The Dino-Aspie Ex-Café (for Those 40+... or feeling creaky)

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Lurkin'

hey, chuck! what ever happened to the sinkholes? have you got some nice swimming ponds on your property now? oughta stock 'em with bass....

6-year-old Colorado boy floats away in balloon

* Story Highlights
* Officials chasing 6-year-old boy over eastern Colorado
* Boy's family reportedly was building the aircraft at home in Fort Collins
* "We're trying to determine the best course of action," sheriff's spokeswoman says

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colora ... index.html

My first response was 'OH, WAY COOL! THAT WOULD BE SOOOOO FUN!"

and my second response was "uh oh, he's going to be in SOOOO much trouble"

and my third response now is, "ohmygawd, I hope the little guy is ok!"

ohmygod, he's not in there. it just landed softly in a field and the little basket is empty. his poor parents.

Hope the kid (Falcon?) is ok. But I just heard on the radio that his brother saw him climb into the balloon before it took off, and police have not yet found him.

I've been busier and more unfocused than a crazed squirrel on a pogo stick this year, bouncing from one work project to the next. I just took Lau's advice and "capped" the blowhole shaft with a metal plate so that no deer or hunter would step into it at night and break a leg (although it would have served as a good "tiger trap" for hunters. Wonder how many it would have held? ). I may still have it checked out by a state geologist later when I have more time. The sinkholes have fallen slightly more this year. I believe Merle was correct - probably owing to the movement of water underneath. Ah well. Another project for another day!

There was supposed to have been a basket attached to the bottom of the balloon - they spent a while frantically looking for it, as it apparently fell off in flight somewhere. That's where the kid was supposed to have been. They had the civil air patrol and seach and rescue out looking for it.

FORTUNATELY, they just found him hiding in a box in his own attic. One could assume he accidently let the thing go and then went into hiding, given the punishment he probably expected.

So, he's alive. Thank gawd. And is about to be grounded in a whole lot of meanings of that word, if his parents are any parents at all.

looks like this choice wins!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_ ... in_balloon

FIRED?!? What is this, Jump?
They canned you during H1N1 season? Are they mad?

Judy

Hey there, Judy! Hope you are doing well!
No, not fired (...yet). I'm just clowning. (But yes - they may indeed be mad! ) One pharmacy I work for is conducting a major "internal remodel", which includes a fun game I'll dub "Grovel and Pray". Part One is grovel: every employee must re-apply for his/her job in order to retain it. In an interview and written test I will have to convince a team of managers that I love "The Company" more than life itself, am salivating over the chance to do much more work for much less pay, and (if I were only worthy enough, and if it please the gods) sobbingly persuade them to consider rehiring me, worthless slug that I am. Then, as the employees drop to their collective knees and pray, with freshly-kissed keisters the managers will hold a double-secret probation meeting and decide who the "lucky" golden ticket winners are! Whoo-hoo!! ! The possibility exists that I may not be, erm... (how shall I say this?) ...invited to stay in Utopia. Dang.

Knowing ahead of time that I don't intend to play "Grovel and Pray" like a good l'il beast o' burden, I have been hitting the books with non-stop fervor. I've always loved to study, but the picture I've prominently placed on my desk of their managerial butts awaiting my submitting lips has spurred me to tap newfound levels of warp-speed immersion-depth laser-sighted vortex-data-suck megahyperfocus. If all goes well, I'll be working full-time anywhere else loooong before I am told that it is my turn to pucker-up and beg.

Amazing what can be achieved with the right motivation! (Who knew that would be a picture of my managers' backsides?)

you bad, chuck.

A little ray of hope at the end of the tunnel...I was asked if I can come in tomorrow (Saturday).
And of course I said yes after all it has been almost about six months since I last saw any overtime
and the opportunity to earn one and half hours pay per hour...I just hope it is not doing rework on some major screw-up.

Hang in there Richie!
We can outlast and outflank these mongrels, ...erm, manglers, ...erm managers! They're dead men!
(caution: contains flowery language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q47bpOCT ... re=related

Hey, there, Jump! I do hope for your sake it is clothed in the picture!

boggles the mind, that does.

What a marvelous age we live in. . .



Sept 18, 2000 Halo Clouds over Moscow

Pigs still can't fly, but this winter, the mayor of Moscow promises to keep it from snowing. For just a few million dollars, the mayor's office will hire the Russian Air Force to spray a fine chemical mist over the clouds before they reach the capital, forcing them to dump their snow outside the city. Authorities say this will be a boon for Moscow, which is typically covered with a blanket of snow from November to March. Road crews won't need to constantly clear the streets, and traffic — and quality of life — will undoubtedly improve.

The idea came from Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who is no stranger to playing God. In 2002, he spearheaded a project to reverse the flow of the vast River Ob through Siberia to help irrigate the country's parched Central Asian neighbors. Although that idea hasn't exactly turned out as planned — scientists have said it's not feasible — this time, Luzhkov says, there's no way he can fail.

Controlling the weather in Moscow is nothing new, he says. Ahead of the two main holidays celebrated in the city each year — Victory Day in May and City Day in September — the often cash-strapped air force is paid to make sure that it doesn't, well, rain on the parades. With a city budget of $40 billion a year (larger than New York City's budget), Moscow can easily afford the $2-3 million price tag to keep the skies blue as spectators watch the tanks and rocket launchers roll along Red Square. Now there's a new challenge for the air force: Moscow's notorious blizzards.

"You know how every year on City Day and Victory Day we create the weather?" Luzhkov asked a group of farmers outside Moscow in September, according to Russian media reports. "Well, we should do the same with the snow! Then outside Moscow there will be more moisture, a bigger harvest, while for us it won't snow as much. It will make financial sense."
(See pictures of Russia celebrating Victory Day.)

The plan was unsurprisingly rubber-stamped this week by the Moscow City Council, which is dominated by Luzhkov's supporters. Then the city's Department of Housing and Public Works described how it would work. The air force will use cement powder, dry ice or silver iodide to spray the clouds from Nov. 15 to March 15 — and only to prevent "very big and serious snow" from falling on the city, said Andrei Tsybin, the head of the department. This could mean that a few flakes will manage to slip through the cracks. Tsybin estimated that the total cost of keeping the storms at bay would be $6 million this winter, roughly half the amount Moscow normally spends to clear the streets of snow.

So far the main objection to the plan has come from Moscow's suburbs, which will likely be inundated with snow if the plan goes forward. Alla Kachan, the Moscow region's ecology minister, said the proposal still needs to be assessed by environmental experts and discussed with the people living in the area before Luzhkov can enact it. "The citizens of the region have some concerns. We have received lots of messages," she told the RIA news agency.
(Read TIME's 1991 article "The End of the U.S.S.R.")

With only a few weeks left before winter comes, environmentalists will have to work fast to keep Luzhkov from implementing his zaniest plan to date — and to stop the first snowflakes from wafting down to the city streets.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 22,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0 ... 20,00.html