DainBramaged
DainBramaged's JournalIt bears repeating, the story of Joe six-pack Republican, self-made man
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and fresh because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.
With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girlie-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is ...properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor. Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.
Joe's employer pays the same standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It is noon and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below- market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by the Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big- government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father has Medicare, lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine- drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."
Inside Adam Savage’s Toolbox
Back when I was a professional model-maker at Industrial Light & Magic, my specialty was hard-edged construction—spaceships, miniature sets, and architectural stuff. These objects were sometimes just 12 inches across yet needed enough detail to fill a movie screen. One, for example, was the background I made of the Tipoca City building for the Obi-Wan-Jango Fett fight in episode two of Star Wars.
This work required a fine eye for detail—and tons of tools. By the time I moved to MythBusters in 2003, I had well over 300 items in my model-making kit. (Complete list here.) Of course, I love tools. I also love arranging them, to the point where I came up with a name for my organizing metric: first-order retrievability. It’s a function of two particular parts of my personality.
One: I like to work fast. I despise not having the right tool or, worse, knowing I have it but not being able to find it. It’s a pointless delay that wrecks my pace—and mood.
Two: I’m obsessed with the form of a toolbox. The idea of a portable kit that has everything you might need ignites something inside me. It’s like Batman’s utility belt.
http://www.wired.com/design/2012/08/inside-adam-savages-toolbox/
Akin is the 'pregnancy' the GOP is being forced to carry to term
and they don't like the 'shoe' that's on their other foot.
Sucks to be them.
New Apple retail chief makes "mistake" in firing staff, hires them back
Apple is reversing changes to the formula used to calculate staffing levels at its retail stores, according to a Dow Jones news report. An experiment using new formulas had apparently led to wide-ranging layoffs and cuts in assigned hours. However, Apple's new retail chief John Browett said the company "messed up" implementing the changes in the first place, and is hiring new staff to keep its stores prepared for a potential flood of customers next month.
Earlier this week it came to light that Apple Stores had been cutting staff hours, especially for part-time staff, and laying off many recent new hires. The changes came after Browett, the new SVP of retail, implemented a popular 25 percent pay raise for Apple Store employees when he took over for former SVP of retail Ron Johnson. Speculation suggested the changes were made to offset the increased costs of the higher pay.
That speculation seemed plausible given a recent New York Times article that suggested that Apple's army of retail employees were underpaid given the company's decidedly spectacular financial performance of late. Blog ifoAppleStore also cited sources that claimed Browett was—against advice to the contrary—trying to increase the retail division's profit margin by having all stores running "leaner."
The news comes shortly after a source close to Ars revealed that there was a company-wide wave of firings last week. The incident was related to employees taking advantage of stocks of replacement refurbished iPhone 4 models, which Apple had quietly begun replacing with iPhone 4S units. It seems Genius Bar staff were encouraging other employees, including managers, to claim their own personal iPhone 4 was malfunctioning, which a Genius would swap for a "free" upgrade to an iPhone 4S. Staff involved in such "trade-ups" were summarily shown the door.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/08/new-apple-retail-chief-makes-mistake-in-firing-staff-hires-them-back/
The iEconomy
Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/business/apple-store-workers-loyal-but-short-on-pay.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1
Dogfighting ring broken up, pictures and video, all good, have a nice day.
The Humane Society of the United States and their Animal Rescue Team was in Kalamzoo, Michigan last week with Hello Bully (Hello Bully is a Pittsburgh based non-profit focused on rescuing, rehoming, rehabilitating and repairing the reputation of the American Pit Bull Terrier.) and the Kalamazoo Humane Society to rescue 46 dogs from two suspected dogfighting operations. Click the link below to see more photos!
At one property set back in the woods, dozens of dogs were living outdoors on heavy chains or in chain-link pens, without regular access to drinking water or shelter. One black dog was tethered to a chain weighing almost as much as she does.
Inside, the team discovered a basement with blood splattered on the walls and floor, along with equipment typically used for dogfighting. In spite of being valued only for their capacity to engage in violence, the animals were so friendly and happy to see us, as you can see in our video and photos from the rescue. At another location in a residential neighborhood, we helped rescue more dogs and document another area stained with blood.
All these dogs are starting new lives thanks to the work of Kalamazoo County Animal Services and Enforcement, which began an investigation after receiving tips from the community. We were glad to assist with the investigation, provide the services of our mobile crime lab, and set up an emergency shelter. Local law enforcement and SWAT teams were also on the scene, as well as Kalamazoo Humane Society and Hello Bully providing assistance.
The animals from both suspected fighting rings are now at the emergency shelter, some receiving veterinary care for broken bones or illness. Some are elderly; many have scars consistent with fighting. All of them are getting plenty of care and attention, and we’re already seeing shyer dogs start to open up to people. We’ll have each dog professionally evaluated for possible adoption through our Dogfighting Rescue Coalition.
The owners of both properties were arrested and charged with multiple felonies—one had been convicted on dogfighting charges in the past. It’s this sort of work that we do that makes our communities safer for animals and people. No one can participate in this sport and be an upstanding member of society. People who disregard the law and enjoy watching this kind of violence won’t confine that behavior to the pit bull ring. It will spill over into the rest of their lives, and into the lives of innocent people and their communities.
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2012/08/michigan-dogfighting-rescues.html
http://slideshows.humanesociety.org/index.php#id=album-153&num=content-2881
For those of you who may be English Bull Terrier fans, Rufus, the king of all bullies, died today
He won Westminister in 2006, he was family of friends who helped rescue many English Bullies and whom I adopted my beloved Corey from. Rocky Top's Sundance Kid, the winingest Bullie in history. His family are Liberals and lovers of dogs. The angel known as Rufus has gone. Long live the king.
rest in peace our king, rest in peace. 
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