Big deal. After all, we have a cardboard cut-out for our president.
Find the rabbit!
21 hours ago
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Japan's Cartoon Ambassador
The Japanese government appointed a cartoon ambassador.
Big deal. After all, we have a cardboard cut-out for our president.
Big deal. After all, we have a cardboard cut-out for our president.
Bushie One Note
"When President Bush confidently predicts victory in Iraq and admits no mistakes, admirers see steely resolve and critics see exasperating stubbornness. But the president's full-speed-ahead message articulated in this week's prime-time address also reflects a purposeful strategy based on extensive study of public opinion about how to maintain support for a costly and problem-plagued military mission."
You might think that is coverage of a recent speech by Bush. You would be wrong. As Dan Froomkin noted yesterday, Bush and several other officials in his Administration have said that things are turning around and "at a turning point" several times already.
Bush is, at his core, a cheerleader. His mindset is to watch other people do things and proclaim "what a good job those guys are doing, go team!" So even if his team is getting shellacked, he's going to be down there, shaking his ass and waving his pom-poms. (I am sorry for if that brought to mind a rather unfortunate mental picture. Go have a drink.)
But there is a fine line between "cheerleading" and "lying through your teeth." Bush is not our National Cheerleader. He is supposed to be the President and, in that regard, he is doing a bang-up job if you happen to have a net worth in the 8-figure range. (Of course, if some of that money was invested in Bear Stearns last week, you might disagree. You might also disagree if your investment people tell you that you have a significant position in mortgage-backed securities based on properties in Nevada, Florida, California and Ohio.)
Bush is trying to reassure the country that he has a handle on the economy. That's pretty hard to do when he talks about the Treasury Secretary "working over the weekend" (like he was cramming for a test) or when he refers to the King of Saudi Arabia as "the King of Saudi."
So now he says that his "stragerdy" is working in Iraq. Is anybody who is not imbibing the Kool-Aid reassured by that?
Isn't it clear, by now, that we would have been better off if we had elected this girl to be President? Other than the fact that she is too young, she seems to be far more articulate than the Baboon King.
You might think that is coverage of a recent speech by Bush. You would be wrong. As Dan Froomkin noted yesterday, Bush and several other officials in his Administration have said that things are turning around and "at a turning point" several times already.
Bush is, at his core, a cheerleader. His mindset is to watch other people do things and proclaim "what a good job those guys are doing, go team!" So even if his team is getting shellacked, he's going to be down there, shaking his ass and waving his pom-poms. (I am sorry for if that brought to mind a rather unfortunate mental picture. Go have a drink.)
But there is a fine line between "cheerleading" and "lying through your teeth." Bush is not our National Cheerleader. He is supposed to be the President and, in that regard, he is doing a bang-up job if you happen to have a net worth in the 8-figure range. (Of course, if some of that money was invested in Bear Stearns last week, you might disagree. You might also disagree if your investment people tell you that you have a significant position in mortgage-backed securities based on properties in Nevada, Florida, California and Ohio.)
Bush is trying to reassure the country that he has a handle on the economy. That's pretty hard to do when he talks about the Treasury Secretary "working over the weekend" (like he was cramming for a test) or when he refers to the King of Saudi Arabia as "the King of Saudi."
So now he says that his "stragerdy" is working in Iraq. Is anybody who is not imbibing the Kool-Aid reassured by that?
Isn't it clear, by now, that we would have been better off if we had elected this girl to be President? Other than the fact that she is too young, she seems to be far more articulate than the Baboon King.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
An Overview of Aerial Navigation, Part 2
(Part 1)
Flying the mail could be deadly in the late 1920s. Weather reports were sketchy and often hours old. A pilot might be flying along and, as the clouds descended, find himself “scud running.” Scud running is flying just below the base of the clouds, in low visibility and very close to the ground. Even back then, before the days of microwave and cellphone towers and other antennas everywhere, it was a good way to die. If a pilot flew into the clouds for more than a few seconds, without any instruments, he was as good as dead because he would lose control without any form of reference. So the pilots had to stay below the clouds and that meant scud running.
If you have ever driven the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways in Connecticut, you may remember driving through a tunnel as the highway goes through a ridge line that runs from New Haven and north towards Meriden. That ridge line is along the direct air route between New York and Boston. The ridge line doesn’t look terribly high, but in the days of early airmail flying, quite a few pilots were killed when they were scud running and they hit that ridge. But there was one pilot who would fly over the clouds in Connecticut, and his name was Howard Stark.
By the late 1920s, there was one gyroscopically driven instrument, the Turn and Bank Indicator, in use.
Driven by a venturi, which sucked air past a set of vanes, which drove a little gyro, it would indicate if the aircraft was in a coordinated turn, but nobody realized how to use it to get out of a bad situation. Stark’s genius was that he devised a way to do that with that instrument, an altimeter and the airspeed indicator. He called it the “1-2-3 Method,” and this is how it worked:
1. Center the ball with the ailerons, then
2. Center the needle with the rudder, then
3. Control airspeed with the elevators. If you have the proper power set in and if you are going too fast, you will descend and if you are going too slowly, you will climb.
You could fly in clouds, safely, with Stark’s method. For decades to follow, legal instrument flight could be flown with just a Turn and Bank Indicator, an altimeter, an airspeed indicator, a magnetic compass and a watch. Even to this day, pilots training for their instrument rating must learn how to fly "partial panel," with only those tools.
But with only a magnetic compass and a watch, you could only navigate by dead reckoning, which meant that you could be some distance away from where you thought you were. So now that a pilot could control the aircraft, now a method of radio-based navigation was needed.
Stay tuned!
Flying the mail could be deadly in the late 1920s. Weather reports were sketchy and often hours old. A pilot might be flying along and, as the clouds descended, find himself “scud running.” Scud running is flying just below the base of the clouds, in low visibility and very close to the ground. Even back then, before the days of microwave and cellphone towers and other antennas everywhere, it was a good way to die. If a pilot flew into the clouds for more than a few seconds, without any instruments, he was as good as dead because he would lose control without any form of reference. So the pilots had to stay below the clouds and that meant scud running.
If you have ever driven the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways in Connecticut, you may remember driving through a tunnel as the highway goes through a ridge line that runs from New Haven and north towards Meriden. That ridge line is along the direct air route between New York and Boston. The ridge line doesn’t look terribly high, but in the days of early airmail flying, quite a few pilots were killed when they were scud running and they hit that ridge. But there was one pilot who would fly over the clouds in Connecticut, and his name was Howard Stark.
By the late 1920s, there was one gyroscopically driven instrument, the Turn and Bank Indicator, in use.
Driven by a venturi, which sucked air past a set of vanes, which drove a little gyro, it would indicate if the aircraft was in a coordinated turn, but nobody realized how to use it to get out of a bad situation. Stark’s genius was that he devised a way to do that with that instrument, an altimeter and the airspeed indicator. He called it the “1-2-3 Method,” and this is how it worked:
1. Center the ball with the ailerons, then
2. Center the needle with the rudder, then
3. Control airspeed with the elevators. If you have the proper power set in and if you are going too fast, you will descend and if you are going too slowly, you will climb.
You could fly in clouds, safely, with Stark’s method. For decades to follow, legal instrument flight could be flown with just a Turn and Bank Indicator, an altimeter, an airspeed indicator, a magnetic compass and a watch. Even to this day, pilots training for their instrument rating must learn how to fly "partial panel," with only those tools.
But with only a magnetic compass and a watch, you could only navigate by dead reckoning, which meant that you could be some distance away from where you thought you were. So now that a pilot could control the aircraft, now a method of radio-based navigation was needed.
Stay tuned!
Sulking Cats
Gracie was not happy because I washed her ass, so she was sulking in the upper unit.
George saw me preparing the place where I clip his claws, so he went into the lower level unit to sulk.
Now they are both asleep in their boxes.
George saw me preparing the place where I clip his claws, so he went into the lower level unit to sulk.
Now they are both asleep in their boxes.
No "Blogswarm" Here
There is a "blogswarm" against the Iraq War today. I am not playing.
First off, it should be clear to anyone with a pulse and an IQ above the freezing point of water that this Administration will carry on with its war regardless of how many people oppose the war. 100 million people could march on Washington to oppose the war and Chimpy would merely flee to his livestock-less hobby ranch. He's not going to change his mind.
Second, the Democrats are unable, unwilling or wholly gutless in that they will not do what Congress can do: Refuse to pay for the war.
Third, I am certain, without looking at any of the news websites, that Der Monkey Fuhrer is speaking somewhere, touting his "successes". Let me remind you that every fucking thing that the Bush Administration has said about the war to date has been a lie.
No hearts and flowers. We are not viewed as liberators. The "pulling down of Saddam's statute" was not a spontaneous act of the Iraqi people. There was no pre-war coordination with al Qaeda. There were no WMDs. Iraq is not a "model democracy" and is instead tripping down the road to becoming another theocratic state like Iran or Saudi Arabia. Liberty has not "flourished." The oil resources of Iraq have not paid for the war. The insurgency is not in its "last throes," nor is it populated by a bunch of "dead-enders." The postwar looting was not "just irrational exuberance." Killing Saddam's kids or executing Saddam or killing al-Zarqawi has not ended the violence. We have "killed the top leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq" many times over. And no, victory is not "just around the corner."
Lies, lies, lies, lies. Every word Bush speaks about the Iraq War is a lie, including the words "and" and "the." Every punctuation mark in the transcripts of his and his co-conspirators' speeches is a lie. Everything is meant to throw sand in your eyes and blind you to the truths of how badly Bush has fucked up this war, how many crimes he has committed, and how low he has brought the reputation of the United States in the world as a direct result of his feckless presidency.
If you needed me to point any of this out, if any of what I have just written is news to you, you clearly have not been paying any attention to the course of the war.
And let us not forget, while Chimpy and his neo-con thugs have been making a soup sandwich out of Iraq, Afghanistan keeps sliding from bad to worse.
It is a good thing that we are still a democracy, for we, the American people, can effect a change in the conduct of the war. And we can do it on November 4th. But only if enough of us care to. We need to get rid of enough of the slavish bootlickers in Congress so that Congress can do what we sent them there for: Protect the interests of the American people, not just the hides of George Bush and his enablers. We need to elect people to Congress who will restore respect for the rule of law and respect for the Constitution as cornerstones of governance. We need to elect people who regard the Bill of Rights as the law of the land, not as only a bunch of worthless words on an old sheet of parchment.
That's your job. Doing is what matters now. Blogging matters not. Protesting matters not. Running your mouth or your keyboard matters not.
This is the time for action, and "action" means you register to vote, if you are not now registered to vote and then on November 4th, you get your dead ass down to your polling place and vote.
For if you do not vote, no matter what the outcome is, it is your fucking fault.
First off, it should be clear to anyone with a pulse and an IQ above the freezing point of water that this Administration will carry on with its war regardless of how many people oppose the war. 100 million people could march on Washington to oppose the war and Chimpy would merely flee to his livestock-less hobby ranch. He's not going to change his mind.
Second, the Democrats are unable, unwilling or wholly gutless in that they will not do what Congress can do: Refuse to pay for the war.
Third, I am certain, without looking at any of the news websites, that Der Monkey Fuhrer is speaking somewhere, touting his "successes". Let me remind you that every fucking thing that the Bush Administration has said about the war to date has been a lie.
No hearts and flowers. We are not viewed as liberators. The "pulling down of Saddam's statute" was not a spontaneous act of the Iraqi people. There was no pre-war coordination with al Qaeda. There were no WMDs. Iraq is not a "model democracy" and is instead tripping down the road to becoming another theocratic state like Iran or Saudi Arabia. Liberty has not "flourished." The oil resources of Iraq have not paid for the war. The insurgency is not in its "last throes," nor is it populated by a bunch of "dead-enders." The postwar looting was not "just irrational exuberance." Killing Saddam's kids or executing Saddam or killing al-Zarqawi has not ended the violence. We have "killed the top leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq" many times over. And no, victory is not "just around the corner."
Lies, lies, lies, lies. Every word Bush speaks about the Iraq War is a lie, including the words "and" and "the." Every punctuation mark in the transcripts of his and his co-conspirators' speeches is a lie. Everything is meant to throw sand in your eyes and blind you to the truths of how badly Bush has fucked up this war, how many crimes he has committed, and how low he has brought the reputation of the United States in the world as a direct result of his feckless presidency.
If you needed me to point any of this out, if any of what I have just written is news to you, you clearly have not been paying any attention to the course of the war.
And let us not forget, while Chimpy and his neo-con thugs have been making a soup sandwich out of Iraq, Afghanistan keeps sliding from bad to worse.
It is a good thing that we are still a democracy, for we, the American people, can effect a change in the conduct of the war. And we can do it on November 4th. But only if enough of us care to. We need to get rid of enough of the slavish bootlickers in Congress so that Congress can do what we sent them there for: Protect the interests of the American people, not just the hides of George Bush and his enablers. We need to elect people to Congress who will restore respect for the rule of law and respect for the Constitution as cornerstones of governance. We need to elect people who regard the Bill of Rights as the law of the land, not as only a bunch of worthless words on an old sheet of parchment.
That's your job. Doing is what matters now. Blogging matters not. Protesting matters not. Running your mouth or your keyboard matters not.
This is the time for action, and "action" means you register to vote, if you are not now registered to vote and then on November 4th, you get your dead ass down to your polling place and vote.
For if you do not vote, no matter what the outcome is, it is your fucking fault.
5 Long Years
Today, it is five years since the United States invaded Iraq. In May, it will be five years since George Bush earned the name of "Smirky McFlightsuit" with his pompous strutting across the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.
When the insurgency started, folks on the Right said "it took a few years to stabilize Germany and Japan, be patient."
We have been patient. Five years we have been patient. The Bush Administration is like a guy sitting in a casino, tossing the keys to his house on the blackjack table, and betting he can salvage his disaster.
You want more, go read Fixer's post on what this war has wrought. Go read Distributorcap's post on the due diligence that the Bush Administration failed to do.
When the insurgency started, folks on the Right said "it took a few years to stabilize Germany and Japan, be patient."
We have been patient. Five years we have been patient. The Bush Administration is like a guy sitting in a casino, tossing the keys to his house on the blackjack table, and betting he can salvage his disaster.
You want more, go read Fixer's post on what this war has wrought. Go read Distributorcap's post on the due diligence that the Bush Administration failed to do.
Good Intentions
I had every intention of doing a serious blog post, but I have two cats that have been competing for lap time for the last 40 minutes.
There was a commercial on for "Roundup Pump," a weed killer. So, if you were to use that to write "ASSHOLE" on George Bush's lawn, would that show up on Google Earth?
Just asking. Not advocating. Don't do it.
There was a commercial on for "Roundup Pump," a weed killer. So, if you were to use that to write "ASSHOLE" on George Bush's lawn, would that show up on Google Earth?
Just asking. Not advocating. Don't do it.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
A Giant Has Departed
Arthur C. Clarke died today at age 90. Even if you don't care for science fiction, you should honor him as the man who, in 1945, conceived of and published the idea of telecommunications satellites in geosynchonous orbits, the foundation of modern telecommunications.
If you do care for science fiction, then you know why he was a giant.
If you do care for science fiction, then you know why he was a giant.
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