How To Tie Your Shoes Correctly

     When I first began dating my wife, nearly 40 years ago, her shoe laces were always coming undone.  Being a Boy Scout, trained in the art of knot tying, I noticed almost immediately that she was not tying her shoe laces with the correct knot.  She was tying what is called a Granny Knot.  Nearly everyone has heard about the Granny Knot.  It is a improperly tied Square Knot that slips when you put it under load and easily comes undone.

     The fix was easy.  I simply had her reverse the first part of the knot so that the knot ended up a proper Square Knot.  I have met many people in my life who do not tie their shoe laces properly and always have a problem keeping the laces from coming undone.  Sometimes this can be quite embarrassing.
     I recently discovered a web site devoted completely to the proper tying of shoe laces.  Check out the link below and see if you are tying your shoe laces properly.
   
Proper Shoe Lace Knot Technique

     Several years ago I met a young women at work who was between jobs and getting ready to begin a new career in the TV News Industry.   While she worked at our company we taught her the correct way to tie her shoes and it really made a great impression on her.
     Several months later she left our company and began here new TV news career in Arizona.  One of her first stories was on the correct way to tie shoe laces.  She went to a local school and conducted an experiment where she had half the kids tie their shoes one way and half the other way.  After the kids played out in the yard at recess, she checked to see if there was a difference in how well the knots stayed tied.  She found out that the Granny Knot came loose much more often than the Square Knot.  As part of her story she visited a local Scoutmaster and had him explain the difference between the two knots and explain why one was better than the other.

Big Brother Going Through Your Trash

Yes it is TRUE!

The government will soon be going through your trash and it is already starting in Cleveland, Ohio. 

The city is planting microchips in the residents recycling trashcans...(I am not making this up)...to monitor how often they recycle trash.  If the city decides that you are not recycling your share of material they will send a crew over to your house and go through your trash to see if you are putting recyclable material in your regular trashcan.  If they find more than 10% recyclable material in your trash can, you will be fined $100, according to Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens.

Now pay particular attention to the next part of the story.

The Cleveland City Council approved spending $2,500,000.00 (that is 2.5 million dollars) for the cost of planting the microchips inside the special trashcans.  They did not provide an estimate of the cost of paying "trash supervisors" to go through people's trashcans, nor did they say how they will measure the amount of recyclable material.

I assume it will be determined by weight.

Let's imagine how this process will work.

Let's say that you go on vacation and don't put out your recycle trashcan for a couple of weeks.  The computer in the city trash truck that is monitoring your trashcan usage, notices that they haven't picked up your recycle trashcan for some time.  For reasons that you will soon understand the city must next obtain a search warrant.  With that warrant in hand,  a deputy sheriff and the city trash commissioner are  dispatched with a special truck to your address.  They arrive at your home and knock on your door.  They must not provide any advance notice of their arrival or else you might presort your trash before they arrive, thereby defeating the entire purpose of the raid and also forfeiting the $100 fine.  Thus the reason for the warrant.  Since you and your wife may not be home during the day, the city worker and the deputy enter your back yard with the warrant and legally move the trashcan to the front street.

As your neighbors watch in amazement the trash supervisor first must weigh the contents of the trashcan.  To accomplish that they must empty the contents onto a scale that records the total weight of your trash.  Next they move your trash onto a special sorting table and sort it into two receptacles.  In one of the containers they place choice pieces of recyclable items including glass, metal cans, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard.  If any of the paper or cardboard happens to be wet, the trash supervisor will smile, knowing the moisture will add to the weight of the recyclable items he is hoping to find.  Keep in mind that everyone in your neighborhood will watch as the trash supervisor sorts through the remnants of last night's dinner and other items that you thought were private.  If you have wrapped any of the items in a bag or in any way tried to conceal them from the inspector, the containers will be opened to confirm that they do not contain recyclable material.

You might imagine that quite a crowd might gather around the truck as the inspector works.  The deputy who accompanied the inspector will also take care of any necessary crowd control, using his Taser if necessary to keep homeless people from grabbing plastic bottles or aluminum cans.

After all the material has been sorted, the "trash supervisor" pushes a special button on the trash computer which uses proprietary software and trash algorithms to calculate how much trash has been placed in the wrong trashcan.  If the number exceeds 10% you will receive a $100 fine on your next bill from the trash company.

And don't you even think about not paying the fine!  If you do, they city will place a lien on your house and take special steps to destroy your credit rating and reputation.

So there you have it.  Sounds bizarre you may think.  Never happen, you say!  Not in my lifetime, you hope!

BUT IT IS ALREADY HAPPENING!

Link to Source - Cleveland's Trash Czar

Last year they city of Cleveland, Ohio, issued 2900 tickets for violations of the city's trash collection code.  They say that this number is nearly five times more tickets than they issued the previous year.  According to Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens, his "Division of Waste Collection is on track to meet is goal of issuing 4000 citations in 2010."

I don't know about you, but I firmly believe that these environmentalists are totally out of control!

Don't let this situation get any worse.  Make sure your voice is heard in the next election!

Alien Lawn Mound Invades My Yard

The other night I came home and heard some strange sounds coming from our back yard.  I turned on the patio lights and went out onto the patio to see if there was something there.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  There in the lawn was a giant mound rising up higher and higher.  It was easily about 10 feet in diameter and over a foot tall in the center.  AND IT WAS GROWING!  It scared me to death!  When it got about 2-1/2 feet tall it stopped growing and became silent and still.  I walked over to it and put my foot on it to see if I could move it.  It was solid!  I walked up on top of it and it easily supported my weight.

After some checking I realized that it was the result of a leak in a pipe that passed under the lawn.  I turned off the water to the pipe and decided to wait till morning to see where the leak was and how best to fix it.

By morning the alien mound was gone and the yard was peaceful again.  I was able to locate the leak and repair the pipe before nightfall so that the mound would not return.

It was a night that I will never forget.

"Get My Shotgun !!!"

I had a dear friend, named Vern, who recently passed away from cancer.  He was from Yugoslavia and legally immigrated to the US when he was a young man.  Before he died he told me a great story that I will never forget.

One warm summer night, he and his wife were asleep in bed.  Their bedroom was located above their garage on the front of the house.  Two large sliding glass doors opened up to a small balcony just above the entrance to the garage.  Since the night was warm, they had left the sliding doors open to let in the cool air.

In the early morning, Vern was awakened by the sound of the screen door sliding open.  Quietly he opened his eyes to see a man on the balcony preparing to enter his bedroom through the sliding glass door. As the intruder silently parted the curtains to enter the room, Vern yelled at the top of his lungs,

"GET MY SHOTGUN!!!"

The intruder's response was immediate!  He turned around and dashed across the balcony to the railing.  Climbing up on the top of the railing, he jumped about 15 feet to the concrete driveway below, destroying both of his ankles.  The police followed the trail of blood from the compound fractures to some nearby bushes where they arrested the intruder, who was in severe pain and grateful to receive medical care.

Now the interesting part of the story is that Vern did not even own a shotgun.  If he had, I doubt it would have made any difference.  Why did the intruder risk his life by jumping from a second story balcony if he never saw Vern's gun? What frightened him so much that he would crush both his ankles? The answer is simple!

The intruder was simply frightened by the possibility that Vern DID own a gun and that he was prepared to use it to protect his family and his possessions. He was frightened by the possibility that if he entered that room, he would face the destructive force of both barrels of a 12 gage shotgun. It was Vern's legal right to own a gun and the possibility that he had exercised that right that frightened the intruder away.

Would things have been different if the intruder knew that Vern did not own a gun?  Would the outcome have been different if the intruder had known that the US Government had made it illegal for Vern to buy a gun or to buy ammunition?  I think you will agree with me that things would have been very different for Vern and his sweet wife had the intruder known that his life was not in danger as he crept silently into their bedroom.

We must maintain our right to bear arms and to own guns and ammunition, IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN TO INSTILL THE FEAR OF DEATH IN THE HEART OF EVERY WOULD BE CRIMINAL WHO EVEN CONSIDERS COMMITTING A CRIME AGAINST THEIR NEIGHBORS.

What Good Are Guns Without Ammunition?

There has been and always will be a heated debate over the possession and the sale of guns in the United States.  Attempts to limit the sale and ownership of firearms are common but have always failed due in great part to the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution.

Recently it appears that the proponents of gun control are trying a new approach.  While they continue their frontal assault on the sale and ownership of firearms, this is only a ploy to distract the public from their flank attack, which is:

“They will let Americans own their guns, but they will make sure that the government controls the sale of ammunition.”

This new method of gun control seems to be gaining a foothold in the United States.  Their tactic is to gradually reduce the availability of ammunition to Americans who own guns.  At first the government said they only wanted to limit the sale of certain kinds of ammunition that could only be used for illegal purposes.  Then the ban expanded to other types of ammunition.  Gun shops were forced to move their stock from the store shelves to behind the counters and then into locked cabinets.  Now laws are being passed to prevent the sale of ammunition through the mail.  Through these gradual changes to the law, it is getting more and more difficult to buy even common varieties of ammunition.

“You can keep your precious guns,” they laugh, “but just try and use them without ammunition.”

Recently some gun and ammunition stores in California have had enough!  They have filed a lawsuit against the government for violating the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution.  They claim that these new laws are limiting their ability to sell guns and specifically ammunition across state lines. 

We will see how successful these brave Americans are as they battle to preserve the right of every citizen to own, AND USE, a gun in the United States of America.