Humpday Happenings...
You know, when it gets cool enough outside and it affects the INSIDE of the house, there does come that time when you have to turn on the furnace.
Last evening was such a day.
The high didn't make it to 70 degrees here, and there were no clouds to retain whatever heat had been accumulated, so on went the heat.
And, of course, there was that "smell" that issues forth from the registers the FIRST time you crank it up.
I've been used to that smell ever since we had our row home in Philly.
When we had RADIATORS and a COAL-FIRED furnace, didn't have that problem.
Didn't have dandruff, either...LOL!
Forced hot air heating plays havoc with HAIR (dries out the scalp a lot faster), and PETS (static charges out the ass), and DUST (builds up like the encroaching sands of the Kalahari), unlike RADIATED heat.
Seems the OLDER technology worked just fine.
And with modern upgrades, many newer homes are going BACK to radiated heat (from a hot water furnace). It also negates the need to have a separate hot water heater for the bath/shower and sinks.
The REALLY hot lick, is to utilize the constant temperatures from the ground itself (geo-thermal), and run piping underground and back to the house, requiring less energy to heat the water...not a bad deal, IF you have the outside space to manage it (and of course, the MONEY).
On the cooler side, we've been fortunate, in spite of the heat from this past summer.
Our largest electric bill was a bit over $130. This past bill (including much of August) came to $77 and change.
That's not bad considering that our thermostat is regulated NOT by a computer, or some other "high-tech" nuance, but BY ME.
It's a basic thermostat, not able to be programmed other than by MY OWN HAND, adjusting it as needed.
You also have to realize that in my part of the "ghettohood", you don't readily open up the windows for ventilation in a cavalier manner...
That invites the "unwanted" contingent, because they feel they have some right to YOUR property, as is evidenced by the number of burglaries in the area most every year. The ONLY property they might have ANY "right" to (of mine), would be copper-jacketed in nature...with a lead core.
You'd think they'd run out of places to hit by now, but apparently not.
The police blotter is replete with robberies and burglaries every single day, many (repeats) in the same block.
And speaking of the police...
These types of stories are so typical of goings on around here:
(( Teenager shot in southeast Ft. Wayne
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A 15-year-old boy is in serious condition at a Fort Wayne hospital after a shooting on the city's southeast side.
The Fort Wayne Police Department told NewsChannel 15 that the teenager was shot around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday near the corner of Fairwood Drive and Radcliffe Drive.
People who live nearby told NewsChannel 15 they heard two or three gunshots and then heard a vehicle speeding off.
At this point, police are not releasing any information about the victim's identity, possible suspects, or a potential motive for the shooting.
Officers at the scene told reporters they had very little information to build an invesitgation on but that they did expect the victim to recover. ))
And then there's THIS little ditty:
(( City meth bust yields 4 arrests - Tip at north-end Walmart leads to lab on southeast side - Journal Gazette
Four people were arrested Tuesday after police found an active meth lab in a vehicle parked in the driveway at a south-side home.
Fort Wayne police were called about 10 a.m. to Walmart at 10105 Lima Road after learning that someone tried to buy items used to make methamphetamine. Police talked to that person and were told several others were involved with the same meth operation.
Fort Wayne Police and SWAT Team members executed a search warrant for the home at 3919 S. Clinton St., near Rudisill Boulevard, and found an active meth lab in the trunk of a vehicle in the driveway.
Police also found other materials used to make meth at the home.
Officers in gas masks were seen entering and exiting the home at that location
Four people were arrested.
- Paula McIntosh, 26, of Kendallville, is charged with possession of meth-making materials and possession of paraphernalia.
She was being held in lieu of $5,000 bail.
- Jennifer Marner, 30, of Ligonier, is charged with possession of meth-making materials and manufacturing meth.
She was being held in lieu of $12,500 bail.
- Phillip Oberly, 47, of the South Clinton address, is charged with possession of meth and a misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license.
He was being held in lieu of $2,500 bail.
- Susan Nevil, 39, also of the South Clinton address, is charged with possession of meth, manufacturing meth, possession of meth-making materials and illegal dumping of hazardous waste.
She was being held in lieu of $17,500 bail. ))
Goes to show how pervasive things like this are down here.
Of course the meth-heads were white trash (as usual).
I guess the chance of having that mobile one-pot "lab" sitting in the damn driveway possibly blow the f$ck UP didn't occur to these numbnuts, hmm?
And THAT is why we call it DOPE!
If you don't have the white trash cooking meth, you've got the black brown and white weed & crack "salesmen" hawking THEIR goods along the streets of the SE side (mobile drive-ups are a specialty).
One thing you need to realize about ALL of this crap, is that current networking technologies make much of this possible.
The advent of the mobile phone and ALL it's subsequent cloned "gadgets" allow criminals to "get the job done"...
What they Fail to know, is that this tech works BOTH ways.
Law-enforcement ALSO makes good use of the devices available to get THEIR job done.
I'm one of those "throwbacks"...a person from a different time, when we had little if ANY of all this techie-crap.
We wanted to call someone while we were out and about...we carried small CHANGE to use the PAY PHONE.
Or, we just stopped by their house to see if they were home.
(this was AFTER we were done work for the day, mind you...we have something called ETHICS in those days, too)
We have allowed our technology to far surpass our ability to acclimate ourselves to it's PROPER uses.
And, as a result, we have become a nation of buttheads...simple as that.
One can look no further than THIS from today's OP-ED page:
(( Epidemic spurs an urgent call to action
Cell phones and driving are becoming almost as lethal as drinking and driving. A study from the American Journal of Public Health shows driving while distracted is becoming a public health epidemic.
Between 2001 and 2007 about 16,000 people died because they were trying to drive and text at the same time.
The study shows that distracted driving is becoming a public health risk akin to drunken driving. Deaths from distracted driving swelled from 4,572 in 2005 to 5,870 in 2008 – a 28 percent increase in just three years.
Legislation prohibiting texting while driving or talking on cell phones while driving exists in at least 30 states. But, the study concludes that more effective enforcement of laws deterring texting or using cell phones while driving is needed. ))
One would think that with increased TRAFFIC ALONE, that would be "distracting" enough, but I suppose some people like to really push that envelope.
(at everyone else's expense and risk of death)
When it comes to technology, I can think of only ONE man that said it best:
"Why does this magnificent applied science, which saves work and makes life easier, bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it."
That was said by none other than ALBERT EINSTEIN, in an address to the California Institute of Technology, WAY back in the 1950s!
I like to amend that by saying that "ANY great technology is ONLY AS GOOD as the worst way we can manage to pervert it".
So there you have it...lots to ponder this fine autumn day.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and be sure to...
Stay safe out there, America.