Living in the Scoot Utopia

To the right is the intersection of 39th & Southwest Traficway. North is at top. Southbound traffic is forbidden from turning right onto 39th because about 10 feet west of Southwest Trafficway is the intersection of 39th & Summit. Traffic turning right would immediately be in the middle of another signal-controlled intersection, creating a dangerous situation. Therefore, the ban on right turns is marked both with a large symbolic no right turn sign as well as a secondary no turns sign.

I was on my way to lunch today driving south on Summit, my trajectory indicated by the green arrow, with a green light ahead of me.

So of course some ignoramous with Johnson County plates heading southbound on Southwest Trafficway decided "Oh, I have JO plates, the signs do not apply to me" and followed the illegal trajectory indicated by the red arrow just as I was entering my intersection on my green light.

As I slammed my palm into the horn it was only through a defensive maneuver I didn't know I had in me -- swinging my car around nearly 90 degrees -- that I avoided T-boning (or getting T-boned by) the clueless self-absorbed Johnson County idiot.

Learn to drive or stay over in Kansas with your open-book driving tests. Jeeeez!

When I returned from lunch I also got to spot the following bonus idiocy: some chump in an over-bloated SUV who had parked this morning in a section clearly-signed "Compacts Only" and now, while trying to leave, found themselves completely wedged in and unable to back out.

Posted by ScooterJ at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

When I spotted this fella walking in front of me earlier today I was overwhelmed with an urge to document the fashion foibles on display.

• First of all -- pleated pants. (Hat tip to Ken for spotting that one.)

• Secondly -- WHITE SOCKS?!?

• And finally -- if I can see your white socks when you are standing, your pants are too short.
  

More "Scooter Fashion Don'ts" to come!

Posted by ScooterJ at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reposted from another forum, here is a selection of photos from 1969 to this past weekend.
























Little did I know I was hiding behind my downfall.












A trip to Brazil -- I'm the one on the left.










Hmmm.... that's a familiar pose.


My bowling team after winning one of our championships a few seasons ago.
(The guy on the right had just had surgery but came in anyway to bowl.)


This one was taken this past weekend

Posted by ScooterJ at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I sent the following to Ken at 2:24am on Tuesday, September 11, 2001:

Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 02:24:07 -0500 To: ken From: Scott Murdock Subject: A friendly warning Cc: Bcc:

Today (Tuesday) is gonna be an ass day for me, as I am gonna try to cut myself off from all distractions and get a shitload ofwork done so that I can try to get something billable for October.

I'll still be in IM but I will be making myself accessible to you and you alone. My phone will be off. If anyone other than Sharon asks about me, tell them I am sick or something. :)

No matter what happens, I cannot let anything distract me today!

-Scoot-

So much for that, huh?

Posted by ScooterJ at 02:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Great Evil One is coming to Kansas City today, just in time to selfishly and completely shut down all traffic in KC right at the afternoon rush hour, in order to waste your taxpayer money campaining for this worthless chump at the private residence of the CEO of Russell Stover Candies.

Posted by ScooterJ at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

With all my work done for the day, I started searching for myself and my creations in Google's new News Archive Search tool. (Give it a try, it's cool!)

In doing so I came across the following article from CNN that pissed me off:

The '80s make, like, an awesome comeback

In particular, it was the first sentence of the 6th paragraph:

Lisa Johnson, manager of The '80s Server, a Web site devoted to the decade, established her site in Overland Park, Kansas, in 1995, when she sensed a movement away from the depressing look and sound of "grunge" music and toward happier, bouncier times -- the '80s.

WRONG!!!

Ken and I established The 80s Server in March of 1995 at UMKC, running it ourselves for two years before selling it to a company in Overland Park. We don't have any idea who this Lisa person is except that she's obviously someone hired after our contract ended in 1997.

Petty, I know, but I hate that someone else got credited by CNN for OUR work.

But now it's six years too late for me to do anything about it.

Posted by ScooterJ at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

From the patio at Harry's Country Club late last night, a political debate among three guys (in a nutshell):

1: "The estate tax is bullshit. If I work hard all my life I should be able to pass that money along to anyone I want."

2: "Yeah but 98% of the people who work their whole lives will never be affected by it, the threshhold is too high. It's a tax on born money and not a tax that affects real people."

1: "That's a bunch of crap. Besides, it's double taxation. I've paid taxes on that money as I accumulated it, and then it gets taxed again when I pass it on."

3: "Using that logic I shouldn't have to pay sales tax, then, since I've already paid income tax on the money I'm spending."

1: "Not the same, sales taxes are enacted by the state and the city."

3: "But my state and city both collect income tax."

1: "It doesn't have to be double-taxation. Itemize the hell out of it. The government wants to make it easy to take your money, they aren't going to tell you you don't have to pay income tax on your sales tax. In fact, there is no law on the books that says you have to pay income tax."

3: "That's a myth."

1: "No, it's true! I challenge you to show me any law requiring you to pay income tax. The US Supreme Court even overturned it. The IRS still just sends its thugs out knowing that for most of us it's cheaper to pay taxes than to fight them..."

1: "This country was in a golden age until the income tax was enacted, it's been all downhill ever since."

3: "But if we got rid of it then something else would have to replace it or society would collapse."

1: "Raise tarriffs! That would end our trade imbalance and keep us a propserous world power."

3: "Oh lord, then we'd wind up back to a society where guys with twirly moustaches tie damsels to train tracks and evict orphans from their homes."

Okay, so it was a lot funnier and more logical at 1:00 in the morning with empty beer glasses on the table. :)

Posted by ScooterJ at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning I decided to wear a shirt that, back when it was given to me as a gift, was too small for me so I had made it a goal of mine to slim down enough to wear it.

I was eventually able to.... but now I can't anymore.

When I put it on this morning it hung off me like a tent. Now it's way too big.

A tragic yet dramatic reeminder for me that slow, subtle improvements I'm seeing are adding up in a big way over time.

Posted by ScooterJ at 06:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was out walking my dog this afternoon when I spotted a dead bird:

Just a few feet away I spottted another...

Then another...

And another...

And finally, another...

All of these dead birds were along the sidewalk in front of this DST building at 9th & Washington.

I did not see any more once I stepped away from this building. How and why is DST killing these birds?

Posted by ScooterJ at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)