Thursday, February 19, 2004- - -
Ps.
Just a couple of things before I tear down this 'puter.
I've been reading The Hunters Book of the Elk, by John Barsness, with photography by Michael Francis, and I am most impressed. Barsness has studied wildlife biology at the U. of Montana, and it shows. Michael Francis' photography is jaw-dropping, and at first glance you might conclude that this is a coffee table book, more glitz than substance, but that is far from the truth, as this book packs a wealth of knowledge into its 192 pages. Nor is this the sort of 'knowledge' you might receive from some old coot at the campfire. This is based on the very best information we have, collected by biologists as well as by hunters. It's simply the single best treatment I've ever seen of any game animal. If you have any interest whatever in elk, I highly recommend it.
GILLETTE -- Wyoming received $503 million of the $1 billion in royalties that energy companies paid nationwide last year for oil, gas and coal development on public lands in 2003, according to the federal Minerals Management Service. …
States receive 50 percent of the mineral royalty revenues that are generated from mineral development on federal lands located within their borders. The remaining 50 percent is deposited in the federal treasury. Alaska is an exception. That state gets a 90 percent share of federal mineral revenues.
Yep. About half of all the mineral royalties paid. With that, I'm hanging up my blogging hat, putting on my hardhat, and heading out the door. Good of you all to stop by!
Okay, one last Ps. Capt Heinrichs sends a link to the story of the new memorial in Tikrit. I bet Saddam never dreamed that would one day occupy one of his palaces.
@5:50 AM
Wednesday, February 18, 2004- - -
B'bye for now!
The Land Yacht is loaded and hitched, and we will be off at O-dark-thirty tomorrow morning, for a whirlwind tour of the state. Two fairly substantial projects and one smaller that we must complete before we return, as well as two more on the burner that may come through before we get back. So, heaven knows when that will be, but we'll probably be gone a month or so. Internet access will be difficult, so probably reserved for actual emergencies.
Thanks for stopping by and we'll catch you all about the Ides of March!
@6:43 PM
Suing the government for gross mismanagement?
Now there's a job that could keep half the lawyers on earth busy for the rest of their lives.
@8:44 AM
'A show of might'
Or, as in this case, 'might not'. The recent Russian military maneuvers certainly have me shaking in my boots. Like an old rapist with erectile dysfunction, they're still dangerous, but not that dangerous.
@8:26 AM
Sigh
@7:52 AM
Money talking?
Interesting, isn't it, how quickly the Poliers have changed their tune? [Link via Drudge]
@7:26 AM
Tuesday, February 17, 2004- - -
Trust us, we'll take care of it!
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo) is asking ChevronTexaco to donate 1350 acres of land near Ft. Phil Kearny to the Ft Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association in order to 'protect the historic attributes of these sites'.
This is one of those cases where good intentions often bear sour fruit. Too often I've seen the states or federal government acquire historic and archaeological properties 'to protect them'. In some cases, these properties had been in private hands for 100 years or more and remained pristine -- because someone lived there and kept an eye on the place. Oddly enough, when the government moves the private land owner off the land, unless they commit to keeping a supervisor on-site 24 hours/day, year-round, the site can become trashed pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, unfettered public access and historic preservation are too often mutually incompatible.
@7:35 AM
Politics served cold
A bit more on the Gagliano affair. Following up on my discussion with Capt. Heinrichs, I asked: Do you think the Gagliano affair could have been deliberately exposed now as a smoke screen to obscure the Business Development Bank dealings? Or is that too much US/Machiavellian politics?
>From CTV News: "According to one Chretien loyalist, Liberal MP Robert Nault, it's not in the party's interests to rehash the old political rivalry. Get-even schemes, Nault told Question Period, are unlikely to benefit anyone involved. "We need a good, strong Liberal Party ... and the government has to operate without all these games being played ... The race is over and now it's time to get on with government," he said. "I'm here to tell the Liberals to cool it, stop the family feud and get on with governing the way we can."
The Liberals have had one or two scandals each year since 1993: much noise is made of bad things noted, but no one can be tagged as responsible, as there is something (minor) wrong with the system. But it will be fixed, sometime soon, in the future. I would not be surprised if Mr Gagliano is guilty of everything accused, and more. What hasn't been mentioned later, is that the PM wanted to move Gagliano from Copenhagan to the Vatican, and the Vatican said no, please send someone else. And Gagliano was the major money raiser in Quebec: therefore the PM knew.
As an example of what can happen, in 1993 the Liberals promised that one of their first moves would be to cancel the Maritime helicopter purchase, and second to replace the GST. On the latter, Ms Sheila Copps promised to resign her seat if it wasn't done quickly. We have the GST still; it took about 3 years of adverse publicity to shame Copps into resigning, but she was quickly won nomination and was re-elcted in the by-election (proving that her constituents understood that her promise to resign was hyperbolic-hyperbole), or something.
The helicopters were cancelled at a cost of about 20% of the original contract cost; about $400M had been paid out on initial purchases and was not recoverable. In 1999, the Treasury Board coughed up money to buy the SAR choppers from the original contract. The Maritime choppers, as of Nov 04, were on hold until the AirForce could select a suitable A/C which was affordable (same requirements for the 1993 contract). What the news doesn't report is that the AF requirement is best satisfied by the EH101; and Treasury Board refuses to approve the choice for various official reasons; the real reason is that Chretian feeling would be hurt if the Air Force purchased the A/C he said was improperly selected. Right now, until an election is called, the AF will be purchasing EH101 with or without the full anti-sub kit.
The Gagliano affair isn't a smokescreen for the BDBC affair; they are pieces of the same problem. ALL of these will eventually point to Chretian; whether the investigations are stopped at that point or allowed to continue is unknown. But the people defending the system under Chretian are the ones being dumped by Mr Martin (or will be soon).
Am I down on the former PM? The best thing he did for the Forces was to announce in an international forum that The Forces are very good at what they do because they are like the Boy Scouts. And he liked Bill Clinton.
The PM knew, hmm? I agree it's hard to figure how he could not have, but as with pols in the US, I've also come to the conclusion that one should not ascribe to evil what can be explained by simple incompetence. [Ps. Okay, and perhaps just a touch of avarice.] True evil is, I think, a rare thing, but incompetence seems unfortunately pandemic.
'Like Boy Scouts'? I bet that endeared him to the Services. I trained with some folks from the Black Watch out at Ft. Lewis many years ago, and boy scouts they were not. Although those guys in the funny skirts were a little different ;-} Actually, waking up to bagpipes beat reveille over tin speakers by a long shot. A good dose of that could make a person positively fierce.
I suppose I've argued along similar lines to Mr. Nault, that we in the States need a good, strong (read reasoned and mature) Democratic Party, to maintain the essential tension between right and left. Unfortunately, his argument reminds me a good deal of MoveOn.org's: perfectly willing to rehash old grievances, as long as they're liberal grievances. Perfectly unwilling to recognize that they too might have a few problems.
Ps. You've got to love the Black Watch unit motto: Nemo me impune lacessit! (No one provokes me with impunity) I wonder if that's where Heinlein picked up the phrase.
PPs. Heheh. In the 'bear pit' we learned the consequences of teasing them about their skirts. They more than lived up to their motto.
@6:17 AM
Neotony and the Left
I've been further pondering the long exchange between Tim Blair and his readers, discussing how each of them came to reject liberalism. Many of his readers describe physical as well as cognitive differences between themselves and those they see as liberals, and the whole discussion finally started reminding me of something else I've studied.
There are considerable parallels between biological experiments in the domestication of animals, and the resulting changes in the species as it becomes domesticated, and the apparent effects of the programs and goals of the liberals. Liberals, like the domestication experimenters, would seem to be selecting for neotonous traits -- the retention of juvenile characteristics in the adult -- such as dependence on others for guidance and protection. They're trying to domesticate us. To the extent that Blair's readers' stereotypes of liberals bear any truth, they're succeeding.
Here's an interesting article: The Effects of Domestication on Animal Physiology and Behavior. Note that in the process of breeding for 'friendliness', the researchers achieved some unintended consequences: The adult critters also became more juvenile in appearance and behavior. Anyone who's cruised the left-wing blogs might notice a certain parallel.
@5:27 AM
Now for something a little bit different
Here are some bicycles that aren't exactly run-of-the-mill. Is this guy a genius or a nut? (Personally, I spend most of my time trying to find some place to lose another 5 oz off my bike, so I'm voting 'nut'.)
@5:01 AM
Monday, February 16, 2004- - -
Le Affaire de Triomphe
Colby Cosh comments for the American Spectator on the outrage against Conan O'Brien:
Now, of course, it's all gone pear-shaped. The halfwits who denounced a plastic dog-shaped glove have put a brand-new weld in the sealed American conviction that the gay-marrying, pot-legalizing, military-hating, gun-registering, socialized-everything Canadians are completely bughouse -- a freakish bastard admixture of Yippie and commissar. Even the Kucinich voters with braided beards and BUSH KNEW tattoos are looking north and going "Dude… it's a puppet. Chill." Given the uproar, who wants to visit Toronto and possibly touch off some kind of international incident by saying the wrong thing? Aren't there dank, fungal Turkish-style prisons up there for people who make ethnic jokes? (Answer: not yet, but check back in ten years.)
Ps. I've pondered this a bit, and I don't think it's Canadians, per se, that we think are bughouse. If anything, I watch the doings in Canada to see where the US is headed if we don't get a bit more firm grip on the reins.
@8:29 PM
Et tu, Brutus?
It appears that the gun owners of Colorado have been stabbed in the back by the NRA. Again. Publicola is on it, with several posts. Start here and scroll down.
@1:14 PM
Canadian pickup lines
If life is a meat market, you're prime rib.
Does that work?
@8:49 AM
More evidence that gun control is working
The thieves are getting bolder. 83-year-old Earl Duff had nothing but a flashlight to defend himself with when three thugs broke into the camper where he was sleeping. He managed to run them off by swatting one along side the head, but they made off with his pants, containing his billfold and keys.
Must be a tough old bird. Reminds me of my dad, who once came nose to nose with a black bear, in the dark. He swatted it with a railroad lantern and it ran off.
@8:43 AM
Patrolling for Icebacks
Over 80 additional Border Patrol agents to guard the Montana - Idaho/Canada border since 9/11? Mini Mart night managers [and shovel bum archaeologists] just got harder to find.
Ps. I've seen this happen several times, although not to me as far as I know. A college kid applies for a summer job, they have a NoDak driver's license and a SocSec card, and they don't talk any funnier than any other North Dakotan. By the time the IRS enquires about an erroneous SSN they're long gone. We did catch out a fellow shovel bum on this long ago. She claimed to have graduated from the U. of Montana, but didn't know any of the professors there… The moral of that story: Don't claim to be from the same place half the rest of the crew is, dummy.
@8:15 AM
Pork Fest!
The economy of the State of Wyoming [like that of my business] is very strongly tied to the fortunes of the energy industry. For whatever reason, the oil & gas bidness goes through constant cycles of 'boom & bust'. Those who survive in the business learn to squirrel away every dime they can during the good times in order to survive the bad.
Wise men in past state administrations have established the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund and various other rainy day funds for precisely this reason. We've been feeding this kitty for many years now and in return it provides a significant percentage of the State's income (17.7% according to this, although I've heard various figures).
At any rate, it is always instructive to see which of our state legislators have sufficient economic foresight to support the care and feeding of the fund, and which argue to raid the fund at every opportunity. The very idea of all that money (several billion) just sitting there, when they could be shoveling it to their cronies, just drives some legislators wild.
This year's state budget session in the legislature will be particularly interesting, as we have a $1.2 billion dollar state budget surplus. Save it or spend it boys, which is it going to be?
@7:57 AM
Those evil oil companies
Beverly and Roland Landrey's artesian well dried up 17 months ago. They blame coalbed methane development, although that seems highly unlikely.
Coal beds do contain aquifers and pumping the water out of these shallow aquifers releases the methane. This has caused problems with some ranchers' shallow water wells. However, artesian aquifers are generally contained in porous sandstone strata inter-bedded with non-porous limestone strata that contain the water pressure. These artesian aquifers are generally much deeper in the ground and should not be effected by dewatering the much shallower coal beds, as they are sealed off from the coal bed aquifers by the intervening non-porous limestones. The flow of springs and artesian wells is dropping off throughout the state, and some are drying up entirely, but this appears to be due to the on-going drought rather than any sort of development.
The fact that the Landreys' first load of laundry with their new water came out pink suggests to me that they are tapping into an artesian aquifer in the Penn/Perm Casper Fm, which consists of inter-bedded sandstones and limestones. [I claim a certain special knowledge of the Casper Fm -- my wife did her MS thesis on the Casper. By the time she was done I felt like I'd carried half the formation down off some mountain on my back.]
However unlikely it might be that the oil and gas companies are at fault here, that didn't stop Mark Blake of Blake Drilling, Inc., in Gillette. He gathered a group of volunteers, collected donations from several other oil & gas companies, and they've drilled a new well for the Landreys. For free.
@6:59 AM
Sunday, February 15, 2004- - -
"Here's to men who don't want to smell like girls"
Subtitles this article that explains about retrosexuals.
A retrosexual is simply someone who doesn't know the difference between teal and aqua, and frankly couldn't give a damn.
[Link via Capt. Heinrichs]
Ps. Hmm.. I know the difference between teal and mallards, and that seems more useful knowledge.
@8:50 PM
MeMeMeMeltdown!
Check out Make your own Howard Dean 'Meltdown' remix at FlashBunny.
@8:38 PM
The good die young
If I live to a ripe old age, which is genetically likely, I think I'll have that as my epitaph.
@8:09 PM
"Climax -- More than just a feeling"
That's the motto of the town of Climax, Minn, but apparently a bit too racy for the high school, which recently made several students turn their Climax T-shirts inside out. [Via Best of the Web Today]
Needless to say, when I was attending the U of NoDak in Grand Forks, we had a lot of fun with Climax jokes (it's not far from there), but nothing could beat reality. One morning a front page headline proclaimed "Fertile Woman Dies in Climax." Yep. She was from Fertile, Minn.
Ps. Don't miss the last bit in that article from Climax: As part of its centennial celebration, a contest was held to pick a town slogan. Some of the other entries included: ``No End to Climax,'' ``Cling to the Culmination: Climax Forever'' and ``Bring a Friend to Climax.'' Hmm.. How about "Come to Climax," or "Climax: We don't fake it, " or...
Seems to me if you live in Climax, you ought to have developed a certain sense of humor for that sort of innuendo, if only out of self-preservation.
@7:51 PM
No 'what ifs' in history
I'll admit that I've often thought that, given the events of the last three years, we should consider ourselves very lucky that Al Gore isn't president. Says the Instapundit: "He's too small a man for a job that big."
However, I wonder if that is really true. I wouldn't have given long odds on President Bush rising to the occasion either, but he certainly has and, although his performance has been less than perfect, I think he's generally done a very good job vis the WoT. We'll never know if Gore would have risen to the job and perhaps it's a bit unfair to assume he'd have blown it badly. My gut says he would have blown it, but who knows?
@7:25 PM
2 + 2 = Kangaroo
I've heard the old adage "more problems than a math teacher." Tim Blair and his commenters discuss a few problems endemic to the loony left, and the discussion turns into a long series of personal testaments on 'how I came to join the vast right-wing conspiracy," or at least quit being a liberal.
In my case it took about five years of working as a Wyoming state employee. Being on the inside, I saw what the tax payers are paying for first-hand, and what they get in return (not much). Through this trial by ordeal, I became completely convinced that government is incompetent to do much of anything, and should best be kept as small and innocuous as possible.
[Link via Capt. J.M. Heinrichs]
Ps. Hmm.. Actually, I suppose I never was a very good liberal, I never embraced gun control or social welfare, and paying taxes has always made me mad enough to spit.
PPs. I suppose being a member of Young Republicans in college probably indicates I wasn't much of a lefty even then. In further perusing the Comments at Tim Blair's, I'm struck by how many folks attribute their enlightenment to 9/11. If they are at all representative of the general population (and it's almost a sure bet they're not, as they're self-selected as Blair readers), but if they are even a rough approximation of the general public, it would appear that the dems are indeed doomed next November.
PPPs. Interesting too how many of Blair's commenters are not so much attracted to conservatism or libertarianism, as repulsed by leftist idiots.
@3:19 PM
Scandal Central
Capt. Heinrichs sends a link to Andrew Coyne, who has a series of posts on the unfolding scandal(s) in Ottawa. Sounds like a lot of those folks studied politics in Chicago.
@2:56 PM
Tom Sawyering Kevin Baker
Kevin & I have been enjoying a long round of email exchanges on gun rights, and in wrapping it up I managed to con him into posting it all on his site. It's a devil of a lot of work reformatting email into blog posts, and that is one long post.
As you'll see, I'm no expert on the concept of natural rights, but then natural rights seem to be one of those things that, like art, we can't define, we just know it when we see it. The best part: Kevin has comments enabled, so I'm hoping we get all kinds of interesting feedback on this one.
@2:24 PM
Dave Barry for President!
I say this because, unlike my opponents -- with their image consultants, their pollsters, their all-night sex orgies with the cast of Celebrity Mole Yucatan -- I trust you, the American people. I am not some professional politician in a silk suit who has never worked with his hands. I work with my hands! I am typing with my hands right now! I've tried working with my feet, but it comes out Welsh, as follows: ''Wel, dyma i chi ddefaid da!'' (``My goodness, what magnificent sheep!'')
Lucky for Barry the Welsh have a sense of humor, or he'd be in the doghouse with Conan O'Brien and Don Cherry.
@11:30 AM
No design that can't be over-designed
Now why would we want to 'click to enlarge' that image? Ain't he ugly enough in the thumbnail? [Actually, Kemmick isn't an ugly person, I'm poking fun at the web page over-designer.]
Got to love his characterization of the political parties in Montana:
This raises the question, what is the political establishment? In Montana, it is two guys with a fax machine and a computer representing the Republican Party and a part-timer with a broken fax machine representing the Democratic Party.
Yep. That's about right.
@11:12 AM
More wolves
Another interesting OpEd piece on wolves in Wyoming.
On one hand, only someone who lives in that fantasyland called Jackson Hole could possibly think that there is anything natural about Yellowstone. Three million people a year go through there, with all the roads, parking lots, gas stations, picnic areas, camp grounds, hotels, restaurants, snack bars, and tourist trinket shops that entails. Short of a petting zoo, Yellowstone is about the most unnatural piece of nature you're ever likely to see. [But it's also absolutely incredible and if you've never been there you must see it sometime.]
On the other hand, these guys are absolutely right that the current situation is the product of political pandering and special interests. We and the wildlife would be a darn sight better off if scientific wildlife managers managed the wildlife, rather than a batch of political hacks. Of course, if you think the Useless Fish & Wildlife Servers or our Gamey Fish Department are any less political than the rest of these yucks, think again.
@10:18 AM
Oh goody
The Casper Star has selected two right-wing loons to balance their stable of left-wing loons. Now their OpEd page will be fairly unbalanced in both directions.
@9:58 AM
Saturday, February 14, 2004- - -
World Class Swill!
A couple of months ago I bought a bottle of 2001 Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet, and we opened it this afternoon for the Valentine's pre-game show. It may not be quite as good as the 1981 Wolf Blass Cabernet, but this stuff is world class. Best Cabernet I've tasted in a long while.
@5:24 PM
$26,200 a year, tuition
For Kindergarten!
@1:22 PM
Reporters hiss?
Do tell. Notes from the NY Times new Ombudsman.
@1:11 PM
Conan O'Brien is in the dog house
Ottawa and the province of Ontario paid $1 million to help O'Brien -- who appears on the NBC television network -- bring his show to Toronto for a week to boost the city's profile.
At one point in the show, Triumph -- a hand puppet that is a regular on the show -- said to a Quebecer: "You're French, you're obnoxious and you no speekay English."
The truth hurts, I guess.
@12:37 PM
Me neither
Today's unscientific but totally entertaining CalgarySun on-line poll asks: Are you offended by anti-French remarks by Don Cherry and Conan O'Brien? So far, 90.2% say 'Non'.
Ps. On further reflection, I suppose that 9.8% say 'oui' and the other 90.2% say 'No'.
@12:27 PM
Breaking News
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- The U.S Forest Service has decided to lift its ban on poisoning prairie dogs on five national grasslands in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming, the agency said in a letter to three regional foresters.
Deputy Chief Tom Thompson rescinded an earlier directive that had effectively banned poisoning of prairie dogs on national forests and grasslands.
Don Bright of Chadron, Neb., Nebraska National Forest supervisor, said it will help control the spread of prairie dogs onto private land from federal grasslands, including the Buffalo Gap and Fort Pierre national grasslands in western South Dakota.
"There are a number of approaches that we will use to control unwanted prairie dog expansion to private lands, including livestock grazing strategies, land ownership adjustments and prescribed fire," Bright said in a release. He manages the Fort Pierre and Buffalo Gap grasslands and the Oglala National Grassland in Nebraska.
"If poisoning is necessary, we will work with the states, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the public, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act to determine an appropriate response. We want to be good neighbors, and at the same time uphold our obligations as federal land managers," Bright said.
Some western South Dakota ranchers say the animals are streaming from federal lands onto their property, ruining grazing land, causing erosion and damaging roads.
Gasp! Those would be the black-tailed PDs (only species in Nebraska). I guess that means they're not a threatened or endangered species any more?
Ps. Sounds like this guy should have been a bit more patient.
@11:54 AM
Worland students don't do the Goosestep
WORLAND [link good today only] – The thought of “Big Brother” watching them through yet-to-be-installed surveillance/security cameras prompted about a dozen students to hold a peaceful protest sit-in at Worland High School Friday morning.
The students, through designated spokesman, sophomore Caleb DeWitt, said they thought the cameras were an intrusion into their privacy, and they suggested the school could better spend its money by fixing a leaky roof and providing copy machines in the high school that work.
“I don’t think we can afford cameras when there are copiers that don’t work and the roof leaks,” DeWitt said.
High school assistant principal Shaun Nicklas said the protest was loud at first. He said the students were told that deliberately skipping classes would have a consequence. He told them they would run the risk of having to attend Saturday school, because the open defiance of a directive put them at a Category 3 discipline situation as defined in the student handbook.
Good for them. And isn't it a comfort to know that our school administrators have a handbook to tell them how to deal with kids? Lord knows they wouldn't have a clue otherwise.
Ps. Someone should tell them about the Surveillance Camera Players.
PPs. Of course, nothing like Goose Creek could happen here. Our drug dog mysteriously disappeared about the time this flap became public. You may draw whatever conclusion you want from that, as no one is asking any questions, much less answering any. [Oddly enough, all reference to the poor mutt has disappeared from the internet as well. If I were inclined to be a paranoid…]
PPPs. Heheh. My wife starts singing:
He knows if you've been sleeping,
He knows if you're awake,
He knows if you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!
"Hunh?" says I.
"Oh, I'm reading about the cameras at the high school," she replies.
@9:09 AM
But did she bring cookies?
CHEYENNE -- Barbara Cubin, Wyoming's sole U.S. representative, is "appalled" at how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has treated the state over the wolf management issue, she told state lawmakers Friday. ...
She said officials of the federal agency made verbal and written assurances to both Cubin and state leaders that Wyoming's proposed wolf management law from last year would satisfy federal requirements for turning management of the creatures over to the states and for beginning to remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List. ...
Cubin, who spent eight years in the Wyoming Legislature before she was elected to Congress in 1994, said she felt like she was back home Friday when she addressed the state Senate. She later delivered similar remarks on the House floor.
Ps. Some folks are apparently scandalized by Ms Cubin's behavior, but I think she's quite a wit.
PPs. And speaking of wits, Timothy Noah is about half well-equipped himself: If a politician doesn't say anything objectionable, have a contest to make up embarrassing quotes for them. Hmm… of course, a lot of journalists skip the contest part.
@8:29 AM
Throwing the wolves to the sharks
We're getting some interesting public comment on wolf delisting. A few highlights:
"Let the (proposed) legislative changes move through the process," advised Patricia Dowd, Wyoming Chapter of the Sierra Club. "I encourage you to manage the wolf as any other trophy game species. Follow those Service recommendations, they're pretty clear. I strongly discourage litigation ... as you know it never really solves anything. Work to turn over management to the (Game and Fish) Department ... we have a lot of faith in their abilities."
The Sierra Club is discouraging litigation? Pass me the smelling salts wouldja? That alone makes me a bit suspicious, and I'm not alone:
"I concur with litigation," noted Casper outfitter Sy Gilliland. "The federal government ... has not delisted the grizzly bear yet and it's been recovered for 10 years. We're not going to delist the wolf by legislation or by capitulating to their (USFWS) demands. We are where we are today and we have to do something ... litigation is the only way to ever get them to delist this animal."
Yep. I'm still waiting to buy my first griz license. (Not that I'm actually anxious to shoot a bear. There ought to be a certain professional courtesy between us omnivores.)
It looks like we're going to fight:
Wyoming's Game and Fish Commissioners are sticking to their guns and supporting a dual classification of wolves, even if it means going to court.
The commission decided Friday not to support a bill, HB 155, that aims to avoid a court battle over Wyoming's gray wolf management plan by removing the predator provisions in the dual classification.
Instead, the commission voted -- by a 4-3 margin that was decided by Commission President Jerry Sanders' tie-breaking vote -- to support a second House bill that keeps the dual classification in place, but changes the law to better meet federal demands for delisting.
Commissioners said if nothing else, the bill could strengthen the state's hand if wolf delisting is litigated.
"Now we're in the unfortunate position of having to ask the thief to lock the door as he leaves the house," Commissioner Doyle Dorner said about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's rejection of Wyoming's wolf management plan.
"I'm inclined to not support doing anything much further except litigation. How long can we continue to give ... we've given enough."
Commissioner Ron Lovercheck echoed that sentiment. "If litigation is the way to go, then so be it," he said. Dual classification "may not be the silver bullet ... but it's the only thing we've got on the table that's law."
Sigh. Looks like we are about to have a shark problem on top of the wolf problem.
Ps. And just in case you missed it the first time: "I strongly discourage litigation ... as you know it never really solves anything." This from Patricia Dowd, of the Wyoming Chapter of the Sierra Club. That is quite an admission coming from one of the most litigious outfits in the state. She's right of course, when it comes to environmental issues litigation rarely solves anything. However, it does bring development to a screeching halt, sometimes for years, sometimes permanently, and it costs industry and consumers a bucket of bucks. It's nice of Ms Dowd to admit that the lawsuits they so often file are really for strategic purposes rather than because they hope to solve anything.
@7:38 AM
Friday, February 13, 2004- - -
It's just me
I find it helps to remind folks from time to time that I'm just a coyote at this dog show.
@9:30 PM
The harder they come, the bigger they fall
On Feb 10, 2004 at 5:18 PM: "Everyone thinks Kerry has the nomination sewed up. They're probably right ..."
Feb 12, 2004 at 10:16 PM: "Rather than face another round of Clintonesque scandals, voters or Party leaders may hustle [Kerry] to the exits, as the Edwards and Dean campaigns are clearly hoping.
52 hours and 58 minutes from hero to goat. That's got to be a record.
@9:02 PM
Yawn
I asked Capt. Heinrichs his opinion of the latest flap in Ottawa, as I hadn't seen much coverage of it and what I had seen was split between those who were scandalized and those who yawned and turned the page:
I'm a yawner: the Liberals have never investigated such accusations of corruption to the point of laying charges. It's noteworthy because the change in government means an opportunity to "clean house". This affair is relatively minor as the big culprit is the "the way things are done" rather than a person. The current villain did what he did because it was customary. What I'm interested in is the investigation into Mr Chretian's malfeasance with the Business Development Bank continues, which will be obscured by this.
If Gagliano is charged and convicted for this, he will be punished not for being corrupt, but for being a Chretian supporter.
Is that a high crime, or a misdemeanor?
Peter Black, who's "Chronically Canadian," explains the Business Development Bank investigation: "Shawinigate … the controversy over the prime minister’s alleged involvement in a series of questionable business dealings back in his hometown of Shawinigan, Quebec."
@7:02 PM
Yeeeaaahhrrgghh! [Did I spell that right?]
It's Friday the 13th all right. We had to run down to Riverton today and on the way down I picked up my first speeding ticket in 25 years. 75 in a 65. But I'm the slow guy on the road! The trooper got me dead to rights though, I was approaching the bottom of a hill on a long straightaway and I wasn't paying attention. Driving my wife's jeep, which is so much smaller and lower than my pickup, and rides so much smoother, that it doesn't give me the same sensation of speed. [Ps. And it has no cruise control, dammit.] When I saw the trooper I glanced down at my speedometer and saw how fast I was going just as he started to slow and get ready to turn around behind me. $60! Damn, damn, damn. And no one but myself to blame.
@5:51 PM
Sleeping with barnyard animals!
Supposedly, Lyndon Johnson was once hard-pressed to win an election against a tough opponent, and he suggested to an aid that they start a rumor to the effect that the fellow had romantic interests in livestock. "But we can't say that, it's not true!" responded the aid. "No it's not true, but we'll make him deny it," responded LBJ.
This would seem to parallel the tactic employed in accusing the Prez of being AWOL from the TANG. (The InstaPundit links to Hugh Hewitt, who makes a good case for a complete absence of evidence to back the charge.)
Ps. Of course, the factual basis of the bimbo bomb that's been launched against Kerry is a bit flimsy too. [Okay, Ravenwood is complaining about people hotlinking that picture, so go read his post too.]
@5:39 PM
We hates them, we do!
CHEYENNE -- Elk hunters riding ATVs and snowmobiles are ruining the hunt for others in some areas around Dubois and generally across Wyoming as well, one hunter complained to Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners on Thursday.
"All day long they're cowboying it up," Stephen Eckert of Cheyenne said of ATV and snowmobile use in the East Fork Management Area northeast of Dubois where he and his brother hunted last fall. "These pseudo-hunters ... are a cancer that needs to be in remission."
The issue here seems to be whether more regulation is needed, or more enforcement of the existing regulations. At first gasp that seems like a no-brainer to me, but it appears the regulations are less clear than I might have thought. I have foolishly assumed that "no off-road motorized vehicle use" meant no off-road motorized vehicle use. However, I know this doesn't seem to apply to snowmobiles, which go everywhere in the forest once there's enough snow -- there are designated trails, but apparently no regulation, or no enforced regulation, that people stay on them.
Folks with ATVs seem to use them as they would snowmobiles -- they ride them everywhere. I don't know how many times I've watched some yuck ride up to a "no motorized vehicles beyond this point" sign, read the sign, and then ride right around it and continue into the hills. In some areas it is getting to the point where every ridge has one of those narrow-gauge ATV two-tracks down its spine.
And yes, it is immensely frustrating to have hiked miles into the hills to hunt, find a group of critters to stalk, and then at the last minute have your stalk broken up by a couple of assholes on ATVs who come roaring in, jump off their machines, and proceed to blaze away, often at ranges exceeding 500 yards. If their shooting is ineffective, which it most often is, they pile back on the machines and chase after the herd.
I suppose the mighty hunters occasionally wear the critters out to the point where they can get close enough for a shot, but for the most part all they accomplish is to push the game into areas of dense trees and rugged terrain where the slobs simply can't go, at least without getting their butts off that infernal machine, and most won't do that.
The situation is by turns amusing and infuriating. The folks who ride everywhere are most infuriating, but even those who do stay on the roads create a racket of whining two-cycle engines that can be heard for miles. I hunt to enjoy the solitude and scenery as much as anything, and thus, I find the noise nearly as objectionable as the off-road riding.
But it is also amusing. Either on or off-road, these yucks are not sneaking up on anything. More often than they've disrupted my stalks, they've merely interrupted them. On several occasions I've been watching a herd of elk or deer when a couple of ATVs come along. The critters hear them coming from miles away, and frankly, don't seem terribly disturbed. They melt back into the trees, watch the knuckleheads ride by, and then come out and calmly go back to grazing. The morons on the ATVs never even knew they passed within 50 yards of half-a-dozen nice bulls!
There's an up-side to this proliferation of ATV hunters as well: Most never do get off and walk. This last fall, in a couple of months of pretty intensive hunting in terrain too difficult for ATVs [and behind locked gates where the bastages can't go], I saw exactly one set of human footprints off-road that I didn't make. One. In trade for listening to that infernal 'neeneeneeneenee' in the distance, I get most of the woods to myself.
Ps. I should amend this to point out that most of the ATV and snowmobile riders do stay on the roads and trails, but it doesn't take too many slobs before we starts to hate them all.
@8:29 AM
Swimmin' in the North Fork?
CODY -- Never mind those sandy beaches -- readers of this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue will see models posing on the banks of the North Fork and in Stampede Park.
The North Fork? That would be the North Fork of the Shoshone River, called the Stinking Water until Buffalo Bill decided that moniker wouldn't draw tourists. The North Fork comes right down out of Sunlight Basin, on the east flank of Yellowstone, fresh off mountain snows in the Absarokas. Dunk one of those skinny little things in the North Fork and she'll have goose bumps bigger than her… ah well. Let's just say insulated waders would be more appropriate attire for that venue.
@7:23 AM
Thursday, February 12, 2004- - -
Another convert!
Rich at Shots Across the Bow has come out! Yep. He admits to being a 'Big L' Libertarian. Somebody quick teach him the secret handshake, okay?
@9:51 PM
Things you will never hear an Indian say
A sample of humor via Indianz.com:
"I need a bigger hard drive."
"No thanks, we're vegetarians."
And my favorite:
"The tires on that truck are too big."
@8:11 PM
Google School
The Feces Flinging Monkey points to this Google tutorial that has all sorts of useful tips.
@7:13 PM
Got me!
I'm afraid that Megan McArdle has hit one of my greatest weaknesses as a businessman: I have very little patience with jumping through the myriad pointless hoops that bureaucracies generate.
@7:12 PM
Slavs to fashion
Okay, I've been waiting for years to use that one, and it works as a lead-in to introduce a new blog that it's writer has brought to my attention: Blogo Slovo by Dave, 'news and politics with emphasis on the Slavic world'.
Dave presents some interesting ideas, including suggesting a Bush/Cheney ticket for 2004... Lynne Cheney. While many folks have suggested that Condoleezza Rice replace Dick Cheney, which also has great potential, Ms Cheney really is an asset the administration doesn't seem to be making much use of. As Dave says, she's smart. Also a very lovely and gracious lady with just a streak of tempered steel. I think this idea needs more consideration.
Earlier he explains having a Bad Russia Day: "A Bad Russia Day usually involved some combination of A> meddlesome bureaucrats; B> busses or trains that don't show up on time; C> slush in my boots and D> inability to muster enough coherent Russian sentences to remedy A, B and C." Now this makes me feel better. As abysmal as my command of the language is, even I can come up with a couple of choice phrases to cope with slush in my boots. Hmm.. Or perhaps that just says something about my language instructor, who felt we should never be helpless in such situations!
Dave isn't really blogging up a storm at present, but then perhaps that's understandable, as he's working on his PhD dissertation. Or perhaps, unlike me, he doesn't use blogging as a work avoidance mechanism. He does note that PhDs go not to the smart, but to the determined, so it sounds like he's got the right attitude for success!
At any rate, a fine blog for my roll, go check him out!
@4:35 PM
"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Say, now I'm reminded where that phrase came from. John Fickle Kerry was a rather famously bad boy, wasn't he?
@11:48 AM
Now this is interesting
Did you pick up on the bit in the Washington Times' letter [via Sparky at Sgt. Stryker's] where Col. Wm. Campenni says that the Prez actually inquired into a program that was sending National Guard F-102 pilots to 'Nam, but was told he didn't have enough flight hours to qualify?
You don't suppose the Prez is rope-a-doping again? Could it be that about the time the screech for him to release all his military records hits a crescendo, he'll release all his commendations and records where he volunteered for combat duty but was disqualified through no fault of his own. Heheh. Modest guy that he is, he wouldn't want to make a crass issue of his military service, but since they insist...
@10:13 AM
Deja View
[We've seen this before] StrategyPage discusses the sad state of marksmanship training in today's armed services. They maintain that the art has been in decline for 60 years. A very interesting article.
I agree that marksmanship standards are awful. I've OIC'd a lot of army marksmanship training, in some cases it bordered on laughable. However, I'd point out that laments about the sad state of marksmanship have been chronicled at least since the 100 Years' War. It's analogous to the complaints that 'the kids nowadays are going to hell', that appear in literature all the way back to the beginning of literature. Somehow I suspect that folks complained about Og's atlatl skills, especially when they'd been eating too many roots and grubs. [And you want to hear complaints? Just touch off a few wee CEV cratering charges near someone's housing complex!]
It's an eternal logistical and budgetary problem: Marksmanship training requires ammunition and ammo is abominably expensive. Marksmanship training requires a range, and as civilian communities grow up around military posts, land for ranges becomes increasingly difficult to find. Finally, marksmanship training requires trainers, and skilled trainers are very hard to find.
I trained troops in marksmanship, and while I've benefited from a great deal of marksmanship training in how to do it, my training in teaching marksmanship approaches nil. I felt in no way qualified to conduct marksmanship training, but in retrospect, I was probably one of the most qualified people on post. At least I knew how to run a safe range!* [Say. You don't suppose that's why I got sent on so many of those details? Naw, that would make too much sense. No one else wanted to be the sacrificial lamb OIC on those details either, I was just less resistant to the idea. Send Swenson, at least he'll do it without whining too much.]
Of course, a good deal of the training I gave was for familiarization of Guard and Reserve troops, whose budgets are abysmal. In the tiny bit of time we had, mostly during their two-week, once-annual training, about all we could do was go through the cleaning and maintenance routine, and then fire 20-30 shots on the range. We focused almost entirely on making sure no one shot themselves, because we knew we couldn't teach anything very meaningful about marksmanship with only 30 shots a year.
We only dreamed of firing 'several hundred rounds several times a year', which StrategyPage maintains is still not sufficient [and if I recall correctly, Sgt. Stryker said they're still on the one-day-a-year plan]. We got one afternoon, once a year with these guys! And handling their weapons? We had Guard troops from New York City whose sidearms were locked away under such heavy guard that they didn't even bring them along when they came to summer camp! It sometimes became my job to find them weapons they could borrow to train with.
According to StrategyPage, commanders in the field are setting up practical shooting courses over in the Middle East, and this, I think, is a very good idea. Nothing focuses the attention quite like the knowledge that your life really does depend on what you are about to learn, and that your troops' lives depend on what you are teaching. Also, when you are about to go into combat, cost becomes no object (or should), the floodgates open and the resources roll in. I suspect that it has ever been thus.
*Ps. I should qualify that to say that I was perhaps one of the most qualified marksmanship training officers on post. As usual, the NCOs did the actual work, lucky for me.
@9:46 AM
Wednesday, February 11, 2004- - -
Politics in space
Rand Simberg discusses the politics involved in the Prez' new space initiative at FoxNews. Very interesting.
@8:24 PM
That's responsible all right
Does anyone but me find it a bit ironic that Dr. Atkins private medical records were released to the public by a group calling themselves the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine? Obviously, they're not much for ethical medicine.
@7:25 PM
Whew! Clark has dropped out.
What a relief. Now if they'll only hang some garlic around his neck on the way out perhaps he won't be back.
@4:52 PM
Oh, Canada
Looks like the makings of a major scandal in Ottawa.
@4:45 PM
Governor Grandpa
There ought to be a special version of Godwin's Law that encompasses invoking the grandchildren in discussions of state and local government spending in Wyoming. All too frequently we hear: 'If you won't approve this tax increase you must want all our children to move away!' 'If you won't give us this money you must want all our local businesses to fail so our children won't have jobs!' While this argument gives it's proponent an aura of respectable concern for the future, in truth it is about equal parts emotional blackmail and vicious slander. 'Anyone who opposes us must be evil!'
Therefore, I'm sorry to note that Gov Dave has invoked the grandchildren, first jump out of the box at the 2004 state budget session.
@9:22 AM
Somebody get the clue bat
"Leafing through the Casper telephone directory the other day I was struck by the number of businesses which have been in business fewer years than I have been alive, 28, yet brag about their longevity in the Casper marketplace.
I found a dog salon which proudly declared it had been dolling-up mutts since 1980, a balloon business which had been providing helium-filled fun since 1982, and a painting business that harkens all the way back to the age of yore that is 1987.
For all I know these businesses are the best at what they do in town, but when a business is just barely old enough to drink legally, or drive legally for that matter, they should not make longevity a prime selling point.
I mean its not like these places have been satisfying customers for 638 years, something Stella Artois beer has been doing."
On second thought, don't bother. Left to his own devices, I'm sure this guy has a stellar career ahead of him in business journalism.
@8:18 AM
EDUCATION, n.
That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.
-- Ambrose Bierce The Devil's Dictionary
Dan Whipple and Geoffrey O'Gara [Who would like you to know that They Are Not Gay] have an interesting article in today's Casper Star. Apparently, the Darby, Montana school board is being asked to include intelligent design in their biology curriculum, a battle we've just fought here in Worland as well. The refrain is the same: 'Evolution is just a theory and there are other competing theories that should also be taught'.
Right. That this argument flies at all is a terrible indictment, not only of the education that our children are being given, but of the general lack of education among our educators and school boards. Anyone who tries to tell me that 'evolution is just a theory' will get a hearty belly laugh, a lecture on what a scientific theory is, and an explanation of why intelligent design and creationism are not scientific theories -- assuming they stand still so long. That argument will not fly with me, nor should it with anyone who has a high school-level science background. That the school boards in Worland, Wyo and in Darby, MT have given this 'evolution is just a theory' argument more than 10 seconds consideration makes me question their ability to educate anyone.
@7:53 AM
Tuesday, February 10, 2004- - -
Robots need toilets?
Matt Welch writes about the evils of robot toilets: The automation grows more rapacious by the day. Besides robot-operated water and heat, we are now subject to the condescending cruelty of automatic flushing. Was our manual track record really so poor?
@8:12 PM
The good news is elves like sex
Everything you ever wanted to know about the elven libido, thanks to Anton Sherwood.
@8:02 PM
Slain by the jawbone of an ass
"Think how many can be killed by just a tiny bit of anthrax, and think about how it's not just that Saddam Hussein might put it on a Scud missile, an anthrax head, and send it on to some city he wants to destroy. Think about all the other terrorists and other bad actors who could just parade through Baghdad and pick up their stores if we don't take action." Bill Clinton on Meet the Press in 1998, quoted by Fritz Schranck.
@6:34 PM
Monday, February 09, 2004- - -
Now this is different
Caswell-Massey's latest: soap, bubble bath, and hand cleanser that promise to "Wash Away Your Sins." I'm afraid they're too late for me.
@1:19 PM
Going completely berserk
Apparently, heavy metal music and seasonal affective disorder don't mix well. [Via Hit & Run]
@8:22 AM
Contingency planning for an apocalypse
Drudge links to a Fortune article that says the Pentagon is developing contingency plans in case of sudden radical climate change. It's always a good idea to be prepared, but I'd like to know their long-term plans for coping with an ice age.
@7:56 AM
Does he wear a visor?
The 'inadvertent insult', latest plaint of the permanently pained. Where's FCC Chairman Michael Powell when you need him?
@7:30 AM
FCC Chairman holds off teotwawki*
Boulder -- FCC Chairman Michael Powell shrugged off critics who accused him of overstepping his bounds by ordering an investigation of Janet Jackson's Super Bowl performance.
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and others have questioned Powell's decision to investigate Jackson's performance, during which co-star Justin Timberlake ripped her bustier and bared her breast.
"I have had much more applause than negative comments," Powell said Sunday. …
I believe in letting things happen, but I do believe that the mark of a civilization is what it doesn't let happen," he said after his presentation.
Talk about a sack-full of self-importance. And am I the only one who gets a little nervous whenever some bureaucrat starts thinking he's the last bulwark of civilization?
*The End Of The World As We Know It
@6:55 AM
Sunday, February 08, 2004- - -
An interesting gun rights debate
Kevin Baker of The Smallest Minority is starting another special topic blog, debating gun rights with Dave Baker of Jivemonkey's perfect Lil' Wurld. Due to a certain similarity in their last names they've decided to call their effort The Fabulous Baker Boys. They have several posts up and it's just getting interesting, so go take a look.
I do have to say that while I generally agree with Kevin Baker's stand on the 2nd amendment, I must disagree with his belief that 'a right is what the majority of a society believes it is'. While in a certain pragmatic sense that is true, it would seem to be counter to the whole point of the Bill of Rights' enumeration of rights that are not subject to the fickle whim of the populace. Rather than make sure that a majority of the population at any given time agrees with my interpretation of each specific right, I'd much rather expend my energy convincing the majority that the Bill of Rights is not to be tampered with, in whole or in part.
@7:36 PM
Drilling on Mars!
I sure hope they have all their environmental permits in order.
@9:59 AM
Big hit on the internet
According to Lycos' search site, Janet Jackson's entirely accidental indecent exposure is the most searched event on the internet ever, giving new meaning to the term 'boobeoisie'.
@9:56 AM
Good fish!
Joanne Jacobs points to the story of Dory the Fire-fighting Fish.
@9:43 AM
But where does the hydrogen come from?
A NY Times report questions the practicality of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, making several good points. The advantage of hydrogen is that it can be generated using solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, the disadvantage is that hydrogen is not easily transported or stored in large quantities -- the technology doesn't scale up that easily from the familiar high school chemistry experiments, and presents problems when tackled on an industrial scale.
Yep, it's a looking-glass world. I'd have never expected the Times to take a hard look at pie-in-the-sky environmental programs.
@8:44 AM
Fascinating
A 'tumblehome' hull shape is common on canoes, but most unusual in a warship.
@8:27 AM
More bread and circuses!
The WaPo isn't happy with Bush's budget… Not enough increased spending and too many budget cuts. It seems they haven't yet learned to cope with this new looking-glass world where the dems are the fiscally conservative party.
@8:21 AM
He who laughs last…
And the Howling Pig is still howling despite a little run-in with the law. At the least, the Pig has struck a blow against petty tyrants at small universities.
@8:07 AM
That's not nice
It looks like the Hell's Angels and the Bandidos are getting ready for a gang war over drug turf in Edmonton, Alberta, of all places. Of course, if they get it on any time soon they'll have to put the chains on their minivans to get to the rumble. You'd have to be one bad motha' to be riding a hog around Edmonton this time of year.
@7:47 AM
A hero and an idiot
That's how one viewer describes Don Cherry, who started such a flap with his remark that NHL players who wear visors are wimps, and that only Europeans and French guys wear them. While Parliament is getting ready to debate this tear in the fabric of the Nation, the fans appear more sanguine.
Ps. Even the French players appear to have found Cherry's remarks largely amusing.
@7:36 AM
Curiouser and curiouser
I see I'm not the only one who sees Wyoming's wolf de-listing fight as a little odd. Budd Betts, who operates a dude ranch northwest of Dubois, writes for the Casper Star:
Weird and counter-intuitive aspects of this issue reveal themselves in legislative strategy: It hardly seems imaginable in Wyoming's conservative political environment that a Democratic governor would be looking for a fight with the feds, but a scenario could develop in Cheyenne that has Gov. Freudenthal advocating a court fight and a portion of the Legislature's Republicans pushing for legislation that complies with USFWS wishes.
This is certainly not a politics-as-usual situation. If indeed all Wyoming Republicans had a super-allegiance to the national party, they would muffle themselves into compliance and help President Bush avoid another environmental black eye with liberal national Republicans. Add to that a Wyoming governor who appears willing to fight and you've created something that, though not entirely bipartisan, is indeed an anomalous political coming-together.
As all this unfolds in the next few weeks it should get quite interesting. What has come to critical mass is a problem that, if not solved properly, can potentially deconstruct Wyoming's traditional interests and assets. The way we choose to address it may greatly define (or redefine) this state's public policy process on many other fronts as well.
Yep. It's not about wolves anymore, it's about party politics and state vs. federal control of land and water and wildlife, some of our most significant assets. Having a republican federal administration and a democratic state administration confuses matters further. It's like one of those trick debates where, half-way through, after presenting all your arguments and hammering on your opponent's anticipated retort, you're suddenly told that during the second half of the debate you'll be arguing the other side of the issue.
Mr. Betts points out some additional issues that are not as they seem. A very interesting situation.
@7:10 AM
Saturday, February 07, 2004- - -
Beer for bottled-water drinkers
I finally bought a six of one of the new low carb beers. I'll say this for them, they've solved the nasty aftertaste problem. Not only is there no aftertaste, there's no during-taste. With a little imagination there is a slight hint of malt/hops just as it passes your lips, but if it were a wine I'd say it was 'short'.
@5:15 PM
Cheap mags!
When I trotted on over to MidwayUSA's web site to get a link for the post below, I noticed that they're having a major sale on 7-round blue steel 1911 mags "manufactured in the same facility that makes magazines for Colt." $3.99 each. I'd run a couple of magazine-loads through each one before I trusted it, but then I do that with any mag.
@4:52 PM
Good Taste in Icons
MidwayUSA's Master Catalog #1 featured a studio pose of a young and very earnest Teddy Roosevelt in buckskins, with a fancy Bowie knife and custom Winchester levergun. Today I received Master Catalog #2, with an old Elmer Keith resting an enormous Charles Boswell 500 Nitro Express double rifle, freshly lit cigar in hand, and the huge head of a very dead Cape Buffalo filling the foreground.
Not only has MidwayUSA selected two major icons for the covers of the their first two annual catalogs, they've selected depictions that I think express the character of each man quite well. Teddy was nothing if not earnest and eager, but he was also a bit swaggering and pompous, and an obvious eastern city slicker with his fancy duds, who sometimes put folks off out west. They called him Old Four-eyes, a reference to his glasses. Those who got to know him learned to love him though, and dozens of Dakota and Montana cowboys followed him into the army to become the Roughriders.
My introduction to Elmer Keith came near the end of his life, when he was a most crusty old curmudgeon. Elmer had an opinion on everything and if you didn't agree you were entitled to change your mind. One of his most oft acted-on opinions was that a bigger gun was better and a really big gun was usually best. In my youth I followed Jack O'Connor's writing and he filled my head with visions of light, fast bullets that killed like lightning. It took me years to conclude that although light, fast bullets can indeed kill like lightning, they can also fail, leaving a long chase after a most miserably wounded animal. I started paying more attention to Keith's writing, and I was amazed at how much he had learned in the interim. Those big, slow, heavy bullets don't kill instantly, but they kill reliably. It's also rare to kill anything too dead. If you should happen to shoot a little forky-horn with your .340 Weatherblaster he'll die, just as if you'd used a .243. Shoot that big 6x6 with a .243 and the outcome might not be so salubrious.
In the Rocky Mountain west in Keith's time, and even in a few hold-out places like Wyoming today, you can go afield licensed to shoot practically anything that walks, crawls, or flies. More than once I've been tip-toeing through the woods with 6mm in hand, intent on finding the little three-point buck that I'd seen earlier, when a nice rag-horn bull presented itself. A terrible temptation arises at that point to find out if your run-of-the-mill 85 gr. .243 bullet will take down an elk, but so far I've managed to resist the urge to find out.
I've also finally managed to figure out that a $30 box of 50 premium bullets lasts quite a few hunting seasons for a poor boy and there are better places to save money than by buying cheap hunting bullets in any caliber. Placed carefully, I've no doubt that a good Barnes X or Nosler Partition from a 6mm will take down an elk in a pinch, so there'll be no repeats of the above 'aw shit' encounters. Well, except perhaps if I'm carrying a shotgun or .22. Aw shit happens.
At any rate, Teddy and Elmer were both famous and famously characters who had a quality of go-to-hell self-assurance that I admire.
@1:46 PM
Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words
I wish I could find this picture on-line. It's an ad in the Northern Wyoming Daily News for Fran Scranton's Farmer's Insurance agency here in Worland that says 'sometimes the hardest part is explaining to your insurance agent what happened'. The accompanying photo is priceless. The passenger's side rear door of an SUV frames the picture, or rather the hole where the door was frames the picture. The door is completely missing and a grizzly bear is in the back seat tearing up the upholstery.
@9:29 AM
The makings of an urban legend
When I first saw this in the CalgarySun, I thought it was a spoof. If so, the SF Chronicle seems to have fallen for it too:
SANTO DOMINGO -- A team of surgeons began operating Friday on a Dominican infant born with a second head, a risky surgery that doctors say they believe to be the first of its kind.
Led by a Los Angles-based neurosurgeon, the medical team planned to spend about 13 hours removing Rebeca Martinez's second head, which has a partially formed brain, ears, eyes and lips.
@8:55 AM
Got their knickers in a knot over this?
OTTAWA -- Denouncing anti-French remarks by Don Cherry as "reprehensible," CBC Television has put the hockey commentator on a seven-second broadcast delay to censor potential slurs. … Only "Europeans and French guys" wear visors, Cherry told his Coach's Corner audience.
Whatever.
Ps. What are they drinking up there, lemonade? Cherry is also on thin ice over past remarks: November 2003: On Coach's Corner, Cherry scolds Sidney Crosby, the 16-year-old centre considered the hottest hockey prospect since Mario Lemieux. "I like the kid," Cherry began. "I see the way he plays and everything. But I've seen him now after goals. He slides on the ice on his knees. You talk about a hotdog."
Wow! This guy is Canada's answer to Andrew Dice Clay.
PPs. Folks at the CalgarySun don't find this episode particularly amusing. In another article:
Now we wonder. Who will it be? Who will be the finger on the button, the boss of the Big Brother Bleep Button of the CBC? Who will be the final defender protecting the perpetually pained? …
Don't ask. ...
However, when Don Cherry says visors are for Europeans and Frenchmen he hits a nerve.
And the anger and the outrage isn't elicited because irate Europeans howl in horror.
So Ottawa is on the case faster than you can say allez.
Obviously, the fat cats in Fat City are bored these days and, unlike democratic countries, Canada does not allow free speech. ...
Denis Coderre, the federal minister responsible for francophone issues, says he is hurt.
He is fed up. It's time for that Don Cherry to stop pushing us French guys around, he says.
Jean Augustine, fed flunky in charge of multiculturalism, says the Grapes gripe is "not really acceptable" and vows "the government will not tolerate statements that create dissonance in our society." They have ways of making us stop.
"The government will not tolerate statements that create dissonance in our society." Yikes.
@7:42 AM
Friday, February 06, 2004- - -
A small piece of history
Here's an interesting souvenir of Wyoming: Complete with four notches on the grip, Wild Bunch member Ben Kilpatrick's Colt SAA. For sale at Cabela's! As they say "If only it could talk."
@2:40 PM
PC run amok
Getting' yer panties in a knot over a little flash of skin is silly enough, but getting bent over a rude comment about "Europeans and French guys"? That's beyond humorless.
Ps. Of course, this is humorless and naive. Thinking there'll be a big backlash against sexy TV after Ms Jackson flashed her shield is just prudish wishful thinking. If the networks could get more viewers by featuring Billy Graham you'd be seeing a lot more of the Reverend. Conversely, if a little raunch turned off the viewers half the crop of current media personalities would be waiting tables. T&A is a proven seller and there's nothing like a little sexy scandal to grab the public's attention. Nothing new about any of this, including the media playing it for all it's worth.
What is kind of sad is that the entertainment media have probably arrived at a pretty accurate assessment of the tastes of the masses, hmm?
@7:57 AM
[Sounds like dad is homesick]
Why I Love North Dakota At Winter Time...
When it's winter time in North Dakota,
And the gentle breezes blow,
About seventy miles an hour
And it's fifty-two below
You can tell you're in North Dakota
'cause the snow's up to your butt,
And you take a breath of winter air
And your nose holes both freeze shut.
The weather here is wonderful,
So I guess I'll hang around,
I could NEVER leave North Dakota.
My feet are frozen to the ground.
You can tell this came from sunny Williston, when I was in Grand Forks fifty-two below was not infrequently the high for the day.
@7:49 AM
"The City That Fun Forgot"?
Pleasantville on the Prairie -- My first reaction was 'boy, somebody's got a bad case of cabin fever', but when the city council starts cracking down on late-night backyard barbeques, on the one night a year you can have a backyard barbeque in Calgary, I think the bylaw book is indeed too thick.
Ps. [Sigh] In other news from the Cold Front, it looks like gun control is working in Canada -- the criminals are getting more bold. And they still have handguns, despite those being outlawed since way back. Imagine that.
@7:33 AM
Thursday, February 05, 2004- - -
I feel a product test coming on
[Just about the time we had everything wound-up to a low scream, ready to hit the field, the snow hit and shut us down. Bids are going out and contracts are coming in though, life is good.]
So while I'm chilling my heels I searched MidwayUSA and found their selection of the new Barnes Triple-Shock X-bullets. Somehow I'd gotten the impression that they were only offered in a few calibers for now, but it looks like MidwayUSA offers a pretty good selection in calibers from .22 to .338. Now all they need is a similar assortment of Triple-Shock solids. Barnes may have painted themselves into a bit of a corner there with their 'triple shock' silliness. What sort of triple shock would a solid create? Yet, the grooved shank would be just as good an idea with their homogeneous solids. Somehow, I don't think their marketing genius was thinking ahead on that one. They should have called the current batch X-rings anyway, although I can't think of a similarly catchy term for a ringed solid.
@1:22 PM
Oh man!
That's got to hurt!
@9:14 AM
Yeah! Europeans and French guys!
Bunch of pansies! Funny what trips the censor-gland in the medulla of some morons.
@8:59 AM
Just how far will a Buick fly?
This doofus reminds me of the redneck's infamous last words: "Hey everybody, Watch This!"
@8:52 AM
Bucky Busted
Bad Break for Beaver in Rock Springs, Wyo. It wouldn't have been so bad, but it was the last tree in town.
@8:45 AM
"Experiments show why deer crosses road"
Proclaimed the headline of the print edition of this article in today's Casper Star. It sounds like the lead-in to one of those stories about government funded wacky research, and I suppose it is. But wildlife crossing the road, especially at night when visibility is limited, is no joke. Particularly when you're in one of those environmentally sound little cars and it’s a great Big Black Moose. Yer going to have air bags deploying and windshield breaking and general mayhem even if you hit a deer solidly with a little car. So it makes sense to spend some highway funds to figure out how to keep the critters off the road.
The article goes on to point out that the reason that the animals are on the road is frequently because they're migrating. Often too, they're out at dawn and dusk moving from their bedground to their feedground, and/or to a water source. Highways in river bottoms are a particular hazard and can be a problem all year on some stretches such as the highway between Thermopolis and Worland.
An accompanying local features article discusses problems with pronghorn on the highway, and then goes on to touch on that perennial favorite, 'Yellowstone about to blow':
A caller to the Star-Tribune on Wednesday reported Internet sources are claiming the temperature of Yellowstone Lake is 80 degrees, fish are dying and animals are fleeing the park in droves.
Yellowstone Lake, of course, is in the caldera of a dormant volcano. Scientists believe the volcano erupts at 600,000-year intervals with devastating results for the surrounding area.
The volcano last erupted approximately 600,000 years ago.
Yep. Any millennium now. I love that bit about "internet sources." Sounds like the sort of stuff wacky old aunt Edna emails to relatives far and wide. Abut half-a-step sideways from normal.
@8:13 AM
Wednesday, February 04, 2004- - -
The Annals of Improbable Research
Thanks to Rabbi M, we have a link to The Annals' new blog. It's worth a look for links to improbable things like this guy [nice x-ray]: he had 300 bladder stones weighing over 400 gr. Somehow, he discovered that his urinary tract blockage was relieved by standing on his head. Okaaayy? He was 67 years old. He must have had to pee something fierce to be standing on his head in search of relief.
@2:39 PM
No, I'm not dead...
Painfully busy though.
I just couldn't resist weighing in on this Super Bowl tempest in a B-cup. A great advertisement for Tivo I suppose, as a dozen of us were watching and we all missed it -- where are those instant replay guys when you really need them, eh?
I'm mostly amused by all the faux shock and dismay on display, as if this one episode has somehow cheapened the whole game of football, when all I see are yet another pair of crotch-grabbing celebrities who've decided that there's no such thing as bad publicity. They're probably right, as I'll bet viewership for the half-time show will be way up next year. If it's all about 'exciting moments in sports', Ms. Jackson should have made 'play of the game'. Hmm.. Which says something about the game too.
Besides, a little titty flash is a class act compared to igniting horse farts, where's all the shock and dismay for that? Aren't both really symptoms of the same media malaise: Playing to the lowest common denominator? If so, here's a frightening thought -- they've a ways to go yet. Today's totally unscientific but nonetheless entertaining CalgarySun on-line poll asks: Are you appalled by Janet Jackson's breast-baring incident during the Super Bowl half-time show? 75.1% respond 'No'. [Yawn]
Why, it's as if the antics of the stars were daily tabloid fare. Rather than being shocked, we're so numbed to this sort of behavior that it only elicits a little temporary curiosity: Was that thing glued, clamped, or pierced?
Ps. My wife wondered why they don't deal with these celebrity flashers like they do with streakers at ball games. Well it appears that great minds think alike, CBS will be using a tape delay for the Grammys.
PPs. Interesting. This WaPo article treats the tape delay as if it were a whole new concept requiring new technology, but haven't they been running sporting events with a few-second delay for years?
Tsk! Another fond illusion destroyed. Supposedly, even two episodes of Saturday Night Live weren't 'live', but were on a seven second delay due to the reputations of the hosts, Richard Pryor, in 1975, and Andrew Dice Clay in 1990. So no, this isn't new technology.
These guys offer a variety of broadcast delay equipment. One is advertised as a 'digital talk show delay' and another as a 'broadcast obscenity delay'. Another report says that the BBC had the option of a 30 second delay in their broadcasting from the Gulf to prevent graphic images being broadcast.
So the new concept here isn't the tape delay itself, but rather employing it routinely any time the folks who currently pass for celebrities are in front of the camera.
PPPs. Bwwaahahaha! According to this report Ms. Jackson says there really was a wardrobe malfunction, as the 'reveal' was meant to show only a red lace bra. So that big honking nipple clamp is the Hollywood version of never leaving home without clean underwear?
@7:04 AM
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