- From the “Lawn Dart” Department – A lady in Scotland survived a fall from 3500 feet when both her main and reserve chutes failed with only a broken ankle. Her life was saved when she landed in soft, boggy ground instead of the landing zone. I’ve known several paratroopers who survived similar accidents, and they were all nicknamed “Lucky”.
- From the “Conspicuous Consumption” Department – A company in New York City has started renting out a backyard sized area of grass for $50 an hour, with the option to pay hundreds more for toys and lawn furniture. People reportedly find this to be easier than travelling to the park or the beach to get away from the hyper-urban New York landscape for free. My advice to these people: move. For the cost of rent on a flat in Greenwich Village and renting this kind of place out to get an afternoon of green grass and a weenie roast, you can afford to buy a mansion in flyover country.
- From the “WTF?” Department – A bill to extend the operating mandate and funding for the Federal Aviation Administration was “deemed to have passed unanimously” by the United States Senate today. Apparently, only two senators bothered to show up to vote for the bill, but it still passed. I’m glad that the FAA got back to work, but apparently the word “quorum” isn’t covered in new senator orientation training. Maybe I can suggest the purchase of a new National Match M1A and “deem it passed unanimously” because Irish Woman is asleep when I ask for her consent and she doesn’t object.
- From the “Water Still Wet” Department – A study in Australia has found that women who are sexually assaulted are likely to have psychological problems at some point in their life. No fooling? You mean having your body violated in the most intimate manner causes psychological damage that can linger for a lifetime? Who’d have thunk it? If you’re in Australia and you’re not seeing red over paying for a study to find out if something we already knew is still true, then please re-read that article until your blood pressure starts going up.
All posts by daddybear71
News Roundup
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/05/news-roundup-101/
Thought for the Day
Today is International Beer Day. I think I’ll take a few moments this evening and see if alcohol still hurts.
H/T to Drang!
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/05/thought-for-the-day-80/
Spidertot, spidertot, does whatever a spider can
For dinner last night, we decided to get some stuff at the deli and have a picnic at the new park down the road from us. Basically it went like this:
- I show up with groceries and grab a picnic table
- Irish Woman arrives with Girlie Bear and Boo in tow
- I start making up a plate for Boo
- Irish Woman takes Boo to the restroom to change into his bathing suit
- Boo eats half a piece of cheese and runs off to play in the splash park
- We start eating our meal
- Boo returns, finishes the cheese, and eats some chicken, then heads back to play in the fountain
- We continue our meal
- Boo comes back, finishes off his grapes, and heads out to spray other kids with one of the built-in water guns
- We finish our dinners, and start cleaning up
- Boo makes one more trip to the picnic table to finish his chicken and strawberries, then heads over to the playground
- I eventually retrieve Boo, and carry him kicking and screaming over my shoulder to the car and head home.
Hey, at least he wore himself out. He went to bed tonight with no protest at all.
These pics were taken as Boo scaled the new jungle gym. It’s basically a spiderweb configuration of 1 inch rope. He made it all the way to the top this time.
 |
| Getting Started |
 |
| Halfway There |
 |
| Look at me Dad! Hey Dad! Look! |
There would have been a fourth picture, but I dropped my phone in a mad rush to catch him when his feet slipped and he was hanging 7 feet off the ground. His mother gave me a rather harsh look as I lifted him down. I guess she wasn’t happy about him getting so high up, but he’s going to have to learn that gravity works somehow.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/05/spidertot-spidertot-does-whatever-a-spider-can/
Tonka Tough
A group of soldiers in Afghanistan was saved from harm recently when the remote control truck they were sending ahead of their patrol to check for bombs set off 500 pounds of explosives in an IED. The truck had been in use since 2007, when another soldier received it in a care package from home.
It is amazing how when a need is not fulfilled by the military, soldiers will figure out a way to get it done themselves. I’ve seen soldiers use silly string and spray foam cleaners to find trip wires, or spend their own money to buy ratchets to replace the purpose built wrenches they are issued for their vehicles. I knew a soldier who had his mother knit gloves for him when the largest issue glove liners were so small on his hands they cut off circulation. And almost every platoon I ever served with in field units had someone who went to the field with a Coleman stove, a couple cheap pots, and a spice rack so that a hot meal could be fixed every so often when MRE’s were the main part of our diet for weeks on end.
I’m thankful that these soldiers are safe for another day, and that the only casualty in this case was a 5 year old RC truck. I have faith that the inability of the American soldier to accept “no you can’t” will continue to save lives.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/05/tonka-tough/
Now they’re taking guns from the government
Police officers in Los Angeles went to all of the animal control shelters in LA and took away the guns that are kept for putting down large animals, including pistols, shotguns, and rifles. Apparently it was done by sending police to the shelters, presenting a letter from someone in authority, and seizing the weapons. Normally, when equipment is to be turned in, you’d expect that someone would make a call, ask the people who have the equipment to bring them to a central location for turn-in, and those orders are followed. And that’s all a gun is: a tool, a piece of equipment. It’s not a magic talisman that makes normally responsible people, including animal control officers, go berzerk and start shooting up the office.
What happened here was that the police went to the offices of other government officials, and seized equipment that is used to fulfill a government function as if they were taking them from a criminal. The animal control officers are reported to have basic police training, including time with weapons, so the reason can’t be that they’re not as qualified to have guns available to do their jobs as the police themselves are.
My gut tells me that someone high up in the food chain found out that animal control had some yucky evil guns, and sent the “only ones” to collect them. Of course, it never occurred that the animal control officers might have a legitimate use for these tools, and might be responsible enough to use them properly, or at least to bring them in for turn-in without assistance from LAPD. Instead, police were sent to take them under force of law. I hope that the next time a large animal needs to be put down the police are there to shoot it, because animal control certainly won’t be able to do it.
If they’re taking guns from other law enforcement agencies, who even the most ardent anti-gun person will argue have a legitimate use for them, how quickly would they follow an order to take guns and other icky things away from the unwashed masses?
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/05/now-theyre-taking-guns-from-the-government/
Aw crap
A few weeks ago, I put up a little rant about the lack of security on the Roku device I use to access online entertainment content.
Now, a security researcher has published findings that indicate that implantable medical devices have little to no security protection. Basically, if you can access an insulin pump, you can change settings to allow someone other than the doctor or its owner to control it, with possibly catastrophic consequences to the owner’s health.
Think about all of the wonder gadgets that doctors implant into people now. A lot of them have some remote communication capability, and now it’s been confirmed that at least some of them can be modified to the detriment of the patient.
Why would someone do something so horrific? It could be someone who’s pissed at the company that makes them and wants to tarnish their reputation. It could be someone who wants money, and uses a demonstrated ability to kill patients to extort the pharmaceutical company. Or it could be some script kiddy that wants nothing more than to prove that he’s the baddest mother in the valley today.
I’m not sure what can be done about this due to the relative primitiveness of the computers in the implanted devices. By necessity, embedded systems like this need to be small, so a trade off of computing power for size happens. The processors on these things probably just can’t handle any kind of encryption or sophisticated access controls.
So grandma’s pace maker, the lady at the office with an insulin pump, and the little kid with a brain stimulator are at some risk. Whether or not this becomes as big a problem as it could be remains to be seen. Hopefully the manufacturers will listen to this research and work towards better locking down their future products.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 4, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/04/aw-crap-2/
Today’s Earworm
Happy Birthday President Obama!
Posted by daddybear71 on August 4, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/04/todays-earworm-121/
Today In History
Today was one of those days where many things have happened, so I thought I’d bring them up.
On August 3, 1492, the exploratory expedition lead by Christopher Columbus left Spain. He would get to the Caribbean and discover several islands and their inhabitants on October 12. While other Europeans had been to the Americas before, this was the expedition that started the land rush to conquer and exploit the new world. While I’ve always known that Columbus found land in October, it never occurred to me that he sailed from Spain so late in the year. Imagine sailing out into a relatively unknown expanse in three small, leaky boats, not knowing if you’d be back before winter storms made the sea even more dangerous.
Also, during this week in 1914, World War I was moving past the point of no return. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, France declared war on Germany and Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and Great Britain declared war on Germany on August 4. By the time the great powers exhausted themselves and signed an armistice in 1918, 16,543,185 people would have died in the war and a further 21,228,813 people had been wounded. This war on an industrial scale set the world up for the horrors of World War II, Communism, and all of the other savagery that fills the history of the 20th century. All of these things led to attrocities that made the slaughter in French trenches and Russian swamps look almost civilized.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 3, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/03/today-in-history-2/
Who Lives in a Jail Cell Under the Sea?
A convenience store in Florida was robbed the other day. While this is probably not an uncommon occurrence, the fact that one of the robbers disguised himself by wearing a Sponge Bob Squarepants costume makes this noteworthy.
No word yet on the real identity of the assailant, although police advise the public to be on the lookout for a short person, with a squarish body form and bright yellow skin, who is wearing only tighty whitey’s. Suspect is believed to associate with big lunks shaped like starfish and squirrels wearing scuba gear. Authorities also advise us to not approach the suspect, as his ability to annoy can be deadly at close range.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 3, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/03/who-lives-in-a-jail-cell-under-the-sea/
Thoughts for the Day
- Even when muzzled, a Belgian Malinois can knock a full grown man to the ground and mess him up.
- It is better to be shot than to be flex cuffed and kept on your knees for two hours
- RPG’s, even simulated ones, are loud
- The young people who serve in our military are very good at what they do
I went out role-playing for the Army again last night, and had a great time.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 3, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/08/03/thoughts-for-the-day-4/
DaddyBear
