“I don't care what anyone says, the masses are morons. You can't count on them to pick good stuff. Just check out Network TV to see what the masses want for entertainment. It all sucks. Don't even get me started on how they vote for elected officials.” – Drew Curtis, owner of fark.com
(Probably depends on who “the masses” are.)
And in Dream Weaver land:
“Drew Curtis announced his candidacy on January 23, 2015 for the upcoming election for the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. With his wife Heather as his running mate, the platform revolves around a ‘Citizen Candidate’ philosophy of common sense and data-driven decisions, no experiments, leaving people alone, having no party alignment, and taking special-interest money out of the political process. The stated hope is to build a blueprint for regular, real people in all 50 states/commonwealths to be able to create constructive disruptions in a broken system, in order to run competitively in elections.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Curtis
Candidate site: http://drewcurtis.nationbuilder.com/
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
‘It is hard to stop cold turkey’
That’s the beginning of an internet motivational thingy.
Actually, stopping a cold turkey is no more difficult than stopping a warm one. Twelve-gauge does the trick.
Actually, stopping a cold turkey is no more difficult than stopping a warm one. Twelve-gauge does the trick.
Episcopal Church sticker
There are several at this site:
http://www.zazzle.com/episcopal+stickers
Some I at first thought were Confederate flags I had never seen before and maybe there should be a national movement to get rid of them.
http://www.zazzle.com/episcopal+stickers
Some I at first thought were Confederate flags I had never seen before and maybe there should be a national movement to get rid of them.
Some people should be shot
On April 30, an Offutt Air Force RC-135V pilot aborted takeoff when told of a fire in the galley area. Facts found in an investigation show some civilians should be shot.
“Parting lines and rough surfaces are both typical of a casting, whereas a machined or forged part is required by the specifications … The 4/5/6 fitting also showed uneven wear patterns, nicks, gouges, and large areas of exposed metal which would also be cause for rejection of the fitting ... AFRL/RXSA determined that fittings similar to the 4/5/6 fitting were last manufactured in 2003 ...”
The board president said cause of the fire “was the failure of depot maintenance personnel to assemble the oxygen system properly, specifically the high-pressure oxygen hose connection above the galley of the MA.” He does not address the age of the fittings or the apparent non-standard casting.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2298495/rc-135-offutt-afb-full-report.pdf
Is it inaccurate to think maintenance workers installing old parts know they are breaking rules of extreme importance? So, if L3 Communications procedure was/is using old parts, not only are supervisors at fault, but also the wrench turners. L3, in Greenville, Texas, performs almost all maintenance and avionics work on RC-135s.
The Aviationist magazine concludes: “The final report noted that L-3’s quality control failed to follow established procedures, and that L-3 installed used instead of new parts. Fleet-wide inspections are underway.”
http://theaviationist.com/2015/08/26/rc-135-take-off-aborted-offutt/
As long as we continue our forever wars, this kind of thing will happen, unless contractors and contract maintenance personnel are held to standards.
“Parting lines and rough surfaces are both typical of a casting, whereas a machined or forged part is required by the specifications … The 4/5/6 fitting also showed uneven wear patterns, nicks, gouges, and large areas of exposed metal which would also be cause for rejection of the fitting ... AFRL/RXSA determined that fittings similar to the 4/5/6 fitting were last manufactured in 2003 ...”
The board president said cause of the fire “was the failure of depot maintenance personnel to assemble the oxygen system properly, specifically the high-pressure oxygen hose connection above the galley of the MA.” He does not address the age of the fittings or the apparent non-standard casting.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2298495/rc-135-offutt-afb-full-report.pdf
Is it inaccurate to think maintenance workers installing old parts know they are breaking rules of extreme importance? So, if L3 Communications procedure was/is using old parts, not only are supervisors at fault, but also the wrench turners. L3, in Greenville, Texas, performs almost all maintenance and avionics work on RC-135s.
The Aviationist magazine concludes: “The final report noted that L-3’s quality control failed to follow established procedures, and that L-3 installed used instead of new parts. Fleet-wide inspections are underway.”
http://theaviationist.com/2015/08/26/rc-135-take-off-aborted-offutt/
As long as we continue our forever wars, this kind of thing will happen, unless contractors and contract maintenance personnel are held to standards.
We all should wear signs designating what we are, in order not to trigger offense … or something.
‘University of Tennessee to students: Diversity means using new made-up pronouns for trans students’
(Was a time “trans” meant “transportation,” as in trans-continental, trans-global.)
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/08/28/university-of-tennessee-to-students-diversity-means-using-new-made-up-pronouns-for-trans-students/
(Oh, wait! I know what we can do! We can have Christians wear yellow crosses and Jews wear yellow Stars of David. That way, we would know they are white racists or international bankers!)
“The University of Tennessee has told its staff and students to stop calling each other 'he', 'she', 'him' and 'her' - and to start referring to one another with terms like 'xe', 'zir' and 'xyr' instead.
“The Knoxville branch of the public university sent a memo round to its members filled with unusual new parts of speech to avoid referring to anybody's gender.
“According to a gay rights official at the university, the new language regime will make the university 'welcoming and inclusive' and stop people feeling 'marginalized'.
As we roll merrily along into the future...
“I must note that UT has amended the rule - after objections from staff, they say these are now recommendations which are voluntary, not mandatory rules. Thank you to commenter Witgren for pointing this out.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/28/1416427/-U-of-Tenn-To-Staff-And-Students-No-More-He-She-now-use-Xe-Zir-Xyr
(Was a time “trans” meant “transportation,” as in trans-continental, trans-global.)
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/08/28/university-of-tennessee-to-students-diversity-means-using-new-made-up-pronouns-for-trans-students/
(Oh, wait! I know what we can do! We can have Christians wear yellow crosses and Jews wear yellow Stars of David. That way, we would know they are white racists or international bankers!)
“The University of Tennessee has told its staff and students to stop calling each other 'he', 'she', 'him' and 'her' - and to start referring to one another with terms like 'xe', 'zir' and 'xyr' instead.
“The Knoxville branch of the public university sent a memo round to its members filled with unusual new parts of speech to avoid referring to anybody's gender.
“According to a gay rights official at the university, the new language regime will make the university 'welcoming and inclusive' and stop people feeling 'marginalized'.
As we roll merrily along into the future...
“I must note that UT has amended the rule - after objections from staff, they say these are now recommendations which are voluntary, not mandatory rules. Thank you to commenter Witgren for pointing this out.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/28/1416427/-U-of-Tenn-To-Staff-And-Students-No-More-He-She-now-use-Xe-Zir-Xyr
U.S. won-loss record not so great since The Big War
“I know this guy, a former fighter pilot in the Air Force. He flew F-16s, and is justifiably proud of it and considers the Air Force a wonderful organization. When I feel like ‘gigging’ him a little bit, I point out that the USAF has never been on the winning side of a war. The USAAF was on the winning side back in the day, but the USAF? Never.
“I was thinking about all the wars since 1954, when time began.
“Korean War
“War on Poverty
“War on Hunger
“War on Drugs
“Vietnam War
“War on Obesity
“War on Illiteracy
“First Gulf War
“War on Terror
“Afghan War
“Second Gulf War
“It hit me then, so I stopped. This isn’t anywhere near a comprehensive list. I haven’t mentioned Panama, or Grenada, or any number of other “wars”. But you know what? You know what hit me all at once?
“We’re France, except our cheese isn’t as good. Given our won-lost record in all those wars, we ought to be a little more careful. Somebody’s liable to get hurt one of these days.
“It might even be us, or more to the point, me.”
http://www.dailypundit.com/
(Our cheese ain’t so bad.)
“I was thinking about all the wars since 1954, when time began.
“Korean War
“War on Poverty
“War on Hunger
“War on Drugs
“Vietnam War
“War on Obesity
“War on Illiteracy
“First Gulf War
“War on Terror
“Afghan War
“Second Gulf War
“It hit me then, so I stopped. This isn’t anywhere near a comprehensive list. I haven’t mentioned Panama, or Grenada, or any number of other “wars”. But you know what? You know what hit me all at once?
“We’re France, except our cheese isn’t as good. Given our won-lost record in all those wars, we ought to be a little more careful. Somebody’s liable to get hurt one of these days.
“It might even be us, or more to the point, me.”
http://www.dailypundit.com/
(Our cheese ain’t so bad.)
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Ah, those racist Swiss are at it again
(‘Special trains for Chinese tourists’ might end spitting on floors of normal tourist trains, and lavatories will be properly utilized, i.e., used paper in the loo and flushing systems engaged.)
“A mountain resort in Switzerland is launching special train services for Chinese tourists to defuse tensions with other visitors, it is reported.
“Noisy throngs of Chinese tourists disturb those who visit Mount Rigi in the Alps in search of peace and relaxation, reports the Swiss newspaper Blick.
“They crowd the corridors while taking pictures from the train, there has been rudeness in packed carriages, and some even report seeing tourists spit on the floor, the paper says. Visitors from Asia have helped to bring the struggling local railway company back on track, but, according to its chief Peter Pfenniger, "their strong presence is a challenge".
“Almost half of the foreign visitors to Mount Rigi come from China following an advertising campaign there, and the number is growing. 'Rigi seems to be firmly in Chinese hands!' Blick exclaims.
“To help avoid any possible bad feeling, special trains have been laid on for tourist groups from Asia. Toilets are now cleaned more often, and signs have been put up ‘showing how to use them correctly’, the paper adds. In September, the number of train services for Chinese visitors is expected to rise to about 20 a week.
“This has not gone down so well in China. According to the Global Times newspaper, Chinese netizens criticised the Blick report, pointing out that the increasing numbers of tourists from Asia were a good opportunity to help Switzerland's economy.**
“The Global Times also quotes Mr Pfenniger as saying that Chinese tourists are still very welcome and will not be prevented from boarding ordinary trains.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-34085270
** We pay money, we spit on floor. China invent civilization, hairy barbarian.
“A mountain resort in Switzerland is launching special train services for Chinese tourists to defuse tensions with other visitors, it is reported.
“Noisy throngs of Chinese tourists disturb those who visit Mount Rigi in the Alps in search of peace and relaxation, reports the Swiss newspaper Blick.
“They crowd the corridors while taking pictures from the train, there has been rudeness in packed carriages, and some even report seeing tourists spit on the floor, the paper says. Visitors from Asia have helped to bring the struggling local railway company back on track, but, according to its chief Peter Pfenniger, "their strong presence is a challenge".
“Almost half of the foreign visitors to Mount Rigi come from China following an advertising campaign there, and the number is growing. 'Rigi seems to be firmly in Chinese hands!' Blick exclaims.
“To help avoid any possible bad feeling, special trains have been laid on for tourist groups from Asia. Toilets are now cleaned more often, and signs have been put up ‘showing how to use them correctly’, the paper adds. In September, the number of train services for Chinese visitors is expected to rise to about 20 a week.
“This has not gone down so well in China. According to the Global Times newspaper, Chinese netizens criticised the Blick report, pointing out that the increasing numbers of tourists from Asia were a good opportunity to help Switzerland's economy.**
“The Global Times also quotes Mr Pfenniger as saying that Chinese tourists are still very welcome and will not be prevented from boarding ordinary trains.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-34085270
** We pay money, we spit on floor. China invent civilization, hairy barbarian.
Dead lions and the Cult of Modern Liberalism
“Lion murderer?” Come on. You might as well call murderer the lion that killed the guide several days after popular, famous, known worldwide Cecil took a bullet. Lions kill people. A person can murder only another person. He can legally or illegally kill an animal (a non-person), but he cannot murder an animal.
But the purpose of Z Man’s column: “The anti-reactionary alternative is on display with Trump in the GOP primary. For all his faults, Trump is his own man and he has his own opinions about how to do things. In contrast, the 17 other candidates have built their entire political resumes in opposition to the Cult of Modern Liberalism. Their positions, career choices and priorities are all about what they think the Left will think of them. They are not men; they are shadows.”
“Arx-holes”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
But the purpose of Z Man’s column: “The anti-reactionary alternative is on display with Trump in the GOP primary. For all his faults, Trump is his own man and he has his own opinions about how to do things. In contrast, the 17 other candidates have built their entire political resumes in opposition to the Cult of Modern Liberalism. Their positions, career choices and priorities are all about what they think the Left will think of them. They are not men; they are shadows.”
“Arx-holes”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Bound for extinction?
Searching other stuff, I came across this:
http://www.zazzle.com/jackson+high+school+stickers
Vienna Jackson Generals, Stonewall Jackson Raiders, Jackson Indians, Saxony Lutheran Crusaders, Forest Hills Rebels.
For diversity inclusion we leave the general and go to the Velma Jackson Falcons, of Velma Jackson High School, Camden, Mississippi.
Number of students, 313; minority students, 100%; economically disadvantaged, 94%; proficient in English, 42%; proficient in algebra, 64%.
Evaluations by students (as written):
“Velma Jackson believe it or not is anice school, not matter how tired i get at times once you make it to school to people you know and pretty much grew up around things get better. the thing that is so good about this school is that it's not that big so it's more hands on and the classes are not that big so you can pay more attention and get more ouuta things. You do have teachers who care and want to see you do betta but it's not there fault that the students don't care or try. So, yes i would recomend this school to someone... not just for my kids!!!! – submitted by a student”
“Velma Jackson staff and students care all about sports now(thats why it is so hard for the teams to win and succeed. Yes back in 2006 and so on, it was fun and excited, but now VJ is boring and full of children running around like wild animals. The education is good, but students there dont really care about it. VJ teaching staff is never together, every year there is always a sum of teachers leaving (include the Principal). There a list of things I can say about VJ, but Im going to make this quick. I am a student here and if you have any sense you will not let your child become one. – submitted by a student”
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/mississippi/districts/madison-co-school-dist/velma-jackson-high-school-11350
(Whatever, we have to get rid of that damn flag and get a new name for every school named after racist slave owners.)
http://www.zazzle.com/jackson+high+school+stickers
Vienna Jackson Generals, Stonewall Jackson Raiders, Jackson Indians, Saxony Lutheran Crusaders, Forest Hills Rebels.
For diversity inclusion we leave the general and go to the Velma Jackson Falcons, of Velma Jackson High School, Camden, Mississippi.
Number of students, 313; minority students, 100%; economically disadvantaged, 94%; proficient in English, 42%; proficient in algebra, 64%.
Evaluations by students (as written):
“Velma Jackson believe it or not is anice school, not matter how tired i get at times once you make it to school to people you know and pretty much grew up around things get better. the thing that is so good about this school is that it's not that big so it's more hands on and the classes are not that big so you can pay more attention and get more ouuta things. You do have teachers who care and want to see you do betta but it's not there fault that the students don't care or try. So, yes i would recomend this school to someone... not just for my kids!!!! – submitted by a student”
“Velma Jackson staff and students care all about sports now(thats why it is so hard for the teams to win and succeed. Yes back in 2006 and so on, it was fun and excited, but now VJ is boring and full of children running around like wild animals. The education is good, but students there dont really care about it. VJ teaching staff is never together, every year there is always a sum of teachers leaving (include the Principal). There a list of things I can say about VJ, but Im going to make this quick. I am a student here and if you have any sense you will not let your child become one. – submitted by a student”
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/mississippi/districts/madison-co-school-dist/velma-jackson-high-school-11350
(Whatever, we have to get rid of that damn flag and get a new name for every school named after racist slave owners.)
Demotivational
“There are many scams on the internet, and for only $19.95 I can show you how to avoid them.”
That one came from http://frumscams.blogspot.com/2013/05/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold-learning.html
Which became even more demotivational in reference to “frum,” leading to a search, which led to pessimism at http://www.frumsatire.net/2012/07/08/50-ways-to-make-people-think-youre-frummer-than-you-really-are/
Much negativism and “Man, am I glad I’m not like them!”
For insight into frum, and other aspects of Yeshua, read The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus, by Nehemiah Gordon. The book is neither motivational nor de-, but quite informative.
That one came from http://frumscams.blogspot.com/2013/05/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold-learning.html
Which became even more demotivational in reference to “frum,” leading to a search, which led to pessimism at http://www.frumsatire.net/2012/07/08/50-ways-to-make-people-think-youre-frummer-than-you-really-are/
Much negativism and “Man, am I glad I’m not like them!”
For insight into frum, and other aspects of Yeshua, read The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus, by Nehemiah Gordon. The book is neither motivational nor de-, but quite informative.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
ObamaCare f …. messing with pizza? Oh, hell, no!
“Under ObamaCare, a Food and Drug Administration rule would require restaurants and food retail shops with over 20 locations, like pizza delivery chains, to post in-store menus displaying nutritional information.
“Pizza chains argue this would be particularly tough for them, and take extraordinarily large menu boards. Domino’s Pizza claims it offers 34 million different pie combinations; Pizza Hut boasted last year it can make 2 billion different pizzas. While the FDA has suggested restaurants can institute calorie ‘ranges’ for each pizza, one Domino’s franchise owner in Missouri guessed it would cost him $5,000 to build the boards -- though over 90 percent of Domino’s business comes in over the phone or online, and so most customers never see the in-store board.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/27/big-pizza-bucks-burdensome-obamacare-label-mandate/?intcmp=hpbt4
See that part from Domino’s? “over 90 percent of Domino’s business comes in over the phone or online …” So will Domino’s be required to have a recorded “Here are calorie counts for Domino’s 34 million combinations”?
“Pizza chains argue this would be particularly tough for them, and take extraordinarily large menu boards. Domino’s Pizza claims it offers 34 million different pie combinations; Pizza Hut boasted last year it can make 2 billion different pizzas. While the FDA has suggested restaurants can institute calorie ‘ranges’ for each pizza, one Domino’s franchise owner in Missouri guessed it would cost him $5,000 to build the boards -- though over 90 percent of Domino’s business comes in over the phone or online, and so most customers never see the in-store board.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/27/big-pizza-bucks-burdensome-obamacare-label-mandate/?intcmp=hpbt4
See that part from Domino’s? “over 90 percent of Domino’s business comes in over the phone or online …” So will Domino’s be required to have a recorded “Here are calorie counts for Domino’s 34 million combinations”?
DNC mistakes Polish vets for US vets
So there is the prez CIC, shaking hands with men and women in brown uniforms and peaked, foreign-style hats, but the national Democratic Party can’t tell the difference between U.S. and Polish uniforms. This is the same Party that, during a salute to America’s military at its last national convention, showed Russian navy ships, and the same Party whose president talked about a “Navy corpse man” because he did not know how to pronounce “corpsman,” nor most likely even what a corpsman is. Oh, but we support our brave … Yeah, whatever.
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=61591
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=61591
Danger, Nazi treasure hunters! Danger!
“Polish authorities have warned treasure hunters to stop looking for a rumoured Nazi ‘gold train’ as it could be mined or carrying ‘dangerous materials’.
…
"’I urge the public to stop searching for the train until official procedures to secure the find are completed,’ a senior official at the Polish culture ministry said.
"’There may be hazardous substances dating from the Second World War in the hidden train,’ Piotr Zuchowski said in a statement on Thursday.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/poles-warned-off-gold-train-hunt/ar-BBm9Uii?li=BBgzzfc&ocid=HPCDHP
Tens of millions … hundreds maybe …
Oh, there might be dangerous materials. We should stay away.
Probably it will turn out like those two dozen Spitfires buried in Burma in 1945.
Wishin’ and hopin’ from us romantic-historical people, but as with much else in life, reality sucks.
…
"’I urge the public to stop searching for the train until official procedures to secure the find are completed,’ a senior official at the Polish culture ministry said.
"’There may be hazardous substances dating from the Second World War in the hidden train,’ Piotr Zuchowski said in a statement on Thursday.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/poles-warned-off-gold-train-hunt/ar-BBm9Uii?li=BBgzzfc&ocid=HPCDHP
Tens of millions … hundreds maybe …
Oh, there might be dangerous materials. We should stay away.
Probably it will turn out like those two dozen Spitfires buried in Burma in 1945.
Wishin’ and hopin’ from us romantic-historical people, but as with much else in life, reality sucks.
Do not let this person near a ballot box
Tourist comment after visiting Yellowstone Park:
"Our visit was wonderful but we never saw any bears. Please train your bears to be where guests can see them. This was an expensive trip to not get to see bears."
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/yellowstone-visitor-wants-park-to-train-bears-to-be-where/article_683c57d2-3322-5212-987a-06091d5b2a37.html
What part of “wild animal” does she/he not understand?
Link at www.fark.com
"Our visit was wonderful but we never saw any bears. Please train your bears to be where guests can see them. This was an expensive trip to not get to see bears."
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/yellowstone-visitor-wants-park-to-train-bears-to-be-where/article_683c57d2-3322-5212-987a-06091d5b2a37.html
What part of “wild animal” does she/he not understand?
Link at www.fark.com
Dr. Red Duke dies
The 86-year-old physician, divinity school graduate and former Army armor officer was 86.
http://www.khou.com/story/news/2015/08/25/famed-houston-surgeon-dr-james-red-duke-dies--86/32365975/
On Nov. 22, 1963, Duke was on duty at Parkland Hospital emergency room in Dallas.
“I right quick recognized that this was a fatal injury,” he recalled in an interview years ago.
His signature signoff on Texas television: “From the UT Health Science Center. I’m Dr. Red Duke.”
Link at www.fark.com
http://www.khou.com/story/news/2015/08/25/famed-houston-surgeon-dr-james-red-duke-dies--86/32365975/
On Nov. 22, 1963, Duke was on duty at Parkland Hospital emergency room in Dallas.
“I right quick recognized that this was a fatal injury,” he recalled in an interview years ago.
His signature signoff on Texas television: “From the UT Health Science Center. I’m Dr. Red Duke.”
Link at www.fark.com
Instead of “gender-neutral” bathrooms …
… why not “Transgender Facility?” That way, men who think they are women and women who think they are men can go to one bathroom and not intrude on the rest of us.
In Houston, a group opposed to a proposed ordinance that would allow “transgender men” to use women’s facilities and vice versa, has started its campaign, “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms!” Kudos and high fives.
I would not want my daughter asking her mother, “Mom, why is that man in the girl’s bathroom?”
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/houstons-proposed-bathroom-ordinance-endangers-women-and-girls-group
“There are 8345 registered and convicted sexual predators in Harris County. This just scratches the surface of this dangerous problem. These men could use this ordinance as a legal shield to threaten our mothers, wives and daughters.” – Jared Wilson, chairman of Campaign for Houston.
In Houston, a group opposed to a proposed ordinance that would allow “transgender men” to use women’s facilities and vice versa, has started its campaign, “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms!” Kudos and high fives.
I would not want my daughter asking her mother, “Mom, why is that man in the girl’s bathroom?”
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/houstons-proposed-bathroom-ordinance-endangers-women-and-girls-group
“There are 8345 registered and convicted sexual predators in Harris County. This just scratches the surface of this dangerous problem. These men could use this ordinance as a legal shield to threaten our mothers, wives and daughters.” – Jared Wilson, chairman of Campaign for Houston.
Lockstep Progressives and Republican “leaders”
On tax cuts and spending, “Both parties and their media arms work hard to keep such talk out of the public. The reason for that is it would reveal the truth of modern politics and that is both parties work in concert. It’s no longer an adversarial system. It is a game of good cop/bad cop and the American voter is the perp. Progressives get their social engineering and Conservatives get their looting.”
“The Tax Man,” http://thezman.com/wordpress/
There ain’t a hill of beans difference between D.C. Dems and the D.C. GOP, just as there is no difference between the TV news talking heads. All they do is talk to each other.
“The Tax Man,” http://thezman.com/wordpress/
There ain’t a hill of beans difference between D.C. Dems and the D.C. GOP, just as there is no difference between the TV news talking heads. All they do is talk to each other.
NYPD
On a recent trip to The City, our daughter bought NYPD T-shirts for my wife and me. I was hesitant to wear the shirt, since I was never part of the Department. Then I thought of the number of Yankees caps and “official team shirts” worn at games on TV. Those fans never played for the Yankees, but wear Bronx Bomber shirts.
In two different places on the shirts, there are notices that the shirts are licensed by The City. Maybe I could get one that says New York Public Library?
In two different places on the shirts, there are notices that the shirts are licensed by The City. Maybe I could get one that says New York Public Library?
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Adventures in tricycling
A couple of months ago, my wife decided we (I) need to do more exercising. She does water exercising three days a week. My physical efforts consist of walking from one room to another, taking out the trash can, bringing in the trash can, and taking the dogs to the park and back (a couple hundred yards round trip).
To make the exercise program more fun (strike “more”), my wife bought a bicycle for her and an adult Big Wheel (a.k.a. tricycle) for me. She said she would put the things together. She does not trust my getting up and down, or even walking straight, especially on the garage floor.
When the big boxes of cycles arrived, we noted the tools required for assembly – Philips head screwdriver, various Allen wrenches, an open-end wrench of specific size, and a pair of pliers with cable-cutting ability. We got all mentioned tools. Six months ago I had all those things and much, much more. But Priscilla and I decided we would not need tools at our new house in Florida. Neither of us foresaw purchase of “Some Assembly Required” cycles. Or any other kind of cycles.
With my tricycle and Priscilla’s bicycle still safely packed in their original boxes, and Priscilla away from the house for a few hours, I decided now was the time to assemble my mobility machine.
I opened the big box. The tricycle carries an American name that rhymes with Schwinn, but is was made in China. I sat in a chair in the garage and took out all the parts. I set the parts aside. I took out small boxes and opened each box, using a neat folding blade box cutter. The last box contained the seat, among other things. When opening the box, I saw a small slash in the seat. The box cutter is quite sharp. So, I’m going to have to go to Redneck Repair and buy a small roll of black duct tape to repair the seat.
Things like that happen.
I got the instruction book and read the warning titles, including one that said if I ignore some steps, I will surely die. Or be visited with plagues. OK. I read Step One, which requires Allen wrenches, needle-nose pliers, and grease.
Nowhere in the list of Required Tools printed on the outside of the box are the words “needle nose” or “grease.” Failure to use grease will result in mechanical failure, plus death and destruction and various plagues.
My wife will be home soon. The unassembled tricycle is taking up a few square feet of the garage – maybe 30, maybe 40. I will tell her about the grease and needle nose pliers. In my defense, by beginning assembly alone, I discovered a roadblock before she got settled in to putting the thing together. I’ll tell her that, too.
Former Red Sox pitcher suspended by ESPN for maybe pissing off Islamic terrorists
“On Tuesday, ESPN suspended former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for tweeting a meme comparing radical Muslims to Nazis... The tweet was offensive – to radical Muslims... And the compliant media breath a sigh of relief, having made the world safer for those offended by tweets – and more ignorant of the threat of radical Islam.”
http://www.woodpilereport.com/
http://www.woodpilereport.com/
The greatest baseball player of all times
There will not be another Babe Ruth, because no one will be the pitcher and hitter he was.
“100 years ago, in 1915, the Boston Red Sox were establishing themselves as one of baseball’s first dynasties, a thought that, for decades following, must have felt so impossibly far-fetched for New Englanders as to be some joke rotely planted in every official history of the game.
“In that same year, in which the Sox would win the World Series — a feat they would achieve again in 1916 and 1918 — the team featured a 20-year-old Ruth in his breakout season. As a pitcher. The lefty was 18-8, for a winning percentage just under 70%, with a 2.44 earned run average, a number he would lower to a paltry 1.75 the next year, taking the ERA crown in a field that featured no less a hurler than Walter Johnson, a man you could very well argue is the best pitcher in the history of the sport.”
…
What Ruth did with the Yankees “over the course of the 1920s would thrill a mathematician. The numbers, any way you crunch them, are surreal, folkloric, with Ruth out-homering teams, doubling and tripling the outputs of other stars, other all-timers. He wasn’t even as good an overall hitter as previously when he had his epic 1927 season, with a career best of sixty home runs.”
http://thesmartset.com/leaving-the-mound/
Hitting has been much the same since Ruth began launching bombs. Pitching has been trying to adjust ever since.
“100 years ago, in 1915, the Boston Red Sox were establishing themselves as one of baseball’s first dynasties, a thought that, for decades following, must have felt so impossibly far-fetched for New Englanders as to be some joke rotely planted in every official history of the game.
“In that same year, in which the Sox would win the World Series — a feat they would achieve again in 1916 and 1918 — the team featured a 20-year-old Ruth in his breakout season. As a pitcher. The lefty was 18-8, for a winning percentage just under 70%, with a 2.44 earned run average, a number he would lower to a paltry 1.75 the next year, taking the ERA crown in a field that featured no less a hurler than Walter Johnson, a man you could very well argue is the best pitcher in the history of the sport.”
…
What Ruth did with the Yankees “over the course of the 1920s would thrill a mathematician. The numbers, any way you crunch them, are surreal, folkloric, with Ruth out-homering teams, doubling and tripling the outputs of other stars, other all-timers. He wasn’t even as good an overall hitter as previously when he had his epic 1927 season, with a career best of sixty home runs.”
http://thesmartset.com/leaving-the-mound/
Hitting has been much the same since Ruth began launching bombs. Pitching has been trying to adjust ever since.
Wussification
Good Morning, America this morning had George Stephanopoulos and five women talking about something, and then there was a lead-in to the next piece – men wearing rompers.
But wait! There’s more!
A company called Spirit Halloween has a Caitlyn Jenner costume for trick or treaters this year. Of course, the touchy-feely class says the costume is “hurtful” and “transphobic.”
Let’s just go ahead and do away with all Halloween costumes, lest gorillas, witches, ETs, ghosts and others have their feelings hurt.
And, British actress Julianne Moore wants to change the name of the Virginia high school she attended. J.E.B. Stuart High just doesn’t make the grade these days. Not for the tender of feelings, anyway. Let’s hope school officials in Virginia see differently. Moore and some movie producer have started an internet petition. That’ll show those Confederate racists, by golly! We started a petition!
But wait! There’s more!
A company called Spirit Halloween has a Caitlyn Jenner costume for trick or treaters this year. Of course, the touchy-feely class says the costume is “hurtful” and “transphobic.”
Let’s just go ahead and do away with all Halloween costumes, lest gorillas, witches, ETs, ghosts and others have their feelings hurt.
And, British actress Julianne Moore wants to change the name of the Virginia high school she attended. J.E.B. Stuart High just doesn’t make the grade these days. Not for the tender of feelings, anyway. Let’s hope school officials in Virginia see differently. Moore and some movie producer have started an internet petition. That’ll show those Confederate racists, by golly! We started a petition!
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
‘Expert’ consultant shocked to find out Republican voters are pissed off at establishment Party leaders
Frank Luntz on the Hatred of the Establishment Revealed by a Pro-Trump Focus Group: "This is real. I'm having trouble processing it. Like, my legs are shaking."
—Ace
I'm shocked that he's shocked, and I do not mean that as a joke.
He is a professional. He is a focus-grouper and high consultant. I imagine he reads a lot of polls too, and probably runs some.
And yet he didn't know the anger brewing at the Establishment.
I am truly shocked.
No matter how low my estimations of our political class, they keep failing to meet my expectations.
I complained on Friday that the vaunted consultant class does not know the most elemental things about the "constituency" they're paid to advise clients about. I put "constituency" in quotes because it's quite plain they do not consider the actual grassroots voter as their constituency. In fact, they do not consider them at all.
I have previously said -- and I've said this a dozen times before, especially in the 2007 amnesty fight -- that the Establishment in DC, paid millions and feted as gurus of the political pulse of the nation -- knows far, far less than the base than the average low-level blogger who bothers to read his comments and talk with them.
By the way, of course: That's expressly the reason Andrew Breitbart read the comments, especially here. Well, one reason was that he simply enjoyed them. But the other reason, he told me, was to figure out where people, as a mass, were on issues, where their passion was, where they were going.
You would think that these well-paid consultants, claiming the ability to channel the sentiments of the party, would do this very most basic sort of research into the national mood.
It's all open source, assholes. You don't have to pay a dime to do what Breitbart used to, which is to use some program to suck up all comments into a file so he could read them when he didn't have the internet (on a plane, etc.)
But no -- High Guru Frank Luntz is shocked to the point of his legs shaking as the world reels beneath his feet to discover the grassroots really, really despises the Establishment, and no longer trusts them, and in fact considers them political enemies in the same way they consider the Democrats to be political enemies.
This is news to them.
Good work, assholes.
You're the Smart Ones, right? The "political elite" who employ all sorts of sophisticated and cunning techniques to divine the national mood, huh?
Did you ever think to ask them, Geniuses?
"You guys understand how significant this is?" Luntz asked the press breathlessly when he came back into the room behind the glass. "This is real. I'm having trouble processing it. Like, my legs are shaking."
"I want to put the Republican leadership behind this mirror and let them see. They need to wake up. They don’t realize how the grassroots have abandoned them," Luntz continued. "Donald Trump is punishment to a Republican elite that wasn't listening to their grassroots."
He's shocked to learn this! This is only said 50 times in any thread about Trump!
The group said Trump has their best interests in mind, while other Republicans are looking out for themselves. "We've got to show the Republicans that we've had it with them, that we will not be there every single time. They treat us like crap and they lie to us and promise us things and then they expect us to vote again," said a Republican woman....
Much of Trump’s support in the room seemed to stem from a weakness in the Republican party. The 2014 midterms did not usher in the conservative renaissance Republicans expected. Obamacare has still not been repealed, Congress is looking less likely to override a veto on the Iran deal, and there are still 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
The group of 29 went around the room, each supplying a single adjective for the legislative body that let them down after the 2014 elections. Congress "does nothing." It's "too old." "Useless." "Lame." "Inept." "Wrong party." "Cocktail party." "Gridlock." "Costly. "Sold out." "Sucks." "Douchebags."
The political class is useless and must be swept away, completely. Not only do they have an agenda contrary to most of the voters' interests, but even when it comes to the thing they're supposed to be good at, be experts at, they're totally incompetent and in fact absolutely pathetic.
I'll give Trump this much: He is right to call them "morons." They should be called what they are. They are failures, they are incompetent, and they're a disaster.
I'm sure they'll "hit all their numbers," though.
http://ace.mu.nu/#358682
—Ace
I'm shocked that he's shocked, and I do not mean that as a joke.
He is a professional. He is a focus-grouper and high consultant. I imagine he reads a lot of polls too, and probably runs some.
And yet he didn't know the anger brewing at the Establishment.
I am truly shocked.
No matter how low my estimations of our political class, they keep failing to meet my expectations.
I complained on Friday that the vaunted consultant class does not know the most elemental things about the "constituency" they're paid to advise clients about. I put "constituency" in quotes because it's quite plain they do not consider the actual grassroots voter as their constituency. In fact, they do not consider them at all.
I have previously said -- and I've said this a dozen times before, especially in the 2007 amnesty fight -- that the Establishment in DC, paid millions and feted as gurus of the political pulse of the nation -- knows far, far less than the base than the average low-level blogger who bothers to read his comments and talk with them.
By the way, of course: That's expressly the reason Andrew Breitbart read the comments, especially here. Well, one reason was that he simply enjoyed them. But the other reason, he told me, was to figure out where people, as a mass, were on issues, where their passion was, where they were going.
You would think that these well-paid consultants, claiming the ability to channel the sentiments of the party, would do this very most basic sort of research into the national mood.
It's all open source, assholes. You don't have to pay a dime to do what Breitbart used to, which is to use some program to suck up all comments into a file so he could read them when he didn't have the internet (on a plane, etc.)
But no -- High Guru Frank Luntz is shocked to the point of his legs shaking as the world reels beneath his feet to discover the grassroots really, really despises the Establishment, and no longer trusts them, and in fact considers them political enemies in the same way they consider the Democrats to be political enemies.
This is news to them.
Good work, assholes.
You're the Smart Ones, right? The "political elite" who employ all sorts of sophisticated and cunning techniques to divine the national mood, huh?
Did you ever think to ask them, Geniuses?
"You guys understand how significant this is?" Luntz asked the press breathlessly when he came back into the room behind the glass. "This is real. I'm having trouble processing it. Like, my legs are shaking."
"I want to put the Republican leadership behind this mirror and let them see. They need to wake up. They don’t realize how the grassroots have abandoned them," Luntz continued. "Donald Trump is punishment to a Republican elite that wasn't listening to their grassroots."
He's shocked to learn this! This is only said 50 times in any thread about Trump!
The group said Trump has their best interests in mind, while other Republicans are looking out for themselves. "We've got to show the Republicans that we've had it with them, that we will not be there every single time. They treat us like crap and they lie to us and promise us things and then they expect us to vote again," said a Republican woman....
Much of Trump’s support in the room seemed to stem from a weakness in the Republican party. The 2014 midterms did not usher in the conservative renaissance Republicans expected. Obamacare has still not been repealed, Congress is looking less likely to override a veto on the Iran deal, and there are still 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
The group of 29 went around the room, each supplying a single adjective for the legislative body that let them down after the 2014 elections. Congress "does nothing." It's "too old." "Useless." "Lame." "Inept." "Wrong party." "Cocktail party." "Gridlock." "Costly. "Sold out." "Sucks." "Douchebags."
The political class is useless and must be swept away, completely. Not only do they have an agenda contrary to most of the voters' interests, but even when it comes to the thing they're supposed to be good at, be experts at, they're totally incompetent and in fact absolutely pathetic.
I'll give Trump this much: He is right to call them "morons." They should be called what they are. They are failures, they are incompetent, and they're a disaster.
I'm sure they'll "hit all their numbers," though.
http://ace.mu.nu/#358682
When a candidate gets the left and the right scurrying, maybe he is on to something
Liberal/Progressive/Democrats and entrenched Republican leadership are as scared of Trump as they are of Europe’s national parties.
"Defaming Sweden Democrats as 'scrubbed up neo-fascists' and vilifying Europe's right as Sieg-heiling-nationalists (and connecting all to Trump and his American supporters) isn't just a disgrace; it's a cliche. And it's not just a cliche, it's a cliche of the Left. As with the "nativist" smears, conservative outlets are following the Left's playbook. The Right is using the same buzz-words and smears that the Left concocted not to further debate or refine our thinking, but rather to stop debate and freeze our thinking. It is in the same disastrous tradition of 'Red-baiter' and 'Islamophobe.' This is dirty-bomb terminology -- 'nativist,' 'neo-fascist,' etc. -- and is supposed to render the contaminated ones radioactive, then contained and finally disposed of."
http://dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/3130/Sex-Jack-Boots-Trump.aspx
Link at http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/08/gates-of-vienna-news-feed-8242015/#more-37153
"Defaming Sweden Democrats as 'scrubbed up neo-fascists' and vilifying Europe's right as Sieg-heiling-nationalists (and connecting all to Trump and his American supporters) isn't just a disgrace; it's a cliche. And it's not just a cliche, it's a cliche of the Left. As with the "nativist" smears, conservative outlets are following the Left's playbook. The Right is using the same buzz-words and smears that the Left concocted not to further debate or refine our thinking, but rather to stop debate and freeze our thinking. It is in the same disastrous tradition of 'Red-baiter' and 'Islamophobe.' This is dirty-bomb terminology -- 'nativist,' 'neo-fascist,' etc. -- and is supposed to render the contaminated ones radioactive, then contained and finally disposed of."
http://dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/3130/Sex-Jack-Boots-Trump.aspx
Link at http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/08/gates-of-vienna-news-feed-8242015/#more-37153
‘Half of Germans use Das Auto for sex’
The story doesn’t matter, but the “German” car pictured is a 1955 Ford pickup.
http://www.thelocal.de/20150821/half-of-all-germans-use-das-auto-for-sex
http://www.thelocal.de/20150821/half-of-all-germans-use-das-auto-for-sex
Death to the Southern Belle!
A movie channel last week ran an hour-long piece on the making of Gone with the Wind. The movie is not on my 50 favorites list. I’ve never been a fan of “Why Miss Scahlitt, whatevah do you mean?” accents, nor, especially, of the Lost Cause mentality – We would have won if only … The South lost because it was out-generaled and out-soldiered; in short, the Yankees fought better.
My wife and I both had ancestors in the fight. Her great-great-grandfather Martin Johnston was with the 5th Texas Infantry; my great-grandfather James Ward was with the 11th Texas Cavalry and then with Bourland’s Regiment on the Texas frontier.
Regardless of my opinion on the Southern Cause, I find ridiculous the idea of removing Southern images from American history. So, when an “educator” says we should “remove the Southern belle from her inglorious perch,” I know she intends to do harm to history.
The “educator” is Elizabeth Boyd, “a research associate in American Studies at University of Maryland.”
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/23916/
Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
Southern belles, Boyd says, “are surely racial symbols as much as any noose or flag.”
A woman in hoop skirt is as racist as a noose. Un-huh.
Well, as several of my aunts might say, “Bless her heart, she never was the sharpest knife in the drawer.”
My wife and I both had ancestors in the fight. Her great-great-grandfather Martin Johnston was with the 5th Texas Infantry; my great-grandfather James Ward was with the 11th Texas Cavalry and then with Bourland’s Regiment on the Texas frontier.
Regardless of my opinion on the Southern Cause, I find ridiculous the idea of removing Southern images from American history. So, when an “educator” says we should “remove the Southern belle from her inglorious perch,” I know she intends to do harm to history.
The “educator” is Elizabeth Boyd, “a research associate in American Studies at University of Maryland.”
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/23916/
Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
Southern belles, Boyd says, “are surely racial symbols as much as any noose or flag.”
A woman in hoop skirt is as racist as a noose. Un-huh.
Well, as several of my aunts might say, “Bless her heart, she never was the sharpest knife in the drawer.”
Nursing home conversation
"When people complain that X sucks now, but it used to be great, you're usually listening to nursing home conversation. All that people know is what was popular when they were young.
…
"You will never elect anyone to take the government apart. Once you know how to work it well enough to get in charge of it, you don't want to wreck it. You want to lord over it and add to it. No one wants the bulldozed empty lot where a Post Office once stood to be named after them."
http://sippicancottage.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-cover-charge-to-greatness.html
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
…
"You will never elect anyone to take the government apart. Once you know how to work it well enough to get in charge of it, you don't want to wreck it. You want to lord over it and add to it. No one wants the bulldozed empty lot where a Post Office once stood to be named after them."
http://sippicancottage.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-cover-charge-to-greatness.html
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
Saturday, August 15, 2015
You have two cows …
“The Ethiopian economy. You have two sheep. The government beats the sh*t out of them until they are convinced and admit they are cows. You go to prison for tax avoidance on the non-existent milk production.”
“Ukrainian economy: you have no cows, you have no problems...”
“North Vietnam economy:
“You have two cows.
“Even the cows have political connection; and you tell people you have five.
“South Vietnam economy:
“You have two cows.
“You have two cows.”
https://www.facebook.com/MikeHoskingBreakfast/posts/1008425705857657
Link at https://ricochet.com/
Cows all over the world mistrust governments and tax collectors.
“Ukrainian economy: you have no cows, you have no problems...”
“North Vietnam economy:
“You have two cows.
“Even the cows have political connection; and you tell people you have five.
“South Vietnam economy:
“You have two cows.
“You have two cows.”
https://www.facebook.com/MikeHoskingBreakfast/posts/1008425705857657
Link at https://ricochet.com/
Cows all over the world mistrust governments and tax collectors.
Friday, August 14, 2015
You’re gonna need a bigger cage
The largest shark ever filmed (or so say the videographers).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0fp7Evc4QA
Link at http://www.weaselzippers.us/231609-insane-new-video-of-the-biggest-great-white-shark-ever-filmed-surfaces/
And http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0fp7Evc4QA
Link at http://www.weaselzippers.us/231609-insane-new-video-of-the-biggest-great-white-shark-ever-filmed-surfaces/
And http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Grow a pair? Not likely
Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis said she will not issue marriage licenses to men/men and woman/woman “marriages.” Her decision produced this response from a resident:
"I will say that people are cruel, they are cruel, these people are cruel," said a tearful David Ermold, who was denied a license to marry his partner of 17 years. "This is how gay people are treated in this country. This is what it's like. This is how it feels."
Boo-hoo hoo-hoo hoo-hoo-hoo.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/clerks-office-defies-order-no-same-sex-marriage-licenses/ar-BBlGU30?ocid=HPCDHP
"I will say that people are cruel, they are cruel, these people are cruel," said a tearful David Ermold, who was denied a license to marry his partner of 17 years. "This is how gay people are treated in this country. This is what it's like. This is how it feels."
Boo-hoo hoo-hoo hoo-hoo-hoo.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/clerks-office-defies-order-no-same-sex-marriage-licenses/ar-BBlGU30?ocid=HPCDHP
The Communists among us
Looking for one thing, finding another.
Before mentioning Progressive/Liberal tries at eliminating the unpretty from history, I wanted to use Darkness at Noon as a reference point. To make sure I remembered right, I searched the title and discovered the book, although influential and successful, was never made into a movie partly because of Dalton Trumbo. A screenwriter, Trumbo is often mentioned as a Hollywood blacklist victim. But: “In The Worker, Dalton Trumbo openly bragged that the following works had not reached the screen: Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and The Yogi and the Commissar; Victor Kravchenko's I Chose Freedom; and Bernard Clare by James T. Farrell, also author of Studs Lonigan and vilified by party enforcer Mike Gold as ‘a vicious, voluble Trotskyite.’"
http://reason.com/archives/2000/06/01/hollywoods-missing-movies
Trumbo’s anti- or pro-Communism is not the point here; rather, the first HUAC investigations. “The first head of what eventually became the House Committee on Un-American Activities was New York Democrat Samuel Dickstein. As the recently declassified ‘Venona’ documents (decrypts of Soviet cables) reveal, Dickstein moonlighted for Soviet intelligence--not out of ideology but for money. Initially concerned with pro-fascist groups in the late 1930s, the committee after the war was dominated by right-wing Republicans, though its most loathsome figure was Mississippi Democrat John Rankin, a sulfuric anti-Semite.” (Same link.)
But Dickstein might suffer the indignity of revised history.
“Still, only within the last 18 months has an effort begun to remove Dickstein’s name from the handful of street signs that bear it—a laborious bureaucratic process led by a community organization that has pledged ‘to right an historic wrong.’”
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/samuel-dickstein-congressman-russian-spy-111641.html#ixzz3ihjmRPMI
History is not pretty; never was, never will be. But eventually, it might be found truthful.
Before mentioning Progressive/Liberal tries at eliminating the unpretty from history, I wanted to use Darkness at Noon as a reference point. To make sure I remembered right, I searched the title and discovered the book, although influential and successful, was never made into a movie partly because of Dalton Trumbo. A screenwriter, Trumbo is often mentioned as a Hollywood blacklist victim. But: “In The Worker, Dalton Trumbo openly bragged that the following works had not reached the screen: Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and The Yogi and the Commissar; Victor Kravchenko's I Chose Freedom; and Bernard Clare by James T. Farrell, also author of Studs Lonigan and vilified by party enforcer Mike Gold as ‘a vicious, voluble Trotskyite.’"
http://reason.com/archives/2000/06/01/hollywoods-missing-movies
Trumbo’s anti- or pro-Communism is not the point here; rather, the first HUAC investigations. “The first head of what eventually became the House Committee on Un-American Activities was New York Democrat Samuel Dickstein. As the recently declassified ‘Venona’ documents (decrypts of Soviet cables) reveal, Dickstein moonlighted for Soviet intelligence--not out of ideology but for money. Initially concerned with pro-fascist groups in the late 1930s, the committee after the war was dominated by right-wing Republicans, though its most loathsome figure was Mississippi Democrat John Rankin, a sulfuric anti-Semite.” (Same link.)
But Dickstein might suffer the indignity of revised history.
“Still, only within the last 18 months has an effort begun to remove Dickstein’s name from the handful of street signs that bear it—a laborious bureaucratic process led by a community organization that has pledged ‘to right an historic wrong.’”
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/samuel-dickstein-congressman-russian-spy-111641.html#ixzz3ihjmRPMI
History is not pretty; never was, never will be. But eventually, it might be found truthful.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
S**t is gonna happen
“I dropped my hand grenade over there, Drill Sergeant.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCcl8_sLoFw
If you want to shoot everybody who says "Allah Akbar," numbers 2 and 1 mortar fails take care of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak_L2cpyGZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCcl8_sLoFw
If you want to shoot everybody who says "Allah Akbar," numbers 2 and 1 mortar fails take care of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak_L2cpyGZA
Swiss farmer ordered to remove bells from cows
(Non-farming city folk claim bells keep them awake. Here is a suggestion: Put a lot of schnapps in your hot chocolate and drink before going to bed. You will sleep.)
The residents of a hamlet live in homes adjoining a pasture where the farmer keeps some of his 27 cows.
The conflict, which has attracted national media attention, began around four years ago when residents asked the farmer to take the bells off cows who had come from mountain pastures.
In November 2014 he appealed an order from the local municipal council for a night ban on the cowbells, the Blick newspaper reported at the weekend.
But last week a court decided on a complete ban after organizing an on-site inspection, the newspaper said.
The court noted that even at a distance of 80 metres residents were exposed to loud noise from the bells, which are traditionally used to keep track of cows that graze on Alpine pastures in the summer.
The ruling noted that the cows were kept in a fenced enclosure so bells (Kuhglocken) were not necessary for locating the animals.
The farmer argued that he remained concerned about runaway cattle, citing a past case in which a dog entered the enclosure and scared off the cows, Blick said.
But the judge remained unconvinced, saying that the interest of residents was more important.
But the saga is not yet over.
The farmer can appeal the decision through an administrative court, whose judgment could be further appealed to Switzerland’s supreme court.
http://www.thelocal.ch/20150810/farmer
Not only that, but: “a new study found that cow bells can damage the hearing and feeding habits of the alpine cows that wear them.”
http://www.thelocal.ch/20140925/study-sounds-death-knell-for-swiss-cow-bells
Linked from www.gatesofvienna.net
The residents of a hamlet live in homes adjoining a pasture where the farmer keeps some of his 27 cows.
The conflict, which has attracted national media attention, began around four years ago when residents asked the farmer to take the bells off cows who had come from mountain pastures.
In November 2014 he appealed an order from the local municipal council for a night ban on the cowbells, the Blick newspaper reported at the weekend.
But last week a court decided on a complete ban after organizing an on-site inspection, the newspaper said.
The court noted that even at a distance of 80 metres residents were exposed to loud noise from the bells, which are traditionally used to keep track of cows that graze on Alpine pastures in the summer.
The ruling noted that the cows were kept in a fenced enclosure so bells (Kuhglocken) were not necessary for locating the animals.
The farmer argued that he remained concerned about runaway cattle, citing a past case in which a dog entered the enclosure and scared off the cows, Blick said.
But the judge remained unconvinced, saying that the interest of residents was more important.
But the saga is not yet over.
The farmer can appeal the decision through an administrative court, whose judgment could be further appealed to Switzerland’s supreme court.
http://www.thelocal.ch/20150810/farmer
Not only that, but: “a new study found that cow bells can damage the hearing and feeding habits of the alpine cows that wear them.”
http://www.thelocal.ch/20140925/study-sounds-death-knell-for-swiss-cow-bells
Linked from www.gatesofvienna.net
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Massachusetts is still fighting Virginia
“The descendents (sic) of Puritan Yankees are bound together over one thing and that’s a deep hatred of the South. They used to hate the South because it represented the Royalist side of English life. Once the North was able to destroy the South and Royalist culture, things calmed down for a while. But, the fevered lunacy of the North was revived with the importation of new crackpot ideas from the Continent and the Cult of Modern Liberalism was born. Soon thereafter they went to war with the South again.”
‘We Have Always Been At War With The South’
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
If you take a map of the United States and consider movement from east to west, the New Englanders and Southerners settle two states beyond the Mississippi. After that, it’s a tossup, with Westerners having some inclinations from both.
(I don’t know who that “We” is.)
‘We Have Always Been At War With The South’
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
If you take a map of the United States and consider movement from east to west, the New Englanders and Southerners settle two states beyond the Mississippi. After that, it’s a tossup, with Westerners having some inclinations from both.
(I don’t know who that “We” is.)
Monday, August 10, 2015
Duck Dynasty
Jase Robertson: Si, you went to Vietnam. You had a heart attack. You're approaching seventy.
My wife to me: Check, check and check.
My wife to me: Check, check and check.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Headlines say…
But first, a little background.
Arlington, Texas, police go to an automobile dealership after a security company calls about a break-in.
“Officers arriving at the scene were advised that someone had driven a car onto the lot, started to damage another car, then drove his own vehicle into the glass front of the showroom.” The suspect “appeared to have kicked out the windshield of a car.
“Officers told (the suspect) to surrender and lie down on the ground, but he refused, the chief said. They saw him then trying to escape the showroom and pursued him.
“According to a police statement, an ‘altercation’ of some kind ensued and” a police officer shot the suspect.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/09/fbi-to-assist-in-probe-of-19-year-old-college-football-player-killed/?intcmp=hplnws
Now for the headlines:
Cops shoot unarmed teen
Cops shoot college student
Cops shoot football player
Arlington, Texas, police go to an automobile dealership after a security company calls about a break-in.
“Officers arriving at the scene were advised that someone had driven a car onto the lot, started to damage another car, then drove his own vehicle into the glass front of the showroom.” The suspect “appeared to have kicked out the windshield of a car.
“Officers told (the suspect) to surrender and lie down on the ground, but he refused, the chief said. They saw him then trying to escape the showroom and pursued him.
“According to a police statement, an ‘altercation’ of some kind ensued and” a police officer shot the suspect.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/09/fbi-to-assist-in-probe-of-19-year-old-college-football-player-killed/?intcmp=hplnws
Now for the headlines:
Cops shoot unarmed teen
Cops shoot college student
Cops shoot football player
Way back in the 2008 campaign …
… Joe Biden said he and his running mate would make sure no more coal-fired plants would be built in the U.S. Obviously, that would mean a huge downturn in U.S. coal production, with other countries picking up the slack. As in:
“(Bloomberg) -- Exports from South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal, the world’s largest single facility for the fuel, rose to a record in 2014.
“The terminal shipped 71.2 million metric tons last year compared with 70.2 million tons 12 months earlier, Chief Executive Officer Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane told reporters at the port on Tuesday. It also received 72.4 million tons by rail, 2.8 percent more than in 2013. This is the second year that deliveries and exports have exceeded 70 million tons. The target for shipments was 72 million tons.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-20/south-african-richards-bay-coal-exports-climb-to-record-in-2014
Under Obama/Biden:
“Coal producers strapped with high costs and debt are headed for extinction under President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
“They will be left to vie for 650 million tons of utility demand annually, compared with the more than 1 billion averaged during coal’s halcyon days at the turn of the century, BB&T Capital Markets Inc. in Richmond, Virginia, said in a report Monday before the formal release of the plan.
“Some were reeling even before the release of Obama’s proposal, which calls for a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions from 2005 levels, more than the 30 percent proposed a year ago. Alpha Natural Resources Inc. on Monday became the latest producer to seek bankruptcy protection.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-03/obama-s-clean-power-plans-will-kill-high-cost-coal-producers
Obama/Biden can’t take all the credit.
“Coal has seen its share of electricity generation fall to 36 percent from about 50 percent a decade ago, data from the Energy Information Administration show, largely due to competition from cheaper natural gas and to tougher environmental regulations.” (Second link.)
“(Bloomberg) -- Exports from South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal, the world’s largest single facility for the fuel, rose to a record in 2014.
“The terminal shipped 71.2 million metric tons last year compared with 70.2 million tons 12 months earlier, Chief Executive Officer Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane told reporters at the port on Tuesday. It also received 72.4 million tons by rail, 2.8 percent more than in 2013. This is the second year that deliveries and exports have exceeded 70 million tons. The target for shipments was 72 million tons.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-20/south-african-richards-bay-coal-exports-climb-to-record-in-2014
Under Obama/Biden:
“Coal producers strapped with high costs and debt are headed for extinction under President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
“They will be left to vie for 650 million tons of utility demand annually, compared with the more than 1 billion averaged during coal’s halcyon days at the turn of the century, BB&T Capital Markets Inc. in Richmond, Virginia, said in a report Monday before the formal release of the plan.
“Some were reeling even before the release of Obama’s proposal, which calls for a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions from 2005 levels, more than the 30 percent proposed a year ago. Alpha Natural Resources Inc. on Monday became the latest producer to seek bankruptcy protection.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-03/obama-s-clean-power-plans-will-kill-high-cost-coal-producers
Obama/Biden can’t take all the credit.
“Coal has seen its share of electricity generation fall to 36 percent from about 50 percent a decade ago, data from the Energy Information Administration show, largely due to competition from cheaper natural gas and to tougher environmental regulations.” (Second link.)
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Friday, August 7, 2015
She's a Jew, so she deserved what she got. Right?
'This child #WasBurnedAlive in West Bank, but you probably never heard of her.'
http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/08/this-child-was-burnedalive-in-west-bank-but-you-probably-never-heard-of-her/
http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/08/this-child-was-burnedalive-in-west-bank-but-you-probably-never-heard-of-her/
The other Fox News entertainment Thursday night
My comment at the Z Man's blog: "The Tourney O'Champions:"
“…the feel of a beauty pageant.” I thought the same, especially considering Fox’s ever-present blonde representative with the “Bring ‘em on out!” order, ‘cause the contestants need reminding who is in charge of this thing. Missing was Peggy Lee singing “Is That All There Is?”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
“…the feel of a beauty pageant.” I thought the same, especially considering Fox’s ever-present blonde representative with the “Bring ‘em on out!” order, ‘cause the contestants need reminding who is in charge of this thing. Missing was Peggy Lee singing “Is That All There Is?”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Fox News grammir … gramir … Whatever
Headline at foxnews.com: ‘Kirsten Dunst things Dakota Fanning is a better child actor than her.’
Than her what?
(I didn’t read the story, so I still don’t know which part Fanning is better than.)
Than her what?
(I didn’t read the story, so I still don’t know which part Fanning is better than.)
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Layoffs highest in four years
But not all were "real" jobs.
“The only good news here is that over half of the job cuts were the result of massive troop and civilian workforce reductions announced by the United States Army. Those cutbacks are shown to eliminate 57,000 from government payrolls over the next two years.”
No doubt lots of folks are joyous about that “good news.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-job-layoffs-reach-highest-level-in-4-years/ar-BBlrXzY
“The only good news here is that over half of the job cuts were the result of massive troop and civilian workforce reductions announced by the United States Army. Those cutbacks are shown to eliminate 57,000 from government payrolls over the next two years.”
No doubt lots of folks are joyous about that “good news.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-job-layoffs-reach-highest-level-in-4-years/ar-BBlrXzY
When it comes to field rations, soldiers are soldiers are soldiers
From a November 2012 edition of the Times of Israel, but as real as today. Or 40 years ago.
Especially the reservist who said the IDF rations “haven’t deteriorated to field rations just yet, but when they do, he has enough Tabasco to get him to Damascus and back.”
(I did not know Israeli soldiers knew of Tabasco. But, soldiers are soldiers, etc.)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-rationale-behind-the-rations/
Especially the reservist who said the IDF rations “haven’t deteriorated to field rations just yet, but when they do, he has enough Tabasco to get him to Damascus and back.”
(I did not know Israeli soldiers knew of Tabasco. But, soldiers are soldiers, etc.)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-rationale-behind-the-rations/
Dummy with a Ph.D.
Laura String got her Ph.D. in psychology two years ago. Her student loan debt is $250,000. Under a program initiated by President Obama, String’s repayment on that quarter-million is $100 a month.
She says: “I wouldn’t know how I would pay it back otherwise.”
Pay it back? You are not paying it back. By what kind of math do you determine $100 a month will repay that loan?
Here is real math: Divide 250,000 by 100. What do you get? Now, divide that by 12. That gives you the number of years it will take to “repay” the loan, not including interest. (208.33 years.)
Will a lending institution receive the money it loaned String? Well, yes, when you consider the U.S. government the repayer. But wait! The government itself has no income. So who will repay the majority of String’s loan?
Answer: Look in a mirror.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/student-borrowers-get-a-sweet-deal-and-taxpayers-get-the-bill/ar-BBlsaiu?ocid=HPCDHP
She says: “I wouldn’t know how I would pay it back otherwise.”
Pay it back? You are not paying it back. By what kind of math do you determine $100 a month will repay that loan?
Here is real math: Divide 250,000 by 100. What do you get? Now, divide that by 12. That gives you the number of years it will take to “repay” the loan, not including interest. (208.33 years.)
Will a lending institution receive the money it loaned String? Well, yes, when you consider the U.S. government the repayer. But wait! The government itself has no income. So who will repay the majority of String’s loan?
Answer: Look in a mirror.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/student-borrowers-get-a-sweet-deal-and-taxpayers-get-the-bill/ar-BBlsaiu?ocid=HPCDHP
Barf
Another of those wise saying posters: "People only rain on your parade because they’re jealous of your sun & tired of their shade."
Nonsense. People rain on your parade only if you let them.
Nonsense. People rain on your parade only if you let them.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
In the Sunshine State
When my wife and my daughter told me I would be moving to Florida, I pictured living in a 1950’s-style house – white concrete block, roof slanted front to back, front porch with a three-foot-high concrete block wall on three sides and steel poles supporting the roof, wide front crank-to-open front windows, linoleum tile floors. A large oak tree with Spanish moss would flank each side of the house, and a larger oak behind the house would shade the back yard. The house would have a car port. Large-leaf plants would grow in the front yard and back yard.
What I got was a brand new house in a gated community, a house set among dozens of same-style houses, with a yard too small for a riding mower and grass too thick for a push mower. (Too small to justify buying a riding mower, but not too small to pay someone on a riding mower to cut every week.)
My wife had a pool built, 12 feet by 24 feet and with a hot tub at one corner. The patio (lanai here) has pavers, as does the pool perimeter. The whole area is caged, to keep out leaves, grass, birds and kids. There is a mesh fence with two fastening gates across one side of the pool, also to keep out kids.
In the last week, we got so much rain we twice had to drain the pool by about three inches. Life is tough.
What I got was a brand new house in a gated community, a house set among dozens of same-style houses, with a yard too small for a riding mower and grass too thick for a push mower. (Too small to justify buying a riding mower, but not too small to pay someone on a riding mower to cut every week.)
My wife had a pool built, 12 feet by 24 feet and with a hot tub at one corner. The patio (lanai here) has pavers, as does the pool perimeter. The whole area is caged, to keep out leaves, grass, birds and kids. There is a mesh fence with two fastening gates across one side of the pool, also to keep out kids.
In the last week, we got so much rain we twice had to drain the pool by about three inches. Life is tough.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Having a smoke …
… after, you know, taking care of a soldier’s gun.
Ronnie, the Bren Gun girl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Foster#/media/File:VeronicaFoster-RonnieBrenGunGirl-smoke.jpg
Ronnie, the Bren Gun girl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Foster#/media/File:VeronicaFoster-RonnieBrenGunGirl-smoke.jpg
Just fence me in
In Middle East and North Africa, fences and walls a way of keeping jihadis at bay.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-22/fences-rise-across-middle-east-as-jihadi-threat-rattles-leaders
So Muslim-built fences are not the same as Israel’s security wall, which Western leftists and press pounded as racist?
Ol’ Bing disagreed.
Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in.
Politics and philosophy sometimes don’t get along.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-22/fences-rise-across-middle-east-as-jihadi-threat-rattles-leaders
So Muslim-built fences are not the same as Israel’s security wall, which Western leftists and press pounded as racist?
Ol’ Bing disagreed.
Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in.
Politics and philosophy sometimes don’t get along.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Some soldiers from World War II
Or, The Great Patriotic War, as they knew it.
Sofia Avericheva
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Sofia-Avericheva-1945-532804187
Roza Shanina
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Sniper-Roza-Shanina-417933731
Rufina Gasheva and Nataly Meklin
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Rufina-Gasheva-and-Nataly-Meklin-524243235
Evdokia Pasko
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Evdokia-Pasko-520063432
Several "Night Witches."
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Night-witches-514663286
Sofia Avericheva
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Sofia-Avericheva-1945-532804187
Roza Shanina
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Sniper-Roza-Shanina-417933731
Rufina Gasheva and Nataly Meklin
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Rufina-Gasheva-and-Nataly-Meklin-524243235
Evdokia Pasko
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Evdokia-Pasko-520063432
Several "Night Witches."
http://klimbims.deviantart.com/art/Night-witches-514663286
How Jake got where he was
As he walked, Jake considered the event that brought him to wherever he was, the standing in line at the convenience store, waiting to pay for a bottle of water, the water as payment for using the restroom, since his car had not needed gas, but Jake had a decided need for the restroom. That was one of the growing- older inconveniences. There had been a time when Jake could, and did, ride for hours in the back of an armored personnel carrier or the front seat of a HUMVEE and never even consider the need to hang hose. You get into your forties, especially hit fifty, and the bladder becomes smaller, or something happens, and there is no such thing as a six-hour ride without a pee break.
So there Jake stood, in line at a dingy, seedy-looking convenience store on a state highway in Alabama, just off the interstate, and a long-haired redneck-looking young man barged in, pistol in hand, cutting to the front of the line, pointing the pistol at the clerk, demanding all the money in the cash register, in a plastic bag. The two people in front of Jake sort of peeled away and went somewhere, giving Jake a close look at the perpetrator, and Jake was not assured by what he saw – sweaty brow, shaking hands, eyes wide, wide open. Jake considered pulling his own pistol and requesting the robber cease and desist, but he knew the bad dude would not heed a commonsense solution. So, Jake waited, his right hand near, but not touching, the revolver in his belt, beneath his black windbreaker at the small of his back.
And then, after taking the bag of cash, the robber shot the clerk. Jake’s experience told him the wound was not mortal – upper right shoulder – but the fact that the robber shot the clerk was indication no one else was safe. So, Jake pulled his revolver and did not hesitate, did not demand the robber drop his gun, but shot the young man in the back of his head.
As he pulled the trigger, Jake heard a shout from near the front door – “Clay!” The robber fell dead as Jake turned. A young woman wearing jeans and a Syracuse T-shirt pointed a sawed-off pump shotgun. Jake was certain he fired first, but speed was of no matter. Jake heard the blast and he saw smoke and flame and then he was on the dingy tile floor and more than one somebody was screaming and another somebody was yelling “Call nine-one-one! Call nine-one-one!”
Damn, dude. You don’t have a phone?
He managed to turn his head, maybe raise his revolver in case the woman intended to fire again – Not lying face-down, she won’t, not …
Leaking blood and brain fluid, Jake remembered thinking.
He took a breath and let it out noisily. She’s dead, I’m dead, the robber’s dead. Well, I was dead. Still am, as far as the other me is concerned. I get dead and then I wake up here, what, five days ago? Four walks ago, five at sundown today. Five days ago and I haven’t seen man or beast, or woman, either. He laughed. Maybe I don’t have to consider any gender non-identification any more. Maybe I can use the gender non-specific pronoun “he” in conversation. Maybe I won’t hear anybody refer to one person as “they.” Aaaanndd maybe I’ll find out what I’m supposed to do here.
So there Jake stood, in line at a dingy, seedy-looking convenience store on a state highway in Alabama, just off the interstate, and a long-haired redneck-looking young man barged in, pistol in hand, cutting to the front of the line, pointing the pistol at the clerk, demanding all the money in the cash register, in a plastic bag. The two people in front of Jake sort of peeled away and went somewhere, giving Jake a close look at the perpetrator, and Jake was not assured by what he saw – sweaty brow, shaking hands, eyes wide, wide open. Jake considered pulling his own pistol and requesting the robber cease and desist, but he knew the bad dude would not heed a commonsense solution. So, Jake waited, his right hand near, but not touching, the revolver in his belt, beneath his black windbreaker at the small of his back.
And then, after taking the bag of cash, the robber shot the clerk. Jake’s experience told him the wound was not mortal – upper right shoulder – but the fact that the robber shot the clerk was indication no one else was safe. So, Jake pulled his revolver and did not hesitate, did not demand the robber drop his gun, but shot the young man in the back of his head.
As he pulled the trigger, Jake heard a shout from near the front door – “Clay!” The robber fell dead as Jake turned. A young woman wearing jeans and a Syracuse T-shirt pointed a sawed-off pump shotgun. Jake was certain he fired first, but speed was of no matter. Jake heard the blast and he saw smoke and flame and then he was on the dingy tile floor and more than one somebody was screaming and another somebody was yelling “Call nine-one-one! Call nine-one-one!”
Damn, dude. You don’t have a phone?
He managed to turn his head, maybe raise his revolver in case the woman intended to fire again – Not lying face-down, she won’t, not …
Leaking blood and brain fluid, Jake remembered thinking.
He took a breath and let it out noisily. She’s dead, I’m dead, the robber’s dead. Well, I was dead. Still am, as far as the other me is concerned. I get dead and then I wake up here, what, five days ago? Four walks ago, five at sundown today. Five days ago and I haven’t seen man or beast, or woman, either. He laughed. Maybe I don’t have to consider any gender non-identification any more. Maybe I can use the gender non-specific pronoun “he” in conversation. Maybe I won’t hear anybody refer to one person as “they.” Aaaanndd maybe I’ll find out what I’m supposed to do here.
Navy flagship catches fire while in Croatian port for overhaul
Yep. A ship of the U.S. Navy was undergoing overhaul in a Croatian port.
Stars and Stripes | Aug 03, 2015 | by Steven Beardsley
NAPLES, Italy -- The crew of 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney has been surveying the damage from a Friday fire aboard the ship, which was in port in Croatia, according to the Navy.
There were no injuries in the blaze, which began in the evening and was extinguished after 45 minutes by crewmembers and shipyard personnel, according to a news release. Fleet officials have not said where or how the fire began but that an investigation is underway.
The ship remains in the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia, where it was in the final stages of a scheduled overhaul that began in January. It had recently come out of dry-dock and was in a "beautification" phase that included modifications to the exterior, passageways and flight deck, according to the fleet.
Based out of Gaeta, Italy, the Mount Whitney is an amphibious command ship operated by civilian mariners and designed to embark the fleet commander and staff for operations in the theater. It served as the command node for U.S. airstrikes against Libya in 2011.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/08/03/fire-breaks-out-on-6th-fleet-flagship.html
Stars and Stripes | Aug 03, 2015 | by Steven Beardsley
NAPLES, Italy -- The crew of 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney has been surveying the damage from a Friday fire aboard the ship, which was in port in Croatia, according to the Navy.
There were no injuries in the blaze, which began in the evening and was extinguished after 45 minutes by crewmembers and shipyard personnel, according to a news release. Fleet officials have not said where or how the fire began but that an investigation is underway.
The ship remains in the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia, where it was in the final stages of a scheduled overhaul that began in January. It had recently come out of dry-dock and was in a "beautification" phase that included modifications to the exterior, passageways and flight deck, according to the fleet.
Based out of Gaeta, Italy, the Mount Whitney is an amphibious command ship operated by civilian mariners and designed to embark the fleet commander and staff for operations in the theater. It served as the command node for U.S. airstrikes against Libya in 2011.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/08/03/fire-breaks-out-on-6th-fleet-flagship.html
Here is a stupid
“Every woman needs a man who will ruin their lipstick and not their mascara.”
Since the writer said “woman,” why couldn’t she/he say “her” and not “their?”
This is from a newly-begun story, Travels with Baker:
“He took a breath and let it out noisily. She’s dead, I’m dead, the robber’s dead. Well, I was dead. Still am, as far as the other me is concerned. I get dead and then I wake up here, what, five days ago? Four walks ago, five at sundown today. Five days ago and I haven’t seen man or beast. Or woman, either. He laughed. Maybe I don’t have to consider any gender non-identification any more. Maybe I can use the gender non-specific pronoun “he” in conversation. Maybe I won’t hear anybody refer to one person as “they.” Aaaanndd maybe I’ll find out what I’m supposed to do here.”
(Yes, that is the way I will realize return to grammatical sense. Not long ago I said to my wife, “One of these days I will wake up and nothing will hurt.” She said, “You will be dead.”)
Since the writer said “woman,” why couldn’t she/he say “her” and not “their?”
This is from a newly-begun story, Travels with Baker:
“He took a breath and let it out noisily. She’s dead, I’m dead, the robber’s dead. Well, I was dead. Still am, as far as the other me is concerned. I get dead and then I wake up here, what, five days ago? Four walks ago, five at sundown today. Five days ago and I haven’t seen man or beast. Or woman, either. He laughed. Maybe I don’t have to consider any gender non-identification any more. Maybe I can use the gender non-specific pronoun “he” in conversation. Maybe I won’t hear anybody refer to one person as “they.” Aaaanndd maybe I’ll find out what I’m supposed to do here.”
(Yes, that is the way I will realize return to grammatical sense. Not long ago I said to my wife, “One of these days I will wake up and nothing will hurt.” She said, “You will be dead.”)
It’s been bad enough, Wall Street running the country …
… but Silicon Valley?
“A growing demographic of highly-skilled college-educated liberals will transform government’s role to be about directly investing in citizens, funding them to become as entrepreneurial, civic, and healthy as possible.
“The ultimate goal is to make life as close to the college experience as possible: a life dedicated to research, exploration, and creativity, while automation ensures that everyone has enough food and leisure time to pursue their unique contribution to the world.”
https://medium.com/book-drafts/silicon-valley-s-political-end-game-in-15-charts-a647c6074367
By way of: http://thezman.com/wordpress/
(Zman sometimes does not reach conclusions buttressed by facts, but his overall writing is good. In my not-so-humble opinion.)
“A growing demographic of highly-skilled college-educated liberals will transform government’s role to be about directly investing in citizens, funding them to become as entrepreneurial, civic, and healthy as possible.
“The ultimate goal is to make life as close to the college experience as possible: a life dedicated to research, exploration, and creativity, while automation ensures that everyone has enough food and leisure time to pursue their unique contribution to the world.”
https://medium.com/book-drafts/silicon-valley-s-political-end-game-in-15-charts-a647c6074367
By way of: http://thezman.com/wordpress/
(Zman sometimes does not reach conclusions buttressed by facts, but his overall writing is good. In my not-so-humble opinion.)
Sunday, August 2, 2015
How far aground can you run your ship?
There are ship dismantling beaches in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kDbwE7mFck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kDbwE7mFck
In other selfies with bison:
“A 16-year-old girl from Taiwan was gored by a bison in May while posing for a photo near Old Faithful, Yellowstone's famous geyser. She suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries from the attack.
“And a 62-year-old Australian man was taking pictures within 5 feet of a bison near Old Faithful Lodge on June 2 when the animal charged and tossed him into the air several times, according to park officials. He was taken to a hospital for further medical treatment.”
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/travel/yellowstone-woman-bison-attack-selfie/
The best headline: “Bison ruins woman’s selfie at Yellowstone in fifth run-in of the season.”
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/22/bison-injures-woman-selfie-yellowstone-national-park
A more accurate head would be: "Woman ruins bison's meal while attempting selfie."
“And a 62-year-old Australian man was taking pictures within 5 feet of a bison near Old Faithful Lodge on June 2 when the animal charged and tossed him into the air several times, according to park officials. He was taken to a hospital for further medical treatment.”
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/travel/yellowstone-woman-bison-attack-selfie/
The best headline: “Bison ruins woman’s selfie at Yellowstone in fifth run-in of the season.”
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/22/bison-injures-woman-selfie-yellowstone-national-park
A more accurate head would be: "Woman ruins bison's meal while attempting selfie."
Popular selfie: Bison, one ton and protective hormones; you, 150+ pounds and a camera
During breeding season, “The hormones coursing through the bison render them ‘like teenagers,’ Ms. Campbell said — just more dangerous.”
A lot more dangerous.
“A notice released by the National Park Service on Wednesday detailed the episode, which began when a 43-year-old and her child turned their backs to a bison while trying to take a selfie. The animal was about six yards away. (It is illegal to be closer than 25 yards to the animals, park officials said.)
“The visitors tried to get away when they heard the bison approach, but the animal lifted the woman up and tossed her with its head. She is the fifth person to be injured in an encounter with one of the park’s bison this summer.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/us/bison-yellowstone-national-park.html?_r=0
Link at http://marginalrevolution.com/
By way of http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Bison are wild animals. Warm and fuzzy, no.
A lot more dangerous.
“A notice released by the National Park Service on Wednesday detailed the episode, which began when a 43-year-old and her child turned their backs to a bison while trying to take a selfie. The animal was about six yards away. (It is illegal to be closer than 25 yards to the animals, park officials said.)
“The visitors tried to get away when they heard the bison approach, but the animal lifted the woman up and tossed her with its head. She is the fifth person to be injured in an encounter with one of the park’s bison this summer.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/us/bison-yellowstone-national-park.html?_r=0
Link at http://marginalrevolution.com/
By way of http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Bison are wild animals. Warm and fuzzy, no.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Israeli intelligence on how the US gave in to Iran
Indian restaurant fined for trying to hire Indian waiter
By Danika Fears
An Indian waiter in an Indian restaurant — imagine that!
City bureaucrats slapped a $5,000 fine on a Midtown Indian restaurant for trying to hire a server who is Indian, according to official documents.
Following an inquiry by The Post, the city’s Commission on Human Rights — which cited the eatery two years ago — said it’s assessing its practices.
Commission staffers have been trawling Craigslist to ensnare unwary restaurant owners who violate the law for things like seeking a “waitress” instead of a “wait-person.”
That’s gender discrimination by the city’s reckoning and could lead to a four-figure fine.
They hit the jackpot in October 2013, when Shalom Bombay on Lexington Avenue placed an ad for an “experienced Indian waiter or waitress.”
It might be common sense that an Indian restaurant would try to hire a server familiar with its cuisine, but to the city’s enforcers, it was a glaring red flag.
The law doesn’t allow ads that discriminate “based on national origin.”
The commission filed a complaint, eventually scheduling a trial for April 15 at the city’s administrative court.
There was a good reason the owners didn’t appear, according to former manager Raphael Gasner.
He told The Post the business closed in April 2014 — a year earlier.
Even without hearing both sides, a judge took pity on the owners and reduced the commission’s recommended $7,500 fine to $5,000.
http://nypost.com/2015/07/29/indian-restaurant-fined-for-trying-to-hire-indian-waiter/
An Indian waiter in an Indian restaurant — imagine that!
City bureaucrats slapped a $5,000 fine on a Midtown Indian restaurant for trying to hire a server who is Indian, according to official documents.
Following an inquiry by The Post, the city’s Commission on Human Rights — which cited the eatery two years ago — said it’s assessing its practices.
Commission staffers have been trawling Craigslist to ensnare unwary restaurant owners who violate the law for things like seeking a “waitress” instead of a “wait-person.”
That’s gender discrimination by the city’s reckoning and could lead to a four-figure fine.
They hit the jackpot in October 2013, when Shalom Bombay on Lexington Avenue placed an ad for an “experienced Indian waiter or waitress.”
It might be common sense that an Indian restaurant would try to hire a server familiar with its cuisine, but to the city’s enforcers, it was a glaring red flag.
The law doesn’t allow ads that discriminate “based on national origin.”
The commission filed a complaint, eventually scheduling a trial for April 15 at the city’s administrative court.
There was a good reason the owners didn’t appear, according to former manager Raphael Gasner.
He told The Post the business closed in April 2014 — a year earlier.
Even without hearing both sides, a judge took pity on the owners and reduced the commission’s recommended $7,500 fine to $5,000.
http://nypost.com/2015/07/29/indian-restaurant-fined-for-trying-to-hire-indian-waiter/
Monstrous idea
Washington, Lincoln and … Obama?
Even Cookie Monster would pass on this one.
http://www.maxandbennys.com/bakery.html
On second thought, Cookie Monster would approve, being a PBS employee and all.
Even Cookie Monster would pass on this one.
http://www.maxandbennys.com/bakery.html
On second thought, Cookie Monster would approve, being a PBS employee and all.
Jigger, Louisiana, politics and Bigfoot
Jigger, Zip Code 71249, is an unincorporated community in Franklin Parrish, northeast Louisiana.
A satellite picture at https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jigger,+LA+71249/@32.0390394,-91.7439127,10038m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x862f0c7b06dd75e9:0x6b39c485f26cb7b0
indicates creeks, pasture and fields.
Jigger was the home town of “perennial candidate” Luther Devine Knox, Sr., AKA None of the Above Knox or Nota Knox. He also was father of 13 children, but no wives listed in his obituary.
Reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._D._Knox one gets an idea of Louisiana politics in a more graceful presentation.
After six screens of searches on jigger la, this is the only non-advertising hit:
‘Man recounts boyhood sighting near Jigger’
YEAR: 1980
SEASON: Summer
STATE: Louisiana
COUNTY: Franklin Parish
LOCATION DETAILS: Hwy 128 about 1mile east of Jigger, LA. (Specific details left out.)
NEAREST TOWN: Jigger, LA
NEAREST ROAD: LA Hwy 128
OBSERVED: I was about 8 years old, myself, my sister and her friend both about 12 were playing in the woods behind our house. There is a brake behind our house which is a runoff of turkey creek. We played in the woods often and thought nothing of it. It was a clear sunny day, and the first thing I remember is hearing a lot (sic) of limbs break like something big was moving through the woods. My sister and her friend both became frightend (sic) and I noticed that and I became very frightend (sic) as well. I remember them saying it might be a bear, because black bear had been seen in those woods. We decided to get out of the woods as quickly as we could. We all started running back up to the house. When we made it back into the yard we all felt pretty safe. Then I heard my sister say what is that? I looked, and standing at the edge of the woods in between two trees I saw this tall, black, thing. I guess it was at least seven foot tall. I could see its eyes, and its scalp was almost pointed. It just stood there and looked at us. The edge of the woods was probably about 300 yards from where we were standing, and I can remember it like it was yesterday. It stood there and looked at us untill (sic) we decided to go in the house. I have never seen one again, but I know they are real. I have had dreams about bigfoot ever since.
ALSO NOTICED: Not that I can remember, don't recall any smell. The only sound I heard was a big something moving in the woods. Didn't go back in the woods for a long time, probably after I was older and could carry a rifle.
OTHER WITNESSES: yes two my sister and her friend, they were in the woods with me.
OTHER STORIES: Yes, I heard of another incident about 10 years later, about 1990, two local hunters were spotlighting dear (sic), and put the spotlight right on one of these things, it scared them badly and they got out of there.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: Afternoon probably about 3pm
ENVIRONMENT: Wooded area near turkey creek brake. Hwy 128 aprox 1000 yards to the north.
________________________________________
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:
I spoke to this gentleman over the phone and have these details to add.
The witness stated he saw nothing at first but soon spotted 'a tall, black, man-shaped creature' that was standing on two legs. It was looking at them from about 300 yards away, standing on the edge of the woodline between some trees. He described it as being muscular, about seven feet tall, with broad, athletic shoulders. It had long arms that hung down to its knees and it was covered in a uniform black color, which he recalled as being 'smooth'. He vividly remembered its head was 'pointed at the top' and that its eyes were of a blackish hue that 'glowed' in the sunlight. He did not look at it for long before they all three ran into the house.
Upon investigating a map of the sighting area, I found it to be mostly farmland with plenty of bogs, creeks, rivers and a series of connected woodlands nearby. It is within 15 miles or so from some large wildlife protected areas and several state parks. It is within 15-20 miles from the Mississippi River, which has several tributaries that run through this area and the Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge area.
I also found another report from the same Franklin Parish that occured in the same year, Report #2388.
________________________________________ http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_report.asp?id=23745
(Note: One hit from search was for "Escort Service in Jigger Louisiana." I doubt Jigger has an escort service, since there doesn't appear to be any place one would need escorting. I did not click on the site address. You never know what you might catch from clicking an escort service.)
A satellite picture at https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jigger,+LA+71249/@32.0390394,-91.7439127,10038m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x862f0c7b06dd75e9:0x6b39c485f26cb7b0
indicates creeks, pasture and fields.
Jigger was the home town of “perennial candidate” Luther Devine Knox, Sr., AKA None of the Above Knox or Nota Knox. He also was father of 13 children, but no wives listed in his obituary.
Reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._D._Knox one gets an idea of Louisiana politics in a more graceful presentation.
After six screens of searches on jigger la, this is the only non-advertising hit:
‘Man recounts boyhood sighting near Jigger’
YEAR: 1980
SEASON: Summer
STATE: Louisiana
COUNTY: Franklin Parish
LOCATION DETAILS: Hwy 128 about 1mile east of Jigger, LA. (Specific details left out.)
NEAREST TOWN: Jigger, LA
NEAREST ROAD: LA Hwy 128
OBSERVED: I was about 8 years old, myself, my sister and her friend both about 12 were playing in the woods behind our house. There is a brake behind our house which is a runoff of turkey creek. We played in the woods often and thought nothing of it. It was a clear sunny day, and the first thing I remember is hearing a lot (sic) of limbs break like something big was moving through the woods. My sister and her friend both became frightend (sic) and I noticed that and I became very frightend (sic) as well. I remember them saying it might be a bear, because black bear had been seen in those woods. We decided to get out of the woods as quickly as we could. We all started running back up to the house. When we made it back into the yard we all felt pretty safe. Then I heard my sister say what is that? I looked, and standing at the edge of the woods in between two trees I saw this tall, black, thing. I guess it was at least seven foot tall. I could see its eyes, and its scalp was almost pointed. It just stood there and looked at us. The edge of the woods was probably about 300 yards from where we were standing, and I can remember it like it was yesterday. It stood there and looked at us untill (sic) we decided to go in the house. I have never seen one again, but I know they are real. I have had dreams about bigfoot ever since.
ALSO NOTICED: Not that I can remember, don't recall any smell. The only sound I heard was a big something moving in the woods. Didn't go back in the woods for a long time, probably after I was older and could carry a rifle.
OTHER WITNESSES: yes two my sister and her friend, they were in the woods with me.
OTHER STORIES: Yes, I heard of another incident about 10 years later, about 1990, two local hunters were spotlighting dear (sic), and put the spotlight right on one of these things, it scared them badly and they got out of there.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: Afternoon probably about 3pm
ENVIRONMENT: Wooded area near turkey creek brake. Hwy 128 aprox 1000 yards to the north.
________________________________________
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:
I spoke to this gentleman over the phone and have these details to add.
The witness stated he saw nothing at first but soon spotted 'a tall, black, man-shaped creature' that was standing on two legs. It was looking at them from about 300 yards away, standing on the edge of the woodline between some trees. He described it as being muscular, about seven feet tall, with broad, athletic shoulders. It had long arms that hung down to its knees and it was covered in a uniform black color, which he recalled as being 'smooth'. He vividly remembered its head was 'pointed at the top' and that its eyes were of a blackish hue that 'glowed' in the sunlight. He did not look at it for long before they all three ran into the house.
Upon investigating a map of the sighting area, I found it to be mostly farmland with plenty of bogs, creeks, rivers and a series of connected woodlands nearby. It is within 15 miles or so from some large wildlife protected areas and several state parks. It is within 15-20 miles from the Mississippi River, which has several tributaries that run through this area and the Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge area.
I also found another report from the same Franklin Parish that occured in the same year, Report #2388.
________________________________________ http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_report.asp?id=23745
(Note: One hit from search was for "Escort Service in Jigger Louisiana." I doubt Jigger has an escort service, since there doesn't appear to be any place one would need escorting. I did not click on the site address. You never know what you might catch from clicking an escort service.)
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