With all due respect, Mark Steyn, I did not accuse you of making up a quote. You clearly accepted someone else’s word for it. But that’s not good journalism. Few journalists I know would take Oriana Fallaci’s word about Islam at face value the way you did, for reasons I will explain.
You uncritically accepted her reference to the “Blue Book,” and went on to have fun with the notion of Mohammed Atta interfering with the livestock instead of suicide bombing. But there is no Blue Book, it’s The Little Green Book. And it wasn’t written by the Ayatollah at all, as you say, but by a source who was apparently at least three times, and three languages, removed.
And thus the gauntlet was thrown.I’ll give you a short quote from Mr. Steyn’s piece, which comes near the end:
So just to reprise:
Did I cite Oriana Fallaci accurately? Yes.
Did she cite Ayatollah Khomeini accurately? Yes.
Is there a volume by the Ayatollah commonly known as the "Blue Book"? Yes
Does it include rulings on sex with nine-year olds and what to do with a shagged sheep? Yes.
Did either of us mention a Little Green Book? No. In fact, the translation Oriana cites pre-dates The Little Green Book by a year.
I think Professor Waggy-Finger is doing what they call "projecting". He's accusing me of everything he's been doing himself. I took "somebody else's word for it". Er, no. That would be you, taking the Sock Puppets' word for it on my book review. I didn't check the "primary source". Er, no. That would be you, cavalierly announcing there's no such thing as a "Blue Book". To be more charitable to you than you deserve, you assume that Oriana Fallaci and I so want to think the worst of Islam that we'll fall for any old hooey. Actually not. On the other hand, you so want to think the worst of us blowhard provocateurs that you assume we're as ignorant of Islam as you evidently are.
I’m SO reminded of that ol’ cliché about not engaging in a battle of wits with the unarmed, and Professor Miller is clearly and demonstrably unarmed in this particular case.One would think a journalism professor, of all people, would have the good sense to check out his facts before assailing someone about theirs. But nooo.I’m simply amazed Professor Miller had the gall to take Steyn to task, and pleased as punch that Mr. Steyn took the time to beat the livin’ dogshit out of this pompous ass.Mr. Steyn’s piece is a take-down for the ages.
This lil brouhaha is a sideshow to accompany recent events that transpired in Canada, vis-à-vis Mr. Steyn’s outspoken critiques of militant Islam. For those of you who haven’t been following the 1984-like persecution of Mr. Steyn by the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, there are summaries here and here.
Black Friday is not an official national holiday, but this year we may as well consecrate it as such—the nation's fortunes depend dearly on how much you and your fellow citizens spend on this first day of the holiday shopping season. Don't lose your scruples, though, just because the economy hangs in the balance. Yes, you'll be able to find some great bargains this weekend, especially on technology (Check out this 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor for just $140, including shipping.) But there are many deals you should avoid, too—things that sound like bargains but that on closer inspection are no bargain at all.
In general, don't buy anything that you or your loved ones don't need just because it's on sale. This sounds obvious, but the rule is easy to forget during a shopping stampede. Remember, retailers are counting on your irrationality—the whole point of a "doorbuster" sale is to get you into the store to seduce you to spend cash on more profitable items.
I don’t “do” Black Friday.Never have, never will.Shopping is neither an adventure nor a sport for me.It’s a necessary frickin’ evil… and I’m speaking of the act of acquiring items needed to keep body and soul together… like food, clothing, and beer.Other than that?That’s why Algore invented the internet.I don’t need it if it ain’t on Amazon, Cigar.com, or Despair.com (There are cool management training vids @Despair, if you’re interested in de-motivating your workforce).
(Long parenthetical aside… Once upon a time (in another life) I thought I’d achieved Nirvana.Well, I actually DID achieve Nirvana, but only for about a year.It was at the height of the dot-bomb ridiculouslessness (I just made that word up), I was living in SFO, and I was actually grocery shopping ON-LINE.I forget the name of the establishment (they’re belly-up now, anyway), but they had an extensive on-line “grocery list” to order from… and one could customize, personalize, and save your very own list for re-use from week to week or however often you did your shopping.
The company delivered up until 2200 hrs, six days a week, and the delivery person would bring the bags of groceries right into my kitchen.Well… my groceries weren’t in bags… they were in large green plastic tubs, which the delivery person unloaded onto my kitchen counter while I checked each item off my shopping list as it was placed on the counter.No money changed hands; the transaction was placed on your credit card when you placed your order.
Quality?In a word, yes.Name brand items, always.Fresh, blemish-free produce.More cheeses than a French woman could shake a baguette at.The company never "forgot" or lost an item on my list... ever... and the service always delivered precisely at the requested time. And the delivery guys refused tips: company policy.That's quality.
Inexpensive? Not hardly... one paid about a ten percent premium over Safeway/Ralph's/Kroger prices for the convenience, and I was more than willing to do so. But I was in a minority, however, as the company was out of bid’niz in a year and I was heartbroken.But for a brief shining moment I didn’t even have to go grocery shopping, Gentle Reader.)
(Yes, I know.Neighborhood stores did this sort of thing all the time, back in the day.But I didn’t realize you were old enough to remember that, Gentle Reader.Or maybe you just remember your Grandma telling you about it.That’s gotta be it, innit?)
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More news you can use, if’n you’re a beer drinker:A list of “…the top six craft and microbreweries according to the Brewers Association of Boulder, Colorado.”(There’s a second six, as well.)And those six craft breweries produce true American beer.Beers from all six of these breweries have graced the inside of the fridge here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington at one time or another.
Apropos of something... The subject for the post linked above was how to really “Drink American,” aimed directly at the reverse-snobs who’ll only drink Budmilloors.And that term, Gentle Beer-Drinking Reader, originated in another post at the same blog address:“Who Owns What Beers?”We all know Anheuser-Busch was bought by InBev this year, but didja know both Miller and Coors are foreign-owned these days?Ah… but PBR is still American, so you DO have an American-owned red, white, and blue-collar choice, even if the beer itself is contract-brewed… by South African-owned Miller Brewing.It’s just so danged hard to Buy Drink American these days, innit?Well, not really.If you’re a beer snob.
While we’re on about beer… could this slip o’ the lip be the real reason McCain lost? (0:05)
It’s that time again. And you’ll probably respond by asking “just what time would that be, Buck?” To which I reply: Valour-IT time… a fundraiser whereby our wounded troops receive voice-activated laptops from Soldiers’ Angels, a hard-working organization that supports our troops and has been doing so since 2003. For the record: Valour-IT is a project of Soldiers Angels, which is an IRS-designated 501(c)(3) non-profit charity. Thus donations to the project may be tax deductible, and eligible for employer matching funds if applicable.
(formerly Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops)
In memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss
Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly to the purchase and shipment of laptops and other technology for severely wounded service members. As of November 2008, Valour-IT has distributed over 2700 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country, and is now expanding its mission to include other technology that supports physical and psychological recovery.
Valour-IT accepts donations in any amount to support our mission, but also offers a sponsorship option for laptops. An individual or organization may sponsor a wounded soldier by completely funding the cost of a laptop and continuing to provide that soldier with personal support and encouragement throughout recovery. This has proved to be an excellent project for churches, groups of coworkers or friends, and members of community organizations such Boy Scouts.
Originally Valour-IT provided the voice-controlled software that accompanies the laptops, but now works closely with the Department of Defense Computer/electronic Accommodations Program (CAP): CAP supplies the adaptive software and Valour-IT provides the laptop. In addition, DoD caseworkers serve as Valour-IT’s “eyes and ears” at several medical centers, identifying patients in need of laptops and other technological support for their recovery.
The Valour-IT fundraiser is a good-natured (heh) competition among the uniformed branches to see who can raise the most money for this oh-so-worthy cause.If you’ve been around these parts for a while you know that EIP always signs up for the Air Force team in this annual competition.While we Zoomies have yet to win the competition outright (The Ground-Pounders won last year, narrowly beating out the Jarheads with a last minute surge) we have managed to give a good account of ourselves.Sorta.I’d like to see us turn that around this year… obviously.
But… organizational pride aside… the important thing is to give to Valour-IT, regardless of which branch you support.I’d be right proud and humble if you’d consider donating in favor of Team Air Force.Just click that icon at the very top of my sidebar.The fundraiser runs from now until November 27th… but don’t wait until the last minute!Hit it now, while you’re thinking about it!
Update, 11/17/2008:Mrs. Greyhawk put up a post today that goes a long way towards debunking the “Air Farce” and “Chair Force” memes (among others) our comrades-in-arms from the other services are so fond of invoking when we get into those “Who's Best” arguments discussions. We Zoomies have acquired a reputation over the years, deserved or not, of being something of a pampered crew. Which, of course, stems from the superior Quality of Life Blue Suiters enjoy... which results in a lot of envious (read: disparaging) comments from our less fortunate brethren (sisthren, too). But... be that as it may... let me remind you: the USAF is in the fight in a BIG way. Mrs. G enumerates a lot of the contributions the Air Force makes to The Mission... and I'll add one more: the TAC-P guys, who are functioning members of fire teams “on the ground” (most literally) in Iraq and Afghanistan. They're the guys who call in the precision strikes from the A-10s, F-16s, and B-52s orbiting the battlefields... and often work with the Navy's F/A-18 drivers, as well.
Speaking of F/A-18s... who do you think provides the in-flight refueling those Hornettes require to remain “on station” for longer than 20 minutes at a time? Yep... it's USAF KC-135s and KC-10s. We like to share.
Now that we have that off our chest... have you donated to Valour-IT yet? Ya know where that button is!
Update, 11/28/2008: Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone, barely. The Valour-IT fundraiser is over, and the results are identical to last year's: Army wins, Navy is second, and the Marines edged out (barely) Team Air Force for third. Thank God for the Coast Guard, as they bring up the rear again this year, saving us Blue-Suiters the ignominy of placing last. There's an old military axiom that "quantity has a quality all of its own," and I think that holds true for fundraisers. I'm not making excuses, mind you, but 182 blogs took part in the Valour-IT fundraiser. The Ground-Pounders and the Squids (combined) owned 68% of the participating blogs and, strangely enough, raised roughly 70% of the money. Coincidence? I think not... The actual breakdown of participating blogs was... 82 Army, 43 Navy, the Marines and USAF each with 25, and the Coasties had 7. And here's the final results, as of 0130 hrs Friday morning (as always, click for larger):
Now that it's all over but the shouting (and there WILL be some shouting, believe me!) let me heap many, many thanks on everyone who contributed. I suppose $75K is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick but I wish we could have done better. Ah, well. It's hard times.
Speaking of hard times... I'm wondering what my penance will be...
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Gentle Reader.I’m going to be lazy today and re-run what I've said lasttwo yearsrunning (in part...there was more), mainly coz (a) it’s all true and (b) I’m fresh out of original i-deers.So…from Turkey-Day-Last 2006:
Of all the things I’m thankful for on this day…family, friends, reasonable health… I thank God most of all for making me an American.Most all of the good things in my life begin and end with that one single fact.
You could do much worse today than read the editorial the WSJ has published every Thanksgiving since 1961.
We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.
And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.
As true today as it was back in 1961.
The images come from Thanksgiving Corner, which has a great collection of Thanksgiving wallpaper. Normally I'd only post a single topical image, but I was so taken with the second image that I had to post it. Shades of Ben Franklin, and all that.
6. Something has happened to the generic American male accent. Maybe it is urbanization; perhaps it is now an affectation to sound precise and caring with a patina of intellectual authority; perhaps it is the fashion culture of the metrosexual; maybe it is the influence of the gay community in arts and popular culture. Maybe the ubiquitous new intonation comes from the scarcity of salty old jobs in construction, farming, or fishing. But increasingly to meet a young American male about 25 is to hear a particular nasal stress, a much higher tone than one heard 40 years ago, and, to be frank, to listen to a precious voice often nearly indistinguishable from the female. How indeed could one make Westerns these days, when there simply is not anyone left who sounds like John Wayne, Richard Boone, Robert Duvall, or Gary Cooper much less a Struther Martin, Jack Palance, L.Q. Jones, or Ben Johnson? I watched the movie Twelve O’clock High the other day, and Gregory Peck and Dean Jagger sounded liked they were from another planet. I confess over the last year, I have been interviewed a half-dozen times on the phone, and had no idea at first whether a male or female was asking the questions. All this sounds absurd, but I think upon reflection readers my age (55) will attest they have had the same experience. In the old days, I remember only that I first heard a variant of this accent with the old Paul Lynde character actor in one of the Flubber movies; now young men sound closer to his camp than to a Jack Palance or Alan Ladd.
10. The K-12 public education system is essentially wrecked. No longer can any professor expect an incoming college freshman to know what Okinawa, John Quincy Adams, Shiloh, the Parthenon, the Reformation, John Locke, the Second Amendment, or the Pythagorean Theorem is. An entire American culture, the West itself, its ideas and experiences, have simply vanished on the altar of therapy. This upcoming generation knows instead not to judge anyone by absolute standards (but not why so); to remember to say that its own Western culture is no different from, or indeed far worse than, the alternatives; that race, class, and gender are, well, important in some vague sense; that global warming is manmade and very soon will kill us all; that we must have hope and change of some undefined sort; that AIDs is no more a homosexual- than a heterosexual-prone disease; and that the following things and people for some reason must be bad, or at least must in public company be said to be bad (in no particular order): Wal-Mart, cowboys, the Vietnam War, oil companies, coal plants, nuclear power, George Bush, chemicals, leather, guns, states like Utah and Kansas, Sarah Palin, vans and SUVs.
I found myself nodding this ol’ gray head north-south as I read the ten things that tick Mr. Hanson off.There’s an assumption in that last sentence, but I feel pretty safe in saying VDH doesn’t look upon any of the things he mentions as a “good,” with the sole exception of his proposal that we (re)introduce Latin as a compulsory subject in public school.Yes… Latin.I can see the wisdom in Mr. Hanson’s proposal, even though I never took Day One of Latin.I did, however, take seven years of French… and that’s reasonably close.I really, truly feel my love for the English language (and my competency, too… such as it is) is directly related to the fact I was once fluent in French.That and the fact I had competent teachers back in the day (see VDH Item Ten, above).
As far as VDH Item Six goes… yes, I have had similar experiences.But NOT since I moved to New Mexico, not locally, at least. I personally think the feminizing of the Young American Male’s accent and manner of speech is mostly a metropolitan phenomenon, which VDH admits is a possibility.I encountered it all too frequently while living in the San FranciscoBayAreaSovietSocialistRepublic, and that was six years ago.OTOH, the guys with the suspect accents I ran into just might have been gay.I’ve heard there are a lot of gay guys there, but have no personal experience in that space.(Added, later: the foregoing was said in jest. Of course there are lotsa gays in SFO, we all know that. The point I was trying to make... and badly, at that... was my GAYDAR sucks, for the most part. I can recognize blatant gay-ness nine out of ten times, like the stuff one sees in the Castro district. Otherwise? Hard for me to tell, if I even thought about it. Which I usually didn't.)
Nonetheless… I agree with VDH, especially when it comes to really old movies.But here’s yet another thought: all the guys in those really old movies, particularly war movies, smoked.And we all know what smoking cigarettes does to your voice… or at least we should.Think on that for a moment, Gentle Reader (whilst shedding a metaphorical tear [if you’re male] for those smoky female voices of yesteryear… like Suzanne Pleshette or Tallulah Bankhead.If you’re female you have lotsa male voices to choose from — see above).
Mr. Hanson closes his essay with a simple statement:“Well, with that done—I feel much better.”I’m sure you will, too… if’n ya read the whole thing.
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Signs o’ The Impending Apocalypse… (part of an on-going series)
So… three years into this blogging gig and I still get this feeling occasionally: why bother?The feeling only comes to the fore on days when I’m either unmotivated or have nothing to say.Sometimes I chalk it up to a lack of “interesting” items in the news and elsewhere but most of the time it’s simply a failure of imagination… specifically MY imagination.Some people have built huge and successful blogging careers on the joys of shopping at Target (as if that’s all he writes about; note the irony), others have attics chock full of tales of derring-do in high performance jets, and still others have enjoyed success simply by being bat-shit crazy (with liberal dollops of profanity thrown in, just for the fun of it). One would think I could learn by example, even given the fact I've not shopped at Target lately, haven't flown anything... ever, and am in full possession of my sensibilities and can express myself (occasionally) without being profane. But noooo...
It’s not like I haven’t been around the block a few times or that I don’t have a storehouse of bloggable stuff (I do).Well, check my last… while there IS lotsa bloggable stuff in said storehouse, a lot of it (most?) isn’t quite suitable for the tone I’ve established here at EIP, that tone being PG-13.For the most part.
Maybe I need a new blog, written under a pseudonym, where I can discuss the finer points of whoring around and dabbling in proscribed substances in the world’s backwaters.And in some frontwaters, too.Maybe.But then again, those times were long ago, far away, and have largely been either forgotten or diminished by years of domestic tranquility and middle-class normalcy.Such as that was… emphasis on the past tense. But even domestic tranquility seems exciting compared to life as an exile (in Portales!).I suppose we’ll manage to muddle through without the sordid tales, even though I imagine some of you would be pleased… secretly or otherwise… to hear about how I scraped the bottom of the moral barrel in my youth.
Ah, but for the moment?It’s imagination, failure of. This, too, shall pass.
Via Blog-Bud SJS… one of the absolute BEST pieces I’ve ever seen about Red Flag.The video is long at nearly 50 minutes, but just look at it as a movie… a great good movie… on your computer screen.There’s some of the best plane-pr0n I’ve seen in a long time herein.
So… it goes without sayin’, but there are more airframes in this video than you can shake a stick at… including tankers, helos (the Search and Rescue [SAR] sequence is great!), trash-haulers, AWACS, and brief cameos of our foreign allies participating in Red Flag.The usually unsung heroes… like the BB-Stackers (ordnance guys), crew chiefs, back-shop maintainers, and AWACS guys… get air-time in this film as well.It takes a helluva team to operate a combat air arm (note I didn’t say “Air Force,” out of deference to USAF’s allies), and this video emphasizes that fact. Simply brilliant.
But then again, I’d think so… wouldn’t I?
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G-Mail came out with a pretty cool feature yesterday… themes for your in-box.Here’s mine, followed by the options you have…
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Schadenfreude ‘R’ Us… I received an e-mail from Blog-Bud Morgan yesterday… letting me know that The Weather Channel had “… axed the entire staff of the ‘Forecast Earth’,” which presumably includes one of The People I Love to HateActively Dislike… ClimateExpertDoctor Heidi Cullen.It would be a great good thing if I never saw that woman… ever again… for the duration of my life.As for the rest of the folks laid off by TWC?They have my sympathy.But most certainly not Cullen, nor her sidekick Natalie Allen.Good riddance to those two.Maybe now TWC will dedicate ALL its resources to something like…oh, I dunno… weather reports?
Analyze your blog… and by inference, your personality type. Here. The “instant analysis” sez this about EIP (and the analysis IS instant… so much so that it makes ya wonder: “How’d they DO that?”):
ESTP - The Doers
The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.
The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.
And here’s a screen-shot of the graphic that accompanies the analysis:
I have my doubts, Gentle Reader… I have my doubts. Shorter: Wrong, Sparky.
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We’re currently in the midst of a pretty good cold snap, as noted elsewhere and below. I kinda like that because this is the time of year I get to drag various coats and jackets out of the closet and renew my acquaintance with ‘em… an acquaintance that goes back over 20 years in two cases and nearly that amount of time in one other.
Like most guys, I don’t own a lot of outer garments. As I matter of fact, I have five…which is probably a little bit more than most men. But two of those garments are relegated to storage; I wear three outer garments on a regular basis. Strangely enough… all three are military-issue items. Today was the first day of the winter season that I wore my favorite jacket… an M-65 field jacket. (Full disclosure: I actually have two field jackets, only one of which is still serviceable enough to wear in public. The other is really worn… ripped here, torn there, the Velcro is gone, and it has all sorts of grease stains and such on it. It’s worn as a work jacket… if it’s worn at all, given as how I don’t do much “work” these days.)
My daily-wear M-65 was issued to me in 1984, the year before I retired from the Air Force. I knew I was gonna go, my retirement papers were in and approved, and I wanted a new field jacket to last me into retirement, as my old one was looking a lil bit the worse for wear. So… I beat feet down to supply, requested a new field jacket, got it, signed the receipt, and was on my way, a Happy Troop if there ever was one. I’ve worn that jacket every winter since. You cannot beat the thing for utility, what with its four large cargo pockets, collar-concealed hood, a button-in polyfil lining that keeps you oh-so-toasty, and the fact it’s waterproof… provided you give it an annual spray-down with Scotchgard. And when it gets dirty? Just throw it in the wash. That’s it. The M-65 looks damned good, it’s utilitarian, and it’s low maintenance. What else is there?
(Me and my M-65 in Yellowstone, May of 2000. It was frickin’ cold that day… and I was on the bike, too. But I stayed warm.)
Well, it turns out there IS something else. The M-65 is casual. VERY casual. For more upscale occasions I wear my pea coat. (Don’t laugh… it’s true. And I’m weird, I’ll freely admit.) My pea coat is The Real Thing and not some sort of knock-off (one sees a tremendous amount of knock-offs advertised as “Navy Issue” or some other such blather. Most aren’t even close.) And how do I know my pea coat is real? Coz it used to belong to SN2 when he was on the E-side of the Navy house (Pea coats are only worn by enlisted sailors. Ossifers wear Bridge Coats [scroll down for pic]. I’m serious.). He gifted it to me the year he was commissioned… the culmination of literally years of me badgering him to “get me a pea coat!!1!!” And so he did.
I love this coat. It, too, is quite versatile, and being 100% heavy wool it’s also very warm… especially with the collar turned up. I’ve been wearing my pea coat for about 15 years now, assuming I’ve done the math correctly. From the looks of things I’ll probably get at least another 15 years out of it… maybe more. The thing simply doesn’t show wear at all.
(Pic: Me, Grandson Sean, and SN1 on San FranciscoBay… an appropriate milieu for a pea coat, no? c. 2001.)
Last, but not at ALL least… My A2 flight jacket is perfect for Spring/Fall weather and is the jacket you’ll see me in most frequently. My A2 is over 20 years old and was made by Cooper, a firm that’s out of business now but was the official supplier to the USAF, back when the Air Force re-authorized the A2 for wear in the 1980s. The A2 I own is made of goatskin and is the “older” design, which precedes newer gub’mint-issue items manufactured after 1987. You can still buy the older model here (from Cockpit USA (formerly Avirex LTD), the current manufacturer and supplier of the A2 to the Air Force). Or… if you prefer the current, updated model (which is visually identical to the original A2 but has internal pockets)… you can buy that here.
Digression: The Second Mrs. Pennington about had a cow (man!) when I told her I wanted this jacket in the way-back. She looked at the price and flipped out… being the frugal woman she was and probably still is… telling me I could get something “just as good” for about half the price at any six stores in Detroit. But that wasn’t the point, I countered… “this is an official Mil-Spec A2!” And so it went… back ‘n’ forth. I obviously won the battle (I lost the war, but let’s not go there) and I feel somewhat vindicated, too. The jacket has lasted lo these 20+ years and looks just as good as the day I bought it. Better, even, since it’s acquired that patina one sees in old but well-kept leather. Besides that… It’s Teh Quality, Gentle Reader.
(Further digression: TSMP and I had a “one hundred dollar rule,” meaning consultation was required prior to purchasing anything over that amount. That’s a really good rule to have in a relationship, btw. It stops a lot of arguments… not to mention regrettable impulse-buys… dead in their tracks.)
(Pic: Me wearing my A2… somewhere in the Wilds of New Mexico (which is shorthand for “I don’t remember”), c. 2004.)
And those other two outer garments? One is a Yuppie-looking windbreaker with an oh-so-discreet EDS corporate logo embroidered on it. It’s nice but it’s not me. I wore that thing rarely… most often to casual corporate events back in the day where it was de rigueur to fly the flag. I don’t know why I keep it. Souvenir value, I suppose.
The other item is a Burberry trench coat, another relic from corporate days. It, too, is most versatile, warm (with the liner zipped in), good looking in a “Bond. James Bond” sort of way, and probably never will go out of style. I love that thing (as much as anyone can “love” an inanimate object), but it doesn’t quite go with the levis and tee shirt ensembles that are en vogue around here. But: I can’t bear to part with it and who knows? I may have to go to a funeral in a cold rain some day. And if that happens… I’m ready.
... a superb reality-check from a previously unknown-to-me comic, Louis CK (4:12):
The man makes some great points! I kinda-sorta disagree with him on the flying experience, though, what with me being "of an age" where I can remember when flying was a pleasurable experience. Flying was beyond pleasurable, actually... it was special, in every sense of the word. Which, of course, is largely a function of the cost of a plane ticket. Flying used to be expensive back in the day and, as might be expected, fewer people could afford to fly. But today? What we have is airborne Greyhound buses, with a clientele similar to what you'd find in any bus station 30 years ago. EVERYONE can afford to fly these days, with predictable results in the experience. I'll not go further, lest you begin to get the feeling I'm one of those people...snobs, in other words. (But yeah: I am... in a lot of respects.)
But wait! There IS more. Back then: you got food, such as it was. There was no charge for checking your bags (unless you had, say, six of 'em). Drinks were free, for the most part. Flights were relatively uncrowded. Stewardesses Flight attendants were frickin' GORGEOUS and the fodder for many a male fantasy, which sometimes... in VERY rare occasions... came true. Male flight attendants were unknown. And lastly... there wasn't any of that TSA bullsh!t. There. I'm done. So much for nostalgia.
I’ve lived in a wide variety of places in my life, big and small. In America I’ve lived in big cities like the megalopolis of Los Angeles, sophisticated, moonbat-infested San Francisco, hot and humid Washington, D.C., and gritty, industrial Detroit. I’ve also lived in medium-sized cities like Oklahoma City and Rochester, NY. Internationally, I’ve lived in Tokyo, London, Paris, and Ankara, the capital of Turkey. I’ve also spent a year or longer in garden spots like Wakkanai, Japan, and Sinop, Turkey. When I say “lived,” I mean a minimum of at least a year, two years or more is better yet. It doesn’t count, in my book, to simply visit a place for a week or two, you have to live there to know it. Of all the big cities I’ve lived in, London is my favorite, by far. But that’s another story!
The place I live, Portales, is a small town. (I’ve written about Portales before; here’s the link to a city profile, and here’s a couple of pics.) I like small towns at this stage in life for a lot of reasons, chief among which are: no traffic, friendly people, low crime, and much less complexity in day-to-day living. There are drawbacks, to be sure. I’ve mentioned a few annoyances in the past, when I’ve compared living in Portales to, say, living in San Francisco. I don’t have a broadband internet connection (ed: but we do now! Yays!), there are precious few good restaurants, and I can’t get a decent cup of coffee anywhere NEAR Portales. My local shopping options are also severely constrained. Nearby Clovis (pop. 30K) provides more options than Portales, but they’re still limited. I have to drive over two hours to either Lubbock, TX or Albuquerque to get into “mainstream” America as we know and love it. But, all that said, I love living here, for the moment. Things can, and do, change. I may wake up tomorrow morning and decide to hit the road. It’s good to have options!
I’ve lived in a number of other small towns besides Portales, and I have the Air Force to thank for that. Air Force bases aren’t generally located near big cities, but they usually are close to medium-sized towns, at the least. My career was different than most, in that I was in the radar business for the greatest part of my 22 years in the Air Force, and that meant being stationed in some very small towns. Here are a few of the small places I enjoyed.
When I was stationed at Fortuna Air Station, North Dakota, I lived in the smallest of small towns: Westby, Montana. Current population figures for Westby, MT are 153 people; there were (supposedly) 250 people living in Westby when I was there in 1977-78. The first three months I was at Fortuna, I lived in neighboring (30 miles west) Plentywood, MT, which had probably less than the current reported population of 1,855 people. I could have lived in the town of Fortuna (pop. 31), about three miles away from the radar site. Or there was Crosby, about 25 miles east of Fortuna, which now has all of 1,067 souls, again, probably a lot less in 1977...or perhaps there were more. One of North Dakota’s biggest problems is out-migration. People don’t want to stay up there. Obviously, there aren’t a lot of people living up in the Great White North of the United States!
Westby was great. You could walk the whole town in 15 minutes. There was a grain elevator, one gas station, two bars, four churches, a small grocery store, and a combination beauty parlor-laundromat-City Hall. There was no cable TV; we got two TV stations out of Williston, ND, and radio out of Regina, Saskatchewan. The nearest McDonalds was either in Regina, or Minot, ND. We used to go to Minot to party, which is why I laugh at Air Force people when they go on about how bad being assigned to Minot was. All in all, I loved my time in Fortuna/Westby, but I don’t think I’d live there again. It’s just TOO cold, and I mean TOO cold!
And then there’s Boron, CA. Current population is listed as 2,025 people, but once again, there were probably a lot less people there in 1970. I spent a year in Boron, and this place is probably the least favorite of all my USAF assignments. Smack in the middle of the Mojave desert, the best thing I can say about Boron is there was wonderful dirt-bike riding to be had! I could literally push my bike out of my garage and be in open desert in less than a minute. The second-best thing about Boron is that it was less than three hours from Los Angeles, and four hours to the ancestral home of the First Mrs. Pennington. She and I spent every available moment AWAY from Boron as was humanly possible.
A much, much better small town is North Bend, OR, population 9,620 people. The city of North Bend and its twin, Coos Bay run together. Coos Bay has 15,374 people. Since the two cities run together you have to say the total population is about 25,000. This is on the very fringe of what I’d call a “small town.” North Bend was one of the best assignments I had in the Air Force. Living on the Oregon coast was very, very pleasant, all things considered. The weather is mild, the location is beautiful beyond belief, and the people were very friendly. I’d live there again.
Klamath Falls, OR , on the other hand, is east of the Cascades and has an arid, almost desert-like climate. K-Falls currently has 19,000 people. I was stationed there from 1971 until 1975. I’ve been back once, and once was enough. Nothing remarkable there.
And finally…there’s Lompoc, CA, with a current population of 46,000 people. The city (?) had more like 25,000 when I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB from 1964 until 1967. Both of my adult children were born at the VAFB hospital and the First Mrs. Pennington still lives in Lompoc. A nice, quiet little town back in the day. My kids tell me Lompoc has gang problems these days and is suffering from growth problems, e.g., housing cost inflation. I’ll always remember Lompoc fondly; I had some great times there!
So. Small towns. Love ‘em, or leave ‘em. I’ll love mine for a while longer, thank you!
Update, 01/13/2006, 2:30 p.m. I forgot Biloxi, MS. How could I forget Biloxi? Like all other Americans, my heart aches for Biloxi these days. This small town on the Gulf Coast is home to Keesler AFB and has suffered more than most from hurricanes. I knew Biloxi before and after hurricane Camille, having been to Keesler for training in 1963, 1967, 1972, and 1980. All told, I spent the better part of two years in Biloxi, if you aggregate the time I spent there on four PCS/TDY assignments.
I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Biloxi. I spent a good portion of the "wild" days of my youth in some of the best and worst dive bars in all of North America. I lolled on the beach. I played with my kids in various parks in and around Biloxi. I made the short trip from Biloxi to New Orleans more times than I can remember. I ate some of the best seafood I ever had in Biloxi and neighboring towns. Yea, I have fond, fond memories of Biloxi. And I wish the residents of this lovely town all the best in their efforts to rebuild their city and their lives.
I added the pics to accompany the post today... coz I didn't post all that many photos along with my earlier posts. We live and learn (how to blog). On another note... the "whereabouts" I mentioned in today's introductory sentence are all US-specific (obviously). Perhaps I'll do a similar post someday about the small towns I lived in overseas. Don't hold your breath, Gentle Reader.
Well… I’ve been wondering, ya know. I’ve asked the question from time to time and have never really gotten an answer. Why? Because there is no answer. Michael Kinsley, writing in the WaPo (“Let the Guy Smoke”):
Obama has never denied that he was a smoker for much of his adult life. He said as early as February 2007 that he had promised his wife he would quit in order to run for president. He also admitted as recently as this June -- when his presidential campaign was about three-quarters over -- that he hadn't done so. In May the Obama campaign released a carefully worded letter from his doctor, who wrote that Obama's "own history included intermittent cigarette smoking. He has quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using Nicorette gum with success." Obama has declined to amplify.
The instructions on Nicorette say to stop smoking before starting with the gum and to stop using the gum after 12 weeks. We know, because he has said as much, that Obama was still smoking the month after his doctor said he was using the gum. And even if he smoked his last cigarette on May 28, the day before his doctor said he was on gum therapy, the 12 weeks would have elapsed Aug. 20. Wouldn't you think that some reporter since then would have asked Obama whether the gum had worked? Yet no one seems to have asked.
“No one seems to have asked.” Dang, I may have heard that line before… somewhere. Ya think? This issue is a nit, to be sure, but it’s also symptomatic of the general lack of curiosity on the part of The Media where The One is concerned, innit? I’m also somewhat taken aback at Kinsley’s last word on this subject:
Obama's steely calm is now one of our country's major assets. If he needs an occasional cigarette to preserve it, let's hand him an ashtray, offer him a light and look the other way.
An Über-Lib offering apologies for the nasty habit, including a suggestion we just look the other way or even facilitate this deviant behavior? Well, now! Who’d a thunk it? No one gave ME that option back in the day when I still indulged. Nope… I had to go huddle in the doorway down on the street along with the rest of the degenerates to get my fix, all the while subjected to hard looks, glares, and the not-at-all-well-concealed opprobrium of passers by. One wonders if there will be ashtrays in the Oval Office or if Barack will have to step outside into the Rose Garden to quiet his Jones. Ditto for Air Force One, where I’m sure smoking is banned. Oh, well. We must be tolerant now, mustn’t we?
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Blown opportunity… That would be yesterday. I was up until the crack o’ dawn yesterday morning, going to bed somewhere around 0600 and staying that way until 1300 hrs. This sort of behavior always leaves me with something akin to a hangover, minus the throbbing pain. Nope… it’s just that left-of-center, out of sorts feeling that hangs on most of the day before we finally get back to what passes for “normal” here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington. So… why is this a blown opportunity, you ask? The weather, Gentle Reader… the weather. Yesterday was just flat frickin’ gorgeous. Bright sunshine, 72 degrees (at 1400 hrs, an hour after I woke up), and no wind. Perfect Happy Hour weather, in other words. I blew if off.
And I have regrets:
Today is NOT a nice day here on The High Plains of New Mexico. We will defer Happy Hour until sometime this weekend, as it were. More’s the pity.
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Finally… here’s some Steely Dan for ya. There’s no point at all to the Clintonista imagery, although it IS entertaining in a retro kinda way. Sorta. Nope… what we’re on about here is Dirty Work’s superb music and lyrics, as the song happens to be one of my all-time favorite Steely Dan tunes.
Good, innit? I'd tell ya why this song (ahem) strikes a lot of different chords with me... but I don't want to shatter any illusions you may hold about my...umm... moral values (and those of certain women in my past, as well). I leave you to wonder, Gentle Reader.
(You may ask what this "Second Try" is all about... I originally published this piece at 0942 hrs this morning. Blog-Bud Barry e-mailed me a few minutes ago to let me know the post was showing up in his RSS reader, but NOT in his browser. Sho 'nuff... IE couldn't see it, but all was well in FireFox. I cut and pasted the post into a NEW post, written in Blogger's "Compose" window, but the cut 'n' pasted bits didn't show up when I hit "publish." BOTH offending pieces have been removed... and I'm left looking a lil bit like the Verizon Guy... which is to say, wondering: "Can you see me NOW?")
The Brown Truck of Happiness has come and gone... and one of my favorite ladies in all the world left me with yet another way to broaden my horizons. To wit:
And for those of you who may have noticed the rather cryptic comment exchange between Blog-Bud Mike and I about “Acids” in the Auto-industry post below… your explanation is in the second photo above.Further details are here, if’n you’re at all interested.
And now it’s time for Happy Hour!I believe we’ll begin with a “Liquid” and a 1554…
Update, 1540 hrs:Unaccustomed as I am to writing criticism… not to mention the fact that I don’t really speak “critic”… as in “hints of pistachio, with a light impact on the discerning palette” or some such drivel… I’ll attempt to give it a go.I had that Liquid and a 1554 on the verandah and it was over all too quickly.Primarily because the cigar was over right about the time I finished my first beer, and most of my regular smokes tend to last thru two beers, if not longer.The fact the Liquid went quickly wasn’t because the cigar was dry; on the contrary… the cigar was moist and eminently “smokable.”It just went quick.That said, the cigar was interesting.I use “interesting” advisedly, as most of us tend to use that word these days when we want to be polite and not call a spade a spade, most commonly in the sense that something… anything… might be piss-poor in our eyes but we don’t want to offend.Such is NOT the case here.
Nope… I enjoyed the Liquid. Here’s a review written by someone with more experience in the critic’s language:
Acid Liquid cigars are mild to medium bodied, Robusto-size cigars rolled inside a smooth-smoking Connecticut Shade wrapper. The smoke presents hints of cashew nuts, plus a virtual kaleidoscope of spices and botanicals. The cigar burns clean with a toasty, woody finish.
Acid has won my heart. The Acid liquid is apart of Acid's Red Line of cigars. The Cigar is short and fat. It is a mild to medium bodied cigar. It has a hint of cashew and other spices. This cigar had a minty taste and aroma. The spices appeared to be peppery and it had a nice draw. I really enjoyed this cigar. Way to go, Acid!
The last review is interesting, as it’s written by someone under the by-line of “Maduro Woman.”Which brings me to my next point… I see Acids (at least the two I’ve sampled) as a great introduction to the wide, wonderful world of cigars.They are most definitely different and most definitely unusual, as far as cigars go.Apropos of nothing… I detected a hint of patchouli in the Liquid, which isn’t an entirely BAD thing, Gentle Reader.I’ll also emphasize the word hint.The patchouli wasn’t overbearing… I sensed a hint of the aroma, and that’s all.And I like patchouli… the aroma brings back great and oh-so-stimulating memories, patchouli does.As it would to any (former) counter-culturist worth his or her salt, but we digress.
So.I’m taking the second (and perhaps more) beer inside El Casa Móvil De Pennington while enjoying a Kuba Kuba.It’s not my habit to smoke inside the house but I’ll make an exception in this case.I want to savor the aroma of the smoke, both directly and of a second-hand nature in the clouds of exhaled smoke that are wreathing around my head as I write.It’s a great good experience, Gentle Reader.I like the Kuba Kuba better than the Liquid, at first blush.That may change, but I think not.You’ll find some brief Kuba Kuba reviews here.
Bottom line:I’ll keep experimenting with the Acids, and I’ll keep a few of ‘em in the humidor, too.They’re pretty danged good.
The appearance of the annual beard.Well, make that the biennial beard… coz I remained clean-shaven last year.And it was a goatee rather than a full-set beard the year before that… so perhaps the appropriate term is “biennial facial hair.”The beard may not last long this winter given all that damned gray light-blond hair.My best bearded days are far behind me… as in the days when my beard was red, red, red.Case in point:
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Joanne Chavonne saw pregnant women everywhere in town, shopping at Target for diapers or dining at a Mexican restaurant.
Then she heard that so many families were calling the medical clinic at nearby FortBragg for the results of pregnancy tests that the Army had to install an extra telephone line.
And finally, over the summer, an administrator told her that the hospital on base was overrun with women in labor, and was delivering nearly 300 babies a month. “I was shocked,” said Ms. Chavonne, whose husband, Anthony, is the mayor here. “That’s 10 a day.”
For the first time since the Gulf war, the entire 82nd Airborne division was deployed during the surge in 2007. Nearly 22,000 soldiers joyously reunited with their families when they began returning last October. The base is also host to 29,000 soldiers from other units, which all contributed to what by August was an estimated 50 percent surge in births at WomackArmyMedicalCenter, the base hospital, compared with the previous year.
The community has turned this into a celebration. On Saturday, about 1,000 recent mothers and mothers-to-be gathered as guests of honor at Boots & Booties, billed as the largest military shower ever.
It’s been ever so and I suppose only the NYT would find this newsworthy… the phenomenon is common knowledge among military people. The article also reminds me of that ol’ joke we used to tell each other…ad nauseum… when we were deployed:
Q:You know what the second thing is I’m gonna do when I get home?
Best reason I’ve heard for an auto industry bailout:
Pierre LeBrun mentioned during the Hot Stove on HNIC (ed:that’s Hockey Night In Canada for the uninitiated) tonight the Wings have had a few conversations with Zetterberg’s agent, The numbers being tossed around are 8-10 years and $7-8M a year.
The two parties have not found that “sweet-spot” or else a deal would have been announced.
Al Strachan chimed in with this- If General Motors goes bankrupt, and it could very well happen, the Wings would not survive in Detroit. The city would be a ghost town.
My tongue is only partly in my cheek, ya know.(a week-old item from Kukla’s Korner)
While we’re talking Wings… another lil item from KK:
This season- Johan Franzen- 11 games played, 8 goals, 4 game winning goals.
Last season, playoffs- 16 games played, 13 goals, 5 game winning goals.
Last 16 regular season games of 2007-08- 15 goals, 6 game winning goals.
Totals in that time period- 43 games, 36 goals, 15 game winning goals.
Most major hockey markets, he would be in super star status, in Detroit, still known as the Mule!
It ain’t the number of goals that’s notable (although that is impressive); it’s the number of game winning goals.Now that’s amazing.
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R.L.Burnside on the state of the economy… or the outcome of the election.Take your pick.
“It’s bad you know…”R.L. is bad in his own right.God, but I love the riffs… harp, organ, vocals, you name it… in this tune.
But it’s warm and toasty inside… and the coffee’s good, too!
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Today we celebrate three years of blogging mediocrity.1,814 posts (not counting this one), an equal number of images (at the VERY least), half-baked opinions, and half-assed commentary on a wide range of subjects…most of which interest only me.Yet we continue.
I’m having one of those petulant net-connection days wherein I can get to some sites just fine (The Times (UK), The Guardian (UK), memeorandum), can’t get others to load (The WaPo, CNET’S bandwidth monitor), and some load, albeit verrry slowly (The NYT).There’s no rhyme or reason to it at all… but it sure as Hell is frustrating!I suspect my ISP has domain name service (DNS) issues… as I’m getting “looking up/connecting to the.site.in.question” messages in FireFox’s status bar while the hour glass indicates we’re working… without result.
I just hate it when this happens… especially on the weekend… coz that means the problem will likely persist until sometime Monday morning.It’s always sumthin…
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Today’s Pic: Helmet Hair, X2. SN3 and YrHmblScrb just outside El Casa Móvil De Pennington, July 2004.
Life is getting busier for SN1 these days.A recent e-mail exchange (sanitized, as far as addresses go):
From: (SN1).af.mil
To: (SN2) Felicity Natasha Sean Erma TFMP
cc: (YrHmblScrb)
Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Subject: FW: Interesting...
As dad pointed out…it is interesting. I’m on the initial investigation team…I’ve been at work for 16 hours today and am headed to the trailer to get some sleep.
I love you all!
Buck/Dad
Capt Ivan "Buck" Pennington
From: Buck Pennington [YrHmblScrb@His.E-Mail.Addy]
Sent:Thursday, November 13, 200810:24 AM (Ed: AOR-Time; sent at 12:24 AM MST)
To: Pennington, Ivan A Capt
Subject: Interesting...
Viper Burned: US Air Forces Central announced that an F-16 fighter deployed to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, caught fire Nov. 12 after its pilot aborted a takeoff around 5:40 a.m. local time. The pilot managed to get out of the aircraft on the ground, with no apparent injury, but the aircraft was destroyed in the fire. The Air Force planned to convene an accident investigation board.
I'll bet life's interesting for you right about now...
I’m pretty sure this is SN1’s third aircraft accident/incident investigation, but I’m not really keeping score in this space… it’s just something I’m aware of.SN1 is a graduate of a school the AF runs to train folks in the methods and procedures used to conduct these investigations, so I naturally assumed he just might be involved in this one.It turns out I was correct…
The Seven-Day Moving Average graph (thin green line) looks like the python that ate the pig, don’t it?That traffic spike you see is a result of a hockey post I put up on November 3rd.I had the great good luck to get noticed… and linked… by Greg Wyshynski (aka Puck Daddy at Yahoo! Sports) and the day’s traffic literally exploded.We’re back to normal now… toiling in obscurity as is our custom.Or fate.Whatever.
It was nice while it lasted (insert big ol’ grin here).
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Wanna see a COOL ad?Go to Cordura’s “Defend Your Base” for some interesting graphics and sounds… if you’re in to that military thang (it’s an ad for tee shirts).Don’t bother, otherwise.
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I’m suffering from insomnia yet again.I went to bed last evening at 2130 hrs and slept fairly well until 0030 hrs, at which time I began tossing and turning in an unsuccessful attempt to get back to sleep.I finally gave it up at 0200 hrs, rolled out, fired up the coffee pot and here I sit…Which kinda-sorta brings to mind the late and oh-so-lamented Dave Attell’s teevee show.You might remember Dave’s classic… “Insomniac” on Comedy Central.I sure do miss that show… but the web site survives!
Dave Attell suffers from insomnia, making him the true late night god. He roams the streets of our cities in search of a good time, heck, maybe you'll see him!Drunks and losers, Dwarves with limps, Flos and ho's and one-eyed pimps,down the alleyway they creep, they're all your friends when you can't sleep.
Come with me and you will see, a late-night-freak-show-Jubilee! Kick the Sandman in his sack; Stay up late - Insomniac!
Ah, well.Gone but certainly NOT forgotten.
I think I’ll go out for breakfast as soon as the rest of the world wakes up and then head over to Cannon Airplane Patch and get my annual flu shot.Big Day on tap, eh?
A moonbat fantasy.A compendium of fantasies, actually… it’s the whole nine yards.I’ll hand it to ‘em: this parody is VERY good.The print edition had to be pretty slick if it was half as accurate in the “look and feel” department as the ersatz web site is.Even the real NYT took note.Refresh the page a couple of times when (if) you go and pay attention to the faux ads in the lower right column… they’re howlers.Unless you’re of the Leftish persuasion, of course.In which case… there’s nothing funny about ‘em at all… just truth, as you know would like it.
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Do you use SiteMeter?If so… do you remember the gnashing and thrashing when they cut over to the “new and improved” SiteMeter that WASN’T?Wanna have some input on their latest proposed updates?You can test drive mock-ups of various reports and provide feedback to the development team by taking their survey here (you’ll need your SiteMeter ID handy).I think I spent maybe 20 minutes taking the survey… and I’m happy to report the new stuff looks pretty good.Much better than the flaming pile o’ crap they tried to roll out last September.I could live with it.
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Today’s Pics… or Broadening Our Horizons, Part Deux.The pics above were taken just before I grabbed up all the important bits and hit the verandah for Happy Hour yesterday afternoon. The last pic is a close up of one of my favorite beer vessels... purloined from the quintessential dive bar... and the very act of drinking from it makes me think of many, many good times, Gentle Reader.
But we digress. Some time ago I said I wanted to try Budweiser’s new American Ale once it became available in this part o’ the world.Well… it’s here in P-Ville and a sixer of same resides in my fridge.Check that: four bottles remain in my fridge after yesterday’s Happy Hour.The verdict: it’s not bad.You’re an astute person, Gentle Reader, if you think “not bad” is damning American Ale with faint praise.American Ale earns a passing grade with me, but only just barely.The folks at Beer Advocate have a higher opinion of the brew (collectively and on average) than I do.Witness:
That’s a pretty high grade! I’d give the beer a grade of “C.” Average, in other words… nothing special and nothing to write home about, but most definitely better than run-of-the-mill Bud. (Ed:Nothing to write home about?So why are you writing?) The beer is lovely to look at (I love the red-copper color and the way it positively shines in strong light), has a great malty aroma, but lacks substance… at least as I define substance. Overall it seems a little watery on the palette, and I prefer stronger tasting ales. Trippel, 1554, and Fat Tire are in absolutely NO danger of being replaced as the Beers of Choice here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington.
SAN FRANCISCO — There is a new common symptom of the flu, in addition to the usual aches, coughs, fevers and sore throats. Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors.
That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.
Tests of the new Web tool from Google.org, the company’s philanthropic unit, suggest that it may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In early February, for example, the C.D.C. reported that the flu cases had recently spiked in the mid-Atlantic states. But Google says its search data show a spike in queries about flu symptoms two weeks before that report was released. Its new service at google.org/flutrends analyzes those searches as they come in, creating graphs and maps of the country that, ideally, will show where the flu is spreading.
There are caveats and discussions/explanations on related issues (e.g., how Google addresses privacy concerns) at the link, but overall? “Flutrends” is an imaginative and useful application of technology.
(Flu virus image from National Geographic.com... where there's more great flu-related photography.)
(Ed note: Originally posted yesterday (11/11/2008)… but the post formatting was hosed and screwed up the blog for Internet Exploder users. Revised and reposted today; I removed yesterday's badly formatted post.
And Andy... I apologize, but your comments to yesterday's post are gone along with the offending post.)
An appropriate post for Veterans Day. Sent by SN1 this morning…more pics from the AOR.Captions as provided by SN1.
These are some of my troops…
MSgt Gena Harris on the right is the base engine manager, me, TSgt Jocelyn StDenis is the wing scheduler, TSgt Timmy Waters is a C-130 analyst, SMSgt Clark Sato is my superintendent, and TSgt Roger Perry is my wing analyst.
We’re in front of the Army “Hunter.” Crazy little airplane…toylike…
A bunch of MRAPs…About which SN1 sez:“We had a Veteran’s Day “Capabilities Display” over here…it was fun to walk around and see a couple of the interesting things the Army has going on…”Note the “photography restrictions” poster in front of the MRAP on the left.I couldn’t read the print in the large version of this photo, but the restrictions look pretty extensive!
And finally... this pic was taken by one of Buck's co-workers: Sunrise at Balad. Pretty nice, innit?
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
On Veterans Day, we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the men and women who in defense of our freedom have bravely worn the uniform of the United States.
From the fields and forests of war-torn Europe to the jungles of Southeast Asia, from the deserts of Iraq to the mountains of Afghanistan, brave patriots have protected our Nation's ideals, rescued millions from tyranny, and helped spread freedom around the globe. America's veterans answered the call when asked to protect our Nation from some of the most brutal and ruthless tyrants, terrorists, and militaries the world has ever known. They stood tall in the face of grave danger and enabled our Nation to become the greatest force for freedom in human history. Members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard have answered a high calling to serve and have helped secure America at every turn.
Our country is forever indebted to our veterans for their quiet courage and exemplary service. We also remember and honor those who laid down their lives in freedom's defense. These brave men and women made the ultimate sacrifice for our benefit. On Veterans Day, we remember these heroes for their valor, their loyalty, and their dedication. Their selfless sacrifices continue to inspire us today as we work to advance peace and extend freedom around the world.
With respect for and in recognition of the contributions our service members have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public holiday to honor America's veterans.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2008, as Veterans Day and urge all Americans to observe November 9 through November 15, 2008, as National Veterans Awareness Week. I encourage all Americans to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of our veterans through ceremonies and prayers. I call upon Federal, State, and local officials to display the flag of the United States and to support and participate in patriotic activities in their communities. I invite civic and fraternal organizations, places of worship, schools, businesses, unions, and the media to support this national observance with commemorative expressions and programs.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
GEORGE W. BUSH
Note 1: You can read the original Veterans Day Proclamation issued by President Eisenhower in 1954 here.
Note 2: Downloadable files of the official 2008 Veterans Day poster are available at the Department of Veterans Affairs web site (in various resolutions, up to an image suitable for printing at 11 x 14 inches, 300dpi).
Note 3: Sticky post (remains on top all day)... scroll down for updates.
A lot of folks… me included… typically respond with “Who gives a shit?” when Euro-Weenies opine on American politics. But there ARE exceptions to the “Who gives a shit?” rule, especially when it comes to the Brits. It’s that “special relationship” in play, in large part, and the fact that the Brits tend to look at America and see the best in us, rather than the worst (other Europeans do, too, although they’re in the minority on “the continent”). One such exception appears in today’s Daily Mail, under the heading of “The night we waved goodbye to America… our last best hope on earth.” Excerpts:
Anyone would think we had just elected a hip, skinny and youthful replacement for God, with a plan to modernise Heaven and Hell – or that at the very least John Lennon had come back from the dead.
The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilisation. At least Mandela-worship – its nearest equivalent – is focused on a man who actually did something.
I really don’t see how the Obama devotees can ever in future mock the Moonies, the Scientologists or people who claim to have been abducted in flying saucers. This is a cult like the one which grew up around Princess Diana, bereft of reason and hostile to facts.
It already has all the signs of such a thing. The newspapers which recorded Obama’s victory have become valuable relics. You may buy Obama picture books and Obama calendars and if there isn’t yet a children’s picture version of his story, there soon will be.
Proper books, recording his sordid associates, his cowardly voting record, his astonishingly militant commitment to unrestricted abortion and his blundering trip to Africa, are little-read and hard to find.
If you can believe that this undistinguished and conventionally Left-wing machine politician is a sort of secular saviour, then you can believe anything. He plainly doesn’t believe it himself. His cliche-stuffed, PC clunker of an acceptance speech suffered badly from nerves. It was what you would expect from someone who knew he’d promised too much and that from now on the easy bit was over.
He needn’t worry too much. From now on, the rough boys and girls of America’s Democratic Party apparatus, many recycled from Bill Clinton’s stained and crumpled entourage, will crowd round him, to collect the rich spoils of his victory and also tell him what to do, which is what he is used to.
Dang.That’s harsh. Author Peter Hitchens (Christopher Hitchens' brother, oddly enough) goes on at some length, and his op-ed is pretty much on the money, for the most part.I tend to disagree with his evaluation of The One’s acceptance speech, but NOT with his views on The One’s qualifications for office. I’m also in semi-agreement with his views on how things are likely to unfold in an Obama administration, but less so with his gloomy outlook on what this all means.Peter Hitchens delivery tends to be a little hyperbolic, but he does articulate my objections to The One fairly accurately.The op-ed is worth a read.
Let us bend over and kiss our ass goodbye. Our 28-year conservative opportunity to fix the moral and practical boundaries of government is gone--gone with the bear market and the Bear Stearns and the bear that's headed off to do you-know-what in the woods on our philosophy.
An entire generation has been born, grown up, and had families of its own since Ronald Reagan was elected. And where is the world we promised these children of the Conservative Age? Where is this land of freedom and responsibility, knowledge, opportunity, accomplishment, honor, truth, trust, and one boring hour each week spent in itchy clothes at church, synagogue, or mosque? It lies in ruins at our feet, as well it might, since we ourselves kicked the shining city upon a hill into dust and rubble. The progeny of the Reagan Revolution will live instead in the universe that revolves around Hyde Park.
[…]
It's not hard to move a voting bloc. And it should be especially easy to move voters to the right. Sensible adults are conservative in most aspects of their private lives. If this weren't so, imagine driving on I-95: The majority of drivers are drunk, stoned, making out, or watching TV, while the rest are trying to calculate the size of their carbon footprints on the backs of Whole Foods receipts while negotiating lane changes.
People are even more conservative if they have children. Nobody with kids is a liberal, except maybe one pothead in MarinCounty. Everybody wants his or her children to respect freedom, exercise responsibility, be honest, get educated, have opportunities, and own a bunch of guns. (The last is optional and includes, but is not limited to, me, my friends in New Hampshire, and Sarah Palin.)
Reagan managed to reach out to blue collar whites. But there his reach stopped, leaving many people on our side, but barely knowing it. There are enough yarmulkes among the neocons to show that Jews are not immune to conservatism. Few practicing Catholics vote Democratic anymore except in Massachusetts where they put something in the communion wafers. When it comes to a full-on, hemp-wearing, kelp-eating, mandala-tatted, fool-coifed liberal with socks in sandals, I have never met a Muslim like that or a Chinese and very few Hispanics. No U.S. immigrants from the Indian subcontinent fill that bill (the odd charlatan yogi excepted), nor do immigrants from Africa, Eastern Europe, or East Asia. And Japanese tourists may go so far as socks in sandals, but their liberal nonsense stops at the ankles.
We have all of this going for us, worldwide. And yet we chose to deliver our sermons only to the faithful or the already converted. Of course the trailer park Protestants yell "Amen." If you were handling rattlesnakes and keeping dinosaurs for pets, would you vote for the party that gets money from PETA?
In how many ways did we fail conservatism? And who can count that high? Take just one example of our unconserved tendency to poke our noses into other people's business: abortion. Democracy--be it howsoever conservative--is a manifestation of the will of the people. We may argue with the people as a man may argue with his wife, but in the end we must submit to the fact of being married. Get a pro-life friend drunk to the truth-telling stage and ask him what happens if his 14-year-old gets knocked up. What if it's rape? Some people truly have the courage of their convictions. I don't know if I'm one of them. I might kill the baby. I will kill the boy.
[…]
But are we men and women of principle? And I don't mean in the matter of tricky and private concerns like gay marriage. Civil marriage is an issue of contract law. A constitutional amendment against gay marriage? I don't get it. How about a constitutional amendment against first marriages? Now we're talking. No, I speak, once again, of the geological foundations of conservatism.
Where was the meum and the tuum in our shakedown of Washington lobbyists? It took a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives 40 years--from 1954 to 1994--to get that corrupt and arrogant. And we managed it in just 12. (Who says Republicans don't have much on the ball?)
Our attitude toward immigration has been repulsive. Are we not pro-life? Are not immigrants alive? Unfortunately, no, a lot of them aren't after attempting to cross our borders. Conservative immigration policies are as stupid as conservative attitudes are gross. Fence the border and give a huge boost to the Mexican ladder industry. Put the National Guard on the Rio Grande and know that U.S. troops are standing between you and yard care. George W. Bush, at his most beneficent, said if illegal immigrants wanted citizenship they would have to do three things: Pay taxes, learn English, and work in a meaningful job. Bush doesn't meet two out of three of those qualifications. And where would you rather eat? At a Vietnamese restaurant? Or in the Ayn Rand Café? Hey, waiter, are the burgers any good? Atlas shrugged. (We would, however, be able to have a smoke at the latter establishment.)
Those are lengthy excerpts from an article that is long, and I’ve barely scratched the surface.Yes, the article is long, but more importantly… it’s GOOD.I don’t believe I’ve read a more perceptive (and humorous) catalog of conservative failings… ever.There’s more than one reason I claim P.J. as one of my favorite authors… not the least of which is his sense of humor… but I love him primarily because of his sensibilities and his uncanny ability to put his finger directly on the pulse of sensible conservatives. “Sensible conservatives,” of course, is defined at El Casa Móvil De Pennington as me and those who think like me.My tongue isn’t completely in my cheek as I write this, ya know. I've been having friendly discussions (heh) with other, more strident conservatives in this space throughout the election season. To no avail, mostly.
I know a lot of folks who visit EIP don’t chase all the links I post. We all have limits on our time… understood. But if you read anything I link at all, then please read this. Especially if you claim to be a conservative… and even if you’re not (Lori!). You may disagree with O’Rourke in the end, but I’ll wager he’ll give you a LOT to think about.
Brevity is the soul of wit Saturday… since it’s Football Day and I’m otherwise occupied. But here are a few items for my politically-minded readers (both of ya!) that you’ve probably already read. First… the inimitable Charles Krauthammer with “The Campaign Autopsy” (via memeorandum and Real Clear Politics). Excerpts:
WASHINGTON -- In my previous life, I witnessed far more difficult postmortems. This one is easy. The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 -- caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Brothers, according to the police report) -- although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.
In the excitement and decisiveness of Barack Obama's victory, we forget that in the first weeks of September, John McCain was actually ahead. Then Lehman collapsed, and the financial system went off a cliff.
[…]
We don't yet appreciate how unprecedented were the events of September and October. We have never had a full-fledged financial panic in the middle of a presidential campaign. Consider. If the S&P were to close at the end of the year where it did on Election Day, it will have suffered this year its steepest drop since 1937. That is 71 years.
At the same time, the economy had suffered nine consecutive months of job losses. Considering the carnage to both capital and labor (which covers just about everybody), even a Ronald Reagan could not have survived. The fact that John McCain got 46 percent of the electorate when 75 percent said the country was going in the wrong direction is quite remarkable.
Senator McCain might as well have had one of those “Born to Lose” tats on his shoulder after the financial meltdown.As Krauthammer notes, even Reagan couldn’t have pulled this one off after the financial system…not just “the market”… tanked.Mr. Krauthammer has more and it’s good stuff… as usual.
Few will claim that "big government Republicanism" — or, as Goldwater referred to it, a "Dime Store New Deal" — is the wave of the future. Conservatives know that competing for the affection of voters by leasing their souls to corrupt lobbyists has been a fool's errand. Within days will come a restatement of minimalist government principles, especially by the economic right.
This will resonate immediately as President-elect Obama has espoused the most collectivist philosophy of any presidential candidate since George McGovern in 1972. As the newspapers are filled each day with articles detailing the failures and corruption of government at every level, it will be easy to hang the Democrats with this issue.
[…]
The social right will have a more difficult time putting the genie back in the bottle after eight years of being promised that the national government could achieve what they had been working for years to achieve at the state level. Yet again, since the national levers of power are now gone, practicality will force the social conservatives to go back to basics, and win the war for the culture at the local level.
From a practical standpoint, the results of the Nov. 4 election should not be disheartening for the Right. When Obama stuck to his teleprompter, he talked about tax cuts, family values, the Second Amendment and strong national defense. Without his teleprompter, he talked about a national police force, overturning state conceal carry laws, how health care is a "right" while his supporters salivate at the prospects of censoring, smearing and criminalizing conservatism.
Unlike Republicans, the Democratic leadership of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid understand power. Liberals will move to shut down talk radio, dressed up in the nicest of language of course. Only a few days ago, Schumer equated Rush Limbaugh with pornography.
I agree with nearly all of what the IBD has to say in this space, particularly with its view on the social conservatives’ agenda.State and local gub’mint is the place to go for this sort of stuff, not the federal gub’mint.But then again I’ve always thought this way… when I think about a “social agenda” at all, which is rare, indeed. I’ve never taken the trouble to lay out my political beliefs in detail (who the Hell cares, anyway?), so I’ll just repeat what’s in my Blogger profile:“Politically moderate, I'm conservative on foreign policy and national defense issues (surprise!) and liberal on social issues.”It all comes back to that ol’ saw:“You can’t legislate morality.”You shouldn’t even try.My mini-rant aside… there’s much to like in the IBD op-ed.
President Bush will soon be heading home and for many that day cannot come soon enough. Count me among those who will miss him and his bedrock decency.
He had a rough road from day one. His first inauguration struck me as a portent. I was there, shivering in the grandstands on Pennsylvania Avenue. At the exact moment the president heard "Hail to the Chief" for the first time and was announced to the audience, a sleet storm descended from the skies.
It has never let up.
Through it all Mr. Bush kept his head up and soldiered on. He took the criticism in stride.
Today is the birthday of one of my favorite chirps*… Joni Mitchell.The lovely Ms. Mitchell is (gasp!) 65 years old today.In celebration here are a couple of my very favorite Joni Mitchell tunes, beginning with “A Case of You” (which also features a very nice slide-show, with lotsa great vintage photos):
And… “Both Sides Now:”
No less an august institution than the Wall Street Journal was compelled to commemorate the occasion of Joni’s birthday. (Lengthy parenthetical aside: The credit goes to great good friend Lori, who tipped me to this article. Lori and I share a love of and for Joni... Ms. Mitchell was a bond between she and I in the way-back, and that bond remains. Joni got Lori and I through some pretty long and cold North Dakota nights all those many years ago and those nights are among my fondest memories.) So. Here are a few excerpts from that WSJ article (“A 65th Birthday Tribute to Joni Mitchell”):
Joni Mitchell turns 65 years old on Friday. As a milestone, reaching that age doesn't mean what it once did, but any opportunity to celebrate Ms. Mitchell and her work is worth seizing. Gifted and fearless, she remains among the finest singer-songwriters of the rock era, a title that doesn't quite accommodate the breadth of music and the audacity of her career. As David Crosby told me when I called him last week, "In a hundred years, when they ask who was the greatest songwriter of the era, it's got to be her or Dylan. I think it's her. And she's a better musician than Bob."
Mr. Crosby produced Ms. Mitchell's first album, "Song to a Seagull" (Reprise), which was released in 1968. Though she had a democratic approach to music, enjoying Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Edith Piaf and the scat-singing trio Lambert Hendricks and Ross, among others, she developed her skills playing folk in coffeehouses in western Canada, Toronto, Detroit and New York's Greenwich Village. On "Song to a Seagull," she's presented as fully formed -- a thrilling folk singer and gifted songwriter.
"It was the quality of her songs," Mr. Crosby said when I asked him what he found appealing about young Ms. Mitchell. "And the singing, and the instrumental ability. She was beautiful and intriguing, but the songs were so good." Her early catalog was so strong that she chose to omit from her debut album three of her compositions that had already been recorded by a variety of other singers -- "Both Sides Now," "The Circle Game" and "Urge for Going."
I’ve been a fan since 1970, at least, and perhaps slightly longer than that.Ms. Mitchell provided the sound track for a good portion of my life and most certainly the soundtrack for some memorable love affairs.Some Joni songs still bring a tear to my eye when I hear them… the memories are that strong, that vivid, that lasting.Part of that effect is the person (or persons) with whom I associate the memories, but it’s Joni that invokes the feeling.I owe the woman a lot… a whole helluva lot.
Apropos of something… The First Mrs. Pennington also turns 65 today.It would be churlish of me to not mention this… even though TFMP has never read EIP, to my knowledge.Her boys do read, though, and I don’t want either to think poorly of me.
Happy Birthday, Ramona.And many happy returns to you, too.
The First Mrs. Pennington (circa 1969) in our very tiny apartment in Wakkanai, Japan. That’s SN2 in the high chair.
So… I’m still in a bit of a funk today.I’m having the hardest of hard times coming to grips with the reality of the nation’s political situation, truth be told.Here’s part of an e-mail exchange I had with SN1 earlier today:
Me:So... here I am, waiting for the coffee pot to finish its magic. Yesterday was SUCH a strange day. I was up until 0400 yesterday morning, watching all the election returns (Missouri and N. Carolina still "too close to call" as I write), and up again just after noon. When I say "strange," I mean the feeling I get whenever I see The One's smiling face and hear people refer to him as "President-elect Obama." I've even said "President Obama" out loud a couple of times and it simply doesn't work for me. At all. I'm still in something akin to a mild state of shock. In my heart I knew McCain would lose, but the reality is very hard to accept.
What's the temp like among the troops? Most of the milbloggers I read have the typical military attitude... Obama will be the CinC, and that's that. Salute smartly and move on...
SN1:As for the local mood regarding the election…you hit it spot on. Here’s an excerpt from an email I wrote the kids:
Ok...now that the initial shock has worn off...
The beauty of our country is our ability to have an election, peacefully transfer the greatest power on the planet, and press on with our lives.
We'll be ok. I don't agree with the man on a lot of things...but he'll be the president and I'll support him, because he is our nation's leader. That's what we in the military do...we follow our leaders.
So you nailed my sentiments…and those of most around here…right on. I’m having a hard time imagining him as the CinC as well…I really don’t want to retire while he’s in office…another reason to stay in…
I’ve noticed in my ramblings around the ‘net… through the (primarily military) blogosphere… that the above opinions are nearly universal, and that comes as NO surprise to me.As SN1 stated… “that’s what we in the military do… we follow our leaders.”The key point is left unsaid, of course.But, just to clarify for readers of little or no military experience, there are two salient points in play here.
First and foremost: everyone who puts on the uniform of our country swears an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” and “I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me” (there are minor differences between officer and enlisted oaths, but let us not quibble over details).I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this oath, as it ends with the words “So help me God.”You swear the oath, you make a commitment in the presence of the Deity and invoke His help.This is NO small thing.It’s the very essence of what it means to be in the military and that essence remains a part of you as long as you live.Or it should, at any rate.There are always a few outliers.
Point Two:The President of the United States isn’t the President of the Democrat/Republican/What Have You Party… he’s the President of the United States, duly and lawfully elected to that office by the people.As such, the incumbent is OUR president, and that’s no small matter, either.I could launch a huge tangential rant about how annoyed I was with the Left for failing to realize this fact over the course of the last few years, but I’m sure you know where I’m coming from, Gentle Reader.And I flat REFUSE to become the right-wing equivalent of a moonbat by saying shit like “Obama isn’t MY president.”The people have spoken, for better or worse, and we’ll have another go at this four years on.In the meantime… I suggest any malcontents out there suck it up and get with the program.Otherwise?Vote with your feet.There are airplanes departing these shores every single day.Get on one and be gone, as you obviously don’t “get” what this country is all about.I’ll end this part of the rant right here… or, ‘nuff said.
One last point… I agree with what Cassie has to say on this subject:
It remains for us now to find a way to reconcile our political differences, for despite the rhetoric of hope and change our differences are stark and will not give way to the fuzzy talk that wins votes. This will require grace and magnanimity from the victors as well as restraint and willingness to forget old grudges from the losers in this contest. We need not forebear to criticize, but we should never undermine policy once Mr. Obama takes his oath in January.
And above all, let us respect the dignity of the office of the President. He has earned it by dint of the campaign he ran, as well as by virtue of the thousands of votes cast for him. It is well that there will be no unseemly haggling over the vote counts, as happened in 2000 and 2004. This has been a long contest and with two wars going on and an economic turndown to deal with, our energies will be best directed to the conversation about the America we want to leave for our children and grandchildren.
The good news is that we all still have a voice in that America. Let's roll our sleeves up and make it a better place.
John McCain's concession speech, just in case ya missed it (10:00 min):
My initial reaction to this speech last evening was there has to be just a little bit of buyer’s remorse amongst some Obama voters. Not the hardcore Obamanons, mind you... I'm thinking more of the cross-over vote and/or newly registered “Independents.” Senator McCain is a class act… a man of courage, integrity, and values.He would have made a great president.
I also watched Obama’s acceptance speech last night and it wasn’t all that bad.There wasn’t any substance in the speech (as usual), but he did say a few of the “right” things.Once again, in case ya missed it, here’s Obama’s acceptance speech (17:00 min):
I was up until 0400 this morning watching all the brouhaha.I’m tired, disappointed, and emotionally hung-over today (no alcohol hangover, thankyouverymuch).But I need to say one thing:I was SO very proud to be an American last night.Our democratic political system played out as it has so many, many times in the past.There will be yet another peaceful transition of power, with no blood in the streets, no riots, no threat of a coup d’état.There will be a recount or two where the results were close, but that’s about it. My bottom line:I may not like the results but I LOVE the process.
Flavia Nasini is an owner of A Tutta Birra, a shop in Milan that stocks many of Italy's great craft beers, as well as rare brews from around Europe.(Photo: Dave Yoder for The New York Times)
When you think of Europe and beer in the same space, most people think “Germany.”A few will think “England” (including YrHmblScrb), and the cognoscenti immediately think “Belgium!”But beer and Italy?You might think that’s a non-starter, as I did.If so, you need to read “Savoring Italy, One Beer at a Time.”Excerpts:
We celebrated our arrival with a couple of the brewery’s pilsner-style beers, a ubiquitous, often-overlooked style that Birrificio Italiano’s brewmaster, Agostino Arioli, has attempted to redeem with hoppier, more flavorful versions, traveling to Germany to select his own hops.
As we sipped our lagers, commenting on their vibrant bitterness, a jazz band set up on the pub’s small stage, beginning to play just as our appetizers arrived: a plate of poppy-seed toast with rich toma cheese and a sticky, gooey beer jelly, accompanied by a glass of the brewery’s Scires, a wine-like strong ale flavored with local cherries. Our main courses quickly followed: a chunky, inch-and-a-half-thick pork chop, and scottata alla piastra, a plate of paper-thin grilled pork fillets, both of which were marinated in the brewery’s malty Bibock ale, which made an excellent accompaniment. The same flavors showed up in our shared dessert: a panna cotta made extra sweet and slightly bitter with a dose of Bibock, which combined perfectly with the light dusting of chocolate on the pudding’s top.
As I finished the meal, I found myself thinking: If this is what Italy’s craft beers are like, they can keep the wines.
I keep finding reasons to renew my passport, and this is one of the best I’ve seen lately.Some of the descriptions of the food and drink in this article literally made my mouth water.The article also made me wish I lived in a place with good liquor stores, as well.I’d like to sample a few of the beers named in the article but that’s not even remotely possible here on The High Plains of New Mexico, where Bud, Miller, and Coors rule the roost… such as it is.Well, with the possible exception of the Class VI store out at Cannon Airplane Patch.Thank God for small favors.
―:☺:―
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… or however that saying goes.And in the hockey world, the Red Wings are drawing their share of flattery, beginning with the league-leading (at the moment) San Jose Sharks (“New-look Sharks out-Winging their opponents early on in season”).A few excerpts from the linked story:
The reverberations of the 2007 Stanley Cup victory of the Anaheim Ducks, it is fair to say, are still being felt.
The Ducks partially brawled their way to that title, and last season much of the Western Conference added muscle with which to confront Anaheim.
[…]
The Detroit Red Wings, needless to say, proved there was another way last season, riding skill, speed and Tre Kronor power to an impressive Stanley Cup title. The Wings hardly fought at all, didn't carry an enforcer and roared through the postseason.
That left the San Jose Sharks, to name one team, in a bit of a conundrum.
Follow the Ducks or follow the Wings?
Simply being the Sharks, after all, wouldn't do. That had become synonymous with strong regular seasons -- 418 points in four seasons -- and disappointing playoff pratfalls.
Well, for better or worse, the Sharks chose to imitate the Wings.
In fact, beating the Red Wings 4-2 in Silicon Valley on Thursday night boosted the Sharks to 9-2 on the season, the best start in San Jose franchise history. It was a game that came on the heels of an impressive win over the Eastern Conference defending champs from Pittsburgh, in which Sidney Crosby and Co. were held to just 11 shots by the stingy Sharks defense.
The Wings, it's fair to say, left town thinking they'd just played themselves.
[…]
"Not only are they the Stanley Cup champs," said San Jose winger Ryane Clowe. "But we stole their assistant coach."
That, of course, is the most concrete evidence that San Jose plotted to copy Detroit this season. Detroit assistant coach Todd McLellan was hired by the Sharks to replace the fired Ron Wilson, who was canned somewhat reluctantly by Doug Wilson and was immediately snapped up by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Well, hiring Detroit’s assistant coach certainly goes a long way towards implementing the Wings’ style, doesn’t it?The Sharks have been an impressive regular season team these past few years, yet have consistently failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs, come spring.This year might be a different story… and as noted above they’re certainly beginning the season with an impressive showing.
Yeah, it’s early days and a LOT can happen between now and the playoffs.And a lot can happen DURING the playoffs, as well.As Damien Cox says in his closing sentences:“It looks great now. When it comes to the spring, however, it will be a lot tougher to out-Wing the Wings.”
Wow!Yesterday was quite the day for football, eh?I began the day by switching back and forth between Florida – Georgia and Notre Dame – Pitt… but settled in with the ND game after it became clear that Florida was going to bury Georgia… literally (which was sometime towards the end of the first quarter of the Florida game).The ND game was certainly exciting… going, as it did, to four overtimes.Only the outcome was disappointing, as Pitt managed to go one field goal better than ND… in South Bend, for cryin’ out loud.It was a hard loss for the Domers… Charlie Weis:
"I think the next 24 to 48 hours, you know, it's a trying time when you come off a disheartening loss," Weis said. "You got to bounce right back. Get treatment tomorrow, and Monday morning come in and watch the tape, move on to BostonCollege. I think more than closing the game, I'm just worried about getting their psyche right for this week."
Weis' concern is understandable. This is the second game Notre Dame has lost late after giving up a double-digit lead. The Irish led North Carolina 17-6 before the Tar Heels marched back to win 29-24 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Well… Weis ain’t the only coach to suffer a tough loss.I’m thinking Mack Brown can empathize… but only about being on the losing end of a GREAT game… in addition to wondering what the Hell happened to Texas in the first half last evening (like the rest of football fans in these United States).I don’t mention Texas’ poor play to take anything away from Tech, because they played their hearts out and engineered one of the greatest finishes in college ball I’ve ever seen, bar none.I say “one of the greatest” only because I have seen similar comebacks in the past, but perhaps none with quite the impact of last night’s game (except for the 2006 Rose Bowl, of course).Texas almost managed to eke out a win last night, engineering a remarkable comeback in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter… only to see it all blow up in their faces with ONE second left on the clock.High drama, indeed.
I’m thinkin’ there are quite a few hangovers in Lubbock today.Austin, too, for that matter… but for entirely different reasons.The BCS standings should be very interesting when they’re released later on today.But for now, here are the AP and USA Today polls…
The AP Top 25 Poll (First place votes in parens, record, poll points):
So just to reprise: 
