There’s an app for that?

The FBI has released an alert concerning an app
called StealthGenie. This app can record anything
you do on a mobile device. This includes smart
phones, iPhones, and tablets.

This undectectable app, once on your device, can
record your calls, monitor conversations within 15
feet of your device, read your email, listen to
your voice mail, and check your photos and videos.

The information can then be transferred to an
online portal and are also stored on the
StelthGenie website.

You can’t tell if your phone is affected and the
FBI says your best option is to do a “factory
reset” if your device has the spyware.

The CEO of StealthGenie has been indicted for
selling the spyware and the website hosting has
been disabled.

If you have pictures you don’t want public, emails
or voicemails you rather keep to yourself, or are
just unsure of want can be done with an app like
this, go to the FBI alert.

Please remember, don’t put anything on any
electronic device that you wouldn’t like the public
to see. We don’t have as much privacy as one might
think.
Comments are always welcome.

From here to there

I was thinking of dubs, cars with really tall rims
and rubber band tires, when I came across some old
pictures. It brought to mind that everything old is
new again. The pictures were of old cars that had
a specific purpose.

Known as Railway Inspection Cars, some of these
looked very much like dubs to us. Take this 1920s
Packard for instance.

Just lose the cowcatcher on the front and it
screams dub. An even better example is this 1938
Chevrolet.

The inspection cars were equipped with steel
wheels to cruise down the tracks and couldn’t be
driven on the street. This was before the purpose
built vehicles of today and they were used to
locate any problems along the track that might
cause problems.

The leading cause of train wrecks was human error
and the second leading cause was defects. These
defects included bending, stresses, cracking, and
corrosion to name a few.

Now rails can be inspected at around 65 mph and
in the future it may be done with lasers and fiber
optics from a remote site.

In use the inspection car would look something
like this:

The cars shown above are railway inspection cars,
the one below is a dub.

See the resemblance?
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snickers

After explaining the commandment to honor your father and mother, a Sunday School teacher asked her class if there was a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters.
One boy, the oldest in his family, immediately answered, “Thou shalt not kill.”
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The Sunday School teacher was describing that when Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom she turned into a pillar of salt, when Bobby interrupted. “My mommy looked back once while she was driving,” he announced, “and she turned into a telephone pole.”
————————————-

Another Sunday School teacher said to her children, “We have been learning about how powerful the kings and queens were in Biblical times. But there is a higher power. Who can tell me what it is?” Tommy blurted out, “I know, Aces.”
————————————–
Comments are always welcome.

One amazing woman

Yesterday morning Barbie Ritzco died fighting
cancer. Gunnery Sergeant Barbara Ritzco had been
a Marine for 20 years. She was also a mother.

Shortly before deploying to Afghanistan she felt
a lump in her breast but ignored it to serve our
county. Four months later, in February of 2011,
she was diagnosed with Stage IIIB breast cancer
and left her troops. She had to deal with the
disease and the feeling she had abandoned and
deserted them.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer during one of
her tours in Afghanistan, ran a 27.5 mile marathon
while getting radiation treatments after 8 rounds
of chemo and following a bilateral mastectomy.

But Gunnery Sergeant Ritzco said wake up and leave
your mark on the world. “I aspire to inspire before
I expire.” And she did. Known in the breast cancer
community as the Warrior Queen, instead of
reconstructive surgery got a tattoo and got
involved in the cancer community.

She co-founded Flat and Fabulous, was part of the
Scar Project, and a member of Beyond the Pink Moon
(a Facebook group). She also received the USAA
Athletic Inspiration Award.

She has certainly inspired others.
Comments are always welcome.

Farm to the fair

The year was 1934. Rural Iowa didn’t have
electricity, horses still plowed the fields, and
farm houses didn’t have running water. When it got
hot back then farmers couldn’t plow in the heat of
day or the horses would keel over. At night they
slept on porches because it was cooler, and a
giant Studebaker was seen at the Chicago World’s
Fair.

At the time it was largest vehicle in the world
and was big enough that an 80 seat cinema fit
inside of it. And that got us thinking. If that
farm family could make it to Chicago to see the
World’s Fair, how would they react?

Let’s say they walked into the Travel and
Transportation building and saw the giant car
above. It’s yellow, about 30 feet tall, 30 feet
wide, and 80 feet long. We’d bet it would be a
sight they would never forget.

In 1931 the world’s largest car resided in South
Bend, Indiana and it was also a Studebaker. This
version was a 1931 model 80 Studebaker Four Season
Roadster. Built by 60 craftsmen it was 41 feet
long, 13.5 feet tall, 15 feet wide, and weighed
5.5 tons. Each wire wheel had a 6 foot 8 inch
diameter and weighed 600 pounds.

This car was built in preparation of the bigger
World’s Fair car, and it was even in a movie. But
Studebaker knew they’d be ready for the fair.
Enjoy your weekend.
Comments are always welcome.

Sorry state

When did we become a caricature of what we once
were? At some point our country went from a place
where citizens had a ‘can do’ attitude to a place
I don’t recognize where people say ‘who’s going to
help me’?

We used to be united as a people yet now we are
deeply divided. The race card is predominant in
this division but just as problematic is the ‘I
am offended’ card and the trashing of religious
and gun rights.

While perusing headlines today we ran across one
that illustrates our point. It read “HS football
coach fired for not stopping players’ prayers?”

Catalina Foothills High School officials claim
they allow voluntary prayer when it is lead by
students, but district administrators claim said
coach crossed the line by promoting student
invocations.

So because coach Gary Weiss didn’t stop the
praying he has been fired and banished from school
property. What? At a time when the citizens of our
country need God the most we push him away?

Have these people even read the Bill of Rights?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of grievance.

You have the right to be offended by the various
religions and you have the right to petition the
government for redress of your grievance, but you
do not have the right to stop others who are
exercising their right to give a nod to their God.

We Christians are offended that you are offended
by our faith. If you don’t like it there are many
other rights for you to try and micro-manage. Leave
ours to us.
Comments are always welcome.

Interesting study

The FBI has just released its Study on Active
Shooter Incidents (2000-2013 time frame). Active
Shooter is a term used by law enforcement to
describe a situation in which a shooting is in
progress and an aspect of the crime may affect the
protocols used in responding to and reacting at the
scene of the incident.

Thier definition not ours. We’ll try to simplify
things by saying incidents include Cimemark Century
16 Theater in Aurora, Colorado, Virginia Polytechnic
Institute, Ft. Hood and Sandy Hook Elementary.

We’ll have a link at the end to the FBI site which
also has a link to a 47 page PDF file that explains
more. In the years 2000-2013 there were 160 active
shooter events, two of which involved more than one
shooter and six did not involve male shooters.

In these 160 incidents 486 were killed and 557
were injured.

90 of the shootings ended at the shooter’s
initiative (i.e., suicide or fleeing).

In 21 of the 45 incidents where law enforcement
had to engage the shooter to end the threat, nine
officers were killed and 28 were wounded.

45.6% of the shootings took place in a commercial
environment, 24% took place in an educational
environment, and the remaining incidents took place
in open spaces, military and government properties,
houses of worship, and health care facilities.

Something we found interesting is that during the
first half of the study 6.4 incidents occurred
annually and in the last half it increased to 16.4
incidents per year.

One with think with the push for gun control by
Obama, Bloomberg, Pelosi, and others the opposite
would be true.

At any rate a summary of the study is on the
FBI webiste. A link to the PDF file
is on the right side of page.
Comments are always welcome.

Still don’t know

Ran across a video that was labeled a music video.
I watched it twice before I realized it did have
music in it.

Our son called after I watched it for a third time
and asked what it was about. Even though I had
watched it that many times words escaped me. It is
supposed to be rockabilly but I kept going back to
the video.

To quote the included info “A young man whose life
has just ended in a firery racing accident is
guided by four rockabilly band spectres who lead
him through the netherworld of lost souls to
either heaven or hell”.

The info also stated that the video won best
animated short at the Atlanta Underground Film
Festival and was shown at other film festivals. But
explain it? Well, er, ah, I just know what I like.

So without further ado and possibly with a
commercial before it begins here is “Rumbleseat”.

Call it what you wish, we’ll call it our most
watched of the day.
Comments are always welcome.

A different kind of car show

We received an email from a friend about a car
show that was the first annual of hopefully many.
It is hard to explain the classes as they weren’t
mentioned but we’ll try.

The 1st Annual Walmart Car Show would have had
classes a bit different than a regular show so
we’ll illustrate with pictures.

The first class we’ll mention is vehicles with
wood on body.

Another class is custom metal body modifications.

This is from the radical wheel class.

The safety engineering class had quite a few
entrants, but we’ll only show a few.

And finally, the thinking way outside the box class.

Now you can also say you have seen some of the
rides entered in the 1st Annual Walmart Car Show.
We honestly think you won’t see cars of this
caliber anywhere else.

You don’t have to thank us, just thank God nobody
got killed.
Comments are always welcome.

The renevation

Due to recent events I have taken up a new hobby.
In my never ending quest to open my mouth and
insert my foot I have reached a new plateau. Thus
the hobby.

There may even be some extra cash in it once the
bugs are worked out. I started looking into how
to remodel a dog house to comfortably sleep one
male adult. They just don’t make mattresses that
size.

I will readily admit that the reason I was banished
to said dog house was entirely my fault. Almost.
In my defense, if the wife hadn’t been in the
kitchen at the same time as I, it would not
have happened either.

As I walked into the kitchen she was talking on
the phone and said that our son would be 26 soon.
I guess a funny look stuck onto my face because I
got the look and a “what?”

Not being one to shy away from a problem I looked
her in the eye and said “I was only 13 when he was
born?” This did not set well with the wife as she
said our son being 26 made her feel old.

Not one to quit I added she should have pity on
me approaching 40. Lights have been added to the
dog house and the walls got a fresh coat of paint.
I’m working on the plumbing tomorrow.

Guess I’m just a wreck waiting to happen.
Comments are always welcome.