Jul 31 2008
Interesting question from Mmmm, That’s Good Coffee…:
If you could have dinner with anyone (besides Jesus), who would you have it with, and where would you have it?
I’d have to say lunch with Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane, the model for Jack Aubrey, Horatio Hornblower and any number of ‘Age of Fighting Sail’ sea captains. The only place to have it would be aboard HMS Victory at Portsmouth, UK.
Yours?
Jul 31 2008
King David would have you believe that he is ‘concerned’ about bears wandering into his campsite in the Boundary Waters region of northern Minnesota next month. I think it’s a clever ploy to divert attention from his latest adventure – trapping bears in buckets.
FRAZEE, Minn. — A bear with a plastic jar over its head led police on a six-day chase through the forests of Hubbard and Becker counties before it was shot and killed, state wildlife officials said.
Officials had hoped to capture the wild black bear — whose head got stuck inside a 2 1/2-gallon plastic jar — but decided to shoot the animal after it wandered into the city of Frazee during the town’s busy Turkey Days celebration.
“When it got into town, our main concern was public safety,” said Rob Naplin, the Department of Natural Resources’ area wildlife supervisor in Park Rapids.
The bear was foraging for food, perhaps at a Dumpster, when its head got head stuck in the clear, plastic container. Naplin said he wasn’t sure of the container’s original contents but said it looked like a jar for bulk candy or popcorn.
While the bear could breathe, it couldn’t eat or drink and was likely suffering from dehydration and hunger. “I’m sure there was high anxiety and frustration with its predicament,” Naplin said. “It is (a sad story).”
There was no evidence the bear was baited by hunters, Naplin said. The legal baiting season doesn’t open until Aug. 15. The bear season opens Sept. 1.
Jul 30 2008
Next time you’re in the City and need Unstable Mutation Catalysts or a SuperHeterodyne Flux Convertor, or even if you just need your cape pressed, this is the place to go.
Jul 28 2008
I know that for those who are lost, the things of God are foolishness. Still, some can look at the rubbish-heap of their lives or at the broken world we’ve created and see that God is alive and offers a way out. In the last week, I’ve seen two very different views of man and God. One was in Brian “Head” Welch’s book Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story. Welch was a guitarist with the band Korn who gave up the sex and drugs (but not the rock and roll) to follow the Lord.
In some ways, Save Me is typical. It’s Welch’s picture of the Holy Spirit reaching into the painful muck of one person’s life to give hope of a new, changed life. It’s what God does, through the Holy Spirit. As believers, isn’t that our story as well? Not all of us reached Welch’s level of despair, but his story gives me confidence that no one is beyond hope. Welch accepted the help and the promise of a new life offered by his Creator and and is new creation. His story is pretty graphic at times, but it’s a resounding story of hope and redemption.
On the other hand are those who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the presence of God, despite all evidence. The folks at God Is Imaginary post a graphic and humbling CNN story of a Bosnian woman named Jasmina who was raped and tortured daily for more than a year under Radavan Karadzic. The woman’s response to the horror of her situation?
“I will never be OK,” she said, adding that she believes God kept her alive for a reason.
She recognizes the hand of God in her survival. Yet the blog hosts look at the situation and see that “she still believes her all loving, all powerful, all knowing, all merciful god allowed this to happen to her for a reason.” They shake their fists at God and blame Him for the sins of man.
Look, we live in a world that seemingly gets darker by the day. Depravity is all around us because that world is fallen. To my mind, the miraculous event is God deigning to reach into this corruption to bring healing and comfort. It happened to Brain Welch and to a Bosnian woman. If they can see His hand, why can’t we?
Jul 25 2008
Jamsco tagged me with this one. Good thing this is a pretty easy one, because yesterday was Travel Day From Heck. I tweaked the format a bit.
4 Favorite Songs:
- Jimmy Buffet – A Pirate Looks at Forty
- As I Lay Dying – I Never Wanted
- Blue Öyster Cult – Veteran of the Psychic Wars
- Colorado Wranglers – Orange Blossom Special
Two Favorites from Your High School Days
- Bob Seger – Night Moves
- REO Speedwagon – Ridin’ the Storm Out
Two groups with too many good songs to choose just one:
- Led Zeppelin
- Queen
Two artists/groups who are grossly over-rated: (Just two???)
- U2/Bono
- John Lennon
One group with only one good song:
- Loituma: Ievan Polkka (also known on the interwebs as Leekspin)
One ‘guilty pleasure’ song that doesn’t fit with the rest of your musical tastes:
- Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Iz Kamakawiwo’ole
And, finally, one word to describe your musical tastes: Eclectic
Tag, you’re it.
Jul 23 2008
What did you think I meant?
The Local – French man with two asses surprises Swedish officials
Customs officials in Gothenburg were at a loss as to how to deal with Jacques Abdelaziz and his two four-legged pack animals when the trio wandered off a ferry boat from Denmark on Sunday afternoon.
Abdelaziz, who hails from Brittany in northwestern France, has been wandering around Europe for the past two months with his two donkeys, Nounou and Toutoune, according to the Göteborg-Posten (GP) newspaper.
And the journey had been going smoothly, if not slowly, until the pilgrims landed on Swedish shores, whereupon they were met by requests for permits and paperwork.
“I had thought about just going to Stockholm and then heading back but now I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All they care about are documents,” Abdelaziz said to GP as he nodded toward the customs checkpoint.
While customs officials weren’t unsympathetic to the Frenchman’s plight, they explained that he lacked important documents required by Sweden’s Board of Agriculture, including a veterinary examination costing €250 ($395), a sum which Abdelaziz wasn’t prepared to pay.
(HT: Dustbury)
Jul 23 2008
I’m thinking KingDavid at The Far Wright should appreciate this…
While Japan gets ready to become the world’s most robot-friendly nation, the United States is more interested in helping integrate robots into rodent society. Hence the creation of robo-squirrel Rocky at Hampshire College in Massachusetts (pictured), where researchers are studying whether the robot’s squirrelly ways will allow it to mingle with the fully-biological, acorn-chomping natives.
Apparently things are working out pretty well — Rocky can make the proper noises to communicate, and knows how to warn other squirrels with special shakes of his tail. Once we can create a Rocky who has the capabilities of Big Dog, the autonomous robot who can recover his balance after being kicked around by humans, we may have to worry less about whether it will join the squirrels and more about whether the squirrels will join it. A mechasquirrel may be just what rodent culture needs to have its revolution and overthrow the grain-hoarding humans.
Cute Robo-ninjas: MechaSquirrel Leads BioSquirrels to Victory Over the Humans.
Jul 22 2008
Here’s an update on the previous post about the terrorist bulldozer attack (actually, it was a front-end loader) in Jerusalem.
The copycat attack occurred on the corner of Keren Hayesdod and King David streets in downtown Jerusalem, down the road from the hotel where U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was to be staying later in the day.
“The bulldozer driver left a construction site, and hit two cars,” a police spokesman said.
“A civilian who saw what was happening, shot him. The bulldozer continued on its way. A Border Police patrol… continued to shoot and the terrorist was killed,” the spokesman said. “Another person was wounded.”
<<>>
The heroic civilian who stopped the terrorist is Yakki Asa’el, aged 53, father of 8, grandfather of 6. A teacher and farmer by profession. IDF Company Commander (מפקד פלוגה) in the reserves. Settler from Susya (Har Hevron Hills area). (HT:The Muqata)
Quick thinking – and a readily available weapon – saved untold lives and put a rapid end to both terrorist and terrorist attack.
Military service is compulsory in Israel and even elementary school field trips require an armed escort. We visited Israel a few years back and it was not unusual at all to see a group of school kids followed by a teacher or guard with a rifle slung over their back.
This picture was taken at Masada. Slacker Boy has what looked like a Galil AR 5.56. I bet he knows how to use it.
Granted, we don’t live under the same threat of imminent attack by mindless terrorists, but how many lives at Columbine or Virginia Tech could have been saved if the bad guys had to guess which bystanders were packing heat?
Jul 22 2008
Things are still a mess in the Middle East, despite Obamessiah’s presence.
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israelis hit by new digger attack
A Palestinian in a mechanical digger has rammed traffic in west Jerusalem, injuring at least 10 people before being shot dead, Israeli police say.
A bus and a number of cars were hit during the incident. Some cars were crushed and one was turned on its roof.
Witnesses say an armed civilian first shot at the driver, before he was killed by border police.
Three weeks ago a Palestinian man went on a deadly rampage in a heavy vehicle in Jerusalem, killing three Israelis.
A BBC correspondent says it is thought the 2 July attacker was simply a disturbed man without political motivation – but Israelis will worry Tuesday’s incident was a copycat attack and that this could now be a new tactic.
Police identified the perpetrator as 22-year-old East Jerusalem resident Ghassan Abu Tir. It is not known if he was connected to any militant group.
And in a separate story, yet another Hamas terrorist is wandering aimlessly in the afterlife, looking for his 72 virgins – or do you get virgins if you blow yourself up accidentally without taking non-muslims with you?
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Hamas member killed in explosion
Hamas says one of its members has been killed in an explosion at a house near Gaza City.
The militant group said the man died while on “a holy mission” – a term often used when a member dies accidentally while handling explosives.
Two teenage boys were wounded in the blast at the militant’s home.
In the West Bank, Palestinian officials say Israeli troops have arrested a Hamas member of parliament from the city of Nablus.
Mona Mansour and 19 other people were detained.
Israeli troops have in recent weeks raided Nablus almost daily in a crackdown on Hamas.
Across the West Bank, Israeli forces have closed down several institutions allegedly linked to Hamas.
