They all look the same to you, huh?
Posted by Ron Coleman on August 12, 2009
Posted in Americana, Faith and Works | Leave a Comment »
Good Point
Posted by Ron Coleman on August 12, 2009
Forbes ranks West Point as nation’s top college (via Insty):
A report released Wednesday by Forbes magazine ranked the U.S. Military Academy as the top college in the country in their America’s Best College review. “Marked by an intense work ethic and drive to succeed on all fronts, the West Point undergraduate experience also allows graduates to leave without a penny of tuition loans to repay,” Forbes stated in its release.
World War II Memorial -- Washington, DC
Yeah. You know, I’m on vacation this week — hence the lack of blogging, if you noticed — and I’m in Washington, where it’s hot and humid but priced perfectly for a family vacation. And at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum today we saw an IMAX film about the Air Force’s real-life “Top Gun” training and simulation program, Red Flag.
And, wow.
The flick is propaganda all the way, but, guess what, so are all films. But coming away from this, and having attended a number of highly-ranked educational institutions myself, I said to myself and a significant other, my, these guys — the U.S. military as a whole, notwithstanding sad notable exceptions– are the most competent people in the country, aren’t they?
I know. So many awful things do get done wrong by the military, it seems. It’s so easy to second guess them, though, given the scope of what they’re tasked with. But if you sensibly weigh the things they do right with proper consideration of the risks of doing it wrong, both locally and globally, extraordinary mastery of multiple arts and scientists required to execute their tasks, the discipline and focus, and —
Then there’s this.
The members of the military essentially do everything that is physically and technological possible in the pursuit of their missions. You and I look at, say, the way you would go about rescuing a downed pilot and say, well, if you could rappel down a rope and, uh, I guess…. oh never mind.
They rappel down the rope. They fly upside down. Anything a human can do, they find people brave enough and dedicated enough to go out there and DO.
For YOU.
How many Ivy Leaguers does that describe?
Posted in Americana, Heart and spirit, Packing heat | 1 Comment »
Life imitates Steve Martin
Posted by Ron Coleman on August 7, 2009
Only worse. Steve Martin, from the old days:
How many people have cats? One, two, three, four…okay, ten. Now- let me ask you this…do ya trust ’em? Because I’ve gotta get a pair of cat handcuffs and I gotta get ’em right away. Just the little ones that go around the little front paws or maybe the manacles..four, to get all four paws. But what a drag; I found out my cat was embezzling from me. You think you know a cat for ten years, he pulls something like this. I found out that while I was away, he would go out to the mailbox, pick up the checks, take ’em down to the bank and cash ’em… disguised as me. He had the little kitty arrow through the head…and the little kitty bunny ears. And I wouldn’t have caught him, but I went out to his house where he sleeps…and there was about $3,000 worth of cat toys out there. Any you can’t return ’em ’cause they have spit all over them! So now I’m stuck with $3000 worth of cat toys! Oh,
sure…they’re fun. You got the little rubber mouse; has a bell inside of it- Haw haw haw! Boy, I hate it when it goes under the sofa! Whoa, gimme that! Gimme that! Hiss! hiss!
And now, this:
Keith Griffin was charged Wednesday with 10 counts of possession of child porn after over 1,000 illegal images were found on his computer, and he claims it’s all the work of his kitty.
//
The 48-year-old Jensen Beach, Fla., man told cops he would leave his computer on and the cat would jump on the keyboard and just like that, the images would appear.
Time was a crooked cat, while bad enough, only harmed his own soul.
Posted in Homo sapiens, Nuvo-Techno, Sisyphus | 1 Comment »
Down but not out
Posted by Ron Coleman on August 7, 2009
Not even all that much down — but it is remarkable how much. Instapundit, that is.
If you need to know what’s going on and, of course, exactly what to think about it, the Instabackup site is here.
Posted in Faith and Works, Nuvo-Techno, Social networking | Leave a Comment »
Now that is one bad crook
Posted by Ron Coleman on August 5, 2009
You’d have to be to beat these pro-acquittal factors: A black elected politician, a New Orleans jury, and mere charges of bribery brought by the Bush Justice Department? Don Surber reports:
A federal jury convicted former Congressman William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, of 11 counts of being one big crook.
I am glad to see justice is served.
He likely will appeal. So what? He’s a crook. Send him to prison — or considering the cash found in his fridge, send him to the cooler. The convictions care a potential of more than 20 years in prison — give him every single day possible.
He earned it.
Well, those guys in Congress have to earn something, some time.
Posted in Americana, O Mores!, Politics and Poker | Leave a Comment »
Durbinothon!
Posted by Ron Coleman on August 5, 2009
At Six Meat Buffet. Dig in — to Dick Durbin’s brain!
Posted in Liberal punks | Leave a Comment »
Global warming true after all, just not this globe
Posted by Ron Coleman on August 2, 2009
Pow!
TRYING TO FIND THE TRUTH BEHIND the Jupiter impact. “Something invaded our solar system and whacked Jupiter, but professional astronomers were looking the other way at the time. Now, as the shock wave slowly subsides, astronomers are working around the clock to find out exactly what hit Jupiter – and why they didn’t see it coming.
Please do. But meanwhile, Dr. Scientist, please stop demanding more and more of your mathematically honed, rational and flawless control over politics, ethics, economics and the rest of life.
Nothing personal. Love your work, really. But if a measure of humility from the “rocket scientists” is in any way one of the results of this cataclysmic impact, then, why, we’ll know exactly why it happened.
Posted in Narcissus Rex, Nuvo-Techno, Scientificus | 3 Comments »
Small beer
Posted by Ron Coleman on July 31, 2009
I hear a lot of conservatives screaming about the whole sit-down-and-have-beer-thing with the President and the Cop. “How could you?! After what he said about you!”
Easy, how could you.
He’s the President of the United States. Why wouldn’t you want to have the chance to sit down with the President of the United States, regardless of the circumstances? What other chance is there of that happening to Sergeant James Crowley?
I think it’s especially easy to answer here, where at the end of the day you’ve really suffered no harm and arguably have “one over” on him. Crowley has nothing to lose, except the phony “respect” of the Loud Right.
Posted in Politics and Poker, Style | Leave a Comment »
Season of woe
Posted by Ron Coleman on July 29, 2009
Jewish tradition teaches that on Tisha B’Av (the Ninth day of the month of Av) , five national calamities occurred:
- During the time of Moses, Jews in the desert accepted the slanderous report of the ten spies, and the decree was issued by God forbidding them from entering the Land of Israel. (1312 BCE — traditional Jewish dating)
- The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar. 100,000 Jews were slaughtered and millions more exiled. (586 BCE)
- The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, led by Titus. Traditional sourcest teach that two million Jews died, and another one million were exiled. (70 CE)
- The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian. The city of Betar — the Jews’ last stand against the Romans — was captured and liquidated. Over 100,000 Jews were slaughtered. (135 CE)
- The Temple area and its surroundings were plowed under by the Roman general Terentius Rufus. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a pagan city — renamed Aelia Capitolina — and access was forbidden to Jews.
Other grave misfortunes throughout Jewish history occurred on the Ninth of Av, including:
- The Spanish Inquisition culminated with the expulsion of Jews from Spain on Tisha B’Av in 1492.
- World War One broke out on the eve of Tisha B’Av in 1914 when Germany declared war on Russia. German resentment and the upheaval and instability that resulted set the stage for the Holocaust.
- On the eve of Tisha B’Av 1942, the mass deportation began of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka.
More on the Ninth of Av, which begins tonight. Observant Jews will fast (a complete fast — no food, no water) until nightful Tuesday night. For us, this is the “hardest” day of the year. (Reposted from past years.)
Posted in Faith and Works, Heart and spirit, Orient, Past is prologue | Leave a Comment »
Everything you do is wrong
Posted by Ron Coleman on July 26, 2009
According to John Dvorak, the rise and fall of Microsoft is emblematic of not so much a lack of vision as a lack of blinders:
What’s shocking is that the cash cows, specifically the Windows operating system and the Office suite, have managed to finance all these idiotic efforts for so many years. While Microsoft’s profits and sales were way down this last quarter, it is only a matter of time before losses begin. Read more about the disappointing earnings.
The cash cows are dying of neglect. This company cannot keep its eye on the ball because there are too many shiny objects to distract it.
Posted in Futurama, Nuvo-Techno, Stragety | Leave a Comment »
