Blue Crab Boulevard

This is highly ironic. I posted earlier about a school district in Texas that has chosen to teach students not to be passive if a gunman should enter the classroom. They are being taught to fight back. More importantly, they are being taught that it is alright to fight back. It seemed a good idea, if only to reassure children that they do not have to be passive in a violent situation. Now, on the other extreme comes this item from South Carolina. A fifth grade teacher has been suspended for allowing students to use a trashcan as a latrine during a school lockdown drill. One boy and four girls used the can during a drill that lasted "less than an hour". The children using the facility were shielded from view by same sex students holding coats while all the rest of the students were facing the walls.

On Tuesday, Frandino gave the Charlestowne Academy students permission to use the trash can. When a girl used the bathroom, other girls held up jackets to shield the view while other students stood on the opposite wall with their backs turned, school district spokesman Jerry Adams said. Boys also did the same for the boy.

"It's not acceptable," associate superintendent Patricia Yandle told the newspaper.

During the drill, which lasted less than an hour, Frandino called the school's main office and said students needed to use the restroom. It's unclear what the he was told to do, but Yandle said he was not told to have students use the trash can.

"We always learn something" during lockdown drills, school district spokesman Jerry Adams said Friday. "And clearly communications between the classrooms and the main office to get directions on things was one of the issues here."

Adams said as much privacy was given as possible. He also said students were given sanitary wipes.

The teacher was on administrative leave with pay. Frandino did not comment on the situation to The Associated Press.

Adams said officials were still looking into the incident.

"In a drill like this, teachers and principals have discretion and they have to make decisions," Adams said. "I'm not going to second-guess that today."

The school sent a letter to fifth-grade parents explaining that in an effort to follow lockdown procedures and ensure students' comfort, the teacher allowed the trash can to be used as a toilet. The lockdown was practice for an intruder entering the building.

Passiveness taken to the extreme. Let's consider for a moment. If the teacher had refused permission, would he be in as much trouble or even more trouble if the students had soiled themselves? Kids that age sometimes wait until the last moment before realizing they have to go (I've raised four - I know that for a fact). If the drill had been a real situation instead, would this discussion even come up? Or would the parents be enraged if the teacher had let the kids into the hall to use the bathroom.

For heaven's sake. Is this what the world is coming to? We have it bad enough already with monsters killing little girls in a school and we have parents and school administrators more worried about what? "Acceptable" versus practical? Safety versus propriety?

This is just plain stupid by any standard. The administrators should be ashamed. We are fighting ourselves on how to address this evil. And we are doing it over the stupidest possible things.

Assaults cockroach. Well, not really, it was actually a guy wearing a cockroach costume and wearing a mask with the face of Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Democratic state Representative Vaughn Flora assaulted said protester. Flora has turned himself in to face criminal charges in the matter.

Democratic state Rep. Vaughn Flora, 61, turned himself in Wednesday on a battery charge filed Sept. 27 in the dustup during the debate at the Kansas State Fair.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, and another man attended the Sept. 9 event while wearing cockroach costumes and masks bearing photos of Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who was debating Republican challenger Jim Barnett.

The costumes referred to Operation Rescue's criticism that under Sebelius, the state has allowed substandard conditions in clinics that perform abortions.

In their criminal complaint, prosecutors allege that Flora, who was also in the audience, made physical contact with Newman "in a rude, insulting or angry manner." Operation Rescue alleges on its Web site that Flora gave Newman a cut to the head as he tore off Newman's mask.

Let's make this perfectly clear: even more outrageous behavior has been commonplace on the left. Regardless of Newman's choice of costume (Mr. Flora referred to it as "outrageous") Mr. Flora has no right to assault him and tear the mask off. This is another case of what I posted about earlier today. Silencing opposition. It is originating on the left but is becoming mainstream as the Democrats embrace it. Bad for everyone, people.

The US and China had both confirmed earlier that no radioactive particulate had been found in air samples, casting some suspicion on the claims that a nuclear test had been conducted by North Korea. There is new information that the US has detected radioactive gas, however (probably xenon) and there is now speculation that this was a fizzle.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the administration has not made a definitive conclusion about the nature of the explosion.

"The betting is that this was an attempt at a nuclear test that failed," the official said. "We don't think they were trying to fake a nuclear test, but it may have been a nuclear fizzle — an effort that failed." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The official said the test measures a type of gas. It is one of a number of analyses conducted this week, which have not provided clarity about what North Korea detonated on Monday.

Earlier Friday, results from another test disclosed Friday — an initial air sampling — showed no evidence of radioactive particles that would be expected from a successful nuclear detonation, a U.S. government intelligence official said.

Xenon is very slippery and can get out pretty easily. (I was dosed by radioactive xenon a long time back - it was minor, however). I'm only guessing that's what they detected, however.

Where do we get men such as these? How do we deserve such men. On September 29th, 2006, Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor, a US Navy SEAL, saved the lives of four of his fellow team members by throwing himself on a hand grenade that had been tossed into their post. Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor did not survive, but his four teammates did.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret.

"He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him."

Monsoor, a 25-year-old gunner, was killed in the explosion in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. He was only the second SEAL to die in Iraq since the war began.

Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. The four had been working with Iraqi soldiers providing sniper security while U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted missions in the area.

In an interview at the SEALs' West Coast headquarters in Coronado, four members of the special force remembered "Mikey" as a loyal friend and a quiet, dedicated professional.

"He was just a fun-loving guy," said a 26-year-old petty officer 2nd class who went through the grueling 29-week SEAL training with Monsoor. "Always got something funny to say, always got a little mischievous look on his face."

Other SEALS described the Garden Grove, Calif., native as a modest and humble man who drew strength from his family and his faith. His father and brother are former Marines, said a 31-year-old petty officer 2nd class.

Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them.

Monsoor's funeral was held Thursday at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. He has also been submitted for an award for his actions the day he died.

Where do we get men such as these? How do we deserve such men.

(Comments are closed on this post. Please observe a moment of silence for Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor. He deserves no less).

UPDATE: Rick Moran, James Joyner, Jim Hoft, Curt, Blackfive, STACLU, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler,

Ay-yi-yi-yi. A Republican candidate for Congress had the idea of seeing how good border security was with Mexico. So he sent one of his elephants into the Rio Grande (he had three, after all) accompanied by a six piece mariachi band to see if anyone noticed. They did eventually, but it took quite a while.

October 11, 2006 — Reports of an elephant crossing the river or people trying to smuggle an elephant across were rampant Tuesday while an elaborate political stunt was taking shape near the mouth of the Rio Grande.

It was a while later that the stunt, which was a photo shoot, was abruptly met by federal agents.

“The elephant never made landfall into Mexico, but I tell you something, he could have made 15 laps back and forth, but no one showed up,” said Raj Peter Bhakta, a former star on the NBC show “The Apprentice,” who also is a Republican candidate for the 13th District U.S. House of Representatives seat in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Three elephants, two African and an Asian, were taken out to a ranch near Boca Chica beach to perform, the 31-year-old Bhakta said.

He was in Brownsville to raise funds with friends and decided to get a first-hand look at border security while he was here, he said.

In Brownsville, he witnessed half a dozen men swim under one of the international bridges “with complete immunity” which in turn prompted him to take the immigration issue to the next level.

Bhakta decided to see if he could get an elephant accompanied by a six-piece mariachi band across the river.

According to his Web site, he is in favor of “sensible immigration reform” and supports a border fence, local law enforcement assistance with immigration laws and the use of the National Guard troops to help the U.S. Border Patrol.

“To my surprise, the band played on, the elephants splashed away, and nobody showed up,” Bhakta said of the stunt. “I’m astounded.”

A pretty bad black eye for border security. Such as it is.

UPDATE: Others: TRUA, Wizbang, Townhall (MK Ham),

For fun and profit. Big profit, in fact. 2.5 million dollars worth of prize money is up for grabs at the Wirefly X Prize Cup competition in Las Cruces, New Mexico. There will be rocket powered devices of every conceivable type. Lots of enthusiasts and, hopefully, a great future including races to space someday.

Next week, countdowns will ring through the air. Rocket engines will spark to life and roar. Prototype spaceships will fly and vie for cash prizes.

All manner of rocket, be it strap on, ride in, or a project-in-progress, will be found at the Wirefly X Prize Cup being staged October 20-21 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Las Cruces International Airport, roughly seven miles from the center of the city, is home base for this year’s Cup.

“The goal of the X Prize Cup is to create an event that actually attracts real spaceships and demonstrates them in front of the crowds,” observed Peter Diamandis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the X Prize Foundation of Santa Monica, California. “This year’s Cup has $2.5 million in prize money up for grabs.”

The Cup this year is also themed as “Moon 2.0”, Diamandis said, given NASA’s commitment to the Moon, Mars and beyond vision agenda and a space agency-sponsored $2 million Lunar Lander Competition.

"There will be a large amount of educational and display content looking back at Apollo and forward…towards both the public and private return to the Moon,” Diamandis told SPACE.com.

Looking out into the coming years, the X Prize Cup will expand even further, with more rockets, multiple flights and finals of the Rocket Racing League X-Racers, amateur rocket flights crafted by people from all over the world, as well as actual races to space.

Keep on trucken’

“Rocketizing” various modes of transportation—be it a bicycle or a 2003 Chevy SS—is the propulsion province of Tim Pickens, president of Orion Propulsion in Madison, Alabama.

For the Rocket Truck at the upcoming Cup, Pickens and his team are using an asphalt and nitrous-oxide-powered hybrid rocket engine. It spits out 2,750 pounds of thrust, enough to give the driver and co-pilot a nice kick in the coveralls.

The rocket engine is run by a hand-held gaming controller—a user-friendly and ergonomic device. Another Rocket Truck add-on are dash-mounted LCD screens providing the pilot and co-pilot a view of the firing engine, adding to the ballistic buzz one gets from riding in the Rocket Truck.

Other highlights will be flights by Dan Schlund wearing a rocket belt. You can see more about that here. We just want to know if one of these will be there:

It was last seen over Christchurch, New Zealand. Honest.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon has been confirmed as the eighth Secretary General of the United Nations. Ban will take over from Kofi Annan on January 1st of next year. The General Assembly resolution was adopted by acclamation, so there are no vote tallies.

Hundreds of diplomats and U.N. staff in the chamber broke into loud applause when assembly president Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa asked the 192-nation world body to adopt the resolution by acclamation. She then banged the gavel and said, "It is so decided."

Ban will oversee an organization with 92,000 peacekeepers around the world and a $5 billion annual budget. The U.N.'s reputation has been tarnished by corruption scandals and its outdated practices need reform to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Annan hailed Ban as "a future secretary-general who is exceptionally attuned to the sensitivities of countries and constituencies in every continent" and said he would be "a man with a truly global mind at the helm of the world's only universal organization."

Annan recalled that the first U.N. secretary-general, Trygvie Lie, told his successor, Dag Hammarskjold, "You are about to take over the most impossible job on Earth."

Made even more so by the decade of hideous mismanagement that marked Annan's tenure. Ban will have to work very hard to clean that mess up.

A Texas school district is training children not to hide under the desks if a gunman comes into the room. Instead they are being taught to fight back. This is believed to be a first nationwide.

BURLESON, Texas (AP) — Youngsters in a suburban Fort Worth school district are being taught not to sit there like good boys and girls with their hands folded if a gunman invades the classroom, but to rush him and hit him with everything they got - books, pencils, legs and arms.

"Getting under desks and praying for rescue from professionals is not a recipe for success," said Robin Browne, a major in the British Army reserve and an instructor for Response Options, the company providing the training to the Burleson schools.

That kind of fight-back advice is all but unheard of among schools, and some fear it will get children killed.

But school officials in Burleson said they are drawing on the lessons learned from a string of disasters such as Columbine in 1999 and the Amish schoolhouse attack in Pennsylvania last week.

The school system in this working-class suburb of about 26,000 is believed to be the first in the nation to train all its teachers and students to fight back, Browne said.

At Burleson - which has 10 schools and about 8,500 students - the training covers various emergencies, such as tornadoes, fires and situations where first aid is required. Among the lessons: Use a belt as a sling for broken bones, and shoelaces make good tourniquets.

Students are also instructed not to comply with a gunman's orders, and to take him down.

Browne recommends students and teachers "react immediately to the sight of a gun by picking up anything and everything and throwing it at the head and body of the attacker and making as much noise as possible. Go toward him as fast as we can and bring them down."

Just as advice has changed on what to do on an airplane if a hijacking is attempted, the rules are changing for schools. Not everyone is happy with this training - although the complaints are not coming from parents of the children in the school:

Hilda Quiroz of the National School Safety Center, a nonprofit advocacy group in California, said she knows of no other school system in the country that is offering fight-back training, and found the strategy at Burleson troubling.

"If kids are saved, then this is the most wonderful thing in the world. If kids are killed, people are going to wonder who's to blame," she said. "How much common sense will a student have in a time of panic?"

Terry Grisham, spokesman for the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department, said he, too, had concerns, though he had not seen details of the program.

"You're telling kids to do what a tactical officer is trained to do, and they have a lot of guns and ballistic shields," he said. "If my school was teaching that, I'd be upset, frankly."

At worst, this gives the kids some sort of option other than lying there and waiting to be shot. Is it a good thing? No, it's a sad thing that we have come to this. But the problem is not America's alone. It is happening all over the world.

UPDATE: Joanne Jacobs, who is my blogmother incidentally, says she suspects kids will be less scared of the situation should it arise. They will know there is something they can do. See also Dr. Helen.

Fragments left over from Halley's comet will put on a light show in the form of the Orionid meteor shower this month. Viewing this year will be particularly good since the moon will be new on October 22nd when the shower should peak. This is one of the best meteor showers of all the annual ones with peak meteor counts as high as 15-20 meteors per hour. Best viewing is from about 1 am until dawn.

Halley's comet has left a legacy that is visible to us in the form of two annual meteor showers, one of which will soon be reaching peak activity: the Orionid meteors. 

Great year

This will be an excellent year to look for them, since the Moon will be New on Oct. 22, which is right around the time that these meteors will be near their peak, ensuring that skies will be dark.

Comets are the leftovers of the day of creation, the odd bits and pieces of simple gases-methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide and water vapor-that went unused when the Sun and its attendant planets came into their present form.  Meteoroids that are released into space out of this cometary debris are the remnants of a comet's nucleus. All comets eventually disintegrate into meteor swarms and Halley's is well into that process at this time.

These tiny particles-mostly ranging in size from dust to sand grains-remain along the original comet's orbit, creating a "river of rubble" in space.  In the case of Halley's comet, which has likely circled the Sun many hundreds, if not thousands of times, its dirty trail of debris has been distributed more or less uniformly all along its entire orbit.  When these tiny bits of comet collide with Earth, friction with our atmosphere raises them to white heat and produces the effect popularly referred to as "shooting stars."

The orbit of Halley's comet closely approaches the Earth's orbit at two places.  One point is in the early part of May, producing a meteor display known as the Eta Aquarids.  The other point comes in the middle to latter part of October, producing the Orionids.   

When to watch

The best time to watch begins from 1 or 2 a.m. local daylight time until around dawn, when the shower's radiant (in Orion's upraised club, just north of the bright red star, Betelegeuse) is highest above the horizon. The higher the radiant, the more meteors appear all over the sky.  The Orionids are one of just a handful of known meteor showers that can be observed equally well from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

The Orionids are somewhat unpredictable and the peak can come earlier or later than the predictions. Some of the meteors are already falling, and will continue after the nominal peak date. (The Orionids are visible in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, so wherever you live, you should be able to see them.

A few Orionids may appear as early as Oct. 9 and as late as Nov. 7. In 1993 and again in 1998, maximum activity unexpectedly came early, on the night of Oct. 17-18.  "The activity is not constant from year to year," notes Russian meteor expert, Dr. P.B. Babadzhanov.  "The time of maximum shifts significantly and there are secondary maxima."

 "They are easily identified . . . from their speed," write David Levy and Stephen Edberg in Observe: Meteors, an Astronomical League manual.  "At 66 kilometers (41 miles) per second, they appear as fast streaks, faster by a hair than their sisters, the Eta Aquarids of May.  And like the Eta Aquarids, the brightest of family tend to leave long-lasting trains.  Fireballs are possible three days after maximum."

Recent studies have shown that about half of all Orionids that are seen leave trails that lasted longer than other meteors of equivalent brightness.  This is undoubtedly connected in some way to the makeup of Halley's comet. So it is, that the shooting stars that we have come to call Orionids are really an encounter with the traces of a famous visitor from the depths of space and from the dawn of creation.

I dunno about you, but I'm not likely to be around to see Halley's Comet come back in 2061, so this is the closest I will get to that comet again. I never did get a good look at it when it came around last in 1986.

A babysitter in Idaho found out that the local black bear population has decided it likes barbecue. She found this out when when a 422 pound black bear charged into the back yard where the three kids she was watching were playing. The bear, however, got a surprise.

PORTHILL, Idaho - A northern Idaho baby sitter shot and killed a 422-pound black bear that broke into a backyard where three toddlers were playing.

The bear was likely drawn to the yard by the scent of food from a barbecue, said Idaho Department of Fish and Game Conservation Officer Greg Johnson.

"We've not had a single incident in Idaho of a black bear attacking a person," he told the Bonner County Daily Bee newspaper. "If you have a bear, you probably have food out."

The baby sitter did not want her name revealed and could not be reached for comment. She was baby-sitting for her sister, Becky Henslee.

Henslee said her 3-year-old daughter Brooklyn and twin 2-year-old sons Cleo and Charles were playing in the backyard of their home on the Canadian border early last week when Brooklyn alerted their aunt by shouting "Bear! Bear!"

Henslee said her sister looked up and saw the bear running out of the woods toward the backyard. She grabbed the three children from the yard and ran inside the house, shutting the door.

After taking the children into a bedroom, the woman loaded a 7mm hunting rifle and returned to the back door, where the bear had pawed the screen door and broken the door frame.

Notice the authorities trying to misdirect people? Saying the bear smelled barbecue. But note how it was trying to get into the house? That bear was looking for some baby back ribs! The babysitter stuck the gun out and plugged the ursine usurper. Another setback for the animal uprising.

UPDATE: The babysitter made a heroic effort to save the children. But it took two shots from a 7mm rifle to kill the bear. I suggest that if you live in bear country, you might want to get one of these. That is to the revolver in .460 S&W magnum caliber. It is also available in .500 S&W magnum. For the really gung-ho.