Moral-Flexibility.Net

While citing US law the advice applies North of the border as well.

[Hat Tip: My 2 second shelf life]

Darren Brown talks people out of their wallets. I can’t imagine this working on me, but then I’m pretty sure the guys who handed over their wallets both thought the same thing as well.

Mid October the city of Guelph tore up the street in front of my office. This construction project appears to have been managed by Mickey-Dumbsh*t Construction Ltd, and the result was that every two or three days the workers would abandon the project during a rainstorm and allow the road to become a mini-version of the Somme complete with trench systems and shell-holes. As the construction was taking place across the only way in or out of the parking lot I had no choice but to drive through the mess 10 times a week in my poor beat-up Taurus. Even at low speed (5km/h) zig-zags the car would inevitably catch a pot-hole and bottom out with the usual distressing crunch noises.

One immediate consequence was that my passenger side front tire gave up the ghost, picking up three nails in ten meters (an inspection of the scene makes it pretty clear that the potholes had caused some building supplies to fly clear of what I assume to be a contractors truck as the roadway had a nice coat of nails, and some misc scrap scattered across it) in a single trip. A used tire replaced the old one, but the vehicle still drove as if the alignment had been knocked askew.

The construction has finally reached a point where the road is passable (paving having mostly been done) and I figured it was time to get the vehicle sorted out. Turns out it’s more than the alignment (and brakes) and there’s a littany of issues with the front end (which I’m largely blaming on the off-roading I was forced to do ten times a week).

The car goes in on Monday, repairs slated at over $1,000. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t discover anything else when they’re mucking around underneath it.

A Bulgarian Army Officer attempted to smuggle a Panzer IV out of the country and was caught by the secret service. Collectors would pay a small fortune for the World War II era tank, and I’m not too shocked, I’d personally love to have a Panzer parked on my front lawn, whether I’d put it on blocks to drive the neighbors nuts remains to be seen.

What does kinda shock me here is that this was his second kick at the can, having already shipped a tank over the border. Uh, now I’m no customs agent but doesn’t a multi-ton armored behemoth with a big f*ck-off gun sticking out the front attract some sort of attention? Or did he just drive it over claiming it was the newest sport-ute on the market?

[Hat Tip: Conservative Scalawag]

Not only a zombie movie connoisseur, gun owner, member of the Zombie Squad and frequent identifier of my more obscure zombie motivational posters, Grifter can put together quite an articulate rant.

…They will call for more laws against the civil rights of all Americans in spite of the fact that there were already laws that would have prevented young Hawkins from possessing a firearm…had he obeyed them. Local records show Hawkins had a felony drug conviction on his record as well as several misdemeanor cases filed against him…

..There are in fact laws and rules. But laws and rules are only for the good, as the bad never pay them any mind to begin with. There were laws keeping Hawkins from having a rifle, yet they failed. There were laws keeping Hawkins from killing so many people. But, as in Virginia, Tacoma, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Columbine, the law failed, as it will always fail…

He’s summed up precisely what I was thinking when I watched the news reports, slide on over and give the entire post a read.

[Edited to add: Whoops. Google Reader failed me and skipped the correct attribution to Gabe Suarez]

Five important tips for women.

1. It’s important that a man helps out around the house, and has a good job.
2. It’s important that a man makes you laugh.
3. It’s important to find a man you can count on,and will never lie to you.
4. It’s important that a man loves you passionately, satisfies you completely, and spoils you with expensive gifts.
5. It’s very important that these four men don’t know each other.

[Found randomly online, and made me laugh]

When I was a teenager I took part in my first (and last) relatively big stakes poker game. I successfully managed to lose around $800 (my final paycheque from a job I had just quit) over the course of the evening, not only that but I had borrowed $100 from a friend before finally shutting it down. I’d spent the entire evening chasing my losses, figuring I’d make it up on the next hand. I didn’t. What I did do was deliver flyers door to door for the next week earning that money back to pay my rent.

In retrospect it was an important lesson learned early, and one that colored my view on gambling from that point forward.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve gambled since. But that lesson taught me to play with only the money I could afford to lose. If I win I pocket my stake and count myself lucky. If I lose then I’ve spent a sum of money equal to a night out drinking or at the movies. No harm no foul. No more chasing my losses.

Reinforcing my early lesson I spent a few years working security in a casino (actually a couple of casinos, but who’s counting) and from the perspective of “people watching” they’ve always reminded me of strip clubs. Drab, depressing and reeking of desperation. People chasing a fantasy to the detriment of their real lives. It’s unfair to paint all gamblers with the same brush, but the ones that stick in my mind were those that were spending money they couldn’t afford to lose, and all the while clinging to the hope that the next hand would pull them up out of the losing column.

I’ve really no point here, it’s just that I watched Owing Mahowny last night and was reminded of my time at the casino.

“Passengers on a German train mistook a Halloween reveler dressed up as a gore-covered zombie for a murder victim and called the police.

The 24-year-old man fell into a drunken slumber on his way home from a Halloween party in Hamburg, police in the northern town of Bad Segeberg said Monday…

Uh, while I’m all for exercising caution around zombies, did no one think to check the guys pulse before pushing the panic button?

[From This Hour has 22 Minutes]