Troll Takes On B.A.R.T.

We just came out of the Caldecott when traffic sputtered to a standstill. As we crept along, I am dialing 511 to find out what this is all about. Me and my boss, who I car pool into the city with, feel if we know what the problem is, we're more in control. The idea of not knowing why there is a delay is unbearable, unacceptable.  

As we passed the on ramp near Telegraph Ave. one man was trying to back up his Mini Cooper against the flow of cars behind him. Then, he was out of his Mini and waving his arms in a “GO BACK” gesture, yelling at drivers behind him.  The drivers behind him are yelling at him to get back in his car and MOVE IT! He seemed terrified of getting back on the freeway.

I wondered for a moment what he knew about this delay that we did not. Was there a spill of radioactive material just ahead?  An alien invasion?

Well, we found out soon enough. It was no alien. But some troll did manage to get on top of a BART train and was having the time of his life in a police standoff.

I managed to get one crude image from my IPhone before we moved on.

Links below for the rest of the story.

KTVU

CBS

ABC

UPDATE 5-17-13
Looks like this guy was mentally ill. See link below.

SFGate

Getting Realistic About Pessimism

The other day I ran across this quote by Mark Twain that tickled my comfort bone:

“At fifty a man can be an ass without being an optimist but not an optimist without being as ass.”

 

 

 

 

This got me thinking about my naturally optimistic core where I walk out some very pessimistic considerations in action and deed.   

Is the light at the end of the tunnel an oncoming train? I often think it is. That is, until I’m confident I can see daylight and not hear the distinctive hum of a diesel electric motor or hear the high pitch of steel wheels grinding on track. I need proof in the darkness of uncertainty.

Good Grief Charlie Brown! Busted for Stalking?

The man who did the voice for Charlie Brown has been arrested for stalking. What’s next?

If we imagine Peanuts as real people, let me see if I can predict what might become of a few members of the Peanuts gang:

The B.A.R.T. Files: Is this the Twilight Zone or Should I Just Change the Channel?

It was late on a Thursday night with no baseball game; no game means no baseball idiots would grace us with their obnoxious presence.

I was to be spared the mean mugging (the express threat,) the anxiety over the colors of my apparel (the implied threat,) and the certainty of standing in a cramped car with dozens of rowdy fans who smell of body odor, alcohol, and cannabis.

After working the last 48 with less than 6 hours combined sleep, I was looking forward to a peaceful ride home. It looked like the stars were moving into conjunction.

I get a bonus surprise when the train arrives at Embarcadero Station, a very light crowd with plenty of seating. As a settle into my bed bug-ridden, urine stained seat; I survey my fellow riders.

Dad, What Is That? - A Recent Experience With Daughters, Public Decency And Car Cullions

Well some things are hard to write about. Some things are even harder to talk about. This one is both. However, something has been nagging me for over a month now and it’s time to let it all hang out, so to speak.

Wake Up Kevin, I Think I Have Something To Say To You

So, I am driving to Berkeley Saturday morning. Just this side of the Caldecott, I am listening to Rod Stewart singing Maggie May on a soft rock station out of Sacto, just at the edge of its broadcast range. The lane in front of me opens up and I accelerate to near light speed as I enter the tunnel.

The radio fades to a silent hiss.

In the audio stillness, with no car in front of me, I glide through the entire length of the bore in strange combination of peace, and soothing speed.

On the Oakland side, I emerge into the light and the radio suddenly comes to life. But, what I am hearing is comedy skit…in Portuguese. It sounds like I am listening to an episode of the "Honeymooners" in Portuguese!

This bizarre post-cold war Bay Area radio station punctuated the surreal experience of traveling through the tunnel, unabated and in silence, to a place in time unfamiliar to me. It was as though I had traveled through a wormhole from the 1970’s and emerged in the early 21^st Century in roughly the same location.

All told, a very strange experience.

What Do You Mean I Have an Unexpected Item in the Bagging Area!

(This is the unedited version of the article that was published in the Clayton Patch on January 26, 2011.)

About six months ago, I stood inside the Clayton Safeway starring at the large newly arrived wooden crates. Staged next to the Starbucks kiosk, I was filled with both anticipation and anxiety as the installation crew began revealing their contents. I knew what was in them because I had asked about a week earlier.

Self check out had arrived at our local grocery store in Clayton.

THE NEW GENERATION OF SIGN-SPINNERS

Is it just me or is this the just plain ridiculous?

THE NEW GENERATION OF SIGN-SPINNERS

What a Nano Second Looks Like

Better if veiwed at FULL SCREEN

Nano Second 

Better if veiwed at FULL SCREEN

Take a Bow...

I know this has been around quite a bit. I just could not resist. Is there anybody our President will not bow down to. Now the mayor of Tampa, FL.


What is even more weird, does she look smug about the experience or is it just me?

How The Networks Put Together a News Story

If you love Monte Python type humor you will love this. If you do not, you will still love it. Either way, it rings with truth.

This is great example how “so-called” truth is often communicated to us via style. Style is not substance. Style is distant to truth in that it plays on emotions and memories. It can be used to deceive. By comparison, style is like the music to the lyrics. Music can sound great, pleasing, and arousing; it can invoke anger or inspire. But it does so through the emotions, not the intellect. The music can be contradictory to the lyrics.

Substance on the other hand can be parsed, examined, dissected, tested, and debated by the intellect. The content, or lyrics in keeping with the song metaphor, can tell a great deal, if not the most important aspects, of the message.

Style is meant to accompany and compliment the substance or content. However, the content is the “meat” of the act. Sadly, today we are so easily sold on style and style is then used as the means to truth (and let’s not forget that the means are everything.)

By its very nature, style can not do what substance does. If it did, one would be able to tell what is on a man’s mind by looking at his hat.

The JackAss Calendar

I love this calendar.  Check out all the months.  My favorite is April.

The JackAss Calendar

Man Found with Lizard(s) in His Pants

This story…I’d better not say what’s on mine mind. One can think of many puns but I won’t do it.

Click on the image or this link for the story

The EYE

I know this has been around for some time.  It's still fun to take a look at it once in a while.  Move your mouse over the EYE to get the effect.

Click on this to see the EYE!

A little to the left...PLEASE!

Korean Defense Force members working on a spinning jump kick. 

Click here for the video

Cocaine mang...At NASA

Now this is what you call a High - High

Click here for the full article

New York embraces California's unwanted Chihuahuas

New York embraces California's unwanted Chihuahuas

East Boston cat called to jury duty

East Boston cat called to jury duty