Ken Padgett

"Having a dirty car and a brown lawn should be a badge of honor because it shows you care about your community," -- Felicia Marcus, the CA State Water Resources Control Board chairwoman, as they prepare to impose $500 fines for anything they define as wasting water.  If every one of us completely stopped using water in our personal lives, it would not come close to making up the shortage being felt by agriculture....mainly because of the wasteful way California farmers use water.  Drive through the Central Valley in the middle of summer and you will see huge sprinklers spraying water in the middle of the day and fields being flooded­­­ in the process, losing huge amounts of water to evaporation. Very few crops and very little acreage is watered with drip irrigation in California compared to other arid regions of the world. The current state of affairs is the fault of both parties who are under the control of huge corporate farms. The farmers who control both...

We are not innocent victims who are defending themselves against evil. We brought most of this on ourselves because of our own history of meddling in the affairs of others.   They didn't attack us on 9/11 because of our freedom. They attacked us because we set up bases in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War and then never left. Then after 9/11 Bush and his cronies thought it would be a great idea to invade and make Iraq a client state, so we could close most of our bases in Saudi Arabia and replace them with a bunch of fortified bases in Iraq. How's that working out so far?  We do not have to be the world's policeman. We don't have to protect oil that goes mostly to Europe and Asia. We don't have to support 'everything' Israel does. We don't have to go to war against Iran to stop them from getting nukes. We don't have to over-dramatize everything that happens in the world in order to justify more military misadventures. We don'...

"I spent 26 years in the military, made four combat tours, retired in 2011, never lost any of my men, which I'm most thankful for of all I accomplished, sometimes even when we come home we don't, Chris Kyle much as others are or were tortured by the things we had to do, but I gain my balance by knowing that there is help and that my service was valued. Less than 2% of the USA population serves in the military currently, so less than 2% protect the freedoms of the other 98+% of this country and still some are not happy, well than I suggest for those who don't like being protected by this country's 2%, don't worry about getting a passport and just leave , we don't want you back, if you don't want to leave than I suggest you enlist and become part of an elite group of individuals who put it on the line every day. If your not part of the solution, than your part of the problem." "Dale" thinks we should never question ANYTHING the mili...

    America, it's time for a reality check: People who think that torture, 'is not who we are as Americans' and 'goes against the soul of our great country' are sadly mistaken. For at least the past 50 years, the U.S. has been violating international treaties and laws while engaging in wars and other aggression against both friends and enemies. All the dishonesty and despicable actions that America has engaged in IS what America really stands for. Prideful claims of American Exceptionalism based on the belief that we are morally superior, and a beacon of truth and justice are dishonest, delusional or ignorant. America is despised around the world, and for very good reason. Apparently the only folks who don't realize this are the vast majority of American citizens who actually believe the jingoistic tripe being fed to them, i.e. "they hate us for our freedom." If Americans would actually take some responsibility for the actions done in their name a...

Last year in a blog post titled " A Low Low Budget Kitchen Remodel " I showed how I removed a gas cooktop and duel oven from our kitchen, replaced them with a commercial style gas range, and reconfigured the cabinets.   It was a good temporary fix but wasn't enough to stave off a complete makeover for very long. Here's the story in pictures of our remodel: Jim Larson, our kitchen designer at Europe Construction doesn't need a fake beard when he works as a Santa during the holidays.  First, the cabinets were delivered  Then the demo started  Since there was no room in the house or the garage to store everything, it was put outside under tents. Good thing the weather cooperated.  The new floor looks great, but some of the drywall that used to be behind the sink was pretty nasty, so it was replaced.  New overhead lighting with the kitchen and dining room on separate dimmers. I replaced all of the incandescent bulbs ...

How to make a Fitbit One charger cable People love their Fitbits but it's very easy to lose the charger cable and a replacement will cost you at least $20 -- if you can find one. Here is how I made my own with a few cheap parts I had laying around. Parts list: 1 spare USB cable 1 red alligator clip 1 black alligator clip 1. Cut the small end off of the USB cable. (this is the end that does NOT plug into your computer).  2. On the cut end carefully strip back the insulation about 2 inches, revealing the wires inside. 3. Keep the red and black wires and cut the rest off. You won't need them. The red and black wires will supply the +5v DC you need to power your Fitbit. 4. Attach the red alligator clip to the red wire and the black alligator clip to the black wire. Details: I "tinned" the wires with a soldering iron before attaching them with solder to the alligator clips. This is not absolutely necessary but it will make a more secure connection. ...