Panhandler Party

If you've spent any time in NYC, or really any big city, this will seem familiar.
And hilarious.

I especially like the couple (both named Tracy) who are panhandling to raise money for their second home in Nantucket.

Dolphin Rescue Hawaii.mp4

This is a pretty amazing video.

I'm really a little disappointed in myself that I actually found this on a site called Treehugger but there it is.
I've mentioned this site a few times before when I found interesting articles and videos.
And, in my defense they are fairly logical in how they approach most issues, which is pretty awesome and a little rare in the environmental movement - I don't know if you've noticed but "those people" tend to be a bit hysterical.
Anyhoo.....
It's a great video - pretty astounding that a wild animal would just approach a human in an attempt to get help removing a hook.  Definitely lends credence to the notion of higher intelligence in dolphins.

You can read the entire article at www.treehugger.com

http://www.treehugger.com/ocean-conservation/dolphin-tangled-fishing-line-approaches-divers-help-video.html

Freelance photographer Todd Robertson shot this photo during a Klan rally in downtown Gainesville on Sept. 5, 1992. The trooper, Allen Campbell, retired in June 2009 after 30 years with the Georgia State Patrol. The identity of the child is unknown.

I really hope that CPS had a copy of this picture on their desk the next morning.



Soooo, I haven't been writing much lately.
There's been a lot going on and haven't decided to the correct approach to it.
In the meantime, I've been focusing on work.
We'll be going to a major city to work on a big project this fall - just waiting for the actual contract before I announce.
Closer to home, we've been working on closing a pretty big project in the very near future.
That's been pretty much it.
EPPdF is a dull boy these days - work and sleep.

It's dusty in here. Yeah, that's it, it's the dust.

I've seen several of these stories over the past year - incredibly loyal dogs continuing to wait for their owners even after death.  It's very touching to see.
And, it's nice that the church is allowing this pooch to attend mass.
Especially since dogs, officially anyhow, don't have souls.

A loyal dog whose owner died late last year has apparently been showing up for Mass every day for the last two months at the church where the funeral was held.

Tommy, a 7-year-old German shepherd, used to accompany his owner, Maria Margherita Lochi, to services at Santa Maria Assunta church in San Donaci, Italy, according to the Daily Mail, and was allowed to sit at her feet.

After Lochi died, the dog "joined mourners at her funeral service" according to locals and "followed after Maria's coffin" as it was carried into the church.

Tommy, a stray who was adopted by Lochi, has been showing up "when the bell rings out to mark the beginning of services" ever since.

"He's there every time I celebrate mass and is very well behaved," Father Donato Panna told the paper. "He doesn't make a sound."

None of the other parishioners has complained, Panna said, and villagers give the dog food and water and allow him to sleep nearby.

"I've not heard one bark from him in all the time he has been coming in," Panna added. "He waits patiently by the side of the altar and just sits there quietly. I didn't have the heart to throw him out—I've just recently lost my own dog, so I leave him there until Mass finishes and then I let him out."

A hero for our time.

THIS is the type of handsome, young, go-getter we need around here!

The analysis of his workstation found hundreds of PDF invoices from the Chinese contractors and determined that Bob's typical work day consisted of:

9:00 a.m. – Arrive and surf Reddit for a couple of hours. Watch cat videos

11:30 a.m. – Take lunch

1:00 p.m. – Ebay time

2:00-ish p.m – Facebook updates, LinkedIn

4:30 p.m. – End-of-day update e-mail to management

5:00 p.m. – Go home

Across this line (Detective Mittens) you do not cross, SIR!!!


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/16/developer_oursources_job_china/

I found this awesome photo of a German Shepherd (by Piet Flour) on Fotoblur this morning.
Love these dogs!

Another Piet Flour pic from Fotoblur.

I don't know how to feel about this story.

It has the makings of quite possibly the best movie ever.

Take a depressed student.
Add/remove drugs.
The Hell's Angels.
Germany (It was a toss up between Germany and Florida)
A puppy.
A stolen bulldozer.
3 mile long traffic back-up on the highway due to low-speed get away on the aforementioned bulldozer after the depressed student moons the Hell's Angels and hurls the puppy at them.

I've gotta get in touch with Hollywood.
This is gonna be big!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10333211

CAT BEATS STOCK BROKERS IN FINANCIAL CHALLENGE

Now this will come to the surprise of no cats or cat conspiracy theorists but a financially astute feline has come out on top in a recent study of who can make the most money on the stock market.

The challenge: The Observer wanted to see if experience really made a difference on your ability to pick stocks. So they assembled three different groups: three professionals (comprising of a wealth manager, a stock broker and a fund manager), a class of secondary school students and Orlando, a cat.

They were each given £5,000 to invest in five companies at the start of the 2012. Every three months, they were then allowed to shift their money around. The cat did this by throwing his favourite toy mouse around a grid of numbers.

At the end of the first quarter, the professionals were on top with a profit of £497 versus the cat's £292. But after a surprisingly strong end to the year, Orlando raced out ahead.

Ultimately, the cat made a sterling £542 profit while the professionals only managed to make £176. The kids ended up losing £160.

The study shows that either a) it's totally random or b) cats will end up taking all of our money and ruling us all.

[via The Observer]



Ed. Note:
The picture above is not the stock broker beating cat but my dearly parted little buddy, Doug.
As you can tell from the photo, Doug was special.
Doug survived a rough and tumble youth on the streets of a local Atlanta housing project.
He was at various points in his life starved by Mexicans, bitten by snakes, stung by wasps, eaten by dogs, and either run over by a car or possibly hit in the head with a shovel.
Hard to tell - he was more a thinker than a talker.
Through it all he maintained a sense of detached, blissful irony and humor.
He was a like a furry, drooling, one eyed Buddha.

Godspeed Doug.
Godspeed.

Douglas del Fuego   +/- 2002 - 2011.

Flying Elephants Presents Part I

I needed something to lift my spirits a bit on this rainy day here in Atlanta and found just the right thing in David Colbert's Ashes and Snow video.

Stunning imagery.

He's done a whole series exploring the relationship of animals and humans that you can watch on YouTube.

Gorilla Sales Skyrocket After Latest Gorilla Attack

SAN DIEGO—Following the events of last week, in which a crazed western lowland gorilla ruthlessly murdered 21 people in a local shopping plaza after escaping from the San Diego Zoo, sources across the country confirmed Thursday that national gorilla sales have since skyrocketed.
“After seeing yet another deranged gorilla just burst into a public place and start killing people, I decided I need to make sure something like that never happens to me,” said 34-year-old Atlanta resident Nick Keller, shortly after purchasing a 350-pound mountain gorilla from his local gorilla store. “It just gives me peace of mind knowing that if I’m ever in that situation, I won’t have to just watch helplessly as my torso is ripped in half and my face is chewed off. I’ll be able to use my gorilla to defend myself.”
“Law enforcement and animal control can only get there so quickly,” Keller added. “And you never know when you’ll need to use a gorilla to save your life.”
Reports confirmed that gorilla sales have historically risen sharply in the immediate aftermath of a major gorilla attack, most notably after the 2010 tragedy in the small town of Logan, NM, where 14 people, including two 5-year-old children and a 92-year-old woman, were viciously beaten to death by a 12-year-old gorilla who spontaneously attacked patrons of a crowded grocery store.
The latest attack marked the fifth of its kind in the United States within the last six months and has reignited the explosive national debate over gorilla control, with thousands of outraged Americans reportedly demanding that their government representatives act immediately in order to prevent further bloodshed.
“We’ve had to deal with too many gorilla-related tragedies, and we’ve had to bury too many innocent, feces-covered victims,” said Nicole Simmons, president of the Mothers Against Gorillas coalition, who herself lost her 16-year-old son in the infamous Baker High School gorilla rampage of 1997. “It’s time to put an end to this. We need to get gorillas off the streets once and for all. Enough is enough.”
“The answer to this systemic problem is not more gorillas,” Simmons continued, her eyes welling with tears. “The answer is fewer gorillas.”
As evidence, Simmons pointed to a 2011 University of Maryland study, which found that 98 percent of Americans who own a gorilla have never used them for defense against a home invasion. Simmons also cited widely reported studies confirming that people who keep gorillas in the home are 12 times more likely to have their arms torn off, and children in those households are 19 times more likely to be picked up by the legs and bashed repeatedly into the ground.
Furthermore, many gorilla control advocates have reportedly called for statewide limits to the number of gorillas one can purchase and a federal ban on the ownership of silverbacks, referencing as an example the tight gorilla laws in countries such as Japan, England, and Australia, where the annual rate of gorilla crimes is virtually nonexistent.
“There is absolutely no reason—not for hunting, protection, or otherwise—that an ordinary citizen would need to possess a 600-pound silverback,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), one of the most outspoken gorilla control advocates in Congress. “The general public frankly has no business owning apes of this size, and the only people who do are zookeepers who are trained to properly handle them. Otherwise, they are nothing but a threat to society and only serve to perpetuate more violence.”
Opponents to gorilla control legislation, however, appear to be fervent in their defense of their gorilla possession rights. A spokesperson for the powerful yet controversial national gorilla lobby told reporters that a ban on gorillas would not end incidents such as that in San Diego, as those who want the large primates could simply buy them from illegal dealers who smuggle them into the country from the jungles of sub-Saharan Africa.
Many gorilla owners also told sources that the creatures are primarily used for legal hunting purposes and that the overwhelming majority of gorilla enthusiasts are completely responsible with their apes.
“Listen, it’s my God-given right as an American to have the freedom to own a gorilla to protect myself and my family,” said Nashua, NH resident James Harrington, 46, adding that he personally owns 12 different gorillas of various sizes, but keeps them “safely locked away in [his] home.” “And the government has another thing coming if they think they can come into my house and take away my gorillas.”
“What happened in San Diego was horrible, but that doesn’t mean all gorillas are bad,” Harrington added. “In fact, if every person at that mall had a gorilla, then the tragedy probably never would have even happened in the first place.”
At press time, following the increase in national gorilla sales, four isolated gorilla attacks had just been reported across the country, with the overall civilian death toll currently estimated at 37.

A 15-year old boy used his father’s AR-15 to defend himself and his 12-year old sister against two burglars at their home just north of Houston, Texas.

Their father is a Harris County Precinct 1 deputy constable, and the boy knew what he had to do to keep himself and his sister alive. Around 2:30 PM, two men tried to break in, with one going through the front door and the other in the back.

The boy grabbed the AR-15 and shot at them. The two later showed up at a Tomball hospital. The adult was hit three times and was flown to Memorial Hermann hospital, while the juvenile was taken back to the crime scene.

“We don't try to hide things from our children in law enforcement,” Lt. Jeffrey Stauber said. “That young boy was protecting his sister. He was in fear for his life and her life.”

More stories are coming out about armed citizens defending their lives and property with legally owned firearms. In the span of a week, Breitbart News has reported how a mother used a .38 revolver against an intruder, a man used his weapon to protect his 2-month old son, and a Colorado man invoked the Make My Day law in Colorado in using lethal force to defend himself against three intruders.

Senator Dianne Feinstein and others are trying to push through major gun control laws that would include banning the AR-15, the same gun used by the teenage boy.

by MARY CHASTAIN



http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/09/Colorado-Man-Invokes-Make-My-Day-Law-Against-Intruders

Gone to the great Chevy van in the sky.....

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/09/3773186/sammy-johns-remembered-as-composer.html

Sammy Johns remembered as writer of hit songs

By Joe DePriest
jdepriest@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Wednesday, Jan. 09, 2013


Sammy Johns, whose 1975 song "Chevy Van" sold 3 million copies, died Friday in Gastonia at age 66.

GASTONIA, NC

Playing a string of gigs at Charlotte clubs, singer Sammy Johns had never made more than $175 a week when he tried his hand at songwriting in the early 1970s.

For years, he’d admired a friend’s Chevrolet van and imagined a man riding around in it, picking up beautiful women and making love in the back.

Johns, who died Jan. 4 at age 66, used that theme in his first song, “Chevy Van.” When the record was finally released in January 1975, it sold 3.5 million copies and made him an instant celebrity.

Although Johns never wrote another blockbuster for himself, he penned No. 1 hits for such country stars as Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty and John Conlee.

Family and friends will remember Johns’ remarkable career Wednesday at a funeral service.

“He always planned to make music his life,” said Ray Finchum, who will officiate at his uncle’s funeral. “Music was his life. Everything revolved around it.”

Finchum said that on Jan. 3, family members found Johns lying on the floor of his Gastonia home, and that he may have suffered a stroke or been electrocuted while working on an old lamp.

Johns died the following day at Gaston Memorial Hospital.

Finchum said that in recent years Johns, an avid golfer, had continued writing songs while playing with local bands.

Johns also performed at the Grand Ole Opry with singer John Conlee, who had a number No. 1 hit with Johns’ composition “Common Man.”

“Sammy considered himself a common man,” Finchum said. “He didn’t feel like he was special.”

‘A pretty good run’

Around the age of 8, Johns began doing Elvis imitations at clubhouses and schools all over Gaston County.

While he was a student at Belmont High School, he joined a rock band called the Devilles, named after the Cadillac model.

After graduating in 1962, he made music full time, playing with the band at Charlotte clubs and lounges like the Bamboo Lounge and Pecan Grove – a venue that featured gyrating go-go girls.

A friend suggested Johns start writing songs. “Chevy Van” took shape while he sat on the bed of his northwest Charlotte apartment:

“Like a princess she was laying there,

“Moonlight dancing off her hair.

“She woke up and took me by the hand.

“We made love in my Chevy van.

“And that’s all right with me.”

Johns recorded the song in 1973 for an Atlanta company, but it sat on the shelf until 1975 when it climbed to No. 5 on the Billboard chart. “Rolling Stone” magazine dubbed it “The Song of the Seventies.”

In a 1991 Observer interview, Johns said that while the first record made him rich and famous, he blew the money on alcohol, drugs, houses and cars. His four marriages failed.

In 1977, he spent two weeks in an Atlanta rehab center and then moved to Nashville, Tenn., where he wrote and recorded songs. His composition “Desperado Love” was a No. 1 hit for Conway Twitty and “America” went gold for Waylon Jennings.

Hitting high notes

Bo Baity, who collaborated with Johns in 2000 on a CD “Honky Tonk Moon,” called him “a gentle soul.”

Johns never stopped songwriting, performed whenever he got the chance and never lost his voice.

Baity was backstage at the Grand Ole Opry while Johns sang “Chevy Van” and when he hit the high note “the place came unglued.”

“I saw Vince Gill raise an eyelid and say ‘He can still do it,’ ” Baity said.

A service for Johns will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Bumgardner Chapel of McLean Funeral Directors of Belmont. Burial will follow in Greenwood Cemetery.
DePriest: 704-868-7745

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/09/3773186/sammy-johns-remembered-as-composer.html#storylink=cpy

Ablenook

A new project on kickstarter has come up with this clever design.

Ablenook is portable, pre-fab, expandable living units.

Really great pics in their gallery.
http://www.ablenook.com/

The phrase for today is: Pure Existential Moose Confusion.

Remote control helicopter + video camera + unsuspecting moose = hilarity.




http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/01/08/drone_vs_moose_quadcopter_sneaks_up_on_wildlife_in_norway.html

I saw this yesterday and it gave me the cold chills.

Years ago, I owned a similar guitar - mine was a '64 model ES-330 Tobacco Sunburst - and I can only imagine standing at the gate watching it being crushed the by loyal, hardworking, dues-paying members of the Delta employees union.

Someday I'll invent a time machine and go back and smack myself really hard for selling that guitar.

It was a musician's worst nightmare.

At least that's how Dave Schneider, guitarist and singer for Hanukkah-themed rock band The LeeVees, described it when his guitar—a 1965 Gibson ES-335—got jammed in an elevator by baggage handlers at a Detroit airport.

Schneider was traveling with fellow LeeVees guitarist Adam Gardner from Portland, Maine, to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a gig last month at a conservative temple when their flight was diverted to Rochester, N.Y., due to bad weather, causing them to miss their connection in Philadelphia, Pa. They then drove to Buffalo, N.Y., to hop on a plane destined for Detroit, Mich., where they planned to make a connecting flight to Tampa, Fla.

While boarding in Buffalo, Schneider says he asked Delta staffers not to check in the vintage guitar—which he estimates is worth about $10,000—and allow him to carry it on the plane and place it in an available space, as he did on the flight from Portland.

"I've always carried it on," Schneider, who also tours as the lead singer of the hockey-themed rock group the Zambonis, told Yahoo News. "Never been a problem before."

Schneider says he even showed them a link to a story about Congress passing the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 that made it easier for musicians to fly with their instruments—allowing them to purchase an extra seat on the plane for their fragile instruments.

But he was denied.

[Related: Penguins, flying first class, delight passengers on Delta flight (VIDEO)]

When their plane landed in Detroit, Schneider says, "I had a bad feeling." He whipped out his iPhone and started filming.

As the pair of rockers waited at the gate for their checked guitars, Schneider asked a member of the flight crew to check on his prized ax as it was being removed from the plane. "He did and said it would be fine," Schneider recalled. But as the musicians waited for the luggage to appear, they could hear a screeching noise coming from the elevator.

"It was this crazy sound," Schneider said. "Metal on metal."

The case carrying Schneider's semihollow-body guitar was lodged between the mobile service elevator and a rail on the loading dock, shaking the elevator door. The case even bent a steel beam.

The guitar itself was pinned between two beams and took workers an hour to retrieve it. It sustained damage to the bridge, neck and tail that would cost an estimated $1,980. But so far, Schneider says, Delta has given him the "runaround."

He says the airline offered to cut him a check for $1,000 in Tampa, but Schneider refused it because he didn't know how much the repairs would cost. The online claim forms he filled out after the guitar carnage were blank when Schneider checked on them, and two emails he sent to Delta chief executive Richard Anderson were not returned.

Delta told Yahoo News that the airline "will be reaching out to the customer directly to discuss how we can make this right."

"This instance is certainly not indicative of the high regard we hold for our customers’ property when they travel with us, and for that, we apologize," Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said in an emailed statement. "We look forward to making a direct and sincere apology to the customer as we work with him to rectify what happened."

This is not the first time touring musicians have clashed with baggage handlers.

In 2009, Dave Carroll, a Canadian singer-songwriter, turned his experience with United Airlines into a music video ("United Breaks Guitars") that went viral and landed him a book deal.

Schneider, though, says he isn't looking for that kind of fame.

"I'm not a greedy dude," he said. "I'm just looking for $1,980."

The entirely predictable consequences of the Journal News' decision to publish a map of gun-owners marches on…

Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco, who spoke at a news conference flanked by other county officials, said the Journal News' decision to post an online map of names and addresses of handgun owners Dec. 23 has put law enforcement officers in danger.

"They have inmates coming up to them and telling them exactly where they live. That's not acceptable to me," Falco said, according to Newsday.

Robert Riley, an officer with the White Plains Police Department and president of its Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, agreed.

"You have guys who work in New York City who live up here. Now their names and addresses are out there, too," he said adding that there are 8,000 active and retired NYPD officers currently living in Rockland County.

Local lawmakers also say that they intend to introduce legislation that prevents information about legal gun owners from being released to the public.

Please don't offer the Journal News' editorial staff an easy out by claiming they're too dumb or ill-informed to have possibly seen this coming. That a decision to publish the names and addresses of legal gun owners would prove useful to our criminal class had to be part of the editorial team's calculation. But because they're obviously a bunch of out-of-control, anti-gun zealots, they likely considered the fallout worth it.

There is one consequence the editors might not have seen coming, though, and that was the map spooking those who didn’t own a firearm into getting one:

Legis. Aron Wieder (D-Spring Valley) called the publication of the list "irresponsible journalism" and said he now fears for his safety because the map broadcast that he does not have a gun license. At the news conference Friday morning, he handed a $150 certified check and a completed pistol permit application to Rockland County Clerk Paul Piperato.

"I never owned a gun but now I have no choice," Wieder said. "I have been exposed as someone that has no gun. And I'll do anything, anything to protect my family."

This is what happens when you allow left-wing activists to control a newsroom. In a fit of misguided, self-righteous indignation, they run amok. This is also what happens when a newsroom operates in what we can only assume is a left-wing bubble. As we all know, the Left's idea of "diversity" never includes a diversity of opinion. So when everyone thinks exactly alike, there's no one with a different and more grounded worldview to talk you down.

by JOHN NOLTE
5 Jan 2013,
7:44 AM PDT

Black Dog Alison Krauss Robert Plant

Good Kitty!

Photo and caption by Ashley Vincent

The subject's name is Busaba, a well cared for Indochinese Tigress whose home is at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand. I had taken many portraits of Busaba previously and it was becoming more and more difficult to come up with an image that appeared any different to the others. Which is why I took to observing her more carefully during my visits in the hope of capturing something of a behavioural shot. The opportunity finally presented itself while watching Busaba enjoying her private pool then shaking herself dry. In all humility I have to say that Mother Nature smiled favourably on me that day!
Location: Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Chonburi, Thailand



http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2012/entries/gallery/nature-winners/?source=hp_dl1_ngm_photo_contest20130105#/4


National Geo's photo contest!

"The Black Devil"

I'm not sure how I stumbled onto this fellow but he is pretty damn impressive!
Most probably, you've never heard of him either, although you may know some of his stories which were the inspiration for his son to write, amongst many other books, The Three Musketeers.

General Alexandre ("Alex") Dumas 

(25 March 1762 – 26 February 1806) was the first black general in French history and remains the highest-ranking person of color of all time in a continental European army.[1] He was the first person of color in the French military to become brigadier general, the first to become divisional general, and the first to become general-in-chief of a French army.[2] Dumas shared the status of the highest-ranking black officer in the Western world only with Toussaint Louverture (who in May 1797 became the second black general-in-chief in the French military[3]) until 1989, when the American Colin Powell became a four-star general, the closest United States equivalent of General of the Army, Dumas's highest rank.
Born in Saint-Domingue, Alex Dumas was of mixed race, the son of a white French nobleman and a black slave mother. He was born into slavery because of his mother's status, but his father took the boy with him to France in 1776 and had him educated. He helped him enter the French military.
Dumas played a pivotal role in the French Revolutionary Wars. Entering the military as a private at age 24, Dumas rose by age 31 to command 53,000 troops as the General-in-Chief of the French Army of the Alps. Dumas's strategic victory in opening the high Alps passes enabled the French to initiate their Second Italian Campaign against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the battles in Italy, Austrian troops nicknamed Dumas as the Schwarze Teufel ("Black Devil," Diable Noir in French).[4] The French – notably Napoleon – nicknamed him "the Horatius Cocles of the Tyrol"[5] (after a hero who had saved ancient Rome[6]) for single-handedly defeating a squadron of enemy troops at a bridge over the Eisack River in Clausen (today Klausen, or Chiusa, Italy).
Dumas served as commander of the French cavalry forces on the Expédition d'Égypte, a failed French attempt to conquer Egypt and the Levant. On the march from Alexandria to Cairo, he clashed verbally with the Expedition's supreme commander Napoleon Bonaparte, under whom he had served in the Italian campaigns. In March 1799, Dumas left Egypt on an unsound vessel, which was forced to put aground in the southern Italian Kingdom of Naples, where he was taken prisoner and thrown into a dungeon. He languished there until the spring of 1801.
Returning to France after his release, he had a son with his wife: Alexandre Dumas, who became one of France's most widely-read authors of all time. (The general's grandson, Alexandre Dumas, fils, would become a notable playwright in the Victorian era.) The novelist Dumas' most famous characters were inspired by the life of General Dumas.[7]


Much more here:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas-Alexandre_Dumas