The Ottermanempire.com

Another $200 down the crapper and a new toilet will soon be installed in the bathroom I can’t wait for its completion since most of this week has nauseated me to the point of throwing up. The timezone change for the weeks vacation came back with a vengeance and after 3 nights of 2-3am bedtimes with 6am attempts to wake up it all caught up on Friday morning.

Sat was relatively busy ..Another city mandated clean up of the yard. We’d DARED to go on vacation and there was rain = weeds which some busybody , ok we guess the person selling the house on either side of us had called in since we had been such a short time and had killed off the weeds prior to going. I’m sure yard work,armed ,won’t spook any prospective neighbors as they view the house.
Friday night was atheist night and I’m toying with no longer going for a variety of reasons though non of them involve being saved but more from the lack of community e.g “godless liberal” may be an epithet I will start using though likely not in the same context Coulter would use. The intolerance to my intolerance by those that want to run the world by force is amusing, ironic? I attack people on “my side”  too. I’ve  brought it up on many occasions but if it’s worth being boring over ( Advice  received from  “letters to a young contrarian” by Hitchens)  then I’ll risk .. risk nothing
There’s too many liberal atheists including the pretend atheists ( agnostics and  secular humanists ) that pile on the dangerous nutty beliefs of the current adminstration  while  extolling the “heaven  on earth”  that would result from an enlightened Democrat that  er has nutty and dangerous beliefs.  Seemingly  my eyesight  is not up to the challenge of separating the invisible from the invisible  from the non existent.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Beijing’s penis emporium

““Oh yes,” she adds, “the same group also ate an aborted reindeer foetus.”

“eat a big bowl of dick” See I wasn’t being rude I was merely concerned for your health and nutritional well being.

I can’t wait till Tsu’s fried ordure emporium and mortuary opens so “ESAD” can be passed off as casual tourist advice to all of those that annoy me.

Enjoy

XM Satellite Radio - America’s #1 Satellite Radio Service

It’s been, oh 5  years I think since XM launched ( google break  ) back in late 2001   when I harrassed , cajoled and basically made a pain in the ass of the distributors until I got my first XM radio the Sony xm01  which for a 77 channel service at launch SUCKED with a five channel memory but given that  we were in a test market , Phoenix has long commute times, and that nothing else was available it was the best , practicaly , I could get my hands on.  I was an enthusiast . Over time the sound quality has been degrading as new channels get piled on  and it’s not all in my head as this massive  thread will testify to.

In the early days I could write a customer request and get quick responses with people that weren’t restricted to a canned reply ( tonight I sent 2 mails with differing content that received the same  response)  Tonight I have cancelled my longest continguous subscription  based on the only recourse customer have when  reasonable requests to have the service we believed we’d paid for more closely resemble the claim for sound quality.   In short they have only so much bandwidth which means the 77 channels at launch are now  170 today ( some are  not on all the time since they are reserved for  the baseball)  within the same space  so guess how much robbing  Peter (Gabriel) to pay Paul  (McCartney) is going on? A lot:D
Too many artifacts can be heard  it’s nowhere near cd quality on all but a chosen few stations. Add in  a capricious  voice response phone system,  canned email replies that don’t pretend to address your issues   and an accidental cancellation of my account without notice from their end had  eroded my  advocate status to ex customer over a six month period.  I have an extra $12.99 a month I wonder if showtime’s worth a spin
?

AP Wire | 09/20/2006 | California AG sues automakers over vehicle emissions

“In effect, we’re getting the taxpayers’ money back,” Lockyer said in a telephone interview.

Boy where do I start..

The state of CA charges a sales tax on vehicles, on fuel , on registration annually and in rich irony money from users to ensure their cars conform to this standard that’s “killing them”. It gathers hundreds of millions more from fines relating to “improper” use of a vehicle. It has the most stringent emission standards within the US ( though 5-6 stupid states follow them) and yet it has the fucking gall to rob the people of the state and then claim the Automaker’s are the cause.He’ll protect these poor citizens from being oppressed by the nasty car people ( note he’s not going after haulage for some reason) he’ll get their tax money back by proving that GLOBAL warming is cumulatively caused by six brands within his state. That state is heading for a Randian reckoning one day which I hope I have enough distance from when it falls.

There’s a solution that sadly none of the autocompanies would have the balls to pursue which is akin to what Barrett firearms did to the LA police after they benefitted from his services and then publically thought they could lie their way to a ban of 50 cal weapons..Well they succeeded and Barret no longer sells to or services the exempt classes within the law ( police seemingly need weapons that have “no practical civillian use” which makes you wonder if they get where their power has been temporarily stolen from?

What if Ford Shrugged? Refuse to supply new vehicles to the state and refuse to service those already sold since if they are that dangerous isn’t it better that we get them out of service now? CA , if you didn’t have highway 1 and my otter friends ( and maybe a few people in LA,Sacremento and Santa rosa that could escape) I’d not miss you should you slide off into the ocean.

I think that it would be quicker if we just sat down and did this as a podcast…  

now to convince Erin…

Home sellers bury statues for good fortune
Seriously worrying there’s no end to the retardation (religion) + greed meme in the USA.I thought that I’d seen all the major manifestations  but yet a friend informs me that this is not a new thing.   21C  starts when?

I’ve already dealt with the “joy” of commercial air travel So let’s start from the ground up. We took Supershuttle to and from the airport which lead to the classic “cabbie” personality that the UK sends up as the atypical man on the street, the mobile philosopher prone to considered opinions like “it’s your darkies innit?” or “hangin’ too good for ‘em” Maybe driving a public hire vehicle provides an insight into the world’s cultures that the general population are ill afforded by paying attention in school? Service was on time for pickup , annoyingly delayed for return trip.

On arrival we found that the hotel didn’t have a shuttle ( or many of the other things that the site claimed) ,that rental co’s can’t pick you up from the airport and that hailing a cab would be the best choice. Cab = limo which is not that bad a way to start off your trip:) price = same as a cab. First duty to was to secure the rental car from Enterprise which was meant to be either a Maxima or a Charger yet turned into a Subaru Outback.

When I last considered a car purchase, a moment of economic weakness and insanity that should be avoided , the Outback was high on the list of purchase options. The reason I didn’t get one is twofold. I’m not happy with the fuel efficiency and price took it too close to a diesel jeep when you take the “incentives” masses on the Jeep side / none on the Subaru at the time I made the best choice and bought neither:D Anyway I didn’t really drive on vacation so most of my observations are from the passenger seat. Apart from a tire destructively blowing out, the difference between pssssssssssssssss flump and bang,whoosh scrape the car was great. Sadly the tire can’t have blown out since it was new ( claims enterprise) the jack can’t have collapsed under the weight of the car ( not just collapse but snap in half) so how we ended up stuck in a remote area for 2 hours in the blazing heat till we could secure a working jack ( 5 trucks had none) is beyond me.
positives: Solid, good pick up in city traffic, tight turning circle (really usefull for the Oahu car parks) rugged interior with many practical storage opportunities that actually are usable rather than cute.. VW beetle owners will recognise the latter problem.

Negatives: supplied jack is dangerous and unsuited to the task, spare wheel is not full size,

All in all this vehicle rocks, I know of two people that had nasty accidents within these , one from the side and one head-on in both cases heavier vehicles smashed the shit out of the Subarus and they walked away. (your accident may vary:D )

After the tire destructed we limped it back on the donut where we were given an “upgrade” to a Sebring convertible. The only feature of this car is that it’s a convertible. Underpowered, massive turning circle, blind spots a plenty with the roof up, utterly shitty traction trying to get up out the parking garage, crappy suspension on anything other than a smooth surface. It’s cheap, obviously so, and without the top coming down would be returned as a piece of shit. It’s an upgrade from walking.. not much else. There are far nice convertibles out there for a reasonable price now that it’s maybe time to put this one to sleep.

Parking near Waikiki? Sucks. Hotels charge 10-15 a night for non guaranteed parking, i.e you may have to use the lot next door, or the one next to that. Most of the parking lots are not well suited to anything other than a medium sized car but that doesn’t deter the people with suv’s:) truth be told you may not need a car for most of the “attractions” i.e if you want to be shown the island rather than discover it most of the  companies pick you up, supply the gear/ food, and drop you back off.   Though I would suggest walking after many of the exceedingly keen meals, if possible.

Like all tourist holes Waikiki is  full of people that can’t ride scooters that hire them regardless,  watch out  you may miss one of these annoying gits;)   On the whole roads are good,  they get a little more interesting in the North but  the worst hazard really appears to be the  low low roofs on the underground parking and the “fuck the suv”  width of these.. ( wow I hope this picks up soon.. It’s sending me to sleep:)

Hawaii’s Official Tourism Site — Travel info for your Hawaii vacation

Rather than post that I’m headed out for an extended period please come by and take all the possessions here’s the announcement. This year’s vacation, one I thought I would never take, was a trip to the Islands , though we only set foot on one, of Hawaii. Rather than jump into a linear “Galt’s length” piece I’m breaking it all up into little chunks the kind of little chunks I want to produce every time I see TSA staff.

So without further ado here’s the big picture.

We left Sept 7th and returned on the 15th , direct flights both ways,the threat level was elevated ,which I am sure is a mauvy shade of pinky russet, resulting in the BS treatment I’ve railed against for years (prior to 911 too) were the state infantalises adults for their own protection. No shoes, no belt sounds like prison, checks for toe-nail bombs? and our current favorite no liquids ( I do wonder what what occur if you tried to get a block of ice through). Even though Tatp and I really suggest you wander over to a recent Garrison Keilor piece

..This way, if some guy in a burnoose sets up a chemistry lab in row 24 and mixes hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid and acetone in a big beaker that is packed in 15 pounds of dry ice to keep it cool, and cooks up some triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, the passengers will be able, in the several hours it will take him to make the deadly explosive, to bring him under control, assuming the fumes haven’t knocked Ahmed out…

which nicely illustrates the assinine nature of liquid free flight. My cpap machine was swabbed for explosives , our luggage opened and not securely repacked and the condescending bitch on the way out of Hawaii just added to my overall animosity at these “guardians of freedom”. Suggestion: let the airlines decide what security they need.

Note I never am anything other than respectful to them in person they just seem to forget that it’s a two way street. Flying sucks more than it used to. The inability to get a drink when you want one is laughable, you have to buy your food onboard (since you can’t really bring on anything that has a paste or liquid on it ) and this time they ran out early. I mean really early not only do these ass clowns have a natural monopoly , a TSA enforced monopoly atop that they had enough food for under half the plane. At $5 a sandwich, cheaper than Starbucks, you would think an industry with serious issues making money without a Gov subsidy wouldn’t miss such an obvious stream.

Anyway nothing new in all of the above, just the price of doing business.

Coming up :

reviews: Subaru outback, Chrysler Sebring and general driving.

Nancy Grace Is A Stupid Bitch.com

What’s scarier … that she has a talk show or she used to prosecute people with the full power of the state? I’m one of the few people glad that she’s on TV:)

Ghoul ?

Anyway I’ve been quiet for a while since it was vacation time.. Soon there will be stories  re

why I can’t surf, how bad “tourist” eateries are and snorkelling for the whale shaped person and how much I hate the TSA / Airlines in relation to the scare, and that’s all it is , re binary explosives on a plane. Smug  , self righteous , condescending bastards on a mission  from their state god to try to make you say “thank you” for their service .. er no.  there’s a you in there but different verb;)

GOP’s Munsil seeks extra funding; Goldwater wants answers | www.tucsoncitizen.com ®

PHOENIX - A Republican candidate for governor is requesting an extra $238,000 of public funding because of a negative campaign tactic, but a rival candidate says it’s not at all clear who’s responsible.

Oh the poor dear , well if I’m paying towards his upsets then I may as well get my 2 cents in.Here’s some of this “man’s” positions  verbatim from his campaign site.

CNN.com - Lone Kentucky crash survivor awakens - Sep 6, 2006

One of the first full sentences he said after regaining consciousness was, “Why did God do this to me?” Cruz said.Cruz said Polehinke’s mother, Honey Jackson, told him: “It was not God. It was just an accident.”

Yeah there’s a convenience,   why do they pray to this cosmic jackass again ?

Slow-cooking - Food & Drink - Times Online

Organic carrots have a superior flavour and are plentiful at the moment. The long slow-cooking in this recipe brings out the natural sweetness, and it can become a winter meal in itself if topped with sour cream and served with plenty of crusty bread.

I’m not usually one for food items that don’t involve some degree of animal cruelty but we can count the chicken stock used here as a minor nod  in that direction.  This recipe , first time,  was seriously good and will certainly be heading for a remake.    < 90 minutes  to make,  takes about that long to find the blender and attachments in the house:D , not particularly  bad for you either   small amount of butter, little bit of cream at the end and  just go ahead and make the damn stuff. It’s way way better than carrot soup has any right to be and Erin doesn’t like it which means more for me:D
Much as I love Emeril, and the recipes, I can’t push sauces at Erin that utilize 3-4 sticks of butter, you read that right, not OZ,  but sticks, no matter how amazing the results. So next up  for me was Gordon Ramsey and that relationship is going quite nicely :..

BBC NEWS | UK | One in 10 justify honour killings

Of 500 Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims questioned, a tenth said they would condone the murder of someone who disrespected their family’s honour.

Families that have brainwashed their children into believing such crap have no honour worth defending.  Invisible men people  allows you to do all kinds of thing..  every horror , to paraphrase,  is possible with god.

Welcome to Freedom’s Phoenix — Your Portal to Political News, Information, and Open Forums

“It all comes down to faith and trust in your election officers.”

Lovely. Arizona’s current secretary of state Jan Brewer’s quote above is added to the list of ” we’re here from the government we’re here to help you” utterings that pile up on my screen. Thankfully she’s uncomfortable with the idea that Hancock’s , whose on the ballot against her this fall and whose,  pronouncements that V  really stands  for voting fraud is too close to the mark for comfort.   Regardless of the machines in use the fact politicians would allow no paper trail to exist is far far more relevant than any hacks that can be carried out on the system.

Maybe we’re becoming more like Mexico every day..