ValkingBlog: November 2004

ValkingBlog

Because there is more to life than just work...

Monday, November 29, 2004

Dog Poop Calendar - Funny Dog Calendar

Dog Poop Calendar - Funny Dog Calendar

This is a riot, Clara's Victory Dance got me here and I think I need to order a few for friends and family. What a great holiday idea. Thanks again Clara, leave it to you to get the real poop on what'll be hot this holiday and what'll just be , well sh*t...
-Robert

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Link to a link to a link...

Well I've been neglecting reading the blogs I've gotten used to reading but this morning I caught up a bit and found a real treasure. Clara sent me to hear William Shatner sing Rocketman. That in itself was nothing new, I knew the Captain had a history of bad music, but it was worse than I remembered to be sure. First I rolled into Webjunkie. Among the good things mentioned there I followed the links to Miserable Melodies. Oh my God, what a treasure trove of some of the most horrible songs you never wanted to hear butchered.
I can't decide if it's bad songs gone worse, or good songs gone bad to worse to "please shoot me for even telling you about this". But there are some real listening moments there. Hate classical music? Well there are some tracks in there that will assure that classical is never heard again in your home, if you're suddenly taken with the spirt and agree with the spouse that "hey, classical does sound kinda neat..." try this ploy with a straight face though, I warn 'ya.
I must have downloaded two dozen different tunes. Christmas songs, Old favorites like "Love, Love Me Do" of course as a Gregorian Chant, or "I Gave The Cat Some Acid" by Happy Flowers. And I even followed through to William Shatner and found his "RocketMan" actually bearable as it must have been done 40 years ago while he still was Kirk. Go take a listen you might just find the looking and listening to have been worth the time. And for the start, Thanks Clara.
-Robert "I have no ear for music no more" D.

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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Happy Thanksgiving, Ya'll !!!

Well, it's Wednesday, a little before 8AM.
Thanksgiving holiday! Off for the next four, have to love it.
I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday, just please:
EAT CAREFULLY.

Remember your stomach is NOT as big as your eyes make that plate full out to be.
Don't eat 'till it hurts. If you must pig out, Eat only the stuff everyone else wants, not just what you like. Remember, the stuff you like will still be there later, the stuff everyone else wants will disappear right away. Don't be shy about being first in line at larger eating events that might set up a buffet style arrangement, SOMEONE HAS TO BE FIRST, Might as well be you. Try not to eat & drive, it makes a mess of the food. (This also applies to cell phone calls, turn the phone off or let voicemail catch it, eating and yapping on a cellphone is no good, and not for simple folks like ourselves.) Do pack a plate of left overs for you and your party before your hosts put everything away, they'll appreciate you trying to save them fridge space. Do eat and run.

Most importantly: There isn't always room for Jello.

Have a great holiday my friends, and really, be careful out there.

-Robert

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Sunday, November 21, 2004

Blogshares Industries Suggestions

Recently a contest has been offered on Blogshares asking that submissions be made suggesting new industries for the game.

In that light I would like to suggest five new industries to be added as subindustries to Extreme Sports which itself is a subindustry of Sports.
Those new categories (in order of importance to myself, of course being so modest as to suggest my blog itself needs one of the new industries) would be:

Powered Paragliding

Paragliding

Parachuting

Base Jumping

Hang Gliding

As an example to the readership, ValkingVideo3 currently shows powered paragliders in action while more example can also be seen at Fly-by Ranch which is a wonderful school in Florida of which I am alumni.

An example of Base Jumping can be seen on ValkingVideo2 where all variety of thrill seeker sought the excitement of Bridge Day. There were even older parachutes styles and paragliders in attendance, talk about high anxiety!



Paragliding is simply the removal of the motor and the very inspired use of natural wind currents to maintain flight.

But this might be getting the cart before the horse.


The order of things timewise, paragliding came first as alpine climbers sought a better way to end the climb of a high mountain.
Originally using hang gliders for this they found the effort to carry a glider to the summit more of a stunt or novelty and experimented with parachutes and steerable parachutes of the day enjoying the greater ease of carrying a bag of nylon or silk instead of the larger assembly of a hang glider which included long poles and required a larger party to carry. Thus still impractical as several had to make the effort of easing the return of one. The use of parachutes might actually have spawned base jumping as the heights often included cliff faces and non gradual decents. This of course is only conjecture on the authors part, however and not at this point researched to proof. What is known though is that the evolution of the wing, the parachute as such, became refined to a point that one person could carry the equipment needed alone. All one had to do was climb to an appropriate
summit, and by deploying the advanced design which became paragliders, actually run off the launch inflating the wing overhead first and glide in a short time down heights which took all day to climb. The sport of mountain climbing thus created the sport of paragliding. In time Paragliders became effiectient to a very high degree, glide ratios made longer and longer flights possible. Now pilots could extend times and distances by the use of thermal currents, soaring just as birds of prey did.

But what of the places of the world without mountains? Happily some inventive souls began experimenting with the use of motorized backpacks and eventually powered paragliding became a viable option to the average person. Even today the sport of powered paragliding grows with hundreds of new pilots each year safely entering the sport hobby.

At the same time I would also like to suggest an industry Artefact for extreme sports, the "Golden Parachute" thus answering the question "What color is your parachute?" and in the same moment alluding to the book of the same name that brought to mind the idea to plan for your future and job security.

In the case of extreme sports, the future isn't always what it's cracked up to be, and as I say on the top of my blog, "Because there is more to life than just work..."

Blogsharers agree, new industies are needed and appreciated.

Powered Paragliding
Paragliding
Parachuting
Base Jumping
Hang Gliding
Golden Parachute

Thanks for looking.
-Robert D.
-Valkingwinger

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CNN.com - Bush aids Secret Service agent - Nov 21, 2004

CNN.com - Bush aids Secret Service agent - Nov 21, 2004: "

From CNN White House Correspondent Dana Bash
Sunday, November 21, 2004 Posted: 1:22 PM EST (1822 GMT)

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNN) -- It was a rare moment of role reversal -- U.S. President George W. Bush coming to the aid of a man paid to protect him.
Upon arriving for an official dinner with world leaders gathered for the annual APEC summit on Saturday night, the president stopped after hearing commotion at the door of the Estacion Mapocho Cultural Center.
According to a videotape of the incident, Bush turned around and saw that one of his Secret Service agents was being forcefully restrained from entering by Chilean security guards.
The president dove into the crowd, where people were arguing and pushing one another, and pulled the agent through the door of center.
After the successful rescue, Bush turned around, cocked his head proudly at his maneuver and began to greet his hosts.
The White House is downplaying the incident as an unfortunate misunderstanding with Chilean security services.
'There was some confusion over whether the president's Secret Service agent could accompany him to the dinner, but the issue was resolved,' White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan told CNN.
The president is in the Chilean capital for the weekend Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, making his first international trip since winning a second term on November 2."

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Friday, November 19, 2004

New York Post Online Edition: gossip

New York Post Online Edition: gossip
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Rosario Dawson has been un-invited.
Not right.
-Robert

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NPP to boost campaign with para-glider / In Ghana?

Accra, Nov. 19, GNA - The United Kingdom and Ireland branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Friday donated a Para-glider, an aircraft that could distribute thousands of party leaflets within an hour from the air, to boost the electioneering campaign of the Party.

The Para-Glider, with NPP inscriptions boldly printed on it and embossed with President John Agyekum Kufuor's photograph, can fly for between one-and-a-half hours to two hours after which it is refuelled. It was purchased by Mr Nobel Kwesi Adjei-Boakye, Vice Chairman of the UK Ireland branch of the Party, who presented it to the Party at a ceremony in Accra on Friday.

The equipment is to be operated by a Dutch Engineer, Captain Walter Neser, who has been contracted by Mr Adjei-Boakye. It will cover most of the Greater Accra Region.

Mr Adjei-Boakye said it was purchased from his personal fortune and with two weeks to the elections, it was necessary for individuals, who had the Party at heart, to support the campaign to help it win the elections.

Unwilling to disclose the cost of the equipment to Journalists, he said it was the thought behind the donation that mattered and not the cost.

Mr Adjei-Boakye said he had received authorisation from the relevant agencies to use the para-glider adding that it would not cause harm to anybody.

He said the para-glider could also distribute tee shirts, banners, leaflets and other safe items that could be carried in the air. Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, who is also the NPP Campaign Manager, received the equipment saying it would enhance the Party's campaign.

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One way to get the word out in a low tech country...
A Powered Paraglider as a political tool?
Go figure... (grin)
-Robert

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Thursday, November 18, 2004

Hog-Air home of Harley Davidson powered airplanes / aircraft engines

Hog-Air home of Harley Davidson powered airplanes / aircraft engines

So the question was: If Harley-Davidson made airplanes would you fly in one? Well for these folks the answer had to be yes. They've powered their aircraft with a Harley-Davidson engine and there's even video. Go take a look, interesting stuff. But mainly at the experimental stage right now I believe.
-Rob "needs airtime" D.

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Modern Day Transformers



I'd love one of these, how about ya'll?
-Robert

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Stephen Moore on Canada & Election 2004 on National Review Online

Stephen Moore on Canada & Election 2004 on National Review Online

November 17, 2004, 8:39 a.m.
Export a Liberal!
If they’re so eager to flee to Canada, by all means, let’s help them.

Well, my good friend Grover Norquist may finally see his lifelong dream come true. It looks like the Left is finally going to leave us all alone. If everything goes according to plan, blue-state Democrats are going to let us keep our guns and our money and our kids and our faith — and all the other things that government keeps trying to wrest from us.

Allow me to explain the basis for my optimism.

The Canadian embassy reports that the requests from U.S. citizens for travel visas, citizenship applications, and political-asylum petitions have skyrocketed since the glorious day of November 2, 2004, when big-government liberalism was once again relegated to the ash heap of history (for the next four years, at least). One contact at the Canadian embassy told me that they are overwhelmed with requests to enter the country from Canada's neighbor to the south. The Canadians haven't seen this kind of invasion of young discontented Americans since the Vietnam draft dodgers poured across the border.

European nations, especially France, are also reporting a surge in applications from Americans wanting to leave these shores immediately (and hopefully for good). It appears that if the Left in America can't bring the European welfare state and high taxes on the rich to America, they will go to enjoy them in Europe.

It would also appear, then, that the party that preaches tolerance as the preeminent virtue just can't tolerate one thing: conservatives. (This is especially true when conservatives control the instruments of political power.) Well, I respect that. When you get a fanny-whupping like the Left got on Election Day — when every one of your core values (tax hikes on the rich, abortion on demand, government-run health care, reparation payments for slavery, one-world government, polygamy) has been rejected by your bigoted and narrow-minded fellow citizens — it's cowardly to stick around.

I mean, really: How can any self-respecting blue-state liberal Democrat possibly stomach four more years of Republican rule in America (which, for many of the MTV Rock the Vote Generation-Xers, must seem like consecutive life sentences)? Do liberals really want the Darth Vader of American politics, Karl Rove, to rub their noses in it for another four-year term? Can they fathom being governed by red-state conservative Republicans, who, if the New York Times is right, have such low I.Q.s that it's hard to believe we ever managed to get toilet trained?

Liberals of America, unite! Leave this horrid and wicked and irredeemable backwater! Why not create a workers' paradise off the shores of France? You can all speak French, allow Janet Jackson to show both her breasts, create a cradle-to-grave welfare state, drink Starbucks lattes, read the New York Times every day, scramble the satellite signal for Fox News, and worship your new leader, Michael Moore! Hell, we'll throw in Harvard and the whole faculty! It's a gift. Here's an added incentive: You will never have to take the war on terrorism to the terrorists; they will almost certainly bring it right to your doorstep.

Now, there's the catch in all this. It turns out that a lot of the liberals can't afford the trip, or the entry fee into places like Canada.

So here's my idea: a new project called the Export a Liberal Fund. From this pool we will donate $100 to every liberal who agrees to give up his U.S. citizenship and flee the country permanently.

Warning #1: There's no coming back for health care when you get sick.

Warning #2: There will be no amnesty program. These are one-way tickets.

Before the 2000 elections, the Alec Baldwins and the Barbara Streisands of the world promised that they would leave the country if Bush won. The good news is that Bush indeed won; the bad news is that Streisand and Baldwin did what liberals always seem to do: they lied. And, alas, they are still among us.

But this time they are serious about leaving. With Bush's election the Renaissance was over; with his reelection, the Dark Ages have definitively descended upon America. These leftists therefore want out — so they can seek more socialist pastures. They just need a little nudge, a little financial incentive.

I, for one, stand ready and willing to do my patriotic part and contribute to the Export a Liberal Fund. I hope you will join me in this worthy charitable endeavor. Let's really go out and paint the country red!

— Stephen Moore is a contributing editor of National Review.

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Gotta love this guy & the idea.
-Robert


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Wednesday, November 17, 2004

AMITYVILLE TOASTER

Having recently done a lot of eBaying, I had to appreciate when Foamy of Ill Will Press, found the amityville toaster.
I hope you'll all click and enjoy.
-Rob "needa181" D.

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This is a grind.

Well it's another morning and I'm home from work. Time to go to bed. Seems like I'm not getting much done while I'm working on this night shift thing.I seem to be getting a lot of sleep though. Perhaps I should take a picture so I'll remember all the sleep when I go back to rotating on first and second. I bet I'll appreciate all the sleep then. Who knows? I know I sleep a lot now. Perhaps I should drink more coffee and yawn less. I don't know. Night ya'll.
-Robert "sleepytime" D.

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Thursday, November 11, 2004

Busting some caps in lower Manhattan

by Sarah Portlock
Columnist

Facing another four years of Bush, I realized it was high time to see what the Second Amendment crowd is so frothed up about. I decided to go shooting.

Last Saturday, I went to the West Side Rifle and Pistol Range, the oldest and only remaining shooting range in Manhattan. Located in a labyrinthine basement beneath a Chelsea office building, the range offers gun enthusiasts an opportunity to practice or shoot at targets.

Gun culture is hardly a foreign phenomenon for me. I come from Virginia, a red state where the opening day of deer season warrants an excused absence from school. When I go home in the fall, on any given day I'll drive past 10 to 20 hunters walking on the side of the road. We have to slow down so we don't hit their dogs.

But I never went hunting myself, and I wanted to better understand this fascination with shooting. Now that I've become a slick city girl, it seemed as good a time as any to figure it out. Besides, Nov. 13 - the magical date when law abiding Virginians can trek into the woods to blow away a stag - is fast approaching.

The range caters to a wide audience. Law enforcement officers and housewives fire away in stalls next to doctors and students.

"We're very unique," said Darren Leung, the range's vice president. "We service people who have permits to fire a weapon in the most anti-gun state in the country."

Earlier, when I'd told my dad that I was going shooting, he playfully reminded me of the National Rifle Association bumper sticker, "Gun Control is Having a Good Grip." These guys aren't kidding, he said - recoil from a discharging weapon can dislocate the shoulder of a newcomer.

Over the course of two hours, I took the mandatory introduction class and started shooting. I fired off 50 rounds of a .22 caliber, semi automatic Ruger 1022 rifle at targets located downrange.

In English, I shot 50 bullets from a long-barreled, no-recoil, single-projector gun at paper targets located 10, 21 and 25 feet away.

And it really wasn't that scary.

Fortunately, the recoil on my gun wasn't as bad as I'd thought, which was good news for my shoulder. Bullets shoot out of the rifle at a top speed of 545 miles per hour, and have enough umph to maintain momentum up for about two miles.

Once my instructor taught me the basics in the classroom - how to hold the gun, how to fix it if it breaks - I was, well, fair game for the range.

When you finish a magazine cartridge, or if there's a jam, there are three steps a shooter must take to ensure safety.

1. Safety on: Make sure the safety pin is engaged.

2. Magazine out: Make sure the magazine is out and no rounds are in the gun.

3. Action open: Show others that your gun is void of rounds and thus not capable of firing.

My instructor had me recite them in the classroom, and while I was in the stall, I realized their gravity. This thing I was shooting could cause some major damage if it went off at the wrong angle.

I put on my "eyes and ears," my goggles and earmuffs, and went in. I loaded my five magazines, smiled at my instructor and aimed at the white piece of paper he'd navigated to rest 10 feet into the range.

My first goal, he said, was to shoot the paper and then get my second shot into the same hole. Ten rounds later, I had successfully missed each previous shot by a good inch.

During Round 2, I finally got a shot close to the one before. And then, by my fifth and final set, I not only hit the '10' in the middle of the bull's-eye, but I also got three shots within close proximity of each other - and the bull's-eye.

The Virginian blood was kicking in.

In the second, third and fourth magazine rounds, I moved my targets back to 21 and 25 feet, shooting with only moderate success.

The trick to shooting lies in lining up a tiny red pin known as the "front sight" at the tip of the gun with a tiny pocket-like contraption, the "rear sight," on the barrel. Aiming with the front-sight is key to hitting the target, but lining up the front-and rear sights is the key to shooting accurately.

This, it turns out, is easier said than done, since I was shaking as I held the gun. Luckily, my instructor suggested I lean against the wooden bar and turn a bit differently. With this additional support, my left shoulder no longer held the brunt of the three-pound gun, and there was no kickback whatsoever. Victory!

Later that afternoon, I noticed I had gun-dirt under my fingernails, a definite first. There's something to be said about legally firing a gun in a basement in Manhattan. It was fun, exciting and powerfully adventurous - and I'll take that.

And as the bazooka-toting California governor once said, I'll be back. •

Sarah Portlock is a columnist for Washington Square News.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2004

XGenStudios.com - Motherload

XGenStudios.com - Motherload

Thought I'd share a nice time waster with everyone.
The game's called Motherload and it's a neat little game.
Can be addictive. Simple and straightforward:
You're on Mars.
You have a basic drilling machine.
You mine to make money to upgrade your machine to mine more to make more money to upgrade more and before you know it, you're hooked.
The kids might like it too. My 13 year old, Rebecca, loves it.
-Robert

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Soldier fined over replica guns � ABC Darwin � Local News

Soldier fined over replica guns � ABC Darwin � Local News: "ABC Darwin | Local News | Story
Soldier fined over replica guns
Wednesday, 3 November 2004
A 22-year-old soldier from Darwin's Robertson Barracks has been fined $600 for firearms offences involving replica pistols that were found in his house in October last year.
Geoffrey James Brotherton was cooperating with a police search for drugs at the Barracks when the firearms were found.
The Darwin Magistrates Court heard Brotherton was not licensed to handle the replica pistols.
His lawyer told the court the firearms had small plastic pellets and his client had used them to shoot at figurines when he was a teenager.
Magistrate Daynor Trigg heard the soldier had served in Iraq and East Timor and was an exemplary soldier.
He was fined $600 and no conviction was recorded."

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So they need a permit to have an airsoft? If it looks like a gun, is plastic, shoots plastic pellets instead of bullets, weights half to a third what a real gun weighs, and doesn't go bang like a gun, then in Australia, it must be a gun.
Go figure.
-Robert

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Monday, November 08, 2004

Monday again.

Well it's Monday again and I realized that it's been almost a week since I set up the Video Blogs, Have to say I like what it's done for being able to share when I find something I like. The base jumping for example, that's cool. Could I do it? Yah, probably. Would I do it alot? Nah, probably not. I think I'd go into shock after too much adrenaline in a single day.
Noticed however that haven't been keeping up like I should on everybody else's blogs and missed my 15 seconds of fame as I was mentioned twice in other blogs (thanks Lydia)... I took one of those personality quiz thingies, this one was "what girl rocker are you?" Ended up I was Ashlee Simpson...lol. So along those personality lines/quiz thoughts, take a second to watch the clip on ValkingVideo4 and decide which gun you'd probably most like to try or own. Not which one you'd be... =)

If you know the names great, but if not, try describing what it looks like or what you liked about it and let's just see where it goes...
The Video Blogs at the moment:
ValkingVideo1 Tom Feller's Excellent PPG Flight
ValkingVideo2 Bridge Day 2003 Base jumping at it's best
ValkingVideo3 Florida Flights PPG clip of my instructors flying
ValkingVideo4 Northern Arizona Machinegun Shoot 2003

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Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Let the healing begin...

So I saw the Kerry/Edwards concession speach about an hour and a half ago. Have to say I was suprised to see them doing the right thing.

Four more years! Four more years!

-Robert

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Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Paramotor, paramotor, paramotor

powered paraglider, paragliding, paragliders, flying, ultralight flight, paramente, powered parachute, launch, landing, crosswind, crabbing, paramotor, kiting, extreme sports, glider, gliding, experimental aircraft association, EAA, Hirth, Fresh Breeze, Sky Cruiser, AirBoss, SD Mini Monster, fly, baby, fly !!!

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Monday, November 01, 2004

Monday, time for a little creation/organization...

Okay, Fact is I've been feeling a little limited with the video posting. Run across a good video and want to share it, but the readership's low so how to keep a video prominient without stopping posting so it'll stay at the top of the blog all the time? I know, make another blog or two, or three and put them there... Oh, and add a sidebar titled "videos" okay... Well step one is there, ValkingVideoBlog exists and has Tom Fellers excellent flight. Next step side bar, then another VideoBlog, something original and catchy like... I know, ValkingVideoBlog2, and then ValkingVideoBlog3, 4, 5... Nah I probably wouldn't get to five, but two or three I be would be doable... I'll also be sure to mention when new videos are up (like they are at 1,2,&3 now). BTW, be sure to look at my profile, and in it my other blogs, where other videos can be found. I guess this will help clean them up too, keeping the videos to a specific bloggenre... More follows, stay tuned.
-Robert

ValkingVideoBlog3

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