bunnies of death host soylent green cook off

funeral home tries to drum up business with chili cook off:

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Western Massachusetts funeral home is trying “bring life” to business with a chili cookoff, a murder-mystery show and free limo rides to couples on their 50th anniversaries.

Terry Probst, the new managing partner of the Devanny-Condron Funeral Home in Pittsfield, hopes the events will remind people that the funeral home is a center for community life.

He said if customers know that the funeral home also can be the setting for other, happier activities, they might take some comfort in the place later when dark times come.

Among other other events sponsored by the funeral home are an art walk, a visit by the Easter Bunny, and monthly birthday cakes to the Pittsfield Senior Center.

1) i’m not eating chili the funeral home serves in order to “drum up business”.  especially when there’s a “murder mystery” involved :O

2) a free limo ride by the local mortuary for a 50th wedding anniversary IS NOT NICE.  handy, maybe, tho.  get carried away with your spouse in the limo, have a heart attack, YOU GET A FREE RIDE to the funeral home. (several of the nursing homes here take seniors on field trips to houston’s funeral museum.  seems bizarrely cruel to me.  “LOOK WHERE YER GOING TO BE SOON, YOU OLD PEOPLE THING.”  insert a cackle as needed.)

3) the funeral home easter bunny… now that has promise as an incredible “it’s so bad, it’s good” b-movie.

ok, gotta run.  headed over to the toxic waste dump for it’s annual ~green lemonade~ sale.  it always makes my skin glow so nicely.  also, the hide-n-seek games using geiger counters is AWESOME.

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Tagged as: wtf,soylentgreenistasty,bunniesofdeath,waitwhat March 04, 2010 @ 02:25 pm

further insanity regarding the houston fire dept

in “what the fuck is happening to the houston fire dept”, i criticized bill white’s plan to skip federal involvement and go with a local “independent investigation”.  9 times out of 10, i trust bill white to do what is right for the city; however, i think he’s making a big mistake here…. and i’m not alone.  as it turns out, he had planned to appoint 2 law firms to do the investigation…. (law firms?!)...

from Law firms for HFD probe criticized:

The two law firms selected by Mayor Bill White’s administration to determine whether systemic problems of racism and sexism exist in the Houston Fire Department have drawn criticism for having ties too close to the city and senior city officials.

The choice of Thompson and Horton LLP and Lemond and Lemond LLC for a contract worth up to $190,000— which was made without input from City Council and did not go through a formal proposal process — has raised questions about transparency for a process that was meant to bring about an outside examination of the culture in the fire department.

seriously… law firms?  to investigate “systemic problems of racism and sexism”?

Michel said he intends to monitor the probe closely and that the law firms may not necessarily produce a report from their examination. Senior fire department officials would need to be involved in order for the firms’ work to be a success.

“Ultimately, this is a management tool,” he said. “People come in to assist management to help them operate better and you have to work with management in order for it to be effective. ... They have to assess what’s occurred, and you just can’t do that in a vacuum.”

it appears *to me* that bill white’s administration thinks that the problem is a minor one that can be taken care of with nothing more than a seminar or three on “how to not be a racist, sexist pig”, which while possibly helpful isn’t going to go far enough in dealing with the problem.  PLUS it gives the appearance of a “cover up”.  while i don’t believe that is the *intent*, perception is important.

Joe Ahmad, an attorney representing two female firefighters who found racist and misogynistic graffiti near their quarters at a department fire station this month, an event that prompted the calls for an outside investigation, said that if the two firms were shown to have close ties to the city, that would be “just another disappointing step.”

“When we heard that there was going to be an outside, independent investigation, we were encouraged because we thought that was precisely what was needed,” said Ahman. “I would hope that whoever is ultimately hired are truly independent.”

i completely agree.  there needs to be a *true* independent *investigation* that deals with the issues that people have faced, including but not limited to criminal prosecution.  sweeping it under the rug, or giving the appearance that this is what you’re doing, will only make people think you are covering up the problem and protecting the deranged individuals in the dept.

rick casey hit the nail on the head, once again, why consult attorneys?:

It has been only a month since I had to explain to this city’s politicians that they could not defend unethical behavior by announcing that they had received clearance from an attorney.

Attorneys are trained to determine what is illegal, which covers far less ground than what is wrong.

A restaurateur might as well respond to criticism of her hollandaise sauce by saying, “I had my lawyer taste it and he pronounced it savory.”

Now here comes Mayor Bill White to announce he wants to hire two law firms to examine the “equal employment opportunity and practices” at the Houston Fire Department in the wake of accusations of racist and sexual harassment.

That’s right: not one law firm, but two. For $190,000, the two firms, who are already tinged by controversy, are expected to “review, assess and recommend policies and practices on issues that include diversity, conflict resolution, preventive practices, compliance, communication and management practices.”

Am I missing something here? Are there law school classes on identifying the cultural dynamics of a strongly traditionalist organization and altering those that are, even innocently, corrosive?

Instead let’s hire someone who does have such training, such as a cultural anthropologist. We would get more for less money, and could hire lawyers if legal issues arose.

Laws don’t change cultures, leadership does. But leaders need information, and the crucial information here is cultural, not legal.

as of right now, the plan has been delayed:

City Council this morning delayed consideration of a contentious contract to hire two law firms to examine how the city handles allegations of workplace racism and sexism in the wake of several highly charged incidents in the Houston Fire Department in recent months.

Council members held up the contract for two weeks amid questions about the scope of the $190,000 contract, how law firms Thompson and Horton LLP and Lemond and Lemond LLC were chosen and whether their ties to the city and senior officials were too close.

hopefully, in the interim, someone will realize that a REAL INVESTIGATION needs to be done.

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Tagged as: texas,wtf,racism,news,bigotry,houston July 24, 2009 @ 01:52 pm

wtf is happening to the houston fire dept?

firefighters.  they’re the guys that are going to save your life, your home, your belongings.  they’re the good guys. 

‘cept when they’re deranged bigots. 

and it seems there’s too many of those in the houston fire department.

in february, a noose is found in the locker of a fire captain.  he’s disciplined, and after several heated city council meetings, it’s decided that all houston fire dept employees will undergo sensitivity training.  (btw, fire captain says the noose was a “fisherman’s knot” that he kept out of respect for the man who taught it to him.  because… you never know when you’ll need to lynch a fish.)

on tuesday, racist/sexist graffiti directed at 2 female firefighters is found sprayed around the inside of one of the fire stations.

on wednesday, someone hacks into the houston fire dept’s radio system with a non-departmental radio and broadcasts seven seconds of racial epithets.

the 2 female firefighters have since spoken publicly:

Jane Draycott and Paula Keyes said they’re devastated by the attacks and at a loss to understand them.

“It’s demented,” said Draycott, a 16-year veteran of Texas fire departments who came to work Tuesday to find not just the graffiti but the mutilation of a treasured photo of her and her teenage daughter who was killed in a 2006 car crash. “Someone is absolutely sick to do this. It’s got to stop.”

Draycott, who is white, said the act was no isolated incident, citing less sensational but still shocking discriminatory acts dating back as far as two years, when she joined Station 54.

Keyes said she hasn’t recovered from the epithets, which included “the N word and the B word.”

“I was devastated,” said Keyes. “You hear rumors about racism and sexism in the department, but I never thought anything like this would happen to me. I never thought I’d have to be afraid of my own co-workers. I had their backs. I thought they had mine.”

The mutilated photo included the word “die” written over Draycott’s face and the word “dead” over the face of her late daughter, Amanda. The faces in other family photos posted on her locker were obliterated with a felt-tip marker.

Draycott described the litany of incidents over the past two years: her shower’s cold water being disconnected so she was subsequently scalded; vandalism in the women’s restroom that included urination on the toilet seats, sink and walls and snipping of wires to the speaker that alerts firefighters to emergency calls; and a colleague saying he didn’t want to sit with “the riffraff” when declining to sit at her table.

She also described superiors forcing her to take and score highly on exams after being off work for extended periods while her male coworkers who were off longer did not have to demonstrate such re-entry skills.

She said she made frequent complaints about the abuse, but it never changed.

wtf?  seriously.  what. the. fuck?  the women are saying they’re now frightened to be at work and frightened for their families.  “they know where i live.”  who can blame them? 

a retired firefighter has also come forward, detailing the sexual harrassment *she* faced, which included waking up to find a fellow firefighter masturbating over her.

let me say again…... what. the. fuck??  what type of atmosphere exists that whomever is doing these things fears no consequences?

i think mayor bill white is making a mistake by not involving the justice dept in the investigation, relying upon the houston police dept instead.  i think we’d be better served by an outside investigation that has no bias, no “good ol’ boy” ties.  whatever they do, they need to do it quickly.  the people responsible need to be caught and dealt with before things escalate further.

another solution?

Chetkovich said the male culture is very difficult to overcome. A key component is reaching a goal of 15 percent women.  ([ed.note]: percentage of female houston firefighters? 2.6 percent.)

The reason: That’s the critical mass within a group at which stereotypes tend to crumble.

It is when, if one member of a minority group messes up, members of the majority know enough other members of the minority that they no longer think, “That’s the way those people are.”

So the task for the HFD:

Find the perpetrator.

Then find about 500 good women

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Tagged as: texas,wtf,news,houston July 09, 2009 @ 10:07 pm

probabilistic computer chip may be reality

Professor works to revolutionize computer chips:

Engineers have long lived by a simple, seemingly obvious rule when designing new computers: The machines have to deliver correct answers.

If asked to compute 2+2, a computer must answer 4. But what if computers didn’t always have to answer correctly?

Nearly a decade ago, a Houston computer scientist posed this heretical question. Today, it has led to a movement dubbed “probabilistic computing,” which he believes will revolutionize the future of computing.

is it just me, or is everyone else thinking of the “improbability drive”** from the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy? 

**The Infinite Improbability Drive simultaneously places a starship at every conceivable point in the universe, thereby eliminating all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. It uses vast amounts of improbability, and many silly things happen in its wake.

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Tagged as: computers,wtf,news February 10, 2009 @ 12:14 am

something here just doesn’t add up…

recently, i went to get my texas driver’s license renewed.  for the first time EVER, i was told that i had to ~remove~ my glasses for the license picture.  now, it’s always been my belief that your license picture was supposed to look like you ~for identification purposes~.  i’m nearsighted enough that without my glasses, i can’t see clearly a foot past my nose.  (nevermind the astigmatism and weak eye muscles.)  needless to say, i’m ~rarely~ without my glasses - bed, shower, that’s about it - none of which i’m apt to need identification for.  needless to say, without my glasses, i don’t look like me.  at all.  so when i was told that i had to remove my glasses, i was a bit surprised.

i emailed for further clarification about this new requirement and was told by Rhonda Fleming at the DHS:

In 2005, the Texas Legislature approved funding for an Image Verification System.  The Image Verification System (IVS) is Facial Recognition Technology software which is used to discover those applicants who have fraudulently obtained multiple driver licenses or identification cards within the driver license system.  In 2006, the Department enrolled 20+ million license and ID records for comparison against each other to locate multiple records.  As many as 2.9 million matches were returned.  The Department is in the process of going through each of these records to determine those that require a criminal investigation as well as to cull those records that are matched due to clerical error.  Since the application of IVS and the resulting 2.9 million matches, the Department determined that in order to properly utilize the Facial Recognition software and to further guard against identity theft and fraudulent use of our driver licenses and identification cards, all applicants will be requested to remove any eyewear before the photo is captured.  We will also make sure that the applicant is looking straight at the camera and that the head is not tilted “up or down” creating an angle.  Applicants with a physical limitation preventing them from looking straight at the camera are exempt.

The change in policy, which went into effect January of 2008, is necessary to enhance the biometric photograph that is stored in the Image Verification System.  The ability to detect the pupils of the subject’s eyes, while looking straight at the camera without angles, ensures a more accurate image result during the comparison process.  Unfortunately, the use of glasses distorts the pupils and prevents a quality biometric photograph from being taken.

The Department is committed to ensuring the integrity of all records and the Image Verification System enhances this goal.  I apologize if our employees failed to fully explain the request to remove your glasses and hope that this explanation fully provides the information you seek.  If you have any further questions or concerns regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me at this email address.

since we’re seeing this technology used more and more as a part of “homeland security”, it’s interesting to note that something as simple as wearing glasses can subvert the technology.

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Tagged as: texas,computers,politics,wtf September 07, 2008 @ 02:08 pm