Sunday - August 19, 2007

The Blogroll

In my post below about a redesign of the site, it was suggested that the blogroll needs to be updated.  This thread is to capture your suggestions of who to include (and who to dump )

Have at it.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/19/2007 at 10:49 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff •  
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   Saturday - August 18, 2007

Saturday Suggestion Thread

Since I’ll be flying the unfriendly skies today, I thought I’d open a thread for you all to give suggestions.

I’m working on a redesign of the site and want to hear from you, the awesome members, if you have any suggestions.  Are there features you’d like to see incorporated?  Things that are here now that you don’t care for?  The floor is open.  Waddayathink?

Posted by Drew458     on 08/18/2007 at 06:51 AM   
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   Friday - August 17, 2007

National Buy Some Ammo Day Jr.

From Kim

Several people have pointed me to this post by David Codrea, who starts off by noting that the Brady Bunch are going to be, um, active:

On August 28, activists in cities across America will hold a national day of protest to focus attention on the scourge of illegal gun trafficking.

I don’t quite know what these morons mean by “illegal gun trafficking”, because it’s already against the law for convicted felons to buy guns from any source. This is like organizing protests against murder or fraud (likewise, both felonies).

Considering that felons acquire their guns mostly by theft, and only some by “street” transactions, I would have thought that the whole thing is pointless. Of course, almost everything the stupid Bradys do is pointless, but that’s a topic for another time.

Codrea has an idea for a counter-protest by gunnies:

I’m going to try and start a blog swarm at WarOnGuns to get gun owners to buy a box of ammo on Aug 28--be nice if gun stores would offer some sort of nominal discount or a door prize (no purchase necessary to enter, just to keep things legal) or some such on that day to encourage this--Tuesdays may typically be slow days anyway, so this would get people in their stores and probably work out to their profit.

It’d be nice unintended consequences for the Bradys if we could demonstrate a few percentage points of sales increases on that day because of this.

...and goes on to say:

We’re far enough away to where this won’t encroach on National Ammo Day, and it would be a great in-your-face to have our enemies’ plans backfire on them.

Frankly, I wouldn’t care if it did encroach on National Ammo Day—the point is to get people to buy lots of ammo, period, so the date is unimportant.

I see it as a win-win-win situation: you get more ammo into your lockers, ammo dealers get a little bump in sales, and the Bradys get a poke in the eye.

Spread the word, folks. Buy a box (or more) on Tuesday August 28th, and stick it to the Brady Bunch.

Indeed.  Spread the word.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/17/2007 at 12:22 PM   
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Need Some Shoes?

In another idiotic attempt to “get guns off the streets”, Orlando is having a ”Kicks for the Kids” gun turn-in program today.

So any of you who has an old rusted hunk of junk “gun” and live near O-Town, go turn it in an get $50.  After all, it’s for the children™

ORLANDO, Fla.—In an effort to get guns off the streets of Central Florida, officials are offering residents a free pair of shoes or a $50 gift card if they turn in a gun.

The annual Kicks-For-Guns campaign is being held on Friday at the Florida Citrus Bowl in downtown Orlando. This year, Orlando police, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Real Radio 104.1 and Rumba 100.3 are hosting the event.

Last year, 116 guns were turned in.

“We needed shoes more than we needed a gun,” a man who took his son to last year’s event said.

“I have two kids in the house. It would be safer not to have it there than to keep it for a memento,” Kim Ponder, who turned in her father’s revolver, said.

Of the 116 guns turned in last year, three were stolen, including a Tec 9 machine gun, police said.

The program promotes a no-questions-asked policy.

“For the person that’s not quite sure where that gun might of come from or they know exactly where it came from and they know it’s stolen, today is the perfect day (to turn the gun in). We just want the guns off the street,” Orlando police Chief Mike McCoy said.

Officials said they know the event will not to solve the violent crime problem in Central Florida but said it can make a dent in the problem.

Emphasis mine.  Read that again.  The officials know it won’t make a difference because all that gets turned in is crap and scrap.  It does nothing to “get guns off the street”.  All it does, in every case, is spend more of our tax money to see a bunch of junk get cut up and thrown out.

There was a thread on The High Road recently where an NRA kids shooting club got together and pooled a bunch of scrap “guns”, turning them all in to buy new guns and supplies for their club. 

Snark.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/17/2007 at 12:01 PM   
Filed Under: • Insanity •  
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Al Gore Is Ahead of His Time

This is the actual headline at the Washington Post:

Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt.

Of course, the problem is that it is from the issue dated Nov. 2, 1922

D.C. resident John Lockwood was conducting research at the Library of Congress and came across an intriguing Page 2 headline in the Nov. 2, 1922 edition of The Washington Post: “Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt.”

The 1922 article, obtained by Inside the Beltway, goes on to mention “great masses of ice have now been replaced by moraines of earth and stones,” and “at many points well-known glaciers have entirely disappeared.”

“This was one of several such articles I have found at the Library of Congress for the 1920s and 1930s,” says Mr. Lockwood. “I had read of the just-released NASA estimates, that four of the 10 hottest years in the U.S. were actually in the 1930s, with 1934 the hottest of all.”

In other news: climateaudit.org is back online.  Go have a look and bookmark them.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/17/2007 at 09:34 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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San Diego Bound

I’ll be facing the powers of darkness and TSA Drones in the morning on my way to the TDWI conference in San Diego.  I’m with a co-worker who is always fun to travel with, we’ll call him “Z”.  Last year, Z and I went to Las Vegas for this conference.  After eac day’s sessions, we’d find a nice resturaunt to eat dinner in, then I’d head back to the hotel and he’d head to the poker tables.  Sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 in the morning, Z would stumble back into the room to get some rest before starting again the next day.  I would simply roll over and put my hands up in the air: one with thumbs up and the other with thumbs down.  He would respond with one hand indicating his success that evening.  He won more than lost.

So we’ll be shuttling across the great continent all day tomorrow.  Keep the moonbats at bay, will ya?  I’ll check in when we arrive.

Are there and good indoor ranges in San Diego where a visitor can rent a newer pistol (IE: S&W M&P, Taurus 24X7 OSS, etc) to try them out?

Posted by Drew458     on 08/17/2007 at 08:56 AM   
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   Thursday - August 16, 2007

You’re Unique

Posted by Infinity     on 08/16/2007 at 08:19 PM   
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Things You Didn’t Know You Needed

Some people are amazingly creative.  I came across an article in a computer trade magazine that talked about USB devices that were available to the person who has everything.

The USB Mini Fridge

Do you want to chill a can of drink just bought from supermarket? Or does your cold drink getting warm while you drink it slowly? USB Mini Fridge can help you to solve these problems. This cool USB gadget with door design which can keep your beverage chilled and stay at your computer for longer time. Now, you can carry a fridge to anywhere!!

Thumb Size USB Fragrance Oil Burner

Thumb Size USB Fragrance Oil Burner can aromatize your home, office, car, etc. Fragrance oil can also make you feel more relax while you are working.

USB Mini Desktop Aquarium
Every geek likes to add new and interesting toys to their desktop. And if these toys happen to be powered by USB, well then, all the more fun to have. The USB Mini Desktop Aquarium is the home to two life-like tropical fish. A small motor generates a current in the water, allowing the fish to gently swim about the tank. The aquarium is equipped with a high-intensity blue LED that illuminates the tank in dark environment. Both motor and LED can be independently switched off.

The LED and the water-current motor can be powered by USB connection or batteries. The package comes complete with the tank, two fish, and USB cable. Operation is simple! Just add water to the tank, connect the cable to your computer, and enjoy the aquarium.

USB Hamster Wheel
Do you sometimes feel that you’re caught up in the rat race of the working world, and that you are chained to your desk and getting no-where fast? Well we’ve found the perfect way to lighten the load. Now we can’t promise to take you out of the rat race but we can throw a hamster in there to mix it up a bit.

The USB Hamster Wheel is an utter delight. Plug it into your USB port, load the software from the CD provided and get typing. As you type, the hamster gets running, spinning the hamster wheel around in the process - the faster you type, the faster he runs. This demented rodent sent shrieks of laughter around the office when we tested it, and is the ultimate parody of modern society.












Even more items Here.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/16/2007 at 09:30 AM   
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   Wednesday - August 15, 2007

Photo “Journalism” at its best

This ia an AP photo posted today: (screencap in case it changes)

In case you can’t make out that caption, it reads:

You see any problem with that?

Do you go and pick up bullets at the range that have been fired and magically still have their cases on them?

Shmucks.

Just take anything that they are given, as long as it fits the model of “Does it hurt America?” and run with it.  Where are the army of editors and fact-checkers that are supposed to be making sure the news is true and factual?

Errrr.  I need to get to the range.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/15/2007 at 01:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias • Outrageous •  
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Put It In Low Gear, It’s An Uphill Battle

Via RightWing News.

Saint Cindy is starting off in low gear it seems.

On Day #1 of Campaign, Sheehan Starts With 9% in Her Camp in Uphill Battle Against Speaker Pelosi:

Immediately after antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan announced 08/09/07 that she would run for Congress as an Independent against Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, SurveyUSA interviewed 583 registered voters from Pelosi’s District, California 8. The Republican candidate in a November 2008 election is not yet known. At this early hour: 66% of voters in Pelosi’s district say they will vote for Pelosi, no matter who the Republican challenger is. 9% of voters say they will vote for Sheehan, no matter who the Republican is. And 21% say they need to know who the Republican is before they know how they would vote in a contest between Democrat Pelosi and Independent Sheehan. These results are not intended to forecast what might happen in a November 2008 vote. That is today uknowable. These results are designed to provide first-glimpse, preliminary indication of how seriously a Sheehan candidacy might be taken by voters in one of the country’s more Democratic districts.

This is going to be really fun to watch. 

Posted by Drew458     on 08/15/2007 at 08:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Politics •  
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Maybe Later

Apparently, we’re just supposed to trust her when she says she’s running on her record. She doesn’t think we should actually be able to look at what she’s done, because that might taint our opinion, you see.

Clinton’s first-lady records locked up
Archivists say the documents at her husband’s presidential library won’t be released until after the ‘08 vote.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton cites her experience as a compelling reason voters should make her president, but nearly 2 million pages of documents covering her White House years are locked up in a building here, obscuring a large swath of her record as first lady.

Clinton’s calendars, appointment logs and memos are stored at her husband’s presidential library, in the custody of federal archivists who do not expect them to be released until after the 2008 presidential election.

A trove of records has been made public detailing the Clinton White House’s attempts to remake the nation’s healthcare system, following a request from Bill Clinton that those materials be released first. Hillary Clinton led the healthcare effort in 1993 and 1994.

But even in the healthcare documents, at least 1,000 pages involving her work has been censored by archives staff because they include confidential advice and must be kept secret under a federal law called the Presidential Records Act. Political consultants said that if Hillary Clinton’s records were made public, rivals would mine them for scraps of information that might rattle her campaign.

Of course they would, because they contain her thoughts and actions on topics very important to the voters. But that doesn’t really matter because if something she did or said then were to be used against her now, it would be a “vast right-wing conspiracy”.

Asked how long it might be before Hillary Clinton’s records are released, the library’s chief archivist said it could take years.

“We’re processing as fast as we can,” Melissa Walker said.

Not fast enough, in the view of some who have been waiting. A conservative watchdog group called Judicial Watch filed suit against the National Archives last month, demanding the release of Hillary Clinton’s diaries, telephone logs, daily planners and schedules. In the 1990s, the group filed suits against the Clinton administration that led to revelations about fundraising practices, including Democratic campaign donors being tapped for official trade missions. In the most recent suit, Judicial Watch said it had submitted its request more than a year ago and had received nothing, save for confirmation that the library possessed “a substantial volume” of such papers.

They’ll delay as long as they possibly can, just like the Rose Law firm documents suddenly “showed up” when it was convenient.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/15/2007 at 05:50 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics •  
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   Tuesday - August 14, 2007

The Role of Government

I am in an online discussion in our local paper’s forum about a story they did the other day.

State funds include $115,500 for American Shakespeare Center

The Artisans Center of Virginia will have a little help paying its rent in the coming months, courtesy of the Virginia Commission for the Arts. As part of more than $6.6 million in grant money given to arts organizations and local governments across Virginia, the center will receive $23,500 for general operating support. Those funds will go toward general upkeep costs such as utility bills, rent and paper supplies.

“That kind of money is the most difficult money for nonprofits to raise,” said Michael Dowell, executive director of the center. “It’s much easier to raise money for programs, like the ones we do in the schools and present to the community. But when you just want to pay your bills, it’s hard to raise that kind of money.”

The center is just one of the many local organizations receiving grant money from the commission. The American Shakespeare Center is Staunton is scheduled to receive $115,500.

State Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Weyers Cave, said funding for this area of the Shenandoah Valley has been consistent throughout the past few years. And he sees the grant money as a great help in fostering the local arts community. “It’s one way the state can reward them for what they do,” he said.

My question to open the discussion was very simple: 

Everyone and their mother is chiming in about how “the arts” are good and they need to be supported, which I wholeheartedly agree, but with PRIVATE funds and not PUBLIC funds.

No one seems to get it.  One commenter figured out that each person’s contribution to this fund was something like $.60 and opined that if this amount “breaks you”, you’ve got bigger problems.  No one seems to understand its not the amount, it’s the principle of the matter.

Where does the state (and the feds) get the authority to take my money and do all kinds of things that they are not chartered to do?

Posted by Drew458     on 08/14/2007 at 12:47 PM   
Filed Under: • Politics • Taxes •  
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   Monday - August 13, 2007

Karl’s Out

Heard a blurb (actually, it was their “Top Story") on NPR on the way in this morning that Karl Rove is going to resign today.

Oh what glee there must be in the moonbat ranks today.  What Joy.

Once he is gone, who will they blame for GWB being so stupid and so cunning at the same time?

Will update after I get my morning rush over.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/13/2007 at 08:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics •  
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   Sunday - August 12, 2007

Airplane boneyard.. Google Updated the resolution

Can zoom in max zoom now at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ

Tons of planes..

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.150899,-110.834026&spn=0.009034,0.015192&t=k&hl=en
More Info From Wikipedia

Looks like some AWACS here http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=32.168829,-110.859963&spn=0.001181,0.00294&z=19&om=1
I always thought the AWACS planes were bigger.. but apparently we only use the 1’s based on e-3 sentries(707’s)(From the wikipedia article..) only japan uses the 767 version

Posted by Infinity     on 08/12/2007 at 01:36 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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