Scraping the bottom of the bad guy gene pool

Desert Flier

[...]"No casualties from the VBIED".

We all have this incredulous "what the....?" look on our faces. Turns out, the VBIED driver only managed to blow himself up. His incompetence has an end result of one death....his own. This is a first for me, and I'll take it as a sign that the insurgents are scraping the bottom of the bad guy gene pool at this point.

Is your beer good or bad?

Madfish Willie has some ways to discriminate between the swank and the swill.

Heh, sounds about right

You scored as Rogue, Rogues share little in common with each other. Some are stealthy thieves. Others are silver-tongued tricksters. Still others are scouts, infiltrators, spies, diplomats, or thugs. What they share is versatility, adaptability, and resourcefulness. In general rogues are skill at getting what others don't want them to get; entrance in to a locked treasure vault, safe passage past a deadly trap, secret battle plans, a guards trust, or some random person's pocket money. Rogue 90% Sorcerer 80% Monk 70% Fighter 60% Barbarian 60% Paladin 50% Ranger 50% Cleric 50% Wizard 40% Bard 40% Druid 40% Which D&D Class Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

Prohibited for export - WMD (Wardrobes of Mass Destruction)

The DoD is apparently disposing of some surplus WMD at Mainz-Kastel Germany. Among the list of dangerous items for sale are such scary things as book cases, desk chairs, folding tables, and yes...the infamous WMD - wardrobes of mass destruction!

Being that this lot consists of potentially "dual use" technology items like folding tables, there is a lengthy list of countries to which the buyer is prohibited from shipping these WMD's to after purchase. This list includes a long list of sworn enemies of the USA including the well known terrorist hideout and training ground of Haiti.

Far be it for me to suggest that the DoD are ummm...fucking retards here with regards to Haiti. I'm just saying...

I've just written my congressman requesting an official explanation as to why Haiti would be on a list of countries that shipping furniture to is prohibited. If I get an answer, I'm betting it will be quite entertaining.

Those vanishing snows on Kilimanjaro -- not global warming

Apparently, the inconvenient truth about the retreating glaciers on Kilimanjaro is that its not global warming, rather the increase in sun output that has been observed over the past few hundred years.

CO2 Science

[...]In a final study that describes what has actually happened to Kilimanjaro's glaciers, Cullen et al. (2006) report that "all ice bodies on Kilimanjaro have retreated drastically between 1912-2003," but they add that the highest glacial recession rates on Kilimanjaro "occurred in the first part of the 20th century, with the most recent retreat rates (1989-2003) smaller than in any other interval." In addition, they say that no temperature trends over the period 1948-2005 have been observed at the approximate height of the Kilimanjaro glaciers, but that there has been a small decrease in the region's specific humidity over this period.

In terms of why glacier retreat on Kilimanjaro was so dramatic over the 20th century, the six researchers note that for the mountain's plateau glaciers, there is no alternative for them "other than to continuously retreat once their vertical margins are exposed to solar radiation," which appears to have happened sometime in the latter part of the 19th century. They also say, in this regard, that the "vertical wall retreat that governs the retreat of plateau glaciers is irreversible, and changes in 20th century climate have not altered their continuous demise." Consequently, the 20th-century retreat of Kilimanjaro's plateau glaciers is a long-term response to what we could call "relict climate change" that likely occurred in the late 19th century[...]

Another way to get killed -- wearable TV's

As if cell phones weren't distracting enough, now we have wearable TV's so people can have half their vision obstructed too. The device costs about $800, so of course oblivions wearing one will become prime targets for snatchers as well as more prone to walking in front of buses, driving into bridge abutments, lurching down elevator shafts, etc.

Reuters (vid at this link too)

Japanese commuters can now stay tuned on crowded trains, with what's called the world's smallest wearable TV.

"Teleglass T3-F" is attached to glasses like a jeweler's eyepiece, with a remote control arm extending a mini-screen.

Comet wiped out northern hemisphere 13K years ago

Vague stories of apocalyptic events, fire and brimstone, great floods, etc. These are common long distant past historical themes running through many physically seperated cultures.

Traditionally they've been chalked up as legends, fanciful stories, or gross exaggerations...well maybe they all had a basis in actual events.

[...]Stone Age cultures were destroyed and populations of mammoths and other large land animals were wiped out. The blast also caused a major bout of climatic cooling that lasted 1000 years and seriously disrupted the development of the early human civilizations emerging in Europe and Asia.

"This comet set off a shock wave that changed Earth profoundly," said Arizona geophysicist Allen West.

"It was about 2km-3km in diameter and broke up just before impact, setting off a series of explosions, each the equivalent of an atomic bomb blast.

"The result would have been hell on Earth. Most of the Northern Hemisphere would have been left on fire."[...]

UPDATE: Some background on the mass die off 13K years ago -- as far back as 03' this Science Daily article suggested it was a major climate change event that caused the die offs.

First the bees, now the rhinos

Of course I blame global warming for the disappearance of the Nepalese rhinos.

[...]Officials said dozens of rhinos appeared to have gone missing in recent years

Amazing F-15 footage

Israeli pilot lands an F-15 that missing a wing.

H/T Grouchy

Chinese ship 3 tons of poisonous puffer fish into US

Not for aquariums, for people to eat, mislabeled as Monkfish. Once is happenstance, twice coincidence, the third time will have to be considered enemy action...

Chicago Tribune

[...]The company shipped 282 boxes, with 22 pounds of frozen fish in each box.

The boxes were labeled, "Monk fish, gutted and head off, Product of China," the company said. The product was sold to restaurants and stores.

Pufferfish, also known as fugu, is a delicacy in Japan. Chefs must be licensed and usually undergo at least two years of training on how to safely remove the toxic parts of the fish.

The FDA describes tetrodotoxin as "one of the most violent intoxications from marine species." Symptoms begin as a numbness of the lips and tongue that can progress to paralysis[...]

Just saying...

Thanks to ZombieTime for the raw material

But I was told they fly kites in Iran, how can this be?

If you're a queer Iranian and want some sanctuary, your only hope is to take a Mexican vacation and jump the border -- THEN the politicians in the US will be glad to sign you up.

Amnesty International

Amnesty International has called on its members worldwide to appeal to Iranian authorities on behalf of 17 men who are reportedly being held for "homosexual conduct." The men were severely beaten when they were dragged from a private party by police, and may have been tortured in prison, according to reports. The offense of "homosexual conduct" is punishable by death or flogging in Iran[...]

Ummm, about those vanishing honey bees

We know that bees (and other things) apparently respond to the earth's magnetic field as part of their navigation mechanisms. Pretty cool eh?

Honey bees orient to the earth's magnetic field. This ability may be associated with a region of transversely oriented magnetic material in the front of the abdomen. The magnetic moment apparently develops in the pupal state and persists in the adults.

Now we also notice that very recently the earth's magnetic poles have decided to go moving around in fairly radical way.

After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth's North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century[...]

Radically shifting magnetic fields, lost honey bees? I suppose I'm a retard to think there might be a connection here that makes more sense than blaming it on global warming...

...but then again global warming is the cause of everything, so I'm going to have to go with the smart money and blame these radical movements of the north pole on it too.

Damn Bush -- that sellout SOB is giving the fucking north pole to the Russians!

Gallium may have anti-biotic properties

Why this didn't get a bit more high profile coverage by the MSM is a mystery.

MedPageToday

The metal gallium -- approved as a drug by the FDA to treat symptomatic cancer-related hypercalcemia -- may also be useful as an anti-microbial, according to researchers here.

The metal appears to act as a "Trojan horse" to bacteria, taking the place of iron that the microbes need to grow and replicate, said Pradeep K. Singh, M.D., of the University of Washington.

In mice, doses of the metal administered nasally were able to prevent death from a lethal dose of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the researchers reported online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, in advance of the April print issue[...]

War porn Friday - battleships really are dead now

There has been much consternation within the ground pounder ranks, and dinosaur surface warfare types, about the demise of the traditional battle ship's 16" guns. They were very good at what they did -- accurate supporting fire (although not so much on the WWII style surface engagement scenario anymore). The ability to hit something 20 miles away, in a matter of seconds, without putting a pilot at risk, or using a very expensive Tomahawk was very very attractive. It was a capability that has been lost when the battleships were mothballed/scrapped until now...

Enter the Raytheon ERGM.(PDF) Its fires from a common 5" naval gun (which we have LOTS of), but has a range of 40+ miles due to a rocket boost, and can hit on the first shot because its GPS guided.

The democrat's military mole surfaces

Read through that article posted at ThinkProgress. The mole is exactly who I thought it would wind up being -- Fallon. If Bush has any sense at all, he'll remove this guy ASAP. He'll be doing everything in his power to throw monkey wrenches Petraeus's way.

ThinkProgress

[UPDATE]
You will recall that Fallon was in command in the Pacific when THE CHINESE SUBMARINE INCIDENT occurred, and is the architect/advocate of a harebrained scheme of "military cooperation" with the PRC (in which the PRC never reciprocated after we showed them all of our family jewels)

...The incident is a setback for the aggressive U.S.-China military exchange program being promoted by Adm. Fallon, who has made several visits to China in recent months in an attempt to develop closer ties.

However, critics of the program in the Pentagon say China has not reciprocated and continues to deny U.S. military visitors access to key facilities, including a Beijing command center...

Teen paints Queen's portrait using Vegemite

I presume it works well as caulking and does yeoman duty for concrete repair as well.

New Zealand Herald

A Queensland teenager has painted a portrait of the Queen in Vegemite[...]Ms Chard has also painted a Mona Lisa and a self-portrait in Vegemite. Her mother Angela said the portrait was unusual but well executed. "I usually see Stef's paintings in oil, so I was very surprised when I saw a Vegemite painting of the Queen," Mrs Chard said. "It's turned out really well, it's fantastic."[...]

Robert Wexler(D-FL) on illegals and the border

Wexler is generally one of the raving leftists in congress. However, he seems to be breaking ranks with the rest of the democrats on illegals and the border taking a very tough stance. I just received this email response from him (bolded sections were bolded in Wexler's response):

Thank you for contacting my office regarding your thoughts on immigration. I agree with you that immigration is one of the most critical problems Congress must address.

It is imperative that we actually learn from past policies and implement changes that make lasting, comprehensive changes instead of providing toothless sound bites that leave us with essentially the same broken system we have now. What we have now hurts everyone . The number of illegal immigrants hurts American workers who have to compete against artificially lower wages. It hurts the taxpayers who have to foot the bill for not only the cost of undocumented people using government services but also high-priced border security efforts that have not met their predicted goals. And, it is not fair for the many immigrants who try to enter our country legally.

First and foremost, Congress must repair our broken borders . I think the most important step Congress can take to reform immigration policy is to redouble our existing immigration and border security system. In the previous few years, Congress has enacted several pieces of legislation that dealt with enhancing immigration-related border security. While Congressional funding for border security has sharply increased over the past few years, this funding is not nearly adequate. Second, we must enforce the workplace laws that already exist to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants . Hiring illegal immigrants drives wages down for American workers and often puts those illegal workers in abusive working conditions. There is no reason that the laws already on the books cannot be used to stop this practice, and I will continue to speak out on this issue. And finally, we must take a responsible look at the serious shortcomings of our present system and make responsible, informed changes so that the legal immigration system operates efficiently.

Thank you again for taking the time to write. Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions you may have or anytime I may be of assistance to you. I hope you will find my website (www.wexler.house.gov) a valuable resource in keeping up with events in Washington and South Florida.

With warm regards,

Robert Wexler
Member of Congress

The palestinian civil war

Scorpions in a bottle. Let them reduce each other.

Reuters

Hamas gunmen stormed the home of President Mahmoud Abbas's top security chief in Gaza and at least 16 people were killed in fierce factional fighting on Wednesday that pushed Palestinians closer to all-out civil war[...]

Toad flees Portugal in bagged salad

When a country's toads are shipping themselves overseas in salad bags, what kind of a statement is that about the desirability of living in that country? Seriously, toads are notably unfussy about their accommodations. Some shade, some bugs, and they're good to go. It takes something extraordinary to drive them to becoming illegal immigrants reduced to escape attempts via salad bag.. Daily Mail

A mum screamed out loud when she found a rare natterjack toad in her supermarket salad[...]