Over at Shakespeare’s Sister Thesaurus Rex makes an important point about the Blight: they depend on character assassination. If you take ad hominem attacks away they can’t respond. This is the problem they have dealing with Cindy Sheehan and the “9/11 Widows” – they can’t successfully attack their motives, so they claim they aren’t allowed to question their statements.

The essential problem is that the Blight feels it is necessary to hate people who disagree with their worldview. This is part of the inherent xenophobia of many people attracted to the “Dark Side”. It is not enough to disagree, you must be able to damn them for heresy.

Cindy Sheehan has attained her status because the vaunted White House publicity machine has failed to take the relatively minor actions necessary to dispel the perception that they are afraid of her and showing disrespect to a Gold Star Mother.

[Read more →]

You must have watched a certain television show during a specific timeframe to understand what Culture Ghost is up to.

[Google chase franco]

A Mars probe slams into the planet instead of landing because the instructions were given in meters per second while the program was designed for feet per second.

A probe returns with samples of “stardust” and slams into the desert because backward switches doomed probe:

The 231-page document prepared by independent investigators found that gravity switches on the Genesis probe designed to trigger the deployment of its parachutes were installed backward.

[…]

Investigators found that the probe’s builder, Lockheed Martin, skipped a critical pre-launch test that would have uncovered the fatal flaw because of time constraints. Instead, engineers decided to do a simpler test by comparing Genesis’ design to drawings of another spacecraft, Stardust, which was built earlier and had passed rigorous testing.

Occasionally while “trimming fat” you sever an artery.

The VA remembered I existed and sent me their form letter to tell me how they lost my records and put me at risk of identity theft.

The real web site is firstgov.gov/veteransinfo.shtml, rather than the main page they provide, but you have to navigate the 1-800-333-4636 [Fed Info] system, because that’s a general number covering most of the government, not a special number for Vets or this problem.

From the insert:

Where should I report suspicious or unusual activity?

The Federal Trade Commission recommends the following four steps if you detect suspicious activity:

Step 1 – Contact the fraud department of one of the three major credit bureaus:

• Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
• Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, Texas 75013
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Step 2 – Close any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.

Step 3 – File a police report with your local police or the police in the community where the identity theft took place.

Step 4 – File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by using the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline by telephone: 1-877-438-4338, online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, or by mail at Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20580.

They are using the IRS to make this mailing, so if you are a Vet and too poor to pay taxes, they aren’t going to contact you. At this point if you are Vet, or currently serving, assume your information was on that missing computer.

Note: When I verified the links for the credit bureaus I noticed they all had special pages for Vets.

Поздравляю НТодда с третьей годивщиней блога!

Yes, Sam’s valet is celebrating his third blogiversary™ ^{[Talk Left]}, and, after extensive kvetching, achieved his Sitemeter goal [even if he is in exile on the left coast].

Also on the left coast skippy scored 1.5 megahits.

Adopted as the flag of the United States of America by the Flag Resolution of 1777 enacted on 14 June, 1777.

The flag was first flown from Fort Stanwix, on the site of the present city of Rome, New York, on August 3, 1777. It was first under fire three days later in the Battle of Oriskany, August 6, 1777.

An official flag has a rise to run ratio of 1 to 1.9 [the flag should be 1.9 times as long as it is high] with the canton [the dark blue part] that rises over the top seven stripes with a run of 40% of the flag’s run.

The only time you will see a “correct” US Flag is if you see the official colors of a military unit. Most flags are 3’X5′ or 4’X6′ instead of 3’X5.7′ or 4’X7.6′.

Frances Bellamy, the Baptist minister and socialist who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance was from Rome, New York.