Alexandria Mills from United States as Miss World 2010.
Nice..
Nice...
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Miss World 2010
The 60th Miss World pageant was held on October 30, 2010, in Sanya, People's Republic of China, after Vietnam backed out of the hosting contract. Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar crowned her successor
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday Poetry - Untitled Poem, Nathaniel Whitly
Nathaniel Whitely
Created on: February 10, 2008
Archer, Archer!
Take Aim!
Nock your shaft,
bend your bow.
Become the arrow,
and with its loose,
let the string cut straight through you.
With this shot, you die.
With the next, you are reborn.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Miss California 2011
Alyssa Campanella, from Hillsborough, CA, is Miss California 2011. She's 21 and a LA native. She looks pretty good in a bikini, too.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday Poetry - David Hulme, Fields of Green
GFields of Green
David Hulme
Now Paradise is very nice,
But give me fields of green,
Where regimented targets stand,
And archers can be seen.
Where time begins to lose its beat
In leisured conversation,
And archers bend the bow complete
In measured concentration.
Where day on day can slip away
In soothing repetition,
Where scores are reached - and often breached -
In friendly competition.
Yes, Paradise is very nice,
It's here between the row
Of targets and the shooting line
And archers in the bow.
David Hulme
Now Paradise is very nice,
But give me fields of green,
Where regimented targets stand,
And archers can be seen.
Where time begins to lose its beat
In leisured conversation,
And archers bend the bow complete
In measured concentration.
Where day on day can slip away
In soothing repetition,
Where scores are reached - and often breached -
In friendly competition.
Yes, Paradise is very nice,
It's here between the row
Of targets and the shooting line
And archers in the bow.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
AB 144
Assemblyman Portantino's unpopular bill has moved to the Senate committee on appropriation.
And we wait...
And we wait...
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Saturday Poetry - If, Rudyard Kipling
If
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!
"If—" is a poem written in 1895 by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling.
It was first published in the "Brother Square Toes" chapter of Rewards and Fairies, Kipling's 1910 collection of short stories and poems.
Like William Ernest Henley's "Invictus", it is a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and the "stiff upper lip" that popular culture has made into a traditional British virtue. Its status is confirmed both by the number of parodies it has inspired, and by the widespread popularity it still enjoys amongst Britons. It is often voted Britain's favourite poem.
The poem's line, "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same" is written on the wall of the Centre Court players' entrance at the British tennis tournament, Wimbledon, and the entire poem was read in a promotional video for the Wimbledon 2008 gentleman's final by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
According to Kipling in his autobiography Something of Myself, posthumously published in 1937, the poem was inspired by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, who in 1895 led a raid by British forces against the Boers in South Africa, subsequently called the Jameson Raid. This defeat increased the tensions that ultimately led to the Second Boer War. The British press, however, portrayed Jameson as a hero in the middle of the disaster, and the actual defeat as a British victory
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!
"If—" is a poem written in 1895 by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling.
It was first published in the "Brother Square Toes" chapter of Rewards and Fairies, Kipling's 1910 collection of short stories and poems.
Like William Ernest Henley's "Invictus", it is a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and the "stiff upper lip" that popular culture has made into a traditional British virtue. Its status is confirmed both by the number of parodies it has inspired, and by the widespread popularity it still enjoys amongst Britons. It is often voted Britain's favourite poem.
The poem's line, "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same" is written on the wall of the Centre Court players' entrance at the British tennis tournament, Wimbledon, and the entire poem was read in a promotional video for the Wimbledon 2008 gentleman's final by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
According to Kipling in his autobiography Something of Myself, posthumously published in 1937, the poem was inspired by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, who in 1895 led a raid by British forces against the Boers in South Africa, subsequently called the Jameson Raid. This defeat increased the tensions that ultimately led to the Second Boer War. The British press, however, portrayed Jameson as a hero in the middle of the disaster, and the actual defeat as a British victory
Thursday, June 09, 2011
New semi-auto rifle, part 2
I was shopping at Bud's Gun Shop when I may have found what will fit my needs: http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/36_589/products_id/46038.
But it's not a .308.
But it's not a .308.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
New semi-auto rifle
I've got a Marlin .22, but I'm thinking of a new semi-auto. So what's available?
Winchester, Remington, Ruger, Marlin, Savage. Let's take a look, shall we?
Winchester
One bolt action, and six lever actions. That's it--nothing else.
Remington
Three semi-autos, three bolt action, and one lonely pump. Two of the three semi-autos are styled like a ubiquitous AR-15 and the third is the 750, available in synthetic, wood, and carbine length. Not too bad--unless one looks at the price!!
Ruger
They've got their SR-556, the Mini-14 and the Mini-30. That's it.
Marlin
They've got nothing except for big bore lever action and bolt action rifles.
Savage
Much as I like Savage for their .22s, they've got nothing except for bolt actions.
So what's a poor blogger to do? Haunt the local used gun shops and hit the pawn shops...
Winchester, Remington, Ruger, Marlin, Savage. Let's take a look, shall we?
Winchester
One bolt action, and six lever actions. That's it--nothing else.
Remington
Three semi-autos, three bolt action, and one lonely pump. Two of the three semi-autos are styled like a ubiquitous AR-15 and the third is the 750, available in synthetic, wood, and carbine length. Not too bad--unless one looks at the price!!
Ruger
They've got their SR-556, the Mini-14 and the Mini-30. That's it.
Marlin
They've got nothing except for big bore lever action and bolt action rifles.
Savage
Much as I like Savage for their .22s, they've got nothing except for bolt actions.
So what's a poor blogger to do? Haunt the local used gun shops and hit the pawn shops...
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Miss America 2011
Miss America 2011 is Teresa Scanlan, formerly Miss Nebraska:
Teresa Scanlan, Miss Nebraska, was one of the youngest competitors on the show. After being crowned the winner of the 2011 Miss America Pageant, she burst into tears and raised her arms up as Cameron pinned the crown to her head.
Teresa Scanlan, Miss Nebraska, was one of the youngest competitors on the show. After being crowned the winner of the 2011 Miss America Pageant, she burst into tears and raised her arms up as Cameron pinned the crown to her head.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Saturday Poetry
Phillip Ayres, 1638 - 1712
An Ode of Anacreon
My hairs are hoary, wrinkled is my Face,
I lose my strength, and all my manly grace
My eyes grow dim, my teeth are broke or gone,
And the best part of all my life is done;
I'm drown'd in cares, and often sigh and weep;
My spirits fail me, broken is my sleep
Thoughts of the gaping grave distract my head;
For in its paths, 'wake or asleep, we tread;
None can from it by art their feet restrain
Nor back, tho' wide its gates, can come again.
Then since these ills attend the life of man,
Let's make their burden easy as we can.
Cares are no cares, but whilst on them we think,
To clear our minds of such dull thoughts, let's drink.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
LosCon 2010 Idea
I'm kicking around the idea of a Rotsler Memorial Lecture for Men. Failing that, a room party theme of "alt.talk.RotslerForMen". Hmm...
Badge ribbon tags "Smart Woman" or "Brainy Babe". Would have to stay over Friday, Saturday or both nights.
Badge ribbon tags "Smart Woman" or "Brainy Babe". Would have to stay over Friday, Saturday or both nights.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
I Want to Write
A story about a catastrophe in the greater San Fernando valley.
So.
A small (tiny) asteroid or a large meteorite smacks one of the north faces of the valley. Depending on where it hits, there might be flood or fire, definitely earthquake. Hmm--so building / infrastructure damage. Communication?
It will intefere with traffic (freeway damage? destruction?), tie up the 5 / 210 / 405 consolidation.
LAPD, LASO, CHP--California National Guard? Governor (not Arnold!) declares disaster after touring the area (by helicopter? Humvee?), then governor vanishes from story. Mayor attempts to seize spotlight--worthless promises, touring the area, muscling in.
Militia rises, asserts itself--local emergency response clubs...Hmm...Some become leaders, some become food agents, some lead the way out of the area...Hmm.
So. "The Great San Fernando Valley Disaster"? Maybe.
So.
A small (tiny) asteroid or a large meteorite smacks one of the north faces of the valley. Depending on where it hits, there might be flood or fire, definitely earthquake. Hmm--so building / infrastructure damage. Communication?
It will intefere with traffic (freeway damage? destruction?), tie up the 5 / 210 / 405 consolidation.
LAPD, LASO, CHP--California National Guard? Governor (not Arnold!) declares disaster after touring the area (by helicopter? Humvee?), then governor vanishes from story. Mayor attempts to seize spotlight--worthless promises, touring the area, muscling in.
Militia rises, asserts itself--local emergency response clubs...Hmm...Some become leaders, some become food agents, some lead the way out of the area...Hmm.
So. "The Great San Fernando Valley Disaster"? Maybe.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Saturday Poetry
Ogden Nash
1902 - 1971
The Romantic Age
This one is entering her teens,
Ripe for sentimental scenes,
Has picked a gangling unripe male,
Sees herself in a bridal veil,
Presses lips and tosses head,
Declares she's not too young to wed,
Informs you pertly you forget
Romeo and Juliet.
Do not argue, do not shout;
Remind her how that one turned out.
From A Tribute to the Poet, Ogden Nash
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