Innocent Bystanders

Ames, IA, and Iowa State University, the alma mater of a certain fella we know, has determined that the weight of kegs hitting the sidewalk is a major problem. In fact, the sidewalks near an area where many bars are located and the required beer distributors unload their liquid goods are becoming cracked and damaged.

So, how did Ames overcome this dilemma, without disrupting vital beer supplies?

Why, they made rubber sidewalks!

The city of Ames is installing a rubber sidewalk at a spot near the Iowa State University campus where beer distributors unload hundreds of kegs from trucks for area bars.

The heavy kegs have been cracking the concrete pavement. So officials have decided to install sidewalk pavers made by a California company using recycled tires.

The city’s streets supervisor tested the project by taking a sledge hammer to it. The new sidewalk didn’t even dent.

Apparently, the sidewalks also saved a bunch of tires from being burned. But who cares about that? Beer supplies will continue unabated.

Just how cool is the pool lookin these days?

Awesomeness.

Last pics (sans sewer pipe), all the plants were itty bitty.

No more. 

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Last night, my father, oldest younger sister, and I went to a local range for our local mandatory anti-zombie training. I practiced with my Mosin Nagant and my .22 Ruger.

I only fired 20 Rifle shots, and 40 Ruger shots because loading that rifle was something I had to get used to and after the two 10-round magazines that came with my Ruger were expended, I still have to learn how to load a .22 magazine quickly.

As you can see, I still need a lot of practice. But this is fun, and I want more.

Oh, and those zombies don’t stand a chance.

Pistol Shooting.

Rifle Shooting

A few days ago, my wife, daughter, and I went pedal boating through the canal system built in Forest Park, which leads to the Grand Basin. The Grand Basin is at the base of Art Hill, with the St. Louis Art Museum and the statue of King Louis IX at the top. Here are a few photos my wife took from the perspective of a pedal boat operated by a lardass who thought he was in better shape than an hour of continuous pedaling in water would prove.

This is one of the fountains in the Grand Basin.

This is a shot of Art Hill and the St. Louis Art Museum.

This is a photo from a little bit ago from the top of Art Hill to provide perspective on the Grand Basin.

And here is a shot I took of the statue of King Louis IX.

All these years, I thought only the Dallas Cowboys, Keith Hernandez, and The NBA approached random casual sex with the same vigor that I approach the All-You-Can-Eat Sushi Happy Hour Fun Time at Mr. Sushi. But I was wrong.

It turns out those paragons of virtue and innocence, namely Olympic Athletes not named Kobe, really love to get acquainted with each other after the day is through. So much so, 100,000 condoms are available at the Olympic Village.

While sex is not an Olympic sport it is expected to be an activity in the Beijing village housing 10,500 athletes, all of whom are in great shape and with plenty of free time on their hands once knocked out of the Games.

Athletes have received free condoms at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 to help raise awareness of AIDS, and Beijing is no exception.

“There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes’ village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available,” Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.

“A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters.”

The UNAIDS, the Beijing organising committee BOCOG and International Olympics Committee are providing 100,000 condoms as part of a campaign on HIV prevention and anti-discrimination.

At the Sydney Games in 2000 athletes quickly exhausted a supply of 70,000 and another 20,000 had to be brought in.

Well, lets see who could be top contenders to exhaust this supply.
First up:

Some members of the German Female Athletic Contingent. These brave lasses gamely shed their clothes to discuss the Georgian War. Well, at least that is what I gathered when I went to the original source document. But my German is a bit rusty. Anyway, here is a snippet from the German version of a certain magazine that has great writing from George Plimpton and lotsa skin. But mostly skin.

Petra Niemann is competing in her third Olympiad, and sailing is her game. “I’ve been working hard with my psychologist,” she told Playboy, as if to suggest this had something to do with sport or being naked.

Kayaker Nicole Reinhardt is one of Germany’s best hopes for gold in Beijing, and is grateful that her sport is about technique, so the “dickere und kräftigere” (”butch”) ladies have nothing on her svelte frame.

Yeah. I told you the interviews were great.

Another contender is Spanish Rhythmic Gymnast Almudena Cid Tostado, who was kind enough to pose for the Spanish version of FHM, which also has great articles.

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The Pupster Boys and Mrs. Pupster have been having loads of fun making videos, mostly clips from characters they create in The Sims, mixed with music in Windows Movie Maker. Since they like to post them on their personal blogs or share them with friends, I’ve been letting them use my YouTube account.

Today I received a sphincter-tightening email from YouTube titled “A YouTube partner made a copyright claim on one of your videos”

Dear impupsterdammit,

UMG has claimed some or all audio content in your video Wake Up Call The Sims 2 Music Video. This claim was made as part of the YouTube Content Identification program.

Your video is still live because UMG has authorized the use of this content on YouTube. As long as UMG has a claim on your video, they will receive public statistics about your video, such as number of views. Viewers may also see advertising on your video’s page.

After I unclenched and began to follow some of the links in the email, I found the situation to be acceptable, and if I may say so myself, handled elegantly. Copyright holders, in this case UMG, provide to YouTube ID files for the material they wish to protect, and YouTube uses a Video Identification Tool to wash all new uploads against the ID files. When they get a match, the copyright holder can choose three courses of action:

There are three usage policies — Block, Track or Monetize. If a rights owner specifies a Block policy, the video will not be viewable on YouTube. If the rights owner specifies a Track policy, the video will continue to be made available on YouTube and the rights owner will receive information about the video, such as how many views it receives. For a Monetize policy, the video will continue to be available on YouTube and ads will appear in conjunction with the video. The policies can be region-specific, so a content owner can allow a particular piece of material in one country and block the material in another.

In the case of Mrs. Pupster’s Wake Up Call The Sims video, USG has allowed the video to remain on YouTube with the addition of Google Ads (which I assume with fill their corporate coffers with untold riches), and will receive tracking and usage information.

It seems like a pretty good application of common sense, and I hope to see more of the same in the future, rather than the heavy handed tactics some other copyright holders pursue.

In a conclusion that even I could understand, some smart guy wasted a ton of money coming to the conclusion that sexually appealing athletes can make a shitload of money in the advertising business.

The author of this mind-blowing piece mentioned the usual suspects: Amanda Beard, David Beckham, Maria Sharapova, and swimmer Dara Torres. But the much appreciated newcomer to the scene is Paraguayan javelin thrower Leryn Franco, who I had never heard of until today.

Leryn Franco, 26, a javelin thrower from Paraguay, is competing in her second Olympics at Beijing, thanks to her second career, modelling.

“Modelling is a way for me to continue with my sport, the hours are flexible, and you can earn good money through photographic modelling and the catwalk,” Franco told Reuters.

So, what does this athlete look like?

[UPDATE: PHOTO IS NOW BELOW THE FOLD. IT'S CLEAN, BUT I DON'T WANT TO START ANY TROUBLE.]

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Here is one way:

Here is how others may spend their time off:

Or, here is another idea:

Ruger Mark III .22.

Somebody, and I think it was Russ, mentioned something about a warning on the side of the pistol. I thought he meant a big sticker. Turns out I didn’t know what he meant. There is a warning about reading the instructional manual engraved on the side of the pistol. And the loaded chamber indicator has “loaded chamber indicator” engraved on it as well. The nerve. Warning people that firearms are dangerous and holding peoples’ hands to tell them when a pistol is loaded?. What’s next? Nagging us that eating raw Crisco is bad for you?

But I digress. As an added bonus, Ruger is offering a discount on NRA membership.

My dad also went with me and bought a Taurus (from Brazil?) 9 round .22 revolver.

Those zombies won’t stand a chance.

Meet Bia and Branca Feres, twin sisters from Brazil. What makes them even better is that they are synchronized swimmers. I could care less if they are on the Olympic team from Brazil or not. But this just proves that all sports should be taken seriously. Here is a photo of them:

And here is a video of the sisters in action. You know, for educational purposes.

Oh, and I bought a .22 Ruger Pistol today, and Lauraw may have a kindred spirit in her hatred of crocs, but who cares about that?

A couple of new crime fighters at Chez Skinbad. Right after we got home from our fun-filled week of mooching at visiting Camp Geezer, Evil Con Carne’s 15th birthday hit. We had been dogless since the first of April and ECC kept telling us the only thing he wanted for his birthday was a dog. Our yard had never looked better, by the way, but I guess I should forget about that.

We had a decompress from the long drive day in Salt Lake at my parents and visited SL County’s animal shelter and the Humane Society’s as well. It was tough. As an aside, I would guess 80% of the dogs were pit/pit mix or labs. We had a couple brought out to meet, but it wasn’t clicking.

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I attended a housewarming party for my wife’s twin sister. The highlight for me was the free booze and the food. And all that food got me thinking (which is always dangerous) about other food stories I have found. So, here goes:
Somebody else loves Hors d’oeuvres as much as I do.

Holy fuck, I am seriously hungover. Of course that’s what happens when you drag your lazy ass off the couch to attend a friend’s birthday party on a weeknight. So what could have possessed me to do such a thing? Was it my affection for the birthday girl or the two hours of open bar featuring all of my favorite top shelf liquor, beer, and champagne? Fuck no, it’s all about the possibility for those delicious little hors d’oeuvres.

So today, while I’m burping up a delightful combination of Hendricks, Macallan, and Veuve at my desk, I’m still regretting that one last fried risotto ball I missed out on. Dear god those fuckers were tasty.

Bacon is under assault in the Nanny State for having “too much” Sodium.

But ham and bacon processors say the move will reduce the shelf life of products, and put customers off. A 10-slice packet of ham contains just under two teaspoons of salt.

Claire Cheney, director-general of the Provision Trade Federation, representing leading processed meats companies and supermarkets said the targets were a potential health risk.

She told The Grocer magazine: ‘If you have not got sufficient preservative in a product like ham you get pockets where the salt levels are too low to prevent the formation of the botulism toxin.

‘This will force us to reduce the shelf life further and with that come serious food safety concerns, not least the risk of botulism.’

She was backed by Elizabeth Andoh-Kesson, technical manager of the British Meat Processors Association.

She said: ‘We are very worried about the stricter targets and believe that reducing salt further has implications for food safety and the shelf life of products.’

And one guy REALLY didn’t appreciate Subway screwing up his order.

When police did arrive Peterson told the officer he had ordered two sandwiches, checked out, and then walked outside to find the subs did not have “everything” he ordered.

He told police he became “very upset” and “belligerent” because the employee making the sandwich was not doing it correctly.

Witnesses inside the store say Peterson eventually started screaming at everyone inside. When Peterson went outside to call police. Employees closed the store and locked the door to keep him from returning.

According to the report, the officer tried to calm Petterson and explain to him the proper way to use 911, but he would not cooperate.