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George Tenets Inner Monologue

Secretary of State Colin Powell, Addressing UN Security Council on WMD's in Iraq. CIA Director George Tenet is to his left, US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte to his right.

"...Hmmm. Maybe now would be a good time to speak up and say that all that crap about Iraqi 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' and it being a "slam dunk" was just me trying to impress my secretary at lunch one day. Nahhhhhh. Besides, look at him, he's on a roll! I'll just let it go and get back to it later. I can always come back and deny it by leaking it to my pal Woodward. That sort of thing happens all the time this town, who's gonna know?

I mean its not really a "fib" now is it, I mean Saddams going to have weapons of some sort when its all said and done, right? It's Saddam were talking about here fer cryin' out loud, of course hes got big nasty things that he shouldn't have! That's what makes him Saddam! If you can't stereotype the behaviour of a dicator, then who can you stereotype, right? Give him the benefit of the doubt?, let the inspections work?, come on man its saddam-freakin-hussein here, he kills his own people for sport, with store bought, "off the shelf", "lookie here folks, we got the reciept!" chemical weapons no less. He can't help himself, it's some "mommy doesnt love me" thing at work in the whole hussein family I guess. Besides ol' dubya is on a roll, who is going to care in 5 years what Saddam had one way or the other. Half the Democrats I know are kicking themselves for not having dealt with this skank back in 1998 so they couldve taken all this glory for themselves.

Well savor the flavor suckers, because all of you got walked out the door after election day, and look who's getting the medal of freedom for finally getting rid of that damn Saddam and the rest of his clan now, eh? Yeah thats right baby, you pal Georgie boy, that's who. You suckers... hehehehe - oops no smiling, no laughing it would look bad. look ominous...stare straight ahead and hey wouldja look at the AP photographer!, zowie!, boy talk about your "slam dunks", hehehehe. I gotta remember that one...

Man, I can't believe they let me stay in this job after they came to town. I really thought my goose was cooked, but you just never know how things are going to turn out, do you? I mean, how I escaped getting my hide nailed to the outhouse door over the USS Cole, the Tanzanian embassy, and the failure to notice all that activty around jet pilot training, I have no idea.

I wonder if I should run for President some day. Yeah, I like the sound of that; "President Tenet" it kind of rolls of the tongue. That would make those bastards who called me fat in high school sit up and finally take notice, you betcha. No, I wasnt the captain of the footba...uh oh... he's talking about those "aluminum tubes" again. Man, thats really gonna leave a mark when they find out they are really just curtain rods. Time to look at my notes like I'm really interested and nod my head up and down like I agree.

Oh man, Negropontes starting to get all "parochial school" on me with the sideways looks again. I gotta stop drifting off on these things, I really gotta start working out more. Come on Colin, wrap this sucker up wouldja, I gotta date waiting for me at 'The Smokehouse' at midtown in about an hour... "

Posted @ April 30, 2007 09:10 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Gorgon, Harpy and Medusa - Call your office!

Roseanne Barr has emerged as the top contender to replace Rosie O'Donnell next year on "The View," sources say.
And when she opens her mouth, she makes a sound that only dogs can hear and can stun small animals into a coma at 500 yards. That's real talent baby...

A rep for Barr says she has not been approached.

And we believe every single thing we read in the papers, really we do...

"It's almost like that rumor that spread last month about how she was going to be on 'Desperate Housewives,' " said Barr's spokesperson.

This ladies and gentleman is known in the business as a "Hint".

"She's a piece of work, she's a character, she says what's on her mind and she's funny," said a source with knowledge of ABC's sudden and desperate search to find a new co-host to replace O'Donnell who quit the show last week.
Yes, the eternal question for producers everywhere, how to fill a seat that Rosie once sat in.

"They're missing strong personalities on that show, and that's what they're going to need if they want to keep it going," an ABC staffer close to the situation told the Post.

Starring Joy Behar as "the wallflower".

During an appearance on "Larry King" last week, Roseanne danced around the question of joining the "The View."

Larry King AND Roseanne,live and taking your calls for first half hour, in the second half of the hour, Henry Kissinger and Topo Gigo... Who says standards for television have fallen?

"I'm not looking for the job," she said at one point - and joking at another, "Well, I want $10 million, like Rosie."

But she never said she wouldn't take it if offered.

And Tom Arnold is laughing all the way to the bank.

Since last week's announcement when Rosie said she planned to leave the show in June, several names have surfaced as possible replacements.
Yes, Hello CAA? Can you tell us who is representing "the Medusa"?
Among them are Joan Rivers(What, did she lose her gig as Paris Hiltons little dog?), Whoopi Goldberg(kinda early in the morning for old Whoop, dontcha think?), Kathie Lee Gifford(eh, what? Does the world really need more stories of Cody?) and Connie Chung(I hear a barrel being scraped). Out of all of them, Roseanne seems to be the best fit.

That is the first time in history that the words "best fit" and Roseanne have appeared in the same sentence at the same time.

"It's going to be hard for them to follow Rosie," says an industry insider. "Roseanne could be the only one capable of pulling it off."

Its easy to follow Rosie, just follow the sound of glass breaking and the line of debris in her wake.

Industry insiders have also suggested Bette Midler and D-lister, Kathy Griffin.

Oh those talent agents, they are cut ups arent they?

The job is particularly hard to fill for more reasons than just the difficulty of finding a new, strong personality.

For starters, most women have better things to do with their time than this.

The open chair is the No. 1 seat on the show, requiring a star who can, in effect, be the show's quarterback - moving the discussion along, introducing guests and other duties that a TV neophyte might not be able to pull off believably.

O'Donnell said Wednesday that she's leaving "The View" after one year because she and ABC could not agree on a new deal.

Insiders have said she wanted more control over the show and decided to quit when that was denied.

O'Donnell had replaced former "View" co-host Meredith Vieira. Starr Jones, who also left the show last year, has yet to be replaced.

Say guys, I've got a real simple solution to your problem...

Posted @ April 30, 2007 03:48 PM | Book Reviews | Comments (0)

Can't place the face, but the voice sounds like someone I've heard before

Somewhere in Chicago, then in Arkansas, then in Washington D.C during the 1990's.

And doesnt Harry Mudd remind you a little of someone else as well?

Posted @ April 30, 2007 02:34 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Tenet and the Libby memory test

George Tenet is the first celeb-ra-staffer to turn in a book after the Libby standard of memory tests has been standardized.

Now that many people have started reading over his book and find themselves saying "Sorry George, but I remember it a little differently than you do", I wonder if anyone will take the time to remember that there is a former Chief of Staff for the Vice President who will be doing time in prison for a whole lot less.

Posted @ April 30, 2007 09:09 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Barstow

Mars Surface Winds Generating "Dust Devils".

I've been transfixed by this view of the martian landscape all day. Just a simple dust storm across the surface of a small red dot in my sky. It's worse than any given day in Barstow, but theres nowhere else I'd really rather be than where this picture was taken.

Lately I've noticed myself thinking about space more than usual. It's probably because of the discovery of an "earth like" planet in the star system Gliese 581. When I heard the news ,almost knee-jerk like I said out loud "alright! now we've got somewhere to go!".

What a weird reaction to have to such a small bit of information. Some astronomer announces that they've seen what appears to be a small speck of light, they look at the data and decide that its a planet almost like ours, and the next thing you know I'm standing in my garage packing for the trip.

It's almost like some deep part of me really needs to know that there is a frontier somewhere, anywhere just to be able to feel normal.

Living in a world as we do today, where tourists can and do go to the furthest reaches of the planet, seems to bother me more than I realized. The ability to "get away" has been a part of every generation of humans; that is, until now.

My dad used to say that the reason that there were humans on every continent and seemingly behind every hill on the planet was because as a species we were wired in our DNA to get as far away from our inlaws as possible. From the beginning of time back on the savannahs of africa, generation after generation of human newlyweds kept hoping to move just far enough away from their inlaws so they could visit around the holidays, but far enough apart to give themselves a good excuse to leave early to "beat the traffic". On and on it went, generation after generation all of them moving further out on the horizon until every 'nook and cranny' of every spot on the globe had been reached and populated by someone else's relatives.

It was a good system and it worked for a very long time, but things have changed for us. Now there is no frontier, no place you can go to get away from anyone else their relatives or yours - ever. Cellphones reach every spot on the globe at all hours of the day or night and everyone lives with the expectation of "instant real time" communication. You don't answer your phone on the first ring and people think its an insult.

I can remember when the words "Live Via Satellite" meant something really really big was going on. Now it just means theres a wrestlin' match on 'teevee'.

Thanks to the 'Jet Age', you are 14 hours from any spot on the globe and when you get there, you'll be met at the airport by a cabbie wearing an NYPD t-shirt, carrying an I-pod and yes, carrying a cellphone that was probably made in Finland.

Trade and travel restrictions are more liberal than they have been in the history of mankind. Wars, famile and pestilence, where they occur are regional and small in nature by comparison to almost any time in the past. So who is it on the plane with you while you travel? Yes thats right, just about anyone else in the world, because where travel used to be a sign of sophistication or at the very least someone rich with some scandal to hide but it's now just a sign that you've got $1000 dollars buring a hole in your sweatpants.

Now dont get me wrong, these are all good things and I'm all for seeing and visting all parts and peoples of the world but I got to tell you, there are times when I want to go somewhere where there is ZERO expectation that anyone can find me with my cellphone, someplace where no one has ever heard of Britney Spears or is populated by anyone who uses the phrase "Carbon Neutral".

There are days that I would really like to go somewhere else.

I went somewhere else twice in my life, and both of those places are gone now, overrun with the tracks of civilization. Places where people just didnt go back then are now places where elderly retirees can drive their RV's in safety and comfort.

Way back in my youth, I once took an epic trip down the Baja Pennisula. I was in the process of a divorce from what would soon be my first wife, and I found myself also between jobs( and yet, this was not the worst year of my life. It wasnt even close, so for those of you feeling down in the dumps for your situations, keep you chin up. Things got much worse and much better as I moved on through life ).

One of my cousins and a couple of his friends were going fishing along the coast of Baja and I decided that since I had nothing else to do that I would go along. Fishing trip? It was more like a trip into the distant past via "The Time Tunnel".

The road down the Baja pennisula, if you could call it that, ended just a few miles outside of Ensenada, and was replaced with a few miles of 55 gallon drum heads. Then it was dirt, gravel and little else. There were no GPS, no highway patrol, no gas stations every exit, hell there were no exits.

You were on you own. There was the four of us at ages between 20 to 24, A Ford Bronco and a 68 Chevy Truck, spare tires, tools, fishing gear and thats about it. There was no expectation of help if anything went wrong, if you got hurt, you died. If the truck broke down and couldnt be repaired, it would probably stay where it broke down if we couldnt fix it.

We were completely on our own. We were for all intents and purposes living in the 18th century. We were on our own in a way you can't hardly do anymore. We went days without seen any signs of human habitation. We slept right on the beaches. We fished all day and moved along down the coast, completely losing track of time and dates.

It was fantastic.

On rare occasion we would find a small town or a village, but they werent the sort of airconditioned, franchised "rubber tomahawk and sombrero" places you see today. These were places where people lived and fished and went about their lives, somewhat oblivious to the outside world that we lived in.

About half way through the trip, we saw a set of telephone poles leading to a small village and decided to stop. We took a seat at the bar and ordered food as a change of pace from what we ate on the beach. Then we asked if we could use the phone. The owner just pointed us to the pay phone on the wall. My cousin walked over to use it and discovered that there was no dial tone.

He asked the owner when the phone would be repaired. The owner said he had no idea, that no one in the town had any use for the phone. Then my cousin asked if he knew what caused it to be out and the owner just pointed at the lobster traps that were stacked against the wall.

Lobster traps, that were clearly made of untwisted telephone cabling. We stuck out head out of the open air bar and followed the phone lines and sure enough about a half mile down from the town there was a big gap between two poles. The Federal Government of Mexico had wished to provide telephone services for the people of Baja, but the people of this part of the coast of Baja had found the phone lines to be put to better use then asking other people "hey watcha doin...".

"Who are we going to call? Everyone we know lives here! " the owner of the bar said to us. You really couldn't argue with that, its just the way it was. Who needs a phone, we got everything right here in river city big fellah...

After we had gone as far down Baja as we could, we took a ferry over to the mainland. What looked to be a quick half day trip instead took two agonizing days to cross, as the ferry broke down in mid crossing with ourselves and five other trucks on board. The Gulf of California was absolutely becalmed, not so much as a ripple on the water and no discernable horizon due to the dust and haze which sounds like loads of fun until you realize that there was no way to drive off the smell of the stench from the ferry, which was a lukewarm heated combination of tuna parts, cigar butts, vomit, diesel oil and chemical toilet effluent. Once it gets on you, there's not enough Lava soap in the world to get that smell off of you. To this day, I can't eat tuna fish without thinking of the 300 lb. Captain of the ferry laughing at us from the wheelhouse and eating his cigar at the same time while we sat there in the middle of nowhere and waited for the tug to find us and bring us in. The Mexican Anti-"Captain Ahab", not chasing anything around "perditions flame" but just sitting up in the wheelhouse, eating cigars and spitting tobacco down at the deck and the passengers below for sport.

We arrived on the Mexican mainland and after showering in an actual hotel, with running water and yes, a telephone that actually worked and we drove back to "El Norte", and crossed the Sonoran desert in the process.

That my friends, is a serious desert.

Oh, it might be hot and dry where you live, but compared to the Sonoran desert out around the Colorado River Delta, it might as well be Louisiana wherever you are.

We stopped in the desert at one point to deal with a mechanical problem. The Chevy had blown the last of its tires, and we need to send the Bronco ahead to get the last tire repaired. I stayed behind with one of the other guys to watch the truck as the rest went on ahead to the next town.

At night in the desert there wasn't a sound. I mean not a solitary sound. It was the sound of the absence of all living things. Occasionally the truck would make some sort of noise due to the cooling of the various metals causing a small clank here or there, but that's it. You could quite literally hear your own heart beat out there. It was the most "empty" and the most "nothing" I've ever been in.

It was fantastic.

Since that trip my contention has been that anyone who crosses the Sonora desert by foot with the only thing keeping them going is that simple desire of coming across to the United States; if thats the case they should be met at the border with a wet towel, a large glass of lemonade and we should just sign them in right then and there and give them the oath of citizenship.

Anyone who crosses that place on foot and survives is ok by me. we'll work on that whole 50 states and capitals civics test later...

When we crossed the border back into the US at Calexico, we faced returning to a world run by the clock and the calendar rather than one run by the seasons and the tide. There was no getting away from it, no matter where you went, there you were and someone else knew it. The world we left behind on that trip might as well have been the world that Cortez and his men found when they arrived in the new world. It probably hadnt changed all that much since that time.

But its all gone now. Baja now has a nice asphalt paved highway that goes all the way down to Cabo San Lucas. The road south of Ensenada is no longer "the gates of the anitpodes" but the first of many PEMEX stations and McDonalds all along the route. On a road that my friends and I once agonized over possibly losing a tire or puncturing an oil pan because there was no expeactation of help of any kind, now average Americans from LA suburbia drive their Honda Accords and Civics in air conditioned comfort down to places all along the coast, Kayaking and talking about the natural beauty of all that they see.

The Mexican Federales now have check stations to make sure you make it safely all along the route. What the hell is that all about? Safely? Federales? When I went down Baja, I wept when I saw a barbwire fence, because I knew it meant that someone was possibly around the area.

And now there's cell phone towers all along the route.

Blasphemy...

The blessed emptyness of it all is now interrupted by stupid ring tones and people saying "Hey watcha doin..." at any hour day and night, just because they can.

Where's the sport in that? You can't get truly lost today of all you have to do is reach into your pocket and say "Mom, come get me..."

So I look at the animated "gif" at the top of this post thats been provided by SETI and NASA and I swoon for the possibility of blessed emptyness and I know how much I personally really need the concept of frontier. Because from some of us, its not enough to just get away from our inlaws. We need to maintain our own sense of our humanity by leaving it behind to go see whats on the other side of the hill. That hill, right there behind that "dust devil". I wonder whats over there...

Were just wired for that sort of thing, I think.

Posted @ April 29, 2007 10:09 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

How do you say "Look and cook" in Russian?

Every war changes the battlefield in small but very perceptible ways and once its changed, you cant go back and fight the way you did in previous war. You have to adapt to the realities presented, or surrender to them.

In the last few engagements with the forces of Jihad, weve seen how cheap, simple and decidedly ineffective missiles when fired 'en masse' can still have the desired effect of ruining the morale of the enemies of islamic jihadis.

The Hezbollah-Israeli war of last summer was a war fought under these exact terms. Hezbollah launched lots of little missiles into civilian populations and caused the israelis to react to them. The reaction was in my view clearly justified, and perhaps more than a bit too restrained, but there can be no doubt that the world didnt think the Israeli reation was justified and Israel suffered not from the missiles launched at them, but by their own reaction to Hezbollah, which was in the classic way of invading and clearing territory of a threat( which to my eyes is completely justified and understood but in the modern age is simply not tolerated even when it is clearly justified).

The result of the missile tactics used by hezbollah are twofold - first that Hezbollah accomplished its goals in southern Lebanon and second as a result of that success, we will see more of the same deployed in more places, perhaps even against US interests at home and abroad.

So the issue at hand for those of us in the west is now,"what are the defensive measures that can be deployed against waves of small dumb missiles?". When I say "dumb missiles",I am referring to the fact that the missile has no level of sophistiction in its targeting. The missile is simply aimed at an approximate location with little concern given if it the weapon hits what it is aimed at or not.

In the modern battlefield, the mere fact that the weapon is launched is enough to embolden those who fire it and to strengthen their cause. It cannot be overlooked that the jihadi war is a war fought not like a military campaign,but like a PR campaign. The goal in a PR campaign is not as much for territory but for headlines.

What I find most interesting when I look into this question of "battlefield missile defense" is just how sophisticated it seems to be.

The picture I've placed above this post is taken from an article on the Raytheon Vigilant Eagle System.

Here's a snip from that article:

"This system (Vigilent Eagle) uses laser and microwave energy to target and shoot down anti-aircraft missiles.

"I take the view that lasers supplanting what we sell now is not threatening, it's an opportunity. And with a disruptive technology, good can be good enough," says Swanson.

That's the idea behind the company's Laser Area Defense System, a counter-mortar system installed in Raytheon's 20mm Phalanx antimissile rotary cannon. The current Phalanx, which can compute the trajectory of an incoming shell and fire 4,500 rounds per minute, was good for $300 million of contracts last year from the U.S. and allies.

Replace the ordnance with a fiber-optic laser and you can destroy 60mm mortar rounds 500 yards away, as Raytheon demonstrated last June. Four engineers borrowed mortars from the Sandia Explosives Lab and blew them up with a borrowed 20-kilowatt off-the-shelf laser from the Air Force Research Laboratory just hours after 80-mile-an-hour desert winds whipped through. If a prototype due by December 2007 improves the laser beam director, it could get deployed alongside existing Phalanx systems within 12 months."

End snip...

So it seems that laser anti missile weapons are well underway with their development and it also seems that they are close to being deployed as well. This would have the effect of blunting the most recent development of the terrorists to continue their activities of extortion against the west.

Which brings us back to the Russian angle in this story. We may thing of ourselves as the "Arsenal of Democracy", but no one can argue that the Russian Government is not the "arsenal of Jihad".

Perhaps this is why Russia seems so dead set against the idea of missile defense on any scale, even when we wish to cooperate directly with them in its development and deployment?

If we develop successful,easy to deploy and cost effective battlefield countermeasures to exactly the sort of weapons that the Russians make and sell by the truckload, then that would make the Russian weapons market into a complete waste of time, now wouldnt it?

Perhaps that is why we see these sort of silly statements from the Russian government these days.

In the end, it seems it is all about trade, isnt it?

Posted @ April 28, 2007 10:57 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Great Farking Zarkwon

Zaphod Beeblebrox, President of the Galaxy.

Just dropping a quick note here from "yours truly". My home and my office in it, the place that serves as my personal version of the "batcave" is without internet or phone service because I was silly enough to take the advice of my local phone company and have them upgrade my home to a Fantastically Fast All New And Improved Fiber Optic Network System!

Well, it hasnt worked out quite the way it was planned. You know the phrase " You just cant get good help these days?" Well, I'm living it.

For me, trying to live with the lack of internet access is like suddenly being forced to camp out in the wild. Losing the internet is for all intents and purposes like I have fallen into a wormhole back into the 12th century.

I'm busily scrambling around all day trying to keep my organization up and running as I upload and download emails every 4 hours at the local Panera Bread, in between visits from the phone company,various supervisors and their contractors as they try to undo the damage done so far.

It sucks. It sucks bad. Losing TV is annoying, losing the internet is frankly, unbearable.

I'll be back in business soon. Try not to stare at my old pal Zaphod Beeblebrox too much, it makes him all "twitchy".

Update: Great llama of bahama!, I'm back in business! I'm not fiber-ed yet, but I am working again and that's ok.

Posted @ April 26, 2007 09:55 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

787 shot of the day

Photo Credit: Boeing Photo

First Major Assembly for Boeing 787 Dreamliner Delivered to Everett

(why its like a big model airplane! Its a 1/1 scale model from Revell!)

The aircraft doing the delivery is the 747 "Dreamlifter".

Posted @ April 25, 2007 05:23 PM | Comments (1)

Questions of the day

Q1: Why do liberals, much more than conservatives, feel the need to communicate their politics via bumper stickers?

Q2: Why is it that they can't just have one bumpersticker, but are almost always compelled to cover the entire rear of the car with variations on a theme?

Q3: Are the bumper stickers a way of communicating with us what the driver believes or what the driver would like to command us to do?

Q4a/b/c/d: Are bumper stickers the "communication of ideas"? ( i.e.- The sky is blue)

or are they requests for wishes to come true? ( i.e. - I sure wish the sky was blue)

or are they admonishments (i.e. - the sky would be blue if it werent for you and thats why we cant have nice things)

or are they paper versions of grade school bully tactics (i.e - Joey is a poopy head, let's make fun of joey - booh joey!)

For the record, I have no bumperstickers of any sort. I feel no need to communicate with other drivers, aside from brake lights and turn signals, but I see this "bumper sticker forest" all the time and it always makes me laugh.

Theres just something sad and emotionally needy about this phenomenon.

Posted @ April 25, 2007 03:57 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)

Wartime lies - the 1940's Version

Capt. Colin P. Kelly - Hero**?

Oh my heavens, what have we discovered about the evil duplicious administration and his neocon fascist warrior cult now? The heinious crime of the military, painting rosy scenarios about losses in combat all to justify their illegal wars. Will they never learn?

But we've seen it all before, havent we? Oh, the shame of it all.

Just look at this from that evil racist war in the 1940's:

"...An imminent air attack sent the three bombers off to their respective targets before refueling and bomb loading were completed. Captain Kelly had only three 600-pound bombs aboard and orders to attack airfields on Formosa (Taiwan), some 500 miles north of Clark. The mission would earn Colin Kelly a place in American history and legend.

In the confusion of the early days of the Pacific war, Kelly was credited with sinking a Japanese battleship and with award of the Medal of Honor. Overnight he became a national hero. It later was determined that Kelly and his crew did not sink a battleship, nor was he awarded the Medal of Honor, although some still believe both...

end snip.

General Macarthur and his cronies needed heroes to justify their ill considered run up against the Japanese so as to make their illegal war stick in the minds of the American people, so they trumped up some regular acts into things that werent true.

You know what, I'll bet that Lt. Commander Johnson really didnt get his silver star either, or the Senator Tom Harkin wasnt really in Vietnam at all!

You just can't trust those military types...

** - A Hero? Well, all kidding aside, my answer is yes, indeed he was. The fact that his actions were a bit convaluted by the press and the high command for their own purposes at the time, do not detract from the act, his sacrifice and their meaning to the rest of us. But here in the "post watergate age", we tend to look on every example of distortion from the government as an act of brazen deception, but most of the time, its some just some amount on incompetancy in the organization itself. Its nothing personal, its just what happens in organizations like the government.

Would Private Lynch perfer that her commanders release a report showing her incompetence under fire(yes, people can argue that allowing sand to jam a rifle while in combat is a measure of incompentence) as another in a long line of reasons why women probably shouldnt be in combat? It's not likely that she would. Was such a conversation had by people around the mess hall at some point during or after her rescue? You can bet on it. That doesnt make it right, and it shouldn't detract from her story or the stories of other women in combat or the sacrifice of others on her team that didnt make it through that incident, but its not right for Private Lynch to try to help the enemies of the military make hay out of something she aught to let lay as it is. She did good and her rescue is one worth telling again. Didn't get the facts right? Sweetheart, have you seen what passes for facts in war movies these days? Since way back in the time of Hector and Achillies, facts dont enter into what gets written down about other peoples war stories.

This is why old men in the VFW who have actually been in combat have precious little to say about it. How the hell do you explain to someone who hasnt been there what its like? How do you expect them to understand what you saw?

I find it interesting to watch the party dedicated to putting more government interference into every part of your life, is always the first to tell you at the 'top of their lungs' how its the government that has lied to you and has "done you wrong". So go ahead Congressman Waxman, you acts are meant to discredit the miltary in the eyes of the average citizen, but all he's really doing is making more conservatives out of every day folks who are getting yet another lesson on how not to trust the authorities.

Posted @ April 25, 2007 01:01 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Another Bush critic silenced

She was on to the Bush administration and its conspiracy on 9/11, so clearly she had to go. They put pressure on ABC(American Broadcast Company, what does THAT tell you comrade!) and they caved to the administration and Karl Rove. She was on to them, she got too close to the truth. She had to go.

This administration will stop at nothing in its attempts to control the populace. First it uses Rosie as a way to discredit the left, and now that she's gotten close to the truth, they make her a "non-person". She's like a modern day Karen Silkwood, only without the nuclear technicians background and the car accident.

Watch the skies comrade, thats all I'm saying.

Posted @ April 25, 2007 08:06 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Remember this next November

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, visting the dictator of Syria in his capital of Damascus. Give us a big smile Nancy, wave to all the peaceniks and freakazoids in your home district who never met an anti-american despot they didnt like.

But Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi can't make time to visit General David Petraeus in Washington.

Is there no depth to the Democratic Partys contempt for the American Military? Have you no shame? Have you no decency? Have you no common sense at all?

The man should be getting a ticker tape parade for his efforts in Iraq, but instead he's getting doors slammed in his face all across Washington D.C.

Big smile for cameras Nancy. Make sure history records you holding the fetid claw of that monster, while showing your backside to the men and women fighting for this country ,your country, OUR country...

Posted @ April 24, 2007 10:24 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Have the Chinese been secretly supporting Israel?

Headline:

74 killed in attack on Chinese oil venture in Ethiopia

snip...

"...Scores of gunmen have attacked a Chinese-run oil field in a remote area of Ethiopia killing 74 people including nine Chinese after a gun battle that lasted for almost one hour.

Seven Chinese workers were also kidnapped in the attack which the government blamed on a separatist group, said Ethiopian prime minister's spokesman, Berekat Simon..."

"...The attack echoed a spate of killings and kidnappings in recent months that have plagued Chinese workers in Nigeria, where Beijing is also aggressively seeking to develop the nation's oil reserves..."

...end snip.

I'm trying to figure out how this could have possibly happened? Lt' run through the list "the usual leftist excuses for mayhem"

- China isn't in Iraq or Afghanistan
- China doesnt support Israel
- China has no known neo-conservative connections
- China can't really be called "allied to the United States"
- China doesnt have a history of imperialism in the middle east
- China doesnt try to impose its cultural values on the world

How could this have happened? Terrorists don't just take violent action for no reason except for "commerce raiding", do they? No one of the oppressed peoples just kills and destroys for,ahem, money do they? Maybe they saw one of thoose "Free Tibet" bumperstickers when Richard Gere drove through town and decided to do something about it?

It must be a misunderstanding. I'm sure once the Chinese sit down with these oppressed "freedom fighters" and talk out their issues that everything will be straightened out to everyones satisfaction.

Oh I know what it is! the Ethiopians are eco-warriors fighting against big oil and the corporate bloodsuckers! It all makes sense now, yeah! You know its true, you just have to think really hard with your "inside voice", play hours of barefoot hacky-sack while listening to "rage against the machine", read lots of Chomsky and eventually you can find a good eco-friendly, anti-capitalist reason to rationalize the murder of innocent people. I hope they bought "carbon offsets" before the attack...

Posted @ April 24, 2007 11:27 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

787 - Tomorrow's factory today

From Seattle Times:

Tomorrow's factory today: A lone technician at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., tends the machine that winds carbon fiber tape around a mold to form the plastic shell of the 787's entire forward fuselage section. Shown is part of what will be airplane No. 7.

I know it doesnt look like much, but what you see in that picture is a revolution taking place. That "lone technician" is making an aircraft fuselage not with the "tried and true" method of 100's of men with rivet guns putting aluminum panels on aluminum frames, this man is making an aircraft fuselage out of carbon fiber using a process that is largely automated; much like the way that Doritos come out of a machine at Frito Lay.

Heres another view of the aircraft under construction:

We can again notice the lack of people involved on the factory floor. You can also notice that the fuselage is turned on a central axis, like someome using a lathe to make a baseball bat, rather than making a hull for a ship and bolting the planking on the side as has been done in the past.

Here's another view that shows the scale of the operation. Look in the background of the shot and see if you can notice something different:

Yes, thats a fuselage being turned around a central robotic arm. Notice the size of the people in the group to the left? Notice that none of them are actually working on the aircraft at the moment?

Now compare it to this:

This is a picture of the last "classic" 737 being built, which compared to the processes and methods used to create the 787 is like looking at a picture of the DC-3 being built (and now that Douglas is a part of Boeing, I can say that without anyone taking offense, can't I?)

The 787 is a revolution not just because it has "comfy seats" for the passengers and big windows, its a revolution in its manufacturing process as well.

Posted @ April 23, 2007 07:52 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Oh the things you find while reading...

As I reach back into greek philosophy to help me find a way through the morass of modern critical thinking, I found this little nugget:

"We are disturbed not by events, but by the views which we take of them"

Epictetus - Greek Stoic, 55–b.c.e - 135 b.c.e.

I found my self earlier this week telling someone that what bothered me the most about Virginia Tech was not just what happened, but how people who were not there were reacting to what happened and how I found those reactions to be interesting, for reasons I had never considered before.

It was as if due to this event that our culture had a chance to sit in front of a mirror and write down what it sees reflected back at itself.

I've never come across this character before, so I will have to read some more...

Posted @ April 21, 2007 07:21 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Overheard

"Virginia Tech has no more to do with gun rights than 9/11 had something to do with the licensing of pilots"

Overheard today,while standing in line at Fry's...

Posted @ April 20, 2007 04:42 PM | Comments (0)

Nine questions for the day

I do not wish to offend by asking these questions. try to think of them as questions that are academic in nature. I ask these questions to illuminate, irritate and most of all, possibly cause you to think.

Questions:

1. In what way is the video of the madman different from showing the video of Osama or Zawahiri or Atta?

2. If we are losing in Iraq because there are still examples of bombings in markets, then why do people still advocate that schools in the US stay open with students in attendance, despite continued attacks by madmen?

3. When was the last time the media reported an act of actual heroism by a member of the military with the same breathless precision as the insane butchery of the madman of Virginia Tech?

4. If we have built a culture that debases heroism and the idea of sacrifice of the self and have replaced it with a culture based on self satisfaction and glorifies the notion of rejecting any idea of compliance to a societal norm; Then why are we so shocked when the results of our acts and values, become manifest?

5. Set aside the issue of comparative religious views and ask yourself, "How are the populations victimized by the insane mass murderers of the Pennnsylvania Amish school, Virginia Tech and Columbine, Beslan, the London buses and the Madrid trains different from the civilian populations of the Middle East"?

6. Since broadcast media are subject to the licence of their franchise to the public airways and are periodically called upon by the FCC to provide evidence that they have acted in the public interest, can you make a case why their reporting of the news in a continued biased fashion violates that portion of their franchise? My test case is the madman video and transcript, you may have more examples of how news reporting has acted to inflame or exacerbate a danger to the public.

7. When will Michael Moore and Rosie O'donnell say that the attacks on Virginia Tech were a government conspiracy designed to take away our rights?

8. Do you really need to know if the madman had a rational reason to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech? Is there any possible construct of a rational reason for such an act?

9. Does any offense prepretrated against the madman during his life provide a possible rational reason for you to excuse his acts?

I look forward to your answers. I will publish mine tommorrow.

Posted @ April 20, 2007 01:38 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Bush makes things hard for business editors of news outlets

Despite being at war and under constant threat of attack, despite highest fuel prices of all time, the Bush management of the economy seems pretty solid.

To me, it would seem that no matter where you stand in your politcs, the fact that things are working - and working pretty well by the looks of it - would be seen universally as good news. Sadly, that is not the case...

Which makes me wonder if maybe "fuming about the rich" is whats leading to global warming...

Posted @ April 20, 2007 08:51 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

the 'fog of war' transforms into the 'fog of school massacre'

David Maraniss of the Washington Post gives us a true impression of what actually happened at Virginia Tech.

Snip...

"...Perkins and two classmates, Derek O'Dell and Katelyn Carney, ran up to the door and put their feet against it to make sure he could not get back in. They would have used a heavy table, but there were none, and the desks weren't strong enough.

Soon the gunman tried to get back in. The three students pressed against the door with their arms and legs, straining with their lives at stake. Unable to budge the door, the gunman shot through it four times. Splinters flew from the thick wood. The gunman turned away, again. There were more pops, but each one a bit farther away as he moved down the hall. The scene in the classroom "was brutal," Perkins recalled. Most of the students were dead. He saw a few who were bleeding but conscious and tried to save them. He took off his gray hoodie sweat shirt and wrapped it around a male student's leg."

End Snip.

I wonder if I will wake up tommorow to see Mr. Perkins on the front of the newspaper or on NBC being lauded properly and publically as a hero and an example to others in society.

I wonder why I have to wonder.

Posted @ April 19, 2007 02:30 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

More sparta, less athens

I say this with total respect towards the students, faculity and family of Virginia Tech and I shre in their loss. This is not a judgement of their actions in the massacre, they are victims and not to be judged one way or the other.

This particular post is more towards the rest of you who might someday be in this situation. I fear that unless we change some basic things about our culture, we will see more of these.

It seems to me that 'self defence' is not considered an option in polite society. It is time we learned (or relearned) the need to sometimes be a little more "sparta" and a little less "athens".

Here are a few guidlines to consider:

1. Do not wait for the police or the authorities to tell you what is going on. If you hear gunshots, assume that it is time for you to take action. Every moment you delay stopping the madman ensures that more innocent people will die.

2. Do not assume that if you just lay there and do nothing that you will live. Assume that if you just lay there, that you or someone else will surely die.

3. Do not assume that you can reason with the madman, if you must assume anything at all, assume that you must do everything possible to ensure your survival, even if it means engaging in violence.

4. If you can run away from the problem, then do so. If you cannot run away, prepare to defend yourself. If you can defend yourself, find someone else who can't and help defend them. The concept of 'safety in numbers' applies to humans as well.

5. If you find protecting your own safety while leaving others to be killed to be a reprehensible idea then prepare to defend them from the madman.

So, how can you defend yourself from a madman armed with a gun?

- throw chairs.

- Throw books, bookbags, paper, pens, paint.

- Find the fire extinguisher, aim towards the attacker and fire, the throw the empty device at the madman.

- Find the fire hose and hydrant. aim the stream towards the attacker.

- Run towards attacker en masse, armed with pens and pencils, sticks, stones whatever is at hand. Some of you will surely die in the process, but one of you is likely to maim the madman and save lives.

- If the attacker tells you to line up against the wall, refuse. Do not cooperate with madmen. The more he deals with you and your refusal to cooperate, the more likely that others are to escape. Dont worry about possibly making him angry, he is already irrational and beyond reasoning.

- If you have a camera with a flash, use it. blind the attacker with whatever means you have at hand.

- Improvise.

- Throw hot coffee or any other burning substance on the individual. feel free to throw the coffee pot as well, throw glasses, knives, forks, baseball bats, helmets, pottery, car parts, loose laying lumber plumbing fixtures at the madman.

- Got any pepper spray handy? Now would be a good time to find out if it works or not.

- Make noise. distract. block pathways and doors. turn out the lights, impede their progress in any way possible.

- Do not consider the feelings of the madman in your acts, his goal is to kill you, your goal is to stop the killing by any means necessary.

If you can disrupt Ann Coulter when she comes to campus or the ROTC when they recruit on campus, you can stop or disrupt a madman when he comes to kill you and your classmates.

UPDATE: Some comments from the instructor who expellend the madman from class -

snip...

Nikki Giovanni encountered Cho only once after she removed him from class. She was walking down a campus path and noticed him coming toward her. They maintained eye contact until passing each other.

Giovanni, who had survived lung cancer, was determined she would not blink first.

"I was not going to look away as if I were afraid," she said. "To me he was a bully, and I had no fear of this child."
End snip.

Well. I dont know her, but I like her already. She can teach my kids anytime, hell this lady can teach me anytime...

Posted @ April 18, 2007 02:08 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (9)

Marines deploy MV-22 Osprey to Iraq

The Marines have deployed the Boeing MV-22 to Iraq. To those of you not in the aviation world, that aircraft is a 'tiltrotor' a hybrid between a helicopter and a standard fixed wing aircraft. it can fly like an aircraft and then transition into 'hover mode' for very short helicopter style landings. And yes, we in the US are the only people in the world with such things as this aircraft.

So let's all keep our fingers crossed that it works, ok?

Here's a great briefing on the deployment of this new technology.

snip..

"GEN. CASTELLAW: First of all, you know, the primary troop assault aircraft now is the CH-46. It's almost 40 years old. It was introduced in the middle of Vietnam. The aircraft is old in the tooth, and its capability in terms of range and payload is not what we want. So we have been developing the V-22 as its replacement, again, to survive in a combat environment. This aircraft from the very beginning, from the time we put the first piece on the deck, was held to stringent combat characteristics and requirements.

So what we have is an aircraft that goes twice as fast. It goes three times as far, and it is the most survivable, about six or seven times of what the aircraft that it replaces is. On a mission, it can be at 200-plus knots in 15 seconds climbing the altitude. Fixed-wing use altitude as an area to get outside of the range of missiles and fire -- small-arms fire. We'll be able to do the same thing with this aircraft to get above the threat."

end snip...

Let's hope it works as planned, or the whole practice of "vertical envelopment" on the battlefield will take one big step backwards. Helicopters are becoming increasingly vulnerable on the battlefield, the MV-22 is a way to keep the abilities of the helicopter while getting the advantages in range, speed and carrying capacity of a fixed wing aircraft.

I've talked to pilots who fly it ground crew that work on it and there are skeptics and fans in both of those groups. The proof for all weapon systems lies not in the labratory or in idle bar talk, but in the battlefield. I heard all sorts of skepticism about the F-117 Nighthawk, the F/A-18 and even the A-10 Warthog when they were in the process of moving from the labratory to the battlefield, but you dont hear so much of it now and I suspect that you wont hear it about the Osprey in 15 years either.

If it works, its going to be terrific. If it works, it will make war that much more unlikely. If not, lots of people arent going to come home and the possibility of war is that much more likely. It's as simple as that.

A history of accidents? Yes, the Osprey has had her share, but compare it to the number of accidents during the development of any helicopter system and it puts it in better perspective.

I'm betting that she does just fine. Frankly, I'm hoping and praying she does fine.

Posted @ April 16, 2007 07:30 AM | Aviation | Comments (5)

The Bee/Cellphone Connection

I'm officially weighing in on the story reported on Drudge/Instapundit about the death of bees as somehow the fault of cellphone technology...

Ahem.

"The only way that cellphones are effecting bees is if the bees are flying around talking on the damn things and causing lots of little mid-air bee collisions".

Full disclosure, I'm a well known hater of cellphone technology so its not like im on the side of the cellphone industry but seriously guys, the advent of hybrid cars, womens perfume, gatorade in neon colors or "bratz dolls" are all far more likely a culprits in "bee deaths" as are the growth of cellphones in modern civilization. Do the Amish use Cellphones? Any Cellphone towers in Bird-in-hand Pennsylvania? How's their bee populations? Sure, I dont know either, but I would think that you would want to find out before you go scaring the hell out of everyone.

Let's start looking there before we start enforcing a new tax of cellphones to help our poor little winged helpers, shall we?

Dontcha think its funny that no one ever says:

"Study shows sudden unexplained rise in cockroach deaths possibly due to overhead power lines".

Cockroaches, rats and flies all go on living endlessly without interruption no matter what you toss at them, but all of the rest of Gods creatures are undone by mans industrial works as soon as it hits the market shelves. No one seems to give a damn about cockroaches. If all of nature is a wonder to be protected from the harsh hand of man, then why doesnt anyone care about the cockroaches and flies?

If cellphones are somehow whacking bees from the skies, then maybe we could adjust them to somehow get rid of mosquitos? Now THATS something I would gladly pay 5 bucks a month for.

It's always the same story. In the minds of "the new luddite", new technology can only make the world worse. There is a whole subculture of people who spend their days and nights ( using the very technology they so dispise) trying to prove it to be true, that the world sucks and its all your fault, and in the end its for no other purpose than to find a new way to tax you for your sins.

They say this even when every single metric about life in the modern age that there is shows just the opposite to be true.

I love Bees and I hate Cellphones, but science is science. If I wanted to make stuff up to get my own way politically, I would be a whole lot more creative about it than this.

Ok, what if its satellite television systems? GPS systems? Free WIFI on every street corner? Big Bass speakers on teeny tiny cars? The decreased use of non-leaded paint? maybe bees LIKED lead in their paint? Would we put it back if we found that to be true?

No. "Screw the bees", we would say.

Radar? What about that? Would we turn it off if we found out that Radar was causing the bees to die?

Nope. "Screw the bees", we would say.

Who wants a sky full of 747's without radar? You want to go back to world without cheap air travel? not me brudder! What about lithium batteries? Cellphones use lithium batteries, and hybrid cars use lithium batteries so maybe the bees are sensitive to something about lithium batteries? would we get rid of hybrid cars if it helped the bees?

Nope. "Screw the bees", we would say.

Well maybe its the rise in the use of biodiesel? Again, if thats the case, people will say "Screw the bees" in response. And the thing is, they would be right to do so.

If bees are so weak as to fall apart after a teeny tiny bit of radiation from freaking cellphones as opposed to the thousands of other radio sources, then off go the bees into the exhibit next to the south pacific dodo bird. But the cool thing is that people seem to be forgetting is that bees are insects and insects breed fast. Those bees that live will be the type with the genes made to survive the onslaught of the 'evil brain cancer causing cellphones' and there you have it, in a few generations, we'll have bees that will do just fine co-existing with humans and cellphones.

So all of you that want to go into the office on monday morning and look down your nose at your coworkers who are insensitive to the plight of the bees, do a little more research on the subject before you start tut-tutting about how "they dont care about nature", ok?

Because they dont care about the damn bees, and neither do you.

(And the cool thing is, I got through this whole post without using any of the obvious puns like "what about CB radios? get it? C-Bee, hahahaha. I kill myself sometimes... )

Posted @ April 15, 2007 03:19 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

and seven days later

Pssst. Hey Yuri, this is a voice from the future talking to you through your intercom. Listen buddy, I only have a couple of seconds here, so I want to make this quick. Congratulations! You are going to be the most famous man in the world in a couple of hours. In fact, you will be so famous that years from now when there is no Soviet Union, and people will have forgotten all about the "glories of the 5 year plan" and all that claptrap, people will still remember you. You my friend have passed from the world of average men, into the world of immortality.

So you just sit back and relax and try to enjoy the flight, you hear?

Oh, and on a related note, theres a yound woman living in California who is very pregnant and in just 7 days, she will give birth to a baby boy. The boy will grow up to admire you and travel back in time just to say hello at this historic moment.

So smile Yuri! Life is good...

April 12th 1961. Humanity leaves the earth for the first time.
April 12th 1961. My mom rides a bus to the OB/GYN.

The first event on that date might be important for the rest of you, but for me, I'm damn glad that the second event was successful.

Posted @ April 13, 2007 07:53 AM | Comments (1)

Fun with Google Earth

This months issue of Air Classics Magazine has a great article about a family in 1960 who decided to fly around the world in a World War II era PBY Catalina Flying Boat. Unfortunately, the flight came to an end in Saudi Arabia, when the family was attacked by ( as the article states) "Blood-crazed Muslims".

It's a great story, but I kept thinking "Now where have I heard of this story before?"

And then I remembered. It was on Google Earth.

I occasionally spend hours using Google Earth and looking for interesting things that can be found on the pages of that system. Its a great way to waste time. Chilean Navy bases( with submarines!), cattle fences that cross northern Nevada, oil refineries and tank farms deep in Libyan desert, missile bases outside of Damascus, political advertisements cut into the desert sands of South America, they are all fun to look at. I was once looking up and down the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba to see what can be seen from space and sure enough, I found this:

Yes, its the very same PBY flying boat thats covered in the article. The PBY, Shot down in 1960 with an American family and a reporter on board. They surivived the attack by hostile locals, and later, met members of the Saudi Royal Family and yet here we were 47 years later looking at a picture of the same aircraft as it sits on a beach of the gulf.

You can't hide anything from anyone these days. You can't even hide things that happened 47 years ago.

Posted @ April 10, 2007 10:51 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Like Johhnny Cash Said...

"...I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere...!"

April 1st - Sacramento, California to Idaho Falls, Idaho.

April 4th - Idaho Falls, Idaho to Seattle, Washington.

April 8th - Seattle, Washington To Sacramento, California.

What did I do? What did I see? What did I find that I didnt know before?

- Crossed the Continental Divide three times.

- Crossed into and out of Idaho twice.

- Went through 12 different Mountain passes, never on the same route twice.

- Saw Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, Mt. Batchelor, Mt. Shasta, all in one day. Fantastic...

- Discovered that a river does indeed run through Missoula, Montana.

- Found that Montana has by far the best maintained and best constructed highways of the lower 48 States. It might be that they are the same as all the others, and that they are simply waiting for people to drive on them, but they are truly magnificent to drive on. Smooth as a billiard table, well marked and clear of any sort of debris.

- While passing through Montana, we once traveled for over 75 minutes without seeing another car, truck or vehicle travelling in either direction as we moved down the road. At the same time, no AM radio stations were accessible on the dial, there we were in "scan" mode, the dial just went around and around. This was truly the back side of nowhere and it was fantastic. It is great to know that such a thing exists.

- We were only 100 feet from a major crash of a lumber truck in Idaho and we didn't hear or see a thing. I have no idea how thats possible, but thats what happened. One minute, everything is fine, the next a full lumber truck spread out on its side, across all 4 lanes of traffic. And we never saw a thing...

- That the most spectacular mountain pass by far was the Snoqualmie pass just outside of Seattle. This is not to say that the rest were mere portals through mountain country, its just that Snoqualmie is absolutely stunning.

- A single female deer can stop a full size Dodge RAM pickup truck dead in its tracks.

- That the phrase "Big Sky Country" is an understatement.

- That all 5 radio shows of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy take 12 hours and 30 minutes to listen to, which is the exact amount of time it takes to travel from Idaho Falls, Idaho to Seattle, Washington. I dont think the author intended this to be the case, but it works out that way just the same.

- That I would rather have my teeth pulled out of my skull with rusty pliers than ever eat at another McDonalds ever again.

- Cities can be recognized at the periphery by the blue signs that say " Gas Food Lodging" and now in the modern age, they are quickly followed by the signs that say "Gentlemans Club" and "Wal Mart". One is left to wonder if at some future iteration of retail marketing, the two concepts will manage get together and provide the male consumer with what can truly be called "One Stop Shopping".

- That if you are ever in Seattle on a Friday for the first sunny, warm day in about 6 months, you will notice that office productivity in the downtown area will fall off to exactly nothing as everyone will want to be outside catching a few rays. The Green Lake area of Seattle will then swarm with lots of local people, half of which will be nearly opaque due to a complete lack of any descerable tan on their skin.

After a 14 hour day behind the wheel today finishing off the trip at just over 2500 miles, I'm now too tired to go on.

More to follow...

Posted @ April 09, 2007 12:44 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

I know I've been out for a long trip but...

Did I manage to accidentally fall into a parallel universe where the Soviet Union still exists? Take a look at this screen print of MSNBC.com

There are "Soviets" in 2007?

Posted @ April 07, 2007 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

Drive, He Said (Part II)

And drive he did. On this leg of the trip, we go over the continental divide three times, cross three States( Montana, Idaho and Washington), go though four mountain passes ( Monida ,Lookout Pass, 4th of July Pass and Snoqualmie

This is the second leg of the trip and now we are at 1600+ miles. Here's more "Drive-by photography" as the annual Varifrank "trip around the west" continues.

Idaho/Montana State Border. I-15 headed north into Montana. Taken at roughly 8:00 am Wednesday Morning. Say, is that snow up there on the hills and some low hanging clouds I see? Ah, yeah it is and today from Missoula to Spokane its going to be either raining, snowing or some combination thereof making the driver very glad of his purchase of the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Western Montana Geology. Just outside of Butte. I know it looks bleak here, but most of this part of Montana is fantastically beautiful and forested, its I just have a thing for rock formations, thats all. Unlike most state mottos which tend to overemphasise some small thing, the phrase "big sky country" is an complete understatement. This is a fantastically beautiful state. So why dont you see more of it on this post then? Hey, I'm driving here! I got priorities!

The authors hands, sighted at the wheel of the FJ Cruiser, somewhere outside of Missoula Montana, Headed north on I-90. It was supposed to be a picture of yours truly, but my copilot, while master of the PSP and XBOX seems to be challenged to master the workings of the camera.

Two mountain passes remain to be cleared heading into and out of Idaho as we cross the "panhandle" on our way over to Washington State.

Later the same day( I estimate its about 5:00 PST in this shot), The Columbia River Crossing in Western Washington. By this time "Get-there-itis" has now begun to take total control of my mind. We are still three hours and one major mountain pass short of our final destination on this leg of the trip.

Arrival at our destination at 8:05 Local time. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe Radio Show served as our Audio complement to this leg of the trip. It's the ideal thing to listen to when driving past hours of vast magnificent emptyness.

This leg of the trip - 884 Miles: Idaho Falls, Idaho to Seattle Washington. 12 hours and 30 minutes travel time. We gain an hour going from Mountain to Pacific time.

More to follow...

Posted @ April 05, 2007 10:55 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

It Helps if you hum "The Blue Danube"

Boeing 787 Interior

One of my great frustrations with the modern age comes from the expectations for the future that were set as part of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. To me, that was what the future was supposed to be. Nuclear powered Space Shuttles, big space stations, moonbases, the whole bit. It looked nice, it looked clean. Most importantly, it looked fun.

Reality turned out somewhat different than that of what Kubrick proposed. Most thankfully, there was no Soviet Union in 2001, but in almost every other area the future that turned out to be was a whole lot less exciting than the future that the filmed projected on to our sense of "how things should be".

Now I know that Boeing Commercial Airliners are not Nuclear Powered Space Shuttles, and were not talking about huge rotating Space Stations( So big as to be able to afford the expense of bother of having a Hilton Hotel on board), but take a few moments and visit the "Sneak Preview" for the three new Boeing Aircraft that are about to be released. Like I said, it will help set the mood if you hum the "Blue Danube".

Unlike the Airbus A380, the Boeing 787 will prove to be revolutionary, for the industry, the manufacturer and the passengers as well. This "Sneak Preview" should give you a sense for just how much this aircraft is going to be quite different than anything you've seen before.

Somehow I dont think that in 1968, Stanley Kubrick expected that the travelling public would be wearing sweatpants, t-shirts and carrying computers in backpacks either. The future is indeed a funny place...

Posted @ April 02, 2007 01:34 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

Drive, He Said....

And Drive He Did.

Sneakily captured out the window of the FJ Cruiser on Sunday afternoon, somewhere deep in the Northern Great Basin.

Posted @ April 02, 2007 01:22 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)