Fish Fear Me

Someone Has Some 'Splaining To Do

Parts of the Twin Cities got nailed with some severe weather this afternoon and it is looking like there was some widespread damage, but thankfully no reports of serious injuries or deaths. If that remains the case it will be damn lucky, because there was no warning where it all first hit a couple of miles north of my house.

What makes that all the more surprising is that same band of storms had prompted severe thunderstorm warnings when it was southwest of the Twin Cities an hour beforehand. That had me keeping an eye on it on the NWS radar as it headed my way, but as it approached the warnings were allowed to expire so I relaxed. The tornado warning then came out of the blue after someone reported one on the ground. 

I'm seeing video of some pretty extensive damage in north Minneapolis. If the lack of injuries stays true then we were very, very, lucky. First things first, of course, and that is taking care of people, but almost as scary as the storm itself is how it could hit so hard without warning.

Update: The Strib is now reporting that one person was killed in north Minneapolis when a tree fell on a vehicle and two people have been hospitalized in critical condition. 27 others have been treated for moderate to minor injuries.

Perhaps my perception is wrong, because I don't see anybody else talking about it, but I still say that there should at least have been a thunderstorm warning in effect when that tornado hit. That band of cells was definitely identified as severe weather when it was to the southwest, but those warnings expired and no new warnings were issued as it began to move into the inner metro area. I checked the local NWS radar just a little before the sirens went off because it was raining so hard and there was nothing until all of a sudden there was a tornado warning.

I'm hearing all sorts of anecdotes about people who ran to their basements because the wind was shaking their house so badly, not because they heard the sirens. I'm not looking for scapegoats, but I do want to understand the limits of the system. And another question: In the interest of avoiding false alarms, is the NWS going too far the other way?

Maybe The Devil Made Him Do It

It had to happen somewhere today:

A small earthquake has shaken the San Francisco Bay Area, but there have been no reports of damages or injuries.

However, hundreds of thousands of people who were aware that today had been predicted to be Rapture Day by one Harold Camping, fled to area churches screaming, "I repent! I repent!"

Okay I made that last part up, but what do you bet that a fair number of people in the area got all wide-eyed, at least for a moment?

Uh Oh

If this fad is real and it spreads to the US, eventually I'm going to end up getting my ass kicked by a bunch of angry guys in really pointy boots:

We last saw them on court jesters in Medieval England, but pointy-toed boots, it seems are making a major comeback in Mexico.

Young men have developed an obsession with the bold footwear, with toes so long, they are curled up in a giant spiral.

Get a load of the pics at the link. Just when you think things can't get any stranger.

I'm not going to be able to not laugh if I ever see such a thing in person. I'm not. I don't care how big the dude is. In fact, the bigger the dude the funnier it's going to look. 

I'm freakin' doomed.

(via Instapundit)

For My Liberal Friends...

...a little something to remember the War Powers Act of 1973:

Not that I'm really all broken up over it. If Congress wanted to they could end US involvement in Libya by voting to deny the funds for it. They don't want to do that, nor do they want to insist that the law their branch of government demanded in 1973 be followed here and now. It's just another in a seemingly unending string of feckless moments from the worst political and intellectual elites in our nation's history. Principles? Who gives a shit about principles?

Dealbreaker

I'm not real big on "dealbreakers." Sure, there are certain obvious standards that must be upheld. For example, being a succubus, that's a dealbreaker to me. But I think the word tends to be overused. Not to pick on the ladies, but I was once trapped with a group of women who got on that topic and it did not take long before I was practically praying for death. So like I said, I'm not much into using the word.

But this...good grief:

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich briefly stopped a campaign event here to shut off his phone as his ringtone sounded ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.”

Newt wasn't on my list of possible GOP candidates anyway, for lots of reasons, so it's not as though it cost him my support. 

But dude.

Stand By Your Clown

It looks like McDonald's is going to defy the food nazis/nannies and keep Ronald McDonald in its marketing campaigns:

McDonald's Corp. is standing by its clown.

The 48-year-old, red-haired mascot has come under fire from health-care professionals and consumer groups who, in recent days, have asked the fast-food chain to retire Ronald McDonald. But McDonald's Chief Executive Officer Jim Skinner staunchly defended the clown at the company's annual meeting on Thursday, saying, "Ronald McDonald is going nowhere."

Good for McDonald's. The article gets into questions about how relevant the mascot is these days, but the real issue is that a bunch of ninnies have gotten together and decided that McDonald's is an evil corporation and Ronald McDonald is their evil ambassador to children. His purpose is to lead children down the dark path of childhood obesity and a life-long dependence on Big Macs. You see, no parent can stand up to the diabolical machinations of an evil clown.

Sorry. I guess I got just a little carried away there.

The thing is though, ultimately parents need to do that whole parenting thing and not blame their fat-assed little kid on some corporate mascot. If they don't want their children to eat at McDonald's there is a very simple way to do that:

No.

I know, that's an easy thing to say for someone without kids. And in many ways I think it has become tougher for parents today than it was for my parents back when. I can be sympathetic to some proposals to make things easier for parents, but there is no substitute for a little parental backbone. There just isn't.

It's Planting Time

It is finally time to turn to things lawn and garden after another terribly long winter. How long? Well, we had a frost warning for the Twin Cities metro area just this past Sunday. Theoretically it is still possible for us to see another, but I'm going to go with my gut feeling and say we are done for the season. So, that means it's planting time.

I finally got the yard mowed for the first time this evening, so it is time to turn to the next two priorities: the front raised flowerbed and the vegetable garden. 

The front flowerbed looks to be an almost total makeover as it appears that seven of nine white dianthus plants didn't make it through the winter. That surprises me because they had made it through two or three prior harsh winters with flying colors. I used to do just annuals in that bed every year, but now I kind of like having a mix of perennials and annuals. I'm going to have to figure out what that mix is going to be for this year and do it in the next few days. If anybody has some favorites to suggest, feel free. It's a 4' x 8' bed and I've generally done plants that grow to 1' or so around the edges and 2' plants in the middle. Oh, and plants that bunnies dislike will probably go to the front of the line.

I've been thinking about expanding the vegetable garden before building my version of the Maginot Line, but I've nixed that. It's big enough as it is and it's time just to get the fencing in and get on with things. I'm not sure about the timing on that though. We have rainy weather slated to move in tomorrow and maybe last through Monday. I'm not sure how much of that work I want to do if things are going to be pretty muddy. I guess I'll play it by ear.

Two new projects for this year are a total revamp of the landscaping in the front of the house and also along the north side. To do both sides properly I should really dig up all of the old river rock and the now deteriorated plastic liner down to at least 8". That's going to really be some tedious work. There's no way to get a good sized shovel or spade in to dig that up. It will have to be mostly trowel work and sorting and cleaning the river rock from the dirt. If anyone is looking to work off some earthly sins, I'm pretty sure that will be a good way to do it. 

I think all of that will be enough to do for this year. I'll probably throw in some attacks on that old enemy creeping charlie and spread some more grass seed too, but that's minor stuff.

What's The Point?

I'm not against President Obama trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, I just fail to see the point while most Palestinians refuse to acknowledge Israel's right to exist and continue to insist on a right of return in order to see Israel's demise. Even if by some miracle a deal can be reached on physical borders for both states, it will simply amount to a temporary truce as the Palestinians intend to continue to seek the destruction of Israel. If someone can show me a credible proof that that is not so, from someone with real political power in the Palestinian territories, please, by all means show me.

But hey, good luck with that, Mr. President. 

Adult Baby Lifestyle?

Here's my nominee for gobsmacker of the day:

A key senator has asked the Social Security Administration to investigate how people who live their lives role-playing as “adult babies” are able to get taxpayer-funded disability payments - after one of them was featured on a recent reality TV episode wearing diapers, feeding from a bottle and using an adult-sized crib he built.

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and the Senate’s top waste-watcher, asked the agency’s inspector general to look into 30-year-oldStanley Thornton Jr. and his roommate, Sandra Dias, who acts as his “mother,” saying it’s not clear why they are collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits instead of working.

Go forth, read the whole thing, and be gobsmacked. I had no idea that there was such a thing as an Adult Baby lifestyle. I'll give anybody $1000 if they can wipe this knowledge from my brain.

As for the people in the story, clearly they are a couple of whack jobs who need some help. I'm fine with seeing tax dollars provide that help, but simply subsidizing that lifestyle is out of the question and that ought to be damned obvious to even the dimmest bureaucrat.

And get this from the "baby":

“You wanna test how damn serious I am about leaving this world, screw with my check that pays for this apartment and food. Try it. See how serious I am. I don’t care,” the California man said. “I have no problem killing myself. Take away the last thing keeping me here, and see what happens. Next time you see me on the news, it will be me in a body bag.”

Wow. Talk about testing the limits of my humanity. Encouraging suicide was wrong before and it's still wrong now, but Stanley is really pushing it.

Harmon Killebrew, RIP

After last week's announcement it came as sad but unsurprising news that Harmon Killebrew passed away this morning. Tributes are everywhere in the local media this afternoon for a Twins great who last played for the team 36 years ago. There are lots of great stories at both of those links about a man who was still winning hearts right up to the end. 

Rest in peace, Harmon.