Emergency Preparation, Part 8: Some useful articles

I've been meaning to write more articles on emergency preparation from a basic, common-sense perspective, but life, the universe and everything have been getting in the way.  To keep the topic going, here are some links to useful articles and resources I've come across in recent weeks.  Click on the title of each section to go to the link.


Warbelt Fun:  Ryan at Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest offers his thoughts on setting up a basic 'survival belt' or 'warbelt' containing essential items for an emergency.

Junk, Minimalism, What We Really Need and Survivalism:  Ryan discusses how prone we all are to accumulate junk, and describes his own efforts to get rid of excess clutter and reduce his possessions to those he really needs and/or can't easily do without.  I daresay all of us (most definitely including myself!) could stand to do likewise.

Prepping on $40 a week:  The TEOTWAWKI Blog has a very useful series under this subject heading, showing how for a relatively small investment each week you can build up a comprehensive emergency kit in short order.  There's a lot of material, but each week's entry deals with only one or two things, so it's easily digestible.  Highly recommended, particularly for those of us (including me) on a tight budget.

37 Things You Need in a Crisis:  The blog Getting Started In Emergency Preparedness has a two part article about this, listing all sorts of things that will be necessary (including linking to other, similar lists).  Very useful.  Follow the links to Part 1 and Part 2.

What Are the Boundaries of Your Local Economy?  Resilient Communities asks this question, and answers it with reference to common resources such as Craigslist.  This is a useful concept in terms of local trade/barter transactions.  Establish connections now with like-minded persons, so that relationships are already established in time of need when an approach from a stranger might be greeted with suspicion or excessive caution.

Months of free hot water:  In the same article linked above, Resilient Communities links to this article from the Kailash Ecovillage in Portland, Oregon.  It describes how a family built a composting greenhouse using a straw bale foundation.  They ran a hundred feet of plastic water piping through the compost.  Heat exchange warmed the water to a very usable 90°-130° Fahrenheit for 18 months until the structure was dismantled.  Hot water will be at a premium in an extended power outage, or if you have to 'bug out' to an emergency location.  This offers an interesting, low-cost and easy-to-build hot water system for a makeshift dwelling.  As one who's spent more time away from hot water than I ever want to spend again, I can assure you, a steady supply of this substance will make survival a whole lot more comfortable - and hygienic!  (Don't just think personal hygiene, either.  Hot water makes it a whole lot easier to wash dishes, cooking utensils, clothing, etc.  That greatly improves your overall health situation.)

Preparedness and Resiliency:  Wendy McElroy looks at how to be flexible, and the need to avoid making excuses to avoid making basic preparations.  She points out that a basic one-week survival kit, containing all the essentials except water, can be stored in a simple 18-gallon tote (which costs less than $10 from some vendors, such as this one selling through Amazon.com).  That gets around most people's objections that they don't have space or storage capacity for an emergency kit, doesn't it?

Alternate Food Storage: A Week in a Bucket:  This article at SurvivalBlog covers precisely what its title says - how to prepare store enough food for a week in a single 5-gallon bucket.  It's very practical, and very useful.  Recommended reading.


There, that's plenty for you to read until I can get around to writing more about emergency preparedness.  There's a lot of information out there, as a simple Internet search will reveal.  Ignore the advertisements from companies trying to cash in on the growing interest in this field, and do your own reading among the large number of sites offering advice.  You'll find plenty of useful hints, tips and tricks.

Peter

Talk about being lucky!

This driver on a Russian freeway certainly had luck on his side.

If I were him, I'd have stopped at the nearest lottery ticket sales point and bought as many as I could afford, before my luck ran out!





Peter

How disinformation works

There's a very interesting article on the Web site Alt-Market.com, which describes itself as follows:

This website exists to facilitate networking, local community action, and the exchange of knowledge and ideas. We promote decentralization, localism, and the de-globalization of human economic systems. We aim to work with and support local economies, markets, barter networks, and farmers cooperatives; and to promote alternative currencies and monetary systems.

That's somewhat opaque, as it doesn't reveal the philosophy(ies) behind those intentions;  but it's all they say, so take it as you will.

The article in question is titled 'Disinformation: How It Works'.  It's a fairly detailed analysis of how governments, the news media and other organizations seek to control what information is disseminated, silence dissenting voices, and generally control the public's perspective on events of the day.  Here's a brief excerpt as an example.

Media Disinformation Methods

The mainstream media, once tasked with the job of investigating government corruption and keeping elitists in line, has now become nothing more than a public relations firm for corrupt officials and their Globalist handlers. The days of the legitimate “investigative reporter” are long gone (if they ever existed at all), and journalism itself has deteriorated into a rancid pool of so called “TV Editorialists” who treat their own baseless opinions as supported fact.

. . .

Some of the main tactics used by the mainstream media to mislead the masses are as follows:

Lie Big, Retract Quietly: Mainstream media sources (especially newspapers) are notorious for reporting flagrantly dishonest and unsupported news stories on the front page, then quietly retracting those stories on the very back page when they are caught. In this case, the point is to railroad the lie into the collective consciousness. Once the lie is finally exposed, it is already too late, and a large portion of the population will not notice or care when the truth comes out.

Unconfirmed Or Controlled Sources As Fact: Cable news venues often cite information from “unnamed” sources, government sources that have an obvious bias or agenda, or “expert” sources without providing an alternative “expert” view. The information provided by these sources is usually backed by nothing more than blind faith.

Calculated Omission: Otherwise known as “cherry picking” data. One simple piece of information or root item of truth can derail an entire disinfo news story, so instead of trying to gloss over it, they simply pretend as if it doesn’t exist. When the fact is omitted, the lie can appear entirely rational. This tactic is also used extensively when disinformation agents and crooked journalists engage in open debate.

Distraction, And The Manufacture Of Relevance: Sometimes the truth wells up into the public awareness regardless of what the media does to bury it. When this occurs their only recourse is to attempt to change the public’s focus and thereby distract them from the truth they were so close to grasping. The media accomplishes this by “over-reporting” on a subject that has nothing to do with the more important issues at hand. Ironically, the media can take an unimportant story, and by reporting on it ad nauseum, cause many Americans to assume that because the media won’t shut-up about it, it must be important!

Dishonest Debate Tactics: Sometimes, men who actually are concerned with the average American’s pursuit of honesty and legitimate fact-driven information break through and appear on T.V. However, rarely are they allowed to share their views or insights without having to fight through a wall of carefully crafted deceit and propaganda. Because the media know they will lose credibility if they do not allow guests with opposing viewpoints every once in a while, they set up and choreograph specialized T.V. debates in highly restrictive environments which put the guest on the defensive, and make it difficult for them to clearly convey their ideas or facts.

TV pundits are often trained in what are commonly called “Alinsky Tactics”. Saul Alinsky was a moral relativist, and champion of the lie as a tool for the “greater good”; essentially, a modern day Machiavelli. His “Rules for Radicals” were supposedly meant for grassroots activists who opposed the establishment and emphasized the use of any means necessary to defeat one’s political opposition. But is it truly possible to defeat an establishment built on lies, by use of even more elaborate lies, and by sacrificing one’s ethics? In reality, his strategies are the perfect format for corrupt institutions and governments to dissuade dissent from the masses. Today, Alinsky’s rules are used more often by the establishment than by its opposition.

There's much more at the link.  It's very interesting reading, and - particularly during this election year, where media bias is rampant - very relevant to our daily lives.

(I hasten to add that the Alt-Market.com article may itself contain disinformation - that's the hazard of this sort of resource.  If you're interested in the topic, I urge you to do an Internet search for more information.  This might be a good start.)

Peter

Five years into the Great Recession

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard analyzes where we're at, and where we're likely to be going, five years into what he calls the Great Recession.

Five years into the Long Slump it almost seems as if we are back to square one.

China is sufficiently alarmed by the flint hardness of its "soft-landing" to talk up trillions of fresh stimulus. The European Central Bank is preparing to print “whatever it takes” to save Spain and Italy. Markets are pricing in an 80pc chance of yet more printing by the US Federal Reserve in September or soon after.

There is no doubt that the three superpowers acting in concert can launch a mini-cycle of growth early next year - assuming they deliver on their rhetoric - but the twin headwinds of debt-leveraging and excess manufacturing plant across the globe cannot easily be conjured away.

The world remains in barely contained slump. Industrial output is still below earlier peaks in Germany (-2), US (-3), Canada (-8) France (-9), Sweden (-10), Britain (-11), Belgium (-12), Japan (-15), Hungary (-15) Italy (-17), Spain (-22), Greece (-27), according to St Louis Fed data. By that gauge this is proving more intractable than the Great Depression.

Some date the crisis to August 9 2007, the day it became clear that Europe’s banks were up to their necks in US housing debt. The ECB flooded markets with €95bn [over US $117 billion] of liquidity. It seemed a lot of money then. The term “trillion” was still banned by the Telegraph style book in those innocent days. We have since learned to swing with the modern dance music from central banks.

. . .

Five years on it is clear that subprime was merely the first bubble to pop, a symptom not a cause. Europe had its own parallel follies. Britons were extracting almost 5pc of GDP each year in home equity by the end. Spain built 800,00 homes in 2007 for a market of 250,000. Iceland ran amok, so did Latvia and Hungary. The credit debacle was global. If there was an epicentre, it was Europe’s €35 trillion [over US $43 trillion] banking nexus.

. . .

A study by Stephen Cecchetti at the Bank for International Settlements concludes that debt turns “bad” at roughly 85pc of GDP for public debt, 85pc for household debt, and 90pc corporate debt. If all three break the limit together, the system loses its shock absorbers.

“Debt is a two-edged sword. Used wisely and in moderation, it clearly improves welfare. Used imprudently and in excess, the result can be disaster,” he said.

Creditors and debtors may in theory offset each other, but what actually happens in a crunch is that borrowers cut back feverishly. Creditors do not offset the effect. The whole system spins downwards. It is debt’s fatal “asymmetry”, long overlooked by New Keynesian orthodoxy.

It is how people behave, and how countries behave.

. . .

As soon as the debtors hit the brakes and slashed spending, the underlying reality was exposed. There is too much saving and too little consumption in the world to keep growth, and people in jobs. It is the 1930s disease. On this the Keynesians are right.

None of this would have been any different if banks had been saints. The forces at work are tidal in power.

. . .

As for our debt mountain, we have barely begun the great purge. Michala Marcussen from Societe Generale says the healthy level is around 200pc of GDP for advanced economies. If so, we have 100 points to cut.

This cannot be achieved by austerity alone because economic contraction would tip us all into a Grecian vortex. Such a cure is self-defeating.

Much of the debt will have to be written off. Whether this [is] done by inflation (1945-1952) or default (1930-1934) will be the great political battle of this decade. Pick your side. Pick your history.

There's more at the link.  Worthwhile reading - and, from my perspective, a pretty accurate read on where the global economy is at right now.  Unless the authorities 'bite the bullet' and write off debt, as Mr. Evans-Pritchard indicates, we'll be in this mess for years yet . . . if not more so.  Der Spiegel reported today that European investors are actively preparing for the collapse of the Euro.  If that happens, it's going to hit our economy like a tidal wave.  Investors can't help but recognize the same warning signs of debt imbalance here.  At the moment, the US dollar seems to them like a safe haven from the Euro's problems.  When those problems crescendo into collapse, they'll realize that the same thing's inevitable here too.  When they wake up to that reality, it'll be 'Katie, bar the door!'

Peter

"America’s Secret Drone War in Africa"

That's the title of an article in Wired online magazine's Danger Room military blog today.  Here's an excerpt.

Some five years after a U.S. Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flew the type’s first mission over lawless Somalia, the shadowy American-led drone campaign in the Horn of Africa is targeting Islamic militants more ruthlessly than ever.

Thanks to media accounts, indirect official statements, fragmentary crash reports and one complaint by a U.N. monitoring group, we can finally begin to define — however vaguely — the scope and scale of the secret African drone war.

. . .

In all, air raids by manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft have killed at least 112 Somali militants, according to a count by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Fifty-seven innocent civilians also died in the raids, the nonprofit Bureau found. The dead jihadists have included several senior members of al-Qaeda or the affiliated al-Shabaab extremist group. In January, a drone launched three Hellfire missiles at a convoy near Mogadishu and killed Bilaal al-Barjawi, the mastermind of the 2010 bombing in Kampala, Uganda, that claimed the lives of 74 soccer fans.

In an escalating secret war, drones are doing an ever-greater proportion of the American fighting.

. . .

The drones came by land and by sea. Besides Camp Lemonnier, Predators and Reapers operated by the Air Force (and possibly the CIA) deployed to the Seychelles and Ethiopia for flights over the Somalia. It’s been difficult to verify exactly how many drones are present at each base, but Predators and Reapers normally deploy in groups of three or four known as “orbits,” each staffed by around 75 people who launch, land, arm and repair the ‘bots. If all three major known African UAV bases have single orbits, the robot force structure in the region could include as many as 12 Predators and Reapers at a time.

At around the same time the larger drones were settling in, American agents, commandos or contractors in Mogadishu — it’s no clear who, exactly — received an unknown number of five-pound, hand-launched Ravens from manufacturer AeroVironment. The simple, camera-equipped Ravens were ideal for short-range surveillance flights during the urban battles aimed at liberating Mogadishu from militants. In 2011 Washington approved a $45-million package of arms and training to Ugandan peacekeepers in the city that included another four Ravens.

Meanwhile Navy ships sailing off the Somali coast began carrying catapult-launched Scan Eagles manufactured by Boeing and Insitu [shown below - image courtesy of Wikipedia] as well as Northrop Grumman’s vertical-takeoff Fire Scout robo-copters.

The Fire Scouts initially helped in Navy counter-piracy efforts, but by 2011 had shifted to “overland intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance … for Special Operations Forces,” according to a recent Navy story. The sailing branch also deployed one of its five RQ-4 Global Hawks — Northrop-built spy drones with the wingspan of a 737 airliner — to an unspecified Indian Ocean base to, among other duties, provide air cover for the 5th Fleet off the Somali coast. And although unmentioned in press reports, Air Force Global Hawks  are also theoretically available for Somalia patrols from their forward base in the United Arab Emirates.

There's much more at the link, including photographs.  Looks like the US armed forces are a lot busier in Africa than we'd been led to believe . . .

Peter

Good fishing!

Salmon fishing season is in full swing in Alaska right now.  The Anchorage Daily News has a photo gallery sent in by its readers of the fish they've caught so far this year.  Some of them are pretty spectacular!  Here's just one as an example.

There are many more at the link.  I thought those of my readers who enjoy fishing might like to see them.

Oh, yes - Rule #1 of Alaskan salmon fishing:  If a bear decides that he wants the salmon you just hooked . . . he gets it!



Peter

I think this might be overdoing it . . .

Some enterprising Japanese company has invented an electronic delivery solution to the toilet paper dispensing problem.  (I wasn't actually aware that the problem existed in the first place, but there you are . . . )

I suspect they haven't quite thought this through, because - what happens if the power goes out while you're 'seated on the throne'?  You'd better be able to get that sucker open to retrieve the necessary paper the old-fashioned way, or you're going to spend the entire period of the power failure stuck in situ, cursing the name of the designer!

Talk about technological overkill . . .





Peter

Prayer request for the AnarchAngels

Chris Byrne, who writes at 'The AnarchAngel' together with his wife, Melody, is to undergo surgery for cancer tomorrow.  He'll be having a total thyroidectomy, which isn't a particularly dangerous operation but can result in complications.  Recovery is likely to take a while.

Chris has made it clear that he doesn't want people to try to contact him - he won't be in a fit state to return inquiries for a while.  Melody, too, will be very busy looking after him and trying to keep things going for both of them.  Therefore, if you want to send them messages of goodwill, I suggest you keep them short and post them as a blog comment, or a short e-mail.

Nevertheless, I'll be keeping Chris and Melody in my prayers.  May I ask those of my readers who are so inclined to do the same?

Hang in there, Chris;  and Melody, we've got your back.  If you need help, post it on your blog, and we'll do all we can.

Peter

"Peak Civilization: The Fall of the Roman Empire"

That's the title of a fascinating article by Ugo Bardi, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Florence in Italy.  It's very long, but it's well worth the effort to read it.  Prof. Bardi analyzes the decline and fall of Ancient Rome and uses it as an analogy to examine our own times - with some surprising and disturbing consequences.  Here are a few excerpts.

Let's start from the beginning ... with the people who were contemporary to the collapse, the Romans themselves. Did they understand what was happening to them? This is a very important point: if a society, intended as its government, can understand that collapse is coming, can they do something to avoid it? It is relevant to our own situation, today.

. . .

Let me start with Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who lived from 120 to 180 A.D. He was probably the last Emperor who ruled a strong empire. Yet, he spent most of his life fighting to keep the Empire together; fighting barbarians ... Marcus Aurelius did what he could to keep the barbarians away but, a few decades after his death, the Empire had basically collapsed. That was what historians call "the third century crisis". It was really bad; a disaster. The empire managed to survive for a couple of centuries longer as a political entity, but it wasn't the same thing. It was not any longer the Empire of Marcus Aurelius; it was something that just tried to survive as best as it could, fighting barbarians, plagues, famines, warlords and all kinds of disasters falling on them one after the other. Eventually, the Empire disappeared also as a political entity. It did that with a whimper - at least in its Western part, in the 5th century a.d. The Eastern Empire lasted much longer, but that is another story.

. . .

Marcus Aurelius ... was a "philosopher-emperor" who left us his "Meditations"; a book of philosophical thoughts. For instance, you can read such things as:

Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.

That is the typical tune of the book - you may find it fascinating or perhaps boring; it depends on you. Personally, I find it fascinating. The "Meditations" is a statement from a man who was seeing his world crumbling down around him and who strove nevertheless to maintain a personal balance; to keep a moral stance. Aurelius surely understood that something was wrong with the Empire: during all their history, the Romans had been almost always on the offensive. Now, they were always defending themselves. That wasn't right; of course.

But you never find in the Meditations a single line that lets you suspect that the Emperor thought that there was something to be done other than simply fighting to keep the barbarians out. You never read that the Emperor was considering, say, things like social reform, or maybe something to redress the disastrous situation of the economy. He had no concern, apparently, that the Empire could actually fall one day or another.

. . .

I think it is enough to say that the Romans did not really understand what was happening to their Empire, except in terms of military setbacks that they always saw as temporary. They always seemed to think that these setbacks could be redressed by increasing the size of the army and building more fortifications. Also, it gives us an idea of what it is like living a collapse "from the inside". Most people just don't see it happening - it is like being a fish: you don't see the water.

. . .

The point that Tainter makes, quite correctly, in his book is that it is hard to see the fall of such a complex thing as an empire as due to a single cause. A complex entity should fall in a complex manner, and I think it is correct. In Tainter's view, societies always face crisis and challenges of various kinds. The answer to these crisis and challenges is to build up structures - say, bureaucratic or military - in response. Each time a crisis is faced and solved, society finds itself with an extra layer of complexity. Now, Tainter says, as complexity increases, the benefit of this extra complexity starts going down - he calls it "the marginal benefit of complexity". That is because complexity has a cost - it costs energy to maintain complex systems. As you keep increasing complexity, this benefit become negative. The cost of complexity overtakes its benefit. At some moment, the burden of these complex structures is so great that the whole society crashes down - it is collapse.

. . .

Our Druids may be better than those of the times of the Roman Empire, at least they have digital computers. But our leaders are no better apt at understanding complex system than the military commanders who ruled the Roman Empire. Even our leaders were better, they would face the same problems: there are no structures that can gently lead society to where it is going. We have only structures that are there to keep society where it is - no matter how difficult and uncomfortable it is to be there. It is exactly what Tainter says: we react to problems by building structure that are more and more complex and that, in the end, produce a negative return. That's why societies collapse.

There's much more at the link.  Highly recommended reading, and very thought-provoking.

Peter

Around the blogs

There's been lots of good material from other bloggers over the past few weeks.  Here goes!

# # #

Ken at Popehat linked to an earlier post of his, dating from 2007, in which he shared an interesting insight into depositions and the taking thereof, including an analysis of lawyers' tactics to make one say what they want instead of what one really wants to say.  Very useful - not to mention amusing!

# # #

Firehand linked to a blog post by Marko about motorcycle accidents and inertia, and to a Swedish article about a motorcycle accident in 2005.  WARNING:  The latter article has photographs that, while not of the in-your-face blood-and-brains type, may nevertheless be disturbing to some readers who've never seen violent death before.  I hasten to add, however, that since the vehicles are on public display, it's clear the Swedish authorities must have cleaned up the human remains beforehand.  All three articles are highly recommended reading - particularly if you have kids who are learning to drive, or who are new drivers.  Very educational, in the most sobering way possible.

# # #

Paul Caron, otherwise known as TaxProf, reports that '[The] Middle Class Receives More in Government Benefits Than They Pay in Taxes'.  The Roman Empire would have referred to this as yet another example of 'bread and circuses'.

# # #

The always interesting Al Fin gives us a fascinating insight into what people are doing while online, and how this has changed over time.  I must admit, I'd never heard of the term 'teledildonics' until I read it there.  (WARNING:  The subject is probably not safe for most workplaces!)

In another article, he points out that free online college-level education (which is becoming more and more prolific) is now being matched by the online availability of free college-level textbooks.  This is a very logical progression, and one that I think will be yet another nail in the coffin of the old higher-education model - not before time!  It's also extremely useful for people like you and I, who may have completed our college or university educations long ago, but would like to keep our minds 'stretched' by studying new subjects and disciplines.  It's increasingly easy to do so without spending even a cent.  Works for me!

# # #

Leeann over at 'Look! A Baby Wolf!' has an absolutely hysterical article about being struck by an attack of burrito-fueled flatulence while trying to supervise the cable guy.  I will confess to having to stop work for at least five minutes to wipe my eyes and wait for the chuckles to subside.

# # #

Mat Honan, writing at Wired online magazine's Gadget Lab blog, describes how a hacker was able to fraudulently obtain his personal information from Amazon.com, then use it to gain access to his Apple account and cause all sorts of problems.  He begins:

"In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook."

There's more at the link.  The Telegraph reports that 'Apple and Amazon are overhauling their security procedures' as a result of the hack, but that's yet another example of bolting the stable door after the horse has gone.  Readers with an extensive online presence might wish to take note.

# # #

While on the subject of hacking, Borepatch advises us of a monumental security breach involving the electronic locks on no less than four million hotel room doors.  I'm certainly going to be using additional door security (something like this, for example, or this - there are many similar products out there) when I stay at hotels in future.  I'll keep my gun handy, too!

Borepatch also links to a new blog, 'Streamliner Memories', that celebrates the 'glory days' of streamliner railway trains.  Those were the days, indeed!

# # #

The Silicon Graybeard points out yet another idiocy of the enviro-weenies, this one involving lead-free solder - which just so happens to produce side-effects that can disable or destroy electronic equipment from wristwatches to satellites.  The stupid - it burns!

# # #

Stingray of the Atomic Nerds has a wonderfully funny review of the civilian-legal model of the FN P90 personal defense weapon.  Here's a sample of his penetrating technical analysis:

"... the trigger pull feels like you’re trying to choke Spongebob Squarepants. The trigger doesn’t so much break, but more is like when you chill silly putty and then try to snap it in half. It mostly oozes around the problem and then sort of lets go in a half hearted glorp."

There's more at the link.  (The 'Spongebob triggergroup' comes in for a great deal more abuse.)  Giggle-worthy!

# # #

Doc Bailey, a.k.a. The Mad Medic, has a very sobering and powerful post about the hard choices a medic will face.  Those of us who've needed a medic in combat, or in an emergency, in the worst possible way, will find this brings back many memories . . . some of them ones we'd perhaps rather not face again.  Nevertheless, it's worth reading.

# # #

Chris Byrne, writing at The AnarchAngel, describes the 'equilibrium trap' in which many US farmers find themselves at present.  His solution is drastic, and probably unpalatable to many farmers . . . but it makes sound economic sense.  (There are, of course, many non-economic factors currently affecting US farms, most importantly the obscene subsidies doled out by obedient and greedy legislators to agribusiness conglomerates like Archer Daniels Midland, and the innumerable scandals that have plagued agribusinesses such as Monsanto.  A plague on the lot of 'em!)

# # #

Mike Vanderboegh, writing at Sipsey Street Irregulars, examines in great detail the US Army's extremely controversial 'Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland' study.  He's rather more angry and outspoken about it than I am, but then, he usually is on most such subjects!  I don't necessarily disagree with his conclusions;  I'm just not sure that the document is more than a study.  I doubt very much whether it's reached the level of official policy - at least, not yet.

(By the way, Mike's been fighting a very tough battle against cancer.  I don't know his current condition, but I get the impression things are not going well for him.  I'd appreciate it if you'd please join me in praying for his health, and if necessary for as good an end as possible to a well-fought life.  He's been an outspoken and occasionally controversial contributor to the struggle to preserve the Second Amendment.  Despite his sometimes extreme views, all gun-owners owe him a debt of gratitude.)

# # #

'Dr. Mercury', writing at Maggie's Farm, offers us a wonderfully amusing study of 'Bachelor's Secrets'.  Here's a sample.

Household Chores

— When it comes to the loathsome, arduous task of vacuuming, the best trick is to use dirt-colored rugs.  Home Depot has a 'Filth Brown' color that's very popular.  And the thicker the pile, the longer you can go between vacuuming.  Although it cost a pretty penny, I have a 3" pile that allows me to go roughly five years between vacuuming, so that's quite a savings in time that can be better spent on the Internet correcting all of the people who are wrong.

— As far as dusting goes, I've discovered that once you reach a certain point, you really can't tell the difference between months of neglect and decades of neglect.  So, on that exceptionally rare occasion when one of those 'guest' things comes over, you just offhandedly mention, "Sorry if the place is a mess — just haven't dusted in a while" and everybody immediately understands.  You're just another poor, hapless bachelor.  Plus, the dust acts as a protective barrier against mildew, mold and rust, much the same way smoking cigarettes protects your lungs against germs and bacteria with a protective coating of nicotine.

— When it comes to outside chores, like weeding and mowing the lawn, I simply tell everyone I'm a devout Zoroastrian and am forbidden to interfere with nature and they can't say a thing lest I have them indicted for religious persecution.  Besides, once the weeds grow past the tops of the windows, they act as a 'natural shade' so you don't have to run the air conditioner as often, thereby saving energy and thus preventing global warming.  You might laugh, but if everyone did this, the earth might cool down enough to save the polar bears.

There's more at the link.  Very entertaining reading.

# # #

The Talk Radio Blogger brings us the story of three replica versions of Columbus' ships and their ongoing restoration, complete with many photographs.  Very interesting information, particularly for those interested in history and the sea.  Recommended reading.

# # #

Alan Caruba points out the eroding integrity of journalism, as exemplified by a recent ABC News story that was grossly in error and caused serious damage to an honest and entirely legitimate business.  It's infuriating to read - but also very informative, particularly at a time when the news media are bombarding us with coverage about the forthcoming Presidential election.  Given this sort of accuracy in reporting, and their very clearly evident bias in politics, anyone who trusts the news media for accurate reporting is living in cloud cuckoo land!

# # #

Speaking of political coverage, Donald Sensing (who makes very good sense indeed) calls this 'The First Po-Mo Presidential Campaign'.  He draws comparisons to Orwell's prognostications about the future of politics.  I can't disagree with a thing he says.

Og, the Neanderpundit, goes further (and I totally endorse his opinion).

I support Freedom. I support as much freedom as possible for as many people as possible. I’m not stupid, I know that freedom, it’s a pricey thing, and we may not be able to afford it for everyone. And yet it is my goal.

To make the assumption that there ever has been or ever will be a single candidate or party or group that is capable of providing that freedom is ludicrous; to wait for the “Right person” to come along so you can vote for them is ignorant and insane, and to stay home in droves in a fit of pique is… well, it’s just not me.

Politics is a game of adults and children. A segment of the population has chosen the Government as the adults, and themselves as the children- and they are wrong to do so, of course, because Government hasn’t got the sense God gave cheese. And these people are not “them” they are, for the most part, us. Only mindset separates the sane from the insane, and nowhere is it more obvious than in Politics.

There's more at the link.  It's worth reading in full.

The inimitable Charles Hugh Smith points out that political change won't necessarily overcome the enormous challenges currently facing us.

Freeing ourselves of self-serving Elites would certainly create an opening for structural transformation that is currently impossible, but the transformation will require changing much of what the average citizen takes for granted as a "given" or even "right."

For a little perspective on what lies ahead, let's consider the structural problems that remain even if we were fortunate enough to throw off the yoke of the Fed, the corporate cartels, and the entire system of Elitist dominance.

Again, more at the link, and well worth reading.

# # #

Old NFO brings us a heartwarming tale of corporate support for our wounded veterans.  I won't steal his thunder, but I urge you to click over to his blog to read it for yourself.  When you've done that, how about doing something to thank the company concerned?  A letter of appreciation is always a good idea, even if one doesn't use their products.

# # #

Finally, Firehand goes all medieval on his face with a Rendezvous razor kit and a home-made razor strop.  I enjoyed his descriptions - and, let's face it, with the cost of razor blades being what it is today, he might have done us all a service by showing us a cheaper way to shave.  I resent having to pay a dollar or more per blade/cartridge for something that probably cost less than 5c to manufacture, package and distribute!

# # #

That's all for this week.  More soon!

Peter

Boys and their (wrecked) toys!

From the soundtrack, I presume this video clip was filmed in an Arabic-speaking nation, but I can't be sure.  Can anyone enlighten us?  Wherever it was, I can only presume their traffic cops are a lot more lenient than those around my city of residence!

One can only hope the driver was taking it to be repaired . . . or junked!





Peter

World's most expensive hot dog?

Yahoo! News has published a photo slideshow titled 'Most Expensive Foods in the World'.  Among its many mind-boggling entries is this one.

Photo by: Capitol Dawg
Hot Dog, $145.49
On May 31, 2012, Sacramento's Capitol Dawg made its way into the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records with its California Capitol City Dawg.

Served on a foccacia roll, the world's most expensive hot dog is an 18-inch beef frank topped with Swedish moose cheese, Italian white truffle butter, French mustard, garlic-herb mayonnaise, smoked maple bacon from New Hampshire and local balsamic vinaigrette.

There's more at the link.

A hundred and fifty bucks for a hot dog???  Ye Gods and little fishes . . .





Peter

The best of 'Sign Language'

We've mentioned the Telegraph's 'Sign Language' photo contest in these pages before.  The newspaper's Web site has just published the 'Best of Sign Language' for July 2012.  It has a rich harvest of odd-sounding signs (to English-speakers, at any rate).  Here are a few examples.

There are many more at the link.  Good for a giggle!



Peter

The 2012 Presidential race is still way off-target

The announcement today by Mitt Romney that his Vice-Presidential running mate will be Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has made headlines, and has certainly stirred up both positive and negative partisan comments, but I find it fundamentally trivial.  The recent attack ads by the Obama campaign against Mr. Romney and vice versa are equally trivial, because neither campaign has even begun to address the real issue at stake in this election:  the future of America.

Mark Steyn puts his finger on it.

... another four years of the present statist ascendancy will seal America’s fate. As noted here previously, the International Monetary Fund predicts that China will become the world’s dominant economic power by 2016. So the guy elected in November will be the first president since Grover Cleveland to know what it feels like to be the global also-ran. Even this, however, understates the size of catastrophe the United States faces. There are no precedents in history for a great power spending itself to death on the scale America is doing. Obama has added $5 trillion to the national debt, and has nothing to show for it. Do you know how difficult that is to do? Personal debt per citizen is currently about 50 grand, but at least you got a La-Z-Boy recliner and a gas-fired barbecue out of it. Obama has spent America’s future, and left no more trace than if he and his high-school “choom gang” had wheeled a barrow of 5 trillion in large notes behind the gym and used them for rolling paper. Right now, combined total debt in the United States is just shy of $700,000 per family. Add in the so-called “unfunded liabilities” that a normal American business would have to include in its SEC filings but that U.S.-government accounting conveniently absolves itself from, and you’re talking about a debt burden per family of about a million bucks. In other words, look around you: the paved roads, the landscaped shopping mall, the Starbucks and the juice bar and the mountain-bike store . . . There’s nothing holding the joint up.

. . .

Half the country is entirely unaware of the existential threat Obama-sized government represents, and Mitt seems in no hurry to alert them to what’s at stake, save for occasional warnings that if we’re not careful America will end up like Europe. We should be so lucky. The more likely scenario is something closer to the more corrupt and decrepit fiefdoms of Latin America. Look at the underlying assumptions of the Mitt-gives-you-cancer ad — that in America a businessman is somehow responsible not only for his employee’s health, but that of the employee’s family members years after said employee has left said employ. No Euro-socialist would even understand the basis of the attack: In its assumptions about the ever more tortuous and farther flung burdens the state can place upon private business, it is quintessentially American.

This election represents the last exit ramp before the death spiral. (Yes, yes, I know: too long for a campaign button.) Obama has spent the last four years making things worse. More debt, more dependency, more delusion. For Act Two, he’s now touting the auto bailout as a model for . . . everything! “I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry.” In the last three years, he has “created” 2.6 million new jobs — a number that does not even keep up with the number of (legal) immigrants who arrive each month. Obama does not “create” jobs, he creates disabled people: In the same period as 2.6 million Americans signed on with new employers, 3.1 million signed on at the Social Security Disability Office. Obama is the first president in history to create more disabled people than workers. He is the biggest creator of disabled people on the planet.

There's more at the link.

I'm not opposed to President Obama because he's a Democrat;  I'm opposed to him because he's both utterly incompetent (from a sound management point of view) and frighteningly competent (from a socialist/Marxist point of view).  He's also corrupt, dishonest and a statist from head to toe.  I'm not opposed to Mitt Romney because he's a Republican;  I'm opposed to him because he's as much of a statist as President Obama, albeit from a somewhat different perspective, and panders to the political elite rather than addressing the real needs of the country.  I firmly believe that either candidate may (and probably will) lead this country to complete and utter ruin;  the only difference is that President Obama can (and probably will) do it within his second term, whilst Mitt Romney may take a few years longer than that, probably leaving the 'end game' to his successor(s).  As such, I suppose Mr. Romney represents the lesser of two evils . . . but it's unutterably depressing to have to vote for anyone on the basis of "having the least negatives" rather than "having the most positives".

As for their Vice-Presidential picks, I think Joe Biden (if he remains President Obama's running-mate, which isn't certain) is a bad joke.  Paul Ryan appears to have been growing more (and better) informed about US economic realities, but even so, he voted for TARP and other 'big government' initiatives.  I've heard that he's changed his views, but I have no evidence to confirm that.  I'd like to see him repudiate the views that led him to do so.  If he still holds those views, I have little hope that his budget proposals (a good beginning though they are) will be further developed, and/or followed by action in a Romney administration.

As Peggy Noonan pointed out yesterday:

What Americans are worried about, take as a warning sign, and are heavily invested in is California—that mythic place where Sutter struck gold, where the movies were invented, where the geniuses of the Internet age planted their flag, built their campuses, changed our world.

We care about California. We read every day of the bankruptcies, the reduced city services, the businesses fleeing. California is going down. How amazing is it that this is happening in the middle of a presidential campaign and our candidates aren't even talking about it?

Mitt Romney should speak about the states that work and the states that don't, why they work and why they don't, and how we have to take the ways that work and apply them nationally.

Barack Obama can't talk about these things. You can't question the blue-state model when your whole campaign promises more blue-state thinking.

. . .

Both campaigns are afraid of being serious, of really grappling with the things Americans rightly fear. But there's no safety in not being serious. It only leaves voters wondering if you're even capable of seriousness. Letting them wonder that is a mistake.

There's more at the link.

Back in February I pointed out that the US presidential elections are essentially irrelevant.

It no longer matters what either President Obama, or his Republican wannabe challengers, offer as policies for this country. All those policies depend on a functioning economy to underpin them . . . and our economy is teetering on the verge of ceasing to function. We're venturing into uncharted territory, dealing with numbers the like of which the world has never seen. Nobody knows for sure just how bad things might get, because no-one's ever had to deal with these levels of debt before . . . but we can be absolutely sure of one thing. This economic collapse will happen. It's as certain as the sunrise, because not one of the likely Presidential candidates in 2012 is facing this reality, and/or offering any workable solutions for it.

. . .

The only way to stop these consequences is to cut back US government spending, right now, to a level commensurate with its income. However, that isn't going to happen: because the electorate, deprived of its entitlement programs, would immediately vote out of office any and all Congressional representatives, Senators and the President who passed such legislation. Therefore, we're going to go on inching towards the edge of the economic cliff until we completely lose our footing and fall over it.

All the Presidential campaigning that will plague us over the next year is completely and utterly irrelevant if it doesn't take this economic reality into account . . . but it won't. It can't, because none of the likely candidates, from either party, dares to face up to economic reality. They know they would never be elected if they did. As far as the Presidential election is concerned, we are truly screwed.

Our only recourse is to seek out, nominate and elect Congressional representatives and Senators who understand economic reality, and who will have the courage to work towards policies that acknowledge and address that reality. I don't care what party they're from. If they're honest people, who will do what's right, I'll support them. They'll have to understand that if they do the right thing, they'll see the electorate turn against them: but they have to have the moral courage to do it anyway.

That's our task in the coming year. It may not be enough to get us out of this mess . . . but it's the only hope we have.

Again, more at the link.

I've seen nothing thus far to make me change my outlook . . . more's the pity.

Peter

A new airship takes to the skies

The US Air Force recently cancelled its proposed Blue Devil II persistent surveillance airship project, but the US Army is pressing ahead with its plans for a similar vehicle.  The prototype of the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, or LEMV, flew for the first time on August 7th.  Ares reports:

The Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command statement says:

"The first flight primary objective was to perform a safe launch and recovery with a secondary objective to verify the flight control system operation. Additional first flight objectives included airworthiness testing and demonstration, and system level performance verification. All objectives were met during the first flight."

When Northrop signed the $154 million contract for the LEMV in June 2010, first flight was scheduled for 12-13 months into the 18-month development program. The airship is planned to deploy to Afghanistan after the completion of testing, which would now put it into early 2013.

The airship is designed to operate unmanned at 20,000 ft. for 21 days; providing up to 16kW of electrical power for a 2,500 lb. payload of several different sensors. Hybrid Air Vehicles of the UK is the subcontractor responsible for the airship itself.

The LEMV is optionally manned and flew with a crew for this first flight. "Additional manned flights will resume following a planned and very detailed inspection of the vehicle," says the Army.

There's more at the link.  Here's a video clip of the LEMV's first flight.

It's good to see an airship in the air again, particularly one combining the lifting effects of gas with an aerodynamically-shaped 'body' providing lift as well.  It'll be very interesting to see whether the Army's plans for this vehicle come to fruition.

Peter

Swimming at the beach, in a more modest age

I was intrigued to come across a French Web site, 'The Green Box', which had a post filled with pictures of old-fashioned bathing machines or booths from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The photograph below shows the beach at Ostende, Belgium, crowded with the things.

These contraptions were literally huts on wheels.  Ladies would enter them above the high-water mark, and change into their bathing costumes inside, safe from the lascivious gazes of any males in the vicinity.  While they did that, a horse or ox would draw the hut into the water, so that they could climb down steps straight into the sea.

When they were finished, the process. was reversed.  They would climb the steps and close the door behind them.  While they were changing back into their street clothes, a horse or ox would draw the hut out of the water and back to dry land.

King Alfonso XIII of Spain had a particularly elaborate bathing 'hut'.  It was more like a 'bathing palace', with multiple rooms (including a bar), and was mounted on two sets of rails, to be slid smoothly into and out of the water by a winch (seen in the foreground, below).

There are many more photographs at the link.  To see many of them in much larger sizes, left-click on each image and open it in a new tab or window.  They're great fun!

Peter

Not your average motorcycle race!

I wouldn't have believed this unless I'd seen this video clip.  Would you believe that in Italy, they actually have races for Vespa scooters???

Ye Gods and little fishes . . .  All they need now is a special race for little old lady riders!  There are certainly enough of them in Italy.





Peter

Iowahawk hits one out of the park

The inimitable David Burge is at it again!  Here's a short excerpt from his take on President Obama's notorious "You didn't build that" comment, with inspiration from the Creation story in the Book of Genesis.

17 And on the fifth day Govt made an official Govt holiday, and headed off for a 3-day golf weekend at Camp David. But first Govt said to the economy, "you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, except the tree of Knowledge. There is a serpent in that thing, and thy health care does not cover it."

18 So when Govt was on vay-cay the economy set about the garden, plowing its fields and generating revenue for the glory of Govt. They obeyed the regulations and were not ashamed.

19 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the balanced, publicly-funded birds the Lord Govt had made to sing news to the economy. The serpent was on the AM band. He said to the retail sector, “Did Govt really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? ”

20 "Only yours, serpent," said the retail sector.

21 “Don't be a wuss,” the serpent said to the retail sector. 22 “For Govt knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will wise to Govt's scam.”

There's more at the link.  Hysterical!



Peter

Doofus Of The Day #629

I guess today's award should go jointly to the Trojan condom company and the administration of New York City.  The New York Post reports:

They must have rubbed Mayor Bloomberg the wrong way.

City officials pulled the plug on a vibrator giveaway by the Trojan condom company yesterday, disappointing potentially thousands of pleasure-seeking women who hoped to get their hands on some no-cost sex toys.

“I’m 57 years old. I should be able to get a vibrator!” declared Linda Postell, who was among hundreds of women (and men!) waiting in the heat on Pearl Street only to be left unsatisfied. “I have a problem with the smoking ban, and the soda ban — and now this!”

Trojan sent tingles of excitement across the city when it announced the giveaway of some 10,000 vibrating sex toys from hot-dog-style pushcarts.

. . .

But instead of climaxing in a successful giveaway, the promotion was prematurely interrupted by City Hall, which sent a dark-suited representative to put the squeeze on Trojan’s “Pleasure Carts.”

The spoilsport, who declined to identify himself, told Trojan’s reps at the Flatiron location that they had to shut down because of the size of the crowd that had gathered.

. . .

“There’s a lot more important things the city should be worried about than a free-vibrator giveaway,” complained Park Slope bar owner Melody Henry, 42. “Bloomberg doesn’t want anyone to have fun. You can’t have a giant soda. You can’t have a vibrator.”

There's more at the link, including a video report and a picture gallery.

Silly of them, really.  The only vibrators one's likely to find on most city streets are these - and they mostly have union operators attached to them!





Peter

A new tool for snipers

DARPA's Advanced Execution Office (an unfortunate name for a military research department, if ever I heard one!) has announced that prototypes of the latest iteration of its Advanced Sighting System (also known as One Shot) are under development.  The device may enter service within the next few years.

Military snipers may only get one chance to hit their target. The One Shot program seeks to enable snipers to accurately hit targets with the first round, under crosswind conditions, day or night, at the maximum effective range of the weapon.

To achieve this, the One Shot system provides a measured profile of downrange crosswind and range to target. This information is then used to compensate the bullet trajectory to offset crosswind effects and range-related bullet deviations, substantially increasing the probability of first-shot hit.

One Shot XG Phase represents the next-generation of the One Shot system. In previous phases, the program has conducted two development cycles through numerous field tests, government field test verifications and demonstrations to military services. 

First-generation One Shot spotting scope (image courtesy of DARPA)

The program should complete Phase 2E in fall 2012, which will reduce system size, weight and power and extend the engagement range.  The Phase 2E system will mount on a conventional spotting scope, and prototypes are expected to be available for field evaluation in fall 2012.

First-generation One Shot weapon scope (image courtesy of DARPA)

Because of interest expressed by services, One Shot XG is being initiated to create a significantly smaller “field-ready system” that can be “clipped-on” directly to the weapon, eliminating the need for a spotter/observer in future sniper operations.

This next-generation One Shot envisions a compact observation, measurement, and ballistic calculation system mountable on either the weapon or spotting scope.  The system developed will measure all relevant physical phenomena that influence the ballistic trajectory and rapidly calculate and display the offset aim point and confidence metric in the shooter’s riflescope.  The system will provide the ability to see the aim point on the target in either day or night to enable rapid target identification, weapon alignment, measurement of range to target and the crosswind profile.  The XG system seeks to exploit new technologies to operate over a range of visibilities, atmospheric turbulence, scintillation and environmental conditions.

There's more at the link.

Many of us have had more than enough trouble dealing with snipers equipped with regular scopes on the battlefield.  These look set fair to make the sniper's job a whole lot easier, and our job in avoiding them (not to mention counter-sniper tactics) a whole lot more difficult!  I hope they keep this technology carefully under wraps.  The thought of what a determined terrorist could do with it is not a happy one . . .

Peter

Did 'Operation Fast And Furious' have a cartel connection?

We've discussed the ongoing Operation Fast And Furious scandal in these pages on numerous occasions in the past.  Now comes a possibly false, but nevertheless intriguing claim from a Mexican drug cartel operative.  TheBlaze reports:

A high-ranking Mexican drug cartel operative currently in U.S. custody is making startling allegations that the failed federal gun-walking operation known as “Fast and Furious” isn’t what you think it is.

It wasn’t about tracking guns, it was about supplying them — all part of an elaborate agreement between the U.S. government and Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel to take down rival cartels.

The explosive allegations are being made by Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, known as the Sinaloa Cartel’s “logistics coordinator.” He was extradited to the Chicago last year to face federal drug charges.

Zambada-Niebla claims that under a “divide and conquer” strategy, the U.S. helped finance and arm the Sinaloa Cartel through Operation Fast and Furious in exchange for information that allowed the DEA, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies to take down rival drug cartels. The Sinaloa Cartel was allegedly permitted to traffic massive amounts of drugs across the U.S. border from 2004 to 2009 — during both Fast and Furious and Bush-era gunrunning operations — as long as the intel kept coming.

. . .

The claims seem to fall in line with statements made last month by Guillermo Terrazas Villanueva, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state government in northern Mexico who said U.S. agencies ”don’t fight drug traffickers,“ instead ”they try to manage the drug trade.”

Also, U.S. officials have previously acknowledged working with the Sinaloa Cartel through another informant,  Humberto Loya-Castro. He is also allegedly a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel as well as a close confidant and lawyer of “El Chapo” Guzman.

. . .

Zambada-Niebla was arrested by Mexican soldiers in late March of 2009 after he met with DEA agents at a Mexico City hotel in a meeting arranged by Loya-Castro, though the U.S. government was not involved in his arrest. He was extradited to Chicago to face federal drug charges on Feb. 18, 2010. He is now being held in a Michigan prison after requesting to be moved from Chicago.

During his initial court proceedings, Zambada-Niebla continually stated that he was granted full immunity by the DEA in exchange for his cooperation. The agency, however, argues that an “official” immunity deal was never established though they admit he may have acted as an informant.

. . .

In their official response to Zambada-Niebla’s motion for discovery, the federal government confirmed the existence of “classified materials” regarding the case but argued they “do not support the defendant’s claim that he was promised immunity or public authority for his actions.”

Experts have expressed doubts that Zambada-Niebla had an official agreement with the U.S. government, however, agree Loya Castro probably did. Either way, the defense still wants to obtain DEA reports that detail the agency’s relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel and put the agents on the stand, under oath to testify.

The documents that detail the relationship between the federal government and the Sinaloa Cartel have still not been released or subjected to review — citing matters of national security.

There's much more at the link.  I highly recommend taking the time to read TheBlaze's report in full.

I'm well aware that a criminal, desperate to mitigate his sentence, may make all sorts of outlandish claims.  However, under the very murky circumstances surrounding 'Operation Fast And Furious' and its predecessors, and particularly given the government's reported unwillingness to release classified documents in this case . . . it makes me wonder.

I'd like to see greater courtroom discovery on this matter.  If there's even a shred of truth in the claims made by Mr. Zambada-Niebla, it'll be explosive, to say the least!  It might also go a long way towards explaining why the ATF and the Department of Justice have been so reluctant to admit the extent of their knowledge of the operation, and/or to release all the relevant documents to Congressional investigators.

Peter

A different kind of predator!

I'm sure many readers know the Discovery Channel's annual 'Shark Week' series of programs.  It seems someone on YouTube has decided to improve on the idea.

Peter

What happened to the right of admission?

I was astonished to read of an Australian court's ruling about prostitution in a hotel.  The Telegraph reports:

Australia's hotel industry has been rocked by a court's ruling that a prostitute was illegally discriminated against by a motel owner who refused to rent her a room to work from.

The ruling has stunned hotel and motel owners, who thought they had a right to decide what sort of businesses were operating from their premises.

The prostitute, identified only as GK, went to Australia's courts alleging discimination after being banned from the Drovers Rest Motel in the coal mining town of Moranbah in Queensland.

The prostitute stayed at the motel 17 times in two years before the owners discovered in 2010 that she was bringing clients to her room. She was then banned from staying there.

. . .

Richard Munro, chief executive of the Accommodation Association of Australia, a tourism industry lobby group, said the Queensland and Australian governments should consider changing laws to ensure that hotel and motel owners can decide what sort of businesses are being operated under their roofs.

"It's absolutely illogical," Mr Munro said. "If a hairdresser decided to set up shop in the motel and started inviting people in to get their hair cut, I think the motel owner would have the right to say, 'Hang on, that's a different business operating out of my business'. If a prostitute decided to start working out of a shopping mall, the owners would have something to say about it. There is some protection for the rights of the motel owner here."

Mr Munro said his group would seek legal advice after hearing the tribunal's reasons. He said a prostitute could attract customers late at night who could knock on the wrong door and disturb other guests.

"If the amenity of the guests is disturbed, owners should have the right to protect the overall guests' experience by removing people who are disturbing the peace," Munro said.

Janelle Fawkes, chief executive of the Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association, said the ruling was a major win for the prostitution industry throughout Australia.

There's more at the link.

I was under the impression that if an establishment put up a sign saying 'Right Of Admission Reserved', and/or printed that on tickets, bookings, etc., then it had the final say as to whether or not anyone would be admitted, whether or not they'd already paid for the use of the facility(ies) involved.  That's how, for example, a drunk man may be refused admission to a bar, even though he's not committed any offense at all.  I'm dumbfounded to find that a prostitute might be able to override that and demand the right to use a room for business purposes.  Certainly, if I were a guest at that hotel, I'd be extremely concerned about my security, with unknown people wandering in and out of her room.

I think this ruling is a travesty of justice.  I hope it's overturned soon.  Would our Australian readers please let us know what transpires?

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #628

Today's award goes to Alaska Airlines.  CNN reports:

It's not the kind of view you want from the window seat: a damaged wing flap with a handwritten note on it saying "we know about this," with an arrow pointing to the area in question.

That's what one passenger on a July 28 Alaska Airlines flight from Burbank, California, to Seattle saw, snapping a photo of the rather unorthodox note that generated criticism on social media.

On Tuesday, Alaska Airlines said that a wing flap on the Boeing 737 had received an FAA-approved trim repair before the flight and was safe to fly.

. . .

Maintenance workers wrote the note to head off further reports, which was "not the best approach," McElroy said.

There's more at the link, including a photograph of the wing.

Y'know, if I saw a note like that on the wing of an aircraft in which I was flying - particularly if I only noticed it when we were cruising at well over 30,000 feet - I daresay I'd be less than amused, too!





Peter