Barenaked Ladies - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings"

Some cool and laid back Christmas music for your enjoyment.

The Grinch song

I have loved this song ever since I was a kid

From wiki
You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" is a Christmas song that was originally written and composed for the 1966 cartoon special How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. The lyrics were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, the music was composed by Albert Hague, and the song was performed by Thurl Ravenscroft. The song's lyrics describe the Grinch as being foul, bad-mannered and sinister using increasingly creative metaphors and synonyms, beginning with the opening line "you're a mean one, Mister Grinch". The song has six verses.

Because Ravenscroft was not credited in the closing credits of the special, it is often mistakenly attributed to Boris Karloff, who served as narrator and the voice of the Grinch in the special but who himself could not sing.[1] After becoming aware of the oversight, Seuss himself called Ravenscroft and apologized profusely, and later wrote letters to columnists nationwide telling them that it was Ravenscroft who provided the song.

Ravenscroft recorded two versions of the selection, one version for the television special and the other version for the soundtrack. The two versions differ in the order of the verses; the instrumentation—the soundtrack version's accompaniment is more straight-forward, and features fewer instruments and "sound effect" musical events, than the version heard during the special; the nature of singing (Ravenscroft uses more sprechgesang in the version heard on TV than the soundtrack version, which is mostly sung straight and in rhythm) and the transitions between verses—the soundtrack's transitions are shorter and less abrupt.

The Grinch Song
You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch

You're a mean one, Mister Grinch
You really are a heel,
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mister Grinch,
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, Mister Grinch,
Your heart's an empty hole,
Your brain is full of spiders, you've got garlic in your soul, Mister Grinch,
I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You're a foul one, Mister Grinch,
You have termites in your smile,
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mister Grinch,
Given a choice between the two of you I'd take the seasick crocodile!

You're a rotter, Mister Grinch,
You're the king of sinful sots,
You're a heart of dead tomato squashed with moldy purple spots, Mister Grinch,
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!

You nauseate me, Mister Grinch,
With a nauseous super "naus!",
You're a crooked dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mister Grinch,
Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful
assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!

You're a foul one, Mister Grinch,
You're a nasty wasty skunk,
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mister Grinch,
The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,
"Stink, stank, stunk"!

Graphic timeline of the construction of the Space station

Graphic timeline of the construction of the Space station
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm

space station

Achmed the Dead Terrorist Christmas Song

Not safe language for work (but not really bad) Guaranteed to get a Progressive left-wingers knickers into a knot though. Enjoy

This be a stickup boys!!!

Lord thundering Jesus boy, be giving me your money or I be popping ya with me trusty flintlock!!! Only in Newfoundland.......

(Update: no one can see the "Lock" on the gun, it might be a Martini-Henery breech loader, but it is to long and the barrel bands to wide, so we suspect a gun with missing parts or a replica of a musket missing parts.)

story here

I await with bated breath the demand to ban muskets. Mind you i was impressed the media could tell the differance between a Musket and AK-47.

There was no sound on the security tape, so I offer this to give you an idea of what it might of sounded like.

Memo: Never speak the truth

“The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the Mohawk Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited aims,” it read. “Although they do not seek complete control of the federal government, they do seek particular political concessions in their relationship with national governments and control (either overt or covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve (‘First Nation') level, through the threat of, or use of, violence.”

Seems the author of a military manual on Counter-insurgency released to the military in 2005 touched a nerve. Now the government in a kneejerk reaction feels the need to be sorry about something, because it’s not like domestic radicals have ever existed in peace loving Canada and never carried out terrorist acts or occupied lands. Frankly the Warriors should pleased that they have had such an impact, to be named in this manual.
I can see in future where the government of the day will have to apologize to the honest and law abiding native people for not protecting them from radical and criminal groups who used legitimate First Nation issues to cover their activities.

Guns and Woman’s lib movement

One thing I never understood about the women’s liberation movement is their hate-fest for guns? For one thing, it was World War I & II that really gave woman in North America the chance to work in areas previously reserved for men. Yes they were forced out of their jobs when the men returned, but the artificial barriers were cracked and failing, those fateful years are where the seeds of modern feminism sprang from, yet there is no desire to honour those roots.



The pictures are of the Inglis factory where hundreds of women learned how to make rifles, pistols and light machineguns. The guns produced at this factory during those years were very well made and are still serving our troops today. A legacy these woman should be proud of!



Likely the pistol shown here was made by one of the women in the pictures







Now for guns themselves, woman should logically be fully supportive of the right to bear arms. Carrying a gun is the perfect equalizer between a woman and man. Now some person is going to pull out some tired out story about “The bad guys will take the gun and use it against you” Well I’m sorry but the statistics don’t support that theory, plus it reeks of the concept that woman are not bright enough to be trained in defending themselves. Another tired clique is “Americans love guns, Canadians don’t” Total and utter BS. There are something to the tune of 33million guns that were manufactured or imported into Canada, so that’s about 1 gun per Canadian. Early Canada was all about guns, both for hunting and defense. Both woman and men had to become adept at using them. Until the 70’s concealed carry of guns was not uncommon and the whole set of laws still exist to allow you to carry a gun for self-defense if you can get the permit. (make sure you are a politician, judge, VIP or a really nasty criminal willing to turn evidence, in other words we the people aren’t important enough!)

Thankfully many of the women of the current generation are not willing to play the victim role and are getting their firearm licenses. Speaking to instructors, a large number of the classes in the Vancouver area are full of women who enjoy shooting and want to be able to defend themselves. I suspect that many future rapists and domestic abusers are going to introduce to the business end of Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson, instead of the meek helpless victim they had hoped for.

So if you can't think of a Christmas for your lady, consider a trip to a gun range that lets you rent firearms like DVC in Vancouver. She will have a blast (Pun intended)like this Lady clearly did.

CHRISTMAS TIME AT OUR HOUSE

CHRISTMAS TIME AT OUR HOUSE

by Da Yoopers

Lutefisk boiling on da stove
Italians at the door
They spill a pan of meatballs
All over Martha's floor
Uncle Heikki slips on them
And starts a great big fight
It's Christmas time at my house
It's gonna be some night

Chorus:
Christmas time food and wine
Family, friend, and foe
We celebrate His birthday
By spending all our dough
Now we’re broke and happy
And full of Christmas cheer
It's just too bad that Christmas time
Comes only once a year

The kids are on a sugar buzz
They just won't go to bed
They got the latest video games
Dancing in their heads
They spotted Uncle Bruno
Snoozing next to me
They popped out his false teeth
And hung 'em on the tree

Chorus:
Christmas time food and wine
Family, friend, and foe
We celebrate His birthday
By spending all our dough
Now we’re broke and happy
And full of Christmas cheer
It's just too bad that Christmas time
Comes only once a year

The mother-in-law's been drinking
From a jug of dago red
She's dancing on the table
With her bloomers on her head
The minister’s on the organ
Playing “Rock Around the Clock”
He tries to give a sermon but
He's just too drunk to talk

Chorus:
Christmas time food and wine
Family, friend, and foe
We celebrate His birthday
By spending all our dough
Now we’re broke and happy
And full of Christmas cheer
It's just too bad that Christmas time
Comes only once a year

The brother-in-law plays Santa Claus
He's digging in his sack
The kids are shoving nickels
Down his big butt crack
He jumps up to chase them
And his pants fall to his knees
He trips on Uncle Bruno
And he totals out the tree

Chorus:
Christmas time food and wine
Family, friend, and foe
We celebrate His birthday
By spending all our dough
Now we’re broke and happy
And full of Christmas cheer
It's just too bad that Christmas time
Comes only once a year

The Kopp-Etchells Effect by Michael Yon

17 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

The roads are so littered with enemy bombs that nearly all transport and resupply to this base occurs by helicopter. The pilots roar through the darkness, swoop into small bases nestled in the saddle of enemy territory, and quickly rumble off into the night.

A witness must spend only a short time in the darkness to know we are at war. Flares arc into the night, or mortar illumination rounds drift and swing under parachutes, orange and eerily in the distance, casting long, flickering but sharply defined shadows. The worst that can happen is that you will be caught in an open field, covered by nothing and concealed only by darkness, when the illumination suddenly bathes you in light. Best is to stay low and freeze and prepare to fire, or in the case of a writer, to stay low and freeze and prepare to watch the firing.

Explosions from unknown causes rumble through the cool nights while above drifts the Milky Way, punctuated by more shooting stars than one can remember. The Afghanistan nights will grant a wish to wish upon a shooting star. And while waiting for the next meteor, the eyes are likely to catch tracer bullets.

Read more here, really it's worth it.

Simon's Cat in 'Santa Claws'

Thankfully Zeus is not that interested in the ornaments, he might play a bit with them. His thing though is that he likes to drink the water for the tree. He started this as a young kitten when we first got him and he discovered the fact that the tree had a water dish underneath. Except now we have an artificial tree, he was so annoyed that we ended up putting a cup of water under the tree for him!

When rockers get old.

Some people age gracefully, others must be dragged from the limelight kicking and screaming. Excellent stand up comedy I must say!

Uber Snowman

So combine cold, lots of snow, time, a bunch of buddies and likely a fair bit of vodka and what do you get? A Snow Tiger!!!!
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Courtesy of this site (in Estonian I think)

Provinces of Canada

Autocomplete Provinces of Canada

Through a few links recently on Twitter, I visited a site called www.verysmallarray.com. A few days ago, they did a Google autocomplete search for all the states in the U.S.
Some of the results were pretty funny (Kentucky Fried Chicken, for example), so I thought I’d do the same for Canada.

From "My Corner of the Universe"

BC Rail, the lingering stinkbomb in BC politics

Well this should prove to be interesting, considering the maneuvering that must be going on in the Liberal party right now for the leadership, it would not surprise me that camps within are busy sticking the knives into each other and a leak or a threat of a leak will have a chilling effect on potential candidates. They must be thanking their various deities that the NDP opposition is in disarray as well.

Later today, the court will fully release two search warrants that, until today have been redacted.

Both are search warrants related to apparent benefits received by David Basi and Bob Virk from former Pilothouse PR partners Brian Kieran and (star Crown witness) Erik Bornmann.

The warrants will raise questions about what former Finance Minister Gary Collins knew about the trip to Denver and what role Kieran is alleged to have played. Unfortunately, Mr. Kieran will not face the tough questions from his friends in the media (he is a former columnist) about his role and why special prosecutor Bill Berardino did not lay any charges against him.

Though we’ll raise some here.

But the more interesting warrants which should be released are the ones wherein Christy Clark’s brother Bruce’s bank account records were sought. This was after Erik Bornmann, friend to Christy Clark, then husband Mark Marissen, her brother Bruce Clark and many of her immediate circle of political influence, suggested to the RCMP that Bruce Clark bribed David Basi.

This is a most serious allegation that was NEVER examined or explained.

So, to Christy Clark who told Bill Good this morning that accusations of her involvement in the ‘BC Rail Affair’ “are completely and totally false” and that the whole matter, for her, is “case closed “: That can’t possibly be good enough for an honest public.

She also said that she wants to bring a “more inclusive, better culture” to Victoria. And she wants people to be “more engaged in government.”

Well then, please respond as to why the public should not want you to answer how it is that your brother is accused of bribing a staffer, who was part of a government that you were Deputy Premier of.

Please explain Christy, how it is that during that same period of time, you appear throughout the diary of the man (Erik Bornmann) who claims that one of your then political allies (David Basi) was bribed by your brother.

The fact remains that when Christy Clark tells you that she wants the BC Rail Affair to go away, she’s telling you the truth. Because the questions she’d have to answer are not ones she would ever want to respond to.

You can follow it here

ELVIS - Santa Claus Is Back In Town

A blues version of the song and now for a more upbeat version. This post inspired by taking my kids to see Santa tonite.

Wikileak

Lots of press on this issue, so I don’t think you need any links. Julian Assange, is the one of the founders of Wikileaks, he has hosted a great deal of leaked information from the US State department. Now leaking information that embarrasses governments and leaders, both democratic and otherwise is good fun and good for democracy. But when you endanger peoples lives, actually more likely get them killed and/or being imprisoned that where helping us or fighting for democracy in their country, then you are being an asshole. Even worse when it’s done more for ego, than any true cause. I suspect as price of these leaks go up and people realize what he has done, then any public sympathy for him will vanish. I suspect one day Julian will be doing his own version of the famous scene from McBeth "Out damm spot, out"

Erza levant nails it in his blog.

WikiLeaks published a document that named an Algerian activist covertly aiding the democracy movement there. It identified a Venezuelan reporter secretly exposing the appalling conditions of hospitals for the poor. Both are real whistleblowers. Both were outed by Assange.
Assange admits WikiLeaks will probably end up with "blood on our hands." But he's not too worriedRead the rest here

Wildfire

Stunning pictures of the wildfire in Israel that claimed 42 lives. Most of whom were in the bus pictured here moments before they were engulfed. It’s pretty clear that Israel was not prepared for this event and now that the crisis is over the blame will begin. I won’t cast a lot of blame, out here we are used to such fires and are prepared for them, yet even we have had to learn the hard way that fire can never be taken for granted.
Now they must rebuild, relearn and replant. For some families, they must live with the grief of young sons never to return home. What does give me hope is that despite the harsh words between countries, one of the Canadair waterbombers pictured there is Turkish. There was also a Russian or Ukraine waterbomber and the recently deployed Evergreen 747 waterbomber.

Day of Infamy

This should prove to be interesting……

I'm hoping if the case against the Police and the Chief Firearms Officer is strong, that the Baders do not settle out of court. No doubt if the police think they are going to lose, they will scramble to offer a sweet deal with a non-disclosure clause. I admire anyone that wants to run a firearm business, because any misstep can have you and your family treated like a Mob hitman.

Gordon and Jane Bader were not in their South Surrey home when some Surrey RCMP officers and members of the Delta Police arrived with a search warrant and broke down the door.

The 68-year-old retired former Vancouver police officer and his 63-year-old wife were out having breakfast.

However, their son, 34-year-old Sylvan, a security guard, was home sleeping.

He was awakened and arrested at gunpoint.

It was about 8:30 a.m. on May 16, 2008.

When the parents returned around 9:30 a.m. they were arrested, too.

Around 11 a.m. the Baders' 25-year-old son Jared, a college student, arrived at the home and was arrested.

About the same time, the Baders' other son Travis, 32, a Ladner resident, was being arrested at the offices of Silvercore Advanced Training Systems, the weapons training facility operated by the Bader family since 1988 at 7198 Vantage Way in Delta.

Travis took over as president and CEO of Silvercore from his father, the founder of the company, in 1996.

After their arrests, all five Baders were taken to the Surrey RCMP main detachment, where they were kept in separate holding cells for three days.
The next month, the Baders were charged with multiple charges of possessing restricted firearms and ammunition, making or using explosives and other weapons-related offences.

The case never went to trial.

The charges were stayed by the Crown prosecutor's office.
Details of the raid and arrests are outlined in court documents filed in the Vancouver B.C. Supreme Court registry on behalf of the Baders by lawyer Cameron Ward.

The Baders are suing two of the Surrey Mounties and one Delta police officer involved in the raid, the provincial Solicitor General's office and the municipality of Delta, saying their rights were violated.

Unspecified compensation is being sought for alleged wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, trespass, assault and battery, negligence and malicious prosecution as well as loss of income, humiliation and distress.

Their lawsuit also names a Surrey firearms officer employed by the Canadian Firearms centre gun registry and licencing authority, saying he supplied false information to the police.
In response, lawyers for the firearms centre officer, the Delta Police, RCMP, solicitor-general and the municipality have applied to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing the various officers involved were acting in good faith and their actions were legal and without malice.

No date for a court hearing has been set.

The rest here

BC Politics always bizarre

Never a dull day here. Our Premier Gordon Campbell staggering under a 9% approval rating, tried to sell himself on TV and giving a 15% tax break, shortly afterwards the knives were out and so was he.
Good news for the Loyal Opposition? Not so much really, the Premier who just left was their only hope of getting in with their own lackluster leader Carole James. In fact there was a symbiotic relationship between the two. Gordon’s only hope was that the voters would hold their noses and vote for him, knowing she would be a disaster. Carole’s only hope was that the voters might think she could not be possibly worse than Gordon. Once Gordon left, she was on borrowed time and it just ran out with her own caucus in revolt.

I don’t follow local politics closely enough to tell you who will be successful in replacing both of them, but I can tell you this. Politics has never been dull here.

1871 First general election in province of British Columbia for Legislative Assembly.
1874 Chinese and native Indians disenfranchised
1878 School teachers prohibited from voting or campaigning
1895 Japanese disenfranchised
1899 Provincial civil servants disenfranchised
1907 Hindus disenfranchised
1917 Franchise extended to women
1924 Both Premier (John Oliver) and Leader of the Opposition (William John Bowser) defeated in general election.
1931 Doukhobors disenfranchised
1945 Members of prohibited groups, if otherwise qualified, allowed to vote if they served in either World War (SBC 1945 c.26).
1949 Indians and Japanese prohibition removed
1977 Liquor sales allowed on election day
http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/resource-centre/electoral-history-of-bc/

Colourful Premiers we had aplenty


De Cosmos, Amor 1872-74
De Cosmos' attempt to alter the terms of union in order to obtain monetary guarantees from the federal government to complete a dry dock at Esquimalt that eventually led to accusations of impropriety, and ended his provincial political career. He speculated heavily in land and in Texada Island Iron mines, which brought further criticism, as he was a public official. Thus he ended his tenure as Premier on February 11, 1874.

W.A.C. (Wacky) Bennett 1952-1972
He was a capitalist that nationalized the Provincial electric utilities and railway, some of the smartest moves made by a politician in this Province.
· Quotes "Just say that I smiled and I smiled and I smiled!" -- signature riposte when asked to respond to criticism from opposition party or media
· "The finest sound in the land is the ringing of cash registers."
· "The Socialist Hordes are at the gates of British Columbia!"
· "I couldn't give it away, so we decided to build it and run it." - On the British Columbia Railway.
· "We are a young country; we must build on the solid rock of sound economic policies and balanced budgets. But, we must be prepared, as a nation, to step from the solid rock onto new ground. The path of ease, the path of tradition alone, is not the path of a greater Canada." - Addressing the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in 1962.
· "I'm plugged into God" - On the reason for his political successes
· "It's the smell of money." - To residents complaining of the smell of a local pulp mill
· "They couldn't run a peanut stand." - On the New Democratic Party
· "You may not be my friend, but I'll be your friend, even if I'm the last friend you ever have." - On his frequent application of "my friend" to everyone, including political opponents.
· "The answer is 'No'." - How Wacky Bennett would emphasize his stubborn opposition
The above borrowed from Wiki

The voters here can also be quite vengeful, they wiped out the Social Credit party and mopped the floor with the NDP. They might decide to punish the current Liberals for the HST that they imposed on us, after promising not to. Which lead to a successful referendum run by another colourful ex-premier called Bill Vanderzalm.

Oh did I mention we had our own navy made up of 2 submarines?

Pooped out!

Sorry for the lack of posts, two sick kids and sick wife, who reacted rather badly to the antibiotics she got. Things are getting better, the kids are less cranky and so is the wife, so time to come out of cover.

This is Zeus when he was a young kitten snoozing after a hard day of playing with his brother Jake who belongs to a friend of ours. If we could go back in time, we would have gotten one of Zeus’s siblings to keep him company. Lesson learned. Somehow I don’t think he would appreciate another kitten in the house at this stage in his life, the kids are bad enough, although he does have them well trained by now.

“Light Infantry”

If someone tells you light Infantry is the way to go, just look at this picture.


Via Castle Arrgghh!!!

Northern Korean defenses explained

If you have ever wondered about the Northern Korean defenses, then you will want to make yourself comfortable, get a cup of your favorite and read the following link. Likely you will then know as much as do half the “experts” on the subject.

ARGGHHH!!!

Canadian police car chase

It's that time of the year again.......

Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence

In Russia, rat eats cats

Zeus spits on these cats, unworthy they are of being called cats. Zeus would kill and bring us this rat as an offering.

At the hovercraft base where I worked, we have a cat named Victor, he would line up his nightly kills on the patio and await our attention, if we did not come out and inspect his work, he would fling their bloody bodies against the glass doors till we did.

Another day, another firefight

Us armchair types can talk all we want, but the end of the day it is the job of the Infantry to take ground. It’s up to the politicians in Afghanistan and the West to hold it for the long term. It’s called “will to win”. the soldiers have it, do the politicians?

When they came for the gun owners I did nothing

UN General Assembly Votes To Allow Gays To Be Executed Without Cause (it's not like us gun owners didn't try to warn you about them) Don’t care because you are not gay or a gun owner? Don’t worry you are on somebody’s list

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people were once again subject to the whims of homophobia and religious and cultural extremism this week, thanks to a United Nations vote that removed “sexual orientation” from a resolution that protects people from arbitrary executions. In other words, the UN General Assembly this week voted to allow LGBT people to be executed without cause.

via thenewcivilrightsmovement.com

Images of total war

To put things into perspective for the generation that thinks Iraq and Afghanistan is all out warfare. The images shown in this rare film will show you what total war means. So when I hear statements like “We can never win” I know it is pure bunk. Neither Iraq or Afghanistan has tasted what total warfare means, the closest perhaps when the Soviets fought in Afghanistan, even then it pales in comparison to what the Soviets could have unleashed if they wanted to. Canada committed approx 2500 troops to Afghanistan out of a population of 33 million. In WWII we put 1 million people in uniform out of 11 million.
Watch this film taken of the battlefield from an airship on BBC and reflect on what happened there and what is happening today.

Thank you to Doug from Tanknet

Dion The Wanderer

It's late the kids are sick, Zeus is complaining because he wants to go to bed and plans on snuggling with me. Oh yea and it's snowing!!!!!

I can only imagine his carbon footprint now

A Dane says he may have accidentally started a fire on a Scandinavian passenger ferry carrying 651 people by causing a short circuit while recharging his electric vehicle.

Soeren O. Ekelund says he used an ordinary extension cord, but it may not have fitted tightly to a special recharge socket.

The rest here

More guns, less crime

A tad old, but worth posting as reality keeps getting in the way of gun control nuts arguments. By the way the sale of ammunition in North America excluding military buys was 12 billion rounds of ammunition sold. I don’t want to do the math on just how small the percentage of ammo used in crime is.

FBI RELEASES 2009 CRIME REPORT . . . As firearms and ammunition experienced record sales in 2009, the nation's crime rates continued to fall, a new report from the FBI shows. During 2009, violent crime declined for the third straight year, with an estimated 5.3 percent drop from 2008 figures. Homicides were down 7.3 percent. The FBI statistics undermine a favorite argument of anti-gun groups and some mainstream media that "more guns equal more crime," especially when you consider that the decrease in violent crime in 2009 occurred at the same time that firearm sales were surging.

THIRD YEAR OF FALLING CRIME PROVES

GUN GRABBERS WRONG CCRKBA



BELLEVUE, WA For the third straight year, violent crime has declined in all categories while gun sales climbed, gun ownership expanded and more citizens are carrying firearms for personal protection; proof positive that gun prohibitionists have been consistently and undeniably wrong, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

The FBI released its 2009 report on Crime in the United States, showing that murder declined 7.3 percent, robberies fell 8 percent, aggravated assault dropped by 4.2 percent and forcible rape has declined 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, the National Shooting Sports Foundation notes that gun sales in 2009 were up dramatically.


From NRA-ILA - Gun Ownership Rises to All-Time High,

Violent Crime Falls to 35-Year Low


Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, including an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery.1 Since 1991, when violent crime peaked, it has decreased 43 percent to a 35-year low. Murder has fallen 49 percent to a 45-year low.2 At the same time, the number of guns that Americans own has risen by about 90 million. Predictions by gun control supporters, that increasing the number of guns, particularly handguns and so-called “assault weapons,” would cause crime to increase, have been proven profoundly lacking in clairvoyance.4

Crimes per 100,000 population
Total Violent Crime

Aggravated Assault

Year
Murder
Rape
Robbery

1991
758.1
9.8
42.3
272.7
433.3

2008
457.5
5.4
29.7
145.7
276.7

2009
429.4
5.0
28.7
133.0
262.8

Trend, 2008-2009
-6%
-8%
-4%
-9%
-5%

Trend, 1991-2009
-43%
-49%
-32%
-51%
-39%

More Guns: There are well over 250 million privately-owned firearms in the U.S., including nearly 100 million handguns and tens of millions of “assault weapons”—the types of firearms that gun control supporters have tried the hardest to get banned5—and the number of firearms typically rises about 4 million per year.6 Annual numbers of new AR-15s, the most popular semi-automatic rifle that gun control supporters call an “assault weapon,” are soaring. In 2008, there were more than 337,000 new AR-15s configured for home defense, competition, training, recreational target practice and hunting.7 NRA-supported Instant Check firearm transactions have increased over 10 percent annually since 2006.8

Less Gun Control: Over the last quarter-century, many federal, state and local gun control laws have been eliminated or made less restrictive. The federal “assault weapon” ban, upon which gun control supporters claimed public safety hinged, expired in 2004 and the murder rate has since dropped 10 percent. The federal handgun waiting period, for years the centerpiece of gun control supporters’ agenda, expired in 1998, in favor of the NRA-supported national Instant Check, and the murder rate has since dropped 21 percent. Accordingly, some states have eliminated obsolete waiting periods and purchase permit requirements. There are now 40 Right-to-Carry states, an all-time high, up from 10 in 1987. All states have hunter protection laws, 48 have range protection laws, 48 prohibit local gun laws more restrictive than state law, 44 protect the right to arms in their constitutions, 33 have “castle doctrine” laws protecting the right to use guns in self-defense, and Congress and 33 states prohibit frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry.9 Studies for Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress, the National Institutes of Justice, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found no evidence that gun control reduces crime.10 The FBI doesn’t list gun control as one of the many factors that determine the type and level of crime from place to place.11

via http://www.ssanz.org.nz/

Not quite what the Feminists had in mind

Thanks to Dragon models you can let your girls play with dolls and still grow up to fight for their country. Personally I think it’s a good thing and that any woman that wants to and can meet the physical tests should be allowed in a combat role. Equal rights also means equal responsibility.

Historical note, Soviet women served with distinction as noted by the service of Lyudmila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko

Sea Fort

Ugh! I can’t imagine this would be an enjoyable stint on these forts, the fact that men went squirrely is no surprise, same thing happened on this coast where some men posted to the coastal fort on Yorke Island went nuts or “Yorkie” as it was called.

Madness Under Water

Living conditions on the artificial islands were extreme, with each of the seven-tower fortresses housing up to 265 men at a time. The isolation and close quarters were hard to bear, especially in the concrete legs of the naval sea forts. While the officers' sleeping quarters were in the upper part of the cylinders, where there was adequate light and oil heating, it was intolerable for the crews, who spent their nights below the surface of the water.

To distract themselves when there was nothing to do, the men were convinced to take up hobbies. Psychologists recommended painting, knitting or building models. The men remained on board for six weeks at a time, spending 10 days on land in between deployments. Many required psychiatric treatment, and the soldiers soon came up with their own name for the manmade platforms: "Fort Madness."

At the end of the war, the crews had chalked up an impressive list of successes. Some 22 aircraft and 30 V-1 flying bombs where shot down from the Thames forts, and one was involved in the sinking of a German speedboat. But the use of the forts in the Mersey estuary had proved to be difficult. Because of their location on a constantly shifting sandbar, the structures on stilts repeatedly sank into the ocean floor. In 1948, the Admiralty had them dismantled because they posed a danger to shipping.
More
I would love to spend sometime exploring the old forts in the UK, if you are into old forts and such, check out these sites here and here.

Some more pictures

A visit to Yorke Island

Lunch Break

21 gun Salute

Took the family to Remembrance day, we watched the 15th Field Regiment RCA fire a 21 gun salute from their 105mm C3 Howitzers, I managed to get this very good shot of the #3 gun firing. You will note that the crew is kneeling, unless you are wearing a knee pad under your uniform it sucks. Kneeling as such is a holdover from the WWI days when horse drawn artillery was expected to go into the Direct Fire mode against infantry and kneeling kept you behind the gunshield.

Afterwards we went back to the Armouries and had lunch at the Sergeants Mess. It was great to see the guys again as I served with the Regiment from 1977 to 1987. My kids had a great time there and enjoyed the food and playing in the WWII vintage Field Artillery Tractor (FAT) that they have restored and pulling a 25pdr field gun and Limber.

Iman at the wheel of the FAT




The guns must be cleaned before the men can have lunch

lest we forget

Lest we forget, those who have gone before and do not neglect those that came back in who or in part.

WWI


WWII


Korea
Medak Pocket

Afghanistan

Peak Plastics? Man invents small portable machine to convert plastic to oil

I am sure the idea is not completely new, but it’s well packaged and thought out. One key question would be how much electricity is required, another would be scalability. Plastic litter is a significant issue in 3rd world countries, this type of machine could be a local source of oil for small remote communities, especially in Africa where solar energy is more abundant. I have always thought it would be good to separate garbage into types, even if we can’t use that type now, someone will look at that stockpile and come up with a way to exploit it.

Thanks to Rod from Tanknet

How an Engineer opens their blinds

Chain reaction through the house

No respect for Mosques (or Churches)

For a religion that gets inflamed about cartoons and some idiot wishing to burn a Koran, they are strangely silent on the rather too common attacks on Mosques and the people praying inside of them. Pray tell what crime did this child commit to deserve this? In fact I wonder what were the crimes of all these people to suffer this pain and anguish?

Now had the West done this deed there would be hell to pay both in Islamic countries and by our own media, but sadly the Western media really doesn’t care if some foreign nutbar kills a few foreigners in some strange place, especially any place where kidnapping and killing curious journalists is considered an acceptable past time.

At least Islamic nutbars are not discriminatory as shown by the recent brutal massacre inside a Christian Church in Iraq by the remnants of AQI. I have met many good and decent Muslims over the years, but there is one glaring problem with Islam in it’s current form:
Evil flourishes when good men (and woman) do nothing to stop it
When the average Muslims begin to stand up shoulder to shoulder and say “Stop this madness now” only then will the people who create this violence feel the fear of the wrath of the people they have kept subdued. Only then will peace be upon him and his followers.

Klondike shipwreck brought to life with 3D scans

A Gold Rush-era shipwreck at the bottom of a Yukon lake is coming to life with the help of cutting-edge digital 3D scan images.

The images were produced in June by researchers working on the wreck of the A.J. Goddard, a 19th-century sternwheeler that vanished in Lake Laberge in 1901.

Researchers from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology captured images of the sternwheeler with underwater sonar scanners supplied by the U.S. firms BlueView Technologies and Oceangate.

Millions of captured images were then assembled into a 3D model, similar to a recent map of the wreck of the Titanic off the east coast of Newfoundland.

Last year, an archeological team that included the Texas-based institute and the Yukon Transportation Museum announced that it had discovered the shipwreck, mostly intact, at the bottom of Lake Laberge.

Read more at CBC North

Some good images of the gold rush, a number of sailboats on Lake Labarge at 5:10

I'm A Denier

Remember that Galileo was a denier also.


Via SDA

In this country one can be charged and get a criminal record for not doing something.

A good letter in a local paper about the gun registry
Interesting statistics. (A look at who’s packing what, Oct. 15, 2010 South Delta Leader). But I sense another excuse for a long gun registry.

The reasons the long gun registry is opposed by so many are not obvious to readers of such articles. Registration is often confused with other sections of firearms law such as transportation, storage and licensing.

A registered firearm is generally owned by a hunter, collector or target shooter who is required to have a license and it is obvious that if the police can determine that a member of a given household holds as firearm license he or she likely owns a firearm.

The registry is redundant, especially if one considers the average criminal in possession of a firearm would be foolish to apply for a license and register a gun intended to be used in a crime. The argument that we register cars does not apply.

There is nothing in the criminal code that precludes me from removing the plates from my car and storing it in my garage. If my car were stolen from a locked garage I would be considered a victim, but if my properly stored gun were stolen there is a good chance the investigating officer would initially charge me with unsafe storage of a firearm and I could have a criminal record for the rest of my life.

In fact, if my firearms license were to expire prior to me filling out the renewal paperwork I would also be liable to charges under the criminal code and I am baffled by the fact in this country one can be charged and get a criminal record for not doing something.

Please, media people, do some research and tell the whole story.

Mike Young,

Delta

We Canadians don't take our moral cues from the UN

We Canadians don't take our moral cues from an organization that buried its moral compass in the jungles of Rwanda, that shot up its moral compass in the mountains of Yugoslavia, that defecates daily on its moral compass in Darfur.

Chales Alder echo's my thoughts on the matter.

Via SDA

Day 190 of the Happy Meal Project

Well as you can see, if the civilization as we know it is brought to ruin, make sure you dig through the rubble of the local McDonalds to find some substance. We are at Day 190 of the “Happy meal Project”. You can note the dog shows little interests in the petrified remains of this culinary gut bomb.

First post on the project

Snake tunnels in Taliban Territory

I certainly don’t agree with everything this person writes, their glee at the Taliban success against the “Imperial US” is rather sickening, when you realize what that “Success” means to the people of Afghanistan and particularly the woman and children and their future. However the subject matter of tunnelling and caves in Afghanistan is fascinating enough to tunnel past the author’s bias.

Nevertheless, as a military fossil, Afghanistan is an epic imprint of human history’s ongoing engagement with the densest contours of the terrestrial, where ancient culture has been embedded in the geologic timescales of conflict space for centuries. The country’s story could probably be entirely retold in the evolutionary compressions and picture carvings of its vast mineral deposits alone. If Afghanistan were a book, its pages would be composed of ancient lithic space, there would be chapters on mythological caves, karezi canals and the more egregious military archeology of centuries worth of warfare. Dust-bound stories captured in the petrified pages of Asian history, cultural memories scrawled in open a closed fissures; a complete archive of Afghanistan’s struggles with itself and its neighbors stacked upon one another in alternating layers of sediment violence and mineralized calm.

Pictures and more here

Beware the ides of November!

A busy week this has been politically speaking. In the US the Tea party has growled loud and clear, decimating the Democrats in house and giving them a good thumping in the Senate where the Dem’s majority hangs by a thread. Ones wonder if Obama can hear the message sent or is he going to replay the bunker scene in the movie “Downfall”?

I think part of Obama’s problem was that the Democrats did too well in the previous election, winning the House, Senate and the Presidency. This “Perfect storm” diluted the checks and balances built into the US system and coupled with an inexperienced president who had been oversold as a “messiah” by the media has lead to the vast disappointment and outright contempt for him. Had he faced a more balanced government, he might not have destroyed his brand and reputation so quickly. I think Obama is done as a President and will forever more be seen as ‘damaged goods”.




Meanwhile back here in BC our Premier aka “Gordo” suddenly decided to step down. Somehow I don’t think this move was voluntary. I suspect he stepped into his very pissed off cabinet and saw all the knives sitting on the table sharpened and ready to be used. Likely he was given the choice to resign or play the lead role in a domestic version of Julius Caesar.
BC has a habit of destroying political parties as both the Social Credit and NDP found out the hard way, I expect the Liberals to desperately try to salvage some political credibility prior to the next election. Can they succeed in steering their ship away from the reef of political doom? Only time will tell. I suspect the new leader might move up the binding referendum on the HST as a means to distance themselves from Gordon Campbell. I suspect he might be encouraged to take a long vacation out of the public eye for a bit.

Mr. President how would you like your tea?

Me thinks that no one plans on mentioning the “T” word today in the Whitehouse, coffee only today!

Results here at CNN or Fox

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Ok now I am not that much of a Michael Jackson fan, but I have to admit they did a great job on this video. The dancing/music starts at around 4:15. I though it was appropriate for the start of the Halloween. Have a happy, fun and safe trick or treat. Make sure you buy and enjoy fireworks, drive the nanny state nuts! I plan on taxing my kids candy haul!!!

My wife does a excellent imitation of Vincent Price thriller voice, should I be worried?

Epic failures of the gun Registry

The purpose of this blog is to track failures of the gun registry. Stories submitted must have happen to you personally or directly from someone you know. No “I heard from my uncles friends buddies” stories. We want to stay as factual as we can be within the restraints that we are working under.
I will submit my story first;
Waited till the last minute to register my .22cal rifle and .303 Enfield, both of which I had owned since I was 18 with no issue. Sent the papers by registered mail and got the receipt back. 2 years later I get a letter from the Canadian Firearms Centre (CFC) stating: “Due to missing information my file can not be completed and that if I don’t respond my file will be closed and I would be a criminal”. (not exact wording but close enough)
Phoned up the CFC to ask what information was missing, they replied……..
“We need your mailing address”
So I asked: “If you didn’t have that, how could you have sent me a letter?” Very long pause……..”Thank you we will complete your file now”

This is a true story on how I avoided being a criminal (so far)

More here at: Epic failures

Pictures from around the world

Saving a Humpback whale stranded on the coast of Brazil



A villager stands in front of Mount Merapi, near his motorcycle covered by ash at Kaliadem village in Sleman, near the ancient city of Yogyakarta, October 27th



A Brazilian crosses the muddy bottom of the Rio Negro, a major tributary to the Amazon river, in the city of Manaus, October 26, 2010. A severe drought has pushed river levels in Brazil's Amazon region to record lows, leaving isolated communities dependent on emergency aid and thousands of boats stranded on parched riverbeds.

I have traveled on the Rio Negro, a main tributary of the Amazon by dug out from Rio Coco in Ecuador, amazing river, sad to see it this dry.

Photo's courtesy of Reuters

Canada’s most dangerous cities: Robbery

Canada’s most dangerous cities: Robbery
October 14, 2010

The Canadian rate is 96 robberies per 100,000 population, with robberies including anything from bank hold-ups to purse snatchings.



RANK CITIES PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE WITH THE NATIONAL RATE
1 Winnipeg, Man. 249.03%
2 Saskatoon, Sask. 151.80
3 Regina, Sask. 144.16
4 Montréal, Que. 130.03
5 Victoria, B.C. 115.49
6 Vancouver, B.C. 112.14
7 Edmonton, Alta. 112.03
8 Burnaby, B.C. 109.42
9 Surrey, B.C. 106.90
10 Toronto, Ont. 103.35
11 New Westminster, B.C. 83.57
12 Thunder Bay, Ont. 38.98
13 Hamilton, Ont. 35.53
14 Maple Ridge, B.C. 33.54
15 Kelowna, B.C. 30.30
16 Chilliwack, B.C. 29.04
17 Coquitlam, B.C. 28.52
18 Calgary, Alta. 28.41
19 Peel Region (Mississauga/Brampton), Ont. 25.69
20 Prince George, B.C. 25.69
21 Halifax Region, N.S. 24.85
22 Laval, Que. 23.39
23 Nanaimo, B.C. 21.50
24 Port Coquitlam, B.C. 20.04
25 Ottawa, Ont. 18.78
26 Abbotsford, B.C. 17.11
27 Windsor, Ont. 14.91
28 Saint John, N.B. 13.66
29 Lethbridge, Alta. 11.88
30 North Vancouver, B.C. 11.56
31 Longueuil, Que. 10.62
32 Red Deer, Alta. 9.89
33 London, Ont. 7.27
34 Durham Region (Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax), Ont. 3.19
35 Langley Township, B.C. 0.68
36 Sudbury, Ont. 0.26
37 Delta, B.C. -8.53
38 Peterborough, Ont. -9.26
39 N. Vancouver District, B.C. -11.57
40 Kamloops, B.C. -11.67
41 Grande Prairie, Alta. -17.53
42 Fort McMurray, Alta. -18.16
43 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. -19.31
44 Gatineau, Que. -27.68
45 Thérèse-De-Blainville, Qc. -29.36
46 St. Catharines, Ont. -31.03
47 Saint-Jérôme, Que. -33.54
48 Brantford, Ont. -34.07
49 St-Eustache, Que. -34.17
50 Cornwall, Ont. -35.43
51 Québec, Que. -35.85
52 Belleville, Ont. -36.06
53 Terrebonne, Que. -37.31
54 Richmond, B.C. -38.25
55 Barrie, Ont. -39.93
56 Kingston, Ont. -41.71
57 Moncton, N.B. -42.13
58 Kitchener, Ont. -44.01
59 Châteauguay, Que. -44.53
60 York Region (Markham/Vaughn), Ont. -47.36
61 Sarnia, Ont. -47.99
62 Guelph, Ont. -48.09
63 Fredericton, N.B. -48.40
64 St. John’s, Nfld. -51.44
65 Granby, Que. -51.54
66 Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que. -51.54
67 Medicine Hat, Alta. -52.17
68 Joliette, Que. -53.85
69 St.Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. -54.06
70 Sherbrooke, Que. -55.00
71 North Bay, Ont. -55.42
72 Trois-Rivières, Que. -55.52
73 Chatham-Kent, Ont. -58.03
74 Drummondville, Que. -61.07
75 Roussillon, Que. -61.28
76 Repentigny, Que. -61.59
77 Sorel-Tracy, Que. -62.53
78 Saanich, B.C. -65.36
79 West Vancouver, B.C. -67.87
80 Blainville, Que. -69.44
81 Maskoutains, Que. -69.55
82 St. Albert, Alta. -70.49
83 Sherwood Park, Alta. -71.32
84 Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que. -73.10
85 Oakville, Ont. -73.84
86 Shawinigan, Que. -73.94
87 Saguenay, Que. -74.78
88 Rimouski, Que. -76.77
89 Victoriaville, Que. -78.55
90 Nottawasaga, Ont. -79.17
91 Cape Breton, N.S. -80.53
92 Vaudreuil-Soulange, Que. -81.06
93 Lévis, Que. -82.31
94 Innisfil, Ont. -84.09
95 Brome-Missisquoi, Que. -86.71
96 Mirabel, Que. -87.34
97 Norfolk, Ont. (Opp) -90.27
98 Caledon, Ont. -95.08
99 Wellington County, Ont. -96.55
100 Alma, Que. -98.01

Thank you to Rangebob of Canadacarry and http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/10/14/robbery/

Swedish honour guard

Via Castle Arrghhh!

Bravo to the guard who made the kid's day.
As a kid I went to Sweden in the 70’s via Finland and Russia (that’s another story) I remember being in awe of these soldiers from the Royal Guard and have a picture of me standing besides one somewhere in my closet. The rifle is the Swedish Mauser, a popular rifle here for hunting.

UpdateThank you to BC guy from CGN for reminding me of this video

Ashes to Ashes

Bye Laura, I will always love you for being such a great big sister to me.

A while back we scattered the remains of my sister into the waters of Howe Sound near an Island that she loved, she was a well known lawyer and activist who was diagnosed with a brain tumour June of last year, she passed in December of 2009, leaving behind her significant other, her 13year son and us.

I was going to post this earlier, but couldn’t. 2 years previous to her diagnose she had seizures which sent her to hospital, we blamed it on stress and overwork (common lawyer stuff), perhaps had a MRI been done then the tumour might have been caught before it spread. If you or your loved ones have unexplained seizures or something odd happening in your/their head, do yourself and your family a favour and get an MRI, if the system tells you to wait a year, consider that you can fly to Malaysia, get an MRI, enjoy yourself, consult some very good doctors and come home for less than the price of a MRI here in Vancouver, where you are unlike to be able to see a doctor to review your results in a timely manner.
Laura was a great big sister and fabulous Aunt, my oldest misses her a lot, I have no doubt my sister is now an angel and comes in and gives my baby a kiss on the cheek now and then. As much as fought and disagreed, I knew I could always count on her to be there. A big hug to wherever you are.

Love, your Brother