NOAA Buoys

NOAA National Data Buoy Center

Storm Special! View the latest observations near Atlantic Hurricane Gustav and Atlantic Tropical Storm Hanna.

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Noah's Girls: Woody Allen as Dr. Noah with his Guard Girls.

h/t: David

Trophy Truck

Click to enlarge image.

Rick Johnson of Team 71 piloted his General Tire Trophy Truck to an overall race and class victory in the Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno race held Saturday, August 23, 2008. (PRNewsFoto/General Tire)

2008 vegas to reno & terribles 250 - YouTube link

Vegas to Reno Desert Race TIME TRIAL 2008 BITD - YouTube link

Trophy Truck Porn - YouTube link

Hurricane Preparedness Checklist

Things You Can Do Right Before a Storm

• Secure buildings by closing and boarding up windows. Remove outside antennas.


• Bring all lawn furniture, outdoor decorations, trash cans, hanging plants and anything else that could be picked up by the wind inside. Anchor objects that cannot be brought inside.


• Move your car to a garage, a carport or an area of higher ground in the case of flooding.


• If you must leave your car outdoors, park as close to a building as possible. Move your car away from trees or poles that may topple onto it.


• Make sure you fill your car's gas tank.


• Get emergency cash.


• Turn your refrigerator to its coldest setting.

Make a Hurricane Kit

• 3-day supply of water and ready-to-eat, non-perishable food for every family member and pet.


• Manual can opener for canned foods.


• Essential medicines, including eyeglasses and contact lenses.


• First-aid kit and manual. Include bandages, antiseptic, tape, a compress, non-aspirin pain reliever and anti-diarrhea medication.


• Battery-powered flashlight and radio with extra batteries.


• Personal hygiene items such as toilet paper, toothbrushes and toothpaste.


• Special items for infants, elderly or disabled family members.


• Two coolers – one for food, the other for ice.


• Change of clothing, including extra shoes and rain gear.


• Paper towels, pre-moistened towelettes and eating utensils.


• Blankets, pillows, and sleeping bags (one for each family member).


• Mosquito repellant and citronella candles.


• Plastic tarp for roof/window repairs and tools (hammer/nails).


• Plastic trash bags.


• Quiet games, books, playing cards.

Some Tips for Your Hurricane Plan

• Learn the best evacuation routes and keep a road map in your car in case you are forced to take unfamiliar roads.


• Arrange for a ride well before the storm if you don't have your own transportation. You may be forced to evacuate.


• Have an emergency supply kit prepared for your car with extra keys, food, water, jumper cables, a first-aid kit and sleeping bags.
  See Emergency Supply Kit for a suggested list.


• Make a plan now for what to do with your pets. Many shelters and hotels will not accept them. If you are unable to take your pets when you evacuate, make sure you leave behind "Pet Inside" signs on you front and back doors with the number and kind of pets inside so others can evacuate them.


• Identify an out-of state contact so if your family members get separated, you'll know who to call. If time allows call or e-mail your out-of-state contact to let them know where you are going and when you expect to get there.


• Plan a meeting location at least 50 miles inland in case your family members get separated.


• Gather important papers to take with you:
  * Driver’s License or personal identification
  * Social Security Card
  * Proof of residence (deed, lease, or utility bills)
  * Insurance Policies
  * Birth and marriage certificate
  * Stocks, bonds, and other negotiable certificates
  * Wills, deeds, and copies of recent tax returns


• Fill up your bathtub, sinks and other large containers with fresh water. This will serve as an important reserve should you be without running water after a storm.

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Learn more about hurricane Gustav and how to prepare at FEMA.gov or Emergency.Loisiana.gov

Click to enlarge image.

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Unlike most of his neighbors, New Orleans resident Larry Denny isn't worried enough about Hurricane Gustav to leave.

Never mind that his house flooded during Hurricane Katrina, the stress cracks in his roof have yet to be fixed and he and his wife felt it was necessary to get two guard dogs and an armory of weapons to ward off looters that roamed their street back in 2005.

Denny says that there is "no way" he and his wife Charlotte will evacuate New Orleans.

"Why do we stay?" asked Denny, who was raised in Louisiana and returned to New Orleans 15 years ago. "Because we know the government won't protect our house, so we have to."

McCain * Palin

UPDATE: * * * Watch Gov. Sarah Palin's Republican National Convention Speech in Full - [click here] * * *

UPDATE: * * * Watch Sen. John McCain's Republican National Convention Speech in Full - [click here] * * *

John McCain Selects Alaska Governor Sarah Palin As Vice Presidential Running Mate

U.S. Senator John McCain today announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as his vice president.

Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president. She has brought Republicans and Democrats together within her Administration and has a record of delivering on the change and reform that we need in Washington.

Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources. She leads a state that matters to every one of us -- Alaska has significant energy resources and she has been a leader in the fight to make America energy independent.

In Alaska, Governor Palin challenged a corrupt system and passed a landmark ethics reform bill. She has actually used her veto and cut budgetary spending. She put a stop to the "bridge to nowhere" that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars.

As the head of Alaska's National Guard and as the mother of a soldier herself, Governor Palin understands what it takes to lead our nation and she understands the importance of supporting our troops.

Governor Palin has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today.

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McCain Introduces Alaska Gov. Palin as VP - YouTube link

See Gov. Palin's full introductory speech here:

McCain-Palin Rally in Dayton, Ohio - YouTube link

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18 Million + 1 Cracks in the Glass Ceiling

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Sarah Palin for Vice President - 2008 - YouTube link

[note: PalinForAmerica.com is not an official Palin site]

Barack Obama's Democratic National Convention Speech

Barack Obama's Nomination Acceptance Speech - YouTube link

Democratic Convention Night

Convention Night - YouTube link

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"I Have A Dream" is the popular name given to the historic public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites among others would coexist harmoniously as equals. King's delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

A wooden sculpture of a crucified frog, entitled "Zuerst die Fuesse" (Feet First) and made by late German artist Martin Kippenberger in 1990, is shown in an undated photo released in Bolzano August 28, 2008.

A modern art sculpture, portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that Pope Benedict has condemned as blasphemous, may have its days numbered.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern Italian city of Bolzano were meeting on Thursday to choose whether to side with the pope and other opponents of the frog or with those who say it should be defended as a work of art.

(Courtesy Museion Museum, via Landov) Full Story

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In the words of Kermit the frog, "It ain't easy being green."

Tiny

Tiny - YouTube link

Poppy Crop

Press Statement
Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesman, U.S. Dept. of State
[photos added by me]

Release of 2008 UNODC Report

We welcome the release of the 2008 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Report and are encouraged by its findings. The report further strengthens our commitment to the current comprehensive counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan. We are especially encouraged to learn that 18 provinces, over half of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, are now poppy free, a significant increase from 13 provinces in 2007. The gains in the North and East, which traditionally have been poppy-rich areas, clearly show that counternarcotics efforts can succeed, given adequate security conditions, integrating counter-narcotics efforts with the counter-insurgency campaign, and sustained political will.

We are pleased to note that total poppy cultivation in Afghanistan fell for the first time in 3 years, and is now at or below 2006 levels. In addition, the potential production of heroin from the Afghan poppy crop has also decreased. We are committed to building on these positive trends.

The drug threat in Afghanistan remains unacceptably high. We are particularly concerned by the deteriorating security conditions in the South, where the insurgency dominates, and where 98 percent of Afghanistan’s poppy is produced. The government of Afghanistan and the international community must redouble their efforts to build effective security so that the poppy crop in the South can be eliminated just as it has in the other parts of the country.

Engravings from "The Naval Monument" 1815

Click to enlarge images.

Large image of "We have met the enemy and they are ours," drawn by J.R. Penniman (frontispiece).

The Naval Monument, containing official and other accounts of all battles fought between the Navies of the United States and Great Britain during the late war; and an account of the war with Algiers, with twenty-five engravings.

The plates illustrating this work, are primarily woodblocks engraved by Abel Bowen after original drawings by M. Corne. Constituting an early iconography of American naval warfare.

The Naval Monument (pdf 13.2 MB)

The Naval Monument (plain text online)

Constitution's Escape from the British Squadron After a Chase of Sixty Hours

The Constitution Bearing Down for the Guerriere

The Constitution in Close Action with the Guerriere

The Wasp Boarding the Frolic

The United States and Macedonian

The Java Surrendering to the Constitution

The Hornet Blockading the Bonne Citoyenne off St. Salvador

The Hornet Sinking the Peacock

The Chesapeake & Shannon

The Enterprize and Boxer

First View of Com. Perry's Victory

Plan of the First View of the Battle on Lake Erie

Second View of Com. Perry's Victory

Plan of the Second View of the Battle on Lake Erie

Capture of the Essex

The Peacock and the Epervier

The Wasp and the Reindeer

The Wasp and Avon

Com. MacDonough's Victory on Lake Champlain Sept. 11th. 1814

A Key to Com. MacDonough's Victory

The President Engaging the Endymion, While Pursued by the British Squadron

The Constitution Taking the Cyane and Levant

The Hornet and Penguin

The Hornet's Escape from a British Seventy-Four

United States Squadron Returning from the Mediterranean, After Concluding Peace with Algiers

Sources: Navy Department Library, The Age of Sail

Biden

Joe Biden On Barack Obama - YouTube link

What Does Biden Bring to the Obama Ticket? - YouTube

Biden thinks gun owner should have his head examined - YouTube link

Wright

Jeremiah Wright - YouTube link

Wright - YouTube link

F/A-18D Missile Launch

Click to enlarge high-resolution image.

A U.S. Navy F/A-18D from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Three One (VX-31) launches an AGM-88E Advanced Anti- Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake on August 11, 2008. (U.S. Navy photo - PRNewsFoto/ATK)

Raisin' McCain

John Rich - Raisin' McCain Music Video

An original anthem by country music star John Rich in support of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Morale

Gone Fishing

Click to enlarge image. (3,504 × 2,336 pixels, file size: 3.41 MB)

Durham Ranger salmon fly.

The hook length in this example is 4.5cm.

[inspiring]

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Bought a boat. Gone fishing.

No return date scheduled. No kidding.

Thanks for reading. ;) - c

Danish Cartoon Artist Ready to Stand Trial

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard is ready to stand trial in Jordan over his controversial caricature depicting the Prophet Mohammed (p... [forget that!]) with a bomb in his turban, the press reported on Thursday.

A Jordanian prosecutor summoned Westergaard for questioning in June after local media outlets sued him over his cartoon, which was republished in at least 17 Danish dailies in February, sparking violent protests in Muslim countries, including the kingdom.

"I would like to go to Amman to stand trial. However, what I fear is that I am convicted in advance," Westergaard told the government-owned Jordan Times in Copenhagen.

But he added that he has not been officially notified of the summons and defended his cartoon, saying he sought to "highlight that there are some terrorists who misuse Islam and they take it as their spiritual ammunition."

"I wanted to depict the terrorists as if they were taking the Prophet Mohammed as a hostage. I have no problem with Islam but with the terrorists," he said.

Toger Seidenfaden, chief editor of the centre-left Danish daily Politiken, one of the seventeen newspapers that reprinted the cartoon, said the paper had received no summons from Amman and did not know if there would even be a trial.

"(If there was a trial) and if there were guarantees, we would take part in it," he said.

Westergaard, who has been in hiding because of death threats, insisted that he respects Islam but "will not apologize."

"I respect Islam and its followers and I have nothing against it... however, I will not apologize. We have freedom of the press and religion in Denmark... I can't apologize, I respect Islam and I did not target it," he said.

At least 30 independent newspapers, websites and radio stations in Jordan sued Westergaard in April for "blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed and Islam as well as sowing religious and sectarian discord" and violating Internet and publication laws.

"We welcome his reasonable approach, but in our opinion this person has committed a crime and should be punished," Zakarya Sheikh, who heads the media group, told AFP.

MPs have demanded that the government sever ties with Denmark, and Amman has condemned the caricature, warning that it could spark further extremism and harm relations between Denmark and Muslim countries.

Source: Al-Arabia

The Open Window

Saki (H.H. Munro) 1870-1916 - As a master of humor as well as of the chilling and macabre, H.H. Munro (or "Saki," as he is universally known) has very few peers. Born in Burma but educated in British schools, he learned the craft of writing first as a reporter, then as a foreign correspondent in Russia and France. What had already become a brilliant career ended tragically with his death in battle during World War I.

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"Victorian Girl" by Karen Vladman

The Open Window a short story by Saki (H.H. Munro)

“My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel,” said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; “in the meantime you must try and put up with me.”

Framton Nuttel endeavored to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come. Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing.

“I know how it will be,” his sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to this rural retreat; “you will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and your nerves will be worse than all the people I know there. Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice.” Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he was presenting one of the letters of introduction, came into the nice division.

“Do you know many people around here?” asked the niece, when she judged that they had had sufficient silent communication.

“Hardly a soul,” said Framton. “My sister was staying here, at the rectory, you know, some four years ago, and she gave me letters of introduction to some of the people here.”

He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret.

“Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?” pursued the self-possessed young lady.

“Only her name and address,” admitted the caller. He was wondering wither Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An indefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.

“Her great tragedy happened just three years ago,” said the child; “that would be since your sister’s time.”

“Her tragedy?” asked Framton; somehow in this restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place.

Snipe in flight. Artist unknown.

“You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon,” said the niece, indicating a large French window that opened onto the lawn.

“It is quite warm for the time of the year,” said Framton; “but has that window got anything to do with the tragedy?”

“Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their day’s shooting. They never came back. In crossing the moor to their favorite snipe-shooting ground they were all three engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It had been that dreadful wet summer, you know, and places that were safe in other years gave way suddenly without warning. Their bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it.” Here the child’s voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human. “Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing, ‘Bertie, why do you bound?’ as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quite evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that window—“

She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt bustled into the room with a whirl of apologies for being late in making her appearance.

“I hope Vera has been amusing you?” she said.

“She has been very interesting,” said Framton.

“I hope you don’t mind the open window,” said Mrs. Sappleton briskly; “my husband and brothers will be hope directly from shooting, and they always come in this way. They’ve been out for snipe in the marshes today, so they’ll make a fine mess over my poor carpets. So like you menfolk, isn’t it?” She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a desperate effort to turn the talk onto a less ghastly topic; he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary.

“The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of any violent physical exercise,” announced Framton, who labored under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one’s ailments and infirmities. “On the matter of diet they are not so much in agreement,” he continued.

“No?” said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attention – but not to what Framton was saying.

“Here they are at last!” she cried. “Just in time for tea, and don’t they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!”

Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and look in the same direction.

In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window; they all carried guns under their arms, and one of them was additionally burdened with a white coat hung over his shoulders. A tired brown spaniel kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they neared the house, and then a hoarse young voice chanted out of the dusk: “I said, Bertie, why do you bound?”

Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.

Detail of the "English Springer Spaniel" painting at The Dog Museum.

“Here we are, my dear,” said the bearer of the white mackintosh, coming in through the window; “fairly muddy, but most if it’s dry. Who was that who bolted out as we came up?”

“A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,” said Mrs. Sappleton; “could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of good-by or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost.”

“I expect it was the spaniel,” said the niece calmly; “he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve.”

Romance at short notice was her specialty.