RANT: That Berkeley balcony

Friday, June 26, 2015

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Rotten-to-the-core-Berkeley-balcony-covered-in-dry-rot-say-report.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=The%20Best%20of%20IrishCentral&utm_campaign=Best%20of%20IC%20%2F%20Merged%20-%20June%2024

Rotten to the core: Berkeley balcony covered in dry rot says report
Cathy Hayes @irishcentral June 24,2015 01:45 AM

*** begin quote ***

Officials from the City of Berkeley, near San Francisco, have confirmed that the eight wooden beams supporting the fourth-story balcony that collapsed killing six students were massively compromised due to dry rot.

The report, compiled by City of Berkeley engineers, stated, “The deck joist ends protruding from the exterior wall appeared to be severely dry rotted.”

*** and ***

The preliminary ten-page report found that the balcony, in the Library Gardens complex on Kittredge Street, completed in 2007, should have been able to support up to two tonnes. Last Tuesday morning the balcony collapsed under the weight of the Irish and Irish American students and dropped 40 feet to the sidewalk.

A full report on the balcony’s condition will be completed over the coming months.

*** end quote ***

As a fat old white guy injineer, I’m always interested in “engineering failures”. Sounds like everyone was doing everything correctly. Eight years for a wood deck doesn’t sound unreasonable.

BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), this deck appears to have a different design than the others.

That strikes me as unusual. 

Now I am sure that the politicians and bureaucrats will huff and puff, but adding more controls, licensing, and permits aka taxes are locking the barn after the horse.

Seems like the engineering and construction “fraternity” have to “solve” this.

People have a great propensity to use stuff beyond its design life and abuse the heck out of stuff in ways never planned for by the designers. (Hence a small deck designed to hold 2 tons!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot_proof

*** begin quote ***

Several Murphy’s law adages claim that idiot proof systems cannot be made.

“Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool”

and

“If you make something idiot proof, someone will just make a better idiot.”

Along those lines, Douglas Adams wrote in Mostly Harmless, “a common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”

So maybe there is nothing more to say about this sad event, other than “stuff happens”.

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VETERANS: Monsanto’s Agent Orange; the truth finally

Thursday, June 25, 2015

US Government Finally Admits Agent Orange Poisoned Troops
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/us-government-finally-admits-agent-orange-poisoned-troops_062015

*** begin quote ***

Decades after the Vietnam War, the Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledged this week that Monsanto’s Agent Orange—a dangerous herbicide sprayed over 4.5 million acres across Vietnam during the  conflict—is responsible for health ailments in a group of as many as 2,100 veterans. It had previously denied such allegations.

The United States government will pay out $45 million in disability benefits over ten years to compensate Air Force reservists and active-duty forces who were exposed to Agent Orange left over from the Vietnam War. The exposure came from residue on Fairchild C-123 aircraft, which were used to spray millions of gallons of the chemical, and, evidently, affected soldiers in the United States who later handled the planes from 1969-1986. According to ABC, the VA’s decision to compensate the 2,100 veterans follows a January Institute of Medicine study that found “some C-123 reservists stationed in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts had been exposed to Agent Orange residues in the planes and suffered higher risks of health problems as a result.”

Further, “the VA said it subsequently determined that pilots, mechanics and medical personnel who served at seven other locations in the U.S. and abroad also were potentially affected – Florida, Virginia, and Arizona, as well as Taiwan, Panama, South Korea and the Philippines.”

*** end quote ***

The Gooferment only eventually will admit the truth.

Argh!

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McKay66

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

 

Date

page1image3264

Customer

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1. Name Nickname

2. Company name

3. Address Home address

4. Telephone: Business Home::

5. Birth date: Place Hometown

6. Height (approx.) Weight (approx.)

Education

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7. High school Year graduated

8. College Degrees Year graduated College honors

9. College fraternity/sorority Sports

10. College extracurricular activities

11. If customer didn’t attend college, is he/she sensitive about it? _________

12. Military service Discharge rank Attitude toward being in the service

Family

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13. Spouse’s name and occupation

14. Spouse’s education

15. Spouse’s interests

16. Anniversary

McKay 66 file:///Users/reinkefj/Desktop/mckay66w.htm

34. Clubs, fraternal associations or service clubs (masons, kiwanis, etc.)
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35. Politically active? Party Important to customer?

36. Active in community? How?

37. Religion Active?

38. Highly confidential/sensitive items not to be discussed with customer (i.e.: Divorce, aa member, etc.)

39. On what subjects (outside of business) does the customer have strong feelings? 

Lifestyle

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40. Medical history (current condition of health)

41. Does customer drink? If yes, what and how much?

42. If no, is customer offended by others drinking?

43. Does customer smoke? If no, object to others?

44. Favorite places for lunch: Dinner

45. Favorite items on menu

46. Does customer object to having anyone buy his/her meal?

47. Hobbies and recreational interests

48. Vacation habits

49. Spectator sports interest: sports and teams

50. What kind of car(s)

51. Conversational interests

52. Whom does the customer seem anxious to impress?

53. How does he/she want to be seen by those people?

54. What adjectives would you use to describe the customer?

55. What is he/she most proud of having achieved?

56. What do you feel is the customer’s long-range, personal objective?

57. What do you feel is the customer’s immediate personal goal?

The Customer and You

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58. What moral or ethical considerations are involved when you work with this customer?

59. Does the customer feel any obligation to you, your company or your competition? If so, what?

60. Does the proposal you plan to make to him/her require the customer to change a habit or take an action that is contrary to custom?

61. Is he/she primarily concerned about the opinion of others?

62. Is he/she very self-centered? Highly ethical?

63. What are the key problems as the customer sees them?

64. What are the priorities of the customer’s management?

65. Can you help with these problems?

66. Does your competitor have better answers to the above questions than you have?

— 30 —

 

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POLITICAL: VAT – the end of Rand Paul’s candidacy for me

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2015/06/exposed-rand-pauls-call-for-value-added.html

FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015

EXPOSED Rand Paul’s Call for a Value Added Tax (In addition to a Flat Personal Income Tax)

*** begin quote ***

Much focus has been put on Rand Paul’s call yesterday for a 14.5% flat personal income tax. The reporting often stops there, As in: The tax would be 14.5% across the board flat personal income tax, down from as much as 40%, but there is much more to the story,

In addition, to the flat personal income tax, Rand, in his WSJ op-ed that revealed his plan, also called for a value added tax on top of the flat personal tax.

*** end quote ***

That’s the end of Rand Paul’s candidacy for me.

Remember the income tax was originally supposed to replace all tariffs.

And for FOUR years there were no tariffs.

Then BANG! Tariffs were reimposed.

No new taxes. No shell games to give “District of Corruption” more spending money.

Argh!

Rand is NOTHING like his Dad Ron.

Argh!

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TINFOILHAT: There would have not been a 9/11 if … …

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

http://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arabia-911-cia-344693

FBI Agent: The CIA Could Have Stopped 9/11
BY JEFF STEIN 6/19/15 AT 6:07 AM

*** begin quote ***

Updated | Mark Rossini, a former FBI special agent at the center of an enduring mystery related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, says he is “appalled” by the newly declassified statements by former CIA Director George Tenet defending the spy agency’s efforts to detect and stop the plot.

Rossini, who was assigned to the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC) at the time of the attacks, has long maintained that the U.S. government has covered up secret relations between the spy agency and Saudi individuals who may have abetted the plot. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a failed effort to crash into the U.S. Capitol, were Saudis.

*** and ***

Over 30 pages relating to Saudi Arabia in the report were blacked out. The Obama administration has also refused to declassify 28 pages dealing with Saudi connections to the hijackers in a joint congressional probe of the attacks.

As has been previously reported, Rossini and another FBI agent assigned to the CTC, Doug Miller, learned in January 2000 that one of the future hijackers, an Al-Qaeda operative by the name of Khalid al-Mihdhar, had a multi-entry visa to enter the U.S. By mid-summer of 2001, the CIA was repeatedly warning President George W. Bush and other White House officials that an Al-Qaeda attack was imminent. But when Miller and Rossini attempted to warn FBI headquarters that al-Mihdhar could be loose in the U.S., a CIA supervisor ordered them to remain silent.

Rossini says he is “deeply concerned” by how the agency continues to suppress information related to contacts between the CIA and Saudi Arabia, particularly when the spy agency is declassifying other portions of documents to show that it did everything possible to thwart the September 11, 2001 plot.

“There would have not been a 9/11 if Doug’s CIR [Central Intelligence Report] on al-Mihdhar was sent,” he told Newsweek in an email. “Period. End of story.

*** end quote ***

And so the story continues to dribble out. A leak here, a fact there, and retirement loosens tongues!

Why can’t “We, The Sheeple” know “the truth”?

Who’s covering what up and why?

Argh!

Where’s WIKILEAK on those 28 pages?

Argh!

“Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.” Colonel Jessep in A Few Good Men played by Jack Nicholson

I think we ARE entitled to the truth.

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RANT: Alex Rodriguez’s milestone

Monday, June 22, 2015

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2015/06/20/baseball-collector-not-giving-up-alex-rodriguez-milestone-ball/?intcmp=latestnews

Baseball collector not giving up Alex Rodriguez’s milestone ball | Fox News

“professional home run ball catcher”?

If I was the Yankees, then I’d politely ban him from Yankee stadium.

Even if he didn’t like Alex, he could donate it to Cooperstown.

Argh!

It’s always all about the money.

I’m surprised he didn’t try to sub in one of the batting practice balls.

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ADMINISTRIVIA: Blood Drive July 1st, 2015 in New Brunswick NJ

Sunday, June 21, 2015

2015 blood drive

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GUNS: Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was a “gun free zone”?

Sunday, June 21, 2015

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/06/18/gun-free-zones-easy-target-for-killers.html

OPINION
Gun-free zones an easy target for killers
By John R. Lott
Published June 18, 2015

*** begin quote ***

The horrible tragedy last night that left nine people dead at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., probably could have been avoided. Like so many other attacks, the massacre took place in a gun-free zone, a place where the general public was banned from having guns. The gun-free zone obviously didn’t stop the killer from bringing a gun into the church.

*** and ***

Time after time, we see that these killers tell us they pick soft targets. With just two exceptions, from at least 1950, all the mass public shootings have occurred in these gun-free zones. From last summer’s mass public killers in Santa Barbara and Canada, to the Aurora movie theater shooter, these killers made it abundantly clear in their diaries or on Facebook how they avoided targets where people with guns could stop them.

*** and ***

The gun control debate would probably be dramatically different if even some of the news stories would occasionally mention that another attack has occurred in a gun-free zone. I have been able to find just one Associated Press story that mentions an attack occurred in a gun-free zone — a recent attack at a mall this year in Pittsburgh.

*** end quote ***

Yet, BHO44, Hillary, and the leftist liberal media all want more gun control.

Never let a crisis go to waste?

Argh!

Concealed carry saves innocent lives at zero cost.

It’s predictable.

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INTERESTING: Robot grocery store

Saturday, June 20, 2015

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/06/19/robot-grocery-store-gives-high-tech-upgrade-to-food-shopping/?intcmp=obnetwork

Robot grocery store gives high-tech upgrade to food shopping | Fox News

*** begin quote ***

Des Moines, Iowa is planning to build a first-of-a kind robotic grocery store as an experiment to offer food and necessities to locals anytime at their convenience.

A partnership between the nonprofit Eat Greater Des Moines and the business equipment firm Oasis24seven will see an automated, vending machine-style unit come to the area.

“Throughout Des Moines, there are areas of town where access to quality food is limited,” said Aubrey Alvarez, the nonprofit’s executive director. “We would love for a full service grocery store to move into these areas, but until that time the robotic unit will address the gap in the community.”

*** end quote ***

No security risk.

No staffing issues.

No worry about raising the minimum wage.

No “bodega” for “electronic benefits fraud”.

If this becomes “profitable”, then where will it end?

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POLITICAL: “illegal immigrants” versus the “welfare state”

Friday, June 19, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/06/patrick-j-buchanan/is-a-3rd-world-america-inevitable/

Is Third World America Inevitable?
By Patrick J. Buchanan
June 18, 2015

*** begin quote ***

Writes Coulter, “Roe v. Wade can be overturned. Obamacare can be repealed. Amnesty is forever.”

Anyone concerned for the future of this country as one nation and one people should find a candidate who will commit to secure the border, enforce immigration laws against businesses that hire illegal immigrants, and pledge no amnesty for the duration of their presidency.

*** end quote ***

This “immigration” is nothing more than a “Democratic” party’s attempt to pack the ballot box forever in their favor.

And, the key issue is the “welfare state”.

As long as we have a “social safety net” and the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”, immigration will be a problem.

We need all the hands and brains that come here to work and create. We don’t need more takers and criminals.

The “Republican” party is complicit because they think that cheap labor is good for their donors.

Both “parties” are wrong.

The “welfare / warfare” empire will collapse like all empires on a funeral pyre of paper money.

Argh!

Glad I’m too old to see the result.

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