America Just Can’t Make It Anymore.

July 24, 2015July 6, 2015 fasab Business, Current Events, Factoids, Politics, Rants administrative jobs, all-American, America, America just can't make it anymore, American, American businesses, American Companies, American flags, apparel, apple, automotive industry, automotive products, automotive vehicles, Bangladesh, Barbie dolls, baseball, baseballs, bureaucrat, canada, cars, cell phones, chemicals, China, clothing, computer accessories, Computers, confused, consumer electronics, consumer goods, Converse All Stars, Current Events, curve ball, deck is stacked against them, defense, education, engines, Etch-a-Sketch, exports billions of dollars’ worth, factoid, facts, fast ball, financial services, fish, fridges, fruit, fuel oil, Germany, household furniture, Huffy bicycles, iconic symbols, imports, imports into the US, Indonesia, industrial machinery and equipment, industrial power house of the world, industrial supplies, industries, information, Japan, Levi’s, license fees, made in China, made overseas, math, Mexico, monopoly, moronic bureaucrats, oil, Opinion, parts, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, politics, private services, productive wealth creating jobs, Radio Flyer wagons, Rants, richest company in the world, royalties, shell-shocked, shoes, sports enthusiast, Stupidity And Bureaucracy, telecommunications equipment, televisions, Thoughts, trade deficit, transportation services, travel passenger services, U.S. Government service imports, United States, unprecedented wealth, US Government, vegetables, Vietnam, Wal-Mart, washers, white goods, world's first self-made billionaires, world's second biggest importer of goods

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

The statement in the title is not true, except that it is.

If you are a little confused stay with me and let me clarify.

The United States used to be the industrial power house of the world. Its industries generated unprecedented wealth for the country, creating the world’s first self-made billionaires and productive wealth creating jobs galore for everyone. The whole country prospered.

Today, however, the United States has become the world’s second biggest importer of goods. Worse than that, even though America still exports billions of dollars’ worth in oil, consumer goods and automotive products, it imports even more. This creates a trade deficit ($471 billion according to recent figures).

So what are all these imports into the US?

Well, they include industrial machinery and equipment ($681 billion), automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($309 billion), miscellaneous private services, primarily financial services ($201 billion), cell phones ($90 billion), travel passenger services ($86 billion), pharmaceuticals ($84 billion), computers ($65 billion), chemicals ($61 billion), other transportation services ($59 billion), computer accessories ($57 billion), telecommunications equipment ($54 billion), royalties and license fees services ($42 billion), apparel ($49 billion), petroleum products ($48 billion), fuel oil ($44 billion), industrial supplies ($29 billion), U.S. Government service imports primarily defense ($25 billion), fish ($18 billion), fruit ($13 billion), and vegetables ($11 billion).

If you are a bit shell-shocked by all those figures let me phrase it a bit differently using as examples the types of goods you would tend to buy.

100% (almost) of the shoes bought in the U.S. come from China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico;
90% of white goods (washers, fridges, etc.) and consumer electronics are imported;
85% of household furniture is imported;
80% of cars on U.S. roads come from Canada (31%), Japan (24%), Germany (16%) and Mexico (12%); and,
65% of U.S. clothing is imported from China (37%), Vietnam (9.4%), Indonesia (7.2%) and Bangladesh (6.7%).

Probably the saddest part is that even things you thought were “American” are now actually made overseas and imported.

I remember while on a business trip to the US many, many years ago I bought a gift for the young son of a friend of mine. He was a big sports enthusiast so I reckoned that one of the most iconic symbols of sport from America would be a baseball. I bought one in Wal-Mart. It was marked with all the different holding positions for the various ways to throw a baseball (fast ball, curve ball and all that). The perfect gift.

I gave it to him on my return feeling ever so pleased with myself. The kid opened it, showed momentary delight, then looked up at me accusingly. “It says ‘Made in China'” he told me.

But it’s not only baseballs. Similar types of product that you would think are all-American, like Converse All Stars, Levi’s, Huffy bicycles, televisions, Monopoly, Etch-a-Sketch, Radio Flyer wagons, Barbie dolls, and last but by no means least, most of those American flags just ain’t American no more.

It really doesn’t have to be this way. Apple, for example, doesn’t have to become the richest company in the world by manufacturing its products in China and storing its vast hoards of cash overseas.

Or does it?

Everything on the lists above could still be made in the US and surpluses exported to other countries. But the US government and its moronic bureaucrats are spending their time and our money thinking up new ways, not to help American businesses, but to add ever-increasing amounts of rules, regulations and bureaucracy on to American companies.

American businesses can no longer compete, because their own government has ensured that the deck is stacked against them.

In the mind of a bureaucrat losing a million productive wealth creating jobs, for example, in the automotive industry, and replacing them with a million more administrative jobs that cost the country money evens things out.

It doesn’t. Simple math will tell you that. Every time it happens things get worse and America gets poorer.

So America just can’t make it anymore, but not because China has stolen the jobs. It’s because the US government bureaucrats gave them away.

Put the blame where it should be.

============================

People Who Have Bluetooth Handsets Need A Clip Round The Ear.

May 21, 2015May 15, 2015 fasab comedy, Humour, Language, Puns amusing, bad jokes, beans, Bluetooth handsets, building, car showroom, cars, clip round the ear, Comedy, condescending, cross the road, crosswords, depressed, dog, dot to dot puzzles, draw the line, Entertainment, equestrian, flea circus, focus on the negatives, football match, funny, get lost, Heinz, high wire, Humor, Humour, invented, jokes, Mafia boss, neigh, nervous tick, photographers, prisoner, pun, puns, Range Rover, revenge, search and rescue, stupid, top cellar, uncle, upside down house, word play, word plays

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

I’m tempted to say that you need a clip round the ear if you don’t like puns, but I know you do.

Why else would you be here?

Unless it’s for pun-ishment.

Enjoy or endure!!

Why are photographers always so depressed?

Because they always focus on the negatives.

I bought a flea circus yesterday,

but one of them won’t go on the high wire.

It’s a nervous tick.

I played in a football match

that ended in a 2-2 draw.

No 1-1

I don’t mind doing crosswords,

but dot to dot puzzles are where I draw the line.

What do you call it when a prisoner

falls from the top of a building?

Condescending.

I invented the upside down house.

It’s now a top cellar.

To neigh or not to neigh.

That is equestrian.

Support your local

search and rescue squad.

Get lost

Why did the Mafia boss cross the road?

Revenge!

The road had crossed him the week before.

My uncle slipped on some beans last week.

If only he had the benefit of Heinz sight.

I took my dog to a car showroom today.

I turned to him and said,

“They have an interesting Range Rover.”

If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end,

someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them,

five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog.

=================================

J.F.K.

November 22, 2014November 21, 2014 fasab Factoids, Unusual 35th President, aeriel photograph, aircraft, aircraft carrier, aircraft elevators, armaments, arresting wires, assassinated, berthed, carrier, cars, Close In Weapon System, compliment, conspiracy theories, conventionally powered, cruising range, cruising speed, Dallas, Dealy Plaza, E-2C Hawkeye electronic early warning aircraft, EA-6B Prowler offensive electronic warfare aircraft, education, enlisted, ES-3A Shadow electronic warfare, F/A-18 hornet strike fighters, fact, facts, flight deck, HH-60H Seahawk combat search and rescue aircraft, houses, how big and impressive, impressive ship, jfk, Kennedy, Kitty Hawk class, knots, launching, legacies, Malta, Mediterranean, Misc, Miscellaneous, mission requirements, Mk 15 Phalanx 20mm CIWS, Mk 29 Sea Sparrow Guided Missile Launch Systems, Name, officers, operational range, People, President, President John F Kennedy, RAM, Random, recovering, retired, Rolling Airframe Missile systems, S-3B Viking ASW aircraft, service, SH-60F Seahawk ASW helicopters, ship, ship's company, SIGINT, stationed, steam-powered catapults, story, Texas, top speed, United States, United States Navy, up close and personal, USS JFK, USS John F Kennedy, written

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Fifty-one years ago today the United States 35th President, John F Kennedy, was assassinated at Dealy Plaza, in Dallas, Texas. We all know the story and the various conspiracy theories that have been written about ad nauseam over the past half century so this post is not about that.

Rather it is about one of the legacies of the JFK name, the USS John F Kennedy, the only ship of her class (a variant of the Kitty Hawk class of aircraft carrier) and the last conventionally powered carrier built for the United States Navy.

Although it was retired in 2007 after nearly 40 years of service in the United States Navy, the Kennedy was a very impressive ship. For those who like the details it measures 1,052 feet long, has a beam of 130 feet, and draws 37 feet of water. The flight deck is 1,046 feet by 252 feet.

The JFK displaces 81,430 tons at full load and her compliment is 155 officers, 2,775 enlisted (ship’s company), and 2,160 enlisted and 320 officers (embarked air wing).

it’s top speed is 32 knots, and her cruising speed is 20 knots. The operational range at 30 knots is 4,000 miles while the maximum cruising range is 12,000 miles.

USS JFK is equipped with 4 aircraft elevators and features 4 steam-powered catapults and 4 arresting wires. The carrier was capable of launching and recovering aircraft simultaneously and could embark 80+ aircraft, depending on mission requirements.

Aircraft on board included 56 F/A-18 hornet strike fighters, 6 S-3B Viking ASW aircraft, 4 EA-6B Prowler offensive electronic warfare aircraft, 4 E-2C Hawkeye electronic early warning aircraft, 2 ES-3A Shadow electronic warfare (SIGINT) aircraft, 4 SH-60F Seahawk ASW helicopters, and 2 HH-60H Seahawk combat search and rescue aircraft.

Its armaments included two Mk 29 Sea Sparrow Guided Missile Launch Systems, two RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile) systems, and two Mk 15 Phalanx 20mm CIWS (Close In Weapon System.)

During it’s service it was stationed some of the time in the Mediterranean area.

If you have never seen one of these babies up close and personal and wanted to get an idea of just how big and impressive they are have a look at the aeriel photograph below, taken as the JFK berthed at the island of Malta.

Compared to the houses, cars and people you can see in the shot I’m not sure the word ‘big’ is big enough to describe it.

I mean I wouldn’t want to mess with it. Would you?

====================================================

Twenty Questions – Are You Up For It?

June 23, 2014June 21, 2014 fasab Tests, Questions 3M, abbreviations, ABC, actors, American factories, assassinated, Back to the Future, Berlin Wall, britain, British engineer, Bullitt, car, cars, codename, company, construction, Cuban athlete, death ray, demolished, destroy enemy aircraft, education, Entertainment, facts, family, fateful inaugural voyage, father, featured, first all-race elections, FLOTUS, general knowledge, General Leopoldo Galtieri, Geography, Germans, grandson, Herbie, Hi-Fi, history, hottest desert in North America, hybrid, Independence, invent, Javier Sotomayor, King Faisal, lead characters, Lonesome Dove, male member, mandarin, Men’s High Jump World Record, Mindy, Misc, Miscellaneous, Mork, Mork & Mindy, movies, music, nephew, Norway, Operation Barbarossa, Orange, plans to invade, politics, President, questions, quiz, Quiz Day, quizzes, radio waves, rifles, Robert Watson-Watt, Saudi Arabia, shipping line, Smokey And The Bandit, son, South Africa, South American country, Talking To The Moon, technology, television mini-series, terms, test, tests, The Love Bug, Titanic, TV sitcom, waterway, western, Wi-Fi, Winston Churchill's wife, world war ii, WWII

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Hi and welcome to another fasab quiz day.

If you know about history, geography, politics, technology, music, movies, cars and a lot of other stuff then you should do okay.

And as always, if you get stuck , you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: Who or what is a ‘FLOTUS’?

Q. 2: Most of you will have heard of the company called ‘3M’ but what do the three ‘M’s stand for?

Q. 3: Everyone has heard about the Titanic and probably seen at least one of the movies depicting its fateful inaugural voyage, but to which shipping line did the Titanic belong?

Q. 4: What waterway did Britain buy a share of in 1875?

Q. 5: In 1975 King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated by which male member of his family?

a) son b) grandson c) nephew d) father

Q. 6: What are the terms ‘Hi-Fi’ and ‘Wi-Fi’ abbreviations of? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 7: In 1935, British engineer Robert Watson-Watt was working on a ‘death ray’ that would destroy enemy aircraft using radio waves. What did he invent instead?

Q. 8: General Leopoldo Galtieri was president of which South American country in 1981 and 1982?

Q. 9: When did the construction of the Berlin Wall begin and in what year was it demolished? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 10: What makes of car were featured in the following movies? (A point for each correct answer, and a bonus point if you get them all correct.)

a) Herbie, The Love Bug b) Back To The Future

c) Smokey And The Bandit d) Bullitt

Q. 11: In which year did South Africa have its first all-race elections?

a) 1990 b) 1992 c) 1994 d) 1996

Q. 12: One of the best television mini-series ever made was the western ‘Lonesome Dove’, but what were the names of the two lead characters and who were the actors who played them? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get all four names correct.)

Q. 13: Held by Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor, what is the current Men’s High Jump World Record?

a) 2.37 m b) 2.39 m c) 2.41 m d) 2.45 m e) 2.47 m

Q. 14: ‘Operation Barbarossa’ was the codename used by the Germans for their plans to invade which country in 1941?

Q. 15: What is considered to be the hottest desert in North America? (A bonus point if you know in which State it is located.)

Q. 16: Who was ‘Mork’ and who was ‘Mindy’ in the hit TV sitcom ‘Mork & Mindy’ originally broadcast from 1978 until 1982 on ABC? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you can name both correctly.)

Q. 17: From which country did Norway secure its independence in 1905?

Q. 18: Approximately how many rifles did American factories produce during World War II?

a) 1 million b) 3 million c) 5 million d) 7 million e) 9 million

Q. 19: It is the name of a hybrid between a mandarin and a sweet orange and Winston Churchill’s wife, what is it?

Q. 20: Who was ‘Talking To The Moon’ in 2011?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: Who or what is a ‘FLOTUS’?

A. 1: FLOTUS is the First Lady Of The United States, or currently Mrs Obama.

Q. 2: Most of you will have heard of the company called ‘3M’ but what do the three ‘M’s stand for?

A. 2: ‘3M’ is an abbreviation of ‘Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing’.

Q. 3: Everyone has heard about the Titanic and probably seen at least one of the movies depicting its fateful inaugural voyage, but to which shipping line did the Titanic belong?

A. 3: The name is mentioned in the movies, it is the White Star Line.

Q. 4: What waterway did Britain buy a share of in 1875?

A. 4: The Suez Canal.

Q. 5: In 1975 King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated by which male member of his family?

a) son b) grandson c) nephew d) father

A. 5: Answer c) his nephew.

Q. 6: What are the terms ‘Hi-Fi’ and ‘Wi-Fi’ abbreviations of? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 6: ‘Hi-Fi’ and ‘Wi-Fi’ are abbreviations of ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Wireless Fidelity’.

Q. 7: In 1935, British engineer Robert Watson-Watt was working on a ‘death ray’ that would destroy enemy aircraft using radio waves. What did he invent instead?

A. 7: Robert Watson-Watt’s ‘death ray’ evolved into RADAR, otherwise known as ‘radio detection and ranging’.

Q. 8: General Leopoldo Galtieri was president of which South American country in 1981 and 1982?

A. 8: Argentina.

Q. 9: When did the construction of the Berlin Wall begin and in what year was it demolished? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 9: Construction of the Berlin Wall began in 1961 (August 13^th) and it was demolished in 1989.

Q. 10: What makes of car were featured in the following movies? (A point for each correct answer, and a bonus point if you get them all correct.)

a) Herbie, The Love Bug b) Back To The Future

c) Smokey And The Bandit d) Bullitt

A. 10: a) Herbie, The Love Bug featured a Volkswagen Beetle

b) Back To The Future featured a DeLorean DMC-12

c) Smokey And The Bandit featured a Pontiac Trans Am

d) Bullitt featured a Ford Mustang GT fastback

Q. 11: In which year did South Africa have its first all-race elections?

a) 1990 b) 1992 c) 1994 d) 1996

A. 11: The correct answer is c) 1994.

A. 12: The two lead characters in the Lonesome Dove TV miniseries were ‘Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae’, played by Robert Duvall, and ‘Captain Woodrow F. Call’, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

Q. 13: Held by Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor, what is the current Men’s High Jump World Record?

a) 2.37 m b) 2.39 m c) 2.41 m d) 2.45 m e) 2.47 m

A. 13: The correct answer is d) 2.45 m (8 ft 1/2 in), achieved in Salamanca, Spain on July 27^th 1993.

Q. 14: ‘Operation Barbarossa’ was the codename used by the Germans for their plans to invade which country in 1941?

A. 14: It was the codename for their plans to invade Russia.

Q. 15: What is considered to be the hottest desert in North America? (A bonus point if you know in which State it is located.)

A. 15: The Mojave Desert, located primarily in southeastern California is considered to be the hottest desert in North America.

Q. 16: Who was ‘Mork’ and who was ‘Mindy’ in the hit TV sitcom ‘Mork & Mindy’ originally broadcast from 1978 until 1982 on ABC? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you can name both correctly.)

A. 16: The series starred Robin Williams as Mork and Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell.

Q. 17: From which country did Norway secure its independence in 1905?

A. 17: Sweden.

Q. 18: Approximately how many rifles did American factories produce during World War II?

a) 1 million b) 3 million c) 5 million d) 7 million e) 9 million

A. 18: The correct answer is d) approximately 7 million rifles were produced in American factories during WWII.

Q. 19: It is the name of a hybrid between a mandarin and a sweet orange and Winston Churchill’s wife, what is it?

A. 19: Clementine.

Q. 20: Who was ‘Talking To The Moon’ in 2011?

A. 20: Bruno Mars. Here he is……

========================================================

The Opportunity Of A Lifetime!

June 11, 2014June 10, 2014 fasab cats, comedy, dogs, Humour, Pets amusing, another dog, arsehole, barks, bicycles, big plus, blog, blogsphere, brain, brains, cannot learn, cars, cat food, chasing their tail, come, Comedy, companion, crack up, different languages, disappointing, doesn’t know anything, dog, dog food, dumb, eat you out of house and home, father, figure it out, find his way back home, free, funny, good advice, good home, Grrrrr, hablar español, heel, how to drive, Humor, Humour, I love dogs, incredible, Klingon, know his own name, knowledge, known Universe, Lassie, learned, left back leg, leg socket, many years ago, Misc, Miscellaneous, Monday, motorbikes, Name, normal dog, nothing, painfully stupid, parler francais, Patch, people he knows, people he should know, perfect dog for you, Random, remember, ride, ridiculous, Rover, running down the street, Scotty, shit in the house, sit, small, Snarl, speak English, sprechen Deutsch, stay, stop, strangers, stupid, stupid dog, stupidity, take advantage, teach, The Opportunity Of A Lifetime, the stupidest dog in the world, toe up his arse, training, Tuesday, vast scale, vehicles, waste your time, wednesday, won’t cost you anything, Woof, WTF, your chance to own

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

How often have you seen “The Opportunity Of A Lifetime” pop up on the internet or in your email?

This time it’s different, though.

This time it’s true!

Well, sort of.

Because this is your chance to own what is possibly the stupidest dog in the world.

And it won’t cost you anything either, we’re giving him away to the first good home

FOR FREE!!!

If you are stupid, and you want a companion at least as stupid as you are, if not more so, this is the perfect dog for you.

His name is ‘Scotty’, (and, yes, I have asked to be “beamed up” several times), but don’t let the name put you off.

You can call him anything you like, ‘Rover’, ‘Patch’, ‘Lassie’, ‘Monday’, ‘Tuesday’, ‘Wednesday’, ‘November’, or whatever, because it’s all the same to him – this dog is so dumb he doesn’t even know his own name.

His lack of knowledge is on such a vast scale I’m astounded the known Universe is expanding rapidly enough to contain it.

He doesn’t know how to sit. He doesn’t know how to stay. He doesn’t know how to come, or to stop, or to heel, or anything you can teach a normal dog to do.

He just doesn’t know anything.

And you won’t have to waste your time and money training him either, because this dog just cannot learn. Believe me I have done my best!

He is painfully stupid in at least the four different languages we have tried. He doesn’t speak English, nor does he hablar español, he hasn’t a clue how to parler francais, and you might as well try to speak klingon as sprechen Deutsch to him.

A big plus is that he is small and won’t eat you out of house and home. All you have to remember to do is buy cat food and not dog food and you’ll be fine. The cat beats him up every time he eats her food, but he doesn’t learn from that either. I don’t think he even knows he’s a dog.

The only one thing he has learned, is not to shit in the house, but in truth I think this has more to do with the fact that every time he tried he discovered he couldn’t with my toe up his arse.

He barks at strangers, which is good. And if he left it at that we wouldn’t mind.

But he also barks at people he knows, or rather, people he should know if he had the brains to remember who they were, which he hasn’t.

And some of the time he barks at nothing at all. It can go on for ages because, when he does bark at nothing, he must hear his own bark, think it’s another dog, and off he goes. Sometimes you can look at his face and watch him trying to figure it out.

“Woof!”

“Who said that? Grrrrr.”

“Woof!”

“There it is again!”

“Woof! Snarl.”

“WTF?”

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

“There’s another dog here somewhere.”

“Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”

And on it goes for a while, until it stops for no reason, the same way it started.

He also doesn’t know his left back leg belongs to him. When he notices it is there, he attacks it as if it is another animal trying to insert itself into his leg socket. I’ve seen other dogs chasing their tail, but this is just ridiculous.

Finally, every time the front gate is opened, he has taken to running down the street after bicycles and motorbikes – that he doesn’t know how to ride – and after cars and other vehicles – that he doesn’t know how to drive. What he would do with them if he ever caught one I just don’t know! Neither does he, but he does it anyway.

Somehow, and I find this rather incredible – and disappointing – he has always managed to find his way back home. I think it’s because he tries every other house on the way back and we are the only one silly enough to let him back in. I’ve told everyone to pretend they don’t know him when he turns up and he’ll just move on to the next house and then next, but they won’t listen to me.

So come on good people of the blogsphere, which of you is going to take advantage of this incredible opportunity of a lifetime?

You know how much I love dogs, I’ve said so before on this blog, but please get in touch as soon as you can and take this stupid dog off our hands before I crack up completely!

My father gave me a lot of good advice, and one of the things he told me many years ago was never to get a dog whose arsehole was bigger than its brain.

I should have listened!

=====================================

Did You Know? – Americans, Chinese, French, Greeks, There’s Facts About All Of Them In Here!

June 10, 2014June 4, 2014 fasab Factoids, Unusual $15 watch, a Chinese father, album, all five vowels, Amazon, americans, ancient Greeks, anonymously, aster, bad, billionaire, bird, blue, britain, British parliament, brown eyes, Buffalo Hangman, calamities, cars, Chinese, Chuck Feeney, cover, Des Moines, Did You Know, dis, disaster, discover, Disneyland, distribution centers, donated, education, Entertainment, Erie County, fact, fact feast, factoid, facts, flying coach, fortune, France, free gift to the world, french, George Washington, Greek, Greeks, Grover Cleveland, hanging, highest per capita, hired a bunch of assassins, homes, information, Jello consumption, kill, laid off, lingerie store, Main Street, melanin, mid 1800s, Mr Feng, naked baby, nickname, Nirvana, no recognition, NY, oiseau, online, passed a law condemning lipstick, patent in photography, planetary positions, rest of the world, room with 23 people, same birthday, seducing men into matrimony by a cosmetic means, serving as sheriff, shortest French word, Spencer Eldon, spring the trap, star, surprised, Texas, The Wizard Of Bras, tigers, trivia, unflattering, US, walk, wasting too much time, White, witchcraft, workers, World of Warcraft character

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes, today is a bit of a multi-cultural fact feast.

Hope you enjoy.

Brown eyes are actually blue,

under a layer of melanin.

Billionaire Chuck Feeney donated most of his fortune

anonymously and with no recognition,

while flying coach, owning a $15 watch,

and having no cars or homes.

George Washington was surprised to discover

that the Chinese were not white.

(I wonder how surprised they were to find out he was?)

When it first opened in 1955 Disneyland had

a lingerie store on Main Street called The Wizard Of Bras

In the mid 1800s France gave a crucial patent

in photography as a free gift to the world…

except for Britain who had to pay for it!

Disaster comes from the Greek

“dis” meaning bad,

and “aster”, meaning star.

The ancient Greeks used to blame calamities

on unfavorable planetary positions.

If you are in a room with 23 people,

there’s more than a 50% chance that

two of the people have the same birthday.

There are more tigers living in Texas

than in the rest of the world.

While serving as sheriff of Erie County, N.Y.,

Grover Cleveland had to spring the trap

at a hanging on two occassions.

This earned him the unflattering nickname

“Buffalo Hangman.”

Workers at Amazon’s distribution centers

can be expected to walk up to 11 miles per shift,

picking an order every 33 seconds.

The shortest French word with all

five vowels is “oiseau” meaning bird.

Des Moines has the highest per capita0

Jello consumption in the U.S

In 1770 the British parliament passed a law

condemning lipstick, stating that

” women found guilty of seducing men

into matrimony by a cosmetic means”

could be tried for witchcraft.

Mr Feng, a Chinese father, hired a bunch of assassins

to kill his son’s online World of Warcraft character.

Apparently his son was wasting too much time after being laid off.

Spencer Eldon was the name of the naked baby

on the cover of Nirvana’s album

============================================

The Stupidest Car Thief In The World.

April 26, 2014April 18, 2014 fasab Cars, comedy, Crime, driving, Humour aggravated assault, America, amusing, arrest, arrested, automatic transmission, britain, car, car thief, cars, cars get stolen, charges, column-mounted shifters, Comedy, driver's seat, dumb car thief, engine revving, fools, funny, Hernandez, Humor, Humour, idiots, Jasmine, Jasmine Hernandez, levers, lights, manual transmission, morons, Phoenix, police, stupid, stupid criminals, stupid people, stupid tradition, stupidest car thief in the world, stupidity, SUVs, tradition, United States of America, vehicles, warrant, windshield wipers, woman

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

In Britain and some other countries, vehicles with automatic transmission are the exception rather than the rule. It tends to come as standard only on the high-end cars and SUVs. I’m not sure whether this is a result of tradition, or stupidity, or maybe even stupid tradition, but it’s how things are.

In many other countries, however, including the United States of America, automatic transmission on vehicles is standard.

So what has this got to do with stupid criminals you may ask?

Well, the answer is that cars get stolen. A lot of them. Every day.

And every so often, you’ll hear about a dumb car thief in America who got completely stumped in their criminal career because they didn’t know how to operate a manual transmission.

But 19-year-old Jasmine Hernandez from Phoenix was different.

She wasn’t dumb. She was VERY dumb!

One Saturday evening, a man was dropping off his kids at a home to visit friends and he left his car running on the driveway while he went inside with the youngsters.

When he returned outside again, he heard his engine revving and saw that a woman, Jasmine, was in the driver’s seat of his car.

The owner of the vehicle opened the door in an attempt to prevent her from getting away and saw that she was frantically using the levers that adjust the lights and windshield wipers in an attempt to put the car into drive.

Poor Jasmine had no idea how to operate the transmission because she was apparently unaware that some vehicles – in fact, many, many vehicles – don’t have column-mounted shifters.

The rest of the story is easy to guess.

The owner of the vehicle was able to pull Hernandez out and detain her until police arrived.

Police discovered Hernandez had a warrant out for her arrest for aggravated assault and arrested her on those charges.

Her attempt at becoming a car thief was apparently so bad that police haven’t even charged her with that crime.

And that is the story of Jasmine Hernandez, the stupidest car thief in the world!

==============================================

Did You Know? More Random Fact File Fun

June 11, 2013June 2, 2013 fasab Factoids, Unusual 000 different languages, 10% ice, 12 letters, 132 rooms, 1386, 15 billion, 2080, 21-inch tongue, 54% female, 60% male, 60% water, 7 billion, 775 rooms, above average, Africa, autograph, average person, £1, basement, bless you, bra, Buckingham Palace, cars, Charles Osborne, clean its ears, concrete, continent, died, earth, education, England, Entertainment, executed, fact, factoid, factoids, facts, fasab blog, floor area, France, giraffe, Hawaiian alphabet, heart stops, hiccups, highest in the world, In Gold We Trust, information, James Monroe, John Adams, Julius Caesar, july 4th, Kuwait, Latvia, laughs, lightning, lightning strikes, Marilyn Monroe, millisecond, Misc, Miscellaneous, murder of a child, People, pig, population, public hanging, Random, roof, sneeze, Some Like It Hot, spoken, square feet, square metres, stolen, stronger, surface of the Earth, thigh bones, Thomas Jefferson, trivia, US gold coins, White House

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Facts don’t more random than these selections.

A little something for everyone seems to be the goal, so I hope you find at least one fact in here of interest.

Enjoy.

People say “bless you” when you sneeze

because your heart stops for a millisecond.

US gold coins used to say

“In Gold We Trust”.

Kuwait is about 60% male

(highest in the world).

Latvia is about 54% female

(highest in the world).

The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.

Julius Caesar’s autograph is worth about $2,000,000.

The surface of the Earth is about 60% water and 10% ice,

but the volume of fresh water compared to

the volume of the earth is a lot smaller.

For every 230 cars that are made, 1 will be stolen.

Lightning strikes the earth about 8 million times a day.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe died on July 4th.

In 1386, a pig in France was executed

by public hanging for the murder of a child

Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

Present population of 7 billion plus people of the world

is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.

A man named Charles Osborne

had the hiccups for 69 years!

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

(That takes some lickin’)

The average person laughs 10 times a day!

(But obviously readers of the Fasab blog are well above average!)

Someone paid $14,000 for the bra worn by

Marilyn Monroe in the film ‘Some Like It Hot’.

More than 1,000 different languages

are spoken on the continent of Africa.

The White House has 132 rooms and

a total floor area of around 55,000 ft²

(5,100 square metres).

Buckingham Palace in England has 775 rooms and

the total floor area of the Palace, from basement to roof,

covers over 828,000 square feet (77,000 square metres).

=====================================

Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today The Number Is Fifty-Seven 57

March 29, 2013April 5, 2013 fasab Factoids, Numbers, Uncategorized, Unusual 20th Century Fox Studios, 57, 57 Channels, 57 Chevy, 57th, 57th book, 57th Overlanders, 57th Psalm, 57th Street, 57th word, Agent 57, Alien Porkchops, Amy Sedaris, Andy Warstar, ARO IMS-57, astronauts, atlantic, atomic number, automobilia, Barack Hussein Obama, Barbados, Belgium, Biffy Clyro, Blum integer, books, Brian Duffy, Brian Keith, Brisbane, Bruce Springsteen, Bugatti, C-57D, Canberras, Carnegie Hall, Carolyn Jones, cars, Cartoon Network, Castro, CBS, CG 57, Chevrolet, Colombia, Comedy Central, constellation Lyra, cruiser, crusades, Cuban, Cubans, Dangermouse, David, disk jockeys, Douglas B-26, E Street Band, education, English Electric Canberra, Entertainment, Eraser, EURECA, European Retrievable Carrier, Exit 57, Fabulous 57, Falklands War, fast food dinner, fifty-seven, Five-seveN, Florida, FN Five-seven, FN Herstal, FN P90, Forbidden Planet, frigate, G David Low, GAZ, Genesis, Genesis I:1-4, George Selcamm, God, Gospel of John, Grothendieck prime, guided missile destroyer, H J Heinz, harp, Havana 57, Heinz 57, Henry John Heinz, HMS Andromeda, Human Touch, Incident on 57th Street, India, INS Krishna, Isaiah Chapter 57, Janice E Voss, Jodi Lennon, John Dalton, John Lasseter, Kennedy Space Center, kennedy space center florida, King James Version, Knights Templar, Korea, Lanthanides, Lanthanum, Leander-class, Leyland number, Lightning McQueen, Lord's Prayer, Martin B-57, Marvel Comics, master of disguise, mathematics, Maybach, Meredith Vieira, Messier object M57, Metalocalypse, meterological journal, Militaria, military, Misc, Miscellaneous, Mission Specialists, Mitch Rouse, Morocco, Moselle, movies, Mumbai, music, Nancy J Sherlock, New General Catalogue, new york, NGC 57, novel, Number 57, Old Testament, Passenger 57, Paul Dinello, Pereira, Peter J Wisoff, Pier 57, Pisces, Pixar, planetary nebula, President of the United States of America, prime number, Prop(osition) 57, Random, reed papyrus boat, religion, Revolution, Ring Nebula, Romnian, Ronald J. Grabe, Royal Navy, Russian, Safi, science, science experiments, Scream, Second Cod War, semi-automatic pistol, semiprime, Shure SM57, Shuttle-Spacelab mission, Slick 57, Southeast Asia, space, Space Shuttle Atlantis, Space Shuttle Endeavour, spaceship, spacewalk, Stephen C Joseph, Stephen Colbert, STS-57, Studio 57, Summer of Fifty Seven, Sweet Fairy Rose, t57, television series, The Avengers, the Bible, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, The Wild, Thor Heyerdahl, Thoughts, Ticonderoga class, Tiffanny, United States Navy, USAF, USS Lake Champlain, USS Mitscher, Vision, Wesley Snipes, West 57, WMCA 570 Radio, Woolworth Building, wristwatch

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Today’s significant number is fifty-seven, or treble nineteen if you are a darts enthusiast.

As usual there is more to it than meets the eye.

Enjoy.

The Number Fifty-Seven 57

In religion

In the original complete King James Version of the Bible (not the abridged edition some use today), the 57th book is the Gospel of John.
The 57th word of the King James Version of the Bible’s Old Testament Genesis = it (light) – Genesis I.1-4
In the 57th Psalm, David praises God with his harp in a cave.
In Isaiah Chapter 57, God withholds peace to the wicked.

In mathematics

Fifty-seven is the sixteenth discrete semiprime and the sixth in the (3.q) family.
Although 57 is not a prime number, it is jokingly known as the “Grothendieck prime” after a story in which Grothendieck supposedly gave it as an example of a particular prime number.
As a semiprime, 57 is a Blum integer since its two prime factors are both Gaussian primes.
57 is a 20-gonal number.
It is a Leyland number since 25 + 52 = 57.
57 is a repdigit in base 7 (111).

In science

57 is the atomic number of Lanthanum (La), the first of the Lanthanides. Lanthanum is a silvery white, malleable, ductile rare-earth metal.

In space

Messier object M57
Messier object M57, is a magnitude 9.5 planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra, also known as the Ring Nebula.

NGC 57
The New General Catalogue object NGC 57, an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Pisces.

STS-57
STS-57 was a Shuttle-Spacehab mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour that launched 21 June 1993 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
On board were Ronald J. Grabe(Commander), Brian Duffy (pilot), and Mission Specialists G. David Low (Payload Commander), Nancy J. Sherlock, Peter J. Wisoff and Janice E. Voss.
During the course of the ten-day flight, the astronauts successfully conducted scores of biomedical and materials sciences experiments inside the pressurized SPACEHAB module. Two astronauts participated in a spacewalk and EURECA (European Retrievable Carrier) was retrieved by the crew and stowed inside Endeavour’s payload bay. EURECA was deployed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in the summer of 1992 and contains several experiments to study the long-term effects of exposure to microgravity.

In books, music and movies

In the first storyboard draft for Pixar’s film Cars, the main character, a race car named Lightning McQueen was going to have number 57 as his racing number, in reference to director John Lasseter’s birthdate, January 12, 1957. But in the final cut, Lightning’s racing number changed to 95.
The climax of the movie Eraser occurs on Pier 57
C-57D is the designation of the spaceship featured in the movie Forbidden Planet, and is referenced in the movie Serenity as well.

Passenger 57, is a film starring Wesley Snipes
There are supposed to be 57 movie references in the movie Scream
Havana 57 is a 2012 movie depicting mainstream Cuban life in 1957 and illustrating the destruction Cubans have endured since the Castro regime took power in the Revolution
Summer of Fifty Seven is a 2005 novel by Stephen C. Joseph, M.D.
Marvel Comics’ character Vision debuts in issue #57 of The Avengers
The Fabulous 57 were disk jockeys on WMCA 570 Radio, New York during the 1960s
Agent 57 is the name of the master of disguise in the television series Dangermouse

Exit 57, a sketch comedy show that aired on Comedy Central from 1995-96 featured Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Jodi Lennon, Mitch Rouse and Amy Sedaris
The 57th Overlanders is a fictional brigade mentioned in the television series Firefly.
West 57 was a weekly news-magazine show on CBS, 1985–89, hosted by Meredith Vieira
The Cartoon Network program Metalocalypse has a fictional television station WHYK-57
The Robot Chicken sketch “Pluto Nash Day” notes that 57 people at 20th Century Fox Studios died amid rioting and suicide
A Robot Chicken parody of the NBC TV series Heroes uses the episode title “Chapter Fifty-seven: Uncle Glen”
Studio 57 was a dramatic anthology series in 1954, starring Brian Keith and Carolyn Jones
Incident on 57th Street is a song by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, from their 1973 album, “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle”
57 Channels (and Nothin’ On), a song by Bruce Springsteen, from his 1992 album “Human Touch”

“57” is the name of a song by Biffy Clyro on their 2002 debut album, Blackened Sky
Model Shure SM57 is considered the workhorse of recording microphones
Slick 57 is an Alternative country band
Studio 57 Productions, record label of Andy Warstar and the Warstars, which produced Alien Porkchops in Brisbane
57th Street is a novel (1971) by George Selcamm about professional musicians, the forces that drive them to search for perfection and recognition along with the hunger for love.

In automobilia

57 is the model name of a Maybach car

Bugatti also produced models designated T57 including

Chevrolet model 57, better known as the ’57 Chevy

The Romnian ARO IMS-57 was produced from 1957 until 1959; around 2000 units were made. It is considered that ARO IMS-57 was inspired from the Russian model GAZ

In militaria

USS Lake Champlain (CG 57)
USS Lake Champlain (CG 57), a Ticonderoga class cruiser in the United States Navy and the third ship to be named Lake Champlain

HMS Andromeda (F-57)
HMS Andromeda was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She took part in the Falklands War and The Second Cod War and was sold to India in 1995, where she was renamed INS Krishna. She was finally decommissioned in May 2012 at Mumbai, 44 years to the day after her launch.

USS MITSCHER DDG 57
The USS Mitscher is a United States Navy guided missile destroyer.

Martin B-57
A replacement for the Douglas B-26, the Martin B-57 was a light tactical bomberand a by-product of the English Electric Canberra, the first British-built jet bomber, initially flown in 1949.
Testing of the 2 imported Canberras revealed design faults that could affect the safety, utility, and maintenance of the future B-57. Then, one of the British planes crashed; Martin’s subcontractors could not meet their commitments; and the J65 prototype engines consistently failed to satisfy USAF requirements. In June 1952, further test flights had to be postponed for a year because of continuing engine and cockpit troubles. As a result, the Korea-bound B-57 did not fly before 20 July 1953, just 7 days before the conflict ended. Production of the crucial RB-57 (reconnaissance version) was also delayed and only entered service in mid-1954
Delivered too late for combat in Korea, the RB-57 in May 1963 and the B-57 in February 1965 began to demonstrate under fire in Southeast Asia the basic qualities justifying the Canberra’s original selection. In 1970, other reactivated and newly equipped B-57s, known as Tropic Moon III B-57Gs, were deployed to Southeast Asia, where they made valuable contributions until April 1972.

FN Five-seven

The FN Five-seven, trademarked as the Five-seveN, is a semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. The pistol is named for its 5.7-mm (.224 in) bullet diameter, and the trademark capitalization style is intended to emphasize the manufacturer’s initials—FN.
The Five-seven pistol was developed in conjunction with the FN P90 personal defense weapon (the weapon carried by SG-1 in the TV series “Stargate SG-1” and the FN 5.7×28mm cartridge. The P90 was introduced in 1990, and the Five-seven was introduced in 1998 as a pistol using the same 5.7×28mm ammunition. Developed as a companion pistol to the P90, the Five-seven shares many of its design features: it is a lightweight polymer-based weapon with a large magazine capacity, ambidextrous controls, low recoil, and the ability to penetrate body armor when using certain cartridge types.
Sales of the Five-seven were originally restricted by FN to military and law enforcement customers, but since 2004, the pistol has also been offered to civilian shooters for personal protection, target shooting, and similar uses. Although offered only with sporting ammunition, the Five-seven’s introduction to civilian shooters was met with vocal opposition from gun control organizations such as the Brady Campaign, and the pistol has been subject to ongoing controversy in the United States.
The Five-seven is currently in service with military and police forces in over 40 nations, such as Canada, France, Greece, India, Poland, Spain, and the United States. In the United States, the Five-seven is in use with numerous law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service. In the years since the pistol’s introduction to the civilian market in the United States, it has also become increasingly popular with civilian shooters

Other stuff

Heinz 57, is a brand of sauce, and the number of varieties of foods claimed to be produced by the H.J. Heinz Company. In 1896, Henry John Heinz noticed an advertisement for “21 styles of shoes.” He decided that his own products were not styles, but varieties. Although there were many more than 57 foods in production at the time, because the numbers “5” and “7” held a special significance for him and his wife, he adopted the slogan “57 Varieties.” Thus, a new advertising campaign was launched for Heinz 57 Varieties— and the rest is history!

“Prop(osition) 57”, is one of a number of anti-ketchup packet groups on Facebook designed to bring attention to the shortcomings of take-out condiment packaging; its name is a reference to Heinz Co., which debuted a new design in test markets in early 2010
57 is the name of a fast food dinner in Pereira, Colombia
Tiffanny produces a stylish wristwatch model t57

57 is the number of the French department Moselle
The Woolworth Building at 233 Broadway, New York City, has 57 floors.

Carnegie Hall is a concert hall located at West 57th Street & 7th Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.

57th Street & 6th Avenue is an IND subway station in Manhattan, New York City.
57 is the code for international direct dial phone calls to Colombia
British scientist John Dalton (1766-1844) who developed the atomic theory of matter, kept a meterological journal for 57 years from 1787 to 1844.
The Sweet Fairy Rose is a cupped flower that opens flat into a rosette shape has 57 petals. It is 16 inches tall with mauve light lavender color, and is exceedingly fragrant.

During the Crusades, the Knights Templar (founded 1118) who could not attend choir were required to say the Lord’s Prayer 57 times a day.
In 1970, Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) crossed the Atlantic (3270 nautical miles) from Safi, Morocco to Barbados in 57 days on a reed papyrus boat.