tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34872462011-04-21T18:06:51.418-05:00A blog by Dave Himrich, who lives between two highways near Tulsa, Oklahoma. He works as the quality manager of a manufacturing plant and practices Aikido. E-mail dhimrich -at- sbcglobal -dot- netDave Himrichnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1151980381646796602006-07-03T21:06:00.000-05:002006-07-03T21:33:05.483-05:00

This is just a diary entry to record that on Saturday, July 1st, my teacher Mike Lewis, several of his other students (Paul, Sara, Toren, Larry, Jeff) and I visited Nick Lowry's Windsong Dojo in Oklahoma City. Nick told us before class that I would be able to demonstrate for my shodan (1st degree black belt) rank. We participated in class and then Mike Lewis was uke for my demonstration. Lowry

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1151538432503354812006-06-28T18:45:00.000-05:002006-06-28T18:47:12.520-05:00

This via dustbury:Greed:Medium Gluttony:Medium Wrath:Medium Sloth:High Envy:Very Low Lust:Medium Pride:Medium The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1144119776717544452006-04-03T22:02:00.000-05:002006-04-03T22:05:22.383-05:00

Chart3-30 Totals from the past 9 weeks indicate a decrease in the fatality rate among Coalition forces in Iraq. The average number of fatalities caused by hostile action during that period was about 9. The average had been about 13 per week. The new level is the lowest since before operations during April 2004 to clear several key Iraqi cities.You will probably hear much more about the

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1136346451706493282006-01-03T21:46:00.000-06:002006-01-03T21:50:16.613-06:00

I have updated my fatalities chart through the week ending 12/29/05. My short interpretation is that the hostile fatality rate for Coalition forces has not changed from its recent average of about 13 per week.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1129082865977136452005-10-11T20:55:00.000-05:002005-10-11T21:09:58.466-05:00

I feel like the Associated Press will pursue any angle to cast the war effort in a bad light or promote discouragement here at home. This story is a fine example. Three men in 10th Special Forces Group commit suicide in fairly rapid succession. The story seems to emphasize that this was an SF unit. But one of the three suicides was an accountant, another was an electronics repairer. They

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1129081641721353112005-10-11T20:46:00.000-05:002005-10-11T20:47:21.726-05:00

...about Mizzou football from Tim McCarver:1. They play in Tiger Stadium2. in Jefferson City

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1127616015741621092005-09-24T21:38:00.000-05:002005-09-24T21:44:04.280-05:00

The fatalities trend provides some encouragement. Deaths due to hostile fire may be slightly down over the past few weeks, despite many offensives by Coalition forces. The change, if any, is small, and may require several more weeks to be confirmed by data, but here's hoping.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1125364880713341562005-08-29T20:10:00.000-05:002005-08-29T20:21:20.726-05:00

Via Matt Barr, an idea for a list:Top 100 from 1980 (I graduated from high school.) Songs I liked are bold, my favorite of these (No. 100) is underlined (and in bold, because I liked it), and ones I didn't like are struck through. Others, which I either cannot remember or didn't care about, are none of these.No Elvis Costello? He was not mainstream, I guess. I just remember the music being

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1124599777362469382005-08-20T23:44:00.000-05:002005-08-20T23:49:37.366-05:00

Hostile fire fatalties, by week, through 8/18/05. There was a spike around the first week of August, which turns out to be part of Operation Quick Strike in western Iraq. A number of Marine Reservists from Ohio were killed during that week. Fortunately, it appears that spike was not part of an adverse trend, as fatality counts have returned to their long-term average of about 14 per week.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1122785038515390422005-07-30T23:28:00.000-05:002005-07-31T00:24:09.503-05:00

Tagged by Matt Barr, I am finally stirred to describe some of my relationship with books. Number of books I own: Many hundreds, if you count my wife's and mine together. We have I think 4 tall bookcases in the spare bedroom that are full, I have full shelves at work, and there are some boxes here and there, plus the kids' books. Last book I bought: The Evolutionists by Richard Morris, and

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1122782617290515252005-07-30T22:55:00.000-05:002005-07-30T23:12:03.156-05:00

Here is the chart of fatalities caused by hostile action, by week. The rate has been holding steady at about 14 per week since April 2004. There have been short-term increases due to specific operations, those are marked. There also was a period of reduced fatalities during the spring of 2005. The casualty figures come from icasualties.org/oif/

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1113107406777404522005-04-09T23:29:00.000-05:002005-04-09T23:30:06.776-05:00

What would we do without grandstanding US Senators?

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1110855513661345942005-03-14T20:53:00.000-06:002005-03-14T20:58:33.663-06:00

Friend Matt wonders about Political Correctness as it relates to courthouse security. My co-worker (and former auxiliary sheriff's deputy) Daniel assured me that, after appearing the previous day with makeshift edged weapons in his shoes, Brian Nichols would have been escorted into Mayes County court with "a shotgun pointed at each ear."

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1110606027564126622005-03-11T23:39:00.000-06:002005-03-11T23:40:27.566-06:00

...About plumbing: Cold goes on the right. Shit flows downhill.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1110605967761445342005-03-11T23:34:00.000-06:002005-03-11T23:39:27.763-06:00

Via Tim Blair, this from an Army journalist in Iraq:I saw more Tina Turner albums in Iraqi homes than I ever have in my life. And I have no idea why. It was just weird. I mean, who likes Tina Turner?Well I kinda like her, though I've never bought one of her albums. The guy has a point, though: Ike Turner albums would seem more in character.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1110425067664327622005-03-09T21:14:00.000-06:002005-03-09T21:24:27.666-06:00

Some folks in the comments here have claimed that speeding on Route Irish (the road from Baghdad to the airport) at up to 100 mph is routine. That doesn't seem quite right. There must be a fair amount of military traffic, and there are not very many military land vehicles that can operate at that rate. Also, there must be a lot of Iraqi trucks and other vehicles not capable of those speeds.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1110084813241011042005-03-05T22:52:00.000-06:002005-03-05T22:53:33.243-06:00

...about Electrical Engineering: E = IR You have to plug it in to make it work

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1110084677846827782005-03-05T22:48:00.000-06:002005-03-05T22:51:17.846-06:00

My Dad and his friend Carol are visiting this weekend. Today we visited Will Rogers's birthplace, where Wesley had a great time with the ranch animals. He was very talkative. We went to the Gilcrease Museum in the afternoon, our first visit.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1109558172817327302005-02-27T20:30:00.000-06:002005-02-27T20:36:12.820-06:00

More thoughts on living in the present, this time from C. S. Lewis, in chapter 15 of The Screwtape Letters:The humans live in time but our Enemy [God] destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1109303744488051802005-02-24T21:48:00.000-06:002005-02-24T21:55:44.490-06:00

Here is something Karl Geis shared with us at last Saturday's aikido clinic: The past is gone The present is reality The future is a fantasy The context at the time was that aikido technique cannot be accomplished by planning moves out in advance, but of course these same ideas resonate with the Buddhist value of being fully present in the moment. Even two minutes from now is the future.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1109207016365023772005-02-23T18:42:00.000-06:002005-02-23T19:03:36.370-06:00

Frank J. wants some answers. Here are mine:THE "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" BLOGGER QUIZ 1. Who the hell do you think you are? I'm just a befuddled, middle-aged white man, trying to get by. 2. So, other than blogging, what's your job? Do you work at some fast food joint, dumbass? I lasted all of two weeks in fast food. I'm the quality manager at a manufacturing plant. All

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1109131716350114712005-02-22T21:53:00.000-06:002005-02-22T22:48:05.876-06:00

Instapundit wrote recently about how Ward Churchill got tenured and a department chair, with lots of references to a possible bidding war with other universities for Churchill's services. I got to thinking about what other, comparable universities might have an interest in this guy. I have kind of a failure of imagination about this because I went to a land grant university. One of my cherished

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1109023779150841682005-02-21T16:06:00.000-06:002005-02-21T16:09:39.150-06:00

Heard about this just now on KRMG. This aircraft is based near to where I live. One of the things that was new to me upon moving to this part of the country are the rural medevac services. They appeal to my libertarian impulses because you can join them (and the ground-based ambulance service, too) as a member and get a discount if you need them. Pray for the crew and their families.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1109023337956612972005-02-21T15:59:00.000-06:002005-02-21T16:02:17.956-06:00

... but I know his Thompson piece will be good when we finally see it. Colby is good at illuminating the complex in an entertaining way, and appreciating Thompson certainly seems complex to me.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108962304280163272005-02-20T23:02:00.000-06:002005-02-20T23:05:04.280-06:00

...at 67 years of age. That's younger than I figured him for. A gunshot suicide is not the least bit out of character. For some reason Colby Cosh is the first person I want to hear reaction from.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108784477613998252005-02-18T21:28:00.000-06:002005-02-20T23:09:42.803-06:00

Tomorrow I am going to OKC for an aikido "clinic" (what I used to call a seminar) with the head of the organization I train with, Karl Geis. I'm really looking forward to seeing a bunch of different aikidoists who are experts in this style. I'm even looking forward to seeing the dojo, which looks to be a very cool building.UPDATE: The building is a former restaurant, in what might have been

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108699902274111362005-02-17T22:00:00.000-06:002005-02-17T22:11:42.276-06:00

...SFC Peebles used to sometimes say, "A Word to the Wise. That means I'm putting out the Word, and you'd be Wiiiiiiiiise to listen to it." (Recruits and cadets can be thick.) And I was reminded of that when I read what the President had to say today about Israel and Iran. This is pretty stark for a press conference:But clearly, if I was the leader of Israel, and I listened to some of the

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108616167051197012005-02-16T22:54:00.000-06:002005-02-16T23:06:45.943-06:00

Tonight's aikido practice: 8 defenses against knife attacks. Take-away: do not get into knife fights with people. Especially if you do not have a knife.UPDATE: By the way, I am aware of at least a couple of aikidoists who have survived knife attacks. One is likely to be cut, but aikido does work. Or maybe I should say it can work. The main thing is probably to NOT PANIC, which is why we

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108530022092766212005-02-15T22:56:00.000-06:002005-02-15T23:00:22.093-06:00

God bless Michael Bates. The threatening letter really begs the question of how smart one must be to be a power-broker in Tulsa. Probable answer: not that smart.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108441627849638242005-02-14T22:35:00.000-06:002005-02-14T22:54:05.743-06:00

This is a chart I have been maintaining on Coalition hostile fire deaths since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The counts are for successive seven-day periods, with the most recent one endind 2/10/05.I apologize for the dodgy appearance of the chart within the blog. I am no kind of web guru. The chart shows that the Coalition is sustaining about 14 hostile fire deaths per week since the

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108435748821798532005-02-14T20:41:00.000-06:002005-02-14T20:49:08.823-06:00

This reminds me of "extraordinary rendition." But not nearly so morally repugnant. Ditto for when he sent me here.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1108259535382740682005-02-12T19:30:00.000-06:002005-02-12T20:02:37.683-06:00

... that a reporter could think logically about a central issue in a story? The front page of today's Tulsa World has a story about tatooing (subscription required.) Oklahoma is the last State in which tattooing is technically illegal and unregulated. Apparently the idea that tattooing could be legalized without accompanying licensing and regulation did not occur to anyone in this area. An

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1101784579733114852004-11-29T21:05:00.000-06:002004-11-29T21:16:19.736-06:00

As an alumnus, I was excited about watching the Iowa State v. Missouri football game Saturday. The ABC broadcast thoughtfully provided vignettes on the several times since 1912 that the Cyclones were close to a title and failed. Most of this history was not familiar to me, since my time in Ames was far removed from any real gridiron success, so there seemed to be very little interest in great

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1096173344455329302004-09-25T23:35:00.000-05:002004-09-25T23:35:44.456-05:00

Starting up is hard to do.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1059014976597035982003-07-23T21:49:00.000-05:002003-07-23T22:20:48.356-05:00

Red Letter Day Yesterday was such a red letter day, what with Uday and Qusay getting what was coming to them, that I decided to watch Nightline just to see what the news had to say. Wouldn't you know it, ABC just had to have John Donvan rain on my parade. The story he filed is similar to this story, but honestly I think what aired was a slightly different and considerably more irritating.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1058408531367144322003-07-16T21:22:00.000-05:002003-07-16T21:22:11.410-05:00

Bless You, Satellite Dish! I was in hog heaven after our Dells vacation, because the Cardinals were on ESPN 3 times in a week, and there were also three Cards v. Cubs game on TV. So I watched portions of almost all of them, and my bathroom ceiling did not get painted after all. One of my favorite moments against was against the Cubs when Kerry Wood sent one of his famous wild pitches up and in

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1058404223776169002003-07-16T20:10:00.000-05:002003-07-16T20:29:19.033-05:00

From the Home Office in Schaumburg My very third post on this lame-ass blog had to do with Motorola and some stupid press conference they had. And sure enough today there is more bad Motorola news. My favorite bit: Motorola also failed to provide its usual quarterly market share data, leading analysts to surmise the company is losing out to larger rival Nokia and smaller Chinese competitors. "

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1057291148227914622003-07-03T22:59:00.000-05:002003-07-03T22:59:08.300-05:00

See America First Got back from a short vacation Tuesday night. We visited Wisconsin Dells, and camped in our tent. A good time was had by all, though it was a lot of work for my wife. We visited the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, the Midcontinent Railroad in North Freedom, the Upper Dells Boat Tour, and Noah's Ark Water Park. The last might have been my favorite, it being a good

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1056595571825295132003-06-25T21:46:00.000-05:002003-06-25T21:47:17.266-05:00

Those Who Know Best An interesting story came out in the Chicago area the other day: Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist will leave office four months early and move to Chicago to lead an urban development organization, the mayor's spokesman said Sunday. Norquist will head Congress for The New Urbanism on Jan. 1, a spokesman said. The nonprofit organization aims to stop sprawl, establish

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-1056428053893603322003-06-23T23:14:00.000-05:002003-06-23T23:14:13.966-05:00

What a Dick! Many important bloggers have picked up on Dick Gephardt's idiotic comment about flouting the Supreme Court. As a one-time resident of the St. Louis area, I had a good opportunity to observe Gephardt, and I often declared to my dear wife that he couldn't possibly believe most of what came out of his mouth. This outburst tops anything he's said that I'm aware of. I mean, we expect

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-948831472003-05-25T23:17:00.000-05:002003-05-25T23:19:59.000-05:00

The Bogeyman Surfaces Here's an AP story about the threat of depleted uranium in Iraq. This reporter must be in a pretty quiet neighborhood, if DU is the biggest worry he can document. Let's look at a few excerpts: Iraqi doctors and scientists — and the United Nations to a lesser extent I wonder why the UN would be less worried about DU than the locals? — are worried that birth defects and

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-948122212003-05-23T21:42:00.000-05:002003-05-23T21:43:32.000-05:00

I Guess We Need the Thunderbirds Apparently NASA is starting to speak in public about some possibilities that Rand Simberg (he's got a link to his earlier posts in this new post) and I both wrote about at the time of the accident. The part of this story that bothers me most is this: Gehman acknowledged it would have been chancy to launch a shuttle on a rescue mission without first fixing the

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-948058402003-05-23T17:49:00.000-05:002003-05-23T17:49:50.160-05:00

All Male Clubs It sounds as though Annika Sorenstam is blowing up as I post this. That's too bad, I was enjoying following this story and I'm interested in finding out where the dominant female golfer stacks up against the very best in the world. Of the various objections to her participation, I think the dumbest is that it's "a publicity stunt." As though the PGA Tour itself was something

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-946627662003-05-20T21:00:00.000-05:002003-05-20T21:00:09.173-05:00

Soft America and Hard America The other day I was driving to work with a WLS newcast on the radio and I heard two consecutive stories about young people from the Chicago area. The first one was about Marnie Holz. The second one was about Jakub Kowalik. Hearing the two stories one after the other made me grit my teeth. Today, Marnie's story and source of her infamy is still prominent in the

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-943644532003-05-14T21:27:00.000-05:002003-05-14T21:28:44.000-05:00

I stuck a comment in on this thread at Little Green Footballs that discusses some anti-Israel web site that just happens to be hosted from Greece. It reminded me that only a little more than a year from now the Olympic Games are to take place in Athens. The Greeks have a hard-earned reputation as perhaps the most Anti-American nation in Europe, and some say they have a serious anti-Semitism

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-943638632003-05-14T21:17:00.000-05:002003-05-14T21:17:23.790-05:00

If you read to the end of this story about Jayson Blair (found via InstaPundit) you find that Mr. Blair hasn't been seen since the poop hit the windmill and is now thought to be hospitalized. This guy seems to have a lot of "personal problems" but is also apparently quite charming (not necessarily in a good way.) I wonder if he's a little like Will Smith's character in Six Degrees of Separation.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-943087542003-05-13T23:22:00.000-05:002003-05-13T23:24:10.000-05:00

Ottawa Fabulous Five? Colby Cosh, on his NHL playoffs page, does a fine job demolishing the idea that the NHL would go to "big" ice surfaces. But there's another, easier way to open up the game: drop from six players to five. Obviously they are experimenting with this in overtime, but I'm not sure how well the fans like it. I'm sure the Players' Association will have no part of it, and I

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-940887432003-05-09T22:49:00.000-05:002003-05-13T23:23:28.000-05:00

Women's Magazines I always read the magazine covers at the checkout counters. I'm struck by how every women's magazine always has more than one article about sex described on the cover. This time of year, there are lots of stories about how to feel confident in your swimsuit. My favorite has to be Glamour, because they have the three female leads from X2. Two of them are Halle Berry and

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-940884492003-05-09T22:42:00.000-05:002003-05-09T22:42:11.113-05:00

Road Kill Journal This morning on the way to work I saw a carcass on the shoulder and then thought to myself "that thing had a paddle tail!" It was a beaver, a road kill first for me, I think. Kathy saw it on her travels, too.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-940883612003-05-09T22:40:00.000-05:002003-05-09T22:40:05.956-05:00

Dream Journal Last night I dreamt that I was walking my injured, pet black bear to the veterinarian's office. This bear had been a companion to my father during his service in Vietnam. The bear's injured foreleg was splinted with a ball-peen hammer. The first animal clinic that we visited was not able to help us: they didn't work on bears for some reason. We got to the next place in good

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-939076212003-05-06T23:23:00.000-05:002003-05-06T23:23:15.753-05:00

More WMD Game The other thing I was going to mention as a reason to keep our certain WMD knowledge quiet is that it's more political aikido. This is where the President throws out an idea, and his opponents stomp all over it and lay out all the things that need to happen for the President to get what he wants. Later, those things all happen and the opponents are left standing around slack-jawed

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-937731222003-05-04T20:41:00.000-05:002003-05-04T20:41:00.030-05:00

The WMD Game In a Mr. Helpful post that I found via Andrea Harris, Mr. Helpful expresses some reasonable worries about not finding Iraq's WMD. I happen to have been puzzling about this issue myself for a couple of weeks, and while sitting around this afternoon I had an insight that I decided I must share with the world. Actually, I had the main part of the insight a couple of weeks ago, when I

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-937719092003-05-04T20:16:00.000-05:002003-05-04T20:16:49.550-05:00

Back to Blogging OK, so I failed at an entry every day. This time, let's shoot for 3 per week. Thanks to Jeff at Alphecca for checking in and wondering where I had gone.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-924618922003-04-11T20:43:00.000-05:002003-04-11T21:52:17.000-05:00

The Double Standard Eugene Volokh posted about vibrators, and for some reason I have been pondering the topic. The reason society grants women their sex toys but ridicules men who use them is that women control access to sex. If we think of a woman using a sex toy to gratify herself (and who doesn't?) then one underlying assumption is that she prefers her sex toy to the available partners.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-922676972003-04-08T23:07:00.000-05:002003-04-08T23:11:06.000-05:00

Becoming the Story LOTS of coverage of the several journalist fatalities in Baghdad today, some of it quite irritating. A questioner at this morning's CENTCOM briefing and also a Mr. Simon of "The Committe to Protect Journalists" on MSNBC tonight used the phrase "Western journalists" in implying that US forces ought to be more careful in shooting up buildings that probably contain civilians.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-922329252003-04-08T12:32:00.000-05:002003-04-08T12:32:21.000-05:00

A Protest Idea With the debate about a role for the UN in liberated Iraq, I've been thinking about how we could kick the UN out of New York City. In my basement I have some disused pieces of luggage. I was thinking of shipping them to the UN headquarters as a subtle means of suggesting that THEY GET THE HELL OUT OF TOWN! But probably shipping big, empty containers to a place like that is some

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-922327412003-04-08T12:28:00.000-05:002003-04-08T12:28:28.390-05:00

Company's Coming! I see that it's been a week since my last post, and that Colby Cosh has a link from his hockey page back to here, so I better post something. Welcome! I live near Chicago, but I grew up in Minnesota, and lived in St. Louis for a long time. I followed the North Stars until I moved to St. Louis (somewhat) permanently in 1986 and they became really crappy for a while. I have

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-917575502003-03-31T23:14:00.000-06:002003-03-31T23:17:00.000-06:00

The Third World Shuffle One aspect of daily life in modern America that wears me down is having my intelligence insulted. I think casino advertising is the biggest offender, but Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago runs a close second. In the middle of last night, he closed Meigs Field. Sent the dozers and backhoes out and dug big X's in the runway. It's probably legal: the airport belongs to

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-915859142003-03-28T22:30:00.000-06:002003-03-28T22:32:34.000-06:00

Army Unit Lingo If anyone is reading this and wants to sound more knowledgeable in referring to Army units, here are some pointers: 1. Don't always call the 3rd Infantry Division the "3rd Infantry." Say "3rd ID" (or "4th ID" when they get in country.) 2. Many Army combat arms battalions have 2 numerical designations. For example, 2nd Battalion, 70th Armored. You may wonder, "70th Armored

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-915850442003-03-28T22:10:00.000-06:002003-03-28T22:10:36.403-06:00

Dispatch from the 4th Division (Mass Media) (Mechanized) Rand Simberg checks in from a Bradlee somewhere in the Northeast Corridor. If you think depleted uranium is bad for you, wait until you hear about obtusium.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-915847572003-03-28T22:04:00.000-06:002003-03-28T22:04:12.466-06:00

War Media Prediction I was watch Maj. (Ret.) Bob Bevelacqua on Fox last night and he was making a great deal of sense (as SF types usually do.) His main point was that we need be in no hurry to storm Baghdad, and that the 4th Infantry Division will be very helpful when the time comes. He is sure that we will wait for them to be deployed before seeking a decisive engagment for Baghdad. He is

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-914585922003-03-26T22:38:00.000-06:002003-03-26T22:47:14.000-06:00

It's From Where? Via Tim Blair I found a striking pro-war editorial from a paper called the Shanghai Star . It claims to be in China, but this editorial makes an awful lot of sense to have been approved by godless communist bastards. My favorite section: If al Qaeda were mere criminals, rather than avatars of a world-wide radical Islamist onslaught against the existing global order, then the US

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-914503062003-03-26T20:10:00.000-06:002003-03-26T20:10:53.090-06:00

Centcom Briefing Follies I was watching the Centcom briefing this morning, and the briefer (BG Brooks?) mentioned the blasts in the Baghdad marketplace that killed several civilians without immediately identifying the cause as Coalition weapon. Several reporters were not satisfied, especially an indignant lady from the CBC who asked, in essence, "Well, if it wasn't one of your bombs, then what

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-913838622003-03-25T20:20:00.000-06:002003-03-25T20:20:52.310-06:00

Trophy Building Here in the Chicago area, we keep hearing rumors of how some "al-Qaeda types" (the President's great designation) have reconned the Sears Tower as a possible target. The Mayor got up today and said that the FBI has never mentioned anything like that to him. So doesn't that mean either: 1) he's a liar or 2) his stupid no-fly zone is just a PR stunt? My guess is 3) both of the

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-913836742003-03-25T20:17:00.000-06:002003-03-25T20:17:01.186-06:00

Attention to Detail When I heard about the group of soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company from Ft. Bliss who were captured after they got lost, I said to my wife "Now you know why I hate being lost." One of the things I really worked on when I was an Army officer was land navigation. At the time I guess I thought it was because I didn't want to let my men down (or make fun of me), but

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-913834162003-03-25T20:12:00.000-06:002003-03-25T20:12:14.623-06:00

Great Expectations I read some copy in an online news report today (I didn't save the link) that included the phrase "the war stretched into its sixth day." Yeah, quite a stretch to go 300 miles into enemy territory to take down a regime and still not be done in six days! Does our media's ignorance (maybe it's just self-absorption) know no bounds?

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-912067212003-03-22T21:10:00.000-06:002003-03-22T21:10:04.123-06:00

Air Defense Update Mayor Daley got his no-fly zone. Make no mistake, this is all about Richard M. Daley showing how much clout he has to get things for Chicago from the Feds. It affects the terrorist threats against Chicago almost not at all. I'm not sure that even with the combat air patrols that the governor mentions in the linked story that a pilot with criminal intent could be intercepted

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-912060322003-03-22T20:52:00.000-06:002003-03-22T20:52:59.000-06:00

Dueling Protests I was little disappointed to hear that the "support the troops" (or pro-war, if you must) rally in Chicago today wasn't well attended. The peace creeps also showed up at Federal plaza, despite not having the permit. The Tribune story includes the following gem: At one point, some demonstrators supporting the troops got within 20 feet of the anti-war protesters, who shouted "

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-911057452003-03-20T23:09:00.000-06:002003-03-20T23:12:16.000-06:00

Operation Iraqi Freedom as Aikido InstaPundit uses terms such as "PR Jiu Jitsu" or "political jiu jitsu" to describe seeming to yield to the opposition as a prelude to an effective counterattack. I myself practice aikido, so I like to think of that same idea as an example of aikido, which indeed developed from jiu jitsu and other Japanese martial arts. We use the term "blend with the attack" to

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-910294602003-03-19T20:23:00.000-06:002003-03-19T20:24:44.000-06:00

Air Defense, Democrat Style As a resident of the greater Chicago metropolitan area, I am treated to reports on Mayor Richard M. Daley at least several times a week. One of the things Mayor Daley does very well is complain about how Chicago is not being adequately supported by the Federal government. Usually support equates to cash money, but this week he wants the FAA to restrict the airspace

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-905300922003-03-11T11:00:00.000-06:002003-03-11T11:00:38.436-06:00

Is it Smoking Now? This AP Story just hit Yahoo! news. How about it, UNSC? Full cooperation? Serious consequences? Hello? Is this thing on?

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-904355292003-03-09T22:03:00.000-06:002003-03-09T22:03:13.746-06:00

Sampler of Foolishness This AP story has a quick roundup of some recent dopey statements from the political opposition. Let's take a few on. But Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean warned that a U.S.-led war would give license to other nations who felt they needed to pre-emptively attack. "It might be considered as a precedent for others to

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-904333922003-03-09T21:23:00.000-06:002003-03-09T21:23:38.903-06:00

In the House of the Peaceniks Our church congregation includes a number of anti-war folks, not least the pastor. Today during the prayer segment of the service (makes it sound like a newscast, but I don't know a proper ecclesiastical term for it) one of the parishioners suggested that we pray for our enemies. I'm fine with that, I think it's a good idea. Our pastor accepted the suggestion,

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-901518542003-03-04T21:09:00.000-06:002003-03-04T21:11:15.000-06:00

The Ethics of Torture I skimmed this thread at Tacitus about whether or not someone should torture Khalid Mohammed to prosecute the war against al Qaeda. People are exercised in a thoughtful way, as is common at Tacitus's place. It occurred to me this morning that I'm pretty sure the Army has guys whose job is "Interrogator." There is already an Army policy as to what methods are appropriate

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-898169282003-02-26T22:13:00.000-06:002003-02-26T22:13:25.373-06:00

Pining for Containment Here's a gem from anAP story on the President's speech tonight: Neither he nor his advisers explained why the Middle East peace process made no major advances while Saddam was contained in the 1990s. This is mentioned in part because the reporter and headline play up the President's remarks about Iraq forming a starting point for peace in the region. Let's just think back

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-895301292003-02-21T20:16:00.000-06:002003-02-21T20:19:29.000-06:00

Shuttle Update This story from the AP hints at some of the dynamics I blogged about on the Saturday the Columbia broke up. I don't think this story says much that is new. The NASA engineers were concerned about the debris that departed the fuel tank and apparently hit the orbiter. The story suggests that they were anticipating trouble with the tires. It mentions a catastrophic failure result

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-894648122003-02-20T18:32:00.000-06:002003-02-20T18:32:56.733-06:00

E2 Stampede Update Susanna Cornett has this post on the E2 Stampede story and Jesse Jackson. The comments include one by erstwhile Chicago insider and sometime blogger Spoons.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-894084612003-02-19T21:31:00.000-06:002003-02-19T21:35:54.000-06:00

An Actual Reader! I got an e-mail from someone who found this blog by means other than being prodded by me. He was interested in the E2 night club story that is the top of Chicago news right now. So here are some more links on this tragic but fascinating story: Chicago's Black Heavy Hitters Line Up (Tribune) John Kass on the powerless Mayor (Tribune) Tribune's Round-up General AP Story (

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-892807192003-02-17T21:36:00.000-06:002003-02-17T21:36:46.890-06:00

The Chicago Way The big news in Chicago today is of course the night club stampede. It is proving to be another fine example of how Chicago has a government suitable for a Third World capital. The premises had no occupancy permit for the second floor, that having been denied by court order in July 2002. Yet, somehow, the business owners continued to operate it as a location for large parties.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-892207992003-02-16T22:33:00.000-06:002003-02-16T22:33:19.780-06:00

Duct Tape: The Real Story I have somewhere around here a Red Cross brochure about terrorism preparedness that includes what may be the original suggestion for duct tape. I'm pretty sure it was mentioned as part of a little routine they like to call "shelter in place." You are supposed to turn off the gas and the furnace, get in a windowless room on the first floor (not the basement), and seal

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-892204792003-02-16T22:26:00.000-06:002003-02-16T22:26:31.773-06:00

The Phantom Deadline I watched Condoleeza Rice on Fox News Sunday and Meet the Press this morning. She is always fantastic at presenting herself in public. She declined several opportunities to state a specific date for the end of the "diplomatic window" that we are in. Russert in particular was hung up on 14 March (apparently the due date for another report from the inspectors) as an

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-890736232003-02-13T22:47:00.000-06:002003-02-13T22:49:12.000-06:00

Cross-Blog Debate Answers 1. Attacking Iraq has been publicly called a "pre-emption" of a threat from Saddam Hussein's regime, whose sins include launching regional wars of aggression. Do you think there is a clear and reliable difference between pre-emptive and aggressive warfare, and if so, what is it? Yes. Let’s define some terms, though. Pre-emptive warfare: attacking an enemy that poses a

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-889238232003-02-11T12:25:00.000-06:002003-02-11T12:25:52.770-06:00

More Osama? WLS reported on the noon newscast that there is another al Qaeda message coming soon from an Arab television network (presumably al Jazeera.) They indicated that Colin Powell is "sure" this is from bin Laden, has seen the transcript, and that the transcript indicates a link with Iraq. Will we see some people do a quick flip on the question of bin Laden's health? I have thought that

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-888279052003-02-09T21:01:00.000-06:002003-02-09T21:03:05.000-06:00

Very Serious Consequences Indeed I watched Fox News Sunday today. One of the guests was Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan). He used the word "complete" in connection with weapons inspection in Iraq several times, as in (paraphrasing) "allow time for inspections to be completed." I can't imagine what that means in this context, and the Senator didn't explain it. I suppose that if Iraq had really

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-886870502003-02-06T22:15:00.000-06:002003-02-06T22:15:32.266-06:00

Fog of War I've been meaning for the longest time to post on the matter the possible court-martial of Majors Schmidt and Umbach of the Illinois Air National Guard. There really is no good end that can come out of this tragic mistake, but I've found some of the statements curious. There is a viewpoint out there that the defendants should not have been so much as subjected to an Article 32

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-886518942003-02-06T09:42:00.000-06:002003-02-06T09:42:20.193-06:00

A Real Blog? Rand Simberg provided my first link from a blog that people actually read. So I apologize for the general lameness of this web log. I won't even know if anyone followed Rand over here, because I haven't figured out how to install a hit counter and place it in a location that I like. But I wonder if I'm not better off to just not know about the hit count. Is that really the point?

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-884079412003-02-01T22:55:00.000-06:002003-02-01T22:56:30.000-06:00

Thinking Back to Challenger I thought today a little about the Challenger accident. There's a very good book by Edward R. Tufte that includes an interesting treatment of that accident. He points out that the Challenger accident has served as an example for a wide variety studies of engineering tools. I have seen that accident used to illustrate a set of techniques knows as TRIZ; Failure Mode

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-883796642003-02-01T09:59:00.000-06:002003-02-01T09:59:55.813-06:00

Overcome by Events I was going to write a little about being inspired by Colby Cosh to watch some of the 1980 NHL All-Star Game on ESPN Classic last night, but now I guess I won't. Who's interested in that in the face of spectacular death? There is an odd connection for me between Colby and this morning's loss of Columbia. I wrote him last weekend to say in part how sad I was that I didn't

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-882724522003-01-30T09:59:00.000-06:002003-01-30T09:59:15.760-06:00

The Rat in the Bedroom For those who don't understand the war, maybe this John Kass column from the Chicago Tribune will help clarify it.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-882475732003-01-29T22:05:00.000-06:002003-01-29T22:07:41.000-06:00

The Field Everything about "black" aerospace technology in this article might be true, but it wouldn't be necessary to explain support for the war. This author includes the usual nonsensical musings about oil and North Korea. It reminds me of the people who wonder why Al Qaeda has been attacking us and spin complex theories about it. We could just take them at their word. Why not take Blair,

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-881334912003-01-27T21:01:00.000-06:002003-01-27T21:01:27.310-06:00

Inspections Without End Steven Den Beste provides a good summary of the Blix Report. It is obvious that Iraq has not implemented UNSC Resolution 1441, which was supposed to be their “last chance” to comply with the related, preceding resolutions. So the inspections are now mostly beside the point, except to the people who insist that they should take their “natural course.” Mr. ElBaradei and

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-880569292003-01-26T13:31:00.000-06:002003-01-26T13:31:00.830-06:00

Dealing with Count Data Instapundit mentions some data about military recruitment that Donald Sensing has also discussed. The topic is Marine recruiting numbers coming from Northern California and Nashville. This is what Rev. Sensing had to say: Just in case you missed it, that means that the single city of Nashville, population 1,187,521 in 2000, sends more men and women to the Marine Corps

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-880236142003-01-25T17:51:00.000-06:002003-01-25T17:51:16.050-06:00

License Plate Puzzle We saw this one today: I SQZM 2 I have no idea what that might signify. I'd be interested in the thoughts of those who see this. E-mail me, if you would.

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-879943272003-01-24T23:14:00.000-06:002003-01-24T23:19:14.000-06:00

Stopping Short I saw the link to this Washington Post op-ed on one of the big-time blogs, can't remember which, and it also came to my attention via Yahoo! It states the obvious: Even a perfunctory acquaintance with the realities of the global oil market would indicate that the "oil war" theory does not stand up to analysis. As an imagined rationale it doesn't square with the facts;.... This is

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-879932442003-01-24T22:45:00.000-06:002003-01-24T22:45:47.000-06:00

Headlines for the Oblivious I'm not entirely clear on the concept, but I believe the headline on this story would elicit a "With Cheese!" from Juan Gato. The headline: "U.S. Plans Massive Attack on Iraq - Report." Sometimes I see these stories and I have to wonder why they even move. The text goes on to describe a CBS report about war plans (for March) involving hundreds of cruise missiles

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-879093802003-01-23T12:01:00.000-06:002003-01-24T22:36:11.000-06:00

Making the Case Dr. Condoleeza Rice lays out the case for material breach in plain English in the paper of record. The link to the Times story (I think free registration is required) popped up in the Yahoo sidebar to this AP story featuring Colin Powell. He is also speaking in very unambiguous language. The message to all not currently on board with the US/UK/Australian coalition could not be

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-878989562003-01-23T08:18:00.000-06:002003-01-23T08:20:21.000-06:00

Rush to War? This Reuters story uses a phrase that I see often and which really irritates me: The stand taken by Paris, Beijing and Moscow means a majority of the five veto-wielding permanent members on the U.N. Security Council are against rushing into war. How on Earth can we and our true allies be said to be "rushing" into war? The 9/11 attacks were (counting on fingers) 16 months ago. This

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-877907272003-01-21T11:19:00.000-06:002003-01-21T11:19:17.853-06:00

Time's Up! With this statement from President Bush today, I think we can say that the decision is definitely made and the patience of the US and UK is at an end. The final paragraph is key: Asked how much time he would give Saddam to comply with United Nations demands to disarm or face possible military action, Bush said: "I will let you know when the moment has come." I think that means there

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-877609952003-01-20T20:53:00.000-06:002003-01-20T20:56:08.000-06:00

Usage Note I have been reading many very talented writers lately who use phrases similar to "squash dissent." I think the word they mean to use is quash: Pronunciation: 'kwäsh, 'kwosh Function: transitive verb Etymology: Middle English quashen to smash, from Middle French quasser, casser, from Latin quassare to shake violently, shatter, frequentative of quatere to shake Date: 13th century: to

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3487246.post-877566812003-01-20T19:21:00.000-06:002003-01-20T19:21:05.076-06:00

Updated Bombing Statistics I have finally gotten around to updating my creepy homepage with information about the last two terrorist bombings in Israel. I created this page as a way to analyze whether the various Israeli countermeasures were reducing the number of these crimes. I'm not sure why I published it. But anyway, the current scorecard suggests that indeed the Israeli's have had some

Dave Himrichnoreply@blogger.com0