3487 Bucha Bits

Thursday, March 15, 2012

In the history of the arts, “Anonymous” was a woman.

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We've all seen those tattoos gone wrong. The husband of a friend of mine is a tattoo artist. The only examples of his work I had seen were on his wife. Beautiful stuff, but naturally that may or may not be a true representation of his everyday work, since he had time and incentive.

Yesterday I saw some photos on his Facebook page. I am impressed! I knew he was a true artist in several media - he does wonderful work in metal, for example, and in designing and making incredibly detailed medieval and Japanese warrior armor. I now find he is an artist of the highest caliber in ink, even when the canvas is not his wife.

If you are ever in the Kingston/Woodstock NY area, and you'd been thinking about getting a tattoo, I recommend him highly. He's not only talented, he's a gentleman in every sense of the word. Check him out: http://www.facebook.com/eddempseytattoos - click on "photos" on the left, then on "album II". I am most impressed by photo 119, near the bottom, the shoulder armor. It LOOKS like metal!

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The TSA says that people 75 and over will no longer have to take off their shoes or endure pat-downs. They figure old folks are a low risk.

Hmmmm. Not any more.....

Say we've got a 27-year-old passionate radical bent on revenge who wants to carry a bomb. Say he's got a 76-year-old grandfather whose wife died three years ago, and who has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Hmmmm. We now have incentive to talk to Grampa about a little mission he could spare his grandson from.

Don't get on any planes with old codgers!

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Check out KhanAcademy.org. Scroll down for a list of topics they have lessons on. They're amazing! Wikipedia has an informative entry on Khan Academy.

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You've heard of iPhone 4's Siri, the lady who answers your questions. She has a sense of humor. There are many video clips on YouTube wherein people (usually males) ask her questions (the most common being "How much wood can a woodchuck..." etc., for which Siri has several amusing answers). In this clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_SRhnis6f8&feature=fvwrel, Siri learns that Steve Jobs has died. Yeah, it's a faked Siri, but of all the clips I'd seen, this is the funniest.

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Some guy is suing some theater chain (Google it. I'll wait) because they don't allow you to bring in food or drink, and the prices at the concession stand are like 40 times what you'd pay in a grocery store.

I understand why theaters want to restrict what people bring in. Some folks are ridiculous slobs. They'd bring messy or stinky stuff, three course dinners, get pizza deliveries, throw chicken bones on the floor, spill scalding coffee on the people in front of them, and so on. At least if they control it, the theaters know what to expect.

As to what they charge, it doesn't bother me because I don't buy any of it! I'm not forced to pay their prices. It is not necessary to eat during a movie. Sheesh. The high concession prices keep the ticket price down, and if the folks who think they have to eat want to subsidize the price of my ticket, that's fine with me.

I guess I've been conditioned by my past. All those young folks out there don't remember pay toilets (mostly phased out beginning in the mid-70s). They were everywhere, including stores, restaurants, and bars, and if you had to go you were forced to pay. You had to put coins into the door to get into a stall, and if you were out of change, too bad. Now THAT's a ripoff! (And no, the urinals in the men's room did not require payment. Women bore the brunt of that one.)

Note - I would love to sue theaters for what they sell - not over the prices, though. I'd like to force them to sell only things in packaging that doesn't rattle or crinkle! It's not fair to charge me for a movie I can't hear over fifty guys shaking Junior Mints out of a box.

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Voters at my old house vote down the school budget year after year. Year after year the school board redoes it, and keeps it to a 7% increase. Voters seem to be happy with 7%. Last week I checked my records. The school tax for the old house is now 150% what it was in 2005. Note that my income has increased by maybe 8% since 2005.
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