Remembrance

Harold A. Toepfer
August 12, 1937 - December 15, 1992

Remembering Carlin

George Carlin 1937 - 2008
(re posted from last year, because it still brings the same message that everyone needs to hear)

"The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, the politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners.

They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They’ve got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying - lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else.

But I’ll tell you what they don’t want, they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that! You know what they want? Obedient workers - people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And now, they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your fucking retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They’ll get it.

They’ll get it all, sooner or later, because they own this fucking place. It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club.

The owners of this country know the truth: It’s called the American dream ’cause you have to be asleep to believe it."

-- George Carlin

Ummm...

...does anyone see a problem here?
-- John Gomes (see the rest of his work HERE)

Remembrance

R.I.P.

Patrick Wayne Swayze
August 18, 1952 - September 14, 2009

40th Anniversary Edition Classic

SEE FULL IMAGE HERE

Unoffical Heat Records

You have to wonder about the term "official" sometimes. Today in the Anchorage Daily News, the Sand Lake weather station (SLWS) reported, that yesterdays official high temperature for Anchorage was 80 degrees. In terms of health and safety issues, I find that to be irresponsible on their part. Temps vary all over this city, and I think it's time that weather reporting agencies come to terms with that. Temps recorded yesterday around town ranged from 80F - 90F+ depending on your location. I know at my location the temp hovered around 86 for most of the day. But like they've reported, the "Official high temp" was only 80F. It seems to me that the SLWS shouldn't be so egotistical in their logic. It's as if ...well ...if it wasn't recorded in Sand Lake, then it didn't happen. Wake up Sand Lake, it's time to put your ego to rest.

Tributes

R.I.P.
Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

Despite what he may or may not have done or what he has been accused of, it is definitely time to put that all to rest. However, you must respect his talents and his music. We all enjoyed his music at one point or another in our lives, some of it embedded in our memory for eternity. Many will miss him, I certainly will.

Remembrance

R.I.P.
Farrah Fawcett
February 2, 1947 - June 25, 2009

A Trip to Costco ...woof

Yesterday I was at my local COSTCO buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my loyal pet, Biscuit, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line
when the woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

What did she think I had, an elephant?
So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn't,
because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry.

The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again.
(I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled
with my story.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.

I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.
Costco won't let me shop there anymore.

Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the
world to think of crazy things to say.

Redoubt Erupts!

Long threatening Mount Redoubt erupted three times tonight sending an ash cloud an estimated 50,000 feet into the air, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported.
Story HERE

Some Light Humor

To funny.............

After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target.
Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred t o get in and get out. Equally unfortunately, my wife is like most women -
- she loved to browse.

Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target.

Dear Mrs. Samsel,
Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against Mr.Samsel are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in
people's carts when they weren't looking.
2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at
5-minute intervals.
3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to
the women's restroom..
4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official
voice, 'Code 3 in housewares. Get on it right away.'
5. August 4: went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of
M&M's on layaway.
6. August 14: Moved a CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told
other shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and
blankets from the bedding department.
8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'
9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used
it as a mirror while he picked his nose.
10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.
11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly
humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.
12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna
look' by using different sizes of funnels.
13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed
through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'
14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'

And last, but not least.

15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited
awhile, and then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! there's no toilet paper in
here.'

Raku Art

Raku pieces like this and others available at www.DarriellesClayArt.etsy.com

Whiners Need to Bear With It

The anti-wildlife wingnuts are at it again, the sorry whiners just can’t find anything else to worry about; other than what a 70 year old man does with his spare time, in the confines of his own personal property.

Law enforcement seeks to arrest and charge Charlie Vandergaw with “reckless endangerment” for cohabitation with bears. The concern I personally have with this is this: Mr. Vandergaw has been doing this for 20 odd years, and now all of a sudden, “law enforcement” finds something wrong with this. What Charlie does shouldn’t be an issue with anyone; he does this on his own property 50 miles away from anyone, with exception of one neighbor who complains that Charlie’s behavior is threatening his life and that of his children’s. To that man I call bullshit with a capital “B”; he lives in the middle of nowhere as does Charlie. It is my opinion that Charlie’s neighbor needs to buck up and grasp, that he lives in the wild, and therefore should expect to some extent, intermittent brushes with the local wildlife. To blame these occurrences on Charlie’s interaction with the bears is too opportune; if Charlie didn’t live out there and/or feed the bears, then who would his neighbor find fault with then?, probably the Fish and Game for not controlling the bear population.

This same topic keeps coming up in the Anchorage Daily News (ADN); a number of articles on the subject of Mr. Vandergaw and his “friends” have been intertwined with the bear attacks on the Anchorage hillside, and other areas in the Anchorage bowl; they have been center-stage in the paper in the last couple years. Whether the articles be about Vandergaw and his buddies or the recent bear attacks in Far North Bicentennial Park; these stories serve no other rationale than to increase people’s fear of bears in general; I find this deplorable. In our current society we have laws that make it officially authorized to bait a bear, and kill it, but no law making it lawful to ‘get along’ with the bears. That is sad and to some extent barbaric. It’s depressing because most of us who live in Alaska, we live here because living with the wildlife is not a hinderance as many believe, but a blessing, a gift if you will. Nowhere in the U.S., can one see and appreciate wildlife as we can, without driving long distances or visiting a local zoo. Some of us can look right out our back doors. Yet, time and time again, some of the residents here, mainly those who live on the Anchorage Hillside do nothing but moan about the wildlife.

They really need to place a sign at the airports and state borders that read “Warning: Our wildlife is our state treasure, if you cannot tolerate living with our wildlife, then you are in the wrong state, and you should consider living somewhere else.”

Comments below left in regards to Anchorage Daily News (ADN) article “Bear Haven on Wrong Side of Law” published on November 16, 2008.

Cathy_Tracy wrote on 11/16/2008 11:54:53 AM:

To all of you who say leave him alone (there are too many to name), if the police busted a meth lab and the people had little children in the building, you would be ready to string the parents up by the b*lls. If I remember right, this man has allowed young children out at his homestead and you seem to think that this is OK. What is the difference? A bear could become upset and kill a child just like the meth lab could explode at any minute. They are the same.

Shek wrote on 11/16/2008 12:26:39 PM:

Cathy_Tracy, just where do you get the idea to compare meth labs to living / cohabitation with bears. That is just delusional. I'm guessing you've either had a meth lab or you do meth, one or the other. I really don't get why all of you sit here and whine about what one guy does with his time that lives 40-50 miles from any of you. And, as for the dude who lives in the big woods as a neighbor to Vandergaw; wake up ...you "chose" to live in the big woods, the wilds. So if any bear strays on to your property, and threatens you or your children, you have no one to blame but yourself; blaming Charlie is pure convenience for you. In the end, if the law enforcement decides to arrest Charlie for actually getting along with the wildlife on his own property, they very well better arrest "and evict" everyone who built a house and lives on the Anchorage Hillside. Fair is fair. Other than that, mind your own business and leave him be.

I Bet The Religious-Right Try To Have This Film Banned

Given the uproar of such films as "The Last Testament of Christ" and other films in the same genre; make no mistake, the film "Religulous" should bring out the ire of thousands of biblethumpers across the globe.

So Long, Butch Cassidy

Paul Leonard Newman 1925-2008

Full Story HERE

Fundraisers aplenty for Dakota

See the story in the Belfast Telegraph HERE

Baby Dakota Makes the Front Page of the Belfast Telegraph

FOR FULL STORY CLICK HERE

How Could Anyone Deny A Face Like This

Visit me at Babydakota.org

Heart Felt Condolences To Pooh Fans

Too Funny....thanks Chad! www.tundracomics.com

Alaska Carl's, Jr. 'Charbroiled' Burgers Worsen With Every Visit

It doesn't take much to see the difference between the two burgers above. The Top one is the Carl's, Jr. Teriyaki Burger, as advertised in their latest summer promotion. The bottom photo is what you will actually receive when ordering the 'Teriyaki Burger' from a Carl's, Jr. in the State of Alaska.

I ordered one today from the Carl's, Jr. (CJR) on Abbott Road in Anchorage, Alaska; when I got home and unwrapped the burger, I couldn't believe my own eyes. For one, the burger could very well have been just pulled from a refrigerator ...it was that cold. Two, this is definitely not what they are advertising on the television. How pathetic, this is supposed to be quality? Not!

I then took that burger back to the restaurant and asked the manager what the problem was. He seemed not only miffed that I would even bring it up to him, but he was also extremely confused; I actually overheard him tell his assistant manager that she didn't have to give me a new burger, because there "wasn't anything wrong with it," but finally gave me another burger; fresher this time, but an exact clone of the first one.

This is and will be my last trip to a CJR up here. Every time I go back, their product and service gets worse. In every other CJR restaurant down south, I never once received something so unappetizing.

None of this really surprises me, if you think about it. They come up here and bring their version of what a Carl's, Jr. burger should be; but most Alaskans probably never heard of (them) before; so they serve us a plate of crap, and get away with it. I should mention also that I'm not so sure the fries ever made it to the deep fryer, and today they didn't have receipt paper in their machines. No receipts for anyone.

So, if you've never been to a Carl's, Jr, in Alaska and you're planning on giving their burgers a try, do yourselves a favor, save your money, (their) food and service isn't worth the paper it's wrapped in.

Why not just start a caribou farm and waste all that you want to?

Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 26, 2006)

Daily News Letters To The Editor

In response to Matthew Florenski ("You can't cook caribou antlers; there's no reason to pack them out," Oct. 17):

Why pack out the head and hide? You should ask an Alaska Native that same question; God forbid, you might learn something.

Leaving them behind is wasteful. According to tradition, all parts of the caribou are used; there is no waste. To this day, the skins are used to make traditional clothing from head to toe -- from hair pieces to moccasins -- and ornamented with bead work. Furs line mukluks and parkas for warmth and decoration. Bone and antler are fashioned into tools. The caribou heads are roasted over a fire and eaten. For special feasts, a delicacy of head soup is served. Bone marrow is extracted, cooked and eaten. Even the hooves are jellied and eaten.

It is attitudes like his that justify these rules that Mr. Florenski can't conceive of. His comment, "I just want the meat -- not that I need it, but rather that my family enjoys wild meat over store-bought," is contemptible. If he "needs" or prefers wild meat over store-bought, I suggest he move to a rural location, start a farm and raise his own to waste as he please.

---- Zachary D. Toepfer

Anchorage

A Little Humor to Brighten Your Day from Tundra

Keep'em Comin' Mr. Carpenter

Even More Chad Carpenter - Tundra

Friday Humor from Chad Carpenter

More silly humor with the Ravens

A Day At The Fair

In a last spur of the moment attempt, to make the best of what is for most Alaskans, the end of summer; we decided to attend this years Alaska State Fair. For many I suppose it was full of fun, food and memories in the making; but, for us, it turned out to be just another day at the fair. Endless wandering around the grounds looking for something that we hadn't seen in prior years. As customary, the rain reared it's ugly head and sprinkled us from time to time; though the real rain didn't show up until our trip back into Anchorage, but more on that later. The Riders of the Thunderdome was probably the most entertainment we had seen that day, to me though it was just another bout of stupid human tricks; lets see....we'll put three motorcycles in a round steel cage, and see who comes out alive...lol...thankfully no one got hurt but entertaining none the less.

Our main reason for going though was too see Tom Rigney and Flambeau at the Sluice Box Tavern. Already exhausted from our wanderings around the fairgrounds for nearly seven hours; by the time Tom got on stage we were both too tired to enjoy it; and by the looks of things, Tom Rigney didn't look like he wanted to be on that stage; neither did Flambeau. To all their credit for making the attempt. This was Tom's third and final night performing and he looked exhausted himself. The entourage couldn't seem to remain in sync in their playing, and whomever the soundmixer was, he/she couldn't blend the music well enough to make it enjoyable, either to loud or some of the individual instruments were drowned out by others. The best news concerning Tom and the troup was the mention of a new CD to come out in the next couple of months. I will be patient and wait. I'm sure the CD will match the rest in comparison.

All in all, we may not have seen too many things we haven't seen before; but we did see what we went for in the first place. Scratch that, we did see something that wasn't there before. The last few years, you could have your picture taken riding a brown bear...ugh...this year the bear has been replaced by a very well stuffed Bull Moose. It was pretty breathtaking until we discovered that the prize bull had already made it's trip to the taxidermmist...lol. My companion got her cream puff that she had talked about for weeks, and then a second one later in the day. We stopped at The Brazil Nut where she bought another beautiful faery for her collection. I myself didn't buy anything this year; I didn't see too many things that I couldn't live without; let alone afford.

The trip back into Anchorage left a lot to be desired when it comes to driving on the Glenn Highway. It RAINED. Oh did it rain, it rained so hard that a few drivers on the highway decided it meant ...Go Faster...Much Faster. Not a State Trooper in sight anywhere, but not surprising either. I wouldn't want to be trying to pull anyone over in the deluge. The worst part of it was trying to focus on what lane our land yacht was in, while keeping track of the idiots in the opposite lane. For the life of me I could not see the road markings under all the water on the road; that made it extrememly difficult. Next, mix in a few Dale Earnhardt, Jr. wannabes who seem to think that they own the road, and it's a recipe for a potential highway disaster. By the time we arrived safely in Anchorage, my nerves were shot, and I didn't want to be driving anymore.

All's well that ends well. It's another day, the rain has stopped for a while; time to relax and gain our focus back. Definitely going to go out this morning and give the windshield a double coating of Rain-X. It would have come in handy last night, had I the foresight to see what was in store for us. Now we wait til next years State Fair; and I will definitely be more prepared for the worst. Summer has come to end, winter is in the air, the nights are gettin shorter and cooler. Neither of us are ready for seven months of winter; although subconciously we know that it will pass quickly.

Surprisingly, the one thing I had expected this year didn't happen. No termination dust was seen on Pioneer Peak or any of the mountain tops; as is normal to see at the start of every Alaska State Fair. This is a good thing. Maybe we will have a mild winter...at least we can hope for it anyway.