Today’s blog is going to be a quick list of small items that hit my mind about the day:
1) Missing Lug Nuts
Yesterday was the Snake Saturday Parade in North Kansas City. My family participated with 100 people from Avondale United Methodist Church and hundreds of other people from other organizations in an exciting and quite popular event north of the river (local geographic reference). But all wasn’t sunshine and light. See the below entry from Mark Whitaker’s Facebook page:
I just came from AutoZone (just south of NewMark Middle School) and they said I was the 3rd customer this afternoon to come in due to a tire missing lugnuts and all of us had been at Snake Saturday parade this morning. So, if you were there today, please check your tires so they don’t fall off of the car tomorrow.
The interesting part of this was that Mark was parked in the North Kansas City Community Center parking lot, a lot reserved for the use of parade volunteers. And yet someone was able to steal lug nuts from this “monitored” lot. I assume some security cameras should be able to identify the activity there, but I am not sure.
From Mark’s source at AutoZone we know that 2 other people coming from the parade had the same issue. It stands to reason there could be more, and they went to other auto stores or took care of it without that need.
At this point all of that is speculation, of course. But it seems no matter how cheerful the event, someone has to do something to prank out an event that is an impractical joke.
2) From Sunshine to Snow
The weather was wonderful for yesterday’s parade. We had temperatures in the mid-70s. But my the time we went to bed last night a thunderstorm was coming through, and the temperatures plummeted. By the time we woke up this morning, there was snow on the trees, snow on the bushes, snow on the grass, no snow on the roads or sidewalks.
The temperature outside is 33. Supposed to be a high of 39 today with a low of 24 tonight. Fortunately Monday’s high is expected to be 56. Just an average March here in Kansas City.
3) Today’s poll in the Crimea
Those watching international politics probably have their focus on today’s poll in Crimea — a part of the Ukraine that Russia would like to see a part of Russia and is trying to obtain by democratic referendum rather than direct military might.
Me, I find I am not as observant of these events as I once was. But what I do see is how well Russia is using the forces that originally divided the Soviet Union to reunite Russia. The Soviet Republics were divided somewhat along ethnic lines, and those lines were used to divide the Soviet Union based on self-determination. Well, today Russia is using that same concept to divide one of those former republics, and bring the Crimea back into the Russian fold.
Self-determination, especially along ethnic lines, is a very slippery slope out there in the political realm. It could even get the United States in trouble some day — presuming enough ethnic Hispanics in the United States see themselves as more Mexican than US citizens, and want portions of the southwest to rejoin to Mexico. It really pays to clearly think out which “liberal” principles of democracy one wants to support. There can be a lot of unintended consequences.
On Thursday or Friday, when I first saw a news story about the referendum (shows how I don’t really follow news anymore), I told my cubemate at work that political pundits can find all sort of historical examples for an event like this, many of them contradictory. It is in finding the correct one, and drawing the correct conclusions, that makes for a successful response policy.
I then said the one historical parallel that I saw — while not at all sure that it is the correct one. I thought of Nazi Germany and Czechoslovakia. Hitler lobbied for the annexation of the portions of Czechoslovakia that had Germany majorities, and the west pressured Czechoslovakia to accede. But those areas had most of Czechoslovakia’s natural defenses. So when Hitler was ready to actually invade, it was a cake-walk.
Imagine if that is what Russia is doing. They get the Crimea. Next they get other Russian enclaves in Ukraine. Soon the Ukraine is so riddled that it just makes more sense for Russia to swallow what’s left.
And the Baltic republics have a similar problem. Estonia,Latvia (where my niece Sofia is spending an exchange student year) and Lithuania have significant Russian minorities. What if they start “lobbying” to rejoin Russia. Those republics are so small they would never survive partitioning like this. Pretty soon, all part of Russia again.
At The Rainbow 