Khan was a good dog

Khan
Originally uploaded by alpharat

Z just blogged that she no longer calls pit bulls by that name due to negative connotations (she calls them brindle bull terriers). It got me thinking about Khan, and how I wanted to mention him here briefly.

Khan was a friend's dog. He was a pit, or a brindle, or whichever you'd like to call him. Regardless of the name of his breed he was a big sweetheart.

He had some weird personality quirks. For example, in this photo, he was sitting in his owner's truck in the driveway during a barbecue. Why? He liked it. He loved to sit in the car. He sat there for an hour or so, watching the festivities go by, occasionally honking the horn and getting everbody's attention.

He was also the strongest dog I've ever known. He would routinely "play" with dumbbells that were so heavy that, as he ran around with them in his mouth he would be tilted forward, running only on his front legs, his back legs off the ground.

He also would let you pick him up like this:


So, yeah, this dog was all muscle, and intimidating because of it. He was also well-trained and very gentle with people and children. I could shove him out of the way on the couch, and know the only retaliation I'd get was him planting his butt down and going dead weight so I couldn't move him.

Khan was a good dog.

He passed away quietly in his sleep a few weeks ago. He was old; it was just time.

I'll miss him at the Dream Cruise Barbecue this year.

Breast Fest Goes Good!

60 Second Crush
Originally uploaded by alpharat

I know it's weeks after the fact, but Breast Fest made over $2,000. Dana from 60 Second Crush even played without her shirt in honor of the event (although as shown, electrical tape kept everything nice and legal...).


If you want to hear the way these guys tear it open, check out their Myspace page. I highly recommend the song "Murder In Ohio".

Edit: If you want to see video of them, here's their Electronic Press Kit video. It's not "Murder in Ohio", but it still rocks.

To serve and protect... those who can afford it.

There was a story in the newspaper yesterday that seems a little bit disturbing to me.

Essentially, the story is this: The City of Detroit wants to make its police officers available for rental. If you are a bar or club owner, or are promoting an event, you can hire police officers to come provide security.

What does this imply? If you own a club or bar, you are currently not offered police protection should you need it? Sure, your tax money pays for the police, but unless you actually hire them (which would mean that you’re now paying twice for police services), they don’t need to come if you call?

And here’s a scenario: What if you have an emergency and you call 911, and the nearest police officer is three doors down from your emergency, but can’t provide aid because he has been hired by a strip club for the evening, and is essentially owned by them? I would imagine you could always offer to pay him more than the bar is, but the negotiations might take even longer than the time it takes to find an officer who hasn’t been rented for the evening.

In certain areas of the world, places are run by people known as warlords. Many of these warlords are able to do so because of their wealth, which allows them to hire personal armies and police forces to maintain order in the way that best interests the warlord. How is this different? Isn’t the city offering its officers out as mercenaries?

By hiring a police officer, wouldn’t your business be protected in a way that meets its interest best? Wouldn’t an officer be more likely to accept your side of the story? Say, for example, one of your employees gets in a fight with one of your patrons. Sometimes (albeit rarely) the patron is not at fault in this situation. Perhaps the employee had taken a liking to the patron’s date, and decided that creating an altercation to get the patron removed would allow him to approach her. Perhaps the employee is simply a psychopath who wants to assault the patron.

If you’re a police officer called to the scene, it’s your responsibility to get both sides of the story and make a decision.

If you’re a police officer hired by the club, why wouldn’t it be in your best interest to simply side with the business? Especially if they’re paying well?

And what about wealthy private citizens? Are they going to be allowed to hire personal police escorts? That seems like it would definitely work to their favor in any situation.

To me, it’s one more facet of the crooked nature and financial desperation of the City of Detroit. If you don’t agree, you can get your own personal police mercenaries for $24-$34 an hour, depending on their rank. It’s an additional $50 hour if you want to police car, too. Hell, I bet if it’s your dime, they’ll even run the siren for you.