text:
2014's fast food atrocities
Burger King's black cheeseburger: Made with squid ink and bamboo charcoal, arguably a symbol of meat's destructive effect on the planet. Only available in Japan.
Topics: George W. Bush, Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, British Election, Middle East, Politics News
Sir Alistair Horne may be the only author in the world whose books have been read and praised by George W. Bush, Ariel Sharon and Robert Fisk. Not to mention by much of the senior military staff of the U.S. Army, Middle East scholars, State Department policy wonks, and realpolitik statesmen. The distinguished British historian, author of 18 books, became the talk of the U.S. chattering classes when it was revealed that President Bush was reading his classic account of the 1954-1962 Algerian War, "A Savage War of Peace." Indeed, Bush was so impressed with "A Savage War of Peace" that he invited Horne to come to the White House for tea and a talk last Thursday.
"He wrote me the most charming handwritten letter, said he was very interested in my books, and wanted to know more. He said 'A Savage War of Peace' has been most useful. I was quite stunned," said Horne.
Horne declined to go into details about what they talked about, saying their conversation was off the record. "He was extremely courteous, very cheerful, loves jokes and he couldn't have been more charming. I was very honored," Horne said. "He was very determined. 'We're not going to give up, we're not going to give up,' he repeated from time to time. He was very interested in my book, had obviously read it most thoroughly, as he had my other book, 'The Price of Glory' [about the WWI battle of Verdun]. He had put in a lot of work. Where he finds the time I don't know. We discussed the book in depth. We disagreed about a few points. I didn't entirely agree with his admiration for Tony Blair, but that was a matter of personal predilection."
For Horne, such access to the highest levels of power is not unusual. He was a friend of the Conservative British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and wrote his biography. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that "A Savage War of Peace" was his favorite bedside reading, and that one of Horne's earlier books, "To Lose a Battle: France 1940," helped him win the 1973 October War against Egypt. In 2003, Horne was knighted for services to Franco-British relations, going into the knightly ranks with another Briton noted for his keen analysis of the days when the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank, Mick Jagger. His current project, undertaken at the subject's invitation, is a biography of Henry Kissinger, focused on the single year 1973. ("Most people measure their material in feet," Horne said, explaining why he didn't take on Kissinger's entire life. "His material is said to total 33 tons.")
That "A Savage War of Peace" is on the Bush administration's must-read list is one of the more remarkable intellectual ironies in recent years. Horne's book recounts the inevitable defeat of a colonialist power at the hands of a small but determined group of insurgents, the National Liberation Front, who effectively used terrorism to win their nation's freedom — not exactly the sort of book you would expect Bush and his inner circle to curl up with. As Horne notes, the Algerian War "remains on the statute books as a prototype of the modern war of national liberation." Nelson Mandela's African National Congress guerrillas and Palestinian leaders both studied it, Horne points out. So did al-Qaida. And now, so has George W. Bush.
What the Bush administration is hoping to learn from Horne's book, of course, is exactly the opposite of what Mandela and Arafat were looking for. The latter were searching for information that would lead to victory over occupying powers; Bush officials are looking for clues that will allow them to prevail over a stubborn insurgency, or failing that, find a viable exit strategy. But there do not appear to be many useful lessons in Horne's book for Bush except "don't."
I met Horne when he was visiting San Francisco last week. We spoke for several hours at his daughter's house. (Full disclosure: His daughter, Alexandra Berven, is a friend of mine.) At 81, Horne remains razor-sharp. A charming British gentleman with the amiable manners and curmudgeonly good humor of an honorary Oxford fellow — which is not surprising, since he is one — he enlivens his analysis of the contemporary world scene with analogies to Napoleon and references to Talleyrand and Churchill. His specialties are France and military history, but he has also written about, among other subjects, Canada, Germany and Chile. Alexandra described his politics as "to the left of Genghis Khan but to the right of Margaret Thatcher," but added, "He's not a party ideologue — I think his politics are driven by whether people are doing idiotic things."
Horne didn't vote for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and initially supported the Iraq war because of his concern for Britain's special relationship with America, and because he was misled by the bogus intelligence. But he has since recanted and calls the war an enormous blunder. Blair, he said, should be impeached for war crimes. He discreetly avoided saying anything so incendiary about the Bush administration, although he threw some sharp elbows at the neoconservatives who played such a large role in drumming up the war.
Horne's opinions, whether one agrees with all of them or not, are untainted by the partisan rancor of American politics. He is refreshingly unafraid to puncture pieties of the left and right alike. He calls for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and wants Guantánamo shut down immediately, but warns that hasty withdrawal could empower the jihadists. He attacks neoconservatives who used what he calls "Holocaustology" to justify invading Iraq, but blasts the Muslim world for its backwardness. He thinks we should bring in Indian mercenaries to fight in Iraq and says the way to solve the problems in the Middle East would be to turn Gaza into another Dubai — and "get the priests out of there." He brings a long historical perspective and six decades of experience to bear on the affairs of the day.
Given that "A Savage War of Peace" is being read as a mirror of the current war, what does Horne think are the parallels between Algeria and Iraq? "The first one is the difficulty of combating insurgents with a regular army," he said. "Too heavy forces, too much collateral damage. The second is porous frontiers. In Algeria, they had Morocco and Tunisia on either side, so the FLN could stage raids and then go back across the border so the French couldn't get them. Now you've got a similar situation in Iraq, with Syria and Iran. The third is the tactic of targeting local police. In Algeria, the insurgents were just a handful compared to what you've got in Iraq. They realized that they couldn't beat the French army, so they attacked the local police who were loyal to the French. This was enormously successful. The French had to take the army back from search and destroy missions to protect the police. So both the police and the army were neutralized. The insurgents in Iraq have copied the Algerian experience to great effect."
Horne turned to the parallel that he feels most passionately about. "The fourth thing, and this is the painful issue, is torture or abuse," he said. "In Algeria, the French used torture — as opposed to abuse — very effectively as an instrument of war. They had some success with it; they did undoubtedly get some intelligence from the use of torture. But they also got a lot of wrong intelligence, which inevitably happens. But worse than that, from the French point of view, was that when the news came out in France of what the army was doing, it caused such a revulsion that it led directly to the French capitulation. And not only revulsion in France, but revulsion here. JFK, as a senator, took up the Algerian cause quite strongly partly because of the human rights issue.
"I feel myself absolutely clear in my own mind that you do not, whatever the excuse, use torture, let alone abuse," Horne went on. "In one way, of course, abuse is not as bad as torture, but in another way it's worse because it's senseless. It doesn't achieve anything. Abu Ghraib was just appalling. In the Algerian war, the media was very primitive — it took about a year to actually get the news into the press in France. There was no television then. With Abu Ghraib, the images were on Al-Jazeera the next day. The impact, across the whole of the Muslim world, is enormous. What do you get for it? Nothing."
Horne noted that one of the less-known effects of torture is its effect on those who carry it out. "The damage done to the torturees is awful, but an extraordinary thing is the terrible corruption of torture on the torturers. I've followed it up quite a lot in France. There are mental hospitals that have a lot of ex-soldiers from 50 years ago who are still suffering from what they had to do."
Horne went on to tell of a chilling encounter he had with Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator who was responsible for thousands of extrajudicial executions and "disappearances," and widespread torture. According to Human Rights Watch, "torture of political detainees in clandestine detention centers was systematic throughout the Pinochet regime, often overseen by doctors expert in keeping victims barely alive." More than 30,000 Chileans were tortured, according to an authoritative Chilean report. "I had the very good fortune once to interview General Pinochet in 1987, when he was still in power. 'A Savage War of Peace' had been translated into Spanish. I think I was the first gringo journalist to talk to him, largely because he'd read that book. He started off the interview by saying how much he'd liked it. I thought, this is not something to be missed. So I said, 'Well, of course I don't have to tell you that the French army won the battle of Algiers through the use of torture, but it cost them the war.' Pinochet looked me absolutely straight in the eye and said, 'Well, yes, but in Chile we never tortured.'"
In a subsequent phone interview, Horne related an oddly similar encounter — although he didn't characterize it that way — he had with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld two years ago. "I was invited to the Pentagon to have lunch with Donald Rumsfeld and it was suggested that I might take a copy of 'A Savage War,'" Horne said. "This was in May 2005, the year after Abu Ghraib. The lunch was called off, so I left the book. I thought, he's an incredibly busy man, I ought to just highlight various passages that I think are of relevance to Iraq. They were mostly to do with torture.
"What I didn't know was that at that particular moment they were having a real soul-searching over Abu Ghraib at the Pentagon," Horne went on. "Rumsfeld wrote back rather tersely, 'As you well know, we do not believe in torture.' 'As you well know' was his way of saying, 'You're a bloody fool. Shut up.' I wrote back to him rather apologetically, saying I hoped he didn't think I was being presumptuous and that what I was really trying to say was that the Americans and British were both singing from the same song sheet [on torture]. I got back a very charming letter saying we were indeed both singing from the same song sheet."
The fifth parallel Horne saw between Algeria and Iraq is the one that now confronts the Bush administration: an exit strategy. "In Algeria, the war went on for eight years, and the military, rather like the military in Vietnam, had a very good case for saying they were winning it," Horne said. "But de Gaulle decided they had to go. They were negotiating for months with the FLN, like the peeling of an onion. The French lost every bloody thing, including the rights to oil. They had to pull out all 1 million pieds noirs." The pieds noirs, of whom Albert Camus is the most famous, were French colonial settlers, many of whom traced their roots in Algeria back to the French conquest in 1830. "One of the worst things that happened in Algeria was what happened to the Harkis, the Algerians who were loyal to France," Horne explained. As he relates in his book, the Harkis were slaughtered by their vengeful countrymen after the French left, with an estimated 30,000 to 150,000 perishing. "Absolutely appalling. I fear that we're going to have a Harki situation or much worse coming up in Iraq, because of the numbers involved. The savagery in Iraq is worse than what it was in Algeria."
Horne believes that America's exit strategy must take into account an updated domino theory. "When the domino theory was applied to Vietnam, it was much despised. People said it didn't mean a thing. But here I think it does, because an over-speedy exit from Iraq is going to leave a vacuum with possibly terrible consequences," he said. "Take Saudi Arabia. Are we going to have another Iranian revolution there? I would think it's really ripe for it. Even aside from al-Qaida, there's an awful lot of opposition to the Saudi royal family. And then you've got the question of Iran, which could emerge as the most powerful power in the area. So I'm just extremely glad I'm not George W. Bush because I don't know how you can get out gracefully."
Horne said that the Democrats' policy on Iraq, which calls for phased withdrawals, runs the risk of opening the doors to chaos and assisting the insurgents. "If Barack Obama is going to run on a ticket of saying we are going to pull everything out by such and such a date, that seems to me to be — I don't want to sound as though I'm an ardent hawk, because I'm not — a real ticket of encouragement to the insurgents."
The hasty-withdrawal-leads-to-chaos argument, of course, is one shared by Bush. Bush himself cited "A Savage War of Peace" in support of this thesis at a lunchtime seminar with conservative authors and journalists in March of this year. According to the Weekly Standard's Irwin Stelzer, right-wing historian Andrew Roberts presented a history lesson that echoed the beliefs of George W. Bush. Roberts' teachings, which were avidly received by the president, were to not set a timeline for withdrawal, to stand fast in the face of domestic defeatism, to be unafraid to intern enemies for indefinite periods of time, to cling to the alliance of English-speaking peoples, and to remember we are fighting an enemy that cannot be appeased.
Stelzer writes that in the course of Roberts' discussion of withdrawal, Bush asked for "examples of occupying forces remaining for long periods of time, other than in Korea. Malaysia, said Roberts, where it took nine years to defeat the Communists, after which the occupying troops remained for several years. And Algeria, added Bush, citing Alistair Horne's 'A Savage War of Peace' for the proposition that more Algerians were killed after the French withdrawal than during the French occupation."
Actually, Bush was wrong about the casualties. What Horne wrote is that between 30,000 and 150,000 Harkis were killed after the war, and that the entire conflict cost the lives of considerably more than 300,000 Muslims — possibly as many as a million, which is the official Algerian figure. But beyond that, it's hard to see what in "A Savage War" would serve Bush as a historical justification for remaining in Iraq. It's easy to imagine Bush regarding France's disgraceful abandonment of the Harkis as a cautionary tale that applies to America. But the two situations are completely different. Iraqis are already being slaughtered in horrendous numbers, thanks to our invasion, and it is unclear whether an American withdrawal will make that better or worse.
The real moral lesson Bush should draw from the betrayal of the Harkis is obvious: We need to immediately provide assistance and U.S. citizenship to the thousands of Iraqis who sided with the U.S., and who now face death in their native land. As George Packer pointed out in a recent New Yorker piece, no such help has been offered. And it is painfully clear that it is not going to be.
Horne's key argument is that France lost the war because it lost its political will. What Bush seems to have taken away from the book is that that won't happen to him. I posed the counterargument to Horne that the insurgency in Iraq has been largely fueled by the fact that even ordinary Sunnis and Shiites, as well as jihadi extremists, perceive the U.S. as an occupying Western force.
"As long as we're there, we'll be attacked," I said. "But if we leave, they won't have us to unify them, and the non-jihadist insurgents may turn on the jihadists."
Horne nodded. "Yes, they see us as crusaders. Henry Kissinger has a very interesting theory which I go along with. I know the word 'mercenary' has a terribly pejorative sound in American ears — you think of the Hessians, the 'bloody lobsterbacks.' But Henry's idea is that you bring in neutral people. He mentioned the Indian army. What you need in Iraq is a kind of mercenary force. Say the Indians have a huge army, which they have difficulty in paying. So we buy a division or two. We have the Gurkhas, but unfortunately, there are only a brigade of them. We need more. We need some country that is not a crusader, not tarnished, to take over."
I said that barring the arrival of the Gurkhas, it sounded like he was pretty pessimistic that there could be any outcome in Iraq short of a regional meltdown or an internecine blood bath. "Actually, I've become more optimistic than most people I know," Horne replied. "Optimistic in my pessimism. Taking the long-term historian's view, one of these days they're going to start running out of suicide bombers. Even the Japanese ran out of kamikazes at the end of the last war. Remember the anarchist movement at the end of the 19th century? They murdered an American president [McKinley], two French presidents and a Russian czar. Everyone was terrified of the anarchists who walked around with a bomb with a fuse burning. Then suddenly one day, they disappeared. They just simply disappeared. This is my optimism, that this may happen."
Horne advanced a creative solution to the Middle East mess. "I have a Jewish ex-Baghdadi friend in New York, Ezra Zilkha, who has made a huge fortune in banking. This is what I'd call the Zilkha plan. Take the worst place in the world, the most miserable, inefficient, god-awful, messed-up place: Gaza. Make a mini-economic miracle there. Create something like Dubai. Have a duty-free port. Dubai has nothing that Gaza hasn't got. It's got the sea, and if the Israelis would let them use it, it's got natural gas.
"Now, I'm reminded of one of my heroes, Talleyrand," Horne continued. "He was a real old rascal. But among his many very wise statements, he said, 'Wherever there's trouble, look for a priest.' He was a defrocked priest so he knew what he was talking about. Honestly, if you look at it, in Northern Ireland, trouble was caused largely by priests on one side or the other. And what's happened in Northern Ireland? The solution has nothing to do with religion. We got the priests out of there, thanks to the EU. The best thing it ever did was make Ireland prosperous. And prosperity made up for religion. This is the only hope for the Middle East, to somehow neutralize the mullahs by creating a small economic miracle. To persuade young Muslims that there's a better life than blowing themselves up by running casinos and whorehouses and hotels and what have you."
Horne then turned his historian's eye on Islam. "Don't you think, when you look at Islam — and I don't want to get my knees shot off or my head taken off — you see the most terrible incompetence compared to the rest of the world? Take Pakistan compared to India. India is the most enormous mess, but it's a democracy and it works. Pakistan has always been a disaster. Name me one single Islamic country that has been a success. Turkey, but it's secular. Take England. One of the troubles we have with the Muslim population is economic. Within our Asian population, the Indians' earnings are something like 10 times that of the Muslim population. This must say something."
I said that Islam had never had an Enlightenment or a decisive church-state split, when the ideas of all-embracing political Islam were decisively rejected. This stood in the path of modernism.
"Absolutely," Horne replied. "In terms of European history, they're at the time of the Inquisition."
"But I think that the West must also share some of the blame for the tardiness of the Muslim world as well," I said.
"How come?" Horne asked.
"Because of repeated colonialist maneuvers by England, by France, notably England's occupation of Iraq in the earlier part of the 20th century."
"It's not a bright story," Horne agreed.
"There were many attempts, in Egypt, in Iraq and elsewhere, where Arab countries attempted to create constitutional democracies that were squelched," I went on. "I'm not saying they were advanced movements, but they were effectively suppressed by the colonialist powers because they didn't want them to gain independence. This is not a blank-check excuse for the backwardness of the Muslim world, but it plays a role as well."
"Can I throw out, against that argument, two former French colonial properties — Vietnam and Algeria?" Horne said. "Vietnam is the new Malaysia, it's the new Taiwan. You go to Saigon and you think it's a sort of an American fantasy. By contrast, look at Algeria. What a mess. In Algeria, in the civil war that started in 1990, perhaps 200,000 were killed, and nobody knows quite what they were fighting for. It's like the Thirty Years' War in Europe. Vietnam suffered far, far more during its war, in terms of casualties and destruction, than Algeria did. I think the Muslim world ought to take a serious look at that and ask themselves why.
"Now, on the other hand, on your point, I know Egypt well, I served there in the army," Horne said. "In Egypt we did sit on the Egyptian anti-royal movement because they were nationalists and they really wanted us out. We didn't want out. The same was true with the French in Algeria."
I asked Horne if he had a sense of why the Bush administration was so hellbent on this war, even before 9/11. One of the most-discussed issues in America today, I told him, is why did this war happen? Horne said he could lend his own personal experience toward an answer. "In April 2002, I was lecturing to 24 U.S. generals, four-star generals, the top brass in Europe, in France, and it was absolutely clear to me that they were all set to go to war in Iraq," he said. "They were discreet about it, but they pretty well knew what spots they were going into. There was the commander of the 3rd Division, the commander of the 3rd Corps, and it was all set up. That was a year before the war. Then, six months later, I was lecturing at the marvelous VMI, the Virginia Military Academy, where General Marshall graduated. At dinner there were some very bright colonels — it's colonels who run armies, not generals — from the Pentagon. One of them said to me, 'Remember what they said about the First World War, "the trains have left the station"'? That was October, and the trains had left the station. Actually, I think they'd pretty well left the station by the April before."
With a roguish glint in his eyes, Horne suddenly asked, "Would you have Tony Blair sent to the Hague for war crimes?"
The question was obviously designed to prompt me to ask him the same question, so I did.
"Yes, actually, I would, I would," Horne replied. "I wonder to what extent the British tail wasn't wagging the American dog. I worked for British intelligence, so I know a little bit about whether it's good or bad. There is a notion that the British secret service is the best in the world. That belief dies hard. I have a feeling we've sold you an awful lot of crap. I may be wrong, this is a pure hunch."
But what would the British motivation be for ginning up this war?
"It's a mystery to me because I always regarded Blair before this as absolutely the original trimmer — someone who would trim his sails to whatever the media said he should do," Horne replied. "Then suddenly he goes out on a limb on this one thing. To me it's a mystery. It's a kind of zealotry. He is our neocon. I think it's a certain sort of arrogance. He wanted to be liked, he liked the White House. He liked being there with Clinton, liked being there with Bush, liked feeling like he was important. I question whether America would have gone in if the British had said, 'Invade Iraq? No way.' To my mind it's done immeasurable damage to the special relationship, which I value immensely.
"Just quite simply, I think Blair should be impeached for lying. Either he lied or he was lied to and was therefore incompetent. The Iraqi weapons, the yellowcake. I'm being extremely disloyal to my country, but I think we have a lot to answer for. It's infuriating — it's always infuriating when the French prove to be right," Horne said, laughing. "I had a great friend, Richard Cobb, a historian at Oxford, who used to say, 'Wonderful country, France. Pity about the French.' I don't go that far. I say 'Wonderful country. Pity about the Parisians.'"
I asked Horne what he thought the genesis of the war in America was. "What about the very delicate subject, I hesitate to raise it in Washington, of the Israeli tail wagging the American dog?" asked Horne. "Have you read Tom Ricks' book ['Fiasco']? He discusses the influence of, I don't know what you would call it, Holocaustology. There are three people he cites in that book — [former third-ranking Pentagon civilian Doug] Feith, [former Undersecretary of Defense Paul] Wolfowitz and [key neocon strategist Richard] Perle. At some point in Ricks' book, each one cites the Holocaust as being a reason for going into Iraq. 'If we don't go into Iraq, this is going to happen again.'
"Now, it's a very sensitive subject; nobody's more aware of that than me. I've had eight books published in Israel. I know that at least one of them helped Sharon win the '73 war. So I think I can say fairly hard things that other people might shy away from," Horne said. "But it seems to me that to say the Holocaust made the invasion of Iraq essential is rather like the French saying in 1940 we're going to fight this new war with the weapons of 1918. It's simply historically not useful. In practical terms, has it actually pushed a future Holocaust further away or has it brought it closer? I think it's brought it closer. Look at this ghastly war with Hezbollah — the first war that Israel's lost. Hezbollah had primitive rockets. What's going to happen when there are rockets that can reach every single part of Israel? I think Israel is in a very dangerous position."
I told Horne that when I was reading "A Savage War of Peace," I thought it had some relevance to the Iraq war, but much more relevance to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israelis are not colonialists in the same way as the French were, I said, but like the French they're facing a classic national liberation struggle.
"I think you're right," Horne said. "You know, I discovered that my book was Sharon's favorite bedside reading," he laughed. (In a piece last year in the British newspaper the Telegraph, Horne wrote about this, saying, "It seemed he was reading it from left to right, and got the message entirely wrong." He added, "On the whole, my sympathies have instinctively been with Israel.")
Horne provided a fascinating historical gloss on how the U.S. botched Iraq. "One of the stupidest things the U.S. did, and this comes out in Ricks' book and Rajiv's [Rajiv Chandrasekaran's "Imperial Life in the Emerald City"], was disarming the Baathists, the Iraqi army," Horne said. "I mean, honestly. To go back in history, we beat Napoleon in 1814 and sent him to Elba. Then he had this amazing comeback in 100 days and very nearly beat the hell out of us at Waterloo. How did he manage to resurrect his army? Because the stupid fat king didn't pay them! He stood down Napoleon's army. They were all these old soldiers who weren't paid. It was the same thing in Iraq. There were what, a half a million men, and we just said, 'Go home.' You don't think they're going to set up a kebab stand in Baghdad. They're going to use their weapons. We created the insurgency there."
Horne then sprung another one of his now-familiar sly rhetorical questions. "Do you think we were enticed into Iraq by Osama bin Laden?"
I replied that Horne had pointed out in his book that it was Insurgency 101 to use terror to make your adversary respond with such disproportionate force that the population goes over to you. "I think we gave him a gift beyond his wildest dreams," I said.
"Yes, we always assume that our adversaries are stronger than they really are," Horne said. "Except when it comes to Germany. Osama is rubbing his hands in glee. Everything's going his way."
I asked Horne how he would rate the Iraq episode historically? One Israeli historian, Martin van Creveld, said that Iraq was "the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 BC sent his legions into Germany and lost them."
Horne laughed. "Chou en-Lai was asked what he thought of the French Revolution and he said, 'It's a bit too early to say.' I think it's too early to say about Iraq. A tactical disaster, yes. Strategic — maybe. What I worry about, and I don't know if this is a strategic or a policy disaster, is that we're fighting the wrong war in the wrong place."
What would be the right war in the right place? "I think I would have kept out of Iraq altogether and used special operations to track down al-Qaida," Horne said. Then, inadvertently echoing one of Rumsfeld's most infamous lines, he said, "But the trouble with all wars is that you fight them with the weapons you've got, not the weapons you wish you had. Take the British bomber command in WWII. Why did we blast the hell out of German cities? Because it was the only weapon we had. We built these bombers and if we had built attack bombers, light bombers, maybe we would have been much more effective. But this was the weapon we had. In Iraq, the weapon you have is the most efficient air force, the most efficient army. It was brilliantly done from a military point of view. But not a strategic one."
I told Horne that I noticed that he, like almost all historians, wrote about terrorism in a completely nonjudgmental way, as a military tactic, whereas journalists, under pressure to express moral outrage on behalf of their countrymen, have difficulty doing so.
Horne nodded. "Yes, that's very true. If terrorism is effective, you become a freedom fighter. As Talleyrand said, 'Treason is a matter of dates.'"
Burger King's black cheeseburger: Made with squid ink and bamboo charcoal, arguably a symbol of meat's destructive effect on the planet. Only available in Japan.
McDonald's Black Burger: Because the laws of competition say that once Burger King introduces a black cheeseburger, it's only a matter of time before McDonald's follows suit. You still don't have to eat it.
Domino's Specialty Chicken: It's like regular pizza, except instead of a crust, there's fried chicken. The company's marketing officer calls it "one of the most creative, innovative menu items we have ever had" -- brain power put to good use.
Arby's Meat Mountain: The viral off-menu product containing eight different types of meat that, on second read, was probably engineered by Arby's all along. Horrific, regardless.
KFC'S ZINGER DOUBLE DOWN KING: A sandwich made by adding a burger patty to the infamous chicken-instead-of-buns creation can only be described using all caps. NO BUN ALL MEAT. Only available in South Korea.
Taco Bell's Waffle Taco: It took two years for Taco Bell to develop this waffle folded in the shape of a taco, the stand-out star of its new breakfast menu.
Krispy Kreme Triple Cheeseburger: Only attendees at the San Diego County Fair were given the opportunity to taste the official version of this donut-hamburger-heart attack combo. The rest of America has reasonable odds of not dropping dead tomorrow.
Taco Bell's Quesarito: A burrito wrapped in a quesadilla inside an enigma. Quarantined to one store in Oklahoma City.
Boston Pizza's Pizza Cake: The people's choice winner of a Canadian pizza chain's contest whose real aim, we'd imagine, is to prove that there's no such thing as "too far." Currently in development.
7-Eleven's Doritos Loaded: "For something decadent and artificial by design," wrote one impassioned reviewer, "it only tasted of the latter."
He Trashed Hundreds Of Films In His Career. But 13 Years Ago, He Angrily Stood Up For One.
NASA Made The Invisible Visible, And Now I Feel A Bit Sick
Their Ideas Used To Be Called 'Crazy Talk,' But Things Are Different Now
She Noticed A Huge Problem With Condoms. There. She Fixed It.
A Girl On Facebook Said, 'Black Lives Matter? All Lives Matter!' So This Woman Responded.


text:
Narrow your search
The Hyundai Santa Cruz seems equal parts Subaru BRAT, Chevy Avalanche and Transformer! At the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Hyundai put out the feelers for a concept truck that just might be a hit.
Oddly, Hyundai says that the Santa Cruz concept isn't a truck, but it sure looks like one.
Think watch-controlled cars are a thing of the future? Not so. Hyundai hopes to add support for Android Wear and the Apple Watch before the year is through.
CNET's Tim Stevens, Antuan Goodwin and Wayne Cunningham, wrap up the 2015 North American International Auto Show by taking a look at some the hottest cars to premiere, including the Ford GT, the Acura NSX and the all-new Chevy Volt.
With an efficient diesel engine and an extendable bed, the Santa Cruz aims to be a compact pickup for millennials who don't want or need a truck.
CES 2015 is showing us that smart watches aren't just a great accessory for you, but that they can be a great accessory for your car, too. See Hyundai's solution in action.
This year's Detroit auto show featured two welcome revivals, the new Ford GT and Acura NSX, along with a slew of potent new launches.
A few quirks aside, the 2015 Hyundai Sonata Limited has grown up and now boasts a broader appeal to go with its value, but some of the upstart spark has gone missing.
At CES 2015, Hyundai will show off its Display Audio head unit, integrating both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, designed for the lower end of its line-up.
At the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show, CNET's Antuan Goodwin takes a look at Hyundai's Android Auto, an Android-based operating system for the car.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
To learn about our efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of our website, please visit our
Accessibility Information
Skip to section navigation
Skip to main content
Below is an advertisement.
The Official Site of the Atlanta Braves
Turner Field
Turner Field
Local Area Info
Atlanta Attractions
Atlanta Attractions
CNN Center
Tour the global headquarters of Turner Broadcasting System and visit the eateries and specialty stores. One CNN Center, (404) 827-2491; Tour Information (404) 827-2300
Atlanta Botanical Garden
Tropical, desert and endangered plants from around the world. Piedmont Avenue at The Prado, (404) 876-5859.
Atlanta History Center
Explore Atlanta history from the Civil War to civil rights in award-winning exhibitions. 130 W. Paces Ferry Road, (404) 814-4000
Barnsley Gardens Resort
597 Barnsley Gardens Rd.
Adairsville, Georgia 30103
Phone: 877.773.2447
Centennial Olympic Park
The 21-acre Centennial Olympic Park was developed to serve as the world's gathering place during the Centennial Olympic Games in 1996. The park has become a civic symbol and community focal point as well as a catalyst for new development in the downtown area. 285 International Blvd., NW, Atlanta, GA 30313
150-acre environmental/education complex which includes a major museum of Natural History, a Science Center, Planetarium & Observatory, and the Fernbank Forest. 767 Clifton Road NE, (404) 378-0127
Fox Theatre
This 1929 Moorish/Egyptian/Art Deco fantasy hosts a wide range of live performances and year-round tours. 660 Peachtree St., NE, (404) 881-2100
Georgia Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium opened on November 23rd as the World's Largest Aquarium. With 8 million gallons of fresh and marine water, and more than 100,000 animals representing 500 species from around the globe, you're sure to see things you've never seen before!
Georgia World Congress Center
The Georgia World Congress Center, located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, is one of the largest facilities in the United States and hosts a myriad of conventions, consumer/trade shows and corporate events each year. The multipurpose facility expanded its international scope during the1996 Centennial Olympic Games, when it hosted six sporting events and served as the International Broadcast Center. The GWCC encompasses 2.5 million square feet, earning the title of second largest convention center in the nation. 285 International Blvd., NW, Atlanta, GA 30313
High Museum of Art
This Atlanta landmark houses a superb collection of European, American, African, contemporary and decorative art as well as an array of special exhibitions. 1280 Peachtree (at 16th), Atlanta, GA. Take MARTA to the Arts Center Station, (404) 733-HIGH
Margaret Mitchell House and Visitors Center
Exhibits retell the story of her life, book and the movie and their profound impact on Atlanta and the South. Corner of 10th and Peachtree streets, (404) 249-7012
Piedmont Park
In the heart of Midtown, Atlanta's most loved park, Piedmont Park has hosted many of the events that have helped shape Atlanta. Nearly 3 million people a year visit Piedmont Park, making it one of the most heavily used parks in the southeastern United States.
Six Flags Over Georgia
Atlanta's home of the fastest thrill rides around, (770) 739-3400.
Rising almost 20 stories in the air, SkyView Atlanta is the best place to see the city in climate-controlled comfort. Located at the South end of Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, at 168 Luckie Street NW. Within walking distance of World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, the CNN Center, and Phillips Arena! Contact us directly for hours of operation at (678) 949-9023.
Stone Mountain Park
Georgia's Stone Mountain is a masterpiece of nature that amazes millions of guests from around the world. The giant granite rock, the magnificent Confederate Memorial Carving and the surrounding 3,200-acre park are results of natural and historical events. P.O. Box 778, Stone Mountain, GA 30086, (770) 498-5690
Woodruff Arts Center
The Woodruff Arts Center is dedicated to excellence in the performing and visual arts. As home of the Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the High Museum of Art, the Woodruff Arts Center offers its patrons a unique, multifaceted experience of many distinctive arts institutions on a single campus. Woodruff Arts Center (WAC) Box Office: (404)733-5000
The World of Coca-Cola Atlanta
The story of Coca-Cola is told through fascinating exhibits, classic radio and TV advertisements, and more. Located near Underground Atlanta at 55 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, (404) 676-5151
White Water and American Adventures
White Water and American Adventures are located just north of Atlanta, at Exit 113 off I-75 (follow the signs off the exit). Recognized as the most scenic water theme park in the country, and one of the top five in the nation, White Water features attractions ranging from relaxing floats to high thrills... something for everyone in the family. (800) 928-WAVE or (770) 424-WAVE. American Adventures, located right next door to White Water, is Georgia's only amusement park created especially for families with kids up to the age of 15. 250 Cobb Parkway North, Marietta, GA 30062-3503, (770) 424-9283.
Zoo Atlanta
Giant Pandas of Chengdu now open! One of only two zoos in the United States to exhibit rare giant pandas, Zoo Atlanta is also home to many other threatened and endangered species, including 22 Western Lowland gorillas, African elephants, Sumatran tigers, black rhinos, giraffes, lemurs and an extraordinary reptile collection. In addition to the zoo's naturalistic habitats, adults and children will enjoy the Nabisco Endangered Species Carousel, the Norfolk Southern Zoo Express train, the Publix Petting Zoo and the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta playground. Open year-round at 9:30 a.m. 800 Cherokee Ave., Historic Grant Park, less than a mile from Turner Field, (404) 624-5600
Skip to main content
Below is an advertisement.
Local Area Info
Also In
Turner Field
SunTrust Park
SunTrust Park Tickets
Turner Field Information Guide
Parking and Directions
Turner Field Tours
Turner Field Amenities Map
Interactive Seating Map
Seating and Pricing
Scoreboard Messages
Turner Field Special Events
Local Area Info
Below is an advertisement.


text:
Nice, friendly hotel, just right if you're heading to Spain - easy to find from the motorway. Excellent value. Breakfast was fast and friendly. Very good staff. ........................................................................................................Will definitely use again.
France >
Languedoc-Roussillon >
Pyrenees-Orientales >
Price Range (Based on Average Rates):
Hotel Class:1 star — Fasthotel Perpignan 1*
Number of rooms: 48
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Booking.com, Expedia, Priceline, Hotels.com and Odigeo so you can book your Fasthotel Perpignan reservations with confidence. We help millions of travelers each month to find the perfect hotel for both vacation and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.


text:
The website is geared to be mobile-friendly and give consumers everything the site offers no matter the platform the consumer uses.
Washington Fruit installs sorter
A new optical cherry sorter highlights developments at Yakima, Wash.-based Washington Fruit & Produce, said Chris Falk, vice president. The sister company of Washington Fruit & Produce, The Dalles Fruit Co., The Dalles, Ore., also has retrofitted its cherry line with an optical sorter made by Unitech.
The sizing is more accurate than the traditional row sizing, he said.
"The main thing we are after this first season is improved row sizing, color sorting and defect sorting," he said.


text:
Guilty of the Valentine's Day Pout?
By YourTango
However far removed from your idea of what "special and meaningful" that gift is, accept, acknowledge and cherish it as his idea of "special and meaningful." Be big enough to have room in your heart for both his and your ways of loving.
Don't pout. You'll put a chill on the evening far worse than any hillside, which could cause a rift between you and damage your love. Instead, laugh inside at the quirky ways in which we are blessedly different, pull down your muffler and give him a righteous Valentine's Day kiss. You'll warm up in no time.


text:
New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Bollywood actor and former Congress MP Govinda, who took a break from acting to try his luck in politics, says it was not a wise decision as he couldn't fit into the political world and later faced a lot of difficulties while re-establishing himself in filmdom.
"Changing profession was very difficult. I won't call politics a dirty game, but it is not an easy game either. I was sad when I couldn't match up with the talent in the political world. I realised that I should focus on something that gave me name and fame, something that had changed my life – acting," Govinda told IANS.
The 47-year-old, who made a comeback with the 2007 release "Partner", in which he had teamed up with Salman Khan and director David Dhawan, says returning to acting was not easy.
"Coming back to my industry after the political stint was a very difficult phase for me. I really had to struggle a lot to make my presence felt. It was like starting from scratch. You feel empty. There were moments when I felt very embarrassed," he said.
The actor feels it is not easy to survive in politics.
"We actors are popular names. We are recognised at every step, but we can never be politicians. The way it is headed, the approach, the thinking process – honestly we don't have it. We might get into the field, but to survive there is not an easy game. We feel out of place because we lack the political knowledge," he said.


text:
Rebroadcast: Private Military Contractors
Date: | 07-31-10 |
Host: | Ian Punnett |
Guests: | Robert Young Pelton, Galen Cook |
In a rebroadcast from 11/24/07, Ian Punnett talked with author and adventurer Robert Young Pelton about the rise of military privatization in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in our own country. First hour guest Galen Cook discussed the D.B. Cooper case.


text:
Order FREE Travel Guides
Back to Nature
Explore Birding, Fishing and Hunting Options
Nature & Wildlife »
Online Travel Guide
Explore Birding, Fishing and Hunting Options
Nature & Wildlife »
Utah's many annual events and festivals can be a great way to have a good time and get to know Utah's unique culture. Throughout the year, there are annual events and festivals for just about everyone. Athletics, Native American Culture, Railroad History, Agriculture, Arts, Music, Outdoor Recreation - these are just some of the interests that are celebrated through Utah's annual events and festivals.
If you're going to Moab for its legendary mountain bike riding, you might consider booking your trip to coincide with the Annual Moab Jeep Safari! Enjoy the long-time events of the April Action Car Show, the arts at the Moab Music Festival (in the Fall) and Moab Art Festival, or get out and run the Canyonlands Half Marathon.
Utah celebrates the arts all year long. The Utah Shakespeare Festival, in Cedar City, is world-renowned. For 50+ seasons, the ever-expanding festival now encompasses one and a half city blocks, and is committed to providing its patrons with a "total experience."
Salt Lake City has a robust schedule of annual events including the annual Utah Arts Festival, which finds artists from all over the planet converging on the state's capital to show their wares.
Two major balloon festivals you may want to add to your schedule happen on opposite sides of our state. In January, the tiny hamlet of Bluff in Southeastern Utah comes together to launch colorful balloons over an equally-colorful landscape. Every September, Antelope Island comes alive with the Antelope Island Balloon Stampede!
These are but a few examples of the spectrum of events that take place throughout the year. For a complete list go to www.visitutah.com/events.
Utah Office of Tourism
Council Hall/Capitol Hill
300 N State Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114


text:
The Acoustic Vs. Electric Love Connection
Before I could answer Tamara said that the other kind of attraction is acoustic. She explained that this was a kind of wavy energy, with ebbs and flows, like the ocean. Acoustic connection feels deep, like strong currents of electromagnetic frequency, but ultimately very peaceful. In contrast the electrical connection is intense, like lighting, has a shock effect to the system, and is characterized by intense excitement and almost a trance like possession where perception is altered. Tamara also said that more divorces seem to happen between those with electric connections because of the burn out rate of that kind of "love voltage".
So my answer was simple. The vibe I felt for Captain America felt acoustic. The peaceful element that I felt made me so comfortable that (A) the first time he asked what I did after High School I admitted that I dropped out of my first college after sophomore year to work in PR, (B) that I have to take Adderall so I can pay attention to him when the last pill's effects began wearing off, and (C) how I'm prone to being mistrustful of 99.9% of humanity most of the time. I have never admitted that so quickly to a man I was actually attracted to. So why did I? Energetically speaking, he felt as comfortable to be around as one of my closest female friends for over 15 years. Her name is Alison and oddly enough she used to be a probation officer.
Speaking of my more common state of mistrust, over the last decade, I've become somewhat of an amateur profiler. When I meet someone new it's instant friend or foe assessment. People tell me that this kind of fear is preventing love but then again, there is a reason folks like Alison are perfect pals for me. They get why it's really not paranoia but just a realistic assessment of some members of the human race.
Getting back to my comment about why there may have been more than one reason why my soul was compelled to walk a clean line my whole adult life, it was acoustic. Perhaps on some level I sensed that my past would never be far from evaluation. On the surface, it had to so with knowing I'd one day move to another country. People have been denied tourist visas into Canada because of a DUI conviction in the U.S. when they were 22, even if it happened over 20 years ago.
My father always told me to live my life drama free. His dad was a cop and before that had been a POW of the Japanese in WWII. I know for a fact that my father's parenting style mimicked his dad. My point is, I grew up very aware that choices in youth can have a permanent consequence. Guilt and innocence sometimes really does come down to association.
So there was a second important reason why I made my mind up to walk that clean line at age 21 regarding every choice I made from that moment on. At 21 I discovered that my parents and siblings were moving to California but I could not join them yet. I had to wait. In that waiting time I made that choice and had the conviction to carry it through from then on. Maybe, just maybe, it had to do with fate. On a super conscious or soul level it had to do with an inner knowing that one day I would meet someone like him. Beyond just the psychic predictions something within me urged my soul to live that way and it was easy to.


text:
I too dropped him what I hope was a polite note. If he responds I'll post it if worthwhile. Everyone else has pretty much covered the foolishness of this kind of thought pretty well.
This is a discussion on The price a culture pays within the Concealed Carry Issues & Discussions forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I too dropped him what I hope was a polite note. If he responds I'll post it if worthwhile. Everyone else has pretty much covered ...
I too dropped him what I hope was a polite note. If he responds I'll post it if worthwhile. Everyone else has pretty much covered the foolishness of this kind of thought pretty well.

I'm sending him this, as soon as I compose a short, sickeningly polite note:
By Rev. Andrew Sandlin
I havent discharged a firearm in twenty years. I have never, if memory serves, shot a handgun. Friends of mine who can best be described euphemistically as gun aficionados (Brian Abshire comes immediately to mind!) classify me as significantly less experienced than tender-foot in my "firearms skills." Aside from Biblically justified killing (for instance, capital punishment and the immediate defense of life), I abhor violence. I am not a member of the National Rifle Association, or even Larry Pratts Gun Owners of America, though I would be quite proud to be a member of the latter. My views on gun ownership do not, therefore, spring from any obsession with guns themselves, with their use, or with the damage they can easily produce. I have always found the pen and pulpit more effective weapons than guns.
Nonetheless, I suggest that the 1999 shootings at Columbine, Atlanta, and Ft. Worth reveal a glaring problem in the United States: an insufficient number of citizens carry guns. Crime, of course, is decreasing overall in this country. However, violent shooting sprees on unarmed citizens seem to be on the riseat least they are getting much greater publicity by a ubiquitous media, hungry for a story of any kind, or perhaps even interested implicitly in championing the gun control banner. Ironically, however, these murders should lead us to think in quite the opposite direction: armed citizens are exponentially less likely to be shot than unarmed citizens; therefore, more law-abiding citizens need guns. This is so simple that only the "deep thinkers" in the secular universities and media could miss it.
The Rationale of Gun-Toting
When you and the other guy are both carrying a firearm, and when you have no particular desire to get shot, its quite prudent to avoid assaulting the other guy, whether physically or verbally. This is not, of course, an ironclad rule: Today, Mafia and gang members are not deterred from shooting others of their own kind merely because the latter are carrying firearms. Civilian war is an aspect of their modus operandi, and guns are simply a part of that equation. The problem with these murderous men (and all other murderers, for that matter) is their hearts, not their guns. As long as there are guns, wicked men will find and obtain them. If every last gun on the earth were confiscated and destroyed, wicked men would create them. If wicked men could not create them, they would create other lethal weapons (like bombs) from household items. Murder by firearm is a hamartiological (sin) problem, not a firearm problem. 1
Unless gun-toting murderers are on a simple kamikaze mission, they are not interested in forfeiting their own life simply to take someone elses. In other words, they do not consider it desirable or inevitable that they be killed in the process of killing somebody else. If they know that the other guy is surely carrying a firearm that can end their life after they pull the triggeror as they are preparing to pull the triggerthey might have second thoughts about their murderous intent.
Responsible Gun-Toters Save Lives
Take Columbine, Atlanta, and Ft. Worth as examples. If in each of these cases, the adults who were targets or victims of the murderous assault had been carrying firearms, it is almost certain that many lives could have been saved. Responsible citizens trained in the legitimate use of firearms could have wounded or killed the murderers long before each wreaked as much damage as he did. Would this plan have prevented all these murders entirely? Probably not. But a number of individuals would be alive today had responsible adult citizens been carrying guns and been willing to use them in a crisis. (In the case of the Ft. Worth church murders, I already hear the plaint, "What? Carrying guns into church, the sanctuary of worship?" I am reminded of the Early American Puritan settlers, ambling to church with a Bible under one arm and a musket under the other. "But those were different and much more dangerous times. Why, the settlers could have been attacked by savages at any time!" Hmm . . . .)
After the Atlanta shootings, Thomas Sowell perceptively wrote:
When people ask emotionally, "How can we stop these things?" the most straightforward answer is to ask: How was it [sic] in fact stopped? It was stopped, like most shooting sprees, by the arrival on the scene of other people with guns.
It is the monopoly of guns by people with evil intentions that is dangerous. Some of the most dangerous places in America are places where strict gun-control laws provide assurance to violent criminals that their victims will not be able to defend themselves.
What if every third or fourth person in that building in Atlanta had a gun available at the time? Under such conditions, it is very unlikely that Matt Barton could have shot 22 people before he was stopped....
The one thing that so-called "gun control" laws do not do is control guns. They disarm potential victims. People who do not care about the law can always get guns in a country with 200 million gunsand more coming in, both legally and illegally.
We cant even stop millions of human beings from coming into this country illegallyand a handgun is a lot smaller than a person. That basic reality is not changed by politicians and media loudmouths who appeal to emotions and symbolism by crying out for more gun laws. You can always pass feel-good laws and ignore their actual consequences. In fact, we have already done too much of that on too many other issues.
The biggest hypocrites on gun control are those who live in upscale developments with armed security guardsand who want to keep other people from having guns to defend themselves. Affluent homeowners pay to have private armed security patrols cruising their neighborhoods. Many of them are also for gun control. Of course you dont have to have a gun yourself when you are paying other people to carry guns for you. But what about lower-income people living in high-crime, inner city neighborhoods? Should such people be kept unarmed and helpless, so that limousine liberals can "make a statement" by adding to the thousands of gun laws already on the books? 2
If anybody should be allowed guns, those in low-income neighborhoods should. This is, not coincidentally, the very location about whose "proliferation of guns" liberals howl. We need to get more guns into the hands of law-abiding citizenswherever they live.
This is not a "solution" to firearm murders. As long as men are not fully sanctified, there are no "solutions," only trade-offs. 3 Since limiting or forbidding gun ownership to law-abiding citizens would only assure their vulnerability to law-breaking citizens (and a law-breaking state, for that matter), the best way to diminish firearm murders is to put guns in the hands of the potential victims and teach them how to use those guns responsibly.
The Legitimate Use of Power Protects Life
Simply put, in civil society power is a deterrent to evil. (This is one of John Calvins "uses" of the law: it restrains evil men.) Many of the people today calling for the confiscation of guns on the grounds of a proliferation of gun-related violence were the same ones twenty years ago calling for the United States to disarm itself in the face of "nuclear proliferation" with the Soviet Union. They envisioned all sorts of apocalyptic scenarios by which the nuclear weapons of both nations could destroy every individual on earth "seven times over," or some other such idiocy. The fact is, however, for nearly four decades not a single American was harmed by a Soviet nuclear weapon and not a single Russian citizen was harmed by an American nuclear weapon. If, alternatively, the United States had disarmed itself, it would have been vulnerable to blackmail in the face of a regime bent on worldwide communistic domination.
Deter firearm murder; buy more firearms.
1. Andrew Sandlin, "Hamartiology and Gun Control," Christian Statesman, Vol. 140, No. 1 (Jan.-Feb., 1997), 5-6.back
2. Thomas Sowell, "Gunning for Guns," Jewish World Review, August 5, 1999, http://www.jewishworldreview.com.back
3. idem., A Conflict of Visions (New York, 1987), 25-27 and passim.back
Rev. Andrew Sandlin is Executive Director of Chalcedon and Editor-in-Chief of the Chalcedon Report and The Journal of Christian Reconstruction. This article was used with permission from Chalcedon Report
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.-- Yoda
G4W is now, be "Vigilant Always" - Bruce, (vet)USASA, NRA, IDPA, USPSA, IHMSA, & USCCA!
An outstanding article; I've never read it before. Thanks for sharing!Originally Posted by Agencyman
USAF: Loving Our Obscene Amenities Since 1947
Agencyman thats an excellent article from that minister, well thought out and presented. I hope (unfortunally don't expect) the newspaper reporter will thoughtly consider it.
Last edited by greg2536; March 30th, 2006 at 03:13 PM.
I encourage peace and carry one!
well I could only read about half...couldn't get through it all. infuriating.
--people ask why I carry, and I show them this picture. I think it says it all.--
NRA Certified Instructor--many disciplines
Amen to all that has been said above. Sadly too many people in my generation have failed to learn or were not taught two very important concepts: responsibility and accountibility. I'm the one making the choices and I'm the one that has to take the blame for it in the end. I can cry about my lot in life and blame it on MTV, etc. OR I can do something about it. I've read in posts here before where someone has mentioned how getting a CCW or CWP "mellows" them out and I agree. I'm aware, responsible, and accountible and maybe a few more in my age group should stop listening to the liberal media and quit playing the blame game.
"Never turn your back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!"
-- Winston Churchill
Amen! Thanks for sharing that.Originally Posted by Agencyman
Done.I sent the author a brief, polite email. Everyone should take a moment to do the same. Imagine if we bury him in politely worded emails.
Here it is:
Dear Mr. Jamieson,
in your article "The price a culture pays for its love of the gun" you
claim that the guns used at the after-rave party in Seattle should be
blamed for the murders.
I disagree.
Humans have been killing fellow humans since the dawn of time. Guns are
just one tool among many. Before guns were invented (a very recent event
in human history), people murdered with knives, swords, axes, clubs,
stones, rope, chemicals... even with their bare hands.
You propose to implement "stricter gun control, restrictions on some
weapons, more thorough background screening of buyers, plugging of
loopholes and tough penalties for guns that are used in lesser crimes".
Do you really think that Kyle Huff would have just stayed at home if he
had not had any guns due to stricter "gun control"? Do you really
believe that a person who is determined to kill someone can think of
only one tool for the task - and will simply give up all efforts if that
specific tool is not available?
I do not think so. If guns are not available, murderers simply revert to
more old-fashioned but equally proven killing methods.
You say that the "Problem is, people keep killing people with guns". But
the sad truth is: People keep killing people - with their minds. If they
have the will, they WILL find a way.
That is how it's always been, long before there were guns. And no amount
of "gun control", registrations, restrictions, etc. will change that.
Especially since criminals do not care whether they can own guns legally
or not. They're up to no good anyway, so they might as well buy guns on
the black market.
"Gun control" only disarms the law-abiding. The only lives that "gun
control" saves are the lives of murderers. Bought and paid for with the
blood of their defenseless victims.
"So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause."
- Senator Padmé Amidala, "Revenge of the Sith"


text:
Tue, May 11, 10 at 16:32
Does anyone know of a good way to secure new construction Marvin Integrity windows to the RO/framing? I have secured the units in place via nailing fins, and they are all level, plumb, and shimmed. I'd like to send screws through the jambs at the shim locations, but I see nothing in the instructions that mentions this. Doesn't look like going behind the weather stripping as an option, as I don't want to go through the steel track and potentially hinder window operation.
Would through-jamb installation void my warranty? Does anyone have experience with the optimal place for securing these units through the jambs? Any info would be appreciated greatly. |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by windowsonwashington (My Page) on Sat, May 15, 10 at 10:42
Nailing fin should be sufficient. If you have access to the interior RO framing, I would inject some low expansion foam in the jamb and head cavities and would will be surprised how much that helps with the structure. |
- Posted by reneophyte (My Page) on Tue, May 18, 10 at 10:07
Thanks very much for the response. I talked with a window guy on Saturday who told me the same. Weird how the awning windows have much more space between the jambs and RO than the double-hungs. They feel solid in the openings...I just wanted to be 100% sure before injecting the foam and putting up drywall and trim. Thanks again. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Windows Forum
Information about Posting
- You must be logged in to post a message. Once you are logged in, a posting window will appear at the bottom of the messages. If you are not a member, please register for an account.
- Please review our Rules of Play before posting.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review your post, make changes and upload photos.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- Before posting copyrighted material, please read about Copyright and Fair Use.
- We have a strict no-advertising policy!
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
Learn more about in-text links on this page here


text:
"Grindhouse" comes off as more theme park ride than movie and that's meant as a compliment. Be warned: A ticket buys moviegoers more than two back-to-back movies (Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof"). "Grindhouse" turns local suburban multiplexes into run-down, seedy bum hotels, churning out a crass, exploitative and balls-out-fun movie experience, complete with fake trailers for crass, exploitative and balls-out-fun movies audiences will be dying to see next.
Rodriguez and Tarantino hit all the right notes. "Planet Terror" is a gross-out zombie flick in the vein of John Carpenter (and we mean gross-outdon't plan on eating much for the first hour), while "Death Proof" is a slow-burn car fetish movie like "Gone in 60 Seconds" (the original, as one character points out, not "that Angelina Jolie bullshit").
From film scratches to infuriatingly timed "missing reels" to botched sound cues, this will be a nostalgic trip for anyone who ever saw a movie in the days before digital projection. Specially created interstitials and trailers, as well as the very different look and feel of each feature, help make the three hour-plus running time palatable.
Some of that additional content comes from Rob Zombie, "Hostel" director Eli Roth and "Shaun of the Dead's" Edgar Wright. Their teasers for other exploitation concepts add to the full movie-going experience, with the best being Wright's tribute to legendary British horror studio Hammer with a hilarious trailer for a movie called "Don't."
If audience members have half as much fun watching "Grindhouse" as the cast and crew appears to have had making it, they'll get their money's worth.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times


text:
Finland native, Miska Janhunen had been working for his family's visual design firm as a Webmaster for some time, but he harboured a dream of working in VFX. For years he has been trying to find time and flexibility to study CG. "Because of my location and current situation in life, it felt more or less 'mission impossible'. Then, in the autumn of 2010, I found Escape Studios' Online Mentored VFX course and all the pieces fell into place."
DNeg Snaps up Two VFX Professional Escapees
When I see students go from first day newbies to fully-fledged VFX artists I can't help but feel that they absolutely deserve it. After weeks of rigorous training learning how to create believable CG, the moment comes when they start looking for a job. And that's exactly what happened to Pasquale Riefoli and Maria Busco who have both secured jobs at Double Negative!
Zappar: A Total Geek Fest!
I thought it was going to be one of those 'office' moments when a colleague pulled some papers out of his bag and said "you must see this"... He is important, so I paid good attention...!
Escapee Showcase: Ben Revens
As promised here's another escapee reel. This time from Ben Revens, one of our recent VFX graduates. This is a great reel with good examples of work from two of our most popular courses. The violin and tank shots were produced during our 12-week Visual Effects Production course. The more elaborate and advanced staircases shot was produced during our 6-weeks Visual Effects Professional extension which Ben took straight after his VFX Production course.
CWJobs Speaks To Escape Studios About Becoming A VFX Artist
A few weeks back, CWJobs spoke to our Recruitment Manager, Garreth Gaydon about the best way of getting a job in the VFX industry when you're first starting out. The feature which you can read in full here discusses the high demand for jobs in the VFX industry and the kinds of first jobs that will enable you to get your foot in the door and make it as a VFX artist. It's a tricky industry to enter because it is both highly creative yet technically very demanding which requires a serious amount of skill and creative ability.
An Interesting Google Chrome Experiment With WebGL
The Ro.me site created in association with Google is doing the rounds at Escape Studios at the moment. In fact, you might even have read the story that Miles posted a few days ago.
Escapee Showcase: Roger Serrabassa Vilar
We're very proud of the work we do here at Escape Studios but we probably don't show enough of our students' work. Over the coming months we're going to be featuring much more student work on our website but in the meantime I wanted to start showing some of the reels from our most recent graduates.
Industry Coaching Diary of Compositing Escapee Clement Roland
Some of you may have seen a series posts from students' 'coaching diaries' on our blog recently. For those of you who don't know, some of our students studying our classroom courses are being coached by the industry's biggest post houses; The Mill, Double Negative and Framestore. This week, compositing student Clement Roland shares his experience with us.
Free Tutorial - Demolish a Brick Wall With nCloth In Maya
If you're reading this blog, then chances are you're like most of us here at Escape Studios and love blowing things up and putting them back together again. So this month's free tutorial should be right up your street because we're going to teach you how to demolish a brick wall using nCloth.
Shoot! New footage For Our VFX Course
A few weeks back I took my class to the Natural History Museum so that we could generate some new footage which they could camera track with. It was lots of fun as they not only got to film live-action footage, they knew exactly what they would have to work with when getting back to the classroom. For me, keeping things fresh is important - and so filming new footage for the students to work with is a must. As you can see from the video, we're all pretty excited to be out of the classroom!
Games Course Escapee Holly Pickering Gets Job At Travellers Tales
We have got some good news to share today about one of our Games Course escapees. Holly Pickering - who finished our Games Art Course a little while back - will be joining Adam Esat (another escapee) at Travellers Tales working on AAA titles as a Character Modeller.
Are You Satisfied with Your Job?
It's such a great feeling when you attend a packed out event and the people pouring in turn out to be our former students. And that's exactly what happened a couple nights ago. I attended a PFTrack event organised by our Technology Team, and it was a storming success. The room was packed with over 50 people – all craning their necks to get a better view of the speaker.
Lots of the attendees at the event were escapees who we didn't just train but placed in their current jobs. It was great to catch up with Jacob Flint who studied our VFX Course last year and so refreshing to hear that he's just as excited about working at The Mill today, as he was when we first placed him there. That's a pretty rare thing these days.
Job satisfaction is massively important, and if you are not entirely happy with what you are doing, then I would encourage you to 'shop around' and find out what's out there. Doing so doesn't have to be that taxing either. If you follow us on twitter or use our RSS feed you'll be first to hear about new jobs, daily. Because we work with nearly all of the major names in the industry, most of the jobs that are out there come through us.
So, if you're stuck in a rut, or just fancy a change, we might just have the right thing for you.
New 18-Week Visual Effects Animation Course Launched Today!
The new course announcements are coming thick and fast at the moment, having recently launched our new Compositing Professional course I'm really pleased to announce the launch of our new 18-week Visual Effect Animation Professional course.
Motion Capture For the Masses
Here is an amazing use of Xbox Kinect or PlayStation EyeToy: desktop motion capture!
Industry Coaching Diary - Compositing Course Escapee Mary Lapena
A few weeks back we told you about our classroom courses being coached by the Industry. One of our students, Alexander Kubinyi, told us about his experience at Double Negative and what it was like to have your reel critiqued by Alex 'The baron' Wuttke. This week, we catch up with another escapee who is studying our Compositing Professional Course and is being coached by The Mill. Here's a snippet from Mary Lapena's coaching diary.
Is 3D Always The Best Approach?
Here is a question for you: just because we can make somthing in 3D, is it always the best approach?
Hold Me Clothes
Evgenia Golubeva recently finished our Character Animation course with us and has very quickly landed a commercials job at Partizan Lab in Soho on the strength of her excellent demo reel. She has also recently put together a short film titled "Hold Me Clothes", a stop-motion film written by her and animated in just one day at a recent film festival in Italy.
Our Friends at The Mill take part in Fireflies Charity Cycle Race
It's almost time for the Lions Advertising Festival in Cannes and production companies and agencies alike will soon flock to this beautiful town in the south of France to network and talk about the work they have been doing during the previous year. It's also a great excuse for three days out of the office drinking wine in the sun.
Were You Fooled by CG?
Cadbury is getting a bit of a rep for ads that really catch the eye. First there was the gorilla playing along to Phil Collins; now its dancing clothes ad has left many of us wondering how it was made.
Industry Coaching – Escapee Alexander Kubinyi Shares His Experience
A while back we told you all about our new 'Industry Coaching' scheme which some of our classroom students are fortunate to be part of. For those of you who don't know, this basically means that some of the major post houses act as mentors for our students throughout the 12 or 18 weeks of classroom study that they embark on when they study with us in London. This means that they get professional feedback and expert industry advice relevant to the field they are going to work in. It's no surprise to hear that our students are absolutely delighted with it. All of them are they working extra hard to impress but more importantly, they are getting front-line expertise. We caught up with escapee Alexander Kubinyi who told us what the experience was like in his own words.