Flight of Fantasy

I've posted Edgar Rice Burroughs' Princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris, before but it seemed like high time for a recap. I'm currently reading Burroughs' Tarzan series but I'm itching to dive back into the world of Barsoom- and perhaps then move onto wonderful Pellucidar.

Here she is in all her glory, once again presented by the awesome Adam Hughes.

Kettlebell Set-Back

My kettlebell training has been going pretty well lately but all that came to a screeching halt at the weekend. As my training has progressed so has a set of calluses on each hand, an inevitable result of the "crush grip" used to control the girya as it swings around on its axis. Usually I have no problem with this- but that changed without warning. Halfway through a workout the pain flared up in my hands and when I looked each callus was surrounded by an angry red ring- and I couldn't grip the kettlebell tight enough to control it.

I took a couple of days off but it didn't help- the calluses remained as bothersome as ever and so I was forced to soak my hands and get to work with a pumice stone and then follow up with hand cream; so much for my "hard man" workout!

The pumice stone seems to have done the trick but after the break I decided to lay off the 32kg girya and go back to using the 16kg weight. I thought that perhaps with the heavier weight I was beginning to develop some bad habits in my form and that might be the cause of the calluses.

Using the 16kg weight is entirely different- with this light weight I've got much better control over it (I can squeeze the grip at the top of the snatch and prevent the girya from falling down onto my forearm) and the workout takes on a new shape- one I'd forgotten: high reps with no breaks in between. It's exhausting and because I've adapted to using the 32kg girya I don't feel quite so battered after a workout- I do end up with my muscles burning with effort but after a rest and a protein shake my body feels pretty normal, nowhere near as drained as I have been feeling following the heavy sessions.

It's a refreshing change to use the lighter weight - and it makes me realise that a set of kettlebells, rather than just one or two at the weight you want to focus on, is a much better investment. These recent sessions feel a little like a holiday they're so different from the grind of working the heavy girya.

American Courts Not American?

A story I haven't seen too much reference too: Sister Toldjah gets a gold star and heads to the front of the class for this coverage-

Gwinnett Superior Court judge Mark Lewis begins each session (and has done since 9/11) by turning to face the flag and reciting the pledge of allegiance. He invites those in his American courtroom to join him, but does not insist or require it.

Sounds fair enough to me, he is afterall an American judge presiding over an American court which is ruled by American law. But of course there has been a complaint. An attorney by the name of Donald Weissman objects to the court starting off with "a public pledge of national loyalty".

As an official complaint was lodged the judge was obliged to recuse himself from the case Weissman was taking part in.

Weissman's obection was this-

"He’s concerned that failure to recite the pledge could affect fairness in the courtroom.

“The more I thought about it, the more concerned I became about whether people in the courtroom might perceive some degree of partiality based upon whether your loyalty is to the United States or not,” he said.

Weissman contended in his March 17 letter that Lewis apparently considered his court “to be an American court, rather than a court for all persons situated in America.”

I am stunned.

The Century War

An incredibly powerful work of fiction by author Dan Simmons discusses the coming terrifying future of the world.

Here is a sample-

“How are we supposed to know who our enemies are?” I turned and growled at him. “The world is a complex place. Morality is a complex thing.”

“Your enemy is he who will give his life to kill you,” said the Time Traveler. “Your enemies are they that wish you and your children and your grandchildren dead and who are willing to sacrifice themselves, or support those fanatics who will sacrifice themselves, to see you and your institutions destroyed. You haven’t figured that out yet – the majority of you fat, sleeping, smug, infinitely stupid Americans and Europeans.”

He stood and set the Scotch glass back in its place on my sideboard. “How, we wonder in my time,” he said softly, “can you ignore the better part of a billion people who say aloud that they are willing to kill your children . . . or condone and celebrate the killing of them? And ignore them as they act on what they say? We do not understand you.”

This is something that should be disseminated far and wide. LGF calls it "the must read of the week, possibly the year". I'll second that- Go read it now. And then sent it to everyone you know.

CNN Skips Homework

CNN reports that Hamas has written a letter to Kofi Annan saying that they are willing to engage in "serious and constructive dialogue" and that they might even consider a "two-state solution".

Such a shame that CNN doesn't pay attention to the blogs, which reported on the same Hamas official who wrote this very reasonable sounding letter, two days ago-

“I dreams of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it,” he said. “I hope that our dream to have our independent state on all historic Palestine (including Israel).”

“This dream will become real one day. I’m certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land,” said al-Zahar.

Serious Crime in Britain

A man in England has been jailed for shouting "racist slurs" at Muslims attending a mosque. Obviously this is a much more serious crime than arson, vandalism or sex with underage girls. The judge presiding over the case told the defendant that "racism of any kind will not be tolerated".

What race are Muslims again?

Among the terrible utterances made were the scathing "Go back to where you came from" and the terribly offensive "Proud to be British". No, that really was one of the statements quoted as being one of the racist slurs.

That's about all we hear from the BBC on the matter but the local press covers the case in a bit more detail. It turns out that the chap at the centre of all this, Bryan Cork, was drunk at the time and can remember nothing about the incident. He also stated that he didn't understand why he had done it as he was "friendly with people from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds”. His crime is "racially aggravated harassment".

The judge said that "when sober Cork was a good man with much to offer the community" but he added “the aspect of racism which is clearly demonstrated here outweighs any personal mitigation which you have.”

Cork will have to serve three months of a six month sentence before being released on licence.

So in modern Britain "racist" speech will get you thrown in the slammer for months at a time but trifling little matters like burglary, arson, vandalism, threatening to kill, actual bodily harm, possession of heroin or cocaine, common assault, or taking a car without the owner's consent (to name but a few) will see you let off with nothing more than a caution.

"Great" Britain?

United 93

I blogged yesterday about the 9/11 film United 93. It's been on my mind a lot since watching the trailer and so I had a quick look to see what others were saying.

Jim Geraghty of National Review-

I can understand if some people say, “it’s too soon. I just can’t watch it.” This trailer feels like a gut punch; your heart is in your throat from the first seconds. This movie has no stars, no flashy special effects. Just a real documentary feel as we see unknown actors reenacting the events of that day - in the airport, on the plane, in NORAD and air traffic control centers. It absolutely throws you back to that morning, and all of the fear, horror, pain and tears that went with that. I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find three minutes of film that could be more powerful.

He goes on to quote from the 9/11 Commission report on the final events on the flight, something I think is worth quoting in its entirety-

During at least five of the passengers' phone calls, information was shared about the attacks that had occurred earlier that morning at the World Trade Center. Five calls described the intent of passengers and surviving crew members to revolt against the hijackers. According to one call, they voted on whether to rush the terrorists in an attempt to retake the plane. They decided, and acted.

At 9:57, the passenger assault began. Several passengers had terminated phone calls with loved ones in order to join the revolt. One of the callers ended her message as follows: "Everyone's running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye."

The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of the passenger assault muffled by the intervening cockpit door. Some family members who listened to the recording report that they can hear the voice of a loved one among the din. We cannot identify whose voices can be heard. But the assault was sustained.

In response, Jarrah immediately began to roll the airplane to the left and right, attempting to knock the passengers off balance. At 9:58:57, Jarrah told another hijacker in the cockpit to block the door. Jarrah continued to roll the airplane sharply left and right, but the assault continued. At 9:59:52, Jarrah changed tactics and pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault. The recorder captured the sounds of loud thumps, crashes, shouts, and breaking glasses and plates. At 10:00:03, Jarrah stabilized the airplane.

Five seconds later, Jarrah asked, "Is that it? Shall we finish it off?" A hijacker responded, "No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off." The sounds of fighting continued outside the cockpit. Again, Jarrah pitched the nose of the aircraft up and down. At 10:00:26, a passenger in the background said, "In the cockpit. If we don't we'll die!" Sixteen seconds later, a passenger yelled, "Roll it!" Jarrah stopped the violent maneuvers at about 10:01:00 and said, "Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!" He then asked another hijacker in the cock-pit, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" to which the other replied, "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down."

The passengers continued their assault and at 10:02:23, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!" The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them. The airplane headed down; the control wheel was turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest." With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about 20 minutes' flying time from Washington, D.C.

Jarrah's objective was to crash his airliner into symbols of the American Republic, the Capitol or the White House. He was defeated by the alerted, unarmed passengers of United 93.

And from the (new to me) blog Kesher Talk- the whole post is well worth reading- comes this excerpt of an interview with the widow of Jeremy Glick, one of the passengers on board;

. . . . he told me he thought he was going to die; he said he would respect any decisions I made. He didn’t sound panicked, he didn’t sound angry. He just sounded very, very sad. . . . Then he went into a planning mode. He said there were three guys as big as him-- – Jeremy was a large guy, a little over six feet and 220 pounds; in 1993 he was the NCAA judo champion for his weight class -- and they were thinking of jumping the hijacker with the bomb. Did I think it was a good idea?

I hesitated, then I said, 'Honey, you need to do it.'

He was thinking of what he could use as a weapon, besides his hands. He said, 'I have my butter knife from breakfast.' Which is like Jeremy; he always made a light comment when things were stressful.

He said, 'OK, we’re going to go do it. I’m going to put the phone down. I’ll be right back.'

I just handed the phone to my Dad. My Dad said he heard screaming and then there was nothing. A few minutes went by and then there was more screaming and noise. Then there was nothing. . . .

You can watch the United 93 trailer here.

Iran-Israel

The trouble brewing in the Middle East seems to have taken an ominous turn- Iran has set up watch towers along the Lebanon border to spy on Israel.

"This is now Iran's front line with Israel," a senior Israeli military commander said. "The Iranians are using Hizbollah to spy on us so that they can collect information for future attacks. And there is very little we can do about it."

Justice in Britain

Well, not anymore there isn't. Due to a shortage of spaces in Britain's prisons (no one seems to have thought of building some more), the government has circulated new rules to police forces around the country detailing how they can deal with various criminals.

Burglars will be allowed to escape without punishment under new instructions sent to all police forces. Police have been told they can let them off the threat of a court appearance and instead allow them to go with a caution.

The same leniency will be shown to criminals responsible for more than 60 other different offences, ranging from arson through vandalism to sex with underage girls.

The rules will apply to those who have admitted their guilt (probably them all if they know they'll get off without going to court) and who have no prior record. It's just another step along the path away from the court system, and handing power over to the police to be judge and jury al in one. Perhaps 2000AD wasn't so far off the mark in imagining Judge Dredd as the future of law enforcement.

This from Blair's government which was supposed to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". As if this wasn't bad enough there's this-

It emerged last month that some violent or sex offenders, given mandatory life sentences under a "two-strike" rule, have been freed after as little as 15 months.

Instead of attempting to do something about the lack of prison sizes the government (the Home Office apparently considers sending criminals to prison "uncivilised") is intent on doing all it can to let criminals remain free.

At the same time judges and magistrates have been bombarded with instructions from the senior judiciary to send fewer criminals to jail.

Burglars and muggers should be spared prison more often, courts have been told, and last week sentencing authorities ordered a further "raising of the custody threshold" to keep out of prison more offenders who would in the past have been given up to a year in jail.

So much for the British justice system.

Flight of Fantasy

Another sketch by the superlative Adam Hughes, this time of Budd Root's Cavewoman. Meriem has never looked so good.

Hot For Jihad

Mark Steyn. What else do I need to say?

Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, gave a typical Western government official's speech the other day explaining that "a large number of Muslims in this country were -- understandably -- upset by those cartoons being reprinted across Europe and at their deeply held beliefs being insulted. They expressed their hurt and outrage but did so in a way which epitomized the learned, peaceful religion of Islam."

"The learned, peaceful religion of Islam"? And that would be the guys marching through London with placards reading "BEHEAD THE ENEMIES OF ISLAM" and "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS WESTERN TERRORISM" and promising to rain down a new Holocaust on Europe? This is geopolitics as the Aretha Franklin Doctrine: The more the world professes its R-E-S-P-E-C-T, the more the Islamists sock it to us.

Go read the rest.

50 Greatest Indie Films

Empire magazine has created a list of its top 50 independent movies. There are some real gems in the countdown- Mad Max, The Descent, Shallow Grave, Dark Star, Evil Dead, Blood Simple, Memento, Night of the Living Dead and Clerks.

There is also the very odd inclusion of Donnie Darko as the second best ever indie film. Really? Are they serious about that? Donnie Darko is a better film than Evil Dead, or The Blair Witch Project for example? I don't think so.

Fingerprinting

The study of fingerprints just got a whole lot more revealing. In some cases, it's impossible to match the prints left at a scene with a suspect- the perosn may never have committed a crime. However, new techniques will give detectives much more information to go on.

"New forensic techniques now mean they can be used to determine whether a person is a smoker, uses drugs, and even which aftershave they wear - information that could help narrow down suspects."

The reason for this is that a fingerprint contains a mix of skin cells, sweat secretions and substances picked up by touch. The new technique has already been used to identify a hair product used by a test subject. Small details which may help police narrow down the list of suspects.

Cosby Speaks Out

The straight-talking Bill Cosby weighs in on New Orleans and the destruction of Katrina-

"It's painful, but we can't cleanse ourselves unless we look at the wound," Cosby told the rally of about 2,000 people at the city's convention center, where thousands of Katrina evacuees had gathered seven months earlier.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you had the highest murder rate, unto each other. You were dealing drugs to each other. You were impregnating our 13-, 12-, 11-year-old children," he said, in quotes picked up by Reuters.

"What kind of a village is that?"

9/11 In The News

An unusual number of stories linked to 9/11 today.

The USN's amphibious assault ship the USS New York has been made using steel from the fallen World Trade Centre. When launched it will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 US Marines.

A group of airline pilots are cycling across the United States in an effort to raise money for memorials at the three crash sites and also to honour the flight crews that were killed that day.

A statue of 9/11 hero Rick Rescorla was unveiled at fort Benning. The Vietnam vet saved hundreds of lives as he led others to safety- and was last see returning to try and lead more people out. Mudville Gazette has more on Rescorla. It's well worth reading it all- he deserves it.

Finally there's the movie United 93 about the plane that was brought down in Pennsylvania by the heroic actions of the passengers on board. There have apparently been complaints about the "timing" of the film. A quick blogger search turns up a good piece on this by Dr Sanity.

I don't care how painful it is to face the truth. I won't go back and pretend that 9/11 didn't happen and that my beloved country, which I love with my whole heart and soul, was not viciously and deliberately attacked by people whose greatest dream is its destruction.

If some can't cope with the truth after 5 years, then truth--and reality--is beyond them.

I intend to go see this movie; and I will deal as best I can with the pain, turmoil and raw emotions of that day. I owe it to all those who died. I owe it to myself. And, I owe it to my country.

Personally, watching that trailer brought back all the memories of 9/11 that I have- very vividly. It is definitely worth watching.

Bush Was Right

A big hat-tip to Blackfive for this one- a video by a conservative band called The Right Brothers and their excellent song "Bush Was Right". You really do have to hear this one. If you like the band make sure to stop by their webpage where you can buy their albums on CD or pay a few pennies to download songs and videos.

View the video here.

Flight of Fantasy

About time I had another picture to brighten the place up a little- so here's another image by my favourite comic book artist Adam Hughes- a depiction of Lara Croft that I find particularly amusing.

Drug Money For Terrorism

Let's hope that this is a major headache for the terrorists- Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau has closed down a channel which has funnelled $3 billion dollars to Hamas, Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, through one of New York's largest banks. The money for these Islamists and their so-called holy war came from the illegal earnings of drug deals and other crimes.

Morgenthau's new case is the latest shocking disclosure of how terrorist groups, rogue states and drug lords are exploiting continuing weaknesses in the American financial system - and how billions of dollars in dirty money continues to flow through unsuspecting banks in New York, the epicenter of the global dollar trade.

Over a two-year period, the $3 billion was sent to the New York bank account by a shadowy money-transmittal company in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The money then flowed into bank accounts in the Middle East locations including Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Beirut, Lebanon, and Ramallah in the Palestinian territories.

Foxy Lady

This is an interesting article, pondering the smaller brain size of women compared to men (women's brains are on average 100g lighter).

The answer to this problem, it's postulated, may be found in research into foxes. Over a period of fifty years a Russian scientist bred foxes, aiming to turn the wild creatures he began with into domesticated animals. In each generation he selected the pups which were most friendly to humans, gradually taming them. After 35 generations (equivalent to the 10,000 years it took early man to domesticate wild wolves) he ended up with this: "tamed foxes wagged their tails, whined for affection, were submissive, barked like dogs and their ears flopped."

One aspect of this domestication procedure is that the brains of the tame, floppy eared foxes were smaller than their wild counterparts.

Domestic animals generally do have small brains. On average, domestic dog, cat, sheep and pig brains weigh 25 per cent less than those of wild animals. The mechanism remains a mystery.

The theory is that over time men may have "domesticated" women (and I use the term loosely- I know all too well that these supposedly tame creatures can suddenly and without warning revert back to a wild state), by selecting the friendliest "tamest" of the fairer sex to mate with. Women in turn may have selected for more assertive males.

Another aspect of this is that the smaller brain size is associated with a greater emotional intelligence, the tame foxes are much more adept at picking up on emotional cues from humans than their wilder, bigger brained relatives.

Or it could simply be that women have smaller brains because they are generally smaller than men, and brain size and body size are linked.

Whatever the case turns out to be, the "foxy lady" theory is food for thought.

Statues of Egypt

First if was the magnificent statues of Buddha in Afghanistan, obliterated by the Taliban- next it may be the extraordinary ancient statues of Egypt.

A fatwa issued by Egypt’s top religious authority, which forbids the display of statues has art-lovers fearing it, could be used by Islamic extremists as an excuse to destroy Egypt’s historical heritage.

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the country’s top Islamic jurist, issued the religious edict which declared as un-Islamic the exhibition of statues in homes, basing the decision on texts in the hadith (sayings of the prophet).

Which is really the sticking point here- this isn't something he's pulled out of his hat, it's based on his readings of the hadith.

Still, many fear the edict could prod Islamic fundamentalists to attack Egypt’s thousands of ancient and pharaonic statues on show at tourist sites across the country.

“We don’t rule out that someone will enter the Karnak temple in Luxor or any other pharaonic temple and blow it up on the basis of the fatwa,” Gamal al-Ghitani, editor of the literary Akhbar al-Adab magazine, told AFP.

Of course they have the example of the Taliban to follow- and Mohammed himself, who overturned the pagan statues at the Ka'ba

Gomaa had pointed to a passage from the hadith that stated: ”Sculptors would be tormented most on Judgment Day,” saying the text left no doubt that sculpting was “sinful” and using statues for decorating homes forbidden.

If this fatwa is to be refuted then obviously it needs to be done not of the basis of Western outrage at the threat to the treasures of ancient Egypt but by Muslims thermselves, with reference to the Koran and Hadith.

“Islam proscribed statues, as long as they symbolise living entities such as human beings and animals,” Qaradawi said on an Islamic website.

“Islam proscribed all that leads to paganism or smells of it, statues of ancient Egyptians included,” he added.

The statues which have survived for thousands of years may be facing their greatest threat.