They Got Him!

Osama bin Laden is dead.  Killed by U.S. Navy Seals at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan (look for the “A” on the map) – which is over 100 km from the Afghanistan border, and even further from the mountainous border area where he was rumored to be staying.

I'm sure more details will emerge about the operation.  Several helicopters and a couple dozen U.S. personnel were involved.  No U.S. personnel were injured or killed.  Our forces “took custody” of bin Laden's body, then buried it at sea (apparently to stay within the Islamic custom of burying a body within 24 hours of death).

Here's the only thing that really matters: the mastermind of 9/11 is dead.  Woot!

Top 6 of Top 10 Lists (for Programmers)...

Nice.

Meyer's Good Advice...

Via Maggie's Farm:

A short time ago, Iran's Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the Muslim World to boycott anything and everything that originates with the Jewish people.

In response, Meyer M. Treinkman, a pharmacist, out of the kindness of his heart, offered to assist them in their boycott as follows:

"Any Muslim who has Syphilis must not be cured by Salvarsan discovered by a Jew, Dr. Ehrlich. He should not even try to find out whether he has Syphilis, because the Wasserman Test is the discovery of a Jew.
If a Muslim suspects that he has Gonorrhea, he must not seek diagnosis, because he will be using the method of a Jew named Neissner.

"A Muslim who has heart disease must not use Digitalis, a discovery by a Jew, Ludwig Traube.

Should he suffer with a toothache, he must not use Novocaine, a discovery of the Jews, Widal and Weil.

If a Muslim has Diabetes, he must not use Insulin, the result of research by Minkowsky, a Jew. If one has a headache, he must shun Pyramidon and Antypyrin, due to the Jews, Spiro and Ellege.

Muslims with convulsions must put up with them because it was a Jew, Oscar Leibreich, who proposed the use of Chloral Hydrate.

Arabs must do likewise with their psychic ailments because Freud, father of psychoanalysis, was a Jew.

Should a Muslim child get Diphtheria, he must refrain from the "Schick" reaction which was invented by the Jew, Bella Schick.

"Muslims should be ready to die in great numbers and must not permit treatment of ear and brain damage, work of Nobel Prize winner, Robert Baram.

They should continue to die or remain crippled by Infantile Paralysis because the discoverer of the anti-polio vaccine is a Jew, Jonas Salk.

"Muslims must refuse to use Streptomycin and continue to die of Tuberculosis because a Jew, Zalman Waxman, invented the wonder drug against this killing disease.

Muslim doctors must discard all discoveries and improvements by dermatologist Judas Sehn Benedict, or the lung specialist, Frawnkel, and of many other world renowned Jewish scientists and medical experts.

"In short, good and loyal Muslims properly and fittingly should remain afflicted with Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Heart Disease, Headaches, Typhus, Diabetes, Mental Disorders, Polio, Convulsions and Tuberculosis and be proud to obey the Islamic boycott."

Bullet Trains...

Warren Meyer (of CoyoteBlog) has an excellent piece in Forbes on the stupidity of high speed rail...

Uncle Jack...

Just watch it.  Via reader Dr. Simi L.:

The Wish...

Your morning political humor, via my mom:

I met a fairy today that said she would grant me one wish. "I want to live forever," I said.

"Sorry," said the fairy, "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that!"

"Fine," I said, "then I want to die after Congress gets their heads out of their asses!"

"You crafty bastard," said the fairy.

Quote of the Day...

Unknown source, via my mom:

If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you weren't a racist, you'll have to vote for someone else in 2012 to prove you're not an idiot.

A Day in the Country...

This morning I'm stiff and sore all over, because yesterday Debbie and I worked in the yard for the first time this season.  We got a lot more done than we thought we would – with burn permit in hand, we burned six brush piles that had accumulated around the yard.  The tractor started right up after being idle for the winter.  Once I filled it's gas tank, the chain saw started on the first pull, and I used it to cut up and burn one pile of branches.  Then finding ourselves with time and some leftover energy, we even sawed a few low, drooping branches from our pines.  We cut those up and burned them as well.  Then we were completely out of anything resembling energy!

Just moments after I doused the fire's embers and put away our tools, Frankie T. and Miss Daisy (her beautiful old dog) showed up for a visit.  We all had a very pleasant visit – Debbie had never met Miss Daisy before, and Miss Daisy had never met our dogs before.  Soon Miss Daisy was stretched out on our carpet, looking very content and happy, the center of the room's attention.  Mo'i watched over her.  Bootie and Maka Lea came over to check out the new dog.  Race ignored her and wanted us to throw his toy.  Debbie handed out treats to Miss Daisy that she eagerly accepted.  Miki was all over Frankie, wiggling with field spaniel joy.  Lea stayed away from Miss Daisy at first, but eventually (and very cautiously) came over to say hello.  The action never stopped, especially while Frankie was trying to drink a cup of coffee and eat (without help!) a piece of chocolate cake.  We were all sad to see Frankie and Miss Daisy head home, but we're hoping they'll wander out this way again some day soon... 

Happy Easter!

My mom sends these Easter greetings:

NGC 6543: the Cat's Eye Nebula...

From APOD, of course:

Don Knuth: All Questions Answered...

If you're a geek, Knuth needs no introduction. If you're not a geek, this will not be of interest.

Friends...

How the World Sees Us...

Musings from Peggy Noonan...

California Dreamin'...

John Fund has an excellent piece up at the WSJ.  Sample:

Hours after the legislators met with Mr. Perry, another business, Fujitsu Frontech, announced that it is abandoning California. "It's the 70th business to leave this year," says California business relocation expert Joe Vranich. "That's an average of 4.7 per week, up from 3.9 a week last year." The Lone Star State was the top destination, with 14 of the 70 moving there.

I don't want to move to Texas.  I don't even want to leave California.  But if the current trend continues, finding employment may be yet another reason (along with high taxes and batshit-crazy politicians) to vote with our feet...

What to Invest In?

Via reader Dr. Simi L.:

I called my stockbroker and asked him what I should be buying.

He said, "If the current administration is in office much longer, canned goods and ammunition is your best bet."

Energy Flows...

Reader Doug S. passes along this very cool chart of energy flows in the U.S. for a recent year (2009), from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.  He points out that the chart makes it clear how difficult it would be to use wind or solar power to replace our other energy sources.  There are lots of other insights like that to be had by studying this for a bit...

Ceramic Lasers to Replace Spark Plugs?

Solid state lasers have come a long way, baby...

Original Sin...

What could I possibly add to this?  Via my mom:

Beautiful!

Time lapse photography from El Teide (tallest mountain in Spain).  The scenes with clouds below the level of the camera are very reminiscent of things we see in our mountain valleys quite frequently.  Via Frankie T:

On the Air Again...

Thanks to Eric at SDWISP, we're back on the air again.  We're not actually sure exactly what was wrong, but somehow between the work the Eric did on our radio link and associated wiring, and that I did on our network's router, our Internet connection is back.  Woo hoo!

Thanks for the great service, Eric.  While we've come to expect it (because you're so consistent!), it is still greatly appreciated...