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July 31, 2005

Scott Peterson prepares to reap the whirlwind

The sick, twisted monster known as Scott Peterson recently posted an online message on the internet, courtesy of the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty. These tree-huggers that infect the sparsely populated territory north of us don't want us to fry him. Like it's any of their business what we do with our psychopaths.

This sick freak cheated on his wife, then murdered her while she was pregnant with his unborn child. He claims he was innocent, but when they finally grabbed him, he'd bleached his hair and was running for the Mexican border with $14,932 in cash.

I'm honestly surprised he's still alive, considering that his unborn child washed up in San Francisco bay. Technically, that makes him a child killer. Last time I checked, those people don't do too well in prison.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 31, 2005 at 11:38 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

The truth about the neighbors

I’ve been on the road for years, and, when I took a normal 9-5 job in March of this year, I was looking forward to coming home and spending the summer drinking around campfires with the neighbors. But they throw their parties and don’t invite me. It wouldn’t be so bad if I couldn’t hear them. But, it’s summer, and no one has air conditioners up here at 7,500 feet above sea level. So I have the windows open, and you hear them all laughing over there.

I like all of my neighbors. Never said a bad word about any of them. Love them all for who they are, and like spending time with them. But the feeling is apparently not reciprocal. They've done it before and I've told them before how I feel, but it doesn't seem to matter.

I guess I'm not sure I blame them. I used to run my ATV and my weasels all over everyone's property. I stopped that. No one said anything, but I think they were in fear for their lives or they hated me or something like that.

I was dating this complete psycho, and I finally cut her loose. I'm pretty well armed, but you know how women can put the fear in you if you've ever dumped a raving lunatic that goes from laugh to crying in a single sentence. So, I've been just kinda coming home and locking the doors at night.

It’s hard to know what to do when you’re not invited to a party. Maybe, they invited me and I forgot. Maybe they assumed I would just wander over. Maybe…who knows. Finally, I figure I can either sit here, listening to them laugh and having a great time, or I can just go over, assuming that they expected me to wander over, and make the best of it.

So, I don't have a whole lot going on and, eventually, I swallow my pride and walk over. But it’s weird. What do you say? “Hey. What’s up?” I feel awkward. I don’t know how they feel. But, you kind of figure that, on some level, they don’t want you there or they’d have invited you. Maybe I need to take them some disinvitation cards so they can mail them to me next time to remove any doubt about my status.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 31, 2005 at 09:23 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

PETA creates video equating Blacks with common farm animals

In June, PETA employees were arrested and charged with 31 counts of animal cruelty for killing puppies and throwing them in a dumpster. You won't believe what the morons at PETA have done now. Not content with routinely slaughtering animals by the thousands, now they've made a video that equates Blacks with common farm animals. I hope that Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson is aware of this video. It's an abomination, but, coming from PETA, not surprising.

Update: Apparently, some people out at Berkeley took offense to these comparisons. Who'd have thought?

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 31, 2005 at 03:34 PM : Comments (5) | Permalink

Jeb Bush in 2008

I'm getting downright nauseated at the thought of Hillary Clinton running on the Socialist Party ticket in 2008. I've been following the Blogs Against Hillary website, which calms me down a little. It's good to know that not everyone on Earth has forgotten how she tried to turn the United States into a nation of serfs with her 'Eat The Rich' HillaryCare campaign for socialized medicine when she was riding high on Bill's coattails.

I got to wondering about who would run against her in 2008. Not that she'll be hard to beat, because us dolts in flyover country aren't about to allow that deeply stupid little spiv into the Oval Office.

But who will the Republicans put against her? Then it hits me. What about Jeb? He's the governor of Florida. By all accounts, he's smarter than G.W. And I'm thinking, 'this is the guy for the job'. So, where's Jeb? Come on now, son. It's time to step up to the plate. Someone's got to run against that welfare queen in 2008, and you're the perfect man for the job. What do we need to do, start a petition?

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 31, 2005 at 01:48 PM : Comments (6) | Permalink

Adding a PayPal Tip Jar to your site

Several commenters suggested that I add a "Tip Jar" to my web site. Basically, my idea for it is that this is sort of a "can a brutha get a break all up in heagh" handout scheme to help offset the costs of my Internet Service Provider, Wispertel.

Normally, my monthly ISP fees are manageable, but that was before the avalanche of traffic that started yesterday at 7:51 a.m. MDT. Now, Wispertel representatives have surrounded my house and are threatening to raze my mouse and sow salt into my land. OK, so it's a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Tip Jar

Now, if there were just some way I could test the PayPal Tip Jar to see if it works... ;)

I found this web site useful. I've updated and pasted the modified instructions below.

Continue reading "Adding a PayPal Tip Jar to your site"

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 31, 2005 at 11:33 AM : Comments (2) | Permalink

Jimmy Carter doesn't approve of war in Iraq

President Jimmy Carter doesn't think we should be in Iraq. This is classic. President Jimmy Carter pontificating on U.S. foreign policy reminds me of the space monkeys in 2001:A Space Odyssey. I have to think that most people that survived his administration are thinking "Shut up. Sit down. You had your chance, tree-hugger."

For those who are fortunate enough not to have suffered through the Carter administration, he made America a laughing stock. When the Iranians evicted the Shah in 1979, they made a pass through the U.S. embassy, took a bunch of U.S. citizens hostage, and held them for over a year. While they were burning U.S. flags in the desert and dancing across the scorching sands in white dish-towel wardrobes, Carter was attacking a bunny rabbit with a canoe paddle in the swamps of Georgia.

The whole world saw the United States as an emasculated, paper-tiger country, that couldn't even rescue 66 people from a bunch of desert rat terrorists. We were the laughing stock of the entire world. So Jimmy - Sit down. Shut up. No one cares what you think.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 31, 2005 at 09:40 AM : Comments (3) | Permalink

July 30, 2005

The Main Stream Media barons are eating their hands

America is a nation of torpid couch maggots, writhing lethargically in Lazy Boy recliners in the dim FCC-approved glow of a fear-peddling talking head on drive-in sized plasma screen televisions. I don’t own a television. OK, my friends gave me one when they quit for Amsterdam, but there’s only one and I’m not overly compelled to bask in front of the electron beams emanating from the cathode ray picture tube.

It used to be that a few people in news rooms across the country decided what message would be injected into the American pupae. The thought consolidation that occurred was embarrassing, but predictable. Our founding fathers had warned us about licensing the media (newspapers, at the time). But we didn’t listen. We licensed the channels and the papers and the frequencies, and then the corporations bought them up, and then the corporations consolidated, leaving a few people in control of the American media.

Continue reading "The Main Stream Media barons are eating their hands"

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 30, 2005 at 11:53 AM : Comments (4) | Permalink

Is your printer spying on you?

I've heard about this before, but the Electronic Frontier is all over it. As it turns out, your printer is spying on you. It's printing unique secret codes on every document you print that can be used to identify the printer manufacturer, printer type, and serial number. Then, they can tie that particular serial number back to the you by working with the retail stores.

The printer manufacturers did this at the reqeust of the Secret Service to stop counterfeiters. But, the potential for abuse of this are very real. For instance, if you print up some anonymous flyers that the government doesn't approve of, they could tie the documents back to you. This is no joke. Check out the EFF's site for more details about how you can help combat this alarming technology.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 30, 2005 at 12:40 AM : Comments (3) | Permalink

July 29, 2005

Cool Optical Illusions

These optical illusions are unbelievable.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 29, 2005 at 11:11 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

Marine has farewell dinner with family before shipping off to Iraq. Stranger picks up the tab.

On Tuesday night, July 26th, 2005, a proud father offered to take his son out for a special dinner. Mark Hickethier's son, Matt, had joined the Marines, and this would be one of their last meals together before he shipped out to Iraq, for a tour of duty expected to last one year.

They decided to go to The Fort in Morrison, Colorado, which is about two miles from my house, as the crow flies. It's one of the nicest, most expensive restaurants in the Denver area. It's where President Bill Clinton ate when he visited.

The son, Matt Hickethier, decided to wear his Dress Blues. His mother, sister, and father all dressed for the occasion. They spared no expense on their meal, ordering whatever they desired, regardless of the price, including champagne, appetizers, and dessert.

But when it came time to pay the bill, they had a surprise coming. The gentleman that had been sitting at the table next to them during their meal had picked up their tab. And left. The anonymous stranger had picked up on what was going on, and picked up their tab. He'd left his credit card tab open to cover anything they wanted, and then discreetly left the restaurant, stipulating that The Fort not reveal his identity.

This sounds like one of those chain emails and rumors that you read on the internet, but it isn't. It happened right here at The Fort in Morrison, Colorado. The Local Channel 9 News (NBC) aired the story last night. I called The Fort tonight and verified the story with the manager. He said it happened Tuesday night.
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Update: Welcome Michelle Malkin visitors. (My server is smoking right now.) While you're here, check out some of my original short stories about the Bahamas, Hawaii, the Continental Divide, and the pain of being alive. I'm also selling my 1945 "Duck"(DUKW). Thanks for visiting!
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Update 2: I'm really getting hammered here. Not sure what to do. Probably need to get someone to host my site for me, but I'm short of funds, and will need to do some research before I make a decision on whom to go with. Post comments if you have any suggestions on a good company. For what it's worth, I run my site on an XP box running IIS with MySQL, Perl, and Movable Type. So, would want to find a provider that would work with my configuration.
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Update 3. I added this commentary about why the MSM ignores this story even though it has legs.

America is a nation of torpid couch maggots, writhing lethargically in Lazy Boy recliners in the dim FCC-approved glow of a fear-peddling talking head on drive-in-sized plasma screen TV. I don’t own a television. OK, my friends gave me one when the quit for Amsterdam, but there’s only one and I’m not overly compelled to bask in front of the electron beams emanating from the cathode ray picture tube.

The Main Stream Media Barons are eating their hands
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Update 4. Welcome Hugh Hewitt visitors. Sorry the web site is so slow, but I'm getting hammered. (Errr....scratch that...my server is getting hammered.) I fled my swamped PC today and took my daughter fishing. She caught a rainbow trout, but, to her, a big part of fishing is splashing around and getting muddy, and if it makes her happy, it makes me happy. :)

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Update 5. I've added a Pay Pal Tip Jar, per the feedback I received. It was actually pretty simple. I've posted directions on How to add a Pay Pal Tip Jar to your website.

Tip Jar

Now, if there were just some way I could test the PayPal Tip Jar to see if it works... ;)

Continue reading "Marine has farewell dinner with family before shipping off to Iraq. Stranger picks up the tab."

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 29, 2005 at 09:57 PM : Comments (32) | Permalink

July 28, 2005

London Police lied about the man they murdered in an underground station.

Remember when the London plain-clothes police chased the guy into the underground station and shot him seven times in the head and once in the shoulder? In the frenzied aftermath of their kill, Scotland Yard claimed that he "wore a bulky jacket" and "jumped the barrier when police identified themselves and ordered him to stop." The same day the Met commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said the shooting was "directly linked" to the unprecedented anti-terror operation on London's streets.

Well, it was all lies. Surprise, surprise. As it turns out, he was an "electrician, on his way to a job in north-west London". Instead of jumping the turnstyle, he "used a travel card". Instead of a "bulky jacket", he was wearning a "jean jacket".

One armed officer involved has been given leave, and two have been moved to non-firearm duties. Of course, that won't bring the innocent victim back to life. Spin Dry says It's Okay, He was brown.

Secure Beneath the Watchful Eyes, indeed. RIP Jean Charles de Menezes.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 28, 2005 at 01:54 PM : Comments (10) | Permalink

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest - San Jose State's Bad Writing Contest

As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual.

Dan McKay
Fargo, ND

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, also known as the Bad Writing or Dark and Stormy Night Contest, is an international literary parody. The competition honors the memory of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). Entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words "It was a dark and stormy night."

The contest began in 1982 as a quiet campus affair, attracting only three submissions. This response being a thunderous success by academic standards, the contest went public the following year and ever since has attracted thousands of annual entries from all over the world. This year category winners came not just from the United States but from Brazil, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 28, 2005 at 01:34 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

IRA Stands Down - Too late for Robert McCartney

The IRA has decided to officially halt their military campaign to end British rule of Northern Ireland. They plan to continue to end British rule of Northern Ireland, but through non-violent means.

The IRA was recently cast in an embarrassing light after killing Robert McCartney in a barroom brawl. Initially, they claimed that the killing was an IRA matter, but later, admitted that he had been killed because his friend made "an insulting gesture or comment to a woman in their company".

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 28, 2005 at 11:41 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Woman in bathing suit falling through bubbles

I have no idea what this is, but it's pretty funny.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 28, 2005 at 10:52 AM : Comments (2) | Permalink

July 27, 2005

Man dies after anal sex with horse

"Well, officer, you're not going to believe this, but I was walking across the pasture and I saw a quarter on the ground, and I bent over to pick it up and..."

A Seattle man died after engaging in anal sex with a horse at a farm suspected of being a gathering place for people seeking to have sex with livestock, police said Friday.

The horse involved in the incident was not harmed, and an autopsy of the unnamed man concluded that “the manner of death was accidental ... due to perforation of the colon,” a police spokesman said.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 27, 2005 at 01:02 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Pit Bull vs. Porcupine photos

It's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog. This is a photo of a Terrier that got into an altercation with a porcupine. A Pit Bull Terrier, to be exact. Here's the other photo.

I think it says a lot about a Pit Bull. A Pit Bull knows that you can never walk away from a fight. Never back down. Never surrender. Never say die. You may look at this photo and think the dog got the worst of the fight, but we haven't seen the photo of the porucpine. I seriously doubt he survived the encounter. The Pit Bull believes in victory at all costs. If you look closely, you can see his eye peeking through the quills. I bet anything he's thinking "What are you looking at? You see something funny? You wanna make something of it?"

Update: According to Snopes, the original post of these photos is here. Apparently, the porcupine lived. Go figure.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 27, 2005 at 09:54 AM : Comments (17) | Permalink

July 26, 2005

The Tragedy of the Commons

In 1968, Garrett Hardin postulates some theories for explaining how people act in their own self interest, but to the detriment of mankind as a whole, when dealing with a resource that is shared in common. The Tragedy of the Commons indicates that, in many of these situations, no technical solution exists. His thesis is, in many ways, fundamentally flawed. For instance, he states:

Population, as Malthus said, naturally tends to grow "geometrically," or, as we would now say, exponentially. In a finite world this means that the per-capita share of the world's goods must decrease. Is ours a finite world?

Well, no. Ours is not a finite world. It's not a Zero Sum Society, where, for every economic winner, there has to be an equal and opposite loser. Consider a program like Microsoft Windows. Writing one copy is labor intensive, but producing a second copy is free. So, in theory, wealth can be created out of thin air by creating more copies of the same software. Who is the loser in this? No one.

But, if you can get negotiate around his erroneous assumptions, Hardin does posit a few intruiging ideas.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 26, 2005 at 03:51 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

Woman molested by TSA agent fights back

The TSA apparatchiks routinely perform illegal, Orwellian searches at our airports, in clear violation of the 4th Amendment. When one TSA apparatchik fondled Phyllis Dintenfass's breasts, Phyllis decided she'd had enough and she fought back.

Dintenfass testified that she reacted out of instinct.

“I said, ‘I don’t like you feeling me up.’” Dintenfass testified. “She said, ‘I’m not feeling you up.’ I told her, ‘My husband’s been feeling me up for 40 years. I know what that feels like when someone’s feeling me up.’

“I felt violated. … She wouldn’t stop.”

Dintenfass denied that she shoved Gostisha, but admitted to putting her hands on the agent’s breasts.

“I was mortified that I had done that,” she said. “I was reacting to what felt like an absolute invasion of my body.

“I knew nothing had buzzed, so I had no idea why she was touching my breasts.”

Of course, now she's facing federal charges, so no doubt she'll be put away for a long time. Hopefully, the jury understands their right of jury nullification, but it's doubful.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 26, 2005 at 12:29 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

July 25, 2005

Saturn's Kilometric Radiation Radio Emissions

I played this audio track recorded by the Cassini spacecraft of some radio emissions from Saturn, similar to the Earth's radio emissions associated with the Northern lights. Now, granted, the geeks at NASA have speed up the audio, and shifted the frequencies, etc., but it does sound spacey. Sounds a lot like Pink Floyd - "Saucerful of Secrets" or "Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Check out the audio if you get a second...it's only about a minute long.

Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions, which have been monitored by the Cassini spacecraft. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth's northern and southern lights. This is an audio file of radio emissions from Saturn.

The Cassini spacecraft began detecting these radio emissions in April 2002, when Cassini was 374 million kilometers (234 million miles) from the planet, using the Cassini radio and plasma wave science instrument. The radio and plasma wave instrument has now provided the first high resolution observations of these emissions, showing an amazing array of variations in frequency and time. The complex radio spectrum with rising and falling tones, is very similar to Earth's auroral radio emissions. These structures indicate that there are numerous small radio sources moving along magnetic field lines threading the auroral region.

Time on this recording has been compressed, so that 73 seconds corresponds to 27 minutes. Since the frequencies of these emissions are well above the audio frequency range, we have shifted them downward by a factor of 44.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radio and plasma wave science team is based at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/cassini/.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Iowa

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 25, 2005 at 10:47 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Only terrorists target innocent citizens?

What would you call a group of combatants that didn't belong to a single country, but instead was cobbled together from fighters from various countries? That dressed themselves in their enemies uniforms? That deliberated attacked civilians...non-combatant women and children? What would you call a country that deliberated sent hundreds of thousands of noncombatants to their untimely deaths in a series of horrific firestorms? If you guessed the Allies in WWII, you're right!

"Perhaps the next time round the way to do it will be to kill women, children and the civilian population." - Winston Churchill

Continue reading "Only terrorists target innocent citizens?"

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 25, 2005 at 06:43 PM : Comments (2) | Permalink

1945 GMC DUKW for sale

For Sale: 1945 GMC DUKW. This is the only running-swimming DUKW for sale in North America. 100% bone-stock original DUKW, delivery date July 1945. Hull is in good condition. Original engine and drive train. Starts easily. Doesn't burn any oil. Excellent brakes. Specifications. 32 feet long. 8 1/2 feet wide. 10 feet tall. 6 wheel drive. .50 caliber machine gun. 20,000 pound winch. And a propeller.

Included with the DUKW are the following:

Included spare parts:

DUKW is titled, registered, and located in Morrison, Colorado, USA. Sea trials can be arranged for serious buyers. Price: $50,000.00. See a video of the DUKW for sale. For more information, email PeenieWallie at wispertel.net.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 25, 2005 at 01:41 PM : Comments (60) | Permalink

John Roberts - Come on down!

Supreme Court Justice nominee John Roberts faces some tough questions from the Democrats, but probably none of them will be as tough as these.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 25, 2005 at 12:44 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Inmate accidentally kept in prison for half a century

An inmate in the Indian judicial system was lost in the red tape, and ended up being incarcerated for over 50 years, without ever being charged with a crime. Eventually, he was released after paying a fine of 2 cents.

Strangely, even his relatives and family members forgot about Machang Lalung.

Last year, local human rights activists brought Machang's case to the attention of the National Human Rights Commission, which took up the case immediately and sought his release.

He was finally freed last week after paying a token personal bond of one rupee (two cents).

Supreme Court Justice nominee John Roberts was unavailable for comment.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 25, 2005 at 10:17 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 24, 2005

Boy attacked by bear in Colorado campsite

A fifteen year old boy was attacked by a black bear while camping just 15 miles southwest of Denver on July 20th, 2005. Keelan Patton, the bear attack victim, didn't even have any food in his tent. Yikes.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 24, 2005 at 08:11 AM : Comments (1) | Permalink

July 23, 2005

How to make TATP

If you want to know how to make TATP, here's the directions. But be careful. TATP is extremely unstable, and DADP, which is often produced as a byproduct, is horrendously unstable. The Muslim terrorists call this stuff "Mother of Satan" for a reason. Michelle Malkin quotes Jason Smith as incorrectly claiming that TATP is "the most unstable explosive known". If they think TATP is unstable, then they should look into DADP.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 23, 2005 at 09:08 PM : Comments (2) | Permalink

TATP, PETN, and Semtex - Terrorist Playdough

The London Muslim Bombings of 7/7 and failed bombing attempts 7/21 used the extremely unstable plastic explosive TATP("triacetone triperoxide"). TATP is less powerful than plastic explosives, and less stable. But it's a favorite among the terrorists because you can mix up a batch in the bathtub from commonly available ingredients: sulphuric acid, hydrogen peroxide, and acetone. The problem is that it's EXTEREMELY volatile, and can detonate from sparks or sudden movement. It's a favorite among Hamas, and a reason they've lost so many suicide bombers prematurely over the years.

Egyptian chemistry student Magdy Elnashar, 33, wanted by police in connection with the 7/7 London bombings was arrested in Cairo. So, this is probably the guy that figured out how to mix the TATP ingredients in a bath tub.

Richard Reid, the failed shoe-bomber, had TATP and PETN in his shoes. PETN, or "pentarythritoltetranitrate", is a high-grade military plastic explosive.

The "sniffers" at the airport only detect certain types of explosives.

Vapor detectors and particle detectors, generally known as sniffers, identify explosives by their particulate or gaseous elements. When properly used, sniffers can assist in the limited detection of a narrow range of explosive compositions, but negative results always require other methods of screening.

A vapor detector can identify volatile explosive compounds that have a high vapor pressure, such as nitroglycerin found in older dynamite made with a formula that has since changed. [snip] However, vapor detectors will miss explosives with a low vapor pressure, such as plastic explosives, PETN, or black powder. In one test I conducted, for example, a vapor detector failed to register a hit for a bottle that was filled with SEMTEC.

[snip]

The second type of sniffer is a particle detector, which looks for trace amounts of chemical compounds that may be found in some explosive devices. These devices analyze the chemical signatures of the substances present on a package. The technology works on the premise that if a person has been handling explosives, their hands will be contaminated with residue, which will then be transferred to the package. Samples are collected either through a vacuum hose or with swipe pads, gloves, and cards. The sample is placed into the particle detector, which heats up the substance and displays the results on the system's small monitor.

These instruments ... are ideally suited for detection of postblast explosive residues, and have been helpful in investigations like the World Trade Center and the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombings. Particle detectors have also been used with marginal success to sample rooms where suspected terrorists have developed an explosive device.

[snip]

These instruments are best at identifying rarely used explosive compounds such as RDX, PETN, HMX, NG, TNT, DNT, and some bulk nitrate explosives. Most bombings in the United States consist of pipe bombs filled with smokeless or black powder, which particle detectors are currently incapable of identifying. In rare circumstances, however, the particle detector may detect nitrates present in high quantities.

Well-sealed explosives may not be identified by the particle detector. Also, because the device requires operators to vacuum or swipe packages, the suspect items are subject to handling forces that may cause them to explode. For example, to collect valid samples with the vacuum model, the nozzle must have good contact with the surface of the package. Vacuum systems that do not make contact with the surface are ineffective.

Although unlikely, the vacuum hoses may cause a sufficient amount of static electricity discharge to initiate a bomb's firing components or explosive compounds.

So, apparently, the sniffers at the airport might be able to detect PETN, RDX, and Semtex(Semtex is made of PETN and another plastic explosive known as RDX). But TATP and black powder can't be detected by the "sniffers" in the airports. So, keep that in mind next time you go to the airport.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 23, 2005 at 08:17 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

The Patriot Act violates the constitution

The Patriot Act is anything but patriotic. Get the facts here.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 23, 2005 at 06:41 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

London police murder innocent citizen

Ooops. Sorry. In the nervous aftermath of the London Muslim bombings of 7/7 and 7/21, London police shot an innocent man to death as he ran down into the subway.

A lot of what we're faced with here is a problem of numbers. No one would disagree that, if a terrorist is standing there with an armload of plastic explosives, then he deserves to die. But, the reality is, that when you bring in police to search people, and give them the shoot-to-kill powers, they're going to seach millions of innocent people, and kill many innocent people, and probably never come into contact with a single terrorist. Remember, when the subways were completely unguarded, they went a hundred years without being attacked.

The same problem holds for the disaster of 9/11. Although lots of people said we should have shot the planes out of the sky on 9/11, the reality is, that if you start shooting commercial aircraft out of the sky because you can't communicate with them and they're off course, you're going to kill way more people than the terrorists ever would.

Having police in the subway stations is about as effective as when we had the National Guard guarding the Golden Gate bridge. More often than not, they were asleep in their trucks. Not that you could blame them though, because the odds of any one place getting attacked at any point in time are so absurdly low, that you'd fall asleep if you were guarding it, too. It's boring.

As for my own personal proection, I really don't see the terrorists as a threat to my safety, with or without the police. The number of people that the terrorists have killed(in a world of six billion people) is statistically insignificant. Logically, I focus my attention on the true threats to my safety. And I don't live my life in fear. I do not change my life based on the actions of a few insane muslims.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 23, 2005 at 04:04 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

The TSA lied and violated the Privacy Act

The Government Accountability Office(GAO) has reported that the TSA lied to the American citizens and illegally used sensitive private information about travelers, in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, which prohibits the government from compiling information on people without their knowledge.

The TSA collected the information for their brainchild called "Secure Flight", a draconian, massively intrusive, Orwellian screening operation to check people against a "Terrorist Watchlist". The Terroist Watchlist, is as flawed as it is reviled. Even the murderous Senator Ted Kennedy ended up on the Terrorist Watchlist. Although I'm reasonably sure that Mary Jo Kopechne was laughing in her tomb, he wasn't intentionally put on the list.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 23, 2005 at 03:09 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Drag and Drop European geography quiz

How well do you know your European geography? This drag-and-drop map of Europe isn't easy.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 23, 2005 at 12:45 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 22, 2005

Mulsim terrorists wanted for London bombings of 7/21

Here's the photos of the Muslim terrorists wanted in connection with the London subway and bus bombings of 7/21/05.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 22, 2005 at 02:25 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 21, 2005

New York City Police begin illegal searches in subways

The police in New York City started illegally searching people in the subways in clear violation of the 4th amendment. There's a surprise, right? They were already illegally searching people in the airports. It was only a matter of time.

Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik said on Fox News "we need more security, we need more surveillance, we need technology, we need dogs" on the U.S. rail system. He wants to "check out" people carrying "a large backpack or package".

In a related story, Bush said of terrorists today "...they don't understand our country though. They don't understand that when it comes to the defense of universal freedoms, this country won't be frightened."

Does anyone else see the irony in this? What "universal freedoms" is he referring to? The freedom to be searched against our will? Thanks a lot. Where are the Cecilia Beaman's of the world now? Where's the eternal vigilance?

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 21, 2005 at 07:16 PM : Comments (4) | Permalink

Australian Prime Minister John Howard comments on terrorism

Trey Jackson has a video of Australian Prime Minister John Howard's comments when a reported had the audacity to suggest that London was attacked because England was in Iraq. Here's the text of his comments.

Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.

And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.

Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn't have done that?

When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn't be in Afghanistan?

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 21, 2005 at 07:03 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

Los Angeles Times liberal editor resigns!

John S. Carroll, the bleeding heart, translucent, liberal editor of the Los Angeles Times resigned today. Thousands rejoiced. These urban dead-tree newspaper vermin are getting their hats handed to them by the internet blogs, and, as a result, readership is falling. Advertising is falling. They're reeling from the juggernaut of alternative news on the radio, Fox news, and now the blogs on the internet. Yahoo! Reap it you lousy b@st@rds. No one wants to read your liberal drivel any more. Reap it!

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 21, 2005 at 06:49 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Millions flock to World of Warcraft MMORPG

Millions of people have fled the anonymity of meat-space reality for the excitement of a virtual life inside a new video game by Blizzard Entertainment called World of Warcraft. Released on June 7th, 2005, just six weeks later, Blizzard has announced that they have 3.5 million people playing the game across the globe. If that isn't sad, then I don't know what is.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 21, 2005 at 11:45 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

1,196 pound Tiger Shark caught off Martha's Vineyard

Some guys caught a 1,196 pound tiger shark off of the coast of Martha's Vineyard in the local annual shark fishing rodeo. Unfortunately, they were six minutes late getting it back to the dock at Oak Bluffs.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 21, 2005 at 10:19 AM : Comments (2) | Permalink

The 7/21 Muslim London Bombings

Two weeks to the day after the Muslim London Bombings of 7/7, the lunatics are at it again. The Counterterrorism blog has the story.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 21, 2005 at 10:00 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 20, 2005

Debugging Trackback problems with MovableType and MySQL

I'm having a problem with MovableType where a trackback does not appear. It passed through the MT-Blacklist and SpamLookup filters, and was approved, but has no text, and dose not appear in the html under the "trackback" anchor. So, I'd like to add some text to the trackback, but Movable Type doesn't allow me to do this. So, I'm going to look into MySQL database to see if I can find where the trackback entries are stored and update the text there.

Continue reading "Debugging Trackback problems with MovableType and MySQL"

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 20, 2005 at 10:53 AM | Permalink

July 19, 2005

John Roberts to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

OK. OK. So, it looks like Bush has chosen John Roberts to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Why can't I find a word about where he stands on the following to issues:
1) Does he understand that the 2nd Amendment guarantees individuals the right to bear arms?
2) Does he understand that the consititution was not meant to be a "Living Document"?
3) Does he understand that the 9th ammendment has to give individuals certain "unenumerated rights" or they wouldn't have written it?
4) Does he understand that the Constitution is "in Exile", because the Supreme Court Justices have eviscerated our Bill of Rights and stained the jurisprudence by treating the Constitution as a "Living Document" and legislating from the bench?

Anyone with information on John Robert's views on these three issues please post comments ASAP!

Update. Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit has lots of links on John Robert's nomination. Michelle Malkin has a roundup of links on the nomination as well.

Roberts also displayed what some viewed as insouciance toward arroyo toads in a 2003 case, Rancho Viejo v. Norton. Roberts wanted the full D.C. Circuit to reconsider a panel's decision that upheld a Fish and Wildlife Service regulation protecting the toads under the Endangered Species Act. Roberts said there could be no interstate commerce rationale for protecting the toad, which, he said, "for reasons of its own lives its entire life in California."

The Truth Laid Bear is also all over it.

SCOTUS Nomination Blog has a post about Robert's position on the 4th Amendment. I take it to mean Robert's doesn't give a flip about the 4th Amendment.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 19, 2005 at 07:40 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Iraqi Bill of Rights creates a socialist dystopia in the desert

A draft copy of the Iraqi Bill of Rights has been leaked and translated into English. Unfortunately, after reviewing it in its entirety, I can safely say that this regime will fail, and fail miserably, for a variety of reasons. This "Bill of Rights" is a blueprint for a "cradle-to-grave" socialist regime that would make Hillary Rodham salivate with envy. Under this charter, the government is responsible for economic growth, education, and providing security to a disarmed, emasculated population.

In place of our 2nd amendment, they get this watered-down mumbo-jumbo:

"Article 23, Clause 3 - Citizens may not own, bear, buy, or sell weapons, except by a permit issued in accordance with law."

It's basically what our constitution would look like if you handed a blank sheet of paper to a bunch of weak-kneed Democrats like Hillary Rodham, Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Diane Feinstein, and Robert Byrd, and asked them to draw up a new Constitution and Bill of Rights. It's a recipe for a socialist regime. A dystopian society doomed to fail.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 19, 2005 at 05:05 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Speed cameras cause increase in road fatalities

England has suspended the installation of additional speed cameras, due to an increase in fatalities where they were installed. The reason? Because people are focused on their speedometers instead of on the road. Go figure.

According to the MCN figures...Hertfordshire saw a 24 per cent rise in speed camera numbers between 2003 and 2004. In the same period, road fatalities rose by 34 per cent.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 19, 2005 at 03:59 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Apple's Video iPod courting Disney

Apple is coming out with a new unit called the 'Video iPod', and it looks like they want it to do more than just play music videos. They're apparently in negotiations with the criminals at Brave New Disney World to provide content. Although Apple will be quick to cower before their masters at WIPO, the MPAA, and the RIAA, the hackers are never far behind. ;)

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 19, 2005 at 11:33 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Bicyclists die en masse like preternatural Lemmings

What's alarming is not that these cyclists in Germany were killed, but that people were surprised they were killed. It's an absurd travesty that they're allowed to use the roads at all. The poor girl that killed them should sue the state for allowing cyclists on the roads.

Bicyclists all over the world betray an alarming propensity to ride their bikes on roads that were designed for automobiles. This suicidal behavior is difficult to comprehend. On roads where automobiles can travel at speeds of 50, 60, or even 70 miles per hour, for some reason, people feel compelled to pedal bicycles uphill at speeds of 2-3 miles per hour.

Continue reading "Bicyclists die en masse like preternatural Lemmings"

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 19, 2005 at 10:35 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Ebonics - The linguistic shackles of San Bernardino

The mental dwarfs of Oakland laid an egg in 1996 when they unleashed the specter of Ebonics on the world. Now, nearly a decade later, the nimrods at San Bernardino City Unified School District, ever anxious to placate the masses, have decided to incorporate Ebonics into a new school policy that targets black students.

"Ebonics is a different language, it's not slang as many believe," Texeira said. "For many of these students Ebonics is their language, and it should be considered a foreign language. These students should be taught like other students who speak a foreign language."

Uhlowin blaks ta speek Ebonics do not be the bess solusun. It be's only serve ta ferther isholate dem from the private sektur. Wud u wana hIr sumon dat kaint rede or rite kurectly? Den u kin see whi dis bees a bad id.

However well-intended their actions, the school board has made a critical mistake in formalizing Ebonics into a curriculum. Ebonics is/are/be the linguistic shackles of a new generation of slaves, shunting anguished pupils into the servitude of minimum wage careers.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 19, 2005 at 09:44 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 18, 2005

ACLU Sues FBI over surveilance of Bush critics

The ACLU has sued the FBI alleging that "the FBI has engaged in a pattern of political surveillance against critics of the Bush administration".

The FBI has in its files 1,173 pages of internal documents on the American Civil Liberties Union, the leading critic of the Bush administration's anti-terror policies, and 2,383 pages on Greenpeace, an environmental group that has led acts of civil disobedience in protest over the administration's policies, the Justice Department disclosed in a court filing earlier this month in federal court in Washington.

Unleashing the the FBI tyrants to monitor innocent american citizens is a bad idea. It's such a bad idea, that it was made illegal, due to their outrageously, flagrant, illegal atrocities against the civil rights groups back in the 1960's. The FBI's COINTELPRO - Covert Action Program to Destroy the Black Panthers should serve as a warning to the dangers of abuse of this notorious federal cancre. J. Edgar Hoover, the Black Panther party "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country". The FBI's wrath was expressly directed against such leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokley Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Maxwell Stanford, and Elijah Muhammad.

Continue reading "ACLU Sues FBI over surveilance of Bush critics"

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 18, 2005 at 03:11 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

iPod Flea - The world's smallest MP3 player

First, Apple made the "iPod" mp3 player. Then, they produced a smaller verision called the "iPod mini". In January of 2005, they produced the pocket-sized "iPod Shuffle". Now, Apple has produced the world's smallest mp3 player, the "iPod flea". You'll be itching to use it.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 18, 2005 at 02:23 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 16, 2005

Colorado Mosquito Range photographs

I stumbled across some cool photos of the Mosquito Mountain Range of Summit County, Colorado. These aren't your prototypical dullard public-service images. They're pretty slick. They also have cool images from all over the world.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 16, 2005 at 08:40 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 15, 2005

PETA asks Fishkill to change name

PETA has renewed their call for Fishkill, New York to change their name to something more animal friendly. They attempted this same stunt ten years ago. This, in spite of the fact that Fishkill was not originally intended to mean "kill