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A Favorite Factoid
Nov. 14th, 2014 01:01 pmFrom a book I found years ago in the Carson Newman University library on the history of privateering in America...
How the prize money was divided among the crew of a Revolution/Napoleonic-era ship:
15% -- The Captain, who might be obliged to pay his superiors in his fleet
10% -- split between the Captain's Lieutenants and the Sailing Master
10% -- split among the Marine officers, the Surgeon, the Purser, the Boatswain, the Gunner, the Carpenter, the Masters' Mates and the Chaplain
15% -- split among the Midshipmen, the Surgeon's Mates, the Captain's Clerk, the Schoolmaster, the Boatswain's Mates, the Steward, the Sailmaker, the Master-At-Arms, the Armourer and the Coxswain
15% -- split among the Gunner's Yeomen, the Boatswain's Yeomen, the Quartermasters, the Quarter Gunner, the Coopers, the Sailmaker's Mates, the Sergeants and Corporals of the Marines, the Drummer, the Fifer, and the Petty Officers
35% -- split among the Seamen, the Marines and the Boys
FreeWill Goes Under The Gun
May. 13th, 2014 01:54 pmAccording to my reading of the astrological omens, you should draw inspiration from this Chinese proverb: "Never do anything standing that you can do sitting, or anything sitting that you can do lying down." In other words, Sagittarius, you need extra downtime. So please say NO to any influence that says, "Do it now! Be maniacally efficient! Multitask as if your life depended on it! The more active you are the more successful you will be!" Instead, give yourself ample opportunity to play and daydream and ruminate.
Overnight I had a dream I was in a shootout. My opponent used a bolt-action hunting piece at me first, and when it jammed he pulled a revolver and blasted till he was out of ammo. I had an automatic pistol and an extra clip, so when he saw me reload he knew it was over and gave up.
I don't know what this means in terms of my life.
FreeWill Is Too Legit To Quit
Apr. 22nd, 2014 02:46 pmIf you happen to be an athlete, the coming week will not be a good time to headbutt a referee or take performance-enhancing drugs. If you hate to drive your car anywhere but in the fast lane, you will be wise to try the slower lanes for a while. If you are habitually inclined to skip steps, take short cuts, and look for loopholes, I advise you to instead try being thorough, methodical, and by-the-book. Catch my drift? In this phase of your astrological cycle, you will have a better chance at producing successful results if you are more prudent than usual. What?! A careful, discreet, strategic, judicious Sagittarius? Sure! Why not?
"'Cause everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in School"...
Car. Again. Go Figure
Aug. 16th, 2013 06:06 pm
The website that has this "game" is too slow and buggy to let me get back to my own entry.
PS:
A Moonshine By Any Other Name...
Mar. 30th, 2013 05:57 pmAUTORIA is a company that specializes in rebadging kits for cars built in Asia. Their target users are those with Daewoos and KIAs who want to somehow redeem their "face" with their neighbors. So the company offers the option of rebranding your car as a TIGRIS with new nameplates and new insignia.
In theory I could rebrand Moonshine in a similar fashion. I'm motivated by the fact that under current Tennessee law, my car is old enough to be sold to a scrapper without the title or other ownership paperwork, thus my car is a possible target for thieves looking for a quick buck. So if I could somehow make my vehicle look newer...or just different enough to make a thief believe that stealing it would be more trouble than it's worth...it would help me a great deal.
Writer's Block: Critical Acclaim
Apr. 2nd, 2012 04:51 pmI loved a LOT of One-Season Wonders. The most recent being the Americanized LIFE ON MARS. ABC just kept screwing around once it premiered, messing with the time-slot and keeping it off air when it was building an audience. I wish it had been given further seasons and a chance to live up to its potential. I suppose I'll have to eventually get the British version and its sequel on DVD to figure out where it was actually headed.
PS: I decided to do a quick survey of one-season wonders of my lifetime. I've only made it through most of the Seventies and Eighties when I was watching much more television than I do now.
One-Season Wonders:
ABC: 240-Robert, The Associates, Best of the West, Blue Thunder, Breaking Away, Call To Glory, The Insiders, Masquerade, Masters of Science Fiction, Max Headroom, Operation Petticoat, The Phoenix, Renegades, Salvage, Strike Force, When The Whistle Blows, When Things Were Rotten
CBS: Bring 'Em Back Alive, California Fever, Concrete Cowboys, The Flash, Frank's Place, Mr. Merlin, Otherworld, Q.E.D., Spencer's Pilots, Square Pegs, Whiz Kids
NBC: Amazing Stories, Games People Play, Mike Nesmith in Television Parts, Misfits Of Science, Project UFO, Sword of Justice, Voyagers
FOX: Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Space: Above & Beyond
A Chink In The Defenses
Mar. 1st, 2012 09:16 pmNot the first time something like this has happened. In fact, this was fodder for a commercial for replacement windshield wiper blades a long time ago.
For some years, my thinking was that if I were a terrorist, I'd probably get my gang to ram-raid into the airport perimeter near the terminal after the last departure of the night, so I could steal one of the freshly-refueled jets parked for the early morning flights. Airport police departments are usually at their weakest at that time and could easily be overwhelmed by just a few gunmen.
I don't think I'm saying anything that would actually compromise secrets...and in fact I hope that the justice establishment in this nation has already thought about this.
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electricdruid at The fiasco continues
ACTA in a Nutshell –
What is ACTA? ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.
Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”
What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.
Essential ACTA Resources -
- Read more about ACTA here: ACTA Fact Sheet
- Read the authentic version of the ACTA text as of 15 April 2011, as finalized by participating countries here: ACTA Finalized Text
- Follow the history of the treaty’s formation here: ACTA history
- Read letters from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wherein he challenges the constitutionality of ACTA: Letter 1 | Letter 2 | Read the Administration’s Response to Wyden’s First Letter here: Response
- Watch a short informative video on ACTA: ACTA Video
- Watch a lulzy video on ACTA: Lulzy Video
Say NO to ACTA. It is essential to spread awareness and get the word out on ACTA.
Via TumblrSchindler's Wallet
Dec. 28th, 2011 10:17 pmWhat is sparking this particular note here is a table that was calculated by the corporate contractor that the Nazi German government had running the Holocaust death camps. (Yes, THAT Schindler. Him and his peers.) They had calculated the profit for an "average" inmate who was put to death after a mere nine months of slave labor. I won't reproduce it here, because I'm sure it's available on-line somewhere and I could probably come back and link it if I want.
I decided to interpolate the data in the table to the here and now. First, I found a site that had foreign exchange rate data, which told me how much a ReichsMark was worth in Dollars before hostilities broke with America. Then, I found another site to give me inflation figures for the last seventy years.
Care to guess? How much was a human life worth to Mr. Schindler and his kind?
$45.50 in 2012 money. Less than most of my friends pay for their TV programming per month, I imagine. About a week's worth of groceries for my household.
Would you kill somebody for $45.50? How many people on this world now would answer "Yes" to that question? The only way to guarantee that everybody answer "No" is to raise everybody's standard of living to the level that a human life is more than that figure. It is too cheap in too many places for us to say "Never Again" and mean it.
Everybody's Gotta Be Somewhere
Oct. 20th, 2011 12:20 am(Yes, I know they're LAST YEAR'S episodes. I don't have cable, okay?)
At least she isn't being typecast.
On The Fall TV Premieres So Far
Sep. 22nd, 2011 10:55 pmI don't know if any of my readers are as big of fans of the series as I am, but just in case you are and you haven't seen the first episode yet...
( Spoilers Behind This )
PERSON OF INTEREST
ALIAS meets Early Edition, with a good measure of Burn Notice thrown in (John Reese is basically a clone of Michael of Burn Notice--a former spy gone rogue). It's going to have to work to get an audience but I think it deserves one. The premiere episode had plenty of topspin. And since it's set in that Big Apple, I imagine a crossover with Bluebloods or CSI: New York might happen one of these seasons.
Writer's Block: Saints and sinners
Jul. 21st, 2011 05:09 pmTurn it in and hope for a reward.
I already live in a haunted house now. For a few years, I'd slept on the previous owner's bedframe and box springs (with my own mattress atop it). I've seen her ghost a few times. Death is but a door.
