Looking Closely

I murmured a vow of silence and now

I don't even hear when I think aloud.

Team Griffin!

My son-in-law, Braden and my grandson 

Griffin came over for dinner tonight.

Maternal Tigress

This was carried by the press and it's not news. This morning I was thinking about tigers, Thailand, and the story of  Saimai, the Bengal Tigress who lives at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo came to mind.  

Saimai and her "cubs" are the main attraction.

Saimai is two years old. 

Saimai doesn't seem to mind the unclothed piglets. The outfits may have been meant to provide a show for paying ferangs (tourists) or she ate those piglets and they didn't have time to make outfits for ...supper.

I was in Beijing once and a saw a little girl with a pet rabbit. I asked her what the rabbit's name was. She told me, "delicious meal". I suspect this pig has the same name, only I don't know how to say it in Thai.

Saimai was an orphan and was nursed by a pig when she was a cub. It puts the whole situation in a better perspective. 

One World Currency

US Supports One World Currency

(Telegraph, UK)

The US Dollar plunged against all major world currencies on Friday after US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner suggested that Washington is open to the Chinese proposal for "a super-sovereign currency reserve" under IMF management - a world central bank.

Creditor countries around the globe are very concerned because the Federal Reserve decided to buy US government bonds (debt) with printed money, reported earlier on my blog(s).

What the hell is the United States doing? 

Are we hauling down the flag?

Dinosaurs Were Here

There is a tail mark, where the dinosaur's tail was dragged over the rock back when it was soft (above). The sandals are markers. There are also tracks but they are more difficult to capture with a camera.

You can see the dinosaur tracks in the stone in between the sandals, placed there as markers. This was a bird-like flesh eating dinosaur in the raptor family (above).

These are in the Escalante Grand Staircase area of Southwestern Utah.

At the Top of the World

When you're at the top, it's a long way down in every direction.

ShamWow Arrest

Meet Vince Shlomi, noted Scientologist, seller of the Slap Chop and Sham Wow -- as seen on TV. 

He fell from grace!

I know that the blog followers expect a far higher level of service here on this blog than they will find elsewhere. AND, I confess that I take a certain glee in reporting the bane of my late night television viewing was taken into custody under circumstances that can't possibly embarrass him, but might bother a lesser mortal.

Vince Shlomi, 44, Television Advertising Celebrity

Recent booking photo

Lenea (aka Sasha) Harris, 26, Miami, Florida Prostitute

Booking photos from arrests 2005 and 2008 

**note she is wearing County Jail clothing in both photos.

Last night, Shlomi met Harris at a Miami Beach nightclub and paid her $1,000 to have sex with her. He took her to his hotel room at the Setai Hotel ($750/night).  Things went wrong early in their tryst. Shlomi said that when he kissed her, sinking his tongue deep into her throat, she "bit his tongue and would not let go."

Shlomi hit her face several times until she released his tongue. He hit her a few more times in the face for good measure and then went screaming from the room (to spite the now swelling tongue). 

Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face. The police arrived and arrested both Shlomi and Harris for (felony) aggravated assault and the district attorney refused to file charges. The police also found $930 in cash in Harris' purse and took it as evidence.

Police records list Shlomi's occupation as "Marketing," but make no mention of his affiliation with ShamWow or the Slap Chop, both of which sell for $19.95 (plus shipping and handling).

Do You Remember Him

This man was a famous actor but he's been in custody for a couple years now. Can you name him?

CORRECTION - he's a free man and working on a new feature film of Pee Wee's Playhouse. 

That's just sick.

A Last Word on "Street Russian"

In Russia, nice people don't use "street Russian" or the sort of vulgar slang that is so common, while they are sober. Language expresses national character and not the other way around. In Russian, there is no exact translation for "to make love" because polite people don't discuss it. Even lyuboday or lyubodaystvo which mean love-maker or love-making are lewd and are not used in polite company.

So how is the point discussed from a practical perspective? It really isn't, until the Stolichnaya is poured and the discussion deteriorates from the impossibly polite to the practical. Russia has long led the rest of the world in axe murders and chess masters and perhaps the reason for this has to do with the lack of a polite way to express topics that remain on their minds. The word yeblia is plastered on the subway walls and public toilets in Russia. Is that the missing word in Russian that defines love making?

There is no word in polite Russian for oral sex. If you want to refer to this act politely, you would say, frantsu-zkaya luybov (French love), which implies that the French discovered something before the Russians (unlikely). On the streets of Moscow, the crude way to put this same act is V rote ebat' tvoyi kostyli! No translation required but it has -- something to do with crutches... you have to trust me on this.

If reading folk sayings written on the subway walls tells us anything more about Russian preferences and perhaps what is not discussed in polite society, the "crawfish position" is favored above all others. ebat' rakom/dat' rakom/stat' rakom. 

Street Russian (very brief primer)

There are two Russian languages: The romantic language of Tolstoy and practical Russian that you need to be able to communicate effectively with a Russian person on the streets of Tyumen, Moscow, St. Petersburg or anywhere.

It's important not to curse in the presence of a Russian who holds a higher social or business position than you do. To Russian bosses, four-letter words are all about power. The boss is the one who is allowed to curse.

Some of the more important words you need to know if you're trying to communicate and get your point across on the streets of Russia are these: blyad (whore), buy y shopu (dick up his ass), naekhat (throw somebody under a bus), razborka (settling a problem), sosi huy! (a refusal), Nuzhen kak zub v zhope! (literally it means "I need that like I need a tooth in my ass", meaning, I need that like a fish needs a bicycle or I need that like I need a hole in my head)

Understanding Russian profanity is critical to being able to communicate to the common taxi driver or to survive interactions. Perhaps Julia will want to add something here. 

Apologies for no Cyrillic keyboard.

Shadows, Dreams and Substance

tell me, is something eluding you, Sunshine?

is this not what you expected to see?

if you want to find out what's behind these cold eyes,

you'll just have to claw your way through this disguise.

The Little Admiral

Yes, he's just that precious.

His right hand is a blur as he swings toward the camera! 

Obviously Griffin wasn't ready to have his photo taken yet. 

With hands and reflexes like that, he is clearly Grandpa's boy!

Crustacean

It's my second-oldest girl's birthday party tonight. She waived all gifts in lieu of dinner at Crustacean (Beverly Hills), her favorite place to dine.

Crustacean is not for the tight of wallet, but it's a fantastic place to get a great, unique meal. My kids are picky eaters but they are not picky here. It's located at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Little Santa Monica Boulevard. (9646 Little Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills) The kids like the Maine Lobster. Who can blame them? You can't get a bad meal no matter what you order from the menu at Crustacean. (plan on about $100 per person - without alcohol)

Political Spectrum

I've just about had it with intellectuals who compare "the right" with National Socialists (Nazi) and "the left" with Socialists (other Socialists). That makes absolutely no sense at all. 

The spectrum, most clearly defined has Absolute Government control on one side - the left, and No Government on the other side - the right. Calling George W. Bush a right wing person is laughable. He's somewhere left of center with Barack Obama out there on the extreme left wing of American politics.

Socialism is a function of forced redistribution of wealth more or less at the point of a bayonet. Yes, you always run out of other people's money eventually. Yes, there will be capital flight from the US to other places where the proposed aggregate 60% tax proposed by Democrats is less, but they really don't care because it won't happen on their watch. And they can stay in power by pandering to the mob, offering them the fruits of their employer's labor. Who will employ them once their employers have been despoiled? Uh, THE GOVERNMENT! The fly in the ointment is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Portrait of a Hero

Justice Clarence Thomas

US Supreme Court

Justice Thomas' nomination to the United States Supreme Court was opposed by the NAACP, Urban League and the National Organization for Women.  Thomas rarely gives interviews to the media because he says, "the media often has its own script".

Clarence Thomas was born in Pin Point, Georgia, a small, impoverished black community. His father left his family when he was two years old. He was raised by his maternal grandfather who ran a fuel oil business and sold ice. When he was ten years old, Thomas was taken to work every day on the family farm. He complained to his grandfather, "slavery is over". His grandfather replied, "Not in my house". His grandfather's philosophy was summed up thus: Never let the sun catch you in bed.

When Dr. Martin Luther King was shot, Thomas was overheard responding, "Good, I hope the son-of-a-bitch died."

Justice Thomas has always been opposed to affirmative action. Essentially affirmative action is a pay-back for the sins of non-black grandfathers. Even for those who's lineage had nothing to do with slavery or the oppression of blacks. Linking minorities with the Democratic Party provides the Party with a tool - political indentured servitude of minorities by making them dependent on handouts.

Thomas' career on the Supreme Court has seen him take a strict constructionalist approach to the US Constitution, in an attempt to uphold its original meaning and statutes. He looks to the text's exact phrasing as the test to the surest guide to its meaning.

Second Amendment - Rights (not privileges)

On June 26, 2008, the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a right to own firearms for self defense and hunting. It was the first major Supreme Court pronouncement on the right of citizens to own firearms in US history. The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The June 26 ruling (5-4) struck down the District of Columbia's 32 year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with firearms rights under the Second Amendment.

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia (a personal hero of mine) said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by the historical narrative both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self defense in the home," Scalia wrote. The court also struck down Washington DC's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled.

Do you Belong to a Militia?

Check this link to determine if you belong. Whether or not you watch Fox News, it might be worth your while reading the article.

Are you a member of a Militia? What does the Department of Homeland Security consider the warning signs?

Keep in mind I'm not coming up with this on my own. It's simply an article.

Send Your Name to Mars

There are people I'd like to see living on Mars. The current US President, for example should lead the way to Mars. My vote is that the first person on Mars be Barack Obama. And some of you thought I didn't like him. 

A part of who you car can go to Mars. You can have your name taken to Mars onboard the Mars Science Laboratory. SEND YOUR NAME TO MARS In any case it might be something your children would enjoy doing.

Just when you thought things couldn't get worse...

Timing is Everything

Worth a Thousand Words

Heather - Age 3

The temptation of cake on your birthday! (L to R) Amanda, Heather & Melissa. A few years ago but it doesn't seem that long ago to me.

Prognosis

The middle aged man told his doctor that he wasn't able to do all the things around the house that he used to do. When the examination was complete he asked, "Now Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English."

The doctor thoughtfully replied, "You're just lazy."

"Okay," the man said, "now give me the medical term so I can tell my wife."

Thoughtful Thursday

Financial Woes (continued)

Let's talk about what happened on the financial front today. There are those who say the market has hit bottom and the economic recovery is underway.  Don't hold your breath, sports fans.

The Federal Reserve agreed to buy $1.2 trillion in US Government bonds today. It's characterized as a short-term fix. Where does the Federal Reserve get its money? It prints it.

The bond market and gold market rallied. Long term debt rallied as the number of buyers increased for the same amount of supply so the treasury can offer lower interest rates. Gold rallied do to inflation fears (see above). US Gold rallies $50/ounce on the federal reserve announcement. 

The yield of the ten-year US Treasury note fell 1/2%. A falling yield means a rising bond price (or the price of debt the US must pay).

The problem with the fed buying long term bonds is that it's a LAST DITCH STAND. The potential for this plan to go sideways and to result in massive inflation is huge. Think of firing an unguided missile at a target, hoping it will hit and not blow something else up and you have the idea. That's what happened today.

AT PRESENT: The Federal Reserve is issuing debt and printing money to "buy itself". Over the past six months we imposed some discipline in our borrowing because if the buyers - mainly the Chinese - grew nervous over our spending, they'd stop buying. TODAY we became our own buyers.

According to an Associated Press article today, "But even this best-case scenario, the nation's unemployment rate will keep climbing. Some economists think it will hit 10% by the end of this year." (and when you consider how we come to that number through 'strange math', the real number will be closer to 16%)

Be happy the stock market climbed this week. It won't last. The Federal Reserve plans to print another $5 trillion over the next two years (same AP Article)

Doesn't Speak for Itself...

Solution (to the Russian Ship ID game)

Project 58 Missile Cruiser - (NATO designation Kynda Class)

These were the first Soviet missile cruisers. There are two "weenie packs" of SS-N-3B Shaddock missiles mounted forward and aft. Four ships were completed: Grozny, Admiral Fokin, Admiral Golovko and Varyag.  Keep in mind that I'm a product of the warmongering imperialists so we're not that bright. In order to differentiate the Kynda Class from other Soviet Cruisers (Kresta I, Kresta II, Sverdlov Class, etc.) we learned the a mantra. "Kynda's like Linda - she has two of everything" (including two weenie packs) If you look at the silhouette below, you'll see what I mean. Two radar masts (to deviant sailors too long at sea could be breasts) and the weenie packs meant that she was an odd lady.

Karma

Identify the Soviet/Russian Ship Game

Let's see if any of you blog readers know one Soviet Naval Vessel from another. Based on the (distinctive) silhouette alone, identify this ship class. Hint: It's a cruiser. It's SO distinctive that I recognized it immediately. No it's not a recent class - you'll need to go back into history about twenty years. 

Wearin' O' the Green

I must confess that I left the house today without wearing green of any kind. I did not carry a shillelagh in honor of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, but I did have a Colt .45 Officer's Model semi-automatic handgun in my waistband (do I get points for the thought that counts?). I do own a cudgel/shillelagh, a stout branch cut from a blackthorn tree and hope the faerie folk will excuse the harvest so many years ago. I will be posting a story about leprechauns on my other blog (Virtual Mirage), later on today.

My Job

My daughters ask me what I do for a living these days. This more or less sums it up...

Teamwork!

Passing of Heroes

Apollo played a golden lyre, and rode a chariot of fire across the sky each day to give life to the land beneath. He shot a silver bow and his arrows flew true and swiftly in defense of truth. It was Apollo who taught men medicine. 

It's strange how our heroes have changed over time. Today it's the man who can dunk a basketball most efficiently or a confused IV drug using actor who can do naught but recite the words written by another, edited heavily and blanketed by special effects. Or a rap artist who has few social graces, known for his disdain for women - portrayed as "whores and bitches".

Keeping it Real

The Bill of Rights amended the United States Constitution.

The First Amendment reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

I get very tired of the liberal claptrap about separation of church and state. That is the only place the issue was raised in our governing document, the ultimate law of the land. It doesn't mean that "In God We Trust" can't appear on currency or coins. The point made by the framers of the Constitution was directed toward the establishment of a State Religion, as was found in each European country when the nation was founded.  I do understand that the current movement in the Democratic Party calls for a complete revision of constitutional principles.

The Second Amendment reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bare Arms shall not be infringed.

Again, I understand that the Obama crowd have an agenda but the document couldn't be more clear than it is.

Not (quite) an Invasion

A friend of mine brought a BA-64 Soviet military scout car that he restored over to see how it measured up to my 4x4, the Scorpion. The difference between men and boys is measured in millimeters... I know, I know. You don't need to tell me. 

Emilie enjoyed crawling around inside the World War 2 vintage vehicle and playing with the Degtyaryov machine gun. He has two BA-64's and we plan to take them to the desert in the future to have "war games".... The machine guns fire propane and present a believable operational "presentation".

Old Bugs

Fossil hunting at the Latham Shale:

The shale beds, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, California

Angeles, California, some of the first land to be pushed up from primeval oceans.

Emilie works the face in search of fossils.

The clay/shale of shallow seas was home to many trilobites (essentially bugs) that lived in the Pre-Cambrian period, about 250,000,000 years ago. We took a couple of other people with us and their children to find fossils. There's something about kids and fossils.

Notwithstanding effort, it always requires a little luck combined with perseverance to make a big find. On this trip there was also time to do some shooting. Eamon, a young Irish boy pictured with a fossil (left) shot a .22 pistol for the first time. 

A Different Sort of Racetrack

My son-in-law, Braden,  who follows and posts on this blog anonymously, stands at "The Racetrack" in Death Valley about a year ago. In this remote dry lake, rocks break off and fall onto the lake sands. There, they they perform movements and they are tracked in the mud of the lake - but nobody has ever seen them move.

The Scorpion at Chloride Cliffs

(Death Valley, California)

Lama and Friend

Lama (left) WoFat, who follows this blog (right)

Thought Provoking

I wish

I wish

I wish I was

a fish...