Paul In Houston

"It will take a long battle ...

2012-01-30T11:44:00.005-06:00

... to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important."

DUH! You think?!!!

If you've read some of my posts on this (including my very first), you probably already have a clue as to where I stand.

So, I'm going to give you a bit of practice at clicking on links ...

MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2012
Are We About To See The Death Of The Global Warming Scam?
The article in today's Daily Mail

Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to
worry about (and if NASA scientists are right
the Thames will be freezing over again)

There's absolutely nothing I can add to this.
(Although the answer to the question posed by the title is "Probably not".)

He pretty well says it all.
(Although, in truth, it's never really all said; any more than "the science is settled!")

Check it out for yourself. Ok?
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Living the dream ...

2012-01-27T16:52:00.009-06:00

... as one with the Gods.

Found this on Dr. Jerry Pournelle's website,
at http://jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/?p=5099:
an email beginning "A friend posted this on her Facebook page:"
and including this link https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/406950_218671828223432_168372346586714_447701_403260359_n.jpg

This is the photo it links to ...

Ok, then. Just how real is that photo?

The plane's markings show that it belongs to the Iowa Air National Guard; probably the 132nd Fighter Wing (that is a quess on my part).

Does that unit have female F-16 pilots? Hell yes!

Has it ever operated in Afghanistan? Again, yes; out of Bagram Airfield.

Is the lady in the photo truly the pilot of that F-16 behind her? I do believe it.

Has she ever participated in the activity described in the caption? Haven't a clue.

While I enjoyed the humor of the caption, what really made me fall in love with this photo was what I perceived between that pilot and her plane.

That photo is not mine, and if the owner comes across this and wants it removed, I will do so. At the moment though, I feel that the biggest apology I would owe her would be for the fact that I am not Tom Wolfe.

He is the one who should be writing this. His prose in "The Right Stuff" didn't translate very well into the movie, sounding awkward when rendered into dialog; but was magnificent as words on a printed page.

I have often used the term "soul-killing" to describe the part-time job with which I supplement my income. Looking at her and what her job is, I doubt that phrase is even in her vocabulary.

I look at the expression on her face and I truly see someone who is "living the dream". FWIW, that's why I believe her to be the pilot of that plane.

Does that dream include being able to "blow up sh*t and get paid for it?" Maybe a little, don't really know.

Would that dream be mostly about being able to "just fly that damned thing and also get paid for it?"

ABSOLUTELY!!!

It's no accident that the Gods we've managed to conjure up can usually fly in one way or another. To be at the controls of that F-16 is probably as close to being as one with them as we can ever hope to get.

To climb into that cockpit and fly that bird into its natural element, leaving the rest of us ants behind eating our hearts out, well, I can't help feeling a bit sorry for her husband/fiance/boyfriend/whatever; how on earth can he possibly compete with that?

I'd truly love it if a pilot would let me know if I've even come close to getting it right this time. :-)

Update - Sat, 28 Jan 2012 - Found the source of that poster.

Above the photo are the words "Mars Special Operations Group". I thought that the one who created that poster might have been a a fan of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, but that would have been "Mars Special Forces" instead.

Mars Special Operations Group is a facebook group, devoted to things military ...
This page salutes the gallant efforts of soldiers, Marines, airmen, and sailors past, present, and future! If you’re not behind our troops, please feel free to stand in front of them. Mars is the God of War in Roman "mythology", and special operations groups normally are made up of numerous branches of the military (We'd tell you more but of course, then we'd have to kill you).

... and modestly declaring ...
We have the best collection of military photos on facebook!

They created that poster around an original photo, about which a commenter noted ...
That picture is taken from the (former) 185th fighter squadron out of the town I live in! They are now a refueling squadron using the new(ish) KC-135r all the f-16's and f-14 tomcats went to Sioux falls.

(Note: If you're not logged into facebook, those two links wont take you very far. :-)

So, the picture is pretty old (that change from Fighter Squadron to Refueling Squadron happened in 2003, I think), but the gist of what I said above, about the 132nd Fighter Wing remains true.

All the same, though, I'm glad I took a "The Truth Behind Truths" (Yes. That is a nod to Fullmetal Alchemist) approach to this story, focusing on the photo instead of the punchline. The "be as one with the Gods" attitude towards flying still stands and remains what this post is truly about.

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Gook

2012-01-23T13:53:00.009-06:00

n. Slang. 1. A dirty, sludgy, or slimy substance. 2. An Oriental. An offensive term used derogatorily, [Perhaps from Scottish gowk, simpleton, from Middle English gowke, cuckoo, from Old Norse gaukr, from Common Germanic gaukaz (unattested).] ~ New College Edition - The American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language (1981)

I came across that while looking up something else in my dictionary.

Lord! What follows "Perhaps" sounds a bit like Pintel (the one with the wooden eye) and Ragetti (the dour one) in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) having this Monty Python discussion over the origin and pronunciation of the word "Kraken"

The 1981 date of that dictionary attests to how thrifty I am (you're thinking of another word; aren't you? :-), but I've always liked it and found it to be pretty good.

BUT, with all due respect to the gents who wrote that definition above -- Unh-unh!

The term comes from this Korean word ...

"Gook" is its pronunciation, and it means "country"

At first glance, Korean appears similar to Chinese and Japanese characters, but in fact, it consists of an alphabet invented around 600 years ago by a team of scholars dealing with the fact that many Korean words were so difficult to be rendered into the Chinese characters in use at that time, that only the wealthy and privileged could find the time to learn how.

Result: Way too much of the population was illiterate. So, those scholars devised an alphabet of 24 consonants and vowels (clustered in syllables) called "Hangul", designed so that even a commoner could learn to read and write. "A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days." (from Wikipedia)

From thinkzone.wlonk.com

Notice at the end of the definition of "America" above, that Romanization "Mi guk" follows a phrase that translates into "beautiful country". That it is pronounced "me gook" is almost certainly the source of the term that is the title for this post, coming from Koreans simply using their name for our country.

Now, we're not really that dense (I hope :-); I've no doubt that our soldiers very quickly learned what those Koreans were really saying, but by the time they did the damage was done and the term stuck.

When I was first introduced to the language, at Yale's Institute of Far Eastern Languages (courtesy of the USAF), the Romanization (rendering those sounds into our Roman alphabet) was Yale's version. The form used above is the Revised Romanization system, developed in the late '90s, eliminating a lot of diacritical and accent marks to make things easier.

The alphabet is very phonetic and quite consistent. A Korean speaker encountering a new word in that alphabet has no problem figuring out how to pronounce it, and going the other way, can usually spell it correctly if he hears it pronounced properly.

At the time I learned this (50 years ago), I marveled at the Korean's ingenuity at coming up with and maintaining such a system, and never even considered the flaw in my reasoning.

The consistency I worshiped then was (and had to be) the product of a very insular society.

Our English (especially American English) gets enriched from every other language on the planet (literally hundreds), many of whom use the same Roman alphabet we do but in their own wonderful and mysterious ways, giving us this anarchy in which a word is often impossible to know how to pronounce without seeing it in context.

Yes, a system that can conjure up something like "ough" to be part of our words may truly rate an "Oh My God!!!"

But, consistency is highly overrated. Probably terrific for robots and ants. I'd like to think that we are a bit more flexible than that.

Considering the enrichment of our language (and so much else) by those contributions from others, I wouldn't have it any other way.
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God DMMT, Ann!!! ...

2012-01-22T20:55:00.002-06:00

... I put you in my blogroll (and will probably keep you there as long as you have that picture of yourself on your page). I even linked to a recent post of yours about Mitt Romney (as "reminding me of why I put you in my blogroll in the first place").

And then you pull this crap ...
Ann Coulter Insults Tea Party & South Carolina After Newt Wins: “I Think South Carolina Is Going Back To Their Democratic Roots”

G. Wolf (of Wolf Howling ) was right when he wrote (in a comment to that post of mine, covering the possibility of Romney getting the nomination because of your attacks) ...

After what Coulter has done to Gingrich, I've pretty much written her off of my Christmas card list. Her attack on him was disingenuous in many ways.

Indeed, if you've noted my lack of posting on the primaries at this point, it is because I am so mad at what the NRO and so many of the rightwing pundits - Coulter included - have done to Gingrich. It is disgusting and appalling. Were the election to be held today, I would sit it out. I won't by November, but it will strictly be a vote against Obama.

Now that Newt appears to be going somewhere after all, your remarks epitomize what Mr. Wolf describes as Gingrich Derangement Syndrome.

That post of mine I keep referring to ( Sometimes, Ann Coulter ... ) I ended with this observation on the possibility (or likelihood) of Romney getting the nomination ...

My biggest fear is that, were I David Axelrod, my greatest pleasure would be to see the Republicans devouring each other and my actions in such a case would be to stay the hell out of it, as detection of any meddling on my part might serve as a unifying factor instead. "If your enemies are destroying themselves, do not interfere."

I hope to God the Republicans eventually remember who the real enemy is.

Well, Lady: That observation is just as applicable if Newt Gingrich becomes the nominee.

Just what part of that concept escapes you?
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Scam

2012-01-19T12:42:00.001-06:00

You've probably become familiar with emails that are Nigerian scams or Iraqi veterans needing financial assistance scams. But what if the email asking for help is from someone you think you know?

Yesterday morning, I got this email ...
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I hope you get this on time, i know you might not believe this but i want you to know this is for real and i need your urgent assistance and i hope you will not let me down. I don't really mean to inconvenience you right now, I made an emergency trip to London. Unfortunately for me I got robbed on my way back to the hotel where i lodged along with my cell phone, my credit card and since then i have been without money. At the moment my passport has been seized by the hotel management pending the time payment is made. So i have limited access to emails for now. I urgently need your financial assistance. I need about 3550 British pound sterling or any amount you can lend me to sort-out the bills, so i can make arrangements and return back. I'm in a panic now. I know this may sound odd but it all happened very fast. I have no access to my account. Please, can you lend me some funds? I'll be willing to pay you as soon as I get home.

Please respond as soon as you get this message.

M*******
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Some background for this:

A little over a year ago, the person I know as M******* commented on a post I had published, and we corresponded a bit. The return email address appeared to be correct but, let's take a shot at fisking this a bit ...

I hope you get this on time, i know you might not believe this but i want you to know this is for real and i need your urgent assistance and i hope you will not let me down. I don't really mean to inconvenience you right now, I made an emergency trip to London.

The person the writer claims to be lives in the Missouri Ozarks. If she has made an emergency trip to London, she apparently has the resources to do so and very likely has plenty of friends to call on for help. To the best of my knowledge, the real M******* is not a recluse and does have a circle of friends.

Unfortunately for me I got robbed on my way back to the hotel where i lodged along with my cell phone, my credit card and since then i have been without money.

Ok. People who have cell phones tend to have people they can call. If they have a credit card good for overseas use the company that issued it almost certainly has provisions to allow the user to go to a bank for assistance in the situation described.

At the moment my passport has been seized by the hotel management pending the time payment is made. So i have limited access to emails for now.

So, she has a passport that has not been stolen. That should be sufficient identification for a bank to help her access her accounts. For the hotel management to refuse to release it (if not to her directly, then to make it available to whatever official is trying to help her) would seem self-defeating and probably not likely.

I urgently need your financial assistance. I need about 3550 British pound sterling or any amount you can lend me to sort-out the bills, so i can make arrangements and return back. I'm in a panic now. I know this may sound odd but it all happened very fast.

The real M******* has read my blog and would know that I am a retiree, whose early-retirement social security is supplemented by the meager earnings from a part-time grocery cashier position and that my own financial circumstances barely reach the "survival" level. That she would waste time and resources ("limited access to emails") to make such a request of me doesn't make a lot of sense.

I have no access to my account. Please, can you lend me some funds? I'll be willing to pay you as soon as I get home.

I've already noted above that help should be available from a bank that handles her credit card.

I've not even touched on this question (because I don't really know the details here), "What kind of help could she get from the U.S. Embassy in London?"

Now, I did not go into that kind of detailed reasoning yesterday morning, but the whole thing did seem decidedly off.

However, the very degree of "off-ness" made me wonder if it indeed could be real; when hit with a catastrophe, your thinking may not be at its best.

Now M******* has a blog, and has a live-in friend and assistant (S****) who manages that blog and also one of her own.

Not having an email address for S****, I went to her blog and pasted that email into a comment there and added ...
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I have great difficulty in believing this is for real, because if M******* read my blog she would know I am a retiree with only the salary of a part-time grocery cashier’s job supplementing way too insufficient early-retirement social security and would be very unlikely to ask ME for 3550 British Pounds (probably in the neighborhood of $5000 or so).

IF it truly IS M*******, do you know people who can help her (I am completely helpless here)?

As I said, I simply cannot believe this.
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At that point, I had to start getting ready to go to work, resolving to make some phone calls when I got back to find out what help might be available from the embassy there.

(To anyone knowledgeable reading this: Please let me know if I am anywhere near the mark in my speculations of what kind of help may be available in such a situation.)

Before leaving for work, I logged back on, to find this email from S**** ...
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I received a copy also. She is asleep in the next room. It IS a fake. Interesting. We will look into it asap. She recently had a cc hacked now this.

How are you?

S**** D*****
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So, that was good to hear.

When I got home from work, I found this email from the real M******* ...
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Paul - thanks for being suspicious. My account was hacked by some slimy dude. I'm at home and doing fine. Sorry to trouble you.
M*******
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I replied to that, and then realizing something I was missing, forwarded that reply to S****, noting ...
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Hi S****:

I replied to M*******'s note earlier, and didn't even think that if this creep
has access to her email account, he might blow it away before she even sees it.

So, just in case ...
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And got this piece of closure in return...
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We made some wild furious changes and actually retrieved M*******'s email account. Apparently he was sleeping when we made our moves. Then we quickly changed every password and security question on other accounts. I was amazed we pulled it off.

S****
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To which the only reply I could think of was ...

COOL!!! :-)

What a day.
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Sometimes, Ann Coulter ...

2012-01-14T10:07:00.005-06:00

...reminds me of why I added that Lady to my blogroll in the first place.
(I mean besides that picture of her on her page. :-)

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2012-01-11.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHO WOULDN'T ENJOY FIRING THESE PEOPLE?
January 11, 2012

Earlier this week, Mitt Romney got into trouble for saying, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me." To comprehend why the political class reacted as if Romney had just praised Hitler, you must understand that his critics live in a world in which no one can ever be fired -- a world known as "the government."
...
Romney's statement about being able to fire people was an arrow directed straight to the heart of Obamacare. (By the way, arrows to the heart are not covered by Obamacare.)
...
That's one gargantuan difference with "Romneycare" right there: If you don't like what your insurer is doing in Massachusetts, you can get a new one.

Now, wouldn't you like to be able to fire people who provide services to you?
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Those little "..." thingies I'm so fond of (ellipses, I believe they're called) represent almost two pages worth of examples she provides (, and probably should be skipped if you have high-blood pressure).

In other posts of hers, she has savaged several people I liked and was in favor of, but some of whom have subsequently demonstrated that her wrath may have been earned.

Confessing that I've had an OMG! attitude towards Mitt Romney's candidacy, I'm going to try very hard to get over the fact that he's not from Texas (not all are so blessed) and consider that despite that staggering handicap, things could be a helluva lot worse.

She (and one of my other favorite bloggers Neo-neocon ) have made persuasive arguments that he is not the Antichrist, not necessarily the wild-eyed big-government liberal that he is painted as, and would be infinitely preferable to what we have now.

While there are others I may have preferred as our candidate, if Romney turns out to be it, I am not going to throw a tantrum on election day and just sit it out. And, may God D**N you to H*ll if you choose to do that.

"Job one" on that day has to be to turn out the freakin' moron currently occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Absolutely nothing must take precedence over that.

Update - Sunday, 15 Jan 2012 11:17 - So far, three commenters below, instead of gushing over my every pronouncement (There goes my opportunity for starting a new religion with myself as head), are showing a disturbing tendency to think for themselves.

Some months back, one of them tore me a new one over my affection for Rick Perry, using the "Gardasil" controversy as an example. I let the comments stand, as I didn't really have a good response.

That appears to be the case here as well, although I stand behind the "Job one" paragraph above.

On the "Bain" issue, I commend Dr. Sanity's A "BAINFUL" REALITY INDEED.

As for Ann's attacks on Gingrich, I've a lot more study to do, but it does seem to me that he's made Romney's destruction a higher priority than the ousting of Obama. This could be a misinterpretation on my part, or going by the wrong sources. At the moment, that issue is open for me.

My biggest fear is that, were I David Axelrod, my greatest pleasure would be to see the Republicans devouring each other and my actions in such a case would be to stay the hell out of it, as detection of any meddling on my part might serve as a unifying factor instead. "If your enemies are destroying themselves, do not interfere."

I hope to God the Republicans eventually remember who the real enemy is.
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Seeing Double in Google Reader

2012-01-08T22:21:00.002-06:00

After I put up my previous post (The Zen of Firefly and Serenity ...) I deleted it to do a little magic and shorten its URL to avoid giving a broken link to some email readers that break lines over 72 characters.

I then put it back up, with the shortened URL.

Google Reader retains your mistakes, so the post appears twice there, although a closer examination will show different URLs, one of which should return a Page Not Found error if selected.

All hail Google Reader! Mercy just ain't in its vocabulary. :(
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The Zen of Firefly and Serenity ...

2012-01-08T16:50:00.008-06:00

"... I aim to misbehave."

Last night I caught a midnight showing of Serenity (2005) at the River Oaks theater, and was pleasantly surprised to find quite a crowd awaiting.

The movie amounts to an additional, closing episode of Firefly (2002); one of my all-time favorite cancelled-way-too-soon future-fantasy series (no way can I consider it as "science-fiction"; the actual "science" in it would rattle around in a thimble. But to fixate on that is to dismiss Picasso because "the eyes are all wrong").

While not attempting to equate creator and writer Joss Whedon with Picasso, his characters and dialog are what make the series and the movie such a treasure. I never get the impression he takes himself too seriously, but I suspect he has a personal philosophy he takes very seriously and that it is part and parcel of that dialog.

Shamelessly cannibalizing from my own post Thoughtcrime ...

Nathan Fillion as Malcolm Reynolds - Poster from
Brad Kozak's Freedom of Speech Evidently Has No Place In a University.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds (the dude in the poster), and his motley crew make a pretty much off-the-books living by using their "Firefly" class cargo ship to transport various and sundry items and passengers to other worlds. On learning that one of his passengers has smuggled aboard his sister (a greatly sought-after fugitive from the oppressive Alliance) and berating said passenger about them being an albatross he just doesn't really need at this point, the passenger openly wonders about being killed in his sleep, prompting Mal to clarify things a bit.

River Tam ...

Summer Glau as River Tam - from angryzenmaster.com
(22 Jan 2012 - OOPS! - Maybe not. See Addendum and Correction below)

... is the sister mentioned above, a prodigy raised largely by the state from infancy, combat-trained as a "living weapon", and groomed to be a psychic.

The doctor in charge of that grooming notes to a visitor (not knowing that the visitor is really her brother come to rescue her), "Key members of Parliament have observed these demonstrations, and are in full support."

Afterwards, the operative sent to deal with her escape says to that doctor,
"You know what your sin is, Doctor? Pride!"

Replaying a record of that conversation, he continues ...
"Key members of Parliament. Key. The minds behind every military, diplomatic and covert operation in the galaxy, and you put them in a room with a psychic."

So, this battered waif has been carrying a boatload of memories not hers, that she doesn't want and that the Alliance is terrified of her revealing.

Malcolm and crew help her to find out what they are, discovering an entire world that has been depopulated in an OOPS!!! resulting from the best of nanny-state good intentions.

Malcolm is determined to get the word out on this secret, reasoning ...
"Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave."

Before the movie has even reached the main title sequence, River has flashed back to a class as a young girl, where a teacher is explaining the history of the Alliance and a student asks why there was even any resistance to it in the first place.

Young River replies ...
"We meddle. People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."

The teacher's response is absolutely perfect nanny-state rationalization ...
"We don't tell them what to think.
"We just show them how!"

-

22 Jan 2012 - Addendum and Correction: A visitor emailed this to me ...
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Dear Sir, I arrived at your blog via chaos manor and while I have bookmarked said blog to read more later. Dispite how much it appears I may agree with you on any number of things I'm unfortunately compelled to point out that it's my belief that the photo of Summer Glau as River Tam is in fact from the Sarah Conner Chronicles not Firefly. I could be wrong and if so I offer my most sincere apology.
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To which I replied ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir:

You've nothing to apologize for.

The website on which I found the photo said it was Glau as River Tam, but I HAVE wondered about her appearance.

I didn't consider the Sarah Conner Chronicles (which I loved) because I mostly remember her in jeans and a leather jacket.

She's listed as appearing in another Joss Whedon show, "Dollhouse" and I wondered if the picture could in fact have come from there (she seems to be in a LOT of things where she winds up holding a gun, don't she :-)

I'm going to see what I can find that I'm SURE is her as River Tam. You could be right about it being from Sarah Conner Chronicles; I don't know yet. But I suspect that you are dead right about that photo NOT being from Firefly.

Thank you for writing. I always appreciate input.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, then. Lets see if I can do better this time.

Our first introduction to River Tam occurs at the end of the first part of the two-part opening episode of "Firefly". That episode is also named "Serenity". In it, Malcolm opens up the cryogenic box that Doctor Simon Tam has brought aboard, to find out why they have a government agent on their asses, revealing ...

River Revealed - from screened.com

Malcolm: "Huh!"

"The waif" - Doesn't she look like she wouldn't (couldn't) harm a fly? ...

from polyvore.com

And here she is in "living weapon" mode (in the movie "Serenity") after she's gone out to say "Hi" to a bunch of invading reavers (they be the ones on the floor). ...

from instapunk.com

I like these pictures. I just hope I haven't strayed too far from the whole point of this post, which amounts to a "Don't meddle! Just leave us the Hell alone!" philosophy, which I truly believe the series and movie embodies.
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Peacemaker

2012-01-02T01:42:00.018-06:00

This post is about airplanes (the B-36 in particular), and is gonna have a bunch of boring photos of same.

If it's more interesting photos you seek, check out Wolf Howling's
The Genius of Capitalism - An Alien Cathouse ...
Brothel owner Dennis Hof and famed Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss are teaming up to open the new "Area 51" brothel in Vegas, where all of the girls will be playing the roles of various vixens of Sci-Fi fame. It is capitalism at its most creative.

No way can I compete with that. Give it a look (it's safe). I'll wait.

03 Jan 2012 - 17:00 - I've already gotten a bit fond of this post, so naturally I just had to tweak it, play with it and add a couple of pictures. Will I ever learn to just leave well enough alone? Probably not. :-)

Ok, then. Back to the subject at hand ...

Convair B-36D Peacemaker - from www.saceliteguard.com

("Peacemaker" was a proposed name from Convair
- it was never an official name)

When I was a kid in San Antonio in the '50s, B-36's operated out of Kelly AFB (SAC) on the southwest edge of the city and flew over all the time. It was very rare that one would be low enough to even come close to a view like this one.

More often, the experience was as my brother accurately described in a comment to my previous post ("Blogging is not writing..., which was mostly an expansion of a "To do" list of future posts, including this one) ...

"I'll never forget the sound and the FEEL of one passing over when we lived in San Antone....the damned thing would be so high you couldn't see it but that monstrous drone seemed to come from everywhere and you could feel the vibration if you were standing on hard ground!"

This plane had its genesis before we had officially entered WW2. In 1941, we were worried that Britain would fall to the Nazis, and instead of having that "unsinkable aircraft carrier" to operate from, we would be looking at doing sorties from Gander, Newfoundland to Berlin, making a round-trip of 5700 miles (9200 km).

Absolutely nothing in our arsenal could even come close to doing that with a decent bomb load, so what was then the United States Army Air Corps (becoming the United States Army Air Forces in June 1941) opened a design competition which was won by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) over a Boeing design in October 1941.

Our entry into WW2 (courtesy of Pearl Harbor) caused the Army to order Consolidated to slow down development of the B-36 and to concentrate on production of their B-24 Liberator bomber, which (with Boeing's B-17) was sufficient for the European theater (policy being to finish off Germany first, and then deal with Japan).

Later, as we looked to the Pacific theater of operations, work was accelerated, but Boeing's B-29 appeared to be capable of doing the job there (which it did with a vengeance). Did the Japanese have any concept of the wind they had sown and the whirlwind they would reap? ...

On the morning of December 7th, 1941, when the last Japanese airplane departed Pearl Harbor, some sailors picked up several leaflets which had fluttered down on the burning wreckage of Oahu. They read: "Goddam Americans all to go hell." Period.
This was Japan's concept of how to wage psychological warfare against the men of our armed forces. It proved one thing immediately: while we knew precious little of the Japanese, they knew even less of us.
~Martin Caidin - "A Torch to the Enemy" - 1960

The tools at hand (B-17, B-24 and B-29) were more than sufficient, so there was no real hurry to get on with the B-36. Indeed, the B-29 was quite horrific enough.

I have a laserdisc of a made-for-TV move Hiroshima (1995), a Canadian-Japanese co-production that is compelling and accurate. It can be found on DVD, but the DVD does not have the commentary that the laserdisc does.

In that commentary, director Roger Spottiswoode mentions that for interior shots of the B-29, they used one operated by the Confederate Air Force (now politically corrected into the Commemorative Air Force). They operate what may be the only surviving example of a B-29 in flying condition.

Spottiswoode commiserated with the pilot about that being the only one of the thousands of those magnificent aircraft still flying. The pilot (an Air Force veteran) was not quite so nostalgic, telling him ...

"You have to remember that this plane was built for one purpose, and one only: to kill people by the tens of thousands. One is more than enough!"

The delays (and lack of immediate need) meant that it was August of 1946 before the B-36's first flight. The Air Force got its first delivery in 1948 at Carswell AFB ...

B-36A arrival Carswell 1948.- from www.dieselpunks

The plane on the left, the awesome B-29, almost looks like a toy next to it.

03 Jan 2012 - 17:00 - I have to admit that picture looks a bit weird; it looks like night at the edge of the field, while the shadows suggest high noon. I suspect that is exactly the case.

What's beyond the edge of the field is a residential area with a lot of trees with dark foliage. Carswell was a bit northwest of Ft. Worth, Texas, where development and production were moved to from California. The picture was taken in June 1948, apparently around noon, and the field was so brilliantly lit by sunlight (almost as if by a nuclear flash; which is of course exactly what sunlight is) that adjusting the exposure to a more reasonable level resulted in that area above looking like the middle of the night. The light objects in that area are houses peeking through the trees; not lights.

I truly kid you not. 1'll bet this is closer to what that scene actually looked like ...

Welcome to Texas summer; now you know why pilots sport those cool sunglasses. Not as a fashion statement, but to prevent being blinded by the sunlight on a Texas airfield. :-)

For a further size comparison ...

B-36 - cropped from image at fas.org

FYI - Clicking on any of these images will get you a bigger one.

Oddly enough, the B-36 was not built with the atomic bomb in mind (because of the secrecy of the Manhattan Project), but its size made it the only plane in service, for a long time, that could handle the first-generation hydrogen bombs that were entering our arsenal.

Because of that fact it was the mainstay of our nuclear deterrence and was probably the intended tool to back up SAC General Curtis LeMay's promise to leave the Soviet Union "a smoking ruin" were they ever to attack us. For that reason they were not used in the Korean war, as we still had plenty of B-29s available for strategic bombing there.

The B-36 served for only 10 years (1949 to 1959), primarily because it had already become obsolete as we were well into the jet age when it entered service.

You'll notice, in the Carswell picture above, that the delivered model (B-36A) had only the six piston engines to drive it. Six 3250 hp engines (vs the four 2200 hp engines that powered the B-29). Beginning with the "D" model and continuing with subsequent models, four jet engines were added near the ends of the wings, in twin pods very similar to those on the Boeing B-47; so similar in fact, I can't help wondering if they are the same pods, with only slight modifications to the pylons for mounting on a very different wing.

04 Jan 2012 - 12:27 - A little more research ( Castle Air Museum RB-36H Peacemaker 51-13730 ) discloses that is exactly the case about the jet pods. I actually get something right once in a while. Cool :-) ...

B-36 Jet Pod - from www.air-and-space.com - added 04 Jan 2012 13:20

That essentially is the same jet pod as used by early models of Boeing's B-47, probably without the outrigger landing gear of the B-47 (although the pod retains the fairing to enclose it). Convair bought some from Boeing, and used a modified pylon to attach them to the B-36's wing. Biggest difference is the metal petals that expand to close off the inlet when the engine is not running (which is most of the time) to keep said engine from windmilling in the windstream while the bomber is cruising. They retract when you need to fire up those engines.

Those jets were mainly used to assist take-off (the earlier models used a lot of runway getting airborne with a maximum load) and for extra dash speed over the target after releasing the bomb and trying to get the Hell out of Dodge before it went off. Otherwise, they normally weren't running.

B-36 formation - from www.456fis.org - added 03 Jan 2012 - 17:00

In the short span of its service, its replacements were already being developed. To try and extend the life of the design, Convair made a version with swept wings and tail surfaces, powered by eight jet engines of the same type as used on its ultimate successor, the Boeing B-52.

This version was ...

Convair YB-60 - from jetpilotoverseas.files.wordpress.com

... designated YB-60 and was in competition with the B-52, ultimately losing because, while quite beautiful, it was outperformed by the B-52 in every parameter. Not all that surprising as Convair was trying to evolve a ten-year old design while Boeing started with a clean slate.

Did the Air Force make the right choice there? The B-52 first flew in 1952 (same year as the YB-60; I remember seeing the first YB-60 flights in newsreels in theaters at that time) and went into service in 1955. So, its service life is nearing 57 years now, and it just might have another decade or two left in it.

All in all, the B-36 was a pretty awesome airplane. Even though it never saw action.

Anything else out there that's just as awe-inspiring?

Well, the B-52 ain't exactly a shrinking-violet.

But, I'd be tempted to go with a Russian model from that era ...

Tupolev Tu-95 Bear - from globalsecurity.org

A contemporary of the B-52, it was the Soviet Union's premier long range heavy bomber. A monster of similar size, it's powered by four 15000 hp turboprop engines: each driving a pair of contra-rotating (turning in opposite directions) propellers.

Possibly one of the fastest propeller-driven aircraft ever, its engines drive those huge propellers (at least their tips) faster than sound, making it arguably the loudest airplane on the planet.

Because of its long range it has been (and currently still is) used as a reconnaissance aircraft operating along our eastern coast and therefore attracting some of our fighters to escort it and show them that we care.

Blogger Frank Martin (Varifrank) noted in a post about one of those enounters ...

I once had an F-4 Pilot tell me that the Bear was the only aircraft that could be found in the air by sound alone, that they only had to turn off the radar and stick their helmets against the canopy and listen for the sound of those huge turboprops. The noise from the Bear's engines is supposed to be enough to stun a small animal into a coma at 50 yards.

There is a naval version of this plane, designated Tu-142. Instead of being outfitted to carry H-bombs, it's loaded with electronics for hunting submarines and also with aerial-dropped torpedoes and anti-ship missiles for dealing with them.

The Indian Navy has some of these, and several are tasked with patrolling the waters off of Somalia to help with anti-piracy efforts there. In May 2011, a Chinese freighter was attacked by Somali pirates and called for help. An Indian Tu-142M was in the area and buzzed them at low level.

Those pirates probably got this view of it ...

Tu-142M2 - from acig.org

I have no idea if the Indian pilot decided to have a bit of fun and fire-walled the throttles when he passed over them, but considering the noise described above, I'll sure bet he got their attention.

Bottom line: they left.

-

"Blogging is not writing...

2011-12-27T13:38:00.023-06:00

...It's just graffiti with punctuation."

That's lectured to blogger Jude Law who is trying to expose a possible government cover-up in the movie Contagion (2011 - featuring yet another fine piece of work by Matt Damon, who absolutely makes me want to throw things at him whenever he opens his mouth politically, but whom I regard in awe as an actor).

(Addendum - That I use a quote for a title doe NOT mean I agree with it. :-)

I've been blogging here since October of 2009, and have posted close to 150 items during that period (including a few I later deleted).

For several years before that, I have commented on many other blogs with comments that grew into essays resulting in suggestions that I really oughta put them up in my own blog (if that was meant as "rather than cluttering up our space", I'd rather NOT know.).

I eventually did just that, even recycling some of my comments as posts here (yes. I still do that sometimes. Who better to plagiarize from than myself? At least, I wont sue myself. :-)

I hope to God that some of my posts rise at least a little above the opinion stated in the title.

I confess here to being addicted to the site meter, and am very gratified to see that there are a few who return to see if there's anything new.

Most of my posts are reactions to something else I've read, seen or experienced. A few have been at the back of my mind for some time, and eventually I get around to them. They come from a "To do" list I keep to jot down ideas I'm not ready to go into immediately.

What follows is my current "Coming Attractions" list.
Black remains to be done.
~~One of them is stricken out as having been on the shelf too long.~~
Red is done.
A yellow background highlights info not in the original list, but explaining what I'm interested in for that possible post.

*************************************************
Posts to do...

Nibbled to death by ducks
Supposedly attributed to someone in the State Department saying that's what working there was like, I suspect the saying is really as old as bureaucracy itself.

The Floating Skyscrapers of Houston
"Sailing, sailing, over the gumbo plain..."
In my post Some rambling thoughts on Houston, I mentioned the ephemeral nature of parts of my town and how we routinely tear things down only to replace them with structures pretty much the same as what was before. I felt that the fact that Manhattan Island was granite and that most of Houston is sited on gumbo (Beaumont clay actually) was responsible for that. BUT, you may have noticed that my title picture at the top of the page shows what suspiciously looks like skyscrapers. How do we manage that? The title of this possible post offers a clue.

A Tale of Two Books. (Finally posted as "Possibly a good movie ...")
(The Feather Men and Taming the Nueces Strip)

Verisimilitude
Try saying that real fast. (Fiennes, Rivers, Joey, Jennifer Project)
I have a number of books by various people that sure sound like they are speaking truth, but I simply do NOT know. Some of them could be pure BS, told by someone who knows how to write convincingly. The first three names above are authors, and the last is a book I'd love to believe.

Defending Ranulph Fiennes
Ranulph, who wrote The Feather Men, has been accused of making up a lot of fiction and passing it off as fact. Just don't know yet. If I ever get around to it, I will research it on the principle of behavior not existing in a vacuum and try to learn if other actions of his support (or throw into doubt) the accusations.

Bimbos of the Death Sun ...
(inspired by Foxfier's latest email, with apologies to Sharyn McCrumb)

"There can only be ONE!!!" ...
... Clancy Brown, that is.
Clancy Brown (whom I first saw as the Kurgan in the original "Highlander" movie) is an awesome presence when he gets the right role. I truly thought he deserved a supporting actor nomination for playing Guard Captain Hadley in "The Shawshank Redemption".

Blessed are the Peacemakers (B-36 and Colt)
One never saw action; the other saw plenty.
Done, sort of, as "Peacemaker", devoted to the B-36 and some of its contemporaries. Not having anything to say about Colt's Peacemaker, I confined it to the airplane.

Kdaptist Republicans. Beware thou, of the mutant. Watch thou, for the Mutant!
(The last from The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham)
In Larry Niven's "Known Space" series, among our adversaries were the Kzinti: eight-foot tall catlike aliens who warred with us many times; always losing ("It's not like they're a real threat; they'll always attack before they're quite ready"). The mad Kzin Kdapt Preacher started a religion based on the idea that it was man whom the Creator made in his image and therefore we humans were the favored ones. They would wear masks and skins made from human skin to try and fool the Creator long enough to achieve a victory. ("You kept winning!" a Kzin explained to us). I felt this a perfect analogy for the behavior of many Republicans who appear scared to death of being distinguishable from democrats.

Adversary
Is NOT synonymous with "villian". Examples of movie adversaries who were so for reaons (good reasons) and not just because they woke up one morning and decided to be a**holes or monsters.

Guilty Pleasures (or Under-appreciated Gems)
Movies that deserved better than they got, or at least were a hell of a lot of fun.
("Dragonslayer", "Deep Rising", "The Hunted", "Devil in a Blue Dress", ...)

On Guns & Shooting

Slide Rule
(The real world is analog; digital gives an illusion of exactness that doesn't really exist.)

The Black Arts of Engineering and Computer "Science"
(The Slide Rule suggestion above could be part of this)
"Phase of the Moon", "Age of Aquarius", Zen, Spot the anomaly and you're almost there..
As a programmer (Excuse me; "Software Engineer") I genuinely felt that the "phase of the moon" was as good an explanation as any for the often capricious behavior of software under development (and often long after). I wasn't the only one who might be heard humming "When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligned with Mars..." (from "Age of Aquarius") while trying to puzzle out a problem. I once figured out a circuit board problem (without much knowledge of the electronics involved) by just going into a relaxed state and quietly staring at this cookie-sheet size board with 256 identical processor chips in a 16 x 16 matrix. One caught my eye because it looked slightly different; the difference being a missing wire-wrap connection. Hence the "Spot the anomaly..." advice.

THAT dude was Shakespearean.
Ian McShane, as Al Swearengen and many others. Title from reference in "My name is Boyd Crowder... (TRY to do this one before the fourth Pirates of the Carribean comes out in May.)

It's all Frank Martin's fault...
... that some of you get inundated with emails about my latest posts.
A couple of his posts that got me hooked on blogs in the first place:
TODAY, I WAS "UNPROFESSIONAL"...
(note that Gail Halvorsen link near bottom no longer works)
FOSSETT (A pilot's take on the what may have happened to Steve Fossett)

"The Wrath of The Lord...
...is about to descend upon them"
(Scenes in movies or TV where one man takes on that role, and delivers)
Roberr Duvall in Lonesome Dove
Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson
Yoshio Harada in The Hunted
Sean Connery in The Wind and The Lion
Paul Newman in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Music
Kodo, Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield), Walter/Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream
Beside's original synthesizer scores Walter/Wendy Carlos did much of the music for "A Clockwork Orange" and the original "TRON". The way I wrote the name of this one person means exactly what you might conjecture it does.

"My name is Boyd Crowder...
-You can come after me if you want, but it will be the last thing you ever do. I promise you that."

Psychosomatica

The recipe for making a nuke ...
... starts the same as the recipe for "wabbit" stew.
First: Catch your "wabbit"!!!

"Czars"
About Obama's obsession with creating Czars to be in control of everything and accountable to no one but him.

An Urban Legend
Urban, Karl Urban
I've touched on him a bit in WANTED!!! -- For stealing these movies..., so you probably shouldn't hold your breath waiting for a post exclusively about him.

The Return of Mickey Rourke
"Presence" is a not-easily defined quality of an actor that absolutely compels your attention when he shows up.

"...and the sharks will come."

Thinking the Unthinkable
Under what circumstances can national elections be suspended?
(Nothing appears to be "unthinkable" to the current group in charge.)
Can individual states enact measures to allow recall of their U. S. Congressional reps and senators?

Rethinking Recall
Check out parliamentary systems that the founding fathers would have known about and ultimately rejected.

~~"Kamikazi Congress?"~~
~~If there IS a wipeout in the November election, what might the democrat losers~~
~~attempt in the 2 and 1/2 months before they are officially gone in late January?~~
(Too late! This article is way past its "Sell By" date.)

"This is what happened."
- The essence of storytelling, in four simple words.
Credit Stephen King for title, refer to his use of opening in The Mist
(HE credits Douglas Fairburn for use in Shoot), use what examples you can from Heinlein's "Channel Markers".

Prose I'm jealous of...
...because someone else beat me to it.
Use examples from Sebastion Junger, Michael Sharra, Jimmy Breslin.
I used a couple of examples, from Junger and Breslin, in So, how good is computer translation?

( "This" and "Prose" could probably be combined into one post.)

The Sugar Grain Universe
Another perspective. Should illustrate (with photos of globe, marble, BB, sugar grains, etc.)
This has been on my list for a looong time. Long ago I saw a factoid somewhere about a pound of sugar containing 2,260,000 grains, and thought of using that as a yardstick to give perspective to the universe of which we are a part ("We are ALL made of star stuff" ~Carl Sagan). If our sun was a grain of sugar, the closest neighboring grain (Alpha Centauri) would be miles away. Near the center of our galaxy (watch out for that possible massive black hole), things are more crowded; some grains might be only a half-mile away. Previous attempts to visualize our universe were Kees Boeke's truly excellent (and way too long out of print) book "Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps", and the short film "Powers of Ten" by Charles and Ray Eames. Early ideas for the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" included having an intro with something like "Powers of Ten", but they decided to omit that. The movie "Contact", with Jodie Foster and based on Carl Sagan's novel, opens with a scene pulling back from our earth on out to the edge of the known universe (and beyond?) turning into a gleam in the eye of the girl who would become Jodie Foster's character. I cannot recall another commercial movie even coming close to that scene as an attempt to help us comprehend something that is almost beyond imagination.

On the wisdom and judgment of Twenty. (Update - Done, as "The Anvil of Life")
Use sex and booze trip to Villa Acuna as example.

Ask for proof, examples of rising sea levels.

Common Triggers
WHY so many stories and movies appear at same time with similar themes?

Inuit Suit?
In a book by Audrey Schulman, one is described as made of wolfskin,
worn with the hair on the inside.

Snake-bit
The saga of a 1994 Dodge Intrepid
I got that vehicle new, in 1994, mostly because I was seduced by its looks (like an American Jaguar) and because Consumer Reports (whose recommendations I'd found trustworthy) gave it a good write-up at the time. Not long afterwards, they began getting reports that changed their view considerably, but I was already stuck with it by then. In engineering, we used the term "snake-bit" a lot. Consider it a synonym for "cursed".

Serendipity
Or, the randomness of my life, and how I got here by sheer chance.

"Winter's Bone" (Done - as "John Hawkes - Man of Steel")
Review, especially noting John Hawkes

The Subtleties of Subtitles
On translation, subtitles and dubbing... (Absolutely MUST conjure up a better title). Use "The Host" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" as examples.

"When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you..."
...perfectly encpsulates Obama's attitude towards the electorate.

Titles in Search of a Subject:
Anatomy of an eBay transaction
An Ode to PayPal (depending on the outcome of the case opened with them).
"For reasons that seem good to me..."
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
"You Honor, he NEEDED killin'! "
"That which does not kill me..."
Two ends of the same snake
Okay, then...

*************************************************

Okay then...

I've just shown you what I might eventually get around to. Am I afraid someone might steal something there? My feeling about that possibility is best summed up by ...

"They copied all they could follow but they couldn't copy my mind
so I left them sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."
~Rudyard Kipling

While I'm not Kipling, and I've probably yet to leave anyone "a year and a half behind", I'm confident I can come up with other ideas.

So, if anything up there inspires you, then GO FOR IT!!!
Instead of being outraged, my response will be "COOL!!!"

Just try to do a good job of it.
-

Two Countries.

2011-12-19T19:23:00.000-06:00

North Korea's maximum leader (in his eyes) Kim Jong Il is dead, and replaced by his son Kim Jong Un (In Asia, family names come first).

The more things change ...

The Korean peninsula is a laboratory of economic and political systems; the South going in the direction of democracy and free market, and the North going for a centralized dictatorship of control to a degree probably not even matched under Hitler and the Gestapo.

Giving us ...

korea_night1 - from upbynoon.files.wordpress.com - Ed Driscoll

Says it all.

Roger L. Simon makes the case for Newt.

2011-12-14T15:19:00.004-06:00

Newt Gingrich was never my first choice. That would have been Sarah Palin.

Without her, I would prefer Rick Perry, as he has been an excellent and successful Governor, and I truly believe would be a fine President. But, debating just ain't his thing (although I've yet to see a correlation between debating skill and the ability to actually do the job) and at the moment it appears less and less likely that he will succeed to the nomination (although it's still early yet; the election is eleven months away).

Roger L. Simon is doing a pretty good job of making me take a longer and harder look at Newt (in Explaining Newt), noting (emphasis mine) ...

What attracts me about the man is the very thing that Romney criticized, the part that wants to explore the moon and stars, maybe even mine them.

Sure Gingrich has an idea a minute, many of which are bad, but at least he has ideas. At least he is thinking. And — guess what — he says what he thinks. Politicians aren’t supposed to do that.

But Gingrich reminds me more of a Steve Jobs or a Richard Branson than he does of a politician, and that is a good thing because politicians these days are the kind of people that make me want to bang my forehead against the desk.

For my part, one thing I like about Newt is that he is a fighter (and not a doormat to anyone taking a cheap shot at him), responding "Bring it on!" to Nancy Pelosi's threat to release a lot of dirt about him from House investigations (she backed off when it was pointed out to her that such action would result in an investigation of her conduct), and responding in one debate to Mitt Romney's characterization of him as a "career politician", "Let's be honest; the only reason that you're not a career politician is that you lost to Ted Kennedy in 1994."

I'm quite aware that, a few months back, I said similar things about Perry (and still hope that he will try fighting again; if you're going to run, then RUN!!!).

But, where Newt's concerned; I truly believe that he will campaign as if he's actually trying to win the office, and not just going through the motions.

And if that last part sounds like a slap at someone, then so be it!

In 2008, Sarah Palin seemed to be the only one on the GOP side actually running. If McCain had made that kind of effort, our country would likely be a hell of a lot better off now.

If only...

-

If THIS doesn't pique your curiosity ...

2011-12-03T11:28:00.002-06:00

... then, I am truly sorry for you; you're already dead. :(

Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods.
Bad things happen.

That poster is from AICN Exclusive: The Long Awaited Poster for Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard's CABIN IN THE WOODS!!! (you can click on it for a full-sized image, but be warned: It's a monster of almost 2 Megabytes.)

I absolutely love movies, and am a sucker for an imaginative grabber where posters or advertising campaigns are concerned. If that doesn't qualify, what would?

Opening 13 Apr 2012 (A Friday, of course; what other day could it possibly be?)

See you there? :-)
-

Wolf Howling is BACK ...

2011-12-02T09:35:00.000-06:00

... with a vengeance.

After a seven and a half month absence (since May 22), one of my favorite bloggers ( Wolf Howling ) has put up five new posts in the last two days.

In a comment to one of those posts, I wondered "What happened?", and suggested that that was worthy of a post of its own.

If he picks up on that, I suspect that a quote from John Lennon would likely cover it:

"Life is what happens while we're making other plans."

-

Thanksgiving pizza...

2011-11-24T09:30:00.003-06:00

...will have to wait 'til Friday.

(Recycled post, originally published 23 Nov 2010, 12:05:00 PM)

You see, Pizza Hut will be closed on Thanksgiving day (the one convenient to me at least). For some time now, I've favored them over others; having long considered grease an essential ingredient of a good pizza. :-)

Wasn't always so; when I first came to Houston in the mid '60s, the absolute best pizzas, bar none, were served by Shakey's, but they became history here when Hunt International bought them out in the mid '70s and closed the local restaurants (Domino's taking over most of them).

A lot of other buyouts followed, with the results that an outfit once having hundreds of locations all over the country has now been reduced to a few dozen, mostly in their home state of California.

Second best (also now history) was the Post Oak Drive-In Theater. Instead of pulling out a frozen pizza and shoving it into the oven, they made theirs from scratch, just like a real pizzeria.

One of their toppings was chili. When washed down with the beer I had snuck into the the drive-in, it was fantastic. (Just had to be sure to also bring along a trash bag, a roll of paper towels, and some wipes; messy doesn't begin to describe it. :-)

Once in a while I try to duplicate that experience by adding chili to a frozen one. Close, but somehow just ain't the same.

By now, instead of asking "What about turkey?!!!", you've probably deduced that I'm not a big turkey fan. Give me pizza and beer, and throw in a DVD to watch (there'll probably be nothing but football on TV that day), and I'm all set.

Did I just commit blasphemy with that "there'll probably be nothing but football on TV that day" above?

Well, I've never been much of a football fan either, except for a brief shining moment in the late '70s when coach O. A. "Bum" Phillips raised what was then the Houston Oilers to superbowl material, twice actually making it to the playoffs (only to run into that steel wall called Pittsburgh).

Something I'll always remember was the wonderful welcome the team got from cheering crowds that greeted them when they came home. They had to be feeling pretty low from those defeats, and for those fans to give that kind of "Welcome Home" made me proud beyond description.

(For a while, before those playoffs, I'd considered the Oilers as mostly just their two prima donnas (Dan Pastorini and Earl Campbell). But, while on vacation with friends in New Mexico, I saw a game (don't remember who they were playing), where both of them were benched and the remaining players went out there, just like a real team, and WON!)

Unfortunately, Phillips was getting more publicity than team owner Bud Adams (worthy of his own story) and many of us felt his days were numbered.

Sure, enough, Phillips was eventually fired and went to New Orleans to coach the New Orleans Saints (at that time owned by River Oaks native (and neighbor of Bud Adams) John Mecom. I think there was a rivalry between them worthy of a TV movie, if it hasn't already been done.)

So many Oilers' players (Campbell, Pastorini, others) followed him there, our secretary began referring to the team as the Houston Saints.

Well, I've managed to wander all over the map this time, even including one of my least favorite subjects. So, I think it's time to close this one.

Hope you have a really wonderful thanksgiving. I'm gonna give it a shot. :-)
-

Don't write off Rick Perry just yet.

2011-11-12T09:37:00.000-06:00

Reports of Rick Perry's demise, over his memory lapse in Tuesday's debate, are greatly exaggerated.

Dr. Jerry Pournelle's take on the Michigan debates. …
The Michigan Debate: Candidates 9, Moderators 0; The Cain Affair

(Emphasis mine)
As to Perry, he had a momentary fit of absentmindedness as he tried to remember the names of the Departments of the government that he would eliminate the day after his inauguration: Commerce, Education, and – and he couldn’t remember. Gov. Romney suggested EPA, and for a moment Perry accepted that, then recalled that it’s an Agency, not a Department. Given another chance to name the Department he would eliminate, he once again had a lapse of memory. Eventually he realized, as everyone who has listened to his previous speeches already knew, that it was the Department of Energy.
...
But when all is said and done, while the incident was embarrassing, it was hardly definitive. It doesn’t show Perry more or less qualified to be President. We know that Perry has been an effective and re-elected governor of a prosperous state. We know that candidates can be dependent on a teleprompter and get elected. We know that Perry’s lapse of memory was both temporary and unimportant.
...
...but my conclusion from the debate is that all the candidates are alive and well, any one of them would be capable of beating Obama, and any one of the would be infinitely superior to the current president.
...
I came away much relieved.

That's Dr. Pournelle's perspective. Here's mine ...

I don't recall anyone ever describing Rick Perry as an ace debater, but I also have difficulty in recalling just how much help that ability is to actually getting the job done as Governor, or as President of the United States.

1600 Pennsylvania is currently occupied by one who is supposed to be a fantastic debater (although I've yet to see any evidence of that -- all the supporting praise comes from a media that drools over his every pronouncement), but going by his actual performance over the last three years, is debating skill going to be your definitive test of the man you will vote for?

Really?!!!
-

CISOH

2011-10-28T04:55:00.005-05:00

(I pronounce it "key-so". Yes, I made it up: I'll tell you what it means down below).

This is not a review of the new movie Anonymous (2011), but of its basic premise that William Shakespeare could not possibly have written those plays, because the son of a glove-maker simply didn't have the "education" to do so. How could he display such knowledge of history, politics, etc.?

That is liberal elitist bullshit at its snottiest: The notion that if you didn't go to the "right" schools, weren't taught by the "right" teachers, in the "correct" prescribed manner (from which no deviation is allowed), how could you possibly be expected to know anything?

Well, if you actually read the plays, you might notice that they are more poetry than prose, and that aside from a few scattered references, don't really say all that much about the inner workings of Danish kingdoms or moneylenders in Venice.

They, in fact, say much more about the inner workings of human beings, of which he probably had a fair amount of knowledge just from observation.

Shakespeare wrote most of his stuff between 1589 and 1613. My gut feeling is that Will was a guy who loved to read (almost anything) and was blessed by it being easy for him (see my post On Reading... ). I suspect that he had CISOH (Curiosity, Imagination, Sense Of Humor) in spades and was probably an interesting guy and fun to be around

(As to why CISOH is important for good writing: Well the need for curiosity and imagination should be obvious. A sense of humor keeps you balanced and helps you avoid taking yourself too seriously. A lack of CISOH can turn you into a liberal. )

Did he have much material with which to indulge his curiosity? Gutenberg's invention of movable type had made commercial mass printing of books available for more than a century before he began writing his plays; so I would have to say, Yes!

This whole idea of the necessity of a "proper" education to be able to succeed at anything is snobbery of the worst sort, and doesn't allow for people who were largely self-taught at their professions (Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Tom Clancy, Steve Jobs, just to name a few).

Take Tom Clancy, for example (possible spoilers below).

"The Hunt for Red October" (1984) features an advanced Soviet missile submarine, a "caterpillar" drive almost undetectable by our listening devices, a way in which it is detected, naval tactics between our subs and theirs, and a lot more.

"Patriot Games" (1987) describes Irish terrorism, satellite detection of terrorist camps, anti-terrorist operations.

"The Cardinal of the Kremlin" (1988): Anti-satellite lasers and the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

"The Sum of All Fears" (1991): Recovering a lost Israeli nuke, turning that nuke into an even more powerful one, an abandoned East German nuclear weapons project.

"Debt of Honor" (1994): Japan going nuclear, war with same, airliner crashed into U.S. Capitol Building.

Now, how could a man who was an Insurance Broker possibly know all of that stuff?

It's simply unthinkable that he just reads a lot and could have combined CISOH with a boatload of common-sense to be able to come up with those stories.

Obviously, someone like Oliver Stone needs to get to work and direct a movie to expose who really wrote all those books with Clancy's name on the cover.

Doesn't that make as much sense as supposing that it had to be Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe and/or Edward de Vere (17th Earl of Oxford) who wrote all those plays? After all, Clancy is a hell of a lot more detailed in what he writes than Shakespeare ever was.

What more proof do you need?

Damn!!! Tinfoil makes a lousy hat; it's not rigid enough to hold its shape very well. :(
-

Another Bumper Sticker ...

2011-10-26T22:25:00.003-05:00

... seen this afternoon on the tailgate of a contractor's pickup:

GOVERNMENT PHILOSOPHY

If it ain't broke,

fix it until it is!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011-10-25T22:21:00.030-05:00

11 Dec 2011 - Update at end - Not in Houston yet, but coming soon (I hope).
26 Dec 2011 - Another update at end - Finally have a date of general release.
06 Jan 2012 19:30 - Finally saw it. I'll sum up at the end.

Can a story that was made into a truly excellent five and a half hour mini-series be rendered into a script for a two-hour movie, without proving "rend" a very appropriate part of that verb?

(WARNING: If you have never seen the movie Aliens, it's NOT what this post is about, but I DO use a scene from it to illustrate a point; making a bit of a spoiler.)

Coming in December is a movie version of John le Carré's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". The novel was largely inspired by the Kim Philby scandal in the British Secret Service, and involves le Carré's civil servant spy, George Smiley.

About as far from 007 as you can get, Smiley operates within a world of bureaucratic infighting wherein a memo can be as deadly as a Walther PPK.

He is brought out of retirement to look into the very real possibility that there may be a Soviet "mole" near the very top of British Intelligence, and has been for years.

A BBC mini-series, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) was aired in 1979 ...

Alec Guinness as George Smiley - from www.irishtimes.com

... starring Alec Guinness, and proved to be a superb and faithful adaptation of the novel, refuting arguments that major changes are necessary because film and print are such different mediums. Although over five hours long (the DVD shows less running time, but that DVD has some scenes missing), that time is essential to telling the story and is gripping throughout.

The new version, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), ...

Gary Oldman as George Smiley - from www.thefancarpet.com

At first, I had considered using Photoshop to brighten this picture, but then decided:

No! It's perfect as is. Shadows are Smiley's natural habitat.

...scheduled for December 9 in the USA, and starring Gary Oldman, is listed at 127 minutes running time.

That is my greatest concern. I have no qualms whatsoever about Oldman; if anyone can follow in the footsteps of Alec Guinness, I believe it is he. I just strongly doubt that two hours are sufficient to do justice to this story. We shall see.

So, how does one turn five and a half hours worth of story into a two-hour movie script?

One way is what I call the "Alien Queen Method" (or AQM), which will be demonstrated here by Bishop (Lance Henriksen), the android in Aliens.

(The following images from Aliens are screen-caps from the DVD)

Let Bishop stand-in for the original story ...

The Alien Queen has volunteered to be the writer tasked with adapting that story to a more manageable length ...

And, there you have it. Story cut down to size. That clear things up some?

Up there, I'm showing you the optimistic version of AQM. In that last picture, you see the half of Bishop (or the story) that still retains sentience and some functionality in its remaining limbs. Don't forget that out there is the other half; and in the movie business it appears to be a coin-toss as to which half will make it to the screen.

There's also the Frankenstein version of AQM: Slice up the story, as in a Ginsu Knife commercial, pick enough slices (at random) to get the necessary length, and put them together.

Add to that the practice of dumpster-diving amongst the remains of other non-related stories for parts that might seem "cool" to the one trying to stitch this monster together.

"It's ALIVE!!!" - or more probably not.

So, have I a concrete example to justify my fears about the "Tinker Tailor ..." remake?

In 1985, I was mesmerized for three straight nights watching the six-part BBC mini-series Edge of Darkness (1985) that the local PBS station aired during that period.

In it, Yorkshire Police Inspector Ronnie Craven picks up his daughter Emma from a demonstration she was part of and brings her home. On arrival, a gunman steps out of the bushes and opens up with both barrels of a shotgun, killing Emma who has stepped in front of her father, and escapes afterward.

Bob Peck as Ronnie Craven - screen-cap from DVD - Peck is probably

best known to American audiences as the game warden in Jurassic Park.

That picture could probably stand a bit of explanation. At first, he thinks that he was the target and that Emma was just tragic collateral damage. After the shooting, Craven goes through Emma's things, discovering an automatic pistol and a gadget he recognizes as a radiation counter (which later goes wild when brought near his coat pocket containing a lock of her hair which he cut before releasing her body).

A Willie Nelson record of her's is playing and while Willie is singing ("Time of the Preacher") in the background ...
"He cried like a baby
"He screamed like a panther in the middle of the night
"An' he saddled his pony
"An' he went for a ride"

... he just lays back on her bed, with her teddy bear in one hand, and that pistol in the other, staring off into nothingness, obviously wondering. "WHAT in HELL have you gotten yourself into?!!!",

This man may possibly have some answers...

Joe Don Baker as Darius Jedburgh - screen-cap from DVD

... U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Darius Jedburgh (A wonderful name to any familiar with the history of war, and with that of the wartime O.S.S.), apparently on indefinite loan to the CIA. He knows that Emma was working with a protest group called GAIA that was trying to find out if a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, in a mine at a place called Northmoor, may in fact be processing weapons-grade plutonium.

He knows all this because he set up the group to spy for him, and figures that Emma was far more likely to be the target than Ronnie.

What follows is the teaming of Ronnie and Jedburgh to penetrate Northmoor and deal with this.

Peck is first-rate (as you've come to expect with British professionals) and Joe Don Baker may have done his best work ever as Jedburgh. I'm aware that Mystery Science Theater 3000 showed absolutely no mercy to Baker when they tore into one of his lesser movies ("Mitchell"), but he actually has done some decent work (The original "Walking Tall", a TV movie called "Mongo's Back In Town", and a Walter Matthau thriller called "Charlie Varrick").

In the new movie version Edge of Darkness (2010) , you have ...

Mel Gibson as Thomas Craven (with Ray Winstone) - from media.theiapolis.com

... Mel Gibson as Thomas Craven, a Boston Police Detective who eventually teams up with British operative Darius Jedburgh, played here by ...

Ray Winstone as Darius Jedburgh - aceshowbiz.com

... Ray Winstone, yet another of those British professionals who simply don't know how to do a second-rate job.

Now, for all the flack that Gibson's taken lately, I have to say that he is just fine here; as good as I've seen him in ages. Nothing wrong with Winstone either.

The problem is that the story is so gutted to fit within that two-hour time frame.

In the BBC version, Craven genuinely wanted to found out what it was all about, to try and make some sense out of the senseless; NOT knowing being an open wound.

The movie version can be boiled down to the last sentence I quoted from the Willie Nelson song, being entirely devoted to going "for a ride", and seeking only vengeance (about all that two hours allow for, I suppose). All the subtlety that made the mini-series so fascinating is completely gone.

Darius Jedburgh has been reduced to such a small part that what he does, and what happens to him make almost no sense whatever.

I've long ago lost count of how many times I've seen the whole 5+ hours of the mini-series. I watched the new movie precisely once.

I honestly cannot recall if the movie had anything at all like the gun and teddy bear scene I described above, but it's little subtle touches like that and many, many others that the mini-series had and the movie doesn't that make the difference between somebody you'd like to know, and a corpse.

That pretty well describes the difference between the two versions of "Edge of Darkness". I'm fairly confident that the Frankenstein version of AQM, along with some dumpster-diving, is an accurate description of how the movie was conjured up.

Gary Oldman's presence guarantees that I will check out "Tinker Tailor ...", when it gets here in six and a half weeks. I've heard a little buzz that suggests it might actually be pretty good (it's already showing in Britain), but as I said way above, we'll see.

Update - 11 Dec 2011 - It ain't here yet. :(
All of the websites I've seen on this movie showed a Dec 9 USA release date.

I've now learned that date is for a "limited" (as in L.A & NYC probably) showing to get the movie officially released in this country before the end of the year, to qualify for 2011 Academy Award nominations; Gary Oldman considered almost certainly to be nominated.

An Alamo Drafthouse manager I talked to on the phone thought they might have it by the 16th. A manager at the Regal 23 I talked to in person thought possibly sometime in the next few weeks. Nobody appears to know for sure.

I have some confidence (and a lot of hope) that I will get the chance to see it soon. (Hopefully not to see my worst fears realized.)

In the meantime, is there anything else worth giving a look?

Check out Hugo. Director Martin Scorsese (who gave us "Taxi Driver") tries his hand with a family film, and delivers pure magic. That's as big a surprise as Bob Clark (who's legacy was the raunchy "Porky's" movies) turning out a gem like A Christmas Story in 1983.

"Hugo" just might be the best movie of this year. I'm totally serious. Give it a look.

Update - 26 Dec 2011 - Have just seen commercial announcing Friday, 06 Jan 2012 as date of general release in USA.

06 Jan 2012 19:30 - Mild-mannered steel.
That's how I would sum up Gary Oldman's performance here. Having to be an inquisitor searching out clues to the possible "mole" he's searching for, he doesn't attempt to be menacing in any way, but seems to peer into your very soul. I'm pretty confident of a "Best Actor" academy award nomination for this, and he may have a pretty good chance of actually winning it.

On the other hand, squeezing the story down to two hours doesn't leave much for the other actors and truly does hurt it. Not nearly as bad as what happened to "Edge of Darkness"; the gist is pretty much there, but it's only a pale shadow of the mini-series.

Bottom line: Not bad, but Oldman's performance is the only reason to watch this. If you have the patience and attention-span, get the DVD mini-series instead.
-

"The Thing" prequel - DAMN!!! - (Spoiler Warning)

2011-10-14T12:03:00.011-05:00

I was really looking forward to this movie. But...

Harry Knowles saw a preview screening several months ago.

Harry says THE THING prequel is the warmest load of shit on screen in ages!
and continues...

I hate the film. Hate it. Absolutely loathe it. It was my gut reaction the second it ended, but over the months I’ve had to consider the film – I’ve realized just how much I love John Carpenter’s original. I’ve rewatched it a few times since seeing the remake, and it really is a little bit of a miracle just how perfect that film is.
...
There’s a moment where he and his buddy are going to fly an injured Norwegian back to the real world. Now, we all know this character is a THING. There’s never any real suspense or mystery about who the THING is for the film, because the actors all play it like they’re The THING. Anyway, so they’re going up in the helicopter – and THE THING, who is a man. And knows this helicopter is going to take it to a populated area… well he decides to attack on the helicopter. Nevermind that this pretty much makes the THING a really stupid creature that can’t help but attack any non-THING. Something that the original THING would never have done.
...
THE THING is the exact kind of soulless bullshit that is meant to capitalize on our nostalgia – while really having no notion of how to really deliver on that. I know personally about a dozen horror filmmakers that would’ve given their last tooth to make a great THING prequel. THE THING is a marquee HORROR film to play with – and you went with a first timer that was grotesquely out of his league
...
I recommend staying home and watching the original with friends. Use your theater money wisely.

Now, let me tell you something about Harry Knowles, the creator of the Ain't It Cool News site (No! I don't know him personally, although he's just down the road in Austin).

He absolutely loves these kind of movies (horror and science-fiction); so much so that he is far more forgiving and cuts a lot more slack than most critics. My experience has been that when he feels something is a piece of dreck, you can pretty well take that to the bank.

So, will I check it out personally? Don't really know. After all, I have been warned, by someone who usually knows whereof he speaks.

This is another Public Service Announcement from Paul In Houston. :(

Update - Same Day (14 Oct 2011) 20:17 - At the Murder By The Book store, here in Houston, F. Paul Wilson (one of my very favorite writers, author of "The Keep", the "Repairman JacK" series, and many others) showed up for a talk and a book signing.

I got my copy of his latest Repairman Jack ("The Dark at the End") signed and gave him my solemn promise to be more careful about "Spoiler Warnings" when writing a post about something he may not have seen yet (especially if I had invited him to read the post in the first place :-).

Had a very good time. If you're wondering if my compliments may be because of the possibility he may come across this post, you betcha!

Oh, Wait!!! Ain't this post supposed to be about "The Thing"?

Ok, then. I noticed that I had plenty of time to go and check it out before going to the book signing so, in a fit of curiosity and masochism, I went and did so.

Bottom line: I was fairly warned. :(
-

Obviously, we Texans haven't a clue as to how to get things done ...

2011-10-06T11:47:00.017-05:00

... as evidenced by this from Jerry Pournelle's Steve Jobs RIP; education, space, proscription, and debt. Lots of debt. On that page, go down a bit and look for the letter entitled "FEMA". It's about two ladies that went out to the area where the fires were being fought and set up their own organization to help the firefighters.

...
Here are some stories about the Tricounty fire in Montgomery, Grimes, and Waller County, Labor Day week, 2011. (Just northwest of Houston)
...
Kenna moved on to the Unified Command Post at Magnolia West High school. She looked at what the fire fighters needed, and she made calls and set it up.
...
As exhausted firefighters (most of them from local VFDs with no training or experience battling wildfires) and workers came into the school after long hours of hard labor, dehydrated, hungry, covered with soot and ash, they got what they needed. They were directed through the commissary, where they got soap, eye wash and nasal spray, candy, clean socks and underwear, and then were sent off to the school locker rooms for a shower. HEB then fed them a hot meal and they got 8 hours sleep in a barracks, then another hot meal, another pass through the commissary for supplies to carry with them out to the lines, including gloves, safety glasses, dust masks and snacks, and back they went.

One of the imported crews from California came into Unified Command and asked where the FEMA Powerbars and water were. He was escorted to the commissary and started through the system. He was flabbergasted. He said FEMA never did it like this. Kenna replied, ”Well, this is the way we do it in Texas.”
...
Mind you, all of this was set up by 2 Moms, Kenna and Tara, with a staff of 20 simple volunteers, most of them women who had sons, daughters, husbands, and friends on the fire lines. Someone always knew someone who could get what they needed – beds, mechanics, food, space. Local people using local connections to mobilize local resources made this happen. No government aid. No Trained Expert.
...
FEMA came in and told those volunteers and Kenna that they had to leave, FEMA was here now. Kenna told them she worked for the firefighters, not them. They were obnoxious, bossy, got in the way, and criticized everything. The volunteers refused to back down and kept doing their job, and doing it well. Next FEMA said the HEB supplies and kitchen had to go, that was blatant commercialism. Kenna said they stayed. They stayed.
...
The upshot? A fire that the experts from California (for whom we are so grateful there are no words) said would take 2-3 weeks to get under control was 100% contained in 8 days.
...

I considered asking Dr. Pournelle for permission to reproduce the entire letter in this post, but that would be a strain on hospitality and, as it was a letter from another, that permission might not be his to grant.

Besides, some of you need practice at clicking on links anyway, and you really should click on that link I provided near the top of this post, just to fill in the ellipses. They make for fascinating reading, and I've only pity and despair for those too lacking in curiosity to do so.

Addendum a few minutes afterward - Is this unusual for this area? Not in the least. See also MORE ON THE HURRICANE IKE AFTERMATH, from September 10, 2008. It's just the way we are.

Another addendum - Why is it "just the way we are"?
I was lucky enough to be born in Texas. But many Texans were not so blessed, although they got here as soon as they could. :-)

A lot of people down here are from somewhere else. Houston has seen waves of emigration from other states, from time to time.

When I first moved here, in 1964, the population of Houston was a bit over half a million. Today, it is well over two million within the city limits, and approaching five million within the metro area.

In the late 70's, when the rust-belt states (Michigan in particular) were in recession, so many came here, that a PBS special noted ...
"over a million people poured into Houston, looking for jobs, and found them!"

During that period, it did indeed seem like the Michigan license plates outnumbered the locals.

Believe it or not, most of us did not resent that. Some did (even we are cursed with a few complainers), but most of us saw those expatriate Michiganders as folks who, instead of moaning and whining about their lot, actually did something about it.

In the pioneer days, that was truly a big deal, as
"the cowards never started and the weaklings died along the way".

Today's times are a bit less drastic, but even now to pull up stakes and move 1300 to 1400 miles to better your situation is very daunting to many; downright terrifying to some.

Wimps don't do that. To those of you who have joined us in that way, let me tell you that most us of have nothing but respect for you, are glad to have you with us, and simply can never get enough of you. You enrich our state; by being here and making it worth bragging about.

One result of that is a significantly higher percentage of folks who are inclined to fix their own problems instead of waiting for others to do it for them. Thus, the fortitude and self-reliance shown in the two linked articles above are not at all surprising. It would be far more of a surprise if they were not evident.

So, to all of you who have joined us from somewhere else:

Thank you!

Oh, by the way - I've seen a couple of other posts linking to this one, and commenting favorably about it. Please remember, I'm mostly reporting on an original post by Dr. Jerry Pournelle (linked near the top), and all I've done is to use it as an opportunity to brag about my state. Pournelle (or more properly the one who sent the letter to him) deserves all the credit for the points made about FEMA vs the volunteers.

Ok?

Update - 07 Oct 2011 - This post is linked at Volunteerism vs. Bureaucracy in which commenter Politicalprincess_007 takes us to task for inaccuracies in the TriCounty fire incident and provides sources refuting the impression of FEMA being the villain there. See her comments; she makes a very good case.

As far as I can see, it in no way invalidates the main point of the post (emphasizing self-reliance and volunteerism), so I'm letting my post stand as is; with this very important clarification added.
-

Thoughtcrime

2011-09-29T14:19:00.009-05:00

The University of Wisconsin-Stout is bravely defending us against the perils of free speech and that awful 1st amendment.

See Brad Kozak's Freedom of Speech Evidently Has No Place In a University., and what got them up in arms (so to speak) ...

Poster from Brad Kozak's post (linked above)

This poster, from one of my favorite short-lived series Firefly (sort of a live-action Cowboy Bebop), made U of Wisconsin-Stout officials go ballistic (Can I even use that word?) when a theatre professor posted it on his door.

Apparently he's posted things there for a long time, but this particular one set off the trip-wire of political correctness, which obviously trumps a 200+ year-old scrap of paper called the Constitution.

Please click on the link and give Mr. Kozak's post a look. There's another poster in there which did not further endear the professor to the powers that be at that institution.

This is a public service announcement from Paul_In_Houston.

H/T: Instapundit

Addendum - 30 Sep 2011 - Context: Captain Malcolm Reynolds (the dude in the poster) and his motley crew make a pretty much off-the-books living by using their "Firefly" class cargo ship to transport various and sundry items and passengers to other worlds. On learning that one of his passengers has smuggled aboard his sister (a greatly sought-after fugitive from the oppressive Alliance) and berating said passenger about them being an albatross he just doesn't really need at this point, the passenger openly wonders about being killed in his sleep, prompting Mal to clarify things a bit.
-

Your browser is no longer ...

2011-09-17T18:26:00.012-05:00

... supported by Blogger. Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems.

For a couple of days now, I've been unable to edit or update my existing blog posts, or to create new ones. When searching through Blogger.com to see if others were also having problems, I learned that they just recently tightened up browser requirements, hence the title and the top line.

If you are having problems, try Google Chrome.

That is their recommendation. Blogger.com is a part of Google, and they recommend using Google Chrome as a fix. How about that?

It's vaguely reminiscent of Jimmy Breslin's Watergate book wherein he describes Nixon campaign fundraiser Herbert Kalmbach telling businessmen, "You do a lot of work with the government. You should be in with the right people".
In other places, other men, better men than Kalmbach, tell you, "Pay, -- or die!"
(~Jimmy Breslin - How The Good Guys Finally Won)

I've been usimg Firefox 3.03 for years now, because it's not so much of a resource hog as other browsers I've worked with.

Now, it looks as if I'm gonna have to use something else.

I'm using an HP computer that I got at the end of 2003, with Windows XP and 256 MB of RAM.

Get a new one? Right!!!
"I'll just walk out in back where the money tree grows.
Grab me a handful and off to the store I'll go."
(Slight rephrasing of an old Roger Miller song).

I've had several people recommend Chrome to me even though it comes from the evil empire of Google (as opposed, of course, to the evil empire of Microsoft :-)

Truly, a choice of evils. :(

Well, I've downloaded Chrome and am using it (this post is proof that I changed to something else, as my version of Firefox wont help me any longer.)

Biggest irritant of course is getting used to the changes in layout of some things (although, thankfully, the bookmarks menu imported from Firefox retains its general appearance even if it is on the wrong side of the page.

But I can adapt, even to changes that I truly think may have resulted from boredom on someone's part.

The early part of my engineering career was in the slide-rule days. Give one of those to modern day engineers, and I'll bet you some would be trying to figure out, "How do you turn it on?" ("With a really interesting problem.", I would respond. :-)

That particular career (before I moved into IT) was from 1964 to 1984, and during nearly half of it, the most modern tool we had was an electric adding machine. I truly kid you not; we had one engineer who used an abacus (and was damned good with it).

It was the late 1960's before someone tried to interest us in a four-function electronic calculator, about the size and shape of an IBM Selectric typewriter, using a bank of tubes showing 7-segment numbers for the display and costing about $600.00 (at a time when that was 1/3 third the price of a brand-new Volkswagen Beetle). We passed on the deal, at that time.

A couple of years later, I bought a Miida calculator (still only four-function) for about $170.00 from Sears, Roebuck, making me the first in the company to have one. It got popular very quickly. I even worked out a three-step method of averaging to get very precise square roots from it (we used those a lot in electrical calculations) and felt pretty damned good about that (although slide-rule accuracy was actually more than sufficient for our purposes -- it was an ego thing for me, I suppose).

Of course, another year or so, and the same amount of money bought an 80-function calculator. Since then, prices of those things have dropped so much that the only thing keeping them from becoming Cracker Jack prizes is fear of lawsuits if a kid swallows one.

Through all my careers, I have become self-taught on slide-rule, logarithms, computers and programming.

If I can figure those things out, I reckon I can somehow manage the transition from Firefox to Chrome.

I think.

(Pray for me).
-

CALL it "The Freedom Tower" ...

2011-09-10T14:04:00.024-05:00

... Not that mind-numbing bureaucratese of "One World Trade Center".

"Freedom Tower" is what it was originally meant to be called anyway, until somebody got their panties in a twist and thought that such a name would be a gigantic Foxtrot Yankee to those who tried to bring us down. (Sounds to me like an excellent reason to so name it.)

From the Wikipedia entry (for what that's worth) ...
In 2009, the Port Authority changed the name of the building from "Freedom Tower" to "One World Trade Center", stating that this name is the "easiest for people to identify with".

All I can say is (EXPLETIVE DELETED!!!).

I saw a NOVA special on TV a few nights ago, all about the design and construction of the 1 WTC Building (They've already forgotten the original name) and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The Presence of Absence ...
That's what the architect of the memorial said it was to evoke; the sense of loss in the footprints of the original twin towers.

That's not a bad description of what appears to be the attitude of Obama and many of his minions who will appear at the 10th anniversary on 11 Sep 2011. An attitude of "Let's put this behind us and move on." ; a good sentiment in some circumstances, but in this context almost like saying that the Holocaust Museum should never have been built.

In the Shadow of the Freedom Tower ...
To add to the mix, we also have the Ground Zero mosque, except we're not supposed to call it that on account of it ain't located directly on the former World Trade Center site, Ground Zero, nor is it primarily a mosque, ("A rose by any other name ...")

Although the City of New York refused to let a Greek Orthodox church that was destroyed at Ground Zero be rebuilt, they appear to have no problem with this abomination.

Maybe some solace can come from the fact that its location, about two blocks northeast of the Freedom Tower suggests that in the fall (around Sep 11), each afternoon it will lie in the shadow of the tower.

So, where are we now? ...

I don't have a date for the picture on the left, but it would probably be several months ago. The two open squares will be the memorial (hopefully completed tomorrow 11 Sep 2011). The picture on the right is how the tower should look when completed a couple of years from now. (All images in this post are from www.nyc-tower.com )

This one is dated 24 Aug 2011

And this was taken on 01 Sep 2011 - coming right along.

Where was I on that fateful day? ...
The same place most of you were; at work that Tuesday morning 11 Sep 2001. Being in IT, they tolerated my occasional surfing of the internet, but it was other workers who urged me to check out the CNN website that morning; something about an airplane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers.

I immediately thought it was a horrible accident, with Murphy's Law working at peak efficiency that it would be the tallest thing in Manhattan to be hit. Indeed, that even made sense as it would be a more likely thing to happen because of its height.

I had read, many times, about the July 1945 incident in which a USAAF B-25 Mitchell bomber tried to land in zero visibility (because of fog) at LaGuardia Airport and the pilot became disoriented and crashed into the Empire State Building between the 78th and 80th floors. At the moment, I felt that, because of the proliferation of tall buildings near landing approaches, such an accident was almost inevitable sooner or later.

Of course, that second plane hitting the other tower made it painfully clear what had really taken place.

The most horrific part was when the South Tower collapsed. Most of the people killed would have been those trapped on the upper floors. By that time, the ones below would have already been evacuated, with the only people still below being responders and others desperately trying to reach those still trapped.

What a horrible word is "only" when applied to people like that. The most merciful thing in their case was that when the rumbling started, they probably barely had time to wonder "What the Hell is that?" before it was over. It was half an hour later before the North Tower went, and I believe that rescue people were still trying their level best there, knowing all too well what could happen and being totally aware when it did.

A year later, I took a driving vacation and, among other places, visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

On display in one wing of the museum was a U-2 reconnaissance plane. On one wall, curving up from the floor, was a huge aerial photo, taken from that (or a similar) plane, of Manhattan Island. What you could see so clearly in that photo were the Twin Towers, and it literally took your breath away realizing what was now gone. I was trying very hard to hold back tears, and I don't think I succeeded. (If any reading this have been to the museum recently, I'd love to know if that photo is still on display.)

Update 27 Jan 2012 - As nobody has volunteered that information, I emailed the museum and received this reply:
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Your inquiry of January 26, 2012, regarding an exhibition has been received in the Smithsonian’s Public Inquiry Mail Service for response.

The oblique U-2 photo of the New York metropolitan area in the 1970s is still on view in the Looking at Earth Gallery (110) in the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.
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I hope this will be read by bloggers with far greater readerships than my humble 3 or 4 hundred a month, because I beg you to launch a campaign to make "Freedom Tower" the official name of this magnificent structure, or failing that, at least make it the de-facto name.

If honoring the memory of those who fell there was the only reason, that would be more than enough.
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Give this site a visit ...

2011-09-08T14:05:00.001-05:00

,,, Astronomy Picture of the Day ... and bookmark it (or set it as one of your "favorites" (or however your particular browser lets you do it)). Far more rewarding than most websites you'll visit.

Today's (Thu, 08 Sep 2011) entry is a low altitude pass over the site of Apollo 17's landing on the moon on 11 Dec 1972. See Apollo 17 Site: A Sharper View and click on the picture for an even larger one. Rather than steal the pictures for my own use, I'm giving you that link instead. Enjoy.

To Houston residents. Our downtown city streets appear to have been laid out 16 to the mile, making their center-to-center spacing very close to 100 meters. At the upper right of the picture is a 100 meter bar, which you can visualize as a downtown city block to give you a sense of scale.

I have a special fondness for Apollo 17, as it eventually launched me into an entirely new career trajectory and a complete change in my life, as breathtakingly chronicled in
Adventure of a Lifetime
followed by
The Adventure - Continued

Having lost all shame of promoting myself, I'm hoping you will take a look, and not find them too boring.

Thanks. :-)
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Before last night's GOP debate ...

2011-09-08T13:59:00.002-05:00

... I had planned on posting about it.

But, this post ain't gonna amount to much, because I didn't see any game changers there.

The two items that were closest (to me at least) both concerned Rick Perry ...

1) When challenged about his "Ponzi Scheme" description of Social Security and Karl Rove's assertion about how "toxic" such a characterization could be, he stuck to his guns there.

2) On being attacked about his record on Capital punishment, he came out swinging on his use of the death penalty. The cheers he got from the audience were probably not what Brian Williams expected ( I suspect that he was thinking, "Texas barbarians", perhaps forgetting that the debate was in California and one might suppose most of the audience to also be from there).

What I found most encouraging about Perry is that, as a campaigner, he most certainly will not be a doormat to anyone. If you cross swords with him, you had better be ready to fight. (Of course, he is a Texan. Were you inclined to actually to go after him with a sword, you might want to recall the classic scene between Indiana Jones and a huge swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) :-)

I'm going strictly by what I saw in the debate itself.

Upon seeing that the analysis (the first half of that word being particularly appropriate) would be conducted by such worthies as Chris Matthews and Al Sharpton, I figured that watching that would be an exercise in masochism I could forgo.

So, I did.
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Where'd my Comment go?!!!

2011-09-04T14:46:00.004-05:00

-Yeah; it really is "Rocket Science".

I've heard from more than a few commenters telling me of writing a long, involved comment, only to lose the entire thing after being asked to sign in after writing it.

So, herewith a primer on how to keep that from happening ...

If you are not already logged onto a Google account (which will be the case with most of you), this is the default way the Comment Window comes up ...

Note that, by default, it is already set for a Google Account, and warning that you will be asked to sign in after submitting your comment.

Ok. Let's fill in something ...

Now I select "Publish Your Comment" and get this ...

That is the sign-in window, and as I already have a Google Account, I log in and get ...

In this case, I'm logged in as the owner of this blog, and my comment appears right away. That highlighted text at the top, obscured by only having part of the window visible, just tells me that the comment has been saved and might take a minute or so to appear. Obviously, this time, it didn't.

Now, what if you're not signed into a Google Account, and simply don't have one?

Hit "Publish Your Comment" and once again get the sign-in window ...

That little note with the arrow is my addition, you wont see it when you get that window.

I'm going to select the "Get Started" option, below the "Sign In" button getting ...

... and going through seven circles of Hell just creating a Google Account, from scratch (most of the time, the word verification is almost completely unreadable, and you sometimes end up with an Error page saying something about your cookie setting not allowing the the reformulation of the page (whatever the Hell that means)).

But after all of that (which may have appeared to have failed), you may eventually get here ...

... and discover that, by some miracle, you've actually succeeded in creating the account and are now logged into it. But, "Where'd my Comment go?!!!"
Yup! The new second one's gone alright.

Now that you're logged in, you can give it another shot ...

Ok, then. Hit "Publish Your Comment" (but, keep in mind that "Comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by blog author") ...

Success! Note that at the top, highlighted in yellow, it says
"Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval."

That's what you want to see.

You wont see the actual comment right away, unless I'm sitting here when you send it and I respond very quickly. I have things set up this way because I get a lot of spam, especially for whatever post is at the top.

I'm pretty tolerant about what comments get approved; the only people I've outright banned (by remembering and watching out for them) are a lady who used a comment to attack another blogger and a man who insisted on making the same point over and over (and over) again until I decided ENOUGH!!!

Now, all of the above concerns commenting via a Google Account. Is it worth creating one just to be able to comment? If you've read this far, you tell me.

There are alternatives to logging on under a Google Account, three of them in fact.
Let's take a look at them ...

OpenID

When OpenID is selected, a couple of entry boxes open up.

The first entry box can be opened to show the types of accounts usable for this option.

As it happens, I have a Typepad account that I haven't used in ages. I select that.

Once I hit "Publish Your Comment", I go to a sign-window for TypePad and, after successfully signing in, get this ...

Success! Not yet visible; that second comment you see there coming from the new (and temporary) Google log-in I created for all this.

After blog owner (me) approval, the comment appears, giving me a little surprise ...

The sign-in window, for TypePad asks for your email address instead of your username. I had forgotten that sometime ago, I changed my username there from "Paul1827" to "Paul_In_Houston" (which I use in most places now). So, that is what the comment is attributed to.

Note: As with Google Accounts, these other accounts work as shown IF you already have an account with whichever one you've chosen. If you write a comment, pick one of them, and then have to create such an account, you will very likely find your comment has disappeared and not been saved when you return to the comment window.

Name/URL (Probably the easiest if you want to use a name, without too much hassle)

I've written my comment. Because of the defaults, I do not hit the "Publish" button yet.

I've selected "Name/URL", opening up new entry boxes.

I put in whatever name I choose to comment as, without bothering to enter a URL (as it says above, that's optional).

And, once again, success! I get the message I wanted.

Here, I'm making another comment, this time with a URL added. That URL can go to a webpage of your's, on your blog, facebook (in my case), myspace, whatever. Just try to get it right, as it will make a link of the name you are commenting as, so people can click on it to reach you (or at least reach the page you'd like them to see).

This time, as an experiment, I'm trying my email address as a URL

OOPS!!! That didn't work, as the "@" is not allowed in a URL. Picky, aren't they? :(

Anonymous - Used by so many, not necessarily for secrecy, but because it is the easiest way to comment. You can always sign it (or not). The downside is that comments entered this way may be caught by the spam filter, but I check those before blowing them away.

Ok! Write the comment, pick "Anonymous", then (for something different) hit "Preview".

And get ...

That yellow panel is showing you how it will look (especially handy if you decide to use HTML tags for formatting -- No, I'm not going into that here).

You can do this with any of the options and see if what you've written looks Ok to you. It gives you a chance to fix things before you hit "Publish".

Hopefully getting ...

So far, so good!

So, let's see what we've got ...

The first comment above is from being already logged onto my Google Account, as the owner of this blog.

I then logged out, and attempted another comment while the comment window was in default mode (Google Account). I was asked to log in, I chose to create a new Google Account, to emulate what has happened to some of you. Once I had managed that, I was returned to the comment window, logged-in as the new user I had created, but the comment I had entered was long gone.

The second comment above is from the attempt I then made, while still logged in as that new user. That one obviously worked.

The third comment above came from using OpenID, logged into a TypePad account I still have. In the comment window, I had selected TypePad, using the "Paul1827" username I had a long time ago. But TypePad's log-in window asks for email address instead of username, which I had forgotten that I had changed to "Paul_In_Houston"; that being the reason the comment is attributed to that.

The fourth comment above is from my use of "Name/URL", with a name I picked from one of my favorite TV mini-series, and no accompanying URL.

The fifth comment was from using "Name/URL" with the URL for my facebook page. In this case, the name I used would have been turned into a clickable link to that page.

An attempt at using "Name/URL" with my email address as the URL failed because the "@" part of an email address just ain't allowed in a URL. Hence, no comment from that try.

And, finally, the sixth is from good old "Anonymous", favored by so many.

And there you have it! This info is peculiar to Google's Blogger.com (any website with "blogspot.com" in its URL will be part of this), but I suspect that all free (or even not-so-free) website providers have their own particular purgatories to deal with.

Good luck on commenting, and hope to hear from you. :-)
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Apollo 18 -- The Verdict

2011-09-02T19:25:00.003-05:00

(On 16 Apr 2011, 15:46, I originally posted this as "There is a REASON why ...")

... I'll very likely check out the new Apollo 18 movie when it eventually comes out.

And, here is that reason ...

Poster downloaded from http://apollo18movie.net/ ages ago.

The release date on it is no longer valid - see below.

Click on it for larger image.

Produced by Russian-Kazakh film director Timur Bekmambetov (best known for the vampire franchise Night Watch and Day Watch ), this promises to be at least interesting and different (as opposed to the Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay film school of "blow 'em up real good". :-)

One year ago today, I posted Adventure of a Lifetime, about my odyssey to the Cape to watch the liftoff of Apollo 16 which went up on the afternoon of 16 Apr 1972.

A couple of months ago (mid February) that post started getting an awful lot of hits.

I learned from one of the commenters that it was due to a comment I had put on the IMDB page about the movie. The movie is supposed to be about a secret mission, and a commenter there asked, in effect, "How in Hell do you manage a clandestine launch of a Saturn V?!!!"

I replied that I could personally attest that such an event is a bit conspicuous, and I included links to "Adventure" and also to its follow-up, The Adventure - Continued.

I started to put much of this in a further addendum to "Adventure", but decided that doing so would only change the focus of that post.

That poster shows an 04 Mar 2011 release date. By the time all the comments hit my post, it had changed to 22 Apr 2011, and the imminent arrival triggered an avalanche of visits to the IMDB page, and subsequently to my post. As of today, it now appears that it will be 06 Jan 2012 when it hits the theaters.

Update - 29 Jun 2011 - It now appears it will be released on Friday, 02 Sep 2011.

I have many times breathlessly anticipated upcoming movies, only to have my hopes dashed when I finally saw them.

The business of bringing a movie to life is such a combination of art (hopefully), decision by committee, pure dumb luck and often mind-boggling stupidity (Pauline Kael once described movies as "an art form, run by businessmen") that Lewis Carroll would be hard put to render it justice.

Harlan Ellison has managed it on occasion, in some of his essays, and the process ain't pretty. In truth, the fact that sometimes, something really good actually emerges from all this is a true miracle.

So, I fully realize that chances of what I'm looking forward to turning out to be indescribable dreck are fairly high.

But, honestly now, hasn't that poster piqued your curiosity, at least a little bit?

02 Sep 2011 - The Verdict - I've satisfied my curiosity today. Is it dreck? No.

It's sort of a "The Blair Witch Project (1999)" version of a lunar mission, and is actually quite chilling and effective in places. In fact, if it was a Saturday night offering on The Syfy Channel, I'd consider it well above average for that venue. (Yes, that is damning with faint praise.)

I doubt that you'll be wailing about an hour and a half of your life that you'll never get back. On the other hand, you probably wont go back for a second helping.

Now that that is out of my system, only three more weeks to go ('til September 23) to check out yet another movie I'm very curious about (see Possibly a good movie ... ).
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Ahhnold the Barbarian - version 2.0

2011-08-26T02:19:00.021-05:00

Revised Monday 29 Aug 2011 -
In the science-fiction magazine Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact of January 1974, Robert A. Heinlein wrote a guest editorial, "Channel Markers", in which he discussed (among other things) the business in which he made a successful living -- writing.

He laid out this ...
Five Rules for Success in Writing:
   First: You must write.
   Second: You must finish what you write.
   Third: You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
   Fourth: You must place it on the market.
   Fifth: You must keep it on the market until sold.

I've yet to make it to Fourth and Fifth, and here I am violating the Third Rule

(because, one of my rules - not at all original with me - is that

"All rules have exceptions, including this one.")

So, because I happen to feel like doing so, I'm modifying (hopefully improving) this post by adding photos (the original had none) and even some more of them "word" things (which I'll highlight by giving them a yellow backgound as I'm doing here.

Ok?

(You don't have to be psychic to suspect that I checked out the new Conan movie. :-)

But this post ain't really about the new movie (of which Harry Knowles, of Ain't It Cool News, charitably said, "It doesn't entirely suck. There's some pretty cool parts"); the coolest of which is relative newcomer Jason Momoa (new to the big screen; he's done a lot of television work, most prominently in Stargate: Atlantis) as Conan. Now, if he only had a director and writer who knew what the Hell they were doing. Here he is ...

Photos from hollywoodunlocked.com, scifi.about.com and vickybonline.com respectively.

Sadly, the glasses never made it into the movie, perhaps out of fear that people would think he was doing Conan the Librarian (Guardian of the Shelves).

From 'Weird Al' Yankovic's UHF (1989) ...
Timid Man: Can you tell me where I can find a book on astronomy?
CtL: (in a thick Austrian accent while lifting the man up with his bare hands):

"Don't you know the Dewey Decimal System?"

Young book customer: (Whimpering before Conan slices him in half):

"These books are a little overdue."

To Mr. Momoa: You may have missed an opportunity here.

At least, Arnold had John Milius for the 1982 version, as both writer and director. Milius considers it his sacred duty to tell a tall story and to tell it well (in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), before the opening title, the text scrolling up the screen said something to the effect of, "If this ain't the way it was, it's the way it should have been."), and in his Conan the Barbarian (1982), what he made was nothing less than a legend brought to life.

It took me a while to feel that way; the first time I saw it, I just considered it Ok. But, over time, I've come to appreciate it more, and notice much more in it than appears on the surface. I rather doubt that time will give me similar feelings about the remake.

But, my intent here is to focus more on Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that fact may cause a few of you to say "Adios!" right now; his current problems with zipper-control, his love-child with a former mistress and the resulting break-up of his marriage making a lot of people ready to boycott absolutely anything that has anything whatever to do with him.

My focus is on his rise to stardom and on how consistently he has been underestimated on that journey.

In 2000, director George Butler appeared at the River Oaks theater, here in Houston, to present his new documentary, The Endurance (A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton 's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in 1914-1916), and before taking any questions, he apologized to the audience for putting Arnold on the map with his earlier documentary Pumping Iron (1977), about bodybuilders preparing for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests.

Arnold featured pretty heavily in it alright, but with all due respect to Mr. Butler, he's simply full of it. Arnold was a force of nature, and was going to put himself on the map one way or another. George Butler just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

But, his documentary did show the determination and single-mindedness of Arnold as a competitor, with one scene showing Arnold commenting on his focus before an event,
"If someone was to tell me that my car had been stolen, I'd just tell my secretary to call the insurance company; I can't be bothered with that just now."

And another scene with Arnold with a bunch of girls in a modeling class, not giving a damn if anyone thought it might look funny, but learning from professionals just how to pose himself most effectively to win.

Arnold had already had a few bit parts in TV and movies for several years prior to Pumping Iron and was obviously exploring career options.

Conan the Barbarian was his first starring role, and he actually wasn't bad at all (No. I'm never gonna suggest that he should have gotten an Academy Award nomination for it, but within the limited scope of what was required here, he did Ok.) So, here's Arnold ...

Arnold as Conan - from www.blippitt.com

There's tons of photos showing his physique, but I liked this one because of the eyes. Momoa plays him with fierce exuberance, going into battle with an attitude of "This is going to be fun!". Arnie plays him as determined, with an attitude of "God help you, if you get in my way". Trust me, you do not want to get in his way.

Two years later, director James Cameron became perhaps the first to work out how to really use Arnold effectively in a little sci-fi masterpiece, The Terminator (1984).

He originally wanted Arnold to be the hero soldier coming back from the future to save Sarah Conner from the terminator (meant to be played by Lance Henriksen; whom you might remember as the android Bishop in Aliens). Cameron's original idea for the terminator was someone who could blend into the crowd and come at you from nowhere.

Lance Henriksen as the android Bishop in Aliens - from gb93.com

He wound up in a small role in The Terminator, as Police Sgt. Hal Vuckovich. This is the guy Cameron originally had in mind to play the terminator.

But, Arnold was savvy enough to figure, "Who the Hell watches Star Wars to see Luke Skywalker?", that the terminator was who everyone would have their eyes on, and requested that role instead. Cameron agreed (even though it blew Hell out of "blend into the crowd"; Arnie just doesn't).

You-know-who as you-know-what - from network.nationalpost.com

Although a robot (Ok! Get it out of your system about how this makes a perfect role for Arnold), it's actually a very interesting character. Not at all a villain; it just has a job to do. If you interfere, it'll swat you like a fly, but if you get the Hell out of its way, you're no longer even in its frame of reference.

I'm not really sure, but I believe it was Arnold who added a subtle touch to the actions of the terminator. When his eyes are scanning the area around him, his head is perfectly still while the eyes move to their limits at whatever side it's checking, then the head begins to follow; a very efficient and machine-like quality that's a bit unsettling because it's not really obvious what it is that just doesn't seem natural.

This was two years after Conan, but Arnold was still pretty new to what this business was and what it sometimes entailed. In the DVD commentary, Arnold and director James Cameron discuss the "guerrilla" film making involved in shooting the movie; meaning that because of time and budgetary constraints, they were more than a bit casual about getting necessary permits to shoot on the streets in various neighborhoods.

There's a scene in the movie where the terminator acquires some necessary transportation by walking up to a parked station wagon and punching through the side window with his fist to open the door and get in.

So (according to the commentary) they are set up on a side street, watching out for police cars (being in Los Angeles, the film capital of the western hemisphere, I suspect the police pay more attention to and watch out for stuff like this) and Cameron tells Arnie, "Ok, now I want you to punch your hand through that glass.", which Arnie does, not even thinking to ask, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, PUNCH MY HAND THROUGH THE GLASS?!!!" I suspect Arnie knows better, by now.

He learns all the time. Early in his movie career, Roger Ebert had an interview with him, catching him with a bunch of books from night school courses where he was working on his MBA. When asked about that, Arnold's reply was, "What's the point of having all this money if you don't know what to do with it?".

A few years after Terminator, he was in Predator (1987). In that one, he was mostly working with other athletes and body builders, including Jesse Ventura and Sonny Landham (a story in himself; the insurance people insisting on a 24/7 bodyguard for Landham; not for his protection, but to protect other people from him; his idea of fun being starting fights in bars.). Here's the guy we're talking about ...

Sonny Landham as Billy, in Predator - popstar.com

I hate to confess this, but if I was in a bar and he walked in, I'd probably do my level best to not catch his attention in any way and just quietly slip outside. The Wikipedia entry on him makes for some very interesting reading.

The most professional actors among them were veteran character actor R. G. Armstrong (who played the General that sent the group in), and Carl Weathers (better known as Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" Movies).

In the commentary on one of the DVD issues of Predator, director John McTiernan noted that when scenes were being shot that didn't involve Arnold, instead of lounging in his trailer, he would be at the back of the set staying out of the way and just studying Carl, watching and learning from him.

Carl Weathers as Dillon in Predator, and some guy he may have unknowingly mentored.

From adamcorolla.com

He has a great sense of humor and an equally great sense of comic timing, but few of his attempts at comedy did well in the theaters. Kindergarten Cop (1990) and True Lies (1994) were probably the best (and best performing) of those attempts.

So far, his most successful forays were into science-fiction, with Total Recall (1990) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

He was on his way to really becoming something, and then he took this detour into politics. Now that he's (hopefully) got that out of his system, he already has a few movie projects in the pipeline.

Don't ever underestimate this guy.
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Bumper Sticker ...

2011-08-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

... seen in Houston this morning, on a Mazda sporting Michigan license plates ...

In 2008, you voted to prove that you weren't racist.
In 2012, vote to prove that you're not stupid!!!

I almost never put stickers on my car, but I'll be sorely tempted if I can find this one.
(Blue, with white lettering, if anyone's seen them for sale. :-)
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In a very dark place ...

2011-08-19T20:21:00.007-05:00

... at the moment.

A little earlier today, I began constructing a draft post of "Death Sentence": a whine about how I felt that I wouldn't survive until the end of the year.

It got inadvertently (?) posted for a few seconds before I yanked it. But those few seconds were sufficient ot enshrine it on Google Reader.

Why the "(?)" after "inadvertently"? On automatic-pilot it is easy to select "Publish Post" when you meant "Preview", but maybe I wanted to pop it up there. Lashing out is all too human when you're in enough pain.

What brought that on is my current situation. I am barely hanging on with the combination of early-retirement social security and a part-time job as a grocery cashier. If I go under 20 hours in a week, I bleed because I have to hit my credit to squeeze by, and of course that ain't infinite.

I've had a lot of weeks like that lately, and seeing only 10 hours scheduled for this coming week sent me a bit over the edge. If this is a sign of things to come; not good! Not good at all!!! There's no escaping a total collapse down the line in that case.

Of course, maybe that ain't the case at all; I've had spells of extreme depression before, and I could easily be over-reacting to a temporary setback instead of evaluating it objectively.

Maybe I just need to put on Philip Wesley's "Dark Night of the Soul" (actually quite peaceful and soothing, in spite of its title) and try to relax a bit.

I've been through these spells before, and will probably be again. That I'm whining is probably a good clue that I'm still here.

So, if you've come across that post on RSS, Fuggedaboutit!!!

I'm going to try to.

To Greg: Thank you for your concern. One way or another, I'll make it through this. I'm 69 now; I think that says something about my survival skills.

Update - Sat night, 20 Aug 2011 - I have talked to the manager, mainly inquiring about the chances of more hours becoming available in the coming weeks. She actually felt the chances were pretty good, because business nearly always picks up for them once kids are back in school.

I did question why we were taking on three new cashiers and clerks while we were having trouble providing hours for those we already had. To that, she replied that some of those we had were not available for some shifts, particularly weekends.

As I have not restricted myself that way, I may have some opportunities in the coming weeks (I am not real fond of coming in at 6 AM, because I usually have to be up at 3 AM to manage that, but I have done it, will do it, and they do know it. So, there's hope there).

In her comment, blogger Webutante asked how she could help, if I had a tip-jar, etc.?

Well, I do not, for several reasons. First, I still have some pride left. Second, as a practical matter, my blog simply doesn't draw that many people.

I would love to be interesting enough to be able to market some of my writing, but, my site-meter provides a very solid (and sobering) reality check.

More than anything in the world, I'd like to stir curiosity and cause others to check out various other things I've written, but only a very tiny handful of visitors here ever do that. Most have arrived here because of the title I've given a post, or because of its subject matter, but after they've read the post (if they've even done that), BAM!; Hasta la vista, baby!!!

The bottom line there is that, whatever my dreams may be, I'm simply failing to hold their interest. So, even if I tried panhandling with a tip-jar, there just ain't enough visitors here to make it work.

It's a moot point anyway, as the first reason I mentioned above overrides everything, and means it just ain't gonna happen.

The conversation with the manager raises some hope, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

Thanks, all, for putting up with me. I really appreciate your support.

Yet another update - 22 Aug 2011 - Webutante made another comment on my fixation on the site-meter, which I am answering here in case not all visitors via RSS see the comments.

Thank you, Web.

You're right about the site meter, but let me put my addiction in perspective ...

I've never gotten around to watching Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996 - about the heroin culture in Edinburg), and don't know if I ever will; just not having any real interest in the subject.

But, I have seen a clip from it in which one of the characters, played by Ewan McGregor, explains ...

"People think it's all about misery and desperation and death and all that sh*t which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldn't do it. After all, we're not f*cking stupid. At least, not that f*cking stupid."

I'm always curious about how a post is received, but this is the fix that I'm looking for. As I explained to another commenter on another post of mine ...

For me, blogging is a great way to occasionally vent, or just to share things I'm interested in.

In a comment to a post on another site, I confessed to being a slave to the site-meter, often frustrated by seeing some little trifle that I shot out in response to something that ticked me off getting hit after hit after hit, while something else that I poured my soul into sinks without a trace.

The most soul-killing thing for me is apathy.

On the other hand, the greatest turn-on for me is when I see evidence of curiosity; people coming here for one thing and then exploring others.

To think I may have piqued someone's curiosity -- well, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Although depressingly rare, it actually does happen now and then. So, I do believe there could be worse things to be addicted to. :-)

Lord! Talk about going all over the map! I think I've just embarked on a world cruise here.
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"... and call off Christmas!!!"

2011-08-08T21:02:00.005-05:00

There actually was something really good in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).

That something is Alan Rickman, as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

from www.fanpop.com

In my previous post, I kinda dumped on The Syfy Channel a bit, for the inclusion of distinctly non-science fiction items in its lineup, including that movie.

(In a conversation with a clerk at Barnes & Noble, I learned that a writer, asking one of the people running The Syfy Channel about why they had changed their name from The "Sci-Fi Channel", was told that "Sci-Fi" is considered shorthand for "Science-Fiction", implying that would be the content; whereas "Syfy" is in fact just a totally meaningless bit of noise, and gives them license to schedule whatever they wish. Okay ... )

Back to Alan then.

Of all the people in this movie, he alone appears to be actually having fun, being so deliciously nasty.

After the Sheriff has said he'll cut out Robin Hood's heart with a spoon ...
Guy of Gisborne: "Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?"
Sheriff: "Because it's DULL, you twit. It'll hurt more."
(Said with a sneer that only Alan Rickman can manage; he has an absolute lock on that.)

Sheriff: (to a wench) "You. My room. 10:30 tonight."
Sheriff: (to another wench) "You. 10:45 ... And bring a friend."

Upon hearing from a scribe about the relationship Robin Hood has with the people...
Sheriff: "Just a minute. Robin Hood steals money from my pocket, forcing me to hurt the public, -- and they love him for it?"
The scribe nods.
Sheriff: "That's it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, -- and call off Christmas!!!"

One thing I'll always wonder: Was that last parting shot scripted?
Or, was Rickman on a roll at that time and he just ad-libbed it?

At times, he seems to be in an entirely different movie than the rest of the cast is, and almost succeeds in making this bloated epic truly watchable. Unfortunately, as with Ian McShane in the latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, he can't do the job all by himself (although he does what he can).

What put him on the map was his role as Hans Gruber (one of the all-time great villains) in Die Hard (1988), opposite Bruce Willis...

from aveleyman.com

Problem with getting on the map that way is the danger of typecasting. In Quigly Down Under (1990), opposite Tom Selleck, he played a villain with a mustache almost fit for twirling. He seemed to be at the top of any list for playing a back-stabbing, conniving SOB, and got quite a bit of work as such.

But, that's not the only side to him. Right after "Quigly", he appeared in Truly Madly Deeply (1990), wherein he was a ghost hanging around his girlfriend who really needed to get on with her life, but found it a bit difficult with him and his ghost friends around all the time, watching videos (what else do you do with all that time in the afterlife?) It was a sweet, warm role totally unexpected for the guy who played Hans Gruber.

His latest work has been as Professor Severus Snape, the "Darth Vader" of the Harry Potter series...

from www.examiner.com

He's actually the most tragic figure in the story, very multi-layered (Yes! I'm quite aware that I use that phrase a lot; I'm drawn to characters that rate it). Rickman succeeds in the challenge of taking a character you've learned to hate, and making you almost weep for him near the end of the last movie.

What can I say? The man is simply so damned good.
-

The Syfy Channel has begun to parody itself.

2011-08-07T16:24:00.004-05:00

.. Actually, it's gone way beyond parody.

It's bad enough that it manages to get funding to produce some of the absolutely silliest and most incompetent "science-fiction" movies ever seen (the quotes are because the "science" would rattle around in a thimble), but they also fill the voids in their schedule with stuff that has no conceivable place on such a channel.

Before you reach one of the few shows I like ("Haven", for one), you are treated to "WWE Smackdown" (Wrestling, if you've never seen it - I watched wrestling on TV in the late '50s as a kid; absolutely nothing has changed - talk about remakes.).

WHAT on earth does that have to do with fantasy or science-fiction?!!!

Oh, wait. Forget I ever asked.

Tonight, Sun 07 Aug 2011, what do I see in the lineup?

Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves".

On the Syfy Channel?!!!

(Well, for weeks now, it's been a weekend staple on BBC America; I suppose while they're waiting for the next episodes of "Dr. Who". Maybe that's got something to do with it.)

If this was a part of a resurrected "Mystery Science Theater 3000", I'd be very cool with that. The movie would be perfect source material for that crew.

But, such does not appear to be the case. Apparently, they have a void to fill and I'm guessing this was a cheap way to do it. They can't seriously believe that swarms of viewers will flock to it, generating enormous revenues from the commercials.

If their programming managers truly believed that, they would probably be working for the government.
-

Kinda says it all, doesn't it?

2011-08-07T15:33:00.004-05:00

-
Seems a long time ago, but it was only back in January when Barack Obama told us that America had reached a “Sputnik moment.” He was referring to the competition with China to be the Big Dog of the 21st century global economy,...

To encourage innovation, the government-sponsored Smithsonian Institute has launched a new blog called “Department of Innovation”. The quote above is from their page.

As of today, Sun, 07 Aug 2001, this is their logo ...

Thank you, Michelle Malkin.

Update - Sun, 14 Aug 2011 - In that version above, the gears would be completely locked up, unable to turn; an absolutely perfect example of a government project.

Sometime in the last few days, they fixed it by separating the two smaller gears thusly ...

The recipe for making a nuke ...

2011-08-05T13:06:00.006-05:00

... starts out the same as the recipe for "wabbit" stew.

First: Catch your "wabbit"!!!

Hiroshima, the atomic-bombing of which occurred 66 years ago tomorrow, was the first of a one-two punch. It is essential to understand that it took that second blow to finally convince the Japanese (at least, most of those who counted) that it was really all over.

You see, they had engineers and physicists that knew most of what was necessary to build an atomic bomb, and what they understood most was that the resources required were staggering, almost beyond imagination.

The August 6, 1945 detonation over Hiroshima didn't phase them all that much because previous fire raids involving hundreds of B-29s had already inflicted mind-numbing horror upon other cities. Tokyo had already had the heart burned out of it, with a lot more casualties than Hiroshima suffered

That, this time, it was only one bomb didn't impress their top military people. They were positive that there was not going to be a rain of those bombs because that would simply be impossible for us.

In a way, they were right. Almost all of the refined Uranium U-235 that the United States possessed was used in that one bomb. Later T-shirts showing a mushroom cloud and emblazoned, "Built in the USA by stupid lazy Americans. Tested in Japan." were dead on; we didn't have enough U-235 to test it anywhere other than over the target.

The problem with the Japanese High Command's assumptions was that there were other ways to skin that particular cat.

U-235 is desirable because it's relatively easy to detonate; usually making a cylinder of rings with a large enough hole to keep it below critical mass, making a cylindrical plug that would fill that hole, and putting said cylinder into a tube with a small explosive charge (a gun, in other words) and firing that cylinder onto the plug.

Yes, there truly is a bit more to it than that. But it's not my intent to give detailed bomb-making instructions here, even if I did know enough of the details. (Not that it would do a would-be terrorist any good -- remember the first part of the recipe above.)

The problem with catching the U-235 "wabbit" is that U-235 makes up less that 1% of natural Uranium (the other 99+% percent being the U-238 isotope). Separating that by the gaseous-diffusion method takes enormous time. Construction of the Oak Ridge facility began in Feb, 1943 and the fact that two years later there was only enough for one bomb would seem to confirm the Japanese skepticism in thinking that with Hiroshima we just may have shot our bolt.

But, there is another way.

Uranium U-238 can be used in a reactor to produce the isotope Plutonium P-239 which can also be made to fission. Such a reactor was built in Hanford, Washington and it could crank out a lot of usable P-239, and did.

So, what's the catch?

The "gun" detonation technique worked just fine for U-235; so well in fact that the engineers and physicists were confident that it would work and that they wouldn't be delivering a dud for the Japanese to study at their leisure.

With U-235, I believe a closure rate of around 3000 feet/second would insure a successful detonation. That is easily achieved in a gun design as the explosives generated an expanding wave velocity of around 5000 feet/second.

With Plutonium P-239, the fission rate is so fast that the closure needs to be around 10000 feet/second or the energy from the fission would blow the pieces apart before the detonation commences, resulting in a fizzle that might release a small cloud of some of the most lethal toxins on Earth, but not the bang you were after.

So, instead of using the gun technique, they used the much more difficult implosion method by surrounding the P-239 with explosives and detonating them at the same time; a process using klystron switching and wires to each explosive element cut to the exact same length (to allow for the speed of the signal through the wire).

In short, calling it an exacting science doesn't even begin to cover it. It took a lot of testing to perfect the technique before they used it.

Because the explosives completely surround the Plutonium core, this resulted in a problem.

When the Enola Gay took off, with the "Little Boy" Uranium bomb, it was intended to be already armed before it was loaded into the plane. As the B-29 was to take off from an 8500 foot runway, laden with a five-ton bomb and all the fuel that could be crammed into it, there was always the possibility of a crash on take-off (the night before, four B-29's had met that fate; this was a dangerous business). Such a crash, with an armed nuke aboard, could take out half the island.

So, the crew decided, "No F**king Way!", and had part of the bomb's detonation package removed, to be put back (arming it) while in flight. With the "gun" design, that was possible.

The implosion design, necessary for the Plutonium bombs, was a whole 'nother story. The "Fat Man" bomb for Nagasaki and its follow ons could only be armed prior to loading into the airplane.

According to the book "Day One: Before Hiroshima and after" (Peter Wyden - 1985), the officer in charge of that bomb was obsessing over the number 50. That's how many of those bombs the top generals in the United States Army Air Force thought it might take to compel the Japanese to surrender. And, with Hanford cranking out P-239, there was no doubt that we could deliver that many if that's what it would take. In fact, bomb # 3 was already on its way to Tinian.

To that officer, 50 more take-offs without a crash simply wasn't in the cards, and he would be cabling his superiors emphasizing the need for a quick redesign that would allow arming in flight.

Fortunately, that second bomb taking out Nagasaki on Aug 9, 1945 was convincing enough to bring about the surrender. (It's possible that Japanese scientists may have identified Plutonium at the Nagasaki site, telling them that the situation was far worse than any of them had assumed as to our ability to continue the attacks, but that's just a guess on my part.)

To nit-pickers: You will almost certainly find mistakes and generalizations galore in this post. I'm only trying to express the gist of things here. Using any of this in a dissertation will probably get you flunked. So, be warned. :-)
-

Possibly a good movie ...

2011-08-03T13:25:00.017-05:00

... or not. A Tale of Two Books -- from print to film.
(18 Sep 2011 - Updated at the very end)
(25 Sep 2011 - Final Update - The bottom line - at the bottom of the post)

When exiting the auditorium of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" (yes, I am a fan; especially of the books, although the movies have been a mixed lot), I spied the following poster on the wall ...

Killer Elite (2011) - from www.upcoming-movies.com

"Oh, Great! ...", I thought, ".... another damned remake."

Sam Peckinpah (probably best known for "The Wild Bunch") made The Killer Elite in 1975, about a group of mercenaries working for the CIA, in which one of them gets shot up and crippled in a double-cross from one of the others. It was mostly about the revenge of that guy and was not among Peckinpah's best by a long shot; redeemed only by the presence of James Caan, Arthur Hill and Robert Duvall.

The poster above shows Jason Statham (good), Robert De Niro (promising, although he's made some weird choices lately) and Clive Owen (whom I've liked ever since "The Bourne Identity" and "Sin City").

So far, so good. But, what's this "Based on a true story" business below their names? That doesn't square with it being a remake.

Oh! It turns out that this is not a remake of Peckinpah's film after all. Buried in the fine print is "Based on "The Feather Men" by Sir Ranulph Fiennes".

WHOA!!! Now, it's really starting to look interesting. I have that book ...

Right there, on the back, you can read why I'm intrigued.

What made me pick up the book in the first place was the name "Fiennes" at the bottom of the cover, wondering if he was related to Ralph ("Rafe", as the Welsh pronounce it -- or so I've been told) Fiennes, whom I first saw as the camp commandant in "Schindler's List", and has lately been Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies.

It turns out that Sir Ranulph (God only knows how that is pronounced; "Ran" said to go with the "obvious" pronunciation) is a second cousin, a Polar explorer and mountain climber, and a lot of other things.

From the Trivia section on his Internet Movie DataBase (IMDB) page ...

Born posthumously 7 March 1944. His father had been Colonel of Royal Scots Greys Regiment.   Fiennes joined the same regiment, and after blowing up the Doctor Dolittle (1967) film set as a prank, left for two more years in the Omani Army. (You might want to keep the "prank" part in mind on his advice as to how to pronounce his name. :-)

He was in the running to be the next James Bond after Sean Connery. He was in the last six and had a meeting with Mr Broccoli (Albert "Cubby" Broccoli owned the film rights and was the producer) but unfortunately Cubby said his hands were too big and he had a face like a farmer!

He suffered a heart attack, Britain's biggest killer, on June 7 2003. Shortly after recovering, he ran seven marathons in seven days on six continents.
   26th October: Patagonia, S. America
   27th October: Falkland Islands
   28th October: Sydney, Australia
   29th October: Singapore, Asia
   31st October: London, Europe
   31st October: Cairo, Africa
   2nd November: New York, North America

That picture above is from this article: Fiennes relishes marathon feat. The article actually says seven continents, but they must have attached the Falklands to Antarctica to pull that off.

Climbed Mount Everest on the 21 May 2009 after his third attempt.
The damned kid is two years younger than I am, so I'm not jealous of him climbing that mountain while I sometimes have difficulty even walking out to the car. I'm not. I'M REALLY NOT!!! :(

In short, one Hell of an interesting guy, and worthy of a movie just about him.

A damned fine writer as well; he writes a gripping tale of the events in the book that's supposedly the basis for this movie.

So, why the "... or not." in the first line of my post?

From a synopsis on the IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) ...
When his mentor (Robert De Niro) is taken captive, a retired member of Britain's Elite Special Air Service (Jason Statham) is forced into action. His mission: kill three assassins dispatched by their cunning leader (Clive Owen).

... which makes me feel that somebody went and paid good money for the rights to a book, chose not to use its title, and then jettisoned most of the story. Wouldn't be the first time by a long shot, and I've ceased to wonder what goes on in the minds of people who make those kind of decisions.

Because of the three leads, I'll almost certainly check it out, but at present, my feelings are frankly a mixture of anticipation and dread.

You see, this ain't the first time I've been down this particular road.

Around the end of 2001, I came across a poster for this ...

Texas Rangers (2001) - from dailybooth.com

Somewhere in the fine print (of the original poster in the theater) is

"Based on "Taming The Nueces Strip" by George Durham".

Do I also have that book? What a silly question. ...

A long time ago, when I lived in Michigan, I came across a copy at one of my favorite used-book stores, The Curious Book Shop in East Lansing (they are still in business; I just looked).

This book is still in print, from the University of Texas Press, and of course from Amazon.com (if they don't have something, it probably doesn't even exist).

It is primarily the story of a Georgia farm boy's experience of serving with the Texas Rangers during the period of 1875 and 1876, under the command of Captain Leander H. McNelly, in an outlaw-infested region known as the Nueces Strip.

When Texas was the Mexican state of Tejas, it was separated from Coahuila by the Nueces River, which ran down to the Gulf of Mexico at Corpus Christi.

After Texas won its Independence in 1836, it claimed land down to the Rio Grande River, establishing its border there. That claim was upheld by the United States when Texas allowed itself to be annexed to the U.S. in 1845, but Mexico repudiated that claim and tried to treat that part of the state as its own, resulting in the Mexican-American War.

The area between the two rivers (the Nueces Strip) became a magnet for local desperadoes, and for cattle thieves from Mexico trying to liberate what they referred to as "Grandma's cattle".

It didn't help things much that the aftermath of the Civil War left most of the Southern states (including Texas) in an unholy, anarchistic mess. To deal with that, in 1875 newly elected Governor Richard Coke created a special force within the Rangers, to be commanded by McNelly, and tasked with cleaning up the Nueces Strip.

He had some imaginative (but direct) approaches to the problem, as illustrated after a Mexican bandit gang had made a raid on a store in Nuecestown, a bit northwest of Corpus Christi. Among the things they took were ...

eighteen brand-new Dick Heye saddles, which were what you'd now call the Cadillacs of the saddle world. They were heavily studded with silver conchos in a pattern that you could tell half a mile away, a fact that proved to be the death warrant for many a man.

McNelly was very interested in those saddles. Upon learning from the store owner that he had some more on order, but they weren't in yet, he studied a moment, and then told him:

"When they come, don't sell a one until I tell you differently." He turned to Sergeant Armstrong and ordered, "Describe those saddles to the Rangers. Make sure they understand exactly. Then order them to empty those saddles on sight! No palavering with the riders. Empty them! Leave the men where you drop them, and bring the saddles to camp."

Among other things on his plate was also dealing with anglo outlaws; in particular one John "King" Fisher, a friend of John Wesley Hardin and a guy who casually wandered back and forth on both sides of the law, and may have even been responsible for one of the earliest road signs in Texas -- where a road split into two directions, on one a sign nailed to a tree warned,
"This is King Fisher's road.
Take the other."

He was a cattle rancher and also (sometimes) a cattle rustler as well. Certainly an outlaw by definition, but sometimes also The Law (serving as a sheriff several times), meeting his end by being gunned down, along with his friend Ben Thompson (yet another "been there and done that" as both outlaw and law officer, born in England; his family emigrating to Austin, Texas when he was a kid) in an ambush at the Vaudeville Theatre in San Antonio, Texas in 1884.

A very multi-layered man, he was reduced in the movie to a ruthless killer and nothing more, going out in a blaze of gunfire from the Rangers. Not a bit of subtlety left and not even Alfred Molina could do anything with the role to make it interesting (and that's saying something, given that Molina is an amazingly good actor; you'd just never know it from this example).

I truly believe that there is one Hell of a fine movie waiting to be made from this book, but "Texas Rangers" just ain't it. The only things the book and movie have in common are a few names, and that's it.

Look for the book, and don't waste even a dollar on renting the movie.

Whether "Killer Elite" gets as badly mangled remains to be seen, but you should understand now if I'm leery of getting my hopes up too much.

Update - 18 Sep 2011 - When I'm intrigued by a movie, I do my level best to avoid reviews of it before I see it. I accidentally came across a blurb about "Killer Elite" saying that Robert De Niro's performance is much like what he did in "Ronin", Statham is, well, Statham; a force of nature, and that Clive Owen is in full "Sin City" mode here.

Ok! That last part settles it; I am definitely going to give it a look.

Final Update - 25 Sep 2011 - That IMDB synopsis I quoted, way up above, is very misleading, as are some of the trailers for this movie.

While technically accurate, because of cutting, you aren't seeing what you think you are seeing in those trailers. I recognized quite a bit from the original story, but they made some major spins to certain events and characters (big surprise there, right?).

Biggest surprise to me (as a purist who usually hates changes from book to movie) was how much I liked the result; probably because of absolutely first-rate work by Statham, De Niro and Owen.

Bottom line: Amazingly Good!
-

Another bear attack

2011-07-26T16:55:00.001-05:00

This time, in Alaska, where a sow grizzly with her cubs attacked seven teenagers in an outdoor survival school. All were injured, two with nearly life-threatening injuries.

I was going to get more than a bit snotty here, wondering if the "Wilderness Family" series of movies (from the mid seventies) were still doing their damage by playing down the fact that "These are WILD animals! What part of "wild" escapes you?".

Jeff Millar (Houston Chronicle movie critic at that time) considered them irresponsible, predicting:

"A family is on vacation in the woods. Their kids come across some bear cubs, just as cute and adorable as they are shown in these movies. They will want to play with them.

"And somewhere close by will be the mother..."

But, this appears not to be the case. From what I've read so far, the teenagers seem to have been well-instructed, responsible, and level-headed. They were certainly level-headed in the aftermath and very likely that is why they all survived.

This may well be a case of, if you spend enough time in proximity to these creatures, well guess what?!!! You're apt to encounter them.

So ...
When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
~Rudyard Kipling - "The Female of the Species"

-

Bimbos of the Death Sun ...

2011-07-25T00:06:00.010-05:00

... with apologies to Sharyn McCrumb. (Updated below)

I hope she will forgive my use of the title of one of her novels, as this post will concern itself with same. I used it because I think a good title should be a "grabber", and if that one doesn't qualify, then I'm damned if I can figure what would.

My previous post, on the pending demise of Borders Books, was announced by email to various friends and acquaintances, one of whom used "Reply to all" to comment, suggesting that E-books helped to do them in.

This prompted another "Reply to all" from the Goddess Bloggess Foxfier (formerly Sailorette) mentioning other ways in which Borders may have brought this down upon themselves and also noting...

E-books probably didn't help, nor the way that I couldn't find a single book I wanted in the nearest big store, but could find a lot of over-priced toys. (What I went in for: Kipling's collected poetry, the Just So Stories, some of Tolkien's essays, a fantasy paperback that wasn't a freaking supernatural romance with a Buffy-bimbo on the cover, some book under $10 for a friend's five year old.) Contrast with the used book store on the way back, where I came out with a stack that I actually needed a bag for. (Although I still haven't found the Kipling or Tolkien.) (Emphasis mine)

So, from the part that I emphasized, I'm guessing she probably wont be scouring the book stores in search of ...

But, Foxfier: assuming you haven't already come across it, it really is worth hunting up and reading, as is its sequel "Zombies of the Gene Pool".

This is a fun murder mystery set at a fantasy con and, upon finishing it, my first thought was, "Did Harlan Ellison write this under one of his many pseudonyms?"

Nope! It turns out that Sharyn McCrumb is not one of Harlan's incarnations, but is a real live person, best known for her "Ballad" series of novels (set in Appalachia; only two of which have "Ballad" in their titles). The only one of this series I've read is "Ghost Riders".

Why is that the only one I've read?

Well, LIFE has this hilarious way of intruding sometimes, and boy did it ever this time! When I finished it, the intrusion was a very long and painful period of unemployment. Trust me, something like that will distract you.

In this post I was going to say that the writing style I saw in "Riders" reminded me a bit of Flannery O'Conner (if you are interested in a truly southern horror story, starting out funny and then shifting to horrific, not as an unexpected "gut punch" but as a dawning realization and dread of coming doom, check out O'Conner's "A Good Man is Hard to Find". It is bone-chilling, in the inevitability of what's to come.).

But a re-reading of both "Riders" and O'Conner's "A Good Man" shows that McCrumb's style is lighter and more romantic; I'm overdue to get back to her work. Until Foxfier reminded me with that "bimbo" reference in her email, I'd forgotten that I still had it.

Ironically I read somewhere that the author who may be the spiritual heir to O'Conner is James Lee Burke with his Detective Dave Robicheaux novels. The irony part is that "Ghost Riders" concerns Civil War re-enactors who's activities on old battlefields may be re-invoking the spirits of those who originally fought there (in the spirit of a line from Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It's not even past."), and one of Burke's novels ("In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead") covers very similar ground.

So, there really is a tenuous connection between McCrumb and O'Conner; just not in a way I would have ever imagined.

So, I need to get re-acquainted with Sharyn McCrumb's work. And, if you've never read her, give her a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I hope that she and Harlan Ellison (if he ever hears about this) will forgive me for initially wondering if they were one and the same. I'll be very surprised if they don't know each other.

Doing a recalculation of a series of assumptions made by Robert A. Heinlein in the mid seventies; of the roughly 300 million people living in the U.S., probably fewer than a thousand make a full-time living from free-lance writing. Thus, the community is small and probably most of them know of most of the others, and a rather large percentage probably are closely acquainted.

Finally, one of those that endorsed "Bimbos" was author Robert Silverberg, known as a close friend of Harlan Ellison. As for the possibility that he never brought her to Ellison's attention -- as the robot from "Lost in Space" would have put it ...
"That does not compute!"

Update - 27 Jul 2011 - Sharyn McCrumb (to whom I sent an FYI about this post) sent to me an email, which she graciously allowed me to include here, stating ...

... And yes, I met Harlan Ellison at the awards banquet in New York at which we both won awards. It turns out that people had been inundating him with copies of the book, because everybody recognized him, and everybody thought they'd be the only person sending him a book. Perhaps because I was eight months pregnant at the time, he did not beat me to death with his trophy.

Anyhow, that was many years ago. I grew up, and I assure you that I am not a mystery writer, and Ghost Riders and all my later works are serious literary novels on which people write masters theses, so you were wide of the mark with both Flannery O'Conner and James Lee Burke. I belong in the parish with Lee Smith, James Dickey, Charles Frazier, Ron Rash-- Southern lit., but mountain rather than deep South-- or with the magic realism writers, such as John Nichols. (See biographical summary below),
http://www.amazon.com/Race-Storytellers-Essays-Ballad-McCrumb/dp/0865548935

Thanks for the memories from 1988. When I wrote that book, a young actor named Tom Hanks was starring in a network sit-com called "Bosom Buddies" (in drag.) For precisely the same reasons, neither Tom nor I are ever going back.

All best wishes,

Sharyn McCrumb

--

So, I stand corrected.

(Although, on the other hand, what would she know?

I'm flashing back to the only Rodney Dangerfield movie I've ever watched: "Back to School", from the mid-eighties. In it, to provide moral support to his son, he enrolls in the same college. Being a rich, obnoxious jerk who can solve most of his problems with money (before later growing up a bit and getting serious), he hires people to handle his college assignments.

When assigned to write a report on author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., he picks up the phone. The next scene shows him responding to a knock on the door, which he opens, revealing Kurt Vonnegut himself reporting for duty.

This sets up a punch-line for when, during a later argument with his teacher (Sally Kellerman) over his attitude and way of doing things, she ends the discussion with a parting shot, "By the way. Whoever you paid to write that report doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!" :-)

--

R.I.P. Borders Books

2011-07-21T22:35:00.003-05:00

In the spring of 1984, I moved up to Mt. Pleasant, in central Michigan, and lived there for 10 years beore returning to Houston in the fall of 1994.

My favorite places to shop for books up there were the various Borders Books stores, in Saginaw, Lansing and other towns there. They had started, in Ann Arbor, in the seventies.

I've always liked the stores and their selection, and was delighted to find they had opened stores in Houston when I returned.

So, it was a shock to just now get an email from them announcing "going out of business" sales, beginning Friday, Jul 22, 2011 in their 399 stores prior to total liquidation. They were just the latest victims of the current economy.

I've always liked them, and feel as if I've lost a personal friend.
That's all I can say.
-

A Balanced Budget Amendment would ...

2011-07-21T13:22:00.002-05:00

... make it "virtually impossible" to gouge more money out of you.

That is a paraphrase (but not by much) of the reaction of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Dem - Maryland) to the parts of the Republican Cut, Cap and Balance plan that would require supermajority votes in Congress to increase taxes.

What he actually said was, "In order to pay our bills, Republicans would require us to pass a Constitutional amendment that would permanently enshrine their partisan budget priorities in law and make it virtually impossible to raise revenue."

But, tell me honestly, was my paraphrasing of it all that much of an exaggeration?

He is whining because the bill would make it harder for them to get more money out of you, and of course he says it as if that was a bad thing, because it truly is to their ilk.

Their approach to an economic problem seems always to amount to pointing the "revenue" gun at you and demanding, "Hand it over".

If someone proposes actually cutting something, their reaction is best described by Ace at Ace of Spades HQ ...
"His mouth is moving and there is sound coming out,
but it's not a language that any of us understand."

-

Who do the Democrats fear most?

2011-07-16T12:03:00.007-05:00

Best way to get a handle on that is to see who they attack the most. You do not waste your ammunition on someone who doesn't matter.

Sarah Palin's easily the reigning champion there, with the biggest bullseye of all painted on her back, and she just will not fall. That she's my personal favorite shouldn't come as a shock to any who know me. You will underestimate her at your peril. :-)

Michele Bachmann has had to contend with "Are you a flake?" from one of the biggest flakes on the air (other than Chris Matthews), Chris Wallace.

And now that our governor Rick Perry seems very likely to enter the race, the heavy artillery is being zeroed in on him.

One of the many charges being aimed in his direction is the revelation, that GASP (like many Republicans in Texas), he was once a Democrat!!!

Hilary Hylton has just published, on Time magazine's website,
A Texas Two-Step: When Rick Perry Backed Al Gore

There's an inconvenient political truth for Texas Governor Rick Perry: he was his state's 1988 campaign chairman for then U.S. Senator Al Gore's first run at the presidency.

The way their partnership has dissolved and their paths diverged in the past three decades speaks eloquently to the way American politics has been reshaped. Gore has sailed left, while Perry's political odyssey has seen him tack in the other direction — and to the opposing party. The two men opted for different paths across a dynamic, changing political landscape, and while one man fell short of the White House, the other now contemplates that prize.

That title of the article is a LINK. You just have to put your cursor on it and click.

I've already explained in my "Vietnam's most infamous photo ..." post that ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As much as I might like to simplify things by just incorporating those posts verbatim in my own, I JUST CAN'T DO THAT!

There are these things called copyrights, and it would be just my luck to steal from someone represented by Disney ("We have the meanest junkyard-dog copyright lawyers in the world; they go where Navy SEALS fear to tread. Who do you think really got bin Laden?"). Besides, it just ain't right!

YOU GOTTA FOLLOW THE LINKS!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I suspect that Time has access to lawyers almost on a level with Disney's, and I'd really be pushing my luck by quoting more than I have above. So, PLEASE, just try the link.

And, for those desperately seeking to stop Perry in his tracks, using that article could blow up in your faces, as it makes powerful, persuasive sense on why he and so many others switched parties.

Of his official conversion in 1989, Perry simply said, "I came to my senses."
That should be the motto of Texas Republicans.
-

Fw: How Dry Is It In Texas?

2011-07-14T23:28:00.009-05:00

About three weeks ago, one of my best friends forwarded an email to me, which I in turn forwarded by publishing it as a post.

Another good friend forwarded the following email to me, and here I go posting it as well.

That last post resulted in a commenter opening up on me with both barrels, about factual inaccuracies in that email, and I received an education.

This time, I'm gonna use the email as inspiration, and as a skeleton for a much larger and more diverse post. In other words, I'll probably go all over the map.

*********** Start of email **********************

How Dry Is It In Texas?
Cows are giving powdered milk.
A buddy in Longview said he'd killed a mosquito that was carrying a canteen.

A man in Dime Box said the chicken farmers were giving their chickens
crushed ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs.

In Lake Palestine , they caught a 20 lb catfish that had ticks on it!

But just this week, in Bryan, a fire hydrant was seen bribing a dog.

It's so dry in Texas that the Baptists are starting to baptize by sprinkling, the Methodists are using wet-wipes, the Presbyterians are giving out rain-checks, and the Catholics are praying for the wine to turn back into water.
Pray for rain!

*********** End of email **********************

Now, I'm sure you will be shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that Texas is no stranger to extremes in anything, including weather.

In 1836, Santa Anna surprised the defenders of the Alamo by showing up much sooner than anyone expected. This was the day of Napoleonic warfare, and the General considered himself (and styled himself) "The Napoleon of the West". Of all of the Napoleon wannabes that came along after the original, he was probably the best by far.

That type of warfare requires a large train of supplies, usually wagons pulled by oxen. The Texians expected him to wait until spring before moving out because of considerations of forage for those oxen and for the cavalry's horses.

But, the General was a gambler and got underway in mid-February. He lost that gamble a bit; a blue norther coming straight out of Canada, down the plains and hitting his army (without proper winter gear; some of the soldiers even barefoot) with a blizzard that cost him as many casualties as the battle itself.

Update - 19 Jul 2010 - Ah, Hell!! - Every word of that anecdote above is accurate; Santa Anna's army truly did get hit with a freak blizzard while on their way to San Antonio, and did suffer casualties as a result, but further research discloses that this event happened in northern Mexico. They had not crossed into Texas yet, and neither did the snow (over a foot), making the anecdote interesting, but utterly useless as an example of Texas weather extremes. Oh, well... :(

Visitors to Texas also tend to notice that it gets hot here as well.

The quote, "If I owned both Hell and Texas, I'd live in Hell and rent out Texas", attributed to both General William T. Sherman and General Philip Sheridan probably evolved from a much more mundane, "Damn, it's hot down here!"

It's been that way since before there was a Texas.

If you get all of your info from The Weather Channel or the mainstream media, you'd think we've had nothing but record after record after record recently. But, that just ain't the case.

About seven weeks ago, I published a memory-lane post ( Just 50 years ago today ... ) about my 19th birthday, on 25 May 1961, and things going on at that time.

Now, let me bore you with birthday # 10, in May of 1952, in San Antonio, Texas.

I got my first bike; a brand new J.C. Higgins from Sears, Roebuck.

I'm not sure if a whole week went by before I got my first cast, after taking a spill and landing on my elbow, cracking it. Dad had to rush home to drive me and mom to the doctor, where the cast was put on, costing about $50.00 if I recall correctly.

I think the bike went for almost that amount, and that we paid about that much in monthly rent. As a mechanic in 1952, I doubt his weekly take-home pay was much (if any) higher. I do recall that he was less than thrilled at this turn of events.

Shortly after, mom took me (still in the cast) and my brother to spend a few weeks with her parents and some cousins of mine in rural Arkansas, the money for the trip having already been put aside (I think).

1952, going by train both ways. Going up was by a steam-powered train from San Antonio to Fort Smith, Arkansas, winding though small towns like Palestine, Texarkana, and so on, taking maybe 15 or 16 hours to get there. Coming back was a special treat; her parents driving us down to Little Rock so we could ride Missouri Pacific's Texas Eagle back to San Antonio, doing the roughly 600 mile trip in maybe 10 hours.

Before we started back, the cast had already been removed and my arm back to normal. So, upon return, I proceeded to wear out that bike, in San Antonio summer, and got myself introduced to heat exhaustion. Scared the Hell out of mom (and me too, for that matter).

As I noted above, it does get hot down here. Triple-digit temperatures were not at all unusual in San Antonio at that time; we just called it "summer".

Back in those days, before every house on the block had a TV, they ran newsreels in the movie theaters, between the features.

A staple of them, every summer, was a shot in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, D.C, or Los Angeles with the announcer going ,"How hot is it?", and then showing someone cracking an egg over the pavement and watching it fry. I suspect that whoever put the summer newsreel together would be drummed out of whatever guild or union they belonged to if they failed to include that.

Now, I know (because Al Gore tells us so) that we are living in the "End Times" because of "global warming", "climate change", or whatever they will come up with next.

My problem with being so damned old is that my memory goes back a long way, and although I've had a scare or two about my recollection, when I took the trouble to look things up and check them out, I found that memory to be working just fine.

Along with that age comes a little bit of cynicism about the fact that nearly all of the "cures" proposed for AGW, climate change, or whatever involve putting people who couldn't even run a lemonade stand in absolute totalitarian control of every aspect of our lives.

Am I exaggerating? Consider Energy Secretary Steven Chu's recent defense of banning incandescent light bulbs, "We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money."

This arrogant snot is literally telling you that you are just too damned stupid to make your own decisions; so they have to do it for you. They absolutely believe this. They truly believe that, "for your own good", you must get their permission for whatever it is you feel like doing.

If you doubt that, then you do not even begin to comprehend the mindset of these people.

-

Vietnam's most infamous photo ...

2011-07-03T12:49:00.015-05:00

... has so much back story that you probably never knew.

Foxfier has just done what I sometimes do on occasion; publish a post that is mostly a reference to another post by someone else, because it is almost impossible to build and improve on what that someone else has said.

So, she brings it to your attention.

And, here I am adding yet another link to the chain, because I can't improve on it either.

So, PLEASE, go to her Pictures Lie post, and find and click on the "a post on a very famous picture" link. It ain't pretty, but it sure as Hell is an eye-opener.

If the late Paul Harvey was still reporting, it would be one of his "... and now, you know the rest of the story." pieces.

Give her blog a try; she's very smart, very interesting, and very patient.

How do I know that last part?

In a recent comment exchange, she expressed worry (not too much worry; she keeps things in perspective and has a sense of humor) that she might have annoyed me over a slight political difference. I reassured her, beginning,
"Kid, you don't know what annoyance is."

As soon as I had hit the "Post Comment" button, the thought came,
"Did I just say that to a mother of teen-agers?!!!".

That I'm still breathing is a testament to her patience (or, perhaps to the 2000+ miles separating us :-)

Update - 20:40, 03 Jul 2011 - FYI - Neo-neocon covered much of this ground in Jan 2008 in A mind is a difficult thing to change: (Part 7B: the Vietnam photos revisited)

Addendum - 05 Jul 2011 - A few paragraphs above, I tried to lighten things a bit with my reference to Foxfier and our comment exchange. Be warned; I feel the Mount St. Helens of vents coming on.

Up in the post, you will see words and phrases in blue, italicized and underlined. They are LINKS to other posts containing essential information.

How is it that people so lacking in curiosity they won't even check out a link are even ON the internet?

Without that info, they probably don't even know what this post is about.

Synopsis...

The two most infamous photos to come out of the Vietnam War were
1) The photo of South Vietnam's Chief of National Police General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan summarily executing a captured Viet Cong by shooting him in the head.
2) The "Napalm Girl" photo of a young girl running naked down the street from a napalm attack on her village.

Neo has dealt with both of those photos in her post.

Foxfier concentrates on the first;...

(Photo from neo-neocon's post linked above)

... her post mostly referring to the link I told you to find and click on. Comments on Foxfier's post make essential reading, for reasons that will become clear below.

From Who, what, where, why and when? (This is the post that Foxfier linked to) ...

...the picture was taken on February 1st, 1968 in Saigon. This information is significant because the Tet Offensive, a well coordinated countrywide North Vietnamese attack, was launched the day before, on January 31, 1968.
...
"Nguyễn Văn Lém [the executed man] commanded a Viet Cong death squad, which on that day had murdered South Vietnamese National Police officers, or in their stead, the police officers' families; these sources said that Lém was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of General Nguyễn's deputy and close friend, and six of whom were Nguyễn's godchildren." (Emphasis mine)

A bit confusing because of the common family names (which come first in Asia), the bottom line is that the General was the godfather of six of the murdered children.

So, he's got this bastard, who is NOT in any kind of uniform and is therefore subject to summary execution by the laws of his country. His city is in chaos and there's no guarantee that he could even find a safe place to hold this guy. What the Hell would you do in his place?

The AP photographer, Eddie Adams, later said...
“The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths

Adams continued, "This picture really messed up his life. He never blamed me. He told me if I hadn’t taken the picture, someone else would have..."

Adams was very remorseful about the effect that his photo had on the rest of the General's life (after the fall of Saigon, the General, on his own, managed to get out and made his way to Virginia, where he died in 1998).

That picture contributed to our weariness of the Vietnam War and therefore can be legitimately considered as helping the country to eventually fall.

In the comments to her post, Foxfier opens up on Adams with both barrels...
The General was a better man than I am-- I most assuredly would have held the man that lied about me like that responsible for the results, as well as the massive amount of damage to my home nation.

Go to her post and read the comments. A little further down from the one I quoted, she reloads and let's loose with what would suffice as a bottom line, but she still has more to say. Read the whole thing.

I'm venting a bit, because those links are essential to even knowing what this post is about in the first place and, of those who visited, precisely ONE actually clicked on a link (so, if you're reading this, you know who you are).

As much as I might like to simplify things by just incorporating those posts verbatim in my own, I JUST CAN'T DO THAT!

There are these things called copyrights, and it would be just my luck to steal from someone represented by Disney ("We have the meanest junkyard-dog copyright lawyers in the world; they go where Navy SEALS fear to tread. Who do you think really got bin Laden?"). Besides, it just ain't right!

YOU GOTTA FOLLOW THE LINKS!!!

(Ok! I feel better now.)

-

[FWD: Fw: Important Message ! ! ! ! ! ! !]

2011-06-28T18:08:00.008-05:00

Got the following in the email a week ago. (Updated below)
My only alteration is to the formatting.

*************************************************************

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Important Message ! ! ! ! ! ! !
From: ***** ****** <*************@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, June 21, 2011 10:25 pm
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

---------- Forwarded message ---------

Subject: Fw: Important Message ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Subject: Important Message ! ! ! ! ! ! !

My great great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Civil War, my grandfather watched as his friends died in WW II, and my father watched as my friends died in Vietnam.

None of them died for the Mexican Flag.

Everyone died for the U.S. Flag.

In Texas, a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole; another student took it down. Guess who was expelled...the kid who took it down.

Kids in high school in California were sent home this year on Cinco de Mayo because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.

Enough is enough.

The below e-mail message needs to be viewed by every American; and every American needs to stand up for America.

We've bent over to appease the America-haters long enough.

I'm taking a stand.

I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars for this country, and for the U.S. Flag can't stand up.

And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.
Let me make this perfectly clear!

This is my country!

And, because I make This statement DOES NOT Mean I'm against immigration!!!

YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY!

Welcome! To come through legally:

1. Get a sponsor!
2. Get a place to lay your head!
3. Get a job!
4. Live By OUR Rules!
5. Pay YOUR Taxes!
And
6. Learn the LANGUAGE like immigrants have in the past!!!
AND
7. Please don't demand that we hand over our lifetime Savings of Social Security Funds to you.

If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone,
Then YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

When will AMERICANS STOP giving away THEIR RIGHTS???

We've gone so far the other way... Bent over backwards not to offend anyone. But it seems no one cares about the AMERICAN CITIZEN that's being offended!

WAKE UP America !!!

If You agree.... Pass this on.

If You don't agree.. Delete It
*************************************************************

And, there you have it.
He's not at all bashful about emphasizing his points.

And, you know what?
I'm damned if I can find anything in there I disagree with.

UPDATE - 11 Jul 2011 - BOOM!!!
A reader just let me have it with both barrels in his comment below.

"No offense," -- None taken.
"but I don't agree." --I appreciate the way you don't agree.

You chose to dispute me with facts. I've seen many blogs where that wont cut it at all; you'd be expected to use vitriol instead. You were polite and chose not to chastise me for sloppy (or non-existent) research.

Well, you may consider me properly chastised anyway. Effectively? Yet to be determined; I'm 69 now, and old habits are hard to break.

The way the flag and t-shirts incidents were told in the email are pretty much what I had seen on various web sites. I'm guilty of just passing that along without any real attempt to get to the bottom of the story; all too ready to just take it at face value. Thanks for the urls, which I am turning into links...

Mom of TX Student Suspended for Removing Mexican Flag Sets Story Straight
(This one, I could not check because of my painfully slow dial-up connection,
but I have checked the others.)

California kids blasted for wearing American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo

One thing in that email that really struck a chord for me was # 6, about learning the language. I've vented on that before ( in A Profound Sadness at the Polling Station - Did you really think I would pass up an opportunity to blow my own horn? :-), because of personal experience.

That, along with some of the other points is addressed very well in the following post by Christina Elizabeth ...
I got this email today. I didn’t forward it. You know why? ...

A reader notes, "The second half of this email came from here..."
Let me make this perfectly clear! THIS IS MY COUNTRY! adding,
"And I want to add a correction to that writer's claim about Social Security.",
which is this post: Econ 101 on Illegal Immigrants

It's an eye-opener: apparently many are paying; for which they get nothing.

So, all I can respond to A reader is, "Thank you for the education."

Should you feel I could use a bit more enlightenment on some of my other posts, you are very welcome here. :-)

-

My own candidate for Spambot of the Day...

2011-06-26T18:34:00.003-05:00

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What went wrong?":

This is very inspiring work you have created for us. Some people need to know that these things can ensue to anyone. You have shown me a better view now.

Neo-neocon regularly posts some of the more interesting ones that turn up in (or get by) her spam filters.

At long last, I may have a worthy candidate (although she is still the champ in that department).

And the neat thing about it is that it could probably apply to almost any of my postings (or yours, for that matter). :-)
-

What went wrong?

2011-06-24T13:03:00.002-05:00

- Or, how not to do a post.

Yesterday's post ( "You gotta be careful where you go pokin'... - Please, give it a look to see what I'm talking about.) about the movie Lone Star (1996) was a labor of love about something I really liked. But that's no guarantee of getting it right; just ask John Travolta about "Battlefield Earth".

Now, I don't consider the post to be that God-Awful; in fact, I think it's fairly decent. It's just that I now see so much that I wish I had done differently.

The problem is shifting gears in the middle of it because I wasn't really sure where I was going with it.

I was originally going to use the "I knew she was Japanese going into it..." quote as the title, with the "... but she didn't tell me about the Ninja-assassin part." comment on marriage as the opening line of the post. At that time, I was considering the movie as really being more about relationships than about the murder mystery it appeared to be.

When I got to Wesley Birdsong's story about the rattlesnake and the "You gotta be careful where you go pokin'..." warning, that made me change the focus of the post (rightly, I think; but it would have been better if I'd figured that before I started).

20-20 hindsight is so wonderful. :(
-

"You gotta be careful where you go pokin' ...

2011-06-23T00:52:00.030-05:00

... Who knows what you'll find?"

As a Texan from San Antonio (where West Texas really begins), I truly love the movie Lone Star (1996) because it nails our culture so well, showing real people (instead of stereotypical cartoons), who may wear cowboy hats not as a fashion statement, but for the very practical purpose of keeping brains from being fried.

And, who directed this marvel? John Sayles, from Schenectady, New York!!! He did the screenplay for Piranha (1978), which was shot in San Marcos, Texas, and when the shoot was over, took a sabbatical by hitchhiking and doing part-time work down in the Rio Grande valley, absorbing a hell of a lot of the local culture, which he apparently remembered when he got around to Lone Star.

Thus, this Yankee from New York has made one of the finest movies I've ever seen that is set in my state, and in which the locale is an integral part of the story...

Lone Star poster (from esquire.com )

The movie opens with two Army sergeants (Cliff and Mikey) discovering, on a disused rifle range, what may be the remains of an infamous former sheriff who disappeared 40 years ago.

Called out to the scene is Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper)...

Chris Cooper as Sam Deeds - (from noisenarcs.com )

Mikey (on finding an old sheriff's badge nearby):
   "The scene of the crime."
Sam: "No telling yet if there's been a crime...
   "...but -- this country's seen a good number of disagreements over the years."

Sam is living in the shadow of his late father, Korean War hero and legendary sheriff for nearly 30 years, "Buddy" Deeds.

Interviewing the widow of Roderick Bledsoe (who ran a colored roadhouse back then)...
Sam: "Mrs. Bledsoe?"
Mrs. Bledsoe: "That's me."
Sam: "I'm Sheriff Deeds."
Mrs. Bledsoe (without a trace of malice; simply stating a fact of life):
   "Sheriff Deeds is dead, Honey. You just Sheriff Junior."
Sam (sighing): "Yeah -- that's the story of my life."

The discovery of that badge strongly suggests that the remains may indeed be what's left of Sheriff Charlie Wade...

Kris Kristofferson as Charlie Wade
(modified from photo at louisianamovies.blogspot.com )

Wade was corrupt ("one of your old-fashioned bribe-or-bullets kind of sheriffs. He took a healthy bite out of whatever moved through this county.") and brutal, with an earned reputation for casual use of lethal force, especially against minorities.

Sam (to Mrs. Bledsoe): "And no one complained?"
Mrs. Bledsoe (looking at Sam as if wondering what planet he was from):
"Not if you was colored or Mexican!!! Not if you wanted to keep breathing!"

Sam (to a Mexican jail trustee old enough to remember Wade):
"So -- Wade was pretty tough on the Mexicans?"
Trustee: "He murdered Eladio Cruz!! Is that tough enough for you?"
Sam: "Murdered?"
Trustee: "Shot him down in cold blood. Chucho Montoya was there; he saw it."

In short, Charlie Wade was a first-class son of a bitch, and one of Kris Kristofferson's best roles ever.

At the time of Wade's disappearance, he had a brand new deputy, one Buddy Deeds...

Matthew McConaughey as Buddy Deeds

(modified from photo at one-salient-oversight.blogspot.com )

Like Dracula in the original novel, the character of Sheriff Buddy Deeds is actually offstage for much of the movie, but his presence is always felt. McConaughey takes the limited mount of screen time he actually has here and gets the most out of it.

Mayor Hollis Pogue, who was Wade's chief deputy at the time, and would become Buddy Deeds' chief deputy when Buddy became sheriff after Wade's disappearance, described the final confrontation between Wade and Buddy when Wade was introducing him to his new duties (including collecting bribe money) in a restaurant run by Jimmie Herrara.

Wade explained to Buddy about his arrangement with Herrera to be paid off for looking the other way when Herrera employed illegals in his restaurant...

Wade: "This will be one of your pickups, Buddy -- first of the month, just like the rent"
Buddy: "I'm not doin' it."
Wade: "Come again?"
Buddy: "Your deal."
    * * * * *
Wade: "You do whatever I say you do or else you put it on the trail, son."
Buddy: "Well, how about this, Charlie?...
"How about you lay that shield on this table -- and vanish...
"before you end up dead -- or in jail?"
Wade: "You're not making sense, Buddy."
Buddy: "You stick around and I'm bringing up charges on the county road project.
   "Two thirds of that money went went straight into your pockets."
Wade (resting his hand on the grip of his gun):
"You're being mighty careless with your mouth, son."
Buddy (laying a Colt Peacemaker on the table in front of him):
"You ever shoot a man who's looking you in the eye, Charlie?
"... It's a whole different story, isn't it?"
    * * * * *
Wade: "You're a dead man."
Buddy (to the bartender after Wade storms out): "Mas cerveza por favor."

Fenton (another at the table where Hollis was telling the story to Sam):
"That Buddy was a cool breeze.
"Charlie Wade was known to have put quite a few people in the ground...
"... and your daddy gets eyeball-to-eyeball with him."
Hollis (continuing the story): "He went missing the next day --
"along with $10,000.00 in county funds from the safe in the jail.
"Never heard from him again."

As the son of Buddy, Sam has had serious issues with daddy since he was a teenager and, from hearing stories of that confrontation, suspects that his old man just might have been the very one who planted Wade where he was found. It wouldn't surprise him a bit.

One of the issues was Sam's friendship with Pilar, daughter of Mercedes Cruz. He absolutely forbade any contact with her, being backed up by Mercedes on this, and managed to successfully keep them apart.

Now, many years and an unsuccessful marriage later, he once again meets ...

Elizabeth Peña as Pilar - (from thisdistractedglobe.com )

Now widowed, with two kids of her own, she finds herself once again attracted to the now available Sam Deeds, only to find her mother still strongly opposed to any connection between them.

Cliff and Mikey (the two sergeants) had come across the remains while prospecting (with a metal detector) for old bullets on that range (Mikey using them to make art sculptures). Cliff has entered into a serious relationship with black Sergeant Priscilla Worth, prompting the following exchange whose only relevance to the investigation is that in the middle of it, they come across a pistol bullet amongst all the rifle bullets they had brought back from the range...

Cliff and Mikey
(modified from photo at one-salient-oversight.blogspot.com)

Mikey: "I never thought I would see the day when a buddy of mine
would be dating a woman with three bars on her shoulder."
Cliff: "I think it's beyond what you'd call dating."
Mikey: "You're going to get married?"
Cliff: "Maybe."
Mikey: "You met her family? They gonna be cool about you being a white guy?"
Cliff: "Priscella says they think a woman over 30 who's not married must be a lesbian.
"She figures that they'll be so relieved that I'm a man..."
Mikey: "Always heartwarming to see a prejudice defeated by a deeper prejudice.
...
"But marriage man -- I don't know. Let's see ...
"I did two tours of duty in Southeast Asia -- and I was married for five years.
"I couldn't tell you which experience was worse.
"I knew she was Japanese going into it...
"... but she didn't tell me the Ninja-assassin part.
"Her parents acted like I was gonna blow my nose on their curtains."

That dialog is one reason why a movie that is two and a quarter hours long flies by as if it was much shorter. It goes off onto what appear to be tangents (but often aren't) because it is concerned with what happened to Charlie Wade only to the extent that The Maltese Falcon was about "Who killed Miles Archer?"; that is, what at first appears to be the central mystery is only the scaffolding for a much larger structure.

Ok, now it's time to meet the Paynes...

That rifle range is part of an Army base scheduled to be closed in the near future. Our two sergeants are stationed there.

The newly appointed commander is one Colonel Delmore Payne, son of Otis Payne (who worked in Roderick Bledsoe's roadhouse when Wade disappeared, and had a bit of history with him. Otis now owns and runs the roadhouse.) ...

Joe Morton as Colonel Delmore Payne

Coming back to this place is probably the last thing Delmore ever expected. He too has major daddy issues, as daddy left him and his mother to move in with another woman when he was just a kid...
Delmore (to his wife): "He didn't leave.
"He moved three houses down with one of my mother's best friends.
"Hey, Delmore! Where's your daddy?!!!
"Godforsaken town! Everybody in everybody else's business!"
Wife: "Well, we're stuck here for three years. We have to see him."
Delmore: "NO!!! -- We don't!"

To add to his fun, Delmore has a son of his own, who's getting just as alienated from him, wondering why in hell he can't even see his own grandfather. Naturally, the son handles that problem on his own.

But, stubborn as he is, Delmore is capable of thinking and learning. When disciplining a private who has failed a drug test, after hearing her out he decides to give her another chance. Afterwards, he just quietly stares off into nothingness for ten or fifteen seconds, and you don't have to be an arts major to realize that he just might be considering that someone else may also deserve a second chance.

Among the people Sam talks to, in his investigation of things past, is Wesley Birdsong, an Indian who knew his father; now running a curio shop where he lives on a desolate road in the middle of nowhere...

Sam: "Sell much out here?"
Wesley: "How am I going to sell things? Nobody comes around.
"This stretch of road -- runs between Nowhere -- and Not Much Else."
Sam: "A hell of a spot to put a business."
Wesley (grinning): "Don't see much competition, do you?"

Wesley (continuing on the subject of Buddy Deeds):
"Now, your father -- this wasn't what he had in mind.
"He come out of Korea -- bought a Chevy with too much engine.
"He used to come roaring up and down this road all hours of the day and night...
"... looking for somebody to race.

Sam (trying to get daddy's measure): "Do you think he killed anybody in Korea?"
Wesley: "They don't hand out those medals for hiding in your foxhole."
...
"If he hadn't found the deputy's job ...
"... I believe Buddy might've gone down the other path, got into serious trouble.
"It settled him right down...
"That -- and your mother.
"Of course, he had that other one later."

The movie is largely a journey of discovery by kids now grown, learning that there was far, far more to their parents than they could have possibly imagined. You think that you know everything there is to know about your folks? You just might have a hell of a surprise coming.

Yes! You do learn what happened with Charlie Wade, but it's not the point of the movie.

Family secrets and second chances: That's what the movie is really about.

Wesley probably had the last word on the subject of those secrets...

Gordon Tootoosis as Wesley Birdsong

(modified from photo at one-salient-oversight.blogspot.com )

To Sam (while pulling out a snakeskin from a diamondback rattlesnake),
   "Here! This big fella was sleeping in a crate at Cisco's junkyard...
   "...right when I was going to open it to see what was in 'er...
   "...jumped right at my face."

   "Scared me so bad I had to kill him without thinking."

   "You gotta be careful where you go pokin'.
   "Who knows what you'll find?"

Addendum - 09 Jul 2011 - While browsing through the "Favorite Lone Star quotes" board topic on the IMDB's page for this movie, I came across a comment made a couple of years ago by commenter timmy_501.

For his sig he used this line (from William Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun) ...
The past is never dead. It's not even past.

That line would make an absolutely perfect tag line for Lone Star.

-

The Light Bulb Law

2011-06-21T07:32:00.003-05:00

Under Federal law, incandescent light bulbs are to be ultimately banned entirely.
A phase-out is due to start this coming January, beginning with 100 watt bulbs.

Recently, the Texas Legislature crafted, passed and sent to Governor Rick Perry's desk, a measure to avoid that authority by allowing any bulb manufactured and sold within the state to be exempt from that.

Perry had until Sunday to be able to veto that bill.

Not only did he not veto it, he signed it.

This may seem a small and inconsequential thing, but by doing so he has placed himself squarely with those radicals who seem to think that mere people have enough common sense to make their own decisions without having a Federal agency telling them what to do.

Radical, I tell you. What can that man possibly be thinking?!!!
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What Texas gets so right.

2011-06-14T20:46:00.002-05:00

Apparently, Charles Krauthammer tried to do a "Yes, but..." on the possibility of our governor Rick Perry entering the Presidential race and running on how well the Texas economy is doing relative to other states; by pointing out that we have a lot of oil and those others don't.

Local trial lawyer "Beldar" calls him out on this in Beldar quibbles with Krauthammer over Perry and the Texas economy , pointing out that Texas has a lot more going for it than just oil, and that oil is not nearly the factor in our economy now that it was 30 years ago

The "money" quotes from his post...

When he is at his best, Gov. Perry — who is not a humble man by nature — is appropriately humble about his personal role in Texas' relative economic success during these hard times. Rick Perry didn't create that prosperity. No state governor has such power, and certainly not Texas' governor. No American president has such power over the country, either.

Rather, Perry has continued a long tradition that goes back to the days of Stephen F. Austin, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Texans expect government to perform some core functions competently, and then otherwise to get the hell out of their way.

That last line of Beldar's is the most succinct primer on Texas politics I've ever seen. No way can I improve on that, so I'm content with this being a public service announcement for him.
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Trivia about True Grit

2011-06-09T17:33:00.017-05:00

This is a follow-up to True Grit vs True Grit (comparing the remake to the original). In that post, I mentioned this item about the original (1969) version...

The novel was adapted into a screenplay by Marguerite Roberts, who was blacklisted in 1952 for refusing to name names in her testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and had been branded a communist for that.

When she learned that her script was being submitted to John Wayne, she was certain that, because of his right-wing politics, there was no way he would ever read it.

The Duke surprised her, twice, by saying, "Well, let me take a look at the script. Let's give her a chance.", and then later coming out and saying, "This is the best western written in years. Let's do it."

Most of the following will concern the 2010 remake and/or the novel.

Judge Isaac Parker - His court and his marshals...
The story takes place in 1878. At that time, what we know as Oklahoma was then the Indian Territory, occupied by the five civilized tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole). Being free of local law enforcement, it became a magnet for cattle thieves, horse thieves and various other desperadoes.

The only court having any jurisdiction over the territory was the U. S. Court for the Western District of Arkansas, located in Fort Smith, Arkansas right on the western border. In 1875, Judge Isaac Parker was appointed to preside over the court and quickly became known as the "Hanging Judge" (In 21 years, one hundred and sixty men were sentenced to hang, of which 79 actually were).

From Wikipedia (Yeah, I know, I KNOW - Supposedly you can't trust it) ...
One unusual element of the Western District's jurisprudence was the fact that, with respect to the Indian Territory, during this period it was a court of final jurisdiction. From 1875 until 1889, statutory law did not provide for appeals of Indian Territory cases from this court to any court of appeal.

To enforce the law, he used U. S. Deputy Marshals, of which author Charles Portis noted (in his character's words), "There is near about two hundred of them...". Mattie later observes, on someone calling the court "the Parker slaughterhouse", "I don't know who was right. I know sixty-five of his marshals got killed. They had some mighty tough folks to deal with."

Among those marshals was one Heck Thomas, who later rode with Bill Tilghman and was the one who killed outlaw Bill Doolin after an escape from the prison that Tilghman had helped to put him in. Thomas became known for that killing, and for his absolutely relentless pursuit of those he went after. I've seen several mentions that Portis probably had him in mind when he conjured up the character of Rueben J. "Rooster" Cogburn.

Picketwire...
A character in the remake (not in the original or in the novel) refers to someone currently "hunting north of the Picketwire". Any who have seen John Wayne's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" may recall mention of it there.

It is a river, in southeastern Colorado, that empties into the Arkansas River. It was named the Purgatoire River by the French, and is so named on maps. A Google search for Picketwire Canyon will disclose that parts of the river are famous for the amazing amount of dinosaur tracks preserved there.

Locals, having difficulty wrapping their mouths around the French pronunciation, simply called it the "Picketwire".

Guns, guns and more guns! Oh, boy!! My favorite subject...
Mattie goes hunting her father's murderer with this...

From firearmshistory.blogspot.com

It is an 1848 Colt Dragoon, carried by her father in the Civil War. She declares to Rooster that, "I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it, if the law fails to do so". To which he replies, "Well, that piece will do the job".

I reckon it would. It is a six-shot, .44 caliber revolver using 50 grains of black powder to propel its bullet. A powerful weapon, it was an evolution of the even larger 1847 Walker Colt. You may have noticed that the cylinder does not extend all the way to the frame. There's a reason for that; in the Walker model, it did, allowing for 60 grains of powder, sometimes resulting in cylinders being blown apart by that charge. Shortening the cylinder precluded that possibility.

Rooster has, as his main sidearm...

From www.imfdb.org

... An 1873 Colt Single-Action Army in .44-40 Winchester caliber. The caliber is not mentioned in the movie but is mentioned early in the novel, and later confirmed when Mattie is surprised by Rooster using the same cartridges to load that pistol and his rifle. That, after all, was the whole point of making the pistol for that particular round.

Rooster also carries two of this model...

From www.imfdb.org

... in saddle holsters hung from the saddle horn. This is the Model 1851 "Navy" Colt. It was never adopted by the Navy; it was so named because (early models at least) came with an engraving on the cylinder of a scene of the victory of the Second Texas Navy at the Battle of Campeche on May 16, 1843.

When this model came out, metallurgy had some ways to go, and guns had to be more heavily built to handle the pressures of the powders used. The use of .36 caliber for this model resulted in a weapon not as powerful as its .44 caliber brothers, but still powerful enough to be taken seriously.

It was lighter than the Dragoon, beautifully balanced and superbly accurate, making it a favorite of people who depended on the weapon for their lives, including (among others) one James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok.

That Rooster carried a pair, in saddle holsters, is another nice touch. He was supposed to have ridden with Quantrill during the Civil War. Quantrill equipped his men with four revolvers each, two carried on their persons, the other two in saddle holsters, giving each man 24 shots without reloading - quite a bit of firepower when they fell upon their prey.

And, finally (for this post), the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf favored...

From www.imfdb.org

... the Model 1874 Sharps Cavalry Carbine, in .45-70 Government caliber. Every bit as accurate as LaBoeuf bragged, and perfectly capable of the shot he made. There were various .50 caliber models of this weapon available, but an awful lot of Army models in the .45-70 caliber wound up in the hands of the Texas Rangers, so there's nothing at all strange about him having that particular weapon.

One of the things I really loved about the remake was how much they got right.

Update - 12 Jun 2011 - Perceptive readers will notice the addition of two new labels: "History"; which has been retroactively applied to some of my other posts as well, and "Guns"; first applied to this post. From its addition, you may correctly assume that it is a subject I plan on revisiting from time to time.
-

True Grit vs True Grit

2011-06-08T01:31:00.008-05:00

-So, which one is best? The 1969 original or the 2010 remake?

The story is dirt-simple. After her father is murdered by a coward named Tom Chaney, 14-year old Mattie Ross goes into Fort Smith, Arkansas to take care of affairs, including arranging some justice.

Upon learning that the local sheriff is not in pursuit, because Chaney has escaped into the Choctaw Nation and is now the business of the Federal Marshals, she determines to hire one to go after him, and asks the sheriff who would be best.

"I would have to weigh that proposition.

"I reckon William Waters is the best tracker; he's half Comanche, and it is a sight to see him cut sign.

"The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking. He loves to pull a cork.

"The straightest one would be L. T. Quinn. He brings his prisoners in alive. He may let one get by now and then, but he believes that even the worst of men is entitled to a fair shake."

To which, Mattie responds, "Where can I find this Rooster?"

Charles Portis' 1968 novel was first filmed in 1969, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne, and later remade in 2010 by the Coen brothers with Jeff Bridges.

In A Boy and his Vampire (mostly about remakes), I noted that this was one remake that did not fill me with dread. After seeing it in the theater, I felt it better than the original in almost every way and considered it the best film of 2010.

I may have to re-evaluate that comparison a bit.

I take back nothing of what I felt about the new version, but it's been ages since I saw the original. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to get the DVD of the original and give it another look.

I had forgotten just how good it really was; it holds up very well, even 42 years later.

Reviews of the remake made a big deal about it going back to the original novel and being more faithful to it.

Well, in some ways, but...

The first third of both movies are very similar and pretty much like the novel.

In the middle third, the two movies seriously part company, with the Wayne version most like the book and the Coen Brothers take either coming from their Twilight Zone imagination, or incorporating bits from other books by Portis (having never read any of those others, I simply don't know; I'm leaning instead to the first possibility).

The last third of the two movies part company again, but in reverse directions; the Coen Brothers version being much closer to the novel.

Ok, how about who's in them?...

Kim Darby as Mattie Ross - From homevideos.com

Kim Darby, in the 1969 version, is Ok, in a Disney family movie kind of way, but in comparison, she's just completely blown away by...

Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross - From demeterclarc.com

Hailee Steinfeld, in her first movie role ever, as the 2010 version, is simply one of the most amazing finds in recent movie history. The sky's the limit for her future.

Glen Campbell and John Wayne - From jamesnava.com

John Wayne, as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, finally won an Oscar for this role, and By God, he earned it. Among the things I'd forgotten about the original was just how good he really was; this is his best work since The Searchers and Red River.

Singer Glen Campbell, as the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, is Ok. Not great, but not cringe-worthy either. He gets the job done.

Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon - From nickandkaley.blogspot.com

Jeff Bridges is a worthy successor to John Wayne for the role of "Rooster" Cogburn, looks absolutely perfect for it, and doesn't disappoint.

As for the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, if Campbell was Ok, Matt Damon (who can make me want to throw things at him when he opens his mouth politically) is simply outstanding. No real comparison at all.

What about the "coward Tom Chaney"?...

Jeff Corey - From Aveleyman.com

Jeff Corey made Chaney into a whiney, kind of pitiful object of the manhunt.

Whereas...

Josh Brolin - From smithdell.blogspot.com

Josh Brolin, in the new version, made him into a slow-witted but dangerous animal, capable of almost anything. This guy was scary.

Chaney had joined up with the gang of outlaw "Lucky" Ned Pepper...

As played by Robert Duvall in the 1969 version - From blogs.orlandosentinel.com

Played in the 2010 version by...

Barry Pepper - From qoo3me.livejournal.com

Assaying Barry Pepper's performance is a bit difficult because, like Karl Urban channeling the late DeForest Kelly as "Bones" McCoy (in the 2009 version of Star Trek), Pepper makes me feel as though I'm actually watching Robert Duvall again.

I'm trying to imagine Barry Pepper (probably best known as the sniper, in Saving Private Ryan, who would cross himself before blowing out the brains of some poor German soldier) being told to follow in the footsteps of an actor who has been called "an American Olivier". He did a beautiful job of it.

Piece of John Wayne trivia...

The novel was adapted into a screenplay by Marguerite Roberts, who was blacklisted in 1952 for refusing to name names in her testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and had been branded a communist for that.

When she learned that her script was being submitted to John Wayne, she was certain that, because of his right-wing politics, there was no way he would ever read it.

The Duke surprised her, twice, by saying, "Well, let me take a look at the script. Let's give her a chance.", and then later coming out and saying, "This is the best western written in years. Let's do it."

Bottom line as to which one is best? Which should you get?

Hell! BOTH of them!
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I'm not gonna do this post.

2011-06-07T14:18:00.002-05:00

-
I've mentioned, in passing a few times, that since going into early retirement after my IT job was outsourced, I've had to supplement my income by becoming a part-time grocery cashier.

Aside from occasional (but very rare) enlivenment such as the armed robbery mentioned in Well, THAT was interesting..., the job is a soul-killing trap (see Psychosomatica, and especially the comments).

Were I to do this post, about this job, I would very likely entitle it,
"All hope abandon, ye who enter here!"

As that sounds a bit of a downer, I think I'll pass for now.
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"There's sore decline in Adam's line ...

2011-06-02T00:41:00.011-05:00

... if this be spawn of Earth."

Having just learned that a fellow blogger (bloggess? :-) shares a love for Kipling, I declared his The Ballad of East and West as my absolute favorite. She introduced me to his The Female of the Species ("is more deadly than the male" - well worth looking up).

I've become quite fond of the poem below (from whence came the title of this post), and believe that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue could be thusly described.

How good is the fit? Well, what do you think? ...

TOMLINSON
by Rudyard Kipling 1891

Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in Berkeley Square,
And a Spirit came to his bedside and gripped him by the hair—
A Spirit gripped him by the hair and carried him far away,
Till he heard as the roar of a rain-fed ford the roar of the Milky Way:
Till he heard the roar of the Milky Way die down and drone and cease,
And they came to the Gate within the Wall where Peter holds the keys.

"Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud and high
"The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye came to die—
"The good that ye did for the sake of men on the little Earth so lone!"
And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a rain-washed bone.

"O I have a friend on Earth," he said, "that was my priest and guide,
"And well would he answer all for me if he were at my side."
—"For that ye strove in neighbour-love it shall be written fair,
"But now ye wait at Heaven's Gate and not in Berkeley Square:
"Though we called your friend from his bed this night, he could not speak for you,
"For the race is run by one and one and never by two and two."

Then Tomlinson looked up and down, and little gain was there,
For the naked stars grinned overhead, and he saw that his soul was bare.
The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it cut him like a knife,
And Tomlinson took up the tale and spoke of his good in life.

"O this I have read in a book," he said, "and that was told to me,
"And this I have thought that another man thought of a Prince in Muscovy."
The good souls flocked like homing doves and bade him clear the path,
And Peter twirled the jangling Keys in weariness and wrath.
"Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought," he said, "and the tale is yet to run:
"By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer—what ha' ye done?"

Then Tomlinson looked back and forth, and little good it bore,
For the darkness stayed at his shoulder-blade and Heaven's Gate before:—
"O this I have felt, and this I have guessed, and this I heard men say,
"And this they wrote that another man wrote of a carl in Norroway."

"Ye have read, ye have felt, ye have guessed, good lack! Ye have hampered Heaven's Gate;
"There's little room between the stars in idleness to prate!
"For none may reach by hired speech of neighbour, priest, and kin
"Through borrowed deed to God's good meed that lies so fair within;
"Get hence, get hence to the Lord of Wrong, for thy doom has yet to run,
"And . . . the faith that ye share with Berkeley Square uphold you, Tomlinson!"

The Spirit gripped him by the hair, and sun by sun they fell
Till they came to the belt of Naughty Stars that rim the mouth of Hell.
The first are red with pride and wrath, the next are white with pain,
But the third are black with clinkered sin that cannot burn again.
They may hold their path, they may leave their path, with never a soul to mark:
They may burn or freeze, but they must not cease in the Scorn of the Outer Dark.

The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it nipped him to the bone,
And he yearned to the flare of Hell-gate there as the light of his own hearth-stone.
The Devil he sat behind the bars, where the desperate legions drew,
But he caught the hasting Tomlinson and would not let him through.

"Wot ye the price of good pit-coal that I must pay?" said he,
"That ye rank yoursel' so fit for Hell and ask no leave of me?
"I am all o'er-sib to Adam's breed that ye should give me scorn,
"For I strove with God for your First Father the day that he was born.
"Sit down, sit down upon the slag, and answer loud and high
"The harm that ye did to the Sons of Men or ever you came to die."

And Tomlinson looked up and up, and saw against the night
The belly of a tortured star blood-red in Hell-Mouth light;
And Tomlinson looked down and down, and saw beneath his feet
The frontlet of a tortured star milk-white in Hell-Mouth heat.

"O I had a love on earth," said he, "that kissed me to my fall;
"And if ye would call my love to me I know she would answer all."
—"All that ye did in love forbid it shall be written fair,
"But now ye wait at Hell-Mouth Gate and not in Berkeley Square:
"Though we whistled your love from her bed to-night, I trow she would not run,
"For the sin that ye do by two and two ye must pay for one by one!"

The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it cut him like a knife,
And Tomlinson took up the tale and spoke of his sins in life:—
"Once I ha' laughed at the power of Love and twice at the grip of the Grave,
"And thrice I ha' patted my God on the head that men might call me brave."

The Devil he blew on a brandered soul and laid it aside to cool:—
"Do ye think I would waste my good pit-coal on the hide of a brain-sick fool?
"I see no worth in the hobnail mirth or the jolthead jest ye did
"That I should waken my gentlemen that are sleeping three on a grid."
Then Tomlinson looked back and forth, and there was little grace,
For Hell-Gate filled the houseless soul with the Fear of Naked Space.

"Nay, this I ha' heard," quo' Tomlinson, "and this was noised abroad,
"And this I ha' got from a Belgian book on the word of a dead French lord."
—"Ye ha' heard, ye ha' read, ye ha' got, good lack! and the tale begins afresh—
"Have ye sinned one sin for the pride o' the eye or the sinful lust of the flesh?"

Then Tomlinson he gripped the bars and yammered, "Let me in—
"For I mind that I borrowed my neighbour's wife to sin the deadly sin."
The Devil he grinned behind the bars, and banked the fires high:
"Did ye read of that sin in a book?" said he; and Tomlinson said, "Ay!"

The Devil he blew upon his nails, and the little devils ran,
And he said: "Go husk this whimpering thief that comes in the guise of a man:
"Winnow him out 'twixt star and star, and sieve his proper worth:
"There's sore decline in Adam's line if this be spawn of Earth."

Empusa's crew, so naked-new they may not face the fire,
But weep that they bin too small to sin to the height of their desire,
Over the coal they chased the Soul, and racked it all abroad,
As children rifle a caddis-case or the raven's foolish hoard.
And back they came with the tattered Thing, as children after play,
And they said: "The soul that he got from God he has bartered clean away.

"We have threshed a stook of print and book, and winnowed a chattering wind,
"And many a soul wherefrom he stole, but his we cannot find.
"We have handled him, we have dandled him, we have seared him to the bone,
"And, Sire, if tooth and nail show truth he has no soul of his own."

The Devil he bowed his head to his breast and rumbled deep and low:—
"I'm all o'er-sib to Adam's breed that I should bid him go.
"Yet close we lie, and deep we lie, and if I gave him place,
"My gentlemen that are so proud would flout me to my face;
"They'd call my house a common stews and me a careless host,
"And—I would not anger my gentlemen for the sake of a shiftless ghost."

The Devil he looked at the mangled Soul that prayed to feel the flame,
And he thought of Holy Charity, but he thought of his own good name:—
"Now ye could haste my coal to waste, and sit ye down to fry.
"Did ye think of that theft for yourself?" said he; and Tomlinson said, "Ay! "

The Devil he blew an outward breath, for his heart was free from care:—
"Ye have scarce the soul of a louse," he said, "but the roots of sin are there,
"And for that sin should ye come in were I the lord alone,
"But sinful pride has rule inside—ay, mightier than my own.
"Honour and Wit, fore-damned they sit, to each his Priest and Whore;
"Nay, scarce I dare myself go there, and you they'd torture sore.

"Ye are neither spirit nor spirk," he said; "ye are neither book nor brute—
"Go, get ye back to the flesh again for the sake of Man's repute.
"I'm all o'er-sib to Adam's breed that I should mock your pain,
"But look that ye win to a worthier sin ere ye come back again.

"Get hence, the hearse is at your door—the grim black stallions wait—
"They bear your clay to place to-day. Speed, lest ye come too late!
"Go back to Earth with lip unsealed—go back with open eye,
"And carry my word to the Sons of Men or ever ye come to die:
"That the sin they do by two and two they must pay for one by one,
"And . . . the God you took from a printed book be with you, Tomlinson!"
-

I've often felt that The One is perfectly described by that empty soul.

And that's when I'm in a charitable mood towards him. :(

Just 50 years ago today ...

2011-05-25T00:05:00.022-05:00

... I celebrated my 19th birthday, on 25 May 1961.

It was a Thursday, and I was an A3C (Airman 3rd Class - E2 grade in 1961 ) in the USAF, stationed in New Haven, Connecticut, at Yale University's Institute of Far Eastern Languages (having just arrived there the previous month).

I don't recall if I treated myself at Sid's Diner; where a lot of the Airmen stationed there ate (because it was close and relatively cheap; as we weren't on a base and had no access to mess halls, in addition to our normal pay (pitiful) we were given a per-dium allowance of $2.58/day -- real money in 1961 -- and they were happy to cash our paychecks. Most of us had tabs there.), or more likely, went over to Tony's Pizza for beer and pizza (where I was first introduced to pizza).

If I went to Tony's, it would have been a quiet celebration, just for me. The minimum drinking age in Connecticut at that time was 21, and while I've sometimes been guilty of appalling stupidity (see The Anvil of Life ), I'd like to think my instincts for self-preservation would have kept me from jeopardizing the license of my favorite watering hole by openly celebrating being two years underage.

So, what was 1961 like?

Well, I got my first airplane ride.

A few years prior, our family left San Antonio and moved in with relatives in rural Arkansas to make a new start. My feelings towards Arkansas cannot be expressed here unless I put an "Adult Content" warning on my blog.

Occasionally I would walk about a mile down the road to state highway 22 and flag down a Trailways bus for a twenty-mile trip into Fort Smith, to catch a movie or just to see what sights the town had to offer, returning by bus in the evening.

In mid-January of 1961, on one of those trips, I happened to come by a USAF recruiting office and walked right in and signed up. My parents were not thrilled at the news I delivered when I got home, but I was old enough to enlist on my own, and there was really nothing they could do about it except to give me a ride back to Fort Smith and the recruiting office the next morning. It would be my ticket out of that damned state.

From there, I was put on a bus, with some others, for the trip to the induction center in Little Rock. After almost a solid day of exams (physical and otherwise; I don't recall ever dealing with so much paperwork in my life ), they took our group to the airport and sent us by a commercial flight down to San Antonio.

This was January 1961 and the airline (TTA - Trans Texas Airways, sometimes known as "Tree Top Airways" (they later became Texas International Airways, before eventually being absorbed by Continental - think I've digressed enough now?)) was still using the Douglas DC-3.

Trans Texas DC-3 - Drawing by Bob Engle

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/trans-texas-airways-dc-3-bob-engle.html

(Check out his site; he has some truly amazing work there.)

From Little Rock to San Antonio is a bit under 600 miles as the crow flies, but that's if the crow flies a lot straighter than that flight did. The flight swung down into Louisiana, and I'll swear it made about as many stops along the way as a bus would, probably not making much better time. It seemed like every time it got airborne, it was already making its descent towards another field.

It was already late in the evening when we took off from Little Rock, and about 3 or 4 in the morning when we got off in San Antonio, to be bussed to Lackland AFB (where all USAF Basic training was conducted then (and still is, as far as I know).

In "The Anvil of Life" (linked above) I touched a bit on my time there, so I see no call to repeat it here.

So, for other things about 1961...

The # 1 hit record in America was "Runaway", by Del Shannon (If you ever saw the TV series Crime Story (1986-1988), you heard it as the theme music played over the opening titles -- "As I walk along, I wonder what went wrong...")

Other hit singles...
"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" - Elvis Presley
"Crazy" - Patsy Cline
"Hello Mary Lou" - Ricky Nelson
"I Fall to Pieces" - Patsy Cline
"Mother-In-Law" - Ernie K-Doe
"Spanish Harlem" - Ben E. King
"Stand By Me" - Ben E. King
"The Comancheros" - Claude King
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - The Tokens
"The Wanderer" - Dion
"Town Without Pity" - Gene Pitney

Popular LP Albums (remember them) were by...
Harry Belafonte
Joan Baez
The Kingston Trio
Johnny Cash
Chet Atkins
Carlos Montoya
Bob Newhart (what that guy could do with nothing but a telephone as a prop).

Addendum - It's Wednesday, 08 Jun 2011 and on the TCM channel I'm watching a documentary, produced by Clint Eastwood, entitled "Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way". It's not yet available on DVD, but I sure hope it will be soon. Dave Brubeck should have been among the names I listed above. His experiments with time signatures (The LP Album "Time Out", featuring "Take Five" & "Blue Rondo à la Turk") were already underway then.

Showing at the movie theaters then, among others...
"Pocketful of Miracles"
"Judgment at Nuremburg"
"The Absent Minded Professor"
"The Comancheros" (John Wayne, Lee Marvin - worth checking out just for Marvin).
"The Guns of Navarone"

How about TV shows?

Tons of Westerns...
"Maverick",
"Lawman",
"Gunsmoke",
"Have Gun, Will Travel",
"Wagon Train",
"Rawhide" (with this newcomer named Clint Eastwood),
"Bonanza",
    many others.

In other genres...
"Peter Gunn" (the theme music became a hit and put Henry Mancini on the map,
                       although he'd already been around for years. The theme from
                       "Peter Gunn" was almost as iconic as the theme from "Jaws"
                       would become 14 years later.) ,
"The Twilight Zone",

AND -- for the cherry on top -- "Rocky and Bullwinkle"; the "Simpsons" of its day. If the Soviets truly wanted to attack us, the best time would have been whenever that show was on, as the cream of our defenders would have all been in the rec rooms ready for the latest round of silliness and rotten puns. If they only knew...

Natasha Fatale, Boris Badenov, Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket "Rocky" J. Squirrel

( from notanothernewenglandsportsblog.blogspot.com )

Ok. How about cars, then?

Absolutely the sexiest car on the planet in 1961, bar-none...

Jaguar E-Type - Photo cropped from image at www.conceptcarz.com

After half a century, I defy anyone to even try to improve on that.

At that time...
   Minimum wage was $1.15/hour.
   Average yearly income was $5315.00 (a bit over $100.00/week).
   Gasoline was around 27 cents/gallon.
   A new Volkswagen Beetle went for somewhere around $1300.00
   Some of the less expensive U.S. cars started at under $2000.00
   As for that Jaguar above, a Wikipedia entry mentioned "The test car cost £2097",
   suggesting a price in the neighborhood of $10000.00 -- very difficult to pin down.
   In some parts of the country, you could rent a house for $50.00/month.

In 1961, the U.S. launched the unsuccessful invasion of Cuba, at the Bay of Pigs.

The Berlin Wall went up later that year.

Vietnam was not that big a deal then, although we already had advisors there. Laos was the hot spot that had many of us concerned; a civil war having just erupted then.

On 12 April 1961 Soviet Cosmonaut Major Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, completing a single orbit and then returning to Earth.

Yuri-Gagarin and Vostok-1 - from www.newshawker.com

A few weeks later, on 05 May 1961, U.S. Navy Commander Alan B. Shepard became the first American to go into space, but not into orbit; the Redstone rocket he rode (essentially an updated version of the German V2 ) simply didn't have the power for that. An American orbital mission (John Glenn's) would have to wait for the not-yet-man-rated Atlas rocket to become available.

Alan Shepard Postage Stamp - from www.spacetoday.com

They issued this three weeks ago, on 04 May 2011 (50th anniversary)

To take some of the sting out of always seeming to follow the Soviet's lead into space, on that 19th birthday of mine, 25 May 1961 (although I didn't hear about it until a couple of days later), President John F. Kennedy made a speech to Congress about what we could and should do about our position in space, vis-a-vis the Soviets.

It included this item which would personally affect me eleven years later, making possible Adventure of a Lifetime, which in turn led to The Adventure - Continued, the events in which would eventually lead to a whole new career and a complete change in my life. ...

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

"No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

Democrats were surely a different breed then.
-

When not even Ian McShane can save your movie...

2011-05-21T23:02:00.009-05:00

... Boy, have you got problems!!!

I absolutely loved the first three Pirates of the Carribean movies, whose audacity at using a Disney World theme park ride as inspiration proved that it ain't the idea that's important, but what you do with it.

While none qualify as perfect, the combination of actor Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski (whose latest piece is the wonderful Rango (2011)) was a made in Heaven marriage, making the films quirky original fun (although they all could have stood a bit of trimming) .

Verbinski's first major hit was The Ring (2002) (a remake of the Japanese horror film Ringu (1998); an extremely rare example of a remake that is actually as good as the original). He's a more commercially successful version of Terry Gilliam; our first encounter with Depp's character, Jack Sparrow, in Davy Jone's Locker (in the third film) is pure Monty Python.

Unfortunately, Verbinski has apparently tired of repeatedly visiting the same well, and the fourth film in the series ( Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) ) was helmed by Rob Marshall, who directed Chicago (2002). While I loved that musical, it's not even in the same universe as the Pirates films.

That was a major uh-oh for me right there; Verbinski's as warped as the Coen Brothers (I suspect he lives in a padded cell when he's not working), and Marshall's as normal as they come. That did not bode well for a continuation of the inspired lunacy of the first three films.

On the other hand, giving me a bit of hope was the addition of this man to the mix...

Ian McShane (looking a bit like his Deadwood charcter, Al Swearengen)

- from twitchfilm.net

... to play the role of Blackbeard...

(From The Hollywood Gossip website)

Now this is a guy I have worshiped ever since Deadwood; an actor of Shakespearean competence, almost incapable of ever being boring.

But, no matter how good he is, he cannot get the job done all by himself!!!

First problem: The writing. In addition to the original team of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, the IMDB lists at least three others, making this art by committee.

Second: as a director Rob Marshall was great doing Chicago, but an action movie with supernatural overtones just ain't his element.

So, is the movie terrible? Just plain bad?

Far worse; it's just there. Appallingly average. Verbinski didn't always succeed at what he shot for, but at least he took the shot. I can't see that Marshall even tries.

The most heart-breaking thing about this movie is the lost opportunity; the feeling of what could have been.

I went to the movie ready to give it a chance, eager to love it.

Bottom line: Save your money. Sigh. :(
-

Paul In Houston

"It will take a long battle ...

Living the dream ...

Gook

God D*MM*T, Ann!!! ...

Scam

Sometimes, Ann Coulter ...

Seeing Double in Google Reader

The Zen of Firefly and Serenity ...

Peacemaker

"Blogging is not writing...

Two Countries.

Roger L. Simon makes the case for Newt.

If THIS doesn't pique your curiosity ...

Wolf Howling is BACK ...

Thanksgiving pizza...

Don't write off Rick Perry just yet.

CISOH

Another Bumper Sticker ...

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

"The Thing" prequel - DAMN!!! - (Spoiler Warning)

Obviously, we Texans haven't a clue as to how to get things done ...

Thoughtcrime

Your browser is no longer ...

CALL it "The Freedom Tower" ...

Give this site a visit ...

Before last night's GOP debate ...

Where'd my Comment go?!!!

Apollo 18 -- The Verdict

Ahhnold the Barbarian - version 2.0

Bumper Sticker ...

In a very dark place ...

"... and call off Christmas!!!"

The Syfy Channel has begun to parody itself.

Kinda says it all, doesn't it?

The recipe for making a nuke ...

Possibly a good movie ...

Another bear attack

Bimbos of the Death Sun ...

R.I.P. Borders Books

A Balanced Budget Amendment would ...

Who do the Democrats fear most?

Fw: How Dry Is It In Texas?

Vietnam's most infamous photo ...

[FWD: Fw: Important Message ! ! ! ! ! ! !]

My own candidate for Spambot of the Day...

What went wrong?

"You gotta be careful where you go pokin' ...

The Light Bulb Law

What Texas gets so right.

Trivia about True Grit

True Grit vs True Grit

I'm not gonna do this post.

"There's sore decline in Adam's line ...

Just 50 years ago today ...

When not even Ian McShane can save your movie...

God DMMT, Ann!!! ...