Terrorists of any stripe

It occurs to me that the attacks on Russia by the Chechen and Dagestani Muslims are quite similar to the newsmaking Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas. WBC, if you haven't followed, are the group of real princes who bring protesters to war heroes' funerals to protest gays in the military. For example, both groups are allegedly driven to do these things by their faith, even though one would be hard pressed to find where the founders of either religion approved of such methods. Both groups are tarring the name of their faith, despite the amount of their brothers-in-faith who don't agree with them. Both groups are looking like idiots in front of the eyes of the world, which doesn't work real well with the concept in each religion of bringing new people to faith. And neither one is doing anything towards achieving their avowed goals. To Westboro, I have to say- what is your point? That you will follow your "man", despite what "your" God says? That the sin of homosexuality- actually the sin of being a part of an organization that passively tolerates homosexuality- is much more terrible than the damage you do to grieving families that have already suffered enough? Are you really disrupting the government and making your point by hanging out at the graveside services of people who by the manner of their death have already told you they could care less about your opinion? You claim to be Christians, but Christians are people who were taught by Jesus Christ, and Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount, and which part of that are you not stepping on with each step you take in your protests? Your actions invalidate you supposed faith; your words mean nothing.
And to you Muslim radicals, supposedly serving Allah and following Mohamed, I have a quicky guide for you. Question #1: Do your actions truly bring your goal any closer? Let's see, the destruction of the twin towers, did it a) cause the collapse of the USA, b)help you set up Islamic governments elsewhere in the world? (hint: there is at least one less Islamic Government in the world- Afghanistan- and I believe it was the USA that bombed it out of existence.) Question #2: Has your inane temper tantru- ahem, your heroic actions in the name of Allah done anything in the way of winning you international support of your goals? (hint: make a list of the countries that have come to support you as a result of homicide bombings, then another list of the nations you've pissed off, and do the math.) Question #3: Are you truly supporting your faith, and the values it is supposed to hold dear? (Hint: how much of radical Islamist teaching is from the Prophet, and how much is crap that got added on by Joe al-Blow, the sixth cousin of the Prophet's brother-in-law's maid's illegitimate love child, or whoever? That's the kind of thinking that brought you the crusades, courtesy of the medieval Catholic Church- you know, the guys you hated so much you decided to be just like them?) Question #4: Are the people you are hurting the ones, or do they have the potential to be, the ones that are hurting you? (Hint: make a list of all the Muslims that Maxim Mareyev, who was buried today, oppressed in his 20 years on this earth. GO ON, DO IT!) Question #5: What will you do when you get what you want? Will you build an Islamic state that will look out for and enrich the lives of Muslims everywhere? (Hint: Look at every Islamic state in history and show me one that didn't either try to tear itself to shreds because those who believe in the Prophet's daughter don't agree with those who believe in his son-in-law, or just flat out became as corrupt and abusive of its people as any secular government. Osama Bin-Laden's crap-laden cave doesn't count.) OK, that's all the questions. If you have answered one or more (or all) of these with a "no", then rest assured, you are a hypocritical, godless, murdering whack-job who, much like a mosquito, was only put on this earth to breed more idiots and drain the blood of innocents. You should be so proud. And tell me, Westboro Baptist, how many of these did you answer "yes " to? Really?

final four-in hockey

Not basketball, as my bracket is hopelessly torpedoed. (I had Butler in the final 4, all the rest are out.) Ak Bars got 2 goals from Alexander Badyukov and 2 assists from Evgeny Medvedev to beat Metallurg 3-1, win the series 4-2 and advance to play Salavat Yulaev in the eastern finals. Salavat moves on by topping Neftekhmik 2-1 on the second goal by Alexander Perezhogin (both assisted by Mika Hannula) with 3:45 left in the game.



Now that we're at the final four, here's a little bit about the cities involved.






Yaroslavl
Founded: 1010
Pop.: 613,088
Located: 155 mi NE of Moscow, in Russian Republic
Arena: Lokomotiv arena 2000, cap. 9,046
Sister city of Burlington, VT
Championships: 1997, 2002, 2003

Ufa (Home to Salavat Yulaev)

Founded: 1574 by Ivan the Terrible

Pop.: 1,021,500

Located: 974 mi east of Moscow , Rep. of Bashkortostan

Arena: Ufa arena, cap. 8400

Known for Bashkir honey













Balashikha
Founded:1830

Population: 147,909

Located: 16 mi E of Moscow

Arena: Balashikha Arena, cap. 6000



No championships (yet)

Kazan (Home of Ak Bars)

Founded: 1005
Pop.: 1,105,289
Located: 450 mi E of Moscow, Rep. of Tartarstan
Arena: Taftnet arena, cap. 10,000

Known as the "third capital of Russia" after Moscow and St. Petersburg
Sister city of College Station, TX
Championships: 1998, 2006, and last year

Udate on IPFW walk

Check out their website - http://www.phyplt.ipfw.edu/assets/NativeTreesOfIndianaRiverWalk/index.html
This is way cool.

The great IPFW walk, part one

Today Scrappy and I finally made it to and crossed the new IPFW footbridge over the river. This is a sizable walk just to get to the bridge, having to cross the Plex and follow California rd to get to it. On the north side of the bridge is a boat landing, and of course Scrappy had to go swimming before we proceeded. He also celebrated the crossing by peeing on the bridge just before we got off. Now here's where it ges fun, because the U. has made a riverwalk trail along which they have planted various trees (or counted existing ones) making a fascinating exhibition of I'm guessing 70 different varieties of trees, each with a plaque explaining tree, habitat, and interesting facts. It follows the river , around a pair of swampy inlets, behind the printing office into the central courtyard with its great bronze mastodon. It then turns, or will turn, as construction becomes ongoing at this point, up into a picnic area with tables and a wooden gazebo. Across from this is a daffodil garden and a small wooded patch with yet more plaqued specimens. Around this runs a sweeping sidewalk that circles back into the park; and beyond a hill on its far side are yet more plaques along the river, which we did not go to. This was already the longest walk we'd taken since my operation, and we still had to go home. Not to mention Mr. Boy has an aversion to being outside and stopping to rest. He barely stops in the middle of a poop, much less when I get tired. So back we went, encountering (in chronological order): three large ruts full of water, which he had to go through the middle of, drinking as he forged ahead; the largest squirrel's nest I've ever seen, and its nine (count 'em, nine) rowdy occupants; several geese which we tried to chase after they had seen us and took flight; a handfull of alleged paths to the water's edge, which Scrappy desperately wanted to dive into (he sure has overcome that reticence he had on our first trip back to the river); and finally we arrived back at the bridge. Once over, we went under the bridge so that I could reprise Scrappy's bridge christening; then Mr. Boy took another dip at the landing and we headed for home. Along the way we spotted our first ground hog of the season near the far side of the Plex in the feeder. Total time: estimated 1 hr 35-40 min. Distance, accordng to google earth, 3.16 miles (though it seemed more )to me. Still to be conquered: the path also winds down towards Coliseum, as well as the trail beyond the hill we saw.

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YEAH, LOKOMOTIV!! The boys from Yaroslavl punched their ticket for the semis against MVD today with an 8-1 romp over Spartak that once again this season left the playoffs purged of Moscow teams after 2 rounds. Alexi Mikhnov had 2 goals and 3 assists to lead an attack that saw 7 players grab two points, including Richard Zednik and my boy Josef Vasicek, who each added a goal and an assist. The 8 goals came on just 29 shots, compared to 46 handled by Lokomotiv goalies Georgy Gelashvilli and (for the last 5 minutes) Alexander Lazushin.

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I was looking at how the playoffs in the rest of the main European leagues were going. Here's a brief synopsis.
Austria Erste Bank Liga: Graz 99ers took the regular sason but got bounced in the first round. #2 Red Bull Salzburg and #4 Black Wings Linz have just kicked off the finals.
Czech Extraliga: HC Plzen wins the season by ten pts, and they are just starting the semi finals. In fact, unless I state otherwise, all of these leagues are just starting their semis.
Denmark AL Bank Ligaen: SonderjyskE won by 14 pts.
Finland SM-Liga: JVP Jyvaskyla won the season by two points. They are just going into what they (along with several of the other leagues) call the "pity playoffs"- instead of the 7th and 8th place teams getting in, they have an elimination round with the 7th - 11th (or more, in France) teams play in a round to see who gets those two spots.
France Ligue Magnus: Rouen took the season - a short, 27 game season, compared to the 54-game season most of the others play.
Germany Eishockey Liga: Eisbaren ( the polar bears) Berlin rolled to a 25-point triumph over second place Frankfurt in the season; Updates were behind here so I had to go to the league site, and to the best of my German, I think they are in the first round.
Italy Serie A: Renon won the season by 4.
Norway Get Ligaen: Valeringa Ishockey rolled to the season title.
Slovak Extraliga: Slovan Bratislava posted a 35-5-7 record and won the season title by 21 points.
Sweden Elitserien: HV-71 won by 3 points; traditional power MoDo missed the playoffs.
Swiss National League A: SC Bern by 1 point over Geneve Servette.
Interesting to note that the 2 teams mentioned to possibly leave their home leagues to join the KHL, Sweden's Skelleftea AIK finished 4th and lead their semifinal series; while Czech Rep.'s HC Energie Karlovy Vary is fighting to stay in the top Czech league. They are one of the 4 teams in what they call the play-out (and in 4th amongst them) where the last team in the play out will be replaced by the best team in the Czech 1 Liga (the top minor league team).

Sometimes it happens to my teams, sometimes it don't

First of all, the don't:



KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The Atlanta Braves have suspended a minor league pitcher who was charged with two prostitution-related misdemeanors after a sting conducted not far from the team's spring training facility.
Right-hander Deunte Heath bonded out of jail Friday. Kissimmee police spokeswoman Stacie Miller says the 24-year-old ballplayer was arrested Thursday night when he allegedly responded to Internet prostitution ads and agreed to pay $75 for a sex act.
The Braves say Heath has been suspended indefinitely and sent home to Decatur, Ga., while the club gathers details of his arrest. The team says it will have no further comment.
Heath, 24, pitched in 32 games last season with Triple-A Gwinnett and Double-A Mississippi. He went 2-6 with a 5.20 ERA.

Now, having spent some time near Kissimmee, I realize that it sits near enough to Orlando to be a service center for all the Disneyworld sin spillover. Apparently the Bravos are a bit lax on the "stay away from" lectures that should be an annual spring discussion by now. Either that, or one must wonder about a "prospect" who fails to be attentive to coaches and staff despite the fact that he's not exactly torn it up in his career . Anyone want to lay odds on Decatur, Ga., getting a call back from the Braves?

Now, my team:

ATLANTA -- A police report shows Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown had a blood alcohol level that was nearly twice the legal limit when he was arrested on a DUI charge in suburban Atlanta over the weekend.
The report, obtained by the Associated Press through an open records request, says Brown failed a field sobriety test and had a blood alcohol level of .158 when given a breath test. The limit to legally drive in Georgia is 0.08.
The report says a Marietta police officer pulled Brown over at 4:29 a.m. Saturday after seeing the 28-year-old driving fast and drifting into other lanes.
Brown did not immediately return a message seeking comment Thursday on his home phone. A man who answered the phone at Brown's mother's house said Brown and his mother were in Maryland.

Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie...

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Now, on to the strange case of the S91 cushion. This appeared on a Country Casual (or 'casualty', as I call them) order a few days back. Nobody but nobody knew what it was, though we had a pair of recent special orders with similar nomenclatures and we assumed it was a special order that we were still awaiting an e-mail from corporate about. Two days later, our new engineer Jeff comes out with a cut sheet (which shows us what we need to make). I stopped him and said (after looking at the thing) that since it was topped with a 35 1/2" radius, I needed him to print me a pattern on his blueprint printer. He came back out a bit later and said that it was the same as a H54 pattern, which we already had. Move forward to the next morning (yesterday) when I tried to make the fool thing. Order called for it to be made of L217 fabric, which is basically a dirty sky blue with hints of green. As I began to lay out the fabric, I noticed the cut sheet said that the fabric that wraps around the welt cord around the edges was to be "contrasting", i.e. a different yet complementary color. Checking our C.C. cheat sheet, we had no standard complementary color for L217, so I went to our super, Rhonda, to see if this was correct. About five minutes later, our lead, Victor, told me that the system (which now the S91 was a part of apparently) claimed the "complementary color" was L330, which made everyone recoil in horror, as this is well named as "nutmeg brick". Rhonda contacted our plant manager Lisa, who looked at the situation, took a picture of the 2 fabrics to e-mail corporate with the statement, "Oh, really?" (Her words, not mine.) Move ahead about 3 hours to Rhonda coming out and saying, "That's what the customer wants, go ahead."
Now, I've seen many odd combos and much lack of taste at Arden over the years. I can't even truthfully say for sure its the worst thing I've ever saw- but it's got to be way up there. But the story isn't done yet. I made everything exactly according to the cut sheet I was given. Minutes later, Wanda showed me that, for some reason, the sewn bands I cut for the zipper didn't match the size (width -wise) of the main band. We called over Monica, our expert on things like this. She took one look at the cut sheet and said that the zipper bands should have been 2" wide rather than the 1 3/4" the sheet called for. While she marched into the engineering office to chew buttocks, I decided to examine the situation. The pattern for the H54 was made about 3 years ago by myself, and I was putting all the band sizes and such right on the cardboard. Looking at the pattern, it said 1 3/4- but it was crossed out. Sure enough, look at the H54 cut sheet and the 1 3/4 had been crossed out and replaced with a 2", and at this point I remembered going through all this way back then. At that time, the engineering department was supposed to change the band size in the system and print us new cut sheets. Neither of those things happened, because the engineering department is "just so busy" and must have forgotten. Enter poor Jeff, who gets told by his bumbling boss Bob (who claims he didn't get his degree at Purdue but I don't believe him) that an S91 is an H54 and so he prints out a cut sheet with only the name changed- and thus still containing the too-narrow zipper bands. In comes Monica with her mad on and with Bob comfortably wasting time in yet another conference call, here stands poor Jeff, who has no idea not only that the cut sheet was wrong, but no idea of the dynamics of how a zipper band gets folded over to be sewn, etc., etc., and thus does'nt know how to tell when a zipper band doesn't match the main band. Believe me, he knows now.
Wrapping up, the fool things finally got sewn and look just as ugly as we imagined. We closed the situation speculating that the cushions were either a mother's day or wedding anniversary gift for a mother or wife who is a close likeness to Nancy Pelosi.

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And today's playoff games: Salavat Yulaev beats Neftekhimik 2-1 on a Mika Hamula goal 9:19 into OT. This after Neftekhimik goalie Ivan Kasutin had already stopped 48 of 49 shots. This series has now seen two 2-1 OT games and two 1-0 games, and the difference is that 6-2 Salavat win in game one. Salavat will have a chance to take the series Sunday. Also, Ak Bars went on a 3 goals in 11 1/2 minutes tear in the second period, and held on, against a withering (this is sarcasm) 17 shot attack to down Metallurg 3-1 and take a 3-2 lead into Sunday's games. Tommorow, Lokomotiv gets its first shot at eliminating Spartak and movng on to face MVD.

Playoff update- and one will fall

Once again I left one night off and do two days together. Last night (in Russia, yesterday morning here) all the goals in both games were scored in the 1st period. There was only one in the Salavat-Neftekhimik game, and it belonged to Salavat Yulaev as they win 1-0 and tie the series at 2 going back to Ufa. Metallurg also managed to tie their series heading back to Kazan with a 2-1 win in Magnitogorsk that featured two scores by Jan Marek. Today, Lokomotiv took a 3-2 lead over Spartak with a 2-1 win. My boy Josef Vasicek got his fourth of the postseason and Alexander Guskov picked up the game winner as Loko unleashed a 45-shot barrage at Spartak goalie Dmitrij Kotschnew.

And sadly, we have to say goodbye to Dinamo Riga. The last two games in Riga sold out 1 hour after being put on sale- 110,000 people logged onto their website trying to buy the 20,000 tickets. But the fan favorites could not overcome HC MVD, who won game five 3-2 on Alexi Ugarov's goal at 3:38 of the second overtime to win the series 4-1. The Balashieka sextet will face the Lokomotiv/Spartak winner.

50th Post!!!

To celebrate my fiftieth post, I had considered doing a brief "look-back"; but as I played that back in my mind, it became a preachy diatribe highlighting how I proved myself smarter and more righteous than those I typically wrote about. But I stopped, thankfully, and said, Chris, you ain't that smart and you ain't that righteous. So I looked back at the reasons I post, and decided to give glory where glory is called for- with the God that made the animals, created the nature, gave the guidance, passed out the resources, and put up with the stupidity- both that which I exposed and that which I demonstrated. Congratulations, Lord, on 50 posts in 82 days.

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And now, back to the KHL playoffs. Yesterday didn't have much of a buzz to it. Riga finally got on the board against MVD with a 3-1 win ; and Spartak, evildoers that they are, beat Lokomotiv 3-2 to take a 2-1 lead.

However, today was much buzzier. Three of four games went to OT! The one that didn't was Neftekhimik's 1-0 upset of suddenly ice-cold Salavat Yulaev. Andrei Ivanov scored the lone goal and Ivan Kasutin made it stand up between the pipes. Underdog Neftekhimik now holds a 2-1 series lead.
Metallurg and Ak Bars also played a 1-0 game, but it took 5 seconds short of a full period of OT before Petri Kontiola put in his first of the postseason to give Vasily Koshechkin and Metallurg a 1-0 win and brought them back to a 2-1 series against heavily favored Kazan.
Lokomotiv finally figured out how to win an OT game- give the puck to my boy Josef Vasicek, who scored at 7:33 of OT to give Yaroslavl a 4-3 win against Spartak and a tied series at 2-2. As in the previous OTs for Lokomotiv, they scored late to tie (Ivan Tkachenko with 2:23 left in regulation) but this time they finally finished the job after losing once in each series.
But the biggest effort was posted by MVD and Dinamo Riga who played 22 1/2 minutes of OT before Evgeny Fedoerov gave MVD the 5-4 win and a 3-1 series lead. Alexi Tsvetkov scored two straight goals in the second period to give MVD their first lead at 4-3, but Marcel Hossa tied the game with 44 seconds remaining to set up the two-OT finale.
Four 1-goal games, 50:01 of OT play, and two upsets; now that's a night of hockey!

a little news, a little fun, a little hockey, a little love.

First the news:

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the Eyjafjallajokull ( Iceland)volcano, but a state of emergency was declared and scientists feared the eruption could trigger a larger and potentially more dangerous eruption at the Katla volcano.
Saturday's eruption, which occurred just before midnight (2000 EDT, 8 p.m. EDT), came weeks after a series of small earthquakes. Television footage showed lava flows along the fissure.
"This was a rather small and peaceful eruption but we are concerned that it could trigger an eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, a vicious volcano that could cause both local and global damage," said Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Science.

Could this be the harbinger of our March disaster? Stay tuned.

Next, the fun.

Former President Bill Clinton poked fun at his ex-veep Saturday, telling the Gridiron Club's annual dinner that he was speaking on the night before the start of spring, "otherwise known to Al Gore as proof of global warming."
Clinton also made fun of Republicans, his White House successors, his own health and his audience of reporters, saying he was there because "I really didn't have anything much better to do tonight."
Clinton, who stood in for President Obama, said Democrats are going to pass health care.
"It may not happen in my lifetime, or Dick Cheney's, but hopefully by Easter," he said referring to his and the former vice president's heart ailments.
Obama, who's preparing for Sunday's probable House vote on health care reform, spoke to the dinner via videotape, saying that when he called Clinton to stand in for him, the former president said, "Let me clear my schedule for the next three years."
Clinton said Obama told him he was busy in the White House "polishing up his Nobel Peace Prize." Obama, he joked, asked: "You've got one of these, don't you?" -- a joke rooted in reports Clinton is unhappy that the current president got a Nobel Prize after only months in office while Clinton failed to be awarded one after long efforts to bring peace to the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East.
The dinner marked the 125th annual gathering of the Gridiron Club, whose members include Washington-based reporters.
In another reference to his health, Clinton said his favorite cocktail now was "Lipitor on the rocks," referring to the widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering medicine.
He said that when Obama appeared recently on Fox News the president was "keeping his word about meeting with hostile leaders without preconditions."
In a poke at Obama's combative chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, the former president said, "I found Rahm. I created him. I made him what he is today. I am so sorry."
In the 1990s, Emanuel worked in Clinton's White House.

I always knew Bill was a comedian. I just never found him funny before. Thanks to FoxNews for those stories.

And , the hockey. Maxim Yakutsenya got his 4th goal of the playoffs at 0:19 of the second OT to give Neftekhimik a series-tying 2-1 win over Salavat Yulaev in a game that saw the goalies make a combined 83 saves. And Ak Bars sneaks out a 3-2 win to take a 2-0 lead on Metallurg. Stanislav Chistov had tied the back-and-forth game for Magnitogorsk with 6 minutes left; But along came Alexi Morozov, unsatisfied with his hat trick yesterday, scoring with 1:48 left to win it for the Snow Leopards.

Finally, a shout out to my (current) favorite nephew, Andy Schible, who sent me this:

Thx Uncle Chris! love you blog btw

See? One out of 5 nephews love this blog! We'll work on doctors and pharmacists next.

Saturday playoff hockey

The two series starters plus the other two series played this morning our time. Salavat Yulaev continued hot with a 6-2 win over Neftekhimik. A 1-0 deficit was erased by two Salavat goals in 13 seconds, and the goalie for Neftekhimik was chased after allowing 3 goals in just 7 shot in the first period. Salavat has won the last two games 14-3.

Ak Bars blanks Metallurg 4-0 in their openner, with Alexi Morozov picking up a natural hat trick and Niko Kapanen setting up two.

MVD takes a 2-0 series lead with a 2-0 with over Riga. Goalie Michael Garnett had to make only 19 saves against an anemic Latvian attack.

Lokomotiv for the second time in the playoffs got a late goal to send a match into OT only to lose, as Stefan Ruzicka scored after 17:34 of OT to give Spartak the 3-2 win and a 1-1 series tie. Dmitrij Kotschnew, who was named top goalie of the first playoff round earlier in the week, turned aside 40 shots in the nearly 4 periods of work for Spartak.

Salavat/Neftekhimik and Ak Bars/Metallurg play game two tomorrow, with the other two series play game three on Monday.

Scrappy and big water fun

Today's journey took us into the IPFW woods. This is a nice walk down our street to Inland avenue, which dead ends at the trailhead. The trail goes all the way to California rd. and is a dirt path 1/3 of the way, stone the next 1/3, and paved(!) the last 1/3. Just into the last leg is a bridge over a decent sized creek, and Scrappy just had to get in the water. The east bank is reachable only with difficulty, the near side being a steep drop (but doable) and the other blocked by scrub. the west side is easier if you're willing to go about 30 ft or so downstream.

Scrappy, of course, remembered going down the steep side last year and tried to take me down that way. Leg said no, and I concurred. Once I convinced Mr. Boy to go the easy way, he decided to hit water at first chance. This left him wading through mud he sunk about 3 inches into, which convinced him to listen to me and go farther down. At the point I selected, there is a slight bend in the stream as it comes over a stony area- much better for Scrappy's nautical exploits. He splashed all over for about five minutes before he let me talk him out. We then cut across the two meadows that lie between the woods and the Plex's parking lot. In the high meadow (our name for the drier, wider one closer to home), we saw my first meadowlarks (hence the picture). It was a mating pair who must have had a nest in the tall grass and led us out away from whereever it was. We obliged their lead, not wanting to squish any prospective Meadowlarks, and returned home. Time: around 50 minutes.

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Today began the second round of the KHL playoffs, and my Lokomotiv squad ripped Spartak 5-1. Konstantin Rudenko and Alexander Galimov scored two goals apiece to put Yaroslavl up 1-0 in the best-of-seven. Dinamo Riga came back to earth the hard way, as HC MVD scored 4 times in a 3:29 span of the third to rout the Latvians 4-1.

Fess Parker 1924-2010

Probably a good third of my life between the ages of 4 and 9 were spent in an ersatz coonskin cap, a plaid shirt with fringes from an old bedcover sewn on the arms, a plastic double barrelled shotgun in my hands, hiding between my bed and the wall killing wave after wave of marauding Shawnee. To say that Fess Parker, tv's Daniel Boone, was a hero of mine back then would have been a huge understatement. I even had a headdress made of old underwear elastic with chicken feathers sewn in when I wanted to play Mingo. Seeing Ed Ames without feathers was a bigger shock than Leonard Nimoy without pointed ears. I once even had a dream where Parker was there as Boone AND Davy Crocket at the same time. Parker crossed the Cumberland Gap for the final time today, on his wife's 84th birthday. He gave up acting after Daniel Boone, saying he came up with guys like John Wayne and Gary Cooper, and here he was running around in coonskin caps. He should've seen what I was wearing. Thanks, Fess, for teaching me to appreciate Native Amer... I mean, indians; to appreciate nature and the quiet of the woods; to appreciate the Ames Brothers as singers; and all the hours of fun you created. The actual Boone once said to the effect of, I've never been lost, but I've been confused for weeks at a time. Tonight, I'm lost.

Scrappy's first dip of the year

Tonight we took an evening trip to Scrappy's landing. To explain: the street we live on runs at a short distance alng the river. Between the apartments and the river is the remains of the old Wabash and Erie canal feeder, and just beyond that is a greenway trail. When we first moved here this was a somewhat overgrown dirt foot path; while I was laid up, they decided to cut all of the trees and such out of the feeder ( a really dumb idea IMHO) and gravel and widen the path. As a result, instead of having to take one of the two hidden "bridges" across the feeder, or going to where the street turns west away from the river and the back of the apartments abuts the Plex and taking one of the Bridges there, now you can cross about anywhere you find a wide enough spot. Following the trail north you come to a side trail into the woods between the feeder and the river (which varies between about 200 yds to two trees wide); this trail winds down to a clear spot at the river bank, which we named Scrappy's landing.

Upon reaching the landing, Scrappy usually has one of two goals: follow the trail on down about 100 yds where it ends at the ditch that connected (or connects, somewhat) the river to the feeder, or try to find a way to the water's edge to get a drink. Now, a drink to Scrappy means getting in the water until your weenie touches water, and stand there drinking. Scrappy's landing is a roughly three foot drop to the water, unless you go off to one side and sneak down the trunks of a couple of trees that have chosen a semi-amphibious lifestyle. Scrappy attempted this, but was hesitant, perhaps the result of last summer's IPFW pier incident. (Another aside here: last summer IPFW was putting the finishing touches on a footbridge across the river. Part of this process include a stone pier that jutted halfway across for their heavy cranes. We decided to walk out and check things out. When we got to the far end, Scrappy ignored the facts that a) the pier was made of loose stones and b) water is deeper in the middle of the river. Needless to say, the combination made his attempt to wade right in less than sucessful.)

So we took his second choice and went down to the feeder ditch. This is about six feet across and maybe a foot drop to the water. He found the place where the other friendly animals got their drinks (judging from the intensity of his sniffing), and after a good minute's worth of himm-hawing, nosed-first in. Testing the footing, he went about a foot into it and got his drink, followed by following down the bank until he found some extremely muddy hole that something made and proceeded to try to dig his way in. I would say, " a hole something recently made," but you've got to know Scrappy. I left him satisfy himself to the point where further investigation would have resulted in a shower when we got home, and made him get out.

Coming back down the trail to the landing is a bit of a trick, because the trail is harder to see on the way back and Mr. Boy has a tendancy to turn down non-existant side trails on this particular stretch. Anyway, we fought our way back to the trail. A bit north, one of the neighbors put a small wooden bridge across the feeder. Stone leads to each end, but it is unanchored and tends to float during floods. The plastic edging they put in to fight the erosion they created when they cut all the crap out of the feeder (which, as I said, was a dumb idea) is higher and the drop steeper right at the bridge, and I tried to steer Scrappy a few feet over where it was easier, but he just had to cross where dad was- his only such consideration on the whole trip. And home James from there. Lots of fun, good exercise, and Mr. Boy's got his sea legs back- all in all a pretty good trip.

Take that, you dastards!

Salavat Yulaev showed Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg what they thought of the lower-seeded team beating them Sunday. Salavat rolled 8-1 Monday. Patrick Thoresson had a goal and 2 assists, Alexander Radulov had a goal and three assists, and Salavat got 5 goals in a 10:55 stretch in the 2nd. It wasn't just the talent of the winners; the first Avto goalie got yanked after giving up 4 goals on 17 shots- and his successor gave up a much more respectable 4 goals on 18 shots! The only score for Avto was a penalty shot.

In the meantime, Traktor won it's first playoff game in three playoff appearances yesterday (they were 0 for 8) and paid for it today, as Metallurg finished them off 3-2. The Magnitogorsk sextet tied the game on a 2-man power play with 5 minutes to play, and Denis Platanov scored his second of the game 16:18 into OT to clinch the win.

Salavat will go on to face Neftekhimik while Metallurg plays defending champ Ak Bars. Second round opens Friday with Lokomotiv/Spartak and MVD/Riga. Then everyone plays Saturday.

Five more advance

Sunday's KHL playoff games spelled doom for 5 more teams. Ak Bars finished off Barys Astana 3-1 for a 3-0 series sweep. A 1-1 tie was broke when Alexi Yemalin picked up assists on goals by Niko Kapanen (big suprise there) and Alexi Morozov, both on power plays, both in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Neftekhimik broomed Avangard as well with a 2-1 series clincher. Maxim Yakutsenya tallied his third of the series with 2:33 left. I've also learned that part of Avangard's problem was that management decided to fire their coach just before the playoffs started. A stupid choice in any circumstances, but I'm sure the powers that be in Omsk have figured that out now. Avtomobilist stunned Salavat Yulaev 4-3 to stay alive. Avto had taken a 3-1 lead until Patrick Thoresson scored twice in a 2:58 span of the second to tie it up. But that was not enough yet, because Ekaterinburg's Alexi Simakov got the winner halfway through the 3rd and they hung on to close the gap to 2 games to 1.
Also staying alive was Traktor Cheyablinsk. Their match with Metallurg was scoreless until the favorites scored early in the 3rd period. With 2:55 to go, Evgeny Kuznetsov tied it for Avtomobilist, and Pierre Dagenias bagged his 2nd of the series at 4 minutes even of OT. Spartak, the subject of rumours of the team being moved out of Moscow, conquered its city rivals for the 2nd straight year, finishing off Dynamo Moscow, 4-0 on Dmitri Kotschnew's second shutout. Spartak got 3 in a 2:22 span, including 2 by the Ruzicka-Lapenkov-Cibak line in 26 seconds.
Lokomotiv had a real battle to end their series with Atlant. Josef Vasicek tied a game that had went 2 scoreless periods just 25 seconds after Sergei Mizyakin had given Atlant the lead, and then -much later- assisted on Alexi Mikhanov's game winner at 9:07 of the second overtime to give Yaroslavl the 2-1 win and 3-1 series win.
Finally, Dinamo Riga led by backup goalie Martin Prusek eliminated SKA 4-2. Former NHLer Sandis Ozolinsh had 2 assists, including one on Martins Karsums empty-netter . So in the west conference, 3 of 4 top seeds are out. If I understand their seeding right, round 2 will feature Riga against MVD, While Lokomotiv will play Spartak. The eastern conference is still unclear, with two series undecided. Those two will continue tomorrow.

The circle

The last few weeks something has been gnawing at me, and I've not told anyone. Sometimes a thing like this bugs you and you think it silly or petty, or believe no one will understand, or they'll take it the wrong way, or that puttting it to words will give it a reality it doesn't already have. But I'm going to go ahead and try to explain it now. Understand, this is not something that is depressing me, or making it impossible to function or unable to deal or what have you. It is more on the lines of a feeling of resignation.

When we're born (in my theory), we are at the bottom of a huge circle- a circle of life. Immediately, we begin crawling uphill. At first, we do not take note that the horizon we are moving toward is constantly moving away. But in our teen years, as we approach the far right side of the circle, we become acutely aware that a) our life is upside down, b) we can't see where we are going to be, and c) we are constantly going uphill. It is the hardest part of the circle, and the easiest to jump off of through suicide, drugs, etc.

Eventually, though, we round that corner at young adulthood and while we're still going uphill, at least our feet are underneath us; and while we can still only see to our horizon, we now have a grasp of the concept and move forward accordingly, realizing that we have (some) control over what we build and accomplish along the way. Also, as things slip below the horizon behind us, older memories and events take on less and less importance for us.

In the meantime, when we are born, we have this long arc of potential, running the other direction along the circle. Like a gas tank from God, it starts out full. But as we move one way through life, it burns up the other way like a fuse in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Our choices, our circumstances, our mistakes, and the time we take to reach each place on our side of the circle effects how fast the fuse burns. But it always burns, and it burns towards us.

Then you approach the top of the circle. And no matter how full your life has been or how many years it takes to get there, you'll come to a day when you start to see the smoke from that smouldering fuse, smell it a ways off like the burning of autumn leaves. And at that point, you know that the goals and the things you hoped were still over the horizon- another marriage, a house on the lake, the great American novel you've tried to write- that they just aren't there. That what you have is what you'll get and who you are is who you'll be. This is where I am- seeing the things that I consider the "good old days" slipping out of reach, and seeing that smouldering fuse before me. Always before in life, you never had to accept that, and now you have no other choice.

One of the great comic book arcs of all time was Don MacGregor and P. Craig Russel's run on Amazing Adventures- the "Killraven, war of the worlds" series. And the most beautiful comic ever written was the last issue of that series, #39, in 1976. I bring this up because within this story- titled "Mourning Prey"- is woven a poem by MacGregor that fits my feeling perfectly.

Look at it there in the night-dark marsh;
you see it,
you've seen it before.
Seen it and denied it,
denied its existance a thousand times.
All the while knowing
knowing it is there
Caterpillers in the mind,
devouring reason.
Deny it, deny it again,
and it will still be there come morning light.
One of these days, you'll just have to face it.

Look at it, out there in the sun-splashed trees;
you see it,
you've seen it before.
Though you have never Really seen it,
you acknowledge its existance
and reluctantly grant it its beauty,
and pretend to care that you know its there.
Rather butterflies than caterpillars,
banish the caterpillars.
Replace them with delicate butterflies
and delude yourself into believing you'll never face it.

Ask the question, Killraven.
No.
Are you afraid to ask the question?
Yes.
What do you fear?
The pain that comes when the question is asked; also, the answer.
But you will ask it, despite all that?
Yes.
Then ask.
Where do they go? And why?
They do not know, save that
it is meant for them.
They do not need a reason.
They are individual fliers hearing
the same call.
And you let them go?
There is no other choice.

Look at it out there in the sunsets and the dawns;
you see it,
you've seen it before.
The truth unaltered,
and one day you will have to face it.

________________________________________________

By the way, Scrappy got one back from Mr. Bunny Rabbit last night. When I openned the gate to take the trash out, our little friend was about 10 feet outside, and Scrappy took off after him before he could say, "Holy crap!" Needless to say, Scrappy was leashed and didn't catch him, but just maybe Mr. Bunny Rabbit will have a little more respect for him henceforth. This puts us at 5 bunny sightings.

First one out o' the pool

...ends up being CSKA. Red Army loses to MVD Saturday a.m. 5-2. After CSKA took a 1-0 early on, MVD tallied 3 in a less-than-4-minute stretch just past midway of the first to chase starting goalie Konstantin Barulin after just 11 shots on goal. This gives the Balashikha squad a 3-0 series sweep and they move on to round two.
In the meantime, everyone else in the Western Conference lives to fight another day (actually tomorrow). Dynamo Moscow gave up a penalty shot goal to Spartak's Matthias Weihandl and nothing more, as they win 3-1 to get their first win of the series though they trail 2-1. Lokomotiv won in Mystischi 4-3, Maxim Semenov scoring the winner just 2:50 after Atlant had tied it for the third time at 3-3. Yaroslavl now takes a 2-1 lead into tomorrow's match. My boy Josef Vasicek had his first goal and second assist. And Alexi Yashin finally woke up and scored, and his team snapped a 2-2 tie with 2 third-period goals as SKA staved off pesky Dinamo Riga 4-2.

Deer and bunnies and snow leopards, oh my!

Last night the whole herd showed up about 10:30. Six of them, merrily grazing right off our porch, slowly drifting to the park side and then one by one returning to slowly disappear into the fence row. The whole process took about 45 harrowing (for Scrappy) minutes, during which he tried every kind of sweet-talking to get me to take him out to chase them. Fat chance buddy, we're in bed. I think that bunny, whom I had a brief conversation with a few nights back, told them to hang out there, "It'll piss that one dog off." Our sightings for the year are now up to 4 bunny and 11 deer.

__________________________________________________________

Day three of the KHL playoffs saw four teams take 2-0 series leads. Salavat Yulaev whopped Avtomobilist again, 4-1, with Viktor Kozlov picking up another assist. Metallurg picked up a 3-1 win over Traktor behind Denis Khylstov's second score of the series. Barys scored twice within 26 seconds early in the first against Ak Bars, but that was the end of them; the Kazan team rolled after that for a 4-2 win. Yesterday's hero Niko Kapanen hit an empty net for his third goal of the series with one second left. And Neftekhimik squashed Avangard Omsk again, this time 6-2. Neftekhimik scored 3 times in a 2:08 span midway through the first, one of them Maxim Pestushko's 3rd of the series; and twice into an empty net in the last 1:47, one of those belonging to American Deron Quint. Avangard got a penalty shot goal from Sergei Demagin as well as Jaromir Jagr's first of the series. Avangard goalie Evgeny Tsaregorodtsev (now there's a mouthfull) was pulled after his lackluster 1st period.
The other 8 teams resume play tomorrow, and everyone that's still standing (since three teams can sweep tomorrow) will play Sunday.

Wow, 3 OTs!

Now I have details both from yesterday's and today's games in the KHL Playoffs.
Yesterday-
Dinamo Riga 2, SKA 0: Edgar Masalskis is looking like a star with a 27-save shut out of the #1 seed.
Lokomotiv 2, Atlant 1: Alexander Kalyanin had a goal and an assist, and Irgl got his game winner with 5:52 left.
MVD 3, CSKA 1: Red Army managed only 15 shots. What up?
Spartak 4, Dynamo Moscow 3, OT: Dyanmo pissed away a 3-0 lead, with Spartak tying the match with 6:24 left and Kirill Knyazev won it 10:55 into OT.
Today-
Salavat Yulaev 5, Avtomobilist 1: Viktor Kozlov had 2 assists in a game that was a shutout until 2:07 left in the game, and Ekaterinburg got a bench penalty for "abusing the officials" with 57 seconds to play.
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5, Traktor 2: Tomas Rolinek scored twice and Sergei Federov had a goal and an assist for Metallurg.
Dinamo Riga 3, SKA 1: Masalskis now has given up just one goal on 66 shots in two games as yet again this year #16 looks to upset #1. Martin Kariya and Lauris Darzins scored 1:30 apart in the 2nd to break a 1-1 tie. Riga now leads 2-0.
Ak Bars 4, Barys 3, 3OT: Niko Kapanen scored his second goal 4:03 into the third OT to give Kazan the openner in the battle of the snow leopards.
Neftekhimik 2, Avangard 0: Jaromir Jagr's team managed just 19 shots against the petrochemists, and Maxim Pestushko got both goals for the winners.
MVD 4, CSKA 2: Alexi Ugarov and Denis Mosalev each scored twice as Red Army falls into a 2-0 hole in this series.
Spartak 1, Dynamo Moscow 0: Evgeny Lapenkov got the only score halfway through the 2nd and Dmitri Kotschnew handled 27 shots to put Spartak up 2-0.
Atlant 4, Lokomotiv 3, OT: Andrei Kiryuhin tied the game for Yaroslavl with less than 2 minutes left, but Atlant's Vadim Khomitsky scored 9:48 into OT to even the series at 1-1.

Khl Playoffs open

And unlike last year, my details are sketchy, but I have the scores. Dinamo Riga stunned SKA St. Pete 2-0. Man, top seeds sure have it rough in Russia! My boys from Yaroslavl edged Atlant 2-1 behind Zybnek Irgl's winning goal. MVD knocked off Red Army 3-1, and Spartak had to go OT to nip Dynamo Moscow 4-3. GO LOKOMOTIV!

Butt-jobs gone wrong

Y'know, I was going to do a story on the resignation of dem. rep. Eric Massa and his joyous commentary on Obama's chief lickspittle, Rahm Emmanuel ("a son of the devil's spawn" was the best), but instead I've got to show you the absolute dumbest thing I've ever (with one exception) seen on a mainstream media news site.


NEWARK, N.J. — A black-market butt-enhancement "practitioner" is injecting New Jersey backsides with household caulk and other hazardous materials, according to New Jersey health officials who have alerted New York authorities to the rear and present danger.
Six Newark-area women in the last two months have been hospitalized with infections caused by injections of "a variety of unknown materials," said New Jersey Health Department epidemiologist Dr. Tina Tan.
Officials said they believe the injected mixture includes silicone, petroleum jelly and hardware-grade caulk.
After botched efforts to plump their rear ends like naturally well-endowed celebs such as Kim Kardashian, the victim's derrieres resembled "moonscapes" filled with lumps and craters, said a hospital source.
"According to hospital sources, the six women were all from the Dominican Republic. The injection "treatments" occurred in hotels around the Newark area, the hospital source said.

Yes, I also want a big butt. Fill me up with caulk, please and thank you. Would this not be great for the "what is it?" segment on Ask This Old House? Tommy, do you have to drill a new hole or go with the existing one?

___________________________________________

On a vastly different subject, My Yahoo baseball league had its automatic draft, and I must say I got the best fantasy team in any sport I've ever got online.

Kurt Suzuki
(Oak - C)
Mark Reynolds
(Ari - 1B,3B)
Asdrubal Cabrera
(Cle - 2B,SS)

Mark DeRosa
(SF - 1B,3B,OF)
Stephen Drew
(Ari - SS)

Nick Markakis
(Bal - OF)

Adam Dunn
(Was - 1B,OF)

Alfonso Soriano
(ChC - OF)

Elvis Andrus
(Tex - SS)
SSUtilBN
Jay Bruce
(Cin - OF)

Vernon Wells
(Tor - OF)

Colby Rasmus
(StL - OF)

Nick Swisher
(NYY - 1B,OF)
Tim Lincecum
(SF - SP)

Justin Verlander
(Det - SP)
Francisco Cordero
(Cin - RP)
Rafael Soriano
(TB - RP)

Chad Qualls
(Ari - RP)
Aaron Harang
(Cin - SP)

Scott Kazmir
(LAA - SP)
J.P. Howell
(TB - RP)
Rich Harden
(Tex - SP)

Jason Frasor
(Tor - RP

Now shall we kick butt, not caulk it!

KHL playoffs begin

The second season of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League is over, and the playoff matchups are now decided.

>











First we have SKA St. Petersburg vs Dinamo Riga. SKA ("sports klub of the army") Finished 40-16 for 122 points. Their big name (i.e. Name that NHL fans know) is Alexy Yashin, and Canadian goalie Robert Esche led the league with 29 wins. Riga is basically the Latvian olympic team plus Czech forward Marcel Hossa, brother of Chicago Blackhawk Marian Hossa, and the league's goal leader with 35. The 8th seed in the east, they went 27-31 for 84 pts this year.







The second set features HC MVD Balashikha and CSKA, the former Red Army team. Both of these are basically Moscow teams in a league top heavy with Moscow area clubs. MVD was 31-25 for 102 pts, and CSKA, who finished 30-26, boasts one of six Americans in the KHL. His name is Nikos Dimitrakos and he scored 12 goals this year. CSKA are the Yankees of the KHL, having won 32 championships in the various Russian premier leagues, the last in 1989.






Third set features Atlant Mystischi and my favorites, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Atlant, the "Atlases", are yet another Moscow suburb team and boast league scoring leader Sergei Mozyakin who tallied 66 points. They had a 37-19 mark for 101 pts this season. Lokomotiv, last year's playoff runners-up, claim Slovak olympian Richard Zednik as their big name and former Carolina Hurricane Josef Vasicek as their big gun. Lokomotiv have won 3 Russian titles and went 31-26 this year for 96 pts.

The last of the east matchups is an old Moscow rivalry, Dynamo vs Spartak. Dynamo, a 9-time champion, went 33-23 this year for 101 pts and include Alexi Seminov and Finn Jiri Hudler. Spartak, who played the Komets and beat them 7-4 many years ago, are 4-time champs and went 32-24 for 92 pts.

The west kicks off with top seed Salavat Yulaev from the city of Ufa against Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg. Salavat won a second straight regular season title (they lost in the first round to Avangard Omsk) with 44-12 for 129, and have one one Russian championship. Viktor Kozlov, late of the Red Wings, is their most recognizable name. Avtomobilist replaced Khimik in the league this year and made it in on the season's last day, going a dismal but not suprising 22-34 for 64 pts.

Next up is Metallurg Magnitogorsk, a 3-time champ, vs Traktor Chelyabinsk. Magnitogorsk is lead by Detroit Hall of famer Sergei Federov and their goalie Vasily Koshechkin had a league-leading 8 shutouts. They came in at 40-16 for 115, third-best in the league behind SKA and Salavat Yulaev; Traktor limped home with a 21-35, tying Ekaterinburg with 64 pts.

The next matchup is two teams of snow leopards. AkBars of Kazan are last year's Gagarin cup champions, one of three Russian titles. They posted a 33-23 mark for 96 pts. Barys of Astana are one of the 3 non-Russian teams in the league(Dinamo Riga, Latvia and Dinamo Minsk, Belarus, are the others) are based in the capital of Kazakhstan. They struggled to a 26-30 mark this year, 79 pts, led by Josef Stumpel.

Finally KC's team, the Neftekhimik ("petrochemists") of Nizhnekamsk face the

team led by Jaromir Jagr, Avangard Omsk. Neftekhimik boasts the second of 2 Americans in the playoffs, defenseman Deron Quint. They went 31-25 for 93 pts this season. Avangard, in addition to Jagr, are known for being one of the teams in the brawl in Chekov where the two had three bench-clearing melees and over 700 minutes in penalties before 4 minutes were gone in the game. (Both teams were given 5-0 forfeit losses and several million rubles in fines as too many players were ejected to continue play.) They broke even at 28-28 for 90 pts.

Playoffs start this week.

just for fun

Saw this while cruising local tea party site, cracked me up.

Fragment of a darker poetry

In my spare time this week,actually just the last two nights, I've been working on a poetry cycle that is basically a little private therapy over a problem I'm not discussing and wouldn't be apparent even if I published the whole set. However, I thought I'd share one of those parts, a part that is different from the others in that A) where the others are designed to make sense only to me, this one is designed to make no sense whatsoever except in the once repeated tag line, and B) it has only tangentary involvement in the theme of the rest of the arc. So sit back; maestro, cue the music...

Friday nights full o' Mondays
we sit and wish on basement stars
one for luck, one for love, hold the lettuce
hold it here under my thumb
Tie your braids into long straight hair
I'll climb down the cleavage in your eyes
and you will know the meaning in my touch,
on the day the mimes are all struck dumb.

Golden gifts of baseball fortunes
lie in attic shoeboxes collecting dust
The child chewing Bazooka Joe
somehow grew up, and moved on
He left to you one last will and testimony
written on a ticket stub to last night's opera
did you understand the lady in the horned helmet
saying she's in love?

That's what I want to say to you,
but I don't know how.

(Doo-weee dough, ohhhh,
doo-weee dough, ohhhh)

I have a snakebit chocolate kiss on the bannister
I'm like graffiti that you won't write-
sometimes the blank wall, sometimes the old paint,
and sometimes the aerosol that's all leaked away
The sense of this, you don't make sense to me
You fit perfectly but I'm the wrong hole
squares and rounds, 'round the square in an echo
and I just feel so
out
of
town

That's what I want to say to you,
but I don't know how.

That's it, kids. let me know what you think.

update on yesterday's rants

Addendum and Correctum:
1. Apparently now both the boy and his little sister got their turns at the JFK mike over two days, Dec. 16-17. Of course, FAA had no problem until the recordings made their way from a ATC enthusiasts' site to the main stream. THEN it becomes a huge ordeal. Way to not quake in fear of public opinion, FAA.
Chris' take: same as yesterday.
2. Apparently I was in error in all the nasty things I said about that judge yesterday. Allow me to present Prosecuting Atty Paul J. Pfingst.

This is the gentleman who decided to give the child molester-cum-murderer a 6-year sentence in a plea deal. His reason? "the (13-year-old) victim needed to be spared further trauma". Yeah, right? She was beaten to a near-unrecognizable pulp. I tend to think that he has also the same other two reasons that Allen co. DA Karen Richards uses, to wit: A. "I/ my staff is too damn lazy to conduct an investigation that will lead to a sure conviction", and B. "Plea deals look just like convictions on my resume when I retire from the public dole and look for a cushy high-dollar job"( you can see how dear Mr. Pfingst did at Higgs, Fletcher, and Mack llp of San Diego's website. I wonder if that e-mail address listed is still open?) Many thanks to the locals who still hate his guts for steering me onto the righteous path.
Chris' take: Just cross out "Judge" and insert "prosecutor" in all pertinent spots in yesterday's post.
3. And of course, the only thing left for me to get wrong involves the coffee-and-donuts story. First, the original violation that was turned in- no doubt be a scheming competitor- was that they demonstrated a new model bbq grill a couple of weekends, with employees passing out samples of said demo, which is a no-no. It was in investigating this violation that the health dpt. found the heinous c&d scandal. It appears that you are required to have a stainless-steel three basin sink AND a full kitchen-prep area to turn on your Mr. Coffee and open a box of dunkin' donuts. Make sense to you? me, too. Of course, we would have known all this in the first place if the health dpt. official whom the reporter interviewed before the story saw print would have thought to tell the reporter about the bbq complaint which actually started it all. But, this official, apparently a former FAA rep, failed to consider the consequences of not getting ALL of your side of the story into the mix.
Chris' take: stupid is as stupid does, stupid is as stupid was.

Flying through stupidity

For your review, the OMG how horrible news story for today.

An air traffic controller at New York's Kennedy Airport was suspended for allowing his young son to radio instructions to several pilots.
The few quick exchanges between the elementary-school-aged child and jets waiting to take off from JFK, one of the nation's busiest airports, appeared to delight pilots at the time.
"I wish I could bring my kid to work," one said, wistfully.
But the Federal Aviation Administration suspended the controller and a supervisor Wednesday after recordings of the calls were posted on the Internet, then reported on by a Boston television station.
"This lapse in judgment not only violated FAA's own policies, but common sense standards for professional conduct. These kinds of distractions are totally unacceptable," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement. "This kind of behavior does not reflect the true caliber of our work force."

Chris' take? Bu77$#it.
This kid was harming nothing, and probably the fact his father was telling him what to say helped him concentrate even more. But some a$$#ole put it on the internet, and now it's right up there with the judge who ignored a Psychiatrist's advice and released a child molester who thanked him by going out and killing a 17-year-old. Where the hell was our internet poster when Judge I'm -so -much -smarter- than -you said that John Gardiner was fit to be released? They should have video of that moment playing while that s.o.b. judge delivers the eulogy at the funeral of the girl he helped murder.
This, on the other hand, was about as harmful as the coffee and donuts that the lanscaping shop in Camarillo, California was serving until some public minded citizen turned them in for not having a stainless steel prep area and ended a 30+ year courtesy to their more appreciative (and intelligent) customers. Suspending people over this? LUDICROUS. Offended? Look up the word and make sure you should be.
In the meantime, I'll give aviation credit where credit is truley due:



Capt. "Sully" Sullenburger, a hero in the truest meaning of the word, retired today from his job at USAir. At 59, I'm assuming that he probably salted enough away to retire on just in the last year. And you know what? God Bless Him! If Jeff Reed can get franchised for multimillions by the Steelers despite his pi$$-poor end of the season and drunken antics off (and I'm not doubting on) the field, then Sully deserves everything he's gotten AND everything Jeff Reed's gotten, and probably toss on T.O.'s one-and-done contract in Buffalo as well. God Bless Sully, and God bless little boys who go to work with their dads, and the dads that take them. As for cowardly internet posters, retarded idiots who report good people because THEY are retarded, and judges who think the greater good is served by seeing social value in unrepentant scum, you all are on yer own.

Animal update: another bunny (3), and our first raccoon.