Blue Crab Boulevard

Jim Lynch has solved the energy crisis, global warming AND what to do with people who cannot MoveOn in one swell foop!

He is, as he modestly notes, a frickin’ genius!

Napoleon breakfasted off silver at Le Caillou, the house where he had spent the night. When Soult suggested that Grouchy should be recalled to join the main force, Napoleon said, "Just because you have all been beaten by Wellington, you think he's a good general. I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad troops, and this affair is nothing more than eating breakfast."[27] Later, on being told by his brother, Jerome, of some gossip between British officers (overheard by a waiter at a lunch at 'King of Spain Inn' in Genappe) that the Prussians were to march over from Wavre, Napoleon declared that the Prussians would need at least two days to recover and would be dealt with by Grouchy.[28]

Napoleon had delayed the start of the battle owing to the sodden ground, which would have made manoeuvring cavalry and artillery difficult. In addition, many of his forces had bivouacked well to the south of La Belle Alliance. At 10:00, in answer to a dispatch he had received from Grouchy six hours earlier, he sent a dispatch telling Grouchy to "head for Wavre [to Grouchy's north] in order to draw near to us [to the west of Grouchy]" and then "push before him" the Prussians to arrive at Waterloo "as soon as possible".[29]

Just then, however, the helicopter-borne troops of General George Patton swooped in like avenging angels. In the fierce fighting that ensued, some of Patton's troopers under the command of Ulysses S. Grant managed to snatch Napoleon's tea set.

Silly? Sure. But not as egregious as the British tour guide publishing company that has cheerfully written that the Duke of Wellington crossed the English Channel to battle King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. No, they really did.

As a prime minister and one of England's greatest generals, the Duke of Wellington had many claims to fame.

But fighting in the Battle of Hastings, more than 700 years before his birth, was not one of them.

So the good people of Battle, where William the Conqueror beat King Harold in 1066, were surprised to see a guide to the East Sussex town that included a gripping account of how the Duke had crossed the Channel to take part in the fighting.

In the Battle Town Map and Guide, a brief introduction to the East Sussex town describes how the Duke of Wellington crossed the channel in preparation for the famous showdown at Hastings.

But the bloody clash - which changed the course of British history and gave birth to the town itself - was nothing to do with the 18th century commander.

It was famously fought between William the Conqueror and King Harold, who was believed to have died during the battle after an arrow pierced his eye.

The Duke was not born until 1769 and went on to become one of Britain's most revered military leaders because of his successful campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte of France.

Much to the hilarity of Battle residents, the mistake appears to have slipped through the net because the guide was never proof-read.

Shop worker Emma Jewett, said: "I think it's quite funny. It's quite a big mess-up. Obviously someone didn't proof-read it properly."

Fred Carver, from the the Battle Museum of Local History, added: "I'm obviously living in the wrong place or time or we have been rather misguided in thinking William the Conqueror ever came here.

Well of course you're confused. It was actually Barney the Conqueror riding on Cecil the Seasick Sea Monster.  It says so right in my guide book.

Anglican Bishops - and quite a lot of other people - are demanding that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams resign his post over his call to implement Sharia law in Britain. The people denouncing Williams include a fairly large number of Muslim politicians, apparently. Rowan is reported to not understand what the row is all about.

The Archbishop of Canterbury was facing demands to quit last night as the row over sharia law intensified.

Leading bishops publicly contradicted Dr Rowan Williams's call for Islamic law to be brought into the British legal system.

With the Church of England plunged into crisis, senior figures were said to be discussing the archbishop's future.

One member of the church's "Cabinet", the Archbishop's Council, was reported as saying: "There have been a lot of calls for him to resign. I don't suppose he will take any notice, but, yes, he should resign."

Officials at Lambeth Palace told the BBC Dr Williams was in a "state of shock" and "completely overwhelmed" by the scale of the row.

It was said that he could not believe the fury of the reaction. The most damaging attack came from the Pakistan-born Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali.

He said it would be "simply impossible" to bring sharia law into British law "without fundamentally affecting its integrity".

Sharia "would be in tension with the English legal tradition on questions like monogamy, provisions for divorce, the rights of women, custody of children, laws of inheritance and of evidence.

"This is not to mention the relation of freedom of belief and of expression to provisions for blasphemy and apostasy."

The church's second most senior leader, Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, refused to discuss the matter. But he has said sharia law "would never happen" in Britain.

Politicians joined the chorus of condemnation, with Downing Street saying British law should be based on British values. Tory and LibDem leaders also voiced strong criticism.

Even prominent Muslims were rounding on Dr Williams. Shahid Malik, Labour MP for Dewsbury, said: "I haven't experienced any clamour or fervent desire for sharia law in this country.

"If there are people who prefer sharia law there are always countries where they could go and live."

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, rejected the idea that British law forces Muslims to choose between their religion and their society.

He said: "This will alienate people from other communities because they will think it is what Muslims want - and it is not."

Nice to see that backlash coming from Muslims. Williams is, quite obviously, completely unable to handle the job and is botching pretty much everything he touches at this point. The Church of England is going to have to either get rid of him or suffer even further damage. I am quite sure that Williams means well. He just is in  completely over his head and is obviously clueless as to how badly he is.

Well, he actually isn't named Cujo and, of course, we've reported on more than one plummeting dog here at Blue Crab Boulevard (and a few other things as well ). But Jet, a black lab decided he could fly. And he did, too. Well, until the sudden stop - six stories below.

TAMPA, Fla. - Authorities say a Labrador retriever named Jet really can fly. The 65-pound dog survived a six story leap from a Tampa airport parking garage and lived.

Police and Jet's owners and vet say the 2-year old dog accidentally leaped over a parking garage railing on New Year's Eve and walked away from the landing — 60 to 80 feet below.

Jet spent the night at a vet's office with a collapsed lung and some cuts and bruises. But by the next day, the dog was getting antsy again.

They're lucky they didn't have to rename him Pancake. Having observed the newest staff puppy here at the Crabitat, we have a theory on bouncing dogs: they probably eat rubber toys when they are young. Which means that the new staff puppy will reach orbit if she decides to jump off any high structures. (She's very hard on her toys.)

"Welcome to Arkansas." There is a severe outbreak of leprosy spreading in Arkansas. Yes, you read that right. Leprosy.

SPRINGDALE - The medical community is warning the public: a leprosy outbreak in Springdale could blossom into an epidemic, if something isn't done soon.

Doctors say at least nine cases of leprosy have been confirmed in Springdale.  Local doctors say they would be shocked by even one case of leprosy in their entire career, so they say something must be done soon, in order to stop leprosy's spread.

Springdale MD Jennifer Bingham says, "my initial response was: I am shocked. I am shocked we are seeing this. It's a true reason to be very worried."

Medical specialists say the Marshall Islands have the most cases of leprosy, in the world. And the city with the largest number of Marshallese people, outside the Marshall islands, is Springdale. And Bingham says, it makes sense, then, that leprosy is spreading to the city. "It's from the Marshall islands; that's why we're seeing it."

Bingham says she is all for Marshallese people entering the United States, after proper medical tests. But whether they're immigrants or not, she says people must stick to treatment, when infected. And she says, when she treats those from the Marshall Islands, this doesn't happen. "We're not getting the compliance that is absolutely essential to take care of this process."

Bingham says without cooperation, leprosy, which has no vaccine, and is transmitted through the air, will spread, and could easily become an epidemic. "People absolutely should be concerned. What I'm afraid of, is when people start thinking about it enough, it will already be out of control."

This is not - at all - a good thing. This requires a public health clampdown - right now - if people are not following through on treatment.  Even though leprosy is treatable, the course of treatment must be followed exactly and can take up to two years to complete. Here's the Wikipedia entry on leprosy. Here's the CDC page on Hansen's Disease .

UPDATE: This is interesting. The story has completely disappeared. Spree smells a rat.

That is how Joyce Baker, a woman who rushed to help victims of a sugar refinery explosion in Georgia described the scene after the blast erupted.

Six people were missing Friday after the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, exploded Thursday night — a blast so powerful it shook homes miles across the Savannah River in neighboring South Carolina. No fatalities were reported.

"There was an explosion into the air with debris and a fireball that was probably five or six times as tall as the tallest trees here," said Lt. Alan Baker of the Port Wentworth Police Department. "It's the biggest explosion I've ever seen in my life."

Capt. Matt Stanley of the Savannah Fire Department said it was possible that sugar dust from refining process had ignited, sparking the blast.

"The managers of the refinery believe that it may have been sugar powder, when that is aerosolized, it can get ionically charged and light off with just a bit of static electricity," said Stanley. "It's very rare, but it can happen."

Investigators said they believe the disaster started in a room where workers bag sugar.

Lt. Baker and his wife Joyce Baker were at nearby City Hall when the blast "shook the ground," he told CNN's "American Morning."

Joyce Baker, who teaches first aid for the Red Cross, said she raced to the scene and pitched in.

"It was like walking into hell," she said.

"We had approximately 13 men who were coming out [of the plant], and they were burned — third-degree burns on their upper bodies," she said. "And they were trying to sit down and the only thing that they wanted was to know where the friends were."

Sixty-two people were taken to Savannah-area hospitals, said Buzz Weiss, spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Forty of them were treated and released; 13 were admitted; and nine were life-flighted to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta.

Dust explosions can be incredibly powerful. It's just a big fuel-air explosion. These types of explosions are actually not all that uncommon, although things have been improving in recent years. It seems like there used to be one or two grain silos detonating every year not that long ago. Here's an OSHA document on combustible dust hazards that details some of the deadly incidents that have happened.

Oh sure, the authorities are blaming it on a passing airplane, but we suspect it is the aliens again. A woman in Clagary, Alberta narrowly missed being hit by chunks of what is being described as "frozen liquid" when the objects smashed through the roof of her house.

CALGARY, Alberta - A Canadian woman narrowly avoided getting hit by several chunks of ice that crashed through her bedroom ceiling Thursday, likely dropped from a passing airplane, officials said.

The Calgary, Alberta fire department said the woman was in her room and only a few steps away when debris "exploded" through her roof shortly before 9:30 a.m..

Fire crews found several chunks of ice about 6 inches long on the bed, along with pieces of shingles, plywood, drywall and insulation.

Fire department spokesman Jeff Budai said his best guess is that the "frozen liquid" fell from a passing airplane.

We'd like to calmly point out the dangers of objects - frozen or not - crashing to earth as one recently did in Peru. Has anyone actually heard from a real person in Calgary recently? We demand answers.

The mayor of Berkeley and two members of the city council appear to be backing away from their anti-Marine stance. 

BERKELEY, Calif. — As six Republican senators devised a plan to yank $2.3 million in federal funding for Berkeley programs, the mayor of the famously liberal city apologized Wednesday for his hard stance against a Marine recruiting center.

Two City Council members vowed to soften their stance as well.

At their Tuesday council meeting, leaders will discuss scrapping a letter that might be perceived as targeting the center or the Marines.

The letter said that the recruiting center was not welcome on Shattuck Avenue and that the Marines were uninvited and unwelcome intruders.

"That letter will probably be pulled back and maybe more moderate language will be put in place which is appropriate I think," said Berkeley mayor Tom Bates.

"Subtly stated in the resolution is perhaps an impugning of the soldiers fighting for us in Iraq and other places," Berkeley City Councilman Laurie Capitelli. "And that was never the intention but that really needs to be cleared up. As I walked to my car that night I realized I regretted it and I had made a mistake."

Bates said the city didn't mean to offend anyone in the armed forces and the focus should have been on the war not the troops.

"There's really no correlation between federal funds for schools, water ferries and police communications systems and the council's actions, for God's sake," said Bates, a retired U.S. Army captain. "We apologize for any offense to any families of anyone who may serve in Iraq. We want them to come home and be safe at home."

The letter was originally approved in January and has not been sent.

I would submit that there certainly is a correlation and that the city council has found that out the hard way. The city council and the mayor voted to insult one of the very organizations that enable it to speak out freely. But, as they have so many times in their history, the Marines have triumphed. From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Berkeley….

Regular readers know I have been pointing this out for quite some time now. But two new studies finally admit that biofuels are worse for the environment - and produce more greenhouse gas - than fossil fuel.

These studies for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at the emissions effects of the huge amount of natural land that is being converted to cropland globally to support biofuels development.

The destruction of natural ecosystems — whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands in South America — not only releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they are burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions. Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces.

Together the two studies offer sweeping conclusions: It does not matter if it is rain forest or scrubland that is cleared, the greenhouse gas contribution is significant. More important, they discovered that, taken globally, the production of almost all biofuels resulted, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not, in new lands being cleared, either for food or fuel.

“When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gasses substantially,” said Timothy Searchinger, lead author of one of the studies and a researcher in environment and economics at Princeton University. “Previously there’s been an accounting error: land use change has been left out of prior analysis.”

These plant-based fuels were originally billed as better than fossil fuels because the carbon released when they were burned was balanced by the carbon absorbed when the plants grew. But even that equation proved overly simplistic because the process of turning plants into fuels causes its own emissions — for refining and transport, for example.

The clearance of grassland releases 93 times the amount of greenhouse gas that would be saved by the fuel made annually on that land, said Joseph Fargione, lead author of the second paper, and a scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “So for the next 93 years you’re making climate change worse, just at the time when we need to be bringing down carbon emissions.” 

Just search the word biofuel if you want to see all the times I've posted about this. Biofuels are one of the "and then a miracle happens" so-called solutions touted by certain interested parties that ignore basic laws of physics. Those laws are not arbitrary - they actually apply. Wishing them away does not work. 

These studies focus on only part of the disaster of biofuels. The negative impact on the world's food supply is already being felt, the water issues are only beginning to be seen. Yet there are still bureaucrats pushing to put another glossy coat of lipstick on the biofuel pig. 

Peggy Noonan asks that question in her column today in the Wall Street Journal. Does Hillary know how to take a failure, a loss with grace and dignity? Yesterday, Mitt Romney gave a lesson in class in the way in which he stood aside on the Republican side. Does Hillary Clinton have the capacity to do the same? Because, Noonan points out, Hillary Clinton is losing.

If Hillary Clinton loses, does she know how to lose? What will that be, if she loses? Will she just say, "I concede" and go on vacation at a friend's house on an island, and then go back to the Senate and wait?

Is it possible she could be so normal? Politicians lose battles, it's part of what they do, win and lose. But she does not know how to lose. Can she lose with grace? But she does grace the way George W. Bush does nuance.

She often talks about how tough she is. She has fought "the Republican attack machine" that has tried to "stop" her, "end" her, and she knows "how to fight them." She is preoccupied to an unusual degree with toughness. A man so preoccupied would seem weak. But a woman obsessed with how tough she is just may be lethal.

Does her sense of toughness mean that every battle in which she engages must be fought tooth and claw, door to door? Can she recognize the line between burly combat and destructive, never-say-die warfare? I wonder if she is thinking: What will it mean if I win ugly? What if I lose ugly? What will be the implications for my future, the party's future? What will black America, having seen what we did in South Carolina, think forever of me and the party if I do low things to stop this guy on the way to victory? Can I stop, see the lay of the land, imitate grace, withdraw, wait, come back with a roar down the road? Life is long. I am not old. Or is that a reverie she could never have? What does it mean if she could never have it?

We know she is smart. Is she wise? If it comes to it, down the road, can she give a nice speech, thank her supporters, wish Barack Obama well, and vow to campaign for him?

It either gets very ugly now, or we will see unanticipated–and I suspect professionally saving–grace.

I ruminate in this way because something is happening. Mrs. Clinton is losing this thing. It's not one big primary, it's a rolling loss, a daily one, an inch-by-inch deflation. The trends and indices are not in her favor. She is having trouble raising big money, she's funding her campaign with her own wealth, her moral standing within her own party and among her own followers has been dragged down, and the legacy of Clintonism tarnished by what Bill Clinton did in South Carolina. Unfavorable primaries lie ahead. She doesn't have the excitement, the great whoosh of feeling that accompanies a winning campaign. The guy from Chicago who was unknown a year ago continues to gain purchase, to move forward. For a soft little innocent, he's played a tough and knowing inside/outside game.

I 'll direct you over there to read the rest, including an over the top analogy (even Noonan admits it). Frankly, Noonan believes that Obama is the more difficult candidate to beat - which may be quite true. Clinton's baggage gives John McCain a much easier job. The thing is, I suspect that Hillary Clinton does not know how to lose gracefully and this could all get very ugly between the Democratic candidates.