Monday, July 31, 2006
Copacabana
The hottest spot north of Havana.
If we’re lucky, El Presidente Castro might be on the way to his very own boiling hot corner in hell. But in reality, this guy has more lives than Uday, Kusay, the cat that keeps peeing in my planter, and Liza Minelli. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the people of Cuba and see what happens.
Update: Traitors! Only on that website do you get such memorable lines as “...I would rather Fidel be the leader than Bush.”
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Lurching into motion
|
You Passed 8th Grade Science |
 Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct! |
Extra credit question: What is the term for the third derivative of speed position? (I goofed on this earlier.)
First derivative = Velocity (measured in terms of distance covered per unit of time)
Second derivative = Acceleration (distance per unit of time squared)
Third derivative = ???
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Geek Humor
Ace has posted one of the SWEETEST videoclips combining two of the greatest geek pleasures - Star Trek and Monty Python.
Just superb.
Swallow first, and NSFW if wild cackling laughter will get you in trouble.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
A Very Special Share
Not a song this week, but something even more exciting (for me, anyway). Most of you know that I went to a very special event yesterday, and for those of you who didn’t, my eldest grandson got married.
So, instead of loading you up with lots of pictures, I did even better. While I absolutely suck as a videographer, and while my digital camera only allows for a maximum of thirty seconds per video clip, and while its microscopic omnidirectional (seriously, this thing is just a hole in the top of the camera about a millimeter wide) microphone wasn’t very sensitive, and while I probably had it partly covered for part of the clip, please allow me to introduce you to the new bride and groom.
Raise a glass with me. Salud!
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Promised Posting on Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, and all that Rot
I think that everyone is familiar with Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas, right? Well, if you are, then go ahead and click at the bottom of this part of the post to move on. If not, let me give you a refresher on the terrorist groups, and the various nations, that we are dealing with.
Syria and Iran are fascist states, the only real difference being that Syria is a secular socialist state, and Iran is a theocracy with fascist overtones. The vast majority of Syrians are Sunni, and the overwhelming percentage of Iranians are Sh’ia.
Lebanon can be best understood as a very weak nation-state with a newborn democratic movement. Muslims, Christians, and other religious live in Lebanon, and the economy is capitalistic. Israel is, of course, a liberal democracy that leans ever-so-slightly left, sitting between the US and UK in the bend of their gevernment.
Hezbollah was founded in the early 80’s when Israel invaded Lebanon....that invasion being in response to terrorist attacks and provocations by the PLO, said actions occurring while under an agreed-to cease fire signed in 1981. Hezbollah can be losely translated into “Party of Allah”, and has been historically supported logistically, politically, and financially by Syria and Iran. Hezbollah enjoyed it’s greatest growth during the period between 2000 and 2005; during that time, it grew so strong that the Lebanese government, formed in 2005 when the Syrians were forced out of Lebanon by French and American political pressure, was too weak to either disarm them or push them out of Lebanon. Hezbollah, for all intents and purposes, runs the southern third of Lebanon. It also has representation in the Lebanese legislature. It is a Sh’ia organization.
Hamas was formed in 1987 as a sub-faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, and has been more of a pure terrorist organization for most of it’s history than Hezbollah has. Though Hamas was started in Gaza, it managed to portray itself as the best alternative to the corrupt Fatah party of Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian elections. Of course, we all know they won those elections, and now they operate the government of what is now called ‘Palestine’. Historically, the largest national benefactor of Hamas has been Iran, and it’s other funding has come from private Arab donors.
Underneath, I will offer my opinion and take, based upon the situation there at present. Click if you dare.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Tomorrow….
Heap-big post on Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.
UPDATE: Delayed one day. Will be up on Thursday. Computer problems....sorry.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
A Hootin’ and a Singin’
Mark Knopfler is possibly one of the best guitarists currently playing, and his mad string skillz have been described by Douglas Adams as “an extraordinarily ability to make a Schecter Custom Stratocaster hoot and sing like angels on a Saturday night, exhausted from being good all week and needing a stiff drink”.
Judge for yourself, in this week’s Sunday Share…
Dire Strait’s Skateaway.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
A little late for the Patriot’s Journey
But an interesting read about an impressive kinda guy, nevertheless.
The world could use more like him. Go take a peek.
When he died, his daughter found three Bronze Stars and a Silver Star in his things. He never told anyone. He only mentioned his two Purple Hearts. Unlike some, he saw what he did as nothing special, just looking after his men. He was a humble man, but a powerful one.
Salute as you pass.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Everybody say Hi!
Longtime poster over at Lee’s place (where he goes by the nom de ‘Net of “Ian McD.") has decided to join us in the wide world of blogging, so everybody go on over and say, “Hi!”.
He’s over on Blog*Spit, but everybody’s gotta start somewhere, and that way, it’s still free.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
A new funny
although you might not think so.
Back when I had lots of time on midnight watches (5pm-5am, three days on, three days off), I used to work word puzzles to keep my mind alert, and that included the occasional cryptogram I found in the puzzle magazines.
I found this quote a while back, and it was funny without ever knowing what it actually meant, since it was making the point without ever needing to know exactly what it says.
“When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.”
I decided to study it for a second and saw letter patterns emerging. It took me about two minutes, but I was doing it in my head. Once I had solved it, I started laughing. My wife started reading over my shoulder and couldn’t figure out why i was laughing.
I’ll give you a hint: it’s a straight letter-substitution cipher…
First comment to actually provide the correct quote will get something nice.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
I’m still chuckling
My wife and her mother were sitting here in the living room, discussing how it might be better to change doctors because Nana’s internist was dropping the ball on some things. The details aren’t important, but the inspiration for this week’s Share came from my wife telling Nana, “You can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need. A famous man said that, didn’t he, honey?” {turning to draw me into the conversation}.
I managed to keep a straight face and replied, “Yes, he is rather famous, but I’m not sure if you would necessarily refer to him as particularly wise.”
“Why? Who is it?”
“Mick Jagger” and we both started laughing.
Anyhow, here’s what you need.
Lyrics below the fold, and right-click to save, as always…
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Wondering about my sanity, part 2
Scanning through my digitized archives, I ran across this little number. (Knowing how popular it actually might be, I’m going to have to shift it to a different server.)
It tells the story of one adventurous little hobbit that started the whole chain of events in the trilogy known as “The Lord Of The Rings”. In a… rather… unique way, let us say. An early music video…
(The server warns that if this file isn’t downloaded for 15 days, it will be deleted, so if anyone tries the link and finds it missing, drop me a line, and we’ll work something out...)
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Wondering about my sanity
I just realized that my brand new mp3 player has no music on it!
I’ve got:
- A 10-hour lecture series on Criminal Law Audiobook
- James Burke’s “Connections” Audiobook
- Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles” Audiobook
How many others out there like that?
As promised
Today’s Independence Day Special Share comes to us via a suggestion from The Pistolero, one of our newest Loyal Readers. He also supplied the tune, so he deserves a special tip of the ol’ sombrero.
Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for playing this man, a man so talented that he can bring tears to the eyes of the most hardened of individuals. He also had a wonderful sense of humor, appearing in the original “Blues Brothers” as a pawn shop owner (who was also a crack shot).
But this is his tribute to the country that made it possible for a poor black man from Georgia (who lost his vision due to undiagnosed glaucoma at age seven) - a beautiful rendition of “America the Beautiful”.
I’m not going to list the lyrics this time, because there is no doubt what he is singing…
Monday, July 03, 2006
Meet the Press from Sunday
Really....take 20 minutes and listen to this debacle that would more than likely call itself “Open Political Debate”.
Bill Bennett does well, but is basically shouted down by four liberal members of the press. The people in the press cannot understand that they are arrogant, self-important policy-pushers.
There is a lot to remember in this, even as you listen to this, but here are three quick points.
1. Bill Safire said that the Founding Fathers are the people that ‘...elected the media to decide what is secret and what is not secret’. That is so f-ing arrogant, it made my left arm tingle. The press can act as a conduit for information, but they have no right, except in their own eyes, to compromise national security. This is the press taking a role in pushing a political agenda. This leads to the next point.
2. The New York Times, the LA Times, and the rest of the pits and MSM haunts that these farcical bastards inhabit are trying to make money. The NYT sells to liberals and leftists....that is their bread and butter. So does the LAT. They are in the business of making money, not policy. That is why they hire the people they do, and why they print the editorials they do. They are trying to raise revenue and increase subscriptions. Failures to do so are failures of marketing...something that they are failing at, if one looks at their subscription rates.
3. Journalists are not in the business of reporting the news these days as much as they are about editorializing about it. The information we would like to consider as news is plugged into their personal and/or institutional filters, and it comes out reflecting their biases. The AP,. Reuters, CNN, and the aforementioned newspapers are so outrageously and obviously canted to the left that they themselves cannot effectively deny it...it shows in their reporting.
Listen at the 5:30 mark to the crack that Dana Priest makes against Bill Bennett. In fact, listen to the distain for the POTUS and for the Republicans as a whole during the exchanges. You can’t miss their arrogance and their feeling that they are the true leaders and that the formation of public opinion of the government is their responsibility.
Listen and comment freely.