The 2010 U.S. Census is here and there are lots and lots of bad people out there who will use it as an avenue to rip you off, or worse.

This us pulled verbatim from Snopes:

Since the first phase of the 2010 U.S. Census is already underway, reminders about how to ensure you provide information only to official Census Bureau representatives – and provide only the types of information they are authorized to collect – are especially timely. The web site of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) offers some good advice on this topic:

• If a U.S. Census worker knocks on your door, they will have a badge, a handheld device, a Census Bureau canvas bag and a confidentiality notice. Ask to see their identification and their badge before answering their questions. However, you should never invite anyone you don’t know into your home.
• Census workers are currently only knocking on doors to verify address information. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information to anyone, even if they claim they need it for the U.S. Census. While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, it will not ask for Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers, nor will employees solicit donations.
• Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail or in person at home. However, they will not contact you by e-mail, so be on the look out for e-mail scams impersonating the Census. Never click on a link or open any attachments in an e-mail that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Happy 9’s!!

At the sound of the tone it will be 09:09:09, 09/09/09.

BEEP!!

(WordPress bungled this post, so I had to hack the database to get it to show up. Now it’s LATE!! Grrr.)

This is just one small example of why I so dislike the United Nations (the “Un”): Un-Speak.

To accomplish the Un-goals of the Un-Security Counsel and the Un-General Assembly, Un-Speak is all about being completely Un-offensive (and thus  Un-effective) in whatever you have to say.

Regarding the tensions with Libya over the release and glorification of the Lockerbie Bomber, this quote is from U.S. envoy to the Un, Susan Rice. (Emphasis added.)

“How President Gaddafi chooses to comport himself, when he attends the General Assembly and the Security Council in New York, has the potential either to further aggravate those feelings and emotions or not.”

He “has the potential” to make people mad “or not.” Gee, ya think? That’s like saying, “That is the ugliest baby I have ever seen in my entire life or not.”

Actually, the more I think about this, it could come in handy. It could allow me to say more of the tactless things I really want to say without all the weepy backlash.

“Wow! You really let yourself go or not. You must be over 200 pounds or not.”

“You drive like a complete idiot or not. You might be missing a chromosome or not.”

“You are the worst parent I’ve ever seen or not. If you don’t do something about your kid running around the restaurant, screaming, I’m going to strangle him first, then you or not.”

…

As a footnote to this post, the quote above was little more than a footnote to the article which is really about the Bronco Bomber getting in bed with the Un. (Actually more like getting in bed on top of…) (Again, emphasis added.)

Barack Obama will cement the new co-operative relationship between the US and the United Nations this month when he becomes the first American president to chair its 15-member Security Council.

This should really throw some gas on the whole Anti-Christ conspiracy theory. I prefer to stay out of the Bronco/Anti-Christ conversation. The way I see it, the Anti-Christ is coming and there’s not a darn thing we can do to stop it (or bring it). So I don’t really care that Obama is the Anti-Christ OR NOT.

My family (immediate and extended) has been doing a great job over the last few weeks of keeping our doctors in business.

Tammy’s ankle surgery went very well this Thursday. She had plenty of tendon in place to do “option one” (as opposed to the tendon graft that was “option two”). She spent yesterday on the recliner, but is in very little pain. This morning she made her first solo trip to the bathroom, requiring no help getting out of and back into her nest of pillows and blankets on the recliner. She’s also telling me, as I type this, that she’s ready to get up and go out for breakfast. She’s either a real trooper or has a terminal case of cabin fever. Probably both.

Tammy’s dad had heart surgery Friday. They expected to do a quintuple bi-pass (that’s five blocked blood vessels) but after getting in there and finding the tissue very weak, they stopped at three. I’m not sure what the plan is for the other two.

There was some concern last night because he was not breathing steadily enough on his own to remove the ventilator (which means he had to keep the hose down his throat and needed to be sedated).

But this morning we got news that he’s off the ventilator and talking. (PTL!) He’s still in a lot of pain and he has a historical problem with medications making him sick. The search goes on for the right pain medicine to keep him comfortable and not make him sick.

My Aunt Martha, is home (sort of) after open heart surgery. Her recovery has been slow and difficult, but she moved from the rehab center to a room in her daughter’s basement yesterday. She lives in Beaumont, Texas, but all this has taken place in Maryland. She’s far from home, but at least she’s “home.” If you know Martha and want to follow her story more closely, my cousins, Kathy and Daina, are keeping a blog of her recovery.

I was perusing Google Maps today, after sending a map to a family member so they could see our house. Street View is Google’s controversial feature that allows you to look at a neighborhood from street level. It was invaluable to us during our house shopping a few months ago.

In this view (clicky clicky), it appears one of our neighbors has had a lawn mowing casualty. Maybe it’s morbid, but it made me chuckle so I had to share.

“I’m looking over my dead dog rover, who I overlooked before.”

This week’s white board quip was chosen scientifically to be the best quip possible for this moment in time. In other words, I opened the database, closed my eyes, and scrolled up and down before clicking on this one.

Seriously.

I felt like a Coolidge dollar sandwiched between two Hoover chickens.
– Ask-a-Ninja

This should please my father who complained that the “pancake one” wasn’t even funny and it had been up for “weeks” . Yes. Two. Sorry, Pa. Is this better?

I’ve been waiting for this day for over a decade.

I remember vividly when the very first “Super Walmart” opened in Amarillo in the late 1990’s. They had groceries and they were open 24 hours. Back then, the only things open 24 hours in Amarillo were a few gas stations and the Waffle House. (Come to think of it, excluding Walmart, that may still be true.)

I also vividly remember my first, late-night visit. It was just after 2 AM. I waited in the car while some friends ran in for some late-night essentials. (It wasn’t booze, and other than that, I can’t think of anything that qualifies as a “late-night essential”, but still…)

My eyes grew wide in amazement at the circus of mulleted, flip-flop clad, beer-gutted wonders strolling in and out of the store with their late-night essentials. (This time, yes, I mean booze.) Since then, this day has been an inevitability.

It has come: People of Walmart, the photo blog. Check it out. And, if you catch one of those rare creatures, be sure you have your camera handy so you can submit your own siting.

I’m telling you, we live in a Star Trek world! (Yeah yeah, I know. Put away your light sabers. I know I’m mixing my sci-fi worlds. Get over it.)

Here in the U.S. most of our robot tech is driven by defense contracts (like trucks that can autonomously navigate battle fields, and armed unmanned helicopters). But in Japan, it’s pretty much about sexism entertainment. And after seeing the video below, I have to admit, they’re making shocking advances.

It was only a few years ago that a bi-pedal robot was only possible with hundreds of pounds of computing power on board. Even Honda’s diminutive Asimo looked like he was wearing a bulky space suit. Those japs have put their robots on a run-way model style diet and have come out with… well… a run-way model. Seriously!

Here she is in her first real-live run-way show.

Ok, all you prayer warriors out there. I’ve got some requests for you.

Tammy’s getting her ankle rebuilt (again) in about a week. She’ll be in a hard cast for 6 weeks beginning Labor Day weekend. Pray for peace.

Tammy’s dad is facing heart surgery somewhere in that same time frame. We’re hoping he gets to come down and see the house before then. Pray for peace.

My aunt is recovering (slowly) from open heart surgery. (You can follow the progress here.) Pray for peace.

My mom and my sister have some issues that could use prayer. (In Baptist land, we call these “unspoken” requests.) Pray for peace.

There are countless people in my church family who are struggling with unemployment. Pray for peace.

We’ve had some soldiers close to us come home healthy from the Middle East. We are grateful, but we know there are a lot of folks still in harms way over there. Pray for peace.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

At first, I thought the Cash for Clunkers plan was just some retarded, tree-hugger scheme get evil, Gaia-hating, SUV drivers (like me) to get rid of their planet killing vehicles by using their evil, consumption-loving, capitalism against them. While there may be some modicum of truth to that, I had an epiphone today: There is a much better and more logical theory.

Cash for clunkers requires that “clunkers” traded it be destroyed. Here’s a video of a perfectly good and healthy Corvette being put to sleep. (If you view this at Youtube [by clicking on the video or the link below it], you’ll notice a long list of “related videos” showing other expensive, healthy cars put to pasture.)

It was after watching this, that it occurred to me: Cash for Clunkers was just a proof of concept, a test, and it passed with flying colors. Now that Americans have proven that they are willing turn over perfectly good vehicles to be destroyed for a few thousand bucks, The Bronco Bomber has all the leverage he needs to move on to the real implimentation: Cash for Codgers!

That’s right! I expect to see the plan go public in early in 2010. I’m sure the numbers are still being worked out, but I figured $1 million would be a real bargain for taking your otherwise happy and healthy grand-dad out of the medicare pool.

God, please let the this remain a bad joke and not reality.