Murano Passes Aggressive Crash Test

Posted by Eric – August 26, 2010

Murano Post office

Credit to Danny Vowell - KNE

Early this morning, an elderly woman drove her Nissan Murano through the front door of the Hopkinsville Post Office. Neither the driver or USPS employees were seriously injured. This incident raises several questions. Why is it so common for people to crash their cars into buildings while they are maneuvering in a parking lot? Elderly drivers often have this problem but it is not exclusive to the elderly.

Murano Exit

Credit to Danny Vowell - KNE

Another question I have is why did the people on-scene turn the vehicle around inside the building and drive it out the same way it came in? Wouldn’t you expect they’d put the car in neutral and pull it out backwards with a winch? Finally, we should give credit to the Nissan Motor company for building such a sturdy vehicle. The Murano was completely undamaged except for a dent in the bumper on the left side and the black molding under the bumper was broken.

I took these when I left work the same afternoon. There was already a construction guy there planning how to make repairs.

Suffer the Consequences of Political Correctness

Posted by Eric – August 11, 2010

In April of this year the Transportation Director for Christian County Public Schools was terminated due to allegations of sexual harrassment. The Board of Education did not even have the courage to say publicly why Elzie Pollard was being canned.

HUNEYCUTT SAID SHE COULD NOT COMMENT ON WHY POLLARD WAS PLACED ON LEAVE OR WHEN HE MIGHT RETURN TO WORK. SHE SAYS IN THE MEANTIME, OFFICIALS ARE WORKING TO FIND SOMEONE TO FILL HIS POSITION.

Roger Kerns was eventually picked as the new Transportation Director. Mr. Kerns redrew the bus routes for the entire county during the two month summer break. It is little wonder that the necessary paperwork was not delivered to the schools on time.

SEVERAL STUDENTS WERE NOT PICKED UP AT ALL YESTERDAY (TUESDAY), WHILE OTHERS DIDN’T ARRIVE AT SCHOOL UNTIL AROUND 11 O’CLOCK AND THEN STUDENTS AT CHRISTIAN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL WEREN’T ALLOWED TO LEAVE UNTIL AROUND 5 O’CLOCK.
THE ISSUES STEM FROM A CHANGE IN BUS DRIVERS, BUS ROUTES AND NOT HAVING PROPER PAPERWORK AT THE SCHOOLS.
The result of the new, undocumented bus routes is a giant clusterfark that put lives at risk.
WATER WAS PROVIDED TO STUDENTS ON BUSES, A PRECAUTION LINK SAYS WAS TAKEN DUE TO THE EXCESSIVE HEAT, BUT ONE STUDENT WAS TAKEN BY HER PARENTS TO THE HOSPITAL AND WAS TREATED FOR DEHYDRATION.
Mr. Kerns and Superintendent Link are both responsible for how this situation was handled. It is my opinion that the ultimate cause is the fact that fear of lawsuits rule the day. Elzie Pollard was abruptly removed from his position based on the accusation of misconduct without an orderly transfer of responsibility.

God help all of the bus drivers this year. They will get no help from anyone else.

Worse Than Herding Cats

Posted by Eric – August 4, 2010

During the previous weekend, I was up to my neck in a sea of preteens. I was asked to lead a group of children through vacation bible school to each of their stations. The whole experience was an ordeal best left as an annual event because it takes a year to recover from it. ;)

vbs name tag

VBS Name tag

Spam bots Held Hostage

Posted by Eric – July 28, 2010

mafia prisoner

Spam: Prisoner of the Mafia

Some spam comments are just gibberish, others attempt to flatter me with generic praise. On Sunday, I received a unique comment via the church blog begging me not to ignore it.

HELP! I’m currently being held prisoner by the Russian mafia xyzrxyz [deleted] enlargement xyzrxyz and being forced to post spam comments on blogs and forum! If you don’t approve this they will kill me. xyzrxyz [deleted] enlargement xyzrxyz They’re  coming back now. xyzrxyz [deleted] xyzrxyz Please send help!

Nice try. Still didn’t get past the spam filter though. When the Russians do show up this is the song you should sing as your being dragged away.

AT&T Gets the Last Laugh

Posted by Eric – July 27, 2010

ATT Cell tower site

Proposed AT&T Cell Tower

Last week AT&T posted this sign on Skyline drive announcing a possible site for a new cell tower. I only find it interesting because the New Wave Communications cable office will be directly in the shadow of this tower.

New Wave Office

New Wave Office

New Wave and AT&T already have a significant amount of history together. I don’t know what AT&T’s process is for choosing cell sites. It could be entirely independent of New Wave’s presence. I just think it’s funny that New Wave employees will be baking under the warm rays of a GSM transmitter above their heads.

Wikipedia says I’m completely wrong about the power output from a cell tower.

The average energy received over the entire earth is about 250 Watts per square meter over a 24 hour day, ignoring clouds. So, on a day with no clouds, the average electromagnetic energy received from the Sun is 25,000 times that received near a cell phone tower.

Wikipedia is probably right but I still find it amusing and that’s all I got to say. :)

Work Now solves the Wrong Problem the Wrong Way

Posted by Eric – July 16, 2010

President Obama sprinkled some more money from Heaven his Stash. The Work Now program offered by the WKWIB subsidizes the wages of unemployed parents for a two month period. Julie Andrews claims these employees are ‘free’ to the employers who hire these temporary workers but this is not true and it never will be true. First of all, the five million dollars used to fund this program had to be confiscated from other businesses that haven’t failed yet. There is no net economic gain to moving money from one pocket to another; in fact this transaction results in a net loss because the government takes a dollar from Company A and gives a dime to Company B. Second, companies don’t need help in finding employees. Human Resources is already jammed full of job applications that will never get interviewed because they have no plans to hire for the foreseeable future. Companies only hire new employees when there is demand for new product and not a moment sooner. If the Democrats were interested in creating jobs they could do so at the stroke of a pen.

Jindal vs. Obama: Time to End the Drilling Moratorium
Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Continues Killing Jobs in the Gulf
EPA Regulations Cause Drought in California

End the Moratorium Now! America has all of the oil we need if we remove the regulations that prevent us from drilling.

Why is America Different?

Posted by Eric – July 5, 2010

Remember what Independence day means; despite what our post-American President says. America is unique among all the nations of the world.

Below are a selection of photos from the West KY State Fair’s fireworks display. I have many more posted on Picasa. Using a small table top tripod I was able to keep the camera steady. The Olympus camera I have offers a ‘fireworks’ mode for long exposures. The first three photos below were taken in total darkness yet details of objects on the ground come through very clearly. My favorite among all of last night’s pictures is number 84. The photo has a fire-from-the-sky slash post-apocalyptic style.

The Unemployed Need Jobs Not Stimulus

Posted by Eric – June 16, 2010

In a blog post published by Governor Beshear he justifies paying out unemployment claims despite the program coming unglued from its intended purpose.

Few things are as devastating to a family as losing a job. Without income, almost everything they need for both short-term survival and long-term stability is at risk: Food, medicines, clothes, shelter, heat, water, transportation, education … everything.

Since 1935, the Unemployment Insurance program has sustained our families when loss of employment threw them into disarray through no fault of their own.

If some states are still paying out benefits at 99 weeks then this stops being temporary. Extended periods of unemployment make government benefits more appealing. Eventually, idleness and government subsidy become a way of life. Motivation and work ethic are destroyed because the productive workers see their neighbors receiving benefits that they do not.

Entitlement. In a word, we have too many idle nitwits believing they are owed something because they belong to a protected class of voters.

April commented earlier on the blog

You say limited and I say where do we draw the line? I am sure people years ago panicked over the thought of a public school system. Or Public roads, fire departments, police departments etc. I am sure they panicked the same way they are now over the health care situation. Now though, we wouldn’t know what to do without those institutions. Why will a Public option health care be so much different?

OK, April, how much debt is too much? The Democrats have spent us into a hole from which it will be very difficult to pull ourselves out of. If our nation is to survive, we  must immediately put governments at all levels on a crash diet. Some people like Governor Chris Christie get it (No fat jokes! Christie is the real deal.).