Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Mother Earth is feeling her age
Just like back in the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed so many people, the Chilean earthquake also slowed the rotation of the earth, but much more significantly, because the pulse traveled through the earth at a much sharper angle to the plane of rotation (since Chile is much farther from the equator than is Thailand and Indonesia).
The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 microseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. One microsecond is one-millionth of a second long.
But worse than that, it actually moved the city of Concepcion a full ten feet to the west!! The whole freaking town!
Other movements around South America caused by the earthquake include:
* Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina and across the continent from the quake’s epicenter, moved about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) to the west.
* Chile’s capital, Santiago, moved about 11 inches (28 cm) to the west-southwest.
* The cities of Valparaiso and Mendoza, Argentina, northeast of Concepción, also moved significantly.During the 6.9 magnitude 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which occurred along the San Andreas Fault in California, the Pacific plate moved 6.2 feet (about 2 m) to the northwest and 4.3 feet (1.3 m) upward over the North American plate.
Here’s a map showing the relative movement of the region.
And Obama has just cut off our escape route
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Quick! Where’s the brain bleach?
Once a thing has been seen, it cannot be unseen.
Great comment, though - “Why is the black guy the whitest person there?”
Monday, March 01, 2010
Memo to Congress
Just in case you weren’t aware, or are too stupid to look in a History book, the American voters have a nuclear option, too.
We exercised such an option in 1994 - the Democrats went from having a massive majority in both chambers during the 103rd Congress (57-43 in the Senate and 258-176 in the House*) to the Republicans having a 52-48 majority in the Senate and a 230-204 lead in the House for the 104th, catapulting Newt Gingrich into the Speaker’s Chair with the Contract with America. That was the first Republican majority in both chambers for the first time since the Eisenhower Administration (even though the Senate was under GOP control for a few years during Reagan’s Administration, the House was firmly held by Democrats). And polls today show that 80% of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, while only 14% approve.
Amazingly enough, it was because of the American people’s utter rejection of the attempted takeover of the American health care system ("HillaryCare") that caused the massive power shift, exactly the same as today.
To top it off, San Fran Nan has urged her minions to ignore what their constituents want and pass it in the face of massive objections by the American people. Lucky for her, she’s never had so much as a primary contender, much less a serious challenger. Her WORST performance was in 1994, when she only got 81.85% of the vote…
So they are going to do their damnedest to shove this down the throats of the US public, without any Republican support at all, because they don’t dare waste that majority while they still have it.
Because come November, they won’t have it anymore.
* - note how close those are to the current totals: 57-2-41 in the Senate and 257-178 in the House.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
So you’re saying that…
... the Democrat’s entire objection to the PATRIOT Act was that a Democrat didn’t think of it first?
Otherwise, the House voting 315-97 in favor and the Senate also voting to pass it wouldn’t make any sense in the new Era Of HopeyChangefulness. Especially how it was explicitly asserted that Bush wanted nothing more than to turn the US into a ”facist state” [sic] by using it…
Friday, February 26, 2010
Prayer From The Living World
I, too, grew up watching Pavel Chekov being the 24th century’s response to the Beatles. I, too, weep for the anguish of a father who has lost a son.
And I, too, wish to share the message lovingly crafted by Doc Zero.
I will link the original post here, but it deserves the maximum exposure, so I hope they will forgive my tribute…
The body of actor Andrew Koenig was found in Vancouver’s Stanley Park yesterday. His father, Walter Koenig, said that his son “took his own life, and was in a lot of pain.” Like most of my generation, I grew up with Walter Koenig as Chekhov on Star Trek, and he played a superb villain much later, on Babylon 5. Until his press conference yesterday, I didn’t realize he was a man of such incredible strength and dignity. He asked for his family to be left in peace to mourn their loss. I hope he won’t mind if I take this sad occasion to address others who might be following the road that ended in Stanley Park for Andrew. No matter how far you have gone down that road, there is always a path that leads away. I could offer no greater tribute to Andrew and his family than trying to help you take it, or at least see it.
You won’t find the beginning of that path in your house, or your room, or any other private place where you torment yourself, and wonder why a world you’re hiding from can no longer see you. You’ll have to step outside, and take a walk through your town. You’ll pass hospitals where the gift of life is unwrapped and presented to the universe. In another wing, life is held as precious treasure by families gathered around quiet beds, surrounded by tireless machines and their tired, but determined, keepers. Perhaps you’ll find a hospice, where the dying embrace their last opportunity to share their lives with all who receive the blessing of a seat beside them. You’ll pass churches and temples, filled with the sworn enemies of despair.
You may find yourself wishing you could give the unwanted years of your future to the clients of those hospitals and hospices. I did, years ago, when I stood where you are standing now. I was on my knees at the time, offering that trade with all my heart. It doesn’t work that way. Those who tend the hospices can tell you why, and the people in the churches and temples can explain why it shouldn’t.
Stroll past your local police station, where the noble calling to risk your life in the service of others is answered… and the worship of death as a solution to problems meets its humiliating end. Maybe you’ll spot a recruiting station, where men and women who love their friends and families accept a duty that could take them away forever… because they know others love their families too, and there is no safe way to build and protect the future for them.
If your walk takes you past sunset, watch the cars rolling into the driveways of apartments and houses. If you walk from night into morning, watch the people reluctantly leaving their homes, to provide for their families. Those people are not wasting their lives, but fulfilling them. They return home to enjoy their reward, and renew their inspiration. Every day, they write new pages in the human story. None of us will see the end of that tale… but I know you share my appetite to read another chapter, and then one more after that. You may have convinced yourself to ignore it, but it’s still there.
Step into a convenience store for a cup of coffee or chocolate, and take a look at the newspapers. They are filled with pleas for help that you could answer. From the inner cities of America, to the broken streets of Haiti, and around the world, there are places where the clocks are filled with nothing but desperate hours. Another pair of hands, or another few dollars of support, are always needed. The years ahead, which you regard as a painful burden, can be given to them. It will take effort, and courage… but along the way, I can promise that your life would stop feeling like a burden.
You may view suicide as your last chance to shake the pillars of a world that has turned its back on you. The world doesn’t need any more shaking. If you’ve been telling yourself that no one will miss you when you’re gone, you are wrong. Your suicide would tear a hole through the future, and nothing could ever fill the space where you used to be. You might think you’re alone, but you don’t have to walk more than a couple of miles from your house to see a building full of people who would be delighted to meet you. There are places like Suicide Hotlines, staffed by men and women who have spent their entire lives preparing to hear the sound of your voice, and greet every day hoping to learn your name.
You may be afraid to face the years ahead. You’re not the only one, and if you extinguish the light of your faith and wisdom, you consign others to darkness. You might see death by your own hand as the end of unbearable pain… but I ask you to think about Walter Koenig, facing a wall of cameras with quiet grace in the hours after finding his son’s body, and understand that it’s only the beginning of agony.
You might have decided your fellow men are rotten to the core, and you’re weary of their company. Listen to the music of Mozart, or look upon the work of Michelangelo, and consider the argument of those who profoundly disagree. Maybe part of your problem is that you’ve been listening to the wrong music, or looking at the wrong pictures. Dark waters are easy to drown in. The judgment of the human race will not lack witnesses for the defense, and they will make their case to you, if you give them a chance.
Now, take the last few steps back to your home, and set aside one sorrow or terror with every footfall, until your mind is clear. If you’re thinking of incinerating the remaining years of your life, surely you can spare a few minutes for quiet reflection, and hear this prayer from the living world:
Please don’t leave us. We need you.
It is a quiet prayer, spoken in a soft voice, but it’s never too late to listen.
Amen. And our prayers go out for the Koenig family, that their grief be eased.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
We don’t NEED another “Contract With America”
In case those politicians looking to continue looting the public treasury have forgotten, we already HAVE a contract with our government.
Maybe I should have said “We The People” have a Contract.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We chose to define the government in terms of the very few things it was supposed to do
- defend against foreign invasion and domestic insurrection
- maintain the means for public travel, trade and communications
- print and protect the public currency
- control communication and trade with other nations, including diplomatic interaction
- to establish the inferior court systems
I’ve lumped a few together, for ease of understanding, but that’s pretty much it
They had many things that the Federal Government was NOT allowed to do:
- interfere with trade between the States (including being forbidden to tax interstate transactions)
- interfere with Habeus Corpus except in extreme emergencies
- pass a law to punish a previously legal act, after the fact (ex post facto)
- pass a Title of Nobility for any American citizen
The rest of it is designed to reinforce the message that the Federal Government needs to leave the common person ALONE. There are several levels of government below the Federal that can pass laws against harming your fellow man and setting the penalties for doing so - State, county and city level. The Founders knew that there would be differing opinions on many major issues that would arise from time to time, and they wanted to give the lower levels of Government the right to decide such measures at the lowest levels possible.
In essence, they turned the 13 colonies into separate laboratories to try different conditions and see what happened. If one set of conditions worked better and more efficiently than the others, the citizens could choose to “vote with their feet”, if seeking to make local changes to match the more efficient conditions don’t work, for whatever reason.
But, as P.J. O’Rourke once said, “The U.S. Constitution is less than a quarter the length of the owner’s manual for a 1998 Toyota Camry, and yet it has managed to keep 300 million of the world’s most unruly, passionate and energetic people safe, prosperous and free.”
We don’t need another one. Let’s try using the one we have…
I’m not Canadian….
NOTE: You might have to download the player to see it, but I did so and had no problems, even with using Firefox.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Sorry so seldom seen
I’m working on my Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Lots of papers and studying, and with everything else, blogging has suffered. So, I apologize for not being around, but I have a pretty good reason.
Don’t I?
Lest We Forget
In case you (or your liberal friends and neighbors) need the reminder, and taken from a link at Ace’s site, I bring you the confession of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect and plotter of the 9-11-01 attacks on New York City and Washington, DC.
That link also has the redacted report of the hearing on KSM.
Listen to his confessions and then Never Forget.
I think…
... that serving in an elected office should serve as an aggravating factor when the time comes for sentencing after criminal conviction.
Being elected to public office is supposed to be a sacrifice, and being able to control either the public finances or power over one’s fellow citizens should be required to hold to a higher standard than us working grunts. Look, if I fail at my job, I will be responsible for repairing the damage that have done, either through actual labor, my required bond, or through our seven-figure liability policy.
But my screwups only affect me, the unlucky customer and maybe one or two workers. If a public official screws up, it affects everyone under his jurisdiction (Middle English jurisdiccioun, from Old French juridicion, from Latin iūrisdictiō, iūrisdictiōn- : iūris, genitive of iūs, law + dictiō, dictiōn-, declaration = law speaker), which means potentially hundreds of millions of people. Therefore, they are, and should be, held to a higher ethical and legal standard.
So as an additional disincentive against bad behavior and an increased punishment for those who commit such behavior, the fact of having been elected to a position of public trust should be sufficient cause to serve as an aggravating factor during sentencing.
What do you think?
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Sun So Hot, I Froze To Death
Yesterday set what may have been a new weather record, where Global Warming Residue was covering fully two-thirds of the nation (67.1%) to an average depth of 8”. (I am just anal enough to do the math and determine that the numbers crunch down to just shy of 132 cubic kilometers of snow, or 31 cubic miles of Al Gore Dust.)
That also put snow on the ground in 49 of the 50 States for the first time on record.
It’s all Global Warming, according to the people who know more than the rest of us, while we just continue to wonder two things:
- What are they on?, and
- Why aren’t they sharing?
And stare out the window at all that white stuff. Suzannah, don’t you cry!
Friday, February 12, 2010
If anyone has been trying to join
and keeps getting rejected, and are not sure why, drop me an e-mail and let me know. I have a few criteria, fairly arbitrarily and capriciously set (whenever I note something unique about a spam address, I will usually just kill anything that is even close, just to be on the safe side) and it might snag one or two who are just caught by bad luck.
So if you are getting bounced and don’t know why, drop me a line, just so that I know you are a real person, and not just a bot trying to mass-spam them there farm-a-suit-tickles.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Just in case you missed it
I will be running a new trivia contest within the next week or three, just so you are all aware.
Standard prizes - $125 for 1st place, $75 for 2nd and $50 for 3rd, but the format may be a little different.
Spread the word.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
A story I remember reading
I read a ultra-short story a while back, and it certainly spurs some thoughts.
An abbot was annoyed at being disturbed during his devotions by the barking of a dog, so he instructed a junior monk to tie the dog up before his prayers.
When the dog died, the monks got another one, and tied it up the same way.
When the abbot died, the dog continued to be tied up before the daily devotions of the newly promoted abbot.
500 years later, learned religious scholars wrote lengthy monographs on the importance of tying up a dog before praying.
Thoughts?
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor He… wait, HOW much snow?
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” is an inscription on the James Farley Post Office in New York City.
Well, apparently snow CAN “stay these couriers”, since the Global Warming blizzard Barry Obama referred to as “Snowmageddon” buried the mid-Atlantic region in several feet of snow, killing power to many tens of thousands of homes throughout the BosNYWash corridor. It was such a storm that the Post Office suspended delivery in the DC area.
Postal delivery was suspended Saturday for Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., Southern Maryland, and Suburban Maryland.
Patrick Murphy, spokesperson for the Postal Service for Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., made the announcement early Saturday morning as a blizzard continued to batter the Mid-Atlantic region.
Could be worse, I suppose. Al Gore could have visited and frozen the Potomac solid.