A man manages to blow off his finger while teaching his son about the dangers of gunpowder.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-gunpowder-blast,0,3979538.story

You gotta admit, thats effective!

Sad. Interesting though.

I’m not going to speculate on what might have caused the attack. Its difficult to know what motivates animals, especially wild ones. I live with three wild animals (All parrots are wild – they might live in captivity, but they have quite a few generations to go before they are domesticated). Predicting their actions is difficult. I’m good with animals, but lord, I get them wrong often enough!

Basically, when in the woods, if you have *any* doubt about an animal, put your back to a tree or wall, and look for a big stick. And, remember, animals are unpredictable. Ever herbivores will attack, and not always for a reason human’s can predict, or understand.

Back in May, I blogged about a case where Continental airline pilots were fired/sued for getting what the airline claims were “sham” divorces, for the sole purpose of getting pension money. I.E, get divorced, conceal said divorce from family/friends, receive the money, get remarried. I stated then that so long as the divorces were legally real, then no crime was committed. Its nice to see that the judge agrees (even though its obvious).

From here

The pilots in question all obtained divorces from various states with domestic relations orders that assigned 100 percent, and in one case 90 percent, of their retirement benefits under the plan to their spouses. The retirement plan qualified the domestic relations orders and, because the pilots were of retirement age when the alternate payees requested a lump-sum payout, the plan paid the benefits.

Miller said “the facts show — and the pilots do not seem to contest — that the pilots and their former spouses did not behave in a manner consistent with the breakup of a marriage.” He said many of the pilots continued to cohabitate, remarried soon after obtaining the lump-sum payout and all essentially conducted themselves as if the divorce had never happened.

But the judge said none of that was relevant to the issue at hand.

He said “the administrator may not refuse to qualify a domestic relations order based on criteria not present in the statute.” The judge added that “the court finds that the motivation or good faith of the divorce and resulting domestic relations order is not an enumerated requirement.”

I was reminded of this after reading about a soldiers being charged in marriage fraud. I utterly fail to see how this is fraud either. If you are married, you are married. It is not relevant whether you only met the other person 30 seconds before the marriage, and never see them again 30 seconds after the marriage. Its an on/off switch.

Weird Al turned 50 Friday.

I feel very, very old.

One answer to growing health care costs, is to go abroad. There is a push for medicaid to cover expats living in Mexico. This is only fair, since these folks did pay into the system all their lives. And, it will serve to drive prices lower in the U.S.

Resistance to the expansion of Medicare to Mexico is coming from some health-care industry groups like the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, according to David C. Warner, who teaches public affairs at the University of Texas LBJ School. Warner says these groups see it as the beginning of a slippery slope that will lead to expansion of Medicare coverage to places like China and Eastern Europe where health-care costs are rock bottom.

Newest addition

Originally uploaded by The_Gut.

Someone had abandoned this big fella in a rental home. I came by him through a freecycle post. If he lives – which I think fairly likely, I’ll have to get a bigger tank. Since he had spent several days in a cardboard box, with just a bit of tap water, and some cat food, I dunked him in distilled water. Then it was into the tank with my other (vastly smaller) crabs. He should have gone in an iso tank, but I don’t have one, and didn’t have time to make one.

I don’t particularly want him, but I’m not willing to let an animal die when its as easy to care for as these guys are. (Large upfront cost to these suckers, next to no ongoing cost). Especially when you consider – he is at least 10+ years old, and no hermit crabs are born in captivity.

The language is clear and concise, but not to the point of obscurity.

?

More than a little goofy, but this shirt has caught an Internet meme, and is taking a bit of a ride.

Read some of the reviews, funny stuff.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/features/techspecs/

Looks much more interesting than the Kindle. For me, the thing is pdf support. If this thing is great on showing PDF’s, then I’ll get one. Early next year.

One of the worst things about mornings – aside from the fact that they come waaaaaay too early, is getting out of a warm bed. The moment you feel the drop in temperature, and your body goes “what the hell? It was warm under those covers! What is this crap? Get back under those toasty covers!

I hate programing computers, and as such, I’ve never really learned. But, I’ve recently found myself in need of a lightweight program, to help me with a not at all work related project. And I’m getting one hell of a headache trying to understand the simplest underlying logic of programing.

What I consider logical, computers don’t. Whats even more perplexing, is that what I consider logical, other people don’t. The conclusion is obvious – its rough being the only logical thing in the universe. /wink

I always hate turning on the furnace for the first time of the year. I always sit in the living room, watching for the least sign of…. different behavior in the birds. I was going to say “odd” behavior, but they behave oddly as normal behavior.

So, here I sit, Propane furnace fired up, keeping an eye on all my critters.