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December 28, 2009

Muddle-headed Progressive or closeted conservative teacher with a masterful sense of satire?

I'm not sure WHERE or HOW to label this as it really depends on:

  • how you look at these Letters to the Editor
  • what is "really up with" the author?

so I've chosen "Just Because".

Upon strolling over to Weekend Pundit, Brent had posted this:

But what to make of these inane statements in a Boston Globe letter to the editor by Brockton High School math teacher Doug Van Gorder?

Although [immediate exodus] removes potential hostages and makes it nearly impossible for the shooter to acquire preselected targets, it unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety off-site more shrewdly and efficiently than others....But as a progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime.

Wow. Could it be satire? I'm thinking so.

What caught my eye was this: Brockton High School.  My alma mater way back in the stone age.

I think I tend to agree with Brent.  Either Mr. Van Gorder is really a Progressive that has gone over the deep end or, being a teacher in a public high school, doing political theater in very fine style.  I checked - as of 2007 he was a math teacher at BHS and had completed a math education program at BU.  Read the LtE after the jump - and like a number of commenters at a lot of the gun blogsites, you might condemn him as just being absolutely out of his gourd for this phrase: "I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime."

Taken at face value, I'd be on the same side but the LtE is just written a bit over AND understated at the same time.  I kept on looking, and there is another LtE that he wrote, in the same style (also after the jump).

Read both - and you'll probably be as unsure as I am which way to use Occam's Razor on this puzzle.  Frankly, I am tending to lean on the "he's a conservative who is deftly covering his tracks because of his profession but really wielding that flensing knive with great skill".

Continue reading "Muddle-headed Progressive or closeted conservative teacher with a masterful sense of satire?" »

December 24, 2009

Christmas - the best time of year!

Posting will be light - so enjoy!

Amazing Grace Techno - Computer Controlled Christmas Lights from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.


Sparkling Reindeer

Karen's favorite Christmas cookies - Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies!

  •  1 cup of water
  •  1 tsp baking soda
  •  1 cup of sugar
  •  1 tsp salt
  •  1 cup or brown sugar
  •  4 large eggs
  •  1 cup nuts
  •  2 cups of dried fruit
  •  1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila 

Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level  cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add one peastoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the Cuervo is still ok, try another cup just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy.

Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.

Pick the frigging fruit off the floor.

Mix on the turner.

drewscriver.

Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who geeves a sheet. Check

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and

Cherry Mistmas !

(H/T: Karen!)

 

November 8, 2009

A more apt definition of Political Correctness

Updated and bumped:   Political Correctness really is:

"Better screwed than rude"

Translation - Political Correctness forces some to treat that that are believed to be nice; the reality is that they are getting ready to hurt or kill you.  It is self-deception at a societal level and basically states "we will allow you to kill us just as long as you are not offended by us".

Gee, sounds like mass suicide to me....

(H/T: NRO)

===========

Political Correctness really is:

Purposeful Disingenuousness and Misleadingness.

The basic underlying problem is this:

  • Protect the victim classes
  • Do not offend anyone (unless of course, you're a Liberal and I'm a Conservative)

A large part of this is the identity politics played to a T by the Progressives - we've had 40 years of divide and conquer so that everyone is a hyphen American, and everything is the fault of the taxPAYing white middle class Bible-believing, gun-toting, American male.

"Go Galt" anyone?  Or time to "go postal" verbally on anyone that tries that on you?

(H/T: NRO)

 

November 1, 2009

Well, there were times when he was small that...

I thought my Eldest was a demon on two little legs...but yesterday, he had to just go and prove it.

I'm so proud of him - he's proved me right (ears and all)!

Couple more after the jump:

Continue reading "Well, there were times when he was small that..." »

October 28, 2009

Fall 2009

 

Fall in NH - Leaves turning

A reminder of God's handiwork - accomplished by processes so complex that we can't fathom them and yet so simple in presentation, we can only stand agape at the beauty.

Fall is a great time to be in NH.  Took this shot of my most favorite tree in my backyard early in the morning with the sun just coming up over Belknap Mountain / Mount Major; just loved the sun glinting off the bright yellow!

Good thing I took it then - it got colder yesterday, and then much windier and rainy today which knocked a lot of the leaves down. 

A time for every season - and so fleeting at that.

October 12, 2009

This is just so cool!

Filed under "Just Because" - because I can.  And should.  And will. And I think it is just so neat - 1,000,000 frames a second.

 

September 28, 2009

Jettiness - a Jet Powered Merry-go-round?

Hmm, maybe the drought of wacky Jet stuff is breaking!

Actually, this post title is a bit misleading - this really is not quite the Merry-Go-Round or carousel that you might think of with wooden horses going up and down with calliope music sounding it.  Rather, more like the Flying Scooter amusement ride:

 like those I rode when younger at Canobie Park in NH (look for the Flying Roosters pic).  Round and round it goes with a swivel on top and the front "fin" allows the rider to deflect the oncoming air stream to make the "scooter" twist on its Y axis by virtue of the swivel on the top and allow the unit to "move in and out" of the circle of the ride.


Can I try?

(H/T: Instapundit)

July 22, 2009

My name is Barry. Let me be clear...

Barack Obama

Guest post by Ken St. Cyr

My name is Barry. Here is my story...

Since the Constitution was written 20 centuries ago, we have had many Supreme Court justices.

We have also had 10,000 people killed by one tornado in Kansas.

Since I have been president, I’ve now been in 57 states. I think one left to go.

Now let me be clear. Iran doesn’t pose a serious threat to us. Tiny countries with small defense budgets can’t do us harm. Let me be clear. I’ve made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave.

Let me be very clear. I was born in 1961. My parents united as a direct result of the civil rights movement.

There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and I was born. Let me be clear. This happened in 1965.  And my father served in World War 2, and when he came home he got the services he needed.

Speaking of World War 2, I had an uncle who was one of the -- who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz. Only it really wasn't Auschwitz it was Buchenwald. If you've seen one Nazi death camp, you've seen them all.

But things have come a long way since World War 2. Japanese cars are now getting an average of 45 miles to the gallon. The time for come has changed. We have never paid more for gas than we have in February 2008. Let me be clear about that.  Well, except for May of 2007.

When I called for higher fuel mileage standards, I didn't do it before some environmental group. I went to Detroit in front of the automakers. I told them, 'You've got to change your ways.' I voted for an energy bill… And I've got to say by the way when I said that in Detroit, the room was really quiet, nobody clapped. Unless you count the 10 times I was interrupted for applause. Or the Standing ovation.

We had a president who chortled about the fact that he has not left the country before he was president. Let me be clear. China, Japan, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland And Israel are in the USA. Again, let me be clear. I think Senator McCain and Senator Cheney have been directing their fire at a straw man. Did I actually say Senator Cheney? Let the record show, jeez I did.

So, in conclusion, let me be clear. The healthcare bill is not about me. I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade. I'm sure Senator Cheney will agree.

July 16, 2009

Just because...

Strolling down the blogosphere boulevard, I stopped over at Atlantic Ave here in NH.

Since it was sunny earlier (and right now), this was appropos:

Dog in Flowers
Hey, why not - the dog looks happy!

And since it just rained, this looked just nice:

Dianthus flower 

See, it isn't just always about politics here at the 'Grok....

July 2, 2009

Grok 'n Roll: "Givin' it all I got..."

Great band. Great song from a classic album. And a fine sitcom the likes of which hasn't been seen on TV for many years. Apparently, this particular clip is not included in reruns...

 

 

[H/T Kevin N]

July 1, 2009

Jettiness - Jet Powered ATV

It has been a while since I've noted anything "different" from the world of jet powered stuff-other-than-planes.  So, when this showed up:

Jet ATV

Gizmodo reports:

John Carnett modded brand new Polaris RZR 2-seater ATV with a grey market, 40-year-old turbine. The result is a 114db joystick-driven vehicle that spews out 1300°F exhaust to achieve around 60MPH. And it sounds glorious.

Also, from the Pop-Sci site, there's a video after the jump(take a while to load)...


Continue reading "Jettiness - Jet Powered ATV" »

June 10, 2009

Anytime that anything from one of Doug's all time movies shows up, I have to note

OK, so it is adapted to the post but the important bits are highlighted:

TO CRUSH YOUR ENEMIES, TO DRIVE THEM BEFORE YOU, TO HEAR THE LAMENTATIONS OF THEIR ASSOCIATES! FLEE, PUNY MORTALS! NONE CAN ESCAPE MY INEXORABLE BRIEF-WRITING SKILLS! BWAHAHAHAHA!

From a post by a lawyer that is so happy about socking it to one of his bar bretheren.

The correct rendition would be:

TO CRUSH YOUR ENEMIES, TO DRIVE THEM BEFORE YOU, TO HEAR THE LAMENTATIONS OF THEIR WOMEN!

Can you guess the movie?  

(Pssst - think about an actor that formerly was quite proud of his Hummer and now seemingly hates them [as he has become so PC soft] and sleeps with a Kennedy)

Answer after the jump:

Continue reading "Anytime that anything from one of Doug's all time movies shows up, I have to note" »

June 9, 2009

Two vids - Truth in Advertising and Flash Mob in Gold Pants

Filed under Just Because....because!

Still not going to buy a GM product, but if they would be honest to us as this parody is....


*****

MC Hammer - Flash Mob style!


June 7, 2009

Sunday Reading

reading paper

From the "every cloud has a silver lining" department, via WSJ.com:

Brígido de Jesús González lived in Queens, N.Y., for the past 20 years, working as a landscaper to support his wife and kids back in El Salvador. But with the recession clobbering his business, the illegal immigrant decided to pack up and return to his native country -- for good.

[snip]

The developed world, which for decades has offered a difficult but promising path to upward mobility, appears to be losing its allure. Unemployment is rising, and backlashes against foreign workers are mounting. The result is potentially the biggest turnaround in migration flows since the Great Depression, economists say.

I guess this means that Americans are now willing to do those jobs Americans won't do?

================================================

On the father of the global warming climate change movement, NASA's James Hansen, from the Weekly Standard:

William Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, also describes Hansen's belief in a man-made global-warming catastrophe as "almost religious" and says he "never understood how [Hansen] got such a strong voice" in the debate. Gray's efforts to predict hurricanes also lead him to question Hansen's computer models. "He doesn't have the clouds in right, and he doesn't have the deep ocean circulation," Gray says. "It's a giant scam in my view."

Yet Hansen has been well rewarded by the scientific community for his efforts, winning the American Meteorological Society's highest award for atmospheric science earlier this year. Gray says he was "appalled at that," particularly in light of the fact that Hansen wasn't even trained as a -meteorologist. Gray distributed a paper describing the choice as a "hijacking" of the AMS: "By presenting Hansen with its highest award, the AMS implies it agrees with his faulty global temperature projections and irresponsible alarmist rhetoric," Gray wrote.

[snip]

Hansen's "testimony is not working out" anyway. There's been a "slight cooling since 2001. .  .  . They're scrambling," he says. And indeed Hansen got caught with his hand in the cookie jar in 2007, when Stephen McIntyre, the man who debunked the infamous "hockey stick" graph showing stable Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures for most of the last millennia before a sharp upturn, found a flaw in Hansen's numbers. McIntyre analyzed NASA's temperature records for the last century and found that, contrary to Hansen's charts, 1998 was not the hottest year on record. That honor belongs to 1934, and five of the ten hottest years on record are now found prior to World War II.

Theon says the same kind of models that now predict runaway warming were predicting runaway cooling prior to 1975, when the popular fear was not melting ice caps but a new ice age, and "not one model predicted the cooling we've had since 1998." Spencer insists "it's all make believe--if you took one look at the assumptions that go into this, you'd laugh." But none of that seems to matter too much.

"Gore was in his corner and now the president is in his corner," Theon says. "They don't understand what the hell is going on."

Not only does this really suck, it's downright scary what these people have been able to do to our modern American society in the name of junk science. No doubt the June snowfall being reported today on Drudge is due to global warming... Just ask Jim Hansen.

=============================================

Notable quote from RightWingNews' John Hawkins, on Facebook:

European nations had problems with Bush because his policies were too pro-American. With Obama, issues crop up because he's arrogant & rude.

Obama the Snob

It makes me angry because, not only is he ruining the country, but he's so damned priggish while doing it...

=============================================

True love means never having to say you're sorry. Unfortunately, our current President feels no great love for America, and, instead, feels the need to tell everyone, "We're so sorry..." Writing at the American Daily Review, Robert Garding asks,

Where in the campaign process, did we let the candidates know, that we wanted a President, who would run around the world to our enemies, and apologize to them for what America has done?

Of course, he's reacting to the Magic Obama's latest apology tour, this time in the Islamic world.

Obama conceded at the beginning of his remarks yesterday, that tension “has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.”

“And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear,” said the president, who recalled hearing prayer calls of “azaan” at dawn and dusk while living in Indonesia as a boy.

“Islam is not part of the problem in combatting violent extremism — it is an important part of promoting peace,” he said.

And I always thought that part of the responsibility of the President of the United States was to defend and protect the Constitution. Silly me, I had no idea. Gardin further notes

he is again, apologizing for America to a people, who do not like America in the first place. He is showing weakness to these people, by apologizing to them for something America had nothing to do with.

[snip]

I may be wrong here, but isn’t the President of the United States supposed to be overseas when he is there, showing the world what America does for other people, rather than apologizing for everything America has done, conveniently leaving out all the good that America has done over the years?

Come on Obama. America is not as bad as you make her out to be. Sure, there are flaws in her…….but for crying out loud, do we have to wait until the next president to hear something good about America come from the lips of an American president? I certainly hope not, but I am beginning to believe that we will have to ……. wait that is. Because Mr. Obama is nothing more than a powerful man, with a huge chip on his shoulder, that shows in everything the man says.

Obama.Pee Wee Herman

I'm so sorry. Yes, so very sorry I am. But I'm NOT sorry HAHAHA!

=======================================================

Obama's change

David Horowitz: Been there. Done that. This guy knows the American left, and the danger it poses to America's well being. And now, one of them occupies the Oval Office...

My parents were members of the American Communist Party and I was part of the progressive left, which was the communist left, and which has grown ominously large today, and has seen its candidate elected to the White House. I was the editor of the largest magazine of the New Left, which was organized by the children of communists, so-called red diaper babies like myself. We regarded America as the enemy. We began as an isolated political minority, but the hate America crowd has grown alarmingly in size since then. Today, nobody is embarrassed about slandering his own country even in time of war — and this includes our current president, who recently apologized for the actions of his country to Latin American communists, Jew-haters and self-declared enemies, such as Venezuela’s Chavez and Nicaraguan jefe Daniel Ortega, a degenerate who molested his own daughter.

In Obama’s presence Ortega went into a rant against America claiming that our government conducted a “terrorist” war against Nicaragua in the 1980s, when in fact American pressure forced an end to the Sandinista dictatorship and the re-institution of a free press and open elections. What was President Obama’s response to the Ortega attack? “Well, I was only six years old at the time.” In other words, an apology for our “terrorist” acts against the Marxist dictatorship. This is disgraceful and also dangerous.

On so-called "progressives:

Anybody who has ever encountered a progressive up close in any kind of political disagreement knows that this is a hate movement. They hate conservatives; they hate Republicans; they hate white males, and increasingly they hate Christians and Jews.

Indeed. All in the name of "tolerance"

 

 

May 17, 2009

At least they're fighting the "terrorists," right?

troops

Terrorists?

In my weekly newspaper column back in 2004, I reported on a local training drill that I found to be both outrageous... and insightful as to the mindset of some of those we grant sweeping powers:

[T]he Laconia Fire Chief has received “a $60,000 federal Homeland Security grant to test the ability of local and state agencies to respond to an areawide emergency.” The purpose of this, as reported in the story, is to help the “department and other emergency responders from around the Lakes Region be prepared for a possible act of domestic terrorism.” The training will take the form of a mock drill consisting of a scenario, as described by the publicly-employed Chief Erickson, where they will get “as real a taste of what it might be like if "an irate taxpayer," for example, deliberately crashed a truck carrying a flammable fuel into the front of the two-story building.” The “two story building” referenced for the drill will be the Laconia City Hall.

I could barely contain my outrage, at the time. And I still feel the same...

Let’s get this straight- in Laconia, the most realistic scenario of terrorism, as envisioned by that city’s head “first responder”, would involve not an Islamic radical insurgent or some other dangerous threat, but instead “an irate taxpayer” that, in yesterday’s America, would fall into the very category of people whom the Chief gets paid to “protect and serve.”

Fast forward to the present... First they came for the "irate taxpayers." Now, they're coming for the veterans. In its May 14th edition, the New York Times reported on another training event. Only this time, it involved FUTURE government agents and emergency responders-- an Explorer Post. And, the bad guy in the mock drill being reported about is another somewhat surprising perp... [via FreeRepublic]

IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.

You see? Such is the mindset of some of those we trust in positions of power and authority. Our friend, Blue Star mom Sue Peterson, in the email alerting us to this writes,

This article is really disturbing to me - especially in light of the Homeland Security telling people to watch for returning vets as possible 'terrorists' and people like me that hold to the 'right to bear arms' and because I 'cling to my Bible". 

The scenario is what ticks me off...What, they could not think of another scenario being close to the Mexican border?   

My sons are not 'terrorists' and neither are any of the other Iraq Vets that I know...

Same here. Shouldn't our youngsters-- like those in the Explorers-- be taught that our brave soldiers are nothing less than HEROES?!

 

April 19, 2009

Just because - The Sound of Music: railroad station style

My friend Karen sent this to me.  Posting it because.....just BECAUSE it made me smile!


Who were those guys, anyway?

Grok

We don't often engage in shameless self-promotion, except when circumstances warrant. Both Skip and I were honored to have been asked to address the Tea Party this past Wednesday in Manchester. All my life I've wanted to announce the start of a revolution in front of several thousand people. If only I had brandished my firearm as I did so. Oh well, next time...

Here's me:

 

 

and Skip:

 

 

Viva la revolucion! Cool

 

March 23, 2009

And they used for crack on Bush for "that smirk?"

From the Politico:

President Barack Obama said he believes the global financial system remains at risk of implosion with the failure of Citigroup or AIG, which could touch off “an even more destructive recession and potentially depression.”

His remarks came in a“60 Minutes” interview in which he was pressed by Steve Kroft for laughing and chuckling several times while discussing the perilous state of the world’s economy.

“You're sitting here. And you're— you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about money—’ How do you deal with— I mean: explain. . .” Kroft asked at one point.

“Are you punch-drunk?” Kroft said.

 

 

Now, I have nothing, per se, against the use of humor, but really... Much like the remark about Special Olympics bowling scores, can you imagine how this story would be treated if it was featuring George Bush... or ANY Republican or Conservative, for that matter? The double-standards in full display lately are nothing short of stunning. Or not, because actually, it just affirms what we all already know.

 

 


 

January 12, 2009

Sarah Palin unplugged

In an interview for the forthcoming documentary "Media Malpractice" Governor Sarah Palin, for the first time at length, takes on the media coverage of her and the 2008 campaign. As you can probably tell, when interviewing with a media person NOT looking for the "gotcha" moment, she is relaxed, articulate, and obviously truthful. Click here to get more info on the project and to sign up for the mailing list to receive updates.

 

 

This documentary is being made by the same guy that conducted the poll with accompanying video interviews showing the general cluelessness of some Obama voters willing to answer his questions, which we posted on here.

December 21, 2008

And sometimes, the reason why a post goes up is "just because it's pretty"

Like these series of pictures from CNN of the latest space pictures that caught their eye:

pictures of space
 (H/T: CNN)

November 24, 2008

Bloggers select LEAST favorite people on the left

repulsive lib

Our buddy John Hawkins from RightWingNews.com loves to survey a group he calls "right-of-center bloggers" about a variety of things. This time, he asked for an unranked list of the 1-12 people on the left or generally perceived to be on the left that we most disliked. And he reminded us that "the field is wide open." Here are the five least "most disliked" from the bottom of the resulting list as gathered and tabulated by John:

23) Bill Clinton
23) Katie Couric
23) Al Sharpton
22) Paul Krugman
18) Jimmy Carter

Click here to view the rest. While it might be hard to believe, there are other lefties that are even more disliked than the above list. The whole rogues gallery really makes one's skin crawl, to be sure.

Here is the list I submitted. You'll note that I just couldn't stop at 12: 


Continue reading "Bloggers select LEAST favorite people on the left" »

November 8, 2008

McCain ran on honor...

With all of the excoriation going on about Sarah Palin, where's McCain?  He was responsible for his men under his command while in the Navy - why is he not responsible now when it comes to his staff for what just HAS to be just made up stuff (oh sure, she refused to stand on stage with Jeb Bradley - my NH congressman running for the Senate).

Are the slimers that clueless that:

  • Jeb Bradley (very unfortunately) is a former congressman
  • Jeb was not running for the Senate

And no, I don't accept cluelessness as an excuse - this was pure unadulterated slime.

My problem in this whole thing, where is the John McCain that was so instantly willing to rip any Republican at any of his events that dared call out Obama by any means at all?

One would have thought that the honorable thing would have been to come out and defend the running mate that had his 6.

(and I apologize if I have missed seeing him doing so...)

November 5, 2008

Tell me, what's Barack going to do?

Or should it be "H", as President Bush is known by his middle initial too? 

Anyways, there's a lot on the plate once he takes office.  The question is, what issue(s) do you think he is going to attack first?  There's lots, and all of them are fairly important in "changing" America.  Let us know!

So, which issues will Barack go after first?
Employee Free Choice Act
Fairness Doctrine
Freedom of Choice Act
Nationalization of health care
"Comprehensive Immigration Reform" (driver's licenses for illegals)
Capital gains tax increases
Defense cuts
Bans on oil drilling
Income tax increases
  
pollcode.com free polls

October 24, 2008

Changing autumn leaves and colors

The Autumn of Life

Leaves changing autumn / fall colors
 Every year, we here in NH are treated to God's spectacular color palette as the trees prepare for winter.  This year, lots of color and not a lot of bad weather to down the leaves.

Maybe next year, I'll remember to do a time line set of pictures to show this tree during the entire leaf-peeping season....although my memory seems to be fading as fast as the color (heh!)...

September 26, 2008

Jettiness that I will never have....so saith TMEW

Sigh....The Most Esteemed Wife's eyebrows just went the wrong way - I didn't even have to START to move my lips (talk about a first strike).

Fusionman Yves Rossy personal jet wing

Yup!  Strapped in with 4 (FOUR!) jet engines just inches from his body - the dude's got moxie.  Really loud, I bet.  Really cool, I know! 

From Engadget:

Fusionman Yves Rossy, not to be confused with Buzz Lightyear, successfully crossed the English Channel today -- the first to do so in a solo flight with jet-propelled wing. Rossy was dropped from a plane at 8,200 feet and flew 22-miles in under 10 minutes from Calais to Dover. When asked by National Geographic's Kathryn Liptrott if he was worried about risk, Rossy replied, "I'm not worried about risk, I manage risk." We've so gotta meet this guy. If you're looking to pick up one of these jet powered carbon-fiber wings for your own unspeakable mischief, expect to pay around the $190,000 mark. Rossy is eager to see these aviation wonders catch on and has designs on forming a Red Arrows-style aerobatic team one day.

Ruminations - 9/26/08

Listening to the debate - I like the format and I like that the moderator is letting them go at each other.

But always surfing!

A post-Partisan Politican, that Obama is?  From Jim over at Gateway Pundit:

Missouri Sheriffs & Top Prosecutors Form Obama "Truth Squads" & Threaten Libel Charges Against Obama Critics
More Hope and Change for Missouri...
St. Louis and Missouri Democrat sheriffs and top prosecutors are planning to go after anyone who makes false statements against Obama during his campaign. This is so one sided I can't even begin to describe how wrong this agenda is.
It's one thing if they want to keep the campaign fair for both sides, but they clearly only want to enforce the issue for the Obama Camp.
KMOV has a video report on the Obama "Truth Squads".

Shutting down Free Speech and the First Amendment Rights - is this really how we are to perceive the Obama supports - "Shut up or we'll sue you"?  After all, the Obama campaign itself it going after radio and TV stations...

Shades of a Putin...

*****

NRO - I like this gal more and more   [Mark Steyn]

An Alaska mayor writes to a California newspaper:

“Dear Editor,” Palin wrote in 2002. “San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase ‘under God’ away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words.”

I can deal with that!

*****

Her Own Stem Cells Started Rebuilding Her Immune System

Resetting Immune System in Bid to Beat Scleroderma
Washington - First Bari Martz's fingers turned blue. Then she started gasping for breath, and her joints stiffened so that she couldn't even open her hands. Doctors diagnosed scleroderma, part of an insidious family of diseases where the immune system attacks a patient's own body, sometimes enough to kill.
Worsening rapidly, the Florida woman took a gamble: Doctors stored stem cells from her blood and then wiped out her faulty immune system. Her reinfused stem cells seem to have let a healthy new immune system take root, stopping more damage and, nearly two years later, letting her lungs and joints heal enough for better function.

Faster please!  It also shows, along with a scores of other advances, that the use and research of adult stem cells is rapidly becoming the place to be.  There is no reason why we need to create a life and then kill it to harvest its cells has to happen.  We must cherish life.

*****

You think that they would learn their lessons?  And since they haven't, when we, the voters, learn ours?

$6.6 billion in special projects rides on federal spending bill
WASHINGTON — A $630 billion spending bill nearing final approval in Congress includes $6.6 billion for thousands of lawmakers' pet projects, including $51.5 million requested by Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden when both presidential candidates have sworn off seeking any money.
Taxpayers for Common Sense analyzed the 2,321 special-interest items called "earmarks" in the spending bill. The legislation is a temporary measure that would fund the government through March, rather than October 2009, when the next fiscal year ends. It combines spending bills for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, as well as nearly $30 billion in disaster relief for flood and hurricane victims and up to $25 billion in loans to automakers.

[snip]

Both presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, have criticized earmarks. McCain, who doesn't request earmarks, has said that as president, he would veto any bill containing them. Since joining the Senate in 2005, Obama has requested $860.6 million in earmarks, according to the taxpayer group, but none this year, and he has pledged to reduce them if elected president.

Got that?  Temporary!  The Dem leaders in the House and Senate have failed to lead and get their mandated job done - spending bills.  PLUS!  they just cannot seem to understand that people are tired of the pork process - put it up front, out for review, and vote on it.  Stop hiding it.

*****

August 24, 2008

Ruminations - 8/24/08

No, I haven't gone away - just doing LOTS of things in a lot of different areas.  So, in the spirit of not having any time lately but feel still in the spirit that I still have a bit of a mind to share...

*****

Sometime, we write Really Really Good Stuff!  Sometimes, it is Really Really Deep Thought type stuff.  Some of it even gets read.

And sometimes, some of the posts that have gotten the most hits since we've been open have been posts that could be classified as "eh, what the heck?" or "my brain is tired, this is quick" or  "man, this is fluff - let's see what happens".  And people just keep coming back and back and back.  Mine was this (scroll down - you'll know it when you see the bare midriffs).

Well, time for an update:

Pussycat Dolls
 Updated PussyCat Dolls Picture Post

Same statement - must not stimulate Muslims?

"Malaysian authorities fined organizers of a concert by the chart-topping Pussycat Dolls for allowing the singers to wear skimpy costumes and for their "sexually suggestive routines," a news report said Wednesday." Source

Except for the very few miscreant guys among us in the West, things like this story always have me asking myself - What's the matter, can't Muslim men control themselves?

Yeah, I can be shallow from time to time (but am really wondering how many hits it will get becasue of the subjects).

The question, however, remains valid - how come Muslim men continue to hold the WOMEN accountable but not themselves?  Hey, N.O.W. - how come you continue to NOT demonstrate against this in front of mosques?  I guess it's only OK to demonstrate at country clubs.....

*****

Stupid politicians!  when are they going to learn that the game has changed with the Internet - you cannot hide, you cannot run, and you just can't make stuff disappear without somebody noticing!

Let the Obama - Biden campaign whitewashing stupid explanations begin!

The Friday evening version of Joe Biden's Wikipedia entry remains firmly ensconced in a Firefox tab on my desktop, so it can be compared to its current form as Obama-Biden's busy bees brush it up. I'm doing comparisons as time allows, and there isn't much of it at the moment.

One thing is quickly obvious -- a whole year has disappeared:

You'll just loooooove what got deleted:

Ha!  Go to the link and see what got deleted!

***** 

Bishop: ICE Agents Can Claim Conscientious Objector Status When Refusing to Participate in Worksite Immigration Raids

Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop is calling on U.S. authorities to halt mass immigration raids and says agents who refuse to participate in such raids on moral grounds deserve to be treated as conscientious objectors.

Let me see if I understand this - agents voluntarily sign up to enforce our nation's immigration laws.  Those laws, like them or not, detail how one comes to live here in the USA (after all, we ARE allowed to make the laws that govern ourselves, right)? 

Don't like them?  Change them.  Until then, follow them.  And if you voluntarily joined ICE to enforce the immigration laws and no longer can support them, there is something that you can do:

QUIT.

This Bishop is just, plain, wrong.

"We believe that raids on the immigrant community are unjust, unnecessary, and counterproductive," the bishop's letter says. It urges individual federal agents to consider the morality of their actions and refuse to participate if their conscience dictates.
A spokeswoman for ICE, Paula Grenier, said she could not comment.

Well, I CERTAINLY can!  So, Bishop, is it unjust on the part of the illegal alien to break our laws?  The Bible is quite clear that governments are appointed by God and therefore, failing to follow (provided the laws do not break His law), is disobedience to God, right?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called U.S. immigration policies "morally unacceptable," saying they keep families divided and encourage the exploitation of migrants.

So, Bishops, does this mean that we are to ignore the actions and decisions of parents that put their children at risk? Let's take your argument to one more illogical step - does that mean that I can break another law, desecrating a church (as was recently done to a local Catholic church) - is still be morally acceptable?  

No, I didn't think so.

*****

Electric and hybrid vehicles may be better for the environment, but the California Legislature says they're bad for the blind.

It has passed a bill to ensure that the vehicles make enough noise to be heard by visually impaired people about to cross a street.
The measure would establish a committee to study the issue and recommend ways the vehicles could make more noise.

Hmm, by expending less energy, we do better.  Now, we have to pipe some of that savings into sounding like a regular car?  I KNOW!  Let's make it a law that all of the Priuses have to sound like the old tyme Ice Cream Trucks with that little jingle they always played in the neighborhoods that thrilled all the kids and made the Moms groan....

Continue reading "Ruminations - 8/24/08" »

August 9, 2008

Jets - ok, rockets!

Mix planes derived from Burt Rutan's designs, replace the jets with rocket engines, add a closed loop system with all kinds of cameras and make it interactive in the stands, on TV, on the 'Net, and on game consoles, and you get:

THE ROCKET RACING LEAGUE!

I CANNOT wait to watch this on my big HD capable TV!

July 14, 2008

Right of Center Bloggers Rank Least Favorite Elected Republicans

GOP DOA

Our buddy John Hawkins at RightWingNews has posted part two of the results of his latest "temperature check" of right-of-center bloggers. This was the assignment:

What I'd like you to do is send me two unranked lists of 1-10 elected Republicans (Elected Republicans should be living, in Congress, President, or Governors.)

One list should be 1-10 of your favorite elected Republicans and the other list should be 1-10 of your least favorite elected Republicans.

As I noted in the prior post listing FAVORITE elected Republicans, crafting a list of those I dislike was much easier. Here's the top three from John's list, which you can view in its entirety here:

        1. Chuck Hagel (#1-tied)

        2. Arlen Specter (#1-tied)

        3. Olympia Snowe

Heh. The two tied for the number one LEAST liked elected Republicans, according to "right of center bloggers,"  are the same two I first added to my submission. Here's the entire list, as created for John's survey:

 

Continue reading "Right of Center Bloggers Rank Least Favorite Elected Republicans" »

July 8, 2008

Another reason I never go to the Cape...

charlie tuna has a smoke

Sorry Charlie. And Bob...

Maybe they should keep it in the ocean, like the fish do...

Eeeeeww!

 

July 4, 2008

Self evident truths, abuses, and usurpations...

Declaration of Independence

As we celebrate the Fourth of July, it is worth a few minutes to reflect on what the birth of this “great experiment”, known as America really means. Consider these words from The Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…”

Are there any “self evident truths” and “unalienable rights” here in our modern age, or are these things just merely quaint, outdated ideas from a bygone era? Do these words somehow mean the “Creator” gives a woman the right to “terminate” pregnancies? What about the unborn child’s right to “Life”?  How many Americans even acknowledge some sort of “Creator”? Does “pursuing Happiness” give a person the right to the fruits of the labor of others?

In dissolving the ties of government with Great Britain, our forefathers created this document, listing as the reason “a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations,” intended “to reduce them under absolute Despotism…” They further point out that because of these “Abuses and Usurpations,” it is “their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such government…”

What were some of these abuses considered so onerous that our Founding Fathers chose to risk life and property to eliminate? From the Declaration, here are just two:

“For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent…”

and because the King

“has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.” 

Do you feel that the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s ordering of the NH House to fund a so-called “adequate education” borders on “taxation without representation?” Do you believe that the constant addition of more rules and regulations to control every aspect of our lives ever-growing numbers of government agents could be considered harassment?

While wishing all readers of this space a fun-filled Fourth of July celebration, we ask everyone to take a few moments in remembrance of the Founders of our great Nation and ask, "Are we twenty-first century Americans upholding the ideals put forth for all posterity on this fateful day in 1776?"

 

June 11, 2008

"The Prince" and "The Prince of Providence"

Buddy C.

"Buddy C"

I know this has little to nothing to do with anything here in the Granite State, but I figured I'd note it anyway, as it involves one of the most interesting and colorful politicians to ever hit the scene. From the RI Film & TV Office

PLEASE WELCOME THE PRINCE OF PROVIDENCE

Please join Rhode Island native and renowned Director/Producer Michael Corrente and representatives from the Rhode Island Film & TV Office and the Providence Mayor's Dept. of Art, Culture and Tourism at 3PM on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument in Kennedy Plaza facing Providence City Hall, as Mr. Corrente announces plans for filming his long-awaited political biopic THE PRINCE OF PROVIDENCE.  

The cast includes Dermot Mulroney, Adam Goldberg, Bradley Cooper, Ed Burns and Oliver Platt, who will portray former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci in the David Mamet adapted screenplay of Michael Stanton's 2003 book about one of America's longest-serving mayors.  Robin Williams is currently in negotiations to join this talented group of actors. 

"The passion I have for THE PRINCE OF PROVIDENCE is stronger then any film I've made to date. Through much scrutiny and speculation, I've spent six long years preparing for this picture. I have painstakingly taken the necessary time to make sure that all my ducks are in a row. This is my home state, and I have an obligation to ensure that the quality of the production matches the brilliance of the material. At the end of the day, and every day does end, nobody ever cares about how long it takes to make a movie; they only care if it's good", stated Mr. Corrente.

I have not read Mr. Stanton's book about the Mayor, but I did read another book about a prince. In fact, the name is just that: The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli many centuries before Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci arrived on the scene. And yet, based on my recollection of the years I lived in Rhode Island, and what I've heard since I left, one can almost imagine the infamous master political observer would certainly find a degree of familiarity with Providence's very own "prince". 

Writes Machiavelli in The Prince,

 

Continue reading " "The Prince" and "The Prince of Providence"" »

April 30, 2008

Jetiness - don't tailgate this motorcycle!

Nope, not going to even ASK the TMEW about taking a flier on this one...heck, I can't even get a regular one!

Jet Motorcycle
 
From Gizmodo

Something tells me this 3,800 HP jet-powered bike isn't the safest or most efficient way to get around town, but then again, you aren't going to fry a crosswalk's worth of schoolchildren to a crisp driving around a Plymouth Voyager. Oh, and the name of the guy who built this monster? Mad Ron Laycock.

As Doug would say "Light My Fire!" 

Couple more pix after the jump 

Continue reading "Jetiness - don't tailgate this motorcycle!" »

April 8, 2008

Redstate on SamSphere and the State of the Internet

I met Erick Erickson (Editor, Chairman) of Redstate at SamSphere. 

Many of us "lesser" bloggers often look up at the "big dogs" of the blogosphere and go "wow".  Yet, as it seems many times in life, most of the "big dogs" are just ordinary folks who just happen to be a tad smarter, a tad luckier, and often, work a heck of a lot harder.  Otherwise, mostly like you and I.

Well, two things.  He was asked to give a discussion on Sunday morning (when many of us should have been in church), so this Baptist turned Presbyterian gave a "sermon" on the status of the Internet from a conservative standpoint.  It was more than I thought it would have been for an "Internet sermon" for a crowd of bloggers.

The best part for me was bringing out the philosophy of of Servant/Leader.  While mentioned late in the discussion, it does portray a role that many of us on the Right, given the perceived dominance of the Left in the blogosphere, should think about - hard.

Anyways, it was a good speech - go read it here

March 15, 2008

Flat Stanley

Blogging from me has been light lately....just too much sloshing over the plate.

However, I have taken part in a MOST important project for one of TMEW's best friends (and mine),  Trouble!

My great niece, Emma, in the third grade, has asked us to take Flat Stanley along for a few weeks of adventure wherever we go.  This particular Flat Stanley hails from New Jersey where there has been a whopping 6 inches of snow all winter.  Currently, he is with us in New Hampshire.  To date he has been to the hematology/oncology department of Lakes Region General hospital (the nurses all flirted with Stanley).  He has also been down to "bob house row" in Meredith,  NH and the same day was "carried" to the top of a 5 foot snow pile near Lake Opeechee in Laconia, NH.  Friend to family and Flat Stanley, Skip Murphy was kind enough to keep Flat from flying free and further than Flat men ought to fly.  He was a bit cold but we are assured that friend Skip who braved the 5 foot snow piles and gusting winds, lakeside,  in sneakers and jeans kept Stanley from departing on an unescorted and unplanned flight.
The story of flat Stanley is ten years old and has served as a means of getting young readers excited about the notion of writing.  Those of us who are entrusted to entertain Stanley are requested to journal his adventures and most recently add any digital pictures or video to further document his adventures/in our hands, misadventures :) and return him to the child(unharmed) via the us mail.
It is fun to get folks involved with showing Flat a good time.

Hi Res pix after the jump!

Continue reading "Flat Stanley" »

March 2, 2008

Central NH is saddened by two losses this weekend...

mourning

Here in Central New Hampshire, two people have passed away that will be missed: State Representative Mike Whalley, and local activist Anne Cioffi. One, a much respected lawmaker, and the other, a model of active and informed citizenship. Both were well liked and will be greatly missed. Our prayers go out to their families during this time of their loss...

 

February 11, 2008

Besides the fact we have no sales or income tax, here is another reason New Hampshire is so awesome:

It's natural beauty co-existing in concert with her people. When one rides into the hills and mountains of central and northern New Hampshire by snowmobile, the views unhampered by leaves on the trees are simply amazing-- on par with anywhere else in the US...
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snowmobiling NH
Somewhere near either East Hebron or Bridgewater,  NH
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Newfound Lake
Looking West at Newfound Lake

Continue reading "Besides the fact we have no sales or income tax, here is another reason New Hampshire is so awesome:" »

February 6, 2008

Guest Blog: Reflections on Reaganism by Grant Bosse

Today is Ronald Reagan's birthday...
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Ronald Reagan
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Reflections on Reaganism
By Grant Bosse


 
February 6th would have been Ronald Reagan’s 97th birthday.  When I first wrote about Reagan’s legacy over a decade ago, conventional wisdom held that the Gipper was an affable and charming leader; the Great Communicator, who used his skills as an actor to guide America through the upbeat 80’s.  I argued at the time that Reagan’s legacy had more to do with his substance than his style; more to do with his ideas and conviction than with his warmth and humor.  Now, nearly twenty years removed from Reagan’s time in office, history has taken note of his greatness.
 
I’m gratified that Ronald Wilson Reagan’s place in history has grown over the years, because I’m a bit biased.  I’ve been a Reagan fan since I was seven.  I got the afternoon off from school to go see the former Governor of California at a campaign stop in downtown Hillsboro.  Growing up around the First in the Nation Primary has its perks.  I remember shaking the hand of the man who would be one of America’s greatest Presidents.  In fact, the campaign poster he signed for me that day has followed me from job to job over the past fifteen years, slightly faded over the years, but still inspiring.
 
My admiration for the man grew as I grew to understand the ideas Reagan promoted.  He spoke of freedom not as a cliché, but as a basic right of all people and a guiding principle for government.  He stood up to an Evil Empire, and challenged it to tear down the wall that trapped millions in tyranny.  He renewed America’s faith in itself, and was never ashamed about the economic, political, and military strength that we possess.  He always saw America as a shining city on a hill.  And he relied on this strength to win the Cold War, as he knew that the Soviet Union could not hope to match our combination of freedom, democracy, and capitalism.
 
As we mark Reagan’s birthday, remember the anecdotes; asking the doctors removing an assassin’s bullet if they were all Republicans, and later telling Nancy that he forgot to duck;  promising Walter Mondale not to use his opponent’s youth and inexperience against him; and reminding Nashua Telegraph Editor Jon Breen that “I paid for this microphone.”  Remember Reagan’s charm.  Remember Reagan’s humor.  But please, remember the core values that Ronald Reagan promoted, and the strength of character he showed by sticking to them.
 
Happy Birthday, Mr. President.
Grant Bosse is a Hillsboro resident and potential Congressional candidate.  He won the New Hampshire Young Republicans “Gipper” Award in 2002.

December 30, 2007

For a change of pace...

Thanks to global warming, this is turning out to be among the snowiest Decembers in history (at least back to 1880-something when they started keeping official records).  And we are expecting more again tomorrow (6"?  9"?).

Snow, snow, snow....I'm already getting tired of raking my roof! 

Thus, thanks to Gary, a lifelong Scouter (currently troop leader and unstoppable hiker), a glance backwards at some of the glory that is the White Mountains here in NH. And NO SNOW!

 

Bond Cliff NH
Bond Cliff

Simply green...wonderful! 

November 16, 2007

San Diego - a contrast in time

A co-worker that lives and works in San Diego sent these to me and I just kinda sat there in amazement in the difference a couple of months could make.

Here's the first:

 

San Diego snow covered mountains
 

 

The second is after the jump. 

(H/T: Karen) 

Continue reading "San Diego - a contrast in time" »

November 13, 2007

Selectman tases Police Officer!!! On Purpose!

In addition to doing GraniteGrok and GilfordGrok (and Meet The New Press radio show), Doug and I are on our local Budget Committee.  Well, tonight, the Police Department put on a demo for Taser (as they wish to purchase some for the patrolmen in town - first purchase).

In a word - effective! 

OK, so I went overboard on the title.  One of our three Selectman did tase one of the Police Officers.  I'm putting up the short clip now....a longer one that better explains what the Bud Comm listened to in arriving at their decision will come a bit later over at GilfordGrok

Taser

Gilford Police Officer getting tased at Gilford Budget Committee

(GraniteGrok file photo)

Note: after the demo, listening to the info, the Bud Comm approved the purchase of this capital budget item. 

Cross posted at GilfordGrok

October 31, 2007

Boo!

happy halloween
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Jeanne Shaheen

Scary, eh? If the elections go wrong in '08, EVERY day will be Halloween...

Skip Murphy on WNTK Morning Show Today

Check it out! Skip will be joining me from 8:50-9:00 am on 99.7 wntk morning show that I'm co-hosting this week. If you're out of range, go to wntk.com for a live stream of the broadcast.

We'll be talking about the educational system.

 

 

October 29, 2007

Doug Lambert on WNTK Tues. 6:15 am

Since I'm substitute co-hosting the wntk morning show this week on 99.7 FM (wntk.com for live steam), I asked Doug to join me starting at 6:15 am Tues. to discuss various subjects including Prez politics, the toll issue, blogging in general, the loss of the NH advantage and possibly other subjects as time allows.

Since it's talk radio, please feel free to call in on the toll free line 888-299-3151.

We should have alot of fun not to mention, I'm sure, an interesting discussion on some important issues that affect all of us. Lady Radio signing off...

 

 

 

 

October 22, 2007

Tolls Only Rise for Some, Doug!

This is a true story from yesterday. Me, hubby and a girlfriend, all of us on our motorcycles stopped at the Hooksett tolls. Since I have an ez-pass on my bike, I could have flown through and waited for the gang...except that hubby motioned to me that he forgot his wallet and I'd have to stop and pay the tolls for them. No problemo!

I pulled up to the booth, my ez-pass activated for me but I told the toll worker I was paying for the other two bikers. Dick left and pulled over to wait for us. The toll worker was extremely upset that Dick went through already. I pointed out that my ez-pass charged for one and I was paying for the other two, so it didn't seem to be a big deal.

It's a pain to have to stop your bike, put it in neutral, kick-stand down, take off your gloves and get your money which is why I have an ez-pass. Hubby doesn't want the ugly, larger-than-car-ez-pass thing on his chopper, and I don't blame him. Mine is connected to my handlebars with plastic thread ties since the genuises who came up with bike ez-pass transponders, didn't anticipate that not all bikes have saddle bags to put them in nor is it convenient to carry one on your person...they're simply too big.

I only had a $50 on me as we were going to breakfast at the VFW to meet up with other veterans for a probable last ride to the beach for the season. I gave the toll worker my $50; he looked in the drawer and handed it back to me and said: "no change, forget it and may you NEVER come back through here again"! He was rude, I wasn't, but I held my tongue. This ying, yang wasn't going to ruin a beautiful day for me.

No change at 10 am?...puhleezze! So, while some of you are paying higher tolls, our three bikes went through and paid only one toll, ha, ha, ha! This is what your tolls increases are paying for people...incompetence, oh yeah, and other wasteful spending by the DOT. I just knew you'd love this story, Doug, although I fear I may have sent you over the edge with it! Call me if you need to vent!

 

October 21, 2007

Awaiting the Great Pumpkin?

I took this picture in Boston Saturday at the pumpkin festival at the Government Center plaza. I have no idea who the little baby is, but, I just couldn't resist.
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pumpkin kid
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Choose life...

Red Sox Rising

Tonight is the big game. Will the Red Sox make it to the World Series again? Does it get any better than going seven games? Being in Boston on a weekend such as this doesn't really get any better. The excitement and happiness is just oozing from every corner. Even the bums are upbeat! This is a pic we shot about 2 hours prior to the first pitch. (No, we didn't actually go to the game-- we're just lucky to have been in Boston this weekend.)
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Fenway Park
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September 23, 2007

Must See TV

WW2
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I am watching the Ken Burns' World War 2 documentary, The War, on PBS. I highly recommend you bring the laptop in front of the TV and watch. It's only been on for 1 hour, but it is obviously another classic masterpiece, as one expects from NH's Mr. Burns... An added bonus is that there are no commercials, which, one must admit, is rather nice. As an aside, make sure that you read this sometime, for another point of view on Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066.

September 18, 2007

Wings of Freedom

From time to time, Skip has been wont to put pictures here of what he likes to call "jet goodness." Whether it's jet powered luges, or pictures of jets, he just loves 'em all. Me? I think they're cool, and, if we're talkin' jets, I am partial to the ME262. That being said, before there were jets, there were the prop jobs. And what machines they were! With a name like "Flying Fortress" or "Liberator," nothing was more awesome back in the day... The day being World War 2, of course. You know-- Back when we pounded our enemies to dust whenever we could. Not jets here, just good ole' fashioned "bomber goodness!"
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B17 Flying Fortress
B17 Flying Fortress lands in Laconia, NH
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B25 Mitchell
B25 Mitchell landing in Laconia, NH
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For a couple days  this week, these old warbirds are here in the Lakes Region of NH at the Laconia airport as part of the "Wings of Freedom" tour. You can visit and go through the planes, or even take a ride on one (for a fee). This flying museum is visiting over 130 different airports on this year's tour. Click here for more info. (More pics after the jump.)
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Continue reading "Wings of Freedom" »

September 16, 2007

Negative People!

 
This is something to think about when negative people are doing their best to rain on your parade. So remember this story the next time someone who knows nothing, and cares less, tries to make your life miserable.

A woman was at her hairdresser's getting he r hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband. She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:
"Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"



Continue reading "Negative People!" »

August 10, 2007

PRAY!!!!!

CLICK HERE....feeling helpless? Pray for God's Blessings on our fellow Americans in Minnesota! Thank you, Lord, for saving all of the school children in the bus! Be with all those who have lost loved ones and comfort them. Abundant blessings on all the unselfish people who stepped up to help without a thought for their own safety. Bless the First Responders, the Police and Fire Departments and all those who did the right thing regardless of their own feelings.

Hug your wife, husband, mom, dad, grammy, grampy, your children and your friends and tell them how much you love them and cherish them! Count your blessings and thank our military that you live in a free America where you are allowed to pray whenever and wherever you want and can choose to pray...or not to pray...believe or not believe...

God Bless America, God Bless our Troops, and God Bless our President and give him wisdom, strength and courage to defeat our enemies!

Heal the wounded in heart, mind, spirit and body and especially be with the miners and their loved ones in Utah and we pray for their safe return to their families.

H/T: Frank, thank you!

 

 

 

 

August 8, 2007

That's our Judy!

We are quite pleased here at the 'Grok to note that our newest contributor, Judy Paris, has caught the attention of the folks at the Politico. Avi Zenilman, in a piece titled "BlogJam: Voters-eye view" for his "BlogJam" feature writes of Judy:
...when a citizen with political convictions -- yet no history of activism or reporting -- discovers blogging, the old conventions look, well, old...
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Paris didn't know what a blog was until the 2006 elections -- and she didn't start blogging until a few months ago. She is only partly immersed in the formal echo chambers of new media.
The article is very well written and seemingly paints a fairly accurate snapshot of that ball of energy and excitement known as Judy Paris.  And of course, there's this:
Paris is the only woman at the New Hampshire conservative blog. "All of the men on the 'Grok have a lot of integrity, but they can't write from a woman's perspective, so it's a perfect fit for all of us."
And we do appreciate that perspective. We're happy to have Judy blogging here with us and encourage you to read the whole piece. All that we ask is that she not forget us "little people" when she hits the bigtime!

August 1, 2007

Thrust? Check. Rocket boost? Check. Engine ignitor? Check. Beer ball? Check. Blast Off!

Spaceballs...party ball
.
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Lisa Nowak.....................astronaut puppet
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There are some stories that just speak for themselves, with nothing else left to be said. Following on the heals of the Lisa Nowak "astronaut goes postal" (well, almost...) story, we find out that through the years, there have been astronauts that might have flown drunk. You probably already heard the story, but in case you forgot, Frank Morring, Jr., writing in Aviation Week & Space Technology tells us:
A panel reviewing astronaut health issues in the wake of the Lisa Nowak arrest has found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk.
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The panel, also reported "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts before launch, within the standard 12-hour "bottle to throttle" rule applied to NASA flight crew members.
We all laugh when considering spaced-out spacemen consuming alcoholic spirits, but, as I learned from this story, the notion of a brew or two in space is serious business. Surprisingly, it is more complicated than one might at first imagine. Anna Davidson, writing at NewSpace.com provides the details:

Beyond the challenge of producing beer in space is the problem of serving it, says Jonathan Clark, a former flight surgeon and now the space medicine liaison for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston, Texas, US.

Without gravity, bubbles don't rise, so "obviously the foam isn't going to come to a head", Clark told New Scientist.

The answer, Dutch researchers suggested in 2000, is to store beer in a flexible membrane inside a barrel. Air can be pumped between the barrel and the membrane, forcing the beer out of a tap. Astronauts could then use straws to suck up blobs of beer (see Beer balls).

Brings back memories, doesn't it? Er, I mean, huh? What's a beer ball? Anyway, the prospect of a mile-high buzz in the Last Frontier isn't all it's cracked up to be:

Unfortunately for thirsty astronauts, beer is poorly suited to space consumption because of the gas it includes. Without gravity to draw liquids to the bottoms of their stomachs, leaving gases at the top, astronauts tend to produce wet burps.

Then again, that too seems vaguely familiar. Anyway, if one must indulge while in orbit, I suppose this is what I would recommend:

UFO beer

.

.

[All kidding aside, I recommend UFO wholeheartedly, whether in orbit, or not... yet.]

 

July 20, 2007

True Beauty

(H/T: Karen)

 

USA at night on a composite clear night.....simply beautiful. 

USA at night
 

'Nuff said 

July 4, 2007

Gov. Lynch is a shining example at UNC Wilmington

I have been a fan of Professor Mike Adams for a while now.  Knowing of the very liberal ways of most college academicians, I love it when their own words and actions are used against them.  Parody, well used sarcasm, hyperbole...it's all good.

And in this case, well, we at the 'Grok are grateful to Prof. Adams for letting us reproduce his latest Townhall column concerning Governor Lynch and the ability of government to step in between a child and her parents for politically correct and driven reasons espoused by Planned Parenthood.
 

In recent years, I’ve been forced to re-evaluate my positions on a number of subjects. Last week, it happened again when New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed legislation making New Hampshire the first state to repeal a law requiring that parents be notified before a child decides to kill its unborn baby. This legislation has now helped me get over my antiquated moral objections to statutory rape.

Governor Lynch said he believes parents should be involved in the minor’s decision to abort but that “unfortunately” such input is “not possible” in all cases. If that is true of the decision to abort, how much more true is it concerning the decision to have sex? It would be nice if a parent were around to help a ten-year old decide whether twenty one-year olds’ sexual advances are best rejected, but such supervision is, after all, rarely a realistic possibility.

Currently, all but six states have laws requiring parental notification or consent for a minor seeking an abortion. But eight others (excluding New Hampshire's) have been deemed unenforceable according to NARAL Pro-Choice America. I’ll soon be contacting NARAL to ask them for support in my efforts to have far less easily enforced statutory rape laws abolished in all fifty states across the nation.

Recently, Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen said that a person can be pro-choice and simultaneously take the view that parents have a right to know whether their children become pregnant. But what Cullen should have said is that it is not possible to believe that a child has a right to consent to abortion while simultaneously taking the view that she may not consent to sex. In fact, the sex is pretty much a prerequisite to the condition of pregnancy.

Since Democrats took control of the New Hampshire house in December abortion-rights activists have moved quickly to strip notification laws from the books. Now, it is time for the Democrats to move quickly to join me in my efforts to abolish statutory rape laws. And I expect to get a lot of help from my former adversaries at Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood offices around the nation have long concealed sex between children and adults in cases where the child has already been impregnated by the adult. Understandably, they do not want to let the legal “complications” surrounding child rape to interfere with a child’s willingness to seek an abortion. But no reasonable person could disagree with the assertion that statutory rape laws exert a far greater deterrent to a child’s right to control her own body.

I would suggest that concerned citizens everywhere take a page out of the Planned Parenthood playbook and start to help children who wish to exercise the right to express themselves sexually. In fact, starting today I plan to open up my home to any child who needs a place to explore her sexuality with an adult. A ten-year old and her twenty-one year old boyfriend can use my extra bedroom anytime with as much confidentially as she would expect from the good people at Planned Parenthood.

If everyone would do the same, we could soon render these silly statutory rape laws “unenforceable.” And, once we’ve done that we can start to enlist the support of people like New Hampshire Governor John Lynch and others who want to get rid of laws that would be considered “unenforceable.”

We already have an America in which it is difficult to buy little girls clothes that do not make them look sexual. And we are well on our way to allowing these children to kill their children just like adults have been doing for years. Progress and moral consistency both demand that we allow them to have sex with adults.

If that’s what they chose to do who are parents or prosecutors to say otherwise?

Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor.

June 27, 2007

Who are these guys?

Really- they're just a couple of shlubs in Central NH...
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Click here
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[NOTE: I fought to control school costs while improving quality--And don't take the last sentence as my final position. Everything is subject to change at this point in the game--Doug]
 
 
-Doug
 

June 17, 2007

Amazing Dancing Horse! Happy Father's Day!

Being an equestrian myself, I was completely amazed and inspired by this dancing horse. Here's my Father's Day gift to the Dads of Distinction: Skip, Doug and Patrick....ENJOY! Just imagine what you can accomplish as a father to your children, if it's possible to teach a horse how to dance!

Click here to watch one of the most spectacular horses I've ever seen. And you thought horses couldn't dance?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with training horses, let me just say that there has got to be literally thousands of hours spent in training this magnificent horse to dance! I guarantee you will  feel joyous watching this video and whatever cares weigh on you today will be, at least, momentarily insignificant.

This reminds me of something Ronald Reagan said who perhaps also understood that horses, like people, are spiritual!

Ronald Reagan ... I've often said there's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse. ...
  

Happy Father's Day! Inspire a child today!

 

BY JUDY 

June 16, 2007

Pay attention to the [wizard] behind that curtain [microphone]...

 
GraniteGrok "wizard" Skip Murphy
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As we have eclipsed the twelfth month of operation here at the 'Grok, I would be remiss if I neglected to thank my biz partner Skip, without whom none of this would be possible. Oh sure, I could have a blog at BlogSpot or some other templated arrangement, but it just wouldn't be the same. Thanks to Skip's technical wizardry, we have this really fantastic place to rant, rave, and inform known as GraniteGrok, which is followed and joined by it's offspring, GilfordGrok.
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Then came the radio program, "Meet the New Press". Once launched over the traditional broadcast airwave, we naturally wanted to start livestreaming so that our friends from all around the Blogosphere could tune in as well. "No can do," said the radio station. Enter Skip Murphy. After hours of testing, inquiry, and experimentation, he launched the livestreaming capability that we now enjoy.
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The bottom line is that since I have met him, it seems as if nearly all things are possible. Whatever we seem to cook up in our little shlub brains, he figures out a way to "git 'er done". We used to joke about a livestream "ShlubCam" to allow our radio listeners to watch the program as it happens. Well, we're nearly there, as Skip, up to his usual beta tests and trials, has just about put all the pieces in place to make that a reality too. Oh, and he's a pretty smart commentator and blogger too!
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For all that you do, Skip,

A big THANKS and a "hat" tip too! 

(Oh, and really Skip, that hat is YOU!)
 
BY DOUG 

June 12, 2007

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!

Click here if you dare....nothing else needs to be said!

 

BY JUDY 

April 20, 2007

More Jettiness - the HyFish

 Well, I said that blogging was going to be light - and I was right!  Between working on the live streaming test for Meet The New Press radio show, other obligations, and tax time, blogging time has been light.  And this post is "light" compared to the posts that Doug and Ed have been churning out in my absence. 

So why this?  Well, why not?  It's COOL looking! And it is a hydrogen powered jet to boot - zero emission hydrogen fuel cell jet!

And did I mention that it looks cool? 

 

For more info, here's the link to the site.  What is also cool is that this is not just a rendition - it actually flies!

 

 

February 12, 2007

Inquiring minds want to know...

Has anybody checked with Bill Clinton to see if he's the father of Anna Nichole Smith's baby? They don't even need him present for the DNA test-- just borrow Monica's dress from the Smithsonian...

Just a thought.  It kinda' ties together that whole Marilyn Monroe thing. There's no word yet if Smith ever sang "Happy Birthday" to Mr. President.....                 :-)

January 22, 2007

And really, who is sadder than Prince Charles?

Yesterday Skip posted a story about some British police being baffled as to whether or not the fact that signs all over their town were being covered with fancy womens' undergarments was a prank or not.
.
Now we learn that over in Great Britain, today is known as "Blue Monday." The Daily Mail (UK) has the story:

If you are feeling a little down then you can take solace in the thought that things are unlikely to get any worse.

Today, say experts, is the unhappiest day in the entire year.

Unpaid Christmas bills, nasty weather, and failed New Year's resolutions combine to make January 22 the gloomiest in the calendar.

Don't believe it? It's been "scientifically" proven, says the Daily Mail article:

Dr Cliff Arnall, a Cardiff University psychologist, devised the formula that shows today is the most depressing.

His equation takes into account six factors: weather, debt, time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take action.

Taken together they pinpoint today as 'Blue Monday'.

Is it any wonder these people no longer have an empire?

(H/T Drudge)

 

January 18, 2007

WE have experience at this?

I'm on hold...at  some point in time, if you deal with computers enough, you are on hold with "higher powers of knowledge"....and saw this over at Powerline.

Now, I totally agree with what Captain Ed is saying over at Captain's Quarters:

Oh, please. Only the "Arab world" could long for the days of rape rooms, people having their tongues cut out and their hands amputated, and genocides against the Kurds and the Shi'ites just because of three executions after the closest thing to due process that Iraq has seen in decades. While the Sunni world wails about poor Saddam getting executed on Eid, none of them mention the mass murders that Saddam committed with the power of the state behind him, and the mass graves he left as evidence of them.

But this caught my eye:

Could the Iraqis have done a better job with these executions? Of course. Saddam got rushed to the gallows, and the scene that the Iraqis allowed to unfold (and videotape) cheapened the event, turning it into a rally for Moqtada al-Sadr. They eliminated the Sadr cheering section for the next executions. Barzan's beheading resulted from rank incompetence; the executioner used too long of a rope despite the expertise at hand from the American military.

I dunno about you, but I cannot remember the last time the American military hung ANYBODY?  Since when would we have expertise in this field?

Just a random thought..... 

January 2, 2007

Top 20 Most Annoying Liberals

For those of you that just can't get enough of those "Top [ whatever ] Lists", John Hawkins at RightWingNews.com has one that is worth checking out- his annual Twenty Most Annoying Liberals in the United States: The 2006 Edition. You're probably thinking like I did- "How the heck did he narrow the list to just twenty?" Don't miss the "honorable mention" list. I especially agree with the top ten- although I would have ranked John "Loathesome" Kerry higher...
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Click here to see the list. John was a guest on our radio show, Meet the New Press this past Saturday. Click here to visit the download page to listen.

December 31, 2006

You know you want to see it. Watch Saddam hang.

Being a blogger, I quite naturally love the internet. As an everyday user, I pretty much take the whole technological wonder that is the World Wide web for granted. There are still some events, however, that cause me to stop and really appreciate all that it does for ordinary people.
.
The execution of Saddam Hussein, a bona-fide modern day murderous tyrant, is just such an occurrence-- or, to be more exact, the video of said execution. As a student of history, I have often thought about the various madmen and tyrants throughout history. What must have it been like to have been a contemporary of such evil beings? And what relief was brought to the liberated victims and captive citizenry upon seeing their oppressors meet their various ignomious ends? Some, like Hitler, did themselves in by suicide, depriving anyone of exacting justice or revenge. Mussolini was summarily disposed of, hung by a meat hook for all to see, and then dragged through the streets. It seemed so fitting.
.
Of course, all of this comes down to us from history. Written accounts from days long past, and some photos from more recent times were what we got... until now. Those of us alive for Saddam's execution are truly witnessing history. A murderous, evil being-- deposed, captured, and then tried and executed by his replacement government-- one elected and composed of very people he once crushed. What a momentous happening during our times. And thanks to the internet, we can watch the final dispatch of justice for Saddam Hussein on video.
.
While the self-appointed arbiters of what the public should and shouldn't know or see decry the fact that such a video exists, and the television news outlets show only carefully sterilized before and after footage, the rest of us can choose (or not) for ourselves to view the entire event.
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Click here to watch the video. It's pretty intense.
.
=====================================================================
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Doug reviews the video: I found that "Zero the Hero" by Black Sabbath on their Born Again album, with former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan, was the appropriate accompanying music to play while watching. Start two-thirds through to match the latter instrumental with the hangin'--
 "Whatcha gonna be, whatcha gonna be brother? Zero the hero..."
Additionally, Doug notes:  After several tests, I determined Molson Lite to be an appropriate beverage to sip while viewing.
.
Rating= 5 stars and a big thumbs up.

A beautiful day in December? Rejoice!

As I carry fire-wood into the central NH GraniteGrok bunker, the ground is white with fresh snow and the sun is shining brightly. The temperature hovers near the 40 degree mark. On December 31st, one could not ask for a more beautiful day. Global warming? Maybe. Man's fault? No way.
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad!
Need it be any more than that?

December 25, 2006

"I am coming your guest to be"

My dear wife pointed me to this Christmas story that pretty much sums up what we as Christians are tasked to do in our daily lives. Merry Christmas to all!

THE CHRISTMAS GUEST


It happened one day near December's end,
Two neighbors called on an old-time friend,
And they found his shop so meager and poor,
Made bright with boughs from ceiling to floor,
And Conrad was sitting with a-shine-
When he suddenly stopped as he stitched a twine
And said, "Old Friends, at dawn today,
When the cock was crowing the night away-
The Lord appeared in a dream to me-
And said, "I am coming your guest to be!"
So I' ve been busy with feet astir,
Strewing my shop with branches of fir.
The table is spread and the kettle is shined,
And over the rafters the holly is twined-
And now I will wait for my Lord to appear
And listen closely so I will hear
His step as he nears my humble place-
Then I'll open the door and look on his face."
So his friends went home and left Conrad alone,
For this was the happiest day he had known.
For long since his family has passed away,
And Conrad had spent many a sad Christmas Day.
But he knew with the Lord as his great guest,
This Christmas would be the dearest and best.
So he listened with only joy in his heart,
And with every sound he would rise with a start
And look for the Lord to be at the door
Like a dream he had a few hours before.
.
So he ran to the window after hearing a sound,
But all he could see on the snow-covered ground
Was a shabby beggar whose shoes were torn-
And all of his clothes were ragged and worn;
But Conrad was touched and went to the door,
And he said, "Your feet must be frozen and sore-
I have some shoes in my shop for you,
And a coat that will keep you warmer, too."
.

Continue reading ""I am coming your guest to be"" »

December 22, 2006

Let there be peace on Earth...

And let it begin with meeee!
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Don't forget to do your part for world peace today. I know I plan to...
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(Click here)

December 16, 2006

See! We aren't the only ones who know about "that word"!

From RedState (emphasis of bold and underline are mine!):

 

Things Andrew Sullivan Doesn't Grok

Calm down, I'm only going to talk about one

 

While I do agree with the posting, I actually don't care what is there.  For RATHER obvious reasons, it should be CLEAR what caught my attention to the title of the post - that's is enough for me! 

That's all; I'm done 

December 11, 2006

Maybe he just wanted to have a smoke with her. You know- share a cigar.

Can you imagine what it's like to be a member of the Bill Clinton water-carriers brigade today? And the New York Times- certainly they are all twisted into a knot today as well...
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Seems their all time favorite president and his administration had other tricks up their sleeves in addition to the jack-booted thug antics at Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Elian Gonzalez "rescue". A trick so heinous that it's an act that the evil George W. Bush has perpetrated it (and probably every other modern wartime president), to the dismay of the New York Times.  That's right...

Electronic Eavesdropping!

And worse, it was against one of the liberals other sainted icons:

Princess Diana!

ThisIsLondon.com reports:
American intelligence agencies were bugging Princess Diana's telephone over her relationship with a US billionaire, the Evening Standard has learned.
Of  course, this won't raise to the level of indignation for any moonbat, because, after all, it wasn't al Qaida. And it's Bill Clinton. So it's OK. Besides, 'ole Bill the hound dog probably wanted the tapes of her talkin' dirty so that he could, you know... After all, it was just a personal, private matter. Everybody havin' phone sex. Yeah- that's it!

December 9, 2006

Perhaps (maybe?) just a tad over the top?

Blogging has been light from me, as I have just spent another two week as a road warrioram on yet another Biz trip (this time in the San Jose and Philly areas).  However, I saw this over at Neal Boortz's site.  Now, I don't hunt (sorry, my bed is very comfy at 3am in the morning - I have little incentive to get out of it just to get cold by stalking something that could turn around and hurt me in the woods but if you like it, bag my share at the same time.).  Ditto for fishing, and add to it that it is too boring (I like running the boat though).

Add to this that I have only shot firearms a few dozen times in my life, so I have NO idea how this would work in practice.

Looks cool though!



 

October 24, 2006

Michael Dukakis? Michael Moore? Looks like fun!

Now this puts a different spin on paintball!  I've played a couple of times, but these old bones of mine don't take well to jamming themselves into the dirt or against hard objects.  But this could change my mind!

 

Now, the guy here looks more like MM than MD, but sorry, the first name just popped right up.  'Couse, you never can tell what kind of dweeb I'd look like either....but I wouldn't care!

You'll have to fly out to Northhamptonshire, England to give it a try, but $139 gets you two hours of tank time and quite possibly the biggest rush ever. Each battle pits you against another tank and you can have up to three buddies inside your vehicle.

(H/T: Gizmodo

October 5, 2006

A Book Blog Meme

The Online Dictionary defines the word “meme”:
A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.
So I get this email from Paul Sand at Pun Salad informing me that I’ve been “tagged” with a “bookish blog meme.” My first response was, “Huh?” After a few clicks, I realized that a blog meme is a series of questions/thoughts/beliefs passed from blog to blog, much like a chain letter. A reader should click forward and back from link to link to see how different bloggers answered the questions. I’m sure long-time practitioners of this medium have seen this before, but for me, it’s something new. Looking back at how this progressed to me here at GraniteGrok,, I take it as a compliment to have been chosen…

Ten Questions

1.  One book that changed your life?

The book that changed my life in the literary sense, leading to my heightened political and cultural views is Shelby Foote’s trilogy, The Civil War: A Narrative. A voracious reader from a young age, to that point I had always read fiction. Laid up with a multi-week illness, I had the time to read the three lengthy volumes. I have not really read a book of fiction, other than a Tom Clancy or two, since. Non-fiction and book-length histories, biographies, and news-documentaries fill my “library.”  This led to politics, column-writing, and finally, this blog. Thanks Shelby! His books were so informative and interesting that my wife and I, when the opportunity arose, visited Arlington National Cemetery where many of the people brought to life by Mr. Foote now reside…
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I know it’s cheating, but other choices include The Prince by Machiavelli- his advice on leadership, the wielding of power, and dealing in reality is applicable in all of life’s affairs. David Herbert Donald’s Lincoln biography taught me that politics, despite what we are led to believe by those wishing “the people” to remain apathetic, is not bad in and of itself. Lincoln was above all else a master politician. He knew mastering the art of politics was the road to the implementation of the ideas he saw as right. My guess is that Lincoln studied Machiavelli at some point. The E-Myth defines to this day my view of how a business should be run. Reading this book, recommended by a fellow entrepreneur caused sea-changes in my business operations (especially my role as owner), without which our companies probably would not exist today.

Continue reading "A Book Blog Meme" »

October 2, 2006

Next! Jet Go-Kart

This has been around for a while, but since I just recently found it, I figured I'd add it to the growing collection of the other "jet" stuff (here) - the Jet Go-Kart.

The article says that this was orginally used as a starter for the main jet when ground services were not available, so the builders had a lot to do in order to make it possible to run more than a few seconds.  What I like about it is that it is not only fast, it LOOKS fast!

 

(H/T: Ohgizmo

August 27, 2006

How to make a Boy Scout drool...

Swiss Army knife on steriods (Picture from OhGizmo)


 

A mere $1,200 for more functions than you'd ever want!  Description after the break (from GeekPress

Continue reading "How to make a Boy Scout drool..." »

August 24, 2006

A Real Stink Here in Central NH: "Corpse" Flower Blooms!

-UPDATED---SCROLL DOWN-The Blooming has run its course-

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While not the normal type of story for this blog, the blooming of a "corpse" flower is a pretty big deal to those who find such things interesting. After the town I live in (Gilford,NH) refused (due to the expected large crowds) to allow the public viewing (fundraiser) of the famous flower known for the stench of rotting flesh when in bloom, the neighboring city of Laconia was able to offer a suitable location.
.

The flower is now in bloom and will last for 2-5 days.

The blooming ended Wednesday.

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The "corpse" flower, with the real scientific name  of Amorphophallus titanum, is native to Sumatra and has only bloomed a total of 14 previous times here in the US.
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Click here to read the latest from the Citizen newspaper. A hole was cut in the flower to photograph the pollen. Click here to read  an earlier Citizen newspaper story (with pictures) about this unique happening. Click here for information about the event and how and where to come to view (and smell) this unusual and rare botanical occurrence. 
UPDATE 8/24: Michael Kitch reports in the Laconia Daily Sun (unavailable online):
The curtain fell on "Tilly the Titan yesterday, but not before drawing several thousand people, many of whom returned time and again.
The article further informs us that the local "corpse" flower blooming is only one of 6 or so expected to bloom worldwide. This particular event is the first ever cultivated by a private individual. The Citizen reports on the end here.

Continue reading "A Real Stink Here in Central NH: "Corpse" Flower Blooms!" »

August 11, 2006

Pinpoint landing, anyone?

 Subject: Helicopter landing - awsome!

Now, this be a PILOT!!!  Even tho' he's not fixed wing.  Awsome landing in Afghanistan.  I'm sure all of you have seen many choppers make some daring moves, but this one is spectacular!                                           

The shot was taken by a trooper in Afghanistan.  The Pilot is Larry Murphy, PA  National Guard.   Larry is a Keystone Helicopter Corp. EMS Pilot called to active duty.

This is a "unique" landing operation. This particular military  operation was to round up suspects.                     

 

Verified by SNOPES

July 31, 2006

It just seems to be jets....

First the JetBug, then the Jet Scooter, followed by Jet Taxis, and NOW!   

The Jet Pack!

There seems to be a trend here........

(H/T: Engadget

 

June 27, 2006

A REAL hybrid car

Dear Most Estemed Wife:

 

Can I have one of these, PLEASE?

Jetbug

 


 

 

 

 


 

Continue reading "A REAL hybrid car" »

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