MORE Stuff I Missed...

...but feel absolutely compelled to tell you about, Gentle Reader. Another interesting tidbit from Gerard:

Hillary needs better staff advance work. Monday she said, in a parting shot at Karl Rove when asked about his observation that she is a "flawed candidate,"

Mrs. Clinton:" Well, aren't we glad to see him go, I think is the answer to that. You know, I am thrilled to be running this campaign, and to be getting the response that I'm getting all over the country. I was in Pahrump, Nevada, just today, earlier. 2,500 people. I feel very good about where I am." -- OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today

One thing you don't want to say when you are a candidate for President is that you "feel very good" about being in Pahrump, Nevada. Pahrump, Nevada, is -- for those who know -- the whorehouse capitol of Nevada, and hence, as far as legal brothels go, the whorehouse capitol of the United States. Now that might be the normal metaphysical environment for politicians of all parties, but it just isn't done to glory in it.

You’ll laugh… you’ll cry…well, no, you won’t. Cry, that is. But you will laugh, and you might wanna chase a few of Gerard’s links, assuming you’re NOT at work. There are answers within to questions you may have never asked…

Looks Sorta Familiar

Gerard attends Seattle Hempfest, and provides LOTS of illustrative photos... including a couple that look strangely familiar. The photos above are Gerard's, the one below...mine.

This is from Austin's Bob Marley Fest, Y2K Edition. Same difference, divergent only in space and time. And this woman could move, Gentle Reader.

"Off the Grid." Literally.

Someone I think you’d like to know, assuming, Gentle Reader, that you appreciate excellent writing, adventure, and tales of the road less taken… Meet Lin, proprietress of the most-excellent blog If the Creek Don’t Rise. “If the Creek Don’t Rise” is the chronicle of a quasi-retired (Lin’s words) couple that moved from somewhere in Ohio to rural northern New Mexico to live a life “off the grid,” which means exactly what it says: no electricity, no running water, and miles away from the nearest paved road. I’m not sure exactly how long I spent reading Lin’s blog last night in terms of absolute time, but as the saying goes: “time flies when you’re having fun.” I read the entire blog last evening, which consists of 80 posts documenting nearly two years of forging a life that is most atypical, in the best possible sense of that word. And I’ve not been entertained as well, or as satisfyingly, in years. As I said to Lin in the comments to yesterday’s EIP post: “Anyone who says the American Pioneer Spirit is dead obviously hasn't read your blog.”

I think you’ll like her.

Back in a bit.

Sunday Diversions

OK…I fell for it… I started seeing the ads day before yesterday, and last evening I went to CavemansCrib. I spent at least an hour on the site and didn’t see everything. But I watched most of the videos. I listened to the answering machine messages. I read the text messages on his phone. I peeked through the annotated copies of Don Quixote and War and Peace in the library. I stumbled in on Our Host in the shower (and got yelled at). I perused the playlist on the mini-stereo. I listened to “Remind Me” all the way through. And I ogled the décor in the upscale apartment, including moving the Esperanto fridge magnets around to create silly sayings. In Esperanto. And it’s cool. Way cool. Lots of parody and satire, very little “Geico.”

Further on those anonymous “corporate” edits of Wikipedia (a topic in this post last Wednesday)…

And The New York Times Company is among those whose employees have made, among hundreds of innocuous changes, a handful of questionable edits. A change to the page on President Bush, for instance, repeated the word “jerk” 12 times. And in the entry for Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, the word “pianist” was changed to “penis.”

“It’s impossible to determine who did any of these things,” said Craig R. Whitney, the standards editor of The Times. “But you can only shake your head when you see what was done to the George Bush and Condoleezza Rice entries.”

Mr. Whitney was shaking his head because the NYT’s anonymous Wiki editors left out “poopy head” on the GWB page… The NYT editorial staff will provide more oversight in future anonymous Wiki edits. I'm sure.

I posted an article from Reason Magazine, a relatively low-circulation rag read mostly by Libertarians, on the War on Drugs the day before yesterday. Today, the lead article in the WaPo’s second section is…you guessed it…the War on Drugs:

The problem starts with prohibition, the basis of the war on drugs. The theory is that if you hurt the producers and consumers of drugs badly enough, they'll stop doing what they're doing. But instead, the trade goes underground, which means that the state's only contact with it is through law enforcement, i.e. busting those involved, whether producers, distributors or users. But so vast is the demand for drugs in the United States, the European Union and the Far East that nobody has anything approaching the ability to police the trade.

Prohibition gives narcotics huge added value as a commodity. Once traffickers get around the business risks -- getting busted or being shot by competitors -- they stand to make vast profits. A confidential strategy report prepared in 2005 for British Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet and later leaked to the media offered one of the most damning indictments of the efficacy of the drug war. Law enforcement agencies seize less than 20 percent of the 700 tons of cocaine and 550 tons of heroin produced annually. According to the report, they would have to seize 60 to 80 percent to make the industry unprofitable for the traffickers.

The article doesn’t break any new ground and doesn’t offer alternatives to the WoD. But it does offer some compelling tales of corruption, billions upon billions of wasted dollars, and ruined lives. And then there’s the terror connection…specifically the relationship between the Taliban, poppy growers, and the US government’s policies towards poppy cultivation — which may be summed up in one word: eradication. You wanna guess who’s winning and who’s losing that particular war, Gentle Reader? Pretty scary stuff.

I’ve read that the very definition of “stupid” is repeating the same action over, and over, and over again while expecting different outcomes. Sounds like the War on Drugs to me.

In The Times (UK)… “Scientists hail ‘frozen smoke’ as material that will change world.”

Aerogel, one of the world’s lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300C.

Scientists are working to discover new applications for the substance, ranging from the next generation of tennis rackets to super-insulated space suits for a manned mission to Mars.

It is expected to rank alongside wonder products from previous generations such as Bakelite in the 1930s, carbon fibre in the 1980s and silicone in the 1990s. Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said: “It is an amazing material. It has the lowest density of any product known to man, yet at the same time it can do so much. I can see aerogel being used for everything from filtering polluted water to insulating against extreme temperatures and even for jewellery.”

I’ve never heard of aerogel until now. But it sounds like pretty nifty stuff. (Do people use “nifty” any longer? Or am I dating myself, again?)

Local stuff: “Review for Special Operations Begins Monday:”

The wait to find out the future of Cannon Air Force Base is about over.

The Secretary of the Air Force is expected to review proposed changes at Cannon this week as part of the base’s switch to Air Force Special Operations Command.

Today marks the end of a 30-day public comment period on the final draft of the Environmental Impact Statement, the last hurdle in the 16th Special Operations Wing being placed at Cannon.

AFSOC is scheduled to assume command of Cannon Oct. 1.

Cannon was awarded the new mission in June 2006 after the 27th Fighter Wing was ordered shuttered during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure recommendations.

Under the proposal, the 16th Special Operations Wing mission would include 108 aircraft and more than 5,000 military personnel, civilians and contractors by the year 2010.

Review of the final EIS is expected to begin Monday, AFSOC spokeswoman Denise Boyd said.

“Everything we’ve been doing for the past year have been proposals but nothing could be firm,” she said.

The realignment of Cannon from ACC to AFSOC never was a “done deal.” But everyone is fairly certain it’s gonna happen. We’ll see now, won’t we? The interesting bit in all this is that Cannon is expected to grow about 17% over its current size when AFSOC moves in. And that’s good for the communities…Clovis and Portales…involved. Clovis, mostly, but Portales will experience growth, as well. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

And finally… from Good Buddy Ed in Florida, a little local color:

A Texas Tech graduate, a University of Texas grad and a Texas Aggie were sitting in a bar in San Antonio. The view of the river was fantastic, the beer was ice cold and the food exceptional.

"But," said the guy from Tech, "I still prefer the beer joints back in Lubbock. There's one place where the owner goes out of his way for the locals. When you buy 4 beers, he will buy the 5th."

The Longhorn said "Well, at my local bar in Austin, the owner will buy your 3rd drink after you've bought 2."

"Hell, that's nothin'," the Aggie responded. "Back in College Station there's this bar where the moment you set foot in the place they'll buy you a drink and keep them coming all night. Then when you've had enough to drink, they take you upstairs and see that you get laid. And it's all on the house."

The Red Raider and the Longhorn immediately doubted the Aggie's claims. "And this actually happened to you?" asked the Tech grad.

No, not myself personally," admitted the Aggie. "But it did happen to my sister."

I use “local” in the sense that Tech is just down the road a piece. And besides that, I loves me some Aggie jokes.

Today’s Pic: A member of a Brazilian samba troupe in elaborate costume at the Houston International Festival. (The festival spotlights a different country every year. The featured country at Festival 2000 was Brazil; this year it was China.) One wonders just how the woman could walk around in that get-up, let alone dance. But dance she did. I was mesmerized.

This is another of my first-generation digital camera photos…taken with a Kodak camera sporting a mere, measly one megapixel CCD. The camera was pretty good in its day, that day being the time when we were amazed that digital photography even existed at all, and didn’t give a whole lot of thought or care to things like resolution, etc. My how times have changed.

Houston. April, 2000.

Potpourri

I chased a link from Jules Crittenden’s place this morning and found the coolest blog title-header art I’ve ever seen. Period. Full stop. It’s a fairly simple illustration, consisting only of the words “Theo Spark” and “An Englishman’s View” (the blog’s name) along with a diving Spitfire, guns blazing, superimposed on the Cross of Saint George. And the art, as I said, is very well-done. The bonus, if you click the blog’s header, is that you are taken to Mr. Spark’s Flickr page…which has some pretty cool Photoshop work.

Oh. That link I was chasing? Just something to do with The Breck Girl calling Ann Coulter a “she-devil” during a campaign appearance. Crittenden suggested TBG is going down a slippery slope, and “she-devil” could lead to other, stronger, more hateful terms. While speculating on what some alternative words TBG might use, of course. Out of all the alternatives I like “Saucy Minx” the best. But then again, I’ve always liked Saucy Minx and its companion, “Little Minx.” I’ve used Minx, in conjunction with various adjectives, as a term of endearment every so often in the way-back. Really. I’m NOT kidding. I forget where I first heard the term, but I think it was in an old ‘40s gangster movie I saw as a child. Or maybe it was a cartoon. Dunno. Doesn’t matter.

In that fine ol’ SNL “Point, Counter Point” tradition (“Jane T-Rex, you ignorant slut!”) here’s what one of the Leading Lefty Lights has to say on the subject:

I like seeing the Edwards team on the offensive. Especially against the flailing maniacs of far-right broadcasting. Coulter has crossed the line so many times, and yet so few people press back with any kind of insistence. And it’s precisely the, “Oh, ignore her maybe she’ll go away” behavior set that allows her to keep popping up on Good Morning America and The Today Show like herpes.

We try oh-so-hard to be Fair and Balanced, ya know. Besides, don’t you just love a lil bit of unhinged ranting in the morning? Just a little, mind you.

Also via Crittenden, here’s an Iraq-war blog at Popular Mechanics. This is the second time in less than a month that Popular Mechanics has popped up on my radar screen. Excerpt:

War deliberations and post-firefight reactions back home can vanish during the 12-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week base-line duty of the average soldier in Iraq. So when line troops are swamped carrying gear from street patrol to street patrol, village raid to village raid, for up to 20 hours a day, they often don’t have the time for, or the luxury of, Internet access. And when they do get it, they’re not punching up CNN—it’s e-mails from home they’re reading.

During last month’s heated, all-night debate on Capitol Hill about when and if the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, I asked several military officers of different ages and ranks about their thoughts on a potential pullout. Nearly every one stressed how important his or her work here has been—and will be. “If we leave within months, Iraq will be a province of Iran,” one colonel said. “Everyone with any education or skills who hasn’t already left will end up leaving.”

And there’s more. (This piece is particularly good: “Rolling with Delta Company: High-Tech House Hunting in a Suburb Turned Al Qaeda Killing Ground.”) What you read will be familiar, Gentle Reader, since most of y’all read the same sorts of things I do: Milblogs. The simple fact that this sort of writing is appearing in more mainstream publications is encouraging…at least to YrHmblScrb. And the techie slant PopMech provides in their writing is just cool.

John Hinderaker at Power Line asks “Is Bill Moyers the most contemptible man in American public life?” Well, dang, John…there are a lot of candidates for that particular title these days. But Mr. Hinderaker’s video evidence of Moyers’ contemptible-ness is pretty danged strong. But given there are SO many contemptible people in our public life, the title might have to be shared. Or awarded on a weekly basis, with no limit on how many oak leaf clusters you can add to that particular medal. I’d say Moyers takes it. This week.

Today’s Pics: A couple of granddaughter shots from 2000's “Across the Top of America Tour,” both from Upstate NY. The first is Amanda and Anastasia in a quiet moment on a dock… (specific) location unknown (I take bad notes, if I take any notes at all. Which I usually don’t.) The second is Anastasia at a scenic overlook at one end of Lake George. Don't ask which end, Gentle Reader. Once again: no notes.

Eli(se)'s Comin'...

... and Jenny gets her wish. We're gonna get some serious rain in about five minutes from the looks of things. And it's 90 degrees out, too. (Update: It's Erin raining on our parade, not Elise. Gomen, ne?)

Happy happy joy joy.

Care to Dance?

So. I sorta quit paying attention to McNeil/Lehrer The News Hour last night about 20 minutes or so before it actually ended. I got wrapped up reading something or other, and by the time I looked up Jim Lehrer’s smiling face was gone and this had begun:

Live From Lincoln Center
Mozart Dances
Mostly Mozart Festival
Mark Morris Dance Group

It was the music that caught my ear, and I looked up. The Mark Morris Dance Group is pretty good, if you like that sort of thing. Understand, Gentle Reader, I could stick what little I know about “dance” in my eye and it wouldn’t hurt a bit. I’ve never been to a dance recital. This is the first recital I’ve seen on TeeVee, to the best of my recollection. So, it’s with a grain of salt you’d be taking when I say this was Modern Dance. I know it wasn’t ballet—no tutus. And it wasn’t folk dancing—no ethnic stuff. And I’ve come to the end of my dance-description rope, right here. Right now.

I stayed with the program…but only for the music (Mozart is my absolute favorite composer). I’m not much into watching half-naked men dancing around a stage— especially when they’re dancing with each other rather than with the women. And there was a lot of that, seemingly every other time I looked up from my reading.

And as for the women-only segments of the program? They were just OK, these segments. The women were beautiful and very well put together (in that athletic, dancer sort of way), the costumes were interesting, and the dancing complemented the accompanying music. There was a critical element missing, however, that ultimately impaired my enjoyment of the performance…

No poles.

Via blog-buddy Morgan, we get this link to a BBC article noting that “Depression is ‘over-diagnosed’.” And like Morgan, my immediate impression was “Gee. Ya think?” Excerpts:

Too many people are being diagnosed with depression when all they are is unhappy, a leading psychiatrist says.

Professor Gordon Parker claims the threshold for clinical depression is too low and risks treating normal emotional states as illness.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, he calls depression a "catch-all" diagnosis driven by clever marketing.

But another psychiatrist writing in the journal contradicts his views, praising the increased diagnosis of depression.

Professor Ian Hickie writes that an increased diagnosis and treatment of depression has led to a reduction in suicides and removal of the old stigma surrounding mental illness.

Under the current diagnosis guidelines, around one in five adults is thought to suffer depression during their lifetime. This costs the UK economy billions in lost productivity and treatment.

[…]

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "Depression can be a complex and challenging condition ranging from feeling low to being so disabled that the person may be unable to get out of bed in the morning, sustain relationships or work.

"It is not surprising that with such a wide range of symptoms, identification varies from one doctor to another.

One can go back and forth on this subject, spending endless hours in beer- or scotch-fueled debate, and I have. Speaking as an individual who’s been diagnosed in the past as “clinically depressed,” and further as an individual who spent a couple of months on Paxil as a direct-result of said diagnosis, I believe depression IS over-diagnosed. But there’s also merit in the counter-argument, regarding the reduction in suicides and such. I suppose it all depends on the accuracy of the diagnosis and the severity of the depression…which can range from feeling low to climbing out on that ledge.

My depression was pretty debilitating even though I was never suicidal. I suffered from the sort of depression that left me incapacitated, in that I would literally spend days on my couch staring blankly at the TeeVee from a fetal position…unable to go to work, feed myself, or perform even the barest of human functions, save relieving myself. It was pretty bad.

Still and even, I took myself off the Paxil after two months and after re-visiting my doctor (there are dire warnings about “stopping abruptly” in the drug packaging. God only knows what that means.) My personal experience… and I emphasize the “personal” here… was the depression, even in its worst stages, was preferable to walking around in a gauzy sort of haze where I felt nearly nothing. The drug “leveled me out” in such a way that I didn’t feel anything: no joy, no sadness, nothing. I hated that, and preferred the occasional bouts of “sleep on the couch” for days as opposed to being chemically numbed-up. It was sorta like Novocain for the psyche. Not good, in other words.

I still get depressed, although the bouts are mild and infrequent. But I’ll never resort to drugs for the condition, ever again. Unless I’m institutionalized, of course, and if I ever get to that point the situation will be well and truly out of my control.

One of my favorite hot buttons, again:

This is worth repeating. The FBI has determined that in some cases, it's better to let innocent people be assaulted, murdered, or wrongly sent to prison than to halt a drug investigation involving one of its confidential informants.

Could Murphy assure the U.S. Congress, Delahunt and Lundgren asked, that the FBI has since instituted policies to ensure that kind of thing never happens again?

Murphy hemmed and hawed, but ultimately said that he could not make any such assurance. That in itself should have been huge news.

Shortly after the Johnston hearings concluded, another informant scandal emerged.

Jarrell Bray, a longtime informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Cleveland field office, admitted that with the cooperation of DEA agent Lee Lucas, he had repeatedly lied in court to secure the convictions of innocent people. Bray said he and Lucas fabricated evidence, falsely accused people who had done nothing wrong, then concocted bogus testimony to secure their convictions.

Bray's admission could result in dozens of overturned convictions.

Dozens of overturned convictions? How about hundreds, if not thousands? These guys are out-of-frickin’-control. Please: Tell me how much good the “War on Drugs” is doing, will ya? Can ya? I doubt it. I really, seriously doubt it. This war, unlike some others that come to mind, is indefensible, pure and simple.

(h/t: Chap)

Today’s Pic: Didja know there’s such a place as Pennington, Minnesota? Well, now you do, and you have visible proof in the form of a hastily (and poorly) composed pic of El Casa Móvil De Pennington, in Pennington. Or something like that.

June, 2000.

Briefly...

I’ll break with my usual “don’t point folks at places they’ve already been” philosophy to encourage you to go to Blackfive and watch this video made by a Marine Staff Sergeant. Chances are you’ve already seen it (for reasons already stated), but then again…perhaps you haven’t. Go look. You won’t be sorry. I promise.

More Site Meter weirdness, or… “When once is not enough…”

Location:

Continent: Asia
Country: Vietnam
State/Region: Dac Lac
City: Ha Noi

Time of Visit: Aug 16 2007 7:46:20 am
Referring URL: http://www.google.co...m v%E1%BB%9Bi Google
Search Words: the trouser golden showerer

And he tells his Bud…

Location:

Continent: Asia
Country: Vietnam
State/Region: Long An
City: Ap Long Phu

Time of Visit: Aug 16 2007 8:34:04 am
Referring URL: http://www.google.co...%BB%9Bi Google&meta=
Search Words: the trouser golden showerer

Who tells his Buddy (or maybe it’s the first guy, coming back):

Location:

Continent: Asia
Country: Vietnam
State/Region: Dac Lac
City: Hanoi

Time of Visit: Aug 16 2007 8:47:49 am
Referring URL: http://www.google.co...%BB%9Bi Google&meta=
Search Words: the trouser golden showerer

Dang. I guess Fergie’s stained pants are really hot. For some people.

And now I’m gonna go for a quick ride before it gets too danged hot to wear my leather.

Late Night EIP

Which, of course, may very well serve as an excuse for a late post tomorrow. Or not.

Stolen from Sean at Doc in the Box:

Pretty poignant, eh? I particularly like the thought of the person who said “there are two kinds of secrets: those we keep from others and those we keep from ourselves.” How VERY true. As it’s said: “Denial” ain’t just a river in Egypt…

I’m semi-speechless at this: “Buy Low, Divorce High.”

FOR years, Michele Kleier, a real estate broker on the Upper East Side, knew why one of her most persistent clients was calling even before picking up the phone.

The client, a former high-ranking fashion executive and perpetual volunteer at her children’s private schools, was checking the price she could get for her nine-room co-op in a prewar building. When the market reached a high, she told Ms. Kleier, she planned to divorce her husband, sell the apartment and live on her share of the profits.

Last year, Ms. Kleier delivered the long-awaited news: Manhattan luxury apartments were at a peak. The client went through with her plan. Now the woman calls from her new condo in California, raving about the weather and the distance from her ex-husband.

By semi-speechless, I mean I can’t print what I’m thinking, as I try to keep EIP at a PG level. But ya know, this woman is awfully damned lucky she didn’t turn out to be another murder statistic. And I’m sure she absolutely, positively needs to be on the coast opposite that of her ex-. People, especially spurned spouses, have gone off the deep end over things a lot more trivial than this.

The article goes on to say, in part:

Economists are familiar with this phenomenon. Even though divorce rates are declining over all, as far back as 1977 the economist Gary Becker showed that couples experiencing any unexpected, drastic rise in net worth are at risk of divorce. (The same holds true for a drastic decline in net worth.)

I can vouch for this, from the “unexpected rise in net worth” perspective. Don’t ask how I know, Gentle Reader. It’s an ugly story that need not be repeated here.

(h/t: Gerard)

And while we’re perusing the NYT… there’s this: “A Grass Roots Effort to Grow Old at Home.” This article struck a chord with me, speaking as a “person of a certain age.” You’re generally invulnerable when you’re young; the awful truth of the matter becomes sadly apparent as one ages. And as we advance in age, our thoughts turn to how we plan to manage life’s end game. The options generally suck, to be blunt. Losing one’s independence is high on the list of not-so-good things that can happen when one grows old. That and the specter of debilitating illness in one form or another.

Ooooh, we’re NOT thinking positive thoughts, now, are we? Quick... Change the subject!

Well, now. I dunno quite what to think about this…

Moscow - A Russian region of Ulyanovsk has found a novel way to fight the nation's birth-rate crisis: It has declared Sept. 12 the Day of Conception and for the third year running is giving couples time off from work to procreate.

The hope is for a brood of babies exactly nine months later on Russia's national day. Couples who "give birth to a patriot" during the June 12 festivities win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.

Ulyanovsk, about 550 miles east of Moscow, has held similar contests since 2005. Since then, the number of competitors, and the number of babies born to them, has been on the rise.

Kinda brings new meaning to the term “personal day,” now…doesn’t it? Just supposin’…what would happen if you took the day off to procreate, but you or your significant other is on a birth control regimen? Would you still get the day off, even though your efforts could be construed as a “dry run?” Are there prerequisites for this sort of time off? Do you have to pass some sort of test? Sign an affidavit? Swear on the Holy Text of your choice that you’ll only indulge in …um… activities that are well and truly procreative? Lotsa questions, too few answers…

And Lori…there goes your fantasy, Girl! By official (Rooshian) gub’mint fiat, at that.

The World’s Strangest Laws, according to The Times (UK). Re: #14… I’m oh-so-glad I don’t live in Indonesia! This isn’t to be construed as an admission of any sort on my part. Just sayin’.

::snerk::

Miscellaneous Musings, Thursday Wednesday Edition

This is interesting: “See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign.” The title is self-explanatory, but the methodology used to ID “anonymous” Wikipedia editors— all of ‘em — is pretty danged creative. Gotta love those graduate students…

Note: I wrote this last evening right after I found and read the linked article. And this morning the whole freakin’ ‘sphere is trying to play “Gotcha” with the Wiki…so much so that the search tool’s author has disabled the “search by wikipedia page” function (“Specify by Wikipedia page -- Disabled until the onsalught of traffic wanes.”). This is one of the hazards of trying to “get ahead of the game” when blogging…the ‘sphere just moves too fast. And not sometimes, either. ALL the time.

So, I’m watching The WX Channel (once again: last evening), and I’m noticing it’s really hard for them to contain their excitement over Hurricane Flossie. Hell, they’ve even flown Jim Cantore to the Big Island, even though the hurricane is only supposed to graze the island and is diminishing in strength with each passing hour. But, Hell. We all have our boondoggles and I like Cantore, besides. He deserves an assignment that isn’t Mississippi or Florida, just for a change.

Suspicion confirmed… On the same subject: Hurricane Flossie? What kind of name is that? I’ve never heard of anyone named Flossie, let alone known anyone by that name. The first thing that came to my mind was some sort of animated cartoon my dentist might show to kids (he’s big on that sort of stuff…good on him). And I was right:

Flossie's pages contain smile, dental and Tooth Fairy related graphics, clip art, pictures, animations, art & drawings that you may use in your school reports, non-commercial web pages, etc. I hope you brush & floss your teeth at least twice every day. A pretty smile always lends a hand in making friends.

“Flossie” is also a 1974-vintage movie. And not a particularly good one if you believe IMDB’s user ratings. Other than that? Not a lot…aside from a British knitting blogger (Becky).

One final thought on hurricanes (for the moment): I’d LOVE to see a Hurricane Cruella. Just sayin’.

Ron Rosenbaum, writing in Slate, takes it to The Academy, in the form of one professor Stanley Fish:

It was Aug. 5, and professor Stanley Fish, the famous postmodernist and "guest columnist" for the New York Times, had some breaking news to expound upon in an op-ed piece. He had discovered a new development in American culture that deserved the kind of exegesis only he could deliver: the appearance of a new kind of coffee place.

Have you heard about these new coffee places? Professor Fish's column made it seem as though they had never been noticed or discussed before.

"Getting Coffee Is Hard To Do" was the title of his essay, which in its self-satisfied cluelessness may just qualify as the worst op-ed ever written.

“New kind of coffee place?” Now that’s right up my alley! Oh, wait…Starbucks. Starbucks? WTF?

Today’s Pic: OK…it’s NOT a photo. But it is kinda cute. SN3 demonstrating American Idol potential, of a sort.

Somewhere in Colorado. February, 2000. (He was almost three.)

A Minor Mystery and the Usual Stuff

(Note: mystery solved following a mere 15 minutes of googling after I initially wrote this first piece.)

What happened to Mike Fay? His blog, Fire and Ice, went dormant earlier this year without explanation, although I heard he was back in The Sandbox (not true). Now it appears that someone named “Cunnigham” (no typo, that) has commandeered Fire and Ice. Here’s a sample of the writing:

We no longer can swear United States Congress to impeach and take a awful president. The American Capital Post have published an op-ed piece by Henry Martin Robert Dallek that suggests a constitutional amendment to let "ouster by the people" for removing a president other than by impeachment or because of incapacity. Considering the dingy public presentation of Saint George W. Shrub and his disposal and the trouble in obtaining impeachment, this is a mulct idea.

Here are the chief characteristics of the amendment: The recollection process would get by obtaining a 60 percentage ballot in the Senate and House. Populace pressure level on United States Congress could assist it switch determination devising to the electorate. Congressional support would originate a national referendum that would be unfastened to all eligible electors in state elections. Clearly, it should be done fairly quickly.

This is an example of a total, complete waste of bandwidth, and not because of the ideology expressed, and I use “expressed” very damned loosely. It’s the piss-poor writing I’m upset with. Fire and Ice is neither who nor what it once was, and the interloper is gone from the blogroll (and replaced with the url of the real Fire and Ice). Not that the current squatter gives a damn, I’m sure.

I wonder if Mr. Fay knows what’s happening here.

Well, yes…yes he does. It took me a while, but the real WO Fay’s blog is here…he’s alive, well, and producing his usual high-quality stuff. As to the interloper…here’s the story:

First, my original blog, mdfay.blogspot.com, was blogjacked. As my previous post announced, thanks to a BBC link, my site's viewership went stratospherically off the charts. This, it turns out, was a mixed blessing. Someone decided that perhaps they could make a little extra fun money off of Fire and Ice. So they hacked in, changed the password, and made it theirs, sort of. There is no content at my old site, just a variety of links which I suppose are earning someone about three cents a month. Blogger was good enough to locate my content and repost it to mdfay1.blogspot.com with a new password.

Blogjacking. Who knew?

Now it can be revealed…the REAL reason Rove quit:

(2007-08-13) — Karl Rove, the chief adviser to George Bush since 1993, in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, said he would resign from the Bush administration effective August 31, to spend more time with family and to head up the presidential campaign of Democrat front runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.

Mr. Rove called the move “a cold calculated decision to remain in charge of the U.S. government indefinitely.”

“I crave power,” Mr. Rove told the Journal, “and I can’t get my fix working for a lame duck president. I’ve been informally advising future President Clinton for about a year. I have a lot in common with Hillary — mostly notably the ice water that flows through our veins and the unbridled lust to rule the nation with an iron fist.”

Heh. I think the moonbats would kinda like it, if it were true. But then again, Her Hillaryness has her very own Rove-analog…no need to outsource. Which is one of the things that scare me. Just one, mind you.

I haven’t seen today’s weather report from Hell, but one could safely bet it’s cold down there. Via David’s Medienkritik… a link to a lengthy (eight pages!) article in Germany’s Der Spiegel, a positive article about Iraq. A couple of excerpts:

In October, 90 "incidents" were reported in Tameem, an area no larger than a few city blocks in Berlin. Twenty of those incidents involved attacks on US troops by gangs of insurgents. Wherever the Americans went they were shot at from apartment buildings, three times with rockets and four times with rocket-propelled grenades. Sixteen remote-controlled bombs exploded along the neighborhood's streets, 14 homemade explosive devices were found and defused, snipers attacked the occupying troops twice and one hidden car bomb was found, ready for use. And so the story continued: throughout November, December, January and February.

[…]

Since June, Ramadi residents have only known the war from televison. Indeed, US military officials at the Baghdad headquarters of Operation Iraqi Freedom often have trouble believing their eyes when they read the reports coming in from their units in Ramadi these days. Exploded car bombs: zero. Detonated roadside bombs: zero. Rocket fire: zero. Grenade fire: zero. Shots from rifles and pistols: zero. Weapons caches discovered: dozens. Terrorists arrested: many.

Ramadi is an irritating contradiction of almost everything the world thinks it knows about Iraq -- it is proof that the US military is more successful than the world wants to believe. Ramadi demonstrates that large parts of Iraq -- not just Anbar Province, but also many other rural areas along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers -- are essentially pacified today. This is news the world doesn't hear: Ramadi, long a hotbed of unrest, a city that once formed the southwestern tip of the notorious "Sunni Triangle," is now telling a different story, a story of Americans who came here as liberators, became hated occupiers and are now the protectors of Iraqi reconstruction.

A remarkable turn-around, especially for Der Spiegel. If you follow the link to Medienkritik, you can see examples of previous Der Spiegel articles that aren’t so…um…positive. And there’s also a link to Victor David Hanson’s latest column where VDH says the turn-about in attitude isn’t all that surprising, given that the same sort of thing is happening, albeit slowly, in the US Congress. Both the Hanson piece and the Spiegel article are worth your time…

 

Today’s Pic: Another photo from this year’s vay-kay, similar to another pic previously posted. SNs One and Three posed with the mo’sickles, just before departure to points both known and unknown. A good time was had by all…

Fort Collins, CO. May. This year.

Another Week... and Summer's Nearly Gone

So, didja go outside last night or early, early this morning to watch the Perseid meteor shower? I stepped outside last evening around 2230 for 15 minutes…just before I went to bed… and came up empty. No meteors. I got up at 0430 this morning, lit off the coffee pot and spent about an hour outside, or until the eastern sky started getting pink. Grand total: three meteors. Not quite what I’d call a “shower.” But the three I saw were spectacular. There’s something mystical about meteors…the flash of intense light across the black sky and the faint trail they leave strike some sort of primeval chord. Did you know there’s a folk story associated with The Perseids? You can read it here…

The Second Mrs. Pennington and I watched The Perseids in the summer of 1977, when I was stationed up in North Dakota and lived in Big Sky country. We grabbed a blanket, stocked up the cooler, drove out of town to an isolated bluff, parked the car, and spent hours on the hood of my old ‘72 Chevy Nova, leaning back on the windshield, watching the shower and talking about our future together. And the Perseids were truly a shower that year, Gentle Reader. We must have seen a meteor a minute for at least three hours. Truly awesome and impressive, it was. But this morning? Not so much.

From Air Force Magazine’s Daily Report (an e-mail newsletter I get):

Turning Back the Maintenance Clock: The Air Force may be returning to a structure in which aircraft maintainers work for operations. Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley would like to see the service "structured by mission and not by function," reports SSgt. J.G. Buzanowski. Moseley's predecessor-Gen. John P. Jumper-made the shift away from this arrangement primarily to give young maintenance officers a more dedicated career path to maintenance leadership positions. Now, Moseley believes that "moving maintenance units to the flying squadrons is best" and notes that the "partnership between crew chief and aircrew goes back to our roots." However, he says that this structure may not suit all flying squadrons. He is gathering feedback from squadron, group, and wing commanders. Most appear to agree, but Moseley says the verdict is still out. "I'm convinced this is absolutely the right thing to do for fighters, but I'm still getting input on whether it should apply to UAVs, airlifters, tankers, and special operations aircraft as well."

And from that linked article above (“career path”), here’s General Jumper holding forth on flying and fixing jets:

To make this new concept of operations work, one of the first things the service must do is ensure it has the right individuals in charge of maintaining aircraft. "The two hardest things we do in our Air Force [are to] fly and fix airplanes," Jumper said. There is a well-established flying career path that young pilots can follow to reach leadership positions, he said, but there is no similar path for those who fix airplanes--the maintainers.

It’ll be interesting to get SN1’s perspective on this, as his job is “maintenance officer” …in fighters. So, it certainly sounds like Buck will be working for the wing commander in the near future…this reads like a “done deal” for the fighter community. Ops and maintenance are close by definition, but I get the feeling the relationship is often adversarial when the functions have different low-level priorities. But the mission is the same, obviously. And the Devil will be in the details.

Perspective:

Of course, one suicide bombing or IED is one too many, but every society is violent in its own way. The 58 killed by IEDs and suicide bombers in Khost could be compared with the 2006 murders in some American cities with around Khost's one-million population: There were 29 murders in San Jose, 108 in Indianapolis, and 373 in Detroit.

Just one interesting little fact out of many I took away from “On the Road to Jalalabad; Don't believe the naysayers. Afghanistan is doing as well as anyone has a right to expect,” in today’s WSJ. The author opens her article with a direct rebuttal to Her Hillaryness, to wit:

AFGHANISTAN--Sen. Hillary Clinton has cynically charged that we are "losing the fight to al Qaeda and bin Laden" in Afghanistan. But on my eighth trip to Afghanistan (last month) I saw that the trend lines are up, not down.

Hillary? Cynical? Get OUT! I recommend reading the article if you want or need good news from the front… Or, you could just listen to Hillary. This IS America; you do have a choice.

Today’s Pics: When all else fails…like imagination…Yellowstone is always good for a pic or two. These are self-explanatory.

May, 2000.

And On the Seventh Day...

…he rested went to the commissary.

Short and Sweet?

Copped from Gerard…

I guess I gotta start watching The Daily Show. That was pretty good.

This is pretty danged strange. Click the pic on the left (for full-screen detail) and notice the search term, which I’ve highlighted for your convenience, Gentle Reader. Now scroll on down to this past Thursday’s post and look at the second entry in the “Imagine the disappointment” section. Notice the time stamp on that search for good looking boy pics (I’m paraphrasing for what I hope are obvious reasons).

No coincidence, this. And I’m wondering: What the Hell does this mean?

Today’s Pic: Street scene in Prague, just below Wenceslas Square. Ah, but the girl-watching in Prague is good. More of the same here. Better pics, too. Taken during the Great European Divorce Tour of 1999.

Meat, Red (Two Types)

MY kinda gal!

MARTHA FLACH mentioned meat twice in her Match.com profile: “I love architecture, The New Yorker, dogs ... steak for two and the Sunday puzzle.”

She was seeking, she added, “a smart, funny, kind man who owns a suit (but isn’t one) ... and loves red wine and a big steak.”

[…]

Red meat sent a message that she was “unpretentious and down to earth and unneurotic,” she said, “that I’m not obsessed with my weight even though I’m thin, and I don’t have any food issues.” She added, “In terms of the burgers, it said I’m a cheap date, low maintenance.”

Salad, it seems, is out. Gusto, medium rare, is in.

[…]

In fact, red meat on a date has become such an effective statement of self-acceptance that even a vegetarian like Sloane Crosley, a publicist at Random House, sometimes longs to order a burger.

“Being a vegetarian puts you at a disadvantage,” Ms. Crosley said. “You’re in the most basic category of finicky. Even women who order chicken, it isn’t enough.” She said she has thought of ordering shots of Jägermeister, famous for its frat boy associations, to prove that she is “a guy’s girl.”

“Everyone wants to be the girl who drinks the beer and eats the steak and looks like Kate Hudson,” Ms. Crosley, 28, said.

Word, Ms. Crosley!

Stephen Green, the Vodkapundit, had a similar message on August 1^st, to wit:

Something needs to be said: Meat is sexy.

It needs to be repeated: Meat is sexy. It needs to be drilled into the minds of our children: Meat is sexy. It needs to be printed on placards and on billboards of half-naked women draped in furs: Meat is sexy.

I dunno who followed whom, but both individuals are on-target, in my book. I suppose I could have a satisfactory relationship with a vegan woman, but I kinda doubt it…unless it was someone like Sloane Crosley, who obviously gets it. Most vegans, in my limited experience, seem to be a lot like most ex-smokers…they want to convert you. I understand the risks of painting a class of people with broad brush strokes, but…it is what it is. After all, a lot of those “Meat is Murder” tee shirts are being bought and sold. And I’m not talking about these.

Today’s Pics: Plane pr0n of a completely different sort. I grabbed an opportunity during my travels hither and yon to stop alongside of the road and watch a crop duster at work…and to take pictures, obviously.

These guys have always fascinated me in that they do some spectacular flying, and it’s generally out of the general public’s sight. A lot of crop dusters work with a spotter, an individual who is on the ground and usually carries a large flag. The spotter assists the pilot in determining how to line up for his next pass over a field, given that fields are large and applying the chemicals effectively and appropriately takes multiple passes. I had an interesting conversation with this particular duster’s spotter while I took these pictures…the distaff side of a husband and wife team who have been “in the business” for over 20 years. Most illuminating, it was.

Somewhere in the Heartland. May 15, 2000.

A Sad, Sad Tale

Child abuse? Ab-so-frickin’-lutely. The Readers Digest version of this story: Radical Feminist is raising a Potential Rapist because her 14 year old son looks at internet porn. But it’s worse than that, Gentle Reader. A lot worse.

There are many, many things in this world to get exercised about, and in the general scheme of things this might be a nit. Or not, depending upon the breadth and depth of this young man’s scars. There are quite a few links in Mr. Riehl’s post…but the ONE link that is most instructive is this one. One needs to scroll down and read “Sexy Time with BitingBeaver's Hubby” in order to (somewhat) understand this "womyn’s" issues with men. I say “somewhat” because…well, (a) Biting Beaver’s description of the anecdote leads one to believe her experience was consensual and (b) her subsequent reactions/actions…especially regarding her son… are irrational and extreme. I’m not going to get into whether BDSM is wrong, right, normal, or whatever. But if it had been ME in Biting Beaver’s shoes, I’d have walked at the mere suggestion of such activity.

As it stands, her behavior towards her child is abusive. There are no other words to describe it.

Just sayin’.

(h/t: Lex. The comments to Lex’s post are interesting, to say the least.)

Back in a bit…

Update: I changed the post to put the word "womyn" in scare quotes, lest you think I've gone over the edge into total batshit craziness, Gentle Reader. Dunno why I didn't do this originally...

PS

So...I chased that "women looking for sex in Portales" Google-search link (immediately below) and found this. Scroll down to the bottom of the page (the site is work-safe) and check out the eight women pictured there.

If those women are from Portales, or anywhere near Portales (and that includes, Pep, Clovis, etc.), then I'm the Pope.

Bless you, My Child.

Thursday, Part Deux

Laundromat AAR: The laundry bag is empty, the clothes are put away, and if it weren’t so danged early I’d pop a beer and try to recover from the traumatic experience that is the laundromat. I’ve only occasionally run into folks with whom I can have a pleasant conversation with while doing laundry; today wasn’t one of those days. Nope…today was Morbidly Obese Women’s Day at the local washateria. Not plump, not large, but morbidly obese… as in 300 pounds or so. Four of ‘em. Complete with Ritalin-deprived children pushing those little wire baskets on wheels all over the place while giving their lungs some serious exercise. Continuously, for the first 20 minutes I was there. Then they left.

Thank God for small favors. I was left wondering just exactly who would mate with such women. They couldn't have possibly gained all that weight in only four years or so, which was the approximate ages of the little monsters playing with the laundry carts. A mystery, that.

I frickin’ HATE laundromats. Have I mentioned that before? I think I might have.

Now this is Way-COOL!

You’ve heard of air pollution and noise pollution? Don’t look now, but another depressing form of toxicity is taking the fun out of life: ad pollution. That’s the creeping commercial crud that has sapped the pleasure out of TV, faxes, e-mail and, of course, radio. These days, it seems as though AM radio has 52 minutes of ads an hour.

But you have an alternative. Internet radio stations offer an endless smorgasbord of audio entertainment. Some of it is a simultaneous broadcast of what’s on from NPR, ESPN, the BBC and so on; others are Internet-only stations that serve both mainstream and niche tastes. The variety is staggering, all of it is free, and it is largely uncluttered by ads.

Trouble is, to listen to Internet radio, you pretty much have to sit at your computer all day. Why doesn’t somebody invent a physical radio that can tune in all of this streaming goodness? Not a stereo component or computer peripheral, but a true-blue old-time tabletop console, with a row of preset buttons and built-in speakers?

Somebody finally has. Several somebodies, actually. Companies like Roku, Com One, Revo, Terratec and Tivoli have all produced tabletop or bookshelf radios that are freaky hybrids of the old and new. You tune into radio shows just as you have for decades, but the radios’ antennas are internal Wi-Fi receivers that connect to a wireless home network. Talk about good reception: these radios can pull in any of 10,000 Internet radio stations from all over the world, without a single pop of static.

I won’t buy one. Well, not until I resume a conventional sort of life, anyway. As it stands I can listen to Radio Paradise …and do… from anywhere within El Casa Móvil De Pennington, and often when I’m outside, if the windows and door are open. All I have to do is turn it up. While my ‘puter doesn’t provide the sound quality (or the sheer volume) my stereo does, it’s perfectly adequate. Just ask my neighbors. But an internet radio that isn’t a computer IS a way-cool idea.

Pictured is the Phoenix radio (one of five boxes featured in the article), about which the NYT sez: “(Com One, $250). This model is made to move, thanks to its small size and weight (just over two pounds) and its ability to run on four AA batteries. Indeed, it’s the only portable stereo Internet radio here; the others are all monaural.”

Dang. I wish I had been here last night, instead of in P-Ville:

Mr. King was headlining his own tour, the B. B. King Blues Festival, which made a local stop at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden (formerly known as the Theater at Madison Square Garden). So it’s his party, but he makes a lot more of these in-between monologues than the average concertgoer might want. Maybe it’s just that he knows his physical limits. (It’s no joke to be 81, with diabetes and one-nighters scheduled into the foreseeable future.)

[…]

Etta James was to be on the tour but canceled two weeks ago; she is recovering from complications after abdominal surgery. This left more time to the third performer on the bill, Al Green: about an hour and a quarter of magnificence.

In a tuxedo with cummerbund, gold star of David hanging from his necklace, and chewing gum, the Rev. Al Green spent the first 10 minutes laughing, singing a few newer songs, and delivering red roses to the audience. Then, with two synchronized male dancers working around him, he began a row of hits from the early 1970s: “Let’s Get Married,” “Let’s Stay Together,” “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” “Tired of Being Alone.”

I’ve seen Etta James…several times. But I’ve never seen Al Green. And The Reverend Green and B. B. King on the same bill? Priceless. I’m gonna go dig out an Al Green CD now…

Dang. Just DANG!

Today’s “imagine the disappointment” moment…is a tie. First:

Location:
State: New Mexico
City: Portales
Time of Visit: Aug 9 2007 11:26:38 am
Visit Length: 58 seconds
Referring URL: http://www.google.co...s&btnG=Google Search
Search Words: women looking for sex in portales
Out Click: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBarG7avGTv5GabzDBe4882yTHqIQNeuKcLNMJw3s7y-iWISn23ZqYptZpbrdzPCZQt6j-3RXBCzwX0mC1LYkllzrydDQ8sOzCZxdu9TO55tS62ofZIhbeydyTNdEI0pKtcSpSA/s200/Father and Friend.jpg

That was interesting, especially the out-click… but this?

Location:
Country: United Kingdom
State/Region: Norfolk
City: Saint James
Time of Visit: Aug 9 2007 10:43:06 am
Referring URL: http://www.google.co...ear old boys&spell=1
Search Words: pictures of a good looking 14 year old boys
Visit Entry Page: http://exileinportal...looking-kids-eh.html
Visit Exit Page: http://exileinportal...looking-kids-eh.html

Just weird.

Today’s Pic: Pelicans…yes, pelicans…on a mirror-calm lake somewhere in Yellowstone. I was up, out, and about quite early in the morning, if memory serves, and stopped by this lake to take in the sheer beauty of these graceful birds feeding on the lake. The picture just doesn’t adequately capture the moment, Gentle Reader. But it’s close.

May, 2000.