Fans of the Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake will be familiar with the "Travel by Extradition" approach used by one of Dortmunder's associates. One must wonder if that was John Mark Karr's aim, especially since he was in Thailand wanted on local charges, where the system of justice and punishment is more severe than the normal state here.
By the way, how come he's known as "John Mark Karr"? I thought only confirmed murderers/assassins/serial killers had three names. ;-)
"[I]f we fail, then the whole world,…all that we have known and cared for…will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that…men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'”
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The 2,996 Project
Thanks to Michelle Malkin for turning me onto this. I have registered Their Finest Hour with The 2,996 Project - a blogosphere effort to provide individual memorials on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 for each and every victim of that day's Islamofascist barbarism.
My honoree is Gregory M. Stajk, a Firefighter with Ladder Company 13, FDNY. He perished at the World Trade Center.
If you are interested, and there are still slots available, please register for this effort. I was blogger 2,536 to register, so I think it's safe to say that all 2,996 will be memorialized, with only 460 left...
My honoree is Gregory M. Stajk, a Firefighter with Ladder Company 13, FDNY. He perished at the World Trade Center.
If you are interested, and there are still slots available, please register for this effort. I was blogger 2,536 to register, so I think it's safe to say that all 2,996 will be memorialized, with only 460 left...
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Sweep is Complete!
So ends the Boston Massacre 2006:
Last night 8-5
Today 2-1
GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!
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Saturday, August 19, 2006
The Boston Massacre, 2006
Yankees win, Yankees win, ttttthhhhheeee YANKEES WIN!
12-4 & 14-11 yesterday, 13-5 today. Three down, two to go. Considering how the Yankees have been able to work over the Boston bullpen, I wouldn't bet against the five game sweep.
One good item from the game was there was a Peter Gammons sighting - glad to hear he's well on the mend.
12-4 & 14-11 yesterday, 13-5 today. Three down, two to go. Considering how the Yankees have been able to work over the Boston bullpen, I wouldn't bet against the five game sweep.
One good item from the game was there was a Peter Gammons sighting - glad to hear he's well on the mend.
Friday, August 18, 2006
When Churchill is used to make the argument...
...I must link! Scott Johnston over at Power Line uses Winston Churchill in drawing the parallels between the recent Israeli/Hezbollah "cease fire" and Munich 1938 in this posting.
Glad it isn't my tax dollars paying for this.
Matt Drudge links to this story from the UK (warning: non-work friendly or kid-safe image on the page) about a woman sitting naked with a dead pig for four hours and calling it "art", courtesy of the taxpayers. I think I'll go home tonight, dump all my garbage on the front lawn, sit in the middle of it (sorry, no nudity), call it "performance art" and then see if I can get a grant to fund it.
Way back in the day when I applied to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a grant for my historical research into steel industry technological innovations, I think I got rejected before the ink was dry on my application. Perhaps I'd have had a better chance at approval if my application wanted to research something like "lack of steel industry innovation leading to increased prostitution and adult businesses in steel towns, including pictures thereof". Yeah, that would've been a shoo-in for a grant.
Call me one of those heartless conservatives if you want, but the whackos who want to view junk like this should pay for it directly instead of relying on the state (whichever or wherever) to sponsor their depravity.
Way back in the day when I applied to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a grant for my historical research into steel industry technological innovations, I think I got rejected before the ink was dry on my application. Perhaps I'd have had a better chance at approval if my application wanted to research something like "lack of steel industry innovation leading to increased prostitution and adult businesses in steel towns, including pictures thereof". Yeah, that would've been a shoo-in for a grant.
Call me one of those heartless conservatives if you want, but the whackos who want to view junk like this should pay for it directly instead of relying on the state (whichever or wherever) to sponsor their depravity.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Testing the Soft Underbelly?
This news item from CNN about an airport in West Virginia being closed because two bottles of liquid in a Pakstani woman's carry on bag tested positive for explosives shouldn't be a surprise - assuming that the contents are in fact dangerous. Remember, at least some of the 9/11 terrorists started their day of infamy in small regional airports where security screening is assumed to be less strict. Another less-dry run? Perhaps the suspect is a mule, and was given the stuff by someone else with nefarious purposes.
Common sense says that if a terrorist or terrorists are going to try and pull their crap, they're not going to try to get through security at JFK - they'll use a smaller airport and connect. Once you're on a flight and through security, you're pretty much free and clear.
Frankly, I'm surprised that the TSA found it. In my post-9/11 air travels, I've found the TSA screeners less than a confidence-building presence.
Common sense says that if a terrorist or terrorists are going to try and pull their crap, they're not going to try to get through security at JFK - they'll use a smaller airport and connect. Once you're on a flight and through security, you're pretty much free and clear.
Frankly, I'm surprised that the TSA found it. In my post-9/11 air travels, I've found the TSA screeners less than a confidence-building presence.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The New Yankee Stadium
Ground has been broken for the new home of my beloved New York Yankees. For the longest time, I was completely opposed to the Bronx Bombers ever leaving "the House that Ruth Built." Once I had been to several of the newer ballparks, including what many say the finest of the new, PNC Park, I started coming around to reality. Given the artist's impressions of what the new park will look like, all I can say is "PLAY BALL!"
I'll never forget the current Yankee Stadium. From the first game I went to (don't remember much, except Thurman Munson hit two home runs), to Mattingly and Winfield, to the greatest standing ovations for Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio on Old Timers' Days, it's been the place for baseball in my mind.
Here's to what could someday be known as "the House that Jeter, A-Rod, and Rivera Built". See you at the ballpark in 2009!
I'll never forget the current Yankee Stadium. From the first game I went to (don't remember much, except Thurman Munson hit two home runs), to Mattingly and Winfield, to the greatest standing ovations for Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio on Old Timers' Days, it's been the place for baseball in my mind.
Here's to what could someday be known as "the House that Jeter, A-Rod, and Rivera Built". See you at the ballpark in 2009!
I've finally blocked out all the coverage of Natalee Holloway from my mind and then...
...I see this story linked by Matt Drudge about there being a suspect in custody in the JonBenet Ramsey case. "All hands, prepare to repel boarders!", because we're about to be inundated with 24x7 coverage of this. Don't get me wrong, if this suspect is indeed guilty, I'm pleased to see a murderer brought to justice. But why was this a national news story in the first place?
So, if you're of my mind, stay away from the TV news. I might just tune into Fox News at 10:00 tonight however, just to see if Greta van Susteren has already made it to Colorado. The other TV legal vulture, Nancy Grace, won't be far behind...
So, if you're of my mind, stay away from the TV news. I might just tune into Fox News at 10:00 tonight however, just to see if Greta van Susteren has already made it to Colorado. The other TV legal vulture, Nancy Grace, won't be far behind...
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Space Exploration (Does CNN read this?)
My NASA rant yesterday appears to have been ahead of the curve, given this article today on CNN. Looks like at least some of the engineers building "Apollo 2" are paying attention to the past.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Space History & Future: does this come as a surprise?
This story from Reuters (a.k.a al-Reuters) pretty much sums up what went wrong with our Nation's space program - NASA actually can't find their original data materials (tapes, etc.) from the first moon landing. I mean, why would one want to hang on to them anyway? Seriously, it was only the most important human achievement of the 20th Century, if not ever.
Of course, this probably shouldn't be a surprise given NASA's "back to the future" program to replace the Space Shuttle looks a lot like the Apollo spacecraft (which, IMO we should still be flying the third or fourth generation of already, much in the same way the Russians still fly Soyuz derivatives) - one might think that somebody at NASA with tons invested in Space Shuttle development would make us want to think: "Hey, we've never done it this way before." I wonder if it's possible to have "Not Invented Here" syndrome in an organization that did invent it here, 40 YEARS AGO.
Fortunately, and as the article notes, NASA does have plenty from the Apollo era, and much of it can be accessed from the "history" section of their Human Spaceflight site. I find the lunar surface journals particularly interesting, and they include many, many multimedia clips from the glory days of men on the moon. My particular favorite is on the Apollo 11 site here - scroll down in the transcript and listen to the audio clip that follows the entry at 102:36:46. The recording has the air-to-ground loop on one channel and the mission control loop on the other. It brings chills to my spine, and a whole lot of National pride, to hear flight director Gene "Failure is not an Option" Kranz poll the controllers for a go/no-go on the landing, followed by CAPCOM astronaut Charlie Duke radio up at 102:42:08, "Eagle, Houston. You're GO for landing."
Speaking of which, if you've never seen the HBO mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon", do so. It in its entirety should be required viewing in every high school U.S. history class.
"We choose to go to the moon...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."
--President John F. Kennedy, 9/12/1962, Rice University, Houston,
Texas
I hope we make it back there, before the Chicomms get there in the first place.
Of course, this probably shouldn't be a surprise given NASA's "back to the future" program to replace the Space Shuttle looks a lot like the Apollo spacecraft (which, IMO we should still be flying the third or fourth generation of already, much in the same way the Russians still fly Soyuz derivatives) - one might think that somebody at NASA with tons invested in Space Shuttle development would make us want to think: "Hey, we've never done it this way before." I wonder if it's possible to have "Not Invented Here" syndrome in an organization that did invent it here, 40 YEARS AGO.
Fortunately, and as the article notes, NASA does have plenty from the Apollo era, and much of it can be accessed from the "history" section of their Human Spaceflight site. I find the lunar surface journals particularly interesting, and they include many, many multimedia clips from the glory days of men on the moon. My particular favorite is on the Apollo 11 site here - scroll down in the transcript and listen to the audio clip that follows the entry at 102:36:46. The recording has the air-to-ground loop on one channel and the mission control loop on the other. It brings chills to my spine, and a whole lot of National pride, to hear flight director Gene "Failure is not an Option" Kranz poll the controllers for a go/no-go on the landing, followed by CAPCOM astronaut Charlie Duke radio up at 102:42:08, "Eagle, Houston. You're GO for landing."
Speaking of which, if you've never seen the HBO mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon", do so. It in its entirety should be required viewing in every high school U.S. history class.
"We choose to go to the moon...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."
--President John F. Kennedy, 9/12/1962, Rice University, Houston,
Texas
I hope we make it back there, before the Chicomms get there in the first place.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
I hate NetWare!
Yes, I'm in my demo lab setting up EVA storage on NetWare - what a PITA! Even HP-UX is easier. If I didn't think so before, one of my professional goals in life is to eradicate Novell. What a load of junk.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
AdSense
Just added AdSense. Since I'm planning on posting on a wide range of topics, I can't wait to see what ads get placed...
Friday, August 11, 2006
Welcome!
Well, I'm finally going to start blogging. Given the events of 8/10, and what could have been, let us all reflect back to the inspiration for my blog's title, Winston Churchill, and read the words of "You Do Your Worst - and We Will Do Our Best"