Baker Street

Raphael Ravenscroft on the Tenor Saxophone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylGuzAE7dOs (Instrumental)

Baker Street: Music by Gerry Rafferty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ov78kAMNg (vocal)

Un Raton By Any Other Name Is A Ground Squirrel (With a Reply)

"Raton: A city
Location: New Mexico/USA Settled in 1871 and called 'Mouse' in Spanish because a certain breed of ground squirrel or rock squirrel swarmed over a nearby mountain. "

Once upon a time I made the mistake of saying to my Children that the Spanish word "Raton" (Mouse) sometimes meant "Squirrel". This was before the Internet and so I was limited to mundane sources to prove my point....and I couldn't. But now I have.

If ever you have ever wished for bright children, may God not grant your wish. They are a pain in the ass 24/7/365 until death do we part.

They got on my case. They laughed at me. They ridiculed me. They made fun of me. They were mean. Their behavior in this matter was bad.

Now here is evidence that in New Mexico, in this city, if not region, raton means squirrel.

Will they honor this proof? Will they give me credit? Hell no they won't. But for all the rest of mankind out there, I just wanted you to know that I was correct and they weren't right.

HERE is a reply from my older son. This is why it is a lost cause....

"We knew all this back during the original debate. But just because once upon a time a select few Spanish speakers erroneously referred to squirrels as rats doesn't make squirrels into rats, nor does it change the true meaning of "raton" in their language. Maybe if the entire population was consistent in the error for centuries, even after the error was pointed out to them, then the meaning of the word would expand. For example, referring to an American Bison as a "Buffalo" is not incorrect in my book, no matter what those biologists say. Those biologists haven't read enough Linguistics or Phil of Language, and they are entirely out-voted by everyone else. But that's not what's going on with "raton". Because if you go to a New Mexican Spanish-speaking neighborhood holding a ground squirrel in one hand and a rat in the other and ask a New Mexican Spanish-speaking local to point to the "raton", guess which one will get picked?It is a HUGE leap in logic to go from "Once upon a time centuries ago a few locals, either in error or in jest, referred to the local squirrels as rats and named the town after them" to "Squirrels and rats share the same name in Spanish". If a town in New York were to be renamed "Rat, NY" after all the "rats with wings" that infested the area, does that mean that in the English language "rat" rightly refers to pigeons? Nope.So after all these years, you are still wrong for the same reasons. You have just forgotten the intricacies of the argument. I hear that these memory troubles often happen in advanced age such as you've reached, so that's understandable. Don't feel too bad."

See what I mean?

The BP Oil Rode A Slime Highway To Cover The Ocean Floor

This is what a sea floor core should look like with no oil.

What shall we do with these BP fellows?

Their peers don't seem to want to punish them.
The Feds are pussyfooting around trying to find a way out of this.
The States are in bed whoring it up with them,
The media, well they are pretending it is old news.
What shall be done?

They found some more of the oil.

It is in a layer covering the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
How much oil is there?
How much of the Gulf floor is ruined?
We don't know yet.




This is what the sea cores look like after the BP oil disaster.
Two inches of oil covering the bottom.


Scientists Find Thick Layer Of Oil On Seafloor

Thank you NPR for being true to your calling and to us.

"Scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico are finding a substantial layer of oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles in all directions. Their discovery suggests that a lot of oil from the Deepwater Horizon didn't simply evaporate or dissipate into the water — it has settled to the seafloor.".....

"Joye describes seeing layers of oily material — in some places more than 2 inches thick — covering the bottom of the seafloor.
"It's very fluffy and porous. And there are little tar balls in there you can see that look like microscopic cauliflower heads," she says.
It's very clearly a fresh layer. Right below it she finds much more typical seafloor mud. And in that layer, she finds recently dead shrimp, worms and other invertebrates.".....

"How did the oily sediment get there? Joye says it's possible that chemical dispersants might have sunk some oil, but it's also likely that natural systems are playing an important role.
"The organisms that break down oil excrete mucus — copious amounts of mucus," Joye says. "So it's kind of like a slime highway from the surface to the bottom. Because eventually the slime gets heavy and it sinks."
That sticky material can pick up oil particles as it sinks."......

"Joye's findings so far have found oil in depths ranging from 300 to 4,000 feet. Shallower waters, in particular, are potentially important not just for life on the bottom but for the entire marine ecosystem.
"A lot of fish go down to the bottom and eat and then come back up," Hollander says. "And if all their food sources are derived from the bottom, then indeed you could have this impact."
Figuring all that out though, will probably take many years."




So what is to be done?
Nothing?

No Justice For The Jumpers

9-11 Seven-Eight-Nine Years and No Justice for the Jumpers

Every year , against my better judgement, I watch the re-runs of the 9-11 tragedy.
They show little or nothing of the jumpers.
They don't let you hear the thuds recorded at the time.
Would that be in bad taste, inflammatory, yes, I guess it would be.
Every year I think about posting those myself.
I think about pulling them out of my archives and put them here.

But I don't.

I do not show them diving to death to keep from cooking alive.
I do not show them burst on the sidewalk like pumpkins.
Instead I will re-post this:No Justice For the Jumpers!
It was the Jumpers.
The falling of the buildings was mind blowing.
The collapse of the Towers was unbelievable.
It was the Jumpers.
That was believable.
Those people I could identify with.
I could understand.
That I could wrap my mind around.
With them I identified.
That was what stoked my hatred.
Someone had to pay for the Jumpers!

As I look back now that is how I came to hate George W. Bush and all he was and stood for and everyone who supported him.
I do mean EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED HIM.
They are Shit to me.
W did not make them pay.
He dropped the ball.
He went off on a personal family crusade.
He did not seek, much less obtain Justice for the Jumpers.
He left us, me, unsatisfied, unfinished, unresolved!
He is a loser.
He let them get away.
Naw, don't give me back those Karl Rove (Lee Atwater Junior) talking points.
Don't you dare.
I want Justice for the JUMPERS.
I want Retribution for those who burst on the sidewalks.
I want Punishment in the name of those holding hands as they jumped together.
I want Parity of Pain given in the name of those who in flames leaped to their deaths.
I want Justice For The Jumpers.
That's all, just common justice.

McCain says if we elect him he can give it to us.
Big talk for a demented old man.
Why didn't you get it done already Mr Senator?
Besides John you smell like Bush and I hated that loser.
Obama says he can get it for us.
Can he?
I don't see the passion or the need for it in him.
You Have to NEED Justice or Revenge before you will pursue it where ever and however it needs to be pursued.
I go a bit insane on 9-11.
Just like I go insane every April 19th.
The Jumpers need Justice.
Justice for the Jumpers!
Is that really too much to ask?

Death By Stoning, A Description

I first read this account in 1968, while in East Africa. It has stayed in my mind ever since. when I read about adultery or stoning in the Bible I remember this description by James A. Mitchener. He watched such an event in 1948 and wrote about it in 1963.

As we wait for the Mullahs and other men of Iran to demonstrate a similar blood lust on a woman taken in adultery, I think it is only proper that we understand what that actually means.

If you are squeamish or sensitive do not continue to read this. Mitchener recorded it all.

An Execution in Ghazni: Stoned for Adultery

"When the soldiers reached the stake, they inexpertly drove several nails into it -- and lashed the prisoner's hands to these nails, at the same time securing her ankles to the bottom of the stake. When they stepped back, the dirty white chaderi fell completely over the bare feet and the prisoner was wholly masked. She was still free, however, to look out upon the world of hate-filled faces. I turned to watch the mullahs and did not see what happened next, but I heard a thudding sound and a gasp. I looked around quickly...to see that a rather large stone had struck the woman and fallen at her feet. The gasp must have come from her. Now the men at my right, the ones who had eaten with me and brought me to the scene, knelt to find stones...they began throwing at the shrouded figure. From all sides stones whizzed toward the stake, and most struck, and it was obvious that punishment for adultery in Afghanistan was severe.

The Woman refused to cryout, but a cheer soon rose from the crowd. One powerful man had found an especially good stone, large and jagged, and he threw this with force,aiming carefully at her body, and it struck so violently in her abdomen that soon the first blood of the afternoon showed through the chaderi. It was this that brought the cheer...another stone of equal size struck the woman's shoulder. It brought both blood and cheers...A large man with unerring aim pitched a jagged rock of some size and caught the woman in the breast, blood spurted through the torn chaderi and at last the woman uttered a piercing scream... men from all sides gathered fresh ammunition.

The sagging body was struck eight or nine times in the next fusillade, but mercifully the woman could not have know. Now a burly man shouted that he had found the perfect rock and the others must stand aside. The crowd obeyed and watched breathlessly as he took careful aim, whirled his arm, and launch his missile with ugly force. It flashed across the fifteen yards separating the men from their target and sped accurately as intended, striking the unconscious woman in the face. Quick blood marked the spot and the crowd cheered.

The blow was so terrible that it wrenched the prisoner's hands from the nails and allowed her to collapse in a heap about the stake. As she did so, the crowd broke loose and rushed to the fallen body smashing it with boulders which no man, however powerful, could have thrown from a distance. Again and again they dropped the huge rocks on the fallen body until they crushed it completely, continuing the wild sport until they had build a small mound of stones over the scene..."

From Caravans, by James A. Mitchener

Like a Dog

Today in a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, President Barack Obama said of the opposition, "They talk about me like a dog."


"That’s been at the heart what we’ve been doing over these last 20 months: building our economy on a new foundation so that our middle class doesn’t just survive this crisis -– I want it to thrive. I want it to be stronger than it was before.
And over the last two years, that’s meant taking on some powerful interests — some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time. And they’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. (Applause.) That’s not in my prepared remarks, it’s just — but it’s true. "

So is finally to the point that he understands that these people are willing to destroy him to win.
I hope so. Otherwise, they will become bolder and bolder and then one day they will believe they can do anything. Then......

It Is The Methane Hydrates Stupid! Redux

Well, I'll be Damn, it WAS the Methane Hydrates, surprise, surprise. Now I guess they think it is safe to admit it.
But folks, it ain't over until it is over. The SOBs still haven't admitted to 11 negligent homicides because the were screwing with something they knew better than to screw with. Who will be prosecuted for murder? Who ever decided to drill into the methane hydrate sediments are the killers.

The hydrates are still messing with them.


AP: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100904/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
"ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – Icelike crystals had formed Saturday on the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing BP crews to wait before they could safely hoist the device to the surface.
The hydrates — which caused the oil giant problems when the company was trying to contain the oil spilling into the Gulf — need to melt because they are combustible. Crews must take care not to damage the device, which is considered a key piece of evidence in the spill investigation.
"We don't want to lift it and risk an uncontrolled release of gas because that's inherently dangerous," Darin Hilton, the captain of the Helix Q4000 vessel that's raising the device with a giant crane, told The Associated Press.
The AP was the only news outlet with a print reporter and photographer on board the ship.
The device would be lifted the final 500 feet to the surface once it was assured the hydrates had dissipated. It was not an unexpected delay, Hilton said. Before the stop, it had been painstakingly raised at a rate of about 450 feet to 500 feet per hour.
Marvin Morrison, BP's wellsite leader aboard the Q4000, said workers aren't just waiting for the hydrates to melt normally. Men in red jumpsuits and white hardhats could be seen on the deck using enormous wrench-like tools to turn dials on pipes that were dousing the blowout preventer with warm seawater to speed up the melting.
Hydrates form when gases such as methane mix with water under high pressure and cold temperatures. The crystals caused BP PLC problems in May, when the company tried to place a 100-ton, four-story dome over the leak to contain it.
One man on the deck in a white cage with glass windows is using a joystick to guide the crane holding the blowout preventer upward. It will ultimately be raised through a large hatch in the underbelly of the Q4000 up to the top deck, where it will then be placed on what is essentially a huge, metal holding device called a shipping skid.
The device likely wouldn't be hoisted onto the vessel until sometime Saturday evening.
There are 137 people aboard the ship, including FBI agents who are waiting to take possession of the device after its mile-long journey. It will eventually be taken to a NASA facility in Michoud, La., to be analyzed.
The 50-foot device was detached from the wellhead Friday afternoon. Another blowout preventer had successfully been placed on the blown-out well. Officials wanted a new blowout preventer to deal with any pressure that is caused when a relief well BP has been drilling intersects the blown-out well.
Once that intersection occurs sometime after Labor Day, BP is expected to use mud and cement to plug the blown-out well for good from the bottom.
The April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 workers and led to 206 million gallons of oil spewing from BP's undersea well.
Investigators know the explosion was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before igniting.
But they don't know exactly how or why the gas escaped. And they don't know why the blowout preventer didn't seal the well pipe at the sea bottom after the eruption, as it was supposed to. While the device didn't close — or may have closed partially — hearings have produced no clear picture of why it didn't plug the well.
Lawyers will be watching closely, as hundreds of lawsuits have been filed over the oil spill. Future liabilities faced by a number of corporations could be riding on what the analysis of the blowout preventer shows."

Remember, a solid frozen unit of methane hydrate will expand 60,000 times when heated.
Drill mud and concrete will be hot enough to melt it. The Fat lady is warming up in the wings, but she ain't sung yet.