Friday - March 02, 2007

Britain Is Too White

Here is a little something to make your day from our covert agent Peiper who is over in Britain spying on the Liberal government that seems to be intent on making fools of themselves at the expense of every Anglo-saxon in Britain. It seems Muslims and Blacks are protected species and a drive is underway to run all the white folks out of the country. No kidding ...

Town loses prison jobs for being ‘too white’
_{(TELEGRAPH-UK) - 3:09am GMT 02/03/2007}

Scores of public sector workers are being relocated from a town because its residents are “too white and British”, it has been claimed.

The Prison Service has decided to move 80 administrative staff next month from the predominantly white Corby, Northants, to Leicester, a city with a more ethnically diverse workforce. The development is the most startling example of a renewed drive by the Government to employ more blacks and Asians.

Although positive discrimination to benefit one race over another is illegal under the Race Relations Act, public bodies can take “positive action” to meet recruitment targets.

There are now moves to take the policy further by introducing American-style “contract compliance”. This makes the award of public contracts conditional on companies setting goals and timetables for increasing ethnic employment.

The idea was recommended in a recent study commissioned by the Government and welcomed by Jim Murphy, the minister for employment and welfare reform. But employers fear that it is a back-door way of introducing positive discrimination. Martin Temple, the director-general of the Engineering Employers’ Federation, said: “It is a superficially interesting way of doing things, but it brings in all sorts of complexities that employers cannot manage without bringing disadvantages to others.”

Ann Beasley, a senior Home Office civil servant, said one of the reasons for moving the Prison Service staff to Leicester was “our ability to attract a more diverse workforce”. Leicester also had a far higher level of skills, she added.

Dominic Grieve, the Conservative diversity spokesman, said: “The Government should not be penalising people because of the ethnic make-up of where they live. It needs to explain just how widespread this policy is.” Jack Straw, leader of the Commons, told MPs that the move was triggered by the sale of the building in Corby because of a regeneration scheme.

Ordered to discriminate
_{(TELEGRAPH-UK) - 12:01am GMT 02/03/2007}
Corby in Northamptonshire has become the first town in the country to be deemed too white for its own good.

The Prison Service has decided to transfer one of its offices (and 80 jobs) from the town to nearby Leicester. One of the reasons for the move, according to a leaked letter from the Prison Service’s finance director, Ann Beasley, is that this will make it easier for the service to hit its target for employing ethnic-minority workers - or, in New Labour Orwell-speak, to “attract a more diverse workforce”.

With refreshing candour, Mrs Beasley points out that “93.7 per cent of the population of Corby are white British, compared to 59.6 per cent in Leicester”. How very remiss of Corby to be so insular.

Mrs Beasley deserves some sympathy. This is not some clumsy aberration by an over-zealous official. She is simply obeying orders. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 - enacted in response to the Macpherson inquiry, which branded the Metropolitan Police “institutionally racist” - imposes a statutory obligation not only on the police but on all public bodies to take active steps to promote racial equality.

While it outlaws discrimination against people on grounds of race, it also encourages the public sector to take “positive action” to help meet ethnic targets. Mrs Beasley was just ticking this box.

The obvious question raised by the Corby case is just how commonplace such crass attempts at social engineering are. How many Mrs Beasleys are out there relocating jobs around the country to hit “diversity” quotas? The overall tone of her letter suggests that it is absolutely routine to regard the availability of ethnic workers as a “key influencing factor” when making such decisions. If she had not spelled out the statistical justification for the decision literally in black-and-white terms, it might never have been noticed.

The Prison Service’s retreat from Corby highlights once again the plight of that least valued sector of modern British society, the white working class. They appear to exercise precious little clout in New Labour’s brave new world of diversity, inclusion and ethnic targets. Such neglect fuels resentment, which the odious British National Party is expertly exploiting.

The supreme paradox in Corby’s case is that a large section of its excessively white population is actually of immigrant stock - descended from the thousands of Scots who moved there when the steel industry was developed in the 1930s. If it were not so depressing, it would be positively comic.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/02/2007 at 11:08 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • Racism and race relations •  
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Mars Is Melting

Poor old Marvin The Martian. As you can see below he is in deep trouble now. It seems he and his dog are raising temperatures on Mars and melting the polar ice caps there. What a shame. Now the enviroweenies here on Earth will just have to put a stop to his activities on Mars.

Seriously, the news article below demonstrates a very clear fact to me: the scientists who believe mankind is responsible for global warming have closed thir minds and are not about to even consider any other cause for the recent rise in average temperatures. Read the quotes below.

Their stubbornness is blatantly evident. They refuse to even admit that the Sun or natural cycles have anything to do with it. It’s the worst case of tunnel vision I have ever seen - and these supposedly reputable scientists accuse people like me of having a neo-con agenda or refusing to face facts?

Personally, my best advice to Marvin The Martian is to go ahead and use his illudium Q-38 explosive space modulator on Al Gore and the so-called scientists here on Earth who have their heads in the sand and refuse to come up for air.

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says
_{(National Geographic News) - February 28, 2007}

Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet’s recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human- induced—cause, according to one scientist’s controversial theory.

Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.

In 2005 data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide “ice caps” near Mars’s south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.

Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.

“The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars,” he said. Abdussamatov believes that changes in the sun’s heat output can account for almost all the climate changes we see on both planets. Mars and Earth, for instance, have experienced periodic ice ages throughout their histories.

“Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in solar irradiance,” Abdussamatov said.

By studying fluctuations in the warmth of the sun, Abdussamatov believes he can see a pattern that fits with the ups and downs in climate we see on Earth and Mars. Abdussamatov’s work, however, has not been well received by other climate scientists.

“His views are completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion,” said Colin Wilson, a planetary physicist at England’s Oxford University. “And they contradict the extensive evidence presented in the most recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report.”

Amato Evan, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, added that “the idea just isn’t supported by the theory or by the observations.” The conventional theory is that climate changes on Mars can be explained primarily by small alterations in the planet’s orbit and tilt, not by changes in the sun. “Wobbles in the orbit of Mars are the main cause of its climate change in the current era,” Oxford’s Wilson explained.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/02/2007 at 09:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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Late Night Silliness

_{Drew Sheneman - The Newark Star Ledger}

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/02/2007 at 01:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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   Thursday - March 01, 2007

Womens History Month

March is National Women’s History Month, celebrating the role of females in the history of our country. You will hear a lot about Clara Barton, Susan Anthony, Helen Keller, Coretta Scott King, Sandra Day O’Conner and hundreds of other famous women. I’m sure they’ll even slip a tribute to Hillary Clinton in there somewhere.

One lady you will probably never hear about is Leigh Ann Hester, so I’m going to tell you about her now. It all began in March, 2005 in Iraq and ended with a Silver Star and a recent dedication at the US Army Women’s Museum. I covered this story here nearly two years ago. You can find the original post by searching the blog archives or you can get all the details below. Pay particular attention to the last paragraph. That’s an order ...

Army Women’s Museum Honors Guard Squad’s Valor
_{FORT LEE, Va. (NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU) - February 5, 2007}

A new chapter has been added to the story of women serving in the Army.  The U.S. Army Women’s Museum on Saturday, Feb. 3, opened its Global War on Terrorism exhibit which showcases the contributions women have made during the war. Its centerpiece a life-size diorama of the actions of Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester and the other members of that squad during a March 20, 2005, ambush by insurgents near Baghdad.

Hester, who was assigned to the Kentucky Army National Guard’s 617th Military Police Company at the time, was awarded the Silver Star Medal, becoming the first woman to receive the award since World War II and the first woman to ever receive it for direct actions against an enemy force.

Others in the unit received the Silver Star including Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein, the squad leader, whose award has recently been upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor.

The Women’s History Museum originally opened as the Women’s Army Corps Museum at Fort McClellan, Ala., in 1955, and was relocated to Fort Lee near Petersburg, Va., in 2000.

Hester and most of the other members of the Kentucky squad were present for the opening of the GWOT exhibit on Feb. 3. It was the first time they had all been together in more than a year, Hester said.

While the exhibit, which opened three weeks prior to March 1, the start off Women’s History Month, focuses on the actions of Hester and Nein, both Soldiers emphasized that the entire squad worked together to achieve success in the mission.

“It wasn’t one person’s actions that day,” Hester said. “It was us as a team. You know, I wouldn’t be standing here today without these guys having had my back that day.”

The squad, call sign Raven 42, was escorting a convoy near the town of Salman Pak south of Baghdad when the convoy came under heavy fire. Acting without hesitation, the Guard Soldiers drove their vehicles between the insurgents and the convoy.  Hester and Nein dismounted from their armored Humvees and led the counterattack against the ambush. Twenty-seven insurgents were killed and seven were captured.

Two Soldiers in the squad were wounded during the engagement, which lasted roughly 30 minutes. But it could have been far worse because the insurgents had getaway vehicles pre-positioned with open doors and trunks as well as handcuffs which, some say, indicates they intended to take prisoners.

While Hester was quick to downplay her role during the counterattack, others feel she did much more than simply her job.

“It’s amazing,” said Pat Sigle, director of the Army Women’s Foundation, which oversaw the funding for the exhibit. “To her it was her job. That’s all it was, that’s her job. I hope she understands, and I think in time she will, just how amazing that team was, how they all came out alive, how they pulled together and did what they were supposed to do.”

The fact that Hester is a woman who has served in a combat zone, and in direct combat action, has been highlighted by many people. But it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to her. It was just another aspect of the squad.

“I believe everybody in my squad changed a lot of minds,” she said. “Not just me. We’re a blend of several different cultures, and being a woman, to me, is just one of those cultures. It makes no difference. If you can do the job, you can do the job. Some people can and some people can’t.”

Others in the squad agreed.

“A hundred years ago I guarantee our forefathers would never have thought a squad that was as successful as we were that day could come from so many different backgrounds and look so different physically,” said Sgt. Jason L. Mike, an African-American medic assigned to the unit who was also awarded the Silver Star for his actions that day. 

While many in attendance expressed awe at the actions of Hester, Nein, Mike and the others in Raven 42, the squad members stood in awe of the exhibit that depicts their actions.

“They did an outstanding job,” said Hester. “It’s amazing what they did. I believe it captures the actions of March 20, 2005, very well.”

But, for Hester, it still comes down to just doing their jobs that day.

“There’s a lot of Soldiers that are doing this job right now,” she said. “Right this minute, right now they’re doing now what we were doing then, and they’re not getting the credit they deserve. Look at the big picture. We did great one day, but there are people doing that everyday. Don’t lose sight of that.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 03:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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Lost!

We are so danged lost this time we may never get back. We’re overseas again and there ain’t nothing but deep blue ocean for thousands of miles around us and I’m sure there are plenty of hungry shark-type critters down there just waiting for us to ditch. Fortunately, there’s a USAF base up ahead on that thin stretch of sand.

You better help me figure out where we are real fast because there are two military jets, what looks to be a heavy transport and a fighter, off our starboard wing and they are in a pretty big hurry to get on the ground. Oh yeah, one last hint: our ditzy navigal says she recognizes this base because it’s in some stupid computer game she plays called Halo 2 ... whatever that is ....

_{(Click image for larger 1065x915 in popup window)
(Photo from Google Earth Desktop)}

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 03:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •  
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Did You Know ….

In the 1400’s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have “the rule of thumb”



Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled “Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden”...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.



The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.



Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S.Treasury.



Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.



Coca-Cola was originally green.



It is impossible to lick your elbow.



The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska



The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...)



The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%



The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400



The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour: 61,000



Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.



The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.



The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.



Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar



111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321



If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.



Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn’t added until 5 years later.



Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace



Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?
A. Obsession



Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter “A”?
A. One thousand



Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All were invented by women.



Q. What is the only food that doesn’t spoil?
A. Honey



Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?
A. Father’s Day



In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... “goodnight, sleep tight.”



It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.



In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts… So in old England , when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them “Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.”
It’s where we get the phrase “mind your P’s and Q’s”



Many years ago in England , pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. “Wet your whistle” is the phrase inspired by this practice.



~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~



At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 01:30 PM   
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Motivational Poster Of The Day

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 12:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Motorvators •  
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Crash

Just when you thought your portfolio (and your 401k) were doing fine, along comes China with a bad sneeze. What happens? The rest of the world gets a cold. Yep, things were perking along nicely until Monday when the ChiCom market self-destructed.

Now the New York Stock Exchange is dropping like a rock. I pulled out of all of my high risk stock two years ago and moved everything into bonds because I’m at the age when it’s time to take a more conservative approach to your portfolio if you have one.

Hang on tight, everyone. We are going to be in for a bumpy ride over the next week or so as Wall Street investors panic. If you see any of them jumping out of their office windows you might consider cashing in any stock you own. I’m just sayin’ ...

Dow Falls Another 200, Gains Some Back
_{NEW YORK (YAHOO NEWS) - March 1, 2007}

Wall Street resumed its plunge after a one-day reprieve as investors, nervous about the impending release of key economic data, took their cues Thursday from declining overseas markets. The Dow Jones industrials briefly fell more 200 points to the 12,067 level in the opening minutes of trading, having rebounded half-heartedly on Wednesday from the previous session’s huge drop.

In the first half-hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 170.80, or 1.39 percent, at 12,097.83. Broader stock indicators also plunged. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 21.86, or 1.55 percent, at 1,384.96, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 47.60, or 1.97 percent, at 2,368.55.

Wall Street was clearly nervous as it awaited the 10 a.m. release of the Institute for Supply Management’s assessment of manufacturing activity during February. Intensifying concerns about the health of the U.S. economy fed Tuesday’s skid that sliced 416 points off the Dow. Each of the 30 Dow components was down early Thursday.

U.S. investors flinched following another series of declines in Asian and European markets. They also appeared unimpressed by the
Commerce Department’s report of improved personal income and consumption data.

Bond prices rose as stocks fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.50 percent from 4.57 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal incomes rose in January at the fastest pace in a year, fueled in part by executive bonuses and pay hikes for federal workers. Personal incomes rose by 1 percent in January while consumer spending was up by 0.5 percent. The income advance was the largest since January 2006. A confident consumer willing to spend is integral to ushering the economy to the gradual slowdown Wall Street has been hoping for.

- More ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 10:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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Daylight Saving Time Headache

In August of 2005, the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act. The Energy Policy Act changes the start dates and the end dates of daylight saving time (DST). When this law goes into effect in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier on March 11, 2007 and end one week later on November 4, 2007. These dates are referred to in this article as the “extended DST period.”

Now how does this affect you? In every way possible probably. You see, most of your electronic devices (including computers) that maintain internal clocks are programmed to switch to Daylight Saving Time from April to October. Some of these devices, like your cable TV box and cell phone, get their time “pushed” down to them from a central location and will not be affected. Other devices, like your personal computer have to be told about the new rules.

I’m going to offer you a little help to get you though this mess which will occur in 10 days. First of all, this will apply only to you folks in the United States and who are running (1) Microsoft Windows computers, which something like 98% of desktop users are running and (2) Linux, which I know a lot of you are switching to nowadays. I can’t help you with Macintosh computers because I rarely use them at work and am not that familiar with them. Contact Apple for information.

When you’re ready to start, click CONTINUE READING ...

Windows:

First of all, if you are running any of the following versions of Windows, your computer has probably already been updated via Microsoft Update (Windows Update on some systems). If you have automatic updates turned off, you need to manually run Windows Update to make sure your time zone data is updated. Microsoft is updating the following desktop versions:

Windows Vista (all versions)
Windows XP SP2 (all versions)

The following versions of Windows are no longer supported by Microsoft and you will need to follow the instructions here:

Windows 3.0
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP SP1

The first thing you need to do is download a little utility called TZEDIT. I have provided it here with help file and these instructions in TzEdit.zip. Click on that link and download the tool. It’s small, only 68K.

Once you unzip the TZEDIT package, you will have three files: TZEDIT.EXE, TZEDIT.HLP and EDIT.TXT. That last one being a text file with these instructions. If you’re ready to start, lets go. Go ahead and double-click on TZEDIT.EXE to start the program. Your screen will look something like this (your time zone may be different) ...

If you look at the bottom of the screen you will see that my computer is already set for the new Daylight Saving Time period - from the Second Sunday Of March to the First Sunday Of November. If your display says something different then click the Edit button and let’s start fixing things. The editor screen looks like this ...



Now, all you need to do is follow these instructions from Microsoft (which uses the Pacific Time Zone as an example - use your local time zone instead) ...

To manually modify time zone settings by using the Time Zone Editor, follow these steps:

1. Start Time Zone Editor.

2. In the Time Zones list, select a time zone, and then click Edit. For example, click (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada); Tijuana, and then click Edit.

3. In the Edit Time Zone dialog box, click to select the Automatically set Daylight Saving Time check box.

4. Specify the correct daylight saving time start date and end date. To do this, follow these steps:

a.  In the Start Day box, click the number of the day, the corresponding day of the week, and the month that you want. For example, click Second, click Sunday, and then click March.

b.  Select the time that you want to start daylight saving time. For example, select 2:00 A.M.

c.  In the Last Day box, click the number of the day, the corresponding day of the week, and the month that you want. For example, click First, click Sunday, and then click November.

d.  Select the time that you want to end daylight saving time. For example, select 2:00 A.M.

e.  In the Daylight Bias list, select how long you want the time to change when daylight saving time is in effect. For example, to set the clock forward 1 hour, leave the default setting of +1:00.

f.  Click OK.

g.  Select another time zone that has changed, and then repeat steps a-e. For more information about the time zones that have changed, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 931836 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836/) February 2007 cumulative time zone update rollup for Microsoft Windows operating systems

Repeat steps a through f for every time zone that has changed. When you have finished, click Close.

h.  Click Start, point to Settings, point to Control Panel, and then double-click Date/Time.

i.  Click the Time Zone tab.

j.  Select a different time zone than the (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada); Tijuana time zone, and then click Apply.

k.  Click (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada); Tijuana, and then click OK.

Note: Steps j and k are required for the new changes to take effect.

In this example, steps a through f update the time zone database. Steps h through k force Windows to read the time zone database and copy the updated information into the TimeZoneInformation registry key in the current control set.

That’s all there is to it. Don’t worry, you can’t seriously break anything if you screw up. You can always re-run TZEDIT to correct any mistake you made. Just be sure to follow ALL of the instructions above exactly like they are spelled out.

Linux:

Linux is actually a little easier but you have to start up a terminal screen because we can’t do this from any of the fancy desktops like KDE or GNOME. We are going to use the zic command-line utility. You can get more information about zic by typing “man zic” at a system prompt. Here are the instructions (which I got from Novell (who distribute SuSE) but apply to all flavors of Linux, including slackware) ...

1.  Download the most recent time zone data file (at the time of writing, tzdata2007b.tar.gz) from ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/. Updates to this data file have the year and release letter updated.

2. Copy the file to a temporary workspace of your choice on the Linux system.

3. Extract the data with the following command:

tar xvfz tzdata2007b.tar.gz

4. Apply the updates for the region(s) of interest the system’s time zone data through the zic command. E.g., to update the North American data, run

zic northamerica

5. Relink the new time zone names with the old time zone names that were just updated with the following command:  (See the Additional Notes below for a workaround to possible error(s) in this step.)
zic backward

6. Verify that the updates are applied correctly with the following command

zdump -v timezoneofinterest | grep yearofinterest
e.g
zdump -v Canada/Mountain | grep 2007
The output from the previous step should look similar to this:
Canada/Mountain Sun Mar 11 08:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 01:59:59 2007 MST isdst=0 gmtoff=-25200
Canada/Mountain Sun Mar 11 09:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 02:00:00 2007 MST isdst=1 gmtoff=-21600
Canada/Mountain Sun Nov 4 07:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 01:59:59 2007 MST isdst=1 gmtoff=-21600
Canada/Mountain Sun Nov 4 08:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 02:00:00 2007 MST isdst=0 gmtoff=-25200

7. Relink the localtime setting (in /etc/localtime) with the corrected timezone information using the following command
zic -l timezonename
e.g.
zic -l Canada/Mountain

Note: If you encounter error(s) executing zic backward

Executing zic backward may return errors if other time zone data is not recent enough. One option would be to update those time zone as well in the same manner as noted in step 4 after identifying the specific time zones involved.

A workaround in this situation is to extract only the time zones from backward that need to be re-linked following execution of step 4 above. In this case that would be the time zones that are listed in the northamerica file. The following steps can be substitued for step 5 above:

grep ‘America’ backward > backward.america

zic backward.america

Most of the major distros of Linux (Red Hat, SuSE) have supplied patch packages to automate this process. Check with your vendor to see if they have one.

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 06:21 AM   
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Ann Won’t Hug Trees

Memo To Ann Coulter: Sweetheart, pay no attention to the other deranged old farts lurking around this blog. Marry me and we can make some really smart, right-wing, neo-con kids - who will carry the war against Liberal insanity to the next generation of wankers being born in Kaleefornia and Taxatwoshits. I promise to love, honor and obey - we’ll discuss the kinky stuff later ...

_{Steve Kelley - The New Orleans Times-Picayune}

Let Them Eat Tofu!
by Ann Coulter
_{(HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE) - 02/28/2007}

Even right-wingers who know that “global warming” is a crock do not seem to grasp what the tree-huggers are demanding. Liberals want mass starvation and human devastation.

Forget the lunacy of people claiming to tell us the precise temperature of planet Earth in 1918 based on tree rings. Or the fact that in the ‘70s liberals were issuing similarly dire warnings about “global cooling.”

Simply consider what noted climatologists Al Gore and Melissa Etheridge are demanding that we do to combat their nutty conjectures about “global warming.” They want us to starve the productive sector of fossil fuel and allow the world’s factories to grind to a halt. This means an end to material growth and a cataclysmic reduction in wealth.

There are more reputable scientists defending astrology than defending “global warming,” but liberals simply announce that the debate has been resolved in their favor and demand that we shut down all production.

They think they can live in a world of only Malibu and East Hampton—with no Trentons or Detroits. It does not occur to them that someone has to manufacture the tiles and steel and glass and solar panels that go into those “eco-friendly” mansions, and someone has to truck it all to their beachfront properties, and someone else has to transport all the workers there to build it. (And then someone has to drive the fleets of trucks delivering the pachysandra and bottled water every day.)

Liberals are already comfortably ensconced in their beachfront estates, which they expect to be unaffected by their negative growth prescriptions for the rest of us.

There was more energy consumed in the manufacture, construction and maintenance of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Malibu home than is needed to light the entire city of Albuquerque, where there are surely several men who can actually act. But he has solar panels to warm his house six degrees on chilly Malibu nights.

Liberals haven’t the foggiest idea how the industrial world works. They act as if America could reduce its vast energy consumption by using fluorescent bulbs and driving hybrid cars rather than SUVs. They have no idea how light miraculously appears when they flick a switch or what allows them to go to the bathroom indoors in winter—luxuries Americans are not likely to abandon because Leo DiCaprio had solar panels trucked into his Malibu estate.

Our lives depend on fossil fuel. Steel plants, chemical plants, rubber plants, pharmaceutical plants, glass plants, paper plants—those run on energy. There are no Mother Earth nursery designs in stylish organic cotton without gas-belching factories, ships and trucks, and temperature-controlled, well-lighted stores. Windmills can’t even produce enough energy to manufacture a windmill.

Because of the industrialization of agriculture—using massive amounts of fossil fuel—only 2 percent of Americans work in farming. And yet they produce enough food to feed all 300 million Americans, with plenty left over for export. When are liberals going to break the news to their friends in Darfur that they all have to starve to death to save the planet?

- More from Ann on tree huggers at HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 02:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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Quote Of The Day

“This is a place where people come, and they’re either running away from something or running after something. It’s not where a stable, honest person comes. … Anybody who lives here is just teetering on the brink of lunacy.”

-- Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen, explaining why so many strange things happen in Florida

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 02:20 AM   
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Nicotine Fit?

This story caught my eye because it seemed to me that by banning prisoners from having a legal (habititual) substance, namely cigarettes, they only force them to break more laws because of their physical habit. It is perhaps best explained by that famous country music philosopher, Jimmy Dean (whose nephew is a close friend of mine and a reader at this blog - say hello, “Yellow Dog") ...

Now I’m a fella with a heart of gold - With the ways of a gentleman I’ve been told
A kind of a guy that wouldn’t even harm a flea
But if me and a certain character met - The guy that invented the cigarette
I’d murder that son of a gun in the first degree

It ain’t that I don’t smoke myself - And I don’t reckon they’ll hinder your health
I’ve smoked them all my life and I ain’t dead yet
But nicotine slaves are all the same - At a pettin’ party or a poker game
Everythin’s gotta stop while you have that cigarette

Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette puff puff puff and if you smoke yourself to death
Tell St Peter at the Golden Gate that you hate to make him wait
But you just gotta have another cigarette

Tennessee Inmates Swap Guard for Smokes
_{JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) - February 28, 2007, 2:29 PM EST}

Two inmates housed in a smoke-free prison traded a hostage for cigarettes after a six-hour standoff. Billy Grubb, 32, and Bradley Johnson, 25, attacked the guard Monday night, said Howard Carlton, warden of the Northeast Correctional Complex.

“As the night progressed they started saying, ‘Look, we’ll give up if you let us have some tobacco. If you do that, we’ll go back to our cell,’” Carlton said. “They got them some cigarettes, they smoked them and went back to their cell and locked themselves back in.”

An investigation into how the inmates got out of their cell and their motive for attacking the guard continued Wednesday. Both are in prison for murder. Prisons across the state are instituting no-smoking policies after the Legislature passed a law banning smoking in state buildings.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/01/2007 at 01:56 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Stoopid-People •  
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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