REMEMBERING GALLIPOLI

ANZAC DAY



Today, on the other side of the IDL, is ANZAC Day. Celebrated every April 25th to honor those lost during a failed invasion attempt of Turkey during WWI. The equivalent of Memorial Day and Veterans Day in the US and Remembrance Day in the UK. One of the traditions is the playing of "The Last Post", the British Empire's, and later Commonwealth's, parallel to "Taps". Click on the various links and learn more. Today, ANZAC Day honors all of the Australian and New Zealand military members who have served their country, especially those who have paid the ultimate price.

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Think evolution is a crack-pot idea of elitist science? Then you might find this National Geographic study a bit hard to swallow.

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China has employed 30,000 people and spent more than $100,000,000 to guarantee that rain will not impede the Olympic Games being held there this Summer. Thats pretty ambitious. Especially considering that they are using technology and concepts from the 60's and 70's. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the Weather Modification Association (WMA), at a recent meeting, stated there is little hope that China's efforts to keep rain from falling on the Olympics will succeed. Weather modification is (very) slowly moving from science fiction to workable projects.

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The "Mosquito" has arrived on American shores. Its been used overseas for a couple of years. An audio device that emits a high pitched sound only audible to animals and persons younger than 18-21. According to reports, it becomes extremely irritating to humans about the time they reach puberty. Seems that businesses plagued with teen loitering have installed it to clear their store fronts. It is inaudible to anyone over the teen/young adult bracket. Which shows how early we start losing our hearing. Even though irritating, a ring-tone version is one of the most popular downloads among teenagers. They can receive and send messages/calls without teachers or parents even being aware that the phone has announced.

Since every State in America has a minimum age limit of 21 for the consumption and/or purchase of alcoholic beverages it seems this might be a great way to keep underage drinkers from illegally entering their premises. Placing it inside the bar would lower the risk of fines and loss of license for serving or allowing minors on premise. Legal patrons wouldn't notice a thing.

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On the local scene, the Hawaii Superferry is going to add a second round trip from Honolulu to Mau'i starting next month. With the loss of Aloha Airlines, it seems the protesters have vanished. Strange how that works.

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Are we alone? According to the renowned astrophysicist, Stephen Hawkings, the answer is "probably not". Speaking at a 50th anniversary ceremony for NASA, he stated that life probably teems in the universe, with the qualifier that intelligent life may be extremely rare. While not trying to elevate myself to his level of thinking, I concur. He also promoted the urgency of manned exploration/colonization of the Moon, Mars and even the need for interstellar forays. The only way mankind will perpetuate itself is by leaving home.

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I'll try to be back later today. Maybe I'll see you then. If not, just drop by tomorrow, I'll be here. I always appreciate your company.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE END OF AN ERA

AND A BEAUTIFUL BIRD




The F-117A Nighthawk has flown its final mission. By modern standards, it was slow (sub-sonic) and virtually defenseless. Its capability was that it was virtually invisible to radar, allowing it to penetrate where no other craft could. Developed by Lockheed-Martin "Skunkworks" and tested out of the Groom Lake AFB ("Area 51"). Even its naked eye image created confusion as to what was seen. During its secret period it was often reported as a UFO by civilians. In the late 80's, one crashed in Kern County, California. The military kept civilian fire/rescue operations from responding to the crash site, citing "National Security" issues.

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You are a poor subsistence farmer in a poor third world nation. Earning, maybe, $2 a day and spending half of that to buy 2 kilos of rice to feed your family. Sounds tragic, but the vast majority of the planet's population does live that way. Whats worse is that the cost of food has increased so much over just the last six months that millions of people across the globe can no longer even afford that. In Bangladesh, the government has ordered it military to be fed potatoes rather than rice to try to supply their population with just the basics. Thailand, the largest rice producer in the world, has sharply cut its exports to the world market. Fearing that it may not be able to support its population's needs in the future.

Rice, potatoes, corn, wheat and so much more, are not only the staples for existence but are also the prime ingredients for producing bio-fuels.

Just something to think about the next time you refuel your gas guzzler with ethanol-85.

Oh, and Wal-Mart is now restricting just how many bags of rice a person can purchase.

***ADDENDUM***

On an even more serious note:

Think about what this is going to do to the price of beer, wine and liquor!

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Did you know that the moon has weather? I didn't.

On the moon, the Earth always maintains a permanent position in the sky. And when we see the Moon as "full" someone there would see the Earth as being totally dark. The only illumination being that produced by man in its cities.

I wonder if future generations living on Luna will look up into the sky and say:

"Its a dark Earth. I bet all the Terra-Nuts will be out today."

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I mentioned earlier that Northwest and Delta Airlines want to merge. Here is one of the major reasons why.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

"A MOTE OF DUST...

SUSPENDED IN A SUNBEAM"


I am pretty sure I've posted this before (just too lazy to go look). I know its been posted a bazillion times on the web, but the message never fades.

I miss Carl. His voice was so relaxing, yet captivating. A man who could articulate concepts in a way the average person could grasp, ponder and learn from.

Many thanks to Lugosi (Mirth, Musing & More) for refreshing my memories today.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NORA, LEAH and ME

To see a whole lot more, just click The Swarty Family. Also located on the sidebar >>>>>>

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE PICTURES SPEAK...

FOR THEMSELVES

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She is cute. She is talented. Hopefully she will make the transition from child star to adult performer without too much difficulty. But, at 15 years old, I don't think Miley Cyrus has really been around long enough to write a memoir of her "life". That seems a bit pretentuous to me.

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I see that Clinton and Obama are now each licking their wounds from the Pennsylvania primary fight. Taking shots at McCain while barely acknowledging that the other exists. This battle for the Democratic nomination gets more interesting every day. Its been over a century since the primary process, for either party, has gone this far without a clearcut winner. Get comfortable, this one is going to go the full 15 rounds. Right down to the judges decision. Neither candidate will win by a knockout, thats for sure.

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Homeland Security has done it again. The "Virtual Reality" fence pilot project has been scraped, to the tune of $20,000,000 flushed. Another example of Dubya's top-down management style. Secretary Chertoff, who approved it just last week, now says that they'll be looking for input from the Border Patrol.

Ben Franklin once stated that the best way to make a decision was to write down all the positives and all the negatives. Letting that visual evidence be the decision maker. Looking at Dubya's record, his "positives" would fill a slip of paper the size of a Chinese fortune cookie missive. His negatives would fill a warehouse of documentation.

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Its the 21st Century, damnit. So why aren't men and women paid equally for equal work? And, if the pending legislation makes it to his desk, Dubya has already announced that he will get his crayons back from Cheney and sign the veto.

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I actually slept "normal" people's hours last night. Hence the reason for today's tardiness.

I'll be back later with more. I need a cup'o'coffee.

Have a great day and thanks for your patience. See ya later.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

POLITICS...

AS USUAL

While neither candidate (Clinton, Obama) will get enough votes to sew up the nomination in today's Pennsylvania primary, what each needs is to create the image that they are the wave of the future. The hope of the Democratic Party to take the White House. Just like the Republicans, the Democrats are splintered into so many factions that to win, a candidate has to basically sell their soul. On the Republican side, the conservatives consider McCain to be a RINO (Republican In Name Only).

While Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1965) are a major force, the Gen-X (1966-1985) is coming on strong. Two things working against the Democratic candidates is can America get over the stigma of electing a black or a woman to lead the nation. Sexism and racism are the soft undertone that nobody speaks of, for fear of being called a (fill in the blank)ist. McCain has a problem appealing to a populace that would identify him as a "grandfather". His war hero and POW status means something to the old farts but to Gen-X and Gen-Y (1986-2005) the Vietnam War doesn't even cover more than 2 paragraphs in today's history books. WWII takes about a page. Don't even ask about Korea. The contributions of the Silent Generation (1926-1945) go vastly ignored.

The sad thing is that whomever is victorious will inherit a quagmire of troubles. The same as President Hoover did in 1929. I am not sure that any person, let alone any government can resolve our troubles in 4 years. And, lets face it, have you ever seen any government, anywhere that didn't make things worse by sticking their fingers in? I haven't.

We are are running out of fuel, food and water. And these conditions make ripe the vulnerability of a regional epidemic becoming a global pandemic. It wouldn't even surprise me if some group, somewhere, is already in the process of developing such a strategy. And I don't mean terrorists. Instead, it would be a logical plan for the true leaders of the world, not the politicians, to conceive of such a cleansing. They have the power and resources. Hell, they control everything. They are the true "movers & shakers", not the clowns that we watch on TV.

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My ever optimistic side (yeah, I do have one) hopes that Jimmy Carter's recent sojourn to the middle-east will produce some positive results. Dubya and Candy are pissed. By law he couldn't represent the USA but he has the right as a private citizen to try and help. Without portfolio. My (more prominent) pessimistic side looks at the history of this 6,000+ year conflict and really can't see any workable strategy. This war has raged since the biblical Abraham first showed up on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. Its like a continuous passion play with an ever changing cast.

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In Washington, DC , come May 1st, you might want to contemplate alternative forms of transportation if you normally use a taxi. On that day, all DC cabs will be required to have taximeters, abandoning the decades old system of paying by the zone. Undoubtedly, some drivers will risk the $1,000 fine if they are caught operating illegally. A major problem is that there are not enough qualified/certified taximeter installers to convert all the licensed cabs in the next 8 days. Its going to be a "chinese fire drill" there for most of May.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

TWINKLE, TWINKLE

LITTLE STAR(S)

The top picture is the one I published on the 19th. When I actually had a moment to look at the large view I noticed that the "Big Dipper", Polaris (the North Star) and a portion of the "Little Dipper" could be seen. I've indicated them below.

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Lets face it. We have all the "gee-whiz" Buck Rogers technology in the world at our finger tips and a major problem knowing what to do with it. While not in the "chain-of-command", the Secretary of Defense is the Administration's overseer of the military. I liked what I heard and read. Better than Don Rumsfeld.

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As we race down the back stretch, on the road to summer, we can look back and see that this winter's flu season was rougher than usual. In baseball, a player who gets a hit every third time at bat would be a multi-million dollar player. But when it comes to medicine, those are pretty poor statistics. This past winter, the flu vaccine that was administered was only effective against 1/3 of the strains going around. I guess thats better than a couple of years back when all the flu vaccines produced were contaminated. While no one was inocculated that year, that was also the year of the fewest deaths from the flu.

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We really have some hardcore, mean bastards for judges on Mau'i. NOT!

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In case you've forgotten, today is EARTH DAY. No, I don't think the bars serve green beer. But I've been wrong before.

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I haven't even kept up with the news this past evening. So, I'll probably be back later in the day with more. If not, I'll definitely be back tomorrow, as always.

I really appreciate each and every one of you for stopping in during your day.

Catch ya later!

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"