Monday - December 20, 2004

Zen And The Art Of Inner Peace

It has been brought to my attention that a famous philosopher once said, “The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you’ve started.”

I thought about that for aminute or two. Then I acted on the excellent advice. I looked around the house to see all the things I started and hadn’t finished....and before leaving the house this morning I finished off a bottle of red wine, a bottle of white wine, the Bailey’s, Kahlua and Wild Turkey, the Prozac, some valium, some cheesecake and a box of white chocolates.

You have no idea how freakin’ good I feel…

(-- thanks to Don R.)

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/20/2004 at 03:50 PM   
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Santa In The Sky With Diamonds

Koo-koo-ka-choo .... Ringo Starr has been hired by NORAD to track Santa this year. No really.

TORONTO (CP) - As children around the world anxiously await the arrival of Santa Claus later this week, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr will be hard at work beaming out live action shots of the man in red to the Internet.

The musician will be working as an honorary Santa tracker for Norad - the organization responsible for the air defence of North America - for the second year in a row.

“The reason why he said that he wanted to do this is because he’s a personal friend of Santa Claus and he has been ... for many years,” Norad official and Canadian army Maj. Doug Martin said in an interview from Colorado Springs, Colo.

(thanks to Steel)

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/20/2004 at 03:15 PM   
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Not A Dry Eye In The House

In the war on terror in Afghanistan and in Iraq there are thousands of good stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. War always does that to people. Take a look at all the great movies and books that came out of World War II. Why don’t we see those books and movies about today’s heros? Are there no more great heros or stories for them to tell? You already know the answer. The heros are still there, living out their stories. Our troops are still sacrificing, fighting and loving, redefining honor and duty in the current conflict. And yet .... all our media seems to be interested in are (1) abuses at prisons, (2) lack of armor, (3) body counts of American soldiers and (4) why the “insurgents” hate us so much. I have only one thing to say to the MSM: be ashamed, be very ashamed. I have a higher opinion of the maggots on a rotting reporter’s corpse than I have of the media.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, go read this story. Read it all the way through.

MONTCLAIR - With his wife leading the way, a blindfolded Lance Cpl. David Battle made it up the stairs of one of the area’s largest wedding ring stores Friday night.

The 19-year-old soldier, who had chosen his own ring over an injured finger while fighting insurgents in Iraq, was now headed for the surprise of a lifetime - a secret his wife, Devann Battle, had struggled to keep from him all week.

Ironically, the ring he fought so hard to save on the battlefield last month was lost in a medical camp in Fallujah, where doctors worked to stabilize the injured Marine.

..........

During a fierce firefight in Fallujah on Nov. 13, Battle helped save the lives of fellow Marines when he held off enemy fighters that had opened fire on his unit. It left him with a mangled left hand and serious wounds to his legs that required extensive surgery and will take more than a year to heal.

In the absence of a honeymoon—Battle reported for duty two days after their June 12 wedding—the couple was to spend Friday night at the Mission Inn in Riverside. Robbins Bros. donated the room, and Inn management upgraded the pair to the $1,200-a-night Presidential Suite.

Before leaving the store, having settled on an 18-carat gold and platinum ring, David and Devann Battle danced tenderly to “The Wind Beneath My Wings,” as bystanders, many wiping tears from their eyes, stood in silent admiration.

“I loved you before I was born, now, and forever,” Battle told his wife as he handed her a three-tiered, princess-cut diamond pendant the store provided as a gift.

Yeah, I know it sounds kinda hokey but remember you were young once too and probably very much in love with someone. These two youngsters deserve everything good that can happen to them in the rest of their life.

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/20/2004 at 10:42 AM   
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Bogart That Joint

Talk about “Weird Science” .... scientists have determined the reason why Americans are getting so fat. It’s because everyone quit smoking. Do you believe that shit? Here’s the quote of the day ....

The connection between smoking and obesity is not proven, but the statistical correlations are there. From 1980 to 2000 — as body weight was rising — smoking rates fell by 27 percent in the nation as a whole and by 38 percent among middle-aged Americans. (Smoking rates have leveled off, Williamson notes, and there are signs that obesity rates are leveling off, too.)

Scientists probably haven’t figured out yet that folks who smoke large doobies balance out, i.e., the smoke keeps them thin and the munchies keep them eating. It all evens out thataway. So throw out those Marlboros and go ahead and bogart that joint .... and don’t worry, the twinkies will be waiting for you. Unfortunately, everyone else will be fat and only stoners and cig smokers will be thin. Life’s a bitch, ain’t it?

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/20/2004 at 10:16 AM   
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How Can We Ever Trust These Forons?

Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right is doing!!!

As you may know, there was a huge environmental conference going on in Buenos Aires (y’all know what that city’s name translates to, right?  How ironic.  Or fitting.  Or appropriate. Or moronic.  Or quaint.  All depends on your point of view.)

The attendees are having orgasms at having passed the Kyoto accords.  Yet the big elephant in the room is the fact that China is EXEMPT from it.  YEP!  EXEMPT!!  The most populous nation on the planet, consuming shitloads of petroleum, going through HUGE growth rates (double ours!) resulting in more factories, more consumption, more energy needs, etc.  All requiring the use of products that generate large amounts of CO2.  But the world seems more concerned about the US being the biggest polluter because it consumes 25% of the world’s energy.  Nevermind that none of these fucks acknowledges we generate 25% of the world’s production of CO2 because we produce 25% of the world’s goods and services.  Yep, add up the GDP for each country and take a percentage of the overall total.  You’ll see for yourself.)

But that’s not really the point of all this.

Here’s an article from some of those nutbags who claim:

greenhouse gas emissions are destroying the Inuit way of life and therefore must be considered a human rights violation.

Then we have another bunch of fucktards who are:

warning the world about the dire consequences of global warming.

The Wildlife Society weighed in by saying:

The Wildlife Society, has issued a report concluding that “global warming presents a profound threat to wildlife as we know it in this country.”

And according to these granola munching, tree hugging, smelly armpit, Birkenstock wearing, greasy haired nutbags, guess who’s fault it is?

Yep!  Bush!!!!  They had this to say:

“While the Bush administration continues to deny the seriousness of global warming, temperatures continue to rise, and 2004 joins the ten warmest years on record—all occurring since 1990,”

This has supposedly been happening since 1990, right?  Hmmm, that means it happened in 1993, 94, 95, 96, 97, 97, 99, 2000.  I wonder who was President then?  But no one will ever say a bad thing about the Democrats’ St. Bill Blowjob.

Then we have this little snippet of news from The Independent, in England, saying that global warming is now causing the arctic to be brighter during winter.  What used to be solid darkness now has a twilight tinge to it.

They give two explanations:

“The entire horizon is raised like magic, like the hand of God is bringing it up,”

or

Warmer air, from global warming, is overlaying the cold air of the Arctic and the interface between the two creates a kind of “mirror in the sky” which reflects the sun’s rays from further south.

Take your pick.

But all those arguments and stories are made stupid and worthless by this article.

God, you gotta love it!!!!!!  Groups like Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace International, and The Inuit Circumpolar Conference all agree:

the international treaty will have no impact on what they believe to be impending catastrophic global warming.

BWAH HA HA HA!!!!  Talk about cutting all their other arguments off at the knees.

My day has just been made better.

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 07:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Environment •  
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Absurd!!!!

Surely we’ve all heard about people getting felony charges placed against them for murder or homicide or rape or stuff like that.

Now prepare yourselves for a trip to the printed media’s theater of the absurd.

A college student does what college students do--engage in pranks.

Except this student chose his victim to be one that the politically correct in our country just will not tolerate----a hamster.

He dropped it from an eighth floor window with a parachute attached.  It got stuck in a tree.

He’s being charged with a FELONY!!!  For a FUCKING HAMSTER!!!!!

I swear to God, the people that pass these laws must have brains the size of a hamster’s.

FORONS!!!

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 07:02 AM   
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A Leftist Liberal Rants

Bil Moyers retired.

Good...Fucking...Riddance!

The guy is a moonbat.

Don’t beleive me?

Read what he ranted about on his last show. Incredible.  Amazing how someone can be so prominent and yet so stupid.

He compares the Pentagon’s tactci to those in Mein Kampf

He describes talk radio as “a freak show of political pornography”

He attacks Sean Hannity, Sinclair Communication and Clear Channel

The guy is clearly a barking moonbat.

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 06:56 AM   
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Time Mag Does The Right Thing

Time Magazine has named President Bush as their “Man Of The Year.”

I can’t think of a better choice.

Can you?

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 06:53 AM   
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This Is Not Good

When the MSM gets its teeth into this one we will never hear the end of it.

Comments?

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 06:51 AM   
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Dead Sea Scrolls Update

Remember the Dead Sea scrolls at Qumran?  In a nutshell, the story goes that ascetic Essenes lived there and wrote the scrolls.

Now it looks like that theory may be about to be turned upside down.

There are going to be some really pissed off people when this gets published.

The article is long but very interesting if you enjoy this sort of stuff.

Hey, where else but BMEWS can you get stuff that rips a new one into moonbats, excoriates liberals, gives you adventure stories, exposes weird crap for what it is, AND provides you stories about archaeology?

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 06:48 AM   
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An Awesome Trip!!!

Scott’s Adventures

You may remember that occasionally I mention my other web site (link found under my avatar in the right hand bar of this blog) and the bicycle trip I took across the US in 1997.  Well, on that trip, while in Wyoming in the Tetons our group met a cyclist named Scott.  He’d started near D.C. and faced all sorts of travails on his trip cross country.  It was good to have him with the group and we had great discussions.  You can read about our meeting here.

Anyway, a year later we all got together again (for some, for differing lengths of time depending on their schedules) but for me it was a trip from Oregon to Mexico along the Pacific Coast. Scott joined us north of San Francisco.

Well, Scott and Dennis started planning a trip AROUND THE WORLD by bicycle!  Scott finished the trip last month.  It took him 3 years.  They started the day before 9/11.

Scott will try writing a book about his adventures and hopes to find a publisher.  He did write a book about his cross country trip and I read the manuscript.  I thought it was awesome.  So far, no publisher agrees with me. 

Scott sent me a copy of an essay he submitted in a publishing contest.  I thought I’d share it with you.

Before I get to that, here are some links you might enjoy:

Scott’s website for his trip.

A link to his last journal entry.

His journals archive.

My Life Story By Scott Stoll

I left home vowing never to return until I found happiness. This quest led me to ride my bicycle 40,220 km (the circumference of the planet) over 39 months, through 48 countries and 6 continents. Here is the summary of my life story:

I was about to burst with angst; like a lot of Americans, I had everything but was still unhappy. Then —all in one week—I was fired from a career that had become the meaning to my life, my girlfriend left me for lack of love, and my “best friend” abandoned me in a strange city without enough money for rent. I thought, “I never wanted this life, anyway. What happened?” Fortunately, my thoughts spiraled up instead of down: “I only have one life - one chance. If I could do anything—anything in the world—what would I do?”

After several years preparation, including knee and eye surgery, I left my home in San Francisco intending to ride my bicycle around the world. Five days later the terrorist attacked New York City, and I realized that many people would rather see Americans dead than alive. For weeks, I cycled slowly towards Mexico unsure whether to continue, but again I renewed my vow to find happiness or die trying. I had nothing to lose.

As my confidence grew and depression disappeared, I realized that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with me, yet I was still unfulfilled; my quest for happiness turned to a quest to fill that God-shaped hole in my soul. I divorced myself of books and dogma. I felt that whether I was a product of evolution or creation, the answer was ingrained inside myself and written in the stars.

I had many wonderful experiences, but it is the misadventures that forge our character and reveal our soul: In Mexico, I cycled until I fell over from exhaustion. In Costa Rica, I dislocated my wrist and rode for two months until it popped back into place (the local doctors couldn’t fix it). In Ecuador, I ate some bad cheese and contracted acute salmonella intestinitis that ate holes in my bowels. In Argentina, I was stung three times by a scorpion in my bed. In Egypt, I was held hostage in the tombs of Giza. In Israel, I was interrogated for three hours, my luggage x-rayed, and sniffed for bombs and drugs, because I was a suspected terrorist. In India, I was assaulted by an angry mob. In Nepal, I was nearly trampled by an elephant. In Vietnam, some teenagers lost control of their scooter while playing chicken and slammed into me. In Zambia, I met some dangerous poachers. In Zimbabwe, I was thrown in prison for money changing and espionage. Blizzards, floods, heat exhaustion, hypothermia, thugs, thieves—I suffered many things, but the most difficult aspect of my trip was the loneliness and my lack of faith.

The most rewarding experiences were simply things, like dying of thirst in the desert and knowing everything I own was worth one glass of water. I was overwhelmed by the fundamental goodness of people, especially strangers, who would shelter me and feed me their last bowl of soup. And, yes, I found God and happiness along the way. Evidence for God is everywhere. It seemed to me that sometimes God, Himself, as
pedaling my bicycle. I found peace knowing that life is designed to be difficult and mysterious, that questions are more important than the answers, that I will always be able to surprise myself, love more, and grow closer to God.

A couple of pictures

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 06:34 AM   
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   Sunday - December 19, 2004

Allan’s Back

Sorry, but I got called away on an emergency mission for the Justice League. Supergirl (see below) ran into some trouble and I had to help. I’ll explain later ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/19/2004 at 08:06 PM   
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Life With Steel (Part 3)

I worked in a hard rock gold mine. So far away from any other humans that we called kerosine lights and a diverted creek water. A hole in the ground was ... well ... the shitter. Far away.

Just me and another. He owned the claim. We spent a summer in a shaft about 75’ down.

Here’s the drill. Me and him would hand drill (star drills made by my own hand in a hand powered forge) a couple of holes every morning. Using a single jack. That’d be a one handed sledge for the unknowing. Bang a few times and pull the drill out of the hole and use a ‘spoon’ to clean the hole out. Tedious.  Had to make the spoons myself too. Deeper the hole, longer the spoon.

Soooo, after the holes got to be about 2’, I set charges.

Now the guy I was with could not handle powder. Read dynamite. Nitro glycerin will go right through your skin. And give ya a REAL BAD HEADACHE.

So just before lunch, I’d plug a couple of sticks in the holes.

That was because the smoke from dynamite will hurt your head too. So we’d time it so the shot was over lunch.

Now I’m in a shaft. We ain’t using primacord or those detonator thingies you see in cartoons. No, we had to use real cord. The black tarry cord you also see in cartoons.

Contrary to popular thought, you really can’t light off a fuse with a match.

You have to split the cord down about 3” and make a ‘splitter’.

You mate that to the splitter that’s in the charge. That way, you are guaranteed a light. Sometimes fuse will fool ya. Looks like it’s lit and ain’t. Or worse, looks like it ain’t lit and boom.

Now in the bottom of this shaft I cut the fuse and make splitters. One thing you always do is time the fuse burn to know when it’s gonna blow.  Just make a sample fuse split and see how long it takes to get to the end.

Crude. But that’s the way it’s been done for a very long time.

There was a ladder to the top of the shaft. Hand made. A bit rickety, but sufficient.

The other guy vacated when I was setting charge. Can’t blame him.

So every day, I’d blow and eat lunch.

I had a game. Fun game.

I time the splitters so that I had JUST ENOUGH TIME to climb the ladder out of the hole. JUST ENOUGH.

But I could cut it close, so to speak.

Sometimes too close.

That was the game.

Well, my wife always brought lunch and she was up on top waiting for me to get out of the hole and blow.

I cut it a bit close. Imagine, if you will, I set the charge and started climbing up the hand made ladder and *&^%$#@ a rung broke. Whoops.

When I was almost at the top rung BOOM. And I mean BOOM!

Blew my ass out of the shaft and about 20’ away. Damned near landed in her lap.

Her eyes were as big as eyes can be. And she had big eyes.

I rolled over and said ‘what’s for lunch?’

I couldn’t hear her reply. Hell, I couldn’t hear her for days.

Roast beef sandwiches I recall. She spaced the horseradish.

Boom.

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/19/2004 at 01:53 PM   
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Life With Steel (Part 2)

I’ve made mention that I was a commercial fisherman. Did that for a decade. Funny things happen when it’s just you and a few others driving a sea tractor around.

Here’s one.

I was on a small trawler (70’) and we were trawling for sole. Bottom fish that. You ‘set’ the gear, which means you put out the net and tons of cable and drag it along the bottom for a while. For sole the ‘scope’ was 600 fathoms. Which means you put that many fathoms of wire down and just drag it around.

This was off the Oregon coast.

This was the first tow of the morning. Skipper was still in the rack and I was driving and making breakfast. It was time to ‘haul back’. Which means you turn on winches and roll up the wire till ya get the net back.

Soooo, in between the bacon and the wheel, I was busy.

Got the catch aboard and reset the net. And I hear this bang bang bang coming from the back deck. But I’m too busy to pay it much mind. Tap tap tap. Someone was banging on something but I couldn’t see what.

I got curious. I walked out and there was this big (3’ diameter) concrete looking thing and the crew was busy trying to extract a shiny thing from it. Kind of gold colored. I didn’t pay it much mind.

After breakfast they went at it again. Bang Bang Bang.

As I was cleaning up the dishes one guy runs in breathless and shows me what they’d extracted from said large concrete thingie.

It was brass. Encrusted with barnacles. About the size of a melon. So since I was washing dishes anyway ... I took to scrubbing this find down.

Turns out it was a piston kinda thingie going into a larger brass thingie and it said .... stamped very clearly after it was cleaned .........

MINE MK 1942.

Ever see those Warner Brother’s cartoons where the character is hammering on the bomb?

That was one of those ‘your whole life passes by’ moments.

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/19/2004 at 09:44 AM   
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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