Naughty Halloween

I think that this year (as with every year), strange fetish is the theme for Halloween parties that go down  on THE night (dia de los muertos) tonight.

Do you want to PLAY WITH NEMO? 

I can only hope that I'm not out of line when I say that girls want guys to be attracted to them because they appear to be any character from a Disney/Pixar film, really -- means that they are probably due for some counseling. Then again, this costume is less "Nemo" and more "Prostitute who murdered Nemo and is wearing his skin to entice johns."

Turtle Fantasy? This is the laziest costume that I have ever seen. Do you see the sad, tiny little turtle shell strapped to her back? The one that in no way corresponds to the shell pattern on her torso? And think about this: The Ninja Turtles didn't wear clothes. Look it up. Which means that her skirt is actually a part of her presumably grotesquely deformed turtle body.

Darth Mater - "LUKE, I am your MOTHER! 

Barbie-in-the-Box - You need to be blonde or willing to wear a blonde wig (because blondes have more fun) and even though you're not going to he able to stick your hands out and eat snacks at the Halloween party, if you fit in the box right - you may not be a snacker anyway. Though if you get drunk at the party and vomit, it would make a classic photo. (I see it going viral if you have a YouTube video of the event itself)

The Pumpkin Patch

Autumn means pumpkins and pumpkins portend Halloween.

Liam (left) is six months younger than Cannon (right), yet they both are about the same height - and both are mesmerized by the Pumpkin Patch.

Cannon and his older brother Griffin (with their mother/my daughter Amanda) have a difficult time deciding which pumpkin would make the perfect jack-o-lantern.

Do we need Heroes?

Decide for yourself... ;^)



More balls than brains.



Good to the last drop.



British boxer Usman Ahmed shows the world how it's done downtown.

Class Warfare

I live in a place where you can shape your own destiny. There are ladders to success that even the poorest among us can take to go wherever and be whatever we decide to be. That is precisely why the American experiment worked. People had the right to choose to succeed and that choice made all the difference.

Oprah Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, claiming to be raped at age nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime-talk-show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated. According to Forbes, in September 2010 Winfrey was worth over $2.7 billion.

Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955 to two university students, Joanne Carole Schieble of Swiss Catholic descent and Syrian-born Abdulfattah "John" Jandali (عبدالفتاح جندلي‎), who were both unmarried at the time. Jandali, who was teaching in Wisconsin when Steve was born, said he had no choice but to put the baby up for adoption because his girlfriend's family objected to their relationship. The baby was adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold and Clara Jobs, an Armenian American whose maiden name was Hagopian. Paul Jobs was a machinist for a company that made lasers and taught his son rudimentary electronics and how to work with his hands. The father showed Steve how to work on electronics in the family garage, demonstrating to his son how to take apart and rebuild electronics such as radios and televisions. As a result, Steve became interested in and developed a hobby of technical tinkering. He landed a summer job picking apples while he was in school and that became the inspiration for the garage-business that he and Steve Wozniak formed which became Apple Computers.

I picked two people, one of African descent, another of Swiss-Syrian descent (very near to my age) who started off life in the usual way, unremarkable and unheralded. There are many like them. But they were not the victims of CLASS WARFARE. They chose to succeed. And in this place that I call home, they succeeded. They were not nurtured in some socialist hell-hole where "we're all the same" and "you didn't build that" were the mantras of the day.  Neither of these people allowed themselves victims of circumstance.

There are destructive elements in my society who call themselves "progressive" and they promote class warfare based on envy. But envy didn't make Oprah Winfrey and Steve Jobs (and so many others) the success stories that they became. The simple freedom to rise or fall, to succeed or fail made them.

The "Progressive Movement" is completely shameless in the sense that they will never ever, for as long as they can possibly get away with it, going to admit to bad behavior. And in those rare cases where they simply cannot wiggle and maneuver and lie and deceive; or self-righteously tell you how wonderful they really are and all the wonderful things they have done; they will simply pretend they are still virtuous and have been victimized in some way.

And that is why I will NOT vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election.

Why did the Deer Cross the Road?

How important are wildlife bridges? Yes, they do apparently exist in The Netherlands, as pictured below, but do they really limit auto vs deer collisions? And are they worth spending a vast amount of money to construct?

The Netherlands

Could the same thing be achieved by simply moving deer crossing signs?



Politicians weigh in on the argument.

Canada has wildlife bridges as well (right) but how many wildlife bridges does one stretch of highway need in order to be effective? I live in Southern California and yes, there is a wildlife underpass in the area where I live (under State Route 91 at Coal Canyon). However, I've never see deer road kill on that highway. That may be because traffic is so congested and the cars are moving so very slowly that deer would be able to simply navigate their way by walking slowly between cars. I've never seen a deer do that but an absence of proof isn't proof of absence...

Watch that First Step

The big drop.

I spent some time this Sunday morning, watching the "Mission to the Edge of Space" live on YouTube (8 million other people watched this live on YouTube). Felix Baumgartner undertook a stratospheric balloon flight from Roswell, New Mexico, to more than 128,000 feet - over 24 miles (balloon's float altitude) and made a record-breaking freefall jump to become the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall (at about 750 miles per hour). 

First off, let me tell you that I was very envious of Baumgartner. I wish that I was there in the Red Bull Stratos capsule. 

“Red Bull Stratos is an opportunity to gather information that could contribute to the development of life-saving measures for astronauts and pilots – and maybe for the space tourists of tomorrow,” Baumgartner said in a statement. “Proving that a human can break the speed of sound in the stratosphere and return to earth would be a step toward creating near-space bailout procedures that currently don’t exist.” (Wired)

Skydivers are good to the last drop...

My highest jump was a training HAHO at about 27,000 ft. and I thought that I was "way up there". Baumgartner takes cool to a whole new level.  Bravo Zulu, Felix. 

There are a few things that can go wrong at altitude. Above the "Armstrong Line" at about 65,000 ft. your blood will boil at body temperature unless you're wearing a pressure suit, so any sort of accidental depressurization will result in catastrophic results. Naturally if your parachute doesn't open or if you run out of oxygen before you get into the denser portion of the atmosphere where you can breathe without a bailout bottle (internal oxygen for the suit), you'd run the risk of death. Baumgartner was in freefall for about 5 minutes, so he could technically hold his breath until he got low enough to breathe the atmosphere.

Baumgartner's suit's faceplate visor has 111 tiny wires in it that are supposed to heat it. There was some question as to whether or not the visor heating system was working properly. In the end, it fogged a bit on the way down, but it didn't stop the historic journey.

Joe Kittinger, who held the manned balloon flight (USAF) and jump record (102,000 ft - and a descent speed of about 630 mph), made in 1960, was the capsule communicator (CAPCOM) and worked closely with Felix Baumgartner both in preparation and in the execution of his historic flight.

I'm old enough that I will never make a space flight or even a near-space flight, but it's something I've wanted to do since I was a kid. Even if space tourism becomes possible in my lifetime, I'll be too old by then to participate. My father and grandfather worked for North American Aviation when the X-15 was flying in the edge of space. While a young boy, I met the great Scott Crossfield (X-15 test pilot) on one occasion. So I have had this sort of thing in my blood all of my life.

Knowing where you Stand

Admiral Ernest King, Chief of US Naval Operations during the Second World War was a no nonsense man who got the job done. He had his eye on the end of the game and kept the US Navy focused on that goal. He was known to say, "When they get in trouble, they call in the sons of bitches."

I had lunch with an old friend today, who I worked with for many years. He said the same thing about me. I took it as a high compliment.

Dyson Vacuum Cleaners

My daughter, Heather, was laid off work and lost her full time job, managing 50 people in the fashion industry because the company downsized a year ago (horrible economy in California). Today she starts her part-time job demonstrating Dyson Vacuum Cleaners at the Yorba Linda Costco. And before you sneer, it's a job. Heather has a B. S. in Business from Cal-Poly and a second B. S. from the same educational institution in Marketing. However, like me (and in fact in my house), she lives in California. Even a part time job demonstrating vacuum cleaners is reason to celebrate in this economy. With US$5.00 per gallon gasoline and increasing taxes, there is no indication that the economy here will improve anytime soon.

BUT the vacuums, fans and Dyson stuff is cool. It has nothing to do with my daughter's job. However thanks to her new employer, I've discovered a world of cool stuff that I never would have thought of as trendy, smart and effective.

Can somebody love a vacuum cleaner?

It would seem that the answer is yes.

Tuesday Tunes (all GaGa)

Normally this blog isn't all about tunes, but I decided that it was time for a little GaGa...

"Poker Face" was well received by most critics, who praised the robotic hook and the chorus. The song attained worldwide success, topping the charts in twenty countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many European countries. "Poker Face" is also the most downloaded song in the British chart history. It is among the best-selling singles of all time, having sold over 12 million copies.

I looked for another GaGa tune and Bad Romance had 448 million views on YouTube. That number staggers the imagination. It was nominated for numerous superlatives, including ten awards at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, where the singer won seven of those, including a recognition for Video of the Year. 

Ok, back to regular blogging.