Reviews of movies, anime, and the occasional TV show mixed with warnings on Blogger spam. Also to be found are musings on whatever I am thinking about - all from the point of view of being left to watch everything from the sidelines of life.
Thanks to the wonders of YouTube I’ve found a public service announcement I used to see as a kid. The local TV stations would dump PSA’s onto the early hours of the morning but there were two that stuck out: the crying Indian and the one that always made me laugh – Tennessee Trash. It didn’t hurt that I hated litterbugs, but this is a classic.
The Untold Story of Black Mormons
I ran across mention of this documentary on the Net and and tracked down the website dedicated to it. After seeing the trailer, I knew I had to own the DVD.
The documentary by Margaret B. Young and Darius A. Gray is utterly fascinating and often deeply moving as it follows the history of African American’s in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Much has been made of the Church’s past prohibition against men of color holding the priesthood and this film does not flinch from the hard questions around this. Being a lover of the truth, the absolute candor of Nobody Knows impressed me no end.
Highlights include accounts of Elijah Able and Jane Manning James. Able was a member of the LDS Church from the early days and a priesthood holder. Ordained an Elder and a Seventy, he even served as a missionary when that wasn’t that common. Jane Manning is better known in Church history as she was taken in by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois. Her faith and trials showed what an amazing person she was in holding on to her faith.
Also standing out are all the interviews with members and nonmembers alike. For me, Darius Gray and Paul Gill’s conversation at the end is simply wonderful and the best. That’s not to short change the others, they are all interesting and inspirational.
Topics covered are the beliefs of the Latter-day Saints, the restriction on the priesthood, the “seed of Cain” theory, the “fence sitters” theory, efforts to seek revelation to remove the restriction, Genesis Group, lifting of the restriction in 1978, and what it is like to be black in a predominantly white church.
Rather than go into detail about the documentary, I encourage you to buy or borrow the DVD. I think it is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever watched and highly recommend it. The extensive extras are all worth watching. If you don’t feel your heart touched after watching it, you need to see a cardiac specialist to see if you have a heart.
Nobody Knows should be seen by everyone in the Church, but especially those who still hold on to prejudice. Sadly, there are still racists in this modern age but if they watch this I think they will be forced to face the truth – that we are all children of a Heavenly Father Who loves us.
Personally,
I want to thank everyone who made this beautiful documentary for they have done us all a great service.
One of the refrains I’ve seen of late is how capitalism failed and that’s why we are in an economic crisis. Something I’ve tried to explain to people in the past is that real capitalism is rarely seen in America these days. What we have is huge corporations that dearly wish to be monopolies. Monopolies don’t want competition, they want total control and are big believers in centralization.
So I’ve found it interesting how Republicans have been labeled the party of big business when so many big businesses mainly contribute to Democrats. When big government and big business conspire, you get what we have these days. What I am is a believer in competition of the free market which is different than being pro-business. Jonah Goldberg has an excellent piece on this that everyone should read.
At Blogmocracy, Rodan has a post based on Goldberg’s op-ed that connects the union of progressives and big business with the policies of fascism. In it, he uses a term I’ve used for years, Neo-feudal to describe the attitude of those wishing control through making everyone beholden to them. I have to point out that the ever increasing number of “czars” in the Obama administration accentuates the impression of feudalism to me. Having people with cabinet level power who directly report to the President is all too much like vassals reporting to their lord, in my view.
I will say that the video in the post is annoying, it has some good content on socialism and George Orwell, then completely goes off the rails with the cartoony stuff at the end.
I think a fundamental human mistake is to vest power in one organization and then have all the decisions be made at the top. This is the essence of centralization and history shows that it leads to inflexibility, inefficiency, and corruption every time. This applies to businesses, organizations, political parties, and governments equally.
But here we are, repeating the same mistakes and being shocked when it goes wrong. While I think people are starting to wake up and see what is happening, I wonder if it is too late. The consolidation of power by the federal government and large corporations has been going on for some time now. The ACTA shenanigans are a good example of how it works, with the US government doing the bidding of the entertainment industry.
The solution is smaller government and small business. A focus on these things will lead to better economic and political health in the country. But will the American people do what is needed to bring reform about? That’s the multi-trillion dollar question.
Imagine being killed by exploding chewing gum. Sounds like something from an Austin Powers movie, doesn’t it? Pretty funny, right?
In Ukraine, a chemistry major was killed when his chewing gum exploded. Supposedly he used to dip gum in citric acid and may have confused another chemical with it.
This is too strange to believe. Or not to believe. Frankly, I don’t know what to make of it and wonder if we’ll ever get a full explanation of what happened. I just feel sorry for his poor parents.
After all, it isn’t like we can stop it.
Life in Minnesota involves the occasional blizzard or two and we’re in the middle of one right now. Most places in the area have gotten between 10 and 16 inches already and it is still coming down as I post this.
The Post Bulletin is predicting it will end up in the top ten blizzards in Rochester history. 18 inches is looking likely for Winona, Rochester, and North of La Crosse. I have the feeling I’ll be canceling the Missionary Coordination Meeting at church scheduled for tonight.
The wind is adding insult to injury. Wind chills and blowing snow take much of the fun out of a blizzard. Tonight temperatures will drop below zero in the AM meaning 20 to 30 below wind chills. I hope that everyone stays safe and warm during nature’s siege.
Except this is no dog, this is a car. The Brits who officially broke the sound barrier on wheels 12 years ago are back with a project to go 1,000 mph in South Africa. The SSC Thrust hit 763 mph for an average using two jet fighter engines but that isn’t enough now that others want to break the record. With a hybrid rocket motor this project is aimed at more than setting an amazing record. They are hoping the involvement of schools and universities will have an effect like the Apollo moon shots did back in the 1960’s by bringing in more students into science degrees.
Quote of the article:
Put it this way, if you fired what used to be the most powerful handgun in the world, Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum, at the tail of the rocket/jet car as it passed and Green toggled the 20,500lb thrust hybrid rocket as the revolver went off, the bullet would never hit the car.
I wonder how big a speeding ticket he’d get for that?
But seriously, I’m skeptical they can do it because the low level speed record for an aircraft is only 994 mph. An aircraft has a lot less friction to deal with -- not only involving air but with no energy being lost to contact with the ground. The other thing worrying is the dual engine concept with a jet engine and a hybrid rocket motor. That won’t be the easiest thing to work out. It reminds me of Chuck Yeager’s flight in a similarly augmented NF-104A Starfighter that ended in a crash so vividly depicted in The Right Stuff.
Speaking of Starfighters, I’m looking forward to seeing if the North American Eagle team can break 800 mph with an adapted F-104 Starfighter fuselage on wheels. Being very fond of the F-104 in all its incarnations, I’m rooting for their success. They’ve been ramping up test runs and have run into some problems lately but it doesn’t look project threatening.
Most people don’t know of it, but back in 1979 Stan Barret broke the sound barrier in the Budweiser Rocket Car built by Hal Needham’s team. Sadly, the first supersonic car run couldn’t be recognized because it had three wheels and only did a one way trip. Check out the story at YouTube:
With the East Anglia “climategate” scandal slowly starting to get a little media attention, I’ve found out I’m not the only one worrying it will tarnish all scientific research. At the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henniger has an opinion piece warning that the credibility of all science is at risk. In it he brings up some valid points why this may happen and this quote gets to the heart of the dilemma:
Global warming enlisted the collective reputation of science. Because "science" said so, all the world was about to undertake a vast reordering of human behavior at almost unimaginable financial cost.
There is great danger in mixing politics and science, but I’ll only address the biggest and possibly least perceived danger. That being the loss of stature in the public eye. Over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey breaks down the Rasmussen Reports poll that shows 59% believe data on global warming has been falsified. What is amazing in these polarized times is that majorities across the strata believe this. If that isn’t a loss of credibility, I don’t know what is.
I’ve always thought AGW was based on faith rather than hard science as that massive nuclear furnace in the center of our solar system dictates more than we fully comprehend. Perhaps it is because I remember two previous panics that were widespread. In the 1970’s it was the fear of another ice age that some of the AGW scientists actually pushed back then. Later on the terror of the hole in the ozone layer dominated the media and led to a banning of CFC’s to reduce damage to it. In these I see the arrogance of man combined with the allure of hysteria making for bad science driven by the politics of anti-capitalism.
Shifting gears a bit, it doesn’t help that we are starting to hit some hard walls with scientific research producing practical results. While the search for knowledge is a good thing, in the end most of it needs to deliver something of use to humanity in general. This is particularly true in medical research.
The Telegraph has a sobering article about the diminishing returns of the huge amounts of money thrown into medical science. While I think the title of the article is overly pessimistic or sensational, it is hard to argue that we aren’t getting our moneys worth. Such high hopes were placed on the human genome project that it couldn’t possibly live up to expectations.
Unfortunately, it is not looking good there and if science is done objectively as is suggested in this article, it may open a Pandora’s Box of political and racial problems. The promise of finding the causes of diseases and ways to treat them with gene cocktails has not had much success so far, possibly due to the small sample. Geoffrey Miller posits that the research will instead go in another direction once wider sampling is done:
The trouble is, the resequencing data will reveal much more about human evolutionary history and ethnic differences than they will about disease genes. Once enough DNA is analysed around the world, science will have a panoramic view of human genetic variation across races, ethnicities and regions. We will start reconstructing a detailed family tree that links all living humans, discovering many surprises about mis-attributed paternity and covert mating between classes, castes, regions and ethnicities.
In the pop culture, the original Star Trek television series speculated that there will be a eugenics war between genetically enhanced and superior humans with the rest of humanity. That is where we got the memorable villain, Khan. If we do get the kind of research suggested, I don’t think that scenario is too far fetched. The wealthy will want to tinker with their progeny and I can see state run programs in totalitarian states wanting to achieve dominance in a genetic arms race. Worse, I can see racial strife based on both rejection and embracing of the studies coming out of the research.
All of that could lead to an extreme neo-Luddite reaction, especially if science has already become viewed as just another political football. The last people to see that coming will be the scientists themselves due to their living in insulated academic bubbles. Perhaps more transparency and less politics would help, but it needs to happen quickly before the public consigns science to the trash heap of politics.
A thoughtful and emotional film from the director of Grave of the Fireflies, Isao Takahata, it couldn’t be more different than that grim story. This story of a woman flashing back on her memories from fifth grade as she takes her summer vacation may sound boring, but it is filled with poignant moments with an incredibly emotional ending. While aimed mainly at women, the movie managed to be a surprise hit with both genders in Japan and saved Studio Ghibli from financial ruin.
This is one of the hardest to find films by Studio Ghibli in the United States, since it has never been released here on DVD and, according to Wikipedia, never will be. I was fortunate to catch it on Turner Classic Movies during their Hiyao Miyazaki month and as far as I know that was the only broadcast over here.
The movie starts out with a typically great Studio Ghibli score over the long opening credits which are shown over a fabric texture. Right away, you get the feeling this will be a slow moving film. Finally the movie starts with a shot of skyscrapers in crowded Tokyo. Quickly cutting to the interior of one of them, where we are treated to the images of hum drum office work.
There we are introduced to Taeko, who is getting her ten day vacation approved. The personnel director notices that she is planning on traveling and inquires if it is due to a breakup. Slightly embarrassed, she replies no and that she likes going to the countryside.
Without warning, the movie shifts to a flashback when Taeko was ten and in the fifth grade. It is done without any kind of fadeout and sets the pattern for the rest of the movie. The animation style is different, with washed out watercolors for the backgrounds and muted tones for the characters.
Plus a Black Friday Update
There are a couple of worrisome reports from the Telegraph today, one about Germany and the other about the UK.
Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed another bank bailout in Germany as part of another large economic package. This is not a popular idea with the public and I sense a hint of desperation involved. Another credit contraction has been predicted with 90 billion Euros of bad loans being written off in 2010.
A survey by Munich's IFO institute revealed yesterday that lending conditions in Germany had tightened sharply in November. Some 53pc of large manufacturing companies found credit hard to obtain, suggesting that the problem has spread beyond small firms without access to the bond markets. "The financing situation of firms remains critical and poses a risk to economic recovery," said the group's president, Hans-Werner Sinn.
If the problem is spreading to the larger industries in Germany, that spells trouble for all of Europe because they are the manufacturing engine of the EU. What worries me even more is the solution Mr. Sinn proposes:
He said it was an error for the government to buy toxic debt, urging Berlin to direct equity stakes in the banks through partial nationalisations.
Oh great, fascism in Germany, what could go wrong with that? It makes bailing the banks out look good by comparison.
Interesting stuff, but the quote of the article involves something I think is happening in the US as well:
Volker Treier, chief economist for the German chamber of industry and commerce (DIHK), said worries were mounting among Mittelstand family firms. "The real test has yet to come: the drastic decline in sales has not yet shown up in balance sheets," he said.
I have to wonder what our balance sheets really look like. Creative accounting may be hiding a lot of bad news.
United Kingdom
Over in Britain, Morgan Stanley has warned that the UK may have a massive debt crisis next year. The US company’s prediction is that the economy there will collapse completely, taking the pound sterling down another 10%. Oddly enough, they think the dollar will go up, so I am taking their analysis with a shaker of salt.
Quote of the article:
While the report – “Tougher Times in 2010” – is not linked to the Dubai debacle, it is a reminder that countries merely bought time during the crisis by resorting to fiscal stimulus and shunting private losses onto public books. The rescues – though necessary – have not resolved the underlying debt problem. They have storied up a second set of difficulties by degrading sovereign debt across much of the world.
Boy that really gets to the point. All these stimulus packages and bailouts have been stall tactics with long term negative consequences. When all is said and done, historians will look back and point to them as madness. Well, except for utopians who think government solves everything, I don’t think that will ever go away.
Black Friday in the USA
Here in the States, Black Friday weekend sales were disappointing as while there were more shoppers, they each spent less. Unemployment and under-employment still loom large with no relief in sight. Personal debt is at suffocating levels too. Is it any wonder people are spending less? Hoping the consumer will bail us out is ridiculous as long as there is high unemployment.
Wish I could find some good economic news for the future.
This is great news and an amusing headline.
My own title looks like nonsense to anyone who isn’t into guns, I suspect. For those who don’t know what it means, there have been complaints about the reliability of the M-4, the current derivative of the venerable M-16 assault rifle. Most of the complaints have to do with the way the action works, being a direct gas system.
For the layman, direct gas systems take the expanding propellant gases from each round fired to push the bolt back and load another round. Direct is what it sounds like; the gases go straight back into the receiver. That means a lot of gunpowder fouling of the receiver which is the most important part of the weapon. The more fouling the easier it is to jam in the middle of a firefight.
A piston system siphons off the expanding gases into a separate chamber where they push a piston that in turn moves a rod that transfers the energy to the bolt. That keeps the bulk of gunpowder residue up in the piston area where there are fewer moving parts. With a cleaner receiver there are far fewer jams, as the article shows.
There are complaints that short piston equipped M-16/AR-15 rifles are front heavy and the M-4 was designed to be light and compact. But a weapon that is more reliable while keeping all the other good traits is worth the trade off, I think. If I had the money, I’d get a piston AR-15 rather than the classic design. But I like front heavy rifles and heavy rifles period.
This modification is something I’d hoped the Army would do years ago.
More good news from CERN, the Large Hadron Collider hit 1.18 trillion electron volts in the wee hours of the morning. It looks like it is finally overcoming the technical problems that stalled the program. Still waiting for the first proton smashing but they are hopeful of doing that before Christmas.
I’ve avoided writing on the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit having their files “hacked” because it is hard to get worked up over the turning battle over man made global warming. The majority of people have now realized that this is bogus movement with the tipping point happening some time this year. Still, a significant percentage still believe in this junk science so the revelations of data tampering exposed by the documents has done quite a bit of damage. Christopher Booker’s commentary at the Telegraph lays out why this is such an important scandal and I highly advise reading it.
This needed to be brought to the light like any politically driven pseudo science, but I fear there will be fallout across the board tainting the public perception of scientific research. The old problem of a few rotten eggs ruining things is something I’ve worried about. An example of how science is now getting a negative reputation can be found in the hysteria that starting the CERN supercollider would create a black hole. The earth will be sucked into and we’ll all die!
Yes, people have little understanding of scientific method and I blame our pathetic public education system for that. The bad eggs in politicized junk science have aggravated the problem as they use sensationalism to obtain large grants. Maybe it is time to seriously audit all research grants to see how the money is actually spent and see if there is graft going on. Of course, that would be negative publicity for scientific research again. *sigh*
We still have to get the truth and I hope this scandal will have a chilling effect on corrupt scientists.
I’m still watching with keen interest what is going on with the collapse of Dubai’s commercial real estate ventures. Dubai World is not going to be bailed out or their debt backed up by the government of the small nation. $60 billion in liabilities will not be paid back and this is going to cause quite a few problems for the UK banks. The Bank of Scotland may be on the hook for billions of dollars but things are murky yet.
An intervention by the central bank of the United Arab Emirates has helped markets recover, but I don’t see how a liquidity infusion will help a solvency problem in the long term. It may not even help in the short term other than to temporarily reassure the stock markets. Whatever the case, this may be another canary in the coal mine. I fully expect bank failures to come out of this.
Another day and more bad economic news.
It is the day after Thanksgiving, when minds turn toward shopping for Christmas presents that often go to oneself. It will be interesting to see how all the sales go, some stores and online firms have had them going all week already. My gut feeling is that they will be down because high unemployment combined with overextended credit means no money to spend. Personally, I can’t afford gifts or even to mail Christmas cards this year, unless I find a way to get extra cash – which is very hard for a chronically ill disabled guy.
But I doubt I’m alone in this boat. One of the shoes I’ve been predicting to drop has been the hidden problems with commercial real estate loans. Nobody has been more ambitious in growing their commercial land than Dubai and things have come to a head there. The city state of Dubai has asked for a suspension of their loan payments for six month and that has spooked the world markets today. UK banks are particularly at risk due to this, but the ripple effect looks to be large and spanning the globe. The Dow Jones opened with a 200 point slide before stabilizing around 150 points down.
Meanwhile, the dollar continues to slide. I wouldn’t consider Japan to be that strong an economy due to its going into deflation. So if the US dollar is so weak against it what does it say about the US economy? We will be seeing considerable inflation as this continues and that in turn will depress domestic spending even further.
Oil is down as well, going below $75 a barrel due to the Dubai crisis. I remember when a crisis was a much bigger thing, but that is the media for you. Gold and precious metals are down for the same reason but that will be temporary as foreign central banks move out of the US dollar.
All the ballyhooing going on by various governments that the recession is over seems to be more propaganda (and wishful thinking) than reality. The instability still remains and the world market reactions reflect it. With commercial real estate investments set to blow up and only a lull in the home loan failures, much will go wrong with in the next 10 months.
It is that time of year again, the time of turkeys, cranberry sauce, and relatives gathering together. In our case, two out of three apply – we have turkey and cranberry sauce. But what is this holiday called Thanksgiving is really about?
It helps to flash back to those struggling Puritan settlers; you know them, the guys with with the funny black hats and muskets that look like some guy should be playing a jazz tune through. Colonizing untamed lands was not easy and starvation was a constant threat. Early attempts at communal farming were a failure and the colonists were fortunate to be given charity by a local tribe of American Indians. Not starving to death was something to be very grateful for and so was the ability to practice their religion without government interference or persecution.
Flash forward to today and compare our lives to their hard scrabble existence. Even though times are tough by modern standards there is much to be grateful for. We are yet free and live in a land of abundance. While times are tough at the Boonedocks right now and won’t be getting any better in the foreseeable future, I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, food to eat, heat to keep me warm, and electricity to power the PC I’m typing this on. There are people who don’t have those things or are facing horrendous trials in their lives.
My prayer for this Thanksgiving:
I thank Thee, oh Father, for the blessings I enjoy. May those shattered families and individuals suffering today know comfort and healing, find their strengths that they have lost or not discovered, and know that redemption can be found by all of God’s children. May they know hope and peace during these hard times and find inspiration from those who have gone before them. Please help them to feel Thy love for them and remind them that they have the divine within them. Please help those of us who are blessed be better servants to those in need. In the name of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Glenn Beck has gotten very popular over the past few years on both radio and TV. He is at times very amusing and comes off as a mix between a sideshow barker and that crazy uncle every family has. The red phone to the White House is an all time classic of political satire and a good example of how pointedly funny he can be. He’s also gotten some important things out into the public eye that needed exposure.
But I’ve had issues with Beck’s behavior. Much mockery has been made of his loss of emotional control on air and for good reason. There is a dark side to his shtick and that is the pervasive severe paranoia he exhibits accompanied by grandiose beliefs in his own power to sway people. In that way he is a classic populist and the danger of populists is that they are often one step from becoming demagogues.
Beck has increasingly been acting messianic, first with the 9/12 Project and now with an undefined march on Washington scheduled for next year. While these things look good on paper, please note that every time he does something along these lines there is a new book being released or about to be released. Lately I’ve found myself asking if it is money or delusion that fuels him -- or both? One thing I never had questioned is his patriotism.
Until now.
Calling for our young men and women to stop enlisting in the military goes so far over the line as to negate anything positive Beck has done in the past. At this point, any conservative credentials can only be considered partial as it is clear he does not understand the troops or why they serve. I consider strong defense to be second most important leg of the Reagan stool of conservatism. Yes what is being done to the Navy SEALS is reprehensible at face value and if the story is true, we have reason to make heads roll in the military and White House over it. Note to Beck: the country isn’t the government and THE COUNTRY WILL STAND BEHIND THE SOLDIERS. This isn’t Vietnam where the public abandoned our veterans. I know lefties who show more support of the troops and their mission than Beck just did.
If he believes the military will be one day used against the people of the country (and I think he does) discouraging patriotic conservatives from serving will make that easier to pull off. Right there is a logic fail of epic proportions. When things finally do start falling apart, I personally believe a big chunk of the armed forces, active and retired, will be the ones fighting for restoring liberty to this land. You don’t want the people who listen to talk radio and watch Fox News to leave the military.
Glenn was always a weak sister during the war in Iraq and has shown isolationist tendencies much like Ron Paul, another destructive pseudo conservative. The world will come to us like it did on 9/11 even if we ignore it. Isolationism is the last refuge of the coward and often a mask for someone who wants total control of their country. That’s why it is galling to see libertarian types fall for the philosophy when it is antithetical to freedom and individuality in the long run.
One might point out the emotion of Beck’s dealing with his family members who have enlisted. I have a young friend who enlisted in the Army last year. While he is not active duty, the opportunity to go to Iraq happened and I spoke with him about the decision. Without going into the details, we spoke about the pros and cons of going now instead of waiting to get out of college and being commissioned an officer. Never once did it occur to me to dissuade him due to Obama being president or his safety being guaranteed.
The young man decided to go only to have the offer yanked out from under him – college it is, at least for a year. He had my full support in his decision, as hasty as it might be. I agreed with his mother’s assessment that “Dying in service is still dying in service to God.”
In the end, service in the military is about service to our country and its people. The oath sworn by every man and woman in our armed services is to the Constitution, not Congress, not the President. Glenn Beck would do well to remember that.
I don’t like how media figures influence things so disproportionately and I’m on record as not being a fan of them whether or not they are on my side politically. This episode illustrates why. At some point, the perceived power they have goes to their heads. Being entertainers first, they often shoot their mouths off and do damage to their own side. But a bigger problem is how much faith their listeners and viewers put into them.
That is why I don’t listen to people like Glenn Beck and prefer to cull my news from a wide variety of sources. Broadcast and cable news/commentary are distorted by the lens of entertainment – or spectacle, if you will. I’m a Joe Friday kind of guy wanting “Just the facts, ma’am.” We’ve got fiction for entertainment and it is dangerous when it passes for news.
Having rescued many a kitten and cat over the years, I was in no mood to do so again. The last two rescues had to be put down after trying to kill another cat and cleaning up blood stains from the murder attempts is not something I wanted to repeat. With the object of the attacks now full grown, I found myself praying not to have to deal with another kitten anytime soon.
Enter one abandoned kitten on the property with no sign of siblings or mother. This happened two weeks after the afore mentioned prayer, so let no one tell you that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. After howling for two days in the barn (loud enough to be heard from the kitchen) my dad decided to let me know about it. He said he heard a cat in the barn and that it had been going on for some time. The moment I heard it I said, “That’s not a cat, that’s a kitten.”
Yes it was so loud only an adult could make that kind of noise, but the voice was far too young. I figured it was a month or more old by the volume. When we got out there, I managed to open the top half of the broken barn door and looked around. The loud cry started again, earsplitting and right on top of me. A glance down revealed a tiny little yellow kitten – a very young kitten.
Not only did the young age surprise me, but the fact that the critter looked me in the eyes and came back to my voice after being startled. Not normal for an obviously feral kitten. Little did I know that was only the beginning of not normal behavior from him.
I easily picked him up and he began purring immediately and I knew he’d have to be cared for as the abandoned barn is not a safe place for kittens thanks to raccoons and roving tomcats. He was strong and very feisty, but his eyes were dark blue, the ears only just upright, and his side teeth hadn’t come in. Looking up info online, I decided he was between 3 and 3 1/2 weeks old, which meant formula as he wasn’t weaned and eating hard food.
So we gave him formula with a dropper and he wasn’t cooperative. Taking a gamble born of desperation, I soaked cat food in warm water hoping he could take that in. Oh he liked the broth from it and had a hard time learning to drink it, but I was still concerned.
I shouldn’t have worried. In a couple of days he had watched the hostile older cats and decided that he was a big cat now.
I’ve heard of two fisted drinkers and now witnessed the phenomena of the four pawed eater.
Precocious barely scratches the surface with this kitten. We couldn’t find a box that could contain him and he went berserk when put in the cat carrier. He was young enough to not be running or jumping, but his upper body strength was abnormal so he was able to climb almost anything. That meant having to sleep with the tiny character and not crush him by accident.
After a week, it was clear he wasn’t the runt of the litter and was probably the alpha. Wrestling, spitting, challenging, and tackling are his favorite pastimes being a typical boy cat. One problem is that he bites everything and everyone. I’ll be glad when he starts mellowing out even though he is good about not biting through the skin.
He’s come a long way despite an epic war of wills over the litter box. Brighter than the average kitten, he understood its use right away but would only use it if I went to the bathroom too. Then he decided it would be a funny game to resist being put in the box when caught peeing or crapping in the living room. Out he’d jump and arch his back, prancing at me before running to a corner of the bathroom.
I wasn’t amused.
At the time of writing this, it has been several days without an apparent “accident” and the litter box is needing constant cleaning. I may have won the battle but this is a smart kitten and only time will tell.
Naming him has been a difficult endeavor and it came down to one of the following: Zim, Johnny Rotten, or Howl. For the moment, he is dubbed Howl, which is short for Howlin’ Cat, Howland Owl, or Howling Pain in the… well, you know.
This is what the boy looks like now. Howl’s eyes are just starting to change around the pupil, I’ll be curious to see what color they end up.
It looks like we’ll be taking care of him for the long haul, I never did find any trace of his mother and siblings. There is a good chance the raccoons got them. I think he’ll turn out to be quite the fighter and hope to teach him to be a protector rather than a bully. The fact he is crushing on my #1 cat, Snooky, is promising.
I also like the fact she doesn’t run from Howl like he has the plague, but simply slaps him silly if he gets too fresh. Right now they are sleeping about three inches apart – he’s getting good at sneaking closer to her.
Welcome to the Boonedocks, Howl.
I saw this at the Telegraph and had to share, the photos are amazing. In the US, the motto “Unarmed, Alone, and Unafraid'” was used by photoreconnaissance squadrons as they flew incredibly dangerous missions. Usually they flew solo with no weaponry, relying on speed and surprise to stay alive. The pictures of Operation Market Garden and the D-Day landings are particularly compelling.
Growing up on comic books made me a reader as a child. One of the fictional hero groups I liked the most was the Justice Society of America or JSA, the super heroes of the 1940’s. All Star Squadron was the title of the comic I infrequently found at grocery stores and I fondly remember the extra large special where they saved President Roosevelt from super Nazi assassins.
From there they were brought into the modern times of the 1970’s, inhabiting a parallel universe to the one that the Justice League of America took place. Age had actually caught up to the older heroes and they were training their children and other young heroes. This was different and appealed to my love of history. In these comics you would see a graying Superman, Flash, Dr. Fate, and Green Lantern fighting alongside Batman & Catwoman’s daughter, the Huntress for instance.
I never thought I’d get to see a live action version of the JSA, so I’m looking forward to Smallville’s special 2 hour movie involving them. So far we have been informed that Hawkman, Dr. Fate, and Stargirl would appear as part of the disbanded and mysteriously forgotten heroes. The preview above reveals one more character, the Sandman, in his gas masked glory. Between the glimpse of him and Dr. Fate with the photo released of Michael Shanks in full Hawkman costume, it will be the first time comic book costumes have been translated faithfully in Smallville.
As big a surprise as seeing the Sandman was, the bigger was seeing Alan Scott’s Green Lantern ring. I doubt we’ll see much of him with a modern Hal Jordan Green Lantern movie in production.
The best part of this is that the writer of the two hour special is Geoff Johns, the writer who made the latest incarnation of the JSA into a top selling comic book. He knows and treats the characters reverently so old fans such as me probably won’t be disappointed. The trade reprints of JSA are highly recommended as examples of comic books done well.
It will be a long wait until February 5th for this, but in the meantime I can continue to geek out over how well Dr. Fate’s costume translated into reality. That golden helm is just as intimidating as it was on the four color pages I read as a child.
The Large Hadron Collider suffered a magnet meltdown after its first run last year, shutting down operations until this past week. I’m happy to see the first test went well Friday and hope to see it get to smashing atoms soon. In a small (microscopic) way, I’ve been involved through crunching research numbers for it on my computer.
While it is doubtful what the PC did was actually used, it felt good to contribute to something that will further research into physics. I still remember the keen disappointment I felt when the much larger supercollider project in the US was cancelled back in the 1990’s. Now if we could get those idiots who believe that the LHC will create a black hole the special care they need…
I’m late to the party on this one, but it allowed me to read what happened from the view of the teenager Norah O’Donnell decided she could trap in an interview. The young woman dared to be in line for a Sarah Palin book signing while wearing an anti-bailout shirt. This provided a “gotcha moment” for O’Donnell to attack Palin for backing McCain in supporting the initial bailout and embarrass the obviously unprepared teen. Terrific moment of showing what fools these Palin backers are, right?
Not exactly. Turns out O’Donnell used a Blackberry to get info in order to set up the question while the teen acquitted herself well given the ambush style of the question. O’Donnell compounded things by lying on Twitter about the girl having voted last year. Read the girl’s blog Red, White & Conservative for a full account of what happened.
Be nice if MSNBC went to as much effort to find out where all the stimulus money actually ended up.
And people wonder why the media is viewed as biased?
Watch this animated map of unemployment shown county by county for the entire US and weep. It starts out before the recession officially began and slowly becomes a tidal wave of purple and dark gray. Locally, Houston County went from light orange to purple in two years, which is 4.0-4.9 % to 7.0-9.9 %. Won’t be long until it is mostly dark for the country.
123 banks have failed so far this year and despite the run up in stocks things are looking worse as the effects of the stimulus end. Check out this post at The New Editor and watch the video of Meredith Whitney talking about the stock market. Warning: her analysis is not a happy thing to watch and she points out that there is no reason for the stock market to be going up.
I’ve long thought the stock market was divorced from reality and is based on the emotional attitudes held by gamblers. The fact that consumer credit has contracted more than during the Great Depression is a huge warning sign that we may be in an unprecedented economic collapse. That this is being ignored by the investors is amazing.
Over in France, the bank Société Générale is warning their clients to prepare for a possible global economic collapse in the next two years. Basically the idea is that all the problems of the banks have been transferred onto the governments making them insolvent in turn. Quote of the article:
The bank said the current crisis displays "compelling similarities" with Japan during its Lost Decade (or two), with a big difference: Japan was able to stay afloat by exporting into a robust global economy and by letting the yen fall. It is not possible for half the world to pursue this strategy at the same time.
No, it isn’t possible and a lost decade is very possible for the entire planet, if not lost decades.
In previous posts, I’ve written about gold going up and that it isn’t a good sign. Martin Hutchinson at PrudentBear.com points out that the last time gold ran up so quickly in value was before the economic woes in the early 1980’s. Only it is a lot faster this time and Hutchinson predicts $2000 an ounce will be hit in six months time. His belief is that once gold went over $1000 the point of no return was reached and that a second recession is guaranteed. I’d argue that we never got out of the first one, that any recovery has been an illusion generated by shuffling nonexistent money around.
Once again, I wish I had good economic news to report. I think what we are about to face is going to make the Great Depression look good by comparison.
This a flight demo by a Hungarian pilot flying a JAS39C Gripen at RIAT earlier this year. Great video of a terrific little plane that Sweden builds for multirole combat.
I think it is the prettiest of the “Eurocanards” flying and fills a critical need in size and capability. Many countries can’t afford even medium sized fighters, instead flying smaller ones such as the F-5 Tiger and MiG-21 Fishbed. A modern replacement for them has been needed for some time. This is what the F-20 aspired to be in the 1980’s and I believe the Saab Gripen is the realization of the dream of a modern light weight fighter.
The only other competitor is the Chinese/Pakistani JF-17 which I highly doubt is as good a plane, being a radical derivative of the MiG-21. It says much that the Pakistani’s are now buying the larger and more modern J-10 from China instead of more JF-17’s. Meanwhile, India’s LCA project is still far from service and already out of date.
Interestingly, the Gripen often ends up competing for contracts against bigger fighters such as the F-16C Fighting Falcon, F/A-18E Super Hornet, and France’s Rafale. Currently it is in service with Sweden, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and South Africa.
A new version with a more powerful GE-414 engine, AESA radar, more fuel, and redesigned landing gear is flying in prototype. The Gripen NG promises greater range and weapons load along with better avionics.
There is unrest amongst the grass roots and discontent with all politicians – not just Democrats. At the moment, it looks good for the Republican Party but it is a long way until November 2010. Things change and the unpredictable can alter any trajectory in politics. Therefore, the Republicans need to be coming up with candidates who will stand for something, not just counting on the voters being angry with the other side.
Whether candidates are chosen via caucuses or primaries, the Republican Party needs to have a clear identity to present to the public. While RINO hunting can be a valid sport there can be a tendency to go overboard in purity tests. Likewise, the “Big Tent” approach can lead to leftwing liberals like Dede Scozzafava running as a Republican. It would help if the GOP actually stood for something basic while still allowing a variety of candidates to be fielded in the very different districts that make up the political landscape.
I submit that we must use a variation of Reagan’s three legs of a stool test. Reagan’s idea was that a Republican movement needed to be fiscally conservative, socially conservative, and defense hawks. This is the ideal for a candidate and can be achieved in solidly red districts – in fact it must be the criteria there.
But what of weaker areas? Realistically, we have to face that there will be districts that a pure conservative cannot win. Still, we need a Republican who will vote most of the time with the caucus. By that, I don’t mean 51% of the time. In those weaker districts a Republican who votes conservatively 66% of the time is the bare minimum.
In choosing a candidate, I have come to the conclusion the person must meet at least two of the following criteria:
1. The candidate must be fiscally conservative, no exceptions! A true fiscal conservative will also favor small government and won’t do anything to grow government. This criteria is absolute and inflexible.
Next at least one of the following stances must be held:
2. The candidate is socially conservative. This generally means pro-life, pro defense of marriage, and/or pro Second Amendment. The beliefs must be solid and not based on pandering.
3. The candidate is a defense hawk who supports the military. Our men and women in the armed forces need all the backing they can get as we confront terrorism and other threats.
Two out of three should give us conservative legislators who will work together well at the state level and in Congress. This is The 66% Rule.
Holding only one of these conservative credentials is not enough even in the bluest of districts. In order for the Republican Party to have a cohesive identity and work together, there has to be common ground other than merely having the label “Republican.” It isn’t enough to just win elections – the goal has to be advancing our political philosophies. Otherwise, the Democratic Party will continue to use divide and conquer tactics to get their legislation passed.
If we keep the Rule of the Three Legged Stool in solidly conservative districts and follow The 66% Rule for weaker districts, I believe Republicans can win in 2010 and 2012. More importantly, it will give us candidates who will advance the conservative cause and undo some of the damage done by the current Congress and administration.
While this is a broad and simplified set of criteria, anything more complicated becomes cumbersome and subject to constant amendments. There will be “moderates” who will be upset at the rule and there will be “true conservatives” equally unhappy with it. It doesn’t matter. Things are at a dangerous point in our governance and we don’t have time to play internecine games that only strengthen the political Left.
We need to keep things simple and focused while remembering that most of the country considers themselves conservative one way or another. The public craves politicians who will stand for something and actually live by their words. There was a whiff of desperation in the voting choices made in 2008, a hope that if everything was turned over to the Democrats things would be better. Many Democrats shaded their stated positions toward the middle to get elected, much like President Obama did and more recently Owens in NY-23. Once in place, they didn’t live up to their statements and went left.
The Republican Party lost its identity some time back and the voters haven’t forgiven us for it. We need to win the people over and to do that we have to have cohesion in our ranks. Until then, any victories we have will be short lived. With a true identity, the Republican Party could retake power and stay there for some time.
Edward Woodward passed away at 79. I was a fan of his 1980’s show, The Equalizer, which was an entertaining series about a retired intelligence agent who uses his skills to help people in trouble. Brains over brawn was the modus operandi and I enjoyed it a great deal. Woodward made McCall a classy and formidable hero. Upon reading of his death, it made me wish I could see the series again. Sadly, I can’t afford Netflix anymore so I can’t rent the first season. Catch it if you can.
A lot of media spin has been about how we are recovering economically despite the lack of jobs. After all, the stock market keeps going up and it is the barometer of the economy. At least that is what people assume, but there are many other indicators of economic health.
It isn’t often you see the words “world gold supply runs out.” In fact, I don’t recall ever seeing them until this article at The Telegraph. With less retrievable gold ore in the ground, it is going to be harder for nations to convert their financial reserves to hard metal. Output is plunging at the mines, so the rush to invest in gold has a problem – there isn’t enough of the precious metal to go around.
That’s always been an argument I’ve had with goldbugs, that there isn’t enough of the metal to cover the currencies of the world. There is a possibility that silver will go back up to make up the slack, but money is an illusion whether it be made of metal or paper or electrons floating in computers. Faith is what sustains it and gives currency value. So what happens when you can’t convert the currently held currencies and they dwindle into nothing? We may find out.
Speaking of running out of things, the FHA is running out of cash and may require – you guessed it, a bailout from the government. Oh yes, the housing market is still in trouble and there is fear they can’t cover loans due to growing unemployment. The critical quote of the piece:
The FHA’s cash reserves have plummeted to $3.6 billion, compared with $685 billion in outstanding insured loans - a ratio of 0.53 percent that is far below the 2 percent required by Congress and a fraction of the 6.4 percent reserve ratio in fiscal 2007.
Banks are usually closed down if they have that kind of ratio, so this is not good. With no signs of unemployment going down, we’ll be seeing more of these loans defaulting. So there will be a bailout using tax payers’ money. Except we don’t have enough because revenues are down. But China will loan us the money, right?
Well, China is not very happy with the US right now. They rightly have figured out that the weak dollar and low interest rates have dangerously ballooned stocks and property investments. What we don’t need is more bubbles that will burst and that is precisely what we are getting.
Not that China is really helping things themselves. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has an interesting and somewhat alarming commentary on the problems surrounding China’s exporting overcapacity. We have too much supply and not enough demand from them so they are not taking up the slack from the West. Read it.
Fears of a double dip recession abound, but I still think we never came out of it in the first place. It was just a plateau in the fall and we are going to see darker days before anything truly gets better.
One kind of darkness has already fallen on Australia. They went with a cap and tax scheme to lower carbon emissions and electricity prices skyrocketed. People can’t afford their bills and are being cut off with retirees being hit hardest. That will strangle their economy in no time flat. Right now they are experiencing what we will if similar legislation is enacted.
I wish I had good news to report.
I’m not happy with the way Intellectual Property (IP) rights are handled because I feel that the current laws are stunting creativity in a stagnant society.
An article at boingboing.net got my attention last week and highlights how trademark law can be abused. Edge Games hasn’t put out a real product in many years, but has terrorized anyone that dares to use the word “edge” in any videogame, movie, or comic book. They’ve been successful at this, gaining settlements with other companies for over a decade.
This is a truly bizarre story, especially if you read the full details over at ChaosEdge. Mind you, it can be eye glazing but if you dig, you can find documented IP theft by Edge Games themselves! The strange sales (or lack of sales) by this company from their web store is an epic story by itself.
At least with EA’s involvement there is a chance these people will be shut down, but it shows how the current system can be gamed – no pun intended. I’m wondering how this guy Langdell has made money from this. He has to have to keep filing lawsuits, right?
653 public bodies will be given access to the confidential information, including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the Ambulance Service, fire authorities and even prison governors.It is rapidly getting to the point where the only private communications in the UK will be face to face, for Big Brother is watching. The British are lost and only people fighting for their freedom will keep it here in the United States.
I’ve been experimenting with adding pictures to my movie reviews and took the opportunity to revise or expand them in the process. Here are the links to the revised reviews:
Over time I’ll be adding more reviews, in fact I have several written in the pipeline. Expect reviews of Gojira, Godzilla, and Howl’s Moving Castle soon.
Why reviews? I get very tired of all the gloomy news out there and need to write about more positive things. Most of the reviews will be out of my personal DVD collection, so don’t expect a lot of negativity!
In the aftermath of the Fort Hood shootings, Veterans Day seems a little more immediate than usual. That shouldn’t be the case for we always have men and women in the armed forces serving around the world protecting our country and way of life. Less visible are those who have served honorably and returned to civilian life, but my gratitude is just as great for their service.
After Vietnam, a lot of people turned against our soldiers and I remember the slow turnaround of that attitude in the 1980’s under President Reagan. Lately it has been a mixed bag as the country has polarized over Iraq and Afghanistan. But I hope I’m correct in feeling that the majority of the country at least respects our fine service personnel. Reading about the strange mugging of an Army reservist gives me hope.
One has to love the ability to type “misc.” instead of miscellaneous(which is only correctly spelled here due to Windows Live Writer’s spellchecker). It is such a useful term too – it covers everything!
Yes, I’m making an excuse to post random unconnected links to stories interesting me today:
Read about stocks jumping to new highs on Yahoo and once reading the reasons for it felt vindicated in thinking the “recovery” is all about banks and the political class – not the peons. They love the dollar collapsing; such wonderful patriots they are. They also love blowing bubbles and we are going to see more pop with this irresponsible behavior. People invested in stocks don’t care about anything but reaping a quick profit and that cannot bring about any long term improvement.
Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell and the end of Communism in Europe had begun. Lech Walesa played a critical role in this and the former leader of Solidarity says some interesting things in an interview with Spiegal Online. His warning to the politicians is one that should be heeded.
At PajamasTV, Bob Owens has a nice rant only a gun nut will appreciate – so of course I enjoyed it a great deal. It has to do with the “cop killer” label put on the FN Five-seveN (oy, the marketing gimmick) 5.7mm pistol in the reports on the Fort Hood shootings. This is a pistol I would love to own as I’m a fan of velocity over mass, but Owens’ arguments are sound and I have a heavier caliber pistol for the same reasons. I’m grateful Hasan fell for the hype, things could have been far worse.
People scoff at computer virus threats while disregarding the legitimate threat. Frankly, the chance that your PC could be given a virus that downloads child pornography is frightening. So if anyone reading this doesn’t have a firewall and antivirus program on their PC, please install one pronto! Being framed for something as depraved as this should be motive enough to add some security.
The Nuclear Threat
The UN is wondering why they’ve found evidence that the Iranians have experimented with a radically more advanced nuclear warhead design than previously thought. It is pretty clear they are playing for time to get weapons in production and the weak Obama administration is making it easier than ever. Not that President Bush was much better in dealing with them. It will be up to Israel to defend themselves. There will be fallout one day, probably of the radioactive kind.
Over in Poland, nuclear fears are rising as well. Russia practiced an invasion and nuclear missile strike on Poland back in September. They even gamed out a pretext based on ethnic Poles rising up in Belarus. Nothing is subtle with the Russians and this is clearly a threat being made to Poland. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a repeat of the false flag operation used by the Nazis to justify invading Poland. A weak US president make previously unthinkable objectives possible, unfortunately.
Rising Up Against Oppression
Over at Gateway Pundit, a collection of reports on continuing protests in Iran against their rulers. This should have been bigger news, but the media isn’t interested in the story. Iran is not a stable country and that should be of concern to everyone. We need to be on the right side of this if things are to be kept from blowing up in the Middle East. Sucking up to dictators in hopes they will become accommodating doesn’t work.
Call of Duty Set to Overwhelm the Gaming World
I have to say Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a brilliant and disturbing video game. Brilliant in execution and disturbing in plausibility, it put the player in the midst of an international crisis involving a nightmarish scenario of nukes, Russian civil war, and Middle East fundamentalism. So it is no surprise the sequel is eagerly awaited, but the sales expectations of half a billion dollars worldwide in the first week is a shock.
I don’t play multiplayer so I can’t comment on the latter half of the article. Still, if the single player experience is as good as the first one, I’ll get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- when it gets very cheap. It means a wait of several years, but I can afford to be patient. I literally can’t afford impatience in these cash strapped times.
Political Shenanigans
With Cap & Trade and ObamaCare unpopular with the voters, a lot of games are being played to ram them through before the recess. Pelosi & Reid can’t afford to have Democrats go home and face their constituents before voting on the bills as they might get swayed to vote “No.”
One thing they don’t want out is the penalty for not buying mandatory health care under the House version of the health care bill. It is freaking totalitarian, that’s all.
The campaign to neuter Fox News is still underway at the White House. This has been denied, but with the previous actions by the Obama administration I think it is legit. They are determined to control the news at all costs, but I think they are making a huge mistake. This kind of thing wouldn’t be leaked if it weren’t seriously resented. The Chicago way is as blunt and heavy handed as the Russians actions in Eastern Europe. Totalitarians never tolerate criticism or the truth well.
Intellectual property rights are all the rage in governance right now. Having been pushed by media conglomerates for some time now as their faltering products fail to earn enough moola, governments are moving to halt piracy of music on the Net. The latest attempt is a stealth move under the guise of an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA). Basically, the idea is to force the internet service providers (ISP’s) to be held responsible when someone downloads an illegal copy of a tune or movie. Before this the individual was held responsible and the ISP’s were immune to prosecution.
Why is this a bad thing? Well, the US government hid the details of what is in the treaty and the countries that actually counterfeit music and movies aren’t involved in the treaty. So it does nothing about counterfeiting and is all about snooping into the contents of people’s computers. The ISP’s will have to do that to keep from being sued. That’s a big civil rights issue and once the ability to do that is granted, it won’t go away and will be abused.
IP rights are okay for a limited time, I personally believe 15 years is good enough with an exception made on religious materials. If people aren’t allowed to rest on their laurels, it will encourage them to come up with new material. I’m a big fan of intellectual ferment and the marketplace of ideas, so limiting IP to a shorter span would be a true stimulus of creativity. Right now it feels like the whole world is going through the motions and repeating itself. Be nice to break free of that stagnation, wouldn’t it?
The secrecy involved is the real deal breaker. They wouldn’t be secretive unless they were up to something illegal. Though what is legal is becoming more of a “we say so” kind of thing rather than true application of jurisprudence. I think we are seeing the money out of Hollywood and the music industry behind all this as they are losing money due to inferior products. They won’t admit this and have to blame something for their failure. However, the consequences of this push may much bigger than they understand.
Horrible day in Texas, 12 dead and 31 wounded by at least one other soldier. The shooter was killed, but there are eye witness reports of a second shooter who is in custody with a third as possible accomplices. The FBI has been brought in to assist in finding out the motivations. Fort Hood is under lock down. Please pray for all involved.
As jarring as that was, President Obama coming out to address an Interior Department conference waited minutes before speaking about it, doing pump up motivational material for the attendees -- even going as far as giving a “shout out” to one the people in the audience! Reprehensible and disrespectful, the shootings should have been brought up immediately. From there he rambled as he does without a teleprompter. The man is an embarrassment to the country and to his office.
For some time there has been a United Nations resolution pushing very early sex education to children, all under the guise of protecting “child rights.” I never thought it would gain any real traction as it was too out there, now I’m not so sure.
Over in England, compulsory sex and drug education will now start with five year olds. This is crazy, especially given the paranoia about pedophilia that is currently gripping the English. Exposing kids to too much information early is not going to reduce teen (and earlier) pregnancies. Instead, it will encourage them to be more sexual and we have enough problems with the pop culture doing that!
Sometimes I wonder if any sanity is left in our Western governments. The fact that parents won’t be able to pull their kids from these classes is way too Big Brother for my tastes. Scratch that, way too Brave New World.
Were They Watching Animal Planet?
This is why I prefer reality to fiction. It is nearly impossible to make something up as strange as this story about a deer running amok during Halloween. I would have loved to have seen the deputies’ faces.
Making Fun of the Air Force
For a good cause. Though other branches of the armed forces would say it is always a good cause making fun of the men & women in blue. My favorite demotivator is “Fundamentals.”
You can find out more about Project Valour-IT at Soldiers’ Angels along with other projects to help the troops.
But It Looks Like an Old PC!
Ever take one of those silly online tests to see what color you are? Did you wonder what color the universe is? Wonder no more! Here I thought it would be more of a taupe.
