Landon. It’s hard not to say that I truly loved this kid. I first met him actually before I was a police officer. Before I became a cop I was a Loss Prevention Manager for a local Wal-Mart. His mother worked at the store, and quite often her husband would bring their son, Landon, in. Landon was the all-American kid when I first met him at age ten. He loved his country, he loved God, he loved his family, and he was retarded. Unfortunately not in the “boyyy that kid is dope” retarded that kids talk about today, but actual Down syndrome. He was such a nice kid though. But the one normal thing on that kid that aged like it did with normal kids was puberty. Not so much in a physical way, but defiantly in a “RAWRRR Emotions!!!” type of way.

The first time I was called out to his house I nearly had to mace him. He had started to lift weights, and did not understand what was going on with his body. The testosterone just raged through him. Remember Warren from “Something About Mary”, it was that times ten. And understand that I don’t mean to demean those with Down syndrome from my descriptions, I’m just really too tired to tip-toe around how to properly describe it at this hour. Anyways, this kid was going nuts. He had already thrown a 32 inch television through the wall. As me and my partner show up he’s got one of those barbells, and is running towards us like a javelin thrower. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and was incredibly ripped. Christ it was terrifying. With a launch he throws the weighted spear through the wall, THROUGH THE FUCKING WALL. I knew we were absolutely hosed, so I reached for the only thing on my belt that wasn’t a gun or cuffs (I was in plain clothes at the time, during my detective days) my mace. Right when I pull it out, he cowers like a three year old girl, and rolls around on the floor. Jesus, I’d swear his own father was giving him steroids. Anyways after an hour long “Your okay Landon, don’t be upset. We love you, have a plastic badge honorary detective” session we had a long talk with his parents about what was going to happen if we had to return again, this was the 12th visit by my department in the last year. Things were quiet for awhile, which was reassuring, but then we learned that Landon had a girlfriend. (more…)

Last week while traveling I stopped at a Zany Brainy store and saw that they had a blimp for sale. It’s called Airship Earth, and it’s a great big balloon with a map of the Earth on it, and two propellers hanging from the bottom. You blow up the balloon with helium put batteries in it, and you have a radio control indoor blimp.

I’d seen these things for sale in Sharper Image catalogs for $60-$75. At Zany Brainy it was on clearance for $15. What a deal!

Last night my wife was playing tennis and it was just my daughter and I at home. I bought a small helium tank from a party store, and last night we put the blimp together.

Let me tell you, it’s quite a blimp. It’s huge. The balloon has like a 3 ft diameter.

We blew it up with the tank attached the gondola with the propellers, and put in batteries.

Then we balanced the blimp for neutral buoyancy with this putty that came with it, so it hangs in the air by itself neither rising nor falling. (more…)

I once worked in an office that was separated from the building opposite by a narrow road. All the windows on that side of the building were chest high so you could only look out if you stood up. There was nothing to see really except the second floor of the building opposite. Every morning I would grab my tea and stare out of the window wistfully for no particular reason other than to see the outside world. One morning I saw a woman looking out of the window of the building opposite and realised that she was waving to me. I waved back. The next morning the same thing happened. I realised that I was looking into her bed-sit and I guess she must have thought I had been watching her. I felt embarrassed but also oddly fascinated, like some kind of voyeur, and felt compelled to look out of the window any time I got the chance, even when I should really have been doing my work.

Sometimes she would sit at her dressing table putting on her makeup and then suddenly look up and smile. It was like a game of ‘peek-a-boo’. Sometimes she wasn’t wearing much or anything at all but she didn’t seem to care and waved to me without a hint of embarrassment. Other times she might pass the window and look out to see if I was there and if I was she looked happy. On a couple of occasions I would stay slightly out of sight and watch the expression on her face or just watch her relaxing on a big cushion or doing yoga. Sometimes she would look up as if sensing my presence and flash me a smile before continuing what she was doing. This went on for several weeks and each time I saw her I thought I knew her a little better. (read more @ The First Word Blog)

Few things are less appetizing than a man four years my father’s junior, a dumpy, pasty, greedy-eyed man in a gray suit who says he doesn’t care to screw fat women because they’re harder to overpower, asking me over a big bowl of warm apple crisp if I like anal sex. But since he’s just offered me $3,000 a month plus perks—gifts, dinners, shopping sprees—to get naked with him once a week, I keep my tight young ass in its place, laugh politely, and pick up my fork.

I learned about SugarDaddy.com when an acquaintance I’ll call “Kim” recommended it to my friend, who’s had trouble finding a job despite (or because of) earning her master’s in media arts several months ago. Kim collected $900 every time she went on a date with one of her sugar daddies; another gave her $3,500 in less than a week before announcing that he had to quit her because his wife had found out. Kim’s best friend “Jill” had two sugar daddies giving her a combined $8,000 a month until one got jealous of the other. Jill has blond hair, amazing lips, and is 19. (read more @ Mother Jones)

If any one person can be said to have set off the personal computer revolution, it might be Steve Wozniak. He designed the machine that crystallized what a desktop computer was: the Apple II.

Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer in 1976. Between Wozniak’s technical ability and Jobs’s mesmerizing energy, they were a powerful team. Woz first showed off his home-built computer, the Apple I, at Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club in 1976. After Jobs landed a contract with the Byte Shop, a local computer store, for 100 pre-assembled machines, Apple was launched on a rapid ascent.

Woz soon followed with the machine that made the company, the Apple II. He single-handedly designed all its hardware and software—an extraordinary feat even for the time. And what’s more, he did it all while working at his day job at Hewlett-Packard. The Apple II was presented to the public at the first West Coast Computer Faire in 1977. (read more @ foundersatwork.net)