Just Another IED Rolling Down The Freeway

It’s the fifth anniversary of the car accident that led me to buy this pickup truck. I affectionately nicknamed the truck the Flaming Chariot because fallen leaves trapped in the heater duct would sometimes ignite. 

Thursday night, driving down the freeway, I had some kind of gas tank failure and was spilling so much fuel that I could watch the gas gauge go to empty in just a few minutes. The vehicle reeked of gasoline. 

Nevertheless, I did not become a Flaming Chariot for real, and I hope the mechanics can avoid that fate too. And I liked the towing nerd who picked me up - very few social obligations in his life that might distract him from the important business of towing.

I Can’t Imagine Where They All Went

Stepping out my back door, I turned right to Jasper and said, “Well, the bird seed is out, but there are no birds in the yard.” Turning left to address the hawk in the tree, “I mean, there are always doves here. I can’t imagine where they all went.”

Posing With Anthony's Sweatshirt

He'll get it back eventually.

RIP, Jimmy Ning

Sad to hear that "Duane Chow" from "Breaking Bad" has passed away. I met him once. Nice guy:

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that our beloved actor James “Jimmy” Ning passed away on Tuesday, November 29 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jimmy was best known for his recurring fan-favorite role of “Mr. Duane Chow” on Breaking Bad. As a veteran stage and screen character actor, he had memorable roles in The Ridiculous 6 (2015) and Perception (2012), among many others.

Jimmie Ning as Duane Chow at the Unofficial Breaking Bad Fan Tour (UBBFT) Dinner at Garduño's on September 28, 2013.

Jimmie Ning as Duane Chow.

This Is My Dog Park!

The park was designed as an athletic field and not a dog park, so the drawbacks mentioned here are real. We'll see how the dog leash requirements are followed by people who have been skipping them for years:

Though many people bring their canine companions to Curtis Park’s Sierra 2 Center, the city of Sacramento intends to start enforcing leash requirements. Signs are set to go up within the next two weeks telling park-goers that off-leash dogs are prohibited.

John Malin, a Curtis Park resident, comes to the park with Toby the puppy once a week. He doubts the city policy will stick. “I have a hard time believing anybody’s gonna follow that.”

But Sierra 2, the city said, is an off-the-books dog park. While the grassy field was cleared for use as a dog training area during specified hours more than 20 years ago, civil servants never intended it to be the full-fledged dog park it has become.

“The park in its current state does not meet the requirements of a dog park for off-leash use and continued use presents health and safety issues that (Youth, Parks, Community & Enrichment) must address,” the city said in a statement. 

The area where dogs play is not fully fenced and it’s the wrong size, said Gabby Miller, a spokesperson for the parks department. Sierra 2 also lacks the double-fence gates that help prevent dogs from scampering out onto the street.

Got My First Paycheck This Year From Working With Dan

The money is beginning to help out with my disastrous finances. May the money continue to flow for awhile. Here is a celebration song:

 

Can't Believe I've Managed To Avoid Covid

It's around every corner and it's getting harder to avoid. November has been difficult.

The Extremists Totally Own Trump Now

Sad, naïve Donald fell right into their trap with his "dinner":

[Ali] Alexander also used the livestream to issue a surprisingly curt warning to Trump: "I need the former president to know that his Truth post was inappropriate, it was unbecoming and I'm not going to allow it, frankly," Alexander said, referring to a post in which Trump referred to Ye as a "seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black." Alexander continued, "You gotta watch your mouth when you're talking about my Christian brothers in an un-Christian way."

"Ye is completely enamored with Nick [Fuentes] because Nick is very talented at articulating ... the third way in dealing with the challenges that Christendom faces with Jewish power."

Continuing on to argue that the Mar-a-Lago dinner served as a reminder to Trump not to neglect his white base, Alexander continued, "Trump's got to choose: Which way, Western man? Which way? Are you going to try to do a toned-down, subdued announcement so you can run acceptable to Rupert Murdoch, or are we going to bend Fox News, bend Newsmax, bend [The] Post Millennial, bend Steve Bannon into realizing that this party is permanently the America First party?" 

That seeming ultimatum resonated with the observations of other commentators, who noted that the entire story of the Trump-Fuentes dinner points to a larger shift on the right: A growing sense that the Trump coalition or movement of 2016 is gone, but that Trumpism as a movement should continue not only to survive, but push the party further rightward.

The Smart People Seem To Be Moving To Mastodon

Twitter is doomed, but maybe not all is lost. Mastodon may flourish.

Lizzo - About Damn Time

People are cautiously trying to start up the Disco fad again. I say cautiously because 2020 was a tad early. Still, I love Disco, and it needs reviving bad....