Big Bend

Home from a week in the backcountry of Big Bend National Park. For those of you who have never been there, it's something that I think everyone should do at least once. I've been there several times now, and each time is something special.

Sunrise and Sunset are always a great time to view the Park.

Here's a couple of pictures taken from our first campsite at McKinney Springs of sunrise on our first morning at the Park.





In addition to hitting some of the backcountry roads, we did three hikes as well. First hike was a 10 mile round trip out to the Chimneys, which have been used by American Indians as a sacred site in the past. After a few miles of hills and small canyons, you'll hit a long, gradual climb up to the Chimneys, which you can see from a couple miles away.



On the hike to and from the Chimneys, it's easy to see how desolate and empty the desert is; part of the charm of Big Bend, if you ask me. This view is looking southwest to another prominent feature of the Big Bend, the Mule's Ears. You can see the Mule's Ears slightly off center in this next image.



As I mentioned earlier, the sunsets and sunrises alone are worth the price of admission and the sunset on our third night was just fantastic from our campsite at Grapevine Hills.



In addition to the desert hikes, we hit the popular Window trail. It's downhill on the way out and all uphill on the way back. This hike has been kicking my ass since about 1980 or so, and it sure beat me up again this year. But the view is quite worth it! This year was a treat - for the first time that I can ever remember, there was actually water in the Window's canyon.



We also took in the Dugout Wells, where all that remains of a thriving community is a lonely windmill. And a great view across the park of Boquillas canyon.



Camp that night was in a far backcountry campsite at Paint Gap. The campsite itself was in a small valley which overlooked the north part of the park. While the view as not as grand as some of the other campsites, it was still quite stunning.



Our last hike was into Dog Canyon, which was so named by early Spanish explorers. Compared to our two earlier hikes, this one was quite easy - a flat 2.4 mile walk from the car to the canyon and back. But the views of the canyon were, like the rest of the park, fantastic.



This year's trip could have been pretty rough - we suffered through one flat tire on the Old Ore road on our first foray into the backcountry. The next day as we continued our journey on the Old Ore road, we got another flat tire, forcing us to put the first flat tire - which was holding onto about 20 lbs of pressure thanks to a can of fix-a-flat - and nurse the 4x4 out of the backcountry for another 10 miles or so. We had to re-arrange parts of our trip to stay on safer, and easier backcountry roads, but all things said and done, it was a fantastic trip, and I can't wait to go back again.

Flyer told to change outfit poses nude

Ya know, at first I was sympathetic to this woman. Now? Not so much. Why? She's just using the notoriety to make some money. Meh.

Hunt gift adds 2 more women’s scholarships

"The more I got involved in it, the more I got to know the kids in the program and what it stands for," Mike Hunt said. "We feel we get tenfold what we give to the program."

Divorce proves tricky for deaf-mute couple

'Zhang lived a long way from court so I sent mobile phone text messages to inform him of our thinking and how the court operated. I think this was a good way of communicating,' said Liu Jinghai, clerk of the court. Eventually, the judges made Zhang understand that his wife was bent on divorce and it was best to give up.

Let me get this straight - the hearing was a problem?

SOAP Header Extensions How-To - The Code Project - C# WebServices

By the way - I thought that just in case my loyal readership (all both of you) wondered what I did for a living, here's an insight to my nerdiness. What's worse - I manage other people like me.

Nice witch outfit

Maybe it's just me, but if the guys writing for Saturday Night Live start calling Hillary a witch, then the Hildabeast's lock up of the democrat nominition isn't that sure of a thing...

And just when you thought

that all hope was lost in our society....

After posting on the poor little kid in the story below, I was not feeling too good about what our society has become.

So I go about my business on this lovely Saturday afternoon to the local Academy. I pull into the Academy parking lot, which it shares with a lot of other stores along the strip center. First of the big stores is a Toys R Us. There is a massive traffic jam. Cars not moving, people crowding all around the front of the store, it was a veritable parking lot and traffic was barely crawling along.

I'm getting pissed because I suspect some new Xbox or Playstation game being released causing all the problems. I get closer to the crowd and there standing in front of Toys R Us are two Marines.

They're in their dress blues. Looking SHARP. The traffic jam had ensued because everyone, and I mean, everyone who passed by these two Devil Dogs stopped to shake their hand, give them a hug or pat them on the back. Cars were stopping with people giving thumbs up and well wishes to the two young Marines.

I instantly gave thanks that I live in Texas, and can't help but believe that maybe there's hope for us after all.

Get the waaaambulance

It would seem that our easily insulted, PC society strikes yet again. A poor misunderstood, mistreated, and insulted kid got his widdle feelings all in a knot over the use of the "N" word in class. One of the best literary works in the history of our once fair country, Huck Finn, was being discussed and this poor widdle cretin got all worked up over the "N" word as discussed in the book.

As a result of this poor child's widdle feelings getting hurt, the entire staff gets to undergo some sensitivity training; ain't that grand? I heard one of the local radio stations mention that this little turd's family wanted the school to stop using Huckleberry Finn in school altogether. I suppose, considering that his family is muslim, that it's OK to teach the koran where beheading infidels, subjugating women and raping children is acceptable behavior?

You know, I think that as a society, many of our fellow citizens go walking around looking for a way to be offended. I say, grow some testicles, don't be such a titty baby, cowboy up and soldier on. I could also say to this ingrate that he's more than welcome to go to school in some suck ass 3rd world islamic country and not have to worry about being offended by Mark Twain.

A nice pair

AK-47 and AK-74.





Been a while since we posted any good gun porn. I especially like the wood furniture on the 74. Kinda sexy.

Cyber Jihad in November!

Attackers would download Jihad 2.0 to their own desktops and specify the amount of bandwidth they would like to consume, not unlike the SETI@home software package used to scan for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Seriously.

Needless to say, nobody's really worried that a bunch of goat-smelling morons with 3-year-old software will actually inflict any harm. But they do have grand plans:

The attack was reported by DEBKAfile, an online military intelligence magazine. Citing anonymous "counter-terror sources," DEBKAfile said it had intercepted an "internet announcement" calling for a volunteer-run online attack against 15 targeted sites starting 11 November. The operation is supposed to expand after its launch date until "hundreds of thousands of Islamist hackers are in action against untold numbers of anti-Muslim sites," the magazine reported.

"Islamist hackers" just doesn't resonate, does it? Of course, I really get a kick out of their rhetoric and their huffing and puffing. It's pretty comical, but it sounds scary. But what if they really DO have a staff of l33t h@xors that will reign electronic death from the Internets? Let's hear from the experts:

Even if an attack is planned, it would likely be nothing new, Evron added. "Cyber jihad on the level of attacking websites happens every day for numerous causes by enthusiasts. The content of this warning is doubtful. There are not hundreds of thousands of infosec workers worldwide, not to mention working for al-Qaeda," he said.

Bingo. Unless your average Islamic warrior is smarter than the dumb-asses that run around grabbing hot rifle barrels and swinging from monkey bars in full carpetry, I'm not too concerned. But you gotta give 'em props for trying.

This is not the first time that the West has been threatened with cyber jihad.

In December 2006, the US Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) warned US banks and financial institutions of a possible al-Qaeda cyber attack.

That operation, nicknamed "the Electronic Battle of Guantanamo," turned out to be a dud.

and failing, of course.

Treeecks or Treeeats

Okay, so I'm a sucker for Halloween. I spent the better part of the afternoon reading "real" ghost stories, and the early evening scanning for scary movies. I gotta tell ya - TV has really let me down this year. What a bunch of lame-ass movies, like "Fright Night" and "Urban Legend." Hell, my grandmother's facial hair is scarier.

Anyhoo, I hate to be the guy that runs out of candy and has to hand out cough drops and Advil, then turn out the light. So I bought about $40 worth of really good stuff. That way, if the little beggars don't show up and claim it, I have something to feed the candy monster (that's me) for a few days at work.

Sunset is at 7:10pm. As of 7:30, I got nothin'. Nobody. Not one trick-or-treater. I figure this is a win-win for me - I don't have to get up, and I get to score 40 bucks worth of sweetness.

Alas, I had celebrated too early.

I love giving candy to kids (save the smart-ass remarks), but this year...well, it's different. It seems that the newest members of our great American society have fully embraced our cultural traditions, including the annual consumption of candy in the name of Satan. Oh, sure - the rest of the year they'd just as soon use nerve agent on us, but tonight - they want my candy. And they're not at ALL ashamed to dress up in traditional dress and beg for our infidel treats.

"TREEEECKS OR TREEEAATS" is the cry. Brown kids. Lots of 'em. Caramba. Hell, at least they're having fun, and they're polite, and they really seem to appreciate it.

Crap. Looks like it's time to break out the cough drops...

Late update: the white, teenaged Minnie Mouse got some extra candy. Red high-heels. Hubba-hubba.

Global Incident Map Displaying Terrorist Acts, Suspicious Activity, and General Terrorism News

Pretty neat little map - worth a bookmark.

Hat-tip to JR (the other one).

Good Samaritans Stop Rape In Progress

The witnesses held onto him until police arrived and arrested him.

Continuing our series of idiots who get what's coming to them, this lucky contestant assaulted and raped a young woman. Some young men passing by in a car saw what was going on, and, um...stopped him.

Then they "held onto him" until police arrived.

Landingham should be the new poster boy for what happens when law-abiding citizens do the right thing.

now THAT'S scary

In the spirit of Halloween, I defy anyone to find a scarier group of photographs than you'll see here.

Foggy Bottom blues

You hear all sorts of comments from different people that tell us the State Department puts the interest of other countries ahead of our own. For example, the latest scathing attacks against Blackwater - who also happens to have had a perfect record in defending VIPs.

The latest in a string of these episodes comes to us via this story. In it we learn that "...Rice has turned to former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for tips ahead of her own conference this year."

What the hell is this? You're telling me that we are turning to the two largest foreign policy cluster fucks in the last generation for advice? These same two oxygen thieves are practically the entire reason we are where we are today in the world.

Carter's massive bumbling of middle east affairs brought the current shitbag regime to power in Iran and Clinton's screwed around in the middle east so much you'd think it was the oval office.

It's this kind of maddening "diplomacy" that just flat out drives me nuts. It's a shame, because I think Condi is a pretty smart cookie but apparently the bureaucracy at Foggy Bottom is too entrenched for anything good to come of it.

Another warm fuzzy story

It's been pretty dangerous for home intruders around these parts lately. I think this is the 3rd or 4th one that's been whacked lately by a homeowner who chose not to be a victim.

And this "victim" was a guy in a wheelchair. Way to go!

Iran should be paying attention

In this picture, we see a great before and after of the Syrian nuke site that the Israelis took out recently.

If I were the Iranians, I'd be paying pretty close attention...

Bizarre stabbing in Fannin County

Boy, you never really know what goes on in rural Texas, do you? Here's a charming story about a guy who's hitch-hiking, and gets picked up by a woman named Angie. Here's where the fun starts.

Soon thereafter, the 42-year-old driver invited Evans back to her horse barn just outside of Wolfe City.

When they arrived, the two became intimate, and officials say ‘Angie’ asked Evans to perform oral sex on her.

So far, so good, huh?

"(When he did) comply with the female subject, he found out it was in fact not a female, but a male," Sheriff Moore said.

Oops. That's a stabbin'

Officials say Evans pulled out a knife and stabbed ‘Angie’-- who is a man-- multiple times.

‘Angie’ was flown to Parkland Hospital where he was treated and released.

And what lesson have we learned from this, gentle readers?

Authorities warn regardless of the situation that picking up hitch hikers is never a good idea.

Elephants electrocuted in drunken rampage

You just can't make this stuff up:

GAUHATI, India - Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

AND it's not the first time this has happened, either:

The elephants are known to have a taste for rice beer brewed by tribal communities in India's northeast. Four wild elephants died in similar circumstances in the region three years ago.

Life in the jungle. It's rough.

The Agony and The Ecstasy

Watch the video on the left for the ecstasy. Loads of agony on the right.

Dual Texas Stars, one with hard-cover plates. Owie.