Dr. C.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T10:29:00.000-05:00

And to each and all, have a peaceful holiday season!

Mindbender

2011-12-19T17:46:00.011-05:00

My friend across the pond posed the following:

So, being a baby wonk, I constructed a table:

This consists of numbers 1-98, the sum of the digits, that sum * 17 +1. The difference between the result at the first number. This gives the following plot:

As you can see, rather than ever having a zero value, it is monotonically increasing (in a sort of interesting way).

So, I doubt if one can find such a number.
Unless, on simple adds the number of digits as in this table:

Clearly the only number that would fit is 35 since by the time one gets to six digits the sum*17 + 1 is only 103.

I haven't looked at the answer. I'm probably wrong. In which case, I will slink away.

Ah, Ha! The Wizard across the pond shows me up. Of course I didn't extend my calculations beyond 100. If I had, I would have gotten the following graph of the difference:

What appeared from 1 to 99 as a dull, monotonically increasing pattern was part of a bigger pattern going the other way. (I should take it beyond 1000.)

When the difference is taken gives this graph:

So, I slink away.

The War

2011-12-18T12:18:00.000-05:00

With a whimper* we leave Iraq. (Not really. We leave the world's biggest embassy and a coterie of privately contracted security forces.)

For what?

Everyone thought America had responsible adults in charge. God help us.

(*TSE after WWI; refers to Guy Fawkes)

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2011-10-01T11:56:00.000-04:00

.
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A contribution from across the pond. Cute, but no cigar.

I am not sure that crabs are into minnows for bait, but could be.

Madi constructed a story. Not sure what it is, but knowing Madi, its got to be interesting.

I like this one because of the nose. Sort of Venice Carnival spirit. (By Emma)

This is Dr. C. reacting to the Republican politicians running for President.

A while back we discussed how to tell male and female crabs apart. It has to do with their apron being either the Capitol or the Washington Monument. The males are, as Michalea has indicated (and did so last year), "Jimmeys," and the females are "Sooks." (though the word "sook" apparently means "baby" in Southwest England.).

We are into crabs.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2011-09-10T12:21:00.000-04:00

A little like a crab-spider but I'll take it.

If Miss Piggy were a crab...

A rare example of the bat-wing poly pedic crab found only in Transylvanian habitats

Some interesting contributions from those who don't want to draw crabs (and lose points in the process)

How could I resist this one

A Wolf

A School Bus

The Day After

2011-08-28T08:18:00.000-04:00

Things slowing down in Crabland. For inexplicable reasons (we've been good but not that good) little damage. Unfortunately, lots of flooding and crabs will be seen in places where crabs have never gone before! There were tornadoes, too. So, we had a HuriQuakeNado week.

Life is like a game of Angry Birds. What do the ~~Birds~~ Gods have in store for us next?

Getting the Beatles Back Together

2011-08-15T10:01:00.000-04:00

This from my nephew, a musician.

Taking a Hostage

2011-08-13T11:30:00.000-04:00

The use of other human beings in armed conflict, as well as taking humans as hostage in, say, a hijacking or other type of terrorist attack, goes to the very core of what it is to be civilized. While the use of civilians as hostages is probably as old human conflict, it was the practice of Khrash by the Mongol hoards that may be the most odious:

A commonly used tactic was the use of what was called the "kharash". During a siege the Mongols would gather a crowd of local residents or soldiers surrendered from previous battles, and would drive them forward in sieges and battles. These "alive boards" or "human shields" would often take the brunt of enemy arrows and crossbow bolts, thus leaving the Mongol warriors safer. The kharash were also often forced ahead to breach walls.

It is likely that this was used in the siege and destruction of Baghdad in 1258. For students of irony, one should perhaps compare this to the "Shock and Awe" attack on Baghdad by "allied" (i.e. American) forces in 2003. Lost in the glorification of that massive bombardment was that fact that innocent civilians lived there. Baghdad just can't cut a break.

There is no doubt about it, Boehner, Cantor and friends took the American people hostage in the recent Debt Limit debacle. There are still politicians, nay, presidential candidates, who feel America should have been let to default on their debt. That these supposedly intelligent candidates are still flourishing, nay, are considered lead contenders, speaks volumes to the level of political discourse in this country.

The basic idea is that when there is a conflict between the leaders of two groups, threatening members of the opposing groups with harm (the leaders, e.g. Saddam Hussein, Boehner, Cantor remain unscathed) has become, if not acceptable, then a common means of attaining one's end. Using the above examples, it is an observation that this method is used either when one of opposing forces is either overwhelmingly powerful with respect to the other (Baghdad then and now) or the attacker is basically powerless (terrorism). Perhaps one should lump both of these together under the rubric "terrorism" and simply say that "Shock and Awe" was a form of State Terrorism. Israel's invasion of Gaza with the subsequent loss of civilian life could be discussed in these terms.

One alternative is compromise. Since 1938, the word "compromise" has come to signify cowardice. If it is one thing that most humans fear. It is being labelled a coward or an appeaser:

The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. It has been described as "...the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and compromise, thereby avoiding the resort to an armed conflict which would be expensive, bloody, and possibly dangerous."

Alpha males don't compromise. To make their point, they sometimes even march across the fields of Gettysburg and get slaughtered. John Boehner and Eric Cantor view themselves as alpha males. They view Obama, as one who seeks compromise and is therefore weak. Thus, Boehner after using the American economic welfare as hostage in the recent Debt Limit debacle, felt that he had gotten 98% of what he wanted. That was not a compromise, it was an appeasement. The long term effect on politics will be to, as they wanted, severely weaken the American's view and conception of Obama. Though probably unintended, it reinforces the stereotype of the black male being subservient to the white male, with that relationship somehow natural and acceptable. Racism runs deep in our Country.

Thankfully, there is a glimmer of hope. The recent plunge in the polls of Boehner's approval may mean that Americans have seen through the hostage ploy. I do know that none of us ever want to see it used again.

Fail

2011-08-10T19:53:00.000-04:00

Part of the Grand Capitulation, i.e. the "deal" that Obama negotiated with Boehner and McConnell, was setting up a committee of six Democrats and six Republicans to come up with a plan to slash the Debt by $1.5 Trillion. Today, McConnell and Boehner named the six Republicans. Each of these six have:

"signed a pledge to Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform that they will not vote to raise taxes."

Why even have a committee that is doomed to failure from the start? How can we possibly get out of this mess without raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, or at least rescinding those tax cuts put in place by George W. Bush?

We have become an illogical country.

Just a little Error

2011-08-09T13:58:00.000-04:00

Apparently, behind one of these windows, there is someone with a calculator. That someone made a mistake. A two trillion dollar mistake. To paraphrase Everett Dirksen:

A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

I thought it ironic that a commentator named Emily on one of my favorite blogs (JSBlog), linked to an advertisement for that calculator:

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2011-08-07T11:52:00.000-04:00

Note that there is both sunshine and rain. BIG drops.

Hailey told me this was a "Christmas Crab." ??????

Whose behind those Foster Grants?

Don't ask.

James has hidden the body well.

Trice has been watching the Ravens too much.

Local talent. Very nice young lady. Working her way through college. I wish I had this enthusiasm.

What Iceberg?

2011-08-02T11:17:00.001-04:00

After legislative extortion of an unparalleled magnitude, the House has finally passed a bill that would raise the Debt ceiling. It will also do a number of other things that many of us predict, will not help the country at all. Lost in the shuffle was the whole question of jobs. No matter how much one cuts from the Federal Budget, unless there are increased revenues (from taxes, from those who have jobs), we will never even come close to that fiscal Nirvana of a balanced budget (which, we had, by the way, under Clinton only to be destroyed by Bush II and his two tax cuts. Tax cuts that were supposed to help the "job creators" but simply transferred a large amount of wealth into the pockets of the obscenely rich. But you knew that.)

The Senate has yet to vote on this bill but it is said that it is a foregone conclusion that it will pass. Mitch McConnell is already gloating and talking about the members of the "super committee." Excuse me, Mr. McConnell, since when were YOU Majority Leader of the Senate? Was this simply a vote or, as many of us suspected, a coup d’etat.

We used to think of bailing out to Vancouver or Ireland. Those options have had their own problems recently. Why leave in any case since the theater is so good and the second half promises to be full of surprises.

Meanwhile, on another part of the Ranch.....

2011-07-28T09:03:00.000-04:00

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) Apr 28 - Florida lawmakers on Thursday sent Republican Governor Rick Scott a pair of National Rifle Association-backed measures, including one that would bar physicians from asking most patients if they have guns in their homes.

With supermajorities in both chambers, the Republican-dominated legislature also sent Scott a gun bill that would punish local officials who consciously enact ordinances stricter than statewide standards.

Somehow, when the suicide mood grips Republicans, it has a way of snowballing. Where I work, a rural area, everybody has guns. Thankfully, most are hunting rifles. So, I don't ask about guns. I simply tell people to make sure they are locked up. Unfortunately, north of here, in Baltimore, most of the guns are hand guns. Every night one or more people acquire a few more holes in their bodies. People often make the quip that "Well, its just like the Wild West." Well, there were a few bad players there but I think that the number of actual gun fights is exaggerated.

In any case, it is sheer insanity not to try and control the proliferation of hand guns. Should one not point out that hand guns are probably of little use to the supposed Constitutional justification for owning guns of a "well regulated militia?"

Fretting

2011-07-26T21:32:00.000-04:00

I guess I should be blase and accept the high-jinks going one in Washington as just another political silly season. But, it is really hard to see our Country undergo such an onslaught of craziness. One thing that few have addressed is what any scenario will mean for the remainder of the Obama administration, about 17 months. It has been clear from the start that the Republicans want to bury the man. (Many of us believe this has definite racial overtones). From what has happened in the last week, it is clear that they have no respect for Obama as president, Obama as a man, and, most dangerously, Obama as a leader. They should remember that for the next 17 months he is Commander in Chief of the most powerful Army and atomic arsenal in the world. Yet, they treat him as some kind of cabin boy. Actually, the next event on their calendar will be impeachment. For what sin, I don't know. They will probably invent one.

No matter what happens with the debt ceiling fiasco, there is no chance of getting any kind of needed legislation through the current Congress after it finishes. If, for some reason, Boehner has to eat crow (now that would be a lovely sight), he is spiteful enough to stall any initiative that might come out of the Obama White House. Of course, I am cynical enough to think that this has been Boehner and his cronies plan from the beginning.

There are an awful lot of angry people in the Country right now. There are few, if any, new jobs and people are frustrated. We could be in for a precarious 17 months. As for keeping Obama from being re-elected, I think that Boehner has probably succeeded. However, the Bronze Devil may go down with him.

The Debt Ceiling

2011-07-24T15:37:00.000-04:00

There is an enormous amount of verbiage out there about the difficulty the United States Congress is having getting the debt ceiling increased. I'm about to become a contributor. It seems to many of us that, at the current time, the process is totally out of the realm of rationality and into that of fantasy.

(if you don't want the background skip down to the divider line -------)

There are several important facts to keep in mind:
At the end of Bill Clinton's Presidency in January, 2001, the U.S. had a balanced budget and, indeed, was even recording a surplus. While our National Debt was about $7 Trillion and was clearly way too much, we had the opportunity of beginning to begin to pay down that debt. Interest on that debt (about $360 Billion in 2001; offset by interest revenues to $220 Billion) was eating up a sizable chunk of tax revenues (about $3,600 Billion in 2001).

However, as is well known, first off in the spring of 2001, we had the Bush tax cuts. Then we had two wars without extra taxes to pay for them. Then we had the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

In 2011 the gross Federal Debt is up to $14 Trillion.

That $14 Trillion was borrowed from many places, but principally China and other central banks. (What this does for National Security is another discussion).

When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, we were heading into the aforementioned economic down slide. Many of the programs sponsored by our Federal Government cannot be closed down. Indeed, in an economic downturn, the last thing you want to do is to throw people out of a job. (Republicans think that their famous (rich) "job creators" are going to just set up factories to produce tons of new widgets. Unfortunately, you have to have consumers to buy them. No money, no consumers, continued economic downturn). To keep programs open (like Medicare and Medicaid; forget Social Security) you need money. If the tax revenue is not there, you have to borrow it until the Country is solvent again and, hopefully, back to having a budget surplus. The United States has borrowed and now is time to pay the interest and to borrow more.

Unfortunately, there is a ceiling on what the Federal Government can borrow and that ceiling has to be lifted by a Congressional law. About 60 Republicans in Congress are dead set against raising that ceiling under any circumstances. The rest of the House and Senate Republicans are holding this debt ceiling hostage to their demand to begin to dismantle the social problems like Medicare and, particularly Medicaid.

The negotiations on this process have had a nightmare course. It has been clear in the last few weeks that the Republicans are much more interested in casting blame on Obama, and having him "lose" then they are in solving the problem. I think this is despicable, but we are dealing with despicable children.

-------------------------------------

All that is preamble, what I really wanted to explore is the result of "cutting entitlements" in the real world. I know this because it directly affects my medical practice.

To substantially cut Medicaid (an easy target because many Medicaid recipients are children and children don't vote or contribute to congressional war chests) would cut the amount of "matching" funds that the Federal Government gives the States for medical services for children (whose families are often well above the poverty line but who don't have private insurance), the elderly in nursing homes, and the disabled. I think that it is admirable that we, as a country, spread out the responsibility of care for these groups.

Actually, it is not really "matching" funds. Some States, like Maryland, get over $60 for every $40 they spend on Medicaid. What does that money go for, you might ask? Well, of course a lot goes to nursing homes (families that hold three jobs aren't able to take care of granny when she can't take care of herself) and hospitals for inpatient care. You just can't cut the reimbursements to nursing homes. I can't predict how they would act, but I think that it would not be very nice. The people who operate nursing homes are frequently in it for a profit. Hospital inpatient expenses also can't be cut because their rates are determined in advance by a State Commission.

This leaves everything else to take the brunt, particularly health care providers, i.e. doctors. Now I can tell you now that the current reimbursement from Medicaid sponsored programs (i.e. State Children's Health Insurance Program, SCHIP) is dismal. Because of laudable efforts on the part of the State Government to get every child insured, there has been a big rise in SCHIP enrollment recently. There was even talk, before the current fiasco, of increasing reimbursement to compete with private insurers. Now, who knows. However, if sizable "savings" from Medicaid are voted through, it will wind up on my doorstep. It will put the onus of paying for Mr. Boehner's actions squarely on my shoulders.

What might happen? Well, I can see immediate cuts in reimbursement to SCHIP providers. I run a business, a medical practice. I don't have the luxury of passing on a decrease in reimbursement. The rent stays the same (or goes up). Electricity and telephone stay the same (or go up). And, of course, employee salaries cannot be cut (known as business suicide).

We'll just have to see.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2011-07-23T12:23:00.000-04:00

Mitchell didn't want to draw a crab; so he drew and elephant:

Awaiting the Crabs

2011-06-17T15:01:00.001-04:00

A Strange Case of Disoxia

New Camera

2011-06-05T18:20:00.001-04:00

New cameras are fun; even if one doesn't know how to use them.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2011-06-05T12:07:00.000-04:00

Once again we are privileged to start the day with a guest crab from across the pond:

Said to be a "Sandy Bay Crab," but we will cast a jaundiced eye upon such claims.

I am not sure what this crab is actually doing. Possibly hatching an egg.

Notice how finely detailed the crab is?

Damian was insistent that this was not a crab. It was a spider. I think it is a spider crab.

Bryan is majoring in anatomy. His project is the stem cell replication of appendages. It is showing some success.

Mamma crabs read stories about this to their youngsters at night. Scary.

Buzz Lightcrab.

Kody likes his bugs. Oops, one is a crab! (Crawled out of a mattress in New York City.)

You are right. This is not a crab. But Riley absolutely, positively refused to draw a crab, even though she lives on Tilghman Island. Go figure.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2011-05-14T09:50:00.001-04:00

------

First, a guest crab courtesy of frequent contributor:

Please note the cyanotic lips. Must be a scarcity of oxygen

Then, if you so wish, you can visit the results of the Third Annual Big Crab Drawing Contest here.

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Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2011-03-12T12:52:00.000-05:00

I have been reminded by the Growlery by his sending me the first of the day's catch below, that I haven't been very faithful to the Crab community. Herewith I promise to be more attendant to my duties:

(This from the Secret Gourmet by way of JSBlog and the Growlery)

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T15:24:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone. There is room for optimism:

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T10:50:00.000-05:00

Dateline: Somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Sorry for the dearth of posts. Crabs are collecting and will be appropriately displayed. I hope everyone in the Olde Land (from that part from which the Pilgrims sailed) and the Newe has a peaceful weekend.

Random pics

2010-11-13T17:53:00.000-05:00

Harper's Ferry - 1978

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-11-13T15:20:00.000-05:00

Dribbles and Drabbles

2010-11-02T17:22:00.001-04:00

In spite of my attempts at posting

purity

accuracy, it appears that several questions were raised about the previous set of select crabs.

Commentator 1:

In the second frame ... I presume that "Hunter" is the name of the artist, not a description of the crab (nor a reference to the 1960 case of the Brookloined bridge)?

This comment raises a significant ontological dilemma. That is, does it refer to the Hunter Series:

Hunter is a police drama television series starring Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter and Stepfanie Kramer as Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, which ran on NBC....

Or the Hunter Series. I presume the latter:

The Brookloined Bridge: The Fox steals the Brooklyn Bridge and tries to peddle it to unsuspecting people on the street. As the Hunter searches for the missing bridge, Officer Flim Flannigan runs into the Fox on the street and chases him around the city. The policemen corner the Fox at the edge of the river and he's forced to use the bridge to escape. On the other side of the bridge, the Fox collides with the Hunter, who gets all the credit for returning the Bridge and capturing the Fox.

Assuming the latter, one does recognize a certain similarity between the loins on the mentioned bridge:

And those of a certain Ms. Brooke's loins:

(Dr. C becomes fatigued at trying to force a round peg through a square hole.)

Commentator 2:

Pssst ... Dr. C, that's not a crab sent from a curmudgeon. That IS a curmudgeon. It's the nostrilo-pede himself wearing a crab costume. Note the multiple legs under the mask's "chin", the lack of hair, the shortage of FEET on the crab outfit(and we know where the others went (Hint: see "notes".))

I must assume that Commentator 2 felt miffed because of the superiority of the nostrillo-pede to her costumes from here:

or maybe

or could it be?

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-10-30T13:10:00.001-04:00

This entry was sent in from across the seas from our able correspondent and fellow curmudgeon (at least I assume one who is a Growler is a curmudgeon, but I could be mistaken). (correction: mage provided by Judith Acland of View Camera.) It was taken at Lyme (Regis), famous for, among other things, conger cuddling* (excuse me, coddling). Of course Lyme is also a town in southern Connecticut, USA, where, in 1975, there was a rash of rashes which we now know were caused by a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland we are at the epicenter of Lyme Disease incidence. It is a nasty problem.

*[Conger coddling is a traditional event in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, in which a dead conger eel is thrown at members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).]

I think that this is a species of "super crab" compared to the shark on the lower right.

I thought I would include this one, even without a crab, because I think that the key at the bottom of the picture indicates these are candies. And, I am quite found of the chocolate represented by Hersey kisses.
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Friday Crab Blogging

2010-10-15T18:20:00.000-04:00

Davis renders an abstract impressionist crab.

A while back we discussed how to tell male and female crabs apart. It has to do with their apron being either the Capitol or the Washington Monument. The males are, as Michalea has indicated, "Jimmys," and the females are "Sooks." (though the word "sook" apparently means "baby" in Southwest England.). Another way to distinguish females is that they, like their more human counterparts, paint their nails.

Note the red fingernails. Makes me think of Lady Macbeth.

Boys, of course, have blue fingers.

I wasn't wearing a yellow shirt but it is still a good likeness.

Gazelle sighting

2010-10-02T23:44:00.003-04:00

Though standing in the shadow of that hawk-eyed Topshamite when sighting such things as he did (here, here and here), I did stumble upon a nursing gazelle in my one of my favorite authors, Trollope. There, on page 448 of the Oxford World Classics edition of The American Senator, we have Mounser Green (of the foreign office) commenting on the demise of "The Paragon" (John Morton of the Foreign Service and Squire of Bragton):

'.... If Paraguay gets the better of the Patagonese all Brazil will be in a ferment, and you know how that kind of thing spreads among half-caste Spaniards and Portuguese. Nobody can interfere but the British Minister. When I suggested Morton I knew I had the right man if he'd only take it.'

'And now he has gone and died!' said Hoffman.

'And now he has gone and died,' continued Mounser Green. '"I never nursed a dear gazelle," and all the rest of it. Poor Paragon! I fear he was a little cut about Miss Trefoil.'
-------------------
(Ms. Trefoil, we should add, was the femme fatale of the story who ended up going off to Patagonia with Mounser Green in a typically Trollopian ending.)
-------------------
The editor of the book (John Halperin) has an extensive comment in the footnotes:

'I never nursed a dear gazelle': quoted from 'The Fire Worshippers' section of the famous poem by Thomas Moore (1779-1852), Lalla Rookh (1817), i, 279-86.

Oh! ever thus, from childhood's hour
I've seen my foundest hopes decay;
I never lov'd a tree or flow'r
But 'twas the first to fade away.
I never nurs'd a dear gazelle,
To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well
And love me, it was sure to die.

The mawkish, self-pitying tone of the poem was often parodied in the the nineteenth century, which knew Lalla Rookh well - e.g., Dick Swiveller in Dicken's The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1): 'I never nursed a dear gazelle, to glad me with its soft black eye, but when it came to know me well, it was sure to marry a market-gardener.'
-------------
(Note how it is nurs'd in the poem but not in Trollope or Dickens. I suppose this was to simulate the Irish dialect though, to be fair, it is said that the English spoken in Dublin is the purest English of all. Then again, by the upper crust, not the Jackeens. )
-------------
On further wandering (looking up Lalla Rookh), I found this comment by Katalin Hegedus in 2007:

I found this poem (i.e. Lalla Rookh) by chance. Reading George Eliot's Middlemarch the author refers to this poem as Rosamond Vincy's favourite (sic).

(Can't they spell?? First its colour and paediatrics and now its favourite!)

Anyway, this gives me THREE gazelles. Top(sham) that if you can.
In a little while, I'll be a vertible Hemingway.

More about the book, The American Senator, in a bit.

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(Friday) Crab Blogging

2010-10-02T14:56:00.001-04:00

Looks a little like a B-52 lumbering over the ocean. BTW, that thingy on the bottom half of the crab is his skirt. The way you tell males and females apart is that the skirt on a female's look like the United States Capitol (soon to be taken over by the unmentionables) and the male's look like the Washington Monument. (The Lincoln Memorial is spared).

Notice how the artist is able to have the crab look at her fate. Trompe l'oeil.

(Friday) Crab Blogging

2010-09-26T12:04:00.000-04:00

Compositionally, this is probably the best ever with the rainbow fish taking first prize.

What do sharks eat with peanut butter? Jellycrabs!

Annie likes square crabs. Honest, she told me this was a crab.

Hirsute legs reminiscent of a pre-shave Arnold Schwarzenegger. (please note that while Google Spellcheck flagged Jellycrabs and Spellcheck, it let Arnold Schwarzenegger by. Oh, my.)

Oh, the joys of a new box of crayons (notice how some of the other pics above sort of veered away from technicolor.)

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(Friday) Crab Blogging

2010-09-06T13:04:00.000-04:00

Do not, under any circumstances, assume that this is not the way to spell "Crab"

Brought to you unedited except for tracing the outline.

Another Gathering

2010-08-29T19:16:00.000-04:00

I just watched Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" on YouTube. The whole thing. There are many interesting aspects apart from the amazing cinematography. This is 1934 and none of the soldiers have guns. I did not know that the German Army was limited at that time to 100,000 soldiers. Military exercises for Hitler are horses and relatively antique armored cars.

Aesthetics aside, what is truly amazing about this film is how insidiously evil it is. But, of course, we look at this in hindsight. However, caveat civis.

The philosophy behind it, the invocation of "God" and "Germany" in the same phrase, makes me very afraid of Glenn Beck. I thought he was a clown. Many thought Hitler was a clown.

Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin

2010-08-29T13:16:00.000-04:00

I just don't understand these people. Either they are absolutely looney, which certainly has crossed my mind, or they are the most cynically craven politbots around.

Restore Honor? Who destroyed it in the first place? They have jumped off from a set of assumptions about America that are totally unwarranted.

I'm reading "The Jokers" by Albert Cossery. I was thinking of becoming a Cynic . (not to be confused with the garage band, the Cynics) But, I just realized that true "Cynics" are the opposite of what they have been portrayed.

(Friday) Crab Blogging

2010-08-29T10:38:00.000-04:00

I think that this is my all time favorite.

Note the worry lines. Crabs should worry.

Not a bad representation, though I don't wear my pants around my knees. On the other hand, I think I've been left out in the cold.

The Saga of the Mighty Wurlitzer

2010-08-19T10:56:00.000-04:00

I used to think, erroneously as it turns out, that political change happens insidiously. In a way, this is true. It happens person by person. But where I was in error is that the cause of this change is subtle. It is not. It is battered into people day after day until, one day, that person wakes up and actually believes something that the day before they did not. In spite of Goodwin, and with no mention of Mr. H., this must have been what happened to the German people in the 1930's and, ironically, the Israeli people in the last 60 years. If you have it beaten into your head, over and over again, that some people (Jews, Palestinians) or some person (Obama) are not what you thought them to be (ordinary people), eventually, to retain your sanity (not hold two opposing thoughts at one time), you will be led to believe the awful awful.

The American people have had hammered into their heads day after day that Obama is not "one of us," that he was born "elsewhere," that he is in some way "evil." So that now:

Poll: Growing number incorrectly call Obama Muslim

Why Muslim? Well, of course, to tie him in a salacious way with the opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero (I am old enough to think of Ground Zero as the site of the first Atomic Bomb Test in New Mexico.)

(I have a picture that I took of this but I copped this one from the Internet)

This is going to have disastrous results on the American polity. The reasons for it are very simple. No better example is Sarah Palin abandoning her position of Governor of Alaska for the lucrative role of player of the Wurlitzer.

The suffering of Jews in Europe in the 1930's-'40's is well know. The dehumanization of Palestinians is ongoing. The killing of Afghan and Pakistani civilians (and consequent dehumanization) has led directly to the poor response to the Pakistani flood.

Propaganda is a powerful tool.

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Friday Crab Blogging

2010-08-13T19:06:00.000-04:00

Composition, Composition. It can be everything.

I am not sure why the fish is on the sand.

Sunday Crab BackBlogging

2010-08-08T13:17:00.000-04:00

I have been remiss in posting crabs in spite of a backlog of critters. But first, we must give kudos to an outstanding artist, Emma Dibben, whose portraiture of certain denizens of the South Coast is exquisite (as is much else that she draws):

FELIX?

Now to some other entries:

Mac is waxing poetic as in here:

Here with a little Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

Vertigo

2010-07-25T10:41:00.000-04:00

In response to my last bit of snark, Professor F. has referred me to Acerone's most recent posting. These interesting street photos (reminiscent of the street photos of Garry Winograd that Unreal Nature takes such delight in), are all taken on basically the same slant except one of a young lady. But she has a coat belt hanging at the same slant as does a building roofline in the background, so the theme is persistent. Here is another of those slanted photos (presented for the purpose of commentary, I hope Acerone does not mind):

What this photo does to me, and maybe that is intentional, is throw off my balance. If you will, my semicircular canals are put at a slant, as so:

If one rights the picture:

The canals are brought back to upright:

And a further modification further decreases the sense of imbalance.

Now I am not suggesting for a moment that Acerone's pictures drive me wild as did the cockeyed one out of Matisse's studio window. Acerone's photographs are done with intent, and they certainly achieve a sense of unsettledness with me (but I am unsure if this his his/her attention.)

The inner ear is a fascinating organ. It is almost as complicated as the eye. The hair cells (in both the cochlea and the semicircular canals) are sensitive to movement down to as low as one Angstrom. Bending the "hair" opens channels for, among other things: SODIUM IONS. You see, you can't get away from it.

Another point of view

2010-07-24T22:36:00.000-04:00

In an interesting post over at Unreal Nature, there are comments about paintings which then, as is usual in art and music, at a later date turn out to be 180 degrees out of sync with what comes to be established opinion (I am certain that there are artists where opinions sway back again to ground zero or, perhaps, 42 degrees, anyway.) What struck me was the comment "lopsided". This referred to Matisse's rather avant garde painting of Notre Dame, but I was struck by its applicability to the photo out of Matisse's studio window, the scenario for the paintings. It drives me wild when people print photos crooked. (I know, I know, I am a Neanderthal). In any case, I took the liberty of photoshopping that particular photo simply by righting it (2) and cropping it (3). To my eye it is much more pleasing and doesn't make me think that I am going to topple off the edge of the planet, thankfully not into the Seine.

Useful Information

2010-07-18T09:39:00.000-04:00

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-07-16T18:13:00.000-04:00

The Bear in the Woods

2010-07-11T18:35:00.000-04:00

From here:

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-07-09T17:32:00.000-04:00

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-07-06T15:16:00.000-04:00

By order of her Majesty the Queen of the

Rappahannock

Rapidan.
The glorious Carrier of Water for diverse Philosophers of visual imaging. And Sundry Cheeses (big and otherwise):

The Nuremberg Precedent (III)

2010-06-28T11:53:00.011-04:00

This is a continuation of posts from five years ago about our collective responsibility for the actions of the then Bush Administration for the War in Iraq. It is food for thought that the Obama Administration may be continuing some of the same practices such as indefinite detention without trial and extraordinary rendition. Surely these two punitive practices are directly in contradiction to promises made during his campaign.

It is also interesting in retrospect to read the letter from Project for the New American Century (PNAC) to President Clinton in 1998 signed by many of the major players in the Iraq fiasco (see Stanislaw Lem for definition of fiasco). Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bolton and other players stated:

Given the magnitude of the threat, the current policy, which depends for its success upon the steadfastness of our coalition partners and upon the cooperation of Saddam Hussein, is dangerously inadequate. The only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy.

The Nazis were masters at propaganda. They had had two decades of observation of the first modern Total-propaganda State, Bolshevik Russia. They learned their lessons well. So it is no wonder that we encounter statements in December, 1945, at the Nuremberg Trials such as the following:

SIR HARTLEY SHAWCROSS (Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom): .... Hitler, the leader of the Nazi conspirators who are now on trial before you, is reported as having said, in reference to their warlike plans:

"I shall give a propagandist cause for starting the war, never mind whether it be true or not. The victor shall not be asked later on whether he told the truth or not. In starting and making a war, not the right is what matters, but (in) victory the strongest has the right."

Recently, many have castigated Senator Boxer for having stated that Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were the only reason why the Bush Administration took us to war. Unfortunately, as loyopp has pointed out, (January 27, 2005), while this may have been true in the minds of many, including the Senators who voted for the resolution, it may not have been the actual case. This is discussed in great detail by Mad Kane.

However, in reading Rice's comments, one must be struck by the propagandistic tenor of her contentions which she must have known were inflated.

Surely Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, etc. felt that these inflated contentions would disappear in the aftermath of finding even one WMD and their invasion would be "justified." After all, Hitler did have some more or less valid issues with Poland and the rest of Europe (especially the treatment of Germany after WWI).

The only important factor here is the InterNet. In less than 100 years the world has gone from domination by propaganda to the ability to skewer such propaganda in a moment. Unfortunately, the unconnected masses (and I include Senators) have yet to learn.
Now, of course, in retrospect, we know how much these people lied. In particular is the infuriating confession by Paul Wolfowitz (who was a professor for several years at Georgetown University after leaving the Bush Administration):

It was, he says one of many reasons. The magazine quotes Mr Wolfowitz saying "for bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue – weapons of mass destruction – because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."

Evil has not become banal, it has become bureaucratic.

Addendum: A young couple came in today with their new baby. After the visit I asked what their insurance was and they said "TriCare," the military insurance. I asked the father where he was stationed and he said he was out of Fort Benning in Ga, but was deployed to Iraq (he was only back for a few days to see the baby). He was a tank driver but they "weren't using tanks now." They were "helping Iraq rebuild the country."

The Nuremberg Precedent (II)

2010-06-22T23:07:00.000-04:00

I was wrong in a previous post. The Nazi organizations were indicted at Nuremberg. However, it was not possible to convict the subordinates under this indictment and the principal actors (Goering, etc.) were all tried as individuals.

The Indictment of Nazi Organizations
The indictment of Nazi organizations was designed to deal with the problem of what to do about the hundreds of thousands of people who had been members of organizations such as the SS and the Gestapo. The idea was to find them to have been criminal organizations, then hold hearings to determine the extent to which a member was guilty.

At the conclusion of the trial against the 21 individuals, the International Military Tribunal spent a month hearing testimony about the organizations.

The indictment of the organizations, however, raised a fundamental legal question: the legitimacy of creating a system of guilt by association. Although members of the criminal organizations were later tried by German denazification courts set up by the U.S. occupation government, no one was ever punished solely on the basis of the tribunal convictions.
Three of the six indicted organizations were found guilty. They were: the SS, the Gestapo and the Corps of the Political Leaders of the Nazi Party.

Three of the organizations were not convicted. They were: the SA (Hitler's street thugs, known as brownshirts, whose power had dwindled in the 1930s); the Reichsregierung (Reich Cabinet) and General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces. The latter two organizations were determined to cover relatively few members so that it was deemed better to deal with them as individuals.

In spite of this, it raises serious questions about what we, as citzens of a democracy and thus responsible for our leaders, may be held accountable for vis a vis the War in Iraq. It is no secret that the German people, to this day, are held to blame for Hitler and his terrorism.

Through the years Germany has been desperate in its desire to be forgiven. To some extent it has a point. No nation has undergone greater self-examination about its direct role and complicity in mass murder than Germany has. There have been endless acknowledgments and meaningful gestures of restitution. Germany has been in an arrested state of moral inquiry, continually examining its character, seeking some clarity about the madness it once mindlessly saluted.

Given their good faith, the Germans are understandably left wondering: Is forgiveness ever forthcoming, or is our guilt eternal?

What we in America have done is to abandon this sense of responsibility that pervaded the world after the horror of WWII.

There was much discussion of the War in Iraq as a "just" war. This has a long history in the Catholic Church and is discussed here. It is my firm belief and that of many others that, at this time, there can be no justification for the War in Iraq under the Just War rubric.

If the War in Iraq is not "justified", then it is a war of aggression. Nuremberg addressed this next:

Count Two: Waging Aggressive War, or "Crimes Against Peace"
This evidence was presented by the British prosecutors and was defined in the indictment as "the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements, and assurances."

This charge created problems for the prosecutors. Although Hitler had clearly waged an aggressive war, beginning with the invasion of Poland in 1939, Count Two was based on allegations that the Germans had violated international agreements such as the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. Signatories to that agreement had renounced war as an instrument of national policy (as opposed, say, to defensive war), but the pact did not define "aggressive war" and did not spell out the penalties for its violation.

(The Anschluss and the invasion of Czechoslovakia were not held to be aggressive wars because Hitler had manipulated the political situation in each nation in order to avoid an invasion.)

The Soviet Union also had broken the Kellogg-Briand Pact by invading Finland, Poland and the Baltics, and had schemed with Hitler to sign the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in 1939 (which secretly divided Poland).

Robert Jackson, the chief U.S. prosecutor, wanted the International Military Tribunal to create new international law that would outlaw aggressive war. Clearly, the premise that it is possible to outlaw war is a questionable one

This is potent stuff. The United States was the founding member of the United Nations. The United Nations did not vote to approve the War in Iraq and, in addition to the aforementioned Kellog-Briand pact, it seems to me that we have violated the spirit if not the letter of international law.

The question comes down to "what did George W. Bush know and when did he know it." For months after the invasion, the administration continued to spout the contention that weapons of mass destruction existed. If they now say, as Condelezza Rice did at her confirmation hearings, that they really didn't feel that, one simply has to go to this link at the White House web page to see how disrespectful of the truth that is (link courtesy of loyopp).

What I am trying to do here, and it is an impossible task, is to remove myself from history and look on the current situation as if it had happened 50 years ago and the Bush Administration had been hauled before an International Court for the crime of an aggressive war. And I had been implicated because I was an American Citizen and sat by and did nothing.

Some thoughts from the past

2010-06-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

I am going to post some thoughts I had over five years ago about the responsibility that we in America have for the torture and mistreatment of other human beings we have. This was probably incited by the revelations of what transpired at Abu Ghraib.

The Nuremberg Precedent I

(27 January 2005)

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on where we stand, there is a precedent for judging the current actions of the highest officials of the US Government with respect to their decisions in regard to other human beings, namely those captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is important to note that Nuremberg, the trials for war crimes, was not against the organization to which the Nazi officials belonged, (in 1945-46, that no longer existed), but against individuals. Perforce, the individuals were judged vis a vis their actions as human beings with the criteria for judgment being the generally assumed laws of humanity. Most of the defendants were hung.

There are a number of web sites devoted to the Nuremberg Trials. I will be perusing these in the coming days to extract relevant information. Let me start with the following quote from here:

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: You know what Aktion Kugel was: That escaped officers and noncommissioned officers, other than British and American, were to be handed over to the police and taken to Mauthausen, where they were shot by the device of having a gun concealed in the measuring equipment when they thought they were getting their prison clothes. You know what "Aktion Kugel" is, don't you?

GOERING: I heard of it here

Here the practice of taking prisoners to another facility to suffer a fate which the primary facility would not be responsible for is exposed. Is this not what happens to prisoners which we send to other countries via the "special airplane" which seems to ply its way between Guantanamo and countries that may use torture as a first resort?

Is not Goering here trying to escape responsibility by saying "I first heard of it here?"

Think about this. Is it not possible that some larger force might in the future have US government officials in the docket questioning them in this manner about our own extra legal maneuvers? Certainly the Nazi officials were doing what they felt they needed to do to guarantee their "security." Yet they were held for a personal, not institutional, responsibility.

The responsibility of the German people as a whole was not, to the best of my knowledge, addressed at Nuremberg. But that does not exonerate us. What responsibility do we now hold to confront injustices that may be similar to those existed in 1945?

I will answer that. I, you and the rest of America hold that responsibility and we had best get on with it in any way that we can.

Our Senate did not adequately confront either Condelezza Rice or Alberto Gonzales for the part that they have played in, if reports can be believed, the ongoing torture of captives.

This will not go away. It happened. It has to be addressed. Either now or later.

Friend?

2010-06-20T10:13:00.001-04:00

Japan Has 'Priority' On Rights To Mine Afghanistan Mineral Deposits, Says friend Hamid Karzai

Seriously, I don't mind the loss of minerals (they aren't ours, after all) as much as all those poor fathers who either fly silently into Dover or, even worse, have scrambled brains for the rest of their life.

"Morally, Afghanistan should give access as a priority to those countries that have helped Afghanistan massively in the past few years," Karzai told the institute.

Sort of begs the definition of "morally" I would say.
(Would you buy a used car from this guy?)

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-06-18T17:55:00.000-04:00

A (presumably) Jurassic crab found by our intrepid reporter from an underpass in Exmouth (Jurassic Coast themed mural by a local school)

This little guy just got in from rowing a galley for Ben Hur ("Ramming speed, Hortator!".) (Ben Hur was written by Lew Wallace, an incredibly interesting man. He was Governor of the New Mexico territory when Billy the Kid was doing his thing.)

Mid Week Crab Catchup

2010-06-14T20:56:00.000-04:00

I'll get back to crabbing on Friday but, if there are any interested readers out there, please travel on over to the post on JSBlog entitled "In search of the ochidore."

In addition to a beautiful picture of a crab (not true blue, mind you, but still quite attractive) you can meander through the lexicographic jungle with our Devonshire guide.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2010-06-10T09:14:00.000-04:00

These children of Gaza are looking for food in garbage. In a surprise, and gracious, move Israel has allowed "soda, juice, jam, spices, shaving cream (!), potato chips, cookies and candy" into the blockaded zone. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said his country is committed to ensuring that "the civilian population of Gaza will receive civilian goods" (I assume he is referring to Israeli garbage).

Children are children. From here:

President Obama called for a "new approach" on the blockade (while crossing his fingers and accepting a check from the AIPAC.)

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Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2010-06-05T12:53:00.001-04:00

Once again our wide ranging correspondents (from here and here)have uncovered specimens of a both historic and cultural interest.

In the first instance, we have samples from that emporium of renown, Harrods. One sincerely hopes that all the crustaceans on offer there are not quite so crunchy. In particular, since rock crabs "...are aggressive monsters that look like harmless rocks while they are sleeping, and wake up and attack unsuspecting players that pass by," caveat emptor.

(Noted in passing: the English Pound, that funny letter "L," seems to have suffered a rather severe devaluation if one has to fork out 6,000 of them for one measly crab.)

Next we have a rather interesting addition also in the rather petrified genre.

One feels a little like Monsieur Holmes (excuse me, Poirot) when trying to dissect, or otherwise disassemble this picture. Firstly, this crab appears to be surrounded by jewelery or similar artifacts. There is, of course, the watch. Close attention shows that whilst the minute hand is on the "nine" the hour hand has just passed the "four." Clearly this is not Switzerland. A clue to the crab's locale, in addition to the funny L, can be found in the wording pasted atop the watch: "Please remove plastic wedge from winder." In this case, "wedge" is the clue. This also indicates that the watch is upside down so, just maybe, it is Switzerland. (Also used with "wood," as in Wedgewood.) The watch is certainly new since it is on a backing in addition to the aforementioned tape. This suggests that this is not someone's upper chest drawer, but in an emporium. We strongly doubt it is Harrod's.

It is unclear what the object above the watch is. Perhaps a bracelet of pewter? (This brings up the question of why more habitues of ale houses didn't get lead poisoning, but we will let that go for now.) The object immediately above the crab appears to be a ornamented metal container, on top of which is a key? with a tag attached. Very interesting.

Finally, the crab. This appears to be of porcelain. This is of interest because the name porcelain derives from the Italian for a cowry shell, another marine animal. Since porcelain was not available in Europe before the 18th century (a good book to read about the European discovery of porcelain is Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story), this is more evidence of a contemporary venue.

In any case, the crab appears to be of Art Deco design. The claws are attached to the main body and I suspect that it is also some type of jewelry case since it almost appears in relief. This then suggests that these objects are found in the local antique or second hand store.

It is a nice crab.

Here is a contribution from Lindsey:

That black thing is a net (little does she know that crabs are not caught in nets) and the crab is wearing glasses because, of course, so does Dr. C.!

I want out of here but there's no place to go

2010-06-03T20:00:00.001-04:00

Say it isn't so, Joe.

Four shots to the head in "self defense." Sort of stops any conversation in its tracks.

Update, 06/04:
Still, he acknowledged that Israel might object to the 500 tons of cement on board, which the army maintains the militants can use to fight it.

Cement? Yes, yes. The perfect nuclear deterrent.

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-05-28T17:58:00.001-04:00

I had to include this one because his father is actually a Waterman. Unfortunately, my staff gave him pink paper to draw on so it didn't scan as well as white.

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-05-21T16:22:00.000-04:00

Rand (as in Atlas Shrugged) Paul seems to think that the oil spill in the Gulf is no big deal. Perhaps he should talk to this fellow.

Sands of Sorrow

2010-05-15T21:52:00.001-04:00

If you have a chance, watch this video about the Palestinian Refugees that was made in 1950.

Sands of Sorrow

It is filmed in Gaza. Of note is that there are no veils on the women and they seemed fully integrated into the camp society. Another item that struck me was that only one out of five newborns survived. Little is made of the Muslim religion except to mention that prayer was a part of the culture. By necessity, I suspect, there was no mention of why the refugee problem existed. The commentator does mention that the refugees fully expected to return to their homes, and this was why they brought little with them.

Many of the children in the film will be in their sixties, if they survived. I wonder how they feel watching this film.

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-05-14T13:38:00.001-04:00

First we have a notable event. A true break with tradition. Namely, never before have we been sent a guest crustacean that is NOT A CRAB. Today it is different. Wat we received was close to a crab, but no cigar. However, in the interest of good will between the U.S. and that place with the funny government across the pond, we publish a guest lobster.

The Four Choices

2010-05-05T23:29:00.004-04:00

Juan Cole had a post up the other day referencing a speech given at the Palestine Center in Washington, D.C., by Professor John J. Mearsheimer, a commentator on the influence of the Israel Lobby on American politics (see his book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy ). As can be imagined, anyone who focuses attention on the actions of such a group comes under vitriolic criticism. But that is another story. What I wanted to comment on here is the four scenarios that Mearsheimer outlines in his speech as to the possible outcomes in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

As a preamble, Mearsheimer defines Greater Israel as all the land from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean. This encompasses the West Bank, current Israel, all of Jerusalem and Gaza.
From here:

1. The first outcome would be that desired by most Palestinians (though he does remark on the lack of agreement amongst the Palestinians themselves both as to what would be acceptable in a settlement and who speaks for them). This outcome would the the much discussed "Two State Solution." In order to accomplish this, Israel would have to withdraw basically to its 1967 borders and Palestine would have its capitol in Jerusalem. Furthermore the new Palestine would have to have governmental autonomy with sovereignty of its land and airspace. I will forego discussion of the ramifications of this possible outcomes but one can imagine that this would not, under any circumstances, be acceptable to the current government (and population) of Israel. In consequence, the probability of this course is minimal.

2. The second outcome would be very odious. It would involve Israel, on some pretext related to terrorism, to remove Arabs from Israel proper and the occupied territories to "somewhere else." Quite frankly, this would be ethnic cleansing. Israel has already made some moves in this direction by passing a law enabling it, in its own eyes, to expel certain Palestinians from the West Bank. However, the tolerance of World opinion (except the United States) would be exceedingly low and it is hard to see how Israel could accomplish this without widespread bloodshed. Interestingly enough, this is the outcome most desired by the American Christian Zionists, a surprisingly influential segment of our population. The reason has nothing to do with the Israeli Jews, who would suffer a not nice outcome, but because this would usher in the "end times" of Revelation.

3. The third outcome is, in my mind, would the the fairest for both Israeli and Palestinians. It would involve Greater Israel to evolve rapidly into a single country composed of both Arabs and Jews. Because of the demographics, politics would be dominated by Arabs and government would, by necessity, be secular. The Palestinians have a history of secular governments, though militant Islam is always a threat. It is almost impossible to conceive of Israeli Jews, particularly the Zionists, accepting this development. Of interest in this scenario is the position of the ultra orthodox Jews in Israel because of their high birth rate. Apparently, a female of this persuasion will have between seven and eight babies in their reproductive years. Mearsheimer states that the first grades of Israeli schools are composed of 50% of a combination of Palestinians and ultra orthodox Jews.

4. The fourth outcome, which Mearsheimer thinks is the most likely, is the evolution of the current situation on the West Bank with settlers taking over increasing territory and forcing Palestinians into isolated enclaves or Bantustans, effectively converting Greater Israel into an Apartheid State. In order to preserve the position of Jews and the vision of Zionism, Palestinians would be relegated to closely controlled areas (as they are now. for an excellent first hand view of this see here) and there would be continued pressure on them to "go elsewhere." While this out might have some short term survival, in the end, it will ultimately break down, as it did in South Africa, though given the history of the Middle East this breakdown is much more likely to be violent. As mentioned above, it is this outcome that Mearsheimer thinks to be the most likely.

I think that this analysis, while individual points might be questioned or disputed, sums up in a general way the situation in that small area of the World is going. Small, but of of incredible importance. Again, my own worry is that Israel possesses nuclear weapons and while it has not used them to date, I am sure it would have no compunction to do so if it felt "threatened." Since there is, at the moment, no other nuclear state in the region, in spite of all of Obama's efforts, it is only a matter of time before Iran produces a bomb to counter Israel's threat. I would assume that Iran's science is far superior to that of North Korea. That it does not at the moment possess enough fissionable Uranium (we think) is of no consequence. If Iran feels sufficiently thwarted, they will produce it. The continued intransigence of the United States and Israel to a reasonable solution to the Israeli/Palestine conflict (not to forget the 8 years of negligence under Bush II) may well be the prime motivator for Iranian nuclear proliferation.

Crab Lovers Everywhere

2010-05-02T15:07:00.000-04:00

The results of the 2010 Big Crab Drawing Contest are now up here. Enjoy!

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2010-05-01T13:21:00.003-04:00

We have an excellent collection of crabs today. Also, stay tuned, the second annual Big Crab Drawing Contest is in full swing and I should shortly have the winners on the Big Crab Contest blog.

One should notice that this is one of the true blue crabs that we have seen. Little does he know he is about to turn bright orange.

Wyatt had a little trouble with the second claw (or cheliped), or maybe the crab got in a fight over a she crab. I don't know why two guys ever would, all them gals end up as soup anyway.

In any case: Crabs can also hear and produce a variety of sounds. In courtship some species attract the females attention by banging their cheliped on the ground or vibrating their walking legs. Each species has its own unique sound that can attract a female or intimidate a competing male.

Mikayla has got the anatomy right, except that the antenna seem to have another set of eyes.

You might think that this is just a happy little fellow until you realize those are claws

I had to include this even though there were no crabs. It is something out of Tim Burton. I think those are geese flying in formation in the sky, but who knows. Could be a pirate, too.

This is Madalyn

And this is her sister Anna who does not, in real life, have a crooked smile.

Guest Post

2010-04-27T11:22:00.001-04:00

Recently I was contacted by an excellent blogger, Barbara O'Brien of Mahablog, to see if I was interested in posting a guest comment. I find that her observations below are very reasonable on this subject and quite in line with mine. It is one of the hardest things for me as an American to see how a large segment of our citizens can fall for the lies promulgated by the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, particularly as it concerns health reform. We have always considered ourselves exceptional. Now I realize this refers to the exceptionally misguided direction that so many of us take.

Health Care Reform: The Morning After

Many politicians and pundits warned us that the health care reform (HCR) legislation that just became law will destroy America. Government bureaucrats will take over health care decisions, we were told. The old and infirm would be hauled away by death panels. Everything about the way we receive our medical care will change, and change drastically, they said.

Medicare recipients have been frightened by stories that their benefits will be cut. Middle-age people are worried they will lose their jobs when the law’s dreaded regulations, or taxes, or maybe regulations with taxes, would destroy their employers’ businesses.

The truth is, very little will change for most people. If you were insured by employee benefits before HCR, you will be insured by exactly the same policy in exactly the same way after HCR. You will have access to the same doctors on the same terms. “Government bureaucrats” will no more be involved in your health care than they were before.

And the same is true of Medicare, which of course is a government program, although many of the people who opposed the HCR bill don’t seem to know that.

Here are the “cataclysmic” changes to health care that are now in effect, or which will go into effect within the next six months for people who are already in group insurance plans:

The law says you can’t lose your insurance coverage because you get sick. Before, in many states, if you were stricken with a severe illness such as mesothelioma cancer that would be expensive to treat, your insurer could use just about any excuse to cancel your coverage. That is over.

HCR has ended lifetime limits on coverage. As long as you are receiving medical care, your insurer pays the bills.

Your children can be covered on your existing policy until they are 26 years old.

In six months, insurers cannot refuse to insure people under the age of 19 because of “pre-existing conditions.” This provision will go into effect for everyone in 2014.

And if you are on Medicare, you will be asked to struggle with the following:

You get a free annual checkup.

The co-pays and deductibles on many preventive care services are eliminated.

If you are in the Medicare D “doughnut hole,” you will get a $250 rebate check in a few weeks. The hole itself will be closed gradually and will be gone by 2020.

But what about all those terrible regulations and taxes that are about to drive businesses out of business? Um, there really isn’t much to report. Oh, wait, here’s one — a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps will go into effect July 1. That’s about it.

However, beginning this year a tax credit will be available for some small businesses to help provide insurance coverage for employees.

Soon the politicians and pundits will start trying to frighten you about the provisions that will go into effect after this year. I assure you they are about as scary as the provisions that go into effect this year, but I will discuss them in a follow-up post.

— Barbara O’Brien

Friday Crab Blogging (on Sunday)

2010-04-25T13:00:00.001-04:00

A dearth of crabs this week due to unforeseen circumstances. However....

This drawing is interesting because when asked what was the brown coloring around the flowers, the artist replied "its the air." I know we've got pollution but I think she was referring to the pollen that has invested our area this past month.

Around here if you ain't crabby, you ain't nuthin:

Crab-Henge

2010-04-12T13:22:00.000-04:00

An astute reader has suggested that two drawings by local crab artists are very reminiscent of Stone-Henge.

Here are the two drawings:

The reader is quite right. There is a remarkable resemblance at least in terms of a circle of plinths. In addition to Stone-Henge, this circle can be found in other architectural structures in cluding the Great Stupa of Sanchi.

One question becomes whether the Neolithic builders of Stone-Henge could have visualized being above the structure, thus visualizing the circle. I think we must assume that they did given the existence of the Peruvian geoglyphs, "The Monkey" being the most famous.

These drawing are of truly giant scale with the largest being 600 meters across (two football fields). One of the theories for their purpose is that they were drawn by the Nazca for their gods who were in the sky. The conclusion here is that they could picture themselves as if they were the gods looking down. This is actually quite an accomplishment since I doubt our closest animal relatives have this ability.

Back to Stone-Henge. What should we make of this desire to make an interrupted circle?

The thinker who came to mind was Carl Jung. As you will recall this was a psychologist who was a student with Freud but then eventually developed his own school. (Carl Jung appears on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band album cover in the top row between Poe and W.C. Fields.)

While it has been years since I have read Jung (and not much then) I seem to remember his study of archetypes and how it was felt that they were buried in the unconscious. From here:

In Jung's psychology an archetype is an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.

This is an absolutely delicious tidbit of information. It proposes for evolutionary psychology a mode of inheritance that would be Lamarckian in biological evolution. However, for whatever reason, I do think that humans have conceptual archetypes that help us in our understanding of the world. And, I suspect, one of them is a circle (safety, defense, etc.) Why the plinths should appear in the circle I don't know. Kids do tend to draw circles when they scribble.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2010-04-10T09:58:00.000-04:00

A little late with the crabs, got called to a delivery:

No, you are right, this is not a crab. It is, TA DA: A Ferris Wheel!!

Coarse Politics

2010-04-04T15:00:00.002-04:00

Many people have noted the coarsening of political discourse in the last year. Many attribute this to the raucous debate on the recently passed health care reform legislation. Certainly there was a large amount of vitriol splashed about in, around and outside of Congressional chambers. Many news organizations would like to say that both Democrats and Republicans are equally responsible for this state of affairs. Almost certainly not! But we should leave that to history books to decide (if long, tall Texans don't rewrite them).

What should really concern us is the great possibility that this inflammatory language, has been taken by a small group of Americans, as permission to convert the threatened consequences into action. I find it frightening that in our midst there is a cohort of people who so hate the current workings of the U.S. Government that they would basically plot an armed insurrection. The most concerning actions, however, were the spitting and racial epithets against Congressmen.

If these were people that had a well thought out agenda, perhaps it might be possible to come to some compromise. But, it seems to me, that their anger and hate really have no object. I think that lends some support to the argument that a part of the underlying motivation, particularly against President Obama, is racial. On the other hand there are a number of other pressures that are forcing susceptible individuals in this direction, not the least of which is not having anything to do with their time, i.e. out of work. In a way it is a perfect storm for craziness.

Actually, as usual, there is some pertinent history here. I refer to the Know Nothing Party:

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to U.S. values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts met with little success. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middle-class and entirely Protestant membership fragmented over the issue of slavery. Most ended up joining the Republican Party by the time of the 1860 presidential election. (emphasis added)

What, exactly, should be a course of action for someone like myself who sits in a fairly liberal (or, to use the current non-L word, progressive) seat? I am certainly not up for arming myself or fortifying my residence, though I live in a semi rural area that is inundated by guns, ostensibly for hunting.

I suppose that writing (letters to the editor) or other such pursuits might be useful, but probably not. A mark of the current tea bagger is exactly like that of the Party mentioned above, when confronted, they simple say "I know nothing." Oh, one more tidbit from the Wikipedia article:

The party gained wide popularity. According to historian David Harry Bennett, "nativism became a new American rage: Know-Nothing candy, Know-nothing tea, and Know-Nothing toothpicks were manufactured..." Stagecoaches were dubbed "The Know-Nothing, And in Trescott, Maine, a shipowner dubbed a 700-ton freighter, "Know-Nothing." (emphasis added)

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-04-02T11:44:00.000-04:00

I am not sure what the yellow figures signify. I forgot to ask. These guys are smiling because Crab season just opened. How little they know!

Water, Cool Clear Water

2010-04-02T11:14:00.000-04:00

This just amazes me since it is pretty clear (no pun intended) that this bottled water frequently comes out of the tap.

Furthermore, the BOTTLE is destined for the Pacific Vortex. (very cool short movie).

Finally, where's the Calcium?

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-03-26T14:41:00.000-04:00

I swear I didn't make this up.

Enhanced Interrogation

2010-03-23T22:55:00.006-04:00

A fellow whose book picks I respect (hey, he's a book store) was going on about a late Victorian novelist named Maxwell Gray (and also here.) In particular, he mentions Gray's tome: "The Silence of Dean Maitland." Certainly the lead book in "The World's Greatest Books," which is a blockbuster to boot, should merit our attention. So, off to the Alibris book site I go and, low and behold, there are a bunch available. I order this vaunted gem and wait anxiously for its arrival. One day it comes. As with many Alibris books it is wrapped in brown paper (let's keep it anonymous, sort of like Playboy.) I hurry home after a hard day fighting back germs and curl up in my chair and unwrap this Great Book (sorry, Mortimer, your list is incomplete.)

Firstly, it is a dusty, dusky tome in a peculiar shade of quaint, olive green. While intact, it has clearly resided on the shelves of someone's study since coming home from the bookseller probably a hundred years ago. It was published by the F.M. Lupton Publishing Company in New York. "Of all the publishers of cheap books during the 1880s there were few to rival the cheapness of F.M. Lupton's productions." You betcha. There is no information at all after the front page. Opposite this page written near the spine is the observation "e good but a lot ex words." I assume this means "Pretty good, but a lot of extra words." I should have heeded this sage observation.

Where ever one word would suffice, Maxwell Gray uses three. For instance, the opening sentence:

"The gray afternoon was wearing on to its chill close; the dark cope of immovable dun cloud overhead seemed to contract and grow closer to the silent world beneath it, and the steep, chalky hill, leading from the ancient village, with its hoary castle and church, up over the bleak, barren down was a weary thing to climb. "

Whew! How about

"The afternoon was wearing on to its close; the cope of immovable cloud overhead seemed to grow closer to the world beneath it, and the steep hill leading from the village, with its castle and church, up over the down was a weary thing to climb."

I slogged on through this till I could go no more and was pulled down, down into the moist and evil quicksand that glistened all about me with the faint dewdrops of extra words.

But, I tried. And, then it struck me, what a clever thing this book was. If ever I was in possession of Vital Secrets, the plans for the battle, whatever, all they would have to do for me to confess all would be to strap me down and read me Chapter IV of "The Silence of Dean Maitland."

---------------------------------

Of course the hooker is that Maxwell Gray is actually Miss Mary Gleed Tuttiett. It does have the same ring as George Elliot.

-------------------------------

And, of course, I could not resist the money quote from page 41:

"Who shall say how far a man's will consents to his acts? added Everard, musingly."

Yes!

2010-03-22T08:32:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Barack Obama on the passage of the first step in reforming our broken health care system.

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-03-19T09:17:00.000-04:00

Crabs are starting to run; we seem to have gotten stuck on certain crayons; thank Gott they are not Prussian Blue!

Mr. Crabs, for we uninitiated, is a character on Sponge Bob Square Pants (the most insidiously banal TV show, apparently, that has ever come along, excluding the Gong Show.)

Now I couldn't resist this last one:

This is, apparently a "wine show"; I didn't ask mom, but I suspect that she has been checking out the local wine tasting events.

Internet Portrait

2010-03-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

I will admit, I couldn't resist this (from an unknown source by way of here, here and here). I realize that it is probably copyrighted but I just felt that, what shall we say, risonanza.

The Direction of the Polity

2010-03-14T00:58:00.000-05:00

I have given up trying to understand what is happening politically in the United States. One hopes that, no matter whatever developments are to come, we will survive the current turmoil. I suppose that back in the late '60's, when most adults felt that all hell was breaking loose, I would, as an adult, have felt pretty much the same way. (But as a young tusker, it was groovy). When your world is threatened, no matter whether it is the smug world of '50's consumerism and international hegemony or the, well, '00's world of consumerism and international hegemony, one tends to react, sometimes violently. But, it is still beyond me why the vast, relatively homogeneous, world of the American prolateriat, all those people who work in Exxon stations, Food Lions, Blockbusters, bowling alleys, McDonalds, "environmental" services, construction, landscaping, etc., seem to now reject any sort of change from the status quo. Ironically, it may be seen in the future as the almost spectacular success of the media machine dominated by Fox News.

The fact that many Americans believe such things as the viability of Sarah Palin as a presidential candidate, and question such things as the place of President Obama's birth, is a testament to media driven craziness. Americans have always liked flamboyant personalities. At least Huey Long had some credentials. But Joe the Plumber and, particularly Glen Beck, are personalities of an entirely different order.

Perhaps I am making too much of this. Perhaps I should be more sanguine. After all, my country has made it this far with lots of stresses including a bloody Civil War. But it seems that the hub of all this, the machine that is Washington, D.C., has, to use an euphemism, suffered a spanner in its works. If you think Health Care is broken, and it is, trust me, then that human collection inside the Beltway is really in trouble. This will all come to a heady crux over the next week when the Democrats try to get the Health Care Reform bill passed. I am not sure what the odds are, Jimmy the Greek would know, but they can't be good for its passage. (I didn't realize that JTG had passed away in 1996.)

What then? Well, one group of "lawmakers" will have demonstrated that they have potent spanners. This is the same group that used to believe "What is good for General Motors is good for America." Not. The problem is that once having governed by hurling spanners, where do you go from there? Is it any wonder that less than one out of five Americans trust their Congress. Elections next fall should be interesting.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2010-03-13T12:55:00.001-05:00

I had to reach back in the archives for today's (actually, yesterday's) crabs. I think we will go back to using a pen instead of crayons. It is hard to get the colors to saturate.

P.S. Where did Noah keep his bees?

Ans: In the Ark Hives.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2010-03-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

No crabs today. Just a fish:

FISH

P.S. Busy, busy busy. Please excuse.

Friday Crab Blogging (late)

2010-02-28T16:17:00.001-05:00

We have two delicacies for you today. First, another entry from that peripatetic adventurer from OldPort.

In keeping with many discussions here and here about art, I do believe we can say that crabs are in the eye of the beholder. It takes a human imagination to deconstruct this pic to detect the underlying crab theme, but I believe it. Of course one must run quickly to the dictionary to discover what cake "cases" are. One hopes it is not a viral exanthem. (BTW, when are you guys going to adopt the euro?)

The second is from the usual source:

This one brings up the question raised by an alert reader: "why are alien's eyes always megaproptopic?" Inquiring minds want to know.

The Market is Broken

2010-02-20T16:33:00.000-05:00

From the people who brought you "Just Say No" to Health Care Reform there is this:

Health insurance leaders say they agree that individual markets are rife with problems but insist that the trouble is caused by factors beyond their control -- namely, the soaring cost of medical care and the churn of customers who enter or leave the individual market, depending on employment.

The sour economy has prompted many younger and healthier people to forgo or cancel insurance, companies say. As a result, insurers have had to spread the cost of individual insurance over smaller numbers of ailing policyholders who keep coverage they desperately need.

"A lot of what you see today is a product of the way the market works," said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's Washington-based lobbying arm. "The market is broken. Those people who do need the coverage wind up covering the cost of everyone else."

Actually, having "everyone else" cover the cost of those who need coverage is the way insurance is supposed to work.

Thank you, Kindle...

2010-02-20T12:50:00.000-05:00

Looking around for a good book and look what I find!

(going to wait until the price drops, though. It will.)

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-02-20T12:09:00.000-05:00

Bones has Fire in his eyes

2010-02-12T10:57:00.003-05:00

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-02-12T09:10:00.000-05:00

Why'd they mess up a goond thing? Blogger was fine the way it was. Now it sucks.

Come on Baby Kindle my Fire

2010-02-11T16:07:00.002-05:00

If you were thinking of buying stock, I would consider buying it in Amazon, or maybe PVI (Prime View International) , who makes the display for the Kindle. Why, you might ask? Consider the following images:

Children carry an astounding amount of weight in their back packs. The big one above weighed well over 10 Kg. Many children no longer have lockers to keep their books in so must cart their whole kit with them. (Sort of like a hermit crab!)

From a recent article:

The Effect of Backpacks on the Lumbar Spine in Children: A Standing Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Timothy B. Neuschwander, MD; John Cutrone, MD; Brandon R. Macias, BA; Samantha Cutrone; Gita Murthy, PhD; Henry Chambers, MD; Alan R. Hargens, MD
Posted: 02/04/2010; Spine. 2010;35(1):83-88. © 2010

Abstract
Study Design: This study is a repeated measures design to measure the lumbar spine response to typical school backpack loads in healthy children. The lumbar spine in this setting was measured for the first time by an upright magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to measure the lumbar spine response to typical school backpack loads in healthy children. We hypothesize that backpack loads significantly increase disc compression and lumbar curvature.

Summary of Background Data: Children commonly carry school backpacks of 10% to 22% bodyweight. Despite growing concern among parents about safety, there are no imaging studies which describe the effect of backpack loads on the spine in children.

Methods: Three boys and 5 girls, age 11 ± 2 years (mean ± SD) underwent T2 weighted sagittal and coronal MRI scans of the lumbar spine while standing. Scans were repeated with 4, 8, and 12 kg backpack loads, which represented approximately 10%, 20%, and 30% body weight for our sample. Main outcome measures were disc compression, defined as post- minus preloading disc height, and lumbar asymmetry, defined as the coronal Cobb angle between the superior endplates of S1 and L1.

Results: Increasing backpack loads significantly compressed lumbar disc heights measured in the midline sagittal plane (P < 0.05, repeated-measures analysis of variance [ANOVA]). Lumbar asymmetry was: 2.23° ± 1.07° standing, 5.46° ± 2.50° with 4 kg, 9.18° ± 2.25° with 8 kg, and 5.68° ± 1.76° with 12 kg (mean ± SE). Backpack loads significantly increased lumbar asymmetry (P < 0.03, one-way ANOVA). Four of the 8 subjects had Cobb angles greater than 10° during 8-kg backpack loads. Using a visual-analogue scale to rate their pain (0-no pain, 10-worst pain imaginable), subjects reported significant increases in back pain associated with backpack loads of 4, 8, and 12 kg (P < 0.001, 1-way ANOVA).

Conclusion: Backpack loads are responsible for a significant amount of back pain in children, which in part, may be due to changes in lumbar disc height or curvature. This is the first upright MRI study to document reduced disc height and greater lumbar asymmetry for common backpack loads in children.

The solution to this problem is simple, put all textbooks on Kindle or its equivalent.

This has several added advantages:
1. Children with dyslexia, etc. have a learning tool since the Kindle can read text.
2. Many, many trees will be saved. Textbooks outdate quickly and there is basically no use for an outdated school book.
3. Children cannot say "I forgot my book."

Disadvantages:
1. Well, they are tough, but not as tough as children. There will be breakage.
2. Cost. Well, I don't know what a whole year's worth of books cost, but college textbooks for sure are astronomical. Medical school books, just don't go there.
3. Kindle doesn't do so well with pictures at the moment. I am sure technology will solve this.

(P.S. Have you noticed that Blogger doesn't have spell check any more?)

The Art of Emoting

2010-02-09T13:46:00.000-05:00

Its hard being a curmudgeon these days. Ethnologically it is a vanishing skill set. (Meter courtesy of my staff)

Quote

2010-02-08T15:57:00.001-05:00

Sarcasm, the last recourse of a witty man.

. Tiny Tim
. circa 1982

Requiem for a Yew

2010-02-07T16:31:00.001-05:00

I think my yew tree is seriously damaged. Damn snow. (On the other hand, it does have beauty.)

(excuse the grid; I took it through a screen door that won't open for the snow)

What your children be learning

2010-02-04T20:19:00.004-05:00

Hey, its only a game!

When will they ever learn, when will they.....

2010-02-04T19:59:00.006-05:00

Imperial Hunters (The Empire Strikes Back)

Afghanistan - 2010

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-01-29T17:53:00.004-05:00

My favorite is the "Crab Jumping"

The only question there is

2010-01-24T09:11:00.004-05:00

I am an inveterate reader of Calvin and Hobbes. The irony of using Calvin (the champion of predestination) and Hobbes (of "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" fame) as names should not be lost on us. I was grieved when Bill Watterson decided to end the strip in the 1990's, but the rerun continues to warm the coronary cackles of a morning. The republished strip from today is especially good.

True to his fore bearers, Calvin questions the very essence of morality:

What is predestination but the absence of free will? In a desire to make a godhead absolutely powerful, Calvin asserted that no single "free" action of man could contribute to salvation. Taking this to the bitter end gives us the Jehovah's Witnesses. This sect (comprising 7 million souls in the world, only half that of the Jewish faith) has some interesting beliefs, including the assertion that only 144,000 souls will be allowed into the eternal Woodstock. How one picks 144,000 out of 7 million (plus those who have "gone on before") probably occupies JW theologians for hours.

Free will (that which shall not be discussed) is such an interesting topic. I am reminded of counselling teenagers about drugs and sex. One can't say "its the right thing to do" because hedonistic Americans believe that pleasure is the be all to end all. They equate being "happy" with "feeling good." So, when telling teenagers about sex and drugs you have to threaten them with consequences. This is why Nancy Reagan's "just say no" was/is such a failure. This concept, that teenagers who are surrounded by adults who have no qualms about bopping whoever and snorting whatever, would, out of the goodness of their heart, refrain from bopping and snorting is like expecting Bin Laden to run for Pope.

Calvin hits it on the head. Teenagers need to be careful about sex to avoid contracting permanent (i.e. integrated into your genome) diseases such as AIDS, herpes, hepatitis B and HPV, and avoid unwanted pregnancy, which is a bittersweet disaster. They need to avoid drugs because they are illegal. Period. Free Will doesn't come into the equation. Puppies do not become house broken because they want to be good in heart and spirit. They become house broken because they fear the consequences. It is natural for them to poop where they want. That is why they look so mournful when you rub their nose in it. They are saying "WTF?"

A long time ago we addressed this issue in a series of posts. I realize now, after reading Unreal Nature's post of 23 January, that there is a large world of intermediate cognition that has to be addressed in discussing the neurobiological basis of this concept, Free Will. Part of the problem, for me, is the jargon. It is like trying to understand Fourier transforms without understanding complex numbers.

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-01-22T08:34:00.008-05:00

In response to a certain dark and foreboding post:

CRABS RULE!!

Without sound (Blogger may remove because of sound clip which, I thought, was public domain)

The Nail in the Coffin

2010-01-21T12:26:00.004-05:00

Well, the SCOTUS has given those unrightfully maligned CEO's an "Advance to Go" card and sent the rest of us to Jail.

Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has given big business, unions and nonprofits more power to spend freely in federal elections, a major turnaround that threatens a century of government efforts to regulate the power of corporations to bankroll American politics.

But, you say, can't the unions and nonprofits counter big business?

Ha, Ha, Ha...

Friday Crab Blogging

2010-01-15T17:13:00.001-05:00

Crabs running slow. Too cold.

Performance Art

2010-01-14T18:16:00.003-05:00

There is a very moving video that's "gone viral" on U-tube of a young lady from the Ukraine doing sand drawings:

Kseniy Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawings.

I will admit that I was moved by this display. Sand drawing is part of some very different cultures including the aboriginal culture in Australia, the Navajo in the Southwest America and Buddhist monks (Mandala sand painting). I saw the latter in action once in Albuquerque (not too far from the Navajo reservation). There are a large number of other cultures that practice this art.

When one realizes how sophisticated some of these works of art are, it makes you feel pretty humble.

The more esoteric, repetitive patterns produced are frequently reminiscent of cellular automata and that probably deserves another post.

Caravelles of the Desert

2010-01-07T13:16:00.007-05:00

Abu Dhabi opens doors for poetry competition in camel beauty

Updated below

Update II: Please see much more at Camel poetry...

Poetry competition seeks best descriptive poems of camels as part of Al Dhafra Festival 2010.

Down amongst all your travels,
The best will be on spotted camels.
Camels with their nose so rare
Camels with their coat so fair
(A sporty coat of camel hair)
Walking gayly across the dunes
Singing songs and humming tunes.

The camel is a noble beast,
His I.Q. is the very least
His brain is grand (on other hand)
The Einstein of the Arab sand.

And when the subject turns to water
The camel is the beast who oughter
Be the one who comes to mind
For such a one you'll never find
Who miles and miles he can traverse
And then he does it in reverse
Without a trip to head or loo
Don't you wish that you could too?

We have several more entries from across the pond:

Firstly:

There once was a camel I rode
Who thought me too much of a load
So he turned his head
And bit my leg
Aod off his back I was throwed.

Comment: a worthy entry, a little back biting, but, what the heck...

Secondly, an opus:

I don't need no elephant's trunk,
Or do gas warfare like a skunk,
I'm a ship that can't be sunk,
My humps, my humps, my humps, my humps,
My lovely camel lumps.

I've got an adaptation,
Controls my urination,
They love my ungulation,
To reach their destination,
On barchan and in wadi,
Across the Rub' al Khali
Without a drink of water,
Across the Empty Quarter,
My humps, my humps, my humps, my humps,
My lovely camel lumps.

A dromedary's lacking,
You send that creature packing,
The Bactrain is true-o,
Because it's got a duo.
My humps, my humps, my humps, my humps,
My lovely camel lumps,
In the back and in the front.

Comment:
This is almost too good to be true
I am no fan of Black Eyed Peas but it seems to eclipse their lyric:

What you gon' do with all that junk?
All that junk inside your trunk?
I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps (Check it out)

And don't forget the Chickenwing camel clutch as is found in our mother organization.

Good Books to Read?

2010-01-03T10:47:00.002-05:00

Here at the beginning of the New Year, I thought I'd look at what Amazon.com listed as the customer bestsellers of 2009. And I noticed something:

In the first 28 selections:

2. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto - Mark R. Levin
Author and conservative talk radio host Levin (Rescuing Sprite, Men in Black) takes on the Statist, a liberal straw man, in this collection of polemics against left-wing tenets (like "economic and social justice"), touchstones (like the New Deal)…

3. Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine - Glenn Beck
"If you believe it's time to put principles above parties, character above campaign promises, and Common Sense above all -- then I ask you to read this book...."In any era, great Americans inspire us to reach our full potential. They know with conviction what they believe within themselves.

15. Going Rogue: An American Life - Sarah Palin
In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Palin paints an intimate portrait of growing up in the wilds of Alaska; meeting her lifelong love; her decision to enter politics; the importance of faith and family; and the unique joys and trials of life as a high-profile working mother. She also opens up for the first time about the 2008 presidential race, providing a rare, mom's-eye view of high-stakes national politics—from patriots dedicated to "Country First" to slick politicos bent on winning at any cost.

16. Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government - Glenn Beck
It happens to all of us: You're minding your own business, when some idiot informs you that guns are evil, the Prius will save the planet, or the rich have to finally start paying their fair share of taxes. Just go away! you think to yourself -- but they only become more obnoxious. Your heart rate quickens. You start to sweat. You can't get away. Your only hope is......this book.

17. Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies - Michelle Malkin
In her shocking new book, Michelle Malkin digs deep into the records of President Obama's staff, revealing corrupt dealings, questionable pasts, and abuses of power throughout his administration...

28. Catastrophe - Eileen McGann
It's time to take back our country. Now. It's that simple. It's that urgent. So begins Dick Morris and Eileen McGann's latest and most important book. They say that we must act before President Barack Obama fully implements his radical political agenda.

On the other hand

11. True Compass: A Memoir - Edward M. Kennedy
In this landmark autobiography, five years in the making, Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells his extraordinary personal story--of his legendary family, politics, and fifty years at the center of national events.

-------------------

That's right, six out of seven of the first 28 books on the list that are political commentary are written by rabidly conservative meatheads. I find #16, Glenn Beck's "Arguing with Idiots" to be particularly ironic.

I would say that it is a reasonable hypothesis that the people who watch Fox news are not great readers of books of any stripe. Therefore, it is a little frightening to see this devotion to the screeds put out by such dunderheads. But, in the reckoning of America, they are a great success. That is, they make money. And how:

Re Glen Beck:
Beck's rapidly expanding media empire includes multiple revenue sources: a TV show ($2 million), a radio show ($10 million), books ($5 million), speeches (half a million), appearances ($2.5 million) and a Web site ($3 million). The move from CNN to Fox News grabbed big headlines for the popular but polarizing pundit.

Do people really read these books? And poor Teddy Kennedy, lonely in that number 11 spot. Looking down from some Hyannis Port Heaven and wondering if it was all worth it.

Happy New Year

2009-12-30T09:21:00.002-05:00

Friday Crab Blogging (a little late)

2009-12-27T12:21:00.004-05:00

First we have a guest crab from "over there":

I am told by reliable sources that the image on the bottom right is that of a crab. However, referral to the diagram immediately below seems to indicate that whilst this crab might be capable of walking, it most certainly would not be able to swim. Furthermore it lacks the essential chelipedae necessary for anything comestible. This is certainly not to cast dispersions on any creature wishing to assume the mantle (carapace) of a crab (especially a guest crab,) but to register awe at its ability to disguise itself as a revolutionary gnat.

Jesiah's effort is quite nice. His deeply indented chelipedae indicate a correspondingly deep understanding or the ravenous soul of the crab.

Finally we come to a close approximation of the ultimate crab. THE crab, in many's estimation, combines crabs, chocolate and, of course, red wine. (These replace "good weather" and "a twelve string guitar" as the ultimate desires of my youth.)

Random pics

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Santa Claus and Dr. C.

Many people do not believe that Santa Claus is my brother. Here is irrefutable proof. Oh, and by the way, we had a record snow last night.

Getting in Line to Sing Silent Night

Serious Christmas

Snow Attack on the Yew

Merry Christmas!

Friday Crab Blogging

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