I'm in a club where they're having a benefit for a friend of mine. The band takes a break. The piped-in music is turned on. During the band's break, a co-worker wants to interview the guest of honor, so to speak, but she's worried about whether he can be heard even with her microphone right under his chin. I ask a waitress if she can have it turned down or off for a minute. She checks and comes back and tells me no.
No biggie.
Then the owner comes by and says: "I got a club full of people, so the music's staying on. She wants to do an interview, she can go outside."
I find that to be a very interesting comment. It's not about musical tastes or style, or even age groups. Because I have observed in several venues, whether the typical fare is blues, rock, country or current hits, patrons talk incessantly. Some on their cell phones. Many of them can't seem to shut up even when the band is playing. And I've been among people in these situations who actually want the music turned down because they can't hear their conversations.
But the owner said there was no way he was turning his down or off.
I don't disagree with his decision. He's a businessman, and he did what he thought was best for his customers.
And to be fair, there was a moment when it seemed like more people were dancing to the piped-in music than to the band.
Still, I find it curious that a minute or so of no music would be a problem for a lot of people who weren't even listening to it.

........NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law

I wonder how his partners feel about wearing helmets now.

Smart guy, no?

The leader of the group stated that the incident didn't change his views on helmet laws. Another group member resented the "guv' mint" interfering with his rights to not wear a helmet.

I don't know how smart the guy was but he is a dead guy after his head hit the pavement.

What's with people who think it's a good idea to have these things as pets and then don't keep them?

Snakes threaten Hawaiian paradise

They treat their snakes like children. The bring them into their homes; feed and care for them until they are big and unmanageable; and then release them on the public. But they are so cute when they are little.

So I was driving along saw some odd movement at the back of a pickup in the next lane. At first, I thought it was a small animal that got caught napping on the bumper. When we came to a red light, I got a better look.
Mounted on the trailer hitch ball was one of those Billy Bass singing fish. It was wired into the brake lights, so that whenever the driver stopped, the fish's tail wagged.

Just experienced an earthquake here in Alexandria, VA!

There's a distinction between, "What's the address?" and "How do I get there?"
That distinction is important to recognize if you're dependent on a GPS device and get easily confused and/or irritated when someone gives you visual cues - simple things like specific landmarks you will pass, traffic signals and, oh, the shape and color of the building you're looking for.
In short: Ask somebody else.

I don't know if Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene fits the category of this thread, but if it does I have a link to share: my Irene experience.

Nice report, Mike. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you got through it with minimal damage.

Thank you, Woody.

File this under the heading of: "You gotta be kidding!"
Lingerie Football League anything but soft
I found this after seeing a story about Mark Rypien's daughter playing quarterback.

Yeah, the league has been in existance for a minute. I don't think they started out going that hard though. They also don't play a lot of games. I'd like to see them go legit and wear regular uniforms.

Regular uniforms would be cool.

Oh, there was also one about a girl who plays linebacker on her school's team. But because an opponent is in a division that prohibits gender crossing in sports, the one team would have been forced to forfeit if she played, she sat out the game.
They might have been better off with the forfeit. Her team won 60-0.

Joe Paterno fired! I thought I would never see the day that Joe Pa was not coaching at Penn State. I cannot understand how Penn State put their school before the safety of the children Jerry Sandusky allegedly molested while working as an assistant coach.

While Joe did tell his so called boss, he should have called the police and said, "Get his #$%# out of here!"

Oops, there was a third thing I wanted to say.

No kidding. From what I've been hearing, not one person called the legal authorities. And they continued to allow Sandusky on the campus and lead sessions with kids.

This whole thing is just terrible. Sandusky did a phone interview last night with Bob Costas where he admitted to showering with boys and "horseplay" but said he did not touch them in a sexual nature and he was not a pedophile. He said he enjoys the company of young people. In his mind, he may truly believe he is not a pedophile. Are you serious? Come on!

I don't know what his lawyer was thinking, but that was a bad call. He needs to fire him. The smartest thing he could do right now is to keep his mouth shut.

I read the Grand Jury report. There is a distinct pattern in his behavior with these kids. All of these kids say the exact same thing. You can clearly see how he starts and how his behavior progresses with each child. It's like a plan that he follows. It's just so sick.

Let's just say for argument's sake that what was witnessed in the shower did not happen as seen. Let's say he was only "horsing around" with this child as he said he was. Then how would he explain all the other activity that was given in Grand Jury testimony? No sir, not buying it. He's a pervert, a pedophile, and a predator.

I'm with you, Mary.
Even allowing for "innocent until proven guilty," the stuff that he admitted to is still pretty disturbing. Notice the way he danced around Costa's question of being "attracted" to boys.
Different case, but I was never fully convinced that Michael Jackson molested any children, but his sleepovers, while innocent to him, were not good.

Throw them all in jail. How hundreds of people could keep quiet and not have a moral conscious is hard to believe. Both grad assistant McQuerrey and the janitor saw the monster raping boys in the shower. He's guilty, it's quite obvious.

How he is out on bail for a bond that was never posted makes no sense. Unless, of course, the judge was a contributor and booster to Sandusky's 2nd Mile foundation which he used to lure little boys into his dark, sick fetish. Throw that judge in jail too.

Child molesters are the lowest form of filth on the planet. He'll get his when he gets in jail unless he commits suicide beforehand.

A co-worker who's new to the area asked me for a recommendation about dentists. After I gave her three possibilities, she asked for the phone number to one. I gave it her. She asked for an address about the second. I gave her that as well. But for the third, she asked if she could find him on Google.
I said: "He's in the phone book."
She said: "You're showing your age. NOBODY uses phone books."

File this under the category of: "They pay people to do that?"
Rats free friends

LOL!!

(On soap box)

I was shocked to see how IPhones and Ipads/Tablets are #1 Christmas gift request this year FOR KIDS!!! Pretty pricey stuff.

I have nothing against technology but I am kind of surprised the Ipad and other tablets aren't a complete flop. If you have a desktop plus a laptop plus a smartphone (I don't but it seems 80% of the public does), WHY on earth would you need a Ipad? I can only call it a redundant waste of money. A friend of mine works at Best Buy and says a large percentage of the phones they sell are from people in the middle of their contracts. In other words....they will pay 10X the amount cause they gotta have it. Just can't wait. People with large credit card debt that already have negative cash flow. Where is the responsibility? I guess if the government can't live by their means, why should the people?

(Off soap box)

Yep.

I don't even know where to begin with this one.
HS kissing "prank" goes too far

For those interested, there's a link within the article to a video.
I suppose it was a good idea on the front end, but gotta wonder about the actions of a few parents once they got started. How will any of them live this down?

Amazing this hasn't been done before:
Mora vows to end UCLA's practice-ditching tradition

Good for him. Great decision. It will attempt to keep the players a little more grounded (hopefully).

Yeah.