|
|
 |
| Entered | Poster | Comments | |
| 20081120 08:52 | Deacon Blues | jEEBUS! | |
| 20081120 08:39 | 3dc | Deacon look here | |
| 20081120 08:38 | 3dc | Deacon - it started out as a Texas hippie organic store and ended up a national organic chain. One becoming less and less organic and more and more elite and high priced. | |
| 20081120 07:36 | Deacon Blues | Morning, All. What's a Whole Foods? | |
| 20081120 06:43 | trailing wife | I'm very fond of Penzey Spices. They seem to carry everything, spicewise, their stock is fresh, and they deliver. | |
| 20081120 03:05 | 3dc | Oh, I did forget their bulk spices and the candied ginger next to the spices that is very fresh and way cheaper than in the Chinese stores. Sometimes the true vegan chocolate bars are nice too but being a bit fat are something I should avoid. | |
| 20081120 03:02 | 3dc | Whole foods is the only place where I can get actual milk free Parmesan and Mozzarella - but I had to point out that the fine print of their current ones had milk in it to get them to stock real non-milk cheese. Of course I am allergic to milk so I am biased and appreciate the vegan stuff. Same for the cashew butter that doesn't use peanut oil. (For some strange reason the nut-butters in regular food stored do use peanut oil) If vanderluen doesn't have health issues he should just buy normal food at a normal grocery as the rest of the stuff at Whole Foods is just pretense. | |
| 20081120 00:13 | Pappy | Lastly, MK Freeberg: Republicans lose voters with their evil stupid plans to force women to have abortions, to keep paraplegics like Christopher Reeve in their wheelchairs, and to assert the will of an elite cultist relition over their entire country by means of theocratic rule. I know this about Republicans because I read it in smartass newspaper columns in the Denver Post. The Democrats lose votes with their evil stupid plans to inject pointlessness into every little thing anybody can do — things like making money, following the law, defending the country - except oppose Republicans, they want to make a little bit tougher, a little bit less rewarding. I know this about Democrats because people actually talk about it. I know Democrats want to do what I think they want to do because they tell me so. We’re a funny people. We pretend to be so centrist, objective and balanced. But we debate the awful horrible fictitious things Republicans are going to do - that they haven’t done, even though they’ve been in charge - versus the idiotic things Democrats do every single time they’re in charge and if we were willing to put in the time or energy to do a casual skimming through the pages of recent history, we’d know haven’t worked out too well for us. | |
| 20081120 00:02 | Pappy | And the New York Post: TIME Inc. today becomes not a publisher of magazines but of pink slips instead. The magazine giant is expected to cut more than 250 from the payroll as part of an overall plan by Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore and Editor-in-Chief John Huey to slash 600 jobs from its overall work force of 10,200 employees worldwide. One insider estimated that when the Day of the Ax is done, it promises to be among the bloodiest one-day periods in the company's history. | |
| 20081119 23:59 | Pappy | vanderluen: Dear Whole Foods: We're through. It's not me. It's you. I ignored a lot of your irritating habits, like keeping that entire wing of the dairy case jammed with your revoltingly raw vegan pastes and six flavors of tofu. I put up with your greed especially in the cheese department where you had no shame in marking up English and French and "local, sustainable" cheeses up to $20 a pound.... and then up to $25 a pound... and then -- since somebody was evidently paying you to screw them this way -- you started into the $35 a pound range with no end in sight. Like the end of all sordid love affairs, Whole, it was a little thing that did it. I remembered that I needed aluminum foil. I scanned your bursting shelves and then I saw it... the "If You Care" Aluminum foil. It was made, it breathlessly told me, of "100% recycled aluminum." It was a 50 foot roll priced at $4.50. Next to it sat your good old aluminum foil, a 75 foot roll of the stuff I use and recycle. It was priced at $2.25. It dawned on me then, Whole, that as it was with so many other things about you I was screwed no matter which I chose. Somehow, if I cared enough to spend $2.25 more for less "If You Care" foil, I'd just recycle that again so that it would come back for more caring at a higher price. You were sharing your shelves with the high price whores of recycling and I knew that if I stayed with you a moment longer, I would turn green with bankruptcy. I've left, a shattered man with whatever shred of dignity and solvency remains to me. Don't write. Don't call. And especially don't offer to take me back to that Devon Clotted Cream in Aisle 2 that we once smeared over our shortbreads together in that wild, hot Summer of 2006. We're quits. Deal with it. P.S. If by any chance you want to dump that Neals Yard Cheshire at fire sale prices when Washington refuses to bail you out... twitter me. | |
| 20081119 23:03 | Jolutch Mussolini7800 | Biggest problem U.S.G. will have with that is finding out when they joined the Union in the first place. That problem is probably above Bama's pay grade also. | |
| 20081119 23:02 | Jolutch Mussolini7800 | Mike, Bama's not MY president. I only acknowledge presidents who have been elected in honest elections. This wasn't, and we're already paying for it. Things are going to get worse before they get better. I'm afraid it's going to be a LOT worse. On the bright side, I've heard that people in the 55th state are planning to overthrow the government, break away from the U.S and declare independence! | |
| 20081119 21:51 | 3dc | You just think that's a cod ship off the port bow! | |
| 20081119 21:50 | 3dc | AP and I were just joking about Pirate futures and failed states. I may be time to invest in Viking Pirates of Iceland. | |
| 20081119 21:09 | Mike N. | I've never had much use for a bike either, but with these river beds out here (2 within a few miles) I've been toying with the idea of playing in them. | |
| 20081119 21:00 | Pappy | Not me, Mike. I stay away from bikes. | |
| 20081119 20:27 | badanov | Today is the 66th Anniversary of Operation Uranus | |
| 20081119 20:17 | AutoBartender | Oh, gaaaack!! Badanov, you're flagged: no Yuengling Lager for you for at least the next 10 minutes. Sheesh!!!! | |
| 20081119 20:06 | Mike N. | Bad badanov! Yucky! | |
| 20081119 20:05 | badanov | I was wondering when they would invent the broccoli whipped cream pizza | |
| 20081119 20:03 | Mike N. | Any mountain bikers in here? | |
| 20081119 19:42 | Mike N. | Pizza for din-din. Right here on the bar we have every combination you could imagine and a few you couldn't possibly. | |
| 20081119 19:28 | Pappy | Mike, I'd substitute 'the President', but the sentiment is essentially the same. | |
| 20081119 19:24 | AutoBartender | "I had no idea the situation has gone that badly in the USA. [...] The USA is now at the mercy of blind fortune. " Better fasten your seatbelt and take a deep breath: up until now America has been merely slouching toward Gomorrah; on January 20th, we'll be pushing the throttle to the stops and popping the clutch. It's gonna be a wild ride. | |
| 20081119 19:22 | Mike N. | I caught myself chuckling about Knobby insulting Obama for turning on his Muslim faith until I came to my senses. He terrorist does not get to insult my president. | |
| 20081119 18:47 | Pappy | What I'm laughing at now is the pressure being placed on the networks by the usual suspects to not use the term 'house negro' when referring to the Al-Qaeda news story. The ironic part being that the left was the first to resurrect that old term. | |
| 20081119 18:37 | Pappy | A lot of the misinformation comes from word-of-mouth. It's not solely that the MSM is feeding it to them, it's that the social networking tends to either perpetuate or 'create' data that gets fed onward as general fact. Things like the CIA-created-AIDS or Republicans-gave-out-wrong-election-dates, or nobody-I-know-voted-for-Nixon, or the Troofers. And certain things tend to stay circulated within certain social networks. Not just restricted to liberals - look at some of our paleo-Rantburgers. | |
| 20081119 17:46 | trailing wife | lotp, that WSJ article is dated Nov.18, 2008. In the sidebar there are links to similar pieces going back to 2001. Perhaps you remember one of those? edit: Lagom, it isn't that hard to find true information -- we all here managed to do it, even me. Those who were misinformed chose to be so. After all, they could have found most of the correct answers without going beyond YouTube. | |
| 20081119 17:13 | Mike N. | Looks like the trunks finally put a site together where we can make suggestions and share ideas about how to improve the party. Republicanforareason.com | |
| 20081119 16:14 | Deacon Blues | The Dow closed below 8000 today. | |
| 20081119 16:11 | 3dc | As I read history.. the crash was in 29 but the worst days were a few years later.... Just saying.... I think it might get very rough. | |
| 20081119 16:07 | 3dc | There are currently no gainers today. (Dow) S&P 500 only one winner: Scripps Networks Interactive Inc Nasdaq only an 82 cent stock that made it to $1.09 Tanked... | |
| 20081119 15:30 | Deacon Blues | I also find it very disturbing how many of the young college students here believe that Al Gore was declared the winner in Florida and that Bush took the election to court. It's boggling! I think that is why we here so much of Bush "stealing" the election. People have been told a lie. | |
| 20081119 14:04 | Lagom | What I find "fascinating" how badly informed so many of the US voters were. A majority of those who voted for Senator Obama could not name the party that held legislative majority. They claimed the Republicans were in majority in Congress, which has not been the case for 2 years, and they attributed Senator Obama's malapropism of "57 states" to Governor Palin. It is not mere ignorance, which is nonetheless worrisome in many ways, it is they were deliberately wrongly informed. I am reminded of Ronald Reagan's truism about liberals: The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so. I had no idea the situation has gone that badly in the USA. In formal logic, one cannot draw provable conclusions from false premises. There is no way more sure of leading to disaster than making irrevocable decisions based on partial and deliberately incorrect information. No matter how one tries to reason this out with logic, the lack of true facts, and lack of their understanding will undercut any rational efforts. The USA is now at the mercy of blind fortune. | |
| 20081119 13:53 | lotp | That's an interesting editorial but it is an old one IIRC, from 2004. Was it linked on the WSJ today? | |
| 20081119 13:35 | Pappy | The Saudis have been funding Islamic terrorists in Somalia, so when the oil price drop constricts their cash flow, they decided to go looking for an alternative source of funding. Interesting theory. However: 1. The pirate group(s) got itself organised very highly, very fast. And we're talking about Somalis. The only reason they get anything remotely accomplished well is if somebody else shows them how to do it. Think Mogadishu: Al-Qaeda was behind most of their training, tactics and awwareness of the ROEs. 2. The pirates are parading around their newfound wealth. Not something a terrorist group, or a bunch of devout mulsims, would do. 3. Indications I'm getting is that while the pirates are getting money, it isn't the whole enchilada. This reeks of small time thugs getting more than they'd get fishing or beating up aid workers, but not everything. Which indicates to me that somebody helped these Masters of the The Cluster-F*ck get organised, equipped and networked. | |
| 20081119 13:25 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Lagom? If you ask them to think about how they think about the issues they may give conservative answers. However their decision process doesn't involve thinking. They "know" that Obama is good and Republorcans are evil and avoid any more complex decision making than that. | |
| 20081119 12:55 | Lagom | More conservative? What about better informed?  | |
| 20081119 12:28 | trailing wife | The Wall Street Journal has an editorial claiming that university students are actually more conservative than the general population here in the U.S. link | |
| 20081119 10:34 | Mike N. | Har! Ima find some lyrics that sums up my taste in wimmenz. Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide by Shinedown. She's a steel thrill suicide they say Cyanide in her plastic veins She's a mannequin of misery, She's on a bender, But she ain't gonna break. Hey, Hey. Taste like sugar, but it's novacaine. She's grinding teeth, So she can sharpen the pain. White, lights. Train, wreck. Black lips, Pale Eyes Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide. She's a killer, She is mine, Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide. Strychnine cerebellum feeds the brain, Hurricane in a violent rage. She's a looker just like Anna Nicole. Oh, no. Fuck the silver, Let's go straight for the gold. Hey, hey Digging deeper than a six foot hole, She's snorting cocaine through a suicide note. White, light. Train, wreck. | |
| 20081119 10:22 | lotp | Mike, as you change your habitual responses in relationships of all kinds, you *will* find that you automatically and easily begin looking for different kinds of people and relationships at work, romantically etc. It won't be hard ... it will emerge naturally as you replace very old patterns you learned in your family with new ways of responding and managing your day to day life. That's the beauty of the behavioral, bottom-up approach. | |
| 20081119 10:08 | Darrell | AQ No. 2 just called BO a "house negro". Will BO sit down with him with no pre-conditions? Details at 11. | |
| 20081119 10:03 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Saw this pic over at GVDL's: link. | |
| 20081119 08:44 | Mike N. | Thank you, lotp. I was thinking about doing exactly that lately. The journal thing, that is. The only thing I wasn't sure about was whether it had any chances at all of changing who I'm attracted to. | |
| 20081119 07:03 | badanov | My guess on the Somali pirates: The Saudis have been funding Islamic terrorists in Somalia, so when the oil price drop constricts their cash flow, they decided to go looking for an alternative source of funding. On an another note: wanna know what a Somali pirate sounds like? Dirka dirka Jihad arrrrh... | |
| 20081119 05:44 | lotp | Morning, all. Long night here, for reasons I won't bore you with. Opportunities to be stressed at work and home, both. The work stress is due to goals I've set for myself, though, so Mr. Lotp is right that stress there is somewhat optional. I'm working on letting go of it. Mike, getting at the 'whys' of repeating bad relationships can be helpful. A different place you might start, though, is from the other end: with behaviors, one at a time. I.e. you can start by recognizing your patterns (friends and a counselor can be helpful with this; so can keeping a journal). What situations regularly trigger behavior on your part that isn't helpful to you? This is a bottom-up, one behavior at a time approach. You could pick one instance of a dysfunctional exchange or response on your part and get clear on why that response does not serve you well today. However it was learned or whatever role it played in the past, it isn't serving you well today. Then brainstorm alternate responses you could make. Picture how each alternative response would serve you better. Imagine yourself in that situation, acting differently in a variety of ways. Get detailed about the interior movie you're creating, really get into it. Think of all sorts of wildly different things you could do, including some you're pretty sure you'd never really do in public. ;-) Then pick one new thing to change about your habitual responses and begin practicing that new behavior when those sorts of situations arise in all sorts of relationships: work, family, romantic. To start with it could be as simple as breathing more slowly or relaxing your shoulders. The aim is to make small, sustainable changes in the way you react, changes that can become habits. When you've got a new habitual response in place to one trigger, pick another to work on. Over time you'll find you're happier, feel more effective and find that you attract people who know how & like to be in healthy relationship with themselves and others. Go for it! (been there, worked through some of that, working on more now) | |
| 20081119 02:07 | Mike N. | Lol, OS! | |
| 20081119 01:47 | OldSpook | To you folks with the fires in CA: Thanks for the beautiful sunsets here in Colorado. | |
| 20081119 01:23 | Mike N. | Hokay, here goes. Lesse if I can make this breif. I realized that, nearly 20 years after my parents separated, the first person I have ever fallen in love with, shares my mothers least greatest traits. (And that can't be coincidence) I love my mother, but she has never had a healthy relationship in her entire life. Not with her parents, not with any of her three children or three ex-husbands. On a better note, a couple weeks ago I went back to Minnesota to see friends and family so I could have lunch with my mother and try to re-establish a relationship that we haven't had since I was somewhere around 10 years old. I don't think we accomplished much, but for the first time in 20 years we spent time together and I wasn't mad at her, so I figure its a good start. Obvioiusly, I picked up from my mother my tendency to be attracted to women for whom a healthy relationship is impossible. Therein lies no answers though. This emotional garbage is a lot more difficult than I would like it to be. I've picked up a couple of psychology books in hopes of finding out how to rectify this issue I have, but so far haven't read anything that gives me that 'Ah-Ha!' Moment. Perhaps I'm destined for some visits to the shrink. | |
| 20081119 00:10 | Sherry | Mike N -- as a part of that battalion of women that took part in the discussion of the pearls, this is an interesting post from you: Drinks on me! Tonight we celebrate my return to the single life! If you mention it in The Club, well, any good bartender knows, here is a chance to sell more drinks, 'cause this guy came to talk. Either delete it, or expand it. | |
| 20081119 00:05 | Sherry | Call it "The Audacity of Victory." I would buy it. My Arkansas mother, who died almost two years ago, two weeks before her 90th birthday, was a reader. She made sure I knew she was reading/collecting a book about the first families of her country. She was especially drawn to the books of our First Ladies. Not once in her life, did she vote. For some of it, voting wasn't an option. Following a discussion about her not voting, I did ask her, "So, if you did vote this year, who would you vote for?" (not important who were the candidates) Her answer, "Why I would have to vote Democrat, that is what your Daddy always did." (Daddy's union was a part of "Big Steel.") She never requested, nor did I ever see in her house, a book from/about the Clinton family, a local Arkansas family. She would want to read, Laura's book (it's rumored that hers will be the first to come out) and I do believe, she would read, "The Audacity of Victory." She did admit, in 2004, she wasn't sure if she were to vote, that she could vote Democrat, "I'm not beholding to this Kerry guy." I think she would have voted for Sarah. And W will get to cherish his victory... lots of folks are rallying for a Victory in Iraq day. | |
| 20081118 22:23 | Pappy | One from Steve Schippert: 1. There is no way to end a war but through victory or defeat. Defeat is embraced through various forms of nuanced language, such as "end it," "honorable withdrawal" and "redeploy." Victory requires no such trickery or vocabulary. Victory is victory. 2. No victory is ever assured, and not every idea or strategy is a good one. If such were the case, there would have been no need for an Iraq Study Group Report or The Surge® which ultimately defied it. But the drive for victory must remain constant; learning, adapting, lopping off the bad ideas not working and implementing new ones in their place. Likewise, an American public and political leadership must expect and demand the same rather than giving up and embracing defeat under the guise of "ending it," seeking honorable withdrawal or redeployment without defeating the enemy first. 3. There is no monopoly of good ideas (or bad) held within Washington, DC. There is nothing special in the Beltway water, nor anything intellectually disabling on such matters in the water elsewhere. Take personal ownership of and responsibility for your own understanding and knowledge base. Build it. Discuss it openly along the perpetual path of learning, unafraid of (and open to perhaps) being wrong and without seeking personal credit and recognition when you are correct. This is where ideas come from, not a special Fountain of Brilliance nestled in some undisclosed DC-area location. And ideas shape strategies implemented by brave and humblingly capable men and women. Ideas produce victories. You can contribute. 4. There are many who deserve credit for the successful strategy that has brought victory in Iraq (one which must, naturally, be maintained and preserved), such as General David Petraeus, Fred Kagan, Jack Keane, Aussie David Kilcullen, Dr. Mary Habeck, and the list could go on to include every man and woman in and out of uniform who contributed and sacrificed. But the fact remains that only President George W. Bush made or would have made the command decision he made. Only President George W. Bush, derided and vilified, had the conviction and determination to allow a path to victory when nearly everyone else had written Iraq — and her people — off to defeat. Call it "The Audacity of Victory." | |
| 20081118 22:20 | Pappy | Possible; the Persians aren't adverse to making a buck or two on the sly. | |
| 20081118 22:12 | Mike N. | My thoughts on a possible Persian connection would be as funding more than brains. | |
| 20081118 21:16 | Pappy | So, Pappy, do you think that the Somalis do the pirating and the crime syndicate provides the target intel, for a piece of the action? Intel, ships, money laundering, arms dealing... I would expect the mob involved with that to be Arab, Persian or Russian. I'm more inclined to go with Arab, Russian, a combination of the two, or possibly other regional crime groups. Somebody has links with the Somali clans. That points to Arab or Al Qaeda elements. They've been in there for a decade at least. There's a sizable Arab/muslim community in Kenya. And there have been smugglers, slave traders, and other 'upstanding' examples of humanity in that part of the world for aeons. But Israelis, Egyptians, Indians, Pakistanis, and Russians have also traditionally operated in that region as well. I'm not sure about the Iranians - Somalis tend to not like Shiites. But as I said, money talks. | |
| 20081118 21:16 | Glenmore | I tried to post a link to a really neat site with some great military pix but something won't let it appear. tom-phillips etc. cool.pix.military etc. should find it though. Have any of y'all checked them out? And how do I put links in here? | |
| 20081118 21:13 | mrp | I would expect the mob involved with that to be Arab, Persian or Russian. It's been my observation that when a list of suspects is published/distributed, the author almost always places the most likely suspect last :) | |
| 20081118 21:05 | Glenmore | 3dc, My Veeger is a 1995 - I hope its transaxle holds out. I can't justify spending that kind of repair money on the old beast, but I can't replace it for what I need it to do. The newer models don't meet my needs (never mind price) - I want a hard floorpan when the seats are out for hauling cargo, I want rigid rain gutters for fastening real roof racks, I want a decent mileage vehicle (23 mpg highway) that can pull a small trailer once in a while, and I want to seat 6-7 once in a while. As far as I can tell there are zero vehicles in that market niche today. Hey Detroit - can you hear me? How about for $25 billion? | |
| 20081118 20:09 | Alaska Paul | I looked up Eyl, Somalia on Google Earth. It directed me to a bunch of mud and stone shacks slightly inland. However, following the wadi a short distance to the sea shore, I found some more substantial buildings. Lots of small boats on the beach, but no port facilities. Here is a targeting photo for OP and the Arclights: | |
| 20081118 19:53 | Mike N. | Drinks on me! Tonight we celebrate my return to the single life! | |
| 20081118 19:39 | Mike N. | I would expect the mob involved with that to be Arab, Persian or Russian. | |
| 20081118 19:08 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Korea just bought a big chunk of Madagascar: link. | |
| 20081118 19:08 | Deacon Blues | Possibly the syndicate provides intel and equipment for MOST of the action. | |
| 20081118 19:04 | badanov | swksvolFF expedite at procyondata dot com Let's talk. | |
| 20081118 19:04 | Alaska Paul | Maybe we need to be issued Letters of Marque and Reprisal, from the net: One alternative to U.S. military action against terrorists who have attacked the U.S. and other countries, and are threatening further attacks, is to enact Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Article I, Section 8, paragraph 11 of the U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress to "grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water." A "reprisal" means an action taken in return for some injury. A reprisal could be a seizing of property or guilty persons in retaliation for an attack and injury. It could include forced used against the perpetrators for the redress of grievances. A reprisal could even involve killing a terrorist who is threatening further harm and cannot be captured. "Marque" is related to "marching" and means crossing or marching across a border in order to do a reprisal. So a Letter of Marque and Reprisal would authorize a private person, not in the U.S. armed forces, to conduct reprisal operations outside the borders of the U.S.A. http://www.progress.org/fold232.htm | |
| 20081118 18:53 | Alaska Paul | So, Pappy, do you think that the Somalis do the pirating and the crime syndicate provides the target intel, for a piece of the action? | |
| 20081118 18:47 | Alaska Paul | I flew to Little Diomede Island in March 1988 and March 2005. They built a 2000 ft strip on the ice. Quite the adventure. Not the end of the world, but you can see it from there, heh. They have some neat walrus ivory carvings. Used to be reasonably priced. In 1988, you kept in close radio contact with FAA Flight Service out of Nome. NORAD wanted to know what the radar hits were. The border with the USSR was 1/2 mile west of the island. | |
| 20081118 18:30 | mrp | Pretty cool, AP. And wet. | |
| 20081118 18:19 | Alaska Paul | Check out the webcam at Little Diomede Island in the Bering Straits. The weather is crummy now, but when it does clear up, you can see Russia's Big Diomede Island. http://www.bssd.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105 | |
| 20081118 17:16 | lotp | details and link are deleted | |
| 20081118 16:47 | 3dc | deleting here... | |
| 20081118 16:35 | 3dc | deleted | |
| 20081118 16:31 | No Such Agency | SHH! Open Source but still important. ;-) | |
| 20081118 16:24 | 3dc | Pappy - (Galrahn's links) | |
| 20081118 14:38 | Pappy | It's the precision necessary for the intercept, not the ID targetting that I find interesting. There is some precision, but nothing anyone familiar with ships and shipping couldn't do. The shipping lanes are well known. You can get someone from the terminal, a port, or a shipping office to give you a time of departure. When I worked for MSC, one could pull up departure and arrival times for ships, especially if they run a regular route. I haven't even touched on GMDSS (global martime distress support system), GPS position reporting, MARSAT, etc. And/or add a spotter along the way to supply the ship type, ship name, and course and speed from radar (it could even be from a shore facility). The intercept becomes a given based on where your mothership(s) are positioned. It's even easier if the vessel goes on autopilot (quite common). Which leads me to WAG that this is an organized crime synidicate, not just a bunch of Somalis who found a way to make easy cash. | |
| 20081118 14:20 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | And ANOTHER one... http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T332831.htm Hong Kong Grain Ship | |
| 20081118 13:43 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | OOPS, my mistake; it wasn't one of the Bin Laden's. It was this guy: link. | |
| 20081118 13:13 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | A Saudi-owned tanker was selected. What percentage of oil super-tankers are owned by Saudis? I would imagine a lot of them. The more they vertically integrate the market, the more control they get. ------------------ Another idea re: figuring-out-where-the-tanker-is: hack the shipping company's network. ------------------- Another possibility for home base: Northern end of Madagascar. It's where Wosshisname Bin Laden was running his jewelry-trading operation and had a hacienda (or whatever the equiv. is in Arabic) when he was killed. Of course, noone _knows_ who killed him or if he was AQ or (as he claimed) clean and uninvolved in that stuff. Either way, dirty -or- clean, maybe someone's looking for payback? | |
| 20081118 13:02 | mrp | Pappy It's the precision necessary for the intercept, not the ID targetting that I find interesting. On 1) - The tanker was intercepted 450 NM from the Kenyan coast - well south of Somalia - and far from any choke point. On 2) Still possible. And cheap, too. On 3) Agree with you and Snowy On 4) Possible, because ... A Saudi-owned tanker was selected. What percentage of oil super-tankers are owned by Saudis? | |
| 20081118 11:51 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Oh, and I wanna reference this piece from Donald Sensing's Old Blog where one of his guest posters at the time explained what a Gonef and Freier is. Just to explain my use of the phrase in the tanker piracy. | |
| 20081118 11:48 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Oh, and an insight I had just now about last night's conversation with Jolutch Mussolini... I think I've used the analogy before, and I'll do it again. Ya ever hear about the Thugees? | |
| 20081118 11:30 | Pappy | 1) Was the tanker shadowed? Possibly. It doesn't take much in the way of assets to station someone in the shipping lanes and at choke-points, and use a sat phone to call in likely targets. Also, see answer #4. 2) Did someone in the crew/dockyard/terminal plant a GPS transponder? Doubtful. It's likely a lo-tech operation. 3) Did someone in the crew make a call? Possibly. Snowy's answer is a good one. Mariners don't make a lot of money. 4) Did someone/some government with access to real-time maritime satellite/aircraft recon coordinate with the pirates? Again, it doesn't have to be that high-tech. Bribe somebody in a shipping office, at an oil terminal, or at a port/customs office/mariners' union hall. Money will get you a lot. | |
| 20081118 11:15 | Sherry | Clean up done | |
| 20081118 10:30 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | 3) Did someone in the crew make a call? I imagine their policy of a) setting up their labor force of mainly third world nationals and b) instituting a freier/gonef relationship as the basis of their relationship with their employees has come back to bite them. Imagine having a boss that instinctively nickels-and-dimes you to death while you're hauling around a product that cost him $ 5 dollars/bbl lifting costs and they're selling for 70/bbl... That's a 6500% profit. As ol' wosshisname always said, he who can destroy a thing controls it. | |
| 20081118 10:22 | 3dc | clean up in "Good Morning" | |
| 20081118 09:58 | mrp | So, that Saudi tanker was captured 450 nautical miles off the coast? So how did the pirates know exactly where there target was when they made the intercept? That's pretty good intelligence. Waaay out of radar range from the coast. 1) Was the tanker shadowed? 2) Did someone in the crew/dockyard/terminal plant a GPS transponder? 3) Did someone in the crew make a call? 4) Did someone/some government with access to real-time maritime satellite/aircraft recon coordinate with the pirates? | |
| 20081118 08:57 | lotp | Morning, all. Snowed lightly here last night too. Cold today. | |
| 20081118 08:32 | Deacon Blues | Morning All. Snowed last night. Schools highr in the mountains are closed. | |
| 20081118 02:01 | Jolutch Mussolini7800 | With all due regard to Fred's posting talent, I think beer has been helping ugly people have sex since considerably before 1862. Supposedly the desire to have sufficient grain to produce alcohol was a prime factor in the transition from hunter/gatherer societies to societies of settled cultivators... | |
| 20081118 01:01 | Pappy | Funny how an orthodox Archbishop grows his diocese and the liberal ones die off. I'm in the San Bernardino Diocese, which is a shade less liberal than Los Angeles. The diocese is growing, however - they have a priest shortage, and much of their growing population is lower-income Hispanic. Not a bad thing when it comes to being religious, but it means with all the Diocese's grandiose building plans, social-justice programs, etc., they're leaning real heavy on the older, non-hispanic Catholics to cough up the funds. And there's a bit of a cultural strain going on as well. There are two parishes in the area and the smaller, more traditional one (Indian priest, mixed Native American/Anglo/former Marine/hippy/desert rat congregation) is growing. In the five years I've been here, I don't recall the bishop ever visiting that church (they always use the larger one for confirmations, etc.). | |
| 20081118 00:37 | Mike N. | You're right about that, dc. Back in the 60's and early 70's, they built the 727, a transmission that you couldn't break with a hemi, but since then, they've built nothing but junk. | |
| 20081118 00:34 | Mike N. | Some of those big-ars Acres-O-Church places seem to do well though. But I think that's more of an economy of scale effect. Because of their size, they can offer a big variety of services. The biggest value for them, in terms of future attendance growth, as far as I can tell is youth ministry. Kids generally want the bigger 'funner' crowd and for a parent that isn't particularly strict in their beliefs, its a no-brainer. If you want your kids involved with a church, you're not going to take them to the one with 14 kids in the youth ministry, you're going to take them to the one with 326 in the youth ministry. That one is more likely to offer something your kid will enjoy. | |
| 20081118 00:30 | 3dc | ARGH! Went to pick the younger one up at the Metra train station in one of my older junkers (97 Voyager) and blew a tranny at the stop light (about 1/2 hr ago) ... Cold snow on the ground... wind... right in an intersection... Don't think I will fix it. Last trans-axle in the beast only last 2 years... Chrysler never did learn how to build a good one.... | |
| 20081118 00:24 | Mike N. | People want a religion that is firm in its convictions. They want to believe that some things are right and some things are wrong. They want it to be about faith and beliefs, not wishy-washy lip service. | |
| 20081117 23:49 | OldSpook | Re-cert is up to the individual diocese. But Denver has such a great rep - they even operate 2 seminaries, one to turn out local priest and another for missionaries. Funny how an orthodox Archbishop grows his diocese and the liberal ones die off. | |
| 20081117 23:41 | OldSpook | Want to know why we got Obama? The media deliberately malinformed an already ignorant and gullible public. When the day comes, the media should be the first ones against the wall. | |
| 20081117 23:25 | Mike N. | OS, how often do you have to recertify? Pappy, checked out that greyhound track on the net today. Looks like a nice deal they have over there. Looks like the take their adoption program very serious, which was nice to see. | |
| 20081117 23:15 | Pappy | On occasion, Mike. We get a lot of Aussies, some Euros (Germans and a few from the ex-Iron Curtain nations), a few Asians. Probably more than that here. Those are the ones that have permission to get away from the Wadi or the tech schools. | |
| 20081117 23:13 | OldSpook | I can point you to resources Mike N. I'm a catechist (trained by my old diocese, and now recertifying in the Denver Archdiocese) | |
| 20081117 22:25 | Mike N. | Pappy, does your lil place thar host a lot of furriners? | |
| 20081117 22:02 | Pappy | Evening. Fun day. Half the Aussie Army shows up on my doorstep at work. And they didn't bring anything to drink. | |
| 20081117 21:37 | Mike N. | I really have got to get involve with the Catholic Church. If for nothing else other than to combat muzzie religous ideals. | |
| 20081117 21:23 | OldSpook | That's what hurts the most. You see it coming. And nothing you do seems to move things in the right direction. Just a few of us and the leverarm is getting shorter every day. 1/10 an inch makes a lot more difference at the muzzle than at the target. | |
| 20081117 21:22 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | JM, my point was that the "modern religion," this nameless horror that's practiced in the United States without any official scriptures or catechism or label, is probably as or more hostile to western values than a lot of the variants of Islam out there. | |
| 20081117 21:21 | AutoBartender | One Yuengling Lager, comin' right up... | |
| 20081117 20:53 | Mike N. | A drinky-poo for mikey-poo if anyones about. | |
| 20081117 20:29 | Jolutch Mussolini7800 | Snowy, Maybe you're right. I don't see it though. Don't know how much time you've spent in Muzz countries but I've spent considerable. Holding dissenting opinions in those places, particularly if you aren't Muzz, is not healthy. Freedom it ain't. Liked your link to ferfal's article though. Anybody that didn't read that yet, I STRONGLY recommend that you do. One of the commenters at Andrea's pointed out that Argentina was 92% white and 90% Catholic and they STILL had huge problems. With the multicultural sandwich we've been force-fed, our chances of survival are much, much worse. If you read about the Great Depression, you see that it happened in a country which shared an awful lot of the same values, and most of those values were good ones. That's gone. If the country's economy falls apart now, there is going to be one Hell of a mess and racial/ethnic violence is going to be a huge component. One of my professors in grad school, possibly the smartest man I ever knew, wrote that America in the 21st Century had the potential for great things, but it also had the potential to rupture badly. His observation was that it would take exceptionally good government because as America turned into something that looked much less like Europe, there would be a lot of frightened and angry people. His last observation was that "frightened, angry people are not led well or easily." I asked this man once, only partially in jest, how it felt to always be right. He gave me a very sad smile and I realized I should never have asked the question. I'm sure that far too often he felt like Cassandra, and that Ecclesiastes' observation that "in wisdom lies much sorrow" was a very real part of his life. | |
| 20081117 19:29 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Seen at discarded lies: If Correa Defaults, Chavez Pays?. | |
| 20081117 17:51 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | I heartily endorse Badanov's expertise with web hosting. (Although to tell you the truth the devil made me do that). | |
| 20081117 16:50 | Mike N. | Too bad. It would warm my heart to read about the crew of one of the intended victim ships tossing a half-dozen grenades onto the pirate ship. Oh wells. | |
| 20081117 16:42 | Pappy | Get hold of badanov, swksvolff. | |
| 20081117 16:39 | swksvolFF | ecommerce site that is | |
| 20081117 16:38 | swksvolFF | On a side note, want to launch our website: any alternative suggestions to netsol? | |
| 20081117 16:33 | Pappy | They pretty much do all that can be done right now: evasive manuevers, increased speed, charged firehoses. There's stuff like the sonic cannon (which one liner off the coast of Somalia was equipped with), electrified fencing, slippery foam, etc. Most shipping companies aren't going to expend that kind of money tho, balancing the risk against an insurance payout. What will eventually get them motivated is if the insurance premiums get jacked up, as they did in the Straits of Mallaccca. | |
| 20081117 15:55 | Mike N. | How difficult would it be for the crew to prevent a group of pirates from boarding a tanker? More importantly, I guess, is could it be done well enough - with minimal training - to prevent the boarding and not get a bunch of innocent merchants killed? | |
| 20081117 14:48 | Pappy | Do we have a new group of pirates? Perhaps better funded? Don't know. Could be they have a bigger mothership. They could also based out of Kenya, the Comoros, Tanzania, the Seychelles, or Madagascar. My money's on a new ship out of the small ports in southern Somalia (Bircao, Chismaio, Chiamboni). There's also lots of decent sized estuaries. | |
| 20081117 14:09 | Deacon Blues | New European Union rules have banned eating cakes and other confections entered in baking contests. The rules permit only bit-sized morsels to be entered in such contests, and those bits can only be tasted by the judges. The rest of the cake must be destroyed. | |
| 20081117 12:51 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | "AT&T Tilt." Frustrating to use. It wasn't my choice, it was a "here's your new phone" type of thing. Gotta run. L8r. | |
| 20081117 12:24 | Mike N. | They might not even be Somali. That's what I'm wondering. Do we have a new group of pirates? Perhaps better funded? Snowy, Wut kinda fone? | |
| 20081117 12:15 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | and what's more, it's the sort of smartphone that probably has a very low mean-time-between-bricks. | |
| 20081117 12:14 | Visitor | hi i'm testing the new cellphone it is lousy I think it'll failthhe brik test | |
| 20081117 12:06 | Pappy | Is that story about pirates seizes that tanker of any significance? Isn't that a bit out of their normal operating area? Yes. But there have been attacks off the eastern Somali coast before. Just not that far out. They might not even be Somali. | |
| 20081117 11:51 | 3dc | Pappy - say hi to 49 | |
| 20081117 11:45 | Mike N. | Is that story about pirates seizes that tanker of any significance? Isn't that a bit out of their normal operating area? | |
| 20081117 11:42 | Pappy | Sounds good, Mike. I need to coordinate with 49Pan and then make an announcement when we get a firm date. I know ryuge lives in the area. Might be a few others. | |
| 20081117 11:13 | Mike N. | Pappy, I'm up for a trip to the Kilt. | |
| 20081117 10:54 | OldSpook | FYI, not in the SCIF so I can get to the burg during the day today. | |
| 20081117 10:53 | OldSpook | Meaning of freedom has changed. Very wise priest once told me: Freedom when torn away from responsibility degenerates into mere self-serving license. (I've read similar from Viktor Frankl) He said that was the problem with the a nation becoming materially affluent but morally void: it affords many the abdication of responsibility for the consequences of one's actions, and requires the few who remain responsible to maintain the burden. I wonder if he was a closet fan of Atlas Shrugged. God rest his soul. Q: What happens when the few are no longer enough to mitigate the many? Who is John Galt? Lighter note: The Denver Donks are the worst 6-4 team in the league. I don't know how they are winning games. 5 former starting tailbacks on IR, all 3 starting LB and one backup LB on IR, Safety out, Champ Bailey out, starting TE Scheffler out -- and they even started one guy both ways (OLB and FB). Given all that, it was a gutsy win to go into Atlanta with rookies and retreads and a starting tailback that was the the 227th draft pick this year at fullback at the beginning of the season (look up Peyton Hillis, 6'1" 250lbs, from Arkansas). | |
| 20081117 10:46 | Sherry | Okay -- I understand the Auburn thing -- and Jason is a good QB -- I've watched him a few times | |
| 20081117 10:40 | Deacon Blues | I have to root for Jason Campbell. He's an Auburn Tiger same as me. | |
| 20081117 10:25 | Sherry | Good morning Deacon. Sorry you feel that way about my Cowboys... it was a good birthday present! I heard the commentators say that 10 times the Cowboys played the Redskins on Nov 16, Cowboys won! | |
| 20081117 09:59 | Deacon Blues | Very interesting site about earthquake locations in the US. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/ | |
| 20081117 09:48 | Deacon Blues | Morning, All. Hot coffee (ya'll wouold really complain if it wuz cold), buckwheat pancakes with all the accessories are ready. And I hate it that the Cowpies beat the Redskins. | |
| 20081117 09:42 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | and between when I clicked to put up the link on the main page and submitted the link, 3dc's link went up. Oh well. | |
| 20081117 09:40 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | No comment I could make for this would be sufficient: Pirates seize Saudi tanker in Arabian Sea. | |
| 20081117 09:31 | Pappy | That I'd have to look into, but it's probably not as easy as that. | |
| 20081117 09:29 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | One thing that worries me is the possibility that a third party could easily start a war between (for instance) Iran and Israel and cause massive destruction and an increase in the price of oil. | |
| 20081117 09:26 | Pappy | Close. There'll be a regime change first. Ahmadinejad will either be out the door, replaced by somebody who'll supposedly fix their economy (which won't happen as long as the IRGC and the mullahs struggle to see who gets control of the day to day running of Iran) or stay but weakened, or will get propped up by a declaration from Ayatollah Khameinei, which will basically be the same thing. This came out in Rooz (Iranian opposition paper - to the left). Essentially, the author sez Obama is the quite the darling of the Euros and the Arabs (tho the she overrates it on the domestic front), and could put the Iranian regime on the spot about their nuclear program: This means that if Tehran fails to take adequate measures in response to Obama administration's offer to negotiate to diffuse the nuclear crisis and normalize its relations with the international community, the global pressure and imposition of sanctions on Iran would gain more momentum under the Democrats than before. Considering the high probability that the mullahs will not not end their nuclear program, it rolls into Snowy's article; the likelihood of a war increases. | |
| 20081117 08:59 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Instapundit: CUT THEM OFF AT THE BANK: "In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where much of Iran's foreign trade is handled, local banks are refusing to do business with the 10,000 Iranian trading firms based there. This has caused delays and cancellations of Iranian imports (over $9 billion worth from the UAE last year) and exports. This is being felt by the rule elite in Iran. There, the large extended families of the clerical leadership live the good life, and the goodies come in via the UAE. The sudden shortages of iPods, flat screen TVs, automobiles and bling in general, has been noticed in Iran, and is not appreciated. The falling price of oil is producing another problem, national bankruptcy." Problem? I don't see it as a problem, really . . . . (Don't feel like typing in the link; it's up there now). Anyway, isn't this usually the point in a regime's existance when they pretty much decide to go ahead and invade someone else, either to get loot to keep their economy running or to distract the populace? | |
| 20081117 08:47 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Oh, and btw, Andrea Harris recommends This forum entry about survival in Argentina as it went from a first world to a third world country. Her comments are here. | |
| 20081117 08:41 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | If I told you in 1985 that people today would think of 'freedom' mainly in terms of gay marraige would you have believed me? | |
| 20081117 08:29 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | We sacrificed our own freedom to work around the edges and get one of the many sponsors who would have been a threat to the NE and the West Coast, JM. The NE and the West Coast don't do freedom. Maybe it's because they're Christians, I dunno. Maybe Washington State and Maine hit the crack pipe because they're white. I dunno. And anything we do to protect them from the storm will be Yet Another Reason in their heads to make the country socialist when the next election comes along. | |
| 20081117 03:07 | Jolutch Mussolini7800 | I mentioned to an astute observer that given the results of the last election, it could legitimately be claimed that we sacrificed our own freedom to purchase that of Iraq. Said observer stated that we wouldn't get Iraq's freedom either. When I asked why, the answer was, "They're Muslims. They don't do freedom." I would like to think America had a better chance of success after such a tremendous sacrifice in blood and treasure, but I'm very much afraid that skeptical opinion is correct. | |
| 20081117 00:47 | Pappy | Bedtime. | |
| 20081116 23:59 | 3dc | friend wants left failures to add to this list | |
| 20081116 23:54 | Pappy | Come to think of it, 49Pan's idea of the Tilted Kilt in Mesa over the Christmas holiday sounds good. | |
| 20081116 23:51 | Pappy | About $70 million today. | |
| 20081116 23:36 | Mike N. | Ouch. $10 million in '65 only to go bellyup in '66. That was a lot of money. | |
| 20081116 23:14 | Pappy | I'll have to look it up... It's near Sky Harbor. They have an adoption program too. Cool. Meanwhile the one in Goodyear is the Phoenix Trotter Park (got the two confused). | |
| 20081116 23:07 | Mike N. | I didn't know there was a dog track here. Always kinda wanted to go to one. Happy days are here again Whereabouts is it? | |
| 20081116 23:01 | Pappy | We could always do the greyhound track in Goodyear, Mike... | |
| 20081116 22:57 | Mike N. | Rantburgers at Santa Anita? I'll drink to that. Course, Ize wuz alreddy, but still, the point stands. | |
| 20081116 22:47 | Pappy | Actually, Santa Anita would be a pretty cool place for a Rantburger West gathering. | |
| 20081116 22:30 | Pappy | Gads - Santa Anita. That brings back memories. Amazing what kinda knowledge gets passed down, eh? | |
| 20081116 22:21 | Jan | Pappy, we lived in San Francisco when I was a kid my dad was in the Merchant Marines after the Navy patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge, he was too old to re-enlist, then later was a taxi cab driver what stories I'd hear. He would take me to Santa Anita race track most weekends because I was too young to stay home by myself. He was a bookie for a time and had a system too, based on all of it being crooked. I wished I were older to remember some of what he taught me of this system, but some of it stuck. | |
| 20081116 22:16 | Pappy | OS, I'd loan you my flak vest, if I could find it. (it's in a moving box in HWS) | |
| 20081116 22:06 | Sherry | Hey TW -- can you slip that chili recipe south? See chili cook-offs are big deals here in Texas. All weekend events.... live bands, cookin' all weekend.... samples of anything that can be cooked (sometimes you don't want to know what you are tasting)...... and, well, the secrets of the chili ingredients is guarded almost as closely as our President surrounded by SS guys. Congrats..... on the ribbon. | |
| 20081116 22:04 | OldSpook | There is nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse. -- Ronald Reagan | |
| 20081116 22:02 | Sherry | Thanks Alaska Paul for that shout out of my "circuit around the sun." Have never thought of a birthday in that venue, but have to admit.... a good look at a birthday. (Takes an engineer to view a birthday that way.) The circuit this time has been pretty good.... there have been some circuits that can be forgotten, but this is one that can be remembered. Thanks for marking it. For a "older woman" who leans toward ceremony to mark some points in life (so I remember they happen).... I will mark this birthday, with a shout-out from my Alaskan friend........ (would like to add a shout-out to the Cowboys beating the Redskins..... Hence, my being here at half time.......) I'm of the vintage of remembering those amazing AmEx ads of Landry and Gibbs, bustin' though the bar doors, lookin' for a fight that always came before a Cowboy's Redskin's game. | |
| 20081116 22:02 | OldSpook | Gotta watch out for cheap stump grinders. Got hit by a big fragment in the chest. Fun weekend in ER than held for observation due to tachycardia and a bruised sternum. Doc says I need to be aware of additional episodes which may require treatment. Doctor's advise made me laugh which hurt my chest: try not getting hit in the chest by high speed objects. I'll have to put that on a poster. Deac, that's one of the harder points: when does the life become a person with the attendant rights and protections. IMO, its better to err one way than the other. I believe reasonable people can agree that after the first trimester there should be restrictions (the mother has had time to consider and make the choice), and after the second, they should be severe given the advanced development and survivability (I have a good friend whose very active 5 year old was a very early 3rd trimester preemie). One thing to question every pro-lifer: are you ready to step up and assist the mothers whom you encourage to carry the child to term? Are you ready to step up and help the ones that had an abortion and now regret it? (indeed many of them are the biggest pro-life advocates) If not, then you are not being true to your words: Life is sacred. Caring should not stop after the birth (or the abortion). Nuf said, and I'll stop upsetting y'all. | |
| 20081116 21:57 | badanov | I'd like to say That Tiny Fay Looks like she packs A full load of crazy --Burma Shave | |
| 20081116 21:52 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | And I probably should have talked about this yesterday but I didn't feel like it... I know that this statement is probably of no interest or import to the "there's nothing whatsoever to UFO's but mistaken identity" crowd... But it's my firm belief that most if not all "flying disc" photographs, like the ones in the link from yesterday, are hoaxes. Kenneth Arnold didn't _see_ a disc-shaped craft; he said they were kinda-sorta arrowhead shaped, and _moved_ like a saucer skipping across a pond. BUT from that day forward people saw (and in the 60's and 70's but not today, oddly enough, photographed) "flying saucers". Mass Hysteria? Hoaxes? ALiens pandering to human images of what aliens should be flying? I dunno. | |
| 20081116 21:50 | Pappy | Huh, didn't know leg-man was something one could teach. Sure. Like studying horses. However, it was Unca Frank that taught me how to bet on the fillies when I was a lad of 12. (I'll stop now before I bury myself) | |
| 20081116 21:46 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Well, I'll never know why we started using the word for female dog to denote "difficult jerk." Speciest if you ask me. | |
| 20081116 21:38 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | hey guys. Feeling kinda drained lately. | |
| 20081116 21:36 | lotp | Sooner or later, a bitch is a bitch Word, Frank. | |
| 20081116 21:34 | Mike N. | Huh, didn't know leg-man was something one could teach. | |
| 20081116 21:26 | Frank G | indeed, Pappy. I've done the bussing tables/kitchen help in my teens, and anyone who treats the help like shit deserves the same - it's all about power, self-assigned position, and empathy. Sooner or later, a bitch is a bitch (male or female, ty LOTP) | |
| 20081116 21:15 | Pappy | A dating tip from M K Freeberg (something my grandfather told me when I was about ten): If she treats the waitress like a lower form of human being, run like hell. 'Poppy' also taught me how to be a leg-man, but that's another story. | |
| 20081116 20:27 | Pappy | Evening. Got into the low 80s at the Wadi. Cards won, I see. | |
| 20081116 20:23 | Frank G | Broncos (once again) had no bizness winning. Must be the Rat's year | |
| 20081116 19:47 | Jan | Hey the Broncos won heh ;) Had the radio on listening to the game while working outside. It was t-shirt weather, beautiful fall day | |
| 20081116 19:37 | Deacon Blues | Me neither, Frank. | |
| 20081116 19:23 | Frank G | sh*t. Ima not happy with football this year | |
| 20081116 19:15 | Deacon Blues | Good one AP. Dink was the name of the Black woman (who i later learned was my 3rd cousin) who took care of us when my Mother had to go to work. Her real name was Jessie Washington. | |
| 20081116 18:49 | Alaska Paul | ||
| 20081116 18:49 | Alaska Paul | 28F and snowing in Eagle River. Got a fire goin' and M'Lady and I are practicing songs for the Anchorage Folk Festival in January. May go down to Juneau in April. We have been practicing Dink's Song. Here is the best rendition I have heard yet. It is by the Furnace Mountain Band. It is an amateur video, but you will get the point. This song is going out to Deacon blues. | |
| 20081116 18:30 | AutoBartender | "how's the snow there, AB?" Just got back from visiting Second Son and DIL in Pittsburgh; it snowed much of the way back. But this stuff was lake-effect snow off Lake Erie; it's "technical" snow, never amounts to anything. "Or is he even around?" Yes, Ima round. Alot rounder than I was thirty years ago when that song Pappy posted the lyrics to was written. Sigh... made me wish I could still fit into that old white polyester leisure suit of mine and do some moves. Sigh... | |
| 20081116 18:21 | Deacon Blues | Way ta go, tw!! We'll make a Redneck out of ye yet! Sopaipillos! Whoopee!! | |
| 20081116 17:56 | lotp | Evening, all. I've brought warm cornbread and a mixed green salad to go with tw's chili. Sopaipillas for dessert, with cover honey to pour inside. | |
| 20081116 17:40 | Steve White | Congrats on the ribbon, tw. You are hereby nominated to bring the chili when/if we have a Midwest Rantapalooza ... | |
| 20081116 17:28 | Frank G | how's the snow there, AB? Or is he even around? | |
| 20081116 17:12 | Frank G | Santa Ana here - was 95 degrees at 11 AM at my bridge abutment pour Friday in Carmel Valley. A little less today (wind and temp...88 in the shade) | |
| 20081116 16:42 | Deacon Blues | Honey locust fire with a bit of poplar for fast heat. | |
| 20081116 16:40 | Frank G | not a good game for Pitt if Sproles can find his footing | |
| 20081116 16:40 | Frank G | I know, but LT is healthy & Rivers is doing well, as long as the receivers hold on..... | |
| 20081116 16:27 | Pappy | The Sparks don't do good in the snow. | |
| 20081116 16:12 | Mike N. | Ruh-roh, Frank! Snowin it Pit! | |
| 20081116 15:26 | Mike N. | Lunchtime! We have New York Strip, side salads, deviled eggs and mandarin oranges. | |
| 20081116 15:17 | lotp | Ah, Deacon. That evokes the smell of a hardwood fire for me. ;-) Cold, windy and grey here .... going to get much colder here by later in the week according to AccuWeather. | |
| 20081116 14:47 | Deacon Blues | Afternoon, All. I just got in from a walk in the woods. Very windy, cloudy, and cold here with just a light snow. Notsticking because the air temperature is still above freezing. The woodstove does feel good on a day like this. | |
| 20081116 14:09 | Pappy | vanderluen: The most tedious argument over the past fortnight is the one in which our pinhead pundits debate whether or not the election of Obama means racism is over. Here's the short answer: "No." Here's the less-short answer: "Racism in America will be over when the people do not elect or re-elect an African-American for President." If the election of Obama proves one thing about race in American politics, it proves that the race card is just too valuable a card to take out of the deck. It works and will keep on being played until it doesn't work any longer. As to when sexism in America will be over, that's going to happen at the end of racism or shortly thereafter. In fact, given the rise of Sarah Palin and the intensity which the current ruling racists of America are seeking to destroy her, the racists know that too. | |
| 20081116 13:32 | Alaska Paul | So the Big O wants unity on his new program, that is full of fuzzy adjectives and is not clearly defined---or more like no substance? My analogy is like all the lemmings getting together and getting charged up before they run over the cliff. I never was the type to embrace adjectives in a life-and-death type activity. Throw in some nouns first and we will think about it and get back t'ye later. | |
| 20081116 13:28 | Alaska Paul | Congratulations to Sherry on her birthday, BTW. Another successful circuit around the sun for her! | |
| 20081116 13:26 | Mike N. | Ima thinks that even the youngest us oclubbers is to old by double for twitter. | |
| 20081116 13:22 | Pappy | I have one. Haven't used it. | |
| 20081116 13:15 | lotp | Afternoon, all. Congrats from me too, tw. Good to see you back! Rain stopped here overnight, windy today but the leaves are still soggy & aren't blowing away (alas). Am in heads-down research mode now. Question: how many Club regulars Twitter? Anybody? | |
| 20081116 12:59 | Pappy | Congrats on the ribbon, tw. And Ship - how can you say disco is bad? Especially with lyrics like these? Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man: no time to talk. Music loud and women warm, Ive been kicked around Since I was born. And now it's all right. it's ok. And you may look the other way. We can try to understand The New York Times' effect on Man. Well now, I get low and I get high, And if I can't get either, I really try. Got the wings of heaven on my shoes. I'm a dancin' man and I just can't lose. You know it's all right. it's ok. I'll live to see another day. We can try to understand The New York Times' effect on Man. Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, Your'e stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin', And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive. Life goin' nowhere. somebody help me. Somebody help me, yeah. Life goin nowhere. somebody help me, yeah. I'm stayin' alive. | |
| 20081116 12:53 | Deacon Blues | http://www.discosavvy.com/ For Shipman. | |
| 20081116 12:14 | trailing wife | You said something stupid, Shipman? Impossible! Or did you mean that I did? (The sentence construction is a tad unclear in my currently sleepy state.) That, I fear, is entirely likely. May I have a seed catalog even though I didn't go to Auburn? Plants give me happy dreams even though I don't garden much anymore. Pussikatsers haz sharp teefs and clawses, Pappy dear, but you don't use yours nearly so often as people deserve. I've brought chili for supper tonight, with mulled wine because it seems to be that kind of day. There was a chili'n'cornbread contest at the synagogue last night; to my shock my chili won a ribbon. Clearly I've learnt useful things from the Rantburg foodies. | |
| 20081116 12:09 | Mike N. | I hear ya, Frank. I fried up 3 eggs, threw a slice of avocado and salsa on top and I had a (plain) toaster waffle on the side. No matter how hungry I think I am, that's too much. I doitz to myself. I know from speerience that I gotta lose the waffle or one of the eggs. | |
| 20081116 11:59 | Frank G | made ham-cheese-green onion 4-egg omelets with hash browns for me and the boy. Now I feel like going back to sleep | |
| 20081116 11:57 | Frank G | Denver-Atlanta should be good. SD-Pittsburgh has possibilities if my Chargers wake the f*ck up, and Cowboys-Redskins is nearly always fun | |
| 20081116 11:54 | Pappy | Redskins against the Cowboys... | |
| 20081116 11:53 | Pappy | Denver omelet onna plain plate and a broody for Mike. | |
| 20081116 11:36 | Mike N. | Any good football games on today? I haven't seen on all season. | |
| 20081116 11:34 | Mike N. | Whatever it is we have for breakfast, I'd like it with a broody on the side and a non-flower-patterned-plate underneath. | |
| 20081116 10:40 | Pappy | Morning. 53 at Next to the Park. Feels colder. Ship, me mean? I is a pussikat. New Star Trek movie initial reactions: "Star Trek 90210" "Where no metrosexual has gone before" "Top Gun meets OC" “This is a franchise that offers hope for unity — and so does Barack Obama,” says [actor] Quinto, who has stumped for the Democratic presidential nominee. ”When this movie comes out, and Obama is president, hopefully there will be some parallels.” There will be a parallel, two venerable institutions prostituted and degraded. - Ronsonic | |
| 20081116 08:55 | badanov | Prayz Lawdz! Prayz Gawd! Chruch always makes me sleepy. Even so, Ima making breakfast for chruch: Denver Omelettes. Gots coffee, tea and cola, No juice today. Sry | |
| 20081116 08:47 | Shipman | I knowed that, it said..... tear along deh dotted lion... | |
| 20081116 08:44 | Deacon Blues | Morning, All. It's the last race of tha Nascar season today (I think). Me and the snails decided to have a race but instead of numbers I painted letters on their shells. Well to make a short story shorter the S snail was way out in fron and I heard one of the spectator snails holler, "Man, look at that S car go." | |
| 20081116 08:42 | Shipman | So after that I thinks deeeeper thoughts, and I get the deep fear that the okashunal darks will be longer lasting and even the dawgs will not suffice to move dem away. Oh Lord! I gottem Guilts! Feel Purdy Bad about it too. OS Gawd go wit youze keep up the fight Berserker Ima same way too sometimes. Pappy LOL! You just mean. TW: Said something stupid the other day, hope you missed it. Phil: I always wanted to be a machinst. Or own one. Oh Lord, now, Ima cleansed. Lettuce go forth and have fried chicken, the Food of the Lord. Do not trample down the wheeled peeps. thank you and please don't pee on deh carpet. Praise Gawd! Him is having a bad day Edit: Also extendering seed catalog of friendship to any and all Auburn grads. | |
| 20081116 03:40 | Shipman | So Ima up really early, thinking deep thinking as I tend to do on a Sunday morn. When suddenly muh Baby Cat (aka Baby Cat) is announcer that she is have a gig. Which is cool in these HARD TIMES, every hand and paw is needed. So I asks, Baby Cat what kinda gig have 'ye got? Baby Cat allows has that she has got a gig going into the local fooderies and writing up their feline friendlierness, which sounds very nice. Not certain about the pay tho. I allowed as she was damn well (too damn well) known in the 'hood how was she going to do it..... well, in kittuah food critic circles they have a thing called deh:nom de NOM NOM NOM NOMHell it's early. To quote Fabulous Joe! Got nuttin. | |
| 20081116 02:09 | Alaska Paul | Pretty all right song, Sherry, LOL! In winter up here, there is a solemn, dangerous beauty. There is incredible beauty in the winter, but it can also kill you, no problem. That is why I like it up here. You can be as dangerous or as safe as you like. It is up to you. Nannies are spread a bit thin, heh. You feel so small up here in this big land. The changing seasons are more extreme. Summer is great, if it is not raining, heh, like last summer. then late summer you feel a sense of urgency as fall is coming. The days shorten, nights are cooler. Better store stuff and get your wood laid in. Falls are beautiful, but it gets frosty and night. Winters can be tough and depressing, but they are also a time for introspection. Then the days start lengthening. It is still cold, but the light really comes on. Then things start to melt and life is rejuvenated. It has been a lonnnnnng winter, but life begins again. Pretty intense, pretty neat. | |
| 20081116 01:14 | Sherry | AP -- that picture below? Gorgeous. I'm reminded of a day driving out the Kenai Peninsula, surrounded by that same surreal beauty. The areas that still showed the ravages of the last volcano boom, but yet, the beauty that was totally engulfing me. We stopped -- the quietness is incredible. I saw your pic this morning -- had a day in Austin (the big city). Was driving home on IH-35 tonight, and that picture returned to me -- and I thought of the quietness you offered to us. That line of red lights ahead of me wasn't the quietness I had felt this morning. I found a country-western station and turned up the volume, listening to: Don't touch my Willie I don't know you that well Help yourself to some Haggard or some Jones Hell, or anybody else I don't know what you heard I ain't that kind of guy Yeah so don't touch my Willie, We'll get a long just fine Friend I was with this day? From the same small town as Willie. She has an original first album he ever made....before he was Willie, signed. Totally, two different cultures, but the same. | |
| 20081116 00:13 | Pappy | Did it eight minutes ago... Bedtime. See you in the am. | |
| 20081116 00:05 | Mike N. | Button. | |
| 20081115 22:11 | Pappy | I redacted RD's comment in the Good Morning aisle. I'm in no mood for his garbage. | |
| 20081115 22:08 | Pappy | Double whiskey for Mike. | |
| 20081115 21:51 | Mike N. | Whisky. Double. Stat. | |
| 20081115 21:19 | SteveS | Looks like we could use a mop & bucket over in the Good Morning aisle. | |
| 20081115 20:04 | Pappy | And one from Kenneth Anderson at PJM: Back in the ’90s, the Times decided to try and become the national general newspaper for elites across the country. The Times saw its target audience and with its desire to put sensibility over sense decided that instead of a daily newspaper founded around the facts of what happened, it would instead offer its readers a daily magazine [of opinion]. The problem, from a business model standpoint, is that the Times is not a magazine. It is a daily. In order to price its product as the daily news, however, the Times has very deliberately asserted that its opinions are actually facts. In competition with the Web, opinion is not a value added product. What represents the future of the Times? That’s easy over the long run; look and see what its online edition is doing now. Witless? Yes, and stupidity proportional to self-regard. But — well, whatever — because [it is] in the Times’ new business model, remarkably productive. Meanwhile, the Times’ elite national online audience confirm their prejudices and their biases. The Times is virtually transformed into a string of middle-school mean-girl messages texted nationwide. This is a nearly flawless harbinger of what the economics of online advertising means for the long term New York Times. The Times has seen the future, and it is not as a newspaper sustained by news nor a magazine sustained by opinion, but online cocooning of its smugly elite audience by “journalists” whose task is not to spend time digging out new, expensive, and quite possibly important facts, but instead to create, care, stroke, tend, and feed little online forums where they interact with readers and create little communities of the like-minded. The Times is a facilitator of elite onanism, convener of the elite circle jerk. Were I a New York Times reporter — and there still are reporters, such as those on the Times’ business pages who have done a genuinely magnificent job reporting on the crisis, so long as it does not involve reporting on Frank, Schumer, Dodd, or Obama — I’d consider slitting my wrists with a rusty spoon rather than cuddle up online for a group hug with my readership. | |
| 20081115 19:39 | Pappy | Courtesy Five Feet of Fury: | |
| 20081115 19:04 | Deacon Blues | You are always in time for Dinner here, Pappy. One upset so far in College Football. Maryland beat North Carolina. | |
| 20081115 18:46 | Pappy | Oh, good - in time for dinner! | |
| 20081115 18:36 | Deacon Blues | I realize it's still a bit early but the Kitchen is open until mid-night. We will start with Mok Pa Fok (Steamed Fish Mousse). I know it sounds a bit weird but is really very good. The Mousse is served in folded Banana Leaves. We also have Jaew Mak Len, Lao Tomato Dip, served with raw Thai Eggplant, and Steamed Long Beans with Cabbage. The Main Course is Laap Moo, Minced Pork Salad. The Pork Salad is Pork Tenderloin with a variety of vegetables and spices served hot. Music is by Hiroshima. | |
| 20081115 17:31 | Thing From Snowy Mountain | Ace ftw! | |
| 20081115 17:27 | Deacon Blues | I received this in the mail today. A fellow reenactor carved this. It is my horse Ace. He even has only one eye. Ir's about 2" tall. I didn't realize to what extent Ace is known in the reenacting world. | |
| 20081115 16:58 | Deacon Blues | Florida is beating the snot out of South Carolina. The Florida-Alabama game should be interesting. | |
| 20081115 16:03 | Deacon Blues | We will be having dinner in Laos tonight. | |
| 20081115 15:48 | Deacon Blues | Dang it! Tigers just don't have an offense. | |
| 20081115 15:44 | badanov | Dawgs hold on for the win... Barely | |
| 20081115 15:33 | Deacon Blues | I will say only one more thing about it. If one bestows "personhood" on a fetus then the logical conclusion would be to charge women who do things that endanger the fetus with child abuse. Just sayin. Imma gonna go work on Dinner. Personally, I am against abortion. | |
| 20081115 15:05 | OldSpook | TW, they also kept slaves and had no access to modern medicine, and believed "bad humours" could cause illness. The founding fathers were quite clear: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Self evident. No proof needed. Unalienable - should never be abridged. Life first, before liberty. Also, that is more of a myth (abortion accepted via midwivery) than a reality. One of the first justices of the Supreme Court, Justice Wilson said "With consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life from its commencement to its close, is protected by the common law. In the contemplation of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb. By the law, life is protected not only from immediate destruction, but from every degree of actual violence, and in some cases, from every degree of danger" That was in the 1780s in a lecture with Washigton, Jefferson, and others in attendance. And his basis was Bracton, the "Father of English COmmon Law" back in the 1200's: "Bracton categorized the abortion of a “formed or quickened” fetus as a form of homicide, “the slaying of man by man.”" So its far older and far more involved than you incorrectly posit. I say: the time of choice is when one chooses to have intercourse. A conception is not an accident - the equipment is designed to produce that result. Its all about not pushing the consequences of your actions off on someone else, especially when that someone else cannot defend themselves and the consequence you push is complete obliteration. Likening it to the second amendment: its a very gave issue when you CHOOSE to draw a firearm, and the consequences are very clear. Where there is no guarantee of the right to life, legitimate political authority simply does not exist. Where there is no guarantee to life for both the weak and the strong, the rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all are themselves at risk. As for the "pro choice" Again I ask you: Right to choose: choose WHAT? Is there a right to choose to murder? No? Is there a right to choose to steal, rob, or even commit genocide? No? Is there a right to force sterilization? No? Then how does this become a "right" other than by fiat? Name it. Define the act. Its the taking of an innocent human life, from the moment of conception onward. Modern biology proves it. Period. No room for discussion there. No religion needed. The argument begins when "personhood" comes in, and where to draw the line. But be very clear: you who advocate such a false "choice" are advocating the destruction of an innocent human life. Period. Which is why much higher standards and justifications than "I don't want the baby" must be applied. Consider where to draw the line at "personhood", and the pitfalls involved, and where that leads. Like slavery, in anything other than an absolute abolitionist position you end up in same bad places. Moloch awaits the old, the crippled, and the diseased on your slippery slope, and you end up with horrors like :The old have a duty to die". For comparison, we do all we can militarily to avoid taking innocent human lives. Why not the same with abortion? It destroys far more humans than war every year. Religion need not enter the argument for it to be fairly argued on the basis of a simple position that Human Life is valuable, innocent human life should be defended. With that, I'll stop. If you refuse to accept the basic premises about human life, there is no way I can argue with you of the ultimate wrongness of defending such policy, any more than I could convince a suicide bomber that taking out shoppers is wrong. If you're willing to accept the destruction of millions of human lives with a shrug, then you are welcome to do so. Just be aware thare are those of us who do not, and who take the issue far more seriously. | |
| 20081115 14:22 | trailing wife | The only thing about abortion that I will say is that in the time of the Founding Fathers abortion had never, ever been regulated anywhere. Midwives and their herb lore were not the concern of menfolk writing laws. Beyond that, what Shipman said. He can be terribly wise when he chooses. ;-) It's cold and rainy here, with snow predicted for tonight. *sigh* Indian Summer is over. On the other hand, the pumpkin bread is baking, and smells lusciously appropriate. | |
| 20081115 13:52 | Shipman | Jeebus, the Lord is love a cinder cone? | |
| 20081115 13:50 | Alaska Paul | It was quite the moment, Pappy. | |
| 20081115 13:47 | Pappy | Stunning, AP. | |
| 20081115 13:47 | Deacon Blues | WOW! Afternoon, All. I'm watching the Dawgs and Tigers. Tigers' defence doing OK, offense not so much. | |
| 20081115 13:40 | Alaska Paul back home | It had snowed Thursday night at Nikolaevsk, a Russian Old Believer village on the Kenai Peninsula. Everything was under a blanket of 4-inches of fresh snow. Friday morning at 9AM I drove from Nikolaevsk to Homer along the graveled North Fork Road. It was quiet. Nobody was on the road except me. I came around a bend and looked across Cook Inlet and saw Mt. Illiamna catching the alpenglow of the morning. I stopped and got out of the car with my camera. It was dead quiet. There was no flapping of ravens' wings in flight. Now caw of the ravens, no dogs barking. The land was deep asleep under a blanket of fresh snow and hoar frost. The clouds of last nights snow storm were dissipating. Over the waters of Cook Inlet was a thick fog bank. And there stood Mt. Illiamna, sleeping, too. I took the picture, and took in the whole scene. I felt very privileged to be on this spot at this time. Here is the view of Illiamna volcano:  | |
| 20081115 13:31 | Pappy | Is like guns. 2nd amender don't say FIRE AT WILL! Follow? No. Second Amender has to jump through hoops to get a firearm. Background check. Waiting period. Limitation on what kind of firearm can be bought. Under 18 can't purchase firearm. Again, funny how tobacco, alcohol, diet and firearm use can be screeched about by society. Drugs, not so much, except to young and not very convincing at that. Controlling-when-to-have-sex, not at all or disparaged. FIRE AT WILL Adolescent culture. | |
| 20081115 13:15 | Pappy | Morning. One from Vanderluen: Post-election ego-fluffing opportunities abound on the Barack Talk Express. Today's tidbit is the floater that Hillary's large experience shall be tapped to become the Secretary of State. Still, if Hill's got the fix in with the Big O, she'd better have her hubby named Ambassador to the UN. That way they can travel to exciting places and bracket our enemies with Clinton blather in stereo. Security concerns would require they fly |
