A boat sank in the western Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, killing at least 73 people, according to reports.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the cargo boat was carrying passengers, as well as logs, went it sank in Lake Mai-Ndombe in the Bandundu province, apparently due to inclement weather. Local reports say the vessel was not authorized to carry passengers.

The Red Cross announced 272 people survived the accident, but others remain missing and it is feared their bodies are trapped underneath the sunken barge.

“We are at 272 survivors and 73 dead. These are bodies that we have found along the shores of the lake. There are still some people missing. But we don’t know how many because there was no ship’s manifest,” said Dominic Lutula, the president of the Congolese Red Cross, said to the Reuters news agency.

Boat accidents are fairly common in the Democratic Republic of Congo because vessels are often overloaded and not properly maintained. The country has many rivers but few paved roads, forcing many people to rely on boats for transportation.

Go beyond the textbook, students!

More than just as tribute to the victims, more than just a disaster story, the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire, and the following events including the trial of the company owners, lay out issues you can see clearly.  I think the event is extremely well documented and adapted for projects.  Theses events lay a foundation for understanding the great issues of the time.

A couple of good websites crossed my browser recently, and you should go investigate.

• From Cornell University’s Institute for Labor Relations, a site the features writings of some of the victims, headlines of the times, and several other documents suitable for classroom use or in building a Documents-based Question for an AP class.  Read accounts from survivors of the fire, and stories from some of the victims.  This is a good place to get a feeling for what people thought, then.
• From the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the home of the Douglas Linder’s “Famous Trials” page, the story of the trial of the owners of the company (they were acquitted).  This site is rich in information and images, a real gold mine for in-class slide presentations and student projects.  Just browse it, and it will make you smarter. Spend some serious time looking at, studying and analyzing, the photographs and drawings.

Events around the fire illuminate so much of American history, and of government (which Texas students take in their senior year):

• Labor issues are obvious to us; the incident provides a dramatic backdrop for the explanation of what unions sought, why workers joined unions, and a sterling example of a company’s clumsy and destructive resistance to resolving the workers’ issues.
• How many Progressive Era principles were advanced as a result of the aftermath of the fire, and the trial?
• Effective municipal government, responsive to voters and public opinion, can be discerned in the actions of the City of New York in new fire codes, and action of other governments is clear in the changes to labor laws that resulted.
• The case provides a dramatic introduction to the workings and, sometimes, misfirings of the justice system.
• With the writings from the Cornell site, students can climb into the events and put themselves on the site, in the courtroom, and in the minds of the people involved.
• Newspaper clippings from the period demonstrate the lurid nature of stories, used to sell newspapers — a working example of yellow journalism.
• Newspapers also provide a glimpse into the workings of the Muckrakers, in the editorial calls for reform.
• Overall, the stories, the photos, the cartoons, demonstrate the workings of the mass culture mechanisms of the time.

Use the sites in good education, and good health.

This post is adapted with permission from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub.

What is preparedness & survivalism? Some folks think the two are one in the same, and others think differently. And when you add the term ’sustainable living’ into the mix you can develop a slew of new ideas and definitions. So, I feel it is important to differentiate the terminology and meaning behind all of these words in order to form a more comprehensive view of the coming times, what we are in for, and how we will learn to cope with what is ahead.

In simple terms, we can say that preparedness is the planning that comes before the fact, and survival is the act of living with what happens after the fact. How well we survive is dependent upon how we prepare. But there is much more to consider when making your plans to survive than simply piling up a bunch of go packs, MRE’s, water and endless supplies to feed the family and tend to their scrapes and bruises. Part of this planning should include a plan that has a goal of adapting yourselves to learn to live with less. And this doesn’t mean that you need to learn to live in the woods covered with deer skin to keep you warm. This means that you have to learn to do without what we take for granted today.

There are various stages or levels of disaster after-life that may be permanent, or they may be temporary. But what happens in the aftermath of any disaster is directly related to your response and the level of planning prior to that same disaster. For instance, let’s look at the infamous Katrina event, or Hurricane Katrina, of a few years ago. The storm was well documented, and warnings were given in plenty of time for people to have been evacuated, but they weren’t. There are many reasons for this failure to do the right thing, but the underlying cause of the devastation remains dedicated to just a few basic points.

Number one, New Orleans is built for the most part under sea level, and also has the advantage of being the mouthpiece of the Mississippi River. And remember, all water flows into the sea, if it doesn’t evaporate beforehand. In my opinion, much of what has been rebuilt after the storm should not have been rebuilt. At some point another major storm will bear down upon that same city and we’ll be repeating what never should have happened in the first place. But all that is beside the point.

The point here is that the Gulf is a region prone to hurricane damage, and people know that. Even if the government doesn’t tell you to leave, that doesn’t mean you should stay. Common knowledge would have suggested that the low lying areas of that city were going to be flooded, and that knowledge was, and is attainable by everyone. If these people would have had a survival mindset they would have had go bags ready to go and should have get gone well before the first warnings of flooding potential were issued. But people still wanted to party, and hold onto their property.

The afterlife of many showed just how poor their preparedness was, and the stories of many indicate the level of survivability people were prepared for. Many were orphaned out to other states where they had to rely upon the welfare system to put a roof over their heads and food in their guts. Some still rely upon that aid, in fact. Those who had the preparedness aspect under control and in place long before the flooding fared much better. Those people got out much sooner, they had cash to live off of, and sometimes relatives they could go to, they had insurance to cover their losses, and they were able to obtain alternate employment relatively quickly if their employers were shut down and out of business.

There are lessons that we can all learn from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but very often we fail to listen to our instructor, don’t we? The first lesson we can learn is that no matter how prepared we are to meet disaster, we often times will fail because of some small overlooked detail. For instance, if the Levees hadn’t failed, how badly would the area have been damaged? Did anyone take the possibility of their failure into consideration prior to, and during the period where evacuations were being considered?

Transportation is yet another factor. I recall reading quite a few headlines concerning the usage of city and private busses to get certain segments of the population out of harm’s way. Why would that have been an issue in the first place? Proper planning would have had the mechanisms in place to utilize every means of possible transportation available, and yet the various government agencies bickered over the usage of those busses.

There are a good many more examples that could be presented here, but the picture painted as we look back at this particular disaster just brings to light the fact that there will always be something overlooked that may cause us to fail in our attempts of survival after the fact. Unfortunately, many of these overlooked items could have been seen if we had only put more effort into preparedness. When developing your emergency preparedness plans you need to take the time to think through every conceivable scenario. You need to pretend in your head that this event or another is actually happening, and play out the scene as it were real life. What if should be one of the main mottos of your survival and preparedness agenda.

And then you need to practice and act out your survival plans to see what you have forgotten in the preparedness stage. Remember, once the hurricane, or other disaster hits you can no longer prepare for it. You have nothing less but to survive upon what your preparedness planning has given you.

A ferry has sunk in Bangladesh earlier today, killing at least five people, according to authorities. About fifty more people were missing after the incident.
Police said that the accident occurred as the vessel, called the MV Coco-4, came near a river station at Bhola Island, located 300 kilometres from the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka. The ferry was reportedly overcrowded, and the boat tipped to one side as all its passengers moved to disembark.
“It was overcrowded with over 1,000 passengers. It tilted and part of it sank due to crowd pressure as it arrived near the Nazirpur river station,” said a local police chief, Zakir Hossain, to the Agence France-Presse news agency. He also added that “many passengers have managed to land safely. But we believe some others who were staying in the cabins were trapped under water. We are trying to rescue them,” Rescue teams and divers are reportedly searching underwater for bodies.
Ferry accidents are not infrequent in the country; incidents have usually been due to overcrowding, or the use of old vessels. “At festival time it is really difficult to stop passengers and relevant ferry operators from flouting rules,” said an officer for the Bangladesh water authority.

More than just as tribute to the victims, more than just a disaster story, the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire, and the following events including the trial of the company owners, lay out issues students can see clearly.  I think the event is extremely well documented and adapted for student projects.  In general classroom use, however, the event lays a foundation for student understanding.

A couple of good websites crossed my browser recently, and I hope you know of them.

• From Cornell University’s Institute for Labor Relations, a site the features writings of some of the victims, headlines of the times, and several other documents suitable for classroom use or in building a Documents-based Question for an AP class.
• From the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the home of the Douglas Linder’s “Famous Trials” page, the story of the trial of the owners of the company (they were acquitted).  This site is rich in information and images, a real gold mine for in-class slide presentations and student projects.

1911 cartoon from a New York paper shows the owners dressed in dollar bills, holding shut the door that barred the safe exit of so many women during the fire. Courtesy UMKC Famous Trials site; New York Evening Journal, March 31, 1911

Events around the fire illuminate so much of American history, and of government (which Texas students take in their senior year):

• Labor issues are obvious to us; the incident provides a dramatic backdrop for the explanation of what unions sought, why workers joined unions, and a sterling example of a company’s clumsy and destructive resistance to resolving the workers’ issues.
• How many Progressive Era principles were advanced as a result of the aftermath of the fire, and the trial?
• Effective municipal government, responsive to voters and public opinion, can be discerned in the actions of the City of New York in new fire codes, and action of other governments is clear in the changes to labor laws that resulted.
• The case provides a dramatic introduction to the workings and, sometimes, misfirings of the justice system.
• With the writings from the Cornell site, students can climb into the events and put themselves on the site, in the courtroom, and in the minds of the people involved.
• Newspaper clippings from the period demonstrate the lurid nature of stories, used to sell newspapers — a working example of yellow journalism.
• Newspapers also provide a glimpse into the workings of the Muckrakers, in the editorial calls for reform.
• Overall, the stories, the photos, the cartoons, demonstrate the workings of the mass culture mechanisms of the time.

Use the sites in good education, and good health.

The worst flooding in 27 years in Saudi Arabia has left at least 77 people dead, and dozens more could be missing. The floods came after torrential rains on Wednesday.
The rainstorms mainly affected western parts of the country, including the cities of Jeddah, Rabigh and Mecca, and the surrounding area. Inclement weather hampered the start of the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca; however, none of the dead people had been attending the event.
The deaths were mainly caused by collapsed homes and high waters, according to officials. Witnesses say many of the casualties had been trapped in vehicles. Many cars had been swept away and city roads were flooded, blocking traffic.
The Saudi Arabian Civil Defence Authority reported that emergency crews managed to rescue over 900 people.

My first scarf. Husby has stolen it. It is mucho warm. It seemed inexplicably to gain a few stitches here and there so is not exactly straight, but it was a learning scarf. I will do better next time. In fact I’ve already ordered not one but 6 new skeins of wool……. oops.

Also - a few more xmas presents down:

Ffor my eldest nephew – melted up broken crayons made spanky new. Cool huh? Not a new idea by any stretch, but a good ‘un. Going to do the same with chocolate for the grown ups

Also made a bag – well, refashioned the moomin’s bookstart canvas bag by turning it inside out and sewing on what is technically a lining to the outside to make a pretty new one for Husby’s aunt.

And… a few disasters.

#1 – some neck lushes for SIL – went horribly wrong somehow and don’t lie properly and just look like rags. Husby had this tortured look on his face when I asked him if they were ok. Bad.

#2 – some ‘glittens’ (mittens with an optional finger-cover) which would have been very cool – made from an old jumper, but went awry. No pictures. I still have some pride. I’m going to try to salvage them and keep them for myself, as yes, they were also meant for the ill-fated SIL. At this rate she’s getting something shop-bought. It’s not good.

Ok, time for a success:

Blueberry volcanoes Muffins. There are no words.

In a tragic, environmentally devastating accident long predicted by technology experts, the Internet today ran aground the shores of the Arctic. As a consequence, tons and tons of tedious, yecky indie music spilled out onto birds, fish, seals, bears, and countless other animals, plants, and microscopic organisms. Environmental groups were quick to arrive on the scene, denouncing the Internet for its chronic irresponsibility. “For too long, the Internet has been allowed to amass and distribute toxic indie music,” said Patty Dale, leader of the group “Citizens Against Indie Music Proliferation.” “Every day, thousands and thousands of new bands and their banal mp3s are spilled into our environment, causing congestion, distraction, and waste of precious resources. Our group for years has warned that, one day, there would be a price to pay for this massive irresponsibility.”

According to recent studies, there are currently over 8 million bands on MySpace alone, and it is believed that this represents only a fraction of the bands in existence. Each day, approximately 1,000 new bands form worldwide, each spawning an average of 8.5 new downloadable songs a year, as well as videos, demos, and other sundry digital detritus. Scientists warn that, at present rates of growth, future generations will be overwhelmed by massive amounts of hazardous indie music. “They will face daunting challenges,” says MIT researcher Zmut Koel. “Will they put the nasty music all onto spaceships and launch it deep, deep into space? Well, good luck; there are no space ships big enough for this task, and maybe even space itself will not be big enough of room for that.”

Other suggestions have been to bury the indie music under the ocean, or inside mountains. Environmentalists reject these ideas, however, as wildly foolish. Says Dale, “The half-life of a derivative three-minute Emo song is ten thousand years. We simply have no plan to deal with this.” In the meantime, crews have been sent to Alaska to clean up the indie mess, a task which is expected to take the better part of the next decade.

There’s been a lot of chatter lately over the increasing presence of the military in civilian circles by way of the Northcom military command and their participation with local law enforcement agencies. Recently, a major disaster training event was held, Vibrant Response, and I am betting that at least some of the jump the gun survivalists are fearing that this exercise is a stepping stone to suspension of our constitution. I won’t disagree that the potential for abuse exists with this command, but I’m also betting that when it gets down to the wire, the majority of these soldiers care more about the constitution than they do getting reamed by their commanding officers.

There is of lot of distrust and resentment against the feds in the world of the anti new world order, small gov. crowd, and there is reason to be suspicious, but come on folks, these things need to take place if training is to be effective. After all, you can read a dozen textbooks on how to repair the brakes on your car, but until you get the toolbox out and actually change those brakes, you’ve never changed them. Consequently, you have no real experience with that exercise, and when you are down and out, and your brakes need repairing, what are you going to do? Stumble through the job and make mistakes when you can least afford to?

That analogy goes for disaster preparedness as well. The military is best suited to respond to a major catastrophe as they have the logistics, supplies and equipment in place and ready to go. These exercises train these men in what and how to do the things they need to do to be effective and minimize loss. We’ve always used the military by way of the National Guard etc. to help out in emergencies, so don’t second guess and come to rash conclusions when these types of events occur. The military voluntarily, for the most part, places their lives on the line in order to protect us and keep our borders secure. The dipsticks in Washington are another problem altogether, and there is no escape from that quarter, and that is where our distrust and complaints should be directed. Soldiers are soldiers and not politicians, and that’s the way it should be.

From some of the commentary I have read over this training exercise I gather there are many in the far right community that would rather rake in the mud than play in the grass and that’s too bad. I believe we would be much better off if we were to start to put some of the extremism to the side and start working together to bring true conservatism back to this nation. Socialism has been 100 years coming to this nation, let’s hope it doesn’t take 100 years to get rid of it.

I have included here a couple of press releases from Northcom regarding the Vibrant Response exercise, which was to be a practice for a nuclear strike on a local level.

Inter-agency exercise prepares all for national emergency

Nov. 11, 2009
By T. D. Jackson, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs

BUTLERVILLE, Ind. – With an exercise the magnitude of Vibrant Response comes the need for inter-agency communication, team/unit cohesion and quick reaction time.  Vibrant Response, an exercise that simulates a terrorist nuclear attack in the United States, implements those three tenets in order to accomplish the mission at hand – working together to help save lives. 

More than 4,000 military and civilian participants converged on Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Muscatatuck Urban Training Center and its surrounding communities Nov. 5 – 12 to participate in a training exercise that would put their capabilities to the test. 

Air Force Gen. Victor E. “Gene” Renuart Jr., the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, explained how when attacks of this nature surpass the capability of first responders, there are people in place who are trained specifically for such an occasion.   

“When an event like this occurs,” he said, “absolutely the first people on the scene are going to be the local first responders…”   

“But as you could imagine, an event like a nuclear detonation will rapidly grow beyond the capacity of certainly the local first responders and maybe state and potentially national responders,” he said.  “And so what we’ve tried to approximate in this scenario is that those first responders have arrived, they have conducted those initial searches, and we’ve asked for the civil support teams from within the state to come and assess for chemical, biological and nuclear conditions and help us understand what would be required to respond to this.” 

On Friday and Saturday that assessment team was the Ohio Chemical Enhanced Force Protection Package, or Ohio CERFP, chemical and engineering Soldiers and Air Force medics pulled together from the Ohio Army and Air National Guard.   

Army Maj. David Mason, Ohio CERFP commander, said the benefit of having the team is that it is set up to be on stand-by alert. 

“When looking at a major incident, your initial first responders can only do so much in a certain time frame,” he said.  “When the FEMA assistance comes in [there can be] a lapse in that response.  We’re here to fill in the gap.  We have the ability to arrive on site within 12 hours of call up.” 

The team got their trial-by-fire Saturday during the second simulated nuclear attack on a city.  The once peaceful neighborhood soon erupted like a volcano: smoke spewed from building windows, fire engulfed wrecked cars and trucks and dazed citizens – bloodied and battered – poured into the streets shouting for medical attention.  Some could not be consoled. 

“Where is my daughter?” a woman cried.  “I’m not leaving without my daughter!” 

Bloodcurdling screams and thunderous pounding erupted from the city jail as “prisoners” were determined to not be left behind.  Feeling angry and forgotten, they rattled and shook their jail cell bars yelling for someone to help them. 

 ”Why isn’t anyone coming?” they cried to one another. 

But someone was coming.  Outside, the Ohio CERFP members were performing land surveys to identify the damage, erecting triage centers and setting up decontamination sites.  The “decon team” then moved out to rescue the people in need.

 Army Cpl. Jaime Ramirez, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear explosives specialist with the 379th Chemical Company headquartered in Chicago said the scenario was as real as it gets.

 ”It was exciting the second we got in the gate,” he said.  “The simulated town and wreckage everywhere, role players with simulated injuries… It seems really well thought out.”

 In fact, every burning car, every trash heap and rubble pile was put in place so people who come to train at Muscatatuck are immersed in the most realistic scenario possible.

Lt. Gen. Tom Turner, commander of U.S. Army North and the Vibrant Response director, describes Camp Atterbury and Muscatatuck as second to none.

 ”This should be a national treasure,” Turner said.  “I really think it is a perfect place to do the integration of inter-agency training.  It is an incredible piece of terrain,” he said, adding that Muscatatuck provides “great opportunities and great realism.”

 ”You can see over the next few days this is going to be a very realistic battlefield and [the Indiana National Guard] has really done a heck of a lot to facilitate it so I can’t thank them enough,” he said.

 Turner said training in an exercise such as Vibrant Response helps the participants work through any kinks that would otherwise manifest at an inopportune time.

 ”When you show up at an incident of this magnitude, that is not the time to start meeting the players that are going to be involved in this kind of effort,” Turner said.

 ”Everyone will get training in their own task that they perform but they’ll also go away with a much better understanding of how the pieces fit together, how federal, local and state folks get integrated to conduct this mission,” he said.

 The same nuclear attack was carried out on Monday, this time with Marine Corps responders from the Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force, or CBIRF, out of Indian Head, Md.

 Brig. Gen. Clif Tooley, commander of the Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations, said that he was honored to support U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Army North in their execution of this year’s exercise, Vibrant Response.

 ”The size and scope of this event will showcase our unique capability to support large-scale live training of Department of Defense forces missioned to provide support to civil authorities in consequence management,” Tooley said.  “The Joint-Interagency-intergovernmental team participating in this experience will undoubtedly leave better prepared to perform their mission should they be called upon to do so.”

Vibrant Response brings realistic disaster training close to home

Nov. 11, 2009
By Spc. John Crosby, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs

EDINBURGH, Ind. – Smoke billowing from buildings, the beating of helicopter blades and constant radio chatter echo over ground zero; the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Ind., on November 9.

The scenario is unimaginable to many; a nuclear weapon detonates over a large U.S. city. The catastrophe calls on our nation’s military and first responders. The Army and Air National Guard answer the call. The training event is dubbed Vibrant Response.

Over the years, the tragedies of the tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina and the attacks on September 11, make training for an event of this magnitude seem necessary.

“Some would say it’s not a question of if but when there’s going to be another large scale catastrophic attack on our nation,” said Lt. Gen. Tom Turner, U.S. Army North commander.

Training for such a catastrophe has been deemed mandatory by U.S. military officials.

“It is an extraordinary training opportunity for a nation’s capability,” said Gen. Victor E. “Gene” Renuart Jr., commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. “The kinds of scenarios that you see throughout this training venue allow us to practice not only the individual skills but the organizational skills necessary to respond to this type of an event.”

The training event, commanded by Army North, involved more than 4,000 people. Muscatatuck’s layout of 120-plus buildings, nine miles of roads and underground tunnel systems proved an excellent venue to create such a scenario.

“It hits all of the major training venues that you would find in an urban area,” said Lt. Col. Chris Kelsey, Muscatatuck commander. “It should really task all of these units to really use their full spectrum of tools to get the job done.”

Casualties, rubble piles and emergency sirens added to the event’s realism.

“It was exciting the second we got in the gate,” said Army Sgt. Mathew Morgan, 379th Chemical Company headquartered in Chicago. “The simulated town and wreckage everywhere, role players with simulated injuries… It seems really well thought out.”

The Army and Air Guard units operated with a full spectrum of components necessary to respond to the mock nuclear attack. First, identifier teams roved the wreckage taking radiation tests ensuring the levels were safe enough for servicemembers to begin work.

Next, search and rescue teams extracted civilians and casualties from the affected areas. The affected people were decontaminated and then triaged and given medical care according to priority of injuries. Several echelons of care operated by several units of different military branches all operated as one.

“It gives them an assessment of their capability, gives them an assessment of their level of physical fitness and their endurance,” said Jeff Taylor, operations and medical and analytical evaluator. “It helps you to understand just how much you actually can do and how hard you can push yourself.”

Valuable lessons are learned each day during Vibrant Response including communication, logistical and coordination issues.

 ”I’d like to see them gain confidence in their equipment, confidence in their team and confidence to do the job they need to do anywhere in the United States or anywhere else in the world if they were called,” said Kelsey.

Beyond the challenges of working in the mass-casualty situation and the chaos of the aftermath of the mock nuclear blast, the Guard units faced the challenges of working with other units, other branches of the military and civilian authorities.

“That’s what we’re focusing on today is the evacuation piece and the integration of units that don’t normally work together,” said Taylor. “I think they learned a great deal.”

As Vibrant Response draws to a close, plans for future events such as this are discussed, possibly a smaller quarterly event in conjunction with a yearly training scenario according to Kelsey.

“I would say without a doubt that the quality of this force that we have is as good as anywhere in the world,” said Turner. “I think that we as a nation have come to realize that the threat is real and we have to be prepared for that. Is the nation prepared to respond? Yes. Do we need to grow that capability further? Yes. That’s what these exercises are designed to do.”

I, Colonel Yum, must admit to you all that I have an uncontrollable obsession with cook books. I can’t help but buy them. Some may argue that this is a problem but my real problem is storing them! I have 3 shelves (shown in the pic above) in the kitchen alone, absolutely stuffed full of books, to the point that the shelves have now developed a curve. Every time I remove a book from the shelf, I wince. One day the whole thing will implode on me and I’ll be buried on the kitchen floor amidst hundreds of hardback books…

Is there an AA style meeting for cook book obsessions?!

Even CY with 150 years of experience in the kitchen, can make a ‘booboo’!

Making a big groaning tray of chocolate brownies to sell at Twickenham’s St Mary’s Christmas Fair tomorrow, I poured the mixture in and as I was scraping the last bits out of the bowl, I realised I’d forgotten the blasted flour! Take your mind off things for a minute and everything goes to pieces!

It’s easy to see what everyone will do to remember 26/11 – the idiots in the box will run “specials” ad nauseam and people will take out rallies and candlelit processions. But what about the terror that ensued after 26/11 – the pub attacks on women by the Sri Rama Sene? The quick blood of the Marathi manoos against fellow-citizens in Maharashtra? And what shall we do with all those luminaries named in the Liberhan Report?

Seriously, don’t we have to redefine what constitutes terrorism before we figure out who is a terrorist? 26/11, our very own desi version of 9/11, offers us just that opportunity – to make no distinctions in the war against terror. To unseat the terrorists in power, and to deal terrorism in every form a body blow.

26/11 is not an anniversary to remember terror. It’s an opportunity to never allow ourselves to be shamed by it, in any form.

Game?

Ah, yes.  The holidays.  The time where you are either in complete bliss or complete agony.  Shooed out of the kitchen, or uncomfortably stuffed on chocolate-covered things that someone else made.  Hustle, bustle and all that crap.  For those of us that find it difficult to relax even at bedtime, the amount of downtime that comes with the holiday season is just downright painful — especially if you are a guest in someone else’s home.  If you’re anything like me, your first question is: “Does your family drink?”  Editor’s note:  Following up a ‘No’ response with “Well, can I?” is apparently unacceptable in some circles.

Even though we are all responsible adults that can make our own decisions, certain social expectations supersede our own desires.  Sure, I’d like to show up in pajama pants and no socks, tell your 8-year old nephew to shut the eff up, eat that entire loaf of pumpkin bread,  and fart audibly in front of your grandparents.  But– I will be the good guest here and pretend that what I want to be doing is the same exact thing that everyone else is doing:  sitting around staring at each other!  Best weekend ever!

Before you start to get discouraged, I want to bring you back to that ‘responsible adult’ concept.  Aren’t we responsible adults all day long at our respective jobs?  Aren’t we on vacation?  I guarantee there will be enough responsible people around this holiday season to take care of situations that require sobering maturity.  Me?  I will be channeling my inner high-schooler and sneaking in the booze anyway.  Fortunately I am sharing some secrets with you because all the cool kids are doing it.  You want to be a cool kid, right?

Drinking incognito isn’t difficult, but it does require a little bit of planning.  Just as you would set out matching clothes to wear throughout the weekend, you must also apply this to your booze.  There’s nothing worse than being at a party that runs out of beer, and there’s little else worse than listening to someone else’s grandpa sober either.  Plan, plan, plan.

Some questions to ask yourself:

• How much downtime will I have?
• How much am I planning on drinking?
• Will I have to drive anywhere?
• What mixers will be available (coffee, soda, etc.)?
• Will I have a way to refrigerate anything?
• Will anyone be close enough to my face to smell my breath?
• If your parents find out what I’m doing, will they still let us get married?

Strategy #1:  Bring the alcohol as a gift.  Now, your boyfriend/girlfriend has already told you a hundred times that her family doesn’t drink.  You could have forgotten.  Make sure when you give the bottle of wine to her folks you mention, “This wine will go really well with the turkey, I specifically picked it out because it’s a great pairing.”  This will ensure that the wine gets opened that evening and also that you’re sophisticated because you said something about ‘pairing’.   Throw in a word like ‘delicate’ and you’re golden.  To elevate this experience, bring a couple (or several) of the same bottle and switch them out when you can.

Strategy #2: Offer to run errands.  Out of milk/ice/butter/whatever?  You’ll go get it.  And you’ll stop by the gas station on the way and chug a 40, too.  Remember that most places are closed and you had to drive to at least two or three different places to get the milk/sugar/butter.  Glug, glug.

Strategy #3:  Bring something everyone is unfamiliar with.  Most people don’t know what Sparks is, or what mead is, or what Maui Brewing company’s beers are actually beer and not lemonade.  Bourbon slush doesn’t taste like bourbon and it’s hidden away in the freezer out of sight where “most people” forget about it.  Go with it.

Strategy #4:  Flask + mixers. Stay away from tequila, gin, and whiskey.  Do use quality vodka with strong fruit drinks or soda and spiced rum with already-spiced mixers (eggnog, cider, etc.) or Bailey’s or the like with coffee.  Coffee also hides the smell of alcohol better than most other cover-ups.

Strategy #5:  The ol’ common-item switcheroo.  Coffeemate creamer is now Bailey’s Caramel Cream.  Sprite is now vodka + club soda.   You can get really creative with this one.

Flying?  This can be tricky.  With all the FAA restrictions on liquids these days, it’s difficult for us drinkers to diffuse our hatred of flying with our favorite distraction:  booze.  For me, booze turns the fear of flying from “Oh, shit!” to “Wheeeeeee!!”  You’ve been there before; you rush to the airport gate and are met with a crappy half-Chilis that is three people deep at the bar spending $10 on cocktails, and a couple kiosks of old pre-made sandwiches, amazingly also $10.  Furthermore, there are no drinks allowed on the plane (Scrooges) and there is a small window in which to drink as compared as a long window in which not to.  On the cheap, anyway.  Here is how to get around this.   Most airlines will permit you to bring water and coffee onto the plane.  Go hit the nearest Starbucks and grab yourself the largest coffee you can stand.  Order a double (or triple) from that crappy Chilis and when no one is looking, pour it into your coffee.  Wipe your mouth.  Pop some gum.  Board the plane.  Have a nice flight.

Cheers!

As we prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and as we recall our blessings and thank God for each and every one, let us also remember the humble turkey and the various disasters that result when that proud bird is not treated with the care that it deserves, dead or alive.    Oldtimers like myself will recognize the above video as part of the famous “Turkey Drop” episode from WKRP, a sitcom from the Seventies.    Here is a video of the entire Turkey Drop.

Of course Turkey Disasters are not, unfortunately, restricted to the realm of fiction.    Deep frying a turkey poses various risks.

Here we have a case of the flaming avian:

Then we have a scientific explanation of why a deep fat turkey friar is almost always a bad idea in unskilled hands.

Of course there are those among us who revel in the destructive possibilities of cooking turkey.

To summarize:

Tomorrow my bride will roast the turkey which is the way God intended for a turkey to be prepared.  As usual, the kids and I will do the dishes.  Have a happy and non-flaming Turkey Thanksgiving!

A transport aircraft belonging to the Italian Air Force has crashed near Pisa. All five on board the C-130 Hercules were killed.
The aircraft was on a training mission when it went down onto a railway line close to a military airport. It had been approaching for landing when it swerved to one side and crashed, according to Pisa’s fire brigade. An electrical fire was triggered at the railway line, but no trains were endangered.
The plane left the airport at 2:10 p.m. and was returning shortly after at the time of the accident. As well as the fire service, police, ambulances and airport rescue workers attended the scene. The crash was away from the main city and no-one on the ground was injured. An investigation has been launched.

I’ve moved a few months ago and haven’t had the opportunity to post my dreams since then.   I’m finally catching up with my writings.

Dream on Oct. 12, 2009

I saw myself standing on the shore by the beach. A massive tsunami like tidal wave had just passed and the water had retreated back, yet it was still stormy and tempest, tossing to and fro.

It was night time and there was very little light, just a faint glow of the moon that reflected off of the water. There were a few others with me looking out at the ocean. It was then that I peered into the dark ocean and to my shock and horror I saw faces of people I knew. Some had their eyes wide open. I walked into the ocean to waist deep. Although the waves of the ocean were still high roaring beside me I wasn’t frightened by the ocean or its waves. What was foremost on my mind was seeing that so many people were in the water, drowning! I could not understand why they couldn’t pull themselves out of the water. Then I realized that many had drowned and were dead, somehow they got caught up in the storm that had just passed as they had been swept out to sea.

I searched the water frantically looking for anyone that may still be alive. I dove under the water trying to grab someone and pull them to the surface of the water before they sunk deeper into the murky waters. I pulled someone out of the water and laid them on the sand to revive them. I saw another person next to me working, he/she also had pulled someone from the deep water and was attempting mouth to mouth resuscitation.

I felt overwhelmed and deeply saddened at what lay in front of me. There were too many people drowning in the ocean, sinking deeper and deeper into the dark ocean waters that could not be saved. Some were passed being rescued. For the most part it appeared to me that there weren’t enough people on the shore to help. I woke up upset and saddened that so many had drowned.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. – Matthew 7:12-14

Las Vegas is the designated epicenter for a mock nuclear explosion planned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

FEMA had planned to simulate a nuclear explosion right on the Las Vegas Strip to test for emergency preparedness. But the plan is meeting a lot of opposition from all the key players, including Boyd Gaming, MGM Mirage, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Las Vegas Convention and Vistors Authority (LVCVA). 

Critics say a mock nuclear explosion should happen at a place where the damage would have a greater impact, like the Hoover Dam. But the actual site selected will be a step-by-step process and the first battle won is moving the exercise away from the Strip and over to Sunset Park.   

LVCVA says a flood or earthquake drill would be a better alternative over a nuclear blast drill. 

FEMA is continuing to reach out to key stakeholders, including state and local officials, to receive their input on site preferences. 

The exercise is scheduled for May 17, 2010 and is expected to bring 10,000 people to Las Vegas.

Baking a turkey has long been part of most Americans’ Thanksgiving tradition.  But let’s face it — it’s kinda boring to watch a turkey bake. Plus turkey is healthy and not very fattening, which doesn’t fit in with our modern culture.  So now more and more people are deep-frying their turkey, which makes it more unhealthy (along with more flavorful), and there’s also the danger of deep-frying it improperly, which is exciting for some people.

I’ve heard so many reports of deep-fried turkey disasters in recent years that it seems like it’s becoming a sport.  There are probably countless videos on YouTube of this, but here’s a few highlights I’ve come across.

In the following video, note the lack of protective gear, and also notice the child in the background covering his eyes.  Somehow he knew something was going to go wrong.  And somehow this accident even inspired a dance from the man responsible for it.

This next video features firefighters showing the right and wrong way to deep-fry a turkey.  First, they do it correctly, with it fully thawed and dry.  Next they drop a partially thawed turkey in the deep-fryer.  Then they put a mostly frozen turkey in the deep-fryer.  Lastly, they show you what happens if you pour water on an oil fire.  (The last part is quite impressive, because it’s not near my house.)

This next one is great.  This “chef” uses the Archimedes Principle to properly deep-fry a turkey.  (That’s a great line.  I had never heard it used like that, and there may be a reason why.)  Then at the end, he says, calmly, “We are now frying a turkey.”  Perhaps, but he’s also burning a turkey… and his deep-fryer… and the house…

In this next video, we start with the fire already burning.  Several people are yelling, “Use a fire extinguisher!”  At least one person has the knowledge to say it should be one made for oil fires.  (There are different kinds of fire extinguishers, if you didn’t know.)  You might be able to guess whether this was the right kind or not.  I like how at the end one guy says, “It’s fine”, after it’s been on-fire over a minute and they’ve sprayed it down with a fire extinguisher (which might not be good for food).

Think you’ve seen everything there is to see regarding turkey frying accidents?  In the next video, some morning show radio DJs simulate the dangers of deep-frying a turkey (improperly) inside your living room.  Somewhere, Fire Marshall Bill is smiling…

BTW, this may look cool, but you shouldn’t try this at home.

Oh, dear. Maybe these people should eat out next year:

For seven more “how not to deep-fry a turkey” videos, visit Eat Me Daily.

We visited Ikea last week and decided to buy a pair of storage cabinets that go together end to end to form one long cabinet. The whole business together is about 8 feet long and maybe 20 inches high. The idea is that this is fastened to the wall (look Ma no legs). This is accomplished by attaching to the wall at six separate points along the eight feet.

After assembling the unit, we placed it and I set to work drilling and anchoring. The screws had to go in specific spots in the unit and the unit had to go in a specific spot in the room. Now you might expect that with 6 opportunities, I would hit at least one stud, right? Har! No way. No problem. I got these plastic super-duper anchors that go through the drywall then open up behind it. Each one was good for 80 pounds. There were 6 of them, so I should be good for 480 pounds right? Right. So I positioned the unit and put in the anchors and screwed the whole business into the wall. It looked great.

Tuffy P put our little orchid collection up on it and I was pretty happy. That was before it crashed to the ground with great vengeance, smashing the orchid containers along the way.

Today I cut out a section of drywall big enough to screw a piece of strapping into the studs, then screwed the unit into the strapping. The house will fall down before the unit does. Obviously I should have done this in the first place. C’est la vie.

Täglich werden wir mit allerlei Bildern, Fotos, Illustrationen und so weiter konfrontiert. Auch wenn wir es meist nicht bewusst wahrnehmen und erst durch genaues betrachten und überlegen dahinter kommen sind die meisten professionellen Bilder welche wir heute zu Gesicht bekommen retuschiert. Aber hinter dieser Arbeit stecken nach wie vor Menschen. Hier beginnt die Fehlerquelle. Sicherlich spielen meist auch ein wenig Unwissen oder Zeitnot ein Rolle schlussendlich zählt aber nur das Ergebnis und gerade das ist oftmals unter aller Sau. Selbst bei großen Blättern kommen derartige Photoshopdisaster vor.

Auf diesem Blog (Photoshopdisasters) werden eine Reihe, teilweise sehr lustige, fails zusammengetragen die rund um die Welt veröffentlicht wurden und dabei mal mehr mal weniger große Fehler aufweisen. Zu unterhaltungszwecken immer eine Klickreise wert.

Link:

Photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com

Update: There were apparently some server problems that prevented me from doing the entire show on the 24th, so I will be re-recording the same show next week. Tune in here for more info and a revised schedule…

Survival lore and preparedness are becoming more and more a central topic in many circles. With the rising threat of terrorism and war coming to our nation, increasing the possibility of widespread breakdown, coupled with the declining ability of the government to function in any disaster scenario, survival has become a must have skill. By directly attacking us on our own soil, rather than having the war against Muslim terrorists seeming to be a distant conflict, survival has become an in your face topic that needs serious discussion. It used to be that survivalists were considered to be what some would consider to be called nut jobs, paranoid wackos, weird, fringe lunatics, anti government, mental cases, and I could go on, but you get the drift. Today, a survivalist is your neighbor.

I can remember decades ago when I first became aware of the need for these skills, literature was scarce, almost as scarce as the true survivalists were. The main bulk of literature came in the form of government pamphlets and publications. The stuff we have today was then the stuff of science fiction. But it has all changed over the years. And today, we see an influx of literature, videos, supplies, classes and educational material and more, flooding our world with facts figures and how to tips on everything from surviving a bank robbery to evading kidnapping from the back seat of your limo. That’s a lot of information, and as in every fad that comes down the road, there is a lot of crap contained within that information.

With my new radio series I’ll be taking a look at all of this information and weeding out the crap, and we’ll be looking at the day’s news concerning the fields of survival and emergency preparedness. I’ll also be looking at doing some book and website reviews, product ratings, and more as well.

This week’s episode, which will be recorded live on Tuesday, November 24^th, at 8AM on Maine Talk Radio, we’ll be looking at the news, the possible impacts that the Fort Hood shootings will have, long term, and other relevant items. We’ll also be doing a book review of When All Hell Breaks Loose, by Cody Lundin. Also, I’ve been a big fan of old movies for decades, and being of a survival mindset, I began to see long ago that many of these movies had quite a few ideas for surviving the coming times, even though this wasn’t their intent. So, I’m going to start doing a segment called “The Apocalyptic Movie Review” and discuss some of the things about survival that can be found within these big screen treasures. This week we’ll look at Vincent Price in the 1960 flick, The Last Man On Earth.

Listen to this episode here:

Listen to D.l.soucy on Blog Talk Radio