Rat Our Your Rotten Neighbor

I stumbled across this little gem awhile back: http://www.rottenneighbor.com/
The purpose is to post information about a crummy neighbor. People complain about barking dogs, prostitutes, drunks, noisy folks and weedy, overgrown yards, among other problems.
You can also read about good neighbors.
A red house denotes a bad neighbor, while a green house denotes a good one.
There aren't too many in the Beaumont area right now, but there were a bunch a few months ago. Houston has plenty of them.
I've had my share of bad neighbors over the years. There was the wife beater, the irresponsible dog owners, the loud music lovers, the loud lovemakers, etc. A 100-foot pine tree from next door fell on my house, and the police were summoned when a contractor went around the log pile and put a faint tire track in the neighbor's yard.
With friends like that, who needs enemas?

Timewaster Of The Week-March 24

It's called Never End Level:

http://www.moregames24.com/2008/01/never-ending-level-game.html

It's easy, at first, but gets a whole lot harder as you go along.

I have no idea whether there really is no end to the levels, because I got stuck on Level 47.

Timewaster Of The Week-March 21

This is just stupid beyond belief.

http://www.andkon.com/arcade/adventureaction
/magicalunicornrainbowmagic/

Dad Is Whooping It Up In Orion

The Astronomy Picture of the Day on a NASA site a couple of days ago was an image of the constellation Orion.

There's been some Internet talk about the eery face that can be seen in it. When I took a look at the photo and found the face, I almost fell out of my chair.

The face is a spitting image of my dad, puffy, narrow eyes and all.

Take a good look at the facial features and judge for yourself:

Now check this out: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080318.html

Kind of freaky, eh?

Not that I know Dad's up there watching, I'll try to behave myself a little more.

Meteorological Apocalypse Fails To Materialize

Spring is a dangerous time for weather in this neck of the woods.
The Gulf of Mexico starts to restake its warm, humid claim over the land while the north is slow to give up its grip, sending a few more cold fronts before retreating until the fall.
When that Gulf air clashes with the invading cold, ugly things can happen: hail, high winds, heavy rains and tornadoes.
One of the most profound events for which I coordinated news coverage was the Jarrell tornado in May 1997. I was managing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, and we saw the tornado-spawning supercell coming just south of Waco.
I deployed reporters all up and down Interstate 35, but it was in Jarrell, just north of Georgetown, where one of the most horrific tornadoes in history, a monster F5, touched down and chewed up the town, killed 27 people, touched.
If you ever see a tornado's aftermath, the impression will never leave your mind. In Jarrell, sandblasted slabs were all that were left of homes. Chunks of rotting human flesh lay everywhere. Cars were picked up and thrown hundreds and hundreds of yards away.
You can read more about it here: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/coolimg/jarrell/index.html
Because of this tornado catastrophe, as well as others I've witnessed over the years, I get an uneasy feeling about this time of year when, like Tuesday, the last gasps of winter cold arrive.
Dire forecasts predicted hail, heavy rain and perhaps some killer tornadoes. I had the day off yesterday and spent much of my time running to the computer to check the storm line's location. I rearranged the garage to make room for my wife's new car, sheltering it from any hail.
It looked pretty ugly there for a while just west of Houston, but by the time the line reached Southeast Texas, it was little more than a hiccup.
I haven't read up on why it petered out, but I'm glad it did. Hurricane Rita filled up my disaster dance car for a long time.
But with at least a couple of months to go in the annual Gulf-north fistfight, I'm not taking my eye of the weather radar anytime soon, and neither should you.

Ah, The Missile Base Life

With upheaval in the real estate world, it might be time to think out of the box - or in this case the silo:
http://www.missilebases.com/
That's right, missile bases have entered the realty picture.
Just check out this beauty:

Titan I Site
Denver, CO. 210 total acres. Very rare piece of history – only 18 built. Massive 45,000 + sq. ft. of underground floor-space; high chain-link fence around central complex; 2 high capacity deep wells (into aquifer) in power dome; 3 missile silos all interconnected by ฝ mile of tunnels. Launch control dome is the best we’ve seen. Distant mountain views, just 20 minutes from metropolitan area and international airport. Large capacity elevator intact; needs reconditioned. Under new ownership; clean-up and refurbishment underway. Many unique possibilities for commercial or private usage. Serious and capable buyers only.
Video $24 PRICE : Firm at $1,800,000.00 (No owner financing, full cash at closing required.)

That's only $40 per square foot - on 210 acres - WITH A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Sure, it needs a little work, but $1.8 million elsewhere in the Denver market will only get you about 5,000 square feet on a fraction of the land. That's more than $300 per square foot.
So if anyone is interested in joining me in this venture, please let me know. Maybe we could do a time share.
Seeing as I've bought into a little piece of Southeast Texas swamp with little in the way of buyer's remorse, that Colorado property seems like a dream and a steal!
But with my real estate luck, live nuclear missiles to maintain would come with the package.

Timewaster Of The Week-March 10

My timewaster of the week is Daylight Saving Time.
What a pain in the butt.
Just when it's getting light enough in the morning for me not to have wear a headlamp when I go running, the government feels the need to mess with time.
I suppose it's nice to have an extra hour of daylight on the weekends, but I rarely leave work before dark year-round.
I've read that I'm not alone in my Daylight Saving crankiness, but at least I'm not as cranky as this woman:

http://www.scherle.com/psychoexgirlfriend/voicemails.html
** WARNING: STRONG, OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE **

Some guy recorded his crazy ex-girlfriend's diatribes for all the world to hear. It's disturbing but hilarious.
Maybe she'll settle down when clocks fall back in November and we all get an extra hour of sleep.

Praise The Lord And Pass The TAKS

Children throughout the land this week have been sweating out the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
Standardized testing these days is scary. Third-, fifth- and eighth-graders must pass TAKS to move on to the next grade. High schoolers must pass it to get a diploma.
I remember taking a lot of standardized tests in school, but the pressure and stakes weren't nearly as high. The tests then seemed no more than a general means of measuring where students stood academically.
Now, the students face the alarming possibility that they won't move on with their peers. I can't imagine how that would affect a kid's self-esteem, particularly when you pile on the inevitable teasing from friends and the parental disappointment.
Last night, I witnessed what might best underscore the TAKS pressure.
My kids on Wednesday nights participate in a church activity known as "Adventure Club." Sometimes they're preparing for a Christmas production or some other kind of performance that will be given to the masses during Sunday church services. Sometimes they just do activities, such as art or sing-alongs or whatever.
Adventure Club ends in the sanctuary, where all the pre-schoolers through sixth-graders unite for a short kiddie church service. There are prayers, worship, birthday acknowledgements and, of course, an offering.
In addition, there is a pass-the-microphone part, where the kids get a chance to say what needs a prayer or a blessing. My kids usually pick the dog or mom. I don't know what that says about me. Maybe they think I'm doing just fine. Most other kids pray for family members.
However, last night, a large portion of the group prayed for success on the TAKS.
I'm not sure what this says about the pressures of grade school these days, but I can only assume the kids are trying to muster all the support they can to avoid getting left behind.

Timewaster Of The Week-March 3

This one is really awesome:

http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/Strategy-Defense-3.html#game

You build defenses and send out troops to attack the other guy's home base.

The weapons get more modernized, until you're into jets and nuclear bombs.

You can make the game as hard as you want.