Carmichael's Position

Yippie Skippy-san

Because of who else I write and edit a blog for I cannot go too far out on this limb.  But let’s just say, yep, I couldn’t agree more!

From Skippy-san AKA “Far East Cynic”:

So, lets say hello to Pat Schroeder (Worthless Whore-CO). A bitter, angry, cold hearted, soulless creature, she nonetheless has amassed a considerable fortune. Her entire life has been devoted to one thing and one thing only. Screwing over men at any and every opportunity. Shakespeare even wrote a play about her-The Taming of the Shrew. She takes pride in that fact that she has screwed over legions of men and has a legislative record to prove it. She, probably more than any other woman in the last 30 years, has done more to set back the progress of both men and women. She was, what the Phibian would call, the first Diversity Bully.

I watched first hand as many o fine very reputable aviator got witch hunted into early retirement, for parts they didn’t play in the Tailhook fiasco of 1991, all because they wore the uniform and didn’t necessarily disagree with the fraternal nature of Naval Aviation.

I’m not to fond of Fonda, but there is one worse, …cough cough… nope can’t print that word and still retain my PG-13 rating…  Pat Schroeder is by far my least favorite person on this planet!

Back to Those 15 Inches…

It actually did snow and it actually did deposit 15+ inches of the wet and white here in the Denver Metro.

Good thing too, we really needed here in the front range, we have had an especially dry winter.  The other thing I like about snows like this one is that believe it or not, it is already entirely off the streets.  And I’m betting by Mid-day Sunday the only remnants of this snow will be in the piles pushed by our plows.

This snow also lent itself for some photography practice… so here you go… Hope you like.

First the basic requisite snapshots…

And for those of you wondering yes the Beemer stayed put for the duration…

Now for the attempted creative shots…

While I was telling my sister of effects of this latest storm, looking out my front windows, a spring… that’s right it is SPRING… robin graced me with his antics.

This afternoon, after the workday finished, I strolled out to take a few in a meadow I thought would convey the beauty of the storm a bit more…

 

Yeah spring is snow season here in Denver… I just hope I can play golf next Sunday in a tourney I’m in with three buddies of mine.

In a World Gone Mad…

Today Hundreds turned out to mourn the loss of 4 of Oakland California’s Finest who were gunned down by a cretin, Lovelle Mixon who shot two motorcycle officers during a routine traffic stop then shot two more SWAT Officers who stormed the apartment Mixon hiding in after a massive manhunt resulted in locating this dirtbag.

Funeral Services were held for:

• Sgts. Mark Dunakin, 40, of Tracy;
• Erv Romans, 43, of Danville;
• Daniel Sakai, 35, of Castro Valley.
• Officer John Hege, 41, of Concord who was shot Saturday and declared brain-dead Sunday. He was taken off life support late Monday.

Ok, he’s where the world went mad… From the San Francisco Chronicle a day or two ago:

Dozens march for Mixon, against police

…about 60 people marched and rallied in Oakland on Wednesday to condemn the police and honor Lovelle Mixon, who was killed by Oakland police after he fatally shot four officers Saturday.

"OPD you can't hide - we charge you with genocide," chanted the demonstrators as they marched along MacArthur Boulevard, near the intersection with 74th Avenue where Mixon, 26, a fugitive parolee, gunned down two motorcycle officers who had pulled him over in a traffic stop. He killed two more officers who tried to capture him where he was hiding in his sister's apartment nearby.

The protest was organized by the Oakland branch of the Uhuru Movement, whose flyers for the march declared, "Stop Police Terror." Many marchers wore T-shirts featuring Mixon's photo, including a woman identified by march organizers as Mixon's mother. The woman declined to comment and gave her name only as Athena.

Lolo Darnell, one of Mixon's cousins at the demonstration, said, "He needs sympathy too. If he's a criminal, everybody's a criminal."

HUH ?????

This is an outrage!  This guy was a suspected child rapist, and chronic bad-guy!  But obviously a hero of the community.  I cannot fathom a world where this makes reasonable sense.  Sure many will claim this is justified because of a history of mistrust of the police and many will also claim racism etc… I call Bullsh!t!!!! Giving credit to these professional victims only leads to more claims of victimhood.

Hmm… with attitudes prevailing that claim "He needs sympathy too. If he's a criminal, everybody's a criminal." I can’t image why the police may not have any respect for the residents of Oakland.

Sickening… Paging Al Sharpton…

UPDATE:  Video Here

Hmmm Democrats  uh… I mean… Socialists… Figures.

Why I will Never Vote Democrat!

Stupid stuff like this…

DENVER (AP) - The House has approved a bill that would change the way Colorado's presidential electoral votes are cast.

Under the measure approved Tuesday, Colorado's nine electoral votes would go to the candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The current system awards all of Colorado's electoral votes to the candidate that wins the statewide vote…

I swear the majority of Democrats NEVER took an American Government class in their lives! The Electoral college is not some anachronistic throwback to a bygone era!  The framers who originally constructed our Constitution were brilliant! They were knowingly building a Democratic RUPUBLIC! not a DEMOCRACY!  They rightfully wanted a representative vote, balancing population centers with the interest of the rest of the United States!

But NOOOOO the arrogant power hungry bastards Democrats of the Colorado House what nothing to do with a representative republic.  The glue sniffing knuckleheads want to give your vote away.  In my mind NOTHING could be more UN-American! 

Allow me to illustrate, this is simply a strategy to elect more Democrats. 

Most everyone would agree that the extremely large population centers of New York, California and Illinois are primarily Democrat bastions.  What would happen under this hare brained idea THAT HAS PASSED ON A PARTY LINE VOTE!!!! is that, let’s say, the 2012 election comes down to a race between Mitt Romney and BHO, Romney wins a gross majority of the flyover and southern states (cuz we don’t done know no better according to the in-power arrogant twits) including Colorado, garnering him a clear win in the electoral college…  ah but not so fast, because places like California, Michigan, New York (hell the entire northeast) Washington, Oregon, and Illinois all vote stupid… with the usual suspects in MN and IL voting early and often (despite being Dead or illegally in this here country… from little ACORNS grow big thieves!) the popular vote goes to Obama thanks to his well educated “Barack Straps” (ya know… a “supporter”)!  Well, Colorado in its magnanimity, certainly doesn’t want a repeat of when Bush STOLE the election from Al ‘the sky is falling’ Gore and that pesky Electoral College and Constitution got in the way… will give… that’s right give all nine of it’s electoral college votes to the person whom Colorado Voters DID NOT VOTE FOR!!!

Thus usurping the founding document of this nation… The Constitution of the United States. But then again… that’s their way.

Fifteen Inches?

Our local weather prognosticators are forecasting up to 15 inches of snow here tomorrow in the Mile High City.  Knowing they are generally as right about the weather as Paris Hilton is on Physics questions, most of us here take predictions like this with a grain or two of NaCl.

However, living up to the Carmichael family motto of “Tout Jour Prest” I thought I’d stock up a bit… ya know… just the necessities.

Don’t ask… its a Gemini thing!

Oh to have a Republican as Eloquent!

Now this is how to properly critique…

No idea what this gentleman’s political affiliation is… but do love his ability to turn a phrase.  And people give me grief about “Carmichael-isms.”

HT: Lex

Photoshop… the MUST HAVE for Photographers

Ok, many of you know I am an average amateur photographer trying to be a decent amateur photographer.  I love to take a camera wherever I travel and try to capture interesting images from these journeys.

Well as I was looking through a few images I have taken on my recent jaunt to the Empire State, I really took note of how much I depend on Photoshop to really “deliver” the final product I want.  And what a tremendous asset it is to ANY photographer.  Yes, Photoshop CS3 (or now 4) will set you back $600.00 in many cases… it should be required photography equipment for anyone seriously considering trying to create good imagery.

I won’t get into all the capabilities and tricks to the trade type of posting because there are already COUNTLESS good sites out there that already do an excellent job at teaching the nuances of this tool.  I just wanted to point out how simply ONE CLICK! in PS CS3 can turn a poor image into something salvageable to use in telling a story.

The following image was taken out the window of the Aircraft I was on flying out of Chicago O’Hare to White Plains NY earlier this week.  The window was not clean and the weather in the area was hazy, but our flight path looked to take us right over Downtown Chicago and I thought I would take a crack at capturing an image to help illustrate any tales I may want to tell about this journey. 

The two Images below are the exact same image, however the second one, I opened in Photoshop and ONLY clicked on the Auto Adjust Levels feature (ok two clicks) and this is the resulting image. Simply Amazing!

 

As if it squeegeed the window and blew the haze away…

More Mooning

I was up early this morning, in time to look out my window at a setting full moon over the front range of the Rockies.  Grabbed the camera and bagged a couple shots.  Not bad through the dirty front window…

Finally Replaced my BMW 318i Engine

I had finally had it with my car’s gutless wonder of a 1.8L 4 banger engine.  I needed something with more pep!  I really got tired of having a decent, albeit 14 year old car, that was capable of 0-60 in the time it takes to cook a chuck roast!

So I searched around and found an engine I liked.  I ended up purchasing a 3.0L 261bhp six cylinder! Rated 0-60 in 5.45 seconds. THAT’s WHAT I’M TALK’N ABOUT!  Here it is:

This thing is awesome!  Clean, strong, with a great throaty sound.  Not only that but this baby is more efficient than the damn 4 banger!  Getting an estimated 21 to 29 Miles per Gallon!  And what’s even better are the accessories!  This hog of an engine comes with some of the coolest add-ons!

Like this…

Yep!  Yesterday evening Ginger and I went and bought a long overdue replacement engine for my 318i complete with Z4 Roadster attached! 

This baby is fun!  And actually loaded with all sorts of cool features, from automatic convertible top to the heated seats (super important in Colorado).  We have a “Practical” vehicle, the GMC Envoy is more than capable in winter weather and anytime we need to haul more than a gym bag, so I wasn’t too worried about the 2 seat nature of this rocket. 

Ginger on the other hand needed to be sold a bit on the idea.  She wasn’t real sure based on online images of the car, it wasn’t until we saw one parked next to us in a Lowes parking lot that she started to come around.  What really sold her was letting her take the wheel.

The 6-speed manual transmission is designed for the DRIVER! Throwing that transmission through the gears is as smooth as Zamboni’d Ice!  And the car travels as fast as the puck!

Yep, she was sold.  And now we have a new resident in the garage…

I’m thinking my sister is now planning a trip to Colorado for a leisurely drive in the Rocky Mountains, borrowing her brother’s car of course.

Oh there is one more thing that comes with the Engine…

See ya in the passing lane!

A few more from Bear Creek Colorado

No politics tonight, just clean Colorado air.  Click on the image for larger at my Smugmug Account…

My wife ginger is in the photo above… really…

 

That’s all for today kids… G’night