I recently acquired a scanner.  I’ve been running it quietly in the background while working.  It’s been really interesting to listen to what goes on during the day.  I’ve programmed it for the Northeast Tarrant County Trunked Radio System (Bedford, Euless, Colleyville, and Keller).  There have been two auto-pedestrian accidents just today and I heard calls for an overdose both yesterday and today.  I’m also picking up stuff from Ft. Worth (and even Arlington), but I haven’t programmed their trunk system in so I’m not getting their talk groups (i.e. I can’t tell which group is broadcasting).

One thing that I’ve confirmed is that cops always give their location and the license plate number when making a traffic stop.  I’ve always wondered at the idiots who run or who try to assault the cops.  Unless the car is stolen, the dispatcher already knows who the car belongs to, making it likely they know who was involved.  And with the dispatcher already knowing the make/model/license of the vehicle, escaping is pretty difficult.  I’m reminded of a great quote from Homicide (the book, not the TV show): Crime makes you stupid.

Here we have yet another demonstration of PETA’s monumental dumbassery:

Germany’s self-confessed cannibal killer Armin Meiwes has been sent a vegetarian cookbook and a Christmas hamper full of veggie burgers and tofu.

Animals rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is behind the stunt and says it would be a major coup if it could convert Meiwes to vegetarianism.

Everyone would be better served if they’d just send PETA members.

I got an email today announcing that Friday’s was introducing a low-carb menu that was Atkins approved.  I’ve noticed recently that there’s been a lot more advertising around the Atkins brand since Dr. Atkins died.  I’m not sure that I approve of all of it, because I’ve seen at least one online ad where they do they typical fad diet “lose your tummy” crapola.  Anyhow, this got me to thinking about some of the other products that are available for people who are trying to live a low-carb lifestyle:

• Don Pablo’s now has low-carb fajitas and low-carb margaritas.
• Le Carb makes a variety of “ice cream” treats.
• Blue Bunny has some low-carb novelty bars.
• Klondike has also gotten into the act (the fudge bar is quite good).
• And while I drink a lot of water, I tend to want a cola drink from time to time.  Diet Rite is one of the best that I’ve found, although it may taste too sweet to some people (one of the side-effects of Splenda).  I’ve had success mixing Diet Rite with Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan’s (I will freely admit that I’m a wimp when it comes to drinking straight liquor; let’s just chalk it up to a few too many “lost time” episodes).

There are a lot of other products out there that I haven’t mentioned (like Carbolite bars) just because I got tired of looking up websites and dredging through Google-bombed crap.

Anyhow, once you’re past the initial induction phase, there are a lot of options to make the Atkins plan less boring (provided that you’re careful; just because it’s low-carb is no excuse to eat a whole pint of ice cream at one time   ).

I’m about to get out of here and head back home for Thanksgiving.  In the midst of all the food and football and sales don’t forget to be thankful for all the good things you have.

And if you think you don’t have anything good going on, it could always be worse:

I don’t remember now where I ran across Ghost Wings magazine, but I subscribed to a year of it because it seemed interesting.  It’s a student-published quarterly aviation magazine that tells the stories of America’s veterans from WWII through today (although a lot of their focus is on WWII).

I got an email from them this morning about a fundraiser that they’re conducting to raise money for the magazine.  They’re selling prints of a painting called “We Were a Band of Brothers”, which depicts the men of Easy Company before they made their combat jump prior to D-Day.  The print is signed by surviving members of Easy Company (there are two different ones, with different members’ signatures for different prices).

I received an email this morning from the subject of a news article that I commented on nearly a year ago in this post.  In the post I commented on the comments of one of the students who was interviewed about the killing of some livestock at Krum High School by dogs.  The subject, a Ms. Kara Arnold was quoted as saying the following:

“For us, it was like a small version of Sept. 11,” Kara said. “We never thought this would happen.”

My response was that this was moral equivocation of the worst kind.  To compare the deaths of a few animals to the deliberate murder of 3000 people is an outrage. 

In the interest of fairness, I present the email I received from Ms. Arnold this morning:

I randomly came upon your comments on the Denton Record Chronicle article from Dec, 7th, 2002. Now, I know that was a long time, but what you said against me was an outrage! First, I have never and will never have any thing to do with PETA! What I meant by my quote, that they randomly took out of a long interview might I add, was that before Sept. 11th we (Americans) felt safe and then we were attacked on our own soil. We didn’t feel as safe as we did before Sept. 11th. That was the feeling of the attacks at our school barn. We had never had attacks and this one attack made us aware that is possible. In NO WAY was I comparing the death over 3,000 innocent people to this event and PLEASE don’t take my words and make it into something its not! The reporters did a poor job of portraying what I was trying to say! I got a great education at Krum High School. That education got me accept into Texas A&M University where I am working on a degree in Agriculture Journalism. That says a lot by itself. So next time think before you just go off on some one you have never meet and do not know! Thanks Kara Arnold the proudest member of the fighting Texas Aggie class of ‘07

And my reply:

Ms. Arnold,

The quote as written in the newpaper left no room for equivocation.  You were quoted as saying, “For us, it was like a small version of Sept. 11.”  If you really didn’t say that, then I apologize to you.  I do understand that newspapers often get things wrong.  However, if you really did say that, I stand by EVERYTHING that I said.  There is no room for moral equivocation as far as I’m concerned in this matter.

I like the “randomly came upon” part in the opening.  It’s OK to admit that you’ve Googled yourself.  Almost everyone does it. 

Anyhow, I do hope that she was misquoted.  But if she did say it (even if taken out of context), I think the statement was the wrong thing to say.  On the bright side, at least she was outraged at being accused of being a PETA member…

When we moved to the new site a lot of people who were in offices had to move to cubes.  I got lucky in that my manager got me into an office (mainly because I spend a lot of time on the phone).  As part of the move, a lot of people ended up having to ask for a whiteboard, since there wasn’t one in their cube or office.  I saw a cart of them in the hallway earlier.  One of them had the following on it:
    “So long, farewell”
      “If you need me”
        “I’m in Cube Hell”

This was followed by a frowny face with tears running down its face.

I guess I have a weird sense of humor since this amused me.

My first question whenever I hear some advocacy group demanding changes to product labeling to address their particular pet issue is “How much will it cost?”  These groups always seem to airily dismiss these costs as inconsequential, especially given how serious their perceived problem is (“If it saves just one life….”).  After finishing up at the range last night my coworker and I got into a discussion about a proposed change to product labeling requirements to indicate the number of calories per container (for containers likely to be consumed as one serving) versus the number of calories per serving (which is what is currently on there).  My first reaction was why should companies have to spend millions of dollars to change these labels because people are too stupid to do simple math (i.e. third grade multiplication).

In an interesting bit of synchronicity, today’s Atkins email newsletter had an article on food labels that mentioned a new requirement to list the trans-fat content of food in 2006.  In doing some research on the topic I also came across another new change that is coming soon.  Last year, Congress passed a law requiring that all meat products identify their country of origin by September 30, 2004.  It turns out that this requirement is pretty costly.

Last month, the USDA estimated the mandatory labeling program would cost American food makers up to $3.9 billion in its first year.

Good grief!  $3.9 billion isn’t just petty change.  Given an estimated 270 million people in America, that’s $14.44 per person in the first year.  Since money doesn’t grow on trees, you can be assured that this cost will come directly to all of us (well, except those loony PETA fools who don’t eat meat). 

It turns out that these labeling requirements can be even more expensive than I imagined.

Please note that calling me a “crazy bitch” and saying that your “webiste[sic] rufutes[sic] all yur[sic]  shite” in my comments isn’t exactly the most cogent way to make your arguments.  However, it is an excellent way to get your IP banned.

What the heck happened to winter?  It’s been in the 80’s and I’m still having to mow the lawn.  I normally don’t like cold weather, but at least it slows the grass down…