Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends, hope that you have a day full of love and happiness with your families.
For me, it is also my 48th birthday, so I am taking the day off from blogging. Regular blogging will resume tomorrow morning.
Bob
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
What's Going On With the SEALs?
Damn. First, 3 SEALs get in trouble for smacking a terrorist, now the Commanding Officer of SEAL Team 4 has been relieved of command.
Wonder if the two stories are connected? Anyone know if the 3 SEALs in the first story belong to Team 4?
Wonder if the two stories are connected? Anyone know if the 3 SEALs in the first story belong to Team 4?
Survival Despite Lack of Planning
Photographer Jordan Nicority had planned a quick hike to take some photographs. Three days after he left his car he was again among his fellow humans, but only after falling approximately 25 feet down a cliff, breaking his pelvis, temporarily losing his sight, and suffering kidney failure from lack of water.
Nicority took a small backpack with him on his hike, but the backpack contained no survival gear other than a sweater, which perhaps kept Nicority from dying of hypothermia. No cell phone, no Ten Essentials, no whistle or flashlight to signal distress. He didn't let friends know he would be gone. Through luck and incredible resolve he managed to live.
What survival gear do you have with YOU when you go into the woods? Do you carry anything with you on a permanent basis that can be used in a crisis for survival purposes? I myself have my cell phone, a Swiss Army Knife in my pocket, a whistle and an LED pinchlight on my key ring; the key ring has an attached strap that could probably serve as an emergency tourniquet.
Nicority took a small backpack with him on his hike, but the backpack contained no survival gear other than a sweater, which perhaps kept Nicority from dying of hypothermia. No cell phone, no Ten Essentials, no whistle or flashlight to signal distress. He didn't let friends know he would be gone. Through luck and incredible resolve he managed to live.
What survival gear do you have with YOU when you go into the woods? Do you carry anything with you on a permanent basis that can be used in a crisis for survival purposes? I myself have my cell phone, a Swiss Army Knife in my pocket, a whistle and an LED pinchlight on my key ring; the key ring has an attached strap that could probably serve as an emergency tourniquet.
It Has The Makings of a Hollywood Movie
They invaded the town, destroying everything in their path, maddened with desire...for water.
Camels invade an Australian Outback town.
Camels invade an Australian Outback town.
Not Your Upper-Class Sort of Rat At All
She said: ‘I went in, I looked and thought, oh my God, there is actually a rat in here. It was a manky rat as well.
The tone is lowered at a UK Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant:
The tone is lowered at a UK Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant:
Treasure Blog: Bounty Mutiny Logbook
More specifically, the logbook of a junior officer on HMS Briton, which discovered the last of the Bounty mutineers years later on Pitcairn Island, living with the descendants of the other mutineers.
Apparently the mutineers died out one by one, some being murdered, some dying of alcoholism, until only one was left; the British left him to die in peace.
Apparently the mutineers died out one by one, some being murdered, some dying of alcoholism, until only one was left; the British left him to die in peace.
Hey, Liberals!
Don't you feel embarrassed about stereotyping those pore peckerwoods in Kaintucky?
They didn't really tie that census feller to a tree and make him squeal like a pig, now did they?
You fellas ought to be ashamed of yoreselves.
It didn't really happen this way, did it?
But he shore did have a purty mouth, didn't he?
They didn't really tie that census feller to a tree and make him squeal like a pig, now did they?
You fellas ought to be ashamed of yoreselves.
It didn't really happen this way, did it?
But he shore did have a purty mouth, didn't he?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Quote of the Day
"More and more, we're all victims of these many small muggings every day. Our perp doesn't wear a ski mask or carry a gun; he wears Dockers and shouts into his iPhone in the line behind us at Starbucks, streaming his dull life into our brains, never considering for a moment whether our attention belongs to him. These little acts of social thuggery are inconsequential in and of themselves, but they add up -- wearing away at our patience and good nature and making our daily lives feel like one big wrestling smackdown."
via Amy Alkon.
via Amy Alkon.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Luckily It Was Her Most Well-Padded Body Part
Jennifer Lopez fell during a performance at the American Music Awards.
No, she wasn't injured, she landed on her butt.
No, she wasn't injured, she landed on her butt.
Coughing Up A New Species
A snake in Tanzania did exactly that, coughed up a hitherto-unknown species of chameleon lizard.
Let's call you Chameleo Regurgitatus.
No, not really. They named it something else.
Let's call you Chameleo Regurgitatus.
No, not really. They named it something else.
Oops, We Did It Again
People have an unfortunate habit of dying when Sara and I visit a place on a vacation. Last year during a trip to Carolina Beach, a boy drowned; on a later trip to Kure Beach a couple drowned; we caused Hurricane Ida to flood the Eastern Seaboard; and now I read that our recent visit to Williamsburg and Newport News caused a boy in Poquoson, Virginia, to be eaten by a wood chipper.
We're Jonahs, the two of us on vacation. Fair warning; best to avoid us.
We're Jonahs, the two of us on vacation. Fair warning; best to avoid us.
Yep, West Coast
A church in Washington State features live tattooing.
Sounds like it should be a punch line from a Jeff Foxworthy routine, but it's from an area that is stereotypically liberal in political outlook.
Sounds like it should be a punch line from a Jeff Foxworthy routine, but it's from an area that is stereotypically liberal in political outlook.
What's The Common Denominator?
The Navy Times does a story on Congressional nominations to the Naval Academy.
The writers seem sort of puzzled that Charley Rangel, Nancy Pelosi, and Barbara Boxer nominate so few people to the Academy.
Yah, it's a real head-scratcher, ain't it?
The writers seem sort of puzzled that Charley Rangel, Nancy Pelosi, and Barbara Boxer nominate so few people to the Academy.
Yah, it's a real head-scratcher, ain't it?
What If Your Culture Sucks?
The mayor of Mexico City, Mexico, is trying to clean up the city's crime and dirt problem by employing the same tactics that Rudy Giuliani used to clean up Times Square in New York.
MEXICO CITY — The world's second-largest city has a lot of problems: kidnappings for ransom, drug-related murders, severe poverty. But if there's one thing that really sets off Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, it's chewing gum.
He's serious.
"When you throw your gum on the ground, you're saying, 'I don't care about my quality of life,' " Ebrard says. "The idea … is to change our civic culture."
Since taking office three years ago, the liberal, Paris-educated mayor has initiated broad quality-of-life measures more fitting for a genteel European city than rough-and-tumble Mexico.
He is also working to tackle some of the city's major problems — crime and water shortages — but his quest for civility garners the headlines.
Some residents are less than thrilled with the mayor's efforts.
Maximiliano Díaz, 45, had been selling handmade flutes and drums for 22 years from a booth in Coyoacán plaza. His sales have fallen by 80% since August, when the city forced him to move to a market built for vendors that is hard to find, Díaz says. "There's this fever to civilize Mexico, but in the process we're losing our rights to our public spaces," Díaz says. "I understand the mayor wants to modernize us, but he's taking away a bit of our culture."
MEXICO CITY — The world's second-largest city has a lot of problems: kidnappings for ransom, drug-related murders, severe poverty. But if there's one thing that really sets off Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, it's chewing gum.
He's serious.
"When you throw your gum on the ground, you're saying, 'I don't care about my quality of life,' " Ebrard says. "The idea … is to change our civic culture."
Since taking office three years ago, the liberal, Paris-educated mayor has initiated broad quality-of-life measures more fitting for a genteel European city than rough-and-tumble Mexico.
He is also working to tackle some of the city's major problems — crime and water shortages — but his quest for civility garners the headlines.
Some residents are less than thrilled with the mayor's efforts.
Maximiliano Díaz, 45, had been selling handmade flutes and drums for 22 years from a booth in Coyoacán plaza. His sales have fallen by 80% since August, when the city forced him to move to a market built for vendors that is hard to find, Díaz says. "There's this fever to civilize Mexico, but in the process we're losing our rights to our public spaces," Díaz says. "I understand the mayor wants to modernize us, but he's taking away a bit of our culture."
Sucks To Be Him
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Back In Charlotte
Vacation is over, tomorrow work resumes. Regular blogging schedule will resume then.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Vacation Update, With Photos
Tomorrow is our last full day here in Virginia Beach. We haven't seen as much as we might have liked, due to weather problems and some closures; for example, we were going to eat lunch at the restaurant on Island One of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, but it is closed for renovations until summer of next year. Weather has been too rainy/gloomy to enjoy the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, and the roses would be mostly gone by this time anyway, I think.
We have visited Fort Story, which has a nice pair of lighthouses to photograph, it also is the place where the Virginia colonists first landed before proceeding on to Jamestown; and a statue to the French Admiral Comte de Grasse, who provided the reinforcements that turned the tide at Yorktown for George Washington during the Revolutionary War, is also at Fort Story:
New Cape Henry Lighthouse
Old Cape Henry Lighthouse
First Landing Monument
Comte de Grasse Statue
Just down the beach from our hotel in Virginia Beach is this statue of King Neptune:
Our hotel has an indoor pool and hot tub; the reports of whale sightings at same is unfortunate and rather mean-spirited:
The Virginia Beach boardwalk and bike path,and even the beach, has been festooned with Christmas decorations, which will be turned on this Friday evening; I'll try to get some photos of them.
Tomorrow we'll be trying to go to Colonial Williamsburg, weather permitting.
We have visited Fort Story, which has a nice pair of lighthouses to photograph, it also is the place where the Virginia colonists first landed before proceeding on to Jamestown; and a statue to the French Admiral Comte de Grasse, who provided the reinforcements that turned the tide at Yorktown for George Washington during the Revolutionary War, is also at Fort Story:
Just down the beach from our hotel in Virginia Beach is this statue of King Neptune:
Our hotel has an indoor pool and hot tub; the reports of whale sightings at same is unfortunate and rather mean-spirited:
The Virginia Beach boardwalk and bike path,and even the beach, has been festooned with Christmas decorations, which will be turned on this Friday evening; I'll try to get some photos of them.
Tomorrow we'll be trying to go to Colonial Williamsburg, weather permitting.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
From Norfolk, 17 November
We wandered around Norfolk a bit today, getting down to the downtown area and seeing Waterside, Nauticus and the USS Wisconsin in passing. We also drove down toward the Naval Base and eventually back to the Ghent area of Norfolk, where we met fellow blogger Wally Torta, AKA Crackskull Bob, who we discovered to be a very kind, friendly sort of man. Weh chatted with him for about an hour in his local Starbuck's. A fun encounter with a fine blogger, artist and gentleman.
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