[A slight glitch someplace between me and WordPress caused a delay in posting this morning, I apologize if it negatively impacted your morning coffee experience. Blame it on Impish this is his posting day anyway.]
YES, its Saturday. YES, I’m Lethal Leprechaun, not Impish Dragon. YES, I’m stuck here doing Impish’s drudge work (again!) while he’s ‘recovering’ from being off on TAD on yet another trip playing WMD Warrior games.
YES, I’m giving serious consideration to rooting for the maniacal dude with the dragon flattening buses. NO, Impish never sends me anything nice for doing this. NO, he WILL NOT being doing next Wednesday’s issue for me to make amends.
YES, I’m starting to suspect he secretly relates the the entitlement minded Occupiers and cheers for them. YES, that’s just about enough on the subject.
One evening a man was at home watching TV and eating peanuts.
He’d toss them in the air, and then catch them in his mouth In the middle of catching one, his wife asked him a question – and as he turned to answer her, a peanut fell in his ear.
He tried and tried to dig it out but succeeded in only pushing it in deeper.
He called his wife for assistance, and after hours of trying they became worried and decided to go to the hospital.
As they were ready to go out the door, their daughter came home with her date. After being informed of the problem, their Daughter’s’ date said he could get the peanut out..
The young man told the father to sit down, then proceeded to shove two fingers up the father’s nose and told him to blow hard.
When the father blew, the peanut flew out of his ear.
The mother and daughter jumped and yelled for joy. The young man insisted that it was nothing.
Once he was gone, the mother turned to the father and said, ‘That’s so wonderful! Isn’t he smart? What do you think he’s going to be when he grows older?’
The father replied, ‘From the smell of his fingers, our son-in-law.’
OK so this subject is not exactly “”breaking” news, as this is a regularly occurring celestial phenomena, but it IS happening this weekend and that might be considered breaking news to most of you. I’m talking about the peak occurrence of the Lyrid Meteor Shower.
Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks This Week
Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer Date: 16 April 2012 Time: 03:02 PM ET
An annual meteor shower peaks this weekend, a time when dark skies should make for great viewing opportunities in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Lyrid meteor shower is expected to reach maximum intensity overnight from Saturday to Sunday (April 21 to 22), with the best observing opportunities coming between midnight and dawn on the 22nd local time, experts say. The moon will be nearly new at that time, so its glare shouldn’t drown out too many of the Lyrids’ brief flashes.
The dark skies could make a big difference for meteor-watchers, because the Lyrids are historically a mild shower. NASA forecasters expect a peak rate of 15 meteors per hour this weekend, though the Lyrids have produced outbursts of 100 per hour in past years.
And just as the Lyrids’ peak rate can vary dramatically, so too can the brightness of each individual meteor. [Lyrid Meteor Shower From Comet Thatcher (Video)]
“Lyrid meteors are typically as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper, which is to say of middling brightness,” the website Spaceweather.com writes in a recent skywatching guide. “But some are more intense, even brighter than Venus. These ‘Lyrid fireballs’ cast shadows for a split second and leave behind smoky debris trails that linger for minutes.”
[Go here:
http://www.livescience.com/19714-meteor-shower-lyrid-skywatching-preview.html to see an example of a more spectacular meteor from this event that bears a striking resemblance to my trip back to Connecticut aboard of of Lucky Leprechaun’s marshmallow shooting stars that Impish talked about last week when he actually found the time to do his own blog post instead of dropping it on MY desk.]
Meteor showers are generated when Earth plows through streams of debris shed by comets on their path around the sun. These icy, dusty chunks burn up in our planet’s atmosphere, leaving behind bright streaks in the sky to commemorate their passing.
The Lyrids’ parent comet is called C/1861 G1 Thatcher (Comet Thatcher for short). The Lyrids take their name from the constellation Lyra (The Lyre), because they appear to emanate from this part of the sky. Lyra is a northern constellation, so skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere generally get much better looks at the Lyrids every year than do folks who live south of the equator.
But anyone with a computer and an Internet connection should be able to see the Lyrids this weekend. NASA will air live footage of the shower as seen by the agency’s meteor cameras, and experts Bill Cooke, Danielle Moser and Rhiannon Blaauw — all of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. — will stay up late to take your questions.
To view the shower online and participate in the chat, check out the following website between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. EDT (0400 to 0900 GMT) overnight on the 21st and 22nd: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/lyrids2012_chat.html
This story was provided by SPACE.com, a sister site to LiveScience.
11 “Modern Antiques” Today’s Kids Have Probably Never Seen
by Kara Kovalchik – April 11, 2012 – 7:11 AM
Even though I’m fairly ancient, I’ve never seen a Model T outside of a classic auto show. So I realize that there are many things that have been obsolete since the elastic waistband was invented and would confound anyone under age 70. But what about some common items that have come and gone within the last 30 or so years? See how many of these you recognize, and how many of them would puzzle your kids or grandkids.
1. 45 rpm Record Adapter
Seven-inch singles produced in the US had a large half-dollar size hole in the center, unlike the tiny hole punched in LPs that fit conveniently onto a turntable spindle. This large hole tradition was originally instituted in order to accommodate the mechanism inside a jukebox. Rather than making a separate version for home use, the simple solution was to sell adapters that popped into the center of a 45, making it playable on a standard record player. These gadgets were usually found in a bin near the checkout at every record store, a dozen or so for a dollar. <ah the fond memories of my Mother finding these in weird places all over the house because my brother and I had a ‘ninja stars’ battle with them ranging over all 3 levels of the house while she was out!>
2. Skate Key
Those good ol’ fashioned metal roller skates that strapped onto your shoes were useless if you didn’t have a skate key on hand to adjust them. The hexagonal loop on top was used to turn the bolt that adjusted the length of the skate and the tubular end fit on the pin that tightened the toe grips. The long narrow hole in the middle? Why, that was for stringing a shoelace through so you could wear the key around your neck while skating.
3. Church Key
Many a barbecue and tailgate party was ruined in the pre-pop top days when it was discovered that no one had remembered to bring a church key to the proceedings. The pointy end punctured beer (and soda pop) cans open – one hole for pouring, one for a vent. The rounded end was used to remove bottle caps – twist-off crown caps weren’t invented until the 1960s, and even then it took some years for breweries to start using them on their products. But then again, most veteran party animals of that era knew how to open a beer bottle on a car bumper or table edge in an emergency.
4. Self-Service Tube Tester
Household electronics have become as disposable as Pampers in recent years; if your flat screen television stops working, it’s usually just as cheap to buy a new one as to have the old one repaired. But 30-plus years ago when a TV went on the fritz you called the TV Repair Man. He was so ubiquitous that he made house calls, but his services were expensive (and today’s Cable Guy has taken the TV Repair Man’s vague “I’ll be there sometime between X and Y o’clock” promise to a new level). Since a good percentage of the TV malfunctions back then were due to malfunctioning vacuum tubes, DIY Dads started diagnosing and replacing the tubes on their own, saving both time and money. Almost every drugstore, hardware store, and even grocery store had a self-service tube testing machine stashed among the gumball and cigarette machines. Dad (or Mom or whoever) simply brought whichever tubes he thought suspect and tested them on the machine to see whether they were functional. If the tube in question was kaput, there was a wide selection of brand new tubes stocked in the cabinet underneath the machine available for purchase.
<in high school in fact I had a “portable” one ( it weighed 40 pounds and was in a hard case the size of a 3 suit bag which I fastened to a hand truck on top of my tool box) that I used to make decent money schlepping to people’s houses and the 3 second hand stores testing all their problematic tube driven radios and TVs. I was on a first name basis with the owners of the 2 TV shops in town plus the Radio Shack and they used to call me before placing their tube orders after a while to avoid being cleaned out by me of popular ones.>
5. Pull Tabs
In between cans requiring a church key and today’s pop tops there were pull tab soda and beer cans. The convenience of not requiring an opener was revolutionary, but the innovation came with a downfall: a new type of litter. Instead of disposing of their pull tabs responsibly, many folks simply discarded them on the ground before chugging away. Walking barefoot on the beach in the 1960s and ’70s was often something of an obstacle course; those tabs weren’t always immediately visible, but they were razor-sharp, and savvy sunbathers included Band-Aids in their picnic baskets for the inevitable sliced toe. <enterprising kids like me collected them at the 3 local Mom & Pop stores and 2 gas stations washed them dried them in the sun and then carefully followed patterns in Boys Life magazine to make our own chain mails armor>
6. Fotomat Booth
The abandoned hut as shown in the right photo is still a frequent sight in the parking lots of older shopping malls across the country. Some of them were re-purposed for a while, but let’s face it – there’s not much you can do with a form-fitting booth situated miles from the nearest bathroom. Back when cameras still used actual film, and before drugstores offered one hour photo developing, Fotomat was the convenient method of getting your pictures back within 24 hours. You didn’t even have to get out of your car (this was at a time when fast-food drive-through windows were still few and far between).
7. Motel Room Wall-Mounted Bottle Opener
Some older roadside accommodations still have a bottle opener mounted on the bathroom wall, but a lot of the guests in those cases are stumped enough to ask the front desk, “What the heck is that thing?” We refer you back to the bottle-opening end of the church key and further explain that pop machines (“soda machines” to you heathens) at most motels in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s dispensed pop the way God intended – ice cold in 10-ounce glass bottles with a small ring of ice floating in the neck. There was a bottle opener included on the machine, but a lot of folks preferred to wait until they returned to the sanctuary of their room before they popped the cap off and enjoyed that first refreshing sip. And then there were those (wink-wink) who eschewed the pop machine but traveled instead with a cooler full of beer. That’s why the opener was usually mounted in the bathroom – all that beverage spillage was easier to mop up off a tile floor rather than have it soak into the carpeted areas of the room.
8. Milk Chute
Many suburban houses built prior to 1960 had a built-in pass-through door commonly referred to as a “milk chute.” This was to accommodate the neighborhood milkman, who still made daily runs door-to-door. The milk chute allowed him to leave his goods in a protected area, and Mom could also leave his money inside, freeing her up from having to wait at home for the milk delivery (see TV Repairman above) all day. And as any child who grew up in this era knows, the milk chute was a necessary means of ingress when either Mom or Dad forgot their house key; the smallest kid in the family had to shimmy through that opening and then go open the back door. (And even though it seemed funny at the time, parents were not pleased when you playfully called out from inside, “What will you give me if I let you in?”)
<when I was in elementary school early on K thru 2nd grade I lived at the top of a very long hill and had to walk home for lunch which took about 15 minutes of my 1/2hour lunch. Our milk man used to regularly take piety on me and give me a lift up the hill if he had not delivered to our neighborhood yet. Years later the first 6 pack of beer I ever bought legally was in that same, now retired milkman’s package store which he got a grand kick out of.>
9. No-Draft Window
At one time this small triangular window was standard equipment on every American automobile. Some folks called it the “no-draft” (its official name), some called it the “vent,” and others (including my Mom) called it the “wing.” Whatever the name, the purpose was the same: in those days when air conditioning was a very expensive option and opening the main driver side and passenger windows caused too much turbulence (not to mention noise) the no-draft provided quiet yet efficient air circulation while driving during warm weather.
<My dad said our old Ford Galaxy 500 what he called 25/25 A/C. You opened the wing windows, cracked the 2 back windows about 2 fingers worth and drove roughly 25 miles at at least 25 mph to cool off the inside of the car . Those wing windows were also damned good for keeping the windshield front fogging of frosting up too! Finally many a housewife was saved from being locked out of her car by a wing window an obligating grocery store bag boy, a coat hanger, a little nefarious talent and a good bit of careful patience.>
10. Green Stamps
TV-Holics certainly recall that first season episode of The Brady Bunch in which the kids were fighting over Checker Trading Stamps. When that episode was originally filmed, trading stamps were all the rage, and S&H Green Stamps led the pack. Pasting Green Stamps into books was how families spent their evenings before scratch-off lottery tickets were invented, and unlike the lottery, Green Stamp premiums were within reach if you purchased enough groceries or gasoline. The “We Give Green Stamps” enticement was a major boon for merchants; there were many consumers who decided “where to buy” solely on the basis of Green Stamp giveaway. And the rewards were great; your average Green Stamp redemption center had everything from home appliances to musical instruments to furniture available if you’d filled X amount (actually more like XXXX amount) of books.
<The mothers in the neighborhood where I grew up used to have Green Stamp Coffee Klatches where they traded and swapped stamps needed to complete books. I can remember getting in trouble for coming back from the store w/o the green stamps after being sent for bread & milk because the cashiers would try not to give them to kids so they could keep them for themselves. They grocery store I worked at my senior year of high school have a huge refrigerator sized safe in the Customer service office and I swear 2/3rds of it was given over to storage of the green stamp rolls for the machines above the old (non scanner style, non computerized manually operating) cash registers. We front end clerks used to joke about how they would send us out on foot alone to the bank 1/2 the length of the plaza away to get a books of lottery scratch offs valued at $1000 but we were not allowed to carry a roll of new green stamps from the store office to a register only the front end manager could do that.>
11. Typewriter Eraser
I recall a day, maybe a dozen years ago, when a young new hire at our office was browsing through the closet that contained various supplies (and which probably had not been thoroughly cleaned since the Carter Administration) and approached me asking, “What is this weird thing?” What she held in her hand was a typewriter eraser, a pencil-like device that had a gritty rubber eraser at one end and a brush at the other. Even after White-Out and correction tape were commonly available, neither worked well on onion skin (a type of very thin paper regularly used for multiple carbon copies…perhaps we need to add a twelfth item to this list…) and typewriter erasers were still a necessity. The abrasive end was used like a regular pencil eraser, and then the typist brushed away the resultant debris with the bristle end.
* * *
<These used to be a favorite tool of TV, Radio & Appliance repair techs as well as yours truly. There was a myriad of issues that a little cleaning of contacts, battery holders, spade lugs and the like with one of these could correct! Stick a cut off one in a a hand drill (electric no battery ones in those days) dip the tip in WD-4o and use carefully and judiciously and you could even get those stubborn rust spots off car chrome or scuff marks off Mom’s new linoleum floor>
“I think Congressmen should wear uniforms, you know, like NASCAR drivers, so we could identify their corporate sponsors.”
FIVE RULES TO REMEMBER IN LIFE:
1. Money cannot buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bicycle.
2. Forgive your enemy, but remember the bastard’s name.
3. Help someone when they are in trouble and they will remember you when they’re in trouble again.
4. Many people are alive only because it’s illegal to shoot them.
5. Reforming an Obama supporter is like trying to pick up a turd by its clean end.
The reason Politicians try so hard to get re-elected is that they would ‘hate’ to have to make a living under the laws they’ve passed.
Fake Angry Birds malware
Rovio, the game company behind the popular Angry Birds franchise, just sent out a warning on its website that there’s a fake version of Angry Birds Space in the Android Market containing some nasty malware.
All Things D points to a report by research firm Sophos that says the fake version of Angry Birds Space gives hackers almost complete control over your phone. It can even direct your phone to any website without your permission.
The malware is actually a fully functional version of Angry Birds Space, but installs malicious code in the background.
To protect yourself, only download Angry Birds Space from the official Google Play market on your phone. Don’t trust versions of the game from third-party app stores
Will talk smack about him first and update you on him further on down
During his yearly physical, the doctor asked Impish about his daily activity level.
Impish described one of his typical days this way:
Yesterday afternoon, I waded along the edge of a lake, drank coffees, escaped from wild dogs in the heavy brush,
marched up and down several rocky hills, stood in a patch of poison ivy, crawled out of quicksand, jumped away from an aggressive copperhead and took four “leaks” behind big trees.
Inspired by the story, the doctor said, “You must be one hell of an outdoorsman!”
‘No,’ Impish replied, I’m, just a real shitty golfer.
Reagan Vs. Obama – Social Economics 101
A Texan walks into a pub in Galway, Ireland and raises his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He shouts, ‘I hear you Irish are a bunch of drinkin’ fools. I’ll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back to back.’
The room is quiet and no one takes of the Texan’s offer.
Paddy Murphy gets up and leaves the bar. Thirty minutes later, he shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. Is your bet still good?’ asks Paddy.
The Texan answers, ‘Yes’, and he orders the barman to line up 10 pints of Guinness.
Immediately, Paddy downs all 10 pints of beer, drinking them all back to back. The other pub patrons cheer and the Texan sits down in amazement. The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and asks, ‘If ya don’t mind me askin’, where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?’
Paddy Murphy replies, ‘Oh………………. I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first.’
Discovery makes last flight to final home
Shuttle will be part of Smithsonian exhibit
Published On: Apr 17 2012 08:16:16 AM CDT Updated On: Apr 17 2012 11:43:28 AM CDT http://www.click2houston.com/news/Discovery-makes-last-flight-to-final-home/-/1735978/10951972/-/ay0347z/-/index.html?treets=hou&tid=2659926414813&tml=hou_12pm&tmi=hou_12pm_1_12000104172012&ts=H
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The space shuttle Discovery soared over the Washington Monument, the White House and the Capitol in a high-flying salute to the nation’s capital Tuesday.
The world’s most traveled spaceship, hitching a ride on top a Boeing 747 jet, took a couple of leisurely spins at an easy-to-spot 1,500 feet around Washington after a flight from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Thousands packed the National Mall to watch the pair swoop by.
“Look at that — that thing is mammoth,” said Terri Jacobsen of Bethesda, Md. She brought her 12-year-old home-schooled son to the mall to watch the flyover
The shuttle-jet combo was set to land at Dulles International Airport. On Thursday, it will be towed to its permanent installation at the Smithsonian’s annex in northern Virginia.
Discovery departed Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at daybreak. Nearly 2,000 people — former shuttle workers, VIPs, tourists and journalists — gathered along the old shuttle landing strip to see Discovery off. A cheer went up as the plane taxied down the runway and soared into a clear sky.
The plane and shuttle headed south and made one last flight over the beaches of Cape Canaveral — thousands jammed the shore for a glimpse of Discovery — then returned to the space center in a final salute. Cheers erupted once more as the pair came in low over the runway it had left 20 minutes earlier and finally turned toward the north.
Discovery — the fleet leader with 39 orbital missions — is the first of the three retired space shuttles to head to a museum. It will go on display at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, taking the place of the shuttle prototype Enterprise. The Enterprise will go to New York City.
Endeavour will head to Los Angeles this fall. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy.
NASA ended the shuttle program last summer after a 30-year run to focus on destinations beyond low-Earth orbit. Private U.S. companies hope to pick up the slack, beginning with space station cargo and then, hopefully, astronauts. The first commercial cargo run, by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is set to take place in just another few weeks.
For at least the next three to five years — until commercial passenger craft are available in the United States — NASA astronauts will have to hitch multimillion-dollar rides on Russian Soyuz capsules to get to the International Space Station.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A sad commentary on the state of our National Pride and Independence when we have to pay the Russians to be our space taxi drivers!
Don’t look at me! I have NO idea either! Might explain some of them bigfoot foot prints though. You think that was weird? Try this next one.
Why to I get the feeling that if you looked closely you’d either find the Victorinox Swiss Army logo or the Looney Tunes ‘Acme’ logo on that thing? It looks like something an overly vicious Steampunker dreamed up in a violent nightmare!
For the period 04.17.2012 after 7 PM until 04.20.2012 @ 7PM
Well the first bit o’ news I have for ya right off is allegedly Impish was seen buying me a thank you trinket for working so hard while he’s screwed off all month gift! My spies, I MEAN HIS SECURITY DETAIL followed him when he ditched his last class session of the day Tuesday as it didn’t pertain in the least to him or what he does (so he claims). I was shocked when they followed him to a place I had sent him the address of busting his stones about how he goes off wandering about and never brings me anything.
Unfortunately size restrictions on the blog prevent me from posting the photo as large as I received it so you’ll just have to accept my assurance that the sign over the door reads “Irish Brigade Gift Shop”. Many an good Irishman lost their lives on the battlefields at Gettysburg defending the Union and this is the premier place in Gettysburg to obtain mementos of that fact.
Site seeing then was Impish’s the order of the waning afternoon light which in and of itself is a tale which I will relate in a moment if I do not receive thoughts from Impish on the subject. First however I have a few backlogged photos that didn’t make the cut on Wednesday.
9/11 Memorial: To Lift a Nation Sculpture
his 40-foot-tall bronze monument, named “To Lift a Nation,” was created by sculptor Stan Watts to honor the heroes of September 11, 2001.
The three-times life-size statue, recreates the now-famous photo taken by Thomas E. Franklin, a photographer for the Bergen Record, who captured the image of three firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero.
“The monument and its flag are symbols of hope and courage for a nation deeply impacted by this tragedy,” Watts said. “It honors a moment in the history of our country and reminds us of the bravery and sacrifice made by our firefighters and by thousands of citizens, from all walks of life, who selflessly serve humankind in times of need.”
The monument stands 40 feet high, six feet deep and eight feet wide. Each of the three firefighter’s statues weigh more than 5,000 pounds and were formed from approximately 160 bronze sections weighing between 60-to-80 pounds each.
In 2011, a brick plaza and 10 sections of walkway were installed in front of the sculpture. The addition of this new branch of the Walk of Honor® completes part one of a three part park development project to expand the Walk of Honor® to connect the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial and the historic Memorial Chapel to the 9/11 sculpture.
I’ll just explain the significance of the above photo with another photo.
Now before one o’ ya gets all up in arms and indignantly points out how we/I have made an error I’m bloody aware that supposedly The Bex Eagle is located in the NW corner of Pershing Park in Washington, DC. I’m also aware that the one there don’t looking anything like this except for the eagle on the ball atop the obelisk. I don’t bloody know what the deal is and a fast scan of the subject on Google gave up no hints. The explanation COULD be as simple as the one for why there is an exact duplicate to the Iwo Jima Memorial’s Monument in Harlingen Texas on the grounds of The Marine Military Academy, which is that one is the assembled mold for the one in D.C.
I had to bagger Impish for 2 fecking days just to get the second photo which was supposed to be his explanation. There is a bloody limit to just how much of his work I’m willing to do while he’s way playing WMD Hero ta make him look good as well as intelligent and this is beyond that limit!
We’re bloody well moving on!
The motto written in old Irish tongue means: ” Who never retreated from the clash of spears”
So Impish bless his soul decided to take me seriously about looking for the Irish Brigade with an eye towards getting me a picture of the monument erected to the fallen of the 63rd, 69th & 88th New York Infantry. Unfortunately that turned out to be a wee bit o’ an adventure for the poor Dragon who was fighting time and a dying cell phone battery to accomplish this. See the problem is basically nobody ever told these roads and fields that they all have names on maps that people use to navigate by! Impish made a single wrong turn (easy when the road you want isn’t marked) and was off in any direction but the right one.
Fortunately for him he confessed such to his stalwart support person (what would be yours truly). I was not only able to get him exact GOS co-ordinates to the site but track him on MapQuest as he got close and warn him ahead of time what landmarks to attempt to watch for. He found it and had a grand time describing all he found there to me. We both found ourselves speaking in hushed reverent tones. This is a small photo he sent me I have a much much larger version which I intend to get printed matted and frames for my office wall.
Irish Brigade, 63rd, 69th & 88th New York Infantry Monument (Gettysburg)
Part of: II Corps, 1st Division, 2nd Brigade Commanded by: Colonel Patrick Kelly
- 63rd NY Commanded by: Lt. Col. Richard C. Bentley & Capt. Thomas Touhy
- 69th NY Commanded by: Capt. Richard Moroney & Lt. James J. Smith
- 88th NY Commanded by: Capt. Denis Francis Burke
- 69th NY Commanded by: Capt. Richard Moroney & Lt. James J. Smith
Men Engaged at Gettysburg: 313 men Gettysburg Casualties: 17 killed, 41 wounded, 18 missing
Monument Text
- “The brigade entered the battle under command of Colonel Patrick Kelly 530 strong, of which this contingent, composing three battalions of two companies each, numbered 240 men. The original strength of these battalions was 3,000 men. The brigade participated with great credit to itself and the race it represented, in every battle of the Army of the Potomac in which the Second Corps was engaged, from Fair Oaks, Jule 1, 1862, to Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865.”
- “14th New York Ind’pt Battery. In memory of Capt. James Mc.K. Rorty and four men who fell at the bloody angle July 3, 1863. The battery was mustered in December 9, 1861, as part of the Irish Brigade. it was detached there from and at Gettysburg was consolidated with Battery B, 1st N. Y. Artillery.”
Monument Details
Artist: O’Donovan, William Rudolf, sculptor; Power, Maurice J., contractor; Duncan, John Hemingway, architect.
Dedicated: July 2, 1888
Dimensions: Overall: 19 ft. 6 in. x 10 ft. 2 in. x 8 ft.
Description: A polished granite shaft with inset bronze carved in the shape of a traditional Celtic Cross. At the top of the cross is the trefoil symbol of the 2nd Army Corps. Beneath it are five medallions with the numeric designation of the three New York regiments that made up the Irish Brigade, the New York State Seal, and the seal of Ireland. At the base lies a life-size Irish wolf hound in bronze, representing faith and devotion. A bronze plaque on the right face of the base represents a section of an artillery battery in action and honors Captain James Rorty’s 14th New York Independent battery.
Remarks: The monument honors three New York regiments of the Irish Brigade, a unit organized by former Irish revolutionary Thomas Francis Meagher.
Cost: $5,000 (that’s in 1880s dollars folks. What cost $5000.00 in 1880 would cost $111,519.88 in 2010)
This is a cast-iron rifled cannon called the Parrott gun. The Parrott gun could fire a 10- or 20-pound shell up to 1 ½ miles. Another type of rifled cannon, called the three-inch Ordinance Gun, is named for its three-inch bore in the cannon barrel. This rifled cannon fired an eight-pound shell about 1 ¼ miles. The rifled cannons are painted black. The principal difference between the smoothbore and rifled cannons is the groove in the rifled cannon barrel that provides extra distance and accuracy. Judging from its placement in the Park and the reinforcing band visible in the rear section of the cannon this is one of the 20 pounders from Captain Elijah Taft’s 5th New York Light Artillery Battery which was capable of launching that 20 pound shell over 2000 yards.
When I saw this I asked Impish to bring me one how to add to my artillery collection here at DragonLaffs H.Q. I had planned to use it loaded with canister shot in defense of the front gate which I anticipate will shortly be being stormed and under siege by Eco-tyrannical tree huggers after today Parting Shot. Impish wandered from one piss poor excuse to another as to why he could not accommodate my request for a simple and small little favor.
Personally I think he’s scared he’s wake up one morning to find the business end rammed up one of his nostrils and me standing there with the firing lanyard taunt in my hand!
Got to get some artillery practice in as its noon now on Friday 04/25 and the winged one is winging his way home as I write this. I’ll not be posting pictures of his return trip unless something extraordinary happens to occur, just look at the earlier photos from his outward leg in reverse order.
He CLAIMS he’s “working” tomorrow and will need to rest up from all his exertions that’s why I’m still posting Saturday as opposed to turning this into next weeks issue of Leprechaun Laughs. I’ll just bet he’ll have to say something about being back though so expect to hear from him before the weekend is out as I MIGHT have hinted about getting a couple reader comments asking “Who’s Impish?”
Today’s Target:
and it’s Eco-environmental Whack Job Usurpers
Now do not mistake me! I find the the 5 goals as stated above to be applaudable, laudable, reasonable, wise and fairly compatible with the current practices of the US economy for the most part. It’s when Earth Day and its mission starts getting usurped by left fringe Eco-envro fanatics who treat the subject like its a religion, sowing mass hysteria over none sense and standing in the way of US energy independence over some flora or fauna that is already on the verge of extinction to the point it will never recover that gets my ass out. Then there are those who are in it of “other” reasons apparently, the demonization of Capitalism and Freedom as a means of achieving a new United Socialist States.
Meteorologist lifts veil on ‘Eco-tyranny’
Apr 18, 2012 – 4:08 –
Book exposes ‘green’ agenda
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1569332535001/new-poll-shows-romney-obama-dead-heat/?playlist_id=87937
Hannity Covers Eco-Tyranny in California’s Central Valley
Seriously?! You destroy towns, inflict 40% unemployment and poverty on thousands over a species of MINNOWS because these Eco –Tyrants and Tree Hugger Terrorists managed to buy off enough politicians to get a law passed with “no wiggle room for humans”?! What about all the trees that are dying because of this don’t THEY count? Why are the tree huggers not up in arms (or at least in court) against the Eco-tyrants trying to do something about this?
BETTER YET, WHY ISN’T OBAMA DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?
I’ll tell you why because Brian Sussman is right! This IS about destroying out economy, not about the environment and that fits in with Obama’s intent to turn us into a Socialist state so he will not lift a finger to do anything about this unless pushed into a corner! We’ll hear more about this line of reasoning at the end of our next piece of this pasture pie of a subject.
THE GREEN AGENDA
‘Star Wars’ director surrenders to eco-tyrants
After 25 years of battling environmentalists, “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas has retreated from plans to construct a beautiful mission-style moviemaking mansion on thousands of acres of land he owns in Marin County, Calif., 20 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The people of Marin are proud of their liberalism and adherence to the green agenda. The community is extremely upscale and home to many rock stars and Hollywood-types. One would think the inhabitants of this hippie and yuppie paradise would be thrilled to have George Lucas’ business located in their backyard, but not so. His purposes, they contend, would disturb nature, and that’s a clear no-no in Marin.
Since 1995, a gaggle of rabid eco-interests have relentlessly attacked the billionaire film magnate, whose productions ushered in the digital arts age, over his plans for a production complex that would house Lucasfilm, Industrial Light and Magic, and LucasArts, all beneath one roof.
Initially Lucas wanted to build a 450,000 square foot facility, discreetly tucked away within the privacy of thousands of acres of his personal property. However, the greens immediately began holding him as an eco-hostage. In return for allowing his proposal to move forward, Lucas would have to agree to restore creeks on his land and set aside 2,500 acres of open space (over the years Lucas has been pressured to preserve more than 5,000 acres of property in the region). Lucas generously agreed, and the Marin County Board of Supervisors approved his project.
However, the penance the environmentalists wanted Lucas to pay was simply a green ruse. What they really desired was for the entire plan to be hurled into another galaxy far, far away.
At this point, Lucas cut a deal with San Francisco to use the former Presidio military base, overlooking the Golden Gate, to establish his world-renowned production facilities. He’s been there ever since, but in the meantime, continued to work on building a state-of-the-art campus on his land in Marin.
Finally, two weeks ago, the county supervisors gave the “Star Wars” creator the thumbs up to build his dream complex, though its size was to be reduced by nearly half and another green deed would have to be carried out by Lucas: fund a county-wide climate change action agenda. Lucas was ready to close the deal when officials moved to provide the opposition one last opportunity to state their case as to why the project should not be allowed.
When the eco-warriors showed up at the County Hall with lawyers and reams of paperwork last week, George Lucas decided to finally surrender.
“We have several opportunities to build the production stages in communities that see us as a creative asset, not as an evil empire,” stated a letter from George Lucas’ property company. “The residents [surrounding the property] have fought this project for 25 years, and enough is enough. Marin is a bedroom community and is committed to building subdivisions, not business.”
However, before withdrawing, Lucas unfurled his light saber one last time, shocking everyone into reality; the letter continued, “The land will revert back to its original use for residential housing. We hope we will be able to find a developer who will be interested in low-income housing since it is scarce in Marin.”
Touché.
Lucas’ story illustrates an important fact: The environmentalists are incredibly long-suffering when it comes to undermining personal property rights, which – like Marx and Engels – is the No. 1 goal of their agenda. Once they have selected a target, they will unrelentingly wear out those involved through, protests, lawsuits and green blackmail schemes. Their plans and purposes are not in keeping with liberty, but instead, with eco-tyranny. George Lucas is their latest victim.
Apple defends green credentials of cloud computing services
Greenpeace report named Apple among worst offenders for using highly polluting coal to power their data centers
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 April 2012 10.02 EDT
Apple disclosed sensitive information about energy demand at the data center housing its iCloud service for the first time on Tuesday, defending its green credentials in the face of a campaign by Greenpeace.
In a report rating 14 companies leading the migration from local computers to cloud computing, Greenpeace gave failing grades to Apple, Amazon and Microsoft for their reliance on highly polluting coal to power their data centers.
Greenpeace has been engaged in a campaign to draw attention to tech companies that rely on dirty energy to power their cloud. In addition to the tech giants, it called out Twitter for expanding its data operations from Sacramento, which uses renewable energy, to coal-heavy Atlanta. Meanwhile, the campaign group gave bonus points to Yahoo and Google for pursuing renewable sources of energy for their data centers, and for pressing government on clean-energy policy.
[All this despite the fact that]
Apple is also building a solar farm and a fuel cell installation for the data centre, and plans to get 60% of its on-site power from renewable sources.
Apple and several other companies are disputing Greenpeace’s power consumption figures which at least in a couple cases seem to be made partly from speculation and questionable conclusions. Greenpeace justifies publish these ‘guesstimates’ by bemoaning:
Tech companies are also notoriously unwilling to disclose information about their electricity use, on the grounds that it could be used by business rivals, Greenpeace said.
So Greenpeace’s message is you build where we want you to not in small towns like Maiden, which has sold itself to tech companies as a “data centre corridor” by offering cheap electricity something they have no actual control over how it created. They do not care if they destroy a town’s commercial base as long as they get their agenda’s way. Also that you release to them proprietary information regarding your company’s energy consumption which they will then publish so your rivals can get a better read on your capabilities and where they stand in relation to your or they will simply be forced to publish highly speculative ‘guesstimates’ and tout them as fact in their Eco-tyranny incitement of your company for not supporting their agenda of persecuting of coal fired generating plants regardless of a ready source of alternative energy to replace them.
Then because they are also rabidly anti nuclear they’ll happily rake you over the coals for the suggestion that we need more nuclear plants to replace the coal ones! Like George Lucas with Marin County, California and the Eco-tyrants there, Greenpeace has carefully picked their targets and their bone of contention with them so that it is a no win scenario for their victims, removing even the option of not playing along by deliberately publishing erroneous facts in support of their claims and pointing the finger at their victims and claiming that its their victims fault for refusing them the data with which to bully and extort them!
Oh one last thing that Greenpeace ‘conveniently forgets’ to mention- ALL THREE of the generating plants that combine to serve Washington D.C. where their headquarters is located? Coal and Oil fired generating plants! Apparently we can had hubris & hypocrisy to their list of Eco-tyranny crimes as well.
According to Greenpeace:
And I might agree with that if they were not using activism to hide their demonization of Capitalism and Freedom as a means of achieving a new United Socialist States through Eco-tyranny. However thy like so many other groups are hiding behind Earth Day in an attempt to bring down the US so I have to say:
And then of course we have the Eco-tyrant’s other favorite weapon Eco-bullshit hoaxes:
The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future
This is actual book by US Senator James Inhofe (Rep.- Ok) who is one of the leading conservative voices in America and a strong advocate of common sense values. In January 2003, Inhofe became the Chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee where his priorities include strengthening our Nation’s infrastructure, continuing strong environmental protections and improving national security.
In part the Senator claims:
Americans are over-regulated and over-taxed. When regulation escalates, the result is an increase in regulators. In other words, bigger government is required to enforce the greater degree of regulation. Bigger government means bigger budgets and higher taxes. More simply doesn’t mean better. A perfect example is the entire global warming, climate-change issue, which is an effort to dramatically and hugely increase regulation of each of our lives and business, and to raise our cost of living and taxes. In The Greatest Hoax, Senator James Inhofe will reveal the reasons behind those perpetuating the Hoax of global warming, who is benefitting from the general acceptance of the Hoax and why the premise statements are blatantly and categorically false.
Brain Sussman whom we heard from above would certainly agree and goes even further to assigning a motive and naming the TRUE forces at work behind this steam pile of live stock barn byproduct in this radio interview:
Regrettably you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of the page and endure a 30 second commercial before hearing the interview but trust me its worth doing.
AS if all that is not enough to deal with then we have to additionally endure and suffer the ravings of the crazies just looking desperately for a cause to champion ANY cause regardless of how ridiculous. Take P.I.T.A. which as any Internet savvy person knows REALLY is an abbreviation for Pain In The Ass a pretty convent and apt coincidence akin to it being no mistake you cannot spell crap w/o rap IMHO.
PETA’s Efforts to Ban Fishing
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/01/petas-sea-kitte.html
You may have heard about PETA’s new anti-fishing campaign, which refers to fish as sea kittens.
The primary goal of the campaign is to steer kids away from fishing by associating fish with cute and cuddly animals. The colorful PETA website shares Sea Kitten stories, sells Sea Kitten T-shirts and implores children to join its Sea Kitten crusade.
An angler might irreverently respond that when a sea kitten grows up it becomes a catfish, which when seasoned with Cajun spice is downright delectable.
Fishermen might also point out that a big old catfish, long past its sea kitten days, is one of the ugliest denizens on earth (see photo).
Photo: Tim Pruitt of Alton, Ill., displays state-record 124-pound sea kitten, er, catfish, he reeled from the Mississippi River near Alton in 2005. Credit: Associated Press
But PETA has cast its campaign into the mainstream and received more than a few (uninformed to the point of ignorance) bites.
Ken Kurtis, owner of Reef Seekers dive shop in Beverly Hills, sent out a mass e-mail Tuesday after reading a Canderville comic in Tuesday’s L.A. Times pertaining to the campaign.
Kurtis wasn’t sure what the cartoon meant so he visited the PETA website “because I couldn’t believe someone at an organization like PETA could seriously concoct something so stupid and insulting.”
Kurtis continued: “This has nothing to do with what side of the conservation issue you come down on. But for those of us who regularly work in the marine conservation field, it absolutely trivializes what we try to accomplish.
“I talk with fisherman, divers, conservationists, consumptives, non-consumptives and others. All of these people, whether I agree with their position or not, have a strong love for the ocean and don’t just come to their positions willy-nilly. Nor do they resort to gimmicks and stunts.”
Kurtis implies that by suggesting people eat vegetables instead of fish, PETA ignores environmental damage caused by agricultural runoff; and by making kids believe all fishing is bad, PETA in turn is labeling all fishermen, including remote island villagers who subside on fishing, as villains.
Kurtis implores: “I would love a public outcry to force PETA to (1) withdraw the campaign, (2) apologize for its insulting tone and approach, and (3) fire those responsible for its inception.
The dive master has even added a link.
“I cannot in all good conscience stand idly by without trying to open PETA’s eyes,” Kurtis summed. “I hope you’ll join me in the effort.”
Something tells me this is just the kind of attention PETA was angling for.
I feel compelled to point out just how left and ludicrous your position has to be when as liberal a rag as the L.A> Times points at you and laughs at your position!
Jim Shepard shows how PETA is trying to ban fishing
In a column called “Let ‘Em Eat Worms,” Florida Today fishing columnist Bill Sargent reported that “if PETA had its way, you wouldn’t be reading this column with your Sunday morning coffee.” He then recounted the letter newspaper sports editors had received from Karen Robertson the Fish Empathy Project Manager (I did NOT make this up) for PETA. From her group HQ in Norfolk, Virginia, she brought her 800,000 members and supporters to bear on the fishing columnists of the country.
The letter says “Please consider this: You wouldn’t dedicate space in your paper to the recreational abuse of dogs and cats, yet the fishing column encourages cruelty to animals every bit as capable of feeling pain as any dog or cat.” Then Ms. Robertson makes her suggestion that the fishing column be relocated.
http://fishing.about.com/od/fishermensside/a/aa041605a.htm
PETA’S Anti-Fishing Campaign is Dealt a Punishing Blow
Now comes a report in the academic Reviews of Fisheries Science that states that the brains of fish are not sufficiently developed to allow them to sense pain or fear.
This is the study of James D. Rose, professor of zoology and physiology at the University of Wyoming. He has been working on questions concerning neurology for about 30 years.
He states that awareness of pain depends on functions of specific regions of the cerebral cortex that fish do not possess.
http://www.anglingmatters.com/PETA.htm
Before I forget, you can see all this first-hand on the PETA website www.fishinghurts.com ( I am NOT making this up)
Wonder if anyone has approached P.E.T.A. form the religious stand point and informed them that Christ culled several of his key Apostles from the fishermen of Galilee fed a multitude with a miracle based partially on fish and that aside from the Crucifix the sign most associated with Christianity is the Fish and asked then EXACTLY what it is they are trying to say about this?
I seem to recall some bible verse about this exact situation, hang on Google is my bible toting friend-
King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth
Apparently P.I.T.A. presumes to argue with the word of the Lord!
DAYUMN! I think I just heard every born again Christian & Southern Baptist in the Bible Belt rise up and brandish their Bibles in anger against P.I.T.A. !
So let’s sum up shall we? In a nutshell I think we’ve shown that:
- Earth Day as a concept to raise environmental awareness of personal responsibility = good
- Earth Days’ 5 main points laudable, desirable and are in fact simply a return to a pre-disposable era mind set
- Eco-tyranny = bad disguises a hidden agenda and will do or say anything to achieve its goals.
- Greenpeace = Eco-tyrannical bullies and hypocrites who will baselessly malign and slander corporations and blame the corporations lack of co-operation with them to Ec0-bully them for forcing them to malign and slander
- P.I.T.A. really does stand for Pain In The Ass and are incapable of doing preponderant research before adopting a laughable stand.
- P.I.T.A. is either made up of closet Socialists (that generalization probably extends to all Eco-tyrants) Atheists, Muslims or other bible disregarding heathens.
- Environmental Activist don’t give a shit about people or how their causes impact them.
- Review of current environmental laws regarding endangered species need to be revisited so that consideration is given to the potential harm done to humans in the effected area with an eye towards “wiggle room” to accommodate the needs of the humans and so that protecting an endangered species does not damage other parts of the environment.
Now if you’ll all excuse me I’m off to go hunting rabbits. I’m going to find one kill, it grill it, and proudly make use of its fur whilst simultaneously affirming my
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth
Oh yeah one last funny thing. I had forgotten this entirely until my nephew called as I was writing this and asked my opinion about the relative merits of his strategy verses his father’s strategy for tomorrow morning. See in most of New England and a good portion of neighboring to it Canada the third Saturday in April, the day before Earth Day is the start of FISHING SEASON!
Ooo! Look! Dragon Tracks! Shhh! Be werry werry quiet!
It should stand as no surprise that a large majority of the songs used in Guantanamo Bay consisted of seemingly patriotic ditties like Springsteen’s most famous American anthem. One Spanish citizen accused of being linked to the terrorist network Al-Qaida claimed his interrogators played this song the majority of the time during his entire two year stay in the Cuban prison. However, Clive Stafford Smith, the legal director of the UK human rights charity Reprieve, noted that it may not have been the most patriotic choice since “the message of the song is harshly critical of American policy, condemning the war in Vietnam and describing a veteran’s efforts to find work.” 
One of history’s most tragic standoffs also featured one of history’s most famous musical standoffs. Cult leader David Koresh’s battle with the FBI in 1993 featured a back and forth barrage of ballad bombardments. Koresh wore down his followers by blasting his own failed pop songs at eardrum-busting levels. When the FBI moved in and cut the power to the compound, they fired back with Nancy Sinatra’s depressing girl power pop ballad along with a monotonous mix of Tibetan chants, cavalry bugle beats and 1950s-style Christmas carols for nearly seven weeks straight. FBI officials said they rejected the idea of using Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” because of fears that some of the cult members might actually like it. 
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Dragon Laffs 