Monday - June 22, 2009
Prison newspaper pulps 50,000 copies over fears cartoon of bearded pig in turban would offend Muslim
over fears it would offend muslims.
More kowtowing and appeasement to members of the ROP. What else is new?
Same old same old.
Prison newspaper pulps 50,000 copies over fears cartoon of bearded pig in turban would offend Muslims
By Stephen Wright
Daily Mail
What, you mean this one?
A prison newspaper has been withdrawn for publishing a satirical cartoon of a bearded pig dressed in a turban.Almost 50,000 copies of Inside Time were pulped as jail bosses took offence at the illustration accompanying the article ‘Porky’s Revenge’.
The piece, written by an inmate at Hull Prison, suggested that swine flu was the result of a failed plot by Osama Bin Laden to ‘eradicate every pig in Christendom’.
Andy Thackwray’s article was accompanied by an image of a bearded, turbanned pig standing on its hind legs and sneezing.
The Ministry of Justice said it was ‘extremely concerned’ that the article and cartoon might offend the Muslim prison population.
Diversity chiefs at Wormwood Scrubs prison in West London contacted magazine officials and the June issues were withdrawn - at a cost of up to £20,000.
The monthly independent publication will be reprinted without the offending pieces.
A senior prison source said: ‘There’s been a complete overreaction to this article. It’s insane political correctness.
‘We shouldn’t be worried about poking fun at the world’s most notorious terrorist, nor his dozens of followers in the prison system.’
The Ministry of Justice said: ‘As soon as we were aware, an instruction was issued to prisons to remove all copies of the relevant edition where this is practicable and we have raised the matter with the editorial team of Inside Time.
‘We would like to reiterate that the Prison Service is committed to ensuring that all prisoners are treated with decency and humanity, by staff and other prisoners, which includes respecting those of all religions.’
As of June 2007, there were 8,864 Muslim inmates out of a then prison population of 79,734.
The total has since risen to 84,000.
Angry Andy - Porky’s Revenge!
By: Andy Thackwray - HMP HullPig Flu? My arse! All this ooh ahh about rogue-gene-piggypox-bacteria-swine-bollocks is nothing more than a Government conspiracy to blag us all from finding out the truth about how this contagious virus actually came into being. Who does that bloody Gordon Brown think he’s kidding? Certainly not me! You see, I know the real origin of this so-called pig flu. Oh yes; there’s no two ways about it: it came into fruition from a botched, Muslim-led act of terrorism. All part of Osama Bin Laden’s global ‘war on pork’.
C’mon, it’s common knowledge to all and sundry that not only do the bloody Taliban have a grudge about everything except facial hair, but in particular they can be seen as being extremely prejudiced against the West’s vast population of porkers. So, to try and get in Allah’s good books, Bin Laden created his own ‘halal flu virus’ with the intention of eradicating every pig in Christendom, and by doing so piss off all Westerners by denying us our daily bacon.
Initially, Bin Laden’s war on pork was targeted to disrupt and inconvenience the Americans the most, because Osama and his boys are fully aware that the yanks are a nation of clinically obese lard arses who can’t function properly without their McRibs, hog roasts and occasional wild boar shoot. C’mon, can you imagine McDonalds without any bloody pork? It would be akin to Jodie Marsh without tits – nobody would want to go there!
Yes, not too long ago in a cave somewhere in deepest Afghanistan, our bearded foe created his halal flu virus to totally wipe out the pigs of the Western world, and hopefully see the end of pork as we know it. Only trouble was, the young terrorist Bin Laden hand-picked to fly across the Atlantic to carry out the wicked deed was not only a goat short of a full flock, he’d also never ventured out of his village before. So, with geography not being one of his strong points, coupled with his poor command of the English language, it’s not surprising that he got off the plane one stop early thinking he was in Kansas, America when really he was in Cancun, Mexico. There, he set the Bin Laden flu virus free on a Mexican pig farm instead of on an American one as planned – what a knob!
However, with brave, fairytale-style resilience, our little Mexican snouted amigos thwarted Bin Laden’s plan by quickly building up an immunity against his weak, cave-made, halal flu strain and, just like with the big bad wolf , the little swines saw the virus off and came out the winners - not even Al Qaeda could ‘blow their house down.’ The pigs got their revenge too by completely buggering up Mexico’s tourist industry by passing a more complex and stronger strain of Bin Laden flu back onto us humans, a strain which is at present spreading globally, faster than shit off a shiny shovel.
So, thanks to the resilience of our little pink pals, Bin Laden’s war on pork backfired. His stupid bloody idea had more cracks in it than London Ladies College. And the irony of it is: the only ones making ‘a killing’ out of Bin Laden’s war on pork are the bloody American owned pharmaceutical companies. Who’s a daft bearded bastard then?
So there you have it folks; forget all that bloody conspiracy bollocks in the mainstream media, you heard ‘the truth’ first here in Angry Andy’s Column. “May the pork be with you!”
Posted by peiper
on 06/22/2009 at 08:20 AM
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Permalink • Son wants to work in dad’s business. Dad decides to train but wait. In the nanny state,,,,,
In the socialist paradise things are never simple.
I have to copy this darn thing out word for word. As usual, I can’t locate the link because the Telegraph didn’t put the story on line. I tried to Google the headline but got nowhere.
See if you don’t agree this deserves a major Moonbat of the year even before the year is done with us. If it’s accurate.
I don’t have problem where rules are in place for a reason, and reason prevails. But this article just blew me away with it’s unreasonable insanity.
Or maybe I missed something important. ??
SON NEEDS RISK SURVEY TO WORK FROM HOME
By Daily Telegraph ReporterA FATHER who works from home was told to carry out a “risk assessment” and pay £350 (almost $700) so his son could join him for work experience.
Derek Coyle, 45, a property developer, wanted his 15-year old son to spend two weeks working alongside him to learn about the family business.
Mr. Coyle was contacted by his local council which said he would have to have the family home risk assessed. Officials said he needed public liability insurance costing £350 for his son to work at the house, where he lives with his father.
Mr. Coyle said: “I wanted to show my own son the business for his work experience. He lives here anyway. But the council called and said they would have to assess our house for health and safety. It’s a total waste of taxpayers’ money, sending council officers out here to do that. On a day to day basis he would be at no more at risk than he would anywhere else.” His son was set to visit offices and building sites as part of his training.
A spokesman for Cornwall council said: “We are aware that legally a student can be placed with a parent for work experience without the usual insurance. But we follow national guidelines in the administration of our work experience scheme. The advice is that all placements should carry both employer’s liability and public liability insurance, including those with parents.
-30-
The article never did say how the council discovered the kid would be working with dad. So that leaves an unanswered question. Something or someone had to contact them to get this bru-haha started. Right?
I can see where on a construction site with tin hats etc. there could be concern about a possible accident. But this reports about a ‘risk assessment’ of their house. And I don’t understand that at all. It just smacks of the usual intrusive big brother situation.
Or maybe just another avenue to squeeze more money out of ppl.
Posted by peiper
on 06/22/2009 at 06:52 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • UK • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • There have been many complaints that Britain does not do enough to state its case to the world.
The Telegraph has opened it’s files (telegraph.co.uk/war) on events leading to WW2. And it’s brilliant.
There’s much you already know I’m sure. But this caught my eye in the hard copy this morning. Under 100 days to war opposite the obit page. It should have had a featured place on the front page. And it might have if I were running the Telegraph.
There are a couple of things here I had not read before, and I thought I’d read quite a bit.
For example, I had not read anywhere before that Hitler and Gobbels said Belgium invaded Germany in 1914. Oh yeah. And no surprise. It was the Jews (again) who paid them to do it. If they really claimed that, I can’t believe it would have been with a straight face. Makes ya wanna scream out loud knowing there might be ppl today who really believe that.
So then, this is a brilliant piece that appeared in the Telegraph on this date June 22. 1939.
Germany’s use of tactics of encirclement - June 22, 1939
There have been many complaints that Britain does not do enough to state its case to the world. In the main that case states itself.
By the Right Hon Winston Churchill, MP
Published: 12:01AM BST 22 Jun 2009When Herr Hitler and his mouthpiece Goebbels give us their version of how the late Great War began, they make statements which do not carry complete conviction. According to them, England, in the pay of the Jews, made Belgium invade Germany in order to rob her of her colonies on which she depended for her living-space and daily bread. The German people, unarmed and unsuspecting, were taken at a grievous disadvantage and the Belgian expeditionary force sustained by the whole might of Israel might easily have captured Berlin if Corporal Adolf Hitler had not stood in its path at the critical moment.
When stuff like this is put forth million-fold, it may have a good effect in Germany. It certainly has a very good effect outside Germany.
Democracies’ Benefit from Dr Goebbels
So far as the English-speaking people are concerned, there could be no better propaganda than that served out by Goebbels. Every facility should be given by the governments of the British Empire and the United States for the widest and most constant dissemination of his views. We must be very careful not to occupy the ether when he is speaking.Nothing that we could do should be half as beneficial as a nightly half-hour from him. He is the supreme propagandist for the non-Nazi forces throughout the world. Every opportunity should be given to the wage-earning masses in Great Britain, the United States, France, Poland and the smaller countries to hear every word he says. He ought to be paid a very large retaining fee by World-Jewry to keep at it.
If he finds the personal strain too great, we could offer special opportunities to Nazi speakers from his department to come and lecture in Britain. I have no doubt that the United States would give full police protection to such missionaries in the discharge of their task. If anything happened to Herr Goebbels, we should all regard it as a disaster. His is a precious life, and his voice belongs to mankind.
Where truth appears “very dangerous”What an odd thing it is in this grave hour that Nazi Germany, with all its aeroplanes and cannon, storm-troopers, political police and brave armies, is terrified of words. These resolute and ruthless people who are eager to stand up to a cannonade are frightened at a whisper. But our poor, degenerate unpatriotic democracies – as they tell us we are – not only do not mind what is said about, us but welcome and positively relish the fullest expression of the Nazi views. Bismarck said in a phrase which may well be remembered – “If the Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared, it would have to be invented.” So it is with our loquacious friend Goebbels. The void would be ghastly.
Lord Perth, a well-trained Foreign Office official, who happens to be what is called in America a “Blood Peer”, and has been long Secretary of the League of Nations and British Ambassador in Italy, cannot hope to compete with Herr Goebbels. He will merely keep a stream of facts flowing as a kind of accompaniment to the great soloist. The reason why his appointment has been criticised and even scarified in Berlin is because, and only because, the truth is very dangerous there.
It is formidable indictment of a regime that it is afraid of foreign words. No government that is soundly based minds foreign criticism. If it is just they profit by it and amend their ways. When it is unjust it puts them is a good position with their own people.
If Germany wishes for guarantees
When the Hitler regime have to seize and destroy every foreign newspaper which contains some item they do not like, when spies are put in the streets to make sure no dutiful German is listening in to the British or French wireless, when even private letters have to be censored in the post, one may be sure that the system of government has misgivings about its own foundations.It must be dreadful to live like that because not only do British, American, Scandinavian, Swiss and French ideas percolate through all the barriers but they are studied with particular attention by the very large number of Germans who receive them. The more they keep it out, the more it counts when it does get in.
At the present moment an intense effort is being made in Germany to convince the German people that they are being encircled. It is probable that with the vast resources of German internal propaganda by Press and wireless, this impression will be imparted to the German people. Moreover, there is a good deal of truth in it. And there is never any use in hiding truth.
An alliance of armed and arming nations is being brought into being to resist in concert further acts of Nazi aggression. We are trying to make it as large and as strong as possible. But this encirclement is directed only against a further act of Nazi aggression. It will never have any physical existence unless or until Nazi Germany attacks and invades one of her neighbours. It is only by her own act that Germany can be encircled.
If she is content to lead an ordinary, decent, humane life and leave her neighbours unmolested, no one is going to interfere with her or with the way she chooses to be governed. Britain and France ask nothing for themselves in security that they are not willing to accord to Germany. If Germany wishes for any guarantee, she can have it tomorrow on the collective assurance of half the world.
But how does Germany stand herself upon the encirclement of other countries? The Axis Powers strain every nerve, in conjunction with General Franco’s Spain, to encircle France. Germany and Italy have obviously encircled Jugoslavia. The position which Italy has so recently seized in Albania, if joined to a Bulgaria friendly to the Axis, would make the encirclement of Jugoslavia absolutely perfect.
As he wrote this before the war broke out, and as an MP of the day and a very knowledgeable one, I think he missed it re. Franco surrounding France.
I have only by chance recently come into a copy of Count Ciano’s diaries 1937-1943, thanks to the wife’s passion for car-boot sales where she found a copy for me. Anyone interested in the history of the period should get their hands on a copy. It’s most informative. Franco exasperated his would be axis allies.
He knew Spain’s limitations and inability to fight a world war. By 1940, even Ciano began to understand the grip Germany had on his own country and saw disaster ahead. But all that’s off topic.
Read the rest of this article HERE
Posted by peiper
on 06/22/2009 at 02:54 AM
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Permalink • Sunday - June 21, 2009
What? What? Speak Up Please!
A friend, she of the .22 single action Ruger Bearcat, got a few rounds on target yesterday, with her very own gun. Great! I gather she used a set of those roll up foam earplugs. She wrote asking which earmuffs were the proper ones to buy for shooting sessions.
Hmm, that is a good question. While a good snarky answer could be “the ones that you’ll wear - good fit is everything”, purchasing first class hearing protection demands a bit of research.
First, let’s clear the air: guns are loud. Really loud. Somewhere in the vicinity of 140-165dB. Loud enough to cause you permanent total hearing loss. But they aren’t loud all the time. The typical bark from the muzzle only lasts a couple of milliseconds; a whole day’s worth of shooting at the range might expose you to 3 or 4 seconds of total noise. But it’s percussive noise. Gunblast can figuratively hammer the air right out of your lungs; what do you think it’s doing to your eardrums? Hearing protection is a must.
Next, let’s look at the actual sound of gunfire. It’s mostly low frequency. BOOM. 40-70hz. And most hearing protection is only rated down to 125Hz, and almost all hearing protectors offer much less protection at the lowest frequencies.
I looked around the internets, and I learned a few things. Most, if not all, of the earmuff companies feel you should wear a double layer of protection: earplugs and earmuffs. You betcha, that makes sense. Yet nobody does this. I started shooting back in the days when nobody wore hearing protection at all. It wasn’t such an issue at the indoor range with everyone popping away with their little .22 rifles. Until that psycho in the last lane opened up with a .357 Magnum. Horry Clap those are loud! In the early 80s I had, and still have, a pair of David Clark 10a muffs, the standard muffs everyone has. They seem to do an Ok job, but really ... they aren’t so great:
Hz dB SD Net Expected Attenuation
125 10.9 1.4 9.5
250 20.9 2.4 18.5
500 28.8 3.6 25.2
1000 32.8 2.6 30.2
2000 35.9 1.4 34.5
3150 37.4 2.3 35.1
4000 38.3 1.6 36.7
6300 37.5 2.1 35.4
8000 37.1 2.7 34.4
NPR Rating: 23dB
Years later I found the Peltor Bullseye Ultimate 10 earmuffs, and they were much, much better. 
These muffs have an NPR Rating of 29-30dB. I don’t have that model’s specs, and they may be discontinued. They changed the “crack” of the blast to a “thump”, and it seemed quieter too. Plus, they cost half what the Clark muffs cost. These work fine, but get knocked off my right ear when I shoot my high combed Weatherby rifle. So far they are the best I’ve tried, but there may be better earmuffs available. And the getting knocked off the ear thing is bad, which is why I’m looking for some earplugs as well.
Right now, the best model Peltor muffs that I can find are the Optime III and the Bulls Eye III, 
both of which far outperform the old Clark 10A muffs, and ought to get an NPR Rating of 34-35dB. Except that 30dB is the top rating, because the ANSI law is from 1974! [update: no, I am wrong. The new standard is ANSI S12.6-1997.
Hz dB SD Net Expected Attenuation
125 17.4 2.1 15.3
250 24.7 2.6 22.1
500 34.7 2.0 32.7
1000 41.4 2.1 39.3
2000 39.3 1.5 37.8
4000 47.5 4.5 43.0
8000 42.6 2.6 40
It’s obvious these are much better than the first set. They are probably quite a bit better than my 10 year old Ultimate 10s, but these may only be for sale in Britain, for around $30.
Here in the USA, the Howard Leight company makes the Bilsom Thunder T3: 
Hz dB SD Net Expected Attenuation
125 24.7 2.8 21.9
250 29.8 2.7 27.1
500 35.5 2.8 32.7
1000 38.5 3.0 35.5
2000 37.9 2.5 35.4
3150 39.6 3.1 36.5
4000 39.6 2.4 37.2
6300 41.9 2.6 39.3
8000 42.3 2.4 39.9
NPR Rating 30dB
Appropriately named, the Thunder T3 muffs seem tuned to better attenuate lower frequencies than the Ultime III muffs. And that seems just right for the rifle range. $20 at Amazon.
But we’re only halfway there. Like I wrote, gun fire is 140-165dB. The best of these muffs can take away about 22dB of that. Which means your ears are still getting 128dB or more. This is why you want earplugs as well.
Howard Leight MAX™ earplugs, about $1 per pair:
Hz dB SD Net Expected Attenuation
125 40.9 3.5 37.4
250 43.0 3.9 39.1
500 44.8 3.8 41.0
1000 38.9 2.8 36.1
2000 37.2 2.7 34.5
3150 47.4 4.5 42.9
4000 48.5 3.1 45.4
6300 47.7 4.4 43.3
8000 47.8 3.9 43.9
NPR Rating 33dB
It’s pretty obvious that the best earplugs are far more effective than the best earmuffs. And many people choose to just wear the earplugs alone. Plus, they’re cheap, weigh nothing, and they fit in your pocket.
But for the best protection - and what real good is just a little protection? Do you want to be just a little deaf, like me? Trust me, this sucks every day of my life - you ought to wear both. Together they can reduce gun blast down nearly 60dB, down to 100dB or less. Which is still loud, but hardly damaging at all, especially when you’re exposed to about 3 seconds worth in a whole day of shooting.
PS - (you knew I was going to mention this) - we ought to have sound suppressors on our rifles, like they do in Europe. They aren’t “silencers”, not even close. But they can knock another 30dB off the blast. And it’s for your own ear’s good!! Hey Nanny State, help us out here! And while you’re at it, extend the frequency testing at both ends: 63Hz and 16,000Hz, to get the really low sounds and the really high ones.
UPDATE: Aww crap. The government says that doubling up doesn’t add much more than an extra 10dB in protection. Sure. That’s why I can’t hear a damn thing when wearing both, and gun blast is about as loud as two hands clapping.
A personal hearing protection device (or hearing protector) is any device designed to reduce the level of sound reaching the eardrum. Earmuffs, earplugs, and ear canal caps (also called semi-inserts) are the main types of hearing protectors. A wide range of hearing protectors exists within each of these categories. For example, earplugs may be subcategorized into foam, user-formable (such as silicon or spun mineral fiber), premolded, and custom-molded earplugs. In addition, some types of helmets (in particular, flight helmets worn in the military) also function as hearing protectors. Refer to Nixon and Berger [1991] for a detailed discussion of the uses, advantages, and disadvantages of each type of protector. Items not specifically designed to serve as hearing protectors (e.g., cigarette filters, cotton, and .38-caliber shells) should not be used in place of hearing protectors. Likewise, devices such as hearing aid earmolds, swim molds, and personal stereo earphones must never be considered as being hearing protective.
Ideally, the most effective way to prevent NIHL is to remove the hazardous noise from the workplace or to remove the worker from the hazardous noise. Hearing protectors should be used when engineering controls and work practices are not feasible for reducing noise exposures to safe levels. In some cases, hearing protectors are an interim solution to noise exposure. In other instances, hearing protectors may be the only feasible means of protecting the worker. When a worker’s time-weighted noise exposure exceeds 100 dBA, both earplugs and earmuffs should be worn. It is important to note that using such double protection will add only 5 to 10 dB of attenuation [Nixon and Berger 1991]. Given the real-world performance of hearing protectors [Berger et al. 1996], NIOSH cautions that even double protection is inadequate when TWA exposures exceed 105dBA.
Ok, what’s the difference between dB and dBA? dB is decibels, and dBA is “A” weighted decibels. It’s a filtering algorithm that tries to approximate human hearing sensitivity. Beyond that, I don’t understand it. But I do recall from the audiophile world that it takes a heck of lot more power to make a low frequency sound seem to be as loud as a higher frequency sound. So maybe less hearing protection at low frequencies is Ok, since we can’t hear those frequencies well to begin with? Oh, and TWA means “Time Weighted Average”, and I think the test time is 8 hours. Do we have any aural experts who can ‘splain this stuff better?
Posted by Drew458
on 06/21/2009 at 11:14 AM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
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Permalink • Saturday - June 20, 2009
This Week On Pirates
I was going to happily post that there were no hijackings by pirates this week in and around the Red Sea / Persian Gulf / Arabian Sea / Indian Ocean area. Plenty of incidents, but no captures:
14.06.2009: 1700 LT: Posn: 12:33.5N - 043:29.5E: Bab el Mandab, Red Sea.
Several speed boats were spotted in the vicinity of a LPG tanker. The speed boats picked up speed and started to cross the tanker’s bow. The boats came very close to the tanker and opened fire with automatic weapons. The tanker continued to make evasive manoeuvres and prevented the pirates from boarding.
15.06.2009: 1305 LT: Posn: 12:58N – 048:27E, Gulf of Aden.
One skiff approached an oil tanker underway at a speed of around 20 knots. At around ten meters distance from the tanker, the pirates fired several shots with guns and two RPG rounds. Master mustered all crew, increased speed, carried out evasive manoeuvres, fired parachute flares and informed Iranian warship in the vicinity. After about 20minutes the pirates gave up the attempt and move away. The Iranian warship was in attendance. Later a coalition helicopter arrived at scene. Ship moved away without any casualties and damage.14.06.2009: 1435 UTC: Posn: 12:35N - 043:28E: Bab el Mandab, Red Sea.
Several skiffs chased a LNG tanker with intent to board. Tanker enforced anti piracy measures and prevented the boarding.14.06.2009: 1740 LT: Posn: 12:57.9N - 043:09.3E: Bab el Mandab, Red Sea.
Four speed boats with 5-6 persons in each boat, armed with automatic weapons approached a tanker underway. Tanker made evasive manoeuvres, activated fire hoses. Later, the speed boats aborted the attempt.14.06.2009: 1453 UTC: Posn: 12:59N - 043:09E: Bab el Mandab, Red Sea
Speed boats approached a bulk carrier underway. Ship took evasive manoeuvres and prevented the boarding.13.06.2009: 0110 LT: Posn: 12:36N - 043:25E: Bab el Mandab, Red Sea.
Two skiffs were detected on radar by a chemical tanker underway. Tanker made evasive manoeuvres; increased speed warned other ships on VHF Ch.16 and contacted coalition warships. Later, skiffs aborted the attempt.
Alas, such was not the case:
12.06.2009:1334 UTC: Posn: 21:55N – 059:51E, Off Oman.
Armed pirates attacked, boarded and hijacked a general cargo ship underway.
This attack happened at the east end of Oman, right on the horn, just south of the city of Sur. You know, just across the bay from Pakistan. Most of the way to India just about. Note the latitude and longitude - this attack happened within sight of land, maybe 5 miles out to sea. Oman has a navy, right? 10 or a dozen ships perhaps? Lasers mounted on aqua-camels or something?
MUSCAT, Oman, June 13 (UPI)—A cargo vessel was hijacked off the coast of Oman by suspected Somali pirates in what is believed to be the first pirate attack in the area, officials said.
The MV Charelle, a small German-owned cargo vessel sailing under the Antigua and Barbuda flag, was attacked 60 nautical miles south of Sur on the Omani coast, Ecoterra reported Saturday.
The U.S. Navy warned this week that Somali pirates were expanding their range of operations far beyond the East African coast.
So what happened? The pirates were gunned down, right? Captured and hung? Or at least caught and then let go with a stern warning and a nice warm lunch? Not hardly. Not at all actually. With the combined navies of The United States, Great Britian, France, Germany, Russia, India, Iran, and probably Singapore just sitting around like leaky rubber ducks in a dirty bath tub, they let them go. With the stolen ship. All the way the hell back to Somalia. 1500 miles. Through the busiest international waters on the planet. Past all the navies of all the world. And nobody did a damn thing. Not. A. Thing.
Pirates take hijacked ship and Lankan crew to Somali waters
The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry is tracking the whereabouts of the New Zealand registered vessel with seven Sri Lankan crew members, including its captain and engineer, which was hijacked by Somali pirates in Omani seas a week ago. Ministry sources said it was watching the developments through our High Commissions in Nairobi and Canberra. Our High Commissioner in Canberra is also accredited to New Zealand.
According to available information the hijacked vessel “MV Cherralla” has reached Somali waters, but the pirates had still not found a safe location to drop anchor, they said adding that once they have a safe location they would follow the usual procedure of contacting the owners to obtain a ransom for the release of the ship and its crew.
In addition to the Sri Lankan crew of seven there are believed to be three Philippinos and one New Zealander on board the vessel.
[ German owned, New Zeeland registered, Sri Lankan and Philippino crewed. The shipping industry truly is international. Even though the two reports spell the ship’s name differently, it’s still the same one. ]
Posted by Drew458
on 06/20/2009 at 07:16 PM
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •
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Permalink • Not Cox & Forkum
Just John Cox, who can’t resist the political cartoon now and again.
Gosh I miss those guys. They were great.
Of course, Ramirez ain’t too shabby either ...
Posted by Drew458
on 06/20/2009 at 06:38 PM
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Permalink • Tastes almost as good as it smells
Another rainy day here in Clinton. Pouring and drizzling the whole day long. The water pipe guys finished their job Friday and filled in the moat, so all that rain water gets to run downhill now and collect in our little pond, which is already filled right up to the top and draining out over onto the road.
Can’t get a whole lot done outside today, so it was a Saturday of housework and cooking. I made up this Mongolian Beef recipe I found over at The Crepes of Wrath. And it came out pretty darn good. I would recommend taking it up a notch or two by doubling the amount of garlic and ginger, or at least by using fresh ground ginger. I had to grind some from a dried root, and it’s just not the same. Naturally I put in about double the amount of dried pepper flakes, which gives things just a little bit of zip. Oh, and the recipe there neglects to tell you what to do with the other half of the oil: put it in the pan when you cook the meat. Mr. Wrath simmered his concotion for 10 minutes. That will work, but be careful: the corn starch can turn the sauce into tar if you overcook things. Still, it was a pretty easy dish, and tasy in a sneaky kind of way. It didn’t really impress either of us at first, but even though I made enough for 4, there doesn’t seem to be any left over at all. So I guess it was pretty decent after all. And the whole upstairs of our place smells great! [ our kitchen fan runs through the attic and vents out over the back deck. But because it’s quite cool today I left the back slider open ... and all the aromas came right back in the house! ]
I spent a couple hours this afternoon reading up on sous vide cooking. That’s “sue vid” to you other Francophobes. It means putting a chunk of meat in a vacuum sealer bag, sucking the air out, and then slow cooking it in a kettle of lukewarm water. Yeah, it sounded wierd to me too. But stop and think about it: depending on whether you want rare, medium, or well, the center of a steak is only heated to about 140 degrees. And it turns out that this method has been used in restaurant kitchens for ages. Once you “parboil” the meat up to the right temperature, you can keep it there for hours and hours and it won’t overcook. And all it needs is a quick walk across the grill to brown up the outside, and it comes out perfect. Every time.
My next though was about germs. Don’t we always hear how botulism, plague, liberalism, dengue fever, etc, will grow on meat in an instant if we don’t cook the stuff to a leathery gray death? Well, it turns out to be a bit of a crock. Sous vide came about as a blend of the chefly arts and the science of kitchenology. So sure, germs can grow, but once things get beyond 127 degrees or thereabouts they can’t.
So I’m eager to give this a try, if I can do it on the cheap. I picked up several other tidbits along the way:
- swabbing down a raw steak with cheap vodka will kill most of the germs on the surface, which is where the germs live.
- Tenderizing the meat with a Jacquard tenderizer is the way to go. It’s like using a fork to poke little holes in the meat, but a good Jacquard has lots of little pointy knife blades in it, so it actually cuts into the meat. Hafta get one of them.
- Marinading meat in a vacuum bag takes much less time than the traditional way.
- Cooking the meat in a sealed vacuum bag keeps all the flavor in the food. Nothing escapes, not even steam. So you need less marinade too.
- Raw garlic and olive oil don’t work properly in this method of cooking. Use garlic powder and canola oil instead.
- You can’t overcook stuff by leaving it in the hot water for too long. It just doesn’t happen. Overcooking is caused by getting the core temperature too high, not by length of time!
- Once brought to the correct temperature and kept there long enough, the meat can be rapidly cooled down [still in the bag] and will keep in the fridge for weeks!
- Vacuum marinading makes the meat look wiered. Ignore it. Sous vide cooking makes the meat look excessively red, so ignore that too. Between the two of them, you get normal looking meat.
- The browning and seering of the outside of a steak has an actual scientific name. It’s called the Maillard Process, and it’s what makes a well grilled steak tastes so damn good.
- Yes, excessive browning - Maillarding? - can create carcinogenic compounds. In very small quantities. Advantage sous vide: you can brown your steak with a blowtorch or on a really really hot grill or in a smoking hot iron pan, and the whole job is done in under a minute, which isn’t enough time for these compounds to form.
All in all it sounds really cool. A precision temperature adjuster costs about $140, which hooks up to a big rice cooker that you use as a water bath. Vacuum “Seal-a-Meal™” devices you can get everywhere, along with the bags.
Industrial machinery costs several thousand dollars, but if you aren’t running a restaurant, you can do it on the cheap. You don’t even need the Seal-a-Meal™ gizmo.
Lots of links of course:
http://blog.khymos.org/2009/01/18/a-mathematician-cooks-sous-vide/
http://blog.khymos.org/2007/01/21/perfect-steak-with-diy-sous-vide-cooking/ [DIY sous vide, on the cheap]
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/magazine/14CRYOVAC.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://www.kamikazecookery.com/blogs/133
http://www.technogypsy.net/ [ lots of recipes and pictures here ]
http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html [wherein Science finds the perfect temperature to soft-boil eggs perfectly: 148°F for an hour. An hour! But to be Fair & Balanced, Non-Science says this gives you a rather gloopy egg. I guess you have to like soft-boiled to begin with.] It also list Pasteurization times for fowl, for those really worried about germs:
I’m pretty sure that these times will pasteurize beef and pork as well. Still, better safe than sorry.
I’d like to follow up on that guy’s DIY project. I can afford that rig. The commercial stuff costs more than I can sell my car for. ( hey, it’s nearly 13 years old already! ) And we have a vacuum sealer somewhere in one of these closets.
Next kitchen experiment? Gyro Lamb Loaf! To the best of my knowledge, Science has had nothing to do with this recipe at all!
Posted by Drew458
on 06/20/2009 at 02:40 PM
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining •
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Permalink • Friday - June 19, 2009
Weekly Crowder, A Day Late
Posted by Drew458
on 06/19/2009 at 09:30 PM
Filed Under: • Humor • Politically-Incorrect •
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Permalink • Juneteenth, Again
Today, Americans celebrate Juneteenth—when in 1865 slavery finally ended throughout the entire United States. Sadly, few people know that Juneteenth was a high water mark for African- Americans. Soon after that great day, the Democratic Party defeated the post-Civil War policies of the Republican Party, delaying the civil rights movement until the 1950s.
On this day in 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas and spread the word. See Zak’s Grand Old Partisan Blog for more details. [this is his annual link from BMEWS.]
Yesterday the Senate issued a non-binding resolution apologizing for slavery. Isn’t that wonderful?
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution yesterday apologizing for slavery, making way for a joint congressional resolution and the latest attempt by the federal government to take responsibility for 2 1/2 centuries of slavery.
“You wonder why we didn’t do it 100 years ago,” Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), lead sponsor of the resolution, said after the unanimous-consent vote. “It is important to have a collective response to a collective injustice.”
The Senate’s apology follows a similar apology passed last year by the House. One key difference is that the Senate version explicitly deals with the long-simmering issue of whether slavery descendants are entitled to reparations, saying that the resolution cannot be used in support of claims for restitution. The House is expected to revisit the issue next week to conform its resolution to the Senate version.
Even among proponents of a congressional apology, reaction to yesterday’s vote was mixed. Carol M. Swain, a professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University who had pushed for the Bush administration to issue an apology, called the Democratic-controlled Senate’s resolution “meaningless” since the party and federal government are led by a black president and black voters are closely aligned with the Democratic party.
“The Republican Party needed to do it,” Swain said. “It would have shed that racist scab on the party.”
Racist scab? You mean the one that isn’t there, that only the far left and professional victims and race baiters can see? No, we ended slavery. We gave you your freedom. The Democrats didn’t, and you didn’t earn it, or win it yourselves. It was a gift. From the “racist” Republicans. With a lot of help from the Union Army.
So of course the TV news had the head of the NAACP on this morning going on about how this gesture wasn’t enough, because it didn’t address reparations.
Hey, remember that big national discussion on race we were all accused of being too afraid to have 10 months or so ago? [Afraid. Yeah right. More like sick to death and bored to tears.]
Fine. Here’s my take on reparations: no one bloody cent. Every day you are alive is a reparation. Go get a passport. It says you’re a citizen of the United States of America. That’s your reparation. Every dollar spent on social services, Affirmative Action, government cheese, special standards, Abbot schools, and so on down a nearly infinite list - that’s your reparation. Save your money and go take a long vacation in Africa, so that you see the utter shithole that entire continent is. Disease infested, starving, uncaring, crime ridden, violent, tribal, uneducated, barbaric turd world “nations” run by tyrants and dictators. All of whom are black! Just like 95% of the people! Then know that your passport allows you to leave and come back here. That’s all the reparation you could ever want. What, you want money too? Go get a job and earn some.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/19/2009 at 02:01 PM
Filed Under: • Racism and race relations •
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Permalink • PATIENT IS OKAY, NO THANKS TO AMBULANCE THAT WENT THE WRONG WAY. DOH!
Maybe the driver couldn’t read road signs. Or couldn’t read? Who knows.
Has to be last post from me today. Can’t stay up anymore.
cheers.
AMBULANCE PATIENT TAKEN FOR A RIDE. THE WRONG WAY. 2WICE!
WINCHESTER CHRONICLE
By Andrew Napier »A HAMPSHIRE man was twice taken the wrong way to hospital by ambulance crews, due to faulty sat navs.
Leslie Palmer, 79, endured a 45-minute trips both times when it should only have taken 20 minutes.But separate ambulance crews in separate vehicles told his wife of 55 years, Jean, that they had to use sat nav as that was the rule.
Mr Palmer was taken from his home in Bishop’s Waltham with an infection on June 3, with Mrs Palmer, 77, accompanying him to go to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, 11 miles away.Mrs Palmer explained that the first time she knew something was wrong was when the driver said they were in Charles Watts Way, Hedge End - the opposite direction - and now 19 miles away from the hospital.
‘’I heard the man inside tell the driver ‘get on the motorway’ but it was much longer than it should have been,’’ she explained.
Mrs Palmer, a retired nanny, said that an ambulance was again called for her retired banker husband on the evening of June 5 and again the ambulance set off on a bizarre route at 6.50pm.‘’We were soon going through lanes I had never seen before. We were on little roads no bigger than the ambulance and my husband’s head was shaking around and we thought we were going to end up in a farm yard at any minute.”
Mrs Palmer said that the ambulance eventually popped up out of the lanes at Fishers Pond at 7.30pm but still five miles from the hospital.‘’Luckily my husband was not seriously ill, but I am concerned that if he had been more serious the delay could have made it much worse.
‘’It’s an utter nonsense. Taxi drivers have to know the roads, why can’t the ambulance driver know the roads - I cannot believe it.’’An ambulance spokeswoman said staff had the use of satellite navigation systems to travel to all locations and crews did have the option to override the system if they were familiar with the route.
She said the service covered a vast area and that some crews would have to use the system if they didn’t know the area.‘’It is likely that there was an anomaly with the settings (of the sat nav) which has been checked. We would like to confirm that this is an unusual occurrence and would like to reassure the public that we will do everything we can to avoid a similar occurrence.
Posted by peiper
on 06/19/2009 at 09:41 AM
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine • UK •
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Permalink • Gipsy families ask for £2 million to leave ILLEGAL camp.
A network of Gipsy families who are facing eviction from Britain’s biggest traveller site tried to persuade their local council to pay them £2 million to move.Richard Sheridan, leader of the Crays Hill camp, also known as Dale Farm, tried to broker the deal with Basildon District Council in Essex, saying they would use the cash to buy a new plot.
During a phone call to the local authority, Mr Sheridan said the £2 million earmarked for the eviction of the 86 families at the site in Billericay, Essex, should be given to them for an alternative site.
Mr Sheridan rang the secretary of Bala Mahendran, chief executive of the Council, who recorded the exchange and emailed it to the council’s legal department.
The email read: “Just to confirm I have spoke with Richard Sheridan – a tricky call!
“[He] suggested the council give him the £2 million it will cost to remove the travellers and they will all leave and buy another site.”
The council did not respond to the request.
The row over the illegal camp has been rumbling on for almost eight years, during which Basildon Council have paid more than £700,000 in legal fees.
Council leader Tony Ball said the deal was a ‘non-starter’ but said they would continue to negotiate with the travellers.
He said: “The approximate value of £2 million to which Richard Sheridan refers represents not only the expected cost of the eviction, but also the cost of returning the land to green belt status.”
Talking about the offer, he said: “It is a non-starter. Where would he go? Another unauthorised site?
“We do not want to spend taxpayers’ money like this.
“If he has the influence he says he has to get people to move, without the payment, he is worth talking to. No one wants an eviction.
“He is the only man we know of to represent travellers so we will engage with him in the absence of anyone else.”
Mr Sheridan, 40, has not been an appellant in the long legal battle to fight eviction, but his wife Martina McCarthy claimed legal aid to carry out her fight through the courts.
Grattan Puxon, a gipsy campaigner, said the cash demand was one of the options considered by the travellers.
He said: “Basildon is still under obligation to identify about 60 pitches.
“One option we want to put to them is to identify land with guaranteed planning permission which we could bid for or they could use the money set aside for the eviction to fund it.”
Len Gridley, 50, a local resident who has fought against the camp for five years, said: “Mr Sheridan is holding the council to ransom. This is not about homes but money.
“He has shown he is ready willing and able to find another site.”
Nothing for me to add to what I said in previous post except this.
If the system enjoys the screwing it’s getting from these folks, then the system will damn well get more of the same. Again and again.
The problem seems to me to be less with the travellers then with the authorities who have allowed this mess to get where it is. This is where appeasement leads.
Posted by peiper
on 06/19/2009 at 08:33 AM
Filed Under: • Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters • UK •
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Permalink • Doctors told to give priority to gypsies because these ppl are now designated as, a race.
Just as the wife was getting over her cold I caught it from her. Not very nice past 24 hours and now, it looks like she’s getting it back. What a sight we make if anyone could see and hear us. Coughing and sneezing and wheezing and honking and going thru Klennex in copious amounts. And I don’t think I’m up to much posting today. Can’t seem to get warm or else go from too warm to too cold. Bah. Colds are a pain from head to wherever. Pick a place. We probably have some discomfort there. sneeze-cough.
I was greeted by this article first thing today and have broken a rule of not posting the same story at two places. But the nature of this total outrage just BEGS to be posted. Some of you have your own blog sites I know, and I hope you will pass this stupidity on.
So then, based on race you can qualify for things that native born Brits who are taxed can not qualify for. Like extra time with your doctor and waits at the office.
Speaking of waits. My wife who is a native born Brit is losing the hearing in one ear and the other ain’t so good either. She has an appointment at the hosp. clinic and the wait is ten weeks.
Just where does this stupidity end and when will it end? My guess is never to the last and things are always open on the first. The idiots that control things can ALWAYS find something.
This is another one of those articles I had to make myself post. I have run across many stupid things and have posted them but this surely must take a prize of some kind. Damn it all this is a lifestyle. If I decided it had appeal and wanted to join a group of these folks, would my race designation change?
Gypsies and travellers should be given priority in NHS hospitals and GP surgeries, according to Government guidance.
By Ben Leach
Published: 9:44AM BST 18 Jun 2009They should be given longer consultations, and should be seen by GPs when they walk in without an appointment, even if doctors are fully-booked.
The average length of a consultation is five or ten minutes but travellers will be given 20 minutes and allowed to bring relatives into the consulting rooms.
The guidelines have been introduced because, under race laws, gypsies and travellers are defined as minority ethnic groups and the NHS is obliged to consider their special needs and circumstances.
Yet no special treatment is promised for other groups such as those from the Asian sub-continent or Africa, the Daily Mail reported.
The guidance forms part of the Primary Care Service Framework, drawn up by the NHS Primary Care Commissioning - an advisory service for local health trusts - to help all PCTs understand the Department of Health’s policy.
It will go on trial for between three and five years, Although PCTs do not necessarily have to follow the guidelines, they could be breaking human rights law and the Race Relations Act of 2000 if they do not.
Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: “No one should get priority treatment in the NHS apart from our Armed Forces, to whom we owe a special debt of gratitude.
“Decisions about who should be treated first should be based on a patient’s medical needs, not their ethnic group.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “We are aware that gypsies and travellers have experienced tremendous difficulties in accessing primary care.
“Partly as a result, community members experience the worst health inequalities of any disadvantaged group.
“The framework suggests fast-tracking for two reasons. First, as a matter of urgency, inroads need to be made into the health problems of gypsies and travellers.
“Second, if mobile community members are not seen quickly, the opportunity could be lost as they move on or are moved on. This should not be to the detriment of service provision to the settled community.”
Settled community my achin’ ass.
Posted by peiper
on 06/19/2009 at 07:15 AM
Filed Under: • Government • Health-Medicine • Insanity • Outrageous • UK •
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Permalink • Thursday - June 18, 2009
Rush Limbaugh: Obama is Destroying the Economy
Rush has made his opening monologue from June 8th available on YouTube. It’s broken into ten parts. Here’s part one, as viewed through the DittoCam:
“You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.” - Charles A. Beard
Posted by Christopher
on 06/18/2009 at 07:37 PM
Filed Under: • Commies • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Economics • Editorials • Government • Obama, The One • Scary Stuff •
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Permalink • Runs Much Better Now, Thanks
I finally got around to replacing the oxygen sensors in my Saturn. For the past several months I’ve had the Check Engine light coming on once in a while. Since I own one of those OBDC readers, I’ve been able to get the codes and clear them. It’s always been a P0133 or a P0138. Both of these are low voltage readings on the oxygen sensors. Lately I’ve been getting those codes almost every time I drove anywhere, so I knew it was time to replace the sensors. And my gas mileage has been the pits. Seriously. 25mpg on the tank, from a 2.0 liter rebuilt engine with only 25K miles on it? No, that ain’t right.
So I ordered the sensors. I got the good ones from Bosch, though all the brands cost a similar amount. Yikes, $160 delivered. I managed to get the little front one installed myself, since it screws right into the exhaust manifold on the front of the engine. The big one though was a right pain. That guy screws into the exhaust pipe just behind the catalytic converter. And since the car is 13 years old with 186,000 miles on it, it’s pretty rusty under there. To say nothing of all the heat shield flanges that get in the way, or the fact that I can only jack the car up perhaps a foot, which isn’t enough to apply enough leverage to unscrew the old sensor.
The problem quite probably was only with the front sensor. As soon as I put that one in the Check Engine lights went away, the car ran a whole lot better, and gas mileage went way up. But I’d bought both, so I might as well put both in. I took the car down to the neighborhood garage this morning, and I got there as the owner Pete was opening the doors. I brought coffee. He put the car up on the lift and took a look, and found out that the “bung” - the mounting boss on the exhaust pipe, which is nothing more than a nut welded over a hole - had mostly rusted away. Wrenching hard on that would have torn it right off the pipe. Not cool. So he used his favorite tool, a “hot wrench” ( aka welding torch ) to roast the bung good and hot, and the old sensor came right off. In and out in 15 minutes. Cost me $40, which was exactly how much cash I had in my wallet. I counted it out to him and showed him my empty wallet. “Well” he goes, “that means I’ve done my job properly.” Wise guy. 
So the whole task cost me $200. But I figure my mileage will jump up to 33-35mpg on the tank, which means ... I’ll actually be saving money in about 5 months. And of course, not burning out my catalytic converter by flooding it with overly rich exhaust. And I’m certain my car’s emissions will improve. Cool. Going Green as a side effect.
As part of the “new economy” folks are keeping their cars longer. That means more maintenance over the years. Oxygen sensors have a HUGE impact in how much gas your vehicle uses, and how much it pollutes, but they don’t last forever. Most of them have a 100,000 mile service interval at best. This pair lasted nearly twice that long.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/18/2009 at 10:57 AM
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, big machinery, and automobiles •
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Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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