People die

"People die, love does not.  That is one of the agonies of loving.  Love refuses to understand death."
Karod the Poet

It violates causality!

Have you heard the joke about the tachyon?

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Ceremonial Bushwah

I was going to rant about President Obama sending Joe Biden to Arlington for Memorial Day, while he spends a well deserved weekend in Chicago.

When you care enough to send the very best you send your second banana in your stead. 

But then Richard Fernandez did it for me and he did in a very non-ranty way and it is an actual pleasure to read.

So go read 'Memory and Survival'.


Besides - he's going to lay a wreath at Lincoln Cemetry.  And hey, that's okay.  One national cemetary is just like another.  Just a buncha dead guys in a stone garden.  The headstones look the same.  Hey lay a wreath here, lay one there, it's all the same.  Just some ceremonial foolishness - hand salute, lay the wreath, hand on the heart, moment of silence then back in the limo.  Who gives a fuck, really.

Tell you what: just to keep the Commander In Chief from being bothered with trotting out to Arlington or Lincoln or where-the-fuck ever ... next year we can lean a headstone against the fence in his backyard.  Monday when he feels up to it he can mosey outside, toss on a wreath and call it a day.

Yes Gunny, that is bad ass

From the video description: Against GySgt Wallgreens request I recorded his speach in secret..... the result is this awesome video with the last words we heard before boarding helos and heading into the heart of Marjeh. Have you ever wondered how Marines get pumped up? This video will show you how true leaders inspire their Marines to do the unthinkable.

And that ain't no crap, Suzy Sunshine.

Where do we get men such as these? Damfino. But they're made at MCRD.

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Anarchy

Utah Phillips: Anarchy (YouTube)

Oh so many times he stood up in front of Federal District Judge Ritter, that old fart, and he’d be picked up for picketing illegally and he never pled innocent or guilty; he pled anarchy. And Ritter’d say, “What’s an anarchist, Hennacy?” And Ammon would say, “Why an anarchist is anybody who doesn’t need a cop to tell him what to do." Kind of a fundamentalist anarchist. And Ritter’d say, “But Ammon, you broke the law, what about that?” And Ammon’d say, “Ah, judge, your damn laws ... the good people don’t need ‘em, and the bad people don’t obey ‘em, so what use are they?"

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Clearing Tabs

Steyn: We're too broke to be this stupid

You know how it is when you’re at the mall and someone rattles a collection box under your nose and you’re not sure where it’s going but it’s probably for Darfur or Rwanda or Hoogivsastan. Whatever. You’re dropping a buck or two in the tin for the privilege of not having to think about it. For the more ideologically committed, there’s always the awareness-raising rock concert: it’s something to do with Bono and debt forgiveness, whatever that means, but let’s face it, going to the park for eight hours of celebrity caterwauling beats having to wrap your head around Afro-Marxist economics. The modern welfare state operates on the same principle: since the Second World War, the hard-working middle classes have transferred historically unprecedented amounts of money to the unproductive sector in order not to have to think about it. But so what? We were rich enough that we could afford to be stupid.

Timmer: Another, Really?!! Moment

On the White House Blog, the title of the post that announces the release of the strategy is, and I couldn’t make this up myself if I wanted to:

“A BLUEPRINT FOR PURSUING THE WORLD THAT WE SEEK.”

What amazes me is that we all know that there were meetings about this. There was brain-storming. If nothing else, this administration knows the value of a well-turned phrase so they WORK at it. THIS is what they came up with. It’s the best they could do. So basically, they’re not even doing the image thing very well anymore.

Sgt. Mom: Tales of Texas: Lexington on the Quadalupe

Farcical, anticlimactic and slightly ridiculous as the “Come and Take It Fight” was – it was still the spark that set off serious and organized resistance among the Texians. And within six months, the war which threatened would become all too real and all too tragic, especially for Gonzales – which eventually suffered the loss of a good portion of leading citizens - and even the physical town itself.

Luck

“Luck is not chance, it's toil. Fortune's expensive smile is earned.” - Emily Dickinson

Neobarbarians

"These are homemade barbarians. Workers and peasants who revolted to seize and divide the wealth and then found they'd smashed the means of production and killed off all the technical brains. Survivors on planets hit during the Interstellar Wars . . . who lost the machinery of civilization. Followers of political leaders on local-dictatorship planets. Companies of mercenaries thrown out of employment and living by pillage. Religious fanatics following self-anointed prophets."

Space Viking, p. 12, by H. Beam Piper

I want to grow up and be a ... Nuclear Gas-Well Fire Fighter

In a Heinleinesque future we'll never see ...


this is an actual title on someone's org chart.

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To Infinity and Beyond

Whiskey and Car Keys: Til death do you part ...

In today’s society the idea of lifelong love and marriage is at best childish, and at worst fatal to the development of the individual.

To each their own.  But he's wrong.

With my wife I have an enduring relationship that allows the both of us to grow as individuals.  We have a partnership, a relationship, a thing that will last to the grave.  And beyond.

With her I am complete. Apart, I am not.

I refuse to believe that ours is a unique situation.  This ... thing ... is available to anyone who cares to work at it.

Saint Philomena

Spent a few minutes here, with the family, today.

In the shrine, in the church, there was something.  Could be magnetic whoozits futzing with my brain.  Could be my monkey brain flooding my nervous system with spurious junk because this was An Important Place. 

Leaving the above as possibilities ... what it was, was the Holy Spirit, or Saint Philomena.  They're trying to tell me something.

What this is .. man that might take a few years to figure out.  Got some ideas.  Gonna think and mediate and pray on it.

Me 'n the DMV

"Smile," said the nice lady.

I turned on my social smile.

"... or not." she continued.

What?  I looked at my new license.  I'm not smiling, I'm smirking.

This might explain some things.

Look At Yourself After Watching This

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William Jennings Bryan was a loser

Granny: 'Remember what William Jennings Bryan said, 'Fight hard, but fight clean!''

Jethro: 'But, you ain't fightin' clean, Granny!'

Granny: 'Course I ain't! William Jennings Bryan was a loser!'

We don't take kindly to ...

"If the Islamists want us to to stop mocking (or even questioning) Mohammed, they can achieve this goal quite simply: Just go away and leave us alone. Don't bother us, and we won't bother you. Seriously, 99% of non-Muslims don't give a good goddamn about Mohammed one way or the other, and we'd gladly ignore him and his followers until the end of time -- if they'd just stop trying to boss us around. But if someone comes to our safe haven and tries to impose a repressive or restrictive rule on us, then that is the exact rule we're going to flout until the interlopers learn their lesson: We don't take kindly to bullshit medieval religious oppression in these parts." -- Zombie » The New Free Speech Movement

What he said.

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Other fine imports include Guinness and the Dropkick Murphys

Boycotts are awesome.  A very American [1] institution.  Economic freedom rocks!

 Until the boycotted fire back.  Arizona Corporation Commission member Gary Pierce to the City of Los Angeles

If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation.

I am confident that Arizona’s utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona’s economy.

I bet Los Angeles would miss 25% of it's electric power waaay more than Arizona will miss the revenue Los Angeles sends to Arizona.

[1] Yes, the boycott was invented in Ireland.  So what?

It'll be a great day when the future goes away

For we have seen the future - we have by now centuries of experience of the future - and we know it doesn't work. It'll be a great day when the future goes away! It'll be a great day of liberation, when the armies, the functionaries, the camp-followers, the carpetbaggers of the future go away and leave us in peace to get on with the rest of our lives!

From 'The Star Fraction' by Ken Macleod

God watches out for fools and children

This weekend Teen-Aged Boy did various things that boys must be allowed to do.  Including but not limited to;

Operating a hand saw. Rode a bike without using his hands. Climbed trees.

He then came inside and cut his big toe open - very badly - on a plastic dog food dish.

God watches out for fools and children.  But He sure does have a sense of humor about the process.

I'm human. Take THAT little grey men

Your result for Are You Part Space Alien? Test...

Here are your scores...

You scored 28% Alien Hybrid.

If your score is above 50% you more than likely have an ancestor that is an alien. The higher the score the stronger your connection is to your alien family. For many of you this explains so much.

You scored 72% Human.

If your score for being human is higher than your score as a hybrid then you have no fears ... except for possibly being taken over by the aliens that are invading the planet. Good luck.

You scored 0% possibility of having been an alien abductee.

If you scored 30% or more it is very possible that you have not only been visited by aliens you have also unwittingly joined them on their space ship and were used as a human guinea pig. If your score for abduction is higher than your score for being an alien hybrid, chances are that you have been injected with alien DNA in an experiment. Lucky you!

You scored 40% possible Indigo Child.

If you scored 90% or more on this section you may want to explore the possibility of being an Indigo Child. This does not mean that you are an alien hybrid. According to the people who help and study these types of people it is merely a new evolution of new human beings that are evolving in order to help save the planet and protect our species. Move forward, Obi Wan, you're our only hope.

Take Are You Part Space Alien? Test at HelloQuizzy

Pan-Am Railways

Look. Double-take.   It's a boxcar.  This one is dressed up in Pan-Am blue with the Pan-Am logo big as day on the side.  Parked on a siding in Neenah, Wisconsin.

Not the boxcar I saw. Pic from here.

Pan-Am has been out of business since 1991.

And they .. had a railroad?  Vertical integration used to be the thing. Why not?  My imagination played a scene;

Her and her kin were sold to another carrier, repainted as a matter of course.  She never found her way to a paint shop  Lost in the shuffle.  Nineteen years pass as the last Pan-Am liveried boxcar rolls and rattles around the United States.  Guys in yards everywhere keep an eye out for her.  When Pan Am rolls around it's a nice break in routine, something you tell your wife about after your shift is over.

The truth is not as exciting, I learned.  A railroad company bought the naming rights to Pan-Am four years ago, is all.

The Problem

Blunt Object: Offensive Foul

The problem isn’t the War On Drugs.  The problem isn’t patrol rifles, Class III vests, or Kevlar helmets.  The problem isn’t SWAT teams per se.  The problem is that we’ve decided that police ought to be engaging in offensive operations against private citizens as a matter of routine.

What he says.

Nag in Chief

Michelle Obama on the campaign trail

"Barack Obama will require you to work. (Youtube ahoy) He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."

and the Mrs. on using her First Lady bully pulpit to hector us because we're lard butts ...

"No one gets off the hook on this one from governments to schools, corporations to non-profits all the way down to families sitting around their dinner table.

The President as a motivation coach. Michelle as nag-in-chief.

To live in America in 2010 is to be bombarded by advice 24x7. Smoking is bad. Eating too much is sub-optimal. Eating the wrong foods makes your breath stinky and your bowels act funny. Get out of your comfort zone. Push yourself for excellence. Engage. Learn. Do this .. don't do that ... can't you read the signs? Maaaan?

Shit. We know everything you're gonna say before you even say it. Go do something productive and leave the rest of us the hell alone.

We don't need your advice.

Inevitable

Inevitable is a satirical board game set in a slapstick dystopian future. Every play is designed to provide 2-6 players with hours of quality entertainment, danger, violence, betrayal, mayhem, and laughs. It contains a robust amount of high explosives and dead things. It was designed by people who think Orwell's 1984 is a comedy and the Necronomicon is a romance.

Based on the reaction here at S4C to the graphics ('Mauled by a Polar Bear' 'Mail a box of dead raccoons') and the setup (zombies and a super computer competing) they've got a winner.

We are looking forward to this game very, very, much.

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Nice guy, would have been nice to have seen more of him

Fratellos Waterfront - Appleton, Wisconsin.
May 8, 2010.

The building was keen - it's a former electric plant from the turn of the 20th century.

The grub was very good.

The service was very, very, bad.

Oh, N*** was polite enough: personable, knew his trade. He just wasn't there very much. Had to flag him down for water. A wine menu was asked for, never appeared. The check was produced, tossed on the table - sans holder for the credit card - with a casual little 'here ya go'. And then off he went.

When one is presented with a bit of paper one is supposed to take it to the front. Which really confused the girl there who was all 'Your waiter handles that?' and we were all 'Well, he didn't' and then we explained a little bit to her, then a lot more to the manager and it took just about forever to get things worked out.

They made it good. Apologized just the right amount, comped some money off the bill for our trouble, gave us a certificate good for a few bucks off our next meal.

If there is a next meal. For those prices .... and be treated like an afterthought by the wait staff ... not in a big hurry to darken their door, ya' know?

Air Mobile

Tam on Operation Niwi, where the Germans went inventive with infantry and spotter planes ...
,

They rounded up almost every Fieseler Storch in the Luftwaffe and put them in a scratch squadron to train for the mission: 100 tiny planes delivering roughly 300 troops laden with antitank rifles to delay armored reinforcements, in two lifts, landing and taking off again from fields and country lanes. It would require precise timing and coordination. And they pulled it off, too.

'And what did you do in the war, Grand-papa?'

'Well little Hans, let me tell you about the time me and some other guys were stuffed into these little bitty airplanes and invented 'Air Mobile' Infantry ..'


Right up to the time Hitler went insane and invaded Russia, it must have been pretty cool to be in the Germany Army.

After that, of course, it was all cold and misery and Stalingrad and Kursk and Russians underfoot and so probably not as much fun.

Romantic Realist

"Dad, it's a shame you were in the Navy. It gives you romantic ideas."
"I think it's a shame, Duke, that you never had service. You're not realistic."

From 'Farnham's Freehold, by R.A. Heinlein

Atrocity Story

Atrocity Story

My mother-in-law and her family fled Seoul when the Inmun Gun came South. She was 10.

Wasn't it hard being on the road, leaving your home? she was asked once.

She looked hard at the questioner, trying to get through to them in her oh-so very polite way: "You don't understand. If we hadn't fled, we would have died."

This is not smoke up your butt, Suzy Sunshine

Seems that Mr. Shahzad not only had a bomb he had a rifle in the trunk of his car.

... all along he possessed a weapon that could have easily done extreme damage, one rapidly fired round at a time.

To Mr. Michael Wilson and Mr. William Rashbaum,

Gustav Hasford wrote in 'The Short Timers' ...

Sergeant Gerheim explains that it is important for us to understand that it is our killer instinct which must be harnessed if we expect to survive in combat. Our rifle is only a tool; it is a hard heart that kills.

Our will to kill must be focused the way our rifle focuses a firing pressure of fifty thousand pounds per square inch to propel a piece of lead. If our rifles are not properly cleaned the explosion will be improperly focused and our rifles will shatter. If our killer instincts are not clean and strong, we will hesitate at the moment of truth. We will not kill. We will become dead Marines. And then we will be in a world of shit because Marines are not allowed to die without permission; we are government property.

This is not cliche.  This is not something I pulled out of my ass to make a  point.  I am not obfuscating I am not shading my meaning I am not saying one thing while I mean another.  This, sunshine, is plain speaking:

The rifle is a tool.  The weapon is the shooter.

r/s

Me

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Rule 37

Alex Trebek is a man after my own heart

As they tape the end credits, the contestants stand on the stage next to Alex Trebek and engage in banter.  Alex asked me what kind of law I was involved with, and I said intellectual property. “That must be really interesting with the Internet and all, “ he said.  “Yes, the Internet and other things,” I replied, launching into a law professor shtick on the reasons intellectual property is interesting. He interrupted me: “Well, I think all you need to protect intellectual property is a good gun.”

Rule 37: There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'

Getting close to understanding something important

Presented without comment

You feel you’re getting close to understanding something important when you hear Valerie Jarrett, the President’s confidante and adviser, say of him: “He knows exactly how smart he is…. He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.”

The rich are not like you and me

Roman Polanski - I can stay silent no longer!

I have had my share of dramas and joys, as we all have, and I am not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life.  I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else.

Says the rich man who raped a child, fled the country and has been living a life of luxury ever since.

Beltaine

Merry Meet and Merry Part.

May Beltaine's fire burn in your heart.

May you find the whispers of the trees help you to think and feel and see. And as the sun rises in the sky may you feel the warmth inside you rise.

May your day be filled with true romance and your feet bring happiness of the dance.