Happy Halloween Tips 0

Posted by on in Halloween, Holidays






Happy Halloween Tips

OK, so it’s tricks and treats time… It’s also time to plan for some safety tips for you and your munchkins so that all enjoy a fun and safe evening.

Make sure that people can see you and your little monsters while they’re walking around. If the outfit is dark, consider adding some strategically placed reflector tape on the back or lower hems or legs so that others can see them.

Considering that a mask can hinder your goblin’s sight, make sure they can see out of it well (you may have to strategically take a pair of scsissor to the eye holes) or you may want to consider using stage makeup instead of a mask.

When you’re buying an outfit, check to see if it has flame retardant properties. You don’t want your kid and the evening going down in flames.

If a spear, sword or other weapon is part of their outfit, you may want to make sure that they’re easy to handle and not sharp.

Make sure your kid knows your cell phone number and how to use 911. Face it, it’s dark and sometimes kids can get lost.

Check your castle pathways for obstructions. You don’t want any visiting goblins to get hurt and it also helps to keep those over paid lawyers off your backs.

Keep your pets on a leash or better yet, indoors or caged.

Don’t let your kids go out alone or unescorted by an adult or responsible person. That should be self obvious.

Fresh batteries in the flashlight is a no brainer!

Only go to homes with the porch lights on or that are well lit. This is not only a safety concern but it also helps you and our kids from going to homes that aren’t participating in the evening events.

Where possible, stay in a group. Better yet, form a small group and go together.

Don’t cross over yards…stay on the sidewalk. You never know what people have forgotten in their yards when they were weeding it earlier that day.

Don’t presume that motorists can see you! Cross where you’re supposed to and LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE CROSSING!

If you have a concern or something seems out of place or a concern, call the cops. It may be nothing, but then too many “nothings” have
ended up being problems later on.

Check all the candies and other goodies your monsters are given BEFORE they eat them. “Trust but verify” is always a good policy when getting goodies from people you don’t know.

Be careful, use your smarts and have a great evening.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Hey Walmart – It’s not even November! REMOVE THE XMAS CRAP! 0

Posted by on in Christmas, Holidays




Hey Walmart – It’s not even November! REMOVE THE XMAS CRAP!

Ok, so I’m wandering into my local Walmart this morning to snag a paper and some items. It’s October 29. Not even Halloween! Thanksgiving (A REAL Holiday) is weeks away!

So, what’s the FIRST THING I see? Rows and rows and rows of xmas crap! It’s OCTOBER! GEEZUZ people!

Can you say OVER MERCHANDISING???? Can you say TOTALLY DISCUSTING!?

Now we all KNOW that there’s NO Biblical or historical basis for the Christ child to have been born on December 25. That’s a matter of record! BUT WTF WALMART??? Why do you have to put all this xmas crap out in OCTOBER!???

Frankly, you and your ilk are removing ANY spirit of xmas that anyone had at this time of year or later. You’re OVER marketing, OVER selling,and in general just showing to the world once again that you really don’t care about the SPIRIT of xmas, you only care about how early you can start selling your schlock and making money off of people stupid enough to be buy your crap in OCTOBER!

How about waiting until we’ve at least finished our Halloween candy and put the damn turkey in the over!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.

McDonalds Buttermilk Crispy Tenders – JUST SAY NO! 0

Posted by on in Food, McDonalds



McDonalds Buttermilk Crispy Tenders – JUST SAY NO!

OK so it’s mid afternoon, I’m charging down the interstate on my way to class and hungry after a long 8 hour drive that started too early in the morning.
Popping off the interstate I eye my selections of fast styrofood options and opt for Micky-D’s…I would have gone with Chik Filet, but the one in Dalton Georgia doesn’t have a clue what cole slaw is!

Alas! Something new at Micky-D’s….chicken tenders….OK…I’ll bite… So, I order a box with fries…had a diet coke already with me and needed to save a few bucks after paying a king’s ransom for the tenders. Got to the office and popped open the box… To say that McD’s doesn’t understand standard sizing would be an understatement. This was supposed to be a 10-piece box…the pieces ranged in size from OK to “where the heck is it!?”. Frankly, they should sell them by weight and not by the piece, it would be more accurate for the consumer.

Once you get past the heavy use of pepper in the batter, they really don’t taste that bad… The big downer for me was the honey mustard. This isn’t Marzetti’s by ANY stretch of the imagination.

Frankly, it’s some kind of slime compound that has some mustard and I presume honey mixed in with it. YUCKERS!

The biggest turnoff is the price! $10 for a box of 10 pieces of assorted sizes… Uh, folks I get much better tenders at Publix and their honey mustard is real honey mustard sans the slime!

It was an interesting experiment, but I’m putting this one in the stack of Edison’s first 10,000 lightbulbs that were total failures…not going back for that again. Glad I had a large DC to wash them down with!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.

Las Vegas – an act of pure evil. 0

Posted by on in guns, Law Enforcement





Las Vegas – an act of pure evil.

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few hours you’re well aware of the act of carnage and pure evil perpetrated by a deranged gunman upon concert go’ers in Las Vegas. Frankly, America, in shock from this senseless event, prays for the victims, first responders and those that are now taking care of all the victims.

But with disasterous events like this, we are sure to find the opportunists more than eager to come out of their closets and crow for their causes celebre. This event is no different.

Clearly the empty talking heads of the perpetually clueless left wing liberal media continue to spew their pavlovian rhetoric of misinformation and biased talking points. Add to this, washed up celebrities with low ratings that are eager to do anything to get their names and faces in the press with the hopes of getting some recognition points by the cadres of their former fans and maybe make a few buck$ for themselves at the same time.

Yes, I’m talking about all the anti-gun, gun control, and advocates for yet more gun laws that are actually seeming to outpace beer ads on the TV in the last few days. These dolts with their sudden high profiles think that only they have the answer to these kinds of events and that their answer is to remove all guns. Frankly, history shows us that once again, their liberal bent is wrong and doesn’t work.

Once again, we have to remind them that this is NOT a gun issue, this is a VIOLENCE issue perpetrated by a deranged individual. Further that history, even current history, is repleat with facts of violence being metted out using what ever means are available to the perpetrator. It can be everything from a machette in a crowd to running a car into a mob of protesters like we saw a few weeks ago in Virginia.

Do you think that any of these all knowing, anti-gun liberals were howling for Ford Motors to stop making cars because a singe asshole ran his vehicle into a crowd? But why not? Following their mentality, it would only make sense.

If we really want to see just how good gun laws really work we have to look for further than the daily crime statistics of Chicago. Wake up.

So, if people think that removing all guns is the solution then I have to ask: Why not tell Ford Motors to stop making cars? Clearly drunk drivers are using cars to kill people at a quantifiably higher rate than the events in Vegas this week. How about the alcohol consumed by the drunk drivers
– I don’t hear liberals and the empty talking heads of the media crowing to Miller Beer to stop making High Life! Why not? The concept is the same!

OH, well, maybe they think that only guns can kill people….cars and drunks can’t. I see… Interesting logic, but then, we are talking about liberals.

Remember back when Timothy McVeigh used a rented truck with a fertilizer bomb to blo0w up the Murrah Building in OKC? Did the liberals or anyone else call for all trucks to stop being manufactured? NO. Did they call for all rentals to stop? NO. Did we remove any fertilizers? NO. We removed Timothy McVeigh….and way too humanely from my perspective. This may be considered cruel by most liberals, but there are a very few times and crimes that I firmly think we should consider bringing back things like crucifixion, impaling and the wheel. McVeigh clearly fits these scenerios.

Let’s look at a few other things:

Cigarette smoking kills about 480,000 U.S. citizens a year. Alcohol kills about 90,000 U.S. citizens a year. Medical errors by doctors and nurses kill 250,000 U.S. citizens a year. Illegal drugs kill more than 60,000 U.S. citizens per year. U.S. citizens that are murdered by guns are about 13,000 per year and it’s really interesting to look at the demographics, causes and targets of these events. Before you let an irrational liberal friend try to sway you on making guns harder to get, ask that friend what he or she is doing to make tobacco harder to get…inb ANY form! And don’t get me going on abortion . . .

Wake up America. THINK FOR YOURSELVES and don’t follow the empty talking heads that think they should decide what you should be thinking.

This isn’t a gun issue any more than drunk driving is an issue for Ford Motors. It’s a violence and mental illness issue. And, it needs to be dealt with aggressively and vigorously.

Punishing millions of law abiding citizens for the evil of a single person or a few is NOT the answer.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Hell – Endothermic or Exothermic? 0

Posted by on in hell, religion






Hell – Endothermic or Exothermic?

On this august occasion of my 59th birthday, the question of weather hell was endothermic or exothermic came up, as these kinds of subjects sometimes do during times of celebrations of great events. I’m also presuming that there were no insinuations in the conversation as to where the participants presumed I would end up after my demise.

In pondering this weighty question on this momentus day, I reflected back to an internet posting purporting to be an extract from a mid-term exam given some time ago at the University of Washington.

The question was: “Is Hell exothermic(gives off heat) or endothermic(absorbs heat)? Support your answer with proof.”

Well, in true academic attempts of pontification, most of the students wrote proofs based on their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some mutation thereof.

One student, however, is supposed to have written the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate which they are leaving. I think we can safely presume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.

Ergo, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s first look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls will go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. How we look at the change of the volume of Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added.

This gives us two possibilities:

1 – Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure win Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2 – Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature will drop until Hell freezes over.

So, which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me that Ms Therese Banyan during my Freshman year that “it will be a cold day in hell before I sleep with you”, and take into account that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then: (2) cannot be true and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic.

I leave you with this point to ponder as you celebrate the best day of the year, September 19th.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Windows vs. Ford 0

Posted by on in Laptops, Laptops and Tablet PC's, Windows






Windows vs. Ford.

OK, I know it’s been a long time since this COMDEX and COMDEX has been replaced by CES, but since some times some things don’t change very quickly and there are just some things in history that you never forget. Enjoy a good chuckle.

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX) : Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments,

Ford issued a press release stating:

If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1…. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash………twice a day.

2…. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3…. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4…. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5…. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6…. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7…. The airbag system would ask,”Are you sure?”before deploying.

8…. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9…. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10…. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

11…. Periodically we will automagically download a new program so that things on your dashboard will be in new places we didn’t tell you about. Unless you find a setting we don’t tell you about, this will usually happen when you are going over 50 MPH. (not part of original – suggested by a learned reader )

PS – I’d like to add that when all else fails, you could call “customer service” in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!

I’m Don Rima and that’s how are From Where I Stand…



F*E*A*R* 0

Posted by on in Management, Point(s) To Ponder, Self Improvement





F*E*A*R*

I ran into an interesting lecture from Jack Canfield today. He refers to the word “fear” as an acronym.

He defines FEAR as Fantasized Experiences Appearing Real.

This reminds of me of Winston Churchill’s “the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”…. Add to this Henry Ford’s “If you think you can’t do something, you probably can’t….”

Just a few thoughts to ponder.

Go forth and conquer!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Beekeeping Hints – Fueling your smoker – Save money! Go natural! 0

Posted by on in Beekeeping





Beekeeping Hints – Fueling your smoker – Save money! Go natural!

OK, I get all the mass mailings of all the same beekeeper supply houses and vendors that most of you do. Some of times I just flip through some of the pages and shake my heads at what people will buy, and much more at what people will pay! Clearly, there’s some newbies still out there that haven’t been tought about smoker fuel or else have more money than brains.

So, let’s just employ a little planning and opening your eyes. Most cases, some of the best smoker fuel is right in front of you and best of all, IT’S FREE! Unless you’re in a desert you have pine trees around you somewhere. In my case, they line the roads to my hives and we have lots of them in local parks! Well, simply avail yourself to some of the dry pine needles and pine cones!

They’re some of the best smoker fuel you can find! They light easily (especially when you use a blow torch like I do!) and smoke more than Winston Churchill
smoking a cigar!

When loading my smoker I first cram in a dry pine cone in the base, then I pack the rest on top and around sides. Works incredibly well.

Usually I take a small bag with me and fill it with dry needles and a few cones. You never know when you’re not going to have a pine tree handy and need to fire up a smoker.

Some beekeeping vendors hope you have more money than brains, well, I’m hoping you have more brains than they think 🙂

I did a quick low budget youtube’er on this. It’s here at: https://youtu.be/V_CQTdceWJc

Good luck and good Beekeeping!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Beekeeping Hints – Controlling Small Hive Beetles with Diatomaceouse Earth – DTE 0

Posted by on in Beekeeping






 
Beekeeping Hints – Controlling Small Hive Beetles with Diatomaceouse Earth – DTE
 
For old time gardeners and beekeepers, the use of diatomaceouse earth(DTE) is an old and well used tool when it comes to trying to get a handle on unwanted pests.
 
For the beekeeper fighting small hive beetles(SHB), DTE is used liberally under the hives with the intent of disrupting the growth cycle of SHB’s by killing the larva phase.  The natural growth cycle of a SHB requires that the larva spend some time in the earth before it emerges as an adult insect, so if you can kill or disrupt its larval cycle you can help reduce the numbers of these things we have to deal with.
 
The application is simple.  Just sprinkly liberally below your hives.  I prefer to use St. Gabriel’s brand ( no paid plug here ) as a fellow beekeeper’s research determined this to be the best working variety for his hives.  And, I don’t like to reinvent the wheel.
 
I did a quick low budget video on utube that you can find here – https://youtu.be/D57iYySh_1M
 
I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand…in the bee yard.


Beekeeping Hints – Controlling small hive beetles with Beetle Blasters 0

Posted by on in Apiculture, Beekeeping

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Beekeeping Hints – Controlling small hive beetles with Beetle Blasters

One of the many and perhaps most annoying pests we beekeepers have to contend with is the small hive beetle.  Frankly, you can’t get rid of them, probably second only to mite issues, they’re at the top of the list of parasitic arthropods that beekeepers have to manage.

With this blog, we’ll look at one item – the Beetle Blaster.

Frankly, they’re an incredibly simple device to use.  You just fill them about 2/3rds of the way up with vegetable oil and carefully slide them into your hive box in between the frames.  Usually one per box of frames is sufficient and you’ll insert one in each box of your hive.  I check them periodically when I’m working my hives as they tend to either fill up, solidify with age or in some hives get sealed off by the bees.  As they age or fill, simply and carefully remove them from the frame, replace with a new one and throw the old one away.

You need to be careful as the oil inside them is a fluid and will slosh around and spill out if not handled carefully.  It’s a very simple clean up if this happens – just wipe it off with a paper towel or napkin and you’re in business.

Be very careful with working with the hives that have blasters installed.  Again, the fluid in them can spill out if they’re not carefully handled and get on your bees. This will kill your bees as it coats them in oil and prevents them from breathing or moving. If and when this happens, just remove the dead bees and quickly clean up the mess.  Be very careful because if you spill on your queen, you’ve got a more serious problem to deal with.  Vegetable oil isn’t a poison per se, but coating a bee with it is potentially deadly to the bee.

Most any 100% vegetable oil will work.  I generally use the generic store brand, but if I run out I’ll snag a bottle of whatever the local Tigermart has on the shelf to finish the work I need to get done.

Now, these blaster aren’t the cheapest things around.  If you’re a smaller hobbiest buying them a strip at a time is very economical, but if you’re a bigger hobbiest or planning on being a beekeeper for a long time, then I would suggest you get them in case lot of 100.  It’s ALOT cheaper.  I get mine from Trevor and the folks at Bon Aqua Springs (basprings.com).  This isn’t a per se plug for them and I advocate shopping around but I’ve had good luck with them.

I just posted a low budget vid to youtube so you can see the process visually – https://youtu.be/dGKmFG-QoK0

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand…in the bee yard.