For about 0.15% of the government-quoted cost, he came up with a plan for a community streetcar.

If you ever thought that you could do something cheaper than the government (a corporation, your employer, etc) can, here’s the proof.  It is possible.

Why not suggest it at your next planning meeting?

Congratulations, Abby, on making it more than half-way to your goal.

The media is all over her failure, rather than applauding her success.

Apparently, her parents should have stopped her from fulfilling her dreams.

Apparently, her professionally-built boat wasn’t good enough.

Screw all of you.  A sixteen-year-old girl has the skill and fortitude to sail, alone, all the way around the world.  And when it ends in an accident (don’t you dare say failure), what does she plan to do?

Abby Sunderland has already voiced her determination to set sail around the globe again.

“I’m definitely going to sail around the world again or really give it another try,” she said.

(From this article, because I can’t find a reference (yet) on her blog)

Abby: good luck on your next attempt.  Show these desk-bound commentators that you can do something that they will never do.  Something that I am not ashamed to admit that I would never be able to do.

And know that you have done an all-too rare thing.  You have followed your dreams.

In response to concerns about high-profile event security, Bruce Schneier, an internationally-recognized security expert, has this to say:

This is certainly the conventional wisdom, but is there any actual evidence that it’s true? The 9/11 terrorists could have easily chosen a different date and a major event — sporting or other — to target, but they didn’t. The London and Madrid train bombers could have just as easily chosen more high-profile events to bomb, but they didn’t. The Mumbai terrorists chose an ordinary day and ordinary targets. Aum Shinrikyo chose an ordinary day and ordinary train lines. Timothy McVeigh chose the ordinary Oklahoma City Federal Building. Irish terrorists chose, and Palestinian terrorists continue to choose, ordinary targets. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that ordinary targets are easier targets, but not a lot of it.

So how effective are we being, by emphasizing Olympic security?  Are we concentrating our attention at one “weak point”, opening security holes to be exploited elsewhere?  Or possibly when we stand down from Olympic high-security, will the lull make us a target?

We were already at sea, but since we were the duty ship, we would have been recalled.  Just got back today from the training that was originally scheduled.

He claims that this will improve movie making, as producers can find out exactly where his test audience loses interest.  But I’m pretty sure this isn’t a good use of a declining stockpile of medical isotopes.

I celebrated this fact by getting into an almost-head-on collision.  I was making a left turn, the other car went straight through the intersection.  We both swerved.  We hit.  I stopped, they went flying.

I’m OK.  A bit of bruising from my seat belt and airbag.  Nothing broken or cracked, no apparent internal injuries.  The other driver was waiting on tests when I was discharged from hospital.

Now I’m waiting to hear on the results.  I made my ICBC claim last night, and am waiting to hear from the adjustor.  I’ve talked to the police (they were at the accident site) and been to the hospital.  I went to work this morning (CF rules say I need to see a military doctor after I see a civilian doctor).  The doc gave me three days off work – today (the day I had to go in and see him) and the weekend.  Back to see him again Monday to see if I need any more work restrictions.

The doc also told me that, by Monday, I’ll be cursing and screaming, as the real pain should settle in   Not something I’m looking forward to.

Remains of my Car

I, however, am not one of them.  My last PT test resulted in a failure, disqualifying me for “physically intensive activities”, which includes forest-fire fighting.  If, however, the members get called up, I will be taking over some responsibilities onboard.  I will probably be standing more duty watches, to cover for people going out of town.  It sucks, but at least I get to go home at the end of a 24-hour duty (rather than a 30-day firefight).

Even before I joined the military, when I was working on a government contract, we were required to sign a document stating that we understood the consequences of releasing, or improperly disposing of, classified information.

Although the exact level of classification of the documents isn’t listed, but Northrop Grumman and the Pentagon somehow managed to get sensitive information to a West African street market.  Of course, there’s the standard finger-pointing and deflection of blame.

The owner of the data is responsible for its destruction.

You don’t trust a third-party, asset-destruction company to remove and destroy the hard disks if they contain “sensitive information”.  Destroy them in-house.  Put them out on the test range, or in a shredder – if a city can maintain one, the Pentagon definitely can.  Don’t try to save a few bucks by reselling a hard drive containing secret documents.

Now, he’s trying to do it.  But he can’t find anywhere to put the terrorists.  He tried to send them to Canada, but we refused.  Even his own country won’t take them.  So it looks like the inmates are stuck in Guatanamo for a while, because the American government doesn’t have the balls to take care of their own problems, and nobody is willing to take the heat for them.

Although he is a Canadian citizen, he was not allowed to fly home to Canada.  Our own security services, including CSIS and the RCMP, have cleared him of any terrorist ties, but he remains on a UN blacklist.  This has prompted our government to ignore its own agencies to refuse Abdelrazik a flight home.

Even when Abdelrazik was ordered to appear in front of the House of Commons, he was still not allowed to return to Canada.  I don’t see how they expect him to appear if they won’t allow it.  At least one letter written to the consular service came back with no helpful information.

Now, it seems that the Supreme Court has seen some reason, and ordered the government to return Abdelrazik to Canada. where the Canadian citizen can stand Canadian trial, if warranted, or be released, as our local police and security services have apparently recommended.

The foreign ministry is still reviewing the decision, to determine whether they will appeal.