Photo Op Delux

Aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing Five perform a formation flight in front of Mount Fuji, Japan, April 12, 2007. The wing is embarked aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), which operates from Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jarod Hodge)

Pagentry

That was back in the day of course. Tomorrow we're going to go clear some bays with aimed fire.

Eight stages designed by Yakimaniacs. Woot!

Comic

You can see a bigger version here.

Reuters "Peace March"

The actual caption:

Palestinians attend a demonstration against violence in Gaza April 23, 2007. REUTERS/Ibraheem AbuMustafa (GAZA)

I know when I go to a peace march against violence I always carry an AK-47 just so everyone understands I'm really for peace.

Course if you are not part of a political group Reuters panders to, I'm sure it would be more like: "militant thugs demonstrate in the street to intimidate citizens" if you carried an assault rifle or a RPG like this guy.

Bad Haircut

Evidently, Al Qaeda began with a bad haircut in Greely Colorado in the 50s.

I've been to the Greely campus...I suppose it doesn't always have manure spread on the grounds, but that's what I remember most about the campus.

Fortunately, the trip had other features that turned out better.

Gun-Free Zone = Massacre

The Wall Street Journal does a good job of summing up what went wrong at Virginia Tech, including a quote from Thomas Jefferson which presents the most practical argument that is most in my mind:

The founder of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, understood the harms resulting from the type of policy created at Virginia Tech. In his "Commonplace Book," Jefferson copied a passage from Cesare Beccaria, the founder of criminology, which was as true on Monday as it always has been:

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

Massacres only happen in Gun-Free Zones where killers know or suspect their victims will be helpless. Time and time again killers, using clubs, knives, guns, or poison gas, from concentration camps to shopping malls to Scottish kindergartens have proven that people who think themselves protected by others will wait to die---sometimes literally in line---even if they outnumber their assailants 100 t0 1.

Police, on the other hand, have gone all the way to the Supreme Court to get rulings saying they are not responsible for the protection of an individual. This line of argument is not even counting the millions of people killed by their own government--that our Constitution was written to prevent.

As a classical libertarian, I'm amused and horrified that the same people that accuse our present administration of taking away our civil liberties (i.e. Patriot Act) will the next day argue that only the government should have guns (i.e. take away one our most basic civil liberties).

One person did learn the lesson of history on Monday, Holocaust Remembrance Day no less. He was not a student or Baby-Boomer faculty, but a 74 year old Holocaust survivor. He knew that waiting to die with the others was not an option. Unfortunately for the other victims mowed down while the university/government security forces were deciding on the proper response for public safety, his only weapon was his life.

My Next Helmet

The Heads-Up Display is going away and all the flight/weapons information (plus his/her brother's blog) shows up on the face shield of the pilot's helmet (visible from the inside). You may have seen an earlier generation of this thing in the attack helicopters where the gun points wherever the pilot is looking...

Can I have one for my motorcycle please?

Can it not cost 10x what my Harley cost please?

In other news, sun rises in east

The state has spent some big bucks to reintroduce pygmy bunnies just north of where we live.

Wash. bunnies being eaten by predators

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EPHRATA, Wash. -- Most of a group of 20 endangered rabbits that were reintroduced to the wild with great fanfare last month have been killed by predators, state officials said.

Only four of the rabbits released on March 13 remained at the Sagebrush Flat Wildlife Area as of Tuesday, said David Hays, pygmy rabbit coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

I certainly feel better knowing that we have a state pygmy rabbit coordinator on the case. Interesting that it's news to a Seattle paper that predators ate prey animals.

Around here it would be news if the hawks could tell how special they were and only ate non-native rabbits. I hear the magpies rolled them just to get their GPS collars.

It just looks like a hunter

This is the F22 Raptor and like its namesake it's a hunter. However, unlike its namesake it doesn't have to kill to eat, and since it is superior by a large factor (at least 8) over any other combat plane, it will probably not fire a shot in anger for decades. In other words-SIC VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM.

Chasing Sun Rays to Waitsburg

Friday evening I get a call on my cell announcing the potential arrival of bikers, assuming they are at the correct house. I look out the window and say, yep you're at the right house. A couple of Yamahas: big cruiser and crotch rocket.

I feel like a ride, so I get out the Harley. They want to go to Waitsburg, which is due east. The sun is low due west, so as long as we stay out until twilight it won't hurt too much coming back. I've learned from hard experience not to come home after a ride along that road later than afternoon.

Haven't had the bike out for a while, so it's a good thing there's gas in the tank and it doesn't run too badly. I take up the tail and the crotch rocket takes the point---the better to find the RCFDs (Road-crossing Farm Devices).

Coming home before twilight won't be a problem for there's a new brewery in Waitsburg.

Being as two of us were the President and Vice President of the brewclub and being as the owner/brewer was there, we got to tour the back room.

The owner had bought a system from one of the many Hopps Pubs that self-destructed a while back. It's one of the type called "The Pub" from a company that specializes in small systems. The brewhouse combines hot liquor tank, mash tun and kettle to make a 3.5 barrel brew length. The conical fermenters and bright tanks are 7 barrels. The only unusual feature is the heating is done by electric elements in the jackets of the kettle and hot liquor tank.

Doing anything other than single-mash infusion would be difficult, but that's not a problem for Irish-Scottish-English-style beers.

We'd had some of their Scotch Ale in a jug that had come my way via my friend Andy that I'd taken to a brewclub meeting, and we'd come to try it at the source. However, it turns out to be a somewhat rare specialty (not available till June). So I tried their IPA, which was tasty. Jeff and Tim tried some of their other brews. It's worth a return trip to check progress.

The brewery is one of the few plants in the US also bonded for making wine. I had not realized that was even possible since in Washington you can't even have tax-paid beer in a winery. Time and the regulator/taxman marches on, I guess. This calls for more investigation.

The ride home in the dark was made more entertaining by the big Yamaha cruiser blowing a fuse running the tail and instrument lights.

Problem fixed, the last of the bikers left Casa Hopgoddess about six hours after he'd arrived. No quick pipping to the pub for the likes of us.