Demotivator - Bailouts

For more

Book Recommendation - Desert Spear

 I picked up "The Warded Man" by Peter Brett some time ago.  It was one of those deals where you buy so many books and you get one free.  Not wanting to waste a free book....well, there you go.

"The Desert Spear" is the second book in what promises to be a five book series.  We met Jardir in "The Warded Man".  We learn his story in "The Desert Spear".

Jardir is a prince of the desert; sworn to lead his men as they kill the demons that rise from the earth each night while the women and children are kept safe deep within the city.  We follow his life from his beginning as a son of a father that had died without honor.  His tenacity and drive let him excel in the combat school where boys are sorted into either men that fight demons or khaffit; an honor less class held in the same low esteem as women and children.

Protected...not a protector...as is Jardir.

And now Jardir leads his people to invade the people of the north-lands seeking to unite humanity against the demons in the coming final conflict.

After his duplicity in the first book, I was unsurprised to find that I liked Jardir less after reading more about him in the second book.  I was surprised to find that I also liked him more.

Read the first book...then read this one.

Raiding The Music Makers

It was recently reported that federal agents have raided the Gibson guitar company.  This is the second such raid.  The purported justification for the raids is that it is against Indian (the ones in Asia, not in North America) law for Indian wood to be harvested and not finished by an Indian.  Importing unfinished wood from India is a violation of their laws and as a result, it is also a violation of the amended Lacey Act.

The Lacey Act makes it a federal crime to import wood in a manner that is not compliant with the laws of the exporting country.

It was also reported that the government of India did not initiate a complaint with the U.S. government.  Federal agents were acting of their own volition.

Ordinarily, I would chalk this episode up to the sort of predictable lunacy that results from our leviathan federal  government.  Granting government agents power to enforce vague or poorly written laws inevitably results in some agent somewhere doing something really, really stupid.

Like raiding an American manufacturing company and seizing their inventory without any complaint from the country of origin of a legally imported material.

If Gibson had openly purchased the wood from Indian companies and exported it in an open and documented fashion, then the government of India had an opportunity to stop the process on their side of the ocean.  The fact that they did nothing to halt the shipment suggests that their enforcement policies differ from their laws in some way.  In any case, the government of India made their choice.  Who are our government agents to suggest that the purchase and exportation of the wood was in violation Indian law if Indian government agents permitted the purchase and exportation to move forward?

Unless Gibson smuggled the wood out of India, I don't see the problem.  This is not a rare species of wood.  The importation of the wood did not create any environmental risk in the United States.

So why do such a thing?  Aren't we focused on creating (or 'saving') American jobs?

Ordinarily I am loathe to turn to a cynical explanation.  Via Instapundit:

UPDATE: What a coincidence! CEO of Gibson Guitar a Republican Donor. And their Democratic-donating competitor, Martin, uses the same wood but wasn’t raided. Well, when you’ve got a President who jokes about tax audits as revenge for a personal slight, it’s hard not to be suspicious, isn’t it?

Rather Nixonian behavior if you ask me.  And most certainly disappointing.

The next time someone suggests that we can't eliminate any federal jobs, I will promptly remind them of this episode of government gone wild.

Fixing Teeth With "Paint"

One of the primary reasons why I follow Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit is that he has an eclectic range of interests.  One of those interests is the advancements in medical knowledge and the application of that knowledge in new treatments, therapies, and procedures.

Recently, Glenn pointed out a link at FuturePundit about dental researchers discovering a substance that can be painted on teeth that will arrest decay and may even cause the damaged tooth to regrow itself.

Fascinating.

As Glenn would say...."Faster, please!"

Book Recommendation - The Warded Man

Demons rise for a nightly feast of human flesh.  All that protects the humans are their ability to create signs, wards, that keep the demons from getting close enough to feed.

Arlen is a boy living in a small hamlet.  He lives with the suspicion that humanity could do more than hide behind their wards.  They could fight.

His last night at home is the night when he watches demons rip his mother to pieces while his father remains safely protected.  After that night, he roams the world learning to paint wards and eventually meeting the people of the desert that take the fight to the demons instead of hiding behind warded walls.

We also meet Rojer and Leesha who are kindred spirits that see themselves as capable of more than the limited expectations of the friends and families.  People who want something better, even if they do not know how to achieve it.

Eventually, Arlen learns the long forgotten secrets that enabled men to hunt demons instead of being hunted by demons.  He uses those secrets to become....something else.

Worth your time.

More From Me

What's not to love?

I've added a new gadget on the right.  The new gadget shows you my Google Reader "shared" items.  Sometimes I'll have a little something extra to add as a comment.  Other things just look interesting enough to me that I'd like to share it with you.

If you are using Google's Reader....which I highly recommend....you can follow my feed directly there.  Or you can check in here every once in a while to see what I see that might be worth your time.

Good reading to all!

Frustrating Journalists

The New York Times is my windmill.  I am your Don Quixote.  They drive me mad!

Not really, but they are a source of vexation.

The most recent example was a photo that accompanied a story about labeling those serving in the military as "heroes".  It was an interesting story with a few decent points.

The photo was insulting.  The link for the original photo is here.  I have saved the image and stored it on Google's Picasa...just in case.






You may find this military awards information and this US Army uniform information from Wikipedia to be useful for the ensuing discussion.

The first problem is where should I begin?

First, the US Army has two different service uniforms.  The old, out-dated service uniform is green. It is typically worn with a light green dress shirt.  The new service uniform is blue.  It is typically worn with a white shirt.  The green uniform hasn't been issued since 2009 and will be obsolete in 2014.

The model in the photo above is wearing a white shirt with a green blouse.

Then take a look at the rank insignia.  I cannot recall when the US Army last put the rank insignia on the lapels of the blouse.  To add insult to injury, the insignia is just slapped on the lapels in an uneven and non-symmetric fashion.  If the rank insignia did belong on the blouse lapels, they would be worn so that they were pointed along the bisector of the lapel.

And I fully realize that the illustration in that last link is from the US Marine Corps.  It was the best illustration that I could quickly locate.

Now look at the right side of the uniform.  That would be the left side of the photo.  See that badge?  Care to guess what it signifies?

That badge signifies that Corporal Schmuckatelli here is also a bonafide Naval Aviator.  Think "Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun'. "

Now can you imagine the set of circumstances that would have permitted the good Corporal to fall from the heights of a commissioned US naval officer and Naval Aviator to lowly US Army Corporal?  Nor can I.

Finally, look at the left side of the uniform.  It is important to know that ribbons are worn in a specific manner and in a specific order.  Ribbons are typically mounted using a ribbon bar.  They look like this.

Ribbons are worn in a very particular order.  The most common ribbons are organized with personal decorations on the top row and towards the right of the person wearing the ribbons.  That would be left as you are looking at the photo.

Next would come unit awards, followed by campaign awards and service awards.

Beginning at the top/inboard position, we have

• Vietnam Service Medal, with 2 stars indicating 3 awards
• Navy/Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation, with 1 star indicating 2 awards
• National Defense Service Medal
• Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal
• Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal
• Navy Unit Commendation
• Armed Forces Reserve Medal
• Soldier's Medal
• Distinguished Service Medal (Army) (typically awarded to senior officers for unusual and extraordinary service, not NCOs)

An awful lot of Navy medals for a Corporal in the US Army, no?  Methinks that grandpa's old uniforms got raided for this photo.

In the correct order:

• Distinguished Service Medal (Army) (odd that the most significant one was placed last, no?)
• Soldier's Medal
• Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal
• Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal
• Navy & Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
• Navy Unit Commendation
• National Defense Service Medal
• Vietnam Service Medal
• Armed Forces Reserve Medal

I think the obvious conclusion is that some photographer slapped together something that looked "military-ish" and took a picture.  They had probably watched too much Star Trek with Captain Kirk's splatter of oddments, buttons, and colored wig-wags to understand that, 300 years before the voyages of the the good Captain and his crew, the tradition was to wear one's awards in a specific order and arrangement.

Quite frankly, the photographer didn't care.  They didn't think the proper display of a US military uniform was important enough to warrant their time and attention.

While that is disappointing, it is certainly forgivable.

What is unforgivable is for the New York friggin' Times to use such obviously poor photography as an illustration with any story associated with their name.  Do they think that our military and military veterans do not read their work?  Do they not understand that their "brand" is already suspect because of some the stereotypes that they create and/or propagate?  Do they not have military veterans on their writing and photography staff?

Do they not care?

While they obviously do not care enough to get it right the first time, I do have to acknowledge that they changed the image associated with the story.  They even included a correction.  The old image was still on their server.  No harm in an unused image.

That is a reasonable course of events if we were talking about the Quad City Times.  Not quite so reasonable if we are talking about American's America's self professed "newspaper of record".  The worst part is that while I would not think it unreasonable for the Quad City Times to make such a mistake, I also expect that the QC Times would care enough about this issue to get put extra effort into getting it right the first time.  The NY Times has the resources to get it right the first time without extra effort, and the bungled it.

We Learned Something New

It is no large secret that I am a skeptic regarding the theory that human activity is the sole/primary/major force behind the changes in our climate over the last 150 years. 

Any fool looking at the data can see that things have gotten warmer over that time frame.  What few elect to recall is that a miniature ice age that correlates with the Maunder Minimum ended about 150 years ago.  In reality, we have been warming from an unusually cold condition back towards a more usual climate.

In any case, one of the primary reasons for my skepticism is the non-scientific manner used to express theories concerning the influence of human activity in that general warming trend.  The science of those theories has been "settled".  Or so they tell us.

But that isn't science.  Scientific theories take not just decades, but often centuries before we know enough to call them anything close to "settled".

Albert Einstein presented his general theory of relativity in 1916.  Since then there have been many discoveries and refinements.  There continue to be hypotheses about exceptions to Mr. Einstein's theory that have yet to be proved or disproved.  It may take a while before we know all we can know about the implications of the theory of relativity.

Sir Isaac Newton presented his theory of gravity in Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica which was published in 1687.  It wasn't until 350 years later that we began to understand that gravity throughout the universe was not constant.  And it took almost another 50 years before that understanding was fully developed.

So what is new in the field of climatology?  We have a report from CERN regarding the link between cosmic rays emanating from the sun being closely tied with the formation of clouds in the atmosphere.

Another source of my skepticism is the rather simplistic manner in which some individuals have presumed a direct, primary, causal relationship between CO₂ and climate change to the near total exclusion of other reasonable factors.  It is my opinion that solar forcings have been understated in climate models in favor of anthropogenicy.  The one true fact is that we do not know what we know.  We do not know what we do not know either.  We do not fully understand all of the intricacies associated with how the climate changes over time.

We have learned a few things over the years.  And we are developing a better understanding of the various factors involved in our climate.  Responsible scientists qualify their remarks to point out the wide range of predicted future temperatures.  They also suggest that there are significant factors beyond human activity that are at work.

As we move forward, I am confident that our understanding will be revised and refined again and again.  My opinion is that along with learning more about our climate, we will probably discover that we have an over-sized collective ego.  The earth has been around for a very long time.  While humanity is able to affect significant micro-scale changes, our impact on something as massive and complicated as the atmosphere is less significant than some alarmist pseudo-scientists would have us believe.

The Decline of American Manufacturing

I found this story about Amazon and their utter inability to manufacture the Kindle on this side of the Pacific to be most depressing.

Jazz It Up, Golden Smog!

On of my favorite episodes of The Flintstones.  The music faaaannntastic!

Check out the second half. Skiddly-wah-wah-wah.....CONTACT!

A Hysterical Return?

After my modestly extended absence from blogging, I can think of no more pleasurable method of celebrating my return than to offer my esteemed and valued readership a smile.

Some more than others...apparently.

In Which I Agree With Barney Frank.

It doesn't happen very often. Mr. Frank is someone that I generally hold in low regard. But from time-to-time, he is right. A stopped clock and all that.

The senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee says the biggest reason the United States is seeing its credit downgraded is that it spends too much money being "the military policemen of the world."

...

The liberal Massachusetts Democrat says $200 billion could be saved "without in any way endangering our security" by dialing back U.S. military involvement in the world, including operations in Western Europe.

Anyone that has taken a serious look at our spending issues will tell you that are defense spending is going to need to be cut to some extent. A much smaller force is really needed to "guard" Europe. There are other obvious cuts to be made as well.

The problem with Mr. Frank is that he is attempting to divert attention from the larger problem of ever expanding social spending. We are currently experiencing deficits to the tune of $1.4 trillion annually with future projected deficits to dip briefly towards $1 trillion before expanding ever upwards. That trend is being driven by Social Security and Medicare.

While $200 billion in spending cuts is a good start, where does Mr. Frank plan on finding the other $1.2 trillion? I have a few suggestions that would "break the mold" as well.

Dog Bites Shark!

Here in the US, someone would be placing a panicked call to the ASPCA over this episode.

Not Guilty Is Not Necessarily Innocent

Courtesy of Day by Day Cartoon comes this appropriate observation.

As others have pointed out, the difficulty of having a witness of poor character is the difficulty in presenting a credible case.  It does not mean that she wasn't raped in the first place.

The law can indeed be a bitch.  So can karma.  At the very least, it seems to me that karma paid a timely call on Mr. Strauss-Kahn.

Great Song - Great Video

From a band that really understands what it means to serve in the American military.  Watch the whole thing.

Are You Kidding Me?

A couple of caveats before we proceed. 

First, I am overweight.  I'm working on it, but things are what they are.  If this story makes me a hypocrite, then so be it.

Second, I ride a motorcycle....with all of the additional risks that entails.  I always wear a helmet even though I support efforts to repeal our helmet laws so that others can make a different choice.

Third, I generally believe in leaving people alone to make decisions about how to run their lives.  I'd prefer not to be judged incapable of running my own life, so I try not to judge the capacity of others to run their lives.

Fourth, I long for the day when robotic implants are as common as candy corn.  If that was the case today, then my 1080p HD eyeball camera could have taken a snap shot of this guy that was travelling in the opposite direction across a bridge.  And you would be able to see what I saw.  I probably would have uploaded the picture to Facebook while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

This one is hard to believe.

There I was riding my bike across a two lane bridge today.  Traffic was backed up and I was stopped in the middle of the span.  But traffic was moving well in the other direction.

Along comes this guy headed in the other direction.  For the moment, why don't we call him "Guy".

Guy weighs an easy 300 lbs.  He may weigh closer to 350, but it was hard to know.  And it was pretty obvious that he didn't get that heavy going to the gym.

Guy was riding the sort of little scooter that has become popular due to recent gas price increases.  I'm pretty sure that he weighed more than his scooter.

Here in Michigan, scooter riders are not required to wear a helmet.  So he wasn't.  He also only had a thin, Hawaiian style shirt.  No coat.  He did have some awesome glasses, so at least his eyes were covered.

Guy has trouble breathing.  At least, I suspect that he carries some sort of air/oxygen tank with him.  He had one of those flexible plastic tubes running from between his legs, up over each ear, and around to his nose.  So this isn't a wild inference on my part.

Assuming he was connected to his tank, one might reasonably wonder about the consequences of his tank sliding out from between his feet while he is motoring along.  Alternatively, the tank might have been tied tightly to the scooter which opens up the question of what happens if he gets into an accident where is bike goes one direction and his body goes another.

The cherry on top of this modest vignette?

The cigarette dangling from his lips as his scooter went putt-putting on by!!

Why Economic Freedom Matters

And yes...I did see who sponsored the video.  That does nothing to undermine the argument being made.

Police Have Got The Choke-Hold....

Even worse, judges have it too!  Maybe.

Megan McArdle has the latest on that little tempest in a teapot.

Liberals are probably going to be disposed to believe that Abrahamson and Bradley are pursuing a legitimate grievance against Prosser, a self-admitted hothead who called Abrahamson a "bitch" and threatened to destroy her, and that the conservative justices are covering up for their abusive colleague.  Conservatives will be likely to take the view that Bradley is a vengeful self-dramatist who inflates petty conflicts into savage attacks for political purposes.

...

Frankly, whatever way you look at it, someone has behaved in behavior so extraordinarily unbecoming a justice that I find it difficult to believe either way.

Albert Gore Jr. - Hypocrite

Questionable science aside, my first objection to proposed carbon emission limitations, and other "global warming" associated policies is the behavior of those that stridently urge those policy changes.

But you cannot be a leading environmentalist who hopes to lead the general public into a long and difficult struggle for sacrifice and fundamental change if your own conduct is so flagrantly inconsistent with the green gospel you profess.  If the heart of your message is that the peril of climate change is so imminent and so overwhelming that the entire political and social system of the world must change, now, you cannot fly on private jets.  You cannot own multiple mansions.  You cannot even become enormously rich investing in companies that will profit if the policies you advocate are put into place.

It is not enough to buy carbon offsets (aka “indulgences”) with your vast wealth, not enough to power your luxurious mansions with exotic low impact energy sources the average person could not afford, not enough to argue that you only needed the jet so that you could promote your earth-saving film.

You are asking billions of people, the overwhelming majority of whom lack many of the basic life amenities you take for granted, people who can’t afford Whole Foods environmentalism, to slash their meager living standards.  You may well be right, and those changes may be necessary — the more shame on you that with your superior insight and knowledge you refuse to live a modest life.  There’s a gospel hymn some people in Tennessee still sing that makes the point:  “You can’t be a beacon if your light don’t shine.”

St. Francis of Assisi understood the point well.  Taken by the Pope on a tour to see the treasures of the Vatican, St. Francis was notably unimpressed.  “Peter can no longer say, ‘silver and gold have I none,’” smiled the Pontiff, referring to the story in the Book of Acts that recounts what St. Peter said to a crippled beggar asking him for alms.

“Neither can he say, ‘rise up and walk.’” replied St. Francis — quoting what St. Peter said as he miraculously cured the beggar of his affliction.

You can sit on ivory chairs with kings in their halls of gold, participating in the world of politics as usual, or you can live with the prophets and visionaries in the wilderness, voices of a greater truth and higher meaning that challenge the smug certainties and false assumptions of the comfortable, business as usual elites.  You cannot do both.

Al Gore cannot say “silver and gold have I none and no excess carbon do I spew,” and neither can he say to the paralyzed global green movement “rise up and walk.”  He speaks, he writes, he speaks again, and the movement lies on the ground, crippled and inert.

...

What this tells the skeptics is that Vice President Gore doesn’t really believe the gospel he proclaims.  That profits from his environmental advocacy enable his affluent lifestyle only deepens their skepticism of the messenger and therefore of the message.  And when they see that the rest of the environmental movement accepts this flagrant contradiction, they conclude, naturally enough, that the other green leaders aren’t as worried as they claim to be.  Al Gore’s lifestyle is a test case for the credibility of his gospel — and it fails. The tolerance of Al Gore’s lifestyle by the environmental leadership is a further test — and that test, too, the greens fail.

The average citizen is all too likely to conclude that if Mr. Gore can keep his lifestyle, the average American family can keep its SUV and incandescent bulbs.  If Gore can take a charter flight, I don’t have to take the bus.  If Gore can have many mansions, I can use the old fashioned kind of shower heads that actually clean and toilets that actually flush.  Al Gore looks to the average American the way American greens look to poor people in the third world: hypocritically demanding that others accept permanently lower standards of living than those the activists propose for themselves.

 It's way past time for Mr. Gore to get religion.

Michelle Bachmann

If you don't know much about her....or have consumed a few too many of the main stream Palinesque profiles...then this article may be of some use.

I'm not prepared to throw my meager support behind her candidacy.  She seems far too comfortable with religious opinion being enforced by the strength of government.

At the same time, she seems prepared to come to a federal government trimming party bearing the proper equipment; a chainsaw rather than tweezers.