Careful Thought

What did you think I meant?

The Local - French man with two asses surprises Swedish officials

Customs officials in Gothenburg were at a loss as to how to deal with Jacques Abdelaziz and his two four-legged pack animals when the trio wandered off a ferry boat from Denmark on Sunday afternoon.

Abdelaziz, who hails from Brittany in northwestern France, has been wandering around Europe for the past two months with his two donkeys, Nounou and Toutoune, according to the Göteborg-Posten (GP) newspaper.

And the journey had been going smoothly, if not slowly, until the pilgrims landed on Swedish shores, whereupon they were met by requests for permits and paperwork.

“I had thought about just going to Stockholm and then heading back but now I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All they care about are documents,” Abdelaziz said to GP as he nodded toward the customs checkpoint.

While customs officials weren’t unsympathetic to the Frenchman’s plight, they explained that he lacked important documents required by Sweden’s Board of Agriculture, including a veterinary examination costing €250 ($395), a sum which Abdelaziz wasn’t prepared to pay.

(HT: Dustbury )

I’m thinking KingDavid at The Far Wright should appreciate this…

While Japan gets ready to become the world’s most robot-friendly nation , the United States is more interested in helping integrate robots into rodent society. Hence the creation of robo-squirrel Rocky at Hampshire College in Massachusetts (pictured), where researchers are studying whether the robot’s squirrelly ways will allow it to mingle with the fully-biological, acorn-chomping natives.

Apparently things are working out pretty well — Rocky can make the proper noises to communicate, and knows how to warn other squirrels with special shakes of his tail. Once we can create a Rocky who has the capabilities of Big Dog , the autonomous robot who can recover his balance after being kicked around by humans, we may have to worry less about whether it will join the squirrels and more about whether the squirrels will join it. A mechasquirrel may be just what rodent culture needs to have its revolution and overthrow the grain-hoarding humans.

Cute Robo-ninjas: MechaSquirrel Leads BioSquirrels to Victory Over the Humans .

Tags: mecha-squirrel

Here’s an update on the previous post about the terrorist bulldozer attack (actually, it was a front-end loader) in Jerusalem.

The copycat attack occurred on the corner of Keren Hayesdod and King David streets in downtown Jerusalem, down the road from the hotel where U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was to be staying later in the day.

“The bulldozer driver left a construction site, and hit two cars,” a police spokesman said.

“A civilian who saw what was happening, shot him. The bulldozer continued on its way. A Border Police patrol… continued to shoot and the terrorist was killed,” the spokesman said. “Another person was wounded.”

<<>>

The heroic civilian who stopped the terrorist is Yakki Asa’el, aged 53, father of 8, grandfather of 6. A teacher and farmer by profession. IDF Company Commander (מפקד פלוגה) in the reserves. Settler from Susya (Har Hevron Hills area).  (HT: The Muqata)

Quick thinking - and a readily available weapon - saved untold lives and put a rapid end to both terrorist and terrorist attack.

Military service is compulsory in Israel and even elementary school field trips require an armed escort.  We visited Israel a few years back and it was not unusual at all to see a group of school kids followed by a teacher or guard with a rifle slung over their back.

This picture was taken at Masada.  Slacker Boy has what looked like a Galil AR 5.56 .  I bet he knows how to use it.

Granted, we don’t live under the same threat of imminent attack by mindless terrorists, but how many lives at Columbine or Virginia Tech could have been saved if the bad guys had to guess which bystanders were packing heat?

Tags: concealed carry laws, Israel, terrorism

Things are still a mess in the Middle East, despite Obamessiah’s presence.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israelis hit by new digger attack

A Palestinian in a mechanical digger has rammed traffic in west Jerusalem, injuring at least 10 people before being shot dead, Israeli police say.

A bus and a number of cars were hit during the incident. Some cars were crushed and one was turned on its roof.

Witnesses say an armed civilian first shot at the driver, before he was killed by border police.

Three weeks ago a Palestinian man went on a deadly rampage in a heavy vehicle in Jerusalem, killing three Israelis.

A BBC correspondent says it is thought the 2 July attacker was simply a disturbed man without political motivation - but Israelis will worry Tuesday’s incident was a copycat attack and that this could now be a new tactic.

Police identified the perpetrator as 22-year-old East Jerusalem resident Ghassan Abu Tir. It is not known if he was connected to any militant group.

And in a separate story, yet another Hamas terrorist is wandering aimlessly in the afterlife, looking for his 72 virgins - or do you get virgins if you blow yourself up accidentally without taking non-muslims with you?

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Hamas member killed in explosion

Hamas says one of its members has been killed in an explosion at a house near Gaza City.

The militant group said the man died while on “a holy mission” - a term often used when a member dies accidentally while handling explosives.

Two teenage boys were wounded in the blast at the militant’s home.

In the West Bank, Palestinian officials say Israeli troops have arrested a Hamas member of parliament from the city of Nablus.

Mona Mansour and 19 other people were detained.

Israeli troops have in recent weeks raided Nablus almost daily in a crackdown on Hamas.

Across the West Bank, Israeli forces have closed down several institutions allegedly linked to Hamas.

Tags: Hamas, Israel, terrorism

Leopard vs crocodile - who wins?  (HT: UK Telegraph )

What is up with all the scientists who simply refuse to kowtow to their global warming overlords?  Don’t they realize they could be ex-communicated from AlGore’s Church of Global Warmenism?

50,000 new Deniers :  The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming “incontrovertible.”

In a posting to the APS forum, editor Jeffrey Marque explains,”There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution.”

The APS is opening its debate with the publication of a paper by Lord Monckton of Brenchley, which concludes that climate sensitivity — the rate of temperature change a given amount of greenhouse gas will cause — has been grossly overstated by IPCC modeling. A low sensitivity implies additional atmospheric CO2 will have little effect on global climate.

(HT: Small Dead Animals )

Tags: al gore, climate change, global whining, religion

There’s an interesting bit a the Fox News site showing the percentages of obese people by state.  I’ve always struggled a bit with my weight, but I’ve managed to drop 10 pounds in about three weeks by running every morning, cutting way back on fired foods and eating lots of fruit.

1. Mississippi: 32%
2. Alabama: 30.3%
3. Tennessee: 30.1%
4. Louisiana: 29.8%
5. Arkansas: 28.7%
6. West Virginia: 29.5%
7. South Carolina: 28.4%
8. Georgia: 28.2%
9. Oklahoma and Texas: 28.1%
10. North Carolina: 28%
11. Michigan: 27.7%
12. Alaska, Missouri, and Ohio: 27.5%
13. Delaware and Kentucky: 27.4%
14. Pennsylvania: 27.1%
15. Iowa and Kansas: 26.9%
16. Indiana: 26.8%
17. North Dakota: 26.5%
18. South Dakota: 26.2%
19. Nebraska: 26%
20. Minnesota: 25.6%
21. Oregon: 25.5%
22. Arizona and Maryland: 25.4%
23. Washington: 25.3%
24. New York: 25%
25. Illinois: 24.9%
26. Maine: 24.8%
27. Wisconsin: 24.7%
28. Idaho: 24.5%
29. New Hampshire: 24.4%
30. Virginia: 24.3%
31. Nevada: 24.1%
32. New Mexico: 24%
33. Wyoming: 23.7%
34. New Jersey: 23.5%
35. California: 22.6%
36. Montana, Utah, and Washington, D.C.: 21.8%
37. Hawaii and Rhode Island: 21.4%
38. Massachusetts and Vermont: 21.3%
39. Connecticut: 21.2%
40. Colorado: 18.7%

(Data from Centers for Disease Control report .)

Tags: statistics, weight loss

From the Naval Safety Center :

Seems a pair of soldiers were driving a rented SUV at a test and training range out west one night. Seems an F-16 pilot was getting some target practice at the time. Seems the SUV was in the target area. Seems the pilot was a good shot.

A local spokesman said the soldiers were not hit but suffered minor injuries “while exiting the vehicle in rough terrain.” Personally, any minor injuries I suffered while bailing out of a vehicle and running away while being shot at with REALLY big bullets would be a welcome alternative.

The soldiers had been training to identify enemy targets and direct aircraft to fire on them. And to this, all we can say is, “Now you know what it feels like.”

Have you ever seen those little stick-on “bullet hole” decals you can get for your car? This is what the jumbo version would look like. I just wish we had a photo of the expression on the face of the car-rental employee when this one was towed back in.

"Think it's okay to park here?" "Yeah, sure. What could happen?"

Glad It’s a Rental #297

Given Iran’s latest saber-rattling photoshopped missile launches, Israel announced today the deployment of the LAMS: Lolcat Anti-Missile System.

(HT: TigerinExile .  More p-shop response here .)

Tags: humor, Iran, Israel, lolcats

I think I saw this in a movie once…

Kids Sail In Waters Where Shark Sighting Reported

EDGARTOWN (WBZ) ― The beaches on Martha’s Vineyard are open again after two Great White shark sightings, but beach officials are going to be on high alert as hundreds of kids hit the water for a sailboat regatta.

Sheriff Martin Brody Harbormaster Charlie Blair said 300 kids will be racing on Friday as part of Edgartown Race Week. The race is not being called off, but all eyes will be on the water, searching for sharks that could be swimming around.

Today, as the busy beaches on the island reopen, Blair said people are swimming at their own risk.

And I think this story is just natural selection in action…

Lightning Strike Leaves Through Woman’s Nose Ring

ANTRIM, N.H. (WBZ) ― A 21-year-old Antrim woman is recovering after being struck by lightning Wednesday night. The bolt hit her feet and came out through her nose ring.

Jessica Lafreniere was hit while she was walking through her family’s garage.

“She had walked into the garage to go outside to turn off the faucet. The light came in through the garage and hit her,” Jessica’s mother, Danielle Taylor told WBZ.

“It was like a red flash that came from her feet and she was thrown into my arms. She was blue and purple, and stiff as a board.  When you hear it, it’s unbelievable, but it’s true.”

Tags: miscellaneous, news