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Face to face at last with Captain Nemo's old foe

Attempts have been underway for some time to capture film of the legendary giant squid (star role in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). This has finally been accomplished.

Click on image to enlarge.

Scientists have taken the first photographs of the giant squid in its natural habitat, providing a remarkable glimpse of one of the most mysterious creatures on the planet.

The leviathan has long been a creature of legend. In 1753 the bishop of Bergen, in Norway, referred to one that was big enough to crush the largest man-of-war. It has been, and remains, inspirational to script writers and authors, most famously Jules Verne, who described how giant squid attacked Capt Nemo's submarine Nautilus.

Until now, our only glimpse has been when the creatures have been washed up or are hauled to the surface after becoming entangled in fishing gear. Adults have never been seen in their natural habitat and all the available information on them has been based on dead or dying animals.

A description of how the pictures of the squid were obtained is published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, B, by Dr Tsunemi Kubodera, of the National Science Museum in Tokyo, and Kyoichi Mori, of the Ogaswara Whale Watching Association. They used a digital camera and bait dangling at a depth of about 450 fathoms off the Ogasawara Islands in the north Pacific.

While it has nothing to do with the next SCOTUS appointment, or the next election cycle, it's still interesting.

Gain SERENITY with new film.

This is one that the Chief has a BAD hankering to go see soonest. Although I have been a long-time Sci-fi afficianado, a lot of the stuff coming out seems to be long on effects, and somewhat short on substance. The I, Robot film for example, took a concept from Isaac Asimov, and proceded to totally warp it beyond recognition.

Serenity, is a movie sequel to the 11-episode TV series Firefly, which has become an instant cult classic of libertarian science fiction.

Take my love. Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don?t care, I?m still free.
You can?t take the sky from me.

Take me out, to the black.
Tell ?em I ain?t comin? back.
Burn the land and boil the sea.
You can?t take the sky from me.

Have no place I can be
Since I found Serenity.

~ Theme Ballad of Firefly

"That's what governments are for, [to] get in a man's way."

~ Mal Reynolds, Captain of Firefly-Class Boat Serenity

Hey, with an attitude like that, it's GOT to be great. Whether or not you're a sci-fi fan, go see it. This sort of content needs to be supported in the media market-place if we don't intend to give it all up to the Oliver Stones, Michael Moores, and Brabra Streisands of the world.

GO SEE SERENITY!

From an article in the British Independent, hat tip to Arts and Letters Daily:DHURNA Anglo-Indian Extorting payment from someone by sitting at their front door and staying there without food, threatening violence, until you get paid. SOKAIYA Japanese A man...

No one should ever accuse the left of being troubled by such things as being logically consistant. Such dangerous tendancies towards rationality are to be avoided at all cost, lest there be some hinderance to their giving free reign to their supreme standard for evaluating issues: How does one FEEL about it, and DON't confuse the issue with facts.

This is exemplified by a couple of issues that are currently in the news. The first is the ruling by Federal District (mis-)Judge Hellerstein (should be Hell-stein?) ordering the release of more pics from Abu Ghraib. It is conceded, even this mis-judgement that this will lead to renewed attacks on US forces in the middle-east, with highly probable loss of life. That's OK though says the Hell-judge, since they are attacking us anyway. This says nothing about the direct damage to US interest when this stuff is once again smeared all over the place on al-Jazeera, et al.

Does anyone else remember the MEANING of the phrase "aid and comfort to the enemy"? (mis-Judge, rope, tree - Some assembly required!)

The other case is renewed in the news cycle by the scheduled testimony of NYT reporter Judith Miller on the disclosure of Valerie Plame as a CIA person. The MSM has been fulminating about this for some time, with great expressions of concern because her life might be in danger if she were engaged in covert ops.

REALITY CHECK: Ms. Plame has been an inside the HQ desk-jockey for years, and has NOT been currently engaged in the admittedly critical 007 type of stuff overseas. Additionally, there was no secret of the fact that she was working for the agency at Langley - this information was out there from other sources, including her husband.

LOGIC CHECK: Lots of concern expressed in the MSM about the so-called danger to former-spy Plame. If she was IN REALITY an active undercover operative, this might be valid. Even if theis WERE the case, is HER life intrinsically more valuable than the lives of US troopers in harms way in the mid-east? The same MSM has little or no concern about that when commenting on the mis-judgement concerning yet more Abu Ghraib pics, which can serve no real purpose, other than to stimulate a certain political agenda at home while providing at a minimum PR aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States.

F.E.T.E.

Don't worry, we'll take care of Iran nukes: Israel

Radio talker Michael Savage on his SAVAGE NATION program reported on Israeli willingness to take out Iran's nukes if the US fails to get the Eurabian - UN axis to do anything more than a bit of jawboning.

After hearing this, the Chief has been looking for some sort of reportage on this topic but without success until this coverage from the India Express website popped up linked on World Net Daily. The story is datelined out of Washington, so one might note the US MSM looking the other way again.

It's not as though the prospects of a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities wouldn't be significant. One has to wonder why the lack of coverage on this one.

As far as the actual issue is concerned, the Chief sees chances for some real action out of the Euroweenies or the UN as being slim to none. If Israel is willing to do the heavy lifting on this one, the US would be well advised to give them a wink and a nod, and stay out of the way.

I have posted a comment on Chad's site requesting a retraction. Here is the note.Chad: Thank you for saying that I'm the sane one around here. You should see the other inmates. As for your passionate note: 1) As I...

Yesterday the Argus Leader did a report on sex education in Sioux Falls. Excerpt:A group of parents are concerned about how sex education is being taught in Sioux Falls middle schools.Based on copies of new teacher manuals they have seen,...

Red State seems to have some inside knowledge. Word in legal circles is that Priscilla Owen is set to become the next justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, I have received reliable information late this afternoon that...

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