jimvoorhies.com

Space Needle style. Stop for a second and think about having to clean something like Settle’s Space Needle. To me, it’s scary. I’m not big on heights, ok. The Space Needle hasn’t been cleaned since 1962 (although they did paint it twice, both in the last century) and it needs pressure washing.

Even though the sprayers use half the flow of a garden hose, the water shoots out at 3,000 pounds per square inch — more than enough power to send the guy behind the hose flying.

“One thing we say is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be fun to be fun. There are definitely times when I’m spinning in free space and I’m like, holy cow this is terrifying and I can’t believe this is my job,” said Matt Henry, rope technician.

And it’s a big job with a huge challenge — the crews aren’t using any soap. That’s because what they spray up ends up going down to the Seattle Center and the EMP. Splotches of grime run from the beams under the restaurant all the way down to the base.

You’ve got to see the photos at the end of the story.

I have overestimated my selflessness and feel humbled after reading this post on Politico.

For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.

“I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

Bush said he made that decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. official in Iraq and the organization’s high commissioner for human rights.

“I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man’s life,” he said. “I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, ‘It’s just not worth it anymore to do.’”

The man has given up golf for the duration. Why, no wonder he leads the free world.

The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has tested the tiny Smart Fortwo car for crash protection. It received a good rating. That is as high as the IIHS gives a vehicle. It rated good in both side and frontal impact testing so it seems their safety cage body works as it was designed to do. The Smart is about three feet shorter than a Mini Cooper and around 700 pounds lighter, gaining it a classification as a microcar.

Now if they just cost less than $20 grand, didn’t require premium gas, and got better than 40 MPG, they’d still be ugly, in an ugly sort of way.

http://jalopnik.com/389832/2009-ferrari-california-revealed

And, yes, I do understand that this will be profoundly different than the fuel consumption that I have wanted all of my life. It would require winning the lottery. I’m ready for that sacrifice and that burden, if this is the result. Just call me selfless. 

 (I actually got this as an email.)

ALIENS ARE COMING TO ABDUCT ALL THE GOOD LOOKING AND SEXY PEOPLE.

YOU WILL BE SAFE; I’M JUST EMAILING TO SAY GOODBYE.

If you need a photo and you’re going to go searching through the intertubes to find it, here’s the best place ever to start. This blog has a huge list of places to start searching, places to find images for free, places to go where you have to pay, etc. It is a great resource.

Don’t forget to watch out for copywrite issues. It’s not nice to steal from starving artists, especially if they have lawyers.

Unfortunately, in this case Ralph Cramden is talking about oil prices going to the moon rather than Alice. Oil is now at $126 a barrel today, it’s highest so far this millennium. And, when I filled up my tank this morning, I was excited to find some idiot that hadn’t raised prices up to the moon and I filled up with the silver-plated octane level at $3.43 a gallon. According to Nashville Gas Prices, it’s now officially highest in Brentwood and Franklin and lowest in Hendersonville. Oddly enough, those are probably the more financially better-off suburbs and I have no idea why the Hendersonville folks are getting off so cheap. Whatever.

Even Toyota is having a hard time and their cars get better mileage. (A friend here at work just bought a Yaris. She’s been happy as a clam over her 38 mpg.) They’re forecasting a 27% drop in this year’s profits and a 28% drop for the current quarter.

Chrysler has offered to subsidize the cost of your gas, covering everything you have to pay over $2.99 a gallon for the next three years in an efort to sell their cars. (Gets out Excel to do some calculatin’) If you drive a PT Cruiser (We had one. It is comfortable to ride in, based on a 4 cylinder engine, but gets 19 mpg. Which isn’t too bad for a Chrysler, but in general sucks.) and drive it about 12,000 miles a year, you’ll do 36,000 miles in that three years. If gas goes up a nickel a month every month in that same three years (topping out at $5.18 a gallon for regular — yow!), you will pay $8,200 for gasoline. Chrysler will pay you back the difference between what you’ve paid and the $2.99 price, which amounts to around $2,500 in three years - but wait - there’s a catch in their deal. They agree to pay you the difference based on the EPA mileage rating, which means to get the full value of your rebate, which will be more like $1,300, you’ll have to drive no faster than 45, never roll down the windows and never use air conditioning. Compare that savings with what you lose in depreciation the minute you buy a Chrysler product, and you’re still a loser. Thank you for playing, Mr. Chrysler.

From Jalopnik

OK, go watch this video on YouTube and then come back: http://tinyurl.com/5gnh65

I don’t know if it’s more disturbing that the children don’t realize they can choose to say neither one or that they picked the doll they did as “bad” or “good” or that they didn’t pick the other doll . It does imply profound low self-esteem, though.

Sliced almonds, when carmelized, adds a nice touch to salads.