Post  #2613.   Trying it again today.     I usually check back with Frank Pilhofer at this point. Like me, he never throws anything away. Neither does Daniel Boese, smartest man in Canada. Also, it has to be this time of night. Doesn't seem to work when the world is awake. The reason we're re-visiting is that I watched a program on Chaos the other night, dumbed down for us ordinary folks, of course, and I had a reverse one-of-those-moments. See, I want to believe there is some Reason for it all, but dang ... they seriously made some thoughtful points.

Anyway, we know that our sun shoots out a trillion, trillion, trillion neutrino's every hour. Mark that number. Next, multiply it by 24, then 365. Next, add up the number of stars in the universe and multiply by that. Finally, multiply your result by d (or 3.15564768 x 10¹⁵⁷; you know why,) where d comes from datapackrat, out of infinite respect. Finally, make a list to designate in three-dimensional space (while there still is space,) where each neutrino is. Sorry, was. Save. Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.

posted by Rick at 2:30 AM

Post  #2612.   And we're not that unusual.     The lady had noticed that her dog was jumpy and cried a lot after returning from the groomers. A few days later she gave him a bath and, once wet, his ear came off and floated away. Yes, the groomer had accidentally cut it off and glued it back on. And the resolution: The groomer denied cutting off the dog's ear and couldn't be charged anyway because of "lack of evidence." She reportedly has left the dog-grooming business, and I do not want to know what she's doing now.

Renting a tracking device for $5 saved the climbers on Mt. Hood this week. Some people, fed up with the cost and sheer annoyance of these constant rescues, want the trackers to be made mandatory for mountain climbing. Predictably, every mountain group in our region is against it, finding the idea insulting and comparing it to requiring Eagle Scouts to carry lighters. "Mountaineers pride themselves on their survival skills," was the quote. Yeah, until they get in trouble, then they squeal like baby piglets, along with the inevitable ready-for-television relatives.

And from the weekly "Fat and Stupid" file: In a study by the Educational Policy Improvement Center as funded by the Washington Education Association (the teacher's union that strikes every year just as school starts) recommends a 45% increase in funding for state schools, to $11,200,000,000 a year. This is in response to the fact that nearly half of state students cannot even pass a standardized test. The thinking is that if we pay the teachers more, achievement will rise. This story ran just below: STATE TEENAGERS PART OF OBESITY EPIDEMIC. I know, if we pay school dietitians 45% more too, we can end teenage obesity at the same time.

The debate goes on over the Payday Loan industry with no compromise in sight. The State is pushing more education, more oversight ... i.e., more state employees, while the Loan Shark Industry continues to plead poverty. The third party to the issue, sensible people, favor taking the Payday Loan scum out and shooting them.

The 9-year-old kid who took Southwest Airlines flights out of here to go be with his grandpa in Texas, remember him? Managed to stow away, evade security? Twice? That's the one. He was placed under house arrest by the court while the matter is settled. The mother ignored that and took him to California to appear on the Dr. Phil Show. The prosecutor decided against a contempt citation and instead asked the mother to be mindful of the law, thus missing a perfect opportunity to throw the Problem into jail and let the poor kid get away.

(1) Plans have moved ahead to construct a $500 million high-end residence and resort community on Rattlesnake Ridge*, just outside of Zillah. (2) The Everett city council voted 6-0 to give the go ahead to sell 200 acres of Snohomish riverfront property** to a San Diego developer for a $200 million upscale residential and retail development. If you ever needed evidence that real estate has gone completely mad, you have it. (*See: Aptly-named places.) (**See: Epic annual flooding.)

"Stolen kidney found; suspect questioned and released." Let me guess, lack of evidence?

Things did not used to be this stupid. Oh yes, there was stupid, but not every damned article every damned day in the local section. Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.

posted by Rick at 11:42 PM

Post  #2611.   Pressure.     You've probably been able to tell that Googlebot has been coming around again. I shamelessly concocted some links to draw its attention. Now, I'm faced with the task of creating content to keep it satisfied. (Get used to this. The machines, you know.) The good part is that the Bot doesn't care about quality, just bytes. Bad part, you do. Sorry.

My shows are winding down: Weeds, Breaking Bad, Suits. Cable has absorbed me more than OTA television ever did. Gosh, the last few years have been something else. Anyway, Walter shot Mike. I was sorry to see that, but it had to be. Great scene where the camera pulls away and we hear his body crumple to the ground. I could imagine many takes before they got that sound just right. It was important. Not many of us have heard it. Now the question is - Who Is Going To Kill Walter? It has to end that way, you know it. I figure Walter, Jr. He has been notably absent for the past few episodes, growing angrier and angrier, not understanding. He's going to find out, learn the whole story, be initially pleased at the enormous balls of the old man, then turn dramatically when he learns the cost. There will be a huge confrontation with all the players around the family pool, lots of guns drawn, everyone pointing at everyone else, then Walter Jr. will awkwardly (emphasized in excrutiating detail,) cross the patio, raise a .357 Magnum, and shoot his father somewhere where he doesn't die at once. We need the reaction in his eyes that let him win the Emmy. Walter falls; not in the pool as so many of the dead do, but sort of messily half in, half out. Blood spreads very slowly in the water. End. Cut scorching sunlight. That's how I have it figured.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.

posted by Rick at 11:56 PM

Post  #2610.   Nothing New!     No, I mean really, there is nothing new in the world anymore. Example .. I wrote the names of the main characters in my next story, Derrick and Faith Sphube, on Google and hit enter, expecting to get nothing. Zippo. I made the word up. Guess what? Over five-thousand hits for SPHUBE. All my creative energy just went out the window, lost at least for the day. I don't even know why I came in here; it isn't like you guys are going to get anything original now.

The Internet. Even spell-checker encourages you to capitalize it. What a crock. If I could only get my extremely strong for my age hands and long fingers around the neck of Just One little puke hacker, oh how satisfying that would be.

See, what I told you? Pitiful.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.

posted by Rick at 1:09 AM

Post  #2609.   Some silliness.     April 28, 2877 - (GPI) An Astro-Transit ship carrying 221,808 pax and a crew of 3 from Flaxtor to Norbunt has evidently hit a large rock while traveling near the midpoint of its journey at a velocity of 2308 light-years-per-hour. There was no search for survivors. According to authorities, there will be no inspection of wreckage. There will be no investigation. There will be no report. This is the last update the paper will be issuing on the matter.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.
posted by Rick at 2:35 AM

Post  #2608.   1%.     Read about this woman in the Wikipedia article. What a life, huh? Liliane Bettencourt added another smarmy chapter to her story by signing over a couple of islands she owns in the Seychelles to Our Seas Foundation, a marine conservation group. Well, that was a good thing, wasn't it? Don't you suppose they do useful work? They paid her Sixty-million dollars for the islands. Oh. I guess at her age, she's 89, and with her net worth, she has $23,500,000,000, she wants to make sure there's enough to last.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.

posted by Rick at 11:44 PM

Post  #2607.   Clinical Depression.     Washing dishes at two in the morning, rolling over in your mind the bad things and what you should have done, should have said. "Yeah, that would have been perfect. Yeah, out loud, right in front of everyone. Asshole wouln't have had any comeback for that one, for sure." Dude, WTF!? As you talking about Loren? Dude's dead. Dead for years. Let it go, dude. When did Annoying Little Voice pick up this "dude" business anyway?

Oh, I have good reason to be depressed. Besides everything else I haven't told you about, I have Stage IV Melanoma. That's what tonight's kitchen chat was about, remembering the doctor who gave me my sentence. It was his day off, and the main dermatologist was out of town, so they called him in to read me the results of my biopsy. Here's how the call went

Me:   So, I guess the results came in?
The Doctor:   Yes.
Me:   Was it Melanoma?
The Doctor:   Yes.
Me:   Hmmm. We were afraid of that. Is it malignant?
The Doctor:   Yes.
Me:   Metastasizing?
The Doctor:   Yes.
Me:   What level?
The Doctor:   Clarks Level IV.
Me:   (pause) So. I guess that's it.
The Doctor:   That's it.
(pause)
(pause)
The Doctor:   There are some social workers you can call.

The rest of the call, well, I'm a little ashamed of the bit of carrying on I accomplished in that part but, hey, it isn't every day you get that kind of news from the worst doctor in the world. I am confident he will remember the episode.

Funny thing is .. I may be "depressed," but I'm certainly not unhappy. I enjoy everything I do. I have few regrets. Still, somehow doing dishes really late at night tends to bring the crap stuff up.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.

posted by Rick at 3:12 AM

Post  #2605.   PAUL RYAN SHIRTLESS PICTURES HERE.     I wanted to get this note up as soon as possible. I'll be posting pictures of Congressman Ryan shirtless as soon as I get some. I've written to him. Thanks for your patience.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.
posted by Rick at 1:29 AM

Post  #2604.   Housekeeping.      As a former Hotel employee, I got to thinking about bedspreads today. How often do you think hotels cleaned their bedspreads back in the days before the sheeting they use now?

1. Every day

2. Once a week

3. Once a month

4. Once a year

5. When they get crusty

6. Never

If you've been around this blog for awhile, you know what they answer is. Hint: They only buy enough bedspreads to have one for each bed. The rooms do feel clean, at least the nice ones do. The ladies work very hard, I can assure you of that. I've known a lot of them. I've even done quite a few rooms myself. These tended to be not so clean, sadly, as it usually involved an unusual situation. I was good at getting the Sanitized for Your Protection label in place convincingly.

Anyway, one thing that makes me smile, thinking back - all the people who get naked and then sit, lie or play on the bed ... oblivious to the fact that only 63 minutes earlier, a suitcase from Shanghai airport was resting there. Better yet, the naked butt of the owner.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day.Grand Âyatollâh Seyyed ‘Alî Hossaynî Khâmene’î President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad youtube silverlight paris hilton nuffnang re-publica sanjaya

posted by Rick at 12:17 AM