Photoshop for the record: Palin

 blather, photography, politics  1 Response »
Sep 032008
 

Since Sarah Palin was announced as McCains running mate, the Left wing hate machine has been out in force. This has been described elsewhere sufficiently. However, there’s a photo of Palin I’ve seen many times on various discussion fora that deserves comment:

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What makes this worthy of comment is that it’s *not* a photo of Palin, but instead a photo of some other unknown  woman with Palin’s head Photoshopped into place:

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I gather the idea was to ridicule Palin. Shrug. Personally, I can find far worse things to ponder than cute chicks in bikinis carrying firearms (if you are male and find the idea of a woman packing heat to be disturbing, please present yourself to the authorities for immediate official reclassification as a pussy). However, I’ve seen a lot of people who believe the p’shopped image is real, and it isn’t. FYI.

Here’s something that *is* real:

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Expect to see more of this as the media does their damnedest to get Obama elected.

 Posted by at 6:32 pm

“The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag” to be filmed

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Sep 012008
 

… by Alex Proyas, who created the vastly underrated “Dark City.”

http://news.yahoo.com/story//nm/20080820/film_nm/heinlein_dc 

“Hoag” is a massively weird story, and not one of Heinlein’s “hard science” stories. Think “The Matrix” but weirder. It’s the sort of story that H.P. Lovecraft could have gotten into.  Given that I loved “Hoag” and “Dark City,” all I can really say is…

 Posted by at 8:12 pm

Fairchild F-15

 aircraft, drawings, projects  2 Responses »
Sep 012008
 

Fairchild-Republic, builder of the A-10, tried to win the F-X/F-15 program with a design that looked somewhat like a cross between the McDonnell-Douglas F-15, the Grumman F-14, and the Sukhoi Su-27.

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 Posted by at 7:27 pm

Russia faces new Caucasus uprising in Ingushetia

 blather, news, politics, russian empire  2 Responses »
Sep 012008
 

According to the Telegraph:

 Over 1,000 people staged a rare anti-government rally in the semi-autonomous republic of Ingushetia, arguably the most volatile spot in the troubled region, after a prominent activist journalist was shot dead while in police custody at the weekend.

…

The escalation comes amid growing signs of local anger that while Russia has backed the right of self-determination for the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Ingushetia, separatism in the Russian Caucasus has been brutally crushed.

The irony in this situation is down right schadenfreudelicious… Russia stomps a small neighbor ostensibly to allow a small “breakaway region” to gain its independence, while at the same time stomping some of it’s own “breakaway regions” that want their own independence. Sadly, prior to this latest bit of Putinesca, I was all in favor of Russia… for they were fighting Islamist fanatics and Al Queda wannabes, such as the Chechen monsters of Beslan, and having the Russians playing whack-a-mole with Jihadists is something I just can’t really complain about. But by invading and stomping Georgia (a nation that was *not* in violation of armistice treaties or even UN resolutions) in order to free annex South Ossetia and Abkhazia (regions which are *not* internationally recognized as being separate from Georgia), they have thrown away whatever claims they’ve got against their own breakaway regions. Worse, this will lead to a ratchetting up of  Russian militarism, which must be countered by the West ane especially formerly Soviet Eastern European nations, which will be countered by the impressively paranoid Russians, which will be countered by the West, which… and on and on.

outofcontrol.jpeg

 Posted by at 5:36 pm

Russia doing it’s best to put that whole “USSR is gone” notion behind them…

 blather, news, politics  No Responses »
Sep 012008
 

A collection of fun little news articles…

From the Times Online:

The Kremlin moved swiftly to tighten its grip on Georgia’s breakaway regions yesterday as South Ossetia announced that it would soon become part of Russia, which will open military bases in the province under an agreement to be signed on Tuesday.

Tarzan Kokoity, the province’s Deputy Speaker of parliament, announced that South Ossetia would be absorbed into Russia soon so that its people could live in “one united Russian state” with their ethnic kin in North Ossetia.

So… Russia shows its support for a free and independent South Ossetia by… annexing it. GENIUS!

From The Sun:

But Medvedev, puppet of former Russian leader Vladimir Putin, sparked outrage as he declared: “If Nato suddenly takes military actions against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, acting solely in support of Tbilisi, this will mean a declaration of war on Russia.”

Whenever Americans are killed anywhere in the world by military forces, paramilitary forces, terrorist organizations or just plain criminals, you can bet that they’ve been killed by Russian weapons (or Russian-designed weapons). So I’m less than sympathetic to Russian desires to not face *western* arms the next time they try to annex one of their neighbors.

From The Telegraph:

Vladimir Putin has warned Europe that Russia’s energy reserves will flow to the Far East if the continent’s leaders seek to punish his country for invading Georgia.

Seems difficult to not see Putin as an old-school Bond villain at this point.

 Posted by at 10:56 am

Cats and apartments

 blather, cats, photography  3 Responses »
Sep 012008
 

While it can hardly be said that I am happy to have dumped Koshka off with my parents, after a week in an apartment I see that it was a neccesary evil: having three cats in this apartment would have been a disaster. Being an adult, I had long thought that the days of apartment life were behind me; the very notion of renting rather than buying just seems, well, unAmerican for an adult. For kids, sure. College students and those just recently sent out into the world… apartments are decent enough *temporary* housing. But they are not to be lived in for long. They are places of residence, not homes.
My two remaining cats clearly feel the same way. After living in a good Utah house, a small Maryland apartment with about a third the floorspace just isn’t doing it for them. Tak has become suprisingly aggressive with Raedthinn… she will pounce on him, rip a wad of fur from him and merrily chew it and swallow it down. Bleah. I’m unclear as to the why of that, but I’m guessing it’s either a “power” or “frustration” thing. Raedthinn, on the other hand, has become inventive. Lil’ bastard has figured out how to open doors. This is especially disturbing as his first thought upon opening a door is to burst through, find me and jump on me to prove that he’s an accomplished explorer… and at 3AM, that’s disconcerting to say the least.

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Tak giving me her “well, what are you going to do about this situation?” look.

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Tak is not shy about voicing her displeasure.

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This is the sight that greets me on my return from work.

 Posted by at 1:57 am
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