The Wandering Minstrel

Click on the word below to unscramble the meaning. Click again to re-scramble.

From Wikipedia:

PARASKEVIDEKATRIAPHOBIA is a concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (meaning “Friday”), and dekatreís (meaning “thirteen”) attached to phobía (from phóbos, meaning “fear”).

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. Making it the most feared day and date in history. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. It’s been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day. Despite this, representatives for both Delta and Continental Airlines say that their airlines do not suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays.

I use a fairly effective WordPress plug in called “Spam Karma” to filter out the spam bullshit. Very rarely will I have to moderate a spam or delete ones that happen to get through the filter. However, just for the sake of laughing at the idiocy, I will go into the database and see what is there. Today, I got one that originated in the US but whose IP address is licensed to (Amsterdam) Deepak Mehta Fie - obviously not someone who uses English as their primary language. The following gibberish was blocked as a comment on my post, “Draining the Spa:”

Unquestionably imagine that which you stated. Your favourite reason appeared to be on the web the easiest factor to remember of. I say to you, I definitely get irked even as other people think about issues that they plainly don’t know about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top as well as outlined out the whole thing with no need side effect, other folks could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks!

. . . play in any reindeer games. Image found on the internet a while back and reserved for the festive holiday season . . .

The explanation for this is at Harvard.edu

Why didn’t these idiots just go to BATFE instead of destroying private property? I’m sure that in a border state like Kalifornistan, they would be happy to run a few more guns out on the streets.

From The South Bay Daily Disease Breeze . . .

CERRITOS - Someone slammed a Chevrolet van into a Cerritos gun store today in what sheriff’s investigators called an unsuccessful attempt to steal firearms from the shop.

Image - facsimile shown (this is not the actual van in question)

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Ammo Bros. store at 15979 Piuma Ave. at 4:40 a.m., and found a blue and white 1984 van crashed into the front doors of the shop. The crash, however, didn’t cause enough damage to the gated front entrance allow the suspects inside the store, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

“Due to the nature of the crime, where the suspects were presumably targeting firearms, detectives are actively investigating the incident,” said Los Angeles Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Harpham.

Detectives were searching for two or three male suspects. Sheriff’s officials said a gray sedan and champagne-colored Ford Excursion may have been used as getaway vehicles.

A troubling gap appeared at the base of our giant saguaro cactus. The gap between the cactus and the ground is on the north side of the root. The Better Half noticed it yesterday but we don’t know for sure how long it has been like that.

Clickable image - the saguaro gap - courtesy The Better Half

Needless to say, I immediately placed a call to the garden shop that sold us the saguaro. The owner indicated that he would get in touch with the expert from the cactus farm and that they would have a look at it tomorrow. It’s troubling, but they assure me there’s no reason to panic.

The Better Half took this (clickable) image of a young man walking down a street talking on his wireless in our town this afternoon. We were both amused at the imagery on the shirt he had on.

We observe many indications that a lot of folks here think as we do. We see pro-gun and anti Obamination bumper stickers, Gadsden Flags and other conservative notions. Once in a while, however, we see some poor liberal bastard driving a Prius with an Obama/Biden ‘08 sticker. There always seems to be some rotten apples spoiling the barrel.

I’ve seen plenty of trikes and sidecar rigs for motorcycles, but this is the first four wheeler outrigger (training wheels?) I’ve seen. The Better Half snapped this (clickable) image this afternoon near the post office. I know, it’s a Honda motorcycle and we like Harley-Davidsons here, but weirdness can’t be overlooked.