Bright Lights

So I’m in the CVS Pharmacy today after work (mind you that is about 2 AM), and thought I’d pick up a few things. I ran out of gauze so I needed more. Anyway, the place had been pilfered of all surgical masks! Not a box in the store. What makes this funny is…

… wait for it…

A FACE MASK DOES NOTHING TO PROTECT AGAINST H1N1/SWINE FLU!!!!

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

It only helps those who are sick from passing it on to others. Thats it!

What helps? Washing your hands, covering your mouth, and stuff like that. So what did I buy as part of this ‘Pandemic’?

Two large bottles of Hand Sanitizer that I planned on buying anyway for work.

So, when you see someone in line in front of you at the store with boxes of face masks, point and laugh. Please, I am really asking you to laugh uncontrollably at their sheepish behavior.

This shouldn’t be scary to anyone. It’s the flu, and you don’t die from the flu, you die from complications… meaning if you get really sick you got to the hospital so they can put you on tamiflu, fluid IV, and something to calm a fever so you don’t bake or hallucinate.

Otherwise, you stay home and drink lots of Gatorade and sanitize everything before you venture forth.

Thats it folks, in a nut shell.

Remember: Plagues can be thwarted by simply being clean and not coughing on people, as well as not going to work sick. I know everyone has the “I can’t afford time off” excuse, or “I exhausted all my sick/vacation time” excuse, but really, do the world a favor and not subject us to disease. If you’re working in a place that has no PTO (Paid Time Off), you should consider a career change. If you’ve exhausted all your sick or vacation time… you probably have an attendance problem and have too many “Sick of Work Days”.

So, thats my rant on H1N1. I’m going to stop calling it Swine Flu. It sounds stupid, and the only reason it’s not called “Mexican Flu” is because it would be not ‘politically correct’, although many flus are named geographically.

• Testing… don’t mind me. #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=10224525

I saw this today on CNN and just really, really couldn’t wait to get home to watch the video. My younger Brother plans to be a cop, and I certainly hope he doesn’t end up like this D-Bag. In short, this guy jumps a highway railing and orders a Reporter and Cameraman from a local TV News station to leave the area. They were on the opposing side of the freeway, parked in the emergency lane, reporting the news (a major accident on the freeway). From the camera footage, they were out of the way. However, enter Mr. “Respect my Authority”, and he orders the reporter to leave. Now, rightfully the cop states he is out of the area doing his job, just like the cop is doing his job. The cop gets in the guys face, then, as the reporter says “Fine, we’re leaving” and starts to walk away, the cop changes his mind.

And places the reporter under arrest.

In rather a prickish way.

The Cameraman, meanwhile, is filming the ENTIRE incident.

Then, as the cameraman says “I’m leaving, let me grab the reporters mic of the hood of the truck”, the cop takes the camera from the cameraman and shoves him up against the railing, placing him under arrest as well.

Now, for the audience, I will remind everyone that El Paso, although very close to Mexico, still is within the USA. Because it is still within the USA, it still falls under the jurisdiction of The Constitution, and in this case, freedom of the press.

Cop is 0/1 at this point. I really don’t think “Denying Constitutional Freedoms” and “Misuse of Police Power” will look good when trying to find another job as a cop.

If that’s not bad enough, apparantly he also threatened a Nurse who had stopped at the scene to assist accident vitims with arrest. EMS had not yet arrived to the patient, and the guy is reportedly a trained medical professional.

Now, apparantly the Cop never got the memo that says “Trained Medical Professionals should not be threatened at an accident scene.”

So, hopefully when this cop gets the boot, his firing notice will also mention additional misuse of police power.

The El Paso Police Department would serve themselves well by firing this officer, and issuing a public appology. It is just pathetic in this country that we have Peace Officers who behave in this manner. The reporter should have been left alone, and, the nurse should have been left alone as well.

End of rant.

• Getting ready for work. No more 6 AM for me. I should learn not to go to sleep when the sun is coming up. Who goes the night owl. #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

I come home each night to an otherwise empty apartment. Why do I say otherwise empty? Oh, because I have my boxes, my various computers. Well, my flagship PC, named “Olympia” (Each one is named after a city in Washington, and since this is my main desktop, it is “Olympia”) did not turn on when pressing the power button.

Nothing but silence.

See, in the computer world, this is the equivilent of reaching over to wake your child and finding no response, no breathing.

So, immediately begin the lifesaving procedures. I checked the cords, I checked everything, nothing. Just silence. Silence is not good, because silence means… no information. Silence means there is a hardware problem.

Pop the case, and take a look. Everything appears to be in good working order on the Motherboard. Tracing along I start fidling with the power supply, including shining a flashlight inside the fan blades.

The fan blades would at least move if the power suppy worked, but, the fans do not rotate.

There appeared to be significant dust inside.

Conclusion: Congestive Heart Failure (a.k.a. the fucking Power Supply has taken a dirt nap).

Sadness, I has it.

Villagers in UK prevent Google Maps from getting StreetView of their town… by forcing them out. Okay, now this is absolutly dumb. People in an affluent town in the UK forced out the G-Car because they didn’t want the pictures of your home online, fearing it might invite criminals to strike.

Here’s a hint.

Total Known Burglaries Tied to StreetView: 0. Zero. Zip. Zilch. None.

Total Number of Paranoid People: I don’t have enough room to type that number.

Lets put it this way, if a criminal is using Google Maps, Google Earth, etc. to burglarize your home, you’re name is probably on the list of the 10 richest sons-a-biches in the world. Or, you’re a rival coke dealer. Or, for some other reason they really, really want YOUR home.

Fact of the matter is, affluent or not, nice or not, burglaries and home invasions are typically crimes of convenience. Teams of burglars don’t sit around cruizing Google Maps to find out a home to strike, becaue that doesn’t tell them what they need to know.

Furthermore, you’re not as important as Mom and Dad lead you to believe. Meaning you’re probably NOT likely to be a specific target.

Finally, have you ever used Google StreetView? It’s not like its exactly High Def. I use it to try to read the signs of businesses all the time of places I’d like to go, to make sure the phone book is correct and they’re really there. All I get, is a blurry image. It’s really not detailed enough for much of anything other than getting the lay of the land before you go some place. Microsoft Live Maps has Birds-Eye View, which is a bit more useful in many instances, but you don’t see people out side with RPGs trying to shoot down the Live Plane. Oh, that’s because it looks like ANY OTHER CESSNA.

Folks, get a grip, and get a life. “Paranoia, Paranoia, everybody’s coming to get me…” should not be your life mantra.

</rant>