One of the best articles I've seen on adapting to finding ways to turn jobs or careers whe abhor into something enjoyable.

"But after making one little change on Saturday afternoon, I came to actually like my lawnmower again. If you abhor your job (or, if you have ever typed ?hate my job? in a search engine ;)), then read on - this might help."

I Hated My Lawnmower

Anybody miss me?

Anyone?

[crickets]

Did I miss anything?

For some reason, I've never been very good at chess. I'm going to try to do a little studying, and see if I can improve.

ChessWorld.net is a great place to play - click on the link and see if you can beat me, too.

Notio bonum, visa olum. — "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Doctor Finds Spiders in Boy's Ear

I've been hearing about Professor Liviu Librescu's heroism, and saw this in James Taranto's Best of the Web Today. Taranto quotes the Jerusalem Post:

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the [murderer] attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived — because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad — also an Israeli — told Army Radio.

Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he had blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

Taranto observes:

Librescu was a Holocaust survivor who escaped communist Romania for Israel in 1978 and moved to Virginia in 1986. By coincidence, he was murdered on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Hart died at his desk, his wife said. He was 76.

Hart was noted for occasionally inserting Christian themes into his strips, usually on religious holidays. Crosswalk.com has a good article on The Faith Behind B.C.

UPDATE

Johnny Hart died on Holy Saturday, not Easter Sunday. From Michelle Malkin's site, a reader recalls an appearance by Hart at a World Journalism Institute session. Hart was asked what we call the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It is Holy Saturday, but in view of Christ's victory over the underworld Johnny Hart suggested it might be called "kick butt Saturday."

I just received this:

Friends,

At the request of the family it is my sad duty to report the passing of our
founder, Jeff Cooper. Jeff died peacefully at home this afternoon while
being cared for by his wife Janelle and daughter Lindy.

There will be a private internment at Gunsite by invitation, with a public
memorial service at the Whittington Center at a date to be announced.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

DVC,

Ed

Ed Head
Operations Manager
Gunsite Academy, Inc.
2900 W. Gunsite Rd.
Paulden, AZ 86334 

Personally, I am deeply saddened by this news. His writings have influenced my life  — and not just in matters related to firearms. I will always regret that I did not take the time to attend one of his classes at Gunsite.

"Jeff Cooper's Commentaries" is a collection of Col. Cooper's columns over the years, and I'm privileged to host one of the mirror sites at www.TheSconce.com.

(from www.TheSconce.com) 

Several months ago Jeff suffered three new fractures of his vertebrae. This has caused him severe and constant pain and he has been unable to do anything but concentrate on pain relief — this is why there have been no Commentaries since Vol. 14, No. 4, April/May, 2006.

The doctors suggested kyphoplasty, a procedure to separate the spine at the fracture sites and relieve the pain — unfortunately, this does not normally work on old fractures, or it would have been done a long time ago. Jeff went into the hospital with the goal of getting prepped for having this procedure done, but the doctors pronounced that he is not strong enough to have it done. As it stands now, Jeff has a partially collapsed lung and has been on oxygen for several months, and additionally his heart is now showing signs of distress.

On Wednesday 13 Sept, Jeff came home from the hospital and hospice care has been arranged to assist Janelle and the family with Jeff's care. While Jeff is alert and in good spirits it is likely he will will not be out of bed much in the future. Right now everyones' focus is on keeping him as comfortable as possible. While phone calls are not a good idea, cards and short letters for both Jeff and Janelle would be greatly appreciated. The family has asked that flowers not be sent.

You can send cards and letters to them at:
    Jeff Cooper
    2950 W Gunsite Rd
    Paulden AZ 86334-4301
    USA

***New Update - Col. Cooper has passed away. Details are here.

Reports are conflicting, but the rumor is that Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan about a month ago.

I'd prefer to hear that he died at the hands of Navy SEALs, but it's interesting to note that despite his family's fantastic wealth, he died a fugitive, hiding in caves. Good life choices there, Sparky.

Howard Dean sez:

One of the most important things Democrats will do is repeal the Patriot Act, and put a halt to the warrantless surveillance of individuals in this country who are suspected of terrorist activities…

Howard Dean means:

…because Death-to-America types have just as much right to undermine the War on Terror as we do…

Maybe even more!

Visit WuzzaDem for the rest!

SarahK nails it:

I’ve already told [my husband] that we’re not flying any more after this trip until our Feds get a clue and stop being PC and adopt the El Al model. We don’t need to improve it. We just need to copy it. Until we do it, I’m not flying. I used to be a great flyer before 9/11, but not now.

And I used to tell myself that I’m not going to let the terrorists win by letting them keep me from flying. But it’s not them. They’re not keeping me from flying. Our stupid, coddling, whiny, PC government is keeping me from flying. The politicians who sit around and read polls all day instead of actually ever doing anything are keeping me from flying. The Feds who refuse to face reality and refuse to fix the problems rather than the symptoms are keeping me from flying. Our activist, terrorist-loving judges are keeping me from flying. The immigration and customs agents who hand out visas to young Middle Eastern men like they’re candy are keeping me from flying.

Read the whole post

Today's story about the crashed airliner got me to wondering again how runways are numbered, and this time I had my computer with me.

Runways are identified by direction, using the degrees of a compass, with 360 degrees being toward magnetic North. The direction a plane is traveling on the runway is rounded to the nearest ten degrees, then divided by ten. A runway headed almost due East, with a compass heading of 86 degrees, would be Runway Nine, or sometimes Zero Nine. Multiple digits are always said separately — a runway with the numbers "26" on the end would be called "Runway Two Six." 

Also, since runways can be used in either direction, Runway Nine above would be known as Runway Two Seven if the plane was going the opposite direction.

Parallel runways are typically appended with "Left" or "Right;" parallel runways headed North would be "Three Six Left" and "Three Six Right."

For some airports, it's more complicated. A good article on the whole subject is here; Wikipedia is also a good source. 

Want to use the "official" phonetic alphabet when you spell a part number or serial number over the phone? Here is the current NATO phonetic alphabet:

Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whisky
X-Ray
Yankee
Zulu

Older phonetic alphabets used Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, etc. Amateur radio operators sometimes change the letters up to make them easier to remember or say; the letters M-M in a call sign, instead of "Mike-Mike" could be "Mickey Mouse."

Although your coolness factor goes up if you use the correct letters, you can use anything you want as long as it's easily understandable.

In an effort to make this site easier to navigate, I've changed the template. This one has a few new features, and was pretty easy to modify.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Buckley F. Williams at The Nose On Your Face presents S**thouse Rats Sue Over McKinney Slur.

Be brave, little rats! Made me remember my dear departed dad who would say "outhouse mouse" when he thought the preacher could hear him. 

Castro would be 80 today, if he were alive.

I'd wish him a happy birthday, except I don't.  Hopefully we can have legal Cuban cigars soon. 

Actual caption: An Israeli warplane flies past the moon over the southern port city of Tyre.

Either
a - The moon is smaller and closer than I remember, and has Israeli ports, or
b - Israeli fighter jets are freakin' huge, or
c - AFP's editors aren't paying attention

Mideast Conflict on Yahoo! News Photos

Let's hope Fidel Castro is in a truly stable condition - the same condition as Yasser Arafat.  

FOXNews.com - Castro Issues Statement Promising Health Is 'Stable'

Johannes Lietz has written an awesome plugin for WordPress that tracks the approximate location of visitors to this site, and displays it on a Google Map right here on the site!

I've had this blog for just a month or so, and I find it fascinating that of the few hundred visitors I've had so far, quite a few are from other countries. My tracking metrics let me see them on a world map, but Johannes' plugin lets you see them, too.

Just click on the Visitor Map link to the left, or click here.

Also, please check the welcome message to the left - it should show your country. Please let me know whether or not it's working in the comments. Thanks!

During the 2004 election, John Kerry first ignored (as did the main-stream media) critics of his Vietnam record and Purple Heart medals, then called his critics liars. The NY Times verified Kerry's account by exhaustive research consisting primarily of "Kerry says the Swift Boat Veterans are lying."

Over a year ago (483 days), Kerry promised to release all his Navy records; presumably, that would end the discussion. So far, he hasn't made good on that promise, to my knowledge.

So why is he rehashing it now? I wonder if he thinks he would have won in 2004 except for the Swift Boat Veterans. I wonder if he thinks he can address it now and run again in 2008, this time able to stand on his record without it biting him in the ass.

Sources: I heard a few mentions of this on talk radio last week, but found several good links at Instapundit, and followed one of them to Just One Minute, where there is a pretty comprehensive write-up.

Actual Caption: A British hospital surgeon used Internet auction site eBay to buy a vital piece of equipment for an operating theatre.

Jason tap-dances to try out for a talent show, but is rejected because one of the judges knows Morse Code.

His tap-dancing spells out "Someday I will rule you all." 

Kudos to Debbie Stewart and the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce for another oustanding Business Expo. Everyone at the Chamber was friendly and eager to help the exhibitors both before and during the Expo.

Thanks also to the sponsors who made the event a success - the food at the Power Party was the best ever!

That's a "tree" in there. The container is about 5 feet across.

This wasn't taking up much room on my wife's plate…

When I suggested it seemed a little meager, I was told they weigh it - "it has to weigh point one eight." I assume that means pounds, which is less than 3 ounces. My lovely wife said it sounded like she has to say that a lot, so I guess they've had other complaints.

When I order a three-piece chicken strip dinner at KFC, and one of the pieces is small, they add a fourth piece.

I don't think catfish is that expensive. I know it would have looked better to have added another piece.

Spanish bullfighter Eduardo Gallo barely misses a bull's horn during San Isidro's bullfighting fair at Madrid's Las Ventas bullring May 11, 2006.

I bet he still walked slow and sat down easy for a couple of days.

Mother's Day 2006. The quote in the title was the closing point of Pastor Terry Hughes.