Oh my! What the heck are they talking about? Here is the article from the Washington Post dated 11/18/2009, “File-sharing software ban sought in House.” Are we proposing a ban on file sharing in government facilities and/or private residences occupied by federal employees? I thing that the former is mandatory and enforceable and the latter should not be not in the purview of the employer.
Government sites should ban access to file sharing and social networks on their networks…as should any responsible business. There is no need for that access on the computer of a government employee. The security risks are significant, as we have seen. Information of almost any nature should be kept in government facilities and on government networks. Remote access to that information should be restricted to only those who really need it and should be over secure, encrypted communication lines. Users should be able to access a remote desktop environment (Citrix, Windows Terminal Server, VMWare, etc) and be restricted from downloading anything from the private network to their home PC/network.
1 pound fresh or frozen lobster, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound cod, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound haddock, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 teaspoons salt (or so)
4 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoon curry powder
2 quarts milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
Instructions
1. In a large soup kettle or stockpot, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels; reserve drippings.
Saute onions in drippings until tender.
Add potatoes and water; bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add the scallops, lobster, shrimp, cod, haddock. Cook for 10 minutes or until scallops are opaque, shrimp turn pink and fish flakes easily with a fork.
Add the butter, salt, parsley and curry powder.
Stir in milk and evaporated milk; heat through.
Garnish with bacon.
Number of servings (yield): 12
Meal type: dinner
Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)
My rating:4.0 stars
Recipe from Scott A. Chase.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
I would like to shout out and say thanks to all those who serve, have served, and especially those who have served and died for our country and our ideals, twisted though they may be at times. I offer a special thanks and cheers to all the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines I worked and shared time with in my tens years in the U.S. Navy, seven great years of which I spent in the Republic of Korea.
Maybe one of these days the U.S. will make Veterans Day a real holiday by giving those of us who served a paid day off!
According to the Army psychiatrist alleged to be responsible for the recent shootings at Ft. Hood, TX, as cited in the Washington Post article, Fort Hood suspect warned of threats within the ranks, dated November 10, 2009, “…the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims.” What the hell???!!!!
I am vehemently anti-war and I can sympathize with this guy. Had such a policy been in place years ago perhaps World Wars One and Two would have been minor battles rather than global conflagrations. However, I firmly contend that the majority of the wars over the course of history…up until about the late 17th century… were fought for religious causes. I don’t think it is necessary to go into those details to prove my point but can do so if necessary.
More recent wars have been the result of economic/imperialistic/nationalistic desires. Nonetheless, religious differences continue to be a major cause of disagreement from the individual to the national level. We could certainly take the “as a Muslim, I should not be compelled to fight against fellow Muslims” to a higher level and suggest that as human beings we should not be compelled to fight against our fellow man/woman! That is the stance I would take were I a conscientious objector…
Is it significant that a radical Muslim cleric with whom the alleged perpetrator had contact over the years commented, according to the Washington Post in the same article, on his web site that “…a Muslim who “properly” understands his religious obligations cannot serve as a U.S. soldier, as American forces are engaged in fighting Islam and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan.”? Only time will tell…eh?
I headed off to see my sister Kim and her husband Don who live in Suffolk, VA, on Friday, 23 October, 2009. For once, in recent trips down there, the travel time was reasonable. I stopped near Hog Island WMA off of Route 10 on the way down to paddle. Hog Island was closed but an adjacent area was open via a public boat landing. That is were I hoped to put in anyhow so I was okay. I assume that Hog Island WMA was closed because of nesting and/or transient fowl.
I tried to find some new places to put my kayak in the water near Kim’s but was stymied by a seeming lack of boat landings. I thought I had a good option on Lake Burnt Mills but the landing was closed for construction…. I ended up driving around western Suffolk for 80 minutes to no avail. Since we planned on going to Driver Days (is that something you get when you’ve been on the interstate for too long?) and it was nearly 11:00 AM, I decided to check back in at Kim’s to see what was up.
After Kim and Don got ready, we headed off to Driver for the festival. Driver is a town just about a mile from Kim’s which, from my experience, has a jaded history. I once went there to get the BBQ propane tank filled up at the general store, which is not there anymore, and another story. These Mayberry, RFD, guys are sitting out on the porch of the store smoking and joking. One of them tells me that the propane tank filling guy isn’t there but maybe he can help me. He seems fairly competent but after he starts trying to fill the tank the obviously not well attached hose pops of the tank and starts flailing around like an unmanned fire hose except for the fact that it is spewing out a flammable gas not far from a bunch of cigarette smoking yokels! I grabbed the tank and got the eff out!
A tornado ripped through there last August hopping and skipping it’s way across the Suffolk area. It took out one of my sister’s friend’s house near the hospital, wiped out the general store in Driver, missed the trailerhome complex, also in Driver, missed Kim’s neighborhood and missed her office complex which is about ten minutes away from her home. Bad luck not withstanding, the town put on a pretty good fair with a classic car display, military robot demonstrations, tons of food, and lots of arts and crafts. And it was a beautiful day.
On Sunday, while Kim and Don were at church, I fell back on my old faithful paddle, Bennett’s Creek, not five minutes from Kim’s. Afterward, I took off a bit before midday on Route 58 en route Staunton River State Park where I intended to paddle and camp. The drive was pretty good and I’d never been in Virginia between Tidewater and the southwestern part of the state so it was a new experience. For what ever reason, time and/or the very low water level, down four or five feet maybe, I did not paddle. The campsite was great as long as you could avoid the dropping acorns. I never realized how loud those things were. At night in my tent, the dropping acorns sounded like small branches falling out of the trees. I love the late season camping though. Only two other sites were in use.
On Monday I headed off to White Rocks campsite in the Jefferson National Forest. I continued west on Route 58 until I reached Stuart just a bit west of Martinsville where NASCAR raced the previous weekend. From Stuart, I took Route 8 to Christiansburg. That was a seriously curvy, fun road! I can’t wait to pack up the scooter for some camping and head back down that way next year! More on that theme later.
From Christiansburg I sought out 460 west to Pembroke where I hoped to head north on Route 635 to Route 613 to White Rocks. On the way, after looking at the map, I thought I found a short cut via Route 700 off of 460 to 613. I took it but obviously hadn’t worked it out right because when I got to 613, I went the wrong way and wound back up on Route 460. Come to find out, if I had gone the right way, I would have backdoored into White Rocks. Nonetheless, that was another awesomely beautiful and curvaceous road. It is begging for me take the scooter to it! Next year or I am queer!
When I finally got to White Rocks, it was totally deserted. The bathrooms and washing facilities were shut down but there were two Porta Potties. I really didn’t need any of that but if you are car camping, a sit down crapper is a bonus. The leaves were past peak and it was desolate. I could hear coyotes howling up in the mountains. I hiked around a bit before eating dinner then I hung out reading and writing by lamplight until it got down to about 45 degrees at which time I decided, without a campfire, that it was time to get into my tent and sleeping bag. I read for a couple of hours more before shutting it down for the night.
I woke up to intermittent rain sometime in the wee hours and that continued until I finally decided to break camp and head out for home at about 9:00 AM. I headed NNE on Route 635 which turned in to County Road 17 which turned into Route 600 which turned into Route 18 which dropped me into Covington after about 45 miles where I got on Interstate 64 to Interstate 81 to Interstate 66 which took me home. The trip from White Rocks to Covington was another awesomely curvy road which calls to me and my Kawasaki ZRX-1200. Next year for sure!
These folks I think were just a little bit nuts! However, today’s massacre at Fort Hood, TX, doesn’t appear to me to be an act of the criminally insane. I am admittedly paranoid and see nefarious plots in many scenarios that others do not see but…
I have read much about how groups such as Al-Queda may not be able to carry out an act of terrorism such as that we experienced on 911 due to the intense scrutiny of security services worldwide. Accordingly, there are said to be many fanatical decentralized groups/cells around the world that can plan and carry out less extravagant operations and still hit hard at the heart of the West.
Put aside that fact that Major Malik Nadal Hasan’s name would indicate that he is of Middle or Near Eastern heritage. Compare the assault on a U.S military “readiness area” to similar assaults, including suicide bombings, on military and police recruiting and process facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan. The fact that Major Malik (forgive me if that is not his last name) was not the only one implicated in the attack leads one to believe that the shootings were not the actions of one crazy man like the Tower Shooter but the actions of a small cell of terrorists.
To me it was only a matter of time. Terrorists can strike anywhere with a huge impact with a minimum of resources and strike deeply at the targeted people and/or nation. Imagine the affect this strike will have on U.S. military personnel everywhere. Paranoia will strike deep and anyone who has a Middle/Near Eastern sounding name or visage will be automatically suspicious. Can we stir some discontent in our armed forces please?
…plenty of money to ruin them. As I am sure I have mentioned at some time, I like to take a walk on a paved path through a nearby park. The park is a narrow strip of forest with a stream meandering through it and house on one side and office buildings on the other. The path exits the park after a while and briefly follows a power line which parallels a road. While this is hardly wilderness, it is pretty good for me in metro D.C., since it is only a five minute walk from my home.
I have noted for a months now that there has been little effort to maintain the path by clearing back brush and cleaning up trash. Today I found that they cleared all the brush back for about 10 to 20 feet on either side of the path on the power line. Woe am I and the fauna that used to inhabit and/or frequent that flora! I like a bit of trimming of the bush but they wiped out a large quantity of wild berry bushes that certainly provided forage for the birds if nothing else.
The area today seemed devoid of life. I usually see all kinds of birds and frequently deer, raccoons, and woodchucks. I don’t know if those bushes can grow back and, if so, how quickly but clearing them all out was a crime against nature. To make matters worse, now all the trash that has been and will be thrown from cars going down the road is and will be blatantly obvious. It is bad enough around when the foliage thins out. Our brown and gray winter landscapes are decorated with the detritus of our throw away society.
I did not expect quite the overwhelming win. I did expect the win though. Deed’s campaign was weak and neither he, President Obama, nor the DNC really helped the case. It just goes to say that your platform is less of an issue than your image. McDonnell is a player…Deeds is a hick. Unfortunately neither of them had an apparent platform.
The results across the board, huge Republican inroads in VA, and in other regional races less northern NY State, just show how fickle the voters are. God forbid we should stick with an elected representative or party, stay the course, and find a plan that works. Let’s just keep bouncing from one to another and hope that something works….
I still haven’t seen how McDonnell (native of PA by the way) plans to improve the transportation situation in VA. From what I have read, less than a million dollars is available in the highway fund. We’ve raised no money for improvements for 25 years. We need to spend one billion a year for the next 10 years to maintain our roads
One example of what has been done can be found here http://www.28freeway.com/. Route 28 is a major thoroughfare right near me that runs through the “tech corridor.” I used it to commute back and forth to work. It was supposed to be a four year, 200 million dollar project starting in 2002. They just finished it about two days ago. So it was three years overdue…and who knows how much over budget it was.
