Got Our First Snow...

Well, it was a "dusting" anyway, but enough to cause a few screw-ups on the highways, like a crashed tandem tractor-trailer this morning, but, we've come to expect such things whenever the "climate" changes, as it does by the minute!
Welcome to Thor's Day, or Thursday, if you prefer to shy away from the Norse mythology.
Our Hoosierland weather will find us with some COLD conditions all day.
Temps will struggle to get above the freezing mark, and I wouldn't expect all that much sunshine (if any) today.
There's a good amount of ground to cover, so you get your cup of morning fortitude and I'll get mine, and together we'll see what's been going on elsewhere.
*** First off of the coat rack today is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."
This is attributed to our 20th President, John Calvin Coolidge (4 July 1872 - 5 January 1933).
And here is his WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge
Say what you will about Coolidge, but I think he was one of our BETTER presidents, and was a person who believed in smaller government. Yes, he was a conservative and was responsible for restoring public confidence to the White House after his predecessor's scandal-ridden administration.
And can you believe this...HE was IN FAVOR of CIVIL RIGHTS for blacks in America...LONG before it became a "popular" cause to champion.
That would not happen until the 1960s, even though Eisenhower pushed for the passage of civil rights bills in the 1950s.
The story of Coolidge is worth a read, and you will learn a lot more about our nation following those "Roaring '20s"
Moving on...
*** And, it's also time once again for "What the hell happens today, Bob?"
November 13 - 
Today is NATIONAL INDIAN PUDDING DAY...did not know Indians had a "pudding".

Looks rather yummy, too.

Turns out they DIDN'T, but they did have CORNMEAL, and when you add some early American colonists, you get this WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasty_pudding
Yeah, it's also called HASTY pudding (and not INSTANT, like we have today)
-- It's also (uh, oh)..SADIE HAWKINS DAY, and we guys all know what THAT means, right?

He's running from HER???

(Hey, I read L'il Abner growing up.)
If not, here's a refresher course from WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadie_Hawkins_Day
-- And, it's WORLD KINDNESS DAY...so let the girl catch you, have some pudding from an Indian, and spread a little kindness in the process.

Sure would be a MUCH better world is more people practice some kindness, instead of trying to blow one another the hell up...or break into computer serves of other nations, or not try to fundamentally change the course of a nation like OURS, would it not?
*** Leave it to those wacky CHI-COMS to shake your hand while "stabbing you in the back", metaphorically-speaking.
Seems while Obummer was visiting Beijing, he was "treated" to a flyover by a prototype Chinese "stealth fighter". 

The Shenlong J-31

Here's the story link:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/12/china-flight-tests-new-stealth-jet-during-obama-visit/
The craft, dubbed the Shenlong J-31 sure looks a bit "familiar", doesn't it?
It could wind up cutting other nation sales of our OWN F-35 JSF (which cost about a TRILLION to develop).
Still, our F-22 Raptor is the premier fighter for this next-gen of aircraft.

Our F-22 Raptor

The J-31 does not appear to have thrust-vectoring by the look of it's exhaust nozzles.
The story is that the reason for the similarity in these two ships was that someone in CHINA hacked into a server for a sub-contractor of Lockheed-Martin during the JSF development phase, but I never said that (and I was never here).

China has also recently hacked into the USPS and the NOAA servers.
(you can look those stories up as your "assignment")
Maybe they prefer the weather reports WE get to their own communist state-run media sources?
*** And, we've got another shooting victim this morning in the Summit City.

Here's the story link with video (so far)
http://www.21alive.com/nbc33/One-Person-Critically-Shot-282534001.html
As can be expected, few details have come from the FWPD, but the victim was taken to hospital in critical condition when he was found along the 4100 block of N. Clinton St. A young man was flagging down people when he collapsed in the street. He was attended to by several people, including a nurse who had stopped.
This happened around 0340 hrs this morning.
There was shattered glass nearby and a few shell casings, leaving police to believe the man may have been shot in his vehicle, which was found in the middle of the 5-lane street. Some good video reporting byWPTA.
*** Our "leaf pickup" was finished (?) yesterday, and I have to question the motives of those who performed the "work".
As I had predicted, it was more of a rush-job than anything else.

They didn't even have the vacuum truck come by for all the leaves along our side berm. They used the front-loader and a couple guys with large rakes...took all the leaves to the NEXT street over and gathered them into a truck.
Sure not the manner in which the city used to perform this task.
The kicker came when I saw a STREET SWEEPER come down the street...and NOT SWEEP A DAMN THING...!?!
Now, to me, that seems a total waste of time, money, and equipment.

Your tax money at work?

But, we DO have a dumbocrat in City Hall, running the show, and as long as HIS neighborhood gets done right, nothing else matters.
When our neighborhood used to be predominantly WHITE, we got a LOT better service and more thorough cleanups.

Not any longer, and we can thank the ethnic diversity we have here now for that, I guess.

"When people don't care, why should the city?" must be the mantra.
Well, there are a FEW of us that STILL care, so what about us?
Guess WE no longer matter as well. Nice to know that.
*** Last back to the barn...what the hell ever happened to doing things the RIGHT way?
I swear there are people out there who do things the wrong way JUST because they can...no reason behind it at all.

And it starts from little on up...it has to. Look at the way small kids misbehave these days, and the lack of parental intervention to control such behaviors. That leads to people growing up not knowing what they NEED to in life, and the results fill our jails daily
It also is the cause of behavioral issues in our schools, which taxes resources and educators far beyond the capacity to do the job they're being paid to do.
The Broken Window Theory used to apply solely to law-enforcement and criminal activity, but I maintain that it has filtered it's way down the societal ladder to everyday activities by everyday citizens.

We permit and allow people to "get way" with all this small stuff, and when it (inevitably) gravitates to the BIG stuff, we wring our hands and wonder WHY it happened.
No surprise there for the learned among us.
But is should be a stern lesson to ALL of us.
What we allow, is what we will get...it's that simple.

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