Don't forget THE OLD WHORE

The Old Whore has been re-released on Kindle and will be available as of September 1 on Amazon.com. This sequel to the book shelf block buster, Bloody Mexico keeps you on the roller coaster.

King of the Mountain, the third installment in the Cartel Wars series should be available in early 2013.

Dreams of Chicago

Naturally this would be a blog about auto theft and breaking into cars.

Fortunately there is "stick death"...because your car is worth more than their lives.

For more Stick Death

From a friend: 

I was in Lake Havasu City, Arizona and I saw a bumper sticker on a parked car that read “I miss Chicago.”  

So I broke the window, stole the radio and left a note on a used Harold's Chicken Shack bag that read, “I hope this helps...”

Chicago Police Homicide Detail Motto:
 When your day ends, our day begins.

Altitude

California Pass, near Silverton, CO

Base of Engineer Pass, note deer at top-left

Corkscrew Pass, near Red Mountain (Yes because the mountain is 

red but I didn't name it. Somebody else did.)

One of the guys I ran with one day with took photos of my rig in the high country along the Continental Divide in Colorado. He finally got around to sending them to me, and I'm posting a couple of them here. Photos don't do the country justice, but it's all you can bring back to remind you of what it's like. You'll notice that the roads are not difficult. They're essentially graded mining roads. Visiting this area is for the view and the vibe, not for the difficulty factor on the road.

Political Rancor and the Press

Obama's connection to Jeremiah ("God Damn America") Wright, his religious mentor for more than 20 years, is completely off-limits; old news; and likely motivated by pure, unadulterated racism.

But the the Washington Post's story about an incident in Arkansas in 1857 linking it to "Mitt Romney's religion" is obviously critical and relevant to understanding the candidate's roots...or something bizarre like that. Their title tells you all they want to accomplish with this particular hit piece: "Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith tangles with a quirk of Arkansas history."

I understand that organizations like the Washington Post are unrepentant whores for the Obama and Democratic brand, but each time I see something like this I feel outraged at the double standard and the pure, unadulterated hypocrisy.

Defining the modern Mainstream Media:

In Ayn Rand's novel, The Fountainhead, Gail Wynand, who stood for nothing during his long journalistic career, except to give voice to the worst aspects of human nature, has a devastating epiphany when he finally takes a stands up for the Good. Wynand had always deceived himself into believing that he controlled the narrative and shaped public opinion; that he was the ultimate power who controlled things and events. But he was just a pawn all along; a pawn of forces that represented the worst aspects of human nature. He was not the master; he was the slave. 

The leash he wielded to control others turned out to be his own noose. 

I want to be around when the proud, progressive editors of rags like the NY Times and the Washington Post finally realize what complete tools they are. 

Oh, wait. I forgot. Being a postmodern progressive tool means never having to say you're sorry.

(h/t Dr. Sanity)

Mobile Easy

The difference between needs and wants is not all that difficult to determine.

I need a giant ridable hexapod.

Some people need another beer, or want to travel to Las Vegas, Hawaii or the Islands of Greece (been there a lot - not new anymore), or perhaps they want to be the reincarnated Elvis? As for me, I'll settle for a giant ridable hexapod. And yes, I identify this as a need, not merely a want.

Mind you that I'm not demanding that it be equipped with a turret with a cannon on it (that would be a want, not a need).

Lest you think that branding me "a large child" to be insulting, it's not.

General Passing Interest: Dr. Benton Quest invented one of these many years ago to fight evil and they're just now coming into vogue as the US Defense Reutilization Marketing Office (DRMO) is selling them to the general public as novelties much as they sell old ejection seats and submarine periscopes. If you want them, now is the time to get them, before the supply is scooped up by mad scientists.

Age One

Liam is my fourth grandchild (and third grandson) to reach the one-year mark. So today there is a party in his honor. The party hasn't actually kicked off yet and I'll be gone soon after the party is over, so I'm posting a few photos that my daughter, Amanda took of him last week.

Happy Birthday, Liam.

One think that Liam likes best is sharing popsicles with me (PaPa-siccles). We'll have to leave those photos for another day.

LATE ADDITION

Cake is fun!

Do I have to eat the ENTIRE CAKE?

Was Obama a Foreign Exchange Student?

Was Barack Obama a "foreign exchange student" at Colombia University and Harvard? the bottom line is that nobody knows because he's spent several million dollars sealing those records.

• He got very bad grades at Occidental College.
• He managed to get admitted to Colombia and then Harvard.
• It is unlikely to have 'soared' as a student at Colombia because he didn't leave much of a footprint. He claimed to be part of the Harvard Law Review but he didn't publish anything (which is why there is a law review in the first place).
• His father, Barack Obama Sr. was a "professional foreign exchange student" from Kenya.
• We know that young Barry Soetoro aka Barack Obama, has a gift for gab and interviews well. Could he have dropped in under the wire as an Indonesian (foreign) student in the US? There are completely different rules for 'foreign students' looking to enter and American school than there are for Americans. The grade requirements are simply not that high and you don't have to continue to score well to stay enrolled.

We won't know until those transcripts are unsealed.

Since Lolo Soetoro (Indonesian Citizen) adopted young Barack Obama, it's not so far fetched that the lackluster student used that to bolster his 'scam'. I'm not suggesting that Obama jr. wasn't born in Hawaii, but I am suggesting that his education was paid for by others as part of a scheme where the very core is a blatant lie.

I'm not suggesting that this scam disqualifies Obama from being president, but shouldn't we know about those missing Obama years? Neither am I suggesting that he's the "Manchurian Candidate", but in a world where media scrutiny (of Obama's opponents) would seem to be the battle cry, why not unseal the records and PROVE those of we who are speculating on this to be wrong?

My Journey - To Mars

Among my many and admittedly varied business interests is Ashima, the company that designed the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, built by Centro de Astrobiologia (Spain) as their contribution and flying on the Curiosity Rover, do to land on Mars on Sunday. (The Spanish selected the admittedly phallic design for the instrument covers)

REMS has been designed to record six atmospheric parameters: wind speed/direction, pressure, relative humidity, air temperature, ground temperature, and ultraviolet radiation. All sensors are located around three elements: two booms attached to the rover Remote Sensing Mast (RSM), the Ultraviolet Sensor (UVS) assembly located on the rover top deck, and the Instrument Control Unit (ICU) inside the rover body. (JPL)

Read more here: http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/REMS/

Ashima Devices Team
Ashima Research

Curiosity Landing on Mars

Changing the world or challenging the universe requires that you change yourself.