My wife’s car crapped out on I-795 yesterday, and we just got the word: broken timing belt.
It’s a honda, so bent valves are a distinct possibility.
Posted via mobile.
Category: Breaking News
Another Earthquake?
Click for full size
Opening up like a broken zipper
Taiwan, 6.4 on the Richter scale.
We got a whole lot of unzipping along fault lines.
FWIW, I still don’t think that the Mayans were right.
Harold Ford is Not Running for NY Senate
I guess he finally realized that it was moving from long-shot to fiasco:
Harold E. Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman who has sought to parlay his star power and Wall Street connections into a political career in New York, has decided not to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the Democratic primary this September, according to friends and advisers.
After traveling the state on a closely watched tour, he told friends that he could prevail but feared that an ugly campaign would leave the winner drained of cash and vulnerable to a Republican challenger at a time when the Democratic Party controls the United States Senate by a slender majority.
“I’ve examined this race in every possible way, and I keep returning to the same fundamental conclusion: If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary — a primary where the winner emerges weakened and the Republican strengthened,” Mr. Ford wrote in an opinion article to be published in The New York Times on Tuesday.
Don’t let the door hit you on your butt.
About the Killer Whale Death
That’s a seal in its mouth
It is clearly a tragedy that a SeaWorld trainer was killed by an Orca.
This is a reminder that when you see someone working with a large predator, whether it is Sigfried and Roy and their tigers, or if it’s SeaWorld’s killer whales, these are still wild animals, and there is danger whenever you interact with a large predator.
The whale, Tilikum, after all, weighs over 6 tons.
One report (at link) has the whale grabbing the trainer, Dawn Brancheau, by pony tail, and the initial coroner’s report lists drowning as the primary cause of death.
That being said, all cetaceans are highly intelligent, social creatures, and it is possible that the death was as a result of a purely social interaction that it did not realize was harmful.
He could simply have been playing the game with a…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
Chum
I am a very bad person.
Snowpocalypse Delayed
We got the lightest of dustings last night, which is good, because I had an interview this morning, for a level tech writer position, which ain’t engineering but it beats sitting on my butt collecting unemployment.
In any case, the NWS is predicting snow tonight, 2-4 inches in total:
Winter Weather Advisory
URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
1214 PM EST THU FEB 25 2010MDZ005>007-011-260115-
/O.UPG.KLWX.WS.A.0007.100225T2300Z-100226T1600Z/
/O.NEW.KLWX.WW.Y.0018.100225T1714Z-100226T1700Z/
CARROLL-NORTHERN BALTIMORE-HARFORD-SOUTHERN BALTIMORE-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…WESTMINSTER…BALTIMORE
1214 PM EST THU FEB 25 2010…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON EST FRIDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW…WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON
EST FRIDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.* PRECIPITATION TYPE…SNOW.
* ACCUMULATIONS…SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE 1 TO 2 INCHES THROUGH THIS
EVENING…ESPECIALLY ACROSS BALTIMORE AND HARFORD COUNTIES.
ANOTHER 1 TO 2 INCHES IS EXPECTED ACROSS NORTHEAST MARYLAND
OVERNIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING.* TIMING…SNOW THIS AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY
MORNING.* TEMPERATURES…HIGHS IN THE MID 30S TODAY. LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S
TONIGHT. HIGHS IN THE MID 30S FRIDAY.* WINDS…NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH
THROUGH THIS EVENING. NORTHWEST WINDS 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO
55 MPH OVERNIGHT AND FRIDAY.PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE
TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED
VISIBILITIES…AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
House Passes Bill To Repeal Antitrust Exemption For Health Insurance Companies
The vote was 406 to 19, because even the Republicans know just how toxic it would be to allow insurance companies to keep their antitrust exemption.
Now, it goes to the Senate, where it will, of course, die ignominiously.
Mass Arrest of Senior Turkish Military Figures Over Coup Plot
The military coup as an instrument of politics has been a fixture in Turkey, with coups in 1960, 1971, and 1980, as well as a de facto coup in 1997.
In any case, about 40 people were arrested:
Police in Turkey today detained more than 40 high-ranking military commanders for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government.
The arrests highlighted the ongoing struggle between the secular establishment and the government and leaves question marks over the traditional role of the military as the pillar of the secular state.
The detention of several senior military officers – including members of the elite class known as Pashas, a title of respect harking back to Ottoman times – underlines that such officials are no longer untouchable.
What is interesting is that this appears to be driven by the judiciary, specifically the prosecutor’s office, and not from Turkish PM Recep Erdogan, whose very public religiousity has been viewed with no small amount of distrust by the military, which sees itself as the defender of Attaturk’s secular initiatives.
On the other hand, this:
In total prosecutors have charged more than 400 people, including soldiers, academics, journalists and politicians. No one has yet been convicted.
Is concerning.
I can see the military and politicians colluding on a coup, but the academics and journalists makes me wonder if this might not just be an attempt by Erdogan to secure his political power.
Make it Stop!!!! Please!!! Make it Stop!!!
More snow….Aieeeee!!!!
Statement as of 6:14 PM EST on February 24, 2010
… Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect from 10 PM this
evening to 11 am EST Thursday…
… Winter Storm Watch remains in effect from Thursday evening
through Friday morning…A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect from 10 PM this
evening to 11 am EST Thursday. A Winter Storm Watch remains in
effect from Thursday evening through Friday morning.* Precipitation type… snow.
* Accumulations… 1 to 3 inches through Thursday morning.
Potential for snow accumulations of 5 or more inches from
Thursday evening through Friday morning.* Timing… a mix of rain and snow will develop during the mid-
evening hours. Precipitation will become all snow late this evening
and will continue through early Thursday morning. After a break
in snowfall Thursday afternoon… snow is expected to return
Thursday evening through Friday morning.* Temperatures… will be above freezing until after midnight.
Lows near 30 overnight. Highs in the lower to mid 30s
Thursday. Lows in the mid to upper 20s Thursday night.* Winds… northwest winds 10 to 15 mph tonight… increasing to
15 to 25 mph Thursday with gusts around 45 mph late Thursday
afternoon and Thursday night.Precautionary/preparedness actions…
A Winter Storm Watch means there is a potential for significant
snow that may impact travel. Continue to monitor the latest
forecasts.A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow will cause
travel difficulties. Be prepared for slippery roads and limited
visibilities… and use caution while driving.
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Has Cancer
They are expecting a “full and complete recovery,” but he’s 86, and a “full and complete recovery” is frequently predicted in cases that prove terminal:
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the nation’s second oldest U.S. senator, has curable lymphoma of the stomach, his office said Friday.
Doctors for the 86-year-old Democrat found B-cell lymphoma that will require treatment over the next few months, spokesman Caley Gray said in a news release.
Mr. Lautenberg will undergo six to eight chemotherapy treatments and should make a “full and complete recovery,” said James Holland of New York City’s Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Alexander Haig is Dead at 85
In the 1980s, I was always rather contrarian, maintaining that Alexander Haig, who died today, was among the most competent and most sane of the members of Reagan’s cabinet, though that is damning with faint praise.
I think that he understood and appreciated our NATO allies more than most people in the foreign policy establishment.
One interesting note, he was a west pointer, and graduated 217 out of a class of 310, which may imply that success at the Point is orthogonal to success later in life.
I love this quote about him:
Never much of a politician, Gen. Haig in 1988 made a brief presidential run, often described by commentators at the time as “quixotic.” Borrowing a phrase from a supporter, the comedian Mort Sahl, he announced he was “throwing my helmet into the ring.” But he withdrew before the primaries.
Considering the fact that he was a Kissinger protégé, he was relatively non evil, which is again damning with faint praise.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
In a good way.
Harry Reid has just said that he will support the public option in healthcare reform via reconciliation.
Yes, we are have porcine aviation.
Breaking News
Some whack job set his house on fire and flew his airplane into federal offices in Austin, TX.
Viktor Yanukovich to be Sworn in as Ukrainian President on February 25
However, current, and likely soon to be former, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko ischallenging the election in court.
I don’t think that the is going anywhere; the margin was 3.5%, and about 900,000 ballots, and the balloting was by all reports well observed by outside entities, and you can’t steal that many votes if you are watched.
Tamyra D’Ippolito Does Not Qualify for the Indiana Democratic Senate Primary
Reports from the Indiana Election Division say that she wasn’t even close.
So, the State Democratic Party will select a candidate.
Here’s hoping for the Mayor with the unspellable name, Jonathan Weinzapfel, he, at least, seems to be a real Dem.
Doug Fieger Dead at 57
He was the lead singer of “The Knack”
I liked their song, my Sharona, and heard it a lot my first year in college.
I also liked the “Alvin and the Chipmonks” version.
Here is the song, it’s refreshing how minimalist the video is.
Interesting, his brother is Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, attorney for Jack Kevorkian, and a political gadfly in Michigan.
Crap
It’s snowing again, and Baltimore County has closed schools tomorrow.
Even my daughter is sick to death of schools being closed.
Snowpocalypse: Aftermath
Click for full size
About 6 feet
Well, I ain’t cleaning the sidewalks for a while.
Thy finally cleared the street on Friday, and they were very thorough.
All the snow, except immediately around some parked cars, was put on the curb by front loaders, and our little road is completely clear.
The resulting berms of snow are vary between 4 and 6 feet.
Snowed In
At least 14 inches so far, on top of the 24+ inches last week, and school has been canceled for the whole week.
What to do?
I make soup. I just put the blending stick to split pea soup.
I got a soup/pea packet at the grocery store, and followed the recipe, adding onions, celery, carrots, and (my Sharon’s* suggestion) a parsnip.
I also added cubed pastrami,† which I cooked in cheese cloth, so that the meat flavored the soup, but II could pull the meat out when I blended it, and then I add the meat back to the soup.
Off to a late lunch.
*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
†I know that ham and a ham bone is traditional for split pea soup, but if I were to use ham in my house, on my wife’s dishes, my continued ability to breath would be in doubt, so no thank you, I like breathing.
Oh, For Pete’s Sake!!!!
It’s snowing again …………… Hard.
They are predicting another 18-24 inches over the next 24 hours.
Please make it stop!
Representative John Murtha Dead
Following complications of gall bladder surgery.
He was 77.
Posted via mobile.