How to Lose an Hour of your Life: Cat Bounce

  1. Tune in your favorite trippy space music or techno-trance Internet radio station
  2. Go to this link.
  3. WHAT time is it?

I was in a hell of a mood before I found Zen in Cat Bounce. Be sure to make it rain now and then for extra-soothing cat bounciness.

Cat Bounce is a website where you can make cats bounce. It’s totally mesmerizing and I’m pretty sure it’s an advanced hypnosis technology that was put in place by the cat army to finally have complete control.

via Cat Bounce Has Been Sent From the Future to Ensure Total Cat Domination

Good news for some travelers: KLM says it’s first to connect Europe with Fukuoka, Japan

Ooh! I actually have a couple of business travelers who might take advantage of this. They head to areas of Japan near Fukuoka, or south of there.

Dutch carrier KLM says it will become the first airline to between Europe and the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka. KLM’s service will begin April 3 with three round-trip flights a week from its hub in Amsterdam.

via KLM says it's first to connect Europe with Fukuoka, Japan

Great Roadside Assistance By AAA: Why Isn’t Everybody A Member?

Late last night, I was on my way home after choir practice, picking my way along in a driving rainstorm. On impulse I stopped at the Burger King on the way for a bite, and pulled into a spot (conveniently under a streetlight) to eat. I had the radio going, the lights were probably still on, and I had forgotten that the battery had been giving signs of trouble lately.

Sure enough, when I went to start up, the starter motor just made that clacky EH-EH-EH noise. Great – how cliche: woman alone with a dead battery in a terrible rainstorm. I felt like a commercial.

After talking with David, I called AAA and was told it would be about a 45 minute wait. Someone would be coming out from an outfit called “A+ Auto Repair” out of Barrington.

So I read the Internets on my phone with all the lights off and waited. After about half an hour of somewhat anxious weather-checking and watching for a beeg tow truck all lit up, I became aware of an asthmatic automotive wheeze coming from slightly behind and to my right. Turned around, and there was this tiny little white mini-van, and a little raggedy man got out of it wearing a reflective safety vest. He ran over and called out “Horrible weather, isn’t it?” and got me to open the door so he could access the hood release. I couldn’t even roll down the windows, my battery was so low.

He was scruffy looking, and the overalls worn under his safety vest were worn and the sleeves were torn and little more than rags on his arms. But he nodded sharply as he hustled around the side of the car; he knew what needed to be done.

Then he set about with a portable charger pack – it had cables attached to wind-up handles on the sides, so it was pretty quick to set up. He moved cables around, trying different ground points, and on the second attempt (I saw sparks flying through the gap under the hood) the engine started up, good to go. He packed up and waved as he ran back to his little car, which was still hiccuping away behind me. I thought about the shoemaker’s children going barefoot and the tailor’s children going around in rags and smiled ruefully.

“Wait! Don’t you want to see the AAA card?” I had been holding it in my hand the whole time.

He had a slight accent; Polish, maybe? “Nah, I seen the card. You need a new battery. Good night, lady!” And with that, he jumped into his wheezy little mini-mini-van and puttered away.

Texted back and forth to David – he was willing to come out, but AAA had the expertise so we let them deal with it. I had to drive around for about another 20 minutes to get some kind of charge on the battery. I ended up driving along Bode (a road near us that winds around pleasantly) to Barrington Road and then went to Starbuck’s drive thru for a steamed milk (I still wasn’t running heat or the radio). On the way back, I had a scary moment on Golf when I drove through a very, very deep puddle and was completely blinded by sheeting water on the windshield. “Enough is enough, I’m charged up,” I thought, and went home, finally getting in about 9:50pm.

Late night for me, but I’m grateful that AAA was able once again to help out – they kind of saved our driving vacation back in August in Idaho, they’ve come out to help me a couple of times over the years with various things. It’s always a smooth process and they always call to ask for feedback afterwards – they want to know if the affiliate service provider arrived within the time range and whether I was satisfied.

Of course I was satisfied, a cheerful little man came out and got my car going, in a driving rainstorm late at night. Who wouldn’t be? I wish I had gotten his name, but he sure deserves kudos.

Why isn’t every driver a AAA member? They provide so many great services.

From changing flat tires roadside to jumping batteries in your driveway, AAA Roadside Assistance can help get you on your way. AAA is the nation’s most comprehensive service provider. A simple phone call or online request is all it takes to bring help to your disabled vehicle. As a member, you’re covered in any car — whether you are the driver or passenger.

via AAA – Request a Tow, Battery Jump & More – Roadside Assistance

Looking Back at GOP Ops In The War Against Voting: Projection As a Tactic

If a GOP spokesgoon complains loudly about… anything shady at all, you can be that the GOP is accusing their opponent of doing the very same thing they are already doing more thoroughly, and with better funding right from the top.

Buzzfeed has published the most bizarre set of emails between right wing operatives freaking out during the Scott Brown/Martha Coakley race in January of 2010 that I’ve ever seen.
The plot, hatched by a strange alliance of high-profile conservatives, was to have James O’Keefe and his “crew” catch the SEIU in some kind of voter fraud similar to what O’Keefe has tried to commit in various states around the nation in order to claim that voter ID laws are necessary.

Let’s note for the record that the entire right wing has been curiously silent about the voter registration fraud schemes bought and paid for by the Republican National Committee. You would think concerned conservatives like Fund, Fox and Friess would be very, very concerned, but instead, silence fills the hole where outrage should be.

via Fund, Friess and O’Keefe Conspired To Frame SEIU, GOTV Effort | Crooks and Liars

Romney, Bain Tied To Voting Machine Company To Be Used in Swing States | The Daily Dolt

Oh, THIS will work out for the best:

We’re not really into conspiracy theories here, so let us just say this upfront: we are not presenting the following article as any kind of conspiracy theory. We will say, though, that the people who own voting machines in some important swing states have a pretty remarkable bias toward Mitt Romney and, you know, someone should probably keep an eye on this, no?

via Romney, Bain Tied To Voting Machine Company To Be Used in Swing States | The Daily Dolt

Oh The Immodesty! Utah Homecoming Hemline Flap

Toole (pronounced Two-Willuh) is a community west of Salt Lake in the western mountains south of the Great Salt Lake. A lot of the area economy is based on mining, and it’s probably a heavily Mormon-majority area, although there’s been a lot of development in the last few decades. I had some relatives by marriage out that way but didn’t visit long enough to get more than a fleeting impression of dry foothills and endless miles of salt desert along the highway around the southern end of the lake.

Just look at these immodest homecoming dance dresses! Um.

20121002-094559.jpg

Okay, anywhere else, those dresses would be cute, stylish, not showing too much young cleavage, and with hemlines of a rather conservative length. Compared to the butt-skimming minis I see at the movies or the mall, they look mature, tasteful, and appropriate. Only In Utah would they be considered “immodest.”

One mom quoted in the article delicately raises the issue of “religious impositions,” which in Utah means “I kind of resent the local church mentality but I don’t want to offend anybody.”

Stansbury Park • A Tooele County principal apologized to students Monday after educators turned away dozens of girls from their weekend homecoming dance, deeming their dresses too short. As many as half of those who arrived to the Stansbury High dance ended up not going in after their dates and friends were barred from entering, students said Monday. In many cases, those who were stopped had dresses ending one or two inches above their knees.

via Principal apologizes after homecoming dance hemline debacle | The Salt Lake Tribune