Doofus Of The Day #660

Today's winner is a delivery driver in Russia.  The video speaks for itself.

Oops . . . !





Peter

End of an aviation era in Australia

The Royal Australian Air Force this week retires the last of its old-model Lockheed C-130H Hercules transports, which it will replace with new C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.  Thanks to Australian reader Snoggeramus, we have several video reports about the Herky-birds' last flight over Sydney.  (The video continues with news of the arrival of the sixth and last Boeing C-17 Globemaster III ordered by Australia.)

You can read more about the Hercules' retirement here and here.  There's an excellent large-format photograph (suitable for computer wallpaper) here of the last C-130H flying over the iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Peter

Fighting bureaucratic corruption in Russia

Yahoo! News has a very interesting report about a Russian farmer who ran headlong into official corruption, and is trying to do something about it.

When Eduard Mochalov tried to have the people who stole his cattle and pig farm brought to justice, he spent eight months in jail on charges he says were cooked up. He appealed to Vladimir Putin and even set himself on fire outside the Kremlin in protest, but still couldn't draw attention to his cause as his farm slowly fell into disrepair.

Now, Mochalov has found a new life as a crusading journalist investigating corruption in his native region, fueled by tips from disgruntled businessmen and government workers. Undeterred by a system where the law is selectively used to protect the powerful and crack down on critics, Mochalov has quickly earned cult status — not to mention the ire of countless local officials — throughout the small province of Chuvashia.

Roughly once a month, he publishes a free newspaper called Vzyatka, or The Bribe, which rails against what it calls "Chuvash kingpins" who steal from the province's budget. Headlines include "The governor of Chuvashia's family business" and "If nobody's been found guilty, that means they're already in power." The paper has proved so popular that with a print run of 20,000 he has trouble meeting demand.

There's more at the link.  Very interesting reading, particularly (since Mr. Mochalov encountered corruption as a farmer) in the light of allegations of corruption within the US agricultural bureaucracy.  I wonder how long it may be before such action is also necessary here?

Peter

A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you all

I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I'm profoundly grateful to God for his mercy, which is greater than I could ever deserve, and for the grace he's given me this past year.

I'm very grateful to and for my wife, Miss D., who makes every day better and helps me be a better person for her sake.

I'm grateful to be alive and moderately well, despite some serious health problems over the past year.  With God's help and as much perseverance as I can stomach, I'll get over them yet.

I'm grateful to you, dear readers, for your support and the feedback some of you provide.  I've used this blog to practice the 'trade' of writing, and I hope that within the next few months, the first fruits of that - in the form of my first two fiction books - will become available (certainly as e-books, and perhaps as print versions too).  I hope you'll enjoy them too, and continue to support my efforts here and in other formats.

Give thanks for your own blessings in this season, to God and the people who've provided them.  The future may look dark and stormy, at least economically and probably in other ways too, but we can still be grateful for all the good we've received.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #659

Courtesy of Australian reader Snoggeramus, today's winner is from the same country.

A DRUG trafficker ... phoned police to rescue him from a luxury yacht he had stolen, a court has heard.

. . .

Mavropoulos's lawyer Peter Waye told the court that his client ... made a spur-of-the-moment decision to steal the yacht, which he was unable to drive. "It is amazing that he didn't become a drowned rat, sink the boat and sink himself," Mr Waye said.

Mr Waye said Mavropoulos had made no plans on what to do with the "massive cabin cruiser" and was "just sailing away from his troubles".

"He was just lucky he didn't bump into something or crash the boat and drown himself ...  just lucky he didn't steal a bulldozer, I guess. It could have been worse." he said.

There's more at the link.

That's a unique legal strategy in my experience - telling the court that sure, your client did it, but 'it could have been worse'!  Is that an attempt to obtain leniency?  If so, and if I were on the jury, I'd be thinking that if he got out sooner than absolutely necessary, it would be worse, so why not lock him up for as long as possible?

Peter

Sarcastic school reports

The Telegraph has published fifteen excerpts from school reports as submitted to its Letters page.  A couple of examples:

“The improvement in his handwriting has revealed his inability to spell.”

“He has given me a new definition of stoicism: he grins and I bear it.”

There are more at the link.  Enjoy!





Peter

Rice paddies as art?

The Daily Mail has published two articles showing rice paddies in a whole new light, so to speak.

The first depicts Japanese rice paddies bedecked with thousands of pink LED's.  Here's one image from the article.

The second shows Chinese rice paddies reflecting the sunlight at various times of the day.  The photographer climbed a local peak and stayed up there for hours to record the images.  Again, here's just one of the photographs she took.

There are many more (and much larger) images at each link.  Interesting and recommended viewing.

Peter

A musical memory of the season

I've been a fan of the Strawbs, the British folk- and progressive-rock group that got its start back in the 1960's, for as long as I can remember.  Their 1974 album 'Hero and Heroine' produced this eight-minute-plus three-part rock classic, 'Autumn'.

Imagine my pleasure when this morning, while touring around YouTube looking for something else, I found this 'unplugged' version of 'Autumn' featuring the 'acoustic Strawbs' with a special guest, John Hawken, the keyboard player from the original version.  It was recorded in September this year at the Strand Theater in Lakewood, NJ during their American tour.  I love it!

The Strawbs are still as good as ever they were . . . and in honor of the season, I couldn't resist posting this here.  Thanks for the music and the memories, guys!

Peter

Traffic this!

I've mentioned some of the problems of Third World vehicle traffic in a few articles, but words can't adequately convey the enormity of the problem.  It's a mindset, more than anything else - a mindset that is fatalistic, unconcerned about others, determined to get where one's going no matter who or what might be in the way, and probably a suicidal impulse or two thrown in!

I found these two video clips on YouTube today, showing traffic in an Indian city.  One is from some distance away, the other is much closer to a different intersection.  Just watch the behavior of the drivers and pedestrians (particularly the auto-rickshaw drivers in their three-wheeled scooter-based tuk-tuks), and you'll see what I mean.  Full-screen viewing is recommended.

Note, too, the chalked blocks on the road in the second video clip, marked off by entrepreneurs to designate the parts of the road where they've decided to set up their chairs - traffic be damned!





Peter

Bruce Schneier on e-mail and Internet security

If you've been following the Petraeus scandal, you'll know that the FBI was able to access e-mails between himself and his biographer/mistress without needing a court warrant to do so.  This has upset many people, but it's apparently quite legal.

Now Bruce Schneier (whom we've met before in these pages) has put up a very useful article summarizing the state of affairs concerning privacy and security of e-mails and Internet discussions in general, in the context of this scandal.  He links to several reports and sources, and leaves it up to his readers to draw their own conclusions.  Their comments (following the article itself) also make interesting reading.

Highly recommended reading - and food for thought.

Peter

Hilarious horror movies

I'm not a horror movie fan at all - in fact, I refuse to watch them - but when comedy is added to the mix, as in 'Young Frankenstein' or 'Love At First Bite', that's different.

Now Timeout London has come up with a collection of ten 'Hilarious Horror Films'.  They're not 'comedy horror', but 'comically horrific' because so many things went wrong!  The magazine says:

Looking for a horror film that is hilarious for all of the wrong reasons? They’re all here: giant rabbits, gay demons, murderous lawnmowers, killer bees and ‘s*** weasels’. Every one of these horror films comes heartily recommended: grab a friend, crack a beer and join Tom Huddleston for the ten most hilariously, stupendously, side-splittingly rotten horror films ever made . . .

Click on over there to be horrifyingly entertained!





Peter

Privately enterprising, indeed!

You might call it a sporting proposition all round!  Fox Sports reports:

A Greek soccer team has found a novel way to drum up money in these tough economic times: by going right to the oldest profession.

Voukefalas, a minor-league club from Larissa, have signed a shirt sponsorship deal with a local brothel.

"When we announced to the players that our sponsor would be a brothel, they wanted to know about bonuses," the club's president Giannis Batziolas told local radio station NovaSport FM. "The proposal was made strictly for economic reasons. As soon as the offer was made, we couldn't turn it down."

There's more at the link.

Would this be a prime example of market penetration?





Peter

A reminder about the fund-raisers for Tam

I just wanted to remind readers that the fund-raisers for fellow blogger Tamara's medical expenses (about which I've written before) mostly culminate in drawings for prizes on Thanksgiving Day, although some will run a bit past that.  For full details, please see JayG's latest update and follow the links he provides.

There's a new raffle to report, too:  Heath J. is offering a chance to win this 'combination gun' (which I'd refer to as a 'drilling') in 20ga. and .22 Magnum for a donation of $25.

I'm sorely tempted to toss more money in the hat to get a ticket!  It looks like a lovely piece.  More information at his blog.

I've no idea how much has been raised so far, but I imagine Tam will need at least $3K for the removal of the basal cell carcinoma, plus more to cater for any plastic surgery that may be necessary to repair her schnozz.  If you haven't already donated to the cause, may I personally beg you to do so?  Tam's good people, and deserves our help.

Peter

Lawyers gone wild?

It certainly sounds like it - at least in Pakistan!  The Washington Post reports:

In a nation where the rule of law is already fragile on many levels, police officials, judges, litigants and witnesses say they have become increasingly fearful of marauding lawyers in their trademark black pants, coats and ties.

“If police officers don’t submit to their pressure, they abuse and beat them,” said Sadaqat Ullah, the 28-year-old police investigator who alleged that a group of lawyers pummeled him in late September because he refused to share a confidential hospital report with an attorney in the original assault case. “They behave like gangsters.”

Lawyers at the site that day say that only harsh words were exchanged; the provincial bar council is investigating. But at least 15 episodes of “hooliganism” and “high-handedness,” as the media and victims describe them, by lawyers have been reported this year, undermining the heroic reputation they gained from their role in a constitutional standoff that began five years ago.

In a country where militants rule large swaths of territory, corruption is endemic and people are “disappeared” by security agencies, the “black coats” emerged as defenders of the rule of law after then-President Pervez Musharraf suspended the constitution, arrested political foes and fired judges. The world beheld incongruous images of men in suits braving police lines and tear gas in the capital, Islamabad, to demand the reinstatement of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.

Lahore was the epicenter of the 2007-09 “Black Revolution”, as it is known. In one raid on the High Court Bar Association, police arrested more than 800 lawyers involved in the movement for judicial independence.

In the end, Musharraf lost power and Chaudhry went on to become a controversial one-man powerhouse who regularly calls to account top elected leaders and army generals for alleged abuses of power. But since those heady days, critics say, lawyers’ arrogance and aggressiveness have wiped out any goodwill they had generated.

“Storm troopers,” Ayaz Amir, a politician and commentator, called them in a June column. “Time was when lawyers did most of their arguing with their tongues. Now they seem to do a better job with their fists.”

There's more at the link.  Interesting reading.

Trouble is, of course, the police and the authorities used violence and intimidation against the lawyers of Lahore while trying to break their protests a few years ago.  The lawyers learned from the experience of being on the receiving end . . . and now they're dishing it out in their turn.  Remember the Golden Rule?  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  I'd say the lawyers are applying it pretty well right now!

Unfortunately, a proverb reminds us that "Two wrongs don't make a right".  The lawyers might do well to remember and apply that rule, too - otherwise a certain quotation from Shakespeare is likely to become more and more popular in Lahore!





Peter

Now that's high resolution!

What's claimed to be the highest-resolution photograph ever taken of the ruins of Machu Picchu has been published by the Telegraph in London.  Here's a screen-capture at low resolution.  Note the peak ringed in red.

Now here's the same image, zoomed to the top of that peak.  See the man working there?

Yep . . . I'd say that's high-resolution all right!  The Telegraph reports:  "The online image was taken using a Canon 7D with a 400mm lens. It actually consists of 1,920 pictures taken using a robotic camera mount, which were then stitched together."

Click over to the Telegraph to view the image.  It's fascinating to be able to see various aspects of the ruins 'up close and personal', as it were.

Peter

About the Hostess Brands bankruptcy . . .

. . . did you see the salaries the union bosses involved are paying themselves?

The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union has a membership of just over 82,000, according to Union Facts.  Here's what its President and Vice-Presidents pay themselves, from the same Web site:

For the life of me, I can't see how a trade union - any trade union - can justify paying such bloated-plutocrat salaries to its officers.  Here's a simple question:  what do those salaries say about those earning them off the sweat of their members?  Do such figures really indicate that the President and Vice-Presidents of the union give a flying Twinkie about the welfare of those whose contributions support them?  Or do they care only about milking the cow to death?

If I were one of the thousands of Hostess Brands employees who have lost their jobs when the company shut down, thanks to the union's actions, I'd want to know what my union bosses had been doing to earn that sort of money . . . particularly because, thanks to them, I'd no longer be earning a cent from the company!  My pension has vanished into the bureaucratic limbo of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and my as-yet-unpaid expense claims and medical bills are unlikely to be honored as part of the Hostess Brands bankruptcy.  However, my union Presidents and Vice-Presidents will go right on drawing their fat-cat salaries, and won't suffer so much as a moment's hardship.

Nicely done, BCTGMIU . . . I don't think!





Peter

Tired puppy

It's been a long day, and I'm very tired.  I'll put up several fresh posts early tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, to keep you happy, click here to see a salute by a US railwayman to the environmentally conscious.  (Embedding is disabled for the video, so I can't show it here - you'll have to go there.)





Peter

Making your day

Courtesy of an e-mail I received earlier today, here's 170 of Clint Eastwood's greatest movie quotes.

One of my favorites is his exchange with Lone Watie (played by Chief Dan George) in 'The Outlaw Josey Wales':

Josey Wales: "Whenever I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long."

Lone Watie: "I notice, when you get to dislikin' someone, they ain't around for long either."

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #658

Today's award goes to a mustachioed cross-dresser in Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates.  CNN reports:

Police arrested an Indian man for "violating public decency" and breaching modesty laws after he dressed in traditional Arab women's clothing and slipped into a women-only park in Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates.

It was not clear if the man's moustache might have been a weak point in his disguise.

There's more at the link, including a rather incongruous mug-shot of the offender.

Gee, you'd think he'd have thought to shave off his mustache before trying to pass himself off as a woman . . . or was he, perhaps, thinking of camels at the time?





Peter

Economic points to ponder

Over the past few days there have been a few articles worth noting.

Zero Hedge points out that as of the second quarter of this year, gross notional derivatives outstanding worldwide totaled no less than $639 trillion.  That's compared to a Gross World Product (i.e. the Gross National Product of every nation on earth, added together) of only about $69.11 trillion last year.  In other words, derivatives (which are nothing more or less than financial speculation - bets, if you will) are valued at almost ten times more than the entire world economy.  This is, of course, absolute nonsense - it's not practically possible - but nevertheless, a derivatives crash can (and may yet) bring down the world economy with it.  This is what the banksters have wrought, and our politicians have let them do so.  Let's remember that when the crunch comes.

Next, Der Spiegel has a very interesting article on a world addicted to debt.  It has a European-centric focus, of course, but it's one of the clearest explanations I've yet found of how things got this bad.  The article is titled 'Betting With Trillions'.  Highly recommended reading.

Also in Der Spiegel is an examination of Greece's wealthy class - the 1% of the population that controls most of that country's wealth.  While demonstrators take to the streets to protest the Greek government's austerity programs, the rich continue to live in idle tax-evading luxury.  It's a sickening article . . . but what it describes is repeated on this side of the Atlantic too.  Look at the attitudes and behavior of the top 1% of American society, and you'll find much the same behavior.  (Please note that I'm not opposed to people being rich, and have no objection to anyone becoming as successful as they can.  However, I believe that those who 'have it' are well advised, in the current economic climate, not to 'flaunt it' in the faces of those who are literally starving, or losing their homes, or facing ruin.  I regard the Paris Hiltons of this world as the unacceptable face of capitalism, to put it mildly!)

All the linked articles make for interesting reading.

Peter