Tuesday - July 03, 2012

She’s rarer then hen’s teeth. They simply don’t exist in the real world.

OK, this one’s for Drew. 

Just a few and I’m sure you can find more.

Celia Walden (Morgan)

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 02:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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eye candy for tuesday

H/T to Drew who showed these to me and I now happily confiscate cos he’s too young for this stuff. lol

I found this one a few days ago. Been holding and since Drew gave me reds, may as well use. Besides, I like this one.

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 01:12 PM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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robbery in progress

I am not able to embed the BBC TV video. It shows a robbery in progress with thieves smashing the glass cases with axes.

It does look like the first one in is wearing a burka. The others have hoods, There are four of them looks like.

How many different reasons do authorities need to totally ban those things anyway?  It doesn’t fit in or belong in a western country.

And something else that hasn’t worked well here, to nobody’s surprise, it has been publicly stated today by the guy in charge, wait for it,

“The War On Drugs has not been won.” After 30 years.  I ask you, who’d have guessed that? 

Take a look at this. Video below.

Burka-wearing thief raids Manchester jewellers
BBC News

The person dressed in the full body cloak and walking with a pushchair stood outside Choice Jewellers on Wilmslow Road at 11:35 BST on Sunday.

A police spokesman said staff had opened the locked door because they thought the person was a customer.

The person then blocked the door open with the pushchair, allowing armed accomplices to enter and steal “a large quantity of jewellery” before escaping.

The spokesman said all four offenders had been armed with axes, which were used to threaten staff and smash jewellery cabinets.

After staff deployed a device which filled the store with thick smoke, the four were forced out of the Rusholme shop.

They then smashed the shop window to try to get more jewellery before escaping in a car down Walmer Street.

Det Con Ian Wrench said anyone offered jewellery by “anyone other than a licensed dealer” should contact police, as the four “who carried out this frightening robbery need to be caught”.

BBC NEWS VIDEO

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 12:33 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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Hollywood women think a Syrian intervention is a new cosmetic procedure

When I read this today, I was immediately taken back to yesterday or possibly the day before that, because Drew in his inimitable fashion wrote to me with regard to Hollywood actors and one in particular. During which rant as only he could , he managed to rip into hollyweird persons in a manner that left no doubt as to his feelings.  So when I saw this I thought, Drew could have written it too.  And maybe even better. Have to give that some thought cos this lady has really nailed it, and I never guessed she had a sense of humor.  But wait.  I don’t think she’s trying to be funny.
She’s a reporter and that’s exactly what she’s doing here. Reporting.

For those of you who may not know, she is married to Piers Morgan, who took over from Larry King at CNN last year.
But more importantly, she is a very smart and accomplished woman and, a new mommy. 
Here’s a taste.  Very interesting background

http://www.jamesgrant.com/media/client/celia-walden/98

Save me from the Model Wives with tomatoes for brains

These Hollywood women think a Syrian intervention is a new cosmetic procedure

By Celia Walden

A few days ago, a small item in the New York Times caught my eye. The article was about tomatoes, and why they’ve lost their taste. Turns out that breeders here – intent on giving us the shiniest, reddest tomatoes they can – have latched on to a genetic mutation that has the unfortunate side effect of making the fruit tasteless. “Good Looks,” read the headline, “Equal a Blah Taste.” I might not have noticed the piece had I not spent the previous night in the company of a witty film producer and his model wife. The wife was a Hollywood Tomato: preternaturally plumped out and shiny, with a load of watery mush inside that perfect cranium.

Now I’ve got nothing (aside from the obvious) against models, but while my husband invariably gets to spend dinners making intelligent conversation, I’m forever getting stuck with the Model Wife. These women aren’t genetically stupid, but years of being prized for nothing but their looks have led to a certain amount of decay in the head department. Wit and intellect are like muscles which, left too long unused, wither and die.

Nobody has ever asked the Model Wife what she thinks of Obamacare or contemporary art. These women think a Syrian intervention is a new cosmetic procedure. That’s a little unfair, you say – what about Model Husbands? Well, there aren’t many about, accomplished women being less inclined to marry brainless trophies.

In a bid to limit these painful social occasions, I’ve devised endless signals (the left ear-lobe tug, the sharp kick to the shin) to convey to my husband that I’m throbbing – on occasion hyperventilating – with boredom. They seldom work. He’ll nod distractedly and turn back to his scintillating companion, leaving me to discuss the relative merits of French manicures.

What mystifies me is how these mismatched couples make their relationships work back home. Once she loses her looks, the Tomato Spouse must become markedly less appealing – as confirmed by an agent friend, whose marriage to a former model recently fell apart. “We were reading the papers over breakfast one day,” he explained, “when she sighed and said: ‘I don’t know why these political parties don’t just take it in turns. Then we wouldn’t have to go through this every four years.’” The following morning he filed for divorce.

source for more

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 09:37 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Humor •  
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Obama begs donors for more as Mitt Romney rakes it in

This age thing can get to one. Can’t it?

Seems like I can’t easily digest some of the things I like, the way I used to. For example, I was really feeling under par all day yesterday. Couldn’t shake off a stomach problem. Nothing severe, but just one of those really off days.  And the cause of it I do believe was ........

PIZZA!

I have a harder time these days digesting cheeses I guess.  And this was not one of those loaded Domino combo things. We make our own with what we buy at the supermarket.  Loaded with garlic too. Yum. Keeps vampires away. Anyway, just anchvy and queen sized sliced green olives topped with cheese of course.  So was it worth all the day long upset?  I guess not. Maybe. Not too sure yet.  I think it was more the dough. It wasn’t actually a pizza base. It was round but was actually more a garlic bread.  Lots of butter and buried in garlic. Loads of garlic with sun dried toms. (tomatoes)
So I think that was the problem, because I can sort of handle traditional pizzas we make at home with the regular pizza baked dough.

I’m okay today, so much so in fact that I actually had double cream on a small square of choc. cake with afternoon tea. I wish I’d taken a photo before I ate it but only thought of it now.

None of which has a damn thing to do with something I found in the paper today with regard to Mr. O.
Actually, I was surprised to see this.  I just assumed his campaign would be rolling in money, as I have read over time that sitting presidents have a financial edge.  Who knows. He might have but this is all about just in case. How would I know?

I’m curious about something.  Are any of you who read all this and follow the elections, bothered at all with regard to the huge amount of monies it takes to run for office?  And stay there as well.

US election: Barack Obama begs donors for more as Mitt Romney rakes it in

Barack Obama has issued a plea for wealthy supporters to give him more money and stop his re-election campaign being outspent by Mitt Romney and the Republican’s billionaire backers. 

By Jon Swaine, Washington

In a phone call from Air Force One, the President reportedly told a group of top donors “I can’t do this by myself” and urged them to open their cheque books to “meet or exceed what you did in 2008”.

Noting that most had “maxed out to my campaign last time,” Mr Obama told them: “I really need you to do the same this time,” according to a leaked transcript.

Despite holding a narrow lead over his rival, the president informed the supporters that his ability to campaign and broadcast advertisements in key battleground states such as Florida and Ohio directly depended on their generosity.

Details of the call emerged days after Mr Obama warned supporters that he would be “the first president in modern history to be outspent” by his opponent unless donors upped their contributions.

Mr Romney and his party raised $76 million (£49 million) for their campaign in May, while Mr Obama – who had not been out-raised in five years – brought in $60 million (£38 million) with the Democrats.

Romney aides have boasted that their haul for June may exceed $100 million (£64 million), after being boosted by Right-wing anger over the Supreme Court’s approval of Mr Obama’s health care reforms.

While he remains ahead overall in the money race for the time being, loose talk of Mr Obama being the first candidate to raise $1 billion (£640 million) has been silenced by the Romney machine.

“In 2008 everything was new and exciting about our campaign,” Mr Obama said, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Daily Beast, a news website. “And now I’m the incumbent president. I’ve got grey hair. People have seen disappointment because folks had a vision of change happening immediately. And it turns out change is hard”.

Joe Trippi, a leading Democratic strategist, said Mr Obama’s network of donors had been slow to realise that they could lose, thanks to the circus-like quality of the Republican party primary contest.

“People have to perceive that they are threatened before they give,” Mr Trippi told The Daily Telegraph. “Until recently, most Democrats thought there was no way Romney could beat the President, so he didn’t need their money. That is changing quickly.” Several “Super PACs” - external campaign groups that can raise unlimited corporate cash for the first time in this election - are bolstering the Romney effort while failing to similarly assist Mr Obama.

see more

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 09:03 AM   
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threats to shoot folks not seen as proper leadership skills

I guess sometimes the pressure of the job just gets to one.

Might embarrass Obama however, as this fellow is a supporter and has the job due to that support.

US envoy to Kenya resigns after ‘threatening to shoot staff in head’

The US ambassador to Kenya resigned after complaints he bullied staff and threatened to “shoot them in the head” if they did not comply with his orders, it has been alleged.

By Jon Swaine, Washington

Scott Gration, who had led the US embassy in Nairobi since February last year, stepped down late last week, citing “differences with Washington regarding my leadership style”.

It is understood that the State Department’s inspector general is preparing to release a scathing report on Mr Gration, who is a close ally of President Barack Obama.

The disclosures threaten to embarrass Mr Obama, who previously made Mr Gration his special envoy to Sudan after the veteran diplomat became an early champion of his presidential ambitions.

read source for his idea of leadership. yuk,yuk

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 08:24 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • War-Stories • work and the workplace •  
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BOY 14 ABUSES 5 YEAR OLD AND TELLS POLICE, ‘I think my hormones took over.’

Really judge, it was me ormoans got inna way and that 5 year old girl just looked yummy.
I’m sorry. Can I go now?
Sure thing boy .... I know it isn’t your fault. It’s society and the world and on line porn etc. It’s everyone’s fault but yours cos you were only 14.

More judicial soft soap bullshit. The judge even looks stupid.

He watched porn that was “inappropriate” to his age. 
Oh well. It’s okay then.  We’ll just give him a slap on the wrist instead of a broken face.
Jeesh.  If there’s something wrong with the world and with society, it’s made wrong by idiot judges and systems that make excuses.

For example, making the rounds again after being discovered some years ago, is a medical condition called “Intermittent Explosive Disorder.”
Looks good.  Really judge, it isn’t that I meant to stab the guy 80 times. But I’m ill. I have IED.

What a bullshit culture. What a fraked up world when ppl actually buy this crap.

Babysitting teen, 14, who raped girl, 5, spared custody as judge says he was corrupted by internet porn

Judge blames ‘the world and society’ for teen’s exposure to explicit sexual material on the web

Boy, now 15, appeared in dock wearing school uniform

Boy admitted he regularly looked at pornography on his laptop at home

Judge: ‘I’m satisfied it was impulsive and I believe you have become sexualised by your exposure to and the corruption of pornography’

By MATT BLAKE

A teenager who raped a five-year-old girl while babysitting her was spared a custodial sentence after a judge heard he had been ‘corrupted’ by internet pornography.

In a disturbing case that has raised fresh concerns about the sexualisation of children, the 14-year-old told his young victim to cover her eyes before performing an indecent act on her while her parents were out.

But instead of jailing the boy, a judge spared spared him, blaming ‘the world and society’ for his exposure to explicit sexual material on the web.

The case comes amid growing alarm about the impact of sexual content on the internet on Britain’s children.

Just last month, a government report found a wave of depraved sex attacks across Britain was being carried out by youngsters who have had their minds warped by online porn.

Appearing in the dock wearing his school uniform, the teenager, now 15, was handed a three-year community order at Cambridge Crown Court.

The boy who cannot be named for legal reasons pleaded guilty to raping a girl aged under 13 after his victim told her father what had happened.

Prosecutor John Kellett said the boy had been paid £10 to look after the little girl at her home in Cambridge last December.

But after he left, the girl described to her father how she had been subjected to the oral rape after the teenager told her to cover her eyes.

read more

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 07:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • Justice - LACK OF • UK •  
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muzzies in the news again. as always. laws don’t apply to them.

OK. Do I have to say anything on this subject?
Right. Thought not.

btw, Really like that graphic Drew put up on Reset. And the TSA one on the left side ain’t shabby either.  Except I kinda think of em as the KGB.
With apologies to former members of that group for the slander.

200 people regularly cram into this bungalow...used as illegal mosque

Local News By Chloe Chapman

AN Islamic group has been told to clear out of an illegal mosque in a small bungalow after residents complained it is regularly crammed with as many as 200 people.

Southend Council has received 150 complaints from angry residents in Fairfax Drive, Westcliff, since September 2010.

The Jaafriya Islamic Welfare Centre did not apply for change of use when it took over the two-bedroom chalet bungalow and began holding regular meetings.

In December 2010 the owner of the site also built an extension without planning consent.

Residents claim cars are parked on the pavement, bin bags litter the front of the property and there is noise at all hours of the night from running engines, slammed doors and raised voices.

Southend Council has now issued an enforcement notice after discovering the residential property is being used for religious celebrations and child education classes.

Martin Terry, independent councillor for the Westborough ward, said: “Over a long period of time there has been a constant stream of complaints about what is essentially a bungalow being used as a mosque.

“There have been all sorts of denials about this, but that is what it is.

“Although Fairfax Drive is a fairly busy road, this is a residential property and there is far more activity going on than there should be.

“It doesn’t matter what religion you are, you have to play by the rules and stick to the law.”

Southend Council made numerous attempts to get in touch with leaders of the centre before finally securing a meeting in March 2011. Officers were assured the bungalow was used mainly as a home with occasional small community meetings taking place.

Nevertheless, they decided to take action after the Jaafriya Islamic Welfare Centre for Charity Relief submitted an application for a grant from the council which clearly stated the building was used for religious functions.

They have since submitted a retrospective planning application for the change of use and single-storey rear extension, which has been recommended for refusal.

A final decision is due by July 10.

No one from the centre was available for comment.

However, in a planning statement submitted to the council, they said: “Young people would be educated in religious study and, as many are of foreign extraction, in the methods and traditions of this country.

“At the same time, the tutor would live in the premises.”

Source for the text was the Echo, which was convenient at the time.

Here’s the better link for lots of photos, you gotta see this.

read more, photos and video here

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2012 at 05:55 AM   
Filed Under: • muslims • UK •  
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   Monday - July 02, 2012

Stealth Mode Lost

“I just want you to know that we are working on it. We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”
- President Obama to Jim and Sarah Brady, in front of Press Secretary Jim Carney, when asked about gun control.

In other words, they all knew about it from the very beginning, and it always WAS about taking a big chunk out of the Second Amendment, by forcing another Assault Weapons Ban.

(CNSNews.com) – Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and who then went on to become Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s chief of staff, and a contributor to

Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama’s transition team focusing on border-enforcement issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious.

When Obama nominated Burke to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Burke told the Arizona Capitol Times he believed he understood what the president and his attorney general wanted him to do.

“There’s clearly been direction provided already by President Obama and Attorney General Holder as to what they want to be doing, and this is an office that is at the center of the issues of border enforcement,” said Burke.

Dennis K. Burke has had a long career working as an aide and political appointee to Democratic elected officials. From 1989 to 1994, he was a counsel for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee ... From 1994-95, Burke served in the Clinton Justice Department in the Office of Legislative Affairs, and in 1997-99, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona.

From 1999 to 2003, Burke was chief deputy and special assistant to Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano. In 2003, when Napolitano became governor, Burke became her chief of staff. He stayed in that job until the fall of 2008, when he left to help Democratic political campaigns, including then-Sen. Obama’s presidential campaign.

After Obama was elected in November 2008, Burke joined his presidential transition team, serving on the Immigration Policy Working Group.

Eight days before Obama’s inauguration, on Jan. 12, 2009--while Burke was working on the transition team--Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C. At that meeting, Obama “pledged” to take action to stop the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico.

Obama also decided to put Burke’s old boss, incoming Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, in a leadership role in making the gun-trafficking problem a top priority.

When Napolitano became Homeland Security secretary, Burke moved from the Obama transition team to become her senior adviser. On Feb. 25, 2009, a little more than a month after Obama had made his “pledge” to Calderon, Napolitano testified in the House Homeland Security Committee. She stressed that stopping the flow of guns to Mexico was a top priority of the Obama administration and key focus of her work.

Responding to a question about violence on the border, Napolitano said the administration was going to work with the Mexican government on the issue. Then she said: “Secondly, it is looking at, government-wide, at what we can do to stop the southbound export of weaponry, particularly assault-type weapons and grenades that are being used in that drug war.”

Napolitano further noted that drug cartels were targeting Mexican government officials and law enforcement officers, and that, given the seriousness of the threat, Obama’s national security adviser, the attorney general, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Customs (of which the Border Patrol is part) would all be working on the issue.

“I’ve met with the attorney general of Mexico and the ambassador already,” said Napolitano during the February 2009 hearing. “One of the things that I particularly am focused on is southbound traffic in guns, particularly assault weapons, and cash that are being used to funnel and fund these very, very violent cartels.”

The same day Napolitano testified in the Homeland Security Committee, Attorney General Holder addressed the issue of drug-trafficking-related gun violence in northern Mexico. He said he had had conversations about the issue with the Mexican attorney general and that the Obama administration believed that re-instating the assault-weapons ban in the United States--the one Dennis Burke had initially helped push through as Senate aide in 1990s--would help the situation in Mexico.

Yes, and very shortly thereafter we started hearing that “90% of the guns recovered in Mexican Cartel crimes can be traced back to America.” meme. Which normally would have been a pile of crap, but the gang at the very top of the law enforcement pyramid made sure of it by sending weapons of war - including grenades - across the border to arm ruthless drug gangs.  How many have died so far in Mexico because of this? 20,000? 30,000? 50,000??

There is plenty more at the link. And a bit more over at Rush Limbaugh’s.  They’re all connected, they’re all part of this, and they all did it for the same reason: to force the even sterner AWB II through. And they created such a false pretext for it that some consider what they did an overt act of war. To say nothing of all the lives lost in Mexico, and the murder of border agent Brian Terry. Every branch of the Judiciary is in this up to their eyebrows, including the Director of Homeland Security. And so is Obama.

But just sweep it all under the rug. No scandal. Nothing to see here. And no reason for the Attorney General of the United States to cooperate, even when under charges of contempt.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/02/2012 at 08:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government • Guns and Gun Control •  
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More Than Possible; It’s Probable

A nice thought for a hot summer’s day. And while there is no proof of any positive answer to my question, it is certainly possible.

After all, the Egyptians had cows, goats, and sheep ... therefore they had milk and cream. And probably a butter churn, which is really not much more than a couple of cross boards on a stick. The same kind of design as a the paddles in an ice cream maker. They had fruit and spices for flavoring. And not only did they have honey for sweetening, they had locust beans, which are used as a thickener in ice cream today. Locust beans are also known as Carob, and Carob is a chocolate substitute for allergic folks. And dogs. Has been, since always. Vanilla beans come from Madagascar, a bit down the coast. Certainly within trading distance. The Egyptains had some really decent metal working ability, enough to make a copper or a bronze bucket. Or a solid gold one. The observation that salty ice water is colder than plain old ice water is probably as old as time, and with the north end of their country being a sea shore, they certainly had salt.

So they had everything necessary to make ice cream, from the ingredients to the machinery.  “Oh no”, you say, “you’re missing the most important thing! It was Egypt. Aegypt!! Hot. Desert. Hot. Sand. Hot. Camels! Did I mention hot? They didn’t have ice!!”

Wanna bet?

See this thing?

Take a guess what it is. It’s a design that dates back to ancient Persia, at least 500 BC.  Maybe 1000 BC. Persia; Egypt’s neighbor and occasional conqueror, just a short reed boat ride across the Red Sea away.
So what’s this pile of stone? It’s the ultimate Green Kitchen Accessory. It’s made out of mud brick ... and it’s a giant wind powered refrigerator. An ice box, bigger than a house. One that may have had a built in ice maker, albeit one that only works at night. When it gets really cold in the desert.

I’ve got a lot of reading to do on this, but I wanted to toss the question out to give everyone something new to think about. More fun than reacting to today’s political nonsense, or tomorrow’s, or yesterday’s.

Ok Drew, how would it work?

First off: the air conditioning part. That we know existed, and still exists. Readers from the southwest will be familiar with an old form of A/C called a Swamp Cooler. Evaporative cooling. Blow hot dry air across some water and it cools right down. Take that concept and build it on a massive scale. City size. Several dozen miles long if necessary. But to get there, you’ll need water. Lots of nice, cold water. Here’s your shovel. Start digging.

If you live in a hot dry climate and you need to get water from the spring way over there to your city and farm fields over here, you don’t go and build a canal or an aqueduct. Too much evaporation. No, you build a qanat ("kwaa gnat"). That’s an underground water channel built between a spring somewhere in the mountains and a city somewhere near by. There are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of the things across the Middle East and the Far East, from Tunisia to Iran to China. They’ve been around for about 3000 years. Most of the water in Iran is still collected this way even today. Digging a water tunnel underground is kind of difficult, so the qanat builders put in an air shaft every 100 feet or so; the lines of these shafts dimple the desert surface by the millions, mile after mile after mile.

Ok, now that you’ve got you qanat built, and your village is getting water ... nice cool water too, from deep underground, but not so deep it starts getting hot again ( about 100 yards or so maximum ). Your tunnel digging slaves have finished, so you cap off the access/air shafts to the qanats. This cuts evaporation to a minimum, and keeps the stupid sheep from falling down the holes.

But you leave one air shaft open. And then you build a building over one of the last air shafts. Make it out of nice heat resistant clay brick, with walls 6 or 9 feet thick. Pretty good insulation right there. Now put a tower on top of the building, with a doorway on the leeward side. A hole in the floor on every level lets air flow from the top of the roof all the way to the basement, all the way down the air shaft, to the cool water flowing in the qanat deep underground.

Except the air doesn’t flow that way. Due to Bernoulli’s Principle, the wind blowing past the tower and past it’s door on the downwind side creates a pressure differential. A partial vacuum. This pulls in hot desert air into the open air shaft (don’t forget to put a sheep filter across it first), and pulls that air underground and across the cold flowing water in the qanat tunnel, and then up into your building. So you get a nice steady cold damp breeze blowing in from the basement. Natural air conditioning.

It works. It’s another ancient design, but largely forgotten by the West. There are lots of these in Spain that still function. You can read all about them, about how they are wonders of Islamic Science from the Golden Age of Islam ... but they aren’t much more advanced than the ones that the Persians built under Sargon I, somewhere around 1000-800 BC. The design was used by the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and even those barbarians living in Libya. Older than the Profit, may bees pee upon him. Merely copied and brought north by his minions 1000 or so years after it was invented.

Ok, back to our mud refrigerator. Anybody who understands Bernoulli’s principle and the Venturi Effect, or who owns a perfume sprayer, knows that you can pull liquid up a tube with just air flowing across the top of the pipe. See the picture of the big mud fridge and the wall next to it? It’s built above a qanat, and the air shafts run up inside the wall. Really thin ones probably. The wind blows, gets deflected over the top of the wall ... which pulls water up the narrow shafts ... which then runs in a channel near the top of the wall, just like in an aqueduct ... and then flows off the end of the wall onto the spiral stepped surface of the beehive shaped ice box, around and around, cooling the outside. The builders figured out how to make waterproof mud brick (duh, it’s called a kiln, right?), the walls are very thick and well insulated, it gets cooled from the outside by running water all day long, cooled from the inside by evaporative cooling from the subterranean qanat water, and filled with ice or snow gathered during winter. And who knows, perhaps refreshed with any ice made during those cold desert nights. So it IS a giant refrigerator, and it could be an ice maker too.

The one in the picture is about 110 years old, and was built in Sirjan, Kerman Province, in Iran by the first Shah, Pahvli I. The design however is almost as old as Persia.

So it is entirely possible that the Egyptians, always hot to copy a good new idea like the sandal and the horse and the wheel, had these things. Gone now, because even waterproof mud brick doesn’t last forever. And their king, the Pharaoh - at least the later Pharaohs, who spoke Persian or Greek - could have enjoyed a double scoop cone in his cool and moist palace. The technology existed. Mock-chocolate and vanilla flavored.

All I have to do is find some ancient Eastern version of the waffle cone, and my thesis is good to go.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/02/2012 at 01:11 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • Archeology / Anthropology • Architecture •  
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slag heaps join pyramids as a world treasure says socialist mayor. unesco agrees.

If I have any problems with the French, they are few and most likely minor.  Hmmmm. I need to give that last one more thought.
Thing is, generally I don’t have much that I make fun of.  I let Drew and the rest of you folks have all the fun at French expense.  Although, now lets be honest people, not all of it is fair.  Unless LyndonB says it.  If Lyndon says something snarky, something really sarcastic, then you can take that to the bank.  I haven’t known him to be wrong on anything yet, even when he called me to task once or 2wice. 

I’m sure the French must wonder from time to time, why it is they come into so much criticism. Ah.  Perfidious Albion. Right?
And from time to time we do make them the butt of our jokes. (And that street isn’t one way)

Well here is an example Dear France, and I recognize you’re not alone in the silly stakes, why we sometimes shake our heads in wonder.
Yes, I can understand the why of the decision by local politicians to bring this about.  I may think it’s bonkers but I may also be wrong.
However, to equate the pyramids of ancient Egypt to a 400 foot slag heap is going a bit over the top. And it’s that comparison I have issues with.

And then there’s UNESCO who approve. Now there is a really loopy group.

France’s slag heaps join Pyramids on list of UNESCO world treasures

The slag heaps of France’s northern mining region have become the latest, unlikely addition to Unesco’s world heritage list, rivalling global wonders like the Taj Mahal, the Great Barrier Reef and the Pyramids.

By By Henry Samuel, in Paris

Local politicians hailed the inclusion of the Nord-Pas de Calais mining basin on the coveted list as a victory for the depressed region still struggling to recover from the demise of its three centuries-old coal industry.

They hope the new title will turn the region’s slag heaps, but also its mining pits, railway stations, workers estates and mining villages into tourist attractions that will boost the local economy.

Unesco defined the region as an “organically evolved” cultural landscape, part of a list of “distinct geographical areas or properties uniquely representing the combined work of nature and of man”.

The 120km-long “landscape” includes 87 mining villages, 51 slag heaps, some of them covering 90 hectares and exceeding 140 metres in height.
Included in the site are its specially-designed mining schools, religious buildings, health and community facilities, company premises, owners and managers’ houses and town halls.

In their sales pitch, mining campaigners wrote: “Unesco celebrates the pyramids built by the pharaohs while some slag heaps, the fruit of miners’ labours, are just as high!”

They also argued that the heaps were environmental oases: “These coal mountains are natural places that shelter an extraordinarily rich ecosystem. They were long presented as a negative symbol, but today they have their role to play.”

Martine Aubry, the mayor of Lille and Socialist Party leader hailed the decision as “a tribute to all those who worked to develop our economy, our industry, often at the cost of their health or their life.”

more

Socialists just love things like Soviet tractor factories and slag heaps. Which is where socialists belong imho.

Posted by peiper     on 07/02/2012 at 08:46 AM   
Filed Under: • FRANCE •  
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Conservative Summit in Denver, Colorado

The following is pretty long as you might expect. So I’ve cut it down and you can read all of it at the link as usual.

This comes from what’s left of The Conservative voice in Europe.

H/T The Brussels Journal

It’s very much worth reading and of course a lot has been said already on the topic.  I wish there were a way to rid ourselves by any means, of the enablers, the liberal left hand wringers who have brought us to this pass.  But then, I can’t think of many people, even conservatives, who’d approve my solution.
Because it would be a very final one. And frankly, I see no other way. If there is one, hey. I’m open to learning new things.

Islam And The Need For Western Vigilance

By Geert Wilders

A few hours ago, Geert Wilders spoke at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, Colorado. What follows is the complete transcript of his speech.

Thank you, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, for inviting me to the Western Conservative Summit. It is always a pleasure to come to America. I was here a few weeks ago to meet with my dear friend, congresswoman Michele Bachmann, to talk about Islam and the threat to America and Europe.

It is also a pleasure to be in Denver, the gateway to the West. This is America’s conservative heartland where the spirit of the pioneers still lives.

I know that I come at a sad moment. Many of you have been affected by the enormous wildfires raging not far from here. Thousands have been evacuated and some of them are even staying in this hotel. Few things are as terrible as losing your homes. I want to express my deepest sympathy with all the people affected by this disaster. And I want to offer my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the fires.

I am impressed by the solidarity and the help which the people of Denver extend to the victims. You live in a great and generous city. Denver is also privileged to be the home of Colorado Christian University and the Centennial Institute with its motto “Faith, family and freedom”. Your motto shows that you have your priorities right. Faith, family and freedom are the pillars of our Judeo-Christian civilization and need to be defended.

I feel honored to have been invited to address you today about the situation in Europe and in particular in my own country, the Netherlands. This situation serves as a warning to what might happen in America if you fail to be vigilant. As U.S. President Andrew Jackson said: “Remember, my fellow citizens, that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.”

But first, let me start by introducing myself. I am one of the 150 members of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands, a small country of almost 17 million people in Western Europe. I am the leader of the Party for Freedom. My party is the third largest of eleven parties represented in the Dutch parliament.

Perhaps many of you think that life for this politician in the Netherlands resembles the life of the members of your own Congress. Unfortunately, that is not the case. For the past eight years I have been living under 24 hour police protection. Wherever I go, plainclothes policemen go with me. I live in a government safe house, heavily protected and bulletproof.

I am driven every day from the safe house to the Dutch parliament in armored police cars with flashing blue lights.

I have not walked the streets on my own in the past eight years. When I occasionally go to a restaurant or a movie theater, the police will have to check everything first. My wife and I have lived in army barracks and prisons cells just to be safe from assassins.

Why do I need this protection? I am not a president or a king; I am a mere parliamentarian.

I have, however, been marked for death for criticizing Islam. I was placed under police protection in early November 2004 when an Islamic fanatic murdered th Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh because he had criticized Islam. Van Gogh was slaughtered in broad daylight in the streets of Amsterdam. A few hours later, the police found a letter written by the assassin threatening to kill me as well.

What have I done, you might ask, to deserve those death threats? I have candidly expressed my views about Islam.

My views, in a nutshell, are that Islam, rather than a religion, is predominantly a totalitarian ideology striving for world dominance. I believe that Islam and freedom are incompatible.

Some people do not want to hear this message. That is why they threaten to murder everyone who states this truth.

I do not want Europe nor America to become Islamic.

There is only one Islam and it is a dangerous ideology. It is intolerant, it is violent. It should not be tolerated, but should be contained.

In Europe, we are experiencing that if Islam becomes stronger in a society – even when the majority of Muslims are moderates – a society becomes less free and more intolerant of non- Muslims.

Former congressman Tom Tancredo, a native and inhabitant of this great city, whom I visited in his office in Washington in late 2008, once said referring to Miami: I quote “Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country. You would never know you’re in the United States of America. You would certainly say you’re in a Third World country.” – end of quote.

The same applies to Europe: Certain parts of our inner cities no longer look like Europe. They look like suburbs of Cairo, Rabat, Algiers, Damascus or Mecca.

As the Muslim population is concentrated in urban areas, many European cities have very large Islamic concentrations. We are confronted with headscarves and burkas, polygamy, female genital mutilation, honor-killings.

During the past three decades, Europe made a fatal mistake. It allowed millions of people from Islamic countries to immigrate into Europe. So many people rooted in a culture entirely different from our own Judeo-Christian and humanist tradition have entered Europe that our heritage, our freedoms, our prosperity and our culture are in danger.

Perhaps, many Americans still believe that Europe is the place they know from a tourist trip or from their grandparents’ stories. This Europe is on the verge of disappearing.

“In each one of our cities” wrote the Italian author Oriana Fallaci shortly before her death in 2006, “there is a second city, a state within the state, a government within the government. A Muslim city, a city ruled by the Koran.” – End of quote.

Perhaps many Americans see immigration as something which is inherently good for a country, since it contributed so much to the United States. But while most of the former immigrants to the United States came from Europe, a continent with the same Judeo-Christian roots as America, Europe’s contemporary immigrants do not share our common roots. On the contrary, the islamization of our society is undermining our Western Judeo-Christian values.

READ IT ALL HERE

Posted by peiper     on 07/02/2012 at 07:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration • International • muslims • Politically-Incorrect • Self-Defense • Terrorists • War On Terror •  
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why wait? why not leave and then nuke the bastards?

I’m really bothered by this and I’m fairly certain American troops are still targets as well.  But here is where I am and here is where I get news concerning this place and most especially what’s happening to those brave young kids in a god forsaken and worthless place populated by people we’ve not a thing in common with.  Not even our humanity.
I am of course referring to the wasted lives and wasted resources lost by the UK in Afghanistan.

As an aside.  It’s only in the past week that I have finally, after all these years, got my hands on a copy of Pat Buchanan’s book, “The Death of the West.”
It’s a chilling read and a sad one and a maddening read as well.  I don’t always agree with every single thing he may believe to be true.  But pretty much I do buy his general outlook.  And it is scary. I also think it’s all of it true.  And what Pat writes about America is equally true of Europe and the UK. 
So that beings me back to the reason for this morning’s post.

Since our Commander in Chief is a military genius and along with the Brit top man have announced the time table for withdrawal, why must we wait?
Every death is pointless. Wasted. What good are we doing?  If anyone knows, please don’t keep it a secret. Cos I very honestly do not know.
How many more time does this have to be repeated?

Three British soldiers killed by Afghan policeman after argument

Three British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan by a local policeman following an argument, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent, and Ben Farmer in Lashkar Gah
Telegraph

As relations with local forces continue to deteriorate the deaths mean that a quarter of all British fatalities this year have been caused by Afghans soldiers with seven murdered at the hands of allies.
The soldiers, two from the Welsh Guards and one from the Royal Corps of Signals, are understood to have become involved in an argument with one of the Afghan policemen.
The officer opened fire, probably with an AK47 machine gun, and hit three of the soldiers. It is unclear if they were wearing body armour at check point Kamparack Pul in Nahr-e-Saraj in Helmand. A fourth British soldier was wounded but is thought to be stable.
The Afghan policeman was then shot and wounded. He is now in custody.
The deaths bring the total number of British fatalities in Afghanistan to 422.

MORE

Posted by peiper     on 07/02/2012 at 06:31 AM   
Filed Under: • muslims • Terrorists • TURD WORLD • War-Stories •  
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   Sunday - July 01, 2012

Gun buy-backs CAN work!

I bet Chicago is pissed off

Guns Save Life is known for the pro-gun signs the group posts along Interstate 57 between Chicago and Champaign. It also publishes a monthly gun journal.

Most of the money will go toward buying ammunition for an NRA youth camp in Bloomington. The rest will pay for four bolt-action rifles that will be given away to campers.

“This was rusty, non-firing junk that we turned in,” Boch said. “We are redirecting funds from people who would work against the private ownership of firearms to help introduce the next generation to shooting safely and responsibly.”

Now I know what to do with a couple of old firearms I ‘rescued’ from Grandma’s house after her death. One’s a worthless ‘starter’ pistol, the other is an unrepairable WW1 carbine. Next time Dayton holds a gun buy-back…

Posted by Christopher     on 07/01/2012 at 09:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
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