The View From the Outback

In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood.

I am now a senior citizen, in my 7th decade. My experience was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries. That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. Some insights come from talking with ham-radio operators in every major country and such idyllic places as the Cook Islands. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 15 years. Since most visits to my pages come from searches, I am no longer trying to keep on a regular schedule for updating the Outback.

Friday, July 7, 2006 - and following

Click on a Topic to go directly to that topic.

• Thoughts While Staring at the Ceiling Fan
• Space-Station Fever
• The New York Times Has Delusions of Grandeur
• Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-121 Back in Good Shape
• Losing the Will to Live
• Hysterical Historical Facts

Thoughts While Staring at the Ceiling Fan

July 31, 2006

On June 23, 2006, in the Outbak20.htm, I wrote:

The major media are so full of crap. They love to create anxiety (and ratings) by predicting gloom and doom. Dan Rather was the Doom and Gloom Master of Hyperbole, but we still have plenty of others left. North Korea is NOT going to shoot a missile at the United States. The missile will NOT have a nuclear warhead. The reason we have submarines with nuclear missiles is to dissuade someone from attacking the United States. North Korea's leadership, even their irrational leader, knows that if they fired a missile at the United States, in theory within an hour North Korea could look like the surface of the Moon.

Today, it was nice to see my favorite Democrat, Sen. Joe Biden, write about missile defense in a letter to the Wall Street Journal. He said, in part: "Besides, just about the least likely threat we face is from a North Korean nuclear ICBM with a return address that invites that country's destruction." Thank you Joe. Once again, I feel vindicated. Bear in mind that I have never voted for a Democratic senator. But, for many years, Sen. Biden has made more sense on a variety of subjects than most of his associates in the Congress. His command of the nuances of foreign affairs is awesome.

July 31, 2006

Mel Gibson, the actor, made a very bad mistake in badmouthing Jews. Look at the credits in a movie, look at who owns the studios, look at who the screenwriters are, and on and on. Better get some baskets of bagels, cream cheese, and Lox and make the rounds, Mel.

July 30, 2006

The United States is far down the list of countries who have widespread broadband implementation. Big cities offer several broadband options. Smaller towns have DSL, if you are within about 3 miles of the telephone central, and some have cable modems. But, in rural areas, broadband is mostly a dream. Here in the Outback, there are a couple of providers who offer wireless broadband, but with limited range - perhaps 5-10 miles tops so far. I have WildBlue satellite Internet, with 1.5 Mips downloads, but sluggish Web browsing due to latency - and it costs $80 a month. Outrageous. Cambodia is deploying WiMax wireless Internet with a 30-mile range. It is a pretty stark comparison when you realize that Cambodia has better availability of broadband than most of rural and small-town America.

July 30, 2006

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan has purchased 5-acres in Crawford, Texas. Now, she will have a base of operations close to President Bush. The land was actually purchased by Gerry Fonseca, who claimed to be an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina. The seller said she never would have sold land to Cindy Sheehan, because "nobody wants them here." It may be that the transaction can be reversed due to the fraud of using a "straw purchaser." In any case, Cindy Sheehan will rue the day she moves to Crawford. The Texas ranchers are nice folks, unless you screw with them. Ms. Sheehan can expect a concerted effort to make her life miserable in Crawford. Let's see, a lot of shotguns going off near her property line at 2 a.m., playing loud rock music all night long from a Texas "boom" pickup (you remember the Branch Davidians, don't you Cindy?). A lot of near-misses on the roads and highways by careless drivers. And one has to be careful of grass fires during the drought in Texas.

July 27, 2006

The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll puts President Bush's approval rating at 39%. The approval rating for Congress is 25%. Why are there not more late-night comics making fun of Congress than of Bush? Congress is the more inept of the two, and that is saying something. Don't Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, O'Brien, and Ferguson watch C-SPAN? Jon Stewart and staff don't miss anything, but I can't take their rabid anti-Bush, anti-administration, anti-Republican slant, even though I agree with much of what they say.

July 18, 2006

Microsoft announced that they had filed lawsuits against 26 retailers who allegedly put pirated or unlicensed copies of Microsoft software on computers they sold. Good for Microsoft! Maybe they can actually look for real pirates instead of having Windows Genuine Advantage "phone home to MS" every 14 days to see if my copy of WinXP is legitimate. Their day of reckoning is coming. With the new Apple outfitted with Intel chips and a program called Crossover (codeweavers.com), we will be able to buy a Mac and run Mac and Windows programs without having Windows XP or Vista installed.

This is different from Parallels Desktop for Mac or Boot Camp. Both of these programs require that you have the Windows operating system (WinXP, etc.) installed on your Mac. Crossover now allows most Windows programs to work in the Linux environment. Crossover for the Mac may be released by August of 2006. One thing is for sure. I will not buy a new Intel Mac until Crossover is available for the Mac. Adios MS (or is it MF?) XP or Vista. What a great day that will be. Right now, my spyware says I am protected under WinXP for 144,174 threats. There are about 185,000 outstanding viruses. We spend four times more money on protecting WindowsXP than the purchase price. Not to mention the hours each week devoted to upgrading and running scans.

July 7, 2006

Goodness. It gets worse and worse. On FOXNEWS Special Report, they were talking about a comment Sen. Joe Biden made about Indian Americans. Under Joe's photo was the caption: "Actually a Complement?." The word is "Compliment." I took a photo of this one. A copy goes to Roger Ailes, President of FOXNEWS, with a note: "Stop hiring caption writers from Monster Garage."

July 9, 2006

It's nice to have company in my complaints about inaccurate and biased reporting by the Associated Press (AP). The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (majority) put out a press release on June 27. In it, they criticized AP for not telling both sides of the issues presented in Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," citing a lack of mention of the large number of scientists who do not agree wholly or in part with Mr. Gore's thesis about global warming.

Perhaps the most vocal critic of "the-sky-is-falling" global-warming hysteria is Richard S. Lindzen, Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT. He wrote, in part, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on June 26, 2006:

"A general characteristic of Mr. Gore's approach is to assiduously ignore the fact that the earth and its climate are dynamic; they are always changing even without any external forcing. To treat all change as something to fear is bad enough; to do so in order to exploit that fear is much worse."

And so it goes. You can still find a cadre of highly-skilled scientists on either side of the issue. Al Gore said, speaking about global warming: "The debate is over." Well, not exactly.

July 9, 2006

The hype and momentum toward more fuel-efficient cars is finally beginning to gain wide acceptance. One thing that is not often discussed is that if you now have a vehicle that gets 20 mpg and you buy a car that gets 40 mpg, you will likely drive more miles, perhaps twice as many. So, you end up paying the same amount each month for gas, and the amount of pollution is not changed. Until we get Hydrogen cars, or Electric cars, or Flex-fuel cars that have minimal pollution and are truly utilitarian, all this "buy a Prius or a Honda Civic" talk may just be feel-good. With current premium prices, it takes a long time to save enough on gas to offset the high initial purchase price. Hybrid owners and owners of other "high mpg cars" are finding that the sticker miles-per-gallon estimates are often grossly overstated.

As a mild form of protest of the high gas prices, I drove only 500 miles a month for the last six months in my 20 mpg pickup. If I had a 40 mpg vehicle, I would probably have driven 1000-1200 miles a month. I can afford the gas prices, since I don't drink Starbuck's coffee, smoke, drink bottled water, buy lottery tickets, movie DVDs, and I have no truck payments. I don't have to commute to work. I just wanted to see how few miles I could comfortably limit myself to per month. I'll bet that 75% of people could comfortably cut back their driving mileage by 25%.

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Space-Station Fever

July 7, 2006

The Discovery mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has me hooked again. I record several hours a day of the NASA TV channel and surf through it for nuggets. My computer has an exact replica of the tracking map in Mission Control, complete with my ham-radio callsign at the exact grid coordinates of my house. One VHF ham radio is tuned most of the day and early evening to 145.800 MHz, the downlink for ham traffic from the ISS. The gang is much too busy to be chatting on the ham rig aboard the ISS, but there is an automated digital-packet service. Tonight, at 9:41 p.m. CDT, my computer beeped to alert me that the ISS was going to make a pass nearly over my house. Although I don't have packet gear set up right now to transmit, and even though the crew was asleep, I heard the familiar noise of "packet bursts" as the ISS began to "paint" its signal in my area.

After a glance at the angle of approach of the ISS from the NW, I grabbed my field glasses and quickly picked it up visually as it passed nearly over the house and off past the Moon and to the Southwest. Watching the entire crew of Discovery and the ISS on live video feeds from NASA TV, listening to them on CAPCOM with Houston via NASA TV, tracking Discovery and the ISS on my computer, hearing the ham packet signals right on time, and then seeing the ISS and mated Discovery dance brightly across the clear Texas sky gave me a remarkable feeling of being a part of the operation. Now, I need to buy some new gear so that I can work the "packet" radio on the ISS. Years ago, I talked several times with various space shuttles and several times to folks on the Russian Space station MIR. It is time to crank up and add the ISS to my list of space contacts.

Incidentally, I am using an off-the-shelf VHF/UHF 50-watt ham radio ($300 retail) and a vertical antenna about seven-feet tall which is mounted on top of the patio. The ISS uses a stock ham-radio mobile transmitter that cost about $500. Makes you laugh when you know what the NASA commo gear costs. You can keep track of the location of the ISS and generate predictions of when it will be coming over your area at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/satloc.php

"Miss Astronaut," Julie Payette, is back on CAPCOM with her delightful slight French-Canadian accent and her informal way of chatting with the crews on Discovery and the ISS. Her conversations are more like being on a cell phone to a friend. I am not the only one who is an admirer. You can tell from the tone and tenor of the comments from space that the astronauts think she is a special lady. One of the two female astronauts, Lisa Nowak, has long hair, which she ties into a long pony tail which in zero gravity stands straight out in back of her head. Julie said to her, "I like your horizontal pony tail." I can't imagine the mission being complete without someone dragging Lisa around in zero gravity by the pony tail. But, that would be sexual harassment. Maybe the other female could do it. But, Stepanie Wilson is black. Maybe the PC crowd would view that as racist, even though she has degrees from Harvard and the University of Texas. You just can't have any fun anymore. Somebody would be offended if you scratch your nose.

During the first press conference after the successful liftoff of Discovery on July 4, a reporter, whom I think said he was with Fuiji TV (Japan) said that there were reports the North Koreans had fired several rockets "toward Japan." He asked the panel if they thought the North Koreans were trying to be "in competition" with NASA. The NASA director said he had heard the reports, but that this was a NASA briefing and he had no further comment (you idiot). What kind of a moron would ask such a question? Especially since most of the rockets were Scud type that plunked harmlessly into the Sea of Japan, hundreds of miles from Japan. And the only long-range missile fizzled within 35-45 seconds of liftoff. U.S. sources now say that missile was on a trajectory in the general direction of Hawaii.

Public opinion of the media continues to drop to new lows. During the first air-to-ground press conference, a guy from CNN noted that there was a long crack in some foam prior to liftoff and that a safety officer voted not to fly the mission. This Cretin from CNN then asked an astronaut what he thought about flying under those constraints. There ought to be a rule. The astronauts can comment on the view, the noise on the way up, the food, and impressions of being in space. But, they should not be asked, nor allowed to answer, any question having to do with the politics of NASA, safety concerns, fly or no-fly decisions by the NASA management, and so on.

How would you like to be up there risking you ass, just by the very nature of flying in space, and have some idiot ask you basically if you think the space craft is damaged and may burn up on the way down? Or ask if you feel really lucky that the Shuttle did not come apart on the way up to the Space Station? Somebody ought to take these media idiots up and leave them in a cargo container which is set adrift from the Space Station - with a three day supply of water, a three-day supply of air, no food and a two-way radio. Then, they could be asked over and over how it feels to be stranded in space and facing sure death.

Update July 14, 2006

I got my new ham-radio VHF/UHF rig, a Kenwood TM-D700A. This radio has a built-in packet encoder and software called APRS, which can pinpoint your position on the Earth. Although I have far from mastered all the complexities of this newer technology for me, I have been able to have several of my packet bursts received by the International Space Station (ISS). Then, you can go to www.ariss.net and see the confirmation of your contact with the ISS. More amazing is that it shows your icon and ham callsign on a U.S. map. Even more amazing is that you can then click on Google Maps and it shows the location of your house on a Google map, with zoom and pan. Mine is exactly right, as I live on a very short road with only three houses. Also, if you connect a GPS to your D700A mobile radio in your vehicle, the map will show wherever you were on Earth when you made the connection with the ISS.

Dear N. Korea, you are welcome to use my grid coordinates to test a long-range missile. I won't stay up nights worrying, since you first have to get one that actually will fly. Second, if it gets this far, it will be lucky if it lands within 3 miles of my house.

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The New York Times Has Delusions of Grandeur

July 18, 2006

Some time back, I watched a journalism roundtable discussion on TV, most likely on C-SPAN. Jill Abramson, Managing Editor, the New York Times, was one participant. Jill was talking about how free online content from major news outlets may gradually be phased out in favor of pay-to-read. She cited some editorial content on the Time's Web page for which there was already a subscription fee. I never got around to writing her a letter to explain that the Times is lucky that anyone outside of the liberal East Cost reads the online version, let alone pay for any of it.

The Times has had its share of problems. A reporter who made up stories, blowing two major U.S. electronic intercept programs (NSA and bank transfer data). Incredibly, they won a Pulitzer prize for helping our enemies by publishing information on classified programs. The Times still sets the tone for much of the broadcast network news. For example, an anchor on NBC or CBS, or ABC will say "The New York Times reported today...." As if the Times is the equivalent of the Bible, i.e., infallible.

For years, I have had a password for the free online content of the Times and an icon on my personal toolbar in my browser. But, when the Times published the story about how we were tracing bank wire transfers through a specific entity in Europe, I had enough of those traitors. They admit that they could find nothing illegal about the program. They published it because of their mantra "the public has a right to know." And they said that terrorists already knew we were tracking their banking transactions. Yes, in general terms. But they did not know exactly the major player in this operation. When you have a covert helper in the intelligence business, your most important responsibility is to protect the identity of that asset. When folks like the NY Times and others print stories about secret programs, sources dry up faster than a duck pond in a drought.

I have often said that if the major TV and print media were based in Omaha or Des Moines, we would get more balanced reporting and less vicious writing aimed at undermining a president and/or an administration - be it Republican or Democrat. A doctor in NY City blew up an entire building in an attempt to kill himself - and he later died. I am sure I speak for many in "America's heartland" who would not be displeased if a reporter at the NY Times became disgruntled and depressed, opened a gas vent, and struck a match in the NY Times building.

I no longer read the NY Times free Web content. It raises my blood pressure to dangerous levels. I have removed the NY Times Icon from my personal toolbar. And to Jill Abramson, you don't understand the program. There are precious few people who will continue to read your online content in the heartland after your continued acts of near-treason. So forget about charging for any online content. You would now have to pay a lot of us to read the manure you print under the banner, "All the News That's Fit to Print."

The Times print edition will become narrower by 1 1/2 inches. This will reduce the space for news by 5 percent. Not nearly enough. If the Times were the size of a spiral notebook, maybe they would not have room to divulge so many national secrets or poison America with so much slanted journalism.

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Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-121 Back in Good Shape

July 18, 2006

NASA has a nice primer on bringing the shuttle back to earth called: "NASA Touchdown 101" The last step is described under Touchdown.

"Touchdown! The orbiter's main landing gear touches down on the runway at 214 to 226 miles per hour, followed by the nose gear. The drag chute is deployed, and the orbiter coasts to a stop."

Does anyone at NASA watch the landings and take notes? The main gear touches first, then the drag chute is deployed, then the nose gear touches down. Then, "Wheel stop."

In an earlier Outback, I had written at length about the aging shuttle fleet and my personal anxiety for the crew on each mission. On the just-concluded STS-121 Discovery flight, Discovery's commander, Steve Lindsey, and several NASA managers spoke of how "clean" Discovery was after the mission. By that, they meant that there were relatively few dings of the tile, the Carbon Carbon on the nose and wing leading edge, dangling gap fillers, torn thermal blankets, and so forth. NASA reported: "Preliminary inspections revealed 93 total hits to the orbiter's thermal protection system with 11 greater than one inch in diameter." And that is a clean vehicle?

A clean vehicle exterior is a good achievement. But, there were only minor discussions in two press conferences about problems with the APUs (Aux Power Units) and the right air-data-probe which failed to deploy until very late in the approach-to-landing sequence. I recall hearing CAPCOM discussing with the Discovery crew about a leak in APU 1 and a "heater problem" with APU 2. The APUs are needed to power the hydraulics, that among other things, move the flight controls and control the deployment of the landing gear. At one point, CAPCOM said that if things did not get better with APU 1, the crew might have to use an explosive charge to lower the landing gear. I think they used the words "pyro deploy." The landing gear are not deployed until 15 seconds before touchdown!

I lost track of the progress with the APUs, but apparently all 3 APUs were functional when it came time to enter the atmosphere and do the landing. One source on a NASA forum said: "Landing with one APU is perfectly safe but there is a reduction in the drive rates of the control surfaces (elevons, rudder/speed brake, etc.), braking capability is reduced by about half, and nose wheel steering is no longer available." Cool. Who needs this grief? Have redundant APUs.

The right air-data-probe apparently has to do with providing the shuttle pilot with "attitude information," that is, what angle the space craft is in relation to the horizon - and possibly air-speed indications. It is apparently a redundant version of the left probe. But still, this is a relatively simple piece of gear to become balky on the approach to landing. It finally deployed, but not until after some exchanges between CAPCOM and Discovery.

Wayne Hale, the manager of the Space Shuttle Program, was talking at a post-landing press conference about some things that were being doing to ready Atlantis for its upcoming flight. He mentioned that the APUs would be looked at (presumably because of the problems on Discovery). Wayne also said that the outer windows are now replaced after every shuttle flight, because of dings (or crazes) in the glass for which they have no explanation. Also, that about 100 gap fillers would be replaced on Atlantis. One protruding gap filler at the rear of Discovery was, I believe I heard, installed in 1982!

Finally, my pet peeve. Wayne said that there were patches on the thermal blankets on Atlantis for which "additional stitching" had been performed. In the first place, whose idea was it to put cloth thermal blankets on a 17,000 mph spaceship? That was asking for trouble. In a 2005 report, when a blanket puffed up under the window of the shuttle's commander, much analysis was done. There was a chance a small portion of the blanket could rip away in the lower, denser atmosphere, and hit the shuttle's aft (control or steering jet) section. But that the RTV glue and the stitching seemed to be holding it down okay. (Excuse me. At 2120 UTC I stopped to send a successful location digital packet from my ham station to the International Space Station.) This "stitching of the thermal blankets" brings to me a mental image of a little old lady from a quilting club perched high on a scaffold with her needle, thimble, and thread. Ridiculous.

A tribute to the Flight Director and the Discovery STS-121 pilot. The landing of the shuttle had been scheduled for runway 33 (for 330 compass degrees, or from the SE). A small rain squall popped up that might hamper a runway 33 landing. At a fairly late point in the approach, the landing was switched to runway 15 (150 degrees, or from the NW). Weather, wind, barometric readings, cloud-cover ceilings, and other info were read from CAPCOM to the pilot. First he had to change his turn sequence radically to line up with runway 15. You get only one chance to get it right. He had to approach through cloud cover and broke into the clear at about 11,000 feet. Considering the extremely rapid descent rate of the shuttle, that is none too soon to get an eyeball on the runway. He made a perfect landing. No bounce. No swerve. "Painted it on," as they say. The Flight Director gave him a "10."

I am just a private pilot, who has flown as a passenger in military jets and taken a turn at the stick and rudders. Do you have any idea how hard it is to land a "rock with short wings" exactly on a spot on a runway - from half-way around the world? What a thing to behold. From NASA: "This glide slope is seven times steeper than the average commercial airliner landing. During the final approach, the vehicle drops toward the runway 20 times faster than a commercial airliner as its rate of descent and airspeed increase. At less than 2,000 feet above the ground, the commander raises the nose and slows the rate of descent in preparation for touchdown."

The shuttle lands at between 214 to 226 m.p.h., which is in the ballpark of an Indy racecar. But for something that huge and heavy, 214 m.p.h. is just a crawl. On this landing, I think I saw 215 m.p.h. on the "heads up" display just before touchdown. Incredible.

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Losing the Will to Live

July 24, 2006

The Tipping Point - A Hijacked 18-Wheeler

Yesterday, a black man hijacked an 18-wheeler at gun point near Dallas - being driven by a middle-aged white woman. He had some kind of political agenda about focusing attention on the plight of blacks and there were early reports that possibly he intended to "commit suicide by police," that is, get into a deadly shootout with police. Road spikes were deployed and the two tires on the cab were gone before long, and some others on the trailer were leaking. As the local TV and radio kept up uninterrupted coverage of the hijacking, people began to gather along the route and on overpasses and wave to the occupants of the tractor-trailer. It was a Sunday-afternoon circus. Once out in a less-crowded area, DPS (State Troopers) shot at the engine, the tires, and the gas tanks. Before long, the truck stopped on the highway.

The hijacker had already been on the cell phone with a reporter from WFAA-TV in Dallas, telling his tale of woe, with no real specifics. A police negotiator was talking with the hijacker off and on by cell phone during the ordeal. As of this writing, it is not clear if the hijacker let the lady hostage go, or if she simply bolted from the truck.

(Later, on GMA, Christie Bundren said that the hijacker, Samuel Scott Jones, said he was going to kill her. She wrested the handgun away from him and jumped from the truck. And on yet another replay I saw of the lady bolting from the truck cab, you can see her throw something about the size of a handgun to the ground a few steps away from the truck. In slo-mo, it looked like she tossed it down from her left hand as she ran to the safety of members of the Dallas SWAT team. I accept her version, that is, the man did not surrender- or let her go voluntarily. Mr. Jones said he gave Ms. Bundren the gun. Which shyster lawyer in Dallas put him up to that story? He forgot to mention, "And I said to her, 'kill me for all the grief I have caused you and your children.' " Next, Mr. Jones will tell us that he hijacked all those other vehicles because he needed to get to the pharmacy to pick up some pills - that he needed to keep his heart beating. Or, he was test driving them because dealers would not let him test drive a car because he is a convicted felon.)

As soon as she cleared the cab - with a little black dog right behind her, officers fired multiple rounds of teargas into the cab. The hijacker stumbled out and surrendered. He must have been shocked when a paramedic was tending to an apparent injury to his foot. His delusions of dying in a hail of gunfire degenerated to sitting there with his shoe off on the rear of a Fire/Rescue vehicle while a parmedic tended to him. Later reports connected him with two carjackings earlier in the day. Reports on late news said that the man had done another car jacking on the previous day and attempted another. He had served nine years in prison on drug and weapon's charges. When interviewed, the man's sister said he was a good man. Okay, darlin'. That's not the way it looks to most of us.

The PC media piss me off so much when they talk about someone being an "alleged suspect," or an "alleged assailant" in a case where the perpetrator was photographed in the truck for hours and it was he who stumbled from the truck after the teargas was fired. There is no "alleged." He is not a "suspect." He did it. We all saw it! Knock this nonsense off. I tried to contact two Dallas TV stations via e-mail who were using "alleged" and "suspect" to send them a copy of a letter I had published in the Dallas Morning News in 1998 about a guy named Weston who killed two guards at the U.S. Capitol and was captured at the scene. The letter headline was "Weston not a Suspect." It it on my main Web page under Letters.

What caused me to write this whole piece was the "tipping point" of a man I saw on an overpass. A man had hijacked an 18-wheeler at gun point. He was a kidnapper at this point, involved with felony theft, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But some moron - a young white guy as I recall - stood on an overpass with a cardboard sign that read: Keep on Truckin'. I had a flashback to when O. J. Simpson was in his "slow chase" and people were waving and cheering him on - knowing that he may have murdered two people. What kind of a society have we turned into? What has engendered what appears to be a willingness to be on the side of the lawless instead of being on the side of the law keepers and peace makers? I have no answers. I just am losing my will to live in such a society.

The Dallas Morning News on July 24, posted a dual question in one sentence: "Were the chase and news coverage justified?" They provided comment boxes for your opinion. Forget the TV coverage thing. Should police pursue an armed hijacker and kidnapper? What kind of an ignorant question is that for a major newspaper to even broach? The Dallas police revised their "chase" policies with orders to back off when nobody's life seems to be in danger. The man abducted the woman at gun point. She was in constant fear for her life. When the 18-wheeler got out in a more open area, DPS came on board. They have different rules. More liberal rules, it would appear. The truck, now running on two rims in front and some sagging rear tires, was traveling only about 7-25 m.p.h., mostly very slowly.

Now, the question could be asked if it is proper to shoot out tires, engines, radiators, and gas tanks of fleeing vehicles where an occupant is armed and has a hostage? I come down on the side of "every time." As long as it is in an open area where it is highly unlikely that an innocent bystander or passerby would be hit. There is virtually no chance that shooting at the external gas tanks will cause them to explode, especially with diesel fuel. That is movie stuff, so more things can blow up for your enjoyment. There is a slogan in Texas that says: "Don't Mess With Texas." It has to do with not littering. I would add: "Don't mess with the DPS if you are a gun-toting hijacker."

One of my suspicions was verified by the Dallas Chief of Police in an interview with local TV. One of the armored SWAT vehicles at one point in the "chase," moved ahead of the hijacked 18-wheeler. I could see a man holding a .50 caliber rifle in the turret. They were thinking about shooting at the radiator/engine, I assume. But, probably because they were moving, and other considerations about a possible ricochet hitting the lady truck driver, or a ricochet hitting someone along the way, they decided not to fire. Also, the .50 caliber is so powerful that one shot might break loose a large piece of metal or equipment under the hood and end up hitting the truck driver. One shot in the radiator/engine from the .50 caliber would have ended the "chase" in a short time. I would not like to be the one who had to make that head-on shot. I think back to the FBI sharpshooter in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, during the Randy-Weaver siege. He fired at Randy entering the house, but hit and killed Randy's wife, who was holding the door open for Randy. If you recall, she had a baby in her arms - who survived. Please tell me that the Dallas SWAT team was not thinking about taking a shot at the hijacker through the windshield, as he sat shoulder-to-shoulder with his hostage driver.

The hijacker, Sam Jones, said from his jail cell that it was really hard for him to find a place to live or get a job when he got out of prison. That was no doubt true. Felons are discriminated against in many ways. They can't legally possess a gun, for example. But for all the gun-control advocates, you see how much good that law is. By definition, crimials break the law. The easiest way for any person; black, white, Hispanic, Asian, or whatever, to avoid the stigma of being an "ex-Con," is not to commit crimes and go to prison in the first place. So, the complaints of Mr. Jones are a little misplaced. Fox4News in Dallas on July 26th announced an upcoming "job fair" for formerly incarcerated persons. They also interviewed a black former convict in a nice shirt and tie who obviously had a responsible job. And another black man who had served 30 years of a 50-year sentence for robbery. He had a job as a janitor at a church.

The Israeli's Ravage Beirut and Lebanon

I may have the sequence wrong, but here is how I reconstructed events. Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and possibly killed three more in a raid into Israel from Southern Lebanon. Israel responded with attacks on Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon with air strikes on the village of Rachhaya Al-Fokah. Hezbollah responded with firing of unguided Katyusha rockets into several populated areas of Israel. Israel responded by shelling into Southern Lebanon and massive air strikes in Beirut "to take out the Hezbollah infrastructure and kill its leaders." This barbaric air campaign included bombing the Beirut Airport and reports that 80% of the highways and 95% of the bridges in Lebanon have been damaged. I, along with millions, if not billions, of people have had about all this kind of arrogant shit from the Israelis I can tolerate. What does this massive overkill and destruction have to do with "self defense"? For the record, I opposed the U.S. invading Iraq. Some more arrogant shit.

As one searches for reports of the incidents, you get two sides of the story. In an AP report written by JOSEPH PANOSSIAN on July 12, 2006 is written: "Israeli troops crossed into a southwestern sector of Lebanon, near where the soldiers were seized, trying to keep their captors from moving them deeper into Lebanon, Israeli security officials said. Hezbollah said it destroyed an Israeli tank as it tried to cross the frontier." Does that mean that the Israeli troops were captured inside Lebanon? The use of the words "near where the soldiers were seized," leaves somewhat in doubt whether the capture took place in Southern Lebanon or in Israel. Other reports say that the soldiers were captured when Hezbollah crossed into Israel and shot at an Israeli tank, killing 3 and capturing 2 soldiers. For now, I give up and accept the version that says the soldiers were captured inside Israel. That still does not justify the massive response by Israel.

The UN's top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, toured the rubble of Beirut's bombed-out southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has its headquarters. Mr. Egeland called Israel's offensive "disproportionate" and "a violation of international humanitarian law." Disproportionate is a gross understatement. The entire Arab world is condeming the excessive Israeli response. All our President says is that Israel has a right to "defend itself." Thanks for helping turn world opinion even more against us.

Now, Israeli troops are fighting on the ground in Southern Lebanon. We have been through this before.

I have watched for decades as the American Congress and various administrations have repeated the mantra about "the only Democracy in the area." That's all very nice. But at what cost? From Osama Bin Laden on down, our slavish support of anything Israel does has cost us dearly in fomenting hatred and Jihad against America. Some day, we ought to say to Israel, "You are on your own. You have caused us and the rest of the Middle East more trouble any of us ever can handle." Our passionate support of Israel has cost us a very high price. For example, there is little doubt that one reason the 9/11 terrorists targeted the Twin Towers was that they were a center for financial and investment companies - owned or run in large part by Jews.

Update Aug. 12, 2006

I came belatedly across an article in the Washington Post on July 18 by Richard Cohen. He begins by saying: "The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself." (end of update)

Let me tell you why I am so passionate about Beirut. Before the civil war that ravaged Beirut in the 70's, I visited there. In those days, it was known as the "San Francisco or Paris of the Middle East." I stayed at the Phoenicia Hotel. It was a grand place. A lady played a harp in the lobby near the bar. A glass wall behind the bar was actually one end of a swimming pool. There was an ornate gambling casino and theatre in Beirut. The fine restaurants were as multiple as in Paris. Beirut was simply a jewel.

The idiotic civil war, that lasted about 15 years - off and on - as I recall, and invasion by Israel in the 1980s to evict the PLO, reduced most of Beirut to rubble. I used to see video of the carnage on TV and weep. Why must people be so ignorant that they destroy a beautiful city and kill thousands of people just because they don't agree with the religious views of someone else? That question lingers with us, with more pointedness and immediacy than ever before.

Then, in the 1990s, I began to hear a couple of ham-radio stations from Beirut on the air with considerable frequency. Over many contacts, I learned about their families, their jobs, and so on. I told them that I had visited there, stayed at the Phoenicia, and had at one time been married to a lovely lady who was half-Lebanese (and Christian). One of the hams sent me a photo of his beautiful wife and I think it was his sister on the golf course - with their kids. Beirut was back! The Phoenicia Hotel had been rebuilt. The hotel had its own Web site with a "virtual tour." Life was moving positively forward. Until the fanatical Israelis decided they had some charter from God to bomb and kill whomever they choose to - in the name of "self defense."

July 30, 2006

Israel launched an air strike in Qana, Lebanon, against an area which they believed was the launching point for 40 rockets into Israel. Of the 56 reported dead, 34 were children and 12 were adult women. The reports I read made no mention if any Hezbollah fighters were killed in the raid. Israel is digging itself into a deeper and deeper hole of world condemnation and isolation. They say they need 10-14 more days to prosecute the campaign against Hezbollah, but with the relatively minor reduction made so far to the Hezbollah strength, Israel would be wise to stop now. But, they plunge ahead, killing civilians with reckless abandon. Very puzzling.

The Prime Minister of Lebanon told Secy. Condi Rice not to bother to come to Beirut. They are interested only in an unconditional cease fire. Secy. Rice has been getting criticism of late from even Conservatives who say she has no grasp of Middle East politics. At the Asian summit, she played classical piano to rave reviews of the delegates. Was she perhaps playing her "Swan Song"?

Naveed Afzal Haq, a Muslim, opened fire at a Jewish charity center in Seattle, killing one woman and wounding five more. Haq said, among other things, that he was angered by American military cooperation with Israel. This will not be the last such incident in the United States.

Update August 16, 2006

Today, in an article about the monumental task of rebuilding Lebanon, the Wall Street Journal reported that: "An estimated 35,000 homes and business places have been destroyed by fighting and Israeli bombs. Perhaps a quarter of the country's four million residents were in temporary housing when the cease-fire took hold Monday. Some 400 miles of Lebanese roadway have been destroyed, along with about 150 bridges and interchanges -- one of every four in the country." Think long and hard about those figures. How many Hezbollah fighters were actually killed or wounded? Not a lot, from what we can read. And Hezbollah can replenish its supply or rockets easily from its "wholesalers" in the region. Finally, Hezbollah comes out of this stronger than ever, partly because of the humanitarian aid they provided in Lebanon during the Israeli siege, and partly because world opinion soundly condemned the "outrageous and overreaching" reaction of Israel to the original capture of a couple of soldiers and possibly the killing of three more.

Update August 17, 2006

Normally, I agree with very little that former President Jimmy Carter has to say. But, in an interview in the German "Der Spiegel," Mr. Carter said:

SPIEGEL: You also mentioned the hatred for the United States throughout the Arab world which has ensued as a result of the invasion of Iraq. Given this circumstance, does it come as any surprise that Washington's call for democracy in the Middle East has been discredited?

Carter: No, as a matter of fact, the concerns I exposed have gotten even worse now with the United States supporting and encouraging Israel in its unjustified attack on Lebanon.

SPIEGEL: But wasn't Israel the first to get attacked?

Carter: I don't think that Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon. What happened is that Israel is holding almost 10,000 prisoners, so when the militants in Lebanon or in Gaza take one or two soldiers, Israel looks upon this as a justification for an attack on the civilian population of Lebanon and Gaza. I do not think that's justified, no.

The U.S. Government is Failing Us

One need not replay the failures of FEMA in Katrina. We have that picture clearly.

North Korea The government is whining and complaining that N. Korea is testing missiles and building nukes. We have had about 40,000 troops in S. Korea for over 50 years. With the money we spent on that commitment, we could have build a house and put a KIA in every carport for every family in North Korea. We could have dropped crank-radios, leaflets, mini-TVs, to let the citizens of North Korea know how high on the hog the folks in South Korea were living and how crappy their existence was and is under the dictatorship. We could have spent some of those millions and billions to work at fomenting an uprising in N. Korea - as our old CIA, you know, the one that used to do things, was so expert at accomplishing. Long ago, we could have worked to get China, Japan, and South Korea to let the North Korea leaders know that nobody was going to tolerate a nuclear-weapons capability in North Korea. Instead, we offered them aid in return for promises which they broke. I am no international political expert. But, any moron can see there is something fatally flawed with a policy that has kept nearly 40,000 U.S. troops in South Korea for over 50 years.

Cuba For over 40 years, we have tried to isolate Castro and Cuba. All we have accomplished is to deny the Cuban people a decent standard of living and increase Castro's power over them. Suppose that we could all travel freely to Cuba and drink coffee and chat in the homes of average Cubans? Many of my ham-radio friends have begged me to come and visit. Is is not possible that the Democracy Fever could spread? Instead, we can't go there, except with a special permit. My German friends have been to Cuba. My Canadian friends have been to Cuba and tell me what a wonderful time they had. Our muddle-headed government tells us that allowing U.S. tourists to spend money in Cuba would only put more money in Castro's personal coffers. After more than 40 years of a failed policy toward Cuba, our government forges ahead with its head up its ass, as usual.

Update August 17, 2006

Normally, I agree with very little that former President Jimmy Carter has to say. But, in an interview in the German "Der Spiegel," Mr. Carter said:

SPIEGEL: You sought to normalize relations with Castro, but that never happened. Has anything been achieved through Cuba's isolation?

Carter: In my opinion, the embargo strengthens Castro and perpetuates communism in Cuba. A maximum degree of trade, tourism, commerce, visitation between our country and Cuba would bring an earlier end to Castro's regime.

Afghanistan. We still have not suppressed the Taliban, after all this time. In one recent fracas, 400 Taliban with machine guns and RPGs were involved. One group of 400! But, worse, we continue to allow the unfettered growing of opium poppies and the largest supply or heroin in the world. By any standards, we own that country. We gave them their freedom, have poured billions into reconstruction. But, we cannot make the slightest dent in the growing of opium poppies. Nice game plan. Now, the heroin money is funding terrorists.

Our Homeland Security Dept. still is struggling to get organized and as functional as the misguided people in Congress thought it would or should be. The vaunted "visit" program, which was supposed to track legal visitors into and out of the United States is still "working on the best model" for tracking outgoing visitors. We know when most of them come in, but apparently have no clue when - or if - they leave. Some in Congress are furious and berate the director of Homeland Security for failing to provide the Congress with reports on what their plans are and how they are doing on their goals. The FBI is now on their third of fourth try at getting a functioning inter-operable computer system. They have wasted $100-175 million or more and years of precious time. A college computer-lab class could have done the job in six months. Maybe even the kids in my grandkid's high school computer lab.

Iraq. Way back when, I cautioned in the Outback that an invasion of Iraq would end up being a horrible mess. I will look for the date and exact language and post it here. (I discovered that I had written more than I remembered writing about the potential tragedy of invading Iraq. One article is entitled: "A U.S. Occupation of Iraq? What a Dreadful Thought." Many of the article are listed on the main Outback page under Iraq.) Now, we see Civil War in Iraq, but all the major players, including Iraq's own government, say there is no Civil War. We must be using different dictionaries. Well, if you hadn't noticed, the "Bush doctrine of preemptive military action" has pretty much been put in the bottom drawer as a bad idea. For a long time, I defended President Bush against his critics and especially those late-night talk show hosts who were so cruel and always depicted him as a "dumb ass." I said that I had never met a graduate of Harvard and Yale, and a jet-fighter pilot, who was a dumb ass. I am willing to concede that I may have been wrong. Maybe I just did not meet enough of them.

What Has the Federal Government Gotten Right?

One could go on and on. The environment, medicare, social security, immigration, a space station that the NASA administrator said never should have been built, runaway spending in times of enormous deficits, graft and corruption in Congress and in our system of campaign finance. A Supreme Court that took ten separate opinions in two cases to try to define where and when the displaying of the 10 Commandments was okay. A Supreme Court that hardly has ever seen a Commerce Clause piece of legislation that it did not like (the Commerce Clause has been corrupted and bastardized to give the Federal government unwarranted power over our daily lives). And a Supreme Court in the Kelo case that ignored the entire history of "eminent domain" to allow the taking of private property by municipal governments for commercial re-development. States are quickly falling in line to pass laws that reverse the perverse and completely unfounded decision by the Court.

So, am I ready to cash in my chips? Not until I see how the new football season games look on my HDTV set. Not until I see how good the ham-radio contacts will be with old friends in Europe and the Pacific - and Beirut - as the sun-spot cycle starts its upward 5-6- year climb to better propagation (I will be about 80 at the sunspot peak). And certainly not until I buy a new Apple with an Intel chip and run Crossover for Windows programs (without Windows OS being installed.) I have to live long enough to moon Microsoft with my liberation from their extortion and buggy operating systems.

My soulmate died nearly four years ago and I have been virtually a recluse since then. It has taken a heavy emotional toll. Try not speaking face-to-face with anoyone for days at a time, week after week, month after month, year after year. It is not healthy. It is simply pathetic. I joke with the bank tellers and grocery clerks that "this is my social activity for the week." But, it is no joke. My beautiful bank officer hugs me. My insurance agent hugs me. That's about it. I tried renting a duplex in a nearby town where I belong to a social group. After two tries in about a year and with the bad fortune of having convicted felons (who served prison time) for neighbors at both places and some interesting (to say the least) activities, I gave up and retreated to my house in the Outback.

And, there is the "Hillary Factor." If she runs for President, I will have to be very careful not to read anything she says or see her on TV with her vitriol. Otherwise, I might be pushed over the edge - and break out the exhaust-pipe hose. And if Hillary becomes President, I will have a serious problem maintaining any will to live. I will not be alone! I have been downloading files on Canadian immigration regulations and have been in touch with retired Americans in Mexico and Costa Rica. Mostly, I guess, to at least feel that there is "a way out if Hillary is elected." Moving out of the country at my age would be tough, although I am in touch with a guy in Mexico who moved there at age 77 - and loves it.

In the meantime, I plan on eating a lot of chocolate, drink my two glasses of wine a day, eat steak when I feel like it, and continue to lift weights and do my treadmill workouts.

But, "losing the will to live," is a not a healthy thing that bodes well for living to a ripe old age. It is a form of self-induced slow suicide. A hot 60-year-old girlfriend could probably turn this thing around for me in about 48 hours. I would be too busy to read my two hours worth of depressing news on the Internet or to watch two evening news shows and endless hours of C-SPAN. All that news exposure would drive anyone to clinical depression. Like the man said: "Doc, when I lift my arm above my head, it hurts." Doc: "Don't do that anymore."

Hysterical Historical Facts

Richard Lederer, Ph.D., taught for 27 years at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He is a wordsmith and prolific author. His Web page, www.verbivore.com, is a treasure trove of information about language, writing, and links that will keep you occupied for hours.

Many years ago, Mr. Lederer published an article which consisted of historical aberrations that showed up in student papers he had collected from various sources. Although this article is repeated often on the Web, or parts of it, I could not find the whole article on his Web site. I found the following on my hard drive as I was deleting old files:

Richard Lederer
St. Paul's School

"One of the fringe benefits of being an English or History teacher is receiving the occasional jewel of a student blooper in an essay. I have pasted together the following 'history' of the world from certifiably genuine student bloopers collected by teachers throughout the United States, from eighth grade through college level. Read carefully, and you will learn a lot."

The inhabitants of Egypt were called mummies. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessert are cultivated by irritation. The Egyptians built the Pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube. The Pramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.

The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam, and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked, "Am I my brother's son?" God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Issac, stole his brother's birthmark. Jacob was a partiarch who brought up his twelve sons to be partiarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.

Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bread without straw. Moses led them to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fougth with the Philatelists, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.

Without the Greeks, we wouldn't have history. The Greeks invented three kinds of columns - Corinthian, Doric, and Ironic. They also had myths. A myth is a female moth. One myth says that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the River Stynx until he became intolerable. Achilles appears in The Illiad, by Homer. Homer also wrote the Oddity, in which Penelope was the last hardship that Ulysses endured on his journey. Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of that name.

Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock.

In the Olympic Games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled the biscuits, and threw the java. The reward to the victor was a coral wreath. The government of Athen was democratic because the people took the law into their own hands. There were no wars in Greece, as the mountains were so high that they couldn't climb over to see what their neighbors were doing. When they fought the Parisians, the Greeks were outnumbered because the Persians had more men.

Eventually, the Ramons conquered the Geeks. History call people Romans because they never stayed in one place for very long. At Roman banquets, the guests wore garlic in their hair. Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March killed him because they thought he was going to be made king. Nero was a cruel tyrany who would torture his poor subjects by playing the fiddle to them.

Then came the Middle Ages. King Alfred conquered the Dames, King Arthur lived in the Age of Shivery, King Harlod mustarded his troops before the Battle of Hastings, Joan of Arc was cannonized by George Bernard Shaw, and the victims of the Black Death grew boobs on their necks. Finally, the Magna Carta provided that no free man should be hanged twice for the same offense.

In midevil times most of the people were alliterate. The greatest writer of the time was Chaucer, who wrote many poems and verse and also wrote literature. Another tale tells of William Tell, who shot an arrow through an apple while standing on his son's head.

The Renaissance was an age in which more individuals felt the value of their human being. Martin Luther was nailed to the church door at Wittenberg for selling papal indulgences. He died a horrible death, being excommunicated by a bull. It was the painter Donatello's interest in the female nude that made him the father of the Renaissance. It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented the Bible. Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes. Another important invention was the circulation of blood. Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper.

The government of England was a limited mockery. Henry VIII found walking difficult because he had an abbess on his knee. Queen Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen." As a queen she was a success. When Elizabeth exposed herself before her troops, they all shouted "hurrah." Then her Navy went out and defeated the Spanish Armadillo.

The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespear. Shakespear never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He lived in Windsor with his merry wives, writing tragedies, comedies, and errors. In one of Shakespear's famous plays, Hamlet rations out his situation by relieving himself in a long soliloquy. In another, Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill the King by attacking his manhood. Romeo and Juliet are an example of a heroic couplet. Writing at the same time as Shakespear was Miquel Cervantes. He wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Then his wife dies, and he wrote Paradise Regained.

During the Renaissance America began. Christopher Columbus was a great navigator who discovered America while cursing about the Atlantic. His ships were called the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Fe. Later the Pilgrims crossed the Ocean, and that was called the Pilgrim's Progress. When they landed at Plymouth Rock, they were greeted by Indians, who came down the hill rolling their was hoops before them. The Indian squabs carried porposies on their back. Many of the Indian heroes were killed, along with their cabooses, which proved very fatal to them. The winter of 1620 was a hard one for the settlers. Many people died and many babies were born. Captain John Smith was responsible for all this.

One of the causes of the Revolutionary Wars was the English put tacks in their tea. Also, the colonists would send their pacels through the post without stamps. During the War, Red Coats and Paul Revere was throwing balls over stone walls. The dogs were barking and the peacocks crowing. Finally, the colonists won the War and no longer had to pay for taxis.

Delegates from the original 13 states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin had gone to Boston carrying all his clothes in his pocket and a loaf of bread under each arm. He invented electricity by rubbing cats backwards He died in 1790 and is still dead.

George Washington married Matha Curtis and in due time became the Father of Our Country. Them the Constitution of the United States was adopted to secure domestic hostility. Under the Constitution the people enjoyed the right to keep bare arms.

Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. When Lincoln was President, he wore only a tall silk hat. He said, "In onion there is strength." Abraham Lincoln write the Gettysburg address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope. He also signed the Emasculation Proclamation, and the Fourteenth Amendment gave the ex-Negroes citizenship. But the Clue Clux Clan would torcher and lynch the ex-Negroes and other innocent victims. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. The believed assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a sup- posedly insane actor. This ruined Booth's career.

Meanwhile in Europe, the enlightenment was a reasonable time. Voltare invented electricity and also wrote a book called Candy. Gravity was invented by Issac Walton. It is chiefly noticeable in the Autumn, when the apples are flaling off the trees.

Bach was the most famous composer in the world, and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.

France was in a very serious state. The French Revolution was accomplished before it happened. The Marseillaise was the theme song of the French Revolution, and it catapulted into Napoleon. During the Napoleonic Wars, the crowned heads of Europe were trembling in their shoes. Then the Spanish gorrilas came down from the hills and nipped at Napoleon's flanks. Napoleon became ill with bladder problems and was very tense and unrestrained. He wanted an heir to inheret his power, but since Josephine was a baroness, she couldn't bear him any children.

The sun never set on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the East and the sun sets in the West. Queen Victoria was the longest queen. She sat on a thorn for 63 years. He reclining years and finally the end of her life were exemplatory of a great personality. Her death was the final event which ended her reign.

The nineteenth century was a time of many great inventions and thoughts. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick Raper, which did the work of a hundred men. Samuel Morse invented a code for telepathy. Louis Pastuer discovered a cure for rabbis. Charles Darwin was a naturailst who wrote the "Organ of the Species". Madman Curie discovered radium. And Karl Marx became one of the Marx Brothers.

The First World War, cause by the assignation of the Arch-Duck by a surf, ushered in a new error in the anals of human history.

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