Look Around You Tonight Folks........

........

And realize how lucky you are.



If you are interested in donating or helping out, Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit is rounding up links to various relief agencies here.

Michelle at a small victory has decided to dedicate a post to positive uplifting stories and pictures from the hurricane and its aftermath. This a most welcome alternative to what we will be pounded with in the days to come as the death tolls are tallied up.

The NOLA website has the most extensive listings of current situations as well as the newslog which continues to have the most up-to-the-minute reports.

The whole scene is quite devastating. I watched a video showing parts of Biloxi, MS that look like they got carpet-bombed.

I have little doubt that New Orleans and the surrounding areas will eventually recover and rebuild, for that is the natural spirit of mankind in these situations. Already many corporations and business groups are donating supplies and equipment, which again shows the depth of the compassion this country has. It may take years to fully recover, but we Americans are a resilient bunch and I am sure that one day the Jazz Fest in New Orleans will again host the biggest Jazz bash on the planet.

Update:Attention Germany's environmental minister Jürgen Trittin and Robert F Kennedy Jr.- (who both stated U.S. president George Bush and his environmental policies are responsible for hurricane Katrina) PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP.

In case you hear more people whine that Global Warming caused the Hurricanes, kindly show them the statistics that show that they are complete idiots.

Stats From Here-



Thanks to EUROTA for supplying the chart.

People suck sometimes.

Best Bumper Sticker EVER........PERIOD.......

Thanks to Bigwig at Silflay Hraka

Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) And A Proper Fisking.........

..........

Scott Burgess over at the Daily Ablution points towards the L'Ombre de l'Olivier, "The Shadow of the Olive Tree", a blog listed as "being the maunderings of an Englishman on the Cote' d'Azur". In the latest post from "The Shadow of the Olive Tree", this englishmen properly fisks the latest example of Bush derangement Syndrome (BDS) which was written in the English newspaper the Gaurdian.

Before I give you a taste of the fisking, I thought I'd offer my thoughts about BDS, and the horrible effects thereof. I am constantly in the presence of severe cases of BDS, due to the nature of the places I hangout and the age groups which frequent these areas. It is no secret that Bush is not particularly popular among the 21-35 age bracket. It's considered quite uncool to be the one guy who will stick up for Bush at the bar, but I have no particularly republican affiliations. I find myself having to defend the actions of this administration repeatedly due to the intellectual laziness of those who blindly criticize Bush. For instance, the canard that "Bush lied to send us to Iraq" either willfully ignores or involuntarily misleads one to believe that it was Bush who actually approved the military actions in Iraq when BY LAW it is required of Congress for this to happen. Don't even get me started about the fact that Bush didn't actually lie about anything anyways, I have grown so sick of forcing people to ACTUALLY FARKING READ WHAT HANS BLIX WROTE IN 2002 about Iraq that I simply can't be bothered anymore. I don't particularly care if I'm cool or not, but I refuse to sit there and just listen to people belch out deranged falsehoods about our president simply because they believe he's some bible humping zealot.

Jeff over Protein Wisdom has a post today about how defeatist the left has become in our prosecution of the war against Islamic extremists that it appears as though even if Iraq turned in to a perfect vision from Jefferson himself overnight it would still be an abysmal failure of Vietnam-like proportions. This is also a prime example of the intellectual vacuum appearing during the onset of BDS.

We return to Francis at The Shadow of the Olive Tree, and his fisking of an article by Mark Kurlansky in today's Gaurdian....

Do NOT Pay This Author a Salary

Bush Derangement Syndrome is a sad thing to observe, especially when it bumps up against the reality. BDS sufferers believe, amongst other things, that President Bush is practically illiterate with a reading level of a first grade student and no interest in anything beyond those typically red-state redneck hobbies of shooting or NASCAR. Take for example Mark Kurlansky, the author of a book about the history of salt who cannot believe that Shrub McChimpy might actually read his book and writes an entire column of bile in the Grauniad on the subject. The column is so stupid I think it is worth fisking from start to finish:

Hope you like my book, Mr Bush
What does it mean that George W Bush, a man who has demonstrated little ability for reflection, who is known to read no newspapers and whose headlong charge into disaster after cataclysm has shown a complete ignorance of history, who wants to throw out centuries of scientific learning and replace it with mythical mumbo-jumbo that he mistakenly calls religion, who preaches Christianity but seems to have never read the teachings of the great anti-war activist, Jesus Christ, is now spending his vacation reading my book, Salt: A World History?

It is hard to imagine how many more innuendoes can be stuffed into a single rhetorical question so suffice it to say that none of these innuendoes is backed up by any evidence. One wonders what is required to demonstrate "ability for reflection" - checking into a Buddhist meditation centre perhaps? A non-biased observer might consider that President Bush's christianity could be taken as evidence of reflective ability - what exactly is prayer and bible study if not reflection? But no, that is just mythical mumbo-jumbo and doesn't count, and anyway Mark Kurlansky, who from his description of Christianity would seem to be an atheist, is able as a result of his religious expertise to identify that President Bush is in fact a misguided believer, perhaps even a heretic, in that he is perverting the teachings of Jesus Christ. And "disaster after cataclysm" seems a little strong given the robust US economy, the reduction in government deficit etc. etc. Perhaps by ignorance of history Mark means ignoring of what passes for "Historical facts" in the politically correct ivory towers of academia these days as opposed to, say, history as written by Winston Churchill.

Read the rest of the fisking, for it is good......

Attention Ladies and Gentlemen......

........Public Service Announcement....





We now return you to your regular Bush-bashing-everything-is-the-US's-fault Newsprograms....

In Honor of Poppy and Those Who Served...........

..........

Today is the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, which was the official last day of WWII. More specifically it is the day that the Japanese Emperor decided to end the War by accepting the Allies' terms, a decision announced on 14 August. Here is an excellent online library of images from that day.

V-J Day always seems to get less attention than D-Day (the allied invasion of Normandy), for reasons unbeknownst to me. D-Day of course was crucial in turning the tide in Europe and defeating Hitlers military juggernaut. However, it certainly does not mark the end of Hitler nor the surrender of German forces. I suppose the sheer audacity of the Normandy assault contains a more gripping story line, thus getting more attention in the history books. Having Steven Spielberg produce an oscar caliber movie doesn't hurt either I imagine.

My grandfather -Poppy- served in the Pacific theater, and I want to thank him and all of the others who served today for defending our country. Your memory lives on in the brave men and women who serve today in our US Armed Forces.

Thanks again Poppy......

NEO Updates: Japan Pitches In, Spaceguard 75% Complete, Apophis Makes the News......

............

We have a nice little bundle of NEO news lately, I'll give the brief synposis...


Hayabusa's Contributions Toward Understanding the Earth's Neighborhood

Don Yeomans
August 11, 2005

Beginning in early September 2005, the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft will rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid (25143) Itokawa. Itokawa, a 600 meter sized, potato-shaped asteroid, is named after Hideo Itokawa, a Japanese rocket pioneer. Although the primary objectives of the Hayabusa mission are to test new technologies, the mission will also provide a wealth of scientific returns. For the three month period from September through November 2005, the science instruments on board the Hayabusa spacecraft will undertake an intensive study of near-Earth asteroid Itokawa. After closely observing the asteroid for several weeks, a few pellets will be fired from the spacecraft at close range into the asteroid's surface and about a gram of the pellet's impact ejecta will be collected into a sample capsule. This capsule will then be brought back to Earth and parachuted into the Australia outback in June 2007 so that some of the asteroid's surface minerals can be studied in Earth-based laboratories. This will be the first asteroid sample return mission.

It is comforting to see a country like Japan take a leading role in helping to improve our understanding of NEO's. If anything, there needs to be world wide cooperation on this issue, and the more countries get involved the better.

Yeoman continues-

Hayabusa's observations will address each of three major issues concerning asteroids:

1.) their role as the building blocks of the solar system, 2.) their potential for impacting Earth and 3.) their future use as raw materials for building space structures.


1.)The scientific interest in asteroids is due largely to their status as the remnant debris from the inner solar system formation process that occurred some 4.6 billion years ago. Since the chemical compositions of asteroids have remained relatively unchanged since their formation, knowledge of their elemental makeup would provide an understanding of the chemical mix from which the inner planets, including Earth, formed.

2.)From time to time, near-Earth asteroids collide with Earth. Should one of them be found upon an Earth threatening trajectory, scientists would need to understand its composition and structure before a successful strategy could be undertaken to deflect the object away from Earth.

3.)Some of the near-Earth asteroids that are potentially the most hazardous because they can closely approach the Earth are also the objects that could be most easily reached and exploited for raw materials. The minerals, metals and water ices on near-Earth asteroids and comets could be used to manufacture the space structures and rocket fuel that will be required to explore and colonize our solar system in the 21st century. We need to examine the chemical composition of some of these objects to understand which among them are richest in mineral wealth and other raw materials.

Domo Arigato Hayabusa Team! The Hayabusa site is here, and will soon be added to ye 'olde blogroll to your right.

Here is the latest on the Spacegaurd survey, which is supposed to be completed by 2008.

SPACEGUARD SURVEY PROGRESS: AUGUST 2005

David Morrison

Next month, the number of known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) larger than 1 km diameter (or, more precisely, brighter than absolute magnitude 18) should pass the 800 mark. As of August 8 the NASA NEO Program Office website [http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov] listed 793. The total number of NEAs discovered as of that date is 3496.

If the population of NEAs larger than 1 km is 1100, 800 represents 73 percent completeness. It is interesting to note that 800 is already more than the total number of NEAs larger than 1 km predicted in some analyses carried out just a few years ago. For the metric of the Spaceguard Survey, which aims to find 90 percent of NEAs larger than 1 km, we are now more than 80% of the way to that goal.

The recent pattern of discovery also shows an expected drop in the discovery rate for the larger NEAs. As the survey becomes more complete, there are fewer large NEAs to be found and a larger fraction of those detected are rediscoveries of asteroids already catalogued. The total number of NEAs larger than 1 km found each year has declined since 2000, with annual totals through 2004 of 131, 91, 101, 69, and 57.

The good news is that they have made significant progress in terms of the survey, and as noted the total number of NEAs larger than 1 km found each year has declined since 2000, which means we have ruled out the majority of the asteroids in our solar system that would cause a global climatic catastrophe that may threaten the future of civilization as we know it. The bad news is that asteroids smaller than but not quite 1 km in size would still cause serious damage -not quite civilization ending- but large enough to kill millions of people in an instant. These asteroids are much more difficult to detect, but we would have a better chance of successfull mitigation. In other words, scrap the damn ISS and the Space Shuttle, and get to work on the B612 Project. Like now.

Also, the asteroid formerly known as 2004 mn4, Apophis, made the editorial page of the New York Times two weeks ago, and the Time Magazine online page last week. Both of these articles can be read at the following link here to the Nasa Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazard page.

Here is the crucial bit from the Time Magazine page. Discussing Apophis, both David Morrison and Rusty Schweikart comment on the urgency in regards to tracking our friendly killer rock-

Why the rush? The Apophis deflection, should it become necessary, must take place before the 2029 close approach. Earlier than that, just a simple nudge, accomplished, say, by firing a heavy object at the asteroid, could change its course enough to miss the crucial but small keyhole. Any time after that approach, should Apophis pass through the keyhole, we could be in trouble. NASA scientist David Morrison explains: "After 2029, the deflection would have to be vigorous enough to miss not just a tiny keyhole but the much larger target of the Earth itself. And such a deflection is far beyond present technology for an asteroid this large."

Given that deadline, some 24 years from now, there's seemingly plenty of time to take action. But Schweikart, who admits he is not expert in mission planning, speculates that a transponder mission, from initial planning to implantation might take, say, eight years. And he thinks that a following deflection attempt, if it proves necessary, could require as long as 15 years to implement. That's cutting it a little close, and, says Schweikart, all the more reason that NASA quickly calculate some realistic mission times. "It may turn out," he says, "that we have to begin planning those missions right now."

Better safe than sorry folks. Yes, I think it's fascinating that there may be frozen water on Mars. No, I don't think that should take priority over protecting the planet from a potentially catastrophic impact. Let's hope the $16 billion budget at NASA will start to be used in a more pro-active way.

The Proper Way To Honor Our Brave Soldiers......

......

In todays Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger writes about the tribute recently given to those Marines from the Third Battalion-25th Regiment -- "the 325th.". 19 of these soldiers gave the ultimate sacrifice last week during a raid around the Euphrates river in Iraq. What was noticeably absent from the tribute is what is worth mentioning. Mr Henninger writes-

"The politics of the Iraq war wasn't much on view amid the memorial fence's American flags, flowers, football jerseys, photographs, poems and Marine memorabilia. But someone had decided to put down on the ground an article published just three weeks ago in the News-Herald, a nearby newspaper. "All I can ask," wrote Marine Cpl. Jacob Arnett, who is still on duty in Iraq, "is that the American people be given more than the bombings and daily death toll, because we are giving much more than that for Iraq. ""

Again and again I hear this mentioned by soldiers returning from Iraq. "Why is the press only reporting on when we get killed?" "Why won't they mention when we save Iraqi's from getting killed, or when we build new hospitals?" Aside from Arthur Chrenkoff, this is unfortunately the case. Every morning, even in the Wall Street Journal, the first page lists the number of people killed from the previous day. If none were killed, it lists the ways in which the "insurgents" are preparing for another attack on some innocent children. Insurgents indeed. They are bloodthirsy killers, but I suppose that would be too politically incorrect these days to call them that.

On top of this incredibly misguided trend from the fifth column, we have the latest liberal drooling over Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq. I won't go in to too much detail here as Jeff over at Protein Wisdom has the hypocrisy covered well enough here and here. Mrs. Sheehan has a right to grieve as any mother should over the loss of her son. But the tragedy is that there are those who are using her grief for their own partisan gain, whether she is willing to let them or not.

To further illuminate my point, I bring up the news from last week about the death of the US Journalist Steven Vincent, who was working tirelessly to be the anti-press on the ground in Iraq, laying his life on the line and paying the ultimate price for it. In his passing one would hope his message gets through to the rest of the press corps-from an interview with Mr Vincent in Frontpage Magazine..

WORDS MATTER.


"The most despicable misuse of terminology, however, occurs when Leftists call the Saddamites and foreign jihadists "the resistance." What an example of moral inversion! For the fact is, paramilitary death squads are attacking the Iraqi people. And those who oppose the killers -- the Iraqi police and National Guardsmen, members of the Allawi government, people like Nour [an Iraqi woman who assisted him] -- they are the "resistance." They are preventing Islamofascists from seizing Iraq, they are resisting evil men from turning the entire nation into a mass slaughterhouse like we saw in re-liberated Falluja. Anyone who cares about success in our struggle against Islamofascism—or upholds principles of moral clarity and lucid thought—should combat such Orwellian distortions of our language."

And as usual, I bring you a Cox and Forkum to further illustrate the point......



We must remember that the US Military has already technically "won the war" in Iraq. But we haven't "won the peace" yet. It took us years to rebuild Japan and Germany after they were defeated in WWII, and technically we're still there. And we it will only take longer for us to get Iraq back on its feet and bring our toops home if our own press and politicians continually give moral support to bloodthirsty killers by rationalizing their acts as "resistance".

The tribute in Ohio shows that there are Americans out there who do understand what we are fighting for, and uphold those who pay the ultimate sacrifice as the heroes they are.

If only we didn't have to go to Ohio to see it.

NEO and Deep Impact Updates...........

.........

Howdy folks- yes I know I've been neglecting the blog. It's partly due to a busy summer and partly due to a little blogging burn out so to speak. I just haven't felt the urge to blog like I used to lately. I predict that will change in the future. I have to stay the hell away from women for a while though. Apparently I have USE ME written on my forehead, and I can't seem to wash it off.

In any case, these two stories definitely deserve whatever increased attention they can get..


Schweickart Proposes Study of Impact Risk from Apophis (MN4)

By: David Morrison

Rusty Schweickart and the B612 Foundation have asked NASA to further study the possibility that this asteroid might return to hit the Earth after its close approach in 2029.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Asteroid 2004 NM4 has been named 99942 Apophis, where Apophis or Apep was an ancient Egyptian god of evil, destruction and darkness. Dave Tholen at University of Hawaii explains this name: "It is traditional to name Aten-class asteroids after Egyptian gods. While it is an Aten-class object now, MN4 will become an Apollo-class asteroid after the 2029 close approach, and Apollo-class asteroids have traditionally been named after Greek gods. So we selected the Greek name for an Egyptian god. Apophis is the Greek name for the Egyptian god Apep, the god of evil and destruction. Apep was usually thwarted in his destructive efforts, however. Apophis isn't going to get us, at least this time around".

Last December, asteroid Apophis (2004 MN4) briefly rose to Torino Scale 4, when orbital calculations suggested a greater than 1 in 50 chance of collision on April 13, 2029. Subsequent optical and radar observations showed that Apophis will not collide with Earth in 2029, but it will come very close (see "Asteroid MN4 and How to Protect the Earth" in the News Archive for April 25, 2005). Current interest (and concern) is directed at possible future impacts, if Apophis should pass through a "keyhole" in 2029 and find itself in a resonant orbit (such as one in which the asteroid makes exactly 6 orbits of the Sun in 7 years, returning to Earth's vicinity every 7 years.) A keyhole is a small region of space that leads an asteroid back to hit Earth on subsequent encounters.

Based on current knowledge of the orbit of Apophis, we cannot exclude the possibility of it passing though a keyhole and hitting the Earth on a subsequent pass. However, there will be opportunities to make improved optical and radar observations, which are likely to confirm that it will miss the keyholes. It would also be possible to place a transponder on the asteroid and use this to verify whether or not it will pass through a keyhole in 2029. The issue is whether the ground-based orbital improvements will come in time to make a mission decision, or whether we need to plan for a transponder mission in any case.

Why the hurry? It is because if we should need to deflect the asteroid (which is unlikely but possible), our technology requires that the deflection take place before the close flyby in 2029. Before 2029 we only need to it enough to miss the keyholes (which are less than 1 km across). But if a deflection were required after 2029, it would have to be enough to miss the much larger target of the Earth itself, which is far beyond present technology for as asteroids this large.

In a letter to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, Rusty wrote the following-

The augmentation we propose to our ground tracking capability is the launch and subsequent docking of a scientific mission, including a standard radio transponder, with 2004MN4. While the improvement in our knowledge of the asteroid's orbit would resolve the issue of a potential impact, the scientific knowledge gained of both the surface and interior characteristics of the asteroid would be invaluable for future operations in and of itself. The unique circumstance presented by this asteroid which might have to be deflected, whose size makes it probable that it has a "rubble pile" structure, and whose orbit will bring it within the range of distorting terrestrial tidal forces, makes this a very attractive learning opportunity.

Look folks, with a $16 billion budget, the ABSOLUTE LEAST thing NASA could be doing in terms of dealing with NEO's would be to tag Apophis with a radio transponder. Considering the money pit in the sky known as the International Space Station, not to mention the Chevy Vega of space programs in the Shuttle, NASA needs to spend money on things that are actually, you know, USEFUL. The Shuttle program is turning in to a death trap, the current one in space is already experiencing similar problems that caused the last Shuttle to break up upon re-entry. I am all for human exploration of space, but until we have a viable means of traveling that we know can safely return 100% of the time, the risk just isn't worth it. Maybe when the payoff was proving that we could land on the moon, thus beating out the Russians, the risk was worth it. But that time is passed. No one can compete with the US in terms of what we bring to the table in space exploration. Knowing this, we should be actively working towards attainable realistic goals that are beneficial in the long and short terms. For instance, spending $100 million out of a $16 billion dollar budget to tag Apophis is reasonable and will give us much useful information with which we can react accordingly.

There is no point on spending a single dime on anything else if Apophis is shown to be a definitive calculated threat.

And speaking of useful programs that are performing above and beyond the wildest expectations, I give you the latest update from the Deep Impact satellite.

NASA ANNOUNCES DEEP IMPACT FUTURE MISSION STATUS

As NASA's Deep Impact flyby spacecraft prepares to execute its sixth trajectory correction maneuver, program managers at agency headquarters in Washington are investigating future options.

Today's scheduled burn places the spacecraft on a trajectory to fly past Earth in late December 2007. The maneuver allows NASA to preserve options for future use of the spacecraft.

"This maneuver will keep the spacecraft in the vicinity of the inner planets, thereby making the task of tracking and communicating with it easier," said NASA's Director of Solar System Division, Science Mission Directorate, Andy Dantzler.

Dantzler announced today that all investigators interested in using the Deep Impact Flyby Spacecraft for further science investigations must submit proposals to the 2005 Discovery Program Announcement of Opportunity for a Mission of Opportunity.

"All proposals for use of the Deep Impact spacecraft will be evaluated for science merit and feasibility along with all submitted proposal for Missions of Opportunity," he said. "The spacecraft is being offered as is. Proposers must include mission management and spacecraft operations in the total proposed funding."

Further details will be posted by the end of July on the Discovery Program acquisition site: http://centauri.larc.nasa.gov/discovery

As we can clearly see, the programs that have comparatively used the least percentage of the NASA budget such as Deep Impact Mission and the Cassini Huygens Mission have returned much more than we could have hoped for in terms of useful data. The proposal that Rusty has put forth is reasonable and would be the best usage of our current NASA dollars at the given time.

Update: This post would not be complete without including this unbelievably cool picture from Saturn. It's freaking amazing-



Believe it or not, this extreme close-up of Saturn's swirling clouds was acquired from more than one million kilometers (621,370 miles) from the gas giant planet. The rings' image is severely bent by atmospheric refraction as they pass behind the planet.
The dark region in the rings is the 4,800-kilometer-wide (2,980 mile) Cassini Division.

Decided To Give Myspace A Try.....

...........




Check me out!


Seems pretty cool so far. Try it, all the COOL kids are doin' it.....wassa mattah? Your mommy won't LET you?

Just Checkin' In..............

......

Still technically on a semi-hiatus around here, summertime and all. My home computer has officially crapped the bed so I have even less places to post online. I'm thinking of switching to a laptop, and I do get a decent discount from Dell at work so that may be my next step. If anyone has any suggestions/recommendations on Dell Laptops please drop me a line in the comments, any help is appreciated.


There's been some good news/bad news from our Tennessee Titans in the last couple of weeks as the offseason winds down and one can begin to count hours until opening day (which for you Sportsfans is Thursday, September 8th- Oakland at New England).

The bad news first: The Titans #1 Draft Pick, Adam "Pacman" Jones, has begun to display the talents and abilities of an NFL player that would make the Oakland Raiders proud. The problem is he's playing in Tennessee. The bigger problem is that the Titans have been trying to shake the bad boy image that has plagued them over the last couple of years, with a grand total of five different Titans having to spend a day or two in the courtroom on the wrong side of the bench. Pacman is young, so this isn't too unexpected, and from the sounds of things, it appears to have been a relatively minor incident. But still, christ fellas- stay the hell out of jail, is that so hard? You have your millions, get someone else to drive.

The Good news: TRAVIS FREAKING HENRY!!! I'm not quite sure how Floyd Reese pulled this one off, but the thoroughly underrated running back from Buffalo is now a Titan, and we just seriously upgraded the backfield with a powerful one-two combination between Chris Brown and Henry. Brown has yet to show he can stay healthy for a full season, but I still predict that he will one day be a pro-bowler. Having Henry is nothing but good news. Just make sure he stays out of jail.


On to politics- John Roberts is your new Supreme Court nominee. Fin asked me earlier what I think about him, and frankly I haven't read enough to say. From what I have read he sounds primarily conservative, no big surprise there. Of course the central rallying cry for/against his confirmation will be his stance towards abortion rights and whether or not he will be the vote that overturns Roe V Wade. Amazing that one vote can have such an incredible impact. This is what bothers me more than anything. SCOTUS judges are supposed to uphold the constitution by acting as a balance between the executive and legislative branches of the government. They aren't supposed to apply their personal views about society and government in a way that is against the spirit of the constitution. And unfortunately the SCOTUS seems to continually move more towards a political arm of the government rather than a place where the grownups explain to the bickering children in the legislative and executive branches that "No, stupid, that is NOT what the constitution says. THIS is what it says, and THIS is how the LAW SHOULD be interpreted. NEXT."

I'm sure there will be plenty of rational public discourse over this nominee. Just like all the rational public discourse over the other judicial nominees Bush has had so far......*cough*......ahem....

Sure did like his breakdancin' four year old though, kids got some moves....



And on a final uplifting note, a Chinese General said that "If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," said General Zhu Chenghu-referring to the US's pledge to support Taiwan's independence.

Oh good.

Just in case you wanted to see just how much of this is saber rattling, I direct you towards the following overview from Stephen Den Beste-(Several of the Stephen's pieces are on the reading list at the U.S. Army Command & Staff College at Leavenworth)- Invasion of Taiwan.

So, yeah, unless China has a death wish both politically and economically, I wouldn't buy that bomb shelter just yet.

I'll be back again soon folks, hope you are all enjoying the summer!

"Sssuummmmmerrrrrtiiiiiimmmme............

..............

"And the livin' is eeeeeeasyy...."


Yes dear readers, it is that time of year where the fish are jumpin and the cotton is....well....high I guess. I never understood that line because a.)I'm from Boston where there is a major shortage of cotton fields and b.) I haven't spent much time in the cotton fields of the south, which by much time I mean well, ANY time in the cotton fields. But I imagine the cotton does get quite far up there during the summer, thus the reason for the lyric. Whatever.

For the six of you who occasionally check in to this here blog you may have noticed a detectable lack of consistent input on yours truly's behalf. I can attribute this to a number of things:

Busy as all hell at work, no time to post during breaks or whatnot.

Summertime is not to be spent in front of computers. It is to be spent drinking and generally acting a fool whilst basking in the glow of the big yellow thing in the sky.

A certain someone who occupies a considerable portion of my free time. No, it's none of your business.

And finally a general lack of desire to comment on the select current events currently circulating the interwebs thingy.

So will go ahead and warn those six folks that blogging will most likely remain light through the duration of the summer, and I will pick it up again once the cotton, um, gets low or something. In the meantime, here is a brief review of the latest news events in the shortest amount of words I can muster and still retain some coherency.

The Space Shuttle: I'd love to go to space as much the next guy, but there is NO FARKING WAY you are sending me up on that particular vessel. The Space Shuttles no remind of Axel Foley's crappy blue chevy nova from Beverly Hills Cop. I'll pass.

This Whole Rove/Plame Deal: Has the democratic party decided that they don't want to win ANY elections anymore? I could not think of a more useless issue to poke at the Repubs with. Christ, It's getting harder to believe this party ever use to win elections at all. Pathetic.

The War, Iraq/Afghanistan, Terrorists, etc.: I'd try to, but I'll let VDH explain how I feel about it, he does a much better job and I'm laaaaaazeee right now. "Our Wars Over the War"

Hurricanes: I was worried about the wildlife in Florida, add the hurricanes in to it, and a New England vacation has a nice ring to it right now.

Hockey Is Back: Please. Don't. Screw. This. Up. You. Frickin'. Meat. Heads.

GO PREDS!!!!

TITANS!!! STOP GETTING ARRESTED PLEASE!!!!

Enjoy the summer folks, I'll see you in a few days......

Do We Know Any Better Now?.........

.........

He should be somewhere at the state department instead of running his raisin farm in California, but at least we can still read Victor Davis Hanson's words.

What should come as no surprise, VDH nails it again in regards to the recent attacks in London.

The Same Old, Same Old . . .
An anatomy of the London bombing.

The British may react very differently than the Spanish did after Madrid — by doing nothing rather than by retreating from Iraq.


In the corrupt West these days, that is something.

We all know the score of this war now in the near four years since September 11. The London bombings should remind us how the old tired game works.

As usual with VDH, read the whole thing.

I also recommend reading Stephen Den Beste's Strategic Overview for the War against Islamic Terrorists that detailed the reasons for and the diseases of the Islamic Global Jihad.


The thing that we need to remember now that these bastards have once again struck at innocent lives is that this battle has been a long time coming, and there is no point in trying to figure out "why they hate us" anymore.

They don't just hate us. They hate other muslims that aren't as chaste as they are as well. Johann Hari gives us his London perspective-

In the scarred miles between each explosion – walking from Moorgate to Liverpool Street down to King’s Cross – you could see several fights taking shape yesterday that will grip us for years. The fight against Islamic fundamentalism became clearer. Anybody who tells you these bombers are fighting for the rights of Muslims in Iraq, occupied Palestine or Chechnya should look at the places they chose to bomb. Aldgate? The poorest and most Muslim part of the country. Edgware Road? The centre of Muslim and Arab life in London and, arguably, Europe.

Does anybody need greater evidence that these Islamic fundamentalists despise Muslims who choose to live in free societies, and they would enslave Muslims everywhere if they were given the opportunity? Nor is this tit-for-tat revenge for deaths in Iraq: very similar jihadist plots have been foiled in France and Germany, countries that opposed the invasion. Anybody who doubted that the fight against Islamic fundamentalism – a murderous totalitarian ideology – was always our fight should know better now.


We should know better by now, but I wonder. If it confirmed that one of the Londond bombers was in fact recently released from Guantanamo Bay, I would question whether or not we do in fact know any better.

We Stand With You London............

........




"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
-Sir Winston Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School..

Well Now, This Sure Would Have Saved Some Time......

.........

Via Chris over at Dangerous Logic, I present to you-

Book A Minute!

"Don't have time to read it all?

We at Book-A-Minute understand that your time is valuable. You want to experience the wonder and excitement of the fine art of literature, but reading actual books requires a significant time investment. We've got the solution for you. Our ultra-condensed books are just the ticket.

From time to time, we even let readers vote on what we read and condense next."

My personal favorite so far-and damn would this have saved me some time summer before freshman year in high school-


Great Expectations
By Charles Dickens
Ultra-Condensed by Conrad Jacoby

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pip: I'm Pip. I'm poor.

(Lots of THINGS happen.)

Pip: My life didn't matter, because I'm still poor and alone.


THE END

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


And don't miss out on the other wonderful time-saving link at RinkWorks-that's right-

Movie A Minute!


"Don't have time to watch it all?

Let's face it. There's a lot of movies out there and very little time to watch them in. Well sit back and relax, because your troubles are solved! We here at Movie-A-Minute have come up with a solution. We've taken several classic and contemporary movies and extracted the important stuff, cutting out all the filler. (You'd be surprised how much filler there is sometimes.) With our ultra-condensed versions of your favorite films, you can experience whole movies in just one minute! As an added bonus, Movie-A-Minute protects against torture by bad movies -- if you don't have to sit through them, well, you don't have to sit through them.

"That's nice," you say, "but I don't believe you." Yah hah, skeptical soul! We've got our collection of ultra-condensed movies right here! We've got everything from Gone With the Wind to Die Hard! See for yourself!"

My personal favorite from Movie a minute-

Pretty Woman
Directed by Garry Marshall
1990
Ultra-Condensed by Greg Smith

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Julia Roberts: I'm a hooker, but I don't kiss on the lips.

Richard Gere: I have a lot of money.

Julia Roberts: (smooch)

THE END

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I just saved you like, hours or something. Maybe even days. Don't thank me though, I'm a giver. Enjoy all of your newfound free time!

Congratulations To The Deep Impact Mission Crew........

...........

A job very, very well done-


NASA'S DEEP IMPACT GENERATES ITS OWN SPECTACULAR PHOTO FLASH

The hyper-speed demise of NASA's Deep Impact probe generated an immense flash of light, which provided an excellent light source for the two cameras on the Deep Impact mothership. Deep Impact scientists theorize the 820-pound impactor vaporized deep below the comet's surface when the two collided at 1:52 am July 4, at a speed of about 10 kilometers per second (6.3 miles per second or 23,000 miles per hour).

"You can not help but get a big flash when objects meet at 23,000 miles per hour," said Deep Impact co-investigator Dr. Pete Schultz of Brown University, Providence, R.I. "The heat produced by impact was at least several thousand degrees Kelvin and at that extreme temperature just about any material begins to glow. Essentially, we generated our own incandescent photo flash for less than a second."

The flash created by the impact was just one of the visual surprises that confronted the Deep Impact team. Preliminary assessment of the images and data downlinked from the flyby spacecraft have provided an amazing glimpse into the life of a comet.

"They say a picture can speak a thousand words," said Deep Impact Project Manager Rick Grammier of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "But when you take a look at some of the ones we captured in the early morning hours of July 4, 2005 I think you can write a whole encyclopedia."

At a news conference held later on July 4, Deep Impact team members displayed a movie depicting the final moments of the impactor's life. The final image from the impactor was transmitted from the short-lived probe three seconds before it met its fiery end.

"The final image was taken from a distance of about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the comet's surface," said Deep Impact Principal Investigator Dr. Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park. "From that close distance we can resolve features on the surface that are less than 4 meters (about 13 feet) across. When I signed on for this mission I wanted to get a close-up look at a comet, but this is ridiculous? in a great way."



How about dem apples? NASA and crew performed about as perfectly as one could have hoped. The impactor made several autonomous adjustments during it's flight towards Tempel 1, since the 7 1/2 minute delay time between earth and the impactor made it impossible for there to be any adjustments from mission control. The redundant systems on board did not get used and the impactor hit within the adjusted crosshairs almost dead on.

Here are two movies very much worth clicking to get the big picture-

This first one was taken from the flyby spacecraft. It shows the flash that occurred when comet Tempel 1 ran over the spacecraft's probe. It was taken by the flyby craft's high-resolution camera over a period of about 40 seconds. And remember- this is all happening over 80 million miles away.

Movie from the Fly-by spacecraft-

This movie shows the impactor probe approaching comet Tempel 1. It is made up of images taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor. It goes fast, but again let's remember- the probe was travelling at 10 kilometers per second (6.3 miles per second or 23,000 miles per hour). So the movie goes fast.

More images at the Deep Impact website here...the following pic is I think my favorite- it was taken by the impactor minutes before impact, a closeup of a comet you don't get to see every day...



Again, Congratulations to Dr. Michael A'Hearn, University of Maryland, Rick Grammier, JPL as well as the entire crew at JPL, the University of Maryland, CalTech, and NASA. This was a huge success for the various programs listed above.

Now, we can analyze data for years, and ideally use this information to further our understanding of the universe and the elements that compose the building blocks of our solar system.

There is of course another added benefit, now that we know we can autonomously launch un unmanned spacecraft to a comet millions of miles away, we can now start seriously proposing a mission for the B612 Project. Deep Impact just blew open some doors that were in great need of being knocked open...

Happy Fourth of July Everybody!! Good Luck Deep Impact!!!!!

............


I'm off of work soon to drink and be merry whilst we celebrate our nations freedom. I will be doing my damndest to avoid any type of computer screen for the next three days if at all possible, besides of course watching the results from the Deep Impact Mission. You know, the one I haven't shut up about for the last year or so. Yeah. That one. With the impactor that's going to hit the comet on the morning of the fourth of july.

Here is the schedule of events for Deep Impact-

Mission Events (Earth-receive time - in EDT)
July 3, 2:07 a.m: Impactor released into comet's path

July 4, 12:21 a.m.: 1st impactor targeting maneuver

July 4, 1:17 a.m.: 2nd impactor targeting maneuver

July 4, 1:39 a.m.: 3rd impactor targeting maneuver

July 4, 1:52 a.m.: (+ or - 3 min.): Impact with Tempel 1

July 4, 2:05 a.m.: Flyby goes into shield mode

July 4, 2:06 a.m.: Flyby's closest approach to Tempel 1

You will be able to watch live updates and streaming video of the latest news and images at the NASA TELEVISION site here..Goo

I leave you for the weekend with an essay from the always inciteful Victor Davis Hanson entitled American Zen, which gave me things to think about and be thankful for this weekend.....

An excerpt-

While the world debated whether an American guard at Guantanamo really flushed a Koran down a toilet, Robert Mugabe may have bulldozed the homes of 1.5 million Zimbabweans.

Few seem to have cared.

To do so would be a messy, complicated thing — lecturing a black third-world leader to stop tormenting his own poor; pleading with other African states not to allow the genesis of another Rwanda; and, probably, being embarrassed by someone who doesn’t give a hoot what a Western elite liberal says.

Mao, whose minions killed somewhere between 40 and 50 million, is still popular in China. That Communist country is deemed by many Western allies as less of a threat than the United States and its elected president, who routinely appears with a Hitler-moustache in European demonstrations.

The new general rule: Global morality is established by the degree the United States can be blamed. Millions of lives lost, vast corruption, thousands of refugees — all that can’t quite equate with a U.S. soldier showing insensitivity or an American detention center with mere doctors, ethnic food, and religious accommodations.

All this is not mere theater anymore, but serious stuff, since we are at war with thousands of troops in harm’s way counting on our support. America should wake up to this near-religious hatred — unless it is so far gone itself that it really believes the arguments of silly university-press books about our own pathologies and pernicious “empire.”

So how does the United States navigate nimbly between its weariness with the thankless role of a superpower and the dangers of a nostalgic isolationism? We need to find a sort of Zen-like philosophical balance that brings both some maturity to our pampered critics and psychic relief to ourselves, without endangering our own security or abandoning our true allies — while in the middle of a war and a polarized electorate here at home.


And one more thing we shouldn't forget this weekend-

T-Minus 4.5 Days And Counting...........

........


DEEP IMPACT MISSION UPDATE

It Takes a Cosmic Village to View a Comet

06.29.05

Like people gazing skyward to watch Independence Day fireworks, an international array of telescopes will train expert eyes on a dramatic encounter between NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft and a passing comet. The explosive event will happen 133.6 million kilometers (83 million miles) from Earth in the early hours of July 4 Eastern Daylight Time (late July 3 Pacific Daylight Time). Telescopes on the ground and others orbiting in space will document the mission's crucial moments using different wavelengths of light.


Artist's concept showing Deep Impact just before impact with comet Tempel 1.

Image credit: Maas Digital.

Comets are dirty balls of ice that hold clues to our own solar system's formation and evolution. Deep Impact is the first space mission to attempt to break the surface of a comet and reveal the secrets inside. The mission will send a 360-kilogram (816-pound) impactor into the path of comet Tempel 1. After releasing the impactor, the main spacecraft, called the flyby craft, will move safely aside and collect information. During this phase, every moment counts. The flyby spacecraft will have just over 13 minutes to gather its precious data.

"The flyby craft is constrained to an 800-second interval from the time of impact to the time it will no longer be able to observe the impact site," said Dr. Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, co-investigator of the Deep Impact Earth-based campaign. "So ground and Earth-orbital observations will be key to realizing the full scientific potential of the mission."
While only part of the world will have a view of the comet through telescopes at the time of impact, astronomers all over the globe will be able to see the resulting effects over the next several hours, days, and possibly weeks. Some of the observations from professional observers will be posted on the Deep Impact mission site at http://www.deepimpact.umd.edu/stsp, and amateur observers are also asked to submit observations at http://www.deepimpact.umd.edu/amateur.

"The level of cooperation among planetary colleagues as well as from colleagues outside the field is unprecedented," said Meech. "The experiment has not only engaged people's curiosity, but also a desire to help the Deep Impact mission make the most of its one-shot opportunity."

This fourth of July, a cosmic village of telescopes will make history as they watch the spectacular feat, while the rest of the world waits eagerly for information and pictures.

Gay Hill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.


So far everything appears to be moving along swimmingly for the folks at Deep Impact Mission Control. The satellite itself got took a neat little video of comet Tempel 1 giving off a little comet-haze "sneeze"- you can view the movie here. My hat is once again tipped in the direction of all of the folks at NASA, Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, JPL and the University of Maryland who are behind this project, and I applaud their efforts at succeeding thus far with the mission. The level of sophistication needed to be pull off this project is staggering, and my fingers are crossed that their efforts have not been in vain.

It will be a Fourth Of July that we will not soon forget.


and um, *cough*, you know, um, just in case, let's maybe you know, see if we can maybe, try and drum up some support to get things rolling with the B612 Project.

I'm Just sayin'.....

So, Maybe I'll Skip The Gulf Coast This Year........

.........


I've been dying to take another trip down to the Ft. Walton/Destin area of the Gulf Coast recently, mainly because of the bathwater-warm ocean and the velvet-like sand at the beaches down there. It's also a straight 8-hour drive from Nashville, which is not too bad.

However, in a sure sign that we officially are back to the pre-9/11 attitude of being scared of non-existent threats: SHARK ATTACKS are back in the news. And unfortunately for me, the SHARK ATTACK news has centered around two attacks within the Florida Panhandle area. Both have been confirmed as attacks by the pit-bull of the shark world- the BULL SHARK.




General Description
The Bull Shark has a short snout that is wider than it is long, with an off-white belly. The bull shark's top surface is gray, and its eyes are small. The first dorsal fin is much longer and more pointed than the second dorsal fin. Female bull sharks are usually larger than the males and can grow up to 11 feet. More shark attacks are attributed to this shark than all other sharks -- considered the most dangerous shark. They will eat anything from fish and turtles to people and are responsible for many deaths in the Ganges river in India and very well known for most attacks in Lake Nicaragua. These sharks have also been found hundreds of miles inland in the Amazon river. Great for sportfishing and excellent fighters when hooked.

Considering the fact the my recent drunken Florida vacation resulted in another close call with mother nature, I think I will have to re-evaluate my choice of vacation destinations.

Yes, yes, I know, the odds are very slim of getting attacked while swimming by a shark. In fact I am more likely to get killed in a car accident on the way down. I know all of this. But you didn't get chased by an alligator last time your were in Florida.


Ah, screw it. Jaws be damned, I want to go back to Destin!!! Bring it you devils of the ocean!!! You'll never get me alive!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Update: Just to give you an idea of how close and brave these bullsharks have become, here are three pics to check out and see how close they really get to shore....

Shore Shark-Pic 1
Shore Shark-Pic 2
Shore Shark-Pic 3

This Could Be The Single Greatest Thing I have Ever Heard A Musician Say.......

........(via TC over at LeatherPenguin)


GALLAGHER: 'LIVE 8 WILL NEVER WORK'

NOEL GALLAGHER is convinced LIVE 8 will never achieve its lofty aim of persuading politicians from the world's richest countries to eliminate debt owed by poorer nations.

The outspoken OASIS guitarist believes rock stars simply don't have the influence needed to affect the G8 decision makers - and believes all their hard work will be in vain.

He says, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15 minute break at Gleneagles (in Scotland) and sees ANNIE LENNOX singing SWEET DREAMS and thinks, 'F**k me, she might have a point there, you know?'

Look, I'm all for musicians raising money for important causes, hell I organized and played in one for the American Diabetes and Cancer Societies last year. But nothing grates me more than when musicians and other celebrities get this holier-than-thou attitude going and think that the world is in dire need of their input in order to save us all.

In the case of the G-8 meetings, my personal views can be summed up in the following cartoon from the geniuses over at Cox and Forkum-



I'm all for erasing the debt, but without political reform, it's pointless. Debt or no debt, until governments like those in the Sudan or Mugabes in Zimbabwe are held accountable, nothing is going to change. These countries need free markets and free people, not handouts.

This also gives me a chance to lead in to another great work from one of my favorite writers, and his friends over at National Lampoon the great Jay Pinkerton- "Bono's Third World Products, inc."

I Knew Things Were Bad for The Spankees This Year, But..........

..........(via Michelle at ASV)



I didn't think that they had sunk quite this low. Apparently Sheffield can't get a date these days and has been reduced to groping Jeter after home runs. Such a shame, that.

Really. Tis' a tragedy. I guess that's what happens when you can't live down being on the team who had the WORST CHOKE IN POST SEASON HISTORY.

Should we, um I dunno, send him a card or something? Because this is just embarrassing.



"Please Derek? Let me hold you like you held me after Game Seven last year....It's been so long since I've felt this way..."

If TC comes by, he will be most displeased with this post. But hey, after the NBA Finals ends on thursday (GO PISTONS!!), I won't have much sportswise to speak of for a while minus the Spankees and my beloved 2004 WORLD SERIES CHAMPION BOSTON RED SOX.

Just sayin'..