MaxRedline

You Vill Comply!

Starting next Wednesday, Oregon lawmakers' ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery stores takes effect. For Oregonians, the may mean making some preparations before the next trip to load up on groceries and other goods. Customers who don't bring reuseable grocery bags to transport their groceries will have to pay five cents per paper bag provided by the business. 

Democratics are all about control. But they did provide some leeway: retailers are free to charge more than a nickel per paper bag, should they choose.

And these are fees, not taxes, so you can't deduct them come April.

 

The Old Folks' Home

For elderly people without close families, the prospect of living alone, and dying alone, can be terrifying. But some seniors in Japan are finding they can get care and camaraderie when they are locked up in prison.

Among crimes committed by women aged 70 or older, shoplifting makes up 82.5 percent. With baggage stealing included, more than 90 percent are thefts.

They aren't exactly violent criminals. But they don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from; they have food, heat, shelter, and health care. Japan has never set up the kind of support systems we have available in the USA, and so prison is a good option, as many elderly there see it.

 

Looking For Great Texas Barbecue?

Portland, Oregon's got you covered, according to Texas Monthly.

Unbelievable as it may seem, the magazine claims that Portland's fare rivals that in Texas.

The rise of Portland barbecue began in May 2015 with the opening of Matt’s BBQ. That's where the above photo was taken.

It's a revolution, only in this one, the only ones taken prisoner are your taste buds. There are many food carts doing BBQ now. When in town, check them out.

 

Small But Useful

As anyone who travels on Portland's close-in east side soon finds out, you're likely to end up waiting on a train, as they fairly routinely block the street at SE 11th and there's no convenient way to get around them. Once you're there, and stuck, there's not much to do other than twiddle your thumbs. But now there's a helpful little app that can tell you before you get trapped there.

These guys are onto something.

Employees at DevelopmentNow have a view of the tracks from their office, and they created an app that uses "AI/machine learning, vision processing, predictive heuristics" to tell visitors if there is a train blocking the street.

It's small, fast, and free.

 

 

Sneak Attack Via Twitter

Twitter has banned the use of animated PNG image (APNG) files on its platform, after attackers targeted the Epilepsy Foundation's Twitter account using images that could potentially causes seizures in photo-sensitive individuals. It's unknown how many people may have been affected by the animated images, which exploited strobing light effects with malicious intent. The Epilepsy Foundation said it had filed criminal complaints against the accounts believed to have been responsible.

There are some really sick people out there.

Some of them are weaponizing websites against folks they've never met - with potentially deadly results.

 

Special Delivery

ASHTABULA, Ohio (AP) — Officials say an Ohio postal worker was arrested on drug charges for selling crack out of her mail truck on her route.

According to court records, 52-year-old Darcy Spangler, of Ashtabula, was arraigned Wednesday on drug trafficking charges.

Well, give her credit for knowing the folks on her route!

When it absolutely, positively, has to be there....

 

Obligatory Hearth And Home Thing For The Holidays

In Portland, a number of politicians want to ban this because climate change.

Screw that. What's Christmas Eve without it? How else are you going to get Santa back up the chimney in a hurry?

 

Kind Of A Christmas Roundup

Hoping your Christmas has been delightful thus far - but not TOO merry.

A lot of folks haven't been as fortunate.

Heck of a Christmas Eve in Grants Pass, Oregon last night as a family returned home and found they didn't have one - the two-story house somehow caught fire and was completely destroyed.

On a cheerier note:

Christmas is the time of year for giving and staff at Dogs Trust Ireland’s Rehoming Center in Dublin
made sure that the homeless dogs were not forgotten. Tons of toys were donated to the shelter and instead of the staff choosing which one they thought each dog would like – they let the dogs pick.

And another dog made it home for the holidays thanks to a caravan of dozens of people who each drove him part of the way back to his owners, handing him off to other drivers who continued the journey back:

They say there's no place like home for the holidays — and a dog named Zeus had quite the journey to make it back in time for Santa's trip down the chimney.

In late October, the pitbull-mix was discovered in West Virginia, 2,000 miles away from his home in Butte, Montana, CBS affiliate WOWK-TV reported earlier this month. The pup was allegedly stolen by a family friend staying with his owner, identified as Cassandra by WOWK-TV, and her two young daughters.

"It seems Cassandra who is a single mom in Butte, Montana, allowed a family friend to come stay with her for a bit," Chelsea Staley, with the Kanawha Charleston Humane Association, told WOWK-TV. "The 'friend' basically robbed her blind, stole her wallet, a number of things while she was at work including her dog Zeus. The friend was apprehended in Nitro, and when he was arrested Zeus was still with him." 

A group called Many Paws Volunteer Transport coordinated the journey, which involved dozens of volunteers lending a hand and their cars, according to WOWK-TV.

Talk about a Christmas surprise!

Gotta love such happy endings.

May your day be as joyous.

 

Once Again, California Has A Lead On The Rest Of Us

Well, it does explain a lot....

In California, according to the new five-year estimate, 2,471,189 residents 25 and older had never completed ninth grade.

California can claim the crown as the least-educated state in the USA. Interestingly, residents there who have never completed ninth grade by age 25 or more outnumber the populations of 15 states.

But they all get to vote....

 

Green Goo In Michigan

(CNN)A green liquid was found oozing onto Interstate 696 in the Detroit suburb of Madison Heights Friday, causing authorities to block off portions of the highway and call in federal agencies to investigate.

By Saturday, it was discovered that the mysterious liquid was the chemical hexavalent chromium and was leaking from a local business, Michigan State Police said on Twitter. Hexavalent chromium is usually produced during industrial processes like plating and is known to cause cancer, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The chemical is harmful to the respiratory system, kidneys, liver, skin and eyes.

 

EPA's on it now, but advise that remediation is going to "take time", as there's considerable work involved.

 

Fortunately, the stuff has frozen into a solid blob, which should be helpful in accomplishing the needed remediation.