  Evolution payed off, I had a primordial understanding of the course of action which I was to take.

At the time, I was carrying a Beretta 9mm pistol in my pocket which I took for exactly the situation that I found myself in at the moment.  I went for the pistol in my pocket.  After a moment, I realized there was a problem...the hammer was caught on the top of my pocket.  After struggling with my pocket for about 15 seconds while being yelled at for failing to brandish it soon enough, I finally got it out, loaded it, and let off a shot at the ground in a field to my right.  The dog ran in one direction and the pig in another; so I wasn't completely unsuccessful.

It is rare indeed for one to have a gun at the exact moment that one is in need of a gun.  But it doesn't really do a whole lot of good unless you can get it out of your pocket.

I bought a holster.

I Told You So

I'm going to join in with the other 47 billion folks who are reserving the right to say "I told you so" if the Republican Party nominates anyone other than Romney and the non-Romney loses.  "Don't get greedy" is always better than "my way or the highway."

Killing Cows

I had a bit of a spat today over the appropriate method of putting cows down.  Someone suggested that someone else use a 9mm Glock to put a sick cow down.  It took 11 shots (all to the head) to kill the poor animal. I found this outcome to be pointlessly cruel; and needless to say, I have made my disapproval known.  Sometimes, animals need to be put down; and in a rural situation, going to the formalities of calling a vet to "euthanize" the animal is absurd.  After all, it's just a danged cow.  But pelting an animal with 11 bullets before killing it is almost equally outrageous.

I have never had to put an animal down.  But I know from extensive experience with guns that an animal should never be put down with a pistol.  I've heard some folks brag about getting a cow down with one shot with a .22LR by hitting the cow in the right place on the head to get straight to the brain; but I'm not interested in being artful or creative, or playing how many (dozen) .22LR shots will it take to kill a cow this time.

If I ever need to put an animal down, I will use a 12-gauge slug.  The outcome might not look as "pretty" as if the cow is harried with small caliber pistol rounds (with "luck," I'd blow a good portion of the animal's head off and not have to worry about the exact location of the peanut-sized brain), but the animal will go down quickly (hopefully in a shot or two) and without unnecessary pain.

About That Homework...

I'm always a bit tickled by news stories about some demographic or another doing something for the first time.  It's always "historic," at least for the 8.5 seconds until the web page updates.  In particular, I get a bit of a chuckle out of stories about kids climbing mountains and swimming channels.  The latest such story is about a teenager who has sailed around the world alone.

My view is that kids who climb mountains and circumnavigate the Earth are dumb, and their parents are really dumb.  So you're the first kid to spend the night at the north pole?  Is that going to get you a job?  No.  It'll sure make for a great college entrance essay; but beyond that, is it going to get the kid anywhere?  Probably not.  What does a world circumnavigator make nowadays?  Whatever welfare pays.  

While I am no fan of governments telling folks how to live their lives, I can understand what was behind the authorities looking into this girl.  Finally, someone else in the world (the Dutch government official(s)) has tilted his head a bit sideways on hearing yet another one of these "kids doing amazing things (while skipping school and contributing nothing to civilization)" stories.  Insofar as truancy and compulsory school attendance laws are a good idea, there should be no exception for kids taking glorified vacations just because those vacations may be exceptionally cool.  If a law says that a parent who lets his kid skip school for a year gets jailed and the kids get taken away, such laws should be applied equitably.  A truant is a truant is a truant.

Funny Sinking Ships

I hope I'm not being insensitive going at it again, but I can't help but laugh at almost everything coming out from the Costa Concordia.  Here's a translation of a conversation between the coast guard and the ship.  The crewmember keeps insisting that they just have a blackout and nothing is wrong.  The coast guard keeps saying things to the effect of "really? are you sure its just a blackout?"  You know what I'd say if I was anyone on that boat:  "Jesus ******* C**** we're ******* sinking! Holy ****! Send some ******* help right now and get me the **** off of this ****** ******* boat!"  I definitely wouldn't say "just a blackout."