If this doesn't get your blood boiling, or at least get you wondering, then nothing will.
An old friend sent this to me. Like him, I remember this incident and remember the news reports stating that two Israeli fighter jets were involved.
From Wikipedia:
The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli jet fighter planes, followed shortly by motor torpedo boats, on June 8, 1967, during the on-going Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two Marines, and a civilian), wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nmi (29.3 mi; 47.2 km) northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish. Both the Israeli and US governments conducted inquiries into the incident, and issued reports, which concluded that the attack was a mistake, due to Israeli confusion about the identity of the USS Liberty. Some US diplomats, veterans and intelligence officials who were involved in the incident continue to dispute these official findings, saying the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was not a mistake, and it remains the only major maritime incident in US history not investigated by the US Congress.
My buddy knows and served with the wounded sailor who is pictured here and who helped put this report together. Not that that alone is proof of veracity, but there's always an element of more believability to something if you personally know some of the participants.
If this kind of skullduggery is true, and I personally have no doubt that to some degree it certainly is, then it becomes a lot more understandable why people around this world want to fly airplanes into our buildings.
Punch, JJ, Walking Man and the like may as well pass on by cause you ain't gonna like this. But I've got to do it 'cause Poindexter asked me soooo sweetly that I just couldn't refuse. Yes, it's a Mime, or whatever the hell you call them. Ten things about me that you didn't know and could care less about. So here I go, laying bare my soul to the universe. Ten things about me you didn't know:
I hate these things and, as I said, wouldn't be doing it except Dex was so nice about asking... well, sometimes you just can't turn down a pretty girl. But I want the world to know... THIS IS THE LAST TIME!
I am not the Lone Ranger. But I do have a silver bullet.
Although I may sometimes appear gruff or surly, I'm really a big softy. Just don't cross me or I'll kick your ass.
I have met one U.S. President and shaken the hand of three others. Carter, Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson.
I once had lunch with John Glenn, the astronaut. When asked what it was like to blast off in a rocket he replied, “What do think it feels like sitting on top of a giant fire cracker built by the lowest bidder of a government contract?”
I once had lunch with Jessie Owens, Olympic gold medalist. Very quiet and polite. Can't remember a single thing he said.
I once farted in a crowded elevator. Someone else got the blame.
I have never jumped out of an airplane. And don't intend to.
I once drove a fuel dragster. Nearly peed in my pants.
I started the rumor that Reagan slept with Jodie Foster. Just to piss Hinkley off.
So there you have it. Now you know me better than my mother.Now comes the difficult part. I am supposed to pass this along to three of my friends and entreat them to also lay bare their souls, or soles, as it were. No since asking someone whom I know will ignore it, such as the three miscreants mentioned above. And I do know that a lot of people like these things so it should be passed along to someone who, like me, will get into the spirit of it. And it should be passed along to bloggers I would like to know more about. So let's see...
Inventor's 2020 vision: to help 1bn of the world's poorest see better. Professor pioneers DIY adjustable glasses that do not need an optician.
A Zulu man wearing adaptive glasses. (photo by Michael Lewis)
It was a chance conversation on March 23 1985 ("in the afternoon, as I recall") that first started Josh Silver on his quest to make the world's poor see. A professor of physics at Oxford University, Silver was idly discussing optical lenses with a colleague, wondering whether they might be adjusted without the need for expensive specialist equipment, when the lightbulb of inspiration first flickered above his head. What if it were possible, he thought, to make a pair of glasses which, instead of requiring an optician, could be "tuned" by the wearer to correct his or her own vision? Might it be possible to bring affordable spectacles to millions who would never otherwise have them?
More than two decades after posing that question, Silver now feels he has the answer. The British inventor has embarked on a quest that is breathtakingly ambitious, but which he insists is achievable - to offer glasses to a billion of the world's poorest people by 2020.
If the scale of his ambition is dazzling, at the heart of his plan is an invention which is engagingly simple.
Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device's tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.
The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.
Silver calls his flash of insight a "tremendous glimpse of the obvious" - namely that opticians weren't necessary to provide glasses.
The implications of bringing glasses within the reach of poor communities are enormous, says the scientist. Literacy rates improve hugely, fishermen are able to mend their nets, women to weave clothing. During an early field trial, funded by the British government, in Ghana, Silver met a man called Henry Adjei-Mensah, whose sight had deteriorated with age, as all human sight does, and who had been forced to retire as a tailor because he could no longer see to thread the needle of his sewing machine. "So he retires. He was about 35. He could have worked for at least another 20 years. We put these specs on him, and he smiled, and threaded his needle, and sped up with this sewing machine. He can work now. He can see."
These are from an email that's making the rounds. I'll probably be sued for copyright infringment but I must share these with all of my blogger friends. These are some of the most spectacular images I've ever seen. I know you will agree.
From the email:
These incredible images of waves in the Hawaiian Islands were taken by Clark Little, the number one photographer of surf.
Waimea Bay, shore-break surfing pioneer, husband, and father of two, Clark Little has gained nationwide recognition for his photography.
It all started in 2007 when Clark's wife wanted a nice piece of art to decorate a wall. Voluntarily, Clark grabbed a camera, jumped in the water, and starting snapping away capturing the beauty and power of monstrous Hawaiian waves from the inside out.
" Clark's view" is a unique view of the ocean that most will only be able to experience safely on land while studying one of Clark's photos. Now with a camera upgrade and an itch to get that better shot, Clark has taken this on full time and has moved his office from land, to the inside of a barrel.
Here's an interesting map I ran across. The most interesting thing is when this whole thing began accelerating and how long it was ignored before the house of cards collapsed.
He was born in the ghetto, on a street barely wide enough for two cars to pass.He was raised in a little cinder block shack in one of the poorest, and most dangerous, areas of the city.An area pockmarked by failed industry and Superfund pollution.Like his mother, he also was born blind.
Now a professor of Jazz Studies at FloridaStateUniversity, Marcus Roberts is one of the premier jazz musicians living today.
I first met Marcus when he won the inaugural Great Piano Jazz Competition of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival.Another youngster, Harry Connick, Jr., finished a close second.We hung with Marcus all evening in the hotel lounge as the jazz jam just kept on going.The great Louie Bellson sat-in for a stint, as well as jazz legend Clark Terry.It was quite a night, one of many such nights surrounding the jazz festival over the years.
But one of my fondest memories of jazz comes not from a festival or a performance, but from the backyard of that little cinder block house up on 23rd Street.
Marcus had cut a deal with Columbia records and was playing with the Jazz at LincolnCenter band.He was getting headline attention in the jazz world.He had made good and he wanted to do something nice for his aging mother.He wanted to do something special for her birthday.He wanted her to hear him play live and wanted to bring her to New York, but she was afraid to travel.He wanted to move her into a new home, but she was blind and didn’t want to go to a new place.She knew her home intimately.She was comfortable and secure there.She knew her neighbors and they looked after her.She didn’t want to leave her church.They were her foundation.
So, since she wouldn’t go to the mountain, Marcus decided to bring the mountain to her.He had a large tent set up in the back yard and a wooden floor constructed under it.He rented a Steinway grand piano along with several dozen chairs.He hired a caterer and invited all of his friends to the party, including the band members of his band, the band he played with… the Wynton Marsalis jazz combo.
Wynton and the band accepted his invitation along with some of the hot local jazz players and a few select students and professors from the University of North Florida’s Jazz Studies program, one of the finest in the nation.That was how I got the invitation, from trumpeter Marcus Printup, a friend and totally hip and rising jazzer, himself now a member of the Jazz at LincolnCenter orchestra.
The party got started around dark and continued into the night with one musician after another joining the jam.At the time, Wynton’s band included Marcus on piano, Herlin Riley on drums, Wycliff Gordon trombone, and I believe Roy Hargrove on trumpet and Christian McBride on bass, although my memory fails me somewhat on this.I can tell you for certain that it was world-class musicianship and no better jazz to be found anywhere on earth.
Mrs. Roberts was a sweetheart.She had her place of honor, front row center, and she was doted on by everyone.She swelled with pride for her son’s accomplishments, but also that he had so many friends who obviously loved and appreciated him.Marcus wore a tux, and an ear-to-ear grin, the entire evening.
Of course, the word got around and there was a huge crowd there.Cars were parked all over the neighborhood and that is partly what made it such a magical evening.The entire neighborhood was in to it.Not only in Mrs. Roberts’ yard, but out in the street and in the yards next door.Her house backed up to a little city park and the baseball outfield was full of lounge chairs neighbors had dragged up, along with their coolers and charcoal grills.You could smell Bar-B-Q chicken for blocks around.And even though people were laughing and talking, they were also listening to the music while boogying down.
Everyone was safe in that neighborhood that night. No cars were broken into.No one was busted leaving the place, no one harassed.It was as if the neighborhood knew they had something special and they wanted to help their homeboy celebrate his mother and his success and they wanted his guests to be comfortable.
As I walked back to my car, about 3:00am, I was stopped along the way by people offering me a drink or just wanting to talk, just trying to keep the glow alive.It was a brotherhood brought together by mankind’s highest creation… music.And by what many would argue is music’s highest incarnation… jazz.
Found on the Huffpost:
Eye Tattoos Become Newest Trend In PrisonAlthough we don't know much about style-behind-bars, we were aware of the body piercing and the tattooing that goes on in the cells...but two prisoners have opened our eyes to the newest self-mutilating trend: eye tattoos that change the sclera to be blue or even red.
When asked why he would do this to himself, David Boltjes (whose eyes are red) poetically remarked, "You can't ask why...the real question is why not," and his fellow inmate, blue-eyed Paul Inman explained that now, no one in the world would have the same color peepers as he has. Neither man would say how they managed to color their eyeballs, but both concurred it was extremely painful.
WTF will these assholes think of next? And if that isn't enough, check this out.
Scientists are researching biodegradable, silicon-silk devices that could be implanted inside the human body for various applications, potentially including the development of "LED tattoo" skin displays.
Unlike the current breed of "rigid" implantable chips (such as the ID tags that can be put into pets), these devices would build a silicon circuits into thin films of silk that would be flexible and could conform to the surface of human tissue.
Wired explains that the implants would eventually melt away in the body: The silk substrate onto which the chips are mounted eventually dissolve away inside the body, leaving just the electronics behind. The silicon chips are around the length of a small grain of rice -- about one millimeter, and just 250 nanometers thick, and the sheet of silk will keep them in place, moulding to the shape of the skin when saline is added.So what might be the applications for this technology?According to Wired, "these tattoos could carry LEDs, turning the wearer's skin into a screen."H+ magazine imagines you could show off your latest Flash animations, watch TV on your arm, or have a built-in PDA screen.MIT's Technology Review also notes, "The group is developing silk-silicon LEDs that might act as photonic tattoos that can show blood-sugar readings, as well as arrays of conformable electrodes that might interface with the nervous system."Electronics-maker Philips has conceived of more sensual, personal uses for the devices: Stimulated by touch, an Electronic Tattoo traverses across the landscape of the body, navigated by desire.
I was visiting PENOLAN's blog Menopausal Stoners the other day and she had posted the video below. I am reposting it because I believe this is one of the most important things we, as ordinary citizens, can do to help ourselves out of the vice-jaw traps set for us by corporate America and their political stooges.
My oft-used reply to my right-wing friends when they complain about all the real estate being bought up in the country by foreign investors is, "So what? If we decide to take it from them what are they going to do, come and get it?"
If every one of us who have been robbed by the banking industry and their "for no other reason but greed" 30% credit card interest rate hikes were to simply stop paying them, there isn't a damned thing they can do about it.
If we Americans can somehow find the gumption to vote out of office every single one of the pricks who take gifts, bribes, contributions, favors... whatever... from these thieves, we could reorganize and correct our corrupt system overnight.
Apart from a poisoned environment, far and away the single biggest threat to us and our security is the greed-driven predatory financial practices of Wall St. aided and abetted by a corrupt government. You don't believe me, read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/opinion/10rich.html
It is way past time for a tax-payer driven citizen revolution.
The success of Avatar at the box office has created a lot of stir about 3-D television being the wave of the future. I remember my first 3-D motion picture experience. It was some sort of jungle film, maybe Tarzan. It was mid-1950s and filmed in black and white . I have a vivid memory of a spear landing in my popcorn. Yikes! It was great.
I recently ran across these three videos and tucked them away for future use. The future is now.
I believe you will find them as fascinating as I did.
ROLL-UP COMPUTER
SONY GADGET
This gadget serves no useful purpose that I can tell but it does foretell the future.THE BIONIC MAN IS HERE
The first Monday of the new year and we're already faced with more incredible crap than you can imagine. A visit over to Holte's place informed me that Ireland, of all places, has passed a law criminalizing blasphemy. That's right, crack a joke about the Virgin Mary and your ass is in jail! I couldn't believe that an otherwise advanced civilization could step so far backwards.
KAMPALA, Uganda — Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks.
The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.
For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”
Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.
Isn't it strange that the countries and cultures of this world who condone the use of rape and sodomy as a punishment and weapon of war are the ones who have the most savage laws against homosexuality and the highest rates of HIV?
Don't think it can't happen here. The division of the Episcopal Church over a gay bishop is proof enough of how backward thinking a lot of people in this country are.
Gay rights is a civil rights issue and we must never give up the fight.
