Roads? Where this LEGO model is going we don't need... roads.

Here's the latest entry in the "Things we don't really need but are lusting for badly" files...

1-Point-21 jigawatts of LEGO awesome!

Going on sale worldwide tomorrow at LEGO Stores, toy and other retailers as well as LEGO's online store is this: The DeLorean Time Machine.  The fourth model to be designed, supported and approved for official production via LEGO CUUSOO, this minifig-scale replica of Doctor Emmett "Doc" Brown's famous heavy-customized DeLorean from Back to the Future comes complete with options for builders to trick it out for whatever form it appeared throughout the film trilogy (it even includes Mr. Fusion and the OUTATIME and barcode license plates).  Unique decal-ed bricks have the Flux Capacitor and the Destination/Present Time LED display.  The doors swing up gull-wing style and the wheels swivel into air mode!

And yes, it even has minifigs of Marty McFly (with skateboard) and Doc Brown!  Incidentally, CUUSOO designers who see their ideas on the store shelves get 1% of the profit, and the two guys who collaborated on this model are donating their cut to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

LEGO's Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine has a retail price of $34.99/€34,99 and streets on August 1st, both at brick-and-mortar stores and online at the LEGO Shop.  Go get it.  You know you want to.

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It's the shifty-eyed Tammy Tuesday!

Zoinks!!  This week's Tammy Tuesday feature went down to the wire!  It's 11:56 p.m. when I'm finally able to getting to post it.

Well, don't let it be said that I'm not the Hardest Working Man in the Blogosphere(tm)!  Here's a low-angle shot of Tammy, leering at the camera over the top of her doggie bed...

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A startling message on a church sign

While driving through Virginia over the weekend there was a church sign that caught my eye.  It was much like any other found outside places of worship throughout the Bible Belt of America: usually the name of the church, some other info (website address, etc.) and then lots of space for some timely text or witty remark.  I think one of my all-time favorites has to be "SOMEONE CALL 911, THIS CHURCH IS ON FIRE!"  And I'd be horribly negligent as a blogger if I didn't note one nearby congregation's humorous reaction to all the precipitation we've had lately: "WHOEVER IS PRAYING FOR RAIN: PLEASE STOP".

When you think about it, church signs were Twitter before we ever had the Internet.  And even today they convey their messages much better... and with far fewer than 140 characters.

But here's what was emblazoned on this particular church's outdoor sign:

A COUNTRY OF SHEEP BREEDS A GOVERNMENT OF WOLVES

Living in this region, it's not unheard of for a church sign to read something about current events or a quick comment on the culture.  Last year a number of signs depicted support for Amendment 1 (which defined marriage as being between one man and one woman) here in North Carolina.  I can't say that I've personally seen any overtly partisan messages on a church sign in this area, and I like to think that most people prefer it that way. 

This message was not at all partisan.  It didn't seem directed at any burning cultural issue or controversy, either.  But it was something that to the very best of my knowledge I have never seen before on a church sign: implication... or accusation... that government has become a feral and ravenous beast loosed upon the land.  The fault of which is an indifferent and ignorant people.

That's the meaning I took away from it.  Most readers of this blog will understand how I could be sympathetic toward it.  This church is located on U.S. 220 between Martinsville and Roanoke: a fairly significant roadway.  And maybe, just perhaps, many other motorists will spot the sign and feel led to sincerely consider its message.

That being said: I haven't been able to shake how startled I was to read that message.  The most surprising church sign that I've seen until now was probably "GOD HAVE MERCY ON AMERICA", when many signs around the Fourth of July were reading "GOD BLESS AMERICA".

Nothing nebulous about this church sign though.  "A government of wolves".  Brought about by "a country of sheep".

A succinct paraphrase could very well be: "Think for yourself and don't trust the government".  Because if you don't think for yourself, there are plenty of others more than willing to think for you.

I like that.  It jibes with the notion that government in this country derives from the people, and the people have responsibilities toward ensuring that government does not become an animal unto itself.  But I digress...

Here's what's been going through my thoughts since the weekend:

This was a message from one church, out of... how many thousands upon thousands of churches across America?

If that might be the sentiment of one church (and this sort of thing tends to have input from the laity as well as the parson in charge), there may be others... many others even... likewise beginning to question temporal force with a brazen boldness.  Churches whose congregants are challenging the faith we've placed in politics.  A people at last daring to reassert the minds entrusted them by God.

Like I said: startling.  And refreshing.  And rife with a measure hope.

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Confirmed: John Williams is scoring STAR WARS EPISODE VII

News breaking now out of Star Wars Celebration Europe that John Williams will be returning to the galaxy far, far away and composing the score for Star Wars Episode VII.

John Williams.  Because when you get the band back together,
you positively can NOT do it without this guy.

In a pre-recorded video for the folks attending Celebration Europe, Williams said that he was "looking forward to drawing on some of his original themes and adding new material", according to IGN's report.

New Star Wars music composed by the master himself.  "This will be a day long remembered..."

Thanks to good friend of this blog Drew McOmber for the heads-up!

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Senator Burr calls defunding ObamaCare "dumbest idea" ever (this is leadership?)

Longtime readers of this blog know that I don't play the partisan game.  And I haven't bought into the "conservative/liberal" mentality for a very long time.  Regardless of affiliation, we should expect all of our elected officials to put the Constitution and liberty of the American people ahead of their political agendas.

Senator Richard Burr
(North Carolina): Part
of the problem in D.C.

That being said, North Carolina's Senator Richard Burr is now shown be a bitter disappointment.  Burr is choosing capitulation over leadership, and what is easy over what is right.

From the article at The Hill...

Blocking a government funding bill over ObamaCare is "the dumbest idea I've ever heard," Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said Thursday.

Burr argued stopping ObamaCare's funding is not going to be achievable as long as President Obama is in the White House, and that Republicans risked taking the blame if they forced the government to shut down over the issue.

"I think it's the dumbest idea I've ever heard," Burr told journalist Todd Zwilich on Thursday. "Listen, as long as Barack Obama is president the Affordable Care Act is gonna be law.

"I think some of these guys need to understand that you shut down the federal government, you better have a specific reason to do it that's achievable," Burr continued. "Defunding the Affordable Care Act is not achievable through shutting down the federal government."

Senator Burr, there are far more important things being threatened by ObamaCare than the federal government.  Implementation of the Affordable Care Act is going to cause a lot of private businesses - both large and small - to close up shop because they can't meet the requirements of this legislation.  You are also forgetting that ObamaCare is already compelling many companies and other organizations to choose between compromising their beliefs or paying exorbitant and unconscionable penalties to the government.

It would be better to have a shutdown of the federal government than to witness a shutdown of hundreds, even thousands of businesses which employ honest and hard-working Americans.  Employment is scarce already.  It will only plummet further if ObamaCare goes into full effect.

The Affordable Care Act should be fought, and fought, and fought again without yielding.  And a person who has sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution will fight ObamaCare, no matter the political cost or what the United States Supreme Court has ruled about it.  It wasn't the first time that the Supreme Court has erred terribly, and it won't be the last.  The ramifications of ObamaCare will haunt America for generations to come if it is not halted now.  A person of foresight and wisdom will do whatever he or she can to keep that from happening.  Surrendering to an evil thing... and ObamaCare is an evil thing... is not an act of leadership or wisdom.  It is, however, an act of cowardice.

Senator Burr is practically confessing that his loyalty is not to the citizens of North Carolina and all Americans, but to the federal government.  By his statements, Burr demonstrates that he gives a higher priority to the status quo of Washington politics than he does to the liberties, the opportunities and the posterity of we the people.

Burr is not an example of true leadership.  A true leader does what is right, regardless of popularity or politics.  A true leader is a person of conscience, not of convenience or "conventional wisdom".

And Burr is a very poor example of what Republicans profess to stand for.  If the GOP is the alleged party of smaller government, it cannot reconcile that claim with capitulating to the largest takeover of a private industry in American history.  One that will impede on our freedoms, will drive many into bankruptcy and will diminish the quality of health care in this country.  Between this and all the other kowtowing going on in Washington, it's little wonder that an increasing number of Americans see no significant difference between the Democrats and Republicans.  For all intents and purposes it is one-party rule pretending to be two.  And rolling over on ObamaCare - among many other concerns - is proving it.

If it comes down to choosing either the strength of the federal government or the freedom of the American people, I'll choose the American people every time.  So should the members of Congress, and each of their personal political consequence be damned.

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Hackers use wi-fi laptop to control EVERYTHING on a modern car

Remember that stunt Jeff Gordon pulled on an unsuspecting car salesman a few months ago?  The one where Gordon was disguised as any off-the-street Joe Shmoe and took a car for a test drive and terrified the crap out of that poor guy?

This is scarier...


Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek - two top-rate hackers out of Indiana -went into the guts of a Toyota Prius, jimmied-around with thirty-something on-board computer units and were able to take charge of dang nearly every function of the car.  Using a wireless laptop they can steer, put on the brakes, honk the horn, fake the speedometer reading, switch on the headlights and even tighten and loosen the seatbelts.

My dad has long proclaimed that "Cars only need gas, air and electricity to work: they don't need a computer!"  After watching this video, it's hard to argue with that.

Crash here to read more about this amazing hack, which was funded by the U.S. Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (the kind folks who brought us the Internet).

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Two amazing fan films: sequel to STAR TREK's "Who Mourns for Adonais?" and ARKHAM RISING

An awful lot of the homegrown cinema lately seems to have more heart and soul than most of the big studio productions.  These two fan-created films are some of the best that I've seen lately.

First up, it's a sequel to the original Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?".  "Pilgrim of Eternity" has Michael Forest reprising his role as Apollo from the 1967 episode.  The script was written by Jack Treviño (who wrote the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Little Green Men" and "Indiscretion").  Christopher Doohan - son of James Doohan - plays Scotty and Marina Sirtis herself is the voice of the Enterprise computer.  And not being content with just one Apollo, "Pilgrim of Eternity" also has Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica's Lee Adama) as a redshirt security officer!


And then we have this: Arkham Rising.  Set during the events of The Dark Knight Rises, Arkham Rising takes us into Arkham Asylum just after Bane breaks open Blackgate Prison.  This very well could have been a deleted scene from The Dark Knight Rises.  In fact, I kinda wish it was.  Especially in how it attempts to answer the most tantalizing question left from that movie: "Where was the Joker?!"


The thing I like most about Arkham Rising is how it plausibly demonstrates that Batman really could have battled more of his rogues gallery than were depicted on-screen in the Nolan continuity.  If you ever wanted to see what a Nolan-esque take on the Riddler, the Mad Hatter and the Calendar Man could have been, Arkham Rising serves it up.  And if you go to the Arkham Files on the film's official website you can find stuff about the Penguin, Poison Ivy and Clayface.  I bet these guys could have even pulled off a Nolan-ish Mister Freeze, they did such a great job!

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The three kinds of people in the world

As I have grown older and wiser to the ways of this world, I have come to understand that there are three kinds of people:

Those who want to control.

Those who want to be controlled.

Those who want neither control or to be controlled.

The people in the third group are almost universally despised by those in the first and second.  So much so that their lives are made much less comfortable.  Because they have chosen to be in the power of no man.  From those who control there is crushing hatred.  From those controlled, there is boundless jealousy.

However, their lives are significantly more fulfilling.  To say nothing of being more interesting.

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This week's Tammy Tuesday is all wrapped up

Several months ago I came across a long piece of scrap fabric from my Children of Eden costume.  It seemed like something Tammy would enjoy playing with.  Ever since, there hasn't been a day that goes by when we haven't had a tug-of-war with it (and you would not believe how such a little dog can yank something soooo hard).

Here's Tammy in one of her quieter moments with it, as she chews happily on a piece of deer antler...

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"Honest as the day is long!"

It's Friday night and I'm feeling extra goofy.  Also feeling pretty good about some more personal concerns too, and praying they'll soon... well, I'm just praying.

Anyhoo, it seems that lately too many people are awful tense and bummed-out about stuff.  So here's something that will make anybody laugh: a collection of Junior Samples' famous "BR-549" sketches from the classic country-comedy variety show Hee Haw!


Yup, that's George Lindsey (aka Goober from The Andy Griffith Show) as the robber in the first skit. And longtime Hee Haw fans of the masculine persuasion will no doubt remember Barbi Benton with much fondness!

Junior Samples is perhaps the all-time king of country rube humor.  He got his showbiz start at age 40 with a comedy recording about catching a big bass (he also nearly got in trouble with the fish and wildlife agents).  From there he was invited to join the cast of Hee Haw and became as much-beloved for his stumbles and bloopers as he was for his down-home demeanor.  Sadly, he passed away in 1983 at the age of 57.

And the phone number is "BR-549" for a reason.  Samples was from Cumming, Georgia and loved to go fishing on Lake Lanier.  And when it wasn't in the water his boat was kept at "Boat Ramp 549".

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Danny de Gracia: more laws do not equal greater morality

Friend, fellow writer and fighter-in-the-good-fight Danny de Gracia has published some well-recommended thoughts this week about the correlation between the quantity of legislation and the resulting amount of public morality.  It has been the conventional wisdom throughout history that more laws equals a more perfect society.

But does it really?  De Gracia doesn't think so.  In fact, as he writes in separate pieces for The Washington Times as well as his own blog, the ever-growing volumes of law being produced have made things worse.  They are, in truth, a symptom of a far worse problem: the spiritual condition of the human heart, which no act of government can change.

From de Gracia's essay in The Washington Times:

When first-time candidates run for office, most pitch a platform promising “change” in the form of new laws. Incumbent legislators are often attacked by challengers not for the number of bad bills canned in committee, but for the number of introduced measures that actually made it into law.

At the Hawaii State Legislature, a newly-hired Senate analyst was once given the assignment of reading the 2011 Session Laws of Hawaii (SLH) and complained when her boss was away that she faced reading thousands of pages packed with dense legalese. A veteran House staffer simply smiled and replied, “The SLH covers a couple of months of lawmaking and is more than a foot thick. Yet the Bible contains thousands of years of God’s commands to man and is only three inches thick on average. What does that say about how many laws they’re making here?”

As that incident perfectly illustrates, legislators are lawmaking mass-producers. (Prior to going paperless, in years past whenever the Hawaii State Legislature was in session, the cost of printer paper in Honolulu would rise by a few cents.) It also underlines the more important fact that even God, who is infinitely powerful and wise, could not by the means of law alone make humans righteous or the Earth more verdant.

Laws do not make good citizens nor do they prosper the environment. As is evident by thousands of years of human civilization, the only thing laws really accomplish is condemnation for those who engage in banned behaviors.

 And from his blog piece:

Our 21st century America has become an extremely legalistic society. Chances are if you can think of something, there's a public law that taxes, regulates or bans it. Most legislators who introduce laws do so based on a belief that law somehow makes for a better society or more responsible citizenry. Yet as we have seen in recent years, the increase of laws has only meant more incarceration, more law enforcement (and tougher police tactics) and more surveillance. People need to consult a lawyer for almost everything these days because the slightest screw up could result in government fines, imprisonment or civil action.

In my article I discuss how law at its very core is flawed with respect to humanity because laws do not change the human heart, they only punish. A law can forbid perjury or fraud, but it can never make a liar honest. Another law can prohibit littering, but it cannot make a messy person neat. The human heart -whether it inclines towards evil or good - is the true driving force. A society without morals can have laws forbidding everything but without citizens who have the soul (and by this I mean heart, mind and spirit) to live right, will be marked by chaos, violence and mayhem.

(snip)

You cannot legislate righteousness. It didn't work for God (nor was it His intent to justify by the law) and it certainly won't work for humans either. This is where so-called "social conservatives" miss the mark: they think that by banning behaviors they will somehow "instruct" souls in the way of righteousness or "preserve" the character of the nation. Jesus - speaking of a man's internal heart condition - said that a good tree does not bear bad fruit, neither does a bad tree bear good fruit. Bad deeds do not spontaneously generate, they are the fruit of a bad heart. "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit" (Matthew 12:33).

It reminds me of something that Cicero observed: the more the laws there were, the more numerous the lawbreakers.

Metaphorically, it's the political equivalent of grasping at straws: our leaders, we ourselves even, have been convinced that if we pass just one, more, law, that somehow it will magically make everything better.  And that kind of thinking is in defiance of the reality that Man, on his own, is a fallen and corrupt creature.  Nothing he can do according to his own wisdom is going to succeed... or at least survive the test of time.

Why has our country become so corrupted politically and socially?  Because her people have placed their trust and confidence in government, in political parties, in cheapened religion which makes them "feel good" but does nothing to convict and bring personal accountability.  Unfortunately, I look around and see too many people, preachers and politicians who still insist that "things will be right", if only they were in power.

Anyway, de Gracia has some eloquent elucidation in these two essays and they're well worth passing along.

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How to fix bankrupt Detroit

History was made yesterday as Detroit became the largest American municipality ever to file for bankruptcy.

What was once the wealthiest city in the United States is now $18 billion dollars underwater.  It can't pay its bills.  It can't pay out pensions to employees.  And there is practically no income.

But hey!  All is not lost!  Detroit can simply have a "Save Detroit Telethon"!


How does a city as ruined as Detroit make a comeback? Getting rid of every vestige of its failed leadership would be a good start. But that alone isn't going to make up for all the damage that kowtowing to the unions (representing both government employees and private industry) has done.

Actually, to be honest: I don't know how a city like Detroit could recover.  I believe it's possible, but it would take a very long time.

Expect all kinds of hell if the United States federal government gives Detroit a bailout.  I have even heard some suggest that it was the bailout of GM which helped precipitate this bankruptcy.  Now imagine that on a larger scale.

Gotta wonder how many other cities across this country are poised to go broke.  Or even how many states...

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American Inquisition: Holder's Justice Department demanding "tips" on George Zimmerman

This has been news for a couple of days now, but the reason I held off posting about it is that I wanted to do some historical investigation first.  And you know what I found out?

To the very best of my understanding, there has not been a single instance before this week of the United States federal government setting up a hotline or e-mail address asking the public and organizations for information against an individual citizen.  Not one.  And if anybody reading this does know of one, feel free to write me at theknightshift@gmail.com and better my education on the matter.

George Zimmerman was acquitted this past

Eric Holder:
Roland Freisler would have been proud of him.

Saturday night of all charges against him in the death of Trayvon Martin.  Zimmerman had been charged with second-degree murder.

And now, not being content with a jury of his peers finding the man not guilty, Attorney General Eric Holder has directed the United States Department of Justice to solicit "tips" about George Zimmerman from "civil rights groups" and the general public.  Holder's people are searching for "evidence" which would put Zimmerman up on federal "civil rights charges".

In other words: the Obama Administration has officially designated George Zimmerman to be an enemy of the state.

Holder's Justice Department is declaring war against a single American who was found not guilty and who the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that they had "no evidence" he was a racist.

The Obama White House is engaging in activity which makes those of Nixon's in the Watergate scandal positively pale in comparison.

Among everything else that is so wrong with this (including what could strongly be considered violation of ex post facto) I must wonder aloud: could this be a case of using the weight of the federal government to perpetrate an act of racial injustice?  All of this seems motivated primarily by the ethnicity of the respective parties in the case: Martin being black and Zimmerman, a Hispanic.

"Justice is blind", it has been said.  Yet Holder's Justice Department is behaving, to any rational observer, with racial prejudice against an American citizen and to an unprecedented degree of official action.

And if the government can do this to George Zimmerman, it can very well choose to do this to anyone else.  Including me.  Or you.

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This is why we can't have nice things...

In case you missed it the first time, tonight at 7 p.m. EST the SyFy channel will be re-broadcasting its natural disaster epic Sharknado.  Last week's premiere of the movie - about a freak hurricane spawning off the coast of California and hitting Los Angeles, dropping shark-spewing tornadoes all over the place - became one of the biggest television hits of the summer.

(No, I did not watch this movie thing last week.  But the "#sharknado" hashtag on Twitter was sure a hella fun to behold!)

And then there's this, which is certainly destined to become the centerpiece of every home entertainment library it finds itself ensconced upon: The Power Rangers Legacy: The First 20 Years DVD collection.  Just in time for the twentieth anniversary of the Mighty Moron... errrr, I mean Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers show which first unleashed this plague upon the land, Saban and Shout! Media are unleashing "this limited edition home entertainment collection comes packed with every Power Rangers episode, from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Power Rangers Megaforce, boasting over 270 hours of action-packed entertainment across 98 DVDs".

(I can't believe this franchise lasted 27 episodes, much less more than 270 hours...)

Tip o' the hat to good friend of this blog Drew Robert McOmber for alerting us to this... whatever.

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Tammy Tuesday this week is brew-ing up trouble

So Tammy decided she wanted to try some beer...

She ultimately decided that she didn't like it.  After one whiff of the bottle, she ran away from it as hard as she could!  Wish I could have gotten that on camera.

A friend made an observation: what kind of a German dog wouldn't enjoy beer?  I think the photo speaks for itself: it's light beer that Tammy recoiled from, not a dark hearty pint of true ale.

Incidentally, with all of the interest in home-brewing lately, I'm considering making some beer myself.  The thing is, I've never been able to develop a taste for the stuff.  So I figured that'll be one hobby which if I'm bad at, I'll never have to know...

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Photographs of American Revolution veterans, and 3D images from World War I

Old historical photos hold a special fascination for me.  So I find this next couple of items positively amazing...

Peter Mackintosh
Photo Credit: Joseph Bauman

On the right is a picture of Peter Mackintosh, taken sometime after the early 1840s.  Mackintosh was 16 years old and an apprentice blacksmith in Boston when he watched as a gang of young men barged into his shop, smeared ashes from the hearth all over their faces, and then just as quickly stormed out of the place.  Mackintosh later discovered that they were part of a mob on their way to Griffin's Wharf to throw boxes and barrels of British-taxed tea into Boston Harbor.

That was on December 16th, 1773.  And the teenaged Peter Mackintosh had witnessed the first moments of the Boston Tea Party.

Later on Mackintosh served in the Continental Army, shoeing horses and repairing cannons.

Mackintosh lived long enough for his photograph to be taken at the dawn of the art.  And his is but one of a collection of photos of Revolutionary War heroes who survived long after America's war for independence.   Some of these men served personally under George Washington.  A few witnessed Cornwallis' surrender after the Battle of Yorktown.

Think about that: we are looking into the eyes of men, whose own eyes looked into those of Washington, Hamilton, Greene, and perhaps Cornwallis himself.  These aren't painted depictions, but captured moments of these people in the twilight of their lives.

1776 wasn't all that long ago, when you consider it.

Much closer to our own epoch, a World War I-era stereoscopic camera discovered two years ago has yielded some incredible 3D photographs of the Great War.  It will be a hundred years next August that World War I broke out in Europe but if you don't mind the absence of color, images such as this one are practically as fresh as those taken in any modern conflict...

Two French soldiers help another who has been shot,
as another lies dead in the background.

io9.com has several more photos of World War I in 3D at the link above.

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When animals attack: cows and snakes

A man in Brazil has died after a cow on top of his roof crashed through the ceiling of his house and crushed him in his bed.

From the story at The Telegraph...

The cow is believed to have escaped from a nearby farm and climbed onto the roof of the couple's house, which backs onto a steep hill on Wednesday night.

The corrugated roof immediately gave way and the one-and-a-half-ton animal fell eight feet onto Mr de Souza's side of the bed.

His wife, and the cow, both reportedly escaped unharmed.

Rescuers took Mr de Souza to hospital with a fractured left leg but no other obvious injuries, reporting that he was conscious and talking normally.

Hours later however he died from internal bleeding while still waiting to be seen by doctors, according to his family.

Mr de Souza's brother-in-law Carlos Correa told Brazil's Hoje em Dia newspaper: "Being crushed by a cow in your bed is the last way you expect to leave this earth.

"But in my view it wasn't the cow that killed our Joao, it was the unacceptable time he spent waiting to be examined."

His grieving mother, Maria de Souza, told Brazil's SuperCanal TV channel: "I didn't bring my son up to be killed by a falling cow."

 Meanwhile over in Israel, another man is recovering after he went to a restroom to "drain the main vein" and a snake leaped out of the toilet and bit him on his penis.

Fortunately it was small (the snake, not the... nevermind).  And it was also determined at the hospital to be non-poisonous (again, the snake).

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