Does This Explain 'New Coke"?

Yesterday I, and a lot of my neighbors, got a letter from our electric company. They are offering to do an energy audit of my home so they can show me ways to reduce my energy usage.

WTF?

Isn't that like getting a letter from your brewery, offering a membership to AA?

Seriously, WTF?

Why are they offering to help me use LESS of their product?

Here's what I figure is going on:

If every home uses less electricity, then they need to generate less juice. When they need to generate less, they can do it with fewer power plants and fewer employees.

And then they apply for a rate increase, so although I am using less of their product, my bill stays the same.

Win/Win for them; Lose/Lose for me.

I went out looking on the internets for the old fashioned electric company logo; you know the one; a lightning bolt with a light bulb nose wearing a hardhat?

I found this instead, and thought "what a cheesy show that was", and realized the image fit perfectly!

Well, I Figure It This Way

I got involved in a conversation over at Althouse's blog that stated with Rand Paul and the Civil Rights Act, and devolved into a discussion of state versus individual racism.

One of the Althouse commenters, who lives in New Orleans, mentioned that she can drive to a point in New Orleans where whites are not made welcome, as well as a point out in the Bayou where Blacks are similarly treated.

I felt my response was worthy of a post here as well.

Beth, I find it interesting that in an hour's round trip drive you can find establishments that discriminate racially from both sides.

45 years after the end of Jim Crow and the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

How do you explain that?

How do you feel about it? In as much that this requires at least a percentage of blacks to be at least a little racist?

Or is it a retaliatory response to the white store owners several miles away?

I used to work in a service station, back when that meant something, in a racially mixed neighborhood. We had young black guy who did the cleaning for us at the station, and on Saturday's he would stop at a barbecue joint a block or two away and get ribs for us.

Some Saturdays I would go myself, if there were two of us on the shift, and invariably when I opened the door all conversation would stop and every eye would turn toward me.

And I knew by sight most of the folks in there. They came by the station; I had pumped their gas and fixed their cars.

I was served; conversations would slowly restart, I would talk to several about problems they had with their cars, but the whole atmosphere was strained.

And I was the only white person in the store.

Was this racism?

I don't think so; I just think it was a group response to someone different in their midst.

My presence made both sides of the situation uncomfortable, and yet we both knew we had no reason to be. I didn't go there often; maybe 3 or 4 times tops in the course of 5 or 6 years, and each time I felt the same.

Did they feel the same when they visited the white owned business I worked at? I doubt it; our place was always full of both races, so things weren't as one sided.

To makea long story short, if its not too late, maybe the feeling you get in both of these places isn't institutional or even individual racism, but only a sociological response to some one different?

A Fast Weekend

This weekend was a fast one. I relly have no idea where it all went, but I do have some clues.

I bought 2 6 packs of Hofbraus Haus beer on Friday; both of them are gone.

The piece of trim that fell of the right rear door of my car is back on, and the rust spots that had developed over the last year are gone too.

All of the flower beds are weeded, and, although I can see them, I know there are some new seeds planted that I was permitted to help the Young'Un plant. Basically that means I was the one who cleaned up the tools and got in trouble for her being muddy.

There is a new pull rope on the weedeater, so it runs now. All the sidewalk cracks have been sprayed with roundup and the concete swept.

And the balky lock on the tool shed is fixed.

I also found a new ceiling fan in the living room this morning.

And apparently at some point I got my haircut.

No wonder I felt like hell this morning!

Real Life M. C. Escher Drawing

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I found this at That Will Buff Out; a great collection of wild car photos, mostly in bad situations.

Wow; Only my 3rd Post this Month

In my defense, May is the perfect time to be outdoors.

The weather is warm, but not hot; everything is in bloom (and needs weeding)the grass needs to be cut twice a week- if your lucky, and after a long winter cooped up in the house, I'm ready to get some fresh air- air that hasn't been breathed twice before and warmed by a furnace.

And we're not bored with outdoors yet, like we will be in September.

And I'm not the only foul weather blogger; a lot of the blogs I read have slowed down on posting since the weather turned warm.

Maybe its the languid scent of everything being in bloom that distracts us from the dark room and solitary chair.

Or maybe its a stupor brought on by hay fever; hell, I don't know

And yeah, that's my front yard.

Win Some, Lose Some

Well, last night was a typical Election Night for me. Some of my candidates won, and some lost.

More particularly this year, there were some I just wanted to lose, and I didn't care who the winner was.

Rand Paul won BIG.

But, he gathered fewer votes than the second place Democrat; what will that mean in November? In 2008 Dems were 57% of voters registered; only 6.9% were other than Dem or Repub. And with Kentucky's closed primary system you can only vote in the party you are registered for. If there is a lot of Dem support for the Tea Party, as is claimed, Rand may win big in November as well.

One Republican loss last night was Pennsylvania's 12th District, formerly held by John Murtha, and now held by one of his aides, who probably has only been in Pennsylvania to run for elections.

Dems are making a big deal about the win, saying it shows the Democrats are done yet.

Maybe. But the seat is up for reelection again in November along with the rest of the House, and with this vote being held on Primary Day I don't think it means squat.

I think too many Dems got into the Primary mindset and pulled the Dem lever.

Besides; the guy will be there 6 months before the election, and basically will be running for re-election the whole time. Every vote he makes will get super scrutinized, and in November he will be running on that voting pattern. He may as well resign himself to either voting with the Republicans for 6 months or not plan on being re-elected.

Locally, one of my guys may have lost- expect a recount (it was THAT close)- and the one I wanted to lose did; REAL BIG.

The hard part is now I may need to vote for the Democrat in November, if Pendrey wins the recount.

Today I'm in Heaven

About 10 years ago my Dad bought a BUNN coffemaker. He loved the coffee, but hated the idea that the thing was constantly hot, so he gave it to me.

I loved the thing. 5 minutes from hitting the switch to a full pot of darn near boiling tea- yeah, I drink tea, not coffee; because of a caffeine issue.

But about a year ago the damn cat knocked my BUNN off the counter and ever since it has leaked while brewing. I tried getting the parts from BUNN, but their customer service SUCKS. And, because BUNN's Customer Service SUCKS, I wasn't about to cough up a hundred bucks for a new one.

So for about 8 months I just got accustomed to adding an extra 2 cups of water to the tank and wiping up 2 cups of water from the counter. Yeah, it was a bad situation.

So I bought a $10 Rival at Walmart. Took 30 minutes to make a pot of tepid tea, and the pot was so poorly designed that it leaked whenever you poured anything from it. For the last 4 months I have still been wiping up half a cup of water from the counter every morning.

Then yesterday the wife went to a yard sale and found a BUNN for $10. This morning, for the first time in 4 months I had a HOT cup of tea in 5 minutes. I start the tea, prepare my cup with a little sugar and a little milk, pour a little milk in a bowl for Daisy, and Voila! Tea is done, and too hot to drink.

I don't care if it does rain today; Heaven on Earth has returned!