Word of the Day

un·hinged
adj : affected with madness or insanity;[syn: brainsick, crazy, demented, distracted, disturbed, mad, sick, unbalanced]

I just finished reading Michelle Malkin's "historical" treatise, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild . I once heard someone say something to the effect that "The last thing liberals want you to do is quote them." Well, I suspect they're pretty unhappy with Michelle about now since she spent around 170 pages doing just that -- including celebs, pols, radio/TV personalities, columnists and unknown commentors on blog sites. Not a flattering look at folks who fashion themselves to be models of tolerance and civility.

There are enough wild accusations, dire predictions, and presidential assassination-cravings to keep even the most-discriminating reader "entertained". It's one of those volumes that can take you from gut-splitting laughter one moment to outright disgust the next.

This is definitely one to keep in the old home library.

Welcome to WWI

That's not a typo, folks. As I wrote to the estimable Victor Davis Hanson last November:

Professor, I've enjoyed your essays immensely since learning of you shortly after 9/11. Your latest, "The Real Global Virus" finally prompted me to send a big "Thank you!" It probably should be required reading in every HS/university classroom and printed in ample-sized type in every English-print newspaper on the globe (all with your permission, of course!). Your observation that "Most Americans think that our present conflict is not comparable with World War II, in either its nature or magnitude" reminded me of a conclusion I've reached over the past several years: that we are currently engaged in the REAL World War I. We do refer to it as the GWOT, do we not? ["G" for Global]
You're the historian here, but the truly global presence of Islamist barbarians seems to support my thesis when contrasted with the fascist activities of 85-90 years ago. No, I don't realistically expect all the books, essays or memorials about/to those years to be revised -- but really believe my point is valid nonetheless.

OK, so I never got a reply -- but I bring this up today because I just read the following latest post on the great PowerLineBlog this morning:

Details are sketchy, but at least eight people have been arrested in the Toronto area and will be charged with plotting to set off explosives at as-yet-unspecified locations in Ontario. Preliminary reports is that those arrested are Muslims suspected of links to al Qaeda.
UPDATE: Canadian authorities say that 12 male adults and five "youths" have been taken into custody, and three tons of ammonium nitrate, triple the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing, have been seized.

I rest my case.

Are YOU Safe?

Kim has great advice in her column today titled "Destroy Data on a Stolen Laptop" -- which includes the recommendation and instructions for encrypting important/sensitive data on the machine. Methinks anyone with a laptop who has done nothing to "secure" it needs to read the column.

This. Must. Stop.

FROM NewsMax.com:

In an outrageous remark that has at least one Republican calling for his resignation, New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi said Thursday that a fellow New York Democrat would "put a bullet between the president's eyes if he could get away with it."
Introducing Sen. Charles Schumer at commencement exercises at New York City's Queens College, Hevesi began:
"The man who -- how do I phrase this diplomatically -- who will put a bullet between the president's eyes if he could get away with it. The toughest senator, the best representative. A great, great member of the Congress of the United States."

Hours later, Hevesi was forced to issue an apology.
"I apologize to the president of the United States" and to the fellow state politician, Sen. Charles Schumer, he said, in quotes picked up by the Associated Press.
"I am not a person of violence. I am apologizing as abjectly as I can. There is no excuse for it. It was beyond dumb."
"I do speak extemporaneously," Hevesi tried to explain. "And I've never said anything like this."
Though Schumer spokeswoman Risa Heller said the senator was satisfied with Hevesi's apology, there's no indication that he objected to the remarks at the time.
The incident prompted at least one Republican to call on Hevesi to resign his office.
"Threats against the president are no joke, and this incident raises real concerns about Alan Hevesi's fitness to hold public office," GOP Comptroller nominee J. Christopher Callaghan complained.

It sounded good at the moment, didn't it, IDIOT? Particularly to those little liberals in the caps and gounds who just completed 4 years of that special indoctrination. I've pretty much had my belly full of these moonbats. If he knows the mind of the Chuckmeister so well, perhaps the latter should be hauled-in by the FBI for some all-night interrogation.

Collective Ideology 101

The ever-vigilant Betsy comes through again with a post today on "Seattle Public Schools and Racism". It's so good, I'll not even post any quotes here, but just suggest you go read it. She covers the "bases" quite well.

The Cool Factor

Occasionally even the NYT provides helpful info. An excerpt:

The more pills you take, the more you need to know about them when you're gadding about. Is it time to take this pill now? Will the dish I'm about to eat cause a bad interaction? If I've missed a pill, should I take one now, double up next time or simply skip it? The Rx Master ($30 at excaliburelectronics.com and other online stores) will tell you all that and more.

It even has a database of drug interactions and side effects. It holds information and alerts for two people. Sounds pretty cool to me. And, NO, I have no association with or interest in Excalibur.

Our Friend, CO2

I just stumbled across a WaPo article from last Sunday regarding the frustrations of Bill Gray -- often called the World's Most Famous Hurricane Expert -- who works in the atmospheric science department of Colorado State University. "I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people," he recently remarked. The subject? Global warming.

He's a scientist who believes in observations and direct measurements. No computer models for Bill. He maintains that within the next eight years the world will begin to cool again -- a similar prediction to that made by a team of Japanese scientists referenced in a link I posted on May 21. Of course, those researchers used modeling methods that old Bill abhors.

Anyway, the article continues-on to relate Gray's ongoing challenge to be heard -- or, in his words, "My feeling is some of us older guys who've been around have not been asked about this. It's sort of a baby boomer, yuppie thing." You nailed that one, Bill.

And it proceeds to enlighten us as to the myriad anecdotal evidence that flies in the face of the GW scare-mongers. Then some discussion of the value of carbon dioxide -- "Our Friend, CO2".

All-in-all, a good read.

Verdict Sans Trial

Betsy has a great post today on the alleged Marine massacre in Iraq, including the "very thorough investigation that has impressed the residents of Haditha", which is a link to a Time magazine article.

A Personal Anecdote

This morning, attorney Scott Johnson posted an interesting email that his PowerLine blog received from attorney Kathleen Carroll in response to a previous PowerLine post. It begins:

I have lived in Gettysburg for 8 years and run on the battlefield very often. As a Civil War reenactor, I know the story of the 1st Minnesota well and I think of those valiant soldiers every time I pass the 1st Minnesota monument, giving proof to the saying "gone but not forgotten."....I was honored to be part of a small "host group" as our town welcomed more than a dozen wounded veterans from Walter Reed Hospital.

She continues to relate that hosting experience.

This reminded me of my own Civil War "experience" three weeks ago while in Ohio for a funeral. The last night in Ohio I slept in the official guest room at cousin Barb's house. Since her hubby is an avid CW reenactor and collector, Barb has that room decorated with guns, photos, etc from that horrid time in our nation's history. I swear I saw the ghost of William Tecumseh Sherman (an Ohio native) that night. Any readers from Georgia are requested to not take offense at the mention of the name

Today's 'Net Trivia

If you've ever clicked on the Comments link at the bottom of each post --and I wish more folks would -- you'll see a series of goofy-looking letters at the bottom of the window that pops-up. It's called a CAPTCHA -- an acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart. Computer experts at Carnegie Mellon University created the expression in 2000 to describe codes they created to help Yahoo thwart spam. "Turing" is Alan Turing, a mathematician noted for his codebreaking work during World War II -- later as a pioneer in artificial intelligence (AI). They are quite effective against automated malicious attackers -- but not always. So a growing number of sites offer audio captchas.

WHAT Media Bias?

The head honcho at the nation's favorite fish wrap "newspaper of record" proudly preached his gospel last weekend.

In their 2,206th CyberAlert, Media Research Center reports:

C-SPAN on Saturday night (May 27) aired the Sunday, May 21 commencement remarks, by New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., at the State University of New York at New Paltz where he was honored with a Doctorate of Humane Letters.
Sulzberger delivered a left wing rant in which he presumed liberal policy goals are more noble than conservative ones as he offered an “apology” for the nation his generation has left to the next generation ...

I’ll start with an apology.
When I graduated from college in 1974, my fellow students and I had just ended the war in Vietnam and ousted President Nixon. Okay, okay, that’s not quite true. I mean yes, the war did end and yes, President Nixon did resign in disgrace but maybe there were larger forces at play.
Either way, we entered the real world committed to making it a better, safer, cleaner, more equal place. We were determined not to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors. We had seen the horrors and futility of war and smelled the stench of corruption in government. Our children, we vowed, would never know that.
So, well, sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You weren’t supposed to be graduating into an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land.
You weren’t supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for fundamental human rights, whether it’s the rights of immigrants to start a new life; or the rights of gays to marry; or the rights of women to choose.
You weren’t supposed to be graduating into a world where oil still drove policy and environmentalists have to fight relentlessly for every gain.
You weren’t. But you are. And for that I’m sorry.

By now, some readers may be thinking, "Oh, he was just speaking for himself -- not as publisher of the NYT."

Don't delude yourself, friends.

Pooped AND Drenched

Well, I called a local dirt hauler around 9:00 AM and 3 cu. yds. were delivered around 1:30. My new friend Brian saved me a lot of shoveling by dumping 98% of it into the new planters. Still a real chore spreading it out in the 89F heat though. Then dug-up and loosened two areas by the garage for the boss -- and disposed of most of the ever-present chunks of clay in a void on the pond bank (likely an old muskrat den that caved-in). That cold shower sure felt great. Still intend to post a couple more photos.

Inside the Plane, They Couldn't Hear the Screams

A friend sent me an email this morning that briefly told the story of the widow of Marine 2nd Lt. James Cathey meeting his body at the Reno airport in August 2005 -- she, escorted by Maj. Steve Beck, and the fallen hero escorted by Sgt. Gavin Conley. So I went to the Rocky Mountain News site and found the entire 12-webpage story, written by Jim Sheeler and published on November 9, 2005. There's also an audio slide show. Grab the tissue box.

Brass Monkey Refused

At least 1,345 people have climbed Mt Everest since 1953 -- but recently a Nepali climbing guide, Lakpa Tharke, supposedly stood naked for three minutes on the 29,035-foot summit. Temps at the peak were likely around -22° C (-8° F) with wind ranging between 50 mph and 175 mph. An official of Tharke's employer said, “We are planning to file his extraordinary feat for the Guinness Book of World Records.” The head of Nepal’s top mountaineering organization said he could not confirm that the incident really took place.

Batch RENAME Trick

You can RENAME multiple files in a folder! Windows XP makes it easy. Select all of your files you wish to rename. With their names highlighted, click F2. Rename the first file. When you press ENTER, the first file will have that name. The rest will have the same name, followed by (1), (2), (3), etc. Thanks for this useful tip, Kim -- I used it already!

By the way, if you realize you've made a mistake you can easily revert to the original names if you haven't pressed ENTER yet. Just press/hold CTRL key then "Z". Believe me, that's a frequently used trick around here.

REALLY Cheap Travel

There are at least four sites that scrounge-around for rate/fare mistakes on hotel/airline sites (or the various search sites):

http://airfarewatchdog.com/
http://farealert.net/
http://flyertalk.com/
http://freetraveling.com/

The hotels or airlines don't always honor the errors, but often do.