I finally can check off that I rode my bike to the Falls. I can't believe it took me this long to do it. It is a super easy ride because it is so accessible from Buffalo. It was nice to be on the other side of the river. I spend so much time sitting on the US side. The Canadian side is, no surprise, cleaner.

I was hoping to find somewhere to swim along the way but I only saw some kids jumping off a bridge into a channel right before the Falls. Mike met me for lunch and we went to Kelsey's. The one downfall of biking to the Falls is that it is expensive to find something to eat because it is so touristy. It was also hard to deal with tourists in your way after biking for a couple of hours.

Going over the Peace Bridge was really scary for me and I actually messed it up. I went into the US customs check point by accident because I didn't read the sign and then after they said I had to cross the bridge I accidentally almost went onto the 190 on my bicycle! When I was half way across, I stopped and looked over at the mighty Niagara. It made me nauseous so I had to look away and continue on.

I saw this dead tree with all these great birds, which maybe someone on estrip can tell me what they are? These are the only photos I took.







Now that I know how easy it is to go to Canada, I might try and explore Fort Erie more. Did you know they have a dance club?!

....next journal KETCHUP

Wow, Paul. I can't believe how awesome the new uploader is. You are constantly innovating!



UPDATE

I had a gif file that I uploaded just to see if it would work and it did but I am taking it out cause it is getting on my nerves. I should find another one.

Look at how scary they made this prisoner control energy beam look like. They point it at prisoners using a joy stick and zap them causing their skin to burn. They say it only makes it feel like it is burning. This is just a bit sadistic in my book. When it gets to the point that we need laser wielding, sadistic, joy controlled robots to maintain control in prisons, it is maybe time to question if maybe there might be too many inmates?

LA authorities plan to use heat-beam ray in jail
AP


This image provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shows an Assault Intervention Device (AID) at the Pitchess Detention Center's North AP – This image provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shows an Assault Intervention Device …
By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writer – Fri Aug 27, 12:50 am ET

LOS ANGELES – A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is "tantamount to torture."

The mechanism, known as an "Assault Intervention Device," is a stripped-down version of a military gadget that sends highly focused beams of energy at people and makes them feel as though they are burning. The Los Angeles County sheriff's department plans to install the device by Labor Day, making it the first time in the world the technology has been deployed in such a capacity.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California criticized Sheriff Lee Baca's decision in a letter sent Thursday, saying that the technology amounts to a ray gun at a county jail. The 4-feet-tall weapon, which looks like a cross between a robot and a satellite radar, will be mounted on the ceiling and can swivel.

It is remotely controlled by an operator in a separate room who lines up targets with a joystick.

The ACLU said the weapon was "tantamount to torture," noting that early military versions resulted in five airmen suffering lasting burns. It requested a meeting with Baca, who declined the invitation.

The sheriff unveiled the device last week and said it would be installed in the dorm of a jail in north Los Angeles County. It is far less powerful than the military version and has various safeguards in place, including a three-second limit to each beam of heat.

The natural response when blasted — to leap out the way — would be helpful in bringing difficult inmates under control and quelling riots, the sheriff said.

But the sheriff was creating a dangerous environment with "a weapon that can cause serious injury that is being put into a place where there is a long history of abuse of prisoners," ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg said. "That is a toxic combination."

Cmdr. Bob Osborne, who oversees technology for the sheriff's department, said the concerns were unfounded. He said he stood in front of the beam more than 50 times and that it never caused any sort of lasting damage.

"The neat thing with this device is you experience pain but you are not injured by it," Osborne said. "It doesn't injure your skin, the beam doesn't have the power to do that."

He said the device would be a more humane way of dealing with jail disturbances. Unlike hitting inmates with batons or deploying tear gas, a shot from the beam has no aftereffects, he said.

The device was made specifically for the sheriff's department by Raytheon Missile Systems. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said its $750,000 cost was paid for by a Department of Justice technology grant.

After a six-month trial, the sheriff will determine if the device is effective and if it should be deployed in other jails.

"When this pilot program is done, the realistic hope is it will accomplish not only what the sheriff's department wants but what the ACLU wants, which is to save lives harmlessly," Whitmore said.

A Raytheon spokesman on Thursday referred questions to the sheriff's department, but provided a fact sheet describing how the device only penetrates skin to a depth 1/64 of an inch. The military's version of the device can shoot a beam more than 800 feet but the sheriff's department model has a maximum range of 85 feet.

Angelica Arias, an attorney with the county's Office of Independent Review, which monitors the sheriff's department, said only deputies with special training would be able to use the device and a video would be automatically recorded each time it is operated.

"Based on the level of scrutiny the department has put on itself and its training, it doesn't appear there would be too much wiggle room for misuse," Arias said

I love this video especially this Hungarian version. So awesome. I want to sing it to all the homophobes I have to speak to on the phone as part of my job. It would be so satisfying.

This is my Uncle's chicken coop. His kids love it especially my cousin Patrick who is shown below. They just got the roosters back from being processed and are now in the fridge. I would love to have some fresh meat and eggs from real free range chickens.