Tag: news

Wow, this is weird

Kelly and I awoke to the smell of smoke, especially when I opened the back door to let the dogs out into the yard.  Turns out there was a major fire near the Somerville/Cambridge line on the other side of Inman Square.  The fire was on Calvin Street.  It got up to seven alarms.  I hope no one was hurt.

I looked at a map to figure out where the fire was and thought “wait, weren’t there some other fires in that neighborhood recently?”  It turns out that for once my memory was right.  In fact, one morning a couple of weeks ago two fires broke out at almost the same time, just a few blocks apart: one on Lewis and one on Dane.  That alone seems fishy, but now this huge fire happens, and in the same part of Somerville.  What are the odds that three fires would break out in two weeks in the same neighborhood?   I mean, these three fires are literally within a couple hundred yards of each other.  Am I nuts or does this seem a little fishy?  I mean, we have friends who live in this neighborhood.  I am just wondering if they need to worry about someone sneaking around in the wee hours setting fires or something.  I hope that arson is not the problem, but it sure seems like a possibility.

-Geoff

Faith in humanity being restored

Slowly.

I have to admit that the Texas Anti-Woman Law and the Zimmerman verdict coming within hours of one another made me really unhappy with humanity for a while.  Then there was the announcement that The View was hiring Jenny McCarthy to fill its patented Obnoxious Vapid Contentious Blond Host seat.

That about did me in.  How does somebody like her get paid $$$ to sit on TV and spew that dangerous crap when Geoff and I are working constantly, are far smarter and funnier, and we’re barely making ends meet?

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MEMO

July 14, 2013

TO: The State of Florida

FROM: Common Sense

RE: Last Night’s Court Decision

Please remedy the error in last night’s court decision.  If the unfortunate laws cited in the case are not overturned forthwith, please refer to the the following remedy.

CC: Texas State Legislature, re: The Bill That Shall Not Be Named

 

This is why I left IT

I tried for over three years to find a decent job in IT after I was laid off.  Looking for work, and generally trying to improve my IT knowledge and skills, became my new job.  I went back to school to improve my IT skills.  I gained several new certifications, picked up many more books and attempted to improve my skills as best I could.  Over three years of job fairs, workshops, endless resume rewrites, countless applications, all sorts of professional and personal networking, honing of cover letters, (you name it, and I did it) but nothing worked.  In three years I got less than five interviews.  I tried everything.  Of course, plenty of people had advice for me on how to find a job. Some was good, a lot was bad, and much of it was contradictory.

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Owning the past

The whole mess with Paula Deen has me thinking about a lot of people I knew when I lived in the South.  Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia were all places I spent a lot of time.  And the more I think about it, the more I think the image problem the South has in regards to much of the rest of the country (and even the world, to some extent) is this:

The South (as a region) still hasn’t come to grips with slavery, even now, some 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.  Collectively, the South thinks that it has, but really it hasn’t.  I am saying this as someone who was born there and lived there for decades who also happens to be a specialist in the area of 19th century American history.

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A rare event, indeed

It’s not often I get to talk about three of my favorite subjects in a single post: cetaceans; 19th century technology; and maritime archaeology.  But it seems an exceedingly rare Howell torpedo has been found off the coast of Coronado, California – by dolphins trained by the U.S. Navy.

Honestly, this is amazing.  There was only one of these that was known to exist, and now another has been found in the ocean… by dolphins.  It just boggles the mind.  It makes me wonder if anyone has ever tried using dolphins to deliberately search for shipwrecks.

-Geoff

Come on. We’re better than this.

Honestly, I wish I knew why some people have such a problem with anyone different than them.  American culture is one of the most heterogenous imaginable.  And yet there are still so many people afraid of “them”, whether it be gays, foreigners, or in this case, Muslims.

A U.S. Army veteran, who served in Iraq and is still in the Army Reserve, was apparently attacked by his fare last week.  And the guy was screaming about terrorists and the Boston bombing and whatnot.

You know, from a certain point of view, the group that has created the overwhelming majority of the problems I have had in my life is angry, bigoted white meathead rednecks.  Does that mean we should start profiling white rednecks?  Or start reporting “suspicious” white rednecks to the police? Does that mean all white rednecks are the same?  No, they aren’t.  It’s absurd.  And so is blaming all 1 billion plus Muslims for the acts of a small minority.  It’s not like Christians have been free of committing horrific violence in the name of their religious views.  So get over yourselves, people.  Try learning a little, opening your mind, maybe cracking open a book or two.  And for God’s sake, turn off the TV and the talk radio.  It’s only making things worse.

-Geoff

Now this is really feeling surreal

[ETA to make some additions and corrections – Geoff]

I honestly am just in shock now.

As if the events in Boston have not brought enough insanity to our world, now the last 12 hours have taken the crazy to whole new levels.

The two bombers lived in our neighborhood here in Cambridge.  And that is just for starters.

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