Op-Ed

I really wish the United States had the courage to re-introduce serious deterrence. Negotiation is fine but not when it comes to nukes. The reason I turned out to be such a dammed rebel was the Cold War. When you live under the threat of dying by Russian nuclear bombs, you just don’t care.

Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s nerve, we won that war. We could defuse our current threats, Iran and North Korea, the same way. With deterrence!

First, assemble anti-ballistic weapons in Israel and South Korea capable of shooting down any rocket launched from an offending country. This technology could even be satellite based.

Then, issue a directive to Iran and North Korea that if they do launch a nuke, their countries will be immediately destroyed by the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Their entire country turned to glass! Everyone burned to death! Goodbye…

This would cause great upheaval among the people and the current regimes would be overthrown. Then we can go in and dismantle the nukes.

Is it too late to vote me in as president?

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Categorized as Various

Playing With Piper

I’ve been enhancing my HotNewPins app, doing laundry, and playing with Piper today.

This video I just shot seems to sum it all up: Computer background noise, dryer clacking around, and Pipers teeth grabbing the playtoy balls.

The crayon art in the video is from a couple of my guys from the gang. Better than mangling company paperwork I suppose…

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Categorized as Piper

Hot New Pins

I’ve just developed a new app that uses an undocumented API from Pinterest. It grabs the most popular pins from Pinterest, twenty at a time, and presents them to you. The content is amazing and if this makes you a Pinterest fan, I’ll send you an invite!

Click on the image below to start your adventure!

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Categorized as Site Stuff

Meow

Piper is not a vocal cat but I’ve noticed that when I give her the morning gravy fix (she doesn’t eat the food but loves to lick the gravy) she lets out this little moew of anticipation. I decided to try and capture it this morning:

It’s really soft and hard to hear so I isolated and amplified it a bit:

On another note: I went into the veterinary clinic today, where Piper used to go. After they made a quick call to Megan to confirm I really was Pipers new owner, I filled out some paperwork and she is now officially mine. We’re getting her vaccinations up to date in a couple of weeks, and now I know her age. 6 years old!

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Categorized as Piper

Land Ahoy!

It’s finally warming up around here. The bottom is dropping out on the roads, which means they’re turning to mush, and the snow on my yard is receding like my hairline did twenty five years ago…

This is very good! Not only will the mice stop hibernating so Piper can hunt them, I can reach the hot-tub to clean it up and start using it again.

I’ll be home all Spring Break week. If anyone wants a hot-tub invite, hit me up!

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Categorized as House

Blog Update

This blog started back on June 6, 2011. That was 282 days (9 months and 8 days) ago.

I had just come back from hanging out with Riley and Jessica in Las Vegas and I realized there was a lot I had to say to the world!

So, busdriverjim.com, as of today, now contains:

  • 353 Posts
  • 15 Categories
  • 1,454 Photos
  • 148 Photosets
  • 71 Videos
  • 346 Comments
  • … and a lot of love, code and soul.

If you’re going to blog, be serious about it! My thanks to everyone who has participated in this very fun internet adventure.

I’ve developed a huge amount of code to support and compliment this project. Please explore the menu options above and the links on the sidebar to your right.

If you put a WordPress template in the hands of a programmer, cool things happen :-)

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Categorized as Site Stuff

Tolberts Sign

I pass this poor sign several times a day and it always makes me a bit sad. I wish the county would just haul it away.

A once thriving hardwood outfit was reduced to an empty building and a beaten down sign by a crappy economy. Just like the many half-finished subdivisions here, all ghosts of what should have been…

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Categorized as The Valley

Minature Horses

I see these little guys almost every day. They hang out on Ross Ave in Driggs and I think they’re owned by a Mexican family across the street.

They’re cute, very tame and relished my petting.

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Categorized as The Valley

Road Trip

I really needed to clear my head this weekend so I took Lucy up to All American in Victor yesterday morning for a major tuneup while I had breakfast at Scratch with my sister Lorelle and nephew Brian.

My favorite mechanic John tuned her, lubed her, and set her free. Three and a half hours later I was in Evanston, WY.

As I’ve stated in other posts, my 87 Mazda 626 LX with 250K miles on her is the most amazing vehicle I’ve ever owned. Granted I’ve cared for her well, but still, this car has a heart and soul that loves to cruise wide open spaces!

Here are some photos I took on the return trip. My GPS guided me perfectly and the morning scenery was spectacular!

I plan on running this shot through my painting program…
This is the Afton Cone. It shoots water out the top to self-perputeate.
Here’s the Palisades Reservoir covered in snow. Very cool!
Finally, back at the ranch… :-)

Update: Here’s six total minutes of Video shot handheld from behind the wheel…

SlideShow (Road Trip)
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Categorized as Travels

My Cat

How is it that an animal can give themselves totally to you? There is something going on here that we humans don’t understand. Piper appeared like magic on my deck months ago and I chased her off, but she said no. She’s now my girl!

Cats really need a home they can own. They want no competition from other animals. They need a lot of heat in the winter. They need to hunt, whether it’s a hand under the covers, or a naive bird in the yard.

I let Piper out onto the driveway today and she gave me a mangled dead bird as a result.

She may be an overweight kitty that sleeps and eats too much, but she managed to grab a bird in a land covered in snow, rip it’s head off, and present the parts for my approval.

I’m so proud!

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Categorized as Piper

Old Man

Neil Young – “BBC In Concert” – February 23, 1971.

Shortly after he performed this, I graduated from college and started my computer consulting career in the Bay Area.

I love Neil Young.

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Categorized as Various

Truck For Sale

This Truck For Sale has been sitting buried in snow for a while, south of the Gateway Chevron. I decided to pay it a visit today.

Not a bad looking vehicle, now that the snow has melted off it…

SlideShow (Truck For Sale)
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Categorized as The Valley

Freedom

I’ve been driving in blinding snow for days. I had to tell a ski bum with a crushed leg that I couldn’t make it to his door. I can’t deal with my hands, they don’t seem to work well, except on my keyboard. Not inspired! Quality of life index at an all time low, just staying alive…

But, wait! A realization has occurred that I am my own man. I maintain my home and my two vehicles well. I do what I want to do, when I want to do it! I answer to nobody and I don’t worry about anyone other than myself, and my cat Piper.

I am free, and I’m really beginning to like it! If you give a man his total space, it’s hard to take it back…

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Categorized as House

Gas

Sometimes the accumulation of snow and ice on a dirty vehicle can be kind of artsy

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Categorized as The Bus

Snow Dinner

I bought a frozen burrito at Broulim’s yesterday to have for dinner last night. I was too busy to take it home so I put it next to my car back at base, slightly covered in snow.

Of course it snowed more and when I got back to the car I couldn’t see it, forgot it was there, and drove off and left it.

I was so bummed last night I just skipped dinner…

SlideShow (Snow Dinner)
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