Can You Lick This?

[Jim Koepke]

13 counties in Michigan have received new sno-cone machines to aid in the war on terrorism.

That is not bad enough. It appears they have overpaid for the darned things.

http://thedailynews.cc/2011/12/03/montcalm-county-gets-homeland-security-snow-cone-machine/

jtk

[Bruce Page]

Jim, your sig line seems appropriate to the situation.. :cool:

[Brian Tymchak]

Sad isn't it? This kind of stuff doesn't seem outrageous to me anymore....

[Larry Edgerton]

I have always suspected that snow cone machines discouraged any terrorist activity.

My tiny little town has only two, and we have had no terror attacks here at all.......

Larry

[John Coloccia]

Well, hey, it can be used to make ice in case of emergency. I was on the UP just a couple of years ago, and I remember thinking to myself, "You know, Michigan could sure use more ice."

[Myk Rian]

I'll have to see if Livingston county got one. The snow machines on Mt. Brighton might not be able to keep up with the demand of ice bags, if there ever is a demand.

[Bryan Slimp]

That same machine has been one of Amazon's cyber/flurry/lightening deals for about $300 since the week of Thanksgiving.

[Jim Koepke]

Well, hey, it can be used to make ice in case of emergency.

From looking at the specs on the machine, that is the most repeated fallacy for the justification of buying these machines.

They grind ice, they do not have a refrigeration unit to freeze water or even to keep the ice cold once it is ground.

My cynicism comes from working in a public agency where the managers grabbed at anti-terrorism funding and bought bright yellow vests for all the workers. The idea was that terrorist would flee in fear when they saw people in vests. All of the workers who had to wear them felt like they were targets on their backs. They were also hot and very uncomfortable. Finally a judge decided management could not require workers to wear them if they were not in a job that required safety clothing.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Maybe there's some new interrogation method; repeated ice-cream headaches during questioning?

It could have been one of the plot lines not picked up for Jack Bauer on 24. Still they're no less useful than the TSA gimcracks.
Now, if you could combine these with a full-body scanner that did analysis and cranked out the optimal flavor - I would start flying again!

[Bill Cunningham]

Were these bought to 'Ice' the bad guys?