Here Come The Droids!

A Daily Mail story about US Army "Robodogs," designed to carry cargo over rough terrain.



Note: be sure to click on the link for the video presentation, it's great. BigDog looks like two skinny-legged guys with a huge pack on their joined backs, and makes a noise like a chainsaw when it moves. The section of the video where the BigDog slips on ice is worth the price of admission, itself.

I notice it's a DARPA project, so it's a fun use of taxpayer dollars.

update: Instalanche! Thank you, Glenn Reynolds!

The Intelligence War Continues

Apparently the Taliban are using Skype phones to communicate and coordinate attacks.

And the Daily Mail mentions in their report that the US and UK governments are spending tons of money on technology to intercept these calls, and pressuring providers of Skype to turn over records of users.

I'm conflicted when I read stories like this. On the one hand, I like to be informed, but on the other, I'm fully aware that stories like this caused Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders to stop using cell phones to communicate, thus crippling an intelligence effort that could have resulted in his death or capture.

I Wonder...

...what inspired Chris Muir to come up with this cartoon:




Could it have been this? We wonders, precious, aye, we wonders...

*grins*

Speak of the Devil...

I mentioned novelist/travel writer Paul Theroux in the Spam entry, and naturally enough he appears in a UK Guardian article, airing his hatred of moose hunting, hunting in general, Republicans in general and Sarah Palin in particular. He invokes Henry David Thoreau to castigate Palin, and mentions most of the usual leftist complaints, and calls her a Philistine in the bargain.

Theroux is a yellow-dog Democrat, probably has never voted for a Republican in his life; he's still worth reading, though. His latest travel book, Ghost Train To The Eastern Star, has just been published.

63 Years Later, A Japanese Sailor Returns To Iwo Jima

His mission, to say a final farewell to some dead comrades.

Worth reading in full. The sailor, Tsuruji Akikusa, never surrendered on Iwo Jima, was captured after he became too weak to move, and was hospitalised in the US, spent a short time in a prisoner-of-war camp, then returned to Japan for a career as an electrician. Recently he wrote a novel of his experiences on Iwo Jima; I hope it gets translated into English.

South Korea: Spam Spam Spam Spam

Koreans, hungry during the hard times of the Korean War in the 1950's, developed a taste for a common American foodstuff eaten by GI's: Spam.

The U.S. military introduced nonperishable, easily portable Spam to Korea during the Korean War, when many people were starving, said Kim Jong-su, a history professor at Kunsan National University.

During the lean post-war years, when most Koreans survived on barley, and even fat and white rice were scarce, people considered American foods like Spam a luxury.

"I still remembered the first moment I ate Spam," said Kim, now 50. "My relatives brought it home from a U.S. military base when I was an elementary school student. It was a shock — too delicious to describe."

These days, still popular with the South Korean populace, it's even sold in packaging for use as gifts.

Travel writer/novelist Paul Theroux in his book The Happy Isles of Oceania noted that natives in the old cannibal islands of Fiji and other places visited by the US during WWII also had a fondness for Spam.

Ah, well, at least it's not Soylent Green. Yet.

update forgot this; it's traditional.

Wonder Woman Hates On Sarah Palin

Wonder Woman, AKA actress Lynda Carter, chimes in with her professional opinion on Sarah Palin:

Don’t get me started. She’s the anti-Wonder Woman. She’s judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they’ve got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness … that’s just not what Wonder Woman is about. Hillary Clinton is a lot more like Wonder Woman than Mrs. Palin. She did it all, didn’t she?

No one has the right to dictate, particularly in this country, to force your own personal views upon the populace — religious views. I think that is suppressive, oppressive, and anti-American. We are the loyal opposition. That’s the whole point of this country: freedom of speech, personal rights, personal freedom. Nor would Wonder Woman be the person to tell people how to live their lives. Worry about your own life! Worry about your own family! Don’t be telling me what I want to do with mine.

All a bunch of leftist boilerplate, basically.

Note To Readers

I don't have a tip jar or PayPal system set up, I don't think I get enough traffic to justify it. I would appreciate comments, though, it makes me feel less like I'm in an empty lecture hall. I try to comment on blogs I visit, even if I don't have anything profound to say (which is all too often), just so the blogger feels that (s)he isn't shouting down a rain barrel.

UK Government Money-Saving Idea: Sell Nelson's Flagship!

Let's sell HMS Victory!

England expects every man to save some money...

Noonan On Palin

Story.

Here's the passage I like best:

Then Mrs. Palin, and the catastrophe of the Democratic and media response to her. Books will be written about this, but because it's so recent, and so known, we're almost not absorbing how huge it was, and is. Here was the central liberal mistake: They used the atom bomb just a few days in. They used it so brutally, and yet so ineptly, in a way so oblivious to the true contours of the field, that the radiation blew back over their own lines. They used it without preliminary diplomatic talks, multilateral meetings or Security Council debate. They just went boom. And it boomeranged.

Just A Suggestion

If you approve of the job that President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have done for the last 7 years, why not email them and tell them so? Their addresses can be found at the White House website.

Judges "Crack" Down On Baggy Pants

Well Done, Judge Daniel Perry of Tampa.

About time.

Sometimes Lassie Isn't a Collie

Sometimes Lassie is a Bichon Frisé.

Lexi the dog really is Charles Postler's best friend, and he says she always will be.

"She's also a real heroine," Postler said of the 5-year-old Bichon Frise who led rescuers to him after he collapsed in his Brooklyn apartment and lay helpless for hours Wednesday.

Resting in his bed at Lutheran Medical Center, the 85-year-old Postler said Thursday he'll be "forever grateful" to Lexi and that she deserves all the praise she's getting for her Lassie-like feat.

Lexi will be recognized with prayers and declared an "honorary saint" next month at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, where Postler has been a deacon for 35 years.

"We're also grateful," said Msgr. Joseph Nagle of St. Patrick's in Fort Hamilton.

The leashed fluffy white pooch was headed out for a stroll about 8 a.m. from her Bay Ridge building when she heard Postler's faint cries and pulled her owner, Linda Deutsch, 45, to his apartment door.

Deutsch and the building's super entered the apartment, found Postler and called 911 for help.

Let's see a cat do that.

Here's Lexi, rather walleyed, but still a hero dog:

Where'd Our Time Capsule Go? Did We Even Have One?

Elkhart, Indiana officials buried a time capsule in 1958, to be opened in 2008. Maybe. They can't find it. They're not even sure it exists.

Sounds just like the sort of government we have in this country, doesn't it? Basically incompetent?

Alaska Bloggers Popular All Of A Sudden

Hoodah thunkit?

For The Ladies

"Scientist explodes myth about Big Bum Theory and the wrong type of stripes."

I wouldn't normally post something like this, but the words big bum theory got my attention, being an aficionado of callipygian women.

Volcano Blog: Okmok, Alaska, Before & After Eruption

The story as told by a volcanologist who frequently visits this Aleutian Islands caldera volcano.

I'm going to post the before and after photos here, in case the link is eventually broken:

Getting Past the Bridgekeeper

I'm the Bridgekeeper of the Bridge of Doom. To make it to election day, you have to get by me by answering three questions.


I'll go first! I'm a Suuuuupah-Geeeeeenius!


Fine. WHAT is your NAME?


Senator Joe Biden from Delaware.


WHAT is your PARTY?


I'm a Democrat!


WHAT is your favorite COLOR?


BLUE!


Right, off you go!


Piece 'o cake! So long, suckers!


YOU! What is YOUR name?


I'm Senator John McCain from Arizona.


WHAT is your PARTY?


I'm a Republican.


There's people who doubt that, but you caucus with the Republicans, so I'll let it slide. WHAT is the difference between a SUNNI and a SHIA Muslim?


Um...er...uh...I don't knowaiiiieeeeeee!


WHAT is YOUR name?


I'm Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.


WHAT is your PARTY?


I'm a Democrat.


WHAT is your favorite COLOR?


Blue.


Correct, off you go! And please accept this campaign contribution.


Thanks, Keith. You're sure to be Communications Director in an Obama administration, my man.


YOU! What is YOUR name?


I'm Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.


What is your PARTY?


I'm a Republican.


Is the capital of Kentucky spelled L-E-W-I-S-V-I-L-L-E or L-O-U-I-S-V-I-L-L-E?


Is that a trick question? The capital of Kentucky is Frankfort!


Oh, crap, she knew the ansaiiieeeeeee!


That's what you get for trying to cheat. I guess I'll need a new running mate, poor John didn't make it. Fred, are you busy? Wanna be VP?


I'd be happy to, darlin'.


*sings* You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'.


*sings* You never even caaaaalll me by myyyyyy naaaaaame! Whooo!

h/t to Wuzzadem for the concept.

Female Italian Karate Champ 1, Mugger 0

And the mugger's in jail.

*grins*

Which Actress Will Portray Sarah Palin?

The UK Telegraph speculates.

The list they come up with:

1) Megan Mullally
Famous for: Playing pill-popping, dirty-minded Karen Walker in the sitcom Will & Grace.

2) Geena Davis
Famous for: Playing America's first woman president in the television drama Commander in Chief

3) Tina Fey
Famous for: Writing and appearing on legenday US sketch show Saturday Night Live

4) Sandra Bullock
Famous for: A string of Hollywood blockbusters including Speed, Miss Congeniality and Crash

5) Diane Keaton
Famous for: Winning a best actress Oscar for her role in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall

6) Mariska Hargitay
Famous for: Becoming the the highest paid TV actress working in America for her part in drama Law & Order

7) Katy Hill
Famous for: Hosting Blue Peter, and publicly declaring that she never had sex before her marriage

8) Lorraine Bracco
Famous for: Playing mafia psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Melfi in The Sopranos

9) Nia Vardalos
Famous for: Lead role in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the less successful TV spin-off My Big Fat Greek Life

10) Jennifer Aniston
Famous for: Playing Rachel Green in long-running sitcom Friends, and the failure of her marriage to Brad Pitt.


Looks as if the Left is finally becoming resigned to Vice President Palin.

A Quick Question

Why can't I find onion bagels in grocery stores anymore? Did Lender's and other bagel makers stop making them? Did people stop eating them? Were they declared non-kosher, or something? I'm baffled.

In Memoriam

Never Forget.

Shipwreck Blog: Unknown, Lake Baikal, Siberia

An unidentified shipwreck that is estimated at 100 years old has been found in Lake Baikal, Siberia.

Lake Baikal is the world's oldest and deepest freshwater lake, holds approximately 20% of the world's freshwater.

The shipwreck, judging by the photograph attached to the article, is in a remarkable state of preservation. It should be noted that shipwrecks in cold climates and especially in fresh water don't deteriorate as fast as those in warmer climates.

Old Farmers' Almanac: Global Cooling Underway

Farmers vs. scientists? Shades of Palin vs. Obama! The culture war is everywhere!

UK Whorehouses: Variety of Imports, Just Like Beer

UK Guardian story.

We primed the telephone researchers to look for evidence of trafficking. There was plenty. Brothels offered women of 77 different nationalities and ethnicities, including many from known-source countries for trafficking. One researcher was told by a brothel owner, "For no condom and anal, call tomorrow. Eastern Europeans promised later in the week."

One punter I interviewed for another research project told me that in choosing a woman, "I made a list in my mind. I told myself that I'll be with different races eg Japanese, Indian, Chinese. Once I have been with them I tick them off the list."

Regional Wheats, Local Milling Making A Comeback

NY Times story.

In New Mexico, a cooperative of Native American and Latino farmers produce a boutique local flour. In Western Massachusetts, a baking couple has persuaded their customers to plant front-lawn wheat patches. In Vermont, a farmer whose homegrown wheat flour was a curiosity when he began growing it in the 1970s now can’t keep up with demand. And in Pennsylvania, a venerable pastry flour brand from the 1800s has been resurrected, made with local organic wheat.

This seems to be part of the effort to localise foodstuffs for home and restaurant, much like the boutique winery and local brewery movements from earlier decades. It's a plus for the gourmet, and an opportunity for niche entrepreneurs. It's also a sign of increased standard of living throughout the country.

Worth reading in entirety.

Charlotte Local: They Took The Trash Out?

A body was found in a trash bag beside a dumpster.

You can't say things don't improve in this country. Back in the 70's during the Hillside Strangler days, people would just dump bodies beside the road, now they deposit them carefully beside the dumpster for easy removal. Maybe in the near future containers for transplantable organs can be added for murderers that are into recycling.

Charlotte Observer Editorial: '08 Matchup "Rednecks vs. Elites"

A really fine editorial from the Observer that summarizes the culture war ramifications of the presidential election:

With the nomination of Sarah Palin, presidential politics is no longer a battle of economic policies and national security; it's a Saturday night brawl between the Rednecks and the Elites.

On the left, we have the smugly smiling, smarter-than-thou, Ivy Leaguers. On the right, we have the gun- slinging, God-toting, cowboys.

Make that cow girls.

Like all caricatures, the elitist and the redneck are based on partial truths, but there's enough substance to justify some of the contempt from both sides. Obama does have that little chin-lifted, smile-down-his-nose, teacher-pet look that says, “I know more than you.” Palin does exude the kind of biblical certitude last observed in a president by the name of George W. Bush.

It was Obama who said that some small-town Americans, embittered by a lack of jobs and government accountability, “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

A big game hunter like Palin couldn't ask for better ammo. She knows that her neighbors don't cling to guns or religion because there's nothing left on which to hang their hopes. They cling to guns to hunt and to protect their families; and they cling to religion because they believe in a power higher than themselves.

It's worth reading in entirety.

Pig Candy!

I made up a batch of Breda's Pig Candy this afternoon, and the first batch is devoured already. I'll save a few pieces of the second batch for my sister, who is at work right now.

Damn, this is good stuff! I think that Candied Bacon would be a better and more descriptive name, though.

Nature Is Too Tough An Opponent

Even for a former UFC champion.

By all accounts, Evan Tanner was somewhat of a troubled soul. In the midst of a Ultimate Fighting Championship comeback, friends say that they he was struggling with alcohol, and that they had to check on him to make sure that he had food in his refrigerator and that he was taking care of himself. His death was was equally strange: After taking off on a solo camping trip in a remote area of the Palo Verde mountains in southern California, he reportedly ran out of gas on his motorcycle and died of exposure while trying to get out on foot. His body was found by an Imperial County Sheriff's Department deputy on Monday. He was 37.

He appears to have neglected or ignored the rules for survival in a desert environment, if he ever learned them in the first place. Apparently he was aware of the environment that he was going into, and either panicked or purposely neglected survival gear/practices. Very strange, and a waste of a young life.

UK: Nut Bolts and Screws

A UK schizophrenic who was being held in confinement for killing his brother with a knife escaped from custody and raped a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Get this: the nut was allowed to watch pornographic DVD's while in custody.

h/t to the late RADM Daniel V. Gallery for the title idea.

Treasure Blog: 1907 Heidsieck Champagne

Destined for the family of the Czar and lost in a shipwreck, the champagne was recovered in near-perfect condition.

It's available at the Moscow Ritz-Carlton for $275,000 per bottle, or about $45,000 per glass, figuring a bottle will dispense about 6 glasses.

Blog Recommendation

Roanoke Cop.

This particular post of his concerns interactions with children involved in auto accidents, and it's not designed to make you smile or laugh. You've been warned.

Sumos Smoking Weed A Munchies Menace

The chief of the Japanese sumo association and two sumo wrestlers have been banned from the sport in a marijuana scandal.

The temptation to make up drug-related sumo names is strong...


Wanatoka?

Tokazuna?

Inhaluganja?

Kinda lame, actually. I'm sure someone can come up with better without too much effort.

Spies, Lies and Naked Thighs

Which is the title of one book in romance novel publisher Mills & Boon's new pornographic series of bodice-rippers.

Great title.

*grins*

UK Academic Calls For Simplified Spelling

Story.

I basically agree with this. However, it's not the first time it's been proposed, and implementing it universally among English-speaking countries would be difficult. I think, though, that it will be easier in the future, as more and more of our communications and media are digital instead of printed paper page.

Rat Writ, Writ For A Rat

Guns America has an auction for a .30-30 Winchester, which is not unusual; what is unusual is the description of the rifle:

This Winchester made in 1972 is 100% crisp, with 99% blue, and brown walnut wood. Gun is new, no box or papers. Bore is mint, fired once by the original owner to kill a rat!FOR THE .3--30 CARTRIDGE.

LA Times Columnist Gave The Answer Away

From an August 9 column by LA Times columnist Tim Rutten:

"As pressure mounted on major newspapers to take some aspect of the unfolding scandal into account, editors and ombudsmen issued statements saying it would be unfair to publish anything until the Enquirer's stories had been "confirmed."

Well, there's confirming and then there's confirming. One sort occurs when an editor mutters, "Find somebody and have them make a few calls." Then there's the sort that comes when that editor summons an investigative reporter with a heart like ice and a mind like Torquemada's and says, "Follow this wherever it goes and peel this guy like an onion."

Suffice to say that the follow-up of the Enquirer's story fell into the former category in too many newsrooms, including that of The Times."

And I might add that when a Democrat is the subject of inquiry, the confirming falls into the former category, and when a Republican is the subject of inquiry, the confirming falls into the latter category. This is proved with John Edwards and Barack Obama, who were handled with kid gloves, and Sarah Palin, who is being handled with boxing gloves.

Gibraltar: Gentrification Making Island Too Expensive For Natives

In a story familiar to Americans everywhere, the island colony of Gibraltar is experiencing gentrification and new wealth, bringing in nouveau riche young people and causing the next generation of native Gibraltarians to look for affordable homes in the outlying areas - - which, of course, are part of Spain.

Story.

Worth reading in full.

UK: Sea Shanty Festival Wrecked By Storms

The wind howled, the spray flew, elderly mariners swore they'd never seen the like of it. And this was just on dry land at Saturday's International Sea Shanty Festival.

Hull's waterfront, once famed for its trawler fleets and foul-mouthed fishwives, but now ritzily re-developed into a marina and leisure complex, resounded to hearty, baritone choruses of 'Hey, Ho, and up She Rises.'

The crowd rose, alright, but only to flee for shelter in nearby pubs, as yet another black-edged squall barrelled in from the North Sea. At least the shanty folk understood their responsibilities. They had come from all over Europe to show that the sea songs that had survived all the challenges a changing world could throw at them, could also survive a soaking from the English summer.

Click the link to see how the festival turned out, and for a primer on this old sailor's art.

Do You Think You're As Fit As A Navy SEAL?

The Navy will give you the opportunity to prove it, with the SEAL Fitness Challenge.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2008 – More than 700 people have signed up to test their physical fitness capabilities to that of elite Navy SEALs during a Fitness Challenge in Chicago today.

The event is the fifth stop of the national tour of the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge. The inaugural challenge kicked off more than a year ago in Boston. Since then, the challenge has taken place in San Antonio, Texas; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Dearborn, Mich.

“The SEAL Fitness Challenge is just an opportunity for people in the community that are interested in fitness or interested in the SEALs or interested in both to come out and sort of get a feel for the type of activity people do to prepare to become SEALs,” Mike Caviston, director of fitness at the Naval Special Warfare Center, said during a “Dot-Mil-Docs” radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com, Thursday.

The challenge is held to promote fitness and to heighten awareness of the epidemic of obesity; the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge offers an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compare personal fitness levels with those of the elite Navy SEALs.

“The format for the challenge in Chicago is the exact same format that guys hoping to train to be SEALs would come and do,” added Caviston.

Caviston said that he has seen people from all walks of life attend the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenges.

“The event is open for all people and we have seen all sorts of people come in, whether it’s been people with prior military service, or former elite athletes, or current elite athletes that want to come in and compare themselves to the Navy SEAL standards,” said Caviston.

Caviston added that he is amazed at the level of interest and the determination that some past participants have shown during these challenges. “I went to [the challenge] in Dearborn a couple of months ago where I was … helping a grandmother,” said Caviston. “She did it because her grandkids had encouraged her to do it, [which] was very rewarding for both her and [me], because she was really trying her best.”

Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge participants will be scored and ranked against each other, with all participants receiving a dog tag and a complimentary commemorative white T-shirt with the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge logo. Earning a tan T-shirt means the competitor met SEAL standards, and a blue (Navy blue, of course) T-shirt means the participant has met Navy SEAL competitive standards, indicating a superb athlete.

And you can bet that Navy recruiters will be on hand at these events, also, and anyone winning a blue t-shirt will probably be able to write his own ticket if he wished to join up. Pretty smart recruiting innovation!

Hilarious Sarah Palin Video Satire

h/t Ace Of Spades HQ

Have Gun - - Will Travel

All of the episodes of this old classic show can be seen for free on the CBS website.

I was watching the episode The Great Mojave Chase this morning, featuring camels, which were introduced into the US as part of a US Army experiment. The experiment failed, but writer Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek fame wrote them into the script of this episode. Strangely enough, the camel shown in the show is a Bactrian (two-humped) camel from Asia, rather than an Arabian Dromedary (one-hump)camel.

Watching this old show is like a who's who of TV and movie stars from the 60's. If names like Charles Bronson, Jack Lord, Angie Dickinson, Claude Akins and Strother Martin mean anything to you, watch them here, young and in their prime.

I have a friend who is both a custom jeweler and also an American Bladesmith Society Journeman Smith, and one of the things he has acquired is a copy of one of the chess pieces that was on Paladin's (Richard Boone) black holster. For those who have never seen the show, Paladin wore a gun in a holster that looked like this:



Very handsome!

Treasure Blog: Profound Words

Rather than the usual story of glittering gold dug from the ground or retrieved from wreckage at the bottom of the sea, this time I'll offer a treasure I found at the Cowtown Cop blog. The blog post is itself worthy, but in the comments field the incomparable Brigid talks about death:

For every way that there is of being here, there's an infinity of ways of not being here. Historical accidents wipe out whole universes with each movement of the clock. Statistics label us ridiculous. Black holes loom, hungry. Thermodynamics prohibit us. Jihad Terrorists want to kill us, if we're not taken out first by hurricane, flood, tainted food,outsourced enginnering or that offer of a lift home from Ted Kennedy. Life, by any reasonable measure, is impossible, and your life — just being there today,able and willing to risk yourself to help a child in danger, even more so.

Dealing with death on a regular basis, sometimes our own mortality brings on the weariness of an unwanted nap, slumbering thoughts of past sorrow and loss. I think of those we came so close to- and those we never truly had a chance to save, and it's as if the color seeped out of our blood. Yet we keep drawing in breath after breath, pulling in precious moments of oxygen with the remnants of our courage, until our blood darkens with strength, slowly filling up some of those empty chambers in our hearts. Giving us strength to go back out in the field, where next time, perhaps the one we reach out to, we can save.

Words written that well are a treasure far more precious than any diamond or gold coin, and unlike those relics, doomed to spend their existence locked away, the words can be shared among many.

Random Thought Of The Day

The world is really an emptier place without Steve Irwin in it.

UK: We Were Helpless To Prevent Known Stalker From Murdering

A stalker who killed his ex-lover and then had sex with her corpse could not have been prevented from murdering his victim, an official report has found.

David Summers, then aged 21, ignored a string of bail conditions and county court judgments set up to keep him away from 53-year-old Diane Edwards.

He removed his electronic tag to get round restrictions which were meant to stop him visiting the mother-of-three's home in Blyth, Northumberland, after she had repeatedly told him their brief relationship was over.

Then in October 2006 he launched a prolonged and sadistic attack on Ms Edwards, and once she was dead, he had sex with her body.

"Only weeks before her death, David Summers received a suspended prison sentence for flouting a civil injunction issued to protect Diane from his threats and violence.

"Being allowed his freedom enabled him to continue his reign of terror and ultimately brutally murder her.

"Questions have to be asked as to why, despite the obvious and known danger this man was to Diane, he was not put behind bars.

A Serious Case Review by MAPPA, the multi-agency management scheme for violent offenders, said Summers had no regard for the law.

The heroin addict, now 23, "ignored or actively breached all restrictions placed upon him which were designed to protect Diane Edwards", according to the report.

But it will tighten up its policies having found "the response by the agencies operating under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in relation to managing the risk posed by Summers could have been more robust."

It's not that difficult; all you had to do was KEEP HIM IN JAIL! If you're not willing to KEEP HIM IN JAIL, the very least you could have done was move his victim to a place where he couldn't find her.

UK is just showing a callous disregard for the safety and security of its citizens subjects, which is the primary role of a government. At this point the citizens subjects are probably justified in revolting against this incompetent government.

Baltimore, Philadelphia At War Over Poe

The cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia are at war over the remains of Edgar Allan Poe.

Baltimore has him, Philadelphia wants him. Poe spent his life moving from city to city as he took editorial positions at various magazines and newspapers. In addition to Baltimore and Philadelphia, he spent time in New York, Richmond and South Carolina (he was born in Boston).

As far as I'm concerned, Poe's body needs to stay in Baltimore. In addition to Poe, his wife Virginia and his mother-in-law Maria (Muddy) are buried at the gravesite. Philadelphia has not indicated that they would move the entire family.

Besides, is Philadelphia expecting the Poe Toaster to pull up stakes and move to Philadelphia?

Do You Wear Eyeglasses?

If you do, take a look at this article from Slate.

The prospect of paying $50 for a pair of eyeglasses instead of $600 has my hands itching for my wallet.

Ducks Subjects Of Hate Crimes In Florida

Miramar police arrested a man accused of stabbing a duck to death outside a restaurant, reportedly because he hates ducks.

That's what Gabriel Scott Diaz, 18, told a witness as he attacked the animal Tuesday, according to a police report.

The incident occurred about 4 p.m., in front of a Benihana restaurant near Miramar Parkway and Interstate 75. A restaurant manager told police he saw Diaz stabbing the duck with a blade at least 8 inches long. When the manager asked Diaz what he was doing, Diaz told him he hates ducks, the report says.

This is the second Miramar duck killing in as many weeks. Two boys are accused of siccing Shih Tzu dogs on a Muscovy duck on Aug. 20.

Here's a pic of Gabriel Scott Diaz, the duck stabber:

Fishing For "Saddam Bass"

VICTORY BASE, Iraq — By 8 in the morning it was hot, and Chief Warrant Officer Scott Henry, the custodian of the Baghdad Angler's Club and School of Fly Fishing, sat in the shadow of a palace pillar. More palaces were all around the lake, and directly across from him was al Faw Palace, bigger and uglier than the rest.

Henry had an Abu Garcia spinning rod with 14-pound test line, a circle hook and a tray of cold breakfast sausage: links, not patties. "I tried a couple new things this morning that didn't work," he said. "Flat patties don't stay on the hook very well."

Henry ripped a link into pieces and stuck one on his hook. He cast 20 feet and let it drop. His bait got stripped, but he didn't take it personally; he'd taken six fish in the last hour.

Henry flew Black Hawk helicopters in the Persian Gulf War. His second tour was in Qatar, chauffeuring Gen. Tommy Franks, then in 2005 he did a stint with the 18th Aviation Brigade. One day, flying low to the Victory Base pad, he looked down: "There were fish big enough you could see them from a helicopter," he said.

So when he got promoted out of the cockpit to a desk job at al Faws as a safety consultant, he brought his tackle and a rod. His desk was next to Lt. Col. Brian Almquist, who was then the club custodian.

Not only were there other American fishermen in the desert in a war zone on the wrong side of the world, they had a club (motto: "Getting service men and women out on the water"), a Web site (www.baghdadflyfishing.com) and enough donated gear from tackle shops and friends back home that anybody who wanted to could sign out a rod and fish.

Henry took over when Almquist rotated out. The Web site offers photographic documentation of the transfer of authority ceremony. They borrowed a general's office, stood in front of Iraqi and American flags and had a picture taken as one generation passed rod and reel to the next.

A regular crew of 30 servicemen and women fish when war permits. Henry gets out two mornings a week.

He's taken catfish, carp and a few of the elusive Saddam bass, which aren't bass at all but asp, a freshwater fish not to be confused with the venomous snake of the same name. He took one on the morning a reporter visited. The fish was a foot long, with diamond scales, a voracious maw and a torn right pectoral fin. He looked a bit like a snook, and Henry knew him.

"I caught him a few times before," he said, and tossed him back into the water with a thwock.

Click the link for the rest. There's a pic of Henry fishing, but I'd rather link a pic from the internet showing a "Saddam Bass:"

Any Paulo Coelho Fans Out There?

Sarah Palin is fond of the quote A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not why ships are built. The first place I saw it was in one of Paulo Coelho's books, so I thought that he came up with it. I emailed him at his website to ask, and in the meanwhile researched it on Google, and found it was by a gentleman named John Shedd. I emailed Coelho to apologize for disturbing him, explaining what I had discovered.

Coelho replied to my email today with a friendly reply, including an aphorism of his own. I won't quote from his reply, since it was a private email, but I'll put the email in my folder of treasured correspondence.

If any of you out there haven't read any of Paulo Coelho's books, he's well worth reading. The Alchemist is his most famous work, and is going to be made into a Hollywood movie, which will probably be as bad as most adaptations of great books, but such things happen. Anyway, give it a read, you'll be transformed.

Prediction

Today's Day By Day comic strip by Chris Muir brings this to mind; here's the strip:



We've already seen that moonbat musicians such as Jackson Browne won't allow their music to be used by the McCain campaign, so I predict that if the McCain campaign tries to make Heart's Barracuda Sarah Palin's theme song, that the members of Heart who wrote the song will object and threaten a lawsuit.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

update: The Wilson sisters have already issued a cease-and-desist letter.

Mayor of Detroit Pleads Guilty To Felonies

Has to resign, will get 4 months' jail time.

Oh, and he's a DEMOCRAT.

UK: No Room At The Inn (If You're A Soldier)

THE Armed Forces Minister demanded an explanation today from a hotel that refused an injured Welsh soldier a room because he was from the military.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said Bob Ainsworth had written to the Metro Hotel in Woking, Surrey, regarding its treatment of Corporal Tomos Stringer.

The 23-year-old, from Gwynedd, was visiting a wounded colleague in Surrey when he was turned away from the hotel under its “no military personnel” policy, forcing him to spend the night in his car.

You know, I just wrote about a similar outrage last month. What the hell is wrong with you people in UK?

Sarah Palin & The Culture War

Linda Grant of the UK Guardian talks of Sarah Palin and the culture wars in the US:

A Photoshopped picture of Sarah Palin has been doing the rounds for the past few days; it shows her in a stars and stripes bikini toting a rifle - patriotism, hunting and cheesecake all combined in one image. Two minutes of Googling reveals that the rifle has been identified by gun nuts in Republican chatrooms as a Crossman pump pellet gun. Soft porn for rednecks. Expect to see it pinned to the wall in every gas station in Texas and tacked to the dashboard of every long-haul truck. But this cartoon-like depiction of her smothers what we need to understand about why Palin appeals to American voters and why American elections have been so deadlocked for the past decade, as if there were two Americas, doomed to lived on the same landmass under the same government, like hopelessly incompatible spouses.

A new novel, American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, published in the US this week, tells a fictionalised and thinly veiled story of Laura Bush, from small-town girl in the 1950s midwest to school librarian to Republican bride to President's wife. What you learn from the novel is that, like it or not, the American heartland is not so much a political ideology but an actual place with people living in it. Small-town Americans have values and a lot of those values are good ones: neighbourliness, family life, a knowledge of the land and what grows in it. The other America they see on TV seems without ethics - crime, violence, drug addiction, pornography and prostitution - and they don't want any part of it.

So clear is the divide between big-city and small-town America that one American friend said to me: "These whitebread Republicans are like children - someone has to tell them what to do and what to think, they're incapable of independent ideas."

The conviction by the left that the right is stupid is one of the defining and least attractive characteristics of contemporary politics. Assuming that anyone who disagrees with you is too dim to get your point is not itself a particularly brainy way to win others over to the essential correctness of your views. But it is true that to small-town Republicans the world is not a complicated place, because they have seen so little of it.

I asked a sophisticated and well-travelled Republican why he voted the way he did. He described growing up "dirt poor" in a small town in Northern California where joining the military was your sole ticket out; where the people in his family who depended on welfare stayed where they were and the ones who worked their fingers to the bone managed to make a better life for themselves. For him, joining the army led directly to an education. In fact, it led all the way to Princeton. But how, I asked him, baffled, could someone as intelligent as he is believe that George W Bush was anything but a cretin?

Because, he explained, people in small towns don't like or trust intellectuals, particularly ones who appear to be sneering at them for their supposed stupidity. They admire a plain-speaking man; it's what they know and what they are used to.

They always assumed Bush was a regular guy who could keep his thoughts concise.

So America is stuck. Two countries, mutually irreconcilable, who never meet each other and don't want to, either. Who distrust each other at best, despise each other at worst. And who have absolutely no understanding of the other.

Grant ends her article with a plea that small-town America should compromise, let the Left/Big city have its way. Still, it's one of the best analyses I have read about the culture war.

Jesus H. Christ With An Erection!

If you were to ask yourself the question, self, where might I find a statue of Jesus Christ with an erection? the answer would very likely be In an art gallery, of course.

So it is, and so a UK man is suing a gallery in Gateshead for offending his Christian religion.

Here's a pic:



Not certain of the size of the statue, but a smaller version would be a great place to hang your keys. And a full-sized version would be a great place to hang a hat.

More About Mushrooms

In a followup to yesterday's post about the accidental poisoning of author Nicholas Evans by mushrooms, the Times of London has a story on the basics of mushroom hunting.

I myself have never developed a taste for mushrooms, so seeing one in the woods or on a lawn doesn't trigger a hunger reaction. I view them all as poisonous toadstools, and so am safe from them.

Jerry Reed, 1937-2008: R.I.P.

Country music star Jerry Reed has died of emphysema at age 71.

Jerry's brand of country was a bit too raucous and rock-oriented for me, and he didn't have one of the great country voices; more of a honky-tonk sort of singer than anything else, I think. He was definitely a talented guitarist, though.

I mostly remember him for starring in Burt Reynolds movies, my favorite being the mostly-forgotten W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings. I liked that movie more for Don Williams' fine, understated acting than anything else; I've always been a Don Williams fan. That movie is also where Don acquired his famous hat.

Race War? Don't Go There.

Some chick with a Muslim name who writes for the Philadelphia Daily News and is thus probably a member of the Nation of Islam is invoking the possibility of a RACE WAR if Obama doesn't win in November.

A couple of facts might make you want to reconsider your little threat:

African-Americans: 12% of US population.

Number of privately-owned guns in the US: over 200 million.

Any other questions?

8mm Film of Marilyn Monroe Found, Made By US Sailor

Previously unseen footage of screen icon Marilyn Monroe, taken while she was filming the 1959 hit Some Like It Hot, has been discovered in Australia.

The behind-the-scenes amateur film, featuring Monroe and co-stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, was taken by a US naval officer after the actress invited him to visit the set at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California.

The two-and-a-half minute, eight-millimetre film will be auctioned off in Melbourne later this month and is expected to sell for up to 30,000 Australian Dollars – almost £14,000.

All the world loves a sailor. ;)

More Gross Stupidity

Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans is critically ill after eating wild mushrooms.

In this case Evans dined on Destroying Angels:



It's what most people recognize as a yard toadstool. My maternal grandfather ate some one time and nearly died, so I have personal experience with the little horrors.

You don't have to have a doctorate in botany to identify safe mushrooms, but unless you've hunted mushrooms with an experienced guide and can confidently distinguish some of the common edibles, you're best off not indulging in this hobby.

Gross Stupidity

A UK soldier in Iraq killed a comrade by pointing an "unloaded" gun at him and pulling the trigger.

Violation of rules 1 and 2 of Jeff Cooper's rules of gun safety:

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.
4. Identify your target, and what is behind it.

He's being court-martialed for manslaughter. I hope he's convicted and goes to prison. I'm pro-military, but this man has disgraced himself and needs to be cashiered.

UK: Senior Citizen With Cane Fends Off Thug With Sword

Daily Mail Story.

Sounds like something Sherlock Holmes would do. Much more common 100 years ago than now, as more men carried canes then, and many UK men practiced at singlesticks.

Of course, the old guy shouldn't have had to resort to his cane, but he, along with all other British citizens subjects, has been disarmed by his government.

Jerry Pournelle On Palin & Babies

"I am told that the moonbat wing of the Democratic Party is now spreading the story that the Dow's Syndrome fifth child is not the governor's but her 17 year old daughter's child. This apparently started at the Daily Kos. Fascinating. Maybe one day I will write a story about how a sitting governor is able to fake a pregnancy and get away with it. After all, I am a science fiction writer."

*snort*

Vaccines Work

Cases of chickenpox have fallen 57% to 90% since the chickenpox vaccine was introduced.

Those parents that refuse to vaccinate their children on the infinitesimally small chance that it will cause autism are doing this country a grave disservice, and are acting as irresponsibly as Africans that refuse to practice safe sexual behavior in AIDS-ravaged Africa.

UK Crime: "A Nation of Passive Bystanders"

UK Independent story.

What do you expect from disarmed, browbeaten, nanny-state citizens subjects?

update A much better story on this same subject can be found at UK Telegraph.

Volcano Blog: Like Those Glorious Sunsets In UK?

Thank volcano Kasatotchi in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

The dust plume put forth by Kasatotchi's recent eruption has led to gorgeously-colored sunsets (and presumably sunrises) in the far Northern hemisphere. It's a common phenomenon resulting from volcanic activity.

New US Navy Enlisted Khaki Uniforms: My Opinion

The Navy Times is soliciting opinions on the new khaki uniforms for junior enlisted men (E1-E6).

For reference, here's what the new uniforms look like:



These new khaki uniforms and the digital camoflage BDU (Battle Dress Utility) working uniforms were chosen by sailors in the fleet as comfortable, durable, and easy to maintain.

The problem with these new uniforms is that they don't instantly identify the wearer as a sailor. This is a Bad Thing. It's not as bad as the Air Force uniforms that are universally condemned as Greyhound bus driver uniforms, but these new Navy uniforms submerge the identify of the individual as a sailor, and make it possible to confuse a Navy man with a Marine or a Soldier.

Not that this means I was fond of the Navy uniforms I wore. I loved the chambray shirt/denim trousers working uniform, especially with a ship's logo ball cap perched atop; but the white summer uniforms, although handsome and sailorly, were damned difficult to keep clean. The black (Navy Blue, even when it's truly black) winter shirt/slacks combo looked rather Nazi-ish; the dress uniform of wool flannel jumper and 13-button trousers is the very epitome of sailorly fashion, although I'd prefer to wear the older flat hat than the more modern white "dixie cup" with it.

What would I recommend, then? Well, I have no objections to the BDU's, but I don't see the need for them to be in camoflage; make them in Navy blue. For the Uniform of the Day, I'd recommend bringing back the old Undress Blue jumper, which is worn without a neckerchief and doesn't have white piping the way the Service Dress/Full Dress jumper does. Make the Undress Blue jumper out of comfortable cotton/poly twill, and you'll have a durable uniform that is easy to take care of. For a smart cover for this uniform, I'd recommend a fore-and-aft cap in matching Navy Blue.

Ideally, sometime in the future our services would all wear the same basic uniform, a coverall with zip-off arms and even legs might be a very versatile garment. Make them in a unique color for each of the services, with insignia and headgear that differentiates between each service. That's for a working uniform, of course. Dress uniforms should still identify each service at a glance.

Anyway, those are my opinions. Yours may differ.