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Starting off, when I say Chinese, I refer to the idiot leaders who thought it would be cute to show that China could blow up a satellite orbiting in space.
There is absolutely no rational reason for doing this. You simply add to the dangerous space debris, and turn a simple object which coulkd have been retrieved into the space equivalent of a wild shotgun blast. Dumb dumb dumb !
So they want to be macho and waive sabers ? The world just does not need it. If China wishes to dominate the world, the world will be destroyed. It is that simple. We have enough submarine born missles to wipe them out, they have enough missles to wipe us out. It's deja vue all over again, CCCP (USSR). Religion and Politics. Can Man and Womankind survive them ????? Tune in next century to se how it turned out, if there's anything left.
One of my best friends, Chinese, informed me that racism lives in China, and that most Chinese view other races as the traditional whites of the late 19th century viewed blacks. This does not bode well for a peaceful future. Anytime one group (racial, religious, cultural, etc., us vs them) views others as "subhuman," there has been hell to pay in history. It happens over and over and over........
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Sometimes the Pressure to Cave-In to Oslo is Too Great
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If the child/prisoner is subjected to enough stress, you can get a Shawn situation.
"
Eventually the truth will come out, no matter what you say to them, and then you'll have a wee bit of explaining to do..........good luck and love through the whole messy process, --- dad
If the child/prisoner is subjected to enough stress, you can get a Shawn situation.
"
Devlin, jailed on $1 million bail, is charged in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Ben, but authorities also expect to charge him with abducting Shawn Hornbeck, a 15-year-old who went missing four years ago.
Ben thanked Mitchell Hults, 15, a friend who helped authorities find him by identifying a small white pickup seen speeding away after Ben's abduction. The boys were found at Devlin's apartment in Kirkland, a St. Louis suburb.
"Thank you for being such a great big help in this entire thing," Ben said, addressing Mitchell.
"If it wasn't for what Mitchell (saw) I don't know if we'd be sitting here talking to you right now," said Ben's father, William Ownby.
He said he didn't know when Ben would return to school.
"I'm ready. I just need my backpack," the boy said.
The Ownbys said authorities had asked the families of both boys not to speak about their time in captivity. That left open the mystery of how their captor kept them from escaping.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday cited anonymous investigators as saying that Devlin kept Shawn from fleeing by threatening to kill the boy and his entire family, perhaps explaining why Shawn passed on ample opportunities to get away. Devlin's attorney, Michael Kielty, did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday seeking comment on that allegation. (Watch how kidnap victims sometimes deal with their abduction 
Kielty said earlier he has not seen any evidence and will enter a not guilty plea at an arraignment Thursday morning at the Franklin County Courthouse.
Shawn apparently had the freedom to go outside, and perhaps even to use phones and the Internet.
While his alleged kidnapper was at work, Shawn or someone pretending to be him put photos of him online and posted a message on a site created by his desperate parents: "How long are you planning to look for your son?"
{a real parent will look forever, regardless}Since Shawn's rescue, Web users have discovered a profile at mindviz.com, and online comments have flooded in.
"Welcome home Shawn," wrote one of the nearly 40,000 visitors to Shawn's site on Monday. "I have prayed for you and I know many others have as well. Glad you are safe and healthy."
Investigators would not comment on the postings, and it was not immediately known if they were, in fact, created by Shawn or by someone else. Either way, they add to the long list of clues that no one seemed to pick up on while the boy was missing.
Shawn, now 15, was 11 when he was kidnapped in 2002 while riding his bike near his rural home.
Investigators have given no motive for the crimes and no details on what the boys went through. Officials said Devlin did not appear to have a criminal record.
Devlin's two jobs often took him away from the modest two-bedroom apartment they shared, which had a landline phone and a cell phone, as well as a computer.
A series of Web postings, some under the name "Shawn Devlin," have raised questions about whether he was trying to send clues about his real identity.
At 1:59 a.m. on December 1, 2005, a "Shawn Devlin" asked in a forum on the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation Web site: "How long are you planing (sic) to look for your son?" Shawn's parents, Craig and Pam Akers, started the foundation to help find their son and other missing youngsters.
Later that same day, at 2:56 p.m., Shawn Devlin wrote to ask if he could compose a poem for the family. The poem never appeared in future postings.
Other Web profiles also appeared to be of Shawn, including the profile on mindviz.com, which described "Shawn" as a single atheist with a pet cat living in Kirkwood.
Dr. Juliet Francis, a clinical psychologist and consultant for the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, said it is not unusual for a bond to develop between an abductor and the child.
"It developed when someone feels that their life is being threatened, but they aren't killed," she said.
Some neighbors said they never saw Shawn with books or a backpack. Neighbor Krista Jones, a stay-at-home mom, noticed Shawn wearing black clothes and piercings in his ear and lip. She said she figured he was either a dropout or attended an alternative school.
Larry Douglas said his younger brother, Tony, and Shawn were best friends and often went skateboarding and biking. He said Tony had no idea of Shawn's real identity. Larry Douglas said his family was not allowing his brother to speak to reporters.
Before Tony Douglas' family made him unavailable to the media, he told Fox News that on three occasions, police stopped the two for being out beyond curfew. Officers gave the boys a lift home, unaware of Shawn's real identity, Tony said.
The Post-Dispatch cited another encounter between Shawn and police that occurred September 29 when an officer stopped the boy, who was riding his bike about 11:20 p.m., about a mile from the apartment.
The police report stated that Shawn told the officer his name was Shawn Devlin and gave a birth date of July 7, 1991 -- 10 days off his actual birthday. Shawn told the officer he was biking to the apartment after visiting a friend's home.
"He was wearing dark clothing and didn't have reflectors on his bike," Glendale Sgt. Bob Catlett told the newspaper. "The officer stopped him to find out who he was.
"He said he was Shawn Devlin, and we had no reason to doubt him."
Tony sometimes spent the night at Shawn's apartment, but rarely spoke with Devlin. Larry Douglas said his brother saw no indication of abuse, or clues that Shawn was a captive.
"He just hopes to see his friend again," Douglas said. "He's happy for Shawn."
from a current news story...Eventually the truth will come out, no matter what you say to them, and then you'll have a wee bit of explaining to do..........good luck and love through the whole messy process, --- dad
One of the Possible Results of Oslo Syndrome
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Children who suffer abuse have an increased risk of physical ill health in adulthood, results suggest.
From the BBC
Child abuse link to future health
 Children who are abused have poorer health as adults |
Researchers at King's College London followed 1,000 people in New Zealand from birth to the age of 32.
A third of those who were maltreated had high levels of inflammation - an early indicator of conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
Preventing abuse in childhood could help to reduce the burden of illness in adults, experts said.
Participants in the study, which is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were monitored as children and were also asked to recall any maltreatment they had suffered as children at the age of 26.
Dr Andrea Danese, study leader
The researchers took into account many other factors which could account for poor health, including stress, depression, poor status attainment as well as smoking, diet and physical activity.
They took blood samples to measure levels of C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and white blood cells - substances which are known to be associated with inflammation in the body.
Adult survivors of childhood maltreatment who appeared to be healthy were twice as likely to show clinically relevant levels of inflammation compared to those who had not been maltreated.
Inflammation is known to predict the development of conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
C-reactive protein in particular has been recommended by the American Heart Association as a screening tool to help assess a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Public health
Study leader Dr Andrea Danese, a psychiatrist at King's College London, said that public health interventions to prevent maltreatment in childhood could help reduce illness in adults.
"We know already that adults who were maltreated in childhood have worse health than other people, but we had no idea how that could be explained so what we're adding here is one of the possible explanations."
Dr Danese explained that stress or fright can lead to inflammation, but if physical harm does not occur the body needs to switch it off quickly or it will cause damage.
Previous research has shown that early-life stress can reduce levels of a hormone - glucocorticoid - that normally works to switch off the inflammatory response.
Dr Danese hypothesised that in maltreated children low levels of glucocorticoids may lead to persistently high levels of inflammation.
"What we have observed is the long-term effect of stress from a phase when children are particularly vulnerable.
"Whether this is reversible is a question we are unable to answer."
Professor Brent Taylor, professor of child health at University College London, said the findings added biological plausibility to what experts already knew.
"It makes sense. We have known for a long time that a bad environment and poor quality parenting is associated with reduced life expectancy as well as other health problems.
"It perhaps suggests there should be more focused attention on preventing maltreatment in childhood."From the BBC
One Way of Handling Oslo Syndrome
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This is one way, which some can chose.........
Watson gets more than 9 years
Man held wife, daughter hostage in 2005
By Robyn Moormeister, robynm@theunion.com
January 10, 2007
Comments (17) Print Email
In a two-hour court hearing this week, Grass Valley engineer Larry Watson was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison for holding his wife and 16-year-old daughter hostage in August 2005, holding guns to their heads and threatening to kill them.
"This was an odd case and an amazing sentence because (Watson) had no (criminal) history," Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Francis said Tuesday. "There really is something very sinister about him and the way he has been treating his wife and daughter for the last 17 years."
Francis said Watson had been inflicting psychological and emotional abuse on his family for so long that his wife was nearly void of self esteem.
She compared the situation to "Sleeping with the Enemy," a movie about a man's pathological need for power and control over his wife and her struggle to be free of his abuse.
"(Watson) would make (his wife) hang his shirts all facing one direction on the same-colored hangers," Francis said, adding that Watson would often punish his wife if she overlooked such details.
"He would make her stand outside naked in the winter," Francis said. "He made her sleep on the floor without a blanket."
Abuse reaches a boiling point
Watson's 16-year-old daughter, who he had recently begun physically abusing, reported the 2005 incident for which he was charged:
It started when Watson, upset with birthday cards he had received from his wife and daughter, gave the cards back and told them to re-write them.
"The guns didn't come out until later that night," Francis said.
She said Watson pointed handguns - one of which was loaded - at his wife's and daughter's heads, locked all of the doors, turned on the house alarm, shut off the phones and lights and threatened to kill them if they called police.
Watson had been drinking alcohol and taking a lot of Xanax at the time, Francis said.
The next morning, Francis said, Watson's wife made their usual breakfast of hash browns, eggs and coffee. Watson "acted like nothing had happened" and he drove his daughter to school.
"Once she got to school she went straight to the principal's office and wouldn't say a word until she could verify that Mom had made it to work," Francis said. "Then there was full disclosure of everything."
Police arrested Watson and he was released from jail at 4 a.m. the next morning. Soon afterward, he located his wife and daughter, who were staying at a local motel under a fictitious name.
He had recognized their car, even though his daughter had tried to conceal it with a car cover.
"He put his thumb over the peephole," Francis said. This time, Watson's wife called the police, who found a copy of an emergency restraining order in Watson's briefcase while they arrested him.
The Nevada County District Attorney's Office charged Watson with two counts of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, violating a restraining order, stalking and brandishing a weapon.
Longtime victims get closure
Francis prosecuted the two-week jury trial that concluded on Aug. 17, 2006, when Watson was found guilty. She argued for the maximum sentence during Monday's sentencing hearing, and Judge Robert Tamietti granted it; nine years and eight months in state prison.
Francis said state law dictates Watson is required to serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Four of the eight charges Watson was convicted of count as violent "strike" offenses, Francis said, which means that if Watson is convicted of one more felony in California, he will be automatically sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
"(Watson's wife and daughter) are so excited about the sentence and you could just see the relief on their faces," Francis said. "But they do believe that he will hunt them down when he gets a chance."
She said the woman and her daughter have been attending counseling and plan on leaving the area soon.
"It's a chilling story," Francis said. "It's incredibly typical."
ooo
To contact Staff Writer Robyn Moormeister, e-mail robynm@ theunion.com or call 477-4236.
This is one way, which some can chose.........
Watson gets more than 9 years
Man held wife, daughter hostage in 2005
By Robyn Moormeister, robynm@theunion.com
January 10, 2007
Comments (17) Print Email
In a two-hour court hearing this week, Grass Valley engineer Larry Watson was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison for holding his wife and 16-year-old daughter hostage in August 2005, holding guns to their heads and threatening to kill them.
"This was an odd case and an amazing sentence because (Watson) had no (criminal) history," Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Francis said Tuesday. "There really is something very sinister about him and the way he has been treating his wife and daughter for the last 17 years."
Francis said Watson had been inflicting psychological and emotional abuse on his family for so long that his wife was nearly void of self esteem.
She compared the situation to "Sleeping with the Enemy," a movie about a man's pathological need for power and control over his wife and her struggle to be free of his abuse.
"(Watson) would make (his wife) hang his shirts all facing one direction on the same-colored hangers," Francis said, adding that Watson would often punish his wife if she overlooked such details.
"He would make her stand outside naked in the winter," Francis said. "He made her sleep on the floor without a blanket."
Abuse reaches a boiling point
Watson's 16-year-old daughter, who he had recently begun physically abusing, reported the 2005 incident for which he was charged:
It started when Watson, upset with birthday cards he had received from his wife and daughter, gave the cards back and told them to re-write them.
"The guns didn't come out until later that night," Francis said.
She said Watson pointed handguns - one of which was loaded - at his wife's and daughter's heads, locked all of the doors, turned on the house alarm, shut off the phones and lights and threatened to kill them if they called police.
Watson had been drinking alcohol and taking a lot of Xanax at the time, Francis said.
The next morning, Francis said, Watson's wife made their usual breakfast of hash browns, eggs and coffee. Watson "acted like nothing had happened" and he drove his daughter to school.
"Once she got to school she went straight to the principal's office and wouldn't say a word until she could verify that Mom had made it to work," Francis said. "Then there was full disclosure of everything."
Police arrested Watson and he was released from jail at 4 a.m. the next morning. Soon afterward, he located his wife and daughter, who were staying at a local motel under a fictitious name.
He had recognized their car, even though his daughter had tried to conceal it with a car cover.
"He put his thumb over the peephole," Francis said. This time, Watson's wife called the police, who found a copy of an emergency restraining order in Watson's briefcase while they arrested him.
The Nevada County District Attorney's Office charged Watson with two counts of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, violating a restraining order, stalking and brandishing a weapon.
Longtime victims get closure
Francis prosecuted the two-week jury trial that concluded on Aug. 17, 2006, when Watson was found guilty. She argued for the maximum sentence during Monday's sentencing hearing, and Judge Robert Tamietti granted it; nine years and eight months in state prison.
Francis said state law dictates Watson is required to serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Four of the eight charges Watson was convicted of count as violent "strike" offenses, Francis said, which means that if Watson is convicted of one more felony in California, he will be automatically sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
"(Watson's wife and daughter) are so excited about the sentence and you could just see the relief on their faces," Francis said. "But they do believe that he will hunt them down when he gets a chance."
She said the woman and her daughter have been attending counseling and plan on leaving the area soon.
"It's a chilling story," Francis said. "It's incredibly typical."
ooo
To contact Staff Writer Robyn Moormeister, e-mail robynm@ theunion.com or call 477-4236.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Lest we forget, Osama's Friends are Like...Well...
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From a CNN story this month:
"A kinder, gentler Taliban?
The Taliban rose to power in the 1990s in response to corrupt warlords who were busy tearing the country apart.
Corruption is once again a serious problem, this time for the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, and the Taliban code of conduct is aimed at exploiting that advantage.
"Taliban may not use Jihad equipment or property for personal ends" reads rule nine, while rule 10 says each Taliban is held "accountable to his superiors in matters of money spending and equipment usage."
This is clear PR, Brachman says. "The Taliban recognizes that it has the reputation of being a band of brutal barbarians interested only in clubbing women back to the Stone Age. This rule sheet reads like an effort to put a kinder, gentler, more moderate and professional face on the movement."
Until you get to rules 24 and 25, which make it clear that the Taliban's current campaign of destroying schools around Afghanistan and terrorizing teachers will continue as long as schools dare teach something other than the Taliban version of Islam.
"It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels," says rule 24. And if a teacher refuses a warning to give up his job, reads rule 25, "he must be beaten."
"If the teacher still continues to instruct contrary to the principles of Islam, the district commander or a group leader must kill him," it continues.
When schools are burned, the Taliban rules say it is important that religious texts be removed from the buildings first.
Defining the Taliban
Journalist Rizvi says that each of the 30 rules reveals much about the Taliban and how it has evolved over the last five years.
One rule, notes Rizvi, says that only the highest levels of the Taliban can approve work for an NGO (the non-governmental organizations that do much of the aid and reconstruction work in Afghanistan). Rizvi says this means "they have planted people inside NGOs."
One reason for the handbook is to put the Taliban's religious views front and center to its members, adds Brachman. "The first rule is classic in that it welcomes believers of Islam into their movement. Punishments and judgments are stated as playing out according to Islamic law. "
He also sees it as a move -- as the Taliban raises its military profile -- to set a certain standard of professionalism and behavior.
Along with rules about not smoking cigarettes and not allowing murderers to join the Taliban, there also is this entry: Taliban "are not allowed to take young boys with no facial hair onto the battlefield or into their private quarters."
Sexual abuse, says Rizvi, has always been a problem for the movement, especially in some of the madrassas (religious schools) that feed recruits to the movement.
Controlling bad behavior, according to Brachman, is just one of the ways "the Taliban are aggressively seeking to update their organization inside and out."
And that, he says, is a worrying sign, as worrying as their increased presence on the battlefield."
Just when you thought it couldn't get any wierder !
From a CNN story this month:
"A kinder, gentler Taliban?
The Taliban rose to power in the 1990s in response to corrupt warlords who were busy tearing the country apart.
Corruption is once again a serious problem, this time for the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, and the Taliban code of conduct is aimed at exploiting that advantage.
"Taliban may not use Jihad equipment or property for personal ends" reads rule nine, while rule 10 says each Taliban is held "accountable to his superiors in matters of money spending and equipment usage."
This is clear PR, Brachman says. "The Taliban recognizes that it has the reputation of being a band of brutal barbarians interested only in clubbing women back to the Stone Age. This rule sheet reads like an effort to put a kinder, gentler, more moderate and professional face on the movement."
Until you get to rules 24 and 25, which make it clear that the Taliban's current campaign of destroying schools around Afghanistan and terrorizing teachers will continue as long as schools dare teach something other than the Taliban version of Islam.
"It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels," says rule 24. And if a teacher refuses a warning to give up his job, reads rule 25, "he must be beaten."
"If the teacher still continues to instruct contrary to the principles of Islam, the district commander or a group leader must kill him," it continues.
When schools are burned, the Taliban rules say it is important that religious texts be removed from the buildings first.
Defining the Taliban
Journalist Rizvi says that each of the 30 rules reveals much about the Taliban and how it has evolved over the last five years.
One rule, notes Rizvi, says that only the highest levels of the Taliban can approve work for an NGO (the non-governmental organizations that do much of the aid and reconstruction work in Afghanistan). Rizvi says this means "they have planted people inside NGOs."
One reason for the handbook is to put the Taliban's religious views front and center to its members, adds Brachman. "The first rule is classic in that it welcomes believers of Islam into their movement. Punishments and judgments are stated as playing out according to Islamic law. "
He also sees it as a move -- as the Taliban raises its military profile -- to set a certain standard of professionalism and behavior.
Along with rules about not smoking cigarettes and not allowing murderers to join the Taliban, there also is this entry: Taliban "are not allowed to take young boys with no facial hair onto the battlefield or into their private quarters."
Sexual abuse, says Rizvi, has always been a problem for the movement, especially in some of the madrassas (religious schools) that feed recruits to the movement.
Controlling bad behavior, according to Brachman, is just one of the ways "the Taliban are aggressively seeking to update their organization inside and out."
And that, he says, is a worrying sign, as worrying as their increased presence on the battlefield."
Just when you thought it couldn't get any wierder !
Monday, December 25, 2006
The Dictatorship of Nice
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I have been making up a series of jokes lately about Osama bin Ladin.
I have told them in classes where I substitute, when I have encountered kids trying to play a game on the net where they try to knock out a cartoon Osama. My wife informs me that this is a Bad Idea because there are some people who think Osama's OK, and view anything that insults him and his followers as insulting to anyone of Arab/Islamic religiousity or ethnicity or racial background. She thinks that if there was a complaint I could be endangering my livelihood from that source.
Frankly, if there's a danger to my livelyhood from insulting Osama bin Laden, then we are all in far greater danger than we know.
Making bad puns about his name, which have nothing to do with his Arab/Islamic religiousity or ethnicity or racial background, is a right Benjamin Franklin and Tom Jefferson fought for, and which I view as my birthright as an American. The plays on words do involve his Arabic name, but hey, he's Arabic, is that my fault ?
Let's face it, if the Muslim/Arabic world was truly unhappy with him, they would build massive jails in Pakistan, herd every last borderland tribal person into them, pay them handsomely for the inconvenience, and thus starve Osama out. That would get the issue over, and, like Saddam, he would become part of past history.
The Dictatorship of Nice is a working title for a tome about bad politically incorrect puns that i may start to sell on EBay. I have to run check Google to see that it's not already taken. I really think that the PC dictatorship has swung way too far. My wife calls one of our dogs, "Big Butt," as an occasionally cute nickname. I called him that the other night and she said I wasn't allowed to. It was sort of on the order of them "N" word being a piece of personal property belonging only to people of the racial/ethnic group involved. It's their word, and don't you forget it ! Any, of course, don't use it... IN THIS CASE, i DO NOT HAVE A "BIG BUTT," and I'll leave the rest of the case for you to draw your own conclusions....
I got a copy of Paul Robeson's 25 Greatest Hits, including, "It's Sleepytime Down South," in which he doesn't use the "N" word. He uses a word even worse than "coloured." It's the "D" word which has been so thoroughly banned from speech I haven't even heard Richard Pryor like comedians use it. "Darky's" or "Darkies," which to modern ears untrained in history probably sounds like some new underground oxygen dance bar. It's so odd that it should be so prominent in several songs by this very broadly talented guy, whom many who considered a venerated inspirational and practical leader of the civil rights movement of the early twentieth century.
Anyway, I promised I'd tell my faithful reader('s) what's very holy but not at all religious.
A Bagal, as long as you are not not eating it as part of a religious observance. Does eating it as part of an ethinic observance count as religious, darned if I know...
What else is holy but not at all religious ?
heh heh heh
How about a box of donuts, all covered with Christmas sprinkles ?????
Live Long and Prosper !
Dad
I have been making up a series of jokes lately about Osama bin Ladin.
I have told them in classes where I substitute, when I have encountered kids trying to play a game on the net where they try to knock out a cartoon Osama. My wife informs me that this is a Bad Idea because there are some people who think Osama's OK, and view anything that insults him and his followers as insulting to anyone of Arab/Islamic religiousity or ethnicity or racial background. She thinks that if there was a complaint I could be endangering my livelihood from that source.
Frankly, if there's a danger to my livelyhood from insulting Osama bin Laden, then we are all in far greater danger than we know.
Making bad puns about his name, which have nothing to do with his Arab/Islamic religiousity or ethnicity or racial background, is a right Benjamin Franklin and Tom Jefferson fought for, and which I view as my birthright as an American. The plays on words do involve his Arabic name, but hey, he's Arabic, is that my fault ?
Let's face it, if the Muslim/Arabic world was truly unhappy with him, they would build massive jails in Pakistan, herd every last borderland tribal person into them, pay them handsomely for the inconvenience, and thus starve Osama out. That would get the issue over, and, like Saddam, he would become part of past history.
The Dictatorship of Nice is a working title for a tome about bad politically incorrect puns that i may start to sell on EBay. I have to run check Google to see that it's not already taken. I really think that the PC dictatorship has swung way too far. My wife calls one of our dogs, "Big Butt," as an occasionally cute nickname. I called him that the other night and she said I wasn't allowed to. It was sort of on the order of them "N" word being a piece of personal property belonging only to people of the racial/ethnic group involved. It's their word, and don't you forget it ! Any, of course, don't use it... IN THIS CASE, i DO NOT HAVE A "BIG BUTT," and I'll leave the rest of the case for you to draw your own conclusions....
I got a copy of Paul Robeson's 25 Greatest Hits, including, "It's Sleepytime Down South," in which he doesn't use the "N" word. He uses a word even worse than "coloured." It's the "D" word which has been so thoroughly banned from speech I haven't even heard Richard Pryor like comedians use it. "Darky's" or "Darkies," which to modern ears untrained in history probably sounds like some new underground oxygen dance bar. It's so odd that it should be so prominent in several songs by this very broadly talented guy, whom many who considered a venerated inspirational and practical leader of the civil rights movement of the early twentieth century.
Anyway, I promised I'd tell my faithful reader('s) what's very holy but not at all religious.
A Bagal, as long as you are not not eating it as part of a religious observance. Does eating it as part of an ethinic observance count as religious, darned if I know...
What else is holy but not at all religious ?
heh heh heh
How about a box of donuts, all covered with Christmas sprinkles ?????
Live Long and Prosper !
Dad
Saturday, December 23, 2006
A Different Take on the Bible
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I found this quite fascinating....
10:31 AM PDT, August 2, 2006, updated at 7:40 AM PDT, August 4, 2006
Hi All,
Today marks my initiation to not just one, but two new media: comics, and the "plog."
The former - and what I'll share with you below - is the first collection of my first regular comic book, Testament. The second, is this extremely "push-y" form of blogging from Amazon known as the Plog.
I was surprised to see these little messages when I logged into Amazon, apparently from authors whose books I've purchased in the past. Before clicking the window completely closed forever, though, I figured it was my duty to investigate - and determine whether this was a vehicle for true author-reader communications, or simply one for crass marketing.
Seems it's both - which really isn't so terrible when you pause to remember that we are sitting here in an online store. Why not get messages from authors who you might like to hear from, even if it is about a new release?
And, at least in my case, I've got messages to share other than "buy my book." (Still, if you could click along and grab a discounted copy of my new work, I'd greatly appreciate it!)
Testament: Akedah
So much for the Plog aspect. As for comics, well, for those of you who are only familiar with my media thinking or my Judaism writings, it may seem like something of a stretch. But, in actuality, it's about the most logical medium for the ideas I've been trying to express since I began writing.
Testament is, ultimately, about the Bible. I'm trying to show that these stories aren't so important because they happened at one moment in history, but because they are still happening, now. These stories actually describe the dynamics underlying our personal choices in every moment, and the forces at play in our most global conflicts.
So I've juxtaposed Bible stories - stark and historically considered interpretations of Torah that I hope invigorate the contemporary Midrash - with a brand new story of a near-future where the draft has been reinstated and the world is adopting several new self-enslaving technologies. In other words, I'm juxtaposing the Bible with our day-after-tomorrow real world. By doing so, I hope to show how we still engage in child sacrifice - every time we send a kid off to war. And how we still practice idolatry through our worship of the almight dollar (in G-d we trust). And how we're still the victims of mental bondage, courtesy of Madison Avenue's latest techniques of behavioral control.
In the world of Testament, technology and media are our magicks and mysteries - making hackers today's equivalent of the Israelites.
Testament has been a great joy to write because I'm finally working in a medium where I can connect the dots between what must have appeared to be a very disparate collection of book subjects. To me, they're all the same subject; and the world of "sequential narrative" - as comics people like to call it - has allowed me to tell this story in a more cohesive and coherent way than ever before.
More soon. And feel free to stop by my "regular" blog at rushkoff.com to discuss any of this with me.
Most of all, thanks for having bought one of my books at some point in Amazon's history. Without you, I wouldn't be a writer.
I found this quite fascinating....
10:31 AM PDT, August 2, 2006, updated at 7:40 AM PDT, August 4, 2006
Hi All,
Today marks my initiation to not just one, but two new media: comics, and the "plog."
The former - and what I'll share with you below - is the first collection of my first regular comic book, Testament. The second, is this extremely "push-y" form of blogging from Amazon known as the Plog.
I was surprised to see these little messages when I logged into Amazon, apparently from authors whose books I've purchased in the past. Before clicking the window completely closed forever, though, I figured it was my duty to investigate - and determine whether this was a vehicle for true author-reader communications, or simply one for crass marketing.
Seems it's both - which really isn't so terrible when you pause to remember that we are sitting here in an online store. Why not get messages from authors who you might like to hear from, even if it is about a new release?
And, at least in my case, I've got messages to share other than "buy my book." (Still, if you could click along and grab a discounted copy of my new work, I'd greatly appreciate it!)
Testament: Akedah
So much for the Plog aspect. As for comics, well, for those of you who are only familiar with my media thinking or my Judaism writings, it may seem like something of a stretch. But, in actuality, it's about the most logical medium for the ideas I've been trying to express since I began writing.
Testament is, ultimately, about the Bible. I'm trying to show that these stories aren't so important because they happened at one moment in history, but because they are still happening, now. These stories actually describe the dynamics underlying our personal choices in every moment, and the forces at play in our most global conflicts.
So I've juxtaposed Bible stories - stark and historically considered interpretations of Torah that I hope invigorate the contemporary Midrash - with a brand new story of a near-future where the draft has been reinstated and the world is adopting several new self-enslaving technologies. In other words, I'm juxtaposing the Bible with our day-after-tomorrow real world. By doing so, I hope to show how we still engage in child sacrifice - every time we send a kid off to war. And how we still practice idolatry through our worship of the almight dollar (in G-d we trust). And how we're still the victims of mental bondage, courtesy of Madison Avenue's latest techniques of behavioral control.
In the world of Testament, technology and media are our magicks and mysteries - making hackers today's equivalent of the Israelites.
Testament has been a great joy to write because I'm finally working in a medium where I can connect the dots between what must have appeared to be a very disparate collection of book subjects. To me, they're all the same subject; and the world of "sequential narrative" - as comics people like to call it - has allowed me to tell this story in a more cohesive and coherent way than ever before.
More soon. And feel free to stop by my "regular" blog at rushkoff.com to discuss any of this with me.
Most of all, thanks for having bought one of my books at some point in Amazon's history. Without you, I wouldn't be a writer.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Are There Control Freaks in Heaven ?
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Just Asking...........
What's very holy, but not at all religious ?
tune in next time for the surprise answer.......
Just Asking...........
What's very holy, but not at all religious ?
tune in next time for the surprise answer.......
Friday, December 08, 2006
DirecTV Newmixs is BIASED !
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102 on DirecTV is supposedly a smorgasbord of various news sources, but no CSPAN or NASA. When you hit the site it always starts with FOX news, and you have to wait ten to fifteen seconds before you can switch channels. When you do switch you have to adjust the volume upwards a bit for NBC MSNBC and Blooomberg, and you have to shift the volume upwards a lot for CNN's offerings.
When you zoom in on just on channel, and then zoom back out, it always goes right back to the FOX channel. Again, you have to turn the volume down and wait another nine to fifteen second to choose something else.
To make the other channels even more unpalatable, they've taken to boosting the audio way WAY UP on the CNN obnoxious commercials, where the FOX commercials experience only a mild boost.
All of this is clearly designed to rope you into FOX and friends.
I will be switching back to DishNet when my lease is up on DirecTV, I miss the NASA channel.
102 on DirecTV is supposedly a smorgasbord of various news sources, but no CSPAN or NASA. When you hit the site it always starts with FOX news, and you have to wait ten to fifteen seconds before you can switch channels. When you do switch you have to adjust the volume upwards a bit for NBC MSNBC and Blooomberg, and you have to shift the volume upwards a lot for CNN's offerings.
When you zoom in on just on channel, and then zoom back out, it always goes right back to the FOX channel. Again, you have to turn the volume down and wait another nine to fifteen second to choose something else.
To make the other channels even more unpalatable, they've taken to boosting the audio way WAY UP on the CNN obnoxious commercials, where the FOX commercials experience only a mild boost.
All of this is clearly designed to rope you into FOX and friends.
I will be switching back to DishNet when my lease is up on DirecTV, I miss the NASA channel.
The way Forward from FAILURE !
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Silly string gives soldiers in Iraq a way of detecting bomb trip wires without triggering the explosions. Very, very, clever ! Silly string is that squirty stuff that is sold as a kid's toy. If the Pentagon developed it, the price tag would be $200/can !
Bush Spin Doctors are taking the word "failure" and flipping it to "forward" where upwards would really be more appropriate, for the hole Bush has dug the country into. Maybe Bush should spray the entire White House press corps with silly string to look for trip wires....
Silly string gives soldiers in Iraq a way of detecting bomb trip wires without triggering the explosions. Very, very, clever ! Silly string is that squirty stuff that is sold as a kid's toy. If the Pentagon developed it, the price tag would be $200/can !
Bush Spin Doctors are taking the word "failure" and flipping it to "forward" where upwards would really be more appropriate, for the hole Bush has dug the country into. Maybe Bush should spray the entire White House press corps with silly string to look for trip wires....
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Throwing Baby Out with Bath Water
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Well, this is still a good place for techno thoughts, at least until GOOGLE demands that you submit to their toolbar...
It seems that in Virginia they're going to dump the 10 codes altogether. These are the codes the cops and others use to simplyfy talking on the radio, "10-4" and the like. It seems too many different counties came up with their own versions, meanings for the same codes, so that when 9/11 occurred, they all got confused. The codes have been around since the 30's, but regionalism crept in, as it always does in languages.
It would seem to me however, that the codes are a good thing, they just need to be restandardized, and the easiest wasy to do this would be to put a letter just after the attention getting "10." So ten four would be come 10 A 4 and would have a nationalized meaning, and it would be illegal to change them.
On another communications issue, the donut theory of the universe at EPhilosophy and Physics Campfire is fascinating. It ties right in with a Christian radio station that was discussing the need for peace and harmony among Protestants, with an admonition to not get panties in a knot over sprinkling water or being dunked in water, at what ages and how many times. Couldn't help but call this the Variable Donut School of Baptism, which brings me right back to a quote on the Donut Theory of the Universe.
"Cardinal Dr. Reginald Peach, speaking from his home in Wes, England, said: “The Donut Theory of Creation doesn’t really change a thing for the spiritually minded. Because then you have to ask yourself: who baked the donut?”
have yourself a very merry and glazed Christmas !
Well, this is still a good place for techno thoughts, at least until GOOGLE demands that you submit to their toolbar...
It seems that in Virginia they're going to dump the 10 codes altogether. These are the codes the cops and others use to simplyfy talking on the radio, "10-4" and the like. It seems too many different counties came up with their own versions, meanings for the same codes, so that when 9/11 occurred, they all got confused. The codes have been around since the 30's, but regionalism crept in, as it always does in languages.
It would seem to me however, that the codes are a good thing, they just need to be restandardized, and the easiest wasy to do this would be to put a letter just after the attention getting "10." So ten four would be come 10 A 4 and would have a nationalized meaning, and it would be illegal to change them.
On another communications issue, the donut theory of the universe at EPhilosophy and Physics Campfire is fascinating. It ties right in with a Christian radio station that was discussing the need for peace and harmony among Protestants, with an admonition to not get panties in a knot over sprinkling water or being dunked in water, at what ages and how many times. Couldn't help but call this the Variable Donut School of Baptism, which brings me right back to a quote on the Donut Theory of the Universe.
"Cardinal Dr. Reginald Peach, speaking from his home in Wes, England, said: “The Donut Theory of Creation doesn’t really change a thing for the spiritually minded. Because then you have to ask yourself: who baked the donut?”
have yourself a very merry and glazed Christmas !
Saturday, November 25, 2006
One Last Post for Old Time's Sake.....
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When I signed up for this, I established SkiTheStars as a screen name. Now I have used my own real name here in individual posts, but when I discovered the entire set was now search and findable under the new ownership, I was a bit miffed.
Now they insist on a Google Account, which means opening your habits to AmericaMegaCorp, and be sure to spread'em wide so we know how to sell to you but good. No, I don't want no stinkin Yahoo, Google, MSN TOOL F YOU OVER BAR on my machine.
I guess the only was to go is to have a distant friend buy a domain name with privacy in Australia, and then take charge of the website on your own server with your own copy of Typepad or the like.
When I signed up for this, I established SkiTheStars as a screen name. Now I have used my own real name here in individual posts, but when I discovered the entire set was now search and findable under the new ownership, I was a bit miffed.
Now they insist on a Google Account, which means opening your habits to AmericaMegaCorp, and be sure to spread'em wide so we know how to sell to you but good. No, I don't want no stinkin Yahoo, Google, MSN TOOL F YOU OVER BAR on my machine.
I guess the only was to go is to have a distant friend buy a domain name with privacy in Australia, and then take charge of the website on your own server with your own copy of Typepad or the like.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Support Our Troops, Listen to Them when they Vote!
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If they've got time to blog about it, they've got time to vote about it.
Is there any reason why we could not poll all active military on duty in Iraq on their sense of the situation ?
The ballots could be identified by rank only, and only totals for each rank released. Otherwise it would be a secret ballot. Anecdotal evidenced can be gathered by the armload to support any argument. A good poll is the American Way to the Truth.
Sample questions:
Should we leave immediately ?
Should we stay and if so, for how long ?
How many more troops or fewer troops should we station here ?
How many on the borders, how many in town ?
How much would more expenditures on infrastructure help as compared to other allotments ?
What does the common soldier need most that he doesn't have ? (This would be a type-in to preserve anonymity.)
In short we could gather the database necessary for Wil Wright to issue a new game called, "Sim Iraq," and give Congress a real feel for what is going on, using the knowledge of those in Iraq at all levels.
"We've never done that and we're not going to start now!"
"Not Invented Here" Strikes Again !
When you get right down to it, this would be the most striking demonstration of American Democracy ever !
Or is that not what we're promoting over there ?
If they've got time to blog about it, they've got time to vote about it.
Is there any reason why we could not poll all active military on duty in Iraq on their sense of the situation ?
The ballots could be identified by rank only, and only totals for each rank released. Otherwise it would be a secret ballot. Anecdotal evidenced can be gathered by the armload to support any argument. A good poll is the American Way to the Truth.
Sample questions:
Should we leave immediately ?
Should we stay and if so, for how long ?
How many more troops or fewer troops should we station here ?
How many on the borders, how many in town ?
How much would more expenditures on infrastructure help as compared to other allotments ?
What does the common soldier need most that he doesn't have ? (This would be a type-in to preserve anonymity.)
In short we could gather the database necessary for Wil Wright to issue a new game called, "Sim Iraq," and give Congress a real feel for what is going on, using the knowledge of those in Iraq at all levels.
"We've never done that and we're not going to start now!"
"Not Invented Here" Strikes Again !
When you get right down to it, this would be the most striking demonstration of American Democracy ever !
Or is that not what we're promoting over there ?
Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Common Man vs The Common Oil Company
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Does George Bush and Friends, includes the Bin Laden family, BTW, control oil prices ?
Consider them in light of a symphony orchestra.
Each instrument, taken by itself, cannot recreate the experience of a symphony. Taken as a whole however, they can get the job done.
The common oil company wants to get as much out of the economy as possible, without causing it to collapse from loss of blood. If you think this is good, vote Republican, and it will continue to happen with maximum ease for the oil companies and those who own parts of them. In recent years they have been experimenting, like Dr. Frankenstine, to see just how much blood they can suck, and what the effects are. They are also hoping for the “boiled frog” effect. “Put a frog in hot pot of water, he jumps out, slowly turn up the temp, waver it back and forth, and he’ll die without realizing his danger.”
The death in this case is the death of freedom for the consumer, as more and more of his life becomes devoted to producing profits for the owners of Big Oil. At 18 I washed dishes at a casino. There was one older guy there. They fed and housed him. He'd work for two weeks, get his check, and put it back into the slots inside of two hours. That is the new American, between oil and the credit card companies.
Do you own part of an oil company ? Does it contribute to your family's well-being ?
If not, then maybe you have a need for lots of research to reduce the cost of converting sun power, be it in wind, tidal, passive heating, or solar electric format, into a cheaper process, and throwing the resultant patents into public domain world-wide, to see how Big Oil likes NAFTA done to them. You might also see reasons to improve insulation, and get tax breaks for everything in energy, EXCEPT OIL AND COAL AND NUKES*, which inconveniently happen to be setting us up for environmental catastrophy.
*How much waste will you store in your own backyard ? If not there, then where ? We’ve already spend a ton of money in Nevada for storage, Vegas will have none of it !
So, if big oil does nothing for you except reduce your bottom line, you might consider voting Democratic. You may save a few American service people, assorted journalists, missionaries (are there any left?), etc. at the same time.... Besides, bringing cheap power to the common man everywhere will maybe gain back some of what we've lost in national prestige, world-wide.
Precedents: We are at war with a group who's funding is oil derived. By attacking the price of oil by doing solar research, we are doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS WE DID IN WWII WITH THE MANHATTEN PROJECT. We're killing the enemy with advanced science. I don't like terrorists any more than you do, but I've got a much more effective way of stopping them than Georgie Boy of Frat Row does.
My guess is that advanced intelligence has already shown the administration that a nuke is or soon will be in place in the USA, we can't find or stop it, and that the Republicans want it happening on the Democrats' watch. Why do you think I took my family rural, beyond the obvious benefits ?
PS, Vote for Charlie Brown and DO More in District #4
Douglas Keachie
Does George Bush and Friends, includes the Bin Laden family, BTW, control oil prices ?
Consider them in light of a symphony orchestra.
Each instrument, taken by itself, cannot recreate the experience of a symphony. Taken as a whole however, they can get the job done.
The common oil company wants to get as much out of the economy as possible, without causing it to collapse from loss of blood. If you think this is good, vote Republican, and it will continue to happen with maximum ease for the oil companies and those who own parts of them. In recent years they have been experimenting, like Dr. Frankenstine, to see just how much blood they can suck, and what the effects are. They are also hoping for the “boiled frog” effect. “Put a frog in hot pot of water, he jumps out, slowly turn up the temp, waver it back and forth, and he’ll die without realizing his danger.”
The death in this case is the death of freedom for the consumer, as more and more of his life becomes devoted to producing profits for the owners of Big Oil. At 18 I washed dishes at a casino. There was one older guy there. They fed and housed him. He'd work for two weeks, get his check, and put it back into the slots inside of two hours. That is the new American, between oil and the credit card companies.
Do you own part of an oil company ? Does it contribute to your family's well-being ?
If not, then maybe you have a need for lots of research to reduce the cost of converting sun power, be it in wind, tidal, passive heating, or solar electric format, into a cheaper process, and throwing the resultant patents into public domain world-wide, to see how Big Oil likes NAFTA done to them. You might also see reasons to improve insulation, and get tax breaks for everything in energy, EXCEPT OIL AND COAL AND NUKES*, which inconveniently happen to be setting us up for environmental catastrophy.
*How much waste will you store in your own backyard ? If not there, then where ? We’ve already spend a ton of money in Nevada for storage, Vegas will have none of it !
So, if big oil does nothing for you except reduce your bottom line, you might consider voting Democratic. You may save a few American service people, assorted journalists, missionaries (are there any left?), etc. at the same time.... Besides, bringing cheap power to the common man everywhere will maybe gain back some of what we've lost in national prestige, world-wide.
Precedents: We are at war with a group who's funding is oil derived. By attacking the price of oil by doing solar research, we are doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS WE DID IN WWII WITH THE MANHATTEN PROJECT. We're killing the enemy with advanced science. I don't like terrorists any more than you do, but I've got a much more effective way of stopping them than Georgie Boy of Frat Row does.
My guess is that advanced intelligence has already shown the administration that a nuke is or soon will be in place in the USA, we can't find or stop it, and that the Republicans want it happening on the Democrats' watch. Why do you think I took my family rural, beyond the obvious benefits ?
PS, Vote for Charlie Brown and DO More in District #4
Douglas Keachie
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
If you're stupid, you'll wind up in Iraq, like Bush
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Is it really that hard to understand ?
As soon as I understood that Bush had no anthropologists advising him as he charged into Iraq, I knew the operations were doomed from the start. At this point, with the Shias and the Sunnis going at it and the President of Iraq clearing the US checkpoints, we need to let them all know that we are leaving. There is no course to stay, other than total disaster. A nuke going off in an unpopulated area visible from Bagdad might remind the terorists on both sides just how quickly they can get to heaven if they keeping on with the killing.
Is it really that hard to understand ?
As soon as I understood that Bush had no anthropologists advising him as he charged into Iraq, I knew the operations were doomed from the start. At this point, with the Shias and the Sunnis going at it and the President of Iraq clearing the US checkpoints, we need to let them all know that we are leaving. There is no course to stay, other than total disaster. A nuke going off in an unpopulated area visible from Bagdad might remind the terorists on both sides just how quickly they can get to heaven if they keeping on with the killing.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Christians for Mountains, Vineyard Boise Church
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Tonight, as I type, Bill Moyers is exploring the Green Christian communities, including those in the Appalachian Mountains whose environment is being wrecked by coal mining. My own evangelical daughter visits a nice NorCal coastal retreat called, "The Lord's Land." It's good to see these attitudes among those often blindly opposed to the environmentalists. Kudos to Bill Moyers and all the rest.
The Bible is full of passages indicating a stewardship responsibility to take care of the planet for "true" Christians. Glad to see them waking up to the issues of today that are related, such as global warming. Houghten in Britain at Oxford in 2002, as an evangelical, lends a very scientific basis to thier ideas.
Tonight, as I type, Bill Moyers is exploring the Green Christian communities, including those in the Appalachian Mountains whose environment is being wrecked by coal mining. My own evangelical daughter visits a nice NorCal coastal retreat called, "The Lord's Land." It's good to see these attitudes among those often blindly opposed to the environmentalists. Kudos to Bill Moyers and all the rest.
The Bible is full of passages indicating a stewardship responsibility to take care of the planet for "true" Christians. Glad to see them waking up to the issues of today that are related, such as global warming. Houghten in Britain at Oxford in 2002, as an evangelical, lends a very scientific basis to thier ideas.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Cell Phone Ring Tones Embedded in Commercials ?
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I keep hearing what sounds like a distant ring of a cell phone in many different commercials, as sort of partial faint background music. I wonder if they are doing that to grab awareness where interest lives not ? It's very annoying, much like a certain headache commercials, which cause me to switch channels as a matter of course. If repetition like that sells, the country is doomed. I will NEVER buy a product that causes what it purports to cure. I generally listen to news channels as a background to being on-line, so the re,ote is handy. I try to recond and fast forward shows I want to watch. I'd like to be able to pay $.25 cents each and get commercial free viewings of shows.
I keep hearing what sounds like a distant ring of a cell phone in many different commercials, as sort of partial faint background music. I wonder if they are doing that to grab awareness where interest lives not ? It's very annoying, much like a certain headache commercials, which cause me to switch channels as a matter of course. If repetition like that sells, the country is doomed. I will NEVER buy a product that causes what it purports to cure. I generally listen to news channels as a background to being on-line, so the re,ote is handy. I try to recond and fast forward shows I want to watch. I'd like to be able to pay $.25 cents each and get commercial free viewings of shows.
North Korea, Worst Case Scenario
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When I found out that the bomb was less than one kiloton, I chuckled and wondered if Kim ILL Jyong had just set off a 500,000 lb firecracker of convention weapons. Having slept on it, I realized a much nastier situation. The estimates so far have been that North Korea sits on 6 nukes. The assumption going with that is that they are of at least Hiroshima size, or 15,000,000 lbs of TNT.
Looking at it from ILL's side, he would be much smarter to design and test a much smaller weapon, but have 180 of them. What's more, he wants something that fits on his Taepo Dong missles, also a requirement for a smaller bomb. Let's assume now that he has tested such a warhead, and it works.
"Dear China,
Keep the oil and food coming, and STAY THE F&^%$ OUT, or be barraged by these itty bitty nukes."
"Dear Japan,
We could use a lot of Kubota tractors and Toyota SUV's, and a few Geishas too. Tokyo's only 500 miles away."
"Dear USA,
We've already got a tramp steamer to take our cargo container to a remote port in Venezuawala [sp] Hugo will allow us to play the old shell game, and send it to ???? Chicago on a 747 cargo plane. We'd like lots of fresh fruits and veggies, no E. Coli 7059:H7, please. After all, you're the one's who pointed out how we are starving our people.
Thank-you all very much,
sincerely,
Kim ILL Jyong"
Suffice it to say, most Americans and the rest of the world have completely lost sight of the magnitude of nuclear weapons. Even a 500,000 lb nuke represents a damage potential way way way GREATER than 9/11. There is absolutely nothing other than a first strike by China or the USA to stop him from doing this. Much like the gunman in Amish country, who gave the cops 2 seconds to go away, Kim Ill Jyong can tell the USA to remove its fleets and plane within 24 hours, or lose Tokyo. Japan is our largest overseas trading partner.
We are obviously dealing with a totally mad, but smart person here. He is just as whacked out as Hitler. He has one in every 20 citizens in the Army. He has to sleep, he likes to party. How much intelligence do we have about the locations of missle launchers and weapons caches in an area about the size of the northern half of California ? I agree with Bush here, this guy has got to go, by any means necessary, but not at the cost of vaporizing North Korea, if for no other reason than the fallout going to Japan, Russia, and China. Aerisoling tons of LSD and a couple of EMF anti electronics nukes, followed by Navy SEALS ? Been watching to many Schwartzenegger movies I guess.
When I taught at Lowell High School in San Francisco, a highly rated public school for the gifted, I noticed that within a predominently Asian school population, the Koreans seems to be, at least in some cases, more inclined towards a "chip on the shoulder" mentality, and a sense of "toughness," and a "readiness to fight." If this is truly a representative snapshot of the culture's "personality," an "ILL" wind blows from the North...
I would love a photograph of Kim (5'2") and Osama (6'5") side by side. Almost a mini-me moment !
When I found out that the bomb was less than one kiloton, I chuckled and wondered if Kim ILL Jyong had just set off a 500,000 lb firecracker of convention weapons. Having slept on it, I realized a much nastier situation. The estimates so far have been that North Korea sits on 6 nukes. The assumption going with that is that they are of at least Hiroshima size, or 15,000,000 lbs of TNT.
Looking at it from ILL's side, he would be much smarter to design and test a much smaller weapon, but have 180 of them. What's more, he wants something that fits on his Taepo Dong missles, also a requirement for a smaller bomb. Let's assume now that he has tested such a warhead, and it works.
"Dear China,
Keep the oil and food coming, and STAY THE F&^%$ OUT, or be barraged by these itty bitty nukes."
"Dear Japan,
We could use a lot of Kubota tractors and Toyota SUV's, and a few Geishas too. Tokyo's only 500 miles away."
"Dear USA,
We've already got a tramp steamer to take our cargo container to a remote port in Venezuawala [sp] Hugo will allow us to play the old shell game, and send it to ???? Chicago on a 747 cargo plane. We'd like lots of fresh fruits and veggies, no E. Coli 7059:H7, please. After all, you're the one's who pointed out how we are starving our people.
Thank-you all very much,
sincerely,
Kim ILL Jyong"
Suffice it to say, most Americans and the rest of the world have completely lost sight of the magnitude of nuclear weapons. Even a 500,000 lb nuke represents a damage potential way way way GREATER than 9/11. There is absolutely nothing other than a first strike by China or the USA to stop him from doing this. Much like the gunman in Amish country, who gave the cops 2 seconds to go away, Kim Ill Jyong can tell the USA to remove its fleets and plane within 24 hours, or lose Tokyo. Japan is our largest overseas trading partner.
We are obviously dealing with a totally mad, but smart person here. He is just as whacked out as Hitler. He has one in every 20 citizens in the Army. He has to sleep, he likes to party. How much intelligence do we have about the locations of missle launchers and weapons caches in an area about the size of the northern half of California ? I agree with Bush here, this guy has got to go, by any means necessary, but not at the cost of vaporizing North Korea, if for no other reason than the fallout going to Japan, Russia, and China. Aerisoling tons of LSD and a couple of EMF anti electronics nukes, followed by Navy SEALS ? Been watching to many Schwartzenegger movies I guess.
When I taught at Lowell High School in San Francisco, a highly rated public school for the gifted, I noticed that within a predominently Asian school population, the Koreans seems to be, at least in some cases, more inclined towards a "chip on the shoulder" mentality, and a sense of "toughness," and a "readiness to fight." If this is truly a representative snapshot of the culture's "personality," an "ILL" wind blows from the North...
I would love a photograph of Kim (5'2") and Osama (6'5") side by side. Almost a mini-me moment !
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Kill Spam !
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If you own your own website, pick one with lots of email hosting.
Due to SPAM inbound, I recently gave up an email addy I've used for 10 years. I went to a whole series of addys, (I can list up to 250 with my webhosting account. Each one is keyed to a particular company or grouping of people, or even one per individual. Eudora makes it easy to add lots of email connections.
For example: My bank might be BofA2006@mydomain.com. My browser addy is mozilla2006@mydomain.com, and is often used for one time emails, where I expect at most one or two replies. My family and friends use DFAM2006@mydomain.com and DFRD2006@mydomain.com. Note that they all contain the 2006. Family and friends know to change this over to 2007 next year, if the 2006 version is dropped due to SPAM.
Individualizing the emails make it possible to see which sender is compromised or selling their email lists. If I suddenly get mail from appliance manufacturers, and it comes in on my BestBuy email (Best2006@mydomain.com) then I can scream at them, and replace that one addy, without disturbing anybody else in my cyberverse.
It is now three months into this experiment and I have received 0 nada zip no SPAM. In fact, some days I wonder if my email is working, and send myself something just to be sure.
If you own your own website, pick one with lots of email hosting.
Due to SPAM inbound, I recently gave up an email addy I've used for 10 years. I went to a whole series of addys, (I can list up to 250 with my webhosting account. Each one is keyed to a particular company or grouping of people, or even one per individual. Eudora makes it easy to add lots of email connections.
For example: My bank might be BofA2006@mydomain.com. My browser addy is mozilla2006@mydomain.com, and is often used for one time emails, where I expect at most one or two replies. My family and friends use DFAM2006@mydomain.com and DFRD2006@mydomain.com. Note that they all contain the 2006. Family and friends know to change this over to 2007 next year, if the 2006 version is dropped due to SPAM.
Individualizing the emails make it possible to see which sender is compromised or selling their email lists. If I suddenly get mail from appliance manufacturers, and it comes in on my BestBuy email (Best2006@mydomain.com) then I can scream at them, and replace that one addy, without disturbing anybody else in my cyberverse.
It is now three months into this experiment and I have received 0 nada zip no SPAM. In fact, some days I wonder if my email is working, and send myself something just to be sure.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Moral Majority, Wherefore Art Thou ?
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A reverse endorsement of the party of the Righteous. Can't even sanction their own, even when the evidence is totally overwhelming (when will Foley be arrested?), still trying to "save" the November election. Two years ago I stated that the Dems/Others might be a little slower out of the gate in embracing the Internet, but that they would come on just as strong, if not stronger. I think we see that now. Pride and smugness came before the Fall, once again.
A reverse endorsement of the party of the Righteous. Can't even sanction their own, even when the evidence is totally overwhelming (when will Foley be arrested?), still trying to "save" the November election. Two years ago I stated that the Dems/Others might be a little slower out of the gate in embracing the Internet, but that they would come on just as strong, if not stronger. I think we see that now. Pride and smugness came before the Fall, once again.
Problems with DirecTV, CSPAN
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At 102 I get 8 news channels, but no CSPAN. Apparently business and weather trumps politics in the world of Rupert Murdock. Also I've noticed that Fox News, other self promotional channels, and even the Kidsmix is sticky to itself. You cannot choose the next channel higher or lower using the arrow keys, you have to go to the List Button to get "unstuck." And regardless of what you are watching on 102 big screen, it always goes back to Fox news when you go back button to 102. Yes, if you don't have DirecTV, this is gobbilty-gook.
CSPAN on-air mentions on-line polls, and you go looking for them, and they are nowhere to be found. Washington Journal is excellent, but are there really that few independents in the country for their call-in shows ?
At 102 I get 8 news channels, but no CSPAN. Apparently business and weather trumps politics in the world of Rupert Murdock. Also I've noticed that Fox News, other self promotional channels, and even the Kidsmix is sticky to itself. You cannot choose the next channel higher or lower using the arrow keys, you have to go to the List Button to get "unstuck." And regardless of what you are watching on 102 big screen, it always goes back to Fox news when you go back button to 102. Yes, if you don't have DirecTV, this is gobbilty-gook.
CSPAN on-air mentions on-line polls, and you go looking for them, and they are nowhere to be found. Washington Journal is excellent, but are there really that few independents in the country for their call-in shows ?
Politics Unusual
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Another reply in another forum, which I like.
George Washington warned against the formation of political parties in his farewell address. When the Constitution was written, the concept of political parties didn't get serious consideration. Arguments on topics at the Constituional Conventions were conducted on the merits of each concept, rather than being dividied up among stereotyped party lines.
As I pointed out earlier, stereotyping is intellectual laziness, or desperation, upon dealing with the massive amounts of data generated by 6,300,000,000 people, living on a planet of fragility, with already overcrowded areas of desirability. Even if only one in a million people is of significance, that's still 6,300 people we are supposed to be aware of. Can you name even 1/2 of the countries of the world, let alone locate and describe them ? Most likely not, but you do know those of economic significance, but most Americans don't. This is true despite the direct economic impact of the rest of the world upon our daily lives. "Hey man, I just want to get a good, high paying job and party on the weekends!" Most USA high schoolers are clueless about how much they need to know to offer services that will generate the cash they think is "rightfully theirs."
I consider myself a Green Libertarian first, and a Democrat second, and have been listed as everything possible except American Independent on the voter rolls, depending on my political goals. I get mailers from everybody, thinking I'm "one of theirs." My dad always said that it was important to read all sides, so I subscribe to townhall.org, as well various science sites, and moveon.org.
To me, the war absolutely needs to be won against terrorism, but I have very different notions about how to do that most effectively, and safely for all concerned (does not preclude the use of Nukes, BTW, if a meaningful target exists). My ideas are well outside the Democratic box, as well as outside the Republican box, and I resent somebody who "watermelons" me, a reference to a certain group that is still discriminated against. I'm also a member of "A Preposition is Something U should Never End Your Sentences With." My "box" is a tesseract.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessaract
I love the latest Cal Thomas column in which he blames the loose morals of society and the Democrats for Foley's downfall. I love this comment on his column:
" double cappuccino writes: Tuesday, October, 03, 2006 6:43 AM
You mean Cal ever HAD a moral compass?
Really?
Because here, he's just flexing his same old double standard as he did with DeLay (moaning about the culture, not the personal responsibility):
If it's them, it's horrible! We need to live by fixed standards, not just the vagaries of the culture!
If it's us, well, you know, look at the culture! What a tawdry culture!
And if it's us covering it up, which is the real story here, well, look at the culture!
WHAT a phony."
It's fun to watch the Republicans do all they can to distance themselves from Foley. Is this politcally motivated by the press ? Or do they exist to sell papers ? Was the chase after Monica/Clinton likewise motivated ? Did not the Republicans jump all over it, playing moral high ground pigpile ??? Yup, Yup, Yup ! Turnabouts fair play, I suppose.
And of course, should Hillary run, the Republicans will "forget" all the stuff about not harming Foley family members' privacy, which they espouse now, and blame Hillary for Bill's transgressions. In fact, even in the middle of the Foley event, I'm hearing talkshow call-ins on CSPAN defaming Hillary for Clinton's transgressions. Like she is to blame for it all, paint her with the same brush, but shut up about Foley, it might hurt his family. Republicans, at least some of them, have the moral consistancy of decayed newspapers in a rain barrel.
I frankly think that until a child is 18 years old, it is hands off for all, and I abhore NAMBLY or what the man-boy love organization is. Childhood should be left to the children, until they are 18, by which time they have had enough time to figure out their own options, learning/observing from family first, and then other socialization organizations. Each human owns his or her own thoughts. "Die Gedanken sind Frei."
My condolences to the families, Amish and otherwise, which is just about everybody who's heard the story, for the actions of the totally undectable madman. How many more maniacs like that one do we have hiding out there ? Does the outing of this one mean that more will follow ? I sure hope not.
Too many nuts, not enough cases....
Another reply in another forum, which I like.
George Washington warned against the formation of political parties in his farewell address. When the Constitution was written, the concept of political parties didn't get serious consideration. Arguments on topics at the Constituional Conventions were conducted on the merits of each concept, rather than being dividied up among stereotyped party lines.
As I pointed out earlier, stereotyping is intellectual laziness, or desperation, upon dealing with the massive amounts of data generated by 6,300,000,000 people, living on a planet of fragility, with already overcrowded areas of desirability. Even if only one in a million people is of significance, that's still 6,300 people we are supposed to be aware of. Can you name even 1/2 of the countries of the world, let alone locate and describe them ? Most likely not, but you do know those of economic significance, but most Americans don't. This is true despite the direct economic impact of the rest of the world upon our daily lives. "Hey man, I just want to get a good, high paying job and party on the weekends!" Most USA high schoolers are clueless about how much they need to know to offer services that will generate the cash they think is "rightfully theirs."
I consider myself a Green Libertarian first, and a Democrat second, and have been listed as everything possible except American Independent on the voter rolls, depending on my political goals. I get mailers from everybody, thinking I'm "one of theirs." My dad always said that it was important to read all sides, so I subscribe to townhall.org, as well various science sites, and moveon.org.
To me, the war absolutely needs to be won against terrorism, but I have very different notions about how to do that most effectively, and safely for all concerned (does not preclude the use of Nukes, BTW, if a meaningful target exists). My ideas are well outside the Democratic box, as well as outside the Republican box, and I resent somebody who "watermelons" me, a reference to a certain group that is still discriminated against. I'm also a member of "A Preposition is Something U should Never End Your Sentences With." My "box" is a tesseract.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessaract
I love the latest Cal Thomas column in which he blames the loose morals of society and the Democrats for Foley's downfall. I love this comment on his column:
" double cappuccino writes: Tuesday, October, 03, 2006 6:43 AM
You mean Cal ever HAD a moral compass?
Really?
Because here, he's just flexing his same old double standard as he did with DeLay (moaning about the culture, not the personal responsibility):
If it's them, it's horrible! We need to live by fixed standards, not just the vagaries of the culture!
If it's us, well, you know, look at the culture! What a tawdry culture!
And if it's us covering it up, which is the real story here, well, look at the culture!
WHAT a phony."
It's fun to watch the Republicans do all they can to distance themselves from Foley. Is this politcally motivated by the press ? Or do they exist to sell papers ? Was the chase after Monica/Clinton likewise motivated ? Did not the Republicans jump all over it, playing moral high ground pigpile ??? Yup, Yup, Yup ! Turnabouts fair play, I suppose.
And of course, should Hillary run, the Republicans will "forget" all the stuff about not harming Foley family members' privacy, which they espouse now, and blame Hillary for Bill's transgressions. In fact, even in the middle of the Foley event, I'm hearing talkshow call-ins on CSPAN defaming Hillary for Clinton's transgressions. Like she is to blame for it all, paint her with the same brush, but shut up about Foley, it might hurt his family. Republicans, at least some of them, have the moral consistancy of decayed newspapers in a rain barrel.
I frankly think that until a child is 18 years old, it is hands off for all, and I abhore NAMBLY or what the man-boy love organization is. Childhood should be left to the children, until they are 18, by which time they have had enough time to figure out their own options, learning/observing from family first, and then other socialization organizations. Each human owns his or her own thoughts. "Die Gedanken sind Frei."
My condolences to the families, Amish and otherwise, which is just about everybody who's heard the story, for the actions of the totally undectable madman. How many more maniacs like that one do we have hiding out there ? Does the outing of this one mean that more will follow ? I sure hope not.
Too many nuts, not enough cases....
Sunday, October 01, 2006
13 year olds with an interest in evolution and ecology..
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just about never happen. A counselor at U.C. Davis comments on a new freshman with rather high intelligence. It's a good school too. My younger daughter is in her second year of medical school there, and doing well. She was up here last weekend for a breather after finals.
I don't know if I can say as much for a certain BYU student, charging into law school, his 45's blazing at imaginary stalkers, while being covered by the latest remote helicopter airborn Nikon with a 70 to 200 lens. Nice ED glass and a fast f2.8 lens as well. Wonder how it compares to the regular 35mm fixed 200 ED. I've always preferred fixed focal lengths myself, usually sharper with greater color saturation.
Reminds me of one of my favorite stories. I was at the Golden Gate Bridge to take a picture of our family brick (donate $75, get your names on a brick, yes Marla's there too) when up pulls a tourist bus full of Japanese business men. They came out in order of age and rank apparently. First came the young guys, with their Fujica's and Pentaxes, then came middle management, all decked out with Canon F1's and Nikon F3's. Finally, out came the head of the company, the oldest guy there. Slowly he came down the steps, and strapped to the middle of his chest was a nice, shiny, new....Leica.
Maybe young BYU should go to work for Helinet. For someone whose list of books includes 1984 and Animal Farm to claim no political bent is for someone to be blind to his own nature. For someone not to know that a house and a kid top most womens' secret lists, is rather immature as well, but at 25, he's got plenty of time to learn. Or maybe he already knows how to solve all the world's problems....heh, heh, heh.
just about never happen. A counselor at U.C. Davis comments on a new freshman with rather high intelligence. It's a good school too. My younger daughter is in her second year of medical school there, and doing well. She was up here last weekend for a breather after finals.
I don't know if I can say as much for a certain BYU student, charging into law school, his 45's blazing at imaginary stalkers, while being covered by the latest remote helicopter airborn Nikon with a 70 to 200 lens. Nice ED glass and a fast f2.8 lens as well. Wonder how it compares to the regular 35mm fixed 200 ED. I've always preferred fixed focal lengths myself, usually sharper with greater color saturation.
Reminds me of one of my favorite stories. I was at the Golden Gate Bridge to take a picture of our family brick (donate $75, get your names on a brick, yes Marla's there too) when up pulls a tourist bus full of Japanese business men. They came out in order of age and rank apparently. First came the young guys, with their Fujica's and Pentaxes, then came middle management, all decked out with Canon F1's and Nikon F3's. Finally, out came the head of the company, the oldest guy there. Slowly he came down the steps, and strapped to the middle of his chest was a nice, shiny, new....Leica.
Maybe young BYU should go to work for Helinet. For someone whose list of books includes 1984 and Animal Farm to claim no political bent is for someone to be blind to his own nature. For someone not to know that a house and a kid top most womens' secret lists, is rather immature as well, but at 25, he's got plenty of time to learn. Or maybe he already knows how to solve all the world's problems....heh, heh, heh.
Note to Coupon Makers Everywhere, and Paid Lairs
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If the expiration date is not large enough for me to read without a magnifying glass, I toss coupons out regardless of how otherwise inviting.
Watched the President's counsil (attorney) on Meet the Press this morning. He was directly asked if Bush had honored a general's request for 450,000 troops, and if not, why not. He went every which way with tales about Iraqi police forces not coming up to expectations and other "unforeseen" events, but the interviewer stuck to his guns. He finally said the reason the President didn't send more troops was because the left wing was arguing to bring the troops home. So, in effect, he compromised (a good thing) and the vision was muddled by the left (a bad thing) and it is not his fault that he didn't stay the course and honor his own words and promises to the generals and the American public. "The devils made me do it!" Bart Simpson couldn't have said it better.
If the expiration date is not large enough for me to read without a magnifying glass, I toss coupons out regardless of how otherwise inviting.
Watched the President's counsil (attorney) on Meet the Press this morning. He was directly asked if Bush had honored a general's request for 450,000 troops, and if not, why not. He went every which way with tales about Iraqi police forces not coming up to expectations and other "unforeseen" events, but the interviewer stuck to his guns. He finally said the reason the President didn't send more troops was because the left wing was arguing to bring the troops home. So, in effect, he compromised (a good thing) and the vision was muddled by the left (a bad thing) and it is not his fault that he didn't stay the course and honor his own words and promises to the generals and the American public. "The devils made me do it!" Bart Simpson couldn't have said it better.
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