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When You Can't Add Anything, Just Shut Up

Things are bad down in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Death, devastation, destruction, and many more "d" words that I am not educated enough to remember. People need to get up, get some help, and get back to their lives. They don't need others telling them:

Blanco: "We need a higher power right now.''

In a morning gathering in Baton Rouge, Gov. Blanco, flanked by a number of religious leaders, asked for peoples' prayers to help Gulf Coast residents cope with the magnitude of the disaster.

"We need a higher power right now,'' Blanco said.

"There are a lot of people to pray for,'' she added.

Archbishop Alfred Hughes was one of the religious leaders at Blanco's side and he offered scripture and prayer.

"We are so overwhelmed, we do not know how to respond,'' Hughes said.

So, he said, we turn to prayer.

Hughes read from a letter from St. Paul to the Romans: "We know that all things work for the good of God . . .

" . . . if God is for us, who can be against us?''

You needed a higher power a couple of days ago. Right now you need the National Guard and other earthly groups. And what good is praying for people who have lost everything? Is God going to pop down and help clean up the streets? Give everyone a new house? Bring back to life all those who lost lives? Of course not. He has never helped anyone in his star-crossed career (other than the vague "he put love in my heart" kind of nonsense some people seem to believe) why should he start now?

So now this hurricane and flood "work for the good of god?" How exactly is washing out a city full of people (many poor with not much to start with) going to increase the "good of god?" And as for something or someone being against you despite you being on God's team, looks like Mother Nature 1 God 0 in this contest over New Orleans.

Why aren't these blowhards out cleaning up the city instead of running their mouths.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:12

Just Imagine

How the world would be screaming if the US were to do something like this:

PARIS, France (AP) -- France and Belgium have issued blacklists of airlines prohibited from using their airports, in an attempt to allay public fears about flying after a recent series of deadly crashes.

It would be all outrage all the time: "US Discriminates Against Poor Countries!!!!!". "Arrogant US Hates Brown People Airlines!", "US Companies Use Govt. to Blacklist Their Competitors and Steal Market Share!!!".

Lucky it was only France that blacklisted all those minority people airlines. No one was going to France anyway so it really doesn't affect anything.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 22:33

More Best of Babylon 5

The Humans started duking it out with both the Vorlons as well as the Shadows. They had to bring in some of the First Ones to help out. Them is some wacky ships:



They managed to kill one of the Vorlon's planet killers:



This show just gets cooler and cooler.



Meet Mr. Bester, TV's nastiest bastard. He really did a 180 degree turn from his previous space opera.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:59

WTF?!

Not a Belly Button to be seen, but check out the shorts!



You ain't at the beach, babe!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 21:40

Infantile Obsession Breaking Out All Over the Place!

Turns out Miss Soo isn't the only one flashing some BB:



It's a veritable smorgasbord!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 21:36

Return of the Belly Button

KLGs strike again for those with a serious infantile obsession:



Let us see if there are more out there.

UPDATE: Well well! She turns out to be quite the little exhibitionist:


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 21:31

Benjamin Franklin - Founding Father

I think we can all agree that Benjamin Franklin must be counted among the United States' founding fathers. I haven't finished my latest book about Franklin (Stealing Gods Thunder by Philip Dray) but from other books I have read (Hamilton's and Adams latest biographies most recently) he plays a central role in everything that happens back in pre abd post-revolutionary days.

Being that he is among our pantheon of orginial statesmen he must be included in all those quotes people make about this being a Christian nation founded by Christian men using Judeo-Christian (boy, it must really chap the religio's hides when they have to take a supporting role in that phrase) principles and ideas. Well, once again I think Franklin would be horrified to be included in a club that included Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and any other evangelical bozo that currently has a microphone and is in the public eye.

Here are some of the relevant quotes (page 71):

Of course, Franklin’s personal conception of man’s relationship with God must also be considered. A Deist who believed that God essentially left man alone, intruding only in the most dire circumstances, Franklin was “much disposed to like the World as I find it. I see so much Wisdom in what I understand of its Creation and Government, that I suspect equal Wisdom may be in what I do not understand: And thence have perhaps as much Trust in God as the most pious Christian.” None of his neighbors, however, would ever have thought him pious. Franklin respected how religion served as a social adhesive and enhanced life for those bound to a faith, but he preferred generally to spend Sundays at home reading.

He was such a good Christian that he never really went to church and thought God had made the world and moved on. What happened to all that "enter heaven through Christ" stuff. In fact, if you read anything about these great men from that time, they rarely, if ever invoked Christ's name. You are lucky to get "Devine Providence" or "Heavenly Power". Why is that, I wonder.

His Deistic beliefs were tempered by his concern that if, after al, God had really abandoned mankind, there would remain no standards of morality, only murkiness. “If men are so wicked as we now see with religion,” Franklin asked, “what would they be if without it?”

So Franklin was in the "better get the heathens religion or they will run wild" school of divinity. In this, he appears to run with the evangelicals who basically say the same thing, i.e. "without God staring down at you all the time, what is there to stop you from raping and killing and stealing?" Buncha maroons, think I. If religion doesn't have a better view of their customers than that, screw them.

It would be a mistake, however to conclude that Franklin did not dwell seriously on religious matters… All Franklin could honestly conclude was that God’s nature being inaccessible to human reason or emotion, humans must symbolically represent it to themselves.

Franklin, like most of his era, was a religious animal. But he wasn't tied down to any particular sect or cult of the day. Instead he believed that it was up to each individual to decide themselves what God was and how to interact with it. Sounds like something even I could get into. I don't really think he is out there and, since I can't begin to understand him anyway, I will use my reason to make my own conclusions. I am sure if he/she/it really is out there he/she/it will understand my reasoning and appreciate that I made use of the greatest thing he may have created, namely my brain.

And Franklin in church?

The one attempt Franklin made as an adult at consistent church-going, in fall 1728, left him unsatisfied. Organized worship was mostly form and no substance, he decided, fine and finer readings of religious dogma that did not “inspire, promote or confirm Morality,” but “serv’d principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another.”

Man, I am really starting to like this guy. I almost wished I lived back then and hung out with him.

There is more like this in the book, but I am sure you get the drift. That one of our founding fathers was not the bible thumping, Jesus freak that many on the religious right would have you believe will never be revealed by that self same group intent on Christianizing our history. Read for yourselves what the Founders said and did the next time someone invokes thir words in calling for prayer in schools, the 10 commandments posted hither and yon, and religious test for judges and legislators.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:25

Rock and Roll

Check out the real nice piece of writing in the WaPo Sunday Magazine. The writer mentions great moments in rock concerts he has witnessed and I especially like this one:

But I left the job with vivid memories, and some of the most vivid were Live Concert Moments. At a Green Day show at American University, the lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, interrupted a song to ask if anyone in the audience could play the guitar. He picked one of the kids who raised a hand, then hauled him onstage, and handed over his instrument, while the drums and bass churned away. Then Armstrong asked for a bass player, who was promptly hoisted onstage and handed the bass, also in mid-song. Finally, a drummer was recruited, and pretty soon Green Day was watching as three kids who'd never met thrashed away.

I've heard that the band has done that a bunch of times, but I'm also pretty sure it's never the same thing twice because the kids are never the same twice. Armstrong wouldn't let the drummer, a 12-year-old named Zack, back into the crowd until the audience chanted his name over and over and Zack then leaped head first into the arms of fans. You knew you were watching the most excellent 10 minutes of his young life.

Corsair the Rational Concert Goer attended a few concerts in his time, including Queen, Scorpions, The US Festival (which included Ozzy, Judas Priest, and others), The Police, Rush, and others.

Someday I'll put up my Us Festival and Police stories. They may have been all staged and faked (although I don't think they were back in the early 80s.) but for someone who showed up only once in these tours, they seemed like magic to me.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 16:23

Why are They So Special?

Montgomery County in Maryland fights every attempt to change part of the county from farmland and green spaces to anything else. Turns out there is a law or agreement or something to keep new stuff out. There are a few exceptions, however:

IN MONTGOMERY County, a politically combustible, potentially ugly debate is brewing that would pit communities of faith against farmers and environmentalists. The battleground is Montgomery's bucolic agricultural reserve, a sweeping tableau of meadows, farms and rustic scenery, constituting a third of the county's acreage, that was shielded 25 years ago from most, but not all, development. The main exception was private institutions such as churches -- and that's the rub.

Why, perchance do churches get exemptions from things? I know they don't have to pay property or income taxes, but why should they get expemtions from building restrictions and why are they allowed to call me on my phone despite me being on the "Do Not Call" list.

Some residents of the area, as well as environmentalists and public officials, are now concerned that the reserve's character is imperiled by a number of sizable churches -- "megachurches," in their view -- that are seeking to purchase land in the agricultural reserve or have already done so. Priced out of heavily developed neighborhoods down county, the churches intend to build sanctuaries, parking lots and other facilities amid the reserve's turf farms, cornfields and horse pastures. They should be allowed to build -- within limits.

But why should they be allowed to build where others are not. They add nothing to the county in the form of taxes. They take up an inordinate amount of land in the form of buildings and parking lots. They cause traffic jams on Sunday mornings. And if they are coming from outside the county, they really aren't part of the lives of the people of that county. They probably already have places to beseech favors from their uncaring (yet always watching and loving) god.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 16:07

A Blast From the Past

If you never bothered to watch Babylon 5 when it was on back in the day (mid-90s) then you are missing out.



I am about halfway through season 3 and the pace really picks up after the first two seasons (which had a few too many character development episodes for me). From now on out it is a wild ride, if I remember correctly.

Pick it up or download it or something. You won't be disapointed.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 22:58

Awwww.

Bet yer dirty commies never acted like this:

Before going to dinner Wednesday night, Yanez, a reservist who spent a year in Iraq as a machine-gunner, put on his green dress Army uniform, the one he was proud to wear. With his girlfriend, Liz Coleman, on his arm, he walked into Canlis, where owner Mark Canlis found the couple a special table with a panoramic view of the lake and the city.

"I was a captain in the Air Force, so I have a soft spot there," Canlis said.

A few minutes later, a man at a nearby table — who wanted to remain anonymous — walked up to the restaurant owner. "I was noticing the young soldier and saw them looking at the menu," he told Canlis. "I know he was looking at prices and I know this is a special thing, so I would like to take care of part of their bill."

Then another family, the Greenbergs, said they, too, wanted to help pay for the meal. By the end of the night several patrons had, unknown to Yanez, offered to pay for the young couple's meal. With Canlis also sharing the costs, the $150 bill evaporated.

Yanez and Coleman were sharing a peach-cobbler dessert when Canlis walked up with a piece of molten chocolate lava cake.

"There's folks in this restaurant who don't think you should have to share a dessert," Canlis told the couple. "And they don't think you should pay the bill."

I'd a been there, I would have joined in.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:56

Of Course People Love Pirates!

Look at me! Arrrrrrrr:

Avast! Pirates Steal Readers' Hearts

It was a strange day in Hollywood when someone decided that a costume drama based on an amusement park ride would sell lots of tickets. Stranger still was Johnny Depp's swishy performance in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which, inexplicably, translated into a cascade of doubloons at the box office. A pile of gold, an ancient curse and lots of swordplay, it seems, can still do the trick, 70 years after Errol Flynn slashed his way through "Captain Blood." Mr. Depp, greatly enriched by his high crimes on the high seas, has agreed to reappear as Jack Sparrow in two "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels.

Hollywood is not alone in its lust for pirate gold. Readers have been served a double helping of pirate books in the last couple of months, for reasons that defy analysis. The cowboy and the gangster, twin pillars of America's self-image, continue to inspire screenwriters and novelists, although the cowboy, these days, seems to be limping as badly as Walter Brennan. But what can explain the allure of pirates? Their role in American history was negligible. As a shaping force in the national culture, they barely exist. Nevertheless, nearly 200 years after the last pirates gave up the trade, readers still hanker, like Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island," for stories about "hanging, and walking the plank, and storms at sea, and the Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main."

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:52

They Used To Eat Them...

Now they slobber all over them:

Seoul -- At the Bau House Cafe, dogs show up on the couches, on the tables, on the windowsills -- but not on the menu.

Though dog still is a delicacy for some South Koreans, pets are pampered here in ways that top even the United States.

On a muggy day this summer, a black cocker spaniel, a border collie, an Irish setter and a schnauzer in a red dress were among two dozen dogs racing around the cafe. A trio of baby Chihuahuas emerged from a rolling pink carrier in pink and white cheerleading outfits.

Dresses? Cheerleading outfits? I know what I like to see in cheeleading outfits and it ain't a mutt.

"In my parents' generation, all you had to do was feed a dog and give it a place to sleep. That's all they could do," said manager Lee Sung Jae, 27. "But for the younger generation, it's a 'forever pal.' "

Yeah, "forever" for about 12 years. Hey, here's a thought. Why don't you get out of your tiny little apartment where you have your dog dressed up like Marilynn Monroe (a disturbing idea, that) and meet some real people with whom you might be able to intereact.

About 15 dogs live at the cafe, pets of the owner, said Lee. Each has a story: Choco, an Irish setter, has two wives and two sons. Annie, a beagle, likes to eat. The cafe was founded five years ago to serve as a place where pets and their owners could go together, unlike most restaurants in Seoul.

Dude, dogs can't get marries so I don't think that your prescious pooch actually has a "wife".

The more I read this article, the creepier it gets.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:27

Well, That Ain't Helping

So in Korea the locals change the name of the local beach to Bikini Beach hoping the hotties would show up and flash their goodies. They even offered a 10 percent discount if anyone would get skimpy. Being Korea, that didn't work out so well (the girls there have the worst body image). SO they decided to throw a Bikini Contest. Here is what you get:

The caption read:

At the Miss Byeonsan Bikini Contests contestants prefer one-piece suits.

If the contestants won't even wear a bikini, what is the chance of your average girl throwing one on and braving the stares of the immature Korean males?

Oh, and the hooker shoes? You need to lose those as well. What is wrong with girls who are wearing swimming costumes to go without shoes. You know, like they would be doing if they were on the beach in their swimming costumes?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:13

I Thought It Was Just Me

Princess Corsair I is just to the age where she could be doing more educational things on the computer in the Corsair Cave. So off to the various websites and brick and mortar stores go I to try and track down some good software fo rher to play with (educational or otherwise).

What do I find? Not much:

Once a Booming Market, Educational Software for the PC Takes a Nose Dive

In 2000, sales of educational software for home computers reached $498 million, and it was conventional wisdom among investors and educators that learning programs for PC's would be a booming growth market.

Yet in less than five years, that entire market has come undone. By 2004, sales of educational software - a category that includes programs teaching math, reading and other subjects as well as reference works like encyclopedias - had plummeted to $152 million, according to the NPD Group, a market research concern.

"Nobody would have thought those were the golden days," Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children's Technology Review, said of the late 1990's. "Now we're looking back and we're saying, 'Wow, what happened?' "

What happened indeed! Part of what happened was the large amount of craptacular software that came out year after year in the 90s. It was supposed to be educational, but most of it ended up being desk drawer filler.

But, lo!

What happened was an explosion of new, often free technologies competing to entertain and teach children. Young children have long been a primary audience for computer learning games. But with free games and learning sites now available all over the Internet, parents are finding that they do not need to buy software that can teach the A B C's. And the spread of broadband connections has made playing online games far easier.

And what, pray tell would those "free games and learning sites" be? They don't actually say in this article. Now I have to do the work myself. I hate that.

Well, there is always hope for Princess Corsair III:

Nonetheless, some say that children's software can make a comeback. Mr. Buckleitner, an occasional contributor to the Circuits section of The New York Times, says there is still a future for teaching tools for the PC, especially as high-speed Internet access permits the delivery of richer content.

As for the drop in sales, he said, "it's like a forest fire has burned through," making the scorched earth ready for future growth.

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:43

Hey!


Something appears to be up with my "images".

WTF?

And just why does my referer log have a lot of these in it (this is all one line but it goes on forever)?

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=
http://www.erinhydrabadi.com/weblog/2%2520headed%2520baby.jpg&imgrefurl=
http://corsair.blogspot.com/2005/03/kim-chi-cures-cancer-well-they-havent.html&
h=300&w=232&sz=18&tbnid=TpB-sQIwBacJ:&tbnh=111&tbnw=85&hl=de&start=57&prev=
/images%3Fq%3DBaby%26start%3D40%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dde%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

I am getting hundres of these things a day!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:43

Fat People

When the Corsair Clan went camping last week, we were , through no fault of our own visually assaulted by what I assumed to be members of some demonic space-faring race this likes of which gave small children nightmares and scared livestock.

What freakish beings did we encounter? What horrific visages caused younglings to run in terror to their mother's skirts? What hideous apparitions made the very air itself shimmer in disgust?

I give you Piggy 1 (the faces have been changed to protect the corpulent):



This winner was falling out the front of his drawers as well as te back (if you know what I mean). I still wake up in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

Not only were they tubs o'lard dangersous to the psyches of those around them, they also caused environmental degradation on a scale not seen since the great flood! Entering the lake casued ripples normally only seen at the time of an asteroid crashing into the ocean. Exiting revealed dying fish flopping on the muddy bottom and shipwrecks long forgotten.



This one was clearly some sort of fat droid (notice where "her" outer coating has come loose on "her" leg and revealed "her" exoskeleton.



This one actually counterbalanced the effects of moon gravity and caused her own high tide!

I am not saying that these "people" shouldn't be allowed to lead productive and normal lives, I just think it should be in a preserve in Kenya with other members of their species. Subjecting things like this on the unsuspecting gaze of a mere vacationing Pirate isn't right. I was scanning the beach for beings more like myself, except with curves and bumps in slightly different areas of their anatomy and many a decade removed from this irascible old sacalawag. I wasn't disappointed in that. But when you are enjoying a concert by Mozart, the discordant sounds of Ole Dirty Bastard tend to lessen the aural experience... If you know what I mean.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:27

Relive My Youth

I was at the station last night playing Corsair the Volunteer Fireman when what should I stumble across on the television but the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I missed The Time Warp (dammit! I love the scene where Rocky is coming down the elevator tapping his big high heeled shoe) but came in soon afterward.

Watching the rest of the movie immediatly transported me back to the Cinema 150 in Santa Clara, California where I and my reprobate friends would spend an enjoyable midnight watching the RHPS surrounded by crazies and wierdoes (just my kinda company). It was actually a girl named Ginger (and no, I don't know how she...) who turned us on to the movie by asking us if we wanted to go one night. I think she was just looking for a ride as I do not think she had a car. I don't remember if we piled into the troop transport that night or Tony's brown Toyota speedster (what the hell was that model? Always smelled like rotten eggs when we got wherever we were going because of the catalytic converter).

So cruising down Montague Expressway to El Camino and San Thomas Expressway we went. The theater (which does not exist any more, sadly) was one which had a 70 mm screen and was wonderful to see movies in back in the day. We also caught Quest for Fire there but were late getting to the movie and so had to sit in the first row all the way to the right, craning out necks upward and to the left to catch all the action. Quite the pain in the neck later that night (probably self medicated with liberal doses of Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve Beer)

I must have seen the RHPS nine or ten times in my senior year at Independence High School with a variety of people. It must have made quite an impression because last night's viewing on TV made me feel happy and alive and grateful for having such wonderful memories.

I'll put this one down here so that I can retrieve it later when I am old and diaper-wearing and am trying to relive the happy days (and they really were happy, despite the ugly clothes and hairstyles of the early '80s) of my youth.

UPDATE: It was a Toyota Celica! Brown and really fast (compared to my 1969 Ford Van, that is).
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:17

Summer Doldrums

Man, I got nothing.

What happens now is that I complain about not having anything to whinge about and then I spot a bunch of stuff to whinge about.

Let us see if I can break out of my slump.

Blah.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:26

Wow. This Guy Is Good

Came across this guy while reading over on joannejacobs.com. He writes really well (not surprising considering he has over 150 books published!)

Are the people who make this ludicrous claim crazy? Biblical principles? Like the mass slaughter of women and children as regularly practiced by the Hebrews in Canaan? Like the stoning to death of adulterers? Like the collection of concubines? Like laws prescribing the death penalty for mixing meat and cheese together? Like slavery? Like monarchy? Like home loans for no interest?

Geez! His site is really hard to cut and paste from. But his ideas are great.

Oh, and the 150 book thing?

Who The Hell Am I?

First, I'm a writer. With my wife, K.A. Applegate I am the co-author of about 150 books, almost all for kids, under 11 different pseudonyms. We ghostwrote for other people, including the godawful Sweet Valley series. We passed ourselves off as Christians to write a spin-off of Christy. We wrote for Mickey and Donald, Ariel and Jasmine at Disney books. We wrote obscure romance series that were big hits in England and tanked here. And we created and wrote the Animorphs, Everworld and Remnants series. For a while we had a TV show and our own line of Transformers. (Still waiting to see a check on that toy deal.)

Luckily, I never read any of that swill (but I think Corsair Jr. read some of the Animorph things).

I am going to go ahead and add him to the list on the right... or should I put him on the left... maybe just leave him in the middle.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:35

Trip Report: Sherando Lake, Virginia

The Corsair Clan and assorted friends, acquaintences, and hangers-on repaired to Sherando Lake, Virginia for a long weekend of sun, swim, and food.



We arrived on Thursday around 11 am (after a couple of stops to pacify Princess Corsair II who is a notorius non-traveler) and lucky we did. We got three campsites right near the trail which lead to the lake. Within and hour or two it seemed that all the other available spots near us had also been taken. Being so close to the lake made it nice travelling back and forth with kids and toys and towels.



We got set up and immediately zipped down to the lake to have us a look. Pretty nice if I do say so from a former Minnesotan's perspective. There was a nice built up grassy area with plenty fo shade for those of us who are melanin deprived, a well maintained sandy shore and a lake big enough to play in but not so big as to produce it's own tide.



Food was accomplished through a variety of gas burners (for breakfast), charcoal and wood fires (for burgers and s'mores) and rice cookers strategically placed in the women's bathroom to take advantage of the electrical outlet.



Yes, I said "s'mores". Created with Hershey chocolate, Golden Graham crackers, and Stay Pufft marshmallows (just as God [were he to actually exist] intended). It seems that some of the friends and hangers-on had never partaken of that so-American dessert delicacy. Corsair the Chef was forced repeatedly to correct their marshmallow cooking technique (not too close to the fire and don't hold the sticks on a sharp angle, you are likely to drop the stupid thing in the fire)



At one point we decided to attack the local trail that lead to who-knows-where. Turns out who-knows-where is about a mile up the side of the stupid mountain. And they don't use nice dirt for their trails. No. They had rocks, from golf ball to volleyball sized strewn about the ground. It was tough going up and down as you had to watch your way the whole time so as not twist an ankle.



One thing I did notice after having spent 3 days with my fellow man (and woman), there are an inordinate amount of incredibly fat people in Virginia and they are not afraid to let everyone else know to what lengths the flab has invaded their bodies. It was quite a sight to see one behemoth remove herself from the lake and watch the water level drop three feet.



The other interesting fact I took away from this forced viewing of other people and their progeny is that were it not for the presence of the lake and my overall cheapness these were not the sort of people that the Corsair Clan would normally be socializing with (he said in his best Thurston Howell III voice). I never saw so many snaggle-toothed, buzz-cutted, slack-jawed country yokels as were viewed this past weekend. And the majority of them spilling all out about their bathing costumes (more on this later).



The easy availibility of weaponry almost made up for the generally lower level of humanity one sees in one's national forests. I stepped out to the local "town" (loosely called) to pick up some badly needed (forgotten) supplies and whilst searching the quaint general store made inquiries to the proprietess on the purcahse of some wood with which to burn up marshmallows. Not only did she have wood, she also offered to sell me my very own 9mm pistol! Try getting that sort of service in Northern Virginia!

All the pictures above depict actual views of Sherando Lake and its surroundings. Most were taken early on Friday morning before the sun was all the way up. I particularly like the floaty things on the rope. Sort of captures the whole summer-swim-in-the-lake to me.

I heartily reccomend heading for Sherando if anyone is reading this and is looking for a reason to go. Watch out for rain but don't worry about mosquitoes (there didn't appear to be any). And get there early as it tends to fill up quickly!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 21:51

Gone Fishing

Actually we went camping. There will be updates later as we finish cleaning out the van and find the camera.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:15

What I am Reading Now

I picked up a copy of 1776 from Costco the other day.



So far it is an interesting read detailing the Seige of Boston by the Continental Army. It is similar to a Washington book I read last year Washington's Crossing.



Turns out that Washington was the shit when it came to leading armies. He didn't win that many battles, but the ones he did win were the really decisive ones that managed to change the course of the war.

Then this morning I see the following reveiw in the WaPo:

When Reason Energized a Nation

Reviewed by H.W. Brands
Sunday, August 7, 2005; BW03

STEALING GOD'S THUNDER

Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod and the

Invention of America

By Philip Dray

Random House. 279 pp. $25.95

The concept of degeneration in American political history is so broadly accepted as to be almost unchallengeable. In the days of the Founding, giants walked the earth; Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison and the others seized independence from Britain and placed the new nation on its republican path. Since then it's all been downhill; no subsequent generation, and certainly not ours, could have accomplished what those demigods wrought.

There are some particularly good quotes in this article dispelling the myth that this nation was created to be a "Christian" nation. For example:

Dray makes clear that Franklin brought to his political work the same rationalism that informed his science. Franklin wasn't irreligious; he believed in a Creator who paid some attention to what His creatures were up to. But he had no patience with theology; he considered sectarianism a blight and judged reason the appropriate measure of faith rather than vice versa. His parents, solid Puritans, lamented his lapse from orthodoxy; he responded with his own statement of faith: "At the last Day, we shall not be examined [by] what we thought but what we did; and our recommendation will not be that we said Lord, Lord , but that we did GOOD to our Fellow Creatures."

And really, if there really is some kind of all seeing all knowing up there, wouldn't it be more inclined to look kindly on my life if it was lived following the Golden Rule rather than various and sundry stuffy old books? What is all this "l;ive your life in Christ" stuff if you aren't helping out the least amongt us and having good thoughts toward the others?

And what about:

At a critical moment of the Constitutional Convention, Franklin uncharacteristically -- or so it seemed to most of those present -- moved that each morning's session begin with a prayer to the Almighty for guidance. Dray reads this as suggesting an eleventh-hour reversion to Franklin's parents' belief in divine intervention; more likely Franklin simply wished to remind his opinionated colleagues that they didn't have all the answers. Significantly, the convention rejected the motion; Alexander Hamilton reportedly declared that this was no time to seek "foreign aid." Franklin would no more have looked to Heaven for political guidance than he would have consulted the Bible in fashioning his lightning rod. God gave man reason, he believed, and expected man to use it. Franklin did so with confidence, as did his colleagues.

Bwahahah! He said "foreign aid!" I have a Hamilton book upstairs that I need to finish. Now that I know he was a rational guy I guess I'll have to move on that one even quicker.

So there to all the Bible thumpers out there who seem to think that just because these guys attended church they were all a lot of Jesus Freaks intent on establishing a colony of Christ in America.

Oops, more later, I have to go shopping.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:22

Feel Good (Sort Of) Story Of the Day

This really sucks:

Summee, now a security officer for the Reds, responded to an emergency call to Section 143 at Great American Ball Park during the seventh inning. A man had collapsed, and paramedics were working on him.

As they tried to revive the man, who did not survive the apparent heart attack, an officer handed the man's 6-year-old grandson to Summee.

Little Antonio Perez had come to the game with his grandfather, whose name the Reds did not release, to celebrate Tony Perez Bobblehead Night.

How cool must it have been for the little tyke to be able to go to a baseball game with Gramps. Sit in the seats, eat hot dogs and popcorn and watch some of the world's best athletes play a game. The Gramps keels over dead and you are left all by yourself.

Until some goodness shows up:

Summee still wanted to get Antonio away from the stands, so he took him into the Reds' bullpen, where bullpen coach Tom Hume let him sit on the bench for the last two innings of the game.

Then Ken Griffey Jr. became aware of what was going on and took charge.

"Win or lose, he was coming in the clubhouse," Griffey said.

As the Reds wrapped up their 8-5 victory over the Braves, Griffey went to the bullpen and got the boy.

The players included Antonio in their high-five celebration. Then they took him into the clubhouse.

"We play a game," Griffey said later. "What he was going through doesn't compare.

"It was important that the little guy not be by himself."

Clubhouse manager Rick Stowe said the other players followed Griffey's lead and rallied around the boy.

"Jacob Cruz, Jason LaRue, Junior, they were all great with him," Stowe said. "They gave him bats, balls, wrist bands. Felipe Lopez signed the helmet he wore in the All-Star Game and gave it to him."

"Ken Griffey Jr. was extraordinary," Summee said. "He went completely out of his way to do everything he could."

Said Griffey: "We just tried to make a bad situation a little better."

Ken Griffey Jr. just became my favorite baseball player.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:59

It Has Already Been A Week

Windows Vista has only been out a week or so in Beta but:

An Austrian hacker earned the dubious distinction of writing what are thought to be the first known viruses for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system. Written in July, the viruses take advantage of a new command shell, code-named Monad, that is included in the Windows Vista beta code.

Lucky Microsoft spent all that time and effort to make Windows more secure, otherwise the virii would have been out in three days.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:10

Eww

Break out the bottled water:

Mr Singh told the BBC that more than 65% of India's rural population defecated in the open, along roadsides, railway tracks and fields, generating huge amounts of excrement every day.

"This finds its way into the water sources," Mr Singh said

And just what brought on this revelation? The recent demand that:

Village council candidates in India should be allowed to stand for election only if they have a toilet at home, the rural development minister says.
In a letter to all chief ministers, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the toilet rule should be set out in law.

He said too many elected members "do not have toilet facilities in their own houses and defecate in the open".

"Wilson! Cancel my government person to person, meet and greet trip to India! I'll go to Indiana instead and say it was a typo."
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:51

He Can't Get Anything Right These Days

George W. Bush is a bit of a tool. We all know that, supports and detractors alike. But he is President and, apparently that is in the job description.

Lately he has been saying more than his share of stupid things that he can't support with any evidence. Like this:

It will be interesting to see how the fans react to these allegations. Many have already voiced their disappointment, but Mr. Palmeiro's denial of wrongdoing was promptly accepted by others, among them President Bush. "Rafael Palmeiro is a friend," Mr. Bush said in an interview with the Knight Ridder news service. "He's the kind of person that's going to stand up in front of the klieg lights and say he didn't use steroids, and I believe him. Still do."

And this:

During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of life. But he said students should learn about both theories, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported.

"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."

I know he is playing to the stupid fundies in the second quote, but I am not sure whose voites he is trying to garner by supporting that drug using guy in the first quote. But it all goes to show you that moronicness knows no class or political distinction. If the guvmint wants to spend some of my tax dollars pushing back the edges of science, they ought to do a study on ways to reduce stupidity.

UPDATE: Dang, Meyer read my mind!


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:17

A Nice Day in The Park

Went for a walk with the Corsair Clan and friends on Sunday at Sky Meadows State Park outside of Middleburg, Virginia (where all the rich people have horse farms and antique stores).

Sky Meadows used to be some sort of farm and is now a showcase of "Old Virginie" farm houses and equipment plus lots of trails wending off into the back 40 where various flora and fauna reside.



Here's a nice creek (or "run" as we say 'round these parts).



Keeping us in or out?



It was very green up on the hills.



A Stump!



This is a 3-second shot to show the movement of the water.



Chaining us in or out?



More green meadows.

It was a several hour long nice walk with the gang that we will probably have to do once the weather cools off and the leaves start to change. Mrs. Corsair also wants to go back in the winter and see the park encased in snow.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:50