O.K. So I Took a Break…

You’ll live, honest. ;)

Good Food = Less Oil Dependence

The most recent issue of the Smithsonian Magazine contained an article that pointed out some additional ways we can help the American economy become less oil dependant, one of which was Farmer’s Markets. Buying your produce through a local Farmer’s Market means less produce being shipped around the country to supermarkets. That's less gas used to get apples and oranges to the customer. Not only that, more dollars go directly to the Farmer, and ergo your community, rather than being filtered through a massive corporate structure that may well be out of state.

I know that is a step that is very hard for people in major metropolitan areas to take, but for those of us in the sticks (ish) I think it’s an excellent idea. Sort of a Jeffersonian ecconomy. ;)

The Smith website also included a list of “Sustainable Cities”, municipal governments in the U.S. that are trying to find sustainable economies and existence. This is the only way we are going to turn thing around: from the ground up. Since the oil companies have a President in their pocket, among other things, we have to be the ones who adapt this nation to our changing world. America rose to power because it could adapt the fastest to the changing world of the Industrial Revolution, let’s not get left behind the curve on this one.

More information on the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement can be found here.

I left the magazine at home, but I may post more from it later.

Could They Be More Obvious?

Senator Conrad Burns of Montana Proves Politicians Completely Out of Touch With Reality.

Burns was at the Billings airport Sunday and approached some members of the Augusta (Va.) Hot Shots, who were also waiting to catch a plane. In what the report called "an altercation," Burns told them they had done "a poor job" fighting the 92,000-acre blaze near Billings and should have listened to the concerns of local ranchers.

His comments prompted some U.S. Forest Service officials at the airport to call Rosenthal to come to the airport immediately to meet with Burns.

Rosenthal's original report of the incident recounted how Burns pointed to a member of the Augusta Hot Shots crew across the airport waiting area and telling her:

"See that guy over there? He hasn't done a God-damned thing. They sit around. I saw it up on the Wedge fire and in northwestern Montana some years ago. It's wasteful. You probably paid that guy $10,000 to sit around. It's gotta change."

What’s sad it that they tried to cover this incident of utter detachment from his constituency and his abuse of public servants, as in those that actually serve the public, up.

But I think the eloquent and immortal words of TFer Dancing_In_Anson contitute the proper response to such an outrage:

“Farking asshole. He should be talking. He makes what? $160,000.00 per year to do what? Make our lives harder by churning out bullshiat legislation?

Dickhead motherfarker cocksucking bastard…

Bastard farkhead dickless son of a biatch needs to spend some time on the goddamn fire line himself...

Donkey raping shiateater...”

Y’know, some statements just don’t need any embellishment.

Vote 'em out folks, vote 'em all out.

Speaking of out of touch…

Nero would be so proud his legacy lives on.

Quick, someone get her a lyre.

Speaking of Writing.

The 2006 Bulwer-Lytton Results are in.

"I know what you're thinking, punk," hissed Wordy Harry to his new editor, "you're thinking, 'Did he use six superfluous adjectives or only five?' - and to tell the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement; but being as this is English, the most powerful language in the world, whose subtle nuances will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' - well do you, punk?"

Neverwhere

For thems that don’t know, Neil Gaiman is an author and screenwriter who first came to greater public attention writing the DC graphic novel Sandman, the single most literate, creative and thought provoking comic book ever. He left the comic in 1996 and DC/Vertigo wrapped the series up because there was simply no one else who could have written it. I encountered the series when I was 18, beginning to get bored with the melodramatic soap s that the guy in tights super hero comics had become. A friend showed me the issue "August", which tells the story of Emperor Caesar Augustus, the man who laid the foundation and certainly a story or two of the Roman Empire, but in a very different way from anything you’ll find in the brightly colored pages of comic books even today. Most of the book he is just telling the story of his life, and you only encounter the principal protagonist of the series, Dream of the Endless, in a couple pages where he delivers advice to the emperor of refuge from his own Uncle, the then deified Julius Caesar. Quietly told but dramatically powerful, I was utterly hooked.

There are very, very few people in the world I am in awe of. I am in awe at the sheer scope of Gaiman’s creativity. His creative ability…to truly honor it would be to say it defies description, but that doesn’t help you all, so understand what I am saying is a poor description of what he does. Gaiman can blend the mythic and the modern into a world that is disgusting, glorious, gory and breathtakingly beautiful. He deals in old gods as dangerous and magnificent as the forces of nature in a new world of plastic, neon and reality TV. Most authors I can see the mental process that went into what they create, but Gainman completely flummoxes me. I have no idea how he came up with this stuff. And yet while how it is created it utterly foreign and it’s outward shell appears that way, it still speaks to me. It’s still rings very true, true enough to make me think. That's what Art is supposed to do. I would love to just sit inside the man’s skull and watch the creative process that blends these incongruous elements together into mythic tales worthy of Homer.

"Also nice to learn that I'm a neo-goth-pulp-noir author. Next time anyone asks me what kind of an author I am, I can finally tell them. I wonder if there are any other neo-goth-pulp-noir authors out there. We could form a society or something." ~ Neil Gaiman

What is so engaging is unlike most dystopian writing, Gaiman seems guided by an eternal faith in beauty of the human heart. His characters are hardly knights-on-white horses, but they aren't anti-hero's either. As terrible as the worlds they may inhabit are and as overwhelming and strange as the forces of violence may seem, his characters triumph not in succumbing to the violence the universe presents them with, but by understanding. They are human (though technically some of them are not) and frail and flawed, but essentially good people you not only can relate to, but that you grow to love.

I also have to say that Gaiman also knows when to stop with the details. You are just given what the character experiences, not a detailed layout and explanation of the world that is obviously completely thought out by the details you are presented with, yet you remain mostly uninformed of. That really gets the engines of imagination revving.

Such is the case with Neverwhere, the novelization of the BBC TV series of the same name that Gaiman wrote. On the surface, it seems to be a modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland with the utterly normal Richard becoming entangled in the dirty and magical world of “London Below” through a random act of kindness. But Richard's struggles to return to his life put him on a Hero quest worthy of any ancient storyteller in which Richard not only learns to accept what life brings and be proactive rather than reactive, but accepts himself as well. The quest also leaves us wondering. Do we chose to be everything we have the possibility of being or do we settle comfortably in our ruts? Do we want to rise to the challenge of being everything we can be, or do we want a settled predictable life?

Neverwhere is not as philosophically complex as his later works, such as American Gods, and is a quick and enjoyable read. But for all that, I think it’s almost a necessary read for modern adults who have yet to sit around the fire listening to the ancient bards weave tales of magick and man.

Joseph Cambell would be delighted.

On a fun note: I found this while researching the link for this article. It seems
So....Which Member of the Endless Are You?

Actually I got the same result with this Quilliza version too.

Cool!

This n' That...Again

Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut

I reviewed the theatrical release when it came out last spring. What Scott has added is pretty much all character related and greatly enriches the fabric of the film. I’m not sure why it was not included in the theatrical release as it doesn’t slow the film down an iota IMO and actually clarifies much of what is going on for those unfamiliar with the period.

Plus: There’s more Liam Neeson, how can that not be an improvement?

He did return one storyline dealing with Baldwin the IV’s nephew who reigned briefly as a child as Baldwin V. Child mortality being what it as then, no one felt it noteworthy to mark down why he died, but there is no evidence to support the idea he was leprous. Certainly none to suggest his mother offed him as Scott depicts in the film. Which also leaves the audience with the same Anakin-Padme bewilderment: “Wait. Your S.O. just committed murder…and you’re o.k. with this?”

One of those “Too weird for Hollywood to make up” factoids that Scott didn’t portray: Balian carried Baldwin the V on his shoulder during the boy’s coronation as a symbol of support from the anti-de Lugsian faction that Balian spearheading on behalf of his step-daughter, Sibylla’s ½ sister: Isabella.

I told you truth is weirder than fiction.

I have only watched one of the extras which dealt with the “creative accuracy” of the film, which I have explained before. In this version the modern pluralistic attitudes do run stronger (though still not annoyingly so), but one historian makes the wonderful, universal point that few rulers throughout history have ever realized: Pluralism is pragmatic when is comes to ruling over disparate peoples.

But the rest of the DVD extra’s look good.

Anyway, the director’s cut is excellent, worth getting one hands on to watch.

So Long Mike Hammer

Mickey Spillane dies at 88

Violent, gritty, unabashedly mysoginistic and intolerant, continually cast in darkness of the seemier side of human nature, the Mike Hammer stories were the very essence of Noir. Many writers would try and never quite capture the raw black edge of a Spillane story. Spillane's contribution to American popular culture has yet to be appreciated. Despite not always being the most convoluted mysteries and Mike bearing no resembelance to the proverbeal knight on a white horse whatsoever, it was always an adventure to see how Hammer arrived at the end and what he would do once he got there.

Thanks for the ride Mick, it's been swell.

From the Daily Kos

Wow, does this not illustrate everything wrong with Bush's foriegn policy?

The Middle East going up in flames and he tries a move that is spelled out against in every sexual harassment pamphlet in the United States on the Chancellor of Germany.

Escaping the Carolina Heat

Ack! I knew it was coming, but I wasn’t really prepared for it. Having been bred and born in the great state of Maine, my blood has a certain constancy. A consistancy akin to sluge. Ergo my internal mechanics don’t handle heat well at all. Despite living in Southern California for decades, it hasn’t thinned enough for me to take anything past 92 degrees with any kind of consciousness (“Temperature Overload. System shut-down commencing immediately.”), or if I am forced to be conscious, any sort of equanimity. Thursday I spent in Raleigh, a city laid out over pre-existing cow trails (and I’m not entirely sure what kind of grass those cows were eating) And the only reason I and the motorists within 30 yard of me were not involved in a Falling Down-style massacre was that I found a Barnes and Noble to hibernate in at the height of the day.

Needless to say I have taken to darting out of my apartment at 6:00 am on the weekends to do errands in order be back home and sealed in with my beloved AC by 11:00 am.

Hot sucks! Humid sucks! Bleah! :P

News

I have been watching the situation between Israel and Lebanon developing with a great deal of concern. First of all, when it comes to Israel and it’s relations with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab Middle East, no one is innocent. Period. Given the millennia’s of abuse they have suffered at other's hands, I do believe that Israel does have the right to exist. However I also believe that they have to obligation to keep the promises they made when they were founded 50 years ago to find homes for the displaced Palestinians, many of whom are still living in refugee camps. It would also be nice if they stopped rolling their tanks through these camps and firing into the crowd. It would be nice if they didn’t use the slightest excuse to bomb the crap out of Palestinian neighborhoods killing civilians. It would have been nice for their Arab neighbors to actually take in Palestinians rather than using them as an excuse to hate and underhanded pawns to attack Israel. It would be nice if they left Israel alone altogether. It would be nice of the Palestinians didn’t use suicide bombing of civilian targets as a tool for diplomacy. The entire situation is so convoluted and screwed up everyone needs a spanking and to be sent to their rooms for about 150 years.

What is sad is that Lebanon, who finally freed itself from Syria in a natural uprising last year, is paying the price for Iranian and Syrian support of Hezbollah guerillas. No matter who wins, the Lebanese are screwed.

What I do know is this: We cannot get involved as an individual nation. If we, the nation that has occupied Iraq against pretty much everyone wishes, gets involved in this conflict, we will face the combined wrath of every Muslim nation in the Middle East. It will be the straw that breaks the camels back. The question then would be; who then will join them against the U.S., we who have alienated our worldwide allies with our belligerent “cowboy diplomacy” foreign policy against they, who have most of the world’s supply of oil. It would be the beginning of another world war, only this time, we don’t have the only Nuclear weapon.

People I have spoken with feel that it unlikely given the choice between oil and our overextended military vs. evangelical idealism Bush will throw in with Israel and there is some good reasoning there. But the possibility exists and it makes me very nervous.

The UN security council is talking of stepping up the UNIFIL’s presence into a truly effective force to stop Hezbollah attacks, and therefore not give Israel an excuse to attack anymore. Good. This is the way it should be handled: Internationally. I pray that the UN can prove itself better than it’s predecessor in this matter, prove that it can act as a force for peace. Dear Gods I pray for peace.

As If You Didn’t Know It Already

Walmart blows.

I’m proud to say I have never set foot in one.

Because Everyone Needs an "Awww!"

I got this from my pal in NZ, though I think it was probably taken in North America. Love that globalism!

Racing at Louden

Well, er…I’m afraid I got caught up in a book I was reading and missed most of the race. When I did finally tune in via trackpass at lap 298 of 300, I was very pleased to find Elliott in the top five, and then not-so-pleased when the cautions kept coming, stretching the race to 308 laps and beyond Elliott fuel window.

*sigh* Cannot buy a break.

However, things on the radio were very upbeat. It looks like they got the car dialed in and made some good calls to gain track position. Plus as Tommy said, Elliott “drove the hell out of that thing…” Tommy and Elliott were very encouraging of one another so no matter what is going on in Elliott’s contract talks, it doesn’t seem to have effected the steady improvement in the #38 Team relations.

Rumors are, of course, flying like mad. Sadler is claiming that he is staying put for the time being, devoting himself to the #38 and his commitment to the Yates (good man), but keeping his options open. So he could just be holding out for something in his contract.

Y’know, it’s silly season in full swing… *shrugs*rolls eyes*

So, The Book…

No trip to a bookstore is without it’s rewards and I doubt Mr. Sadler will mind taking a back seat to Pickett’s Charge. Despite having seen and loved the film “Gettysburg” ages ago, I only managed to pick up the novel on which it is based while hiding out from the heat this last Thursday: Michael Shaara’s Killer Angles.

I enjoyed it. Perhaps not rapturously, but it was very interesting and Shaara’s portrayal of the disparate collection of men involved in one of the most decisive turning points in American history is extremely engaging.

It may sound odd to many that the entire novel encompasses three days, but, like Black Hawk Down, which only encompasses two, there was a hell of a lot going on in those three days. Shaara covers the battle through the eyes of such people such as Longstreet, Chamberlain, Armistead and Buford. Shaara is more Historian than Author, so most of the interior voices from which the battle is viewed sound similar, but that is forgiveable in the face of what is presented. The events and people are so extrodinary that one forgets it's a historical work, but if one reads this book with the awareness that this is real, these people were real, this actually happened, it becomes a very powerful.

The main point of the book, I think of almost any in-depth look at the Battle of Gettyburg, is why General Lee, who’s defensive war tactics had served him so well up to that point, chose to attack the Union high ground at Gettysburg culminating in a suicidal Pickett’s Charge. No one really knows what got in his head. Eisenhower once stood where the Union position had been on Cemetery Ridge, overlooking the long stretch of field Pickett’s men had to march under fire and was equally mystified, commenting “Lee must have been so mad at Meade he just wanted to throw a brick at him.” Shaara’s theory is more subtle, that Lee basically was ashamed of fighting a defensive war and bought into his own press that the Great Army of Virginia could do anything, including what amounted to mounting a Napoleonic charge on Hell itself.

I don’t know about that. Lee wasn’t a vain or stupid man. He had come into the Civil War unwillingly with a very detailed awareness of what the Union army was capable of. He thought secession was a mistake and the only reason he turned down command of the Union Army was that he could not lift his hand against his homeland of Virginia. Perhaps the success of the better commanded Confederate Army did put him off guard, perhaps he was tired and wanted to bring a final end to the war, perhaps he wasn’t able to adapt Napoleonic tactics to the deadly emerging in technologies of warfare. Perhaps a lot of things. Lee did take responsibility for it’s failure, but never really explained why. It remains, as always, a-"what-the-hell-was-he-thinking"-mystery.

However, the book is great for introducing the casual history reader to some of the lesser known names who were major players in this battle. The ghost of John Buford especially owes Shaara for finally making his name known to the greater public as the man who chose and held the ground the Union fought from, a single decision and a singular determination that swung the tide of the war. The book/film also brought one of Maine’s favorite sons to the public eye: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a professor or rhetoric and revealed religion from Bowdoin College who was one of the most successful commanders of the Civil War. He went on to be president of Bowdoin college and three term governor of Maine. Excellent biography of him here, BTW, if you can find it. His portrayal of James Longstreet also did much to improve the man’s reputation as “One of the Most Hated Men in the South” (Just because he became a Republican and worked with Grant), when in fact he was one of the few people in the war who understood the changing nature of warfare they were facing. His military thinking was decades ahead of his time. The book also does a great job using the commanders to outline the various attitudes soldier approached that conflict with. The different reasons why they were fighting, a subject still hotly contested to this day.

All in all, a great book, both entertaining and informative.

The Army Fires Halliburton

Corporate Corruption Quietly Condemned

Army to end its exclusive deal with Halliburton

WASHINGTON - The Army is discontinuing a controversial multibillion-dollar deal with oil services giant Halliburton Co. to provide logistical support to U.S. troops worldwide, a decision that could cut deeply into the firm's dominance of government contracting in Iraq....

Yea!

...Costs were questioned
Government audits turned up more than $1 billion in questionable costs. Whistle-blowers told how the company charged $45 per case of soda, double-billed on meals and allowed troops to bathe in contaminated water.

Halliburton officials have denied the allegations strenuously. Army officials Tuesday defended the company's performance but also acknowledged that reliance on a single contractor left the government vulnerable....

People don't realize how much more money Halliburton got from the government than any other contracting company. Twice as much as any other organization. I am so glad to see the the Pentagon not putting up with cooruption any longer. I wish they would make a stronger stand and make Haliburton and the Vice President an example of what should happen to war profiteers in the United States.

The Lone Gunmen

I have not been reading as much this summer because, quite frankly after moving and a semester of school, I needed a break. So after finals I spent about a month watching seasons one through five of the X-Files (I go on a X-Files bender every couple years). Now, as I have said before, as far as I am concerned, the X-Files ended with the film. After that, it just got waaay too convoluted and silly. I own season one through five and feel no pang of longing to own any more.

However, I did miss out on one of the briefly lived spin off series: The Lone Gunmen. The Gunmen: the jaded black-ops Frohike, smart-ass hacker Langley and earnest analyst Byers were created mainly as a place for Mulder to get information that he could not otherwise access. Satellite imaging, classified technology, illegal hacks into classified databases, the word on the street in conspiracy circles, these were things the Gunmen provided as well as occasional henchmen services whenever Mulder (and most especially Scully) needed help. They also made a counter point to Mulder in that they made him look sane, as well as providing the occasional comic touch. As well written and well-played as they were, they quickly gained a fan following of their own and by 8th season, got their own half season series. I had always loved the characters and had been intrigued by the prospect of their own show, but hadn’t gotten around to watching it until the last couple days when I discovered that my video rental place carried it.

Well, that was...it didn’t quite work for me. Part of me me liked it and part of me was disappointed. I had to warm up to it and it had to find itself. At first the comedy was too broad, relied on threadbare clichés. The feel of the show was too goofy, too much buffoonery. The Lone Gunmen of the X-Files were much smarter than The Lone Gunmen of their own TV series and that was disappointing. Example: In the X-Files Langely is hacking DOD satellites. In the Lone Gunmen TV series, he has to call in his "super hacker pal" to get inside government agency mainframes. WTH? I also find it hard to belive that the X-File Lone Gunmen got snowed the way the TV Series Lone Gunmen did. But they did seem to be finding their feet about halfway through, making steps toward striking the right balance between thriller and comedy (always a great combo vis-à-vis Sneakers).

I did find Jimmy annoying at first, though he did settle down and mature some by the time the series ended, but Eve was cliched and very over-used. She was a plot device in every single episode continually playing the role of either deu ex machina or making the Gunmen look foolish, often both. The Gunmen looked foolish all by themselves (that's kind of the point of unlikely heros), they didn’t need assistance. What we needed was for the Gunmen to find their nobility, to triumph through their inexperience and mistakes, for the audience to come to respect and admire them despite their outlandish and sometime foolish acts. Not get their backside saved every week by an escapee from a 007 villainess training camp. Plus the Gunmen were the stars of the show, Jimmy and Eve should have remained in the supporting cast. By the end of the series they were taking up waaaay too much screen time for a couple of cliches.

It was as if the producers, having fought to get the Gunmen the series, didn’t have faith in them to carry it.

But still, the plots/mysteries were smart, the comedy well executed, the drama well written and the acting great. It’s a shame this series barely got a chance to find it’s feet in it’s half-season run before Fox yanked it in it’s rush to move into the mainstream. What is nice about the DVD set is that they included the Gunmen’s last stand in the X-Files episode “Jump the Shark”, so you get closure from the abruptly ended series (which ended with a cliff-hanger) and you get to see the Gunmen go out on a "high" note, such as it were. The “Making Of” featurette also includes a short section of the writers, producers and actors tell us about their reaction to 9-11 after the Gunmen’s pilot episode, which aired in March of 2001, centered around the Gunmen thwarting a plot to fly an airliner into the WTC.

Which must have been really…creepy, scary, strange….much like the X-Files themselves.

"We're just hollywood writers. If we thought of this, we assumed someone in the Department of Defence had throught of it too and come up with counter measures..." Sadly, the military is not known for it's imagination.

Still, the series was amusing and entertaining. Cute. Not fulfilling for the raw materials the producers had in their hands. It could have been so much more and perhaps had they a full season, they might have found their way there, but taken on it’s own as a comedy, it’s entertaining.

Sorry, I did not feel like dealing with anything serious today. :D

Never What It Seems

FBI Halts Terror Plot

While I commend the FBI and other nations police and intelligence organization to identifying these plots, I must join the voices that have already raised concerns about this and the Miami “plot” cracked down on last month: Where’s the evidence?

This isn’t some knee jerk liberal reaction, the fact is we cannot convict these people based on conversations. We need proof of their intent and there is none. No explosives, no al Qaeda money, no terrorist organization contacts, no building plans, nothing more than conversations in a chat room. This means in 6 months to a year when all the pres s has gone away, these people will be back out on the street…with a grudge.

Granted, these dweebs weren't even smart enough to figure out the tunnel wouldn't have flodded anyway, but once they're out and pissed off, who knows what damage they could do? Would it have been so hard to set up a sting operation, tried to sell them some explosives or something, in order to get some real evidence so we can get these people locked away?

And if we do convict these people based merely on chat room conversations, what sort of precedent does this set? What sort of door are we opening here? Think about how many people say “I wish my boss or my ex-wife or whomever would some version of dying a horrible fiery tortuous death” but have absolutely no intent of actually doing anything about it. Do we want the door to be opened to 50% of the population being arrested just because of what they say?

I think it’s great that the FBI and other organizations worldwide are diligent in rooting out terrorism, but I wish they had the patience to actually collect some evidence so we could put these people away.

Movies

I watched Syriana over the weekend. Wow.

First of all, just as a work of art, I was very impressed. I had not seen Traffic and so it took a little time to get into the director’s pacing and keep all the information flowing out of all the disparate storylines straight, but once it gets rolling you are really swept along to it’s almost abrupt, intellectually and emotionally jarring conclusion.

Secondly, Brava to Siddig El Fadil (a.k.a. Alexander Siddig a.k.a Dr. Julian Brashir of DS9) for getting a good role he could sink his teeth into which he does in a very understated manner. P.S. He’s still hot too.

(Very interesting background Sid has: Sudanese and British. Though British raised his fraternal uncle served as Sudan’s PM twice. His maternal uncle is Malcolm Mc Dowel.)

As a statement, I have not read the book it was based on “See No Evil” by Bob Baer, but I get the strong impression from what I have read online that it’s a pretty accurate representation of the how the American Oil Industry sets U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East with a philosophy of purposeful destabilization and exploitation. Syriana makes you think about what America’s role is in creating terrorism. I don’t condone terrorism by any means. Terrorists are murderous thugs that need to be arrested, tried and executed as far as I am concerned. However, it’s takes two to make a fight and as a responsible American, we have to ask what are we doing to contribute to that fight? What are we doing that fosters this environment? We cannot force a culture to change. The failure of that ideal is playing out in Iraq as we speak, but we can stop adding fuel to the fire by changing the way we as a nation approach the Middle East.

Participant Productions has a website that lists recommendations of how you can reduce your “energy footprint”, reduce your oil usage, but nothing more than most of us have heard already. The depressing thing is that there do not appear to be any answers real answers, the power players are so high up and so well protected by banks of lawyers and legislators, that stopping the oil industry from running our government foreign policy seems impossible for those of us on the ground.

Seems.

The only thing I can think is to make alternative energy research one of the principal deciding factors in our votes for the next couple decades and to do so conscientiously.

I am open to any other suggestions.

Then I watched 8 Below to decompress and sobbed like a little girl when Dewy died.

Human character dies, I’m fine. Dog character dies, I’m a wreck.

No truly, 8 Below was much more entertaining than I expected it to be. Don’t bother with the people, just watch the dogs (they’re much better actors). It was a good adventure story and it had requisite satisfying happy ending.

Plus it’s got the furries (Siberians and Mallys). I like the furries. :D

It was based on a Japanese film about the true story of a Japanese expedition to the Antarctica in 1958 in which a team of nine sled dogs had to be left behind due to an early evacuation and was left there the entire winter. When they returned the following spring 2 had survived (the movie is much more “up” don’t worry). In real life the owner didn’t make a special trip and I don’t blame him. Rationally, it just wasn’t feasible. I understand that. However, no one has accused me of being rational and I *so* would have done what the character in the Disney version did. Hell, I would be hanging out in Queensland trying to rent a kayak to paddle my way down if one of my pups got left behind like that.

Racing

Saturday night I went and finally checked out some of the action at one of the local tracks. Little ½ mile asphalt oval. Very cool. Turn two seemed tricky. It dipped down which tended to throw the cars toward the outside wall. The ones who had it nailed pulled a late apex in the turn, turning in the center of one and two which brought them towards the inside coming out of the turn.

But there was some good racing. Pure stock, modified streets, super stocks, stock look-a-likes (mind you, I’m still not sure of what the difference is in all the classifications) and even some midget racing (O.K. I do know what those are). Lot of locals, a few imports and some great moves. The first race in the pure stock had a couple young girls (probably 14 or 15) racing in it, which elicited some jokes from the older set, but half way through the race they had raced their way into 2nd and 3rd with some pretty good moves and when one driver tried to put the 3rd place girl into the wall, the only thing out of the stands was “Boo! Don’t you take that from him!”

Anyway, I really enjoyed myself, it was a great little track and some really nice folks.

The next day was Cup racing at Chicago. I didn’t go out to watch but followed on trackpass.

I heard that RYR purchased a Roush chassis for Elliott to run yesterday.

I hope they kept the receipt.

Sadler fought that thing pretty much from lap one, complaining about a 1/3 of the way through the race it felt like his left rear was coming up off the ground and throwing him either to the inside or outside of turns. It was so bad his transmission sounded like “This is the loosest car I have ever had. It keeps twitching to the...holdon..” *goes through turn three and four* “I can’t tell which way this thing is going to jump to the inside or the outside, it feels like the rear wheel...holdon...” *goes through turns one and two*…

Proof is in the pudding, Good Gawd.

As frustrating as the day was for them I have to commend them A. for not giving up. B. For having great communication. As horrible as the car was running, the team seemed to be operating very smoothly and C. Positive feedback from the cockpit, even when things were rough. That’s leadership. Also a good job wrestling with that thing all day. From what it sounded like it was not easy to keep that thing from spinning out in every turn.

Still, some great long green flag runs, a good race all in all. All my guys pretty much stayed where they are at in the standings, so while it wasn't a great weekend, it wasn't all bad either.

Book Review: Profiles in Audacity

Profiles in Audacity: Great Decisions and How They Were Made by Alan Axelrod is a collection of vignettes explaining how some of the most influential decisions in history were arrived at; from Galileo’s decision to publicly support Copernicus’ solar-centric version of the universe to President Truman’s decision to drop the A-Bomb to Bill Gates acquiring the rights to DOS. Though the book does cover events spanning a period from Cleopatra to Flight 93, about 70% of the book is dedicated to the 200+ years of American decision makers so for a strict historical survey for pedantic historians, it falls woefully short.

However for the casual reader of history, it is a very interesting and engaging coverage of many of turning points of history and not merely the boring, behind the scenes red tape kind. Decisions in Crisis covers Elizabeth I’s standing up to the then overwhelming might of Spain and JFK’s finding a middle ground in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Decision to Venture touches on such diverse topics from the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Race for the Moon to Charlie Goodnight’s first cattle drive (which, much to my father’s shame I am sure, I hadn't realized) and Ted Turner’s creation of CNN. Decision of Conscience I found to be the most stirring with examples such as Gandhi’s use of non-violent resistance, Branch Rickey’s hiring Jackie Robinson to play for the Dodgers, W.E.B. Du Bios role in the creation of the NAACP, Daniel Ellsberg’s decision to leak the Pentagon Papers and Betty Friedan’s decision to look into and beyond her own dissatisfaction with what society prescribed a woman’s life should be to what women had the potential to achieve. Decision to Risk Everything of course included such famous examples as Hillary and Norgay’s ascent of Everest and Washington’s Delaware crossing, but it also includes such lesser known moments such as the Berlin Airlift and Nixon’s decision to open relations with Communist China.

The final section, Decision to Hope, was the weakest. It does contain some excellent examples, such as Begin and Sadat's work for peace between Egypt and Israel (which is one of my first memories of world events as a child), Carnegie’s philosophy of modern noblesse oblige. However the book strikes a very sour note here by including Chief Joseph’ surrender at the Battle of Bear Paw mountain as a “Decision to Hope. “I want time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I will find them among the dead. Hear me my chiefs, I am tired, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” How does this sound hopeful to anyone? After watching his tribe be decimated by U.S. troops, freezing temperatures and starvation in a conflict started by American settler’s greed it does not sound at all hopeful to me. It sounds like surrender which is not an act of hope, but resignation. A "decision" to give up forced down one’s throat at gun point is not a decision at all.

But that stumble aside, it is otherwise an excellent overview of some of the more momentous moments in history, especially the modern ones that shaped the world we live in today and can introduce even more knowledgeable history readers to historical figures not usually mentioned in the grand scale of most historical work.

It's The "Awww!" Factor.

Exhibition aims to put 'war animals' in the spotlight

...Among the working animals whose stories are included in the exhibition are Rob, the SAS dog who made over twenty parachute drops during the Second World War; Winkie, the pigeon who saved the lives of a ditched aircrew by carrying a vital message revealing their location; Sefton, the cavalry horse who survived the Hyde Park terrorist bombing by the IRA; Endal, the assistance dog who helped to rehabilitate a badly-injured Gulf War veteran; and Roselle, the Labrador who led her blind owner to safety from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center after it was attacked on 11 September 2001.

Animals of many kinds from dogs and cats, to lions and eagles have also been adopted officially and unofficially as pets and mascots by the armed forces. A number of these will be featured in the exhibition including Rin Tin Tin, who was found as a puppy on the Western Front and went on to become a Hollywood legend; Judy, the pointer, the only animal to have been officially registered as a Japanese prisoner of war.

Other animals to feature include Voytek, the bear mascot of the 22nd Transport Company of the Polish Army Service Corps who saw action at Monte Cassino in 1944; and Simon of HMS Amethyst, the only cat to have been awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal known as the 'animals' Victoria Cross. Dickin Medals on display will include those awarded to three police horses during the V1 Flying Bomb Offensive of 1944 and to Buster, the spaniel, who located a cache of arms in Iraq in 2003...

Awww...rat's is cool.

So Let's Catch Up

First Of All...

Flow Chart of Armageddon

Just so we can pinpoint exactly when the end of the world is nigh.

As If We Needed More Proof

CIA Reportedly Disbands Bin Laden Unit
The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A CIA unit that had hunted for Osama bin Laden and his top deputies for a decade has been disbanded, according to a published report.

Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the unit, known as "Alec Station," was shut down late last year. The decision to close the unit, which predated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.”

Ben Franklin said anyone who gives up a little liberty in favor of a little security deserves neither. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, in favor of the Freedoms we are so merrily tossing aside we are getting Jack Shit.

But then what did you expect from the man who didn’t fund the Office of Homeland security for two years after he created it. Who still has not addressed the issue of Port security. Who wanted to create a “guest worker program” for illegal immigrants Who six months after 9-11 when asked about bin Laden said “I don’t care.”

Don’t attack terrorism, attack the NYTimes instead.

Oh, wait, he might stop homosexuals marrying. With all the trouble in the world; war in Iraq, Afghanistan struggling, problems with Iran, North Korea threatening attack us with Nuclear weapons, failing economy, attacks on Constitutional rights, war profiteering and possible treason from the Vice President’s office, corruption rampant in the GOP, attacks on veterans benefits, the mess that is rebuilding the Gulf Coast, rising fuel prices in an oil dependant economy, our nation’s poor, national deficit completely out of control, sanctioned torture, failing healthcare system, not to mention the heinous environmental policies, etc., etc., etc. it’s absolutely imperative we keep gay people from getting hitched.

(And folks, it's not like the whole North Korea thing is a big surprise. Jong Il has been an issue for the last decade or more: a psychotic dictator who is starving his own people with a real WMD's that we chose to ignore in favor of chasing after fake WMDs in the Middle East.)

When is that last 30% of America going to get the clue that George W. Bush doesn’t give a rats ass about their or their children’s safety or wellbeing, that their credulity and fear has been exploited to do nothing more than support the wealthy and big business’s control over the government. That they have received, and are going to receive, nothing in return?

He’s not even bringing you flowers people!

Read it Closely

Read the Declaration of Impeachment

"…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Tip o' the hat to Vic.

Book Review: The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt

(Amazon Listing)

Theodore Roosevelt is an utterly engaging and very difficult subject for a historian/author to cover because there is simply so much to him. Roosevelt lived at such a pace he seemed to pack three lifetimes into one. Sickly asthmatic child, athlete, teenage naturalist, assemblyman, historian, author, pioneer rancher, big game hunter, conservationist, Civil Service reform, Police reform, Secretary of the Navy, Rough Rider, Governor, VP, President, remarried widower, father. How do you combine all that into a single person, let alone translate it clearly in a single novel?

Well, Morris wisely doesn't try to. "The Rise..." is volume one covering Roosevelt life until he takes the Presidency which is covered in the second volume, “Theodore Rex” (which I haven’t gotten to yet). Nor does Morris leave out anything. He touches on all of the various foci in Roosevelt’s life without bogging the reader down in one or another or losing them in transition, probably gliding from one passion to another more smoothly than the frenetic Teddy ever did. Everything is touched on in such a readable way, one forgets that they are reading a biography and get caught up Roosevelt’s adventures.

Nor is Morris concerned with either glorifying or vilifying his subject. The paradox of the bloodthirsty nature of the Nation’s First Conservationist he does not even attempt to explain or rationalize away, but nor does he condemn Roosevelt for it. He dispassionately lays out Roosevelt’s moral force in reforming corrupt government practices, but also his war like nature that seemed to rise up at the prospect of any conflict. Bad and good sides, triumphs and mistakes, Morris doesn’t revel or wallow in either but instead acts merely as a guide through one of the most remarkable American lives that is a page turner in and of itself.

I think looking to past great Americans' for example and inspiration is especially important now, with such a imperative crisis in American leadership. While I don’t agree with all of TR's policies, he was a highly intelligent, dedicated, dynamic and honorable public servant I can respect deeply. If we look to such men and women, perhaps we can find template to find and shape leadership for our own time.

Celebrate Freedom

...Read a Banned Book.

Google Rules

Many people have heard what happens when you enter "Failure" into a Google search and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Their latest? Enter "Asshole" into the search field and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky". It's all for a good cause folks!

Speaking of Good Causes

I've been meaning to give a plug to the Dewey Donation System which is trying to restock New Orleans' Libraries whose collections were destroyed by Katrina.

If nothing we do means anything, then the only thing that means anything is what we do. ~ Joss Whedon

A Boston Ballad

To get betimes in Boston town, I rose this morning early;
Here's a good place at the corner--I must stand and see the show.

Clear the way there, Jonathan!
Way for the President's marshal! Way for the government cannon!
Way for the Federal foot and dragoons--and the apparitions copiously
tumbling.

I love to look on the stars and stripes--I hope the fifes will play
Yankee Doodle.

How bright shine the cutlasses of the foremost troops!
Every man holds his revolver, marching stiff through Boston town.

A fog follows--antiques of the same come limping,
Some appear wooden-legged, and some appear bandaged and bloodless. 10

Why this is indeed a show! It has called the dead out of the earth!
The old grave-yards of the hills have hurried to see!
Phantoms! phantoms countless by flank and rear!
Cock'd hats of mothy mould! crutches made of mist!
Arms in slings! old men leaning on young men's shoulders!

What troubles you, Yankee phantoms? What is all this chattering of
bare gums?
Does the ague convulse your limbs? Do you mistake your crutches for
fire-locks, and level them?

If you blind your eyes with tears, you will not see the President's
marshal;
If you groan such groans, you might balk the government cannon.

For shame, old maniacs! Bring down those toss'd arms, and let your
white hair be; 20
Here gape your great grand-sons--their wives gaze at them from the
windows,
See how well dress'd--see how orderly they conduct themselves.

Worse and worse! Can't you stand it? Are you retreating?
Is this hour with the living too dead for you?

Retreat then! Pell-mell!
To your graves! Back! back to the hills, old limpers!
I do not think you belong here, anyhow.

But there is one thing that belongs here--shall I tell you what it
is, gentlemen of Boston?
I will whisper it to the Mayor--he shall send a committee to England;
They shall get a grant from the Parliament, go with a cart to the
royal vault--haste! 30

Dig out King George's coffin, unwrap him quick from the grave-
clothes, box up his bones for a journey;
Find a swift Yankee clipper--here is freight for you, black-bellied
clipper,
Up with your anchor! shake out your sails! steer straight toward
Boston bay.

Now call for the President's marshal again, bring out the government
cannon,
Fetch home the roarers from Congress, make another procession, guard
it with foot and dragoons.

This centre-piece for them:
Look! all orderly citizens--look from the windows, women!

The committee open the box, set up the regal ribs, glue those that
will not stay,
Clap the skull on top of the ribs, and clap a crown on top of the
skull.

You have got your revenge, old buster! The crown is come to its own,
and more than its own.

Stick your hands in your pockets, Jonathan--you are a made man from
this day; 40
You are mighty cute--and here is one of your bargains.

~ Walt Whitman, 1854

Sorry, Couldn't resist. ;)

For a more straightfoward view, check out the Declaration of Independance in the National Archives.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Pepsi 400

Yeah! *applause!*whistles* Top five for Elliott Sadler and the #38 crew! Great job guys! You have turned the corner at last. Awesome job! Especially coming from the back from the fender bender on pit road. I’ve been saying and saying, Elliott is a first rate driver and he proved that coming up through the field. It was nice to see that paired with a good car, some first rate calls from Tommy and some kick ass stops from the over the wall guys. Well done indeed!

I actually went out to watch this one. It was a good race, lots of long green flag runs and guys pushing the limit of where they could run three wide without any major wrecks. A lot of really good driving. I just have to wonder A. What was it you were saying about Jimmy Johnson DW? and B. what racing God has Bobby Labonte ticked off?

Dale Jr. had an Up then Down weekend, winning the Busch race and then struggling through the cup race but he’s still up to 3rd in the standings and Mark Martin ended up in the back, but it only dropped him to 6th in the standings. We’ll take the Mulligan now, thank you. :)