Thursday, October 31, 2002- - -
Monty Python eat your heart out.
@8:31 PM
Well, this sums it up pretty succinctly (from comments by Cato the Youngest at Bill Quick's):
"The terrorists draw their manpower from such a diffuse and diverse pool, that trying to hunt down every individual terrorist is a fool's errand. The only way to bring terrorism under control, is to remove their sources of funds. Saddam Hussein, Sayyed Ali Kameini, and the House of Saud must go, if terrorism is to be contained.
If we do not remove them, it is a matter of time until they acquire effective arsenals of WMDs. From that moment on, the West's cities will live at the sufference of madmen. ..."
@7:14 PM
What a bummer! 7pm and we've only had 5 little goblins. Of course, it's 18°F outside, raw, and icy. And I was hoping all the peanut butter cups wouldn't go to waist.
Update: 8pm & we're up to 7 goblins, but it's time to turn off the light - the last trickster was noticably pregnant!
@6:58 PM
I guess it's hard to get a good haircut in prison. (Thanks to the InstaPundit for the link.)
@6:56 PM
Trick or Treat!!
The little ghosts & goblins had better get here soon, the peanutbutter cups are going fast.
@9:47 AM
Here's one from my dad. I know I've heard this somewhere before, but as usual with internet jokes there's no attribution, so if you wrote this, 'fess up!
A shepherd was tending his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new Jeep Cherokee appeared out of a dust cloud, advanced toward him and stopped.
The driver, a 24-year-old young man wearing a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a YSL tie, leaned out of the window and asked our shepherd, "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"
The shepherd looked at the young guy, then at his peacefully grazing flock, and calmly answered, "Sure."
The young man parked his car, whipped out his notebook computer, connected it to a cell phone, surfed to a NASA page on the Internet where he called up a GPS satellite navigation system, scanned the area, then opened up a data base and some Excel spreadsheets with complex formulas.
He finally printed out a 150-page report on his hi- tech miniaturized printer, turned around to our shepherd and said, "You have here exactly 1,586 sheep!"
"Amazing! That's correct! Like I agreed, you can take one of my sheep," said the shepherd.
The shepherd watched the man make a selection and bundle it into his Cherokee. When he was finished the sheepherder said, "If I can tell you exactly what your political persuasion is, where you're from and who you work for, will you give me my sheep back?"
"Okay, why not," answered the young man.
You're a Democrat from Palm Beach and you're working for Jesse Jackson," said the shepherd.
"Wow! That's correct." said the young man. "How did you ever guess that?"
"Easy," answered the shepherd. "Nobody called you, but you showed up here anyway. You want to be paid for providing a solution to a question I already knew the answer to. And, you don't know squat about what you're doing because you just took my dog.
@7:40 AM
Tuesday, October 29, 2002- - -
Suman Palit has perhaps the most realistic take I've seen so far on the North Korean nuke situation: Ultimately, the US may have to concede that North Korea is a problem for China, Japan and South Korea to solve for themselves, with the US maintaining the non-proliferation pressure on them without taking a leading role. ... Sometimes, knowing when not to intervene is just as important as knowing what to do when you have to. For now, we need to let China, Japan and South Korea be the grown-ups for a change.
@8:08 PM
Yum! Fish soup for lunch.
Yes, it's probably a genetic defect, but I like it, although Federico Felline turns his nose up, which should probably tell me something..
@9:27 AM
Good grief!
Let's see. I suppose my mom and dad started my sniper training when I was four or five. The good folks at the Williston, Rifle and Pistol Club put in a few good years. Then the U of NoDak rifle team, and finally, the Sixth Army Marksmanship Training Center. But even 6th Army didn't call it 'sniper training,' they called it marksmanship. I guess that even back then 'sniper' was considered somewhat pejorative.
@9:26 AM
No wonder the Boston Globe is banned in Canada. This is an excellent article by Cathy Young. Although she does succumb momentarily to the fallacy that 'sensible gun control measures' - in this case the ludicrous idea of ballistic fingerprinting - could be a benefit in fighting crime, she also explains the slippery slope we descend with every new attempt to disarm the victims of crime.
Not that I'm against sensible gun control measures, a good shooting sling really helps! But joking aside, the folks who most frequently see some measure of gun control as 'sensible' usually know very little about guns, with ballistic fingerprinting being an excellent case in point. It would be immensely expensive and largely useless, unless of course the whole point is to make guns and gun ownership more expensive, and to create a de facto gun registration, which may indeed be the goals for some of the proponents of such measures.
Any sort of gun control is fundamentally a treatment of a symptom rather than a cure for the disease. And like treating the symptoms of illness, the effort may mask the progress of the disease, ultimately making things worse instead of better.
Globe link thanks to the Volokh Conspiracy who have also provided a lot of good links on ballistic fingerprinting.
Update: John R. Lott, Jr. has an excellent piece today on ballistic fingerprinting (link thanks to the InstaPundit). Says Lott: According to the Brady Campaign, recording the markings on bullets from all new guns "would have solved this crime (the sniper shootings) after the first shooting." Sure. Right. Last time I heard they still didn't know how Muhammad came by the rifle they were using, but it sure appears that he didin't buy it from a dealer. Without the gun registration inherent in such schemes ballistic fingerprinting will solve nothing. Even then, as Lott points out, it's unlikely to work very well.
@8:22 AM
Monday, October 28, 2002- - -
Via today's Pravda on the Platte and yesterday's Washington Post comes a short article with a quote too good to miss. The experts profiling the beltway shooter as a young white male of course proved to be wrong. The arrest of John Muhammad has caused considerable concern among the black community in the DC suburbs.
"None of us thought that the sniper was going to be one of us," Rev. John O. Peterson told his Alfred Street congregation. "But this just shows that the devil, he has an affirmative action program."
@6:56 AM
Sunday, October 27, 2002- - -
This would make a fine companion to the Wet Weatherman channel: 24 hour coverage of idiots standing in the rain while they give the local weather update.
@6:04 PM
I'm probably the last person on earth to discover FlashBunny. Check out the rest of the clips too. Clever stuff.
@6:04 PM
WaPo: The White House said Saturday it would be "not very hard at all" to assemble an alliance to confront Saddam Hussein without the United Nations, a clear signal that President Bush's patience with the international organization is reaching its limits.
Bend over Saddam, here it comes again.
@9:01 AM
Greetings DailyPundit readers! And welcome back, all! I believe that this is the post that Bill is referring to, although anything from the Pravda on the Platte, or own well-loved Red Star Tribune, is likely to be a parody of all the worst in left-leaning so far they tipped over journalism.
@8:41 AM
With all the coverage of John Mohammad and the DC sniper investigation that's available, what did I find on the front page of the Red Star Tribune [no link to article] this morning? "Tracing sniper suspect's trajectory of despair." By Jeff Donn, Associated Press writer [sorry, I can't find a link]. "Was there one event, one moment when Mohammad became inhuman - perhaps leaving a wife or leaving the Army? Or was there a slow, almost imperceptible accumulation of frustrations, outrages, disappointments and indignities that finally dragged Muhammad into the darkness?
Yes, of course. If life were only fair, this wouldn't have happened. It was despair, it was society, it was the Army, it was ... practically anything except the murdering bastard himself who was at fault.
@7:39 AM
Saturday, October 26, 2002- - -
Thanks to MommaBear for reminding me: Don't forget National Ammo Day! Buy an extra 100 rounds November 19th.
@4:58 PM
According to the Instapundit, it's Alfred E. Neuman's 50th birthday today! Good thing the Prof pointed this out, I was worried I'd miss it.
@9:54 AM
According to the Denver Post, "Jim Argo wore out the left side of his brain programming computers and is now burning up what's left of the right side writing commentaries on the state of the world." In today's DP Argo takes a politically incorrect slap at the PC Police and the Andy Rooney affair, although he admits that "Only a fool - or a cranky old curmudgeon - would dare to speak his mind openly on these matters."
@9:49 AM
Friday, October 25, 2002- - -
Rachel Lucas responds to Michael Moore's latest:
"Yes. Let's "remove" an entire [Republican] party from the political system. Sounds like democracy to me! And then, when that entire party is "removed" from the scene, The Children™ will magically be safe.
"Assuming, of course, that the only remaining party in American government immediately proceeds to legislate out of existence psychotic people, murderers, child abusers, poverty, disease, swimming pools, lakes, rivers, oceans, dogs, snakes, knives, trees, motor vehicles, airplanes, bicycles, Rollerblades, fists, teeth, genetic mutation, dangerous weather, rope, bite-sized toys, unhealthy foods, tobacco, alcohol, swing sets, electricity, and all those other pesky things that endanger us."
Good point, but there's one problem - the donks have been trying to legislate all those things out of existence, with a good deal of help from their loyal opposition.
@5:09 PM
Saints preserve us! [sound of angelic choir in background] I just logged on to Blogger (it's been down all afternoon for repairs) and it actually recognized me from the cookie it placed oh so many months ago! Visible signs of improvement. I may go for BogSpot Plus yet.
Update: The Instapundit now tells us that Blogger has been hacked. It would be ironic if some irate user has hacked in to make a few needed fixes..
Update Dux: Unfortunately, the hacker didn't fix the "Error 503: Unable to load template file" problem.
Update again: "BogSpot" eh? Was that Freudian, or what?
Sigh: I must have forgotten to log out, because Blogger doesn't recognize me this morning.
@12:56 PM
For eight years the Repubs moaned about the reign of Beelzebubba. I suppose it's only fair that the Dems think Bush is the anti-Christ.
Update: Although I've often though that Gore made a more plausible anti-Christ - but's that's just me.
@8:43 AM
Interesting. Some very thought-provoking reading courtesy of the Instapundit.
All of these arguments have been advanced, pro and con, over the on-going and none too successful attempts to terraform Wyoming. Coming from one of those places short on air and life and water, I would argue that a central premise of this paper is in error. Stated therein succinctly: "... for a place where no life exists, no need exists to take precautions because there is nothing to protect."
Nature = Life is much too simplistic. I would argue that just as humankind is part of the natural universe, lifeless places - the core of a sun or the depths of intergalactic space - are also part of the natural universe. There are no easy answers to these arguments, and I also tend to lean toward the 'let there be life' crowd, but I'm hard-pressed to think of anything that is 'unnatural.'
@8:42 AM
Thursday, October 24, 2002- - -
Jeez Louise! What's with Blogger now? It's taking over an hour for my posts to find their way to BlogSpot. I'm still getting an "Error 503: Unable to load template file. We're working on this. Please try back later." message every time I post (that's been going on for months, and they want me to buy BlogSpot Plus..
@9:17 AM
Eric S. Raymond has version 5 of his 'Anti-Idiotarian Manifesto' on-line. I saw little to quibble with in the first version, but I do appreciate his deletion of the phrase "to be dealt with as wolves are." I don't wish to live in a land that has no room for wolves, or lions and tigers and bears for that matter. Terrorists and rabid dogs are a far better analogy - we must leave no room for them.
@8:35 AM
Courtesy of the Pravda on the Platte [no link to article] Matt Winters, publisher of the Chinook Observer in Long Beach, Washington illustrates the horrible internal conflict that must lash the soul of those who would 'wage peace.' Says he: "I'm going back to Bali, soon as I can talk the wife into it. I won't allow a few ignorant hate-mongers to intimidate me or keep me from roaming the earth, a free human being. Sitting home in fear, locking all our doors, turning strangers away form our shores, starting "pre-emptive" wars to protect oil fields and distract voters: I reject these things too. But most of all, I reject the hatred that breeds hatred, the ignorance that spawns fear. I'm proud of America for reopening the first K, Kabul, to the world. We can't allow terror to win in Kuta, either."
He rejects "pre-emptive" [why the quotes?] wars, but he's proud of America for opening up Kabul. Okaaayyy, whatever.
@7:36 AM
Or as some paraphrased: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste money on."
@7:35 AM
Tuesday, October 22, 2002- - -
Courtesy of Andy Freeman, Alexandra Fuller says of Wyoming: "It is a land that inspires, or perhaps breeds, the kind of eccentricity that ordinary people can only hope to achieve."
Well said.
@11:04 AM
HHmmm. I can't seem to publish to BlogSpot this morning. Tsk.
@9:08 AM
We're finally home. And none too soon. It was 70° and beautiful when we rolled into Worland yesterday afternoon. It's snowing this morning.
But it will be 70° again in two days, that's Wyoming.
We've brought a pile of paperwork home and don't have a lot of time to get it done, so I'll be a busy kid for the next few weeks.
It is great to get back to the internet world. I've been getting my news from satellite TV and the Pravda on the Platte, both pretty lame.
Update: We've been home now for three days and I'm slowly getting caught up on current events and commentary. Oddly, I've felt no urge to turn on the TV. The 'all sniper all the time' coverage was getting tiresome to say the least.
@8:54 AM
Dammit! You don't wait until you're bitten to clean out the nest of snakes in your back yard. And 9/11 made it clear that these snakes are in our back yard.
@8:53 AM
From a reader and grandmother of 3 in Oklahoma:
Three strangers at a small terminal in Montana, are awaiting their shuttle flight.
One is a Native American passing through from Lame Deer.
Another, a local ranch hand on his way to Billings for a stock show.
The third passenger is a fundamentalist Arab student, newly arrived at MSU from the Middle East.
To pass the time they strike up a conversation on recent events, and the discussion drifts to their diverse cultures. Soon the Westerners learn that the Arab is a devout radical Muslim. The conversation falls into an uneasy lull. The cowpoke leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine table, tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face.
The wind outside blows tumbleweeds and the old windsock flaps, but no plane comes.
Finally, The Native American clears his throat and softly, he speaks: "Once, my People were many, now we are few".
The radical Muslim raises an eyebrow and leans forward, "Once my People were few", he sneers, "and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?"
The Montanan shifts the toothpick to one side of his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson says in a drawl, "That's 'cause we ain't played Cowboys and Muslims yet!
@8:52 AM
I just loved this morning's (Sunday 10/20, I'm still incommunicado) Fox News interview of one of their guest experts, who explained the capabilities, limitations, and tactics of the military spotter plane being used to search for the Beltway Shooter. I'm sure the shooter found it informative as well.
@8:52 AM
Tuesday, October 08, 2002- - -
Back in town today for another round of paperwork. The weather has been horrid, cold, and windy as only Rawlins, Wyo. can be, and we've been out in it every day. So today is warm and calm - of course we have to stay in.
We've found some pretty entertaining things the last couple of weeks. Harry Wise' cabin, built of railroad ties and lined with galvanized steel was very odd. One of the local historians tells us that old Harry liked to live on the wild side. He caught and broke wild horses for a living and, as if that weren't enough, he married most all of the working girls in Rawlins at one time or another. We wonder whether Wild Horse Mary got her name from her asociation with Harry, and I figure he lined the cabin with steel when he married Butcher Knife Alice (yikes!).
We also found a couple of segments of the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway was the first interstate highway authorized by congress ca. 1912. The roadbed of the 1913 route was about 7 feet, or one Model T, wide. A far cry from its modern route, I-80, which is about 2-3 miles to the south. It would have taken an intrepid traveler to set off cross-country back then.
The local museum has an old Essex of Lincoln Highway vintage, modified as a race car. It once made a 200 mile round-trip from Rock Springs to Pinedale over unimproved roads in four hours flat. Averaging 50 miles/hour on two-tracks must have been hair-raising. The car had originally had a gravity feed gas system, but that didn't give sufficient fuel flow for the power needed to maintain that speed - so they installed a manual fuel pump operated by the passenger.
Ah, the tales I could tell if I only had more time...
@5:39 PM
A post left over from the last time I tried Blogger and it was dead:
Whoa Nellie! Celery soup for lunch, made with celery from our garden. I bet they can smell it cooking in the next county (not that big of a trick in Rawlins, where the jet stream is touching the ground). I'd read somewhere that celery was once used as a spice, which I thought was odd as it doesn't have that much taste. But this does. We'd never grown celery before but we try growing something 'different' just for fun every summer. This summer we tried celery and we'll be adding it to our regular repertoire in the future. It grew scrawny little stalks and didn't produce much, but what we got tastes nothing like store-bought, or rather it tastes like store-bought X 100. I can't wait to try the soup.
Update: It was great. Even the campground antelope were attracted to the smell and hung out around the trailer all afternoon. Funny little buggers, and very curious. It's a bit startling to look up from the computer and see one looking in the window at you.
@5:23 PM
|
|
