Death Of A Wagon

The Aries is no more.

Some time around Thanksgiving the Rampage quit on me again, carburetor problems still (which I think may now be fixed). I took the Aries away from daughter and was driving it back and forth to work.

On the last day in November at about 6 PM I had just pulled into the left turn lane and was about 100 yards from the intersection, intending to turn left at the light. That's when it happened.

A Jeep CJ that was in the straight through lane right beside me decided that it wanted to go into a driveway off to the left side of the road. The problem, of course, was that I was right at it's back bumper when the driver spun the wheel and punched the gas. Contact was made between the Jeep's left rear wheel and my right front bumper.

I stopped dead in the middle of the turn lane, neatly blocking the driveway that the Jeep was aiming for. The Jeep spun about on it's right front tire and came to rest diagonally in the oncoming lane, facing me.

I got out to check on the other driver, but she flatly refused to emerge from her vehicle. She did not come out until the police arrived, so I didn't know if she was OK or not. I shouldn't have worried.

The police arrived at the scene and the driver of the Jeep told a different story (she claimed she was turning from the turn lane so that she wouldn't get ticketed). I asked how I hit her in the left rear tire with my right front bumper if she was in the turn lane ahead of me. The answer I got was something along the lines of "Good point, but since we have two stories we don't know who is telling the truth."

Apparently the Durham police aren't equipped to investigate mishaps. I asked them if they had been sick the day they taught accident investigation at cop school. They were not amused, and I'm sure it did nothing to help my case. No tickets were issued, but her insurance company totaled the wagon.

They will come to get it Monday.

I got more in settlement than I paid for it, including all the work I put into it to get it to run right, and the daughter drove it for two years. It doesn't owe me anything, but I'll miss it.

We never did get around to putting that dragon cloth on the headliner. I wonder what I can do with it.

It looks so lonely sitting out there by the road, all by itself.

This Is Why

If for no other reason, this is why Obamacare and any of it's zombie cohorts must be stopped, at all costs.

These life saving drugs are developed by the evil pharmaceutical companies, much like Adam Smith's baker, not out of some sense of altruistic generosity, but out of a quest for profit. Seven hundred million dollars were pledged to develop the drug in the story, not government dollars but private ones. Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company that invested these millions, stands to make billions if the drug is approved for use.

This money was invested in order to treat and possibly cure a deadly disease. Out of this drug others may be developed that could successfully treat other types of cancers. It will take years to develop them and bring them to market, but maybe one day the scourge of modern man can be defeated as polio was defeated in the last century.

Under socialized medicine the profits would not be worth the investment, and medicines like this will not be developed. Capitalism is the prod that drives these innovations, a search for products that will bring their developers wealth and sometimes fame. I wish Roche all the best in their search for outrageous fortune.

They will deserve it. They will have earned every dollar.

HT: Legal Insurrection

More Snow

A light dusting this time, nothing is sticking to the roadways but there is a pale cast to the grass and anything else that is cold enough for it to stick to.

That makes four snow events here in North Carolina this year, and I'm more than ready for spring.

Note To The Blogroll

If you are in my blogroll and I haven't been by to visit for a while, don't take it personally. I don't always get around as often as I would like.

If you have linked to me and I have not linked to you, and you want me to, please drop me a line and I'll do so. Links are there for my amusement, but a little reciprocity never hurt anyone.

Cary, I wish I had some profound and comforting words for you. I'm sorry that I don't. Somehow anything I can think of sounds trite and empty, so instead I will just offer prayers and condolences, and maybe that will do.

Thanks for all the comments (to those who comment), and thanks for dropping by!

Unbelievable

I haven't been surfing my links for a while, so I went to the Gunslinger's to see what I had missed.

That's where I read this:

In today's issue of a Boston newspaper there is a Letter to the Editor,
from a local high-school teacher:

"... current school security procedures lock down school populations in the event of armed assault. Some advocate abandoning this practice as it holds everyone in place, allowing a shooter easily to find victims. An alternative is immediate exodus, via announcement. Although this removes potential hostages... it unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety... more shrewdly and efficiently than others. Schools should level playing fields, not intrinsically reward those more resourceful..."

It gets even better:

"... some propose overturning laws that make schools gun-free zones... they argue that barring licensed-carry only ensures a defenseless, target-rich environment. But, as a Progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime."

Apparently this high school teacher would rather see your children die equally than see some of them escape because they are "more resourceful" and would also rather have your child die than have the fallacy of gun control shown for the farce that it is.

It made me think of this.

Who would you rather have teaching your children?

UPDATE: Math teacher tackles Columbine-style killer.

"If something happens and there's something that I can do about it, I want to try and do something about it," Benke said at a news conference with other staff members from Deer Creek Middle School, at times choking up with emotion. "I said, 'I hope that I'm capable of doing something about it."'

Well done, Doctor Benke.

On The Road

To the guy behind me, flashing your lights in my rear-view because 55 in a 45 isn't fast enough for you; do you drive a BMW because you're a D-bag, or are you a D-bag because you drive a BMW?

I know a couple who drive a BMW and aren't pretentious D-bags, and I know quite a few pretentious D-bags who don't drive BMWs, but given the frequency that they seem to be found together leads me to wonder if pretentious D-bag isn't a BMW target demographic.

At any rate, riding my bumper and flashing your lights won't get me to pull over on a narrow 2 lane road so you can pass. It will just get me to slow down to 35 in a 45.

Which leads me to my next question, am I an A-hole because I drive a Pontiac, or do I drive a Pontiac because I'm an A-hole?

Whatever. It's the wife's car anyway.

An Armed Society

Is a polite society.

Just sayin'.

HT: Gabe at Ace's Place

See How Nice I Am?

I see you out there, reading and never commenting. It's OK though, I really don't mind. I see the sitemeter turning over and I know you're there.

Just be lucky I'm not like this!

Spicy language alert, you have been warned.

Happy Happy

Happy Valentine's Day!

And if you are the sort that doesn't like Valentine's Day, Happy Chinese New Year!

Ladies, it could be worse. You could be married to this guy.

Interesting

Frankincense.

HT: The Knight Shift

Taxes

Like most of you, I listen to the radio while I'm driving.

Most of the time I listen to the local talk radio station on the AM dial, but when there is nothing on that I am interested in I will turn over to the FM music stations. That is how I found out about the proposed fees on recorded music being played over the airwaves.

House Resolution (H.R.) 848, the Performance Rights Act, seeks to force the payment of royalties for music played over the air. The thing about music played over the air is that artists used to pay kickbacks to the radio stations to play their music. This would get the songs out into the public's ears and compel them to buy the albums that their favorite tunes were recorded on.

My how times have changed!

A coalition of groups including the Recording Industry Association of America makes up an organization calling itself Music First. Music First, of course, is all for this legislation.

RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol says “This legislation is about fairness and a level playing field, plain and simple. The arguments for this legislation have never been more compelling, the time never more ripe, and the level of support within the music community never more strong.”

Music First Executive Director Jennifer Bendall adds “Radio is the only platform that does not pay a fair performance royalty to America’s artists and musicians.”

It sounds to me like Music First is a rather Orwellian term. They should call themselves Money First instead.

Perhaps these groups that make up Music First are not aware of the fact that most people hear new songs on the radio and then look for the same songs in the music stores or online. If the legislation passes, the radio stations will play a selected sample of the music that they have paid the royalties on and new artists and new works will not be played. Music that does not get played does not get sold.

That doesn't sound much like a level playing field, does it?

Opposing legislation, called the Local Radio Freedom Act (House Concurrent Resolution 49), has also been introduced. This bill urges Congress not to impose “any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station... .”

My opinion is that both of these pieces of legislation need to be scrapped immediately and any effort to re-introduce them should be slapped down. This is something that should be worked out between the recording and broadcasting industries, and the government has no dog in this fight except to see that the agreements are enforced.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The broadcast industry has long been understood to fall under the provisions of speech and the press, and "shall make no law" is pretty clear. Of course I am no lawyer, and I am sure that there are plenty of slick talkers on either side that will talk rings around the First Amendment.

And that is the more important issue.

Rough Days

The wife has been sick for the past week.

Her stomach has never been a pleasant companion, even in the best of times. The chemo really kicks things up a notch, and she had chemo a week ago last Tuesday.

The stomach problems didn't start until Monday, which is usually about the time everything is over. So, off to the ER we go (did I mention it's snowing?) where the kindly doctor ordered some X-rays and determined she had a blocked bowel.

In other words, she's full of sh!t, but we knew that anyway. Now we have documented proof.

The good news is that she is now unblocked and feeling much better, all the household chores are done, and I have Sierra Nevada Golden Bock.
















Life is good.

When Will It Ever End

Today's forecast: Snow flurries resulting in a light dusting north of the Triangle (the points of the Triangle are Raleigh NC, Durham NC and Chapel Hill NC) and accumulation of as much as an inch to the south.

Since Franklinton, current location of the Refuge, is north of the Triangle this means we were in for a "light dusting" of snow. I can handle that.


Unfortunately what they forecast and what we get aren't always exactly the same. The snow is at 2 1/4 inches and still falling.

I blame Algore.

Patriotism

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
Thomas Paine

I remember reading this quote coupled with one from, I think Benjamin Franklin, about liberty being a precious thing to esteem highly. Unfortunately I have not been able to find that quote.

At any rate, it is that which we fight for which we value most, and it is the thing that we have never had that we strive to achieve.

And once in a while we achieve it.

Alas, I am but a poor scribbler when trying to express lofty thoughts. Go here instead and you will know what I mean, even though I cannot adequately express it.

And Nikki; welcome home. I'm glad you made it.

That Was Then, This Is Now

You can't say they didn't warn us.

President Barack Obama said he is “agnostic” about raising taxes on households making less than $250,000 as part of a broad effort to rein in the budget deficit.

HT:AoSHQ, of course.

Climate Change

Click the pic for more. NSFW.

Who Wha?

Apparently there was some sort of sporting event last Sunday.

My condolences to Mostly Cajun.

Medical Update

Today was a rough day for her. The reactions from the medicine have made her physically ill all day. I stayed home from work in case she needs anything, something that I very rarely do.

The tumor is getting bigger again and the doc has prescribed new medicine. The new medicine is oral because they are afraid that her veins are going to collapse if they continue with the intravenous chemo.

She doesn't talk about it much because she doesn't want to worry me, but I know.

The Empire Strikes Back?

Beltway Bob is at it again.

Story at Ace's.

This of course means that Palin, a former state Governor that isn't currently running for anything, is deep, deep inside the White House's OODA loop.

Milestones

Welcome home Marines. Well done.

Sherlock Holmes

I finally saw it, and I give it a rousing "meh."

Top marks for action and photography, and the actors played their parts well. As for the plot, well, at least it appears that perhaps one or two of the screenwriters have actually read one or two of Sir Arthur's stories because one or two tidbits made their way in.

One such tidbit is the study of a pocketwatch. In the written stories ("The Sign of Four" to be exact) the watch belonged to Watson's older brother, an heirloom that was passed from his father and then on to the good doctor himself at his older brother's demise. In the movie the watch belonged to a "ginger midget" who was found dead in his first appearance.

Downey's Holmes is a bit of a bumbler and not as aware of his surroundings as the fabled detective from the stories, and Jude Law's Doctor Watson tends to be a bit surly throughout (which again is not a part of the canon, although the Watson in the stories had his bouts of petulance to be sure). Both are portrayed as active men; Downey's Holmes is shown to be a skilled boxer and knowledgeable of the martial arts and Law's Doctor Watson is an intelligent man who shows an ability to deductively reason things out for himself, all of which do fit the stories.

There are really only two parts of the movie that I found objectionable. One is that Holmes did not know the soon-to-be Mrs. Watson when in fact Miss Mary Morstan was introduced to Doctor Watson by way of being the client in one of his adventures with Sherlock Holmes, "The Sign of Four" once again being the story. Although a trifling difference it is a glaring one, and comes in early enough that it interrupted the flow of the rest of the movie for me.

The second, and most annoying, was the portrayal of Irene Adler as a master criminal. She is also hinted at being Sherlock's lost love, which as any reader of the stories knows is quite impossible. "The woman" was in fact an American opera star, and a bit of an adventuress herself, having been one of the few adversaries to outwit Holmes ("A Scandal in Bohemia"). I find it deplorable what the movie has done to her.

On a side note, the character of Irene Adler is expanded upon greatly in a series of books by author Carole Nelson Douglas. If you are a fan of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, it might be worth your time to check them out as well.

Of course I understand that some changes have to be made to tell the story well, because you can't fit four novels and 56 short stories into one movie. The changes to the two characters described above, relatively minor in the case of Mary Morstan but rather substantial in the case of Irene Adler, were the ones I found most distracting, and I wish the screenwriters could have found a better way to fit them in.

All in all the movie is an enjoyable waste of a couple of hours as long as you don't get too distracted by comparing it to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famed detective stories.

State Of The Union

Thatisall.

Picture shamelessly stolen from Mostly Cajun.

Loud And Clear

Kevin has a new post up (well, it's a couple of days old but I had not been by there for a while) that is an enjoyable read.

So what are you still doing here? Go enjoy!

And It Continues

The snow is back.

I just cleaned that car off not five hours ago, and if you look at the post below you can see where the driveway clearing was in progress.

The dog has decided that he does not like that funny white stuff, it sticks to his feet and makes them cold. I had to shovel a path for him (that or find "presents" in the house).

He's as spoiled as his owner, I think.

My plans for tonight have not otherwise changed.

Aftermath

The snow started before Boy went to bed, and he was excited. Dad, not so much. The snowfall continued through the night and into the early morning hours when, as expected, it turned into sleet and freezing rain. That's the part that Dad was particularly looking forward to, you bet.

The snow accumulated three inches where there was pavement and six inches where there was not. This picture was taken 12 hours after the snow had stopped, so I don't know if it had melted any during the day. What I do know is that I have not had to shovel snow in a long time.

But that's why I have fine young sons!

I called my parents who still live in Iowa and told them about our massive snowstorm. My mother gleefully informed me that the storm had gone south of them into Missouri so they didn't get any snow out of it. My dad reminisced about a snowstorm so bad that they didn't even bother plowing both sides of the road, so there was only a single lane highway for the last 20 miles of the trip (we had gone to Grandmother's house that weekend and gotten 24 inches).

The power is on, no one has to work tonight, so I have no reason to be out and about (I am the designated chauffeur whenever the winter weather hits). My plans for tonight include the following items:

Have a great night everyone!

Where's The Global Warming?

I've been working like an idiot the past few days, my counterpart on the other night shift had to take some vacation days or lose them so I filled in for him while he was gone. The first night I have off we get The Big One, Jan 2010 Edition.

Oh well, I have beer, firewood and cheese dip. Let it snow!

Home

I have never really been from anywhere.

I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but that's not my home. I was raised in Clarinda, Iowa with a short nine month side trip to Houston, Texas. Neither of them are home either.

In my Navy service I lived in Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and Florida. I visited dozens of places around the globe, both in the US and not, and none of those places were home, either.

I currently reside in North Carolina, but that's not home. It will do for now, because that's where she is, and wherever she is home is there also. But that has not always been the case.

I can't really explain my feelings on the subject, but it has always seemed to me that life was transitory, and that wherever I was at the moment I was sure to be somewhere else later on.

Maybe some day I will find that mystical place, but until then I am an American, and wherever the flag flies that will be home.

Wishes

Tonight my ten year old and I broke the Christmas turkey wishbone. I've heard both ways, that the wish is granted for the long side or for the short side. I told him that means we both get our wishes.

I told him that he couldn't say what he wished for because it might not come true. He said he didn't think it would anyway.

Mine won't either. I think we wished for the same thing.

He told me he was worried about Mom. I told him that I was, too.

We spend a lot of time not talking about what's happening, but it's never very far from the surface. Tonight as we were talking about something different all together the subject of our eldest daughter moving up from Florida came up. She wants Eldest Daughter here so that she can spend time with her, because she doesn't feel as if she got enough time with her own mother. She misses her mother terribly.

"I don't want to die" she blurted out. "I don't want you to, either" I said, and then we cried into each other's arms for a while. That breaks one of my cardinal rules, not to let her see how it's affecting me. She knows anyway.

About that time the eldest son walked in to talk about something else. He has great timing. We then went back to our usual not talking about it.

But it's still there.

You Don't Professionalize

Until You Nationalize!

I'm sure we all feel much safer now.

Hell Freezes Over

Leftists, Democrats hardest hit. Go and read. Here's a teaser.

"President Bush deserves our respect, not our betrayal." Now go read the rest.

While you are at it, look upon this and wonder. It's sometimes incredible how much difference a year can make. Now consider that the linked article above was written by, and the linked site is owned by, a guy that was part of John F'n Kerry's legal team in 2004.

And congratulations to Senator Scott Brown, (R) MA. Further proof of snowballs in Hades.

Senator Scott Brown, (R)MA. Just because I don't think seeing that is ever going to get old, or less amazing.

HT: Ace of Spades HQ

Eh...

“Even before Massachusetts and that race was on the radar screen, we prepared for the process of using reconciliation,” said Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“Why would you hand the keys to the car back to the same guys whose policies drove the economy into the ditch and then walked away from the scene of the accident?” Van Hollen said. “For the Republicans to say vote for us and bring back the guys who got us into this mess in the first place, I don’t think it’s a winner.”

Yeah. Someone should probably tell that guy that mentioning Massachusetts Senators and car wrecks in the same article may not be such a good idea...

Fair Winds

Captain Pliny G. Holt, Naval Aviation pioneer and oldest living Naval Aviator, passed on January 4, 2010. His father and grandfather were the founders of the Caterpillar Company, having invented the treaded track. He was also a model railroader and model ship builder.

Fair winds and following seas, Captain.

Avatar

I finally saw it today.

Yes, it's Dances with Wolves set on another planet, with the exception that the hero stays afterwards.

Yes, it's the "evil greedy corporation" and their paid mercenaries against the indigenous peoples.

I didn't really find it overly preachy, it's just put out there as a statement of fact. They have what we want, we have nothing they want to trade for it, so now we fight for it. We try to take it away from them, they try to keep it.

I would have liked to see a bit more development into why this "unobtanium" is such a valued mineral, that might have explained why the humans were so dead set on "obtanium-ing" it. I would also have liked to see an explanation of why we couldn't have mined the ore without destroying their planet's surface, with the technology displayed in the film I'm sure that there could have been a way. It can be done with coal and oil (although strip mining for coal is more efficient, which is why it's done that way) so I see no reason why it couldn't have been done with this as well. It would have made for a rather short story, though.

Other than that, it was a classic "you have what I want, we can trade or fight" and since we have nothing to trade that you want, Fight's On! If it had been a human world vs space aliens there probably wouldn't have been as much furor over it. After all, who felt sorry for the aliens in "Independence Day" when they got blown up? Same story, different point of view is all.

The story was fast moving, the visuals were stunning, all in all it was an enjoyable experience.

CPR Class

And now I am CPR qualified again for the first time since my instructor's card ran out in 2006. Class A only, which is adult CPR, and only at the provider level, but that's fine with me.

About the only thing different from when I used to teach the class is now there are 30 compressions per 2 breaths instead of 15 and 2.

Twenty five years ago when I got my first provider qual it was 5 and 1, then it was 15/2 for a single rescuer and 5/1 for two. Later on it was 15/2 for both single and double rescuers, then it was single only and if there were two rescuers they swapped out when one got tired.

Finding hand positions went from finding the notch and going two fingers up to finding the center of the chest at the nipple line. It's easier to find your position that way, which was the point of the change.

Automatic External Defibrillators are also something that is new in the last 10 years. The availability of AED's have saved lives, having one is much better than CPR alone and can make the difference between recovery and not. They used to be found just on ambulances and in hospitals, but now they can be found almost everywhere. Look around, I'll bet you have one in the building where you work.

Under the old guidelines rescuers looked for a pulse, but just before I retired they changed it. They found out that most non-medical people could not locate a pulse when there was one, and sometimes found their own pulse when there wasn't one. So to make it easy, no breathing equals no pulse.

Now they have discovered that chest compressions alone will provide enough air flow through the lungs that breathing may not be needed. The new guidelines roll-out is expected to eliminate rescue breathing at all. I guess I will find out next year.

Staring Into The Abyss

She goes in for another MRI in the morning, just to keep track of the monster.

We spend a lot of time together not talking about it, but today she told me that she knew that the average was 5-8 years from diagnosis. That gives her 3-6 years, depending on how stubborn she is. She wants to see Chris graduate, he's ten, so she wants to beat the average by at least two years.

Even, she says, if she has to do it from her bed.

I told her I wanted her to stick around for as long as she could, but that I didn't want her to be in pain.

After that we talked about something else.

A 'Pedia You Can Use

Check it out.

Working For A Living

I got this video from The Smallest Majority. It is a TED.com presentation of Mike Rowe, who stars in a show called "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery Channel. Be warned, it starts off with a graphic description of castrating lambs.



The one thing that Mike Rowe says in this speech that really stuck out in my mind is where he said that the people who do these dirty jobs are the happiest, most well adjusted people he has ever met.

I work with my hands. The toughest jobs, the ones that take the most time and energy, the machine that everyone else has beat their heads against, the ones that you look at and say "You aren't going to beat me, people made you so I can fix you" are the ones that, at the end, you look back at and realize were the most satisfying.

As a contrast, take a look at the post below where David Brooks pontificates on the "educated class" and think about how many of them are so deeply unhappy that they press their unhappiness on everyone around them. Think about that for a moment, would you rather have beers with Todd Palin or martinis with John Kerry? Why? Who do you think is happier, way down deep in his gut?

I am a believer in education as a means to further yourself, but education without experience is nothing. I don't care where you got your education, but where you got your experience means a great deal to me. One of the biggest idiots I have ever met held a PhD from MIT in electronics, and one of the smartest people I know never finished high school and only got his GED to qualify for a better position in the job he held.

I am reminded of a passage in the Sherlock Holmes story "A Study In Scarlet", where Doctor Watson is astounded that Holmes had no concept of the Copernican theory of the composition of solar systems. From the book:

That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to me to be such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.

“You appear to be astonished,” he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it.”

Sherlock Holmes was perfectly content in not knowing about things that could not further his own efforts, likening the human brain to an attic that was stuffed with knowledge. "It is a mistake, " he explains, "to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

I am also reminded of a piece in S.M. Stirling's book "Dies the Fire" where one of the main characters remarks that the fact that civilization had advanced to the place where people had the free time to dedicate to learning things like blacksmithing and swordsmanship merely as hobbies was going to be essential to living in a world where people would need to know these things in order to simply survive.

Mike gives you some fancy Greek words for discovery (anagnorisis) and realization (peripeteia). Real life gives you examples of it every day. Work gives you the means to discover those realizations.

Now get back to work, slackers.

Can You Hear Us Now?

Academia Nuts

The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.

The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.

The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.

Which just goes to show you, there is a difference between being educated and being intelligent.

HT: AoSHQ

Happy New Year

I hope it's happy and prosperous.

And in other news, The Other McCain is now at his new site. Go check it out.

Quotable Quotes

"Killing people is easy. Being politically correct is a pain in the ass."

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Merry Christmas everyone!

End Of An Era

The last big block, an L-18 Vortec 8100 496 CID monster, was completed last week in GM's Tonawanda engine plant in New York last week.

The first big block was produced in 1958 and over it's 51 year history was made in displacements from 396 to 496 and placed in everything from work trucks to family sedans and station wagons to performance icons like the Impala, Chevelle, and Corvette.

Motorheads all across the globe mourn it's passing even as greenies celebrate it's demise. Count me among the motorheads. I never owned a vehicle with a GM big block, but then again I'm not dead yet either so there's still time. Five million of them were produced, surely there's still one or two to be had.

My 62 C-10 has plenty of room for one.

SRSLY?!?!?!?!?!?

I asked before if the White House was big enough for this guy's ego.

I think I have my answer now.

HT: Legal Insurrection

Say What?

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told CNSNews.com that Congress has the authority to force individual Americans to buy health insurance because the U.S. Constitution “charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people.”

She must have a different copy than I do.

HT: Christopher Taylor

That's Just Awesome

Apparently "Monster Hunter's International" has found it's way, complete with patches, into the hands of soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

That's one fine looking patch!

In other news, Monster Hunter is still selling well and the second installment is due next fall. You can read a snippet from it here.

Additionally, author Larry Correia has another sort of book in the works that you can read about here. It should be on bookstore shelves in 2011.

All I can say is, keep them coming! It looks like I have a new favorite author.

Picture from Monster Hunter Nation

Lack Of Something Constructive To Do

It looks like someone has too much time on their hands.

Happy Birthday

To Eldest Daughter.

De Nile

A Case of Classic Cluelessness.

Because it doesn't change the consensus!

And as everyone knows, consensus is how Science! gets done.

As opposed to, say, experimentation and evaluation of results and then posting those experiments and evaluations for others to conduct their own experiments to verify or refute the results.

But hey, I'm just a denier, I guess.

Photo "Dhows on the Nile" by Jerzy Strzelecki

Songs Of The Season

Last night I heard the new song about the Christmas shoes for the first time.

Great Cthulhu, do you think you could write a more depressing song for the happiest of holidays?

We have gone from chestnuts roasting on an open fire to please give me money so I can buy Momma a new pair of shoes for her own funeral?

And what's the big idea of taking Parson Brown out of "Walking In A Winter Wonderland"? Is anyone but me about sick of the whole PC thing?

Seriously, when you start messing with Christmas carols you have gone too far.

That's it. Bob Rivers is going to sing all the carols around the Refuge this year. If you are going to destroy a Christmas carol, at least make it funny.

Year Two

Two years since the diagnosis.

I had to work today so we didn't spend much time together. Like last year, we spent the time we did have not talking about it.

Thats Funny!

Here are some of Palin's jokes at the Gridiron dinner (from John King and various other Twitter feeds):

-"It's good to be here though, really, in front of this audience of leading journalists and intellectuals, or as I like to call it, a death panel."

-"I went out for a jog. Or as Newsweek calls it--a photo shoot."

-"Sometimes you've got to trust your instincts and when you don't, you end up in places like this "

-Palin jokes if Biden hadn't been elected and was out selling his book it would be "Going Rogaine"

- "If I need a bald campaign manager, I guess all i am left with is James Carville." (dig at Steve Schmidt)

-Palin jokes big announcement: "Tomorrow I am going to Iowa ......noon to 3p at Barnes & Noble "

-Palin tells Gridiron about her book tour: "The view is better from the bus ... than under it."

-GovPalin at Gridiron jokes normally dem speaker next but: "McCain campaign staff asked if they could have that time for rebuttal."

-Palin jokes book title debate included The Audacity of the North Slope."

-Andrea Mitchell: At press dinner Palin "joked" person next to her on plane looked at picture of Obama and Chinese leader and asked which one is the communist

(That one falls flat, apparently Andrea Mitchell's twitter-fu is weak. The joke was that she was looking at the Newsweek cover of Obama and Chinese leader Hu, and the person in the next seat said "Hu's the communist." She joked that she thought he was asking a question.)

-On being on the same program as (Barney) Frank "And I'm the controversial one?"

Hat tip to Ace of Spades HQ commenter ODB.

Scandalous!

Did Tiger Woods pay Rachel Uchitel to stay quiet about an affair?

Who cares. Tiger Woods is not in a position to waste billions in taxpayer dollars.

Enough already. There are more important things to focus on.

16 Years

Happy Anniversary Boo.

The Latest from Beltway Bob

"Several thousand scientists have come to the conclusion that climate change is happening. I don't think that's anything that is, quite frankly, among most people, in dispute anymore," press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters this week.

Except that now it's pretty clear that the data used to reach that conclusion is erroneous and cherry picked, and in fact the calculations and models used to manipulate that data is itself fallacious.

There's a reason people don't trust politicians and their spokesmen. Wonder what it is.

Going Rogue

I just got done with "Going Rogue" and enjoyed it immensely.

I was not a fan of John McCain because I thought he violated the oath he took first as a Naval officer and then as a Senator when he co-authored the legislation known as McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform (but what should be known as the Incumbent Protection Act). When the McCain campaign called me asking for my support, I let them know in no uncertain terms that McCain-Feingold had torpedoed their campaign as far as I was concerned, and that I could think of nothing that would make me vote for them.

Then they nominated Sarah Palin for VP, and it all changed. In Sarah I, as many Americans, found someone that I could support, someone that I could vote FOR, instead of supporting because the opposition was worse. I was disappointed in the media hatchet job that she got during the campaign, I was angered by the treatment the McCain staff gave her both during and after the campaign, and it just drove home for me the feeling that John McCain may have been honorable during his stay in the Hanoi Hilton, but he was no longer that man. If he had been, he would have hammered the staff members that instigated the treatment, instead he said nothing.

In the book Going Rogue Sarah Palin speaks about growing up in Skagway Alaska, about being elected to the Wasilla City Council and then as Mayor, and finally as Governer. She talks about the issues and problems and the steps she had to take to overcome those problems. It's a refreshing insight and it makes me more convinced than ever that she would have been a good VP and a better President.

Unfortunately she made a huge mistake.

Governor Palin, if you somehow stumble onto my little corner of the world and read these remarks, please understand that I'm not finding fault. In truth I wouldn't have done so well, and in fact would have probably done worse. I know this about myself, which is why I have never attempted a run at public office. I don't have the temperament for it. But you do.

The mistake surfaces in the book when she meets the man who would serve as her campaign chief of staff. The guy was an economist who had no clue as to how a campaign was to be run. "It seemed odd that we were being put in the hands of a man who had never run a campaign before," she writes, "but Andrew seemed like a nice guy, and it wasn't my call."

It was your call Governor. As soon as it wasn't the mistake was made. Later on you remark that your hometown media proclaimed "And the Sarah Palin we once knew, is gone." "I wasn't" you say, but in fact as soon as you let the campaign manage you instead of you managing it, you were.

In your run ups to previous offices you took the bull by the horns. You managed your own campaign, sometimes by instinct, and always did what you thought was right. Your mistake was in not continuing that when you ran for VP. Those people were not going to serve in the office, and as soon as the campaign was over they would be gone. We were not coming to rallies to see them, we were coming to see you. They did not have an incredible approval rating as the Governer of the Union's largest state, you did.

Don't let anyone change you from being who you are, because we love who you are and that's why we supported you. Your instincts were right. If the campaign wasn't going to let you be who you are, you should have told them "Sorry, I don't think this is going to work out for either of us" and then gave the whole story to the Alaska press, the ones who knew you, when you got back home.

It will be interesting to see what comes next.

Beat Me Up Scotty

I didn't post anything for Thanksgiving. I was spending it with family and friends.

I hope everyone had a happy one.

I also haven't posted anything for the various birthdays of our military services, nor did I post for Veterans Day or Memorial Day.

If you're lucky you will get a post for Christmas.

Whatever. It's not like you're paying me for this.

Damn It's Cold

So far I haven't commented on the whole CRU global warming leaked Email scam since it's been covered extensively at other places.

The only reason I'm mentioning it now is because I, like The Knight Shift, think it needs to stay front and center somewhere on the Net.

Christopher Taylor uses the term "warmaquiddick". I like it.

click on the kitty to see how cold it is

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, golf phenomena, has gotten into a little fender bender. So far the best comment I have seen on it was "Crashing Tiger, Hidden Hydrant" but I forgot just where I saw it. Probably one of those smart-alecs on Ace of Spades.

Anyway, it seems as if he may have been fleeing a late night altercation with the wifey. Makes sense to me.

HT: AoSHQ commenter *Chef Boy* RDB (sockpuppets unite!)

Chills

Indymedia is a news aggregate site, much like the Drudge Report or Memorandum, that depends on volunteers to collect news stories to be linked. It's a leftist site, so many of the stories are about protests and marches championing leftist causes.

On January 23rd of this year the network administrator that provides Indymedia with it's server space was hit with a subpoena from the US Department of Justice. The subpoena requested information for "all IP traffic to and from" the Indymedia server, including "IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information" for June 25, 2008.

No reason was given for the request, and no other information other than an order "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department. Much to their credit the network administrators retained counsel. When the Justice Department was sent correspondence from that counsel they dropped the request, and Indymedia then disclosed the existence of the request.

What should be troubling to all of us, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you fall under, is the ways and means that the Justice Department was attempting to gather data. According to the article linked from CBS News it is likely that this subpoena was issued in violation of regulation, and demanding that the visitor's information (including addresses and social security numbers) be disclosed plus the gag order should raise more than just a few eyebrows.

Anyone who writes for or visits news sites on the Internet should be concerned about this story. Otherwise when they come for you, there may not be anyone left to speak for you.

HT: The Indentured Servant Girl

NOTE: If you are going to leave a comment, be legible and intelligent. Long rambling screeds heavy on accusations and light on facts, especially when submitted by Anonymous, will likely be rejected. This likelihood approaches unity when all rules of grammar and syntax are ignored.

Cajun Jokes

This was sent to me by my cousin who is a Louisiana resident and retired Squid maverick Officer weatherguesser who is convinced that Algore invented the Intertubes just for him so that he could send bad jokes around the world through the magic of Email.

I shudder to think what will happen when he discovers Internet pr0n.

The Monster Within

It's easy to forget how sick she really is.

The doctors predicted remission following radiation therapy. It didn't happen. We got another burst of hope when the docs said the tumor was shrinking because of the chemo. That, too, was short lived. Sometimes it gets bigger, sometimes smaller, but it's not going away.

She doesn't look sick. Her doctor has often commented on this fact. She hasn't experienced huge weight loss, her hair is growing back after the radiation treatments, it's even regaining some (not all) of it's auburn color. Because of that it's easy to ignore it.

But the signs are there, if you look. She doesn't have the energy she once had, particularly in the week following chemo. That happens every three weeks. I saw her wincing in pain last week, and when I asked she admitted that her lung was hurting. I know that happens more times than she will admit.

Where once she would get up and be active all day while I slept, she now moves out to the couch and naps most of the day away. Because I work nights I don't see it much, but if I wake up and come out of the bedroom I see her there more and more often.

Our daughter works as a pharmacy tech, so she usually handles her mother's prescription. She was aghast when she filled the last one because of it's narcotic content.

She started out only taking a half a pill of her old prescription when she was having trouble sleeping. She started having trouble sleeping more often. Now she is taking a half a pill of the new prescription. At first the new prescription was only necessary once or twice a week. This, too, is happening more often. How often I can't say since I work nights, but I know it happens at least 2 or 3 times a week.

Daughter is worried that Mother is going to become addicted. Mother points out jokingly that it won't be a permanent condition. Daughter and I fail to see the humor.

She was diagnosed two years ago in December. She has determined that she will hold out for another eight.

I am selfish enough to want her to stay as long as possible, but not so selfish that I want her to stay in pain. I am torn between these two desires, but in the end it will hurt worse to see her in pain than it will to lose her.

The Navy has a phrase, hope for the best but plan for the worst. I guess that's all I can do.

Military Appreciation

Well, it's nice to know that our Soldiers are respected, even among certain disreputable groups (look at the second story on the link).

From the story: "They took everything from his pockets, but when the gang leader looked in the victim's wallet and saw an Army Reserve ID card, he told his accomplices to give him his stuff back."

Hit the link to read the entire story, and while you are there go ahead and sign up for the weekly newsletter. It's fun and it's free

HT: This is True, a weekly newsletter by Randy Cassingham (author of the TRUE Stella Awards)

Connections

I've just upgraded my wireless router from a B to a G. The old router kept dropping the connection even though all the indications on the router's front panel showed that it was on and transmitting. Hopefully the new router will make everything all better.

In other news, the mighty Rampage has it's new carburetor installed but I have to go to the parts store tomorrow and get a clip for the throttle cable. Hopefully this solves the fuel system problems that has been plaguing me for a couple of months now.

How are things in your world?

A Purchase

I have just ordered Weird Al's boxed set.

The Knight Shift says it will not disappoint.

I'm looking forward to it.

It's Sad To See

Brigid has had to restrict comments at the Range because of a troll.

Having never met her, I only know her through her command of the written word. From that knowledge I see a gentle soul who has a core of solid steel.

I know that even the most likable among us (not a good description of me, by the way) has some that do not like them. I am saddened by the fact that someone has seen the need to take a potshot at such a beautiful spirit as she.

The Range is usually my last stop of the day while skimming the interwebs. I find that I usually need a bit of tranquility after everything else that I see.

Chin up lass. Only you can define who you are. But then, you knew that already.

Learning From History

Well done, MV Maersk Alabama. Hopefully others will learn from your sterling example.

I won't hold my breath.

And, as an aside to those who say that violence never solved anything, I call your bluff.

Imaginary Numbers

b times the square root of -1

Iowa congressional district 24 (and 439 other districts in other states)

30,000 jobs, at a cost of $225,000 per job, saved or created.

I had an instructor once who used to say that figures don't lie, but liars figure.

Finally!

Robert Stacy McCain mentions me!

Well, sorta. Here's the quote:

"Once upon a time, patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel. Nowadays, libertarianism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

Hey, I'll take it.

Yeah, that's worth a hit to the tip jar.

Note To Young Girls

Never do anything you would be ashamed to tell your grandparents about. On your mother's side. At least until after you graduate from college. Even then, make sure it doesn't end up on any recordable media.

Keep in mind that, should you ignore the advice above, anything you do can and will end up on YouTube so your children will see it. Or worse yet, your child's nemesis in high school. (Think about how you would feel if your bitchy enemy found a video of your mother in a compromising situation.)

And yes, that boy that you think is so dreamy, the one that you Looooovvvveeee!!!!!!! really will sell that video for a million clams, or really will post it on the net (that's a not quite SFW Google search, BTW) to show all of his buds what a dirty whore you are after you dump him for being a complete pig.

Act accordingly.

UPDATE: And now it seems that there may be as few as eight and as many as 20 of these tapes. There's a phrase for this, ladies. It's called "Head Smashing Stupidity".

HT: Ace of Spades HQ and Pat Dollard.

Happy Veterans Day

From one vet to another.

The Latest from Beltway Bob

"Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler."

Nope. Can't imagine it.

HT: Ace of Spades HQ, Weekly Standard article by MKH.

What Went Wrong

How could this have happened? An officer, a psychiatrist, at Fort Hood, has apparently gone off his nut and killed 13 soldiers, wounding 30 others.

The first clue might have been when the officer, a Muslim, compared suicide bombers to those who throw themselves on grenades to save the lives of their comrades.

Another clue might have been when he filled out a form seeking a spouse through a program at a mosque listing his birthplace as Arlington, Virginia, but his nationality as Palestinian.

The basic problem is that he saw himself as something else before he saw himself as American.

Theodore Roosevelt warned us of this over a hundred years ago, but we fell into the trap anyway. Why, you may ask?

Because we wanted to be nice.

We wanted to be nice, so instead of pointing out that "united we stand, divided we fall" we said nothing when once again people started identifying themselves as "whatever-Americans". We didn't want to be thought of as racist.

We said nothing when our language started to change, bending itself around political correctness. We didn't want to be thought of as intolerant.

We said nothing when our American beliefs and traditions came under assault from multiculturalism. We didn't want to be thought of as ethnocentric.

It happened when we pressed 1 for English. It happened when we let our public school administrators treat us as part of the problem instead of part of the solution. It happened when we allowed good people to be hung out to dry for BS reasons and didn't stand up for them.

Nidal Malik Hasan bore the weapon and squeezed the trigger that put 13 soldiers in their graves and 30 others in the hospital.

But we provided the bullets.

I Wish

That I could be surprised.

God bless the Fort Hood soldiers and their families. May He have mercy on the victims. May He have none for the perpetrator.

What's Happening

So once again I have committed the number 1 sin of the blogging world in that I haven't posted anything new lately. The only excuse I have is that I've been working like an idiot for the past couple of weeks. In fact, the photo in my previous post was taken while I was on my way to work.

In my copious off time, I've been working on a paper model of Serenity. It's my first cardstock model and it's surprisingly difficult. This is no "fold tab A into slot B" type of paper airplane, there are over eighty pieces printed out on twelve cardstock sheets. It's been a lot of fun.

My copy of "The Gathering Storm" has arrived, and I'm reading through it at the moment. Brandon Sanderson is an apt storyteller, but he isn't Robert Jordan. It's obvious that there is another voice speaking, but he is definitely telling Jordan's tale so I think it will end well.

On the political front, much is being made by the Democrats of Hoffman's failure to take NY-23, but they are strangely silent on the changes in the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia. Virginia may have not been much of a surprise, but New Jersey certainly was. I wish the new Governors well and hope they do good for their respective States.

The Hoffman saga is a horse of a different color, and although the established political parties don't want to make much of it I believe they do know what it's significance is. Time will tell if the RNC actually absorbs the lesson from NY-23 or not, if they do then they will see future success, and if not, they won't. It's as simple as that.

For me it's just a simple question, that being when does a moderate Republican cross the line into being a moderate Democrat? I've said there isn't an ounce worth of difference between the two parties and the NY-23 race certainly reflected that, at least initially. But then, a "moderate" Republican (who was more liberal than the moderate Democrat) got her head handed to her by the Conservative party candidate that wasn't supposed to be able to poll much beyond the normal 5 percent or so. Instead it was the Conservative party candidate that polled well, and the Republican candidate was at the 5% mark.

Party loyalists preach the party line, about how supporting the Party is paramount, that conservative Republicans can't win in "moderate" areas of the country, about how supporting third party candidates just split the vote and hand the race to the Democrat. This did certainly happen in this instance, but the major difference here is that the party candidate never really did have the full support of the party members. She was selected, not by a primary where the voters might have been able to voice an opinion, but by a panel of elites. The voters were understandably upset, and they broke for the candidate they might have supported had there been an actual primary.

The ironic thing here is that conservatives have never been very good at being party loyalists, they see themselves as independents and must be given a reason to vote for a particular candidate. They may hold their nose and vote for the R over the D because the Republican party more closely represents their values, but this is not always the case.

The plain truth is that the two parties must be different, they must have different platforms and their candidates must adhere to those platforms, otherwise there is no clear choice between them. If there is no clear choice, the ones that are left out in the cold (usually the conservatives) usually do choose the "lesser of two evils" and pull the lever with the "R" beside it. Lately, however, the conservatives have been choosing a third party, or they are choosing not to decide (and, like the song says, still making a choice). If the Republican party wants to remain the default choice of conservatives, they need to examine themselves and pull back to their conservative roots. Otherwise they will continue to shed members. This was the lesson that should have been learned during the McCain presidency bid (the only thing that saved it was the addition of Palin to the ticket) and clearly wasn't.

They have a chance again to learn this lesson from NY-23. We will see if they do so.

A Sign Of The Times?

It may not look like much, but if you take a careful look at the bumper sticker...or at least, just below the bumper sticker...you get the idea that maybe there's a little bit of buyer's remorse happening here.

Click on the photo for a bigger image.

It Would Be Funny

If it wasn't happening to us.

How pathetic is it that the organization that served as the mouthpiece of the Soviet Union does such a bang-up job documenting our folly, while our "legitimate (IE, White House approved) news organizations" are missing it completely?

HT to The Knight Shift.

We're All H8RZ Now, Part III

If you don't think Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, you're just like the Taliban! So there!

HT: The Rott

What?!?

Tell me again what you have to do to win one of these things?

UPDATE: Well sure. Why not.

Mistaken Identity

Oops.

Egad

Mostly Cajun (see the link on the sidebar) had a piece up that I just read today concerning the march of time and the failure of some to learn, much less learn from, our history.

It put me in mind of this song.

Special Delivery

Well played, Sirs. Well played indeed.

HT to MrsM-ITT at the Rott and Wyatt Earp at Support Your Local Gunfighter (I saw it first at the Rott, sorry Wyatt).

You Are Not Alone

Even in California.

HT to AoSHQ commenter Michael in MI. Thanks for the tip.