The New Artist "Bugsy" Has An Excellent Solution To Potholes

An example of "Bugsy's" pothole art in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England

It's winter, and the escalating season of potholes on the streets is upon us. It will only get worse, much worse, as we move toward the freeze/thaw cycles of late winter and early spring.

The potholes wreck our tires, our suspensions and our patience.  Often, it seems, the people who are supposed to fix the potholes have a laissez faire attitude toward fixing them.

This might not be fair, though, because these potholes have a habit of reappearing seemingly minutes after being fixes.

Still, it's a problem for a lot of us motorists. Including one Karan Holland of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England.

As Holland told the BBC:

"'On Friday night I was going along and hit a pothole which burst my tyre,' Ms Holland said. 'I took it to the tyre place on Saturday and (about $69 in U.S. equivalent dollars) I decided I'd had enough.'"

By enough, she meant she turned herself into a street artist. Which makes her one of my new favorite people. (By the way, I like how the British spell "tire" as "tyre." I like their way better).

More examples of "Bugsy's" pothole artwork 

She decided to spray paint images of bugs, yes, insects around the pot holes on her local streets. I admit, and so does Holland, that the pot hole bugs on Spilsby, Lincolnshire roads may not look like the work of an art major, but I do love them. You can see for yourself in the photos in this post.

The fact that it's a public service makes the bug idea a winner. "If I can save people from getting a bill like I did then it's worth it," Holland said.

The bug images, though crudely drawn, do give people a fair warning about the potholes. People in the area have taken to calling Holland "Bugsy" a play on "Banksy" the anonymous but celebrated street artist.

"Bugsy" kind of reminds of me of the famous "Pothole Bandit" in Burlington, Vermont, back in the 1980s who planted evergreen trees in some of the city's biggest potholes as a protest.

Back in Spisby, the Lincolnshire County Council is not amused by Holland's artwork. Says the BBC:

"In response, Richard Davis, executive member for highways at the council said, 'We appreciate potholes as a bugbear, but artistic acts such as this will actually slow us down when it comes to repairing them, as crews have to spend time cleaning the road."

Maybe, but Bugsy's artwork might inspire the council to fix the potholes before the artist can get to these buggy hazards.

Randy Rainbow Takes A Nice Impeachment Swipe At Trump

In these gloomy impeachment times, Randy Rainbow just
dropped another gem

YouTube star, satirist and singer Randy Rainbow hasn't made as many hit funny videos lately as he did earlier last year.

He's been touring and supporting his wonderful schtick on the road. That doesn't mean he's stopped making videos, oh, no.  

Rainbow dropped another gem yesterday.   He starts by introducing the president of the United States, ("at least at the time this video was recorded)."

Then, Rainbow offers Trump help with his marketing, his self-branding if you will, with a song that's a takeoff of "Gaston" from "Beauty And The Beast."

Without further delay, here's "That Don" by Randy Rainbow:

One Weird Trick To Lower The Suicide Rate

A state by state breakdown of minimum wages.  A new study
links raising that rage to lowering the suicide rate.

Suicide is a national tragedy.

One way to prevent suicide, it turns out, is to raise the minimum wage.

That idea makes sense. The national minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and you really can't survive on that.


Yes, many states, including here in Vermont, have a minimum wage higher than that. Plus, not many people actually make that $7.25 minimum wage. Most people, thank goodness, make more.

But even if you're making more than $7.25 an hour, I can see how hopeless you can get mired in poverty while working your ass off.  

A recently published study adds credence to this idea that a higher wage would decrease hopelessness, and by extension, suicide.

According to NPR:

"Between 1990 and 2015, raising the minimum wage by $1 in each state might have saved more than 27,000 lives, according to a report published this week in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. An increase in $2 in each state's minimum wage could have prevented more than 57,000 suicides."

According to the NPR report, the suicide rate goes down more if governments raise the minimum wage when it's harder to find a job.  The suicide rate declines more with higher wages during recessions instead of booms.

Of course, my logic above stated that maybe higher minimum wages reduce hopelessness. However, that's yet to be proven.

The study looked at state-wide data and not individuals, so it was impossible to determine exactly why a higher minimum wage correlates with lower suicide rates.

Clearly, more work needs to be done to understand what's going on behind the study.  John Kaufman, the lead author of the study and an epidmiology doctoral student at Emory University, told NPR he wants to look into whether a higher minimum wage could lessen depression, an obvious risk factor for suicide.

One thing I'm encouraged by is that a lot of other scientists have taken an interest in how economic well being, or lack thereof, affects the actual well-being of people in general.

There's been a drive in recent decades, in my opinion, and many others, toward a dystopian society in which a certain few have gained more and more money and power and control over every aspect of the rest of us. Pretty much always to our detriment.  

Take the United States health care system. (Please!) It's really not designed to help most of us. We pay an arm and a leg for health insurance. The insurers throw us a bone now and then when we're relatively young and healthy to cover many of our expenses when relatively minor health issues or injuries crop up.

Then, at some point, you come down with a complicated, expensive illness. The health care system seizes all of your assets when you are in this vulnerable, ill position. That pays for the costs of your illness.

Finally, when the 1% has seized all of your assets, they kill you off by basically cutting off treatment. Or, at least they put you in such poverty that you've lost your will to live.

It's legal murder.

That's just one example of how dystopian it's gotten. And how hopeless most of us become, or would  become, if trapped in poverty with no way out. It's why a lot of politicians, mostly GOP, and the very rich, don't like increases in minimum wages. It's a way to keep people down, fearful and powerless.

I imagine these studies displease the 1% Powers That Be, but so what?  Scientific facts aren't always conservatives and the 1%'s strong suit, but we might as well fight back with science, right?

NPR says the study cited above is the third in less than a year to show raising the minimum wage could lower suicide rates. That comes from Dr. Alexander Tsai an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital.

Tsai told NPR that there has been a surge of interest about the link between health and minimum wage. There's been about 30 studies linking the raises to better health, and most were published in the past five years or so.

Of course, the Conservative American Enterprise Institute sounds skeptical of all this, but at least the economist from that organizationk Aparna Marthur, was reasonable enough when she spoke with NPR. (I've kind of gotten used to conservatives going into a panic when someone proposes something like raising the minimum wage, so the fact that Marthur sounds like an adult was a relief.)

She said on the face of it, the suicide/minimum wage study makes sense. She does note that raising the minimum wage would make an employer cut someone's job or decide not to hire new staff.

This is for another day, but I would like to see studies that help us understand the link between minimum wage hikes and job creation, if there is any.

But anyway, for the pro-lifers out there: If you want to save a life, maybe raising the minimum wage is one way to do it.

What's The Deal With The Drones Over Colorado/Nebraska?

Mystery drones (but not this one) are flying over Nebraska and Colorado
and everybody wants to know why. Image via the New York Times.

There are  apparently swarms of drones in recent weeks flying in a grid pattern over eastern Colorado and western Nebraska, and everybody is wondering why.

Understandably, it's freaking people out.

As the New York Times explains:

"The drone sightings started in northeast Colorado around mid-December and have only grown more widespread since then. 

Almost all the sightings have occurred between sunset and about 10 p.m. though (Palisade, Nebraska resident Missy) Blackman said sheahd seen them out later one night in Nebraska and, for the first time on Wednesday, during daylight hours.

She said she looked at them through binoculars and did not see any markings, just plain silver and white coloring.

Across the state line in Colorado, Captain Yowell tried to photograph the drones on Tuesday night with the camera he uses to document crime scenes, but came away without a clear image. He estimated that up to 30 drones were flying each night, though not all in the same place."

The New York Times reports it could just be some mapping operation by the oil and gas industry, but why do it at night?

Understandably, this whole thing has gotten people pretty freaked out.

Sheriff Todd Combs told the New York Times, "There are many theories about what is going on, but at this point, that's all they are....I think we are all feeling a little bit vulnerable due to the intrusion of our privacy that we enjoy inourrural community, but I don't have a solution."

I  had pretty much decided the mystery drone nerds are prankters just out to freak out as many people as possible. But who knows?  The  FAA, FBI, and local and regional law enforcement said they don't know what's going on.

However, there is tantalizing evidence this week from the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Says the Gazette:

"Air Force Global Strike Command, which is based in Louisiana, has confirmed that it conducts counterdrone exercises out of F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, where it is based.

The command oversees underground Minuteman silos spread across northeastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming and western Nebraska, the area where the drones have been spotted nightly the past two weeks.

The Air Force isn't claiming ownership of the drones, but neither is it denying it.

F.E. Warren didn't respond to an emailed question Friday on whether its counter drone effort has anything to do with the recent sightings."

The Gazette says that maps of the areas where the drones were spotted is pocked with dots where drones are forbidden, with the best guess being these are spots were the military does not want drones over missile silos.

All this could be a test of technology that detects and tracks civilian drones, says the Gazette.

If all this is true, then I'm glad the military is trying to protect missile silos from drone attacks. On the other hand, if this is true, I'm vaguely disappointed.

Like most people these days, I kind of prefer the outlandish conspiracy theories, even though the truth is almost always much more bland that the wild stories people make up.

"Can Opener" Bridge Keeps Claiming Dumb People, Despite It Being Raised

A classic "Penske Peel" at the infamous 11 foot 8 bridge in Durham,
North Carolina. They recently raised the bridge by eight inches, so now
it's the 11 foot 8+8 bridge. Still, dumb people are still crashing into it. 

There's a train tressle in Durham,  North Carolina with a street going under it.  I'm an absolutely huge fan of it.

The span was always known as the 11 foot 8 bridge, as that was the distance between the pavement on the street and the bottom of the bridge.

The bridge became an internet celebrity over the past decade or so due to the extremely high number of trucks that got their tops ripped off because truck drivers insisted on trying to make it under the span, despite the fact they couldn't fit.

This, despite all kinds of signs and sensor-triggered flashing lights and "Overheight Must Turn" signage that told truck drivers they won't fit under the bridge so stop. They'd keep going anyway, with disastrous results.

People in a nearby building have dutifully documented the carnage over the years with a surveillance camera.  It's turned into an extremely popular YouTube site.

I confess I was a little crushed, pardon the pun, when the fine people of Durham decided to raise the bridge by eight inches in the hopes of stopping this stupidity.   I get it that the overheight crashes were a pain in the ass for Durham police, public works and all that.

But I figured the idiot truck drivers deserved the public shame of crashing into this bridge an I hoped it would continue.

I, and many other people thought it was the end of the fun videos associated with the 11 foot 8 bridge.

But nope! It's now the 11 foot 8+8 bridge and people are still, gloriously crashing into it. Granted, the raised height of the bridge means the crashes aren't quite as dramatic as they used to be. But happily, they continue.

So here's to the stupid truck drivers everywhere who insist on crashing into things they need not crash into!

Videos of recent crashes of the 11 foot 8+8 bridge here:

First one is a piece of furniture being knocked off a truck on December 19. It features the walk of shame of the driver who had to retrieve it:



Then, we have the ever-popular "Penske Peel" with the top of a Penske rental truck being damaged. Penske peels have always been popular here:

Mean Spirited Toilet Design Has People Talking Shit About It

There are always ways for bad bosses to make life for employees worse.

There are also always people willing to aid and abet these horrible bosses.

Add toilet designer Mohabir Gill to the list. He's designed and patented a toilet that slopes forward by 13 degrees.  Gill says it's medical a medical device, sort of.

I'd say it's a medical device in that it gives cruel employers peace of mind - mental health of a sort - assuring them that they are being as mean to employees as possible.

The toilet is uncomfortable to sit on, so that would theoretically mean people would spend less time in the loo with this thing.  Gill says spending too much time on the toilet can lead to medical problems, supposedly.

Everybody knows the real reason for this toilet design, though.  Employers don't want their workers being unproductive by sitting on a toilet too long when they should be working, dammit! And why didn't they go to the damn bathroom before work.  They have a job to do!

Here's the BBC's take on it, which I totally agree with:

"If it is real I think it's a perfect representation of the disdain capitaism has for workers and for human beings," Hilary Gardner, who uses the Twitter username @plume_ told the BBC.

The company that would make this thing, inaccurately called StandardToilet, claims the toilets we are used to leads to  this result: "A user may spend longer than necessary sitting on the toilet without short-term discomfort. Sitting on a toilet for longer than is necessary is generally undesirable... The sloping design could save industry billions in wasted hours."

People on social media and elsewhere also suggested that these toilets could hurt people with back and knee problems, or conditions like Irritable Bowl Syndrome or Crohn's Disease.

This toilet is just part of the mindset of many corporate bosses to squeeze

According to HuffPost:

"Employees already feel pressure to take shorter bathroom breaks. Seventy-four percent of Amazon warehouse workers avoid using the toilet out of fear of beingwarned about missing their target numbers."

The toilet could backfire on employers who would install them.  Employees would feel the distain their bosses feel for them and quit.  That would force the employer to hire and train a replacement for what had already been a good reliable employee.

"The toilet seems just as likely to make people quit their jobs as it does to make them leave the bathroom sooner than planned," wrote Joe Pinsker in The Atlantic. 

Other people have already found ways to circumvent the goal of the toilet. @HondaDriver8000 on Twitter suggested, "Just sit on the 13 degree slope toilet backwards for the opposite of the intended effect."

I guess the battle between employee and employer rages on.

Some 2019 Compilations To Celebrate The First Day Of 2020

Welcome to 2020, and say goodbye to 2019.

As is the case every year, there's all kinds of compilation videos to say so long to the year just past.

They are wonderful time wasters if you are having a quiet New Years Day or are nursing a hangover or whatever.

So, without further ado, here's a few of those time wasters.

The first one just has a hodgepodge of odd moments and such from the year.  It's all over the place, just like the entire year was:



There's one or two repeats of the above video in this next one. But it's still worth watching to prove that other people had a worse 2019 than you did:



If you weren't feeling it at work in 2019, it could have been worse. Here you go!



Finally, on a good note, here's a compilation from 2019 of people (and some animals) doing things better than you can.  Much better. The very last clip in this long compilation is one of my favorites, and certainly the most moving. Happy New Year!