Nutria Rodeo Unintended Consequences

A nutria rodeo was held last weekend. About 200 hunters showed up to join in the free fire zone against nutria, the rat that is eating the Louisiana marsh. In all, they bagged about 1500 nutria weighing in at about 10 tons. 

At first the zoo said they would be willing to take the carcasses to feed their alligators, but by the time the rodeo was over, the dead nutria had been sitting in the heat for too long and they became quite pungent. The zoo changed their mind and now the organizers were left with 1500 smelly water rats.

What do you do with 10 tons of rotting nutria? 

It turns out that a local crab fisherman took them to be used as bait in his crab traps. I bet that the next time they decide to hold a nutria shoot, they will plan the disposal a little better.

COVID and Lunch

 My wife and I took her mother with us to day to get the COVID vaccine. Our parish is long and narrow and the only place to get the injection was about 45 minutes south. But, it was worth it as we had no line and no wait. We were in and out with 30 minutes. 

On the way back we stopped to get lunch at a local BBQ place. They had this sign as a sales promotion...A crudely drawn pistol and the words "Open Carry, Free Drink".

Unfortunately, I could not take advantage.

What Did You Expect?

It seems that some politicians are not pleased with the police response to the demonstration in DC the other day. They believe that the police, in some cases, even aided the protesters by removing barricades. Well, what did you expect. Politicians from the left have denigrated police, defunded them and charged them as criminals for doing their duty. Did you really expect that after all that that they will form a line and protect the people that have been beating them for so long?

And I had a bit of cognitive dissonance as  I watched the news on the protests. What I was seeing did not jive with what I was hearing. I didn't see any fires or burning buildings, I didn't see and destruction of property except for a few broken windows, I didn't see any graffiti being sprayed on the capital building, but what I was hearing, even on Fox, would make you think that what was happening was as bad the British burning the capital in 1812. 

I'm afraid that this will not get better. Wait until the Dems try to make major changes to the Supreme Court and their other agenda items and you will see real protests.

Chinese Infiltration?

 About 10 or 15 years ago I noted an increase in the number of Japanese restaurants. The funny thing was that the owners of these restaurants were Chinese. (and they didn't speak any Japanese) I found that odd but thought that a good way to get a large number of Chinese into the US was to teach a bunch of guys to do the knife tricks you see in a Japanese grill and them claim they need a visa for them as those skills could not be hired locally. It seemed a good way to get a bunch of deep cover agents into the country.

I dismissed my own thoughts as being extreme conspiracy theories but with the recent news about Chinese infiltrations of US politicians, I'm not so sure.

Wisdom from the Greatest Generation

Dad was a Chief Machinist Mate on a destroyer in the Atlantic in WWII. One thing that stuck in my head was something he told me when I was very young. It was something the Navy told him. It was that you don't need more than 4 sheets of toilet paper per wipe.

Please keep this in mind when stocking up.

Cajun Hand Sanitizer

This came into my inbox recently.

Corona News

I can't give a source for this information. I got it from a travel blog about Paris. It gives the mortality rate for the virus and is supposedly based on statistics out of China from Feb 11. It clearly shows that age is a critical factor in the mortality rate of the disease. Take it for what it's worth, here it is.

Under 40 years old - .2%

People in their 40's - .4%

People in their 50's - 1.3%

People in their 60's - 3.6%

People in their 70's - 8%

People in their 80's - 15% (because the older you get the more likely you are to have a chronic disease)

Edit: I found the link to the above statistics. It's in French, but the link is here

Here is another site with loads of stats. Link

Corona Virus Trickle Down

Economists have been predicting how the corona virus will eventually affect global manufacturing and I got the first indication of that this morning.

A friend who is the offshore support engineer for a major oil company has been involved in planning a turn around for months. A turn around is a period of major maintenance when the unit is shut down and work goes on 24/7 until complete. They are planned out in detail and almost never postponed. However, today he heard that the turn around currently being planned was being pushed back.

It seems that some valve body forgings that were being made in China will not be available because manufacturing was shut down because of the corona virus. This is the first of what will be a chain of trickle down events for the oil industry. He thinks it will next affect the drilling program which will result in a decrease of production over this year. Lower production will mean an increase in oil prices.

On the positive side, Cameron Valve is running 24 hours a day to meet demand and there is a surge of new pickup trucks in town.

The Broken Window Theory - New Orleans Style

There has been a rash of car break ins in New Orleans in the past few weeks. The thieves are quite blatant breaking car windows while people are in church on Sunday. They have targeted certain areas of the city including students at UNO. So far, there has been little police or government response except for one councilcritter who called the crimes a "nuisance".

In other news, the city owes about $25 million to drivers who were ticketed by speed control cameras. Some cameras were ticketing drivers when schools were not in session and even in school zones where the school had been abandoned. This was exacerbated by the actions of Ray Nagin from 2 administrations ago. He turned over the collection of fines to a city department instead of the police. The court ruled against this and ordered all the fines repaid. Obviously, the city can't afford to pay them.

Finally, the current mayor has been found to owe about $95,000 to the IRS. Well, she's a democrat so why not?

Corona Virus Fears

There seems to be a lot of concern about the corona virus. I remember SARS as I was travelling to Asia during that period. We had our temperatures checked on boarding but there was no where near the hype about it. Knowledge is needed.

I found a chart on a French site that graphed the mortality and the ease of transmission of several diseases including viruses, bacteria and parasites. It's in French but I bet you guys can figure it out.

The Link is here.

All of the international hype about this virus makes me wonder if there is something they are not telling us.

New Verb in my Vocabulary

I learned a new verb today - to storrow. "To storrow" is to drive your truck into a low overhead obstruction. The term was originated in Boston where this type of accident is common to drivers unfamiliar with the city and then try to drive box trucks on Storrow Drive. One web site has a collection of photographs from these accidents and it is amusing to see the results of driver idiocy. The link to the site is here.

I was a student in Boston for 5 years and I hated driving there. The streets are not laid out in typical block fashion and nothing meets at a right angle. Storrow Drive is a main thoroughfare that runs along the Charles River and is heavily travelled by folks heading into Boston and Cambridge. If you are heading to Boston, don't drive a large truck on Storrow Drive.

Bamahenge

No visit to southern Alabama would be complete without a visit to Bamahenge. What do you do if you are the richest man in the state? Why you build a fiberglass replica of Stonehenge and throw in a few life size dinosaurs for good measure. And do it in the middle of the woods where you have to go looking for it.

That's exactly what George Barber, the milk billionaire of Alabama, did. He commissioned Mark Cline to build this roadside attraction in Elberta, AL.

Side Hustle Fail

It seems that Uber drivers are calling for a strike today in advance of Uber's 90 billion dollar IPO. Huh. I alway thought Uber was something you did for extra money in your spare time but from reading some of the stories in the media you would think that it was a full time job. Indeed, some drivers said they purchased new automobiles in order to drive for Uber. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Uber drivers started their gig voluntarily and there is no one keeping them chained behind the wheel. If they are not happy, they are free to turn off the app.

In looking at the app this morning, I found 7 cars available near me in the burbs of NOLa.

If you followed the Uber story, when they first open in a city, there is usually push back from the taxi companies. After a period of time, some sort of accommodation is reached and taxis and Uber co-exist. Now, you see the taxi unions sensing a large group of potential members and they are pushing to organize the Uber drivers. Like most things, follow the money.

Green Auto Maintenance

My daily drive is a 2003 Expedition  with a 5.4 liter V8 that I bought from my son in 2006. It was the family school bus until I got it and then it became a true SUV with the emphasis on utility. I have no problem in loading the back with potted plants or bags of pine mulch. It stays dirty most of the time. It is the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned and now has 150,000 miles, most of it with only basic maintenance. Repairs have been few and the cost of them is much lower than a monthly car note. While it has a few quirks (the door switch is out giving me a door ajar warning, the rear air con control door flops around, and the disk changer is tango uniform) I plan to keep it as long as I can. The air con is weak so every spring I give it a can of freon. This year I got a can, hooked up the hose and......nothing. I went back to the auto parts store and they told me that new freon cans were self sealing and the old hoses would not work as they could not pierce the seal. There was an adapter, but they were all sold out. One of the counter guys offered to let me use his if I charged the system in the store parking lot. Deal done and a good example of customer service. I'm not sure what drove the change unless it was environmental concerns, or a desire to force every mechanic to buy a new gadget.

Wireless Blues

The wireless card in my laptop went Tango Uniform and I had to get a new one. Unfortunately, I'm running an old laptop and it took some time to find one. Back now and looking for a new 'puter.

Crawfish Disaster?

Seems that Michigan is having a problem with Louisiana crawfish. I'm a little surprised that they can survive up there given the ground freezing. Instead of spending money to eradicate them, they should grant fishing licenses for Cajuns to trap them.

British Air Customer Service Sucks

BA lost one of our bags and I have been trying to get information from them for the last 24 hours. They confirm that they found it and that it is on a truck for delivery to me. The delivery service is a third party so they say they cannot tell me an ETA. I told them that the delivery company is giving BA a bad reputation but then the agent got snarky with me. And this is on top of the Nazi gate agent in Heathrow who was telling people to gate check their carry ons because the flight was full. We explained that our bags contained medicines and we would not let them out of our sight. She then got snarky with us. I saw her order people to give up their bags and she marched them to the desk to  do so. There was no politeness in her attitude. BA needs some serious customer service training.

Meanwhile, I'm stuck in Paris waiting for the delivery guy.

Postscript - Bag finally delivered. The delivery guy called this morning and asked our preferred time and he actually arrived on schedule. I'm amazed that BA couldn't track the bag after handing it over to their subcontractor. Instead, they used the poor guy as an excuse for their incompetence. And, BA still needs to give their employees some serious customer relations training.

Big Brother is Watching

British Air recently started direct flights from New Orleans to London. My wife and I booked it to visit our Grandson who is in Italy and also decided to apply for Global Entry to ease our passage through the TSA and Immigration. On the way to our interview with the Border Patrol, I noticed a billboard near the airport advertising direct flights to Frankfurt. I didn't catch the airline so I did a Google search to find out which airline it was. Turned out it was Condor Airlines, a German airline that flies to vacation spots. When I open the Book of Face the next day, up popped an ad for Condor Airlines. They are watching!

For the Golfers

Getting Flocked

My neighbor got flocked. Evidently it's  a breast cancer charity thing.