Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sad sad news. Shari Pais, John's wife, passed away Monday. Her obituary is in the print version of today's Chronicle.
Posted 6:15 AM by whatley (2) comments
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
The recent reference to Lions and Roman spectacles echoed historical religious conflicts, including those between and among both Muslim and Christian extremists. In general spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates (the link goes to an article about the most recent Bush coronation). So too, were the Crusades between 1095 and 1291 largely based on appearance and political motivation. So, are we embarked on a new crusade in the full historical sense? A book by Rahul Mahajan, titled "New Crusade: The U.S. War on Terrorism" and published in March 2002 (six months after 9/11/2001) precurses the events of the past 5 years in terms and illustrations similar to the historical spectacles of Roman and Christian Crusader spectacle. After correcting for the viewpoint bias due to US cultural isolation from the ROW (rest of the world), it is not surprising that political interests (read to include overt religious interests in many countries) pursue opposition to US policy and practice. The United States enforces "separation of church and state" while founding the government on religion, coining "in God we trust" and pledging to remain "one nation under God" symbolized by a striped cloth banner. There is a certain delusional dualism in the practice that smacks of sleight-of-mind.
Posted 6:02 AM by Andy (0) comments
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Monday, May 28, 2007
Your tax dollars at work (from the AP via Yahoo):
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Alabama Department of Homeland Security has taken down a Web site it operated that included gay rights and anti-war organizations in a list of groups that could include terrorists.We're gonna need more lions.
The Web site identified different types of terrorists, and included a list of groups it believed could spawn terrorists. The list also included environmentalists, animal rights advocates and abortion opponents.
Posted 5:35 PM by whatley (0) comments
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Sunday, May 27, 2007
Tonight our Public Broadcasting System (y'know, the network supported by our tax dollars, except when they're shilling for CitiBank and ADM) is broadcasting a National Memorial Day Concert. An "annual tribute to America's military personnel"! They gots lots of people in the audience. The camera pans the crowd and I can't help but look for Paul Wolfowitz. I mean damn, if you're talking "America's military personnel" who's more important than him? Oops, I forgot, he resigned in disgrace. Well, how's about Don Rumsfeld? Oops, ditto. Wait, wait, Colin Powell! No, he didn't resign in disgrace (well, come to think of it, yes he did) but doesn't seem to have the balls to show up tonight either. At least not in the crowd. Probably drinking 30 year old scotch somewhere with Paul and Don. Cowardly fuckers.
I got an idea for the concert next year. How's about we skip Natalie Cole singing "God Bless America" and have an old time roman spectacle instead? I'm thinking Paul and Don and Colin with, I dunno, how about lions? Big hungry ones! No, thats too good for them and, come to think of it, lions might not want to stoop that low. Aargh!
Ok, ok. I got pissed off there for a second. Thank you for letting me vent. But Damn!
Posted 8:23 PM by whatley (1) comments
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Friday, May 25, 2007
Bridgeport Ferry (ferry, not fairy - get your mind out of the gutter) terrorist french fry (freedom fry?) threat aborted! Whatever you do, don't look at this picture 'cause it'll get you busted!
Went ahead and looked at it didn't you? Um.., excuse me for a second, I have to call somebody. You just wait right there OK?
Posted 10:16 AM by whatley (0) comments
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Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Oh lordy, I guess life does imitate art.
A few years ago The Onion (y'know, the satire site that's been around forever) did a spoof on the law suit happy RIAA. The spoof was about them suing radio stations for giving away free music.
And lo, it came to pass.
Posted 4:00 PM by whatley (0) comments
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Quick! Before they hit Ebay! Live Raccoons! As many as you want! Pick-Up (and I do mean pick-up) only!
Warning: Must be able to crawl into small spaces. Bring gloves - heavy ones. Rabies shots recommended. Nerves of steel optional.
Posted 2:26 PM by whatley (2) comments
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Monday, May 21, 2007
There is a drink in Germany called Baerenfang. It is honey with alcohol (70 proof). Legend is that you put it out for a wild bear and then easily kill the bear while it is drunk. Since there are no wild bears left in Germany the poor hunters now have to drink the stuff themselves.
Here is the recipe for Baerenfang:
"350 g blutenhonig in 250 ml warmem (nicht kochendem) wasser auflosen. 250 ml athanol (90 %, aus der apotheke / darauf achten, dab er nicht vergallt ist!), zwei zimstangen & zwei nelken dazugeben. das ganze an einem hellen ort zehn tage lang ausziehen lassen und taglich gut schutteln. abseihen und in eine gut verschliebare flasche fullen. je langer der barenfang steht, desto milder wird er ubrigens."
Posted 1:12 AM by Andy (0) comments
Comments:
Why is tobacco so addictive? Nobody argues that the practice is harmful. Nobody denies that the expense is painful. About half of the retail cost (over the "factory" price) is due to taxation and middle-man markup. No one disagrees that there is very little control over what the processors add into the mix, since anything that is not expressly prohibited is fair game. There are hundreds of compounds added by manufacturers. What to do? Go organic. Get a hobby that helps to pay itself back. Grow your own tobacco. All you will have to worry about is random acts of roaming-animal fertilization. And the sheriff's deputies won't be raiding your little personal plot (unless you try to go commercial). Just don't brag to envious smokers about your stash. They may slither in of a moonless night like marauding raccoons and reap an early harvest. You may not quit smoking, but the growing plants may help to equalize personal carbon emissions and to reduce fuel used in transporting the commercial products, while the drying leaves can act as a natural insect repellent.
Posted 12:39 AM by Andy (4) comments
Comments:
- Caution! Raccoons will eat your nose!
- Fortunate that they stayed in your attic. Dog presence may have helped you. A neighbor once went away for a summer trip. When he returned, the place was wrecked. Cupboard doors ripped off. Bedding shredded. Soot and ashes all over. Draperies torn down. Flour, molasses, other foodstuffs strewn and tracked everywhere. Raccoons got in through the outside ash clean-out door beneath the masonry fireplace, through the fireplace floor ash dump, and into the house, where they held sway for weeks.
Post a Comment- Let's see now:
Bedding shredded - check
Soot and ashes all over - check
Draperies torn down - check
Flour, molasses - don't have
Other foodstuffs strewn and tracked everywhere - check
No, all that's pretty much the norm around here.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
As most of you know I have a two story cedar sided home. There's no attic as such, just a crawlspace under the roof peak. It's pretty well ventilated (a good thing) with the biggest vent being a 24"x30" gable vent (an unusually large size) just under the peak on the rear wall of the house. A week or so ago I noticed some plastic strips on the ground in back and saw that it came from a somewhat largish hole in that vent. Uh oh. Lots of big trees in my backyard so I figured a tree limb must have blown down and caused it. Trees mean squirrels and one thing you DO NOT want is for squirrels to take up residence in your house. You'll never get rid of the little fuckers. A carpenter I know helped me order a new vent louver and cut a piece of plywood to nail over the opening until the new louver came in. We looked in the crawlspace before sealing it up, didn't see anything, so seal it we did. Here's where the plot thickens. It wasn't a tree limb that made the hole, it was a raccoon. When it woke up that night and saw it couldn't get out all hell broke loose. Banging, screaming, running around, tearing up the insulation, you name it. Me, sleep? Not likely. The racket was unbelievable. Soo... I called around and found a trapper. He set a trap Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning took a medium sized male away. This was supposed to be very good news. If it were a female that meant a whole litter was up there. I told him that even after I heard the trap spring I thought I still heard noises from another part of the attic so to humor me he reset the trap. Bingo. He just left (8pm) with number two, another male. I asked him to set yet another trap.
Posted 12:34 PM by whatley (5) comments
Comments:
- Monday - 6am,
However many were still up there must have been getting pretty desperate by last night. Jeff was just here to check the trap and found it empty then noticed something laying on the floor that wasn't there before. It was the remains of one of my roof vents. Fuckers finally figured a way out. He doesn't think they'll come back but can't say for sure so left a trap baited. Sheesh, what an ordeal.
- Yum, Yum. Eat 'em up!
Post a Comment- My idea of an animal screen.
Friday, May 18, 2007
"Jeremy Scahill, bestselling author and investigative reporter for The Nation, testified May 10 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on the impact of private military contractors on the conduct of the Iraq War. This is the full text of his remarks."
Outsourcing the War
Posted 9:37 AM by whatley (1) comments
Comments:
Post a Comment- Certainly. Since the demise of huge, unreported and secret sole-source contracts under which the "intelligence" establishment (George Bush Sr. WAS head of the CIA after all) used contractors to peddle drugs and make war on foreign countries, these contractors went public and entered the business of patriotic war for bucks. It also reflects the social structure here, "back home." There are more private prisons, private security to guard gated communities, private schools to guard tender children from the public, and, of course, private legal machines en mass to do everthing from destroying a business competitor to swinging the election of a President by US Supreme Court interference. All reflect the dominance of totally private interests. The law may be "a ass", as Charles Dickens noted, but it is a RICH ass. And the donkey drivers keep feeding it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The best animation of the inner functionings of a car engine. They use a Volkswagen 4-cylinder engine as an example. First it shows you how it goes together, then it shows you how it looks inside while it is running.
Another animation of a Ford 4-cylinder engine . Compare the arrangement of components with the VW engine as it is assembled. The VW engine is better packaged and more compact, in my opinion.
The VW animation has a better view of the combustion process, and has better lens focus. The Ford animation shows the coolant flow around the cylinders (color coded for temperature) and the oil circulation system.
Both are posted on U Tube.
Posted 11:55 PM by Andy (0) comments
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Random notes from whatleyville:
I've always wondered if the folks now living in the schoolhouse have ever stumbled across this here blog. Hello? Have you? If so I'd love an email from you (my address is on the "about" page). It would be so cool to hear from you! And I won't share your email address with anyone, scouts honor.
I updated my resume this morning to include the certifications from my recent labors at LCCC. I also changed the email contact from my address here to the generic one from Alltel, my DSL provider. I'll use that address to send resumes from now on too. Methinks that prospective employers might glean just a wee bit too much insight into my personality (such as it is) should they bother to browse 7393. This is something I should have done from the beginning. Oh well, better late than never I guess. If anybodies interested in seeing seeing/critiquing the resume email and I'll send you a pdf.
Squirrels beware! It's warm enough now to let Niki have her dog door (a hole in the sliding screen) back. She made it herself last year. Such a clever girl.
I haven't checked the 7393 server logs for a while. Seems we have friends in Norway. Who knew? God dag! Hallo! Hei! Here's another look at who's, uh.., looking. I have no idea who the top three are (I'm #4, Andy and I together are #6 from LCCC) though I'm kind of curious. If I get the time I'll figure it out and let you know.
Posted 9:41 AM by whatley (0) comments
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Sunday, May 13, 2007
And now, in the interest of equal time, here is a message from the National Institute of Pancakes: It reads, and I quote, "Fuck waffles."
Number 70 in a list of 101 George Carlin Quotes.
Posted 12:39 PM by whatley (0) comments
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Monday, May 07, 2007
They didn't want to make it too big. Might have given the wrong impression. Memorial honoring fallen soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan runs out of room.
Posted 7:11 AM by whatley (1) comments
Comments:
Post a Comment- Notice how all the Congresspeople are lamenting the lack of space. Not one comment targets the actions that led to the memorial. At first reading, it seems like offhand acceptance of the casualties. Everything for public display, nothing for base-level change. If things really changed, they would all lose their jobs.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
EEEEEK!! The draconian anti-smoking ban passed in the last election is finally being enforced. All
Let's see, we've had a war on drugs for almost thirty years now. That's turned out well, can't buy drugs anymore. The war on terror has eliminated all terrorism. Now we got us a war on tobacco! This is sure to turn out equally as well.
No, no. I'm not trying to defend smoking per se, but damn, was there no possibility of a middle ground? Is enacting another law sure to be flouted a good idea? Immigration laws mean nothing and everyone knows it. Drug laws have made private prisons the hottest industry of the day (do you know that
I never thought I'd live to see the day the Berlin Wall would fall. And I never never thought I'd see the
Posted 9:34 AM by whatley (3) comments
Comments:
- And furthermore, anyone who disagrees with me is illiterate scum. How illiterate? I thought you'd never ask.
- It has become a struggle just to stay out of sight within the mass of dysfunctionality that passes for "normal". Drive huge vehicles, be overweight, follow venal leaders thoughtlessly, have huge TVs and ugly furniture, keep your lawn the same length as everyone else, collect advertising relics, know that everyone is out to get you, pay huge interest on credit cards, owe everyone, be fired from your job, pursue good intentions with bad results, be dissatisfied. That about wraps it up. Oh yes - don't complain about the regime or the Patriot Act will come and get you. As the priest advised the decorator who cheated his customers: "Repaint. Repaint and thin no more."
Post a Comment- If the Irish and the French can live no smoking laws the U.S. will have no problems. Having smoked for years I never minded smoke in bars, even after I quit (it was part of my bargain not to be one of those self-righteous ex-smokers i.e. the over zealous convert)and was sure that all would break loose when they banned smoking in public buildings here, but . . . nothing. Everybody hunches against the wind outside then goes back in to finish drinking. Be Happy! Don't Worry!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Replace the names and locales with current versions for a familiar dirge.
'On April 30th, President Nixon announced on national television that a massive American-South Vietnamese troop offensive into Cambodia was in progress. "We take these actions," Nixon said, "not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam, and winning the just peace we all desire."
These were familiar words to a war-weary public. Some felt that this decision was essential for attaining a "just peace" and sustaining America's credibility in the world. Yet others, particularly students, believed that this action represented an escalation of the war and a return to ex-President Johnson's earlier hopes for a military victory. As the fires from the artillery began to burn in Cambodia, a raging fire of protest spread across the United States.
At Kent State University, the reaction to Nixon's announcement was similar to that of other campuses across the nation.'
From the Kent May 4 Center, description of events May 1 through May 4.
Posted 6:51 AM by Andy (0) comments
Comments:
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
That which doesn't kill us, should only make us strong. Echoes of May 2, 1970.
Posted 7:08 AM by Andy (0) comments
Comments:
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