Category: Touchy Subjects

The things that should never be discussed much less published by non-professionals.

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Marijuana Cave is up for auction

Nashville Pot Bust

The famous TN marijuana cave is being sold on auction. The 2 mile cave will be split between two potential buyers with the buyer who gets the entrance having access to only 360 feet of the cave and the other buyer with the 1.5 acre tract of land getting the cave below the surface but having no entrance to it. How do you enforce your neighbor from staying out from under your property when you cannot even get to it?!

Everyday several visitors come to Reality Me to read about the cave because periodically it hits the news again. I had some thoughts on the cave. And the original reference. Need a secret passage?

Update: Wisconsin cheesemaker to make curd instead of cannabis as noted by Michael Silence.

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Knoxville Street Views Happening Now

Narration with additional commentary (note: since this was ad libbed I misspoke and called the antenna on top of the car "a satellite" when I intended to say "a satellite uplink" or "satellite antennae): [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/knoxvillestreetviewshappeningnow.mp3]

camera carPut your best lawns on! A California company is driving around Knoxville taking pictures of your neighborhood for Google Street Views or a competitor. I saw one of these cars zoom through my cove a few weeks ago and I wasn’t quick enough to strike an interesting pose. Westmoreland Gets on Google MapsI was also unhappy with the state of my lawn and porch but oh well. So, will Google catch you peeing on the side of the road? Getting a ticket? Breaking into a house? Growing pot? Or just showing off your favorite thong? (see also). Concerned about privacy?

Better picture:
Google Streetview Car photographs Knoxville

Update: Confirmed! That is a Google car!

Update: The WebUrbanist presents 10 urban snapshots from Google Street View including one implying that the google camera van ignores traffic blockades. Mashable asks Should Google offer to blur Street View imagery for people requesting privacy? And get my cat off your website! If you are enjoying these links then you will also enjoy http://www.streetviewfun.com/, some bizarre splicing issues, and Wired’s voting system to find the best Street View pictures.

Update: Jon Hickman asks, "Where do you actually see the pictures they take?" I am pretty sure these will show up in Google maps and Google Earth. Mashable suggests that they will be accessible from http://www.googlestreetview.com/ and two others but those domains aren’t live yet. Ah! Here is Google’s video explanation of Street Views and a direct link to where Street Views are available.

Of course Microsoft has Windows Live Street View.

Update Feb 6, 2009: Top 10 Moments Caught on Google Maps Street View (link to the flasher – she’s just a blur of pixels now)

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Say NO to speed cameras

I was against red light cameras (and still am! $2 million TN dollars went to TX because of Redflex!) and I sure am against speed cameras. Speed trapping makes roads dangerous! Roads should be predictable. We don’t need people slamming on their brakes for police cars and cameras. Sometimes to avoid a problem it is safer to speed up then slow down even if that means hopping above the speed limit. An officer can see, "that truck was about to sideswipe him and he avoided it by speeding up." A camera cannot make that judgment.

I often drive fast on the Interstate. It is safe because the relative speed of traffic is the same and visibility can be several miles. I don’t drive recklessly. There is a huge difference between driving fast and driving recklessly. A slow driver can drive recklessly. In town, I tend to drive the speed limit. I recognize the lights have been timed such that you will make little gain by speeding in town. The few seconds you shorten your trip by speeding is not worth the danger you place pedestrians and other drivers in within the unpredictable confines of busy roads.

Speed cameras and red light cameras are profit tools for public, tax funded law enforcement. We don’t need them! We fix traffic problems through better civil engineering (narrow roads, curves in roads, reduction of traffic signs, removal of speed limits, etc.) and through education. Could you imagine the impact it would have if a police officer pulled you over for speeding and instead of giving you a ticket brought a video player to your car and forced everyone in the car to watch a 15 minute educational video on how speeding wastes fuel, puts unnecessary wear and tear on the vehicle, places people at unnecessary risk, and reduces travel time by less than a few minutes than staying under the speed limit? The 15 minute delay per incident may be reason enough to slow down. But even if the message did not reach the driver, perhaps it would get through to some of the passengers and then you’ve made a difference. Will a bill in the mail have that same impact?

UPDATE: Michael Silence has put up a poll to see if Knoxville wants speed cameras. When I took it, 86% said no.

Update: UT to probe ethics of using traffic cameras. Think about the other cameras we can have in our future "beeeep Our facial recognition software has identified you as Jane Doe. You have been standing in the same spot for 5 minutes and one second which constitutes loitering under ordinance w37704. A fine of $45 has automatically been assessed to your cell phone bill."

Related: Google is mapping Knoxville. How will you be immortalized for the world to view? Do speed cameras change driving habits? See Driving Patterns – Let the Ass Merge.

Update: More details including Chattanooga’s numbers.

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How green are you? Open your windows!

In case you haven’t noticed, the weather has turned. Fall is here! And right now, at least in Knoxville, the temperature couldn’t be more perfect. Several days ago I turned off our air conditioner and opened the windows. Not only am I enjoying the outdoor sounds, such as rain and birds, I can expect a lower electrical bill. Imagine if an entire city turned off their air conditioners and opened the windows!

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Joe Biden catches onto Twitter!

Presidential hopefuls should be making us their friends by talking candidly with Twitter.

joebiden Online now for a live chat via Washington Post until 5pm; submit your question: http://tinyurl.com/2ng8dj 2 minutes ago from web

joebiden Tweet a question @joebiden and a volunteer will submit it to WaPo. Include your city/state if it’s not on your profile. half a minute ago from web

Look at how close Twitter puts you to the action!

Narration with supplemental commentary: [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/joebidencatchesontotwitter.mp3]>

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Gauntlet Thrown Down on Scouts

Looks like Philadelphia is pressuring the Boy Scouts of America to accept gay scouts. This will be interesting to see how it pans out.

PHILADELPHIA – The city has decided that the Boy Scouts chapter here must pay fair-market rent of $200,000 a year for its city-owned headquarters because it refuses to permit gay Scouts.

The organization’s Cradle of Liberty Council, which currently pays $1 a year in rent, must pay the increased amount to remain in its downtown building past May 31

…

The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that Scouts, as a private group, have a First Amendment right to bar gays from membership.

[Source, MSNBC]

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Who put me on this soap box? With a tinfoil hat?!

Is Oak Ridge getting rougher? My reply to Atomic Tumor:

I often wonder if its not that things are getting rougher but that things are getting smaller. Years ago living in a small down with 3 television stations, the focus was on local news with bits of highlights of nation and world the half hour before local. I am sure school shootings happened but if you were in Wilmington North Carolina and the shooting was in Denver Colorado, it didn’t really impact you.

Now as the shooting is happening its beeping across cell phones around the globe like a stock ticker. We know everything about everyone as it happens. That’s good! But we must maintain a sense of perspective which is hard to do under the current fear mongering administration. The government, the media, and the preachers have people scared into giving up their rights! These people aren’t thinking; baaaa baaaa. Re-read 1984. Look at the what’s happening in the UK and how it could easily happen here. Watch Wag the Dog. I’m not saying go totally tinfoil hat on us, but if we don’t shock some common sense into some people, we are going to speed down a bad path. GW Bush 2008!

As an example, the Rocky Elementary School Principal is adamant that the children’s safety at the school relies on enclosing the entire property in a horrifically ugly hurricane fence. Will it have barbed wire? This will destroy a community school. No one will be able to use the playground on the weekends. Home values will fall. Is there really a threat to the children? I haven’t seen it and I’m not stupid or blind. But the principal is so caught up in the security assessment by some for profit firm (that’s what the firm is supposed to do!) that he doesn’t even want people talking about the fence.

In summary, we are now inundated with information that makes the world smaller but also stresses us with somebody else’s problem. Fear mongers react instead of respond thinking “this will happen to us” and in an oddly self-fulfilling prophecy, their lives get scarier because of the increased security due to "the threat."

[Source, AtomicTumor]

Update: Suzanne point out that the crime figures reflect that Oak Ridge is just getting rougher. From City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 323.2):

  • 2000 = 361.1
  • 2001 = 368.8
  • 2002 = 462.5
  • 2003 = 478.4
  • 2004 = 506.7
  • 2005 = 507.1
  • 2006 = 450.3
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President GW Bush 2004-indefinitely

You know…if we were in World War III I wonder if we would have an election in 2008…

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — President Bush warned today that Iran would be raising the risk of a “World War III” if it came to possess nuclear weapons. [Source, The New York Times]

Does the United States have a prime minister?

…Mr. Putin made clear that he might seek to become prime minister of Russia when he steps down as president — an approach that Mr. Bush wryly said he might want to emulate. [Source, The New York Times]

Narration: [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/presidentgwbushindefinitely.mp3]

Update: Tim Grieve of Salon has the quote as:

Reporter: Mr. President, following up on Vladimir Putin for a moment, he said recently that next year, when he has to step down according to the constitution, as the president, he may become prime minister; in effect keeping power and dashing any hopes for a genuine democratic transition there …

Bush: I’ve been planning that myself.
[Source, Salon, It was a joke (we think)]

Threat Level isn’t concerned but put in a freedom of information request anyway.

On Nov 3, 2004, I suggested GW would take the 2008 election.

Update narration (with apologies for the poor read-done in tired haste, bad impersonations, and my sound effects didn’t work): [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/gwtakes2008withedits.mp3]

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I disciplined your children

It takes a village right? Of course, now-a-days, people seem afraid to address other people’s children, particularly if you are a man. Wonder why that is!

Sarah performs with wingsLast night we were watching Sarah perform at Bearden High School along with several other bands. It was a great show! But at one point I snapped. I watched 3 younger boys, 11 or 12ish, tossing an empty 20 ounce beverage container back and forth like a football. They pause and one of the boys rips the label off, tearing it into 3 pieces in the process, and threw them to the ground. I spoke instantly and instinctively. "Gentleman! I need you to pick up this trash and throw it away." The guilty boy responded, "Oh that just fell off." I had to continue firmly, "Now you are lying to me. I saw you tear it off. Pick up the trash and put it in that trash can over there." They did and I am sure they had some words for me or perhaps gestures when my back turned. I saw them playing later and made a point of kindly thanking them for doing the right thing, "Thanks for throwing the trash away. I really appreciate that." I received a polite response, "No problem."

Should I have ignored it? I don’t think so. In bygone times, it would have been expected and appreciated. I am not sure what parents think or expect today. Maybe those boys will think the next time they or someone with them litters or thinks about vandalism; maybe it will make all the difference. I hope that when my children step out of line, someone steers them back onto the right path.

Post narration: [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/idisciplinedyourchildren.mp3]

Update: Be sure to read Barry’s post on Disciplining Other Children! I like that Barry reminds us to let the child’s parent do the disciplining if the parent is nearby.

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Morning Sex Is Like Russian Roulette

Warning! Turn your virgin eyes away! The following allegory alludes to one of the three taboo subjects which should never be discussed outside the walls of your own home. I happen to be typing this from within the confirms of those walls so its kind of okay. Today’s taboo subject is sex! As for the other taboo subjects, I posted about drugs on Friday and post about politics far too much.

What guy doesn’t dream of his daily alarm clock being a beautiful nymphomaniac using the bed as a trampoline while yelling "ride ’em cowgirl!"? Guys in late high school and throughout their college years love to joke about their morning wood. But these young turks are single and naive for it is not morning "wood." The term is "morning would." Because you would if you could but you can’t because if you try you die. It’s similar to the praying mantis

"Placing them in the same jar, the male, in alarm, endeavoured to escape. In a few minutes the female succeeded in grasping him. She first bit off his front tarsus, and consumed the tibia and femur. Next she gnawed out his left eye…it seems to be only by accident that a male ever escapes alive from the embraces of his partner" Leland Ossian Howard, Science, 1886. [Source, The Female Praying Mantis: Sexual Predator or Misunderstood by Michele Doughty See also, You Give Love A Bad Name]

Or perhaps the spider.

in over 60% of cases the female then eats the male. [Source]

So in the morning when you arise, just observe your wife in her restful bliss, put the gun down, and go, uh, read the newspaper.

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From the mouths of babes

Noah: "Health ended today."
Dad: "Oh? Did you have sex education?"
Noah: "Sorta."
Dad: "Did they talk to you about boy parts and girl parts?"
Noah: "They talked about boy parts. I missed the day they talked about girl parts."
Dad: "Sex education was only two days?!"

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Presidential Hopefuls and their phones

Everyone knows Rudy uses his phone. Someone needs to teach him some manners. What other presidential hopefuls are using their phones? Twitter is a short messaging service that lets you barrage your friends (and others) with the overly mundane in your life. People have found different uses for Twitter from marketing to exhibitionism (look at me look at me) to making announcements and sharing information on the Internet. Presidential hopefuls have accepted that they can reach a large audience and become closure to the constituents by using (or having their staff use) Twitter.

Democrats

Republicans

Uhhhh