True That

"Just because a culture has occasional problems with dysentery doesn’t mean it can’t produce sage nuggets of universal wisdom, suitable for framing."



H/T that instapundit feller

Classroom

Pardon...

but it never matters how cute their ass is..they inevitably misunderstand something which angers them...and then it's our fault.

Or am I mistaken again?

I Heart

Alaska.

In this 2005 file photo, two fishermen pick red salmon from their nets in Cook Inlet off Clam Gulch, Alaska, with the Redoubt Volcano in the background. The volcano, about 100 miles soutwest of Anchorage, is rumbling and simmering, prompting geologists to warn that an eruption may be imminent. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)

Politicians, Change and...

what was that again?

A call to Feathers and Tar?

No hope until we make them fear...



and I mean those who employed and commanded the photographer.

It will end up less elegant than, well, this:

Tar and Feathers by Jiří Kylián Nederlands Dans Theater

Kablooeyboom...

Wow is this pretty and dare I say inspiring. I have every confidence that all efforts and endeavors depicted were necessary and beneficial. I am proud of our troops and I support them and credit our safety to the struggle they are engaged in hourly. God Bless Them.

This would make a great gif file to keep as a background to this diverse and groundbreaking blog...

No?

Helicopter Friday

More shortly but for this short moment...

In the DVD

Back late. Traffic was pretty bad tonight so I took the longer way home and stared at the snow and hills...rich hills...the two state drive home.

Anyway I found "The Last Laugh" under the door along with "Downfall".


Both ought to resonate against one another but "Last Laugh" isn't to be confused with the fine Mark Knopfler song from his album Sailing to Philadelphia.

Great album. The Last Laugh is with Van Morrison. Sailing to Philadelphia the title track from the album had James Taylor crooning in...




I also found connectivity as opposed to the screen I have seen before, the same screen I have provided before, more than once.

This first film is evoking a novel by an author I haven't looked for in some time. I used to love his material in Granta in particular. I could go for some short stories...
(Update: I nearly forgot. I believe in this novel he mentions a martini recipe which involves inverting the glasses in a shallow tray of vermouth and keeping them in the freezer. At which time you desire a dry martini a frozen hint around the frozen lip of the glass is all you need to augment your gin or vodka...)
finished Eastern Star and hesitated on Water for Elephants for several reasons, going with The Devil Soldier for now...

Wouldn't it be Lovely

To see that crap weasel Ayers confronted by Mr. Larry Grathwohl.

Lovelier still to see him...well..'nuff said.

via Instapundit

Little Boy

An excellent article on John Coster-Mullen's puzzle.



Who knew that the device which destroyed Hiroshima was female?

Generator

Provide your own thoughts in the space provided.

The poster generator must have beau coup traffic right now...

"Save this Key"

On passing, powdered milk and austerity.

Deepest condolences.

The Atlantic

They have a new business channel.

via Volokh

Shark Oil Barometer

The subject came up.

I want one.

Mammoth Tusk

...and how!

(This blog once gave out mammoth parts for Christmas.

Boy was I convinced the woollies were gonna be big that following summer.

This blog can err, but mammoths are a theme. Don't pass up on info without zipping it along regarding animals extinct or otherwise...)

Over at CoasttoCoast a listener sent in the following:

This mammoth tusk was found by my Yupik friend, Johnny (pictured). It washed out of the permafrost during a flood last year. I have bought and sold mammoth tusks in Alaska for over twenty years. At 14 feet long, this is the longest one I have ever purchased.

--Chuck Leake
akivory@gci.net

Chia Obama

Nothing shouts success quite like this:

CHIA Obama - Determined Pose

Peter Schiff

On insane economic policy.

He is the gentleman from the previous video.

Good, He's O.K.

 

Whoa, Yowch!

 

More Raging Riding Bulls!

 

Easy...

 

Whoah!

 

There's Hell in THAT Bull!

 

That was a Brave Horse and Rider!

 

Lovely Soil...

 

Dust yourself off...

 

Boy was this Fun!

 

BullFeathers!!

 

Yipee!

 

Ouch!

 

Nice!

 

Helicopter Friday

Er---I'll get back on track...

Helicopters for Everyone!!!

That's how it should be damnit.



DefenseTech has a couple of posts and a video up regarding acoustic hostile fire detection.



Here is a great video, God that looks like fun. A BO 105?


Helicopter Aerobatics 2 - Click here for more amazing videos

and more


Helicopter Aerobatics - Funny bloopers R us

Happy Burns Night

How's the haggis coming along?

If you've forgotten there is still time to hit the store...

An Englishman is being shown around a Scottish hospital.

At the end of his visit, he is shown into a ward with a number of patients who show no obvious signs of injury. He goes to examine the first man he sees, and the man proclaims:

Fair fa' yer honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain e' the puddin' race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
painch tripe or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
as lang's my arm.

The Englishman, somewhat taken aback, goes to the next patient, and immediately the patient launches into:

Some hae meat, and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.

This continues with the next patient:

Wee sleekit cow'rin tim'rous beastie,
O what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
wi' bickering brattle.
I wad be laith to run and chase thee,
wi' murdering prattle!"

"Well," the Englishman mutters to his Scottish colleague, "I see you saved the psychiatric ward for the last."

"Nay, nay," the Scottish doctor corrected him, "this is the Burns unit."

Omelette

slobber slobber drool...

Via aldente

Ingredients

• 3 eggs , as fresh as possible, preferably organic and free-range, room temperature
• 2 knobs unsalted butter
• 1 tsp finely, freshly grated parmesan

• 2-3 chopped tarragon leaves
• 1 tbsp each snipped chives and chopped chervil or parsley

• 3 rounded tbsp finely grated gruyère

Happy Anniversary...

A day late. Yesterday was 100 years from the Tottenham Outrage:

"During the incident, average people going about their daily lives joined in the pursuit of the robbers. A party out bird shooting at nearby Lockwood reservoir reportedly exchanged fire with them. The Tottenham police, in the tradition of British police to this day, did not go armed. Officers, unable to find the key to the locked firearm cabinet in the station house actually had to smash the doors off to get to their weapons, but brother officers already in pursuit instead borrowed firearms from people on the street - something literally unimaginable there today, and literally unremarkable back then."

Secret Codes

Classical Values has a great post on them.

Zombism Outbreak

During the course of a Zombie outbreak it may be necessary to warn others with whatever is most prominent at hand. Print and keep these instructions for programming a DOT sign with your emergency kit:

BBGadgets is interested in everyones preparedness and welfare.

Zombies. People never take them seriously until it's too late.

Kirsten Gillibrand

I may like her...

"Gillibrand is an advocate for gun rights and a member of the National Rifle Association."

Yup. I like her.

That's a Relief

I finally noticed where the battery compartment is on the nightvision scope I have had for oh so long...

Boy did I pick that up for a song. That nice feller really wanted a few bucks in a hurry, God Bless him. And, yes, it was his and not stolen. I hate thieves.



I know, it's not like the real American deal...I'm a gadget freak or "gear queer" so I am definitely drooling over all sorts of devices.

But changing out batteries that said 2003 without them being shot is a rare break for this lad...It goes right into the hiking pack and deserves a quick excuse to use them away from the light.

Worst Poker Face

Osama has been less than a problem without being a martyr for some time.

I would love to know the story...have been saying it since I saw that clip...and not on the Daily Show.

While campaigning Obama really felt it important to promise to get him...

Now...

"But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives, then we will meet our goal of protecting America."

Someone suggested releasing the Gitmo subhumans into society. They were semi serious. In the course of the conversation it seemed like it would be a good reality show, so long as the cameras are always on them. Mirth ensued.

Or maybe Yale will enroll or hire them...

The Incestuous "Elite"

That filthy tangle which is our journalist/media class and the political class just gets more brutally wretch inducing all the time...

The Kennedeys and Pinch...ugh

Coast To Coast

Seems to be going with "Light Being" on the matter of this photo:



What do you think?

John Derbishyre

On the waxing (poetical) of Elizabeth Alexander.

He does not hold back. This a.m. he staked his claim for the win.

Tea Trouble

In China.

via Jungletrader

Sold!

Remington XM3 (left) and 40-XS Tactical Rifle Systems

http://www.deathfromafar.com/info/XM-3%20Sale%20Sheet.pdf

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=8546

SHOT Show report...

Don't Give Up

Even though Roger Kimbal seems to have already won the title "Best Phrase of the Day" keep plucking!!

He usually wins...

"Obama...whose beneficent influence wafts like a healing zephyr through the knotty corridors of race relations..."

Runner up is also Kimbal's but third place is wide open:

"Oscar Wilde said one had to have a heart of stone to read about the death of Little Nell without laughing. But is there a man alive who can digest such tripe without queasiness or worse?"

"Lamp Post Tango"

FMFT must get some credit for coining that one...

A dance we would all feel encouraged to witness...it would be like seeing green shoots (grease that lead! Does anyone doubt that the pun is intentional?) of recovery in Western Civilization itself...

FM also posts more evidence of the excruciating paucity of my existence...

His previous Paki-gate post mentioned peoples deserving of excoriation "… like the Mohammedans or the Welsh".

"Excoriation" is an admirable quality in certain cultures...like burping at the table loudly after meals...

Update:

Jesus! He also makes mention of: "...does this now mean that we now have to refer to "Pakis" as "Stills"? & come to think of it, what about the Bog Wogs, Nips, Abbos, Cloggies, Chinks, Jocks, Frogs, Taffs, Huns, Dagos, Seppos, Red Sea Pedestrians, Dinks, Spics, Fenians, Camel Jockeys, Sheep Shaggers, Curry-Munchers, Jaapies, Polacks etc etc etc etc ad infinitum? Can we take it that they are all “Stills” as well?"

Am I weak on a couple of those terms?

Thank God I bookmarked the Racial Slur Data Base years ago!

I've been fighting hate all of my life!

Wow, that FM fellow is fantastic. He posted this photo:

Times are tough. At first I thought that perhaps it was grammatically wanting, but then it occurred to me that the dead don't own their things any longer...or do they?

I like language and grammar in the same way I love golf and everything else I suck at...

well that's plenty of FM for the next time frame. Always check in on him, you will be rewarded...

Adam

mentioned a simulation of the Hudson plane landing, which Jimmy corrected me to say that he witnessed the vehicle afterwards, in the comments. It is indeed very cool, and I would say it is an amazing testament to technology and the rapid irrelevancy of certain industries.

An Army of Davids is right!

Hem

They have been my favorite band on heavy rotation for the last couple of years.

I have mentioned them before, and Mary Chapin Carpenter has written of them in the Washington Times.

http://allabouthem.com/index.htm

http://www.rabbitsongs.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hem_(band)

Put Hem into Pandora and some lovely music evolves...with a little help of course.

I hadn't realized that K.T. Tunstall covered Beck.

I would like to see them, and would love some shows.

http://www.pandora.com/music/artist/hem

Every Good Parent

must undo the damage to their children done by public schools on a daily basis, or sacrifice their child's (and the next generation's) common sense and decency.

Sadly the good parents are not winning.

Via No Pasaran a brief bit from Charlotte Iserbyt, the author of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America:

But will These Brides

engage in Suttee at their Froggy husband's end?

How long do frogs live?

Some a very long time actually.

Boingboing's guest blogger is the author of the book on Joseph Priestly which looks very interesting and has been rather prominent of late.

I liked the book on the remains of Thomans Paine, and in it was another Zelig like character.

Kenny Video

Ken sent along this video of the story of an elephant and a dog.

Jimmy

Jimmy called and mentioned this incident to which he was a witness...sounded unsettling.

(photo via Instapundit)

I hope he posts details, he's still on his way home.

What a great flight!

I'm such an idiot I would just take the ticket value voucher for a future flight...that and cherish the memories.

R.I.P. Ricardo

Adam links...

Diamonds

and prospecting have been mentioned.

The Smithsonian has an Arkansas tale...

I never changed the old links, if they seem dead and have mattio829 in the url, try adding a "1" after the nine.

In the DVD

The Big Sleep.

The film's tag line was "The Violence-Screen's All-Time Rocker-Shocker!"

A cocktail is mentioned, mentioned by the General, played in 1945/46 by a man, Charles Waldron, who was born in 1874, five years before my grandfather.

Mr. Waldron was born when this young lady, Ellen Terry, John Gielgud's aunt, 16 in this photograph taken in 1864, was 26:



Something in that photo just does not seem like the Civil War is still raging. That photo may have been taken the week which saw the USS Housatonic (commissioned on my birthday) succumb to the C.S.S. H.L. Hunley...and the Colt fire...

William Faulkner worked on this film. His time in Hollywood was amusingly alluded to in "Barton Fink".

This can't help but evoke Nathaniel West and "The Day of the Locust", though I preferred "Miss Lonelyhearts". There is a character named "Homer Simpson" in Locust, but I think Groening's dad was named Homer...

Everybody remembers Bacall. Here are a couple of shots of Dorothy Malone, a 1956 oscar winner:

Dorothy Malone with Bogie in THE BIG SLEEP

Atlantic Salmon

A nice article:

"Atlantic Salmon used to dominate our streams here in New England. The early settlers made reports of salmon runs so large that they would fill up entire rivers. Farmers would use pitch forks to spear the salmon and toss them on the river banks by the hundreds...

...I found a copy of “The American Angler’s Guide” by J.J. Brown, published in 1849. In it he reports Atlantic Salmon as being netted in the Hudson River in New York in June of 1844. There is also mention of a law in New York State prohibiting the taking of salmon by net, hook, or spear “or any other device whatsoever” in the months of October and November. There is no mention of a date on which the law was put into effect though.

Being that the Hoosic is part of the Hudson River Watershed, it’s not out of the question that both our major watersheds here in Berkshire County (the Hoosic and Housitonic) could have once held salmon runs. We may never know the size of those runs or if they happened at all, but we do know that the Connecticut River once contained an enormous run of Atlantic Salmon. In the late 1700’s two dams where built on the Connecticut bringing centuries of salmon runs to an end (Hadley 1794, Turners Falls 1798). It only took twelve short years for Atlantic Salmon to become extinct in the tributaries of the Connecticut in Vermont, New Hampshire, and northern Massachusetts including the Deerfield River. But anglers even then saw the impending doom of over fishing the salmon long before these two dams where built.

The Beginning of Commercial Fishing in the Connecticut River

The earliest account of salmon fishing the Connecticut I’ve found is from the minutes of a Town Meeting in Springfield, MA in 1688 and they are as follows (note the original spellings):

1677 -- Minutes of May 2, 1677 town meeting of the Town of Springfield, Mass.:

"Further also Goodm. Lamb, Serjeant Morgan, Joseph Crowfoot, John Clarke Sr., Charles Ferry with such others as they shal take in with them have ye liberty of fishing for this yeere from ye falls in Chickuppi River where the wading place is, down to ye mouth of that river, provided they enter not upon any mans lands or proprietyes there, provided they also shal supply such neighbors as shal desire to have fish of them; & their Salmon they may not sel for more than six pence apiece there, or at ye town more than eight pence, and shad fish they may not sel for more than half pence apiece there, or more than a penny at the Town, & in case they barrel up for market, they are to allow to the Town twelve pence a barrel for all that shal be transported."

To translate that into modern term, those guys where selling Atlantic Salmon for 6 cents locally, 8 cents in the city per fish, not per pound. Salmon where so abundant in our rivers they would even feed them to pigs!"

In the DVD

Today is not better than last night..

Or is it?

Any how last nights film was enjoyable.

Tonight:

The Delicatessen.

I do not choose the arrival of the films...This theme is inadvertent. Having watched for a few minutes I recognize this film...I've seen it on some channel long ago...

Rats.

Update:

Americans take insult for raising their voices when they are not understood by those who do not know English...

Understanding little French I notice that French in whisper is far more difficult to register.

Perhaps they should shout at the ignorant.

Un peu idee?

Non?

un peu de réflexion?

Well...be it as it may...

I enjoy listening to French.

The bedsprings acts are great though...this is one spot of the motif:



Alright...squirting flower on the rooftop with the t.v. reception etc...

Thumbs up.

Science Stuff

An nice post over at Classical Values.

First electric car? 1828! (a toy)

In the DVD

I am in such an awful awful mood.

Maybe a dwarf will bring me around.

THE STATION AGENT.

carry on...

Update:

several seconds in I like the camera work...

I like trains...










These gents hop the rails quite nearby. I don't think touching those parts is advisable.