Monday Musings...

Another week starting out like it's more November than March. Going to get warmer as the week progresses, and I'm sure it won't be long before we're all griping about the HEAT and HUMIDITY...LOL. As usual, I want to "ease" you all into the week with some things I've either had on my mind, or have come to light over the last 72 hours, so here goes...

*** Wifey's car has some neat gizmos on it (even though it's a 1996). Power windows and locks, digital speedometer, delayed wipers, lights under the hood and trunk lids...lots of things my car doesn't have.

Even had a power antenna for the radio (automatically went up and down when the radio was turned on or off).

Well, it USED to work that way, until something internally decided to break itself, and then the antenna refused to go up OR down, and the motor ran long after the car was shut off. Well, since I didn't want to remove the wheel and inner fender to get TO that motor, I tried the fuses...nope, didn't work. (damn thing didn't seem to have an "OFF" switch readily available - not good if you don't want to run the battery down).

So, under the hood I went, and saw a connector close to the firewall. As the antenna motor was still running, I decided "what the hell", and unsnapped the connector. VOILA`...it shut OFF...(astounding)!

No longer will that motor drone on...ever. And the antenna can still be manipulated up or down MANUALLY (but works fine in the down position), so...problem solved.

(one less thing to bother the mechanic with when we take it into the shop over Spring break) Sometimes...I even amaze myself. Chalk it up to common sense (and a bit of luck tossed in).

*** The Japanese nuclear reactors are still presenting problems...this time with contaminated waste water.

I could see this coming, as all the sea water that as dumped onto the cores to keep them from melting down WILL absorb the radiation. Add to that, another earthquake, but one that did no further damage (thankfully).

The utility there (TEMCO) got some flak from it's warnings to citizens, and about 500 people protested, and yet STILL, no reports of lootings or riots. The spirit of NIN-TAI (persistence to perseverance) still rules the day in Japan. While crops were irradiated and tap water contains low levels of radiation, the people still display pride, but not of a haughty nature.

They have already determined that they WILL survive...will continue, and will thrive once again. That is one helluva testament to a nation.

*** This story got my shaking my head for more than a couple reasons.

(( Gunshot victim drives into police station Written by WANE Sunday, 27 March 2011 02:07 FORT WAYNE - A man with a gunshot wound crashed into the Fort Wayne Police Department Saturday night. Police told NewsChannel 15 the vehicle hit the steps leading into the the station on Creighton Avenue.

The man was driving himself to a hospital and a woman was following behind him in another vehicle. Police said she called 911 asking officers to pull the man over because he needed medical help and that's when the he crashed into the steps. Medics took the man to a hospital in serious condition.

His name wasn't released.

Now police are investigating when and where the man was shot. ))

Obviously, it was a LOW-speed "crash", as the railing were barely bent, but still, we have another instance of a shooting victim in our fair city. Now, if only the PERPS would crash into the police station for a change, hmm? Good thing the FWPD HQ is moving UP-town to center city (leaving the SE side wonderfully void of a police "building")...just what we need...NOT. Sure glad they closed all those "sub-stations" we USED to have around the city.

*** And then there was this.

(( Published: March 28, 2011 3:00 a.m. Biker ends police chase; just too cold - Ron Shawgo The Journal Gazette A high-speed police chase on Interstate 69 Sunday ended when the operator of a reportedly stolen motorcycle stopped when he could no longer see because of the cold, police said.

According to police scanner traffic, speeds reached in excess of 100 mph during the half-hour pursuit.

The temperature was about 39 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The cyclist, Christopher Bercham, who was not wearing eye protection, was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment, Fort Wayne police officer Scott Tegtmeyer said. The chase began on Illinois Road heading west near I-69 shortly after 4 p.m., Tegtmeyer said. A city officer pursued the cycle but was unable to catch it.

County sheriff’s officers became involved as the pursuit traveled along Bass Road. The chase continued in the area of Leesburg Road and U.S. 30, Tegtmeyer said. At one point, with city and county officers still following, the motorcycle rider headed south on I-69. At the city’s far southern border, the cyclist started to pull over near the General Motors plant. As he did, the cycle struck the mirror of a city police car, Tegtmeyer said.

Although the cyclist took off again, he stopped a few minutes later near a rest area farther south. "His eyeballs were almost frozen over," Tegtmeyer said.

Bercham,19, was transferred to Allen County lockup. He faces fleeing and theft charges, Tegtmeyer said. ))

Wow...finally caught one. Be great to see officers down in MY part of the ghettohood try and pull over the "drag-bikes" we hear zipping up down and over OUR streets, whenever the weather gets nice...for once. What can be learned here kids?

When on a motorcycle (at ANY speed and in ANY temperature) WEAR the damn goggles...or better yet...a HELMET! (you never know when you might want to ELUDE the police for whatever reason...and even a grain of sand at 60+ MPH in your eye can do some nice damage to your cornea.) And ALWAYS breathe through your NOSE (you bikers know why...lol).

*** Lastly today, I got a comment on Friday's post that I decided to NOT put up, and it was only because the person mentioned they hated black people.

Now, my Mom always said that "hate" was a strong word, and she was pretty much right about that. Although I post a lot about the blacks in MY part of town, you must realize that they are NOT representative of the ENTIRE race (thankfully).

They are a minority OF a minority - simple as that.

They are BAD folks, plain and simple.

And THAT kind of bad comes in ALL colors, shapes, sizes and races. I just "highlight" the ones that live closest to me, or feature people in our city (or in other cities) that commit crimes that YOU, the reader should be informed about.

Sometimes, it's even to demonstrate how inadequate the law can be to allow such people to slip from the scales of justice.

There are people that will paint other folks with a broad brush (as I mentioned in my comment on Friday's post), and if you NEED to do such a thing, be VERY sure of the people you choose as well as your motive for doing so. There is only ONE group of people I lump together, and that's the "chronically-stupid" among us. These are the people that have NO sense of what authority means, skirt the law at every opportunity, and basically prey upon others because they can. Folks such as this have no REAL place in a civilized society...like a "mom" that kills her infant by placing it in an oven, or 50+ teens that mob a convenience store, or people driving around trying to abduct young girls on their way to school.

THOSE people just aren't right in the head...period. THOSE are the ones I would tend to hate, despise, detest or otherwise not include with those people I like. And until they can come up with a STRONGER word, I'm gonna go with hate for now.

If I choose to hate those that do nothing BUT bring harm and hurt to others, does that make me a "racist"?

Not hardly...unless you're now considering calling ALL the stupid-asses in the world a "race", which considering the number of such people in the world today, might not be such a bad thing.

See, I don't care much for the REAL racists in society, either. Those in white-supremacist groups as JUST as culpable as those stupid people, because their hate is misdirected towards ALL people of certain races.

That don't sit well with me, because I've known my share of blacks,Hispanics, Asians and Jews, and the ones I got to know where fantastic people. (who also hated the stupid-asses of the world...imagine that - diversity WITH common "interests"...who knew?) We must have been ahead of our time, I suppose.

People I grew up with, worked with, played with, laughed with and cried with were ALL GOOD PEOPLE!

Race, nationality, or religion never entered into it.

Like I'm fond of saying: "You take people one at a time."

Now, until those living around me learn to display behavior that smacks of being a lot more "normal" than what I see today, I'm going to promote my dislike for them.

But it was not ME that instigated my feelings...it was THEM.

THEY proved to me they would much rather place themselves in that "stupid" bin, rather then be productive people of a society who are willing to learn and thereby educate others as to how to conduct themselves throughout life.

America as built NOT by ONE group of people, but by a conglomeration of ethnicities...of religions, of nationalities.

That's why we were called "The Great Melting Pot". We were the great experiment in societal evolution...people from many countries combined into ONE nation.

And we take one another the same way we take every day of our lives... One at a time.

Have yourselves a great week.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and... Stay safe out there, America.