All over the apartment complex this morning, there were smoke detectors ringing. Not because there were any real fires going on. It’s because of the weather. As the weather cools down, people naturally turn the heaters on. In these apartments, the AC/heater units must have some kind of heating element that collects dust, because as soon as you turn them on (after being idle for most of the summer), there’s invariably the smell of something burning. The accompanying smoke of course triggers the smoke detectors. There were plenty of smoke detectors going off this morning as I walked back and forth on trips to the laundry room.
Happens every year.
Reply to Flanders Fields
Oh! sleep in peace where poppies grow;
The torch your falling hands let go
Was caught by us, again held high,
A beacon light in Flanders sky
That dims the stars to those below.
You are our dead, you held the foe,
And ere the poppies cease to blow,
We’ll prove our faith in you who lie
In Flanders Fields.
Oh! rest in peace, we quickly go
To you who bravely died, and know
In other fields was heard the cry,
For freedom’s cause, of you who lie,
So still asleep where poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.As in rumbling sound, to and fro,
The lightning flashes, sky aglow,
The mighty hosts appear, and high
Above the din of battle cry,
Scarce heard amidst the guns below,
Are fearless hearts who fight the foe,
And guard the place where poppies grow.
Oh! sleep in peace, all you who lie
In Flanders Fields.And still the poppies gently blow,
Between the crosses, row on row.
The larks, still bravely soaring high,
Are singing now their lullaby
To you who sleep where poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.– John Mitchell
oh my poor car
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.
The mini-bottle debate
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 $.
It’s all FUD
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…