Tasty Falafel last night, despite BHK not feeling well.

Took her out tonight, glad that she’s up to it… maybe a little cheeburger cheeburger and a road time will jump start her to feeling better for the weekend!

After a tasty garden-cheeburger, frings and cherry chocolate shake, we swung by the store and got her some new jeans, before making a very brief visit to eyeball Comics and Games and Stuff. (Courtesy of The Looney Labs store finder )

Dropped 12 for 3 very inexpensive games – Change! , Cosmic Coasters, and The Very Clever Pipe Game. All of which should be wonderful additions to our games closet, and are pretty small and portable, should we decide to take ‘em with us somewhere.

Speaking of new, portable games, Eryx wrote us and mentioned that he’s sending us a copy of EcoFluxx as a wedding present! Thanks Eryx! We need to steal him from the UK and have him visit sometime. 🙂

Also the Labs have recently produced Twin Win, an Icehouse game suitable for use while waiting in line.

Glass and a Half Full Productions

– fun ad by cadbury (via ze) What can I say? I like apes.

3,000-year-old beehives unearthed in IsraelArchaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.

My immediate living area’s population has doubled by a person and a cat since a little over a year ago. I like it much better that way, as I adore them.

If want to make myself angry, I picture a pregnant woman smoking.

Author Madeleine L’Engle died last night in Connecticut, at the age of 89. Best known for her 1963 Newbery Award winner A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels, L’Engle was the author of more than 60 books for adults and young readers.

Stolen Catalytic Converter from one of our accountant’s truck from our company’s parking lot.. . certainly not an isolated issue – seems to be happening all over MD and VA

Thieves are targeting fleet vehicles parked overnight in secluded parking lots. Their target? Catalytic converters.
The theft of catalytic converters is a growing crime trend happening throughout the country. For instance, on May 30, Comcast discovered seven catalytic converters stolen from work trucks parked outside its office in Gambrills, Md. This wasn’t the first time. Earlier, on July 18, the same Comcast location reported the theft of 18 catalytic converters. On May 28, Adscom reported 16 catalytic converters stolen from new Chevrolet and GMC cargo vans parked behind its building in Glen Burnie, Md.

These crimes are not restricted to just large fleets. Smaller fleets are just as vulnerable. Dreisbach Florists in Cincinnati reported to the police that catalytic converters were sawed off three of its vans. Nor is this a problem restricted to the U.S. The BBC reports an increase in catalytic converter thefts in the U.K.

Precious Metals Inside
Police first began noticing catalytic converter thefts about eight months ago. Thieves aren’t interested in the catalytic converters themselves; they’re interested in the precious metals inside, which are easily recycled. The average catalytic converter contains one to two grams of three precious metals – platinum, palladium, and rhodium. That equals about 0.07 of an ounce, meaning 14 or 15 converters are needed to equal one ounce of the metals. However, the commodity rates for these metals have skyrocketed in the past two years.

For criminals, catalytic converters are as good as gold. Actually, better. In comparison, gold prices reached $670 per ounce in June 2007. According to online commodities Web site www.kitco.com, the price of rhodium has shot up in the past five years from $900 to almost $6,000 per ounce in June. Palladium rose from about $189 per ounce two years ago to a high of $371 in June. Between June 1, 2005 and June 1, 2007, the price of platinum rose 67 percent, from $870 per ounce to $1,295.

A quick perusal of the Internet reveals that hundreds of recyclers across the country are buying catalytic converters for the precious metals. Catalytic converters need to be sent to a recycler that has the equipment to perform the chemical process necessary to extract the metals. Metal recycling companies will pay anywhere from $25 to $150 apiece for catalytic converters. A search of the Web reveals a wide range of catalytic converter buying and selling activity across the United States and overseas. There are Web sites that describe how to collect and sell catalytic converters to the right buyer. One site includes photos of the tools to use, such as electric saws, hydraulic jacks, and portable generators.

High Clearance Vehicles at Greater Risk
The catalytic converters are usually stolen from high-clearance vehicles. Most thefts occur at night. A thief can slip under a vehicle and, with a battery-operated saw and metal-cutting blade, make two quick cuts and remove the catalytic converter. Some vehicles have catalytic converters that are bolted on, which are the easiest to remove. The theft can take as little as five to 10 minutes. With some models, thieves use a reciprocal saw to cut the catalytic converter from the exhaust systems underneath the vehicle. Other models require thieves to use an acetylene torch to remove the catalytic converter. Recovering stolen catalytic converters is virtually impossible since they are not inscribed with serial numbers that can be used to identify them.

Often, catalytic converter theft is by drug addicts. Many of those arrested for stealing catalytic converters are heroin addicts. It’s a quick crime for a drug addict to get cash. There are also more sophisticated thieves who know exactly what they were doing and already have buyers lined up for the stolen catalytic converters. Many are shipped to recycling companies in Poland, Canada, China, and Latvia, where they undergo a carbochlorination process that extracts the precious metals.

Securing Vehicles After Work Hours
Fleets victimized by this crime must spend anywhere from $600 to $1,400 to install a replacement catalytic converter. The theft results in immediate downtime for the vehicle since it is illegal to drive without a catalytic converter. It is also extremely dangerous, since the hot exhaust blowing from sawed-open exhaust pipes could heat the nearby fuel tank to the point of exploding, if driven long enough.

Doodles… I think that I like flat lines more than pseudo-airbrush textures. .

A Dragon, The Little Prince , and a flurfy tree

The Little Prince reminds me of things I sometimes forget –

“On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur, l’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux”
(It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye).

. .

um, yikes. I’m surprised… not by New Orleans or Detroit… but by the fact that there’s no New York or Miami on there. I wonder how many murders go unreported?

1 year ago

– jojo again, Chase is a creep, acim scuttlebutt (RS came back and left since then),

2 years ago – First notice of SNAKES ON A PLANE, smokin’ with Newt and Firpo, morning pre-work report, interdictor shenanigans, ADP and RI duke it out, second life free

3 years ago – Broward PSA, hurricane doodles, freeware

4 years ago – Harvest moon, auto-cashiers, acim two-level split, lynching, cluster move, gender genie, newt-bounce

5 years ago – Sleestaks and Oatmeal, Sculpey and Fimo, Bewitched, cave photo, bad prefixes, dog snoods

6 years ago – lj drama regarding cheaters,lovely long chat where blackie burped, thescents of rose, lavender, gardenia, violette, and muguet (burts bees),Skeletor, Back in 1997, there was an exorcism performed on MotherTeresa, saints.

7 years ago – poopy day, Suzy, Walt Whitman, American Cannibals, Mush, interests, overheard, jail visits (via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)