Category: Miscellaneous babble

my poor little car is almost at 179000 miles, but it hasn’t been doing well lately. It’s still running ok, but hasn’t been wanting to start as easily as it used to. At first I thought it was the battery, because it was very sluggish in starting like the battery didn’t have quite enough juice to get things going. Battery reads 12.3V though, which seems ok to me, and it’s only a 4 year old battery. It also sounded a little more grindy for a while when starting. Now, I have to let it turn over 2 or 3 times before it will start. And if I drive out somewhere, stop the car, getting it started again is a bit dicey. It barely turns over before starting like the battery has run down.
I’m thinking maybe the starter is going bad, or maybe I’m having distributer/spark plug/wire problems. The distributer and spark plugs/wires seems like something I can check out myself easily enough, so that will be my weekend task. I think I can also replace teh starter myself too, so that will be the next thing I look at. If none of that helps, then it’s off to the shop.

There are a lot of big issues being slung around this year before the election. Terrorism, prescription drugs, social security, the economy. All big and weighty things.
Here, it’s different. Here, one of the more contentious issues is the mini-bottle. Specifically, whether restaurants and bars should be allowed to stick with mini-bottles, or go with free-pour.
Yes, South Carolina is the last state in the US that mandates the use of mini-bottles of alcohol. Those little bottles of booze you thought you only got on airplanes. You get them in SC too. And in SC, that’s the only way liquor is allowed to be served. Tiny little 1.7 oz (42.5 mL) bottles.
You wouldn’t think it would be such a big issue, but it is. The main reason why is of course money. Each mini-bottle carries a tax of $0.25, or 14.7 cents/ounce. The 5-8% sales tax (depending on where you live) on a regular 26 oz bottle of booze that costs around $15 is just 4.6 cents/oz. Or 5-8% sales tax on a $5-6 drink at the bar. That makes mini-bottles a huge source of revenue for the state.
Those that favour getting rid of mini-bottles say it will decrease the number of drunk driving deaths (apparently a similar decrease was seen in Utah when they got rid of mini-bottles). Tourists will get the amount of booze in each drink that they’re used to instead of getting a wallopped by almost twice what they’re usually accustomed to. Inventory management will be much easier for bars and restaurants. It’ll be easier on the environment. Mixed drinks will be easier to make. And, drinks will be cheaper.
Those in favour of keeping the mini-bottles say people will just end up drinking more because the drinks will be watered down by free-pour (bollocks I say). Mean bartenders will serve watered down drinks. People know how exactly how much they’re getting for their money. The state will have to find a way to make up for the lost revenue.
And that’s essentially what it all comes down to…the all mighty $.

In the end, all this political campaigning comes down to who can generate the most FUD. And bonus points if you can link your FUD to terrorism.
Yesterday on the news there was some guy claiming that making it easier for people to buy prescription drugs from Canada would open the door to terrorists. Terrorists could infiltrate Canadian pharmacies and send out poison-laced drugs. Terrorists could set up fake internet storefronts to send out tainted drugs. Terrorists this, terrorists that.
Factcheck.org is an interesting website I found out about while watching the Today show (I’d link to it, but NBC makes you go through an ad just to get to the website).
Sure, in the beginning all the campaigning starts off noble, and all the candidates say they’re against negative campaigning and they won’t do it. But eventually it all degenerates to who can slander/libel whom the most, who can twist and distort the opponents record the most.
I’ll be glad when the election is over and all these crappy campaigning ads are gone. Then the networks can get back to showing ads geared towards trying to get me to buy crap I don’t need.
Hmm, this seems like an uncharacteristically cynical post, doesn’t it…

Somewhere there’s an air intake for the building my office is in. I think when the weather cools off, whoever runs the ventilation must open some vents somewhere to bring fresh air inside. Judging from the smell in my office, those vents must be somewhere that smokers congregate. Either that or someone in this building is smoking where they shouldn’t be. The last few days there’s been that old, trashy second-hand smoky smell all over the place. Ick.
I think I’m going to have to get one of those air freshener things or cover up this vent in my office.

It’s mid-October, which means the weather is cooling down. Back home, this is about the time it starts snowing, and that means that all those people who’ve forgotten how to drive in snow are getting into accidents all over the place.
It’s really stupid you know. Hello, it’s October. It’s going to snow soon! Time to get ready! Every year it snows. Every year, the first snow of the season brings accidents all over the place because people aren’t paying attention. You’d think they’d see the snow and think “Ok, time to take it easy now”. Same thing happened in Detroit too. Go figure. It’s that time of year again though.
Here, the cool season means oysters. Oysters by the bucket and bushel. Oysters and oyster roasts. It’s a big thing here, and just about every organization out there will have some kind of fund-raising oyster roast.
I have to admit I’ve only been to one oyster roast in the 5 years I’ve been here. That was about 4 years ago and was put on by the department the wife was working in at the time. Oysters were plentiful and tasty, and there were hot dogs for the kids and non-oyster eating people. It was on the cool side, nothing extreme for me. The oysters were hot and tasty and there was lots of socializing and fat-chewing going on.
Figuring out the magic trick to opening an oyster without getting shell fragments all over the place was a challenge, but with the help of a few friendly oyster eaters I managed to pick it up pretty quick. Just find that tinly little opening, wiggle the oyster-opening knife in and twist. Inside you’ll find a little mound of oystery goodness waiting to be slurped down. Straight up or on a cracker with a dash of hot sauce. Chew or let it slide straight down. Eating methods are about as varied as the people eating them.
Maybe it’s time to go to another one.