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Feed Gary Farber
Gary Farber, "uber Blogger" extaordinare, can use your help.
If you like him, think of it as a kind of Blogger Mutual Aid Society group action. If you dont like him, imagine the pain that you will inflict by feeding him, as Gary is suffering from kidney stones and gout.
That pretty much puts to shame the whole "Company Picnic Dunk Tank" idea, where for a dollar a ball you get to try to drop your boss into a cold tank of water by throwing softballs at a target, doesnt it?
Step right up ladies and gentleman, For a dollar donation, you will get a chance to make Gary Farber yelp in pain for the webcam as he eats fried food, everyones a winner folks...
Posted @ March 28, 2005 10:52 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Dignity
Once upon a time, a friend and I were debating the relative merits of Cuban Socialism. He said to me “ Well, at least these people who you call “oppressed” have the best health care in the Western Hemisphere, that’s something not even you have in this country”.
To which I shockingly responded, “ You know the folks in Attica State Prison get free health care, but I don’t see anyone crawling over the wire and past the guard towers to get in to get it, do you?”
And that pretty much sums up how I think of Socialist Dictatorships. No matter how swell a uniform the dictator wears, he’s really nothing more than a Southern Work Camp Warden. I look at them with the same disdain that Paul Newman did to “the captain” in Cool Hand Luke.
It’s in this psychological context that we will talk about Communist China and its sudden rather odd obsession with Taiwan. I have to admit that I’ve been dumbfounded about why China would be so willing to stomp its feet and get right up in the face with the Nationalist Chinese on Taiwan. Rest assured, I don’t think China is fooling around here; I think they are dead serious. Most Asian cultures put a great deal of weight into the idea of ‘saving face’, so when they say they will do something, they will do it, even when it’s a generally bad idea to carry it out, just so they can ‘save face’.
So when China says “ Oh no you wont!” and then a million Taiwanese stand up and say “ Oh yes we will!”, my reaction is the same as it would be if I were in an Oakland biker bar and someone shouted out “ Harleys Suck!” – I’d grab my beer, and quickly get next to the wall or out the back door, because one way or another someone is about to get a baseball bat broken over their head. Communist China cant say “ just kidding, we didn’t know you felt so strongly” and neither will the Nationalists. In some ways we find ourselves in a big world version of the famous Chinese Finger Trap.
But I’ve been puzzled as to “why”? Why is this one country, well off the coast, and well out of the way, why does this place mean so much to China? It’s like the US suddenly getting uppity over the Ontario province of Canada and insisting that they are really part of the US, and any talk of Canadian sovereignty and independence will be met “in strongest terms”. (Can’t you just picture the 30 million Canadian ‘stink fingers’ being displayed if anyone ever said such a stupid thing?)
So I’ve been stuck on this problem for a bit, and then this week I read something that made it all click into place, and I’ll get to that in just a minute. But first, let’s be clear this is not about Taiwan per se, Its about China. China, like all totalitarian governments exists primarily because they can control every aspect of life for their inhabitants. Most importantly, they can control the myths that drive the culture and the definition of the nation. One of those myths is the myth of “One China”.
There are many types of “China”, many provinces, many peoples and many dialects but they are all under control by the Communists. At least that is the story the Communist Chinese needs to be true, and it is true, except for one little place.
Taiwan.
In the words of Professor Philip J. Zimbardo, Taiwan is being a “bad prisoner”. By its very existence, and by its insistence on defiance of Communist Chinese dictates, Taiwan has become the “Cool Hand Luke” of Asia. To the Communist Chinese, this by itself is bad enough; but what’s really bad is the ideas it may give to the rest of “the prisoners”. If they begin to think that perhaps they too should be able to have their own say in affairs, then all hell will surely break loose.
The Communist Chinese do not live in fear of American Firepower; they live in fear of a loss of control. Once upon a time and seemingly out of nowhere, the Chinese lost control for just a moment and in that moment, they nearly lost it all. Do the Chinese fear the Taiwanese military? Hardly. What they really fear is the other provinces “getting ideas” from the nationalists.
Like I said earlier, I was struck by something I read this week and it helped me understand the gravity of the Taiwan situation. This week, I read the story of Lanier Phillips, the first African American Naval Sonar Operator. In his story, he related the racism that had formed the early part of his life and how an incident in Canada brought it to an end. At one point, he was shipwrecked off the coast of Newfoundland. Upon being rescued, Mr. Phillips discovered something he had never been allowed to consider before that time.
Excerpt:
“His entire life, he had been raised to believe that the color of his skin made him somehow inferior to white people. He had been kicked, abused, threatened, and belittled. Even the Navy, his chosen service, reminded him constantly that he was of less importance than his white shipmates. And now, here was a white family - an entire white community - treating him as though the color of his skin didn't matter at all.”
“Lanier has said a thousand times since that his brief encounter with the people of St. Lawrence was a life changing experience. Before that freezing February night in 1942, he had accepted racial discrimination as an inevitable fact of life. He certainly hadn't wanted it or liked it, but he had accepted it. Things had always been that way. How could they be different?
“He wasn't the same man after St. Lawrence. He had seen life as it could be: life as it should be. He knew that he was worthy of fair treatment and respect. He knew that a society could exist in which the color of a person's skin was irrelevant. He had seen that society, walked its streets, and been invited into its homes.”
After the incident in Canada, Mr. Phillips went on to improve his lot in life by insisting that he be treated as a man of equal value and dignity to whites. He had seen that he was not inferior and he would no longer tolerate the sort of inhumane things that had been done in the past to be done to him again. The illusion had been broken and there was no putting it back together. Mr. Phillips had found his dignity as a man, as a human being, and no one was going to take it from him.
You see, here’s where China has a real problem. All along its borders are countries and peoples who are finding the human dignity that comes with Democracy. All around it are people who are no longer finding themselves property of the state and are slowly but surely working their way towards the dignity of citizenship over that of being a subject to the state. You and I may look at this as a wonderful thing but to ‘the captain’, it’s a real big problem. If you cant control your people, if they really think they are people, with real human rights and dignity then how can you keep order? (Oh, and you know what I mean by order, right? The kind of order where “we” are in charge and “they “ do what we tell them, right comrade?)
“The captain” once put down a prison uprising in the Chinese State, but it came very close to bedlam. Back then; the world had never seen a Communist country fall away from control by the state, but that all changed one day in 1989. Today, it’s a very different thing. Today, people in the even the most obscure places are insisting on the right of self-determination. so why not china too? they ask...
You see, its not really about Taiwan independence at all, it’s about basic human dignity. You can’t make someone a slave if they have it, and you cant keep them as a slave if they think they are entitled to it. Once Mr. Lanier Phillips discovered his dignity, his life was never the same. I suspect that millions of Nationalist Chinese are discovering their dignity, but the real question is “How many other Chinese people living under Communist rule are now discovering that they too might be entitled to the dignity that only democracy can provide?”
Because of recent events, because of the memory of the horror (in their mind) of 1989,This thought has to be weighing heavily on the minds of the Communist leaders as they try to sleep in their silk pajamas. Out there on the streets of Beijing, riding their bicycles, sitting in parks, might be millions if not billions of people who might wake up one day very soon and tell “The captain” to get stuffed.
Posted @ March 27, 2005 01:15 AM | Current Events | Comments (4)
Post Travel Laugh....
I'm just back from a three day trip to Denver. The toughest part of being a blogger 'in the world' is the one unwritten rule is that you can't really blog about what you do for a living beyond the most generic things. Most importantly, you cannot talk about who you are working for. It just makes sense, but on the other hand it is utter hell to be sitting in the middile of one of the biggest stories there is and NOT be able to talk about it.
Anyway, lots of talking, lots of progress, several major innoventions. I met new people and my little piece of the software world is better for it. A little snow while we were there and since we Californians dont live in snow we visit it... it was fun. 4 hours sleep over 4 days, an introduction to Devils Back Porter and right back here to the sunny west coast. Not Bad...
And on both legs of the trip, I only had to fly one Airbus 310. I Thank my lucky stars...
So when I got back to the office this morning, the first email I opened was from a buddy who is also aero-minded.
Title: Air France To Buy Boeing 777 Freighters
Money quote: "Air France has not yet given any consideration to the A380..."
Why the hell not? Airbus only shares a parking lot and a cafeteria with Air France, you think they might be able to work out a little brown bag presentation on the "Flying White Whale"?
You know, If Air France can't get excited about the A380, who the hell out there IS going to get excited about it!
In March, Airbus bought 777-300s for passengers and now they are buying them for freighters. I hope the corporate officers at Airbus wear a cup when the go to work, I think they are going to need it.
( Good Job Boeing...Keep up the good work!)
Posted @ March 25, 2005 01:11 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)
ach! Ich verstehe!
Eric Allie, Illinois -- The Pioneer Press
Posted @ March 21, 2005 10:17 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Clive Cussler: Call Your Office!
This is the Imperial Japanese Navy Submarine I-400 as it sits beside submarine tender USS Proteus after the end of World War II. Note the large hangar and forward catapult. This hangar held three Seiran bombers. When this Sub and its newly discovered sister ship the I-401 surrendered, according to one source they were enroute to firebomb San Francisco...
Why is this news today? Because today, the sister ship of the submarine was found off the coast of Hawaii. How big was this beast? Well, take a look at the men on the deck for a sense of scale. Until the early 1960's, This was the biggest thing in submersible craft. Why didnt we keep it? Well, since the Russians declared war on the Japanese, the peace treaty allowed for war trophys to be taken by both sides. The last thing in the world we wanted was for the Russians to get their hands on was really big Japanese submarines, so after getting a good look at them, the Navy had them sunk before they could be turned over.
I've always been interested in the big I-400 class subs, as much for the engineering as the interest I've always had in their last mission in the chaotic days at the end of the war in the Pacific. For those with an interest in Weapons of Mass Distruction, the Japanese were much further ahead than the Germans in all of the NBC ( Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) areas. They even had an effective method to deploy them, one method was by the use of these submarines and their aircraft and the other was with the Fugu balloons.
Would these subs and their potentially deadly cargo really have "won the war" for the Japanese? No, but that wasnt really the goal. The goal was the same as the Kamakaze; simply to give the Japanese something to negotiate with, to help ensure better terms at the peace table.
Here's a detailed report on the I-400, just to give you some background on this fascinating ship and a period of history that is often over looked. The reports is from the memoirs of the last captain of the I-400, Thomas O. Paine, who died in 1992.
A surviving example of the Seiran Bomber that were carried by the I-400 Class Submarine is currently undergoing restoration at the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
Posted @ March 20, 2005 10:33 PM | History file | Comments (0)
By Jove, I think He's Got it!
Quote:
"I'm convinced there are only two reasons for being a journalist. One is that you're curious about the world and the people in it, and this is where political correctness, from either the left or the right, is a danger because political correctness, by its very definition, is hostile to curiosity. It says, in effect, you've got to look at the world through a keyhole, not a big bay window.
And the other reason for being a journalist is because you love to write. The rest is all dross. All journalists are ever remembered for are their words."
From Les Carlyon, best-selling author and former Age editor, was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Melbourne Press Club Quill awards on Friday night. This is part of his acceptance speech.
A big 'Hat Tip' To Tim Blair for the original link.
However nicely said that may be, and I think he is correct,I will defer to my dark mentor, Mr. Ambrose Bierce for his definition in this matter:
REPORTER, n.
A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a tempest of words.
Posted @ March 20, 2005 06:54 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
2nd Annual Moonbat Festival
The 2nd Annual Moonbat Festival was celebrated today in the big cities of blue states and Socialist countries around the world in a pitiful attempt by the politically impotent to remain relevant in the face of the worlds current events.
The cry for “No War in Iraq” was met with askance views from bystanders who correctly noted that the war in Iraq had not only already been fought but has been won for over two years. Other banners and placards in the rapidly diminishing crowds calling for the ratification of the League of Nations Treaty and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment along with cries for Women’s Suffrage and “Re-implement the Volstead Act” were also seen in the crowds of loyal if not highly deluded Howard Dean supporters. Other vocal and rowdy supporters of long time Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan were undaunted by the fact that their favorite populist candidate has been dead for nearly 80 years. The southern rights activist group, Daughters for the Confederate States of America held a bake sale with sheet cakes that that read “ The South Shall Rise again” written in red and blue icing in scroll across the tops. “God Bless Bobby Byrd” said DCSA spokesman Hattie McCracker of Georgia as she noted to reporters that once upon a time there were many men in the Senate like him, but now there’s only one man there who back their peculiar institutions. "You used to be able to count on men from Texas to hold on to certain views, but it seems with George W. Bush, you just can't. You just never know who he's going to put in his cabinet." said Hattie to reporters as she sipped her mint julep on the courthouse steps.
Protestors in London chanted "George Bush ... Uncle Sam. Iraq will be your Vietnam" causing the heads of Oxford history professors spin uncontrollably as they dealt with a rhyming chant that compares a failed attempt at supporting democracy in South East Asia to the successful removal of a brutal despotic dictator that ended in free elections and the political transformation of an entire region towards democracy, a feat unequaled at any time during the 60 years of British Empire control of Iraq.
In midtown Manhattan, 350 people marched silently along 42nd Street, flashing peace signs and carrying 50 cardboard coffins. The crowd in Central Park was much smaller than last year, when an estimated 100,000 people marched in New York City. Political pundits commented that the dwindling numbers might reflect the growing impact of easily attainable Levitra and Viagra on the open market. However, one other observer, activist and public defender Michael Letwin commented, "I think Bush's re-election took the steam out of the anti-war movement" giving further medical evidence that protestors are in fact capable of correctly assessing reality without the administration of psychotropic prescription drugs.
Later in the day, the flat earth society and its rivals the hollow earth society fought in open fisted combat in the Rockefeller center skating rink while supporters of the “Moon landing Hoax “ stood in neutral corners noting to one and all that the whole “polar thing” was a just ‘government conspiracy' in any case.
Posted @ March 19, 2005 09:04 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Planet Castro - Part 5
You people think its easy being 'el commandante'? you come up here and see how it feels to wear cotton green uniform pants in the sweltering Cuban summer. No, As a matter of fact they dont breathe, and NO - NOBODY TOLD ME THAT BEFORE I ORDERED 30,000 PAIR!!!!
Chafe? Ha! I got yer chafe right here pal. But can I get a little Gold Bond medicated powder? Nooooooooo, not me, all powerrful 'el commandante', I can get 100,000 chinese rice cookers but a little talc powder for the kiester? ha... Cocaine can fall from the sky in 2 ton bricks, but a case of talcum? a little Avon skin-so-soft? Feh!
yeah, you go tell me how easy it is being 'El jefe'. I got a set of bubble gum pink butt cheeks here to show you how easy it is....
Posted @ March 18, 2005 12:20 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
Contrails
One of my own lingering memories of the days after 9/11 was the absence of aircraft in the sky. On the day of the Massacre, I was 3,000 miles away from New York, but the impact of the attack to me was immediate. There was no air traffic, there was nothing was in the air. I will never forget what it felt like to look up and see an empty sky.
However, the next morning there were jet contrails over the city in big oval shapes and I knew that the F-15’s of the United States Air Force while I lay sleeping had been on the job overnight. Each night over the next few days, the Air Force was easy to pick out in the sky in its duty station in wide orbit over the city, as they were the only things in the air still flying. Their navigation lights giving those of us on the ground at least the feeling of security.
I remembered something the other day about the Afghan Theatre of Operations. The tale was told more than once of CIA and Army Special Forces sitting down and negotiating with the Taliban. There, sitting in the home territory of the Taliban was some guy who grew up in some Kansas suburb, side by side with the local Afghani tribal Chieftain, trying to talk the Taliban into giving up their fight.
Let’s face it, back then the Taliban were working on their home ground. The local chieftain has been under the thumb of the Taliban for years, and the operative is “just one guy”. So what tipped the balance?
What tipped the balance is when the uncomfortable part of the conversation came to the part where the Talibani commander would sneer and say:
Oh Yeah Buddy! You and what army?
To which the Local Chieftain would just point up into the sky and smile as his retort. There, in the high stratosphere over Afghanistan was a manifestation of fear and death for the Taliban. High in the sky well beyond reach by any of the Taliban lived row after row of American Aircraft armed with precision weapons that could be dropped in response to a simple call on a small radio. These radios, left in the hands of the Local Chieftain meant that with just a simple call, he could rain down death on any place that the Taliban could hide. The Americans could drop bombs on specific buildings in a block, on cars on the road and even caves or hillsides. More importantly there wasn’t a thing that anyone in the Taliban could do to stop it.
The solution was simple for most of the Taliban, they could lay down their weapons and stop fighting, or die.
I was thinking tonight of what it must be like to be with the people in Beirut. What must it be like to stand in peaceful protest against Syria and the occupying army of Iran Hezbollah (let’s just call them what they are, shall we…?) See, it’s easy when you sit here on the sidelines thinking “why yes! Let’s have a protest!”. It’s a bit more difficult when your neighborhood is run by an organization that would make Al Capone and Frank Nitti wince in shame. Make no mistake about it; Hezbollah and the Syrian occupying army are ruthless murdering thugs and yet, the men and women of Lebanon are walking right up to them and saying “Time to go home, Assad!”.
So, what is it that’s letting the people of Beirut feel free to oppose their oppressors? And just exactly how do you face down a Broke-nose Hezbollah ‘ward heeler’ while you sip coffee in the corner café? My guess is that they just look up at the contrails of the jets and they get the message. The message is clear and the president delivered the message when he said “Stand for freedom and we will stand with you!”.
Somewhere over Lebanon tonight is an unmanned UAV quietly snapping pictures in the cold high atmosphere of the Bekaa valley, leaving its signature behind in the form of thin white vapor contrails, visible for all to see. Sitting far below in gun emplacements are Syrian soldiers looking up at the contrails as they unfold across the sky. The soldiers as well as the Lebanese civilians are getting the message long before their leaders get the message. The message will be delivered to their leaders in the form of a folder containing pictures of the very same gun emplacements taken by the UAV. It is my guess that someday soon, very soon, Ambassador Bolton will deliver the folder to President Assad. Ambassador Bolton will smile in retort in the way that the Afghan Chieftain did to the talibani commander just a few years ago. His statement to Assad is essentially the same, lay down your weapons and stop fighting, or you will surely die.
The message the Ambassador delivers will have been spoken in words by the President of this country but make no mistake; the message was born on the wings of the United States Air Force.
The people of Afghanistan, Iraq and now Lebanon all share something in common with Americans as now we all look to the sky and think of the men and women who helped bring us liberty by piloting aircraft that leave contrails in the sky and fear in the hearts of our enemies.
Posted @ March 14, 2005 10:40 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)
Howard's Curse
Why don’t I blog about Michael Jackson? Well, blogging requires typing and frankly every time I hear his name, I jam my fingers into my ears and I start chanting “NANANANANANANA-NOT LISTENING!!!!”. It makes it damn hard to type that way and thus my blogging productivity goes way down when the man-whos-name-should-not-be-mentioned is in fact, mentioned.
I do not understand the public fascination with this creepy character. Let me be clear, I don’t think he’s odd or eccentric; he’s just creepy. In the "creepy metric scale", he’s right up there with the whistling guy in the Fritz Lang classic movie “M”.
I don’t think its all his fault that he’s creepy, either. In my opinion, He’s fallen victim the worst disease that can afflict the human mind, and that is "paid-lackey-enforced-self-indulgence".
Self-indulgence, when left unchecked can ruin even the best of men, but when its inforced by people you think are your very best friends, you are in deep trouble.
You’ve seen other people afflicted with this disease; Howard Hughes for example is a pretty big poster child for this disease. Howard had a clear problem, and it wasn’t just in his head, there was clearly something physically wrong with the man which then manifested itself as series of mental disorders, but since he developed a lifestyle that did not allow anyone to have any say in his life, Howard went untreated for years. Any attempt by anyone to even suggest to Howard that he might have a problem was met with his firing or removing the individual from “Howard’s Inner Circle” life. The result was that Howard created a group of people in his life that were dedicated towards doing one thing
“Keep Howard Happy”.
While they did their best to do that, what really happened is the man went slowly mad, was poorly treated and had any healthy person been kept in the conditions that he willingly kept himself it would rightly be called torture. But for Howard, it was the sweet embrace of the goddess of indulgence. Howard got what he wanted, when he wanted as he wanted, and answered to no one.
Howard created for himself a world where there would be no other Gods before him, and in the end, it killed him.
There is a price to pay for the improper use of the narcotic of self-indulgence. The goddess of self-indulgence took her revenge on Howard, she helped him ruin himself, turning what was once a genius of design and business into a madman incapable of functioning in even the most basic human relationships. The same curse is afflicing Michael Jackson. I call it "Howards Curse".
We all think that if only we had more control over our money, our lives, if only we could be truly free to be whatever we wanted to be or do that we would live in a utopia on earth. The truth is far different. Far from utopia, those people who have achieved the goal of becoming a ‘God on Earth’, find the experience much closer to a hell on earth rather than the heaven they imagined it to be.
It turns out that the most valuable thing we can have in our lives is the idea that there is something more important than the satisfaction of our own self, and we need other humans to help remind us of it. Those people are the most valuable things we can have, and they can’t be bought. If you are lucky you have more than one of them in your life. I count on my “odd men” to provide me with council. I don’t always do what they say, but I always listen. We don’t always agree, but I always listen. Those are people who will tell you that you are over the top, an idiot, being gross of self-indulgent or in Michaels case, they would be the someone who would be there to point out to him the rather obvious fact that grown men who are not married do not make playgrounds for children at their house without drawing the obvious conclusion that they might be up to something rather unseemly.
If you were an average unmarried red blooded American male and you were a mega pop star, who would be likely to be found around your pool parties? I rest my case.
Look, Walt Disney was an adult man loved kids too, he just didn’t party with them at Club 33, get it?
In Michael Jackson, we see once again what happens when people who have vast wealth and power have no one in their life who can help them ‘right their compass’. You see what happens to the human mind when they live in a world where they eventually are convinced that there “are no other Gods before me”.
Michael Jackson has done what Howard Hughes did, he surrounded himself with people who live to do one thing “ Keep Michael Happy”, and when he started doing it, his fate was sealed, and it could only end badly and he has started his slide into hell and there is no going back to normality, He is now one of the living dead, and there is no redemption. We will watch his train wreck of a life and gawk at the horror that his life has become. There is no comeback, there is no second chance for the former 'King of pop'.
For me, I know I'm not the most important thing in the world, and I don’t want to live in a world where that is even a remote possibility. I don’t want to live a life free of strife; it’s the struggle of life that makes it worthwhile, not the absence. You want to know what food tastes like, go without it for a day, just one day without food. I once had a broken jaw; I didn’t eat solid food for 3 months, all I ate was chicken soup and spray cheese in a can, breakfast lunch and dinner. That first day I had my jaw unwired, I ate a steak, it was an experience I will never forget. I can still taste it, I can still sense it. I’ve had thousands of steaks since then but none have tasted like that one did. I would not have had that experience of really understanding what a steak really tastes like had I not broken my jaw. Imagine living a lifetime without understanding what a steak tastes like and you begin to understand what the absence of strife does to the senses of the human mind. I’m not happy I broke my jaw (or more properly, had it broken for me- another story for another time…) but I’m happy that I lived through the experience, it made me a better man and I see the world in a slightly clearer way than I did before it happened. Three months with my mouth wired shut taught me about food, the absence of it, speech and thinking before you open your mouth and people in general but it also taught me about myself. You can’t buy that and no one can give it to you, you have to experience life in order to say that you have lived it.
That ‘lack of food’ phenomenon was a common occurrence in the lives of humans just 2 generations ago; you didn’t need the condition of a broken jaw to experience it. We should never forget that we are here today against the odds. All of us who are alive today are here because 300 generations of humans who came before us struggled to survive, and since they did, we are alive at this point. But it doesn’t end with us, there are generations after us that are counting on the work we are doing today. How dare we dishonor the sacrifices of the earlier generations and take from the generations to come by thinking that life is ‘all about us’. Its not about us, were just one link in the big chain of life. Like it says on the old coins of England, “we stand on the shoulders of giants”, but there are those who will come after us who are waiting for the foothold we will provide.
Michael Jackson lives in a hell of his own making, and the really sad part is there are legions of people who desparately hope he stays their because of how it benefits them personally. I don’t look at Michael Jackson and see an artist or a performer; I see the walking x-ray of a ruined soul. I cannot understand why this man doesnt generate anything but disgust from the general human population.
Posted @ March 10, 2005 12:08 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Cool...
Mount St. Helens belches steam and ash on Tuesday. View is from Portland Oregon.
Aint that somethin...
Oh, And for my favorite site on the Cascade Volcanos
Posted @ March 09, 2005 05:39 PM | Current Events | Comments (1)
Meanwhile on Planet Cuba
FC: Hey Sweetie? Guess what I got you for International Womens Day?
Woman: What? Makeup? Nylons? A 1955 Chevy Highboy?
FC: Guess again...
Woman: Ooooohhh, you got us a steak? Oy Mijo!!!
FC: Nope, Guess again...
Woman: What? you are driving me crazy! You didnt get me an Iron again did you?
FC: Naaahhh, much better.
Woman: WHAT!!!!!
FC: Its a new Rice Cooker.
Woman: ( mouth agape). Wow, thats beautiful Fidel!!! Muchas Gracias El Jefe! I just have one question...
FC: Whats that?
Woman: Whats "Rice"?
Original Source: Reuters.
This story blows.me.away...
Posted @ March 09, 2005 10:21 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
If you live long enough, you get to see everything twice...
"The world is changing," says Dr. Que. "There are more opportunities than ever."
And just who is Dr. Que? Dr. Que is a 63-year-old doctor who has by now spent almost half his life fighting for liberty in Vietnam.
As Mr. Green would say: Read the whole thing...
Oh, and you little college crybabies who think you are "making a difference" by holding a protest on campus, try to remember that there actually are people putting their own life on the line for basic human rights, not just mugging for camera time. Joining Amnesty International or holding a fundraiser is nice,but dont try to hold yourself in the same category as men like Dr. Que.
As a friend of mine says "Hey kid? You wanna change the world?, then put on a uniform!".
Posted @ March 09, 2005 08:56 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Angry Larry: Dirty Pool From the Unions
From Larry Kudlows Money Politics He finds evidence of Pension Fund strong Arm tacticts from the AFL-CIO.
Excerpt:
"the AFL-CIO and a number of other union pension funds have threatened to withdraw their pension assets from reputable money managers if those managers support President Bush’s personal savings accounts."
"Waddell and Reed and Edward D. Jones have been forced to pull out of a coalition supporting Bush’s private accounts. This is because of union pressure. Charles Schwab and Wachovia are also apparently targeted, according to yesterday’s Washington Post."
So, the Citizens of Chile can have private retirement accouts, government employees can have private accouts, but dont you dare consider it for yourself...
Posted @ March 09, 2005 08:26 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
New Blog: Afghan Warrior
Via the "Big Pharaoh", a new blog from a 20 year old Afghani who is working with the US Army.
Posted @ March 09, 2005 08:22 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Breaking News
Ack! Checking the winds now!!!
Weather Alert:
ISSUED: 2005MAR09/0404Z VAAC: WASHINGTON
VOLCANO: ST. HELENS 1201-05
LOCATION: N4612W12211 AREA: US-WASHINGTON
SUMMIT ELEVATION: 8363 FT (2549 M)
ADVISORY NUMBER: 2005/005
INFORMATION SOURCE: GFS MODEL WINDS. PILOT REPORT.
GOES-10. CASCADES OBSERVATORY
ERUPTION DETAILS: EXHALATION AT 09/0125Z
OBS ASH DATE/TIME: 09/0330Z
OBS ASH CLOUD: SFC/FL360 N4701W12028 - N4700W12007
- N4608W12036 - N4610W12101 - N4634W12056 -
N4701W12028 MOVING E 40-45 KNOTS.
FCST ASH CLOUD +6H: 09/0930Z SFC/FL360 N4741W11604
- N4731W11516 - N4621W11523 - N4635W11623 -
N4741W11604
FCST ASH CLOUD +12H: NOT AVBL
FCST ASH CLOUD +18H: NOT AVBL
REMARKS: ASH CLOUD CONTINUING TO HOLD TOGETHER AS
IT MOVES INTO SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON. ...
Someone let Clayton Cramer know that tonight it would be a really good idea to put "Big Bertha" inside.
The US Forest Service Site on Mt. St. Helens for lots of good linky greatness.
Mt. St. Helens Observatory Webcam is Here, Check back in the morning.
Posted @ March 08, 2005 06:40 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Paging Nelson Muntz
Headline: Boeing Scores In Airbus' Backyard
Oh yeah, the A380 is gonna sell like hotcakes baby...
Posted @ March 08, 2005 01:14 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Fosset-Blogging: Full Stop
Down at 1:49 Local Time. Around the world, Solo, without stopping.
Whew!...
Posted @ March 03, 2005 11:49 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)
Tales Of Political Impotency
Lately I’ve been puzzled by the sudden swarm of Levitra advertisements. I’ve always thought that the one thing in the world you would not need to advertise would be an actual real working solution to impotency. If you were struck with such an affliction, you would crawl over broken glass for anything to solve it. You don’t need advertisements for something as essential to life as, well, uh, that is.
Today I finally figured out what it is all about. The “erectile dysfunction’ advertisement swarms are meant to reach an entirely new segment of the market. That segment is the despondent depressed and dare I say “ soft” political left in this country that just can’t accept the reality of life in the real world. Bush won, Twice, He’s not stupid, and frankly he’s brought freedom to more women than “bubba” ever did. Oh-my-god, What if hes right, they go wailing into the night…..
For this weeks episode of “Tales of Political Impotency”, I submit the following from Portland Oregon:
“Since December, patrons who order Jack Daniel's whiskey at Gino's, the Sellwood restaurant known for its pasta and mammoth Caesars, have been asked to try a brand with no affiliation to President Bush. (Brown-Forman, the company that distills JD, supported W in 2004; earlier, Bush named the company's former CEO ambassador to Austria.) "It wasn't an easy decision, because a lot of our customers drink Jack Daniel's—and my own drink was Jack and Coke," says Gino's owner Mark Accuardi. "But we sleep better at night."
Now, I’m a cold heartless capitalist imperialist dog, so I think in terms of “what does the market want” not “ how can I impose my political beliefs on my patrons”, but like I said, I’m a cold heartless bastard, this guy is clearly one of those who “care”. You know these guys...
I notice that the patrons of this establishment arent bothered by his serving Russian Vodka, this despite the Russian human rights record in Chechnya. Nope, no sleep problems, everything’s fine, its just the screen door banging in the wind, go back to sleep dear... I don’t know for sure, but they probably drink French Wines and Grey Goose Vodka, this despite the French use of Polynesia as a nuclear test area and the bombing of Greenpeace ships. France by the way is the worlds biggest user of Nuclear power, including the dreaded “breeder reactor”, but hey no loss of sleep there.
But Jack Daniels keeps them up at night because it might be perceived as helping the evil “Bush-Hitler”. Oh good, I'm glad you are doing something to stop old Mr. Scratch. Nope, No Political Impotency there...
Oh by the way, the taxes on your food and drinks? That will go right in the coffers of mean old Mr. Bush. Bwhahahahah!
Is this Sad? Is it Pathetic? Yeah. But it’s really just another
Posted @ March 03, 2005 10:15 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)
Fossett-Blogging: Feet Dry
Steve is now over Colorado with an anticipated arrival time in Salina at 1:30 local time (19:30 UTC).
Remember, until the wheels are down on the ground,and the engine is turned off and the plane is back in its hangar, anything can happen. This mission isnt over until you've showered and had dinner, its thinking you dont have to worry anymore that can cost you dearly.
Posted @ March 03, 2005 09:03 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)
A Bloggers Tale
Q: How did I start blogging, and what has it meant to me?
Once upon a time, I had a series of news sites that I checked daily. One of the sites I read every day was opinionjournal.com. One day, James Taranto posted a piece by someone named "Jane Galt". She was writing ( I dont think it was even called blogging then, was it?) about her experience working in the World Trade Center. I found it moving, touching and everything I had ever wanted on the site reported in the way I learned to expect from men like Ernie Pyle and John Steinbeck. It was writing about people, by people, at the time it happened, not from J-school know-it-alls who never left the hotel lobby and only wanted to tell me what they thought I should know. It changed everything about how I thought about "what to read".
I went back to her site daily, reading and sometimes crying and laughing about what she was experiencing in her time at the site of the massacre. One day, I noticed a set of websites that she had listed on the side of her site. I started clicking and reading what she read.
From that list of websites, I found Steven Den Beste. From there I found Vodkapundit. With just those three sites I had found better content and more consistently good writing than what could be found in any 50 newspapers on any given day. Then one day I left a comment, and I got a response from one of the other readers. Now, I wasnt just reading a website, I was participating in the discussion. Then one day I sent an email to Steven Den Beste. I was one of those "just suppose" emails, so the result was predictable.
He slaughtered me.
He didnt just do it in a response to me, he posted the whole thing on his site. On one hand, I was embarrassed, on the other hand he did it in such a way as to point out to me, that had I spent a little more time thinking and a little less time sprattling around, I might have had a good idea. It was a lesson I would not forget.
Then I found Rantburg. Rantburg was the first site that I ever made a post on. Rantburg is not technically a "blog", but it is one hell of an interesting site. Fred has something else going on there that cannot really be described. I call it open source news reporting.
Then one day I wrote something in a comment on vodkapundit and it started a firestorm of response. I felt so bad that I had accidentally trashed his post that I wrote Steve an email in apology. I told him I would voluntarily stay away from the site for awhile as I was clearly disruptive,even though that was never my intent. He wrote back saying that not only was it fine, but that I should get my own blog.
"My own blog?, Wha?".
At the same time, several others in the vodkapundit commentariat told me the same thing ( ed driscoll, triticale were the ones that I remember the most, or at least they were the most insistent).
So, now I was no longer a reader of other peoples stuff. I was a "commentor", and as it turns out, my comments were pretty good. This is what "The Blog-o-sphere" had doth done to me.
I, who never ever got above a "D" in English, a sufferer of what today would be called a "learning disability", had written some things that other people found a)interesting b)thoughtful.
This was not something I was prepared to believe as even remotely possible.
However, the boys were insistant, and one day, I went and got myself a blog. I started small, using the "90 days free" typepad service just to see if its something that would work or not.
I remember trying to decide what it was I was going to write about. I didnt want to be a "linker" and I didnt want to be "all politics all the time". In the end, I decided not to think about it too much and not to worry about it, just write what popped into my head at the time.
My wife found a picture of my deceased mother-in-law, and I wrote about what I saw in the picture. I found that writing that post changed me in some way. I wrote about what life was like on Roseton Ave and how it hurt me to leave it. I wrote about my bike being stolen and the end of a bully. It was all much cheaper, more satisfying and more effective than group therapy.
One night I saw John Kerry on 'Teevee' (just one too many times for my tastes), yammering on with the 'boston foghorn' voice about Vietnam and I just snapped and began to tap the keyboard like a minature game of whack-a-mole and out came this post. Then I went to bed.
I logged on the next day and found I was the recipient of something I had never heard of before. It was an "insta-lanche". I was horrified, the piece was barely edited, and not really coherent, and now it seemed the world had been reading it. I had 200 emails, but the end of the day over 1,000. Up till that point, I dont think I had ever had a single comment or trackback, now I had hundreds of people writing me. Most of them were laughing right along side with me, but there were a large number of people who wanted me hung by my thumbs. "How could I say that about John Kerry, obviously he was going to win..."
Now I really knew I could write. When you can piss people off, thats how you know you got something under the hood.
Glenn Reynolds, another man I have never met, has also touched my life and in simple yet odd way, has changed it. I hope to meet him someday, but until them, I will simply say "thank you". All of us who blog, readers or writers, owe Glenn a debt of thanks for popularizing our sport and helping us all perfect our craft. He may be a law professor, but he's had a big hand in the renaissance of writing that is occuring in the modern world.
Learning that I could irritate people to the point that they felt compelled to send me hate mail was interesting and in someways fun, but there were other things too. Once, I got an email from someone who was very deeply touched by something I wrote on election eve. That email still makes me cry. I cannot accept that anything I have ever written has managed to make it into anyone elses life, but apparently, it has.
I cannot express in words,written or spoken, how touched I have been that some of the things I have written has been so well received by people in the blogosphere. Frankly, I still find it stunning that anyone except a few people I know have ever even found the site, much less enjoyed anything I have ever written.
For those of you that have enjoyed what I have written, all I can say is that I have enjoyed every minute of writing it. It has truly been "my pleasure". Writing a blog has changed me in ways I could never have thought possible and you've all had a part in that, and I thank you for it.
For those of you who are angry or upset at something I've written, I will tell you what someone once told me: "Go get you own blog".
We all talk about how the world is changing because of blogs. It is, but its also changing me. I look at myself differently now that I've taken to writing, I think about things differently. I spell better, I take more time with what I want to say. Blogging has in effect made me a better person.
This all started because I saw something that Megan Mcardle wrote one day in 2002. She doesnt know me, but she changed me. Steven Den Beste told me to "take a little more time and think it all the way out next time". I never met Steve, but he changed me. Stephen Green said " Get your own blog and I'll link the hell out of you",and it changed me.
Glenn Reynolds said "heh" and my life has never been the same.
Blogging. The best way to drain your emotions since the invention of the medicinal leech.
Posted @ March 03, 2005 12:29 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
Fossett-Blogging: "let's go for it"
Mission Status: Steve says "Let's go for it!"
At 21:30CST (03:30UCT) Steve Fossett relayed by satellite phone to Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer Mission Control Director Kevin Stass "let's go for it". Strong tailwinds across the Pacific from the coast of Japan carried Steve between 100knots -130knots from the coast of Japan to Hawaii, bringing the round-the-world non-stop circumnavigation world record back within his grasp.
Steve Fossett, commented: "I hit the jetstream very well which has put us in a better fuel position. I have every hope of making it to Salina tomorrow."
And then theres this:
Steve Fossett has proved once more that he is a record breaking adventurer. At 18:01 UTC when he reached Ferar, Steve broke the world record for "distance without landing" which was last set in 1962 by a B-52.
When it arose that Steve might not make it back to Salina due to the loss of fuel, a conference call was arranged between the Contest and Record Board, who oversee record setting activities in the US. The Board discussed the interpretation of the record setting rules and since Steve had exceeded the 12,000 mile distance set by the B-52 it was determined by vote that the world record was now his.
So, Global Flyer will cross the coast of California later this evening, somewhere between Los Angeles and San Diego.
Between his current location - just off the Hawaiian Islands and landfall, guess what the next closest airfield is available for landing?
Posted @ March 02, 2005 09:17 PM | Aviation | Comments (1)
Global Flyer Update: This Is Not Good...
Steve is over the coast of Japan and overnight they have been working to solve a fuel discrepancy.
It now seems that they cant account for 2600 lbs of fuel.
Quote:
"A tired Steve was facing the possibility that the around the world may not be a success and had been looking at the alternatives that were available to him. In a live feed, Steve said: "I think there’s still some significant hurdles here. I don’t have a very high level of confidence at this point."
More details can be found here.
Keep an eye on www.globalflyer.com for updates over the next couple of hours. He will either decide to abort or keep going in the next couple of hours.
Stay Tuned...
UPDATE I: Ok, He's on for Hawaii at the least. Well see what happens from there.
Update II: One guy, One plane and he still manages to lose 2,600 lbs of fuel. I will try to remember that the next time United manages to lose my luggage.
Update III: Ahh-HA! I've found the cuprit! Courtesy of Warner Brothers.
Posted @ March 02, 2005 09:44 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)
Well, theres something you don't see every day...
I think this is the most touching thing I've read since the start of the whole 'Cedar revolution':
Quote:
"All the people want freedom, Muslims, Christians, Druze, everyone. People here are holding the cross and the Koran,"
After all the carbon black soot that was left on our souls after 9/11, doesnt that just make you want to sit down and cry for the sheer joy of it?
Well, Heres some more "things you dont see every day"
Headline(Times of India):
Oppostion in Syria looks for spillover effect.
Opposition? In Syria? Whodathunkit.....
Quote: "A Syrian withdrawal is inevitable. History is on the move and nobody can halt its progress," said Syrian filmmaker Omar Amiralay. He said Lebanon was playing the role of 'engine for change' in the region."
Then theres more signs of evil "Bush-Hitler" being "Unilateral" again:
US and France demand Syria leave Lebanon
Demand? France and US? "...cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria..."
Then John Kerry finally gets some concensus from the "World Community" with this:
China Welcomes Syrias decision to pull its troops out of Lebanon.
You know, when the Chinese, French and US are all saying "shows over Bashir". The show is over.
Posted @ March 01, 2005 10:18 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)
Alone
Imagine taking a flight on a Southwest Airlines jet.
Imagine getting assigned to seat 22b, the dreaded middle seat, in the back of the plane, with no view, and your seat cannot recline.
Now, imagine that the flight is 80 hours long, and that you can’t sleep at any point of the flight.
Now imagine that you’re not just a passenger, but you’re the pilot. And its not a well tested and understood Boeing 737, but a one time creation, made mostly out of plastic, and it doesn’t have two engines, but one.
And no one has ever done what you are about to do. Fly around the world, nonstop, Solo, on one engine without refueling.
Now imagine that you just crossed from Newfoundland into the Atlantic. You are familiar with the North Atlantic arent you? The Titanic sank there most of the passengers died not of drowning but of hypothermia. In that water, you have about 20 minutes before you are stone dead, even if you use your 'flotation device'. Even if you crash next to a nice warm US Coast Guard Cutter, your chances of survival are pretty slim. The Atlantic is the most populated, safest part of the trip. Later, you’ll cross the equator, and all of the weather problems that can create will be yours to deal with.
Alone.
Before you tonight is 8 hours of blackness before the green coast of Ireland appears along with the bright light of sunrise. Only that sunrise will make you squint, which will have the effect of making you want to sleep even more.
Now imagine you have two more days and nights to go before you can sleep.
That’s what Steve Fossett is up against tonight and the next three days. There are people who would say that Steve is really not alone out there.
But none of those people are pilots.
Pilots know that all engines and electrical systems immediately fail or go dark as soon as you are over water and too far to go back to land. Pilots know the cold fear that comes from second thoughts. Pilots know the nervous habit of tapping the side of their instruments to “make sure they work”, like knocking on wood. We all know its crap, but we do it anyway. We all listen for the engine to miss, and even when it doesn’t, we hear it, as if by hearing it early and catching it, there might be something we can do to stop it.
But there isn’t anything you can do. You, like all pilots have to sit there and take it. Once you do the pre-flight, and once you are in the air, there’s not a damn thing you can do about a misfiring engine or the blown fuse that happens when you neglected to bring a spare or a flashlight to see it with.
Pilots know. And it makes us all sweat and fidget when you talk to us about it.
Tomorrow, when you see someone you know who is a pilot, you’ll see them sitting they’re tapping the edge of their coffee cup with their pencil, nervously awaiting news. When you look at their eyes, you’ll know what pilots know that normal people don’t.
Sure, its lonely up there, and potentially dangerous but there’s nowhere else any of us would rather be.
Say a prayer tonight for Steve Fossett.
Posted @ March 01, 2005 12:35 AM | Aviation | Comments (2)
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