I got to see him in concert, once, in Visalia. Took my Mom. We both had a great time.
Star Trekking with Tom Jones
February 20, 2019
Humor, Personal It's not unusual, star trek, Tom Jones Leave a comment
When is an emergency not an emergency?
February 19, 2019
9-1-1, Humor, Personal 9-1-1, Build the wall, Hair Furor, National emergency, state of emergency, Trump, what is an emergency 1 Comment
“Big hands”? You decide.
I know emergencies, and, let me tell you, this isn’t one of them!
Betcha’ thought I was going to talk to you about 9-1-1 calls, didn’t you?
Nope, this time it’s all about a grifter who managed to get himself elected President of the United States invoking emergency powers to bypass Congress and the Constitution.
Can you imagine the hue and cry if President Obama had declared a national emergency, bypassed Congress, and imposed single payer? Our health care system actually is in crisis, but the GOP would have blown it’s collective gasket.
The Republicans and their base, however, are just fine with Hair Furor attempting an end run around the Constitution and the funding mechanisms of the United States government.
I wonder if they’re trying to tell me something…
February 18, 2019
commentary, Personal 404 Not Found, blog, Gannett, Jim Reeves, kc6yru, visalia, Visalia Times Delta Leave a comment
404 Not Found
That’s what happens when I click on the bookmark that takes me to the log-in page to my community blog, Alternating Currents, hosted on the Visalia Times Delta‘s site. I’ve been posting there since at least 2010, but Gannett’s latest redesign of their papers pages seems to have broken something on the ‘back end’.
A couple of emails to the Visalia Times Delta’s staff has resulted in responses that a repair ticket would be started, and another that the status would be checked, but late November of last year was the last time I could post anything.
I’m hoping it’s just a case of too much work for too few IT people, and that it will eventually be fixed. Crossing fingers, and such.
I really enjoy having the platform to express myself. Occasionally, things get interesting, like the time I posted about chickens and pygmy goats. That generated a bit of a tempest, to put it mildly. You should have seen the Facebook comments! Even had people trying to get the Times Delta to ban me from their site.
But if someone has decided they don’t *really* want community bloggers, or they just don’t want *this* one, I’ve always got this page to fall back on. Maybe I should just start posting things here, instead.
Decisions, decisions.
JimmieJoe 
When is a zero not a zero?
February 21, 2019
Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, geek, Humor, Personal 9-1-1, 911, 911 dispatch, dispatcher stories, police stories, VIN Leave a comment
For almost 25 years, I’ve been a 9-1-1/law enforcement dispatcher. One task of many in dispatching is to check DMV, DOJ, and national databases for registration and stolen status on vehicles. These checks are usually done by the license plate number, but sometime we have to use the Vehicle Identification Number, also known as the VIN.
From day one of my training, way back in 1994, I was told there are two characters never used in VINs. The letter ‘o’, and the letter ‘i’. This is because they are generally indistinguishable from zeros and ones, especially on VIN plates located on vehicle dashboards or engines. Simple. Every time you see 0 or 1 in a VIN, they are numbers, not letters.
Until yesterday.
More
Share this: