Fun Wedding Dance

Scrub Jays Come Bursting Out The Hedge!

Ever since I lost Baby Blue two years ago, I've been setting out bird seed in the back alley to help make the neighborhood more bird-friendly, and maybe encourage other Scrub Jays to make another attempt at nesting in my back yard.

I've been attracting all sorts of urban-type birds - flotillas of sparrows arrive in the morning, followed by doves (midday), pigeons (afternoon), and crows (evening) - but given their large numbers in Sacramento, Scrub Jays have been surprisingly scarce at my feeding station.

Nevertheless, lately I noticed a couple of Scrub Jays making occasional visits. I was happy to see them there.

Last week, I thought I heard baby birds, but convinced myself they were next door, or at least somewhere out-of-sight.

Leaving my back yard gate this morning, I was startled by a panicked juvenile Scrub Jay falling through the hedge and landing nearly at my feet. Unlike Baby Blue, who I rescued at a much earlier stage of development, this bird was nearly adult-sized, but was clearly inexpert at flying. The bird ended up in my yard, where fortunately no cat is to be found, and was followed by a watchful and concerned parent. I set out some bird seed on the ground, and left for twenty minutes.

When I returned, the juvenile was gone - he must have figured out how to fly well enough to escape - but I was baffled how he had ended up there. The only way I could figure out how a juvenile fledgling had ended up in the hedge was if the nest was already in the hedge. But surely, I would have noticed a Scrub Jay nest in the hedge long ago. After all, Scrub Jays aren't secretive birds, and I'm not THAT dense to have completely missed their presence.

Call me clueless.

Suddenly I realized the hedge was fairly bursting with Scrub Jays! Amazingly, a family of Scrub Jays had set up a nest in my hedge, virtually in the same place the Scrub Jay nest had been two years ago (I wonder if they are the same parents?) Somehow, the birds managed to do all this without attracting my attention. Now, several baby birds were all learning to fly at the same time, and their presence could no longer be concealed even from the densest sort of humans (such as myself).

I spent the afternoon watching several Scrub Jays flying to and from the hedge and the 'fountain', where a small but rather nasty-looking remnant of water provided sustenance. The parents grabbed seeds and bugs and repeatedly fed their hungry charges. The parents also harassed squirrels that entered the yard and generally policed the perimeter.

The next several days are a dangerous time for the inexpert baby fliers, and there are cats in the yards to the left and right of me. Still, the encouraging success of the parents to date makes me optimistic. If these parents are the same parents as two years ago, they've clearly learned a lot, and aren't making the same mistakes. Working together, we might succeed in emptying the entire nest without incident!

New Zealand Is First On The GPI

All quiet in the marine hemisphere:

Tunis, June 4, 2009- The 2009 Global Peace Index which provides rankings for 144 countries, has ranked Tunisia second safest country in Africa and the 5th in the Arab world. Tunisia which is credited with a score of 1.698 points, is ranked 44th in the world.

...New Zealand is credited by the report as being the first most at peace nation in the world; it is followed by Denmark and Norway. By comparison, Great Britain is ranked 35th and the United States appear in 83rd position. In Africa, Botswana is ranked first and is credited with being 34th in the world.

Among Arab nations Qatar is first (16), followed by Oman (20) the UAE (40) and Kuwait (42). Iraq is ranked at the bottom of the list (144).

Sob Story

I'm a liberal. Give me a sob story, and I'll sob, but this story is still too hard to sob over unless I squeeze some lemon juice in my eyes. After all, when blacks attack whites, the solution is to jail 'em. Right? R-I-G-H-T? At least Epstein is still free. He can enroll in a less-tony law school somewhere else:

Last month the left wing blog, One People’s Project, posted a story about one Marcus Epstein. Within this story it was reported that two years ago next month Marcus assaulted a black woman in Georgetown calling her the “n” word.

That blog and its hundred spinoffs then got to the juicy part of the story: Marcus Epstein is executive director of The American Cause, founded by Pat Buchanan and of Team America, founded by Tom Tancredo.

...What happened next was a modern day lynching by a faceless, angry, ignorant mob who reveled in the collective assault on their victim. They had wounded an adversary and drawn blood -- without pausing to ask how so talented a young man could have found himself in such a mess.

...While his intelligence and ability were evident, Marcus had serious problems. He drank to excess and suffered periods of deep depression. One Sunday early in 2007 Marcus called and asked if he could come to my home to talk. He was afraid of what he might do if he were alone another minute.

...Early one Saturday evening, several months later, I received a call from a friend of Marcus’. “Marcus is in jail,” he told me. The two of them had gone to Georgetown to have a drink before joining others for dinner, he explained. When they left their drinking hole, however, Marcus was completely intoxicated, nearly incapable of walking. It was then that the incident occurred.

Marcus was arrested and released that same evening. Unable to face this new level of disgrace and failure, he went to his office where he drank to make the pain go away -- for good. He was hospitalized for a week. His parents flew into town, conferred with Marcus, his doctors and his friends. It was clear. Marcus urgently needed professional help.

...As for the assault Marcus was charged and a plea bargain was worked out.

It took Marcus a year after this incident to start thinking about a future. He took the LSATs and was accepted at the University of Virginia Law School on early admissions. The presence of a strong recovery community was one of the reasons he chose UVA and was ready to move to Charlottesville next month.

But the Left doesn’t care about any of this. They kept moving this little tidbit, watching it ricochet around their shallow world in the blogosphere, until it landed on a popular site for incoming law students. There individuals who claim they’re interested in carrying-out justice in this world saw to it that Marcus paid again for his offense. With nothing but a skeleton of a story they initiated a campaign targeted at UVA’s Admission Office. And they won -- Marcus will not be attending UVA Law School in the fall.

Marcus Epstein is one of the bravest young people I have ever known. He deserved a second chance -- as do all of us.

Comedian Don Friesen Plays The "Industrial Warehouse Musical Theatre Company"

Because I was gazing at children's art in Woodland, I was late in arriving at DMTC to see Don Friesen (and the comedian who warmed up the audience of about 60). Nevertheless, I did get to see some of his act.

On marriage, and being a 'wuss'.



'Jerry Seinfeld'

Starting the "Airline Pilot" skit.

'Travel between LA and Sacramento is so easy on Southwest Airlines. Only 5 stops.'

First Friday Woodland Art Walk

Went with Sally to the Studio Art Gallery and to Gallery 625 (basically, in the big building adjacent to the Courthouse). Looked at some nice paintwork on metal, some vase-type things, and children's art. Met Woodland Mayor Skip Davies, and his wife. A nice time!

Making NZ Islands More Kiwi Friendly

These islands are very close to Auckland (although Rangitoto's fairly-recent volcanism makes it a less-inviting sort of place, in general). Here's hoping for some success stories, because the kiwi need them:

Helicopters will begin dropping poisoned rat-bait on Rangitoto and Motutapu islands in less than a fortnight as the Department of Conservation prepares to repopulate them with rare birds including the kiwi.

The bait drop is the latest stage in more than a decade's work to turn the islands into a bird sanctuary.

Between June 15 and the end of October, helicopters will sprinkle the islands with green bait containing the rat poison Brodifacoum. There will be three bait drops lasting two to three days at least two weeks apart and the islands will be closed for a week after each drop.

...Ms Jack said notices would be posted on ferries to the islands advising people to keep an eye on their children in the few weeks after the bait drops.

"You would have to eat a lot of it [to be harmed]," she said.

About 30 staff will be involved in each bait drop, loading helicopter buckets and keeping an eye on operations from the ground.

After each drop bait will be cleared from the areas where dotterels make their homes in case the rare birds become ill from eating sandhoppers or other insects affected by the bait. Possums and wallabies were cleared from the islands in 1996. Once the remaining pests are gone DoC will introduced kiwis and other ground-dwelling birds, while strong fliers such as bellbirds and tui are expected to find their way over in larger numbers.

The Wise Latina Says You Don't Eat Enough Fiber

So, avoid the Metamucil and eat some carrots, or something.

Rarely Is The Question Asked Is Our Politicians Computer-Literate?

It's always amusing when politicians get all optimistic and futuristic and talk about things they have only the fuzziest understanding about. With just a few exceptions (Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, maybe Al Gore), when it comes to technology, they're all C students.

In the 60's, LBJ drove NASA engineers to bang their foreheads on the wall when he described how their beloved moon rockets worked, but it was all a labor of love, wasn't it? Ronald Reagan never understood Star Wars, of course, or why it could never work, while nevertheless spending billions on it. And, of course, Al Gore loves the Internet!

Today's technology-challenged pol is Minnesota's Norm Coleman:

"In the end, we need to compete, as I've said before, we need to compete in each and every kind of forum," said Coleman. "And whether it's on the ground traditionally, or today it's in -- it's in the ethernet. It's in the -- you know, it's online. It's in the blogs, it's Twitter, it's Facebook, and the next iteration."

Despite the cramped conditions, if Norm Coleman wants to climb into my computer's cabling and compete in there, then the more power to him! Better that, than his current quixotic efforts to keep Al Franken from taking his rightful place in the U.S. Senate.

Feeling The Hate

Here is a remarkable video regarding what some young American Jews abroad in Israel think about Obama.

As Joseph Dana writes:

It’s about entitlement, stupid.

Max and I went on to the streets of Jerusalem at ten o’clock on a Wednesday to ascertain the feelings of the young population about Obama’s upcoming speech in Cairo. As is often the case, the streets of central Jerusalem were not filled with native Israelis but American Jews. Doubtlessly anyone who has visited Jerusalem has encountered the droves of American Jewish kids that are sent to Israel to study for a period of time from Teaneck or Westchester. We asked people a simple question, “What do you think of Obama and Israel?” Most of the people that we talked to were dual American Israeli citizens. The answers in this video reflect the education and worrisome perspectives that many American Jews harbor towards Israeli politics. The sense of entitlement that the American Jewish community has when it comes to Israeli policy is on full raw display in the words of these young adults.

Neocon pandering just to a certain strain of Jewish sensibility is what ultimately gave us the Iraq War, and what ultimately might give us an Iran War too. It's time to take back control of American foreign policy, make it more even-handed, and not automatically equate every Arab grievance with terrorism. Not only would that be good for the U.S., but by slowing down Jewish expansion in the West Bank, it'll help calm the waters, and ultimately be good for these folks too.

"Public Enemies" - Johnny Depp

Nancy from Downers Grove, IL, wrote a very nice letter to me describing an experience last year: being an extra in the upcoming movie, "Public Enemies" , starring Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, and Christian Bale:

In the action-thriller Public Enemies, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in the incredible and true story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Depp), the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoover's fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone, from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard), to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger's gang (later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham)) thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaw's capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. He made Dillinger America's first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing "Clark Gable of the FBI". However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis' men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents), who were real gunfighters, and orchestrating epic betrayals, from the infamous "Lady in Red" to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nitti, were Purvis and the FBI able to close in on Dillinger.

Nancy writes:

I'm in the nightclub scene with dancers & band & singer (Diane Krall). You aren't likely to see me (sitting at a table or walking in the background), but you never know. It was a killer schedule - took way too long with very little time to sleep - but at least that scene only took 2 or 3 days to film (it took place last May '08). The costumes and hair took hours and hours (all day). Now I watch movies with a very different eye, knowing just a little bit of what goes into it. I was not at the audition for the dancers (it got screwed up and wasn't advertised), but I'm glad I didn't have to suffer standing up all night, wearing terrible shoes that were very painful. Those guys were tortured! The director was exceptionally picky and took SO many re-shoots and made us wait while he studied each re-shoot.

Odlly enough, though, all this ties in with a previous part of my life.

When I lived in Tucson, AZ, attending the University of Arizona, I lived at Dr. Tom's house, which was directly across the street from what was known as the "Dillinger House": where John Dillinger was once captured:

The Dillinger gang, hiding from its recent East Chicago, Ind., bank robbery, might have enjoyed Tucson weather longer if a grease fire hadn't started in the basement of the Hotel Congress. Flames roared up the elevator shaft, engulfing the third floor. Hotel occupants quickly evacuated, but gang members delayed trying to collect their bags. With the hall blocked by fire and smoke, the gang members retreated to a window, where the Tucson Fire Department rescued them with an aerial ladder. As soon as he was rescued, gang member Charles Makley tipped firemen William Benedict and Kenneth Pender $12 to climb back up and retrieve his bags. That baggage would be the downfall of the Dillinger gang.

Today, the actual 1928 LaFrance firetruck involved in the rescue of the gangsters is on display. When James Timney of Flagstaff looked at an old photograph of the Hotel Congress fire, he realized the dilapidated firetruck in his back yard was the one in the photo. He donated the truck to Tucson, which is trying to raise funds to restore the truck.

After the 1934 blaze, firemen Benedict and Pender were thumbing through a copy of True Detective magazine and noticed two of the magazine's "wanted men" seemed to be the same as the ones eager to have their luggage rescued. Suspecting they had big-time criminals there, the police set up stakeouts. The work paid off. Makley was captured at Grabe Electric Co., where he was looking for a radio that monitored police calls. The local lady with him was released and cautioned to "pick her friends more carefully."

Next to be drawn into the police net were Russell "Art" Clark and his girlfriend, Opal Long, arrested at a rented house at 327 N. Second Ave. (MPV note: I think the address is incorrect here, but nevermind) Clark and Long put up a fight until a knock on the head convinced Clark to cooperate.

Gang member Harry Pierpont and his girlfriend, Mary Kinder, actually drove to the police station, not knowing they were turning themselves in. The police had spotted Pierpont's car leaving a motor court and, thinking fast, stopped him. Ad-libbing, they politely explained that because he had out-of-state license plates, he must stop by the police station and pick up a "visitor sticker." Pierpont agreed, and one of the policemen rode with him to show him the way, pretending not to notice the machine guns under the back seat. Inside the police station, Pierpont realized he'd been duped when he spotted some of the vests and guns taken from other gang members. He reached for his gun, but policemen stopped him.

That left Dillinger and his girlfriend, Evelyn "Billie" Frechette. Again, police staked out the house on Second Avenue and surprised Dillinger as he arrived. Dumbfounded that the "hick-town cops" had caught him, he surrendered.

Dillinger and his gang resided in Tucson for only 10 days, from the time they arrived until they were extradited to Indiana, but Tucson still celebrates the capture with Dillinger Days.

So, it all ties together, somehow. The reason John Dillinger robbed them Indiana banks in the 1930's was so that Nancy would write me a nice letter 75 years later. Or something like that....

You'd Have A Point, If....

Reality is a hard mistress:

Jim Inhofe (R-OK) calls them like he sees them:

Sen. Jim Inhofe said today that President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo was “un-American” because he referred to the war in Iraq as “a war of choice” and didn’t criticize Iran for developing a nuclear program.

Inhofe, R-Tulsa, also criticized the president for suggesting that torture was conducted at the military prison in Guantanamo, saying, “There has never been a documented case of torture at Guantanamo.”

“I just don’t know whose side he’s on,” Inhofe said of the president.

And Inhofe would have an excellent point if it wasn't for the fact that Iraq was a war of choice, Obama did criticize Iran, and we did torture detainees at Guantanamo.

24-Hour Rainfall Amounts For The Sac Metro Area

Sac Exec Airport, the station closest to my house, is on top! Woo hoo!

: ACCUMULATED PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
:
: 1 HR 2 HR 3 HR 6 HR 12 HR 24 HR
: ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
: 3PM 2PM 1PM 10AM 4AM 4PM
: 4PM 4PM 4PM 4PM 4PM 4PM
: ID STATION NAME

WDDC1 : WOODLAND R( 70) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.05/ 0.15
SMF : SAC INT`L ARPT Z( 20) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.05/ 0.43
SAPC1 : SAC INT`L APRT R( 20) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.04/ 0.40
RILC1 : RIO LINDA R( 42) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.04
SMTC1 : CSU - SACRAMENTO R( 38) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.04/ +
SAC : SACRAMENTO EXEC Z( 21) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.02/ 0.56
ELGC1 : ELK GROVE R( 45) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.16
COSC1 : WILTON R( 75) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.12
GGSC1 : WALNUT GROVE R( 20) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.04/ 0.12
RNCC1 : RANCHO CORDOVA R( 72) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.08
ORGC1 : ORANGEVALE R( 233) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.20
CHCC1 : FAIR OAKS R( 220) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.12
FCRC1 : FOLSOM R( 340) : + / + / + / + / + / +
FSLC1 : FOLSOM POINT R( 550) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.04/ 0.08
NUNC1 : CITRUS HEIGHTS R( 140) : + / + / + / + / + / +
RTPC1 : ROSEVILLE R( 410) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.16
SRCC1 : ROCKLIN R( 340) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.04/ +
LICC1 : LINCOLN G( 200) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.03/ 0.19
LDOC1 : LOOMIS R( 440) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.12
NWCC1 : NEWCASTLE R( 890) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ +
AAPC1 : AUBURN R(1550) : 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.00/ 0.04/ 0.40

Everyone Needs To Do Karaoke....

Because it's the best way to discover your limitations and learn a bit of humility.

Dick Cheney Blames 9/11 On Richard Clarke

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Dick (Uncut)
thedailyshow.com
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As Jon Stewart says:

Cheney naturally was unable to acknowledge this criticism. In his patented f-you manner, he replied, “Dick Clarke? Dick Clarke who was the head of the counter-terrorism program in the run-up to 9/11. He obviously missed it.”

“Holy crap!” commented an awestruck Stewart. “Did he just blame 9/11 on Dick Clarke?”

“The same Dick Clarke,” Stewart continued. “who had written a letter to Condoleezza Rice on January 25, 2001 — five days after Bush and Cheney took office — warning them about al Qaeda and asking for a high level meeting? Or the same Dick Clarke that on September 4, 2001 — a week before the attack — sent them a memo warning them of an attack that would leave hundreds dead?”

“Or are you maybe talking about the Dick Clark who hosts New Year’s Rockin’ Eve?” Stewart added sarcastically. “Because that one I can understand — not the other one.”

Stewart was as appalled, however, by the audience’s response to Cheney as by Cheney himself. “Let’s now look at the moment,” he suggested, “that epitomizes everything that is wrong with Dick Cheney — his arrogance — the media — their acquiescence — and the delightfully witty relationship between the two.”

“You said that Richard Clarke must have missed 9/11,” the NPC interviewer asked. “Wasn’t he warning the White House for months of chatter about an attack?”

“That’s not my recollection,” Cheney sneered. He added to laughs from the audience, “But I haven’t read his book.”

“That’s a good one, Mr. Cheney!” Stewart chortled, mocking the Nation Press Club audience’s response. “I guess you never read the memos either … and then we went to war in Iraq because of bad intelligence distributed in your behest … and then we started torturing people. Good times!”

What They Know Right Now...

Left: Reconstruction from here.

...And given the location, maybe mostly all that they'll ever know:

A Brazilian helicopter crew recovered the first wreckage from Air France Flight 447 today, pulling a cargo pallet from the sea. No sign of human remains have been spotted, and Air France has told families that the jetliner broke apart, killing all 228 people on board.

Two buoys -- standard emergency equipment on planes -- also were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean about 340 miles (550 kilometers) northeast of Brazil's northern Fernando de Noronha islands by the helicopter crew, which was working off a Brazilian navy ship.

Air France's CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told family members at a private meeting that the Airbus A330 disintegrated, either in the air or when it slammed into the ocean and there were no survivors, according to Guillaume Denoix de Saint-Marc, a grief counselor who was asked by Paris prosecutors to help counsel relatives.

...With the crucial "black box" voice and data recorders still missing, investigators were relying heavily on the plane's automated messages to help reconstruct what happened as the jet flew through towering thunderstorms.

The messages detail a series of failures that end with its systems shutting down, suggesting the plane broke apart in the sky, according to an aviation industry official with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the crash.

...France's accident investigation agency said only two findings have been established so far: One is that the series of automatic messages sent from Flight 447 gave conflicting signals about the plane's speed; the other is that the flight path went through dangerously stormy weather.

...Seas were calm today with periodic rain as ships converged on three debris sites to recover wreckage, but French military spokesman Christophe Prazuck said extreme cloudiness" prevented U.S. satellites from helping.

"The clock is ticking on finding debris before they spread out and before they sink or disappear," Prazuck said. "That's the priority now, the next step will be to look for the black boxes."

French planes and a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion surveillance plane joined Brazil's Air Force, whose pilots guided Navy ships to debris areas across a search zone of 2,300 square miles (6,000 square kilometers), said Brazil Air Force Gen. Ramon Borges Cardoso.

Other debris spotted so far includes a 23-foot (seven-meter) chunk of plane, an airline seat, an oil slick and several large brown and yellow pieces that Cardoso said probably came from inside the plane.

Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said debris had spread more than 140 miles (230 kilometers) apart in currents roughly 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast, where the ocean floor drops as low as 22,950 feet (7,000 meters) below sea level.

The Pourquoi Pas, a French sea research vessel carrying manned and unmanned submarines, is heading from the Azores and will be in the search zone by June 12, Prazuck said. The equipment includes the Nautile, a mini-sub used to explore the undersea wreckage of the Titanic, according to French marine institute Ifremer.

But the lead French investigator has questioned whether the recorders will ever be found in such deep and rugged underwater terrain.

...The last message from the pilot was a manual signal at 11 p.m. local time Sunday saying he was flying through an area of black, electrically charged cumulonimbus clouds that come with violent winds and lightning. The automated messages that followed suggest the plane broke apart in the sky, according to the aviation industry official.

At 11:10 p.m., a cascade of problems began: the autopilot had disengaged, a key computer system switched to alternative power, and controls needed to keep the plane stable had been damaged. An alarm sounded indicating the deterioration of flight systems. Then, systems for monitoring air speed, altitude and direction failed. Then controls over the main flight computer and wing spoilers failed as well. At 11:14 p.m., a final automatic message signaled loss of cabin pressure and complete electrical failure as the plane was breaking apart.

Patrick Smith, a U.S. airline pilot and aviation analyst, said the failures could have begun with a loss of electrical power, possibly as the result of an extremely strong lightning bolt.

"What jumps out at me is the reported failure of both the primary and standby instruments," Smith said. "From that point the plane basically becomes unflyable."

"If they lost control and started spiraling down into a storm cell, the plane would begin disintegrating, the engines and wings would start coming off, the cabin would begin falling apart," he said.

The pilot of a Spanish airliner flying nearby at the time reported seeing a bright flash of white light plunging to the ocean, said Angel del Rio, spokesman for the Spanish airline Air Comet.

"Suddenly, off in the distance, we observed a strong and bright flash of white light that took a downward and vertical trajectory and vanished in six seconds," the pilot wrote in his report, del Rio told the AP.

The pilot of the Spanish plane, en route from Lima, Peru to Madrid, said he heard no emergency calls.

Scary Night

3:45 a.m.

Time and again, "Bang!" and "Pow!"

Then the dim ambient light suddenly went to zero and then: "Bang!"

The dim light came back, with the alarm clock twittering and blinking in alarm.

So, I decided to mop the front porch. Not often that I do that, and it needed it. It was certainly fun, with the wind-whipped water spashing around and the tree leaves fluttering and the few passing cars at a crawl.

RIP, David Carradine

Working in Bangkok on a movie.

Badtux Recommends Leonard Cohen

I wandered over to Badtux The Snarky Penguin to see what he was up to. He recommends Leonard Cohen's "The Future":

Leonard Cohen wrote this song in 1992, when it seemed that the future was going to be all roses and peace and such and he was a callow young man of 60 years of age.

I now declare it official: Leonard Cohen is a prophet.

And Badtux is right! Somehow Leonard Cohen was the fly stuck to the wall inside of Dick Cheney's bunker! How did he do that?

What does Wikipedia say about Leonard Cohen?:

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (born September 21, 1934 in Westmount, Quebec) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and artist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often deals with the exploration of religion, isolation, sexuality and complex interpersonal relationships.

Musically, Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1967 album, Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music. In the 1970s, his material encompassed pop, cabaret and world music. Since the 1980s his high baritone voice has evolved into lower registers (bass baritone and bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.

Over two thousand renditions of Cohen's songs have been recorded. He has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. While giving the speech at his induction into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."

...

1990s
...In 1992, Cohen released The Future, which urges (often in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and hope in the face of grim prospects. Three tracks from the album - "Waiting for the Miracle", "The Future" and "Anthem" - were featured in the movie Natural Born Killers.

In the title track, Cohen prophesies impending political and social collapse, reportedly as his response to the L.A. unrest of 1992: "I've seen the future, brother: It is murder." In "Democracy," Cohen criticizes America but says he loves it: "I love the country but I can't stand the scene." Further, he criticizes the American public's lack of interest in politics and addiction to television: "I'm neither left or right/I'm just staying home tonight/getting lost in that hopeless little screen."

Here are the lyrics:

"The Future"

Give me back my broken night
my mirrored room, my secret life
it's lonely here,
there's no one left to torture
Give me absolute control
over every living soul
And lie beside me, baby,
that's an order!
Give me crack and careless sex
Take the only tree that's left
and stuff it up the hole
in your culture
Give me back the Berlin wall
give me Stalin and St Paul
I've seen the future, brother:
it is murder.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant

You don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did
I'm the little jew
who wrote the Bible
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
It's over, it ain't going
any further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

There'll be the breaking of the ancient
western code
Your private life will suddenly explode
There'll be phantoms
There'll be fires on the road
and the white man dancing
You'll see a woman
hanging upside down
her features covered by her fallen gown
and all the lousy little poets
coming round
tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson
and the white man dancin'

Give me back the Berlin wall
Give me Stalin and St Paul
Give me Christ
or give me Hiroshima
Destroy another fetus now
We don't like children anyhow
I've seen the future, baby:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

When they said REPENT REPENT ...

Thunderstorms Around Sacramento!

Ack! After years in California, I now have an utter lack of familiarity with this meteorological menace! Run away!

Or better yet hide under a tree......