A Roadrunner to look up to

Las Cruses, New Mexico has a 20' tall road runner. It was recently refurbished and will be installed near a highway rest stop near I-10.

Apparently the road runner was constructed of recycled material but now has ruby slippers (like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz).

Article: 

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_25788405/beep-beep-giant-las-cruces-roadrunner-is-homewardhttp://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_25788405/beep-beep-giant-las-cruces-roadrunner-is-homeward

Dogs Detect Cancer

I saw an article that some researchers are working to use dogs as cancer detectors (less expensive than current procedures with comparable error rates).

I told UGA and Gretel about it and they went to the internet.

Sure enough, there is even a web site dedicated solely to this issue. The web site is called 

http://www.dogsdetectcancer.org/

although it credits other canines as having the ability to detect, other canines aren't so easily 'trained'.

Evidently the people doing the blog for that site expect a near term breakthrough in having dogs detect breast cancer via smelling the breath of subjects.

Meeting on Executive compensation

There was a labor clause in the Coke Union contract which required management to consult before implementing a change in executive compensation.

Thus Coke Bear invited Labor Bear to a briefing at which Coke noted the world wide Coke production situation stressing the many countries that Coke could be produced without using union labor. Naturally Labor bear wasn't too pleased. 

Somehow, Hard Rock Bear and Graduation bear got to be spectators. Hard Rock reminded everyone that he was 'very unique' and Grad was interested in what type of beverage would be served (and was disappointed when none was).

This was all occasioned by developments in the 2014 Executive compensation program for Coca Cola. That issue is briefly discussed here.

Paternity Negotiations

This is a story line from some time ago (see the post here, and here and here) There was a potential for some trouble among the animals. 

A medium size panda came to the house and said he was young panda's real father. Of course Mrs. Coke said he wasn't. The big Panda demanded a paternity test and also wanted rights to the young Panda's inheritance (mostly stock in the Coca Cola Company).

Surprisingly perhaps, young panda took the lead in negotiating some terms.

The terms were that big Panda lives in China (where young Panda has been for a few years now studying Panda environments and very successfully representing Coca Cola to the Chinese). Big Panda will also draw a consultant salary from Coca Cola with no actual work required and Coke Bear will privately acknowledge that big Panda is probably the father of young Panda without any public acknowledgement required. Mrs. Coke will continue to have sufficient 'me time' and that will include an ample travel allowance for making trips to visit young Panda in China.

Vampy has a great night

Vampy has a great night 

A lot of stranded, stopped and slow moving motorists were out last night during a big snowstorm (dubbed 'Snowchi' by the local weather group Capital Weather Gang and 'Pax' by the Weather Channel). We had about 10" of reasonably powdery snow but then it began to drizzle and the snow became wet and heavy.

Vampy had a lot to drink and also filled a few bottles with his favorite liquid.

Speaking of the liquid, here is what Harmony (who drinks human blood she gets from the living) says to Angel in episode 17 of season 2 of Angel (who drinks pig's blood he gets commercially),

Harmony: "I mean how do you stand everything? Being what you are, how can you deprive yourself of the taste? The sensation of rich, warm, human blood (Angel's eyes glaze over) flowing into your mouth - bathing your tongue - caressing your throat with its sweet, sticky..."

posted by Martin Weiss  # 12:23 PM

SheepVamp enjoys a snack

Previously Vampy placed some blood in our freezer.

SheepVamp didn't feel like getting his own victim so he decided to have some of Vampy's supply. It took some doing because the bottle was taller than SheepVamp but with the help of some office supplies, he was able to get some.

Of course the other problem was that he had to wait for the blood to thaw.

Vampy Marketing and Adding Inventory

 Our stuffed vampire, had a great evening. It was cold and icy (note first image) outside and plenty of stranded motorists were within a few miles (and no competition from our stuffed alligator, Gate, because of the weather).

After some considerable activity, Vampy put some bottles of blood in the freezer. The blood came from stranded motorists  and from companions and/or passengers  of stranded motorists. Notice he kept some air at the top of the bottle to allow for the expansion that happens when blood is frozen. Smart little undead guy.

Scientists Realize Gators Use Tools

The Washington Post had an article today about the evolving consensus that alligators (and yes, also crocs) use tools.

An investigation in Louisiana (in one of the 127 counties and parishes probably), showed that alligators who resided under trees seemed to use sticks to lure egrets (the gator in the image is eating one) to the water surface but alligators in open areas did not.

Anyway, the consensus still doesn't recognize that alligators can change commas to semi colons to effect legal policy.

The Wapo article is here.http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/crocodiles-and-their-ilk-may-be-smarter-than-they-look/2013/12/06/1084cf28-5d2c-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html

Labor Bear Objects to part of Hannukah

Labor Bear was with us as we were eating potato pancakes tonight.

We asked him to comment and he said he thought the 'Al Ha Nissim' paragraph was missing a line. The existing Al Ha Nissim thanks God for putting the wicked into the hands of the righteous, the idolaters into the hands of torah scholars, etc. but not the capitalists into the hands of workers.

But then I explained to Labor Bear (Ann calls him Trotsky) that the word 'Nissim' means miracles ("Al Ha' means "on the"). Labor then said that actually the unalterable forces of history will place the means of production into the hands of the workers and thus no miracles are needed.

Lobby's Expansive Business

I asked Lobby yesterday if he does lobbying in the underworld as well as in the Legislative and Executive branches of the USA.



His answer was, "Potato, Potaato".


He then elaborated saying, "Actually, the lobbying in the underworld is a more pleasant experience because they are more up front with their agenda."

Pumpkins On the Rise

Mr. Pumpkin was in a good mood today.

In the financial news was an article that sales of pumpkin flavored food was up 200%+ since 2008.

This doesn't require much actual pumpkin since, apparently, a little pumpkin spice goes a long way. However, the pumpkin harvest was good the past few years and also prices have held up. 

Article on pumpkin flavored food is here.

Report on pumpkin harvest is here.

Mr. Pumpkin Farmer out to admire the neighborhood

Mr.  Pumpkin Farmer gets very excited this time of the year.

The beverage stores are selling pumpkin latte (I had some butternut squash soup yesterday that had the pumpkin look to it).

Better yet, many people place pumpkins in their yards. 

In the image, Mr PF is admiring one of them. 

Vampy Out to Look at pre Halloween sights

 I went out with Vampy today to look at some of the decorations people had done to get ready for Halloween.

The umbrella was to protect Vampy from the Sun (because he is sort of a vampire, he might burn up)

The first image shows Vampy looking at some shrunken heads on posts.


The second image shows Vampy looking at a scary ghost.

Of course Vampy is not a big fan of Halloween. Quite to the contrary. Vampy feels that Halloween has become to commercialized and detracts from its true meaning. He says something like, "it should be about our father below".

Soft Drink Decision Day

 

For some time, we've struggled to keep both caffeine free Coke and regular Coke in the house at the same time; the former, for George, the latter for Ann.

It got to the point that Ann worried that we would be out of the w/caffeine product and began labeling it.

George agreed to give up the no caffeine brand so that will make the inventory work less difficult.

This is a cross over post with the weiss chronology blog.

 

Yes, that's the Coke Bear on the left admiring his products.

Soc and Joleen: not an item

Another failed date matchup.

We tried to get Soccer Bear (who is also called Kicks, the Beanie Buddy) and Joleen interested in a relationship.

However, there wasn't a good connect. The closest they came is when Joleen asked Soc if there were any trains that stop in Dublin.



Actually there are (see route map) and in fact downtown Dublin has two rail stations but Soc complained that there weren't any stops 'just outside Dublin' and that was pretty much that.  

Vamp Has Some Advice for Beth

Vampy has been studying management with various sources (the image has him studying with the cast of the TV show "Angel"). He has however, also studied with Coke Bear and w Lucy and Grad Bear (the latter had little credibility in the underworld however).

Thus Vampy knows a few things about how management likes to hear staff speak. In Beth's case she needs to find a way to disagree without seeming to disagree. Vampy suggests the following:

- Yes. In the big picture that is good but to support the major point, you will have to do.....

- Yes that will be the pivot point and it would be usefully reinforced with....

- Yes and that will allow adaptive techniques and practices such as...

of course Vampy also likes to point out that

- you can exceed you benchmarks by honing your core competencies and,
- it is important to establish cross cutting coordination to break down organizational stovepipes 

in the Angel episode he learned about fail-safe mechanisms and loss cutting maneuvers as well as client support, all in the context of a multidisciplinary, turn-key, legal operation

Coke Reduces the Complaints

I was doing the shopping for an event at the synagogue. Not realizing there was a speaker (even though I had called in advance for late news) I under bought food and actually had fairly plain food at that.. 

Fortunately, however, I bought plenty of Coke because there was a sale.

Somehow there were no complaints.

And there was even some Coke left over.

Vampy Vs Hellish Bureaucracy

Vampy has been trying to get a management spot in the underworld (as noted a few posts earlier).

Unfortunately for him there are numerous obstacles to overcome. First, he submitted his qualifications and some essays on how he would deal with certain problems in the underworld.

It has taken the Beelzebub screening committee quite a while to do the early work (after them is the recommendation process and then the selection process). 

While the screening committee has been 'working', some of Vampy's certification became out of date. So Vampy had to go to get them updated. He got into one line but when he got to the front of the line he found out he was in the wrong line and he had to go to the back of the new line. Of course by the time he got to the front of the new line, the certification office had closed for the week.

Two of the images are from the boadingshan rock carvings in China. These were completed about 1200 CE and show various situations in hell (one judgement, one examination of sins).

Vampy Get Referral

Vampy is trying to get a management position in the underworld. 

To impress the supervisory demons and their bosses, he needed some references. Vampy identified Lucy and Graduation Bear. Lucy was identified because she frankly considers medicine a business and is comfortable pushing reimbursements to the maximum. Graduation Bear has an arguably unethical relationship with a Hedge Fund. However, the powers below did not consider Grad Bear a 'self starter' and so his referral wasn't of any value.

Party at the Postols

We took Gate, UGA and Labor Bear (aka Trotsky) to the Postols for a party on Purim 2013 (5773) with the Postols stuffed animals. The big red bear next to labor bear is Ivan (in the last image, Labor is on the left and Ivan is on the right. Mike has a pink duck who is always evil and a stuffed beanie buddy who is always good (November bear).

The Postols had enough stuffed animals to require two pictures. 

Anyway, we think the stuffed animals had a good time.

Michelangelo Goes to Sienna's

Mikey has wanted to get an 'insider' tour of Sienna's Restaurant for some time. After all, he's looked a the final product several times (in fact the post below shows Mikey doing that).


Tonight, I took him there. 

He got to see the pizza dough being prepared (1st image) . They use a device to flatten the dough and another to cut it into round pieces and another to punch holes in the dough. All this is before any of the ingredients go on it.

Then after the ingredients are on it, it goes into a cooker oven. The oven has a moveable grid and the pizza moves with the grid and comes out cooked (second image).

Of course, Mikey said the cooked pizza looked awesome.

Mikey Praises Pizza - Again

Mikey Again Praises Pizza 

Our dining table was set on Dairy since it was the day after Chanakah and we had people over for a dairy meal the previous night.

So Ann decided it would be a good day to carry out pizza.

Naturally we invited Michelangelo to the event.

He declared the pizza to be awesome.

No surprise there.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 10:24 AM

Christian Stuffed Animals enjoy a youtube concert

Wiley, Ski Bear, Jim and Martha came down to the couch to enjoy a few viewings of "Oh Holy Night" as sung by the Celtic Women.

The video is here.

If the counter is right, the video has been downloaded about 8,000,000 times with several thousand comments.

Vampy in Safed

We took Vampy to Safed (in the North) as part of our trip to Israel.

He was especially interested because there are 3 large cemeteries there. He thought that because of all of the kaballah influence a lot of people would be confused and wandering around and easy prey.

It turned out a bit different. The cemeteries were all on very steep terrain (and Vampy doesn't like that because he gets tired after flying a few feet) or guarded by military personnel.

The image has Vampy looking at the direction signs very near our motel. It shows you have to go way down to see the cemetery.

Another Policy Triumph for Gate

President Obama signed a bill shielding airlines from carbon fees in Europe.

An account of this from The Hill, leaves out the role of Gate who is in favor of global warming as policy (since it would increase his habitat).

No doubt some environmental groups were disappointed as were the Euro agencies that stood to collect the fees.

The airlines will be thanking Gate at some future time perhaps.

Vamp's Day At Blood Bank

M went to the local Red Cross blood bank to give platelets. Vamp wanted to come to because he was interested in making a withdrawal.

One of the first things you do at the blood bank, after giving name, SSN, Date of Birth, etc. is to read the rules. The rules are complicated. They require you to think about where you have 'lived' and that is a sore point with Vamp (who is differently alive).

After the first bunch of information there were many questions on hepatitus, AIDS, etc. and Vamp was pretty confused by the end of it.

He also wasn't that happy in the pheresis area because the bags of platelets have a yellowish color to them, not like the nice red that he hoped to see.

Still, he was pleased to get a nice bumper sticker (Vamp thinks it is a great slogan too) that said, "GIVE BLOOD" (the stickers were available at the after donation snack bar.

Mikey Gets His Awesome Pizza

After G got word that he passed the VA bar exam (he passed the MD bar in 2011 and was waved in to DC in early 2012), we got pizza to celebrate. Michelangelo (aka Mikey), who thinks pizza is awesome, got an invitation. 

For some reason, Graduation Bear also heard there was a party and invited himself. Grad was disappointed that there was no hard liquor or recreational drugs available. 

Mikey kept saying how awesome the pizza was (Mikey thinks a lot of things are awesome - once M was at cafe Shawreen and some people, after being told that mustard and ketchup was available on the condiment table, said, "Awesome". Mikey was impressed with that also..

Gate Might Be in Trouble

After the VP debate on Oct 11, Gate was worried that he (our Alligator) would be blamed for Biden's creepiness.

This worry was based on the fact that Gate has had to brief VP Biden several times in his (Gate's) job with the Office of Legal Counsel and Biden was impressed with Gate's smile and decided to smile repeatedly and at inappropriate times in the VP debate.

However, as a couple of days have passed, it looks like there will be more focus on Biden's comment that neither he nor POTUS was briefed on the threat to the consulate in Benghazi and Biden's implied comment that there would be no troops in Afghanistan post 2014.

A small step for a woman, a giant meal for a croc

A woman in Thailand was feeling depressed.

She left her house and got into the crocodile area.

The image on the left went with the story in a British news source. I don't know if it was an 'after' picture but the crocodile sure looks well fed.

Alligator Law

The estate of an 83 year old Georgia woman had sued a home owner association and country club subsequent to the woman dying from an alligator attack. 

The premise of the law suit was that the home owner association and country club should have had Alligator warnings near each of the 150 or so lagoons on the property. There were warnings in various documents but the woman wasn't a resident and was house sitting for her daughter).

The supreme court of GA ruled that the woman should have known alligators like to be near lagoons in and around Savannah, GA. 

Article here.http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/06/21/georgia-alligator-ruling-reversed/