ah, the beauty of an unsullied thread....

Good Morning lurkers and all. Just watching the temperature drop here north of the border. Now a cool 46 degrees and strong winds. Got teased with summer yesterday.

That's how we create wealth, Mark...

Morning All!

Today's luxury (a telephone) is tomorrow's necessity! (TWO phones, even...)

re: #3 Karridine

Well he was a cynical and satirical writer. Good humour though. And a good thinker about the human condition.

re: #3 Karridine

like books published by samuel clements?

re: #5 Karridine

Today's luxury (a telephone) is tomorrow's necessity! (TWO phones, even...)

cordless and cell!

re: #7 yochanan

BTW thanks for the upding earlier. Still trying to figure out who JAL3 is.

/hate down dings with no reason.

re: #8 goddessoftheclassroom

cordless and cell!

I just have a cell. No need for a home phone at all. :)

re: #9 BlueCanuck

I don't show my "ratings" for that very reason. I'm such a fragile petal!

Charles, what you doing up at four in the morning! What am i doing up as well....

Obama's Memorial Day comments about some 'Fallen Heros" prove that his powers include seeing Dead People.
It was disrespectful to be so unprepared.
He got off of script & established that among other reasons he is too much of a twit to be the President.

Got to run for the last Tuesday of the school year--have a great day!

re: #8 goddessoftheclassroom

(Yo! Yochanan!)

Goddess, EX-actly! It seems like a clumsy, near-useless BLORCH when first sold to hobbyists (for example, a PC Personal Computer, green-screen and 4.77MHz CPU with 256KBytes of RAM and a 160K single-sided floppy disk for STORING work done in EasyCalc... or this new-fangled Lotus 123...

But we keep on creating wealth, and the jobby-do runs faster, remembers more, has more colors, saves to bigger disks that keep getting smaller (?) and reaches out like a dendrite to touch other users...

THATs Wealth Creation... and it AIN'T STOPPING anytime in the near future, Goddess!

re: #12 Dekar

Don't know about you, but I think Charles is sleeping peacefully and letting the AutoThreader 5000™ do the job in the early A.M. :)

re: #16 BlueCanuck

Ding! Eggs Ackley, Canuck!

/or did Charles admit buying the "Acme Ded-Thredder 2000 & Ate""

re: #16 BlueCanuck

CHARLES NEVER SLEEPS. The great Zionist overlord has ways of keeping himself awake for ages.

Oh, I don't know. You guys remember the remarks about a million chimpanzees with a million typewriters? Charles has hamsters and they reproduce a lot more quickly.

re: #19 NR Pax

Ya, but can they TYPE?

re: #19 NR Pax

Hmmm, thought the number was actually infinite. But as to your rest that might explain what happens when we get hiccups. The hamsters are busy reproducing. :)

re: #20 Karridine

Ya, but can they TYPE?

It would explain the quality of most TV we have in the U.S.

re: #22 NR Pax

Ahhh, remember when there were good shows on the tube? Now it's mostly the so-called "Reality" programs. *spit*

This is DZLG-F, broadcasting your thread WAKE-UP CALL.

re: #22 NR Pax

I learned to type in the Army, one manual typewriter, one ream of paper, and one duce and half truck filled with carbon paper...:P

re: #20 Karridine

Ya, but can they TYPE?

Maybe not... but they can dance a little!

Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.

— Mark Twain

I want my MTV!

Even in this early hour, the average LGF Lizard sounds more cogent than Obama at his best with a perfectly functioning teleprompter.

The day after Memorial Day is a fine opportunity to take a walk through the local cemetery and admire all the new flowers and flags. It is amazing to me to see graves over a hundred years old with newly planted flowers. There is alot of love on display in a cemetery the day after Memorial Day. Plus, there usually aren't many people there, so it can be a peaceful time for reflection.

re: #27 Tigger2005

I want my MTV!

That ain't working, that's the way you do it...

re: #13 opnion

Obama's Memorial Day comments about some 'Fallen Heros" prove that his powers include seeing Dead People.
It was disrespectful to be so unprepared.
He got off of script & established that among other reasons he is too much of a twit to be the President.

I have a hard time believing there really were any vets in that audience.

[Link: www.commentarymagazine.com...]

impressive piece, one of the reasons i like Joe Lieberman.

re: #18 laZardo

CHARLES NEVER SLEEPS...he waits.

re: #30 laZardo

That ain't working,

I gotta have dinner. Will be back after these words from our sponsors.

Good morning everyone!
I got up this morning and checked the news. And what do I see as the top headline on my MSM homepage?
Appeasement? Bush straddles line with Sudan. (Washington Post)
[Link: www.msn.com...]

I haven't had time to read it but my first thoughts were - What the hey? Did an Obamamite write this?

send the U.N. into the Sudan

the goats are afraid very afraid the islmo fascists not so much.

Let's dance!

re: #25 Dustyvet

Does carbon paper give you carbon credits?

re: #39 Wyatt Earp

carbon paper was the army equivalent of methane gas

re: #23 BlueCanuck

Ahhh, remember when there were good shows on the tube? Now it's mostly the so-called "Reality" programs. *spit*

I watch the Discovery network type of reality show - Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, etc. History Network has one I've only partially seen, "America's Port", showing the work done at, I believe the Port of LA.

re: #23 BlueCanuck

Ahhh, remember when there were good shows on the tube? Now it's mostly the so-called "Reality" programs. *spit*

There are still some gems on TV here and there but they are getting tougher to find. As for reality shows, I have a little story...

When I was in Boot Camp, the cast of "Real World" and "Road Rules" came by for one of their cross country challenges at Pendleton while my Platoon was there. I saw the episode later and it was a good thing they kept us separated from them; that amount of whining could have triggered some violent reactions from us.

re: #25 Dustyvet

I learned to type in the Army, one manual typewriter, one ream of paper, and one duce and half truck filled with carbon paper...:P

Uphill, both ways... -:-)

re: #41 Kosh's Shadow

The reality shows you find on the discovery channel are actual reality. Almost documentary quailty. Nothing at all like the tripe found on the other channels like Survivor.

/I am so screwed now aren't I? :)

re: #38 Dustyvet

Hey, the lizards dance better than the woman...

Hi ho Silver...!

re: #40 yochanan

We still use it in the Philly P.D., believe it or not. And it always gets on my fingers, no matter how careful I am.

Something about our enlightened friends in the EU:

Women breach all-male Greek site

Four Moldovan women accidentally breached a ban dating back to 1060 when they were dropped off on the Greek monastic peninsula of Mount Athos.

They told police they had sailed from Turkey after paying $6,300 to two Ukrainian people smugglers, but were unaware they were breaking Greek law.

Women are banned from Mount Athos, home to 20 monasteries and considered Orthodox Christianity's spiritual home.
....
Under Greek law, breaching the ban can lead to a jail sentence.

Women - even many female domestic animals - have not been allowed on the mountain since a decree banning women was issued by Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachos in 1060

re: #43 BlueCanuck

The reality shows you find on the discovery channel are actual reality. Almost documentary quailty. Nothing at all like the tripe found on the other channels like Survivor.

/I am so screwed now aren't I? :)

I know (about the quality). My wife and daughter watch "America's Next Top Model". You'd think seeing sexy women (although mostly too skinny) would be fun for a guy, but there is something about that show I cannot stand.

A while back PBS had some good ones, though. 1900 House, in which some people had to live like it was 1900. A couple of them broke the rules and bought shampoo. We don't realize what we have.
Manor House, in which people lived "Upstairs, Downstairs" - some were "nobility" and some were the staff.
And some American ones, like Colonial House and Frontier House. Amazing how people didn't realize how much work they were signing up for trying to make a farm work, especially in the days before mechanization. One couple on Frontier House divorced afterwards.

McCain is offering to take Obama to Iraq with him.
I get why, you know if Barry is going to critique the effort , he should vist.
The problem is , Obama would then come back with cred, plenty of photos & he will not change his opnion.

Islamaphobia?

Australia Muslim school rejected

Authorities in an Australian town have rejected proposals to allow an Islamic school to be built there.

Councillors for Camden, a small town on the outskirts of Sydney, unanimously voted against the proposed school for 1200 pupils.

The councillors said they based their decision solely on planning grounds, citing an internal report about its environmental impact.

The proposed development had met with fierce local opposition.
[...]

re: #50 freetoken

Islamaphobia?
The councillors said they based their decision solely on planning grounds, citing an internal report about its environmental impact.

You mean people haven't switched to more eco-friendly kinds of suicide vests yet?

/yeah, I'm going to Hell over that one.

It's 6:37 AM CDT, and Ted Kennedy is probably having his first scotch of the day. And, BTW, Mary Jo is still dead.
Would you sail with T.K.? Also, has anyone else noticed that the older he gets, the more like T.K. Willy Jeff Clinton looks?

re: #29 Raven1

Just remember that our CongressCritters gave us this Monday vacation thing, while the real Memorial Day does not occur until Friday.

re: #50 freetoken

That was on BBC World just now. They interviewed a Residents' Association leader who said "regardless of religion or race, this community is too small to handle such a large influx of people."

/wait a few days for the accusations to fly in, the school's still gonna go up.

re: #39 Wyatt Earp

WELCOME wyatt earp remember the lizard lounge rule HATCHLINGS BUY THE BEER

by the way nice blog.

re: #51 NR Pax

Fertilizer bombs. Traditional TNT/C4 uses way too many harmful chemicals, man!

re: #56 laZardo

And the fertilizer mixing with the body parts will help flowers grow over at our new community center.

Yep. Still going to hell. Now digging deeper...

re: #57 NR Pax

I giggled, does that mean I am on the way as well?

Morning all. 68 degrees in Chambodia as thunderstorms are a distinct possibility. That means I need to get out and cut the backyard fairly soon.

Got to spend Memorial Day watching the Braves and Cubs win and trading ghost stories with an old friend of my mother-in-law.

Sure! I'll save a seat on the bus. Heck, they might even serve fruit cups on the way down.

Well time to go. It's been fun tonight. See you all on the next dead thread.

Am I the only one who thinks Hillary`s tailor does her a great disservice. She has this mid waddle-like contor that makes her look like Hillary Chaplin. Lady Thatcher looked like a strong woman, Hillary looks like a man with metabolic syndrome.

Danica Patrick got gypped, Ryan Brisco was at fault, and deserves punishment....
Other than that hope everyone had a good weekend, now it's I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go!

re: #61 BlueCanuck

Cheers, mate.

Two people have dinged down this thread -- I didn't think there was sufficient content for a ding in either direction.

re: #29 Raven1

The day after Memorial Day is a fine opportunity to take a walk through the local cemetery and admire all the new flowers and flags.

I went out to the American Legion yesterday morning to see the wreaths that had been put there the day before. My wife had performed as part of the band that played there and she felt a bit of grief when they read the names of the local teenagers that had died overseas.

And now it's time for me to make an attempt to get some work done. Wish me luck since we're all still recovering from the long weekend.

re: #65 Lucius Septimius

"Studentpatriot" and "XWarzone."

Sound familiar to anyone here?

re: #67 laZardo

Who?

re: #68 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

The people who downding'd the thread. (click the ratings number up top)

re: #69 laZardo

What I figured. Shouldn't someone be in a thread before dingin' it either way? "F" em if they can't take a joke.

"Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."

Like laws enforcing traffic stops. They shouldn't be necessary but they are.

Good morning, folks. Just a drive-by hello as I get ready to leave for work.

This working full-time sure puts a cramp on my LGF time. Felicia is leaving the building. (Waving bye-bye to the lizards.)

re: #70 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

What I figured. Shouldn't someone be in a thread before dingin' it either way? "F" em if they can't take a joke.

I'll plus-up a post even if I don't have time to read the thread and or leave a comment. It's my way of giving positive feedback to the blog owner.

Time to re-jumpstart this thread with THE HARDEST METAL KNOWN TO MAN.

&#9834 &#9836 Good morning, {lizards}! &#9836 &#9834

Got a nice toasty sesame bagel to nosh on and some fresh strawberries too.

:)

Olmert's Secret Small-Time Personal Cash Donations and Loans From U.S. Jewish Financier

American-Jewish businessman Morris Talansky told the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday that he gave Prime Minister Ehud Olmert $150,000 out of his own pocket
SNIP
He specifically mentioned that he met the prime minister 10 times between 2002 and 2005, while Olmert was industry, trade and labor minister, and on each occasion, gave him envelopes of cash.
SNIP
Talansky said that as well as the money he gave Olmert out of his own pocket, he also raised money for him on behalf of various organizations, saying that much of the money was raised in New York "parlor meetings," where Olmert would address American donors who would then leave contributions on their chairs.
On another occasion he said Olmert asked for a $25,000 loan for a family vacation to Italy, a request Talansky agreed to.
SNIP
Notably, Talanksy said Olmert never paid back the loans. He recounted that he once asked for some of the money back. He said Olmert told him to go and speak to his son in New York, but that a payback never materialized.
SNIP
He said that the latest monetary request by Olmert was for $70,000. Talansky said although the request shocked him he agreed to give Olmert the money but decided it would be his last payment to the prime minister.

Maybe this is not technically illegal, but the optics stink to high heaven. Olmert is at the very least guilty of sucking scum, bottom-feeding, ugliness, greed and unabashedly begging for luxuries. Who will believe that there were really no strings attached to these payments? And who will believe that this is not just the tip of the iceberg?
BLECHHHHH!

re: #19 NR Pax

Oh, I don't know. You guys remember the remarks about a million chimpanzees with a million typewriters?

Isn't that DailyKOS?

re: #23 BlueCanuck

Ahhh, remember when there were good shows on the tube? Now it's mostly the so-called "Reality" programs. *spit*

[Link: img143.imageshack.us...]

re: #31 Tigger2005

I have a hard time believing there really were any vets in that audience.

Lieutenent Kerry & his crew. You may not be aware of this, but Kerry was in Viet Nam. Seriously

re: #76 JamesTKirk

ZING!

re: #75 sparrowlake

Maybe this is not technically illegal, but the optics stink to high heaven. Olmert is at the very least guilty of sucking scum, bottom-feeding, ugliness, greed and unabashedly begging for luxuries. Who will believe that there were really no strings attached to these payments? And who will believe that this is not just the tip of the iceberg?
BLECHHHHH!

If Olmerde had actually been doing his job, and protecting the people of his country, I'd let this slide. But he's left the people of Sdrot suffering; screwed up the last Lebanon war; possibly let Hizballah take over Lebanon; and who knows what more.

If this is what it takes to get him out, then good. Unfortunately, the polls don't show someone who will do the job leading; they show Livni, also of the Kadima (appeasement) party.

re: #71 Josephine

I like four-way stops -- they are these little Lockean moments where we renegotiate the social contract.

re: #81 Lucius Septimius

I like four-way stops -- they are these little Lockean moments where we renegotiate the social contract.

That reminds me of my driving school many, many years ago.
He asked what we should do if 4 cars all arrived at a 4-way stop at the same time.
He didn't have an answer, but said "since you'll be driving in Massachusetts, just stop, and drive around it when it's over".
I guess nowadays, you should call 911 on your cell phone first.

The first step was to isolate the Byzantine capital, both economically and militarily. Already, during the winter of 1451 he began recruiting competent builders, familiar with military works and fortifications, whose mission would be to build a powerful fortress on the Bosphorus. Its construction, supervised by the Sultan, began in the middle of April 1452. Built on the European side, at the narrowest point of the strait, called initially the Cutter of the throat (Boghaz-kesen), it became eventually known as Rumeli Hisar. It was a huge complex of strong fortifications whose task was to shut completely, by its artillery, to Western and Byzantine vessels the route to and from the Black Sea. The new fortress complemented the one that had been built on the Anatolian shore, at the time of Sultan Bayazid I (1389-1402), about six miles south of Constantinople, which was known as Anadolu Hisar. The presence of the two fortresses made clear to everyone that the Sultan was the real master of the straits. From now on, all ships intending to enter the Black Sea had to pay tolls. If they refused they would be sank. Indeed, near the end of 1452 a Venetian vessel attempted to pass without paying the required tolls. It was sank by the new fortress's guns, its crew of thirty men was taken prisoner. The officers and sailors were brought to the Sultan, who ordered their immediate execution. The act was rightly interpreted by the Venetian and Genoese governments as an indication of hostilities soon to break. However, despite all the indications and the realization that a new siege of Constantinople was to begin at any moment, the two Italian Republics, under political and economic pressures at home, reacted without much enthusiasm.

Help was limited. Indeed, under the command of the brave Giovanni Giustiniani Longo about 700 well armed men sailed, on two Genoese vessels, for the Byzantine capital. The ships arrived in the city on January 29, 1453, Giustiniani was promptly appointed by the Emperor head of the defence. Of the men, 400 were recruited in Genoa and 300 on the Genoese held island of Chios. Giustiniani's men composed the largest Western contingent. Also, Venice allowed the Emperor to recruit a contingent of Cretan soldiers and sailors, who acted heroically during the siege. The former Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia Isidore, a Cardinal of the Roman Church, who came to Constantinople as Papal Legate, recruited at Naples, at the Pope's expense, 200 soldiers. A number of brave men joined the Emperor in his final stand: Maurizio Cattaneo, the Bocchiardo brothers, Paolo, Antonio and Troilo, the Castilian nobleman Don Francisco de Toledo, the German engineer Johannes Grant, and also the Ottoman prince Orhan, who lived at Constantinople.

Without hinterland and completely cut off from its maritime routes, Constantinople was doomed. Despite sporadic and desperate Byzantine attempts to prevent its building, Rumeli Hisar was completed in August 1452. The population of the blockaded city interpreted its completion as an unmistakable sign that the final struggle was about to begin. Realizing that all contacts with the Ottoman side were broken Emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus (1449-1453) ordered the closing of the city's gates.

[...]

Despite Constantine's final appeals to the Pope and to his Western allies, no crusade and no substantial help ever materialized. Promises and expressions of sympathy were all that was sent to him, and in any case he did not live long enough to receive them. As a matter of fact, in the middle of May of 1453 the Venetian Senate was still deliberating about sending a fleet to Constantinople. Even the Genoese colony of Pera, facing the capital, attempted to stay neutral. It did, but neutrality did not help it when the Sultan succeeded the Roman Emperors. To the people of the capital, the only thing that mattered now, at the end of political freedom and at the beginning of the long darkness of foreign occupation, was holding on to the ancestral faith.

Good morning Lizards...........

From the great church the Emperor rode to the Palace at Blachernae. There he asked his household to forgive him. He bade the emotionally shattered men and women farewell, left his Palace and rode away, into the night, for a last inspection of the defence positions. Then he took his battle position.

The assault began after midnight, into the 29th of May 1453. Wave after wave the attackers charged. Battle cries, accompanied by the sound of drums, trumpets and fifes, filled the air. The bells of the city churches began ringing frantically. Orders, screams and the sound of trumpets shattered the night. First came the irregulars, an unreliable, multinational crowd of Christians and Moslems, who were attracted by the opportunity of enriching themselves by looting the great city, the last capital of the Roman Empire. They attacked throughout the line of fortifications and they were massacred by the tough professionals, who were fighting under the orders of Giustiniani. The battle lasted two hours and the irregulars withdrew in disorder, leaving behind an unknown number of dead and wounded.

Next came the Anatolian troops of Ishak Pasha. They tried to storm the stockades. They fought tenaciously, even desperately trying to break through the compact ranks of the defenders. The narrow area in which fighting went on helped the defenders. The could hack left and right with their maces and swords and shoot missiles onto the mass of attackers without having to aim. A group of attackers crashed through a gap and for a moment it seemed that they could enter the city. The were assaulted by the Emperor and his men and were soon slain. This second attack also failed.

But now came the Janissaries, disciplined, professional, ruthless warriors, superbly trained, ready to die for their master, the Sultan. They assaulted the now exhausted defenders, they were pushing their way over bodies of dead and dying Moslem and Christian soldiers. With tremendous effort the Greek and Italian fighters were hitting back and continued repulsing the enemy. Then a group of enemy soldiers unexpectedly entered the city from a small sally-port called Kerkoporta, on the wall of Blachernae, where this wall joined the triple wall. Fighting broke near the small gate with the defenders trying to eliminate the intruders.

The Fall of Constantinople, 1453

555 yrs ago

As some of you may be aware, I often post oil/energy related links here...

Well, fortunately the Japanese share my concern about our future energy dilemmas... and have definitely made a breakthrough in the use of solar energy....

Photovoltaic-Powered Bra

Re: one of the links I posted above on the Republicans in denial, the author makes a good point about the failure of "compassionate conservatism." It's fault was not that it was compassionate, but that it was not, insofar as it was simply another way of expanding the power of government to insert itself into every corner of our lives.

The communitarian philosophy that stood behind it, in its chosen philosophical foundations, was essentially no different from the "third way" claptrap of the Clintonistas. It rests on the assumption that society must be reorganized to serve the good of the collective, and that the good of the individual derives first and foremost from the good of the collective. As Hayek points out, there is all sorts of nastiness down that path. The state cannot know what is best for individuals, must less everyone, without reducing the individual to a mere cog in a machine. The whole idea is rooted in the Rousseauian/Hegelian distrust of the individual, the belief that the individual is a product of social forces and that "self interest" correctly understood is participation in the life of the whole.

Now the latter part has a nice, altruistic, virtuous ring to it, but on closer examination, "participation" almost invariably means "sacrifice," and both the form of and reason for the sacrifice are to be determined on the basis of the needs of "society" or "the community" (read "the state") rather than according to the beliefs and values of the individuals making the sacrifice.

All the pretty language and smiling faces of children cannot cover the essentially socialist -- and totalitarian -- underpinnings of "third way" and "communitarian" political doctrine. From the warm and fuzzies of "compassionate" anything in politics, it's only a hop-skip-and a jump to Cuba.

re: #86 freetoken

As some of you may be aware, I often post oil/energy related links here...

Well, fortunately the Japanese share my concern about our future energy dilemmas... and have definitely made a breakthrough in the use of solar energy....

Photovoltaic-Powered Bra

So ... what exactly does the "Photovoltaic-Powered Bra" **do** with the power it generates? I wasn't aware that brassieres consumed that much electricity.

re: #78 opnion

Lieutenent Kerry & his crew. You may not be aware of this, but Kerry was in Viet Nam. Seriously

He was in Nam, I'm convinced. It's the seriously part I doubt.

re: #88 JamesTKirk

Well, son, if you have to ask....

re: #88 JamesTKirk

So ... what exactly does the "Photovoltaic-Powered Bra" **do** with the power it generates? I wasn't aware that brassieres consumed that much electricity.

Global Positioning System?

re: #88 JamesTKirk

I like this one -- has a sort of cute "kid friendly" aspect to it.

re: #91 sparrowlake

re: #88 JamesTKirk

So ... what exactly does the "Photovoltaic-Powered Bra" **do** with the power it generates? I wasn't aware that brassieres consumed that much electricity.

Global Positioning System?

Electric shock against fingers/tentacles making unauthorized attempts to open it?

re: #88 JamesTKirk

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!

re: #88 JamesTKirk

Seriously though, there is a little display area that lights up and which can show a text message.

So, what kind of text would be displayed, you might ask....

Oh.... how about....... instructions?

re: #88 JamesTKirk

Maybe it's part of a recording system for producing your own Manga role-playing games ...

re: #95 freetoken

The hook in the back is a human rights violation, IMHO.

re: #92 Lucius Septimius

I like this one -- has a sort of cute "kid friendly" aspect to it.

This one is frowning at me.

re: #98 JamesTKirk

Sort of a Salvador Dali touch ...

re: #88 JamesTKirk

So ... what exactly does the "Photovoltaic-Powered Bra" **do** with the power it generates? I wasn't aware that brassieres consumed that much electricity.

Well Jim, they obviously energize the boobies.... You know, gives them that extra perky ness that makes them especially attractive.......... After all, who wants to look at un perky de-energized boobies?

re: #98 JamesTKirk

This one is frowning at me.

What did you do to it, I'd like to know, to elicit that response?

re: #99 Lucius Septimius

Sort of a Salvador Dali touch ...

Or Rocky Horror.

Which means that you can't really be sure what's underneath those undies...

re: #92 Lucius Septimius

Hey, I figured somebody would discover all the rest of the photos there... yes the avant-garde lingerie show certainly would be worth a quick visit.

re: #102 JamesTKirk