For the rain it raineth every day...

The event is a bit slower than I had hoped. Last nighr was the 'Midnight Madness' sale where we all stay open late looking at each other and praying for a meteor to strike us dead. Today was gray and drizzly. Still, the event isn't a disaster.

I brought my bow and managed to get some practice in. There are some shops with some interresting wares. Oh yes, I bought myself a pair of slops. (go look it up).

Rossana is over her cold and the van has been repaired. And in a few days we will be drinking Cafe au lait and eating beignets. Joy.

And Mom? I didn't forget. Happy Birthday. You're the greatest.

The van...she no go

The van...she no go
Originally uploaded by stevepack.

The above image depicts us unpacking our van. Are we setting up at Gulf Wars? Well, no.



Near D.C. the van stalled out. We were towed to a local Pep Boys where the diagnosis was a failed fuel pump. Let me lay out for you the position one finds oneself when broken down in Maryland:



Broken down in Maryland = fucked.

Broken down in Maryland on Saturday after 1pm = superfucked.



The very nice people at Pep Boys did their best, but once it was determined that it was in fact the fuel pump, they dropped the bomb. The absolute soonest they could get the part was MONDAY.

9/11 Conspiracy vs 9/11 reality

A few days ago a friend sent me a cryptically short email:

Subject: You got to watch this ASAP

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7772696530684663669&q=Loose+Change+2nd+Edition

Watch this, it is a very intersting outlook on 9/11.

So I went and I watched it, you might want to as well. It's a 90 minute 9/11 conspiracy film. I am hesitant to use the documentary. It's rather well done. Very well edited with powerful images and visuals. It raises many questions and points many fingers.

Here's what I wrote back:

K,

This was a very well made conspiracy film. Except for the bad audio quality of the voiceover recording. They needed a better microphone and an older person speaking.

As a younger person I enjoyed all manner of conspiracy theories. Kennedy was always the greatest. And it is always good to put forth ideas and subject them to study. And I still harbor a healthy skepticism in this day and age.

That said the piece makes several errors. I won’t go into details because the study of this subject could (and has) consumed the lives of many people. It's easy to get sucked into this world. They have made up their minds and nothing and no one can change them. They have become zealots who defend their holy truth against all comers.

The biggest mistake is saying the "common sense tells us so-and so". This film uses that phrase many times. Common sense cannot and should not be the basis for determining the cause of an incident so out of common place. Please note that I am not suggesting we ignore common sense, only that it has been used as a way to jump over troublesome facts and highly technical elements of 9/11.

"Common sense", has told people that dropping a Penny from the top of the Empire State building will kill a person below.

"Common sense" has shown that the landing on the moon was faked.


Instead, we need to turn to science. This often does not agree with common sense, and that angers the common sense camp. They don't want to believe that a lone gunman can shoot a man in a moving car. Common sense states that the world is quite obviously flat and everything in the universe revolves around us.

Common sense is not what you use to study uncommon problems.

Eyewitness reports. An eyewitness to a catastrophic event is not the best way to determine the facts of that event. Ask any lawyer, eyewitness accounts are the easiest to manipulate and are often flat out wrong. The witness has only a short time to take in the enormity of the event. They (generally) do not have extensive technical knowledge. Their perception of time and distance is often skewed. I'm not saying the 9/11 witnesses were lying. But there were thousands of them. And I could edit together testimony that supports almost ANY theory.

I just randomly typed "ufo world trade center" into google and got the following:

http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/WTC_UFO.html


This film posits that there were explosives placed in the world trade centers. Yet no one involved in such a plot has ever come forward, made a death bed confession, anonymously blown the whistle, written a blog, confessed to his priest, his wife, had a fallout with his superiors etc etc. Explosives are highly controlled. Where did they come from? Any traces of it on the steel? It typically takes a large crew weeks to set up an implosion using heavy equipment. The building might have had several strange drills, but did anyone see a construction crew working in the towers? There are puffs on the film footage. Have you ever seen a controlled implosion? Takes a LOT of explosives to take down even a small building. And the video of these (I love watching video of imploding buildings) shows how there are dozens of sequential explosions. Maybe those puffs were caused by increased air pressure as the structure began to collapse.

There I go, getting into detail.

The gold story was interesting, but lacked a lot of detail.


The use of the classified documents at the beginning was good, but remember that there is no horrible, inhumane, or criminal act you can think up that hasn’t already been considered by our government in the pursuit of National Security. This is not cynicism or an anti-American bias on my part. It is the job of some people in government to find solutions to perceived problems. They are unconstrained by laws and morals because they are only concerned with the solution. These plans are then reviewed and modified, usually so that they fall within the limits of domestic or international law. (Or at least they used to be)

"But the CIA has gone outside of the law many times in its attempt to alter events in this and other countries."

This is true. And it's part of the 'common sense' argument for conspiracy buffs. "Our government would have carte blanch to do whatever it wanted if we were attacked by Al Qaeda."

But let's think about this operation. The CIA doesn’t like to operate in the open. Covert Ops is the phrase. Quiet action works better than grandiose events. And this event was huge. It would have taken hundreds of very skilled people to execute such a plan. A plan of vast complexity. Possible? Let me run this by you...

Fidel Castro is still alive and kicking.

We cocked up the bay of pigs, failed to rescue the Iranian hostages, could not kill Osama, Zarqawi and Saddam (and we had free reign for these operations) yet the CIA (or the ever popular 'other government agency) pulled off this amazing feat. I would think that a team capable of pulling of this kind of operation could easily make sure that WMD's were found in Iraq. It would have made the Bush's life a lot easier. I mean, it's just common sense, right?

The roots of 9/11 are deep. And the long chain of events leading to it is complex. But we are an impatient people. And we are a paranoid people. We have good reason to mistrust our government at times.

The strange thing is that there are those quick to blame our government for 9/11 in the form of a vast conspiracy, but don't seem willing to blame that same government for policies that actually DID have an affect on the world and that might have led to 9/11.

I suppose it's because that finger would then ultimately point to us. Many people believe firmly that Saddam had WMD's just before the second gulf war.

I know that he DID have those weapons because WE sold them to him. At the time we had a problem with Iran and radical Islam. The solution? Arm the secular dictator next door. Of course, that choice let to problems down the road didn’t it? I tell this fact to people and they still look at me funny. "Why the hell would we give that nut WMD's?" Indeed. The finger points to us.

The conspiracy camp asks questions. A lot of them have been answered, but others certainly haven't. The trouble is that their legitimate questions are mixed in with the cruise missiles and ufo's.

There is certainly a minute possibility that there was direct action on our part in 9/11. If that is so, then the secret CAN NOT remain buried forever. People talk. Who knows, maybe someday these folks will all be vindicated.


***

Got your own opinion? Sound off in the comments.

Stuff + Cats = Awesome

And now for something completely different.

http://www.stuffonmycat.com

That's right. A website. With pictures.

Of stuff.

On Cats.

Example:



This picture was taken just before things went very bad for the pet owner. Very bad indeed.

Some info that may come in handy

Since I now have a shop I try to use it to my best advantage. For instance, I perform oil changes and other maintenance on our vehicles. Oh sure, when you factor in the cost of buying an oil wrench and a creeper etc I'm not going to see a return on my investment for well, a while. But there is a nice feeling of satisfaction from doing these things yourself.

At least until you see that you have about 6 gallons of used oil sitting in the corner. What to do? There is no way I'm dumping it down the drain, we have an aeration system and leech bed. This would efeectively destroy our septic system. And even if I were hooked into a city sewer system, it's evil. There are some who burn their used oil, but again, it probly not a very healthy thing. Our city recycles paint and oil etc once a year. And every year we learn about the program the day after its over. Great.

So the oil just kind of piles up. Luckily I learned our local mechanic, Zeke, will take it. It's collected by a company that properly disposes of it. But what if you don't have a local guy named Zeke? Well it turns out that Advance Auto Parts will take used oil AND batteries.

Is your check engine light on? My father in law was hit for $60 to turn it off. No repairs. Nothing broken. Advance Auto Parts will actually hook up a basic diagnostic computer and tell you what the code is and what it means for FREE. I don't know if they will turn it off or not, but you'll at least have a clue when you go to your mechanic. And when that $60 'diagnostic fee' shows up you can say "Hey, hold on there sparky, you want to charge me how much to just plug in a computer and push a button? I told you what the code was!" If you're lucky (and didn't go to a dealership) that charge should go away.

Of course, I learned of this service AFTER I bought my own little diagnostic computer. I can't help it. I'm now a tool whore. They range in price but you can get one for between $75 and $100. There are cheap ones that will read an fault code (which you can look up online) but they can't reset the check engine light. I've already used it three times to turn off check engine warnings that weren't serious on our cars.

Paying credit card = Terrorist

Are we freaked out yet? A little worried about the erosion of your rights? No?

I feel sick

This story has made me smiting mad. I literally want to hit something, or in this case someONE.

A West Virginia police chief physically forced a man to stop giving CPR to his gay friend, stating that the man was HIV positive. He wasn't, and even if we was you can't get AIDS from performing CPR. He then tried to prevent the EMS personel from aiding the victem. They ignored him. The man died anyway. The city is being sued, of course, by the ACLU. for wrongful death.

This is why stupid, bigottted or fundy people should not hold positions of power.

If you are stupid, do not join the police force or FEMA management.

If you are bigotted, learn to deal with it, or you will get the smackdown like this moron did. (It alas, will not bring the victem back)

If you are a fundy, you shouldn't work as a pharmacist. Please move to Texas and point your guns at the ATF in a threatening matter.

New Element found!

Via an email that's been bouncing around the Internets...

NEW ELEMENT FOUND!

The recent hurricanes and skyrocketing oil and gasoline prices helped to prove the existence of a new element. In early October 2005, a major research institution announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium."

Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called 'morons' which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called 'peons.' Since Gv has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Gv causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second!

Gv has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay; but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming 'isodopes.' This characteristic of moron promotion leads most scientists to believe that Gv is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as 'Critical Morass.'
When catalyzed with money, Gv becomes "Administratium' (Am) - an element which radiates just as much energy as Gv, since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

I'm down with that

My friend and business associate Thomas recently posted on his blog that due to South Dakota attempting to ban ALL abortion (including in cases of rape and incest), he and his company will no longer do ANY business in that state.

Although I generally take my time and like to analyse a situation before setting for my opinion, I am in complete agreement with him on this. I will not conduct business in the state of South Dakota.

Now this issue is going to be challenged. And unless the supreme Court overthrows Roe vs Wade (in which case we are ALL truly fucked) it WILL be overturned. And off the top of my head, I don't believe I have any shows in South Dakota. I don't believe I have ever been to South Dakota. But to be honest its not sounding like a place I would have a very good time.

A letter to the Governor will be sent shortly. In it I will lay out my logical and well thought out argument about why I believe he and his state are fundy asshats. I'm sure he will be crushed. I know my contributions to the general coffers of that state are, at this moment, precisely nil, it's the bitter thought that counts. This state has no desire to deal with reality and although I have a tendancy to dress up like a pirate and engage in rampant escapism, I believe that governments have a duty to live in the real, 21st century world.

Obey!

Go take a read. By the time you are done you should be shaking with fear, because this is how bad things start.

Jedi Mind trick.

There has been a whacking amount of buzz over the proposed sales of six (Actually 21 now)port management contracts to the United Arab Emirates. Many government officials, both Republican and Democrat have expressed strong reservations about the deal. These are weighty matter of State and Business on a mega scale. So I thought I would throw in my two cents.

By now we know that these ports are not being sold in any real sense, the State owned UAE company will be taking over management of the ports. (It runs 19 other ports in 14 countries). The ports will be run locally, security will be handled by DHS through the Coast Guard et al.

On the surface, it seems like an okay deal once one gets past the kneejerk reaction to the rather scary sounding headline "Arabs buy US ports". The Bush administration says that Dubai has spent millions upgrading security to their ports. They assist in the war on terrorism. They are a trusted ally. And this is, after all, just a business deal and has been carefully reviewed by "top people".

So why all the hubub bub?

Where to start? Well we know that the UAE sent two of its citizens to the Sept 11th plane racing team in New York. The money that paid for it, went through the UAE. The UAE is one of only three countries that recognized the Taliban. Member of the royal family have met with Osama Bin Laden. The port at Dubai was a transit point of nuclear weapons components that went to Libya. Does any of this make you nervous?

Of course, this was in the UAE's past. Ancient history, it was like, 5 or 6 years ago. They've turned over a new leaf. Sarcasm aside, countries, like people, change.

But there are other concerns here. The Dubai World Ports company is State Owned. That means it is an extension of the government of the UAE. The British P&O company is a private company in a country that has been our ally for, well ever since we settled that landlord/tenant dispute a few hundred years ago.

Yes, this is a business deal, but business, government, corruption and terrorism all intersect in this part of the world. There is logic, and then there is reality. Smuggling is a huge business at any port. And bribery is part of the business environment in the Middle East (and indeed much of the rest of the world). A port manager who makes a so-so wage takes bribes all the time. He's paid to unload one companies truck first, he'd paid to overlook shipments of cigarettes and hard to find consumer products going to places like Iran and Iraq. He's paid to let counterfeit Chinese goods pass unchecked. Port security is only as strong as it's weakest link and ports have been a weak link, even after Sept 11.

On the domestic side only 5% of offloaded cargo is inspected. The coastguard fleet is ancient and is understaffed. Port security is essentially a joke. And we all know that there is no corruption on our end of the line. Oh hell no.

And who are those top people who so carefully reviewed this deal? Bush? Rummsfeld? Chertoff? Treasury Sec. Snow? None of these guys seems to have known this deal had gone through until last week. This does not inspire my confidence.

And then there's the elephant in the room. Bush has said that this deal should not be sunk because the company involved is Arab. This is a way to show unity between the Arab world and the US. To fight this deal is to slap the face of the Arab business world. He is, in a way correct. It shouldn't make a difference. But it does. And we have George to thank for much of that. We have been living in a near panic state for several years now. The terror alert level is a stress dial that has been repeatedly turned up and down whenever things get too hot for the President. We now fear and/or hate Arabs. So why is he surprised that we seem skittish about this deal? This sale is a victim of the administrations success at scaring the crap out of us over National Security.

This deal would not raise eyebrows if the buying company was German or even French. Why? Because Frenchmen did not pilot the planes that his the World Trade Centers. We are guilty of bigotry I suppose. Which is unfortunate but understandable. France after WWII was a bit wary of Germany. If you were robbed by a black man, no matter HOW liberal or forgiving you are you WILL look at all blacks suspiciously for a while. What we are seeing now is a cringe reflex. It will go away in time. Does this hurt general US/Arab relations? I don't think so. The average Arab isn't affected by this deal. They quite frankly dislike us for other far more legitimate reasons. And me? I'm not going to loose much sleep if the Royal Family looses out on making even more money, they don't seem to be hurting for cash.

I read today that the Port Authority of New York have filed suit. Not for security reasons but because they (like so many people) were not told about the deal til the ink was dry. The state of New Jersey has also sued on National Security grounds. This issue isn't going away.

It's possible that all of this was done above board and indeed there is no cause for alarm, there's nothing to see here...but America is doesn't seem to be falling for this kind of Jedi mind trick any more.

Stunning news. Indians are not Jews!

I really am not making this shit up. If you are not familiar with the basic idea behind the Mormons it goes something like this:

In the 1800's a man named Joseph Smith was visited by angels who showed him two golden plates on which was written a new testament about Jesus. These tablets were written in another language but not to worry, the angels gave Joe magic glasses to translate these holy plates, which no one actually saw. Among the wackiness; apparently Jesus(tm) came to America and the native American population is actually a lost tribe of Israel.

Really.

Except of course that Indians are NOT Jews. Genetic testing has conclusively proved it. This has kind of freaked out the Mormons (aka the Church of Latter day saints) because, well, the words of Joseph Smith are (like the words of so many religions) completely true and incapable of ever being wrong. Except when they are.

Look, I strive to be tolerant and accepting of many faiths and beliefs. But really guys, this shit is just made up. Just like Scientology it was made up whole cloth.

At some point I think I will create a religion and make it composed of nothing but whacko nonsense and contradicting statements ( I know, I know. So many are already there). Volumes of it (because the validity of a religion seems to be based upon how many pounds its holy books weigh) And you know what? I will find people willing to believe in it wholeheartedly. They will see the wisdom of my words. They will know the warm glow of faith without reason. If I play my cards right I will be able to made up rules that let me do any damn thing I want. Multiple wives? Sure. All your money? Give it to me. Raping children, I say its okey-dokey. Upon my death there will be a power struggle. The original doctrine will be largely ignored in the rush to grab power. My message will be commoditized and sold in specialty stores. My visions will be reduced to images on tortia shells, my wisdom printed on bumper stickers. There will eventually be sectarian splits in my whacko religion. These will become schisms that will set one group against another. There will be violence and murder. Both in my church and against those who do not believe. All in my name.

I gotta gets me some of that action.


This is what comes of not using your brain.

Dopplegangers

Despite being over 2000 miles from home I have seen about six people who are pretty good copies of friends I know back home. Kollin, Grimm, Monkey, Vallerie... It was spooky.

After the dust storm died down the event was much more pleasant, except for the bitter cold nights. We had to borrow a fake fur blanket and a third sleeping bag to stay alive in the frigid Arizona night air. The people out here really are friendly and helpful. Our fellow merchants in the bazaar tent (except for Beverle) were very nice folks. I am comforted by the fact that despite her offering lower prices people continually bought their corsets from us.

I only caught glimpses of the fighting, which looked little different from home. The event IS pet friendly so we met lots of cool dogs. The caliber of drummers is MUCH better than at pennsic. The large tent where court was held was lit with theater lights rather than fluorescent. There was a very swanky SCA 40th birthday party with all kinds of edibles. They also held THE coolest night time youth event. The lightsaber battle. They set up four big black lights and covered the padded weapons with fluorescent tape which looked (if I may date myself) wicked cool.

Elissa gave us a ride back to the airport. The UPS stores were all closed (I am a moron) and she has graciously agreed to drop the stock off tomorrow. I am trusting someone I met on the internet with $7000 worth of stock. Yeah.

With gobs of time on our hands we did the books and the show was a success. We will come back next year (when it will likely flood according to local sources). Our biggest challenge now is cleaning every damn thing that went with us. Joy.

All you can eat suck fest

All you can eat suck fest
Originally uploaded by stevepack.

Arrived safe and sound in Arizona. What difficulties we experienced were minor. Ellysa, the local SCA member we contacted throught Tribes got us to the site. It is there we learned that we had failed to pack the bits required for our clothing racks. Another nice local was found and a trip to WalMart was arranged. Two cheap racks and some supplies are obtained. Upon returning to site we learn that the ONE person whom I dislike with a passion that burns as hot as a thousand suns is setting up right next to us. Beverle. My nemisis.



Rossana kindly refrained from snapping her neck and instead agreed to ignore her.



Today we were faced with more pressing concerns. The state is in the middle of a drout. It has not rained for 140 days. Dust is everywhere. How could thing get more gooder? Lets add twenty mph winds. Everything and everyone is covered by a layer of fine brown dirt. Several tents were wiped out (ours seems to have survived) At the hight of the storm both clothing racks were wiped out completely.

Off we go...

I had the pleasure of enjoying a great dinner and meeting some new people last night. Roger, a friend of Ed Dale's invited me, my sweetie and our minion Lindsey to his very cool home on the East side for an annual Chinese feast. Apparently he enjoys cooking for groups of 10 or so over the course of several weekends. It was a superb meal and I left stuffed with Chinese goodness.

We depart soon for a SCA event in Phoenix called Estrella. Never done it before and a fly-in show presents all kinds of logistical problems. We have shipped out three boxes of stock, we ordered stock from another supplier, we have four suitcases with our displays, tent, sales gear and two carry on bags with minimal garb. Any one of these things not arriving will be a large pile of suck. The cool thing is that I put in a request for a ride to the site from the airport on Tribes and got three offers of help. SCA people really are some of the coolest folks around.

Things got fairly hairy three days ago when the power steering went out on our minivan. In a panic I contacted Grimm, the Jedi master of all trades. He agreed to take alook but suggested I pick up a few things at the auto parts place. When I went to start the cargo van there was a terrible screeching and smoke. I looked under the hood and saw a completely shredded serpentine belt. Awesome.

When Grimm arrived he looked at the engine and poked at it a little.

"Your alternator isn't moving at all"

"Fuck. What's that gonna cost?"

"You might get one for about $130 plus a new belt for $35."

I poked my head into the guts of the engine and noticed that there was a large ice flow that seemed to have developed during the rain/freeze cycles of the past weeks. It resembled a small frozen waterfall. I pointed it out to Grim.

"Holy crap, I think your alternator is physically filled with ice."

"Blow torch?" I suggested.

"Uhm, maybe a hair dryer, you don't want to go waving a blow torch around your engine compartment. Lots of wire and tubes that do stuff."

So with the help of my wife's hairdryer and two trips to the auto parts store to get the right size belt, we were able to get the van started again. Cost? $38 and some numb fingers. The minivan? That didn't go as well. Grimm did what he could, but power steering systems are not an easy fix. Expensive parts and lots of serious underside gutting. We sent the vehicle to a local shop that got the job done in one day. Cost? I don't really want to talk about it. Let's just hope that this show in Arizona is a good one.