Tuesday Tidbits...

Some weeks seem to run longer than others, and I'm sure those in Boston have had more than their share of "long" weeks of late.
Out here in the heartland, we're not as "fortunate" to have FIVE FEET of snow...thank God for small favors.
Our Hoosierland weather will see us with a close doppelganger to yesterday, with temps only getting back up to around 28 degrees.
Got some light snow showers dropping by to say "hi", too.
Skies will be less partly and more mostly cloudy today, and we're supposed to get some sunshine (Really? Where? Oh, there it is).
Could be a good day, relatively-speaking (until some moron comes along and louses it all up), so let's pour ourselves a nice hot cup of our well-loved morning beverages, as we take a look at all the "other stuff"...
*** First out of the cage is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
February 10 - 
---Today is UMBRELLA DAY...funny, no rain is forecast. Seems a bit of a waste.

Well, you could always go out and BUY an umbrella to replace the one the wind turned inside out last year, plus, it never hurts to have a "spare"...or several (esp.one in the trunk of the car).
Moving on...
*** Wifey had some angst driving to work (school) this morning..
Seems the next block up has some "people" (and I use that word very loosely) here who have difficulty figuring out where their vehicles should be parked in relationship to the CURBS.

OBVIOUSLY...NOT our street.

In other words, the street was rendered IMPASSABLE to traffic, and Wifey had to back DOWN the block and get to the NEXT street over.
Suffice it to say that I will be placing a "3-1-1" call downtown as soon as they open (0800 hrs), and getting PARKING CONTROL to do a drive-through (if they can) and cite some of these lazy-ass mooks.

See...it CAN always be WORSE...!

Again, this is what I've been griping about for (seemingly) AGES...the NEED to have Parking Control , and YES, the FWPD as well, doing PATROLS in the area to alleviate such problems.
It should not have to constantly fall on those (few) of us that still give a rat's ass to have to call in EVERY SINGLE THING that is wrong.

If we did, we'd be on the damn phone ALL damn day, and never get anything else done.
Thing is, after you DO call this crap in, you have absolutely NO assurance that any of it will be taken care of in the (normal) manner you recall in years past...it's a guessing game of sorts...wondering IF things will change (even when they never seem to).
I know it sounds like I'm beating a dead horse, but the ONLY way to get anything done down here is...TO DO SOMETHING.
(unlike all the government-sponsored moolies living off of the taxpayer's wallet who do nothing).
Almost makes you wonder if such a "squeaky wheel" will get the oil...or, more importantly can even be HEARD above the din of boomcars, loudmouth idiots and random gunfire.
*** Next up, another "smash and grab" (attempt) made at another jewelry store.
Here's the story link:
http://wane.com/2015/02/09/hammer-wielding-man-leaves-jewelry-store-empty-handed/
This took place Saturday at Bradley Gough Jewelers out on 4321 W. Jefferson Blvd around 1315 hrs.

In this case, the hammer-wielding would-be bandits could not break the display case, and left without anything.
Store personnel DID take a picture of the getaway car and guess what?
It had OUT-OF-STATE plates.
(what did I say last week about the other robbery and taking the swag elsewhere to fence?)
The FWPD should roll down in OUR neighborhoods, where the number of OOS plates are higher than other places.
Start checking out the people driving those vehicles...might even get lucky, but you'll never know if you never try.
Oh, and the two men were (also) BLACK...just like the previous perps in the Jared heist.
The same thugs? We don't know, because no one has released any VIDEO yet...

STILL seems to be so.

You want the PUBLIC'S HELP? Then start getting the information TO the people ASAP, instead of sitting on the damn shit for days.
*** Next, Another thief in the area, but he's more into "home improvement".
Here's the story link:
http://www.21alive.com/news/local/Police-Seeking-Help-Identifying-Theft-Suspect-291305411.html
This took place at two Lowe's stores, and the suspect is a WHITE male, 5'10" - 6' tall, 170-310 lbs.

Amazing how FAST this pic came out, but how SLOW the jewelry store pics are provided, hmm?
Guess nobody wants to point fingers at the minority populace as readily?
Crime is crime, and perps are perps...doesn't much matter the skin color.
*** Kevin Leininger had a very good column about our "current" war on terrorism (if we're still calling it that today), and here's the link:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150210/NEWS/150209651/1041/LEININGER

Leininger calls upon history and Churchill to make a cogent point...war is what it IS, and you should always CALL the enemy what it IS.
The scourge of the Nazis and the "axis powers" were something to note from recent history, rather than invoke the Crusades (as our Whiner-in-Chief did at a PRAYER BREAKFAST of all things).
Sure, a lot of Muslims were killed during the Crusades...but it was the CHRISTIANS attempting to TAKE BACK lands and cities the Muslims had taken initially (read conquered)., so, in essence, this was a DEFENSIVE "offensive".
People have to understand history and the wars that were waged as well as the CAUSES and REASONS behind them
You can't "cherry-pick" as our president does and chide Christians when in fact, it is Islamists (and extreme ones at that) causing terrorist activities around the world.
*** Next, one of our "locals" saw fit to dump a crapload of trash at the alley, and when pickup came, it was not picked up.

And they JUST had a "domestic" this weekend, too

So there it sat..until (once again) I called into Solid Waste and sent them pictures of this mess.
Well, it wasn't more than 2 hours later, that this shit was taken away properly, and the manager of this city department told me he was sending a WARNING letter to the house about scattering and overfilling bins and not bagging trash when it's set out.
Like I say...once in a while, the city gets it right.

Wonder why there were crows around...

Solid Waste is probably the BEST department the city has, and I have a good (online) working relationship with it's manager, Matt Gratz.
Now, if several OTHER departments would get with the program...
Yeah, we can hope.
*** Last back to the homestead...when you were growing up, you had no idea how profoundly things would change as you got older.

Dare we use the off-ramp?

I know I feel that most every day.
We were "told" that the FUTURE looked pretty damn good, and I suppose, in some sense, it is, but not anywhere close to the visage we were led to believe. That vision somehow got side-tracked.

If our "King" REALLY had HIS way downtown.

Now, I guess the future (as it was presented) was meant to provide something to look forward to, generally-speaking.

To either HAVE...or LOSE.

Thing is, no one seemed to take into account all the "wild cards" that would transpire...the "variables" that no one managed to take into account.
Did our future (from the 50s and 60s) show us a world with terrorism?
Nah, we had communism and a nuclear threat from ICBMs.
Did it portray American cities with larger ghettos than could ever be found in Europe?

Future HUD housing????

Nope, we have HUD to spread the blight around.
Did anyone foresee a time when being "in poverty" meant a (taxpayer-funded) INCOME of over $40K per year?
No way...we have the welfare system giving to those too lazy to work, while those who truly NEED assistance get the low end of the totem pole.
And where the hell is my flying car or jet-pack?
Just not seeing what we were told to expect...that's for sure.

SOME days, THIS would be a step UP.

Much of this started to occur when this nation began changing over from a manufacturing society to an information-gathering society, and then, to what would appear to be (what I now call it)...  an "entertainmentocracy" (new word in Bob's Lexicon)  - a rule by those  who keep us otherwise "busy" with whatever faddish crap comes down the pike, be it in music, or sports, or even (now) social media.
Not the future I was looking forward to...what say you?
We had SUCH potential (I think we still do)...so, where the hell did it go, and how can we get that back?
Not THAT is really the $64,000 dollar question, which...adjusted for inflation, should be well over $500K by now).

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