Duck Tape Rides Again!

Dennis likes to make things like wallets out of Duck Tape. This is his latest creation. The black part holds a stack of credit cards, the camo pattern holds his cash, and the whole thing is held closed by magnets. The two sections slide apart, if you only need to carry one.

I didn't know they even made camo pattern Duck Tape, but I guess it was inevitable. And yes, I prefer Duck to Duct. You don't have to add that little T sound at the end.

Boo Boo

On the way to the airport this morning we look down from this overpass and see the semi-tractor and trailer lying on their side. As the Hulk was nowhere to be seen, the only explanation I can think of is that the driver was in too much of a hurry going around the corner. The view from the overpass was much better, but I didn't even have my camera out when we first noticed it, so I came by afterwards at ground level and got this picture. Getting back up on the overpass would probably have meant about five miles of driving and 15 minutes of my time, so this is all you get.

Porcelli's Grocery

Jack & I tried out a new restaurant for lunch on Monday. It used to be a neighborhood grocery store, now it's an Italian restaurant. Good food, cheerful waitress, reasonable prices, about the same as what we pay at O'Connors. On my way out I noticed this display of beers. Only now did I realize I had never heard of an Italian beer, and wondered if they had any. The have two: Birra Moretti & Peroni Nastro Azzurro. I'll have to try them out next time I'm there.

In the Electric Mist (with the Confederate Dead)

It's a murder mystery, with a side story about making a movie about the civil war. IMDB sums it up pretty well:

"A detective in post Katrina New Orleans area has a series of surreal encounters with a troop of friendly Confederate soldiers while investigating serial killings of local prostitutes, a 1965 lynching and corrupt local businessmen."

General John Bell Hood at Gaines's Mill

Levon Helm as the Confederate General John Bell Hood is outstanding. He is a figment of Tommy Lee Jones imagination, of course, as the General has been dead for well over 100 years, but his antiquated way of talking and his pithy comments make a good counter-point to our modern day lawman. I had never heard of him before, which might be the reason the author included him in his book.

Peter Sarsgaard plays the obnoxious drunken actor, and plays him well, I guess, as he certainly is obnoxious. He does have one good line in the movie when our lawman's daughter asks him if he likes being an actor. He replies that "it's just a job". A good point I think.

Update September 2023 YouTube trailer here.

A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney

A very fine piece of investigative journalism from David Javerbaum at the The New York Times. From Ned.

The Dam Busters

I've heard the story for years and I knew about the giant spinning bomb, but I had never seen the movie until this week. As a movie it was so-so. The special effects were not exactly cheesy, but they were nothing to write home about either. Of course, it is an old movie, 1955 to be exact, and there were no computers, much less any CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), but the clips of the bomb being dropped on the test runs were really something! No special effects there, that was the real deal. It is surprising to see this big, heavy bomb bounce off the water, not just once, but several times. Like Art Arfons says: at 60 MPH water is as hard as concrete. When Wallis (the bomb's inventor) is asked where he got the idea he responds with "Nelson", and something about how he liked to bounce the cannonballs off the water (a "Yorker") on their way to the enemy as a method of insuring maximum damage, or some such (just after the 1:01:15 mark on Netflix). Lucky Jack Aubrey (the hero of Patrick O'Brian's sea stories) was always talking about Nelson, and forever reminiscing about the time Nelson asked him to "pass the butter" at a dinner they both attended. Here it is, 150 years later, and they are still talking about him. As long as there is an England they will no doubt continue to talk about him.

For those of you who don't know the story: During WWII the British sent a squadron of 19 Lancaster bombers, each equipped with one 10 ton bomb, to attack three German dams. The whole mission was done at tree-top level. They were so low that two planes were lost when they collided with electrical power lines. A total of eight planes were lost. Two of the dams were breached which caused extensive flooding and damage. Failure to follow up on these raids meant that Germany suffered only a temporary setback. The raid's biggest success was its' moral boost for the British.

When I watch Science Fiction movies that include space ships I am often bothered by the obviously bogus equipment employed in these ships. Come back to the present. This movie had enough alien equipment in it to qualify it as Science Fiction, and it is only 50 years and a few thousand miles removed from my present location. The English really do have a peculiar way of making things.

One highlight of the movie was the squadron commander's dog, a black dog by the name of Nigger. I couldn't believe it when I first heard it, after all, you just can't say that word anymore. Evidently it was a fairly common name for a black dog back then, in England at any rate, much like Blacky would be for a dog now, or can you even call a dog Blacky anymore?

Quote of the Day

"Soylent Green is Made Out of Peeple!" - Caption on Peeps Contest entry # 7

Via View From The Porch