The Fence Repair

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at Government House.
One is from Cabramatta, another is from Marrickville, and the third is from Lane Cove.

All three go with an official to examine the fence.

The Cabramatta contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900; $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Marrickville contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700. That's $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Lane Cove contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the government official and whispers, "$2,700."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys. How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The Lane Cove contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Marrickville to fix the fence."

"Done!" Replies the government official.

And that, my fellow tax payers, is how a Government Stimulus plan works!!

Rule No 1: Obey All The Rules

RULES ARE RULES!
The Good news: It was a normal day in Sharon Springs, Kansas, when a Union Pacific crew boarded a loaded coal train for the long trek to Salina.

The Bad news: Just a few miles into the trip a wheel bearing became overheated and melted, letting a metal support drop down and grind on the rail, creating white hot molten metal droppings spewing down to the rail.

The Good news: A very alert crew noticed smoke about halfway back in the train and immediately stopped the train in compliance with the Governmental Regulations.

The Bad news:
The train stopped with the hot wheel over a wooden bridge with creosote ties and trusses. When crew tried to explain to higher-ups they needed to move the train, they were instructed not to move the train because Federal Regulations prohibit moving the train when a part is defective.

Well okee-dokey then, and the pictures tell the rest.
As always the Government knows what is best for us

REMEMBER, RULES ARE RULES!
Don't ever let common sense get in the
way of a Government Regulation.

And now they decide your health care!!

The Dark Secret of the Golden Gate Bridge

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bateson-golden-gate-bridge-suicides-20130929,0,2813212.story

The suicide magnet that is the Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco's iconic bridge continues to be the only major international suicide landmark without a barrier.

A record 10 people jumped to their deaths from the Golden Gate Bridge last month. 

Some have called for a larger barrier to be erected along the bridge, saying the current four-foot wall is too easy to climb over.
 (Chip Chipman / Bloomberg)


By John Bateson
September 29, 2013

There were 10 confirmed suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge in August. It was the most suicides in any month in the bridge's history.

Monday, Tuesday, suicide. Thursday, Friday, suicide. Sunday, Monday, suicide. Over and over, a suicide every three days.

The 10th was a 17-year-old girl from Marin County.

This information doesn't come from the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The district considers itself the official source of all information related to the bridge — except information on suicides. The number comes from the coroner who does the autopsies.

One reason the bridge has so many suicides is its magnetic appeal. Suicide sites tend to draw despairing people to them, and the numbers show that the Golden Gate Bridge exerts a stronger pull than anywhere else.

Another reason may be the mistaken belief that jumping from the bridge results in a quick, near-certain death with no messy clean-up. In fact, 5% of jumpers survive the impact and subsequently drown, their bodies retrieved by Coast Guard crews. A handful survive — miraculously — but they usually suffer permanent physical injuries.

A third reason is because access is easy. There are parking lots at both ends of the bridge and year-round walkways for pedestrians and bicyclists. One doesn't need to procure a firearm, stockpile drugs or learn how to tie a noose. One just needs to go to the bridge and jump.

The most important reason, though, is because the existing railing is only 4 feet high. Anyone can climb over it, from a *5-year-old girl — the bridge's youngest official suicide — to people in their 80s.

In 2008, Golden Gate Bridge District officials approved the addition of a net under the bridge to prevent suicides. However, they have never approved any funding for the net's construction. They did just approve more than $25 million in construction fees for a new median barrier even though there hasn't been a fatal head-on crash on the bridge in 12 years, and only 16 since 1970. As a result, the Golden Gate Bridge continues to be the only major international suicide landmark without a barrier.

In recent years, an average of three people a month have jumped from the bridge. Imagine if three people died every month in cable car accidents in San Francisco, or in falls from the bleachers at Dodger Stadium, or in traffic collisions at an unregulated intersection in Sacramento. The problem would be fixed immediately.

Now imagine that 10 people died in one month. There would be public outrage, harsh media stories and lawsuits — but not where the Golden Gate Bridge is concerned.

The No. 1 suicide site in the world — the Golden Gate Bridge — is in our backyard and no one seems to care. We're closing in on 2,000 suicides from the bridge and there hasn't been a peep, not from the public, the bridge district, city officials.

There are those who believe that a suicide barrier won't make any difference, that if people want to kill themselves and can't do it from the bridge, they will resort to other means. Though this makes sense intuitively, it's absolutely false. Research shows that most suicidal people fixate on one means of death. If that means isn't available to them, they don't choose another means. Instead, they choose to live.

Of the small number of people who have survived jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge, nearly all have said afterward that it was the Golden Gate Bridge or nothing. They didn't have a Plan B.

A UC Berkeley professor tracked what happened to 515 people who were stopped from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Twenty-five years later, 94% of them were still alive or had died by means other than suicide. Fewer than 6% went on to kill themselves.

This suggests that nine of the 10 people who jumped last month would still be alive if the Golden Gate Bridge had a suicide deterrent. At least 68 of the 72 people who died jumping from the bridge in the last two years also would be alive.

One explanation for the recent increase in suicides is that toll collection for the bridge has been completely automated. Many potential jumpers are seen first by passing motorists. They used to inform toll collectors, who alerted the police, who in turn sometimes could prevent jumpers from making the leap. This year, when the bridge converted exclusively to FasTrak, the motorists have had no one to tell.

There is no reason for another terrible month of suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge district should reexamine its priorities and press forward on the construction of the safety net. It would forever end the association between suicide and the world's most famous suicide span.

John Bateson is executive director of John F. Kennedy University's community counseling centers and former executive director of a 24-hour crisis center in the Bay Area. He is the author of "The Final Leap: Suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge."
Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times



*Note from the blogger - 
I have lived most of my life living not too far from San Francisco.  The 5 year old girl was taken, with her father, to the bridge and he had her jump with him.  

And So It Goes.......

This picture need NO explanation!


And so it goes.......

Year in review in just one picture……

Maxine Calls It Like It Is

Over five thousand years ago, Moses said to the children of Israel,
"Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land."

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Nearly 75 years ago, (when Welfare was introduced) Roosevelt said,
"Lay down your shovels, sit on your asses, and light up a Camel, this is the Promised Land."

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Today, Congress has stolen your shovel, taxed your asses, raised the price of Camels and mortgaged the Promised Land!

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I was so depressed last night thinking about Health Care Plans, the economy, the wars, lost jobs, savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc ....

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I called a Suicide Hotline. I had to press 1 for English. I was connected to a call center in Pakistan.

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I told them I was suicidal. They got excited and asked if I could drive a truck...... Folks, we're screwed.

"What A Country" - **JEFF FOXWORTHY** Funny & Smart!!

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion, you ...might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book, but not to vote who runs the government, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If, in the nation's largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman or a three-year-old girl confined to a wheelchair can be strip-searched by the TSA, but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is cute, but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings, while children of addicts are left in filth- and drug-infested homes, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing, and free cell phones, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the governments plan for getting people back to work is to provide incentives for not working through 99 weeks of unemployment checks, without any requirement to prove they sought, but couldn't find work, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV, while your neighbor buys iPhones, wall-sized plasma do-it-all TV's and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more safe according to the government, you might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

What a country!!!!

Good Quote - Stand By It

Stunning

This is amazing. Using only dahlias for their displays this is incredible. Holland is known for tulips etc but a first for this flower in my experience.
Made from flowers in Holland, since 1936!
What began in 1936 as a flower parade has become the oldest and most celebrated ode to blooms in Europe.
Ever since its inception, Zundert in the Netherlands has hosted an annual flower show Bloemencorso <http://www.bloemencorsozundert.nl/> , with an average 50,000 visitors descending on the town to look at the brilliant displays.
Creators use dahlias for their breathtaking displays and build gravity defying sculptures.

Let's hope the wind doesn't blow too hard! The flowers have been meticulously placed to create the giraffes, even down to their eyelids and hair that lines their neck

A roaring good show: The intricate blooms have been manipulated to create this gravity-defying impressive model of a tiger and her cubs

Every float is made from dahlias. This twisting house, which is as high as other apartments, weaves its ways through the narrow streets

Just by using dahlias, volunteers created this show-stopping piece, where a startled antelope flees the clutches of a leopard that gives chase

Udderly brilliant - thee competitors left no detail out - they even included the numbers on the tags on the ears, and what appears to be the inner workings of a milk-processing plant within the cow's body

Something fishy about this: Bloemencorso saw this elaborate fish display, which saw a shoal of fish whirl around each other - even using light-coloured dahlias to shade in the light bouncing off the eyeballs.  Each of the competing districts of Zundert - which was the home of Vincent Van Gogh - construct their own entry and compete in the parade, which occurs every first Sunday in September.  According to those behind Bloemencorso, the parade is all the work of dedicated volunteers, who do not profit from the colourful display.
A staggering six to eight million dahlia flowers are used to produce the floats.  Visit http://www.bloemencorsozundert.nl/ for more information.

Bloemencorso began in 1936, and since then has spiralled in popularity, as the small population makes huge efforts to outdo one another so they can create sculptures like his huge organ

Even the meerkats get a mention! The curious animals are brought to life, as creators perfected every inch of the models, even down to their nails and shading on their tails

Even the meerkats get a mention! The curious animals are brought to life, as creators perfected every inch of the models, even down to their nails and shading on their tails

It's really taken off! Bloemencorso has grown in term of popularity and in the sheer size of the creations, with thousands flocking to the home of Vincent Van Gogh to gasp at the displays

Held on the first Sunday of every September, the quaint town becomes packed with visitors and, on this occasion, a huge rhinoceros made of delicate flowers

Make it snappy! Thousands turn out to Bloemencorso, as hamlets compete with each other to create the most beautiful display - including this sinister-looking fishy creature

Seven Wonders of the World

FOUR OF THE 2012 YEAR'S BEST COMEBACK RESPONSES

...to date !!

Number 1:

 If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman. He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial. The lawyer was trying to undermine the police officer's credibility ..... 

Q: 'Officer --- did you see my client fleeing the scene?' 
A: 'No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away.' 

Q: 'Officer, who provided this description?' 
A: 'The officer who responded to the scene.' 

Q: 'A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?' 
A: 'Yes, sir. With my life.' 

Q: 'With your life? Let me ask you this then officer. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?' 
A: 'Yes sir, we do!' 

Q: 'And do you have a locker in the room?' 
A: 'Yes, sir, I do.' 

Q: 'And do you have a lock on your locker?'
A: 'Yes, sir.' 

Q: 'Now, why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?' 

A: 'You see, sir, we share the building with the court complex, and sometimes lawyers have been known to walk through that room.'

The courtroom EXPLODED with laughter, and a prompt recess was called. The officer on the stand has been nominated for this year's 'Best Comeback' line -- and we think he'll win.

Number 2:
Now We Know Why He Was a General ----- 

 In an recent interview, General Norman Schwarzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward the people who have harbored and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on America. 

His answer was classic Schwarzkopf. 

The General said, "I believe that forgiving them is God's function... OUR job is to arrange the meeting."

NUMBER 3

 Dana Perino (FOX News) describing an interview she recently had with a Navy SEAL. 
After discussing all the countries that he had been sent to, she asked if they had to learn several languages? 

"Oh, no ma'am, we don't go there to talk."

 NUMBER 4

Conversation overheard on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency 121.5 MHz while flying from Europe to Dubai.

Iranian Air Defense Site: 'Unknown aircraft you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.' 

Aircraft: 'This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.' 

Air Defense Site: 'You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace we will launch interceptor aircraft!'

Aircraft: 'This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 Fighter. Send 'em up, I'll wait!'

Air Defense Site: ( .... total silence)