Guys Find GREAT Way To Load Firewood Into Basement

A treadmill does double duty as a firewood
conveyer belt in Wisonsin. 

This has to be a horrible chore: Finding a way to transport a cord or more of firewood into the basement to heat your home through the winter.

Two guys in snowy Avery, Wisconsin figured out an ingenious way to get the job done.

The just grabbed a treadmill, set it up near a basemen window, turned it on and Voila!  - a perfect conveyer belt.

Better than letting the treadmill gather dust because nobody want to use it for exercise.

Watch:

You're Adults! Don't Egg Houses With Your Teens Or Snort Coke In Front Of A Cop!

Polilce say this 44 year old woman took teens
out on a destructive egg throwing spree in Ogden, Utah. 

The stereotype is once you get past, say 40, you're really supposed to be the adult in the room.

But not really, as these two cases show.

The first involves a woman named Jennifer Terry, 44, of Ogden, Utah, who got some teens in her car and went around Ogden and environs and getting the kids to throw eggs at houses and cars, says Fox 13 in Salt Lake City.

She was charged with one count of causing a catastrophe. That title of that crime does sound a little extreme, given that the fine city of Ogden remains standing and mostly intact.

Still, the egging causing thousands of dollars in damage. It adds up: One house had $2,300 in damage because the eggs trashed the stucco.  Terry faces up to a year in jail.

Fox 13 went to Terry's house to ask for an explanation, but she's not talking. A police report says Terry told them she was having family problems and just didn't care.

The next case also provides us with a helpful tip: If a police officer pulls you over for a routine trafic stop it's probably not a good idea to do a line of coke in front of him.

An incredulous Seattle Police officer arrests
 a 73 year old man after the man snorted coke
in front of the officer durin a routine traffic stop.

According to Jalopnik, the 73 year old man - yes 73 years old, no typo - was pulled over by Seattle Police officer Nic Abts-Olsen for a minor driving offense.

The officer was about to let the guy go with a warning when he saw the older guy casually snorting a bit of cocaine.

Seattle Police helpfully put a dash cam video of the incident on YouTube, and you can watch the video at the bottom of this post. It's totally worth viewing.

Key piece of dialogue:

"What's in your left hand," asks Abts-Olsen
"Nothing," the man repled.
"SHOW me what's in your left hand," Abts-Olsen demands.

The driver then tries to say they're just vitamin pills, but concedes, yeah, it does kinda look like cocaine, doesn't it. And it was, says police.

The money quote comes when Abts-Olsen is arresting the man and says, "What would posess you to do that in a traffic stop with a police officer right behind you? I just don't understand."

The man being arrested replies, "I don't understand, either."

The 73 year old was booked into Kings County Jail, charged with possession of narcotics.

Here's the dash cam video:

Three Cheers For Two Men Lying Down On The Job

Barber James Williams successful cuts
young Mason's hair at a barber shop in Wales.
Mason has autism, and he's most comfortable on the floor. 

Lying down on the job is pretty much discouraged everywhere.

But I found two recently examples where people have done this, and they deserve a raise.

The first guy lying down on the job is one James Williams of the Jim the Trim Barber Shop in Briton Ferry, Wales.

Last month, a youngster with autism named Mason came in to get a haircut.

Haircuts can be difficult for some kids with autism.  

Williams said the boy has come into the shop in the past, and the kid would get very uncomfortable, especially when Williams tried to cut hair near Mason's ears.

Williams also noticed Mason seemed more comfortable on the floor. The barber figured if you can't beat him, join him.

So the haircut got done there, and worked beautifully. Mason was so pleased he gave Williams a hug - which is a rare move for Mason, said his parents, according to Huffington Post.

Too bad I don't live anywhere near Wales. I'd get Williams to cut my hair any time. And I wouldn't even make him get down on the floor to do it.

The second case, according to People magazine came in the form of a mall Santa.

Erin Deely says her son, Brayden has autism, and thusly not good at crowds, noise and pressure, such as people urging him to smile, goddammit.

But there's an organization call Caring Santa, which trains Santas and sets up quiet, controlled areas where kids with autism can tell Santa they've been good boys and girls and what they want for Christmas.

When Brayden arrived at SouthPark mall in Charlotte, North Carolina, Santa just got down on the floor and started playing with the toys on the floor with Brayden.

The result was the adorable picture you see in this post of the kid and Santa at the mall.

I don't know if Santa gets Christmas gifts, but this one surely won't get any coal in his stocking.


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Dark, Emotional German Ad Puts New Twist On Christmas Heartstrings

Scene from the controversial Christmas ad
from the German gorcery chain Edeka. 

Christmas ads are all designed to pull at the heartstrings, and really manipulate your emotions, more so than advertisements other times of year.

Some of these Christmas ads are quite good, as I've noted in past posts. Most of the ads are terrible.

Now, pointed out to me by the web site Mashable, here's an ad from the German supermarket chain Edeka that, at least for the most part, is much darker than most rosy holiday ads.

The characters in the ad are also very manipulated, but seem surprisingly willing to forgive the manipulator for it

As Mashable notes, the manipulation depicted in the ad might not be the best way to do things, but oh well.

I also don't know how the ad advances the cause of buying groceries, but oh well.  The ad is interesting and provocative.  It was just posted on YouTube on November 28 and already has gotten 30 million views  and counting fast.

Many people love LOVE the ad. "Very powerful ad that highllights an important issue for many older people: loneliness," tweeted Jeff Tijssen, according to the New York Daily News.

Others hate it.  During a Today show segment about the ad, co-host Savannah Guthrie said. "That is the worst thing I've ever, ever seen.....Oh, it's morbid."

In this television advertisement, we see a lonely old man in December, who gets phone calls from all his children, all saying things have gotten too busy and they can't make it for a Christmas visit this year.

We then have clips of the old man eating alone in dim light in his house near a Christmas tree, interspersed with scenes from the frantic lives of his adult children.

Then the adult children get the news right before Christmas itself: Their lonely father has passed away. The busy kids, now grieving, interrupt their lives and head to their father's home town to make arrangements for the funeral.

And then......Watch the video, and see what you think of this one:

Black Lives Matter Everywhere; Vermont Needs That Reminder, Too

Part of a demonstration against racism in St Albans,
Vermont on Wednesday. Photo by Morgan True/Vermont Digger. 

I've lived in Vermont my entire life (so far!) and I must admit a dirty, big secret about my state

There's a lot of racists here.

There's a lot of racists everywhere, but some people from outside Vermont think the Green Mountain State is a liberal utopia of understanding, brotherhood and sisterhood and kumbaya.

True, most of us here in Vermont are not racists, are nice people, who try to do the right thing, who worry about racial injustice. A number of Vermonters work tirelessly to combat racism.

Then you get displays like we had yesterday in the community where I live, St. Albans, Vermont. Which proves there are a fair number of bigots here, too.

A relatively small number of African-Americans go the local high school, called Bellows Free Academy.

Those African-Americans said racial tension is a problem at the school, so they held a rally in downtown St. Albans calling attention to this issue.

According to Vermont Digger, the demonstration did not go well at all, but the events of the day did prove the students' point: Racism is alive and well in Vermont, as it is pretty much everywhere in the nation.

Here's what happened during the demonstration, writes Morgan True of Vermont Digger: 

"A young man drove past the rally with a Confederate flag mounted to the bed of his pickup truck; others drove past givin demonstrators the middle finger. A group of white students who gathered around another pickup truck pantomimed shooting guns at demonstrators."

Obviously, the yahoos who did this kind of thing are not representative of the majority of Vermonters. But it proves quite a bit of work still needs to be done in terms of race relations.

One of the demonstration's organizers, Ebony Nyone, says her nephew is racially harassed at school, and people often use racial slurs.  

A pickup truck with a Confederate flag drives
past an anti-racism demonstration in St. Albans,
Vermont Wednesday. Photo by Morgan True
of Vermont Digger.  

There is one student in particular, she says, that keeps bringing a Confederate flag to school in an effort to harass black students.

Part of the problem, Nyone told Vermont Digger, is school officials don't often understand how racism manifests itself. When an African-American student finally retaliates or reacts, it's them that get punished or suspended, and the racist taunter goes free.

Vermont Digger also interviewed a guy named Richard Miller, who owns Miller's Automotive near Bellows Free Academy. in St. Albans.

He turned out to be not an example of hate-inspired racism, but perhaps maybe a type borne of ignorance. 

Vermont has one of the smallest proportions of African-Americans of any in the nation.  I wonder if some people here, especially in rural areas, meet few African-Americans, cling to stereotypes and what they think is the proper "role" for blacks.

If Vermont Digger's reporting is correct, Miller might be that type. He appears not to like uppity blacks, as the vernacular in these situations goes.

"'I'm not a racist person, but the black man has brought a lot of his misery on himself,' Miller said. 'They got this big chip on their shoulder and they're just daring someone to knock it off,' he said looking on in disgust at the protest from his garage window.

'I've got black friends,' Miller said. 'You know what he would call them people? Niggers.' he railed, gesturing at the demonstrators across the street. 'He's a good guy, and he says I've ot all kinds of whiae friends and I've never been called a nigger. You know why? Because I don't act like a nigger.'"

I guess demonstrating against racism makes you unacceptable, in Miller's opinion.

Miller also told Vermont Digger that white people are now the 'lowest on the totem pole'

Hmm. Interesting theory.

Yep, we have some work to do in terms of race relations, don't we?

Oh, and by the way, remind me not to get my truck fixed at Miller Automotive. If he has that attitude toward blacks, imagine what he thinks about a gay guy like me.
 

Ideas For Bad Christmas Wraps

Another bad wrapping paper print
idea: Santa stripping

Once you're done buying Christmas presents, you have to wrap them, right?

Fortunately, Twitter came to the rescue with the hashtag #BadWrappingPaperPrints.

For those of you who have a life and can't or won't scroll through the bad ideas on Twitter, here are some of my favorites:

---Eviction notices.
---Screenshots of Bill O'Reilly ranting about the War on Christmas
---The faces of underpaid Chinese workers who made the gift
---Child support overdue notices
---Donald Trump nudes
---People of Walmart

Do you have even better ideas? Post a comment!

Maybe We Don't Stop Mass Shootings Because They're Good For Fundraising

Today's scene at the San Bernardino mass shooting

As I write this late Wednesday afternoon, another mass shooting is unfolding, this time in San Bernardino, California.  Last I checked at least 14 people are dead, 14 are injured, and they're still looking for the shooters.

The mass shootings are coming on faster and faster and faster. It's almost like the nation is in a civil war, with lots of tiny mini factions fighting it out through terrorist attacks.

I get it. Preventing mass shootings is tricky business. They tend to involve a convoluted mess of hate, extreme politics, a gun culture, and laziness on the part of leaders.

Or is it laziness? I really hope I'm being way too cynical here. Is our nation's inability to stop mass shootings deep down a function of them being good for business?

Obviously most of us loathe mass shootings. Few people want to see innocent people die.

But I notice after every mass shooting, people from advocacy groups, and politicians try to outdo each other saying outrages things about the latest shooting.

On the surface, these loudmouths don't like the death of innocents, either. But is a little part of them, deep down, actually happy these kinds of things are happening with increasing frequency?

After all, the loudmouths say their outragous things, which riles up their base, who donate money to the cause the loudmouth is supporting, and they make oodles of money.

Here's the type of comment I'm talking about:  As the incident was unfolding, pundit Ben Shapiro snarkily Tweeted: "The answer to the San Bernardino shooting is clearly whatever the left wanted to push before the San Bernardino shooting."

Thank you, Ben. Of course I have no idea what goes on in Shapiro's head, or exactly what motivated him to say this.  Maybe he really just loathes liberals and it's as simple as that, who knows? I certainly can't accuse Shapiro of the money making cynicism I described. Because I just don't know.

But are some people using these shootings as a fundraising scheme? Yes, innocent people are dead, but hey, there's money to be made, right?

Another horrible aspect of this, as if there weren't enough, is to make all of us live in some level of fear. Will you, or I be the next person to be caught up in a thing like this?  Fearful people tend not to make rational decisions like calm people would.

So they might vote for a loudmouth reactionary as a response to their fear. Instead of really taking the time to consider who best would bring our country, our society forward in peace.

Another win for the offensive loudmouths.

I so hope I'm wrong.  I so hope I'm far too cynical and bitter.