The Comedian

2009-11-25T08:21:00.006-05:00

I'm a volunteer EMT with my local ambulance squad. That means, in the state I live in, that I am permitted to mount green intermittently flashing lights on my car to use in responding to rescue calls.

One of my cheapo ebay china-sourced LEDs failed, so I've been looking for a replacement from a real brand name.

The only problem has been that many, if not most, warning lights are harder to source in the color green than in other more common colors.

I managed to vet the following sources as having at least some selection of vehicle emergency lighting in green and thought I would share it with others who might face the same shopping challenge.

List is in alphabetical order. I am not affiliated with any of these stores. I have not yet purchased from any of these stores.

Sources for Green Emergency Warning Lights, LEDs, and Strobes.

http://www.emergencycity.com

http://www.emergencymall.net

http://www.fleetsafety.com (Limited Green Selection)

http://www.galls.com (Limited Green Selection)

http://www.ledoutfitters.com

http://www.lonestarpse.com

http://www.lshlights.com/

http://nwpublicsafetysupply.com

http://www.projectresponder.com (Dedicated Green Light Section)

http://www.rimindustries.com

http://www.sirennet.com

http://www.speedtechlights.com/

http://www.strobesnmore.com

http://www.swps.com

http://vtfireandpolice.com (A few green options)

UPDATE:

From the comments, a few more sources:
www.lightsnsiren.com (Dedicated Green Lights Page)

emergencyresponderproducts.com

And from an email

http://www.pulltotheright.com (Including Tomar brand lights)

2009-11-23T22:47:00.002-05:00

I don't know why, but this strikes me as funny.

"Your fugitive's name is Doctor Sheldon Cooper."

2009-11-18T09:54:00.001-05:00

A great quote from Brad Thor's "The Apostle", referencing an all-pink rifle covered with Hello Kitty stickers.

"The Taliban hates Hello Kitty."

2009-10-27T15:49:00.001-04:00

I wrote this as a comment here, but I liked it enough to make it a post on my own blog.

Last year I went to a Skip Barber school at Lime Rock, about 45 miles from where I live.

Last month, when I returned to driving school, I went to one about 2,600 miles away from where I live.

Wanna know why I traveled an extra 2,500 miles each way to go back to driving school?

Easy.

Skip Barber sent me out in a Formula car that almost had a front wheel and hub assembly come right off the car during our first lapping session.

Skip's crack mechanics cleared a car that did not have all its front suspension bits attached.

As it was I had to limp back into the pits with the wheel flopping wildly, help in place by a less-than-complete set of links.

(I understand liability and all that, but) No one at Skip Barber ever apologized to me about this.

Not one of the instructors.

Not one of the sales people.

No one in customer service after I mentioned this in the after-class "satisfaction" survey.

No one thought to apologize.

So now I make a point of telling people that I would happily fly six hours for another high performance driving class, but I won't drive an hour and a half for one.

2009-10-13T13:03:00.002-04:00

My thought on government healthcare.

The "Cadillac" health care plan is really a Hearse.

2009-08-14T08:52:00.006-04:00

California not accepting its own IOUs as payment.

Don't be anxious.

We're good for it for you.

We're just not good for it for us.

(Note by a B&B'er over at TTAC.)

2009-07-20T10:37:00.003-04:00

Mary Jo Kopechne's death is to the moon landing as Farrah Fawcett's death is to the moon walker.

Inspiration: I came up with the following part yesterday, and posted it first as a comment here.

July 20, 1969 - NASA lands a man on the moon.

July 18, 1969 - Teddy lands a woman underwater.

A few days bigger gap and there might have been enough ink available to cover both episodes fully.

The moon landing won out, and the U.S. has had to suffer with Teddy for 40 extra years...

The opening analogy came to me as I was writing this post.

Reminder - Ted Kennedy owns a dog he named "Splash". The dog's breed, and I am NOT making this up, is a Portugese Water Dog. Teddy wrote a children's book called "My Senator and Me" from the perspective of Splash.

2009-06-15T15:38:00.000-04:00

The producer of the most popular television program in the world speaks about the upcoming 13th season of Top Gear.

Basically Hammond, May and I went to see AC/DC, and there they were, nine thousand years old, still making your ears bleed with the same pulverising ferocity they managed three decades ago, and you think to yourself, it doesn’t matter if your pony has one trick as long as it does that trick really, really well, and more importantly, it really cares every time it performs that trick. And immodestly, I can say to you all, we still really, really care about what we do.

The fire we have inside about giving you good telly burns as fiercely as it did in 2002. So sit back and enjoy Top Gear 13, the same old shit.

2009-06-09T14:41:00.000-04:00

"If you don't find it in the index, look very carefully through the entire catalogue." -- Index aid in 1897 Sears catalog.

I'm not sure progress has gotten us much.

Index aid in Microsoft's PowerPoint 2007

What happened to the Summary Slide and table of contents options?

The ability to create a summary slide and a table of contents slide in your presentation is not available in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007. Instead, to create your own summary or table of contents slide by copying slide titles onto a new slide, do the following:

On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the arrow under New Slide, and then click a slide layout that contains a large body text placeholder (placeholders: Boxes with dotted or hatch-marked borders that are part of most slide layouts. These boxes hold title and body text or objects such as charts, tables, and pictures.) (such as Title and Content, Two Content, Comparison, or Content with Caption).

Note If you add a Blank slide layout, you must then add a text box. To do this, on the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Text Box, and then drag to draw a large text box on the new slide.

In the pane that contains the Outline and Slides tabs, click Slides.

For each slide that you want to add to the summary or table of contents, copy the title in the title placeholder, and then paste it onto the new slide in the order in which the slide appears in your presentation.

Basically they don't have any functionality in PowerPoint to build you an index or table of contents in an automated fashion, so instead they give you step by step directions for how to by hand create a static table of contents.

And Microsoft wonders why people hate it?

2009-06-03T09:57:00.003-04:00

Connecticut has some interesting quirks in its laws that make it a bit more fun than its neighbors.

For example, unlike in most states, it is currently legal in CT for passengers to drink in a moving car. This costs the state some federal highway funds each year (I think they go to safety programs instead), but it makes the state a nicer place to live.

Picking a friend up at the airport? -- Bring 'em a beer to enjoy on the ride.

Going out for a night on the town? Your passengers can warm up on the way there, and keep the party going between stops. Heck, they can even have an unnecessary beer on the way home.

So long as the driver isn't drinking (or drunk), and the passengers are of legal age, it's all OK.

Pretty much every legislative session someone will introduce a bill to change the law so that Connecticut doesn't forfeit the federal highway money it loses by refusing to comply.

It never passes because most folks like things the way they are.

Some years the bill introduced to change the law becomes a magnet for silly amendments, like the following. SKIP TO THE BOLD PART FOR THE GOOD STUFF.

General Assembly

Amendment February Session, 2008
LCO No. 6132 *SB0030106132HRO*

Offered by:
REP. MINER, 66th Dist.

To: Senate Bill No. 301

File No. 81

Cal. No. 469

(As Amended by Senate Amendment Schedule "A")

"AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES. "

Strike section 5 in its entirety and insert the following in lieu thereof:

"Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2008) (a) For the purposes of this section:

(1) "Alcoholic beverage" has the same meaning as [...];

(2) "Highway" has the same meaning [...];

(3) "Open alcoholic beverage container" means [...];

(4) "Passenger" means any occupant of a motor vehicle other than the operator; and

(5) "Passenger area" means [...].

(b) No person shall possess an open alcoholic beverage container within the passenger area of a motor vehicle while such motor vehicle is on any highway or highway right-of-way in this state.

(c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to: (1) Any passenger in a motor vehicle designed, maintained and primarily used for the transportation of persons for hire; (2) any passenger in the living quarters of a recreational vehicle, as defined in section 14-1 of the 2008 supplement to the general statutes; (3) any passenger in a privately-owned motor vehicle operated by a person in the course of such person's usual employment transporting passengers at the direction of such person's employer; (4) any passenger in a passenger motor vehicle, if one of such passengers is the owner or lessee of such vehicle and can establish, by means including, but not limited to, a receipt for payment made to the operator, that such operator has been hired by such owner or lessee to operate such vehicle; or (5) any passenger in a motor vehicle traveling to or from a Viking funeral, as defined in section 501 of this act.

[...]

After the last section, add the following and renumber sections and internal references accordingly:

"Sec. 501. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2008) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 7-64 and 7-69 of the general statutes, the body of a person who dies in this state may be disposed of in a Viking funeral. Such funeral may be conducted only on the Connecticut waters of Long Island Sound with natural materials. An official of the Department of Environmental Protection or the Long Island Soundkeeper shall authorize final disposition of a body given a Viking funeral. For the purposes of this section, "Viking funeral" means a ceremony in which the body of a deceased person is laid in a boat with several of his possessions and the boat is set on fire while being put out to sea. "

I'd love to see a court case if this ever became law.

2009-05-24T00:10:00.000-04:00

I suppose you can tell ahead of time that an ad is going to be pretty funny when it includes a ridiculous disclaimer like this:

Information disclaimer

This commercial is intended to serve general information purposes only. The information provided in this commercial is not intended as an advice in any way. The information in this commercial is composed and maintained with continuous care and attention by MINI Netherland. However, MINI Nederland cannot give any warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information in this commercial. Therefore no rights can be derived from the information in this commercial. MINI Nederland is under no circumstances liable for damages of whatever nature, in any way resulting from the use of this commercial or resulting from or related to the use of information presented on or made available through this commercial or damages resulting from the non-availability of this commercial.

2009-05-10T18:10:00.004-04:00

Driving along the perimeter of Bradley Inernational airport today I spotted these two big reflective (and I think illuminated, though it was hard to tell in sunlight) X's across the main runway.

I guess that's one way to make sure pilots know a runway is closed.

Due to scheduled runway reconstruction at Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Windsor Locks, CT, Runway 6/24 will be closed from April 13 to June 22. For the duration of the closure, Runways 15/33 and 1/19 will remain open, providing several instrument approaches to the airport, including one instrument landing system approach to Runway 15/33. During the reconstruction, Runway 15/33 also will be closed from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. on several consecutive weekends, which are yet to be determined. NBAA's GA Desk recommends that operators check FAA notices to airmen to confirm which runways will be available before flying to BDL.

I guess it has been a while since I drove by the airport...

Did also catch this shot of a Northwest Airbus taking off, not a great photograph from a technical standpoint but I like that the tower is in the shot.

2009-05-09T00:59:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure what to make of this letter I received from Randy Henry, RN of the American Red Cross - CT Blood Services Region.

Which I summarize as, "Hey, dudes, it's great that you're willing to come in, lay down and bleed for 90 - 120 minutes (which may or may not be saving and/or extending someone else's life), but, dude, like, since times are tough if you can't commit to bleed for the whole 120 minutes, then, like, don't bother. Unless, you know, and you know who you are, you, like, aren't capable of safely doing so."

I think I should be offended by its content, but mostly I'm just sad that this letter was allowed to be sent out to volunteer platelet blood donors in the name of the Red Cross. Ignoring the content of the message, which is itself open to question, the tone expressed by its author is simply offensive considering that it was mailed to volunteer apheresis donors.

2009-04-15T09:02:00.000-04:00

For my own memory:

The former MercedesShop.com is now PeachParts.com due to a dispute between its owners and Daimler-Benz.

2009-03-30T11:27:00.003-04:00

Sign of the times?

Times are so tough that people cashing in their spare change, in tony Avon, CT have filled the grocery store's Coinstar machine to capacity.

2009-01-16T17:59:00.002-05:00

Hey, any landing you can swim away from is a good one.

2008-12-14T09:17:00.001-05:00

Original

Obama's senate seat on Ebay Politics.

For Sale or Rent

Blank for your own

2008-11-25T08:41:00.001-05:00

Amazon Black Friday Deals

2008-11-11T11:36:00.000-05:00

2008-11-05T10:38:00.002-05:00

Perfect way to deal with an Obama presidential election victory -- Buy and use one of my "Who Is John Galt" bumper stickers.

2008-11-04T07:52:00.001-05:00

Great anecdote from Freeper BushBacker1:

I was in a restaurant and my server had on a "Obama 08" tie, I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I 've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient needed money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

2008-09-30T00:13:00.006-04:00

Inspired by recent stock market events.

Click on a shirt to visit store

BONUS - A version of the second shirt customized for 403(b) accounts. I cashed in my 403(b) and all I got was this lousy shirt!

2008-09-18T21:31:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I just can't help myself...

Subject: Use of false/risky outgoing return email address in [Company deleted] job application acknowledgment emails
From:[Deleted]
To: admin@[CompanyDeleted].com, webmaster@[CompanyDeleted].com
Cc: admin@hodesiq.com, webmaster@hodesiq.com

Howdy,

After I recently applied for an open engineering position at [Company deleted] I received an email acknowledging my application back from an email address of ThankYou@NoReplies.com.

Using an incorrect from address with a domain like NoReplies.com or donotreply.com opens your organization and job applicants up to a potentially serious data leak. (See: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/03/they_told_you_not_to_reply.html )

The standard and more correct form for a do not reply type of address is DoNotReply@[CompanyDeleted].com or NoReplies@HodesIQ.com, giving you, the senders, control over where replies to the message might actually go.

Heck, [CompanyDeleted] might not be interested in hiring applicants whom purposely or accidentally send emails back to a do not reply address of any type, or for that matter, applicants for whom the urge to point out a risk in a recruiting system is overwhelming, but at least a DoNotReply@[CompanyDeleted].com as the return address keeps the (likely domain squatter) at NoReplies.com from finding out the names of people applying to your company who reply without reading the address.

Anyway, now that I've burned up any chance I might have had at actually getting a job at [CompanyDeleted], I bid you all good night.

Somewhat sincerely,

[Real Name]

2008-09-03T14:38:00.002-04:00

Unintentionally hilarious video.

Found on Fark, posted by BigJuanTehFurby. Apparently it is a long running Fark meme that I just learned about.

2008-08-28T13:01:00.002-04:00

Olympic post updated to final count, includes only countries with at least 3 medals.

Medal count data from Yahoo, populations from Wikipedia and CIA World Fact Book.



                                                               Total      GOLD
   Country       Gold    Silver  Bronze  Total  Population     MdlPerB   MdlPerB
Jamaica             6       3       2      11   2,780,132      3956.6     2158.2
Slovenia            1       2       2       5   2,029,000      2464.3      492.9
New Zealand         3       1       5       9   4,115,771      2186.7      728.9
Australia          14      15      17      46  21,388,597      2150.7      654.6
Cuba                2      11      11      24  11,268,000      2129.9      177.5
Norway              3       5       2      10   4,777,660      2093.1      627.9
Armenia             0       0       6       6   3,002,000      1998.7        0.0
Belarus             4       5      10      19   9,690,000      1960.8      412.8
Mongolia            2       2       0       4   2,629,000      1521.5      760.7
Lithuania           0       2       3       5   3,361,100      1487.6        0.0
Latvia              1       1       1       3   2,259,810      1327.5      442.5
Georgia             3       0       3       6   4,646,003      1291.4      645.7
Denmark             2       2       3       7   5,489,022      1275.3      364.4
Slovakia            3       2       1       6   5,402,273      1110.6      555.3
Croatia             0       2       3       5   4,555,000      1097.7        0.0
Hungary             3       5       2      10  10,043,000       995.7      298.7
Netherlands         7       5       4      16  16,444,382       973.0      425.7
Kazakhstan          2       4       7      13  15,422,000       843.0      129.7
Azerbaijan          1       2       4       7   8,467,000       826.7      118.1
Switzerland         2       0       4       6   7,637,300       785.6      261.9
Britain            19      13      15      47  60,587,000       775.7      313.6
Finland             1       1       2       4   5,317,439       752.2      188.1
Ireland             0       1       2       3   4,109,086       730.1        0.0
Bulgaria            1       1       3       5   7,640,238       654.4      130.9
South Korea        13      10       8      31  48,224,000       642.8      269.6
France              7      16      17      40  64,473,140       620.4      108.6
Ukraine             7       5      15      27  46,059,306       586.2      152.0
Czech Republi       3       3       0       6  10,403,136       576.7      288.4
Sweden              0       4       1       5   9,215,021       542.6        0.0
Canada              3       9       6      18  33,390,141       539.1       89.8
Russia             23      21      28      72 141,888,900       507.4      162.1
Germany            16      10      15      41  82,217,800       498.7      194.6
Italy               8      10      10      28  59,619,290       469.6      134.2
Kenya               5       5       4      14  31,987,000       437.7      156.3
Spain               5      10       3      18  46,063,000       390.8      108.5
Greece              0       2       2       4  10,706,290       373.6        0.0
Romania             4       1       3       8  21,438,000       373.2      186.6
United States      36      38      36     110 304,866,000       360.8      118.1
Austria             0       1       2       3   8,340,924       359.7        0.0
Zimbabwe            1       3       0       4  13,349,000       299.6       74.9
Serbia              0       1       2       3  10,150,265       295.6        0.0
Poland              3       6       1      10  38,115,967       262.4       78.7
North Korea         2       1       3       6  23,790,000       252.2       84.1
Uzbekistan          1       2       3       6  27,372,000       219.2       36.5
Japan               9       6      10      25 127,690,000       195.8       70.5
Taiwan              0       0       4       4  22,858,872       175.0        0.0
Argentina           2       0       4       6  40,301,927       148.9       49.6
Turkey              1       4       3       8  70,586,256       113.3       14.2
Ethiopia            4       1       2       7  70,678,000        99.0       56.6
Brazil              3       4       8      15 187,467,000        80.0       16.0
China              51      21      28     1001,325,525,00        75.4       38.5
Thailand            2       2       0       4  63,038,247        63.5       31.7
Nigeria             0       1       3       4 124,009,000        32.3        0.0
Mexico              2       0       1       3 106,682,500        28.1       18.7
Indonesia           1       1       3       5 231,627,000        21.6        4.3
India               1       0       2       31,136,707,80         2.6        0.9