A bit of fun

Nothing serious, just some makin with the ha-ha.


Go check out the vids HERE and smile.

I especially like "Bait", "Old people Having Fun" and the Isuzu ad.

Some pics and some thoughts

Gulf Wars, while not a rousing success, was not too bad. I am sure next year it will be back to its old self and sales will return to normal. The site of the event is pretty cool. They not only allow SCAdians to build stuff, they encourage it. Here is the Green Dragon Inn, it is a permanant structure and it's gorgeous. The inside has granite floors and a minstrels gallery. Food and ale is served. I must have one of these for myself...



After the event we hit New Orleans to get a break. Below is your standard artsy type shot I took at Cemetary No 1 in the French Quarter.



The inventors of the Hurricane, Bill O'Malleys features a water fountain in their courtyard that shoots fire. Are we getting any ideas yet?



On the day we left we thought it was important to stop back in the Ninth Ward to see what, if anything was happening there since we left back in November. At first I was not encouraged. The street lights still aren't working and there is still a lot of damage, but then we saw businesses opening up. We found the community center and the whole area was bustling with activity. Debris was being removed from the streets, roofs and houses were being repaired.




This was to have been a community center by now, but just after we left the roof at the warehouse where the volunteers were staying began to leak badly and had to be abandoned. They moved over to the community center and that is their new base of operations. The place has become a beehive of activity. Lots of College students came down for spring break to help out. So many that they were short of team leaders to help coordinate people. The church next door is also part of the Common Ground Collective, as well as the corner across the street. There is event a Clinic and free legal advice in a home nearby. I had my doubts that we would see anyone back in that part of the Ninth. But it's happening. There are several more FEMA trailers and signs that people are not going to let the area die. A short way off in the lower ninth there is still a lot of damage, and few signs of recovery. This area was hit worst by the flooding. I'd not sure it will come back.

We will be back in New Orleans in about a months for a Goth Convention call Convergence 12. We won;t have much time for sight seeing then, all business. So I'm glad we did in now.

I love you man!!!!

We will not speak of the excesses we have engaged in while visiting the French Quarter. The less known of these the better. Like Vegas, what happens here should stay here. To post pics would be foolish at this time. Maybe when we are safely out of this state...

It is not late per se, but we have retreated too our cool air conditioned rooms. The air is thick and warm. Angry clouds boil overhead. Walking in this weather saps one's strength and the addition of certain beverages does not help in navigating the dim, gas lit streets.

We have done what damage we can here. Tomorrow we will fight our way through the heavy rains to the North of us. If our luck holds out we will be back home in about 2 days. This is good. My restraint on this trip has been somewhat lacking, The further away I am from Beignets, Rum and gumbo the better. I believe Lindsey has enjoyed her time here, and as soon as we find her I will confirm it. She was last seen on Chartres heading toward one of the many clubs that fly rainbow flags. She has our cell number and we have a photo of her along with fingerprints and DNA sample. She knows when and where our van will be departing the Big Easy and we can only hope she will be in it. Pax Law #4 is very specific:

"Always come home with the same number of people you left with."

Back to the scene of the crime

A long hard day today. With threatening skies we packed up early. The event wasn't a bust, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. It was a week of extremes. Hot days, cold nights, rain, dust, bad food and bouts of boredom followed by flurries of activity. Pack up was tough. Nothing wanted to fit, not enough room. Frustration.

Last night Lindsey and I wandered the site. We popped into the Tavern and ended up at the Known World Party held in the fort. I knew a few people there but most were strangers. A merchant holds a strange position in the Society. Those who don't have the time or skills to make our wares rely on us for our goods. But we are outside the social circle of those we serve. We hold allegiance to no Kingdom and as such are claimed by none. We maintain acquaintances with our fellow merchants and share a sort of camaraderie with them. Virgil from Crimson Chain Leather was our neighbor and one couldn't ask for a better one. We swap our versions of war stories and help each other where we can. We weren't the only one hit with vehicle troubles. A fellow merchant named Drago struck a tree stump on site breaking a spring and damaging a wheel. I hope he was able to at least break even on this show.

We departed one day early. There are rarely Sunday sales at SCA events. Right now we are again guests of Vlad and his lady. He has moved into new digs. These at least are bigger and can almost hold his eclectic collections. Stranger still is that the house in a suburban style development. All manicured lawns and minivans. I wonder how long it will be before the neighbors notice the Adams family moved in. We are treated like honored guests. A good meal and a hot shower are a godsend. So are the attentions of their cats.

Tomorrow we head to New Orleans. This time as tourists, though I expect we will tour the ninth ward before we leave on Tuesday.

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.