NASA Launches David Bowie Concept Mission

The heroic, genre-defying crew (L-R): Maj. Tom Louis, Maj. Tom Greely, Maj. Tom Ohweiler, Maj. Thomas Sinclair, and Maj. Tom Keenan.

The Onion.

Also:
Terry Gilliam Barbecue Plagued By Production Delays

The Big Dig

We've had freezing temperatures since the snow stopped falling but strong sunlight with not a cloud in the sky. So we are getting some melting.

I got a couple of hours of shoveling yesterday, trying to free my car, and a couple today. I stopped to take a snapshot of the dig. And I was looking at a couple more hours of hard work, when who should come along but The Jersey Snow King.


He moved several cubic yards of snow in just a couple of minutes and freed my car for me. A little more shoveling around the car and it popped right out!


Now I have a nice little snow fort for my vehicle.


Fits like a glove!


Thanks, Jersey Snow King!

Out In The Blizzard

I set out to walk to the post office.
Heavy boots? Check!
Insulated snow pants? Check!
Gore-tex parka? Check!
Neoprene balaclava? Check!
Goggles? Check!
Silk glove-liners? Check!
Thinsulate mittens? Check!

It was quite a slog, but there isn't going to be any mail pick-up today and what with Valentine's Day on Sunday, well, what's a feller to do?

Made it to the post office after about half an hour. It was closed. Yeah, so much for that "neither snow nor sleet" nonsense...

But I got my letter in the drop-box inside the outer lobby.

This (I think) is my car. See the antenna? that's a roof-mounted antenna.




It's about 20-degrees with wind gusts 20-40 mph.

Still Snowing

There must be three feet on the ground now, and it's still snowing.

This Just In!

It's snowing again. Expected accumulation 10-14 inches here.

That's on top of the 28" still on the ground.

"Journalist, Heel Thyself!"

Amusing or sarcastic? You decide. The chart is from the Wall Street Journal (behind a subscriber wall, but I got it from The Volokh Conspiracy.)

Turonistan News... We Retort, You Deride.

The Green Police

Did anyone else see the Audi TV spot during the Super Bowl?

It was a series of vignettes of folks being arrested by "The Green Police". The GP goes through curbside garbage bags and if they find a mercury battery, it's "Go! Go! Go!" and they bust into the guy's house and arrest him. They busted a guy for failing to compost an orange peel. They busted a guy for using an incandescent light bulb. A cop pulls over a motorist and says, "Is that a styrofoam coffee cup, sir?" The driver stammers, "Um, I guess..." And the cop says, "Please get out of the car and put the cup on the roof."

They were advertising the Audi "clean diesel" engine.

But I was shocked by the spot. It was not funny!

The Big Storm

I packed a suitcase Friday afternoon and got one of the last trains into town. Snow had been falling since before noon and 6" was on the ground at that point.

It snowed all night and all day Saturday.

On the left is our HQ and on the right is the Mayflower Hotel, where I spent Friday night. At the end of the street is the National Geographic building.

Lots of trees were bent to the ground like this.

You can't see the snow falling in many of these shots...

...unless the flash is turned on.

The ENG truck was covered.

This is K Street at Farragut Square.

The Godiva Chocolate store on Connecticut Avenue was closed! Now this is serious!

Late Saturday afternoon the snow was really piling up.

Very little traffic on Connecticut Ave. Saturday afternoon.

There's always one guy...

They put us up Saturday night at the Hotel Monaco.

Sunday morning at 3:00 AM. The snow had stopped falling.

It looked like everything was coated with whipped cream or meringue. Walking the four blocks to work was not difficult, but navigating was a challenge because the landscape had been changed by the snow; it was strictly "navigation by street signs" because all of the familiar little landmarks that we typically use to get around were covered with snow.

Index!

Anna Sheridan of the Chicago Police Dept., 1928.

h/t Say Uncle.

Eensy-weensy Black Rifle

He brought it to P.S. 52 in New York City. He was forced to sign a statement and let go with a warning.

It could have been worse. If he had done it in New Jersey, he'd be looking at doing some hard time.

N.Y. Daily News

Battle Of The Sexes...uh...Genders

Dr. Helen's got a great post about misandry and misogyny. Go read it.

My favorite anecdote in this regard comes from a battered women's shelter in San Francisco. A woman living there was attacked and beaten by her significant other. When police investigated, they asked about security measures in the shelter. Apparently, the only security rule in place was "we don't let men in."

The victim's attacker was, you guessed it, a woman.

Guns In The Medical Literature

There is a new "survey" (apparently this is not original research but a survey of published research papers) on the dangers of gun ownership. I added a comment:

1) These research papers used high-risk populations with extensive histories of drug-abuse, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and criminal records. The research has little to offer about the risks of keeping a firearm in a "normal" American home.

2) Correlation does not prove causation. This is like doing a study to determine how diabetics differ from non-diabetics, noting that diabetics are more likely to possess insulin, and concluding that insulin possession is a risk factor for diabetes.

3) American suicide rates actually compare favorably with other nations where firearm ownership is lower. People bent on self-destruction will find ways to do it even if firearms are not available.

4) A majority of American homicide victims (up to 80% in some surveys) had criminal records, or had traces of narcotics in their systems when they arrived at the ER. Most homicide in the U.S. is criminals killing other criminals.

I should've added that these studies suggest that, if you live in a "normal" American home, with no history of drug abuse, no history of alcohol abuse, no history of domestic violence, and nobody living there with a criminal record, you can own as many guns as you want, and it will not increase the risk of death or accident to you or any member of your family.

h/t Alphecca.

UPDATE: They actually published it.

...And Some Pointy, Pointy Boots

I love this song. It's bad music for bad people.

DADT, KIIYP and STFU!

Wonderful post (hey, there's an idea for a newspaper) from Roberta X on the current controversy(ies).

The Second Amendment, II

What's the point of having small arms to defend freedom, some say, when the other side will have tanks, artillery, bombers, etc.?

Even tank commanders have to climb out to use the facilities, get some food, supervise fueling/repair, chat with the local cuties, etc. A deer rifle and a good vantage point are all you need. The Liberator pistol and the CIA ‘deer gun’ were intended for giving to insurgents so they could sneak up on occupiers, fire with the barrel against the target’s body and then escape with his weapons.

The STEN submachine gun was made in more than 20 covert factories in Poland during WWII, with some parts being secretly machined in factories under Nazi control. Cruffler.com has an excellent article on their production.

Resistance against tyranny and oppression is a human right, if not an obligation, and the tools to do so are covered under the 2nd Amendment.

Amen, Brother!

link.

And Staghounds has a post on underground arms factories in Nazi-occupied Denmark; they made over 500 STEN submachine guns during the war.

PelosiCare vs. CanadaCare

There's a dust-up going on at the Volokh Conspiracy about Canadians traveling to the U.S. for medical care, and what this might indicate about the quality, cost and availability of health care. One commenter, an American physician with experience on both sides of our border, has this personal observation:

I was working at a hospital in Kingston, Ontario when a US citizen truck driver came in, after a rather bad traffic accident. He didn’t get health care at all (we were stopped by admin) until he signed a waiver of his rights, and showed he had insurance that the hospital could bill.

Conversely, in the US a federal law (EMTALA) prevents us from asking about a patient's ability to pay, and mandates that he be given emergency, stabilizing treatment (which often means full treatment).

link.

Tamalanche III

I'm all outta breath!

The Pong Su Incident

On the night of April 15-16, 2003 Australian police observed two men on a deserted beach near Lorne, Victoria. The men walked to a nearby hotel where they met another man. A fourth man was left behind on the beach. All four were arrested while in possession of 50 kg of pharmaceutical-quality heroin. A search of the beach uncovered a buried dinghy. A GPS unit was also recovered. Coordinates in the GPS led police to a separate cache of 75 kg of heroin buried nearby.

The dinghy was determined to have come from the North Korean-owned freighter Pong Su, which was observed to be loitering offshore. The Australian Royal Navy ordered the ship into harbor, but the Pong Su turned and fled into international waters. A four-day chase ensued.

Under maritime law, a ship suspected of piracy or smuggling may be seized in international waters as long as it is kept in continuous visual surveillance. The Australians used cutters, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to follow the Pong Su for four days and nights. The chase ended when the Pong Su's ancient engines could stand no more and failed. A helicopter team of Australian Special Forces commandos boarded the ship and seized it.

Four officers and twenty-seven crew members were arrested and charged with drug offenses. The four men arrested on shore pleaded guilty and received long prison sentences. The crew members were released and deported in June, 2004. At trial, the four officers were found not guilty and they were also deported in March, 2006.

In March, 2006 the Pong Su was towed out to sea and used as target practice for the RAAF. A pair of two-thousand pound laser-guided bombs dropped from an F-111 sent her to the bottom.

All except the radio equipment; that was donated to the Kurrajong Radio Museum. Check out their collection! They have an outstanding collection of historic military radios, including the WWII Gibson Girl survival radio:

This is a 5-watt hand-cranked CW and beacon transmitter. It's called a "Gibson Girl" because of the "pinched-waist" design which allows it to be strapped between the legs for hand-cranking. It reminded people of the fashion illustrations of artist Charles Dana Gibson in the late 19th century.

The whole thing had its own parachute, plus a 4-foot diameter balloon for the antenna. A box kite was also supplied to loft the antenna in windy conditions. The balloon was inflated with two hydrogen generators, activated by putting them in sea water. The telegraph key could operate the transmitter or the signal lamp. Made in USA by Bendix Corp.

One Hundred Years Ago Today

John Browning signed the application for what would become patent 984,519.



h/t Maddened Fowl.

Creepiest Scene In The Movies

Running Scared (2006) is about a gun used in a murder. The cops are after it, the mob is after it, but it falls into the hands of a 10-year-old boy named Oleg. He ditches the gun, but now everyone is after him. Out of the frying pan and into the fire he goes, picked up by a truly twisted couple and taken back to their apartment. Remember "Pulp Fiction"? Well, these two make Maynard and Zed look like Ozzie and Harriet. Oleg is trapped, but he manages to steal a cellphone and call his best friend's mother...



The sickos are played by Bruce Altman and Elizabeth Mitchell, and the avenging angel is Vera Farmiga. Brave actors! Notice that nothing untoward happens in the scene, and notice also that the adult actors never so much as touch the child actors. But it just creeps me out.

Mostly filmed in Prague, although the second-unit footage makes it look like it was shot on location in Hoboken.