Not all spills get International responses...

I realize that the flood of news these days combined with the hectic pace we all seem to maintain is an easy excuse for overlooking serious events elsewhere. Like the woman who allegedly (admittedly) killed eight babies she has born since 1989 (Dunai - Nord, France). And so much punditry, hot air and national exhibitions of know-nothingness have been expended on the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that this little story on CNN may have escaped your attention:
Photo Credit: CNN

"(CNN) -- Rising waters from flooding in northeastern China hit a chemical plant and washed thousands of containers filled with explosive chemicals into a river, state media said Thursday."

Read the rest of the tale, here.

From the frying pan and into the fire...

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Why I Hate Doctors...

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Guess that means there's no shooting team, huh?

Do you remember when it wasn't a "sanitary landfill"? It was "the dump" and we used to go out when I was a teenager on a Saturday evening before it got dark enough to go to the drive-in and shoot rats at "the dump". There were thousands (so it seemed; more like hundreds, in actuality) and you could shoot a "brick" of .22LR ammo easily with just a bolt-action 22 rifle or six-shot pistol - no sense eating up more of your allowance on more expensive loads - leave that to the young bucks with paying jobs in construction or fishing or cutting timber. They could afford the .357 or .45 caliber loads -- too rich for my blood.

It wasn't something frowned upon by the elders, either. The town fathers considered it a service, particularly as the dump attendant was a heavy drinker and likely in town, tying one on, if you know what I mean. The local police didn't even bother to respond to reports of gunfire at the dump -- they just figured we were out shooting rats.

Somehow, in the intervening years between sneaking into drive-ins in the trunk of a car and getting busy in the backseat with Cindy-Lou or Bettyjo, they changed the rules. Now, the mere possession of a rifle in your trunk is enough to send the police off the deep end. Any attempt at shooting vermin at the "Sanitary Landfill" would likely get me, at minimum, a night in jail and a court summons for trespassing on municipal property.

I was reminded of all of this because I saw (sorry, no phone or camera with me to take a picture) that they'd repainted the sign at the local high school in anticipation of a new school year. What sign, you ask? The one that warns it is a felony to bring a weapon onto school property by anyone, other than an on-duty police officer, responding to a disturbance at the school. Heck, when I was a kid, the rule was you could bring your hunting rifle in your truck to school provided it remained locked in your truck. If you were riding the bus and going hunting after school, you were allowed to bring your rifle or shotgun direct to the office and leave it in the principal's office until closing bell. Now, you'd go to prison if you tried that.

The times, they have changed. And not for the better...

What the ...?

Still cooking over a fire of toasted crawfish in Louisiana, again ungainfully unemployed. Hoping to leave for Maine soon as we straighten out some bureaucratic snafus here in the Sportsman's Oil Mecca of the USA. Night breezes often are redolent with wafted Mexican Crude.

Found this Fionavar Tapestry Character Test over on Paul's blog, Aurora Walking Vacation. So, what the heck, I took the "personality test" and this is what appeared. Me, stubborn? Do pigs fly on Sundays?



I'm Aileron!
Take The Fionavar Tapestry Character Test today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You are Aileron, High King of Brennin. Taciturn and stubborn, you are skilled in many areas and find yourself taking a leadership role. You are a hard worker and hold fast to your beliefs, only rarely allowing your humour and feelings to show forth.

BP's "Wide, Wide, River"

With no apologies for the use of The Fugs' song "Wide, Wide, River" comes this visual critique of the mess the BP busted oil well has made of the Gulf of Mexico:



Here's the original:

Ramses The Second Is Dead, My Love...

And so, too, is one of the most formative influences of my twisted psyche, from the Beats of my Generation -- Tuli Kupferberg. Read his New York Times obituary here. Yes, Tuli, I, too, 'like boobs alot.' May your heaven be full of them...


The Fugs -- "Boobs A Lot" from the First Album* - 1965

Appropriately titled, “The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Points of View and General Dissatisfaction.”

"Always A Rebel" - Vinnie Morris (YouTube)

A talented singer-songwriter applies his talents to immortalizing the crab fishing industry on the Bering Sea off Alaska.

Rain, rain, go away...

Had a good, uneventful run to Fort Worth on Sunday night - Monday morning. A thousand miles in 18 hours, with a lunch stop and three fuelings. No photos to share as when I wasn't driving, I was sleeping. Here, today, we got rained out with over an inch this morning and many more to follow. The PTB's at the FEMA yard are saying it will likely be next week before anymore trailers can come out -- they've shut the yard down for the week due to the flooding. That pretty much means the end of it for us -- time to head North. Just in time for that heat wave y'all are having. It only managed to get to 81° here while up home it got to 90°! Something is wrong with that...

Leaving out for our last trip to Texas (there aren't any more trailers ready to go) in a few hours, then we'll see.

Stay cool and hydrated, my friends. This (heat wave) shall pass.

Early in the Morning (Buddy Holly Cover)

Now here's a young woman with a wicked load of raw talent, Samatha Smith. Her rendition of "Early In The Morning," a cover of the Buddy Holly tune, has a haunting quality to the vocalization, despite the limitations of the venue's acoustics. Below that is the eerily beautiful rendition of her own song, "Ventriloquism."





If Samantha ever gets a record contract, look out world ... this chick is going places.

Seven Years Old

Happy Birthday, dear Daily Snooze, happy birthday 2U.

This is the third incarnation of this blog -- the second on Blogger. It started back in April, 2003, but that version was mostly unread and certainly unremarked upon. I don't even recall getting anything but spam comments! I erased that one after discovering that AOL was starting a blog service with no archive. What did I know about posterity?

I alpha- and then beta-tested the AOL Journals product from July 1 through the 27th of July when it was declared "ready for prime time" or some such. Lost the first few entries when the entire AOL Journals edifice collapsed after 2 days. But, you will find everything in the archives from July 30th, 2003 onward in the archives, if you care to look.

"Daily" is a misnomer, I know now. Hell, I'm lucky to produce an entry once a week, most of the time. No real excuse -- I'm just not as chatty. Some flack for posts over the years resulted in a severe curtailment of anything pertaining to family members and I have never spoken about business colleagues or acquaintances on the "Snooze." Thus, sources for material have died up almost as fast as my libido. I mean, just how much interest is there in the quality of my bowel movements, anyhow?

Alright, I know. TMI. But that's just the thing -- I find I must walk a fine line between telling too much, thus adversely affecting my chances for some super job I want in future, and saying so little that you stop visiting to read what I have to share.

Oh well, fuck it. I have been sweating in the 95° heat with humidity to match, driving ugly FEMA trailers (not safe for habitation) from one lot to another. Made some pocket change, a few enemies and sunburned my nose and ears. Managed to avoid the wasp bites that others haven't (a good thing, given the anaphylactic shock I am likely to enter if they do get me) but not the spiders -- I have had two bites, one on each hand. I'm so tired by the time I get back I can barely breathe. Sleep -- that's what I want these days. Blogging doesn't even appear on the radar.

I'm getting older, too, and it sucks. But you don't care. Time is taking its toll upon you just as fast as me. You have your own problems, I'm sure. So, you take care of you and I will try to do the same. Catch you again, real soon now.